No One Above the Law

++ Grand Hall <Decagon> ++

Standing multiple stories high, the Decagon is a set of ten towers linked  together with thick walls, hallways and workspace in between. Like a medieval castle or old fortress, it is designed for both defensive strength and offensive capabilites - massive cannons are nested along the outer walls, through they have not seen use since the Age of Wrath. Structured with a huge open interior, the top of the installation is encased in an iron glass dome that lets in light from above during the day, and by       interior lighting from balconies at night. "Ring" levels sit atop each other one after the other to the top, cordoned off by a low wall at the base of each floor. Holographic projectors at the corners of the balconies  are used to convey information to those inside using bright, flat projected screens.

At the center of the hall at the ground floor is a massive bronze orrery,  showing Cybertron's complete solar system, moving in scaled time to the rotations of the real thing. Crystal arborteums, sitting areas and quiet alcoves allow guests and denizens time for tranquil contemplation. Statues of honored Primes, Senators and Majors loom high in the corners of the grand hall's floor space. The internal cladding, tightly fitted together and scrupulously clean, starts at the floor as a silver-gray, then turns red, bronze and then gold and blue at the very top. Triorian guards are stationed at the entranceways, along with Enforcer agents. The building is lively at any time of day, as it serves as the central hub of Cybertronian  military command.

The situation in Kaon has been escalating over the past few stellar cycles, with rioting still plaguing the streets, and the gladiator arenas still flourishing with death and savagery. But now, the concern has escalated, because Clench is no longer in charge of the Forge--instead, it's Megatron.

Megatron, the iron-willed miner from Tarn. Well-intentioned, but definitely misguided, and thus a dangerous revolutionary. Not only because he's strong but he just has a way of influencing people...of getting them to rally around his cause. And Primus knows there are plenty of dissidents he could choose from.

And so the upper rungs of Autobot command have called for a mandatory meeting, because now that Megatron is in charge down there, he's not bound to bide his time much longer. At the moment, a large videopane is up on the far wall, the display playing the recent footage from the Forge. Well, more specifically the one of Clench's death. Prowl is standing to the side of it, his arms folded and his face with its typical austere frown etched onto it.

Brainstorm's here, but apparently the engineer had one too many to drink the previous cycle- or perhaps he really \*is\* on some medication for.. well, for something. Who knows what the spastic, bombastic Autobot might need a little... help with. As it is, he sits off on the side somewhere and watches the footage. Of course, he seems less shocked about all the death and gore and more impressed with some of the weaponry. "Did you see that? I think that was some kind of electric axe! Now THAT would hurt. Oh, but it'd hurt even MORE if you added some, like, blender and grinding action... Oh! How about it squirts water, too, so you could spray someone with water AND THEN electrocute them!" His yellow optics light up and he pulls out a datapad and notes that down for later development.

Jazz has taken a seat among all the others here; the room is rounded with the same seating you'd expect in a college lecture hall. Plenty of room to view the large video monitors and Prowl at the main stage below. He's already well aware of this footage; he's seen it. He's here with Arcee and glances over at her every so often to see how she's handling this.

Feint is observing from the back. She needs to see this. All of this. Even if it's mentally scarring.

Though Ratchet was used to patching up patients with horrible injuries and having his servos deep inside bloody wounds, seeing it happen in person was disturbing. He was disgusted by what Megatron did to Clench, even if the mech was an aft. And to see Torque in the midst of it, too. Thank Primus she made it out alive. To hear Brainstorm applauding the work made him want to punch the mech, but he just stayed quiet in the corner, arms crossed and unable to look at the screen when the more gorey details were displayed.

Once the footage has ended, Prowl begins lecturing. In that wonderfully stern and monotone voice of his that could bore just about any mech to death. "As you all know, the Forge has been a hotbed of criminal activity for some time now. However, now that Megatron has taken charge of the gladiator pits, it's become quite clear that we cannot be patient for much longer. We must act now in order to prevent disaster. Megatron is a dangerous revolutionary. He and whoever he manages to persuade to rally to his cause must not be underestimated."

The Decagon was not the safest place for Orion Pax to be at the moment. With Sentinel having it out for him since the Nominus incident and Prowl hosting this meeting, it was a bit of a tense atmosphere. However, he needed to know what was going on. There were rumors of a slaughter in the Forge and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. So, he stood in the back with Ratchet and watched the massacre unfold on the screen.

Before, Orion admired Megatron for advocating non-violent resistance. He read the mech's writings and even spoke to him directly a few times. Megatron wanted change much like Pax did, but this ? this horrible and gruesome overthrowing of the current power in the Forge wasn't at all like what the mech once vouched for. What happened to make Megatron act that way? Clench was horrible, but he didn't deserve death! No one could ever deserve such a harsh punishment. It sickened him and he averted his gaze to keep from watching the rest of what happened. 'This is not the Megatron I met before,' he thought to himself. With the Senate and the Decepticons causing trouble, he had a lot on his servos to sort out. "So what do you propose we do?"

Ultra Magnus stands solid and weighty in a position very correct to his rank and position, as should come to the surprise of no one. He lifts his head very slightly. "It is necessary to take direct action in order to prevent further tragedy. These rebels threaten the very fabric of society and must be apprehended and brought to trial without delay."

Skids has been kinda hanging in the back and watches making faces at the display of Clench's death. This whole rioting, revolution has been on his mind for a while as a theoritical model and the conclusions are not sweet or politically correct. Thousands of scenarios are going through his mind right now. To an outsider it might look like shock but the optics are moving and blinking.

Prowl gets to directing the projector to a different file, this one a map of the Forge and the area around it, at least to the best of his contacts' knowledge. "We end it," Sentinel's second-in-command answers, looking briefly up at Pax. His expression is neutral but inside he's -really- hoping this won't end in some kind of philosophical debate with Orion Pax. "ideally, with as little violence as possible. We move in from underground--quite literally walk right up to their front doors, smash them in and gas the crowd before they even know what hit them. Then we arrest all of them." Well that was the short version, anyway. This briefing is obviously far from over.

Brainstorm keeps scribbling in his datapad, glancing up at the screen as the assorted weapons give him all kinds of GRAND and GLORIOUS ideas. He seems to do his best to make sure the screen's not visible to Ultra Magnus, who is just the sort of Debbie Downer who might tell him his ideas are \*dangerous\* or \*unethical\* and PFFFt, that takes all the fun out of EVERYTHING, ya know? Otherwise he doesn't pay a lot of attention to much of anyone. Or at least it seems that way.

Orion liked the idea of a non-violent way of dealing with the Forge supporters, but not all of them were as criminal as Megatron was proving to be. Many of them actively believed that he was going to change Cybertron for the better. They were merely misguided. Still, working with Sentinel and Prowl could help him uncover the corrupt members of the Senate as well as dig up even more information. It worked with Whirl once. He could get information from any 'Cons they captured. Decisions, decisions.

"You want to gas them?" he asked. "That would create too much chaos and panic. With the crowd scattering, we wouldn't be able to capture those actually performing in the arena. We could easily be outnumbered by members in the crowd, too." He paused for a moment. "I believe we should arrest them individually, but only if we see them engaging in illegal activities. They aren't all going around and slaughtering innocents, just misguided." He obviously still had patience.

Ultra Magnus is far too prim to do anything as gauche to peer over Brainstorm's shoulder at his datapad, which is probably for the best for all parties present. "The law provides in this instance," he says. "Those working with the terrorists are subject to accomplice liability for their acts. If there is reasonable cause to suspect they are involved, they should be arrested. They will be accorded the full protection of the judicial system, and if innocent of the crimes of which they are accused, they will naturally be released." The grind of his voice a little like a clear of his throat, he adds with an air almost humble, "I would point out with respect that merely by attending such an ... event, these bots are supporting illegal activity and should be subject to, at the least, misdemeanant penalty."

Ultra Magnus could really drone on and on about the specifics of the law. Orion was a little more ... liberal when it came to it. "Then give them misdemeanant penalty, but arresting them seems a little harsh, don't you think?" he asked. "Technically we just engaged in the same act most of the crowd did. We weren't present, but we're supporting the Forge by /watching/ what's going on. Some mechs and femmes just watch. That's it, nothing more. We can't arrest /all/ of them." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Perhaps we should target those we /know/ are working with Megatron first. Do we have a list?"

"Yeah, about that," says a voice from the crowd, to the back of the room. Jazz holds up a datapad. "I got a list of everybot that's actively supportin' Megatron, includin' the group that took out Clench's bodyguards, and it ain't pretty." He walks down one of the aisles towards Prowl. "We got Enforcers, Triorian Guard, Police, even a Senator or two. They're in all the way to the top."

Ultra Magnus turns a look of deep and maybe even shaken surprise upon Jazz and for a moment seems to have lost his tongue. His figurative tongue. Whichever robot organ permits his legalistic liturgies.

Skids listens to the plans and incorporates them in his scenarios. "I have been running a few theoritical model and Prowl's suggestion could work the probabilities are very very small. I do not see who we can safely make a bust on the Forge without some heavy duty backup. Guardian-class backup. The potential for the crowd to turn on us is too high." He glances at Orion "Arresting them seperately might be safer but...once we arrest a couple one of two things will happen. Either the rest go deep into hiding or it will polarize the movement and the rioters will try to free them by force. Either way nothing will be solved 'quickly' or in a 'short forseeable future'."

Did someone say something about weapons? Brainstorm perks up. "Gas \*could\* work, but if you used that I'd say you'd need to take into account the number of people, times the room size, and divided by excitement and aggression levels. Oh, and you'd probably want to distract them somehow while the gas takes effect. Of course, other methods could work... a good dose of electricity could short-circuit everyone there REAL fast. 'Course then the medics might have to make sure some of them were still functioning afterwards, but... eh, it'd shock n' drop even the big bruisers FAST. Then sort n' pick through 'em!"

Orion watched as Jazz approached the front. "Thank you, Jazz," he said. They had a focus now and Pax just /knew/ that the Senate would be involved. They were getting somewhere! He didn't know that the Decepticons had such deep roots in their society, though. That was a little disturbing. "At least we have a starting point. We'll target those on the list." He took what Skids said into consideration. "You're right about that, Skids. We'll have to arrest them in secret ... as quickly as we can manage. Perhaps if we split into teams? I can send my forces out to track down a few of them."

"Don't you dare electrocute the crowd!" Ratchet snapped at Brainstorm. "It would make much more sense to amplify the effects of an electromagnetic pulse to send the entire arena into stasis!" He huffed. That seemed like the logical choice to him. Forget arresting.

"Mass stasis would be an extralegal measure," Ultra Magnus protests mildly. "It would be overly restrictive and invasive. Such measures should only be considered in the absence of uninvasive alternatives. Secret simultaneous arrests may be workable but will require mass dedication of personnel . . ."

Prowl listens to everyone else's input patiently. He nods to Jazz, but shakes his head at the amplified EMP. "Ratchet, even if that were legal, we don't have a way to keep it from knocking -us- out as well." He also agrees with Magnus' statement about guilt by association. "I'm afraid that isolated arrests are not feasible. There are too many who need to be apprehended, and there is a 96.25% probability that those who are not on that list will attempt to take up arms and stop the arrests if they happen to witness any. We need to detain -all- of them," he says firmly, with a pointed look at Pax. "-Then- release those, if any, who do not have any charges against them." Though he's fairly certain that most of them will, anyway. "I have contacts in the Forge who will guide us through the catacombs without being detected by any of the locals before it's too late."

"What are we gonna do about the Senator's names that are comin' up in the list?" Jazz asks Prowl.

"No one is above the law," Ultra Magnus states. Predictably.

Orion frowned beneath his mask. He didn't hear Prowl's probability of them actually being detected by anyone. If they could get to the Forge in secret, surely they could arrest the members on the list in secret, too. It seemed Prowl wasn't going to listen to their suggestions. He wanted to still gas the crowd, too, Pax bet. "I see we've circled back to the beginning," he commented dryly. "We already discussed why gas isn't going to work, so how do you propose we capture /everyone/ in the arena?" He nodded towards Jazz. "Especially the Senator members?"

Prowl sighs, and responds to Jazz on his private hailing frequency. << We will discuss that in a more...private setting. For now, the focus is on the Forge itself. >>

"Might I suggest a box canyon and some bait?" Jazz suggests to Orion (and everyone else). "Get 'em all to show up in one location where we can spring a trap on 'em."

Skids glances at Ultra Magnus with a surprised look on his face. "I kinda agree with Ultra Magnus here. No one is above the law. The senators will get tossed in the same cell as the rest. Being a senator is a not license for sedition."

"That could work," Orion agreed with Jazz. "The Forge moves around so much already. Is there any way to intercept messages and send them the coordinates for the trap? Or did you have another plan in mind?" As much as he hates having to arrest all of those mechs (especially those that really were innocent) at least they weren't executing them. Capturing all of them seemed to be the safest, most efficient option. Unlike Prowl, he believed most would go free in the end, not stay in prison.

"Exactly." Prowl says, nodding to Jazz. "My contacts in the Forge will be providing us with intel on the gladiator fights. We'll strike when all or most of them are down there, watching the arena and therefore packed into a concentrated area." He just gives Pax a tired look. "We gas them, to cause -them- to become panicked and confused while -we- remain level-headed so that we can get the job done quickly and cleanly. And if there -are- any Senators present, yes, they too will be subject to the same fate."

Brainstorm blinks as Ratchet snaps at him. "But... hey, I'm just trying to help! No point in getting our guys killed trying to be TOO soft with a bunch of fighters who are anything \*but\* that." He shrugs. "Just sayin'...."

"Might I suggest we -all- update our security files and change some of our protocols?" Jazz asks. "'Cause it looks like Barricade's decided to make himself Megatron's right hand mech, and he knows Iacon PD inside an' out."

"Jazz makes a good point," Pax said. "With Barricade in charge, security will be high at the Forge. They have to know that we're onto them and planning to shut the place down. He may even know about the underground passageways. We'll need an unpredictable, creative way to arrest the mechs on that list." Unpredictable and creative were two adjectives that did /not/ describe Prowl or Ultra Magnus. "When you figure that out, let me know. Until then, I'll be back in Rodion. If anyone from the list shows up there, then I'm going to make a grab for them /my way/." He looked to Jazz and sent him a private comm. <<Send me the list, when you have the time. You're the most reasonable of these mechs, it seems.>>

Jazz keeps a poker face but radios back to Pax, << Will do, my mech. Will do. >>

Prowl suppresses a noise of exasperation at Pax. Unpredictable? Creative? Is the other officer just trying to irritate him or what? Ugh. "Quite the contrary, what we need is a solid plan, based on the intel we currently have." he points out. "Barricade may -think- he knows us inside and out, but if he doesn't realize we're onto -him-, then he's already at a disadvantage. So the security protocols will direct him to junk data and false information if he does attempt to go that route." Plus, he doesn't know Starscream is a traitor. -Starscream-.

Or does he? He -better- not.

Prowl fixes the defiant police captain with a stern glare. "And you -will- follow orders as they are given, -Pax-, because like it or not, you're a part of this team. We can't ever hope to make this planet a better place if we can't even learn to submit to superior officers within our -own- ranks."

Brainstorm is unpredictable and creative! He lifts a hand at Pax, yellow optics gleaming. "I could figure something out! Easy peasy."

"That's right," Pax said. "We're a /team/. That doesn't mean we just do everything /you/ say. We compromise and build a plan /together/." Prowl obviously didn't know what team meant. These two would butt heads quite frequently, it seemed. "I won't arrest anyone so as to prevent an uprising, but you should consider a backup plan should yours go wrong. I'd be happy to oblige if that'll be the case. You have to at least take into account all of our suggestions, not shrug them off." He huffed.

Ratchet checked his internal clocks and sighed. "Let's just buy them all drinks and call it a night. Maybe they'll like us then and tell us everything in a drunk stupor." He glanced up to see Orion shooting him a look and shrugged. "It would work for me is all I'm saying."

Brainstorm decides he LIKES this pax guy- much more than ol' stuffed shirts Prowl and Ultra Magnus over there. "I LIKE HIM." He announces loudly, then goes back to scribbling on his datapad, coming up with all sorts of ideas for containing the mechs at the Forge.

Yes. A backup plan. At least they can agree on ONE point, right? Prowl sighs. "Which was the purpose of this briefing. You're also forgetting that another very important part of being a team is being willing to submit to its leadership, -even- if you don't agree with their decisions." he points out as Pax is leaving. Why else would they be in a room talking about it together? Common sense, come on. "Yes, yes...a backup plan is always necessary. So why don't you work on that?" he says dismissively. Yeah, quick get that guy out of the room...

That was slightly random, but he appreciated the support from Brainstorm. "Thank you, I appreciate your company as well," he stated. He cocked an optic ridge at Prowl. "I respect your authority, Prowl, do not get me wrong about that," he said. "But I also believe in what my spark says. I will follow your plan for as long as it feels right to me." That was really all he could promise anyone. "I will begin planning a backup plan," he said, glancing to Jazz briefly. The two of them could set it up, definitely. "Until we meet again." He bowed slightly before exiting the Decagon with Ratchet in tow, nearly dragging him to Maccadam's for a drink.