Chapter 25:

"Speaking"

"Speaking Cybertronian"

When Tempest's morning alarm went off, she admittedly did not want to get up, however she did, carefully climbing out of the berth before fixing the thermablanket over it, much like making a bed.

Heading to the mess hall, Tempest was joined by Optimus who slid his servo into her own, causing her to smile over at him before Blaster and his Cassettes joined them.

With Blaster and his Cassettes having constantly worked with Tempest for the five years they were out hunting Decepticons, they had formed a lifelong friendship and were quite protective of each other.

Grabbing her energon cube, Tempest settled down on a booth before she began to sip her cube,

"Ah, I might be a little bit late coming in to help with the paperwork, Optimus. I told Ratchet I needed to ask him a few things after my usual shift."

"Are you well?"

"I'm fine. Just had some questions for him is all."

"It is not a problem. I believe you have been spoiling me with your assistance with the paperwork. I had forgotten how large a workload it was until you had left."

Laughing softly, Tempest finished her cube before she stood, gently patting Optimus on the shoulder,

"Sorry about that. Now, if you'll excuse me mechs. I've got a shift in the med bay."

Excusing herself, Tempest headed to the med bay, greeting Ratchet and First Aid warmly before she got to work.

"So, what exactly is your relationship with Tempest?"

"While I do not believe that is any of your business, we are courting."

"Courting huh? Fancy."

"Blaster-"

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Granted."

"You hurt her and I'll tear your spark out myself."

"Duly noted."

"Good. Now, excuse me sir. Enjoy your day."

Optimus had known that Tempest would be able to make friends out of even the most taciturn of mechs and it was pleasing to find that they were every bit of protective of her as he was.

Standing, Optimus placed his empty cube in the recycle bin before heading to his office to get started on the day's paperwork. Seeing as Tempest had helped him to catch up the night before, it hopefully wouldn't be so bad.

Eventually he would have to debrief her, however he would give her a couple more days off as she had captured many of the surviving Decepticons who remained in the brig.

None of them were happy of course but they had been repaired enough that nothing hurt and they were given energon every day.

The soldiers that they had taken out of the field would hopefully help to even out the odds a bit when Starscream returned with more Decepticon soldiers.

Because it was a when not an if, Starscream was an old hand at retreating and then finding more soldiers to come back in with guns blazing.

Many a time they had been caught off-guard for underestimating Starscream and Optimus was not about to make the same mistake more than he absolutely had to.

He did his best to learn from his mistakes so that they wouldn't be repeated and while he may have been a Prime, he was still just a mech and slag happened everyday when one was on a battlefield.

Case in point, had Prowl not shown up at the absolute last second, Megatron would have ripped Jazz in two, as it was, the old spark mates had fought together like a well-oiled machine, smashing Megatron back long enough for Optimus to get Sam.

Sighing softly at the pile of data pads, Optimus figured it had been a passing hope that there wouldn't be as many.

However, despite the number, Optimus sat down and got to work, reading over the data pads, filing reports, accepting requests, denying requests, checking inventory logs, etc.

Sitting in Ratchet's office, having finished her shift, Tempest held out her wrist joint to allow Ratchet to attach his data line and blast her the huge file of all the languages he knew along with proper pronunciations and what not.

Shaking his helm at Tempest's slightly dazed expression, Ratchet detached his data line before scanning Tempest over, finding her processors already tearing through the massive information and filing it at speed.

Seriously, the femme could be as terrifying as Prowl when it came to such large influxes of information and within minutes her optics brightened once more.

"You weren't kidding. That's a lot of languages and dialects."

"I told you. Now for the interfacing information."

"Right."

Tempest made sure to pay attention as Ratchet began to explain everything without a shred of embarrassment.

It was something that he had had to explain countless of times before to young mechs and femmes coming into their adult frame.

Tempest was really no different, save for the fact that she had went straight into her adult frame.

"If you think of interfacing, I'll have to do a full check up on you."

"Would I be able to do it now just to get it out of the way?"

"If that's what you want. It'll also help me to figure out if you could fry your partner."

"Fry…my partner?"

"Some mechs or femmes run a little faster so they generate a bit more energy. In an overload you could accidentally injure your partner if they're not properly insulated."

"Ooh. Do you think the Allspark will get in the way?"

"Slag! I hadn't even…you know what, can you open your chassis for me?"

"Sure."

Ratchet watched the heavily modified locks on Tempest's chassis unlatch before her chassis cycled back and Ratchet was left staring in utter awe at the liquid silver that fluttered around Tempest's spark as glyphs sparked on the silver every once in a while.

"It's…beautiful."

"Thanks?"

Studying the Allspark that flowed like liquid now, Ratchet hummed softly but didn't dare to touch it,

"Can it be moved back?"

For a moment, a confused expression twisted Tempest's face before Ratchet watched as the liquid silver parted, revealing Tempest's spark that was the color of an iridescent pearl.

Never, in all the long years of being a medic had Ratchet honestly seen a more beautiful spark and it was incredibly humbling to be able to witness the one he looked at now.

"I'm going to do a quick test to check the output of your spark alright? It won't hurt at all. You'll just feel a touch of pressure."

"Okay."

Grabbing the specialized tool, Ratchet also pulled on the thoroughly insulated gloves to keep an accidental bond from being made before carefully pressing the tool very gently to Tempest's spark.

The reading was off the charts, showing that her Prime ability had something to do with electricity, despite the fact that she had never used it.

"Alright, sweet spark, you can close up."

Ratchet watched as the Allspark flowed around Tempest's spark again, hiding the beauty of it behind its equally beautiful protection before Tempest's chassis closed once more and locked.

"You have some kind of electrical ability. If you are intimate with Optimus I'll have to doubly insulate all of his wires. His spark is an entirely different matter as his is bigger than yours so he'll be able to handle the influx of your spark well enough."

"I knew I had an electrical ability but I haven't had the need to use it."

"Let me see at least that way I can get a judge for what materials to use in the insulation."

Holding up her servo, golden lightning crackled loudly around it but seemed to be contained by Tempest for it didn't bounce or lash out anywhere, just coiled around her servo and arm.

"Right. I'll have to get Wheeljack on it. If you overload without a spark merge, you'll give off double that energy and that could badly injure Optimus if I don't have him insulated correctly."

"Okay."

"I've dealt with others that have had a lightning ability though they are extremely rare. They can still be intimate with their chosen partner as long as they are careful."

"Thanks Ratchet. You really helped a lot."

"It's my job."

"Well I still appreciate you taking the time to explain it all."

At that, Ratchet smiled warmly at Tempest, she always made sure to thank him, no matter what he did really.

Gently patting Tempest's helm, being careful of her sensor horns, Ratchet chuckled softly,

"You're most welcome. Now, out with you. Prime has a double if not triple workload now that you're back and he's going to need all the help he can get."

"Sure thing Ratchet. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Standing, Tempest headed out of the med bay, accepting a hug from the older twins as they randomly walked by before continuing on her way to Optimus's office.

Knocking politely, Tempest entered after Optimus had given her permission before she sat down at his side and began to pour over the data pads.

"Optimus?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think I could practice something with you?"

"Of course."

"Am I saying this correctly?"

Optimus's optics shuttered rapidly in a blink, hearing perfect Iaconian Cybertronian chirp gently from Tempest's mouth and throat.

It had been a long time since Optimus had actually heard Cybertronian as everyone had taken to learning English to make it more easy for the humans to understand them.

However, he happily responded as the Iaconian Cybertronian rumbled from his throat and chest,

"Yes. Your accent is perfect. Is this what you questioned Ratchet about?"

Tempest's face lit in a smile as she actually understood what Optimus was saying and she had to admit that the Cybertronian rumbling from him was even more spine tingling than his rich baritone when he spoke English.

"Part of it, yes. Do you think I could practice this with you?"

"Of course."

After that, any questions Tempest had were spoken in Cybertronian and Optimus definitely enjoyed hearing it once more.

"Hey Jazz."

Hearing perfectly Polyhexian Kaonite rumble from Tempest, honestly shocked Jazz so much he tripped over his own pedes and would have fallen had not Tempest and Prowl caught him,

"Wha' dah slag?!"

"Did ah not say it right? Ah'm ah lil' confused on dah accent."

Knowing that Prowl also knew Polyhexian Kaonite, Jazz shook his helm, shifting back into his original language.

"Nah, ya said it just fine. Where'd ya learn it?"

"Ratchet. Ah told 'im ah wanted tah learn Cybertronian an' all dah dialects so 'e data blasted meh dah information."

Nodding, Jazz allowed Prowl and Tempest to pull him to his pedes before Prowl looked over at Tempest,

"Yer accent is ah little thick. But it's not bad."

"Hey! Cool, ya know Polyhexian Kaonite too!"

"Ah do. Jazz is muh spark mate. Ah learned from 'im."

Needless to say, thanks to Blaster, word quickly got around that Tempest was only speaking in Cybertronian in practice, causing all of the bots to revert back to their natural languages, leaving the humans completely confused.

Not that they minded of course seeing as Bee could only speak in basic Cybertronian and some of the NEST members had been partnered up to the mechs so long that even if they spoke in Cybertronian they still had a distinct understanding.

The higher ups of course weren't pleased but as long as they spoke in English around them they couldn't really say anything in protest.

Seeing as there were quite a few times that she did slip back into English seeing as it was her own language.