Detour's Newest Customer

*Uploaded and Edited by Tachyglossus AKA Detour*

*NOTE:  Some edits actually alter content for clarification.  In cases like these the word will be surrounded in brackets. Examples are replacing pronouns with proper names, inputting corrections or changes added later in OOC posts, or making corrections to where the wrong spelling of a word is used, or inputting missed words or articles.*

"No, no, no! That was supposed to go to Warehouse 16! What is it doing here? We don't have room for that!"

Detour is standing at the opening of an alley, where some delivery mechs had just unloaded a crate. He waves frantically at them to stop from bringing it into the side entrance to the building, which has a hexagonal icon above its entrance. Detour spins on his heel to face away from them for a moment, clenching and unclenching his fist for a moment or two. Inhaling deeply, he exvents some of the pent up agitation and turns back to the couriers. "Alright. Take it to Warehouse 16. I'll get to the bottom of this little miscommunication... and make sure screw ups like this don't happen again." Detour shoos them off, and once they have re-loaded and begin to set off, Detour calmly walks onto the main street and heads for the front entrance to the otherwise nondescript building.

[Detour will] be receiving a surprise visit from none other than the ruler of Vos himself, Starscream. The red and white seeker descends quickly in front of the other mech, protoforming and landing gracefully near the non descript building.

[Starscream] grins deviously, arms folded as he approaches. "Remember me?" he says, arching a brow ridge. "I told you we'd speak again."

Detour stops abruptly as his path is obsured by a rather unusual obstacle. Detour looks squarely at Starscream and nods his head in response. A comment along the lines like 'who could forget you?' seemed so obvious that it did not warrant saying. So instead Detour takes a step back and lifts his square chin slightly. "Then let's speak."

[IC-Cybertron] Starchamber says, "Who is the recognized commander of this planet?"

[IC-Cybertron] Octane says, "That's be our right, honorable Sentinel Prime."

You mean, a MAGNIFICENT and GLORIOUS obstacle. Starscream stands tall, grinning at the other pretentiously. Yes, of course. He's unforgettable, duh.

"I lied. I do want to buy an Insecticon from you. An unhatched one, that is. I guess you could say I changed my mind."

*[IC-Cybertron] Starchamber says, "Sentinel... it is not Nova, then?"*

*[IC-Cybertron] Octane says, "Yeah, no... "*

*[IC-Cybertron] Starchamber says, "Ah, good, then perhaps I'll not be castigated for what I'm about to say."*

*[IC-Cybertron] Starchamber says, "ALL HAIL MEGATRONUS, PRIME OF COMBATRON."*

*[IC-Cybertron] Blast Off says, "What the SLAG do you think you're DOING?!"*

*[IC-Cybertron] Starchamber says, "Waiting to see if this planet is governed by mechs or scraplets."*

*[IC-Cybertron] Octane says, "Not exactly sure what Castigation is but as a duly appointed officer of the Triorian Guard, I am somewhat compelled to inform you that that is a treasonous statement and can be acted upon by lew enforcement."*

*[IC-Cybertron] Octane says, "Law, I mean. Yeah, Law, that thing."*

*[IC-Cybertron] Blast Off says, "More \*scraplets\* than \*mechs\*... but that's neither here nor there. They'll pick up your signal before too long!"*

Detour pauses, momentarily distracted by something. He lifts his hand as if to bring it up to his helmet, but his hand pauses and his optics flicker a mite brighter as he regains focus on that which is far more important than some noise on the broadband. Detour nods his head and smiles. "Oh, changing one's mind is hardly the same as lying." He pauses again, then clears his ventilation systems. "I have a selection of hatching pods that are still, uh, viable to produce insecticons. But, it is tricky to tell which will be drones and which will be the real prizes."

*[Detour silences the global broadband.]*

Starscream shrugs. "I don't really have too much of a preference," he says, "a drone could be easier to control, while a smarter Insecticon may be more interesting to study." He makes a beckoning motion. "Let me see what you have."

Detour gestures Starscream to follow while saying, "come in with me, sir, and I shall get you set up." With that he turns and heads into the building.

The building within looks very bare, and patches along the wall with different exposure and oxidisation indicate that things had recently been moved around. Or, as the near emptiness would further suggest, outright removed. Detour walks over to a panel and presses a button which flicks on some monitors. He makes a few inputs and the monitors show a variety of rather ripe hatching pods [and] recently hatched insecticons in their first instar with graphs and read outs beside them. He moves aside, inviting Starscream to take a look. "Drones are not overly effective by themselves, but as you said, easier to control. Queens and Seeders, if you get them young, can be invaluable slaves, pets, and I'd like to add, really show off one's status. But naturally, they cost much more. The problem is, it's difficult to tell a Drone from a Queen this early on. The best bet is to check the quality levels of the energon in the hatching pods. The higher the quality, the more likely a Queen." Detour then taps a few keys which change some of the monitors to show two more developed Insecticons. "Both are seeders. No Queens lately. They have been confined to their hive pits thus far and thus are still, ah, impresisonable shall we say. Only one of them is on site here in Kaon. The other is in Helex." Detour straightens up [and] smiles. "If your preferences are open, then I guess it comes down to how much you are willing to pay."

Starscream's follows Detour into the building, hands placed neatly behind his back. His grin broadens when Detour shows him the hatching pods. "Could we.. go inside? I know that might be a bit much to ask, but I'm a very visual and hands on sort of guy." He gestures grandiosely. "Oh please, price is hardly a concern." He then sighs. "I know, I know, tell me something I don't know," he says, sounding bored. "I've handled Insecticons before."

Detour stares at Starscream for a long moment. "Hands on? Or want proof that the merchandise is genuine?"

Starscream waves a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, whatever you'd like to call it. I don't want just a surveillance feed, I want to know that I'm actually /getting/ what I'm buying," the seeker says. "Now.. are you going to give me what I want or not?" Because if you don't, he's going to be unhappy. /Very/ unhappy.

Detour chuckles easily, letting any previous suspicion drain out of his tone. "Of course, of course. And I wouln't let just any buyer into the nursery. But you I can make an exception for. This is just a retail outlet and data center. The nursery is off site, but I am willing to take you there. It isn't far." Detour gestures towards the side exit.

"Good," Starscream says with a pretentious smile. "Just tell me where it is, and I'll meet you there." His boosters activate and he hovers off the ground a few feet, following Detour. "Well. This should be interesting," the seeker says to him.

To Detour, 'interesting' is a word one uses as a euphamism. This causes Detour some pause. However, he maintains a pleasant smile as he gives Starscream directions. "Just wait by the warehouses there," Detour adds after some thought. "I'll show you to the right one once we meet up."

The seeker jets off, making a beeline for the warehouses. He's there a good twenty breems before Detour. He'll find Starscream leaning casually against a wall, looking bored when he arrives. "Took you long enough," he says, still floating smugly a few feet off the ground.

Detour walks into the meeting area with his sensor on alert. Seeing Starscream in all of his smugness, he claps his hands together, quickly transforming the sour grimace he had on his face to another one of his less-than-sincere smiles. "Well, had I an alt mode like yours, I don't imagine I'd be here selling to you, your magnificence." Detour was beginning to think he'd not done enough simpering as was good for business, and tags the last formality on to rectify his negligence.

Several warehouses down, Detour pauses. He turns to Starscream and speaks in a lower voice. "Now, follow my lead, and don't just wander around touching things. Hives can become a dangerous place."

Starscream acts flattered. "Why thank you," he says, flashing a smile at Detour as he places a hand over his chest. "But let's get down to business, shall we?"

The seeker sighs in exasperation. "What do you take me for a fool? Of course, don't think I haven't handled Insecticons before, like I said previously."

Detour enters in a code to release a security lock before the large door slides open. "I take you for a self professed 'hands on' mech. Besides, if I don't warn you, it's my aft on the line if something goes wrong." Detour steps into the dark entrance way and waits for Starscream to be inside before closing the door behind them.

"Don't worry," Starscream chides Detour, "if anyone's aft is on the line, it's mine." Another fake smile as he floats through the dark entryway and into the room. He takes stock of the dimly lit surroundings, then glances over at Detour, waiting for his lead.

There isn't much to be seen but another door, to which Detour is already entering another code. This door opens up into a vast chamber, and an abundance of white noise floods from within. Whether it's the hum of ventilation systems or the buzz of working nursery drones, there is a constant din. There are large access pipes and chutes in several locations where nursery drones arrive and leave by. There are many large, hexogonal structures and compartments where various hatching pods are maturing.

Starscream blinks, a little startled by all the noise. He glances around at the commotion going on in the room they've just walked into, but appears fascinated. "...." His gaze wanders to the hexagonal pods where the hatching pods are maturing with interest. "This is all well and good then," he says, [strolling] over to the geometric compartments containing the premature hatchlings.

Detour stands back, carefully monitoring Starscream. At this point, he knows better than to continue yammering on with his pitch and just wait to be addressed by Starscream.

Starscream walks over to the compartment and carefully retrieves one of the pods, glancing around briefly to make sure the nursery drones aren't going to make a fuss. He then walks over to Detour, smirking. "This one will do just fine," he says, "how much do I owe you?"

The drones vibrate in some agitation, but Detour quickly reaches over to a panel and hits a button which emits some sort of vibration, [which] temporarily subdues the [drones] in that particular chamber. "You might have pointed and told me which one to get for you..." Detour says as the drones seem to shake off the effects and resume work as if nothing had happened. He shrugs as no real harm was done. Detour inspects the pod, glances at the chamber it was taken from, and then looks at the pod again. "For that one..." Detour begins to say, seeming to make some quick calculations as he speaks. After a momentary pause, Detour rattles off a lofty price he feels is comfortably high, but not absurd.

"Well, I did say I was a very hands on sort of fellow before," The seeker says dismissively, as Detour calms the agitated drones. Then Starscream just nods, as if the price means nothing to him. "Sure, sure, that's reasonable enough. Give me your routing number, I'll transfer the funds to your account," he says.

"Of course," Detour says dryly as he whips out a small chip-embedded card and forwards the necessary information for a transaction to occur. "And since you keep saying you have handled Insecticons before, I assume you already know how to take care of them through all of their instars and otherwise basic maintenance?"

Starscream nods carefully, digitally transacting the funds to Detour. "Yeah, yeah, of course," although the seeker is hardly an expert on Insecticons. "It's for research, whatever I don't know I'll figure out," he says callously

Detour tilts his head to one side, and then he quickly pulls up a small hand-held device, quickly checking to make sure the funds reached their proper destination. He double and triple checks before being satisfied, and then grins. "Well, I do hope you find the answers you are looking for. Or perhaps ones you did not even anticipate. I'm not a science mech myself, but I know the value of an analytical processor."

"Perfect," Starscream says, grinning. He carefully tucks the Insecticon pod under an arm and his boosters activate, suspending the seeker off the ground a few feet. "Of course, and I will, I always do~ I'll be touch. Might find some use for rarified energon later on." And with that, he transforms and flies off, the pod carefully stowed away.