Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Pandimala: So, you survived Authoress. That's good.

Authoress: *tired* Sure. Let's call it that.

Chapter 7: Simple Errands

Tarantulas' 1st P.O.V.

How did I get tricked into doing this again? Orb was supposed to be the one who met with these bots, not me. But here I was, standing in one of the meeting chambers waiting for one of the representatives of the research team from Cybertron to show up. They were going to give me their weekly report on their investigations. If I remembered what my sister said before, they are studying the different biomes of Regulon IV. They have been in the northern caves and forests for the past thirty solars and this solar is the one that they were supposed to report their findings to Orbweaver since she is the monarch.

But, where is my sister when she is needed? Oh, yes, Makeshift decided that this solar of all solars was going to be the one he was going to take her on a 'surprise' date. It wasn't a surprise for Airachnid and myself of course. The mech had pulled us aside the other solar and asked our permission to ask Orbweaver to bond with him. Airy put up quite a fight at first, really laid into him about asking so soon. But, in the end, he convinced the two of us that he was worthy of asking for her servo. To be fair, I was ready to say yes as soon as he asked. I knew carrier and sire would have. Moreover, they would have been thrilled to have him. But, since they weren't here, Airy was a little more protective of us…though not to the point that she was before Pandimala's arrival.

But then, one would think that Airachnid would have jumped at the chance to mess with the investigation team since our sister would be distracted by the upcoming news. However, before I could even try and ask her to take over this meeting, Sandstorm asked her for some extra training with Pandimala. It was funny, really. The mech spent millions of stellars working with triple changers of all shapes, sizes, and fighting styles, and yet he kept getting hit by Pandimala's hits to his joints. She took out his knee-joint the other solar and Scuttlebug ordered him to take a solar off to recover. So, he asked Airy to work with her on her agility.

That left my aft as the only one to deal with these bots. While I knew that I needed to do this, it was pretty annoying. Frag, I was going to need some high grade after this, that was for sure.

The sound of the doors opening caused me to turn and see which one of these 'scientists' I was dealing with. The femme in question looked tired and it took me a nano to realize that this was the medic that worked with the bots. I thought this was an update on what they were studying, not a medical report. What was going on? "I don't think we've been properly introduced," I started, extending a servo to the femme. While it felt wrong to be cordial with them, we were on high alert given the strain that we knew would come with Thrust's arrival.

The femme's dark purple frame seemed to catch the lights around us as she moved closer to me. It was honestly quite distracting. "Sorry about that," She muttered, trying to block some of the reflected light. Did she notice my discomfort or was she just used to apologizing for the reflectiveness of her chassis? "One of the idiots on this team decided it would be smart to mix my regular cleaning solution with one of those advanced waxes from Femmax. As creepy as the bots on that planet are, they do know how to make a shiny wax. I'm on standby until it wears off."

"Did you catch the bot?" Wait, why was I asking her this? I wasn't interested in them. Just needed to get the report and leave. In and out.

Before I could go back on that question, the femme let out a vent and sat down on one of the couches, causing me to follow suit. Frag this was not going as I wanted it to. "Oh, I know who is responsible for this. Fragging Cybertronians and their frameist ideals." Wait…this femme wasn't Cybertronian? "Just because I am a Corvicon doesn't mean that I have to like everything shiny. But does our research leader investigate this? No! Said that there was no harm done and that I'm just overreacting. Self-centered fraggers. I'd like to…" She then stopped herself before I noticed a blush appear on her faceplate. "Sorry, I got distracted. The designation's Filch," She then held her servo out. "While I might not be attracted to shiny objects like my species has been stereotyped as doing, most of us do get easily distracted."

And it seemed that she just liked to ramble. But, I should return her introduction. "And I am Tarantulas. You made it sound like you weren't Cybertronian. Are you?" Stop it vocals! I just had to ask her about the research and then I could get out of here.

She smirked. "Caught onto that? I don't usually let that slip out. I'm pretty sure that most of the team I'm with doesn't realize that I'm not Cybertronian. I moved to Cybertron with my parents and a few of their friends from Feratium." That was the planet of bots who looked techno-organic though they weren't. Most of them just had more bestial forms than the average Cybertronian was used to. That led to a lot of stereotyping of the bots. Rumors were that Feratium was starting to fall apart politically and bots with processors working were leaving the planet in an Exodus. This femme's family and friends must have been a part of the first wave.

Wait…why was I thinking so much about this? "I think we've gotten off-topic. I thought I was going to be receiving a report about the expedition's findings, not a medical report."

"And you are," She let out another vent. "Not only are most of the bots with the group framist, but they are also genderist. Said that it was a femme's job to pass on messages, despite the amount of work I already have with how often they frag around and find out on their 'outings'. The research leader insisted that my work wasn't nearly important enough and foisted his responsibility on me. Basically threw this fragging datapad at me and told me to make myself useful."

Whoever the mech was had to have an offlining wish. Most bots knew not to anger your medic yet this team from Cybertron didn't seem to think that there would be many repercussions in upsetting one of their few medics…because like frag we were going to give them access to our only one. "He seriously said that?" I couldn't believe that anybot was that stupid…

Never mind, these were the bots from Cybertron. Of course, they were that stupid.

"Axon doesn't have too much going for him up here," She tapped the side of her helm to emphasize her point. "He has friends in the right places and got this posting without deserving it. And of course, Creck…the little creep, is friends with him. What he does to the 'useless' femme on the expedition doesn't matter to him."

Creck…that was the designation of the mech that tried to hit on Airy. Glad to know that at least some of my sister's paranoia was on point. I mean, my sister could go overboard sometimes, but certain bots should be watched…closely.

However, to respond to Filch. "Obviously. However, as much fun as this has been, I do need that report to give back to my sister."

"Of course," Filch responded, seemingly focusing on the task at servo again. "The Shrike bats in the northern quadrant seem to be off of their nesting habits and that has caused some concern in some of our bots. Normally at this time, they migrate to the western quadrant of the planet to mate and raise their young once they are born. However, they have yet to make the migration yet. The scientists all think that something in that area has upset the ecosystems around here lately and want to investigate it closer. However, they know that they are supposed to stay in the northern biomes for another thirty solars."

That was concerning. We had buried Flamewar's chassis in the area there after the incident. But, we didn't realize that the chassis being buried there would have upset the Shrike bats nearly that much. I would have to suggest to my sister to send the dipteram over there to see if there might be something else there that might be causing this change. They would be able to pick up on something faster than the rest of us and they had been getting restless lately.

As Filch continued to give me the report, though, I found my thoughts wondering. I had been giving Airy such a hard time about trusting bots, and giving chances. Not only that, but in that same thought stream, I realized that we all had been generalizing all of the research team from Cybertron together, as if they all thought the same. However, while it seemed that a majority of them were in that deplorable processor-state, Filch seemed to prove that wrong. And not only that, but she also made it sound like there were some more tolerable bots around like she was becoming.

Who knew that my thoughts could change so much in such a short amount of time? Before Pandimala's arrival, I would have blown off Filch's slips and just demanded the report, much like most of her team must treat her. They were just infiltrators trying to take our planet from us. That wasn't fair to the few good bots that might be among them. While Filch wasn't a Cybertronian herself, the odds were in favor of some of the competent bots on this team being so. I needed to re-evaluate my thoughts on these bots.

Once it sounded like Filch had wrapped up the report, I decided that now was the best time to start. I didn't have any plans for this solar. Plus, even if this proved to be a folly, at least I might get some more inside information about the investigation team and possibly a hint about where Flamewar fits in with them…if they knew anything about her. This would be the best use of my time. "Thank you. I'll make sure that my sister receives a full copy of your report." I then motioned to the femme with a smile. "If you aren't in too much of a rush to go back to your work, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind telling me a little more about what's going on within your team. We don't hear much about the team outside of the reports we are given…and as you just read those aren't as informative as they might be."

Filch's turquoise and orange optics seemed to leave focus for a nano before she relaxed into her seat. "Sure. The few bots I appreciate on this Pit-Bound team have the solar off and the others can learn what happens when they mess with their fragging medic too much." She then motioned to me. "So, where do you want to start?"

Yes, something told me that, on this solar, I had made a very useful contact in the research team. Learning about each bot individually instead of as a unit would allow us to better plan for the future while keeping our processors open to new allies in the upcoming storm that was going to break. And break it would. We all saw the trap coming, and we knew that it was inevitable. The more allies we made for Pandimala who could help her while she was on Cybertron, the better off she would be at the end of all of this. And who knew? Perhaps we could extend the reach of the Hive with our new allies as well.

Airachnid's 1st P.O.V.

"Frag it Pandimala, just because I have more joints for you to dislocate does not mean that you need to every chance you get!" I growled slightly as the femme dislocated the third appendage for this solar. Thankfully, they had been my secondary ones and so I was still able to keep Pandimala on the training schedule that Sandstorm had built with both Blitzwing's and Astrotrain's input. We still needed to get through another four cycles of physical training for the solar until Entom took over the femme's time with his history lessons.

However, if the femme kept taking out my joints as she was, then I was going to have to tap out earlier. Seriously, the femme was in another league when aiming for the weakspots in bots. Of course, her previous species' history more than explained that. However, just because it explained didn't make it any easier to get around. Seriously. If they were going to exist in the future, then there was some higher power making sure that such an efficient species had a weakness.

"You make it too easy 'Nid." Pandimala laughed before she hesitated.

I did too, but for a different reason. Over the solars that had passed since Sandstorm's arrival, the femme had started to give everybot that she knew decently well a nickname all her own. Tar was Ran, Orb was Weaves, Makeshift was Mimic…though we weren't sure where that one came from it did fit, Astrotrain was Astro, Scuttlebug was Doc much to his annoyance at times, Hardshell was Shell, Blitzwing was Blitz, Entom was Ent, and even Sandstorm got a nickname as Storm. Yet, I had yet to receive a nickname from her until now.

The increased pace of cycling air caused me to focus on the femme and I realized that somehow, her calling me a nickname had caused her thoughts to cause her to start to snap again. It didn't happen often, but we were working on it. For now, I needed to get Pandimala relaxed before her snap could take full effect. "Pandimala, I need you to focus on me. Everything is fine. I like the name 'Nid. Really." Not much of a response out of that. The femme seemed to be in getting more into a panic. Out of the corner of my optic, I saw Hardshell and Shrapnel start to stand up to help restrain Pandimala, part of the reason they were here.

But, I knew I could talk her out of her snap this time. That first time, I had been helpless and didn't believe that I could. She had been scared, which given everything that had happened to her in such a short time she had every right to be, and I hadn't been able to help. No more. I might not be leading the Hive, but I counted Pandimala as my friend and I would not fail her again.

"I can't,"

"Yes you can 'Mals!" I yelled at her almost on instinct as I noticed her start to devolve into the muttering that she normally did when she snapped. "You can! Sure, did some higher power frag you over? Yes. But, look at what you have done since you got here." On reflex, I grabbed her arms to make her focus on me. I would not let her snap right now. Not like this. "When the odds were more than against you, not only did you protect me when I carelessly threw my suspicions of you in your faceplate, but you saved my sister. You did! Not Primus, you! If you can do that, then you can do whatever you need to. The future isn't written in the Well, but it's what we make it! So what if you don't follow the 'script' like you knew it! Your future is yours! And I know that you can make it into the best possible future. And I am going to help you however I can while I can. Do you hear me? Your future is yours and it is going to be amazing!"

The silence that suddenly fell between us was eerie. Never before had Pandimala grown so quiet during one of her snaps. Her panic usually grew to be too much for the femme and she hadn't gone down quietly during any of them. Now, I was sure that I would hear a speck of dust fall to the ground with the silence that fell between us. As I stared into Pandimala's optics, I noticed the vacant panicked look that her optics normally had during these seemed to be almost frozen. Not increasing, and yet not moving.

As I continued to focus on Pandimala, I tried to convey the need I had for her to snap out of this to her. I needed her to come back to herself. She didn't deserve this! The femme's optics seemed to waver as I held her in place, but I could tell that the slight control that she seemed to be getting wasn't enough. She needed more help in pulling herself free. However, as I continued to keep my optics focused on the femme, I felt myself hesitate.

What else could I do? It seemed that whenever I was too close to Pandimala, she would get into her snaps. Out of the six that she had in the past twelve solars, I had been present for four of them…and that didn't even include the first one that set her off. If we didn't know that her snaps were caused by her worries about the future of Cybertron, then I would be sure that I caused them. And I was not referring to the other me that she knew about.

Despite everything that I said about not being like the other Airachnid, a small part of me knows that I share more similarities with that femme then I want to admit. We were both strong-willed, and when we felt that we were right, we didn't take retaliation lightly. While the other me seemed to have no restraint at all, I could see it. Despite all of my denials that I could ever turn into that kind of bot, deep down I knew that wasn't true. And despite the uncertainty we had in what could have caused that change, recently I realized what probably caused me to change so drastically.

The attack on Orbweaver.

If Pandimala hadn't been there…then my little sister would have offlined. With how much I knew myself, I knew that I would have never forgiven Tarantulas for keeping the date secret from me. And I would have driven myself to use whatever means I felt were necessary to find out who was responsible for offlining her. However, given the Hive's lack of connections outside of Vestium Major…and that was a loose one, I wouldn't have found out who did that. The anger I would have felt would have driven me to becoming the monster that Pandimala sees whenever she looks at me.

And a part of me was scared that I could become that femme again in this new future. Cybertron was never going to stop trying to take us unless something changed. And if they were given the time, I knew that they would succeed, given the lengths they were willing to go with their scheme with Flamewar. In a sense, I needed Pandimala just as much as she needed me right now. But, did I have the right to ask that of Pan…of my friend.

Despite the hesitance that I felt even thinking that I deserved to call her that, I knew that was how I saw her now. She was truly my friend, though I knew that I didn't deserve that title from her. Not after the way that I attacked her when I first talked to her. Not after all of the doubts I had in her. I didn't deserve it, yet I couldn't stop myself from feeling that she was my friend.

"You…" I focused my processor back on Pandimala as her optics showed more wavering out of her snap. "You called me 'Mals…" I barely held back a flinch as Pandimala fell to her knees in front of me, slightly pulling me with her since my own servos were still holding onto her. While her optics still had an unfocused look to them, I could see the smallest amount of joy in her sentence.

A small smile pulled itself onto my faceplate before I let out a light laugh. "After everything I said, that's what you focused on?" My vocals hitched as I got that question out. Frag was I going to cry? Glancing at Pandimala, I realized that I was. She was coming out of a point in her snap where before this she was normally counted as gone. "Of course I called you that. We are friends 'Mals, even though I don't deserve it,"

My chassis suddenly felt itself moving as I was pulled toward the femme. It took my surprised aft a few nanos to realize that Pandimala had pulled me into a hug. From the stuttering vents and the tears that were hitting my chassis, she was crying. "Don't say that," I froze as Pandimala whispered. "If anything, I'm the one that doesn't deserve to be friends with you. All I've done is bring you all trouble. I haven't felt like I was doing anything right. I couldn't talk about the more difficult parts of the other you without panicking…because I didn't want to connect you with her. But, you've been so patient with me." Pandimala let out a hitched vent before she somehow pulled me even closer. "Despite my fragging hesitance about everything, you all have been helping me so much." She then lowered her vocals to the point where I could barely hear her. "Do you really think that I can live my own life?"

I felt tears start falling from my optics as she asked that. She sounded so…vulnerable right now. I needed to make sure that I didn't mess this up. "Yes, I do," I started to whisper back to her. "I won't lie to you 'Mals, it isn't going to be easy and I won't physically be with you for most of it. But you are strong. You are the strongest bot I have ever known. Any other being would have broken as soon as they were put in your situation. But, not you. Not my friend. Your future is yours to take and I know that you will take it."

The silence that followed caused me to start to worry. Did I mess up? What did I say wrong? I needed to fix this and, "I believe you…'Nid," I froze when she started to speak again. "I'm going to get through this." She then raised her helm and I felt relief when I saw a confident shimmer behind her optics. None of the hesitance that I saw earlier was there. "And even if you aren't with me on Cybertron, I know that you all have my backplates in this. I trust you."

I trust you.

Those three words broke something in me that I didn't realize was even there and I felt my emotions start to build up. Before I could stop myself, I started to cry. It wasn't out of sadness or frustration. No. It was of relief. Pandimala was going to be alright and she knew that I had her backplates in all of this. All of my earlier worries seemed to fizzle away as if they never existed to begin with. The femme had to have some magic dimension-traveling magic that was overwhelming me. That was it.

"You aren't supposed to be the overemotional one 'Nid. That's my job," Pandimala laughed before she stood and helped me up as well.

"I'm not acting overly emotional," I denied as I wiped away my tears. "You're just good at saying just the right thing at the right time." I then shook my helm. "I think practice is done for now, though. I don't think either of us can focus on training for now."

"If that's the case…I think we need to talk," Pandimala stated in a serious tone. Wait…what was this about? "Well, I think it's time that I talked to you. We are friends and friends to keep things from each other." Wait…was she finally going to talk about what I thought she was? "You deserve to know about the other you…You aren't her and the best way to make sure that you don't become her is to tell you all that I can about her."

She was. Pandimala was going to tell me about that other me. But… "Are you sure? I know talking about her makes you uncomfortable."

"I'm sure."

Well, if she was so confident…

"Then let's get started. We've got the time,"

Astrotrain's 1st P.O.V.

How did I get stuck running for our new supply of energon? I technically wasn't even hive, yet I was doing this with little choice, and worse of all, Sandstorm approved it. Instead of having me work with Pandimala more on fighting larger frames, which we all knew she was going to need. However, Airachnid was insistent on training with Pandimala. She had made good points in her arguments in training one-on-one with Pandimala.

However, I would take running errands over talking with the research team. I knew a few of them from before I got myself straightened out and they were always trying to convince me to return to Cybertron. But I refused to go back there. While I had been on Vestium Major, I had seen what a true Golden Age should look like. Bots of all social statuses were able to meet with each other without disdain and were able to talk to each other as equals. Ideas were able to be shared so everybot and the planet were able to grow.

Of course, Cybertron hasn't taken my refusal to return lightly. They treasured us triple changers immensely and to lose one was a large hit. Technically, they still had Blitzwing because he was still in training with Sandstorm. However, I was sure that, despite his need to actually train, Sandstorm was helping keep him away from Cybertron for as long as possible. With his delicate processor state, I wasn't sure what would happen to Blitzwing if he returned, even with how treasured triple changers were. He wasn't as straightforward as he used to be.

However, I had noticed that his interactions with Pandimala had begun to build that confidence back up like I hoped they would. While they were both pretty hesitant bots, in most situations, they seemed to rebound off of each other's nervousness and were overcoming that obstacle in their futures. It wouldn't surprise me if Blitzwing returned to Cybertron after he was released if Pandimala was there. With her there, I was sure that the mech would have the confidence to control what happened around him.

Honestly, I had started thinking about possibly returning myself. It wouldn't be right away, given everything that we were sure was going to happen. However, if the war came to pass as we were all assuming it would, regardless of the changes being made, then I would want to be there to help her with this fight. And I was not the only one. From what I had heard from Orbweaver and the others, should the war break out they were going to side with whatever side Pandimala ended up on. While the femme in question might worry about what sort of help she was going to have in the future, I knew that she was going to have all the help that she would need. Not only that, but with how the femme was able to make connections so quickly, I was sure that she would make herself plenty of allies.

Unlike Airachnid, I wasn't so worried about the hardships the femme was going to have to face. Yes, I knew that she would have to face many given the situation that we were using to get her to Cybertron without too many questions asked. However, she was a strong enough femme and I knew that she would be just fine by the end of this.

I brought myself out of my thoughts as I approached the energon depot. There behind the counter, I saw Yellow Jacket humming as he cleaned his different hover pallets. "Hey Jacket! Got the load for the main hub ready?"

The mech glanced up and nodded before he picked up one of the remotes that controlled the pallets and turned it on. He then handed the remote out to me. However, as I went to take it from his servo, he put his other servo over mine before he spoke. "Astrotrain, you need to be on guard,"

What was he talking about? Was there something recent that went over the hive network that I missed walking here? "What's going on?"

He glanced around, though what he was looking for I wasn't sure, before he took a step closer. "Some of the research team was around earlier and they whispered something about Thrust cutting traveling guidelines to get here sooner than they projected after that delay he ran into. The network already knows but you need to be careful. Most of those bots are going to start acting up with Thrust on the way. And we all know how much Cybertron wants you back. With Blitzwing here as well, given what we've all heard about how they reacted to his restricted movement given what happened, this is shaping up to be the perfect storm."

He was right. As paranoid as the mech could be on most solars, I knew he had every right to be with this. Between the Flamewar incident and all of these other factors coming into play, we were going to have to watch our pedes moving forward. "I'll keep a low profile. Thanks for the warning though." We then said our goodbyes before I made my way back to the central hub. Something told me that I was in for a long talk with Sandstorm and Blitzwing about all of this. We needed to be on the same page if we were going to get through all of this as well as we were hoping that we were going to. Our solars with Pandimala were numbered and we needed to make the most of them.

Pandimala: That was too emotional for that kind of chapter name jerk.

Authoress: *shrugs* What can I say? The chapter got away from me and here we are.

Pandimala: At least 'Nid and I are closer now.

AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope that you all enjoyed this as much as I did. I really do like the touchy feely parts of this. However, Pandimala's time with the hive is slowly coming to an end. Thrust is on the horizon and that means that there is going to be a whole lot of chaos to follow. Though, it was fun to add the part with Filch in Tarantulas' point of view. If you know where I got Filch from, I decided that she didn't have the crazy obsession with shiny objects until after the war started. Easily distractable? Sometimes. However, it didn't get to the point that the one show displayed in my theory until the war and she got caught up in something (haven't decided what that was going to be yet).

Until next chapter, though, here are the upcoming chapters!

Chapter 8: The Trouble with Appointed Officials

Chapter 9: Consequences

Chapter 10:... (find out next time!, though I will say that it is a major turning point)

That's all for now folks. Hope you all liked the chapter and hopefully I can get another chapter out soon. Though, I have been feeling guilty about my other stories to the point where I might throw and update or two on some of them first. I haven't decided yet. Maybe I should start a poll...

Oh well, thanks to everyone again. Leave a review if you like, either to review or say hi, but I appreciate you all even when you just read the stories too! Until next time, TTYL! *survived Black Friday...now dreading the Christmas rush*