Please note that these characters belong to their original creators as do any songs used in this fiction, not me, this is just my take on what might happen enjoy and let me know what you think.

also i am still trying to fix any mistakes that i might have missed in past chapters (i.e spelling, grammar and so on)

The young Prime and his bonded watched as the platform carried a very relived Apache back to the surface and the open sky, "you think he'll start to relax a little more?" asked Sam as the last of Apache vanished from view. Bumblebee thought for a second then replied "maybe when he realizes that he can speak freely around you with out fear of breaking some kind of protocol used to separate ranks". Sam grinned slightly as he said "well it's a good job that I'm going to live for a long time because I don't think that it's going to happen over night or any time this century". Bee just laughed at his bonded's remark before he said "at least you know that you'll never have to deal with trash talk from him, could you imagine having to work with the twins on a mission again" the yellow scout shuddered as he said this. "you have a point there bee, though I think that the screaming and jumpy movements might get on my nerves first" replied Sam his metal form shaking as he laughed at the thought of the twins reaction to him since his little talk with them. Sam transformed still laughing and said "we need to get going if we're going to make this meeting with optimus, I don't really want to show up late for my first mission even if I'd be happier staying in bed with a you all day". Bumblebee transformed and pulled along side his bonded saying "this is just a briefing sam, we still have the rest of the day after it and maybe tomorrow before we have to get going and we can spend that time preparing any way we want to". As he finished speaking Bee's Avatar appeared in his divers seat and gave Sam a seductive grin accompanied with a small wink as if Sam needed a clue as to what he was implying.

Sam rocked on his shocks as he laughed back before his own Avatar appeared with a lustful smile as a reply. The two young bots sat there for a few minutes looking at each others Avatars as if they had never fully seen them before, how Sam wished that he could just spend his day's with Bee. The thought of holding his little Bumblebee in any form was almost to much for him to resist especially when Bee looked so cute and perfect like he did right now. Finally Sam was forced to brake his gaze and turn to the path ahead, they had a mission brief to attend and no matter how much he would have like to put it off for a few centuries Sam had to deal with it. As they drove to the Command Center Sam started to wonder what exactly it was they would be doing, Optimus had said that it would be a re-con mission but Sam knew little more than that. There was a serious doubt that the old Prime would be asking him to go looking for Decepticons for his first mission and Sam couldn't imagine Optimus not going with them given the chance that they could encounter a very pissed Megatron who would probably go into a psychotic uncontrolled rage if he found out that Sam was not only an Autobot now but also bonded to Bumblebee. "no not decepticons" thought Sam but if not them then what was it that needed the intelligence gathering abilities of three Autobots. Sam thought through all the possibilities that he could come up with, if the government had finally seen sense and asked for the help of the Autobots in some official capacity then that might make sense. Then there was the chance that this was some kind of mission to track some kind of terrorist plot or some other kind of covert operation that involved gathering information undercover.

These were all well and good but Sam got the feeling that such missions would have a risk of people learning that he was now an autobot. Of course if Lennox and his team were going with them that cut the risk as most people would be interacting with them instead of him and Bee but that still had the slight chance of his secret being exposed. It turned out that the more Sam though about the whole thing the less he was sure of any of the possibilities, in fact all he had managed to do was convince himself that most of what he had considered was not what was happening. Finally Sam thought to him self "so if it's not megatron or decepticons and it's not helping some three letter government agency with some undercover operation then what is it?". The question he asked himself unfortunately brought him back to the beginning of things meaning that for all his thinking and pondering he had only managed to go in circles with his thoughts. Fortunately his arrival at the door to the Command Centre broke the loop he had found him self in and as Sam and Bee entered the room the bot with the answer to his question was waiting for him.

Optimus stood over a console inspecting the readout from one of the city's systems, the old Prime looked over the information reading the details with great interest. When he noticed that Sam had entered he disengaged him self from the console and said "sam, bumblebee please follow me", Sam did not reply as he was still transfixed by optimus arm which was returning to normal. It was only when optimus moved that Sam's thoughts were no longer fixed on his arm and the memory of how it felt to interface with one of those consoles. Quickly Sam transformed as he followed Bee and Optimus into the Command Centre office. When Sam entered Optimus was already seated and Bee was waiting for him, "please have a seat sam" said the old Prime as he gestured to one of the seats in front of what had become his desk. The moment Sam and Bee were seated Optimus locked the door and said "I see that apache is not with you, I'm not surprised flyer's rarely like going underground for any length of time". Sam smiled slightly and replied "yeh he didn't like the idea of being underground so I told him that I would fill him in on the details of our mission after the briefing". The old Prime let out a soft sight then said "first of all I want you to know that I wanted your first mission out of the city to not be your first mission as a commander but unfortunately it seems that fate has other plans". Sam remained silent but curious as Optimus continued "as you know the city was infiltrated and those tick devices planted in our commutation system what you do not know is that simmons now has a lead about them". The Autobot leader looked first at Sam and then at Bee before he said "simmons has tried to get information for some time about all this but it was only recently that he was able to get anything, his information shows that the ticks were planted by a company that's after autobot technology and his contact will only give him the full details if he meets with them in person".

Guessing where this was going Sam said "and that's where we come in he wants us as an escort along with some troops", "not exactly" replied Optimus. A deep sigh interrupted his speaking as a look of concern crossed the old Primes face "simmons contact believes that there is a spy here in autobot city and if any of the troops stationed here were to go with simmons then this spy might be alerted, so as you can see only autobots can go with him and he wants bots trained in scouting and espionage". Sam's mouth moved to make words for a second before he said "I can't believe that someone here would be a spy optimus you've worked with them for far to long, I mean lennox and epps are like brothers to the autobots and the rest were checked out by the pentagon before being assigned to nest". "I know sam" replied Optimus "but simmons is sure about his contact, he's sure about the information and there's also the fact that all his other contacts have been silenced in one way or another". The Autobot leader let out another deep sigh then continued "I've discussed the matter with lennox and he also believes that someone in the city is working for an outside party as it's the only way that the ticks could have been smuggled past our security checkpoints, we must face the fact that we have been compromised and as such the absence of any troops would raise suspicions". Deep in his spark Sam knew that Optimus was right, this was the only thing that made sense. Whoever had planted the ticks had someone on the inside and they would pass the information on to who they were working for and then whoever was behind this would disappear back into the shadows. "ok optimus, so we're going hunting for the people behind this and once we have them we can get the spy here, does simmons have a meeting set up with his contact or is he waiting to set one up?" asked Sam.

"simmons is waiting for his contact to send him the information about their meeting, he expects it to be here some time in the morning; so if your sure about doing this sam you all should get plenty of rest before you get going" replied Optimus. "do they know about sam?" asked a worried Bumblebee, "we simply do not know" said the old Prime "so I'm issuing a cover story about you going to a meeting with simmons as part of his work on human autobot relations". Something in Sam's spark reacted to the look on Optimus and before he knew what he was doing he was saying "so we're com silent on this mission until we have all the information", the old Prime looked at him slightly stunned then replied "yes that's right". A quick glance at Bumblebee followed this then Optimus added "it seems that the connection between you two has given you a far deeper insight into one another than I expected, I wonder just how much the line between you two has been blurred by your bonding?". Both Sam and Bee looked at each other for a second before replying in unison "we don't really know", Optimus let out a loud laugh before saying "it also seems the twins have some competition". The laughter was joyful but also brief as the weight of the situation forced it out of the room leaving them in an uncomfortable silence. Sam was the first to break it when he asked "so I guess we'll see you before we leave then when we get back?", the old Prime simply nodded at him before he replied "we shouldn't tip our hand to whoever is watching us". "I'm ok to tell my family aren't I, what I mean is they can't be involved in all this as they weren't on base with the rest and I know that they'll keep this secret?" asked Sam. "if you tell them you must make sure that they know they are not to speak of it to anyone even each other" said Optimus, Sam simply nodded.

Once the briefing was over Sam and Bee left the office as optimus sat behind his desk contemplating the decision of his brother. This wasn't the way he had wanted things to go, he had hoped that Sam would have more time to get used to command before he headed out into the field but recent events had removed most of the options about dealing with this problem. The longer this security breach went on the more everyone was in danger and no matter how much he wanted to keep Sam out of this it needed a bot with the ability to work in the shadowed world of secrets and that meant Bumblebee or Apache. As both bots were fiercely loyal to his brother that meant getting Sam involved. All Optimus could do was hope that Sam was ready for this even though his past experiences told him that a bot as young as Sam wouldn't be no matter what. But Sam did have a few things in his favor, he had been born human and as such he had matured at a faster rate than the others who came before him and there was also the not so small fact that when he had been faced with saving his world and his friends he had risen to the challenge more than once even when he didn't want to. For the first time in countless years Optimus found him self asking Primus to lend whatever strength he could to the young Prime in hopes of bringing him home safe.

Once Sam and Bumblebee were out side they quickly found their way to Apache who had chosen to wait for them in the most open spot he could find. This part of the city was still awaiting construction and so far only a road had been laid as an indication that any kind of work was going to take place. Apache sat in his vehicle mode feeling the rays of the noon sun on his surface, it had been a long time since he had been in heat like this and he wanted to enjoy it. "apache" called Sam as he approached, the aerial Autobot quickly responded with "here sir" as the young Prime approached. Both Sam and Bee came to a stop near Apaches alt and transformed into robot mode, Apache changed to and soon three Autobots were standing on the far and unfinished edge of the city. For the next few minutes Sam explained the mission to Apache while Bumblebee continually scanned the area for any sign of intruders and surveillance devices. Once finished Sam asked "do you have any questions apache?", the aerial Autobot tilted his head in thought then said "there is one thing if I might ask it sir". "you know that you can speak freely round me apache" replied Sam, "well sir I was just wondering how I was going to keep a low profile in all this, my alt form isn't exactly something people see every day?" said Apache. Sam just grinned at him before he said "that's why I'm going to ask simmons to make a few arrangements for you, the first being that you get clearance to fly over wherever we're going as part of a military exercise".