Notes: I forgot to add that I do not own any part of Transformers. Remember that, cause I'm not putting a disclaimer in every chapter.
Chapter 2
For the first time in stellarcycles, Megatron looks to be at a complete loss for what to do.
If the warlord had only one regret, it was the unexpected termination of most femmes and all traditional carriers during the early stages of the war.
Bombing a city here and there was simply a tactical option in the beginning. Then when other cities became battle grounds… Well, neither side could hold back unless they wanted to give their enemies the advantage.
Amongst the chaos, femme frames and those with carrier compatible spark chambers were quick to drop in numbers. The war was progressing too quickly for either side to notice this consequence (for forging fully developed and combat ready cybertronians was preferred) before it was too late.
However, they have found a carrier. One that could have been offlined any moment during his service to the carelessness of the Autobots.
"Would I, a seeker, lie about this?" Starscream asks, his voice firm instead of containing it's usual dramatized inflections.
The loss of carriers is (or at least should be) the worst regret of any seeker.
During the golden age, flyers mostly kept to their own cities, except you could find a seeker in just about every sparkling nursery. Every orphanage. They were even hired to personally aide many mechs and femmes throughout the carrying process, acting as sparkling-sitters and teachers afterwards.
When most seekers joined the war effort… their duty to carriers and sparklings was set aside.
The closest thing to carrier's left were bots capable of splitting their own sparks (a very limited amount of times) and immediately placing a piece into a frame. A very similar method to the use of Vector Sigma. Usually only mechs like Soundwave and Blaster were capable, in order to form their cassettes. Though most Decepticons believe Wheeljack or Ratchet to be as well (somebot had to have done so for those dinobots).
"From Cybertron's medical files gathered on the Autobot 'Gears' it clearly states that he is not a carrier." Shockwave says from the large monitor, a data pad with all the information on their minibot prisoner they could find. "And no there are no signs of fault in the medical files. These are from before the war."
Starscream's frown warped into a sneer.
"I saw the second spark myself! I opened his spark chamber with my own two servos!" he snaps leaning against the computer console to glare the purple cyclops into submission.
Ever so mitigated in his emotions, Shockwave simply looks to Megatron.
"I think I found a new use for that circuit-"
"NO!" the seeker screams, a closed servo denting the console and the monitor becomes staticy for a click or two. "When I tried to remove the circuit, Gears displayed all the symptoms of a malfunctioning spark-"
"If you would let me finish, Starscream, I was saying that his circuit may be what's holding the newspark in place. Not his spark chamber." Shockwave says a bit exasperated, gaze returning to his data pad. "All cybertronian sparks pull at their surroundings. It's why they stay centered in whatever case they're placed in. A carrier's spark chamber pulls back, which keeps a newspark from being absorbed by the mature one. The stress is too much for an average bot's spark, which is why we can't simply transplant an offlined carrier's chamber as a substitute."
Things suddenly begin to click into place.
Starscream is no medic, and neither is Shockwave, but they both have experience as scientists. The two fields connect often enough that the seeker is slightly embarrassed he hadn't thought of this himself.
"His circuit must create a pull of some sort since it's built to draw energy from his spark instead of his energon, creating a narrow field for the second spark." The jet finishes, possibilities filling his processor.
He hasn't had so many ideas and such a strong desire to study fill his processor since before Skyfire had been lost on Earth.
"How hard would it be to replicate the pull of his circuit?" Megatron asks, his expression unreadable.
"This level of technology is on par with those of spacebridge sciences." Shockwave replies, and Starscream feels a weight on his spark.
Their leader asks for the purple mech to elaborate.
"We Decepticons…" Shockwave hesitates, looking to the grey mech. "We wouldn't be capable of building spacebridges if we hadn't safeguarded the files throughout the war…. Drawing energy from a spark is highly dangerous and old technology. The fact that Autobot Gears has a circuit perfectly balanced to hold the newspark away from his own, and still allow it to remain within his spark chamber is extraordinary on its own."
There are a lot more complications than that.
Starscream could imagine that the strength and size of each cybertronian's spark would need to be taken into account. The distance of the circuit to the spark would matter too. Not to mention that this circuit seems to have far more functions than just drawing energy from the mini's spark, as removing the card has proven to have many strange consequences before.
"We can take a proper scan of the circuit after the newspark is placed in a protoform. Do you think you could find the materials for one, Shockwave?" Megatron decides, surprising his Second.
The seeker actually smiles at the two other mechs once Shockwave agrees to get a protoform ready.
A sparkling was on the way.
No one was going to ruin this for him…
Suddenly, the console began to beep, alerting them to a transmission from the Autobots.