== Reconciliation ==

Chapter 2: Day 1 Earth (contd.)

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to any characters from Transformers, or any themes or places or scenes therein. All these belong to Hasbro/IDW and I make no money from this work. The concept of "Utopia" belongs to Aldhous Huxley

The Autobots are not 100% virtuous and Mirage struggles constantly in the dynamics of his relationship with them.

Apologies to Ratchet and Wheeljack fans for this. They're not really that bad! They've got their own reasons for feeling this way and all of this is from Mirage's point of view :-)

Warnings: Violence, implied "death"

Author: Designation Mirage.

Autobot Special Operations Team.

Position: Intelligence Officer

(and – had I known it at the time – Prowl had these notes - Alpha Caste mechanism. On secondment from refugee effort on Itopis. Presence is of political significance. Allegiance questionable. Operations to be monitored, and restricted)

I had no recollection of the first day on Earth.

In fact, it was nearly the case that I never got to experience Earth at all, or any of the strange events which unfolded on the planet's surface. For when the Ark finally crashed, out of control, into Mount St Hilary following its bombardment by asteroids and then its attack from the Decepticons, I fared worse than anybody else.

It wasn't that my injuries were physically bad. According to the medics, apart from a few dints and losing part of one hand I had hardly a mark upon me. But a blow to the head disconnected my central processing unit from the rest of me, including my spark and I was, as a result, pronounced clinically deactivated. Desparked. Out of this realm, or so it was thought, and away to join Primus in the Realm of Eternal Illumination – or perhaps, some may have speculated, to burn in the fires of Kell. But dead, anyway.

But it was not to be. Primus – or whoever - had other ideas . Maybe He thought my departure would be too easy, or perhaps He wanted to be entertained by the events which afterwards unfolded. Or maybe the Realm of Eternal Illumination had reached its quota. Whatever the case, I came back online again, to the astonishment of the medics, who were did not immediately realise this and were not expecting it, which is why ordinarily I am sure that they would have been far more careful about having the conversation which I so unfortunately overheard.

Just before I heard their voices, I can remember being aware of my spark pulsing and a heat spreading slowly through my circuits as various systems came on line. My energon pump had not yet activated; I could see nothing, and I could not move; but my audial circuits were evidently fully functional and there was the sound of movement and of clattering and clanging, as though metal objects were being moved around. I had a vague memory of having been somewhere outside in a place which was not Cybertron, and I remember that was confusing, so I did not dwell on it, but tried instead to work out where I was.

I became aware, then, that I was lying on a hard cold metal surface, which felt like an operating table. My processes froze for an instant, seeming to recall another time when I had come to like this and the situation had been most terrible, and for a moment there I was very afraid.

But then, a voice said: "Y'know, it's kinda weird, Ratch. I thought the Utopians programmed these Alphas tougher than this ... figured they had to seeing as how when they ran the show on Cybertron everyone else was pretty much dependent on 'em for survival. I woulda thought there woulda been some kind of stasis override mechanism...."

And then I knew exactly where I was, and I relaxed. I was in one of Ratchet's medlabs. And it came back to me in a rush that I had come on a mission with the Autobots on the Ark, and that we had had a tangle with the Decepticons, and we had been going to crash. I presumed that we had, indeed, crashed and that I had been injured, and that the Autobots had now, somehow, found a way back to Cybertron. I remember wondering vaguely what had happened to the 'Cons. But I felt very weak and mainly it was just good to be in that medbay, and although I could hardly pretend that the medic was one of my favourites, or I one of his, or that this was the greatest situation in the universe in which I could have wound up, I heaved an inward sigh of relief.

But not for long.

"Yeah, me too, Jack!" another all too familiar voice was saying. "But y'know these Alphas may still think their sump oil don't stink, but when they ain't springin' around and carrying on all that fancy stuff they're pretty fragile in a lotta ways. Don't know how he woulda worked out on this planet. Coulda been a bit crude for his delicate constitution ..."

My spark gave an unpleasant jolt. So we weren't back on Cybertron. Where, then, were we? Had we made it to wherever it was we were headed in the first place? Or had we maybe made an emergency landing somewhere else? Wherever we were, however, one thing was painfully clear: the medic's attitude had not changed; he was being as racist about the Alpha Caste as he always had been, and at the realisation of the full implications of the situation, dismay and indignance ricocheted through my mood indicators.

"Still, he was a pretty slick operator, Ratch. Good with that device. Coulda been useful to have him around down here..."

"Oh I dunno about that Jack. I don't know how much Prime was actually gonna let him do. Very political it was, bringin' him here. Sends a message we ain't leaving the Alphas outta the equation..."

This was an equally depressing revelation, if not a terribly surprising one. However, something even more uncomfortable was creeping into my awareness. Why were they talking about me in the past tense? Was I so injured that I was going to be out of action for a while? In my dazed state, I assumed this must be it. The notion depressed me further.

" ..... besides which, he wasn't exactly risk free, Jack ..."

"Oh I dunno Ratch. He got paid. Did the job. Never sold out on us as far as we know. And he did a lot of useful things for the Autobots over the vorns ..."

"Yeah, right! And some not so useful things too ...."

My newly awakened spirits descended further. This was just so much how it had been with the Autobots for as long as I could remember. This was why I never stuck with them for longer than I had to. Well if this was how it was going to be then this time would be no exception. Why did they not come over here and finish fixing me? Because, out of action or not, when they had I was getting the Kell out of there.

There was more clanging and a sound as of equipment being moved around the room. Then a noise which sounded like objects being put on a metal tray. They must be going to operate, I thought.

"I wouldn't question Prime on most of his decisions," Rachet was saying. "But bringin' Mirage here ... Ironhide wasn't happy, I'm tellin' ya ..."

That would be right. I thought furiously. Ironhide had been around since the days of the Imperial guard and he never tired of rubbing in the fact that the likes of him had risen to greater things under the Equilibrium and then with the Utopians. It was an embarrassment that I often upstaged him in single combat, the "idle rich brat" who in days gone by he would have had to protect.

" guess so. An' this woulda been real hard on Prowl an'Jazz ..."

"Oh yes. They were bonded." I wanted to grit my dental plates but, of course, I couldn't do that either. Hard on them? What about hard on me. It was Jazz who had left our relationship. Not my choice. I was the one who was no doubt going to have to view the evidence of their "bonding" once I was fully online. They'd seemed ecstatic about it before we left Cybertron. Even though the Jazz and Mirage item was a while ago now, the prospect still hurt.

I thought Get over here and finish whatever you still have to do so that I can get the frag out of here and I won't have to listen to this scrap any more. I'm not a great one for swearing outwardly. But I do inside my head. A lot.

It was all taking just far too long. I made a really concerted effort to shift and found I could not. I did, however, feel my energon pump slowly come to life and begin to beat, softly. Why couldn't they hurry up? I might not be number one on their popularity list, but I was a patient, wasn't I?"

The movements and clattering came to an end and there was the sound of a chair being moved and of someone sitting down heavily. Wheeljack's voice: "well, I think we're just about set, Ratch. Just waitin' for Prime now." Why, I thought. Why does Prime have to be privy to an operation. He isn't a medic... My annoyance increased.

The engineer was talking again. "He used to be loaded, y'know Ratch. The sorta money you n' I could only ever dream about! His place at the Towers. You shoulda seen it, Ratch! And the Sky City joint ..."

"Yeah" the medics voice came from the other side of the room. I heard a cupboard door open and close and the sound of something clinking. "Well it got handed to him on a silver platter didn't it. Creators left it to him. Then there was that bond mate. Now she was really loaded, if you know what I mean.... here, have this ..."

Now I wanted to move, and sit up, and knock the cube of energon which he had presumably just had put in his hand out of it and say "that is so untrue, and you know it!" I had no first hand memory of that time on Cybertron before the war. I did, however, know enough about it to know that the credits from my deceased creators estate had helped, but that a lot of my achievements were down to sheer hard work. That would have to have been so, because that was how I was. I simply didn't hitch rides on others tailshafts - unless they were enemies. Anyway, it was all gone now, wasn't it?

"... at least he won't be wanting no special privileges now ...."

That was the last pipe! During the times I had worked for the Autobots, I didn't believe myself entitled to special treatment and had never expected it.

If only I could move. I searched every system to try and find a mechanism whereby I could do so, but to no avail.

There was the sound of footsteps crossing to the other side of the room. "Y'know I think we oughta test this thing, Jack, before Prime gets here. "I kinda didn't expect to have to use it so soon ...."

"OK Ratch! Fire her up ...."

There came a dull click, followed by a roar. Then there was the sound of metal making contact with metal and a screeching, graunching sound, followed by something falling on the floor with a clang. "Looks fine to me, Jack. Just have to hope it's the last time we do have to use it for a while ..."

And then, with a horrible, sickening lurch in my spark, I knew. It was a dismemberment saw. They were going to take me apart. No doubt for presentation to the ineffective so called "Alpha Council" once we got back to Cybertron. This was protocol when offline situations happened on outer worlds. They were just waiting for Prime to come and sign the papers.

Panic swept wildly through every system. Quickly followed by disbelief. Surely to Primus this couldn't be happening? But then I relaxed. I thought: Be logical, Mirage. They must have only thought you were offline. They'll realise soon and it will be all right. But what if they didn't realise? What if they didn't want to realise? Panic struck again. I had to do something ....

The saw noise was extinguished and there was another clang as it was evidently replaced, then of footsteps approaching the table. "Y'know its kinda a waste, Ratch. He always was a looker, this one ..."

"Yeah! Half the Decepticons thought so too ..."

Please, please I thought desperately. Notice. Something! I tried to move again and couldn't; tried to open my optics but they were shuttered tight.

"Y'know, Ratch, we could save ourselves a bit of time here. Prime only has to sign for the core systems disconnection. Why don't we take off a few limbs while we wait?"

"Good suggestion, Jack! Why, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get down to the rec room. Sunny still owes me a game of Search n'Destroy ..."

Sick horror flooded my whole awareness. Blackness closed around me. The universe winked out.

Thank you for reading. I won't keep you in suspense for too long!!