Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Authoress: *smirks* Oh, this is perfect!

Pandimala: *glances at title* I'm not going to like this. I already know that.

Airachnid: *glares at Authoress* I swear that if you cause her any unnecessary trouble I will make sure you regret it.

Authoress: I don't think I did, but I am not sure. Guess we will find out later. *runs*

Chapter 8: The Trouble with Appointed Officials

Airachnid's 1st P.O.V.

Slag.

The fragger wasn't supposed to show up for another seven solars. We were supposed to have more time. But, Tarantulas' inside bot with the research team told him that Thrust had communicated with us and said that he was going to arrive by the end of this solar. While I wasn't the biggest fan of the femme, she was proving to be an ally among them all. And if she was to be believed, there were a few more bots in the group that could be trusted.

I would need to see more evidence of that first.

However, despite my doubt in all of that, I did appreciate the news that she gave to Tarantulas. While we were still slightly unprepared for his arrival here, we at least had a little bit of time to finalize our plans. All of us had to be on the same page if we were going to pull this off. We knew that Thrust would be coming here with energon in his optics. He wanted us to fall.

Regardless of how the situation with Flamewar might have turned out, we would have been in a tight situation regardless. If she would have succeeded, then he could use the disunity that we would have fallen into to allow Cybertron to finally take our sovereignty away from us. If one of us would have stopped the femme, then they could have made us pay reparations to them to a point where we would not be able to stay a sovereign state. Even with what happened with Pandimala, they were still going to be imprisoning her at the least, though something told me that more was going to happen.

As much as I hated to think about it, the fact that Pandimala was the one that took out Flamewar was the best possible outcome in all of this. Since Pandimala was not a part of the Hive, then her actions could not be used against the Hive to force us to do anything. It still stung that the femme had to be in this position in the first place, but it was inescapable now that it had happened.

And Pandimala would agree that it was worth it. While I would be forever grateful that Orbweaver had been saved that solar, my spark hurt knowing that I would soon be losing Pandimala. Our friendship had boomed ever since I talked her down from that snap, and losing her was going to be difficult.

At least the femme had learned to control her snaps.

It was close, but each snap that was activated within the last seven solars had been put down by the femme herself, no help was needed from the outside. She was ready for Cybertron…well, as ready as she was going to be. As much as we all said that she would be fine, we all knew that Cybertron was not going to be an easy place for the femme. That was especially since, outside of her connection to the Hive and those helping us, she was going in without any help.

Oh, we had discussed it. The possibility of sending one of the Hive with her to Cybertron to help keep her safe. Hardshell had even volunteered to go with her when the option was brought up. However, Pandimala pointed out that she needed to be able to focus on making any connection that she could that would be beneficial, and that would be harder to do if she was worried about Hardshell, or anybot else that we sent.

In the end, with Sandstorm supporting the thought, we all agreed with her.

"Airachnid, wait up!" I turned around and saw that Sandstorm was trying to catch up to me. He must have heard something to be trying to get with me instead of going over last-click training with Pandimala.

So, I stopped and waited for the mech to catch up. Once he was next to me and caught his intakes, I decided to see what this was about. "What's happening?" I asked him as we started to walk again.

The triple changer glanced from side to side, most likely checking his surroundings before he spoke up. "I've been in contact with Scorchflint." That was the military commander of Vestium Major. This was news that couldn't wait. Sandstorm said that, given everything that he had learned while he was here, and what he experienced as well, he was going to contact Vestium Major about possibly allowing Regulon IV to be a subordinate planet to them in the Alliance. It was going to be a long process that would include a lot of official visits, but we were hoping to at least get the process rolling so we would have more ammunition to use against Thrust and Cybertron.

"What did he say?" I asked the mech.

There was silence between the two of us for a nano before he finally spoke up. "He brought up your proposal with Lord Dawnbreaker. Given the fact that you have a declared monarch now, and the peaceful situation on Regulon IV, he is going to start the process immediately. The first representative…well, the official one at least, is going to be here in about thirty solars. They will have a lot of questions about what is going on with Pandimala right now. I've already told Orbweaver all of this, and Tarantulas was in the room as well. So, I figured I should get with you so we were all on the same thoughts about this."

"Speaking of being on the same thoughts," I brought up. "We need to all meet and go over how we are going to handle Thrust when he arrives. I do not doubt that the mech is going to try and bring up the situation as soon as he lands. While we have been over the plan a few times already, his faster arrival changes a few things."

Sandstorm stayed quiet as we entered the Hive-only complex and stayed so until we arrived in the main rec room. "It is going to be a little more challenging than we were hoping it would be. I would prefer to have made some more connections inside the research team before he got here. While Filch is a good start since she would know a lot about them given that she is their medic, having bots that could tell us information, that aren't bound by medical oaths, would make getting information a little easier. There was a mech that Filch introduced us to the other solar. Hound. Nice bot for the research team. He might be able to help the femme out by watching Pandimala during transport."

And that was another of our worries that our new allies were going to be able to help with. It wasn't unheard of for prisoners, during transport, to be offlined for 'trying to escape'. Since Pandimala's endgame for the moment was to get to Cybertron, then she wasn't about to be escaping her best chance to do so without being questioned about her origins.

That would be a helmache and a half to go over.

So, having allies on the research team that could be a part of her transport would help protect the femme until she got to Cybertron. At that point, Pandimala could hopefully get to the point where she could start making her own connections. She was going to have to. All of the allies that she had made here were going to be useless to her there.

But, I knew that my friend would be able to do it. I saw her work miracles here with us, and I knew that she was going to be able to do the same once she arrived on Cybertron. She would be able to survive through everything that was to come and make it to the point in time where she thought Primus was going to appear. And while we weren't going to be able to help her much once she left here, I knew that Orbweaver would have the Hive help her as much as we were able to.

And making this alliance with Vestium Major was going to be a major step in that. Our two powers together would at least make any sort of future enemies hesitate in messing with our allies.

"Airachnid, are you ready for this?"

As we sat down on the couches, I raised an optic ridge at the mech. "What do you mean?"

"Will you be able to control yourself?" Sandstorm pressed on. "From what you all have told me about Thrust, he is going to press each of you to try and make you do something against him. And with how attached each of us has become to Pandimala, then he is going to pick up on that and use her against you all to the best of his ability."

And that fragger would do anything he could. "If we are right, and he helped orchestrate the attack against Orbweaver, then he has shown he is willing to do anything to upset the balance here. That sick fragger, he is going to get his one solar." I growled as I remembered the attack. I had almost lost my sister because of that mech's scheming ways. If there was retribution in this existence, then it needed to take full vengeance against the seeker mech. He needed to burn, and I wanted to watch it happen.

"And that is exactly what you need to control Airy," Orb stated as she and Tar walked inside. "Thrust is going to see how affected you are by this and he is going to target you specifically. And I can't have you stay away from this because then Thrust will see that as a weakness in us that we are not all going to be present."

"If you let your temper get the best of you, then he will massacre any chance we have of an alliance with Vestium Major," Tarantulas spoke up. "We have a plan, and Pandimala knows it. However, you also need to realize that Pandimala might go off script."

Frag, I didn't even think of that. And she would. While Pandimala said that she knew the plan, there was a good chance that Thrust would pull her away from the plan. Since he was going to be mainly focusing on the femme, then he was going to try and get her to break. With Sandstorm here, he couldn't offline the femme for the transgression, since there was cause to believe that it was self-defense. Thrust would try and make Pandimala attack him so he could offline her with the same self-defense that she was going to be claiming.

And that would cause the femme to go off-script. And depending on what Pandimala said off-script, there was a chance that I could get worked up about that. They were right to worry, but we had no way of knowing what would happen until it happened. "And we will just have to deal with it when we get to that point. I know that we need to get 'Mals to Cybertron. I will be able to control myself. I know I will be able to."

Of course, how much of that I believed was yet to be seen. I could talk a big game, but I saw Pandimala as a friend. And in that light, I was going to be gunning for Thrust for everything that he did against her. I might have to wait for a few thousand stellars, but I would get him back for every single mark that he placed on her chassis.

"Very well," Orb started to speak before she suddenly tensed. A private message. But, who would be sending her a message that would get her to pause like that? "That was Astrotrain. Thrust's ship is on its final approach. He is here."

Orbweaver's 1st P.O.V.

"Hmm, not much of a greeting for such a vaunted visitor," Thrust spoke as he sauntered his way out of his ship.

Right. Tell me when one showed up and I would give them one. Sandstorm gave respect and he got respect. Thrust was a self-righteous piece of slag that I would jettison out of an airlock if I thought that I could get away with it. However, as much as I would like to do just that, I was now the leader of the Hive, and thus the ruler of Regulon IV. I needed to be very careful with how I went about dealing with Thrust while he was here.

However, I also needed to show that the Hive was under my rule and a steady rule at that. "And I thought that Cybertron's ambassadors showed more respect to the queen of a planet that they were visiting?"

"Queen? My apologies, I had not realized that you had all decided on a ruler?" He asked with a nervous glint to his optics.

Yes, my instincts told me that he knew something about the attack if he didn't organize it himself. That fragging mech! I was going to have to watch my step around him. "Yes, my siblings and I talked amongst ourselves and agreed that I would be best fit to take over leadership of Regulon IV." I then motioned to the public meeting space. "Now that we have that out of the way, let us venture inside for some energon. Your trip must have been exhausting."

He seemed startled at my hospitality for a nano before he let out a vent. "Yes, well, only the best to welcome an ambassador of such high regard as myself. Let us go inside. I'm sure we have much to discuss."

Cosmic rust-infected scraplet! It was hard to not grind my denta together as he moved ahead of me inside. He was the guest here and presuming that our eventual talks were going to go as easy as he wanted was infuriating me. If we weren't in the situation that we were in, I would pay just about anything to see this mech get knocked down off of his high throne. Where did he get off saying scrap like that?

Nevertheless, I needed to play the civil and gracious host for now, and that would mean I would have to act like he wasn't trying to gain the upper servo in these talks. So, with a smile on my faceplate, I nodded to the mech. "Yes, I believe we will." And now it was time to throw the mech a fast one. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind. Regulon IV is hosting a guest from Vestium Major and I have invited him to come to meet with us. I'm sure that they would be more than interested in what we may have to discuss as well. From what I was told, the Galactic Alliance is taking an interest in the different ecosystems here on Regulon IV."

The panic that came to his optics at my mention of Vestium Major almost made this facade worth it. I mean, the mech looked like I just said Unicron was standing right behind him. He was probably trying to figure out when to bring up the issue with Flamewar and we might have just sped up their plans for that. That is especially since Cybertron wanted an in with the Galactic Alliance. They wanted it bad. And Vestium Major was one of the most respectable planets in the Alliance.

I was enjoying every click of his anguish. Payback for all of the pain that his schemes had almost cost us…and they were going to cost us.

This was it. I was sure that, with Sandstorm here as a representative of Vestium Major, Thrust was going to bring up Flamewar and her disappearance. "Another set of rational audios will certainly be useful with what I fear must have happened here," And he was setting it up as we thought he would. Sometimes, Tarantulas was a little too good at guessing how the Cybertronians would act.

As we sipped on our energon and waited for Sandstorm to arrive, I felt my nerves try to get the better of me. We had to be very careful with how we approached this situation. If Thrust got even an inkling of the fact that Sandstorm was our ally in this and not a neutral third party as he was probably hoping, then he would claim that Cybertron was being framed. I had to act surprised at Pandimala's revelation when we got to that. The plan was to have Sandstorm come in, chat with us a bit until Thrust brought up the femme, and then Hardshell and Bombshell were to escort Pandimala in and say that they found her moving Flamewar's offline chassis. She would then claim that the femme attacked her and she offline the femme in self-defense, which was true, and then she would have to be taken to Cybertron.

Before I could respond to his remark, however, the doors bursting open caused me to jump and turn. Just what was going on?

My optics widened as Hardshell and Howitzer, another of the hardcased, dragged in a bound Pandimala, who looked a mixture of angry and annoyed. What the frag was going on, and where was Sandstorm at? They weren't supposed to bring her in until he was here and then we would have sent them a signal. What the frag were they doing? "Hardshell, explain yourself. Who is this?" I demanded as they dragged the femme forward.

As they forced Pandimala forward onto her knees, I noticed that two more of the hardcased, Pilum and Lodun, were carrying in the offline chassis of Flamewar. What the frag was going on here? Risking a glance out of the corner of my optics, I could see that Thrust seemed in such a state of shock that he wasn't saying anything. However, the mech was at least smart enough not to stare at Flamewar. I sent a quick private message to my siblings, who would hopefully tell the others about this change in plans.

After a click, Hardshell spoke. "The dipteram contacted my patrol flight about spotting this femme in the western quadrant hauling something suspicious. Since they didn't recognize her, they contacted us to investigate closer. Once we arrived on the scene, we found this femme," He gave her shoulder a shove for good measure. I also noticed, at this pause, that Sandstorm and my siblings had joined us. Good. That would give us cover as to why they weren't in here and the commotion would have attracted their attention naturally. "Trying to dispose of that femme's offline chassis. It took us a little to subdue the femme and, once we did, we bound her and brought her straight here to you. However, I don't recognize either of these femmes, and neither did the others of the Hive. They did not arrive through our customs check."

"My security officer is offline! How could you allow this to happen?" Thrust yelled as he finally seemed to catch his bearings about the situation. Fragger was already trying to spin this against us. And since they were off-script, I wasn't sure what to respond with.

Thankfully, Sandstorm seemed to have us covered. "From what I heard reported just now, it seems like both of these femmes did not come through the customs as all of us visitors should. Maybe we should hear from the remaining femme to see just what happened?" Sandstorm glanced at Pandimala after he said that. That was honestly the only thing we could do in this situation. Thank you Sandstorm for thinking quickly on your pedes.

Before Pandimala could start to speak, however, Thrust interrupted with a hesitant look toward Sandstorm. "I'm sorry, we haven't been acquainted. I am Thrust, diplomatic envoy to Regulon IV from Cybertron. And who are you?"

I had to suppress a growl as Thrust spoke like that. Of course, he wasn't sure who Sandstorm was and felt like he probably had the higher ground with the mech. In normal cases, he would. However, since he was here under Vestium Major's banner, then that was a slightly different story. Thankfully, Vestium Major agreed for Sandstorm to act as a temporary diplomatic envoy from them until the actual one arrived. That was going to make this entire plan more likely to go in our favor.

Sandstorm didn't seem bothered by Thrust's tone of superiority as he simply smiled and shook Thrust's servo. "Pleasure, I'm sure. My designation is Sandstorm and I am the diplomatic envoy of Vestium Major."

I could practically see the panic seep into Thrust's optics when Sandstorm introduced himself as he did. That would forever be a memory that I would cherish. "My honor to make your acquaintance sir. I feel like after this mess is taken care of, we should have a long talk."

"Unfortunately, my time is rather limited this solar. I was heading to the main hub to take a call from Vestium Major for an update when I heard the commotion. Lord Dawnbreaker is curious about what is holding me up and wants a full report once things are settled here." Was he a part of this diversion from plans as well? This seemed to be going too well for him not to be. He hadn't had a call scheduled with Vestium Major, and with Lord Dawnbreaker on top of that, for this solar. If he didn't know about it, he had to have better connections with Vestium Major than even we realized to get a call like that organized on his way in here.

"Of course, perhaps another time?" Thrust almost stuttered out. No bot would interrupt a call between an envoy and the leader of the planets that they represent. And Lord Dawnbreaker was a big name that bots did not want to cross.

"We shall see," Sandstorm answered in a roundabout way before he turned toward Pandimala. "So femme, what is your side of the story? How did you end up on Regulon IV without anybot noticing you?"

Pandimala glared at all of us, though I noticed her glare landed on Thrust for a little longer than everybot else, before she focused on Sandstorm. "I was flying in this sector on my way to Dromadon to pick up some supplies that a contact left for me when a small one-bot cruiser attacked me mid-transport. I had to eject my stasis pod and set it to the closest planet, which was this one, as that ship destroyed my own. However, my pursuer kept on the trail of my escape pod as we landed in what I realized later was the southern quadrant of this planet."

She was using the southern quadrant as her cover. Interesting. Signals were often lost in that area and we usually relied on the Hive link for reports when our scouting units went down there. Plus, given the atmospheric interference that portion of the planet had, it was more than reasonable that we would not have picked up either signal. In retrospect, it was probably how Flamewar originally arrived on this planet.

"How did your escape pod's emergency beacon avoid detection?" Airachnid asked Pandimala with a growl. Good. I knew how close the two of them had grown lately and I had been worried about how Airy would act during all of this. Glad to see that those worries seemed to be unfounded.

Pandimala let out what sounded like an annoyed vent before she glared at the offline chassis across the room. "When that femme's ship followed me into the atmosphere, she shot out my signal. It must have happened before it could be picked up here."

Not the strongest excuse she could have given, but from how trapped Thrust was looking, it seemed to be doing the trick. "Continue," Tarantulas demanded in a stunted answer.

"Well, once the pod landed, I barely made it out before that psycho femme destroyed it with her ship. Thankfully, the atmospheric pressure coming down must have damaged her ship because she also had to crashland. Unfortunately, it was nearby. When she exited her ship, she immediately attacked me."

"Why I never heard such blatant lies before," Thrust interrupted Pandimala with an exaggerated huff. "Obviously this femme is delusional. Flamewar was a trusted guard who knew her duty. She wouldn't have just shot at some nothing ship passing through."

A growl slipped out of Pandimala's vocals at that, a loud one, before she glared at the mech. "Well, she did. What's more, as she attacked me, she said that she was going to make a big bonus for offlining me. At that click, I felt as if my spark was in danger, and fought back against the femme to prevent that. We struggled against each other for a while before she tried to drop down on me. I felt like she was most likely trying to finish me off. However, Primus must have been looking out for me because I knocked the femme back and she ended up being speared on one of the rock formations that surrounded us."

The fact that Pandimala laced her story with the truth about what happened made it seem that much more believable. Of course, she hadn't mentioned that Flamewar was there to offline one of my siblings…well me but she hadn't cared which one, and botnap Makeshift. We knew that this was going to be a difficult scheme to pull off as it was and bringing that up would only make our stories that much more unbelievable. Keeping it focused on Pandimala and her self-defense against her attacker would keep the situation realistic.

"Then why were you found trying to move the chassis into the western quadrant this solar when you were apprehended?" Tarantulas now questioned her with a sharp look in his optic.

The femme gave us a look like we were morons, which caused Hardshell to shove the femme a bit before she spoke. "As I was avoiding your patrols since I was here illegally given the circumstances, I heard about the arrival of an envoy from Cybertron. It didn't take much, given the conversation I had with the femme before her offlining, to put two and two together to see that they were connected. From scouting that I did into the area around where I was hiding, the western quadrant was the least traveled area and would provide ample locations to hide her chassis until your envoy left and I could explain the situation to the ruler of this planet. Of course, I was discovered as I was moving her chassis and this is how I ended up here."

"Likely," Thrust shook his helm in disbelief. It sounded logical to me at least. "My guard would not have done this as you say. Where is your proof?"

"You mean besides her offline chassis and the marks on my chassis?" Hardshell shoved Pandimala again for her rudeness, though I agreed with the femme, before she continued. "I have none because the altercation took place between me and the femme. Her ship is in the southern quadrant if you want a look, but I doubt it's going to give you the evidence that you want." She then raised an optic ridge at Thrust. "Where's your proof that she didn't do this? Anybot can go against their character for reasons that we don't understand. I told you what happened." She then fell silent.

I could see the debate in Thrust's optics as he stared at her. On one servo, if he were the only envoy here, he probably would have demanded that she be offline on the spot. However, with Sandstorm here as an envoy from Vestium Major, then the mech was going to want to show Vestium Major how 'merciful' and how 'logical' Cybertron was to try and get into their good graces. That was especially since Sandstorm was going to be on a call with Lord Dawnbreaker himself once this situation was cleared up. And since that call was being held up for this meeting, Thrust would have to decide quickly to make sure he didn't keep such an important call from happening.

Nicely played Sandstorm. Nicely played indeed.

After a few clicks, that fragging annoying air of superiority returned to Thrust before he replied. "Normally, such actions should call for your offlining femme, since you offlined such an important figure." He then made a show of looking benevolent before he continued. "However, we Cybertronians are merciful and, given your one-sided testimony, I will suffice for you to be handed over to me so that I may have you placed into the Pits. If you put up such a good fight against one of my guards, then you should be able to atone for your folly in the same way."

The Pits. Pandimala was going to the Pits. Airy did not look happy, but I knew there were worse places for the femme to end up. The mines were one of those places and I would be grateful that Thrust was trying to be such a suck-up to Sandstorm right now. The Pit was not going to be easy, no question there. But at least she had a better chance of having the influence she would need there than in the mines. Very few from the mines could succeed in the Pits, due to exhaustion, and would usually offline quickly. With her going just to the Pits, then her chances were improved.

"That is most generous of you, Thrust," Sandstorm started to speak. "Given the situation at servo. I shall make sure to mention it during my talk with Lord Dawnbreaker. When do you wish to meet?"

However, to my surprise, the mech who had just arrived shook his helm. "Unfortunately, given the current circumstances, it would be best for myself and the research team to return to Cybertron."

Wait what? I was not aware that the research team was being taken off-world as well. What was going on? "I did not realize that the research team would be leaving as well?" I questioned the mech in as polite of a tone as I could muster.

He in turn glanced at me before answering. "But of course. They have all the information that they need, given their last report, and we should leave such a fine planet as yours to return to its normal way of functioning." From the tone that he spoke in, he made it sound like we would fall to barbarism without the research team as a 'support' in our functioning. Fragging piece of scrap.

"They will be missed," I spoke one last time before motioning to Pandimala. "Where would you like her kept? We are willing to hold her until your departure. I'm sure you could use a rest for a few cycles while the research team packs up their settlement."

"The femme shall be placed in the brig on my ship and shall remain there until I arrive back on Cybertron. No need to risk her escaping before then. I shall remain here and enjoy the rations of energon you have provided." The mech was nervous that we would try something to save her. If we hadn't planned this, then I would agree. Plus, having both the research team and Thrust leave so soon was a miracle that we did not expect to happen. While I knew that Tarantulas would miss his new friend among them, this was a win overall for sure. We would have full-run of our planet once more and I could not wait.

"Very well then," Sandstorm said with a genuine smile and a nod. "Now, if you all would excuse me, I have a call to make." He then walked out of the building.

"Hardshell, Howitzer; place this femme into the brig of Ambassador Thrust's ship before reporting back to me. Airachnid, Tarantulas; let's leave Ambassador Thrust to relax before his return trip. Ambassador Thrust," The mech glanced at me from where he sat, as Pandimala was being escorted onto the ship, before I continued. "Please let me know when you wish to depart so I can send you off in a polite fashion. I'm sure Ambassador Sandstorm would appreciate sending you well wishes as well."

"But of course," The mech responded, obviously content with how things turned out this solar, before he returned to his energon.

Fragger. Too bad the mech had just been played. But, he would hopefully never find out about that.

Turning away from the mech, I walked forward, soon being joined by my siblings, before the three of us walked out of the hangar. As we moved toward the Hive-only buildings, I felt irritated. I had been thrown off my game with this fragging change in the plan and I hoped one of them had an explanation. I was supposed to be the irrational one out of us and yet somebot gave the go-ahead for this change without consulting me! They all better be grateful that I could act as well as I could or that might have gone very differently.

Once we were far enough away, I risked a look behind me toward where Pandimala was now being held. Hopefully, she will succeed in her plans and give us a brighter future to look forward to. And for that, I would be eternally grateful to her.

Pandimala: It feels weird, having to leave already. I felt like I have barely started here.

Authoress: *sighs* I know, and it is why I have blocked the others from here. Your time with them is over, and it has been a nice adventure. However, it is time to move onward.

Pandimala: *nods* I know, and it seems like the Pits are awaiting me. Hopefully, I can use them to my advantage.

Authoress: *knowingly* Oh, I think you will do alright.

AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I know I did. And honestly, I was going to have an intricate 'plot' for them to enact during Pandimala's questioning. However, it didn't feel like Pandimala would do that with what was going on. We will have a last look at the Hive next chapter, learning about what happened and securing some help for Pandimala on her trip to Cybertron. I will say, that Pandimala did change the plan and did inform Sandstorm of it. She is crazy, but not that crazy.

And now, so I don't give away anything, I will give you all the names of the next chapters!

Chapter 9: Consequences

Chapter 10: Arrival

Chapter 11: (of course you will find out next time!)

So that is all for now! Again, thank you everyone for the support you have shown on this (and my others if you do) story! I do enjoy seeing the notifications pop up when someone interacts with my works. Until next we meet though, TTYL! (enjoying listening to Smile Like You Mean It by PARANOID DJ)