[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Multiplication [Lt. Alder, Jazz, Skirmisher]

[Nathan Walker]

Week Two, Day Five...

Late Morning...

It has been two weeks and he still could not believe it. Humanity apparently was not alone in the universe and the first lifeforms they encountered were giant war machines that turned into vehicles. And apparently, they had been at war with each other since dinosaurs walked on the earth. Plus, they had technology that was light years ahead of anything that humanity developed.

And command expected him to assist them.

So now Nathan was waiting in a non-descript hanger on an undisclosed military base dressed in jeans and an untucked button down shirt, Beretta M9 handgun hidden underneath in the small of his back. He had been advised that the nature of the mission was discreet and off most official books, hence the lack of uniform.

He’d also kept his hair longer than regulation and had a few days of stubble on his face, per his usual since he joined Special Forces. He didn't know the full extent of these Autobots and their military, but he figured they'd understand asymmetrical warfare. The name "Autobot" didn’t make any sense to him but sometimes names lost meaning when translated to another language.

He had his duffel bag slung over both shoulders loaded with some essential gear. His rifle was in a case with a few loaded magazines being carried in his right hand and a backpack in his left. He was informed that there was another human on the base named Lt. Adler, so he was not too concerned with ammunition or supplies.

His assignment also wasn’t really a combat assignment, it was more of an intelligence mission. Something about a rouge techno terrorist group that was giving the Autobots trouble. Besides that he had not received too much information from Agent Fowler before being transferred over to NEST.

With that, he dialed the number given to him on his cellphone.

“Sergeant Nathan Walker requesting transit.”

[Skirmisher]

[Week 2: Day 5]

[Location: Earth: North American Continent: United States of America: Nevada: Jasper: Omega Outpost: Control Room]

The notion he'd pulled Monitoring Duty in the Control Room hadn't bothered him due to Red Alert's Security Regulations that demanded not only having someone on duty in the Control Room at all times to being able to decipher or intercept incoming transmissions, but it had given Skirmisher time to further his own understandings of this Planet. He'd been on Earth for several Millennia, but had been active in the Modern Century as the humans measured and hadn't entirely warmed up to how much Earth had changed.

"Sergeant Nathan Walker requesting transit," a speaker chimed.

The voice on the other end had been filtered and sent on an encoded carrier frequency, and he'd known even before his internal linguistics database had deciphered the language that the Sender had been human. He'd been informed by the others including Agent Fowler that the NEST Organization planned to have dispatched more of its personnel to the Omega Outpost, and the Praxian concluded that Sergeant Walker had belonged to the NEST Organization. Though to be on the safe side, he'd ran a few quick checks of his own to determine the location, the authenticity of the signal, the device used and ran at least several checks on Sergeant Walker's Identity and voice in comparison to those Manifests of NEST. It may have taken a little bit longer than he'd anticipated, but with the hybrid of Human-Tech and Cybertronian Tech processes took only slighter longer than a few nano-kliks if there weren't any hang-ups.

"Sergeant Walker, stand by. Insure you are alone," Skirmisher said. Switching open a secondary channel on an encrypted fequency paging Optimus Prime, he'd opted to have followed Base Protocol in at least informing them of the arrival of more personnel.

"Skirmisher to Optimus Prime, I've intercepted a transmission from a Sergeant Walker, a Non-Com of NEST over an encrypted frequency. He has requested transport to the Outpost via Ground Bridge. Skirmisher, out," he'd said. Switching that secondary channel closed, he'd logged the call from Sergeant Walker in their own records and his location before having crossed over to the Console for the Ground Bridge and activated it. He'd checked Sergeant Walker's location before having opened the Ground Bridge.

The multi-colored vortex formed as the Ground Bridge activated kept in line by the structure Ratchet had constructed, and within moments a similar vortex formed near enough to Sergeant Walker's location.

[Deleted]

Last night the ladies of the base had gotten together for a card game, hosted by the quirky and fun loving Sundance; and it was an incredible night. It felt so good to just take a moment, forget about what was going on, and have some fun for once. Laura was so excited to be invited along to play with the femmes, and despite the size of the cards in comparison to her own height she managed to hold her own.

The card game was filled with several twists and turns, but the winner came out on top after a brilliant strategic move on their part.

Since the game had gone nearly the whole night and Laura had a couple beers during the game, she opted to crash on the couch in the control room instead of finding a ride home. What she forgot though was the planned arrival of the new NEST operative, Sergeant Nathan Walker.

Adler didn't know Sergeant Walker personally, only seeing him in brief passing at NEST. When it came time to select someone else to join her at the Autobot base she had been given a list of several good soldiers; but Nathan came with high recommendations from Captain Jonathan Terrill. Before his retirement he had been one of Adler's commanders in her early career. It was a bit of a risk choosing someone who hadn’t been with NEST as long as others had, but she highly respected the man and if he personally had a recommendation she was going to take it.

Laura managed to get in a couple hours of sleep before getting up about a half hour before Walker's arrival time. Besides being a bit stiff (that new couch really needed to be worked in more) she was as rested as she was going to be. When Nathan's call came in she was in Fowler's office making sure things were organized and she was looking presentable. She strapped her M9 holster to her hip, tossed on her leather jacket and walked out onto the cat walk.

“Good morning Skirmisher.” Laura greeted as she came over to stand as close to the Autobot as the platform allowed. Watching the vortex roar into life Laura crossed her arms across her chest, then glanced over at Skirmisher. “Let’s hope we don't scare the new guy too much; I’m not sure if he has even seen Fort Max yet, let along any other bot.” She said with a smile.

[Jazz]

     As was typical, Jazz was the last to recharge and the first to come out of it. He had always been on short cycles, which was good when your skills required you to be on call pretty much 24/7, but annoying for everyone around who had normal cycles and didn't pull shifts the way he did. Due to this, he usually spent his nights pulling graveyard patrol duty and his mornings camped out in his quarters until the daily orders came through. At least since he had been on Earth he'd been able to watch the sunrises, which he did with Cliffjumper every morning without fail and never grew tired of it. 

     Today had been no different, only the sunrise had also brought in some rain showers with it. While the humans would have called it being 'rained out', Jazz had stuck around to just feel the falling water run over him. On Cybertron that wasn't possible, since acids usually made a mess of paint jobs and weak metal plating, so being able to actually enjoy what was coming out of the sky proved to be a check on his 'favorites' list.

     Now that he had come back inside and had dried off, he was wandering the halls sorting through some new music that he had stored away to see what wanted to keep and what he probably wouldn't listen to ever again. He was mindful that not everyone would be awake at that time, so instead of blasting it so all could hear and risk ruining someone's dream world, he played it internally so it was only heard by him which left him deaf to the world around him. As such, he couldn't hear the communications going around in the control room when he entered, so skipped his steps when he spotted the human female he'd seen around from time to time and Skirmisher in the area, scraping his pedes against the floor slightly as a result. It took him a moment to pause his music and reroute his audio receptors to their outward feed again.

     When he could hear again he smiled to the pair and offered a small saluting wave to them with his index and middle digit at the right peak of his visor.

     "Aha, sorry Skirm, Adler. I didn't expect anyone to be in here at this hour." He was surprised more from the human than Skirmisher, since he had definitely heard her awake when he went out for his graveyard shift. "At least didn't expect you, Lieutenant. Didn't think humans even stirred at this hour unless it was life or death- especially after a long night." 

[Nathan Walker]

"Sergeant Walker, stand by. Insure you are alone."

There was something off about that voice that came through, as if he wasn’t a native English speaker but he could not identify the speaker’s accent. It did not match anything that Nathan had heard before. Still, he did take a look around and verified that the hanger he was in was completely empty of other personnel.

“I am completely alone.”

He had barely spoken the words when the air seemed to crackle with energy followed by a massive green vortex opening up with a roar to his right. He just about dropped his phone out of shock before collecting himself and walking up to the vortex. Here goes nothing...As he stepped through it was an...interesting feeling.

Nathan Walker had gone through multiple transportation methods in his time, from horseback to the side of a Little Bird helicopter to the floor of a C-130 Hercules. This was completely different. As he stepped through to the other side of the portal he got another shock of a lifetime. He’d heard people talk about Fortress Maximus back at Blackrock though he had never seen him before. But still, seeing two Cybertronians for the first time was quite the shock. And gave you such a crick in the neck from looking up too high. Just...woah...

Looking up towards the walkways he stopped before standing at attention and pulling up a regulation salute for Lt. Adler. Captain Terrill had mentioned she wasn't a stickler for rules and regulations, but it paid to be respectful since she had earned the rank of Lieutenant.

“Sir, Sergeant Nathan Walker reporting for duty!”

[Skirmisher]

"Good Morning, Lieutenant Adler," Skirmisher said. He'd monitored the Ground Bridge, and howlong it remained operational.

"If he does frighten easily, it will be brief at best. I doubt your N.E.S.T. Agency would have assigned him here or given the number if he's prone to being scared easily," he hadn't been aware of the relationship Lieutenant Adler had with the Sergeant in question or that her former Superior prior to Retirement had given a word of recommendation.

"I will assume you had enough rest. I do apologize for any disturbance that might have been cause to wake you," the Praxian said. He'd checked the Main Control Room prior to reporting for his Duty-Shift for any activity, or presence -- whether Cybertronian or human in case the children had been present.

"I will assume your Morning Excursion had been eventful, Jazz?" Skirmisher asked. He'd noticed or rather heard the impact of Jazz's pedes against the packed concrete of the Silo Floor as the other Mech had traversed the hallways before having stepped into the Control Room.

"I am completely alone," the voice of Sergeant Walker filtered over the com-link.

Turning his helm to face the Ground Bridge, his visor swept the vortex gathering readings including those of the Hangar on the other side and managed to zero in on the form of Sergeant Walker as the man traversed the Ground Bridge before setting foot in the Omega Outpost. The Visor took in measurements, recording them from the man's crown down to his legs and feet in the shoes or boots the man had worn. The material, and patterns of the clothing had been recorded in Skirmisher's own internal archives, including the concealed sidearm in its holster at the man's side before having analyzed the shape and possible contents of the slung duffel bag. The standard issued rifle, or at least what he'd determined to have been a rifle by the size of the case had been analyzed along with the extra magazines for both.

"Welcome to the Omega Outpost, Sergeant Walker," Skirmisher said, in his best english. "If you would, step farther into the compartment for your safety. I will proceed in shutting down the Ground Bridge,"

Submitting a few commands into the console, the servos on his left hand hadn't left the Master Switch for the Ground Bridge and with a practiced ease -- though it hadn't hurt that the Master Switch had been well oiled to begin with -- the Switch slid back into an upward position. The power to the Ground Bridge shut off causing the vortex become narrower before closing completely. The energies from the vortex were channeled back into the apparatus. Submitting a few more commands, he'd recorded in another console within easy reach the usage of the Ground Bridge from the amount of Energon to the time spent open and for whom the Bridge had been opened. He'd leave the Introductions, and the Orientation or Tour to Lieutenant Adler on the grounds he'd believed it would have been less shocking or traumatic for Sergeant Walker.

[Deleted]

Laura chuckled a little at what Skirmisher had said about NEST operatives and nodded. “Very true.” She leaned against the railing and shook her head. “No, don’t worry, you didn’t bother me at all. I managed to get a good cat nap in.”

As per usual when the bots walked around the base Laura felt their approach before seeing them, the vibrations spiking up through her legs. She had been working in the base for a while now and was getting the hang of identifying some of them by feel. These steps were light and about average pace, ruling out the larger Autobots. Laura turned in Jazz's direction as the scraping of his pedes announced his entrance.

“Morning,” Adler greeted, “that would normally be the case; however NEST had other plans today. They are sending over another soldier to assist with the MECH problem. He should be here- well right now.” Laura explained and turned towards the ground bridge as Nathan came through.

Laura knew she was particularly an odd one for being a soldier in the military and yet not a stickler for formality. It had a stiffness to it sometimes that she didn’t like. It had its place of course, such as these situations. Uncrossing her arms she returned the salute, with maybe a little less gusto than he did but certainly not lacking respect. “At ease Sargent.”

She let Skirmisher greet Nathan and once the bridge was closed she proceeded with introductions. She gestured towards Skirmisher with one hand. “This is Skirmisher; he's one of the enforcers and field medics for the Autobots.” Her hand shifted and now gestured to Jazz. “And this is Jazz; he also works Spec Ops.”

Adler paused to allow the mechs to make their greetings before continuing on. “Optimus Prime is unable to meet with you at the moment, but he will check in with you at a later time. In the mean time if you could take the ladder on the wall beside me and join me up here; it's best to stay off the floor while at Omega base.”

[Jazz]

     "Yeah, y'can say that. Ain't nothin' too interestin' on the top ten music charts right now- mostly the old stuff that keeps gettin' popular or remakes of originals that are hit or miss."

     For being a large walking piece of machinery, Jazz was light on his pedes compared to others of his dimensions, but one would have never known when he was just on his casual strolls. That's what made him so dangerous- you could hear him one minute, and then there be nothing the next except the haunting knowledge that there had definitely been something there- silent and deadly like a shark's dorsal cutting through the water's surface before disappearing back beneath the waves.

     Today's casual stroll had him found by everyone, and that was fine. He'd been too interested in what he'd been doing beforehand. Now that he was engaged with the others in the control room, it was time to pack away the tunes and focus on the matter at hand.

     They were getting a new human influence at the base.

     There wasn't much time for talking about this fresh recruit considering that the ground bridge was already operational and dropping off the new arrival. Jazz couldn't tell if he was just operating to the bookworm standard to salute a superior officer at first meeting or if it was the guy's nerves on overdrive, but something about how he greeted Adler was odd. He'd seen this all the time, but Nathan Walker's body language was what Jazz was focused on and the lack of tree trunk stiffness to it that he was used to.

     As it was his time to be introduced, Jazz tilted his helm down in a nod of greeting. He didn't speak yet, as the two humans seemed to be engrossed in their exchange. He just made his way over to the platform and leaned over against it, his left pede crossed in front of his right ankle joint as his full weight rested on his arm that was propped on the railing in the midst of his lean.

     Jazz was mindful of Adler's words. 'Also' was easy enough to pick up on, indicating to him that this new Soldier worked in a related field. Meant that he was either the silent and deadly type with a stiff rod up his ass for protocols or off his rocker with a few loose screws that probably had some serious socializing issues- took one to know one. Jazz wasn't one that could be identified as one or the other since he could flip a switch easy enough, but Jazz knew and he was usually good with doing so in others. It paid to be on his A game and always on his toes.

     Finally a break and he looked between Adler and then Walker. "We try to be mindful of where we put our giant feet since we don'wanna step on anybody on purpose, but some of us get a tad distracted. It's the ultimate game of 'the floor is lava'. If ya can't get somewhere high, jus' keep as close to the walls as ya can. We jus' keep to the middle."

[Nathan Walker]

Nathan dropped the salute upon receipt from Lt. Adler before jogging out of the groundbridge vortex and stepping over to the ladder on the side. It seemed like a good rule to have even if the Cybertronians were watching their step.

As he came over the top, he set down the rifle case with the backpack before sliding the duffel bag off his shoulders. His eyes swarmed over the room before returning to the bots identified as Skirmisher and Jazz.

“Are those names translated over into English or are they names that you all chose upon coming to Earth?”

He then returned his attention to Lt. Alder. He’d heard good things about her from the people that had associated with her in the Special Forces community, but if there was one opinion he had listened to it was Captain Jonathan Terrill. A legend within the U.S. Special Operations community, the man that everyone called Boss did not mince words or play politics. If you earned his respect, he would back you till the day he died. Lt. Laura Adler had been one of those individuals to earn Captain Terrill’s respect. So Nathan would pay heed to it.

“Lieutenant, I am glad to finally meet you. Captain Terrill had great things to say about you. I look forward to working with you.”

His attentioned turned back up towards the others in the room, Jazz and Skirmisher.

“I...I am honored to be here...I look forward to working with all of you."

Her mention of Optimus Prime caused him to nod in understanding. If the head honcho who seemed to command the respect of everyone who had interacted with him, or even those who barely heard of him could not make it, there must be a good reason.

[Skirmisher]

"The Human Species wasn't around when my Garrison first arrived and established Outposts. My original Cybertronian Designation would be too harsh for your ears, Sergeant Walker, but if you wish then Skirmisher is the Designation that translates over into English," Skirmisher said. Locking down the Ground Bridge, and with it the Controls, he'd kept sight of the new human arrival to the Outpost out of the periphery of his visor.

"I did not intend that to come across as an insult, or to offend in the slightest. Our Kind is long lived, to borrow the human word. I arrived on this Planet when Dinosaurs still laid claim, and tiny quadruped mammals posed more a risk to the insulated coating of cables than anything else. I still haven't quite warmed up to how this world has changed, and as to how much it has. I am still learning though," the Enforcer said. He'd opted to have made the log in triplicate, which had been an old habit of when he'd been actively overseeing a Tour. One copy of the log was made for Red Alert and Optimus Prime, while another was for the Ground Bridge Operation Record and the third for his purposes.

"I appreciate the gesture, and it is to you whom I should feel Honored by. You sought the Courage to understand more than most, and to embrace ...what is the term? Extra Terrestrials? I am only sorry we are not stout little aliens from the film E.T. ." the Praxian concluded. He'd made an attempt at a joke, though he'd probably missed a punch line somewhere about the Alien E.T. though he had felt Honored in Sergeant Walker's Courage.

"Lieutenant Adler has been present, and has been counted among the Garrison. I recall it did take her a short time to become accustomed to our size, but she did acclimate accordingly. I am Honored by her Courage in that matter, and for being here. I do hope you will become accustomed, and acclimated to your Posting here," he'd say.

[Deleted]

Laura smiled at Jazz's lava comment. “That's a great way of putting it. Was that you or Miko coming up with that?” Adler asked as Nathan climbed up the ladder to join them. “And depending on your taste in music I might be able to give you a couple suggestions.” She added. Of course she wasn’t sure someone calling themselves Jazz would like the same genre of music as her, which fell more in Miko's area of interest.

With Nathan now up on the platform Laura adjusted her position slightly to stand closer to Jazz so the new recruit had less head turning to do. Her arms returned to their crossed position in front of her. “Terriell held a lot of praise for you as well, it made the decision much easier. It had actually been a while since I had spoken with Boss; I bet he still rambles on about Kandahar and that tricky situation we were in just before my promotion to Lieutenant.” The anti terrorism mission she was on under Captain Terriell had gone side ways part way through and required some creative thinking on both their parts to complete the mission and get their team out of enemy territory. She believed it was one of the reasons for her early promotion.

Laura looked to Skirmisher as he spoke. She felt a lot of appreciation and honor that the bots still placed their trust and respect in her despite the cruel actions others of her kind were taking. “Thank you Skirmisher for the sentiment, it means a lot.” She replied, then added, “And I think I had an advantage when it came to adjusting to the size of Cybertronians, after hanging around Fort Max before my posting here. Excluding Optimus and Thundercloud, everyone is somewhat smaller in comparison. But I get surprised still sometimes.”

“If you'd like Sargent you can stow your gear in Fowler's office -I've somewhat taken it over – and I can show you around base.” Adler explained gesturing towards the open office with a nod of her head. She then looked between Jazz and Skirmisher. “Care to join us? You can explain all the Cybertronian tech.”

[Jazz]

     "Actually, mine's translated that way. There's a fun coincidence to it, though, but that's for later when ya wanna hear borin' tales."

     Jazz's attention went to Adler. He hadn't had much interaction with her outside of the occasional passing by, so he could understand her misconception that she would assume he only got his catch phrases and knowledge of Earth from the kids as most of the others around base. Jazz had been here for a while, and it was his job to know the world around him and how to adapt to the situations in the blink of an eye. It was natural for him to scowler around and learn what he could from his surroundings faster than anyone else.

      "Hey now, I can come up human phrasin' without the need for human involvement." A splayed digit servo was placed over his spark and he gave an expression that feigned hurt which was quickly dropped when Nathan made his way up to the platform. His arms crossed as he looked at the two humans. "I'll take suggestions. I'm always up broadenin' my music library."

      While the three were chatting, Jazz took the time to just observe and keep to himself. They had a variety of things to discuss, including two names that stuck out. Terrill, who was a ranked official to the two humans, and Fort Max, who was one of their own. The former he was curious about and saved the name for later.

     "I'm up for some exploration. Keeps me busy and outta trouble."

[Nathan Walker]

“No offense taken Skirmisher...”

Damn, Nathan was still getting a crick in the neck from having to look upwards so that he could look Skirmisher and Jazz in the eye...well, at least look where their eyes would be behind those visors.

At the mention of E.T. Nathan couldn’t help but give a soft chuckle. One lesson he had learned since boyhood was that nothing ever appeared to be what it seemed. And that lesson was always reinforced by his experiences in the military. Still, learning that aliens existed and that they were not what Hollywood imagined them to be was quite illuminating.

At the sound of Lt. Alder’s voice, Nathan turned back to face her.

“Yeah, he still talks about Khandar quite a bit. That would have been about a...year before I met him right?”

Captain Jonathan “Boss” Terrill had been in the Special Operations game for just under twenty years before his retirement a few months back. Some in the Special Operations community thought it was because of an old back injury that was beginning to act up again after that jump into Syria. But as Nathan had been speaking to him before he left for Black Rock, he’d learned it was a bit more to it than that.

At Jazz’s comment, Nathan turned and gave a soft smirk before returning his attention to Adler.

“That would be nice ma’am. I would appreciate it.”

[Skirmisher]

"My Duty Shift started two Joor ago," Skirmisher said. "I must monitor the Stations. Red Alert's Protocols require it. I do appreciate the invitation, Lieutenant Adler, but it appears Jazz has volunteered,"

"You are more than welcome, Lieutenant. You were not the one behind M.E.C.H.'s latest assault. It is one's merits, and character that to use a human phrase speaks louder than the vile actions of a few," the Praxian explained. With the exception of having observed Sergeant Walker, Lieutenant Adler and Jazz out of the periphery of his Visor, his main attention hadn't drifted or neglected the information on the Main Stations resulting from a hybrid of Human-Cybertronian Tech. "If you thought Fortress Maximus was tall, there were a few Guardians that would have dwarfed him. Those were remnants from an earlier Age, though very few remained operational as far as I had been aware,"

He hadn't wanted to go into his own encounters with Fortress Maximus or the infamous Garrus-9. He'd leave those experiences alone, and would divert his own attention to the matters currently at hand. The Guardians he'd referred to hadn't exactly been something he'd actually encountered, but he had heard stories about them -- or what would have passed as Water-Cooler Gossip.