Lifesource.
Chapter Thirteen.
A/N: This chapter is for HonorGuard Ra, ennui deMorte, and L.a'ienth without whom this chapter would have remained unwritten. Kudos to HonourGuard Ra for ideas used in this chapter. A brace is an old term meaning two of something
Optimus, with Ratchet and Ironhide just behind him, led the two Seekers into the Base, past the rec-room and into the next door on the left, which led into his office and was almost directly opposite the entrance to Ratchet's med bay. The medic peeled off into the med bay unobtrusively, noticed only by Bumblebee and Sam, who, in deference to the Base's Seeker guests, had dropped back to the tail-end of the group.
Optimus walked over to his desk and pulled his chair out, and offered it to Starscream. "I apologise that it has no wing rests, if you plan to make more cordial visits, I shall have one made to your specifications, and the same for your wing brothers if they would be likely to accompany you." He turned to face Jetfire as he cleared the few items he had on his desk. "This should bear you, if you wish to be seated. Ratchet will return with some sort of makeshift seating for the rest of us."
"I shall assist," Ironhide stated, and exited the office as Jetfire sat on the proffered desk, which although it creaked alarmingly under his weight, supported him.
"Thank you," the ancient Seeker said.
Starscream opened his mouth to speak to Optimus, but before he could say anything, Ratchet emerged, carrying what appeared to be an adapted shipping container behind him. He was followed by Ironhide who was bringing in a similar container. Ratchet and Ironhide positioned the two containers opposite Starscream and Jetfire, and then Ratchet disappeared to return with a smaller container, which he positioned in the middle. Another small container was taken out from this, and positioned next to the one it had been taken from in the middle. From this smaller container were taken three seats and a small table for the humans, which were placed on top. The humans were placed here as Ratchet disappeared again, returning with five empty drinking cubes, which he handed to Optimus.
Starscream had to admit to a fillip of satisfaction at being given Optimus' own chair, which he sat down in carefully, finding that although it was not a Seeker's chair, the back design still gave him plenty of support. He watched as Optimus turned and headed for an energon dispenser on the wall, and saw Optimus' back kibble was quite bulky, which he assumed was why there were recesses in the back of the chair that, with a bit of shifting about, Starscream could wedge his back-mounted thrusters into.
As he saw Optimus approach with a full drinking cube, he got another surge of satisfaction, not just because he was being served by the Autobot Leader and Cybertron's last living Prime, but because he could see that Optimus' optics were questioning as he bent to give the Seeker the cube of energon, curiosity evident in each gleaming facet, each glowing millimetre of those bright cerulean visual receptors.
At that moment there was a scratch at Optimus' room door, and it opened to admit a silver mech slightly smaller than Bumblebee, but immediately recognisable to Starscream. He hid his surprise as Jazz entered, for the last time he'd seen the mech was when he was torn in two by Megatron in Mission City, but he recalled Jetfire detailing his own resurrection by the AllSpark in Sam. It made sense, he supposed, that if he could, Sam would have brought the silver saboteur back to existence, and the evidence suggested strongly that he had done just that.
Optimus served Jetfire next as Jazz wandered over to where the humans were sitting and, in an upper-crust British accent he'd obviously found somewhere online, asked Sam, Miles and Mikaela for pizza orders. The three humans told Jazz what they wanted, Mikaela while stifling giggles at Jazz's posh tones. The silver mech turned to exit, and then surprised Starscream by making a smart about-face to execute a polite bow, before leaving as quickly and quietly as he had come.
Ratchet deftly filled the remaining four cubes as Optimus and Bumblebee took one shipping crate and Ironhide and Ratchet the others. One of the crates in the middle held the humans, and Ratchet explained that as energon was corrosive to humans, the empty crate next to it, and only that one, should be used to set their cubes on if any of the Cybertronians wished to put them down.
"Now that the preliminaries have been dealt with, do you wish me to detail what has happened to me since you last saw me, Prime?" Starscream asked. Optimus, mid sip from his own cube, looked up, used his glossa to scoop up a stray drop in danger of dribbling down his chin, and said "Please do, Starscream, as the humans might say, I am all ears."
Having looked up slang on the human Internet for his dealings with Sam, and again that very day, Starscream quickly found the reference and its translation, but just for devilment tilted his head at Optimus from various angles until Sam said "It means he can't wait to hear, Starscream, he's not being literal."
"Oh, right," Starscream said, keeping up his pretence that he'd not understood.
He stood, feeling more happy standing in front of a captive audience. "Well, my Decepticons and I were stuck in something of a rut when Jetfire here arrived and told us about Sam having the AllSpark Essence, which, may I add, you kept from us when we had every right to know." He paused, thinking it was only fair to let Optimus reply to the accusation, which he did in his usual calm manner.
"Sam requested that we not inform you, for he was just getting used to the presence of AllSpark power himself, and was experiencing some difficulties in controlling it."
Sam winced, recalling the consequences of his 'difficulties' as he stood to back Optimus up. "Although I didn't say so at the time, I also feared that if you knew you might pull some sort of kidnap stunt, and my fears were right, you did!" he said.
"Point taken," Starscream said with a small chuckle as he nodded first to Sam and then to Optimus.
"As Jetfire talked to us, an idea took shape that we thought worth pursuing," Starscream continued, choosing not to drop Jetfire in it if he were to share some of the glory as well. He paused a beat to allow the bloody-minded oldster to claim sole responsibility if he so wished, as it was originally his plan he had the right, but he didn't say anything so Starscream forged ahead.
"We decided that we had time, and did not need to rush things, for we needed Sam alive and well, but we'd wait for an opportunity to arise, no rush for what we intended, see, although in the meantime Jetfire helped to transfer those we did not need to Cybertron, where they could help sort out anything that we needed beforehand, like power, and oxygen-creating equipment."
"Cybertron?" Optimus queried, his optics twitching briefly wider in surprise, and Starscream hid a smile, for if the mere mention of their planet had startled Optimus, the rest of what he had to say was bound to get a bigger reaction still.
"Yes, as our plan involved both our beloved home planet, and Sam, whom we now knew contained the AllSpark Essence. When Sam called Jetfire, we hoped we could make a move, for although we had everything we needed at our Base, opportunities had not surfaced as fast as I might have liked."
This time it was Optimus' turn to hide a smile, for Starscream's impatience was legendary. He looked politely at Starscream and indicated for the Seeker to continue.
"When Jetfire returned with the human, we did as much as we could to reassure him, but it seems that our politeness itself was confusing him. As you know, we allowed him to contact you from our Base, and as he had begun drinking sedative-laced cola, we swiftly after were able to start the spacebridging of him and us to Cybertron. The medic, who sedated the boy more safely and effectively, travelled with Sam, and at a slower pace, after Jetfire took the rest of us to the planet to make sure all was ready."
"Was his disorientation less in your opinion, as a result?" Ratchet, ever the medic, asked.
"If you mean was I throwing up or not, then no, I wasn't," Sam replied before anyone else could reply.
"See, it worked!" Starscream picked up. "The boy was already confused and likely to become more so, so we tried to spare him some of the potentially unpleasant effects of a protracted spacebridge."
"Wish you'd thought to do the same for us!" said Mikaela sharply. "I've never been so sick as that in my life!" Miles beside her nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Sorry," Jetfire said, and he looked so contrite that, by mutual agreement, they waved it aside.
A scratch at the door announced Jazz's return, with several steaming pizza boxes in one hand, and three brace of soda in the other.
"Hope ya'll hungry," he said as Optimus took advantage of the interruption to take the six now-empty drinking cubes and refill them at his personal wall-mounted dispenser Ratchet had installed their first week there. "Not just for you, but for your mechs when you call them, and any mechs not yours you may need to speak to, like Starscream or Barricade," Ratchet had informed the Prime. At the time, Optimus had thought Ratchet was hoping for a bit much and had said so, but, he mused, the diplomat-turned-medic had been right.
Sam pulled a face. "We will be, but we'll let them cool, and maybe we can all forget we were talking about being sick," he said.
"Way to go with the timing, Jazz," Mikaela said jokingly as the silver mech put down the soda along with some plastic cups he'd thoughtfully brought.
"If ya don't want these, I'll take them," Jazz said, hefting the pizza boxes. "Hand-made, hand-stretched dough, Italian-Americans naturalised five generations back, old family dough recipe, very generous with all toppings -"
"Give!" Mikaela laughed, pointing imperiously to a space on the table between the three humans on the floor. Jazz put them down, caught up the cube of energon Optimus had drawn for himself, and disappeared out of the door. Unperturbed by his cube being shanghaied by the silver saboteur, Optimus found a spare in his desk drawer and filled it for himself.
"Anyway, as I was saying, we brought Sam to Cybertron, and by then the rest of the mechs had got power going, to light certain areas, and produce some oxygen so Sam could breathe," Starscream said. "We chose the Great Dome in Iacon that had been built for the AllSpark, both because it could be easily enclosed by an air-containing force-field, and because it seemed fitting,"
"Understandable," Optimus said.
"I myself was mystified," Sam interjected as he opened one of the pizza boxes, and was briefly obscured by a cloud of fragrant steam. "But Starscream told me that the Dome was built over a direct conduit to the Planet's core, and asked if I could use AllSpark power to try and contact the Planet, I guess he thought if I'd brought Jetfire back, I might be able to re-energise the Planet."
"indeed," Starscream said, smoothly taking up the story, and noticing with suppressed glee how the four Autobots in the office were leaning forward, as if what Starscream had to say would be obtained sooner if they did so, and for the first time he understood the human expression 'on the edge of his seat.'
"Sam was uncertain that the energy in his body was enough, so sent Jetfire back to get the energon collectors he reluctantly told us about," Starscream said, in his new role unwilling to drop Sam in it either.
"And us," Mikaela said pointedly.
"I said sorry," Jetfire said,
"And I accepted your apology, and so did Miles, I just want to keep things accurate," Mikaela said before taking a delicate mouthful of the pizza she'd claimed.
"Yes, and you, Mikaela and Miles, Sam needed company," Starscream said. "However, between then and now, Sam agreed to use the power of the AllSpark to try and resurrect the Planet," Starscream said.
"And he succeeded?" Optimus said. Sam would have answered, but his mouth was full of pizza so he couldn't. Starscream was the one who replied.
"No, he didn't," the Seeker replied, and the faces of three of the Autobot's faces fell. As Bumblebee's face was not as mobile as the others, no-one noticed how his faceplates didn't even shift.
"Then I guess that is the end of any hope we had of returning to our once-beautiful world," Optimus said heavily. Sam was chewing furiously, hoping to free his mouth enough to explain, and Bumblebee reached an arm out to get Optimus' attention, but again, Starscream beat them to it.
"Not quite, you didn't let me finish," the Seeker said petulantly. Three pairs of dimmed blue optics rose hopefully to meet Starscream's red ones.
"Because it turned out that the Planet was not dead, but had fallen dormant, healing its wounds and grieving for its people," Starscream explained. "Sam contacted it, and it has agreed to give us another chance, provided certain rules are followed."
"State them," Optimus said thickly, and Sam realised that Optimus was clinging to hope, even if the hope might turn out to be dashed a moment later.
Starscream's optics dimmed briefly as he sent the terms they had all agreed on, and that Starscream had cleared with the Planet when Sam had taken him to suggest a Sensitive Planet-speaker. Optimus suddenly sat up straight, his optics snicking wide open, and he almost overbalanced, only Bumblebee's quick reactions stopping the Prime from tumbling off the crate. Optimus swayed a bit, but then his gyros seemed to kick in, for he steadied again rapidly, as he raised one big hand to his forehead. If he had been human, Sam would have said he was stunned.
For a moment there was a pause, replete with tension, and then Optimus nodded his head and said "On behalf of the Autobots, Decepticon Leader Starscream, I accept." His acceptance was not delivered in the measured calm tones Sam was used to, but in the voice of one who was excited and trying not to let it show, almost as if letting it show would negate the cause.
There was a silence as tense as the pre-announcement pause, and then Ratchet said "On our behalf, Optimus you accept what? If it's in our name, we deserve to know." Optimus did not speak, or even com, but his optics were still at full dilation, and Sam swore he saw a slow, small smile turn up the sides of Optimus' mouth as he turned to look at the medic, who was probably now wondering if Starscream had sent Optimus something so unbelievable, or so mind-boggling, that it had sent the Prime mad.
"The Planet insists that if we are to live on it, we are not to war on its surface. It promises that there can be a third Golden Age if we do as it asks," Starscream said, impatient with the Prime's strange silence.
"Peace, Ratchet, the Planet wants peace," Optimus said, his optics still dazed and his voice with a slight edge of disbelief, although he seemed to have recovered his balance. "Our world is happy for us to return, and it will assist us as it did in the past, if we end our conflict and work together to rebuild it."
It was Ratchet's turn to reel back as he jumped to his feet and almost overbalanced. He recovered without needing help, and his excitement was uncontained. As a diplomat he'd worked so hard without success to broker peace, and as a medic he'd had to repair so many war-related injuries, and lost too many patients and colleagues to the war. He moved forwards and wrapped his arms around a startled Ironhide first, and then moved over to give Optimus a longer hug, which Optimus reciprocated.
"If you're giving those out, Ratchet, I'd like a hug too," Starscream said jealously. Ratchet and Optimus immediately released each other, and Ratchet happily moved towards the Decepticon Leader and performed the requested embrace. "Starscream, as one of those who made this possible, I could kiss you," Ratchet exclaimed, and then obviously decided to prove the statement, and his gratitude, locking his derma with the Seeker's for several minutes before they both came up for air.
"Ratchet, if you interface like you kiss, I'd like your room number," Starscream said with the grin he could not wear on his face evident in his voice.
"Speaking of which, if you're going to be here for any length of time, I should assign you rooms you can use," Optimus said. He paused, comming, and then said "Jetfire, you can have the room you had last time, Leader Starscream, yours is next door to his, or you can share if you wish."
"It will be useful to have separate rooms for separate pursuits, but we may recharge together, thank you," Starscream said, and as Ratchet belatedly came out of the embrace, the Decepticon Leader said "Alternatively, Ratchet, you know where my room is."
"We'll see after you finish telling us about how you got those markings and what they are," Ratchet said gruffly, hopping back onto the crate next to Ironhide, as Bumblebee and Optimus shared a grateful hug too.
"Oh, these?" Starscream said, indicating the silver and blue swirls that flowed over his sides and spiralled along the length of his wings, both front and back. "I have been chosen to be a Planet Speaker, a Sensitive who can speak to and consult with the Planet, and our world also stated an interest in you also being accorded the same honour, and patterning to signify this. If you and I are to govern the world together, and appoint others to positions as we need to, it is best that we are both able to contact our world to discuss and confirm things with it. Never again should we take a major course of action without the agreement of the planet we live on."
"Indeed not," Optimus said, sounding stunned again. "May I suggest a short break, so I may consider what you have said, for a joor? Maybe you will wish to rest, or talk among yourselves, or send a message back to Cybertron – to home – to tell the rest of your Decepticons how things are going, Decepticon Leader and Planet Speaker Starscream?" He put his hand to his head again. "I personally need a little time to process all the information you have brought, and for that information, I give great thanks."
Optimus, Ratchet and Ironhide filed out the office, the latter two discussing what they had been told excitedly. ("You can go back to blasting asteroids instead of Decepticons, Ironhide, and I can go back to treating rust-spots and dents instead of welding shut laser damage and removing shrapnel from cratered armour," Ratchet enthused.) Starscream looked at Jetfire and said "How about you show me where my room is, and then maybe we can compose a message for you to take to Cybertron, or close enough that they'll get it in less than a half-orn." They moved out, leaving just Sam, Mikaela, Miles, and Bumblebee.
"We must remember to insist on that get-out clause," Sam said. "But for now, what should we do?"
"Well, Sam, a joor is about six hours and thirty minutes, so you might want to visit your families, or even just go for a drive if you like," Bumblebee said.
"Let's do both," Sam suggested. "A short drive, then we go and see our parents, then get picked up to come back in six hours' time."
"Sure," Mikaela said, seconded a moment later by Miles. Bumblebee got off his crate, and reached down for the humans, who took their pizzas and climbed into the Autobot scout's hands. Bumblebee took them out to the Base courtyard, and put them down, before he transformed into Camaro form. It was early morning by now, and the weather was clear, the warm sun shining down from a sky the same shade of blue as Bumblebee's optics. The three humans got in, Miles gallantly taking the back seat, and Bumblebee started up and drove out, playing "Perfect Day" on his radio as he pulled out of the gates.