Rattlelatch kept up his cheerful mood even as the conference room filled up. This would be a normal occurence if he wasn't at the front of the gathering, with every set of optics looking him over as each Autobot settled into a seat. Some gazes moved off elsewhere -- to regard a companion they had already been chatting with, to look for someone else in the room, or to gaze upward in a silent wish that this wouldn't be a waste of time. The green minibot was paranoid of the last but he tried not to think about it. He glanced to his teammates, Lockout and Firewall, who both gave him a thumb's up in response. The former was closer to him and so the light blue and gray female minibot also gave his arm a nudge of encouragement. Firewall, of average height and black and red of color scheme, busied himself with a nearby box.

The signal for everyone to quiet down came when Optimus Prime himself walked in. Amused expressions fell from the faces of the doubtful. If Prime was taking time out for this, it had to be a serious consideration. Optimus seated himself beside Wheeljack, who had his arms folded over his chest, his head tilted at an angle to indicate the expression his face could not: patient intrigue.

A few of the other minis in attendance cheered, some holding up signs with phrases of support. Rattlelatch waved to them and in the same motion waved for them to settle down, an embarrassed grin coming to his face. Then, as he looked around again, he felt the embarrassment flee and a steady nervousness replace it. He tapped the datapad he held in both hands against the top of the podium and hastily glanced at it.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. I know several of you have many things to do this week -- of course, things like the very reason you are here right now."

He sent a quick, private comm message to Lockout. "D-Did that sound as bad as I think?"

She didn't move an actuator as she commed back, "Don't worry about it! Keep going!"

He smiled at everyone. "As all of you know, I was a junior engineer when I started and I was qualified to become an official engineer over a year ago. This was an unexpected delay based on my skills. So now, as most of you know, I am running for Chief Engineer. Among other things, my intentions are to change the wait for qualified trainees and to help this division of the science and building team to expand further."

He tapped the datapad on the podium, louder this time which made him draw back slightly and his smile to turn openly nervous. A few chuckles passed through the audience. Rattlelatch cleared his vocalizer. "Um, does anybody have any questions before I continue?"

Wheeljack raised one hand. Rattlelatch quickly cycled some air through his intakes and nodded to him. "You say you want to change the so-called wait time for trainees. Currently, all trainees are on a different level based on their skills and development. This's made a better basis for promotion than the amount of time they've been placed at a given level."

"Well, uh, yes, this is true. I still mean to utilize that system, but there are adjustments that can be made, and a new mech in the position is just the one to do it!" Rattlelatch tried grinning again. Lockout and Firewall traded glances, knowing comments from Wheeljack would be 'Latch's undoing.

Fortunately, Grapple was the next to raise his hand. "What else do you bring to the collective team that we don't already have?"

"A different perspective on things." This earned more chuckles and some elbowing in the crowd on the non-minibot side of the room. "Err..." Rattlelatch blinked his optic shutters, looking to his datapad again. "And a different way of going about things! For if there is one thing I promise you, it's that you won't be disrupted by anything going haywire and leaving its mark all over the lab!"

"Aww," called Sideswipe, "But that's what gives the lab its cozy, lived-in atmosphere!"

Everyone laughed at that one, including Wheeljack, his headfins blinking merrily away. Rattlelatch tapped his datapad a few more times, quietly at first then harder. "Well then. How about when that experimental launcher went off and put a hole in several walls? What about the weaponry that failed its safety check because a safety hadn't been installed yet? Oh, and let me not mention the rampage of the Dinobots. A test on the programming beforehand might have been helpful."

His audience quieted down, apparently processing that. Or else they were debating to themselves whether to walk out or not.

"A vote for me is a vote for fewer explosions where they don't belong!"

~*~

Firewall dumped a pile of signs in a box, dusting his hands off on the way back up. He kicked the box under a table then looked over at Rattlelatch and Lockout sitting at the other end, a number of datapads arrayed around them. They were working deligently on datapads already in their hands, occasionally picking another up or passing one over to the other. He always found some interest in watching them work. "I think you did good, 'Latch. Except for that stuttering at the end."

Rattlelatch replied without taking his optics off the screen currently in front of him. "I couldn't help it. How would you feel trying to hold a discussion about why you're better than the guy who's been chief engineer for the last billion years, with that guy?"

"Hasn't really been that long, has it?"

"As if any of us is qualified to know," Lockout commented.

Firewall snickered, knowing her side of the story and, particularly, his own.

"Anyway," Rattlelatch went on, grabbing another datapad, "It's great that the rest of the guys were behind me but I think everyone else needs more convincing."

"You got that impression, hmm?" The taller mech leaned forward on the table with both hands on the edge.

'Latch looked up at him, face blank for a moment. "...Thank you for your support, Firewall. Even though, y'know, it doesn't matter that you're not a minibot. You're still already on my team."

Firewall shrugged, grinning.

"Total's in for the popularity poll," Lockout announced, having been ignoring the start of a familiar banter session in favor of the datapads.

Rattlelatch took the one she offered and scrunched up his face. "I'm going to start working on another speech."

"Just make it more speechy-like rather than having your skidplate handed to you."

"Be quiet, Firewall, and go look through that box again. I don't want to see any more signs with 'short' jokes in the slogan."