Staff Meeting

Staff Room, King of Beasts, Kuwahawi Island

Borodan looked at the clock once more as he shuffled his stack of papers about. This was to be the first official meeting of the King of Beasts' facilities department and the members on staff were already making more of a mess than they were going to clean up. The seconds passed agonizingly slow for the hunter-turned-administrator until, at long last, he could call this meeting into order.

"Lady and gentlebots, thank you for coming on short notice," he announced, clapping his hands together. "Let's do a quick roll call even though I know we're all here. Halfshell?"

"Yarr!"

"Scylla?"

"Here, darling."

"Coelagon?"

"Eh? Speak up!"

"Good enough. Terrormander?"

"Gimme a minute. A Lapras just popped up."

"Oh, really? I mean, er, Sea Phantom."

"I'm ready to go, boss!"

Borodan nodded. "Very well. As part of our...ahem...'rehabilitation' we have been assigned to work here at the King of Beasts for one of their seasons, after which our parole officer, Groundbreaker, will decide if we are free to go or if we need to work here another year.

I'll be fulfilling the role of Assistant Manager during the night shift while you five will be acting as groundskeepers and, if need be, maintenance staff since the last repairman retired and went to work with Kawashiro. Any questions?"

A shark with legs, Sea Phantom, stood up. "Aye! Will we be fightin' anyone? The Kobbers are always fightin', right?"

Borodan nodded. "In addition to our hotel duties, we are allowed - in an extremely limited capacity - to do security functions. Basically, if you see two guests getting into a fight, you may break it up - GENTLY - if no full-time security staff are on hand.

But we will not be allowed our swords or laser pistols without permission from Groundbreaker."

Halfshell, a big turtle, stood up. "But what about God Neptune, matey? Can we be formin' him?"

Borodan shook his head. "Not unless our parole officer permits it. We need to play this EXTREMELY straight, do what we're told, and get out of here."

The hunter perked up though, having an idea.

"My previous duty, enforcing the Brandes Accord, is technically still in effect. I shall petition to allow you to join me on my hunts if rogue Decepticons come to the planet. Then you shall be allowed to fight and make some possible bonuses in the process. Sound good?"

A round of hardy "Aye aye"s answered his question.

"Very well then. We will meet again tomorrow to discuss more specific duties, work schedules, and the like. Dismissed."

Borodan stood and left the office in just shy of a rush. He had to meet with the other hotel managers and then with Groundbreaker to discuss his proposal. Back in the staff room, the Seacons huddle around and began to weep tears of joy.

"This is the break we've been waiting for, mateys!" Halfshell cheered. "We'll work hard, get our ship back, and then find all kinds of treasure in this world's seas!"

"Why wait that long, boss?" the squidlike Scylla asked. "An island chain like this will likely have many wrecks we can plunder to build our fortune."

"Aye! As long as there aren't handsome sea folks for ye to woo, lass," Sea Phantom noted, only to get slapped with a tentacle.

"I don't know about treasure, but at least we can get our ship back and get in some scraps," the manta ray, Terrormander, added.

"Have heart, lad! We'll have all that and more by the time we're done here!" Halfshell said. "Ain't that right, Coelagon?.......Coelagon?!"

The eldest of the Seacons sat in the corner, snoring gently. Halfshell bristled. "WAKE UP, MATEY!"

The fish monster Deceptacon awoke with a start. "Oh, is it time to eat?"

Halfshell thought about it for a moment. "Aye, it be a good time to eat. And then...THEN...we be gettin' to work! Learn the lay of the land, go visit that library lass Koakuma to start findin' some leads, and then...er...then..."

"Then we go to the beach!" Scylla added.

"Aye, then we can go to the beach," Halfshell agreed, nodding.