Making Plans

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Scorponok slams his fist on a table he's set up in a War Room not far from his throne room. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IMPACTOR ISN'T DEAD YET??!! That Autobot fool slagged up our Toraxxis operation and then gloated about it on camera for everyone to see! He even mentioned that wimp who thought he had what it took to lead this faction!!! I want that Autobot dead NOW!!!!"
The Decepticon officer he's yelling at flinches. "But... well Sir we're trying! I'll be sure to send orders to find Impactor and make him pay for what he did- but our main focus has been on trying to find fuel. We need that before we can risk big operations hunting one individual down for some sort of vendetta. Besides, everyone knows Impactor was friends with Megatron once, long ago, it's inevitable someone would've asked him about th-" The officer never gets to finish his sentence, for that's about when Scorponok's massive claw reaches over and pops off his head. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU NEVER TO MENTION HIS NAME??!!"
The remaining Decepticons in the War Room flinch, much like their former compatriot did not long ago. "S-sorry Sir, he uh... he was obviously out of line." Scrambling to look busy, one looks down at his monitor screen. "Uh... I have sent your orders to Shockwave and Starscream, telling them that you want to see them now. They should arrive soon."
Scorponok scowls. "They BETTER, I don't have all day. At least maybe they'll do something besides make EXCUSES." Yeah, Scorponok is in a bad mood- but then again, he usually is. "And did you send for...what's name? The tank guy? Who's not actually a tank? What the slag kind of name is that, then anyway? Is he just trying to be annoying?!" The remaining Decepticons look nervous and don't answer right away. "Uh..."
Moving with his usual efficiency, Shockwave walks in just in time to see Scorponok remove another Decepticons head. He motions his assistant following him, who proceeds to move quickly to retrieve the head and body.
"I assume you are logically removing their heads for mentioning Megatron in order to conserve more energon, or is there some less logical purpose to your actions Scorponok?" Despite the use of the name, and the rather blunt comment, the question is posed with Shockwaves typical monotone voice, and utterly no trace of mockery, as if it is a truly genuine question.
Perhaps logically enough, Shockwave does remain out of immediate claw range, though more likely he's giving the less logical and more emotional individual time to get a grip before he tries to get a grip on something.
Tankor was filled with pride upon receiving the summons to speak with Scorponok himself, the very leader of the Decepticons! Word must have gotten around about his successful energon delivery at Tagan Heights, and most importantly how he dispatched that meddlesome Autobot Blurr. (Of course Blurr is offline. There's no way he could have survived crashing into a tower in flames. NO WAY.) If that's all it takes to be noticed in this outfit, Tankor will be himself a leader in no time. For now, making connections like this is the way to move ahead for sure.
The balloon of Tankor's bullish self-confidence pops as he enters the command center and witnesses someone cleaning up a freshly decaptitated bot. He tries to re-inflate it: It must have been some moron who failed at his mission. Failed very badly. Really badly. Say, in a way that Tankor himself never could. His circuits settle, to some extent, hopefully enough to hide any lingering nervousness as he speaks: "Tankor reporting, sir."
"WHAT?" Scorponok whirls around to glare at Shockwave, his claws snapping once dangerously, the impulse to snap off another head obviously crossing his mind. Turns out Shockwave was wise to remain out of reach. Cruel red optics bore into the cold singular one of the former senator- and then he turns back to the table with a *BAH*! "I don't need *logic*, that's what I got YOU for! But yeah, I guess there's no point in wasting the /resources/ fueling an idiot like that! And speaking of which..."
He turns and fixes his gaze on Tankor. "We need fuel. More fuel. You're the fuel guy, right?" He frowns and glances towards the door- where the slag is Starscream- and then turns his attention to the new arrivals. "What've you been doing that's gonna get us more fuel?" He glares at Tankor. "Besides blowing things up I mean. Well not that that's BAD- you DID spread a lot of mayhem right? Kill some people I hope?" Now he returns to both of them. "But the Decepticons need fuel. And after that botched operation at Toraxxis I want some more options. Maybe even a plan to go right back and *take* what we originally were gonna from Toraxxis. Use your..." he waves a hand at Shockave, "*Logic* to figure it out. In addition to brute force, of course."
Starscream strolls in then looking so shiney and pristine. He's just had a wax and buffing and using a soft cloth to wipe a spot on his canopy. Shortly he puts the cloth up and glances to those in the room. "You called, Scorponok?" he says not quite sarcastically but not exactly submissive either.
Fuel guy? Sure, of course. "I am indeed the 'fuel guy'," and Tankor tries really hard not to express even a milliliter of disdain at such a crude way of putting it. "I am highly experienced in transporting and refining all kinds of fuel and other energon-derived substances. I just delivered a critical shipment of high-grade energon here to Kaon, in fact. As for mayhem, well," so very humbly Tankor continues, "when you find that the famous racer Blurr has mysteriously vanished and is no longer competing, I can fill you in on exactly where you can find his charred chassis."
Ahh, energon shortage, the constant issue faceing the Decepticons. That and how best to avoid Scorponok and his tendancy to kill people for no reason at all. Shockwave meantime remains silent, as he had when Scorponok had glared at him. His singular optic remaining foxed on the other unblinking, the dull glow present as a constant reminder that Shockwave already figured out exactly what Scorponok would do and say, because predicting the actions of even the emotional Scorponok is relatively easy.
As Starscream enters, he earns himself a glance from Shockwave , before the Decepticon scientist looks back towards Scorponok, "I'm sure Starscream has a plan to obtain energon. Preferably without blowing it up of course."
WHAT IS THIS. Scorponok turns to lift an optic ridge as Starscream enters the room. "OH HELLO THERE, so /glad/ you could finally make it!" His voice drips sarcasm, then his claws come slamming down on the table. "YES I DID. Get your shiny aft over here and start telling me why I keep you around. You're the Commander of Aerospace, I want to know what you've been up to lately. I also want you here to coordinate with Shockwave and ..and... the tank guy... on solving our fuel supply problems."
Now back to the other two. "Izzat so?" He bellows at Tankor. "Now see, that's the attitude I like to see! You sound worth keeping around. And you took out Blurr, eh? Good riddance, that guy annoyed me." Apparently a lot of people do. He looks at one of the remaining officers still in the room. "He gets an extra helping of high grade for that. Just one, though, we're not made of fuel around here." The officer hurriedly nods and leaves to get the high grade, thankful to be able to leave Scorponok's presence for awhile. "So... yeah, Shockwave, exactly." He crosses his arms and waits expectantly.
Buzzsaw glides his way in. Oh, yes, he knows there's shouting going on. He absolutely does. There's no WAY anyone would miss that from anywhere in the base. Of course, for as long as things are yelly and mad, he opts to find a perch in a convenient overlook to watch the proceedings below, giving a soft click of his beak as he does so.
Quite the gathering indeed... Optics shift from mech to mech, personnel files getting accessed and perused to look over latest intel and reports gathered... Of course, once he arrives to Starscream's in particular, he pauses, zeroing in on the aerospace commander as he studies him silently.
"You keep me around," Starscream begins a bit arrogantly as he does not get any closer to the large mech, "Because I am the best at what I do. I control the skies and that is what I have been up to. Controlling the skies... for you." he glances at Tankor and gives a slight nod in greeting then looks at Shockwave. He has to coordinae with him? Lovely. His face reflects that dismal thought for a moment before it vanishes and he says, "As you.. command... Scorponok."
Folding his arms (don't ask how with his chest and cannon hand this works, it just does), Shockwave merely listens to Starscream. He can't say the current leader of the Decepticon impresses him in any way, even physically he doubts he'll last against Optimus Prime, he only beat Magetron due to the others injuries from the encounter with Prime. And so for Shockwave this is down to maintaining his personal experiments and doing what little he needs to in order to keep Scorponok out of his way.
Shockwave returns Starscreams look with one of his own. You can clearly tell he finds the idea of working with Starscream rather dismal from the infitessimal amount his optic dims by.
An extra helping of high-grade? Well, even though Tankor can refine that for himself without much trouble, no need to mention that ... or turn down a reward from Scorponok. "Thank you, I look forward to earning more in the future." He gives a small, courteous nod of the head to their illustrious leader, and another to return Starscream's. Good to have friends in high places. So, he's feeling pretty good right now, but it's not long before palpable tension arises from the stare-off between Shockwave and Starscream. Wisely, Tankor simply clasps his hands behind his back and waits.
Scorponok looks up to spot Buzzsaw fly in- figures Soundwave would have a presence here of some sort or another- then turns back to Starscream. "Well GOOD. I knew there was a reason. I don't care about your fancy flying skills or your body /polish/..." He snorts at Starscream's paint job, "What I want from you is body *count*. I want dead Autobots. I want people to fear the Decepticon name. They either better join us or get the slag out of our way. I want your troops out there establishing air superiority and scouting out the Autobot's activities."
He pauses to study Buzzsaw again. "I want you out there spying and informing me of Autobot plans, military movement, I want to know if a high ranked Autobot so much as *sneezes*. They're trying to stop us, arrest us and wipe us out- they assume we're weaker than they are. They must be planning to end us- end this fight. I want to know how they plan on doing it."
He points to Tankor. "I want more mechs acting like him- taking charge and not taking prisoners."
A crackling voice projects in the room from the bird's location. "Local chatter was active with Impactor and a Neutral bantering over outright distrust over the retrieved and wounded Autobot that Starscream and Phantom were present for. Impactor is uncertain as to why the two would assist or even stand by passively. That could be leveraged in our favor with further false intel about a possible mole or leak we are exploiting that they are otherwise unaware of." He clicks his beak again and pauses to pick some dirt from one of his wings.
Starscream listens to Scorponok and then Buzzsaw and though would rather discuss a bit on the small mechs idea says instead to the larger Decepticon, "Why exactly do you want them dead, Scorponok?"
The singular optic looking at Starscream brightens just a little as he hears him ask Scorponok the dumbest question Shockwave has heard in a long time. And he's used to hearing Cybertronians ask 'Will you let me go, please?' The scientist would sigh if he could. Instead he waits to see how Scorponok will react, maybe he'll chop Starscreams head off, that could be a good use of those claws.
Tankor's thoughts drift back to the moment he joined the Decepticons, when he'd finally become fed up with the Autobots' superciliousness, the stellar cycles of them flaunting their social positions and access to power. As far as he's concerned, they can all die in a fire, preferably from the end of his own flamethrower. But he hears Starscream's query and suddenly worries for him, and tries a smooth quip: "I think the Air Commander means to ask how exactly do you want them dead."
"THEY DID //WHAT//??!!" Scorponok is yelling again. His fearsome gaze snaps round to glare at Starscream. "They had an injured Autobot in their GRASP and they didn't KILL THEM??!!" He looks about ready to start popping off heads again when Buzzsaw distracts him. And forces him to stop. "Uh...." Now his rage slips into a grudging thought process. "So, just mess with their minds, eh? I guess that could work. Not as satisfying as //*popping off their heads though*//." He makes sure to directly stare at Starscream as he says that, even snapping his claws for further emphasis. You know, just in case it wasn't clear.
Then he's forced to stop and field Starscream's question. And make himself resist the urge to snap the Seeker's head off. He contents himself with slamming that claw on the table again. "WHAT THE SLAG KIND OF QUESTION IS //THAT//?!" He leans in towards the Aersopace Commander, optics flashing. "LET ME SEE. One, we have declared war against them. Two, fuel is growing scarce and most of these Autobots are a slagging /waste/ of it. Three, what part of the corruption festering within the government and the Prime lineage do you actually SUPPORT? Four, it's US versus THEM and those who show mercy to their enemies are stupid, weak, and deserve to join them in death. And five... FIVE IS: I JUST DON'T LIKE THEM!"
His ventilation cycles are running hot and heavy now, claws twitching and still half ready to try snapping the Seeker's head off when Tankor interrupts. He looks a little less angry as he faces the fueler. ".....That BETTER be it. I want them dead ANY WAY POSSIBLE. I don't care HOW, they just need to die. Preferably as painfully as possible. I want scorched earth. I want a huge body count that not only takes care of our little fuel shortage but makes it clear to everyone the Decepticons will NOT be messed with."
Buzzsaw shows no signs of reacting to Scorponok's outburst, instead pursuing the follow-on remark as calmly as one might please. "Yes. Psychological warfare. If they start to distrust their own ranks, it can cause certain aspects of control to be lost. Effectiveness dies down and cohesion becomes thin. It is a delicate operation, but effective if exacted."
He hops down to alight on Shockwave's shoulder. "Starscream inadvertently opened the door to exploitation that we might not have so easily done before. I will...see what I can do to work with what we know and begin to instil small seeds of doubt in our Autobot annoyances."
Starscream tilts his head slightly and smirks ever so subtely. That worked like a charm and his optics swirl a bit. But he doesn't say anything to his 'leader'. He glances at Tankor, that smirk still on his face and then looks at Shockwave. "Lets start rounding up Autobots and drain them dry of energon. That takes care of multiple problems at once..." he looks back at Scorponok. "That is if our.. leader... approves?"
As Shockwaves assistant finishes removing the last of the headless Decepticon that Scorponok had killed as the scientist had entered, Shockwave turns and walks towards the door, "I believe that if nothing else, your continued execution of Decepticons who mention Megatron will make it clear we are not to be messed with, least of all by our own soldiers." It seems Shockwave is making a point today, quite if Scorponok is capable of comprehending it is anyones guess, but make it the Decepticon scientist will.
As Buzzsaw hops on his shoulder, Shockwave turns to look at Starscream, "Since it seems you agree that it would be preferable to end more Autobot lives than wait for Scorponok to reduce our own number further as a result of his exasperation with your failure to grasp such a simple concept as war, I will be in my lab awaiting your exact proposals in order to provide logical methods to execute them." Or perhaps get Starscream killed. That could also provide for a logical conclusion, who can say for sure. With that Shockwave departs, pausing long enough for Buzzsaw to take off should he wish to remain.
Tankor steps back at Scorponok's tirade. At least he's on his good side for the moment, but this little get-together is getting more and more uncomfortable. He's worried about Starscream's neck health and isn't sure if his own quip is enough to save him, but it looks like the Seeker did it on purpose? Then again, the idea of draining Autobots of energon, and then killing them, has its good points. He listens to Shockwave as he goes, and says, "I'm used to extracting energon from natural sources, but maybe I could help work on ways of extracting them from ... well, other reservoirs."
Starscream glares at Shockwave and clenches his fists, "Don't ignore me!" he spits and watches as the purple mech does just that. With an annoyed wing twitch he steps toward Tankor. "Lets work out some ideas." he says pointedly ignoring Scorponok now. Though he is making sure he stays out of claws reach of him just in case.
Scorponok sighs, annoyed at anything that isn't immediate gratification (and brute force). Master planner Megatron he is *not*. But he's not entirely stupid either, so he allows Buzzsaw to do his thing as long as it doesn't interfere with his own plans. Waving a claw somewhat dismissively, "Sure, fine, whatever. If it results in dead Autobots, then go for it."
He then turns to Starscream, scowling. "You want to do that, then go for that, too, but unless you plan on making that a massive operation complete with all the...what's the word, logic?" He tries to think of /logistics/ but fails, "It ain't gonna be anywhere near as effective or fast as just slaughtering the bunch of them. It's a lot easier to carpet bomb an entire city than spend the time to individually capture a bunch of Autobots." He leans in some more, sneering. "You SURE I keep you around for a reason? I'd expect a new recruit to know as much! What are you, some secret Autobot spy trying to make me play nice with these slaggers?"
Scorponok tenses as Megatron's name is mentioned, and a claw twitches... but he does know he should probably keep the scientist around. probably. He snaps that claw ...then smirks as Shockwave jabs at the Seeker, too. Ok, Shockwave is Ok with him again. "YEAH. Alright, Shockwave, keep me informed of your progress."
Tankor. Ah, Tankor is his new pal. He smiles. "GOOD. Do it. Maybe I should make YOU the Commander of Aerospace, HA!!"
Buzzsaw nods to Scorponok. "I'll see it done." He lets Shockwave carry him out. After all...he enjoys the level-minded logic. It's...easier to understand than the raw emotional outbursts that seem to be so present in the ranks.
"Ha!" Tankor blurts out at Scorponok's suggestion. He turns with a wince to Starscream. "Yes, definitely, let's ... work on some designs." While the triplechanger may have avoided getting decapitated today, there still may be a null ray in his future. But he's good friends with the real, proper Air Commander, right?
Starscream forgets about Shockwave's snubbing him and not waiting for Tankor to reply to him, he turns back toward Scorponok. "Remember dear Scorponok, *I* was the one that helped you get into the position you are in now. I would think you would keep that in mind when you consider why you keep me around. But if you want to relinquish the Decepticon superiority in the skies then by all means I can step down." he gets an odd look on his face then, as if he stepping down might not be a good thing in the long run, in more ways than one. "And as for the 'logic'?" his tone gets all sickeningly innocent then, "That is why you have Shockwave with me to come up with a feasible plan for energon and upping the body count on the Autobots, isnt it?"
Scorponok scowls at Starscream even more then- but he doesn't call for the Seeker's resignation. "Then GET TO IT. I want dead Autobots, I want to know what they're up to, I want to learn their movements- where are they hanging out, who's supplying them, where are they fueling. Spy and scout. Do whatever you have to." He slams a claw on the table again (seems he just likes the sound of it).
"And someone find out what they're developing. Those cowards don't rely on brute force like we do- they sneak around and create Institutes and spy drones. Even our own forces have acted oddly on occasion and don't know *why*. It's probably Autobots up to their old tricks. Find out what they're up to ASAP!"
"Right away, sir," Tankor replies. "I'm sure that with Starscream's ideas and plans, we'll have plenty of opportunities to gain the advantage over those Autobots." He adds a tone of disgust to the word "Autobots", for effect. He nods with confidence at Starscream.
Starscream fights to keep a smirk at bay as he listens to Tankor's sucking up. As for Scorponoks comments, he waves a slightly dismissive hand. "I will get to work on that right away...leader." he turns for the door.
His work with the others done for now, Scorponok smacks one claw into the other just for show. "GOOD. We'll wipe the planet floor with those pansies until only the strong survive. And *I* will be the new ruler of Cybertron!" Because somehow these guys are always about ruling the world. And a world ruled by Scorponok is going to be a very brutal world indeed.