No Rest For The Weary

Ratchet was working as fast as he ever had. The fingers on both of his hands had each blossomed into dozens of grappled appendages, each acting like an arm of their own to hook the lines to and from the spark casings to the energon processors. Both of his hands were working on Mikaela and Ellie's casings, and Soundwave was working with Sam's. If he were human, Ratchet would be sweating profusely. He had counted on having a few more hours to play with, but Sam's spark had nearly extinguished itself half an hour ago. Unfortunately, this was familiar territory for Ratchet. Sparks produced between mating couples or triads during the war were precious. Each one sparked was celebrated for orns. Most of the time, they had the materials to construct basic stasis units for the sparks to reside in until a full body could be constructed.

Sometimes, however, materials were scarce, or they were under siege making it impossible to go scavenging for parts or materials. Sometimes, there was little choice but to let the spark extinguish itself within it's creators body. Humans would call it 'miscarriage'. Nothing could be done about it, and the entire base would mourn its passing. Mech sparks were more susceptible to this spontaneous death. Some theorized that femme sparks were supposed to be stronger to support another life along with itself, which made them more able to survive periods of sparse resources. But Ratchet would be damned to the pit if he let these three expire under his watch. Sam and Mikaela had given the Autobots a second chance. All three had given them Jazz back, and now they themselves were the first sparklings created in over five hundred vorns. Each one was more precious than every natural resource on this or any other planet to the Autobots. They were the embodiment of hope.

Success! Ratchet made the final connection just as Soundwave finished. Now, came the hard part. Soundwave stayed back. He was not built for this delicate of an operation. Each of Ratchet's multi-jointed appendages tapped and probed the seams of Sam and Mikaela's armor, finding the release controls. Their chests slid apart, revealing the oh, so tiny sparks within. Mikaela's was pulsing in a steady rhythm, where as Sam's was beating fast, skipping here and there. Ratchet started with Sam first, and opened the seal on the middle spark casing. The energon was primed within, and Ratchet reached in with two of his grappling appendages and gently lifted Sam's still pulsing spark out of his tiny chest. Quickly, the medic placed it within the spark chamber, sealing the inner chamber and releasing the energon as he closed the outer casing with a hiss.

Both medic and spy watched as Sam's spark pulsed quickly before slowing into a more acceptable rhythm. And grew. Out of it's tiny enclosure, it could expand without being crushed to death. It took the energy from the energon, and used it to give itself the biggest growth spurt any human had ever had. From a tiny pin prick of light, it grew almost instantly into a pulsing sphere of blue-white. Sparklings were always blue-white. They only settled into the azure glow after they had gained a few hundred vorns.

Mikaela and Ellie were a breeze, settling into their new casings with perfect ease, growing with nearly every pulse. Though now the fun part was just beginning. Their bodies still had to be constructed, and with only the two of them able to preform the construction, it would take a while. But at least Ratchet had the basic designs sketched in his processor, and he copied these files to Soundwave. He hated having to do this, but he needed all the help he could get, Decepticon or no.

"The femme, a warrior?" Soundwave's deadpan voice made it difficult to know if it was a question or a statement. "She will never see combat. Starscream would never allow it. She would never leave his sight or protection."

Ratchet scoffed, fixing the spy with a withering glare he had learned from Maggie. It seemed to work well enough on Bumblebee and Prime, and not even Soundwave seemed immune. "She is the child of warriors. Her father is a tanker, her mother a Commander in the Air Force. Her surrogate parents are IronHide and Chromia. There is nothing else she could be. And besides," Ratchet tried to seem reasonable. "if I gave her any other designation, she would terminate me in recharge." Ratchet knew that Soundwave would make things difficult in Ellie's respect, so Ratchet had already begun the coding for Ellie. He had fought with and repaired IronHide often enough to know his systems inside and out. He also made a point to raid Bonecrusher's weapons. Any child of IronHide, be they surrogate or no, would by default need big guns.

But Ratchet had more in mind for the three than just ordinary designations. There were several that Ratchet knew with secondary and even ternary designations. Prowl was both a Tactician and a warrior. Springer, along with being a 'Triple-Changer', was also a warrior, Aerial Defense Commander, and sometime field medic. Even WheelJack was a trained medic. Though he had throughly alienated his patients with his observations on how he could improve on their systems.

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In the weeks after Ratchet and the sparklings abduction, two more Autobots had joined the ranks. Optimus had been relieved to have his 2IC back as well as his Science Officer. Prowl and Perceptor had been welcome additions and were brought up to speed within hours of their arrival. Both had expressed excitement at not just one but three sparklings being created. Though both knew exactly what Starscream would do to the two femmes. They had seen the results of it throughout the contested sectors. Both on Cybertron and near by systems. The femmes that were not lucky enough to escape or self-terminate were used to create sparklings until their own sparks had no strength left to sustain themselves. Their shells were then raided to create new bodies for the created sparklings. And any younglings that did not swear allegiance to the Decepticon cause were executed. Their sparks ripped out of their chests and shells used to repair or build new shells. It had taken everything the two had not to give up at the sight.

And both were nearly beside themselves at the discovery that Jazz was alive. Each had been speechless before they clapped the Saboteur on the back. Prowl had commanded Jazz never to do anything like that ever again. But the celebrations could not last long. Prime had to reveal what Ellie had told him when she had awakened after the attack. The three sparklings had become living vessels for the part of the All-Spark that Prime had recovered. And that when the three agreed, Megatron had been reactivated.

"But Prime! You're just going to sit here and wait?" Prowl seemed about ready to pop his processor out of its socket, his optics threatening to do the same.

Prime answered with a simple nod. "When Ratchet is ready, he will reactivate his EID. Until then, we must wait."

"But what if Starscream has already terminated him?" Perceptor stepped forward, his hands upheld in a gesture he had observed humans using when they wanted to argue the point without seeming hostile. "There is no guarantee that he was needed in the first place."

"Starscream said it," Bumblebee chimed in, sitting still for once on a large crate. " 'Do I look like a medic?' " He even used the same gesture Starscream did. "He needs Ratchet, whether he likes it or not. And Ratchet will keep things going in the direction he wants them to go. You all know how he is when he sets his processor on something." Everyone gathered nodded, IronHide grunting in assent. "Come Hell or high water, he will do things the way he wants them to be done."

Perceptor could only guess what the first part of 'Bee's last statement meant. But he was not a genius because he liked the title. "You said something about one of the femmes being adopted as a surrogate after her parents abandoned her." Perceptor thought it best to be informed on everything. Even the small details. "Who adopted her?"

Prime actually smiled, though there was a devious glint in his optics that was almost unnerving in the Autobot leader. "She was adopted by IronHide and Chromia. Her biological father was a warrior. A 'Tanker' I believe, and her mother was a pilot in this continent's areal defense branch of their military.

Perceptor and Prowl's optics met as Prime finished, both their mouths snaking up into a very human grin. "Oh! Well, why did you not say so before, Prime. We needn't have worried!" Perceptor laughed. "If this is the same femme that had a pistol aimed at Thundercracker, then I believe it is the Decepticons who are in danger." IronHide seemed to get the joke, and started smiling himself, holding Chromia close to him.

"If my analysis of the sparklings' personalities are correct from the holos you provided, Prime," Prowl cut in, his face taking on the look of devious amusement as well. "I believe both femmes would rip out Starscream's transfer cable and use it to tie him upside down off the nearest cliff."

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Starscream did not like Ratchet at all. In fact, he hated the mech. Hated him with all his spark, with every piston and electro-driver in his body. With every aching micron of metal dented inward on his head. Starscream had made the mistake that every Autobot was warned not to make. He had pissed Ratchet off. And not only had he pissed the medic off, he had insulted his skills and tastes when he had made a rather snide comment about the form of what he thought would be one of the femme's bodies. It had turned out that he was insulting Sam's shell.

The medic had rounded on the Decepticon Commander, brandishing a rather large crescent wrench. Even though Ratchet was a good two meters shorter than Starscream, the medic knew precisely where to strike to bring any taller being to it's knees. Ratchet had banged his wrench against Starscream's piston that controlled the movement of his knee and easily brought the Seeker down to eye level. Ratchet had then raised his arm and brought the wrench down so hard that Starscream's optics fizzled with static. Then, just as suddenly, Ratchet went back to work on Sam's shell, grumbling loudly about what Starscream could do with his aesthetic opinions. This left the Seeker to limp as best he could out of the warehouse, his left knee aching as much as his head.

The medic had been irritable all that day and into the night as he finished Sam's shell. It was decided by Ratchet that all three be brought on-line at the same time to minimize the stress. Soundwave had helped the medic by writing the code being transfered into Sam's shell, but he had an inkling that he was being kept out of the data-loop for the older femme's coding. Not that he would know how to write the coding for a warrior, but that did not mean that he had to like it. Soundwave watched Ratchet as he began on the shell for Mikaela. Hers would be the most like his, and therefore was built quickly. The medic knew how to build his own hand by memory, and gave Mikaela variations of his multi-functional fingers.

Though the one thing the medic refused to use were the optics. He would not have these three with red optics, so he built them from scratch. Sam's were a variation of Bumblebee's, Mikaela like Ratchet's own; and for Ellie, he gave a more feminine version of IronHide's optics. These were the first things the medic had done and each set were sitting on the table with the spark casing, waiting to be installed.

Weeks had passed before the last of the protoforms was finished. Ratchet kept getting up in the middle of the night to sneak a tweak in here and there. He even raided Boncrusher's weapons, disassembled them and loaded them into Ellie's protoform. He had nearly been caught by Starscream who had taken the opportunity to fondle the protoforms when he thought he was alone. Ratchet had put a stop to that by throwing a dead rat into a crevice in the Seeker's armor. The gears of his shoulder made a gooey mess of the corpse and scared Starscream off before he could do any more to jeopardize his position as a functioning mech. Ratchet also made slight changes and revisions to the core programming of the three protoforms. Where Soundwave had given all three basic coding, Ratchet beefed it up with not only his and stored knowledge, but also knowledge he had accumulated from Earth. Fighting forms, various medical procedures, schematics for weapons upgrades and the like were uploaded into the protoforms. Even knowledge of how to turn Ratchet's EID on in case he was disabled or terminated. The medic knew that his usefulness only extended so far, especially with the personal grudge Starscream had against him.

Ratchet's head whipped up as a slightly muffled scrape got his attention. He narrowed his eyes as he heard it again. Quickly he hid his work in his side panels and tore off toward his own berth in the next room. He had managed to get onto the low shelf, turning on his fans in one burst to cool his systems enough to stasis temperature and quickly booted up his recharge sub-routines. His eyes dimmed just as Soundwave peeked around the corner. Ravage growled softly, looking up at his master. Soundwave had hoped to catch the medic tonight, but the mech was too fast. One could never tell from looking at him.

The Decepticon spy looked over the three shells, not one thing was out of place. It didn't matter though. The three would have their sparks inserted in the morning, and after that the medic would be a pile of spare parts. Hook and Scavenger had joined their ranks in the last couple of weeks, making their number six. Although it was not close to the Autobots number, they did have an advantage. Bonecrusher was Hook and Scavenger's brother, and both Constructicons were looking for revenge. Though they could not transformer into their Gestalt form any longer, both were eager to get their hands on Ratchet. And they would have their wish within the next solar cycle.

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Ratchet knew that his moment had come. Every second of his life had led him to this moment. He had spent his spare moments tallying up every act he had committed in his long life, every moment that had led him to this point. He had decided that he had lived well. He had kept the Autobots together mostly for several thousand vorns, done impossible repairs no one else would dare attempt, and gave the three who had given his race a second chance, their own second chance. He had rehearsed this since the day he had begun on the spark casings. He had made it so that everything was his way and no one else's. As soon as he entered the warehouse the three were kept in, he knew his life was about to be over. And painfully so.

Hook and Scavenger were standing against the far wall, looking very much like two hyenas watching a wildebeest taking its last breath. Starscream was there, eager as always as were his two doppelgangers. Soundwave had Ravage on one shoulder and Rumble on the other and perched on his crest was Laserbeak. Ratchet began with Sam's spark, beginning the delicate process of hooking the casing into the power conduits of the shell and feeding energon into the spark chamber. He took his time. Not only did he want to be as accurate as possible, but because this needed to go exactly according to his plans. His hands moved of their own accord. He had already preprogrammed their movements, planned for every contingency.

Except for one. When he got to Ellie's spark, he noticed something odd about her shell. While keeping his eyes on her spark casing, his scanners drifted across her body, and he found it. The one thing he had not planned for. The one thing he had counted on not being discovered. Soundwave had been busy last night. His optics rose as he made the last connection, meeting Soundwave's. Greeting Ratchet, was the most sadistic grin he had ever seen, or perhaps it seemed so horrible because all he had seen of the spy was his optics and battle mask. It didn't matter though, nothing these Decepticons did mattered. Because Ratchet had turned his EID on the moment he had rose from recharge. He had already tight beamed his exact location during the loudest parts of the Decepticons processor-to-processor conversations. And he had used that moment of optic contact to reconnect the sensor wires to Ellie's weapon systems.

And he stepped back as Ellie's chest plate closed. The medic waited as first Sam's, then Mikaela's, and finely Ellie's optics came on-line. Each groaned as they woke, taking in their surroundings. Ratchet tried to comfort them as much as he could, used as soothing a tone as he could muster. But nothing could make up for the shock of waking up in the middle of a group of very eager Decepticons. "They will need a few cycles to recharge..."

"Save it, Autobot." Ratchet was cut short as Hook's arm wrapped around his neck and squeezed, his other hand gripping painfully around several critical bundles of wires. "Any last words before we take you to the pit?"

"Yes," Ratchet smiled at Mikaela and Ellie. "Don't scream." His smile was calm and serene as Hook shoved a spiked claw through his cranial casing.