Right Of Succession.
Chapter Six.
A/N: One vorn is about 83 human years, one orn is equivalent to thirteen human days.
It seemed that interestingly enough, the sparklings had solved a lot more problems than Sparkhands had at first thought they would. It wasn't in an obvious way, but creating sparklings had enabled open communication with the Autobots, temporarily made the fuel-issue no longer a problem, and given both the Decepticons and the Autobots something other to think about other than the war over possession of an artefact that was no longer in existence, but had passed it's powers on to him. Which technically meant that the Decepticons had possession of the AllSpark.
Sparkhands hoped that no-one from either side would try to use him as they had planned to use the AllSpark. He was no Cube to be carted here and there and used to give life or death at someone else's will, and he would resist any attempt by anybody to do so, Autobot, Decepticon, or human.
It had only taken a few days after the return of Ratchet for a communication to be received from the Autobot base, a request from Optimus Prime to speak to Leader Sparkhands on a matter that could benefit them both. Sparkhands had chosen to respond by contacting them back, and had only just sent the message when it was acknowledged.
Soundwave had managed to jury-rig a communications console with both audio and visual pickup, and as Sparkhands watched, the picture resolved into an image of the Autobot leader, who nodded his noble head in a gesture of respect to him.
"Leader Sparkhands, first of all may I congratulate you on a bloodless mission that achieved you fuel and medical aid." The Autobot leader said sincerely. "I have managed to calm some of the fallout from that with the humans, and I would like to try and strike a bargain with you, a bargain that means both of our respective sides will get what we wish."
"State your bargain, and then we will talk." Sparkhands said, blinking one optic shutter briefly closed in a wink, and hoped that Optimus would understand that he was currently not alone in the communications room, for both Soundwave and Starscream were in there, alternately cooing over the sparkling Sparkhands had gifted Starscream with, and listening to the conversation he was having. His name had become more of an awed title since he had started giving out sparklings to those he felt would be able to care for them, something he hoped would not persist.
Optimus shutter-winked back, to let Sparkhands know he understood.
"When Ratchet returned to the base with Torquewrench – that is the designation he has given it – its presence disrupted our entire base. No work got done until it had been passed round for everybody to click over, and then lulled into recharge by Ironhide. Unless we receive femmes who will be willing to bear sparks, it is the only sparkling the base will receive, and I know that Ratchet is the object of much envy about the base over that youngling." Sparkhands nodded. He could see where this was going, but decided to let Optimus finish what was obviously a well thought out and much-practiced statement. Seeing that Sparkhands was waiting for him to continue, the Autobot leader did just that.
"Sparkhands, I have been able to reduce but not eliminate the chance of the humans retaliating when you go to obtain more fuel, as at sometime you must. I would like to make a bargain with you. For every sparkling you produce for one of us, we will exchange a fair volume of fuel."
For a moment, Sparkhands was shocked. Surely Optimus was not speaking of bartering sparklings as if they were so much scrap metal or product? Then he caught the Prime's shutter-wink again, and realised that Optimus Prime was well aware that Sparkhands would happily give sparklings to them anyway, but the fuel was being offered as a temporary out, a way of helping the Decepticons keep a low profile – and also as a way to show them that stealing from the humans was not the only way available to them to obtain fuel. Sparkhands looked up, and motioned Starscream and Soundwave over.
"I am sure you have been listening to the Prime's suggestion, and he is proposing that I exchange some sparklings for something that we need and they can provide with no risk to ourselves or our own sparklings. I have reason to believe that the Autobots will cherish any such sparklings as much as you cherish yours, Starscream, and in return they will give us fuel. As we now have extra tanks to fill, my own instinct would be to accept, but I will not take such a decision by myself, so I must ask you your opinions."
It was Soundwave who spoke first. "SUGGESTION-LOGICAL: SOLUTION-ACCEPTABLE." From Soundwave, that was a plain 'yes'.
Starscream was a little less certain.
"You are certain that they would be looked after? The idea of swapping sparklings for fuel makes me uncomfortable. They are living beings, not simply a form of currency."
"I assure you, on the power of my own Spark, that no sparkling will be treated as any less than a cherished creation." Optimus promised. "I also give my word that any requests for sparklings will be given all the consideration neccessary before any such applications are approved. In addition, if any approved applicant is found to be negligent, any sparkling will be taken from them until such a time as they show they are in a position to care for it, or returned to you with no need to exchange back the fuel given. Not that I foresee the latter happening." The Autobot leader stated.
"As long as you can guarantee this, then I guess it would help with the fuel situation." Said Starscream. "If I find that any Autobot has mistreated or deliberately caused a sparkling to come to harm however, I will personally pursue them and make them pay." The Seeker told the Prime. Said Prime merely nodded.
"If any Autobot mistreats or deliberately causes a sparkling to come to harm, Air Commander Starscream, you have my permission in advance to do so."
"Well, that's all right then." said Starscream, mollified by Optimus' statement, though Sparkhands knew the Autobot leader had made the statement because he knew that none of his mechs would do any such thing any more than one of Sparkhands' own mechs would.
"Very well, I will arrange to take the names of those mechs who would like a sparkling, and pass on the list for your approval. For now, I will arrange for both ground and air fuel to be made available, as well as some cubes of Ratchet's best low-grade energon. Consider it a trust gift, in anticipation of a successful deal. Optimus Prime out."
Since then, Sparkhands had received the fuel and the list, and had no problem with any of the mechs on it, although, as with the Decepticons, he was spacing out the giving of sparklings so as not to overwhelm the Autobots and to get them used to having little ones around again, as they had not had to think about that in vorns.
So far he had provided the Autobots with four sparklings in six months, and had met with Optimus both with and without his seconds. Only Dropkick, Payload, Swindle and Soundwave amongst his own forces did not have Sparklings, the first three because Sparkhands did not yet have faith that they had proven themselves capable of bearing the responsibility of being Creators, and Soundwave because he had informed Sparkhands that for now his Cassetticons were enough to look after.
Sparkhands had thought little of the conversations between the mechs that had stopped when he walked in, similarly had not been bothered that some of the new Creators were visiting each other in their cabins, it was not, after all, that uncommon an occurrence before he had started furnishing the appropriate mechs with sparklings of their own. Skywarp had proven himself so well able to keep his sparkling Seeker out of mischief and entertained, that not only had Sparkhands acceded to Skywarp's request for a second sparkling, but the other Creators had all asked Skywarp at one time or another to look after theirs at times when their other duties necessitated.
He was pleased to notice that the sparklings also seemed to have helped bridge the gap between the ground mechs and the Seekers. There had always been friction between the two groups, something that all the Seekers (and Thundercracker in particular) had not helped with, due to their conceit and certainty that Seekers were somehow better than those whose medium was anything but the sky.
However, as the flying sparklings mixed with the non-flying young, their creators were coming together to supervise, and finding that their common factor of being Creators drew them together more than their different travelling environments could divide them. There were less duels and less bad feeling, for it seemed the domestic situation suited the Decepticons surprisingly well. Even those without sparklings seemed content to assist those who did.
It was thus a surprise to Sparkhands when he received a request from his two seconds to speak to him on a matter that affected all of the mechs. He allowed them in as they requested and they stood before him several feet away, that very positioning telling him that this was a matter they were treating as a formal request. Starscream was also without his sparkling, which in itself was unusual: no mech had yet seen him put it down since Sparkhands had presented it to the Seeker two orns ago.
Soundwave, as usual, was unreadable from his posture, and gave nothing away in his optic plate or faceplates, but Starscream was a different matter. The way he stood stiffly upright, the way he held his hands behind his back, the twitching of his wings and the uncertain expression that occasionally flickered across his faceplates told Sparkhands that Starscream was very nervous. Seekers were known to be highly emotional creatures, often high-strung, but many of them were also adept at hiding signs of their emotions too, so Sparkhands was immediately alert at Starscream's twitchiness.
"Yes, you wished to speak to me?" he asked, their formal stance setting the tone for his formal request. It was Soundwave who spoke first.
"SOUNDWAVE-AND-STARSCREAM-SPEAK-FOR-MECHS. CEASEFIRE-DEMANDED. NEGATIVE-UNACCEPTABLE."
"That is, the mechs under us have – um – insisted that we speak for them." Starscream said as Sparkhands stared at Soundwave. "We suggested a more – diplomatic - approach, but they said they wanted their position made very clear to you." Sparkhands looked at the Seeker, having never seen him babbling nervously and pussyfooting around a sensitive subject, for that was undoubtedly what he was doing. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Soundwave spoke over whatever the red and white Air Commander was about to say.
"MECHS-DEMAND-CEASEFIRE. RESPONSE-REQUIRED."