A-63 - Iacon, S-23, Department of PTSD and Affective Disorders.
Hospitalization Journal:
Date: 02-06-23-1839.
Psychiatrist: Quickstream (Dr. med. dipl. psych.) Chief Physician in Psychiatry.
Client: Skywarp.
Age: 1873 years.
Frame type: Seeker.
Mech type: Male sire.
Height: 63 meters.
Weight: 43 tons.
Social status: In a relationship. Not bonded. Partner: Thundercracker.
Primary psychiatrist: Nacelle (Dr. med. dipl. psych.)
Reason for contact: Skywarp arrives at S-23 in a state of extreme emotional pain. He is being escorted to A-63 by two Joint Investigation Unit officers after he has been liberated from an approximately two months long captivity.
Field: Distressed.
Medical examination completed: Yes.
Findings: Large surgical scar across midsection, that seems to have been performed professionally. The surgical wound has healed properly. Micro fractures in several major joints indicate the exposure to continuous physical abuse as well as severe malnutrition. Dangerous increase in spark pulse as a result of massive drug abuse. Beginning separation syndrome due to too early separation from the sparked carrier.(Increased core temperature. Tremors. Too bright optics. Erratic spark pulse.)
Substance abuse: Yes. Joint Investigation Unit officer Shadeweaver provides an less than an hour old drugs test of the client's energon, that are positive for MCMA, DGHT, Potyl, Litine and THSP. Counteracting agents have already been administered. Included in laboratory tests. Ordained observation of the client's vital systems due to the increased risk of fatal abstinence syndrome.
Laboratory tests: Anthopine, Centhalin, K-factor reactants, T-factor antibodies, MCMA, DGHT, Potyl, Litine, THSP.
Laboratory results: Awaiting.
Screening: Due to the extremely traumatic experience of prolonged captivity, any screening for depression and anxiety will give a wrong indication of the severity.
Psychiatric evaluation:
We are dealing with a seeker showing the classic signs of depression and anxiety. However, it is impossible to screen him, because of the high chance of a false positive of severe depression and anxiety, as a direct consequence of his very recent liberation from prolonged captivity.
Skywarp tells me, that he is plagued by extreme guilt, where he blames himself for what has happened to his partner Thundercracker. He further tells me openly, that he has raped his partner and sparked him against his will.(This has later been corrected by Joint Investigation Unit officer Shadeweaver. Skywarp was not a willing participant in the sexual violation of his partner.)
He tells me, that he hasn't seen his partner since the rape, and that his growing worry for the physical and mental state of the sparked carrier fills every thought.
Talks with Joint Investigation Unit officer Shadeweaver, as the closest of kin in this case, gives a clear indication, that Skywarp has been exposed to psychological torture during his captivity in an attempt to break him mentally. The use of illegal drugs are not an uncommon practice used to break the victim's will.
I decide to hospitalize him in our department of affective disorders for further observation because of the great risks that are associated with his physical health and the combination of his PTSD diagnosis and the many symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Suicidality: High.
Medication: Thelatyl. 10µ per. ton administered first day. Daily dose increasing slowly to 90µ per. ton over the following week. Can be increased further if needed, but requires frequent monitoring of K-factor reactants, if daily dose exceeds 150µ per. ton. (Risk of spark failure syndrome.)
Quickstream looks away from his screen when the door into the physicians' journalizing room opens.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but we have just received Skywarp's newest laboratory results." Flatspot apologizes, when he disturbs the chief physician inside the physicians' 'silent room'.
"Good. Let's see if there has been any change." Quickstream says to the nurse responsible for the monitoring of Skywarp, and brings the laboratory results up on his screen.
Anthopine: ^0,37µ., up from 0,34µ. (1.45µ. - 2.5µ.)
Centhalin: ^0,87µ., up from 0,78µ. (2.25µ. - 3.50µ.)
K-factor reactants: ^3,52µ., up from 3,37µ (0µ - 3.25µ)
T-factor antibodies: 5,48µ. (0µ. - 9µ.)
MCMA: ˅0,09µ., down from 0,23µ.
DGHT: ˅0,51µ., down from 0,87µ.
Potyl: 0,99µ.
Litine: ˅0,2µ., down from 0,45µ.
THSP: 0,05µ.
"It looks like his levels of Anthopine and Centhalin slowly are normalizing, but I don't like the increase in K-factor reactants. We need to be careful with increasing the dose of Thelatyl or we risk causing a spark failure."
He would have preferred to give Skywarp the full dose of the anti-depressant to stabilize his processor, but the black and purple seeker's systems have been pumped so full of drugs during his captivity, that they need to be very careful with what they inject into his already stressed systems.
They need to monitor the K-factor reactants closely, since they give an indicate of how well Skywarp's systems react to the medicine. If they see a sudden large increase, then it is an indication, that they need to increase the dose of Thelatyl more slowly, to not risk causing damage to the black and purple seeker's spark containment systems.
He ordinates a new sample to be taken in six hours, to see if the K-factor reactants keep increasing.
At least there are no indication of an infection in Skywarp's systems while the traces of the illegal drugs are dwindling.
"How is he doing?" He asks as he turns to face the nurse.
Flatspot sighs and sits down in one of the chairs.
"We have finally managed to get him into recharge, and Nightfire has taken this opportunity to fly Shadeweaver back to Praxus. Hightop is watching over Skywarp while he is gone."
"Sire! Sire! Starfall is doing it again!"
"Am not!"
A loud shriek.
"STOP IT!"
Skywarp sighs.
"Starfall, be nice to your sister."
"But, SIRE!"
"No but!"
"What's going on in here?"
Skywarp turns around to see Thundercracker in the doorway into their berth room.
"You shouldn't be up." He comments softly, his optics going to the blue seeker's slightly distended middle.
"Hard to recharge with all that noise." Thundercracker walks into their living room and leans up to kiss him.
He lowers his head to meet his beloved's gentle lips and caresses the growing bulge in the blue seeker's middle affectionately.
"I love you."
He withdraws from the kiss and sees to his horror Torrent stand behind Thundercracker with a gun aimed at the blue seeker's head.
"If I can't have him, then no one will!"
The shot is fired and Thundercracker collapses lifeless to the floor, when his processor is blown to pieces.
"NOOOO!"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Flatspot looks down at his pager when it begins to ping.
::Receiving.::
::Skywarp has woken and is having an acute psychosis. Requesting aid.:: Hightop reports urgent.
Quickstream's pager begins to ping a moment later, when the department's silent alarm gets triggered by the activation of a personal security alarm.
"Skywarp. Psychosis." Flatspot says, and they run out of the room.
Athena is watching while Retrograde's invaluable treasure carefully gets packed down into crates. Each datapad gets wrapped into protective foil and is treated with great care, when it is placed into a crate with its engraved symbol.
A silver star - Torrent.
A golden circle - Retrograde.
A black triangle - Quickpoint.
A white square - Unknown.
And several hundred unmarked.
There are 5291 datapads in total, but many of them belong to the same victims. 18 of them belong to Thundercracker, both his original identity and his previous one.
After her horrifying discovery of the content on the thousands of datapads, Topkick and Prowl has given her free hands to do what is necessary to help the victims of Retrograde's ability.
She has been in contact with Hotspot, and the clinical professor has cleared his calendar of scheduled projects to dedicate all of his time to the research in Retrograde's neuropsychiatric procedure and its reversibility.
The first step is to get a deeper understanding of what happens to the processor after the procedure, and Nacelle is going to bring Thundercracker to the Neuropsychiatric Laboratory in Praxus for a detailed MRI scan of his processor.
She has the datapads that contain Thundercracker's former identities and the basic identity template that Retrograde had used on the blue seeker as well as Retrograde's advanced cable in her subspace. Hotspot needs them to get a deeper understanding of what currently is going on inside Thundercracker's processor.
::The transport has just arrived.:: Topkick contacts her, and she leaves Retrograde's laboratory to meet Nacelle and Thundercracker outside the complex.
Thundercracker sits across from Nacelle and studies the psychiatrist's wings intently.
He mirrors every movement of the other seeker's wings while the green and white seeker slowly explains the interpretation of each complicated movement.
"Do I do right?"
The movements he used to do without conscious thought now require his whole attention while his processor relearns how to interpret movements and communicate with the wings.
"Yes, you are doing it correctly. Can you repeat my words?"
"Y-yes, y-y-you a-are d-d-oin-g i-it c-c-c-or-r-r-r-rctly."
"Good. Now, try moving your wings like I just showed you."
His full attention turns to his wings again, and he moves them in an complicated series of movements.
"Yes! You are a fast learner."
He smiles happily at the praise.
"Can do more?"
"Not right now. Our transport have just arrived. Do you remember that I told you, that I would bring you to a large building with many people who wants to help you get better?"
"Yes." He nods cautiously.
"The transport is going to bring us to it."
Nacelle has never before been so careful in his handling of a simple office tool as he is, when Athena gives him the many datapads containing Thundercracker's identities.
The mere thought of losing his grip on one of them fills him with anxiety and he is extremely careful when he puts them into his subspace.
"It will be fine." Athena reassures, "Hotspot is the most experienced in his field. If there is a way to reverse it, then he will find out."
Nacelle turns to look at Thundercracker, who is deeply fascinated by their transport, and he is unable to hold back the tears pressing on behind his optics.
"I hope that you are right because I dread the moment, where I will have to tell Skywarp that the one he loves no longer exist and that we don't know how to fix it."
"We will fix this, one way or another." Athena says deeply serious, "If necessary, I will personally torture Retrograde to get the answers we need."
"I know that Prowl has given you free hands, but promise me that you stoop down to their level. We still need to keep to our medical oath and preserve our professional integrity." Nacelle says and places a calming hand on Athena's shoulder, "It is tempting to seek revenge against Retrograde for what she has done, but we need to remain objective and let the Joint Investigation Unit seek justice on behalf of the victims."
"You are right. It seems that the content of the datapads have affected me more than I was aware of." Athena sighs wearily, feeling ashamed of herself, "But I simply can't forget all that suffering I have been a witness to while viewing the content."
Thundercracker walks over to them, his wings twitching with excitement.
"We go soon?"
"Yes, we will leave soon." Nacelle answers softly.
"Y-yes, w-w-we w-will l-leav-v-e s-s-o-o-o-on."
The blue seeker's face is deeply concentrated when he repeats Nacelle's words, and the sight makes Athena smile. If Thundercracker keeps repeating everything they say, then he will soon learn how to form proper sentences and to speak without stuttering.
"It was nice to meet you, Thundercracker. We will most likely see more to each other later, but right now you will have to see a friend of mine."
"Athe-e-na n-not c-c-com-m-ing?"
"I'm afraid not." She places a gentle reassuring hand on the blue seeker's arm, "I still have a lot of work to do here, but you can trust my friend, Hotspot. He will do everything he can to help you."