Knock Out came to talk to him several orn later, bringing a fuelling apparatus for a sparkling. Mirage outright refused to use the mechanical device. He had put Tempest's bottle in his subspace and after some optic-rolling, the red medic handed over a specially formulated ration. He also dismissed Gyre and Rumble so he could discuss confidential medical matters with Thundercracker's surprised next-of-kin.

"That was some very fast documentation." Mirage remarked, arranging Tempest in his arms to begin the taxing process of feeding him.

"One of the benefits of conspiring with the mech who runs the bureaucracy." Knock Out shrugged stylishly, the light catching on his sleek curves. "That's not what should be important to you." He dismissed the legalities because, again, Soundwave. "Your big booming problem is keeping a jet happy. Luckily it's just the one."

"I am a secondary conjunx." The Towerling felt obliged to remind the flashy medic, mostly so it was said. A little token objection was appropriate for this moment like an aperitif. The main course would be his reluctant acceptance of the situation. Being registered as next-of-kin meant he had another little thing with which to bargain.

"And yet the Big M considers you a better bet than Screechy or Pop-Goes-the-Weasel." The medic waved a hand to metaphysically bat away the 'Bot's objections.

Mirage wondered how the Decepticon existed without an audience. He adjusted Tempest gently, patting the seekerling between his wing buds to ease any bubbles in his tank. Tempest let out an astonishingly loud burp then chuckled.

"Something that small shouldn't be able to laugh maniacally." Knock Out eyed the sparkling with misgiving. It had been possible, theoretically, that a compatible donor could stabilise an erratic spark. He'd mentioned it as a throwaway sop to Thundercracker's increasingly desperate pleas for treatment. "He seems to be responding well to you."

"That was the point, as I have been told repeatedly." Mirage remarked mildly.

"Well, yes, but only as a counsel of despair. I thought we were going to have to sedate Thundercracker. I've never seen carrier coding override core personality signifiers." He eyed the Autobot, who showed no obvious signs of ravishment. "He's hopelessly traditional, a good Vosian aristo. If you weren't a noble, he'd never look at you."

"He joined the Decepticons. Not a standard flight path for high caste." It seemed to the Towerling that they were having two different conversations. Mirage was accustomed to polite circumlocution but it was unlike 'Cons to not shoot straight. They either said nothing or told you graphically what to shove where.

"Starscream and Skywarp joined the Decepticons. One for ambition, one for revenge. No Seeker gives a damn about disenfranchised grounders." He preened his tires, tacitly adding the caveat 'not even if they are gorgeous'. "So whatever too-clever plot you and Megs and Soundwave have cooking, it won't work. It might stabilise Thundercracker but his trine is going to go to the Pit, more, if some mech gets wedged between them."

Mirage didn't admit Knock Out was likely correct or that his insinuations had prompted significant contemplation. The medic had apparently assumed any conspiracy actively involved the spy, which was interesting. And not reassuring at all as Mirage wasn't involved, didn't know the details of the conspiracy, and couldn't easily confirm if there even was one.

"Why did Thundercracker change his next of kin? Did he do it himself or was it changed for him?" Either by Soundwave or by Starscream, if one could retract kin status. Surely they wouldn't go so far as to break the trine bond. If such a bond could be broken deliberately.

Spark bonds, Mirage had been told, were permanent in most circumstances though some eventually faded if not renewed. Not all sparks took bonds well or could sustain them without frequent contact with the partner(s). The secondary conjunx bond he shared with Thundercracker would only undo if the coding also broke or was unwritten.

Early in the war, he had heard of cross-faction bonds explosively, metaphorically usually but not always, breaking. The conflict between conjunxes compelled them to kill or abduct the other. Amica bonds could break from strong emotions without being fatal but the aftermath was said to be agony. Praxian survivors, with a host of severed bonds, were twitchy at best and failed to thrive. Vosians, more often with innate combat protocols, went out in flames,

How much of an anchor was Tempest? Was he himself by proxy? Trine dynamics or permanent serious long-term his problem? Who did he need to be to navigate through this mess with his spark intact? Now all the high command were involved, if they cared. Not for him, obviously, but Thundercracker had said both Megatron and Soundwave liked sparklings. Thus, his cogitations returned to the seekerling.

"Didn't ask. Don't know." Knock Out answered dismissively.

"If you had to guess?" Mirage held on to courtesy. The red racer thrived on drama like a Seeker.

"Oh, changed for him. Our blue boy is risk averse. If he had any sort of columnar fortitude, he'd have left the instant armistice was declared." Some Decepticons had launched as soon as Megatron finished his speech. More had stayed. "Most of the thugs are hanging around out of inertia but I'd say Thundercracker is one of the pathetic ones trying to keep his promises." Knock Out laughed mockingly. "So he'll never tell 'Screamer to fly into a sun."

"You don't think his trine has cast him off?" Would it be easier on him personally if they had? Mirage wasn't sure. Possibly, if he could turn Thundercracker into someone worth standing beside.

"Not yet." He shrugged. "They're wretchedly co-dependant like all trines. In ordinary circumstances, I'd say they wouldn't but Seeker reproductive coding is the Pit. It's all tangled up in social protocols and there isn't a mech still venting who's firing on all cylinders." The medic eyed the tiny cause of the Command Trine's current tumult. "They'd probably be better off if they put him in stasis and tried again."

"Would the same complications recur?" Mirage had never carried so couldn't judge the normality of what Thundercracker had told him of his carriage. 'Not great' could stretch to cover a lot.

"Primus only knows. Until we chase down a Neutral specialist, we're shooting in the dark. I warned mecha they'd be disappointed but suddenly everyone's gone sparkling crazy." Until Cybertron warmed up to their new sun and started making hot spots, the options for population increase were limited. And repulsive, to the medic.

"What do I have to do for Thundercracker?" Other than potentially keep him away from amorous trinemates. Wouldn't that be fun. Would Skywarp remove Tempest before or after trying to spark again? Mirage didn't trust the teleporter.

"Make him rest. And fuel. And try to keep him calm." Knock Out repeated what he had said several times to several different bots. "Carrying took a lot out of him and not a lot's been put back. Seekers are terrible patients. It was easier in the war when we could just stasis anyone who so much as growled." Now he was supposed to pretend he cared. "Ideally, you should have your feeding lines activated."

There was a noticeable pause before Mirage spoke. The awkward silence was empty except for Tempest's gnawing on the bottle.

"Seekerlings have fangs." The spy despaired of his own wits when those glyphs came out of his vocaliser. He didn't like it any better when Knock Out grinned.

"Tiny little sharp ones, yes. Like needles, or so I am told." The medic chuckled. "Won't that be fun?" He turned professional for a moment because his recommendation had been serious. "Thundercracker will hate it but supplementary assistance will help. I'll scan the spawn to confirm if he's growing then shove the data down the Seeker's intake. Tempest will need more than he can provide. He can't and probably won't argue with that."

"What sort of procedure is involved in line activation?" Mirage asked, with every expectation of hating it too.

"A coding tweak." Knock Out had gone over the Autobot's specs closely. On orders, of course. No gratuitous ogling at all. "Hook can do it. He'll spout on about caste-specific builds and the dignity of the labouring classes but the process isn't complicated. Not like installing the feeding lines themselves would be if you didn't have them."

"How long will I need to use them? What sort of recovery period will Thundercracker require?" Would it be safe for them to stay in the barracks for a long convalescence? He was not going to 'clear out a squat' by himself. Assuming he was even allowed to do so.

"If your conjunx is halfway sensible, he should be fit enough to support Tempest through his tertiary growth phase. That's the one where the pitspawns run around jumping off things. You'll know you're there when the little menace's thrusters start clicking. They can't ignite until the fourth phase." Then they would have a flight capable miniature idiot zooming around. Joy. "He should be in secondary now. He isn't."

"Very well." Mirage reluctantly consented. "I would prefer it in writing that this is your medical opinion. I don't imagine Thundercracker's trine will like me feeding their sparkling any more than he will."

"Oh, Primus." Knock Out, the veteran of many Seeker spats, grimaced. "You can be absolutely sure of that."