Hello, all. New chapter of a new story, yay! Xobit played herself, while Longshot was writen by Oriet

Standing in the door to the training room, Xobit observed the femme seeker for a while. It was not hand to hand combat she was training in, but rather a series of fast, agile moves to keep herself out of reach of an enemy. She was good at it! If she was everything that was written in her bio, she would bring many needed skills to the Nerdene Hyrde's crew… all Xobit needed was to persuade her into joining. "Hello Longshot… may I have a breem or two of your time?" Xobit was careful to time her question to a pause in the seekers exercises.

Longshot looked over to see who was interrupting her training. It was someone she didn't know, a darkly colored femme around her own height. Landing and walking over to the femme, she replied, "Certainly. What can I do for you?" Something about this femme was digging at the back of her mind, as though she ought to recognize her. 'This better not take too long,' she thought, 'I'm still waiting to meet the Nerdene Hyrde's Prime, and I don't know when he'll get here.'

"I would like to know what wishes you have for future assignments?" Unconsciously, Xobit reached up and rubbed a digit over the spot on her armor where an infrared scan would show her now outdated rank of 2IC. She had avoided getting the rank insignia of Prime for eight joors, it would not last much longer…

Seeing the femme rub where her rank was, Longshot quickly looked over on IR, feeling embarrassed to have overlooked that. Seeing that it was the second to a Prime, she saluted. "Sir," she said, recognizing the femme's rank. 'I though the Prime was going to come meet me personally, not send his second.' "I'm hoping for a post where my skills will come in useful. I prefer for there to be a good amount of camaraderie, as long as it doesn't hinder or compromise professionalism."

Waving a hand in casual dismissal, Xobit spoke, still a little distracted by the thoughts of her new rank insignias. "No need for rank yet, right now I am just feeling you out. It is important that you fit in to the crew… we are going a bit in the extreme with this after all!" A quick smile flashed over her faceplate before she continued. "An all femme crew is not possible, but we are close! Do you feel comfortable with working directly under a Prime?"

"I would be honored if one thought me fit for such a position," Longshot replied. 'No need for rank yet? What kind of hard aft Prime is it I might end up working under? Is he using his second to lower my guard, in hopes he can get some angle to blackmail me with? Wait, an almost all femme crew? What kind of pervert is this Prime? Oh no, he's trying to profile me so he can seduce me and use that to blackmail me into illegal action!' Longshot was starting to panic, but was doing her best to remain looking calm.

Looking sharply at the flier, Xobit wondered at the bland answer, it could mean just about anything and wasn't really encouraging. She needed another flier in the crew, and Longshot was the only available one with the needed mix of skills… unless she chose another mech. "I can't really use honor as a basis for choosing you… is it serving under femme superiors you have a problem with? Aren't exactly conventional, I know…"

"I would have no problems working under a femme," Longshot replied. 'But wasn't I just asked about working directly under a Prime?' Her thoughts ran through the previous scenario, only this time replacing the mech with a femme, which lead to an even more ridiculous 'ending.' 'No, that wouldn't make sense, get a hold of yourself. A femme Prime is more likely too....' Thoughts of pink halls, pink consoles, curlicue designs all over the place, bubbly optimism everywhere, and more, filled Longshot's head, making one of her optics momentarily flicker. 'Working in such an environment would be torture,' she thought. 'Slag! Too late to rescind what I said! I'll just have to make the best of things then.' "I just have one odd request."

Freezing in her tracks, Xobit replayed the flier's actions in her head, was she… flirting? That was a first then, none of the other candidates had done that. She didn't particularly like it… not that the femme was unattractive, but this was not the situation to, yeah. "An… odd request?"

"Could the different sections of the ship be painted in a different base color? I know that's not standard procedure." 'No way can I directly say "Don't make it pink!" I'd get refused for the assignment then, and who knows when I'd get one then.'

Staring at the other femme, Xobit was completely blank for several clicks before she rounded on her. "Room color? Why would I have anything to do with that… I run a ship, not the personal lives of my crew!"

'I get to choose the color for my own room? Hmm, maybe this is just a relaxed crew.' "Well, I was meaning more the command center, med bay, rec facilities, and such. I was thinking that different colors might help people keep in mind what section they're in, and so help them focus on their duty, or help them relax when off." 'Wait, she runs the ship? What kind of unorthodox command structure is this Prime using?

Staring blankly was getting rather old! "Oh...! Well, that is actually a really good idea. I will have to see what Loki and Wishmaster have to say, but that might not be a bad thing at all. Of course we'll have a pit of a time deciding what color goes where…" Musing out loud, Xobit was focusing intently on a standard orange wall… "orange tends to get boring anyways… so yeah, I think we could work on that thought!"

'Oh, thank Primus! At least there won't be an over abundance of pink. I...guess I could get used to committee action for decision making. It'd sure beat the draconian despotism my last assignment had.' "It sounds like I will greatly enjoy working under your Prime then. Might I ask where your theater of operations is going to be?"

"Working under my Prime? I am sorry, I thought that Loki had informed you who you would be meeting today?" What in the pit was going on here? Who did the seeker femme think she was talking to… did she really want that question answered? "I think you have misunderstood a couple of things...! or I have…"

"Yes I was informed... but your rank is..." Longshot quivered. Snapping a salute, she said, "S-sir! I deeply apologize! I-I meant no disrespect! It was a lack of observation on my part!" Her venting had gotten shorter and quicker, and her trembling was showing despite her efforts to remain still at attention. 'Well, I just slagged my chance at what seemed like a good assignment. I'll be lucky if I only get knocked down a couple ranks.'

"Maybe I should just clarify some things, and you would you please stop apologizing, the 'sir' can go as well, you are not yet a part of my crew." Again waving the formal address off Xobit wondered if this was a simple misunderstanding or Loki's way of giving her an 'interesting day. "I am Xobit Prime, leader of the Nerdene Hyrde's crew. I am assembling a mostly femme crew and would like you to join it, provided that you fit in with the others!"

'Stop using sir, to a superior officer? Am I being kicked out of the forces!? Guess I really blew it... wait, what? Yet?' Longshot stood 'at ease,' using her training to relax her venting. "Yes s-" Longshot caught herself before she got any further on 'sir,' "yes." It would hardly do to slip up right after being corrected. 'She really does seem to be annoyed with constant military procedure. It would be nice to have a little... breathing room.' "I didn't have much, or really any, time for socializing on my last assignment, so I fear I might be a bit of a wall engraving, at least at first." She shifted to a more relaxed, natural position, letting one arm drape at her side with the other grasping it from in front, and putting most of her weight on one foot. Looking down towards the ground, Longshot shifted her optics back up to Xobit. "I hope that won't really be a problem."

"That is not a problem, no, we have quiet ones on board already, one of my recon specialists lives in the venting system, if you can believe that!" smiling quirkily at the flustered, if finally relaxing, femme, Xobit shook her head lightly. "No, actually every one of my crew has, at one point in their career, been described by the words 'glitch head' or 'malfunction'. What I am interested in is whether or not you can function in such an environment… I am prepared to give you a trial period of two orns, after that we are going on yet another scouting and cleaning mission and likely won't be back for a vorn or more." Waiting expectantly, she studied the femme again. Wall engraving or not, she was a very beautiful flier, at another time Xobit would have sighed and dreamed about her... now that time was long past, the flier would be a valuable member of her crew… and personal feelings and desires would once again have to wait. 'Ah, Glyph you would have hit me for that thought' dermaplates curled in a faint sad smile…

"A little bit of eccentricity is just fine, as long as they work well together." 'Eccentricity is the sign of the best and the worst crews, and sometimes they're one and the same. But I can't say that, and she is nice enough, in mannerisms and body.' "I don't think I'll have any problems working under you," Longshot said, slightly tipping her head to the side, "but I can't be certain until we try it." 'Did I just say it in that way...? I mean, yes she's attractive, but she's gonna be my superior, and even if they're a relaxed crew I don't think they'd be that relaxed!'

"The crew works… finding new members, not so much. I value my strange little family though…" Thoughtfully watching the flier, she realized that this one stated truth, but thought more then she vocalized, intriguing. It was a quality that reminded her of Excavator more than Glyph… but then again, Xobit still saw them in almost everyone… "Well, that is all I can ask for, if you are agreeable you can be transferred before next shift? And I would like you to discuss the idea of color coding with Loki, Wishmaster and I as soon as possible, preferably after your next recharge cycle, if that is convenient?"

"Absolutely," Longshot said, starting to straighten to attention, "shouldn't take much longer than a joor." She stopped herself from completing attention and saluting, instead running her hand on her neck before offering it for a shake, hoping she wasn't then being too casual. "I look forward to a long relationship with you."

Interesting word choice, intriguing … Repeating her earlier observation, Xobit shook the offered hand and smiled openly. "Welcome to my crew then! I might as well tell you a few things before I go and make it official though." Smiling reassuringly she gestured for them to start walking again. "If you do need to address me by title, I prefer 'Prime' or 'Sir', but again, in any situation where it is possible, drop the honorifics! My CMO, Wishmaster, is gruff, and heavy handed with the wrenches, but the best there is. My 2IC is a very large dinobot femme… hum, that is the basic introduction, the rest well, they do introduce themselves quite well."

Following alongside Longshot commented, "I've never met a dinobot before." 'It's going to be somewhat challenging to not throw honorifics around like they're half of the Cybertronian lexicon. "And as long as it doesn't feel like you're being torn apart more than put back together, Wishmaster will likely be more gentle than the last CMO I had to see."

"Well… they are not much different from everyone else, no matter what you have heard, Longshot. Mostly they have very thick accents or clip sentences at odd places, people often make the mistake of thinking them dumb because of that and there off stems their reputation for violence… they don't like to be called stupid or other derogatory names." Gesticulating with one hand, Xobit grasped the flier's arm with the other, directing her to turn towards the base commander's office and letting go the moment she followed. "And no, Wish' may yell a lot and throw tools around, but he does remember to keep your pain receptors offline or to sedate you… We need to talk to Lightvoid, I need you on ship fast, don't worry, I'll just poke my head in and tell him I need you, then you can go pack."

'She actually touched me... gently... to lead me? Wait, now she's let go, and yet...' Longshot slowly let her arm rest at her side again as she followed, still mystified by Xobit's action, yet feeling somewhat disappointed that the touch didn't last longer. "Alright..." she stopped herself before saying 'prime.' "And I can fully understand why they wouldn't appreciate such. No one likes an insult, especially when it's far from true. Also, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, once the transfer is complete, do you think Wish'... could run a full systems and maintenance check on me before I'm active on the duty roster?"

Stopping abruptly Xobit turned on the femme, managing to not look horrified as she looked her chassis over for visible damage. "When was your last check? And why the frag hasn't your commander made sure you had one… Wish' will take his head off!" How in Primus' name had the flier been able to move that fluidly if she had not had proper maintenance... it was a problem that would be addressed the moment she stepped on the ship! "I won't have much say in the matter, Wish' will likely drag you off the moment he gets wind of your transfer."

"My last check was... several vorns ago. And I wasn't kidding about feeling like you're being turned into scrap more in the medbay than the battlefield. As for my... last, commander," oh, it felt so good being able to have that qualifier in, "he left it to our own discretion, but excessive use would be penalized. Quite frankly I'm not sure if he had executive punishments in mind, or if he just meant the quality of service, but questions were not something he looked kindly on." 'I'm... babbling to her, and she's not minding or giving any indication of annoyance or displeasure over it... at least none directed at me. Hmm, maybe I need a deeper systems diagnostic than I thought, as surely my sensors are failing to pick it up.'

"What the frag? 'Excessive' use my aft!" Grasping the femme's arm once again, she set of at a faster pace than before. "I am going to get you on board my ship this joor or someone's cranial unit will be separated from their sparks!" Growling with a mix of worry and agitation, Xobit hauled the hapless femme though the base and into Lightvoid's office, completely ignoring the secretary mech that half rose to stop her. "Xobit Prime. I am effecting an immediate transfer of the flier designated Longshot to my ship. Make sure her belongings are transferred within the next half joor!" Turning she stomped out, still dragging the femme.

Longshot stumbled as her new Prime was suddenly pulling her along behind. She debated kicking in her thrusters to just glide along, but she wasn't quite falling over in trying to keep up, and flying in halls was generally looked down on. Her thoughts were being a bit jumbled and overlapping for even her to follow; about all she was able to really pick out was something about "protectiveness," "belonging," and "property." Longshot was so busy trying to keep up that she didn't realize quite where they were headed until they were passing Lightvoid's secretary as though he wasn't there. She attempted to salute, having to use the wrong hand for it as Xobit was still holding onto her wrist. Xobit also seemed to be ignoring proper formalities even here, although Lightvoid was lower rank. Before Longshot was anywhere near prepared, she was being dragged out of the room again, spinning and being closer to falling than she was in the hall. She was so stunned that her mouth just hung slightly agape, unable to even voice her confusion.

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