Part 4
Over the next few weeks, the body slowly started to come together. The twins dropped in every second or third day to check up on their sister, silently watching every move First Aid made as he carefully pieced Moonlight together. The first couple of times they did that was more than a little unnerving for the CMO, but he recognised that they wanted to be there to protect Moonlight in case anything happened.
Several years earlier…
The twins watched eagerly as Ratchet liberated several components from their packing cases and set them aside. "Are those for Moonlight?" Sideswipe asked.
"Yup. Better put them aside with the others." Ratchet answered.
"Gotcha." Sunstreaker replied, carefully collecting up the parts and putting them in the corner of the storeroom reserved for Moonlight's parts.
Ratchet concealed a smile as he watched the twins out of the corner of his optic. Their child like enthusiasm was downright infectious, and their patience with the tedious process of collecting all the needed parts was uncharacteristic to say the least.
When the Ark had crashed, it had carried with it more than enough parts to re-build the Autobot contingent several times over. Unfortunately, repairs and building the five Dinobots had used up the majority of the specialised components and they were forced to wait for the monthly shipments from Cybertron to bring the essential parts that they could not manufacture on Earth.
"So how much more do we need, Ratchet?" Sideswipe asked as the twins returned.
"All I'm waiting on is the laser core and the spark. I sent a transmission to the Femmes to get one from Vector Sigma with the personality requirements you requested." Ratchet answered. "After that, it's a matter of writing her base code and operating procedures."
The medic sighed and gestured for the twins to sit. He hated having to tell anyone this, but it was necessary. "I'm warning you now so that there are no surprises later. Don't get too attached to Moonlight just yet. Sometimes a spark doesn't take to a frame and it dissipates. Sometimes the laser core or CPU won't accept the spark and there's a fatal conflict. I'm not saying that it will happen, but..."
"But it won't." Sunstreaker interrupted. "Nothing's gonna go wrong."
"Cause you're building her." Sideswipe finished.
0o0o0
When the final parts arrived and the armour plate was fabricated, Ratchet began the tedious job of writing Moonlight's software. He worked from a template, making the job slightly easier, but he took his time to make sure it was perfect.
In creating the Dinobots, Ratchet had to admit that with the original three he and Wheeljack had been winging it somewhat. Neither mech had built a warrior before, much less three, and not with an animalistic alt mode or a time constraint as well. They needed some brute force and they needed it quickly.
For the base motion software they had to borrow some of Hound's nature videos and several monster movies to get an idea of how the animals moved. The finished code was far less thorough than what Ratchet would have liked, but it was based around a learn and expand protocol that would let the resulting mechs develop as they aged.
Moonlight would be different to both the Dinobots and the other mechs and femmes Ratchet had built. She would know how to move, speak and think straight from the outset, with a fully developed 'adult' personality.
By this time, everyone had heard about Moonlight, and requests for progress reports were almost daily. "This girl's gonna have one huge extended family." Ratchet thought to himself as he worked, laying out the foundations for her personality.
Several years later…
Finally, after six months of work, the body shell was complete. First Aid carefully sealed the helmet and stepped back to admire his work. Smokey grey metal formed a delicately feminine face. The closed optic shutters hid optics of the same medium blue as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, slightly hooded and with gracefully arched optic ridges.
There were slight traces of her brother's features about Moonlight's own, mainly around the chin and forehead. Her armour was painted a dusky pale blue, reminiscent of the morning sky. The Autobot sigil was a crimson splash just above the curve of her chest, bright and bold. Looking at the femme, there was no doubt she was built to move with elegance and grace, but with the deadly speed of a warrior.
"She looks just like how Ratchet designed her." Sunstreaker murmured, standing beside the CMO. First Aid almost jumped, the twins had been so silent he'd forgotten that they were there.
"Yeah, you did good 'Aid." Sideswipe grinned and clapped the medic's shoulder. "You did real good."
"Thanks." First Aid said, then paused for a moment. "How come Ratchet didn't build her? What happened?"
A flicker of sadness passed over both twins. "'Splain later." Sideswipe replied. "When can we put her spark in?"
"Better wait about eight hours to let the programming stabilize." First Aid advised. "I'll run a final diagnostic in the morning."
"Ok. We can wait." Sunstreaker said. The twins settled into their chairs again, optics never leaving the seemingly sleeping form of their soon to be sister.