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The New Age - (Market Commodity book II)	By : Scienceteacher Category: Transformers > G1 > Round Robins Views: 6401 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Do not own the Transformers, am not making anything from this story.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
**Ghosts from the Past part 2**

**Eve Sparks part 5**

**An Arc in the New Era**

**Written by StSE, Universe G1/BW**

He pressed against the sides of the dark prison once again. Testing his building strength… Testing to see if he could break free… Almost…Almost there! He heard the stiff material creak and crack slightly. Yes, he would soon be free again. Soon feel his pedes treading the path to his destiny!

Grinding his jagged dental plates together, the mech considered that very idea. He remembered his past lives. Yes – lives! Unlike the second rebirth of his spark, where he was ignorant of his past life – This rebirth was a full rebirth. He remembered with incredible clarity – his former lives and his deaths - and the reasons for each death like they were just yesterday.

So why was he now given a third chance at life? Had Megatron again called him? The beast now going to try yet again to control him?!? The strengthening mech narrowed his optics at the thought. He would tear the dishonorable traitor of time itself – into tiny little pieces! His talons curled against the armor of his legs. Tiny taps of discontent emphasizing his low growl. Unlike Megatron, HE was an honorable warrior! A true warrior! Each of his deaths had proven this!

Again, he felt the pulsing. The pulsation of the mother spark who had given him the breath of life once again. The mother spark was fairly close by. Was it Vector Sigma which he felt? Growling, the mech scratched at his tiny prison. It didn’t feel like his original mother spark. It felt different. His turned his optics in the direction from which he felt it. The mother spark needed him, beckoned him. Of that, he was sure! “Grrrrrrr, I strengthen and then I shall heed your grrrrrr call!” he snarled. He flexed his servos again. Yes, soon he would break free. Soon, the warrior would stand tall again!

“The queen calls us. I feel her!” A deep voice replied.

“Sssssstttttccc, Inferno? You too are reborn?” The warrior flexed again, the tight walls of his cage creaking.

Scratches could be heard - The sound of a mech flexing against wood. “My loyalty has been rewarded! The queen’s spark has given me breath. The colony calls!” The sound of a board snapping, more movement of metal on wood… “Dinobot, we must find the colony! The queen calls!”

Dinobot didn’t know whether to enjoy the fact that another Predacon had also been given life – or dread it. If it was Megatron who had given them life – he would be forced to go through the blindly loyal warrior in his effort to kill the tyrant. On the other hand, if it wasn’t Megatron – if it was the Maximals – then he would welcome the unquestioning loyalty of the Ant. But until they found the mother spark, he wouldn’t know. So perhaps he should use the Ant for now. “Grrrrr, break free and release me Inferno. Then we shall, nsssshhh, find the colony!”

With a great cracking, the crate containing the powerful Ant exploded outward. The crate that had been stacked on top of it fell onto him and was immediately thrown off. It crashed against the fuselage, breaking open and dumping its contents of biodegradable peanuts and clone onto the floor.

Inferno scanned around himself, slightly confused. He switched his optics to infrared. They were in some type of ship. But it was unlike any he’d seen before. All around him, boxes and crates were stacked. An unactivated mech was lying on the floor. He strode to it, rolling it over with a light kick. “Dinobot? You aren’t Dinobot!” He snorted down at the black painted mech in confusion.

“I’m still in this, ssssssss, cage,” Dinobot growled. He hit his helm up against the top of his prison in order to allow his fellow soldier to find him. “Is there another, hissssss, Predacon trapped with us?”

Inferno looked down at the still mech on the floor. “No Predacon. He wears the insignia of the Decepticon colony. We are on some type of ship, of which I’m not familiar of.”

“What?!? Grrrrr, set me free so that I may, hissssss, investigate!” Dinobot demanded.

Standing up, Inferno went to the stack of wood crates. Carefully, he listened to each one. Realizing his fellow Predacon was in one at the bottom of the stack, he casually lifted the ones on top and threw them against the bulkhead of the strange ship. Getting down to his targeted cage, he ripped off the top of it.

Dinobot slowly rose to his pedes. The few biodegradable peanuts that hadn’t been transformed into his organic portion, falling off of him…. Just as Inferno had done, he shifted his visual spectrum to infrared. “You are right, hssstttt, Inferno, this ship is not Predacon or Maximal.” Dinobot stepped out of his cage and went to a bulkhead, running his claws over the surface as he studied it. There was some writing on it. In a language he’d never seen. “Nor is this ancient Cybertronian construct. No, ssssttttt, this is of alien design.”

His pede hit something, looking down he spied the hand of a mech. Grabbing the cage he was trapped in, he ripped the wood to pieces, freeing the mech. But the mech just landed in a heap on the floor, unconscious in stasis lock. The glint of a symbol caught Dinobot’s optic. He knelt down and rolled the mech over. His optics widened in total disbelief! His studies of the history of warfare on Cybertron let him easily identify the mech. “Skywarp. This is Skywarp, terror of the skies, grrrrrr. But this makes no sense! He should be ten times this size!”

Inferno was pulling out more mechs from their cages. He lined them up on the floor. “Our queen will reward us to bring them to her. They will serve the colony well!”

Dinobot dragged the purple mech over to the others. Staring down at the group in disbelief… There were Autobots and Decepticons. All easily identified by him. But this was wrong! They were in the size range of Predacons and Maximals! “Grrrrr, we must activate them. Find out why, ssssstttt, they are our size. And, grrrrr, why they were caged.” He considered his options. There was no damage visible on their chassis. No outward reason explaining why they were in stasis lock. Perhaps a jolt of energy would knock them out of this stasis lock? But whom should he activate first?

Deciding that it’d be easier to contain and control an Autobot, he turned his optics to the black and white one. From the historical records, this one was calm and cool, not the type to act without forethought. Yes, Jazz was a good mech to start unraveling this mystery with. And potentially a future ally if Dinobot needed to kill Megatron. His optics powered up, and he hit the mech with a half-charge fire.

The Jazz clone’s chassis arched up in response to the bolt of energy shooting through his systems. His battle processor forced his meta to activate. His blue visor brightened as he brought himself online. He sat up, reeling in confusion. There had been no activation codes given! This was against protocol! “ Model 82365-Z-8888-TDI Jazz activated – registered owner: Samuel Westerly,” he said. He looked around him in the dark place, his optics shifting to infrared as he sought to find his owner.

But there were no humans around him, just two very strange looking small mechs. He ran their image through his identifier programs, but came back with a blank. Cocking his head, he met the silver one’s optics. “Where is my owner Samuel Westerly?” he asked.

“Grrrr, owner? We have no ‘owners’! Snnnnngggsttt, are you glitched Autobot Jazz? We have just, sssnnnnttt, freed you from your cage,” Dinobot replied. He studied the Predacon-sized Autobot as he stood.

“My shipping container? Is that what you mean? But I was being shipped to Samuel. I need to go to him.” The Jazz clone considered trying to piece the crate back together. He felt lost and confused. This was not what was supposed to happen. But the shipping crate was destroyed, the shipping label torn to shreds. He was now lost in transit! With no way to find his owner!

“We go to the colony. You will go with us Jazz. So that we may present you to the queen,” Inferno scanned the Autobot, watching for signs of weapons powering up.

“Colony? Queen? What’s going on dudes? And why are you calling me Jazz? I haven’t gotten my designation yet. Jazz is just my model.” Now he was getting even more confused. These strange mechs weren’t making a lick of sense.

“Sniiiiittttt, but you are Jazz – are you not?” The silver mech cocked his head as he studied the strange small Autobot. He detected no signs of weapon activation, no signs of aggression from him. Very strange for a decorated soldier!

So they thought he was the real Jazz? The clone couldn’t believe that. The real mech was like five times his height! “No, I’m just cloned from him man. That’s why I’m a ‘Jazz model’,” he explained with a smile. Perhaps if he was nice to these strange mechs, they would lead him to some humans. Then the humans would call the factory. Find out his owner’s address and get him shipped out stat!

“Grrrrrr, a clone? A CLONE!?! There are no clones!” Dinobot grabbed the calm Jazz look-a-like and brought him up until their olfactory sensors touched. He snarled in his most threatening tone.

“Man, where’ve you been? I’m the one-thousand-five-hundred-and-fifty-sixth clone of Jazz. We’re one of the top sellers!” He wasn’t the least bit bothered by the mech’s actions. After all, his programming was for being a musician, DJ, fashion guru and driver. So he was programmed to handle drunk and disorderly humans by calming them down. That took a sense of humor.

Dinobot’s mouth fell open. “You mean you are a mere commodity! Grrrrr, to be bought and sold! This is, ssssssttttt, outrageous!” He dropped the clone and stalked towards the other unactivated clones. “Are these mechs all just, sssnnnnntttt, clones?”

The Jazz clone dusted himself off and stood up. “Yep.”

“And just who is, snnntttt, building you for this outrage?” Dinobot optic-balled him critically. Whoever it was – needed to be stopped! Mechs were not to be bought and sold, regardless of if they were clones or not!

He shrugged. “If it’s a bot clone – then the Autobots are. And if it’s a con clone – then the Decepticons are,” he explained in an offhanded manor. He thought everyone knew that.

“And just, grrrrrr, who are they selling you to?” The mech curled his talons around the limp Skywarp clone’s intake and lifted him up so that he could look at his face plate. He couldn’t believe that the mechs themselves were doing this. It went against doctrine! A doctrine set up after the assumed extinction of Mother Earth and the new human colony of Terra Firma had been created by the Autobots of ancient Cybertron. It was an ancient law!

“Humans, who else would they? Man, they came up with the idea didn’t they?” The Jazz clone knelt next to a Dead End clone. Reaching out, he ran his digits over his shiny red armor. “You know, for a model that’s so depressed all the time, this guy’s got class,” he mumbled to himself.

When the clone mentioned the word ‘humans’; all Dinobot could picture was the ape-like protohumans that he had saved – not once, but twice! How could those primitive creatures OWN a mech clone!?! He stared at the Jazz look-a-like in shock. Totally appalled that the clone seemed to think nothing of it! Nothing of being owned by an inferior life form! And then seeing the Autobot clone caressing and complementing a Decepticon clone about his appearance – just flabbergasted Dinobot to no end. What had happened since his latest death? What great changes had occurred?

He dropped the Skywarp clone and grabbed the Jazz clone. “Tell me what has happened since the protohumans first walked this world! Grrrrrr, tell me!”

“Dude, I’m not loaded with history files. You want that, you might want to activate the Dead End model. They’re usually sold to astrophysicists and geologists and stuff. They’re fascinated with all that past destruction and junk, and doomsdayer humans like ‘em,” the Jazz clone told him, nodding towards the red clone lying prone on the floor.

“Just tell me what, sssttttt, the current situation is. What are these ‘humans’ like? Grrrrrr, what is happening with the mech war,” Dinobot glared unblinkingly at him. A good warrior looked before he acted. He found out the political situation. Made plans….

“Oh, that stuff? Yep, I can tell you that stuff.” The Jazz clone was happy. He liked to talk about the current world, and fashions, and music…….

----

Dinobot paced back and forth, he glanced at his new ‘squadron’ with disgust in his optics. Here he had miniature clones of some of the greatest mech soldiers – and not a single one claimed that they could activate their weapon systems. They claimed they didn’t even have the programs. And what made matters even worse, is that each one was more concerned by the fact that they were ‘lost in transit’ to their owners – than anything else!

The great warrior snarled under his breath as he considered his options. He’d gotten their temporary loyalty by promising to lead them to humans eventually - So that they could be sent on their way to their owners again. But was their loyalty worth anything if they had no weapon systems? Sure, the Motormaster, Breakdown and Wildrider clones had kickboxing and other Martial art programs loaded into their processors. Apparently they had been on their way to a life at a human fighter-training facility or something. And the Ravage clone also had personal attack programming, having been purchased to be some human’s animal security guard. But the Skywarp clone was a freagin’ useless pleasure clone. The Jazz clone was nothing but a musician. The Dead End clone was fixated on the end of time, and would probably stand there just begging to be shot in a fight. And he didn’t even want to think about the Afterburner clone. The argumentative twit reminded him way too much of Rattrap!

Not a single one would he consider as an actual warrior. The transmetal velociraptor wasn’t pleased at all. His first true ‘followers’ and the only one he’d consider worth anything was the blindly fixated Inferno. Who would only follow him as long as they were heading towards the mother spark who’d given them life again. After that, Inferno was that mech’s to command. Dinobot just prayed it wasn’t slaggin’ Megatron this time! Anyone but that mech! Primus, he’d even prefer calling Rattrap commander over that! Well maybe...

“Well, let us meet our fate, grrrrr,” Dinobot growled.

“The queen awaits, let us go!” Inferno trotted ahead of them - Down the long narrow black interior of the alien ship….

They found what appeared to be an exit. Dinobot commanded the Motormaster clone to push it open. Since that clone was the tallest and strongest of them all, it made sense that if any of them could open it – he could. But the hatch didn’t budge. Several of the clones put their servos next to his. Still, it didn’t budge…

“Stand back useless clones. This, hssssttttt, entrance shall be opened.” Dinobot’s optics glowed as he activated his primary lasers. The clones all oooooed and awwwed as the blackness lit up with the power of his beam. The hatch blew into shards, allowing the ash which had pressed against it to begin to flow into the interior of the plane. “What is this?!?” Dinobot shrieked. Before he knew what was happening, he was up to his knee plates in the gray stuff.

“We are underground! We must dig a passage for the colony!” Without missing a beat, Inferno transformed into beast mode, the great Ant digging for all he was worth.

------

“What great devastation hath befallen the, sssssttttt, world we hath entered,” Dinobot growled. He shook himself again, the fine ash drifting off his chassis. He glanced behind him at his ‘men’. Now each barely recognizable under their coating of grey…

“The colony! We must find the colony!” Inferno exclaimed. The Ant stepped easily on the surface of the soft ash. His weight evenly distributed amongst his six legs. He turned circles a few times, scanning for the mother spark. “The queen! The queen is this way!” Without waiting, he began to scurry in that direction.

But the clones and Dinobot could not travel as easily. They sunk in. Almost wading hip-deep in the ash as they struggled on. Inferno would stop every few strides, calling on them to hurry.

Dinobot grumbled as he struggled through. He kept his weapons systems activated. His sharp optics scanning around them, looking for any signs of danger… The entire area looked like a fall out zone from hell. The rounded tops of gigantic metal buildings could be seen here and there. The remains of other collapsed air ships were sticking out of the ash. The warrior didn’t like what he was seeing, didn’t like it at all. He had no idea what had happened to this world, but whatever it was – wasn’t good. A light dusting of ash continued to fall, making the entire scene seem like an eerie twilight scene….

The Dead End clone grabbed a handful of the stuff and licked it. His internal sensors doing a scan of the substance… “I knew it, I just freagin’ knew it. It’s pointless to go on. We’re supposed to be going through the Indianapolis hub, and this ash means only one thing… Only one thing…It’s over. Everything is over…” he mumbled to himself.

“Grrrrrrr, and what would that be?” Dinobot asked.

The clone looked up in surprise. Obviously, he hadn’t expected anyone to listen to him much less be interested in what he said. “The end. That’s what it means. The great extinction event that’s been overdue by forty thousand years. I knew it. Knew it was too good to be true to live a happy life with my owner.’

Dinobot wanted to hit the idiot, he couldn’t stand doomsdayers. That’s one reason he’d always gotten into it with Rattrap. But this freager was worse than Rattrap. Rattrap would bitch and moan, but he wouldn’t just give up. And just what was this predicted event anyways? “What is this, sssssssss, event?”

Cocking his head, the Dead End clone gave Dinobot a look that inferred ‘everyone knows’. But when Dinobot raised his claw to strike him, he gulped and stammered: “Yellowstone must’ve blown. Yes, the killer returns with a vengeance. We will all cease to function. It’s pointless to try and survive.”

Dinobot couldn’t help it, without breaking stride; he grabbed the sniveling coward by his neck. “What is this Yellowstone?” he demanded.

The clone was starting to answer when…..

“The queen! The queen has come!” Inferno shrieked in glee.

Above them a red fighter streaked straight up into the sky, disappearing almost immediately in the thick, black rolling clouds of ash. The muffled sound of fully engaged afterburners filled the thick air.

Inferno jumped up and down, his optics locked on where his sensors told him that his queen was. “My queen! My queen! We are here! We have come!” he yelled as loud as he could. He waved his front pair of legs, a seemingly pointless gesture in the gloomy darkness of volcanic night. Dinobot smirked at the irony.

Or maybe it wasn’t so pointless a gesture. Within a few astroseconds the jet engine sounds stopped suddenly. Then the sound of a combat fighter in a dive filled their audios.

“My queen! She’s coming back!” Inferno shrieked gleefully. But his bliss turned to total horror as the red blur shot by them. No sound of engines.

They turned, tracking the blur with their optics. As one, they gasped in shock as the red blur hit one of the collapsed air ships. A fire ball brightening up the darkness, the explosion rolling over them, making them stagger back…

“NOOOOOOOOO! MYYYYYY QUUUUEEEENNN!” Without a second thought, Inferno scrambled towards the raging inferno. He sensed her spark. The beautiful spark of his queen! Not even feeling the searing heat, he dove through the flames. His front pair of legs feeling around desperately… He felt a chassis.. Felt the pulse of a spark… Grabbing it, he backed out of the flames, dragging his prize… His queen…

-------

“/Help! Scream’s shot outside! He’s outside!/”

Jester’s frantic com filled the audios of every clone in the Unit, as well as the ears of the three humans currently suited up in their ECEs. Every eye/optic turned towards the landing platform. The sound of running feet and pedes filled the hangar as all available members rushed towards him.

Travis took command even as he ran. Ordering all members of the Apache squadron to transform… He glanced at the two suited up woman running next to him. He didn’t want to take them into potential danger, but if the Seeker would listen to anybody – it would be Sharon. “Power up your weapons, we don’t know what we’ll find,” he ordered.

The humans all grabbed the skids of the copters as Apache Squadron lowered down. Flipping themselves up, they secured themselves just as they’d been practicing. The three copters headed straight for the platform.

Jester grabbed onto Clipper just as he went by. Settling himself on the opposite skid of Travis, he gave him a worried look. Steel gave Ashley an almost identical look, as he too, found a spot on an empty skid. This time, one of Storm’s.

Charge also jumped and caught hold of a skid. Spinner struggling to maintain level as the heavy military clone settled himself across from Sharon. “/All clones, on standby. Be ready!/” the Prime clone com’d. He caught a reflection of himself in Sharon’s gold face mask. He was himself again. An Optimus clone in full control! “/We’ll get him back, I promise!/” he told her just as they zoomed through the hangar ‘entrance’.

She stretched a leg under Spinner’s belly, touching Charge’s pede with her boot. “/I know we will Charge. I’m just so afraid of how he’ll be when we do find him./”

“/So Jag wants nothing to do with him? Nothing?/” After sharing a tent with the pair and seeing the intensity of their love, Charge was a little shocked. Sure, he’d expected to have to help smooth things out between them for a while. Perhaps even filling Jag’s position in Scream’s life temporarily, but he’d hoped that there was a shot at them reconciling.

“/Nothing. Nothing at all Charge./” Sharon’s voice was filled with sadness, telling the clone that there truly was no chance of reconciliation in her opinion.

Charge stilled himself, grinding his dental plates together as his optics scanned the haunting darkness of falling ash. It was true then. He’d have to help the Seeker pull himself together without Jag. Have to do whatever it took. Even if that meant giving himself to Scream. The Prime clone’s optics strayed up into the ash-filled clouds above them. If the real Prime could dedicate his very life in the effort to bring peace to Cybertron; he could give his spark to bring peace to another clone’s soul. It seemed so paudry in comparison.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted as a ball of fire lit up the darkness.

“/Oh my god – he’s crashed into a jet!/” Sharon screamed over the com.

The copters struggled to turn and head towards the inferno. Their blades beating heavily in the ash-laden air…..

------

Dinobot had just reached Inferno when he heard the unmistakable sounds of mechanical rotor blades cutting through the air. He turned, raising his weapons and yelling for the clones to prepare for possible battle. The shapes of ancient alt modes came into his view. The flyers carrying passengers along their skids. Those passengers – armed and pointing their weapons at them! His optics brightened as he met the assault with an offensive. His streaks of laser fire barely missing them.

“/What the hell! We’re being fired on! Evasive!/” Travis barked. The choppers split up, weapons activating as they scanned the darkness below them.

“/Scream’s spark signature is down there. He’s surrounded by eight unsparked clones and… No freagin’ way!/” Spinner cut out briefly, too shocked by what his sensors were telling him.

“/What?/” Charge demanded. He aimed his gun below him, ready to blow all of those potentially infected clones skyhigh in order to rescue Scream.

“/Two Cybertronian spark signatures are showing up on sensors. In the range of Decepticon frequencies,/” Clipper explained. He began to run a second scan.

“/But Rumble said that he was the only one left!/” Ashley stammered. She held her weapon out and pointed down, but her fingers were shaking horribly. She was no solder! She didn’t want to fight!

“/Well, if they are Decepticons, they should know me. You guys, stay next to us,/” Sharon comlinked to them. It was better to meet the unidentified Decepticons as a potential ally – than as an enemy. She had little faith that the clones in her Unit were ready to face battle-hardened cons and try to win! But tact? Yes, outsmarting cons was the better solution…

Spinner boldly struck out in front of the squadron. The Blade clone completely fearless, and kind of excited about a potential fight! They circled around the group of clones and mechs, using their scanners since the ash limited their vision. All they could make out were formless gray shapes…

“/This is Professor Sharon Trakersly of MIT, I request that you lower your weapons. We are allies,/” she radioed over both Autobot and Decepticon frequencies, along with all others in between.

Down on the ground, every single newly activated clone heard her message. Instinctively, they each cross-referenced her voice with what they had on file for that name. Since she was a primary researcher listed in both companies’ main files, her voice patterns and image were locked into their memory banks. This was a safety precaution built in by the humans. If clones weren’t directly controlled by humans or human-directed orders – their programming would dictate them to obey certain chosen officials in both companies. A safety precaution unknown by the Decepticons, and supported by the few Autobots who were ‘in the know’.

“Lower your weapon! It’s Sharon Trakersly from research! She’s come to find us!” the Afterburner clone yelled. He lunged at Dinobot, waving his servos in front of his face plate.

The clones all took off, heading for the area that the blurry form of the chopper and supposed human was landing. They didn’t even give the two mechs a second glance as they split. Their full attention on telling this human all of their problems concerning being ‘lost’ – the only thing in their metas.

“Grrrrrrr, traitorous worthless pieces of slag!” Dinobot growled. He glanced over at Inferno then, for the first time really looking at the smoldering chassis the Ant cradled in his first set of legs. It didn’t look like much anymore. Seared so badly that he couldn’t even make out what mech, or possibly clone, the being was. But one thing was painfully obvious. The strong mother spark pulsed brightly through its melted armor. Even with the extensive damage, the being’s spark stayed strong.

“The Queen is in pain, we must find the colony, put her in the CR chamber,” Inferno rambled in a worried tone. He glanced at the gray shapes of the clones who had apparently deserted them. They were running towards some other blurry shapes. “Perhaps the colony has come for her?” he muttered hopefully.

“They are armed, we must, grrrrrrr, watch ourselves,” Dinobot growled under his breath. His optics watched the other two choppers as they landed on opposites sides of him and Inferno. “They have already, sssssssss, flanked us. We have no where to go but, hhhhhhssss, through them.”

Inferno transformed, cradling the limp wreck against his side with one arm, his weapon out in his other hand. “If they are from a hostile colony, we must kill them, protect the queen!”

“/What the hell is going on?/” Travis com’d. He’d ordered the other two teams to flank the mechs, cutting off any route of escape.

“/These clones claim that the two mechs activated them. That the mechs don’t seem to know what’s going on in today’s world. The mechs promised to find a human in order to get these clones to cooperate with them,/” she replied. She and Charge were still trying to sort things out. It was proving to be difficult, since now the Stunticon clones were bickering over who’s owner Sharon should contact first.

“/Are the mechs hostile?/” Clipper asked. He and Jester powered up their weapons, just in case. Ashley gulped back her fear and copied their actions.

“/Unsure, The Jazz clone says that one is really weird at keeps mumbling about ‘finding the queen and the colony’/,” Charge radioed back.

“/Neither one is identifiable by the clones. Oh, and the weird one’s alt mode is an ant/,” Sharon added. “/He’s the one who pulled Scream out of the inferno and is now holding him./”

“A freagin’ ANT!?! Seriously?!?” Jester snickered. Of all the things to transform into, who in the hell would want to be an ant!?!

They moved a step forward, but then Ashley grabbed their arms. “/Wait a second! Did you say he was an ant, and was rambling on about Queens and Colonies?/” Her mind was working overtime. Those summers spent studying insects flowing into it.

“/Yes, you heard me right. According to the Jazz clone/,” Charge replied.

“/Shit! Hold on before you get near them, let me think for a second!/” Ashley paused, trying to remember everything she’d learned about ants. Then she began to jog a wide berth around the mystery mechs, circling around to Sharon and Charge. Grabbing the Prime clone’s hand, she began to drag him towards the strange mechs. “/I got an idea Charge, just go with it/,” she told him over the com.

“They’re approaching!” Inferno said. He lifted his weapon, gripping the wreck that was his queen protectively against his side.

Dinobot spread his legs into a good fighting stance, ready to take anyone on if he must.

“Ant?” a female voice rang out.

The pair had gotten close enough for the two mechs to see them. There was an almost-twin of Optimus Prime, with a much shorter gray-green being next to him. The species of the shorter one was hard to tell. The scans said it was both organic and mechanical, and all it had for a face – was a gold reflective plate. But it was from the shorter one that the question had arisen.

Inferno shifted anxiously, the unidentified gold-masked being had obviously directed their query at him. He straightened his shoulder plates. “I am Inferno, faithful soldier to the queen!” he replied back. Well, at least he planned to be a faithful soldier to the queen he held. As soon as she was repaired that is….

The pair moved slowly closer. The shorter one motioned to the Optimus Prime clone. “Give our queen to him. He’s one of our colony’s drones,” she ordered.

The ant narrowed his optics at the small version of the great Optimus Prime. Inferno was still a Predacon, still trapped into thinking that Maximals were his enemy. Wasn’t this Autobot one of their fathers? What would happen to him in a colony ruled by such drones? But he needed a colony to be part of. And if his queen had given him life again in order to follow an Autobot clone drone – should he dare argue?

The pair moved closer as the giant ant thought. The Optimus Prime clone holding his arms out to Inferno, his actions showing that he wanted his damaged queen back. “You are welcome to join our…. Colony…. Any mech who protects the queen is welcome.”

Inferno’s optics widened slightly. He was being offered a position in the colony! By one of their drones! Puffing his chest out in pride, he put his weapon away and hefted the wrecked queen into his arms. “I accept your invitation. But I will carry my queen!” He gave the Optimus drone a sure nod.

Dinobot narrowed his optics, studying the powerful clone, his weapons still out. “Grrrrrr, you welcome those whom you do not, ssssssss, know?” he asked with doubt in his tone.

The Optimus clone turned to him, holding out his hand in friendship. “In these times of devastation, we are all allies: Sentient clones, humans and all mechs. We need each other in order to survive.”

His statement made sense. And Dinobot really had no other option. Until he found out what was really going on. The silver warrior lowered his weapons. “We are allies, grrrrr, for now,” he replied as he grasped the clone’s hand….

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Note: **snicker** Caught most of you off guard didn’t I? Well, since Beast Wars is so connected to G1 – it just made sense to bring some of my favorite beasty characters into the mix……

Time for more smex, don’t ya think? Hmmmmm, what to write for the next chapter……
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The New Age - (Market Commodity book II)