| abstract
| - Steelhaven - Laboratory The Laboratory of the Steelhaven is a huge complex of metal beams that stretch across the floor, holding up various structures in stages of disrepair. The only real way to move about the room is on moving platforms, each with guardrails and a control panel, allowing the user to get close to anything on the messy floor without disrupting it too much. Despite being rather effective in an emergency, having a potentially still unstable patient wake up inside of Fortress Maximus wouldn't really be a very good experience. So once he and Perceptor were sure Specter would be stable enough to move, Jetfire had loaded up and flown off to somewhere that was both more suitable for intricate medical needs -and- less likely to be trouble if the guy does have another freakout session. And that is why they're now on the Steelhaven, away from pretty much everywhere else. Jetfire needed to check on things out here anyways with the slowly ongoing salvage operations. At least reading the reports gave him something to do while waiting for Specter to return to stability, other than occassionally checking the feed line that was replacing the long neglected energon he needed. Vital signs are nominal, but not excellent. The still form of Specter lays there, body void of any obvious signs of 'life'. Gumbies aid Jetfire in his endeavors however, some even attaching some temporary plating to shield the Cybertronian. The last sixteen cycles have been a non-stop cycle of replacement, stabilizing, energon feed, repeat. Over eighty percent of his inner wiring has been replaced, coupled with additions to his Energon consumption inhibitors. Basically, he's been rebuilt from the ground up ... only keeping the necessary tidbits that are essential to continuing his existence. Gumbies are laying on the last series of sterile white plating now, stepping back and looking at the outfeed of scanners and diagnostics ... all a little weary of the patient. Fortress Maximus enters into the laboratory, steps onto one of the many moving platforms within the room and is eventually transported to where Specter and his caretakers are located. He observes Specter for a moment, noting the methodical upgrades that had been liberally installed into the Autobot, "How's our patient doing so far? Any incompatibilities with our current hardware?" Foxfire is prowling around the Steelhaven at this time, having never really explored it beforehand. He is probably with Blaster and Steeljaw as well, having chosen not to rest inside the former's chest as he normally would. Eventually he makes his way to the laboratory, and peers inside, ears perked forward. For one reason or another, Steeljaw had found his way onto Steelhaven. Probably just came along with the tape master. One benefit of being so small though, is being able to fit just about anywhere and not get in the way. At least being bright gold as he is makes it difficult to actually miss him, making it less likely for someone to actually step on him. He doesn't arrive with the others though. There's just too many interesting things for him to investigate on a ship like this, and he got a bit distracted. But a little bit later, his gold hide appears from a different door, sniffing at the floor curiously. Warpath walks in. "Foxy!" he says, since that's the first person he sees when he enters. "What's ZOOM, going on?" He looks around the medical room and sees the medics attending to the patient. "Is he goona BLAM, be ok? Blaster swaggers in after Foxfire and Steeljaw. "This is one nice ride," he says with great assurance. "No wonder Fort Max and his mechs were okay all by their lonesome for so--" he cuts off when he notices the giant Headmaster. "Er...akward." Foxfire looks up at Warpath. "Beats me," he admits, "but I hope so." His ears twitch, and he peers up at Blaster. "Really awkward," he agrees. Jetfire looks up as he hears Fortress' question. "Stable, at least ... And no, not so far. In fact, most of the systems that would of possibly conflicted have been old redundancy systems that are no longer necessary with how much our medical technology has advanced in the million years since." Turns to look towards Specter's heavily rebuilt form. "Just goes to show how old he really is, I imagine. Had similar results the last time I had to rebuild Impactor's physically framework, too." He takes an idle note of assorted other Autobots wandering in, but his attention is mainly on the task at hand. Steeljaw quickly realizes that he's come in the wrong door, and sidles his way across the wall towards Blaster and Foxfire. His nose twitches, eyes glancing up towards the operating table, then to the medic hard at work. "Awkward might not be the best word," He murmurs, canting his head a little to the side. "Someone must have gotten roughed up pretty fierce." Optics flicker out in a blink at a few of the words that hit his ears. "Old? Million years? Maybe someone got roughed up pretty fierce a long time ago." The medical personell seem to respond to Jetfire's words, finishing the last bit of spot welding and ratcheting on the still form of the 'Patient'. Shying away from the main table, they disperse to their own individual duties. If -any- problem arises, Fortress Maximus and Jetfire should have it well in hand. Blaster nods sagely as he walks up behind Steeljaw. "We get these guys once in a while. Offline or absent for millions of years, missed a bunch of what happened in between, but then when they're reactivated, well...we have to throw 'em right back into the mix." Blaster's grin turns rueful. "Sometimes they adjust pretty well, sometimes not so much, no matter how much me and Jazz try to help 'em along." "Hopefully his mind will be mended as well as his body had been while under your care, Jetfire. I imagine he'd be disappointed to find out that the civil war continues even now." Fortress Maximus comments, nodding his head in appreciation at the medical personnels who are now leaving to oversee other responsibilities now that their task here is done. The large Headmaster leader turns around as he hears Blaster and his cassettes enter, "The Steelhaven is indeed a nice "ride", Blaster. It served my crew unwavering under conditions that would have long ruined other vessels." Well, that is until that -last- attack by Scorponok and his goons that caused both ships to crash land on Nebulos, but hey, that's just being petty. "If Specter is still like what I remember in the past after he wakes up, I'd be confident that he'll be able to adjust to the rigors of the present." Foxfire actually enters the laboratory now, and then rears up onto his hind legs to get a better look at what's happening. He seems very curious about Specter. Jetfire grunts slightly at Blaster's remark as he looks up over a shoulder. "Hey, I spent over 4 million years frozen in a giant block of ice, don't talk to me about 'missing a bunch of what happened'," he teases the tapemaster. Though that's what makes it a little ironic that he's the one having found another 'missing in action' Autobot. Nodding a little as the gumbies meander off to their other duties, he picks up one of the monitoring devices to check on the energon flows being repumped into the repaired systems. "Granted, I was in stasis the entire time. I... didn't suffer like this fellow has. He's been -up and running- the whole time, wearing down from fighting... whatever ruined that place." "I had to replace a large amount of his neural hardwiring," he adds to Maximus with another bit of a nod. "He was suffering from severe degradation due to energon deprivation and extreme isolation syndrome. Hopefully it'll help fix the... hostility issues he had enough to be able to reason with him this time." Steeljaw settles back onto his haunches out of the way, his senses open to the sounds and smells around him so that he can get a fair image of what is going on in his processor. "That's a lot to miss out on," He states, keeping his head cocked to the side. All those naps to miss out on. "Sounds like he's in for one major bit of culture shock either way." Suddenly, as if by mention of his name from Fortress Maximus' own mouth, the sensor indications spike to life. *BRRM* Nay, not life. Conciousness. Slowly stirring, hands reactively flex out and clench in unison. His legs twist inward, then stretch out all the way to the toes. His chest lifts up, the sensor indications reacting in kind with a high pitched *BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRM*. Only to die a moment later, as his body relaxes back on the slab. If not for the physical restraints, the Autobot might have pitched himself off the table. Warpath ooohs as he hears the technobabble and medical jargon. "Looks like he ZAM, woke up already," he says, motioning towards the table. Blaster turns to glance at Jetfire, nodding amiably. "Hostility issues, huh?" He rubs his hands together. Nothing like a challenge. "So what's his name and function? Anybody know his background? Or else..." he trails off when the subject seems to revive. "Orrrr maybe I'll just ask him." Jetfire's attention snaps back to the table as Specter starts moving. "Easy people, that's a normal reaction coming back online after such traumatic extent of condition. His body needs to recalibrate the new systems he's been restored with." Though he does pull out his fancy tricorder-ish diagnostic scanner and sweep it over the squirming form, just to be sure. Foxfire drops back down to all fours. His turbofox instincts take over, causing him to be alarmed by Specter suddenly coming to life, and he darts behind Blaster's leg. He peers out warily. Steeljaw jerks his head up slightly at the twitching on the table. He remains otherwise still, keeping his head tilted and appearing mostly impassive. But that's normal for a cat. "That did not look comfortable," He comments, idly, looking on with a bit of curiosity. Fortress Maximus stares down at Specter through his ruby red visored optics, "Hmmm, this is good progress." He sidesteps a bit to give Jetfire sufficient room to conduct his diagnostic scans on Specter, "Maintain the current level of restraints on him until we confirmed the status of his mindset though, I'd rather exercise discretion for the time being. As much as I have faith in your hardware, Jetfire, there's still a lot of Cybertronian psyche that can be random." After the last spike in activity, Specter lies still again on the table. The signs are up on his diagnostic however, cybernetic brainwaves are a flux of traffic, and the output on the printers with readings is printing at an astonishing rate. Whatever Jetfire did, it sure as heck worked! Blaster stand on the ends of his feet to get a better look. "I dunno, if I was brought back online in restraints, might freak me out a little." He looks dubiously from Fortress Maximus to Jetfire, then cups his hands around his mouth and whispers loudly. "Yo Bot! You're with friends! Don't worry 'bout the restraints there, they'll be off in no time!" "Now now, no need to be scared, Foxfire," Warpath says, "If anything happens, you can be BLAM, sure I'll protect you!" Jetfire mmhmms a little. "I know Blaster... but after he tried to knife me and assail Maximus, it is better to be safe than sorry until we're sure he's stabilized properly... It's as much to keep him from hurting himself as it is us." That said, he leans over a little himself, not hard to do with his height. "Easy guys, let's not all crowd him at once." Waves a hand a little in the bot's field of vision. "Hello Specter. Your sensory input should be coming back online shortly, please do not freak out at the change in location." Foxfire continues to peek out from behind Blaster's leg... Steeljaw quirks an optic slightly. He sits a bit higher, although it doesn't do much to get him a better view. "Maybe it's a good thing we're here," He muttes, tail flickering, "If he's been somewhat violent." But he's not crowding at leat. No that he could really crowd another Transformer anyway. Blaster looks momentarily dismayed. "Knife you and assail Max?" Then he grins again. "Well, if that was a crime I think they'd have to lock up more'n a few of the Autobots." He chuckles to show he's only teasing, then holds up his hands. "Still, guess you guys know best. Just let us know if there's anything we can do." Fortress Maximus looks over to Blaster, "Well, this patient's name here is Specter. He was under my command a long time ago, near the end of Sentinel Prime's time." The Headmaster leader pauses for a second as he briefly considers if he should disclose any further information, after careful thought he goes about with the barebones in consideration of Specter's privacy, "He was an excellent field agent, the special operations kind, and was a great asset to the Autobots. That is, until I had sent him along with a team of Autobots over to Colduarr to revamp the Energon refinery." He lowers his head momentarily before turning back around to look at Specter, preferring to not the others see the expression on his face as he concludes the short recap, "Unfortunately that ended with Specter's team KIA and himself stranded on the planet." Specter's head slowly sways back and forth, subtle at first ... then a more sudden jerking reaction. His upper body rises up though, head included this time and his blurry vision rests upon those collected. Specifically Foxfire, although some of Steeljaw's coloring is bled into Fox's form. "Cin.. der?" he's barely able to mutter out, optics contracting and trying to clear the resolution problems. Slowly they drift towards Blaster and Jetfire, "Tri.. wire? Ove.. aul?" he mumbles some more, a quant yet at ease expression growing across his face. "Fin.. ally. I made.. it." he smiles, resting backwards. "I've.. joined the Matrix." Fortress Maximus' speech however, jolts him up again. "Fortress Maximus!" Specter snarls, disdain growing on his facial features. His arms jerk forward, barely being held against the constraints. "Fortress Maximus." he repeats again, losing his thousand yard stare with the Headmaster Commander. "Coludarr. Insectoids. A.A.N.D.I. Facility." he mumbles to himself, apparently now aware that he is indeed not in the afterlife. That he has not joined his dead crewmates. That fate had something else entirely planned for him, even though death held the smallest chance at peace. "Fortress Maximus, sir." Specter states, actually stern and devoid of contempt. Blaster rubs the back of his head, looking around at the other Autobots before addressing Specter. "So what's the last thing you remember, Spec?" Foxfire finally comes out from behind Blaster's leg, and sits on his haunches beside Steeljaw. "I think he thinks he's dead," he points out. "He was not in his sane processors at the time, Blaster. It would be wrong of us to hold it against him without knowing more of the story," Jetfire replies, though he's paying more attention to Specter and keeping an optic on his vitals during the reawakening. Though even he jerks back a bit when Specter suddenly snaps to life once more. "Well he certainly seems to be a bit more stable than last time," he muses, taking a step back to let Maximus handle the show. Best to let the Autobot he's more familiar with actually explain things. Steeljaw 's tail flickers a few times on the floor, briefly in subtle amusement. Cats can derive amusement from just about anything. "IF this were the matrix, there'd be more cybernip," He comments blandly. But he still appears curious in this newcomer, keeping his senses open. Foxfire just gives Steeljaw an amused look. Steeljaw cants his head slightly towards Foxfire, looking bemused. "Well it would." Warpath reaches into a subspace pocket and pulls out a small package. He gives it to Steeljaw. "Here ya go," he says, "It ain't Matrix quality, but ZAM, I'm sure it's pretty good." "Easy now, Specter." Fortress Maximus states calmly, unflinching at Specter's initial outburst, as it's something that deep down he had assumed would be a likely response. Whether or not his former protege actually blames him or not, Fortress Maximus naturally continues to blame himself as naturally expected of someone of his personality. "You're amongst friends now, safe, and on your way home even as we speak." The Headmaster leader steps closer, the lights of the medical bay shining now directly against the top of his head, "I will now remove your restraints." He says this as he begins to access the medical table's terminal, knowing full well that he just might be tempting an attack if there is an instability left. However, to be blamed for such a tragedy is a natural responsibility of a commander, and something Fortress Maximus will now shy away from. "Jetfire has made some upgrades to your systems, how are you feeling?" Specter looks at Fortress Maximus. A blank expressionless stare, as if he's peering deep beyond the physical and into the Headmaster's laser core. As if he could convey, with but a look, the millions of years in isolation. The twists and turns his life took daily. The yearlong shutdown periods to preserve Energon. "In a word?" Specter questions, looking around the room at those gathered. "Relieved." Blaster beams. "Looks like all that knifing and assailing's a thing of the past." Addressing Spector once more, he says enthusiasticly, "Welcome back to the good fight!" Before sidestepping for the door. "I'm gonna head up to the command deck, spread the good news." Jetfire relaxes more thoroughly when the patient does indeed prove to be a lot more stable. "And that wraps up another successful operation, I'd say," he rumbles with an amusement. "Oh, if you're going that way, Blaster." He picks up a datapad and flicks it to the comm officer. "Upload that into the computers for me. It's the survey reports from Dyson, I'll read them later once I've had a chance to recharge after all this." Steeljaw eyes Warpath haughtily, even though the little lion catches the 'nip. It disappears quickly into whatever subspace storage that Steeljaw has. "There's a time and place for everything, of course," He states, though there's a brief grin that's obvious there on his muzzle. Steel pulls himself up to his feet quietly, but doesn't move to follow Blaster. "I'll just be down here a little longer," He explains to the tape master, then glances back towards the table, and moves to position himself a bit more out of the way, "I think I'll stay and listen for a while." Fortress Maximus nods slowly, almost heavily in response, "Good." He then places a his right hand across Specter's shoulder, and gives it a gentle squeeze. "Stay put until Jetfire here" He directs a hand over to the Air Guardian nearby, "clears you from the medical bay. I need to return to the bridge to oversee our return. We're bringing you home. This time we're doing it right." Was there the latter an accidental slip from the depths of Fortress Maximus' mind, is this another cliche emo guilt trip rollercoaster ride brought to you by Fortress Maximus' player? Who knows. Only one thing is for certain, Fortress Maximus' player is wobbling back and forth behind the keyboard and needs sleep therefore Fortress Maximus needs to conveniently disappear too. Foxfire settles down on his stomach, tucking his paws underneath him in a catlike fashion. Jetfire nods a bit as he's pointed out. "Just need to make sure everything we've done to bring you back up to shape doesn't suffer any surprise hardware failures." There's a pause before he offers Specter a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you're not the first old model we've had to rebuild back up to standard. At this rate you'll be out of here in no time." "Indeed." Specter nods, still regarding everyone else with a suspicious glare. With the restraints removed, the Autobot nudges to the edge of the slab and allows his legs to hang off. "War.." he chokes up, stuttering and coughing. "How does the war effort.. go?" "We're KA-BLAM, kicking their tailpipes," Warpath says enthusiastically. "Your systems are properly refueled, you won't be needing this anymore," Jetfire comments as he steps closer again to remove the energon line. Chuckles a bit at Warpath's short but ethusiastic reply. "They're Decepticons. They -think- they're on top of the world just because they've managed to put their roots down where they don't belong... But most of them are still 64 gigabytes of ego on a 4 megabyte thumb-drive." Shrugs his broad shoulders a little. "Some things -don't- change in ten million years." Specter gets up from the table, stretching his new legs out before placing weight on them. "Apparently." he mutters, looking down at the Steelhaven's deck. Placing weight on them was one thing, walking ... an entirely different beast altogether. But somehow, the Autobot manages to get by ... stumbling towards the door. "Thank.. you. All of you." Specter manages to blurt out, before he's already headed towards the Hangar Bay and some much needed solace.
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