A/N: This chapter jumps perspectives more than usual, but it helps with moving things along. And to clarify, 'Contact' is like the Darkness Rising mini-series for this fic, so back to more one chapter stories for a while after part 5. As always, feedback is appreciated!

Breakdown had been lying on one of the medical berths for a while now, as Knockout looked him over. Miko stood close to him on the small table used mostly for storing equipment next to the berth.

"So, how many 'Bots did you take down? Ten? Twenty!?" Miko asked excitedly, trying to keep her guardian in a good mood.

Breakdown mustered his energy to laugh. "None kiddo. The Autobots had the rest of the team to deal with."

"That they certainly did." Airachnid chimed in, from a webbing hammock she had woven into one of the medbay corners.

"You'd better clean that off when your done!" Knockout said, pointing to her from across the medbay as he put away the scanners had had used to examine his injured mate.

"I did see some action though. They way Airachnid and Steve took them down was a sight to witness. And I dealt with a certain infamous Autobot, by the name of Jazz-"

"Knockout!" cried the ever-familiar voice of Starscream, as he and Thundercracker burst through the doors of the medmay carrying the limp body of Skywarp between them. Knockout hastily cleared off the nearest medical berth, and ushered them to place Skywarp down onto it.

"What the frag happened to him?" the blue medic asked, as he hooked the unconscious seeker up to vital support systems.

"I don't know." Starscream replied blankly. "We were going over Autobot intel we recovered during the mission, and he got angry, unreasonable so, and stormed out. Next thing we know, he's lying on the floor in the state he's in now."

"Let me guess, he tried his luck and flew, didn't he?" Knockout asked annoyedly, going over Skywarp with his scanner.

"Yeah, that's what I saw at least." Thundercracker said, taking a seat. Unlike Starscream, he had the sense of mind to get out of the way whilst the good doctor was operating.

"Figures," Knockout mumbled to himself, as he set to work trying to save the seeker laid out before him.

It had been a rough few hours in the medical bay that evening, as Knockout finally began to clean up the various energon-covered operating tools strewn about. It was dumb luck, really, that Skywarp was even still alive. A Spark Attack is what the problem was, brought on by a combination of high energon pressure from his brief fit of rage, and the overall strain caused by simply flying.

Hook, who had been called back to help due to the severity of Skywarp's condition, was busy monitoring the various life support system that were hooked up to the patient. Mainly because he knew them better than anyone, having designed many new medical systems during the war, as to better the chances of saving the lives of his fellow Decepticons. And with how few there were left, he wasn't about to lose another.

Breakdown had tried to help out, but Knockout was quick to shoot down the idea. And thus, the large orange mech was currently passed out asleep on one of the spare medical berths.

"I just don't get it, Knockout." Hook said, breaking the stillness of the room. "Skywarp has a medical record to rival that of Megatron and Starscream, and no offence to him, but it's a miracle he's stayed online this long."

Knockout strode over from where he had been working, taking a seat next to his fellow medic.

"Well, from what little I've seen of his records, he has a very unorthodox fighting style."

"Fighting style? Ha! More like he's in some life-or-death prank war really. One second ya see him, the next he's somehow planted a grenade to your back. Or teleported you up into the air, if your unlucky enough to be a grounder Autobot."

"Really?" Knockout said, taken aback. He looked to the comatose seeker before him, having rarely seen him in combat before.

"Yeah, really. He's always so nice and jovial, I never would've believed it hadn't I witnessed it with my own two optics."

A sudden beeping came from one of the life support machines

…

Currently, on the other end of the warship, Megatron had called on the available members of his current high command. That being Starscream, Thundercracker, Soundwave, Steve, Airachnid, Motormaster and Barricade. The group of seasoned warriors had gathered on the bridge, as to information that had been gathered on their raid of the Autobot's mine.

Soundwave was the one projecting different diagrams and images up onto the main monitor, showing off the various inventions and tactical documents that had been found, whilst Megatron spoke for the mostly silent mech.

"And here we can see clearly plans of attack for various human military compounds scattered across the globe. It would appear that the Autobots have been up to no good on this planet longer than we had anticipated."

"And it would explain why I haven't caught word of these raids from Fowler. Almost all of these have been conducted with some serious stealth." Barricade said.

"Astute observation." Megatron continued. "However, that is about to change. We also managed to decypher future plans on military installations and research labs, however dates are not known."

"So let's get ready for when they do show their ugly faceplates again!" Steve chimed in, clearly ready to take action against the enemy.

"Don't worry ya' self there Steve, those Auto-fools won't know what hit 'em." Motormaster said, a smug yet jovial grin plastered across his face.

Before anyone else could speak, it was Soundwave who went next.

"Decryption: Incomplete. Further time is needed." the communications officer spoke.

"And then what?"

The question came not from one of the gathered Decepticons, but from Jack, who along with Raf and Miko had yet to be returned home. Megatron looked to them, with a face of uncertainty upon realising what the young human meant.

"I do not yet know for certain what will become of us should we somehow stop the Autobots' attacks on your world, but I do know that even if we can repair the Nemesis, we will not abandon a world until we can be certain that the Autobot threat here has been eliminated." Megatron said.

It was then that the silver mech noted his internal chronometer, and took notice of just how late in the day it had gotten.

"My apologies, I hadn't realised how late it had gotten. Perhaps it would be best if you were escorted back to your homes now." Megatron continued, gesturing to Steve and Airachnid, who in turn picked up their human charges.

"Don't worry, I can take you back Miko." Barricade said stepping over to pick her up in his large black hands.

"Police escort? Awesome! Host parents are gonna freak!" Miko said gleefully, as the three Decepticons and humans left the bridge.

"Observation: Discontinue meeting for the night." Soundwave spoke up over the silence.

"Indeed… Everybody get some rest, there's no telling when the Autobots shall strike again." Megatron stated, as he wandered back over to his seat whilst everyone else, aside from Soundwave, left the bridge to go about their evenings.

Megatron once again turned to filling out his report for agent Fowler with the news of future attacks on important human military installations, and double checking with Soundwave that a set date of the plans were not given. His mind eventually began to wander, and he thought about just how little they knew so far from the gathered intel. No idea on how many troops they had, where they could be hiding, or even how long they had been on Earth for. Hell, had they been on the planet before even the scouting team arrived?

With a heavy sigh, he sent out his report. He left the bridge, after a quick goodbye to Soundwave, and went to his quarters for a good long rest.

"And tell me, what else did you see in this dream?"

Bumblebee flickered open his optics, looking towards the figure who had asked. He had had them closed as to better remember the nightmares, something he would never do of his own accord, but Rung had always been persistent in getting as many details as he could out of the black and yellow mech, along with all of his patients onboard the Lost Light.

*I… I saw w-what came after the incident* Bumblebee sputtered, *I had been in stasis for who knows how many hours, b-before Ratchet found me there…*

Rung gave a polite nod in understanding, "And was this the end of the dream?" The silver and redish-orange mech asked.

Bumblebee gave a slight nod, and showed a growing look of discomfort in the topic.

"Well, considering how you've never made it all the way through the events when you dream, I'd say your making excellent progress." Rung said, placing a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder reassuringly.

The timer on his wrist-bound chronometer went off, indicating the end of the session.

"We seem to be out of time. Any questions before you go?"

*No, thank you. Makes me feel like one day, I might be back to the way I was.* Bumblee whirred, his speech less impaired from having managed his emotions. With that, the young Autobot strode out into the hallway, and made a b-line for where he had agreed to meet up with a certain group of mechs.

After a few minutes of walking, and having to go up a few levels on the ship, he finally reached the set of doors he was looking for, and stepped on in.

Swerve's was the usual level of dingy that it always was, the lights dimmed as everybody chatted amongst themselves. It was packed this evening, Bumblebee spotting many familiar faces from the ship's voyages over the years. The numerous members of the crew were probably only there either to chat with shipmates and friends, or because their own supply of booze had run dry.

Working his way through the small crowd of bots, the occasional greeting exchanged between him and someone, he saw just who he had been looking for. Tucked away in the far back corner of the bar, was Rodimus and Prowl sat across each other in a boothe. What he hadn't expected, was to see Chromedome of all mechs standing next to them, the dark green mnemosurgeon whispering something to them.

As Bumblebee was about to get closer, his attention was grabbed when he heard somebody say his name. Looking over to where he thought it had come from, he saw the short blue barkeep who the place was named after.

Swerve slid a glass of glowing orange liquid over as soon as Bumblebee reached the bar. A sweet, non-alcoholic concoction the gruff bartender had mixed up for him the first time they met.

"Your usual. Ya' seem tense, kid." Swerve said, his rough voice distinct in the many voices in the bar.

*Thanks.* Bumblebee said. As he turned his head to look back at boothe, Chromedome had seemingly vanished without a trace. The black and yellow scout retracted his mouthguard, and took a sip from his drink as he walked over to the back of the bar.

As he reached it, his brother waved as if he was trying to get his attention from across the room.

"Hey Bee, thanks for joining us." Rodimus said as the bot in question took a seat next to him.

"Good, now that you're both here, let's cut to the chase. I have some information Optimus wanted me to pass on to you both." Prowl said. Bumblebee and Rodimus listened intently, knowing that whatever their sire had planned was important.

"He has informed me that plans for a coup have been found on Ultra Magnus' estate during a raid by the Elite Guard within the past few days."

The two brothers were taken aback. Everybot on Cybertron, whether Autobot or Decepticon knew about Ultra Magnus' ambitions, but nobody would have ever thought he would try and usurp a Prime of all things.

*Uh.. Are you sure this is the best place to tell us?* Bumblebee beeped, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone had been paying attention. That was when he realised how quiet it had been, and was shocked at how the bar was empty for everyone other than them.

"Because I told Swerve to clear the place out the moment you took a seat." Prowl replied, his stern look unwavering.

"I believe that your sire's direct quote on the matter was, 'Make that incompetent fraghead pay, but dont let on that we know what he's up to.' Understandable, considering there's no way for any of his own co-conspirators to reach him, as only you, Rodimus and myself have access to galactic comms."

"Any clue on if the Wreckers are in on it?" Rodimus asked.

"Unlikely, but not out of the question yet. They resent him for replacing Impactor after his death instead of letting Springer take charge. However, they seem to respect him on some level."

*Dirty work attracts the dirty, that's for sure.* Bumblebee buzzed, *Nothing against Bulk or Jackie, but they don't have the cleanest records either.*

"Exactly why I will be keeping an optic on those two as well. As for now, we can only wait and see what Magnus' next move is." Prowl said, as he abruptly stood up from the boothe.

The black and gray police-bot tossed some shanix on the counter, knowing Swerve would collect it eventually, and walked out of the bar back to his office.

Megatron had only recently arisen from a night of deep recharge, and after he had cleaned off and dusted the shelves in his quarters, he went about the grueling task of cleaning his fusion cannon, the large black cylinder always a pain to maintain. He had always been able to take it to the closest Decepticon armorer or weaponsmith of some sort back Cybertron, but in the waning days of the war, he had realised that a day would come when only he would be able to get the job done.

After a good hour of disassembling, cleaning, and then reassembling, he attached it to his right arm via a slotting mechanism, and headed off to the galley for his morning cube of energon. At this time, it was about 6:00 in the morning for Earth time, so he was one of the few bots up at this hour. The walk there was quiet and uneventful, passing by the occasional early-morning guard.

Megatron walked into the galley, and it was, expectedly, empty. He picked up a cube from the drying rack labeled as 'clean', and proceeded to pour the warm blue liquid into his glass. He seated himself down, and took in the calmness of the early morning, looking out one of the windows as the sun slowly started to rise.

His thoughts were interrupted, as Soundwave pinged him over the comms, the message simply saying, 'You are needed on the bridge.'

…

As Megatron strode past the door onto the bridge, he noticed that not only was soundwave hooked in with all of his tentacle-like cables, but that his deployers were also busying themselves at the various terminals.

"Good morning, Megatron." Ravage purred, as the yellow and black spotted cat-bot uncurled himself from around Soundwave's pedes.

"Yeah, heya boss." Frenzy said from where he was typing away at one of the consoles.

"Yes, good morning to you all." Megatron said, walking over to where Soundwave stood unmoving, "Tell me Soundwave, what have you uncovered that requires my immediate presence here?"

"Operation: Decryption, is successful. Autobot Intelligence: fully revealed." Soundwave said. It may have been difficult to hear over the heavily synthesized voice, but Megatron had known the mostly silent mech long enough to hear the faint tremble of tiredness.

Then, on both the terminal monitor and Soundwave's mask screen, rows upon rows of plain Cybertronian text appeared.

"Are those… coordinates?"

"Affirmative. Autobot base: Located."

…

With the revelations of the final parts of the encrypted Autobot intel, Megatron had ordered all troops to begin preparations for the mission to come. How exactly they were going to get themselves up to the moon in order to conduct this attack was something he was currently ironing out. Luckily for him, he had some of the best minds of Cybertron at his disposal.

"Are you crazy?!" Knockout, not actually being from Cybertron, was starting to doubt the sanity of not only Megatron, but the surrounding Constructicons as well.

"Only a little, but that's besides the point." Mixmaster said, the chemist trying his best to calm the now heated discussion.

"No, this idea is out of the question! We can't risk it." The blue medic retorted, not giving an inch, and not caring who saw his mini-tantrum.

"It's the only fraggin' option we have without putting the whole ship back together and making it fly." Bonecrusher said.

"Do you realise just how much energy it takes to power a groundbridge? We would practically deplete our stockpile of energon trying to bridge you to the MOON of all places!" Knockout shouted back.

"Knock, settle down." Breakdown said, placing a hand on his mate's shoulder from where they were sitting on the bridge.

"Other energon sources: Available. Earth: rich in deposits." Soundwave said from across the bridge.

Megatron sighed, and turned to the head of the Constructicons.

"Scrapper, do you think the proper reconfigurations could be made to the groundbrdide system to reach that far?"

"Well, its over 225,000 miles away, and that's one tall order." the engineer said, thinking up the modifications in his head. "If you can supply the energy, which I'm sure we have, I can have you on the moon by tonight. It'll be right overhead, so a more-or-less straight shot at it."

"Then it's settled. Work with Soundwave on this, he knows the bridge systems better than anyone. Get to it." Megatron said as he sat down in his command chair.

'This is going to be a long day,' he thought to himself.

…

"So, your really going to the moon?" Jack asked, as Airachnid drove him to base that late Sunday morning. He had been a little stunned at the idea, but from what he had seen of Megatron so far, he really would go to those lengths to save people.

"If only we had a ship to get us there. The Constructicons have been diverting power to the bridge network all morning. Wouldn't be surprised if most of the hall lights are out by now."

…

Airachnid's assumption had ended up being correct, as she had to activate her headlights just to see through the dark corridors of the warship, the dark bluish-purple colors of the ship making it ever more difficult. It wasn't until they reached the bridge that there was enough light coming off of the console screens and sunlight coming in through the large frontal window that they could see, although just so.

Airachnid set Jack down on the human's raised platform, where Miko and Raf already were. The young teen could tell that something was up, because Miko was smiling while doing homework of all things.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Jack asked as he sat down besides them on the beat-up sofa they had.

"Not much, only just being amazing at school work!" Miko said excitedly.

"Ok… who are you, and what have you done with Miko?" Jack asked jokingly.

"A little incentivising, that's all." Raf said, looking up from his laptop, almost as engrossed in what he had been doing as Soundwave was with his work. "I told Miko that for every question I asked her that she got right, I'd let her play me in a round of my racing game," Raf finished.

"Is that really all it took?" said Jack.

"That and he needed help with his more artistic assignments, so it's one of those, uh.."

"Symbiotic relationships. Where two or more organisms benefit from working together." Raf said, quick to assist in Miko's vocabulary.

And so, the three of them got to whatever assignment their teachers were dreary enough to assign for them over the weekend. However, it was not the most easy task to focus on, as all around the bridge, Decepticons were carrying out the somewhat absurd plan of bridging to the moon.

"This… is strange. It just all seems so sudden." Jack said, gazing around the room.

"Well, duh. A couple days ago, we were living normal lives. Now we get to hang with giant alien car robots!" Miko exclaimed.

…

The hours of the day marched on quickly, as the ship's crew were hard at work getting the groundbridge ready for space travel under the command of the Constructicons, who themselves had been filling up the ship's reactors to the maximum energy storage, making sure they had enough power to bridge the strike team to the moon then back again. Due to the high energy requirements, mining teams had been sent out to extract whatever scraps of Energon they could recover from the Autobots' abandoned mine, only to find that there was still plenty energon crystals left over.

"Even with all of this, will it be enough?" Steve asked, as he watched the mining operation, as other combat vehicons were dotted around incase the Autobots detected them in their old stomping grounds.

"Not to worry. All of Scrapper's and Soundwave's calculations plan out as good as we can hope for." Mixmaster replied, as his Cement Mixer form laid down a nearly instant-drying concrete path for the miners to better traverse the rough, battle torn mines.

"That's not as comforting as hearing them as 'perfect.'"

"Trust me, there aint such a thing as perfect, but we can slagging well try and get close enough."

…

As evening began to fall, and then giving way to darkness of night, the Decepticons' target rose above them, the pale glowing orb of the moon. By now, everything was in place, and it was mere minutes until the great operation would begin.

"Alright everybot, I hope ya' have everything in order, 'cause we won't get a second shot at this!" Motormaster shouted back to the other Combaticons and the dozen or so vehicon troopers that followed them as they jogged/ marched their way to the main cargo hold, the only place large enough to contain the number of bots going on the mission. Breakdown had been cleared for combat already, as the injuries were not too severe, and the need for every member of their team to combine was always a necessity.

Once they arrived in the large room, they saw Steve with his other top Vehicon commandos, along with basic troopers. They also saw Thundercracker and Dirge with a good three dozen eradicons, their bright silver frames ever-so recognizable. Up in front stood Starscream, Airachnid, and Megatron, who was currently giving his final words of encouragement before the portal opened.

"-and if we are to fall this night, then know that countless other mechs and femmes shall heed the call, and take up arms against the dreaded Autobots. But, if we are to be successful in this great endeavor of ours, then we shall be ever so closer to rising above Optimus Prime's tyranny!"

The gathered soldiers gave out a cheer, giving their leader a roaring applause. Even after so many years of war, it was clear to anyone that the Decepticons would follow Megatron to the bitter end.

/Soundwave, are we ready?/ Megatron called out over the comms systems.

/Bridge systems: functional. Ready on your command./ Soundwave responded.

Megatron turned to where the bridge would open. They would only have mere moments to get everyone through, and they would have to give it time before enough energy could be recharged before the second opening to bring them back down to Earth.

/Open the grou- ,space bridge, Soundwave/ Megatron commanded.

And before the last letter slipped through the comms, the whirling green portal appeared before them.

"Decepticons!" Megatron called back to his small army, "Transform, and Rise Up!"