( It has been three hours since they rescued the four A.I. that was stranded on the damaged U.N.S.C ship. Since then the Retribution has been making its way through warp space in an effort to reach Cybertron on time)

( Play this song while reading this chapter)

https://youtu.be/q_pAa9252Uo

" How are we doing on time Lida?" Asked Keith. " We will be there in twelve minutes. Shall I contact the rest of the fleet?" Said Lida. " Yes, and see if you can get in contact with the Cybertonians on the surface. ( Looks at Erla). You should change back into your cybertronian mode. It'll make things go by smoothly." Said Keith as Erla transformed into her cybertronian form. " Good Idea, though I think it would be best if I try and contact them." Said Arcee. " That sounds good. ok, Lida contacts the fleet while  Arcee contacts anyone on the ground. Miko, Raf,  you three should stay here while everyone else gets ready." Said Keith as  Miko and  Raf walked next to him and Arcee while  Tex, Carolina, and team Amazon left for the hanger bay.

" ( Contacts Hoya and her fleet but only gets static). That's not good,  Arcee see if you can reach your team. I'll keep trying to reach  Hoya." Said  Lida. " I'll boost the signal,  Cortana can you try and locate them? Somethings not right." Said Laurel. "Sure thing but just be ready for anything." Said Cortana as she pulled a digital keypad and began typing. " ( Gets a signal and then a response after trying to reach her team). Hello, this is Arcee calling any available Autobots on Cybertron." Said Arcee as a digital image of Optimus appears.

" Arcee, this Optimus. It is good to hear from you again, though your timing could not have been better. We need your assistance, is Keith with you?" Said Optimus. " I'm here prime, what's the situation on Cybertron?" Said Keith. "  Keith, your timing could be better. Your fleet is currently engaged with an unknown enemy and we are trying to take out any strangers that make it their blockade." Said Optimus. " This is no ordinary enemy Optimus, they're called the Covenant and they came to Cybertron to take some of your technology and use it for themselves." Said Miko as the digital image wides to show Bulkhead,  Bumblebee,  Wheeljack, and Smokescreen behind Optimus. " Is that you Miko, how's the life of a spartan treating you?" Asked Bulkhead. Not the time Bulkhead, we can reminisce later. Right now we need to know what's going on down there. ( Listens to  Lida whisper something to her and Keith). Never mind, it sounds like you guys could use some help down there. Our captain just told us that the covenant have built a stronghold over in Kaon." Said Miko. 

"That's where the tunnel to Vector Sigma is. If they get their hands on that, they'll try to find a way to study on how to build their own cybertronian." Said Keith. " Lida, get us down there now. Ilena contact the Hoya and the fleet and tell them to make a hole for us. This ship is going straight to the surface." Said Arcee as  Lida and Ilena nod their heads before doing their assigned task. " But how will we get there without attracting too much attention?" Asked Raf. " Easy, we'll take the Mammoth. ( Looks at Petra). Have teams Omega, Zeta, Delta, Amazon, and a spartan recon team along with any available soldier on this ship meet us in the Mammoth it's the only thing I know that can get us there in one piece without drawing any enemy air support straight to us. ( Looks at Optimus). Are there any Autobots currently with you guys?" Said Keith.

" We got Windblade,  Chromia, Ironhide Drift two combiner teams, Elita one, and  two rookies named  Causeway and Hotrod." Said Bumblebee. " Have them and yourselves be ready for our big drop, we're going to be coming in hot and possibly hard." Said Keith as he ended the transition and ran down the hallway with  Arcee, Miko, and Raf following right behind him as they ran to the hangar bay to mobilize in the Mammoth.

( Down on Cybertron's surface)

" Man,  the kids sure have matured from the last time we saw them. It's too bad that Ultra Magnus is off trying to coordinate strikes further out." Said  Bulkhead. "  I think Keith would leave him speechless with how mature he's gotten. Kid's got the same feel as Optimus does." Said Wheeljack. " He is the one that Optimus entrusted the key to vector Sigma to. I wouldn't be surprised if a team of Autobots choose to leave Cybertron to join them and arcee." Said  Bulkhead. "That's funny you should mention that Wreaker because now that we know who wields the key, it'll be our job to make sure it stays safe." Said an orange and green female Autobot walked up to him. " What do you mean Pyra,  did you receive a message or something? " Said a red and silver female Autobot. " Actually I did Causeway. It came from the mistress of flame herself. Something about guarding the bearer of the key. (Looks at two images of Keith with and without his armor). Seems like he is the one that she was talking about." Said Pyra.

( Torch Beaers/Rust Renagades)

( Causeway)

" Then I wanna go with, I feel like those two are going to get themselves into a lot of trouble someday." Said Causeway. "That's all well and good but how are they going to come in hard like  Keith had said he would?" Asked Bulkhead. " ( Notices something in the scanner and then zooms in on it). Will this answer your question Bulk? Their coming in on on a mobile transport and they are literally coming in hard and fast like he said." Said  Smokescreen as Autobots in similar paint schemes to Pyramwalk up to them. " ( Watches the mobile transport come crashing through one of the old buildings before it swerves to that the left and heads straight for them and then skids to a stop thirteen feet in front of them). They sure know how to make an entrance." Said  Wheeljack as the group walked towards the mobile transport codenamed the  Mammoth.

( Mammoth)   

" ( Hits a button to lower the mammoth's ramp before then watching Optimus's group walk inside). Hey there gang, long time no see." Said Arcee as Bulkhead and  Bumblebee then gave her a group hug. "It's good to see you Arcee, you guys came in at just the right time. Some of these covenant ships as you called them have set up two bases. We've tried to reach them we can never get too close before their air support pins us down and then force us to retreat." Said  Wheeljack. " Then it's a good thing my ship came with some air support of its own. ( Presse's a button on the left side of his helmet). Ilena, send the birds. It's time we get the Covenant off this  planet." Said Keith. " Roger that Keith, they're on their way now ETA twelve minutes." Said Ilena as she disconnected the call.

" That'll keep their air support occupied. Now, all we have to do is take out those two bases." Said  Mairi. " Hu, who said that? "Asked Bulkhead as he looked around. " Chill bulk, it's just my  A.I. Mairir. ( Holds out her left hand as  Mairi appears). Me,  Keith, and Raf each have one." Said /Miko as  Raf and Keith hold out their left hands as  Laurel and  Calista appeared on their hand respectively. " They look so cool,  though what exactly do they do anyway?" Asked Wheeljack. " We help our partners with  things like hacking into servers,  controlling vehicles, or  the occasional info gathering." Said Laurel. "What can that do to  Cybertronians?" Asked  Bumblebee. "If we wanted to, we could hack into your systems and control you or control from within and even take information and data from your mind." Said Mairi as the members of  Optimus's team took one step back. 

"You little ones can do all of that. Remind me not to make you guys mad." Said  Bulkhead. "Don't worry bulkhead. We only do that kind of thing to people who hurt our partners. Any friend of theirs is a friend of ours. " Said Mairi." ( Looks at  Keith). The birds are inbound now they'll be here by the time we hit the bases." Said Calista. " Good, tell Erna and Freya to get the men ready, Also have Lt Hawk and  Charles get their recon team ready. Petra, Send the teams out. I need  Omega, Zeta, and Delta to head over to the other base and take it down and have team Amazon join them." Said Keith. " Yes sir, right away." Said Petra as she went to do her assigned task. 

" Get in gange, we're going for a ride. ( Walks next to  Keith, Miko, and Raf as they headed to the bridge while changing into her human form as her spartan armor formed over her. " ( Watches Arcee shift from  Cybertronian to human). Looks like you've acquired a new skill. Does that form help in any way?" Asked Storm clash. " It does actually,  it lets me keep a closer eye on my charge/partner here. ( Points to Keith as he gives a two-finger wave). Plus it lets me see how humans wage war compared to us and I gotta say. The only difference is that we can turn into vehicles while they build vehicles so that they can get around to places." Said Arcee as they reached the bridge.

" ( Walks over to Keith). Sir,  The teams are moving out, what are your orders for when they reach the base?" Asked Erna. " Take it down any way possible, this planet has seen enough war to last it a lifetime. I don't want it to live through another." Said  Keith as Erna walked over to the Mammoth's holotable as he felt the Mammoth move. " Once we get there, what's the plan? Does this ship come with its own gun or something?" Said Bulkhead. " Bulk, there is a cannon on the top that can damage a titan.   I'm sure we'll be able to get there on time. " Oh hey Keith, there was one thing I forgot to mention to you." Said Calista. " Oh ya, what's that?" Asked Keith. " While the ODSTs and the people who man the Mammoth came down here on the mammoth.  Your team could have just dropped from orbit and land on your feet from the Retribution." Said Calista. " So you're saying that we can free fall from the  ship whenever we're wearing our armor." Said Miko. " That's right Miko,  But we'll save that for another time. We didn't say anything because we didn't fully know how the landing would go. " Said Mairi.

 " We'll talk about freefalling later. we've reached the Covenant base.  ( Looks at Freya and Erna). Hey  Freya, do you mind knocking for us?" Asked Keith. " Gladly sir,  Erna. Light it up." Said  Freya as Erna presses a few buttons as everyone watched as a giant beam hit the Covenant base and tore a huge hole through it the size of a two-story building. " ( Looks shocked at what the Mammoths Cannon had done). There's no way, it tore state through the giant gate and then into the building itself. ( Looks at Keith). What kind of damage will this do to one of those enemy ships?" Asked  Wheeljack. ( Contacts  Hoya and tells her to have her fleet clear the battle for a couple of minutes). Honestly, I don't know. ( Watches Hoya's fleet and the rest of the U.N.S.C Ships move away from the enemy Covenant ships from the Holo table). Ok then, let's find out. Erna, hit it." Said Keith as everyone watched the Mammoth's cannon shoot a beam that tore through four Covenant cruisers. 

" Wo, that's a lot of damage from just one mobile vehicle." Said Miko. " I'll say, this thing can pack a punch. But back to the task at hand. Let this done,  the other team probably has theirs already taken care of. ( Looks at Tex and Carolina). You guys wanna join in?" Said  Keith. "There's no way I'm missing this. Let's get this done."  Said Carolina as she, Tex, Keith, Arcee, Miko, and Raf ran down the ramp and toward the Covenant base. " Those kids have grown far since the last time we saw them." Said Bumblebee as he, Optimus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Causeway, Smokescreen, and the Rust Renegades ran after Keith's group.

( Inside the Covenant base, Keith's team is currently in a firefight with covenant forces while prime's group goes to destroy the power generator)

" Thes guys just don't know when to quit, do they? ( Throws a grenade at a group of elites and watches it explode while taking out six covenant soldiers). Though I will give them an a for effort." Said Miko. " True enough, these guys are a lot harder than the people that we had been dealing with before you found the ship. (Quickly turns around towards an elite that had tried to sneak up on her a d shoots it in the head after throwing it over her right shoulder and to the ground). Sneaky little guys aren't they?" Said Tex. " Doesn't matter how skilled they are, there is no way I'm letting them endanger my home or take it over. Not today or any day. " Said Arcee. " Then let's push forward then.  ( Shoots a  Jackel in the head and then shoots a grunt that had tried to sudoku them). Even the little ones are a pain. That one actually tried to suicide on us. ( Leans her head to dodge a plasma round before looking up to see two Jackels on the roof). So that's how we're doing this hu. ( Puls out her grapple huck and shoots it at one of the Jackels before yanking him towards her). See ya buddy. " Said Carolina as she then kicked the Jackel in the face the minute it came within reach of her. and sent the Jackle flying. 

" Now that was just brutal sis,  but I'll give you props for technic though." Said  Keith as he shot the other Jackel that was on the roof.  "Let's get in there,  maybe we can find out more of what they're doing here." Said Raf as the team sprinted through the base while shooting any Covenant soldier they saw until they reached the info room. "  Ok  Calista,  Laurel You two are up. Miko, sis,  see if you can set some charges while we're here." Said Keith as  Calista and Laurel got to work on hacking the control console while Miko and  Carolina set charges around the base and the hallway before returning to the rest of the group.

( Twenty seconds later) 

" Done, we've collected all the data. Now let's get out of here." Said Calista. " Way ahead of you, let's go team. ( Contacts Optimus ). Optimus,  how are things on your end?" Said Keith. " We're all clear here Keith,  we're on our way back to the mammoth." Said Optimus. " Good because this place is about to go sky-high." Said Keith as he and his team ran out of the base and back onto the Mammoth, where the other teams were waiting.

"  We're clear Miko,  blow it. Lara, were you able to complete your mission? Said Arcee. " Yes mam, we were just waiting till we got back to the  Mammoth to destroy it." Said  Lara as Miko and Kasey both presses a button which detonated the bombs in both Covenetant bases. " Now that that's over with, let's drop you guys off back at your base. Hoya and Lida just contacted me. They said that all Covenant ships are destroyed." Said Keith as he felt the Mammoth move.

(Ten minutes later. After dropping off Prime's team back at their base while he Rust Renageds and causeway stayed with them on the Mammoth.  The group, once the Mammoth rolled back into the Retribution  and then disembarked before heading to the ship's bridge)

" What's the sit-rep Lida?" Asked  Keith. " You won't like this Commander but, you were right to send some of the ships back to earth,  we just got a transition saying that the Banished are attacking earth." Said Lida. "( Tightens the grip in both his hands ). Take us there as fast as you can hall all ships go to maximum warp. I am not losing my home to them." Said Keith as he heard Lida resound by saying yes sir before feeling the ship jump to warp space.