Promotion Opportunity

-Thundercracker seems to have missed all the big bang at nyon today because he was out half way across the planet searching for his friend. Along the way though he did think to do some patrols and spying recordings and quietly the blue seeker walks into the base to deliver the data he's collected while he's been out.
-Nyon burns. The fires still rage in the former capital of Cybertron, now an ashen wasteland. The survivors have been brought to Kaon, some of them here to the Decpticon stronghold that is Kolkular. The last to arrive is Megatron.
This should be a moment of triumph for him. He has caused a Prime to flee, arguably the worst of all of them, and yet Megatron was ultimately denied glory. Zeta Prime still leaves and so, in a way, the Decepticon leader has failed. This had been an opportunity to end most of the evils that plague the planet he loves so dearly yet they will goon for another day. War now seems more inevitable than ever.
He has been wounded from his fight with Zeta, though there are others that are far worse off than he is. Megatron has commanded that the medics tend to everyone else let - Con and Autobot, as many of them have been brought here as well. There are also the refugees from Nyon, the small number that made it alive. Until a medic can see him, Megatron stands atop the walls of Kolkular, turned to face the direction where Nyon once stood. His hands are clapsed behind his back as he reflects on what has happened and what is yet to come. Protocol politely informs him that a medic - Zephyr - has been dispatched to see him. From the wall he watches Thundercracker return and he asks Protocol to send word for the blue Seeker to come see him as well. There is no time like the present to tend to business.
-Zephyr, on the other hand, knows what happened, although she did not witness it personally. What she did witness, however, was the sort of damage those blasted vamparc weapons can do, and she fixed up Orion Pax on orders from some higher up. Now it's time to see to the leader. She had sworn, thousands of years ago, to follow, and she has been doing that faithfully since. Unlike some troops, she is not interested in rank or glory; she's interested in being there to work efficiently. Quietly she flies up to the walls, landing gracefully near by.
"The badly damaged mech, Officer Orion Pax, has been tended to, as those were the orders I recieved," she reports in a steady voice. "All other minor injuries have been seen to on several of the others. I've also saved a record of the scans I made of the individuals I worked on." Business before philosophy.
-Thundercracker gets orders to report to Megatron and leaving the dataslug in the terminal he heads to where he was told. "Yes, sir?" he asks as walks up.
-"Those were the orders that I gave," Megatron answers Zephyr without looking to her, his optics still set to the horizon where Nyon once stood. "He is to be given the full attention of our medical staff, and consider yourself especially assigned to his care. His health is to be of your paramount concern - more than you should cast upon me. Is that understood? Orion Pax must be returned to a fully functional state as immediately as possible." He turns to her now, exposing the blunt of his own scars. The blow that Megatron took from Zeta Prime was from close range. It is intense, deep and ugly. Yet he does not show any discomfort due to it. "Though... before you tend to him fully, there is another task I require of you, Zephyr."
Megatron looks up and over to Thundercracker as the mech approaches. "You look taller than your brothers. And sister," the Decepticon leader notes. "Tell me, Thundercracker, what do you think of your commander, Starscream?"
-Zephyr twitches her antennae towards Thundercracker as he arrives, and nods her head slightly by way of greeting. They're not the best of friends, but there's no animosity between them either. At least, as far as the fluttercon is concerned.
She nods her head to Megatron. "Of course," she says, bobbing her head. She's not disrespectful, but she doesn't pour on the genuflection the way some might. "However, right now his systems are resting and adapting to the slight changes I had to make based on the work needed and the supplies at hand. Hopefully both you and the mech himself will be pleased," she states. Then she falls silent, letting Thundercracker speak his piece.
-Thundercracker stops in his tracks when Megatron says what he does. Various transforming plates on his form resettle slightly as after a brief nod toward Zephyr he says. "Yea I am taller." he has no idea why and had never really thought of it before now. "And I've not given much thought to him, sir."
-"Orion Pax took the brunt of Zeta's rage. fortunate for me and yet... unfortunate for him. If Pax is to be fully operational, I suspect his frame will require a great deal of work - if not replacing. Zephyr, I wish for you to make contact with Shockwave. Reach out to him. Inform him of my directions to you about Orion's care. Whatever must be done to repair Pax to his prime, consider it my wish to have that done." Megatron stands ready for Zephyr to tend to him. He doesn't relax in his stance. "Before Shockwave arrives, I am afraid there shall be no recharge for you. Once you have tended to me I am afraid, Zephyr, I have the most gruesome task for you to complete. As you are aware, Nyon is no more. While we were able to help some there are a great many more that might require... mercy."
Megatron looks back to Thundercracker. "Why is that? You have known him your entire existence. Your first flights were together. I suspect there are secrets on Starscream that you alone are aware of. Do not worry, Thundercracker, I won't ask you to reveal them, though I continue to fail to see why you and the other Seekers remain so loyal to him... regardless, I wish to know what you think of him. Give it a moment if you must, process it, but I would like to have an answer." Clearly, it matters to him.
-"Define mercy," Zephyr says, perhaps a bit flatly. "I'm afraid that hints are often lost on me." So if he means a mercy killing, she needs to know where this is going. The hesitation was enough to make her seek clarification. "My kind, we excel at work, and long hours of it. What you command will be done," she says, inclining her head respectfully. "Is there anything else before I start to work on you?" She's not going to give him a speech about how the leader has to set an example and be in top shape. That's not her role. She works on the assumption that Megatron knows what he's doing.
As for Thundercracker, she watches him for a few moments. The fluttercon has her own opinions of Starscream, but /she/ isn't the one who was asked, so she keeps them to herself, for now. Still, it will be interesting to hear what the mech has to say about his 'brother'.
-"Well yea I've known him most of my existance." Thundercracker says, "We grew up together as it were, well he with me, I'm older but," a wing twitches, "We listen to him because he is the best flier in Vos, on the whole slagging planet and we know it. We have to give credit where credit is due." He's hoping that answer will be enough to keep him from having to answer the rest of it. I mean yea his brother can be a gear shaft and he'll tell him to his face what he is but to tell him behind his back. Why does he have to be the one to describe him? Then again he glances at that cannon and the sheer size of his leader and says, "I... I havn't given it much though how he leads because he's privy to things I'm not. Most of my siblings are, I don't know why and I stopped caring a long time ago. He doesn't listen to you much does he? Is that what this is all about?" he asks a bit boldy but still with respect.
-"I mean precisely what you might fear, Zephyr. Nyon is a graveyard, yet all that suffer there have not fled. Some may linger and will never survive salvation from it. Navigating a battlefield after a battle is not welcome work, no matter how necessary. I consider it perhaps the most difficult assignment I could ask of any bot. To do this for me... I would consider it a personal favor. The dying do not deserve to be without honor, even in - if not especially - in death. In the pits the worst deaths were the meaningless ones. There is a wealth of meaninglessness in Nyon right now." Megatron genuinely sounds sad for this. "If a bot can be saved, do everything you can for them." If not...
Megatron keeps his optics on Thundercracker. "In part," he answers, honestly. "Starscream is a spineless weasel. That has its uses... to a point. As for a matter of what he is privvy to..." Here Thundercracker will learn what this is about. "If *you* were made aware of what he has been, what would you do differently? what would Thundercracker do with such knowledge?"
-"Fear is not an issue; the Insecticon way, it is not the same as your ways. I feel sorrow for such tasks, but never regret," Zephyr reassures Megatron. "I am not insensible to the tragedy of Nyon's fall. It has proven the government to be exactly what you said it is, and it has only gotten worse since your writings." She tilts her head to the side. "But I can dispense this sort of mercy with respect, yet without hesitation." Zephyr is one of those people who is not sentimental, for the most part, but she has no love of the pain of others. This makes her quite good at her job; she cares enough to heal, but not so much that she can't make the tough decisions in triage. "Once the people are dealt with, should we salvage what other things we can? After all, what we glean should not fall into the hands of the Oppressors."
Again she is quiet about the Starscream issue, though her expression shows some distaste for the mention of the mech.
-Thundercracker thinks back on a few things in he and Starscream's past and thinks his brothers spineless like a turbo fox but doesn't say that. Instead he says "I have no idea what I would do with that knowledge because I don't know what that knowledge is. I'm not high caste, he and all over my other siblings are so they were automatically offered advantages I was not. Right down to what you've told him that I and no one else knows."
-Megatron knew that he was right to ask this task of Zephyr especially. Where others might cast her as cold, he sees her compassion. She might believe in him but he also believes in her, especially now. "Thank you," he says, with the utmost sincerity. She might be uniquely suited to deal with the deal but for Megatron, such loss is too emotional. It takes him a long moment to answer her question, however, because the one he wishes to give is not the one that he should. Were this an ideal world... unfortunately, it is not. Until he makes it that way at least. "Yes," he says with a heavy, audible sadness. They cannot afford to be anything but opportunistic.
"Let me be blunt then, Thundercracker. I am not of Starscream's birthed class either, yet I need not be. Nor you, not to be worth the potential that is yours alone to claim. Starscream continues to be ineffective for the tasks he is required to handle, or at the least he has proven to be an ineffective leader. He cannot multitask as he should. His focus is too much on himself and his own endeavors. Because of that," Megatron says confidently, "Effectively immediately I wish to transfer command of the Seekers to you."
-Protocol steps into the entrance hall, but finding Megatron speaking to two other Decepticons, she positions herself where she will be noticed but also remain at a comfortable distance, not wishing to intrude on the conversation. While she waits, she uses one hand to type into a keypad built into the opposite forearm.
-"Whatever we take from Nyon, can only help those survivors, help us /protect/ those survivors. They need not know the exact details of how I acquired them. It is my burden to bear, just as making the decisions and the orders is yours. That is what makes a leader. It's not the glory, or the power, it's ability to bear the weight of responsibility." It might sound like a lecture, but from Zephyr, it's actually praise. She's stating that he HAS these qualities, not that he needs to acquire them.
When she catches sight of Protocol, she gives the femme a polite nod of her head. She's always had a firm respect for the femme, perhaps more so than to some of the warriors. She never seeks glory, but contributes to the overall efficiency of the Decepticon Movement. Efficiency is something dear to Zephyr's buggy little spark.
Her antennae twitch a few times when Megatron declares he wants Thundercracker to lead the Seekers, and she peers at the blue mech as though expecting him to somehow change in front of her very optics. "Congratulations," she says, perhaps a bit dryly.
-Thundercracker glances around slightly and then back at Megatron, "I think you're more damaged then you think. Did I hear you right? I mean I know Starscream can be a lube wad but he knows more about leading then I do." he glances at Zephyr but like what can she do? She congratulates him. Great...
-Without needing to look to her, Megatron knows she is there. She has been at his side for thousands of years. Even if Protocol is not there, he expects her to be and conducts himself as though she is. It is not as though he hides anything from her, or any Decepticon, anyway. "Yes, it is my burden. I do not like it," to his *spark* he dislikes it. To raze the dead is akin to a sin for him and yet... survival, not efficiency, is his greatest concern. "Via Protocol our brethren will be made aware of the details. They shall know who lay the blame on. I welcome it, will speak to it and own it." Megatron does not back down. Ever. "what is harvested from Nyon, offer first to the Nyonese, *before* any con might seek to claim it." He speaks to both Zephyr and Protocol there. He wishes for that to be known to all.
To Thundercracker, Megatraon has but one thing to say. "I shall not offer again. Hesitation suggests a lack of ambition. I value ambition, Thundercracker. I do not misspeak, I do not hide my meanings. I care not what Starscream knows or what you lack. I care for what you will *do*. Do you accept?"
-Zephyr shakes her head to Thundercracker. "His wound is bad enough to need repairs, but it has no bearing on his mental facilities, I assure you," she says, giving her medical opinion on the subject.
Turning to Megatron, she gets out her equipment. "Now, if you are ready, I will tend to your wound." She's not one of those imperiously bossy medics who try to 'pull rank' in all medical things. Especially not against Megatron. Unless, she actually had evidence his reason was compromised. And then she would rightfully go to his second in command.
She smiles faintly to Protocol. "When things settle down a little, I should have a word or two with you," she notes.
-Thundercracker is silent for a long moment thinking. He's not sure he wants to deal with this. "Are you ordering me to do so, sir?" he asks.
-Zephyr is gentle, but firm, in her repairs. She's not going to pamper Megatron. He's a miner, he's a leader, and he's damned tough. But she's also not going to wrench and pull and poke things unecessesarily. She works deftly and efficiently. If she was down in the medical room, she would be using pain dampeners as a matter of course, but up here, she's working with the minimum of tools. Since he's been able to bear the pain this long, it's unlikely she's making it worse to the point that it will be beyond his tolerance. She's listening, but her focus is mainly on doing her work. Unlike some medics, she isn't going to spend her time boasting about how good she is, or how handsome, or how much of a genius.
-Protocol gives an affirmative nod to Zephyr. "Already arranged, Sir," Protocol replies to Megatron. It's one of those little phrases she's always happy to say. "Would you like me to prepare a hot oil bath for you, Sir?", she offers, anticipating her lord's desire to rest after the repairs.
-Megatron is arrogant enough to assume, perhaps, that any request for a meeting spoken in his presence is meant for him. That and Proto maintains his schedule yet she manages her own. She can schedule her own appointments! As Zephyr works Megatron remains still; very still. There were times in the pits when he would be stitched up only to immediately be thrown out into the arena again. And again. He'll let her work undisturbed because the sooner she is done, the sooner she can go to Nyon. "No," he answers Protocol. "See that those that assisted in Nyon get them - Blast Off first of all. Offer them to the Autobots. In fact, I wish for you to tend to them *personally*. They will wish to see our operations, have questions. Let us be sure our guests are comfortable, enough that they remain until they are repaired. Myself, I will go without such comforts. Clear my schedule of anything - unless it is a matter with Soundwave - should any Autobot wish to speak with me."
Megatron, guts explosed and being prodded, looks to Thundercracker. "Consider it," he says then. "I am patient. I have offered. When you are ready to grant me a proper answer, then I shall have it. Until then, you are dismissed."
-If Megatron is arrogant, at least he's earned some of it. And not by being handed his lifestyle on a silver platter. No, he had to crawl his way up from the bowels of the mines to get where he is. These are things Zephyr respects. Which is why she is intent on doing her best work when he orders it specifically. Gradually she gets her work done. The wound is cleaned, sealed, and the surface recleaned. Anything aesthetic, well, she leaves that to others. "There." She starts putting away her tools. "I will gather my drones and continue on to my next task. Afterwards I will send my report." Straightening up, she flicks a last, appraising glance over her 'work'.
-Thundercracker lowers his head in a slight bow, "As you command, sir." he turns and walks out.
-"As you wish, Sir," Protocol replies to Megatron. She taps furiously for a few seconds on her keypad to notify people their appointments have to be rescheduled, and she books one of the hot oil bath/waxing chambers for the Autobots.
-Megatron slaps his sealed wound. It's an old gladiator thing. "Better than new! Where were you during my days in the pit," he *laughs*, a good kind of laugh. The kind that he would have had more often in better days. a laugh he will likely come to be unfamiliar with in time. "You have my thanks, Zephyr. I am sure I shall have cause to call on you again." He knows he need not dismiss her as he did with Thundercracker. Zephyr has her work to see to and she has the leisure to get tot hat as soon as she wishes.
Megatron turns to Protocol. "I need to speak to Soundwave as soon as he is available. Also, I shall require Shockwave here, to assist Zephyr with Orion Pax. He may require a personal request to come here. The former senator often gets lost in his work."
-"Underground," Zephyr says with a faint smile. "But I consider it a good thing I came to the surface when I did." They have that in common at least: they both spent a lot of time underground when they wanted to be freer. Though his servitude was more strictly imposed than hers. "I will be on my way now. Though if anyone hears of any intelligence that forces are moving on the ruins, I hope to hear about it so I can act accordingly." With a respectful bow, she turns to leave.
-Protocol steps forward so she's at a more comfortable conversational distance from Megatron. "Yes, Sir. Shall I inform him of Orion Pax, or would you prefer to have an audience with Shockwave upon his arrival so that you can inform him personally?"
-"Both. I believe it is time to elevate my relationship with Soundwave," he shares freely with Protocol now that they are alone. Megatron won't stand in the way of Zephyr getting to Nyon. "That requires urgency in of itself. As soon as Soundwave returns, I wish to see him." He considers. "Zephyr mentioned that medical took scans of Orion Pax. Make a copy. Take them with you to further entice Shockwave, should you need to see him in person. The mech cannot resist information."
-Protocol rocks once on the balls of her feet. "Understood, Sir."
-"All of our work, all of *your* work, is going to dwarved by the volume of what is to come. The coming days will require more of us, Protocol. Weakness, no matter how minute, is not an option we can lapse into. Vigilance is a virtue. The devil is in the details and I rely on *you* to ensure our strength there." Megatron reaches out to lay a hand on Protocol's shoulder. He's said the following words to her before, many times. Like every time before he means it now, though increasingly with each utterance. "Thank you."
He takes back his hand, laying it over the wound Zephyr just stitched up. Protocol knows she is dismissed, unless there is something more she has to inform him of.
-Protocol feels the tingle go down her spine when Megatron rests his hand on her shoulder and praises her. She beams. "It is an honor to serve you Sir. I am up to the challenge as always." She politely bows and then slips further into the base to make preparations for the Autobots so they'll be comfortable.
-"One day," he speaks to Protocol after she is gone, "I shall find a way to serve you." Megatron's energon is mostly replaced with his own rage, his passions fueling his every action. Yet, his mind holds onto bots like Protocol. It is for her, and those like her, that he shall deliver Cybertron onto them.