Ep. 1.5 - Burning Man - (Closed)

[Deleted]

Maybe.

Maybe meant yes, if her distressed body language said anything. Maximus regarded her steadily, not bothering to disguise his flat stare. He wondered if perhaps the question had struck a nerve, or else delved into sensitive information that the Decepticons were not willing to share. She seemed unwilling to discuss the subject, at any rate.

His gaze drifted to the seams of energon welling on her throat, the drops on her talons. Quickly, he averted his optics.

Maximus shook his head.

“Not officially, no,” he said. His frown deepened. “At least, not to my knowledge. Though I suppose it’s possible that Autobots visiting the DMZ on unofficial business or on leave have discussed the threat that MECH poses to our kind with the Neutrals there. A formal warning should be issued to them however. Their anonymity will protect them for only so long.”

He gave a huff, his vents rattling harshly.

“Have you ever fought any MECH soldiers or personnel?” he said. “I mean, you as in the Decepticons in general. Ever gotten into any major skirmishes with them, in force? I don’t mean stealth assaults like with Breakdown, but actual head on encounters that would give you an idea of their weapons and defensive tech.”

[Deleted]

As a general rule of thumb, if anyone other than a ranking Decepticon officer asked about combat encounters, you exaggerated favourably. It was good for the grunts' morale and demoralising for the Autobots'. There was also reputation to think of, and as history was written by the victors and they were pretty much assured victory (in Fairwinds' mind), then they may as well write themselves up as they went along.

This meeting was quite outside the general norm, however, and she herself had put down that they should answer honestly. Bigging themselves up when MECH were pretty soundly eluding being slagged wouldn't help at all.

Magnus didn't, however, need to know that their assault on MECH had seen their Commander in Chief wounded so grievously that he'd been relieved of command.

"They've been going after our patrols for months, learning in the field," Fairwinds replied, flicking a claw through her spilled energon. The scratches on her neck stung, and it helped her concentrate. "We review all footage of direct contact. Two weeks ago we made an attack on a facility they were sending transports through."

The cassette squinted up at the significantly larger mech, the fanning plates of her tail shifting and readjusting. It was alien to her nature to keep still outside of direct surveillance, and she wanted nothing more than to hope onto a different rock. Or perch up in that tree over there so she was above the Autobot's eyeline.

"We made out of there with some weapons we haven't seen them use before. Nasty, nasty prototypes with acid and slag that goes right through the mesh." Scratch scratch. "No torture chambers, though. It wasn't a a site they'd have moved anyone to. Just weapons and cars and trucks and data they got a lot of the way through destroying. And now a smoking crater."

Sharing what was successfully recovered from an otherwise clusterfrag of a raid was quite outside of Fairwinds' jurisdiction.

She bobbed her head deeply towards the Autobot. "Same question."

[Deleted]

A Decepticon attack on a MECH facility?

Maximus' optics flickered. He hadn't heard about this. To his knowledge none of the Autobots had.

He listened intently, his expression impassive. In contrast to the cassette he stood as still and dark and silent as a stone. His mind raced. So, the Decepticons had assaulted one of MECH's bases and come out of it stocked with raided human technology. Weapons, specifically. Prototype weapons that sounded as if they were designed for one purpose: to damage Cybertronians. It lent further evidence to the theory that MECH was seeking ways to hunt and kill their kind.

Maximus absently rubbed his finger over the trigger of his rifle. The big gun was still braced against his shoulder, aimed harmlessly back at the sky.

"We've had hostile encounters, yes," he said. "Most have occurred outside of active combat, however. Our field agents have come across MECH personnel in urban human environments - in cities across this hemisphere. MECH appears to be taking advantage of its integration with the local population for the purpose of recruitment. So far as we can tell they are interested in those with technical backgrounds - engineers, computer scientists. Makes sense, given their displayed interest in technology."

The next question came readily to his mind, though Maximus was loath to speak it aloud. He struggled visibly with it, scowling.

"If - if - Optimus were to ask for schematics on the weapons you recovered," he said through gritted teeth, "would the Decepticons provide them?"

[Deleted]

Fairwinds dipped her head until the pointed tip of her beak was resting against her chassis, staring up at Maximus from the uppermost extreme of her orbital range. It was as incredulous a look as the cassette could give without hurting herself.

"Tchyuh," she huffed, plates twitching with the force of the scoffing sound. "Do I look like I pitch in on the command meetings? That's a question for Lord Megatron or Commander Starscream, and it wouldn't be coming from you, then."

Quite honestly, Fairwinds didn't know if Megatron would give concrete data on MECH to the Autobots once his processor was back in order. She suspected that part of the reason he'd sent her out to lay this track was because he didn't think he would do it after the system reboot that would see his war-hardened personality restored.

They couldn't undo this conversation (short of destroying Fortress Maximus before he made it back to the Autobots), and the Decepticon command staff would have to deal with the ramifications of having shared intelligence against a common foe and potentially laid some groundwork for a temporary alliance.

Which was just tough cookies, in Fairwinds' mind.

The cassette straightened up on her perch, prim and serious. "Suppose this is as far as we can take this, hm?"

[Deleted]

Maximus narrowed his optics.

"Looks like it," he said.

He shrugged his rifle off his shoulder. It fell back into his hands with a solid thud, its generator already whining into life.

"Out of respect for the information exchange and the seriousness of the situation that prompted it, I will honour the cease fire until you are outside of my scanning range," he said. His bearing was emotionless and stiff again, his gaze aloof. Beneath it a cold burning anger simmered, thinly disguised by the neutrality of his words. "Beyond that, I will assume that any and all Decepticon radar targets are hostile, and will respond with force."

He wanted to go back to the hanger on the base, to think. To let this conversation distract him from another bad night. To let his mind distill all that she had told him into plausible data and determine the best way to disseminate it to Optimus Prime and any other appropriate authorities. What he did not want to do was stand around talking to a Decepticon any longer. Now that he was aware that he was doing it again it was beginning to physically pain him.

Maximus unclenched his jaw and held his rifle across his chest.

"I would suggest you expedite your departure," he said. "It will be monitored."

[Deleted]

Fairwinds' engines and blasters had warmed as soon as Maximus raised the enormous rifle, sputtering curses in her head about damn dirty 'bots. His overly aggressive dismissal was laughably, formally violent, though, and she settled again with a good-humoured smile.

She knew from multiple accounts that the former warden was far from all talk, so this bit of blustering was a nice surprise. Flaring her wings, the cassette made a show of stretching out the overlapping plates. She jumped from the rock and engaged her thrusts, taking her briefly to the Autobot's eye-level.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going, I'm going," she sing-songed, gaining altitude at a fast clip. Because she wasn't going to push her luck with this mech.

Fairwinds climbed for as long as it took to ping the Nemesis, and then she was flying into the green halo of the groundbridge opened for her. On the other side, she zipped straight on past the Eradicon at the controls and out into the corridor. Ascending several levels, slowing only long enough for the odd laggy door sensor to catch her, and then she was back at her master's quarters.

She unlocked the door without comm.ing ahead. It was dark inside, and she found the Commander on the berth. Faint light was flickering across his optical crystals, his ventilations quiet and slow in the way of system power-downs. She perched on the Decepticon symbol on his chassis, peering down at him.

::Fairwinds to Knock Out. Master's undergoing the full reboot and defrag. I'll keep you posted.::

::Very good. I'm a call away if you think anything might be going amiss.::

A nod to herself, then Fairwinds closed the channel. She tucked down on the warm metal, resting her chin on her carrier's armor.

"So, I went to find an Autobot, and it was Fortress Maximus, but I think it went super well," she told his jaw. "I'm gonna compile a report for the commanders whilst you sleep, Master, and for you too. For when you wake up. In case you don't remember."

Then, quieter, she added, "Please, please remember you told me to trade information with an Autobot when you wake up. And not mesh me or stuff me in a pipe or shoot me for treachery. Kay? Kay. Awesome."

Fairwinds smiled, chirring to herself, then sunk back into silence. Her optics remained fixed on Megatron's faceplates, waiting for the warlord to return.