Evening The Odds Chapter 4, a transformers fanfic

Evening The Odds.

Chapter Four.

Soundwave finished his repairs and ran a quick systems check and diagnostic. Once he was satisfied that all was working within acceptable limits, he did a quick scan of the airwaves before he narrowed the receiving apparatus down to receive just the one band he was expecting a communication on. Nothing gave him any reason to think that his attention was needed elsewhere. He didn't think the Autobots would try a similar trick so soon and without any obvious reason, but he was not interested in anything else going on outside his Base at the moment, and saw no point in taking the risk. He waited, something Soundwave had almost turned into an art form. He had found at times that just waiting could produce more results than acting, and he was very good at it. This time, however, he did not need to wait for long.

"Bombshell reporting in," came in over the free com band. "I have observed as you ordered, Would you like to know what I have observed?" the Insecticon asked.

"Affirmative," Soundwave said, and listened to Bombshell's report.

"Should I use a cerebro-shell to organise transportation out and bring a hostage?" the Insecticon asked when he had finished.

"Negative. Stay-concealed," Soundwave replied. "Await-further-orders. Soundwave-out."

He turned only passive sensors on, and sat back to think through what his options were with the information that Bombshell had provided.

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The contracts had been discussed, agreed on, distributed and signed, and the femmes had agreed that three would bear at any one time, leaving three to fight if need be. The first three femmes to choose (or be chosen by the respective Seekers) would bear for Starscream, Dirge, and Acid Storm first, for they were the trine leaders. Then the next three would bear for Thrust, Thundercracker and Lightning Storm once the first three had been cleared as fighting fit by Ratchet, and then the first three would rotate back around for Skywarp, Ramjet, and Blizzard Storm once the second trio of femmes had borne their sparklings and were also cleared for duty.

If one femme was in particular demand, and was happy to bear three times, it could be arranged, but the main point – that at least three femmes be battle-ready at any one time – could be ensured. The details would have to be worked out between the femmes and the Seekers themselves, but neither group appeared to be showing signs of being fussy or protesting the order of precedence. Ratchet had insisted in planning that one member of each trine would get a sparkling in each round of bearing, which meant that at any one time each trine would have one sparkling from at least one of their own trine members to coo over. That had been Ratchet's idea, and, he decided, it had been a good one. Happy Seekers, happy femmes, and happy mechs, because even the worst case scenario featured an equal balance in any fights.

Of course, he amended, that would be the case if the Decepticons chose to play fair, and he had to admit that losing nine mechs might make them choose to fight dirty, but, he thought, if the Decepticons did start any fights, he'd remember to warn the mechs of this possibility.

Ratchet had no way of knowing that Soundwave was not only aware of this line of thinking, but was counting on it.

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The Deceptions were gathered in the now-empty hangar the Seekers had lived in on the Base: Soundwave had himself gathered and packed up their personal belongings into nine packages earlier, figuring they would be pleased to have them back. He walked into the hangar and began projecting some of the footage Bombshell had taken of the Autobots, in particular the femmes, and of the sparklings. Parts of the meetings, including the discussions where the Seekers had enquired about their own wishes to have sparklings, were shown in full, and when Soundwave had finished, he asked the Decepticons what they thought, and what they should do.

He allowed them to make their suggestions for ten minutes, taking note of who made the most extreme suggestions, and how the mechs responded to each other's suggestions before signalling for silence.

"Many-mechs-and-many-ideas," he said. "Not-all-possible. Not-all-acceptable. Many-unwise." He pinned any mech who had suggested kidnapping or killing sparklings with his gaze as he said this, making a mental note to warn all the Decepticons about what the Seekers would do to any they saw as a threat to the sparklings.

"Soundwave-has-a-plan." He paused to ensure quiet before outlining it, and then responded to any and all queries in the same calm manner. Within two hours and a few revisions, their plan was formulated.

"We-are-in-agreement?" he asked. The silence told him all he needed to know.

"Then-we-march-on-the-Autobot-base-in-three-point-five-joors."

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Ratchet had not anticipated such a swift response by the Decepticons, and was in recharge when Soundwave initiated the first phase of his plan, which involved taking a loop of footage of the area around the two Bases and the land between them from the satellite monitoring the area from two days before, and patching it in over the real-time image. Soundwave did not want the humans to get involved, this was between the Decepticons and the Autobots.

It was time, Soundwave thought, to bring this war to an end.

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It was Mirage who first spotted the vehicles converging on their Base, and after he had matched the first three to the alts of known Decepticons, he called Optimus' office, Ironhide's armoury, and Ratchet's med-bay. The Decepticons were not the only ones to have an oft-redundant but still useful external-of-body (but in-Base) communications network. Optimus and Ironhide sent that they were on their way, Cliffjumper, from the med bay, said that he'd get Ratchet out of recharge.

It was only when he came out of recharge to find Cliffjumper pulling him out of the recharge unit, while saying something about a Decepticon attack, that Ratchet found out what was going on. He got a com from Mirage after a terse query blip, and muttered a curse that, had Cliffjumper been organic, would have made the younger mech blush.

"I didn't think they'd react so soon or against the Base in such force! I'm on my way!" he sent back, sending comms to the Seekers, appraising them of the situation, that he and the other Autobots would try to resolve it, and instructing them to sit tight and look after the sparklings.

He made his way to the main communications room, being passed on the way by all six femmes dressed in extra, snap-on light armour, (designed for them by and with humans who made and/or used similar, as humans had no natural armour) and all their weaponry. As none had yet begun bearing for the Seekers, all were fit and battle ready.

"We're going to deploy on the roof, and stay out of sight unless and until we are needed," Elita told him. "They seem to be making a slow advance, so we have the time."

"I underestimated them," he replied. "Don't make the same mistake."

He then got into the control room and took in the situation on the screens.

All the Decepticons known to be on Earth, plus two unknowns, were advancing down the roads towards the Autobot Base. Only the Seekers – who were down in the nurseries – and Soundwave did not appear to be present. The two unknowns were of concern, for the Autobots thought they knew all the Decepticons who had landed, and these two could have nasty surprises under their alts for the Autobots who were to go into battle. Optimus and Ironhide were both stood in front of the screens, while Mirage and Blaster manned communications and tactical sensors.

"No obvious weapons actually deployed, but that may be because they are not wanting to draw attention to themselves by alarming the humans," Ironhide observed. "I have put the force field up to half strength and can have it up to full in a second, but I do not know how much sustained heavy bombardment it can take."

"I have to wonder if Soundwave's absence is significant," Optimus said. "He seems to have taken over since Megatron's death, but has since not launched any major attacks. Has he been destroyed, or overthrown? This brute strength approach lacks the subtlety I would expect of him."

"No, I have just identified him, here he comes," Blaster said as Soundwave's last known alt came into view, pulling slightly ahead of the others.

"We should go out into the courtyard," Optimus said to Ironhide and Ratchet. "Blaster, Mirage, keep us updated." The three headed out, Ratchet comming Cliffjumper to get the med bay ready for possible casualties, but hoping his medical skills wouldn't be needed. He had lived long enough to be well versed in speaking and mending, was medic and negotiator, and he hoped he would have a chance to use his mediation skills more than his mechanic skills. However, he had what humans might call a 'gut instinct' that this different approach might be a positive thing, and judging by Optimus' insistence that they leave the protection of the building to stand in the courtyard, without explaining why, he thought Optimus might be acting upon a similar instinct.

When they came out, they saw Soundwave was still approaching slowly, on his own: the rest of his forces had stopped and were letting him approach alone. Optimus held up his hand to Ironhide, and moved forwards, Ratchet following two steps behind. Optimus stopped just before the force-field and, obviously to Ratchet acting again on his 'gut instinct', decided to take a chance, opening a comm to Ironhide.

'Ironhide, drop the force-field,' he said.

'Prime, are you sure that's wise?' Ironhide asked. Obviously he had more than a few reservations about the wisdom of his Prime's suggestion.

'Possibly not, but I think my armour can take a hit even from this distance, plus I intend to dodge if any of them make any hostile moves. So far no weapons are out, and I feel it is important to show faith. Soundwave is approaching alone, and I hope it is to talk,' Optimus replied.

'Dropping the force-field,' Ironhide said, but Qptimus could hear the mistrust in his commed voice.

'We're in position on the roof, if he or any of the others try to attack, we're ready,' Elita commed to both Optimus and Ironhide.

As the force-field dropped, Soundwave transformed into his robot form, quickly putting away his weapons which, like all Cybertronians, automatically deployed when switching between modes.

"Optimus-Prime, we-are-here-to-end-this-war," Soundwave said. "As-it-will-affect-all, we-are-all-here. Could-your-offer-to-the-Seekers-extend-to-all-here?"

Optimus said "You want to help look after our sparklings?"

"No-we-would-like-our-own. Would-your-femmes-find-this-acceptable?" With this, Soundwave directed his gaze up to the roof, where Optimus thought only he and his mechs were aware of the femmes' presence.

Elita stood,realisng hiding was useless, and said "There are limits on how often we can bear, but if you and your mechs are willing to wait their turns, I don't see why not. It's certainly preferable to continuing the war, for that is what we would need in return, peace, between Decepticons and Autobots."

"And between Decepticons and the humans we are allied with," Optimus quickly interjected. "If we are to achieve a safe environment for sparklings, the humans of the United States must be included."

"We-are-long-lived. Waiting-is-acceptable," Soundwave said. "Negotiations-with-humans-acceptable. Negotiations-with-Autobots-must-include-equality-of-all."

Ratchet took this as his cue to step forwards. "It is something we have already successfully negotiated with the Seekers who came to our Base. There are no more Senators, and Optimus is not like Sentinel. Our situation is very different to that on Cybertron. We are guests on this world, and we also think equality is important for us all." He knew that something of the equality would need to be extended to humans, but decided to leave that detail out until the actual negotiations.

"Soundwave-insists-on-some-human-Creator-negotiators. Peace-will-require-some-safety-for-sparklings. We-would-require-assurance-that-some-humans-involved-understand-desire-to-protect-young."

"I will make sure that when we invite the humans to negotiations that they are aware of that condition," Ratchet said, wondering how many of the humans with the required skills were actually parents as well. He thought it might give some other humans in the military and diplomatic services with families a chance to show what they were capable of.

"May I suggest we, and you, all come in?" Optimus asked. "Our recreation facilities are available to all your mechs, and those who wish to actively participate in the negotiations are welcome to join myself and Ratchet in our main hall. We can discuss matters that do not need the humans to be present. We can then discuss amongst ourselves what we can all agree upon with the humans, and what issues the humans must understand that the Autobots and Deceoticons will differ about. Leader Soundwave, may we respectfully offer to accompany you to the main hall?"

When Soundwave nodded, and then advanced, Optimus and Ratchet flanked Soundwave in a respectful manner and led him in, indicating with small hand gestures, mainly noticeable only by Soundwave, which way to go. His Decepticons, watched cautiously and a trifle resentfully by Ironhide, filed in after them. Optimus quietly asked Ironhide to call Elita to replace him on the gate, in the interests of diplomacy. He knew she might need replacing when the femmes needed to be available to speak for their gender and help arrange procreation rights with the relevant Decepticons. Ironhide agreed, but with reservations, which was why Optimus had suggested Elita. Although Chromia was more than capable, Ironhide would fret about his own femme being in what he still considered an exposed position, even though he himself seemed happy enough with the Gatehouse security if it was himself manning it.

Optimus hoped this could be the beginning of a real and lasting peace between the two non-human factions, and the North American human faction and their allied human faction members. However, he had no doubts that some of the terms both the Autobots and the Decepticons would be requesting, or in some cases, demanding, would leave the human negotiators, when they were invited, with raised eyebrows. He could only hope that the concessions and advantages that both factions could offer the Earth natives in return would be enough to make them consider what was asked. Optimus, at least, intended that some of those offers would be offers that the humans would not want to refuse, and was certain that Soundwave would, as a logical mech, have a few offers of his own that would be such that the humans would be hard pressed to reject.

If nothing else, he thought, as he commed for any mechs available to bring adequate amounts and appropriate forms of seating, and standard grade energon dispensers to the main hall, these was likely to be some very interesting negotiations.