Protectors Of The Young.
Chapter Three.
A/N: Astrosecond=second, 1 vorn=83 human years.
"Power down everybody, and do as he says." Elita ordered, comming Ratchet to tell him what had happened. As they did so and slowly backed out, arms and hands spread to show they were unarmed, Ratchet commed back telling them to do just that.
Chromia received a different comm.
'Chromia, stop struggling, while you struggle you are perceived as a greater threat. Go limp, relax your body, and then repeat to Skywarp what I say to you next.'
Once the other femmes had exited, Skywarp looked down at the suddenly limp femme. While she had still been struggling, his plans had been to kill or disable her, but now he was less sure that would be necessary. As he looked at her, she spoke, repeating Ratchet's commed statement word-for-word.
"Seeker Skywarp, I charge you with the protection of these sparklings, both my own and those with them. If you accept the position of Protector of the young, then we will seal our bond by mixing your energon with mine."
Skywarp blinked - he had not expected Chromia to formally offer him the position of the sparklings' defender, a binding agreement if he accepted, but he immediately nodded, the formal wording identifying Chromia as one who was asking him to protect them, thus not a threat. He removed the hand on her chest and lifted his wrist to his mouth, using his dentaplating to nick a minor energon line. Chromia mimicked his actions, and as her own energon welled up from the bite, lifted her arm to show him.
The Seeker paused for a moment, and for a nasty astrosecond Chromia though he intended to change his mind, but then he brought his own leaking wrist down and held it to hers.
"Call two of your friends in to witness." he instructed her. Chromia called Arcee and Elita in via comm, explaining why she needed them. The two femmes entered warily, still with arms and hands spread to show no threat.
"This femme has called on me to be guardian to these sparklings, you are here to witness that I accept this duty and seal it by energon-bond, the accepted and binding method of agreement."
"Witnessed." the two replied, as all five femmes had been appraised by Ratchet in brief what was happening, and told what to say if they were chosen as the two traditional witnesses.
Skywarp slid off Chromia and crouched, twisting his hand so he could take hers, and before she could protest, stood, drawing her up with him. Her mouth, which had opened in alarm, closed as she realised his intention was only to help her up from the floor.
"Thank you." she said after just a moment's hesitation, but he had released her hand and was moving to soothe the sparklings, many of whom had responded to the tense atmosphere in the room and began to cry in distress. Chromia raised her hands in a 'whatever!' gesture she had learned from watching humans, and moved to assist.
Elita stood and watched for a moment, before heading to the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Arcee as Elita continued walking past the rest of the femmes, her stride determined and her optics steely.
"To the medbay. Ratchet has convinced Chromia to hand over the protection of our sparklings to a Decepticon. It's stopped Skywarp from killing her, but I'm not particularly happy with the situation. Ratchet owes me an explanation, and I won't leave his medbay until I have it."
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Once Chromia had commed him that Skywarp had accepted the position, Ratchet could turn his full attention back to Starscream, as Prowl had assured Ratchet by com that the group he was with would do nothing to antagonise Thundercracker.
Starscream was still purring his engine as he held the sparklings, but was discreetly twisted in such a way that one arm blaster was pointed towards Red Alert, who was keeping very still, but was looking increasingly twitchy.
"It's okay, Red, there's no safer place for those sparklings than in Starscream's arms, believe me," Ratchet tried to explain to the nervous Security Chief. "The oldest records we still have suggest that the first Seekers were originally created as protectors of the young, to keep them safe from alien races, and glitched members of our own."
He looked at Starscream, who was also listening.
"Starscream, Red Alert would sooner puncture his own Spark-chamber than harm any of these sparklings, particularly as the one in your left arm is his own, his and Elita's." he said. Starscream looked again at Red Alert, and to the Security Chief's surprise, inclined his head in a bow even as he twisted back to point the blaster muzzle away from him.
"Seekers, of course, were soon found to be invaluable in other roles," Ratchet continued explaining as the two adults listened intently. "New programming was added to and integrated with and sometimes overlaid the protection-programming, to enable them in other professions, including military work, but the methods used to create and install the protection-programming are lost to us, thus are any ways of uninstalling or deleting it. All Seekers have it, including those created by the AllSpark, suggesting the sparkling-protect software is hardwired into the Seeker design. It generally would not be activated if sparklings were not present, technically a Seeker could be sparked, live a full lifespan, and go permanently offline without it ever being activated, thus not even know they possess it. Few outside the medical profession know of it, and as the older mechs and femmes are destroyed by this war, any knowledge outside of that field is dwindling rapidly."
He frowned briefly. "I, as Bumblebee and Mirage seem over-fond of reminding me, am amongst the three oldest mechs here. I had a Seeker-guardian as a youngling myself, so I know about it from both a professional and a personal viewpoint."
Ratchet paused for the other's processors to catch up before summing up.
"The protection programming will override any other programming present should sparklings be around, hence why Megatron took pains to keep Seekers away from areas or situations where Sparklings might be present. Of course, Megatron decided there was only one way to guarantee that things stay that way." Ratchet's voice was grim.
"He - killed them." Red Alert confirmed sadly.
Starscream was shaken by the news, staggering back to sit down on a workbench.
"There were rumours, whisperings amongst the lower ranks, of Sparkling massacres. They were always put down to Autobot propaganda, or Autobot atrocities. It does seem strange, however, that despite Megatron's promise that sparklings would be shipped to a refuge planet, we have never found it, nor found sparklings until now, in the vorns and vorns the war has been raging."
"Well, I guess that answers my question, as to why we've effectively given Skywarp a job." Elita spoke from the doorway. "I heard most of what you said, Ratchet, and in light of that, your decision makes sense. Skywarp is the best guardian our sparklings can have."
Starscream's head snapped around to look at her.
"Skywarp has been given formal Protector-duty?"
"Yes." she said, stiffening, expecting to hear the worst, that Skywarp was glitched or somehow immune, and preparing to betray the energon-bond they had sealed the deal with, but his reaction took her by surprise.
Starscream handed Red Alert's sparkling to him before he lifted his own wrist to bite an energon line and held the dripping limb out to her. "Please, let me join him in that duty?" he said, looking at her with wide, pleading optics.
"What?" she asked in astonishment. "I thought you had what you wanted, the Decepticon leadership."
"That is unimportant. My place is here. My wing-brothers' places are here, doing what we were designed to do. Please?" he asked.
Still unsure, she looked at Ratchet for his opinion.
"The protection programming will override any other programming present should sparklings be around," he reiterated. "The Decepticon leadership is as nothing compared to the code-bound duty to protect sparklings that may need it, especially if Barricade or Soundwave attempt a coup, which our intelligence suggests one of them might."
"Barricade or Soundwave can have the leadership if I can stay with the sparklings." Starscream said, still holding out his dripping wrist. It was already beginning to self-repair, she noticed, and she nodded, sighing silently through her vents.
"Ratchet, you and Red Alert can stand as witnesses. Com me the wording," she said, raising her wrist to her mouth, and biting on a line.
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'He will notice us soon.' Optimus commed. 'Sit on the floor legs out, we should seem less of a threat that way.' They all did as quietly as possible, no-one needed telling to be as quiet as they could.
It was Optimus' own sparkling, one of the two bouncing on Thundercracker's canopy, who spotted them first.
"Mummy!" she squealed, running over, Thundercracker's optics opening as she jumped in Optimus' arms. He held her close.
"Creator." he corrected. "You've been around humans recently, haven't you, you are even learning their expressions." His words seemed stern, but were spoken with affection.
"Technically it should be 'Daddy'. 'Mummy' is the human-youngling word for femme-creator." said the Earth-wise Hound.
By now, Thundercracker was sitting upright, having carefully displaced the youngling on his canopy and hand, but trying not to displace the one recharging on his leg. He seemed uncertain, looking at the others warily, but noting that Optimus' youngling seemed happy and safe held in Optimus' big hands.
Optimus quickly commed Ratchet, requesting an update on the situation. Having received it, Optimus nodded, raised his wrist to his mouth and bit down, extending the joint with energon beginning to run from it to Thundercracker.
"Seeker Thundercracker, I charge you with the protection of these sparklings, both my own and those with them. If you accept the position of Protector of the young, then we will seal our bond by mixing your energon with mine. This duty would be shared with your wing-brothers Skywarp and Starscream." he intoned. "Prowl and Mirage can stand as witnesses."
Staring with wide, hopeful optics, Thundercracker raised his own wrist to his mouth, drew energon, and pressed his wrist against Optimus' own.