Starscream's conversation with Hook

[Starscream]

Starscream lead Hook back with his arm outstretched behind him. Not actually touching him, of course. Once they were sufficiently away from the others, Starscream turned to Hook.

"First of all, allow me to congratulate you on your co-ordination for taking out the mining device. I know you had some interesting characters to work with, but you overcame it and delivered a victory. Your prowess as an engineering surgeon is legend, but this was a side of you I didn't realize." Starscream was engaging the golden rule of 'do unto others', and started by buttering Hook up. But for what it's worth, he seemed fairly genuine.

"It is because of this, Hook, that I wish to offer you a promotion. You will be second in command of this new Decepticon empire, answerable only to me." Starscream smirked. "What say you?"

[Hook]

"Surgical engineer," Hook corrected. He wasn't officially rated as a surgeon, though that was more due to the regulatory organizations no longer existing than to a lack of qualifications. (The suggestion that he didn't qualify as a surgeon would have drawn absolute bogglement from Hook.)

Should he add anything? Scrapper wouldn't, but Scrapper was so very modest. The payloader never took all of the credit he deserved.

However, Hook had yet to determine how much credit he deserved and how much he could lay claim to, so he let the matter go with a simple, "They followed orders adequately, and the plan worked with minimal adjustment. It's always easy when a job goes that well."

Some people might mistake that for modesty. These people did not know Hook very well.

His optics brighten at the offer of second-in-command. "I say thee aye."

[Starscream]

Starscream's optics flashed with the acceptance. "Excellent!" It wasn't a surprise, of course. Who wouldn't want such a prestigious promotion to serve directly beneath the greatest leader of this and any Decepticon movement. "Obviously, you will be dealing more with the ground units. Provided your orders do not contradict mine, of course. And because of that.."

Starscream turned to face their lackeys. "I want you to keep an optic trained on those two." He subtly nodded his head in the direction of Demolishor and Cannonball. "The one with the strange dialect seems sufficiently content to serve. He asked that I give him some baubles which would be of no worth, as we find them. So long as this remains the same, we have nothing to worry about. The other appears to have calmed down now. Provided we keep him easily distracted, I don't see why we should get any issues out of him. When we have more time, I would like a detailed report on what you have learned about the both of them.

And then Sky-Byte is nodded to. "But this... 'Predacon.' I can only assume by his name that he will be joining me in the air. He claims to serve a Megatron in his era, but dislikes Decepticons. A strange situation. If he ever turns up for maintenance, notify me. I want to find out what makes him tick."

[Hook]

"No worth to us, or no worth at all?" Hook asked softly. Such a simple, important distinction.

"When we have established a base of operations, I plan to give everyone a physical exam. We're delaying ourselves, however. We need a support infrastructure in place before Omega Supreme finds us."

Or before he found Long Haul. It was a wrenching thought, even knowing that the Long Haul out there wasn't quite the one he knew. Omega Supreme would not dally long enough to discover such a thing.

[Starscream]

"No practical use. Ornamental trinkets. We have nobody to trade with so we have no need for htem. Of course, if that changes, we can always.. renegotiate." Starscream finishes that sentence in a manner that doesn't leave much to the imagination.

"And as for a base: I agree. We're going to need somewhere with natural defenses. A mountainous area would be ideal for defense from both Omega Supreme and other Autobots." Yes, he's assumed that the guardian isn't alone. "Three things we need." He counted on his fingers. "A steady flow of energon, raw materials, and a base of operations. The two former are requisites of the latter. We're making inroads on materials, and with the power station, we will have the fuel. To that end, I'll arrange all airbound to keep their sensors trained on areas that could work for us. Instruct Dead End to do the same. Once we have that, I'll get you to begin drafting plans for a base for my approval."

Starscream paused in thought. Yeah, that sounds like about everything. "Now, unless there was something else..?"

[Hook]

"Not at the moment, no."

Hook craned his head as he caught sight of something among his new pool of subordinates. "Is Dead End doing technical work? Hm. I may have to keep him."

[Starscream]

"I wasn't planning on releasing him into the wild.." Starscream muttered, "But that does bring up something. I wanted you to appoint someone to train up to carry out rudimentary repairs." Having the two people with rank being the only ones who can be called on for the smallest of mechanical prowess just isn't how things should be. "Dead End is ideal, but I delegate the task of selection and training up to you." Did this mean Starscream trusts Hook with this much autonomy? Well, yes, but it's also because he just can't be bothered with the task.

"But for now, let us announce your appointment." Starscream made his way back to the gathering.

[Hook]

No, but Starscream might steal Dead End for himself. Evil, evil Starscream.

Hook nodded in response to the 'train someone up' command. Of course Starscream left it up to him. If Starscream didn't, Hook would do his best passive-aggressive training and probably get whomever Starscream assigned him killed.

No one likes passive-aggressive Constructicons.

"Yes, let's."