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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 5, 2011 19:40:30 GMT -5
Month 1, Week 3, Day 4, Ship, Private
Starscream enters the room he shares with Scourge. It's the largest occupied quarters on Ship, not the least because it only houses two Transformers, but it is by no means luxurious. Space is always at a premium aboard a ship. The walls are bare and stark, with only a few personal items set down on various surfaces around the room. Neither of its occupants is the type to collect many souveneirs or hang posters.
Finding his roommate/commanding officer to be present, the jetformer takes a seat on a conviently located chair. "You needed my input?" he asks.
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 5, 2011 19:58:10 GMT -5
Shockwave cursed Scourge to spend his time in a suite with Starscream, because Shockwave is an annoying evil overlord who vanishes before Scourge can properly betray him. So frustrating.
Scourge is already sitting at a little table in the suite. He keys up the table's holographic projector to show headshots of everyone in Military. Then Scourge presses a button, and the flier headshots all move to one side and the grounder headshots move to the other. Poor aquatic Rampage is left in the middle. Scourge hits a key and kicks him over to Ground.
Scourge nods and replies, "I think it's time to divide the general troops into air and ground. We have enough of each."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 6, 2011 19:58:35 GMT -5
Don't talk to Starscream about being unable to properly betray people. He was totally going to get around to killing Megatron any century now. He was just . . . biding his time. And getting used as a punching bag.
The jetformer watches the headshots line up into the two new divisions and comments "The Combaticons may whine about being split up." If he was an insane torturer, an emo sniper, or a stupid grunt, he'd want to spend as little time with the other two as possible, but combiners are weird like that.
"Are you planning to take direct command of the ground forces and leave me with the air, or did you have something else in mind?"
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 7, 2011 9:04:53 GMT -5
So one of those F-22s that shot Megatron was not Starscream?
Scourge reminds, "The Combaticons are already split up. Blast Off and Vortex are in Intel, under Barricade, due to their respective non-mode-associated skillsets. Brawl is... a soldier." In other words, Blast Off and Vortex are smart enough to do things other than just blow stuff up, and Brawl is not.
Scourge really ought to do something with Vortex and Brawl sometime, if only out of misplaced nostalgia.
He shakes his head and continues, "We need to provide oversight to Intel/Comms and Eng/Med/Sci, something that is more difficult if we're tied up in the daily routine of Brawl getting his head stuck in a bucket because Slugslinger labelled the bucket 'free candy'."
He brings up his org chart, only there are more blanks in it, and he suggests, "I was thinking Assault for Air Commander. I think he needs to... be kept busy. Turmoil for Ground/Water. He's new, but his background seems promising."
Now Starscream can tell Scourge why these choices are terrible.
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 7, 2011 20:02:30 GMT -5
Canon is unclear on if Starscream was ever part of the attack run on Megatron, and Screamer isn't telling.
"Of course they are. Don't know what I was thinking," Starscream says, pinching the bridge of his nasal ridge and cycling his optics. Idiot mistake. Just what he needed to do in front of Scourge right now.
He growls, grinding his dental plates together. "If we didn't need warm chassis to fill out the ranks, I'd assign Duskwing, Brawl, and Slugslinger to be roommates, then lock them in and let nature take its course."
"I agree that Assault needs to be kept busy, but I think giving him a command is a mistake. He's far too ambitious." Ambition is a bad quality in anyone except Starscream. "Frankly, I don't care to have him in a position where he can command troops. It could come back to bite us. We could give the post to Slugslinger to keep him busy. I'm beginning to think he's smarter than he lets on."
"I agree with your choice of Turmoil. I would like to see him in the field, though. We're basically taking his word for it that he has command experience."
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 9, 2011 20:02:12 GMT -5
"We do have two out of three," Scourge observes lightly. Just replace Rampage with Brawl, and Starscream's golden.
Then something about the tilt of his head suggests a smirk, even if he has no face, and he chuckles, rich and dark. Scourge admits, "Oh, Slugslinger is. I used to room with him, you know, and I used to duel all my roommates. Glad to hear you finally noticed that about Slugslinger. He was my second pick."
Third choice was Jetstorm, and that just ends in tears. Assault will be disappointed, but Scourge doesn't want to push Starscream too hard right now, since Starscream is being mostly agreeable.
Scourge nods, "Want to run him through his paces in a sim? I know it's not the same... I wish we could just go blow up a dam and see how he performs, but..." Scourge shrugs. "...the Autobots have a lead on us, and we need Hook back."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 9, 2011 20:30:32 GMT -5
Rampage is too small to be properly annoying. He can room with Bonecrusher.
"The only other real option would be Jetstorm, and I doubt he'd be able to properly inspire the respect of the troops." Besides, Starscream recently had a bad experience with a dude who had an army of identical drones.
"Putting them both through their paces in simulations would be ideal. Perhaps give them each a force and pit them against one another?"
The jetformer shifts in his seat. "The waiting between battles is the hardest part of any campaign. We'll be in orbit around a planet again soon enough, and then we can break dams and harvest energon to our sparks' contents. We're already pushing the engines to capacity to catch up with the Autobots." He scowls. "If I thought there was any chance of success, I'd load a strike team into Skyfire and go retrieve Hook myself."
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 9, 2011 20:42:58 GMT -5
If Scourge knew that Rampage regenerates, Scourge would totally move Rampage into Bonecrusher's room.
Scourge nods along with the assessment that Jetstorm wouldn't be able to inspire troops and adds, "I just figured Jetstorm would end up dead before the day was out." Starscream is so diplomatic!
He drums his fingers on the table and muses, "We'll have to balance it carefully. If it's too open, the fliers will have the obvious advantage. If it's underground, the groundpounders. We need a scenario that both forces the fliers to come down to Earth now and then and the groundpounders out into the open. Perhaps a... city."
Scourge sketches something senseless on the table and agrees soberly, "I think we've already seen what happens. What do you think... stop at Earth and provoke the Autobots or chase them to Cybertron? Providing they don't change course."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 11, 2011 16:22:06 GMT -5
"That too," Starscream concedes. Sadly, It doesn't matter how good a commander you are when you have ambitious subordinates who can (literally) swat you like a fly.
"Ah, urban warfare," he says, nodding. "A perfect choice. We can randomly generate a metropolis on the spot. That way neither side will have knowledge of the terrain. It should be interesting to watch."
Starscream leans forward, interlacing his digits. "It is a difficult decision. Obviously, we want to get Hook back as soon as we can, and that means provoking the Autobots into stopping at Earth. On the other hand, we've fared poorly on Earth in the past. It seems nearly a multiversal constant that no matter how much we're winning the war on Cybertron, the moment we come to Earth the Autobots gain the upper hand." The jetformer pauses, considering. "Then again, Earth seems to attract powerful Cybertronian artifacts like a magnet attracts iron filings. I would say we venture first to the insect planet, but we tread carefully, planning every step in advance. We must have multiple strategies ready to enact depending on what we find when we arrive, contingencies upon contingencies."
He makes a disgusted face. "This is precisely the sort of thing we could have used Shockwave's boundless rationality for." Loathe though he is to admit it.
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 11, 2011 21:09:11 GMT -5
Scourge likes urban warfare. He is quite good at it. He's also pleased that Starscream accepts the idea, and he jots down a note to notify Turmoil and Slugslinger of their impending extra work with running a combat sim.
Scourge is also pleased that Starscream doesn't dismiss the idea of Earth out of hand.
...this is way too easy. Where's the knife?
Scourge notes, "We'll have to study it carefully beforehand. For all we know, humans here are made of knives. Something to get Barricade's crew on..."
He laughs. "You miss Shockwave? An interesting thing to admit."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 12, 2011 15:16:57 GMT -5
Scourge's mistake here is thinking Starscream is going to stab him in the front.
"I miss his expertise," the jetformer growls. "He'd be the perfect mechanism to make a series of contingencies." Starscream isn't about to say it out loud, but Shockwave is better than either of them at long-term strategy.
He smiles, then, narrowing his optics, holding up a hand with the back toward Scourge and slowly extending his wrist-blades. It's done slowly in an attempt to make clear that it's not a threat. "Humans made of knives is unlikely, but would be an interesting change of pace. They might attempt to fight us directly rather than hiding behind their machines. Fortunately, we are also made of knives." In the sense that every Decepticon is a living weapon. He knows that only the ones from his reality look like they're literally made of knives.
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 12, 2011 15:55:57 GMT -5
Who said Scourge was thinking it will come from the front?
I don't know which is worst
To know he'll come but not to know the way
To know he'll make a play but not know how
Is he somewhere out there setting up the gun?
Is this headache from his crosswires on my brow?
There's no way, not a crevice, not a crack
That he can reach me, but when I cut the pack I see the Joker
I cut the pack and see the Joker
"That's a refreshing lack of arrogance, Starscream," Scourge comments, rather sincerely. "Some Decepticons would be blustering now."
He doesn't really react to Starscream's wrist blades. Those are not blades. The Sword of Fury is a blade.
"Anyway, we need recon first, and then we need to do something... big, that will get the attention of the Autobots and make them pause and turn around and come back for us. Preferably, this something big should also be useful to us. Double duty. Hmm. Maybe we could tap the Earth's core for energy? That's been done in other realities... though we ought to have several ideas ready to go, depending on what recon reports back. If Earth is a dead world, with nothing to incite sympathy from those Autobots idiots, I shall be... disappointed, but we'll come up with something else."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 12, 2011 19:02:19 GMT -5
"Bluster is unnecessary here," Starscream replies simply. "We're discussing strategy in private." His gesturing done, the jetformer retracts his blades.
"I'd prefer doing something that will attract the Autobots, but not alert the humans to our presence if at all possible. The hive can be dangerous when riled. A war on two fronts is to be avoided."
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 12, 2011 20:22:54 GMT -5
"I"m glad you realise that," Scourge says. It actually makes it easier for Scourge to take Starscream seriously!
He does wonder why Starscream keeps thinking that humans are insects. Starscream's Cybertron must have had some strange looking insects!
Scourge continues, "Well, if we stopped at the South Pole, there might be crystals there that we could use for energy, and it's remote, so the humans might not notice, though the Autobots would surely notice our ship stopping at Earth. We'll have to review our databanks for other options."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 12, 2011 21:03:01 GMT -5
Scourge and Starscream share a suite. Even if Scourge eventually moves into Shockwave's old digs, Starscream will always have memories of Scourge before his morning coffee, and Scourge will always have memories of Starscream reading his morning reports, reclining in a chair, one leg crossed over the other. Bluster becomes silly once you know whether or not the other guy snores.
"If we stop at the North Pole we might find Megatron. All of this speculation does us no good until we have something to go on. We should be discussing what sort of recon team we're going to send and when we're going to send it. I'd rather not use the space bridge, for obvious reasons. An uncrewed probe is a possibility. Other than that, we might send someone from my reality. We're all capable of space-flight, to a degree." Starscream is thinking of Barricade.
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