Firestorm watched the humans that surrendered, Dark was showing his presence by causing half of his form to show the twisted spiked armor that was his trademark.
“Now, care to explain why you attacked us?” Firestorm asks, “We meant no harm by our presence.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re on a space yacht. I can’t imagine this thing has anything that even remotely resembles a holding cell.”
Nova replied.
Maximus maintained eye contact with the mercs as he awkwardly scooted around the group. Once he got to the medical bay, he opened the cr chamber and gently set LD-L1 inside.
After his work was done he returned to the bridge. Greeted by a weary looking phoenix.
“Status?”
The Prime asked tiredly.
“Pretty good actually! Nova downed the attacking ship. Kid’s got some real spunk to her. I’m kinda impressed if I’m being honest.”
“Nova?”
Axis replied.
“The human kid with the mech?”
“Wait, yes, I remember now.”
The Prime said.
“And what of the forces that made it on to the ship?”
“After suffering enough casualties they chose to surrender. Most of them are held up in the central hallway.”
The corners of her beak turned up in a weary smile.
“Very good. Very good. Round up all the rest of them and put them in the… wait, this is a pleasure vessel. No brig…”
Axis ruffled her wings a bit as she thought things over.
“Find whichever room looks the least comfortable and hold them all in there.”
Maximus smiled and took a bow.
“Right away.”
He turned around and looked over the different rooms, looking for the one that was the least well-furbished.
Axis meanwhile breathed a tired sigh.
“I believe it’s clear now that this expedition will be far more complicated than I first hoped.”
She lamented to Salvage.
“Quite.” Kitai appeared through the airlock. “You should know, the only reason that mech never got inside is because I got there first.”
Some of the mercenaries recoil at Dark Firestorm’s intimidating display.
“Well, believe me pal, there’s somebody out there who definitely means you harm,” their leader, an eight foot tall man in powered armor, says to the Headmaster. “Who and why, I can’t say- Company policy, I’m afraid. And my bosses don’t take kindly to breaches of contract, if you catch my drift.”
“Probably not,” the swordsman concedes. “You guys really should get yourselves a better ship; it’s a dangerous galaxy out there.”
“Y’know, maybe I was too harsh earlier,” Salvage says. “You new guys kick aft! Sure, jumping through the window was a little extra, but I guess I have to appreciate the grand entrance.”
Stonefist spoke up again at this.
“You wanna know what I ‘don’t take kindly to’? Not getting my questions answered.” the rocky bot threatened. “And I’d better get some answers soon.”
At that statement, Aralysa rolled her optics. She knew Stonefist would just threaten and threaten for the rest of the day and well into the night. He was persistent. The Hecatan had to give him that credit, at least.
“Enough.” Kitai loomed above Stonefist. “Threats will do nothing. They pose no immediate threat.”
“Well do you know a better way to get answers?” Stonefist challenged. Threatening, after all, was more or less effective. Especially with a large, intimidating frame such as his.
“I know something. Maybe instead of making threats, you should ask other comrades first.” Kitai said.
“Fine.” Stonefist huffed grumpily, gesturing towards the soldiers. “Be my guest.”
“Quite so. The speed and efficiency this new team has displayed is remarkable to say the least.”
Axis remarked.
“Believe me, I’m not exactly a fan. But it wasn’t my choice.”
Nova replied.
Maximus kept looking over the different rooms, trying to find one that was hopefully, and not quite as luxurious as the others.
“I admire your honor and your diligence to your own code of ethics but I’m afraid we cannot accept that answer.” Firestorm says.
“Besides, if it’s something that threatens Cybertronians, it’s more than likely a threat to you too.” Dark adds, “pay’s only good if you can live long enough to actually spend it and I’m sure you all have families waiting back home.”
“Before you get the wrong idea, Dark is referring to the potential danger your bosses and clients pose.” Firestorm clarifies.
Salvage looks down at a damage report compiling at his console.
“Nothing worse than some damage to the outer hull, thankfully,” he summarizes. “But, I’ll bet we’re gonna be paying for the repairs, regardless.”
“Meaning?” the swordsman asks, intrigued. “Are you a hired gun for these people, or something?”
Unfortunately, all the rooms on the Pulsar are rather luxurious- the Astran craftswomen who had built the ship had excelled in making a comfortable vessel in which to travel. Each room is very spacious, and includes a recharging slab built with all kinds of creature comforts, a console with holographic interfaces and haptic controls built into the wall, and variable lighting. The rooms can be locked from the outside, however.
“Well, that’s a shame,” the Sergeant says. “For a moment there, that was almost threatening enough to convince me. Our clientele’s intentions are none of our business. Plausible deniability comes in handy in our line of work.”
After a while, Oreo returns to the group on deck Three.
“I can’t find a brig. Shall we put them somewhere else?”
Razor, meanwhile, has been collecting some metal fragments from the wreckage. She intends to use them to reinforce Oreo’s armor.
The reaction the humans get from Firestorm is strange: the light side of him seems nervous but his dark side…smiles.
“You should not have said that.” Firestorm says, “now you’re giving him ideas.”
“You know, I have always wondered what kind of pain tolerance humans have.” Dark muses.
One of the other mercenaries- Peters, the one who had spoken up earlier- freezes as Dark speaks. His expression is unreadable beneath his helmet, but he probably doesn’t like what’s being implied there one bit.
“Go head- do your worst,” the Sergeant says. “We’re all trained to resist torture.”
Dark leans down, “are you sure you want that?” He asks, still wearing that sinister smile while Firestorm’s worry only seemed to grow.
“Nothing I can’t cover. One of the many percs to being Prime, money has never been much of a concern. At least not with things like this.”
Axis replied confidently.
Gungnir shrugged.
“More or less. Hired security for some sorta transport job. I don’t know much of the details. Just here for the paycheck. I’m sure you get it.”
Nova said, lying through her teeth. She may not have been a huge fan of this grand adventure she had been pulled into, but she still knew better than to give any sort of details to the enemy.
Maximus huffed in irritation. He didn’t like the idea of the prisoners getting all cozy. He went into the room closest to where the group was being held up, and did his best to rough the place up without causing any serious damage. Screwing up any cushions there were, disabling any data terminals or communication systems, and setting the ambient lighting to something mildly obnoxious. When he was done he walked out and closed the door.
He then transformed into his beast mode, and used one claw to scratch the words
Holding cell
Keep locked
Into the door.
Once he was finished he transformed and walked back to the humans.
“Alright, I got a room prepped to keep you in. Follow me.”
He said sternly.
“Hey, are you sure you want to do that?!”
Razor draws her blaster and aims it at Dark Firestorm.
“If you attack, you are disobeying orders from someone who I believe to be your superior here. And I doubt the Prime wants another gunfight in here.”
“Got any better ideas?” Dark asks.
“Yes,” she replies. “You wait until we get info on where to put the mercenaries and then we discuss your destructive ideas. Again, I wouldn’t want to clean up once the Prime finds out that you want to torture people. There might not be enough evidence left to convict anyone, especially the guy who hired them.” She points at the mercenaries as she says the last sentence.