by Longshot » Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:54 am
- Motto: "Feed them to the Sharkticons!"
En Route to the Folassian Forest
Banzai-tron routinely monitored Decepticon military communications traffic at various levels. It would not, after all, do for Intelligence to be kept out of the loop—knowing what the grunts intended to knock down or blow up from one breem to the next helped him organize his priorities. The current tenor of the top-level chatter he was intercepting, however, caused him to curse silently to himself. There were orns when he almost believed his allies were a bigger obstacle to the efficient operation of a galaxy-spanning spy network than the Autobots.
He was distracted from his momentary irritation, however, by a transmission from Treadshot. Finally, a mech he could count on, one that wasn’t as likely to rob him blind or bore him to deactivation with the latest data-analysis reports as provide some kind of useful assistance. Perhaps his tour of this ridiculous little speck of cosmic debris wouldn’t be so tedious, after all.
To save time and spare him the annoyance of having the same conversation three-times, Banzai-tron opened a multiple comm-channel with the sharpshooter, Lockdown, and Wingspan.
>>”The location of the Autobot base has been pinpointed at 19.88.05. Cyclonus is leading in a team, though I doubt they’ll find the place occupied. It’ll probably get blasted straight to the Pit anyway—if our side doesn’t do it, it will only be because the ‘Bots beat them to the mark. The four of us will link up at 19.86.00 and pick up the trail again once the fireworks have subsided.”<<
>>”Acknowledged,”<< responded Wingspan. >>”But I stress again that my talents are largely wasted on field work.”<<
>>”So noted. Don’t fret, Wingspan. I’m surely we’ll come up with something for you to do.”<< Functions like “expendable weapons screen” or “single-use ordnance disposal” came readily to mind.
Outside Koraja
The smile that appeared on Kickback’s face as Soriza and her cronies succumbed to his cloying speech was positively beatific. Sometimes, it occurred to the duplicitous Insecticon that his work was almost criminally easy. Nevertheless, he couldn’t deny that he derived great pleasure in winning over even the most skeptical and suspicious minds. Before he could reply, however, another of the under-evolved green primates interrupted with clapping hands … and a troubling, if minor, slur against the mighty Decepticon Empire.
Oh, that would never do. He would have to teach this one better.
Antennae twitching, Kickback bent down before the Nebulan male, his faceplate never for an astrosecond losing its benign expression. “Monster? I believe I should choose my words with greater care, my friend, if I were you. You wouldn’t want to inadvertently give offense, hmm? As you’ve already seen, some of my compatriots lack the capacity for charitable forbearance that I possess.”
He straightened and tapped a digit against his chin in a display of thoughtfulness. “Back to the business at hand. If our settling in here on Nebulos proceeds according to established protocols—and I have every reason to believe that it will—then the next step will be the temporary relocation of your people to organized camps, the better to minimize the possibility of a damaging insurrection.” That was, at least, mostly true. Preventing a native uprising was certainly one of the reasons for the forced internment, and the internment itself would most certainly be temporary. There was, after all, little point in jailing corpses.
“Fortunately for us all, we Insecticons have been partially delegated the responsibility of establishing and administering these camps. I would suggest that we set one up here. Invite a select group of sympathetic individuals drawn from those of your personal acquaintance. Allow our media-minded associate to broadcast a continuous video feed of daily life here to the rest of the planet. If we can demonstrate to the populace at large that this regrettable necessity need not be uncomfortable, it would no doubt go a long way toward streamlining the restructuring process. And, of course, demonstrate your value to the Empire.”