Chapter 11

The Axalon

Stripes was forcefully escorted through the jungle with Cheetor and Rattrap's guns at his back.

"Is this really necessary?" Stripes protested.

"Quiet, you!" The Velociraptor-bot, who was ironically named Dinobot, snapped as he whipped his sword towards Stripes' neck.

Stripes groaned. "Can it get any worse than this?"

Then a thunderclap was heard overhead, and it started to rain.

"…Obviously, it can." Stripes sulked. "I should have known better to ask that..."

They continued to tread through the jungle, until they came to a cliff side. Along that cliff side was a massive starship! Almost as big as the Nemesis!

They walked alongside it until they came to a hatch. Primal opened it. They all stepped inside, out of the rain.

"So, what do we do about him?" Rattrap asked.

"Take him to one of the empty quarters." Primal ordered. "Make sure there's security around him at all times. I don't want him taking a step out of that room." Primal said as the hatch shut behind them.

Stripes then was escorted several decks below, where he was shoved into a room with a recharge berth, and a few amenities.

"Be good, and don't break anything!" Dinobot snapped as he slammed the door shut. "I just finished refurbishing those quarters two solar cycles ago!"

Stripes was nervous. He then walked over to the recharge berth and got settled in despite being uneasy. The berth seemed to emit an energy field of some sort. It soothed his nerves somewhat. After falling through an atmosphere and trudging through a desert and a jungle, along with everything else that had happened, he was exhausted. He finally slipped into a much-needed recharge cycle, letting the field envelop him as he lay in the berth.

# # # # # #

One Day (Solar Cycle) Later…

Stripes jolted awake as there was a loud banging on the door of the room! He was startled awake, and fell out of the berth!
Then, Cheetor came in, opening the door. "Come on, rise and shine!" Cheetor snarled. "Boss bot wants to see you in ten, so make sure you are awake!"

Stripes scrambled to his feet as Cheetor slammed the door shut again. "What's his problem?" He wondered out loud. "Aw, scrap! Why am I even asking? I obviously ruined his hunt! Now I don't know what's going to happen… Geez, why do I always have to get the short end of the stick?"

"Oh, if only you knew how short the 'stick' is!" Cheetor laughed, outside the door. "Primal and Dinobot have you set up for an interrogation. After all, you have a lot of questions to answer!"

"This just keeps getting worse by the minute..." Stripes muttered.

"Two tips: Don't lie, and don't anger Dinobot. Last time someone riled him, well… All that could be salvaged was their manifolds."

Stripes gulped. He was now unsure if he was going to survive this.

Cheetor escorted him a few decks back above, and into the interrogation room. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as he feared; a chair and a bunch of computer consoles, with various readouts. Though there were several vials of some sort of fluid with a type of injector on the table. Dinobot and Primal were already inside.

Dinobot immediately grabbed Stripes roughly by the shoulder and shoved him into the chair. Stripes was nearly petrified with fear, he didn't realize what primal was doing until it was too late. Primal had the fluid injector in his hand, and had located an energon line on Stripes' arm.

"Try to relax. This won't hurt." He pressed the injector in, then attached one of the vials. Stripes began to feel weird, his circuits going into a temporary fritz, then he blinked his optics a few times.

"Now, let's begin." Primal stood up. "First Question: Who are you?"

"I… I used to be known as Carlos Lopez, a human. Twenty-one years old." Stripes explained, unable to stop the words flowing from his vocalizer. "I was changed into a Cybertronian several cycles ago by the Decepticons. I've been on the run from them ever since."

"Load of Slag, Primal!" Dinobot snapped. "I've heard better from a Predacon jet-fuel junkie!"

Primal frowned. "Teletran one, analasis."

The computer consoles output data on the screen for a few seconds. After that, the computer spoke.

"Analasys: Oil pressure is stable, no fluctuations detected. Spark pulse: normal. No anomalies detected. Subject is being truthful."

Dinobot was stunned. Primal raised an optic ridge.

"Okay… Next Question: If you were captured by the Decepticons, how did you escape?"

Stripes could tell he was going to be here for a while.

Meanwhile, on the Nemesis

The Autobots and Decepticons had just relocated Stripes' singal. It was coming from an Earth-like planet, on an equatorial continent near a cliff-side lake.

"Are you sure he's there?" Megatron asked Starscream.

"Positive." Starscream replied. "His signal is there. No doubt."

"Do we have any info on that planet, Wheeljack?" Bumblebee asked.

"None." Wheeljack answered. "It's a complete unknown."

Bumblebee looked at the planet on the holoprojector. "Set a course. Get us there as fast as possible. Make sure your weapons are charged. Be ready for anything."