"Out of the way! Move, you repugnant serfs!" Leozack snarled as he shoved his way through the crowd that had culminated around the boarding ramp. The Decepticons nearby made an effort to move away from Leozack, but they were just replaced by others who swarmed in to take their place. Leozack could not have been more disgusted or frustrated.
Lifting up his optics, Leozack saw the large, menacing form of Skyquake break the sea of crew. With an effort, Leozack shoved his way into his second-of-command's path despite being pushed by the whispering crowd that was making way for the little convoy. Skyquake nodded respectfully to the captain and stopped, moving aside slightly to admit Leozack a view of their antagonist.
Sixshot was being carried by an especially annoyed-looking pair of Horrorcons, his arms draped around the Horrorcon's shoulders as his feet dragged across the floor. Sixshot's head hung low, his optics offlined. Leozack motioned for Skyquake to walk abreast with him as they continued on their way inside of the ship, the Horrorcons uttering grunts of relief.
"Back to your posts! All of you!" Leozack ordered the crowd gathered in the hangar as he and the search party entered one of the adjacent corridors. Turning to consider Skyquake, Leozack scowled coldly at his second-in-command. "Why is he injured? What happened?"
"We found him this way. I don't know how he was injured, or why he's on this planet. Those are questions you'll have to ask him when he wakes up. If he wakes up. As for why he's in stasis, the medic can probably give you a better guess than I can," Skyquake reported flatly.
Leozack's optics narrowed as he fidgeted uncomfortably and increased his pace toward the medical bay. Bursting into the medical bay, Leozack jabbed his finger at an examination slab, looking wordlessly at the Horrorcons before casting his optics about the medical bay. They locked onto Knock-Out and glanced over to Mindwipe, who was skulking in a corner.
"You," Leozack said pointing to Knock-Out, "Bring Sixshot back to optimum efficiency." Knock-Out stared at Leozack, glancing to him and to Sixshot, who the Horrorcons were tossing roughly onto one of his surgical slabs, his optics slowly widening.
"Oh. I-I mean, yes. Right away, Captain," Knock-Out said with a haphazard salute before rushing over to Sixshot's side. "No pressure or anything," Knock-Out grumbled under his breath as he began to examine the Phase Sixer's injured frame.
Turning to Mindwipe, Leozack scowled and jabbed his thumb in the direction of the door. "You. Out." Mindwipe smiled and bowed with a flourish before slinking past Leozack and out of the medical bay. His nerves finally calming somewhat, Leozack took the time to spare a glance around the rest of the medical bay. His optics landed on a blue and gray femme rested on one of the medical slabs near Sixshot. He didn't recognize her, and she looked fine.
"Who's she?" he asked, turning to Knock-Out.
The crimson mech glanced up from his examination of the Phase Sixer to look over to the prone femme. "Her name is-"
"Nevermind. Someone just get her out of here!" Leozack said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Skyquake, go check on engineering. The rest of you are dismissed."
Knock-Out gave Leozack an exasperated look as he was – not for the first time today – cut off midsentence. Turning away from his patient to Nightracer, he forced her systems to begin their start-up sequences before turning back to Sixshot with a sigh. On the slab behind him, Nightracer's yellow optics onlined. She sat up and looked around in confusion. Looking at the nearest mech, Leozack, who watched over Knock-Out's work like a hawk.
Needlenose and Windsweeper hastily moved over to her side and beckoned her silently to come with them, casting sidelong glances over to Leozack. With a perplexed and slightly concerned expression, Nightracer moved off of the slab to stagger uncertainly onto her feet. Windsweeper grabbed one of her arms to help her out of the medical bay.
"Phew, that was a close one," Needlenose sighed as the trio scurried out into the corridor. The fashionista beamed a smile at the perplexed blue and gray femme from behind his mouth plate. "So your name's Nightracer, huh? Were you warborn? What's your story? Why were you-"
"Needlenose! Stop it!" Windsweeper snapped from the other side of the femme.
"Whaaaat?! Readers want to know!" Needlenose cried indignantly from his side of Nightracer.
"Readers? Are you talking about that magazine of yours? I told you that no one cares about that," Windsweeper grumbled with narrowed optics. The sanitation engineer glanced up at Nightracer whose expression was growing both increasingly perplexed and homicidal. Straightening and released the agitated femme, Windsweeper gave the femme a courteous nod.
"It's good to see you again, Nightracer. You might not remember us, but we found-"
"Shh-shh! Not here, Sweeper!" Needlenose hissed, glancing around conspicuously before shoving Nightracer and Windsweeper into the nearest doorway. The two were crushed against the metal frame of the door, until Windsweeper managed to snake his arm out to hit the control console for it, causing it to slide open and the trio to tumble inside. Needlenose glanced up and around on top of the two fallen Decepticons to take a look around the room.
"Huh," Needlenose muttered, "What's this place?" Before he could riddle out an answer, Needlenose found himself roughly hoisted up onto his feet by his collar plating, and saw the end of a flamethrower shoved in his face. "It doesn't matter because in the next few seconds, your face will be a molten pool of metal."
"Hahaha…Easy there, Sweeper…Ha. You wouldn't melt your old pal Needlenose, would you?"
"Look at what you did!" Windsweeper shouted, taking his flamethrower away from Needlenose's face to shove his elbow into it. Needlenose's optics adjusted as he tried to look at Windsweeper's arm. "I really don't need your elbow three inches from my face to see…uh…what am I looking at?"
"Do you not see the grease there?! And the dust that has glued itself to the grease?!"
"No," Needlenose said slowly pushing Windsweeper away from him. "It's probably not even there. I swear you hallucinate half of things you think you see." Windsweeper gave Needlenose a death glare before further examining the accused spot on his arm. Needlenose sighed, looking at his friend hopelessly.
"It appears to be a refueling facility," said Nightracer quietly. Needlenose glanced up in surprise to hear the femme speak for the first time. His optics darted about to confirm what the femme had already suggested. "Oh, yeah. Looks like this was some kind of mess hall. Hm…"
Windsweeper uttered out one last growl at Needlenose before composing himself somewhat and turning to look at Nightracer and then the rest of the room. He moved over toward one of the tables in the room and took a seat in one of the adjacent chairs, crossing his arms over his chest. Needlenose pulled up a chair and gestured for Nightracer to take it as he plopped down in another across from Windsweeper.
The femme hesitantly sat down in the chair in the dimly lit room, the only light filtering in from the doorway and some low lights at the extreme rear of the room. The two other Decepticons looked at her expectantly as she looked from one to the other slowly. "Where am I?" she finally asked.
"You're on the Justified Means, a starship currently…uh…'docked' at Salvataan VII," Needlenose answered, "Oh, but don't worry. We're Decepticons just like you, see?" Needlenose pointing to his and Windsweeper's respective insignias, then to Nightracer's own deceptibrand.
"You're among friends," Windsweeper added, finally having settled down.
Nightracer nodded and rested her elbows on the table and tenting her fingers together. "Alright. Good, good. And what's a Decepticon?"
Leozack watched Knock-Out work, standing with his arms folded over his chest and his fingers drumming against the plating of his arm. When Knock-Out sat up from his work with a sigh, Leozack immediately let his arms fall to his sides and walked over to the end of the medical slab, studying Sixshot's immobile form with a piercing gaze, then looked over to Knock-Out expectantly.
"Well?"
Knock-Out grabbed a highly absorbent cloth from his worktable and wiped the energon from his hands as he walked over to Leozack's side. "He'll live," the crimson medic said finally. Leozack scowled and narrowed his optics at Knock-Out. "I had few illusions that he would not. What injured him?!" Leozack snapped irately.
"The vast majority of the damage was caused by a single massive blunt force trauma. There were some scorch marks from blaster fire on his armor, but they didn't even scuff him. Just left behind the soot. Whatever hit him was enough to damage him so as to make it impossible to transform. Cause of stasis…probably extensive energon loss."
"Probably?"
"Definitely. Guess even Phase Sixers run out of fuel at some point," Knock-Out said as he looked over Sixshot. "That's my diagnosis." Leozack's gaze shifted back to Sixshot as his rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression. "When will he be functional again?" the captain asked.
"Hard to say. I've fixed the damage, but an ordinary Cybertronian would be dead if they'd taken the hit Sixshot had. That being said, our dear Phase Sixer here is far from ordinary," Knock-Out said slowly, finally giving Leozack a shrug, "Your guess is as good as mine, Captain."
"I'm back, sir! There were a couple-" Knock-Out and Leozack immediately turned toward the source of the new voice. A rather meek looking mech stood in the door with three or so Decepticons piled onto a stretcher behind him. Leozack glanced at Knock-Out quizzically. "Who's this?"
"My assistant," Knock-Out said, gesturing for the more inexperienced medic to enter. The mech's optics went wide as he hastily scrambled to drag in the injured Decepticons. He stopped before Leozack and snapped off a sharp salute. "Field medic Quick-Fix reporting, Captain!"
"What are you doing, you idiot? Get those mechs onto medical slabs stat!" Knock-Out snapped.
"Ahh! Yes, sir!" Quick-Fix said with a start, hurriedly moving the stretcher and tossing the injured Decepticons onto the slabs unceremoniously in his haste. Knock-Out sighed and smirked at Leozack. "You just can't get good help these days. Excuse me, Leozack," Knock-Out said before moving over to Quick-Fix.
"Let me handle these! You go deal with that one over there," Knock-Out said, jabbing his finger at the immobile Sixshot. Quick-Fix's optics slowly widened as they came to rest on Sixshot. He looked at Knock-Out, fear etched across his faceplate. "I-Is he….d-d-dead…?" the field medic stammered softly.
Knock-Out gave Quick-Fix a flat, exasperated look. "Of course not! Now get going!" Knock-Out tossed the energon covered rag that he had been holding at Quick-Fix's head and turned around to tend to the other injured. "Ah, Slugfest. You just can't catch a break, can you? Heard those Lost Lighters gave you and Overkill some trouble on Temptoria," Knock-Out said with a smirk. A groan of pain answered the crimson medic.
Quick-Fix scurried over to Sixshot's side and sat down on a stool beside the Phase Sixer, glancing periodically at his vital signs displayed on an adjacent monitor. Leozack turned the away from the mundane proceedings, and lifted a hand to his audio receiver, opening a private communication channel with Skyquake.
"Skyquake, give me a damage report on the engines."
Skyquake heard Leozack buzz impatiently on his internal comms as he stepped into the engine block that had received the worst of the damage. From his optic, the damage looked rather dire, but he was unschooled on such matters and walked over to one of the engineers performing maintenance on a console of ambiguous purpose.
"You," Skyquake said, resting a hand on the mech's shoulder plating, "Where is the engineering chief?"
"Eh?" The mech turned from his delicate work to look to see who had addressed him. A frown marked his faceplate as he saw who it was. "Th' name's Hammer, bub," said the engineer as he turned back to the console, "You want Wipe-Out. I think I saw him fiddling with engine block on the upper levels."
Skyquake stared at the mech disgruntled with the rather gruff reception and removed his hand from Hammer's shoulder. Turning, Skyquake climbed the stairs to the upper levels and looked about for the chief engineer, not really having an idea of what he looked like. However, when he saw a mechanoid who was wedged headfirst inside of the damaged engine block with his legs clawing the air frantically…he was not entirely sure if Hammer had been accurate in his report.
Tapping one of the flailing appendages lightly, Skyquake watched as the legs stiffened as the mech inside obviously paused to think. "Uh..um…yes? Who's there?" called a muted echo from within the engine block. "Second-in-Command Skyquake," the former predator said flatly. The legs suddenly flinched with surprised and the flailing resumed, presumably to dislodge himself from the engine block. Skyquake let out a terse sigh, and continued, "I am looking for Wipe-Out. Have you seen him?"
"Oh! I'm he! Reporting! Uh. Sorta…" called the small mech faintly.
"Primus…" Skyquake muttered to himself as he reached forward and yanked the smaller mech out of the engine block by the seat of his leg plating. The black and olive engineer's yellow optics grew wide as he looked around, his optics finally landing on Skyquake and somehow growing even wider in recognition.
The sky commandant set Wipe-Out down on his feet and gestured to the engine block. "Well, give me a status report. How bad is the damage?"
"Right! Well…bad. We don't have the parts to fix this engine, and the other one took some damage too," Wipe-Out said gesturing to the another engine block, "Took the parts out of this one to get the other one back in working order…but…unless you want to make very slow right turns…Need to stop somewhere to get it fixed up. I think we can get out of the atmosphere with the other engines though. Maybe. Uh. That's my official report, my liege!" Wipe-Out added with a salute that turned into a bow half-way through.
Skyquake looked over to the damaged engine block, presumably now more a hollow shell than anything else. He glanced over to Wipe-Out. "And the breach in the hull?"
"Oh, uh. We also didn't have the raw materials to fix that. In space though, we can close off this side of engineering. There are fire doors for that, but I figure they work just as well as an anti-getting-sucked-out-into-the-vacuum-of-space buffer."
Skyquake growled lowly with frustration. "Anyone sucked out when we were initially hit?" he asked. Wipe-Out could only shrug as an answer. "Didn't really do a head count," Wipe-Out said.
"Skyquake, where are you?! Answer me!"
Skyquake grimaced under his faceplate as Leozack's shrill voice crackled over his comm lines. "I've spoken with the chief of engineering. The damage is bad. We've lost an entire engine and can't patch the breach in the hull without raw materials. We will need to go to an outpost or a supply depot to repair and refuel," Skyquake answered impassively.
"What a catastrophe…" Leozack grumbled, "Very well. Meet me at the bridge. I'm on my way there now."
Skyquake sent back a non-verbal acknowledgement and cast his gaze back onto Wipe-Out who was fidgeting and glancing up at Skyquake sheepishly. "Come with me to the bridge," Skyquake ordered as he turned and began walking down the stairs. Wipe-Out hurriedly attempted to follow, jogging so he'd be side by side the much larger mechanoid.
"Sir, yes, sir! Might I say, your finish is looking particularly shiny today!" Wipe-Out said half-cheerily, half-nervous wreck. Skyquake ignored the subsequent string of praised, falling into thought as he walked. After a while, he suddenly noticed that Wipe-Out's yammering was becoming increasingly distant. He glanced down to where the chief engineer had been, only to find that he had disappeared.
Backtracking, Skyquake glanced down one of the corridors that they'd just passed only to see Wipe-Out continuing to yammer away as he kept his optics dead in front of him, turning down back toward main engineering. Jogging, Skyquake caught up to the smaller black and olive mech and grabbed him by his collar, instantaneously shutting him up.
"Where are you going?" Skyquake asked, irritated. Wipe-Out craned his head around to look at Skyquake with wide, innocent optics and pointed down the hallway that led back to engineering. "The bridge…?"
"That's not the way to the bridge."
"It's not? But I could've sworn it was! I remember! Take a left at the second fork…or…was it the third…no. No. Definitely the-"
Wipe-Out abruptly fell silent as Skyquake put a hand over the engineer's mouthplate, not wanting to displease the second-in-command any more than he already had. He glanced up at Skyquake to see him with narrowed optics, as if listening particularly hard. Wipe-Out tried to follow suit, but all he heard was the soft hum of the Justified Means.
"Music…" Skyquake finally muttered. Wipe-Out looked at the sky commandant quizzically. The ship's second-in-command finally seemed to return to himself as he looked down at Wipe-Out. With narrowed optics, Skyquake yanked Wipe-Out up by the back of his collar and resumed his brisk stride. Wipe-Out's optics darted about in a panic when he realized that Skyquake meant to carry him to the bridge. He would have struggled in protest if he hadn't realized that it would only serve to make Skyquake even more angry at him, so instead, Wipe-Out remained perfectly still as the pair continued to the bridge.
Sparkstalker walked down one of the many corridors of the Justified Means, fidgeting nervously, side by side with his bodyguard Slugslinger who wore a rather bored expression. The cryptologist glanced down at the small metal token in his hand with three digits carved into its surface. He glanced at the numbers printed on a door that the pair passed by, cursing quietly to himself.
"Not this one either…We're close though…Hurry!" Sparkstalker said as he looked nervously up at Slugslinger. The larger mech just shrugged and sighed, following along behind his employer. "I need to get off of this ship…" Slugslinger muttered to himself with a sigh. Sparkstalker suddenly turned on Slugslinger and jabbed a finger into the warrior's chest.
"Absolutely out of the question! I cannot be left unattended!"
"Right. Whatever you say boss," Slugslinger groaned out, more determined to keep his thoughts to himself next time. Bored out of his mind, Slugslinger began idly twirling one of his guns around a finger idly. Of course, it was just his luck that Sparkstalker actually found the slaggin' place they were looking for and bumped into the back of the smaller Decepticon.
"Watch it, you buffoon! Gah! Will I never escape the curse of incompetence by my peers?!" Sparkstalker snapped in frustration before turning away toward the door with the numbers that matched those on his token. The cryptologist pressed the open command on the control panel beside door. The door hissed open slowly, revealing nothing but an inky darkness. Slingslinger's optics narrowed as he stepped in front of Sparkstalker protectively, trying to pierce the darkness with his gaze.
"Stop! Stop it! I do not require your assistance here!" Sparkstalker said angrily, pushing Slugslinger back, "You guard the entrance."
"But-"
"I am your employer! You will do as I say!" Sparkstalker snapped imperiously before glancing uncertainly into the room that awaited him. "Ah…if I don't return after four and a half breems…you may enter to look for me," Sparkstalker amended with a sidelong glance at Slugslinger who nodded in response. Sparkstalker then entered the room, the door sliding shut behind him.
Slugslinger sighed and leaned against the wall next to the door. "Primus, I need to get away from that paranoid schizophrenic…" The praetorian twirled his gun idly waiting for his grouchy employer to return when something caught his optic. He quickly turned his head to try to see what it was, but when he looked, nothing was there. An unsettled feeling quickly found its way into Slugslinger's circuits. It felt like there were optics on him. Watching him.
"Bah…I'm losing it…" Slugslinger muttered, rubbing his head with another sigh. "Boss's paranoia must be starting to get to me. Scrap, I need off this ship."
Within the dark recesses of habitation suite, Sparkstalker glanced about nervously in the darkness, trying to find whom he had come to see. The soft rustle of metal above caused Sparkstalker's head to jerk up abruptly. Something darted down from the ceiling and landed with a whoosh of air in front of the cryptologist, its red optics gleaming brightly. Purple lights from the sides of the room lit up the habitation suite dimly, revealing Mindwipe's jet black bat alternate mode gazing at Sparkstalker approvingly.
"Hm...you came," Mindwipe rumbled curiously.
"Heh!" Sparkstalker chuckled nervously, recovering from the spark attack that Mindwipe had given him, "You have a certain flair for the theatrical, don't you?"
"Not without purpose. I find it more curious that you, a mech of science, would come to seek my aid," Mindwipe chuckled darkly as he transformed back into his robot mode and began to circle around Sparkstalker. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked Sparkstalker up and down.
"Ah...yes, well," Sparkstalker said, turning to face Mindwipe as the hypnotist circled him. "Perhaps, I should go if-"
"Nonsense! I can see it clearly. You are being hunted, but by who, you do not know," Mindwipe said turning his back to Sparkstalker and walking over to a table with an assortment of oddly shaped objects on it. He began fiddling with them as Sparkstalker took a tentative step backwards.
"H-How did you-"
"Guess? Your fear betrays you, Sparkstalker. You have the appearance of terrified prey. A dangerous thing..." Mindwipe held up something to the dim purple light and grabbed a powdery substance from the table and sprinkled it into the other object. Suddenly, Mindwipe held his hand back out to Sparkstalker. After a moment had passed, he glanced over his shoulder impatiently.
"A vial of your innermost energon. Now," Mindwipe said with mild irritation.
"What?!"
"It is a necessary ingredient," Mindwipe said by way of explanation without explaining anything at all. Sparkstalker gaped at the mystic Decepticon with mixed emotions of skepticism and desperation. Eventually, desperation won out and, after Sparkstalker went to the pains of extracting his innermost energon, he handled the vial over to Mindwipe.
The therapist took it and poured it into the other container, putting away the vial in subspace storage as he turned around to face Sparkstalker, holding a strange looking container with a red glowing substance sloshing around lightly within. Mindwipe offered it out to Sparkstalker who hesitantly grabbed it and stared down at the reflective surface of the liquid before glancing back up at Mindwipe.
"Ah...what am I supposed to do with this?" Sparkstalker said, an edge creeping into his tone slightly.
"Look down into the liquid," Mindwipe said calmly. Sparkstalker's optics narrowed, but he did as requested and stared down into the strange cup. After looking at the bottom of the cup for a while, Sparkstalker instead focused his optics on the reflection only to see himself staring back. Frustrated, Sparkstalker again took his optics away from the liquid to glare at Mindwipe.
"What am I supposed to be looking at!? There's nothing there!"
Mindwipe's optics narrowed imperceptibly as he placed his hand on Sparkstalker's head and tilted his head back down, forcing him to look at the liquid again. "Look harder," Mindwipe rumbled mysteriously. Sparkstalker saw himself, but this time, he could see the hard lines that paranoia and apprehension had etched into his faceplate. Sparkstalker attempted to relax a bit and looked at what else was in the reflection. Mindwipe's faceplate appeared as well, his optics having the disconcerting quality of being the same color as the liquid.
Sparkstalker studied them curiously for a while before eventually looking back at his own face, now a bit more relaxed than before. The cryptologist blinked as Mindwipe's clawed actuator pressed under his chin and lifted the hacker's face up to Mindwipe's own face. "Now drink from the chalice, and the ritual will be complete," Mindwipe said in hushed, reverent tones.
"Is it...really safe to drink?" Sparkstalker said, his former apprehension returning as he looked at Mindwipe suspiciously. Mindwipe folded the wings on his back to rest down at his sides as he frowned at Sparkstalker. "You have committed too much to this ritual to simply back out of it now! Besides, if I had wanted to extinguish your spark, I would have done so while you were distracted. Do not filthy the sanctity of the ceremony with your doubt now!" Mindwipe hissed, "Now drink."
Sparkstalker flinched at Mindwipe's harsh tone and glanced down at the glowing red liquid. With a sigh, Sparkstalker put the chalice to his mouth and downed the contents of the chalice. Sparkstalker's optics went wide, and he gagged and coughed. "That's disgusting! What was that?!"
"Liquid courage," Mindwipe said, snatching the chalice away from Sparkstalker and walking back over to his table. "The ritual is complete. Leave now before my compatriot returns from his work in the medical bay."
"Gladly," Sparkstalker hissed as he whirled on his heel and exited the habitation suite. He glanced over to the bored Slugslinger with irritation. "What a waste of time! Come, Slugslinger," Sparkstalker grumbled as he marched off ahead, leaving Slugslinger having to jog to catch up.
"Uh...you're looking better, boss," Slugslinger commented. "So hey! Killbison just came by to ask me if I would help bring aboard some supplies at this outpost, and I told him 'well, I have to ask my boss' and I was won-"
"You can go! Just shut up! Gah, I am surrounded by imbeciles!"
Leozack watched the stars stream by in white streaks as the Justified Means limped through the Salvvatan system, hobbled, crippled, and vulnerable. It had been miraculous that they had even escaped Salvvatan VIII's atmosphere. As the door to the bridge hissed open behind him, Leozack glanced, not for the first time, back at them, hoping to see that his second-in-command had arrived.
Alas, it was Killbison returning to the bridge after having been dispatched to find someone to help with moving the supplies. Leozack waved Killbison over and nodded at his subordinate to proceed with his report.
"Slugslinger said he'd help out with supplies. So there's him, Drillhorn, Jalljuar, and me. Plus whoever else you decide to come along, boss," Killbison grunted.
Leozack nodded and waved Killbison away. Killbison shrugged and turned to walk out of the bridge. As he did, the door slid open to admit Skyquake and the contrite Wipe-Out who was still held in one hand by the much larger mechanoid. Killbison hastily stepped aside with a surprised look. Skyquake pushed past him without so much as a second glance. A huge grin spread over Killbison's faceplate at the ridiculous sight as he slipped out of the bridge, snicking to himself.
Skyquake stepped up to Leozack's side and set Wipe-Out down onto his feet before resting a hand on the engineer's shoulder. Wipe-Out's optics were wide as he glanced up at Skyquake fearfully before looking at Leozack. When Leozack didn't immediately notice them, Skyquake cleared his vocalizers to draw the captain's attention. When that still wasn't enough, the former Predator commander spoke up.
"Captain."
"Hm?" Leozack turned slightly to see the looming form of Skyquake. His optics flicked down when he noticed someone else had accompanied his second-in-command. "Who is he?"
"The chief engineer, Wipe-Out," Skyquake answered, "He will know what we need to fully repair the ship."
"Is that so?" Leozack asked, examining Wipe-Out, who stiffened immediately.
"Ah, um-" Wipe-Out stuttered before being cut off by Leozack who put his hand up to the small engineer. Leozack nodded up at Skyquake and said, "Excellent work, Skyquake. I will oversee the acquisition of supplies myself. You'll have the ship while I am away. I trust you'll keep order?"
"Yes," Skyquake said flatly, his faceplate unreadabe.
Wipe-Out twiddled his fingers uncomfortably as two of the three authority figures on the Justified Means discussed matters and totally ignored him. He lifted up a finger to Leozack as a question struck him. "Does this mea-"
"Did I give you leave to speak?!" Leozack snapped at Wipe-Out who flinched instinctively. Turning from Skyquake and Wipe-Out, he looked down at Submarauder who was working navigations. "Submarauder, are we close?"
"Almost there, Captain. We'll be there in less than a breem," Submarauder replied quietly in his soft-spoken manner.
Nodding and rising to his feet, Leozack looked at Skyquake wordlessly and briskly left the bridge. Skyquake watched the captain leave, then glanced down to see that Wipe-Out was still just standing there. "You ought to get going. It wouldn't do to keep the captain waiting," he advised.
"Oh! Right!" Wipe-Out bounced into motion and offered Skyquake a crisp salute and a cheery expression, "At once, my liege!" Wipe-Out jogged after Leozack exiting the bridge and leaving Skyquake looking back after him. The sky commandant let out a sigh as he moved to sit in the captain's chair. "I wonder if that one will find his way to the hangar..." he muttered quietly.
Drillhorn leaned against one of the shuttles in the Justified Means' hangar, tapping a foot on the floor impatiently. Slugslinger leaned out of the shuttle to look at Drillhorn with the impatience that the drill tank felt. "Well?" Slugslinger asked gruffly.
"If you ask me one more time, punk, you're going to find my foot rammed up your a-"
"What he means is that asking if they're here yet, isn't going to expedite the process," Jallguar interjected from within the shuttle, stepping up to Slugslinger's side. Slugslinger glared at Drillhorn and scowled, folding his arms over his chest. "Curmudgeonly old timer...I'd like to see you try to take me on..." he grumbled before turning and raising his arms to the heavens. "I finally get away from the boss, and now I'm still stuck here!"
Slugslinger plopped down onto the shuttle's bench and held his head in his hands. Jallguar looked back disapprovingly at Slugslinger before stepping out to stand outside of the shuttle with Drillhorn. The older mechanoid had a familiar scowl plastered on his faceplate. "No respect from these uppity tykes," he grumbled to Jallguar, "Back in my day, we had respect for our elders."
Jallguar just shrugged and remained quiet. He knew it best just not to get involved when Drillhorn got into one of his moods. Drillhorn looked as if he was about to add something else when the Killbison entered the hangar, dragging Wipe-Out behind him. Killbison waved and tossed Wipe-Out ahead of him, sending the little engineer sprawling across the floor. "Found him," Killbison said gruffly, "We ready to move out?"
"Yes, let's hurry," Jallguar said as he walked inside of the shuttle. Killbison scowled and looked over to Drillhorn. "I see he's as stiff as ever," the double barreled tank commented. Drillhorn shrugged as he pushed himself off of the shuttle's exterior. "At least he's respectful. Where did you find that layabout, anyway?" Drillhorn asked as he walked into the shuttle.
"He was on the complete opposite end of the ship! Ridiculous! And he kept wandering off on the way here!" Killbison exclaimed.
Wipe-Out picked himself up off the floor and sighed, rubbing the back of his head, as he glanced up at the shuttle. Printed on the side of the purple craft was its name in big black letters: UNDETERMINED MEANS. Wipe-Out hurried along inside, not wanting to be more of a bother than he had been already.
"Finally," Slugslinger sighed from where he sat. The gunslinger got up and walked over to where Leozack sat in the pilot's seat. "Hey Captain. All's aboard that's coming aboard," he said.
Leozack glanced at Slugslinger with a frown. "I do not need you to state the obvious to me. Take a seat," he ordered before turning and pressing the control to close the shuttle's boarding hatch. The warning alarm and lights went off as Leozack gave the command for the hangar bay doors to open. They hissed open, and Leozack piloted the Undetermined Means out into the void.
The outpost was visible from the viewports on the front of the shuttle. A space station that looked like a spire slowly rotated on its axis. The shuttle zipped over to the structure, approaching the station's docks. The crackle of static over the shuttle's comm system turned the occupant's attention to the speaker.
"Greetings fellow Decepticons," said a smooth voice from over the comm, "Please identify yourselves so that we may prepare an appropriate welcome. If you choose to remain silent, I'm afraid we shall have to take that you are not our comrades, but filthy Autobots who have hijacked one of our vessels, and you will be shot down with great prejudice."
Leozack flipped the toggle and leaned forward to reply. "I am Leozack, the former second-in-command of Dezarus. We have come to obtain supplies to repair our ship," he said calmly.
"Leozack? We are honored to receive you. Please, dock in hangar bay A." The crackle of static disappeared as the communique cut off and one of the hangar doors opened in response to the mysterious Decepticon's words. With a frown, Leozack steered the Undetermined Means into the hangar. The door closed behind them as the shuttle settled onto the floor of the hangar. Leozack stood as he opened the hatch and walked to hatch's threshold.
On the hangar floor below, armed guards pointed their blasters up at the hatch while a black and white mech with his hands behind his back, looking up at them with his singular optic. Leozack scowled at the group of Decepticons below. "What is the meaning of this?!" he asked indignantly.
The forest-green and black mech stepped forward and gestured for the armed to lay down their weapons. He spread out his arms accommodatingly. "I apologize for the rude reception, my lord Leozack," he said before taking a bow, "One can never be too cautious these days."
"Hmph," Leozack grunted with narrowed optics as he walked down the ramp with the others following behind him closely. "I presume you are in charge of this facility?"
"Not exactly. Aperture here is the main brains behind our operations here." the bulky tank-former stated with a gesture to the black and white scientist standing off to his right. "I am Treadlock, I oversee security and the ground-forces we have command over here on Escalation."
Aperture approached Leozack and stared curiously at the commander's frame with his emotionless singular optic. "Curious... You were one of Dezarus' subordinates and he has been presumed to be offline for quite some time now... What brings you out this far?"
"That is a tale I shall share with you in the time to come, but at the moment our ship is in need of repairs," Leozack said before turned and gesturing for Wipe-Out to come forth. The little engineer stepped forward uncertainly. Leozack pushed Wipe-Out toward Aperture. "This is our ship's chief engineer. He should be able to provide you a list with the things we'll need."
Aperture nodded before gesturing over to one of the guards. "This is Squeezeplay. He'll escort you to our stores."
Wipe-Out looked uncertainly at the blue and white mech. He glanced back at Leozack who didn't even offer him a second look before shrugging and walking over to Squeezeplay. Squeezeplay placed a hand on Wipe-Out's back and led the engineer out of the hangar. Aperture watched them leave and then turned his attention back to Leozack and the others, giving Treadlock a curt nod to carry on.
"While your engineer assesses the supplies, may I interest you in a tour of Escalation?" Treadlock said, never a change in his charming tone.
"Very well," Leozack said with a dismissive wave. Aperture nodded and twirled on his heel leading the way forward with his guards and Treadlock following at the group's sides. Leozack followed impassively with his subordinates and Slugslinger trailing along behind.