AN: Whoops! Accidentally posted these as the same chapter. : P

The femme stood at the corner, hands clasped tightly, armor flaring nervously. Gone were Verasuvius' sleek curves and edges; in their place was still a seeker femme, but one much more comfortable to the Autobot Star Nova. Her paint scheme was still mostly black, which Jazz had complimented her on when she finally did change her colors, with grey and blue highlights.

Typically the epitome of confidence, it was odd for anyone who didn't know the source of her discomfort to see her so worked up. Jazz was standing beside her, frowning.

"We can't put it off much longer, Star." He said softly. "I've been avoidin' 'im for decacycles now."

"I know." She whispered back. She dropped her hands to her sides and took a deep vent, stilling her armor. She nodded. "Alright. Let's do this."

She walked around the corner and a few steps down the hall, where there was a door. Beyond the door was a mostly empty barracks. There were three mechs in the room, two of them playing cards at a table at the other end, and one sprawled on his berth, reading a datapad. Star and Jazz edged toward the mech on the berth, until he looked up and noticed them. Then they both froze.

After a long moment, which even the two mechs playing cards noticed and fell silent for, Hound slowly got up. He set his datapad down and came to attention. "Can I help you with something, officers?" he asked politely.

Star took another deep vent. "We need to talk, Hound." She glanced at the other end of the room, and the mechs quickly went back to their card game. "Will you walk with us?"

"Only if ya want to." Jazz blurted, and then seemed to shrink a bit, his armor clamping even tighter.

Hound stared at them for a long moment, and neither of them would fully meet his gaze. He finally nodded. Jazz's armor relaxed slightly as they followed the forest green mech out of the barracks, and then took the lead out to the shipping docks. The docks were as empty as the barracks, designed to accommodate planetary and even interplanetary shuttle traffic, and currently only seeing province traffic.

Star stopped on a pad far away from the action and watched the shuttle-former coming in to dock. Skyfire had barely been alive when a team had recovered him several vorns ago. He'd spent most of the time since in stasis, too large to run at any efficiency on the energon his team had been able to procure. They'd retrieved him as soon as they found the Canyon community, shortly before they took the province, and he'd insisted on being as useful as possible now that he could be again.

Eventually, the femme turned around and looked at Hound. "I am not the Nova right now. I am only the person who murdered your best friend, and I'm not going to give you any excuses for it. I am so sorry, Hound." Her shoulders and wings slumped, and she hung her head in shame and sorrow. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Hound was silent for almost two breems. Neither officer moved in all that time, waiting for the scout's judgement on them. "I understand." Was what he forced out finally. Then he shook his head. "I'm not saying I forgive you. But I understand why, and I believe you."

"Thank you." Star murmured, looking up to meet his gaze.

Hound nodded and walked away.

~0~

1 vorn later

Star stepped into the small cavern, glancing around. "You know it would be easier for both of us if you would just let me come to your base."

"It's not going to happen. Stop asking." A disembodied voice replied. A shadow moved on the far end of the chamber.

Star shrugged her wings. "Well, I brought a table this time. Don't know about you, but I'm tired of planning on the floor." She lifted her hands to pull the folding table out of her subspace and paused as a slight tingle ran over her armor. Target lock. She continued slowly. "I see you brought Moonracer again. How are you, girl?"

There was no answer. Star finished setting up the table with a sigh and pulled out a datapad. It was heavy duty, one they had used to communicate with Thunderous. "Flamestriker make it back okay with the supplies?"

"Yes."

"Good." Star murmured as she worked on the datapad. A moment later she set it down on the table and projected the screen above it. "We've got an opportunity to hit a Decepticon supply route pretty hard in the next decacycle, thought you'd be interested."

The shadow moved away from the edges of the cavern, finally approaching. The seeker smiled when two cold blue optics met hers, noting the other femme's armor was less scuffed and dented than their last meeting. She was using her right arm more fluidly and her foot was moving again, too. It had taken almost a vorn, but they'd finally got the femmes accepting medical supplies regularly, and it looked like their leader was finally letting her medic use them on her.

"You look better, Elita." The Nova said softly.

"That's not what we're here to talk about." Elita almost growled, reaching for the holographic screen.

Star slid it out of reach. "No. And actually, we're not here to talk about that supply route, either."

Elita slid a glare up at the taller seeker that was suspicious enough to put Red Alert to shame.

"It's time, Elita." Star told her. Someone large stepped into the entrance Star had come through. Someone with wings. Someone who reeked with Matrix power.

"And you wonder why I won't let you come to my base." Elita-One snarled, turning away as Thunderous Prime stepped into the cavern. "Shoot him." The femme commander ordered on her way to the exit. Nothing happened. She stopped, glaring up at the roof.

"Elita-One, please, we need to talk." Thunderous tried to appeal to the femme.

"Moonracer, shoot him." Elita ordered again.

"But… he's the Prime…" a quiet voice whispered, audibly torn on what to do.

Elita-One growled as Thunderous stepped closer, holding out a hand. She whirled on the mech, drawing a handgun powerful enough to do some critical damage in these close quarters, even to the Prime's heavy armor. Star tensed, but at the mech's signal stayed where she was. Elita was aiming right for his head, but for some reason she wasn't pulling the trigger. Slowly, painfully slowly, Thunderous Prime knelt down, lowering his helm until the barrel of the gun was resting against it.

Elita still wasn't shooting. Her expression hadn't changed at all, but something about the way her armor was flicking gave the impression that she had no idea what to do with this situation.

"Elita-One, I came to apologize."

The femme's optics narrowed to vengeful slits. "Why? You didn't kill him."

"No, but I watched, and I let it happen, even though I knew it was wrong." He looked up to meet the femme's crystal gaze. "I am sorry."

"No you're not," she sneered back. Her hand was starting to tremble.

"Yes." Thunderous Prime stated quietly. "I am."

In that moment the presence of the Matrix—so familiar to her—overwhelmed her defenses, speaking truth to her damaged spark, and Elita-One understood.

She dropped the gun, crumpling to the ground with a sob. Thunderous automatically lurched to catch her and she curled into his arms, weeping uncontrollably. The seeker had no idea what to do. But as he had been learning over the last vorn, he usually didn't have to do anything except not get in the Matrix's way. Power flowed out of him as pure emotion; compassion, and comfort. Words whispered into his mind in a voice he knew well—the one she wanted to hear.

"You can't do this on your own, 'Lita." He murmured, and he couldn't hear it but all three femmes could as he spoke with the voice of Optimus Prime. "Let us help. Let yourself help us. We are stronger together. You know that."

Elita-One only cried harder, finally letting herself feel what she had lost in the safety of the Prime's arms. It was breems before she started to calm down. Moonracer appeared at the entrance long before she did, optics bright and pale, armor clamped tight to her frame, and rifle clutched close to her chest. She nodded quickly to the Prime before skirting around him to stand next to Star.

"I haven't seen her cry since before…" she whispered, edging closer to the Nova. Star put an arm around the slim femme's shoulders, smiling down at her.

"I think it's a good thing, don't you?"

Moonracer smiled back, nodding. "Yes, I think so too."

The femme commander went quiet almost abruptly. Nobody moved, though Thunderous was very conscious of how awkward the situation was. He almost jumped when she looked up at him sharply. He watched warily as she studied his face for a long moment.

"I'm sorry." She finally said. "Follow me."

She got up and walked away.

"Where are we going?" the mech asked cautiously as he got to his feet.

"My base." Elita said, briefly turning back at the entrance to the dark tunnels leading away from the cavern. "It's time we joined forces."

AN: This is the end, my friends! Once again, go check out ajremix's story And Now for Something Completely Different, chapter 13 for the basis of this story, and I'll see you all next time! Thanks for sticking around!