Chapter 119: Exchange
The exchange took place in person, in Iacon, two deca-cycles after Cliffjumper called Swindle. Axletron's daily flights had helped, but he had also become more nervous and uncertain since the incident. His tearful apology to Alpha Trion had been especially painful, though his teacher had assured him there were no hard feelings. Everyone was just glad Axletron was safe and back to normal.
To Cliffjumper however, the matter was far from settled. He needed to get Axle that patch, or the sparkling would be at risk the rest of his life. So Cliffjumper invited Sentinel out, let him drink himself dumb and then ditched him for a micro-cycle to make the trade in one of Iacon's back alleys. All the information was ready, collected on a small drive that weighed like a stone in Cliffjumper's subspace.
He'd hit his lowest, selling Intel to the Decepticons. There was no way to rationalize this. He was doing this for Axletron, but it was still his choice. He hadn't told Axletron any of this…he'd be so ashamed of him. Swallowing thickly, Cliffjumper pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning against when he heard pedsteps move towards him.
Out of the shadows stepped Swindle, in all his smarmy glory. "Well, good evening Deputy Cliffjumper!" he greeted, "Pleasure meeting with you!"
"Skip the pleasantries Swindle." Cliffjumper growled, pulling the drive out of his subspace, "Do you have it?"
With a smirk, Swindle pulled out a square suitcase from his chest storage, opening the lid to show off datapads. As Cliff stepped forward, Swindle drew back, "The data first, if you don't mind."
Cliffjumper wanted to shoot him. His fingers twitched to pull on a trigger. Instead, he handed over the drive with the deadliest glare he could muster. Swindle took the drive and immediately plugged it into his arm terminal, looking through all the data. Once satisfied, he nodded, but still didn't hand over the suitcase to Cliffjumper. "So tell me," Swindle cooed, "You Autobots have been sitting on this information for a while, why haven't you found them yet?"
Eyeing the suitcase in Swindle's grip, Cliffjumper scowled, but responded, "Ships are meant to protect spark energy signatures. All off the Autobots on that ship were securely covered by the hull. Megatron was the one that ripped out the roof and the only one outside the ship when they went through the space bridge. The spark scan plan only works with his spark signature, since it's the only one that was exposed enough to leave a trail."
Swindle held Cliffjumper's gaze, trying to get a read on him. This minibot was an enigma. He wasn't into weapons, though the data he requested was odd and valuable. Swindle had had serious qualms about giving it to him, but good business meant being able to deliver on his word. There were two reasons he'd accepted this deal. The first was the fact that Galvatron has asked him to do anything to help find his son, the second was that the Deputy had somehow made a reputation for himself as a sympathizer amongst the Decepticons, despite his obvious distaste of them, completely on the bases of his prison reforms. Swindle doubted the minibot would go through all the hassle of improving the quality of life for the Decepticons just to torture them medically. For that reason, he held out the suitcase, unable to resist holding it just a bit too high for the mini to reach comfortably. "All yours."
After snatching it out of the arms dealer's servos, snapping the lid open and scanning the titles quickly, Cliffjumper pulled out the pad on flight frames in a manner that he hoped looked random. Turning the pad on, he skimmed through the first few pages of the textbook, landing on the table on content and spotting the section on Flight Deprivation Subroutine patches. That had to be it. Satisfied, Cliffjumper played at checking a few more of the pads before nodding and packing everything up to place in his subspace.
It was done. As he made to walk away, Swindle spoke again, "You know, this doesn't have to be a one-time thing. I think this could be an opportunity for a very lucrative, mutually beneficial partnership."
"Not interested." Cliffjumper shot back, not missing a step.
"Fair enough, but I'll keep the door open either way." Swindle responded, almost nonchalantly. "You know, you're pretty famous amongst the Decepticons yourself. I'd hate to miss out on that good publicity. After all, you just handed the Decepticons the key to finding my favorite customer again and something tells me you aren't going to use that medical data to gain an upper hand."
Cliffjumper froze, still in the shadow of the alley. He couldn't tell you why he did, or why he responded to the bot's taunts. Maybe it was the idea that his name was making its way through the Decepticons? "I'm the Deputy to the Head of Intel, I'm not surprised." He retorted, trying to convince himself as well as swindle. "And what makes you so confident about how I'm going to use this info anyway?"
"Oh sure that's one reason. But mostly, it's the prison reform."
"What about it?"
"Well after all that hard work making the conditions on Cybertron so much better for them, some would even say you were…sympathetic, to the Decepticons." Swindle finished; the way he said sympathetic made the mini want to purge, in his processor all he heard was traitor.
Cliffjumper felt his energon smolder, even as he kept his back to Swindle. The voice in his head telling him to walk away was drowned out by rage and fear and anger. He turned around to face Swindle head on. Stepping forward, he pushed into Swindle's space, getting even more fragged off when Swindle held his ground. "Don't get it confused you slagger," Cliffjumper snarled out, "I'm not a Con and anyone that thinks otherwise…That's their mistake." With that, the mini slammed his fist into the merchant's faceplate, leaving a dent and a cracked optic as Swindle hit the ground hard. As much as Cliffjumper wanted to keep hitting him, he turned and headed back to the bar.
It took every ounce of willpower he had to ignore Swindle's chuckles and parting words. "Well, could've fooled me."
Let the slagger think what he wanted to, Cliffjumper had work to do. He got what he needed, now he had to figure out how to use it without arousing suspicion. Decepticon Medical textbooks didn't just pop out of thin air and if he couldn't explain how he got the information, he wouldn't be able to get someone to install the patch on Axletron. Cliffjumper was all thumbs in his opinion, and he didn't want to risk trying to patch up Axletron alone.
Well…he'd made it this far, too late to turn back now. He'd come up with something.
Swindle dialed two bots when he made it back to his ship. The first, naturally, was Galvatron. As the purple bot's faceplate filled the screen, his optics widened in surprise as he took in Swindle's damaged faceplate. "Are you alright Swindle? What happened?"
"Oh just a little souvenir from a trade I know you're going to be very interested in. Check your terminal."
Galvatron nodded and began looking through the data pack Swindle had forwarded to him. Scanning it multiple times, to make sure he actually understood what it was saying before looking back to Swindle, who seemed to glow with pride despite the cracked optic and dented faceplate. "Let me get Shockwave on with us."
A few moments later, Shockwave appeared on the second half of the screen, his optic glowing brightly in the dark room. "My Lord. Swindle."
"Shockwave! Great to see ya! How's that neural blocker working out?"
Swindle was of course referring to his solution to StunGun's discovery. The neural blocker saved Shockwave's sleeper agents, updating their coding so as not to trigger if they saw Axletron. Unfortunately, it had been too late for StunGun and he'd had to erase his memory entirely after he'd finally figured out a way to transmit the patch through Rosanna's music, and while rudimentary and far from ideal, it served its purpose. Shockwave responded blankly, "Fine Swindle. What did you want to report?"
"I've acquired some new information, a way to find Lord Megatron that the Autobots won't be able to replicate."
Shockwave tilted his helm, the only sign that he was interested. He'd gone through the Decepticon's and Autobot's data on the accident a million times, with little luck. What new information had Swindle learned?
"I managed to find a bot who had access to the information for the disappearance. Little that we didn't already have, but they also included space bridge network readings linked to spark scans."
"Spark scan readings?" Shockwave asked with surprise. The Autobots hadn't done that. There was no point when they already knew the sparks involved. Spark scans were unique to each bot, and left behind an inimitable signature. The Autobots had spark scan database, but it was limited to active personnel; Civilians, bots that retired or passed before the database was established, or bots that were off-planet weren't even included. Multiple attempts to make a larger database had been brought forward, but the general consensus was it was too militaristic to be used on a planet wide scale.
"All the Autobot's sparks were covered, but Megatron's was exposed. Since they Autobot's don't have his spark scan information, they can't track it—"
"But we can." Galvatron finished. "No more blind searches into space, no more trial and error. We can narrow down the scope into a few star systems. This is closer than we have ever been before."
"…Swindle, this information….who gave it to you?" Shockwave asked, almost speechless with the implications. "And what did you give in return?"
"I'm not at liberty to reveal my source at this time" Swindle replied with a smirk. He liked to hold some cards close to the chassis, especially when it concerned his business partners. But he couldn't help but tease, "Some Intel is too valuable to risk, but in this case, though the price was pretty steep, I'm certain it'll pay off in the long run."
That was enough confirmation for Shockwave. Swindle had gotten the information from a bot in Intel, someone not Longarm. Few bots were high enough to even have access to the data, and if there was another infiltrator in the ranks, not only would Shockwave know, he'd be supporting them. No. This could only be one bot. "Very well."
Galvatron filled the silence, "I will begin pulling bots back from the borders. Send the generals updates and have them begin scanning the areas around the activated space bridges for Megatron's spark signature. I will direct crews to the opposite bridges as a distraction. Shockwave, continue in your post. Swindle, thank you again."
"Always a pleasure Galvatron." With a smirk, Swindle disconnected, and Galvatron ended the call with a final nod.
As his screen faded to black, Galvatron felt hope grow in his spark. This was the break he needed, the clue to finally finding his son. He was already making plans on how best to proceed when he noticed a new light blinking on his terminal. Ah. He'd received another message.
After a moment of hesitation, he opened it.
Neutral,
I've crossed a line there's no coming back from. I'm more a traitor now than I ever was when I was with you. At least that was honest, at least that didn't mean hurting anyone. But this…I don't regret doing it, because I needed to, but this is going to have consequences I can only hope I'm ready to handle. Wish me luck.
I'll write again.
Love,
Cutie
Cutie. There was only one bot he'd called Cutie. Only one bot he'd masqueraded as a neutral for. The only one he'd ever told about that was Nova and the femme had long since passed. For a few ano-cycles now, he'd received these short messages, completely at random. He didn't know who else could be writing him these notes. His spark said it was Cliffjumper, alive again. But his processor, well aware of how weak and feeble it could be, rationalized that this was another trick on his own construction, another lie to alleviate his guilt. Pretend it all never happened. Cliffjumper and his unborn sparkling alive and well and looking for him…as if.
Despite the fruitlessness of it all, he saved each message, memorized them, accepted the temporary comfort they brought, for all he knew that he would wake up one day and find them all gone, having never existed to begin with. So what if the notes came or didn't come. There was no way to respond, no one to even respond to. Galvatron was probably writing them himself, though he had no recollection of ever doing so.
He couldn't fix himself. But he could find his son. Megatron would return to his rightful place, Galvatron swore it.
In his office, Shockwave stared at his blank screen in awe. Cliffjumper had actually done it. He'd betrayed the Autobots, sold incredibly sensitive information to the Decepticons, which could potentially throw them back into a full war…but in exchange for what? Obviously it was something Cliffjumper felt Axletron needed but what could it be? He already knew about the Sky Sickness, Shockwave was positive the bot had learned about it at the prison, after all Shockwave had pointed them there himself, but surely no bot spoke about the patches.
Whatever it was, if it was something that could save his son, it could potentially also help many of the Decepticons languishing in the prisons. If Shockwave had learned anything, Cliffjumper was not one to just sit on information, but act on it. He just had to be patient, and let the mini show his cards in his own time.
His patience was vindicated a deca-cycle later, when Cliffjumper requested leave to go with Ultra Magnus and his crew to Vestum Major, the capital world of the Vestal Imperium. The Vestals were mechanoids that remained largely neutral during the Cybertronian Wars, despite efforts on both sides to form an alliance with them. Notwithstanding that, or perhaps because of it, the three groups remained on fairly good terms, trading agreements flowing freely between them. To be honest, it remained one of the few legitimate ways for Decepticons to get Cybertronian products.
As such, it wouldn't be far-fetched to find something of Decepticon origins on the planet. Perhaps that was what Cliffjumper was counting on. So Longarm approved the request.
He came back with an almost complete set of Medical textbooks for military builds – Decepticons.
How convenient.
And the story was so well told too. Cliffjumper openly admitted that he was looking for Decepticon medical information on the planet, which was why he wanted to go in the first place, for Axletron naturally. During his search he heard rumor of the set for sale on Vestum Minor, the widely acknowledged black market base of the Imperium; Vestum Major for all the bright, open sales and trade and Vestum Minor for the dark, underhanded dealings.
He'd gone alone, telling Ultra Magnus that if the deal were true to begin with, it would be easier to buy for single mini in a relatively minor position, when compared to the leader of the Autobots. He'd been seen off with enough credits for the purchase and a worried smile from his son. The "mission" was a success.
The data pads that came back were ancient. Old and damaged, hard link only, but functional. There were quite a few of them as well, understandable since they couldn't hold as much information as the newer pads. They were disorganized and broken up without a clear order, as though the bot that made them was desperate just to get all the information they could transferred. They would be sorting through the data for mega-cycles. It fit the mini's smuggled goods scenario perfectly.
Truly Cliffjumper was wasted on the Autobots. In the span of half an ano-cycle, he'd acquired more medical data on Decepticons than anyone before him. Axletron was installed with an upgraded patch, courtesy of First Aid and Perceptor and wouldn't have to fear being grounded again. After him followed medical updates for Decepticon prisoners, just as Shockwave had expected.
For Cliffjumper, a new guilt had been added to his shoulders, only slightly alleviated by the improved health of Axletron and the various Decepticon prisoners on the planet. Traitor. That's what he was. A traitor to his friends, his family, his faction…could you be a traitor to Cybertronians as a whole? Maybe if you helped the squids or something. Cliffjumper hadn't sunk that low but he didn't think he'd get brownie points for that at a trial.
What he was doing was entirely selfish. He wanted to save his son, who's Decepticon father had gifted him own set of medical problems, on top of this dashing good looks and charm. And wasn't that fragged up, the fact that they had divided themselves to the point that they couldn't even properly treat each other medically? How many Decepticons could provide proper medical care to a civilian Autobot, because if it was anything like how poorly Autobot medics treated Decepticon patients, out of plain lack of knowledge, they were screwed.
It seemed each milestone of Axletron's life was marked by prison reforms. What a legacy.
End Chapter 119