Chapter 12 - Autobot Found

Objective secure.

Saber had been following Jazz and Wheeljack for an hour now. The small convoy of Autobot cars was far enough from the Human Research Station that they could use their headlights without cause for concern; that allowed Saber to finally get something of a good look at the Alt-modes his fellow Autobots had chosen.

Jazz led the convoy; he was a white, 1976 Martini Porsche 935 Turbo. Following him was Wheeljack, who had also chosen a white alt-mode. His was a 1976 Lancia Stratos Turbo Group 5. Being both White race cars, Neither of their alt-modes were considered road legal. That they were both race cars and from the same year meant that they'd likely touched down on Earth around the same time; maybe even arrived together. Nonetheless, the high speeds the two were pulling were no problem for Saber. His custom 1969 Datsun Alt-mode let him keep pace with them, which suited him just fine.

Saber had no idea how the other Autobots were here and, truth be told, he didn't care that much. He was just grateful that they were here at all. That they still existed was satisfying in its own right, but the young, inexperienced bot still had more than a few burning questions on his mind.

Back on Cybertron, in Iacon's penultimate moment, he had watched Meister (now named Jazz apparently) get pulled into the vacuum of space, himself following shortly after. And Wheeljack? When Saber was ejected out into the cosmos, the Engineer was still aboard the Ark, which Saber then watched warp jump to parts unknown. The more the Autobot thought about it, the less likely it was that they should have been there with him on Earth. One of them crash landing here was a coincidence maybe, but both of them? That just couldn't be a coincidence.

Saber's imagination began to run wild. He wondered if they'd somehow recovered the Ark and taken it here. That, perhaps Cybertronians really did have a presence here and his earlier assessment of Humans not knowing about his kid was incorrect. Needless to say, the Autobot had many questions he wanted to ask, but his Comms Transmitter and Receiver were still busted and he wasn't about to yell them over the roar of their Engines.

The Autobots drove east of Albuquerque until they reached the Sandia Mountains. There, they pulled off the road and drove deep into a Valley.

"So, where are we going?" Saber asked.

"Chill, young blood." Jazz replied. "Don't worry, we'll be safe."

"Ok, I wanted to ask earlier but we were kinda under the whole threat of Human military thing. Now that we're not, why are you talking like that?"

Jazz chuckled. "My fault kid, it's just some lingo I picked up hanging around these Earth cats, they call it 'Jive'."

"They don't all talk like that though?"

"No, not at all." Jazz said. "They're not like us. They've got their own grooves, their own styles. Each and everyone of them is totally different. It's real cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah, see, on this planet they've got something called 'music' and music's separated into tons of different genres. Classical, Rock, Metal, Rap, Hip Hop, Blues and, my personal favorite, Jazz."

"You like this 'music' so much you named yourself after it?" Saber asked.

"Yessir!" Jazz answered. "Once we have a sec, I'll put you on. You're gonna dig it too, and even if you don't there's so many genres and subgenres you're guaranteed to find somethin' you like."

As Jazz talked about his new love, Saber ran a cross reference on the Internet. On it, he found hundreds of millions of songs belonging to over 6,000 genres and sub-genres. "Whoa, you weren't kidding." The Autobot said. "There's a-lot of this stuff."

"See? I told you." Jazz said. "I got a few names you might dig. Guarantee you'll get down with at least one of 'em."

"Sure!" Saber said excitedly. "Lay it on me, man!" He said, trying to pick up some of the Human's lingo.

"There you go, now you're gettin' it!" Jazz exclaimed happily. Wheeljack, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as thrilled.

"Oh Primus, not you too…" He groaned.

The Autobots continued driving until they came to a seeming dead end. Saber began to slow down; then he noticed that the other Autobots weren't. "Wait, guys? Are your sensor panels on the fritz?"

"It's cool Saber, don't sweat it." Jazz replied.

"What?!"

"No, he's right, kid." Wheeljack said. Check this out, you're gonna freakin' love this."

Saber continued to follow his fellow Autobots, albeit at a slower pace and with much hesitance. The three drove until Jazz's bumper was practically kissing the rock wall. Then, unbelievably, the rock wall started to shimmer and fade, allowing the three to drive right on through, unscathed.

"Whoa!" Saber gasped as he and the others passed through several layers of extremely high resolution images before finally coming out on the other side. There, Jazz and Wheeljack rolled into a transformation, springing up into their Bot modes while Saber remained in alt-mode, in pure awe of what he'd just seen - and what he was still seeing. For inside what was only a moment ago the face of a cliffside, Saber had found himself suddenly placed in the heart of a makeshift Autobot headquarters.

Wheeljack turned and found Saber still in alt-mode. "See?" He said rather smugly. "Told ya you'd love it." He said.

"Come on, kid. Pick your grill up off the floor." Jazz ordered and Saber obliged by finally transforming.

Of course, when Saber did finally take Robot mode, his face still bore an expression of shock. "Whoa." Was all he could manage to say.

The interior of the illusionary wall was set up with several stations. A Computer Terminal, a Comms Relay, a Med Bay with a recharging slab fit to a generator and at the heart of the base sat a pylon shooting energy up hundreds of feet into the air to project the false rock face that was concealing it all. It was all based on rudimentary gear that looked like it'd been jerry rigged from tech there on Earth. As impressive as it was that the Autobots had gotten things to work here on an uncharted world though, that's not what'd caught Saber's eye.

"Cool, right?" Wheeljack asked, watching Saber gaze up high towards the energy pylon. "That's Autobot Holo-tech, courtesy of Hound. It lets us project a holographic field out to a radius of 500 feet in all directions with image data so sharp and accurate it fools all manner of imaging tech. I mean, this stuff stumps con Cameras. It's more than enough to keep the Cons' avaricious Optics off our Ops."

As Wheeljack explained the manner of their Technology, Saber continued to look past all of it, awestruck at an entirely different sight. "I don't think he's interested in old Autobot Tech, Wheeljack." Jazz pointed out. "Well, 'least not that tech."

Jazz was correct. Saber was ignoring the aged, jerry rigged Autobot tech in favor of what had to be the mother of all mechanical monsters. There on the other side of the camp, just barely seated beneath the imaging dome, sat a massive, 150 foot red, white and blue, winged, metal, Dragon.

"What is that thing?!" Saber said.

The 'Dragon' perked itself up at the sound of Saber's enthusiastic voice. "That thing has a name!" It scoffed.

"Oh…" Wheeljack groaned. He couldn't hide his disappointment, he really wanted to go on about the tech he'd forged. "Saber, meet Sky Lynx."

"Sky Lynx?" Saber asked.

"Not just Sky Lynx." The creature said. "Sky Lynx the magnanimous! Sky Lynx the mighty! Sky Lynx the Magnificent!"

"Sky Lynx the humble too…" Wheeljack muttered.

"Feh, shift your gears, Automobile! Your jealousy is showing, you merely cannot perceive the majesty of this Dinobird."

"Oh I'm perceivin' somethin' alright." Wheeljack muttered.

"Sky Lynx was Cold Constructed." Jazz began, ignoring the others.

"Like the Auto Troopers?" Saber asked and Jazz gave a nod.

"Turned up to an 11." He said. "Commissioned by Sentinel Prime after the loss of Polyhex, Lynx is a powerful, .001 percenter Mitotic Spark placed into a special duobot-esque body. Sky Lynx was supposed to be the Autobot answer to the Combaticons' Bruticus. But complications with his construction saw his completion delayed and he was eventually mothballed. When we launched the mission to retrieve the Ark, we found it along with him in Stasis. We took him back, reactivated him and ever since, commander Modesty there has served the dual role of Shock Trooper and Hot Drop specialist."

The Dino Bird shuffled as he tried to get up. "And I'm the best at what I do-gah!" Sky Lynx let out a pained wail before collapsing to the ground in anguish.

"Sky Lynx?" Saber asked.

"I'm fine!" Sky Lynx snapped. "The Magnificent Sky Lynx is invincible!"

"The 'Magnificent Sky Lynx' is low on Energon." Wheeljack revealed. Energon was a Cybertronian's lifeblood, the single fuel that allowed them to live. Without it, they would fall into Stasis - sometimes eternally.

Saber approached the Draconic Autobot and got a closer look at his body. Upon closer inspection there were severe, clearly visible wounds peppered all across the four-legged, winged Cybertronian. The biggest wounds were covered in a patchwork repair job, but they weren't enough and the peculiar Autobot's Cyber Matter had done little to repair itself.

"What happened?" Saber asked.

"Nothing that concerns you, my boy." Sky Lynx answered. Still, however, Saber persisted.

"Your wounds are old. Some look like they're re-opening." Saber realized. "Strong as you are, you need to be patched up properly."

"Not for lack of trying." Wheeljack said. "I've tried to fix the big bot up but we don't have the tools and I ain't Ratchet. He'd be better off if his Energon reserves weren't so low but that's not something we can deal with."

"Therein lies why Big Bird there was Mothballed." Jazz said. "Powerful as he is, a Mitotic Spark is energon hungry like no other. Sentinel didn't see it as cost effective."

"Yeah, well Sentinel also tried to nuke his own territories, so let's not take his word as gospel!" Sky Lynx turned towards Saber and pulled his foreleg away from him. "I appreciate your assessment, little one. But I'll live. I was designed to face the worst the Decepticons had to muster. An empty tank and some cuts and scrapes aren't going to do me in."

Before Saber could respond, the rumble of a loud motor suddenly caught him unawares. He and the rest of the Autobots turned towards the sound and watched a Metallic Blue Motorcycle drive past the image layers and into the camp. The vehicle's appearance would have been cause of concern if that was the end of it, but there were two things of note. For starters, the Motorcycle - a Blue Honda CBR300r - had no driver. And secondly? It was the size of a van.

The Blue bike stopped in the middle of camp. "You really need to muzzle it, Skylynx." A female voice came from it's speakers before its panels split open and its body shifted into a slender, feminine form. "I can hear you all the way down the trail."

"Ha!" Sky Lynx laughed. "The Heavens should be so lucky to hear the angelic symphony that is the mighty Sky Lynx's voice!"

"Well, the Earth doesn't need to know you exist! That's the whole point of being 'bots in disguise'." The Fembot sassed back before taking notice of Saber, who had been staring at her.

"Um...hi?" Saber awkwardly waved at the Blue Autobot. His Spark skipped a beat and energon beaded at his palms. The Blue Autobot was tall and slender. She had pink highlights along her cheeks and a pink crest adorning her forehead, and her optics shined a brilliant cerulean blue rimmed in neon pink. Whoever she was, she was the prettiest thing Saber had ever seen...it was then unfortunate that she did not feel the same about him.

The Autobot looked Saber up and down, sizing him up. "Mmm." She groaned. What she saw did not impress her. "See you've found our 'prodigal son'." She said to Jazz. "Not that that was particularly hard…"

"Saber, this is Tail Light, CQC expert and Saboteur. Tail Light? Saber." Jazz said, introducing the two.

Saber moved to approach her. "Hi, I'm-" He barely got two words out before his foot knocked against a set of storage crates, making him stumble. "Oops!" He exclaimed. Jazz winced and Wheeljack facepalmed as he bent down and set them right. Then, he tried again and continued his approach. Hand outstretched, the Autobot greeted his fellow autobot.

"I'm Saber!" Saber said with a stupid, enthusiastic grin on his faceplate.

Tail Light looked down at Saber's hand and then back into his face. "We've established that." She said, not bothering to extend her hand to meet his.

Saber held out his hand for a second too long. "Oh, right!" He said before lowering it when it was clear she wasn't going to take it.

"Mmhm." Tail Light shifted her attention to Jazz. "Locale's secure. But I can do another sweep if you want."

"Nah, it's cool." Jazz said. "We should turn in for the night. The feds are still looking for Saber here, they don't need reports of an oversized, driverless Motorcycle kickin' about too."

Tail Light gave a nod. "Understood." She said before going over to her own part of the camp.

Saber watched Tail Light walk over to a makeshift bench before she sat down alone and away from everyone else.

"Did I do something wrong?" Saber asked?

"You mean besides blowing cover and rushing the Star Saber without a plan?" Jazz asked.

Saber turned to Jazz. "Well…yes?" He said. The Autobot had believed that getting the Saber and the Matrix back were truly of the utmost importance. His peers, apparently, did not.

Wheeljack shook his head. "Typical turbo revvin' young Punk…" The Engineer sighed. "Alright c'mon, get over here. Let's have a look at that busted T 'n R." Wheeljack motioned to the makeshift workbench he was standing beside and Saber obliged.

The Rookie Autobot walked toward Wheeljack as the latter took out a tool box.

As he approached, Jazz spoke. "That was reckless, Saber. Unnecessary."

Saber sat at the bench in front of Wheeljack; the Engineer brandished a repair tool and part separator. "Unnecessary?" Saber said. "It's the Matrix and the Star Saber, the two most powerful artifacts we've ever known. I don't think there's anything more necessary."

"Not at the cost of innocent lives." Jazz said. "Optimus wouldn't have ever made a call like that and you know it. Remember what he used to say? Freedom is the right-"

"-of all Sentient Beings…" Saber concluded, a little bit of shame in his Spark. "I know."

"I know you do." Jazz said. "You need to be smarter about your engagements if we're gonna make it off this rock and back to Cybertron."

"Sorry…" There was a small pause before Saber spoke again. "How's Cybertron?" He finally asked. "I've been out 4 Million Solar Cycles and my Comms have been down. I was wondering if we'd heard anything from the bots back home?" The Autobot took another short pause. "Is…Mom ok?" He struggled to ask. A part of him didn't want to know the answer, but curiosity and concern were powerful catalysts.

Saber waited for a response. 4 Nano-kliks - or Seconds here on Earth - passed without one. The other Autobots, including Sky Lynx, seemed to avoid the Autobot's eyes, letting a sullen, palpable silence fall over the Autobot camp. Even Wheeljack, who was working to get Saber's antenna off, had stopped his work.

"Guys?" Saber began. "Jazz? Y'all heard me, right?"

"Lad…" Sky Lynx sighed, struggling to begin.

"Listen kid…" Wheeljack began. "Iacon…Cybertron is…"

"-The Folks back home ain't doin' so hot." Jazz finally answered, doing what both Wheeljack and Sky Lynx could not. "The Autobots…we lost Iacon." Sky Lynx said. "Megatron put the Capital to the torch, burned the whole damned City down."

Saber's eyes widened. "No…"

"And he didn't stop there." Sky Lynx continued. "Praxus, The Tyger Pax-"

"Even Yuss…" Tail Light chimed in, her tone holding more animosity than the other Bots. "The Decepticons burned it all."

Saber was aghast. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Those weren't even Autobot territories!" He exclaimed. "They were neutral!"

"Nothin's neutral 'far as Megatron's concerned." Jazz said. "Either you're with 'im, or you're the enemy."

"And Mom?" Saber began. "Elita One? Is she safe?"

Sky Lynx angled his chin down. "After the fall, Elita One assumed military command over all Autobot forces on-world. With the surface unsafe, the Autobots under her command went underground; into the Undergrid. I do not know her current function."

"And you?" Saber asked, an anger building. "Where were you when they went underground?"

"Saber…" Jazz started, only for the rookie to ignore him.

"You're a point Zero 1 Percenter, right? An abnormality. Bots with Sparks like you are supposed to be powerful, where were you when Elita gave the order?"

Sky Lynx sat upright and flared his massive wings. "In the skies above." He said, a hint of offense taken in his tone. "With the Seekers controlling the skies and our numbers dropping. Elita ordered all sky-fairing Autobots to regroup on Lunas one and Two. I ignored her order and fought on. I alone assured the Autobots' retreat to safety. But, as you can plainly see, it was not without cost."

Saber's brows softened at Sky Lynx's explanation. "Oh…" was all he could manage.

"When Sky Lynx did finally retreat…" Jazz began. "He'd built up such a rep that the Cons focused Seeker kill squads on 'im. The Seekers followed him all the way to orbit, where he found yours truly. I helped him shake off the rest of those Tetras."

"I could have done it alone." Sky Lynx scoffed. "But…I am grateful for the help."

"Anytime, your Magnificence." Jazz smiled at the Dino Bird. "After that, we followed the Ark's flight path. Put myself down for a stasis nap while Sky Lynx flew the rest of the way, injured as he was."

"You flew for 4 Million Years straight?!" Saber asked.

"Give or take." Sky Lynx answered. Suddenly, the mystery of how Sky Lynx was so low on Energon was solved. Between the constant fighting and the constant flying, it was a wonder he had any Energon left.

"On approach vector to this planet, we got a ping." Sky Lynx continued. "That led us to our resident Engineer."

Saber glanced at Wheeljack. The Engineer had long since worked his way into Saber's antenna and was culling severed transistors for replacement.

"And the Ark, right?" Saber asked.

Wheeljack pulled the broken transistors out of Saber's head and set them down at his work bench. "Nope." He said.

"What? But, you were onboard the-"

"I know where I was!" Wheeljack snapped, his light panels flashing angrily before he realized what he'd done. The Engineer took a breath then started again. "The Ark was in a bad way…the Cons? Turns out they had their own warship. They waited for us in Orbit then blitzed us; took out half our Engines. I made the decision to hit a blind Warp Jump, get us out of the airspace…it worked, but it tore the Ark's airframe to pieces."

Wheeljack idly twirled the new transistors in hand. "I, uh… I left Sky Fire on the bridge; moved for the Engine room. Figured there was something I could do to save it; that's when the con's forced their way aboard. The bastards came in by the dozens. We did our best to fight them off, but they were too strong. In the struggle, I got tossed out. Went drifting somewhere between planets 4 and 5 in this system. The Ships both just…kept going, never got to see where. Couldn't even get a proper destination solution, I was spinning so fast. When I realized my situation was fragged, I used my Spark Sig as a beacon. Threw myself into Stasis and just set adrift."

"You too, huh?" Saber said.

"It's basic survival tactics." Wheeljack said. "Course, not many options when you're up there without a pair of wings. Eventually, I crashed on this Planet's moon. That's where Jazz and Lynx found me. And, now I'm here. I'd still be up there if not for those two."

"Don't sweat it, Jack." Jazz said. "We wear the same Badge. Gotta look out for our fellow Autos, right?"

"Hmph." The Autobots heard a disparaging groan come from Tail Light's side of the camp. The Autobot had stopped checking her blasters and was now performing maintenance on a pair of wrist blades.

"And you?" Saber asked. "How did you get here?"

Tail Light turned her Optics, not her head, towards Saber. She glared at him a second before answering. "Same way you did." She said. "I fell."

"You…fell?"

"In-orbit, specifically." She continued. "It's like the genius over there said, the ship's frame was tearing up, the cons were entering. We fought like hell to hold it. But the Cons…they had an ace, some new player in the Seeker ranks. I didn't get a good look at his gear, but it was clear he was a step up from the others; we were no match.

The bastard shot me out of the ship as both ships went down in-atmosphere. I hit the ground hard as hell; my systems must've gone into shock cause I woke up 3 Million Solar Cycles later to a completely different world. The Planet's species had evolved, Humans were dominant and had technology, architecture."

"Wait, Humans?" Saber asked. "So you landed here?"

"I did." Tail Light answered. "I ended up in Jasper, Nevada. Took a handful of forms over the years, but had this one when those three found me. Now I'm just…here."

"Jack, Lynx and I landed here in the 60's" Jazz continued. "Linked up with tail Light back in 2010. Been looking for you ever since."

"Calculating your approach vector was annoying." Wheeljack said. "Once you actually landed though? That was easy. "Using the Human's Array to send out a transmission made you a big aft target."

"Ok, wait, back up. You guys glossed over something important." Saber said. "Tail Light fell in-atmosphere and landed here, on Earth."

"So?" Tail Light shrugged.

"So?" Saber began. "Dude, if Wheeljack went down on the Moon and you landed here on Earth and the Ark was going down, that means the ship is here too!"

Saber's enthusiasm was palpable, but Tail light did not share in it. "But, if you recall 5 seconds ago, I said I blacked out for Three Million years. Who's to say the Ship stayed on Earth? Assuming it and the crew - the ones who were left - survived the Seekers?"

Saber went quiet for a moment as Wheeljack finished welding the transistors in his antenna. "Well, we don't know that it didn't." Saber said.

"Please…" Tail Light rolled her eyes.

"Come on." Saber said, jumping up out of his seat, to a disgruntled Wheeljack's exclamation.

"Hey, I'm not done yet!"

"Think about it! We find the Ark and the Autobots aboard and pull them out of Stasis. We can fix the ship, get it off-world and bring the fight back to Cybertron!"

"The Fight?" Tail Light started. "Weren't you listening? We lost the fight. For all we know, we're the last Autobots anywhere."

"I don't believe that." Saber replied.

"Of course you don't. You're the son of the 'great Optimus Prime', Mr. 'Leader of the Free Galaxy', it's in your programming to find hope and optimism where none exist, right?"

Saber clenched his fists. "Well it beats the alternative! Sitting on your aft all day mad at the world isn't gonna do anything except see you rust."

Jazz stood up on his bench. "Ok, lock it down, both of you." He ordered, pointing at Saber and Tail Light both and shutting down an argument before it could begin.

Tail Light narrowed her eyes at Saber and scoffed before sitting back on her bench and turning away.

Across from her, Saber felt Wheeljack's hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let me finish up."

Saber's eyes narrowed on Tail Light, he was beginning to think her good looks were only surface deep. Finally, he relinquished his position, sat back on the bench and allowed Wheeljack to finish repairing his antenna.

Jazz took a breath. "Look, kid." He began. "I understand where your Spark's at. But, the logistics…I mean, Earth's a big place. Bigger than Cybertron. Even if the Ark did go down here, we're not equipped for a search like that."

"Why not?" Saber asked. "I mean, you came all this way and linked up with 2 Bots that were on it. How are you not able to search for it?"

"Because, finding the Ark isn't the mission."

Saber blinked in confusion. As Wheeljack reaffixed his antennae to his head, the Autobot couldn't help but feel baffled by that statement. "But…you and Sky Lynx…" He began. "I mean…there was a small army aboard that ship. And you're basically saying something's more important? If the Ark isn't the mission, then what is?"

A brief silence fell over the camp only to be disrupted by Tail Light. "Oh-ho-ho!" She chortled. This time she fully turned her body to face the other Autobots. "He doesn't know…"

"Know what?" Saber asked.

"Oh the irony in that." Tail Light continued. "The Prime's son doesn't know his own Father's plan."

"Father's plan?" Saber asked. The Rookie focused on Jazz; the Autobot Special Operations leader could hardly look in his direction.

"Jazz…" Saber began, Jazz picked his gaze up off the ground and looked towards the Black and Gold Autobot. "What was your mission?"

Jazz was silent. Even Wheeljack who worked behind Saber had stopped to give the Spec Ops leader a look.

Completely riven from the serious expressions on her fellow Autobots' faces, Tail Light's expression was one of smugness. "If you want, I'd be more than happy to-"

"No." Jazz said, cutting her off. "I'd rather the kid hear it from me." He answered.

Jazz sat back on the bench behind him. He took a breath. "That bad, huh?" Saber asked. He was beginning to wonder if he even wanted to know.

"It's classified." Jazz finally said. "But…seeing as the bot that gave the order ain't with us anymore…to hell with it. You know that I was tasked with bringing the Ark from Luna One back to Cybertron. What you don't know is why."

Saber furled his brow. "Why?" He repeated. "Because the Autobots were losing the War. Because we were losing ground and needed a way off-world."

"That's only part of it." Jazz revealed. "Let's take it way back, back to Quadrant Epsilon of Iacon, where we found you. The first time Prime put his hands on you, the Matrix gave him a vision of the future. Of you. Older. Wiser. Stronger. A Prime with the Star Saber in hand and an army of Bots at your back of makes and models O.P. had never seen before."

"...What?" Saber asked incredulously. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. "What does…how do…?"

"I'm not done." Jazz said. "The Matrix also showed him that Cybertron would fall to the Decepticons. So, to ensure our survival, Prime devoted resources to finding the Star Saber in the Undergrid and retrieving the Ark to be set up for launch. The official declaration was: that the ship was going to be used to relocate Autobots across the stars. We told the public that we'd be setting up off-world bases in the wake of a rising crisis and lost ground. But, unofficially? Prime had it recommissioned for you."

Saber's eyes widened. "For…me?" He asked. The Autobot felt his antenna snap back to place as Wheeljack finished up behind him.

"Sentinel had the ship commissioned to wage War. Optimus had it recommissioned to save you from it." The Engineer said.

"And the rest of us?" Tail Light began. "We were just swept up in the orders of a Prime…"

"The Ark's primary mission was to get you off-world." Jazz continued. "The Ship was no longer an Ark in name only, its name was granted purpose. It was to be an Ark for Cybertron's future. That's you, Saber."

Jazz's words caused Tail Light to spit under her breath. The Autobot Spec Ops leader saw but he ignored her. "You are the mission, kid." Jazz revealed. "We were looking for you."

"And here you are." Sky Lynx added.

"Hooraaaaay…" Tail Light groaned.

Saber had heard his fellow Autobots. They'd revealed that his retrieval was their objective, which normally would have been a hell of a reveal, but that's not where his head was at. "All those Autobot lives…" Saber said. "All those towns and Cities and people sacrificed…for me."

Saber went quiet. At first, it appeared that Saber was having a hard time. "I know this is hard for you…" Jazz began.

"But, the Star Saber!" Saber continued. "I touched it, it didn't budge! It had some kind of energy field holding it in place."

"Yeah, that sounds familiar." Wheeljack said. "When Prime recovered it from the Undergrid and handed it off to storage, no one else could lift the thing. Only Prime could wield it, no one knew why. But I theorized some sort of sensor activated mass diffuser that-"

"But if I'm supposed to have it…" Saber said cutting Wheeljack off, impatience and a hint of anger coming through in his tone of voice. "Then why couldn't I lift it?"

"Maybe you're not worthy." Tail Light jokingly shrugged.

"We don't have time for worthy!" Saber snapped at her.

"Lower your voice." Wheeljack said. "This Holotech fools the eyes, not the ears."

Saber had heard Wheeljack's warning, but he didn't care. "Megatron owns Cybertron! I don't have time for Mass Diffusers or mystical prime shit. We need to go, find the Ark and the Autobots aboard it, fly back home and kick his tyrannical ass out of our City and we can't do any of that without the Star Saber!"

"Lower your voice..." Wheeljack reminded him.

"Saber…" Jazz began. "I know you want to stop Megatron."

"No, I want to KILL HIM!" Saber shouted, his voice shaking all in attendance. It echoed through the mountain range around them and boomed for miles. "I want to run the Star Saber through Megatron's spark, slowly. I want him to feel every bit of the agony father must've felt in his last moments, as I deliver a Prime's justice upon him! I want it to be in front of both armies so that everyone can see that Tyranny has NO place in Iacon! I'm going to take everything he finds precious and raze it to the ground and then, when all he has left is his life, I will take that from him too! I want him to suffer, and then to die - in Darkness!"

The Camp was silent. Saber was standing over everyone but Sky Lynx in the camp now. He was shaking, his fists were clenched so hard that his fingers were denting his palms.

"Saber…" Jazz said. He'd never seen this side of the Autobot before, the sight brought a pang of regret to his Spark. He was beginning to wish the truth hadn't come out.

Saber released his clenched fists."But…" He began."...None of that happens without the Star Saber...or the Matrix."

Wheeljack and Jazz exchanged quick, silent glances. Clearly, Saber had been holding onto the pain of what'd happened to him. When Iacon fell, he didn't just lose his Father, his entire worldview had been turned upside down. The Autobots were put on the backfoot, the impregnable Iacon was overrun, the sitting Prime was vanquished, it was as if everything he'd ever known had come crashing down around him. And, on top of all that? His memory of those events were painfully recent.

What was 4 Million years to the other Autobots was like yesterday to the Rookie who'd only just arrived on Earth last night. However, understanding as he was, Jazz could not condone his choice of action.

"We need to go get the Sword." Saber finally concluded.

"No." Jazz said.

"No?" Saber asked. "But I'm supposed to-"

"You already made a ruckus when you jumped the Station the first time."

"But that was before I knew you guys were on Earth!" Saber said. "Now we can-"

"There is no 'we' there, kid.." Jazz said, putting his foot down. "Since your little stunt, the Humans have likely tripled their security. If we attack that station, it would be a declaration of war on the indigenous. We're already losing one, we don't need to involve ourselves in a second."

Jazz's logic was sound, but Saber wasn't willing to let this go so easily. "Without the Matrix, Cybertron has no legitimate leader." He rebutted. "We can't just leave it here in the hands of these people."

"That's exactly what we're going to do." Jazz said. "The Mission now is to get you off-world."

"We're not even gonna look for the Ark?" Saber asked.

"Kid, what would we do if we found the Ark anyway?" Wheeljack asked. "The ship, the last I saw it, was damn near totaled! And, according to Tail Light there, it only got worse. Even if we could find it, I don't have the tools to fix it. Look at Sky Lynx, look at how long it took to fix your little antenna! I'm supposed to be able to fix a whole ship? And What about the crew? Skyfire and the others, if they're even still alive, you think I can get them in working order? Don't make me laugh! I ain't Ratchet."

Jazz watched Saber's optics fall to the ground in defeat and felt pity for the young bot. "I know it's not what you wanna hear." Jazz said. "But it's the way it's gotta be. Tomorrow morning, once Wheeljack and I have figured out a destination solution, we're gonna board Sky Lynx and begin the trip back to Cybertron. In the meantime, I suggest you take the night to rest and prepare your systems for stasis. Cool?"

Saber's eyes narrowed on Jazz. He did not like a single word of what he'd heard. That his father had effectively scapegoated Iacon, that he was supposed to be some savior for the planet and it's race, that Jazz wouldn't let him go get the thing that he was - apparently - supposed to end up with and, most damningly, that Megatron held rule on Cybertron. The entirety of it all angered him greatly...but what was he going to do?

He hadn't graduated from the Autobot Academy, he barely counted as a Rookie. All he was armed with were his personal Wrist blade and a Blaster that couldn't fire. In the face of superiors, both in rank and skill, he had no choice to comply for now. Besides, Jazz was right.

Saber had made a ton of noise and drawn human eyes to his - and now the others' - whereabouts. Now they knew there was a hostile robotic Warrior on their land and it was only a matter of time before they learned that that warrior was actually an alien that'd come from a world of metal. Challenges to their worldview aside, with how Humanity sought to deal with their problems, learning the truth about the Autobots right now - without context - would only bring further complications.

"Fine." Saber finally said, admitting defeat.

Jazz gave an exasperated sigh. "Look." He said. "It's been a long day. Let's power down, conserve energy. We figure out next steps at first light."

Still in compliance, Saber turned from Jazz and the others and walked away. He sat himself on the outer fringes of the Autobot camp, his back turned to the others.

The rest of the Autobots made far less of a show of things than Saber did. Wheeljack put away his tools, Tail Light turned from the rest of the group and Sky Lynx put his head down and put his systems into reserve power. Now that they were something of a team, dysfunctional as they were, they were going to have to work together if they wanted to get off-world and back home. Assuming Saber could let go of his ambitions long enough to make that work.