[LOG] New Era Dawning

[redcosmedic]

WHO: Knock Out, Jane, BABY JEDI CYBERTRONIANS
WHERE: The Stanix Hot Spot, Cybertron
WHEN: Following Knock Out's message to Jane about the imminent emergence of the new protoforms
WHAT: The newsparks are about to emerge! Jane gets to meet her alien children for the first time, and Cybertron has its first natural sparklings in over four millions years.
WARNINGS: TBD

---

The monumental importance of this event couldn't be overstated. When the Well had gone dark after the ejection of the Allspark into deep space eons ago, it had snuffed out the colony worlds' Wells at the same time. It had, at the time, effectively been a death sentence for their species. Once the supply pre-harvested sparks had been fought over and claimed by each side, resulting in the MTO and Vehicon programs, new Cybertronian life had just... stopped happening. And it had stayed that way for the entirety of the war, as the Autobots and Decepticons slaughtered each other, as the ever-dwindling number of Neutrals were pushed deeper and deeper toward the fridges of the universe to try and escape the war's effects.

And even with the war declared over and the Allspark returned to the Well, there had been so many — Knock Out among them — who'd despaired to think their broken, ravaged world would ever support the creation of new sparks again. When the Hot Spot in Stanix had been found, it had been treated with utmost reverence and jubilation.

Knock Out had not anticipated being allowed anywhere near it, truth be told. No matter his defection in the last hours of the war, he had been a Decepticon and the Autobots were the winners. His reputation was known on both sides. At the very least, he'd have expected them to recall Ratchet from Earth — surely, for as much as the cranky old-timer was grieving the loss of his Prime, he wouldn't refuse to help the first generation of new Cybertronians in millions of years?

Nothing had played out as he'd expected. Knock Out was beginning to think he was losing his touch at reading people. The alliance with the First Order for kyber, the new but already substantial connection with Jane Solo as their representative... no, Knock Out hadn't really foreseen a lot of things.

Time enough to dwell on that later, he supposed. For now, he walked alongside the edge of the glowing fissure in the ground, taking readings and keeping a sharp eye for the moment the protoforms began to separate from their metallic cradles in the ground. He'd passed on the message to summon Jane to hurry if she wanted to see it, but other than himself, the lowland was quiet. The Parliament had strictly forbidden anyone from intruding on the site for fear of "contaminating" the newsparks. There was a standby medical contingent about a klik away, just past the next rise, but they weren't in visual range. He would only call them in if something went very wrong with the emergence, and for the moment, all eleven protoforms were thriving strongly with no indication of distress.

It wouldn't be long now, and Knock Out glanced skyward. Where was Jane?

Comments

BABY JEDI CYBERTRONIANS 😍🥳

[forceshadowed]

Jane more of felt the Hot Spot rather than saw it, or at least she felt the protoforms nestled deep within them, alien life forms that she'd come to regard as her, well, children. She still remembered that first visit and the call of something within the pulsing light, through the Force, and perhaps she shouldn't have, but she'd reached out in response — at first only tentatively, like a handshake, but then she'd felt more of them and instinct just had her curling up around them. She'd likened them to puppies originally, but as time passed and they grew, their thoughts and emotions, if it could be called that, also grew stronger and more defined.

Force-sensitive Cybertronians, she'd concluded. Not that she'd told anyone, although she'd hinted at it enough to Knock Out. He was the authority on the matter, after all; all she had to go by, on the other hand, were instinct and feelings. So he knew the protoforms reacted to her somehow, and he knew she called them her babies, which was probably why he'd called her over. A mother had to 'give birth' to her children, after all.

Her Silencer streaked overhead, past the site, and a few minutes later Jane herself came running, excitement shining on her face. I'm here, she whispered to the protoforms in the Force, greeting each one of them in turn. Her eleven lovely babies. What could she (nick)name eleven wonderful young ones? What would they be like? Would their Force-sensitivity manifest in some way that was obvious, like features or abilities others normally did not have?

"I'm here!" she said out loud, this time to Knock Out. She was a little out of breath, but she was grinning. "I'm here. What did I miss?"

[redcosmedic]

"Nothing yet," he assured Jane as she hurried over. "But it won't be long now."

The light emanating from the Hot Spot pulsed strongly, as if it too knew that it was about to new life. It made sense, in a way: the planet itself was supposed to be Primus' physical form. The protoforms were restless, the light rippling around them like waves across the surface of water. At this stage they were already larger than a human, with the smallest about 7 feet tall and the largest close to 12 feet.

Knock Out had explained that they would continue to gain mass as they "cooled" after emerging, building frame density and forging new neural net connections. For the moment, all they had was a rudimentary armor schematic and their core coding, but it would happen quickly. Within a few months, they would be visually indistinguishable from "adult" Cybertronians. At some point in the future they would take what he had called their frame built-ins, but the timing on that was individualized to each mech, and could be as little as a few years to as much as a century.

The liquid metal stirred and splashed around one of the protoforms as its legs kicked jerkily, and Knock Out moved closer to it. This was the third of the trio of fliers that had developed, though not one that had shown any indication of being a Seeker-specific variant. Rather, his frame time seemed quite heavy for a flier — chunky, if Knock Out was being blunt about it — but also quite tall. A shuttle-class, perhaps? Time would tell.

The new flier's limbs move, uncoordinated, but it manages to sit up and open orange coloured optics. Immediately, a new mental presence blooms in the Force, casting about with some trepidation at its new surroundings. Uncertain? New? Hello?

Knock Out crouches to steady the youngling. "Out you come, bitlet," he clicks in Cybertronian — a newspark won't have any language packs installed, just basic files, but he'll fix that up once he's certain the new flier is doing fine.

[forceshadowed]

Jane couldn't hide her amazement even if she tried. Was this how her parents had felt when she'd been born? Shock and awe and— holy kriff, that flare of life in the Force, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing that she couldn't even begin to describe. A distinct presence rising from the Hot Spot, one that looked around with orange-colored optics... it looked like a deep orange-red from where she was standing, but glowy enough to be fluorescent. Atomic tangerine, she thought idly.

Then it was calling out in the Force for anyone who might be there and she clasped a hand over her mouth, looking like she's about to cry. She had no idea how it was possible, but there was no denying it now, it was a Force-sensitive baby Cybertronian. Dammit, when did she get so sentimental? Did this moment even call for sentimentality?

Hey there, sweetheart, she thought, reaching out in turn to soothe the youngling, wrapping her presence around it like she's done before. It's okay. You're safe. I'm here. She would hold it, physically, if she could, but she was barely six feet, a puny human.

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out gets the newspark out of the Hot Spot, setting them down on the ground clear of the pulsing light. The youngling is surprisingly compliant, looking around curiously at everything in sight while the medic does a quick but efficient check of all their basic systems, testing each limb for functional movement, still speaking in Cybertronian. "Good bearing movement already, that's nice. Wing up? Good, extend... now the other one... ailerons a little sticky still, hm? That'll work out."

The newspark's eyes settled on Jane in something like wonder and it chirped something curiously, tugging at Knock Out's armor seams.

"Optics here," Knock Out said, flicking a small light. "That's a human. Her name is Jane. I'm going to give you a basic language pack, all right?"

While the medic transferred the introductory data packets, the sparkling was staring at Jane in utter fascination. The way it communicated through the Force wasn't necessarily distinct words, but it had the same effect. Safe? Safe! Human-Jane. Medic. Medic-Knock-Out.

[forceshadowed]

She's always had a fascination for how things worked — especially when it came to living, breathing creatures — that she was completely enthralled watching the birthing process. And while she didn't speak Cybertronian, it wasn't hard to tell that Knock Out was checking the youngling and making sure everything was fine, and the little one was in turn looking around curiously...

Until its gaze settled on her and there was recognition in its eyes. Jane was positive. She would bet her life and her credits on it, that the newspark knew her. Holy kriff, she could almost cry.

Yes, safe. You're safe, she returned, still watching from a distance but with her Force presence wrapped as tightly around the sparkling as possible. There was no resistance, only warmth and fascination. I'm Jane. Hello.

[redcosmedic]

The new flier purled something happily at the feeling of being embraced, wriggling a little bit. Once Knock Out had finished transferring the basic file packs and set them to integrate, the newspark's expression was one of astounded delight as new knowledge began slotting into still-processing modules.

Hello. Hello Jane. I am... There was a pause, light confusion and perplexity drifting through the Force. The youngling knew what they wanted to be called, but they didn't know how to impart that into words. Instead, Jane is treated to the mental image of a vast and starry night sky, lit by colourful ribbons of atmospheric disturbance.

That is me.

Knock Out had tried to describe the process by which Cybertronians came by their names... that they chose them for themselves, but it wasn't so much a conscious decision so much as it felt like realizing what a mental image they were sparked with translated to. It wasn't unusual for newsparks to go days or weeks or even months before they could figure it out, which was why Knock Out had already assigned them alphanumeric designators as placeholders. By the same token, most didn't choose any kind of social pronoun preference until they had a better grasp of the language.

Another protoform had begun to stir in the liquid metal of the Hot Spot, so Knock Out patted the heavy flier on the head. "Try the Galactic Standard language pack if you're feeling adventurous," he said in Cybertronian, before rising to his feet. "And be gentle with the human, they're very breakable."

"You can come closer," Knock Out said to Jane. "Just be careful. They won't know their own strength yet, and this is one of the larger ones."