Notes/ Okay, finally, a new one finished and up! I really wanted to get done with it on the weekend. Clearly that didn't work out. A chapter made up mostly of conversations again.. I just like to write that way, and I'm usually happy with how those turn out.

I really want to thank everyone for the positive feedback I got about the last one I posted. Honestly I was a bit worried about positing something that dealt so much with flashbacks, nightmares, and emotional issues. Fair enough, I'm just gonna not worry about it from now on and just write.

Arcee wandered into the large main room of the base, to find Bumblebee and Raf messing around with some computer equipment. Both human and Cybertonian sized tools littered the work station that the boy sat on top of, and the bot stood in front of. The human child tapped away on a set of relatively huge control keys, with the palm of one hand. He looked at the monitor on the wall in front of him, reached forward for another couple of keys, banged on both and once and looked up again to see the monitor as it began to scroll through strings of Cybertronian text.

"'Bee, can you translate that?" Raf questioned. His tone was strangely matter of fact and patient as even for so young a human. "I can't read that fast. I'm still learning."

"System error… reboot mainframe… install updates… update failed… system error…" 'Bee read out loud, as text scrolled across the screen fast.

"Well, scrap it all," Raf said. He reached toward another of the control keys but then stopped and flopped back onto the desk top. "It's just gonna auto-reboot itself any second anyways."

As if right on the boy's cue, the screen went blank, and the fans began to whir as the system restarted on its own accord.

"Alt, F seven, space control, 'Bee," Raf said as the bot began tapping keys. "Gotta try to get this into safe mode before it fully powers up again. That might just do the trick."

"What are you two up to?" Arcee questioned, stepping closer. Whatever it was, she doubted she could help and hoped that neither would ask her to. Still she looked on with curiosity as the monitor lights came back on.

"Ratchet asked me to have a look at his computer," Raf explained. He looked at the monitor again, his hopeful expression more than clear. "Looks like it's got a nasty virus. I'm trying to fix it."

"I knew it. Ratchet's been browsing around illegal music download sites on his lunch breaks." Miko joked, laughing, from beyond the railing of the level above. She and Jack were busy fighting with video game controllers.

"Raf, do you mind if I borrow 'Bee for a minute?" Arcee asked. She chuckled with the others in the room, over Miko's joke.

"Sure," Raf shrugged and went right back to his work. "Smokescreen was just in here. Said he's coming right back. I'll just have him translate and hit keys for me."

Acree left the room again with Bumblebee following her. The two made their way through the base and out outside the large hanger doors. They stood for a while silently leaning lightly against the outside wall of Hanger E. They looked out over the expanse of the empty Nevada desert beyond the high chain-link fence and the guarded gate.

"It sure seems different out here now," Arcee said. "Down on Earth, with a home to go back to, and no 'cons here to fend off, or energon caches to find and defend."

"It is weird, just kind of hanging out down here."

"So often I wish things could have been different for us and Cybertron. Maybe we could have been explorers just for the adventure of it had there never been war. Maybe we would have found Earth just because it was waiting for us to find it. Maybe we would have fond so much out there somewhere, not because we needed to or die, but just because we could."

Bumblebee sat down on the smooth cement and leaned back against the wall. He was silent for a good while, just thinking. Finally, he said, "Honestly 'Cee I've never even thought about such 'what ifs' at all. I never knew Cybertron without war, so maybe I just can't imagine the what ifs of it all. The first memories I have of home were of 'bots and 'cons open firing at each other in the middle of the city streets, trading insults while they fired their blasters until someone either fell or ran away. I remember how most of us young ones would watch at the windows of the learning center, as low level soldiers from both sides would start to rip the city apart. Obviously we may not have been safe, so close like that. But none of us knew different of better. They'd been fighting for a century or two already, and the building was still standing so…"

"That's sad, 'Bee."

"It seems so now, looking back, yeah. But when you grow up in it, it just feels like life. Of course, my city was basically neutral. That was good in a way I guess. But it also meant everyone was still splitting into factions by the time I came along. I'm not sure open shooting in the streets like that would have been so common elsewhere. It also meant it was eventually wiped of the map. Torn to shreds from inside."

Arcee sat down on the ground, and looked out at the landscape through the chain-link. "I've said more than once; neutral territories were always likely the most dangerous places to be. You just have a 'bot and 'con in one place for long before they start yelling, and then out come the weapons and in come their friends. It just never stopped in neutral cities. Well at least until the city either fell to ruin or one side took the place."

"They say neutrals always had a choice," Bumblebee commented. "But to me, it never felt like a hard one to make at all. I was Autobot and I always knew it. I decided that so young. No doubt most of my class became 'cons. I guess most of the planet did. I just knew I wanted to side with the soldiers that weren't killing civilians on purpose and laughing about it. As soon as I was old enough to be allowed I volunteered. I guess the rest if history, as they say on Earth."

"You went by choice?" Arcee had never known.

"Yeah, I did," 'Bee answered. He fell silent again for a moment, watching next shift's gate watch step toward the booth near the fence. She looked toward the bots near the wall, and stepped into the booth by the fence a little too quickly.

The young human soldier had not been on that base before they had departed for home. Arcee laughed slightly to herself just imaging how strange it must have looked to a young recruit to see a pair of Autobots sitting around casually having a conversation, aware of their presence and function though she must have been. She laughed silently again just thinking that she and Bumblebee were the smallest ones, that human might encounter.

"I dragged you outside, because I wanted to talk with you a minute," Arcee said once she had finished chuckling.

"Sure."

"Nothing too huge, 'Bee. I just want to know how you are."

"How I am? Why?"

"Maybe because I, and the rest of the team, actually care and want to know."

"I know you guys do."

"Good. 'Cause we don't plan to stop anytime soon."

'Bee met her optics with his, and thought for a moment, before he finally spoke again. "I'm good. Really. I would say I'm always good, but of course that would be a lie and you'd spot it before anyone. I…. I just… A lot has happened all at once and I never knew so much change could happen at once. So much is lost, but we've had gains I never expected either. Honestly, I think I'll be in slight shock and even denial for years over the thought that we are actually stationed back home, on our own planet, when we all thought it was gone forever. I'm still sad for the loss of a great bot and leader. Surely we all are. I still wake up some mornings from recharge and expect it'll be like it was. Some days I'm even still surprised to hear my own voice again."

"A lot of ups and downs for a young bot," Arcee said, understanding.

"Being back, even if it's only for a few more days, is like being back in the times that were always most familiar. The scenery of Earth, the crowded base designed for humans and refitted for us the best it could be, even Ratchet yelling about how he needed something someone broke. It's… home…"

"One more thing I needed from you, 'Bee," Arcee said after a minute, of enjoying the late evening sun, still warm enough as it began to set, to warm her body armor. The black and yellow bot looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to go on.

"It's about Knockout," she said. "I guess he had a serious panic attack this afternoon. I wasn't here on base then. But it sounds like it may get worse before it gets any better. Scrap, who would have known he'd be so unstable like this. It doesn't help that he always tried so hard, to hide his state and hope it just sorts itself out without our help."

"We can only hope he'll start talking more. If only someone understood even some of what's really going through that processor of his…"

"Would you believe that someone might just be a human?"

"Miko?"

Arcee gave a loud laugh. "How'd you ever guess?"

Bumblebee laughed too. "Because June Darby very specifically told her not to trust him."

"Fair enough, 'Bee. I must say I'm not sure how to feel about that situation. He talks to her, of all people, and she likes to listen to him. She's small enough to fit in his hand. I guess she's just not threatening like we might be. Eventually she might just learn his whole story. At the same time though I can't forget that he was still a 'con until recently. It was getting easy to forget that back at our home base. But here, with the children around, I think we need to remember."

"I really believe he won't hurt her."

"Not on purpose," Arcee shook her head, unsure of exactly what it was she meant to say in the first place. "I mean, I don't think he wants to hurt anyone anymore. I'm not sure he ever truly wanted to exactly. But I can't help but think of about a hundred ways this new situation could go wrong."

"He needs a friend Arcee. One who for whatever reason he can trust to talk with. And if he's up the challenge of keeping track of a hyper, loud little human then that might be a good thing…. Of course he might have to fight Bulkhead for her..."

His last line made Arcee laugh. Then she turned serious again. "Ratchet insisted today that something else Knockout really needs now is true stability. He thinks this no longer a 'con but not quite an Autobot situation, is only going to make it worse. Sad as it is, Cybertron, our whole culture and identity really, is one of factions. As it was explained, he could almost feel like nobody at all now, and that's never going to be a good thing."

"So, Ratchet thinks we should speed the process of making it official?"

"Yeah. I told him that's a no go. He's still on probationary terms, and will be for quite a while. It doesn't mean we don't like him. Its just how its done."

"If I know Ratchet, he must have been quite insistent about the matter?"

Arcee nodded. "Yeah. He's a stubborn old bot, and not above breaking a rule here and there, or inventing a new one, when it suits a greater purpose. Anyway I wanted to know what you thought about this."

"Me?" Bumblebee questioned, surprised as ever by a want of his opinion. He considered carefully for a couple of long moments, and answered. "It's only been a matter of several Earth months. That's just not nearly long enough, you're right. If we went ahead this soon, Knockout would have completed the process of completely switching factions faster than anyone so far, and by a considerable amount of time. There's a good reason for a probationary term."

"You know, 'Bee, most days I still can't believe we even have a need for this conversation at all. I might have been the most shocked of all of us, when Knockout defected, I know. I can't help thinking I must have had my head in the clouds for a while or something, that everyone else saw something I didn't. Recently though it's been so obvious, this is really what he wants. More than anything I think."

"How is he now? Have you seem him, this evening?"

Arcee nodded, as she looked out again toward the gate. A car she recognized as Agent Fowler's, rolled up and stopped at the checkpoint. Fowler drove on through the gate, waving once at the pair of bots. June was with him, waving with more enthusiasm.

"Knockout ran for his room again. Ratchet said he tried to bring him to the medbay to check him over, you know just in case something really is wrong. No such luck it seems. If there's one bot here as stubborn as ratchet, it's Knockout. It's gotta be a medic thing. I banged on his door, and he finally let me in for a minute. He didn't much of anything to me, other than that he feels like the wreckers must think he's pathetic and he worries Miko is horrified. I told him nether is the case. I hope I'm right. This is just one big mess. Of course he refused to let me walk him back to Ratchet in the medbay…"

Fowler parked his car right in front of the door, hopped out and ran right for the base, in an obvious hurry. Shaking her head and laughing out loud June climbed slowly out the passenger door and walked toward the bots. She looked around, still shaking her head and still laughing.

"We were on our way to the movies over in the next town. Midnight showing. We bought advance tickets, which wouldn't know it, Bill thinks he left in the drawer of his desk… somewhere in that pile of mess. I asked him twice on the way out there if he had 'em. He insists both times they're in the glove-box! Arcee, please tell me Jack is staying out of trouble."

Fowler raced back out side again, and the two hurried back into the car before the conversation could be finished. The two bots waved them off, laughing, as the car, sped away, nearly sliding on the gravel road.

"I'm happy those two found each other," Arcee said. She finally stood up again, the ground becoming uncomfortable. "It looks like they both needed somebody. Oh and 'Bee, regarding Knockout, I think we should go ahead."

Bumblebee nodded once. "Fair enough. If no one else objects and Knockout wants to, then I agree. To complete the official commitment to the Autobot cause, will require someone to speak on behalf of the 'bots and will of Primus. I fear this may be the last time its ever done like this. The old ways will just keep on dying out now, without a Prime."

"One last try at the old way then. I think it should be this way. So 'Bee….. who will speak for the bots then? Someone will need to step in…."

'Bee considered again. He had not thought that far ahead. As he looked about again over the desert and the bit of Earth he'd come to know as home, he knew the right answer. "Jack got the Cybertron mission. Raf got the job of back up on the ground bridge, and he's learning our language. This has got to go to Miko. Fitting anyway, everything considered."

Arcee only nodded her hesitant agreement. Her processor was still filled with every way this could all go wrong. She turned to go back inside. She would find the little human, and try hard to teach her everything she needed in too short a time. Bumblebee ran off to knock on Knockout's door, only hoping he was in the mood to at least listen if not converse. Surely he would be excited for the news that he would be officially among the Autobot ranks the next night.

Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break

Miko found Knockout outside, behind the basein the early hours of morning. He was sitting on a patch of newly cut grass near the chain link fence. He made that three meter high fence look small. Miko laughed and hoped he didn't decide to learn on it. The bots all knew better, but Knockout was surely far less experienced with such things. The human laughed at the thought of how quickly he'd learn, if the fence fell over.

"Miko!" This time he sounded truly happy to have spotted her. She walked quickly closer and hopped up onto one of his knees, he placed a hand behind so she couldn't fall, and she leaned against it, looking up at his red optics and grinning.

"So, I guess it's official then," she said. "You're really going to be an Autobot!"

"Yeah."

Miko looked up at him laughing. He gave a puzzled look, but said nothing. That alone only made her laugh a bit more. "I just thought you'd have a bit more to say about it. I mean, how do you feel about that? Happy? Excited? Something else?"

"I am happy of course. This is what I want. But… kind of terrified too. I can't help thinking I'll mess up someday. I don't know how to be an Autobot. I was better at being bad. Sure, anyone can say it wasn't entirely my fault. Survival, fear, lack of any positive influence in life and all that stuff people like to say to make the bad seem at least slightly better. But none of that negates free will. Not entirely."

"Hey at least you want to try a new way. How many 'cons are there that send their whole lives honestly beveling they're right and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a single thing they've ever done?"

"I was that way once..."

"Maybe so. But at least you finally figured it all out."

"Thank you, Miko," his tone said that he meant it.

"Can we go for a drive?" Miko questioned. She was about to hop down.

Knockout appeared to think a moment and then he slightly shook his head in clear conflict over it. "I really don't think I'm allowed to take you away from this base. I can think of a few bots and a couple of humans who would likely, to use another human expression 'hit the roof,' if I did that. You've got two friends who were wreckers and that thought just plain scares me. Maybe even more than Megatron and Starscream."

Miko laughed again. Clearly he was exaggerating on purpose. She was happy to hear him trying for humor after the state she'd found him in the day before.

"You'll make a great Autobot," she said, partly serious and partly not so much. "You're already obsessed with following the rules."

She got down, and looked up at him again. "In any case, no one ever said it's a rule exactly. They've never said you couldn't, only that you shouldn't. You haven't gotten to drive since you got here. Don't you wanna feel the road under your tires again?"

Knockout stood up, and within a second he was in his vehicle mode next to the human, with his passenger door already sitting open. Miko heard his slight chuckle from inside the red sports car as she climbed inside.

"I can't drive too far away with you," Knockout said, speaking more cautiously then she usually heard from him. "Also, hate to say it, but I think the speed limit probably matters now."

Miko laughed. She put her seat-belt on. Any Autobot she'd ever ridden with had insisted upon that, and she knew he might just demand the same now. "So, how'd you manage to find a car like this to scan for your vehicle mode, in Jasper Nevada anyway?"

"I didn't. I finally gave up and scanned one near Las Vegas."

"Good thinking."

"Of course." He turned on his vehicle mode's sound system. Not loud and blasting like Bulkhead's always was.

"Hey Doc Knock," Miko said as Knockout drove the gravel road away from the base and out to the highway, "The day you finally gave your notice and took off with the 'bots, Arcee said once it was pretty epic, not to mention funny in hindsight."

"Things do tend to look different in hindsight."

"Now will you believe I'm joining the winning team..." Miko laughed, repeating the line she'd heard a couple of the bots quote as they once relayed the story to her.

"The others have laughed about that a couple of times. The strange thing is, I don't actually remember that at all." Knockout turned onto the highway and sped up. "I may or may not have accidentally busted an important device by mistake… I couldn't say. It's all pretty blank until the moment the ship started to crash. I remember running to bail out with the Autobots. I think I recall trying to lead, since I knew the ship. For some reason I will always remember that I could see smoke pouring up from a console at junction six. Just standing there a second while the smoke rose up, and it starting to really hit me that my old life was gone and there was no going back from there. One of the 'bots finally grabbed my arm and I followed them. I know I nearly screamed in fright at not having seen them come closer to me. I can't even say which one of them it was."

Miko said nothing for a while. She watched the sandy landscape and the occasional passing car, and the red lighting of the transformer's dashboard and console. She waited for him to go on speaking to her, but he didn't. She listened to the music playing over his speakers. It was nothing like the music she heard when she rode in Bulkhead. This was…. Show-tunes and early twentieth century lounge music?

She looked up when she heard the sound of a roaring engine overhead, and watched as a low flying small plane flew over the highway. She watched it as it crossed the Nevada dessert, and banked to the left somewhere far ahead. It gained altitude as it took off east. Probably more cautiously than any human should have done, she watched it go.

"Of your several infamously known traits, being quiet was never one of them," knockout said after a few minutes. "The rest of the team, might just be shocked… or maybe even worried for your state of being..."

"I was just…. trying to think. I have a lot to remember for tonight too. Maybe I should just write shorthand on the back of my hand or something like that. This is important. Speaking for Cybertron… Arcee should have asked Jack. He's better at that sorta thing."

To her surprise and dismay, she heard Knockout's loud laughter over his speakers. "I'm not sure I will ever understand exactly how you fleshies think and reason. From what I understand, you tried to be noticed, tried to be given the 'good jobs' the other two got. Then the 'bots pick you and you only say it should have been one of the other two because they are better."

"I think you're right..."

"Miko… Jack almost hates me. I can't say I blame him sadly. I'm still amazed and baffled because you don't. Raf is still half way to terrified of me. Again, I can't say I blame him either."

"Sorry Jack's being so mean to you," Miko said. "I worked with him on the team for almost a year and we are still good friends now. He's not usually like that to anyone." The roaring aircraft engine caught her attention again and she looked up, out the side window, to see the small plane as it swooped low, back over the highway and Knockout again.

"It's alright. Really. I hadn't expected any of you to be nice honestly." Knockout said, as he drove on down the highway, following a bend in the road as it began to slowly dropped down into a valley, and huge worn down rocks and cliff faces rose up on either side. The plane overhead cut across the clifftops and appeared overhead again as the car came around the sharp bend. It then picked up speed and rose higher once more and roared away.

"Umm… Knockout… did you see that?"

"Most of the time on Earth a plane is just a plane, Miko," the bot in vehicle mode said. He sounded like someone trying not to sound concerned about something. She let the matter drop, if only because she didn't want him to panic again.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked her.

Miko looked at the dash console. She never had quite figured out exactly where to look when talking to a 'bot in vehicle mode, since their 'eyes' were hidden somewhere unseen, and eye contact was not possible. Bulk' had said once that it wasn't really all that important where someone looked, so she had always tended to talk to the console. "Sure. What's up?"

"Yesterday, I kind of ended up losing it, made a wrecker nervous and that takes a lot to do… but you, tiny little human, knew what to do. I'm curious is all, how you would possibly have known."

Miko thought for a second of exactly how to explain. "I have an aunt back home, who is very mentally ill. Oh not just the odd panic attack here and there. She's been in and out of hospitals for as long as I remember. Her husband left her years ago and she lived with us for a while. She used to watch me after school, but I ended up watching her some days instead. Hmm… a huge bot and a simple panic attack is nothing, when you've faced down a five foot human, who sudden becomes convinced the middle of making lunch that a ten year old is plotting to turn her over to Russian spies. One night she nearly burned our apartment building down, because she was trying to burn 'top secret military files' in the stove. They were really just some mail and a pile of old rent receipts. The police showed up and wanted to take her away. Smoke was pouring out the windows. My father come home, and me and him both told them it wasn't her fault. That she was just very sick, and needed some help.

"My host mother out here, had panic attacks too. Nothing too serious or anything, but still I learned that a hot cup of mint tea always helped. I'd make her some when she had her episodes, and I'd find her shaking in the corner of the couch, saying she was going to have a heart attack. Their daughter was depressed. Nice person most days she would visit though. She lived across town. Oh… than there was my host family's neighbor up the road. Survived a war I guess, from what I heard. He'd have flashbacks sometimes, standing out on the sidewalk by his mailbox, crying, shaking. The neighborhood kids used to walk on the other side of the street. But I thought I could just be nice to him. Turned out his name was Pete, and he loved to cook. I taught him how to make some Japanese food. Hey Knockout…?"

"Yes?"

"You told me last night, you think you are broken. I doubt that very much. I think, well we all think so far, you just need to let someone help you. We're all different, human or Cybertronian, doesn't matter. We all have something to deal with, something to offer, something to fix, something to accept. Everyone wants to help if only you would just stop trying to run away from them and yourself. No one is broken until they're dead."

"I'll try, Miko." Knockout's agreement was cut off by the beep of his comm-link, and a flashing little red light on his dash. It must have been a private comm because Miko heard nothing of any conversation. But in under a minute, the bot turned his vehicle form around right on the empty highway and began to drive back the way he had come.

"That was Bulkhead," he explained. His tone was a mix of amusement and concern. Says two of us were noticed missing, and he wondered if I might just have swiped his partner. His words, not mine."

Miko nearly busted out laughing. "Yep, sounds like Bulk'. Hey, are you already fully part of the Autobot comm network?"

"Yes."

"Connect me to the base for a second. We'll probably end up reaching Ratchet, since he normally works communication, and he's probably mad at us now too, because Bulk would have talked to him first. But I need old cranky tires to pass on a message."

"Fair enough." Knockout pulled up the requested comm-link.

"It's us," Miko said, speaking to the dashboard to be heard over the comm. "Doc Knock didn't swipe me. I swiped him. We're headin' back." They both laughed.

Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break Scene Break

Starsceam tapped his metal fingertips, on the edge of a metal tabletop, causing a terrible clicking noise. He had always somehow immensely enjoyed causing the noise on purpose, and likely because it tended to make his colleagues constantly cringe. He turned his mouth up to form a snarling expression and glared around the control room. He stopped his tapping and stomped to a window, through which he stood glaring out over the top of a city.

"Planet Earth," he snarled, adding a sound of distaste. "So many years spent hoping to get off this rock pile, only to end up flying right back here again, chasing after Autobots. And they came willingly. Never could understand it really. They would have given their lives for this mistake of a planet, and it's ridiculous organic lifeforms. A shame too, I must say. I so wanted to extinguish each of their sparks at home, on Cybertron..."

He turned back to face the others, seating at the table, and to look over a collection of simple troopers that stood around the edge of the room. He snarled again at a pair of the troopers who elbowed each other, laughed quietly and whispered at a third, to one's left. He stomped back to his seat and flopped down into it, making a great show of appearing nearly bored with the whole meeting.

"So back to business then," he said, placing one small foot on the empty chair beside him and leaning backwards slightly. He began to tap his fingers again. Several troopers and Shockwave all cringed quite predictably at that. "The fleet is restored to a reasonable number of loyal supporters and fighters for the cause. I think we can all agree the cause is still the cause and worth it, and blah blah, so and so forth. Let's make it official then, proclaim me the great and supreme, one true and only leader of the Decepticons, we'll go finish a few Autobots. Then we'll go home, and I and my ruling council can lead our planet into a new golden age."

The whispering trooper, one near the door, was at it again. He elbowed his teammate in the side panel and both had a chuckle. This time the third joined in on it. Starscream leapt from the chair he had just sat back down in and stomped over to the offending bots, in a few long furious paces. He yanked the whispering one away from his place by the wall, and closer to his faceplate, snarling an angry growl at him.

"Is there something you wish to share with the group?" Starscream growled, optics never leaving the widening ones of his subordinate. The purple trooper shook his head mutely. Starscream let go of the trooper, and patted him gently, if not a bit mockingly on the shoulder panel.

"What good is a ruler who will not listen to the concern and positive suggestions of his loyal followers?" He asked casually, twisted sarcasm dripping from his voice with each word. Shockwave and Soundwave both had the faces, hidden as always behind their respective chosen face shields and their expressions were thus impossibe to read. But he saw them turn turn toward each other slightly to exchange glaces that each other could never read either and he could only imagine a mix of delight, dread and amusement on each hidden face. He loved it! "Come on then. I would absolutely love to hear anything you may have to say."

"I… I just wondered..." the clearly terrified trooper said quietly, optics respectfully looking into those of his leader. "What qualifies you to lead us exactly?"

Starscream shot the trooper dead with a shot from his blaster before the poor bot could even react. The rest of them standing nearby backed up a pace of two, and most bumped against the wall in the process. The self proclaimed Lord of the Decepticons, looked around at the gathered group and gestured around casually.

"Any other concerns anyone would like to bring to the floor?" he asked in mock boredom. When several heads shook silently and the rest just stood looking horrified, he gestured toward the offlined bot, he'd let hit the floor in a heap. "Alright then. Somebody clean up that mess. I don't care who."

"Soundwave," he said, walking slowly back to his seat at the table. "I would like to congratulate and thank you for your latest contribution to my continued work." He gestured at the usually silent officer, who sat silent as always. His explanation was directed mostly at the troopers, who until then had been out of the loop. "Soundwave here managed to successfully locate both a human Autobot pet, and a certain defector from among our ranks. Now clearly I'm really only after the

defector, our medical officer who decided it would be a good idea to turn against us for reasons I may never fully grasp. The pet human was a bonus, just for fun. He let both go, as instructed. Let Knockout think he's safe, and that his new friends' game is working out for them all. I am planning a nice little attack, and thanks to Soundwave following in his new vehicle mode, he was able to get a good idea of their location."

Soundwave nodded once, accepting the acknowledgment as always without fuss or argument. Surely there were many who could learn much from him.

"Soundwave, how do you like your new mode? I know you were always hesitant to fly an Earth based aircraft form, and I think you deserve to be commended for finally daring to take on the new challenge. I was never much for liking this terrible planet, but I do admit, Earth does offer something in the way of flight capability. Isn't it fun?"

Soundwave nodded again, once, politely. Silently.

"Now, I must also offer my thanks to Shockwave," Starscream continued, gesturing toward the much bigger well armored 'con sitting to his left at the table. "It was of course he, who engineered and successfully carried out, Soundwave's rescue from the shadow zone."

"Hmm..." he mumbled, getting up to wander to the window again. "I almost wonder if perhaps we shouldn't actively seek to destroy that human pet I mentioned before. I do think she and those other blasted children had something to do with him ending up there in the first place."

"Lord Starscream, if I may, I wish to speak," Shockwave said from his place, still seated in his chair. The new ruler nodded to him, turning from the window and he continued, "I think that some commendation is in order for you as well, my lord and friend. It was you, with minimal help from countless others of far less importance, who got the Nemesis back up into working order. You who gave us all a working space-bridge. Also, if now is a suitable time to bring this up, I would like to point out that with Knockout long gone and soon to be obliterated for his treachery, we are in urgent need of a new medic."

"Yes, yes of course," Starscream considered carefully. Shockwave was indeed right obviously. A medical officer was hardly a role the a warship of Nemesis' could safely run without for long. It had already been too long, and there had already been unnecessary damage caused by the unfilled role. "I'll work on finding a suitable replacement, and preferably someone less concerned with his fragging paint job, and annoying the crew from here to the next blasted planet over. I must admit though, sometimes I think I'll almost miss Knockout. He certainly did have some great one liners. Perhaps we need a second of silence to honor the memory of what he once as to us, before we destroy him with the rest of the Autobots"

Notes/ Of course you just knew those 'cons would surface again, didn't ya? Maybe it's just me, but watching the first episode of TFP, Starscream's character was going in a slightly

different direction than he ended up later. He started out entirely merciless, heartless, killing a captured Autobot without appearing to have a thought about it. Clearly he did it just because he could. Hasbro seemed to tone him down quite a bit throughout the series. But the direction he seemed to have started out in, is what I've tried to take inspiration from. That said, 'bad guys' have never been as easy for me to write as the good guys are. This was partly a writing challenge, I wanted to try.