by USDA Prime » Tue Dec 04, 2012 5:02 am
- Motto: "Delicious steaks are the right of all sentient beings."
- Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher
Approaching Trion Hangar
Highcall couldn't help but smirk and shake his head at Warhaul's surprised reaction toward his status as an engineer. While it was true that there were those who followed the Covenant of Primus that believed the use of technology was wrong, his group had not been one of them. Those that did were often the more xenophobic, radical groups, who had long since vanished due to their inability to maintain their own bodies.
"Primus guides us with his wisdom,", he replied, "but we still have to keep the power generators running on our own. That's not scripture, by the way, just something we had to remind ourselves whenever something broke."
As they continued, Highcall listened to the technician reveal his current assignment- the new, state-of-the-art warship, the Trion.
So that's the ship everyone has been clammoring about., he thought as he got his first look at the Trion. Since he had been an annoyance to most of those in authority position, he had never been assigned to work on the new warship, though he'd heard plenty about it from the various mechs working on it. From what he had heard and what he saw now, he could certainly appreciate all the advancements in technology and engineering that had been involved.
"Yes, I suppose it is.", Highcall replied with restraint. It was impressive, the engineer would agree to that, but he wouldn't exactly call it a 'thing of beauty'. It just felt inappropriate to refer to any mech-made product of the never ending war effort with such reverance.
As the two approached the main entrance, Warhaul brought up the problem of Highcall having proper security clearance. The engineer had to nod in agreement, he'd never been assigned to the warship, nor did he hold a high enough rank to enter without assignment. It would be awkward going back to Kick-Off after he had left the security mech's custody only a breem ago, but if it had to be done, it had to be done.
"All right, that shouldn't be a problem.", Highcall assured Warhaul, "I'll be sure to contact you as soon as I can."
With that, Highcall turned around and headed back to station security.
Large Scale Training Facility
Cosmos breathed a sigh of relief as Grimlock allowed the green minibot to leave. Cosmos had always tried to be as friendly and hospitable as he could to all Autobots who came to Alpha Shipywards. And not just because it was often his assignment, but because he genuinely liked meeting new mechs and making new friends. It helped make all his time in space, the cold, empty, lonely vacuum of space, a little more bearable. But the Dinobots? Despite being on the same side of the war, Cosmos had to admit he worried for his safety when he was around the five brutal warriors.
"All right, then.", Cosmos cheerily replied to Grimlock, "Well if you need anything else, don't hesitate to call me. Good luck!"
Cosmos walked back out and back to the turbolift. Until Grimlock needed anything, or unless Countdown had another assignment for him, the green minibot was going back to the energon bar. There was always at least one of his friends to hang out with, and Cosmos could still use some energon. The last thing he wanted was to be sent out in space without a full tank of energon.
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For the first time in a while, Sludge didn't feel constricted. Being the largest of the Dinobots, not to mention the clumsiest, he had an even harder time than the others just getting around and trying to fit into things that were made with smaller mechs in mind. Not in here, though.
"Me Sludge like big room.", the jungle warrior said as he stretched out his arms and legs, if only because he could do it without accidentally bumping into something or hitting someone, "Me Sludge wish every room was this big."
Just as Sludge was getting used to all the open space, Grimlock addressed the team. Even if Grimlock wasn't the strongest- which he was- Sludge would have been happy with the chance to have some fun by smashing things. Though, Sludge had to admit, his commander's last few words made him wonder.
"Um, do we ever hold back?", the jungle warrior scratched his head, asking an honest question as opposed to making some tough-bot remark.
Sludge didn't get an answer, as he watched in awe as the room was brought to life. A smile came across his faceplate as he saw dozens upon dozens of drones, each one looking very smashable to the jungle warrior's optics. Withdrawing his energon sword, Sludge marched right toward one of the groups of drones as he soon found himself bathed in laser fire.
"Heh heh, puny lasers tickle me, Sludge.", the jungle warrior laughed as the incoming barrage of drone fire did little to damage his thick armor plating.
Once within arm's length Sludge made a wide swipe with his energon sword, beheading several drones in front of him, but just missing one that had managed to duck in time. Sludge rewarded that clever drone with a hard kick to the midsection that broke it in half and sent it into several drones behind it, causing those drones to topple backwards by the force. Chuckling at the sight, Sludge decided he wanted to play "Kick the Drone", kicking any and all drones that had fallen with his powerful legs. Some drones smashed into pieces on contact, while some flew into other nearby drones, causing them to fall down and become victims to the jungle warrior's game. Twice he tried to slice the drones he kicked in mid-air with his sword, though he wasn't nearly quick enough to hit either and simply sliced into a few other drones unfortunate enough to be nearby by.
"Heh, heh,", the jungle warrior laughed, "Me Sludge am having fun smashing puny- OOF! Huh?"
Sludge's train of thought was interrupted as he felt something hard hit him from behind. Not hard enough to cause any real damage, but enough to grab his attention. A second time he felt it, the force jolting him forward, and he decided to turn around to see what it was, ignoring the growing number of spider drones that were surrounding him.
On a nearby wall Sludge saw a missile launcher that had locked onto him.
"Hmmmm....", Sludge said thoughtfully as he holstered his energon sword and withdrew his laser rifle, "Me Sludge could use target practice."
As the number of drones surrounding him grew even more, Sludge took careful aim at the launcher as it readied another missile, occasionally having to kick one or two drones that got too close. He fired several shots, none of which came anywhere near the missile launcher, but did manage to hit a couple of aerial drones by accident. Shot after shot Sludge fired and missed the launcher, until he finally gave up.
"Rrrrgh, stupid gun not work for Sludge!", the jungle warrior complained, smashing it into a spider drone in front of him out of frustration.
By then another missile had fired and hit Sludge in the chest, forcing the jungle warrior back a few feet. It was then that Sludge looked around and realized that he was completely surrounded and greatly outnumbered by the drones. After a moment of thought, Sludge smiled.
As the drones closed in, the jungle warrior transformed into his dinosaur mode, now forcing the drones to face a massive, mechanical apatasaurus. Sludge lifted up his front-right leg as high as he could, holding it for a moment to chuckle at the soon-to-come destruction. Then with his powerful servos and hydrolics, combined with his sheer size and weight, he slammed his foot down to the floor. A thunderous boom filled the room, the entire floor shaking by the jungle warrior's force. All the drones that had surrounded Sludge stumbled and fell from Dinobot-made quake. Sludge then took the time to take a nice "walk", where he stomped and tromped onto the fallen drones, crushing their metal bodies with each step. After nearly a breem of it, Sludge stopped for a moment to admire the destruction he had caused, but it was only for a moment as he felt another missle slam into his thick metal hide. Looking over at the launcher annoyed, Sludge turned and trudged it, trampling over any drones unfortunate enough to get in his way.
Security Office
Highcall entered the room without hesitation since he wasn't in any trouble this time, though he still felt awkward seeing Kick-Off again so soon. He couldn't feel too bad, though. If he wanted to make peace with Warhaul than he needed to help the technician with his work on the Trion, and to do that he needed security clearance.
Well, besides that incident in the Energon Bar earlier, I don't have any major offenses against me, so I don't see why I can't get clearance. I'm sure Kick-Off will understand, it's part of my personal atonement.
After explaining himself to one of the deputies, the engineer was allowed to enter the security chief's office. Highcall started to feel even more awkward, as it appeared as if the security mech was in the exact same position as when he had left just a couple of breems ago.
"Hello, Kick-Off.", Highcall addressed the security, "I'm terribly sorry if I'm disturbing your work, but I needed to see you. I've spoken to Warhaul, which went well by the way, and as part of my apology to him I've agreed to help him with his work on the Trion. But before I can do that I need security clearance since I've never been assigned to the Trion before. I understand if you have your doubts or if my earlier offense makes me ineligible, but I would truly appreciate this, if only to atone for my earlier mistake."
Highcall rubbed the back of his head for a moment, unsure how the security mech would react to his request.