“How so?” ■■■■■■■■■■■■ asks SideStep. He had not bothered to commit Lurch’s past to memory- several thousand bots crewed Salvation, after all; you couldn’t keep track of everybody’s history.
The next location that Motherboard had marked was Sprocket and Grommet’s lab.
“You got it!” Brainpan says.
The transport takes off, gliding out of the Vigilant’s hangar as the New Decepticon fleet climbs out of Planet Omega’s atmosphere.
“Great! Thank you!” she said, smiling and patting her on her back.
Brainpan smiles faintly, appreciating the kind gesture.
The transport approaches the Adjutant, the boxy, five mile long supply ship that our heroes had, weeks earlier, rescued Shockwave from in a daring escapade. The ship had since been repaired, and continued to serve the New Decepticon Order by providing energon, ammunition, and other materials essential to every tyrannical cult bent on galactic domination.
The transport lands inside one of the ship’s smaller hangar bays, and its bay doors swing open to allow Wildsong and Brainpan to depart.
Song gets out of the ship, checking the surroundings.
The spacious hangar was bustling with activity as New Decepticons carried carts of energon cubes and crates of weaponry to various destinations, along with tanks of cybermatter harvested on Planet Omega, and chunks of crystallized Dark Energon. Deckhands begin to unload Brainpan’s equipment from the transport.
“Okay, I’m sorry about Broadwing; he seemed like a good person.” Zepar said as he tried to compose himself as he realized just how many people Salvation had lost so far in this quest.
“It is my understanding that there were those aboard did consider him to be one,” Shockwave comments.
Zepar nods.
Shockwave is silent.
"He was a spy for the 'cons way back when. And a good one, too. He kept close tabs on Bludgeon. You might want to give him a talking-to, and see what’s up. I’m moving to the next location. [quote=“Chromeharpoon, post:5948, topic:49995”]
The next location that Motherboard had marked was Sprocket and Grommet’s lab.
[/quote]
Sidestep transformed and drove out of the security hub towards the lab.
“Understood,” ■■■■■■■■■■■■ replies.
In the lab, Grommet could be found tending to the his mechanimals, while Sprocket marveled over his collection of Golden Age relics, many of which had been repaired by the Omega Key. Among them were pieces of an ancient mining tool that Gronius and Mallet had found early in Salvation’s voyage.
Zepar, after a few minutes, stands back up. “Forgive me if this is too personal a question but what sparked your fascination of Predacon dragons?” He asked.
“The might of the predacons is quite literally the stuff of legend,” Shockwave explains. "If the Decepticons could harness that might- create clones of the fiercest predacons to serve the empire as war beasts- our victory over the Autobots would be assured.
“However, the limitations of cybertronian cloning have made achieving these aspirations… difficult. Most clones do not survive to maturity, while a high percentage of those that do are impossible to control and must be terminated. As has been demonstrated, however, clones we have been able to tame have been useful instruments of Megatron’s will.”
Zepar thinks for a moment, “Perhaps you are putting too much fo the animal part of the dragon into these clones?” He posited, “If they have intellect and sapience akin to that of the average Cybertronian, maybe they could survive longer and be more manageable?”
While he didn’t agree with Shockwave’s desire to use Predacon clones as weapons of war, the prospect of seeing these entities alive and walking among modern Cybertronians did intrigue him greatly.
“Well, I think I’m gonna head out for a drink.” Epsilon said as he walked to the door. “thanks for letting me help and keeping my mind intact, you two.”
Sidestep closes the comm channel as he focused on the task at hand. [quote=“Chromeharpoon, post:5958, topic:49995”]
In the lab, Grommet could be found tending to the his mechanimals, while Sprocket marveled over his collection of Golden Age relics, many of which had been repaired by the Omega Key. Among them were pieces of an ancient mining tool that Gronius and Mallet had found early in Salvation’s voyage.
[/quote]
Sidestep entered the lab and transformed.
“Oi, nerds.” He said.
“I’m looking for a spy. Do you two know anything? Do you have any security footage of the lab?”
Shockwave nods as Epsilon departs, before turning his attention back to Zepar.
“It is likely the would,” he agrees with Zepar, “but the cloning process has so far been unable to produce a spark possessing such intellect. Before predacons, Megatron tasked me with breeding legions of troops in my tower in Kaon, but the resulting clones were little more than violent savages; useful cannon fodder, perhaps, but poor soldiers.”
Grommet looks away from his work, shifting his focus to SideStep.
“Yes,” he grunts, waddling over to a console, I do."
Zepar pondered for a moment, “That is tricky.” He noted. “does cloning normal Cybertronians work?” he asked.
“Could I take a look at it?” Sidestep asked, following him to the console.
“No,” Shockwave clarifies. “The reason the Decepticons resorted to only cloning mechanimals was that legions of feral eradicon troopers were useless to the empire. With the predacons, I sought to reign in the clones’ violent instincts with neural implants that allowed commanders to suppress and direct them.”
Grommet nods and activates the console, which held footage of the lab from as far back as a whole year before Salvation launched from Cybertron, when she was still under construction.
Sprocket walks up behind the two to observe quietly.
Sidestep watches the footage carefully, looking for any sign of suspicious activity.
“You two wouldn’t happen to know anything about a spy, would you?” He asked as he did so.