[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]A Matter of Necessity - [Closed]
Mar 6, 2017 23:14:21 GMT -5
Post by Skirmisher on Mar 6, 2017 23:14:21 GMT -5
Noticing the smile and nod from Javelin, Skirmisher had felt he’d had at least one friend participating in the mission and he’d returned the gesture. A smile etched itself across his features, if it could be called a smile since most of the time a mech that witnessed the Enforcer smiling would often find themselves either in a holding cell in the Department or with their aft-plates firmly planted in a chair in an interrogation or interview room depending on how one saw it. Though, this time the smile had been reserved for a friend as a kind gesture. Skirmisher hadn’t had many friends, save for a very few that could have been counted on and it had felt good to have found Javelin had been more honest towards him than had been hostile. The uneasiness of Carbine had been something he’d partially expected, given that he’d finally been able to have drawn up the other Enforcer’s service docket including a rather suspicious arrest at a chop-shop followed by a stint at Garrus-One Penitentiary.
While Carbine’s sentence had been commuted given the nature of the war and with the demand for those in the trenches and those with combat experience, the circumstances surrounding Carbine’s arrest in the first place along with another innocent mech caught in wrong place at the wrong time had raised Skirmisher’s own suspicions that the Polyhex Department had been corrupt or at least in some part. Given that he’d held the highest arrest record in Praxus, he’d been able to discern whether a mech had been lying to get out of a lengthy sentence after having been caught with red servos or a mech that had truly been in the wrong place at the wrong time without any association. There had been times during his lengthy tour where he’d had to confront other Enforcers new to the force over-eager to gain attention and glory-hounds whom had arrested innocent bystanders guilty of little more than simply being in the optics of those Enforcers.
His superiors, in the higher echelons in the Department and even with the Towerlings breathing down their necks had found little ground to actually reprimand Skirmisher for having cleared the innocent. It’s not as though, the Praxus Department had wanted to fill their cells with the innocent even if the Towerlings had missed some golf game or turbo-fox hunt. He’d realized from Carbine’s reaction, he’d have to explain his position on the matter and that while they had both been Enforcers from separate Departments they could have been partners at the Outpost if the other Enforcer had been open for the idea. Given what he’d known of Earth’s current atmosphere, with tiny organic humans that may have in large part been as innocent of any crimes had been traipsing the planet, he’d felt one or two Enforcers could do more to protect them even if they remained unaware of it. The same thought went with the mechs gathered in the Outpost Garrison, in that two Enforcers or a single Enforcer could at least keep things from getting too messy.
“Centralia?” Skirmisher asked, the name more an oddity to him considering his previous stint on the planet had been before humans had become dominant. “If the heat produced by the fires consuming these coal seams was enough to force the local population to evacuate, would be it be safe to assume there will be little human activity within that sector? Given what I’ve heard of these humans, I would not seek to cause harm to any of them outside of this MECH I’ve heard of. If it is true and there is little human activity, we would be able to carry out the operation with little risk of interference,”
As his optical visor took in the display of the North American continent before the computer zoomed into the location of the state so called named Pennsylvania and the largely deserted city of Centralia, Skirmisher memorized the maze of labyrinthine corridors and surface streets before having filed them into his own memory module for later reference. “What is the current threat level of Decepticon activity? I doubt they would leave valued equipment behind,”
It went unspoken that Skirmisher would follow through with the notion from what he’d heard that the humans in large part had been unaware of their existence, and would follow an old teaching from Vault that if he’d been able to see the enemy then the enemy could see him or in this case the humans. Insofar as MECH had been concerned, he’d heard, they’d be the exception of that lesson and if he’d found any in the area he’d be certain the Ion Magnum wouldn’t give silent protestation to it. Considering humans had been organic, he’d found the theory that the Ion Magnum may not have had much effect on soft bodies if Javelin’s description of them had been correct in that the humans lacked external armored plating.
Despite that he’d had a chance to study the Treaty through the use of a datapad placed in his quarters within the privacy of his quarters, he’d found the Treaty between the two factions had rested uneasy with him. Until he’d been able to peruse a copy of the document to find the restrictions and terms legally bound he’d barely understood the need or severity of the agreement. The Decepticons had been truly desperate if they had sought out the Autobots in a binding agreement limiting skirmishes or altercations between the two different camps with the exception of if and when MECH had been encountered. Any mech that had stepped outside the limits of the Treaty had been open for reprimand or dismissal or execution depending on the camp of allegiance in question, and while Skirmisher hadn’t entirely agreed with the restrictions of altercations against the Decepticons limited to bludgeoning or non-lethal means due to his own past experiences with them his programming had forbidden him from rejecting the Treaty. The Treaty had been signed in good faith, in an understanding from both leaders of the camps and with it their binding word that each member of their camps would abide and honor it even if it rubbed them the wrong way. He’d decided to have kept those misgivings a secret, or at least as best as he’d be able to.
While Carbine’s sentence had been commuted given the nature of the war and with the demand for those in the trenches and those with combat experience, the circumstances surrounding Carbine’s arrest in the first place along with another innocent mech caught in wrong place at the wrong time had raised Skirmisher’s own suspicions that the Polyhex Department had been corrupt or at least in some part. Given that he’d held the highest arrest record in Praxus, he’d been able to discern whether a mech had been lying to get out of a lengthy sentence after having been caught with red servos or a mech that had truly been in the wrong place at the wrong time without any association. There had been times during his lengthy tour where he’d had to confront other Enforcers new to the force over-eager to gain attention and glory-hounds whom had arrested innocent bystanders guilty of little more than simply being in the optics of those Enforcers.
His superiors, in the higher echelons in the Department and even with the Towerlings breathing down their necks had found little ground to actually reprimand Skirmisher for having cleared the innocent. It’s not as though, the Praxus Department had wanted to fill their cells with the innocent even if the Towerlings had missed some golf game or turbo-fox hunt. He’d realized from Carbine’s reaction, he’d have to explain his position on the matter and that while they had both been Enforcers from separate Departments they could have been partners at the Outpost if the other Enforcer had been open for the idea. Given what he’d known of Earth’s current atmosphere, with tiny organic humans that may have in large part been as innocent of any crimes had been traipsing the planet, he’d felt one or two Enforcers could do more to protect them even if they remained unaware of it. The same thought went with the mechs gathered in the Outpost Garrison, in that two Enforcers or a single Enforcer could at least keep things from getting too messy.
“Centralia?” Skirmisher asked, the name more an oddity to him considering his previous stint on the planet had been before humans had become dominant. “If the heat produced by the fires consuming these coal seams was enough to force the local population to evacuate, would be it be safe to assume there will be little human activity within that sector? Given what I’ve heard of these humans, I would not seek to cause harm to any of them outside of this MECH I’ve heard of. If it is true and there is little human activity, we would be able to carry out the operation with little risk of interference,”
As his optical visor took in the display of the North American continent before the computer zoomed into the location of the state so called named Pennsylvania and the largely deserted city of Centralia, Skirmisher memorized the maze of labyrinthine corridors and surface streets before having filed them into his own memory module for later reference. “What is the current threat level of Decepticon activity? I doubt they would leave valued equipment behind,”
It went unspoken that Skirmisher would follow through with the notion from what he’d heard that the humans in large part had been unaware of their existence, and would follow an old teaching from Vault that if he’d been able to see the enemy then the enemy could see him or in this case the humans. Insofar as MECH had been concerned, he’d heard, they’d be the exception of that lesson and if he’d found any in the area he’d be certain the Ion Magnum wouldn’t give silent protestation to it. Considering humans had been organic, he’d found the theory that the Ion Magnum may not have had much effect on soft bodies if Javelin’s description of them had been correct in that the humans lacked external armored plating.
Despite that he’d had a chance to study the Treaty through the use of a datapad placed in his quarters within the privacy of his quarters, he’d found the Treaty between the two factions had rested uneasy with him. Until he’d been able to peruse a copy of the document to find the restrictions and terms legally bound he’d barely understood the need or severity of the agreement. The Decepticons had been truly desperate if they had sought out the Autobots in a binding agreement limiting skirmishes or altercations between the two different camps with the exception of if and when MECH had been encountered. Any mech that had stepped outside the limits of the Treaty had been open for reprimand or dismissal or execution depending on the camp of allegiance in question, and while Skirmisher hadn’t entirely agreed with the restrictions of altercations against the Decepticons limited to bludgeoning or non-lethal means due to his own past experiences with them his programming had forbidden him from rejecting the Treaty. The Treaty had been signed in good faith, in an understanding from both leaders of the camps and with it their binding word that each member of their camps would abide and honor it even if it rubbed them the wrong way. He’d decided to have kept those misgivings a secret, or at least as best as he’d be able to.