Blast Off to Barricade

[Blast Off]

Space II, Month 4, Week 3, Day 1

//Lord Barricade, I must step away from the security room. I do apologise, but I am taking a copy of the monitors on remote desktop. I will still be able to work from... elsewhere.//

Blast Off is not sure where he's going yet.

//I will lock up when I go, of course.//

[Barricade]

The "Lord" bit throws Barricade for a moment; he isn't used to being called that. That was always Starscream's little peccadillo.

// Elsewhere? // The question as to where "elsewhere" is, and why is implied in the tone.

[Blast Off]

If Barricade has a term he likes better, Blast Off would use that instead, if he knew.

//...outside, my lord.//

Blast Off is a space ship. He wants to stretch his wings? Yes? Maybe?

[Barricade]

Outside, where there are, conveniently enough, no monitors, no security cameras, no real way of tracking the goings on, beyond a purely visual/external sensors manner. A perfect place to plot. Hmmm....

// Should I ask what the profit margin is? // he asks wryly. He is a Decepticon, after all. If there's not shenanigans afoot, then clearly someone is already dead.

[Blast Off]

//...I honestly had not thought about that, my lord. That was always more the purview of Swindle.//

[Barricade]

Barricade merely laughs; it's a rough, grating sound, like a set of claws on a grinder.

// Go stretch your wings, then. Just let me know if I need to come up with a feasible alibi for you, and then what I'm covering you for. // Really, Barricade is pretty cool with a lot of backstabbing. As long as it isn't his back that's getting stabbed.

Of course, he could just be lying.

// Oh, and Blast Off? //

[Blast Off]

//Oh, I would not ask such of you!// Blast Off protests. Really, he's a good little Decepticon! He'll bury his own bodies. Barricade has more valuable things to be doing with his time. It would be unspeakably rude of Blast Off to impose.

//Yes, Lord Barricade?//

[Barricade]

// Starscream's the one who gets off on the Lord crap. I'm good with just Boss or Sir. //

// Oh, hey, while you're out there, maybe you could have a look at the sensor array on Section 9G? It started glitching a while ago and is blind right now. // Or at least it started glitching after Barricade told it to, not that Blast Off should be able to spot that bit of Frenzy's hacking. // I was going to send Frenzy, but if you're already out there...// Then Frenzy won't have to look too hard for a hiding place to cover Blast Off, what with handing him a perfect blind spot to drag Assault off to.

[Blast Off]

//Oh, my sincerest apologies... sir.// Blast Off is actually rather flustered to think that he was using the wrong honorific. That's such poor form of him!

Why yes, trying to monitor the monitors on his remote desktop on his datapad, drag Assault around and have a conversation with him, and check on a glitching sensor array is exactly what Blast Off wanted to do today before Needlenose and/or Barricade later murder him.

//Yes, of course, sir. It would be my pleasure.//

Blast Off is a dutiful Decepticon, and an order is an order. He will manage.

[Barricade]

Blast Off really needs to relax. Barricade might have to see about a programming glitch when the shuttle gets his next ration of Energon. Or else just send Frenzy to spike it outright.

// Take your time. It's a pretty unimportant sensor cluster. Not much out there worth watching, anyway, and even if there was, you'll be out; you'd spot anything that was out of place. Update me when you've completed the repair. Barricade out. //

Besides, murdering Blast Off would be totally counter-productive. Murdering Assault, however...