Title: Holding Out For A Hero Bonus Scenes #7
Rating: NC-17
Characters/Pairings: Jazz, Prowl various others - some canon some not.
Warnings:
Universe: WW and G1 mix
Disclaimer: I, in no way, shape, or form, own the Transformers© franchise or the characters it contains. They belong to Has/Tak.
Summary: Prowl talks with his Guardian about the selection of crew for the Ark and lets slip that he's taken a look at the war with his battle computer.

HOFAH - Bonus Scenes # 7 – Shortly before Ark Launch

"So Prime is leaving his Fourth in charge of all Autobot forces?"

"Yes, Ultra Magnus should do well enough."

"And that logic center of yours agrees that it should be Prime himself leading this search for energy?"

Prowl fidgeted under his Guardian's knowing question. "No it doesn't. From the direct chain of command myself or Ultra Magnus should be the ones to lead this mission."

"You skipped Ironhide."

"You know as well as I that he does fine as Third here with Prime, but he would never leave Prime. After myself and Ultra Magnus you, Trailbreaker or Perceptor are the next best choices from the Command circle." Prowl shook his head. "It is not logical that the Head of the Autobots would abandon our planet for a questionable unknown length of time leaving the command of our forces to his Fourth. That I am being reassigned from Second of the Army to Second for this expedition makes little sense either. This move will leave Ultra Magnus with two new Sub-Commanders for the entire Army. And Ultra Magnus himself is the newest of Prime's sub-Commanders."

"So your attitude has nothing to do with what might be perceived as a demotion?"

"You know me better than that." Prowl frowned. "But a bot doesn't need my processors to see that logic says this move potentially leaves the Autobots weak while the Officers left behind get used to their new positions and learn how each other functions. It is not after all just the Army in general that is seeing Command re-structuring but the Special Divisions as well. Ratchet has already agreed to go and Prime has asked Trailbreaker to join the crew. He agreed as long as it wasn't as a Command Officer. And as you know Prime wants you as Third. If you also accept, then both Tactical and Op's will find themselves with new Command Officers."

"So Trailbreaker is joining. Who will he turn Command of Tactical over to?"

"He intends to turn over Command to his Second."

"And will his Third move up as well then?

"No, we have discussed that, but Overdrive is comfortable where he is. Ever since getting over his ego complex he has been a solid Third for the Corps. We are looking at options for a Second."

"We?"

"Though it's been vorns since I gave up Command of Tactical for the position of Primes Second, Trailbreaker and I still consult frequently. Tactical is a more open door unit than Ops is."

"Hmmm."

"So what about you and Ops? Do you plan on handing over Command and come or will you just assign a team to the unit?"

That's the problem Prowl. Prime has no idea how long this hop abroad may take. One vorn, two vorns, five vorns, ten. Without knowing that the variables are a bit more complicated."

"Hmpf. I am well aware of that. Logic says Prime is not organizing any of this correctly. We must accept that at spark Optimus is not a war leader. If we were at peace, he would be a great leader. But as it is, he hobbles his mechs."

Jazz's optics glowed behind his visor and he sat up a bit straighter surprised to hear criticism coming from Prowl of all mechs. "What is that about?"

Prowl sighed looking away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that…It's just… I…"

"Prowl?" When Jazz received no response he reached out, grabbed Prowl's chin and forced him to look back up. He studied the tactician for a moment and then he repeated his inquiry softly. "Prowl?"

Prowl cycled his air systems in a sigh. "Do you know I've finally taken a real look at this whole war?" Prowl shook free of Jazz. "It seems like a glaring error on my part that I did not do so before, especially having been Head of Tactical for vorns. And how many more vorns have I been Second and failed to do this? And I mean really take a look. You interested in what I discovered? What my processors and battle computer sims are telling me? In simple terms even? Prime has the strength to defeat Megatron. He has had several opportunities to deliver the final blow in fact. We Autobots in general have had numerous chances in various battles over the vorns to eliminate nearly all of the Decepticon High Command, yet we are held back." Prowl paused, then, frustration present in his voice he continued. "Prime doesn't have the ball bearings to do what needs to be done. He keeps letting Megatron go. It hobbles us. This war is not going to end with Megatron on-lining one cycle and saying: Oh I'm sorry, this was all a huge mistake."

"Prowl, you know it's not the Autobot way to kill."

Prowl glared at Jazz and the Saboteur could read disbelief and disgust in Prowls face before the tactician continued. "We kill all the time. Is it so much better to kill hundreds of lowly soldiers in battle than to take out a few High Officers? Is it better to kill the soldiers on a base who have been assigned to guard whatever it is you or any other Ops mech is sent in to destroy just because their officers told them to guard it? Is it fair to send battle units on 'at all costs missions,' sacrificing mechs for an objective that in truth will not assist us in ending this war? How is any of that helping end the war? Decepticon High Command cares nothing for their rank and file. And at this point cutting off the head is not the same as ripping out the spark. Maybe back in the beginning they would have been one and the same, but not after this many vorns."

"Prowl…"

Prowl shook his head turning away. "No Jazz, I'm sorry, I should not have said all that."

Jazz sighed as Prowl put an end to the conversation as he let his emotionless mask drop in to place and switched back to the original topic. "Hound received and offer to the unit. The twins as well."

"Those three come from your direct Unit Prowl and their receiving offers does not surprise me. Primus, half your unit should be receiving offers."

"Perhaps, but Ricket should have been given his own unit back when he was promoted to Commander instead of choosing to stay as Second to me. I'm turning it over to him."

"I'm surprised Ricket is not getting an invite to go. For a mini he's superb"

"I would have liked him, but no, Ultra Magnus will need good commanders and good units and mine is certainly that. Besides, he would have to take a demotion in rank for the unit. And he's not as easy going as Trailbreaker."

Jazz smiled, "Trailbreaker was probably delighted to give up the rank of Commander."

"Quite. Considering he wouldn't except anything higher than a lieutenants rank for this mission. If we would have allowed him to drop all rank he'd have been delighted. He earned his Commanders rank and took head of Tactical because of circumstances, but he never wanted it.

Jazz nodded his head. "Anyone else I know?"

"Quite a few. I already mentioned Ratchet, but Wheeljack, Red Alert, Perceptor also."

"Lot's to think on Prowl."

"I know, but don't think too long, Prime wants answers from his chosen officers and you're the only holdout. The Ark is nearly ready to launch. And either way you still need to choose the Op's team who will go."

"Well if Hound is going then I'll have to send Mirage."

"Yes, but that still leaves one slot in the team if you come and two if you don't."

"I'll have the answers to you before the third joor of next cycle Prowl.

"Thank you."

A/N on Bonus Scene 7 here: It has been mentioned that my referencing Perceptor as part of the Ark's crew is a G1 continuity error. To some extent yes this is correct since he is one of the many bots who "mysteriously" appear as part of the expanded crew. Sorta like all the "generic Decepticon seekers who all of a sudden disappear. Regarding the Autobots who all of a sudden are present in season two, the popular explanation seen in fan fic is the crew arrived from Cybertron later by insert your favorite method here. My favorite method, actually seen a fair amount in TF fan fic is they were indeed part of the original crew, just not on the bridge of the Ark. This usually places them in various other parts of the ship and it takes the original 19 some time to dig them out/gain access to those parts of the ship/revive them from transport stasis etc. I lean towards this theory as it makes more sense to me when trying to make sense of a 25-year-old children's cartoon whose creators didn't worry too much about continuity in the first place; this was just one big toy commercial to them after all.

Further justification for my leaning towards the explanation I use is to take a look at the ships Nemesis and Ark. The size suggests the ability for more crew. The Nemesis specs give her a full crew compliment of 200 Cybertronians, though she was "designed to maintain maximum combat effectiveness with a minimal crew." (So what exactly is minimal?) If we assume the Ark to be smaller than Nemesis, but larger than a "shuttle" -and she must be larger than a shuttle since it was shown in Beast Wars season 3 that she had carried her own shuttle- we can assume she could host a fairly large crew compliment. (So what is fairly large?) I fully believe though that neither ship launched with a minimum nor maximum crew. So there, in a nut shell you have my view on crew and where the new bots in season 2 appeared from.

So that's why Prowl tells Jazz Perceptor is going in the chapter. Besides, of all 19 season one Autobots, not all of them were on the bridge either. :)