It had been a little over two months since the unexpected visitor. Tensions in Kaon had been rising steadily to a low simmer. Crime was running high, and protests were still happening. Optimus was doing all in his power to attempt to disperse the tensions, and was holding a peace summit at the Iacon Hall. Historically it's been used for all kinds of things, including debate.

Ratchet had done his best to busy himself in his writings and readings to try and bury the strange feelings he found himself surrounded by. He and Optimus had become very good friends over the weeks and were very casual with each other. Most of the planning for their ceremony had been finished and the only thing left to do was allow time to pass, fittings to happen, and RSVPs to roll in.

Both of them had a nice hotel room with a beautiful view of downtown Iacon. Red had insisted that it would be easiest to stay on site for the summit. Bots from all different parts of Cybertron had accepted the invitation.

His alarm clock blared in his audio from his HUD. He groaned faintly deeply wanting to press snooze. He rolled over looking at the other bed in the room, finding it made neatly and missing a Prime. He sighed slowly sitting up and rubbing at his optics. It was nearly 6 am.

Ratchet yawned widely as he drowsily made his way into the shared lounge space between the connected room they had purchased. Ratchet saw Optimus sitting on the couch looking over some notes and he heard Red trying to wake Hide up.

"You oaf- UP. Come on, we're going to be late!" He bitched at him.

He heard a muffled string of curses from Hide as a reply. Ratchet sighed, walking over to the available coffee pot and started brewing some. "Good morning, sunshine," Optimus chuckled, glancing up at Ratchet.

"Don't 'sunshine' you freakish morning person," he snarked gruffly at him. "What time were you up?"

"Hmmm, wouldn't you like to know," he chuckled.

"Oh please, I would have doubted you ever slept if it wasn't for your snoring," Ratchet replied, watching the coffee pot critically.

Optimus shrugged, "At least I don't perform surgery in my sleep. Scared me half to death, asking me for forceps in the middle of the night," he quipped back.

Ratchet rolled his optics at him with a small chuff hiding a small smile. He took his now finished coffee brew and poured it in an available mug before sipping on it walking over closer to Optimus.

"Hmmm I hope I have everything…" he sighed, shifting on the couch.

"So remind me why I'm awake at this ungodly hour again?" Ratchet hummed faintly.

"I'd like to know that too!" Hide barked from his berthroom, before he walked out to join them followed by Aid, who was just as chipper as Optimus was.

"Because we're holding a very important peace summit to try and put more perspective into other people's minds. We'll be having debates and speeches over the next three days to get more voices into the experience others have with the caste system," Optimus replied.

"Ah, right.." Ratchet sighed, taking another draft of his coffee.

Optimus shook his helm. "I still can't believe you just drink it black. No creamer or anything. Like some kind of monster," he teased.

"Forgive me for wanting coffee and not coffee flavored sugar and milk," Ratchet balked back.

Optimus chuckled faintly standing up. "Finish your black tar and we'll need to get going. I would like to be there to greet anyone."

Hide sighed leaning on the wall next to the door. "Why couldn't we do this in the afternoon again?"

"Because we have a lot to get through, and an early start will be to our advantage. We'll be packed until 5," Red replied on Optimus's behalf.

"That would be correct," Optimus said. "We'll be having all sorts of people. Wing lord Starscream, Senator Soundwave…" he murmured flipping through his notes. "…CMO Pharma… the gladiator that's doing really well in Kaon. Megatronus."

Ratchet tilted his helm back, downing the rest of the mug and setting it on the counter. "Alright, let's go then."

One short walk across the street and into the large hall later, Ratchet and Optimus were sitting in their designated spot sitting in the hall, name tags sitting neatly in front of each seat, along with a microphone. Each spot had a small cube of energon and Optimus had a gavel in front of him, and the controls to the microphones in front of him in case things got a little loud.

The room itself was very large, and circular in shape. A stage sat on the floor in the center of the room with the Iacon seal painted onto it. There was a microphone there to help with projection. There were three rows of tiered seating, Optimus and Ratchet sitting together at the head of the room, directly in front of the center stage. No one sat behind or in front of them as they were lined up with the middle row.

They chatted softly about what kind of topic they were hoping to cover and what they would be talking about as they watched everyone file in and find their seats.

Once the room was full, Optimus stood up, banging the gavel to gather attention. Once the room was quiet he began to speak. "Thank you for making the time to be here. I'm eternally grateful for your time, attention, and energy. The political atmosphere of Cybertron has been cloudy with many voices and opinions. Our goal here today is to hopefully clear the air and speak with each other in a constructive way. You all should have received a schedule of who is speaking today about what. Each speaker will have 15 minutes to speak and will be uninterrupted. The next 5 minutes, we will turn the microphones on and questions will be allowed for the speaker to answer. I ask that we remain respectful to our fellow cybertronians. If you must leave, please exit quietly through the nearest door. In the event of an emergency, leave all items behind and exit the building in the most efficient manner. We will take a short recess every hour for ten minutes, and at noon we will take an hour for a meal. We will adjourn at 5. I call the first speaker of the day, opening the summit, Senator Soundwave."

Ratchet watched as a thin and tall mech walked forth. He was faceless, wearing a glassy visor to shield him and standing center stage, making it to the microphone.

Everything was alright until around noon. Ratchet found that Optimus had to mute many microphones throughout the day. Ratchet even stepped on occasion warning Senators that if they did not calm themselves, that they would be escorted out for the day. Not even the lunch recess had helped temper the tempers that were flaring.

"I welcome the final speaker of the day, Megatronus. Current Champion of the Kaonite Gladiatorial Ring," Optimus said looking down at his paper. Ratchet could feel the relief in his field that this was the last one. He too was very tired and desperately wanted to retreat into a room where it was just him.

The mech that had taken the stage down below was a tall and hulking gladiator. He was built and very muscular. His armor was rugged and he had a scar running across his cheek below his optics. He walked with a commanding presence, his chin held high.

He took the microphone from the stand holding it and looking around him.

"My name is not important," he began. "I am a champion of the gladiatorial arena, and that is where my importance begins and ends. Mechs like you come swarming to my workplace to relish in its glorious filth, bathing in energon, waste, and slag, while I slave away under your optics, caked in this filth. I listen to you cheering and clapping through my rage, I see you exchanging currency upon my life, and I feel you watching me back as I make a fool of myself, acting like a barbarian for your entertainment," he paced around the stage slowly, looking up at those around him.

"I see I have some of your attention now. Whether you knew it or not, you expected me to walk on stage and act like a barbarian for your entertainment; you expected me to act like a gladiator. My caste rating is a 2. It used to be a 1 because I used to be a miner. Society dictates I am the lowest of lows and you must distance yourself from me in any way you can, or you may become me. It is what society demands of you. You are uncomfortable because I'm talking to you in a place where you cannot silence me and you are uncomfortable because I'm not acting like an uneducated brute. You're uncomfortable because I'm different enough from you to justify your disapproval.

"I'm sure that many of you can guess what my topic is and I can practically feel most of you squirming in your seats because you're going to grin and bear me talking up to you about the caste system and how ugly it is when you're the clogged exhaust port of society."

He turned to Ratchet pointing at him. He felt his spark jump in his casing a little bit. "Consort Ratchet. Former Senator, CMO of Cybertron, and leading medical expert. Tell me, what caste were you born into?"

Ratchet glanced over at Optimus, giving him a nod. He flipped the microphone on for Ratchet to speak. He leaned forwards a little bit. "I was born as a rank 4."

"And what rank are you now?"

He blinked slowly, recalling the number on his new papers. "Right now I'm a 9."

"And once you are legally betrothed?"

"I will be a rank 12."

"Thank you, Consort Ratchet. CMO Pharma, I call on you. What rank were you born into?"

Optimus looked over to Pharma, flipping his microphone on for him to answer Megatronus. "I was born into Ranking 7."

"And as Ratchet's replacement you currently rank?"

"A rank 9," he answered slowly, gradually beginning to look uncomfortable.

"Would you say that you worked hard for your position, CMO Pharma?"

"I would, if you must know," Pharma replied looking rather offended.

"Do you think you worked just as hard as Ratchet did to get your position?"

"I would agree with that statement, yes," Pharma replied coldly.

"What did you have to do to get yourself into school?"

Pharma became still from the question. "…I filled out the paperwork and I was told I owed some money. So I looked for scholarships and grants to pay for the rest and I went to school."

"So you qualified for enough scholarships and grants to pay for enough schooling to become a qualified doctor?"

"Yes."

"And you paid off your debt with little struggles?"

"…yes that is accurate."

Megatronus hummed. "And Ratchet, what did you do to get yourself into school?"

Ratchet sighed faintly. "I filled out the paperwork and went to school."

"I assume you also ended up owing a debt?"

"Yes."

"And how did you pay it off?"

"Well… first I tried scholarships and grants."

"Did you qualify?"

"No I didn't…" Ratchet replied softly.

Megatronus nodded. "Do you recall why you were denied?" He asked.

Ratchet went still. Optimus sent him a comm. :You do not have to answer him if this is making you uncomfortable.:

Ratchet replied to the comm message. :It is painful to remember, but this is necessary.:

Ratchet looked up at Megatronus, leaning forward again to answer him. "I was denied because I didn't meet the qualifying caste rank."

"So if you didn't pay off your debts from schooling with Scholarships and grants, how did you pay them off?"

Ratchet hesitated but he replied, "I worked several jobs and I tried applying for low caste aid."

"How much money did you get from low caste aid?"

"800 credits…"

"What exactly did that cover?"

Ratchet paused to think. "I remember being indecisive of what to put it towards… I would either cover my book expenses or my meal expenses for a semester…"

Megatronus whipped around looking at everyone else. "Can anyone else in this room imagine trying to decide between textbooks or meals?? Can you imagine deciding if you would rather do well in class and starve or if you would rather be fed and fall behind in class?"

He turned to Pharma again. "CMO Pharma, did you ever have to decide between purchasing books or purchasing meals?"

Pharma bristled. "Aren't you going to put an end to this Prime?"

Optimus flipped his own mic on to reply. "Megatronus has yet to say anything demeaning. Being blunt and comparative doesn't constitute being offensive. You are more than welcome to choose to reply or to stay silent yourself if you find his questioning about information that would be found on public records invasive."

Megatronus gave Pharma a small smile that bordered on a smirk. "Would you like to answer the question?"

Pharma glowered down at him. "No, I didn't have to choose between educational material and meals."

"Ratchet, if I may ask, what do you believe was the lowest thing you've ever done to try to pay for your education?"

Ratchet paused, looking down at Megatronus. Suddenly he could see all the pieces Megatronus was laying out in place for him. He was welcoming him to click them in place in front of everyone to prove a point.

This was quite the opportunity. This was a way to talk about himself and still have an advantage. He could see it clearly, the line that the mech on the stage was throwing him. He could see all the benefits and all the cons that it would cause him but he knew that dropping the bomb was one of the best things that he could do in that moment.

Ratchet leaned forward. "I would like some clarification on what you're asking me. I wouldn't want to criminalize myself."

Megatronus smiled. "We've all heard the rumors. Specifically about you working in the pleasure industry."

"Ratchet you do not have to answer that if you don't wish to," Optimus interrupted. "Megatronus, you are crossing into private information and you are not to press further."

"Optimus, I don't need you speaking for me," he said, looking over at him. He looked unsure of what was going to happen. Ratchet gave him a small smile that said 'I know what I'm doing.' Ratchet chuckled looking back at Megatronus. "I'm certainly not ashamed about it, so I don't see why I shouldn't answer. I admit it. I performed for money because I had to. It was the best way to keep myself alive. I worked several different jobs. Yes, I did work at clubs, but I also worked at my parents' restaurant, as an intern, and eventually I scraped together enough money by scrimping and saving tips, skipping meals, and doing whatever I could. I paid off my degree, used it to change my paperwork, and suddenly I qualified for all those scholarships and grants. I used them to get my next degree, and my next degree after that," Ratchet replied. "That's how I got to be a physician, CMO, then I opened my own clinic. That led me to running for Senate, and then I ended up here."

Ratchet felt the static in the room increase. Optimus looked at him closely, before Ratchet saw it click in his optics. He field rippled with clarity.

Megatronus turned to Pharma again, somewhat hiding a smug look behind the microphone. "Do you honestly still think you worked just as hard as Ratchet to get to your current position?"

Pharma bristled. "…N-no."

Megatron smiled and continued to speak on the caste system. He touched on topics of caste discrimination, what resources were withheld, what it was like to try and climb the ranks.

Ratchet hung onto every word of it, highly enthralled, By the time Megatronus reached the end of his allowed time slot, there weren't any questions from the other Senators. He had quashed any and all rebukes with the direct comparison between Ratchet and Pharma. Many of them feared he would pick them apart like he had done with Pharma.

Optimus proclaimed the day adjourned and they all went their separate ways.

…

The four of them were quiet when they made it back to the hotel room. They had put on the news where they watched the coverage of the peace summit as they ate their takeout food.

Red laid back in the armchair lazily stirring the stir fry he had ordered before he looked up at Ratchet breaking the silence. "You were a pleasure bot?"

Ratchet paused in his eating to look over at him. "I prefer the term adult entertainer," he replied.

Red stared at him.

Ratchet continued to eat, staring back at him. "Can I help you?" He asked with his mouth full.

"Well, yes, you can explain why this is just now getting brought up," he replied.

"It's been a rumor since I started becoming even mildly important. I didn't care to address it until now because until now I wouldn't have gained anything by addressing it."

"But why wouldn't you deny it??" Red asked. "That's what I'm having issues understanding!"

"Revealing it was very strategic, Red," Optimus replied. "Megatronus brought it to light and used it to emphasize a huge problem that lies within the caste system."

"I'm still failing to understand why you didn't deny it," Red replied. "It's going to bring a lot of questions and a lot more rumors."

"That's the point," Optimus replied. "It's actually very smart. It's daring, but I think it's going to work," he replied. "Currently Ratchet is one of the most important people on the planet because he's my intended and he was a very important person before we were engaged. The main argument for wanting to keep the caste system is that it rewards harder working people by enticing them to climb the ranks by bettering themselves in different ways, only if they are so willing. By bringing exactly what it takes to climb the ladder like Ratchet has to the table, it puts a huge dent in that argument."

"Exactly," Ratchet replied. "To earn a higher rank you need to prove you're contributing to Cybertron. Those who contribute the most earn a higher rank, but the fault lies in the idea of what is important. Without those working in the mines, we wouldn't have hardly anything. If they don't work in the mines we have no energon, no material to trade, and no material to build with. So if they're contributing essential work to Cybertron, then why is it that they are ranked lowly?"

Red thought about it for a moment. "Well, it's because miners don't make very much money, and they can't contribute to the public funds very much."

"So why are they paid so little?"

"Because they're so many of them?"

"Why are there so many of them?" Ratchet asked.

Red hummed. "Because it isn't skilled work and anyone can get a job mining."

"Okay how are you supposed to get a better job?"

"Well, I guess you would have to get a better skill set," he replied.

Ratchet nodded. "You would, but how do you get that?"

"You need to go to school," he replied. "You need to get certified."

"Okay, what do you need to do to go to school?" He asked. "What do you have to do to get your certification and file the paperwork to upgrade your caste?"

"You have to pay it off…"

"Where are you supposed to get the money to pay it off?"

Red paused. "Your job."

Ratchet chuckled. "Yes, but miners don't get paid very much."

He thought about it a little bit more. "Okay, but there's scholarships and programs."

"But what do scholarships usually have?"

"A rank prerequisite?"

"Why is a rank prerequisite there?"

"Because your rank is a signifier of how hard you work," he replied. "And scholarships want to know if you'll do the work if they give you the money."

"You're right, and if you don't meet the scholarship prerequisites, what are you supposed to do?"

"Turn to the programs," he replied. "Low Caste Aid."

"Yes, but how many low caste people is Low Caste Aid supposed to help?" Ratchet hummed.

"Everyone who's low caste, so everyone below 5th caste." He replied.

"And what happens when you have more people to divide resources between?"

"You… you run out of them."

"So where are you supposed to get the money if you can't get enough from programs either?"

"You have to work for it…"

"But where are you supposed to work if you don't have any skill certifications?" He asked. "What are your options then?"

"You have to work minimally skilled jobs…"

"And what are options for those jobs?"

Red trailed off thinking. "Mining… Waiting tables…"

Ratchet nodded. "Your options are Heavy Labor or service industry. Do you wanna work in the mines, service industry, or the pleasure industry?"

"No, not really," he replied.

"Why not?"

"Because they're slag jobs. You don't get paid very much, you're treated like trash, and it's a lot of physical work," Red replied with a small scoff.

"Okay, so then what are you supposed to do if you don't like your job?" Ratchet chuckled.

"Find a different one."

"How?"

"Go to school and get a better skill set… Wait, we're at the beginning again…" he said slowly.

Ratchet nodded at this. "We are at the beginning again."

Red blinked looking up at Optimus and then at Ratchet. "But did you climb the ranks just fine?"

"Yes, I did climb the ranks. But I wasn't tied down with a family, and I had to make a lot of sacrifices. I worked all of the time, I was treated poorly, I lived in poor conditions, and I sold my body off just so that I could pay for the certification to increase my rank," he replied. "I also got very lucky. I wasn't the lowest of the lows so people tolerated me more. A lot of mechs found me appealing to look at, so I found work pleasing them. I'm smart, so I understood how to maneuver my way through paperwork. There's a million ways that I could have gotten trapped in a lower cast. There's a reason you don't see very many people like me who climb their way up."

Red fell quiet looking down at his meal. "Hmm… I was born and raised in rank 6… I never really had any idea."

"And that's not your fault," Optimus replied. "The reason for changing isn't to punish you. It's to stop punishing other people for being born where they were," he replied.

Ratchet nodded in agreement, settling back into his seat. Optimus and Red continued to talk on the matter but Ratchet zoned most of it out, consumed by his own thoughts for the rest of the meal.

He wasn't bothered by anyone else until later as they were getting ready to recharge for the night. He said in his own berth, reading a book. Optimus walked out of their washroom, freshly showered and dressed in comfortable armor. Ratchet was mildly aware of him as he walked across the room sitting on his own berth before saying something in a soft voice. "Can I ask you something?" He asked.

Ratchet looked up from the book with an inquisitive hum. "Yes, what is it?"

"What did you think of Megatronus?"

"Hmm, I think he had a great speech. He really knows how to command a crowd"

"Indeed he does…"

"Why do you ask?" Ratchet hummed softly.

"Because I consider you a good friend, Ratchet and I'm trying to decide what I think of him." Optimus chuckled reclining against the head of the berth.

"Well what do you need help deciding?" He chuckled.

"It's just an idea, but we could use someone like that," Optimus replied. "We would have me, born and bred high caste, you born low caste and rose through the ranks, and him…"

"Someone who is born and bred low caste," Ratchet finished for him. "I think I can see where you're going with this…"

"Campaigning would be a lot easier if people saw it coming from someone they can relate to," Optimus replied. "I've already been speaking on it publically, but adding you AND him to the mix…" he continued.

"Would give the low caste a reason to trust us. Not only that if he were to agree to be added into the mix, we would pretty much triple our audience," Ratchet chuckled. "It's not a bad idea. I don't think I would mind working with him with what I know so far."

Optimus chuckled, settling into his berth. "Hmmm we'll see what he does tomorrow. I want to see if he can handle himself in a debate," he yawned, turning onto his side.

Ratchet chuckled faintly, closing the book and setting it aside to reach for the light. "We'll keep an optic on him."

"Mm, indeed. Goodnight, Ratchet," Optimus replied.

Ratchet smiled faintly. "Goodnight."