Dazzling Blast Off

Tyger Pax Outskirts - Tyger Pax

A window into Cybertrons glorious Golden Age, the classic beauty of Tyger Pax seems completely out of place, as though it were plucked from the past. Sitting on a shimmering lake of energon, the statues lining the Bridge of Tyger Pax seem enormous even at a distance. It is said that Vector Sigma created the city, and that the soul of Primus resides here. When the sun rises over the city of Tyger Pax, its easy to believe.

OOC: Tyger Pax is a neutral haven. Combat is forbidden (ICly). The guardians of the city will intervene if there are physical altercations - any relatively smart character will be aware of the threat. Role-play accordingly.

Contents:

Punch

Blast Off

Tyger Pax 

A short time ago, Blast Off would have gotten a brief notification from Arcee requesting that he meet herself and Punch near the main approach to Tyger Pax, that they had something important to tell him.

Fast-forward to the present, and Arcee's already waiting for the vain shuttleformer to arrive, watching the skies. "Hope he decides it's worth his while; who knows, we could find some Combaticons with this method. Anything could happen."

Said vain shuttle does eventually arrive... not exactly on time but just late enough to still be fashionable. A roar in the sky is soon met with the sight of a brown and purple shuttle that approaches quickly. The Combaticon runs a few scans before landing (doesn't hurt to be cautious) but, not sensing a trap, he cuts back engines, adjust wing elevons, and comes in for a landing, transforming before impact and gliding smoothly down.

Blast Off gives a little haughty-sounding sniff. "I hope this is worthwhile."

Punch finishes one cig and starts another as the Combaticon makes his approach and lands. "Depends on what's worthwhile to you." he says cheerily. "Can certainly tell you what we've got, what you could help with and let you decide for yourself."

Now brightly smiling at Arcee, Punch then says to her, "Or we could just deal with it all ourselves. You know, if it isn't going to be worth his while maybe he doesn't want to know. What do you think?"

Arcee smirks slightly, looking from Blast Off over to Punch. "Well, there's only one way to find out, and that's tell him." She looks back over toward Blast Off. "We have developed a scanner that works much better and over a longer range than ordinary-powered scanners," she explains. "And we've uncovered a few promising-looking spots we need to go investigate...which could be Autobots, or Decepticons. We just don't know until we take a closer look."

Blast Off's haughtiness is met with less than eager reception (IMAGINE THAT), leaving the Combaticon to blink and look back and forth at the two Autobots. "Now just a moment, I..." His voice a mix of that same huffiness and fluster. Arcee spares him some misery, however, by just getting straight to the facts. "...Oh." Blink again. Blast Off straightens himself, regaining composure as this sinks in. "I see." He dusts off an arm that wasn't dirty. "Well, then let's stop wasting time, shall we?" There could be other Combaticons out there to find!

"Well... I assume then you're interested then." Punch notes, looking to Blast Off, after casually taking a long draw from his cig and letting the strands twist, curl and spiral around each other on his outward vent. "No time to waste then. If you transform I'm sure I'll be able to give you the co-ordinates of a few hotspots worth checking sooner rather than later."

Punch looks to Arcee for confirmation. After all she's ranking officer around here. Punch, to hear him tell it, is just a data collator. So Punch asks Arcee, "If you think that'd be the best way to proceed, of course. Unless there's something else we need to do first?"

Arcee answers, "No, that sounds like the best way as far as I'm concerned...only perhaps it would be a good idea to show Blast Off exactly what this is so he can get an idea of what data sets we're working off of, and why it's more promising than using standard scanning? I think it's more precise. There's still the chance of false hits, but this particular scan showed the /probability/ of it being a good hit."

Blast Off is eager to get into the air. He's also not eager to actually listen to Autobots tell him what to do. As Punch turns to Arcee the shuttleformer is already turning his torso to step away and transform- but then Arcee makes a point that's hard to argue with. Unfortunately. The Combaticon does allow himself the smallest of huffs as he again turns, this time to her, and lifts a (superior) optic ridge. "I'm sure my own scanners work perfectly well, but go ahead. Dazzle me." He does not sound like he expects to be dazzled.

Punch hates paperwork. Here's why... "Your scanners are of the highest quality. They're military scanners designed for tactical analysis, mutiple targetting solutions and so on. They can be very precise, even at low altitdues."

Punch takes a deep draw for his next trick and, at some pace, says, "However they're not a carrier wave that encompasses the entire planet that then, based on real time dispersal readings of several hundred secondary apparatuses? Apparatii? Anyway taking the tiniest form of constructive or deconstructive modulation to that planet wide carrier wave, which'd take more power than you'd use in a lifetime per second, and processing that into a possible secondary waveform interpolating the data as to whether it is a homing beacon of a Autobot or Decepticon nature, which'd require enough processing power it could make a Cybertronian's head explode trying to otherwise decipher... Well. I'm utilising a cutting edge military installation, several supercomputers and an array bigger than MetroPlex and Trypticon put together."

Punch vents out and draws deeply again before concluding "... No offense to your scanners. For their purpose, warfare, they're optimised, ideal. The purpose now is finding a few very small needles in an immense pile of metal. My system is purpose built for that." Punch the exhales, grins and says to Arcee, "Presentations are like paperwork. You owe me a drink for that."

"Indeed. Not a bad explanation," Arcee admits to Punch, although she seriously doubts that any of those impressive facts have managed to dazzle Blast Off. "So Blast Off. What do you think? Between that and being orbital, we have the best possible chance of locating anyone who still functions, provided they're stranded somewhere on the ground or in one of the seas."

Well, this should be good. Blast Off settles in, crossing his arms as Punch launches into an explanation. And the thing is... it IS good. He is actually at least a tiny bit dazzled. The Combaticon's smug demeanor becomes correspondingly just a tiny bit harder to maintain, though he holds on valiantly anyway. Just with a slightly less bored expression and arms that almost, but not quite, uncross. "Alright, I'll give you that you at least know some small thing about scanners. You don't know the full extent of mine, however. Nor shall I elaborate, but keep in mind I'm an orbital sniper." A fact the two Autobots may be well aware of from personal experience.

Those arms do finally uncross and Blast Off shifts a little more weight on one leg as he responds to Arcee. "It is worth a shot. With your developments there, combined with my sophisticated systems, it is certainly possible we could find missing people if they are out there. I can conduct aerial scans while you work on the ground." He tries not to sound too disdainful about being stuck on the ground.

Drawing as much vapourised energon as he can from the cig to aid recovery from doing the vocal analogue of paperwork Punch eventually halts his intake and vents out shapelessly. He patiently waits as Arcee gives an evaluation of the efforts and intently pays attention to see Blast Off's reaction. When all seems to have went down well Punch brightens more and says, "Excellent. Agreement all round." Easier on the words this time round Punch settles for more of his cig ad another shapeless outward vent.

"Let's do this, then. And coordinate efforts on the map accordingly. When you're up in orbit, just take your pick of whatever sectors you want to have a look at, and mark them off so we're not duplicating efforts," Arcee suggests to Blast Off -- she can't really tell him to do that, but if her patience holds out, maybe she can make it a strong suggestion instead. "And Punch and I will do the same."