Flashback - Economic Intelligence - Closed

[Deleted]

[[Office of Lord Megatron - set during the timeframe of Episode 0]]

Ratbat waited politely on the threshold of Megatron's office. He'd privately commed Fairwinds to announce him, as was his recent practice - while the data was still out, he felt acting through the cassette reduced his likelihood of accidentally interrupting anything. He'd noticed how favored the cassette was. And he also knew how much Megatron disliked being interrupted.

When the doors silently slipped open, he was ready. His pedes clicked quietly on the floor as he crossed the threshold. This part of the ship was built entirely to Lord Megatron's scale. He was utterly dwarfed by everything - the throne, the desk, and Megatron himself. Behind him the massive doors slid shut, leaving him alone with his lord and Fairwinds, perched on the back of his dark throne. Megatron's mood was short of actively murderous today, Ratbat thought, but it was often difficult to tell what the Lord of the Decepticons was really thinking.

There was a certain fundamental caution necessary in approaching Megatron. Ratbat well understood this from his long service. Nevertheless, access to Megatron was power in and of itself. There were many things that could not be accomplished without Lord Megatron's favor. His disfavor could be equally devastating. Presenting reports and proposals in such a way as to maximize the former and minimize the latter required expert personal attention.

Ratbat's economic reports on the state of the Decepticon forces crossed this desk every cycle. On average, he accompanied personally them a few times a joor. Sometimes Megatron demanded his presence in rage or anger, but not this time. There were simply matters he felt needed to be decided this cycle, and he felt it best to bring them to Lord Megatron's attention himself.

He performed a respectful obeisance and then transformed, abandoning his robot form for his more usual flight form. Arcing up, he alighted on the back of one of the chairs in front of Megatron's desk.

"My Lord," he said, polite, submissive. "I have the cycle's reports, if you are ready for them."

[Deleted]

Megatron did not immediately look at Ratbat, completing the encryption on the datapad before transferring the file to a chip and holding it up to Fairwinds. The cassette took it in her beak, bobbed her head back, and then opened her "mouth" as wide as possible, glossa flicking, to show him that the chip was gone.

"To Shockwave, Fairwinds, in Hanger 13. Be prompt."

Fairwinds chirped assent, clearly delighted by her task, and hopped forward in a short flight to land beside Ratbat on the opposite chair. She nudged a folded wing into the elder's own caped one, optics flashing at a comparable wattage to her smile. "See you in a bit." Then she hopped forward again and took flight out of the office doors and down the corridor.

Once the seal had relocked, Megatron turned his full focus to the remaining cassette, one thick arm resting atop the table and ending in a loose fist. Almost four million years of service hadn't quite taken all the queerness out of their relationship - a former Council representative now in service to a former drop-caste miner. Megatron's original occupation had come in useful in picking apart the minutia of Ratbat's reports. Privately, when he was in the mood for it, he found the old and straightforward familiarity relaxing.

Not that Ratbat ever needed to know that.

"Proceed, Ratbat," he rumbled, sitting back in the chair with a small, vague motion of one hand. "I trust that Soundwave has already supplied you with the information you require to validate the increased consumption through Shockwave's channels."

The Phantom was still in the process of being unlocked and bent to his will. It was difficult work, and Shockwave's primary directive at present, as well as Barricade's. Megatron was more than willing to channel a significant chunk of the Nemesis's power into making the Fallen Weapon work.

[Deleted]

"Yes, my lord." Ratbat said with barely a flicker in his EMF. "I have been working on the usual contingency planning for that."

Very little more needed to be said - Megatron was well aware of Ratbat's general opinion of Shockwave's projects. Direct criticism would not be tolerated with this one, the cassette gathered, being something Lord Megatron had ordered himself, but...

To business.

The emitters on his wings charged, and a starfield shimmered into existence beside him for a few moments, a snapshot of the remnants of their war. Decepticon symbols were scattered, and transitory Autobot contacts marked here and there. Communications were dubious enough that it was likely rather out of date, and since they were neither importing energon nor exporting it from their current operations it was irrelevant to the current economic situation. However, this was how they always began.

Next. Earth, spattered with glowing blue patches of energon deposits. A sped-up animation of their mining operations from groundfall to present took a few moments, winking blue dots out in succession. Fuzzier blue patches snapped into focus as they were discovered, but the overall pattern was of diminishing returns. There were still known energon deposits remaining, of course, but many were quite difficult to reach and had not been developed yet. And the largest patch of blue by far remained untouched under three kilometers of Greenland glacier .

The slowly rotating globe froze, and a pinpoint of blue flashed into existence. "New discovery," Ratbat said, flashing a succession of images, sensor readings (his own), mining plans, and a timeframe.

The globe began to rotate again, showing current mining operations and the percent of each deposit they had exhausted. Two had reached depletion, and Ratbat highlighted them in turn, bringing up the net energon retrieved from each and various other statistics.

Ratbat always started with the mining when he presented to Megatron. It was the side of his work Megatron most understood. Digging down to that level made the mech think about what it cost to get the resources that it was his privilege to allocate. Or at least... that was the hope.

[Deleted]

Megatron raised a hand above the desk to a height parallel with the display, though did not reach across the space. He navigated the projection with one talon-tip, highlighting specific data labels with a touch that triggered the display to expand into more detailed information. Ratbat's presentations were second to none, and scanning through their intricacies in this way was a habitual and necessary component of their face-to-face meetings. In his digitally submitted reports, Ratbat was just as comprehensive.

Specifically, the Warlord was interested in the personnele and most recent progress reports of the operations that had been under Starscream's initiative. Following that, the composition of last litres of energon that had been mined out of the near-depleted operations for traces of chemicals that might indicate deeper 'off-shoot' veins, and finally to the new deposit Ratbat had highlighted to him. He kept the administrative cassette waiting all of eight kliks.

Finally he waved a hand to dismiss his investigation and reset te display back to Ratbat's original configuration. Then, optics snapping back to meet the cassette's, he uttered: "Continue."

[Deleted]

There was a brief delay during Megatron's explorations as Ratbat converted some of his recent Starscream-specific reports to a format that would be familiar and inoffensive to Megatron. The transition was not entirely seamless, and Ratbat got a narrow glance as the presentation did not behave as expected. One of the depleted mines was a significant deposit they had been working for nearly a local stellar cycle - the other a minor one already exploited by the Autobots they were merely cleaning out. The new deposit was small to moderate, but deep enough that it had the potential to be larger than they could determine from the surface.

Ratbat transitioned to the multilayered production/consumption charts at Megatron's order. They were hovering around the breakeven point now, where last joor they had been positive.

"If it were not for an unanticipated drop in Autobot raiding activity, we would have had to dip into reserves this cycle," Ratbat commented. "The loss of the Gobi source combined with unanticipated energon draws from Shockwave's division is unfortunate. There will need to be a major reallocation of resources to support the latest project with our diminished inputs, and I've prepared four alternatives for you to consider at the the end of the meeting."

He unexpectedly detoured sideways then, to bring up a new set of charts that normally did not come into these reports at all - relating to the Autobots.

"My Lord, I would also like to bring this to your attention. These are past and projected Autobot energon expenditures, based on known Autobot sparkcount and estimated overhead." A flat line, covering the past several years, spiking after battles, dropping to a new base level after Starscream's termination of the one designated Cliffjumper, then growing again at remarkable speed with the new additions that had been sighted by intelligence.

"Here is their estimated resource access from mining and raid activities." The line matched the other quite well for most of its run, sometimes arcing above, sometimes dipping below. Raid activities became frequent after the period of no contact ended, then suddenly dropped some time after the Autobot reinforcements arrived. The lines diverged at that point abruptly, with consumption spiking far above resources.

Ratbat highlighted the discrepancy. "My personal interpretation of this is that the Autobots are now getting up to half their energon needs from sources unknown to us. Either they have discovered a major refined cache, have imported resources, or are doing significant mining of unknown deposits." Ratbat's optics stared up at Megatron. "My Lord, I believe it may be profitable to devote some ship resources to solving this little mystery..."

[Deleted]

Megatron nodded fractionally, lowering his hand back to the desk to rest the tips of his claws on the metal. "Agreed - and I'm inclined to suspect that it is the last of those possibilities. There have been rise in Autobot landfalls recently, and not all of them intercepted. More likely someone with mining proficiency has fallen into their lap than someone with a specialised knowledge of spacebridge technology. They are not importing energon - they are mining our raw sources."

The warlord sat back with narrowed optics, mouth set in a hard line of displeasure. "And that needs to stop."

Before the Phantom's launch went unspoken, as after the Fallen ship had been bent to his will and put into the atmosphere, then the Autobots were scrap and the miner issue would be redundant. Hitting Team Prime's energon and morale before the final attack, whilst not necessary to Decepticon victory, would still be beneficial.

[Deleted]

Ratbat's wings twitched. "Mm. Ones we haven't found yet, if so. I will certainly direct more resources into fuel scouting. Regardless of what we find, we need the resources."

His head tilted. "Lord Megatron, if I may ask... do you have an estimate for the ongoing energon draw of Shockwave's project, once it becomes operational? None was provided to me. I hesitate to mention this, but our current production is not sufficient to operate the engines of two ships at once for more than a very brief period without relying on reserves. It will likely become necessary to land one or both or remove a ship to orbit."

Of course, regardless of how Shockwave's project turned out, all their figures would look much better if they dropped the whole floating fortress of death thing and parked the Nemesis permanently, but Ratbat knew his lord well enough to understand that that particular argument was a lost cause.

[Deleted]

Just as he had in Kaon, and much to the distaste of the Council, Megatron bore his field loud and brash. It preceded him as a moving wall of indomitability, conveying strength and power without before his visage was even looked upon. At Ratbat's familiar advice, it thickened and pressed against the walls of the office in unspoken warning.

The Nemesis would never land for longer than repairs and maintenance periodically required whilst there was still an Autobot presence on this planet. The warship's constant movement, in combination with its stealth capabilities, was the largest advantage they held over Optimus Prime, immediately followed by its weaponry and on-board crew. They would need a precise combination of location and co-ordinates to board the Nemesis in a surprise attack. Further to that, the ground lift made transporting mined energon up from the several operations currently active around the planet both quicker and safer.

"The Phantom is intended for single use once it is active," Megatron replied, brushing through the air in front of the projection again to summon up the submenu depicting the current draw of energon into Hanger Thirteen. "Shockwave will utilise whatever resources are necessary to fabricate the power transmitters that will be used to overwhelm the ship's AI, as well as to focus on the Phantom itself. This weapon once fired upon Prime will end the war. If we need to utilise the reserves to make it operational, it will be done. We can always replenish from the mines."

[Deleted]

"Yes, my Lord." Ratbat said. He waited several beats, noting the tingling aggression in the air, careful for those few moments to do nothing that could be interpreted as further provocation. His own EMF was close-guarded as usual, not that it would be easy to distinguish in the first place under Megatron's dominant aura. He infused the projection with the slight glow that indicated he was prepared to move on, but waited until the warlord was clearly finished with his explorations before shifting back to the starfield.

"I should mention beforehand that the four reallocations I am about to present to you assume we will be continuing on our current war footing in the short term. There's no reason to believe the current influx of Autobot refugees will suddenly cease, and there are certainly holdouts here and there. But if the project succeeds in activating the Phantom and ending the war, different considerations will apply."

His field flared out for a moment or two, barely an undercurrent compared to Megatron's, but enough to convey the seriousness with which he took the next subject.

"Lord Megatron, every one of our resource constraints will still apply the cycle after you destroy the Autobots once and for all. We are still a population on the edge. Changing that will require changing who the Decepticons are.

"Destruction is all that many of your soldiers know how to do, but that will not rebuild Cybertron. I have given some thought to the subject of demobilization and retraining, but I cannot do detailed peacetime planning until I understand your current priorities."

Another head tilt. "So I must ask. What are your plans for the Decepticons after the death of Optimus Prime?"

[Deleted]

Though the major drive that had sustained Megatron's unfaltering force across four million years of war was to crush the Autobots, and Optimus Prime in particular, what they would do following their inevitable victory had never been far from his processor. Megatron did not possess the same lust for opportunistic violence for violence's sake that many of his troops did - though he was quite willing to utilise such a bent.

The War was a path towards complete and lasting change for their race, an abolishment of everything under Zeta Prime's rule, and one that should already have ended were it not for Prime's refusal to die. It was not sport.

Ratbat's query held the insinuation that Megatron had not given the New Age to be ushered in by their victory significant thought. Megatron elected to give the cassette the benefit of the doubt, in this instance. The former senator was too useful to cripple over an accusation not outright made.

"When Optimus and his unit here on Earth have been destroyed, we will continue mining operations until the resource is depleted." Megatron's stare through the projection was clear and flat, his certainty and conviction lacking the inflection of any sort of mania.

"Optimus Prime's frame will be confirmed as terminated by an Autobot medic to substantiate a universal announcement of their Commander's demise and the call for remaining Autobot forces to surrender. If they elect not to, then our army will still not be operating to such a fuel-demanding degree, and we will accumulate far more than we expend."

Pausing, Megatron lay a hand on the massive desk before rising smoothly to his pedes. He came around the dark expanse of metal to stand, towering, beside and over Ratbat.

"We shall gather as much refined and raw energon as our holds will carry and return to Cybertron. Demobilization will be gradual." A thin, not entirely pleasent or reassuring smile. "Do not assume that even our most battle-hungry troops cannot be bent to a useful purpose in peacetime. They will do as I command, Ratbat. Now and until I am unfit to do so."

He did not impart the crucial point that they would be taking the Matrix from Optimus's Prime's chassis in an attempt to restart Cybertron's Core alongside the energon infusion.

[Deleted]

Ratbat barely hid his flicker of unease as Megatron spoke. Yes, despite the calm words the demagogue was still under there. And while that was the side of Megatron's personality some mechs found most appealing, Ratbat feared this side of him greatly. For many reasons.

Frankly, as far as the Decepticons were concerned Ratbat was ideologically suspect. Not only was he very much of the old order, but he had been publicly aligned with Zeta Prime, Optimus Prime, and the other members of the High Council against Megatron when the conflict first fractured. Megatron, though well aware how long Soundwave had controlled him, had certainly not forgotten.

Ratbat understood how to run a planet and a civilization. He did not understand how to run a civilization in a way Megatron would find acceptable. Most of the High Council's policies had had entirely valid economic justifications. Or other justifications... Ratbat recalled his own desperate struggles, before the caste system brought order to society.

The hand came down on the desk. Megatron stood. Ratbat kept his perch and outward composure, but his field betrayed - for just an instant - true fear.

He still didn't understand what Megatron would want in peace, how much he would be willing to compromise his dreams. He did not think those dreams were very compatible with their present reality. But, if this was indeed the final victory... he would have to navigate that minefield very soon. Or pay the price.

Ratbat dipped a wingtip as Megatron underlined that his troops would do as he commanded. He craned his head up at the figure looming over him, shifting the presentation back and up to be more readily visible. No, he did not like that smile...

"Of course, Lord Megatron. Do you desire a rundown of the resource reallocation plans I've submitted, or do you wish to consider them in private?"

[Deleted]

That Ratbat moved the projection to a more accomodating angle was gently amusing to the warlord, particularly in conjunction with the shrinking twitches in his miniscule frame.

Ratbat had had a lot of authority on Cybertron, and the nature of his responsibilities on board the Nemesis, with his own dedicated team of Eradicons and relative autonomy from the rest of the crew, continued some measure of that authority. Manipulation through the tedium of forms and files. Intimidation by his short-cut access to more intimidating mechs if bureaucracy didn't work. Control through the distribution and allocation of their fuel.

It was the last that made Megatron particularly interested in periodically reminding Ratbat of his place. Yes, the Nemesis ran smoothly with him, but it would survive without him. He'd sooner have Soundwave lobotomize the cassette than extinguish him outright, however - and he suspected that Ratbat knew that.

After a long, optic-holding pause to underline the moment that had passed, Megatron glanced to the constellation of glyphs. "I don't require you to summarize them to me. I will take them at my leisure." Red optics just off the colour the crystals should be clicked back to ruby-clear. "Was there anything else you wished to discuss today?"

[Deleted]

Ratbat could recognize a graceful out when one was offered. There would be other opportunities to attempt to bridge their differences in worldview enough to outline his specific postwar concerns.

"Nothing urgent, Lord Megatron," he murmured.

He considered the impact of Megatron taking the reports. On the one wing, this greatly increased the odds that Megatron would do his own revisions, which he'd then have to work around. On the other wing, there were things he'd be obliged to highlight and explain in person that Megatron would probably miss in the report. Overall it would likely be a wash.

He shut down the projection in five quick stages, carefully stretching his upper sets of wings and allowing them to settle. His lowest set was folded down to allow him to perch with reasonable grace. Attentive optics tracked Megatron, who was still far too close for comfort.

[Deleted]

Megatron remained watching Ratbat, standing close enough for his field to fully engulf the cassette, whilst the data transfer took place. There were several facets of the report that he was inclined to scrutinize, and a consultation with the lead Vehicons of the mining operations. The Eradicons, too, would need to be spoken to regarding this mystery mining Autobot.

The warlord looked towards the door a klik after the file had downloaded into his processor, and only a moment before the doors slid open and Fairwinds came hurtling at her usual 'this airspace is mine' speed. When Megatron did not raise his arm to her, she landed neatly beside Ratbat on the back of the chair.

She bumped the older mech, their wings already in contact, before turning bright optics up to her master. "Done!" The announcement was framed with a grin along the length of her wickedly curved beak. "And Shockwave wants me in 8.2 breems for 'initial integration testing', Master."

"Very well, Fairwinds," Megatron replied, his tone unreadible but no longer as openly intimidating. He moved back around the desk, looking to both cassettes before returning to his previous position on the chair/throne. "You're both dismissed. Good work as always, Ratbat. I will alert you to any alterations."

[Deleted]

Ratbat waited for the more energetic cassette to hurtle back out towards the door before rising to a sedate hover and unfolding his wings fully. Given his wingspan and her enthusiasm he knew they would have otherwise risked collision, and Ratbat preferred to maintain some semblance of dignity whenever possible. He'd only managed to get tangled up with her on Megatron's desk once, something he most sincerely did not want to ever repeat.

It was a bit of a slight to be grouped with Fairwinds, whose favored position at Megatron's side had nothing to do with intellectual capacity and who seemed a bit... damaged... at times. But if it amused Megatron to think of them as a pair right now... well, he could work with that. Better than some alternatives.

He could hardly claim to be undamaged himself, these cycles.

A small wing tip salute/acknowledgement, a sweeping turn over the desk, and he was out the door, heading back to the office he shared with the logistics team. Back to work.

[[end]]