A Few Days Later…The Ark…Optimus Prime's old office…

Prowl/Moonracer sighed as he put down the last data pad that contained Elita One's journals across the desk; Chromia was talking to Ultra Magnus over the comm. unit, "Just two femmes on security! Are you out of you're fragging mind! You'll need more than that if you are going to deal with Blackarachia… you aft-head!"

"Chromia that is the limit I am willing to put on Autobot City's security, I am already humoring Prime…"

Prowl bit his lip in order to refrain from shouting out loud, fortunately Chromia had no problem in making up for his inability to speak, "HUMORING PRIME?! HE'S NOT A SPARKLING ANYMORE!"

There was silence for a moment, then Ultra Magnus began one of his long lectures, "I realized that Chromia, but he did have a small temper tantrum a few days ago…though he…"

Prowl reached over to stop her from destroying the communicator with her gun, and then he quickly pressed the 'on hold' button,' "That slagging, fragging, pit-spawn..." she growled out.

She would have gone on, but he interrupted her, "Send him Stigma."

Chromia looked at him in confusion, he explained, "She's more useful there, than here…plus I need her to retrieve some plans, and she can 'borrow' medical equipment for Gadget."

Chromia was silent for a moment weighing the pros and cons of the idea, finally she said, "All right," while at the same time she thought, 'and as an added bonus it will give aft-head Magnus a processor ache.'

She turned off the 'on-hold' button, Ultra Magnus was still droning on, "That's why he needs a mature hand…"

Swiftly she interrupted him, "Okay, Aft…I mean Magnus, I assume you have already got Arcee on security."

"Yes," he answered, "She's on day shift; I just need another one for night shift…"

"Great," she said sweetly, "The femme I have in mind loves that time of day, her training is similar to Earth's ninjas…which makes her our spy, saboteur, assassin, and if need be communications expert; but she really doesn't enjoy that particular aspect of her training, it reminds her of her older brother."

"Older brother?" asked Ultra Magnus in slight apprehension; he knew the only time she sounded like that, he always ended up with a processor ache.

"Mmm… yes, but don't mention him to her," Chromia told him, "she considers him, and I am quoting her, 'a dishonorable stain on her clan.' Until he is dead as a turbo rat, she refuses to change her designation."

"What is her designation, and what does she look like?"

"Well, her designation is Stigma; she looks like a femme version of her brother but with no brats."

"Brats?"

Chromia, ignored the question and continued, "She has white and purple coloring, blue visor, and a mask. I'm certain you won't miss her…Oh, got to go, bye!"

"Chromia…" Magnus started to say, but she quickly hung up and looked over at her old friend, who stared at her with a half amused and half exasperated expression on her/his face, "What?"

"You could have warned him," Prowl lectured her, "I had a crash yesterday when I was introduced to her for the first time."

"Prowl," she explained, "I am furious with him at the moment… and I had two choices to express myself to him…Go over there and shoot him in spike plate again or give him a processor ache, which would you prefer I do?"

He sighed in agreement and shock, "I still can not believe that Ultra Magnus as well as Kup are treating a Prime like a sparkling! If I did that with Optimus or if my predecessor done that with Sentinel…"

Chromia chuckled mercilessly, "You both would have been fired and have you're afts handed to you. Speaking of firing, did you know I was passing Red Alert's office the other day, and guess what I saw him doing?"

"What?"

"Going thru personal records," she explained, "and muttering to himself about Prime not liking this one or that's a maybe."

He was silent for a moment, processing this tidbit of information, finally he said, "Prime is looking for someone to replace Ultra Magnus, he has lost his trust in him."

"And it couldn't happen to a nicer bot," she muttered, "maybe you should apply for your old position."

"Chromia," wearily sighed Prowl, "It's traditional for a new SIC to be appointed for a new Prime."

"Oh, to the pit with tradition!" she yelled, "I can't think of anyone better qualified, can you?"

"No," he reluctantly admitted, "But, certainly there is someone within the Autobots that is qualified to be SIC since my 'apparent' death."

She snorted in disbelief, "You better pray to Primus that there is Prowl, Rodimus is a great deal like Elita when it comes to tradition. If someone isn't found to replace Aft-Magnus and when Prime finds out you're still alive; he'll say frag with tradition and re-appoint you to SIC. Ah, well, enough chit-chatting… we got work to do!" She turned on her communicator, "Chromia to Stigma, could you please come to Prim…I mean my office? Prowl and I have a little job for you to do."

A cold, feminine voice answered, "Autobot Femme Stigma to Autobot Femme Commander Chromia. Acknowledge, time to arrival…6.8 seconds."

As they waited for the femme to arrive, Prowl thought over Chromia's words, 'She's right, Prime will do it…but I despise when an eons tradition is broken! There has got to be someone else!'

Prowl's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and Chromia's cheerful greeting, "Ah, Stigma! Mech-girl and I have a little assignment for you…

Sundown…Autobot City…

Ultra Magnus waited patiently with Red Alert and Arcee in front of the gates to Autobot City.

"She should be here any min…AAAGH!" shouted Ultra Magnus as he felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped in surprise. All three turned around and then stared in shock at the white and purple female version of Soundwave minus he's cassette case; she also appeared to be wearing two swords behind her back.

"Autobot Femme Stigma," she stated unemotionally, "Reporting as ordered."

Dead silence, then Red Alert yelled, "It's a femme conspiracy!"

As Arcee tried to calm him down, Ultra Magnus rubbed his forehead in pain, "Thank you so much, Chromia," he sarcastically muttered, "I don't have to time to deal with this!"

Watching from his office window, Rodimus Prime and Marrisa Fairborne were laughing themselves silly, finally Rodimus said, "Maybe this will teach him to pay attention to Chromia's reports!"

Marrisa giggled as she told him, "I doubt that Roddy, I truly doubt it."

Meanwhile back at the Ark…Ratchet's Office…

Gadget tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk, waiting for her comm. call to go thru…finally an old, green mech appeared on the screen. "Gadget!" he told her cheerfully, "how are you? I am sorry to hear about your parents."

"Thank you, but Mom is still alive, she just went into a deep status lock," lied Gadget, "Med-One, the reason I am calling you is to cash in that huge favor you owed Dad."

Med-One frowned thoughtfully over the view screen, "What do you need?"

"These supplies on the house," she told him as she sent her list to him, "No questions asked and tell no one what I am ordering."

Med-One looked over the list that he received from her, "Gadget, what are you into? You have never…"

"NO QUESTIONS!" she snapped out, and then sighed wearily, "I'm sorry, I am just under a great deal of stress right now."

"Gadget," he told her as he reminisced, "You are definitely your father's daughter. I'll get this for you right way, who is picking it up?"

"Lancer," she informed him, "She's on her way to Cybertron tomorrow."

"Very well," he said, "Oh, Gadget…this puts me even with your father. No more favors."

As he signed off, Gadget banged her head on the desk in frustration, suddenly she heard someone coming into the room. She looked up, and glared at the orange and white femme, "It's about time, you got here!"

"Hey," Lancer protested, "I got here as soon as I could, been cleaning out rumble in Prowl's old office so he won't have to share with Chromia. Now, what do you need from Cybertron?"

"Pick up a delivery at Meds Supply Warehouse, but before that… I need you to do a little grave robbing," she informed Lancer.

"Grave robbing?! What the slagg?!"

"Sit your aft down," Gadget growled out, "And I'll explain!"

As soon as Lancer sat down, Gadget put a medium, metal crate on her desk, "I need you to rob Prowl's grave and see if his interface rod is intact. If it is, place it in here and bring it to me…if not, bring me the largest pieces of his shell left and I'll make him a new one."

Lancer stared at her in shock, "You want me to touch he's…he's…"

"Interface rod," interrupted Gadget, "Also known as a spike. On Earth, it's known as…"

"TMI!" yelled Lancer waving her hands in protest.

"Oh, don't be such a sparkling!" she chided, "It's not like you're a..." She stopped as a thought occurred to her, "You're a virgin aren't you?"

"Well, technically…yes," Lancer reluctantly admitted.

Gadget's mouth dropped in shock, "Then all of those stories…"

"I never got to third base, as the humans would say," she said with embarrassment, "Not even second! Every time I find a mech I wanted to interface with, the Decpti-creeps would attack!"

Gadget stared at her in amazement; finally she came to her senses and asked, "Do you know what one looks like it?"

"Uh, no" she admitted, "Why do you need it anyway, can't you build him a brand-new one with Earth metal?"

"No," she explained, "It, as well as the rest of his old body has MSC…or Metallic Sequence Coding; it's similar to a human's DNA. If he wants sparklings one day with some of his characteristics he will need an interface rod with his MSC." She paused for a moment, "Lancer, do you even know how an interface rod works?"

"Err," she mumbled, "Sort of."

"Sort of, wonderful!" she grumbled, "Just what I need this evening, to explain rods and sockets to a fully grown femme!"

An hour later in the Ark…Prowl's office…

Prowl sighed thankfully that he was back in his old office, and he didn't have share anymore with the hot tempered femme leader. 'Though,' he mused as he looked around at his beat up desk and cabinets, 'this room as seen better days; like me.' Sighing again, he decided to go for a walk around the Ark to clear his processors.

As he walked along the hallways, and gazed into the empty rooms, his mind wanders to the past. He was starting to go past med bay when he ran into Lancer, "Sorry," he told her.

"No problem," she said as she flushed a deep red, "Gotta go and pack, later!"

He raised a brow at her response, then shrugged it off and returned to his thoughts; finally he reached the entrance to the Ark. As he walked out to stare at the starry night, he muttered out loud, "I am too old for this nonsense! Nearly all of my old friends are with Primus or moved away! Chromia thinks I should slag tradition, re-apply for my old position, and put up with the fragging nonsense that comes with it once again!"

"Isn't there a human saying, you're only as old as you feel?" asked a feminine voice behind him.

Startled, he turned around and guardedly watched as the beautiful silver femme approached him. Ever since he 'woke up' and met her; his spark for some unknown reason constantly pounded in his chest whenever he saw her, "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Silverstar shrugged as she responded, "Found my brothers' stash of high-grade," she handed Prowl a glass of it; "I believe we need it more than they do, so I've been passing it around."

Prowl's lips quirked in amusement, as he carefully took a sip, "They will be quite…annoyed with you I assume."

She chuckled with glee, "Yes, they should have arrived here before I did! As a result, they will find no high-grade for their tanks when they show up tomorrow!"

It was Prowl's turn to chuckle, "How long have you been Chromia's SIC?"

"An Earth year," she answered as she looked up into the sky, "Before that, when Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Ratchet died…you had to be there! Chromia and Moonracer went crazy, and Elita-One…she cried out just once…then she became colder than Earth's poles! She made me SIC until Chromia either died or straighten up; then she had us set course for Astir."

"Astir? Isn't that the planet with…?"

"Questionable research practices and illegal experiments," finished Silverstar, "That's the one, and it took us a slagging while to get there! Elita had us stay on the ship, and she took a shuttle down there alone." She bitterly laughed, "I was an idiot! I should have realized she wasn't in her right mind! By the time she left, Chromia got her processors back on line and Moonracer committed suicide. I told Chromia what happened since she went bat slag crazy, she raced down there with me as well as Gadget. By the time we found her on that pit of a planet, it was too late…she become Blackarachia. The rest you know…we took her back to the ship, she escaped, Chromia became femme commander."

"It wasn't you're fault," he assured her; "You were inexperienced and manipulated by an expert…Elita has always been like that. What she wanted, she got…the only part of her I didn't like, it reminded me too much of the Decepticons."

Silverstar snorted in disbelief, "The rest of the femmes have been saying that, but it's hard for me to believe," she pointed to her spark, "in here."

"I know how you feel," Prowl muttered in agreement as he stared up into the sky.

They were silent for a moment, finally Silverstar informed him, "I overheard what you said earlier when I came out here, do honestly feel you're too old for this fragging nonsense as you call it?"

"Yes," he replied as turned his attention back to her.

"Is that how you honestly feel, or is it the grief as well as anger you're feeling over you're friends' deaths; Elita's madness; and Ultra-Magnus as well as Kup being lug nuts over Prime?"

He didn't respond for a moment, finally he thoughtfully said, "I don't know."

Elsewhere in the Ark…Prime's old office…

Chromia cheerfully sipped her high grade as she reached for another dart, she mused to herself, 'I can see how Ironhide loved this human game! Great stress reliever when you're not allowed to shoot the mech who is ticking you off!' She carefully aimed the dart at a picture of Ultra Magnus's aft that was posted on the wall.

Suddenly, her desk communicator activated, "Ultra Magnus to Chromia!"

She sighed, and reluctantly put down her dart, "Chromia here, something wrong Magnus?"

"You could have warned me about Stigma! It took Arcee as well as myself hours to calm Red Alert down!" he bellowed.

"I did warn you," she innocently told him, "It was in my report, that Stigma was Soundwave's younger sister. You did read my report, didn't you? I sent it just before we landed on Earth."

Ultra Magnus sputtered for a moment, and then he cut communication. Chromia chuckled gleefully, "Ultra Magnus if I am right, you're aft is going to go down hard! The question is who is going to do it; Prime, Prowl, or moi?"

Meanwhile back in Autobot City…Dinobot Roper Room…

Swoop gulped fearfully as Grimlock pulled him to one corner of the room, the rest of the Dinobots pretended that they weren't listening in, "Me Grimlock," he told him, "say to You Swoop that Me Grimlock have been trying to talk to you for days!"

"Me Swoop sorry, me been busy!"

Grimlock snorted with disbelief, "Busy yes, in avoiding Me Grimlock and other Dinobots. When You Swoop not with Him First Aid; You Swoop with Her Gadget and Her Boomer...Me Grimlock wondering what you and they up too?"

"Me Swoop can't say!" he guiltily said, "Me Swoop working on big, secret project with Her Gadget and Her Boomer!"

"Me Grimlock want to know something!" he bellowed, "Him Swoop, Her Gadget, and Her Boomer not building another Dinobot are you?!"

"No, but Me Swoop can say this," he reluctantly admitted, "They Autobots will be surprised and happy! Him Prime will be very happy, Him Ultra Magnus and Him Kup will not be too happy!"

Grimlock was silent for a moment as he processed this, finally he asked, "Why Him Prime be happy, and Him Ultra Magnus as well as Him Kup not too happy?"

"Him Ultra Magnus and Him Kup going down," he stated happily as he remembered Prowl's reaction following the confirmed information on the current SIC's recent behavior as well as Kup's, "Him Ultra Magnus is going to get a long talk! Him Kup will too! Prime will be very happy about that!"

Grimlock was silent once again, "Mm," he grumbled, "Me pay ticket to see that! This big, secret project better be worth You Swoop's time away from Us Dinobots!"

"It will," he reassured his commander, "Me Swoop promise!"

The Next Morning…on the Take off field near Autobot City…

"Moonracer," said Rodimus as he approached the purple femme with Marisa Fairborne on his shoulder, "I was hoping to see you before I left, how are you?"

*I'm holding up, Prime,* signed Moonracer.

"Okay," he drawled out and then whispered to Marisa in confusion as he moved away from her, "Why isn't she speaking?"

"Gadget says she's doing it unconsciously," she replied and then narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the femme, "But, I got this feeling that is not the actually reason."

"We're on the same wavelength," he muttered, "Do me a favor, keep..."

"Keep an eye on her and the rest of the femmes that are at the Ark?" she finished his question, "Don't worry I will, and Swoop too. Whatever is going on there… no one else seems to know about it!"

"Grimlock did tell me that they are working on some big project," he thoughtfully said, "Swoop told him that I'll be happy about it as well as the rest of the Autobots, but Kup and Magnus will not."

"Mmmm," she muttered as she tapped one of his sensitive wires on his neck, Rodimus tried not shudder in desire, but he was unsuccessful. Marrisa looked at him in concern, "Are you all right?"

"Yea-yeah," he stuttered out.

Marisa frowned in thought, and then experimentally she rubbed the same wire; Rodimus gasped, his optics went white in ecstasy, "M-Marisa," he told her softly as he blushed, "Please don't do that!"

Now it was Marissa's turn to blush as she realized what she was doing to him, "Sorry, I didn't realize what I was doing."

Fortunately for them, only three Cybertrions noticed the exchange, unfortunately one of them was Blackarachia who was spying on them in the forest. Transformed in her spider form, she narrowed her red optics and sighed, 'He is as soft on organics as his father!' she thought with disgust, 'What to do, what to do…he will not accept anyone else but her! This I know for a fact! Pity there is no way to turn….or is there? I'll have to give this further thought, for now I must save my son from idiocy!'

She was about to leave when she noticed something odd, while everyone else was watching the shuttle take off…Moonracer was looking in her direction! "I thought Moonracer was dead!" she muttered thoughtfully, "and why does that frown on her face look familiar?" She continued to stare at the femme for a few minutes, and then turned to leave, "She must have gone into a deep stasis lock when I escaped the ship."

Later that day…back at the Ark…The Old Officers' Meeting Room…

Prowl tapped the table in thought as he waited for others to arrive, finally he looked over at Chromia who was also waiting and asked, "He's in love with Marissa Fairborne, isn't he?"

"Yes," she confirmed as she played with a dart in her hand, "And I am certain she's in love with him as well. And before you ask, only the Dinobots have noticed it…I am really surprise that Arcee hasn't noticed, but she is Magnus's spawn..."

"Chromia," he interrupted her, "I am not certain…but I have a hunch that Blackarachia was there."

Chromia frowned, "How come I didn't notice?! I was her best friend!"

"Exactly" he confirmed, "While I was her friend, I was never close to her. And after reading her journals, I can safely say she no longer considers you her best friend."

She was about to ask why, when the other femmes came into the room, giving Prowl a look that they will continue this later, "All right girls and mech-girl, report!" ordered Chromia while ignoring Prowl's glare

Boomer sighed wearily, "I am making process on repairing my uncle's smelting furnace…but I need a new welder to seal up the cracks."

"I'll add it to the supply list," said Silverstar as she brought a data pad from subspace, "Anything else that needs to be on the list?" A chorus of voices answered her, "All right!" she bellowed, "give me a list of what you need and I'll see what I can do!"

Prowl pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I have a feeling I am going to regret asking this…but… Light Sisters, how are the repairs going on Telatron-1?"

The three white sisters; in contrasting colors of red, yellow, and green, stood up, "Slowly," they said in unison.

"The hardware is in almost acceptable condition," reported Red Light.

"The software though is faulty, and just about slagged out," informed Yellow Light.

"The only good thing is the energy supplied by the volcano," stated Green Light.

"Wonderful," muttered Prowl as Chromia slapped her face in frustration, "See if you can contact Professor Chip Chase, he should be able to help you. The last contact I had with him, he was teaching at Harvard."

"If he's still functioning," muttered Red Light, as she made a note of the name.

"Silverstar," growled out Chromia as she gave Red Light a stern look, "Please tell me Lancer left you some good news on security?"

"Lancer told me she has every hole, big or small, plugged up," reported Silverstar, "She thinks."

Everyone groaned out loud, though Gadget did add, "I'll say it again, why in Primus's name did Swoop chose this scrap heap?"

"There is more than meets the eye with this scrap heap, Gadget," Prowl told her with a smirk.

Everyone stared at him, finally Yellow Light asked, "What do you mean?"

Prowl didn't answer, but he continued smirking as he ordered, "Gadget, you're report."

"Everything is fine for now, the only thing I am doing is teaching Swoop since a certain CMO doesn't have the time or patience," she informed them, "And before you ask; I can't do anything with Prowl's new shell until I get those supplies."

"All right," Chromia said and then turned her attention to Stigma, "I am divided by two things, Stigma. You're video of Aft-Magnus's, Magnus's spawn's, and Red Alert's reaction to you," she waited until the laughter calmed down, "Or finding out why in the pit Prowl wanted the plans to Autobot City!"

Everyone, but Stigma and Chromia, stared at Prowl in shock. Finally, Prowl chuckled in amusement, "Stigma, did you retrieve the plans?"

"Affirmative," she stated as she retrieved the plans from sub space and handed it to him/her.

"I calculate that when Prime returns to Autobot City," he informed the group, "Blackarachia will attack the city, bring the mechs under her control by amplifying her hypnotic power, and put any femmes within the city in the brig. In order to do this, she will be studying these plans of the city."

Silence came over the room, and then numerous curses flew out of the femmes mouths; finally, Prowl called out, "Ladies, there is a way to counter this." Seeing that he had their attention, he brought out of sub space. "These are the original plans of the first Autobot City, they are similar to the plans I assume that one of Soundwave's," he said as he ignored Stigma's growl at the mention of her brother's name, "cassettes made a copy of from my office on Moon Base 1. However, the plans that were copied were missing one little detail."

As he spread the plans of the 1st Autobot City on the table, the femmes leaned over the table in order to find out what Prowl was talking about, finally Stigma pointed at a small section of the basement, "Here," she stated.

Silverstar frowned in concentration, "That looks like a secret door."

"It is," confirmed Prowl as he brought more plans from subspace and laid it out on the table, "It leads to this."

Silence once again reigned, finally Chromia commented in surprise, "Prowl, you sneaky son of a glitch!"

"You should put Optimus, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and your mate in the same category," he told her.

"How did you built this?!" asked Silverstar in amazement.

"The Earth made it naturally, Grapple and Hoist did make slight improvements as you have noticed," he explained, "They were also willing to have their memory banks modified so that it would stay a secret."

"Ironhide never told me that," said Chromia and then stopped as something occurred to her, "If he didn't tell me… that must mean Prime didn't tell Elita!"

"Exactly," confirmed Prowl, "When Rodimus Prime comes back we will keep all of the femmes here…"

"Not, Arcee!" interrupted Chromia, "She will tell her Daddy in an astro-second!"

"As I was saying," declared Prowl who was annoyed at the interruption, "When she makes her move, and thinks she has won…"

Stigma smirked ruthlessly underneath her mask and coldly stated, "Sneak Attack."

"Exactly," he confirmed.

Chromia mused over the plan, "It could work, but we will have to keep Swoop here; no sense letting her know you're still alive."

"I'll keep him, busy," vowed Gadget.

"Good," commented Silverstar, and then gazed at Prowl in admiration, "How in Primus's name did you and the others come up with this idea?!"

Prowl frowned thoughtfully as he replied, "Actually...they were the ones to come up with this plan and they never did tell me how they came up with it in the first place!"

It was Chromia's turn to frown as she said with curiosity, "Really? That's funnny..."

He grunted in agreement as he sadly gazed down at the plans, after a few moments he asked, "Stigma, why don't you show us that video? I could use a…amusing distraction at the moment."