Ep. 0.5 - Officer Meeting - Closed

The notification had come from Jazz about a meeting. Ratchet was annoyed it would take his time while he could be working on a project or cleaning the med-bay but in truth the meetings should have been happening. The only reason they had not was there were so few in numbers of them here. Not much reason for one when it took so little to figure out who needed what and when.

The walk to the control room was fast. Having been in his med-bay and progressed his project to a good stopping point Ratchet ended up being early to the meeting. Well early for him. As such he heard the end of Optimus’s word.

“Optimus is correct. As much as I hate to take away from all I could be doing we do need to meet. Team Prime had grown to a shocking amount in little time.”

"Considerate of yeh," Ironhide said. The weapon specialist had walked in on the tail end of Jazz's word, with an easy stride and easier longwave that was tainted with the whiff of burnt ozone and rock dust, a good sign that he had been out at one of the exterior impromptu 'firing ranges'. Looking around at them, he grinned, taking a position against one of the walls that let him lean back, arms crossed against his chassis.

"Ain't had one of these in awhile," he noted, 'awhile' underscored with a teasing time marker of multiple vorns. "An' Ah ain't used t' yer name being th' one t' call th' meeting," he added, cocking a blunt finger at the saboteur. "Yeh used Red's diction on that on purpose, didn't yeh?" His pede, kicked out to graze just the air just above Jazz's ankle, conveyed a short range pulse through proximity field, support and pride and a rueful camaraderie. "So - who we waitin' on? Arcee?"

Jazz looked at Optimus, and when the Prime just gave him a stately "go ahead" tilt of his hand, Jazz straightened his shoulders and stepped in front.

"Hey all. Thanks for coming. I'll try not to take up too much of your time. I called the meeting because now that I've been around and I've got some suggestions that I want to run past everyone." Jazz tilted his head at Optimus. "And tell me if I'm overstepping my bounds here, boss?" He looked back at the others. "Or anyone, really. I'm more than aware that I'm the new mech on the block here and uh...I'm not tryin' to step on anyone's toes." There. Just so it was out. He didn't think that anyone'd be touchy enough to take his suggestions as criticism, but hey, you never knew.

"So. I'm not meaning this as criticism, but I'm seeing a few problems around the base that are adversely affecting base security." Did he actually say that? Obviously putting Jazz in charge of base security turned him into Red Alert.... "The most obvious is that the base itself is a sieve." Jazz brought up a schematic of the base on the screen, the security holes highlighted. "We're honestly lucky that the 'Cons haven't pointed a spec ops agent at this place. There's more ways in than we've got 'Bots. That's the bad news."

Jazz spread his hands. "Good news is that this is fixable. The base itself is a solid facility, and I've got a security plan that'll cut down on the entry points and monitor the remaining ones." Some of the highlighted areas blinked out, the rest of them turning bright blue. "We won't be bulletproof, but we'll at least stand a chance of catching an intruder in the act. We've got the materials to cobble together enough sensors and traps to keep even a spec ops agent on their toes and hopping." More changes to the schematics. Not highlighting ALL his ideas, of course. Others might have called it paranoia or spec ops secretiveness. Jazz just called it good sense. Fewer people with all the details, the better.

"To make all this happen, though, I'm gonna need some hands. Lotsa different hands, really. Some strong ones to collapse some of these entrances. Some skilled ones to install defenses and test them. Some tiny ones, to get where us big bots can't get. So I'd like permission to add security to the duty roster. Won't be permanent, and it won't be more than a bot or two at a time."

Jazz clasped his hands and laced his fingers. "And I'll take care of 'em and put 'em back where I found 'em when I'm done. Promise."

The other officers came in soon after Ratchet had come in. Making the wait very short for which he was pleased with. The faster the meeting started the faster it would be over, not that the meeting was bad. Ratchet was of the opinion that this was a very good idea.

Ratchet looked at the schematic with interest. Being a medic Ratchet knew all about the tools and space need, as well as power and time for repairs and the like. But what Jazz talked about out of his knowledge and it was interesting to hear another talk about his expertise.

And on the subject Ratchet might add a little in this meeting about a second medic. Or maybe he should talk to Optimus first about training a second medic. There had been too many times when medics had been stretched to thin and the lost of the one medic at a base ended with a many being lost that never should have even been close to off-lining. The need was that and with so many now here it was a true priority now in Ratchet’s processor.

Ironhide listened, one thumb absently rubbing along the weld marks that scored his jaw as his optics flickered over the displays. Tactics and organization wasn't his first calling, by any means, but he had assimilated the necessary protocols and processor habits by scrap and force and sheer stubborn experience along the way. Jazz's list of proposed assignments queued up against a list of base personnel and he began reshuffling the patrol roster against the results, optimizing based on abilities. Bulkhead and Shadowrunner on specialty detail would leave holes in the regular patrol nets, but not uncoverable.

"Have t' shuffle th' patrol roster," he noted aloud, pinging the others with a quickly revised mockup tagged for potential revision.

Ratchet heard it all and the first thing he thought of. How many would make a pointless move and have to come to him to get fixed. At least when the injured Bot walked into his Med-bay it would be damage from an accident. Much better than war damage. And easier to fix.

Hearing all the new plans and defenses in the works made Ratchet pleased Jazz was given the job. It was looking like some real work would be done.