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Characters:Optimus Prime, Jetfire Location: Roof of Omega-1 Content Warnings: N/A Plot Summary: Jetfire reports the status of Project Goliath to Optimus, and also has a favor to ask...
Jetfire might as well have been back on Cybertron, giving a lecture at Ultirex. He certainly had the look down to a tee. His research data and results gathered, there was nothing to do but to finally put it all to a test. The preliminary stages of Project Goliath had all borne fruit, but now would be the time to test his hours of painstaking calculations and simulations. After meticulously scanning the list of active Autobot personnel, as well as a few last minute adjustments, Optimus was by far the best candidate; fitting that Jetfire had to report the status of the project to its first test subject. He felt a little too much like Shockwave for thinking about it in that light, though.
He'd put out the call to Optimus earlier in the hour, asking him to head up to Omega-1's rooftop terrace for both a report and demonstration. With what the Prime's memory was these days, Jetfire had been worried that he might not have even remembered ordering the project in the first place. It only meant that Jetfire needed to practice due diligence when explaining the project's focus again. At least this time, he'd be able to give the presentation and hopefully test it out right after.
A small makeshift laboratory had been set up on the roof, just enough to help Jetfire get his point across. D.0.C. was already hard at work preparing the projections on one of the terminals, happily beeping away. All Jetfire had to do now was wait.
His thoughts were all over the place these days. He was still catching up with everything he was missing, while attempting to retain his normal functioning and duties. Being the leader of an army was hard work, and not having the battle knowledge of a huge expanse of the war was trying. He'd only gotten through about half of the information available to him on what he'd missed, and today he was taking a break to check on something via request of one of his command staff.
Jetfire was many things, but his assessment of the other mech was that he was primarily very good at what he did and should be given time when he could. Optimus would almost call him his friend, but that his memory was hit and miss when it came to certain faces. There were those that didn't understand why he would draw a blank on who they were when he saw them, and others that didn't know him the way he knew them. He didn't understand all that was going on, but at least he was still able to perform his duties and keep things moving.
So he headed to the roof, quiet and contemplative and ready to hear about whatever new thing Jetfire had come up with this time. Hopefully Jetfire's 'experiments' weren't like Wheeljack's expermints. Those tended to explode.
"Jetfire. Sorry to have kept you waiting." He dipped his head. "I got lost again." He said it with a grin, and it was now a running joke that their Prime frequently got turned around within the Outpost. He let the rumor stand, since only a handful knew about his condition.
D.0.C. was the first to greet Optimus properly, his expression changing to mirror the happy pitch of his beeps. He also served to notify Jetfire of the Prime's arrival, given how often he tended to get lost in his own work and preparations. He turned just as Optimus began giving his explanation for his tardiness, although Jetfire was incapable of blaming him for it; his 'condition' had turned out to be extant across all facets of whatever timeline they were inhabiting, and Prime had only been unlucky enough to suffer it to a much higher degree.
This wasn't the time or place for that, however. Jetfire was in much too good of a mood to dwell on it.
"Just happy to be working with you again, sir; a bit of tardiness is permissible given the circumstances, I'd say."
"Not why we're both up here on the roof, though." D.0.C. offhandedly gave Optimus a 'salute' with his servos, before he gravitated toward the terminal that Jetfire had set up.
"A few millennia ago you asked me to devise a counter to all the combiners that the Decepticons had constructed. You might remember that my first answer to that question was Superion."
On queue, D.0.C. materialized a holographic image of the combiner in question, along with his component parts. "Superion, and later Defensor, were both valid solutions but... I later rethought the concept behind them. Being stranded on an alien planet tends to give one ample time for a little introspection, I've found."
"I also found that certain Cybertronians have a very rare spark type that could theoretically enable them to combine without the need for any invasive or drastic surgeries."
Optimus canted his head a little at the greeting he got, absolutely clueless as to what was going on and why he wasn't first greeted by Jetfire himself. Well, the mech could get as caught up in things as he wanted. It was okay, and he'd forgiven him his lateness. He tucked his hands behind his back, holding his wrist with his opposite hand. It was an idle gesture he made when he didn't know what else to do with his hands.
"I remember." At least the part about dealing with the combiners, the next part made him curious though. A different, less invasive way? Didn't the combiners have several unique problems to them. Most particularly the ability to hold it together when their personalities clashed terribly.
As the other went on to talk about rare spark types he started getting a bad feeling, though he wasn't sure why. "Continue please."
Jetfire nodded swiftly, moving on toward his next point. "This gestalt wouldn't be comprised of five combiners like the older models, but instead, two." D.0.C. approximated his best attempt at typing by slapping the terminal's keyboard with his tube-like arms. Inexplicably, the holoprojection continued to its next slide. Superion was replaced by a more technical blueprint of a smaller combiner, with both halves labeled for convenience.
"This smaller form still acts as a force-multiplier, while being much less resource intensive than a full on six-mech gestalt. I've run the simulations, and just about every combination between any two candidates on my list came up with a combat performance increase of anywhere from two-fold, to ten-fold."
Naturally, the scientist cleared his throat in preparation to discuss his next talking point. "This list is small, however. Examining Bumblebee and his team has helped me fine tune the list quite a lot, and I'm absolutely certain that I haven't had any false positives thanks to them. The procedure itself is very safe, with the only real risk being that the two halves can't mesh together on a psychological level; and if that's the case, they simply revert to their original non-combined forms."
"Which of course... brings me to the second reason we're both up here today. Please forgive me for the pun I am about to commit, but you and I, Optimus, are prime candidates."
The more the scientist spoke the more the bad feeling he had in his spark increased. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he kept his face straight and his body language as impassive as possible while still being attentive to the other mech.
Optimus nodded slowly as he understood what the other was talking about, and then gave him what was probably the most amusing look when he made the pun about the two of them being candidates for this experiment.
"You want me to combine with you?" Why was his tone a little harsh, as though he were scared? Hopefully Jetfire didn't notice the slip.
The concept was sound from a military stand point, but from a personal one it gave him a sick feeling in his spark. Fusing with someone else, being exposed to their psychological self and that close to the pulse of their spark...it seemed far too intimate a thing to do with someone that was only slightly more to him than a stranger. Perhaps the him before he lost his memories had enough trust to put in the other mech, but as he was now he simply didn't.
"Have you consulted the various medics about what possible side effects it could bring, both physical and psychological?" He was looking for a risk analysis, he wasn't approving this if it put his mechs at risk.
For the sake of the past few hundred years, Jetfire had to do his very best to soothe Optimus's fears. That, and for his good mood. The seeker pointed and snapped his fingers to D.0.C., who promptly saluted, then smashed the keyboard once. A single red speech bubble popped up next to the display, which Jetfire began to narrate. "I was trained by the best, after all, and yes. As far as the side effects of the initial combination, some slight discomfort that a little relaxation and practice won't fix."
"As for the psychological, that needs a tad more explanation. In the early stages of this project, I re-watched old combat footage from Cybertron, all the battles that involved combiners on either side. All of the older model combiners operated by a complete mental link between all participants; while certainly efficient at tactical coordination, it also brought every interpersonal problem within the group up for air at once."
"This flaw ends up degrading their performance over time, without fail. With this new project, I wanted to move away from the gestalt model. Instead of both minds being wired up, picture it like both halves are sitting alone in a room together, discussing strategy. Now neither half has easy access to the thoughts of the other, beyond what the other grants to them. No bickering, completely professional."
Jetfire paused, having dumped a whole mess of information for Optimus to process. On the other hand however, he was still burning daylight.
"It should go without saying that any two partners will need to practice acting as a single being before they can be considered combat ready, so technically speaking, a new combiner costs a few sessions of training and trust exercises."
"But to answer your question, I've designed this new process to be the least mentally invasive for both parties. Communication between both halves would be as easy as the conversation we're holding now. No psychological side effects beyond those from a chat in the war room."
"I would appreciate a copy of this data to go over myself." Later, when he was far away from Jetfire. And his spark wasn't threatening to make him purge his tanks. He needed to calm down, he told himself, and took several deep intakes and drew on his well of inner strength. It was something he'd asked the other to do, even if he didn't remember it clearly. So he had to take this seriously. And not purge his tanks all over his Air Commander.
It took far more will power than he would like to admit to stabilize himself, more to not physically react to how much he disliked this concept for himself. It was a military advantage that the desparately needed. He had to consider it seriously.
So he listened to the other explain how it worked, how gestalts were flawed and how this would be different. And then he started on the concept of practice and that sick feeling started up again with much higher strength. He planted his pedes further and straightened up more, beginning to rub one digit against the wiring in his wrist to try and distract himself and keep participating in the conversation.
"So you've presented this matter to me in full. I believe it is a very good idea to get more power on our side, but I must ask if you are wishing to attempt something immediately?" Primus he hoped not.