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Post by Hook on Mar 22, 2008 23:33:41 GMT -5
After showing Starfighter how to do the first one, Hook has tried to give the Seeker examinations to the deferential blue jet. There are several reasons for this, but the two strongest are that Seekers are only slightly less than deadly dull and the Constructicon has a lot of different people to work out how to even remove their armor safely, much less take accurate and useful scans. (In the case of the Predacons that aren't Sky-Byte, Hook has largely let Scourge handle the matters while he supervises. Curse the lack of supremely tiny hands with which to do some of these manipulations!)
In a distant third is the idea that Starfighter needs to get more hands-on medical work.
Now, however, it's time to examine Starfighter himself. Which means Hook has laid out a selection of opening tools for Seekers, and is simply waiting for the blue jet to obey the summons to get his tailfins down here.
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All bits agreed upon with respective players.
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 22, 2008 23:53:43 GMT -5
Starfighter enters quietly and reluctantly, still holding his datapad across his chest like a shield. He knew his time would come eventually, and that Hook would have no reason to give him preferential treatment just for helping him out with his work. Still, that doesn't make him any less terrified of what Hook's going to find once he cracks the Seeker's chest open.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" he asks nervously.
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Post by Hook on Mar 23, 2008 0:01:17 GMT -5
"Yes. Put that silly datapad down and sit. Legs out in front of you." Hook frowns at the Seeker, less because he's annoyed at Starfighter himself than because it's habitual at this point.
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 23, 2008 0:05:37 GMT -5
"Yessir!" Starfighter squeaks, letting his datapad slip into subspace and hopping up on the table, legs extended. He looks far more panicky than your average Decepticon patient, especially one who knows more or less exactly what's going to happen.
He's not coughing yet. But he's close.
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Post by Hook on Mar 23, 2008 0:28:15 GMT -5
If Hook had an ounce of bedside manner, he might try to soothe Starfighter before removing the jet's armor. However, as Hook's bedside manner can be measured in picograms, there is no comfort for the poor hapless jet.
The Constructicon slips a hooked file into a seam in Starfighter's armor, catches it on the latch, and 'pops' open the armor. That is removed and laid out on a nearby table, then Hook repeats the maneuver as many times as necessary to uncover the entirety of Starfighter's legs.
Boringly standard. Since he has the jet open, Hook makes a few checks on problems that good preventive maintenance can prevent but normally get skipped by lazy jets. However, there seems to be nothing wrong. Good.
He steps away and brings the overhead scanner to bear on the jet.
As the scan goes, he asks Starfighter a question. "Your files report you as a bog-standard Seeker. Is this correct?"
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 23, 2008 0:31:20 GMT -5
"I...ah..." More fidgeting, and the noise of Starfighter's air intakes becomes a bit more labored. "Mostly, sir. In all the important places."
Hook was going to find it. He was going to find it, expose him as weak, and Starscream would have him executed and used as spare parts. Starfighter only wished he'd have enough time to make it through one last battle and at least have a Decepticon's death instead of a weakling's.
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Post by Hook on Mar 23, 2008 0:35:54 GMT -5
"Mostly?" Someone has done a hackjob on Starfighter's engine, hasn't he? Something to make the silly jet faster or more fuel-efficient or something equally bone-headed, and it not only doesn't work, it has a high chance of exploding. Lovely.
"Lie down."
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 23, 2008 0:38:13 GMT -5
The whirring of Starfighter's air intakes becomes more audible as he lies back down, shuddering against the table. "Ye-yessir."
Nonono not now, not right in front of the one mech who would never accept any pseudotechnical excuse he could come up with. Anytime but now.
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Post by Hook on Mar 24, 2008 23:50:15 GMT -5
Why was Starfighter nervous? He knew exactly how this procedure would work, so he knew perfectly well that Hook wasn't going to take him apart and run spined needles along the central nodes of his pain sensors.
If the jet had something to fear about the procedure, then the jet was trying to hide something he didn't want revealed.
If it were anything other than the cringing, submissive jet with the datapad, Hook might be worried.
Instead, the Constructicon strips off Starfighter's torso and arm armor, laying them aside, and takes the necessary scans. Hopefully Starfighter does as he is told and lies still for them.
As he is sorting through the files on the console, an anomaly on the torso scans catches his optic. He brings that up and manipulates the data, focusing it on the bit that is tweaking his surgical engineer instincts. Unfortunately, this particular piece of equipment is heavily shielded to prevent damage, which prevented the scanners from picking up clear details.
What they had gotten was more than enough, however.
There is something anomalous about Starfighter's lasercore.
There cannot be something anomalous about Starfighter's lasercore. A mech either had a standard lasercore, or they were dead.
"Hnh." Hook taps a few commands into the console, then selects a handful of clamps and a pair of pliers from his toolkit. "There is something that merits further investigation here."
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 25, 2008 15:53:34 GMT -5
Starfighter lies quietly and submissively as Hook takes the rest of his armor off, trying in vain not to panic. Maybe Hook's having an off day and won't notice...nope, he's noticed.
If Hook was to look directly into Starfighter's chest he'd notice that the casing around the laser core is warped in several places and in others has been directly replaced several times. The latest and most obvious repairs are extremely--as if, for instance, they had been done by a mech using field medic tools while looking at himself in a reflective surface to make sure he was welding in the right places.
If he was to put his hand atop it, he might notice that it's far hotter than it ought to be.
"Really, sir, it's not--" Starfighter's body jerks up ever so slightly and his air intakes emit a quiet, shuddering cough-like noise. He clenches his hands into fists and tries to calm himself down again but the cough repeats itself, harsher now and making his limbs twitch and curl inwards.
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Post by Hook on Mar 26, 2008 20:51:53 GMT -5
"Obviously, it is."
Hook waits for Starfighter's fit to pass. A problem in the air-processing systems as well as whatever anomalies are present in his lasercore. What part of 'if you have anything you haven't mentioned to the Mayhems, tell me now' did the jet not understand?
The Constructicon carefully begins to shift aside the internals protecting the lasercore from inside of the armor. "Now, tell me what it is."
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 27, 2008 9:11:32 GMT -5
It takes a while for Starfighter's body to calm down again and his limbs to untense, and by that time he's turned his face away from Hook and made lying still his main priority. He's dead now, soon as Hook tells Starscream. Good as scrap metal, no point in holding back now.
"There was a slight problem with my laser core when I was constructed, sir," he says, looking at the other side of the room. "During moments of extreme stress it...well, it does this. It overheats and causes seizures in my systems. But it isn't any real trouble, I've functioned for over a century with nothing more than a mild inconvenience."
Decades as an accountant, yeah.
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Post by Hook on Mar 27, 2008 18:54:50 GMT -5
Hook pauses to smack Starfighter's wing. "What part of 'if there is anything you did not inform the Mayhems of that I would find relevant, tell me now' did you fail to understand?"
That being said, the Constructicon finishes shifting Starfighter's internals around and gets a good look at his lasercore. A hiss escapes him at the ugly warps and repairs. "Define 'slight problem'. What exactly has been determined about this?"
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Post by Starfighter on Mar 27, 2008 20:01:18 GMT -5
Starfighter winces, not from the pain of the slap but from the sting of superior disapproval. "It doesn't interfere with my work, sir, I didn't think you'd find it important." The laser core is still hot and the plating around it barely cooler, with some of the later patches close to melting. Starfighter hadn't been able to find the proper materials without attracting notice.
"I've had medics poking around inside me before, sir, but they haven't been able to find out what's wrong without...well, they just haven't." Without killing him and taking his laser core apart, but he doesn't want to give Hook any ideas. Just having them touch him and look at him like he was an Autobot for interrogation was painful and humiliating enough. "Shockwave-my Shockwave, I mean--he didn't deem it necessary for me to continue being inspected when I could still serve him properly without treatment."
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Post by Hook on Mar 27, 2008 20:46:58 GMT -5
Another wing-smack. "You are aware that defective laser-cores are the most common reason some Transformers roll out of the factories dead? Why would you possibly think it isn't important to tell me," the greatest surgical engineer on or off Cybertron, "that you might drop dead if put into situations that a normal Seeker would not have problems with? Imbecile."
Hook has so far refrained from touching Starfighter's lasercore. He's not entirely sure what's wrong with it besides it causing a strain on the Seeker's systems in order to keep it running sanely, as well as requiring patches. "Hnh. Amateurs. No one has been keeping the engineers up to standards if that's all they've been able to determine. If your damage control readings are still linked to it, I want heat readings, electrical readings, radation readings if any, and any warnings or other abnormal reports."
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