Flashback - Lowjack - Closed
Apr 10, 2013 21:34:47 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2013 21:34:47 GMT -5
KALIS
The early years of the Great War:
The sky over Kalis was blue, and streaked with contrails.
It was making a lot of people very nervous.
At the Outer Kalis Aerodrome 04, a small security detail stood watch at the perimeter of the landing pad with their rifles in hand and their optics cast upwards. Theirs was a small aerodrome that typically only saw a few movements every day, mostly just small regional shuttles flying workers back and forth from the borders into the heart of the city. Though they often saw high-altitude contrails criss-crossing the sky overhead, never before had the possibility existed that those contrails might belong to hostile aircraft. Now the word 'terrorist' lingered on the vocaliser of every mech on the field.
But today the contrails were merely contrails, fuzzy white clouds that soared from horizon to horizon. And the sky was blue and crisp and clear, and the airwaves were alive with the chatter of the Aerialbots that patrolled the boundaries from Kalis all the way to Iacon itself. Every now and then a white jet would thunder past the aerodrome, which was little more than a landing pad and a glass terminal building elevated high above the speedways of outer Kalis. For today at least, the skies belonged to the Autobots.
Corporal Finraker really hoped that this peace would last for one more day. Just one more day.
Oh Primus, the security officer silently prayed. Please don't let any of those whatsit, Decepticons attack today. Tomorrow? Sure! Thirty cycles from now? Even better! But today? Not today. Anything but today...!
He resisted the urge to stare at the tall Autobot standing beside him. Not today, when the most important VIP that had ever visited his aerodrome now waited for the shuttle that would whisk him back to Iacon City. If this Autobot were attacked and injured on Finraker's shift, it would... not look good on his permanent record.
Finraker fiddled with his rifle instead. Checked that it was loaded with a fresh power cell. Safety was on. He gazed around the landing pad. Everything was clear. His officers stood at attention, their optics sharp. They were anxious, but keen. An awed hush had even fallen over the private security channel. Not a word was breathed over the comms. They all understood just how important it was to stay alert today.
The city of Kalis stood to the south, glittering and silver and proud. Light gleamed off the speedways that raced in and out of the city, buzzing with traffic even at this time of day. Holographic signs and signals shimmered above them, cycling through their list of programmed messages for the afternoon. The air was clear enough that Iacon itself was even visible in the distance, a golden chandelier of glass and light at the centre of its sprawling districts and peripheries. If Finraker squinted and increased his optical magnification he could just make out the tips of the Celestial Spires. Or maybe it was the Decagon, or the High Council Pavilions. It had been a long time since he was last allowed to visit Iacon.
His internal comm chirped. Finraker touched two fingers to his audial and cocked his head as he listened to the incoming transmission.
"I just received a radio comm from the shuttle, sir," he said to the Autobot a moment later. "They're inbound now and on final approach, less than a klik back from the landing pad. We'll likely get a visual on the shuttle itself any minute now. The pilot says that once he lands you should be able to board without delay. He apologises for running late - I gather there was an unexpected hitch at their last point of departure. The commanding officer of the squad that is assigned to escort you into Iacon said that he will explain it once you're on board the shuttle."
The early years of the Great War:
The sky over Kalis was blue, and streaked with contrails.
It was making a lot of people very nervous.
At the Outer Kalis Aerodrome 04, a small security detail stood watch at the perimeter of the landing pad with their rifles in hand and their optics cast upwards. Theirs was a small aerodrome that typically only saw a few movements every day, mostly just small regional shuttles flying workers back and forth from the borders into the heart of the city. Though they often saw high-altitude contrails criss-crossing the sky overhead, never before had the possibility existed that those contrails might belong to hostile aircraft. Now the word 'terrorist' lingered on the vocaliser of every mech on the field.
But today the contrails were merely contrails, fuzzy white clouds that soared from horizon to horizon. And the sky was blue and crisp and clear, and the airwaves were alive with the chatter of the Aerialbots that patrolled the boundaries from Kalis all the way to Iacon itself. Every now and then a white jet would thunder past the aerodrome, which was little more than a landing pad and a glass terminal building elevated high above the speedways of outer Kalis. For today at least, the skies belonged to the Autobots.
Corporal Finraker really hoped that this peace would last for one more day. Just one more day.
Oh Primus, the security officer silently prayed. Please don't let any of those whatsit, Decepticons attack today. Tomorrow? Sure! Thirty cycles from now? Even better! But today? Not today. Anything but today...!
He resisted the urge to stare at the tall Autobot standing beside him. Not today, when the most important VIP that had ever visited his aerodrome now waited for the shuttle that would whisk him back to Iacon City. If this Autobot were attacked and injured on Finraker's shift, it would... not look good on his permanent record.
Finraker fiddled with his rifle instead. Checked that it was loaded with a fresh power cell. Safety was on. He gazed around the landing pad. Everything was clear. His officers stood at attention, their optics sharp. They were anxious, but keen. An awed hush had even fallen over the private security channel. Not a word was breathed over the comms. They all understood just how important it was to stay alert today.
The city of Kalis stood to the south, glittering and silver and proud. Light gleamed off the speedways that raced in and out of the city, buzzing with traffic even at this time of day. Holographic signs and signals shimmered above them, cycling through their list of programmed messages for the afternoon. The air was clear enough that Iacon itself was even visible in the distance, a golden chandelier of glass and light at the centre of its sprawling districts and peripheries. If Finraker squinted and increased his optical magnification he could just make out the tips of the Celestial Spires. Or maybe it was the Decagon, or the High Council Pavilions. It had been a long time since he was last allowed to visit Iacon.
His internal comm chirped. Finraker touched two fingers to his audial and cocked his head as he listened to the incoming transmission.
"I just received a radio comm from the shuttle, sir," he said to the Autobot a moment later. "They're inbound now and on final approach, less than a klik back from the landing pad. We'll likely get a visual on the shuttle itself any minute now. The pilot says that once he lands you should be able to board without delay. He apologises for running late - I gather there was an unexpected hitch at their last point of departure. The commanding officer of the squad that is assigned to escort you into Iacon said that he will explain it once you're on board the shuttle."