Fleet lands with his usual delicateness, and almost the moment his feet touch ground the change begins, and his usual twitchiness begins to emerge. Of course, at the moment Mil-Ops isn't in particularly good graces, anyway (this is what happens when you have an entire branch of the empire consisting of three Seekers, a Stunticon and Hun-Grrr!) but hey, Fleet's just a gru-trooper. Not his fault. Unfortunately, sludge is known to flow down-hill. He lands rather near Chimera, but that is by coincidence. She just happens to be near an open spot, probably on one of the upper bridges.

Chimera is indeed there, and quietly walking. Nah. She's not going to get startled, and push Fleet off the bridge or anything. Instead, she's giving him a mild look, a sort of smirk, and... pausing. Eh. Maybe she actually likes Flee. Or maybe he'd be good to help hide the bodies later.

If Chimera likes Fleet, it's because she's unaware of who's been training him. Fleet looks around, making sure that there's nothing around that's likely to attack him, and thus spots Chimera and her mild look and smirk. He takes a couple of steps in her direction and nods a greeting. "Chimera," he says politely. Naturally, he doesn't expect a verbalized response.

Good thing he doesn't expect a verbal response. Because she's STILL not talking. She makes something of a friendly gesture. Not the middle finger thing that she flashed at Geist. Of course, the lack of vocals does make for a difficulty in trying to hold up her end of the conversation.

Fleet wouldn't know what the middle finger meant, anyway. He's been studying the culture of his (unwilling) host planet, but he's not /that/ familiar with it yet. Instead he walks alongside Chimera in whatever general direction she's going, figuring they can do the dataterminal thing at the destination. He's in a fairly good mood. He snuck in a few solo dances while on patrol, and though still twitchy, there's also a certain amount of grace to his motions. It's all in all rather catlike. If you were talking about a pastel yellow cat with wings.

NCC Central Hub

This is the very center of New Crystal City, and serves as the gateway to the other areas of the base. A feeling of claustrophobia exists here despite the fact that this part of the city is open to the air. Now in Battle Station Mode, the Central Hub has far less buildings than usual, as many have transformed themselves into huge laser defense cannons and missile turrets. There are very few positions one can take to hide from the weapons without being forced to take evasive action. The roadways have laser point-defense systems protecting them. The important buildings, including the medical ward and the command center now have a huge layer of thick metal protecting them, covering up the facilities and protecting them from harm.

Contents:

Chimera

Trypticon <T>

Decepticon Sensor #1792

The Powerbase

Obvious exits:

North <N> leads to Mount R'Lyeh.

Northeast <NE> leads to NCC Dungeon.

Northwest <NW> leads to NCC Medical Ward.

South <S> leads to NCC Coastline.

Southeast <SE> leads to NCC Residential Plaza.

Southwest <SW> leads to NCC Spaceport.

East <E> leads to NCC Arena.

West <W> leads to NCC Central Command.

Fly <Up>

And there's a black and white seeker somewhere in northwest North America that's kinda catlike and graceful, and would probably have had a helluva good time dancing with Fleet. But that's neither here nor there.

Chimera's here, and gives that sidelong look to the gracefulness. Hmmm. She's not that shabby herself. And she probably would be asking about the dances... if she could. And do it without sounding... ignorant. Well... either way. A dataterminal talk might have to suffice, once she delivers the datapad.

Chimera moves west to the NCC Central Command.

Chimera has left.

You move west to the NCC Central Command.

NCC Central Command

Located inside a huge dome, the Command Center has an atmosphere of readiness about it, like a predator poised to strike. Cunningly hidden lights flood the lower levels and central command deck with a red glow, indicating the center is set to battle mode. Three huge wall-mounted screens display exterior views of the city, now bristling with a fearsome array of weaponry. The already impressive interior walls and hexagonal basalt columns are now reinforced with additional support beams and the exits now sport solid blast doors, a final defensive layer should the complex be breached. The sophisticated computer terminals that line the room's perimeter flicker with combat data, sensors straining to find and analyze any potential threats, weapons systems charged and ready to fire.

Contents:

Chimera

Extended Radio <NCC>

Decepticon Object <DO>

Obvious exits:

North <N> leads to NCC Medical Ward.

South <S> leads to NCC Spaceport.

East <E> leads to NCC Central Hub.

West <W> leads to Cyclonus' Office.

Fleet follows Chimera into Central Command. A perfectly logical place for a Mil-Ops secretary to be delivering a datapad, but Fleet's nervousness level moves up several obvious notches at the close vicinity to Cyclonus' office.

Chimera glances at Cyclonus's office. Looks at the datapad. Looks at Fleet.

Then she shrugs, and delivers it to Cyclonus's office. It doesn't take but a moment, and she's not about to linger inside. Wry smile running across Chimera's face, and a brief shrug as she exits, and looks for the nearest data terminal. 'Don't need to have them /all/ angry at me.'

Fleet chuckles quietly and nods. "I don't think /anyone/ needs that kind of attention," he answers, leaning slightly against the terminal in an attempt to calm himself a bit, although it doesn't work particularly.

Chimera gives a rather large shrug, 'Some like it.'

"So, have you been given a hint yet how much longer you'll have to go like this?" Fleet asks. Normally, he tends to look around a lot while talking, watch the room, study the ceiling, just unfocus at a random spot past the person he's speaking to... but given Chimera's handicap, he actually watches her. His voice displays little more than polite interest... perhaps there is a bit of concern. After all, the longer this drags out, the harder the feelings of those involved. Something like this is liable to increase tensions, not diffuse them...

Chimera frowns, shaking her head, 'It's been too busy lately. Too much to do.'

Fleet mmms as he nods. "No kidding. My patrol schedule's been increased to the point where I've hardly have time for training, and haven't been able to sneak back to Cybertron for a dance for a couple of weeks now." He bends his right knee and rests that foot against the terminal he's leaning against, actually succeeding in relaxing. A little.

Chimera headtilts, 'Dancing... is that fun?' she's sorta curious. And sorta hesitant to say anything about not knowing a thing about it. Like some... autobot.

Fleet's expression glazes over in a blissful smile as he thinks about it. "I... really, uhm..." he pauses to let his linguistic processors put together the right words to describe what he feels about dance, and frowns a little as all the combinations they present to him seem inadequate. Finally he just goes with the best sequence that he can come up with, and the smile returns. "To me, the dance is... it's essence of seeker. Of what we're supposed to be. It is grace and beauty and precision and danger. Make a mistake, and there are consequences... succeed, and you receive recognition, but that's all. No prizes, nothing like that... just the acknowledgement that you're worthy. That's supposed to be enough."

Fleet's smile becomes wry and a bit crooked. "Ah, well... that's up to debate. You see, the dance started as a way for Seekers to choose trines, but it's kind of fallen out of favor for that. In fact, it's fallen out of favor entirely, which is why you don't see much of it anymore." Here, Fleet unknowingly provides Chimera with her out. "These days, it really is just an art. Well, not /just/ an art. It's a way of honing those combatitive qualities that Seekers tend to put a very high value on. As to whether or not it should belong just to the Seekers... well, there's actually a good deal of debate around that. It's divided the art. On one side," Fleet now props himself up with his elbows and holds out his right hand, as though he were holding the argument in it, "there's the Purists, who believe that to allow non-seekers, or even non-standard varieties of seekers, such as the coneheads in, is a corruption of the art, and it would be better if it faded entirely instead of being corrupted." Here he pauses, although it's obvious that he's still got another hand to go into.

Chimera nods carefully, actually ... listening. Y'know. Attentively. This is stuff that she hadn't found before, and obviously never thought of before. 'Trines?' she's probably going to ask one of those ignorant questions sooner or later, and probably sooner.

Well, Fleet /might/ argue that getting into scuffles in medical isn't particularly conducive to survival, but he's got more tact than that... and besides, Kim never said anything out loud. "But, yeah..." he finishes lamely, shrugging. "I guess... well, 'fun' isn't exactly the word I'd use. It doesn't say enough. But I guess you could describe the dance as fun."

Chimera didn't exactly plan on getting into a scuffle in medical, and taking abuse isn't necessarily one of her strong points. 'I see..' she gives Fleet a speculative look, 'May I see you dance one day?'

Fleet brightens, although he's pretty bright whenever discussing dance to begin with. "I... sure. Although it'll have to wait until things calm down a bit..." he pauses. "And then, there's a bit of a difference between competitive dance and solo practice. Solo is nice enough, but you can't really appreciate the dance until you've seen a competition."

Chimera smiles, well. It's better than target practice. And more target practice. and brooding. and.. whatever else it is she does when she's not doing paperwork, isnt' it? 'Plenty of time. Not like I'm going anywhere.'

"And I don't intend to be going anywhere anytime soon, either." Fleet flashes a grin. "Well, besides back and forth between here and Cybertron and the like."

Chimera smirks. Like she's not going to get stuck going back and forth? 'That can get dull.'

Fleet nods, sighing slightly and tilting his head upwards, directing his line up sight towards the ceiling for a moment. "Not to mention the endless cycle of 'patrol, guard, raid, patrol, guard, raid.' Every once in awhile you need something to break that up."

Chimera nods, 'Boring. have to do something else once in a while.' she inputs, and waits for Flee to see it.

Fleet does look back down when he's done talking... the ceiling thing had really been kind of quick, something along the lines of an 'eye-roll' motion for someone who doesn't actually have humanish eyes. He nods in agreement with the sentiment. "That's right." He looks thoughtful. "All right. So I've told you about dance. Now it's your turn. What do you do in your spare time, besides paperwork and fighting with Sweeps? Well, and target practice... or have I covered it?"

Chimera makes a face at Fleet. '... That about sums my life up.' she inputs, shrugs, 'but add sometimes bodyguard, and annoying Autobots.'

Well, annoying Autobots is always a worthy cause, at least," Fleet shrugs, a bit of a chuckle hinted in his voice that doesn't come full to life. "I am... it's not something I'm inclined to do solo, but I don't mind working as a group for that."

'As long as you don't mind risking an occasional shot...' Chimera smiles dangerously, 'or can dance away from them fairly easily, harassing them can be... fun.' Like what she does to Smokescreen on occasion.

Fleet shrugs. How do you delicately admit that you're a coward? "I can dance... but I don't like to get that close to a foe, really. I wasn't built very strong, and am a bit on the frail side. And I'm not much of a taunter. There are plenty of others for that."

Chimera grins broadly. She's obviously one of the taunters. 'It can be fun.'

Fleet smiles, although the expression this time is only on his lips, and doesn't touch the rest of his face. "Perhaps, but in this case I'll have to take your word for it. I tend to prefer to fight in silence... I mean, I expect a battlefield to be noisy, but for the rest..." he trails off and shrugs.

Chimera shrugs, looking slightly disappointed. Ah. Why is she disappointed?

Fleet frowns at Chimera's expression. "What's the problem?" he asks, curious. So /now/ what did Fleet do wrong?

Chimera shakes her head, refusing to commmunicate any more on that.. 'Nothing.' she 'says', 'I should go back to the office.'

Fleet looks frankly baffled. He stands up straight, as the conversation seems to be winding up, and then suddenly remembers where he is. Oh, scrap! Right outside Cyclonus' office!

Chimera knows where she is. She knows who she is. She knows.. uh... a curious look. 'Something wrong?'

Fleet smiles a bit wryly in self-depreciation. "Erm... I have mentioned before that for a very long time, one of my survival tactics was to lay low and draw as little attention to myself as possible, right? That involves not spending excessive amounts of time in places like this," he gestures to Cyclonus' office to indicate what he means. It may also help clarify a bit of his non-tauntingness as well.

Chimera smiles indulgently, shrugs. 'Very well.' And.. time for player to go sleepies. which is why Chimera is heading out of the room to go do.. uh... paperwork.

Fleet leaves not long after, although he's not following or anything. No, he's got training to do!