Ep. 1.5 - The Fifth Degree - (Closed)
Mar 23, 2013 18:45:12 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2013 18:45:12 GMT -5
<< OOC Note: set a day after "The Late Shift"! >>
The Neutral Base was not what he had expected.
Haven, they called it.
'An old energon mine,' the files on the computer had said. According to them the base was built around a large central atrium, from which the other main tunnels branched. There was indeed a medical bay, cobbled together from the gutted salvage of several ships. A warren of personal quarters knit through the mine, worn from use. Minerals gleamed in the deep.
He had studied what information he could find. Dug up a map, taken note of all protocols to be observed while on site. It was good to be prepared. And he did not want to prove Optimus' faith in him misplaced. He was an officer no longer but he would act like no fool.
As instructed, he checked in with the personnel on monitor duty and turned to face the ground bridge as it spiralled into life. It felt odd to be walking into a strange place without his heavy rifle clipped to its familiar place at the small of his back. But he would observe all stated protocols, and that meant no weapons. As he waited for clearance to step into the portal he felt a peculiar sense of disquiet pass through him, like a ghost in his neural net. Irritably, he pushed it down. This was no mission. No crisis. There was no enemy to face. No emergency to oversee. This was not even an official visit. It was an excursion, meant only to answer questions that rumour would not satisfy.
He told himself it was not to be an interrogation.
Calm. Focus.
And yet when Fortress Maximus strode from the droning lights of the Control Room and into a dark and cavernous place that echoed his footsteps back to him in distant chuckles, his feet took him in one direction while his mind went to another.
The big mech stumbled, his steps abruptly uncoordinated. He almost clapped the heel of one palm to his optic before he caught himself. He snatched his hand back and seethed. Damn it.
Maximus forced himself to stand upright and deliberately glared about the cavern. And it was a cavern too; his red optics took in the roughly hewn rock walls, studded with makeshift lights. Wires were strung along them, routing electricity from some power grid humming deeper in the facility. Lights twinkled in dark tunnels.
He inhaled. A cave. Nothing more.
Logic would dictate that a medic would most likely be found in the medical bay. Maximus set out towards it at a brisk pace, his strides long and clipped. As he walked he touched the side of his helm and opened up a comm channel on the common Neutral frequency. "Medical Officer Cleaver?" he said brusquely. "This is Fortress Maximus, from the Autobot base. I apologise for the intrusion at this late an hour. I am inbound to the Medical Bay. Are you there?"
The Neutral Base was not what he had expected.
Haven, they called it.
'An old energon mine,' the files on the computer had said. According to them the base was built around a large central atrium, from which the other main tunnels branched. There was indeed a medical bay, cobbled together from the gutted salvage of several ships. A warren of personal quarters knit through the mine, worn from use. Minerals gleamed in the deep.
He had studied what information he could find. Dug up a map, taken note of all protocols to be observed while on site. It was good to be prepared. And he did not want to prove Optimus' faith in him misplaced. He was an officer no longer but he would act like no fool.
As instructed, he checked in with the personnel on monitor duty and turned to face the ground bridge as it spiralled into life. It felt odd to be walking into a strange place without his heavy rifle clipped to its familiar place at the small of his back. But he would observe all stated protocols, and that meant no weapons. As he waited for clearance to step into the portal he felt a peculiar sense of disquiet pass through him, like a ghost in his neural net. Irritably, he pushed it down. This was no mission. No crisis. There was no enemy to face. No emergency to oversee. This was not even an official visit. It was an excursion, meant only to answer questions that rumour would not satisfy.
He told himself it was not to be an interrogation.
Calm. Focus.
And yet when Fortress Maximus strode from the droning lights of the Control Room and into a dark and cavernous place that echoed his footsteps back to him in distant chuckles, his feet took him in one direction while his mind went to another.
The big mech stumbled, his steps abruptly uncoordinated. He almost clapped the heel of one palm to his optic before he caught himself. He snatched his hand back and seethed. Damn it.
Maximus forced himself to stand upright and deliberately glared about the cavern. And it was a cavern too; his red optics took in the roughly hewn rock walls, studded with makeshift lights. Wires were strung along them, routing electricity from some power grid humming deeper in the facility. Lights twinkled in dark tunnels.
He inhaled. A cave. Nothing more.
Logic would dictate that a medic would most likely be found in the medical bay. Maximus set out towards it at a brisk pace, his strides long and clipped. As he walked he touched the side of his helm and opened up a comm channel on the common Neutral frequency. "Medical Officer Cleaver?" he said brusquely. "This is Fortress Maximus, from the Autobot base. I apologise for the intrusion at this late an hour. I am inbound to the Medical Bay. Are you there?"