Velocity had swallowed another flask of High-O as soon as Digit had run to congratulate Goldstreak. Maybe she would hug him if he finished the course with that much skill! Besides, High-O was good for scaring away that empty feeling in the pit of his stomach that usually came when he thought of hard work, fighting, or strenuous activity. He was pumped, ready to go and try his luck with the obstacle course...but then Digit herself was asked next. And not very nicely either. Velocity made a mental note to dislike Krunch as much as possible. He mentally whispered good luck, but his luck was useless as it had turned out. First Digit got hurt, and now...something else happened. A shot was fired, and he yipped loudly. The Blood Fires had come back to destroy him! Or the Slagwires! Or the Prowl had decided they didn't want him after all! Or that shadowy figure was going to assassinate him...wait, shadowy figure? Activating his internal scanners, he realized there was one more energy signature in the room than there should be.
The dog also realized where it was. With a growl, Velocity rushed off to the back of the room to try and figure out what was what. If there was a good side to being addicted to a high-energy substance, this was it—you were faster than lightspeed, and could whip some serious butt. At least if it wasn't too big. Fortunately, though, this bot didn't seem to be. Velocity activated his limited Zoom Vision. He was almost the dog's own size...and he was holding onto another rather large, botlike? figure as well.
Velocity blinked. This was not good. "Uh...hey?" he began, his tail tucked between his legs and his knees shaking, even as his hands moved to his machine gun holsters. Never could be too careful.
Krunch saw Snarler's non-violent ploy with the dummy and frowned, knowing that real 'Cons wouldn't be so obliging. Suddenly, there was a blast and a flash, which caused lots of confusion. Krunch could have sworn Velocity had asked to go next, but he saw that the dog-bot wasn't even there. However, Viracide was standing there with his hand raised.
Slagging Light Tricks! he thought to himself. As his optics cleared some more, he found that Digit was missing!!!
"Slagging 'Cons are up to something!!" he said, rising to his full height, then calling out loud. He drew his Plasma Cannon and trained it on the darker area of the gym.
"COME OUT, PREDACON!!! WE ALL MUST DIE SOMETIME!!!" he challenged.
"No need to be so violent!" said Snarler, thinking that violence very rarely worked and imagining a frantic escape which could result in several injuries.
"No one is gonna hurt you," he said out loud in the hope that the Predacon would hear it. "Maybe we can discuss this. How about I start? I am guessing that you are alone. Probably got into a bit of trouble with a senior commander and as a result was probably forced on this mission to escape disceplinary proceedures." Snarler listened carfully. He was disappointed he couldn't see the intuder's face, as face contact always made it easier to persuade someone to do something.
"I also guess that you've been watching us for a while, picking your moment to attack, and I seriously doubt Digit had any real value other than a hostage. I'll tell you what: if you release her unharmed I will personally see that 'triggerhappy' here doesn't lay a hand on you. Deal?"
Still no answer. That could be a good sign, as it meant the intruder was considering it. However it could also mean he was scanning the area for a way out, and with Krunch just itching to blow something up Snarler needed to sort this situation out fast.
Krunch waited for a response from the intruder, but instead heard the bantering of Snarler. It was this kind of chatter that really got his spark in a knot. Snarler was openly calling him "Trigger-Happy", when he hadn't even fired a shot yet. If he was truly that way, the other half of the training area would have been smoldering ashes by now.
Self-Righteous Pacifistic Exhaust Pipe! he thought to himself. It was always the bureuacrats and diplomats that feared him because of his size and attitude that treated him like like yesterday's exhaust. And it was those kind of people that had him put in stasis, when the fighting was over. It was considered as an "Act of Good Faith," to keep the warriors in check until they were ever needed again.
ACT OF GOOD FAITH, my skid-plate! I'm not bad, I'm just built that way! he internally processed. Obviously, his ideals and Snarler's would come to a head eventually. It was just a matter of when.
The soldier remained silent, but inside, his rage and resentment was building.
Jynx saw the poodle reaching for his guns, and heard the big guy's ominous voice in the back. Calling him a Predacon?
Oh man, why do I have to be so impulsive? he thought. Maybe getting my head fixed isn't such a bad idea after all...
"Hey poodle," he said, "You wouldn't shoot an old friend now, would you? And tell that big guy I ain't no stinkin' Predacon!"
Velocity blinked, his jaw agape. He knew that voice. "J-Jynx..." he said weakly, his hands fluttering away from his guns, one going to rub the back of his neck. "Nice t'see yer up and about and...uh, doing stuff," he added, peering at the thing in Jynx's arms, which according to his tracking abilities had a Maximal signature. What was that about? Krunch's voice made him flinch, and he obliged Jynx. "He ain't no Predacon, bigmouth, he's a Maximal like you an' me!" he shouted back, the darkness and the High-O running through his system giving him a sense of superiority. His ears upright and tail wagging, he turned back to greet his friend...only to hear Snarler speak. That figure in Jynx's arms was...Digit? Why would his friend hold Digit hostage?
"Eh, don't take this the wrong way, but mind tellin' me what yer doin' with my new friend?" Velocity asked, his fear and wariness quickly returning. He'd seen what Jynx had done to the guards that brought him to the labs. His hands didn't slip to his guns, though—if Digit was a hostage, he was sure that wouldn't be very useful. Velocity mentally cursed himself—of all the times to be completely clueless, this took the energon-cake.
"Listen, you know, it's not what it seems." Jynx said to Velocity, "Well, actually it is, but uhmmm... Well you know, I have no intention of hurting the female. I just need to know, uhmm stuff."
He heard the friendlier dinobot shout out something about surrendering, and not getting harmed. Didn't seem like such a bad option, right? Now that he was busted, cornered and had no weapons. But then again, that big guy could probably kill him without breaking a sweat. Just like Kitfox...
He released Digit, and said to Velocity: "I have no idea what I'm doing, but I know it's wrong...."
"I surrender."
Velocity sighed in relief. He even went so far as to burst into laughter and clap his hands a few times. No bad things would happen! This was great!
"Ah, I knew yah wouldn't hurt her really," the Transmetal bluffed. He paused, then decided to get in a good word for himself to impress Digit. "'Cuz you could see that if you did you would've been messin' with me, and nobot wants tah do that!" He began to trot forward to the rest of the group, happily talking to Jynx as he did so. "And, hey, anythin' you wanna know, you can ask me. It's probably better than stickin' guns to girls heads, eh?" he added, with a high-pitched giggle. Of course, Velocity knew as much about his mission as an elephant does about flying, so he actually doubted he could offer any help.
Meanwhile, Digit had gotten on her feet again. Silently, still very taken aback, she gazed at Jynx. She didn't hear Velocity's chatter, instead tried to assess the situation. Finally, she whispered, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Then, a little more confident, she almost yelled, "Are you out of your mind? Blowing up the facility and pretending you have class enough to... to kidnap me?"
"Ok, there's no time for introductions or anything; I need someone who can scan me!" Jynx said. "I have no idea if I'm bugged or nuthin'; for all I know, he planted some kind of explosive thingamajig on me, which is already in action! I have information which may interest y'all, and the other way around. But we shouldn't waste time!"
He turned at the Chihuahua, and said: "Nice to see you again little buddy; lost some fur I see. And oh yeah, you almost scared me with your little show back there."
"Oh, and sorry, ma'am," he said to Digit. "I'll explain later."
Velocity stopped in midstep, staring back at Jynx with green fear-filled optics. "Explosive!" he yelped, shaking and shivering, beginning to move further from Jynx. "And...and who's this 'him'? And..uh," he paused, and glanced back at the rest of the Maximals. "I don't think we have anyone who can scan..but there's probably a lot of medics or something. Maybe there's someone who can disarm a bomb...there better be," he added, with a strangled whimper. He gave Jynx a quick nod as the catbot noticed his new mode. "You like it?" he said, beset by all manner of nervous twitches. "It's Transmetal. And I only hope I can live another day to use it," he added miserably, as he practically full out ran out of the shadows and back to the circle of Bigger Bots. At least he could run behind them and they'd take the brunt of the explosion...
—LA, JA, DT, MdJ, DN
Upgrade watched Nightfall and Charmacon with great interest as they inspected the computer system. In this group...he would have to guess: her. With that face, especially, her.
Just a little too soon to be certain.
"Anything you need me to install for you there?" he asked casually.
She looked things over, getting a rundown of the programs and data. It was a good computer, fast, plenty of memory, shielded.... "Well, an extra hard drive, I want a backup in case anything goes wrong in the field, something seperate from the system itself..." She asked. "Other than that, everything's perfect. A real beauty."
"Hmmmm" Charmacon said, "The female is-s-s right. Als-s-so, I will need an interface cable for linking up this-s-s computer with my own databas-s-se. Als-s-so, what are it's-s-s environmental meas-s-suring abilities-s-s? I have a feeling that might be helpful on our mis-s-sion."
Upgrade raised a brow slightly at that last question. Slag. Now he wasn't so sure anymore. "Enviro-scan? You've got it in spades. I can get ya datalinks if you want to back up to your personal systems. Or if you've got portables with you I can network 'em up right now."
"The datalinks-s-s will be s-s-sufficient." Charmacon said.
Nightfall nodded. "I've got my own computer, but I'd prefer to keep it seperate from the main system. A backup for the control systems, as it were. Thank you for the offer though."
She looked over the file. "Excellent... These are good..." She radioed to the bridge. "Lord Stormclaw, I'd like to download some of the procedures to my personal AI and computer. Specifically ones that will be useful in emergency repair and combat situations. Do I have your permission?" Not like she wouldn't do it anyway, but why not look good for the commander?
"Affirmative, Nightfall. I trust your expert opinion on the subject," came the reply through the Com system.
"Thank you sir. I'll leave that until we've got things set up, and discuss extra security precautions with you and subcommander Charmacon later."
Subcommander Charmacon... He could get used to being called that.
Nightfall glanced to Charmacon. "I'm planning on installing some security on this, if you and the boss don't mind. Call me paranoid, but I want to be prepared for ANYTHING."
"Hmmmmm cons-s-sidering the nature of s-s-some Cybertrons-s-s, Charmacon replied, "that might not be s-s-such a bad idea." Charmacon looked at Aspis, who seemed playfully uninterested in what exactly was going on in engineering. "Very well, but I would like you to run the s-s-safety protocol you es-s-stablish by me and Lord S-s-stormclaw."
She nodded. "I meant more from outside interference. But if you want me to set up some sectors that can only be accessed by password, I can do that for you as well."
"One can never be too efficient or s-s-safe" the reply came. "I will now accompany Lord S-s-stormclaw on the bridge. I s-s-sugges-s-st you further examine the s-s-ship, and report to me later, Nightfall." Charmacon left, leaving the door ajar behind him.
Upgrade watched him leave, then looked back at the female. Ain't biting. Figures. Upgrade assumed either his guess was off, or Nightfall was being obtuse. Maybe it was a female thing. "Looks like you've got it well in hand," the engineer finally said, on his way out. "I'm on duty all day."
"Actually, I'd like to ask about some of the systems... It'll take me some time to look it over myself, and I'm nowhere near the expert you are..." Nightfall followed him out of engineering.
"That's true. Nobody is."
As soon as Nightfall had passed through the door to engineering, Upgrade shut it tight. "Tag?" he asked her.
"Oblivion asked me to say hello," she replied, smiling.
He nodded. "Tag." He glanced over to the wall, and made sure the internal communications from the hall were shut off. "He'd better say hello to me. I had it down to you three at least. You know, if I were more of a jerk, I'd have gotten you out of there on a different pretense at least twenty cycles ago. As it is, I think your commander would be A BIT suspicious if I asked you out to dinner."
He glanced once down the hall. "If I had a data crystal with, oh, say, a decoding program on it, that you were supposed to access after takeoff, and I wanted to plant it on the ship somewhere where you'd find it, where would that place be?"
She pondered, tapping her chin. "I don't know where my quarters are, and Charmacon at least knows enough about computers that he'd notice something like that out of place... He'd also have access to engineering. I suppose if you know a good place, you could tell me and I could look there in private. That or give it to me now, and trust me not to open it til then." She smiled. "Yeah, not likely , I know." She tapped her chin again. "I suppose under a deckplate in engineering. I'm supposed to look over it, and en route I'd be there on my own most of the time..."
He gave it a moment's thought. "Engineering, under the floorpanel, left corner by the door."
She nodded. "Thanks. I'll make out a requisition; some of those requests were legitimate. How do you know Oblivion, if I can ask?"
A short laugh. "Long slaggin' story. Let's just say he arrested me once. Now we work for the same boss."
"We all do, these days... Guess it's one of the good things to come out of it all..." She smiled. "Maybe you can tell me over dinner."
Upgrade blinked; he thought she'd known he was kidding. He lifted his hand up and rubbed his forhead. Slag: tough call. Interested... organic... attractive... ORGANIC...
"Sure, what the Pit, why not? Tonight." He formed an idea. "I'm gonna make a call in for ya."
She smiled. "I'll clear it with Stormclaw, but I can tell him it's to discuss the systems..."
"Sure. Nineteen-hundred good?"
"Works for me. Where should I meet you?" She started running a finger down his chestplate.
Organic...broad...touching...me... "Err... I'll pick you up. You'll know me; I'm the one with the best car."
Suddenly nervous, he looked to the exit. "Right...so... see you then. It's a date." He pushed the button to open the exit hatch, and slid out, waving. "Bye now."
She waved back. "Bye bye..." She slipped back out, finishing up her rundown of the systems, then heading up to the bridge to make her report.
—AF, CB, MdJ
Silverquick felt the explosion before he heard it, a slight vibration in the seat. The explosion was barely visible in the corner of the monitor that showed the training room. Fearing an attack, Silverquick jumped out of his chair, transforming and deploying his jet thrusters as he stepped into the hall. When he got to the training room, he shifted to robot mode, only to encounter a cloud of smoke and a tangle of voices.
Krunch saw Velocity and Digit walk out into the open with someone new, an acquaintance of theirs and apparently a Maximal, according to the drugged pup. Krunch could smell High-O a mile away, since it was a favorite vice among soldiers in a high stress combat situation. Being the control freak he was, Krunch never tried it, as he always wanted to be in control of his servos. Personally, he never felt that he needed it.
The soldier walked up to Jynx, leaned down and spoke to him. He didn't yell, but his voice was stern.
"If you're a Maximal, skid-plate, then why the big entrance? I have repair skills, so let me see if you got anything wrong with you!" he said
"Well, okay, big guy, go ahead and try to disarm me." Jynx reluctantly allowed Krunch to inspect him of any wires. "Y'see, how much do you guys exactly know of this mission of yours? I've been watching you, and to be honest, y'all look like a bunch of misfits, failed experiments and expendable troops to me. No 'ffence meant, by the way."
Jynx shrugged, as he saw the other Maximals were offended anyway. Oh well, an offended bird/lion/whatever was one of his least worries at the moment. "Y'see, I've been sent by St... someone" Jynx thought it'd be wise not to play all his cards in one hand, maybe keep some information to keep him 'useful...' "Someone high up in the Maximal ranking. He hasn't got a clue what this mission is about, but knows it's important an' all. So he sent the best to inform him." He winked at Digit with that last remark.
The femmebot slapped her hand against her forehead, sighing. Then she smiled a little.
"But anyways, I'm guessing y'all have no idea what kind of suicide mission y'all is gonna embark upon?"
Velocity wasn't offended in the least—he'd been called expendable so many times that he'd come to view the word as a compliment. He stepped out from behind Viracide, where he had been cowering, deciding he might as well try to answer his friends questions. However, his brave ruse was rendered useless, for he twitched and glanced around as if looking for an exit or some amount of cover.
"Well, amigo, all we know is we got three days trainin' here, then we go on a ship called the USS Beard, then we go to some spaceport or sumthin', then we go to this purple planet. Even the Maximal higher ups don't know where it is. They didn't tell us a lot," the dog added, feeling none too happy at Jynx's constant references to their 'suicide mission.' He began to use his limited Zoom Vision to check the walls for any hidden security cameras.
Ventilation systems kicked in with a muffled bang, filtering the smoke away quickly. Silverquick caught "What kind o' suicide mission" coming from an unfamiliar voice. His CPU went into overdrive; come to think of it, there was a lot about this mission that was not standard Maximal operating procedure, to say the least. He resolved to catch Scanner for that game of chess, and hopefully pose a few questions. Silverquick figured Scanner wouldn't say much, but any little bit of information at this point could prove helpful.
Goldstreak shook his head. "We really do have to decide on a better name for this ship. Beard is stupid. How about Voyager, or The Lost Hope? And why USS? What is that supposed to stand for?"
"As for expendable, Goldstreak is sure we are all expendable in some way, but he does not beleive anything cannot be overcome if we work together on a problem." He then turned to Krunch. "So, big fellow, what do we do next?"
"Well, I suggested the name 'Beard' because it's the name of one of the scientists that worked on me. 'USS' stands for 'United Space Ship.'" Viracide was quite happy he knew something, but he realized how stupid all his names sounded. "OK, OK, I've been thinking about this for a while and I think I came up with something. How about the 'Renegade'?"
Krunch used his repair skills to check Jynx out for anything unusual, but found nothing. While he worked on the newcomer, he heard Velocity and Goldstreak banter about the ship's name, but he couldn't get the two words he heard from Jynx out of his processor. Suicide Mission...
"Alright, skid-plate... you're clean!" he told Jynx. "The only way you're going to blow up is if you muck up on the obstacle course!" Krunch stood up and speaks to the others.
"Viracide, you wanted to go next! I'M WAITING!!!" he yelled.
"Thanks big guy," Jynx said. "I'm kinda relieved. But aren't ye dodging my questions a bit? Or are you one of those soldiers who blindly follows orders? Must be great to have those in yer force. Die first, think later, huh?"
Goldstreak looked on. He was not realy impressed by the new arival, but he did realize that he probably knew more than he was telling. He would let him stay for now. Besides if this place was going to be as dangerous as they say, they could use another gun.
Viracide glanced back ready for his go at the course. "Blindly following orders? Boy, he's not our real commander; he's just the drill sergeant." Viracide dashed over and grabed the rope pulling himself over the wall. "That was easy enough," he said, moving on. He then did the hand-over-hand, then he prepared to do the belly crawl exercise. It took him slighty longer then the others did to pass this one. Then came the dummy. Now it was time. Viracide focused on the dummy. His eyelids flashed slighty as he extended his combust power at it. The dummy exploded fantastically, spraying ruined parts all over the already-cluttered course.
Velocity applauded loudly as Viracide completely demolished the dummy. That'd show that bigmouth Krunch who was who! At first, the dog wasn't sure what had happened, but then he remembered all the stories he'd been told about Transmetal IIs. That had to be one of their fantastic powers. Maybe Viracide was right - Velocity should've gone for a Transmetal 2 body.
As Krunch occupied himself with Viracide, Silverquick stepped over to Jynx and directed him off to the side. "You're not the Predacon attacker I feared when I heard the explosion," he said to Jynx, "but some of what you said sounded rather lethal. What do you mean by 'suicide mission'? I know Maximal command has been, shall we say, less than forthcoming about this mission, but somehow you have some important information, information that may prove crucial to our team's survival. And like it or not, you seem to be deeply involved, so it would be in your best interest to be forthcoming."
"Well, Mr. Fish," Jynx replied, "If I knew more about yer mission, I wouldn't have to have taken so much risk in kindappin' that lovely female over there to pry the info out of her."
Jynx eyed at Digit. She was cute, but way too classy for him. Heck, even most girls back from the Zone were too classy for him! Oh well, life on the street was a good life, even if it didn't exactly make you a lot of friends. He just hoped he'd get out of this alive to be able to go back to the streets. Damn fogey, why'd he have to force him to go out and 'explore' his roots? So far, his roots nearly got him killed a couple of times...
"All I'm knowing is this here mission of yers is important enough to keep it a secret from most peeps. And y'all don't look important enough to be handed this kind of a mission. So my conclusion is, yer the first wave of explorers, sent to check out just how dangerous that planet yer heading to is. I mean, what exactly do you guys know?"
"Unfortunately, we don't know much, but I believe you're still keeping something to yourself. Very well, then; so be it. As I said, you're in this now with the rest of us, so we'll have to see how things play out. Now if you'll excuse me," said Silverquick as he turned away, "I have to see someone about a game of chess." He headed down the hall towards the lab, looking for Scanner. His mind was digesting what Jynx had said; he was sure that the Maximal was holding back, possibly hoping to use the information to his advantage. Still, he did have skill, and honor, as he didn't hurt Digit, and in fact seemed to be rather enamored of her. Fascinating.
—LB, JA, DN, MdJ, LA
"No, you can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I said No."
"That ain't an answer, Oblivion." Upgrade tapped his heavy fingers on the edge of the console. Through the video hookup, he did his best to look the other Predacon in the eye. "I can't Transmetallize your agent WHY?"
"Because we're afraid the process may interfere with her natural toxin resistance, and we can't afford the risk. The process that made her toxin-resistant had an adverse effect on her radiation resistance. If you make her more radiation-resistant, we'll lose our work."
"Well...why the Pit should that matter?" Upgrade's thoughts turned to the scanning equipment he'd been asked to install on the Whisper. "Toxins. YOU know what planet it is, don't you?"
"This is an insecure line. I'm not at liberty to discuss that classified information."
"How long could it POSSIBLY take the head of the slagging SECURITY department to get a secure line?"
"Less than a cycle."
"Well, chop-chop!"
"Watch the lip, Chief," Oblivion advised, his optics narrowing. "You're perhaps pretending you still outrank me?"
"My FISTS still outrank your FACE..."
Oblivion shook his head. "You'd never get close enough. Upgrade, you're getting upset over a woman. That's not like you. If you honestly like her, you'll take her as she is. Or you can Transmetallize her when they get BACK."
"But they ain't GETTIN' back," Upgrade growled. "ARE they?"
"That remains to be seen."
—AF
As Charmacon arrived on the bridge, his Commander addressed him instantly.
"Prepare to run simulation Centauri 541, gamma variant. Double check to make sure all navigation input is rerooted to the simulation rather than to the thrusters." Stormclaw looked around at Paradox. "I want no more mistakes."
"Yes-s-s s-s-sir, immediately s-s-sir!" Charmacon wondered if the other Predacons considered him a suck up to Stormclaw, whilst he was making the necessary checkups before running simulation Centauri 541, gamma variant. A simple subroutine, deviced to see how big a detour is possible with the current fuel amount and the maximum allowed deviant from the planned route.
Charmacon came to the conclusion he didn't care what they thought. After all, who needs sympathy when you have rank? "Everything check-s-s out, Lord S-s-stormclaw! The neces-s-sary error margin is-s-s well within es-s-stablis-s-shed protocol! We have enough fuel to make this-s-s trip 3,887611 times-s-s, give or take a lightyear."
Nightfall appeared in the doorway, waiting for Charmacon to finish. "I've looked over the system, sirs." She said. "We've got a top of the line ship here, everything's in perfect order. I can give you a specific systems rundown if you'd like. In addition, Commander, I've arranged a meeting with the Chief Engineer this evening to discuss details and make sure I have a good working knowlege of our vessel. With your permission?"
Her superior officer eyed her intensely, but she could not detect if there was a trace of resentment in his gaze at her mention of Upgrade. "Very well. Do what you must for the success of our mission.".
"I'll also requisition a additional data storage drive," Nightfall continued. "I want something to download relevant data and command programs into, physically seperated from the main computer, in the event of main system corruption. I'm not planning on problems, but without knowing where we'll be and for how long, I want to have sufficient precautions. I can also set up secure sectors for you and the Subcommander, in case you want to store sensitive data or personal files. We can discuss any details at your leisure."
"Agreed," Stormclaw replied. "Again, I shall trust your expertise in this matter. I suggest you don't abuse that trust. Meet me in my room here in one megacycle."
With that, the red and black Transmetal turned around. Stormclaw nodded to Charmacon, effectively giving him command of the bridge, then retreated to his quarters.
"Well, that went well..." She said, looking to Charmacon. "I know the Chief Engineer and the commander got off on the wrong foot, but he built this ship, and knows it better than anyone. I'd learn more talking to him then digging around myself..." She shrugged. "Is there anything you need, Subcommander?"
Paradox sat back disappointed. "I'll tell you what I need: a better test of my abilities. That simualation was nothing. How about an attack run in a asteroid field? Or a rescue mission near a nutron star. Otherwise, I'm bored..." Paradox looked at Charmacon and smiled, "...Subcommander..."
"Not at the moment," Charmacon said. "Carry on with what you're doing, we s-s-should depart s-s-soon, and everything s-s-seems-s-s to check out fine. You could, however, run a s-s-second diagnos-s-stic on the enviro-s-s-scans. I have a feeling we are going to need them." Charmacon turned from the Predacons, and moved to the commander's post on the bridge. He could get used to giving orders...
—DN, MdJ, CB, BB