SEMI-OPEN || Return to the Ship

[legalcy]

CHARACTERS: Minimus Ambus and you
LOCATION: Sunlight Room, Common Living Area, Minimus's room (closed)
DATE: Post-Mission
CONTENT: Minimus does the best thing after that mess of a mission: get to work
WARNINGS: Will add as needed


Common Living Area

[The sting of being unwanted and doing more harm than good still hurts even after millions of years of being the most hated species in the universe. Minimus wonders if he feels more torn up about it than he should considering that he was well-liked by the Galactic Council and considered to be an exception to the rule...But that wasn't Minimus about whom they were thinking. The idea of Ultra Magnus was a good story for them to cling onto: a powerful, one-mech-army that went after the worst of his kind and protected organics.

That's not who Minimus really is. And he knows he didn't agree with most of his teammate's actions, but they are what they are. He's learned that he can't control everyone to behave the way he wants. Still, the disorganization between their ranks irritates him to the core of his character. What kind of crew goes out into a field without mission control or without a agreed-upon set of guidelines to follow? The mission on the train was straightforward: find the orb, rescue their friends from being convicted for murder, stop Newt. This is different.

This calls for his specialty: bureaucracy.

His own decisions came from the prior experiences of other orbers, but they weren't written down in one resource document. It's time to fix that.

Before setting down for work, he cleans the common area, reorganizes the magazines, adjusts the furniture, and reaches a state of calm. At one of the tables, he has a writing pad and his personal datapad set up, a stack of legal books, and his personal music player playing at a low but audible volume. Today's playlist is piano music from the Romantic Era fit for studying to.

Once in a while, when he feels particularly stuck, he pauses the song and calls out:] Ah - have you been on the ship for long? I wanted to ask you a few questions.

Sunlight Room

[But when he has to be alone and ruminate on what he did - on what he said to his closest friends before the mission, on what he failed to say - Minimus braves the imaginary dirt caught in his pedes to stand in the middle of the meadow, look up at the illusion of a sky, and watch the fake clouds. Legal debates are easy for which to prepare, personal matters of the heart and apologies for accusations said during moments of distress are difficult.

At least the scenery is pleasant. He might forget that anyone else can enter without his knowing.]

Private to Drift:

If you have time, I am waiting for you in the sunlight room. I wish to apologize.

[As written, he's already there, positioned in the shadow of the forest to elegantly shade his frame. His hands are folded behind his straight back.]

Minimus's Room, Closed to Megatron

[A message has been sent to Megatron: he wants to talk in the privacy of his room. He swore that he didn't want to continue living on the ship with regrets, and it's time to follow up on his promise. His body is actually transformed and parked in the corner while the avatar of Verity sits at his desk, hands folded on the lap.]

...I want to thank you for agreeing to come here. [Even if the topic of discussion is personal, there's some sense of formality he wants to keep for now.] I was not in the best of moods a month ago, but I hope that I can be more receptive to what you say this time.

Comments

[blackfire]

（ always befriend the local nerd who writes mission reports in his spare time ig. itachi looks at minimus a moment longer, cinnabar-red eyes betraying nothing of an expression, and then — ）

This was your second mission, correct? How did you find it?

[legalcy]

[Minimus starts to feel some sort of bond with this man. Someone who understands the importance of detailed paperwork. A nerd for a nerd.]

It's more chaotic than the ones I've had with my crewmates, and those often spiraled out of control. I noticed that there was no agreed-upon standard on how to interact with the local planet while collecting the orb, which was rather odd considering how focused we were on the objective while investigating the train.

A smaller environment, a less personal mission, there are a multitude of factors that could have impacted this drastic change.

[He hand returns to the desk, a finger tapping as he flips though his internal notes.]

I'm not entirely comfortable knowing that there isn't a formal agreement - or even a handbook on how to behave on missions.

[blackfire]

（ this is why he works alone, and doesn't really care what most of the others get up to on their endeavours. itachi lifts one shoulder in a shrug, though there is an economy of motion to it that suggests stillness is his default. ）

Do you have suggestions for what might be done?

[legalcy]

I'm working on a document.

[On the datapad is a draft of said contract, formatted to standards only used in court cases and government documents.]

Rather than splitting into smaller, less effective groups, I propose a standard approved by the mission crew - there will be a public meeting to discuss its contents, of course. Without a commander on the ground, this is the next best way to ensure group cohesion.

[His eyes literally light up as he speaks. Whether 90% of the ship wants this or not, Minimus is embracing the opportunity to make use of his skills.]

[blackfire]

And how do you propose adapting to this with a population that shifts by at least five to ten members every few months? No one is guaranteed to trust an existing system, efforts will be stymied, you yourself may leave and your work wasted.

（ it isn't disagreement, it's more... things to be mindful of. he's seen a great many people come and go in the ten months he has been present aboard the station. ）

[legalcy]

The good thing about paperwork is that it lasts long after an organization's population has changed. It's an agreement on how we are expected to act to ensure the success of an orb retrieval and protect the local planet. Of course, I will include language from the Tyrest Accord from my universe - it covers interaction with non-Cybertronian peoples - but the important part is that it is modified to our personal situation.

[He doesn't mind the debate. It's more constructive than the "Minimus, this is pointless" he often received on the Lost Light, and it's improving the final product.]

We can host a monthly meeting to discuss revisions and additions.

[blackfire]

（ he meant less the paperwork and more the enforcement — such systems rarely survive the loss of the one spearheading them — but it's not a point worth clarifying.

his attention finally drifts, red eyes alighting on something across the common room. enthusiasm aside, he is hearing two distinct plans from the cybertronian — a suggestion of collaboration, but preceded by an indication he will be using his own world's rules to stand the idea up. ）

I would recommend against using language specific to your universe unless you can strip it entirely of all provenance. Regardless of your intent, I suspect that any attempt at an 'accord' that is strongly cribbed from any one person's home will be cause for suspicion and alarm among the others. It will be worse for you, as you are Cybertronian, and the majority of us are some iteration of human. More than one person I know of here has been subjugated by robotic life forms in their own worlds, so it is possible any attempt at leadership and guidance from any of you — be it Drift, Megatron or yourself — may be looked upon as control no matter how well-meant, or well-organized.

（ the group cohesion of the ximilia is already fractured, it would take only one vocal opponent to utterly sink such a plan as the group devolves to petty infighting. he shakes his head, and reaches up to push long strands of hair back from his face.

he gestures to the datapad document, memorized in a blink of the sharingan's perfect recall. ）

Rather than approach the crew with a plan you have devised on your own — even if you intend to refine it with and seek approval from the others after the fact — it may serve you better to simply open the floor to such things and offer to work with others on the initial draft itself at the outset rather than attempting it yourself. （ he taps the data pad with one long, elegant finger. ） A document written like something one might find in a legal accord is intimidating to those who lack experience. An offer of initial collaboration would seem less like taking control, and more like assistance. A natural leader may emerge during the process. More individuals will have reason to be invested, which reduces the likelihood of the document falling by the wayside should you depart.

（ he lead men to their deaths, once upon a time, and he is no stranger to the inner workings of diplomacy — even if only as an assassin. ）

[legalcy]

True, true... [His fingers stroke the piece of metal on his chin. The Tyrest Accord is the only piece of documentation the thoroughly outlines interplanetary conduct with which he is familiar, but it was designed for Cybertronians in mind.]

I know of a few humans who are aware of life forms on other planets. I can put out a call for their expertise and integrate it into this document. That way, we have more people willingly involved in its development. After the rest of the crew reads it, I can present it to our Degar and Viveca for official approval.

[He nods at his own plan. Those two are essentially the leaders of this ship, thus have the ultimate authority aboard the Ximilia.]

But if not a legal document, how else will it be codified?

[blackfire]

I do not think most here would submit themselves to a legal system even of our own devisement. Common ideas, grounds, suggestions — yes. But an overarching law, the breaking of which would then require punishment? We are both too many, and too different for that. Laws are a reflection of morality, and morality is a reflection of one's world and the experiences thereon. As you saw in our last mission, some prefer not to kill, some take no issue with it. What is the correct choice? Are we to outlaw one or the other? Decide by vote? It will not prevent people taking matters into their own hands in the heat of the moment. Do we execute those that break rules they may have never agreed to, having come to us later in time? Spend what little free time we have with juries and rulings? All this, in the pursuit of our own power? That does not end well.

（ he shakes his head. they are not and will never be a village. such a thing would not be unifying — it would simply deepen the fissure he foresaw in a discussion with james all those many months ago. ）

We cannot evoke legality. Guidelines only. The simpler they are the better, and with no legalese to obfuscate matters. It needs to be drafted so that the youngest or least educated among us can understand it easily, without needing it explained. That is the only fair thing.

[legalcy]

Guidelines invoke some level of authority - if not one of us, then from the commanders of this ship. While they aren't enforceable to the same level as rules, they are to remind us how missions are meant to be approached. A letter posted by one person has no greater impact on the crew until it reaches a consensus. This unofficial agreement thus provides a degree of power to the document.

[He has his old law textbooks saved on this datapad, and he'll add some definitions and observations on the impacts of guidelines vs. codes of conduct, though the gist of his argument has already been given.]

We are meant to be a team, working under the guidance of Viveca. I worry what will happen if we fracture to a worse degree next time.

[blackfire]

（ it is a ... quaint, perhaps, view of the crew, and itachi shakes his head after a moment. ）

If Viveca and Degar wished such guidelines to exist, they would have had them by now, and our agreeing to them would likely be a condition of our being permitted aboard the station. They have the final say over who joins our ranks, but they have been quite clear that they do not consider themselves to be our superiors.

（ he casts one last look at the data pad, and then rises gracefully from his chair. ）

Excuse me. If you wish to discuss this matter later, please send me a message. I have business elsewhere at the moment.

（ and so he takes his leave with a short, polite incline of his head. ）