01 ⚡ voice - un:starscream;

[vosseeker]

[ You'd be forgiven for thinking that this world had sent Starscream away, considering he hasn't been present in Anchor for a good while. Not down in the public park, not in the vehicle bays, not even poking around engineering. No word of a departure, no expected return.

And yet here he is! Spending an obscenely long time in the garage decontamination showers, until the systems check finally says he's free of dangerous radiation levels. Sadly, it seems Anchor is not yet free of him. ]

In all your little scurrying about and exploring this place, tell me someone has come across excavation equipment. Specifically rock drills and cutters. For that matter, are there any hauling carts? Mag-grav would be best, I'm not carrying this all back by hand. I'm not a mining drone.

Further, I require the following items:

[ He lists off about a dozen parts, which individually aren't that special, but combined sound an awful lot like he's building a distillation tank. ]

Finally, I have high fidelity scans of planetary areas outside the colony. In exchange for assistance with extracting my located resources, I will share them with the rest of you.

Comments

@KaballsDeep | Audio

[kaballin]

What'd you find?

[he's trying to keep his voice casual but if he was there he would be throttling Starscream to get info out of him. Assuming his hands fit around him. Which they wouldn't. Point still stands.]

[vosseeker]

What does it matter? It's of no use to the rest of you.

[kaballin]

Who died and made you the lord of what the rest of us may or may not use?

[vosseeker]

[ speculatively: ] Why, is there a certain someone whose convenient death that would lead to?

[kaballin]

It's a phrase.

But if there was I woulda killed them already.

Why? Looking to do some murder for funsies?

[Cuz he can appreciate that.]

[vosseeker]

Murder solely for fun isn't the best use of my time at the moment.

[ Which... still leaves a pretty large grey area. ]

[kaballin]

So what, you need at least three reasons for it to be worth your effort?

I can respect that. Laziness is a virtue.

[vosseeker]

I suppose that would depend on how compelling a case that was made.

[ He's pretty used to contemplating murder, after all. ]

I am not lazy.

[ Starscream may be a lot of things, most of them uncomplimentary, but that's not one of them. ]

[kaballin]

Sucks to be you then. You should try it, pretty great.

You really not gonna tell me what this thing you found is?

[vosseeker]

[ Starscream exists in a perpetual state of stress and scheming, so that's probably never going to happen. ]

If you want to know, perhaps you'll volunteer to help dig it up.

[kaballin]

Yeah manual labor's not really my jam.

Aight, how about this. Do those scans of yours show anything interesting? Keep in mind I'm not Peter and I'm not gonna jizz myself over mineral deposits.

[vosseeker]

You might find you change that tune when it's something you require.

That depends. What would you deem "interesting"?

[kaballin]

Weapons. Stabby things. Anything others may want that I have instead.

You know, good stuff.

[vosseeker]

[ drolly: ] Then no, there's no "good stuff" to be found.

[ Of course, energon was a devastatingly effective weapon. But Starscream's not about to go volunteering that information to just anyone. ]

[kaballin]

So explain to me again why I'd wanna help you?

[vosseeker]

[ Starscream has to give Kabal points for cutting to the chase. ]

Hm. What would you want in exchange?

[kaballin]

Something better than scans of some bullshit I don't care about.

How's this; you're saying this thing you found is precious to you and I wouldn't want it right? Well you find anything in the reverse, that human types like me might want and - whatever you are - wouldn't, I'm the first to know. Sound like a deal?

[vosseeker]

Yes, it's inconceivable that anyone might want to know more about this repellent planet we're stuck on.

[ He lets the "whatever you are" slide for now. It's a lopsided bargain, but it's lopsided in Starscream's favour, so there's little hesitation in agreeing to it. ]

Very well. If I come across anything which fits that description, I'll tell you first.

[kaballin]

You might get Qubit or Peter to cream their pants in the pursuit of knowledge, but that's them.

[As long as they both know the other will backstab them at the first opportunity this will be a good business relationship.]

I'll be holding you to that.

What do I need to do for my side of this little bargain?

[vosseeker]

[ Starscream doesn't exactly understand the turn of phrase regarding pants but he gets the general gist of the remark. ]

Once I assemble the equipment needed, come with those who've agreed to help. The work is tedious, not difficult.

[kaballin]

Got it. See ya there.

[And he'll be there, because there's no sense abandoning his new partner in crime without getting something out of it first.]