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Cas Coller is a massive gas giant planet circling a yellow star. The solar system is unremarkable with the other planets being close enough to their sun to be scorching hot or far enough away to be little more then balls of ice. The system was charted by early Cybertronian explorers millions of years ago. With the outset of the war exploration was largely forgotten with resource being poured into the war effort. It was only when forced to abandon Cybertron that documents regarding the system were rediscovered.

What made Cas Coller of interest was the variety of moons oribitting it. Six major moons in total circle the massive world, each a mini-planet in its own right. While devoid of life and much of an atmosphere the moons did possess a wide variety of mineral resources, including several used in vital starship systems. These moons, along with a rocky ring that encircles the gas giant, led the Autobots to build one of their primary shipyards in orbit around the gas giant.

Shipyard Alpha is the oldest and largest Autobot shipyard still functioning. It was here that the latest Ark series of vessels were first built. The shipyard has become a testbed for new starship designs and technologies ranging from deep space exploration to cutting edge warships. With the vast amount of construction and projects going on the orbiting station has become a floating city and often an R&R destination for Autobots after having completed difficult assignments. After Orbital Command Hub, Shipyard Alpha is the largest free floating Autobot structure in existence.

It is to this place that the Dinobots have arrived. Their mission: steal the Trion, the most advanced and powerful warship in the Autobot fleet, recently completed and preparing for her maiden voyage. It will take cunning, subterfuge and trickery for the Dinobots to make off with the powerful vessel. Do they have what it takes? We’ll find out in

Grimlock’s Four!

Bridge of the Ark-19, Approaching Cas Coller

Grimlock stirred from his command chair as he felt the vessel shift, dropping out of transwarp. To say the journey had been uneventful was an understatement. While he was glad there was not attempt at pursuit it didn’t exactly make for an interesting trip. He could only plot, strategize and contemplate so much before his patience began to wear thin. He could only imagine what the other Dinobots were going through as they didn’t really have the small amount of patience he did. At least the boring part was over now.

The Autobot vessel sped towards the orbiting shipyard as Grimlock punched in his recognition code on his command control panel. It would be sent out to the shipyard to verify that they were, indeed, actually Autobots and not pirates or Decepticons masquerading as Autobots. He had made sure that his codes were up to date before launching this mission and he doubted Prowl had done anything to change them. At least he hoped he hadn’t, it was a bit of a gamble on his part.

A message came back from the station and Grimlock punched it up on the main screen A gray smiling face appeared on the screen. “This is Countdown, commander of Alpha Shipyards. I welcome you and your crew. I had heard you were back on active duty Grimlock, but I didn’t expect to see you here. From what I’ve heard about you I figured you’d be on the frontlines as soon as possible.”

‘And hear we go,’ the Dinobot leader thought to himself. “Me wanted to, but command want me to get up to date with new technology. Me say it not change much, still point gun at con and pull trigger, but they not listen. So me bring Dinobots here to see new technology, learn how it works. Bring in damaged ship for repairs too so maybe it not total waste of time.”

Countdown glanced off screen for a moment. “Yes, I can see that your ship has taken some damage. Nothing we can’t fix though, but it will take a bit of time.” He looked back at Grimlock. “Of course you’re welcome to stay here until the repairs are complete. I’d love to hear what happened to you and your team; you were lost for so long. Anyway, you are cleared for docking at berth 6. You’re lucky we have an opening as no one told us ahead of time that you were coming.”

Grimlock shrugged his shoulders. “Me thought we get this over quickly as possible so we get back to fighting. Not want to wait for orders to go through.”

Countdown chuckled, “I understand. Welcome again to Alpha Shipyards. I’m sending Cosmos to guide you in to the berth and give you and official greeting and briefing on the station.”

Grimlock shook his head, “That not really nescess-“

“Countdown out.” The screen blinked off.

Grimlock let out a sigh and sat back. “Well we in it now Dinobots. Now real tough part starts. Swoop, take us into berth 6, maybe we can avoid having to talk to Cosmos.

Bridge of the Ark-19 - Approaching Cas Coller

Snarl had off-lined his optics for the duration of the trip to the Alpha Shipyards. Instead of actually being on the field of battle, he simply imagined he was fighting and tearing Decepticons apart with his bare hands, not to mention impaling them on the end of his spiked tail. The daydreaming had brought a smile to his faceplate more than once, something which would’ve caused any mech looking at him to wonder what he was so happy about. Being in the heat of conflict was the only thing that made the Desert Warrior happy, even if it was only a mere fantasy.

Snarl’s optics on-lined with the sudden shift of the Ark-19 as it came out of the transwarp wormhole. The Alpha Shipyards were dead ahead, signaling the end of the long journey that had been completely uneventful. With his dreams of battlefield carnage now over, the Desert Warrior’s sense of enjoyment subsided and was replaced by his usual unhappy self, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be seeing any kind of meaningful fighting in the near future. The shipyards were full of Autobots, which he was not eager to harm no matter how weak and pathetic they might be. Snarl would much rather smash 'Cons into stasis. Although, if push came to shove, the solar-powered Dinobot had no problem getting violent with his own comrades. He'd just have to make sure he didn't permanently damage any of them.

After listening to Grimlock’s exchange with Countdown, Snarl sat up in his chair at one of the weapons consoles and waited for Swoop to take them in to berth 6. Apparently, the first mech to greet them would be Cosmos. From what the Desert Warrior knew of him, the green minibot was not exactly the warrior type and posed no physical threat to any of the Dinobots. Still, if he caught on to their lies, Cosmos would create a whole slew of problems for them. “Me hope saucer-bot isn’t too bright to figure out real reason we here. Don’t want to waste energon pounding tiny mech into scrap already. Rather save strength for real challenge.”

Alpha Shipyards - Corridor outside Energon Bar

The large, yellow mech lay face down on the floor not far from the energon bar he had been a patron of only a few cycles ago. His optics on-lined as he let out a loud belch that came from deep within his fuel tanks. That was quickly followed by an even louder groan as the ship builder used his big arms to push himself up into a sitting position, resting his back against a nearby wall. A couple of ‘Bots that were walking past him paused briefly and stared down at the construction worker. He glared back up at them, a scowl clearly etched across his faceplate.

“What are you two fraggers lookin’ at?!” Grindcore bellowed in a deep, gruff voice. His vision was still a bit fuzzy and therefore he couldn’t quite make out their identities. “What’s the matter? Neither of you ever see a hungover mech before? Get the slag outta here!!” The yellow builder haphazardly swung his left arm out at the two Autobots’ legs, missing them by at least a yard. It was enough, though, to cause the two interlopers to continued walking and mind their own business. “That’s what I thought! Stupid techs think they're so much better than us builders!”

Using the wall behind him as a crutch, Grindcore managed to get to his feet, his thirty foot frame casting a shadow across the hallway. He let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his aching cranial unit. “I really need to learn to lay off the high grade.” It was then that the ship builder thought to check his internal chronometer and quickly realized what time it was. “Slaggit! I’m late for the start of my shift! Dammit!! The boss is gonna tear me a new aft section again!”

Not wanting to waste any more time, Grindcore started down the corridor, staggering at first until he finally regained his balance. The ship builder then broke into a jog, his heavy footfalls echoing off the walls as he hurried towards the primary dry dock, knocking any unfortunate mechs aside that he encountered along the way.

Alpha Shipyards – Weapons Engineering – Skyfall’s Lab

“No! I told you it’d be finished within the next mega-cycle. Soo, if you don’t get off my back it won’t get done at all! Now if you’ll excuse me…I have work to do.”

Skyfall cut the transmission before the ‘Bot on the other end could counter. He was sick. Sick of deadlines. Sick of nosey officials. But he was mostly sick of being stuck in the lab for hours on end. He needed some ‘me’ time. Well, there’s no time like the present.

He stood up from his stool and kicked it under his work bench. Skyfall took a quick look around taking note of all of the work that still needed to be done. Not to mention that quantum plasma cannon. He shook his head slowly and lowered his gaze to the scrap covered floor. After a moment his head lifted, optics brightened and he headed to the door.

“It’ll still be here tomorrow.”

Once again the weapons engineer had put off the work that had been due for inspection months ago. Yet his superiors believe him to be one of the premier engineers in this sector.

Medical Bay

Stocking storage cabinets. Could there be a more boring job? Wait, yes there was, he could be moping the floor after that last patient arrived. Two severed legs and a crushed actuator. It was times like these that Ambulon wondered why he even defected. But then there were the mechs that actually thanked him. That’s why I do this. Even if it is only one every vorn…it’s worth the effort.

Ambulon cracked a smile as he lifted the last container that held the remainder of the supplies. He was too engrossed in his work to even notice the arrival of Pharma. The CMO had been the one to finish the repairs on that almost mutilated mech and was just exiting the recovering room when he spotted Ambulon. He tossed the energon stained rag into the bin stationed at the entrance to the med bay and worked his way to the smaller mech.

“You know if you had tied off that fuel line it would have saved me half a breem in there.”

The light framed mech stiffened at the sound of his superior’s voice. But the observation only made Ambulon bristle. He had done what he could before Pharma had whisked the patient off to surgery. Optics glowing a deep red the medic turned on his heel to face the taller mech.

“I did everything I could in the amount of time I had! You were the one who decided to wheel him off to surgery without making sure he was completely stable! So don’t go blaming me for your inadequacies!”

Pharma let out a low growl as he clenched his fists at his side.

“Don’t you dare accuse me of being inadequate! If anyone in this med bay is inadequate it’s YOU!”

The CMO stepped in close to his subordinate causing Ambulon to move away only to be obstructed by the storage cabinet behind him.

“Don’t forget, Ambulon, they gave you a chance to prove yourself…I didn’t. While you’re in MY med bay you’ll do as I say and nothing more. NO ONE matters but ME!”

As the mech turned and began to walk off he stopped and looked over his shoulder. A look of pure animosity focused on the much smaller mech.

“You may have been forgiven for your faction’s atrocities but that doesn’t mean we have to accept you. You’ll never deserve our patronage. You keep that in mind Ambulon.”

He kept his optics glued to the scowling former Decepticon before he turned his head and stalked off into his office. The confrontation was not new. In fact it seemed to occur on a regular basis. Come to think of it they seemed to be butting heads on a much more frequent basis.

“Primus. I think he’s losing it.”

The thought of Pharma actually doing something rash was the only thing running through Ambulon’s mind as he turned back around and went back to work.

Corridors

Stockade had been heading out to the main yard when one of the other weapons installation specialists stopped him. Stockade flashed his friend a broad smile before both mechs reached out and grabbed a hold of the others' forearm. Pleasantries were exchanged before Stockade leaned up against one of the walls.

“Nah. All you gotta do is make sure the backplate is secure then you can go ahead and bolt down the brace, just don’t overdo it or you’ll have a huge mess on your hands. Not to mention a lot of explainin’ to do to your superiors.”

With a grateful nod Stockade gave his friend a broad smile and latched onto his forearm once more. That done the other weapons specialist turned and started down the opposite corridor.

“Oh, Brighton, I almost forgot. I’ll be able to join you all after my shift. So save me a seat.”

Brighton gave a wave and disappeared into the gathering crowd. Stockade moved back in to the hall the smile he had flashed his friend now replaced by a deep scowl. He had to keep up appearances after all. If he appeared too nice his men would not respect his capabilities, not to mention they’d try and take advantage of him. Not on my watch.

Stockade had just made it out and amongst the crowd when he was slammed into hard. He let out an angry growl as he saw the mech who jogged right into him continue down the corridor. I don’t think so. Stockade took the two steps he needed and reached out. He caught a hold of Grindcore by the shoulder and pulled him back.

“I suggest you watch where you’re goin’ buddy.”

Alpha Shipyards – Energon Bar

"So I looked up to him and I said 'You may have six different modes, but all I need is one fist to beat you!' and BAM, I punched him right in that smug face of his."

Side Burn sat back in his seat, a smug grin on his face. The pink femme sitting across from him gasped in shock and amazement. It was a look he was used to getting from femmes. Sometimes he got it just from his good looks. Occasionally he got it from his exploits, be they charging ahead of the main Autobot force or racing down the roads of whatever base it he was stationed at. Of course with the latter he just assumed they were giving him looks of amazement. What he saw was basically just a blur at those speeds.

The time he most often got those looks though was while he was telling one of his stories. His exploits were the stuff of legend, at least to him. He always loved sharing them, especially with the ladies. While other mechs might appreciate a good tale, the femmes would give him those looks, maybe even hold his hand, or more, to show how much they thought of him and what he had done. Sure, maybe, maybe, embellished a little on his stories, but they were good for morale. He would do anything to keep up the morale of those lovely femmes. They were the backbone of Autobot society after all right? Life wouldn’t be worth living without them.

He was lucky to have scored some R&R here between assignments. Over at the command hub he was liable to get sucked up into something probably involving paperwork. Out here though he was far away from the bureaucracy but still in a good spot to do some relaxing, and once that was done, get sent right back out into the fight. As much as the ladies wouldn’t want him to go, he had to. There was still a war going on and it wasn’t just going to win itself.

“So then what happened?”

The blue Autobot snapped out of his thoughts as he looked back at the femme. “Uh, well, well you see, no one had ever done that to him before, just run up and punched him like that. The blow knocked him back a bit. Then he looked down at me, and he says ‘You are brave Autobot, braver then any I have known. I honor that bravery by leaving this battlefield.’ Then he transformed into one of his modes and took off. I’d heard he was an honorable type, but I’ll let you in on a secret.”

Side Burn leaned forward, the femme following suit. “I could see the fear in his optics. He was scared and ran away.” He sat back and smiled as the other Autobot placed her hands on his arms resting on the table.

“Oh Side Burn, you’re so brave!”

The Autobot nodded back at her. “I know baby, I know…”

Orbitting Cas Coller

In space, no one could hear Cosmos sigh. For the past cycle he had been stuck orbitting around the planet while one of the shipyard's communications satellites was being repaired. Being alone in space was bad enough as it was, but having to keep a synchronized orbit with the other satellites made it practically unbearable. Under other circumstances he could relieve his boredom and loneliness by zigging and zagging through and around asteroids and space junk, but for now he was simply stuck circling around the planet at a slow pace, just staring into space. As Cosmos wondered just how much longer he would be there, a signal came from one of the chief engineers that the repairs were complete.

"Oh, thank Primus it's done!", the flying saucer exlaimed to himself as his main thrusters burst to life, releasing him from Cas Coller's gravitational field and headed toward the orbital station. Just then he received a message from the Shipyard's commander, Countdown, as well as the coordinates of an Ark-class vessel. Much to Cosmos' delight it was an order to escort and greet a new arrival.

>>Certainly, Countdown, you know I'll be happy to welcome the Dinobots and show them around. I'll be there in about 30 astroseconds, Cosmos out!

Cosmos couldn't have been happier as he pushed his boosters to full power, zooming in the direction of the Ark-19. He had never met the Dinobots before, but they were practically legends and so he had heard much about them. From what he knew they were a rather rough group, but they had been missing for hundreds of vorns. They most certainly had to have a lot to say, and Cosmos would be more than happy to listen to their stories as he guided them around the station. It certainly beat staring at the vast emptiness of space.

"Ah, there it is, the Ark-19.", Cosmos said to himself as came in perpendicular to the Ark-19's trajectory. With his manuevering thrusters he matched the much larger ship's course, and used his boosters to increase speed to keep him just ahead of them. Using his superior manueverability the green flying saucer bobbed and weaved from side to side in front of the Dinobot's ship to get their attention.

>>Greetings Grimlock and Dinobots! This is Cosmos, and on behalf of all the staff and personel stationed here, I wish to welcome you to the Alpha Shipyards here on Cas Coller!<<

Having made the official greeting Cosmos steadied his course, staying just ahead of the Ark-19.

>>Well it seems you're already on your way to berth 6 with no problems, but I hope you don't mind if I tag along anyway, just in case. Countdown told me you're here for repairs and to learn about all the new technology that's developed since you went missing. Well, let me tell you that you've come to the right place! We've got more engineers and technicians than we know what to do with!<<

------------

Ark 19- Bridge

For the most part Sludge had just stood around during the trip, though a few times he had started kicking some of the chairs that weren't being occupied by his fellow Dinobots out of boredom. Once they came out of transwarp for the final time, Sludge felt a little relief as he continued to just stand, watch and listen to Grimlock speak to Countdown.

When he thought about it, there really wasn't much Sludge could do now, or during this mission. Thinking, acting, those were far from his specialies. His real strength lied in... well, his strength, and his impenetrable armor. He would follow Grimlock and the Dinobots anywhere, he would follow his orders and complete this mission as best he could, but this would be well outside of his comfort zone.

This mission will be hard for me, Sludge. Me Sludge would rather smash Decepicons, not lie to weakling Autobots. But Grimlock is strongest, Grimlock is leader, so me Sludge will obey.

------------------

Energon Bar

"Does His light guide your path?", Highcall said to a passing bot, trying to hand him a datapad, but the bot simply ignored him, "Do you wish to become one with the Allspark?", he said to another who again ignored him.

Despite how often many Autobots used His name, Highcall had found it difficult to enlighten others about Primus. Everytime he was off duty he would go to the station's bars and pubs and try to save a few sparks. Few even realized they needed saving, let alone would accept it. He would let it get him down though. Primus had saved him, and in return he would save as many Autobots as he could.

"Serving Primus will fill your fuel tank more than any type of energon!", the religous engineer said, though everyone in the bar seemed to ignore him.

Highcall checked the time- he still had several breems until his next assignment. To be honest he hadn't even finished his previous assignment, but for some reason the bot in charge told him he'd done enough and to take some time off. Maybe reciting the Datatracks of Beta-4 from the Covenant of Primus had shown him the light, realizing Highcall's time would be better spent making more true believers. Highcall would have to speak to him again sometime.

Looking around, Highcall noticed a couple of bots at a table that he hadn't spoke with yet. They seemed to be in a rather good mood, maybe they would be more receptive than the others. Walking to the table he took out a couple of datapads he kept, filled with texts from the Covenant of Primus- well, the ones that he had memorized, at least.

"Primus has blessed this day!", Highcall smiled as he handed a datapad to Sideburn and the femme next to him, "Just as he has blessed us all! Have you ever felt there was more to life? That there was a greater power at work, guiding our paths with his divine light?"

Alpha Shipyards--Command Hub

Cloudburst leaned back in his chair, grinning as he looked over at Countdown.

"Well, that certainly was a surprise, huh? I didn't think I'd see anyone from Optimus' command crew around here for a long time. Usually it's us delivering stuff to them."

Not that he was complaining. The work they were doing here could--conceivably and hopefully--end the war. As Autobots went, admittedly it was not the Dinobots who tended to be interested in the sort of work they did here, but Cloudburst was happy that they were, just the same. It was the frontline warriors who would benefit most of all from gaining a better understanding of what they did here. After all, they would be the ones most likely to deploy it in the field, whatever it turned out to be.

"Hopefully Cosmos won't get on their nerves too much," Cloudburst added, grinning as he pulled up the feed on berth 6.
___

Energon Bar

"Another!" Warhaul growled, slamming his fist on the counter. "Work too slaggin' hard to not be able to soak up some good energon when I get the slagblasted chance. Now fill 'er up."

His energy levels were reading full. Slightly overloaded, actually, but it wasn't the good stuff and he could feel it. The bartender looked at him for a moment before obliging, refilling his container to the brim with a slightly off-colored pink energon derivative. What he was forced to survive on out here, it was almost criminal.

As he took another swig, most of the conversations swirling around him had no effect on the feisty maintenance tech. There was one subject he didn't talk about much though, and that was religion. So when he heard someone yakkin' on and on about Primus this and Covenant that, it immediately triggered something in his brain module.

"Don't g-go peddlin....t-that muck around here," he said, turning around slightly unsteadily on his stool to face Highcall. "Ain't nobody who wa...wants to become one with the Allspark yet."

Bridge of Ark-19

To say that Swoop was relieved to see Shipyard Alpha was a bit of an understatement. Over six hours of jumping from point A to point B wasn’t exactly his idea of fun, and unlike the others, he had to remain attentive as he piloted the ship. Multiple transwarp jumps before plotting course for the actual destination was standard evasive procedure, so it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it multiple times. After all, it would cause problems if the prick Prowl sent someone after them, so the jumps and, by extension, the delays, were necessary. The trip was boring, yes, but felt more sharply than the boredom was the anxiety.

The waiting before a mission was always the hardest part. Swoop hated waiting. He was a Dinobot, and patience was never their forte. True he wasn’t as bad as say Slag or Snarl, who craved action like energon, but with a mission like this Swoop would be hard pressed to not worry a bit. Subterfuge, like patience, was a little-know concept among the Dinobots, and thanks to their little hijacking stunt they could now be considered wanted mechs. At this point it wasn’t a question of whether they could pull it off. They had to pull off stealing the Trion or not. There was no other option. Screw this up and they’d be looking at a lifetime sentence in Garrus-9. The Dinobots couldn’t afford that; the Autobots even less. Once again it fell on them to do the job right. While the Autobots were flailing around in confusion over the chain of command the Decepticons were regaining potency by the day. Now was the perfect time to strike, and if Prowl or Ultra Magnus or Hot Rod Prime or whoever was in charge couldn’t see that then it was up to the Dinobots to take the initiative.

It’s good to be back, Swoop thought with a smirk as he eased them out of their final transwarp jump. Finally they could get this ridiculous charade over with and get back to the mudball planet before the Decepticons had time to fully organize. Honestly, the sheer incompetency of the entire Autobot high command never failed to amaze him. He watched Grimlock converse with the captain of the shipyard and felt a small measure of relief when it became apparent that Prowl hadn’t reported them yet. Strange when he thought about it considering how thorough the prick-bot was, as was the lack of pursuit. He briefly wondered if Grimlock had something to do with it but was pulled out of his train of thought when the bot in question gave him the order to dock.

“Rodger that,” with the pleasantries over, the bombardier began steering them towards the designated berth, hoping as much as Grimlock that they wouldn’t have to talk to this Cosmos person. His hopes would be for naught. Great. A chatty one. He trusted Grimlock to do most the talking during the mission but he had a feeling that the saucer would be asking just as many questions as answering them. Once again his dislike of deception reared its head, but he showed no outward sign of unease as he guided the Ark-19 into berth 6. The warship slowed to a steady crawl as she was eased into the docking cradle. The ship shuddered lightly as the docking clamps locked into place, then all was still again. “Ark-19 fully docked,” He announced. Now the hard part began.

Corridor

As Grindcore continued on towards the main dry dock, he became less and less concerned about the mechs around him and more about getting to his job before his boss made him a permanent part of one of the ships currently under construction. He had knocked into several ‘Bots along the way, but paid none of them any mind as his cranial ache continued to throb within his processor. However, one of those he had slammed into was not so willing to let the heavy lifter go without saying something.

Grindcore came to a sudden halt when he felt someone’s actuators grab ahold of his shoulder and yank him back. The green loader spun around and glared back at Stockade, who had made the suggestion that he watch where he was going. Normally, the Construction worker’s reaction would be to get right back into the weapons specialist's faceplate and tell him to stay the frag out of his way. However, common sense took hold quickly as the yellow mech realized that such a show of aggression would only lead to a fight and thus make him even later for his shift than he already was. Therefore, his response was much more restrained than what was usual for him.

“You’re Stockade, right? I’ve seen you and the other weapons bots around when my crew and I were building the Trion. Well, Stocks, sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to. I'm just late for my shift is all. You know how it is, right? I was just trying to get to the dry dock as quickly as possible so my foremech doesn't drill me a new afthole. Heh heh!" Grindcore patted Stockade hard on top of his shoulder plate, giving him a wry smile that hid the true irritation he was actually feeling. "Tell you what, maybe I'll buy you a drink later and make it up to you. Sound good, Stocky?"

Ark 19- Bridge

“Hopefully we not have to deal with him at all. We still have reputation, most Bots either not like us or afraid of us,” Grimlock replied to Snarl. “Unfortunately we gone so long, reputation might have faded, might have to remind some bots about it.”

Grimlock’s hopes of keeping a low profile were dashed when the smaller form of Cosmos began darting around on the forward viewscreen. The Autobot was apparently eager to gain their attention. Being stuck with a glorified tour guide was the exact opposite of what the Dinobot leader wanted. He would have to deal with it as best he could. If he started to lose his cool now there was no telling what would happen with the other, less restrained Dinobots. He had to set an example, one that he wasn’t really familiar with.

The Dinobot commander grunted before finally replying to Cosmos’s signal to them. >>”It good to be here. Looking forward to seeing what new weapons we miss while we were gone.”<< Hopefully that would be enough to keep the Autobot happy.

Grimlock stood up as Swoop announced that they had docked. “Finally. Come Dinobots, it time to get off this busted ship. Me tired of sitting here so long, it time to get this mission under way.” He turned and looked at all four of them. “Remember our cover, we here to learn about new technology. Focus on that, maybe do some relaxing too. Shipyard supposed to be good for that, probably have a bar. Just remember not to start any trouble.” The last bit was focused on Slag.

“Me try to do most of the talking. Rest of you know how to avoid talking already. If unavoidable remember cover story.” Grimlock was hoping the intimidating appearance, size and personalities of the other Dinobots would keep most other Autobots away. Certainly Slag and Snarl knew how to scare off other Bots and Sludge’s sheer size kept a lot of Autobots away. Swoop was clever and calm enough to talk his way out of any problems.

All of that considered they still needed to make this operation move as quickly as possible. None of them were actors or accomplished liars. Sooner or later the truth was going to catch up to them in some form or another. He just had to make sure they were well on their way back to Earth by the time that happened. Grimlock waved for the other Dinobots to follow him as he left the bridge. >>”Cosmos, we leaving the ship now and heading for shipyard.”<< He wanted to keep everything official and, hopefully, chase away the little Autobot.

*

Alpha Shipyards - Command Hub

Countdown nodded back at Cloudburst. “Very surprising, especially considering it’s the Dinobots. I think everyone assumed they were long since dead when the report came in that they were active again. I certainly never expected to see them here.” The Autobot leaned back in his chair. “Hopefully I can get a chance to hear their story. You don’t simply go missing for that long without a pretty interesting story to back it up with.” He offered Cloudburst a smile.

“Cosmos can certainly be... overly gregarious, especially since he’s been out there alone for so long replacing that communication satellite. He might annoy them, but he would be upset if I didn’t give him a chance to do the official greeting. Its one of the few bits of excitement he gets in his job.”

Countdown rubbed his chin in thought. There was just something…odd about the whole thing, an Ark class ship showing up unannounced, with the Dinobots on board no less. It wasn’t suspicious so much as it was just curious. He was definitely going to have to talk to Grimlock at some point. The Dinobots brought other concerns as well.

“The Dinobots always had a certain reputation, as I’m sure you know. Rough and tumble lot that play by their own rules and aren’t afraid of breaking Autobot rules. So the real question is, should I warn Kick-Off that they are here and get him all wound up from the start, or just let him find out on his own so I suffer the brunt of his annoyance?”

*

Corridor

Kick-Off leaned nonchalantly against a support beam, a pad held out in front of him that most passersby would assume he was reading. They would be assuming wrong however. The head of security was actually carefully scanning all around him with his optics. This particular corridor was one of the main traffic points in the whole station, being near the energon bar and not far from where many of the working mechs reported for duty. Who knew how many Autobots walked this stretch of corridor each day, and when numbers were that big there was bound to be trouble.

As head of security Kick-Off was in charge of patrol assignments. It was unusual for the head of security to pull a patrol, but he was slagging tired of sitting behind a desk. Lots of Bots thought these patrols were boring, but they obviously hadn’t been in his spot. He didn’t like being inactive, and if the best activity he could get was patrolling then he was sure as heck going to take it.

Kick-Off’s optics were drawn to the two mechs who had bumped into each other. They were a couple of big bulky types, one just coming out of the bar and the other one obviously in a hurry to get to work. It had all the makes of a dust up, just the sort of thing he could use to break up the boredom. For now he ignored a call coming in about religious solicitation inside the bar. He knew that had to be Highcall and he wasn’t particularly interested in scolding that mech for the umpteenth time, not when something more interesting was developing.

*

Energon Bar

Side Burn was slightly taken aback by the newcomer preaching religion to the both of them. He took a hold of the pad offered to him and glanced at it. It was filled with all sorts of religious junk. Primus this, Allspark that, plenty of catchphrases like ‘Until all are one’ and the like. The blue Autobot wasn’t really the religious type. The closest he got to that was pushing his engine to the absolute limit, seeing how fast he could truly go. That was certainly a rush that he would consider a religious experience, but he suspected this Autobot would take offense to that.

Unfortunately the interruption has brought a screeching halt to his efforts to woo the pretty femme he was with. He was going to have to come up with someway to salvage the situation. After a few seconds of thought he had it. “You know, all this talk of religion reminds me of an old saying. You ever hear how they say ‘there aren’t any atheists in foxholes?’ It’s a good saying, and it reminds me of this battle where I saved my entire squad.” He smiled as he recaptured the femme’s attention. “So there I was, the commanding officer having been offlined by...”

Side Burn let out a frustrated grunt as he was interrupted by some mech who took offense to Highcall’s preaching. It seemed like everyone was being a blocker tonight. While he had been annoyed by Highcall’s sermon at least he tried to politely ignore him rather then calling him out. Hopefully he could shut up this other one quickly. He smiled at Warhaul, “Don’t worry about it friend, its nothing more energon won’t drown out eh? How about I get you the next round?”