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Ratchet had assured him Arcee would be well enough to speak with him, but Magnus was still extremely quiet and careful as he entered the room. It wasn't that he did not trust Ratchet to have her fixed up, but even he had not gotten away from that fight with Megatron without some difficult injuries. Arcee had looked terrible when he got back to base, and while he’d done his best to handle as many issues as he could while she was down, he knew she would be wanted an update on their situation.
He knocked on the door frame gently as he came in, “Commander?”

Arcee's been recovering steadily since Ratchet worked on her, but she's had a lot on her mind, too. Ratchet had certainly given her plenty to think about. She's sitting up in the medical berth by now, at least -- gingerly, because even with Ratchet's expert work, the welds across her abdomen are still fresh. She looks up as Magnus knocks, looking weary, but alert.

"Magnus." She nods, sitting up a little straighter, or at least trying to. "Come on in. I think we're overdue for a debriefing."

"Of course." Magnus crossed the room in a few strides to stand next to her berth. He glanced over her healing injuries with a bit of an unreadable expression, lips pursed. It was good she was recovering so swiftly, but this shouldn't have happened to begin with.

"Commander, may I ask what transpired during the fight before my arrival? Orion was rather distracted when I inquired earlier."

First she'd had that unpleasant turn of conversation with Ratchet about what had happened with Orion, and now she has to relive her embarrassing defeat at the hands of Megatron. It's not been a good day for Arcee's pride.

She tries not to look too resigned when he asks, but she does slump a little in the berth, her optics dimming. Honestly, the memory is embarrassing -- and not just because she lost. She knows she'd let anger take over that day, clouding her judgment. Hell, it's probably why Megatron crushed her so easily. Arcee vents out slowly, her gaze dropping to her lap. It's hard not to feel a little defeated, stil

"I met Starscream at city hall," she says, a little terse. "I didn't want to break our agreement with Legion, but he made it clear he wasn't willing to negotiate, so I attacked him to keep him from getting the Forge. Orion was there, too, but he wasn't participating in the fighting. I was doing fine, though -- I had Starscream beat -- but that's when Megatron showed up." She clenches her hands into fists. The more she thinks about it, the more embarrassing the whole thing becomes in retrospect. She should have been better than that. "I...engaged Megatron. It didn't last long."

Magnus looks a little disappointed by not surprised by the news. They'd gone into the fight intending to do anything it took to win, he couldn't exactly criticize her for prioritizing Megatron as a threat. Though it was starting to look like all they did was manage to wind up in a worse situation than they started.
"It would have been best if you had allowed Starscream to make the first move. This will complicate matters moving forward, if we want to maintain a presence on this planet."

With a large sigh, he hands her a datapad he had brought in with him, open to a particular correspondence record. He doesn't seem particularly pleased with it.

"I received a response from CONDOR. They are requesting access to our personnel logs, as well as the current location of all Autobot members on Earth."

"He wasn't going to make the first move, Magnus. Starscream was gunning for the Forge and nothing else -- and the Decepticons knew we'd be forced to engage them in order to stop them. They forced our hand."

Arcee's expression only darkens when she looks over the correspondence record, her optics dimming. She vents out a frustrated sigh, lowering her face into her hand.

"Primus, it is not a good week for the Autobots," she mutters. "We can't afford not to cooperate with the local authorities. We're in a bad spot as it is, and if we can convince them we're on their side, we might be able to get one up on Megatron. So..." She hands the datapad back to him, grimacing. "Give them what they want -- within reason. Personnel logs and locations are one thing, but don't hand over any sensitive information. I think I can trust your judgment on where to draw the line."

If Ultra Magnus doesn't look impressed by her excuse about Starscream, it's because he isn't. As a commander on the field she should have been in control of the situation. But he would never express such shortcomings aloud. Not right now.

"Of course, I'll attempt to expedite this process as much as possible." He reaches a hand out to take back the datapad.

"As I mentioned, they requested the location of all Autobots. You wouldn't happen to have received on new information on Rodimus' whereabouts, have you?"

Man, this is just turning into a cascade of things Arcee doesn't want to talk about. At the mention of Rodimus, Arcee sinks into the berth wearily, cycling air through her vents. She doesn't look at Magnus.

"No. He's...still AWOL."

"Have you considering allowing me to question Drift directly about this? I'm certain he knows something about Rodimus' situation he isn't telling us." He pauses, his expression taking on a look of mild disgust, "I imagine an ex-con like him would have no qualms withholding information from superior officers."

He taps the datapad with the back on one hand, "I know we previously discussed pursuing Rodimus would be a waste of resources, but it may influence our relationship with CONDOR if they discover we are unable to keep track of our own troops."

Arcee's gaze snaps back to Magnus and she sits up, quickly -- too quick; she feels a sharp ripple of pain through her midsection but she ignores it, her optics blazing.

"Drift is an Autobot," she snaps, a snarl at the edge of her voice, "and if I find out you've been interrogating him like he's some kind of prisoner, then I will take disciplinary action, Magnus. Drift made a mistake, and he came clean. I'd trust Drift with my life -- and I trust him to tell me the truth."

She's still raw from the conversation she'd had with Ratchet and she's angry, angry that Magnus would even suggest something about one of their own, let alone someone she trusts as much as Drift. She gives Magnus a hard look, trying not to vent hard from the strain of bolting upright like that.

"Am I understood, Magnus?"

Magnus straightens up, a little taken aback at her hasty response. The insinuation that he would go against her orders at this stage in their mission was frankly insulting.

"Commander, I have not taken any action beyond the normal demands of my station, per your orders, but I urge you to consider the suspicion of Drift being completely unaware of Rodimus' whereabouts considering their history. The two have frequently collaborated on similarly questionable excursions and it would be remiss to ignore the precedence here."

On some level, Arcee knows she's crossed a line here, that she'd gone just a little overboard, but she's still nettled, still agitated. And beyond that, she doesn't want to think that Drift's still lying to her. It just...it doesn't make sense.

"Yes, I know. And it's apparent that that's what happened here, again. But we already found him out and he came clean about it, Magnus. What reason would he have to lie to me twice?"

Edited 2014-08-04 03:48 (UTC)

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