A/N: This epilogue takes place about 5 of our years following the end of the previous chapter. Wanted to show a little bit of what has happened since Optimus discovered what has been going on.

One more thing: The names Astrum and Aquila as seen below are not OCs. They are actually the Italian names given to two particular canon characters. Not saying who, but you are very free to guess.

I have no further plans to expand on this, but if someone else would like to play in this universe, all I ask is that I be informed.

Iacon, Cybertron

"Hey there, Prowl."

The Autobot in question paused and turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. When he caught sight of the mech approaching him, he smiled slightly and nodded. "Greetings, Jazz."

The visored mech gave a nod of his own as he caught up to the Praxian. As he did so, Prowl continued, "Red Alert informed me you were on Cybertron, but I was not aware you were coming here to Iacon. I expected you would prefer to stay in New Polyhex."

Jazz smiled thinly. "Yeah, I didn't know I was coming here myself until about a joor ago. Wasn't sure I wanted to, really."

Prowl cocked his head slightly to the side. "Oh? Might I ask why?"

Jazz's head turned sharply towards the other mech. "You know fragging well why," he replied coolly, his visor glowing a dark blue. "After what you pulled on Prime during our recon trip here? Slag it all, Prowl! If I'd known what you were going to do with that information I gave you about Shockwave, I would've..."

"You would have what?" Prowl hissed, coming to a stop and whirling around so quickly that Jazz was almost knocked over by a doorwing. "Killed me? Told Prime? There was a very good reason I didn't tell you, Jazz, and your Spec. Ops. affiliation had a great deal to do with it. That and your loyalty to Prime also made you an uncertain ally." His optics narrowed. "I couldn't take the risk you wouldn't try to stop me from doing what needed to be done."

Jazz found himself slightly taken aback by the rage that blazed from the normally stoic mech's optics. "Prime wanted to negotiate with the leaders, Prowl. You knew that he was hoping to find a peaceful solution."

An unpleasant chuckle escaped the Praxian. "You forget, I was assigned to Sentinel Prime's entourage as a bodyguard during the riots that led up to the war, Jazz. He made similar 'offers' for peace talks to Megatron. 'Offers" that were actually attempts to ambush and kill him along with the rest of the Decepticon leadership at the time. Optimus Prime would never have succeeded in his attempts to make peace."

"Look, Prowl...," Jazz began.

"Jazz, do you know what Megatron was saying prior to that metal band being placed around his mouth?" Prowl asked. Without waiting for a response, he continued, "He was swearing he'd kill us all once he got in touch with Soundwave. That he'd turn Cybertron into a killing field of Autobots the moment he was restored to his body. Even after he was informed that no Decepticon would help him once they'd learned of his fate, and that his frame was gone, he still continued making his threats." Prowl shook his head. "He wasn't going to listen to any reason. The fact he came to Cybertron alone once he knew I had Darkmount proves that."

The Autobot saboteur looked away. After a klik or two, he let out a small huff from his intakes and looked back towards the Tactician. "Hate it when you use logic like that, you know?" A rueful smile appeared on his face as he shook his head. "Especially when I know you're right. Just wish I'd been warned, I guess, though I know chances were you wanted to make sure I had what the humans call plausible deniability."

Prowl raised a browridge. "Interesting term."

Jazz nodded. "Definitely is. Anyway," he said as they started walking again, "what did you end up doing with them?"

Prowl sent a sidelong glance in the other mech's direction, not answering right away. It was a klik before he finally replied. "Shockwave was executed two orns after you returned to Earth with Prime and the others. I couldn't take the chance he might regain his memories. Megatron is in stasis in his cell, awaiting Prime's decision on what to do with him. And if you could, when you return to Earth, do tell Prime that more than a few here are starting to get slightly annoyed by his delay at a decision."

"I will," the saboteur replied. "I kind of think he's still not really too sure what to feel about someone besides him ending the war."

And that, he thought privately, had been the hardest thing for the Earth team to swallow. They'd looked up to Prime as their leader, the one who'd lead them to victory over the Decepticons, and to hear it was Prowl of all mechs who'd done it, and not Optimus Prime...

Well, that had resulted in some pretty angry mechs, but none of their shouting had done any good. And anyway, what was done was done, as far as Jazz was concerned.

And Boss Bot would gradually come around in time, Jazz was sure. After all, Prowl hadn't demanded he step down as Prime, as he certainly could have done. In fact, his requests had been simple: aside from giving Starscream a pardon, he wanted the Earthbound Autobots to renegotiate the treaty with the humans and allow Ultra Magnus more input into its creation. Also, he wanted to have a more open communication line between the Ark and Cybertron. And finally, he was to allow those of his mechs who wished to return to Cybertron to do so. Mechs who weren't interested in fostering ties to the organic race shouldn't be forced to, he said.

All in all, the requests been pretty reasonable and some had indeed returned, the Twins for one, though Sideswipe went back and forth as his trade deals demanded.

Cliffjumper had also stayed behind once the rest of them had gone back to Earth. Said there was no reason to go back to the Ark if the war really had ended and Cybertron was being rebuilt. Huffer and Gears had followed soon after.

"Understandable." Prowl's voice broke into his musings. "Was I correct that Soundwave would surrender after you returned to Earth?"

The smile that appeared on Jazz's face was an unpleasant one. "Yeah. It seems someone sent an image of Megs and Shockwave to the Victory's main computer along with two messages attached. The first said what had happened to them, and the second was that Cybertron was repairing itself. As Mirage told me the story, there was a riot on the ship as soon as the news spread, in spite of Soundwave's best efforts to keep the news from spreading. It took him about three of our decacycles before he gave in and approached Prime to ask for terms." At the moment, all of them were in cells that had been built inside the volcano caldera, until they could be transported safely to Cybertron.

Prowl gave a small half-smile. "I must remember to thank that someone." He had a feeling that Red Alert had taken his words about Soundwave finding out to Spark and decided to speed along the process. The Security Director was likely feeling very satisfied, if he was watching this conversation.

As if in response to the Sub-Commander's thoughts, his internal comm. pinged. ::Prowl, this is Red Alert. I just received a message from a non-sentient shuttle registered as the Silver Star from the old Sylision colony. A mech calling himself Astrum is requesting permission to land. He states he is accompanied by two others, his partner Aquila and their Sparkling Solare.::

::Did he say why he wished to land?::

::He did not, but scans of the shuttle show no explosives or weaponry aboard.::

::Very well, direct it to the landing pad at the shipyard. I am on my way. And send a small team to meet me there, just in case.::

::Will do. Red Alert out.::

"I will see you later, Jazz. Duty calls."

Jazz smiled a little sadly. "Gotcha. Guess we'll have to catch up another orn. Anyhow, there was one more thing." The smaller black and white mech pulled out a datapad from his subspace and handed it to Prowl. "The pardon for Starscream, whenever you finally hear from him. Optimus finally got around to getting it done."

Prowl nodded. "I have not yet heard, but..." He did a calculation in his head. It actually had been five stellars since his last communication with the Seeker, so he expected that he would be hearing from him soon. "I will give it to him when I see him next," he said finally, accepting the datapad from the other mech and turning it on.

"Later, Prowler!" Jazz called out cheekily as he turned and headed back the way he'd come.

Prowl paid no attention to the nickname as he scanned the datapad, to make sure it was what Jazz said. Sure enough, Prime had come through. The Sub-Commander would admit he was pleased by this, as he knew that Optimus could well have reneged on this one request of his, even as he'd agreed to the others.

But then, he likely had reflected that his Tactician could have done far worse in his requests, and along with that, wished to show he could listen when faced with hard truths.

In any case, it was a start.

He placed the datapad in his subspace and headed for the shipyard.

It was time to welcome more of his people home.