(Please see all previous disclaimers)
Before Optimus or anyone could head off elsewhere, Ironhide had a question. "You said it what time to help regrow the population, right Prime?" Hide asked.
"I did, why do you ask?" Prime answered, curious.
"Well, you see, submissive mechs that can become sparked are almost unheard of in the Autobots. May we scan all bots including the captive cons to see if any have the capability of carrying sparklings?" Hide asked.
"But if we let them free, they will fight with us again" Mirage brought up, an unknowing submissive mech the others had missed, though he would only need one mate to be satisfied.
"I have thought about that. Perceptor's done some good with reprogramming things, he could change their programming so that they won't want to fight, just have Ratchet sedate them first so that they can't object to the change. We lost too many bots to worry about what faction carrying bots come from" Hide stated.
"But if we force them, we are no better than them, Hide" Prime reminded Ironhide.
"Well, we could offer them the choice – rest of their time in their cell or reprogramming" Hide offered up. Prime just shook his helm, that wasn't exactly a reasonable choice, but it was a practical choice offering nonetheless. Prime reluctantly gave the okay. He didn't feel the greatest about this, but he did send out the decree to help expand the population. He should have expected this. Prime would talk to Ratchet about this once Prime talked to Aquaformer about a different concern.
Meanwhile, in the med bay and unaware of what Optimsu had declared, Ratchet was looking over Aquaformer. Skyfire and Ultra Magnus flanked The out of it Aquaformer while Lancex remained in the med bay but further away. He just wanted to make sure his friend would make it. Then and only then could he head off the relax and think about what he wanted now that the war was over.
Slowly but surely, Aquaformer came back around. Ratchet wasn't too surprised, as Ratchet knew Aquaformer had survived worse than this. "Here systems were acting screwy due to the sparking" Ratchet soon said.
"So the water didn't do this?" Ultra Magnus asked.
"No, she is extremely water tight in her frame, which makes me think this isn't first time she has hidden below water. She is pretty low on energon. I'll hang a drip and she ought to be back around to us soon" Ratchet replied, hooked up the drip and then walked off, keeping an optic on the scene from a distance.
"You know, you two can talk to her. She needs you. You know sparked bots can miscarry if bonded and feel that their sparkmates won't support them and their sparking due to stress caused by the lack of support" Lancex offered up, which was something he had learned from Aquaformer. They nodded and began talking to her even though she was out of it. Lancex headed out, certain that his job here was done.