Back in full swing

[Jetfire]

Characters: Jetfire, @stepper, @windblade
Location: Control Room
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: Jetfire gets acquainted with a few of his new coworkers...

[Jetfire]

It had probably been a few good years since Jetfire'd had a proper tuneup, but that was all in the past now. The Seeker was sporting a brand new form and a fresh coat of paint. Nebulos was nice and all, but it was no Cybertron. Neither was Earth, but at least it had a proper Autobot headquarters situated on it. He was just a bit sad that the third planet from the sun lacked any planetary rings. At least Nebulos had spoiled him by being easier on the eyes than Earth.

Jetfire had brought back a souvenir from his exploits. It wasn't a shiny war relic or Decepticon head though, nothing he'd enjoy showing off to his peers. It was an accent; by Primus, it was an accent! He no longer had the distinctly Vosian accent he'd been created with... stars forbid Ratchet or Perceptor catching him with a Nebulon accent. He hardly sounded at all like a proper scientist anymore, instead Jetfire thought he sounded like some... backwater parts scavenger. As hard as he tried to shake the strange vocal tendency, the Autobot simply couldn't.

The fact that most of the Autobots were out on assignment was both a blessing and a curse. Jetfire had plenty of time to both compare his research with more recent articles published from Cybertron, and there was nobody around to potentially call him out on his accent. Not that he was that ashamed of it, he just found himself embarrassed when Optimus had mentioned. He'd also been free to peruse the current personnel rosters, noticing how much they'd been shifted around over the years. This year appeared to be one of the better ones, as the roster was generously full of talent compared to those past. The sub-commander ran through the listings at least a dozen times, making sure he'd be at least mostly up to date.

[Deleted]

Stepper seemed to be walking briskly the whole time, gripping to a datapad that contained some data he was to be decoding. His optical visor seemed to be hooked up to it with a cord and the left optical readout was covered in code. He seemed to be murmuring to himself about the last few glyphs that needed to be translated and the fact that he would need to hand over the information to higher ups.

However, he would pause, seeing an unfamiliar, but strangely familiar face. He lowered the datapad and unplugged it from his optical visor. "Er, apologies. I thought Prime or Prowl might be in here. I've got important info on one of the nearby Decepticon-controlled energon mines."

He seemed to shrug his rifle back over his shoulder a bit more as though to hide it, as he normally did in the presence of others, including higher officers. He was but a sniper-in-training after all, even if he was by no means a crack shot.

"Er, I hope I don't sound rude in asking...who are you?"

[Jetfire]

Jetfire turned his head to face the newest arrival to the control room, a short little bot from the looks of it. He didn't remember the younger bot's face from back during the war, so he was most likely one of the newest recruits on the roster. Or maybe he'd been here quite a while. Jetfire's frame of reference had been awfully skewed during his time stuck on Nebulos. He minimized the roster up on the holoscreen, sliding it off to the side to devote his full attention to the bot before him.

"Sub-Commander Jetfire," he nodded, "... at your service."

Primus... the Autobots could call out Jetfire on his accent all day, but even they had to admit he sounded slicker than before he'd been marooned.

[Deleted]

Sub-Commander? A surprised glint filled Stepper's optics and he seemed almost to trip over himself to hand over the datapad. "Then these schematics are for you! You count as command staff, sir!" He then cleared his vocalizer. "Stepper of Polyhex, Cybertron Army Division 10." He popped off almost automatically, giving a confused look as to why he had said that.

Otherwise, he seemed to be tilting his frame nervously, his optics darting slightly. It was not the shifty-kind of darting of his optics. He seemed a bit nervous and anxious. What if he had just made a huge mess of things in front of a superior officer?!

Nothing new though.

Nothing new.

After all, there was that time he'd been captured by Decepticons near Crown City and gotten his helm thunked hard by Breakdown. Optimus might have seen that on the communication screen. He wasn't sure, to be honest.

"I hope the data analysis there is to your liking, sir!" Smooth recovery. Not.

[Deleted]

One good thing that came from being a flier and tending to travel the world: you could get to places faster than most. This was one thing Windblade especially loved about being a Seeker, and this was one of those times she was making her rounds away from Crown City and happened to be around the main base for the Autobots. It had been a while since she visited the place so it didn't seem to hurt to check in with anyone that might be around in the base.

As it were, Windblade had just landed nearby the base after scanning the area, making sure no humans or the like were around before she had transformed and stepped towards the large boulder serving as the disguise for the main entry way. Stepping inside once it opened, she began making her way inside, catching the sound of other voices down the stretch of tunnel, two male ones from what she could make out. Seems she was in luck. Someone was home after all and she wouldn't have to wait doing nothing until someone got there to make someone aware she was there. But, she did take the small time to walk to the control room to focus on the voices, trying to identify them if she could. Unfortunately, they were not voice she recognized.

Before long, the femme seeker arrived to the control room, her wings flicking up curiously when she spotted not only a young ground based Cybertronian present but also another Autobot flier. She was beginning to think she would be the only one the teams had. "Hope I'm not interrupting.' Windblade spoke up as she stepped fully into the room, her wings held high with not only curiosity but interest since she had yet to meet the two mechs before. "I was in the area and figured I should drop by, report in." She told them, clearly lacking the Vosian accent herself.

[Jetfire]

Jetfire was too preoccupied with flashing back to what he had read over Stepper's personnel profile that he hardly noticed the slight trip up, thankfully for the younger Autobot. He took the datapad before responding, "Polyhex... I remember my classes there."

It wasn't often that Jetfire mused on the past, being the past was full of war and destruction. Reflecting on past academic exploits was comforting, though. Stepper. He remembered the Autobot's file now. Silverburst had taken him under his wing during the war, which meant the rifle slung over Stepper's shoulder was most likely Silverburst's own. As the sub-commander was about to ask Stepper about his rifle, a new face entered the scene.

She was another Seeker, which only served to bolster Jetfire's intrigue. Her accent wasn't quite Vosian either... from one of the colonies, perhaps? She had a certain Camian look to her frame, but Jetfire had no idea what a Camian accent even sounded like; a downside to being surrounded by Nebulos for eons.

"Fortunate; I've been needing to meet more of the personnel on Earth, as it happens."

[Deleted]

"O-o-oh no...you're not interrupting. I-I was just handing over data. A-and reporting in like you!" It seemed that with Windblade joining them, he had gone from eager to somewhat anxious and stuttering. It wasn't something he was proud of, but it was something he was working on getting over. At least now he didn't panic over it.

"I heard that Polyhex was a great place to study. At least, one of my creators studied there. The other was a merchant. B-but I'm rambling."

He seemed to fold his hands in front of himself, his optics darted to the side; he swallowed softly. Now sounded like a good time to bow out but no, no, he told himself that he was going to get more used to social situations. This would be good practice. This would be great practice.

[Deleted]

Windblade gave the two a soft smile, hoping to put the younger mech at ease. Stepper seemed rather nervous and anxious, making her wonder if coming here and adding another bot to the mix was a little overboard. But, she tried not to think the worse of the situation as she approached the two, giving a small dip of her head respectfully to both, “Perhaps we can call this a win-win situation for us all then; getting reports in and meeting each other. Unexpected company tends to be some of the best methods to meet your teammates.” She said with a small grin forming.

Honestly, the Camian was actually pleased to see the ones she was meeting were those she had yet to meet at all. Sometimes with all her traveling she tended to find herself isolated from her fellow Autobots or keeping in contact with Bumblebee and his team, the ones she had first met shortly after awakening on Earth. “But where are my manners.” Windblade realized her lack of an introduction then, “I’m Windblade of Caminus, pleasure to meet you both.”

[Jetfire]

He was right! In his head, at least. He'd have to get back to Stepper about Silverburst a little bit later, as Jetfire was preoccupied with introductions. The Seeker turned his body to accommodate both of the new arrivals, tilting his head first to the younger Autobot, "Like I told Stepper, I'm sub-commander Jetfire... just back from Nebulos after the High Council rediscovered it... finally."

[Deleted]

"That's...that's true." He had regained his composure somewhat after his anxious spat of stuttering. "It's...it's a pleasure to meet you, Windblade. It's good to meet both of you in case we ever need to work together, of course and...ah...there I go rambling again."

Mentally he seemed to smack himself. He needed to stop rambling so much and just talk normal. Normal. Like these two who weren't rambling. Oh great even his mental processes were rambling.

He then blinked. "Nebulos? Is that near any colonies or trade planets or anything?" The name of the place sounded familiar. Not that it was completely familiar.

[Deleted]

"Most likely we will one these days, with how active the Decepticons seem to be as of late." Windblade agreed with Stepper. It seemed the Decepticons were getting more active and sometimes her senses picked up on a decent number of Vehicons here and there, some of which she didn't immediately engage. She tried to worry more for the major players in the Decepticons and so far she hadn't had much luck finding them in her travels.

But she too was curious about Nebulos. She had never heard of it before up until now, never recalling any of her fellow Camiens mentioning it before. "I don't even think anyone from Cybertron is aware Caminus exists anymore, not to my knowledge at least." Windblade commented, rubbing her chin in thought since she wondered how long it had been since Caminus really had made any contact with other colonies, much less Cybertron itself.

[Jetfire]

Jeftire folded his arms and shrugged. There were a lot of things he had no talent in, but talking a bit of smack about Cybertron's leadership was not among them. "Cybertron's certainly got the right intentions about trying to get in touch with everything and everyone again... but their execution's been sloppy, and slow."

He turned his attention back to Stepper, owing him an answer about Nebulos. "Nah... it's not a Cybertronian colony, at least. Was a jungle world filled with organics, but not the technology for spaceflight. Found myself stranded there when the Decepticons were pursuing the Ark."

[Deleted]

"That's true." Stepper gave a tiny smile. "I look forward to helping you guys!" His optics darted down for a faint moment but back up. Windblade's statement had made him feel a little more confident.

He then swallowed. "Um, I guess I must have missed the call. Then again I was in a stasis cell for a while so it might just be that I was in stasis when the call went out. Being shipped from a trade planet and all."

He then mused and gave a nervous blink. "Wow...that had to be rough..." He paused. "D-did you even have enough energon?!"

[Deleted]

"Slow is an understatement. Only reason I'm even here is because I left Caminus at my own accord with the Mistress of Flame's blessing." Windblade explained to Jetfire. So, Cybertron was really trying to reach out to its colonies, but given what she had seen she was doubtful Caminus would be discovered any time soon. Her wings gave a slight thoughtful flick, wondering if anyone from home had ever considered leaving as well.

But the mention of enough energon made her snap from her thoughts back to the conversation at hand. She had let the two exchange their own words of this Nebulos, but it did intrigue her about the energy concerns Cybertron had. "You guys really do have an energy crisis don't you." She stated more than asked. It was not unheard of on Caminus, but their bodies had adapted to needing low energy consumption and had learned to survive on meager resources.