Domestic Disturbance

Chapter 4 : Sighting

One month. One month and just a little over a week Optimus Prime had been sitting and staring at those monitors. Those silent, unblinking, Spark forsaken monitors. It it turned out, the phrase "I'll take a break soon" was a loose one, stretching for nine days more despite Jazz's attempted intervention. However, Optimus' nearly obsessive determination finally paid off in the form of small blip.

Make that several small blips, on Teletraan 1's radar.

Several Decepticon energy signatures, all speeding out in various directions all over the globe. Prime could only stare for a moment, his optics blinking in disbelief at first before he found himself leaping to his feet so suddenly that he nearly fell over. His servo, moving of it's own accord, slammed down on the alarm. Sirens suddenly blazing before the emergency channel was opened.

"Autobots! Assemble to me at once! Decepticons sighted!"

It was only a matter of a few precious moments before every Autobot aboard the Ark had filed into the bridge. Surprisingly, all were present and accounted for even after such a long dry spell. It seemed the rest of the crew hadn't planned on moving too far from base incase the Prime's hunch was correct. A small surge of pride as Optimus realized just how much his intuition was respected by his comrades.

Cliffjumper and Prowl immediately took position at Teletraan's monitoring stations, isolating each Con signature and location. The large viewing screens flickering to life as they displayed the coordinates.

"Can you tell where they are heading and how many?" The Autobot general, now suddenly feeling alive again after remaining still for so long, shifted his strained optics from screen to screen.

"Looks like five bogeys in total, all heading out in different locations around Earth." Cliffjumper's digits flew expertly over the keyboards. "I'm predicting flight paths and possible destinations now."

"They don't seem to be too concerned where they are heading." Prowl scoffed. "Two of them are flying directly over open land. Not a city or a possible target anywhere."

Prime watched as the small dots of light, each representing a Decepticon, drifted across the radar to their unknown locations. Something about this felt odd.

"This isn't exactly normal behavior. Can you at least identify the energy signatures?"

"Already on it!" The smaller red bot grinned.

It took a few seconds of skillful keyboard navigation before five profiles lit up the display screens. Optimus quirked an optic ridge at the identities of the five Con targets.

"Damn, am I good or what?" Cliffjumper spun a quick 360 in his chair.

"Soundwave, Skywarp, Thundercracker..." The semi read the names aloud. "All are top ranking soldiers."

"Seems the only big wigs missing are Megatron, himself, and Starscream." Jazz spoke up. "All without backup and in five random locations."

"Not exactly random." Prowl cut in with his usual calculative tone. "The jets are in open country above Europe and Africa. Soundwave is approaching the human city of New York. Scrapper has just reached a large ore mine in Australia. Blitzwing is in a train yard on the island of Honshu in the nation of Japan."

"Doesn't take much figure'n to make out the connections between each one and their chosen Earth mode disguises." The sub commander stated. "But the real deal is why are they there?"

Optimus narrowed his optics at the screens. It was entirely too random for a proper strategic strike. Each Decepticon was alone and attempting to blend with their environments. Yet this wasn't some spur of the moment decision made by the five bogeys, nor was it even a well thought out move. It was simply action. Almost for the sake of action. Something for the Autobots to keep their optics on, and a riddle enough to keep them good and frustrated.

"It's a distraction."

"So..." The little yellow bot, Bumblebee, glanced around at his confused comrades. "Where is Megatron?"

As if right on cue, Teletraan's alarm went off. Prowl already searching out the source of the disturbance. The screens shifting to reveal a large group of Decepticon energy signatures all flying in the same direction. Straight towards a large hydroelectric dam.

"If I had to guess..." Jazz sighed as he watched the dots flicker across the monitors. "I'm gonna say right smack dab in the middle of that mess."

Every Autobot looked to Prime. Confused and unsure what to expect, they had no choice but to wait for their leader's decision. And it would have to be made quick.

"Those Decepti-creeps are tryin' to fool us!" Ironhide ground his fist into the palm of his other servo. "They're probably 'specting us to chase after every one of them."

"That seems like the logical solution." Prowl offered. "It seems like something sneaky and underhanded enough for Megatron to attempt."

"Yet they're makin' it so obvious." Jazz scratched his head.

"So what are we supposed ta do about it?"

"We have no choice, Autobots." Prime spoke up as he had already reached the unpleasant conclusion to the situation. "We have to see to each location to make sure that no harm becomes this planet or his inhabitants. We'll have to head out in groups."

"I don't like it." The blue and white sub commander crossed his arms, frowning. "By the time we reach 'em, they could have done their damage a flew the coop."

"We'll just have to hope we can reach the targets in time."

"It's inconceivable that we can manage to cover so much ground before that!" Prowl swiveled in his chair. "Not to mention we don't know what we're getting into! It could be dangerous?"

"Well do you have a better option then?" The Porsche fixed his friend a challenging stare.

"We can ignore the five strays. Focus solely on Megatron and his group. They obviously are the more serious threat."

"But Prime's right. We can't ignore the chance of humans getting hurt. I say we follow his plan."

"Thank you, Jazz. " The semi answered. "Now we'll need volunteers to go after the five strays. I'd say three to each location. Any takers?"

Slowly, several hands rose, each indicating a brave Autobot willing to take on the challenge. Each unsure, but willing to do whatever it took to protect the planet that was kind enough to give them a home.

"Good." Optimus nodded in his approval and turned to his sub commander and strategist. "Now, Prowl, Jazz, we have work to do."