Neos Mnestis

Part 7: Am Aesth

     The command room was fuller than it had been for millennia: three Vehicon scouts stood at attention before Ultra Magnus--armor dented and dirty from travel--while lieutenants Arcee and Prowl standing behind and to the sides of the current Autobot leader, Smokescreen, Bulkhead, Blurr, Drift, and Perceptor sitting behind them--Bumblebee had left earlier that morning to check that the predacons were still remaining in their territory; some of the mechs who wanted to settle into a spot near there complained of the beast machines unruly conduct. The only mech who should have been there but wasn't was Jazz, for obvious reasons.

     Looking around the room it was sad to think that here, in this room, stood the vast majority of living Autobot soldiers: the commanding officer, two lieutenants, three Wreckers, a courier, and a rookie. Arcee couldn't help but once again ask herself if the whole war was just a big waist, they hadn't really accomplished anything other than the near total annihilation of their own kind. Of course, if it wasn't for the war she never would have met him, not that there was much of a difference now though.

     "That's why we'r̃e r̃eally sur̃e it's one of Shockwave's labs." The middle Vehicon, going by the name Fillup and sporting unusual yellow decals on his dark purple chassis, finished off the report on what his brothers and he had found while scouting in what had once been the Cesium springs, now just a rather explosive field of radioactive nastiness. Throughout his report, all three Vehicons had cast multiple nervous glances over at the black--former--Decepticon. EM fields betraying their wariness and for a brief instant Acree wondered exactly who Deadlock had been.

     "This is indeed important information." Ultra Magnus told the triad. "Thank you for being so prompt in your return to report this. You are dismissed." They silently hurried from the room, giving Drift a wide berth.

     "From what I understand," Prowl started, "to hear that the Decepticon scientist Shockwave, the self same Shockwave who conducted the Little Alberton experiments, could very well still be functioning is... troubling." His blue optics were focused on the datapad he had used to take notes about the report, digits running across the flickering screen.

     "And Megatron was just an annoyance." Perceptor sarcastically spoke up from the back of the room. Prowl didn't even bat an eye at the rude comment, though Ultra Magnus raised a brow.

     "Your observation is correct." The large blue mech said in reply to Prowl. "That is why I wish to dispatch a group to go and investigate the findings." Arcee supposed it was a good idea; the last thing they needed was more hostile predacons. Did it really matter though? It wasn't like there was much that could get wrecked on the planet that they themselves hadn't already brought down.

     "Arcee." She stood to attention.

     "Yes, Commander Magnus sir?"

     "You will be leading the investigation."

     "Yes sir."

     "Shockwave is dangerous, so I don't want any risks taken if he is there."

     Arcee nodded. "Of course sir. Who will accompany me?"

     "The Wreckers and the Vehicon Fillup," their leader paused for a moment, "and since Bumblebee is not here, take Blurr too." Arcee wasn't sure if she would have chosen them for her team, but the Wreckers were amazingly good at getting back from missions uninjured... at least until moonbase three.

     "We will leave at once sir." Ultra Magnus nodded at this. Arcee strode toward the door, gesturing for her team to follow, subconsciously she noted that out of all of the new arrivals Perceptor was the only one who had yet to be repainted. They quickly fell in line behind her.


     Ground bridges consumed a surprising amount of energon and with Cybertron barely holding to life nearly every drop the Autobots had was being used to feed their home planet. So, Arcee found herself sitting atop of Bulkhead's alt form as they headed for the Cesium springs. She felt kind of embarrassed that her alt mode was of little use on Cybertron. Even the Vehicon had found an alt mode he was compatible with. It was kind of interesting to see what the new arrivals transformed into. Perceptor appeared to change into a destroyer tank, almost identical to that of Shockwave's, Drift looked to be some kind of armored hovercraft, and Arcee had no idea what Blurr's was except that it was fast--he had to keep circling back in order not to leave the rest of the group behind.

     Arcee looked down at her ride. "Hey Bulkhead, do you know Drift or Perceptor?" She had noticed that the big green 'bot hadn't been as excited about meeting these Wreckers as he had been when Wheeljack showed up; it could have just been because those two were such close friends.

     "Uh..." Bulkhead began eloquently. "Not personally, though I heard a bit about them."

     "Want to elaborate?" Arcee liked to know about the mechs--or femmes--she was working with. Besides, the trip promised to be rather dull.

     Her companion thought for a moment, not as much of an oxymoron as it sounded. "Well, uh, I think before Perceptor joined up he was some kind of scientist who worked on the O.N.E. project." Arcee had heard of the project, most every Cybertronian had, though no one really knew what it was about. "For some reason he came and spent some time with a Wrecker group on Tien Kwan. Then he joined as a intel bot and later transferred to the Wreckers. Uhh, yeah, that's really it 'cee."

     "Thanks Bulkhead. What about Drift?"

     "Nope. Don't know anymore that you." He paused. "Actually, I heard, umm, he's friends with some spec. op. mech."

     "Do you know this mech's name Bulk'. I knew quite a few of the spec. ops. mechs." Arcee hoped that he did; it'd be nice to be able to have something in common between the other Autobots returning to Cybertron--other than their involvement in the war.

     "Uhh, Magi? Magna? Something like that. I heard he was kind of a creepy battle mold."

     The two wheeler searched her memories but couldn't think of any one in Jazz's team who had a name that sounded close to what her ride had said and she certainly didn't remember a battle mold under her friend's command.

     "Maybe I'll ask him after the mission." She murmured.