The Diego Diaries: Ward Time (dd6 489)

-0-In a four berth ward at Autobot City Medical Center, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Cybertron and the Primal Empire, Postal District 1

Ratchet smirked. "You like playing with fire, right?"

Drift smirked. "Maybe."

Ratchet considered the question. "When we first bonded we were too wild aft, career driven and bogged down with our situation on world and our own selfish egos to take on infants. But we made a promise that we'd have a team some fine orn. That was always so and our families wanted them, too. At that time, we didn't have an obligation to our species to reproduce so we wouldn't die out. There were families and children everywhere.

"When we got to Diego a chance remark by Ironhide sort of made it clear that if not now, then when? It was so hard to look around and not see them and looking at all the mature bonds around, it was hard to see them without children either. We were so hardened by war, by the endless hatred that the best part of us was falling away. They reminded us of who and what we really are, not the slaggers we've become. The orphans were key and Orion was the first step back to ourselves. I wanted not only a little mech of my own but a chance for us to survive as a species. I don't think any of us understood how close to the brink we've come."

It was silent, then both Ratchet and Drift glanced at Jetta. He smirked slightly. "When is there time? I work and Elita soldiers and I soldier with Elita. It's not that we don't want kids. Its just that we have to be ready for the responsibility that we can't put off once that step is taken. Once you become a genitor, you ARE one all the time. We would have to go to the Well as well. Neither of us want any part of this process ourselves."

Drift nodded. "We want three at the same time from the Well. When that happens is anyone's guess. We don't have a problem with kids. We have a problem with our work and that part of things. We work a dangerous side of the street."

"But you agree … eventually you'll have the three kids," Ratchet asked.

Drift smirked at him. "Some orn."

"And you? Some day you'll have kids?" Ratchet asked Jetta.

Jetta half hid behind a pillow, then nodded with a big grin. "Some fine orn."

"Good," Ratchet said with a dazzling smile. "Six more grandchildren."

Drift snorted then glanced at Jetta who lowered his pillow to stare at Ratchet with a slight frown. "Six?"

"Sure. You said you want children. I asked about the three Drift and Springer want and you agreed that children would happen with you and Elita someday, too. That means three for you, Drift, three for you, Jetta and SIX FOR ME! WHOO-HOO!" Ratchet smiled at them and sat back comfortably. "Yes-siree … Prowler doesn't stand a chance."

"Apparently, neither do we," Jetta said with a chuckle.

"Your turn," Drift said to Jetta.

Jetta thought, then grinned. "You used to sneak stuff from the bases to the poor. How did that work? Did you ever get caught? I admired that in you a great deal back when. What did the three of us do to help the poor and why?"

Ratchet grinned. "I'm glad you asked why. It would amaze you how many hate the poor and think they deserve their lives, that they're the root of all evil. I personally don't know anyone who ever chose to be poor but that's a common line of thinking for a lot of slaggers. I used to requisition things and sneak them out. I did it because I could and because I could, I was morally obligated to do so. I made up officers and had their salaries directed to accounts in their name which I controlled. I took that money and paid bills for the sick and elderly, bought food and medicine, books for kids to learn to read.

"I didn't do it because I'm such a high and mighty saint. I did it because I could and because I can't stand suffering. We have an obligation to each other because the strength of a society and species hangs on the well being of its weakest members. Too many of them and you fall. We did, you know. The humans are working on it, too, the slaggers. We're ALL ONE. That's my deepest and most profoundly held conviction. No one ever caught me but if they did, I didn't care. That's who and what I am." He grinned. "Sue me."

They laughed. Then Jetta grinned at Ratchet. "I did what I could. I beat grants out of them to build housing and help the homeless. Justice was the most important thing for me. We never had a lot but there were so many who had less. I'm mystified by the high castes. How can you ignore suffering? That may be the greatest question you can ask of us regarding what happened. How can you ignore and blame those you made poor and homeless with your policies? There was never enough to go around but we tried. That's the part that keeps me going … trying to make it better. Orion felt the same way … and Deion and Arial. All of us did."

"We were raised by those who didn't give up," Ratchet said.

"I was a slagger forever until the Circle and the Knights. You don't even think about it because its all around you. You get hardened to it. For me, saving everyone, fighting the injustice and neglect … the stuff they were supposed to prevent and didn't … that's the thing for me. That's what kept me going, seeing it with the Circle and Knights, then deciding to live it. I'm for Cybertron and our people but I'm for everyone who needs someone to stand up for them and with them. We have to make something better out of our own catastrophe," Drift said.

Ratchet nodded. "Is it my turn?"

They both nodded.

Ratchet made a pretense of thinking about it, then asked, "Tell me one or two things about Elita and Springer that I don't know and I'll tell you about your big old pa."

Jetta chuckled. "Elita is the best person I met in my life. She's brave and good, persevering and true. She also likes to dance. She's a really good dancer. She's smart and talented. She and I … we're simpatico on all things. I watched her lead the femmes on Cybertron and I ran the group when I recovered. She's the bravest and truest person I know. Considering who I know, that should tell you a little bit more about who she is."

Ratchet nodded as he sent another little video clip to Elita. He grinned at Drift. "I remember when Springer was a young pup. Tell me something about him that I don't know."

Drift grinned, then thought about the myriad things that he loved about Springer. "He's the most fun I've ever had. He's funny and fearless. He worries about being all that when it comes to his jobs. He worries about things that matter. He loves this family and he hates Galaxy for what they did to his family in Polyhex. He's a friend that gets me and I love him more than anyone I ever met. We have so much fun. I would follow him into The Pit. I never felt anyone cared if I lived or died before and it feels good. Real good."

Ratchet and Jetta nodded. "Now my old mech." Ratchet grinned. "Ironhide can dance like a dream, he sings really well and he paints pretty good landscapes. He was raised in show business and the army and both are sort of the same. Putting on a show for the slaggers out there. He's smart as a whip and he reads voraciously. He hides his light under a bushel as the humans say because it helps him to have the advantage. Others think he's less capable and smart, thus he has the upper hand.

"He can't really hold his liquor and he adores his family. He cried when Alor sparked and he loves his brother, Scout. His appa and amma want him to do more with show biz but he's fighting it." Ratchet grinned. "They used to make him act in infant productions as a little mech. All of his family call him that. They look at him and I know they see him as Orion's age. They took me in and never looked back. I think I love them, all of them including Lizzie and Uncle Steiner to pieces. They're a great and fun family … a weird mix of religion, the military and show business."

Drift nodded. "Tell me something about your family and something funny about your growing up."

Jetta grinned. "I grew up in the same district as Elita, Magnus and Optimus. We played together, got into fights and trouble together and decided to save the world together. One of us could afford to go to the hedge schools at a time, mostly, so we shared what we learned with everyone. We had fake library cards to get books and we drew a lot, talked a lot and dreamed a lot. It was a good life, really, though it was damned tough. My genitors are the greatest. My cousin Hauser thinks they may have gotten out. I hope so.

"As for funny, I was Orion's wing man and he was mine. We reached the point where mechs were finally important and both of us were too serious to be good at it. We didn't know slag all about being suave and all of that slag. We got our tips from Arial," he said with a laugh. "We were so hopeless about relationships and getting dates. I don't think I did until Arial came right out and made it clear that she wanted to bond with me. I was such a dunce and Orion was worse. We were both too focused and serious to be anything but hopeless."

"I can vouch for that," Ratchet said with a snicker. "Your Amma Docker used to take me window shopping and explain how some fine orn anything I wanted would be mine. They were sacrificing themselves to get me a career, maybe an apprenticeship with someone who might pay me what I deserved for what I could do. Galaxy took over our business, too, and it was tough, really tough. All of them sacrificed for me and I never wasted a minute because of it. I went to University with the high caste slaggers as a mercy case and they never let me forget it. I got into a lot of fights and I never lost them because I grew up in the tenements and because I couldn't fail my family.

"It was so hard but I stand in good stead because of it. I can make due with anything when everything falls away. Some couldn't find their door knob without a spotlight. So it worked out. I used to break windows. I liked seeing how far and well aimed I could throw. It was always the supervisors of businesses that gave slag to friend's genitors. I was damned good with my aim even then. It was fun. I don't think anyone caught me but I do know that my genitors probably knew anyway. They were worried I'd grow up to be jail bait. They have no idea how close I came," he said with a laugh.

They both looked at Drift. "My genitors worked hard and one fine orn they didn't come home. No one could tell me where they were or what happened. I was old enough to apprentice so I did. I went to the local gang, slagged the leader hard and took over. The learning curve was steep but I did it. From there it wasn't hard to go to the Decepticons and make a name for myself as a duplicitous slagger. Even Megatron had a bounty on my aft. It was only from the Circle and Knights that I was saved. If I told you something about my growing up, I could be jailed. I don't think the statues of limitations have passed," he said with a chuckle. "Suffice it to say, I broke windows, too, then entered."

They both grinned at him as he grinned back.

-0-In a lab down below

They stared at the slides of Crader's armor where they had managed to make thin slices to peruse with a deeply powerful microscope. As they did, the body of Crader was laying on the berth nearby. As they discussed what it all might mean, Wheeljack, Perceptor and their smart kids who sheepishly came back at the all clear, tiny processes were coming into being inside the husk that had once been Crader of Nova Cronum.

No one noticed, they were so small, but they were happening. It wouldn't take long before they did.

Notice, that is.

-0-Up there, fifteen questions in

Elita, Springer and Ironhide with Halo walked in carrying boxes of takeout food. Settling them on a small table, Elita leaned down to kiss Jetta. She grinned at him, then nodded to Ratchet for the ten different little videos he had sent to her. Pulling a chair, she sat beside his berth.

Springer set his food down, then straddled a chair. "How do you feel?" he asked as he sent Ratchet a hug by text for the videos he was sent.

"Perforated," Drift said. "I hate getting gut shot."

"That makes two of us," Springer said as he glanced at Jetta, then Ratchet. "How are you feeling and what's the word here?"

"I feel sore as frag," Jetta said.

"Me, too," Ratchet said with a dazzling smile. "ME, TOO!"

Ironhide grinned as he sat beside Ratchet on a chair. "You're impossible."

"We've been telling tales out of school," Ratchet said with a smile. "Twenty questions, no topics off limits. Right now, I was telling them about that time in the berth-"

The rest was lost by the screaming and wailing of the masses.

It was also lost due to the siren going off again.

""CODE RED! THERE IS AN EMERGENCY IN AUTOPSY! REPEAT! THERE IS A CODE RED EMERGENCY IN AUTOPSY! PLEASE EVACUATE! THE FLOOR IS GOING ON LOCK DOWN! REPEATING! THERE IS A CODE RED EMERGENCY ON FLOOR SEVEN, THE AUTOPSY DEPARTMENT ..."

TBC 10-6-18