Transformers: Alone and Unafraid

[Dark Silver]

...Obviously Blastcap is map out of less sterner stuff than Cybertronian's like Cavalier and Grindstone.....

[General Havoc]

*Grumble grumble* I'll edit the post to reflect a video monitor.

And Cavalier, remember, is not exactly representative of every Cybertronian alive. He's a military model for one, and an independent operator for another, and spends a lot of time as the only Cybertronian (or at least the only Autobot) in the sector, fighting things that require a Cybertronian to deal with. Even when he's not the only Autobot around, he's often the most powerful one, or at least he thinks he is. And when you're dealing with organics for long enough, particularly primitive or fragile ones, you start to get a bit of a chivalrous (patronizing) attitude regarding your place in the universe.

And Cavalier wouldn't have killed Blastcap without a chance to explain herself. But he absolutely would have killed her if the explanation wasn't up to par. He isn't sure now if her explanation was or not, but being unsure is unsettling enough that he's not going to do it.

[Armaina]

Shimmer had invited you to get a drink before you vanished, Armaina. So you're welcome to stop by now :)

Thankyouthankyou, that gives me something to go off of, sorry about that

[rhoenix]

Shimmer had invited you to get a drink before you vanished, Armaina. So you're welcome to stop by now :)

Thankyouthankyou, that gives me something to go off of, sorry about that

Yeah... Shimmer's likely feeling a bit outnumbered. She's sitting at a table with two other Cybertronians. She's the only female, and the only Autobot. I'm sure at this point she's feeling a bit lonely.

[Lys]

...Obviously Blastcap is map out of less sterner stuff than Cybertronian's like Cavalier and Grindstone.....

Have you heard the saying that the best defence is a good offence? Well, it's not entirely true, but it's not entirely wrong either. You need both, but Blastcap is limited in offensive power in a way neither Cavalier nor Grindstone are. It doesn't much matter if you're built like a tank when you can't shoot back like one. The enemy will just keep chipping away at your armour until they breach it. She is a combat engineer, someone who supports the actual soldiers. Blastcap is tough, and also smart, clever, and able to solve all sorts of problems with the proper application of high explosives, but when the shit hits the fan she can't shoot her way out of the mess.

And Cavalier, remember, is not exactly representative of every Cybertronian alive. He's a military model for one, and an independent operator for another, and spends a lot of time as the only Cybertronian (or at least the only Autobot) in the sector, fighting things that require a Cybertronian to deal with. Even when he's not the only Autobot around, he's often the most powerful one, or at least he thinks he is. And when you're dealing with organics for long enough, particularly primitive or fragile ones, you start to get a bit of a chivalrous (patronizing) attitude regarding your place in the universe.

This is interesting, because Blascap has had similar experiences in a wholly different context. Remember, she owes no allegiance to either side of the Cybertronian Civil War. She doesn't play at being a mercenary, she is one, and doesn't remember being anything else (though she cheated to make it so). Thus the majority of her experience is fighting wars that had little or nothing to do with Cybertron. Rather than solving Cybertronian scale problems she has frequently been such a problem. When you become a thorn on the side of a group numbering in the millions or billions, some of their best and brightest are going to come up with ways to take you out. At the same time, when you're an important asset for another such group, they too are going to dedicate their best and brightest to preserve you. And then, sometimes war is just a bitch. Sometimes a conflict is too large scale for even a Cybertronian to matter much. Sometimes everyone breaks out the nuclear artillery, continents are scoured, planets burn, and even the mightiest can only survive through dumb luck.

And Cavalier wouldn't have killed Blastcap without a chance to explain herself. But he absolutely would have killed her if the explanation wasn't up to par. He isn't sure now if her explanation was or not, but being unsure is unsettling enough that he's not going to do it.

Yeah I know, Blastcap even said that Cavalier doesn't get enough credit. It's just that unless she flat out lied about what happened, the explanation was never going to make her look innocent. The circumstances are like a coin balanced on edge, neither one side nor the other, but precariously balanced.

Of course, it's probably best if Cavalier doesn't learn of some of the other things Blastcap has done. The ones she doesn't feel any guilt over because they were legitimate acts of war as she understands them. I'm not sure he would consider "well if they didn't want a big rock dropped on their planet, they shouldn't have declared war in the first place" to be a good excuse.

[Dark Silver]

You didn't get the reference then Lys, if you thought i was being serious.

The reference is to a line from the 1986 Transformers Movie, where Optimus Prime is had just beaten Megatron in their big fight, and Prime was about to shoot the tyrant, when Megatron "begged for mercy" after he saw a blaster pistol in some nearby wreckage.

Prime's reply was "You who are without mercy, now plead for it? I thought you were made of sterner stuff..." right before Hot Rod was a idiot, jumped on Megatron, and then got used as a Cybertronian Shield against Prime shooting Megatron, and which resulted in the blasts which cause Optimus' death.

[Lys]

Ah, sorry, unfortunately I missed that one, but I want to watch it someday. I heard Optimus Prime died for our sins, it's the least I could do. ^-^

[Hotfoot]

Ah, sorry, unfortunately I missed that one, but I want to watch it someday. I heard Optimus Prime died for our sins, it's the least I could do. ^-^

Be warned. it's very...80's.

[Lys]

*puts on brave face*

I watched Lynch's Dune, the 80s don't scare me!

[Dark Silver]

oh....

You will be.....

You will be....

[frigidmagi]

Okay guys, I'm doing a time skip. We're jumping a day to where Breakout is announcing the leader of this happy band. Then we're jumping to the launch so you can get off this rock into joyous combat where you reject toasterovens belong.

I will post the time skip tonight before I run off to work. You have all of today to get anything else out of your system. Please don't end up in jail. I will show what happens to the Marine who gets himself jailed right before a deployment. You will not like it.

[Lys]

Hmm, I was hoping for Blastcap to get to ask Breakout if Deathstrike was in charge of the mission after Breakout got back, but unfortunately things kind of stalled out for the past week. There are basically two loose ends that need to be tied up. One is Blastcap needs to ask Cavalier a simple, direct "yes or no" question. The other is she has a private message that she'll want to send to her new commander (by courier). I suppose neither of them has to happen at this particular point in the narrative. It would be more ideal if they did, but it wouldn't be collective storytelling if everything went how I wanted it to.

[Lys]

Please don't end up in jail. I will show what happens to the Marine who gets himself jailed right before a deployment. You will not like it.

How do you throw a blanket party for a multi-tonne armoured warmachine anyway?

[Cynical Cat]

How do you throw a blanket party for a multi-tonne armoured warmachine anyway?

You need several huge warmachines and a large tarp.

[Lys]

I am conflicted about this post. Blastcap has been established as a fairly independent person who is not exactly possessed of a high respect for authority. Yet here she is going, "I'll do anything for an awesome enough commander". Is this undermining her character, or adding nuance to it? I suppose time will tell.

[LadyTevar]

Ok... Fisher? Rheonix? Armaina? Which of us gets to be the first to say the line "You mean the Seekers actually think?"

[frigidmagi]

To late, you're in a briefing room.

[rhoenix]

Ok... Fisher? Rheonix? Armaina? Which of us gets to be the first to say the line "You mean the Seekers actually think?"

The moment has passed, but I'll answer anyway.

Probably Fisher or Armaina, since Farshot is basically a specialized Seeker.

[Lys]

Good grief, the shit train that hit Cavalier just keeps on rolling. At this rate I'm half expecting a telegram to arrive informing the poor bastard that somebody ran over his dog and shot his mother. Because the universe hates him so much that it retconned those things into existence, just to kick him in the balls some more.

[frigidmagi]

Thursday night we're doing another time jump to exit day. Armina I think you should post before then or I'm changing your character's name to snakeeyes.

[Agent Fisher]

I'll be in germany and other european countries for the next twenty days, so uh, just assume I agree with anything Tev's character says and try not to make an ass of myself.

[General Havoc]

Good grief, the shit train that hit Cavalier just keeps on rolling. At this rate I'm half expecting a telegram to arrive informing the poor bastard that somebody ran over his dog and shot his mother. Because the universe hates him so much that it retconned those things into existence, just to kick him in the balls some more.

Cavalier is not having his best day ever.

But this is really a matter of perspective. Cavalier looks on himself as a protector of those weaker than him (which, being fairly cocky, he defines as everyone). As such, he often appoints himself the one to go after the worst of the worst cons in the galaxy. The ones who would make Megatron blush. While bots like Shimmer deal with 'normal' Decepticons, whatever that might be, Cavalier deals almost exclusively with cons who would sooner exterminate a planet than bother dealing with its inhabitants to get what they want. As such, his definition of Decepticon is basically "walking genocide machine". You can therefore see how he might have a slight problem with taking orders from one. Yes, there are obviously Decepticons who do not engage in these atrocities, but those are not the cons that Cavalier goes after. Cons who keep to themselves and avoid casual extermination don't tend to wind up on Cavalier's radar. And while there are also Autobots who have done things just as bad, Cavalier tends to lump them into the category of "walks like a Decepticon, talks like a Decepticon, acts like a Decepticon..." and deals with them with extreme prejudice on the occasion he encounters them. Hence his reaction when Blastcap told him about her little extinction-event.

It is of course possible that over the course of this mission, as he deals directly with Decepticons other than the ones he has customarily had to deal with, Cavalier may be forced to change his views on the nature of Decepticons in general and therefore a number of other things. But until that happens, he's essentially waiting for the Decepticons on this operation to revert to type, and start executing batches of organics for some perceived slight.

And he is having a hard time understanding why he seems to be the only one doing that.

[Lys]

In my latest post, Blastcap debates with her insecurity, self-doubt, and optimism. Kids, if you want to do introspection like a normal person, don't copy parts of your mind over to a half a dozen bomb disposal robots.

[LadyTevar]

Damn... give me the Hard Question, Cavalier... *sigh* Now I have to actually think about this.

[Lys]

I had intended for the message to be an audio recording played by the little robot, and the data cube to be solely all of Blascap's data on Axis. However, I suppose your way works too. This is like the third of fourth time I've felt need to clarify my intentions. Evidently I need to try to describe what's going on more clearly.

It's too bad Deathstrike didn't call Blascap an "Autobot" in his reply to her. She could use a laugh.

I continue to be mildly confused as to why Deathstrike thinks Blascap was lying to him. I don't think she was, and she definitely doesn't think so either.