A little history

The dorm Shadow showed them to was fairly large, with five bunks lined up against one wall, a table and half a dozen chairs in one corner and a couple of messy work benches in the other. "You guys can use the two bunks on the far right." Shadow said. "I'll get you some energon. Be back in a little while."
"Many thanks Shades." Jazz said as he hoisted himself onto a top bunk. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker claimed the other, stretching out and both feeling their joints pop. The femme waved and left.

Sideswipe rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. "Hey Jazz, we going to be doing any of that sneaking around stuff?" He asked. "Y'know, plantingbombs inside the baseand all that?"
"Nah, it's not somethin' y' used t', and I ain't gonna throw you in th' deep end like that." Jazz replied. Both twins relaxed slightly, but were careful to not let the Porsche see it. Then Sideswipe tossed off another question. "Jazz, what did you mean by staying here is probably safer?"
Jazz grimaced. "I shoulda warned ya earlier." He hauled himself upright and sat with his legs hanging over the edge of the bunk, ankles crossed.

"Black Ops an' Special Ops are a deadly kinda game, somethin' that most Autobot's ain't wired t' handle." He began. "T' survive, th' players gotta be a lil' outta sync with th' rest o' reality. Me, Shades an' a couple of th' others are probably some of th' more normal bots round here. Basic rules of survival- Don't look, don't point, don't ask, don't laugh an' don't tell." He gave each twin a hard look. "I'm serious 'bout this. I've seen one o' these dudes rip out another Autobot's optics just 'cause he asked 'im 'bout his accent."
"Is that why you got out?" Sideswipe guessed.
"Partially." Jazz replied somewhat evasively.

The dorm door slid open and a mottled brown mech stepped in.

"Well now, I see the has-been has returned to the site of his humiliation." The newcomer sneered. "And you've brought some wannabes with you for back up. How pathetic." He continued, eyeing the twins. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker bristled at the insults, but Jazz intervened before they could teach him a lesson in civility. The Porsche jumped down from his bunk and faced the mech, arms crossed and visor a dangerously dark blue. "Stop dreamin' an' live up t' your own rep insteada tryin' t' steal mine, Deck." He growled.

"What 'rep'?" Deck spat. "You're nothing but a washed up looser who couldn't hack it in the real game."
"Y'know, I couldn't help notice that ya waited fer Shadow t' leave b'fore y' came in here t' insult us." The black and white observed dryly. "Could it be that th' great warrior Deck is afraid of a lil' femme?"
Deck's optics narrowed. "I'm not afraid of anyone." He snarled. "Especially not that jumped up turbo-hound or any of her little try-hard teammates."
Jazz shifted his weight to his right foot and tilted his head slightly, glancing at a point over Deck's shoulder. "Okay then, howsabout you say that t' her an' her CO's faces?"

Deck turned and found himself nose to chestplate with Nightwatch, the dark blue mech glaring down at the heavy-artillery gunner angrily. "Yes, why don't you?" The imposing officer growled. "I don't believe we caught that last comment."

The other mech faltered for a moment before scraping together his bravado. "Make me!" He growled, then turned and strode away. Jazz smiled as Deck broke into a run as soon as he was out of reach, then turned to the new arrival.

"Hey Nightwatch, good t' see ya." He said cheerfully.
"Likewise." Nightwatch rumbled, holding out his arm in the standard greeting. "I ran into Shadow on my way out of Repair Bay. She tells me you're assigned to getting rid of that rail-cannon factory."
"Ayup." Jazz nodded, then threw a questioning glance at Shadow.
She gave a helpless little shrug and smiled. "Like I said Jazz, no secrets here."
"Anyhow," Nightwatch continued, "We've already been chalked up for another mission, otherwise we'd lend you a hand."
"Eh, no worries." Jazz replied with a shrug. "Anyhow, Sunny, Sides, meet a pal of mine- Nightwatch."

Nightwatch turned to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "You must be the twins. Your quite formidable reputation precedes you." He said, inclining his head slightly. "If there was time I would request a sparring session with my team, but I have no wish to dig myself deeper into Ferric's black list."

"Why's that?" Sideswipe asked curiously.
"Well, y'know how th' Ratch-man always threatens t' turn us all inta digital alarm clocks or somethin' when we do somethin' kinda stupid?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah, so?" Sunstreaker replied.
"Ratch'll threaten it, but Ferric'll do it."
"Really?" Sideswipe didn't sound convinced.

"I can vouch for it." Nightwatch spoke up. "Quite a while ago I once forgot that I had pulled the pin on a plasma grenade and ended up within astro-seconds of becoming Cybertron's first sentient nav-unit."
"Yeah, it took a direct order from Ultra Magnus to get Ferric to fix him properly." Shadow added, then canted a cheeky grin up at her CO. "Though, I must say that his navigation has improved considerably since then."

Nightwatch groaned and rolled his optics while the other three laughed. "I'll give you that one." The tall mech chuckled. "But we have a team to round up and these three need to prepare for their mission. Let's go Shadow."
"Yes sir." Shadow replied, tossing a canister of energon to Jazz and following her CO down the hall.