Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, its characters, or its contents. I am not making any money off this story or its chapters, nor do I intend to.

Chapter 12: Exhaustion

Despite the turmoil that had turned her life on its end as of late, Elaine drifted into a sound sleep relatively quickly that night, exhausted from working with Ratchet for so long. Alexis, being a small child with a limited amount of energy to draw from, quickly fell into slumber as well, leaving Serah staring at the gray wall, alone with her thoughts. She had warmed up to Wheeljack quickly, his warm demeanor easy to be around, but was still mildly suspicious of the others. She supposed it was in her nature to be this way; she never once learned to trust someone completely without picking apart their behaviors. Throw in the obvious differences between human and cybertronian behavior, and she had no idea where to begin. On one hand, she felt like it was right of her to support her long-time friend. On the other, she felt as if Elaine were slipping away for her and more toward a war she had nothing to do with.

Titan stirred slightly above her, getting into a more comfortable position beside Alexis before settling back down. Serah sighed, running a hand through her messy strands of hair. This war, for as long as she could remember, had been a faraway news story that popped up every once in a while for a total of a few minutes in her life. Now it was up close and personal and she was experiencing it firsthand. It was almost surreal, how quickly everything had changed. Readjusting the pillow under her head, she closed her eyes and attempted to sleep once more.

Skyfire, large as he was, was incredibly quiet and moved with a grace not generally associated with a mech his size. Slipping into the medbay, he handed a datapad to Ratchet containing information about the Seeker's armor that would need replacement. He, along with Wheeljack, had secured comparable materials that would be used to rebuild certain parts that were irreparable at the moment. Ratchet glanced over the datapad, going over the information carefully. If he was to make the necessary repairs, he needed to understand the pieces he would be working with. Seekers were virtually nonexistent to the Autobot Army, and Ratchet, despite his extensive medical knowledge, had not often worked on them as a result.

The large shuttle-class mech took a moment to glance over at the recharging seeker in their medbay. Starscream, for all his proud bravado, looked much more like the mech he was before the war began. The darker marks that had yet to be repaired on his chassis made Skyfire shudder, and he couldn't imagine what sort of cruelty would cause an elite seeker to be damaged in such a way. Thundercracker, sitting up slightly to keep watch over his trinemates, caught Skyfire's stare and met his blue optics with an intense red gaze. The large blue seeker held an air of seniority and patience that the other two did not possess, and the shuttle could see it in his optics, along with the protective emanation that came with being the eldest seeker in a trine. The way he acted as a guard toward both other recharging seekers told the other flyer that they were safe in this medbay from harm, and he needn't worry as much about Starscream as he did. Skyfire offered Thundercracker a small smile, while the blue seeker nodded at him, returning the gesture as much as he was willing. Ratchet looked on in curiosity as Skyfire left the medbay and Thundercracker resumed his watch over the recharging forms of Starscream and Skywarp.

Optimus was troubled as he glanced at Ratchet's most recent report. Skywarp and Thundercracker were both progressing well, but as the medic continued his work on Starscream, more anomalies arose. The seeker's lines were being flushed the following Orbital Cycle to completely clean any corrosion or contaminants, and would be followed by a direct, clean supply of untainted energon to replace the stale fluids Starscream had previously consumed. His two trinemates suffered none of the line corrosion their trine leader did, leading the CMO to believe that Starscream had been testing the energon himself for impurities before giving it to his trinemates in an attempt to keep them safe. This was a dangerous act for a Cybertronian; the wrong contaminants or unstable energon could be enough to offline a mech permanently, the burns causing an excruciating death. Not only had Starscream survived bad batches of energon, but he had done so more than once. Hopefully, his self-repair systems would gradually heal the scarring in his lines as clean energon was administered. The Autobot Leader felt a sharp pang of guilt in his spark as he thought of how horribly the seeker must have been treated. Had he realized sooner what was happening on the other side of the battlefield, he'd have welcomed the mistreated mechs with open arms.

The next morning passed mostly without incident. Mostly. There was always a minor disturbance at some point during the day in the Ark, regardless of who was involved. That morning, said disturbance occurred in the Medbay, where Elaine was working on clearing debris from a seam in Skywarp's left thruster using a small, high pressure washer over a basin. The basin had a drain, but had already partially clogged with rocks and dirt that had been packed into the thruster.

"That feels so much better, Elaine." Skywarp had an almost sleepy look on his faceplates.

"I'm glad. It can't have felt good at all to have all those rocks jammed in there." She paused. "Didn't you have washrooms in the Nemesis?"

"I couldn't use them very often. My wings are...sensitive. If Motormaster and his cronies were using the washracks, I'd stay clear."

Elaine winced and stroked the side of Skywarp's leg, letting a gentle torrent of water flow through the small seam again once the drain had cleared.

"I'm sorry, big guy. That sucks. You'll feel much better after being all cleaned up here though. And we won't let anyone hurt your wings."

Not a second later, Starscream's shrill voice pierced the Medbay's relative calm. Elaine nearly covered her ears. She'd never get used to the sound of his vocalizer.

"If you think you're putting me into deep stasis for this, you are sorely mistaken, Autobot." He screeched.

"Don't be a stubborn aft, Starscream! The procedure will be highly uncomfortable if you're awake for it!" Ratchet yelled back at him.

"How do I know you won't offline me permanently?!"

"That'd be stupid! Spending all of this time and energy fixing you just to offline you! What kind of moron do you think I am?! No, it was a rhetorical question! Silence your vocalizer and don't answer that!"

Elaine shook her head, watching the two argue and shut off the jet of warm water. Skywarp let out a displeased sigh.

"What the fuck is going on? I already have a headache and your squabbling isn't helping." Elaine bit out.

"Starscream needs a line flush and transfusion." Ratchet began. "But is too stubborn to go into deep, temporary stasis for the procedure."

"Starscream…" Elaine sighed. "Just do what Ratchet is telling you. He didn't use up all of this energy to try to kill you in your sleep."

Starscream's optics met her gray eyes and she almost shivered at the intensity of emotion there. She knew what he was worried about, and having never been that vulnerable in front of another, she could understand his concerns.

"Skywarp and Thundercracker will be awake, and I'll be working on them today. I'm not leaving the Medbay until your procedure is done with. If anyone tries anything, I'll solder their aft to their elbow."

Visibly relaxing at the mention of his trine, but not by much, he allowed the sedative to be administered. Falling into a deep stasis, his faceplates cleared of any expression and he drifted off. Thundercracker was watchful as Ratchet worked, and Skywarp continued to glance over to check on his trine leader throughout the process. Elaine wondered how they maintained their fierce reputation for so long, seeing the care they obviously felt for each other.

"You're not the monsters everyone thinks you are." Elaine whispered.

Skywarp must have heard her, for he placed his hand gently near her, just enough to touch her side. She leaned into him and continued the tedious work on his thruster, trying to stay alert despite the tired and somewhat tense atmosphere weighing her down. Falling asleep and into a gunky basin was not on her to-do list.

Soundwave sat in his quarters, back straight against his seat as he looked at the monitor in front of him. It had been a tiring week, filled with nothing but turmoil on the Nemesis. Ravage was curled around Lazerbeak, eyeing his creator and the door at the same time. One could never be too careful anymore on the ship, and he did his best to remain alert. Frenzy and Rumble were recharging close by on a small, separate berth.

Megatron's now Second-in-Command eyed the files he was about to send warily. It would put them at a distinct disadvantage, and possibly cost them another victory along with a few lives, but that would cease to matter in a couple of orns. Soundwave had seen the ruins of his leader's mind, and knew he was no longer fit to be in command, but there were too many bloodthirsty mechs still loyal to their leader to outright remove him; the cause they had begun fighting for was lost in their eyes. The telepath was waiting for the perfect moment to feign his capture by the Autobots, along with his precious cassettes. It would grant them the safety and stability they so desperately needed in the shape they were in. No one in the Decepticon Army, not even those in the higher ranks, was left unaffected by their leader's mental decline and energon shortages. One last look at his cassettes through his visored optics cemented his decision; there was no need to drag out a war that should have ended long ago. One that had offlined so many and left their world in ruins. Though he felt no deep attachment for this planet or its inhabitants, the mech knew this world would be a sad, broken shell ravaged by their constant battles if it did not end. And it wouldn't stop with Earth; it would continue on wherever they landed until there was nothing left alive.

After sending the databurst, he erased all traces that any information had been leaked at all. Blaster would receive the encoded transmission shortly, along with his plan to be captured in a very subtle way. Hopefully, if everything went well, he and his cassettes would be safer within the Autobot brig within the next two weeks.