What to do about Nyon?

Earlier, Prowl had come into Orion Pax's office to discuss a couple of things. Both of those happened to deal with Hot Rod and Nyon. Prowl had the simple plan. Shut down the city, arrest the resistance, wait for them to beg for help. Orion's plan? A little more complicated. An organized plan, it called for a discussion with Hot Rod that would lead to the shiny mech's voluntary arrest, in return for increased rations to Nyon and a shortened sentence. While Prowl left to study the plan and figure out a response, Orion has been handling other issues that had come up and is now back in relative sanctuary, studying plans for one thing or another that Zeta has added to him lately.
Pax might actually be surprised by Prowl's response to his proposal. At first, he'd just sort of hmphed and walked away, muttering that he would review it. But today, the signal to the door of his office comes again. And again, Prowl is standing there, with the draft in his hands.
"Come in." Pax announces, rising from his seat to greet the company he gets today. "Welcome back, Prowl. Take a seat, if you want." Orion apparently is as he settles back behind his own desk. "Did you have time to review my proposal?" he asks as he folds his hands in front of him on the desk.
Prowl is not a mech of many words, so it shouldn't surprise Pax when he simply sets the proposal on his desk, with his signature on every page. So that was it? No revisions, or complaints, or rebuttals? Is this too good to be true?
Pax looks.. surprised. But he's not going to push what Prowl signs off on. But he will re-read it to make sure that Prowl didn't slip anything in there.
"You see Pax, this is the reason why we need you here." Prowl finally says, folding his arms. "-Here-, and not out there running around as some outlaw with a band of misfits. -Hope-. Like you said. The people of Cybertron need someone they can look to who is -not- Megatron or anything like him. Whom they can trust will understand what they're going through and if not at least try."
There's a slight pause before he continues. "You negotiate with Hot Rod. If he takes the deal, excellent. If not...we go with plan B. We force him into custody, cut off all supply routes, and make sure that they -can't- get rations from the Decepticons. I hate it as much as you do Pax, trust me. But we really won't have a choice if it comes to that."
Pax rubs a hand over his face and sighs as he doesn't feel the familiar shape of his faceplate there. As he looks to Prowl, the mech considers for a moment and then brings up a map. A large field springs to life, surrounded by a sea and an island rises from the middle of it. If it wasn't for the bright colorations, it could also be mistaken for the Hydrax Plateau in the middle of the Sea of Rust. "Hope is what we need to instill in the Nyonese, Prowl." the commander points out diplomatically as the mech brings up the simulation. "I was studying the planet Swindle was from, as I was curious as to what life was like on Combatatron. And this battle was on the files. It's from one of the Primal Vanguard's first contacts with the planet. They had surrounded Onslaught's outpost on this island and the Vanguard commander was assured that all he had to do was cut off the support lines and he could starve out Onslaught and his troops." As he runs the simulation, the red marks that show Primal Vanguard forces surround the island. It looks locked down pretty tightly. "It worked for three cycles, and then went to scrap."
As he continues to run the simulation - the skies are filled with enemy blue marks. They engage from the air, opening a corridor for several blue lines that go into the base. "By taking to the skies, Onslaught was able to bring in supplies while keeping the Vanguard forces occupied."
"We seal off Nyon from the ground.. and we do not have control of the skies. Blast Off has come and gone as he pleased from Nyon - and with the polity of Vos coming under the control of the Decepticons, you can rest assured that the Seekers will be aching for some payback after the recent battle at the Mithril Sea." Which is what he wanted Jazz to point out to Prowl.
"We have a small but severely lacking aerial force and with Sky Lynx just now returning from his latest sojourn to Velocitron, he will only be available on an emergency basis until he's fully refueled and recovered." the mech comments. "Not to mention that with so many underground lines, blockcading the city may become a fool's errand at best."
Prowl folds his arms. "We have people who are familiar with the underground, they can set up a surveillance net. And we don't need to have extensive air patrols, long range anti-air artillery should suffice." He pauses sighing.
"But practical hindrances aside, what exactly would you suggest we do in the event that Hot Rod refuses to cooperate? We can't just go around assuming that everything is going to go our way, Pax. If experience is any indication, in fact, most of the time it -doesn't-. We -need- a fall back plan, and thus far I have nothing from you on that. We -can't- let Nyon continue to drain our resources and use them for purposes that we can't condone. Such as cooperation with the Decepticons. If you keep rewarding a disobedient pet the same way no matter what it does, it will never learn to behave."
"And you can't starve or underfeed a pet and expect it not to bite you when you offer a hand to it, Prowl." Pax points out in response. "If Hot Rod doesn't listen to reason on this or doesn't accept my terms, then yes, I agree, you can take a force to place him under arrest." Orion offers as the mech presses his hands together, fingers folding in. "But it is only for Hot Rod. We are not going to punish a whole city anymore than we already are for whatever slight it seems to percieved to have. Because for all those that may be considering going to the Decepticon side, there is more than likely twice as many that have not or are undecided on their course of action. If the Decepticons become their saving grace, they will eagerly and quickly side with them. That is not an acceptable alternative either." the mech points out with a frown. "I thought we were giving much more than what we were to Nyon - why were their supplies cut off?" he asks in mild confusion. "Is this something that was brought up as what they needed?"
"We won't -let- the Decepticons be their saving grace." Prowl retorts. "We make sure it is either extremely difficult or impossible for them to do so, in one way or another. We don't want them to join the Decepticons, but we also can't let them keep taking supplies and using them to help the Decepticons, either." He makes an exasperated noise, rubbing his forehead. "Look Pax, you want me to be honest with you, Nyon is -already- cooperating with terrorists. If we don't crack down on them, what's the stop the other polities from doing the same? If one does it, then everyone else is going to be convinced that they can do the same without suffering any real negative consequences. -That's- the reason for this..."
Another pause, as Prowl considers something. "We need to make the Decepticons show their true colors to the Nyonians, that's what. Force Hot Rod to see them for what they are. That they -don't- want equality, they just want -vengeance-, and anarchy."
"Grinding them further under our boots is not going to make the Decepticons show their true colors, Prowl." Orion responds as he lets out a small exhaust, his frame rising and falling in response. "While I was on the stakeout that captured Swindle, the Combaticon made the pitch to Hot Rod for him to join the Decepticons. He turned it down and it didn't sound like it was the first time he's done it." the mech comments as he rubs the back of his head. "You're right." he conceeds, "There needs to be a contingency on the off chance that Hot Rod does disagree with the terms of supply, and if it does fail, then yes, I will leave it to you. But do not be overeager in your deployment, Prowl." the mech comments. "It will be as much a relief mission as it will be a cutoff mission. Perhaps instead of cutting them off, they should be occupied, as that would use about the same amount of resources, correct?"
"No, I never insinuated that it would." Prowl shakes his head. "I was merely proposing a different approach. We would need to craft a specific situation..." He trails off momentarily, thinking, before continuing.
Orion is patient while Prowl figures his way out through the situation now presented to him, the mech answering a tone on his radio and gives a frown for a moment, before looking back to Prowl.
"We offer to allow Hot Rod to appear before the Senate." Prowl finally says. "Let him speak his piece, as you did once, but this time with actual -permission-." Is that a faint smirk? Did he actually just tease Pax...if only just a little bit. "Once he's spoken his piece, whatever it is he says, we start to restore portions of Nyon. Supply them with with more rations than they need. Enough even to allow some of them to live in relative luxury. Knowing Megatron, this should be enough to get the Decepticons suspicious that they've entered into some kind of agreement with us. We strip away that trust, then we're on the right track."
"That could be acceptable." Orion gets a chagrinned smirk as Prowl points out his very own past transgression with the Senate. "Hopefully he won't have to go through a gauntlet of guards to make his point across." the mech points out before he nods. "I will be speaking to Zeta Prime later, actually. He wants me to escort Swindle over to him so that he may present him to the Senate. Perhaps he is willing to allow the Combaticon to speak his piece." One can hope, right? "Once I have his approval, we can do the same for Hot Rod, right?"
Prowl nods. "With Zeta Prime's approval, of course. But I'm sure that won't be a problem for you, will it?" What with Zeta being a friend of Pax's, and all, right?
"It should not be. As I said, I plan to speak to him after completing Swindle's transfer." Orion says, confident he will get his old friend's approval. "Was there anything else that you needed, Prowl?"
"For now..." Prowl starts, as if searching his mind for anything else that might need to be addressed. Finally, he nods. "Keep up the good work, Orion Pax. No one is perfect, but at least I can rely on you to do the right thing...eventually. We -will- restore peace to this planet--one step at a time."
Wait, was that a smile? Like not a smirk, actually a slight -real- one?
It's quick though. The security officer soon turns away and heads back out.
Such high praise, much wow! Orion chuckles. "As an old mech once said to me - we can never be sure what we are in for until we finally open the package." Omega's Conundrum, in a nutshell. "Safe travels, Prowl. I hope to see you again soon with news on Zeta's response."
Category:Autocracy