For The Race: Protection.

Chapter Nine.

A/N: Bold italic text inducates replated nemories. Bold text without italics denotes shouting. Italics only is for emphasis.

They soon found Starblaze, for her red, orange, yellow and gold colouration stood out even amongst the other red and gold livery of the Inner Circle Guardians. She stepped forwards, her solid gold coloured helm marking her out as the Circle Head.

"I will take them from here, Stoop, if this youngling is whom the medic believes he is, the sooner we find out the better. Having agitated Senators around is not a good situation." She looked at the guard.

"Is he coming as well?" She asked.

Before Ratchet could respond, the guard replied.

"Yes, I am, Circle Head, to verify and witness the AllSpark's verdict."

Starblaze levelled a piercing look at him. It was not quite a glower, but it was obvious that she took the comment as a personal insult.

"I will be present to speak to the AllSpark, and AllSpark Guardians are considered reliable witnesses. Do you doubt our integrity?" The look she gave him told anybody watching that his answer had best not be in the affirmative.

"Not at all, Circle Head, but the more witnesses to verify the better, especially in a case like this," he said. She levelled another, sharper look at him that he cringed beneath.

"Of course," she said stiffly. "Follow me." She turned and walked off, not looking back, her posture conveying suppressed anger.

She took them into the Dome proper, it's imposing dark gold coloured doors three times taller than Ratchet was, covered with frescoes of great Cybertronian deeds achieved eons ago, so far back they were almost myth. The First Primes. The Great Expedition to find other worlds, the knights of Cybertron, the expulsion of the Quintessons, and other great epics of the first Golden Age.

They moved into a ramped walkway, Starblaze herself leading them along, apologising to various dignitaries as she led Ratchet and the observer, followed by the guard, to the AllSpark. As a noble scurried away clutching a small youngling, she moved before the next supplicant, saying "Apologies, but this is a priority request." The person glared at her resentfully, but held their place.

"We must be quick, I have used a priority appointment, but we cannot spend too long." She turned to the observer. "Give me your hand." He did. Starblaze looked at the guard. "I will ask the AllSpark to vocalise it's decision via my voice, so you may witness." The brittle tone of her voice and look she gave him left him with no illusions; he was permitted to be here, but he was not particularly welcome.

"Medic Ratchet, approach the Cube so I may hold the youngling's hand to it, the AllSpark will read and identify his Spark." The medic complied and the youngling saw the hand of the Circle Head cover his as she held his hand to the metal of the Cube, but only allowed her own finger tips to contact the metal. Starblaze asked audibly "AllSpark, this is Starblaze, we seek to know the identity of this youngling."

There was bright light and beautiful music, blotting out the observer's view, and the observer could be heard to sigh in what sounded like happy wonder. Then a voice spoke, one which had no specific identifiable vocal tone or pitch, almost like several voices speaking in perfect sync, but the message it conveyed was very specific.

"This youngling is named Orion, of the Prime lineage. His name will be Optimus, and he has great tasks ahead of him, and later, great burdens to bear."

The light disappeared, and the face of the gently glowing Cube reappeared, and as Starblaze took back their linked hands, she asked the guard "Did you hear that?"

Three or four other Guardians approached, and one said "If he didn't, he must be deaf! Judging by the comms coming in, many of the Guardians here, - more than half - heard it, and maybe every Sensitive on the planet!" As the observer looked around the Dome, it was obvious that several of the patrons waiting for their own audience had also heard; there were fewer resentful faces in the queue now.

Starblaze turned to look at the guard, a self-satisfied smile on her faceplates, and arched one fine golden eye brow on her crafted metal face.

"Did you hear that, and is every other Guardian in Iacon enough witnesses for you, guard?" She asked, her smile cheerful, but her tone sarcastic.

"Um, yes, I heard, and yes, that's enough witnesses, Circle Head." His own vocal tone was subdued.

He then turned to Ratchet, his tone becoming obsequious.

"Medic Ratchet, and young Orion, Prime in waiting, we should take you to the Senators and assure them you are alive and fully functional, they are extremely anxious about your wellbeing, and they will be gratified to hear of your very welcome and safe return." He gave the pair a shallow bow that generally conveyed respect, and moved past them to clear the way and take them back to the nearby Tower. The medic and observer followed him.

Optimus paused the image before blacking it out.

"I was returned to the Tower and they continued my education. I knew better than to try and mention what I had seen out there in its entirety. I told them I was kept offline much of the time, gave them some of the pseudonyms my captors used, and was able to pretend I escaped them in Iacon and was hiding from them, not the guards. I never forgot, however, the things I had seen and experienced in my secondary family's care, and I also never forgot how the guards' attitude towards me changed when my identity was confirmed, and I saw more than one of the guards who encountered me before I was identified, and saw how they responded to me after I was repainted and saw them again, with them knowing my identity. I recalled how most of them had considered me to be of little or no worth as an unknown youngling, and I recalled their very different treatment of me once they knew me as young Orion of the Towers."

He paused. "They may not all have recognised me, but I recognised them. I resolved from that time on not to judge by appearances or rumour, and to also consider that I did not know everyone's situation, that what some would consider a heinous crime might be, for others, a way of surviving, or fulfilling, a need. Or that the same mech or femme, in different circumstances, might be forced to abandon previously held opinions about stealing, avoiding officials, or lying about information that might impact on others, for example."

"While we are on that subject, what are your intentions towards Sam, and what do you consider her rights?" Starscream asked. "You tell a good and convincing story, but can you still, under different circumstances, apply the lessons of the past to your present?"

"I believe our intentions towards Sam are the same," Optimus said, "which is to protect her from those who may not have her best interests at heart. My intentions are to give her enough information to allow her to choose whom she comes with, if she chooses to stay with either of us, wants to work with all or some of us, or none of us. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. It might seem an oft-used, and maybe cliched saying of mine, but I stand by it, although in Sam's case, some guidance may be required. However, I believe she's qualified enough to make that decision herself, whenever that might be, and to change her mind if that is what she chooses, as often as she may wish to."

"So, it seems we are in agreement on that issue, at least," Starscream said. "The next question we have to ask is if the images you showed us could be clever fabrications?"

"We did not know why you had taken Sam, we assumed you wanted her for the Decepticons' own advancement, and would not know how you might react enough to, if we wished to use, pre-treated memories for the purpose of deception," Ratchet said. "However, we are willing to allow your medic, if you have one, to examine the memories for discrepancies, or signs of them being altered or fabricated.

"That won't be necessary," Barricade interrupted, standing and holding up a hand to indicate he should be permitted to speak. "Soundwave has been listening and observing from hidden cameras and microphones, and has also used his own methods to check and confirm the memories we were shown. None of them show any sign of being fabrications, or of having been edited or altered to make a falsehood seem to be the truth. Soundwave wishes me to inform you that he believes that they are true and unaltered memories, and that he cannot detect any ulterior motive for the Autobots' presence beyond their concern for the welfare of Sam."

"Thank you, Barricade, that is good to know," Starscream replied, and turned to nod at Sam, who looked confused. Starscream sent Sam a private com.

'Soundwave can read minds, Sam, a skill we and he generally do not advertise for obvious reasons, and it does, in circumstances like this, have its uses,' he said. 'It seems the memories of your friends there check out. I would prefer that the information go no further.'

'Well, I won't tell anyone if that's what you're asking,' Sam replied in a com back. Starscream merely nodded, which Sam took as a yes.

Starscream turned to look at the Autobots, speaking aloud this time. "Unless you have found a method that will pass Soundwave's very rigorous checks, which, due to his methods, I believe to be impossible, you speak the truth. Now, the question to be asked is what we do about it, and what we decide to do about Sam."

"Um, excuse me," Sam said "but shouldn't I have a say in that? You all seem to fear my freedom being taken away from me by each other, but any discussion about what to 'do about" me - here she used her fingers to make air quotes as she spoke - should surely involve my input and take into account my wants and needs?"

Starscream blinked quickly in surprise at Sam's words, but recovered quite quickly.

"Well, of course we must take your opinions into account, Sam, but there is much you do not know about the war we fought, the way we were treated by Sentinel and the Senators, Autobots all. We do not want you to suffer because of Autobot treachery."

"But wait a minute," Sam protested. "Are any of those Senators, or this Sentinel Prime you speak of, here on Earth, in charge of, or trying to be in charge of you?"

"Well, no, but -" Starscream started saying, but Sam cut him off.

"You said your own expert - Soundwave? - agrees the memories we were shown were real, and the Autobot's motives for coming here had no hidden purpose, they were here due to concern over my welfare." She turned to look at Optimus. "And you guys are just as bad. Megatron's gone, right, so how about all of us just stop focusing on the distant past, over mechs who are scrap, or likely gone to rust by now, and start something new?"

"Someone should pay for the privation we went through on Cybertron," the still nameless gate-mech spoke up. "And for Megatron's death, too. He organised us and encouraged us to rise up against the Senate, and the unfair system that denied us a meaningful future. Without him, we'd still be scraping whatever existence we could from the gutters of Cybertron, but with his help we threw off the old corrupt rule and, well, here we are," he finished lamely.

"Here you are, hiding from the human Government of this country, scraping a living from whatever you can find, or steal," Sam shot back. "Where do you see yourself in fifty, a hundred, or a thousand years from now? Still fighting a war rooted in the past, or starting a new life, rearing new Sparks who won't have to worry about going on to fight a war that began before they were even thought of? And what would the fighting be for? Vengeance? Are you willing to risk permanent offlining in order to settle a grudge against Autobots who likely had little or no bloody say about the issues at the time?"

"Yeah, well, we know what'll happen if you go back to the Autobots," he said. "You'll just give them, your friends, sparklings, once you're ready, and leave us without, to age and die and to go to rust."

"You're my friends too, and I give you my word I will do nothing of the sort," Sam said.

"Sam, you have many years before that need be a concern," Optimus interjected. "Don't allow yourself to be pushed before you're ready!" just as Starscream said "Sparklings will only come if and when Sam is sure she is happy to have them."

As others began to speak, and drown out her attempts to respond, Sam became irritated, and made the irritation known with a very loud and discordant burst of static, something she had inadvertently learned to make soon after her transformation into a Cybertronian, in the process of getting used to speaking with her new vocaliser.

The unexpected and unpleasant noise shut everyone in the room up, something she reinforced by broadcasting, as loud as she could, "Will you all please shut up and listen to me!" She had a sudden attack of nerves as every optic was drawn to her, but pushed them down and continued to speak.

The noise stayed down, and she said, "Listen to you all! Arguing over something you've both said - albeit using different words but they amount to the same thing - both agreed upon, which is that when I have sparklings, if at all, is down to me. For which I thank you. To answer the accusation earlier, when I am ready to have sparklings, and not before, nobody will be left out. As I understand it, we live a very long time, so there's no need to rush things, and every reason to prepare for that time by taking steps towards making peace. I doubt any of you will want to risk your precious sparklings, when you have them, getting injured or killed fighting a pointless war, and as their mother, neither will I. Which is why I intend not to have sparklings with anyone, of either side, until this conflict you've carried with you from your world to this one, is over!"

When Sam paused speaking, the silence remained, so she took full advantage, and spoke again.

"Sentinel and the Senators are, I assume, dead. Megatron is dead, and so are some of his followers, some of whom you likely know and miss." She paused and looked towards the Autobots. "You too have lost people, and I say to you all, try to live for now, and not die for the past. This is a chance to start things anew, to live for life, and not for killing. I know it can't happen overnight, but won't you at least make a a start, something to build on? Won't you at least try? I give my word that if you come to a lasting ceasefire and work towards peace, nobody from either side will be left out when I decide I am ready and willing to bear sparklings. I know there's likely to be setbacks and snags, but surely trying is worth a chance to not be shot at? To work together, to create a system, with input from you all, that treats all as equals?"

"We are willing to try, and we even have a trained negotiator with us," Optimus said, indicating Ratchet, who inclined his head.

"I was trained, amongst other, more general skills, as both a medic and a negotiator," Ratchet explained. "I was advised that it was a good idea to be multi-skilled, in case your circumstances changed, or the circumstances of those around you that may affect you. When negotiation fails, there is generally a greater need for medics. I am at your service to aid talks if you require. We could, in theory, start now, but I imagine that things will need to be discussed and organised, on both sides, first."

"I'll need to speak to the rest of the mechs first, and see what they think," Starscream said.

"Soundwave has said he thinks it's worth it," Barricade said in a slightly surprised voice.

"As to the original question, I think I should stay here for 28 days, then back to the Autobot Base, and alternate," Sam said.

"Are you sure?" asked both Optimus and Starscream, in two totally different tones of voice, once concerned and the other cheerful.

"Yes, I'm sure", Sam said. "All journeys, even metaphorical ones, start with one small step. Humans even have a saying about it. So let's just take this one small step at a time."

"Speaking of small steps, Sam, you still need to learn to walk with those shoulder cannons," Barricade said, holding out an arm. "Someone for the other side please?"

"Me," Bumblebee said, moving to Sam's other side. " I'm a similar size, and if we're gonna learn to work with each other..." Bumblebee tailed off and didn't need to continue; Barricade was nodding and Sam was holding out her hands to them both.

They both allowed her to hold an arm belonging to each of them, and gently began to lead her across the room.