ANH. Imperial Shuttle near Imperial Blockade. Out of the frying pan . . .

[astrotechmech]

Random paces up and down the small "corridor" behind the pilots' chairs. It isn't enough that they're using probably very-much-illegally-bought Imperial codes to sneak past the Imperial blockade led by Nemesis Prime's imposing vessel and onto the forested moon holding the shield generator for Unicron's two bodies using Random's ship-clearing formula. But they're also doing it in a ship that he's fixed before while in Imperial service. Not the one he used to get his formula written, but it was still unnerving to be in a ship whose weak points you're all too familiar with.

Especially if you know where the Imperials need to hit in order to instantly blow it up.

All he needs to complete this nightmare is for his old Imperial CO to pop out of one of the shuttle's compartments.

Comments

[random_xtras]

"Thank you, control, following vector," says Jetfire calmly, then turns off the radio and lifts his voice slightly. "Comettor, I swear, if you put that slip film in fronta Randy I'll silver tape yer pointy little aft ta the wall in Arcee's way."

The red Minicon gives a startled beep and scoots to the accompaniment of laughter from the other Minicons.

"What? Suddenly I'm something to use in threats?" Arcee looks up from her datapad with a frown.

[astrotechmech]

Random stops short. Wait, did control actually let them through? He then starts at the flash of red, systems running hard, until he realizes that Comettor hadn't succeeded in trying to literally trip him up.

Maybe he should go sit down again--and see if he can stay there. Random cautiously rejoins Kia and sits in one of the cockpit's passenger chairs.

[random_xtras]

The little silver lady crawls over into his lap and snuggles, then turns her head and looks toward Jetfire as he pauses in his wrangling with Arcee.

"You know, they took so long to clear us that I was startin' ta think we were gonna haveta run."

[astrotechmech]

Well, it looks like Random's not going to be getting back up anytime soon. He helps his daughter into his lap, hugs her, and starts rubbing her back . . . It might also be to calm his own nerves. The things he's done . . .

"They wouldn't have given us that option," Random says, bluntly. "But the code must have been suspicious enough for them to take a few looks at. I wouldn't be surprised if they have someone follow us or apprehend us on our arrival."

[random_xtras]

"They said it was old but good," says Kia absently, her eyes on Murphy where he's hiding behind some of the equipment and peeking out uncertainly.

"If they do, we'll be ready for 'em." Jetfire's voice is grim, and he doesn't turn his head as Airazor hops up and clings to his right wing.

[astrotechmech]

Random thinks over Kia's words as he continues to rub her back. Yes, it went in line with how they treated them. Maybe they'd be okay after all. . . . It's what Primus has been trying to tell them the whole time.

Random wills himself to relax and not think of what could potentially happen next.

[random_xtras]

There's a sudden scuff of a foot, and then Hot Shot sits up and scowls. "I'm endangering the mission. I shouldn't have come."

"It's going to be okay," insists Kia quietly without moving from her snuggle.

"Alright. My neck's pricklin' now," notes Jetfire in a dry, conversational tone. Arcee snorts at him.

[astrotechmech]

Random turns and frowns at Hot Shot. He's endangering the mission? Kinda late to be figuring that out, isn't it? . . . And wouldn't Primus have warned Kia? Or something?

Random shifts a bit uncomfortably and keeps hugging and rubbing Kia.

[random_xtras]

"Hot Shot's only bein' a dummy." Kia wiggles her fingers at Murphy, who perks and then falls over laughing at Hot Shot's protest. The black Minicon is joined in the laughter by every other little person on the ship.

Arcee chuckles softly, the set of her shoulders relaxing as she turns to send a fond look back to the yellow mech. Beside her Jetfire's mirth fades and he tenses and looks hurt and confused.

[astrotechmech]

"Oh. Okay." Random sighs in slight relief.

Random focuses too much on settling himself in for the rest of the ride and doesn't catch the significance of Arcee's look at Hot Shot and Jetfire's reaction to it.

The rest of the trip is silent--except for the obligatory Minicon snickers--and the small Imperial shuttle soon begins its descent.

Much like Dagobah, the planet is covered in trees and organic life. Unlike Dagobah, however, there's no fog and far fewer bodies of water. The sun is also able to peek through the tree tops and create patches of sunlight on the ground below.

It would feel almost inviting--if the Empire hadn't taken it over for their own purposes.

[random_xtras]

"Nice," notes Airazor, leaning forward for a better look.

"Like mini Kashyyyk, huh?" says Jetfire. "Think there's little people here?"

[There will be, if there aren't already.]

[astrotechmech]

Random looks up quickly and then tries to relax again. With how peaceful it looks, he had been hoping it would be the one organic planet that wouldn't be out to get him in some way.

So he does not like idea of Minicons from Kashyyyk here. Are there worse things? Yes. As previously mentioned, the fact that there are Imperials here doesn't really make the planet inviting.

But, argh, Minicons always want to do things with Kia.

Random resists the urge to take a closer look at the trees as the shuttle nears the chosen landing spot. It is better not to know.

Or at least he hopes so.

Anyway, Random is very glad that they're not landing right at the shield generator station and breaking in immediately. That could be very messy and intense. Instead, the plan is to land far enough away to not rouse suspicion but close enough to still get there at a reasonable time.

He hopes that the effort will not go to waste.

[random_xtras]

Kia looks up at him as he thinks about Minicon reaction to her, her pale eyes sparkling with gentle teasing. Then she snorts at the slight bump of the landing. "Jetfire's not paying attention."

Jetfire's not replying to Arcee's jibes about the landing, either, just checking things over and glancing through the viewscreen with a thoughtful scowl.

[astrotechmech]

Oh, Kia "heard" that. Or sensed that. However she gets . . . yeah. Random shifts a bit in embarrassment when he senses her teasing him and muses how much she's grown up since the day he found her out in that asteroid field. She's really come into her own in some ways, and it makes him happy to know she's not as vulnerable as she used to be.

It also means that she's more taken to scolding and teasing him now. Like right now and also when he stubbornly stayed awake in Jabba's dungeon. He's glad that adventure is over. Having her do so is a lot better than when she almost blindly followed him, unaware of the dangers around her, but he finds himself missing the trust.

But that's probably very selfish of him, right? She needs to be able to be her own bot and grow up and . . . leave him some day?

The bump in landing jolts him from these thoughts, and he frowns as Kia and Arcee point out Jetfire's distraction. Random wonders why Jetfire is distracted. Surely not because of anything Random said earlier, right? Or at least historically Jetfire has been more dismissive of him.

Maybe more of what Hot Shot said? No, maybe not that either.

He has no idea, and they've got more important things to worry about now.

Random finally lets go of Kia and gently nudges Kia off of him, so he can get up and get the cloaker for the shuttle out.

[random_xtras]

"I think the trees are pretty," says Kia some minutes later. "No, Murphy, they're not going to eat you. There aren't any mineralavourous tree species on Endor." She frowns at his reply, then shakes her head. "You got into the buzz powder, didn't you?"

Jetfire shakes his head from the other side of Random. "Whole fraggin' universe could be endin', 'n there'd still be at least one Minicon havin' a party. Hey what? Where the scrap did you three come from? Does Smokie know where ya are?"

Arcee looks over from waving at Hot Shot, then face palms.

[astrotechmech]

Random is very glad that the trees here can't eat him, and that there haven't been any predators out to bother them. At least not yet.

Okay, the shuttle's cloaked, and he's got the location mentally marked so that they can find it again. Now, the next step is to--

Random starts and turns to see what Jetfire is looking at . . . The, uh, what was their official name? The Race Team? Anyway, the set of three Minicons who form the shield that he's seen Smokescreen carrying. He doesn't remember Smokescreen saying that he was going to have the Shield Minicons coming with them. Why are they here?

[Smokescreen sent us,] says the ringleader of the Race Team as he walks up to Jetfire and holds up a datachip.

[We would have revealed ourselves earlier, but the astrotech already seemed antsier than Liftor on one of his worst days.] One of the other Shield Minicons pointed a thumb in Random's direction.

[random_xtras]

"'The astrotech' has a name, Dirt Boss," says Jetfire dryly as he leans down to snatch the datachip from Mirage. "You three realize there ain't any race tracks around here, right?"

"How're we going to sneak up on anything with Dirt Boss's stink all around?" wonders Arazor from Jetfire's wing. Comettor just looks up at her humorously from where he's hanging off Jetfire's back.

[astrotechmech]

Downshift, the heretofore remaining unnamed Shield Minicon, whacks Dirt Boss on the head before he can make too bad of a sarcastic remark back.

Dirt Boss turns and glares at Downshift for a moment before turning back, seeming a bit apologetic. If not to Random or Jetfire, then to Downshift. [Right, sorry.]

Mirage waves vaguely at the data chip. [It's explained in the note.]

[If you can read it,] Dirt Boss interjects. [He was more in a rush than usual.]

Downshift shakes his head at Dirt Boss.

[random_xtras]

Jetfire snorts at them, then checks the chip for grunge before pulling a little doohickey off his arm with a rip of silver tape. "What the... oh har har, you scrapheaps."

To the chorus of Minicon mirth, he sticks the chip into his device, and then frowns at the holographic screen that pops up. Arcee crowds over beside him to look at it too.

And Kia is pouting at Dirt Boss for being Dirt Boss.

[astrotechmech]

Well, to Dirt Boss's credit, the note is a bit hard to read. Even for a Smokescreen note. It's like the mech couldn't decide between shorthand or coded message and did an odd combination of both.

And then kept doing it wrong.

Anyway, if one were to take the time to decipher it all, it'd sound something like this:

"Captain Collateral Damage,

"The more I think about it, the more I wish I'd waited a few more minutes and had come with you instead. You know how I've always felt more comfortable in a bar brawl than in a dogfight. And the likelihood of entering a bar brawl while completing this mission on the Falcon isn't very high.

"And that got me thinking, the Shield Minicons might be safe enough with me, but they won't be much help. I don't think that Scavenger just wanted me to hide them away. Not if they're willing to help.

"So, I've sent them along with you. A bit like collateral. Since I've borrowing the Falcon.

"Signed,
Smokescreen

"P.S. Hopefully they won't give ya too much grief. They usually behave themselves around Liftor, so maybe they'll be the same around Random.

"Just do me a favor, okay? DON'T LOSE THEM."

[random_xtras]

Jetfire mutters to himself and turns his datapad upside down, then turns it over and looks at the note from the back. After repeating this maneuver a few times to further Minicon mirth, he looks up. "Yeah. Smokie sent 'em. Says they should be some help."

"Because we really needed more small people to keep track of." Arcee sighs as Rollbar starts snoring.

Jetfire snerks softly, then looks down and startles when he sees the Race Team standing and looking up at him expectantly. "...Yer up ta somethin', aren'tcha?"

Kia glances over from where she's just picked Rollbar up and shaken him, her brow plates lifting with quizzical curiosity.

[astrotechmech]

Random had frowned thoughtfully when Jetfire had corrected Dirt Boss, but his reflection on how Jetfire's started to be nicer around him lately is cut short by the length of time they're spending just out in the open having this conversation.

[Just plotting whose back to piggyback off of,] Mirage says in Minicon as he has the whole time. The other two nod enthusiastically.

[Then we wouldn't need to be kept track of,] Dirt Boss remarks. More nodding.

"Uh, shouldn't we be going?" Random shifts nervously. "This doesn't seem to be the best place to get caught out if there's anyone nearby."

[Oh. You guys know there's a couple of Autotroopers over the next hill?] Dirt Boss beeps casually.

[random_xtras]

Jetfire's head snaps around to scowl in the direction of that hill, then looks toward Kia.

"They're fueling." She grunts and puts Rollbar back down, then boots him very gently a few times. "Or doing something that makes them happy and frustrated like that."

"...Yeah, that's about how ya feel about those ration blocks." Jetfire shrugs one wing absently.

[astrotechmech]

Ah, yeah, those ration blocks. He doesn't miss them from the time they were stuck with them on the 'Falcon.

However, there are other things they should be worried about. Like where those Autotroopers happen to be, which is right on the direct path to the station. "Are we going to have to go around?"

And there's something else . . .

"Wait, where'd Hot Shot go?"

The three Shield Minicons, standing at the feet of Jetfire, turn from where they were plotting to get up onto the flier's back, frown in such a way as to question Random's intelligence, and point in a singular direction.

[random_xtras]

"He went to check on something." Arcee makes a frustrated sound as Airazor gives the Race Team a death glare and Comettor offers to kick the first climber's face, then steps over to catch the nearest one by the arm and give him a little shake. "I'm not carrying anyone, as I know you've noticed. We don't have time to deal with collateral damage from you starting a fight and alerting those troopers with your noise."