[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Salida

[Sparkplug]

Propping her chin in the palm of her hand, Sparkplug listened with companionable curiosity to Finale, cocking her helm slightly. As the other femme described the inhabitants of Darka 12, however, Sparkplug shook her head ruefully. No wonder she hadn't ever run into any of the species, if they were so locked into their environment that there were only a couple of planets in the galaxy capable of supporting them. Not that she wasn't still curious about them - far from it, her wide-ranging fascination was only honed by the cursory description. All the same, as Finale segued into discussing her own specialisations and philosophies of combat, Sparkplug relegated further questions about Darka to the back of the queue, to circle back to later.

"So your services were the bribe, huh? Taking out political rivals the really, really efficient way. Guess that livened up the discussions of what colour is best. And you're painted black, too, that must have really frustrated them. They'd have had so much more to discuss if you were a pleasant fushia." Sparkplug grinned. The admission that Finale was specced for assassination really didn't seem to bother her; perhaps simply because Sparkplug possessed a simple, straight-forward belief that she was meant to be on the Decepticon side, with no room for doubt that it might unexpectedly turn on her.

"Met a mech on the Nemesis that likes melee weapons. Well. When I say 'likes', it goes a bit past that, he's armed exclusively with knives. Blackframe. White and black paint job. We don't get on," she added, with a shrug of one shoulder that inadvertently mimicked Finale's gesture of a moment before. "We met, we talked, he tried yelling at me, I yelled back, that was that. You might have better luck." It wasn't hard to decode that Sparkplug doubted it, but clearly she felt obligated to mention the mech due to their shared interests.

"Now, me," she went on, "I'm the total opposite of that mech that shoots badges off mecha from a klick away." She flashed a smile, playfully conspiratorial. "I'm all about the construction of the weapon, wringing every last bit of efficiency out of the design. When it comes to actually fighting with it, well. Not had a lot of close-combat experience. Tell you what, though, any mecha picks a fight with me, they'd be in for a big surprise."

Tapping each of her shoulder-mounted headlights, they briefly pivoted up, revealing the snub noses of ranked micromissiles, before clicking back into place. "Dual short-range batteries. Paired gatling blasters down here," she went on, touching her torso below the swell of her chest armour, "and then there's the big show. Particle cannon. Had to build a blast-back emitter into the shoulder just to take the recoil, in the end." She waggled her left arm, but didn't go as far as transforming it into the weapon she described. "Can't say I'm great for hitting moving targets, but on the other hand, I can hit darn near everything near me, so that's something."

[Deleted]

As she listened, a strange, half smile formed on Finale’s face, a single corner of her mouth turning up slightly. To anyone that knew her well, that was a rather startling sign of amusement, honest and innocent. The thought of herself as fushia.

When Sparkplug spoke of Blackframe, though, her smile vanished. She took a sip, then spoke.

“I know mecha like that. They lack confidence in themselves and their skills, and so must shove themselves in other’s faces, demanding respect that they lack due to a unbalance of their own thoughts and emotions. The moment one must raise their voice to someone who should be an ally, they have lost any semblance of being in control.”

Finale paused, and took another sip. She half smiled again when the other Femme began to speak about her weapons and fighting.

“I imagine anyone attempting to stop you would be for a surprise indeed. I have only known you a short while, but your energy is astounding. Anything you lack in precision, I am certain you make up for in commitment.”

Another sip.

“You should consider training in close quarter fighting. It is extremely difficult to truly control the battlefield, and you may find yourself in just such a situation at some time. I admit, my fighting style is more acrobatic and depends on speed, not strength.”

There was a pause as she looked around the room again; taking stock of who or what had changed, if anything. Then she spoke again.

“Speaking of my fighting….are there empty rooms available for use for practice? I train daily, and some of my practice requires room to move about. My meditation will not be a problem, any room I am given will do, but I will need room to move about. If not, would I be allowed to find a place above where I could train? I could easily wait for the local sun to set before doing so, and finding a place humans are not likely to spot me. But I tend to become….anxious and unpleasant…when I am not able to practice.”

There was yet another pause, “And one more thing, if I may. You said Starscream is now in control of the Decepticons? I should present myself to him at some point soon, as I am certain he will need to be made aware his ranks have increased by one. Do you know when he would be available for such? Does he have a schedule you are aware of, or should I merely ask someone to let him know I am available at his convenience?"

[Sparkplug]

It was nice to see the other femme smile.

Sparkplug shifted position as Finale talked, her green gaze drifting over the dark Decepticon's chassis and idly wondering what kind of form she'd adopt when she got around to picking out a new alt mode. Something sleek and impressive, for sure. Finale seemed pretty insightful too; or at least, Sparkplug certainly wasn't inclined to argue with her assessment of certain loud-mouth mechs.

Acrobatic too, apparently. Sparkplug could believe that, too. Smiling at the compliment about her personal energy, she replied, "As far as close-up stuff goes, you're right that it's not my best way of fighting. That said, closer in you get, the harder it is to avoid the area-based weapons systems, so any mecha that gets too close to me is probably going to get nailed."

She paused. That didn't sound right. Replaying her words in her processor, she waved her hands, and added quickly, "Not that I mean - you know. Enemies. Enemies is what I meant. Uh." Casting around for a way out of her conversational pit trap, she went on, "You could probably show me how to be better at close-in stuff. Other than firing all my weapons. I mean, it wouldn't be hard. I'm not that great. At that."

Well, she could probably just erect signs around the conversation and call it a disaster area. Moving to a different, safer topic, she tried, "Makes sense that you should be registered with the base's systems, so if anything happens we've got you logged as having been here at the time. I'm not sure where Commander - drat - Lord Starscream is, right now. We've not got an enormous amount of space to work with in here, but he does go outside sometimes. There's a space he's claimed, right off the command centre. We could go try knocking on his door, presuming someone's put one up by now, or you could just tell one of the vehicons on duty that you're here and would like to present yourself at his convenience. Your call on that, really."

As for Finale's other question, well, space was limited, but... "I think the rec-training space got repurposed for vehicon barracks, but there's still a lot of digging and drilling going on, and the place changes by the planetary cycle. Put it this way; either there's a space down here you can use for training - down by the generator, maybe, no mecha wants to spend too long down there - or we can dig one out. Every problem is solvable in the end, if you work at it." Well. Nearly every problem. Their declining population was going to wipe them out, and that was that. But whatever; this wasn't the time or conversation for that. "In the meantime, if we can't find a space inside that'll do, I'm sure you can get authorisation to train up top, in the dark. As long as you don't leave obvious marks or tracks to the entrance, I think Pyrotech's got other things to worry about."

[Deleted]

Finale took another sip, to hide the second smile that threatened to show itself. It appeared Sparkplug was very good at talking herself into corners. She hoped the femme didn’t have the same problem in battles.

She waited until she talked herself out, nodding faintly, before placing her container on the table. Resting her elbows on the table, she brought her servos together, entwining her fingers, resting her hands against her lips. She studied the other femme in silence for a few moments.

Sparkplug was small, as she herself was. Normally, that made for a disadvantage in fighting, unless one was quick. Brute strength only counted if you made contact with what you were punching at. Weapons, of course, were faster. No matter how fast you were, it was unlikely you could outrun blaster fire. But there were ways around that as well. Successfully using cover. Crippling an opponent so that ranged weapons were useless. Blinding them so their targeting system was corrupted. There were ways around everything. And if Sparkplug’s frame moved as fast as her mouth, she could be a good student to train. She would never become skilled at stealth, mind you, not unless she changed her color scheme.

That arm, however.

It would throw off her balance unless accounted for, and that would take time.

Not impossible, though.

She spoke, her mouth still hidden behind her hands.

“The problem, as I see it, with using area of effect weapons, is that you are often right in the middle of said area. Of course, I am not an expert, and bow to your expertise in these matters. I am certain you have already figured out a way to limit damage to yourself.

Training you would not be impossible, although you would have to understand it takes a great deal of training to be proficient at close quarter combat if you are not a heavy hitter. It would take away from your engineering position, and I am certain you do not want that. That being said, there are a few things I can show you that can, at the very least, temporarily incapacitate an opponent so you have a greater chance of escaping.”

A pause.

“As for Lord Starscream” - Finale caught how Sparkplug corrected herself. The now-leader of the Decepticons must have a will to be known as such. And while he was not Megatron, she would be wise to agree to it.

She was still worried, though, about Megatron. Where could their great leader be?

“ - I will let it be known I am available at his convenience. I am certain he is busy with many things, and it would be improper and impolite to simply show up at his quarters demanding an audience to introduce myself.”

She gave another nod, lowering her hands, picking up her energon again, “I will seek out this generator room and see for myself, thank you. If it is not acceptable, I will go topside to practice, and will be certain to leave no trace that could be discovered.”

Finale took a long drink from her container, finishing the energon in two gulps, before setting it on the tabletop again.

She dipped her head to Sparkplug in silent appreciation, “Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, it is appreciated. I am certain you must have important things to do, and I do not wish to take any more of your valuable time. I believe I will take a look around the new base, and familiarize myself with it’s layout. Unless you wish to tell me something else, or need me for something?”

[Sparkplug]

Sparkplug cocked her helm as Finale stared at her silently, then belatedly realised she was being weighed up for the prospect of training. Er. How did you look suitable for training? Did she seriously want to try? Something about the silent assessment was making her take the prospect a lot more seriously in a hurry.

Then Finale raised the issue of firing patterns. Oh, well. Sparkplug relaxed a fraction; that was something she knew plenty about, at least. Gatlings for close-in defence, short-range missiles for the ring immediately around her minimum safe detonation distance, and the big cannon for all the ranges after that. Finale did raise a fair point though - it was obvious that if she decided to take on the burden of training Sparkplug, she was not going to do it in half-measures, and that would occupy a fair bit of both their time.

On the other hand, in the current circumstances, it would at least give her something to do...

She mused on the topic as Finale moved on to other subjects. While Sparkplug could sometimes be a little oblivious to social cues, driving straight over the top of contextual information without even slowing, it was clear that their chat was drawing to a close. Well, she did have a lot to figure out, and get settled in, the white-armoured femme supposed.

"Well, as fair as getting time for training goes, I'm not all that busy. You know. What with the ship going down, my laboratory being sunk to the bottom of the ocean literally the breem I finished it, and this darn truce to worry about, I don't have anywhere to build things and I'm not allowed to build them even if I do. So, well." She shrugged loosely, her wheels shifting in her back. "Probably got time. Depends on you, I wouldn't make any pledges to do anything yet. Boss might have a use for you I haven't thought of yet."

Finishing off her own energon, she planted her hand on the table and levered herself up, rising to her peds with a little roll of her shoulders to stretch them out. "Good luck with the base-wandering. Shouldn't run into any trouble, far as I know. With everything as packed as it is, won't be hard to find some mecha to ask anything that occurs to you, and Pyrotech was pretty good about marking anything dangerous clearly. At least, before we started digging new tunnels all over the place."

Giving Finale an equal little bow of her head, her field bright with amiable friendliness, she went on, "It's good to have you here. Under any circumstances, it'd be great to have another friendly femme about, but given the losses in equipment and personnel we've taken lately, I'm darn sure you're going to be a very welcome addition to our presence here, and Lord Starscream will tell you the same thing. If you ever need me f'r anything, well, I'm not hard to find."

With a friendly parting wave of her oddly-structured arm, Sparkplug turned to head back down to the lower corridors. Her room 'door' could definitely still use some work, and in the absence of anything else to do, she might as well...

[Deleted]

Finale listened as Sparkplug spoke, and nodded.

“If I am not put to use right away, it would be a pleasure to try and teach you some self defense. I believe everyone should know some, in the event they are caught in close quarters with an Autobot.”

Watching Sparkplug rise, Finale dipped her head respectfully.

“Again, I appreciate your help. I do not know how long I may have been up there, waiting to find some entrance to this underground base. You have my thanks.”

Another nod to the other femme as Sparkplug left, watching her for a few moments before rising herself. It were best she got a basic layout of the entire base, such as it was, if she were going to spend any time down here. Plus…she wanted to find every exit in and out of this place. She might not be panicking at the moment, but she still felt a sense of unease, knowing she were in an enclosed area that could very easily become smaller at any point. Knowing where each exit was would reduce her stress to a degree.

All the same, Finale felt she would be spending as much time topside as possible, once the planet’s solitary sun was below the horizon.

Turning, the assassin moved nearly silently into one of the tunnels, as she began her exploration.


~fin~