CHAPTER SEVEN:
In the Meantime
"Very well, then." Ratchet said gruffly, pleased at his Primes decision to let the femme decide whether or not they could look into her memory-core. "When do you want me to bring her out of recharge?"
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Optimus looked at his old friend with complete trust. "That is up to you," the Prime said regally. "Though I know that with her decacycle in progress she will be weak."
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A decacycle. It was a period that lasted one of the human months every year when the femmes very life energy and energon focused on her spark, preparing the femmes mechanical body for a sparkling. Once that month had passed, if no sparkling was conceived, fluid and energon distribution would balance out and the femme would be perfectly fine for the remaining year, ready to fight alongside the mechs if she so chose or duty called.
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"I'll keep her in recharge for four (4) more joors or so." Ratchet answered, checking once more on the energon feed to make sure it was working properly. "Then we'll try bringing her back online and broach the subject of her memory-core."
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"In the meantime," Optimus said, his voice deepening to a growl. "I want no humans to disturb her recharge, especially"—here his engine actually revved slightly in anger—"the human called Galloway."
When Bumblebee also revved his own engines angrily, Ratchet looked at the two of them curiously.
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"Why? What has that slagging glitch of a liaison done now?" the medic asked looking infuriated and suspicious.
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Despite the angry slurs he wanted to use, Optimus, like any truly great leader, restrained himself. "Galloway believes that a femme should not be here; that our reactions would become…misbehaved."
This statement was met with mixed disbelief, anger, and several revved engines. Ratchet himself let out a string of violent Cybertronian curses that would have made Unicron blush.
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Even Drift growled. "No Autobot would mistreat a femme or behave in such a dishonorable way." The samurai mech hissed, insulted. One metal servo went automatically to the handle of his katana as if it were possible to physically slice apart an insult (thes) of such magnitude. "Perhaps we should teach this Galloway differently."
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Optimus locked gazes with his communications officer. "We do not harm humans." He stated firmly. "However, with that being said, use whatever means is needed to protect the femme.
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Ironhide and Ratchet will stay here to guard her. Drift, Sideswipe, Bumblebee, I want you all on patrol. We CANNOT let the Decepticons discover that we have a femme; Primus knows what they would do."
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Drift bowed respectfully with a "Yes, Sensei" but both Sideswipe and Bumblebee were less than pleased.
"Shouldn't she be more guarded?" Sideswipe asked.
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Optimus knew immediately what was going on with his soldiers, his family, and felt both amusement and annoyance, emotions that he hid and answered very calmly; "Are you saying that you do not believe Ironhide can protect her well enough?"
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Not a nanoklik later, a slew of Cybertronian curse-words came from the other side of the med-bay door. Ironhide had, obviously, been listening in and wasn't at all pleased with what he heard.
Both Sideswipe and Bumblebee winced at the threats coming out of the old guardians mouth.
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Optimus continued as if Ironhide HADN'T just threatened to rip off Sideswipes arms and stick them somewhere anatomically impossible then use his helm for target practice.
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"You WILL be protecting her by patrolling the area and reporting any suspicious activity and decepticon energy signatures." The Autobot leader continued. "Also, in the meantime, I do not want you to speak of her to any of your fellow soldiers. I, as well as Rachet, I believe, have no desire to see our newest Autobot stampeded by curious mechs."
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"Absolutely not!" Ratchet glared at each mech in the room. "Especially given her current condition and….." he paused to choose his words carefully "…..state of mind. ANYONE who lets ANYTHING slip-" here he waved a wrench over his head threateningly "—will find themselves at the receiving end of a very in-depth, very UNCOMFORTABLE physical."
At this decree/threat, even the great Optimus Prime winced.
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"You know she can't be kept a secret forever." Sideswipe finally and very carefully put in.
"No," Optimus acknowledged. "but I can hopefully stall the riot until she is…..back in her right mind."
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With a curt nod that said the discussion was over, Optimus turned to leave. "You all have your orders. Autobots, roll out!"
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2 HOURS LATER
MED-BAY
RATCHET/FEMME
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Two groons later, Ratchet very gently removed the energon feed from the femmes forearm, talking quietly to her inert form as he sometimes did with his patients. Like humans, some Autobot medics believed that, to an extent, Cybertronians in stasis could still sense what was going on around them.
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"There. All refueled." The mechs voice was incredibly and uncharacteristically gentle as he laid a servo on the femmes head. "I wish I could find whatever glitch is causing this delusion," he said softly to her. "You are safe here, there is no reason to pretend insanity, yet you insist on saying you were human."
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At what was almost an impulsive urge at this point, Ratchet ran another scan, the green light enveloping the femme from head to toe.
The results flickered in his eyes, almost as if on a computer screen which, in a way, they were.
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ENERGON LVLS: 100%
WEAPONS SYSTEM: None
T-COG: Offline. Alt. mode not scanned
SPARK: Stable, online.
STRENGTH: 30%
CABLE INTEGRITY:50%
OPTICS: 100% Currently offline.
AUDIO RECEPTORS: 100%
ENSTRIL: 100%
HELM: 100%
DECACYCLE IN PROGRESS
She was weak, but that was to be expected. Otherwise, nothing was wrong. He would just have to wait to see whether or not the femme would allow the memory probe.
"…..otherwise, I do not know how we will help you." The medic said outloud to his patient, then sighed and turned to his tools, taking inventory and trying to guess what might be needed next.
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OPTIMUS PRIME
The leader of the Autobots walked across the considerable grounds of NEST watching, but not really seeing, the human soldiers as some ran through training drills and others consulted clipboards over recent supply shipments.
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Human beings.
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They were a sentient race both weak and strong, cowardly and brave. They were a race he had devoted his life and the lives of his fellow Autobots to protecting, ungrateful though many may be.
The thought of a certain human (coughGallowaycough) still had his servos clenching in anger, cooling vents kicking into gear to stop his frame from overheating in his rage.
Since the destruction of the All-spark and the absence of any femmes Optimus had resigned himself to the fate of his people.
Without the All-spark to grant life to a sparklings unmoving metal frame or a femme to carry a sparkling in her chassis, there was no way for new Autobots to be born. He and his soldiers would be the last of their kind and Cybertronians, no matter how long-lived, would become extinct.
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But now, there was the femme.
`…..But do I have the right to place that burden on an already unstable mind? Or on any femme, regardless? Primus, I did not even ask her name!` An oversight he would correct as soon as the femme was back online.
The fact remained, he realized, that there was hope now. Hope that they would not be the last of the Cybertronians, that their race would continue and that was a fine thing indeed.
Now he only had to find a way to deal with Galloway without squashing the man, as satisfactory as that would be.
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MED-BAY
Two joors later (which would be twelve 12 earth hours) Optimus and Ratchet stood in the med-bay, about to bring the femme out of recharge.
The Prime had reasoned that having only two Autobots around would, perhaps, be less intimidating to the femme. Also, if a large group of Autobots were to suddenly and continually amass in the med-bay, even more suspicion would be aroused since the Autobots generally tried to avoid 'Ratchet the Hatchets' territory unless they really needed it.
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Lennox and Epps had already dropped by the med-bay to talk about the new Autobot and share their suspicions with Ironhide.
Though essentially two (2) different species, the Autobot Ironhide and Soldier William Lennox were more like brothers and this spared Lennox from having a very large cannon in his face and being told to 'butt out.'
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Still, even Lennox couldn't get much out of the mech save that the secrecy was under 'Primes orders' so the two moved on after an un-needed word of warning about Galloway.
Bumblebee, Drift, and Sideswipe were reluctantly out on patrol in which Optimus had impressed upon them to do their best with great seriousness and gravity. None of the three (3) knew that Optimus and Ratchet were bringing the femme around now.
"Her energon levels are fully restored," Ratchet informed his Prime as he readied the shot that would bring her out of recharge. "Again, scans show nothing wrong except for an overall weakness even with the energon, which is normal at this time."
Ratchet gently injected the needle into the femmes neck cables. "I don't expect she'll be very pleased with us."
"No, probably not." Optimus said as Ratchet stepped back. "But it had to be done."
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AN: I'm not sure how I feel about that last bit but, in the next chapter, we'll see the memory probe and more on the femmes view, I think.
Critique, review, praise and criticize please! Arigato!
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VOCABULARY:
INERT: adj. not having the power to move or act
SENTIENT: adj. having senses or feelings