Tag: cybertronianwanderer

cybertronianwanderer:

He shook his helm, poking Megatron in the chest with his walking stick.

“You don’t want to know anything beyond beating the Autobots. How will you create a functional society? How will you have a happy, working population. One that sees you as a fit ruler, so that one doesn’t copy your example and start a whole new civil war?

How about rebuilding? Where are you construction plans? Healthcare plans? Occupations for the people?

You aren’t leading a rebellion. You’re leading a hunt, and you better believe that the will of your troops are fading. You haven’t given them a future. You’ve given them a death at the hands of those who were their brothers.”

He sighs and turns to leave.

"You already have the plans to my war machine. If you need anything else researched or built, I won’t ignore your request. I just need more than the hopelessness you’ve given the Decepticons so far.”

And with that he starts to hobble away, ordering a few vehicons to help carry his equipment.

Megatron glares down a the offending stick, considering snapping it in two but letting Wanderer have his rant. Each accusation only echoes concerns that have already bored into his mind as of late, most of which he has planned for already. Not that the engineer had considered that. How could he know how many nights he’d never recharged, pushing past the desire of having Optimus Prime’s helm on his sword and plotting out the new world he had promised his Decepticons?

Where are his construction plans? They are being drawn up by engineers which would include Wanderer if he hadn’t made his proclamation. But now he’s lost that chance. It took a considerable amount of restraint to keep from blasting a hole through the retreating figure’s chest.

“My visions of the future require those willing to see it through at my side, and you are just another blind fool!”

Let him go. There are bigger things on which to concentrate.

cybertronianwanderer:

Wanderer didn’t move. He knew he couldn’t move fast enough to dodge it.

“Do you remember your original purpose for this war? The inequality that was inherent in our society? How you wanted change?

You don’t fight for that anymore. Your purpose is not the same as it once was.”

He hobbled a little closer, gently putting a servo on the cannon to move it aside.

“I fight for that ideology. The original Decepticon ideology. Not what it has become.”

Megatron moves his arm away from Wanderer, icy gaze boring into him.

“Don’t pretend that you know my motivations, engineer. I know what I have done and I know what must be done now for my Decepticons to be victorious. My optics have never been clearer! If you cannot see that then I have no further use for you!”

No. Calm. The first energon I spill on my new planet will be that of my enemy. No one else. After a few moments of silence he straightens up again.

“Go. I will not stop you.”

cybertronianwanderer:

He looked straight at Megatrons optics, preparing himself for what he was about to do.

“Megatron. I must discuss my continued work under you. I don’t believe the current conditions allow me to work here under principle.”

The warlord turns back to stare at Wanderer. He almost laughs, then decides against such a reaction, face falling into a dangerous glare. 

“Explain yourself with caution, engineer. Or I shall use your own handywork against you.” The fist at his right clenches, and the commands to activate his cannon are highlighted in his HUD, ready to be sent.

Scheduled Tune-up

cybertronianwanderer:

He got the comm, and let out a small sigh. He wasn’t expecting to do this in his current condition, but come what may, he promised himself he would.

After a few minutes, Wanderer hobbled onto the deck where Megatron was pacing, leaning rather heavily on his walking stick.

“You rang?”

Megatron turned toward the hobbling mech, arms folding behind his back. “Your services are required, Wanderer. My former head of engineering has left our fold, and my new one… is considerably more volatile. He could use the guidance of one who has studied for so long in this field.”

He turned his back to Wanderer, overlooking the lobby of the complex. “Once our ship is reclaimed, you will once more have access to Shockwave’s laboratory as well, though not as its chief.”

✦

It is not that Megatron is an ungrateful mech, but that he refuses to be indebted to anyone. It is expected for a soldier to protect his leader, and though he may never thank Wanderer openly, he might repay him in subtle ways, such as granting him a higher clearance status on classified information, or setting retrieval of the engineer’s required materials slightly higher on his list of priorities.

It’s Done

cybertronianwanderer:

He was more than slightly surprised when the warlord entered. He was too busy making tweaks to his new dual-minigun set up he had on his shoulders for now. He was going to see how capable it was as an anti-air weapon.

“Sir! Of course. Let me get the WIP pictures up,”

Going to a terminal, he opened up a gallery of photos, each at a different stage of development. The first section he focuses on is the barrel.

“Stage one was an enhanced barrel. It’s longer and stronger than your last one. It will withstand up to 354% safe overload. Any more and it risks fracturing.”

“Stage two was the firing mechanism. I had some trouble with the focusing mirrors as I hadn’t expected the resonance to be so strong. We ended up completely scrapping the original one and making it from scratch with new mirrors. The armour-piercing capabilities are best at medium range combat, where the default focusing is. You can manually focus them for closer or further away, but the less focused it is, the more it becomes a heavy hitter than a piercing shot.”

He moved to a diagram of the cooling mechanism.

“See the slight mist? Because of the raw power, cooling was a necessary addition. Your standard heat-sinks were woefully underperforming, to the point of the weapon being dangerous after extended use. I’ve installed a liquid nitrogen cooling system in your new weapon. When not used, it should be quite cold to the touch. In colder climates, it might begin to freeze over. That was a problem until we managed to let it self-regulate with reactive piping.”

“Stage four, the stabilisers. An eradicon was injured during the first test fire as the weapon sheared itself off the platform and blind-sided him. Attaching mini-industrial strength shock-absorbers and stabilisers, the weapons recoil has been reduced by 36%. I must warn you, however, that it is still much stronger a recoil than your old weapon. I was built to handle large ground-pounders, but even I’m wary to attach this to myself without modification.”

“The last stage is a bit of an optional experiment. It’s a range finder, and a general guideline for where to aim for the long distance shots. I know how you like to fight, so I wasn’t going to attach this without your permission.”

Megatron listened to each stage, taking in his new weapon. With the size and weight increase alone, he can see the need for his skeletal modifications. The focusing mirrors came as no surprise to him. They hadn’t been tended to for vorns and he’d trained himself to adjust them manually at every range. He found it was more accurate that way. 

The cooling mechanism was something he hadn’t seen in a weapon that was to be worn. His old cannon had gotten incredibly hot with overuse; having one that would regulate better was a welcome change.

The stabilizers do not concern him either. The warlord had faith in his own strength, certain that he could withstand the recoil easily with a bit of practice with his reinforced limb. He was a notoriously difficult mech to throw off-balance. The final addition however earns a shake of his helm.

“No. I pride myself on skill. If I miss, then I miss- I will not have a crutch built in to my weapon.” He runs a servo over the barrel. “Otherwise, I shall have to view a test fire before having it reattached.”

*He trudges in, clearly not having recharged in cycles, and hands over a datapad of research reports, inventory and estimated completion dates for several projects.* Sir. Here are the quarterly reports from the armoury and weapons research lab. The explosion in the lab has cost us some time and equipment. The lab is currently running at minimum efficiency. Request temporary boost in labour to rebuild the lab?

*He looks the engineer up and down, noticing his rather dilapidated state.*

Of course. More soldiers will be sent immediately. They will begin repairs while you visit the medbay. A tired and broken engineer is of no use to me.

It’s Done

cybertronianwanderer:

The weapon was finished.

All the tests he ran suggested that the weapon now works according to specifications. No heat problems, no parts shearing off under the force, and no problem with the back shooting out and injuring an unfortunate eradicon that happened to be passing by.

With that, he opened his comm.

“Sir? The weapon is ready. It is in the lab for installation and final testing, at your convenience.”

Finally. This business could be done with. He makes his way to lab with only a ping acknowledging that he’s heard the message. He removes the cover on his arm, stowing it in his subspace before opening the door. Arms crossed behind his back, he walks up behind the engineer, observing the upgraded weapon for the first time. It did not look much different; other than the fact that it was a bit longer and larger than before, undoubtedly heavier as well, it was in the same fashion as his previous cannon. But Soundwave’s rebuke had made him even more cautious. He would have to be thoroughly convinced of its validity before he affixed it to his arm once more. 

“Would you care to tell me of the precise modifications you have made to my most favored weapon?”