A/N: Bit of a longer chapter than usual, but I feel it works out well. Besides, there's plenty of action and story packed into this one, so enjoy!

The stillness of the Autobot warship, the Lost Light, had been abruptly shattered when all alarms on every deck of the ship screamed to life. The Autobots barely had time to prepare, but they were saved a few minutes by the quick activation of the exterior turrets, firing away at the encroaching Decepticon forces. The ship itself had been nestled against the ridge of one of the many craters upon the Earth's moon, and the adversaries quickly took advantage of this, setting up themselves along the gray rocky landscape.

The battle outside may have been a world of chaos, as the ship's defences and dozens of Autotroopers tried to hold back the Decepticons, but it was eerily quiet out in the vacuum of space, the only sound heard being transmitted over comms systems. Along with such limited range of communications, Megatron and Soundwave had agreed that a bridge to return them to Earth would appear in the same location 30 minutes after they arrived on the moon, giving the intense systems enough time to recharge, along with plenty of room for error as to not overdo it.

/We are breaking through, keep up the heavy fire and we can push them back to the ship!/ Starscream called out over the comms, as Thundercracker, Dirge, and himself, along with the flier Vehicons, were supplying aerial support to the troops on the ground. They were also doing well to take out any fliers the Autobots threw at them, swiftly taking them out of the sky whenever one was sent out to engage them. The seekers flipped back around, coming in for another run at the ship itself. Leveling themselves out, they let loose a barrage of missiles, each striking true at their target.

Around the other side of the ship, in what turned out to be a very successful attempt to split the Autobot forces, Menasor was tearing through the Autobot ranks like they were nothing, the Stunticon gestalt making quick work of any and all who dared to try and bring them down. In addition, it has managed to get in a few good blows at the ship's defensive armaments as well, and had even teared off some of the outer hull plating, an act that caused various sections of the ship to lose pressurization.

In another position, a group of tank Vehicons were positioning themselves behind Steve's squadron thats were trying desperately to push through the Autobot lines, and reach the airlock to breach the ship. The tank Vehicon at the front of this team, a dark red femme, was commanding them.

/Group 1, take out the ship's defensive armaments. Group 2, fire on the Autobot ground forces./ she commanded, as they all started to aim their large cannons towards the targeted areas. Had there been an atmosphere it hear it, it would have made any unprepared bystanders deaf in an instant, as the first volley of heavy artillery shells were fired off. The first to hit was group 1's attack, that took out well over half of the ship's defensives, and causing major damage to the outer hull overall. The second group's attack, being on a large spread of targets rather than specifics, had much better accuracy, taking out almost all of the Autotrooper forces.

Steve turned back to look at his compatriot up on the ridge, giving her a thumbs up.

/Nice shooting, Sammy./ Steve said over comms.

/Don't thank me yet. You still have to get inside that ship./ Sammy replied.

Now, with the way cleared and the ship's defensive offline and aerial troops taken out, the small army of Decepticons charged on through what little resistance there was between them and getting onboard the Lost Light. Any of the Autobots that hadn't been gunned down at this point started to retreat back to the ship, hoping beyond all hope that they could hold back the Decepticon forces for any longer.

However, such hope was lost, as they were all knocked down or shot as their enemy reached the airlock, having spent a solid 10 minutes of what precious time they had just to reach it. Megatron, having taken the lead position of the boarding party, took a quick glance over the airlock controls, and realised he was out of his depth on such high-security mechanisms.

Luckily for him, he had brought with him one of the best spies and hackers at the Decepticon's disposal.

/Ravage, would you be so kind as to get this door open?/ Megatron asked, as the sly, spotted jaguar-bot jumped up to the control panel, and transformed his front paws into computer interfacing tools, and got to work.

"What do you mean they are at the airlock already? Can't any of our troopers hold them back?" Ultra Magnus shouted at Rodimus, who was currently rushing to where the Decepticons were currently breaking in through, after having gone down to the armory with other Autobots and gearing up for the currently ongoing battle.

"What do you expect from a bunch of basic troopers, Magnus?" Rodimus retorted, only glancing at him in passing. "It's not like we have the Elite Guard at our disposal out here. And besides, scanners show that over 50% of the poor glitches that we sent outside survived, so its not a total loss, just yet anyways."

"Yet?!" Ultra Magnus cried indignantly.

Rodimus, choosing to ignore the angered rambling that Ultra Magnus has currently started on, was swift to change the subject, not only for his sake, but that of all the annoyed sliders that had been following them.

"I'm just wondering, how did they even find where we are? Pit, I guess the moon Isn't that far of a stretch to make on their own, but a bridge to exact coordinates?"

"Well of course those fraggers found us, they must have taken the information from the mining operation-" Ultra Magnus' optics went wide, as he realised what he had revealed in his state of rage.

Rodimus merely kept a death glare on him for a few moments, saying, "I'll deal with your failings later. Right now, I want these 'Cons off my ship!"

That was when the shooting started, as blaster fire started buzzing on by them from further down the corridor. "Take cover!" Rodimus shouted, pushing a few other Autobots up against the walls of the large hallways. He peered out from the small alcove of cover he had, taking note of just how many Decepticons had managed to get on board. And standing towards the front of their forces, was the silverish-gray mech he knew all too well.

…

Megatron would be lying if he said he didn't have his doubts about this mission at first. However, given the circumstances, and the possibility of this being their only shot at this spur-of-the-moment, hairbrained scheme of Scrapper's, it was the best option they had.

"Everyone fan out! Ravage, search for whatever lab they have this quantum drive in."

"Copy that, sir." Ravage purred, as he jumped up to where he saw a vent, and crawled in.

"Airachnid, see if you can't push them back from this position. Steve, your with me. And bring some of your troops, we will need the extra muscle." Megatron said, as he took off down the nearest hallway.

"Ok, so. What exactly are we after?" Steve asked, having gotten some Vehicons to come along with them.

"We are searching for their cargo bay. If we can cripple them further by taking as much of their energon stores as we can, we will not need to worry as much about them. However…"

"...It's going to make them even more aggressive when it comes to hunting for the stuff back down planetside." Steve finished, figuring out as to where Megatron was going with his plan.

"Unfortunately, yes. But so long as we can wound them however we can, it would be well worth the effort." Megatron said, as they continued on their rush to find whatever they could, and use it to sabotage the Autobots.

…

Airachnid's forces were holding up surprisingly well, given that they were severely outnumbered and outgunned. The severity of the continued Decepticon attacks on the outside of the ship had the enemy rushing to deal with the multiple fronts that had opened up in such a short span of time. Noticing an increase in Autobot troops, the spiderbot quickly fashioned herself a slingshot out of her webbing. She loaded a small orb of her poison, and aimed right for the biggest 'bot she could find.

Unfortunately for Ultra Magnus, that happened to be him at the moment. The blob of acidic poison struck him in his right shoulder, forcing his cannon to transform back into his hand due to how severe the pain was.

"Fragging beast… I'll show you!" Ultra Magnus shouted, yet his voice still trembled in pain. He reached around to his back with his good arm, and grabbed hold of his large silver and purple war hammer. Any bot that was smaller or weaker than himself would of had to use both hands to wield such a weapon, however after millennia of practice, it became just as easy to use with one hand instead of two.

He leaped out from behind cover, and started swinging wildly at any Decepticons within range, dealing heavy blows, and knocking down many of the attackers. This simple tactic was forcing the Decepticons back, but not before Airachnid could pull off one last trick.

Timing her moves perfectly, she leapt past and over the frontline troops, and got up to Ultra Magnus. Working swiftly, she began to spin webs around him as she continuously dodged his attempted strikes at her. To keep him in his blind rage, she occasionally spewed more of her acidic venom onto him.

"Hold still, you miserable little glitch!" He shouted out at her, as he brought down his hammer with a heavy attack. Out of a stroke of bad luck for Airachnid, she wasn't fast enough to dodge, and the hammer slammed right into her back, sending her to the ground.

Ultra Magnus started to pull the webbing off of his frame, and got up close to the spider-formed laying before him.

"Know your place, Decepticon." Ultra Magnus said, as he lifted up his hammer for a final blow. Right as he was about to bring it down, a shot struck him right in his hand, forcing him to drop his warhammer.

Before the Autobot SIC could react, Motormaster had planted his fist firmly into his faceplates, knocking him against a wall. The Stunticon leader never gave up his unrelenting attack until Breakdown quickly rushed over as well, and helped Airachnid up. Once he was satisfied with the damage he had done to Ultra Magnus, the three got back out of the way of Autobot fire.

"Thanks for the save." Airachnid said with a groan, trying her best to work through the pain.

"Not a thing to it!" Motormaster said, as he picked back up his blaster, and went back to firing at the Autobots

This stalemate battle would continue for as long as it took for Megatron, Steve and Ravage to complete their end of the mission.

"Ok, whos next?" Steve said, as another truck-former Vehicon came up, and the process of loading up energon cubes into the truck bed commenced once again. At this point, about a dozen or so Vehicons had been loaded up with as many of the cubes as they could, which for the smaller troops wasn't that much, but Megatron was content in their operation so far.

"Any idea how much longer we have Megatron?" Steve asked his commander.

The mech in question checked over his internal chronometer, having moved that system to a priority, as well as setting a 30-minute timer for the window they had.

"We have 10 minutes left before the bride back to the Nemesis is open. I'll call the troops to fall back at the 5 minute mark, should leave us plenty of time to regroup at the exit point." Megatron replied.

Just then, he received a ping over his commlink.

/Tell me Ravage, do you have good news?/ he asked the jaguar-bot who had contacted him.

/Yes sir,/ Ravage said over the comms, /Something you are going to want to see.../

Chromdome sat tiredly at a small, cramped desk in the corner of the bottom-most room of the ship. It was cramped, of course, as it wasn't even supposed to be there. Rodimus and Prowl had haphazardly given him this assignment to do. Sure, it wasn't unheard of for Decepticons to be brainwashed into fighting for the Autobot cause, but this mech? For once, he thought he would be the one flipping a table at the very mention of the infamous 'Con. He subpaced the datapad he had been writing up his usual reports on to hand off to Prowl, and made his way towards the hatch.

He looked back one last time at his patient, hoping that he wouldn't have to dive into his processor for much longer. He went up the steps, and typed in the code to get out. That was when he noticed something was off. Only Prowl and Rodimus knew of this secret hatch at the bottom of the ship, and the silhouettes he saw where not only not theirs, but there was more than just two mechs stood before him.

He didn't know who to comm. Rewind, to say final goodbyes to his loved one, or Prowl about the dire situation that was Megatron and his team finding the mighty Phase-Sixer chained up in their basement. His inaction was the last thing he thought about, as he was swiftly knocked out by some blue and white Vehicon he didn't recognize.

"Excellent move, Steve." Megatron commented.

"Eh, he wasn't a threat. No point in off-lining more bots than we have to." Steve replied.

The two Decepticon warriors made their way down the hatch, Megatron just barely fitting through, and found a dim chamber, barely lit in red lights.

Steve found a console, and turned the brightness of the room's light up to full. They were both shocked by what they saw.

"Megatron…" the figure said, delighted to see his leader once again, but clearly drained of any energy.

"Is… is that really…" Steve stammered, shocked at who they had found

"Yes," Megatron said, equally amazed. "It really is Overlord."

The conflict had worsened at this point, the Decepticons nearly pushed back to the hallway where they had entered into the ship from. Ultra Magnus had recovered, and was back to pounding away and beating down any Decepticon that came close. Rodimus, thinking tactically, had kept back a bit, picking off Decepticons with well-placed rifle shots.

That was when his comm pinged.

And another one.

And a dozen more.

The constant notification got to him, and he hid back behind some cover, and opened up a line who the most recent ping was from.

/Pipes, what a frag is going on? I've gotten at least 12 pings in under a minute!/

/It's bad, real bad!/ he cut out for a second, but Rodimus could hear blaster fire on the other end. /The Decepticons, they… they have a Phase-Sixer with them! Its Overlord, he, he's../ the line went dead, and Rodimus' spark sunk. He head dreaded the very idea of Overlord getting out, but in the midst of a full Decepticon army attacking their warship?

He felt strange. He then put his finger on it; he was going numb. He thought that today was one of the worst days of his life, second to the death of his carrier. He could see and hear the other Autobots still around him, but he didn't really notice them. He couldn't bear to think about what Overlord's escape to do to his brother. Pit, he hadn't even considered him.

'What have I done.' he thought to himself. 'I'm so sorry Bee…'

…

Pipes, along with every other Autobot, was running for their lives at this point. Had it been one of the famed Decepticon commanders, such as Tankor, Strika, Deathsaurus, and Starscream, or maybe even Megatron himself, they would have stood their ground.

But Overlord was more than some famed general. He was a one-'Con army that no force had ever been able to bring down without some kind of miracle. He had managed to liberate countless worlds from the Autobot Empire, and nothing in the Allspark or the Pit could stop that mech's mission.

Overlord continued his unremorseful assault, despite Megatron's request that he try and inflict as little deaths as possible. So he tried doing just that, aiming for non-vital yet crippling areas of the Autobots' bodies, tossing grenades and explosives into rooms of varying importance, and making sure he didn't stop moving.

Pipes had come to terms with his seemingly inevitable demise, but he'd be slagged if he was killed because he was at the back of the pack of fleeing Autobots. He had survived Decepticon-Day of all things, and he wasn't about to go and let Overlord finish the job. Some brave, or maybe foolish Autobots stayed behind, and fired every weapon they had at the Phase-Sixer.

Having ran down a hallway off to the side. He hid behind an outcropping. Moments later, he watched as Overlord survived taking a rocket-launcher to the head, and subsequently shot the poor bot who tried that right through the spark. He hid still a few more moments, and content that Overlord had passed, he ran off down the hallway he had hid in. After a time, he caught up with another group of soldiers at a 4-way junction. Several barricades had been set up, and many of the Autobots' optics were alight with rage, clearly itching for a fight.

In the crowd, he spotted a familiar face, and went up to them. Bumblebee was clearly trying to make himself as small as possible, and some troops had even formed around him as if they were his personal guards. They stepped aside, knowing that Pipes had served in Bumblebee's scouting outfit for most of their time in the war. He dark green mech sat himself beside who had considered to be an old friend, even though they were relatively young. Not knowing what else to do, he simply placed a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder, knowing that he could never fully understand just what this war's toll was on the black and yellow scout's psyche.

Then a shout was heard. And blaster fire rang out through the halls of the ship, meaning one thing; Overlord had found them.

"Come on, Bee, we gotta get you out of here. You aren't cleared for combat yet." Pipes said, dragging Bumblebee to his pedes. Protected by the few bots that had gathered, who had now started to fire upon the approaching Decepticon, they began to get away as quickly as they could, but Bumblebee had stopped in his tracks.

"Come on 'Bee, what's wrong? We have to move!"

But Bumblebee didn't answer, he just stood there in shock. His bright blue optics only going wide as he watched the mech who destroyed his voice box, now aboard his ship, decimating his fellow Autobots.

Then Overlord turned his attention to them. The large blue and purple mech lifted his large fists, and brought them down to strike. However, at the last minute, they were pushed out of the way to safety by the black and gray blur that they knew all too well.

Prowl got back up, and started firing at the large Decepticon, and was clearly doing more damage than anyone else had been doing.

"Ah, so the Prime's noble henchman faces me alone. I must say, I admire your dedication to the Autobots, Prowl, but you won't stand in the Decepticon's way of taking down your tyrannical empire." Overlord said, his smooth voice unnerving coming from somebody of his brutish frame.

"Whatever you say, Overlord." Prowl responded, unamused.

The heroic Phase-Sixer quickly transformed his arm into a large cannon, and fired upon Prowl at point-blank range. He was surprised to see that the Autobot tactician had managed to somehow just barely dodge the powerful shot. However, just barely dodging it wasn't enough to save him, as there was a large chunk taken out of the right side of his torso.

Prowl looked up weerily from where he had fallen, his optics screaming 'Finish it,' to Overlord. He had saved some of his fellow shipmates, and the rare show of honour amongst Autobots along with his loyalty to Optimus would surely guarantee him immortality in the form of military honors and the like.

However, death would not come to him on this day, as Overlord's attention was elsewhere; a comm line with somebody else. Without a word, the large Decepticon ran off, clearly having new orders, most likely from Megatron himself.

He didn't see much more than a blur standing over him before he passed out. Luckily, Pipes caught the mech before he fully hit the ground. He dragged him to where Bumblebee and a few others had hid out at, and they went on their way to the medical bay.

Brainstorm and Nautica were in a panic to finish now, their device almost completed. The batteries had almost finished charging up, and the coordinates for Cybertron had been set. Brainstorm wasn't entirely sure where on Cybertron the quantum-warp capsule would deliver him, but he was fairly certain that he had narrowed it down to somewhere in the greater Iacon area. There was no doubt about it working, as the same design had worked when teleporting the Lost Light to the planet that Megatron and his crew had fled to, so the only real worst case scenario would be if the capsule appeared inside somebot's home.

"Alright, that should be good." Brainstorm said, as he finished screwing on one of the bolts holding together the protective outer shell of the quantum-warp capsule. He went around to the front, and opened up the hatch to the small pod, his wings making it a little difficult to get in at first. He checked over everything one last time. Knowing them off the top of his helm, he started to input the coordinates for Cybertron to make sure to properly lock onto the intended target, and stepped out of it to admire his and Nautica's hard work.

"So, your all set then?" Nautica asked, as she finished putting away her tools she had been using to finish calibrations on the warp-core itself.

"Yeah. And just in time too. Rodimus sent me a message saying that the Decepticons were getting close to the lab, and that this is what they might be after."

"So… This is goodbye then." Nautica said, in a very matter-of-factly tone.

"Please don't… don't say that. It's not like I'm going to die or anything." Brainstorm said, trying to reassure her that everything would be fine.

"And besides," he continued, "We've gone over this, on what to do if captured by the Decepticons." he finished, as Nautica suddenly threw herself at Brainstorm, holding him in a tight embrace.

"But you should go hide or something. I'd much rather you still be here when I get back." Brainstorm said in a more lighthearted tone. Nautica let out a small chuckle at this, as she let him go, and stood back from the capsule.

In a rare bout of nervousness, Brainstorm squeezed back into the device, and closed the hatch. Out of the small view window, he watched Nautica hide in one of the storage lockers in the corner of his laboratory, a decent sized space, but not enough for anyone to be suspicious of someone hiding in it.

Brainstorm started up the systems, and a loud whirring noise could be heard, the warp-core coming to life as it began to teleport him away. In the last few moments aboard the Lost Light, through the purple mist surrounding the capsule, he locked optics with the large mass that was Overlord, and then he was gone.

…

Nautica held a hand over her face, holding her vent. She was relieved that Brainstorm had managed to teleport out of there just in time, but her attention was now drawn to the large Phase-Sixer standing where the capsule had been just seconds before. The large Decepticon put a hand up to his audial, and sent out a comm to somebot. Nautica could just barely hear his end of the line.

"...and they seemed to have escaped. I can only assume it to be the device you had tasked me with finding… Oh. really?… Then it shall be done at once Megatron. Overlord out." he said, as he walked out of the room, Nautica still hearing his heavy footsteps as he walked down the hall.

Nautica finally let out a heavy exvent, and slumped down in her hiding space. It would be until well over an hour or so until she dared to leave her cover.

With so many small cells of Decepticons scattered about the warship, despite reports of them retreating back outside, Ultra Magnus had taken off down the hallways of the Lost Light in his alt-mode, a heavy-duty armored truck, to get to the ship's hangar bay, as that was where the largest skirmish was taking place. Honking his horn wildly as to get anyone out of his way, he finally made it to the entrance of the hagar, only to find it blocked off by more Decepticons. Severely pissed off at this point, Ultra Magnus went full throttle right through the small team of Vehicons that had been in his way. He quickly transformed, and picked up one of the blasters that the Vehicons had dropped, and started firing, his bad arm still limp at his side.

After taking out a few approaching Decepticons, a powerful blast hit him in the back, knocking him forward, but he managed to keep himself standing. He turned around, and saw as Overlord leapt towards him. Swiftly, Ultra Magnus stepped to the side, and punched Overlord in the chest. The blow didn't even phase the large Decepticon, as he got back up, and started wailing away at the Autobot warrior.

"Overlord, I'm surprised you're still alive at this point, given by how easily Black Shadow was taken out." Ultra Magnus said, as he got in a few hits himself.

"Yes, a shame he passed on. However, it was a true warrior's death." Overlord grunted, as he kneed Ultra Magnus in the chest, and pushing him back. "But what did it take for you to do him in again? After all, he was all alone on some desolate planet, how hard could it have been?" Overlord said, as his fist flew right into Ultra Magnus' faceplates. "Oh, that's right, over 100,000 Autobots, and four months of nuclear bombardment from orbit." he continued, making it clear he was out for payback over his fallen comrade.

Ultra Magnus, now hunched over, and bleeding out energon all over his body, looked up to Overlord, only now realising that there was barely a scratch on him. Overlord leaned down, and grabbing Ultra Magnus by the neck, hoisted him to his feet.

"You… your laughing." Ultra Magnus said, taking notice of how Overlord was clearly trying to hold back bursting into laughter. "W-what's the joke?" he continued on, weekly.

"You, Ultra Magnus. The joke is you. Everything about you; the maucho-mech posturing, your paranoia about keeping your head, and your unwillingness to do battle unless the enemy is stood right in front of you." Overlord said, blocking a jab Ultra Magnus tried and failed to sneak in while he was talking.

"But you see, that's not why I'm laughing," Overlord continued, "I'm laughing because you've not been holding back-" he said calmly, as a long sharp blade transformed out of his right arm. He thrust it forward before Ultra Magnus could fully react, and the blade went right through his lower torso. "-and I have." Overlord finished, as he retracted the blade.

Overlord watched as Ultra Magnus struggled to step forward, clearly not ready to give up. The Autobot fell down to his knees, and transformed his good arm back into his built-in blaster, but before he could even lift it up to aim at his opponent, he slumped forwards, passing out face down in a slowly growing pool of his own energon.

Far away from Earth, across the other side of the galaxy, Cybertron laid waiting for him to arrive. Brainstorm couldn't tell if any time had passed since he had activated his war capsule, but he did know one thing; he was really fragging grateful for the extra armor that Nautica had suggested. The quantum-warp capsule had worked splendidly, yes, however the arrival point wasn't necessarily as intended, as it was some 50 stories up in the air, as opposed to teleported in safely at ground level. The Autobot scientists felt the shock go throughout his whole frame as the pod hit the hard concrete surface that was, from what little he could see out of his view window, a park.

He typed in a command on the internal console, and the capsule door swung upwards, and he lazily fell out, landing on his hands and knees. His optics were still weary, and he took notice of various mecha running up to him. Whether or not it was to make sure he was okay, or to violently question what had happened, was an uncertainty to him, but judging by the general shape of his surroundings, the large opulent buildings being a dead giveaway, was that he was in the central plaza of Iacon.

Before he knew it, a bright red and blue mech had reached him, and held out a hand to help him up.

"Geez Brainstorm, what the Pit happened to you?" Smokescreen asked, as he pulled Brainstorm back onto his own two pedes. Brainstorm, still a little disoriented, managed to steady himself. At first he tried to brace himself against the pod, but the outside layer of it was scolding hot, and did not hesitate to draw away from it.

"A lot, believe me." Brainstorm said, letting out a heavy sigh. "But right now, I need a meeting with Optimus Prime."

"...ee, come on Bee, wake up!"

Bumblebee slowly onlined his optics, and quickly shielding them from the bright that was directed onto him, as he sat up on the medical berth in the ever-familiar medical bay of the Lost Light. Standing over him, as well as the one trying to wake him up, was Rodimus, a look of dire concern upon his faceplates. His purple and black brother was quick to bring him into a tight hug, as if afraid of him dying.

*What… what happened?* Bumblebee buzzed curiously. He adjusted his optics some more, and when he looked around the medbay, he wished that he hadn't. All around were bodies, some not even alive anymore. Dim-glowing energon, indicating that it was still fresh, lined the floors and medical berths everywhere. He wished to Primus that this was just some sick nightmare.

He suddenly retracted his face mask, and purged his tanks onto the floor next to his berth, before falling back into another comatose state.

"Well, that certainly wasn't what I was expecting." a stern voice said from the next berth over. Rodimus looked over to see Prowl, the large hole in his side now mostly repaired with some welds, as First Aid finished up his repairs on the cop-bot.

"Thank you, by the way. For saving him." Rodimus said warily.

"Your welcome." Prowl said, in the usual serious tone of his.

"And Magnus?" Rodimus said, his tone a little more on edge this time.

"I've instructed the medics to stabilize him and keep him alive, but to keep him low on the priority list of treatment. We can manage without him." Prowl said.

Rodimus looked around the medibay, only now fully taking in the sights of carnage all around him. He then looked up as someone approached. The bot in question, Pipes, had returned with another injured Autobot, and one of First Aid's medical assistants instructed him on where to place them.

After doing so, the dark colored bot strode over to where Rodimus and Bumblebee were.

"How is he holdin' up?" He asked, his voice giving away that he was nervous of the answer.

"Welp, other than purging himself just now, and the massive traumatic experience of earlier, I'd say he's… taking it well." Rodimus said, unsure of what else to say on the matter. "Hey, think you can watch over Bee for a while Pipes? I have some things that need to be taken care of."

"Sure, not a problem." Pipes responded, as he pulled up a chair next to Bumblebee's medical berth, and sat himself there the way a security guard would watch over a bank vault.

Rodimus got up, and walked out of the medical bay, determined to get a hold on the situation, and to make sure that everything could be as good as it can be in a time like this.

Upon their arrival back to the Nemesis's compound, the Decepticons were having a mini-celebration of sorts, as Megatron had declared the mission as resounding success. All the energon they had taken from the Autobots was instantly put to use, being stockpiled in the engine room with what little left there had been after the strenuous bridging that had been done. Overlord, being as resourceful as ever, had managed to commandeer one of the Autobots' shuttles, and had decided to stay with the Nemesis crew for a little while longer.

Megatron, not usually being one for parties, decided that it would be best to celebrate alongside his troops. As to accommodate everyone in one place, the celebration was held outside, with Soundwave pumping music through the ship's communications system.

However, given that it was late into the night at this point, Megatron resigned to get some well-earned recharge time, and so he said his congratulations to his fellow Decepticons, and went off to his quarters for the night.

…

Megatron bolted upright at the sound of his commlink going off. He hadn't realised he had slept in, and then remembered that he didn't set an alarm. Then again, now was not the worst time to enjoy a little extra time in recharge. Reaching up to his audial, he activated the comm line with the bot on the other end.

/Lord Megatron, are you alright?/ Starscream asked over the comms.

/Yes, yes, im quite alright Starscream. Just a little extra recharge, that's all./

/Of course, my apologies for bothering you. However, you should be aware that Overlord will be taking off soon, so it would be best to say your farewells./

/Very well then, Starscream. I'll be on the bridge soon enough./ Megatron said, as he dropped the line.

Knowing full well that the Autobots would never have the gall to undergo any operations so soon after an attack, Megatron forgoed putting on his helmet, the more bulkier parts of his external armor, and fusion cannon for the day.

His walk to the ship's bridge proved to be more difficult than expected, as he was now feeling the soreness of last night's raid. And during his walk there, he was met with greetings and congratulations from various crew who had been unable to partake in the raid themselves.

…

Walking onto the bridge, he was met with similar greetings, and gave his usual good mornings to those around him. That was when he heard the distinct "woah" of somebody in disbelief. A very small someone to be exact. Megatron turned to see Overlord sitting next to the human's platform, most likely telling stories of his own escapades during the war, but he also took notice of the three human youths staring up at him dumbfoundedly.

"I didn't realise all that armor you had could come off. Always thought it was just, ya know, part of your body." Jack said.

"Yeah, and I gotta say that headdress looks so cool!" Miko said, commenting on the for panels that had unfolded after he had taken off his helmet.

"Ah, of course. I understand it may seem strange, however, this is very much close to my original build frame." Megatron replied.

"Well, hopefully one day none of us will need battle armor anymore. And last night sure proved we have the power to still win this war." Overlord said, as he strode over to Megatron.

"I hear that your on your way now. But tell me, where will you go?" Megatron asked.

"Wherever I am needed most I suppose. I plan on searching for other Decepticons, and making sure we aren't all getting our afts handed to us, despite how bad things may seem sometimes." Overlord responded.

"Then I wish you the best of luck. We all do." Megatron said, shaking his fellow Decepticon's hand. With that, Overlord turned and waved to all on the bridge, and made his way out.

Megatron, now invigorated over recent events, decided that it was long past time to do something.

"Soundwave, has the radio satellite agent Fowler provided us properly hooked up to our communications system yet?"

"Affirmative." came the communication officer's reply.

"Give me open comms across the galaxy, on all Decepticon frequencies, I have a message for our troops." Megatron said commandingly. He gathered his thoughts for a moment, and collected up what he was about to say.

"Communications; open. You may proceed."

Megatron stepped forward, picking up the microphone from his command chair.

"With the Autobots in control, we may not be able to return to our planet. But fate has yielded a reward, a new world to call home. We live among its people, hiding in plain sight, protecting them from the Autobot threat. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though they are worlds apart, like us, there is more to them than meets the eye." Megatron shot a quick glance around, his troops and the humans clearly entranced by his words.

"I am Megatron, and I send this message to any surviving Decepticons taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We, are waiting."