| abstract
| - 11/24/2012 06:48 PM The Autobots were gathered outside of Iacon. Rising high into the sky before them was the Dome. It had been sealed for months now, the mechanism used to raise and lower it damaged from the earthquakes of moving Cybertron. Even now, the signs of that move continued - stars flew by and moved all the time overhead like time was speeding forwards. Prime stared at the dome, waiting for Ratchet to arrive. Jackknife arrives to watch if all the hard work that went into the dome repairs will show they will well worth it. She offers a smile and nod to the Prime, "Hello Optimus." she greets the mech. Ratchet climbs down off the dome and makes his way off to their erstwhile leader, hands loosely by his side and still holding a piece of black metal, feeling satisfied with our progress. "Are we ready, Ratchet? " asked Optimus as he nodded to the old transformer. Ratchet says, "Yeah Prime. We're ready. As ready as we'll ever be. " Ratchet is confident that it will work at this point, coming to stand next to him" Optimus nods And taps his comm "Optimus Prime to Comm tower. Are you there, Blaster?" "Loud and clear big red. We're ready to rock since we're not rollin' anywhere." drawled the cool mech over the comm Jackknife smiles and nods to the medic politely. Ratchet nods at Jackknife, not recognising her. "Ratchet, would you like to give the command?" asked BigBot Ratchet says, "Sure. Blaster, lets bring that dome up and see how it looks," Ratchet watches the dome expectantly, hoping nothing will go wrong..." Jackknife looks on quietly. Blaster chuckles "Is that a 'raise the dome' command Doc? " the mech asked jovially. Ratchet grins tolerantly "Yeah Blaster. That's a Raise The Dome. On your time please." he adds, amused. "Righto! At your command!" There's a long, almost nerve-wracking silence. And then with the sudden shriek of klaxons, the entire dome rumbles to life. The mighty pistons, hundreds of them through the city, started to lift the gargantuan 'bowl' off the ground where it had sat for months. A cloud-ring of dust rolled out, sweeping over the assembled Transformers as it was blown out, with a little bit of stale, exhaust-filled air. While perceptively the dome didnt SEEM to rise very high, it was tall enough for the tallest Transformer to walk or drive under with many heads of clearance. Ratchet grins like mad. Ratchet says, "well whatdya know, it worked." Jackknife waves her hand in front of her face as the dust rolls through, a little annoyed she'll need to hit the wash racks later... but it's worth it to have witnessed this miracle of hard work. "Thank Primus for that." Cheers went up from the mechs, and some horns were honked in approval as well. Prime clapped a hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "I'm told you negotiated for parts though with an Empty? " he asked. Ratchet doesn't care about getting dirty - right now he's covered in grease stains anyway, gently flipping the piece of metal between his fingers. He nods "yeah, I did. " He admits, candidly Jackknife cocks her head a bit to that, but keeps out of it since she wasn't addressed. "How did that go? " asked PRime, waving JAckknife over to join them. Jackknife comes closer to see what the Prime would want with her, maybe to report on her work perhaps. Ratchet grins "I'm not much of a negotiator Prime. I'll leave that to the more skilled bots in future. Ratchet shrugs "I did what I could and we got what we needed. it didnt' take energon out of anyone's mouth and nobody got hurt. Nobody got shot. That's the best outcome I could get. "I want to hear more about these Empties. Usually they arent' so ... sociable or lenient. This sounds like an organized Group. Do you know anything about Empties, Jackknife?" Jackknife replies, "Not terribly much. They couldn't purchase what I was selling, though sometimes they'd try to get change off me or my customers." Ratchet nods slowly " they seemed organised." Nodding at Jackknife, Prime looks back to Ratchet "Do you think they'd possibly be interested in joining us? We could use some fighters who know the underground. Especially those who may be a little more relaxed." he states, carefully Jackknife waits on how the mech will reply since she isn't sure on the subject. Ratchet muses for a moment "I don't think they'll take the badge. But I think for the right pay some of them would be interested in some work. They seemed desperate for parts Prime. And I saw mech's. It makes me wonder where the femmes and sparklings are. And the mech's who couldn't mobilise. It makes me wonder who they're keeping safe. " "From your description it could have just been a hunting party. Not all of our infirm mechs travel with the others." notes Prime. Ratchet says, "Indeed. But the infirm still need energon, supplies, care and parts."" Jackknife speaks up softly, "It's possible they have moved elsewhere." Ratchet says, "They may not be local but they might still be dependent on that party's success"" "Very likely. Do you want to go find them? I think you and Jackknife could go - as doctors, you probably wont be sought after as aggressively." Ratchet amused "how much are you willing to pay for our ransom Prime? As you might have to pay to get us back. " He nods more seriously "And how much do you want to offer them for signing on?" he is mentally going through his normal repair kit and how much he can afford to lose in the case of worst case scenario. Jackknife uhms, "Optimus I'm not a medic." Ratchet chuckles softly "I would pay the world to have you back Ratchet. And Jackknife too. " he remarks warmly "But perhaps you should take a mech to be your bodyguard. Its your choice." he looks at Jackknife,a nd blinks "... Oh. Sorry Jackknife. I think I'm tired." he admits softly. Jackknife nods in understanding, "I think we all are after working so hard to get things up and running again." Ratchet nods sternly at Prime "In which case I'm prescribing you two recharge cycles, uninterrupted. Let Jazz get some more command experience. " A hand is waved at Ratchet "I've been recharging. I've just been working extra hard when I am awake." he explained 'but I DO have a good rest and a nice, relaxing drive to Cubicron coming up." You say, "Good luck with that sir." Ratchet looks over at Jackknife "You're still welcome if you're intersted." he turns to Prime. "Rest and then drive." he admonishes gently. "I will. I never drive while tired or intoxicated. " promised PRime "Who did you want to take to find the Empties?" Jackknife smiles lightly to the medic, "I suppose I could come along, gives me an excuse to bring out my heavy weaponry to test as we go." Ratchet grins " I think I just found myself a heavy weapons Expert Prime." he nods at Jackknife, curious "Don't bring anything you're not willing to lose?" Jackknife inclines her head, "I won't, let me go get what I want to bring and we can head out?" "Excellent. Remember we want to recruit them... even on a temporary basis to bolster our ranks. I'd say bring some extra energon too, an emergency beacon and such." he reccomends. Ratchet nods "I'll grab my kit too " He agrees "and the emergency beacon. If you grab some extra energon, we can use it to sweeten the deal." he chuckles then looks over at Prime "You remember I said I wasn't much of a negotiator, right?" "You'll do fine. Consider this training for Command." remarks Prime, his optics twinkling Jackknife inclines her head and scurries off to get what she has in mind and some energon as well.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)