Test run for yeerk drone vehicles: one

[screamsofstars]

((from here))

Starscream's moving as soon as her feet hit the floor of her lab, weaving briskly in and out among the stations where her assistants and drones are working.

"This way," she tells the human host who's following her with the bucket containing his squad mates. "Through this door."

Silence falls over them as they enter her private sanctum, which is currently dominated by three tables in the middle of the room. On each of those tables is what looks like a body covered from the chest down with a sheet. One of them is a dead ringer for a certain human woman named Natasha Stanton. Another is a fair haired male, and the third is a dark skinned male with strong features.

"Set the bucket here." She turns to look at him, her expression saying that she expects to be obeyed.

Comments

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"Transformers?" Five glances at her comrades, who return the blank look.

"You're some kind of energy being?" Dallesh wonders, drawing an odd look from Three (who's rather surprised the technician would think of it).

Sorry, Starscream, but hyper-evolved energy creatures are more common in Yeerk experience than sentient robots, who they've never met at all. Barring the Chee, of course, but that's a secret.

[screamsofstars.livejournal.com]

"Autonomous 'AI', actually. Millenia ago we were sentient robots, but we've passed that primitive stage of existence." She regards them for a moment, then blurs and shifts into her favorite alt, a sleek little needle of a silver jet with blue and red trim.

And yes, those are guns she's wearing; those little pointy things on her wings.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

There's a subtle widening of eyes as they process that, Five momentarily caught up in the possibilities it presents.

"But that's imp- incredible," Dallesh murmurs, watching Starscream as a technician who's just learned how their homeworld forebears felt on sight of the first spaceship.

For some reason, that prompts Three to glance back at the bucket, though he, like the other Aftran, is paying more attention to the fact their new friend is armed. Much better than they are.

[screamsofstars.livejournal.com]

Pride shows in Starscream's expression as she shifts back, feeling quite pleased with the effect of her actions. But she quickly resumes the harder expression. "Nothing is impossible with enough intelligence and time. But that's enough about me. This offer has nothing to do with altruism. I'm just bored."

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"So you decide to interfere in a war of strangers?" Five asks, thinking hard.

[screamsofstars.livejournal.com]

"Hardly strangers." She glances toward the Natasha shell, but leaves them to make their own mental connections at her words and action.

Instead she smirks. "I could always offer the andalites a weapon for ridding themselves of yeerks instead. But that could get... messy."

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Five stiffens. "That's not necessary," she says, in the arch tone of 'I'm not going to show that that frightens me'. "We just like to know our... allies'... motives. That's all."

"But why us?" Dallesh wonders aloud. "Why not go to- someone else?" There's a fractional hesitation: it's not sure quite how much she knows, and specifying their rank mightn't be smart. It's not Dallesh's place to give things away.

The only one of them who really looks at the Natasha shell is Three, who starts and frowns at it.