Titania took absolutely no notice of the minicon. The princess however, Thea, did notice. She looked down at her and giggled a little. She knelt down and whispered.
“Hello little one. My name is Thea. Who are you?”
She asked cheerfully.
Upon seeing the queen come out and how swiftly they dispatched the giants, Simulus didn’t have to think much for what to do next. As much as he hated it, Unicron did teach him some things. He goes into a kneeling bow, optics no longer glowing, looking at the ground as Iota pleaded and died. He remains silent and perhaps would have spoken when she gave the permission earlier if not for Backbreaker. He winces at the Autobot’s words, but what else could one really expect from an old gladiator?
“Your majesty,” Simulus began, still looking at the ground. “If you are willing to grant additional mercies of knowledge, where do these territories begin and end? I have seen much of the universe with my former master, but never knew of your empire.”
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“My territories are vast. My mother saw to that long ago. So I’m sure you’ll be able to find a world that will be comfortable for you. My borders end far from where yours begin. Though cybertron is still close enough to observe by probe.”
Titania answered.
“There’s only a handful of people I’m inclined to take orders from,” Backbreaker says, “and most of them are dead by now, I reckon.”
The queen’s decree didn’t appeal to him in the slightest. It sounded to him like she was asking them to trade one prison for another. Oddball winces, and he warbles out a short burst of trills and whistles.
“Seriously, he’s not usually like this.”
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“One thing you must understand, is that I’ve dedicated great deal of time and energy into ensuring Cybertron is never made aware of our existence. If I allowed you to return home, it would compromise everything I’ve worked for.”
Simulus considers silencing Backbreaker with some hardlight, if only to save his own hid. The queen may just kill the Autobot, but there was no security as to whether her decision would be applied to all of them.
“If I may be so bold to ask, your majesty, why is that? They’re antiquated. Should they go to war again, their planet will go quiet sooner than the next couple million years left to their system.”
“The history of Cybertron is one soaked in blood and heavy in war. My mother was a scourge upon this galaxy. Once I took hold of the throne, I vowed that my people would never know war again, as long as I live. And the first step to realizing that is avoiding races so prone to conflict, such as the likes of you.”
“Keeping a couple hundred of us captive in your empire is gonna go a long way in doing the opposite of that,” Backbreaker says. He points a thumb at Ragnarok.
“See that combiner?” he continues. "They came here to bust two of their friends outta this place. I reckon they aren’t the only ones looking for missing comrades.
“And if we’re as warlike as you say- and you may be right- are you sure you wanna keep us in your borders? 'Cause I’m sure there’s more than a few of us who are gonna raise some hell about that.”
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"As distasteful and crude as the Autobot continues to be, I hate to admit his words have some merit. I have no doubts your power could end them all, but the more that vanish into your boarders the more may come. Keeping us here or ending our lives will not solve the issue. If more search parties come, it may lead to more violence.
But if it suits your majesty, may I be in your service as a solution? If word of your empire escapes, it will be deluded as to dissuade and leave it as myth. Any that believe it as true and seek it anyways, I will keep them from entering." Simulus offered.
Did Simulus really intended to keep such a deal? Probably not. But if this place was this far away, not many Cybertronians would waste the precious Energon to get here.
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Penecilia wiped off her board and wrote, “My name is Penicilia, I’m a minicon medic,” once again the spelling was off, and the grammar horrendous, but the message was gotten across. The small bot’s eyes glowed with a similar cheeriness as she held up her sign.
Spirit spoke up slowly, “You could always keep a couple of us here as leverage to make sure no one comes looking,” she said slowly her glassy face looking as ominous as it normally did, however her tone didn’t share the same threatening perspective.
Titania sighed. She hadn’t considered that any one of these could have friends on the outside who would come looking for them.
“Is that so? Well, I do suppose that does create an issue.”
Thea looked up to the queen.
“Mother please, look at these people. They have friends, family, loved ones. All who live beyond our borders. Is there really no way you could send them home?”
Titania was considering her daughter’s words when Simulus spoke to her. She looked down at him.
“A generous offer to be sure, but how exactly do you intend to uphold it? I am not one to take a deal lightly.”
The process’ eyes moved in such a way that conveyed a smile, despite them being her only facial feature.
“How wonderful. I’ve never met a minicon before. Well, I’ve never met any cybertronian before. Today has been very exciting.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I follow.”
The queen replied.
She wrote another message, “Well, I’m pretty much a field medkit, I get passed around quite a bit, what’s your job?”
Spirit nodded, “If you kept a couple of us in custody, you’d be able to ensure that the rest of us wouldn’t do anything rash once outside of your borders.”
“I am what some might call a memory thief.” Simulus answers.
He puts a hand to his chest, taking out one of his data discs. He holds it out for ease of inspection before it moves and becomes RAM. The little goat looks up at her and sits upright like a well trained dog.
“And with my unsuspecting agents, I have corrupted Cybertron’s data for many ages. Be it through mind or compromised coms, if I catch wind of it I can hunt them down.”
Spirit took a couple strides and immediately started to pet Ram on the head, granted she didn’t grab him, but she was drawn like a moth to a light.
Backbreaker takes a step closer to the queen. He winces as a burst of sparks fly from the wound on his back, and he reaches a hand around to try and cover the hole.
“Look,” he says to the queen, his tone less confrontational now, "None of us wanted to be here. Some of us have spent millions of years locked up on this planet, only for you to come tell us we can’t go home now that we’ve finally broken out. I can’t speak for everybody, but I didn’t go through all this trouble breaking out of my cage just to move into a bigger one.
“And I’m grateful you’ve given Iota what he deserves, but from where I’m standing, I don’t see much difference between you and him. Just another gas can holding us captive for their interests.”
Oddball emits a sharp whistle, something to the effect of "Oh, snap!".
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Spirit’s head mechanically turned, slowly…She stopped petting Ram and went over, and bonked Backbreaker on the head, “Hey, let’s not antagonize the Queen here? eh?” she said coldly, “You are not the team’s diplomat here…”
Backbreaker’s head rocks forward from the smack, and the gladiator removes his hand from his wound to massage the back of his cranium.
“Wasn’t trying to be,” he says in reply. “Just figured I’d give talking a shot now that we’ve got some breathing room.”
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Spirit stared down at him angrily, “Well maybe just…pause, breath, and try not to continue yelling at the person who’s quite capable of making our lives harder…again.”
“Hey, I wasn’t yelling.” Backbreaker shrugs his shoulders. “I was just… that’s just how I talk.”
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