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Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

Huffer maintained his silence, content to ignore and be ignored by those who had joined him within the abnormal geological mystery that was the hidden Peruvian Valley. He over heard the various conversations between Kup and Mirage, the exchanges between Bluestreak and the others who were now digging the final stretch of trenches that would serve as foundations for the first structures to be built. It was none of his direct concern, the Construction Patrol... Takedown in particular, had dug themselves too deep into the human mine to be reached with regularity or at all. A shame really as Huffer could have used whatever data they had managed to obtain in the future calculations about power consumption and base development as they... he... expanded Autobot City further than a few simple structures.

The fossil fuels alone could have provided at least a small portion of the necessary power, once they were refined and purified in order to prevent localized pollution and contamination. Still, the portable generator that came with the Matter Reconfiguration Device would provide at least the minimal amount of required energies necessary to power the shield generators, holographic projectors and probably a few other instruments in addition to the M.R.D. It would be tough to maintain usage underneath the maximum threshold of the power generator but the minibot engineer was certain it was doable.

Finally Huffer finished his calibrations to the M.R.D. and allowed it to begin switching over its matrix from constructing solid titanium I-Beams and other sheets of aluminum metals that would be used for the interior reinforcement of the freshly excavated mine entrance, to a favored custom formula of aggregate and thermocrete. As the final excavation of the trench commenced, Huffer raised his hand to draw Bluestreak's and Swerve's attention. "Alright, that's deep enough... any further and you'll prevent the stabilization of the mix before it has a chance to set. Probably won't set anyways, this ground is an absolute mess. Not even stable enough to support a Triton Class Carrier."

He pointed over to the metallurgist before he could protest. "Swerve, I need you to grab those I-Beams and start setting them at the structural strong points. Corners, mid points and interiors. Maximize for interior spacing and structural support." Huffer stepped back from the control panel of the M.R.D. as it increased its high pitched whirs and low pitched thumps, as rock and debris were converted into the thick sludge that would serve as the foundation for the buildings he was about to create.

Grabbing the most massive I-Beam in his left arm, Huffer stepped over the first broad trench and made his way through the intricate design in the bare floor of the box canyon. Huffer glanced over to Grapple, Kup and most recently arrived spymaster Mirage. He did not announce his intentions, he simply spun the I-Beam in his hand until it rested in both palms. He then swung it over his head and drove it deep into the earth. It sunk approximately a meter before it came to a rest, serving as the guide post and serve as the central pillar of the building.

Huffer pulled himself up and dusted his hands off. "Yes, it was my little project. As if I didn't have enough to do managing the engines of the Ark up in orbit." The minibot groused as he stepped over the design in the ground and passed Bluestreak to where the officers now gathered. "And I couldn't agree more, rather be building on Cybertron than trying to negotiate the environmental hazards of this dirt ball planet. Still, I am sure the fact that this place is so abominably diverse is the primary motivator as to why Magnus decided to establish a presence here to directly impede Decepticon activities. Not that its my business or anything. But if you ask me, its a mistake to..." He caught himself almost immediately, realizing he was beginning to go into an over stated rant the he had delivered time and again.

"Be that as it may, after the aggregate mix is completed, we can begin the first phase of construction on not only the blast doors for the mine but the external support structures." He gave a knowing smirk to the Autobot Architect. "Unless you have any recommendations before we proceed."

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

If Bluestreak had been a human he would’ve worked up quite the sweat in this hot and humid environment. As it were, he was not an organic and thus did not have to worry about dripping liquids all over the place. The heat, however, did take a bit of a toll on his circuits and internal fluids, his coolant system working overtime in order to keep his body from overheating. The photon shovel was designed to do most of the work for him, but the gunner often found himself exerting more force than was actually necessary as he was not afraid of a little manual labor regardless of his true function.

The chatterbot perked his cranial unit up when he overheard his named mentioned by the newly arrived Mirage, who was talking to Grapple a short distance away. With another large pile of soil tossed out of the ever expanding trench, Bluestreak stood up to his full height which brought his head and shoulders just above the edge so he could see the master spy.

“Hey, Mirage! I thought I heard your vocals over the sounds of all the hard work we’ve been doing over here. I was wondering when you’d show up planet-side. Just so you know I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty even if I’d rather be shooting at Decepticons. You’re also more than welcome to join us if you like! The more help the better!” The blue and silver mech chuckled under his breath knowing full well that a snobbish ‘bot like Mirage would not take kindly to actual hands on work like digging a trench. The spy had been one of Cybertron’s elite class back before the war where hunting turbo-foxes on his vast estate was how he and his rich friends passed the time. Hard work was an unheard of concept for Mirage.

Before Bluestreak could say any more, his attention was drawn away by a waving Huffer who stated that he and Swerve had dug deep enough into the unstable earth. Huffer then pointed directly at Swerve and instructed him to start grabbing the I-Beams that had just been created utilizing the MRD and place them at various points around the foundation trench that they had just expanded. Bluestreak watched and listened for a change as the orange minibot picked up the biggest I-Beam and placed it into the ground at what would be the center of the building. Huffer then moved past the gunner to where Kup, Grapple and Mirage were congregated and continued talking about this being his project and what he’d rather be doing and finally the reasons why Magnus had decided to establish a presence here. The construction mech finally stopped himself, though, when he realized he had gone off on a tangent before getting back on track with what needed to be done next.

Oh, so he thinks he’s me now? Bluestreak thought to himself as he put all of his focus on the construction minibot. “Now, Huffer, no offensive, but there’s only one chatterbot around here and that’s me," the gunner said as he exited the trench. "Don’t go thinking you can just go off on a neverending rant like that whenever you want and show me up, because you can’t. I’ve got a reputation to uphold around here you know, and I intend to vigorously defend it!” The blue and silver mech gave Huffer a knowing smile and a wink to show he was just joking around. "Ha! Just kidding. Nice to know that I'm rubbing off on you, though."

“By the way, Huff, if this ground is as unstable as you said before then maybe we should find someplace else to build. I mean, we don’t want Autobot City to collapse in on itself now do we? That would lead to numerous injuries or even deaths and the amount of time we would waste in the clean-up effort instead of fighting the ‘Cons would be ridiculous. Perhaps we should just stick to construction within the mountain which I’m sure is much more stable. You’re call, of course.”

"Also, what do you want me to do now?” Bluestreak then asked Huffer in a more serious tone. “You told Swerve what to do, but not me. I could help him if you want or I could do something else. Maybe find more stable ground to build on? Heh.”

Entrance to the mine

A slight dust storm came out of the mine entrance as four heavily mounds of dirt came walking out of the mine. The Construction Patrol dusted themselves off and a brief strong breeze came up helping them get rid of rest of the dirt they gathered on themselves.

"Sorry for taking so long, Huffer, but we widen the tunnels for two medium sized Autobots to get through walking side by side and mapped out the mine completely with a detailed list of substances down there. We've got a good amount of coal, gold, copper, and a few other metals. What humans call natural gas is also down there but not in any great abundance. We did notice though that geothermal energy is possible if we want to dig probably half of kilometer down for more energy. Our best bet is probably wind and solar generation. If we do things right, we can definitely utilize the resources this mountain range can provide as we are in the process of build Autobot City. If we play our energon chips right, we won't need much from the Ark-22 in raw resources."

Takedown then realized he and his crew weren't the only ones around the area. It seemed that several mechs, most of them not suited for construction, were down here. The only good help was Grapple and maybe the old timer Kup.

"Oh hey Kup, Grapple, it is good to see you down here. I'm guessing Magnus thought we needed a few more hands down here to get things going quickly. So who wants the geological report? Swerve might have an interest in the readings as well."

Near mine entrance

"Oh hey Kup, Grapple, it is good to see you down here. I'm guessing Magnus thought we needed a few more hands down here to get things going quickly. So who wants the geological report? Swerve might have an interest in the readings as well."

Construction patrollers. Nice. Kup was glad to see more mechs down here who had a better idea of what they were doing than he did. Geological report? Nope. Definitely not in his pay grade.

"He definitely wants to see it," Kup said, indicating Grapple while taking a drag from his freshly-ignited cy-gar.

Near mine entrance

While the Autobots were setting about getting familiarized with their current assignments, Kup heard a telltale blip on his internal comm system.

>>"Hey old timer, thought you might wanna heads up on Magnus' orders comin' your way."<<

Jazz. Easily recognizable. Kup took another drag from his cygar. If he was contacting him directly instead of waiting for Magnus, it had to be important. Old timer. Pfeh. He'd get the intel 'Bot for that later.

>>Looks like the big M is gonna be all yours for a while. He's bein' moved to the Ark-22. Should be gettin' the official orders any astrosecond now, but you might as well be there to make your new guest 'comfy', y'know?"<<

Huh. Now that was a shift. Not one he'd expected, but at least it fell more in line with what he was usually ordered to do instead of protositting a bunch of buildbots.

>>"On my way, Jazz. Thanks fer th' heads up...kid. Heh. Heheh."<<

Kup took one final look around. Everything was moving along just fine down here. Once they had something to secure, then maybe he could work on securing it. But without a lot more assigned defense resources, they were sitting cyberfoxes with or without him keeping an eye on the place. That said, since the Slagmaker hadn't been transferred yet, Kup figured he could afford to make a little stop off on the way to the Guardian. After all, if all this effort was being put into securing Megatron, Kup needed to put just as much effort into welcoming an old friend.

Setting up a new contact link with the Guardian's bounce chamber, Kup bounced up in a flash of white.

Near Mine Entrance

"Swerve, I need you to grab those I-Beams and start setting them at the structural strong points. Corners, mid points and interiors. Maximize for interior spacing and structural support."

After analyzing a bit of the soil with the meager tools that he possessed on him at the moment, Swerve had gone back to work digging the trench. Toiling away. Not his usual kind of assignment really. He’d prefer to be doing…pretty much anything else. Construction wasn’t exactly riveting work. He lifted his head as Huffer called out to him, mouth already opening to offer his ten cents about the matter, but as soon as Huffer had said it, he was off and away again.

“Ugh…I’m not a Constructobot…” he muttered under his breath before climbing out of the trench with some difficulty, grabbing an I-Beam and struggling to heave it up. While trying to find the smallest possible beam, he noticed that Mirage had arrived. And was just sort of watching. Swerve’s optics narrowed a bit, but for once he bit back the words and picked up one of the smallest beams, carrying over to where Huffer had specified.

He did this for a while until a flash of light caught his optics. Someone had just arrived. Or…left. Swerve didn’t see Kup anywhere. Placing a beam down, Swerve wandered over to where the group of mechs had congregated, glancing at Grapple.

“Hey, Grapple…I was looking at a soil sample, and there were traces of something…weird. Can’t really tell anything without proper tools though.”

Near Mine Entrance

"You don't need to worry about that Bluestreak," Huffer paused only momentarily before reaching to his left to grab a partially discarded palm scanner. He tapped its screen to bring it to life before thumbing the edges of the device to activate its calibration protocols. "This entire planet is unstable, with all its tectonic activities, nuclear weaponry, hydrogen dioxide falls... its a miracle this planet hasn't even imploded yet or washed itself away."

The calibrations of the scanner were completed almost immediately. The engineer aimed it towards the black stained and scarred granite face of the enlarged entrance to the mine. A quartet of energy beams lanced out from the small emitter and painted across the entrance in a lattice grid of light before retracting back into the hand held device. "Quit your whining Swerve, you've got the easy job. Soon as those beams are in place we can start construction on the walls and reinforcing the support structure. Even installing the generators shouldn't take more than a few extra breams once the thermocrete is cured."

Huffer looked back at Bluestreak with a rare impish grin upon his face. "I think I have found the best job for your talents." He downloaded results of the scanner into his internal memory banks before flipping the device to the merchant gunner. "I need you to use your electro gun to begin smoothing the surface of this rock face to with in a convex of point zero zero zero zero seven mega particles. With a peak in the exact center of the entrance and angling in opposite grades towards the main face of the canyon wall."

Before the gunner could begin, however, Huffer drew a small laser pistol from his left hip and pointed it towards the mine. He fired three shots along the top of the entrance breach to mark the highest points of where he wanted Bluestreak to work. He then fired six more shots, three to either side to indicate the farthest margins in which the electro sanding would be required. He then returned his weapon to his hip and then stepped back to allow the two workers to begin their tasks.

As they went about there tasks, the minibot engineer came to a stash of metal plates and beams... formed of re-composited titanium and ceramic. He retracted his right hand and began his own set of work, pounding the sheet metal into the shapes necessary to eventually become the massive blast doors that would protect which ever vessel Ultra Magnus decided to dispatch.

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

Grapple had taken the geological report from Takedown and was examining it as Huffer spoke.

"Yes, it was my little project. As if I didn't have enough to do managing the engines of the Ark up in orbit. And I couldn't agree more, rather be building on Cybertron than trying to negotiate the environmental hazards of this dirt ball planet. Still, I am sure the fact that this place is so abominably diverse is the primary motivator as to why Magnus decided to establish a presence here to directly impede Decepticon activities. Not that its my business or anything. But if you ask me, its a mistake to......Be that as it may, after the aggregate mix is completed, we can begin the first phase of construction on not only the blast doors for the mine but the external support structures. Unless you have any recommendations before we proceed."

"No no, not at all. That sounds all well and good. I have the buildbots working on the aggregates as we speak," Grapple said, nodding. Construction was never exciting work for most mechanoids. Grapple was quite content, however, watching the raw materials come together to form something magnificent. And by all accounts, Autobot City would certainly fit that bill.

“Hey, Grapple…I was looking at a soil sample, and there were traces of something…weird. Can’t really tell anything without proper tools though.”

"Oh?" Grapple said, looking over at Swerve, placing Takedown's report under one arm and taking hold of the soil sample. "I'm getting curious readings from it too....odd. Well, seeing as you are the resident metallurgist, feel free to take it to the lab and have a closer look. Or have a buildbot bring you what you need. We have a pretty wide latitude with this assignment."

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"You don't need to worry about that Bluestreak. This entire planet is unstable, with all its tectonic activities, nuclear weaponry, hydrogen dioxide falls... its a miracle this planet hasn't even imploded yet or washed itself away."

“Yes, I suppose it is a miracle,” Bluestreak replied to Huffer’s statement, a look a concern still plastered across his visage. “But that’s all the more reason to worry and to avoid building here or anywhere else on the planet’s surface for that matter. I mean the Ark-22 is designed to serve as an one-in-all infiltration base of operations. There’s really no need to build an entire city consisting of permanent structures. Landing the Ark alone is enough, don’t you think? That’s what our comrades who first arrived here on Earth did with the Ark-19. They landed it at the bottom of one of the Great Lakes. Or, better still, we could just keep the Ark in orbit where the likelihood of it being discovered by the humans is far less. Eventually, the natives are going to figure out that this mountain range wasn’t here before and realize that it’s fake. Then what will we do? They may be primitive compared to us, but they’re not that stupid. Some of these people are actually quite intelligent.” The chatterbox paused for a brief moment as he kept his optics fixated on the orange minibot. “I’m just saying.”

With no immediate response to the blue and silver mech’s concerns, Huffer instead addressed Swerve, telling him to stop whining and giving him further directions regarding the I-beams. The construction bot then returned his glare to Bluestreak.

"I think I have found the best job for your talents. I need you to use your electro gun to begin smoothing the surface of this rock face to with in a convex of point zero zero zero zero seven mega particles. With a peak in the exact center of the entrance and angling in opposite grades towards the main face of the canyon wall."

The gunner sighed as he took the scanner from Huffer. “Sooooo, you want me to use my ion-charged disperser rifle, that is capable of punching a 10-foot hole right through a solid rock wall, to smooth the surface of the mine entrance? And you want it to that degree of accuracy, which my weapon is incapable of handling? Do you want the cave to collapse or for me to cause a rock slide that buries the entire sight and forces us to start over again from scratch? I mean, really, you gotta think these things through before giving out assignments like this. My rifle shoots the equivalent of a bolt of blue lightning with 80,000 volts of power behind it. It's not meant for smoothing surfaces. It’s meant for blasting ‘Cons into scrap!” Bluestreak stopped talking long enough to let what he just said sink in, but that didn’t last very long. “So, why don’t you give me a real construction tool for my task so I don’t inadvertently destroy the mountainside and get everyone injured or killed. Sound like a plan, Huffer, ol’ buddy?”

Near Mine Entrance

"Quit your whining Swerve, you've got the easy job. Soon as those beams are in place we can start construction on the walls and reinforcing the support structure. Even installing the generators shouldn't take more than a few extra breams once the thermocrete is cured."

Swerve pouted, knitting his hands together and turning away slightly from Huffer. “I wasn’t talking to you,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s just better for a build bot to do it. They like that kinda thing…”

The metallurgist perked up a bit when he realized he had managed to grab Grapple’s attention.

"I'm getting curious readings from it too....odd. Well, seeing as you are the resident metallurgist, feel free to take it to the lab and have a closer look. Or have a buildbot bring you what you need. We have a pretty wide latitude with this assignment."

“Will do!” Swerve replied with one of his trademark grins, running off to flag down a couple of build bots. “Alright, so you,” he said pointing to one of them. “Get to lay down some beams for Huffer over there.” As the build bot trotted off to his new task, Swerve looked to the others.

“As for you two, I’ll need..hrm…you know, I’ll just make a list,” he said after a moment’s consideration, typing the list of equipment down into a datapad. “And be gentle. A lot of these things kind pretty fragile, got it?” Swerve stated as he handled the list over to the two build bots. The two exchanged glances for a moment but then smiled and nodded to Swerve before bouncing away to their appointed tasks.

“What was that all about…?” Swerve muttered, scratching his head before shrugging. “Oh well.” Swerve moved off back toward Bluestreak and Huffer only to catch the tail end of their conversation. “What about…killing and injuring everyone?”

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

The orders finally came in, leaving Sidetrack something to finally focus on. Trust was a difficult thing to build up, not that he really wanted to jump at the chance to prove himself a reliable Autobot. Autobot... That just sounds wrong even when I think it. Working with them, being ONE of them. Ya just feel it in the internals.

Sidetrack was in his Alt mode, a DTH Hydraulic Crawler Rock Drill, and Crawler was the key word. His tracks would church over the earth beneith him, but even with taking his time reporting to Kup it still felt like the weight of his thoughts would cause him to choke out right there.

The key of it was Kup. He never engaged with him face to face, but old timers are usually the worst. It would be expected, they lost the most during the conflict, so some cybertronian decideds to switch sides is just in for alot of hassle.

Still, orders are orders. This kept him out of harms way, so a few barbs were just part of the life now. It could be worse, it could be Optimus Prime. Thankfully THAT will never happen.

As he started to approach the mine, he saw some silouettes on the horison. Large bipedal figures. Letting out a deep sign, Sidetrack was glad he didn't have the optics to roll in his alt-form. He just kept 'crawling' towards them.

After all, there's a job to do.

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

Swerve seemed to be pleased with the opportunity to make use of his primary function, and Grapple was only too pleased to be able to give him the opportunity to do so.

With a nearby flash and a chirp of his personnel frequency reader, Grapple detected the arrival of another Autobot. This one's designation was Sidetrack. A quick once-over of the other mech's Autobot database file listed him as a Decepticon deserter. There were a number of Autobots in the ranks for whom that little tidbit of information would be a permanent black mark. Grapple simply did not function that way. His attentions were nearly always focused on building things up. Leave it to the Prowls and Red Alert's of the world to second guess a Cybertronian's true intentions. Grapple was simply happy to have another helping hand with this project.

Grapple waved at the approaching Sidetrack, motioning for him to come over.

"Another hand on deck I see. Good! Good good. I might just be able to get this cell finished as quickly as Prowl wanted."

Several buildbots were already approaching with the reinforced alloy that the architect had requisitioned. Prowl had effectively given him carte blanche over supplies and materials when it came to the construction of this secretive super-cell. He then began entering construction commands for the buildbots to follow for constructing the foundation of the cell.

Grapple... Figures he was on this project. Trying to push forward up the hill to meet him, Sidetrack could only wonder if he had ever encountered Grapple on the field of battle. So many conflicts, it was a likely chance.

A moment of wonder came to a memory of heavy fire, blasts and fire all around. That smell of slag and burnt circuits. Yeah, that smell. Maybe it just came with the diesel emissions that he tended to leave where he went in his alt form.

The sound of Sidetracks transformation was less of an automated response and was more the sound of twisting metal grinding against itself. Each piece finding it's way through a maze of internals and external shell traveling to reach their new destination.

It was definitely a slow transformation, eventually reaching a less than impressive conclusion. Sidetrack was on one knee when the motion was complete, using his drill arm to push himself back up to his feet, he stepped a few paces to meet the famed Cybertronian Architect.

Both heels clicking together, he brought his right arm up in a salute. "Sir... Sidetrack reporting for duty. You should find my orders are... well, in order. Three separate contacts are placed for your convenience of confirmation, as well as any other documentation of previous declassified orders and reports following their completion."

The datapad was extended to Grapple with all the listed paperwork and more. This was just becoming routine, not that he would know how he would be responded to by this particular Autobot. The truth is few want an Ex-Con on their roster, and often time needed superiors leveraging their position to stop the complaints or the accusations of subterfuge going. It was procedure at this point, an understandable one on both parties. Still, it often felt like he needed to bring a rap-sheet with him at all times just to make these jobs go by a little smoother.

Now he just had to keep an eye on the rest. Somewhere, almost without fail, there is someone on a given crew who was shot at by Sidetrack, or maybe Sidetrack was responsible for making scrap out of someone they cared about. One of these days someone was gonna blast him in the back. Maybe they will do the courtesy of not letting him see it coming.

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"Another hand on deck I see. Good! Good good. I might just be able to get this cell finished as quickly as Prowl wanted."

“Huh?” Swerve glanced away from Bluestreak and the irritable Huffer back to Grapple and some new guy. But the new guy wasn’t what had caught his attention. Cell? They were building a cell? Like a prison cell? Maybe Grapple meant some kind of construction cell. Because Swerve sure had no idea who’d they be building a cell for. He didn’t remember them taking any prisoners. Maybe Prowl was plotting something again. You never could tell with that one.

Swerve wandered over, close enough to be within audio-shot of both Bluestreak and Huffer, and Grapple. Who was this new guy anyway? Another build bot? He had a rather interesting alternate mode. Maybe he wouldn’t mind doing Swerve a favor. When those other two build bots got back with his equipment. Sidetrack was his name apparently. Why did that sound vaguely familiar…? Oh well.

Two flashes of light heralded the return of the build bots that Swerve had sent away, carrying the equipment he had requested. “Hey, hey! Thanks you two. Good job! I’ll finish setting it up myself.” Swerve moved over and began to set up a mini-lab. They weren’t ideal conditions, but it was good enough. Once he was all set up, he divided the sample he had collected up into a series of tests.

Swerve glanced over to the new guy Sidetrack again with narrowed visor. Hm…his alternate mode would be so good for collecting the samples he needed…Swerve toddled over to Grapple. “Hey, Grapple. You got a use in mind for this guy because…if not…that alternate mode of yours would be really handy for collecting some mineral samples…” the red minibot said, shifting his gaze to Sidetrack.

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

Grapple watched as the newly-arrived Autobot went through what appeared to be a somewhat plodding--and perhaps painful--transformation. Ouch. He could probably do with a Ratchet or First-Aid check-in sometime soon.

"Sir... Sidetrack reporting for duty. You should find my orders are... well, in order. Three separate contacts are placed for your convenience of confirmation, as well as any other documentation of previous declassified orders and reports following their completion."

Grapple smiled but also had a somewhat confused look on his metlalic features as he took the small stack of formalities that Sidetrack had brought along with him.

"I...believe you, hahah," Grapple said, clapping the other mech on the shoulder joint. "No need to worry about all that formality with me. Granted, Kup was here just a breem or so ago, so it was surely a wise move on your part, but nonetheless, welcome."

“Hey, Grapple. You got a use in mind for this guy because…if not…that alternate mode of yours would be really handy for collecting some mineral samples…” Swerve called over.

"Well, his alt mode is pretty adaptable. I can likely find a dozen uses for him, but yours works just as well as any to get rolling so...have at him, Swerve."

Grapple chuckled and returned his gaze to his datapad, looking up to see what the buildbots had done so far, laying out the alloy, heating and shaping it into what would become the floor of the cell.

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

It's difficult to stay stoic when someone is clamped down on your shoulder, though there appeared to be no malice in Grapple's voice. The choice of words though made it all abundantly clear Grapple did read Sidetrack's file. Something didn't add up, but it's not his place to get picky. It just seemed odd that a master builder like him would be that open with Sidetrack. Maybe he was there to double-check Sidetrack's work for 'evidence of tampering'. Those were always fun wastes of time.

"I appreciate that Grapple. All the same, I would appreciate your mark on the following slate to show I arrived as scheduled, and apparently have been assigned to..." Turning to the minibot cherping at Grapple to request him for mineral samples, he was at a loss for a name.

"... Um, what was your name again? Probably best you put your mark on the data pad as well, keep everything nice and orderly, especially if Kup intends to come back. I heard we probably will be on uneasy terms for a while."

Offering a data slate to Grapple and the minibot (Swerve), he looked around for a moment. "Alright kid, where are we drillin'?"

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"Well, his alt mode is pretty adaptable. I can likely find a dozen uses for him, but yours works just as well as any to get rolling so...have at him, Swerve."

“Ha! Thanks, Grapple!” Swerve grinned before turning to examine his new lackey a bit more closely. Yup…looked like a good enough mech for the job that he had in mind.

"I appreciate that Grapple. All the same, I would appreciate your mark on the following slate to show I arrived as scheduled, and apparently have been assigned to... Um, what was your name again? Probably best you put your mark on the data pad as well, keep everything nice and orderly, especially if Kup intends to come back. I heard we probably will be on uneasy terms for a while."

“Swerve! It’s Swerve. You haven’t heard of me before? You live under a rock or something? I’m the resident metallurgist – and hopeful bartender – so you better remember me! Now…uh, what’s this?” the red minibot asked as he glanced down at the datapad proffered by Sidetrack. His optics flicked around the pad, looking for the spot to sign rather than actually reading anything on it. He sighted the spot and put down his mark on the pad.

"Alright kid, where are we drillin'?"

“’Kid’?” Swerve questioned before shaking his head, “Anywhere that these guys aren’t working,” Swerve said with a wide sweep of his hand, indicating everyone else. “I’m getting traces at the surface, but I’ll need more concentrated samples from deeper down to actually be able to do a whole lot. Think ya can handle it, ‘kid’?”

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"Alright Swerve, your call." This Autobot was going to be a pain in the aft. It shouldn't be anything new, it's how it always ends up. Who knows, maybe he was one of those he was just thinking about. Probably best to keep Swerve in optic scan.

Sidetrack observed the nearby location, taking the details of the various teams working on this ambitious project. It seemed like the scale was massive. "So, what are you looking for in these samples? Mineral content, potential mining operations, excavation, or is there something else in mind?"

"I prefer understanding the objective that is being presented, if it's not too much to ask. Here." Offering up a data slate shifted to a new page. It was a form to fill out on the co-ordinates and registering the order, to be filled in triplicate, in detail.

"As soon as you finish that..."

Sidetrack transformed, a slow grinding motion that brought him to his alt mode. The loud rumble of diesel engine, or something that sounded like it, revved up.

"We can get to drilling."

The tracks beginning to crawl his way forward.

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"So, what are you looking for in these samples? Mineral content, potential mining operations, excavation, or is there something else in mind?"

“Well, I found traces of something kind of odd in the soil. I don’t wanna speculate too much at this point….buuuuut….it almost looked like energon. So I want samples from deeper down to confirm that I’m not crazy. More concentrated samples. So mineral content, I guess. If you’re being general.”

"I prefer understanding the objective that is being presented, if it's not too much to ask. Here." Swerve took the datapad, slightly confused. He had already signed this hadn’t he? What more did this mech want? As Swerve glanced over the form, a slow dawning horror came over his faceplate.

“What in Pit…? Are you serious? Is this really necessary? Really?” Swerve asked, looking up at Sidetrack with an almost pleading expression. This mech was way more trouble than he was worth already. The red minibot just should have grabbed one of the other random build bots. But…Grapple had given him permission, so it seemed kinda…bad to go back on it now. Bah.

Even before Sidetrack had answered his question, Swerve started filling out the paperwork rather gloomily. “This is ridiculous…” Swerve muttered under his breath.

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

“This is ridiculous…” Swerve seemed displeased as he went over the documentation.

"Then be glad I did not give you form 14-Fc2KoT9, seventy two pages with 104 sections to fill out and leading to 32 other documents that require filing before it is complete, and that's only after you finish the acquisition form to get the form. Usually takes most of a cycle." The dry delivery of the 'joke' was mostly for his own levity. The joke was more for Sidetrack, as this has been most of his Autobot life of getting his orders checked and re-checked. It got ugly the times he decided to skip particular procedures like this.

"Energon you say? As in, Raw? Tricky stuff, doesn't like to be disturbed. Still, if that's the case we should find a charge in the surrounding soil."

The crawl was a few hundred meters off the mine entrance, it was clear his Alt Mode did not have alot of speed to it. Even at full-run, it barely qualified as a brisk walk for an average cybertronian. The sudden stop caused his body to lurch a bit and the boom of the rock drill sway for a brief moment. Aligning the drill bit with the ground, he seemed to poke at it with the end of the boom before being satisfied that he found a place to drill with minimal impediments. The sound was a high-pitch cracking, the drill making hundreds of tiny impacts as it started to turn. White smoke left with each impact as the rattling of rock and steel could be felt in the ground beneath Swerve's feet. Still, he was boring through the granite quickly. He eventually stopped, satisfied with the depth, and withdrew the steel from the deep hole he had just dug.

"Tastes alright to me. Granite, minimal metals, some iron, cobolt, slight trace of magnesium..." Sidetrack simply moved on to the next location only a few steps away, and continued to repeat this process, making a grid of small holes in his wake.

"So what's your story, Autob- Swerve?

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"Then be glad I did not give you form 14-Fc2KoT9, seventy two pages with 104 sections to fill out and leading to 32 other documents that require filing before it is complete, and that's only after you finish the acquisition form to get the form. Usually takes most of a cycle."

Swerve issued a soft groan, completely missing the fact that it was a joke. “I thought only Mags was this crazy about procedure…” The metallurgist grumbled to himself as finished up the form. “It’s done, just…pick it up when you need to I guess. I’m putting it on my workbench.”

The red minibot waved as he walked over to the workbench, setting the datapad down on it and checking the samples that he had been testing earlier.

"Energon you say? As in, Raw? Tricky stuff, doesn't like to be disturbed. Still, if that's the case we should find a charge in the surrounding soil."

“Well, it’s not energon persay. Energon-like is probably a more accurate term for it. Now whether it’s more volatile or less…that I don’t know. Its composition is just similar to energon. So, you know. Be careful. I don’t want you accidentally blowing yourself or me up. You’d probably make me fill out a dozen more forms if you did…” Swerve stated as he glanced over to Sidetrack who had begun his drilling. Instead of letting himself worry about it, Swerve went and set up some more tests in preparation for new samples.

"Tastes alright to me. Granite, minimal metals, some iron, cobolt, slight trace of magnesium..."

“Well, keep at it. It’s around,” Swerve called without bothering to look over.

"So what's your story, Autob- Swerve?”

Swerve’s visor narrowed as he glanced back at Sidetrack. What was that? Weird. Kinda sounded like he messed up his name. Vaguely. Weird. Oh well. “Story?” He scratched his head. “Mm, like my life story? I’m a metallurgist. I can look at about any ore and tell you in very technical terms what it is. Other than that, I mean…I guess I’ve been entertaining this idea of running a bar…You know…”

Trailing off, he issued a soft sigh. Yeah, like that would ever happen though.

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

Just keep him talking. Sidetrack kept up the drilling, continuing his documentation of the site. The nice part about people talking about themselves, it stops them from talking about you. Swerve... Swerve... Why do I know that name? Entinok Moon? No... Damn memory banks must be getting old.

"A bar? I am sure your charming personality and easy-to-get-along attitude would make you a huge success. In fact, why don't we just carve out a chunk of rock and we can set ya up with a full rock bar top. Oh, maybe mixing energon with rock dust to give it that Earth flavor." If he was in robot mode, there'd be a slight smirk on his face, as his compressor threw out a white powdered rock from Sidetrack's filters.

"Besides, since Cybertron is... Well, you know. Imagine that it would be difficult to keep consistant clientel. I don't even stay on world for longer than a cycle or two these days. Work work work everywhere, but someone's gotta do it."

The drill suddenly stopped, and the steel being pulled from the sampling hole started raising slowly.

"Ok... That's a little weird. So Bartender, what do you make of this?" Shifting form back into his robot mode, he came to one knee raising a small core sample, offering it to Swerve.

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

"A bar? I am sure your charming personality and easy-to-get-along attitude would make you a huge success. In fact, why don't we just carve out a chunk of rock and we can set ya up with a full rock bar top. Oh, maybe mixing energon with rock dust to give it that Earth flavor."

Charming personality? That was a new one. Well, not new if it was meant sarcastically, which Swerve couldn’t rightly tell if it was or not. At Sidetrack’s suggestion to mix in some rock dust into the drinks, Swerve grimaced a little. “Yeah, maybe if I was trying to corrode everyone’s fuel pump. The beating Ratchet would give me…” Shivering a little with subdued horror, Swerve waggled a finger at his lackey.

“But you might be onto something. Maybe adding in a mineral local to earth could give it a little flare. Not sure. I’d have to experiment.” Preferably not on himself.

"Besides, since Cybertron is... Well, you know. Imagine that it would be difficult to keep consistant clientel. I don't even stay on world for longer than a cycle or two these days. Work work work everywhere, but someone's gotta do it."

“Ha! Yeah, Cybertron. Good one,” Swerve chuckled. Their home world had long since been dead and abandoned. A few teams went there every now and then for some reason or other, but there always had to be a reason to go. It was rare. Sighing, Swerve went back to his work. Of course he missed their homeworld, but what could you do, really?

Well, as far as his current samples went, Swerve had gotten about as far as he could with them. There just wasn’t enough material to draw any solid conclusions. When the sound of drilling stopped and his lackey’s rather grating transformation occurred, Swerve glanced over to Sidetrack.

"Ok... That's a little weird. So Bartender, what do you make of this?"

“Let’s see, let’s see…” Scurrying over, Swerve delicately brushed the sample into a dish and carried it over to his work station. “Hm…good job, you found some…Its composition is very similar to raw energon…but…it’s different somehow. But…it’s also…familiar? That can’t be right. I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before…”

Swerve pulled out a datapad and began to browse through it. “Hrm…”

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

“Hm…good job, you found some…Its composition is very similar to raw energon…but…it’s different somehow. But…it’s also…familiar? That can’t be right. I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before…” Swerve's expression was enough to give Sidetrack some worry.

"Familiar how?" Sidetrack's curiosity raised. Why are they digging for energon? I thought it was abundant, and it seems inefficient. Sure, some planets it was worth strip mining, but it makes little sense here.

Sidetrack continued down the line, his drill piercing the earth and rock below making a loud high-pitch rapid tapping sound of steel on granite. It continued for a few minutes before it stopped at an unusually shallow depth.

"Um.... Kid. You're gonna wanna see this."

Transforming in his usual slow and visually painful manor, his left arm was still plunged into the ground, slowly pulling up. Taking the sample in hand, there was an usual glow to it. "I think we may be sitting on a deposit."

Peruvian Valley-–Near Mine Entrance

"I appreciate that Grapple. All the same, I would appreciate your mark on the following slate to show I arrived as scheduled, and apparently have been assigned to..." Sidetrack had said, before heading off to work with Swerve. Grapple had obliged with the requested mark and allowed the other mech to move on without any further distractions. This one seemed awfully observant of protocols, and perhaps given his history that was especially wise--particularly with the likes of Ultra Magnus and Prowl watching over your shoulder joint somewhere. At the end of the day, he seemed eager to assist, and that was all Grapple could really ask for down here.

The Autobot architectural engineer returned his attention to the cell, which was taking shape nicely. Kup said it needed to be able to contain a Phase Sixer. Even if he was only joking--and Grapple didn't really suspect he was--Decepticons tended to come in a variety of sizes.

Perusing Autobot intelligence files, Grapple began pulling aside names such as Scorponok and Killmaster and Tesarus and adjusting the dimensions of his blueprint, as well as the activities of his buildbots, accordingly.