Chapter 3: Chapter 2

Wow! Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I confess, when I read them, I literally ran down the hall to show my friend, squeaking with joy. Made my day! Also, THANK YOU for the constructive criticism. I really do appreciate it, and I'm going to work on using more spaces.

(Now that I've made you all sit through that, on with the show, I guess)

I own only the unrecognizable characters

Quadrant 12A:

Planet Ismaros

The city shone like a gem from the hilltop, a warm and inviting light beckoning travelers toward her. Her gleaming spires and silver domes rose proudly above the lush gardens and farmland below - a testament to hard work and stellar craftsmanship.

Five years previously, when the Allied Exploration units had discovered the planetoids to be hospitable to humans and Cybertronians alike, colonists had flocked to the site to form a kind of shanty town. As the months passed, combined use of resources and manpower (and mechpower) turned the collection of shacks and warehouses into a town.

The town became a city, and the city became a colony within two years. The settlers optimistically named it Eden, although certain members of the population maintained that doing so was about the same as christening a ship "Hindenburg II". In the slowly forming Human/Autobot Territories, Eden stood in for a Capital until something more official could be found.

Arcee stared moodily at the garden fountain before her, knees pulled up to her chin. Around her, music drifted through the air, Cybertronians and humans went about their daily tasks and chatted cheerfully as they passed each other on the cobblestone pathways.

It was peaceful, idyllic. Arcee almost wanted to purge her tank, but was immediately ashamed for thinking it. Peace for her people, for Jack's people. Wasn't that what they'd fought for all those years? And yet she hardly saw the members of Team Prime anymore, and only the humans who had ever been in combat seemed to know what to say if she brought up the War.

Jack had begun to spend several afternoons a week - consisting of twelve days on this planet, not seven - with Optimus Prime, learning by observation what he might be expected to do as an honorary Prime, should Optimus ever be called away.

Arcee wasn't exactly jealous, but if asked, she wouldn't say she didn't miss spending time with her human.

"What's wrong, Partner?" Jack's gentle voice broke into her thoughts.

Arcee grunted. "Who says anything's wrong?" she grumbled.

The human laughed and sat down on the worn stone step next to her. "Maybe," he said playfully, "because you're staring at the fountain as if you want to crush it, grind it into a hundred million tiny pieces, and blast it into oblivion?"

The femme's optics lit up at the suggestion. "Can I?"

Jack choked on a snort and cleared his throat in an attempt to sound dignified. "I cannot condone a course of action that might place another in harm's way," he offered.

"Oh come on," Arcee snorted, "Who's going to be in harm's way?"

The serious facade dropped. "Us, if Mom or Prowl find out we were vandalizing fountains," Jack widened his eyes and held up splayed fingers to emphasize mock horror.

Once his partner cracked a smile, Jack relaxed and leaned closer to her, serious once more. "Come on, 'Cee. We've been partners for three years: I know when something is bothering you!"

Arcee lifted her helm and gazed out over the terraced gardens and waterfalls of Eden. "Jack..." she whispered, "Are you happy here?" Jack looked confused until she clarified. "I mean, can you, with utmost certainty, look me in the optics and tell me that you are content to live like this?"

Ah. So that's what this is about. Jack thought to himself.

He understood why Arcee was asking. She had lived for so long as a warrior that the sudden peace was strange - jarring, even. It was the same for nearly all of Team Prime, really, hence why the Wreckers had volunteered to explore the asteroid belt: they could not see themselves settling down to a farmer or artisan's life.

Arcee mistook her partner's silent contemplation for uncertainty. "Look, I'm not denying that this place is a dream come true. It's everything our peoples could have hoped for when we left Earth. It's just that in only a few years, I get the feeling that life is going to get easier and easier...and I don't think that's a good thing."

Jack stood up and stretched, straightening his blue tunic. "You think they'll become lazy."

Arcee shrugged, frustrated. "Maybe, maybe not. Only Alpha Trion can see the future. I can only tell you what I see now."

"And what do you see?" her partner asked softly, placing a hand on her arm.

"I see a civilization living like those hairy-footed things that live under hills in Raf's book," she said with a bitter chuckle, "And if war ever comes again, no one will be ready."

They stood together like that, watching the setting sun's rays catch the falling water and turn it to living fire. "Optimus knows what he's doing," Jack murmured reassuringly, "I don't think he would let something like that happen." At that very moment, a blue mech came charging up the steps in a clatter of metal, earning some disapproving looks from others who had come to the gardens for solitude and contemplation.

"Captain-Darby-sir-and-Arcee-oh-my-Primus-this-is-such-an-honor!I-have-an-urgent-message-from-the-Prime!"

The partners stood in bemused silence before Jack asked, "Is he speaking some branch dialect of Cybertronian?"

Arcee shook her helm. "No, that's Blurr. He always talks that fast. But I thought," she directed the question to the messenger, "that you were stationed in Quadrant 12B?"

"No-ma'am-just-got-called-back-in,-I'm-to-run-messages-through-the-provinces." The young soldier looked a little crestfallen.

"I swear he's not using real words." Jack muttered.

Arcee smirked and asked Blurr for the message. He took a deep breath, and with a visibly painful effort, forced himself to speak slowly.

"The Prime wants you both to meet him at the archives. Something about sending a team to bring reserve energon to one of the 12C outposts."

"Ouch." Arcee commented dryly, "That kind of hurt to watch."

Nodding their thanks to the messenger, Arcee and Jack hurried up the rest of the stairs to a walkway several stories above the gardens. Arcee transformed into her vehicle mode, and with Jack clinging to the handlebars, drove as quickly as she dared to the Central Archives building in the heart of Eden. Several people had to jump out of the way and shook their fists at the pair, but they did not stop. It did not do to keep a Prime waiting.

Blah, mostly dialogue. I'm going to try for more action in the next chapter. How'd I do with spacing? Is this better? (also, I think the font style and size changed and I'm not sure how... Reviews make me do the Happy Dance! (If you've ever seen the way Snoopy dances in "A Charlie Brown Christmas", you probably have a pretty good idea of what the Happy Dance looks like.)