Jazzâs visual feed lit up in blue as he fully integrated into the comm console. Itâs been a while since heâs been inside the console like this. He glanced at his servos, now seemingly translucent with a light blue glow. He then regarded the system briefly, before he caught the sight of Blasterâs user, softly glowing red, off to the side.
âAlright, mech, where do we start?â Jazz asked the comm officer.
Blaster narrowed his optics, âHave you ever really done this before?â
âI wasnât lyinâ, I did dabble,â Jazz replied with an innocent shrug, âJustâŚbeen a while since I dabbled last.â When Blasterâs expression remained unchanged, he added, âIf I start beinâ a dead weight, Iâll back off. Promise.â
Blasterâs translucent frame seemed to relax somewhat, his judging scowl softening into something more sympathetic. âThe scrambling is intense, might mess with your visuals as well as your audials. Iâll focus on minimizing that as much as I can but itâll probably still really suck.â
Jazz nodded in understanding. Blaster added, âYou can use the clear path I make doing that to communicate with [Mirage]. Iâm still not sure if the hijacker has any other tricks theyâre hiding soâŚjust be careful.â
âGotcha,â Jazz said. Blaster gave him one last look before waving his servo, bringing up the channel with Mirage. The two were instantly met with the overwhelming sound of static. True to Blasterâs word, intense enough to even cause Jazzâs visual feed to glitch out a bit. Blaster was quick to counteract the scrambling, bringing it down from an overwhelming cacophony of noise and overstimulation on oneâs sensornet to a quieter din. Still bothersome, but significantly more manageable. Jazz recalibrated his visual feed and noted that Blasterâs frame was tense as he focused fully on battling the scrambling. Even though he was built for tasks such as these, it still seemed to be difficult.
âHurry,â Blaster grit out, âDo you see the line?â
Jazz focused hard into the static until he caught sight of a faint stringâthe communication connection to Mirage. When one is completely integrated with the communications console during a time where itâs not actively being sabotaged, the channel is usually wide, clear, open, and impossible to miss. Now, however, it was thin and nearly indiscernible within the static, looking as if it could crumble away at any moment. Jazz reached for the flickering line, and faintly he could hear the ragged, hyperventilating vents of his subordinate.
Chapter 9 of my fic, Radio Static, has been posted!! Mirage has his first SpecOps mission...