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Internal Log Entry #274:
Hey! It’s been a bit since I’ve had time to sit and write a proper internal log, BUT! Something big happened today and I’ve gotta jot it down! As of today, Boltaneon 26th: me and Charr are officially bondmates!
We even talked about maybe getting conjunxed soon. I know exchanging pieces of your spark is already the endgame, but… I dunno, ‘bondmate’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it as ‘conjunx.’ So… guess we’re gonna start looking for a venue! :-)
I don’t have time for more than this quick note, but maybe someday I’ll be able to write these consistently again!
—Thorn Minor
Internal Log Entry #279:
I’ve been trying to make out logs before each deployment to keep track of them, but… the front leaves me so tired these days. As soon as I’m back to the ship I just crash straight into berth. Which Charr and I share now, too; it makes it feel less lonely. It’s comforting, having someone next to you while you recharge. I doubt I’ll ever be able to sleep without him here ever again!
Anyhow, the whole team’s got a few solar cycles off the field, so I wanted to make note of it! I’ve been spending most of my time with Charr lately (duh), so it’s nice to hang out with Tig-R and give Howler a break. I love Tig-R to bits, but she’s a bit much, and my lame, stoic brother’s probably been miserable with only her around. They cross wires a lot, but I like to think she’ll grow on him eventually! Until then… I’ll deal with her swooning over him every chance she gets. Ugh. You’d think a medic could cure her own terrible taste in mechs.
Oh, whoops! Charr’s asking why I’ve been so quiet. Guess I’ve been writing for a little too long. Gotta enjoy my time with the crew while I can!
—Thorn Minor
Internal Log Entry #282:
Charr and I figured out where we’re getting conjunxed! There’s a planet near our current station with someone that can officiate— we’ve got a big mission tomorrow and then some off-time, so we're gonna have a quick little ceremony then! Maybe when the war is over we can have a proper one. :-)
I told Howler about it earlier, but he’s been really… I dunno, nervous? All day. He says he’s got a bad feeling about our next mission. Couldn’t explain it. Even though Decepticon base infiltration is literally what our team was built for. I think he’s been putting too many additives in his energon again. It’s not my fault that he keeps skipping recharge to work on his silly novels!
Still, it… really weirds me out to see him so anxious. Hopefully I’ll still be able to get some recharge tonight. Charr’s waiting for me, so I’ve gotta head off to berth! Need all the rest I can get for tomorrow. :P
Goodnight!
—Thorn Minor
Internal Log Entry #283:
Mission compromised They saw us. Theyre after us andOUr ships in bad shape
Going into the stasis pods but systems offli
Experiment Log: #36
Specimen: Ancient Cybertronian
Description: Autobot soldier. Minibot frametype. Plating probably blue back in the day, but mostly rust now.
Notes: I really can’t believe my luck! Here I am, searching for that pesky team of Autobots, when my scanner picks up on— of all things— an ancient Autobot warship. Not only that, but one with a live specimen and… three batches of spare parts. Not too bad for an abandoned island on some backwater planet.
I woke up the bot in the functional stasis pod, and I guess you can say we had a conversation. It was mostly her threatening to put me offline and crying about her offline crew. Not only did she think the war was still going on, she thought I was an enemy soldier. Yeesh. Talk about being several millennia behind.
She’s a perfect test subject for these transwarp experiments, though. I’ve got her sedated and set up in the lab. Once everything’s ready… I know just the specimen to use for her.
Experiment Log: #37
Specimen: Ancient Cybertronian
Description: Spliced with an organic “feline” using transwarp energy. She’s three times bigger and two times as furry and sharp— even more in alt mode. I have no idea how she mass displaces as much as she does from root to alt. I may look into it.
Notes: The old scrapheap put up a fight, but that stasis pod I recycled from her ship held out through her trying to crack it open. It was a perfect transmutation chamber, and the process was a success! If not a little messy.
Scans show an uneven mixture of Cybertronian and organic material. Looks consistent on top, but everything under her plating is a mess. Good thing I don’t plan on keeping her online long enough to have to treat her for anything. I can work with a little techno-organic medicine just for myself, but… I doubt I’ll even be able to use her for spare parts afterwards.
After she woke up, I checked out her alt mode— huge, by the way, maybe Megatron’s size when transformed— and got to listen to her trying to chew me out again, only this time with a ruined vocalizer. I think she fried it screaming earlier.
She also didn’t seem thrilled about her new shock collar. Here I thought she’d appreciate that I used her bondmate’s leftover collar plate to make it, but I guess you can’t please everybot.
While she’s out, I’m gonna set up the collar and put in a memory blocker for anything before me, and hope it tamps down that nasty temper of hers.
Experiment Log: #38
Specimen: Ancient Cybertronian
Description: See previous log.
Notes: I definitely didn’t put that memory blocker in right. Brought her outside to meet the Dinobots and she freaked out. Ran off and hitched a ride on a slagging boat nearby, set out to Primus-knows-where.
As much as it irks me, it’s not worth tracking her down. The way she’s running, botched circuits and empty fuel tanks, she’ll go offline within an orbital cycle. That collar might even zap her to death first since she’s out of range. Ugh. I’ll just have to find some other live batch of Cybertronian circuitry.
Medical Log : Earth Station
Notated by Medical Officer Ratchet
Intake #75
Patient Designation: “Catbot” (temp.)
Description: Cybertronian… I think. Wears an Autobot insignia, but looks to be part organic. Based on an Earth cat, maybe. Larger than any Autobot I know. T-cog functionality uncertain.
Diagnosis: Severe energon depletion. Large ax wound on left abdominal. Presumed blown out vocalizer.
Treatment: Soldered, cleaned, and buffed various injuries. Extensive cleaning of plating to remove rust and energon. Will revisit vocalizer once it’s been located.
Notes: Earlier this decacycle, Officer Fanzone asked our team to subdue a rogue bot that was causing problems for the humans. It gave Bulkhead some organic virus with its claws, chewed off Prime’s grappling hook, and almost ate Sari. Prime finally flung his ax into its side so Sari could get away, and Prowl shot it with a special dart from Sumdac.
Even that only slowed it down. Prowl and I followed it afterwards, since it runs from everyone but us, and when we found it… it acted like it could understand us. We walked it back to the base and it crashed as soon as it got inside.
I’ve never seen anything like it. When I was patching up the ax wound, I saw under its plating— it’s not just wiring and pistons, there’s organic flesh in there, too. I welded the protoform back together, but can’t treat its organic parts. It’s been millennia since I’ve had to say this, but… that’s outside of my training.
Energon levels are almost fatal, but I’m worried about setting up a drip. Considering its anatomy, I’m not sure it can process energon anymore. Assuming it lives long enough to wake up again, I’ll… see what I can do to work around it.
Medical Log : Earth Station
Notated by Medical Officer Ratchet
Intake #75 (cont.)
Patient Designation: Catbot (temp.)
Diagnosis: Crude shock collar wired to T-cog, preventing transformation.
Treatment: Removed collar. Verified functional transformation.
Notes: As per previous log, the catbot seemed like it could understand us. It responded well to being called ‘soldier’, so Prowl and I theorized that she might’ve been an old bot from the war.
I gave her the wartime transformation command. Poor thing lit up like she’d been struck by lightning.
Turns out she had a shock collar installed that’d go off when she tried to transform, locking her in her alternative mode. Whoever put it in (Prime suspects Blackarachnia) was one clever fragger; wired it onto her root mode, underneath her plating. Good thing that last zap knocked her out cold, because the EMP doesn’t work on her for scrap. I couldn't have sedated her to dismantle her plating otherwise.
Something so small shouldn’t put off that much electricity, though; I suspect that the collar may have been using the bot’s own power to electrocute her. Absolutely barbaric. Looks like it also may have been remote controlled— my guess is that the catbot escaped an enclosure, bugging the collar out into giving high-powered shocks instead of little warning zaps.
Soon as I got the collar off, she woke up, so I couldn’t check her vocalizer. But she was responsive and able to transform, and her root mode is… well, it’s still… unique, but it at least resembles an average bot. (And Prowl was right about her being a fembot. How the slag could he tell?)
She is an old Cybertronian model, but that’s all I can tell by lookin’. No idea what happened to her. We’ve tried asking, but… she doesn’t talk. I’ll take a look at her processor, see if I can recover any memory or personality circuits.
She’s awake for now, and seems fine. Curious, but so geared up you can barely reset your optics without scarin’ her. Acts like she’s half her size. I’ll keep an optic out for any other issues.
Medical Log : Earth Station
Notated by Medical Officer Ratchet
Intake #79
Patient Designation: Thorn (prev. Catbot)
Description: See prev. logs. Electric paint polish reapplied, plating now a dark teal color.
Diagnosis: Implanted memory blocker. Destroyed vocalizer.
Treatment: Restoration of core memories, continued blockage of traumatic events until she's used to her surroundings and her initial memories. Vocalizer reconstruction.
Notes: Finally got the chance to check the catbot’s processor out. I still can’t fully sedate her, though, so I did what I could with the EMP, then brought in Prowl to help her fall asleep. She’s calmest with him.
I used a Processor-Picture-Projector to view the video feed of her memory circuits, and… sad to say, her story’s not uncommon. But now we know her designation, her rank, and the who and what that happened to her: she was a ship pilot named Thorn before the ship crashed in the war. And Prime was right; Blackarachnia’s behind everything else.
I restored her core memories, but left everything between the war and us finding her blocked off. Once she adjusts, I’ll start restoring those, too. Textbook procedure, though Prowl’s about ready to put me offline for it. Says I shouldn’t be making the call on what she does or doesn’t know— I told him he can take it up with me when he gets a medical license.
While Thorn was out, I also tried to repair her vocalizer. Key word being tried. I saw where she blew it out in her memories, but I also saw that Blackarachnia decided to ‘patch it up.’ That ‘patch job’ ruined the whole unit. All I could salvage was the personal modulator, and even it had some damage I couldn’t bypass. Thorn’s gonna have a rasp for the rest of her functioning unless she gets it replaced.
That aside, she seems alright now. Quiet and attentive, though she’s… still not all there, I don’t think. Now and then she completely stops what she’s doing and starts acting like an organic again. Not sure why. I may check her processor again later, but… I get the feeling this may be somethin’ I can’t fix.
Prime’s talking about instating her as a member of our team. I’ve advised a waiting period ‘til we’re sure she’s safe— for us and the humans.
Medical Log : Earth Station
Notated by Medical Officer Ratchet
Intake #83
Patient Designation: Thorn
Diagnosis: Anxiety and inability to recharge, brought on by restoration of core memories and team tensions. Spark pain caused by a broken bond.
Treatment: Doses of the EMP as needed. Stay nearby while she recharges. Broken bond can’t be treated for now.
Notes: Thorn has trouble recharging. She gets scared when she can’t feel someone nearby. I hate to use the EMP for sleeping medication, but it’s the best I can do for now. I've set up a berth in the medbay against the wall of my room, so she can detect my EM field.
Prowl insists it’s because of the memory blockage, but it’s just a common side effect of the procedure. She’s probably antsy because of Prowl and I’s little feud. Hopefully, she’ll be adjusted soon, and I can start restoring her memories.
For now, I’m… having to lie to her. She’s told me her spark aches; I told her it’s just a side effect from Blackarachnia. Really, it's her broken bond from… Charr Major? Going offline in the crash. It won’t get better until she knows about, and gets over, his death, but… there’s only so much trauma I can put her through at once.
Medical Log : Earth Station
Notated by Medical Officer Ratchet
Intake #87
Patient Designation: Thorn
Diagnosis: Memory blockage.
Treatment: Memory restoration.
Notes:
Medical Log : Earth Station
Notated by Medical Officer Ratchet
Intake #88
Patient Designation: Ratchet
Diagnosis: Dislocated left side shoulder piston. Eight tears in plating on arms and chassis. Mild organic poisoning. Temporary shutdown of positioning system in processor.
Treatment: Shoulder relocation. Punctures cleaned and welded, basic treatment administered for infection. Monitoring functions to ensure no lasting damage from helm collision.
Notes: The antitoxin for the poison in Thorn’s claws needs more work.
Internal Log Entry #284:
Well… hello, again. I found these logs in the datafiles that Ratchet… restored. I can only bear to read a few of them. I… think writing might help me process everything.
It feels like the crash only just happened. I… don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. I was just with my crew. I can see them like it was yesterday. But I’ve been here, on Earth, for so long, I… it has to be true. They’re gone. They have been for a long time. The war was won without us. Did they go offline for nothing?
I feel… angry. Sad. I don’t look like me anymore. I don’t feel like me, either. Ratchet tells me it’s probably irreversible, the way I am now. I’m so… big. It feels wrong. I was always the little one. Now I feel like a walking weapon. I don’t fit where I’m supposed to. I don’t want this.
My bot mode’s smaller than my alt mode, at least, but… I can’t stay in it too long. It hurts. It feels like being wrapped up tight and squeezed. I don’t fit my own frame. But my alt mode’s so big and clumsy, and I stop feeling like me when I’m in it. My processor gets all fuzzy. It scares me.
Nothing feels right. I want to go home. I want to see Charr again. My spark hasn’t stopped aching since I woke up. I want to be mad that Ratchet lied to me about it, but… I don’t think there’s anything else he could’ve done to make this better. Him or Prowl.
I still can’t sleep alone. I wake up at night and forget where I am. Ratchet still lets me sleep in the medbay, and stays with me until I can recharge. It means a lot. I hate that he feels guilty about everything. I feel guilty for hurting him. I was just… so mad. I still am, but… not at him. It wasn’t his fault.
I’m not sure if this helped or not, but it’s easier to write these things than say them. Ratchet says my vocalizer’s damaged. Talking hurts.
I’m going to see if Optimus wants me to go on a patrol. It’s something to do.
—Thorn Minor (is that still my rank?)
Internal Log Entry #285:
I managed to read through these old logs recently. It hurts, but it helps me remember who I was then. Am I still the same bot who wrote them? I’m not sure. Things are so different now.
I’m getting better, though. Ratchet is, too. We talk a lot. He’s the only other bot here who fought in the war. We understand each other.
I still don’t feel like Thorn, or the ‘catbot,’ but… maybe I’m starting to feel like something else. Someone else. Maybe that’s a good thing.
Sari showed me something today— I want to write it down. Outside of the base, there’s these weird organic structures. They’re plantlife, flora, but they remind me of rusted wires. They’re covered in… thorns. Sari says they’re called “bramble bushes.” I like that word. Bramble.
Thorns, like myself, but… organic. It’s stuck with me. I can’t explain why. I’ll keep thinking about it.
—Thorn Minor
Bramble?
—Thorn
Internal Log Entry #286:
I think I’m happy here.
I spend a lot of my time with Ratchet. It’s comforting. Today, I heard Bumblebee saying Ratchet’s only nice when I’m around. Is he really? He’s got a bigger spark than any bot I know. Do others see him as mean?
It makes me wonder. If that’s true… I wasn’t forged yesterday. I know what it implies. Do I… feel similarly?
I care about everyone on this team. They’re all good bots. But I feel the most safe with Ratchet and Prowl. And with Ratchet, it’s… different?… familiar. Warm.
—Bramble
Internal Log Entry #287:
I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to stop missing Charr. He’s part of me, as much as I was part of him. But I think he’d want me to do what makes me happy, now.
Sparkmates feels like such a silly word for bots as old as Ratchet and I. It feels strange to go backwards from what I had. But Ratchet held my servo during a “team movie night” tonight. I didn’t realize my spark wasn’t hurting anymore until the movie was over.
I’m home.
—Bramble
Internal Log Entry #288:
There are Decepticons here, on Earth. Things with them have been getting more hectic recently. Something is coming, and soon.
Ratchet says they’ve been defeated once, so they can be defeated again— even if it’s slagging Megatron we’re up against— but I know he's worried. I am, too.
They won’t catch me off-guard this time. I’ll keep this team safe, no matter what it takes.
I can’t fail again.
—Bramble
Medical Log : Iacon
Notated by Medical Officer First Aid
Patient #8643873: Visit #1 (Note: No prior medical file. How old is she?)
Designation: Bramble
Description: Readout says 65356-9292-346 frame type, war-era, but patient doesn’t resemble it. Large, techno-organic. Teal plating, white organic casing (fur??). Really old Autobot insignia, vintage.
Diagnosis: Extinguished spark. Organic portion of body is still alive; barely.
Notes: Not the kind of intake I was expecting today. First, we’re getting newscasts about Optimus Prime, saying his crew’s back on Cybertron with Megatron and his command in stasis cuffs. Then Ratchet, like, the Medical Officer Ratchet, shows up with some of that crew, hauling somebot that’s clearly already gone to the Well and insisting that they haven’t. Sure, why not?
I thought he had a screw loose, but, hey, Arcee was with him. You know, the lost cause that’s been comatose since the war. Figured if he got her online, he knew his stuff. So we checked the patient out. And… he was right?
We picked up vitals from her… what, organic parts? Even though her spark was extinguished. That isn’t even the craziest part, though. Ratchet said he was her bondmate, and said we needed to— I can’t make this up— extract her bond fragment from his spark to try and re-light hers. Like, are you kidding me?
But hey, turns out the rumors about him were right: he’s the most stubborn bucket-of-bolts this side of the cosmos. So… we did what he said. The other rumors— that he’s a medic of legend, most proficient of his day— turns out those were true, too. Not only did he stay awake during the procedure, but he did so to talk to the patient once she woke up. Which, and again, I can’t believe I’m writing this— she did.
Then they both blacked out in about half a klik. But I admire the dedication! Patient’s on spark support now, will be for the foreseeable future. Can’t say for sure yet, but her readouts look like her spark might be regenerating? That transwarp energy Ratchet said she’s infused with must be powerful stuff.
Now, I’m gonna go crash. And then maybe find out what happened with Megatron while I was doing open-spark surgery all day.
Medical Log : Iacon
Notated by Medical Officer First Aid
Notice of medical discharge.
Patient #8643873: Visit #1 (Cont.)
Designation: Bramble
Notes: Patient’s been in-facility for three orbital cycles, and passed a physical exam today. Normally, we’d keep her for a while longer, but she’s stationed to live with Medical Officer Ratchet. She’ll be fine.
She’s been given an at-home therapy regimen, which Ratchet insists will be followed. We’ll re-evaluate her in another orbital cycle.
As fun as she’s been to study, I’ll be glad to see her discharged. Apparently, she saved Optimus Prime’s team back on Earth, so managing her visitation hours has been a nightmare— even though it’s just the team that visits.
Wishing her the best, but… wouldn’t mind getting to check out those weird circuits again if she ever needs repairs.
Internal Log Entry #289:
Hey, again! A lot has happened since my last log— nearly a stellar cycle ago, now. I’m not really sure where to start, but… I’ll do my best.
Back on Earth, there was a big battle with the Decepticons. Prowl tried to use his spark to power a protective wall for the city. I convinced him to use mine instead. It should’ve put me offline, but… it didn’t.
Even without my spark, Ratchet was able to fix me again. And after what felt like eons in Iacon, I got to go home— to Cybertron.
It's strange. Everything’s different now. Bots stare at me. Sari says it’s the same for her. I can’t blame them— before all this, I would’ve looked at me funny, too. But Sari and I both helped save Earth, save Cybertron. Shouldn’t that mean something?
That aside… things are… okay now. I have Ratchet, and— oh, and Arcee! I should note that here, too! She’s… like me. Went from the war to present day without knowing it. We spent lots of time together once I was able to stay awake. Ratchet, too. She grew on us, and vice versa, and… somehow, I ended up with two sparkmates!
I’m happy here. Even if— even if I still miss Charr, sometimes, I love them both very much. It doesn’t hurt so much to think about him anymore. I like to think he’d be happy for me.
It’ll be a while before I’m used to being back on Cybertron, but… I’m not alone. Not anymore. Maybe I never really was.
Oh, well. That’s enough from me for one log! I’d better head off to berth for the night. My conjunx are waiting for me.
Thanks for listening. :-)
—Bramble