Ep 1.5 - Fancy Meeting You Here (closed)

[Deleted]

((OOC note: Follows from Bots vs. Order, handwaving what happens in that thread.))

"What is going on?"

Standing braced with her hammer in her hands, Elita surveyed the scene. A blue two-wheeler had Hot Rod pinned to the dirt in a natural stone pit, with Flareup and another strange car menacing each other nearby. Elita had gotten worried when her subordinates hadn't checked in with her at the appointed time, but worry was quickly giving way to irritation - why didn't they at least ping her before engaging with an enemy!

Spotting her, Hot Rod flailed. "Ma'am, these mecha attempted to breach our security perimeter!" The two-wheeler shot a flustered glare over her shoulder, then took one hand off Hot Rod to aim a blaster at Elita. Elita's optics narrowed as she adjusted her stance, calculating ways to get Hot Rod out of danger.

Then another voice cut into the scene, shocking Elita with its familiarity. "What the frag is goin' on here?"

Elita risked taking her optics off the two-wheeler to confirm. Small, sleek silver frame, visor - there was no mistaking it. "Jazz?" she exclaimed.

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<<Sorry for the wait, guys! My fault! CAG, you can leave Shiftlock's post where it is, or shuffle and repost it around Jazz's if you'd like. Also, we've been generally using "mecha" as a collective, genderless term.>>


Jazz came out of the groundbridge with a final rev of his engine, transforming and his fingers already curled around his un-subspaced blaster. There hadn't been much time to analyze the intel (or much intel to analyze) when he'd been called up. Just that some reconnaissance had turned hostile, enemies unknown.

Jazz took in the confused scene, taking in the friendlies and unknowns in a flash on the broken terrain. He moved toward Arcee and Shiftlock's position, hopping over the rocks and trying to get a positive ID on the enemies when another enemy appeared and...Jazz nearly fell down the embankment.

There was only one hammer like that in the universe, and Jazz sure hadn't been expecting to find it HERE. But why...and why was Arcee turning to AIM at...? "What the frag is goin' on here?"

Oh, frag, she doesn't know--

Jazz responded with signals to Arcee and Shiftlock to STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY. ::Arcee, you might NOT wanna shoot the One.::

Jazz did one final assessment, verified that all the players on the field were looking to either him or Elita for guidance, and grinned as he slid down the rest of the rocky embankment, his blaster subspaced. "Elita! Elita, by the All Spark, is it good to see you!"


<<Jazz will continue moving toward Elita, probably to give her a very un-dignified hug, if anyone wants to move him along to that or react in some way. >>

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((OOC: It's funny you say that, because in Aligned canon, 'mecha' and 'mech' are pretty insulting put-downs. XD))

Shiftlock looked as if she could have smelted someone with the raw heat of her anger, incredulity screwing up her face as she glared at Hot Rod.

"Look here, rookie," she spat at Hot Rod. "You come down here and start setting traps around my ship's wreckage in an act of open hostility on a neutral planet and you have the bearings to try to make our actions into an aggressor's?"

Elita-One's presence would clue Shiftlock in as to who she was dealing with, but in her opinion, that didn't make them any more welcome. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Shift didn't have any weapons to stow, preferring to fight bare-servoed, and she made no further hostile motions, so she was already, to a degree, stood-down. She reserved the right to make dirty faces and be unhappy. Jazz would just have to go sit on a piston if he asked her to put on a happy face and be pleased by the Order of Solus' arrival; it wasn't happening.

And then he was going in for a hug. She looked over and shook her head, wishing she had a cygar right about now to calm her nerves. "Great. As if bein' on this pile of slag planet wasn't bad enough, now we have to deal with the nuns with guns," she grumbled lowly to herself.

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((Sorry, I don't really pay attention to Aligned. ^_^;;; ))

"And you, my fr- oof!"

Jazz was the same as ever. Elita accepted the hug once she got her pedes back under her, even lifting him up a bit as she returned it.

"And you, my friend," she repeated. "It's been far too long. I can't tell you how happy I am to see you are well."

She set him down and returned her attention to the apparent pit trap her soldiers had constructed, with far less amusement in her optics. "I apologize for the rash actions of my crew, as well. Clearly they are due for some re-training on how to secure an area on a possibly hostile world while not being hostile themselves." Hot Rod visibly cringed. "I trust no one is hurt?" She looked at the two Autobots, Jazz's apparent compatriots, for confirmation.

[Deleted]

(( Well, Prime is Aligned. Thought you knew. Whoops! ))


"I'm fine," Shiftlock grunted in assent, folding her arms. "So what the frag are you femmes doin' on this backwater scraphole other than pretending to be neutral as usual?"

The grouchy scout-frame turned away from the happy reunion and started making her way to the ship.

"Don't mind me. I'm getting the only thing that matters out of this pile."

[Deleted]

Arcee looked from Jazz to Elita and transformed in her blasters. Obviously, there was no fight here, unless tacklesnugging was a new martial art. She backed off the femme she'd pinned and nodded to her somewhat awkwardly in a "hey, no hard feelings" way. "I'm fine. No harm done. I...apologize. We're...kind of on-edge here." Her glyphs were rife with military markers indicating that "we" included the 'Bots and the front in general.

Jazz's smile had faded a little at Shiftlock's rudeness, but he then nodded at Arcee's words and turned back to Elita. "Yeah. Y'dropped into a real hotspot. 'Bots, 'Cons, and even a bona fide Neutral DMZ, all on one teeny planet. Welcome to Earth, Elita." Jazz's field flared in welcome/happiness.

It did him good to see so many of the Order still alive, too, green or not. He said as much. "How many you got with you? Got a ship around here? I hope you didn't crash. Planet seems to have a crash-inducing field around it...."

Jazz sent an update back to base, with a few extra exclamation points and hearts and sparkles after Elita's name. Optimus, if nothing, would be glad to hear that Elita-One still functioned.

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"Flareup and Hot Rod are my only companions," Elita told him, her field answering Jazz's with happiness and gratitude, and nodded to Arcee in thanks. "There are more coming; if you would prefer they stay in orbit for now I'll tell them. And we certainly did not crash," she added with a mock frown. "The ship is intact and well cloaked. We were planning to use it as a mobile base, depending on the situation here. I'd heard things were - heated on this planet, which is why we came. But if things are as dire as you say... and a DMZ here as well? Remarkable." Elita tilted her helm at her friend, her glyphs taking on a hint of teasing. "Assuming you have managed to remain on speaking terms with the leadership there, can I ask you to make introductions?"

Meanwhile, Hot Rod was sidling a step closer to Arcee, remaining just out of striking range in case she was overstepping herself again. "Those moves you used were amazing," she half-whispered. "Could I spar with you sometime?"

[Deleted]

<<Gonna try puppeting Arcee here, based on what Stark and I have discussed in cbox. I'll leave this open for an OP tag afterward, so he can have his reactionshot to finding out that Elita's still around to beat him up. So, Jazz/Arcee->OP->Elita/Co.?

Let me know if I get anything wrong or anything needs changed. *flies by seat of paaaaaants!*>>


"More coming", "ship is intact", "mobile base".

Oh, was that sweet, sweet music to Jazz's audials. Jazz pinged Arcee excitedly and she sent back the military equivalent of "what the frag, Jazz, who are these people and should I be concerned that there are more of them coming?"

Jazz scraped together an info pack on his personal interactions with Elita and the Order. ::They're good mecha and good fighters. Sometimes they'll fight with us, if the 'Cons are breakin' the rules of war or attackin' innocents. Very least, they'll defend the DMZ with their lives. At most...I dunno...." Jazz's glyphs took on a slight tactical bent. ::Might have to see how they feel about the four billion oblivious organics the 'Cons sometimes terrorize.::

While Arcee digested, Jazz made the requested introductions. "This is Arcee, current acting commander of Autobot base Omega-1. The uh...antisocial one is Shiftlock, and I am hurt, by the way, at the insinuation that I might have gotten myself in trouble. Hurt. Especially since I've been promoted and seem to be current-acting-second-in-command. Yeah, I dunno how that happened, either.... Anyway, everyone, this is Elita-One of the Order of Solus."

Arcee straightened at the mention of her current rank. Scrap, this was supposed to be her decision, wasn't it? But from what Jazz had briefed her on, the addition of significant friendly-Neutral forces--and a commander that Optimus knew well--seemed very much out of her league. She commed a report back to the base, flagged it for Optimus' direct, immediate attention, and requested further orders.

Then she blinked at the femme looking at her hopefully and said, "Uh...thanks. ...Probably?"

[Deleted]

“Look, gimme a minute, kid.” Arcee held up one hand as she turned her back on the gathered group of Neutrals, Elita One among them, looking both nothing and exactly like one might expect the leader of the Order of Solus to look – like she could break you in half and somehow, like she would never do that. The contradiction was an uncomfortable one for a soldier. Elita looked… well, she kind of looked like Optimus once you got past the frame-type. Arcee stopped a good ten meters off from the group, leaving Jazz to make with the nice and the chit-chat. Internal comms connected and Arcee pressed two digits to her audial. “Optimus. It’s Arcee. You there?”

There was a momentary quiet, then: “I am here.” Primus, he sounded tired. “What is it, Arcee?”

“New arrivals, Optimus. You’re not gonna believe this but… the Order of Solus is here.” She waited for Optimus to comment but there was nothing from his end. She could not tell if he was waiting for her to elaborate or had been stunned into silence… or if maybe he was still only partially cognizant because he’d almost been cut in half very recently and she should be handling this on her own and not bothering him… “Elita One,” she continued, suppressing a momentarily burn of self-recrimination, “is here with a small unit of her femmes with more incoming from the sounds of it. She’s got a ship in orbit. Jazz seems friendly with them and all but... I’m going to direct them to the DMZ, Optimus. Unless…”

“Elita One is planet side?” Okay, so it had been shock.

“Yeah. She’s got a few blades with her – Hot Rod and some gestalt named Flare-Up. Look, I don’t think we should be entertaining Neutrals, Optimus. Not after the slag at the DMZ. I’m glad Shadow’s back, but she could have just as easy been Barricade’s latest spark-shuck because of what happened. That’s my call, but… it’s Elita One. Figured I should ask you.” She cycled her vents a bit. “What do you want to do?”

Three minutes later she walked back to join rest. “Optimus gave clearance for Elita One and Hot Rod to come on base. Blind jump to one of our shielded outposts. Galactic Positioning Systems won’t work and don’t try to get ‘em to.” Her voice was a degree cooler than was strictly polite. “We don’t need Neutrals with tactical intell. Clear?”


[[OOC: Once everyone's given thumbs up and the like Cee will call for the groundbridge and we can get our girls on base. Flare-up will likely get called off to join Sola looking for Verdie and crew.]]

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Elita nodded to her, optics serious. "Clear."

It was always thus with the Autobots, Elita reflected with some chagrin. They were allies in this war, but there were things the Order could only do if they did not answer to the Prime, and they sacrificed some trust as a result. It was their right, of course, and Elita couldn't blame them for their caution, but... well. It was what it was.

The groundbridge opened up in front of them; Elita allowed the Autobots to form up around them, Jazz in the lead, Arcee and Shiftlock behind. "Come, Hot Rod," she called.

It will be nice to see Optimus again.

[Deleted]

Jazz grinned all the way through the groundbridge. Elita was here. This was excellent for several reasons.

1) Elita!
2) Optimus might even crack a smile.
3) The Order was officially neutral, but they certainly helped the Autobots more than the Decepticons.

Jazz's day, it was looking up.

~FIN