Roughly an hour earlier. New Cybertron.
	"You *still* haven't called your father, have you?"
	Spike looked momentarily confused. He had been helping oversee
the loading of delicate weapons systems for the move to the
agreed-upon neutral site, while mentally composing his speech to the
Subcommittee on Non-Organic Military Affairs explaining why, after
they had been informed the Decepticon's could not be reasoned with,
the Autobots were busy reasoning with them. Carly's question jolted
his brain over a few tracks.
	"Uh...no. Of course not!" He was regaining his
composure. "We're in the middle of a war here! Those...things will
probably be arriving on Cybertron in a few hours. We've got to stop
them there, or they'll probably come to Earth next. Chorale says..."
	Carly sat down on a case of energon conversion buffers.
"You're right.  We're in the middle of war." Her voice turned
harsher. "And we have been for over a decade, and we probably will be
for the rest of our lives. *Deal with it!*"
	She paused, then continued. "I've been very patient these past
few weeks. I kept hoping, eventually, you'd sort yourself out. But it
seems every time you were about to, some crisis or another occured and
gave you something to hide behind. Well, the crisis' aren't going to
stop anytime soon...and I think *that* is what you really don't want
to think about.
	"The problem...and I see it in myself, too...is that you've
got all these images in your head of what it means to be an
adult...but they're the images of adulthood a twelve year old would
hold, because you've grown up, really, here. You never had the
experiences that would have changed those images. I've...been going
through the same process, myself. It's not something pleasant to think
about, I know.
	"There isn't going to be any long stretch of peace and quiet
in our lives, Spike. I don't think either of us would know what to do
if there *was*. We are going to have to make our plans and move
forward with our lives, no matter what is going on."
	Spike finally spoke. "We...could get out of it, you
know. There must be dozens of companies who'd pay for what we
know...even what little we could tell. It's just that...I...I don't
know if this", he gestured to indicate the Ark around them,"...is the
best, well, environment to raise a child in.  You're right. It's
always going to be one crisis after another."
	"We can't leave, Spike. You know that *damn* well. Remember
that semester at MIT? And as for *me*...." she laughed, "..I've spent
the past year working with subspace equations, anti-matter power
conduits, engineering thousands of years ahead of Earth's. Do you
*really* think I'd go to GE and design, oh, transforming microwave
ovens?"
	She shook her head, sadly. "Forget it. If we tried to live a
'normal' life, we'd end up hating each other in a year...and resenting
our child for doing it to us. *That's* an even worse way to bring up a
child." Her voice dropped. "Trust me on that score, okay?"
	Spike said nothing for a few minutes. Carly responded with an
equal silence. Finally, he spoke.
	"You're right. Look, could you...could you take over for me
here? I think I've got to... go to the comm center and contact
someone."
	She smiled and nodded.

****

	Decepticon Base. Fifteen minutes before the scheduled
rendezvous.
	Megatron stood in the huge loading and launch bay. The air
warriors, the backbone of his army for eons, stood ready to fly. The
various gestalt teams huddled together. Soundwave had gathered the
whole family, in preperation for the data needs of the new
alliance. Shockwave stood resolutely by. A minor chill always struck
Megatron when he viewed Shockwave. His quiet obedience was, somehow,
far more threatening that Starscream's perpetual bluster.
	"I take it all is in readiness?" Megatron managed to make the
question sound like an order. A rousing chorus of "Yes Commander!" ,
"Aye!", "Affirimitive, Lord Megatron!" and so forth rose from the
assembled armada.  Then, without warning, alarm claxons sounded.
	"It's an Autobot sneak attack! They've betrayed us!" shouted
Starscream, beginning to transform into jet mode. The other air
warriors started to do likewise.
	"HOLD!" Megatron's voice shattered the air. "Soundwave,
release Laserbeak!  Get some visuals! All of my other warriors,
prepare for battle! If this is indeed treachery, the Autobots are far
more foolish than I had ever imagined!"
	Soundwave tapped his chest. The portal to his personal pocket
universe opened, and Laserbeak, in cassette form, shot out,
transforming to his winged birdlike mode as he did.
	"Laserbeak. Operation: Observation."
	Laserbeak dove low, then swooped out. A few seconds later,
Soundwave began displaying images transmitted from Laserbeak's optic
circuits, enhanced and clarified.
	The sky and sea were clear of Autobots. There was an energy
emission from high above, though, powerful enough to trip the
sensitive alarms. Laserbeak accelerated skyward.
	"Soundwave, full magnification." Megatron commanded, and
Soundwave complied.
	A small dark speck appeard in the hologram. With each second, it grew
larger. A terrifyingly familiar cube quickly became visible.
	"Recall Laserbeak!  Soundwave, transform to communications
mode and alert the Autobots. Warriors!" he turned to the
crowd. "Shockwave and Starscream will remain here with me. The rest of
you are to head to the appointed rendezvous point."
	Shockwave spoke then, in even tones. "Analysis:You will be
destroyed in any combat with this intruder. Fact:You are the best
leader for the Decepticon cause at this time. Conclusion:You must
leave to avoid harming the cause."
	"Quite logical, Shockwave, but for one thing. A good leader
does not send warriors to their deaths needlessly, nor does he flee
while others battle for him! I am Megatron the Mighty! I am he who was
christened the Slag Maker by my foes! I will *stay* *and* *fight*!" I
hope that little rant inspires them, Megatron thought. The Decepticon
cause is more important than even my own continued functioning...and
I'm the only one powerful enough to buy my army the time it needs to
escape.
	Megatron shifted into tank form and, mentally, primed the warp
gate to an anti-matter neutron star which only he knew about. He could
feel the power building within him. He knew he would be destroyed, but
he would take thousands to the smelting pit with him when he went!
	As he began to roll for the exit leading to the open air,
dozens of green flashes of light filled the bay. Suddenly, they were
surrounded by the mutated "squishies" he had seen on the
recordings. They were everywhere. As each was fried, blasted,
squashed, shocked, or otherwise dispatched, still more would appear.
	Megatron's main turret spun madly, trying to clear a path. All
the while he was broadcasting silent orders, commanding an orderly
fighting retreat.  However, it was doing little good. After the first
few minutes, the next wave appeared with near immunity to every attack
the Decepticons could throw...and they were on him. A dozen of them
swarmed over his tank form like maggots. Then, he felt one place
something on him, there was a flash of green obscuring his vision, and
his world shattered into a million pieces in front of him.
	In an instant, then, the hall was empty of invaders. The
battered remains of the Decepticon army stood...or occasionally
slumped...there in shock.
	"Decepticons!" Starscream's voice cut through the growing
mumble of panic.  "We still have orders to obey!" Not that I approve,
he thought bitterly, but at least we'll have the pleasure of seeing
the Autobots die alongside us!
	"Follow me to the rendezvous site!"
	High above, in the Borg vessel....
]Assimilate the chosen Incarnation.
]Proceeding....
]It is done.

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