“I require urgent transportation, ma’am.” He says, removing his hood and revealing his face in the open, odd as it was. “I can compensate you if you require.”
“That could work, wouldn’t need more than a single-seater. I don’t travel with a lot of luggage.”
Oreo promptly places the gun in its back holster.
“It should be safe,” he replies. “I took out its energy charges, so it won’t fire. That reminds me, I was never introduced to you. May I ask your name?”
The Junkion seems unconvinced, as of yet.
“What do you need my bird for?” she says. “And don’t give me any of that ‘I don’t have time to explain’ scrap.”
“Perfect!” Riveter says with a smile. “You’ll be wanting something quick too, I’ll assume. I’ve got an old Velocitronian skimmer that’ll let ya catch up to them in no time.”
Salvage is relieved to see Oreo put the Overcharger away, and it shows in his relaxing posture.
“Name’s Salvage,” he says. “Don’t mind me. I’m just the pilot and occasional comic relief.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Oreo replies. “I trust we won’t run into any difficulties in space during this trip?”
“Luckily for you, I do have time to explain.” he said, with what may have been an attempt at humor. His deadpan delivery made it unclear. “To summarize I am a member of the Prime’s entourage, and she unfortunately left without me. Thus I require an emergency vessel. I promise she will be kept in good shape and will be returned promptly.”
“Velocitronian? That aughta do it. Thanks a bunch”
“We probably will,” Salvage tells Oreo. “These kind of things always start out as a simple milk run until the next thing you know, you’re fighting Nemesis Prime in Unicron’s sparkchamber and the fate of the whole cybertronian race hangs in the balance. It’s always something whenever the secrets of the old Primes are concerned.”
The Junkion scrutinizes LD-L1’s appearance. He wasn’t exactly easy to miss in a crowd, and he sure looked like somebody whom Axis would know.
“You sure look like one of those guys from the Excalibur mission,” she says, voicing her thoughts. “All tall, dark, and ominous, and whatnot. Alright, take her- but you bring her back with so much as a scratch, I’ll… I’ll be a little miffed.”
“No problem,” Riveter says to Ivory. “It’s about time I found a use for her- most folks don’t need something with that much power just to get around the planet. She’s a little old, but she’s nimble and a resilient little thing. Her first pilot won the lunar relay with her.”
The ship in question is a dart-shaped vehicle over in a nearby hangar, with a bright-red hull adorned with electric-blue racing stripes. The cockpit is cramped, with little space left for the pilot and controls after stuffing it full of inertial dampening and artificial gravity systems, shock-absorbing gel packs, and emergency repair equipment.
“Of course ma’am, I shall take utmost care of her.” He said, while pulling out a small pouch. He reached into and withdrew a small, glossy piece of black metal. He then moved to place it in her hands. “If I do not, please take this and give it to member of the Followers of the Primes Ascendant, they will be able get in contact with me, and will assure you can collect recompense.”
———
“A beauty she is too. Last time I drove something like this was on a illegal human race track. Had to ahem commandeer one of their vehicles to catch the lot of them. Blasted thing near tore my plating off. Didn’t bother to pressurize the cab and didn’t install any sort air brake. Probably under construction still. Thing was a deathtrap but she reached near 800 Kliks a second. It was as exhilarating as she was dangerous.”
Ivory began to wax-long about his exploits under the police-force. He did leave out the critical component of how he got in the vehicle, if it was built for human size.
The Junkion woman accepts the token and turns it over in her hands. She has never seen any talisman like this before, nor has she heard of the Followers until just now. It’s always the strangest folk that get involved in this sort of thing.
“Uh… thanks,” she says. “I’ll hold you to that.”
That little oddity catches Riveter’s attention.
“Wait,” she says, possibly cutting Ivory off mid-sentence. “How’d you fit inside a human racing ship? They usually keep those things small, don’t they?”
Niko took on a nervous expression and took a cautious step back.
“I uh… right. I’m sure it can’t be that bad, right? Nothing I can’t handle…”
He said. Though there wasn’t an ounce of confidence in his voice.
Nova then stepped out of her room, and stood next to Niko.
“Alright, I’m all good. We can get going.”
The girl quickly noticed Overgrowth and looked up at her suspiciously. She was about to throw out a snide remark, but remembering the last time she talked to a knight looking robot, it was best to play it safe.
“Is there a problem?”
“Say, you ever been to Eukaris man?”
Low-Tide asked.
“Eukaris? No I don’t believe I have.” Stonefist replied to the turtle-bot. The gray-armored transformer rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Sounds interesting enough, though.”
Indeed it was, as attested to by Aralysa’s fond expression as the Hecatan-native gazed at the holographic projection of her home. Gonna have to drag Stonefist back here one of these days, the purple and blue bot thought to herself.
“Not at all,” Overgrowth says to Nova, looking down at the human woman. “I only seek to learn more about my companions on this quest.”
The projection is lovely, but there is little else to it. There are similar programs within the observation lounge’s database for views of other worlds, if one desires a virtual tour of the galaxy. If Aralysa finds herself craving a more exciting diversion, though, there is also a holodeck on Deck Two.
Kitai made his way to the bridge,stooping his head down for some of the doors.
The bridge is roughly oval-shaped, and has brighter lighting than the rest of the Pulsar. There is a platform in the middle of the room where the vessel’s captain can stand, observing their subordinates while also interacting with an array of holographic controls. In front of the platform is the helm, in which the Junkion Salvage is currently flying the ship. Beside him are Axis Prime and Oreo, currently engaged in conversation. There is also an additional station on the bridge to monitor the Pulsar’s internal and external sensors, but this console is currently unmanned.
Nova nodded, visibly a bit relieved.
“Alright then. So what do you wanna know?”
She asked.
“I was curious about your mech,” Overgrowth replies. “Are you the one who modified it so?”
“Dude, you have got to visit sometime. Sure the locals can be a bit hostile, but they’re not all too bad. And the views are breathtaking. Like, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a sunset on Eukaris.”
Low-Tide eagerly replied.
Nova firmly placed her hands on her hips and put on a proud and confident smile.
“As a matter of fact I am!”
She said proudly.
"The machine you see here used to be just a standard issue Orion class combat mech. A mass produced piece of military hardware commonly deployed within the Neo Germanic Alliance. They’ve got plenty of firepower, and are durable enough. But they also aren’t all too maneuverable. All together they’re better than any grunt suit you’ll see, but nowhere near as fancy or well equipped as the custom rigs commanders get to have.
"But now, she’s my Gungnir. My pride and joy. I’ve tricked her out with a full body custom paint job, a new primary engine to give her some extra muscle, tuned up her sensor array and navigation system, gave her an improved motor and servo package for better input response, reflexes, and more fluid movement. I tweaked the main cannons to make them more energy efficient, installed a personalized heads up display in the cockpit, put in an adjustable voice filter for the external speakers, and replaced the old drive seat with something way more comfortable. And I even built in a deployable drill in each arm, able to fold out and replace either hand with just the pull of a level. And on top of all that, I’ve been thinking about getting her a spear. Only problem is 1, I’m not sure where I’d get a spear that big. And 2, I don’t know where I’d store it. And that’s not even getting into the detachable home pod on the back. Fit with a slip drive, state of the art A.G, and all the comforts of home I could ever need. Making her perfect for long range and long term space travel.
“She may have stared out as an old unit, no different than thousands of others like her. But I’ve really made her into something all my own.”
The girl proudly boasted.
“Please do so ma’am. Now, might I have her keys?”
————
Ivory winked at her, and transformed. His body shrunk and contorted, and peices of leather emerged from within and sewed themselves together. It was like watching something simultaneously implode and explode. When he finished, ivory, or rather, the Shinging Shroud stood in his place, clad in his signature trench coat, ascot and fedora. He smuled at the shipwrite.
“Let’s just say I have a good disguise.”
The Junkion woman takes the vessel’s command key from a compartment in her thigh and hands them to LD-L1. “I’m thrilled to be doing my part,” she says.
Her ship is an older model that, like many Junkion ships, has been heavily modified from its original design. It is a squat, boxy thing, with huge engines sandwiching the craft’s main body. A laser cannon is mounted on the right side, probably used mainly for cutting up space debris.
“Now ain’t that somethin’!” Riveter laughs, amazed. “I mean, you really do look human!”
“That you have,” Overgrowth says kindly. “You may wish to visit the armorers of Primogenitum some time- they work they do is not dissimilar to your own.”
Oh my god, the song from that one cartoon was telling the truth all along. Chicks really do dig giant robots!
Niko eagerly thought to himself.
Okay, okay. Calm down. You gotta play it cool, or you’re gonna blow it. I know it’s hard to get over how awesome she is, but you can’t let that trip you up.
“Pri-mo-gen-i-tum?”
Nova responded curiously. She had to carefully sound out the word when repeating it, as not to risk completely butchering the pronunciation all together.
“I’ve never heard of it. What’s it like?”
She asked.
“Thank you ma’am, you shan’t be parted from her for long.” He says, half-bowing, before getting into the craft. He began flipping switches and turning dials, preparing for takeoff. He turned the engines up so that he began to raise off the ground. The engines then turned forward, and he flew off towards the tomb.
—————-
“Feels, smell and sound like one too.” He said, smiling at her. “Not sure why Primus gave me this alt-mode, but i’ve certainly made good use of it. Comes in handy in my old job, was a law officer on a cybertronian-human mixed world.”