March 8th, 2001
~Enfilade(D), Swindle(D),

Darkmount - Repair Bay(#222Rnt)

        Much like the adjacent research lab, the equipment here is showing signs of age, but is kept in a serviceable condition. Two automated repair drones lie against the far wall, though each is obviously missing a few parts...apparently they've been salvaged for someone else's benefit. The once well-stocked parts closets now contain mostly empty shelves and bins. Several dozen repair tables of various sizes are arranged in rows in the middle of the room.


Obvious exits:
 -S- South leads to Darkmount - Regeneration Spa.
 -E- East leads to Darkmount - Medical and Science Level.
 -W- West leads to Darkmount - Cryochamber.

-Moonlight wanders casually into the room, a grin and a bit of a swagger makes it appear her mood is good as opposed to otherwise.
-Enfilade regards the newcomer closely, as if thrying remember faces....
-Swindle looks up at Moonlight, "Hello, you're another new one, aren't you?"
-Enfilade folds her arms, regarding Moonlight with what might be a smirk...it's hard to tell with the heavy faceplate that disguises most of her features. "You just got sent here too?"
-Moonlight nods to Swindle. "I suppose you could call me that seeing as I'm new, but I do have a name you know." She looks at the femme and flexes her arms a little. "No, I seem to be in pretty good health right now...and in fairly good graces as far as I know, which must explain my non-wrecked condition."
-Enfilade laughs a little. "No, I mean here to Darkmount. I just wandered into the med bay doing a little recce of my new home."
-Swindle waits for Moonlight to finish with Enfilade's question before intruductions.
-Moonlight nods. "Ah, I see. Sorry for the misinterpretation. I don't think I was /sent/ here so much as I wandered here on my own."
-Enfilade says, "Wander? Aren't you going to be missed where you came from?" She pauses, thinking of something, shakes her head. "Sheesh, civilians."
-Swindle chuckles, "Oh you'd be surprised what can be 'missed'." He walk over to Moonlight, hand extended, winning smile set, "Swindle's the name. Nice meeting you."
-Enfilade mutters, "Things only get "missed" if your commander's an incompetant slag-sucker and..." She trails off, turns to Moonlight. "Field Commander Enfilade, late of the Fighting 58th."
-Moonlight points to the Decepticon symbols on her shoulders. "Nope, I definately belong here now. I don't think they hand these out as party favors." She turns to Swindle and extends a hand. "Moonlight here, smuggler extrordinaire." Then she turns back to Enfilade, as her introduction came second, and nods. "Moonlight," she says, feeling that giving the full account again would be pointless.
-Swindle perks up at the mention of smuggling. He carefully scrutinizes Moonlight, "A respectable profession."
-Enfilade raises an optic. "Smuggler, eh? What division are they sticking you in...logistics? Transport?" She snickers a little.
-Moonlight doesn't seem bothered by the snickering. She pulls herself up to her full height as though to look respectable. "Actually, I'm in the medical/supply division." She turns to Swindle. "/You/ might call it that, but I wouldn't." And she grins rather broadly.
-Swindle frowns as he thinks of the competition this sets up now, but there's always partnerships..."I wouldn't know." He grins and turns back to Enfilade, "Not my container of enerjon, if you know what I mean."
-Enfilade gives Swindle a grin--you can tell from the tone in her voice--as she says, "Of course not, no medical supplys for you, you came here just to keep me company."
-Swindle gives a serious, "Yes, of course." He quickly adds, "And to check up on Shox."
-Moonlight just shrugs. "This place is getting rather crowded from the looks of it though...what with so many injured and the strange mech they found."
-Enfilade shrugs. "What happened to Commander Shockwave--do youy know, Moonlight?"
-Moonlight shakes her head. "Naw. All I know is that he's been blown up, same as everyone knows. I've heard rumours, but that's about it."
-Enfilade shakes her head. "First day to a new post and what happens, the big chief's out of action. Slag..."
-Swindle walks back over to Shox's unconscous form. He gestures at the wounds, "See the burn marks here and here?"
-Enfilade sighs. "Not my position to do anything about it. I don't have the authority, I don't even know the situation." Her gaze grows somewhat distant, staring through the walls at something only she can see.
-Swindle gives Enfilade an encouraging smile, "No need to worry about that. It happens at least five times a mega cycle."
-Moonlight takes a look at the marks on Shockwave...she seems impressed, though this is because she saw him blast Skyburner in such a condition. She makes a mental note not to piss this one off.
-Enfilade stares back at Swindle. "Five times a...what? You mean this command is in perpetual chaos?"
-Swindle continues to grin, "To quote someone, 'To err is command'."
-Enfilade's optics dull and you can guess at the face-falling expression she must have...even her faceplate sags.
-Swindle returns his scrutiny back to the burn marks, "Yes, yes, definitely something hot and unnecessarily loud made that."
-Enfilade mutters, "I'm gonna go crazy and...*sigh* no one ever said serving the Empire would be easy." She says it in a tone to suggest she's said this phrase a /lot/.
-Swindle gives Enfilade a questioning look. He gestures at Shox's body, "It makes sense though, doesn't it?"
-Enfilade says, "There's no point in guessing. We can't act until we know at least some of the facts and...hell...damn it, we can't act at all. We have zero authority."
-Moonlight listens to the two talk, her head cocked to the side slightly.
-Swindle waves a hand dismissively, "Bah! Authority! That's never stopped me before...maybe once or twice, but that's not the point. The first question to ask is, who would want to shoot Shox?"
-Moonlight grins. "You two detectives or something?"
-Enfilade says, "All the Autobots, for one. I don't know Shockwave personally, whether he had any enemies in the ranks, but any wanna-be Con leader might. Personal enemies?"
-Enfilade says, "I'm a strategist. And if this was some attempt by the slaggin' Bots to destabilize Decepticon high command, then we've got to be ready for it." She shrugs, looking somewhat helpless. "Considering I'm stuck here with nothing better to do than play armchair general, instead of being where I /really/ belong."
-Swindle quirks an optic ridge at Moonlight, "Information is power."
-Moonlight waves a hand almost defensively, but her expression is far from defensive. "I never said it wasn't."
-Enfilade mutters, "I have to stay sharp. Anything. Something to think about, something to keep my focus."
-Swindle taps a finger thoughtfully on Shox's chest, "I agree with you Enfilade. Nearly everyone has a reason to kill Shox." He thinks to himself, 'even me, at times'
-Enfilade says, "If it's the Bots I'm more than happy to scrap 'em. If it's internal...leave that to your security types, that's not my job. If it's personal...hell, I wouldn't know where to begin."
-Swindle nods, "Exactly. Was it personal, political, or random?"
-Enfilade says, "Or strategic. Bot strategy, Con looking for promotion, personal grudge or..." She shivers a little. "Random. Random, no reason at all."
-Swindle hmmms as he looks into one of Shox's many wounds, "I wonder." He picks up screw driver-like tool. "Don't tell Shox I did this." He starts poking about in the wound.
-Enfilade stares at Swindle. "What the slag are you doing?!" she hisses.
-Moonlight grins. "Oh, so now you're a medic, eh? You seem to be multi-talented." She folds her arms across her chest and relaxes herself against a handy wall to watch the process.
-Swindle pulls up a bit of charred metal from inside. He holds up in the air for all to see, "There's plasma residue on this."
-You say, "What does that mean? Do many people have those sort of weapons around here?"
-Swindle drops the tool back onto the work bench he picked it up from. He nods grimly, "Almost everyone, unfortunately."
-Moonlight shakes her head slightly. "I suppose that makes deductive reasoning difficult then."
-Swindle brushes his hands. "I think I'll leave Shox to the 'officals'. As for reasoning, I think it's time to be unreasonable for a bit. I'll be at Solar's lab....appropriating some drinks.
-You say, "Solar's lab?"
-Swindle nods, "My business partners lab. He gets this imported energon. Still can't figure out where it comes from. Cheaper than going to the Wild Surge, even if I own part of it."
-You say, "I've met Solar...he's been trying to enlist my services."
-Swindle chuckles, "I'd be surprised if he didn't. What did you tell him?"
-Moonlight shrugs. "Told him I'd join up when I'm off assignment at the Blaster."
-Swindle frowns, "You should of held out for a bit. He would've paid more."
-Moonlight grins. "Hey, I'm the new girl in town, I'll try all those tricks later when I know more about the scene."
-Swindle nods, "Watch out for the new bounty hunter. He wanders about, fearing no faction or place. Has no name."
-Moonlight bobs her head. "Yeah, sure. Thanks for the advice. Solar mentioned you when we talked last." And with this she tilts her head so her optics can be seen clearly and winks.
-Swindle quickly says, "Look! Everything he said is false! Not true in anyway!"
-Moonlight grins. "So you won't get along with me at all and you're not in the least bit dangerous?" she asks, her voice teasing. She winks again, this time more deliberately.
-Swindle can read between the lines. He smiles, "I see. Did you like what you heard?"
-Moonlight shrugs and seems to think for a while...or at least is pretending for effect. "I don't know. All he said was that I would probably get along well with you, that we were similar, and that you were 'most dangerous in the open.' Does that sound likable?"
-Swindle chuckles, he gives Moonlight another look, seeing her in a different like. "It does to me."
-Moonlight smiles. "Oh, and he said you were interesting...so I guess that's a good thing. But I suppose if it's all lies...."
-Swindle hastily responds, "Ah no. You see, I thought that Solar would tell you that I do this and that. Portraying me poorly for his own means....I'm rambling. No, it looks like he got it right."
-Moonlight nods. "Besides, with a name like Swindle I wouldn't need a warning. But that's okay because you're playing my sort of game...unless, of course, you have a misnomer for your name." She sounds rather doubtful about this.
-Swindle gives Moonlight a very friendly smile, "Nope, just Swindle. It's both my professional and personal title."
-Moonlight leans forward a little. "So what exactly /do/ you do?"
-Swindle moves his head closer to Moonlight's. He whispers, "Smuggling mostly, but there's the odd extortion, randsom, and robbery."
-Swindle looks down at Moonlight, he adds, "And I'm a student of form."
-You say, "I'm sure /that/ looks good on your work reccord."
-Swindle says, "Not on any 'official' ones. So what do you do?"
-You say, "All of the above...and I've suddenly turned a dash of spy too, to spice things up of course."
-Swindle quirks an optic ridge, "Spy? On who? The bots?"
-You say, "And the unaffiliates. I'm undercover at the Blaster as a waitress."
-Swindle glances down at Moonlight again, "You must get good tips."
-Moonlight shrugs elaborately. "Hey, I make enough on the side for things to be interesting. I like it when they give me jobs that increase my ability to make more profit."
-Swindle nods, "Ah, but everyone's avoiding the GB these days. Except to plant misinformation, which then makes it a good place."
-Moonlight sighs. "I noticed the going was a little on the slow side, but if that's where they want me, then that's where I go. No point in getting the management angry." She points to where Skyburner is lying, "I've already seen first hand what happens to those who make trouble, and I don't want to fill those shoes."
-Swindle looks over towards the indicated Skyburner. "You see, his problem was, he got caught." Looking back at Moonlight, "Then if you happen to get caught, blame it on someone else. It always works."
-Moonlight waves her hands again. "Like I said, I'm the new femme in town...when I know more, then I can try deceits like that. But there's no point in telling a lie that is obviously untrue and unbelievable, but I'm sure you know that."
-Swindle takes a hold of your hand. He pats it, his optics wink, "Yes I do."
-Moonlight takes her hand back with another of her grins. "Of course you do."
-Swindle sighs, and thinks 'later'. He takes one last look at the med bay. "I'd better get going. Need to liquify my thoughts."
-Moonlight gives a final wink. "Have a good cycle then."