Vesper opened her eyes slowly as she finally drew herself out of stasis nap. She sat up feeling absolutely exhausted, then looked around. While her surroundings were still mostly unfamiliar to her, she understood that the events of the previous night were not a figment of her imagination. This caused her to sigh as she stood, then looked at her injured side. The patch job Ratchet had done had held nicely, and she smiled as she stretched, being mindful of the wound as she did so, before she walked out of her room and into the main room of the Autobot base. Only Ratchet was there, monitoring the systems, and he looked up as she approached.

"Good morning, Vesper," he said, his voice gruff. She said nothing about his tone, but instead gave him a polite good morning in return before she walked around, taking in her surroundings a bit better. A tall building with majority of the systems in the middle, she noted. There were scraps and pieces of equipment everywhere, and Vesper noticed that there were a few pieces of equipment that were horribly crushed. She frowned as she picked a crushed tool up, only for Ratchet to loudly say, "Epp epp epp epp!" as he strode over and took the tool from her hand. "Don't touch that, it's already broken enough!"

"Who broke it? It is an important medical tool that no medic – field or otherwise – can do without," Vesper said, her voice still calm, although she was a bit alarmed at Ratchet's tone, and she was also amused at his little verbal tic.

"Ugh, puh-lease!" Ratchet growled as he set the tool down nearby. "I already know that!"

Vesper sighed; it was clear that the medic was grumpy about being peppered with questions. So she decided not to say another thing about his medical tools and instead said, "I am going back to the Decepticon vessel that was carrying me."

"Absolutely not!" Ratchet whipped around and shook his head. "Those 'Cons might still be looking for you!" Vesper gave him a pointed look and crossed her arms over her chassis, then started to tap her foot. Ratchet tried to stand up to her, but then he sighed. "Oh, fine!" he scowled, looking away from Vesper. "But at least wait until Optimus wakes."

Vesper frowned. "The Prime?" she asked, her voice tentative. Ratchet frowned, detecting a slight waver that would not have been obvious to anyone else; it was a similar waver to the one he'd detected in Optimus' voice. "He… seems to be very unsure around me." She looked away and rubbed her upper arm. "I… do not think it would be wise for him and I to—"

"Epp epp epp!" Ratchet barked again. "Nonsense! You and he will go together."

Vesper shook her head. "I will not go with someone who does not like me! I—"

"I am sorry for implying that," Optimus suddenly said, shocking the both of them. He had a small smile on his face, and he walked over and held out his hand. "My name is Optimus Prime, and I am the leader of the Autobots."

Vesper looked sceptically at the outstretched hand, then smiled and took it. "I am Vesper, a data analyst. It is my honour, sir." Then she shook her head. "But I will not put more lives in danger for a simple code that happens to be lodged in my processor." She tapped her temple. "Please, sir, permit me to—"

Optimus shook his head. "Absolutely not, Vesper," he said, his voice low and concerned. "I will not permit the Decepticons to get their hands on you."

Vesper sighed and looked away, tapping her foot. However, she never got to say anything more, for she heard the sound of engines rolling, and the three of them turned around to see three vehicles – an olive green armoured car, a custom-painted yellow and black muscle car, and a blue motorcycle with the older teenage boy sitting on it – arriving. The three humans got out (and in the older boy's case, got off) of their vehicles and walked over. Miko looked curiously at Vesper, who raised her eyebrow as she regarded the three Earth natives.

"These are natives of this planet?" she asked, looking at Ratchet and Optimus, who both nodded at exactly the same time. "They are so small and… fleshy," she said, her tone not disdainful.

"This is Miko," Ratchet said, gesturing at the girl, who smiled and waved. Vesper nodded as Ratchet gestured to the younger of the two boys. "This is Rafael," he said, and Raf gave a small smile to Vesper. Finally, Ratchet turned to the older boy and said, "And this is Jack."

"Uh… hi there," Jack said, looking up at Vesper and smiling. "It's nice to see you up and about."

Vesper nodded. "I am taking it, then, that you three natives were present when my stasis pod was brought here?" she asked. Jack nodded, and then Vesper turned to Ratchet and asked, "And the three Autobots I do not know?" she asked.

Arcee stepped forward and held out her arm. "I'm Arcee. It's good to have another femme here."

Vesper took Arcee's hand a little more warmly than she had taken Optimus'. "Well met, Arcee."

Bulkhead then stepped forward, Bumblebee close behind him. "I'm Bulkhead, the resident Wrecker of the group, and this here is Bumblebee," he said, gesturing at the yellow and black Autobot. Bumblebee, in response, said something in his beeps and bops. Vesper understood what he had said – a simple 'hello' – but she couldn't believe that he had not spoken to her using his voice. As if sensing her thoughts, Bulkhead sighed and said, "His voice-box was crushed… irreparably damaged."

"My sympathies," Vesper said, putting her hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. Then she sighed. "Now that I have been introduced to all of you, it is time I introduced myself. I," she said, smiling, "Am named Vesper."

"Vesper?" Arcee said, frowning.

Vesper nodded. "Indeed. Do you recognise my name?" she asked, confused.

Arcee nodded. "You were an excellent data analyst at Iacon, from what I've been told. I—"

"Iacon?" Optimus said, interrupting Arcee. "You are from Iacon?" he asked, completely ignoring the look that Arcee was giving him. Vesper nodded in confirmation of Optimus' question, to which he nodded and said, "I see," before walking away.

"Geez, what's crawled up his tailpipe and died?" Arcee said sourly. Her only response was a mere sigh from Ratchet, so she shrugged and continued. "I had heard quite a lot about you during the war, but I believed you offline when Iacon was invaded."

Vesper sighed. "I was not at Iacon at the time of its invasion." She shook her head. "I was… transporting a special code… and I still have not completed my mission. They may have extracted the code from my processor when I was in stasis." She shook her head. "That is why it is absolutely imperative that I get back to the Decepticon vessel that was transporting me to Megatron!"

Ratchet nodded. "Once Optimus returns to us, then we shall send a team—"

"Sweet!" Miko said suddenly, causing everyone to look at her. "So when are we going?"

Ratchet raised an eyebrow. "A team of Autobots," he said, putting particular emphasis on the final word. Miko groaned, but Ratchet ignored her as Optimus walked back out. Instead, he said to the Autobot leader, "Are you right to take Vesper back to the Decepticon vessel?"

Optimus nodded with no hesitation. "Of course." He looked over at Vesper. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. Vesper nodded, although she did feel her spark flutter as she met Optimus' eyes, and she quickly looked away. "Ratchet, open the Ground Bridge," she heard Optimus say, and then she looked up just as the bridge – a weaker version of the Space Bridge technology of Cybertron – opened, and Optimus stepped towards it. He stopped in front of it and turned to look at Vesper, who realised that he was asking her silently if she was coming, and she nodded as she walked forward. Then the two of them walked into the Ground Bridge, and soon found themselves at the site of the Decepticon crash site.

Vesper walked forward and looked around at the crash site. "This vessel… is a cargo ship." Vesper turned to Optimus to notice that he was looking down at the ground, his hands clenched into fists. "Sir?" she asked as she walked over, frowning. "Is something the matter?"

Optimus did not speak. Instead he slowly shook his head, then turned and almost ran away. Vesper frowned, but she said nothing. Instead she found her eyes lingering on his aft, and then she blinked as she realised what she was doing. She shook her head and turned away, heading back towards the crashed vessel. She stepped inside the door – which had been wrenched open; never a good sign – and looked around. Most of the equipment was damaged, she saw, but one computer was still online. How did she know?

Because there was someone standing in front of it.

Vesper suppressed a gasp and ducked behind a nearby metal sheet that happened to be jutting out. Her cyan optics took in every detail of the one standing before the computer as she peered out, and she couldn't help but notice what was on the monitor of the computer. Her optics widened as she saw the access code that was only supposed to be in her head, and she cursed the Decepticons. Like she had believed earlier, they had extracted the code from her head while she'd been in stasis.

"Lord Megatron," she heard the figure in front of the monitor say, "I have located the access code." She didn't hear the reply on the other end, but there was absolutely no way that she was allowing Megatron to get his hands on the access code that she had worked so hard to keep from the Decepticons. However, the access code would be pointless… unless they had the weapon that Vesper knew was hidden on this very planet.

"They have to have the weapon… that is the only reason they would be seeking me so badly…," Vesper breathed, but then she heard a curious noise come from the Decepticon in front of the monitor, and her optics widened as she ducked behind the sheet of metal again. "Oh no…," she breathed, not sure if she had been seen or heard.

"Lord Megatron, I believe that there's someone with me," the Decepticon said, then went silent as he was told something. "Of course, Lord Megatron. The codes shall be yours."

"I do not think so," Vesper hissed before stepping out, shocking the Decepticon and making him stumble back. "I will not allow that code to fall into Megatron's servos," she said, louder so that the Decepticon could hear, as she transformed her right servo into an energon blaster.

The Decepticon snarled at her. "You must be the Autobot data analyst that was carrying the code," he hissed, his red optics narrowing. "I was wondering where you were; Lord Megatron was… annoyed that you weren't delivered."

Vesper scowled. "I do not care about him. I just will not allow the code that was entrusted to me to—augh!" she cried as the Decepticon leapt at her and tried to attack her with a buzz-saw. She jumped back and turned her left servo into a blade weapon. Then she ducked underneath the buzz-saw again and slashed out at the Decepticon, scratching his shiny red paint that was only a few shades darker than her own paint job.

"You…!" the Decepticon hissed, shocked, as he looked down at the scratch on his chest. Then he looked back up at Vesper and yelled, "You ruined my paint job!"

Vesper rolled her eyes. "I do not care about your paint job!" she scowled as she pointed her blaster at him. "All I care about it—ahhhhhhhhh!" she screamed as the Decepticon jumped towards her, buzz-saw out, and jammed the weapon deep into her shoulder. Then the Decepticon pulled the buzz-saw out and grabbed something – Vesper noticed that it was an energon prod – from nearby, then jabbed her in the stomach with it. She howled in agony, her optics rolling back in her head as she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

The Decepticon smiled as he kneeled down next to Vesper. "Now that that is taken care of, I will transport you to Lord Megatron," he said, picking the unconscious femme up and turning around… only to get punched in the face by a very angry Autobot. He flew backwards, dropping Vesper on the ground as he did, and slammed into a wall. When he looked up, he said, "Oh for Allspark's sake, I—" but cut himself off when he met the blazingly furious optics of Optimus Prime.

"How dare you," Optimus hissed, his eyes narrowing as he grabbed the Decepticon's face. "How dare you hurt her!" he roared, picking the Decepticon up and throwing him out of the ship, punching a hole in the ship's hull as he did so. Then he moved to go after the 'Con, but he stopped himself as he heard Vesper cough. He immediately strode over and helped the femme to sit up as she clutched at her damaged shoulder. "Vesper?" he breathed.

Vesper looked up at him. "Op-Optim-mus…?" she choked, then coughed again. Optimus nodded, unsure of what to say, and Vesper smiled weakly. "You… need to er-erase… the c-code…" She shakily lifted her arm and pointed at the online monitor before her optics rolled back into her head and she became limp. Optimus gently set her down on the ground before standing and walking over to the code. A simple check revealed that the code had not been copied from the computer at all, so he quickly deleted it. Then he turned around and strode over to Vesper, who seemed to be very weak.

"Ratchet," he said as he opened a communication link to the Autobot base, "I need a Ground Bridge open." He then gently trailed his fingers along Vesper's cheek before hastily jerking his hand away. But he didn't say anything else as the Ground Bridge opened, and he gently picked Vesper up before turning towards the Bridge and heading into it.

When he returned to the base, Ratchet immediately instructed Optimus to lay Vesper on the operating table. He did so and stepped away so that the medic could see the damage, and a slight hiss escaped Ratchet's lips as he noticed that Vesper had lost an enormous amount of energon. The medic knew that he would not be able to replace her lost energon, due to their extremely low energon stores, but he also knew that he had to do everything in his power to save the femme.

"Optimus," he said, gaining the attention of everyone, not just Optimus, "I can patch her up, but we have critically low energon stores already… I may not be able to replenish what she has lost."

Optimus was mute for a few minutes. Then, "Vesper mentioned that the Decepticon vessel was a cargo ship."

Arcee looked between the Autobot leader and the Autobot medic. "That must mean that there is at least some energon remaining on board, right?" She looked at all of her fellow Autobots, then at the humans. "I mean, every decent cargo ship has—"

"Arcee," Bulkhead said, his voice gentle, "The Decepticons could have searched the wreckage first."

Arcee hung her head, realising that Bulkhead was right. "I'm sorry for getting all our hopes up," she said, her voice soft as she looked at poor Vesper. "Please, Ratchet, we can't afford to lose another Autobot."

Ratchet nodded. "I will do everything in my power," he said, his voice soft, as he got to repairing the unconscious Autobot femme.

Arcee nodded, then looked over to where Optimus had been standing before… only to notice that he was gone. She frowned, then looked over at Jack and said, "Did you see where he went?"

Jack pointed towards the area where the Autobot quarters were. "He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, then walked off… Is something wrong with him?" he asked, looking at his companions.

Each and every single person in the room – minus Ratchet and Vesper – looked in the direction Optimus had gone. "I don't know," Raf said sadly after a few minutes of silence.

However, there was one person who knew what was wrong with Optimus. It was the Prime himself. In his own room, he was sitting on his berth, holding his head within his hands. There was something eating him from the inside, but he had no idea what it was. All he knew was that, whenever he looked at Vesper, his spark skipped a beat and he felt fiercely protective of her. All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and tell her that he would keep her safe amidst this fierce war between Autobot and Decepticon.

A knock at his door startled him out of his thoughts, and he straightened up just as the door opened to reveal Arcee, Raf and Bumblebee. Optimus tried to smile at them, but he found that he was unable to, so he simply looked away instead.

"Optimus?" Raf asked, walking over and putting his small hand on Optimus' leg. The Prime looked down at him, a sad look to his optics, and Raf sighed. "You have to tell us what's bothering you."

Optimus frowned, but before he could speak, Bumblebee cut him off with his beeping, which caused him to look up at his Autobot friends. Arcee nodded in agreement, saying, "Bumblebee's right. There is something eating at you. This strange behaviour of yours is highly concerning."

"Please, Optimus," Raf said, drawing Optimus' attention. "We're all concerned for you."

Optimus felt his spark slow, and both his processor and his voice-box seemed to malfunction, as he had difficulty even thinking of any words to say, let alone force himself to say them. When he tried many a time to speak and failed to, he simply shook his head and looked away. This prompted Bumblebee to reach out, grab Optimus' arm, and beep something.

"I… I…," Optimus said, each time sounding like he had something lodged in his voice-box, "I cannot tell you… what I do not know."

"Wait," Arcee said, frowning, as Bumblebee released Optimus. "What do you mean?"

"I do not know what I mean!" Optimus suddenly shouted, resulting in the base going silent. Optimus, when he realised what he'd done, looked at the faces of each of his friends, his optics wide with horror and shock. "I… I am sorry for shouting… I just—"

Arcee raised her servo, then shook her head. "Don't explain. We'll just leave you in peace," she said. Then she turned to Bumblebee and Raf. "Let's go," she said, her voice completely monotone as she walked out of the room. Bumblebee chirped something before leaving, but it was Raf who lingered for a few more minutes before following them out. However, just before he did, he stopped at the door and looked back at Optimus, who refused to meet the boy's eyes.

"Optimus," Raf said sadly, although the bot didn't acknowledge that he'd heard, "I… Never mind." He turned and left, leaving Optimus alone with his thoughts…

And with feelings that he did not understand.