Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Pandimala: *glances around* You've had this done for a while, yet you haven't posted. Why?

Authoress: *sighs* I needed to get a future chapter of another tale done, and it wasn't easy.

Iussa: *unsure what to do* Candy? *offers some out to Authoress*

Authoress: *smiles* Thanks, Iussa. I needed that.

Chapter 14: Reconciliation

Caigal's 1st P.O.V.

I shook my head as I scrolled through the datapad before me. Lord Dawnbreaker was wrong in this. Pandimala was not a sparkling. A sparkling wouldn't have been able to evade our hunts for her soliform for seven full solars. She wouldn't have had the mental capabilities to keep her disguise for that long. While having a species advance in their cognitive development so quickly was unheard of, humans seemed chaotic enough to let it be. The labac were one of the earliest maturing species before this information came out. Fifty stellars to fully develop one's mental capabilities seemed like such a short time. Yet, humans cut that time down by over half.

And it showed. Pandimala's ingenuity and how she conducted herself socially combined into a terrifying being. The known universe should be lucky that humans lived such short lifespans. Imagine one of their kind with the average lifespan of the universe. Five hundred-year-old humans seemed like they would be terrifying creatures.

Pandimala would be the closest being to show what that would be like. Cybertronians lived for millions of years; age-wise, she had barely scratched the surface of that time. She was going to be a force to be reckoned with. How this situation went would determine whether we were her allies or enemies then.

But, outside of the information we found about the mysterious 'Coordinator', there had been no other leads. Even that lead about the Coordinator lasted for that report. That meant that the Decepticons had been keeping this being out of their reports. Perhaps it was to keep their existence from the Autobots? One of the reasons our information about their war was so sparse was because of the counter-intelligence tactics both sides employed to keep their current operations and operatives safe.

Autobots…

"Lightbeam," The femme glanced over to me. "Can you have Saboal bring us anything he has on Autobot activities from these planets?" While Earth was looking to be like the most likely place Pandimala came from, we couldn't limit ourselves like that unless we were sure.

"Sure, but why Autobot information?" Lightbeam asked me back as she seemed to send the request.

I motioned to the report in front of me, which was a list of supplies the Decepticons had inventoried at one point. "If the Decepticons were not responsible for this, As Pandimala has stated, it could be that the Autobots did this to her and, due to the nature of what happened, she can't say anything."

"That would normally be possible, but Optimus Prime was on one of those planets. He has proven himself a bot of good character and wouldn't have allowed his Autobots there to partake in something like this," Lord Oryax said.

My father, at Lord Oryax's interruption, shook his head. "While I would have agreed with you before, Lord Oryax, the situation on Earth changed things. The Optimus Prime we knew of from past reports also wouldn't have let his Autobots break their ceasefire with the Decepticons for the peace talks. Yet look what happened." Father then motioned to me. "Caigal is right. If we haven't found anything in the Decepticon reports, then it might be time for us to see what the Autobots on the planet were doing at the time."

While I was the one who brought up the argument, it was still strange to think about the Autobots being the aggressors in this. Growing up, I had heard stories about the great Autobot leader who fought for peace against Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons. Some of the first lessons I had preparing me for a seat on my father's war council were derived from studying their war. Seeing the tactics used and how actions caused events that wouldn't have been put together in most cases was eye-opening.

Hells, old Gal-Arel used Decepticon tactics when training me back in primary boot camp. Whatever anyone said about the Decepticons, they couldn't deny the superior training regiments that they had in place. Recruits could leave their training in thirty days and hold their own on the battlefields. It was why father started to use older Decepticon training methods integrated with our own for our soldiers.

Of course, in staying that, the Autobot techniques couldn't be discredited. The fact that the Autobots, the less militaristic faction in their civil war, could hold their own against such a force was incredible. And unlike the Decepticons, who were known for coming from physical labor backgrounds, the Autobots were mainly recruited from the higher echelons of Cybertronian society, from what the history lessons told us. Throughout this war, those bots who were unused to fighting had to develop skills that the Decepticons already had.

Looking through this information now, I could see why Grinchain was as obsessed with this as he was. Between this and my friendship with Pandimala, I might end up here more often. It would make sire happy. Well, as long as I was with someone. I was sure I could convince said prince, if his sire ever released him, to come with me to study this further.

Thinking back on my previous thoughts, I realized that, somehow, the two factions changed their ways of operating during the fighting on Earth. Well, in a sense, at least. From the reports that we had, along with the video of what happened during the peace talks, the Decepticons seemed to let go of the anger and violence that had been their driving force. In contrast, the Autobots seemed to spiral and lose hold of the tolerant and understanding ways everyone in the universe knew them to have.

As much as Lightbeam and the others felt like Earth was the last resort in our search, I was starting to think otherwise. As a wise scholar once said, to learn about the source of a problem, you needed to go to the most recent information. The most current information about the conflict on Earth was the video footage from the peace talks.

It took me a few moments to find the corresponding data file. As I started the recording, I noticed Saboal coming in with the information we asked for about the Autobot records on Earth. The others could look at that for now. As the recording started, I felt like I was watching it live again. Given our proximity to their space, Eternia was host to a couple of Decepticons at the time of the talks. When father heard of the peace talks, he invited those Decepticons to a popular bar in town to watch it.

The talks started as anyone would think they would. Both sides met at a secure location on the planet and greeted each other. Greetings, of course, were stiff at best. It was apparent from the recording that they were nervous. I then watched as the leaders started their talks. It was almost masterful how Megatron was able to guide the discussion, which was what he was doing.

Time seemed to fly by as I watched the peace talks that would eventually end in disaster for the Decepticons. Between different surprises and demands from both sides, it was amazing to see just how different their strategies were and which side had which strategy. The Autobots were trying to get as much out of the talks as possible, while the Decepticons were trying to keep things balanced. The Autobots asked for control of the eventual government for the first million stellars, which the Decepticons countered by asking for equal representation on both sides for the same amount of time. From history files I had read before and lessons, the Decepticons would have been the side demanding total leadership.

And honestly, they had the command structure that would make taking leadership a benefit for Cybertron in the long run.

From that thought alone, I could see that the Decepticons wanted these peace talks to work. There had been a rumor that this was just a ploy by the Decepticons to have the leader of the Autobots in a vulnerable state, given the humans at the talks. However, it never came to that. Instead, the Decepticons were left vulnerable, and they paid for it.

It was jolting to rewatch the shifting mood during the talks. At one moment, they were sitting from a break, as they had done before, and getting ready to begin negotiations again. In the next, the Decepticon third-in-command bolted from his seat and began accessing the human terminal near them. I was sure I wasn't the only one who thought the Decepticons were springing whatever trap they had placed. When I watched that, the Decepticons at the bar were on the edge of their seats. I remember wondering if the two of them would run out of the bar as if they could arrive at the small planet to help with whatever was happening.

Even the Autobots at the talks suspected the Decepticons of foul play. That was until the Decepticons were confronted verbally about what they were doing.

"Megatron, what is this about?" The Prime's voice had held an indignation that spoke of betrayal. Despite rumors after the talks, looking back on this recording told me that Optimus Prime honestly thought Megatron was breaking the ceasefire.

"You have no right to speak as if I am the one who is breaking the ceasefire for these talks, Prime!" Hearing those words now shook me just as much as they did everyone in that bar. The anger and betrayal that the reserved leader of the Decepticons had in his words were some I never thought I would hear from him. He was the strong and ruthless leader of an army who was not held back by their emotions. They used logic and reason as strongly as they used their might. Even the two Decepticons with us, Strka and Lugnut, seemed shocked at what they saw.

Of course, after Megatron asked Soundwave for whatever security feed he was demanding, the third-in-command had successfully brought up…

No. I wasn't seeing what I thought I was.

"By Murav," This…this couldn't be real. But, as I stared at the footage before me, I couldn't find a reason to say otherwise. What I was seeing here…it explained so much about my friend. I couldn't believe it, but the evidence was right before my eyes…

"Caigal, what is it?" I heard my father's voice but couldn't find words to answer him. I couldn't even find the strength to move from the footage where I paused it, the blade passing through her chassis. "Caigal," My eyes stayed focused on the screen, trying to find anything that would argue against the truth that was becoming apparent. "What is it?" I flinched, though my eyes didn't leave the footage before me, as I heard father's voice from next to me. He must have risen to see what was stupefying me. "Why are you…" His next question tapered off as he saw what I was seeing. The truth behind Pandimala was as chaotic and impossible as it was.

"Emperor Thav, Caigal; what is it?" Lightbeam asked.

While I couldn't stop staring at the paused image before me, father thankfully could. "Lord Oryax, we need to get to Lord Dawnbreaker with this. Now." My body instinctively pulled against my father's effort to take the image from me. Maybe I felt like it wouldn't be real if I stopped staring at it. But I knew it was. So, after he gave an inquisitive tug on the datapad, I finally let it go.

"What did you find?" Lord Oryax asked as he stood from his spot.

Father clicked on the datapad for a moment before an image flicked on the central display that the table provided. Everyone in the room stared at the picture in shock, just like I had, before Ambassador Credax finally spoke. "How…how is she online?"

Lord Oryax moved over to sire at that. "Emperor Thav and I will go and find that out now. Once Pandimala realizes we know this, I feel like she will answer us as long as we are respectful. Despite whatever circumstances she went through to get here, I have learned that the femme is of sound processor."

"I agree," Father spoke as he joined Lord Oryax by the door. "The rest of you, remain here and see if you can find anything else. Now that we know that Pandimala was on Earth, that will help you find anything else on her. She needs all the support she can get, and having more information about her past will only allow us to help her further." He then glanced at Lord Oryax. "Let's go. If we hurry, we can join Seabreaker and his guests and confront Lord Dawnbreaker collectively." I noticed that father still had the datapa in his servo as he left the room.

Seabreaker's 1st P.O.V.

I didn't want to do this, but sire left me no choice. As I stood outside the doors to his throne room, I knew this would not be easy. But there was no other option. Lightbeam hadn't found anything yet, and Grinchain was locked up. So, I stood here waiting for sire to admit me into the room. I had called Pandimala on my way back to Tocania and asked her to meet with sire. She hesitated but agreed as long as she could bring Iussa. While that would seem extreme to anybot else, I knew Pandimala had her reason. She always did.

"Enter, Seabreaker,"

At sire's command, I pushed open the door and walked in. My guests were staying back for now. I would give sire one more chance to see reason before I loosed them on him. So, I walked in. Sire was sitting on his throne, carrier sitting next to him. However, carrier looked upset. I guess he hadn't been able to break through to sire. Standing before him was Pandimala, Iussa off to the left. I could feel the tension in the room. I guess Pandimala had tried to speak to sire. Given the stubborn look on his faceplate, however, it seemed to have been ineffective.

It looked like my guests would be making an appearance after all. "Sire," I started once I stood next to Pandimala. "What are your thoughts on Pandimala?" I wasn't going to dance around the subject. There was no time for that. Pandimala was my friend, and I needed to take action. Plus, as the second creation of the leader of Vestium Major, I needed to be strong in my convictions.

"Pandimala is a sparkling. I told your brother this, and he did not understand." He was speaking about her as if she wasn't in the room. "She could not possibly understand the weight of what was done to her. It takes thousands of stellars to develop that sort of cognitive center. Even among organics, the cognitive center achieves complete development at fifty stellars minimum. She was by no means prepared and willing for whatever was done to her."

"You're making a mistake, Dawnbreaker," Iussa spoke up. As she did, I glanced at Pandimala, and, outside of the anger I expected to see from her, I was surprised to see pain in her optics. What had happened to her?

While I felt angry at sire for his blindness concerning Panidmala, I needed to stay logical. If I allowed my anger at the mech to show, as Grinchain did, I would be in the same spot he was and unable to help him and Pandimala. "And I assume that nothing the three of us could say will change your processor?"

"My word on this is final, Seabreaker," Sire spoke firmly, though I could hear the uncertainty in his vocals.

I didn't want to resort to this, but he left me no choice. "Then you leave me no choice, sire," I spoke up. While he looked upset, I got on my comm. "You can come in. He won't listen to us." Pandimala was looking at me with a confused look. However, she would realize what was happening soon. So, I simply motioned for her to make a path between the door and my sire. She raised an optic ridge at me but did as I was asking. I, in turn, backed away from her to make more room for them.

Pedesteps filling the air caused all of us to glance toward the entryway. After a few nanos, I watched as sire's optics widened. The mech walking toward him was about sire's height and a seeker. His orange optics didn't leave sire's blue ones. My first guest looked like he was on a mission, which was to sire's detriment. "Duskmorrow," Sire's vocals sounded tight and nervous.

"You are in so much trouble right now, young mech," Grandsire interrupted sire sternly. "While I would like nothing better than to reprimand you right now, I lost the bet." Pandimala looked amused and confused about this whole situation. I was glad she was here to see sire get put in his place. He was my Lord, but he needed to remember that he was mortal, just like the rest of us.

"Dawnbreaker!"

I could almost see the color fade from sire as that voice filled the air. Grandsire stepped to the side as a sleeker grounder femme marched down the aisle. This femme was our last resort. Grandsire said he was going to try and speak to sire. However, he might have heard sire's attitude and decided to let grandcarrier at him.

Nobot messed with grandcarrier lightly.

"Carrier?" Sire's vocals were shaking as he asked that. I hadn't wanted to do this to sire, but he left me no choice.

"Don't you 'carrier' me, young mech!" She practically growled at the mech as she stopped by grandsire. "How dare you judge this femme based on a species she used to be that you know practically nothing about! And where is Grinchain? I heard you detained him, but that better not be true!"

Sire was in a panic as he reached up to his comm. "Scorchflint, let Grinchian out. Now! And send him to me immediately!"

"You did!" Grandcarrier was on a rampage. Her servos were twitching as if she was going to strangle sire. However, she paused as she glanced at carrier and smiled. "Seabreeze, how have you been? I'm sorry for the problems Dawnbreaker is causing you."

My grandcreators always liked carrier. From the stories we were told as younglings, they were thrilled when sire asked carrier to bond with him. Carrier smiled down at grandcarrier, though I could see he looked drained from this situation. "It's good to see you, Flarebell,"

Grandcarrier smiled at carrier for a nano more before she returned her gaze to sire, no longer smiling. "And you! Putting your bondmate through all this slag because of your lack of information is irresponsible! Did you try looking the information up for yourself? From what Seabreaker told us, the event that caused this dear to become a newspark was obviously traumatizing." Grandcarrier paused before turning to Pandimala, a soft look on her faceplate. "And how are you, dear? I know we haven't been introduced, but I wish to apologize for my creation's abhorrent behavior to you. My designation is Flarebell, and this is my bondmate, Duskmorrow." She then held up an energon goodie from her subspace. "Energon goodie?"

Pandimala stared at grandcarrier for a nano before she smiled a soft smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you, and I'll be alright. My designation is Pandimala, and yes, I would like one, please, thank you," She took the energon goodie from grandcarrier and, after she scanned the goodie, she popped it into her mouth with a smile on her faceplate.

"Look at her, Dawnbreaker!" And grandcarrier was back on sire. "She habitually scanned the goodie I gave her. She has obviously been through so much. But you didn't think twice about that. No, you thought it was a good idea to press the traumatized dearie here into giving you information because she was in a weakened state of processor. You're lucky I heard this information from Seabreaker, not the rumor mill. I would have had you pealed metal shaving by metal shaving until your energon was flowing like rivers." Yeesh, grandcarrier certainly knew how to put the fear of Unicron into a bot. "Apologize! And you better mean it! If you don't, I'm not afraid to put you over my knee!" That sire was taller than grandcarrier, and the fact that sire looked terrified at the prospect told me that grandcarrier could still do just what she promised.

Sire, on his part, straightened on his seat before he looked to Pandimala. "Pandimala…I was a fool to think of you as a sparkling. I did not take your trauma into account when I questioned you. On both faults, I truly am sorry," He bowed his helm toward her.

"I forgive you, Lord Dawnbreaker." Pandimala forgave sire. "Though it did hurt that you lost your trust in me after that simple revelation, I am glad you can see that you were wrong."

Before another word could be said, more pedesteps from behind caused us to turn to see who these new arrivals were. To my surprise, four bots were approaching us. Physis and Sandstorm made sense since I knew they had been trying to meet with sire during this. However, the two that surprised me were Lord Oryax and Emperor Thav. Last I knew, they were helping Lightbeam look up any information on Pandimala. They wouldn't be here unless…

They found something out about Pandimala's past.

"Physis, Sandstorm, Lord Oryax, Emperor Thav; what brings you here?" Grandcarrier asked our new arrivals.

The four of them glanced at her and grandsire before, to my surprise, Lord Oryax walked straight up to Pandimala, who seemed to flinch back at his abrupt movement. It was even more shocking to watch the leader embrace Pandimala in a hug and whisper something to her. Whatever he whispered caused a shocked look to come to Pandimala's faceplate, along with a tiny bit of fear. What the frag happened? "You know?" Pandimala's voice, while a whisper, was heard, given the silence that had come over the room.

"I'm not sure if we know everything," Emperor Thav spoke as they joined those of us in front of sire. "But we know where you were stationed…and why you didn't want us to know where that was."

At this point, Grinchain, who must have come here directly from the holding cells, walked into the room. "What happened?" He was staring at Pandimala, who looked scared and hurt. "Why is Pandimala upset?"

To my surprise, Pandimala shook her helm and spoke. "It's not their fault, Grinchain. I guess it's time to tell you why I flew by Vestium Major when I did." She then looked around and shrank into herself. This nervous side of Pandimala was a side I didn't like to see. She was our confident friend and ally; now, she looked anything but confident.

Lord Oryax helped guide the femme to sit, which also seemed like a good sign for the rest of us to sit. "At your pace, Pandimala. We know this is going to be difficult for you." Well, at least they knew. All I knew was that Pandimala was hurting, and I wanted to help her. Lord Oryax, who spoke, seemed concerned. Whatever the story was, it wouldn't be easy to hear.

"I want to start by saying that I can't prove everything I'm about to say, and what I'm going to say will sound fantastical on the edge of ridiculous. But, it will be the truth," Pandimala started, her vocals shaking. "First, I'd better get the biggest issue off the table. I'm not from this dimension."

"You are from another dimension?" Iussa asked Pandimala.

My Decepticon friend nodded. Glad to know that Iussa confirmed the existence of other dimensions. "The one I am from had this dimension on display as a made-up show. A show that I followed almost religiously. I knew so much about the Autobot/Decepticon war and the beings they made contact with during that war that I felt like I could be an expert. I didn't realize this dimension was real until I went for a job interview at a technology company. Cyber Tronic's Technologies. As I'm sure you can guess, the company was created as a front so a certain god could work without too much suspicion about what he truly was."

"Primus," I was glad Iussa was following Pandimala because this seemed unbelievable. Of course, Pandimala had said it would sound strange. And she was right.

"Primus," Pandimala confirmed before she hesitated. "Well, a portion of Primus, to be precise. Paul Riley Muskogee. After he interviewed me, Paul then told me what his real goal was. Or what he wanted me to think it was anyways."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked her.

When Pandimala looked at me, I saw pain in her optics. "I'll get to that later." She then shook her helm. "Paul transported me to this dimension using some of his power. However, through the intervention of another force, whom we will bring up later, I was diverted from where Paul wanted me to end up. As my human self, Lizzie Val, I was redirected to the Nemesis. My first solars on there weren't easy, and there were a few times I felt like I would be offlined. However, I was able to prove my worth to them, and after a mission to prove that worth, I became a full-fledged member of the Decepticons.

This time, it was Emperor Thav who jumped in. "You were called 'Coordinator', weren't you? When we were looking for your last deployment, we saw a file with that name regarding a mission to find relics."

A small smile appeared on Pandimala's faceplate at the mention of the designation. "Yeah, we used that name to make sure the Autobots didn't realize I wasn't a prisoner of the Decepticons to throw them off their game." Pandimala then frowned. "But, it was after that mission that everything changed."

Unknown 1st P.O.V.

Why were all of my plans failing? Each one should have caused Vestium Major to fall. I had everything in place. I knew just how to make each one of these pawns move. How to make them think they were better than what they were. But they were just tools. Tools that would let the ones who recruited me take control of the Galactic Alliance. They had everything they needed. They had a strategist who showed us step-by-step how to proceed with this takeover. We had bots on every planet we needed to cause problems.

Our plans started with the attack on Majipoor, leading to the theft of their energon. That built up tensions just like our strategist said it would. While that was happening, our other inside bots were to manipulate their 'allies' and get them suspicious of other Alliance members. That had gone smoothly. Wern and Vestium Major were on edge with each other and thought the other was trying to start trouble. We even got our contacts to reach out to outside sources to send more trouble to one of their planets.

Those amazingly stupid bots on Antilla took the chance to attack a Decepticon like they were onlined to do it. That fumble on the part of Vestium Major should have been the fragging catalyst that started the fall of the Galactic Alliance. It was perfect!

But no, that piece of slag Decepticon happened to be the peaceful type. Let Vestium Major brush the incident away as if it didn't happen! How stupid did that Decepticon have to be? Their idiocy was pushing back our plans by hundreds of stellars. Ever since the femme showed up on Vestium Major, all I heard from our contacts was that all the leaders were growing closer due to the femme's influence.

Even that barbarian King Poiman enjoyed the femme.

No, this had to fragging stop. Something needed to be done to get rid of the femme. While it was tempting to try and frame her for any chaos our agents could conduct, she had too many allies at this point. They would realize that some being was working against the femme. No, we needed to take her, and any rulers we could on Vestium Major, out—offlined, chassis parts strewn across the fragging city. There were so many leaders on the planet in the first place because of the trouble Vestium Major was causing the femme. If she were to offline while a guest of their planet…

Yes, that might work. My superior would be glad to have this mission moving forward again. His recent excursion to Earth to destabilize the Decepticons had been uprooted before it could take hold. At least our agents among the Autobots had done their job, though there were some close calls in that, and it wasn't going quite as fast as we were hoping it would. However, they were in place and continually preparing Cybertron for the solar when our masters took over once more, with me ruling as a placeholder. At the same time, they would conquer the galaxies and beyond.

Glancing at my internal time, I frowned when I saw how late it was. I had a few more errands left to run, and I had one of the pawns I was trying to manipulate moving away from me. I needed to reassert my dominance over him before I lost him. He was far too valuable to let get away from my digits now. I had spent thousands of stellars molding him, and I wouldn't lose him without a fight.

If all else failed, his offlining alongside the femme would cause even more destruction to this fragging Alliance. Until they were gone, we wouldn't stop. We had generations of soldiers who fought for the upcoming stellars. I wouldn't let anything stand in our way.

Anything.

Pandimala: *glances up* So, it's time for them to learn about my past. I guess they've earned it.

Lord Oryax: *shakes his helm* No, we haven't. From the little I know, we don't deserve it. But I am thankful that you are telling us regardless.

Pandimala: *leans into Lord Oryax*

Emperor Thav: *places a hand on her chassis* He's right, Pandimala. What little we know you've been through is more than any being should see in their lifetime.

AN: And here is the next chapter! As I said in the last chapter, this chapter and the next will run similarly to how the Transformers Prime episode 'Grill' went. However, as you hopefully noticed at the end, I will also have some important parts happening. It seems like some unknown force has been moving behind the scenes, and they are making plans against Pandimala and her allies. The future is looking to be a mystery. Also, fair forewarning for anyone who reads this: the end of the first arc of this story is coming sooner rather than later. I won't say quite how long, but keep your eyes open.

Until then, though, here are the next chapter names!

Chapter 15: The Whole Truth

Chapter 16: And Then There Was Wern

Chapter 17:...(find out next time!)

There it is, folks. Thanks again to all of you who take the time to interact with my stories. I appreciate every one of you. Until next time, TTYL! *listening to Separate Ways by Journey*