Fading Starlight

"What in the name of Primus are you bolt-brains doing over here?" Tarmac was over in an instant the second the shot rang out. "Who fired that shot?!" He snarled, glaring at Reverse and Blueshade. If that little bot was causing trouble...

"Sorry sir, my weapon malfunctioned!" Blueshade stood up quickly, somewhat shielding Reverse.

Path stood back and watched. If the kid was going to pick fights, he'd better learn how to win them. He'd step in if it got bad, but perhaps this would be a lesson. He was more worried about Prowl losing his mind that a blaster went off inside the base.

Reverse froze.

"Yeah. It's fine boss, no necks need to be wrangled." Altrock waved it off. No way he was letting Tarmac know that a small bot could kill him when he wasn't looking.

His wrath subsided a little. "Be more careful. We've got Prowl breathing down our necks and I don't want any more stupid to happen till we're done with this mission. Everyone got that? That goes for all of you." He shot everyone a sharp look. They'd definitely been up to more mischief than just an accidentally misfire but it wasn't worth the time or energy to figure out what went down.

"Yessir." Came from both Altrock and Helixon. Reverse just nodded.


"What in the all-mighty loving Primus was that?!" Prowl's agitated voice came from the hall.

Tarmac clenched his fists, trying his hardest not to lose it on the closest bot. He slowly turned around, jaw clenched. "Misfire while cleaning a weapon, Sir." He wasn't about to look stupid in front of Prowl, but he was afraid he was too late to avoid it.

Prowl scowled at him. Then looked up at the damage on the ceiling, still scowling. Of course it was going to be this group that damages the place and they've barely been in here. "I would think you bots could do better."

"Won't happen again, Sir." Even in all of his anger, Tarmac wouldn't separate himself from his squad. If one of them got in trouble, they all got in trouble. That's how it always went.

"It better not." Prowl stalked out. He'd need to let the repairbots know about this now, which was going out of his way when he had other things to do.

Tarmac shot one more glare at the boys and then went to tend to his own weapons. Path sat down and began to clean and oil his rifle. Blueshade didn't say anything else for fear of Tarmac's wrath.

Reverse turned to Blueshade, and hid the hologram projection from his arm from Tarmac with his body as he typed. Thank you. You didn't have to.

Blueshade grinned. "Tarmac takes a little getting used to. He's alright after a while but he mighta kicked you out a window for that stunt." He chuckled. "You shoulda hit Altrock though, it would have been funny."

Reverse nodded, feeling a tad bit more at ease.

Helixon poked his head out of the bay to see if Prowl was nearby.

Blueshade continued to talk to Reverse, glad to have a slightly younger bot to talk with. Path treated him well, but Path was older and quieter and sometimes got tired of Blue's endless energy.

Path watched them, idly cleaning his weapon. He was glad to see Reverse and Blueshade getting along. Tarmac would warm up eventually. He knew he still felt responsible for Hyrax's death. That would take time. For as gruff as he was, Tarmac lost a part of himself with each soldier that died under his command.

Reverse listened, and occasionally responded.

Altrock was slightly eyeing Reverse as he continued to clean his weapons, and Helixon was running around in the hall and doing cartwheels for whatever reason.

Tarmac ignored him, too fed up to care. He just wanted to be out on the field rather than sitting here with the desktop commander Prowl lurking about.

"We should spar sometime. You've gotta be hard to hit!" Blueshade threw a few punches to the air. "I can teach you some moves Path taught me."