Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 6, 2011 20:39:54 GMT -5
Month 1, Week 2, Day 4, Ship, Needlenose's office, open
Blast Off has most likely already filed a report about how he had to shoot Assault in the guns. This visit is not about that. This visit is about something of a more sensitive nature.
So he makes his way to Needlenose's office, which is really more of a laboratory, because Needlenose's milkshake brings all the snipers to the yard.
Blast Off calls aloud, "Good cycle. I pray you are not busy?"
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 6, 2011 21:09:21 GMT -5
Needlenose is busy!
Needlenose, in fact, has any number of components laid out, chemicals, board etching material, a microscope. In front of him, on a flat panel, is a schematic. It is not a proper schematic. Proper schematics are designed to resemble the way a circuit works, and not the way the circuit actually looks. It is not, however, a normal build drawing, a detailed layout of the components and runs as they will actually appear on the board. No, it is something in the middle. Now and again he reaches up and moves things around, never disrupting the actual circuit path, but changing the layout ever so slightly.
When Blast Off enters, he does not, at first, look up. Instead, with a flick of his fingers, he removes a resistor from the schematic, replacing it with a parallel grouping that fits the overall aesthetic better while providing equivalent resistance. "Nothing... pressing," he finally murmurs, glancing back at Blast Off.
"I assume you're here for a specific reason, and not just to bask in my glorious presence? Not that I could blame you if it's the latter."
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 6, 2011 22:02:20 GMT -5
"You would assume correctly," Blast Off replies.
Needlenose's work is gobbledygook to him, but he can understand and respect that there is some skill there, even if he doesn't know what it is.
He touches the G2 Decepticon symbol on his chest. This shouldn't be too hard. It's not like Blast Off himself did anything wrong. He's just warning the friendly local neighbourhood secret police about a potential problem!
Blast Off looks for all the exits.
Then he explains, "I'm from your future, I'm quite sure. How shall I break this to you... Primus dies."
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 7, 2011 19:50:11 GMT -5
Needlenose freezes in place, not moving in the slightest. After a silent moment, he reaches up to his terminal and shuts it off, then he turns towards Blast Off. The usual flamboyance is gone, replaced, now, by a deadly seriousness.
He says one word.
"Explain."
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 7, 2011 20:33:10 GMT -5
Blast Off quickly concludes that he hates being the bearer of bad news and that he should have just radioed Needlenose from twelve thousand miles away. However, that would have been dreadfully impolite. When there is a death in the family, manners dictate the news be delivered face to face, or in this case, facemask to facemask.
He holds up his hands takes a step back, and explains, "Primus was awakened, somehow. I am not entirely certain of the specifics. Octopunch keeps claiming that he shot Primus in the face and that woke Primus up, but..." Blast Off gives Needlenose a dubious look. "Primus teleported His children home. It was... nothing like the spacebridge. One moment I was on Earth, and the next - the planet of my forebears!"
Blast Off was built on Earth, after all.
"As Unicron approached, Primus made Himself known by possessing Emirate Xaaron. I am to understand that Emirate Xaaron usually does not glow all over, fly, and teleport?" Blast Off tilts his head questioningly. Again, he was built on Earth! He didn't have much to do with crushing the resistance on Cybertron.
"Apparently, all Transformers standing as one can defeat Unicron, if the Matrix is missing. Which we... tried. Primus-as-Emirate Xaaron confronted Unicron one on one and held him bound for oh... a few seconds. Unicron crushed him like an insignificant scraplet."
"Many fought against Unicron, and many were lost. I am told that even some humans waged war against Unicron. How amusing. In the darkest hour, a resurrected Optimus Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Thunderwing, who had also failed in fighting Unicron. Using Primus's power that was stored in the Matrix, Optimus Prime was able to end Unicron, but..."
"...Cybertron was dead. The planet started tearing itself apart."
"Then the Last Autobot came out of nowhere and stopped that." Blast Off vaguely disapproves. Why would Primus make an Autobot to do the job? Of course, there was a time when all Transformers were Autobots, but Blast Off is too young to remember that!
"The Last Autobot apparently being Primus's last direction creation His own hand and repository of His power. Aside from stopping the planet from falling apart, the Last Autobot also raised some of the war dead. Mostly Autobot dead. Hnph."
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 7, 2011 23:41:16 GMT -5
The news is bittersweet. At the point Needlenose was pulled from, Cybertron seemed all but doomed, the Matrix lost, Unicron on his way. By what Blast Off has to say, they get past it by uniting with the Autobots... and are rewarded with Autobot victory.
Needlenose lowers his head and listens, antennae tilted back slightly. He nods, crossing his arms.
"Unicron was already on his way, last I knew. Thunderwing had just been blasted into space. ... Maybe a bit past that. We were put into stasis as prisoners." He makes a quiet, almost growling noise. "Too far along for me to be able to change much when I do get back." If he ever gets back. He looks up at Blast Off. "Got any details I can make use of?"
He doesn't know that Blast Off wasn't done with his story!
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 8, 2011 9:23:02 GMT -5
"Actually..." Blast Off fidgets a bit and finally steels himself and finds his resolve. "...I wanted to discuss what comes after."
"With Scorponok and Megatron dead at the time, Bludgeon took over as Decepticon commander." That guy that used to make fun of Needlenose? Yes, him.
"We had some... altercations with human forces called G.I. Joe and Cobra. Hot Spot died," This is really only important information if one is a Combaticon and therefore spends most of one's life getting one's skidplate beaten by the Protectobots.
"...and Megatron was brought back to life by Cobra. Then, in his infinite wisdom, he also brought back Starscream." This is where Blast Off's problems start. His brows knit together in disapproval.
"So it was business as usual again. We try to take over planets; Autobots try to stop us. Then a third player entered the game. A branch of our own species that left Cybertron long ago for brighter horizons. The Cybertronian Empire." His optics narrow with hatred.
"They are much like us. Cruel. Uncaring. Desirous of conquest. Perhaps the the biggest difference is that are very, very many of them and not so many of us." He holds up a holocube with a battle still frame on it, if Needlenose wants to see what Blast Off means when he says they were outnumbered.
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 8, 2011 23:45:07 GMT -5
"Bludgeon?" Needlenose groans, covering his face. Blast, but this just keeps getting rose and worse... and weirder and weirder. Then the Combaticon mentions Megatron returning to life, and he mutters, "Figures." He actually snickers faintly when Blast Off says that Megatron then brings Starscream back.
Really.
He tilts one antennae back and turns his head slightly to the right. "I would ask if an alliance was considered, but I'm guessing Megatron isn't too keen to accept playing second fiddle to anyone and these guys aren't too keen on letting him just take over."
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 9, 2011 6:35:11 GMT -5
"An alliance was considered... and accepted... on the part of Starscream. He betrayed us to the Cyberonian Empire," Blast Off explains stiffly, like jagged shards of ice. He is upset, he is hiding it, and his icy calm is breaking for once. It is not that Starscream would betray them. Starscreams gonna do what Starscreams gonna do. It is...
"Pull my medical file. It is accurate and complete enough, I believe. You will see I arrived dying. Luckily, a medic was available to stabilise and save me. We Combaticons were dispatched to recover Warworld, a vast, spherical Decepticon battle cruiser created by Bludgeon, which had been taken by the Cybertronian Empire. We discovered Starscream's treachery then. He and his new troops killed us all."
Blast Off looks down and at his hand, considering his fist. It's shaking a little, and he wants to hurt something. Blast Off doesn't want to put his loss and pain and fear and anger into words, not for some random jet, but even if he wanted to, he doesn't think he could. He has only awkward silence for his slain team, who have left him orphaned and alone, a stranger in a strange land.
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 10, 2011 17:14:57 GMT -5
Needlenose is quiet. This random jet isn't going to ask Blast Off to put his loss and pain and fear and anger into words. Needlenose is not part of a combining team, but the all the same, he has a better idea than most what it's like to be so... intertwined with another's soul. But the other news...
Needlenose sighs. His wings and antennae droop slightly, and he rubs his temples with the index and middle fingers of each hand. "So we survive Unicron only to be defeated by the Autobots and then end up having to deal with an overwhelming force in the form of a lost 'faction' of our own kind. Looooovely. And Megatron brings Starscream back even though he knows that Starscream's going to turn on him and probably all of us, because that's what Starscream does, and why? Because Megatron's an idiot!"
After a moment, he adds, "About some things." Best not to let word get out that one of the Mayhems is badmouthing the sometimes leader of the Decepticons, even if the Mayhems themselves never really reported to him. Besides, Blast Off was built on Earth, and he is young, and Needlenose has no idea how strong Blast Off's loyalties are to Megatron.
He lowers his hands and looks at Blast Off. "If we're ever returned to the time we're pulled from with the knowledge we have now, I... doubt I can do much to change anything. Not at the point I was stuck in. Spinister may be able to get the warning to someone..."
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 10, 2011 18:11:19 GMT -5
Megatron's choice to bring Starscream back to life led to the deaths of the Decepticons closest and dearest to Blast Off, so Blast Off lets Needlenose's seditious talk go without comment. Almost idly, he flicks through images on his holocube, showing vista after vista of hordes of Cybertronians.
Having composed himself, Blast Off launches into an answer for the question that his report thus far has begged, "You may be wondering why there are so many of them. I did hear the answer to that, just before I left. Megatron allied us with the Autobots. Better to fight alongside our enemies of old than die alone against new enemies, I suppose."
Blast Off shrugs ambivalently. "Recently, our combined forces discovered a planet where the inhabitants were... eaten away at a molecular level. The Autobots were curious as to what could have caused such a thing and investigated. The culprit... has a genetic and cellular configuration identical to our own, according to them. They further postulated that the entity must be either a close relation to or a by-product of our own kind. As it turns out, within each an every one of us, we possess the potential to divide and bud off new Transformers. This process was forgotten by our species as a whole long ago, but the Cybertronian Empire rediscovered it somehow and thusly swelled their ranks to such gross amounts. However, the process watered down their line and led to the... other entity, somehow. The one that devours on a molecular level."
He holds up his hands defensively. "I do not understand the actual mechanics of budding, only that it may be done and that the consequences of overusing it may be dire."
If Blast Off was built the 31st of May, 1986 and pulled May 1994, to judge by the cover dates of his creation and death issues, he's only eight, and given that he was built on Earth, Blast Off is way too young to be thinking about engaging in reproduction, even if it is asexual.
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 10, 2011 21:19:35 GMT -5
Needlenose once more falls silent, his optics wide. He lifts his fingers to his temples, leans against the table, and stands there.
"That's... that..."
He shakes his head faintly and lowers his hands. "All right, I'm going to need some time to process that one," he finally finishes. Process, and talk over the implications with Spinister.
And make sure Duskwing never, ever finds out he can spontaneously reproduce.
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 10, 2011 22:07:26 GMT -5
Blast Off nods and explains, "That is why I wished to discuss the matter with you first. I have written up a complete report, but I... do not necessarily want the full contents to be public. There are Starscreams here, and while I am to understand that they are not as fond of... culling," he hates himself a little for phrasing it that way, "as our Starscream, I may not wish to let them know I was meant to die by the hand of their alternate. Beyond that selfishness on my part, the matter of budding seems one that would need to be handled delicately."
He looks down and away, wrapping one arm loosely across his own chest. "I apologise for not having more information that you can use, but even something is better than what I can do with it. I have only my own death waiting for me, should I return to whence I came."
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Post by Needlenose on Apr 11, 2011 12:23:52 GMT -5
Needlenose dips his head in a quick nod. "Yes. Leave the budding out of the report. The rest is... at your discretion." Don't want to mention being killed by Starscream? That's fine, then.
He rubs his chin and tilts his head. "You know, it... may be time to start getting a feel for who among us... don't want to go back. We still need to know why we've been getting pulled here, sure, and I think there's been this unspoken assumption that we're all working to find a way to go back home, but..."
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Blast Off
Rookie
I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite.
Posts: 177
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Post by Blast Off on Apr 11, 2011 17:43:23 GMT -5
Blast Off is just going to leave out Starscream's betrayal entirely. Needlenose will make sure that the people who need to know know it when they need to know. That is what they keep him around for, yes?
He's a little bit of a coward. He doesn't want to go back and die. There's just no point to it. He's also scared of being alone, however, and living out his life as Blast Off, last of the G2 Combaticons, seems a rather daunting prospect.
Blast Off makes light of the dilemma and notes wryly, "If I could go back with a portable forcefield, an autodoc, and a neutron bomb, I think I could manage."
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