![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silberstreif) wrote2012-06-11 02:12 pm
Between death and eternity - Part 1 - 1/3
Beta: Starfire 201
Continuation: Pre-war
Genre: Adventure, drama
Characters: Prowl, Jazz, Optimus Prime
Summary: Sometimes, a war is decided by chance encounters and extraordinary persons. Optimus Prime's new consultants definitely fall into the latter category, but their harmless surface hides dark and terrible secrets that are better forgotten...
Between death and eternity
Part 1: Iacon
Chapter 1: Meeting
For many of the following millenia Optimus Prime wouldn't know what he had triggered. His spark would suspect it, that here in this very moment the foundation stone of the Autobots was laid, but the reason why would evade him. Had he thought about it, he would have named such examples as their knowledge, the perfect team work, their professionality and their loyalty... and all those were true. Only the main reason lay much deeper and darker.
On this orn Primus, or rather Unicron, gifted the Autobots with the weapons they would need to survive the approaching war. And maybe to win.
~O~
In his office, high up in one of the radiant towers of Iacon, Optimus Prime sat reading the newest reports about the events on the other side of the planet in Kaon. It wasn't pleasant reading.
This new group, they called themselves the Decepticons, had conquered the city-state and were now expanding their influence into the remaining sectors of Cybertron. In other cities, they held strong lobbies within politcs and enjoyed popularity with the poorer layers of population.
The Decepticon troops themselves were aggressive and completely ruthless. The Autobots that should be able to keep peace and order were often confronted with spies or traitors. Much more frequent were muggings in dark alleys or downright death squads to the extent that no one dared to speak out against the Decepticons. It was getting difficult to convince the average Cybertronian to even report encroachments. A climate of fear and turmoil ruled their planet.
It was an open secret that the Decepticons would target another city state after Kaon. Cybertron had only fourteen city states, and to lose even one would be an enormous loss.
Optimus sighed. He lost people with the same speed as the Decepticons acquired power. If he didn't stop them, it was only a question of time until they had enough influence to openly declare war against the Council and Prime. The few spies they had managed to plant among the Decepticons that hadn't been daunted by the possibility of death all told the same story:
The leader of the Decepticons was called Megatron and he wanted power, power over Cybertron.
Even if most mechs on the street hadn't realized it yet, war was on the front step.
Optimus' spark was hurt by this thought. Had he really failed in his office as Prime this much, that it would come to civil war?
But he knew what he had to do. If the Decepticons couldn't be placated, if they were further gaining power, if Megatron stayed true to his proclaimed goals, then he had to turn the Autobots from a police force into an army. Only this way would they have a small chance.
And today he would begin with that task.
"Optimus Prime?" asked the friendly voice of his secretary out of the loudspeaker. "Prowl has just arrived."
"Good. Send him up, thank you."
A few kliks later, a white and black mech entered the office. Straight and without any noticeable emotion, he stopped in perfect polite distance in front of the desk. The small doorwings on his back twitched minimally.
"You wanted to see me, Prime?"
Optimus smiled. Prowl had acceded to the Autobots seventy cycles ago and had had a hard time fitting in. At the training camp he delivered a brilliant performance, but both the instructors and his fellow students were soon frustrated. The instructors because he began to suggest improvements, and his comrades about his seeming arrogance as he never showed feelings and always seemed to know better than they.
Despite those problems a highly specialised department, which was a part of the personal staff of Prime, had taken notice. The Tactical Department of the Autobots had heard of his outstanding intelligence and invited him for some tests, which the bot passed with flying colours.
But the Tactical Department was small and considered as unimportant by most Autobots. In peace time they devoted themselves to hardly more than the calculations in which sector how many Autobots had to be on sentry duty to reach optimal security at minimal cost. In war times though...
Twenty cycles ago, as Optimus had to acknowledge to himself for the first time that a civil war was possible, he first of all began to expand this department and to give them more money. He needed trustworthy data and advice about how the Decepticons would proceed, how he could prepare the Autobots the best, and what to expect.
Barely had Optimus told all of this to Splitter, the head of the department, he made an unusual suggestion.
"Prime, sir, I understand your problem," he had said. "But we lack time."
"Time?" Optimus looked at his trusted tactician in shock. "Surely we still have a few cycles...?!"
To his relief, Splitter nodded. "Yes. But I'm talking about the training of tacticians. We are very few, because few are suitable for this work. While I'm glad about the better financial situation of my department, I have to admit that I can't use the money for the proposed projects, because I simply don't have the available talent."
Even though Optimus liked Splitter, every conversation with him was a chore, because he often said one thing and meant five different ones. So he calmly looked at his expectant subordinate and thought about every sentence spoken.
"But you have... different ideas?"
"Yes." Splitter put a heavy folder onto the desk. "This is Prowl. The Autobot with the potential to be one of the best tacticians that Cybertron has ever seen."
"Only the potential?" he asked, while taking the folder into his servo. He gave the data an overview.
"Prowl's problem is that he wasn't built for mentally challenging jobs. As a consequence, his CPU is regularly overburdened with his own thought processes, which ends in a crash. That's why we couldn't ever use his whole capacities very far. But even with his low CPU-performance he's keeping up with every other tactician!" Splitter was uncharacteristically excited. "I suggest that we use the money for quality instead of quantity."
"You want to improve his CPU performance?"
Splitter answered with a shake of his head. "To extract the CPU of a mech is a perversion, because all memories and personality are erased... but I thought about installing a second CPU that only works on tactical information."
A daring recommendation. Every surgery on a CPU of a mech had a certain risk. "Is Prowl agreeing to this?"
"Yes."
"And he's trustworthy?" The last thing they needed was a traitor with such formidable tactical skills... he shuddered at what the Decepticons could do with them.
"Absolutely."
Optimus scrutinized him and searched for the smallest doubt. "And you, Splitter, think that this is the best way?"
"Considering the time problem, yes." Splitter answered his look calmly. "Additionally, I'm convinced that this is the best decision for Prowl, too."
Prime slid the folder back across the desk towards the tactician. "Then do what has to be done."
Since eight cycles ago, the stoic tactician worked directly beneath Prime and had proven to be invaluable.
At the beginning, Optimus had been a bit deterred by his coldness, but he learned fast that this was only a façade. Prowl was completely logical and considered every problem this way too, which was the reason why he rarely lost his composure in daily life. Though when he felt, his emotions were deep and honest. By now he relied completely on Prowl.
"Please sit down." He pointed towards the seating area and took a seat in the comfortable armchair. "How was the recruiting in Praxus?"
"Good." Prowl sat down across from Prime on the couch. "In five cycles we'll have an adequate armed force in Praxus. However, I have obtained alarming messages from Vos."
"Vos? Those reports haven't been advanced to me."
Prowl nodded sharply. "It seems as if the Decepticons are concentrating on Vos as we expected them to. Because nearly 90 percent of all fliers live there, the fall of Vos would mean the loss of our supremacy in the air."
Optimus sighed. "And how successful have they been with their plan?"
In the same neutral intonation as he had spoken prior, Prowl answered. "Very successful. I fear that the fall of Vos is only a question of time."
He feared. When Prowl used that term, you could take his fears most of the time as facts. For a moment the silence stretched in the office, then Optimus abruptly stood up. Angry and in deep worry about the future, he started to pace back and forth.
"Why didn't we notice this?!" he shouted eventually. It was one thing to expect it, another to receive the news when it was already too late.
"Our Intelligence Department is under construction," came the calm explanation.
"I know! Still... and why? What are the Decepticons promising them?"
"Not much. The right to fly everywhere when they want it which is prohibited by the constitution Segment Four, Article Sixty-three. Revenge for invectives, which many fliers suffer under when they leave their city. And, of course, energon."
"It's always energon, isn't it?"
Energon was always the deciding factor. The rising energon prices, the mines that were nearly completely exploited, all this was no secret. Many of the poorer Cybertronians had a serious problem and acceded only too willingly to Megatron, who took the energon with violence, as long as he provided a cube an orn for them.
Vos, as a relatively isolated city with a completely different group of population as the rest of the planet, had been affected worse by the energon shortage than every other city. With exception to Kaon maybe, the poorhouse of the planet.
"We can't offer the other fliers something better, or?"
Prowl thought about the question for a moment and shook his head. "Individuals, maybe. Every one of them? No."
"Then we have lost Vos." As the second city and with it their air sovereignty.
"Yes."
He turned and sat down in his armchair again. "Other bad news?" His tactician answered in the negative and Optimus was, even if he wouldn't admit it, relieved. "I, on the other hand, have some positive news, Prowl. The Intelligence Department has a new head. He should arrive any klik now."
"Designation?"
"Jazz."
At that moment, his secretary called. "Prime, sir? Your visitor Jazz has arrived. I'm sending him up."
"Thank you."
Prowl watched him dispassionately. "This Jazz... is he competent?"
Optimus had to smile. "Yes. He's excellent. I'm glad that he's on our side."
The office door slid aside and again a black and white mech entered. He was smaller and more delicately built than Prowl and moved with a certain fluent grace, achieved through perfect body control. Searching, he looked around the room and saw those two.
"Hey." Grinning, he walked towards them. "I needed something from my office. My name is Jazz and yours?" Invitingly, he stretched out his hand towards Prowl, who only watched.
Silently a few kliks went past, then finally, the tactician took his hand. "Prowl, head of the Tactical Department. Consultant of Optimus Prime."
"Pleased to meet ya." Without waiting for an invitation, he took the only empty armchair left.
Prime nearly smiled. Jazz was young, extremely extroverted, and ignored with a nonchalance the rules of society; something which Optimus could find both annoying and admirable.
"Jazz, good that you're here. Did you already hear about Vos?"
Jazz' face lost his grin and became serious. "Yes. After all, I got the data."
Optimus had nearly expected this. Jazz was simply that good. "And what do you think about it?"
The young bot shrugged. "It's a bad situation, Prime. Don't think that we can do much there. Vos is too isolated, has too many good reasons for a revolution..."
Satisfied, he nodded. "Yes, Prowl assessed the situation similarly."
The two subordinates exchanged a glance. Prowl's was calm and calculating, Jazz' a barely hidden challenge. They spoke no words. Optimus, who was watching, was starting to doubt that those two bots with extremely different characters could really work together well and consequently fulfill the roles he had given them. ... No reason to delay further. Should they not be able to, he would have to deal with it personally so that their teamwork functioned. In an army, there was no place for personal arguments among the chain of command and much less among the mechs he both wanted as his consultants.
"I want you both together to find a way to prevent the rebellion of Vos or at least to delay it. Further, I want an evaluation of every single of our citys how good they can defend themselves against an air strike, understood?"
Both looked at him for a few kliks, then towards their future partner. Both were silent. Eventually Jazz sighed: "With him?"
"Yes. Why, is there a problem?" Again, both remained silent. He scrutinized them. Did they know each other? Surely, their repulsion couldn't be this pronounced after just a few moments in his office?
"If there aren't any substantial reasons against it, you work together. Take it as a test. Any questions?"
"No, Prime," answered Jazz. Prowl agreed.
"Wonderful. I expect the results in two orns at the latest. Time is of the essence." Again, both remained silent and just looked at each other. "You can go."
Without a sound, they stood up and bowed lightly towards their Prime. In front of the office door both hesitated, as if they couldn't decide who should go first. Finally, it was Jazz, with Prowl hard on his heels.
Contemplatively, Optimus watched them go. He had chosen the very best, for their skills, their potential and their loyalty. Still, now he felt uneasy. This silence had been more than atypical for both of them. Was it only a spontaneous aversion or more? Or did he read too much into this meeting...
As he went back towards his desk, he prayed to Primus that his worry was unfounded.
~O~
Without a word, the two mechs walked next to each other down the corridor to the lift and entered it. It was Jazz who choose the next floor, which was only used for his departement.
"When will we meet?" Prowl broke the icy silence.
"In two joors I'm finished, so afterwards. Where?"
"Floor three, first hallway right, second room. A small unused seminar room."
"Understood."
The lift stopped. Without another word, but careful that Prowl always remained in his sight, he stepped out. Behind him, the hydraulic doors closed. It was standard during negotiations that both sides expected betrayal, that one side decided the place, the other side the time. The simple fact that they both kept to this policy showed that they didn't only dislike each other, but they had no trust at all in the other one. Trust which they normally gave every Autobot.
Jazz only managed to relax as the lift had disappeared. He formed a fist, then pressed air out of his ventilators as he sighed.
"And everything was going so good," he muttered .
Good, until the moment where he gave Prowl his servo. In those few seconds, the tactician had evaluated and judged him. Primus, Jazz had known that Prowl was good. Propably the best who ever walked on Cybertron. But this good?
He had seen it in the changed sitting posture, the small shift of the frame weight: Prowl had been ready to attack him every single nanosecond. And with cold certainty Jazz had known: the tactician had seen what none of the many Autobots before him hadn't.
Jazz wasn't just a very successful spy, but a highly trained killer.
And that with one look!
Worried, he entered his own office, which was nearly empty of any furniture and went to the window. Everything here was still new and shiny metal.
What had betrayed him, Jazz, the master spy? Betrayed that he was more than just a fellow Autobot?
Because this was it, right? That he had the skills and the mental disposition to kill other mechs within seconds without remorse. And that he had done it, often. Something that was unbelievable within the Autobot moral code.
But in the end it didn't matter what sign had gotten him busted. What was important was that Prowl had seen it and now mistrusted Jazz... though he hadn't said anything to Prime. Had the tactician given him a chance? No. Prowl simply hadn't any proof.
From now on, Jazz would have to be more careful.
Chapter Two - coming soon. :)~silberstreif
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
And Prowl and Jazz here are great, with the difference in perception between what Optimus sees and Prowl (at one glance - I expect two BAMF 'bots here ^-^), and Jazz stating outright he's a killer...
I'm more than intrigued where this will go! - Little thing though? Paragraph 10 - the sentence is double ^.^
PS: Will you post your stories on AO3 too? I know I'm horribly lazy, but I would love to be able to download them as MOBI on my Kindle ^.^
no subject
Oh, yes, we have two bots here very different pasts, who both are BAMF. But they're young too. Inexperienced and don't trust each other.
I tried to find the paragraph... Could you copy it? I think I'm blind or something. ^^"
Don't have an AO3 account yet. I only really experienced the site with Avengers.
The doubled paragraph
Re: The doubled paragraph
EDIT: corrected
Re: The doubled paragraph
no subject
primabird beat me to it already *glares at internet stick*
Oh, you must hop on the bandwagon and join AO3! It's the best archive I have found so far, much better than ff.de and ff.net. The first reason for that would be that you can find the most exotic fandoms there, which is, granted, not that unusual. But it gets better: you can make your own tags. How often did I curse ff.net because they think "fluff" or "dark" or "Alternate Universe - Canon" are not worth as genres/tags?! Aside from that, you can download all the FFs from there as MOBI, PDF, HTML... äh... and one format more. And people are nice - the kudos button is great for lazy bums (like me) too LOL
You should consider it! :)
no subject
Hehe, I've made an Account a few days ago. No story online yet, but I'm on AO3! *parties* Is it true that the invitation queue is now until november?!
I ahve to admit the genre tags... well, not sure if I like it. On ff.net you've got a huge amount of stories, true, but you've got them. On AO3 I have the feeling I miss stories because I read "Avengers (Marvel)" and not "Avengers Movies" or something like that...
To tell the truth: I use the tag Loki if I search for stories. Nothing more. ^^"
no subject
Congrats! Did you keep your LJ username? I did ^-^ I have no idea how long the queue is now, but I only had to wait a week or so myself.
I usually look by the pairing I like or a certain tag - the most recent I used was "first time" plus "fandom: Sherlock" (because Sherlock as a virgin is an interesting concept and that was another tag). But finding stuff is not always easy, that's true, but with advanced search I can usually manage.
Did you read the new Clint/Loki story by tigriswolf? Here:
http://tigriswolf.livejournal.com/531261.html
no subject
Yep, I've kept it, too. So far what I've got is that AO3 is more or less got overran through Avengers. Since then the site is booming.
I hope they make a few standart tags, and eliminate others. I mean 500 standart tags plus characters or so should cover most things.
I think I've read one or two with the same beginning, was there a prompt somewhere?
But thanks. :) It was a great read.
no subject
*cough* To be fair, AO3 was booming well on its own even without the Avengers movie; as soon as I get over there again, I subscribe to you to keep tabs on you ;)
They don't eliminate tags, as far as I know, but they "wrangle" tags; there are articles on that, if you're interested.
Hm, I don't know about a specific prompt, but I guess, considering the mind-control theme, it's easier to come up with roughly the same idea...
no subject
That's true. But on twitter they admitted that Avengers was even crashing their servers. ;)
Oh subscribe! Now I only have to find out how to do the same...
I'm a bit sceptic how well they can wrangle all those tags...
The question is, does it matter? I like the idea anyway. :D
no subject
Yes, but thats traffic, not new people signing on - or did I misunderstand your meaning? Anyway, I have constant problems with the high traffic on AO3, after 20:00 I can forget trying to read/search anything there *sigh*
Easy: Search for me under "People", then, when the Dashboard comes up, right under the icon of users there the "Subscribe" button. That's it :)
Well, can't say that I ever leave AO3 empty handed, so I suppose they do an admirable job ^.^
LOL, I like the idea too, but YOU brought it up ;)
no subject
I, too. :/ But they can't help it.
Done. :) I've subrscribed you. Actually I saw the new ff on AO3 first, but I commented here.
Never leave empty handed, too true. I always leave later then intended. XD
no subject
Does it say to you that "search by tag" is currently unavailable due to heavy traffic, too? That menu on the right side is messed up since a week...
Comments are welcome anywhere ;)
Yes, so we can add a new trope "AO3 will Ruin your Life" LOL
no subject
No, it didn't say that to me. Mmh, did it get better soon?
Or better "fanfics will ruin your life" *lol*
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject