Astrosecond~ .498 seconds, milli-cycle~1 sec, cycle~1 min, breem~ 8.3 minutes, mega-cycle~1 hour, meta-cycle~1\2 hours, solar cycle~1 day, day~ 20 hours, orbital cycle~ 1 month, gigacycle~ 1 year, deca-cycle~10 years, vorn~ 83 years, stellar cycle~400 year, mechanometer~ 1 meter, vun~ hectometer, hic~ 1 kilometer

Thoughts, 'binary code', (alien language), "talking"

AN: I'm crazy, four, four different stories I'm going to try and keep up with! Well there goes this brain...and any sense of a predictable update timeframe...

Three orbital cycles, three long orbital cycles with just myself to speak with…it has become rather dull and annoying. After that stunt I tried to pull, Megatron would have my head on a wall. I can't use these mass relays without someone detecting my approach to them or following me. Autobots, Decepticons, organics, all of them want to see me destroyed, but it will be I who will conquer them. It's only a matter of time.

Starscream arrived to the Bahak system just as his Reaperized-self told him to meet the other Reapers before they overwhelm the galaxy. Only the entire system was gone. "Wh…What happened?"

"I don't know, you tell me! You're supposed to know about all of this!"

Starscream came across a piece of a mass relay ring, and nothing else. "That explains everything."

"What does it explain?"

"The organics destroyed the Alpha Relay. They must have learned about its importance. With this relay, Shockwave and the others could have stormed the entire galaxy and the Citadel simultaneously and without warning. The extermination would have been swift and decisive."

"So, these organics are far more resourceful than we thought…"

"Yes…it would seem so." A bright yellow glow blinded Starscream as a massive black form showed its presence to him. It was even larger than Starscream's Reaper body with six brightly glowing eyes and ten legs. "Now tell me, Starscream, why I shouldn't vaporize you here and now."

"Because, you'll need me to help you eliminate Megatron."

"I already know how to deal with Megatron. Your usefulness to me is quickly diminishing. If you are done, I will make this quick…"

Shockwave's body moved as the eyes started to glow brighter, ready to blast him. "Wait! Wait! I can help you! I can listen to everything Megatron is planning!"

"I can already do that."

Shockwave quickly and easily bypassed Decepticon security as he started to listen in on them, "Megatron, we've captured another facility for energon processing."

Shockwave's eyes continued to glow brighter, "You'll need me to convince the Decepticons that you are the future! Once Megatron has been eliminated, I will convince the others that we should join you, then we can become stronger…"

Shockwave powered down his weapons. "We shall see. If the Decepticons do not fall in line with you under our command, you and the others will be eliminated." With Starscream's acceptance of the terms, Shockwave created an opening in his superstructure for Starscream to enter, but limited where he was permitted to traverse.

Roughly eight orbital cycles have passed now since the Second Battle of the Citadel was initiated by Megatron and the Decepticons. There were some unexpected effects that have occurred because of the battle. With news about the Decepticons assault, the various species have started to bolster their defenses and offenses. The Vol Protectorate began petitioned the Turian Hierarchy for more ships to defend and patrol their planets, as the turians themselves started to patrol their territory more frequently and hardened their lines of communication. The Salarian Union has started to send its Special Task Group agents to monitor Cybertronian movements. The Asari Republic has started to close their territory from the Attican Traverse and Terminus Systems. The Systems Alliance has also ramped up their production to rebuild their fleets after the devastating lost from the First Battle of the Citadel.

The Decepticons have also been busy. With Shockwave's absent from Cybertron, Jhiaxus was left in charge of the remaining Decepticons on Cybertron while Megatron continued to send them energon to feed into Cybertron's core.

The Decepticons weren't as concerned about the shift in organic activity, so long as they could acquire more energon. Decepticon forces were preparing to attack another one of the pathetic organics' refineries with every Seeker gathered in the Nemesis' hangar. "Air Commander Slipstream, all Seekers are on standby. We are awaiting your orders."

The hangar door opens, with Slipstream standing in front of them all. "Decepticons, to victory!" She jumped out followed by the others in waves. As the seekers transform and jetted into the area, Slipstream continued to free-fall for most of the distance, letting the wind guide her toward her target. Roughly five hics above the ground, Slipstream finally transformed into her jet form as she now took point of the Seeker fleet. Just like the last fifteen facilities, it had been abandoned by the organic before the Decepticons arrived. And like the last eight, more than half of the energy was already syphoned out.

As the feeds came in from the Seekers, Shockwave turned around, "As expected Lord Megatron, the organic seem to be changing their tactics. We probably won't be able to squeeze more than ten energon cubes out of this place."

A fact Megatron was not pleased with. He initially allowed Counterpunch to provide the Autobots with information on 'potential Decepticon attacks' to satisfy Optimus' need to protect the organics but the loss of potential energon is starting to prove costly. "Slipstream, procure what is left of the energy from this facility. Soundwave, inform Counterpunch to stop providing intel to the Autobots. The next facility will be attack without mercy."

Soundwave sent the message immediately, "At once, Megatron."

Optimus Prime and a majority of the Autobots with him have settled down on a remote planet in an obscured cluster out of reach using the current level of technology by the organics, located between the Serpent Nebula and the Annos Basin cluster. After a few daring and risky missions, they were able to evacuate most of the remaining Autobots from Cybertron and its two moons, as well as any sensitive data left within Iacon. Now all that remains to defend the once great city were Ultra Magnus, Alpha Trion and Omega Supreme, along with the automated defenses until the energon reserves finally dry up.

There were a few Autobots who have decided not to settle down on this new world. Grimlock had stirred this divide when he argued with Prime that the Autobots should continue their hunt for Megatron, utterly ignoring the threat posed by the Reapers. Despite Optimus' argument that the Reapers are a larger threat, Grimlock continued to disagree. He believed that finishing the Decepticons would allow them to return their focus back to their true problem, Cybertron and making it livable once more. Grimlock renamed his group to the Dinobots to reflect their new alt-forms as well as reestablished the Lightning Strike Coalition Force, accepted any Autobots who wanted to attack the real threat; the Decepticons. Vibes attempted to persuade her friend, Swoop, from leaving but he wasn't going to let his other friends down when they need him most. The Autobot respected her friend's wishes, and hoped they would reconsider and return to them someday, though the energetic flyer promised her that he'd try to keep Grimlock and the others out of too much trouble with the organics.

Others Autobots however left so they may help defend the various homeworlds of the organics. Seaspray and Beachcomber, for example, now reside on Kahje while Warpath and a few others took up Urdnot Grunt's offer to visit his homeworld of Tuchanka. Jazz, as much as he wished to explore the various species in the galaxy, chose to stay in order to help build on this new world so they could have a future there.

A young hotshot who was fighting with the Wreckers on Cybertron named Hot Rod was put in charge of a small group of Autobots who were sent to the human homeworld of Earth. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper were helping with moving some crates in the port city of Vancouver. "Hey Cliff, ever get a chance to speak with that human who worked with Vibes and Dropshot?"

The red bot who shared the same chassis model, minus the head design, yelled out, "Are you kidding? The Alliance keeps freaking out whenever any of us want to do anything!"

"They haven't really complained about me or Hot Rod. I think it might be because of the yelling and stomping you did while he was on trial."

"You mean that farce…but when you put it that way it might be. I still don't like having that rookie in charge of us."

Bumblebee placed down his crate as a crane turned to grab it. "I think he's doing a decent job at being our team leader. A bit in over his head, but at least he's fun."

A green and yellow bot, slightly taller than Bee and Cliff, walked between the two with two larger crates in each hand, yelled at them, "You two need to get back to work and not worry so much about these humans."

Cliffjumper started to lean against his crate, "I see it now. The big, bad Brawn is all bark and no bite."

"What'd you say?!" Brawn dropped the crates as he rammed his head against Cliffjumper's as the smaller red bot pushed back.

"You heard me!"

As the two hothead faced off, Bumblebee tried to break it off before it got too serious. "Come on guys, you really want these humans to see us like this? Now let's just forget this even happened and…" Bumblebee's attention was turned to something else as a massive figure overshadowed them. "Uh, guys…"

"WHAT!" Cliffjumper and Brawn shouted, before they two notice the strange shadow looming over them. Both bots slowly looked up to spot the origin of the shadow. "Autobots, burn rubber!" The three Autobots transformed into their respective vehicle forms as a red beam attempted to target them.

Brawn picked up a transmission from fellow Autobots on Earth. "To all Autobots, this is Hot Rod! I'm issuing a general evacuation order! Evac as many humans as you can but do not, I repeat, do not attempt to engage the Reapers!"

"This is Brawn. I've got Bumblebee and Cliffjumper with me. We're heading toward the rendezvous once we lost this Reaper on our tailpipes!"

Just as the trio drove down a service tunnel to lose the Reaper chasing them, Brawn picked up on a nearby Alliance transmission, "This is Admiral Anderson. Report in. Anyone?"

"Hold that thought Hot Rod. We just picked up a transmission from Admiral Anderson. We're heading back to try and rescue him and Commander Shepard."

"Copy that, Brawn. See you five at the rendezvous."

Cliffjumper jumped as he transformed back to his robot form. "And exactly how do you propose we do that?"

Brawn looked back from where they were as he watched the Reaper turn toward the buildings. "Anyone afraid of a little water?"

Commander Shepard and Admiral Anderson had fought their way through several Reaper forces to reach the water front to a damaged emergency beacon to call in the Normandy. As they fought through several Reaper converted batarians a radio transmission started to broadcast. "Cavalry's here, gentlemen!"

The Normandy flew by as the ship made a bombing run on the remaining creatures. "About time!"

"Let's go!" Shepard ran off to the highest point of debris as the ship came around and opened the garage door.

Two Alliance soldiers ran toward the opening as they were ready to provide cover for Anderson and Shepard's approach. Shepard jumped into the garage, as Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams helped him up. "Welcome back, Shepard."

"Thanks."

Anderson however stopped just before jumping, "Shepard!"

Williams and the other soldier fired at a few of the husks as Shepard lent out his hand, "Come on!"

Anderson didn't move. "I'm not going. You saw those men back there. There's a million more like them, and they need a leader."

"We're in this fight together, Anderson."

Shepard was about to jump back, but Anderson stopped him, "It's a fight we can't win. Not without help. We need every species and all their ships to even have a chance at defeating the Reapers. Talk to the Council. Convince them to help us."

"What if they won't listen?"

"Then make them listen. Now go! That's an order."

"I don't take orders from you anymore, remember?"

Anderson grabbed for something in his back pant pocket, before tossing it to Shepard, "Consider yourself reinstated…Commander." Shepard grabbed the object, looking down to see they were his dog tags. "You know what you have to do."

"I'll be back for you, and I'll bring every fleet I can." Shepard was about to walk into the Normandy before he stopped himself to look back, "Good luck."

"You too, Shepard."

After seeing the Normandy fly back, Anderson ran back down the debris before bubbles started to appear in three different areas around him. A massive arm emerged from the water as the rest of it was pulled out of the water. "Admiral Anderson!"

"Brawn, you're a sight for sore eyes. Where are the others?"

Bumblebee and Cliffjumper appeared now as they kept their optics out for Reaper reinforcements. "Hot Rod has ordered our evacuation to point Epsilon and to try and help evac as many humans as we can."

Cliff fired off a few rounds at one of the flying bug things, "We picked up your transmission. We figured we might be able to get you to the others while we're at it."

Bumblebee transformed and popped open a door, "Hop in. We're going to use the lake to cover our escape."

Anderson pointed back, "I can't leave those soldiers behind!"

Cliff hopped over the debris and found two Alliance personnel. "You mean these two?" Cliff carried them back over to Bee, "Get inside so we can get out of here faster."

Anderson helped the injured soldier into Bumblebee before he and the other soldier secured themselves. Once they had Anderson secured, Brawn picked up Bumblebee, "Hot Rod, this is Brawn. We've picked up Anderson. Commander Shepard has found another way, but we picked up two more humans. We heading to the evac point."

"Negative. Epsilon has been hit. Repeat, Epsilon is gone. New coordinates. Rendezvous at location Theta."

Brawn and Cliffjumper dropped back down into the water, "Copy. Proceeding to location Theta."

Progress on the new Autobot City was nearly complete, Optimus had the Autobots take the night to rest and celebrate the near completion of their new home. While the festivities raged throughout the city, Prowl was urgently searched for Optimus. He finally found him gazing upon the night sky with Elita-One. He cleared his vocal processors, alerting the two of his presence. Elita-One offered Prime a kiss on his faceplate before leaving the two to operational updates. "Optimus, sir. Autobot City will be fully operational in a matter of mega-cycles. And we've received reports from Ultra Magnus. It seems Decepticons on Cybertron haven't made any attempts to capture any new territory or to move Cybertron again."

"Good. I don't want them to remain for much longer." Optimus turned his gazed back up to the stars above, "How are our Autobots who've started to live among the organics?"

"Many have reported they are still receiving…'disgruntled looks', as Sideswipe stated in his report due to being 'synthetic lifeforms' as the organics view us as. Punch's tracker has allowed us to keep an optic on Decepticon activity, and the ability to alert the organics of potential Decepticon raids on their energy refineries. The dro…I mean…the sparkless have started work on the foundation for a new city, however I've told them to hold on that for now."

After the truth about Dropshot being a sparkless drone was revealed, Optimus wanted to show his appreciation to him and all of the other drones who have fought alongside and died for the Autobot cause. Instead of being called drones, they were to be referred to as sparkless, Optimus himself going so far as calling them fellow Cybertronians born differently. Though many Autobots have been having a difficult time seeing them as anything more than the drones they have been before. Though others like Jazz have opened their arms to the notion, Jazz has even recruited a few into the Special Operation team, not just as back up to bolster their numbers but as full-fledged members.

"Tell Sideswipe and the others to be careful, they are the guests after all. And tell the sparkless we'll begin the foundation work as soon as we hear word form Air Raid and the Aerialbots."

Prowl grabbed Prime's arm before he could leave, "Several have also reported incidents with the radical human organization, Cerberus. No casualties from either sides and all captured Cerberus personal have been transferred to C-Sec and Alliance for processing." Prowl lowered his head before finally looking Prime in the optics, "Optimus, about the Decepticons, as much as I usually disagree with Grimlock, he does have a few points correct for a change. We will eventually need to start thinking about devoting resources to stopping them once and for all."

"I agree. However, our priority is the survival of all in this galaxy, for freedom is the right of all sentient beings. And these Reapers will devastate them if we do not provide our assistance to them."

"Sirs!" An Autobot rushed his way over to the two, "Optimus! Prowl! Cosmo has reported in and it isn't good. We've lost all contact with our team on Earth. Blaster has also confirmed this sudden silence."

"The Reapers…" Prime turned back to the stars above, closing his optics, "Prowl, alert all Autobots. The time for war has arrived."

As the Decepticons squeezed every ounce of fuel from the refinery Soundwave continued to monitor Autobot and organic comm traffic. "Megatron. An anomaly in communication activity has been detected. The Systems Alliance and Batarian Hegemony have fallen completely silent."

Shockwave walked into the bridge, "Having analyzed these organic creatures and their current state of affairs, I have an understanding of the Reapers' attack plans." Shockwave had one of the holoprojectors display an ugly four eyed organic, "The batarians have isolated themselves from the rest of the races. A fatal mistake that has doomed their entire race. The Reapers will begin their harvest with them. Humans on the other hand pose an interesting threat. It was due to a human identified as Commander Shepard that stopped the initial invasion gigacycles ago." An image of the Commander appeared with him in his N7 armor. "Coupled with their ingenuity and rapid expansion these past few deca-cycles, I can only imagine the other me would be interested in adding their capabilities into the Reaper collective."

"I care not for the reasons, Shockwave. I want answers and coordinates. Where will they attack next? That is the only question I want answered concerning them."

Shockwave pulled up a map of the galaxy as he targeted a planet. "The turians and their homeworld, Palaven. The organic's strongest military force. The Reapers will capture batarian and human space with little difficulty. These turians however will be able to hold their own, for a time."

Megatron took a look at the planet as he took the hologram into his hand, "And what of our fleet? Are they ready for combat? And has our Reaper's weapon been refitted?"

Shockwave changed the display to the shipyard the Decepticons had constructed. "With aid from the Insecticon swarm, the Constructicons have finished assembling 98% of the automated fleet you requisitioned. The Reaper's weapon reconfiguration is roughly 87% complete. Soon it will be able to fire pure Dark Energon and convert other non-Cybertronian Reapers to obey your commands."

"Is that all? What about the scrap we scrounged from the other Reapers? Haven't we learned about their weaknesses, their strengths?"

Soundwave displayed a Reaper's schematic on his monitor, "We have. Our defenses and weapon systems have been augmented to be more efficient against their barrier system and armor plating. The captured Reaper has also proved invaluable in the augmentation process and tactical data. It is also providing intel on Reaper plans not already foreseen by Shockwave."

"Yes," Shockwave added, "I have also confirmed that their strongest weapon, indoctrination, has no affect upon us, either due to the fact that we are machines or because of the Dark Energon flowing through our circuits prevents such control. Regardless, the Reapers will not be able to turn any Decepticons to their cause. Not unless they willingly join them, like Starscream."

Megatron released his hold of the holographic planet as it returned to the display. "Decepticons, once the fleet and the Reaper are ready, we will strike and show no mercy to these Reapers. Then the Autobots and the rest of this galaxy will know we are supreme!"

Palaven has become under heavy siege from Reaper forces as the turians valiantly attempted to defend their homeworld for the past three days. Sensors on Menae picked up over eighty meteorites heading toward Mena and Palaven. A turian advisor on the Reapers has ordered their forces to attempt to clear a path for the meteorites and allow them to make land down, though he never specified why. A team of turians were attempting to hold a position but was quickly falling into Reaper control. The squad was reduced from eight to three. One of the Reapers' brutes, an amalgam creature formed from captured and converted turians and krogans, was moving closer on them as a group of other Reaper creatures continued to assault their position.

The three turians valiantly attempted to hold their position, but they knew they wouldn't make it. One of them was working on rigging their munitions to explode when they get overrun. As he did, the others spotted a meteor change its course toward their position. The meteor crashed into the brute, destroying it and leaving a small crater in its wake. The Reaper forces turned from the turians as they ran to the crater to investigate. From the crater the sounds of grinding of metal echoed as a massive humanoid shadow emerged in the smoke as bright light of blue shined through. One of its arms was lifted as more grinding started to echo from the smoke. Soon a bright red light built up behind the smoke before what appeared to be a laser shot cut through the smoke and a group of Cannibals. The beams fired several more times at the Reaper troops, as the husks tried to reach it. A metal arm broke through and crushed two of the husks before it finished off the rest of the Reaper forces.

The hand lifted as it started to shake what remained of the husks off, "Nasty." The voice came from the machine as it pulled itself out of the smoke. The massive machine placed a finger on the side of its head, "Does anyone read me? This is Dropshot. I've made it to the turian moon, Menae and have already encountered a bunch of these husk things."

"Copy that Dropshot. This is Ironhide. My team has landed on Palaven. We've got heavy Reaper resistance down here. Rendezvous with the others at the turians' main base of operation and see what you can do."

"Copy. Dropshot out." The machine turned to the turians, "Hey guys, I'm looking for you command outpost. Could you point me toward it?"

A/N: Welcome to hell Autobots! I wonder if their inference will effect the war effort? And how will Megatron's new fleet help, or hinder, the organics survival?