Food for Thought (Mike/Open)

[Alexis Young]

((January 2^nd, 2025))

If there was one thing Alexis liked about the Autobots, it was that they understood the human need to eat from time to time. It seemed like such a simple thing, but she had come to realize how complex other species were. She'd worked with the Autobots for a good while now, and some of them still had trouble grasping many functions of human life. But they did try their hardest, and as it was, there was food. In fact, there was a lot of it, considering the low number of humans in the area. Perhaps they over compensated? It was amusing. They were prepared for so much more human cooperation, but they had so little.

That thought had come to mind recently as well. Why were they so prepared, if there was no plan? There were humans against them - why not have some on their side? It bothered her, sometimes. It wasn't that she was lonely - that would be selfish anyway. No, she really believed that humans could help the Autobots. She wasn't sure if this idea would go over well, though, and she didn't want to risk anything major - especially since she was getting ready to start preparations for a new job. She could be gone for long over a month, maybe even a year if things got serious. She didn't want to start something with no chance of it being continued. She'd heard there were a couple others on base, friendlies that'd likely be around for a while. If she could bring them around to the idea, maybe she'd be willing to bring it up to the Prime himself...

Having gotten something to eat, she sat down alone.

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[Mike Traceur Knight]

There was much paperwork and exchange between Mike, Cira and the rest of FLAG in the last 30 something hours. It was hard to believe that only a day prior they had discovered KARR's existence and that he had been revive by Decepticons after encountering a look-alike alien Bot named Jazz. Mike hadn't been present until a few hours later after the encounter, but they had landed as soon as they could to get acquainted with the Autobots. And now father and daughter were working for them, primarily because of their knowledge on KARR and the AI vehicles and personal abilities they had to offer.

And now Mike was bustling in for lunch while Cira was still out somewhere with Interceptor. KITT was in the security room with Ratchet still, exchanging many questions. Grabbing a basic meal and a Rockstar energy drink, he spotted the only person in the room and sat down across from her. "Mind if I join you? It's pretty quiet here."

[Alexis Young]

Alexis smiled at the man, her naturally lopsided smile a common sight on the Autobot base, tucking blond hair behind one ear as she replied. "Sure, go ahead. It's not very often that there's somebody in here with me - I'm usually sitting alone. My name's Alexis; What's yours?" Her friendliness was customary to her nature, though it didn't betray her thoughtfulness - at least, not much. It was nice to hear that there were more people getting involved in the Autobot cause - from what she could gather, she assumed this was one of the visitors on base, and that being polite was not only friendly, but also called for in this situation. There was an open seat across the table that he could sit in if he wished.

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[Mike Traceur Knight]

"Mike Knight, was recently recruited here. I'm a liaison operative." Mike munched on some chips then took a swig from the Rockstar. "Nice meeting an operative here - I haven't seen many in the last 24 hours. Then again I've been confined to paper work a good portion of the time. My daughter 'n I just met the Autobots for the first time the other day. Now that my head isn't killing me from severe pain, joining up with them has inspired me to better protect and serve their cause. Do you know how many operatives these Autobts have working with them?"

He wanted to brainstorm some ideas with this young woman to see if the Autobots needed some help recruiting members. He hadn't learned anything about MECH yet, but he still knew that if they had a proper line of soldiers they could get more done and be more useful protecting human life when the Autobots were busy with those so-called Decepticons. KARR was apparently revived by one and that made him want to take new precautions in protecting his people where he could further.

[Alexis Young]

((Okay, so, I'm just kind of making stuff up. If I'm, like, WAAAAAY off, just tell meh, mkay? Cuz Alexis is the character that I'm bound to make the most mistakes with... Oh, and sorry if she seems a bit like a spaz here - she's not normally, she's just kind of excited. xD))

Alexis grinned at him warmly - an almost scary thing coming from her, to those that knew her - though in this case, it was more of a welcome. "Well, it's great to meet you, Mike. And, unfortunately, there aren't many of us here. In fact, some days I'd almost swear I'm the only one. There's actually surprisingly little government involvement - I was pretty sure they'd be all up in our business." With a light chuckle, Alexis took a bite out of her sandwich - she was very fond of sandwiches - and chewed thoughtfully.

Swallowing that single bite of sandwich, she continued. "Of course, I personally would like to see more human involvement on our side, but I'm still trying to come up with how to go about doing that." She had stopped smiling by this point, instead an odd quirk coming onto her face, a kind of quirk seen on the face of a frustrated person, with the lips all swerved up to the side, one eye more narrow than the other. She looked at her sandwich rather intently with this face on for a brief moment, before looking back at Mike, a more neutral expression on her face. "I suppose it'll work out eventually though... I just hope it works before I'm off base." She added, a sudden calmness in her tone as she thought about it. It didn't occur to her, immediately, that she could ask for his help - she'd always been a bit of a do-it-yourself kind of girl, so asking for help didn't come immediately for her. No, she was almost talking to herself now, though she still watched him for a reaction. That could be taken wrong - it could seem like she was hinting to him - but really, she was musing out loud.

After a moment, her face lightened up a bit as the idea to actually ask him struck her. "I don't suppose you guys would be able to help with that, would you? That would help on so many levels - and it could be the difference between Autobots bombarded on all sides and a rescued earth, in the end. I mean, if we don't get some people on our side, we're doomed, and that's just about the thick of it." She seemed a little bit too cheerful to say something like that, but the hint of desperation in the statement was clear in her expression. She really, really hoped this guy agreed to help, however he could manage. It was a big project to tackle single handedly, especially considering she was going to be gone.

She had no idea this man had been thinking of something similar - why would she? He was new here, and, from her past experience, new people took a while to get used to things before too much started to happen. She'd been wrong before, though. She also didn't know that he was actually hoping to brainstorm ideas, and that she was setting up the conversation almost perfectly, entirely on accident. Of course, there was no such thing as coincidence - everything had a chain of events, but sometimes the chains just happened to overlap - like now. However, hopefully her tendency to wander off on a tangent to the conversation hadn't off put Mike; that could be hazardous to the idea, and to their future as fellow Autobot allies. She didn't realize how off putting she could be when she was in a kind of bouncy mood - and that was the only way to describe it right now, too. Bouncy. New people, new ideas, something that actually had potential to happen - stuff like that made her bouncy all the time. If only it happened more often, she'd have a pretty good life.

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[Mike Traceur Knight]

"Yeah that was my initial impression." Mike replied with a nod. "I'm sure we could help with it - after all we really just started here and need stuff to do, so will the AI vehicles we have offered to the Autobots. The more busy we are the better, I say." more munching. "Perhaps we can get one or two units started here? I don't know if this base is big enough to support them. I mean I saw some civilian young adults last night but that was about it. Could take some work recruiting the right people. But if we get some additional government support, that should help. My organization has some connection to the government, but it may not be enough to get the right kind of recruiting done without proper funding and permissions."

The tone in Mike's voice indicated quite a bit of excitement, which was an improvement from yesterday for sure. Last night, he hadn't been so thrilled because of the severe headaches, Cira had been the one doing most of the talking and had urged them to join. He had responded "yeah sure, we'll do it" with a slight groan while rubbing his temples. Somehow he managed to survive the night and was able to rest here instead of waiting to fly back to "home" - the Satellite Surveillance Center at area 51.

[Alexis Young]

Alexis nodded thoughtfully, long blond hair bouncing in front of her face for a moment, having escaped the clutches of her ponytail, before she quickly tucked it behind an ear. "Of course, we're going to have to establish links and get a base of sorts. I can talk to the Autobots about allowing a constructive add on to our current base; we might even get a couple of the bots to help. I'm not entirely sure how to handle the deal with the government funding... But I can talk Optimus about an alliance, of sorts, and expanding the base - in fact, I can probably go see if he's available right after lunch. Big guy's usually pretty open about that stuff, so that discussion should go pretty well - who knows, he might have a few suggestions."

Alexis paused for a moment, narrowing her eyes in moderate thought before continuing. "Of course, we are kind of thinking ahead, too. We don't even know if we're going to have permissions. But... I suppose you never know until you try, right?" She grinned, looking at Mike squarely, her bright blue eyes widened slightly with excitement, despite the slight lingering doubt. She'd never really been one to dive headfirst into things; she was cautious. That's why she was alive, after all; it was a natural caution. Think all you want, but be careful about it, that's how she did things. It was great, too, that she wouldn't be the only person working on this if they went through with it - because that, would be a mess. She was certain that they could find people to join them, though; even if they had to find them one at a time.

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[Mike Traceur Knight]

"Indeed, this could be the next big thing the Autobots get themselves involved with. Perhaps you can visit our base sometime, so you can get a small-scale idea of what the environment could be like the for the soldiers. I expect whatever design we come up with, it will be much more sophisticated and cover more ground. Our facility is hidden in California. However, we have some connection to Area 51, and we have air transportation already covered for. Which means that we can easily help you pick out a location. Ideally, my 'Knight' family wouldn't want to have to commune too far from California, so hopefully we can pick a reasonable site not too far away from the Autobots but not enough to raise suspicion? Never mind the future, I'm already thinking of ideal locations!" Mike replied, finishing with a chuckle before working on his food for a moment.

Trying to keep himself from talking between bites, he added decidedly: "I will have a meeting with my own people once I know our AI's are settled here. If you haven't met them yet, maybe you can soon. Or on some random happenstance, perhaps. They're contracted to work with the Autobots to help us stay in the loop so we can provide assistance wherever they might need an extra hand from the humans rather than a single liaison officer."

[Alexis Young]

Alexis nodded thoughtfully, trying to think of a good location within the (admittedly vague) parameters that he'd given - though this in itself could take a while. As long as she had an acceptable area, however, she could work it out with Optimus and the other high ranking Autobots. She was almost certain that they'd accept the idea; it was just the practicality of the idea that make make things a bit iffy. However, Alexis could ride this wave of excitement. She could fulfill the promise behind it, too; she had had enough time with the Autobots that they trusted her, for the most part. And so it was with an affirmative nod and a grin, between bites of food - she, unlike Mike, had no qualms about talking between bites - that she continued to build the idea up.

"I would love to work further with this idea. The Autobots need as much help as they can get - and, seeing as they've dedicated themselves to defending the earth, I think it's about time some of us humans begin to return the favor, eh?" With a pause, and a bit of thought, she eventually added one last concern of her own - what they should have been concerned with in the beginning. "How are we going to pay for construction?" She almost felt like it was a dumb question, but it was a very valid concern; she had no real funding to work from, just a solid, well established connection with the Autobots. In fact, they could probably do all of this without her - which they'd have to do for the most part anyway; her next mission started soon enough. She'd be here to help kick start, and then she'd be absent for an extended period of time - time period yet to be determined. Hopefully, she'd come back in one piece. She wasn't exactly a troop meant for light duty; there was a reason the Autobots kept her around, at least.

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[Mike Traceur Knight]

"We may need to get a few loans though we STILL have some reserves left over from my wife's father's account when he passed away, it gains interest though is not as significant as it once was but it could still contribute if we get full permission from her. I'm certain she will be in full support of the idea, this way FLAG can operate closer to the Autobots while keeping our own base under cover with out risk of being jeopardized. If it continues to be isolated it will be less likely for snooping Decepticons to discover.

This base could provide a site for humans working with the Autobots to go to, and a site that the Autobots can take refuge in when needed. This will be especially useful to those that have human partners or close friends, as it will provide much more room than the current base does. At least, that is what I'm aiming for. We should collaborate with my engineers sometime for a rough draft, so we can get the best structures considered. I think the expense will be well worth whatever loans we may have to pay. Mike couldn't stop talking now, as he himself had so many ideas for various parts of the base already, even the central zone where everything moved in an out around the clock. He wanted it to be as secure and complex as the GI base in the movie, he didn't care if it was similar to some fictional movie, it was a good idea and he was sure that others might have similar in mind if they were going to make this base an underground one similar to FLAG and the Autobot base which was constructed into a giant plateau.

[SeekerWing]

THREAD CLOSED

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