"Alright, chores are done. Now can we do some dune bashing?" Miko questions with joy as she rides on Bulkhead's shoulder, they walk into the control room of the base.

"I don't know, Miko. Last time I spent a week picking sand out of my articulators," Bulkhead told her. "Uh, but there's a monster truck rally in town."

"Optimus, I'm receiving a signal on a restricted band. It appears to be coming from a Starship inside this solar system," Ratchet announced and everyone looked to the monitors. "It's an Autobot identification beacon."

"So there are other bots out there?" Jack asked with curiosity.

"The mass was scattered to the galaxies when Cybertron finally went dark... But 'Cons have been known to bait traps with false beacons," Arcee replied.

"Unknown vessel, this is Autobot outpost to Mega One. Identify yourself," Optimus said to the unknown being.

:: I've had warmer welcomes from the Decepticon combat brigades. :: A voice came over the comm unit. Arcee looked surprised before sadness crossed her features at the sound of the voice.

"Wheeljack!? You old con crusher! What are you doing all the way out here?" Bulkhead exclaimed with joy at the voice of his old pal.

:: Bulkhead? That's you? What's with all the security? ::

"The rock we're on is crawling with 'Cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?"

:: Sometime tomorrow, if I put metal to the pedal. ::

"Another 'Bot's coming here. How cool is that?" Miko said with excitement.

"Wheeljack, I know him by reputation only. Can you verify his voiceprint?" Optimus questioned as he looked at Bulkhead.

"He is one-thousandth percent the real deal, Optimus," Bulkhead replied with confidence.

Optimus looks at him for a few seconds before looking back at the monitors. "We will send landing coordinates for you, Wheeljack. Safe journey."

"See you soon, buddy. I'll make sure you get a proper welcome," Bulkhead said before looking over to Arcee. He noticed her sad facial expression, "We'll make sure you get a proper welcome, there's one more bot here you know, Jackie."

:: Who? ::

"Hello, Wheeljack. It's been a while," Arcee finally spoke up.

There was silence for a moment before Wheeljack spoke.:: Arcee? You're there too? ::

"Yeah, I'm here too."

:: Well, I'll see you when I get there tomorrow. ::

"Yep."

Wheeljack cut off the communication and Arcee looked down at the floor. Bulkhead watched her, wishing there was some way he could help. He remembers what went on between Arcee and Wheeljack and how they separated. 

He could recall the times when Wheeljack was in agony after their separation, longing to be near Arcee once more, to hold her and kiss her. And now they're meeting up again after all these years, he figured they would be happy but it seems they may need time to take in the thought of seeing each other again.

"I'm going for a drive," Arcee said before she transformed and drove out of the base. Bulkhead just watched her drive out feeling sad and helpless.

"What was that all about? What's wrong with her?" Miko asked feeling confused at what just happened.

"Yeah, Arcee looked like she had just seen a ghost," Jack stated.

"It's Wheeljack," Bulkhead replied. "Wheeljack and Arcee had a thing before the war."

"Really?" Miko asked as her eyes started to glimmer at the thought.

"What kind of thing?" Jack asked.

"A love thing," Bulkhead replied.

"Duh," Miko said looking at Jack like he was stupid. Jack just glared at her.

Bumblebee started beeping, "What happened?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell, Arcee and Wheeljack should be the ones to tell it."

"But neither one of them is here. Come on, Bulk, spill!" Miko exclaimed as she got comfortable on his shoulder waiting to hear the story. The others took a seat ready to hear it, even Optimus and Ratchet sat down wanting to hear the story.

Bulkhead looked around at everyone before taking a seat himself. "Alright, I'll tell you. It was before the war, Cybertron was in the golden age, though was starting to fall apart already. The planet was filled with buildings like houses, workshops, departments, and places where you can get Energon." 

All the bots smiled at the memory of how Cybertron used to be. "The streets were always filled with bots out for drives or running errands, it was a nice time. Wheeljack and I were staying at a training base, we were training to become warriors. There were some minor wars throughout history but the High Council was always able to take control and stop them before anything too serious could happen. 

They set up training camps for those who wanted to learn to fight and be a warrior in case another war broke out. This was when the Wreckers were just coming in, Wheeljack, myself and a few others were the first recruits in. We trained hard every day, but we also had downtimes where we would have fun, the others would go off and find femmes to get with most of the time while Wheeljack and I just stayed at base and kicked back with some High-Grade Energon."

"High-Grade Energon?" Miko echoed in confusion.

"It's like liquor or alcohol in human terms," Bulkhead explained.

"Oh. Why didn't you and Wheeljack go out to find some femmes?"

"Well, Jackie wasn't really much of the type, he didn't see any femme worthy of his time. The femmes he dealt with were all spoiled and full of drama, and Wheeljack wasn't into that, so thinking that all femmes were like that, he didn't mess with them much. However, he did still look for the femme that had what he was looking for in a femme. But he had no luck..."

"Until he met Arcee. How did they meet?" Miko said interrupting Bulkhead. She was getting really anxious to hear about how the two met.

Bulkhead let out a chuckle at the anticipation of the young human, "I'm getting there, Miko. One day, while Wheeljack, the other Wreckers, and I were sitting around drinking Energon and talking, a blue mech walked in. He was well buffed and polished, really top class, turned out he was on the High Council and was Arcee's sire."

"Wait, Arcee's sire was on the High Council? I didn't even know that," Optimus states looking a bit confused. 

"Yes, her father was on the High Council. You should know him, his name was Halogen."

"Halogen, he had a hand in making me a Prime."

"Yep."

"I didn't know Arcee was his daughter."

"His only sparkling. Anyways, he came to our training base looking for Wheeljack..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm looking for Wheeljack!" Halogen announced after walking into the base. He had blue armor with hints of red and light blue optics, he was bulky with a couple of scars showing the battles he's been in.

"That would be me," Wheeljack spoke as he stood.

"I would like to hire you to guard my daughter. Being in a high position I have a big target on me and I fear my daughter is in danger, my mate is no longer around to look after her while I'm away on business. I'm leaving tomorrow to attend a meeting and will be gone for a couple of days, I need someone to look after my daughter and keep her safe."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm no sparkling sitter."

"I'm not looking for a sparkling sitter I'm looking for a guard, trust me she's no sparkling."

"Am I getting paid?"

"Yes, I will pay you 600 credits for two days."

"Sounds like a reasonable amount. I'll do it."

"Good, be at my place first thing in the morning," the elder mech tells him before he gives him the location of his house.

"Alright, I'll be there."

The elder mech took his leave.

"Well, look who landed a nice job," Seaspray spoke out teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah," Wheeljack responded not feeling amused by the joke.

"How do you think this femme looks?" Seaspray asked.

"Could be pretty, could be ugly. She's his daughter so probably a spoiled brat who thinks she can get everything she wants and have it all her way and thinks the world revolves around her, just like all the other femmes I've encountered. I really don't care, to be honest, I just want the credits."

"Yep, I thought so," Bulkhead stated with a soft chuckle.