You're Doing It Wrong

[Sable Conolly]

Month 4, Week 1, Day 2, outside Ship - moving inside later, semi-private, mention of Misfire done with permission

---

Scourge assigns himself much the same duties as anyone else, and so it is that he is outside wandering the hulls, magnets clamped to his feet, with Misfire as his partner. If they find anything unusual, they'll report it. Scourge hasn't particularly said anything much - what does he have to say to Misfire? - but one of the radar arrays is squawking, so they'd better go check on it.

He looks over the radar, antennae pinning back in annoyance. Something has taken a bite out of it! He orders Misfire, //Stay sharp. Something might still be out here.//

Scourge draws his plasma blaster, holding it one-handed, and he scans the area suspiciously.

[Misfire]

//Yes, Lord Scourge.//

Misfire is a bit confused. While yes, he's had commanders who don't mind getting down in the trenches, so to speak, doing hull checks is grunt work and Scourge isn't a grunt anymore. For that matter, Scourge was never really a grunt to begin with.

He does not draw Aimless. The last thing Misfire wants to do is risk putting a hundred holes in the hull that he'll have to repair later. Instead, it's a basic laser pistol the Targetmaster draws.

He's closer to the array, so Misfire moves cautiously toward it.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge needs to do something, or he will start putting holes in the walls.

But there's something out here, and it's still here. //Misfire, you have enhanced sensors, correct?// That radar. //Tell me what's out here.//

Oh. It's rather big.

And ugly.

[Misfire]

//Ah, yes Lord Scourge, though it isn't as effective in this mode.// Misfire replies. He didn't forget about his radar, but his player certainly did! It's been ages since it came up in play.

//There's definitely something out here with us, Sir. It's rather large, and currently appears to be making a snack of the sensor array. I can't tell if it's mechanical or organic with just my radar, but I don't think organics can survive in a vacuum without alteration.//

//I think it might be bigger than you, sir.//

Misfire waits patiently waits for orders.

[Sable Conolly]

//Stay behind and to the left of me, ten paces. Keep a hatch in sight at all times. Just feed me the telemetry on... this.//

That said, Scourge heads off into the dark.

The... thing is indeed bigger than Scourge and looks to be made entirely of teeth. Scourge looks at it a moment, as at least seventeen slavering sets of jaws launch at him. He ducks under, grabs a toothed leg, and flings the whole thing into the central column of the engine's jet.

Crispy fried space horror, anyone?

Scourge makes the motion of dusting off his hands and says coolly, //Weight doesn't matter in space. Just leverage.// He looks down at the magnet clamps on his feet. //That's the third one this month. Better get some traps set out.//

Oh, so that's why Scourge is doing these patrols.

[Misfire]

Misfire does as directed and watches Scourge dispatch of the cosmic horror with ease.

//That is, ah, an excellent point Lord Scourge. I may add some Zero G scenarios into my melee training routines,// he says, perfectly intending to do just that. It's a good idea!

//The third one? That's not good. Maybe we ran through a nest when we skirted that nebula a while back?// he ponders as he pulls out a datapad and inputs the request for traps. They should be dentist chairs. Anything with that many teeth has got to be afraid of the dentist.

[Sable Conolly]

//Hnn,// Scourge muses. //What would you have done with a different patrol-mate?//

Scourge suspects that the answer amounts to 'die'. This is Misfire. Scourge has worked with Misfire before. Misfire is dedicated, eager, and... brightly coloured?

//Perhaps a nest. Science can figure it out.//

Scourge moves on, apparently determined to finish the patrol as if nothing happened.

[Misfire]

//That would depend upon who my patrol-mate was, Lord Scourge.// Misfire answers.

Misfire isn't being snippy. What he would do really does depend on who he's partnered with. If he were out here with say, Mistwind, Misfire would have tackled the monster. Somehow. If he were out here with Oil Slick, Misfire would have waited for the mad chemist to shoot the toothy horror with some nasty chemical.

He moves along with Scourge, keeping his radar keyed up just in case.

[Sable Conolly]

//Fleetwind. And you'd both die,// Scourge replies. //You've been training? It wouldn't have been enough. Let me show you.//

---

OOC: Timeskip to the training room?

[Misfire]

//That is a bit too presumptuous an opinion, I think, Lord Scourge.// Misfire says evenly, //Both of us are skilled Decepticon warriors after all, sir.//

Later, in the training room, Misfire is rather wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. Since right now he is pinned under Scourge's rather heavy left foot and has a sword under his chin.

Only one thought is going through Misfire's mind right now.

Don't. Twitch.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge snorts and pulls the blade away, commanding, "Get up. We start over again. You have the speed, but you don't know where you're going, and hesitation kills."

Scourge steps back and regards Misfire, much as one would regard a painting that is crooked on the wall. Unlike that painting, Misfire doesn't need just a little correction, however. The interceptor needs a great deal of work if he ever wants to actually be good at melee.

At least Misfire doesn't seem to have a complete mental block on the subject the way he does ranged.

[Misfire]

Misfire climbs slowly to his feet and says, "Yes, Lord Scourge. I've been trying to learn a variety of techniques, but as you can see I've had to start from scratch. Ours was not a melee-based war."

"What would have been the proper counter for that move, sir?" he asks as he once more assumes a ready stance.

[Sable Conolly]

"Beg for mercy," Scourge deadpans. Actually, that might work in some cases.

However, he does offer Misfire some more practical advice. he tries to hand off the Sword of Fury to the jet and then takes a step back, directing, "Come at me as I did you, and I'll show you the counter."

The Sword of Fury's a material weapon, not pure energy, and it's a-hand-and-a-half, so it likely rather heavy.

[Misfire]

Scourge does indeed have a very heavy and formidable weapon, and his handing of it to Misfire makes the jet blink in astonishment. People aren't in the habit of letting Misfire handle their equipment with such impunity.

Misfire does take the sword, but for him is is definitely a two-handed weapon. He narrowly manages to avoid embarrassment, getting both hands on it before the tip clangs against the floor.

"Yes, sir," he says, lifting the sword and mirroring Scourge's previous attack. It isn't a perfect mirror, given that Misfire's grip is probably completely wrong.

[Sable Conolly]

This is actually the second Sword of Fury. Ultra Magnus is in possession of the first.

Scourge half-turns, presenting a slimmer profile to Misfire, and he lunges into the attack, on the side of the lines that Misfire has left open. He tries to grab at Misfire lightly by the wrist, two swing Misfire around, using Misfire's own momentum as an aid, and slam him into the floor.

He comments, "There are a lot of possible counters. The thing about swordsmen is that a sword can only guard certain lines at a time. The other lines are left open. Now it might be a feint, so you have to stay prepared to change your tactics at a moment's notice."