Astrosecond~ .498 seconds, milli-cycle~1 sec, cycle~1 min, breem~ 8.3 minutes, mega-cycle~1 hour, meta-cycle~1\2 hours, solar cycle~1 day, day~ 20 hours, orbital cycle~ 1 month, gigacycle~ 1 year, deca-cycle~10 years, vorn~ 83 years, stellar cycle~400 year, mechanometer~ 1 meter, vun~ hectometer, hic~ 1 kilometer

Thoughts, 'binary code', (alien language), "talking"

As the aerialbot trio exited the planet's atmosphere, Powerglide pestered the large Broadside. "Hey Broadside, I thought you hated flying?"

Broadside was an Autobot triple changer, a very rare group of Cybertronians that have two alt modes along with their robot mode. Broadside answered the showoff, "I don't like looking down and I prefer to have my feet on firm metal, but any friends of Vibes' are friends of mine. She was a major help scraping those Decepticons who tried to tunnel their way into Iacon."

Powerglide commented, "Must have been messy."

Broadside corrected him, "Actually we lucked out because the Decepticons had popped out into the armory and we all had grabbed more than enough weapons to take them on. With Vibes helping me lead, we easily pushed them back." Broadside had a pause as he asked Powerglide, "So, do we know where were going or what to look for?"

"Yeah… Of course! There's a ship out here that knows Dropshot and Vibes and…uh…"

"And you forgot to get the rest of the details." Broadside contacted Dropshot, "Hey, Dropshot, this is Broadside. I know Powerglide left before you gave him any relevant info, mind telling me?"

Dropshot gladly told the flyboy, "It's a big ship. Somewhere between you, Sky Lynx and the Ark. Probably closer to your size, but a bit bigger. The ship is full of organics so mind your manners. The ship's name is 'Normandy'. Happy hunting."

Broadside scoffed, "We'll just see about that. Thanks for the details. Broadside, out."

Skydive reported after a few scans, "I've found a gravitational anomaly and a minute heat signature. About a hic from the facility's geographic location. North by Northwest."

Broadside took lead, "Nice job, Skydive. Alright Autobots, we have some organics to find."

Legion had leading Garrus into one of the facilities processing centers. The turian was not sure about this. "Are you sure Tali would come here?"

Legion answered the as the machine continued without turning back, "Yes. We have studied the Creators' envirosuits and how they function. When calibrated, they leave minute emissions of carbon dioxide and water vapor that makes detection by most scans nearly undetectable. Also, we have found a trail left by Creator-Tali'Zorah."

Garrus, with the turian armor as wide as it was, was having some difficulty maneuvering around some of the pipe work Legion was traveling though. "And…uh…what makes you absolutely certain she's here?"

Legion explained. "Unit-Vibes informed us she advised radio silence due to the presence of Unit-Soundwave. It is logical to also assume Unit-Vibes told Creator-Tali'Zorah to find a location inaccessible to the smallest Cybertronian unit or their weaponry. The constant noises from these working machinery are excellent for muffling and distorting sounds." After realizing that Garrus would most likely have a difficult time maneuvering through the path Legion was traveling, the geth turned to ask, "Officer-Vakarian, should we find an alternate route?"

Garrus was trying to hide the discomfort of having to be more flexible than normal, "As long as this is the shortest route…"

Legion corrected him, "An alternate route will be faster if you continue to encounter obstacles your body cannot adjust properly to." With some assistance from the geth, Legion guided Garrus to a less congested path to Tali's location. Eventually Legion stopped at a heavily armored and locked door. "Officer-Vakarian, we suggest that you be the one to try and convince Creator-Tali'Zorah we are not a threat."

"That's probably the only thing I've agreed with you about." Garrus knocked on the metal door and started to shout, "Hey, Tali. It's me. It's Garrus. Are you going to open the door?"

There was no response for several seconds. Eventually he heard something, it was Tali and she asked him, "How can I be certain you're not one of those Decepticons?"

Garrus turned to Legion and was regretting what he was going to say, "Remember back on the Citadel not too long ago. I was toying with you about having missed those elevator rides and how it was an opportunity to learn and share, but you reminded me of your shotgun."

There was another long pause before the door was unlocked. Garrus opened the door and found Tali's drone, Chikktika vas Paus, and Tali with her shotgun in hand. After seeing it really was Garrus, she was almost tempted to hug him. Legion started to speak, "Creator-Tali'Zorah. Unit-Vibes is severely damaged. Unit-Vibes is preventing repair units from completing their task until Unit-Vibes has visual confirmation that Creator-Tali'Zorah is unharmed. We advise a swift return to Unit-Vibes' location."

Returning the Autobots move out of their way, giving them a straight shot too Vibes. Now next to the downed Autobot, Tali could only feel remorse for not staying. "Vibes…I'm so sorry…"

Vibes still had some energy in her as the Autobot turned to see her. The visor was cracked in several places, and her vision was obscured, but her audio receptors were fine. Vibes put smile on her face, "Don't be, Tali'Zorah. Like I said, the Cons would have killed you. I'm just glad to know you're safe and well. I…"

Vibes' energy reserves were now starting to dry out as her visor started to dim, Ratchet immediately started to work on her, "Step aside, organics! We need to work!"

Dropshot and Jacob reunited with the trio. Dropshot was the first to address them, "Glade to see you're OK too little ma'am." Dropshot saw Tali with her head down. He wasn't sure how he could help but he then told her, "Don't worry about Vibes. She may not look it, but she's a lot tougher then you'd think. And with Ratchet and so many medics working on her, she'll be fine."

Garrus looked around at some of the smashed bodies and 'corpses' of fallen machines. "What about the other casualties? Aren't some of them still 'alive'?"

Dropshot looked around, "All of these guys on the ground are gone."

Jacob looked too asking, "How can you tell?"

Dropshot tapped his head, "We can scan for energy signatures. It's a basic function. Basically if they don't have an energy signature, that usually means their spark was extinguished. Some of the medibots have already gone off to find any injured Autobots to help stabilize them until they can get proper medical attention." Seeing as how the topics were only bringing more feelings of despair, Dropshot made a suggestion, "Hey, how 'bout I properly introduce you guys to some of the best Con kickers this side of Iacon?"

Jacob was still skeptical of them after his experience on Eden Prime and the geth attack, "They wouldn't smack you that hard, will they?"

"As long as they can see you guys." Dropshot then laid his hand onto the floor, waiting for them to hop on. Tali seemed distant as she continued to watch Ratchet and the others operate on Vibes' body. "Come on, little ma'am. This'll get your mind off this for a while." He then added, "Trust me. Ratchet can repair just about anyone so long as their spark has a charge." Of course he was lying but at least it was something he liked to tell himself whenever a comrade or friend was operated on. Tali walked onto his hand and he raised them to his shoulder. They moved off his hand and he started to look for some Autobots he knew. "Hey Trailbreaker!"

As things started to settle down, Prowl ran up to Optimus to give a status report. "Optimus," the Autobot leader did not look to Prowl as he continued to gaze up, "You were right about the explosives. The bomb squad found it near a group of silos. The bomb was successfully deactivated. I also have the report for this engagement. We were fortunate enough to be able to recover all of Vibes armaments as well as..."

Optimus interrupted as he asked for the information he never liked hearing, "Casualty report?"

Prowl started to review the data again before he spoke, "We lost twenty drones and four Autobots. We also have forty wounded. But the Decepticons suffered greater casualties. Vibes took down an impressive 38 Decepticons before we arrived. Altogether, the Decepticons lost ninety men, an unknown amount were injured."

Prime took a moment as he closed his optics and gave Prowl an order. "Prowl, I want all of our fallen brothers found and brought to the Ark...that includes the Decepticons."

Prowl had received similar orders in the past, but never once did they take the Decepticons. "Optimus, why now? The Con's would never do that for us."

"I know Prowl," Optimus continued, "but we have already caused more than enough damage here. I want our impact on the organics to be as minimal as possible."

Prowl didn't like the order but he wasn't going to disobey it. Saluting the bot said, "Yes, sir. I'll get a team and start retrieving the bodies."

From the Nemesis's bridge Megatron continued to watch the facility from a magnified view, impatiently waiting for the Constructicon bomb to detonate. The Decepticons on the bridge continued their work at their stations as Megatron's finger started to grind against one of the consoles. "Scrapper..."

The Constructicon leader was hesitant to respond, knowing full well that Megatron wouldn't give a thought to blast him for failing, but he was soon forced out by the other Constructicons, from fear of Megatron's fusion cannon going through Scrapper and into one of them. Out in the open the green and purple Con responded, "L-lord Megatron."

"What happen to the explosion I was promised?"

The Constructicon leader didn't want to feel Megatron's wrath so he shifted the focus to the one who created the charge, "Mixmaster! You created the explosive, what happened?"

The other Constructicons pushed out Mixmaster as Scrapper moved away from the chemist. Out in the open, Mixmaster stuttered for a bit before he thought of an answer, "It's possible that the Autobots found my bomb before it was allowed to explode." Mixmaster braced himself for a blast as the other Decepticons were warily keeping an eye on Megatron's right arm.

Megatron's hand started to squeeze as the other Decepticons tried to back up while keeping to their stations. Instead of Megatron quickly turning around and simply blasting the Constructicons, Megatron slowly turned to Soundwave, "Soundwave, translate what the Autobot shouted in that alien language."

"Affirmative." Soundwave transformed into a boombox-like form. His arms pulled back as his leg moved to his sides, the wheels now becoming his speakers. Soundwave's head retracted into the body slightly as his shoulders moved over it and the antennas on the sides were formed from pieces that were part of his shoulder. Tubes from the ship latched out as they attached directly into Soundwave.

Now on the main monitor, from Soundwave's perspective, he was replaying the scene when Vibes shouted in the alien tongue. Soundwave started to use the unprotected data network he found used by the organics and started to translate. When he was finished Soundwave replayed it for Megatron, "Tali'Zorah, stay away from any doors and windows! Just hide! The Decepticons will show you no mercy so please, just hide! Don't use your radio or make any noises or Soundwave will find you!"

Megatron then commanded, "Soundwave, find more about this 'Tali'Zorah' thing. Find everything you can."

Soundwave started to scour the data streams for every reference to the word Tali. As Soundwave did he started to display various images and video recordings after removing his video. Soundwave soon reported. "Subject: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Normandy. Quarian. An organic race responsible for the creation of an AI collective called the geth. Organic fears eventually led the quarians to attack their own creation. This led to the quarian exile from their homewolrd approximately 0.75 stellar cycles ago."

Even Megatron occasionally grew tired with Soundwave's over analysis, demanding, "I don't care about the fleshings and their history, I want to know more about that one in particular!"

Soundwave was finding more firewalls and data protection the harder he looked. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Normandy. Crew of the SR-2 Normandy. Captain: Commander Shepard. Human." Now images of a strange pink bipedal creature in armor started to pop up. Interestingly Soundwave found more information about the other 'Megatron' and its fleet.

As Soundwave continued to gather data, a disc popped out of the console in front of Megatron. The tyrant soon bellowed, "What is this?"

"Data for Megatron's processors only. It pertains to the other you."

Megatron took the disc and placed it into his chest. As Megatron looked through this new information, he couldn't help but put a smirk on his face. "Decepticons, we are about to perform the ultimate deceptions." The Decepticons started to roar in excitement and anticipation for Megatron's plan. "Soundwave, set a course for this Citadel! Prepare hologram projectors around the ship."

As the aerialbot trio got closer to their target, they detected the Nemesis' departure from the system. Powerglide asked the others, "Should we try tracking them?"

Skydive didn't think so, "It would be smarter to simply report it to Optimus and the others after we complete our current objective."

Broadside agreed. "We'd have no clue as to where they went and even if we followed, we'd be outnumbered and outgunned."

Powerglide apologized, "Yeeeeah…forgot about all of that…"

The three aerialbots continued their search when they came across a rather sleek looking ship and started to approach it. As they got closer Skydive asked, "So, what do we do?"

Powerglide was ready to pull off a barrel roll, "Well I can think of a few ways to catch their attention."

Broadside flew into the showoffs way, "No, we do it the right way." Broadside opened as many short ranged communication channels he could think of. "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong."

Powerglide questioned Broadside's process, "Are you sure they know the universal greeting?"

Broadside retorted, "It's called the 'universal greeting' isn't it?" Broadside cleared his vocal processors before he broadcasted again, "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong."

Joker turned to the blue holo display next to him, "Well EDI, should we trust them?"

"These three do share the red symbol both Dropshot and Vibes bore and the large ship did say the same thing Dropshot said when he first showed himself."

Joker still wasn't sure about this, "Are you going to make contact or should I try to say that funky phrase?"

EDI used the comm channel the large vessel used and responded, "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong."

The call was answered back with the same phrase but with a different pitch, "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong." Before EDI could respond, the voice continued, "Glad to see you organic lifeforms know the universal greeting. This is Broadside. We're here to inform you that the Decepticons have been routed and it is safe to go planetside. If you don't mind ma'am, we need to return to report something to our superiors."

EDI responded to the ship, "Understood. Thank you for the latest information, Broadside."

With that the three ships turned around and prepared for reentry. The red ship preformed a few barrel rolls while shouting on several comm channels, "And awaa-aa-aay we go!"

Hopping from the pipes, Kasumi asked a few Autobots she encountered to assist with searching for Commander Shepard. Kasumi finally found him thanks to Samara's bright red outfit. Before she moved in, Kasumi used the comm channel she told the Autobots to use. "This is Kasumi Goto. I've found Shep. Thanks for the help big guys but I can handle it from here."

One of them responded to her, "Thanks for the update, Kasumi."

"Hey Kasumi, this is Jazz. I'm interesting in meeting this 'Shepard' Legion talked about earlier. Mind if I join? I'm about…a cycle or two from your current position."

"No problem with me. See you then Jazz." Kasumi deactivated her comm and continued on towards Shepard and the others. Jumping from pipe to pipe like a ninja, Kasumi broke the silence shouting, "Shep! Up here Shep!" Shepard and the others looked up to find the thief as she jumped down to their level. "You're allot harder to find than last time."

At the moment the only words Shepard seemed to be able to find was her name, "Kasumi?"

Kasumi wasn't going to pass an opportunity like this, "In the flesh, Shep. That reminds me, we should wait here a bit. I've got a 'friend' coming by soon."

Shepard finally got himself together after the shock of seeing her so suddenly, "Wait, Kasumi. How did you get here? And what 'friend' are you talking about?"

Before Kasumi could explain, the roar of an engine started to get louder. Soon a white car with a blue strip down the middle with red lights zoomed by. Boosters activated from the underside of the car hooping over the group just barely avoiding them. Before the car touched back down, an arm extended from below the front left wheel and grabbed a large pipe and made itself turn to face them. As the car turned around a second arm popped out from the opposite wheel. Now a leg started to form from the back end and it started to swing towards the front of the car as it shoved off the pipe. The front end of the car had been pulled down by ninety degrees revealing a head. As the rest of the car continued to change the car still had momentum from the push. As the rest of the body started to finish moving into place the humanoid robot used the leg motion to pull off a back flip and land a few meters away from them. This bot was shorter in comparison to Dropshot but its face had a similar feature to Vibes, a blue visor over the eyes but instead of curving up around the 'nose' the blue visor covered most of it forming a flatter V shape. But unlike Vibes or Dropshot it seemed more laid back. The bot had the Autobot symbol adorn on the hood from the car form.

Kasumi smiled back to the bot and turned to Shepard and the others, "OK Shep, I'd like to introduce to you the Autobot's Special Operation's leader, Jazz."

The bot smiled to them as he said, "S'up organics? Pleasure to meet ya." Jazz started to look at them more closely, "Wait, before you tell me Kasumi, I want to guess from what Legion told me. Hmmm…" Jazz leaned closer to the justicar, "Blue plating, red armor…you must be Samara the asari justicar. It's nice to meet one so dedicated to justice, but I think your codes could ease up on a few individual cases."

Kasumi asked the Autobot, "How much did Legion tell you when he…'synced' with you?"

Jazz smiled, "They told me about some of the crew they've worked with as I told them about some Autobots I personally know." Now Jazz was leaning towards Lawson. "Black hair, femme, light colored plating…Miranda Lawson. Legion told me to be careful around you for some reason. Something about making sure you didn't examine me or 'borrow' anything from me." Before she could say anything to him, Jazz now looked down to the Commander, "And you must be Commander Shepard. Funny, Legion made you out to be different somehow."

Shepard was curious as Legion was rather reclusive. "What do you mean?"

Jazz started rubbing his hand against his face, "Not sure…I guess you could say he's in-between idolizing you and hero worship, or something similar, if that makes any sense to you. I don't think I could explain it so well, it would be easier to show if I could."

This tidbit was rather interesting; given everything know about Legion, which was little in itself. It might explain why Legion used a fragment of the Commander's old armor to repair its platform. Kasumi broke the silence as she asked the Commander, "So Shep, found those workers yet?"

Shepard answered her honestly, "With all of the Decepticons we couldn't look properly. We do suspect they're hiding in one of these buildings not part of the original layout."

Jazz took a look at the small holographic display Shepard projected from the omni-tool on his arm then he looked around the area. "What about that building over there?" Jazz was pointing toward a building about five klicks from their position. "It looks secure enough to withstand a few rounds, and it's not on your map."

Shepard agreed with his logic, "That's a good place to start."

Jazz dropped down to his hands as he kicked up his legs. They and his hip did three full rotations before the legs pulled in and started to shift back to his vehicle form. His chestpieces pulled up as his head fell down. The arms collapsed under the front end of the car as the hood finally slammed down into place. Again a strange noise aside from the metal grinding occurred and it was a reverse of the sound Jazz had before. The doors opened up as Jazz said, "Well hop in. I'll get you there in two shakes of a razorsnakes tail."

Kasumi gladly entered first and quickly turned to the others with her outgoing smile, "Come on Shep, this is going to be fun."