{there is no limit on how far we will go}
Title: Boundless
Rating: PG 13
Warnings: some violence, character death(s)
Summary: AU. The lines between your spark and mine- they bend and twist, warp and curve, age and change- never breaking, never ending.
Pairings: Prowl/Jazz
“Dig!” The Decepticon roared. He stood, watching, as the line of prisoners slowly shifted the rubble. It was hard work, made harder by the fact they were all chained together, and by their various injuries. The unwilling workers were the unlucky survivors of the riots that had rocked the shady side of the city only hours earlier. They had been still able to move, and so deemed by the Decepticon invaders still able to work. Now they dug through the ruins, looking for something.
The Decepticon supervising- an enormous mech by the name of Talon- wielded an electrowhip without mercy. He knew that beneath the rubble were the only traces of Shockwave’s experiments- experiments that could be invaluable. However, Shockwave was long gone; he had no doubt taken what he could with him. He would reappear later to swear loyalty to Megatron, and present his results, but Talon’s direct commander, Soundwave, was unwilling to wait for Shockwave.
Presenting even a scrap of information about Shockwave’s carefully concealed doings was an instant ticket to promotion, and as much praise as Megatron ever gave. They were not the only Decepticons using prisoners to dig for information, but Talon was certain he was the one who would be successful…if only the damned civilians would dig faster…
A few of them had been run through the databases and deemed possible candidates or reformatting or other forms of forced defection; they possessed talents that might be of use to the Decepticon cause. One of them was a grey mech with a visor over his face, who was supposedly a perfect candidate for the burgeoning group of spies being cultivated by Megatron. Talon wasn’t sure why- so far, the mech had proved slow and weak. He was shaking as he dragged piece after piece of metal off of the pile, and Talon watched with distaste as the mech stumbled over nothing.
A glimmer of light drew his attention. Talon marched over to the ruined building and quickly dislodged some of the rubble; underneath, he found a panel set into the flor with a handle. Success! He grabbed the handle and pulled, hard, until it came free.
The hole was too small, but Talon enlarged it by pulling away the remaining floor. He grabbed two of the prisoners, unchaining them from the line, and secured the rest. He might need a smaller mech to explore whatever was down there, after all, and it wouldn’t do to lose the rest of the workers.
The two mechs he grabbed were pulled along by their chains down through the hole and into what had been some kind of laboratory. There was an elaborate bank of computer terminals on one side, a few examination tables in the center with tool left behind on them, and a pile of sparkles frames left heaped against the wall. Perfect! Shockwave must have left in a hurry to have left all this behind. Talon started to call Soundwave and inform him of their findings when a moan caught his attention. It was the visored mech; he had fallen to his knees and was reaching out, with pathetically trembling hands for the pile of the dead. Half-interested in his sudden break, Talon let go of his chain and watched as the mech ran over and dragged one of the bodies out of the pile. He pulled it into his lap and began examining it, keening with grief.
It was white and black, and partially dissembled- part of the chest plates had been cut away, his facial plating was gone and revealed the wiring beneath, and when Talon went over to pry the grey mech off of the corpse, he saw that all the processors had been removed. There was still a spark chamber inside him, however.
It was a dead chamber. Talon wondered why this weakling had ever been considered worthy of being a Decepticon and jerked the grey mech, who had removed the empty spark chamber and was cradling it in his hands, upright.
The mech struggled fiercely, thrashing and screaming. He was almost incoherent with sorrow- Talon could barely make out the words, “sparkmate”, “dead”, and “impossible”. That caught his attention- the death of one bonded mech always led to the death of the other. For Shockwave to have found a way to circumvent that…was very useful. Which made the grey mech useful.
Talon put him offline with one punch, and then directed the other prisoner to drag the body. He contacted Soundwave with undisguised glee. This information would certainly guarantee them all Megatron’s favor…
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Jazz leaned back against the wall in the Command Center, ignoring the glares from his fellow soldiers. They were all there, trying desperately to get the navigation system running, as some lethal new virus of the Autobots tore it apart. His comrades were understandably afraid- this was a science and recon vessel, not a warship, and they were already in bad condition before the ship’s computer crashed.
Their mission had been to investigate the various Autobot bases on the other side of the system, the ones cut off from the man force. Well, their original mission had been to divine the purpose of Shockwave’s experiments, Jazz recalled with an unpleasant lurch in his spark, but they’d quickly discovered they had other priorities.
He shook off the memories, and focused on his comrades. They were still freaking out, and as amusing as it was, Jazz was getting tired of their inability. He strolled over to one of the consoles, plugged in, and began working on it. Within a few seconds, the virus was quarantined, and while the others began trying to get the system repaired, Jazz quickly wrote an antivirus and made a copy of the virus to modify for his own use. Really, this virus had been meant as a quick distraction while the Autobots disabled the ship with some careful shooting- that is had taken this long was a bonus for them.
Jazz checked to see if the Autobots were still transmitting. They were. He hacked in and sent them a few viruses of his own.
“Shouldn’t we be gettin’ ready to board, Talon?” Jazz asked. Talon glared at him.
“No!”
“Why not? Our ship’s not goin’ anywhere without engines and a computer. Only thing to do is take the fight to them. I mean, as the commander here, I figured you would’ve figured that out…unless you wanted us to surrender?”
“Surrender? Decepticons never surrender.” Talon snapped. One of his cannons spun.
“So...we are boardin’?” Jazz confirmed and watched as Talon’s face froze. The commander of the ship had taken a bad blow to the processor during their last raid and was having with any strategy more complex than ‘kill it!’. No one but Jazz had known, seeing as they’d been in the clear until now, and watching Talon struggle to find a way out that didn’t involve admitting Jazz was right was highly amusing.
“We’ll…we’ll fight them here.” Talon said. “We’ll kill the Autobots when they come.”
“They ain’t comin’.” Jazz said. “They can just blow us to pieces from here, or leave us here and come back with reinforcements. It’s almost like you want us to get caught, Talon.”
“I- I don’t.”
“You don’t sound too sure there.”
“I don’t!”
The other Decepticons were cut off form the main fleet and so didn’t have the finely tuned instincts of the average Decepticon that told them to follow the herd at all costs, lest they be branded as traitors. However, even they could see the logic in Jazz’s argument and could judge for themselves the odds of Talon killing Jazz. No one was stupid enough to support a possible traitor.
The best course of action was clear.
There were only six Autobots to the thirteen boarding Decepticons, excluding a furious and bound Talon, and although the Autobot ship was much better armed, the bots on it were overwhelmed easily. When they were all dead, the Decepticons immediately spread out, exploring the ship and loving supplies from their old one.
Jazz found some high grade and suggested they celebrate. While his comrades got steadily drunker, and the two scientists retreated into the back to work, Jazz easily stripped the dead bots of a few useful modifications and arranged for Talon to shoot himself with his own plasma cannon.
In the haze of the drink, no one would notice if he vanished for a while, and in the midst of celebrations, no one was going to through the Autobot inventory and notice Jazz was stealing energon and supplies.
Jazz had to laugh at the other Decepticons; it never failed to amuse him how easy they were to manipulate to his own ends.
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“Soundwave.” Megatron said. “Have you located the infiltrator?”
“Affirmative.” Soundwave replied. “The thief is not an Autobot.”
“So we have a traitor in our midst? Who?”
“Negative. The Deadwheel’s crew sent a transmission earlier containing the stolen data.”
“The Deadwheel.” Megatron smiled at that. He understood now the thief’s purpose.
The Deadwheel had merely been a scientific vessel meant to hide their experiments from the Autobots until they could reunite safely with the main fleet. However, a battle had killed half their science team and destroyed most of their findings. Their best shot had been a prisoner they’d caught, who’d identified one of Shockwave’s subjects as his sparkmate.
While it was clear that somehow Jazz had survived the death of his sparkmate, what the scientists working on had been unable to discover was why Jazz insisted he could still feel his mate. It wasn’t merely a coping mechanism- no, his body seemed to recognize signals in Jazz’s spark from the bond. However, what a deep-spark scan showed was the remnant of a bond, which seemed to further prove that the sparkmate was dead. Megatron had snorted and demanded useful information at those results; even the stupidest of mechs knew that spark chambers were irreplaceable, and if yours was empty, you were dead.
When nothing else was forthcoming, Megatron ordered the scientists to make Jazz sane enough to serve as a Decepticon spy. His intent had been for Jazz to join the other cons assigned to reconnaissance, but halfway through Jazz’s rehabilitation, the Deadwheel had ended up in Autobot space with no way of escaping. They’d been presumed dead and Megatron had forgotten them.
Until the Autobots had contacted them for the release of their soldiers, from the captured ship Safeguard. Since Megatron had no knowledge of any such attack, he informed the Autobots that the prisoners would be tortured until they broke, and waited. The crew of the Deadwheel called in eventually, and was ordered to come back to base.
A conversation with one of the scientists had quickly let Megatron onto some interesting news- apparently Jazz had not only proved to be rehabilitatable but had become talented enough to single-handedly pull off most of the supply raids the Deadwheel had conducted while trapped in Autobot airspace. What was more interesting was that Jazz had gone out of his way to steal various bits of information and do extra recon on the Autobots there.
Clearly he was talented, and judging by his actions, a believer in the Decepticon way. That could be useful- and if Jazz was breaking into the Decepticon mainframe in such an obvious manner, he wanted the attention. He wanted acknowledgment of his talents.
“When the crew of the Deadwheel arrives, give Jazz a mission. See if he is as talented as he seems.”
“Understood.”
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“Sir.” When Prowl came to his quarters in the middle of his recharge shift, priem knew that there was an emergency. While Prowl was famous among the Autobots for his seeming inability to recharge for more than half a shift, Optimus didn’t share his enthusiasm for datawork and tried to get a full shift of sleep whenever possible.
“What’s happened?”
“It’s him, sir.” Prowl said. “The Decepticons who were raiding our territory in Kyron 5. He’s here- the Arrow’s entire mainframe is down.”
Kyron 5 was Autobot territory, but it was a secondary site of operations; all the main action was happening here, in the planets and moons near the now uninhabitable Cybetron. Kyron 5 was secure enough since they were behind the main forces, and the raids on them had been alarming because of the total lack of evidence behind them.
“How?” Optimus started walking towards the main meeting room; Prowl followed.
“We don’t know. There is, as in Kyron 5, no evidence that anyone was ever there, except that the Arrow’s mainframe had to be shut down to be fixed. They have a secondary, but they’re on the edge of our territory.”
“Do we have contact?”
“Not anymore. I ordered them to head to the nearest base, but there is only a ten percent chance they will arrive.”
“So this spy is with the main forces now?”
“It is likely.” Prowl explained. “Prior raids were merely for supplies; he only started breaking into the systems in the later ones, and even then it seems to have been more opportunity then planning. Nothing was stolen off the Arrow. He broke in specifically to take out their mainframe.”
“He couldn’t have sent it as a transmission?”
“An attack of this strength? It would need to be hardwired. He would have had to gain access to the ship somehow.”
“He might still be there.” Prime said. He could imagine what would happen to those bots if they missed the enemy aboard. “There are only seven mechs on the Arrow. Warriors coming from another base after repairs.”
“Yes.”
“We should send another ship after them.”
“Prime, we have no way of catching the spy. He’s successfully entered every base in the Kyron 5 sector without detection. We can’t risk him moving from the Arrow to another ship.”
“We can’t afford to lose the Arrow.”
“We can’t afford to lose anyone else, either.”
“He’s not going to just leave them alive, Prowl!” Prime snapped. “If we don’t go after them…they won’t make it. We will not abandon the Arrow. And I don’t think the spy would linger aboard. Those are front liners he’d be fighting.”
“Yes, sir.” Prowl replied. If he disapproved, he didn’t press the issue any further. “How far are we on those warp engines?”
“There’s an experimental prototype ready. We were about to run a drone test with it.” Optimus replied. “You have an idea?”
“We cannot lose another ship to him.” Prowl said. “A warp engine would not only give him less time to get onboard, but less time to tamper with the ship.”
“It’s not ready yet, but I’ll speak with Perceptor on the subject. Get a team and a sip ready. We’re going in.”
“Yes, sir.” Prowl was certain the spy was still onboard the Arrow, despite the enormous risk, simply because he could easily alert the Decepticons of his success and let them fight the Arrow’s crew for him. Optimus had to know that. “I hope you are right.”
He began running through various scenarios as he walked, even as he planned a new battle strategy for the next stage of war. One without the Arrow and the ship they were about to send.
After all, the odds were against them… and there was no victory without loss in war.
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“I’m going to kill the fragger when we catch him.” Ironhide growled. “Seven! He’s taken out seven ships in the last six months!”
“We don’t even have a name.” Red Alert agreed. “No description. We think he was with the Deadwheel but even that’s only a theory.”
“It is the most likely possibility.” Prowl argued. “The wormhole opened into Kyron 5. It explains how he got in, why he was stealing supplies only at first, and why it took so long for Megatron to utilize him for more complex operations.”
“What about the Safeguard? Megatron said he had the crew in captivity.” Red Alert asked.
“He could have lied.” Prime said heavily. “We probably directed Megatron’s attention back to the Deadwheel and our mystery spy ourselves when we tried to negotiate for the Safeguard’s crew.”
“Still doesn’t tell us how he’s doing it.” Ironhide grumbled.
“There’s no pattern as to how he disables the ship.” Prowl agreed. “The Arrow was taken out with a virus, but he’s planted explosives in the engines, overloaded the weapons systems, and crashed a ship into an asteroid- which leaves three ships that simply vanished. While the sudden increase in vanished ships all still technically within Autobot airspace, as soon as our mystery saboteur presumably reaches the main Decepticon army, suggests that he is responsible, we have no other proof.”
“It could be a highly trained team of spies, or just Megatron going on the offensive and trying to weaken us. We just don’t know.”
“Why steal the ships, then? It’d be more crippling just to blow them up.” Ironhide pointed out.
“He’s not focusing on a type of ship.” Prime said. “We know Megatron has better manufacturing capabilities than we do. Why would he need our ships?”
“What alloys were used in the making of the stolen ships?” Prowl asked. He punched something into the keyboard in front of him, and the three dimensional display in the center of the table showed a list of stolen ships and their make up. “Three of them have alloys rare in Decepticon territory, but the others don’t. None of the ships contained new or Autobot-restricted technology. No correlation between the backgrounds or prior missions or functions of the crews.”
“When will we have warp engines?” Red Alert asked.
“Wheeljack informed me that the last attempt ended up in pieces.” Prime said. “That’s not currently an option.”
“We can keep ships close to home for now, but those supply routes are vital to our operations.” Red Alert said. “I’ve been trying to update the security on all ships in range but there’s only so much I can do from here.”
“Can we set a trap?” Ironhide asked. “Let him take a ship and then capture him while he’s on it?”
“We could.” Prowl said. “I’ve been working on a viable plan, but it would be easier if we had warp engines, or even knew how he was getting to the ships without getting caught. I’ve been checking all the video feed from the docks where the ships left- he could have been doing some of it remotely or been sneaking aboard there.”
“I’ve checked some of it myself, but he didn’t get caught in Kyron 5.” Red Alert muttered. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything.”
“We’ve lost twenty two men in the last six months, all of whom are in captivity and all of whom are in the highest security prisons under Megatron, if counter intelligence is correct. This cannot go on. I want a plan within the next two days.” Optimus stood up. “Let’s go. We’re out of time.”
“Yes, sir.” They left, and Optimus stopped Prowl on his way out, leaving the two alone in the conference room.
“Has there been any change in your…condition?”
“No.” Prowl said heavily. “But I measured the distance between our sparks. He was in Autobot territory during some of the attacks- although I can’t tell direction or distance accurately enough to know where.”
“You think he’s responsible.” It wasn’t a question. Prowl nodded, looking weary.
“He was too far for me to know where he was until just before the attacks. He could have been on the Deadwheel.”
“You told me he had Decepticon leanings?”
“He agreed with Megatron’s ideas! Not his methods.” Prowl said sharply.
“I have to assume the worst until we know, Prowl.” Prime said apologetically.
“Yes, sir.” Prowl turned and left the room, leaving Prime with only his thoughts for company. For a moment the enormous mech simply brooded, wondering what he would do if he was right and the worst was true.
Then he left, letting the door shut behind him, and marched down to his office. There was work to be done.
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Eventually, Jazz found himself back in the unpleasant position of specimen while the Scientists- he preferred not to think of them by name- examined his spark again. They always made noises of interest and commented on how interesting it all was, but Jazz could never really bring himself to care.
“There’s no interference from the double chamber?”
“Not as far as we know. A deep spark scan will be more telling.”
“Fascinating…he’s still receiving phantom signals. Even though we’ve confirmed the loss of the other spark.”
“An interesting survival mechanism- tricking the spark into believing it is still bound so it doesn’t die. It could prove to be useful for reformatting.”
“Jazz.” The visored mech shifted to show he was listening. “Have you noted any changes?”
“Nope.” It was a lie, but the Scientists were lacking in social skills and wouldn’t notice. Jazz waited impatiently for them to finish, already planning his next mission- he had a meeting with Megatron himself, finally, and it looked like some real challenges were coming his way.
Rating: PG 13
Warnings: some violence, character death(s)
Summary: AU. The lines between your spark and mine- they bend and twist, warp and curve, age and change- never breaking, never ending.
Pairings: Prowl/Jazz
“Dig!” The Decepticon roared. He stood, watching, as the line of prisoners slowly shifted the rubble. It was hard work, made harder by the fact they were all chained together, and by their various injuries. The unwilling workers were the unlucky survivors of the riots that had rocked the shady side of the city only hours earlier. They had been still able to move, and so deemed by the Decepticon invaders still able to work. Now they dug through the ruins, looking for something.
The Decepticon supervising- an enormous mech by the name of Talon- wielded an electrowhip without mercy. He knew that beneath the rubble were the only traces of Shockwave’s experiments- experiments that could be invaluable. However, Shockwave was long gone; he had no doubt taken what he could with him. He would reappear later to swear loyalty to Megatron, and present his results, but Talon’s direct commander, Soundwave, was unwilling to wait for Shockwave.
Presenting even a scrap of information about Shockwave’s carefully concealed doings was an instant ticket to promotion, and as much praise as Megatron ever gave. They were not the only Decepticons using prisoners to dig for information, but Talon was certain he was the one who would be successful…if only the damned civilians would dig faster…
A few of them had been run through the databases and deemed possible candidates or reformatting or other forms of forced defection; they possessed talents that might be of use to the Decepticon cause. One of them was a grey mech with a visor over his face, who was supposedly a perfect candidate for the burgeoning group of spies being cultivated by Megatron. Talon wasn’t sure why- so far, the mech had proved slow and weak. He was shaking as he dragged piece after piece of metal off of the pile, and Talon watched with distaste as the mech stumbled over nothing.
A glimmer of light drew his attention. Talon marched over to the ruined building and quickly dislodged some of the rubble; underneath, he found a panel set into the flor with a handle. Success! He grabbed the handle and pulled, hard, until it came free.
The hole was too small, but Talon enlarged it by pulling away the remaining floor. He grabbed two of the prisoners, unchaining them from the line, and secured the rest. He might need a smaller mech to explore whatever was down there, after all, and it wouldn’t do to lose the rest of the workers.
The two mechs he grabbed were pulled along by their chains down through the hole and into what had been some kind of laboratory. There was an elaborate bank of computer terminals on one side, a few examination tables in the center with tool left behind on them, and a pile of sparkles frames left heaped against the wall. Perfect! Shockwave must have left in a hurry to have left all this behind. Talon started to call Soundwave and inform him of their findings when a moan caught his attention. It was the visored mech; he had fallen to his knees and was reaching out, with pathetically trembling hands for the pile of the dead. Half-interested in his sudden break, Talon let go of his chain and watched as the mech ran over and dragged one of the bodies out of the pile. He pulled it into his lap and began examining it, keening with grief.
It was white and black, and partially dissembled- part of the chest plates had been cut away, his facial plating was gone and revealed the wiring beneath, and when Talon went over to pry the grey mech off of the corpse, he saw that all the processors had been removed. There was still a spark chamber inside him, however.
It was a dead chamber. Talon wondered why this weakling had ever been considered worthy of being a Decepticon and jerked the grey mech, who had removed the empty spark chamber and was cradling it in his hands, upright.
The mech struggled fiercely, thrashing and screaming. He was almost incoherent with sorrow- Talon could barely make out the words, “sparkmate”, “dead”, and “impossible”. That caught his attention- the death of one bonded mech always led to the death of the other. For Shockwave to have found a way to circumvent that…was very useful. Which made the grey mech useful.
Talon put him offline with one punch, and then directed the other prisoner to drag the body. He contacted Soundwave with undisguised glee. This information would certainly guarantee them all Megatron’s favor…
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Jazz leaned back against the wall in the Command Center, ignoring the glares from his fellow soldiers. They were all there, trying desperately to get the navigation system running, as some lethal new virus of the Autobots tore it apart. His comrades were understandably afraid- this was a science and recon vessel, not a warship, and they were already in bad condition before the ship’s computer crashed.
Their mission had been to investigate the various Autobot bases on the other side of the system, the ones cut off from the man force. Well, their original mission had been to divine the purpose of Shockwave’s experiments, Jazz recalled with an unpleasant lurch in his spark, but they’d quickly discovered they had other priorities.
He shook off the memories, and focused on his comrades. They were still freaking out, and as amusing as it was, Jazz was getting tired of their inability. He strolled over to one of the consoles, plugged in, and began working on it. Within a few seconds, the virus was quarantined, and while the others began trying to get the system repaired, Jazz quickly wrote an antivirus and made a copy of the virus to modify for his own use. Really, this virus had been meant as a quick distraction while the Autobots disabled the ship with some careful shooting- that is had taken this long was a bonus for them.
Jazz checked to see if the Autobots were still transmitting. They were. He hacked in and sent them a few viruses of his own.
“Shouldn’t we be gettin’ ready to board, Talon?” Jazz asked. Talon glared at him.
“No!”
“Why not? Our ship’s not goin’ anywhere without engines and a computer. Only thing to do is take the fight to them. I mean, as the commander here, I figured you would’ve figured that out…unless you wanted us to surrender?”
“Surrender? Decepticons never surrender.” Talon snapped. One of his cannons spun.
“So...we are boardin’?” Jazz confirmed and watched as Talon’s face froze. The commander of the ship had taken a bad blow to the processor during their last raid and was having with any strategy more complex than ‘kill it!’. No one but Jazz had known, seeing as they’d been in the clear until now, and watching Talon struggle to find a way out that didn’t involve admitting Jazz was right was highly amusing.
“We’ll…we’ll fight them here.” Talon said. “We’ll kill the Autobots when they come.”
“They ain’t comin’.” Jazz said. “They can just blow us to pieces from here, or leave us here and come back with reinforcements. It’s almost like you want us to get caught, Talon.”
“I- I don’t.”
“You don’t sound too sure there.”
“I don’t!”
The other Decepticons were cut off form the main fleet and so didn’t have the finely tuned instincts of the average Decepticon that told them to follow the herd at all costs, lest they be branded as traitors. However, even they could see the logic in Jazz’s argument and could judge for themselves the odds of Talon killing Jazz. No one was stupid enough to support a possible traitor.
The best course of action was clear.
There were only six Autobots to the thirteen boarding Decepticons, excluding a furious and bound Talon, and although the Autobot ship was much better armed, the bots on it were overwhelmed easily. When they were all dead, the Decepticons immediately spread out, exploring the ship and loving supplies from their old one.
Jazz found some high grade and suggested they celebrate. While his comrades got steadily drunker, and the two scientists retreated into the back to work, Jazz easily stripped the dead bots of a few useful modifications and arranged for Talon to shoot himself with his own plasma cannon.
In the haze of the drink, no one would notice if he vanished for a while, and in the midst of celebrations, no one was going to through the Autobot inventory and notice Jazz was stealing energon and supplies.
Jazz had to laugh at the other Decepticons; it never failed to amuse him how easy they were to manipulate to his own ends.
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“Soundwave.” Megatron said. “Have you located the infiltrator?”
“Affirmative.” Soundwave replied. “The thief is not an Autobot.”
“So we have a traitor in our midst? Who?”
“Negative. The Deadwheel’s crew sent a transmission earlier containing the stolen data.”
“The Deadwheel.” Megatron smiled at that. He understood now the thief’s purpose.
The Deadwheel had merely been a scientific vessel meant to hide their experiments from the Autobots until they could reunite safely with the main fleet. However, a battle had killed half their science team and destroyed most of their findings. Their best shot had been a prisoner they’d caught, who’d identified one of Shockwave’s subjects as his sparkmate.
While it was clear that somehow Jazz had survived the death of his sparkmate, what the scientists working on had been unable to discover was why Jazz insisted he could still feel his mate. It wasn’t merely a coping mechanism- no, his body seemed to recognize signals in Jazz’s spark from the bond. However, what a deep-spark scan showed was the remnant of a bond, which seemed to further prove that the sparkmate was dead. Megatron had snorted and demanded useful information at those results; even the stupidest of mechs knew that spark chambers were irreplaceable, and if yours was empty, you were dead.
When nothing else was forthcoming, Megatron ordered the scientists to make Jazz sane enough to serve as a Decepticon spy. His intent had been for Jazz to join the other cons assigned to reconnaissance, but halfway through Jazz’s rehabilitation, the Deadwheel had ended up in Autobot space with no way of escaping. They’d been presumed dead and Megatron had forgotten them.
Until the Autobots had contacted them for the release of their soldiers, from the captured ship Safeguard. Since Megatron had no knowledge of any such attack, he informed the Autobots that the prisoners would be tortured until they broke, and waited. The crew of the Deadwheel called in eventually, and was ordered to come back to base.
A conversation with one of the scientists had quickly let Megatron onto some interesting news- apparently Jazz had not only proved to be rehabilitatable but had become talented enough to single-handedly pull off most of the supply raids the Deadwheel had conducted while trapped in Autobot airspace. What was more interesting was that Jazz had gone out of his way to steal various bits of information and do extra recon on the Autobots there.
Clearly he was talented, and judging by his actions, a believer in the Decepticon way. That could be useful- and if Jazz was breaking into the Decepticon mainframe in such an obvious manner, he wanted the attention. He wanted acknowledgment of his talents.
“When the crew of the Deadwheel arrives, give Jazz a mission. See if he is as talented as he seems.”
“Understood.”
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“Sir.” When Prowl came to his quarters in the middle of his recharge shift, priem knew that there was an emergency. While Prowl was famous among the Autobots for his seeming inability to recharge for more than half a shift, Optimus didn’t share his enthusiasm for datawork and tried to get a full shift of sleep whenever possible.
“What’s happened?”
“It’s him, sir.” Prowl said. “The Decepticons who were raiding our territory in Kyron 5. He’s here- the Arrow’s entire mainframe is down.”
Kyron 5 was Autobot territory, but it was a secondary site of operations; all the main action was happening here, in the planets and moons near the now uninhabitable Cybetron. Kyron 5 was secure enough since they were behind the main forces, and the raids on them had been alarming because of the total lack of evidence behind them.
“How?” Optimus started walking towards the main meeting room; Prowl followed.
“We don’t know. There is, as in Kyron 5, no evidence that anyone was ever there, except that the Arrow’s mainframe had to be shut down to be fixed. They have a secondary, but they’re on the edge of our territory.”
“Do we have contact?”
“Not anymore. I ordered them to head to the nearest base, but there is only a ten percent chance they will arrive.”
“So this spy is with the main forces now?”
“It is likely.” Prowl explained. “Prior raids were merely for supplies; he only started breaking into the systems in the later ones, and even then it seems to have been more opportunity then planning. Nothing was stolen off the Arrow. He broke in specifically to take out their mainframe.”
“He couldn’t have sent it as a transmission?”
“An attack of this strength? It would need to be hardwired. He would have had to gain access to the ship somehow.”
“He might still be there.” Prime said. He could imagine what would happen to those bots if they missed the enemy aboard. “There are only seven mechs on the Arrow. Warriors coming from another base after repairs.”
“Yes.”
“We should send another ship after them.”
“Prime, we have no way of catching the spy. He’s successfully entered every base in the Kyron 5 sector without detection. We can’t risk him moving from the Arrow to another ship.”
“We can’t afford to lose the Arrow.”
“We can’t afford to lose anyone else, either.”
“He’s not going to just leave them alive, Prowl!” Prime snapped. “If we don’t go after them…they won’t make it. We will not abandon the Arrow. And I don’t think the spy would linger aboard. Those are front liners he’d be fighting.”
“Yes, sir.” Prowl replied. If he disapproved, he didn’t press the issue any further. “How far are we on those warp engines?”
“There’s an experimental prototype ready. We were about to run a drone test with it.” Optimus replied. “You have an idea?”
“We cannot lose another ship to him.” Prowl said. “A warp engine would not only give him less time to get onboard, but less time to tamper with the ship.”
“It’s not ready yet, but I’ll speak with Perceptor on the subject. Get a team and a sip ready. We’re going in.”
“Yes, sir.” Prowl was certain the spy was still onboard the Arrow, despite the enormous risk, simply because he could easily alert the Decepticons of his success and let them fight the Arrow’s crew for him. Optimus had to know that. “I hope you are right.”
He began running through various scenarios as he walked, even as he planned a new battle strategy for the next stage of war. One without the Arrow and the ship they were about to send.
After all, the odds were against them… and there was no victory without loss in war.
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“I’m going to kill the fragger when we catch him.” Ironhide growled. “Seven! He’s taken out seven ships in the last six months!”
“We don’t even have a name.” Red Alert agreed. “No description. We think he was with the Deadwheel but even that’s only a theory.”
“It is the most likely possibility.” Prowl argued. “The wormhole opened into Kyron 5. It explains how he got in, why he was stealing supplies only at first, and why it took so long for Megatron to utilize him for more complex operations.”
“What about the Safeguard? Megatron said he had the crew in captivity.” Red Alert asked.
“He could have lied.” Prime said heavily. “We probably directed Megatron’s attention back to the Deadwheel and our mystery spy ourselves when we tried to negotiate for the Safeguard’s crew.”
“Still doesn’t tell us how he’s doing it.” Ironhide grumbled.
“There’s no pattern as to how he disables the ship.” Prowl agreed. “The Arrow was taken out with a virus, but he’s planted explosives in the engines, overloaded the weapons systems, and crashed a ship into an asteroid- which leaves three ships that simply vanished. While the sudden increase in vanished ships all still technically within Autobot airspace, as soon as our mystery saboteur presumably reaches the main Decepticon army, suggests that he is responsible, we have no other proof.”
“It could be a highly trained team of spies, or just Megatron going on the offensive and trying to weaken us. We just don’t know.”
“Why steal the ships, then? It’d be more crippling just to blow them up.” Ironhide pointed out.
“He’s not focusing on a type of ship.” Prime said. “We know Megatron has better manufacturing capabilities than we do. Why would he need our ships?”
“What alloys were used in the making of the stolen ships?” Prowl asked. He punched something into the keyboard in front of him, and the three dimensional display in the center of the table showed a list of stolen ships and their make up. “Three of them have alloys rare in Decepticon territory, but the others don’t. None of the ships contained new or Autobot-restricted technology. No correlation between the backgrounds or prior missions or functions of the crews.”
“When will we have warp engines?” Red Alert asked.
“Wheeljack informed me that the last attempt ended up in pieces.” Prime said. “That’s not currently an option.”
“We can keep ships close to home for now, but those supply routes are vital to our operations.” Red Alert said. “I’ve been trying to update the security on all ships in range but there’s only so much I can do from here.”
“Can we set a trap?” Ironhide asked. “Let him take a ship and then capture him while he’s on it?”
“We could.” Prowl said. “I’ve been working on a viable plan, but it would be easier if we had warp engines, or even knew how he was getting to the ships without getting caught. I’ve been checking all the video feed from the docks where the ships left- he could have been doing some of it remotely or been sneaking aboard there.”
“I’ve checked some of it myself, but he didn’t get caught in Kyron 5.” Red Alert muttered. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything.”
“We’ve lost twenty two men in the last six months, all of whom are in captivity and all of whom are in the highest security prisons under Megatron, if counter intelligence is correct. This cannot go on. I want a plan within the next two days.” Optimus stood up. “Let’s go. We’re out of time.”
“Yes, sir.” They left, and Optimus stopped Prowl on his way out, leaving the two alone in the conference room.
“Has there been any change in your…condition?”
“No.” Prowl said heavily. “But I measured the distance between our sparks. He was in Autobot territory during some of the attacks- although I can’t tell direction or distance accurately enough to know where.”
“You think he’s responsible.” It wasn’t a question. Prowl nodded, looking weary.
“He was too far for me to know where he was until just before the attacks. He could have been on the Deadwheel.”
“You told me he had Decepticon leanings?”
“He agreed with Megatron’s ideas! Not his methods.” Prowl said sharply.
“I have to assume the worst until we know, Prowl.” Prime said apologetically.
“Yes, sir.” Prowl turned and left the room, leaving Prime with only his thoughts for company. For a moment the enormous mech simply brooded, wondering what he would do if he was right and the worst was true.
Then he left, letting the door shut behind him, and marched down to his office. There was work to be done.
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Eventually, Jazz found himself back in the unpleasant position of specimen while the Scientists- he preferred not to think of them by name- examined his spark again. They always made noises of interest and commented on how interesting it all was, but Jazz could never really bring himself to care.
“There’s no interference from the double chamber?”
“Not as far as we know. A deep spark scan will be more telling.”
“Fascinating…he’s still receiving phantom signals. Even though we’ve confirmed the loss of the other spark.”
“An interesting survival mechanism- tricking the spark into believing it is still bound so it doesn’t die. It could prove to be useful for reformatting.”
“Jazz.” The visored mech shifted to show he was listening. “Have you noted any changes?”
“Nope.” It was a lie, but the Scientists were lacking in social skills and wouldn’t notice. Jazz waited impatiently for them to finish, already planning his next mission- he had a meeting with Megatron himself, finally, and it looked like some real challenges were coming his way.