Work Text:
;Laserbeak.baseSweep()
As she detached from her housing on Soundwave's frame to perform routine surveillance, one of her basic time-filling directives when she hadn't been given a specific instruction, she made sure to initialize a program of her own design.
;Laserbeak.seekDirective()
It made sense that sometimes Soundwave had information that he needed to process but didn't want her to see, but she didn't actually enjoy doing base monitoring. Aside from the vehicons all the interesting gossip came from the ranked officers, and so in turn she didn't get to analyse that data herself. That was the sort of thing she'd had to detach because of anyway,
;baseSweep --> Clear @nemesis:superiorhull, no additional search routines triggered
Soundwave preferred not to share analyses of the command crew on more processors than necessary. Reduced possibility of counterintelligence. Boring as they were, Laserbeak still enjoyed buzzing the lackeys on shift to guard the transition between levels.
;baseSweep --> Clear @nemesis:forwardcommandlevel, no additional search routines triggered.
Unfortunately she could only linger so long, and the action had repeated on enough guards that she knew no new intelligence would be provided from repeated testing as she continued her search. It's not like she was really going to see anything useful anyway; it was mid-shift and she was mid-ship
;baseSweep --> Clear @nemesis:midcommandlevel, no additional search routines triggered.
and if there was no sign of a Starscream machination yet she wasn't going to find it. Which meant she was going to be entirely bored until Soundwave called her back, or
;seekDirective --> new MinorDirective found
that could happen. Her wingtips perked up and she shot into the support struts linking the external bulkhead and the top of the corridor. Querying her processor, she couldn't help a chirp of excitement. This was going to be a lot more fun than just monitoring the vehicons all cycle.
;setMinorDirective(Identify.Mate(Carrier:Soundwave))
;seekLocation(Medic:Knockout)
;directiveLocation --> Found @nemesis:medbay
;Laserbeak.MinorDirective.Execute()
She took off at speed, not even cataloging the shrieks that followed her down the halls to the medbay.
There were no emergent cases that she could see, and Knockout was clearly not performing and critical tasks as Laserbeak swooped in through the automatic doors. She didn't mean to startle him, but he hadn't turned to acknowledge her and her directive was not going to be fulfilled if one half of the targets ignored her presence. Opting for middle ground, she landed on the other end of the work bench Knockout had covered in mechanical tidbits. Potentially second-hand mechanical tidbits. She made sure to document a particularly nefarious washer and screw combination. Just in case it came up during accounting later, or someone reported items with similar serial codes missing.
"Inquiry."
Knockout straightened from where he'd been fiddling with some grime caught in his seams.
"Ah, my favorite bird. What can I do for you?"
"Knockout: bored?" Laserbeak tilted one of her stabilizing wings for inflection.
"Not at all, little turboturtledove."
;Medic:Knockout.workState --> not busy.
;Medic:Knockout:Servos.contents --> none.
;Leader:Megatron.location --> off vessel.
"Knockout: lying. No task, no one to assign a task."
He wrung his empty servos, clearly seeking an alibi. Finding none, he sighed, and waved her off. "Alright, you've got me. What are you really here for? Don't tell me your bossbot has stopped to direct interrogation."
;Medic:Knockout.mate --> Soldier:Breakdown, extinguished.
"Knockout miss Breakdown?" At his grimace, Laserbeak disregarded any audio input in favor of continuing the internal execution flow of her current directive.
;Medic:Knockout.clear(mate)
;Medic:Knockout.mate --> Null
;Medic:Knockout.emotionalState --> grief, discomfort
;CheckIf(Medic:Knockout.Mourning())
"Knockout: mourning," she asserted. His optics refocused on her, and she assigned a truth value accordingly. "Knockout: distressed."
"As much as I adore our little chats, is there a point to this or are you looking for birdseed?" Knockout heavily ex-vented, and sauntered closer, clearly gearing up to deflect. "I've been instructed to halt recreational trips to the surface, but I'm sure I could snag you some next time I don't go out." He gave her a wink, as though that would somehow negate being offered fuel for organic avians. She gave an annoyed flutter, employing more than just her auxiliary wings.
;Medic:Knockout.Mourning() --> True
;CheckIf(Medic:Knockout.emotionalState(lonely)
"Knockout is Lonely?"
"What do you think, flappy."
;Medic:Knockout.tone --> snippy
;CheckIf(Medic:Knockout.emotionalState(lonely) --> True
;CheckIf(Compatible(Medic:Knockout, Carrier:Soundwave))
"Inquiry. Knockout gay Xor Knockout demiromantic?"
"What?!" Red optics nearly bulged from their faceplate, as the medic's engine revved and sputtered. "Who on earth has been teaching you earth behavior terms."
;Process(Response)
;
;Response malformed.
"Answer not received." Laserbeak only had so much patience for prying information out of mechs this way. Soundwave seemed to like it though, which provided additional data to calculate with. Once she could get this little tidbit. Knockout scoffed, like the question was erroneous or the answer obvious.
"Cut to the chase, flappy. Who are you trying to wingman. Wing-cassette. Wingthing."
She didn't answer immediately, processor still humming along to finish her last background query.
;CheckIf(Compatible(Medic:Knockout, Carrier:Soundwave)) --> True
;MinorDirective.viabilitySplit --> 68 success | 32 failure | 0.18 estimate error
;seekLocation(Carrier:Soundwave)
;directiveLocation --> Found @nemesis:energonstorage:c:13:h
;Laserbeak.MinorDirective.Continue()
"Soundwave: Lonely. Soundwave: Distressed. Soundwave.location: energon stores, unit C13-h."
"Really, Laserbeak, this is hardly necessary—"
"Laserbeak: approves(Medic:Knockout)."
There was a stunned silence. Laserbeak scanned more of the detritus on the workbench, then took a minimal reading off Knockout. There was even more stunned silence, until Knockout gestured at the device storage on the far wall.
"...Oooookay then. Thank you, zappy little bird. There are some uh, candied energon pellets on that shelf, over there. For good vehicons and, I suppose, sweet little surveillance frames."