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Three towering figures stood on a beach.
The sand was rocky and gravelly. Waves fell in and out of the shoreline in a rhythm, lapping at metal feet. The cliffside surrounding them was tall enough to disguise their large frame and shelter their appearance.
“Hmm,” The tallest of them peered dubiously at the ocean. “And you’re … sure we need to allocate resources toward this… operation ? Precious resources and manpower? The same sort that we have a limited quantity of?”
“Yes, Starscream,” said Lazerbeak, who wasn't one of the towering figures, from where they were perched upon a jutting sea-rock. “Shockwave was clear about what exactly he needed from ground teams on this project.”
“Hmph.” The Second in Command of the Decepticon Army shifted on the sand, tilting a hip to the side and crossing his arms. He was not impressed. “Oh, well , if Shockwave says so.” He clicked his teeth. “This is going to be a disaster.”
And with the Autobots confirmed to also be on the planet now, their chances of getting in and out without any of them noticing would be even lower. And for this specific operation, well, they’d not only need the science team, they’d also need to move mecha from other jobs to cover the team from any attacks the Autobots decided to launch on them. Because, undoubtedly, they would find out. It was not a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
With the research operation they were conducting, it wasn’t something that could be done in more than one location, nor without more than one test. It was not a simple get in, get out, sort of thing. They could only be sneaky so long, and the Autobots may be fools, but they were relentless. Their discovery was inevitable.
“Very well, then. How many personnel would this require, exactly?” He conceded. Lazerbeak, pleased to have finally made some sort of ground on the conversation, spun the rotors in her wings and spoke of the details.
A little farther down the beach, a gull took flight. Skywarp, Second Lieutenant of the Decepticon Air Force, peered at it curiously. There were so many of these little white and grey flying things, she noticed, all over the ground and air and about the cliffs. They scuttled about in the shallow waves and circled above her head, and they were loud, squalling and shrieking and making a ruckus. She saw a group of them on the sand below her. She crouched, watching in wonderment as a small number of them took to the air at her movement. She grinned, waving her arm further out to make more of them react.
They leaped from the ground in droves, wings flapping with a whumf whumf whumf that was powerful enough to hear over the constant rush of waves.
Skywarp giggled at the sight, at the knowledge that she could make a visible impact on how these little things behaved. She liked knowing that her presence was accounted for.
A bird flew in front of her. She studied its trajectory, the way it drifted with the wind and bobbed in the current.
Her optical lenses dilated and contracted in avid interest.
Skywarp clapped her hands together immediately. Splat. Crunch. Squelch.
She was so elated to have caught her quarry that she didn’t realize the others and their boring conversation had gone quiet.
“Really, Skywarp?” Starscream exclaimed.
“Awwh, I broke it! Eewwww!” She opened her hands. Red and brown were splattered over her fingers, the liquid and gristle shiny against the black matte of her dermetallico. “Nooo… It’s on me, now! Ooh, this is soo gross!” She seemed slightly delighted by it.
She rubbed her dirtied fingers together, sticking out her tongue in repulsed fascination at the feeling of all the combined textures against her sensors. Ooh, there were hard gritty bits in there…
“That’s disgusting,” Starscream told her.
She frowned. It was, but she didn’t like it when he said so. She stuck her fingers at his face, and grinned when he jerked away. He hissed and batted her arm away, one muddied ped of his coming up to kick at her knee.
“You try that again and I’ll have you reassigned to the lower engines!” Starscream snapped, mandibles clattering reproachfully.
“Aw, for real?” She asked, ceasing in her attack. Shuffling a step back in the sand, she slumped, wings dipping downward with her shoulder shrug. “You’re no fun anymore, Starscream,” Skywarp wiggled her fingers. What was a liquid gooeyness a few kliks ago was starting to coagulate into a sticky, putrid mess beneath the light of the sun on a baking metal body. She didn’t like the feel of it.
“Its not me being no fun, it’s me actually acting my rank! Quit playing around, Skywarp!”
She twitched her wings, reared her head back. “What if I was just trying to get a, uh… a sample, huh? For, like, science. Shockwave would probably love that, right?” She wasn’t actually sure.
He primly picked a piece of grit out of his arm seam. “I would hope that the sample you speak of isn’t the grime you currently have over your servos.”
“And what if it is?” She stuck her chin out.
He clicked his mandibles, tch. “Well, besides being terrible sample gathering etiquette, I personally object to the idea of you not washing that off immediately . In fact, do it now. Stick your hand into the water there, I hear it’s like solvent. It should do the trick.”
“Fine.” She stepped over to where it would be deep enough to dip her hand in and crouched, feeling the coolness of the water wash over her dermetallico. Sure enough, the red and brown mush silted away beneath the liquid solution, white feathers joining the foam of the waves.
“My, but this planet is so… squishy.” Starscream’s lip curled. He lifted his ped, the sand squelched beneath it. “Even the things you wouldn’t expect to be squishy are squishy! The ground is squishy! I don't understand how they think I can work under these conditions…” He delicately brought a hand to his forehead, sighing. His coolant systems were already working overtime after such a short period of time in sunlight, and the salt-moistened air only made him feel hotter.
“All the more important to begin progress on our mission, then.” Lazerbeak noted mildly. “So?” They bobbed their head toward the third figure. “Will this work, then?”
“It will be sufficient,” said the blue and yellow mech. His ailerons twitched.
“Sufficient, oh, that’s exactly the sort of enthusiasm I like to hear for a project that consumes as much of our resources as this.” Starscream rolled his eyes. “Can’t you be a little more reassuring, Dreadwing?”
Dreadwing glanced at him out the corners of his optics. “I am very certain of our success. As of right now, though, it would be remiss not to account for the several variables out of our control.
“Mm, right. This… ocean, water, h2o business is quite the inconvenience. As much as I hate to admit it, there’s no precedent for this sort of environment. We don’t have any sort of equipment for this - and I can’t say I envy those who will have to go beneath it.” His wings rattle. “Who knows what’s beneath the surface!”
“Modifications can be made for those who need to submerge.” Dreadwing tilted his head in acquiescence. “It would be easy. Progress is moving along well enough with our project that I have more than enough time to develop something new, especially for a mission like this.”
“And Dropkick is more than capable of switching alts to those human vessels that go underwater.” Lazerbeak added.
Starscream pursed his lips. Sourly, he said, “He could… Not that he’s going to be happy about it. I just know he’s going to throw a fit.”
“He’ll do it.” Lazerbeak said.
“Of course he will. Otherwise he’ll be scrubbing the deck for the next four orns.” Starscream huffed an unamused laugh. “So that’s Dropkick. Who else?” He slanted a glance toward Dreadwing. “Perhaps your otherspark would be inclined to join in? Start pulling his weight a bit, hm?”
Dreadwing looked at him. “Skyquake would be honored to serve the cause in any way he can.”
Starscream smiled. “Excellent. I’ll speak with him as soon as possible - unless, of course, you’d like to take that duty yourself.”
“I am more than capable of informing him of our plans.”
“Very well. I do appreciate when my soldiers act with initiative.” He said pointedly.
“It would do well to remember that I am not one of your soldiers.” Dreadwing reminded him coolly.
Starscream’s expression stilled. “It would do you well to remember that just because you are not under my direct command it does not exempt you from following my orders.” His wings had lifted menacingly.
Dreadwing did not appear to react, his face and field unyielding in the apparent threat.
“Hey, what’s that?” Skywarp asked, dangerously curious.
Starscream’s optics darted toward where she was pointing. He hissed through his teeth at the sight of one of those little parasitic flesh creatures that had taken over this world.
“You said this location was secure!” Starscream threw an accusing finger toward the minicon.
Lazerbeak’s rotors rustled. “It is, but nowhere’s secure on this planet. There’s always squishy little guys running around. It’s not like it matters, really. No one’s gonna believe it anyways.”
Starscream pinched the bridge of his nose. “It feels like i'm the only person in this team who knows what ‘private’ means.” Sighing, he waved a hand. “Well, it wouldn’t do to have witnesses. I suppose….” He smiled, waved a hand in her direction. “Go on, Skywarp. Bring home a proper sample for Shockwave.”
She grinned, and spun like a shot to grab for the little thing. It screamed, dashing away, but Skywarp caught it easily. Cybertronian reflexes were no match for something of such a small size. There really had been no chance for the little thing.
Starscream turned away. A grin curling up his mouth and hands tucking behind his back, he asked, “Now, where were we?”
The sooner this planet was done with, the better. Starscream was eager to leave this place behind. A greater, better world was awaiting, and with it, the chance for greater, better leadership… and Starscream intended to be the one wearing the crown.