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Training Facility

Red Alert's mind was racing back and forth- this was a training simulation, but it seemed so real that he felt right in the thick of things, trying to rescue this trapped Autobot.

"We need to hurry Inferno, or that poor bot will be melted into slag!", Red Alert alerted his friend, before remembmering, "Wait, no no! We need to hurry and finish this so we can get back out in the real world before it's too late!"

Red Alert's tires were beginning to wear out as he made it to the base of the volcano. A large pile of rocks, possibly from an avalanche- no, holographic rocks that were placed there to look like an avalanche- lie on top of a small green minibot, just his head, shoulders and arms visible, the rest of his body buried underneath. A light trickle of energon came from the bot's head, having formed a puddle on the ground near him. Just above him was a stream of molten lava coming toward him.

"Oh thank Primus....", the trapped holographic bot gratefully said, "Help me out of here... please."

"He's not real, he's just a hologram.", Red Alert said to himself, again trying to reassert his grip on reality.

Red Alert could start to feel the temperature rise as the lava came closer, the smell of sulfure filling his olfactory sensors. Quickly he went next to the bot and removed the rocks on top of him.

"You're not real, you know that?!?", Red Alert yelled at the bot with a dirty look, "We should be out there keeping an eye out for Decepticon attacks, and instead we're risking our skidplates for your holographic tailgate! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!"

Shuttle - AR -221

The space surrounding her seemed to be spinning so fast she had to fight the urge to purge her systems. Her focus needed to remain on the task before her. Get down to the surface, hand over the intel and receive her reward. The same list went over and over in her processor it was the only thing keeping her from simply falling apart. That and Smokescreen. She never realized just how much he meant to her until they were finally reunited, but keeping him in the dark about her addiction was something she would never forgive herself for.

The thought caused her to squeeze her legs even tighter toward her body. The scout let out a low groan as a tremble raked her frame. Why couldn’t they be on their way already? Tracer shivered slightly. Be patient. The Dinobots need to make their move first before we can even lift off.

Tracer flinched away from Smokescreen as the rallybot knelt down in front of her and paced his hands on her upright knees. It was unintentional and she hoped he didn’t take it personally. Every circuit, every electrical impulse, every sensation was amplified tenfold. Her entire body was hyper sensitive. It was a horrifying feeling. Even the touch from the mech she cared about most sent pain through her entire frame.

The scout let out a low pain filled moan as Smokescreen leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss just above the chevron that adorned her head. When the red and blue mech stood and finally made his way to the pilot’s chair Tracer lifted her head slowly and watched him take his seat. How could he even agree to help her?

Tracer shook her head slowly before she rested her chin back down on her knees. The gambler was akin to a saint in her optics.

At the sound of a light beeping signal, she raised her head and stared at the back of Smokescreen’s chair. It had to be Grimlock and his crew finally making their move.

“Wha…what’s that? Have the Dinobots finally taken the 19? Are we able to go now?”

Shuttle AR-211

Smokescreen noticed the beeping signal coming from the control console moments before Tracer had heard it and inquired about whether the Dinobots had made their move. Before the diversion expert could answer her, a wave of chatter over the secured open comm line filled the small shuttle craft. A warning from Jazz, who was in an escape pod, followed by a response from Prowl signaled that the Dinobots had indeed successfully stolen the Ark-19. Then another message from Prowl to Grimlock was heard, demanding that the Dinobot Commander return with the ship at once. Of course, Grimlock would never comply with such a demand, especially not from a mech like Prowl.

“Yes, it appears those Dino-dolts have finally stolen the 19. All optics are now on them and not us. We should be fine to leave,” Smokescreen finally responded as he looked over his shoulder at the troubled femme with a warm smile. “Just hang on, Tracer. This could be a bumpy ride.”

The rallybot returned his attention to the controls as he brought the engines to full power, causing the craft to hover just off the floor. He then sent a signal to the outer bay doors, which opened moments later to reveal the blackness of space beyond. Since Wheeljack had already disabled the sensors around this part of the ship, no one would be able to detect the doors opening or them leaving. I don’t know what I would’ve done without ‘Jack.

Wasting no further time, Smokescreen guided the cloaked shuttle forward and out of the bay. Once across the threshold, the doors closed as the diversion expert made an immediate sharp right turn before then diving down underneath the Ark-22. From this angle it would be near impossible for anyone on board either remaining vessel to visually see their small shuttle craft as there were no windows on the undersides of the two Autobot ships. Plus, the escape pod that contained the repair crew was no where in sight, having already been retrieved by the Guardian. Those facts along with the cloaking device made it a certainty that Smokey and Tracer would make it to the Earth’s surface without anyone noticing.

It’s getting back that’ll be the trick, Smokescreen thought as he piloted the shuttle away from the larger ships and down into the planet’s atmosphere where turbulence began to shake the tiny craft violently. “Hold on, Tracer! This is where it gets a little rough!” The diversion specialist shouted over the noise as he maintained a firm grip on the controls, keeping the shuttle steady as they descended further towards their planet side destination. “We’ll be there soon! Just stay with me back there!”

Traning Facility

Inferno was driving along, and he barely heard his friend Red Alert announcing he found the trapped mech. As Inferno transformed and ran up as quickly as his giant body would allow. Red Alert had already removed the debris. It was easy for Inferno to reach down and take the injured bot into his arms.

"Hey, great work Red!" Inferno congratulated. "You truely are one of the best! I'm proud to have served with you today, even if it was ONLY a simulation."

Inferno offered this praise to Red Alert as it was well deserved. Slowly, the holograms around them began to fade away. The molten lava, the final seeker in the sky, even the bot Inferno held in his arms. He smiled knowing his mission was complete, and he even got to blast a few seekers. Not nearly as much fun as grounding Starscream and his cronies. But the simulation was much safer. He put his hand on Red Alert's shoulder, towering over him.

"Well old friend, my work here is done. I couldn't have done it without ya!" Inferno again offering praise to his oft paranoid partner. "I do believe you wanted to get up to the bridge. By all means, lead on."

It was a little mean to force Red into one of his training sessions. Inferno thought it for the best though. They were on unfamiliar territory with Earth and both were in new, untested bodies. Inferno had the desire to start uo a new, harder session; but he made a promise to Red Alert to head with him to the bridge. And Inferno always intended to keep his promises.

Training Facility

A sense of relief came over Red Alert as the simulation ended. The strain on his sensors from all the holographic projections was gone, and now he could focus on real threats. He looked at his friend, Inferno, who had pushed him into it. In all fairness, now that he thought of it, it probably was necessary. Different planet, different alternate mode, different environment.

"Thank you, Inferno, I couldn't have done it without you.", Red Alert complimented, "And now that we're done we can finally get back in the real world where there's real problems!!"

The security director headed straight for the door, determined to get back into the thick of things.


Corridor

Stepping out of the training facility, Red Alert started heading for the bridge.

"Right, now we get to the bridge, and make sure we now if anythings happe-"

Red Alert stopped. His advanced olfactory sensors had picked up something odd. It was Razr's scent, but he was unaware that turbofox's still existed, let alone that an Autobot in the Sol System had been taking care of one.

"What is that strange scent?", he said to himself as he analyzed it, "It's not an Autobot, it's not even a Decepticon, I'm sure of it.... But it's definitely something from Cybertron...."

The securty director set his olfactory sensors to maximum- the scent was leading down the corridor. Red Alert followed it, contemplating what it could possibly be.

Not a Transformer, no, no, some kind of animal? We were docked on Iacon, something could have come on board. But what could-

"OH SLAG NO!", Red Alert shouted as he realized what it was, continuing to follow the smell.

<<Red Alert to the bridge, we have a problem! I've detected an unusual scent in the Ark-22 corridors and I've come to the conclusion that we're infested with cyberrats! We must have picked them up back on Iacon, we need to find and eliminate them NOW, before they start tearing the ship apart from the inside!!!>>

Red Alert continued to follow the scent, until finally it stopped right at the shuttle bay door.

"This must be it! This must be the vermin's nest!"

Red Alert punched in his clearance code to open the door and- nothing.

"What?", he exclaimed as he punched in the code again, with still no result, "Oh slag, no, no, no."

Red Alert slammed his fist against the controls in frustration.

<<Red Alert to Wheeljack, I need you at the door to the shuttle bay! The cyberrat's scent comes here and the doors won't open! This must be where they're nesting, I'm sure of it! I need you down here to open the door so we can wipe them out immediately!>>

Bridge

Wheeljack’s spark skipped a pulse when he heard Red Alert’s initial message echo across the bridge’s main intercom followed closely by a second one over Jack’s own personal comm line. The paranoid mech had apparently picked up a scent once he left the training room and it led him right to the shuttle bay doors. Of course it did. Why not the one place I didn’t want him to go? Naturally! The mad scientist placed a hand on his forehead and sighed before opening a channel back to Red Alert:

>>Okay, Red, don’t get your circuits in a twist. I’ll be right down.”<<

Wheeljack then stood from his chair and turned to the other Autobots present on the bridge. “I’ll head on down there to see what’s got Red all in a bind. I'm sure its nothing serious. Be back soon, I hope.” The mechanical engineer then grabbed his toolkit and headed for the doors but was quickly stopped by Bluestreak.

“You need any help down there, ‘Jack?” The gunner asked with a friendly smile. “If there is a cyber-rat infestation aboard you’ll need an extra hand to help deal with them. Those things can be pretty vicious and even very large at times. I can remember encountering a few back on Cybertron before we departed and let me tell you they were not happy to see me. One tried to bite my whole head off even! Can you imagine that? That’s how fraggin’ big it was! Then there was another one that was much smaller, but it’s bite still hurt like a....”

Wheeljack raised his hand into the air to stop Bluestreak’s neverending ramble. It’s not that he didn’t appreciate Blue wanting to help, it’s just he didn’t need an entire oral essay on cyber-rat behavioral patterns and size differences. “I’ll be fine, Blue. It could be nothing but Red’s over developed sense of paranoia again. Besides, Inferno’s already down there, as well, so between the three of us I think we’re covered. I’ll comm you if we need additional assistance. Okay?”

Looking a bit defeated, Bluestreak nodded. “Oh, sure, that’s fine. I’ll be right here if you need me, ‘Jack. Be careful.”

“Don’t worry, Blue, I will,” Wheeljack replied as he patted the talkative gunner on the shoulder before turning and walking off the bridge.

Corridors

As he made his way through the hallways of the ship, Wheeljack couldn’t help but feel a little bad about rejecting Bluestreak’s offer of assistance. The black and silver mech meant well, but there were already enough ‘Bots being drawn to the shuttle bay as it were. ‘Jack didn’t need to try and deflect yet another one especially since Blue would surely talk his audio receptors off in the process, making it very hard to concentrate.

Taking a turbo lift down to the lower decks, Wheeljack stepped off and took his time traversing through the remaining corridors that would lead him directly to Red Alert’s location. Sure, the paranoid mech would get even more antsy during the long wait, but ‘Jack just wanted to make sure Smokescreen and his femme had enough time to vacate the shuttle bay before the scientist had no choice but to finally let Red in. He could only stall his anxious comrade for so long, after all.

Rounding one final corner, Wheeljack was now in sight of Red Alert standing in front of the shuttle bay doors. The mechanical engineer smiled under his face shield before walking up behind the paranoid mech and giving him a good hard pat on the back. It would likely startle Red Alert, but that was the point. Sometimes, it was fun to watch his overreactions, if not a bit mean.

“Hey, Red! Sorry it took me a while to get down here. I had to grab my tools along the way. Almost forgot where I put them. Heh heh.” Wheeljack’s little white lie was plausible enough, considering his toolkit had actually been near him up on the bridge, but Red Alert didn’t need to know that. “Now, let me take a look at these doors.”

The mad scientist stepped closer to the control pad and entered the security codes to see for himself. Wheeljack knew what the outcome would be, he even knew the cause, but he wanted it to look as if he was approaching this situation for the first time with no knowledge of what actually was wrong. “Yeah, it's likely just a blown circuit or something. Probably caused by a power surge during the transwarp jump. Things like that can happen sometimes. I’m going to have to bypass it in order to get us inside.”

Wheeljack placed his toolkit on the ground before opening up the access panel on the wall next to the hangar doors. He then bent down and grabbed a soldering torch from his kit before returning his gaze to the exposed circuitry and cables. After studying the various connections for a few moments, he started pulling out some of the wiring and establishing new pathways around the broken, or in this case missing, circuit board. “Mmm, this may take a little more time than I originally thought. I’ve got a primary board that’s blown here. I should be able to get around it, but it might take a few breems. Bare with me.”

In all honesty, Wheeljack could bypass the missing circuit in less than half a breem with both hands locked in stasis cuffs behind his back. However, in order to give Smokey plenty of time to get going, ‘Jack decided to stall Red Alert a little longer. He hated doing so, but he owed the rallybot one and the scientist always made good on a promise. “So, Red, you really think we’ve got cyber-rats nesting in there? What makes you say that? Have you seen any of their energon droppings lying around or is it just that sniffer of yours acting up again?"

Cargo Bay Entrance

Inferno had a hard time keeping up with Red Alert once he took off at full speed toward the cargo Bay. He was not very mobile, even Bumblebee was faster than him. He had hoped Red wasn't leading him on a wild goose chase. Cyber rats seemed fairly unlikely to him.

He thought to himself, "Cyber rats? On this ship? About as likely as Ironhide being fuel effecient...still Ol' Red has been right about this kind of thing before. I guess I'll have to see how this pans out. Who knows, maybe I'll get to exterminate the little pests."

Inferno become a little worried when he heard Wheeljack would be joining them. wheeljack made Inferno a little uncomfortable. He was always afraid he'd be fodder for one of Wheeljack's upgrades or experiments. The mad scientist always put him on edge. Without saying a word though, Inferno clumsly came to a hault as Red Alert looked anxious to get into the cargo bay and Wheeljack fussed with the door.

The wait started to make Infenro impatient. While he was no sort of engineer and didn't understand what exactly Wheeljack was doing with the wiring, he did understand one simple fact. There was a door impeding him from his objective. Perhaps a more simple approach would suffice?

Inferno asked Red Alert and Wheeljack, "Uh guys, wouldn't it save a lot of time if I just forced the door open? I'm certain I can pry it open, or rip it off it's hinges. If there is a nest behind there don't we want to take care of it post haste?" Inferno waited for a response, simling at the thought of tearing the door down.

For a search and rescue specialist, he was rather destructive. Inferno wouldn't have it any other way though.

Outside Shuttle Bay

“What?!” Wheeljack exclaimed as Inferno made the suggestion to pry the doors apart or rip them off their hinges and possibly wreck them in the process. “No, no, Inferno. There’s no need for that. This is not an emergency that requires damaging the doors further, which I’ll just have to waste my time repairing later. It’s not like Decepticons are on the other side, after all. Cyber-rats can be nasty little critters, but they're not going to destroy the entire ship. Just let me do my job and we’ll be in there before you know it. I’ll try to speed things up, but please just be patient.”

Wheeljack quickly realized that between Inferno’s and Red Alert’s eagerness to get inside, he would have to finish his task quicker than he would have liked. Otherwise, they may just ignore his pleas and rip the doors open anyway. Hopefully, Smokescreen and Tracer had already departed, leaving the shuttle bay void of any mechs, cyber-rat or otherwise. If they hadn’t, well, ‘Jack would worry about that later. For now, the mechanical engineer simply focused on making his slow rate of speed believable as he got closer to successfully bypassing the missing circuit board.

Signal to Tracer from Oil Slick

>>”The appointed time has arrived. Coordinates for our rendezvous follow. Come alone and be on time as previously discussed.”<<

Corridor- Outside Shuttle Bay Door

Red Alert paced back and forth numerous times as he waited for Wheeljack.

"Why is he taking so long?", he said to himself flustered, "Doesn't he get how serious this is? They start chewing through the walls, then the ships circuitry, then the next thing you know we're trying to hold the ship together, overrun with cyberrats while the Decepticons laugh and take out whatever's left of us!"

Suddenly he felt something touch his back. Without warning Red Alert sprung into action, pulling out his rifle and spinning around to face his would-be attacker. Those rats wouldn't take him alive.

"GET BACK YOU!!!", Red Alert shouted as he readied to fire on- Wheeljack. His cooling fans taking in more air to cool his overworked circuits, he lowered his rifle, "SLAGGIT DON'T DO THAT!! If you had been a cyberrat I would have blown your head off! What took you so long?"

Red Alert watched anxously as the engineer started getting to work, listening intently to what he had to say. Before long his good friend Inferno had made his way there. Both tried to calm the security director down, trying to reason with him the unlikely chances of cyberrats. Red Alert would have none of it.

"Now look, my olfactory sensors are working just as perfectly as the day I went online.", he insisted, "I know what I smelled, it was some kind of Cybertronian animal, and we encounted a number of the pests when he were in Iacon. What else could it be? Did Mirage bring some turbofox along to hunt? Or does Arcee have some little petro rabbit as a pet?"

Red Alert became more and more fidgety as Wheeljack seemed to take forever to get the door open, all the while Red Alert processed what the others were saying, trying to explain some of the inconsistencies in his reasoning. No, he hadn't seen any droppings, but still.... Oh slag no!

"Dear Primus, it's worse then I thought!", Red Alert deduced, "Don't you see what happened? The cyberrats didn't just get bigger while we were gone, they got smarter as well! Wheeljack you need to work faster!"

Red Alert began to pace again, "It all makes sense now! They knew enough to keep their droppings out of sight, and they must have done something to cause the power surge! It's no wonder we haven't detected them on any of the sensors, they're smart enough to either avoid them or disable them without us knowing! But they weren't counting on me to sniff out their scent, and that will be their downfall!"

Red Alert waited for Wheeljack to get the door open, getting more and more impatient by the astrosecond. Inferno seemed to be getting antsy too, as the search and rescue specialist suggested forcing the door open with his great strength.

"We may just have to break it open, Inferno!", Red Alert agreed, his digits twitching in anticipation, "For now we have the element of surprise on them, but how long will that last? Wheeljack if you don't get this door open soon they'll figure out we're on to them!"