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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Jul 18, 2010 21:07:46 GMT -5
Impactor grunts at the protests. "I'm a soldier. It's our job to waste resources," he grumbles, but still, he... relents, actually, but only because he's getting his way in an indirect manor, anyway. He does turn a somewhat baffled look on Botanica and asks, "Are you sure a sleeping agent would even work on me?" he asks. Because he sure isn't!
He shifts so that he's sitting and just snorts irritably as he waits for the cart to be pushed near him. At Sentinel Prime's grumblings over commissions and ships, he gives the blue robot a confused frown. "What the blazes are you on about?" he asks, baffled. However, he doesn't wait for an answer before he catches sight of Sandstorm's condition, since the robot's been pushed nearer to him. He leans over the (other) dead Wrecker, optics opened wide. "What the hell was he hit with?!" he demands, shocked.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 18, 2010 22:19:14 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron moves to open Sandstorm and check his timestamp, showing an odd knowledge of exactly where Sandstorm's chronometer is located. He mentally steels himself, and the date is... slaggit. His hands clench into fists, and he glares at the body. Then, Emirate Xaaron reads it out aloud in a format that Impactor will understand, and he seethes quietly, "A particle cannon will do that sort of damage, if sufficiently powerful. This is likely my Sandstorm," which makes it Impactor's Sandstorm, too.
Folding his hands behind his back, he admits, "I sent the Wreckers to Earth to deal with Galvatron. Imagine Megatron amped up by the power of a dark god, and you'll have the general idea."
He doesn't correct Botanica about the expendable part, but... everyone's expendable.
Emirate Xaaron also ignores Sentinel Prime's little snit. Maybe he earned the rank, there, but he hasn't earned anything but the right to live, here.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Jul 18, 2010 22:57:56 GMT -5
Botanica snarks back, "And I'm a medic. It's my job to put the soldiers back together and keep them that way." So she's technically a botanist. Let's not split pistils here. "A sleeping agent might not work, but I imagine I can come up with something that will keep you bedridden."
She's satisfied for the moment that Impactor isn't going to argue anymore about getting up, so she move out of the way so that he and Xaaron can examine their fallen comrade. Botanica isn't going to do a full autopsy/resource stripping on Sandstorm right now anyway.
"Thank you Sentinel, for your assistance. But, if I may ask- you seemed to recognize Impactor here, or his likeness. We're trying to cross-check people across the realities, so any information you have on your version of him would be appreciated."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jul 19, 2010 9:14:45 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime arches a brow unit at the talk about the job of soldiers being to waste resources. That's not quite how they ever put it back home. He looks questioning again at the talk of whether or not a sleeping agent will work on Impactor. Immunity to drugs sure would be a nice thing to have, wouldn't it? They had stasis cuffs in his reality, but he doesn't think suggesting methods of bondage to an Autobot he's just met, who doesn't seem to be in a very good mood, anyway, is the brightest of ideas.
At Botanica's question, Sentinel Prime rubs the back of his head and looks away, hemming and hawing, "I'm not sure how much I can really say about Impactor Major, sir and ma'am. Most of what he did requires a S.T.A.R.S. security level to even know about. Now, I know Emirate Xaaron there," he points a finger at Emirate Xaaron, "is acting Magnus here, and you're," pointed over at Botanica now, "acting head of the Ministry of Science. Believe you me, I don't wanna get in trouble with you guys any more than I already am, but I don't exactly want to get in trouble back home, either." He holds up his hands helplessly, making a 'what can you do?' gesture.
Then, he rubs his chin, looking over at Impactor thoughtfully, and he admits, "I can freely say this much. Long, long before the Great War, Impactor was the drill sergeant in Autoboot Camp of an Autobot he'd name Ultra, an Autobot who would go on to become Ultra Magnus, Supreme Commander of the Autobots." He shoots a grin over at the dead man. "So he must have been blasted good drill sergeant."
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Jul 19, 2010 12:33:23 GMT -5
Impactor had already prepared himself for the possibility that this was his Sandstorm, so he shows no reaction beyond a solemn nod when Emirate Xaaron confirms that. His dimmed optics flare slightly brighter as Xaaron describes Galvatron, however, and the mission to stop them. "And they went?!" he asks, shocked. That sounds like a suicide mission, and one thing the Wreckers - well, his Wreckers - do not do was suicide missions.
Not unless the stakes were high enough, anyway.
He thinks over the descriptions he read of the events surrounding Galvatron's visits to the past from Xaaron and Rodimus's entries - entries that convienently neglected to mention Wrecker involvement. Still, he's forced to grudgingly allow, "I suppose reality coming unhinged is good enough cause to go up against something like that."
He eyes Botanica as she snaps at him. "'Keep them that way?'" he asks warily, then snorts. "I guess everyone's gotta have a dream."
He furrows his brow-ridge as Sentinel talks about the security level needed to talk about his alternate, though he can't help a snicker as the blue Autobot refers to Emirate Xaaron as 'acting Magnus.' "Xaaron Magnus?" he chuckles, glancing at the Emirate and shaking his head in amusement. The amusement remains at Sentinel's further explanations, though they become tempered by mild confusion. Before asking for clarification, he rubs his chin, muttering, "I suppose it makes sense that my alternate would make a good drill sergeant." Ha. Ha.
Louder, though, he clarifies, "So I take it that 'Magnus' and 'Major' are ranks in your reality, like 'Prime,' and 'Magnus' is the top position. But what's this about naming him 'Ultra'? So what did he get called before that? Or do you folk just not have names before... Autoboot Camp?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 19, 2010 16:50:47 GMT -5
"Springer handled things a bit differently," Emirate Xaaron says diplomatically, spreading out his hands. "Though speaking of different, the Springer here is much older than ours, female, has some Kup issues, and comes from a reality with a radically different history than ours. For Primus's sake, Springer's Decepticons agreed to follow a legal code with the Autobots."
Yeah, okay, so Emirate Xaaron just lied about Springer's gender to Impactor. He's lied about Springer's faction before, so this is minor. He radios Botanica and Sentinel Prime in warning, //Don't say a word.//
He crosses his arms at Impactor jesting about 'Xaaron Magnus' and rolls his optics at Impactor, who seems to have become a comedian since passing away.
Then, Emirate Xaaron, who is not at all being used to being told that he doesn't have the security clearance for anything, points a finger at Sentinel Prime and says sternly, "Out with it. I'll lock the doors and temporarily shut down the security feeds, and it won't leave this room," he looks from Botanica to Impactor, seeking confirmation, "but out with it. I'm sick of people refusing to talk about their Impactors." He then moves to lock said doors and temporarily override said security feeds.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Jul 20, 2010 13:51:01 GMT -5
Botanica frowns at Xaaron. She disapproves of misleading Impactor about Springer's gender. Just because the mech has no idea of gender, doesn't mean one should poke fun. She's been ordered to say nothing, however, and so she obeys.
Sentinel's refusal to explain, however, irks her as much as it irks Xaaron. Luckily, Xaaron is handling that aspect. Botanica has had a rough few days, her temper is terribly short, and if she has to deal with much more of this nonsense it won't be pretty.
"Impactor, I want to check a few things while Sentinel talks. It doesn't look as if your repairs are taking properly, and I want to see if I can trace the problem." Even though she thinks she knows the problem.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jul 20, 2010 14:41:29 GMT -5
Springer's a girl? Butchest girl Sentinel Prime's ever seen, and he's seen the old security files about Kappa Supreme! And blast, Springer used to be his room-mate! He could have been laying down some lines to see if Triple-Changers are really crazy- -oh, Emirate Xaaron is just lying about Springer's gender for no apparent reason? Oh. Oh-kay. That doesn't make any sense at all to Sentinel Prime, but whatever, Xaaron's the acting Magnus, and if he wants to be wingnuttier than an energon cake at Magnusmas, he can. He explains to Impactor cheerily enough, "That's right. They're ranks." He ticks off on his fingers, "Cadet, Minor, Major, Prime, Magnus are the most commonly used ones. We do have names before Autoboot Camp," since some people never seem to have gone through it and yet are not nameless, "but they're not worth remembering. Don't know who Ultra was before he was Ultra. Couldn't even tell you what mine used to be." He shrugs and turns his hands palms up. "But if you want to be an Autobot and do your service," said as if this is the only reasonable choice, "yeah, your drill sergeant will name you the first day of Camp." His antennae lay back at Emirate Xaaron's order, and his optics narrow. What gives? It's not like any of that matters here and now. Sentinel Prime watches Emirate Xaaron closely to make sure the doors are locked and cameras are out, and then he explains, "You're going to need a bit of context. It was the Great War, way before my time, and the Decepticons were creaming us." He scowls and starts to pace, hands behind his back, as he talks. "Project Omega was put into action to create Omega Sentinels, mass-produced Autobot starships that turned into living weapons of mass destruction. Sort of like the Omega Supreme here, but without the whole weird tank and rocket base thing. Before he blew himself up, anyway." The scowl deepens. If Omega Supreme hadn't exploded, Sentinel Prime would have never run into Elita-1's future self, flipped his lid, and ended up in disgrace. "The Sentinels were purposefully given simplistic minds to make them comfortable with executing orders of questionable morality and self-sacrifice, but to keep them from either rampaging or wasting themselves pointlessly, each Sentinel was bonded to a seasoned Autobot to serve as a handler. The handler had the access codes to bring the Sentinel online." Sentinel Prime thinks it is strange that these Autobots never bonded their Omega Supreme to anyone to guide him, because he doesn't seem that awfully bright and could maybe use some help with little things like 'not blowing up'. He looks over at Impactor now. "Impactor Major was bonded to Zeta Supreme, codenamed the Xantium. His team were the Wreckers. They operated deep, deep behind Decepticon lines with minimal support for several thousand stellar cycles." Even Sentinel Prime has to admit that's impressive, and he ticks off on fingers again. "Smashed the Decepticon shipyards on Salvvatan VI, destroyed their mainframe on Bk'n, disrupted their supply lines... what didn't the Wreckers do? I think they even slaughtered Squadron X at Pova, if I have my history straight." Optimus and Elita-1 were always bigger history geeks than Sentinel was. "The Decepticons were so torqued off by the Wreckers that Megatron created the Decepticon Heavy Brigade just to hunt them down." He pulls out a datapad and pulls up a sterling shot of himself, then he adds in Blackout, who is the largest Decepticon of all, and little Sentinel there looks completely dwarfed. "That guy? He's Blackout. When the Wreckers and the Decepticon Heavy Brigade threw down, Blackout was the only survivor." He puts the datapad away and falls silent, looking away. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your alternate, his ship, and his whole crew were brutally slaughtered by Decepticons built just to kill you. But hey, bright side, only one of the Heavy Brigade survived, right? Yeah, fantastic, because Blackout went on to leave of a trail of dead Sentinels in his wake.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Jul 20, 2010 18:48:15 GMT -5
"'Springer handled things a bit differently,'" Impactor grunts. "You mean you never bothered to mention that he could actually turn you down." Then Xaaron goes over the differences with this Springer, and Impactor's optics widen a bit. "What? Kup issues?" he asks, baffled. Obviously, this is more confusing than either a female Springer or a mutual legal code between Autobots and Decepticons. Although the legal code bit is kind of odd, too.
He gives Xaaron a thoughtful frown when the Autobot leader mentions 'lying about Impactors,' but doesn't comment on that.
He snorts when Botanica mentions wanting to trace the source of his problem, and mutters, "Probably because I'm dead." Then, louder, he asks, "You need me sitting or lying for it?" He got his look at Sandstorm. That's enough. More than enough.
Impactor listens carefully to Sentinel. So in Sentinel's reality, they have to join the military just to call themselves Autobots? A bit odd, but then, Impactor himself is from a city-state where Autobots were not only highly encouraged towards military service, it was pretty much the only way to guarantee decent energy rations.
The next thing that Sentinel explains, however, causes Impactor to start to stand before he remembers himself. "You... you... built sapient weapons of mass destruction and intentionally made them stupid?!" he demands, jaw dropped in shock. Impactor is, by no means, what most people would call soft. Under his leadership, the Wreckers have done many things other Autobots would find questionable. Hell, the guy's idea of unwinding is killing Decepticons. But this is a pretty reprehensible, even to him. He's shocked enough that he doesn't really have a chance to respond to the revelation that it apparently took a squad of specially built giants just to take down the Wreckers of Sentinel's reality.
(He might feel a little pleased about that part when he has a chance to think about it later on.)
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 20, 2010 19:13:58 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron ignores Botanica's frown. He needs to get Impactor used to the idea of women! And how they could be anyone, anywhere. As for Impactor's frown... Emirate Xaaron will have his out with Springer, but Impactor might want to have one, too. He does admit, "Kup apparently meant a lot to him, in his reality, but was terribly injured. He was startled to see our Kup up and walking."
He makes a face at Sentinel Prime's recounting, gestures with a hand, and admits, "The Prowl in my reality did ask our Optimus Prime, who was the military leader of the Autobot army, to allow the creation of several Omega Supremes, but Optimus Prime turned him down. Said he didn't want any purpose-built Autobot warriors." He snorts. "Not a qualm I ever had."
He folds his hands behind back. "But something I've learned the hard way is that, whether or not you build an Autobot as a warrior, no good will ever come of treating him as just a weapon or tool. Life is life. If you tell an Autobot to protect all life and then don't include him as worthy of being protected, that'll be a bitter draught."
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Jul 20, 2010 22:54:31 GMT -5
Botanica's lips are drawn in a thin line as Sentinel explains things. her voice is clipped when she finally speaks.
"You know, the more I hear about the Autobots of your universe, the more I have to wonder if they are morally any better than the Decepticons they fight." Between this business, and the twins, and then the mess with that spider-woman-who-may-be-Elita-1....
She understands sacrifice. She understands that sometimes in war you must do things that some would consider wrong. She, herself, is a bit more morally gray than some. But some things she just can't stomach.
"However you're most comfortable, Impactor. Just try not to move overmuch."
He can't actually be dead, and yet still have a soul. Can he?
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jul 20, 2010 23:16:14 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime looks taken aback when Impactor says he's dead, so casually. Sure, he's been hearing odd things and mostly trying to ignore them, but he figured that Impactor was just dying, not actually dead. Sentinel Prime can't help but sputter, "Dead!?"
Oh Allspark, please don't let Impactor eat his spark. He's much too young, handsome, and all-around swell to die! And don't let Impactor turn him into some kind of glittering undead, either; he has enough problems with the ladies trying to get their hooks into him, as it is.
Sentinel Prime throws his hands in the air and protests, "The Sentinels weren't my idea! And their handlers did the job - none of the Sentinels ever went rogue." Not until the business with the Lugnut Supremes, but Sentinel Prime doesn't know about that.
He glares at the universe in general, and he sniffs, stub-nose in the air, "The Decepticons want to conquer to whole universe. We just want to keep Cybertron and the colonies safe. Besides, Decepticons use ranged firepower. They're brutes. We use special powers."
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Jul 21, 2010 20:54:51 GMT -5
Impactor starts to lay back down - he may be better than he was earlier, but he really is still fairly weak. He frowns up at Emirate Xaaron at the explanation of Kup. "So I take it his Kup isn't a blasted burnout," he says sourly.
He looks up at Botanica as she asks him to try not to move, and smirks. "No moving? Don't worry," he mutters. "I've gotten real good at that lately." He doesn't stop moving just yet, however. When Sentinel talks about the Decepticons being brutes because they use ranged firepower, he turns his head and looks at the cannon on his shoulder, then snorts.
"Special power and custom-built living-weapon idiots, right?" he asks, darkly amused.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 21, 2010 21:39:26 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron looks at Botanica thoughtfully for a moment. She's fun to watch when she's chewing someone out who isn't him! He does, however, remark dryly, "Impactor would probably be more comfortable if this was an armoury or an oil house, not the sickbay."
He pinches his nose over Sentinel Prime trying to pack-pedal and then inserting his foot into his mouth. It's a bit painful to watch. Yeah, this? This is why Emirate Xaaron doesn't turn into a tank very often.
He admits obliquely, "No, Springer's Kup didn't burn out." Irradiated, crazy, and murderous? Yes. However, that is for Springer himself to tell, not Emirate Xaaron. "The Kup here is a completely different Kup than ours or Springer's though. Comes from Perceptor and Long Haul's reality."
Emirate Xaaron wanders off to unlock the doors and turn the cameras back on.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Jul 22, 2010 0:07:53 GMT -5
Botanica initiates a diagnostics program which, when finished, should give her a better picture of exactly why Impactor's body is already showing rejections markers. Even if he has some sort of special condition, it shouldn't be happening this fast.
She really, really can't make herself believe that Impactor is truly walking dead.
But oh Sentinel, you are hitting some sensitive buttons here.
"You just want to keep everyone safe," Botanica mimics, once more fixing Sentinel with that thin-lipped stare, "You don't use actual weapons because that is barbaric." "Do you have any idea how elitist that sounds? You're too good to use a gun, so you create life whose sole purpose is to fight your battles for you. You have 'special powers,' and somehow that makes you so much better than the people you fight. Hah!"
"If your Autobots truly wished to keep your world and colonies safe from your Decepticons, you would have found a way to truly defeat them. Not jettisoned your Matrix-analog into space in order to send Megatron out on some extended treasure hunt."
Botanica rolls her eyes and turns an exasperated look on Emirate Xaaron. "What is it with that anyway? Is there some unwritten law of Primus that at some point we have to toss our greatest treasure out like so much garbage?"
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