Morning at the Pax and Hide household was the same as it had been before the children grew up: Brooke and Akila were making a breakfast of eggs and bacon, Anka was sipping at her coffee, trying to wake up, Amarith was still fast asleep, Lucas was reading a medical diary, and Optimus, Ironhide, Jace, and Aaron were checking their holodisks for any news of crimes.

Like normal, Antihex was a hive for the filth of the planet so, of course, most of the news of criminal activity came from there. There were very many reports of burglary, assault, and the like. Optimus had to finally put down the holodisk.

"I am very disappointed with the goings-on in Antihex," he declared, shaking his head and grabbing the bridge of his holoform's nose. "We did not create this planet for its inhabitants to live in fear."

Lucas put down his medical reading and set it down on the table. "You can't imagine how many patients I have had from there. All of them blaming other Cybertronians. It's pure anarchy there," he explained.

"Guys, come on," Akila said, placing the food on the table. "I thought we made this rule abundantly clear years ago. No talking about politics at breakfast!"

"Here, here," Brooke said, raising her coffee.

"Holodisks. Now," Akila demanded, opening her hand. All of the table members shut down their disks and gave them to the Egyptian. Akila took the holodisks over to the counter and placed them there. "First one to touch a holodisk has to do dishes," she threatened.

Soon breakfast was all laid out and Akila and Brooke joined their families.

"There, isn't this nice?" Brooke said with a smile. Everyone chuckled at the woman's attempt to bring the family together. "So, how are the new recruits?"

Aaron answered her but, with his mouth full of food, it was not understandable. He was met with a swift hit on the head by his father, causing him to quickly swallow. "Not too bad," he said, emphasizing every word and rubbing the area on his head where Ironhide hit him.

Anka leaned back and crossed her arms. "I can't wait to break them down today," she said with a smile, glazing half-asleep into her coffee. Ironhide chuckled at her while everyone else looked terrified.

Jace's terrified face soon turned into a big grin when he saw who walked in the door. "Welcome to the Land of the Living!" he said. Brooke, clad in an Arizona Cardinals tee shirt and black plaid pajama bottoms with her blue hair up in a ponytail, walked into the room.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh. But the fact that I'm awake before noon is an accomplishment for me," she explained.

She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a plate of breakfast. After putting her plate down, she grabbed a holodisk from the pile and sat down in a chair. She started to browse the news on the disk when she looked up and saw her family staring at her with smirks on their faces.

"What?"

With that, Jace stood up. "Well, I think it's time we get back to the base, huh guys?" he asked, looking to Aaron and Anka. The twins nodded and stood up as well. Brooke and Akila looked sad, but they knew it was time for them to leave.

"I'll call Evac to come get us," Anka said, lifting up the communications device on her wrist. "Anka to Evac, come in," she spoke. Evac's voice came back almost immediately. "Requesting transport back to base," she explained. Evac said he would be there in about an hour, giving the group enough time to pack their things and say their goodbyes.

Optimus and Ironhide promised to see their children on base, even with Amarith some times. Brooke and Akila made them promise to come visit, especially since their grandmother's health was beginning to fail.

Before they knew it, the group had left their home and were back on base, watching the higher-up soldiers "warm up" the recruits for the day. Lucas disappeared to go to the medical room and Anka left to go to engineering.

"Time for some fun?" Aaron asked his cousin, a smirk plastered on his face.

Jace just laughed and walked down to the recruits. "Well good morning to all of you! I trust you all slept well?" he said, eyeing them all doing pushups. He sees one recruit, a Cybertronian, struggling to get his arms at 90 degrees for the push up. Jace walked over to him and put his hands behind his back. "What's your name, recruit?" he asked.

"Starshot, sir," he said, his vents huffing.

"Well, Starshot, you are a grown mech and you are having trouble doing a push up," he said. Starshot kept his optics to the ground and kept moving up and down as commanded. "Come on, you can do it. Just get down to 90 degrees and hold it," he ordered. Starshot slowly lowered himself lower and lower until he was finally at the right angle. He was struggling to hold it, however. "You got it! You got it! Now go up!" The mech listened and pushed up, letting out a grunt. Jace smiled. "Good job, recruit," he said, and stood up.

Across the room, Aaron was talking to the soldiers. "Come on, you're going to have to do a bit better than that if you are going to defend the planet!" he yelled at them. "This is going to be a long morning if you all don't start acting right!"

Jace noticed a girl with short blond hair also struggling with the pushups. When he started to walk over to her, she moved her eyes to the ground as if a puppy being disciplined by its owner. When he got to her, he smirked and put his hand on his hip.

"Don't make me do that speech all over again," he said playfully.

"Sorry, sir," she apologized, still keeping eyes to the ground. "It's just that I am a girl, so it's a bit harder for me."

Suddenly the sound of a door slamming shut filled the entire room, making many of the recruits flinch. Anka had entered the room and heard what the girl said.

"O-ho you're in for it now," Jace said with a chuckle.

Anka made her way over to the girl and glared at her. "You're a girl. Seriously? That's your excuse?" she scolded. "Do you know how hard it is to be treated as an equal in the military? My father is in charge of the military, my aunt and uncle are both Primes, and I still get underestimated because of my sex. So when recruits use their sex as an excuse for not working hard, it really makes me mad. So what if you're a girl? You can still do it. Now, give me twenty," she commanded. The girl, terrified, did the twenty pushups. It was a struggle at first, but she found her strength and did it.

"Alright, recruits, break time. Meet at the obstacle course outside in half an hour. Out," the lead soldier yelled. The recruits all looked relieved.

As soon as they started to file out, Aaron walked up to Anka.

Geez, sis, you didn't have to go so hard on the girl," he joked.

Anka crossed her arms. "Shut up, Aaron," she spat. "I was only coming here to tell you that Uncle Optimus has requested for Jace to come see him right away."

"He misses me already?" Jace asked as he stretched out his arms. "I'll head over there."

Jace left the large room and made his way to the underground train that connected the capitol building and the military headquarters. To get there, he had to go through the medical area, meaning he was going to be paying a visit to Lucas.

Lucas was showing the small batch of new recruits around the different rooms of the bay. Many of the recruits who joined the New Cybertronian army wanted to see action and join military pursuits, so the medical staff was seriously reduced.

"Now a good doctor needs to be ready for anything. Decepticons aren't that big of a deal anymore, so we don't have to deal with too many injuries, but you have to know how to treat both Cybertronians and humans. It's probably the toughest job in the entire army," Lucas explained.

Jace just laughed at his brother, causing the entire room to look at him. Lucas was unamused at Jace's antics. "Look, bro, you guys can use your brains all you want, but it's the muscles that get the real pain," he said.

Lucas ignored Jace and looked back at his new staffers. "Take a break to look around and talk to your fellow staffers," he told them. They all went about their business and Lucas glared at Jace. "One day, Jace. Could I not have one day without you undermining the medical community? I can't even count how many times I've had to put you back together after different missions," Lucas complained.

Jace lifted his arms in a defensive way. "Whoa, calm down there. I was just swinging by to say hi," he clarified.

Lucas moved to grab a few beakers that were left out and put the back in their spots. "Aren't you supposed to be beating up the recruits?" he questioned.

"Nah, I'm going to see dad."

This made Lucas freeze for a moment, then continue to put the beakers away. "Oh? And what does he want from you?" he asked.

Jace shrugged and leaned against the doorframe. "I'm not sure; probably just a mission or something," he explained.

This made Lucas frown even more. He couldn't remember the last time his father called him to his office, if even once. And now with Amarith beginning her own career, his chances would be slim to none. No one needed a medic in a military family.

"Get out of here, then. Go get your mission. I'll be here, as always," he said, shooing his older brother away.

Jace could sense the bitterness in Lucas' voice, but decided to leave it alone. He went down to the trolley and made his way over to his father's office.

"Hey, dad, you here?" he asked as he walked in the door. He was greeted by Amarith, dressed in a tan colored blouse and black skirt. She was seated at the desk in the waiting room to his office, looking bored on the computer. When she saw him, her face brightened.

"Jace! Hey! It's great to see you!" she said, standing up. "Being a secretary can be so boring. I just sit here and call on people to come see dad."

Jace smiled and ruffled her hair. "So can I go in? Anka told me he wanted to see me," he asked. Amarith nodded and gestured to the doors to his office.

Jace stepped in to the office he knew so well. Since the capitol was one of the first buildings built on New Cybertron, he often stayed in the office as a child when his mother was on Earth for diplomatic trips. There were pictures of his siblings and himself all over the walls. His favorite was a photo of his mother and father at his mother's prom. Many times he had heard the stories of how his mother and father met, and he loved seeing photos of the time.

"Ah, Jace, it is good to see you," Optimus greeted, setting down his data pad. He was currently using his holoform. "I hate to get straight down to business, but we have an emergency. There has been a robbery in Anrihex at a parts shop. Normally this would not be concerning, but there is someone, or some group, looking for many parts. I need you to get to Antihex and investigate," he explained.

Jace was stunned at the amount of information. "Would you think it could be… Decepticons?" he asked.

Optimus looked at his son with a concerned look. "There is always a chance," he said. He then stood up, walked over to Jace, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I would investigate myself, but I am currently preoccupied with meetings. Officials from different countries on Earth have come to visit, and I must help convince them to allow their citizens to immigrate to New Cybertron. Your mother is currently meeting with them now."

Jace smiled at his father. "Relax, dad, this will be easy. I know a few recruits that could help me out on the mission. I'll be back before the day is even over," he assured. Optimus nodded at his son.

Jace left the office and made his way back to the military headquarters, ready to get his recruits together.