The flats of the Oilplains stretched out far and wide, and surrounded the pockets of built-up areas all around them as Shockwave led the way north-east towards Helex. No-one spoke for the duration of the short journey as they made their way quietly past the heavily industrialized zones, until they stopped just outside the city. Then Shockwave pointed Scrapper to an oil platform, and the two Constructicons got to work; Scrapper placed one of the seed crystals inside the tanker of Mixmaster's alt mode and began to siphon crude fuel directly into the mixer, extracted from one of the naturally occurring oil rivulets that were connected to the platform.

After about a breem, Scrapper stopped pumping the oil as Mixmaster began to fill an empty barrel with rich, clean energon that came pouring out of his discharge chute.

"Well, that's all of it," Mixmaster informed them, once the barrel was almost filled. "How much more do you want to make?"

"That should be enough to go around for everyone, and for replenishing our weapons," Scrapper said, satisfied. "For now, let's fill up your tank and a couple more barrels. We can always come back later for more."

"Sounds good," Mixmaster replied, and half hour later, their task was complete. Then Shockwave and Bombshell helped carry the filled barrels as they all headed back to base.

When Dirge saw the familiar shape of Soundwave approaching from the network of tunnels situated beneath the primary reserves, followed by three others, he exhaled a sigh of relief. "Our friends from Jarr have just arrived, although they don't look too happy. Plus, I don't think the Autobots like us very much, either," he informed Starscream with irony, as the small group rejoined him and the others.

"Oh, what a shame," the Air Commander responded in a similar fashion. "Are we ruining their little party?" He handed Drillbit the makeshift bomb. "Here, hold this while I go and see if there's anything I can do to make it up to them," he added with sarcasm, and began to make his way towards the gathering of Autobots nearby.

As Starscream approached, Prowl turned to him, dispensing with any greetings. "I hope you've all decided to change your minds and go home peacefully," he said.

"On the contrary – we're here to kindly request that you call off your deal, immediately," Starscream told him bluntly, "and just in case you need a little encouragement, I've brought along something that might help you make the right choice." He indicated behind him at Drillbit and the modified plasma core.

Standing behind Prowl, Ironhide scowled at the Decepticon seeker. "What are you talking about? What in the Pit is that thing?"

"It looks like a bomb," Trailbreaker answered him tersely.

They received a smug look from Starscream. "Very good, Autobot – a neutron bomb, to be precise. Now, if you don't tell your new friends to leave our cybertonium alone," he said in no uncertain terms, indicating the Jarrians, "I'll be forced to blow this whole place sky high, along with anybody who may be stupid enough to still be standing around."

"What in the – are you threatening us, Decepti-crud?!" Ironhide scowled at him. He couldn't help the insult. "Have you completely lost your ball bearings?"

"Wait, Ironhide. He could be bluffing," Trailbreaker interjected. "With the energy shortage, I doubt they've got enough spare energon to power their weapons, let alone build a bomb."

Before Prowl could respond to him, Starscream cut in. "As a matter of fact, we have plenty of energon to spare. Now, if you don't do as I say, I'll give Drillbit the instruction to begin the countdown. Once he has started that process, there won't be any time to stop the reaction."

"You would be risking the lives of all these innocent workers, let alone the lives of your friends," Prowl told him, his frustration at the Decepticon now plain for all to see. "This just isn't worth it!"

"Perhaps not, but if we allow those Jarrians to take what is ours now, what's going to stop them, or any of their allies, from eventually taking control of our planet, bit by bit, until we're all nothing more than a slave race, forced to do their will in exchange for our basic necessities?" Starscream replied.

Prowl shook his head in bewilderment. "Don't you think you're being just a little over-dramatic? Such a scenario won't happen – I can assure you – and, besides, the agreement that we made is a very fair one."

"We'll all be begging for necessities, anyway, without a new supply of energy," Trailbreaker supported him.

"Not that we owe you Decepti-cons any explanations," Ironhide spoke up bitterly. "But for what it's worth, Prowl's right."

But Starscream remained unconvinced. "Very well. It looks like your minds are made up, then." He turned to glance behind him and shouted, "Drillbit, activate the timer–"

"No, wait!" Prowl interrupted him. He let out a sigh of consternation. "Just – let me speak to the Jarrians, okay?" Then, just before he turned to leave, he said, "But don't think for an astro-second that you're going to get away with your crazy scheme."

As he watched Prowl approach the Jarrian representative, Starscream was joined by his companions. "So… what if it doesn't work, Starscream?" Thundercracker asked him in a low voice.

His trine leader gave him a small shrug. "Then, get ready to give 'em all you've got. We're not backing down without a fight."

A short distance away, Prowl exchanged a few private words with the Jarrians and, after about a minute or so, the leader of the Jarrian mechs began to raise his voice and wave his arms around in a manner that indicated he was most upset. Starscream began to slowly raise his null rays at the visitors, ready for a confrontation, but then the Jarrian turned to his team and frantically motioned for them to move away. After some confusion and hesitation, the alien visitors finally turned around and returned to their shuttle. Their leader soon followed them aboard, and before Prowl could stop them or try to change their minds, the shuttle was already in the air and moving away.

The large number of workers and the Autobots watched the shuttle leave in confusion, and when they finally understood that the Jarrians were not coming back, they became disgruntled.

Prowl quickly made his way back to Starscream and the other Decepticons. "There – are you happy now? They've just called off the deal for us," he informed them in an exasperated tone. "Sentinel Prime is not going to be happy when he finds out."

"Maybe not, though he should be happy to know that we just stopped you Autobots from making a very stupid mistake," Starscream answered smugly.

Prowl shook his head in disdain and then began to push his way back through the crowd of onlookers, who had begun to coalesce and move closer towards the Decepticons, raising their fists in frustration and shouting promises of vengeance if they didn't apologize to the Jarrians and convince them to return.

Starscream became alerted to the mob and started to back away. "Aren't you going to back them off?" he called out to Prowl.

Prowl gave him an incredulous look, briefly pausing to glance back at him. "It's not our fault that they're angry – it's yours. I'll let you deal with them," he said in disgust, before disappearing into the crowd.

After a few moments, Starscream turned to his own team. "Looks like we're done here – let's go," he told them, then transformed into his jet mode and shot up into the sky. The rest of the Decepticons followed after him as they evacuated the Kalis mines, but the horde of disgruntled workers would not give up so easily, as they started along the main road to follow them back to Kolkular.

By the time Shockwave and his team arrived back at the fortress almost one hour after they'd left, they were confronted with a difficult situation. No longer quiet and almost deserted, the Kolkular Decepticon base was surrounded by a mob of angry protesters intent on forcing their way inside.

"What's going on here?" Scrapper asked, but then immediately regretted it as several of the mob turned their attention to the new arrivals.

"Look – Decepticons!" one of the mechs shouted at the others, pointing. He did not sound pleased.

The mob, who were a mix of both Autobots and Destrons, recognized Shockwave and his team and began to move away from the main gates to converge upon them, roaring in protest and shouting various threats and accusations.

"We want our shipment of energon!" one cried out.

"You've brought the Great Shutdown upon us all!" another wailed.

As the angry horde closed in around the four of them, Shockwave stepped forwards, transformed his left hand into a laser cannon and aimed it at the ground close to the nearest rabble-rouser. Then he fired off a series of shots, intentionally missing any of the living targets but delivering an impressive display of laser fireworks. Frightened, the crowd immediately dove for cover and dispersed, allowing the guardian and his companions to walk through to their main gates unhindered. Bombshell entered in his security code, and they all quickly slipped inside the safety of the fortress grounds.

Once inside, Shockwave and Bombshell joined Soundwave, Dirge, Starscream, and his trine mates – who had just returned from Kalis – in the dimness of the common room, while Scrapper and Mixmaster headed directly to the power distribution center with their barrels of newly produced fuel.

"They were out for our energon, figuratively speaking," Bombshell explained of the mob outside, "though it's a good thing they weren't curious about our barrels." He placed the barrel of energon he had been carrying down onto one of the tables and began to siphon some of the pink fuel into empty canisters. Once he was done, he passed the refills around. "So, what do you think?" he asked eagerly, taking a refill for himself.

The room fell quiet as the Decepticons sampled their newly produced energon, and after a few tentative moments, exclamations of amazement and nods of approval broke out all at once.

"Wow, this is really good stuff. It's pure – tastes like high-grade," Thundercracker said, impressed. "Congratulations."

"We did it," Starscream agreed, smiling happily. "We actually did it. Where's Scrapper? He deserves a commendation – as do the two of you, Shockwave and Bombshell." The last two mentioned mechs returned nods of appreciation.

"Let's not forget your own contributions, Starscream," Bombshell replied. "We couldn't have done it without your expertise, not to mention your stubborn determination."

"Well, yes, that goes without saying – but thank you, regardless," Starscream replied smugly, earning him a round of good-natured laughter at his satirical self-admiration.

More energon was shared around, and the room was soon filled with much laughter and everyone all talking at once. For the Decepticons – at least – the energy crisis was over.

While the Decepticons stood at the forefront of a new paradigm shift that was about to revolutionize the planet, the Autobots found themselves on the brink of a devastating energy crisis, not helped by a failed inter-planetary agreement with two of the most influential and abundant worlds in the known galaxy.

When Sentinel Prime eventually met up with Prowl and his team at the Kalis mines with reinforcements, he soon learned that their Jarrian partners had backed out of the deal.

"How could you have let that happen?" the Prime asked his advisor, none too pleased as he watched the dispersed crowd of workers, the majority of which had pursued the Decepticons back to Kaon.

Prowl frowned, and replied defensively, "Sir, the Decepticons threatened to blow this entire place up – they had a neutron bomb."

Sentinel was incredulous, his anger now obvious. "A neutron bomb?!" There was an awkward silence as he shook his head in bewilderment. "And how do you suppose that they got their hands on a neutron bomb? It was a trick, you idiot!" he blurted out, and then inhaled deeply before issuing his next orders. "Mobilize all available troops to Kolkular. I think it's time we showed Megatron who truly runs things around here."

In the power distribution center, Megatron watched as Scrapper disconnected the plasma converters and input the necessary adjustments to the control computer. Meanwhile, Mixmaster pumped his tanker full of energon directly into the reservoir for the distribution grid.

"We should be able to modify our generators to automate the conversion process, but for now, a manual feed will have to do," Scrapper explained.

"Let's first get this place back online, shall we? We can worry about the fine tuning later," Megatron said.

"Of course, Megatron," Scrapper replied. Once Mixmaster had finished emptying his tank and had transformed into robot mode, everything was set for the distribution grid to be powered up again. Scrapper flicked a few switches and hit a key on the computer's control console. The familiar sounds of whirring and beeping greeted their audial sensors as the entire room returned to normal functioning, the overhead lights blinking back to life once more. "Looks like we're back online," Scrapper announced happily, as he checked the readout on the monitoring station.

Megatron gave them a nod of approval. "Excellent work – both of you." As he turned to leave, he said over his shoulder, "Let us assemble in the Control Tower for a briefing – there is still much that we need to discuss with the others."

Scrapper paused briefly to smile in satisfaction, before he and Mixmaster followed their leader out of the power distribution center and up to the control room.