Transformers Galaxy Force: Thunder Storm
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers
AN: I have just attempted the impossible in trying to describe how Transformers are born. Please tell whether or not it makes sense so I can make the necessary edits.
Chapter 171
Storm Gunner groaned, slowly bringing her optics online. Panic swept through her as she remembered escaping the Alliance, but she was simply too tired to move. This, thankfully, allowed her to take stock of her surroundings. She was in a med bay of some sort, with wires connecting her to various monitors that a female Transformer was watching. Storm Gunner racked her processor, but while she could tell the figure was a medic, and turned into some kind of biochemical transport, she couldn't recognize her at all.
"Excuse me?" she tentatively asked, inwardly wincing at how weak her voice sounded. That confirmed one of her suspicions about her pregnancy. Until Coby had mentioned their son's exponential development rate, she had been wondering why she was getting progressively weaker as her pregnancy wore on. It hadn't been anything too serious at first, just small things like needing an extra hour of sleep each day. During the trial it had gotten worse, affecting her ability to change between Human and Transformer forms, but she had thought that it was just because she was depressed. Now she knew it was because her body was trying to fuel her son's rapid development.
The figure turned around and smiled, "Nice to see that you're awake. You may not know me, but I'm First Gunner's sparkmate, Uranium."
"First Gunner never mentioned a sparkmate," Storm Gunner's optics narrowed, suspicious.
"He wouldn't. He normally doesn't like to talk about me," Uranium agreed. "But you don't have to worry about my loyalty. Your sparkmate is very protective of you. If I truly intended to hurt you or your sparkling, he would have already killed me."
"Why are you telling me this?" Storm Gunner growled. "You're reassuring me rather quickly, for a medic."
Uranium sat down, next to the berth Storm Gunner was on, "What do you know about Red Rust Plague?"
"Probably more than Rodimus," Storm Gunner answered. "Master Megatron tricked a biochemist into developing it. Once it infects a Transformer, it attacks the spark, causing it to divide into two halves with polar personalities, usually 'good' and 'evil'. These two personalities would then battle for dominance, with the 'evil' half succeeding. Eventually, the 'good' half sacrifices itself, killing the 'evil' half with it. It is usually diagnosed by an extreme change in behavior, as well as a rust-like residue covering the Spark Casing of the Transformer in question."
"Then you know why sparkling numbers dropped so badly during the Great War," Uranium said. She wasn't asking a question, but it was obvious she still wanted a response.
Storm Gunner gave it, "The plague affected most of Planet Seibertron's medics before it was identified and a cure found. During that time, several prospective mothers were given fabricated data by infected medics, stating that their sparklings couldn't survive. Thousands of sparklings were aborted, hundreds of them without the approval of the prospective parents. It caused fighting among the Cybertron Army and desertions to Master Megatron's Destron Army, not to mention being a powerful demoralization tactic, considering that abortions are considered to be illegal, even though there is no law against it. It's an event called: The Sparkling Genocide."
She wasn't kidding either. In Transformer culture, sparklings were considered to be extremely precious, to the point that suggesting an abortion, even if it was necessary, was considered to be a sign of incompetence on the part of the medic overseeing the pregnancy. This was because Transformers were technological mechanical organisms, and therefore should be able to work around complications that would require such a thing. That was why hospitals had Incubation Stasis Chambers and emergency protoforms. Even on Animatros, femmes chose to die with their sparklings, and most of them actually gave birth to healthy sparklings before the complications killed them. Flame Convoy himself was given birth by a mother who died in the process. Before the Sparkling Genocide, abortions were practically unheard of.
Something clicked in Storm Gunner's processor and she glared at Uranium, "If you dare suggest that we abort my son, I'm going to..."
"Relax," Uranium interrupted, folding her arms and returning the glare. "I have to respect your sparkmate in that he made it very clear that aborting was unacceptable. If I didn't know better, I'd say he descended from Lifegiver and that you were related to Flame Convoy."
"Lifegiver?" Lori asked.
"The femme who was the sparkmate of Centenial Convoy thousands of generations ago, and the medic who invented the Incubation Stasis Chamber," Uranium explained. "I just want to make sure you understand how hard it is for me to even suggest that aborting may be the only way to force your son to spawn his human form and survive."
Storm Gunner shook her head, "I should be able to prolong..."
"It wont work," Uranium interrupted again, this time in a softer tone. "First Gunner never told you about Dead Circuit Syndrome, which kills the sparkling, and then the mother. Normally, yes you would have weeks before being in danger of DCS. But because of how fast your son is developing, we don't even have two days."
"What's Dead Circuit Syndrome?"
Pure horror filled Storm Gunner as Uranium explained, rendering her unable to speak. When she did open her mouth, it was to scream in anguish. In less than three months, she had gone from the joy of starting a family to being betrayed by her own blood, had her husband locked up for a crime he didn't commit, had her own words twisted and used against her and him by power hungry bastards who tried to separate them, had become a fugitive, and had now found out that she may end up loosing her first child who's conception was more improbable than being struck by lighting twice. She felt alone, wishing that Rodimus was at her side to comfort her, but knowing that he was probably dealing with his own anguish, or at least keeping it in check until he could deal with the emotional landslide safely. He was better at that than she was.
Never before had she felt so helpless, so... broken.
Uranium put a hand on the grieving Terraformer's shoulder. "There's still a chance, albeit a small one," she said. "You have an impressive sparkmate, able to think of a possible solution in spite of all the mental and emotional shit the two of you are going through. The Rumble he built two years ago is as close as we can get to a protoform in the time we have left. It may not be a true protoform, but hopefully it will be close enough. He left to get it along with Emission, Tsunami, and Galactus."
Storm Gunner sniffed, nodding as her voice cracked, "Okay." She took a few deep breaths and wiped at her fogged optics before asking, "So how is this going to work?"
"If we had a protoform, I'd hook up the empty spark chamber to your carrying chamber with this cord," Uranium answered, holding up the thick cable. "Ironically enough, we call it an Umbilical Cable. It will allow your son's spark to go from your carrying chamber to his body. Normally, with a protoform, the energy of the transfer would reformat the protoform to fit the wavelength sequences of your son's spark, one of the reasons why protoforms take so damn long to build. Since we're using a sparkless body that already has a set form, there is a chance it may not take. However, because the form of a Rumble is hardly any different from a protoform, it may simply reformat anyway. If you hear any metal-on-metal scraping sounds, don't worry, that's just the transfer process doing some correctional reformatting."
"What if they don't make it back in time?" Storm Gunner asked.
"I'll be here monitoring you constantly. I swear on my spark that I will only abort your son to try and shock him into spawning his Human form, and that I won't do that unless you let me. If you say no, I'll wait. Once DCS starts though, I've got to get that Dead Spark out of you before you die too. Okay?"
"Yes," Storm Gunner answered her optics turning to machines monitoring her condition. She knew when they came back to Earth that it would be a race against time to save their son. Now they needed a miracle more than ever. The two of them were silent for a while, and then Storm Gunner looked back at Uranium, "Sorry for being suspicious earlier, Uranium."
The biochemist shrugged, "It's okay. I'm used to it."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember what I said about Red Rust Plague? I'm the one who found the cure."
Storm Gunner raised an optic ridge, "Why would that make others suspicious of you?"
Uranium looked away, ashamed as she answered, "I found the cure, because I was the one Master Megatron tricked into creating it."
"Is that why First Gunner doesn't talk about you?"
"No, but it's why I asked First Gunner to never talk about me in front of others. Like it or not, I am responsible for the Sparkling Genocide. I'd rather not loose your sparkling if I can help it, but there's not a lot I can do but wait with you."
"Uranium?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
