“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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.”
“Primogenitum is the world of Prima, the Warrior of Light” Overgrowth tells Nova, her voice taking on a reverent tone. “It is his resting place, as well as that of the Star Saber, and the home of the Order of the Knights of Cybertron. It is a beautiful planet- though as I am native to it, my assessment may be somewhat biased.”
The ship- named Grunt according to its identification codes- isn’t the most maneuverable thing, but it’ll get LD-L1 to the Pulsar without much trouble. It has no additional armaments apart from its laser cannon.
After flying for some time over the northern plains, Grunt’s sensors register the Pulsar’s transponder. The yacht is on a similar heading, and the glow of its engines can be seen ahead. Far off in the distance on the starboard side, another vessel can be seen. Its features are indistinguishable for the moment, but it appears to be on an intercept course for the larger ship.
“You must be talkin’ 'bout Amity,” Riveter says. “I can sure imagine how it could’ve helped you there. Does any of this goin’ on now have somethin’ to do with your old job?”
As LD-L1 and the mysterious vessel both approach the Pulsar, the cultist can make out more of the newcomer’s features. It appears to be a human-made combat dropship, with an angular black hull and rotating engine blocks on either side of its frame. A pair of missile pods are mounted beneath the dropship’s wings. A long tail extends from above the ship’s troop bay, and a cube of dark green metal is currently mounted on the tail’s underside. The craft’s nose pitches upward as it draws closer to the Pulsar, and it begins to climb above the yacht.
OOC: for a better visual reference, the dropship probably looks very similar to this old concept art for the Pelican dropship from Halo Reach. While it clearly isn’t 100% in-line with what I’m describing, I hope this still helps.
Well within earshot of those on the bridge, the sensor monitoring console begins to chime urgently.
“Your friends wouldn’t tell me much, either,” Riveter says with a sigh. “I guess I understand- can’t go blabbin’ about these things to just any ol’ bot. Still, a lot of us regular folks are pretty anxious. Most of us are trynna hide it, but…”
“Hmmm.” Stonefist thought out loud. “Might have to get Aralysa to take me there.” the rocky bot replied.
At this point, even though she was having a wonderful time with the holograms, Aralysa was beginning to get a bit bored.
“Well, that was nice.” the Hecatan said, while turning off the projector. Now that she was finished with it, she pondered where to go next. Maybe someplace more populated… With this thought, Aralysa started heading for the Pulsar’s bridge.
Salvage looks past Oreo and Axis as Aralysa enters the bridge. “And as usual, the bridge becomes the preferred gathering place,” he observes. “Man, I missed this.”
The chirping from the sensor monitoring console persists. Salvage frowns and glances in that direction.
“Hey, uh, what’s going on there?” He wonders aloud.
LD-L1 attempts to hail the unknown vessel. “Unidentified Flying Object. Please state your business flying so close the the Prime’s craft.”
“To be honest with you, i don’t know much myself. The prime just called me, asked me to come along, and left it at that. Sorry about that, I want this over with as much as you do.”
