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Post by Sable Conolly on May 12, 2011 21:32:23 GMT -5
Scourge is absolutely murderous in the morning before he has his strange RiD-specific robot coffee. In fact, if Starscream woke Scourge up and told Scourge that his coffee was in Rodimus Prime's chest, the Decepticons could maybe win this war right now.
Don't try that, Starscream.
"We'd have to build the probe, which is doable, but we'd need to start now. If Earth has satellites up, I think we ought to have Frenzy hack them," Scourge muses. "I think... it would be a more efficient use of resources to have Blast Off or Dark Skyfire take an away team. Assuming a 'new' mode takes a lot of energy for your kind, and they're already shuttles and can carry a larger team. That, and you might want to save the new mode energy for assuming local disguises. Barricade's a good pick for infiltration, and he could lead a team. Have him pick it out or figure out a team for him in advance? Do we want to plan more than one away team? I think we should."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 13, 2011 16:13:00 GMT -5
Starscream would totally try that, just to see Scourge trying to drink the Matrix of Leadership. Alternately, he might just get him a Matrix-shaped coffee mug.
"It does, yes, but it doesn't use a shuttle." Starscream considers volunteering to lead an expedition ahead to Earth himself. He can fly in space without assuming a new mode, and he can do it faster than Ship as well. Unfortunately, that'd put him well out of the way of the subtle power struggle currently going on, leaving Scourge firmly in charge. Of course, if there is some sort of powerful McGuffin on Earth, and Starscream gets it first . . .
Decisions, decisions.
"The more we send, the less forces we have here in case of trouble. On the other hand, they could set up an advance base on Earth, and be ready and waiting to welcome the Autobots when they arrive. Who were you thinking of sending?"
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 13, 2011 16:34:06 GMT -5
Scourge probably would try to drink the Matrix of Leadership. It is consistent with some of the goofier things his parents have done. (Also, everyone knows that Rodimus Prime uses the blasted thing to heat coffee when Kup's not looking.)
He considers and hazards, "Hmm, Barricade for sure. Frenzy on satellites. Probably also Ravage. We'll keep Rook, Mindwipe, Fleetwind, Phobia, and Vortex in reserve if we need to tap one or two of them for a second recon team. I'd send them on Skyfire, because he has training in exploration and new planets, keeping Blast Off back. They need at least some muscle along, and I think Wreckage would be suited nicely for it. He is powerful and efficient but less temperamental than some. Brawl, for example, would not be suited for an early recon mission. So Barricade, Frenzy, Ravage, Skyfire, and Wreckage."
Skyfire wanted to be filled with moviecons, right?
"If we wanted to set up an advance base, we'd need to add in an engineer, and we're rather short on those at the moment. On the other hand, having a medic along in case something unforeseen happens to the away team might be prudent. I think pulling Needlenose for that would be the best option. He's a lot more stable than most of our engineering staff, and he has a keen optic for new technologies, if the recon team runs across any of them."
Hopefully, the new technologies that Needlenose finds will be more useful than new Wii games.
"...also, if the humans are like humans of other realities, his weapons can pass for humans, out of their armour, which is quite useful for infiltration purposes. With Tarantulas or Screwdriver, we'd have to worry about cow mutilations giving us away, Swindle's too likely to go AWOL, if we lose Blackarachnia, we have no one left to ride herd on that crowd of lunatics, Oil Slick isn't quite as suited for the task as Needlenose, and Spinister -"
Scourge pauses, and his brows knit together. "- actually, Assault's a trained medic. He's just listed as a soldier because that's his primary profession. I still think Needlenose is the best pick of the bunch for away team engineer and medic."
When Flame arrives, the problems with sending Flame will become obvious pretty quickly.
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 13, 2011 17:59:43 GMT -5
Clearly Scourge is suffering from a poor upbringing, and needs a strong, dorito-shaped father figure to take him under his wing and/or stab him in the back.
"Mindwipe could be useful to send if his abilities work on humans. We could subvert governments with a little luck. How big is Skyfire's cargo hold?" Starscream muses, pulling up schematics. "I'm wondering if we could send along prefabricated base components. If we sent a synthesizer they could make whatever else they needed with local materials."
"Needlenose is a good choice. If he or Spinister raise any objections, tell them a Mayhem ought to go along to make sure the team behaves themselves."
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 13, 2011 18:42:24 GMT -5
Shockwave is already Scourge's New Father. Starscream can be Scourge's New Mother.
"My thinking in holding Mindwipe back is that he'd be useful if we need a second recon team sent out," Scourge explains. "That, and you said we want to avoid stirring up the humans. Perhaps better to keep subverting governments for later. We can probably fit in some pre-fab components, but it'll be a tight fit."
Scourge adds darkly, "If they raise objections, I'll remind them that they report to High Command... if your logic fails to placate them."
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 14, 2011 11:00:29 GMT -5
Starscream did seem awfully concerned about those hatchlings on the Nemesis, though technically this Starscream hasn't done that yet. Best not to think too hard about any of that.
The jetformer nods his assent. When he spoke of 'stirring up' the humans, he meant 'overt hostile action, such as trying to glass the planet from orbit' though he'll go along with Scourge's even more cautious strategy. "If it's a tight fit then it will be. They can tolerate a bit of discomfort."
"The problem with the Mayhems is they only report to anyone at all until they deem that person to be acting contrary to the Decepticon cause." He is extremely uncomfortable with the idea of secret police who aren't answerable to a higher authority.
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 14, 2011 19:14:47 GMT -5
A thought hits Scourge, and he suggests, "Actually... what if we took the rapid mode-scanning-and-reformatting ability from realities like yours," some of the Cybertoren guys do that, too, right? "and combined it with the Predacon ability to have pseudoflesh alternate modes? Then our agents could scan specific humans and disguise themselves as them."
"If it worked," Scourge does add.
Scourge shrugs over the Mayhems. They answer to him for now. That's good enough!
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 14, 2011 21:26:22 GMT -5
"So you want to make super-Pretenders," Starscream states, leaning back in his chair. "That's . . . actually quite an interesting idea. However, we have a lot of ideas on the table right now. We haven't the time or the resources to execute them all. We have to decide on one or two to focus our efforts on. It may be time to bring the engineering team in on this, to see what they can actually get done in the time we have."
'If it works' is Blackarachnia's crew's problem. Scourge and Starscream just get to throw grandiose ideas, miniscule budgets, and unreasonable deadlines at them. Being in charge is fun!
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 14, 2011 22:42:40 GMT -5
"Pretenders can't swap out their faces as easily as the idea I am suggesting," Scourge notes, just so they're clear. Also, they're often weirdly huge.
Anyway, Scourge thinks that using Rook to replace key human leaders would be great.
"But you are correct. Let us summon them."
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on May 15, 2011 18:44:50 GMT -5
And lo, through the magic of teevee timing, there is now a spider woman (but not Spider-Woman) standing in the doorway, leaning against the jamb and smirking.
"Hello boys. I understand you wanted me?"
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 16, 2011 16:46:52 GMT -5
Starscream would just personally bomb Moscow and order Skystrike to bomb Washington, D.C. That's like having Rook replace key human leaders, in that it is likely to result in something the Decepticons as a whole will find hilarious and Swindle will run a betting pool on.
The jetformer gives Scourge a 'what do you see in her' look before turning his attention to Blackarachnia. "We did. We're discussing various options for reconnoitering Earth, and we want your input on the technical issues."
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 16, 2011 21:43:57 GMT -5
Scourge is good at bombing dams! They can have an explosion fest. It's like Oktoberfest, only without bratwurst.
"Always," Scourge replies ambiguously to Blackarachnia. He gives Starscream a Look back. What? They have Predacons in his reality! Scourge himself is technically a Predacon first and Decepticon second! Blackarachnia is not bad looking when one is used to staring at Sky-Byte.
That, and Blackarachnia would totally poison Starscream for him if Scourge asked, which is pretty nifty.
Alternatively, Scourge is purposefully trying to be everything Starscream doesn't like, wrapped up into one Optimus-and-Megatron flavoured truck. (No.)
Scourge expands on the details, "For one thing, we're discussing the possibility of loading Dark Skyfire with a small recon team and a fabricator, to allow the advance recon team to assemble an advance base. The other thing is... think you could fit the rapid reformatting technology from Starscream's reality into pseudoflesh Predacons like Rook? If they could steal any human face at any time, the applications would be quite... interesting."
"Oh, and what about building an unmanned recon probe?"
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on May 16, 2011 22:40:02 GMT -5
One set of eyes raises higher as Scourge lists off all the things he wants. She lifts up one hand and studies her fingertips.
"Short answer- probable, need to know to where you're sending them; probable, but don't even think about it being done soon; and certainly, that's child's play."
"Yeah, so you want fries with that tall order there, Commander?" The "commander" comes a bit belatedly. She still isn't used to calling Scourge that.
She caught that look Starscream. You're not much to look at yourself, buddy.
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on May 17, 2011 19:51:20 GMT -5
"We're sending them to Earth to scout ahead. Can you have the scanning technology ready by the time we reach Earth? How much of our resources will building a probe consume?" Starscream replies back in the same rapid-fire fashion.
And it's not that he doesn't think Blackarachnia isn't pretty! She has four eyes, fangs, and spikes in all the right places. She's just a manipulative glitch. Also he feels leaders shouldn't form personal attachments.
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Post by Sable Conolly on May 17, 2011 20:42:21 GMT -5
Who says Scourge is personally attached to Blackarachnia? Scourge knows how to act! He can totally trick Autobots into thinking he is a good, loyal Autobot.
He just hasn't done that here. It would have been awesome, though, and involved stealing Ultra Magnus's armour and running around wearing an Ultra Magnus suit.
Scourge reminds, "You still need to be looking at way to pop the dimensional barriers and go to specific times and places."
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