Chapter 10: The Crew and the Stowaway

All of these characters belong to Hasbro. I own nothing

Optimus Prime wakes up in his quarters to a status update on his comm link. He gets up and looks over to the 2nd berth in his office, with Terminus still in recharge in it. One of his arms is servo cuffed to the frame. Optimus remains quiet to not disturb Terminus as he grabs his main data plan and leaves the room, locking it behind him.

Optimus makes his way to the rec room to grab a cube of low grade energon and start his day. As he sits in a chair he notices Ratchet walking into the room with his assistant, Minerva, behind him. After they grab some energon, Optimus waves them over, motioning for them to sit.

"Good morning Optimus" Ratchet states as he sits down next to him. Minerva is quietly joining Ratchet in the seat next to him, giving Optimus a quick wave before looking away. Optimus gives a quiet chuckle at the nervous medic. "Good morning Ratchet, and good morning Minerva. You don't need to be afraid of me, I promise I won't bite." Minerva looks up and giggles. "Sorry sir…it's not that just….don't know if you remember but you saved my life during the….senate slaughter." Optimus nods. "I remember, you were the young clerk barricade almost shot. Glad to see you are doing well." Minvera looks at Optimus, shocked that he would remember that. This causes her to become more relaxed and sit up. "T-thank you sir." Minerva then starts drinking her energon while Optimus and Ratchet start to talk. "So, how is your medical bay?" Optimus asks and gets a groan in response.

"It's functional, a little small but it will work for most repairs. The problem is having to share the place with 3 maniacs! Was there really no other place you can put the engineering lab?" Optimus sighs. "Sorry about that, Prowl wanted to save on space and well…..he justified as Wheeljack usually ends up in the medbay anyway."

"...Ok good point," Ratchet says as he takes a sip from his cube while Optimus does the same. Enjoying the quiet and smooth ride. After a long silence Minerva speaks up. "Um, Optimus Prime I was wondering….are we ever going to go back to Cybertron?" After a brief hesitation Optimus answers. "I hope so Minerva. I never want Cybertron to stay in the hands of the Decepticons but at this moment with the well dark… we just have to hope it's in Primus's will that we can return and restore our planet…I'm sorry if that's not the answer you want Minerva but it's the only one I can offer.." Optimus finishes his statement and everyone in the room remains quiet.

After finishing his cube and saying farewell to Minerva and Ratchet he heads towards the cargo hold for a quick inventory check. He could have another bot do it but due to not having any other responsibilities right now, after relegating them to Prowl and Blaster, he decided he wanted to. It reminds him of his time clerking for Alpha Trion before he joined the Iacon Police force as a rescue bot and eventually Chief. As Optimus goes around the containers, checking them out for defects and the correct supplies amount to make sure no one stole anything he notices a half cube of energon missing and then a noise. Pulling out his axe he rounds the corner and swings the axe in front of the neck of the intruder. "...Hot Rod! What are you doing here!" After pulling his axe away he sees Hot Rod look at him sheepishly, holding an empty cube. "Uhhh….Hey Prime…fancy seeing you here…"

"So Shockwave, how is the damage?" Megatron asks his science officer as he enters the room. "Better than we expected. The only damage done to the actual starship portion is merely cosmetic. We will have it ready in a 3 mega-cycles." Megatron gives a smile and hands Shockwave a data pad. "Incredible! Good work Shockwave with this to your success I've decided to officially make you my third in command. Starscream has been more pathetic than normally lately and I need strong mechs for this mission. I'm keeping Starscream as his trine leader and overall seeker commander."

Shockwave doesn't show any reaction to this information, simply nodding. "Thank you sir, what is on the data pad you just hand me."

"Those are my picks for crew members. 2 Trines, 3 medics, 3 beasts, the constructicons, 6 agents, Soundwave, and Roller." Shockwave takes a while reading over the list. "No veichons?"

"Indeed! Due to the energon shortage I've decided on quality on quantity with my choices, hence why I have substituted an assortment of veichons for Devastator and high class agents." Shockwaves gives a nod at Megatron's explanation. "Very logical…and I see you have also seen the importance of keeping Roller close." Megatron gives a chuckle. "Yes, not only will we need an officer to take care of the ship's cargo and status reports. I have a feeling the detective will play a very interesting role in the future!"

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Ok so the Decepticon crew is

High command: Megatron, Shockwave, Soundwave

Engineers: The Constructicons

Agents:Shadow Striker, Nightbird, Axlegrease, Barricade, Cannonball, Dropkick

Seekers: Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Acid Storm, Dreadwind, Dark Wing

Medics: Knockout, Breakdown, Oil Slick

Officers: Roller

Beasts: Fangry, Mindwipe, Zarak