Book 2 - Facades and Veritas

by Wing Saber Prime

Things are going as one might expect with the Autobots. Prejudice is thick towards the young Seekers. But what happens when two frontliners known to hate Seekers start to show affection towards Wing Saber? Why does Soundwave have such an interest in both her and Bladestream? And what is this similarity she senses between Optimus and Megatron? Rated T for cussing, hints of sex.

7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Transformers. I just play with them. I only own my OC's.

Time:

Astro-second = 1.258 Earth seconds

1 nanocycle/nanoklik = 10 seconds

1 cycle/klik = 60 nanocycles/nanokliks 120 seconds

Breem = 15 kliks 30 minutes

1 joor = 1.3 Earth days

Solar cycle/orn = 24 joor 31.557 Earth days

Vorn = 10 orn

Groon = 8 vorn

Orbital cycle = 12 groon 83 human years

Deca-cycle = 10 orbital cycles

Centi-cycle/Mega cycle = 100 orbital cycles

Meta cycle = 1,000 orbital cycles

Communication:

:: comm. link ::

- Bondmates/sparkmates -

~: creator/creation bond :~

: sibling bond :

~ spark twin bond ~

Thoughts/memories/flashbacks/dreams/singing

[symbiot/symbiot carrier]

Seeker Cant

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

One thing I hated about this war was that all the animals had virtually disappeared off the face of the planet. Last time I spoke with Dreadwing, he assured me that they were out there, just not where we could see them. They didn't like all the fighting.

I miss my dog. I miss all our pets. They were dead now. I hope mine didn't die of a broken heart. She was my tail from day one. It would be nice if I could see her again.

…

…

New topic. I'm about ready ta hit a certain minibot. From what others have said, that is just the way minibots are. There is a minibot named Cliffjumper, but he is not to be confused with his larger look-a-like. Both bots share the same designation, but they have total opposite personalities.

Cliffjumper is an awful lot like Gear, Brawn, and Huffer. Always stirring something up. I can't help but feel that something's about ta shift. Something's about ta happen. I don't know when, but something's coming and I don't know if it is for good, bad, or what.

One thing's for sure; if Ratchet so much as tries to pair me up with someone, so help me, he's gonna regret it …

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Bladestream had just gotten permission from Prowl and Optimus to join in on monitor duty when Ratchet called him, asking if Bladestream would come to the medbay.

Bladestream was confused, but wondered if it had anything to do with Wing Saber. He had to close his end of the bond not too long ago due to the feelings she was giving off. They were too distracting.

When Bladestream entered the medbay, Ratchet was cleaning the medberths.

"You wanted to see me?" Bladestream called.

Ratchet looked up. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you about Wing Saber."

Yep. "What about?"

Ratchet leaded against the berth he had just finished cleaning. "Seekers don't refuse intimacy. Wing Saber refuses to spend her heat cycle with a partner. I gave her a device that will help, but it won't be enough. I don't think she'd give me an honest answer if I asked."

"So you came to me?" Bladestream asked, raising an optic ridge.

"Yes." Ratchet nodded.

Bladestream rocked in place, choosing his words carefully. "In order to explain why she does this, I have to explain our culture and our experiences.

"In our country, the culture had become sexualized. Females were told to cover themselves, sex offenders were hardly punished, children and young females were being kidnapped and sold as sex slaves, unborn sparklings were being killed left and right. Most males didn't treat females well and domestic violence was on the rise.

"Good was bad and bad was good. To remain a virgin until bonding was somehow a sin. Males bonded with each other and so were females when humans were designed to bond in pairs of one male and one female. To support natural bonding was looked down upon.

"My carrier was told by the Ones to educate me and my brother and sisters herself. She was ridiculed for it. She chose to stay home to be with her offspring and when she sought help when things got tight, she was told to work and place us in youth sectors. She refused.

"Slowly, my sire became abusive. Not physically, but verbally. I won't go into details for it doesn't matter now. Just know that it was enough for both me and Wing Saber to not want a mate. Males weren't interested in Wing Saber anyway."

Bladestream looked down in thought. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't her brother just so I could bond to her and give her the treatment she deserves.

"Anyway, she has been told by many people that she needed to get a mechfriend, but she always told them she would wait for the right one, that there was no reason to hunt him down.

"She was also disgusted with the way most males treated their mates. Both that and our sire's treatment of us and our carrier drove Wing Saber to not want a mate. I think Dreadwing and Skyquake would've courted her if they weren't Decepticons."

Ratchet nodded. "I see. Well, the good news is that it is easier for us to tell when we have found our sparkmate, or mates in your case. Come here" he said waving Bladestream over to his computers. Ratchet typed in something and what looked like a series of wavelengths in a long list on the left side of the screen.

"This is a list of every Autobot on the planet along with their spark signatures. I can take any one of these spark signatures, let's say… Bumblebee's, for example," Ratchet said, touching Bumblebee's name glyph and his signature and dragging it off to the other end of the screen, "and ask the computer to find the best match for his spark frequency." He typed in a command and the names began to scroll quickly up the screen.

"The frequency of each spark is different and can have up to four or five other sparks that are compatible with it. The computer with go through the list and rank the matches according to the best match. If it runs out of living Autobots, it will go to living Decepticons then living neutrals."

The computer pulled out a set of spark twins called Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and placed them below Bumblebee's signature.

"Hmm, not really that surprising…" Ratchet muttered.

Bladestream wondered what he meant by that as the computer finished with the Autobots and searched the Decepticons. It found no match and went to the neutrals, where it eventually found Wing Saber's signature and put it below the twins. After it finished the list, the window with the list closed, Bumblebee's signature went to the center and numbers began to scroll by the signatures of the potential matches. When the numbers settled, Wing Saber matched Bumblebee 100% and the twins matched him at 98%.

"I thought grounders didn't have trines." Bladestream said, turning to Ratchet.

"Normally, no, but since Wing Saber is a match, I am not surprised that Bumblebee will have a trine. What surprises me, is that if the twin are a match for Bumblebee, they are also a match for Wing Saber. The Terror Twins have a reputation for hating Seekers." Ratchet pulled up the list again and dragged Wing Saber's signature out of the list and told the computer to find a match for her.

"Why do you call them the Terror Twins?"

Ratchet scowled. "Their pranks send their victims to my medbay. Prowl is a favorite and they tend to crash his processor so hard, I have to reboot him and make him take the orn off. Those two seem to make it their life's goal to make my existence miserable."

The computer matched her with the twins, Bumblebee, and Dreadwing and Skyquake. It sorted all three matches and placed Bumblebee at the top followed by the grounder twins then the Seeker twins. The Seeker twins were a 75% match with the grounder twins at 95% and Bumblebee at 100%.

Bladestream thought back to when Wing Saber had seen Bumblebee for the first time. She had seen the first live action transformers movie and liked him immediately. Since then, she had gotten a transforming Bumblebee toy 'cause she liked him so much. Even though she was technically too old for toys.

"Can we get Bumblebee over here?" Bladestream asked. Bumblebee was not on base at the moment.

"Not for several groon," Ratchet shook his helm, "He and several others are on the other side of the planet deep in Con territory. The twins would be a better option. While it would be better to bond to Bumblebee first, the twins can make due. If they can convince her to let them help her."

"Why would it be better to bond with Bumblebee first? Does it matter what order they bond in?" Bladestream asked, not to sure he liked the idea of Wing Saber having two, really, three mates.

"Bumblebee is the best match. If you were to combine his and Wing Saber's frequencies," Ratchet placed a digit on both Wing Saber's and Bumblebee's signatures and brought them together to make a new spark and asked the computer to find a match, "the twins are the perfect match for the new spark."

"How do you know the twins won't just jump the gun?"

"The spark is a mysterious thing, Bladestream. It knows things our processors can't begin to comprehend. The twins will know that the time is not right. If Bumblebee meets her while the twins are still around, Bumblebee will have to prove that he is a better match. Regardless of the outcome, Wing Saber will get to choose who she bonds with.

"The twins are both bigger and stronger than Bumblebee. They also have stronger sire coding than Bumblebee does. ^If they wish to bond to Bumblebee and Wing Saber, they will have to perform a highly elaborate Seeker ritual that requires them to court Wing Saber while challenging Bumblebee's dominance. They will eventually have to chase, catch, and publicly dominate both members of the pair."

"What do you mean by 'publicly dominate'?"

Ratchet gave the young mech a look. It took Bladestream a nanoklik before realizing what Ratchet meant.

"Uhg, Ratchet! I did not need to know that!" he said, rubbing his face plates with his servos.^

Ratchet laughed. "You need to know before it happens. Who knows? Maybe you will end up courting a bonded pair."

"No way. I WILL not do that." Bladestream said firmly.

Ratchet was still snickering when the medbay doors slid open and Stardust walked in.

"Ratchet, where's Wing Saber? We were supposed to make energon goodies and she has the datapad with the recipes on it."

"She is resting in my quarters. I'll send her to you when she's ready."

Stardust's wings drooped as she walked out of the medbay.

Ratchet gave Bladestream a sideways glance, his servo hovering over the keys of the keyboard, suggesting that the medic was going to search for a match for the triple changer.

Bladestream glared at the medic. "Don't even think about it." He growled, his wings pinned against his back in irritation.

Ratchet laughed once more and waved a servo at the triplechanger. "Fine, fine, I won't. Just don't be too harsh on any of them if they try to court Wing Saber."

Bladestream huffed and left the room.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

It wasn't long before Wing Saber was up and about again. She absolutely refused to tell her curious sisters why she was in Ratchet's quarters to begin with.

The sisters chose a type of rust stick that sounded similar to peppermint candy canes. Ironhide was a tad hesitant about letting them into the storage room, but let them in on the account that they let him have a piece. They gathered up the containers of ingredients, which had to be dusted off, and took them to the rec room.

There really wasn't anyone in the rec room when Wing Saber and her sisters arrived, so they pulled a table over to the counter where the energon dispenser was. They laid out the ingredients and the utensils needed to make them and eagerly got started.

They were not prepared, however, for the long process. It was similar to making old fashioned candles, where you had to constantly dip the sticks. Wing Saber suggested they make a simpler, faster treat while they made the rust sticks. To their delight, there was a gummy goodie on the datapad that sounded good.

It didn't take long before their efforts were noticed. There were bots that came into the rec room that all wanted the rust sticks that were far from ready, leading to several disappointed people. Bluestreak was as hyper as a youngling when he found out and Jetstorm tried to swipe some gummies. This lead to him getting his servo smacked, which nearly ended in a friendly wrestling match.

Joor went by as Stardust and Wind Dancer lost interest in the rust sticks. They were happy with a servoful of gummies to themselves for helping.

Wing Saber enjoyed the taste of the gummy energon goodies. They reminded her of the twin cherries that were made by the same company that made the gold bag of gummy bears.

Wing Saber was also taking the time to read the datapad concerning the different ingredients and their uses in Cybertronian cooking. See also tried tasting what stuff she had dragged out of the supply closet to gage the flavors.

When a new batch of gummies was finished setting, she took it out of the cabinet and brought it to the table to find some of a previous batch missing. She was a bit confused by this and stretched her field to see if the thief was still nearby. When she didn't sense anyone near, she guessed that the thief was long gone. She'd have to be more alert.

Wait, there were cameras in the rec room. Maybe Red Alert saw something. She decided to comm him.

:: Red Alert? ::

:: Yes? :: the jumpy security officer asked.

:: Did anyone come into the rec room and take any energon goodies while my back was turned? ::

:: Let me look … :: there was a pause as he looked through, her guess was, surveillance footage.

Wing Saber waited a good while for his answer. :: Red Alert? :: No answer. Worried, Wing Saber called Jazz.

Jazz was quick to respond. :: What's up, Saber? ::

: Could you check on Red Alert? I asked him to check the cameras cause some of my energon goodies are missing and I wanted to know who took them and he hasn't answered in a while. :: she said, hoping it was not one of her brothers or she will bop them but good.

:: Gimme a klik and ah'll check back wit ya. ::

Jazz kept his comm open and Wing Saber went about packaging up the gummies and dipping the rust sticks again. Those things just weren't thick enough. They should be at least half as thick as the first joint of her digit. They were getting there, but it was slow going.

A chuckle rose up at the other end of the comm.

:: What is it, Jazz? :: Wing Saber asked.

:: Red Alert glitched. Your thief is Optimus Prime. :: Jazz said in I fit of chuckles.

Wing Saber frowned. He could've just asked, she thought.

:: Ah'm gonna reboot 'im. No need ta call Hatchet. ::

:: You do realize that Ratchet don't like that nickname, right? ::

:: Yeah, but it's fun ta call 'im that. :: Jazz said, a smile in his voice.

Wing Saber rolled her optics and shook her helm. Jazz seemed to like to pick on poor Ratchet. Just last orn, he was teasing Ratchet about something or other and she saw Jazz running out of the medbay, dodging a wrench from a shouting medic.

She counted the gummies and placed them in a large jar. She'd give them to Ratchet for safe keeping.

Wait … she forgot to save some for her family. She grabbed another container and poured some goodies into the smaller jar.

As she was screwing lids on when she felt a familiar presence enter the rec room. Mentally growling, she chose to ignore the minibot. She had had enough of Gears to last the vorn. Hopefully, he was just interested in the treats.

"Whacha making, Seeker? Trying to poison us under the 'guise of sweets?" he sneered.

"Take 'em to Ratchet if ya really believe that, Gears. Or Red Alert. Don't touch the rust sticks, though. They ain't ready yet." Wing Saber warned as Gears tried to inspect the hanging sticks.

Gears' tone changed, "Rust sticks? You made rust sticks?"

"Yeah," Wing Saber smiled at the minibot, "Well … me and my sisters did. They should be done some time next orn. They have to sit overnight to harden." Wing Saber went about cleaning as Gears tried to form a comeback.

"That's plenty of time to alter then!" he cried.

Wing Saber sighed. "Look, if I truly wanted to do something to them, Red Alert would have caught it. And any changes I make can be discovered be Teletran. I can cook and I can cook well. Poisoning the ones who took my family in and helped them is not on my list of things to do.

"Everyone, in any race, enjoys sweets. I thought I could brighten y'all's spirits by making some. If you don't want 'em, don't eat 'em. Your choice." And with that, she began to clean the utensils and place them on a towel to dry. Gears was the ignored, his processor mulling over her words. He still didn't care for the Seeker.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Wing Saber had retired to her quarters, highly thankful for her own private washracks. Thanks to ultra-sensitive senses, she could already detect the subtle hints of her own scent. She couldn't feel any other effects of her heat yet, but the scent was starting. She was going to have to start gathering up things for the vorn ahead. The stunt Ratchet pulled earlier this orn had caused the heat cycle to start at least three orn early.

Oh well. She'd give Stardust and Wind Dancer instructions on what to do with the rust sticks while she was holed up in here.

On the bright side, it gave her time to plan a crystal garden. She looked at the blue crystal that Bluestreak gave her last orn. It was glowing brightly, showing that it had already soaked up vital nutrients for it to grow and multiply. She also had planted other crystals she had gathered from the cave in the desert.

Wing Saber grabbed datapad and plugged it into a computer that had been installed in her quarters. She would need a bigger screen for this.

She began with a large coliseum in the center. This would be where Bots and Cons alike could spar each other and settle disputes instead of out on the battle field where things got deadly. And maybe they could start making friends along the way. Ratchet could program repair drones for the coliseum so that the Autobot medical staff wasn't pulled for the job.

Maybe she could talk Megatron into helping her design it. Or not. If Megatron helped, it would likely become booby trapped. She didn't want the garden to become Con territory. It was to be a place all could enjoy.

She began to research different crystals and if they were "shrubs" or "trees", finding which crystals grew tall or remained small.

Ha ha, that rhymed. She snickered as she looked at images of the Praxian crystal gardens. She looked at the different colors and began to draw different areas and pathways and gazebos around the coliseum. She took clips of images and placed them in different areas on her plans.

It took her well into the night to finish the plans. It would be a few groon before the crystals she had were ready for planting. She would also need to get this whole idea approved by Prowl before she could even start it.

Wing Saber jumped when Ironhide walked in. He looked around her quarters. "Where are the rust sticks?" he asked.

"Still in the rec room. They need to harden all night cycle."

Ironhide sagged.

"But there is another type of energon goodie in the jar by the energon dispenser." Wing Saber said, pointing in that direction.

Ironhide nodded and left.

Wing Saber promptly locked the door. She didn't need anybody coming in on her right now.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Optimus walked into Ratchet's medbay.

"You crashed Red Alert's CPU." Ratchet deadpanned.

Optimus looked at the medic's backplates. "How so?" he asked.

"Apparently, you took some of the energon goodies that Wing Saber was making and she took notice, asking Red Alert to find out who did it. He crashed when he saw it was you."

Optimus said nothing and looked at his pedes.

"Still got that sweet tooth, eh Optimus?" Ratchet asked, hinting at the last time he had treats in the medbay.

"It's been a long time Ratchet." Optimus said.

"Since we had energon goodies around? Or since you ate the last ones I had?" Ratchet finally turned to face his leader, who looked more like a youngling getting scolded rather than a Prime at the moment.

"Wind Dancer came to me asking for energon goodies earlier this orn and I gave her a datapad that I hadn't used since Bumblebee was little. She took it to her sisters and they made a couple different kinds if I recall correctly. Why did you come in here? I don't think it was to chit chat."

"I wanted to warn you that we will be getting some new arrivals within the next few orn."

"Who are we expecting?" Ratchet asked, going back to his work.

Optimus braced himself. There was no lightening the news. "Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

Ratchet dropped the tool he was cleaning.

"The General asked me to take them back. He couldn't handle their pranks."

Ratchet sighed. It seemed as though no one wanted to put up with them. Even if it meant gaining ground over the Decepticons.

"Very well," he turned to Optimus, "Are you going to warn them?"

Optimus shook his helm. "They have dealt with the prejudice within the ranks far better than I ever could have asked them to. The minibots are the only regulars who give them any grief. I am confident that they can handle the twins."

"Very well." Said Ratchet. He went back to cleaning. He paused when Optimus stayed. Ratchet groaned. Optimus wasn't going to leave until he finished … or quit.

Ratchet was planning to catch up on the reports piling up on his desk, but he wouldn't be able to now. Not with Optimus hovering over his shoulder plating.

He finished his work and left the medbay with Optimus at his heel struts. Optimus only left when Ratchet had entered his quarters and locked the door. Knowing that he would not hear the end of it if he stayed up, Optimus retired for the night as well.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Sorry for the shorter chapters recently. I'll try to make them a little longer. Feedback is always appreciated! :)