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Post by Breakaway on May 9, 2011 19:48:18 GMT -5
Month 3, Week 2, Day 1, Open to Team Good. If any 'Cons want to make an appearance as part of the simulation, contact Breakaway's player.
Breakaway is hunched over a datapad, manipulating statistics, data, the laws of physics, and generally putting the final touches on his simulation program. He appears to be standing in a self-erecting thin-walled structure of flimsy alloys, the Cybertronian version of a command tent, with all the requisite field-portable radios, maps, and viewscreens. If someone sticks their head out the doorway, they'll see a makeshift air strip with some generic Autobots and Nebulans running around. They are the green kind of Nebulans, for whatever reason. The entire scene appears to be nestled in an idyllic mountain valley, complete with blue trees, green sky, and really nervous-looking armed guards.
Anyone entering the simulation room will appear to come in through the door of the command tent, though of course if they walk back out the door, they'll just be next to the runway.
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on May 10, 2011 10:20:06 GMT -5
Skyblast actually shows up on time. This is somewhat remarkable, because given his flippant nature, he's usually late. Skyblast's not early, mind, but he's actually on time. Does Breakaway understand the monumental sacrifices that Skyblast is making for him? Probably not! Oh woe, to be a misunderstood and unappreciated artist!
He peeks out the doorway first. Hmm, Skyblast likes the hues, very cool. Then he tries to get a look at what Breakaway is doing, which is difficult, because Breakaway is much taller than he is. Breakaway probably won't appreciate it if Skyblast just climbs up onto Breakaway's shoulders without warning.
So Skyblast pauses a moment to scrape some blue paint off one of his shins with his finger. He doesn't need that fouling his aerodynamics! Scrape scraaaaape scrape.
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Slider
Cadet
Unlicensed Redshirt
Posts: 95
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Post by Slider on May 11, 2011 6:19:00 GMT -5
Slider arrives not much more than a few moments later, tentatively poking his head out of the hallway and into the simroom. The rest of his frame follows in short order, giving Skyblast and his... paint problems... a wide berth as he made his way to Breakaway. Staying a respectful few feet away and at attention until told not to.
Although he knew Breakaway to be much more laid back, that still didn't stop Slider from acting like the soldier he was supposed to be. This, of course, meant that Breakaway was in charge and Slider wouldn't be caught dead breaking that decorum right now.
"Slider reporting sir. I was hoping to get some time training in your simulation with the others. I know I'm no flier, but perhaps I can work as ground support if you'll have me, sir."
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on May 11, 2011 7:33:50 GMT -5
Skyfire steps briefly into the tent and makes it a real crowd scene. This is enough to dump him in the sim; he quickly evaluates the sim and backs most of the way out to the imaginary landing field, just sticking his head and one shoulder past the tent flap.
"Breakaway! I do have the right sim schedule and this is Air Corps training, right?"
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Post by Breakaway on May 11, 2011 20:46:31 GMT -5
Breakaway would think it was kind of weird if Skyblast climbed onto his shoulders and would probably make a flippant comment about not denting his control surfaces, thanks.
He does raise his head and nod at the smaller jetformer as he comes in, grinning behind his mask when he notices the paint. "Said goodbye to your sweetie and ready to march off to war, Skyblast?" he teases.
The Air Commander Sergeant cringes when Slider comes in. "Slider, 'bot, just because I avoid doing actual work whenever I can doesn't make me an officer. You don't need to salute. 'At ease' yourself. And yeah, we'd love to have you. You paint targets, right? That's my favorite kind of groundpounder."
"Skyfire! You do and it is. Sorry, I thought I made the ceiling high enough. I guess it'd be cheating to change it now."
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on May 11, 2011 21:25:20 GMT -5
Skyblast touches up the scrape with some grey paint. That's better, nice and smooth. It's very tempting to him to tell Skyfire that, no, this is Watercolour Club and Skyfire's in the wrong place. However, with a Herculean effort that Breakaway will never appreciate, Skyblast restrains himself.
Not defensively, Skyblast shrugs and replies, "He's not my sweetie."
He looks Slider over, and Skyblast wonders if he was ever that formal, back when every military flier still answered to Megatron. No... Skyblast doesn't think he was. He smirks over the mention of 'painting' targets, though he knows that a very different sort of painting is being discussed now. Then Skyblast looks way up and observes, "Breakaway, they'll be able to tell when and where we have Skyfire deployed, if we have special tents tall enough for him. I'm just saying. I'll put in a requisition order for taller tents, anyway, if you want."
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Slider
Cadet
Unlicensed Redshirt
Posts: 95
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Post by Slider on May 13, 2011 6:21:01 GMT -5
"Yes siii..." He starts and fails to stop, "...iiirr."
He does, however, manage to relax a bit as Breakaway welcomes him as his "favorite kind of groundpounder." To be fully honest he's beaming after hearing those words, but his expression swiftly changes to all business as he sees the maps. No sense in wasting a little bit of praise by not getting strait to work.
"I can feed my tracer round data to you or anyone else you need me to through the com system," he says while he scans each map in turn, frowning a bit as he notices something. Slider moves to the doorway and confirms everything the maps indicate, a peaceful valley with blue trees.
"Is this a mud planet? I've never worked on a mud planet before."
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on May 13, 2011 13:51:15 GMT -5
Skyfire grins sheepishly. "They tell me I'm 50% taller than Megatron, and I understand he's generally the tallest single robot around, short of the original Omega Supreme. People just don't expect me to be that tall. I've learned to duck my head a lot."
He looks outside again at Slider's comment. "Doesn't look particularly muddy--pretty dry, and clear skies. Breakaway, do we have weather reports with the scenario briefing? Since I didn't get to fly here, I couldn't see the weather patterns from above."
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Post by Breakaway on May 13, 2011 17:29:21 GMT -5
Breakaway shrugs right back at Skyblast, the hint of a grin still on his face, but he doesn't say anything else. The smaller jet responds to teasing like a pro! "Not if all the tents are tall enough for him. He's not our only tall guy, after all."
He flinches as though struck when Slider calls him 'sir.' The responsibility, it is assaulting him in aural form! He quickly regains his composure when the spotter starts talking shop, though. "Through the comm system? So it's not like a laser-painting thing. What's the range on them? How far can you shoot them and how far do they transmit?" He cocks his head (slightly) at the next quesion. "Well, it's not all covered in metal like Cybertron, if that's what you mean. It's supposed to be Nebulos, Haywire and Muzzle's home planet. I don't know if you've met them yet. They're Blurr and Nightbeat's partners." Breakaway's expression goes cold. "Singe, Hairsplitter, Zigzag, Sunbeam, and Aimless are from here too. If you'd 'met' them you'd remember it."
"Weather is partly cloudy, no rain forecasted. Guess I'll go ahead and start the briefing?"
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on May 13, 2011 18:56:17 GMT -5
Skyblast is too cool to be riled by teasing. He adds in the airspeed and direction as well as the barometric pressure, for Skyfire's pleasure.
However, the nature of the planet has been neatly covered by Breakaway already, so he doesn't venture anything as to whether or not this is a mud planet. He does counterpoint, "If all our tents are that tall, it's a waste of materials when he's not here."
Skyblast works on a 'taller tents' requisition anyway, quieting to let Breakaway get on with his briefing. If engineering thinks it dumb, they can always just turn him down.
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Slider
Cadet
Unlicensed Redshirt
Posts: 95
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Post by Slider on May 13, 2011 20:47:55 GMT -5
The question distracts Slider from the natural setting and the fact that he's never driven on it's like before to answer. Strangely enough he seems a little more relaxed as he starts, being on familiar ground.
"The tracers use the same firing mechanism that my weapon uses, so roughly 1024 mechanometers for a firing range. After hitting a target, the tracer mag-locks to it and feeds positioning data to me, then I use a comm channel to feed the data to a number of receivers that I designate. Usually my squad. I've never tested it's maximum range, but so long as a tracer is active and not suppressed in some way."
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Post by Jetfire (Ani) on May 15, 2011 20:24:28 GMT -5
Jetfire stumbles in through the tent door, looking a little disoriented at first. He quickly straightens up to attention and raises one of his hands slightly to hover partway being saluting and not saluting.
"Breakaway, si- er," He always gets confused about who he should and shouldn't call 'sir' around the Event Horizon. "I am sorry if I am being the late! I did not properly track the time."
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on May 15, 2011 21:06:57 GMT -5
Skyfire nods. "Good; always good to be aware of what an active atmosphere is doing." He makes a face, briefly; that was a lesson learned the hard way.
"I'm not sure, is this everyone?" He glances at Jetfire. "Is Jetstorm or, um, Jetfire Senior coming?".
Skyfire finally sidles all the way into the tent so as not to block the entrance and tries to sit down out of everyone's way.
skippable for briefing, mostly
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Post by Breakaway on May 16, 2011 20:30:35 GMT -5
Breakaway nods at Slider and gives him a thumbs-up before turning to watch Jetfire come in. "It's cool, Jetfire, just do better next time. Jetstorm on his way?"
He shrugs at the big shuttleformer. "If folks show up late and all the good dance partners are already taken, that's their problem. I'm recording the briefing so they can get a recap when they show up."
Breakaway claps his hands together in a 'let's get started, then' fashion and then thumbs on a holoprojector, showing an image of a slowly rotating purplish planet surrounded by wispy clouds. "This is Nebulos. In this scenario, it's currently undergoing a civil war between two factions, the Hive and the Rebels. (The Nebulans are not as good at naming their political parties as we are.) The Hive are a fascist dictatorship, and the Rebels are rebelling against it. The Decepticons have signed a treaty with the Hive, and are supplying them with weapons and technology in return for energy resources and land. We've allied with the Rebels, because that is what we do."
The jetformer presses a button on the projector, and the view switches to a 3D aerial map of a forested mountainous area. "This is our theater of operations for today. It's rich in valuable ores and fossil fuels. This is the only road through the area," he says, pressing a button. A winding path through the mountains is highlighted. In places, it winds through canyons, or switchbacks up and down mountainsides. In others, it goes through tunnels and skirts along cliff faces. (Yes, it's one of those roads.) "We're sending a convoy of desperately needed food and medical supplies along this road from here," a dot shows up at one side of the map, and a little picture-in-picture box appears next to it showing a view of the camp our heroes are currently occupying, "to here." A second dot appears at the opposite end of the map, and a second blow-up picture, this time of a bombed-out Nebulan settlement. "The Rebel leadership is holed up in this settlement, but the Hive and the 'Cons have them under siege. Our job is to provide aerial recon and support for the convoy as it crosses through the mountains. The convoy, by the way, consists of Optimus Prime, three Nebulan transports, and some light vehicles retrofitted for combat. If at least half this shipment doesn't make it through, we'll lose the region, and probably the planet.
The problem is, the enemy know we're coming. There are multiple SAM sites scattered through the mountains. Some are just Hive guns, a few might be Decepticons in local camo. We've also learned that the 'Cons are supplying the Hive with energon-warhead shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, and guerrilla teams could be anywhere in the mountains, under the cover of the trees. And of course there could be enemy fliers.
Before I go on, any questions?"
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on May 18, 2011 21:25:30 GMT -5
Skyblast listens along as Slider talks about his abilities as a spotter and tries to think of how would benefit from them the most. He reckons it's a tossup between Skyfire and Jetfire in the firepower department.
He also listens, almost soberly, as Breakaway lays out what they're doing. Skyblast isn't good for recon, and while Bayverse characters can sometimes magically identify each other, he probably can't do that unless he's fairly up close and personal.
Skyblast raises a hand and asks, "Just one thing. Where do you want me?"
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