Disclaimer: I got nothing really overly clever to say so I'll just give you the next chapter.

Chapter XVII

Cybertronian Space
Kaon City – 18:44 Earth hrs.

Shockwave never showed the slightest hint of emotion in his entire existence, partly because his face consisted of only a single optic. Another partial reason was because he was cold, calculating and virtually devoid of emotion. The sight of a giant, mechanical roaming planet changed that in a nanosecond. For the first to in his existence, Shockwave was concerned. He'd gone back to the files stolen from the Hall of Records eons ago on every detail about Unicron. Much of it seemed so preposterous, like some ancient manuscript written by a religious fanatic. Shockwave was a scientist first and foremost and never believed in such things. He'd never believed in the existence of Unicron or Primus, the Thirteen Primes or the Fallen. It was all simple nonsense to Shockwave, until now. Shockwave was looking directly at the giant monster planet called Unicron, which had maintained a stationary orbit from Cybertron. It hadn't moved since the consumption of the Moon Bases, and it made Shockwave nervous. He wasn't the only one. Blitzwing had been with Shockwave in Kaon for some time. Ever since the appearance of Galvatron and the destruction of Starscream, Blitzwing felt deeply shaken. He'd been contemplating leaving the Decepticon ranks, maybe even siding with the Autobots. Galvatron would've had his wings for such a foolish defection. Surprisingly and unbeknownst to Blitzwing, Shockwave was considering the same idea of defection.

"That thing's making me nervous. It hasn't made a move since it ripped up the moons." Blitzwing said.

"Galvatron addressed that monster as Unicron," Shockwave said in a low tone. I've done a great deal of digging back in the Hall of Records."

"You honestly think that thing is what Galvatron says it is," Blitzwing said with a glance at Shockwave. "I've always thought Unicron was just made up. You know, propaganda, something to scare the Sparklings."

"I never once believed the stories myself, until Galvatron arrived and made scrap metal out of Starscream and Astrotrain. I've reason now to be concerned," Shockwave strode passed Blitzwing to the communication controls of his lab. "If Unicron can destroy two moons with little effort, it can do the same to Cybertron. I won't allow that to happen."

"What're you doing, Shockwave?" Blitzwing asked when he noticed Shockwave working on his console.

"What should've been done in the first place."

Autobot Headquarters
18:44 hrs.

"Wheeljack, aren't you finished yet? I'm not sure how much longer I can stand being without a body."

"Sometimes science calls for patience, Skyfire. You of all Cybertronians should know that." Wheeljack said. He was busy within the confines of the base working on building a new body for Skyfire.

"I may be a scientist myself, but I wasn't too keen on having my Spark transferred into Telatraan One." Skyfire pointed out, making it clear that his Spark was literally in the Autobot's early warning system.

"It was either that, or transfer your Spark into the Frankenstein-Bot. Remember how that worked out for Spike?" Wheeljack added.

The disembodied Skyfire was silent, and then said, "I take your point."

"Don't worry about a thing, Skyfire," Grapple added. "While we won't be able to salvage your old body, you can rest assured you'll be airborne again. Better than ever, even."

"Plus," added Hoist. "It was generous of the United States Government to provide the schematics for one of their most advance vehicles on Earth. Which one is it though? Space Shuttle…" Hoist trailed off.

"Space Shuttle Atlantis, I believe," Skydive finished while he was looking over the schematics. "I've studied the US Government's space program. NASA, I think it's called."

"Know-it-all!" Air Raid mocked his Aerielbot brethren.

Silverbolt was standing by as Wheeljack, Hoist and Grapple worked. He had taken in a scope of what they've built so far. It appeared to resemble a giant cargo module with a navy blue body and gold wheels. Silverbolt had also seen the schematics for the Atlantis shuttle that Skydive mentioned. He was impressed by the human's scientific ingenuity. Although none of the Autobots would ever catch him assume such a form, given his fear of heights. Silverbolt heard a beeping sound coming from Telatraan One. It was the telltale sign of an incoming transmission, but Silverbolt was astonished upon learning its origin.

"Guys, I'm picking up a signal from Cybertron, specifically from Kaon." he said. Silverbolt flipped the switch as the other present Autobots gathered. The video screen started as static before it steadily cleared, and Silverbolt narrowed his optics at who was on screen.

"Autobot Headquarters, this is Shockwave from Kaon City. Do you read me?"

Every Autobot present glanced at each other as Silverbolt responded, "What do you want, Shockwave? We're in the middle of something."

"So I see, but I can assure you that this is not a social call," Shockwave said from his lab in Kaon. "Cybertron is in the gravest of peril."

"From you? Yeah, we already figured that out." said Sideswipe.

"No, from this." Shockwave said, and then he switched the video to an image of the giant monster planet.

The Autobots gasped at the image and Sunstreaker uttered, "What in the Pit…?"

"I assume you Autobots know your ancient Cybertronian history. What you're seeing is a living relic from the very dawn of existance," Shockwave explained. "Are you familiar with the Chaos Bringer known as Unicron?"

Silence filled the base before Silverbolt said, "You're lying, Shockwave. Unicron can't be real and even if he was, there's no way that thing could've existed since the start of everything in this universe. It's impossible."

"Believe what you will, Silverbolt, but I know I'm right," Shockwave said. "Unicron has already destroyed the moons and it's only logical to assume that he'll destroy Cybertron as well."

"Why hasn't he?" asked Sideswipe.

"I don't know, but he will if given the chance. For the sake of our race, and in spite of my affiliation with the Deceptions, we must do all we can to prevent Cybertron's destruction," Shockwave said, checking back to make sure he wasn't being spied on. "I trust you Autobots can rise to the occasion. Shockwave out."

Again, there was silence among the Autobots, each of them glancing at each other. Then Silverbolt said, "Wheeljack, we're gonna need Skyfire up and flying sooner than later."

"I'm no miracle worker, Silverbolt," Wheeljack said. "I can't finish working on the new body with just Hoist and Grapple."

"You'll have more than enough help," Silverbolt said while looking at his team of Aerialbots before tapping the console. "Hotspot, where are you?"

"We're still patrolling the city," Hotspot chimed in through the speakers. "Pipes and Blaster are still being looked at by First Aid."

"Well, be ready to return to headquarters and to board Omega Supreme," Silverbolt said. "We may need to take off at a moment's notice."

"You got it, Silverbolt. Hotspot out."

Once the channel cut, Silverbolt thought to himself, Primus help us all.

Hotrod raced down a narrow street of the unknown planet in his sports racer form as he searched for Kup. The street reminded him of the streets on Cybertron, only not as rough. They were unquestionably smooth, unlike the mostly scorched and battle worn streets of Iacon. Oh, how Hotrod wished he was on Cybertron right now. He thought briefly of Arcee, and wondered if she had reached Cybertron by now. Hotrod raced onwards, his revved up engine echoing throughout the bizarre structures around him. Eventually, Hotrod came up toward, to his surprise, a lake and assumed proto form. The lake seemed to give off a unique golden hue, possible the reflection of the sky around the planet. Hotrod made the assumption that it might be acidic, until he noticed a small mechanical fish flopping about on the steel ground. He picked it up by its fin. It flopped around in his hand, and Hotrod gently set it in the like. The fish swam off unharmed, confirming to Hotrod the safely of the water. He scanned his surroundings thoroughly, and he became unnerved at the prospect that he was being watched.

Hotrod stood back up, placed his hands at each side of his mouth and shouted, "Kup! Kup, where are you," There was no answer save for the echo of Hotrod's voice. "Kup if you can hear me, give me a sign," Behind Hotrod, the lake began to bubble, and then the water shot into the air like one the Earth's geysers. Hotrod turned around just in time to witness an enormous mechanical squid emerge from the depths. And in its grasp, fighting for dear life was Kup. Involuntarily, Hotrod quipped, "Never mind!"

Kup was caught in the squid's tentacle but still trying to fight it when he saw Hotrod. "Hotrod, don't just stand there! Help me!"

Then the giant squid noticed Hotrod and flailed a giant tentacle down at him. Hotrod ducked and rolled to the side and quickly fired on the squid. The lasers bolts struck the squid on what could only be a thick, armored hide, but it still flailed its tentacles about along with Kup. Kup kept fighting with his own brand of laser shots and caught the squid low. In response, the squid tore off Kup's left leg. Kup still fought as did Hotrod until the squid violently tossed Kup away, tearing his right arm in the process. Hotrod watched as Kup was rag dolled out of sight before he felt the squid's tentacle snag him. Then the squid submerged into the lake and took Hotrod down with it. Hotrod was greatly thankful that the water wasn't acidic as the squid descended to the bottom of the lake. Moreover, the lake itself wasn't that deep, but the squid still had a decided home field advantage. Even caught in its grasp, Hotrod fired relentlessly on the monster. It occurred to him that the armored hide of the monster wasn't as protective as originally thought. Hotrod continued to shoot with a series of rapid fire shots until he caught sight of the beast's beak.

You've gotta be kidding me! Hotrod thought.

The squid began to pull Hotrod toward its snapping beak, but Hotrod still had a trick up his sleeve. Literally. He quickly morphed his left hand into an energized buzz saw and began hacking away at the tentacle that held him. The squid flailed that same tentacle to and fro and took Hotrod with it. Hotrod kept hacking away until he got free of the tentacle, but another tentacle caught him so he hacked that one too. This time Hotrod was free and fell to the lake floor as the squid moved down on him. It still had plenty of arms to use against the much smaller Autobot, and used them it did. Hotrod moved in between the tentacles as they slammed repeated around him and fired away at the squid. He hacked at any arm that came close, though some caught him frequently. Hotrod still hacked away at the arms and all the while fired on the squid itself. Four arms later, the squid caught Hotrod again in its grip and Hotrod was getting exhausted. Try as he might, Hotrod couldn't seem to best the monster. Then he noticed a possible weakness; the monster's eye. Acting quickly, Hotrod aimed and fired at the eye with a sustained blast. The resulting attack shattered squid's eye, which was revealed to be a robotic optic. Hotrod kept up the attack until the optic exploded into fragments. The squid roared in pain and let Hotrod go. It then sprayed an inky substance before swimming away. Hotrod shielded his optics from the ink and once the cloud began to dissipate, Hotrod swam back up to surface. As soon as he reached landfall, Hotrod collapsed onto his back and stared up at the yellow sky of the planet.

"I'm not coming back here for vacation," Hotrod quipped and then sat up. "Kup," Hotrod rushed to where Kup appeared to have been thrown and found his severed limbs along the way. Eventually, Hotrod found Kup face down and rushed to his aid. Hotrod turned Kup over and he looked to be out cold. "Kup. C'mon, old timer, talk to me."

For a moment, Kup didn't respond but then he coughed up water and his optics flickered on. "Where were ya five cycles ago?"

Hotrod laughed and said, "Um, held up in heavy traffic."

Kup laughed and asked, "You gonna fix me at some point or what, lad?"

"Sure Kup," Hotrod said. "Right away."

"That doesn't look much like a planet, Perceptor." Outback told the Autobot scientist.

Perceptor rubbed his chin with an air of uncertainty equal to Outback. "I'm questioning the accuracy of these readouts myself. They seem to confirm otherwise."

"Looks more like a floating island than a planet," Outback said. "An island/planet of… Junk?

Daniel came up to the two Autobots and Outback gave the human a boost. "So, that's basically the junk capital of the universe?"

Outback simply uttered, "Yep!"

The lifeboat more or less limped toward the island/planet of junk as pieces continued to peel away from the hull. Inside, the deck was trembling and the crew was struggling to keep the lifeboat stable. Pieces of the interior fell out of place, plumes of steam shot out from the pipes and the warning claxons sounded. Ultra Magnus pulled back on the throttle as hard as he could manage without tearing it out. It worked somewhat, as the lifeboat was starting to slow upon entering the atmosphere. Not by much.

"We're losing power in our starboard thruster. Transferring from port side to compensate." said Springer.

"Primary heat shields are down to fifteen percent and dropping," Arcee said. "We're coming in too hot."

"Activate the landing clamps," Ultra Magnus said. "All hands, brace for impact!"

"I-knew-it-I-knew-it-I-knew-it," Blur rambled. "We're-all-gonna-die-we're-all-gonna-die-we're-all-gonna-die."

In unison, all of the other Autobots shouted, "SHUT UP, BLUR!"

The lifeboat was now mere feet above the surface of the junk planet. The landing clamps were lowered and then… IMPACT! The lifeboat skidded and scraped across the surface, kicking and catapult random bits of debris into the atmosphere. Some of the debris kept going straight up and drifting into space. Inside the lifeboat, the crew was being tossed about violently into the walls, the consoles and even each other. The lifeboat was then sent sliding through the debris field. The landing clamps and whatever else of the hull was sheered off before the lifeboat slowed to a violent stop. The thrusters burned out entirely before everything within and around the lifeboat fell silent. Inside the lifeboat, the crew appeared to be knocked out of commission until Outback pulled himself up onto the console.

"That wasn't so bad."

Ultra Magnus was starting to stir and sat up holding his head. Apparently, he'd heard Outback's comment. "Yeah, another happy landing," Magnus commented and looked around, seeing most of the crew down. "Sound off. Someone say something."

Before long, Springer was the first to respond. "Remind me to give the auto-pilot a raise."

"I'll keep that on file, Springer," Ultra Magnus said as he helped Springer up. "Blur, Perceptor…"

"I'm still here." said Perceptor as he moved toward the console.

"Now-I-know-why-I-hate-space-travel. At-least-we're-still-alive." Blur chattered.

Springer looked around and quickly noticed the crew was short one member. "Arcee? Arcee, where are you," Springer rummaged through the mess. "Arcee, talk to me!"

"I'm here, Springer." Arcee was heard from underneath some fallen debris.

Springer was the first to reach Arcee and started lifting debris. Ultra Magnus, Blur and Outback assisted until Arcee was freed. She was in a fetal position and Daniel was beneath. Arcee had thrown her frame over the human teen to protect him from the debris during the crash. Daniel himself was starting to rise as Springer helped Arcee up.

"You okay?" Springer asked.

"Yeah," Arcee said with a nod and looked over at Daniel. "Daniel?"

"I'm okay." Daniel said with a huff.

Springer nodded. "Good. Hotrod would slag my tail rotor if either of you got killed."

"So now you acknowledge that Hotrod's alive?" Arcee asked, to which Springer just shrugged.

Ultra Magnus approached Perceptor at the console. "Perceptor, what's our status?"

"We have auxiliary power in life support, but all other primary systems are disabled. Main thrusters are offline," Perceptor ran down the situation and then trailed off. "I'm not detecting any life signs, organic or otherwise. But I am detecting considerable energon readings. Something's out there."

Ultra Magnus wasn't going to question Perceptor as he and the Autobots looked out the view port. They were on uncharted territory, on a supposedly hostile world smack dab between Earth and Cybertron. The Decepticons were likely still hot on their trail, Hotrod and Kup were missing and assumed offline and Cybertron was in danger of being destroyed. Ultra Magnus wondered if these could get any worse. Yes, it could. Well out of range and sight of the crashed lifeboat, a large number of robotic creature emerged from beneath the scrap. Many of the appeared as though they'd been built from spare parts taken from various vehicles. Even stranger, several of them were speaking in a bizarre dialect.

"Stop thief, no welcome wagon…" one of them shouted.

"'Ello stranger! Will that be coffee flavor fo' you?" another one said.

A third one stepped in front of the hoard, this one slightly larger than the others and twitching violently. "Offer expires while you wait. Operators are standing by."

Author's note: I didn't like how this latest chapter came out, but it was better simply abandoning it. I said I wouldn't do that and stand by my word.

Anyway, you've probably noticed by now that Shockwave has a somewhat more active role here than in the movie. (He was only seen twice, maybe three times, I don't know.) Clearly, he understands the threat of the Chaos Bringer enough to do something he'd never have done. Ever!

Hotrod's encounter with the cyber-squid hasn't changed much except for the beginning of the battle, and a nice little cameo from Wreck-Gar and his Junkions.

Let me know how I did and I'll be back soon.