A/N: As a reminder my other fic from Red Alert's POV "Give Me Reason" is set between this chapter and the previous one.


If there was one thing Jazz hated more than the paperwork, it was the meetings. He'd only been a part of High Command for a month and already he was sick of them.

Jazz always thought that he would go out in a blaze of glory but now he was seriously worried he might actually die of boredom. Currently the only thing stopping him from off-lining himself was the promise of Bumblebee's upgrade party tomorrow.

Jazz wore a neutral smile on his face as he pretended to listen to Red Alert's ramblings. He swore all their meetings were the same. That Megatron had blown something up again. That there were running low on energon, again. That the twins were banned from the med-bay. Again. Jazz missed the adrenaline of being on missions. What he wouldn't give for a little excitement right about now.

Unfortunately he was about to get his wish.

"We've lost contact with MacCadam's!"

Jazz's hand found his vibro-knife as Blaster burst into the room. Jazz's sudden adrenaline spike didn't ease at the sight of the usually cool commination's specialist in such a frantic state.

"Explain." Prowl demanded, cutting through Blaster's panic.

"It was our weekly check in but when I tried to call them there was just nothing! No signal! No static! No nothin'!"

Of course that was when Ironhide decided to keel over.

"What's wrong?" Ratchet asked, as he and Jazz rushed to catch their weapons specialist before he could fall from his chair.

"It's Chromia." Ironhide grunted, clutching his hand over his spark whilst Jazz helped him back up. "Something's wrong. She's scared. And my girl doesn't get scared."

"Is she alright?" Optimus asked.

"I can still feel her over our sparkbond so she's alive." Ironhide said trying to force himself up on unsteady knees. "I have to go to her!"

But Optimus' hand on his shoulder kept him down.

"I that you are worried my friend, but we cannot act rashly."

"You can't stop me Prime!" Ironhide warned, and Jazz didn't doubt that there was nothing on this planet that would stop the commander from trying to help his conjunx.

"I know and I am not trying to." Optimus reassured. "However we need a plan first."

"If out signal is still going through yet there's is not responding. Then it most likely is a result of issues from their end." Prowl stated. "Which could be anything from an accidental system failure to the result of an attack."

Jazz nodded in agreement as Prowl took the words he'd been about to say out if his mouth.

"Then let me be the one to go check in on them in person!" Ironhide demanded.

"Hey this is a security matter so I'm sending Inferno as he's the only one on this base that I trust!" Red Alert interrupted.

"That's great and all. But neither you or Inferno are exactly built for speed and we don't know how long their communications have been down." Jazz reminded them, trying to keep his tone light to rein in the remaining air of panic that surrounded High Command. "We need somebody there now before whatever attack the 'cons have clearly planned comes crashing down on us."

That was when Bumblebee burst down from the ceiling vent.

Everyone else jumped as he landed on the oval table whilst Jazz simply sighed in resignation.

"I thought I told you to stop spying in on meetings." He chastised over Red Alert's screaming.

"I know! I know! But I can help!" Bumblebee protested. "If I use the old energon pipes I can bypass Tyger Pax and get to MacCadams faster than any of you could get there on the surface!"

Jazz looked to Optimus. Even though they had once vowed to do all on their power keep the young bot safe, Jazz knew that they both knew that Bee was right.

Optimus closed his eyes before releasing a deep breathe.

"Alright. But you are not to engage in battel. You are to scout ahead to the MacCadam's base. Assess the situation there and attempt to re-establish contact with Elita-One. Then you are to come straight back home to report your findings. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" Bumblebee cried with a serious salute despite the bright smile on his face. Jazz hoped that they wouldn't regret this as Bumblebee shimmered back into the vents before they had the chance to change their minds.

"Blaster, see if there is anything we can do on our end to re-establish communication. Ironhide, take Inferno and any other bots you desire to investigate the MacCadam's base. Jazz-"

Jazz stood to attention as his leader turned his attention to him.

"-check in with your field agents. See if the Decepticons are planning anything or if they have any insight to Elita-One's team."

Jazz saluted as Optimus finally turned to Prowl.

"I want battle plans for all eventualities." The head of tactics nodded when-

BOOM.

Jazz was nimble enough to stay on his feet as the entire base shook from the force of the explosion. Not that it mattered as their Head of Tactics wasn't and stumbled into him, sending them both crashing to the floor.

Jazz had to bite back a comment when he realised that Prowl was currently sprawled across his lap with his face pressed against his chassis, knowing that the Parxian wouldn't appreciate it.

Prowl quickly climbed off him. Despite avoiding his gaze, he still have his hand to Jazz to help him up which the spy accepted with a grateful smile.

Whilst the rest of High Command set off on their respective responsibilities, Jazz followed Optimus and Prowl towards the main hanger doors where Mirage, Hound and Bluestreak were already waiting for him there. Good.

"Has anyone been able to hail Silverstreak or Cliffjumper?" He asked.

They all shook their heads.

Oh well they had more immediate problems to deal with Jazz pondered as he caught a glimpse of the screen besides the door. It was zoomed in on the horde of Seekers lead by Starscream as they came back for another round.

"Bumblebee is already enroute but Ironhide's team will need to avoid the seekers over ground." Optimus said to Jazz. "We need a plan to distract and disarm them."

"That's going to be a problem without any of our own fliers." Jazz pointed out.

"Bluestreak is this base's most skilled marksman. She can shoot them down." Prowl stated and Jazz knew that Prowl wasn't the type to suggest soemthing out of nepotism. It was just pure fact.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Jazz shrugged.

Optimus nodded turning to deliver another rousing speech to their troupes as the hanger doors opened.

Prowl ordered the twins to stay behind to guard the doors as a last line of the defence, much to the pair's dismay, as Jazz charged after their Prime onto the battlefield outside that was quickly devolving into chaos.

Jazz wondered if this what the Seekers had been planning. They had been stockpiling energon so it would make sense that they preparing for a fight. And unfortunately it would also stand to reason that whatever it was they'd been looking for in the remains of Vos, they had finally found it.

Jazz also didn't like the fact that the seekers apparently knew the location of their secret base.

He sent a warning over the comms that the cons may have some kind of ancient superweapon, before diving headfirst first into the battle.

Jazz was more used to close quaters combat behind enemy lines then fighting on the front, but it still sent that same thrill of exhilaration pumping through his cables as he dodged blasterfire and sunk his blades into their targets.

It wasn't easy holding back an army of fliers with only grounders in their ranks. But thankfully Bluestreak was able to provide them some cover from where she was perched on top of the roof of the Ark, shooting Acid Storm straight through their wing, sending them crashing into the ground.

Good, at least the rainmakers won't be able to use their outlier ability.

Unfortunately, it also gave Bluestreak away to Skywarp's line of sight.

The teleporter popped into existence behind the young sniper but thankfully Bluestreak's reflexes were as sharp as her aim and she was able to shoot at point blank range.

Skywarp disappeared before the shot could hit and Jazz counted on her lack of reaction time to pounce where she'd been moments earlier. Sure enough he slammed into the seekers just as she reappeared, knocking her to the ground.

As they wrestled, Jazz looked up, hiding his relief when he spotted the red blip of Ironhide disappear over the horizon.

"For someone so crazy you sure can be predictable." Jazz taunted, keeping Skywarp's attention on him.

"Oh no! Am I boring you?" Jazz could practically see the sarcasm dripping out of Skywarp's mouth and she tried to strangle him.

"Oh sweetspark you always know how to keep a mech entertained." He replied, stabbing his blade through her elbow joint. Energon splattered across his face but he didn't have time to wipe it away as she grabbed him with her uninjured arm instead.

"I think you'll find this a more entertaining view." Skywarp smirked into his ear, forcing him to look at where Starscream stood over the Prime's fallen form, his null ray aimed at Optimus's face.

Before Jazz even had time to think about panicking, the twins came bursting through the blast doors, paint cans in hand, which they didn't hesitate to launch at the Deception Second In Command.

"You should thank us for improving your paint job!" Sunstreaker yelled over Starscream's cries as the can exploded all over his frame.

"And you're ugly!" Sideswipe shouted a moment later adding another can of red paint to the mix.

The distraction gave Optimus enough time to roll out of the way. Unfortunately, the paint also splashed onto an invisible form, revealing Mirage's location where'd he'd been about to shoot Starscream in the back.

Starscream's shrieks turned into a snarl as he slashed the spy with his claws.

"Mirage!" Hound cried out but Jazz was one step in front of him, elbowing Skywarp in the face then ducking under Starscream's arms to grab his friend before he could be stuck again.

Jazz pressed his hands against the open wound. The Decepticon Second in Command had missed Mirage's spark but he must've hit a central line with his much energon he was bleeding.

"Get him to Ratchet." Jazz ordered, manoeuvring Mirage over to Hound's care.

Hound nodded, scooping Mirage up in his arms, effectively stunning to silence any protests the spy had been about to make.

In any other circumstance Jazz would've teased the pair but right now he did not have the time.

Hound managed to slide back in through the blast doors before they could fully close. But that didn't matter as now Skywarp could see the corridor ahead and within the next split second she had teleported inside the Ark.

Shit.


A/N: Merry Christmas Everyone! Also I'm staying with family so I don't have my laptop with me so apologies in advance if there is any formatting errors! Xxxxxxx