Optimus entered an airlock and strapped on a harness that would allow him to fly through space without a spacecraft. He then activated a mic. “Deactivate artificial gravity in Bow Airlock One,” he called.
“Deactivating artificial gravity in Bow Airlock One,” replied Teletraan. Optimus then felt his feet leave the floor. He made his way to the wall opposite the airlock door and grabbed something on it, stopping his momentum and facing the airlock door.
“Open external door of Bow Airlock One.”
“Opening external door of Bow Airlock One.” The door slid open, letting a force-field take its place and do the job of keeping the air in. Optimus put his hands and feet onto the wall and took in a breath to prepare himself.
“…Depressurize Bow Airlock One.”
“Depressurizing Bow Airlock One.” The airlock then deactivated the forcefield and let all the air out. Optimus nudged himself off the wall and went through the airlock, activating the harness and making his way towards the meeting point between the two battlefleets. Ultra Magnus was at his right wearing the same harness and Vector Sigma was at Ultra Magnus’ right, simply flying with no aid at all. On Optimus’ left was Megatron in vehicle mode and on Megatron’s left was Gaia. They all flew through space and saw Starscream, Skywarp, Sunstorm, and a fourth Seeker arriving. This Seeker was purple with cyan highlights. Both sides stopped. The Seekers transformed, as did Megatron, and the mystery Seeker was revealed to be a femme.
“Who’s she?” asked Optimus.
“SLIPSTREAM?!” snarled Megatron. He prepared one of his fusion cannons.
“You fire that thing,” warned Starscream, “and this parlay is over!”
“You really wanna lose me now?” asked Slipstream.
“You gave Starscream a reason to conquer Cybertron so he could hide the truth about our race, didn’t you?!” growled Ultra Magnus.
“Don’t blame Slipstream,” remarked Skywarp. “She was merely the tool of your betrayal.”
“If you wish to see its grand architect,” chuckled Sunstorm, “look to your right.” Gaia turned her head to look at Megatron, Megatron then looked at Optimus, then Optimus looked to Ultra Magnus, then Ultra Magnus looked to Vector Sigma, then Vector Sigma looked to his right before realizing everyone was looking at him.
“Oh no, you don’t! My hands are clean of this!” he yelped.
“I believe we have business to discuss,” remarked Starscream.
“What do you want?” asked Optimus.
“An exchange. Slipstream has withheld valuable data from me. She won’t say what it is, even under Cortical Psychic Patch, so it’s her for the Chaos Emeralds.” Megatron noticed a wry grin on her face.
“Done!” he called.
“Not done!” replied Optimus.
“Give us a cycle,” Ultra Magnus said to Starscream. Starscream nodded as the heroes huddled.
“Megatron, have you lost it?!” hissed Optimus. “They’ve got Tornedron!”
“Slipstream, evidently,” replied Megatron, “has data concerning how to best him. Perhaps the notes on how Primacron made them in the first place?”
“I just read her mind,” supplied Gaia. “That’s exactly what she has.”
“Would we really have time to make a new set of Emeralds?” asked Ultra Magnus.
“If we follow Primacron’s formula, then yes!” urged Vector Sigma.
“…We’re outvoted, Ultra Magnus,” sighed Optimus. Ultra Magnus gave his own sigh. Everyone then turned to Starscream and his group. “All right, Starscream. We agree to your terms.”
“Splendid,” replied Starscream. “Now, the Emeralds?” Optimus made a call.
“Gather the Chaos Emeralds and beam them to my position,” he ordered. After a minute, a pouch containing the Emeralds appeared in front of Optimus. He then pushed the bag away from him and it floated to Starscream. Starscream then pushed Slipstream away from him. Megatron caught her. “Now, advise your fleet,” warned Starscream. “You can fight and all of you will die, or you can run and only MOST of you will die.”
“You manipulated us into remaining ignorant of our origins,” hissed Optimus.
“A necessary sacrifice. It was for the greater good to keep you to your fate.”
“That statement alone seals yours. We will fight and you will die.”
“…So be it.” Optimus then turned to Gaia.
“Get us back.” Gaia nodded and the group, with Slipstream, vanished.
Optimus was back on the Ark’s bridge. He sat in the Captain’s chair as Goldbug rushed to him. “Please tell me I didn’t see that!” he hissed. “You didn’t just give our only weapon away to the enemy!”
“Slipstream found Primacron’s notes on how he successfully made the original Chaos Emeralds,” explained Optimus. “We have a way to make our own.”
“Optimus, we don’t have time to make new ones!”
“More time than you think, actually,” called Prowl. “Sensors detect no energy build-up from the enemy.”
“…Really?” asked Optimus. “…That’s weird.”
“This is our chance!” urged Goldbug. “We can open fire and-!”
“No.” Optimus’ declaration made everyone blink in surprise. “Open a channel to the fleet.” Prowl obeyed and Optimus stood up. “All ships, this is Optimus. If there are those of you that feel I made a poor decision in giving the Chaos Emeralds to the enemy, do not panic. They surrendered someone that, unbeknownst to them, had Primacron’s data on their creation. They’ll be asking us for materials to make backups so we can still defeat Tornedron. They’re waiting for us to make the first move. Until the new Emeralds are created, no one is to fire unless I give the order.” The fleet acknowledged Optimus’ order. Prowl then examined something.
“Sir, I’ve noticed a discrepancy on the call,” he reported. “The bot who responded for the Nemesis didn’t sound like Megatron.”
“Hail the Nemesis.” Prowl keyed in a command.
“Nemesis is responding.”
“On screen.” The bot that came on screen wasn’t Megatron. “Thundercracker?! Where’s Megatron?!”
“YOUR brother,” replied Thundercracker, “stayed on the Nemesis long enough to give me command of the vessel while he, Vector Sigma, and Gaia headed to Voksphere.” Optimus groaned in frustration.
“Because, of COURSE, he’d go behind my back! Do you have a lock on him?”
“We have radio capability with him.”
“Give me his frequency. I need to chew him out!”