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"

With this enormous purple ship docked, C-Sec personnel were on standby, waiting for whatever was to come. The scanners provided little information, as they could only detect strange energy readings throughout the ship, but they were unable to detect any life signs. Of the battle scars this craft suffered, there was a symbol that pulsated with light. It was a purple symbol in the shape looked like a mask or face. At the bottom were two scalene triangles on its longest tip at an angle around the rest of the symbol. There was a crown like piece with four pointed tips on the head, with a small section in the middle separated from the rest. Two small rectangles were on the etched on both sides of the center piece and just below it were two more 'cut out' isosceles triangles that were tilted to mirror eyes.

Before much could be planned, a ramp had extended itself as the doors opened. An almost ominous mist escaped the opened door as they waited for something to walk through. A team was dispatched to investigate the interior of the ship. As they approached the door, its size was enormous, with the ceiling held at least twenty feet from the floor. One of the C-Sec agents couldn't help himself as he commented, "I'd hate to see whoever built this thing when it's angry."

A fellow agent added, "I'd hate to see what could cause the damage on that ship."

"Quiet down!" Yell there sergeant. Continuing through they found several destroyed panels and scorch marks from internal explosions. Of the few doors they saw, most were locked or damaged. As the team moved deeper within the alien vessel, a low growling started to echo down its halls. Soon enough they encountered a strange metal creature. The black machine looked like a puma or jaguar with silver missiles attached to its hips and the same strange purple triangular symbol, adorn on the ship, on its shoulders.

Its red menacing eyes stared at each of them as its fangs seemed ready to sink into them. Instead of attacking, the metal cat walked off deeper into the ship. After a few steps that echoed throughout the halls, the machine stopped and turned to look at them. The machine seemed to be waiting for them to follow it. "Creepy."

"If we're lucky, this thing will lead us to survivors."

"Or a trap…"

The strange cat machine continued to lead them through the vessel but soon the C-Sec agents noticed the lights behind them were going off after a while. Now they had to place their live into the paws of this unknown machine. Eventually the machine stopped at an opened doorway but the room was pitch-black. With the C-Sec agents behind it, the machine suddenly bolted into the room. Unlike before when it made noises with each step, it didn't even make a sound as it ran off. A few seconds after the machine disappeared, the lights in the room started to come back on. Row by row, the room was illuminated fully revealing a mass number of vehicles; jet, tanks, cars, trucks, and several others of unknown design.

Suddenly one of the larger jets, a large grey tank and a blue SUV activated. The purple and teal jet unhooked from the docking arms that held it suspended close to the ceiling as the hover tank and SUV moved around the other vehicles. Just as suddenly, two ramp ways opened up as the three vehicles left through. "Citadel Security, this is the investigation team. We have three vehicles leaving the alien ship. Repeat, three vehicles are leaving the ship!"

Soundwave had plotted three different routes for them to travel so they could enter the area called the Presidium. Megatron and Slipstream drew the attention away from Soundwave so the spy could stop at a secluded area and opened his doors. "Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy. Operation: Total Control." Inside were the Recordicons as they jumped out and entered the maintenance hatch. With that part of the plan in motion, Soundwave continued with his route to meet up with Megatron and Slipstream.

As the three vehicles had reunited again within the Presidium, C-Sec agents continued to monitor them closely as they maintained weapons on them. A voice soon shouted from the tank as it yelled, "Decepticons, reveal yourselves!"

A strange noise started to come from the six-winged purple and teal jet as parts started to shift. The jet pulled up then suddenly, in rapid successions, the jet's nosecone pulled in on itself as the rest of the body started to flip. As the jet came closer to the ground something strange was noticed by the C-Sec members and everyone within the vicinity, the jet was now changing into a humanoid body. As it continued to fall the rest of the figure started to become clearer. The flip continued another 180 degrees and now the form was in full sight. It looked almost female in form; the lips appear as though they were colored by lipstick, the torso was slender, rather petite in shape, including a rather prominent chest almost mimicking breasts, with five rather sharp nails at the ends of both hands and the feet looked almost like they had high heels. The helmet that covered the head was black as the red pair of eyes seemed to stare into their souls, ready to destroy something. What was unusual was the face had a nose, a feature not associated with machines. Before hitting the ground the underside of the feet activated thrusters that burned purple in color as it slowed the machine's decent.

The blue SUV also started to make a similar sound to the jet but this one was slightly higher in pitch. A pulse pushed the front end of the SUV as the back end moved forward and started to form into a pair of legs. The yellow rimed hood and the menacing looking claws were now a torso of this strange metal being. The arms now pulled themselves out from the form as hands pulled themselves out. The head pulled out of the body along with a missile pod to the right of the head. The pod had eight barrels with a ninth one in the middle. This one was blockier in comparison to the jet. The head did not have eyes, nose or mouth like the jet, instead the face was mostly covered by a mouth piece and the eyes were covered by a red visor in the shape of an elongated V. The helmet and face looked almost identical to the purple symbol all of the vehicles bore except the crown piece and the two 'horns' on the sides ended in a dull point instead of a pointed one.

Now the tank started to make a lower sound compared to the SUV as it too started to change as well. The cannon pulled up and moved back. The hover jets deactivated as the tank almost 'jumped' as the rest of the body started to change. The first thing to become visible was the tank's left arm which formed from two jets from the underside of the tank. The underside of the tank was now erect as the legs and feet stood their ground. The right arm now appeared with the cannon attached to it. A head was now visible and unlike the other, this one seemed different, almost like there was something sinister about it. The head was similar to the jet's; eyes mouth, nose and a helmet covering the head. The helmet though looked more like a helmet, flat on top and formed a T around the face. A majority of the body was still a worn grey, but part of the chest, the right shoulder and most of the left arm were red.

Several C-Sec members took aim at the three machines but they did as well. The jet was pointing its arms at them with the pair of missile shaped objects attached to its arms. The SUV's missile pod started to spin as purple light started to obscure the holes. The tank finally raised its left as it signaled to the others to stand down. The jet lowered its arms as the missile pod slowly stopped spinning. The blue machine spoke out in a heavily augmented voice. "Lord Megatron." As it spoke, the silver faceplate moved as though a mouth was behind it.

The C-Sec agents continued to hold their ground with their weapons at the ready. But the tank soon started to speak, "Please forgive them, we have been battling for our survival for so long they had forgotten how to be polite to strangers." Unlike the SUV, the voice sounded more like someone talking though a speaker then a synthesized voice.

The jet relied soon after, "Yes, do forgive us. We usually get shot at when guns are pointed at us." The jet's voice sounded like it belonged to a sexually appealing temptress, like an asari, and it apparently was aware of that.

Executor Pallin walked to a balcony accompanied by a group of armed C-Sec agents. "Why have you three come to the Presidium for?"

The tank humbly bowed, "We seek asylum. Our home, Cybertron, can no longer sustain life as we know it. It was all due to the accursed Autobots and their power mad ideals. That ship and the crew within are all that is left of our people that had not joined the Autobots or were destroyed in our civil war."

As Megatron continued to spin his tale to the organics, Rumble and Frenzy were arguing about who was in charge, "I say it's me!"

"What! Soundwave likes me bette' than you!"

"Then how come he said my name first?"

Frenzy smacked the back of Rumble's head, "He said Ravage's name first! You don't call out the leader in the middle. It's the first or the last one. And my name was last!"

"No way! If he wan'ed ya to be leader, Soundwave would have said it…"

Before either of them could continue with their rambling, Ravage pounced the two of them and pinned them under his paws as he roared into their faces. Ravage's eyes seemed to glow in a more intense red than usual as the duo could hear Ravage's missiles priming.

"Ok, ok! We'll stop, so kill the missiles already!" Ravage stomped his paws against the two one last time before shutting down his missiles. He jumped off them and continued on.

Frenzy looked to Rumble as he said, "Looks like he's leader."

Megatron had told Executor Pallin, all of the C-Sec agents and many ambassadors on the Presidium about their homeworld and how it was lost due to a war that left it unlivable. Pallin seemed to have questions about this story, "And what evidence do you have that these Autobots are as evil as you claim."

Megatron smiled as he told Pallin, "I have no physical evidence to show you but we do have video evidence. Soundwave, please show the organics the fall of Altihex."

Soundwave complied, simply stating, "Affirmative." From Soundwave's chest, the yellow rectangle started to project a hologram on the Presidium wall for all to see. Soon images of robotic beings similar to Megatron and Soundwave appeared, and they seemed to be fighting something. The image was paused as Soundwave coldly said, "Translation complete. Beginning playback."

The sounds of weapons discharging emanated from Soundwave but he did it in a way that they felt like they were actually there. Purple and red bolts flew from the sides as the screen finally approached Megatron as he continued to fire at his foes. Megatron shouted, "Decepticons, hold your positions! We need to give Thunderblast and the others time to evacuate the Neutrals!"

Soldiers were falling left and right as the screen turned toward the enemy. A horde of machines simply marched toward them as they relentlessly pushed forward. The screen turned back to Megatron as a voice soon spoke out, "Megatron, our position will be compromised soon. We need to fall back." It was Soundwave, he was play his own memories of the battle.

Megatron fired his cannon shouting back at Soundwave, "Just a bit longer…"

Suddenly there was a voice over the radio, "Megatron, this is the rescue team. We've run into a slight problem."

Megatron moved to cover as he asked, "What kind of problem?"

"We've got a handful of Neutrals who are protesting the war. They aren't moving from the room they locked themselves in. We're getting the big boys to knock it down. We need a few minutes to…"

Megatron then shouted, "All Decepticons, we hold our position until every last Neutral has been evacuated from Altihex!"

One of the troopers shouted, "Aerialbots in bound!" Three jet like silhouette started to fly toward the tower.

Megatron activated his comm. as he tried to call in reinforcements, "Starscream! This is Megatron. We need air support over at the Northern sector. We need those aerialbots shot down!"

A voice soon replied, "I'm sorry Megatron, our forces are pinned dealing with attacks in the Eastern and Southern blocks. Even if we wanted to, our seekers would be shot down before they could reach you."

Megatron turned around as he shouted, "Decepticons, take out those aerialbots! Protect the tower no matter what it takes!" Despite their efforts, the jets managed to hit the tower with a single rocket. Megatron stopped firing as he tried to get a hold of the rescue team, "Thunderblast! Thunderblast respond! That's an order!"

Soon they heard coughing coming from the comm. channel as Thunderblast replied, "…I'm…I'm fine. The others aren't so lucky."

Megatron started to walk toward the tower telling her, "Hold tight, we're coming for you."

Thunderblast though stopped him, "No…no…I'm trapped under a beam and…and I'm near the roof. There's no time for you or anyone to help me now. Save the others. Get them out of here alive."

Megatron didn't seem like he wanted to accept it, "Don't speak such nonsense. We're coming…" But Megatron was interrupted by the roar of engines as the aerialbots came around for a second pass. This time they fired off more rockets as they were targeted toward the glass panels near the roof. The rockets crash through as a series of explosions followed a few seconds after and Megatron shouting, "Thunderblast!"

As the Recordicon trio moved closer to their objective, Frenzy started to blast holes into the walls to pass the time. But every hole he made was almost instantly repaired by strange green bugs with electronics on their backs. Frenzy shot a few of the one trying to repair the holes but more just kept coming with more supplies. Even though this annoyed Ravage, he did take into account this rather unique discovery that these worker creatures could somehow mass produce resources and themselves. Ravage gave Frenzy a warning roar to get him back to following his lead.

Reaching the core of the station, Ravage was the first to walk into the large circular room as Rumble and Frenzy fought over who would be next. Within the confines of this massive room was a giant machine that was cloning the insect workers and was taking in particles and gases from the nebula to construct the material they saw before. With no visible defenses around, Rumble and Frenzy got to work granting Soundwave remote access to the station. "What gives?"

Rumble ran into the same problem too, "It looks like the only way to control the station is to control these bugs. All that matters is we get the station under Soundwave's control."

With a few quick adjustments the new clones now had a small Decepticon insignia branded onto their backs where their packs were placed. Ravage reported to Soundwave that they have gained access to the core and have transferred control over the workers who run the station to him. Soundwave signaled to the team to return to the Nemesis. More keepers were soon produced, all under Soundwave's direct command, ready to serve the Decepticon cause.

With the Normandy within the hangar of the Ark, some of the crew started to spark up conversations with some of the Autobots. Grunt was already talking with those like mind, "So you all turn into trucks and stuff?"

"Me Grimlock no truck. Me Grimlock badass."

Grunt could only laugh at the grammar impaired robot, "If you want to be a badass you should transform into something badass instead of some stupid truck." Grunt activated his omni-tool and pulled up an image he found while searching the extranet. "Here. This is calling a dinosaur. Giant ancient earth lizards." The image Grunt was displaying the image of a tyrannosaurus rex.

Grimlock and the other Dynobots looked at the small orange hologram as it spun around. "Me Grimlock—like." Grimlock took the small scan as he body configured itself to the new altform. After the reconfiguring was complete, Grimlock tested the new transformation. His fists slammed into the ground as his body pulled forward and started to close up. His legs latched together to form the tail as the 'wings' on his back formed the upper body. Finally the head pulled itself out of the body as flames seemed to tip the rows of sharp teeth and Grimlock let out a loud roar. "Now me Grimlock am king!"

Slug yelled, "Me Slug no like ugly form! No want dinosaur!"

Grunt started to fiddle with his omni-tool again as the image changed, "Don't worry, there's a lot more that look completely different."

In another section of the Ark, Vibes was visited by one of the Dynobots, the aerial ace of the small elite team, Swoop. "Vibes ok?"

Vibes smiled as the Dynobot approached her, "Yes Swoop, I'll be fine. As soon as Ratchet finishes with my refitting."

"Me glad to hear. You Vibes more careful now. Me no want lose friend."

Being the curious gossiper she was, Kasumi had to ask, "Vibes how do you know this fellow?"

Waiting for Ratchet to return with the new parts, Vibes obliged the curious, "Well not many would befriend Swoop because he's a member of the Lightning Strike Coalition and being a Dynobot didn't help him either. But I was newly activated when I first encountered Swoop in Iacon and I was waiting to meet with Sentinel Prime. Swoop's a rather kindhearted bot, despite the reputation of the Dynobots."

Swoop blatantly shouted, "Me Swoop no fighter. But if Grimlock fight, all Dynobots fight."

Kasumi had to ask the Dynobot, "Why are you so loyal to this Grimlock and the Dynobots?"

Swoop had to think for a moment, trying to think of the best words to use. "Long story. Will try to keep short. Long ago, before Autobots and Decepticons, Cybertron had caste system. All bots created for single purpose. No desires. Was boring. Grimlock fight. Was battler in illegal circle. We biggest fans and friends. Grimlock undefeated in circle. Always fight with honor. One fight against cheater. Scorponok. Rule was no change to altmode during fight. But Scorponok losing to Grimlock so he change and attack Grimlock with stinger. Grimlock still win fight but damaged vocal processors can't be repaired ever. Grimlock now talk like this now so Slug, Snarl, Sludge and me Swoop also damage vocal processors. Speak like him Grimlock so he no feel stupid."

Kasumi was very touched by such a story, "Now that is dedication to a friend."

Swoop added, "Well Sludge not have all parts in processors so not too hard for him."

Before anyone could speak again, a gruff voice shouted down the hall from the hangar. "Swoop! Come. New forms for Dynobots. Me Grimlock find one you might like."

Swoop turned back to Vibes as he said his goodbyes, "See around Vibes. Take care."