When All Lights Go Out II (TFP)

Chapter 14

June Darby's presence in the base has been something that the autobots and children have had to get used to. While June was more mature than Jack, Miko and Raf, she had a lot of learning to do. Especially when it came to the threat of the decepticons to the planet. But June was more interested in learning about Cybertronian anatomy and biology more than the war. She and Ratchet had formed a fast friendship as the woman was intrigued by the medical practices. She even got to learn exactly how the current procedure Optimus and Azura were going through worked, which she was very fascinated about.

June did ask questions about how different the conception of sparklings were to Earth based organisms, not including the habloid sparks that Ratchet told her about. The process of it was fascinating, especially as the formation of a sparkling was a lot more complex and tedious than what any Earth-based organism goes through when procuring offspring. It was a subject the Jack was not fond of his mother learning about, but June has stated it was only because she was curious and, being a nurse, she wasn't afraid of the details.

Though Optimus couldn't help but be uncomfortable when he became the center of questions for things like low-grade energon, and he didn't allow himself to sit in the middle of that discussion. Mostly due to the discomfort growing as his upper internal systems were aching due to parts being harvested from them to deliver to Azura's system, and the nearing of the birth was also something his system seemed to be preparing for. Though Ratchet has had to reassure Optimus that it was just general discomfort.

But during this time, a small, but noticeable, energon signal had been detected in a mountainous area that could indicate a potential energon mine for the autobots to harvest. Bumblebee had decided to volunteer to scout the location to make sure. Their energon supply was still fine for now, but they did need to check it out in case there was some crystals that can be harvested and processed.

"Looks like it won't a mine that Megatron will go after at least," Bumblebee commented as he looked at the screen as he stared at the location of the signal. "But I hope this small signal will lead to a massive mine. That way we can relax a bit more and not have to chase the decepticons for it."

"It could, but I am sure you will figure that out once you have taken a closer look," Ratchet said as he put the coordinates into the ground bridge. "It will be good to have an bigger excess supply over the coming months. Especially when Azura is reborn, as Optimus's body will still demand a high amount of energon."

Miko looked at Ratchet in surprise. "Why? He won't be carrying her?"

"That might be, but this procedure kind of also resets the nutritional status of the low-grade energon that Optimus will feed to Azura. While before the procedure, the nutritional value was greater than, say, my own due to being her carrier. But..." Ratchet glanced towards Optimus as the leader approached the console to look at the screen thoughtfully and he looked back at Miko. "Now it will be over higher nutritional value, and he will have to ingest the same amount, or more, energon to keep up with his body's production of it. It can actually drain more energy than carrying itself."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Miko pondered for a moment before looking at Raf, who was sitting at the nearby desk on his laptop. "Are you going to go with Bee, Raf? Seems like this mission will be pretty safe."

"I am afraid not." The boy turned to look at Miko who was very surprised he would not be going. "It might be safe, but if the bota can detect the energon signal, so can the decepticons. They might not care, but I don't want to take the risk."

"Rafael is right, Miko," Ratchet said in a reassuring tone. "I know Raf and Bee spend a lot of time together, but..." Raf smiled as he listened to Ratchet. "He does understand more than you when it is okay to go through the bridge with any of us. Besides, I think scouting for energon is a little boring to him."