Apologies for the late post; there was a minor disaster, then I had to go to work.

Patient Confidentiality

Summary: Ratchet left a few things out of his report

Notes: Picks up right after the end of Aftermath. Ratchet is influenced by my mother, a nurse, who shares some personality traits with the good medic. :D

Activating the datapad, and absently shifting his pedes to a more comfortable position on the desk, Rodimus started reading Ratchet's report.

Ratchet, Chief Medical Officer, Autobot Base, Sol III, Northern Continent, United States of America, Washington State October 19, 2004, 17.41 Patient: Starscream

Patient arrived ambulatory and orientated, sedated with tazeline administered through cydraulic access port located on upper right torso after being restrained. Patient reacted normally and offlined within normal time constraints. Scans did not detect any abnormalities in either software or hardware.

Restrained? Dogpiled was more like it. The scanners at the entrance had said he wasn't carrying anything out of the ordinary for a Seeker but caution was called for.

Patient given full diagnostic scan, results attached, and was discovered to be operating at 76 percent capacity. Patient was moved to CR chamber for repairs. Scans of patient's cortex were clean but revealed significant damage to patient's processors, a considerable amount of fragging, and malfunction of patient's maintenance routines.

Patient shows signs of incomplete repairs throughout frame, resulting from battlefield damage as well as deliberately inflicted damage. Much of the deliberate damage was inflicted by a single being, comparable in size and strength to Megatron and was most likely inflicted by him. Patient s vocalizer is undamaged but of inferior make. Fuel lines are contaminated and show signs of corrosio-

The door chime interrupted his reading. Grateful for the reprieve, Rodimus called, "Enter."

Ratchet slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.

"Ratchet. What's up, doc?"

"Prime," the medic said politely. "There are some medical matters I need to speak with you about."

"Something wrong?" Rodimus asked; Ratchet looked a little grim.

"There's nothing wrong per se," Ratchet said, waving off his concern. "Have you read the report I gave you?"

Rodimus waved the datapad. "Just started. He's a mess but so far it looks like you won't have any problems fixing him."

Ratchet seated himself in one of the chairs. "I won't. Most of the damage is insignificant in and of itself; the collective effect is the dangerous thing. However, the repairs lead to a potential problem."

"Problem?" Rodimus dropped his pedes to the floor and leaned against the desk. "What kind of problem?"

At Ratchet's gesture, Rodimus handed over the datapad. Ratchet scrolled to a specific point before handing the datapad back.

"Starscream has not only been operating at a reduced capacity physically but mentally as well," he said. At Rodimus startled blink, Ratchet continued. "Starscream's neural architecture has been compromised; I'm not certain when the original injury occurred but the cumulative effects of the damage caused by Megatron resulted in diminished processing ability, a fluctuating emotional state and violent episodes."

Startled, Rodimus glanced at the datapad. Sure enough, the first line was what Ratchet had just told him.

The damage to patient's neural architecture and software has affected emotional stability and decision-making. Damage has extended to rest of frame, affecting motor control to a small extent.

A list of damages and their consequences followed.

Staring at the datapad's screen, Rodimus asked. "So he's going to be smarter?"

"No," Ratchet solemnly told him. "He's going to be stable. Skyfire's told me about what Starscream used to be like. Arrogant and reckless but he could plan brilliantly and pull off those plans successfully."

"That's..." Rodimus raised his optics to look at Ratchet. "I don't know what to say. Why didn't you say something at the meeting?"

"Because Starscream is my patient and as such deserves at least a little privacy. You're my commanding officer, that is the only reason I broke patient confidentiality."

"So, nobody else knows."

"No," Ratchet looked at him, pleading under the hard gaze. "And I respectfully request you say nothing."

"I'll... take that under consideration." Rodimus raised a hand when Ratchet opened his mouth. "I'm not promising anything but I understand."

Looking somewhat mollified, Ratchet nodded. "All right.

Then a thought occurred to him. Letting his hands fall, Rodimus asked a question he'd been wondering ever since the meeting. "What's backing do?"

Ratchet's mouth twitched, amusement flickering through his optics and energy fields. "Backing is a complex, specific set of systems added to an adult's own frame and internals. It used to be standard well before the war. The dataports and fuel line access panels you find on most mechs now are throw-backs to the backing system, but only medics use them."

"Specifics, doc. What 'n where."

"Specifically, backing consists of hard connectors to carry a sparkling, usually on the back; hence the name," Ratchet said, tapping the datapad to bring up a hologrammatic blueprint of Starscream's back for Rodimus to see. "Starscream's fuel system has been modified to create sparkling- grade energon and fueling conduits were added, as well as connectors to cydraulic and cooling lines for filtering. Specialized processors and dataports can connect a sparkling's systems, frame and processors to his own; the sparkling essentially becomes a peripheral to Starscream. This allows for upgrades to the sparkling's firewalls, anti-virals and knowledge."

"And for his maintenance systems to take care of the sparkling," Rodimus said with dawning comprehension. "Starscream's systems were compromised, so he couldn't take care of Optronix properly."

"Exactly." Ratchet leaned back into his chair. "Starscream must have made Optronix's well-being a priority in his maintenance hierarchy for him to be as healthy as he is. He also had some old education files - some of which were very elegantly written - but I doubt he used most of them; they were out of date, and some were specifically for fliers."

"So why did backing become obsolete? Rodimus asked, puzzled. "Some of that seems like it'd really handy to have."

"Many reasons, really," Ratchet said, settling into lecture mode. He loved to teach. "Not all mechs are designed properly; some frames call for the backing to be placed on the shoulders or flank. The modifications can be tricky; as Prime you would be a challenge, considering your power requirements. Reducing the output of your systems would be a delicate procedure and would require frequent monitoring to ensure it was done right."

"Igh." That was an unpleasant picture. "No backing for me, then. Don't think the Matrix would help anything, either."

"No. But the primary reason backing became obsolete was the invention of the recharge computer; to accomplish the same tasks an adult would have to back their sparkling every time the sparkling recharged for at least the first vorn."

"And that could be awkward. Right." Absently, Rodimus wondered how Starscream had managed to recharge properly while he and Optronix were with the Decepticons.

"Aside from that, all the other tasks can be performed in different ways; manufacturing sparkling-grade energon, medically-applied firewall and anti-viral upgrades, mechs specially trained to teach and so forth."

"And so backing goes the way of the dodo."

"Not entirely," Ratchet all but laughed. "The access and dataports for the system are still being built into sparkling frames; like I said, medics use them. In fact, coolant access here," Ratchet tapped his upper chest near where a human's collarbone would be, "is a remnant from the backing system."

"Really? I... didn't know that."

"Most people don't," Ratchet told him. "It's not common knowledge."

There was a brief silence, both caught up in their thoughts.

"Was there anything else?" Rodimus asked.

"No, that was it." Ratchet rose. "Comm me if you have any more questions."

"I'll do that."

Ratchet paused at the door, hand hovering over the keypad. "You know, I'd have to say that, of the three of you, Springer's the best candidate for backing."

Ratchet's smirk lingered like the Cheshire cat after he'd left. Rodimus blinked, then snickered; Arcee would die laughing at the expression on Springer's face if he ever told him.

A quick timecheck and Rodimus started packing up so he could do just that; he hadn't seen his lovers in days. There wasn't anything he was needed for right now, anyway; the Decepticons were quiet, Starscream was offline, Optronix was in good hands and the twins were in the brig for another 19 joors.

Arcee had a free day and Springer just got off-shift; a definite opportunity for personal time.