| abstract | - [[Category:]] [[Category:]] 2/26/2011 05:01 PM Two days ago the Autobots lost contact with one of their star cruiser, the Archa-Yau. The Steelhaven, under the command of Fortress Maximus, was dispatched out to the last known location of the Archa-Yau and after 48 hours of non-stop searching they finally discover their lost starship adrift in space. An Autobot shuttle filled with an Autobot search and rescue team has since departed from the Steelhaven and docked inside the Archa-Yau's shuttle bay. There's a dull thump and the shuttle's floor plating vibrates a bit, signifying that the transport has landed. The pilot of the shuttle pulls down a lever on the left side of the main control panel and the shuttle boarding hatch promptly slides open for the passengers to disembark, "Solid landing. Gravity field generator functional. You're all clear to disembark, nothing out of the ordinary here." The bend over form of Fortress Maximus can be seen at the back of the shuttle, "The Archa-Yau didn't respond to our hails and we have no idea what's happened here except the ship's adrift without primary power. Stay alert, everyone." Having said that, the Headmaster leader squeezes his way to the front and disembarks. "Well, if there's trouble, you can bet we're going to BLAM, pound the stuffing out of it," Warpath says, punching a closed fist into an open palm. He gets up from his seat and prepares to disembark with the others. "Do you think the ZAM, Decepticons had anything to do with this? Or maybe WOWIE, space pirates?" "Got it, boss." Landmine says- he's decked out in his Pretender armor, following closely behind the large headmaster. He brings out his Astro-blaster and checks a couple of its readings, then turns on his headlamp to add a little halogen illumination to the situation. "Want me to go first?" he says, trying (badly) to rein in his enthusiasm. "A ship like this is essentially a mech-made asteroid- sort of my specialty." Bug Creature hops out of the shuttle along with the other passengers, not up to any shenanigans for the time being, but no doubt he'll be looking for opportunities as they arise. Pointblank sighs, rolling his too-wide shoulders as he gets up and prepares himself mentally for the mission. "Peacemaker, hup," he calls to his partner, snapping his fingers. "Stay close. I don't want to lose anyone on this job." Peacemaker jogs back over to Pointblank from where he was looking out a window. "We're not going to LOSE anyone. Fortress Maximus is right there! It'll be fine, don't worry about it." Trying to reassure Pointblank, Peacemaker jumps up and transforms into his stereophonic sonic blaster mode. Pointblank grabs him out of the air and follows Fort Max. He doesn't feel better with a gun in his hand. He doesn't LIKE a gun in his hand. But he feels like he's more in control, at least. Rewind came along for the very good reason that you never know when you'll need someone his size to sneak around in the 'too tiny for regular Bots' sized passageways and such. That and it was a good way to avoid working at the harbor for the day. "Why does this remind me of every bad B movie in space ever made." And Horsepower follows the others out of the shuttle. He's got his laser shotgun out and resting against a shoulder, but he's mostly here in case they just need to fix something for the ship to be on its way... He does give Rewind a bit of a glare though. "Gee, thanks fer the reassurin' thought." "Check those corners!" jokes Peacemaker. The red glow of the emergency lights in the room paints Fortress Maximus' chromed helmet with a crimson hue color. The Headmaster leader looks around a bit with a grim expression before returning his attention back to the other Autobots, first to Warpath, "Hopefully we'll find out from the crew first hand, Warpath." Then over to Landmine, "If you're going anyway, make sure you bring someone else with you. I want at least two mech teams. We have no idea what's happened here." Fortress Maximus also lends a hand, like a few other Autobots have, by activating the various light sources on his large body frame and begins shining his lights over to the western end of the shuttle bay, "The reports indicated that the Archa-Yau was equipped with two shuttles..." He then looks back behind him where the rest of the shuttle bay is before looking back again, "...and they're not here. One of you guys head on over and check the computer's logs and see where those shuttles went." With that said, Fortress Maximus points a blue index finger towards the shuttle bay's exit, "We'll check out the rest of the ship." Little does he know, the shuttle bay's exit is jammed shut! Warpath goes to see if he can get through the shuttle bay door. He pushes the button. Nothing happens. He pushes it again. But nothing happens! He pushes the button repeatedly and then gives up in disgust. "Wow, it's ZAM, jammed." He tries prying the door manually. "Anybody want to ZOOM, give me a hand?" Pointblank jerks his head towards Landmine. "I'll cover him, Max. Be in touch." "Right, right. Buddy system." Landmine says, nodding. He glances over his shoulder at the other Autobots, and cracks an unseen grin behind his mouth plate and visor. "So, any volunteers? I'm better company than Repugnus, I can tell you that." he laughs. Then Landmine tromps over towards the doorway, at which point he nods to Warpath. "Probably lost power to the door pistons when the ship powered down- here." And with that, he wedges his hand in and *PULLS!* Combat: Space Miner compares his Strength to 60: Failure :(Rewind looks up at Horsepower, "My apologies." then a pause before offering, "I can tackle the logs. Should be a cinch to find out what happened to them, maybe see if there's any security footage about what happened to the pilot." Horsepower ehs as the mention of the doors being jammed? ".. That's not a good thing, now is it." Tromping towards Warpath he reaches back to stow his shotgun. And pulls out a rather large crowbar. "Here pard, lemme give ya a hand with that." Pointblank braces a knee against the doorframe and lends Landmine a hand, Peacekeeper briefly transforming and climbing onto Pointblank's shoulder to free Pointblank's hands. Combat: Horsepower compares his Strength to 60: Failure :(Combat: Warpath compares his Strength to 60: Success! Combat: Pointblank compares his Strength to 60: Failure :(Fortress Maximus nods at Pointblank, knowing that the enforcer level headness will be able keep the more excitable Landmine in check, "Radio in every 15 minutes, and bring a portable repair kit with you guys." Pointblank strains at the door. "Peacekeeper, you heard the man." Peacekeeper jumps down and runs back to the shuttle in long power-assisted bounds to get a portable repair kit, returning quickly. Warpath strains and grunts as he pulls harder on the door. "OOF! ALMOST GOT IT!" he says, as he feels something slightly giving way. Hopefully this isn't false hope. Horsepower snorts as the crowbar isn't working. And puts it away. And pulls out a sledgehammer instead. Gripping it in both hands and rearing back with it. "Stand back boys..." Seeing as the doors won't open, he takes the more direct method -- Break it open. Combat: Horsepower compares his Strength to 60: Success!
* GRRRRRNG* The exit opens slightly, but it remains stubborn against the Autobots' efforts. However thanks to the initial efforts and Warpath's successful pull, there's enough gap for the others to stick their finger in and pry the door open. OOC: The roll difficulty has decreased down to 30! Fortress Maximus can be seen over with Rewind, "Let's see what the computer has to offer." Combat: Warpath compares his Strength to 30: Success! Rewind hops up to the computer and starts to access the system. "Maybe you should try a little subtlety to how you deal with the doors." he suggests. Tappity tap. His fingers fly over the keys. Space Miner furrows his brow as he yanks on the door- even his mighty pretender shell isn't enough! "Alright," he says, stepping back. "This isn't-" and before he can even so much as put away his astro blaster, Horsepower and Warpath go to down on the door, wrenching it open. "-a problem." he shrugs, and gives a laugh, "Well, if that's the worst we've gotta worry about, I think we're gonna be okay." And, focusing his halogen headlamp, the Pretender leans into the corridor! Shuttle Bay Computer This is the Archa-Yau's shuttle bay computer where the ship's shuttle activities are logged. It may reveal where the missing shuttles have gone, but with the ship's auxiliary power grid damaged, interface with the mainframe is impossible. OOC Note: Technically oriented characters can infer that stabilizing the ship's auxiliary power grid will make this computer terminal operable. GAME: Rewind rolls a (tech)-sided die: Combat: Rewind compares his Technical to 20: Success! The computer terminal that Rewind is operating flickers on and off upon receiving input commands. The shuttle bay's exit doors finally reluctantly slides open thanks to the combined efforts of the various Autobots present. Landmine's halogen lights illuminates a dimly lit corridor, and several shadows can be seen casted onto the ground further ahead but at this distance it's hard to tell exactly what it is. Meanwhile Fortress Maximus looks down at the terminal that Rewind is accessing, "The damage to the Archa-Yau is more extensive than I thought. This computer terminal is inoperable. What kind of options do we have in getting the ship back in working order, Rewind?" Pointblank flicks on Peacekeeper's spotlight and goes in with Landmine, clearing the internal spaces methodically, like the practiced rapid-entry mech that he is. Rewind cocks his head a bit, "Oh geeze, I may as well have the dreaded blue screen of doom right now." he mutters and shakes his head, "Not going to access the mainframe from here, not unless the auxiliary power grid gets stabilized." Fortress Maximus nods, "Let's head to the engineering bay then." Horsepower chuckles a bit as he shoulders the hammer, giving Warpath a swat on the shoulder with the other hand. "Sometimes it just takes some g'old elbow grease." Then reaches up to tap the side of his helmet, sliding his battle visor into place to help him see as well. "Well, shall we'all get goin'?" Archa-Yau - Corridor The Archa-Yau is a Helix-class star cruiser and, like every ship of the class, the main corridor is shaped hexagonal. There's just enough room for the largest of Transformers travel through, albeit with some discomfort. It lacks the luxury of pedestrian conveyor belts like the mammoth Ark-II class super star carriers but what it lacks in luxury it makes up with sheer rugged durability. The ship proves it durability rather evidently from the numerous blackened marks of weapons fire throughout the corridors. Glass fragments from shattered terminals lined across the walls. Large explosive blasts have made pocket marks in the bulkheads that would have created a hull breach in any lesser ship. The trail of destruction leads towards the command deck. Near the midpoint of the star cruiser is a gravlift that leads downwards to the Arca-Yau's engineering bay, while the medical bay is located further ahead in a secondary corridor. DUN DUN DUUUUUUN The dark shadows that Landmine's lights had casted turns out to be none other than Decepticon corpses that litters the floor! Decepticon Corpses Lifeless remains of Decepticon soldiers can be seen laying throughout the entire length of the corridor. Some have holes burnt through their cranial casing with high yield energy beams, while are dismembered by violent explosions. OOC Note: War veterans might recognize these Decepticons as Spec Ops operatives skilled in the arts of infiltration. "Now that's POW, what I'm talking about," Warpath says, giving Horsepower a thumbs-up. Once the shadows are illuminated and the nature of the debris in the room is identified, Warpath aw-shucks. "Someone beat us to 'em!" he says, "I would have liked to have BLOWWIE, taken apart a few of these guys." Horsepower nearly steps on a dead chassis before it's illuminated by the light, pulling his foot back. The HUD of his visor flashes and sweeps over the form, then locks and zooms in on a few spots. "... They're Decepticons. Can tell by their construction..." He pauses, then looks up to the others. "No one Ah recognize though... someone gave 'em a good thrashin' for thay trouble though." He points at the one he was scanning. "Thermal beam, straight to the noggin'. Fried his central net in one shot, yup." Fortress Maximus walks up after the rest of the group with two portable repair kits in each of his hand. It isn't long before his optics focuses down at the first Decepticon corpse on the ground, "Decepticons?" The Headmaster leader's expression dims a bit, even though the dead on the ground isn't Autobot, the fact that another Cybertronian's life has been ended as a result of this civil war still digs at him, "Anyone got a sensor module? Let's see if we can pick up some life signs here while we make our way over to the engineering bay." Rewind follows the others since they'll have to get to the auxiliary power to get the computers up. Being the size he is, he gets the rather unique view of the dead Decepticons here in the corridor. "Thing is did they get all of them and if so, why didn't they answer our hails." he points out. Pointblank steps around the bodies carefully, checking the room and its entrances thoroughly before turning back to examine them. He rolls one over with his foot and shines Peacekeeper's light into the still face. "I know these guys. This one and that other, at least. Hard cases." Peacekeeper offers, "At least they're not going to be a problem for innocent Autobots anymore, right?" "Mm," Pointblank replies. "Nobody's innocent." Horsepower grunts. "Slaggit Max, Ah'm a mechanic, not a tracker." Fortress Maximus nods his head grimly in response to Rewind's intuitive comments, "Yes, I find that troubling as well." He looks around, "The defensive systems can't possibly take down all of the Decepticons on their own." The Headmaster leader then turns his head over to Pointblank, "Hard cases? What were they involved in?" Finally he looks over to Horsepower and vents out a small sigh, "We'll have to do this the old fashioned way then. Let's keep moving and keep an optic out for any of the Archa-Yau's crew while we're at it." "What weren't they?" asks Pointblank rhetorically, crouching down to examine another corpse which has been dismembered. "Sabotage, assassination, terrorism... extortion and armed robbery when business was slow. Murder when they felt like it. Stone killers. Special ops terror squad." "Couldn't have happened to nicer guys," laughs Peacekeeper. "Don't sound all that nice to me," Horsepower grunts as he follows the others, rather missing the sarcasm in Peacekeeper's comment. "They got their desserts all the same though." "/Deserve's/ got nothing to do with it," Pointblank says grimly. Grapple keeps a distance away from the bodies with a slight frown. Wars making it necessary or not, he never did like death. Not even if the dead people in question are Decepticons. Still, the architect follows with the rest of the group. For now, he's quiet. "Huh." Landmine says, contributing his own forensic expertise to the situation. Namely, he pokes one with a foot. "And as enthusiastic as I am to see one less 'con in the galaxy...if these guys are as tough as you say- what do you think did this to them?" He hmms, and then glances around, curious. "They didn't have one of those dinobot guys on the crew, did they? Or maybe the Wreckers?" Pointblank straightens up. "Just something that happens, this line of work." He shines his light on the blast marks leading to the command deck. "Same thing did that to those, I'm guessing." At long last, the opportunity to engage in hijinks! "Dead Decepticons! Awww, guys, how did you know?" He scuttles over to one of the bodies, and, hooking his claws into it, lifts him up. "Wonder how they taste..." And so he promptly bites the face off of one of the bodies, and begins chewing, his bulbous optics looking to and fro as if he's considering the taste. Rewind hmms as we move along, peeking in doorways to see which room it is. Medical bay. Nope that won't do unless that's where any survivors are holed up. "Anyone in there?" he calls into the room, waiting at the doorway as he listens for a reply. Shifting his body around as he uses a light to shine it around the room. "Well, POW, if we'd known, we'd have gift-wrapped a few for ya," Warpath says to Repugnus, "Knowing Decepticons, they probably taste how they PEW, smell. AWFUL. What I want to know is, who's tough enough to BOOM, take out all those Decepticons?" "Wasn't me," Pointblank says in a bit of dry humor, giving Repugnus a wide berth. Fortress Maximus frowns as Pointblank goes down the long list of criminal offenses that the identified Decepticons had committed in the past before looking over to Landmine, "Good question, Landmine. We should be able to find the answers we're looking for if we do as Rewind said and get the auxiliary power grid fixed." With that said, the large Headmaster leader begins to walk forward again and can be seen making visible effort to step across the corpses that now lay across the floor. Eventually he finds himself in front of the Archa-Yau's main gravlift where he attempts to summon the lift pad. The gravlift's console buzzes out an error. Fortress Maximus sets down the two portable repair packs that he was carrying and folds his arms across his chest in contemplation at this obstacle. Looks like the gravlift's console is out of power. Perhaps someone can use the PORTABLE REPAIR PACK to power up the gravlift? OOC: !check tech=50 Space Miner hmms, and glances around the room, perhaps just a little warier. "Well, all I have to say is if -I- wrecked this many 'cons, I certainly wouldn't be-" and he trails off as he sees Repugnus chowing down "-quiet about it." Well, now Grapple is staying even further away from the bodies, now that Repugnus is EATING one of them. Really didn't need to see that. A shudder is repressed as he steps around the bodies and makes his way to the error-beeping gravlift console. "I believe I can fix that." Without waiting for the go-ahead, he opens a panel in the wall and starts to poke about. Bug Creature flings the body aside and rejoins the other Autobots. "Welp," he begins, "After a thorough analysis of the victims, I can say with certainty that they are quite dead." He belches a bit."And actually, Warpath, they were quite tasty!" He smirks. "They had time to *ripen.*" Rewind moves on since there is no reply, catching up with the main group since apparently the gravlift is stuck. "Well isn't that special." he murmurs. Then looks back at the Monsterbot that was chewing on a Decepticon body, "Cannibalistic recycling at its best." he mutters. Fortress Maximus turns around to see Repugnus chewing on the corpse and makes a disgusted look on his face, "Just when I thought I've thought I've figured out all that you could possibly do, you go and surprise me yet again, Repugnus." He then steps aside to allow Grapple to do fiddle with the console before returning his attention back to Monsterbot and just silently shakes his head. Horsepower was pondering pulling out some jumper-cables or something. But seeing Grapple go to work he steps out of the way, leaving the task to the more construction inclined technician to have room to work. Grapple doesn't appear to do much more than flip around wires and replace circuit boards, but whatever he does, there's a loud BEEP and a green light goes on. "That should do it. Seems like some upkeep was neglected." Whirl marches in along the rear of the Autobot procession. Once he reaches a Decepticon corpse he eyes it with great interest, nodding at the hole through the cranial casing. "Headshot. Nice." He goes over to the next. "Think I recognize some of these guys. Real sneaky 'mechs." He kicks the corpse at his feet lightly. "But not so hard finding 'em now, is it? Heh." "Oh well, POW, look on the bright side, those carcasses aren't going to waste. They might go to BLAM, waist, though," Warpath remarks. He isn't visibly disgusted by Repugnus' choice of appetizers, though he does toss out a, "Do you SMACK, kiss your creator with that mouth?" Space Miner turns away from Repugnus, and heads over to the lift- nodding at Grapple's technical capability. "Hey, good job, Grapple." he says, and peers over the architect's shoulder. "See, you're cut out for field work after all! Beats welding girders, wouldn't you say?" he says with an adventurer's enthusiasm. "You know the arms race is getting out of hand when the Autobots start making Insecticons," Peacekeeper laughs. There's a barely audible hum before a ding can be heard. Clearly Grapple's juryrigging worked! Soon the gravlift's doors slides open, inviting any potential passengers to step inside. Fortress Maximus waves a hand towards the grav lift, "In we go, everyone. Let's try not to get split up, there's no telling if there's any other Decepticons present here. We'll all head down to the engineering bay and see if we can get the Archa-Yau into a more functional state." Bug Creature picks some Deceptibits out of his teeth as he waits for the gravlift to be repaired. "And just think, Maximus, we've only known each other for a few months! Optimus Prime knew me for millions of years, and I'm amazed he could handle it!" Scuttling towards the lift, he replies to Warpath, but what he says is so horrific and vile that it is best if anyone just forgets he said it. "And no one mention what would happen if we do split up," Horsepower gruffs out with a snort even as they're piling into the lift. "Good job with the jury-rig though," he adds, giving Grapple a pat on the back. Fortress Maximus lets his head lean down in despair, "Clearly I need still lack the mental fortitude that Optimus Prime has." It's a wonder how the big guy hasn't started twitching due to Repugnus' disturbing antics. Grapple turns slightly to reply to Peacekeeper, only to stop and just STARE at Repugnus for a very long moment. Then, he shakes his head and brings a hand up to rub at his face. It's all he can do just to nod slightly at Horsepower's pat and follow on to the lift. He's going to need one heck of a drink after this. Rewind comments, "Oh yeah definitely no splitting up, or we are so going to look like a badly made horror flick." he agrees. Boarding the lift with the rest. Whirl waits until the others are in before following, leaving the dead Decepticons almost reluctantly. "Hey, you think maybe there's some still alive and kicking in here...?" "Well, if it is a horror movie, Rewind, at least we've got a horrible robot eating monster on our side?" Landmine offers, ever the optimist. Fortress Maximus shuffles into the grav lift and waits for the remaining Autobots to board as well before pressing down the button designated for the engineering bay, "Excellent job, Grapple! This should save us some time, and I doubt I would've have fitted through the maintenance tunnels had we not gotten the gravlift operational." The Headmaster leader merely lets out a small chuckle in response to the cheesy movie comments as the gravlift's doors closes. Archa-Yau - Engineering Room Yellow warning lights can be seen flashing everywhere inside the engineering room. The emergency containment bulkhead has lowered down around the Archa-Yau's engine core. Those who are technically inclined will recognize that there was a potential containment breach in the engine core, but the crisis was adverted and now the engine core itself is powered down. Unlike the other parts of the ship, the engineering bay has seen none of the fighting. Fortunately so too, as even a stray weapons fire landing against the wrong component in this room can cause the entire star cruiser to explode. Auxiliary Power Grid==============[ TACS Object: Auxiliary Power Grid ]===============
The Archa-Yau's auxiliary power grid has seen better days. Several major circuits have burnt out and what little the ship's AI was able to reroute has been done. The rest needs to be manually fixed by someone else. OOC Note: This object can be !rebuild into operational status again. Let's hope someone here has the CONSTRUCTION skill! This is a weapon object, see '+help WeaponObject' for more info Usage Restriction: None Can You Use It?: Yes Ammunition: None Required Energon: 500 Endurance: -7 / 80 Mode: 1 of 2 ()==================[ TACS Weapon Object #10100 ]===================
Bug Creature grins toothily. "Horrible robot eating monster, at your service! If there's something scarier than me down there, then we're screwed anyway!" After Whirl comments on the dead Decepticons, Repugnus says, "Oh, nuts! You're right, we could have checked for survivors--and murdered them! Too late now, I guess!" Grapple makes a mental note to never go anywhere with Repugnus ever again. A small sigh is let out at the bugs' banter and takes a quick glance around. "..Hmm." A frown. "Huh. Looks like some sort of reactor shutdown." Landmine muses, casting his halogen lamp's beam around the room, briefly illuminating various consoles and the like. "So...the Autobots shut down the reactor...at which point the 'cons strike when they're vulnerable...but then something fragged the cons. Then what?" he hmms. "Wonder if we shoulda brought Nightbeat." "Secure weapons," Pointblank says sharply to the other Autobots. "Lots of fragile stuff in here. Dangerous stuff." Peacekeeper transforms and walks alongside Pointblank. "Except for those of you who have gun arms, ha ha," Peacekeeper adds. Beams of yellow light floods into the grav lift the moment doors slides open. An emergency containment bulkhead can be seen separating the front end of the engineering bay from the rear end where the auxiliary power grid is. There are several terminals on the side, but in order to raise the bulkhead there needs to be two people inputting in the commands to computer to do so at the exact same time. OOC: !check AGL=40 Combat: Grapple compares his Agility to 40: Failure :(Rewind looks around as well, searching for the auxiliary power as he strides out of the grav lift ahead of the others. "Let's see know, should be around here somewhere." he murmurs. Then he spots it in the light being cast around. "Ah there it is." Combat: Rewind compares his Agility to 40: Success! Or a gun sticking out of chest. Bug Creature grins over at Pointblank. "I prefer my claws anyway. My old dinky laser couldn't scratch anything anyway! But anyway, I'll keep an eye out for more dead bodies. I might not even eat them, who knows?" Fortress Maximus shields his optics briefly as the flood of light threatens to blind him temporarily but soon his optics adjusts accordingly and the Headmaster leader walks into the room, "Let's try to keep any potential prisoners alive if we do come across them, alright Repugnus? I'd hate to have to piece together this mystery by ourselves." He then surveys his surrounding and nods his head in agreement with Landmine, "That seems like a logical assessment of the situation. Perhaps the only way to find out for sure is to get the power grid functional..." The Headmaster leader frowns at the bulkhead that's preventing them deeper access into the engineering bay, "We'll have to raise this containment bulkhead first though." He looks back to the other Autobots, "Someone head on over and help Rewind raise this thing." "We POW, getting anywhere?" Warpath asks, a little impatiently. So far we've only seen dead bodies." He walks over to where Rewind is. "I'll give it a BOOM, whirl," he says. "Right, got it." Landmine says- "No guns." and so, he mag-clamps his Astro-blaster in place...only to bring out his laser saber, the edge humming to life with a trademark-infringing *vwoom!* He looks quite smug at the chance to bring out the sword- but then he hmms, noting the command prompt. "What -else- would you- y'know what? Nevermind." he says to Repugnus- And then, Landmine tries his own hand at the commands... Combat: Space Miner compares his Agility to 40: Failure :(Combat: Warpath compares his Agility to 40: Success!
* BEEP BEEP BEEP* An alarm rings throughout the engineering bay as the emergency containment bulkhead begins to raise up into the ceiling. Horsepower meanwhile opens one of the compartments in his 'backpack' and starts rummaging around, digging out various odds and bits of technical hardware and other salvage he carries around for emergencies. "Ah oughta have somethin' in here that can be used to rewire the network once y'all get that open... aaah." He pulls out a half finished contraption, yanks it apart, and starts pulling out the circuit relays. "Here, these oughta work.... well, fer someone that knows what to actually do." He shakes his head a bit. "Ah'm still way b'hind on starship tech." Grapple keeps as far away from Repugnus as possible, now, while still being part of the group. Even as the bulkhead starts to raise, he's looking around for anything that may be off or give sign to what is going on. He's quiet again, although the uncomfortable glances occasionally sent to their insectile friend may be the cause of that. Bug Creature says, "--eat?" Repugnus finishes. "My friend, don't ask what I'd eat! Ask what I wouldn't, heheh!" As the alarm goes off, Repugnus throws his little arms up in the air and flails around. "AHHH! We're all gonna die!... pffft, hahaha! Just kidding."" Pointblank stays near the door, watching the corridor they came in through in case anything tries to sneak up on the Autobots. Rewind works busily on trying to get the grid back up, "Thanks for the assist there Warpath." he offers to the tankformer. "Ah, good. Coupling." Landmine says, taking a roll of cabling from Horsepower as he digs it out. The pretender peers at the core for a few moments, and hmmms. "Not a starship tech myself, but I can probably figure it out. We had a generator like this back on one of my first postings- just smaller." he hmms- And Landmine's armor splits open with a hissing of steam, allowing the smaller robot to climb out! He tromps over towards the core, and starts rummaging around in a maintenance panel. "Hmmm. Yeah. Just reroute the plasma shunt into the main transducer array...it's not gonna be a pretty fix, but I think it'll work." Landmine transforms to his robot mode! Fortress Maximus leans down a bit as he slide through the opening now that the bulkhead is in the process of being raised up, "There..." He points a blue index finger at the exposed auxiliary power grid panels at the rear end of the engineering bay, "...the whole system seems to be shot up. No wonder the computers that Rewind was using in the shuttle bay was glitched up." The Headmaster leader looks behind at the other Autobots, "Luckily we have some technically inclined personnel here. Come on now, let's get this thing working and find out what happened here." Whirl starts to step forward eagerly when Fortress Maximus mentions 'technically inclined personnel', but then stops when he sees everyone else looking at Grapple and Landmine. "I'lllll just check for more clues," he says, pivoting in mid-step and moving over to a corner of the room. "Bang, ZOOM, anytime," Warpath says to Rewind. He walks into the room. Not so technically inclined is he, so he leaves that to others for now. "Let me know when we need something to POW, blow apart." Grapple straightens a little at being called on again. The architect looks to Landmine for a moment before moving for the exposed power grid pointed out by Maximus. The grid in question is given a very long glare, as if it had purposefully done something to affront Grapple, before he begins to work on it. You say, "Okay the bulkhead should be coming up... now." Thanks to the clever repair work by Landmine and Grapple, the auxiliary power grid is functional once more. Soon the emergency lights all over the ship is replaced by the usual ship lightning. Several computer terminal systems which were offline due to the power grid problems flickers back to life. However none of these computers here has any relevant data on what happened to the ship though, as they're only tasked with running the ship's engines. The fact they're online though might mean other computers that DO hold the information may be accessible now. Fortress Maximus nods his head approvingly as the yellow light inside the room fades away, replaced by the neutral white ship lightning that's common to all Autobot starships, "I see most of the computer terminals in operational order again. Let's continue to head for the bridge, maybe we can find what happened from the main computer there." Horsepower shuts the compartment he was pulling parts out of once the system was back online. "Sounds like a plan to me, j'yup." Grapple doesn't say anything, but he seems to have recovered from Repugnus's antics. He actually looks a little proud of himself as he follows along. Perhaps it's because he doesn't get to use any of his skills in the field often. Landmine glances up, and grins. "Alright! Give us enough time, and I bet Grapple and I could get this thing running enough so we could fly it home!" he says cheerily...only to lean over and murmur a question to the orange architect, sotto voice. "You brushed up on your FTL physics? I, uh, wasn't in class that day at Autobot Academy." Pointblank scoops up Peacemaker and leads with his trusty gun-friend. "Seems likely," he says in agreement with Fort Max. The gravlift's doors opens up once more as a soft ding denotes that the lift's pad has reached the designated floor. The familiar soft lightning that can be found in all Autobot starships greets the gravlift's passengers as they arrive. Fortress Maximus promptly steps out and frowns ever so slightly as the grisly battle that had took place in the Archa-Yau's corridors is illuminated, visible for all to see now that there's no blanket of darkness to keep it hidden. There's a slight pause before the Headmaster begins heading towards the fore of the starship as he leads the way, "Let's no loiter too long. The bridge should be over this wa---" The Headmaster leader stops in his footsteps as he recalls something and soon he points towards the secondary corridor to his right, "The medical bay is over in that direction. If there was a Decepticon attack, then there maybe Autobot crew members in there as well." "I doubt they'd be alive," Pointblank points out. "These kills don't look like Autobot work. Just a hunch." You say, "I already checked it sir." Horsepower grunts. "Is it just me, or is it actually a bit more creepy with the lights back up but nuttin' else goin' on?" Grapple frowns deeply at the long corridor and the pointed out medical bay. A slight nod is given to Horsepower. "How does that saying go? It's too quiet?" Fortress Maximus gives a Pointblank a pained look, "Even so, we owe it to them to find out." He then begins walking down towards the secondary corridor, "It does, Horsepower, but focus on our duties at hand. That might help smooth out the gitters." Bug Creature follows down after Maximus, and remarks. "So if we do find the other Autobots, but they're dead, don't I suppose I can, you know... just a little bit?" He looks around for reactions. "Ooookayyy, I won't eat them, GEEZE..." "If there's something creepy in here, send Repugnus after it," Warpath suggests, "It'll be ZOOM, more scared of him than we are of it!" Horsepower reaches over and SMACKS the back of Repugnus's head. "That was horrible, even for you." Fortress Maximus indeed does shoot Repugnus a glare! Whirl edges away from Repugnus. There's crazy, then there's really crazy. Rewind follows the rest of the group, keeping alert as we go. He's so hoping the computers are working in the command area. Grapple was already deeply disturbed by Repugnus. Now, he just gives a very serious glare. However, he doesn't appear surprised. Archa-Yau - Medical Bay Only the emergency lights are on here. Many of the medical equipment and computer terminals here have been shattered. Those who are familiar with military weapons will recognize that a high explosive grenade went off in here. Autobot Corpses Shattered remains of the medical staffs and wounded Autobot crew members lay crumbled on the floor here. Some are buried by fallen equipment, while other lay slumped across medical table. You say, "Uh huh, told you I looked in here. You said to look for survivors.. not the dead." Horsepower takes a step into the med bay only to stop dead in his tracks, optics widening in shock behind his visor. "..... daaaaaaaayum." Then it turns into a scowl as he turns to look to Maximus. "Heavy grenade blast, possibly plasma or napalm." He sighs, waving a bit at a corpse. "Poor blokes didna stand a chance." Bug Creature snickers a bit, even as he's smacked. "Oh!" he says, smelling the death inside immediately. This doesn't deter him, though, as he continues to step inside, waving his arms around. "Good thing we came to a consensus! I'm sniffing something... hrm, I'd say it was a chemical-based explosive, myself, Horsepower. These guys don't look melted enough for plasma or napalm." Grapple visibly winces at the sight and smell of the dead. Autobots, this time; he frowns at how the bodies are laid about. "I'm not certain they expected to be attacked in here." Horsepower grunts. "Point of the matter is they wouldna survived either way," he more or less agrees with Repugnus. Scary. "Whoever these guys are, I POW, like their style," Warpath says, "Just so long as they didn't blow up non-Decepticons." He's not terribly surprised by the depths of Repugnus' depravity. "Careful," he says to the Monsterbot, "I hear Autobots are made of BLAM, soylent green." He winks an optic. The medical bay's doors is open in the distance, but there seems to be only emergency lightning keeping the room illuminated. Fortress Maximus tilts his head to the side in intrigue, "Strange, I thought all the ship's lightning should be operational by now." It isn't long before Fortress Maximus finds the answer to his question. The Headmaster leader's face visibly distorts into a frown as his optics skims over the numbers of corpses present before looking over to Rewind, "True, I neglected to mention to keep track of just how many of the crew member are KIA as well." There's a moment of silence as Fortress Maximus processes data between him and Galen, soon he brings his hand across his face in despair, "Most of the Archa-Yau's crew is in here..." "Least it was fast," Pointblank says. "Probably the work of our deceased friends outside." Horsepower says, "But then who shot -them-?" Grapple frowns deeply. "If the Decepticons were attacked by the Autobots here, and then they came here for repairs.. Who did this, here?" Rewind nods to Fortress, "Well only one way to find out who's missing here, and that's the crew list on the computer. Maybe the survivors took the shuttles." he states. Bug Creature speculates, a little too cheerily, "Maybe the chef was actually an Autobot commando, and when he learned the other Autobots were killed, he went on a one-man mission of JUSTICE! Hey, it could happen." He shakes his head at Grapple. "No, well, seriously though, probably not. I think these guys tried to hole up in here, but all that did was put them in close proximity to each other." Whirl moves over to one of the Autobot corpses on a medical table, turning it over gently to look for clues as to what killed it. Fortress Maximus' expression brightens a little in response to Rewind's comments, "Yes, I can only hope that is so. If they are out there though, let's find them. They've clearly gone through enough already." The mystery thickens though as more and more Autobots begins making their own speculation on what exactly had transpired here. Having seen enough, Fortress Maximus begins backing out of the medical bay, "Come on, let's head for the bridge. We'll have the Steelhaven send in the cleanup crew to bring back the dead. All of the dead." "Something more dangerous than your average Autobot," Pointblank suggests to Horsepower. "Yeah, seen 'nuff here," is all Horsepower agrees sourly as he turns to follow Maximus out. "Iffen that's the case, let’s just hope it already left too." "Find anything?" Landmine asks the others as they walk out of the med bay. He'd been standing guard just outside the door, see. Grapple frowns a little at Landmine. "Bodies." He doubts he needs to say much else. Fortress Maximus nods grimly in response to Landmine, "More than I had hoped to find, Landmine. We're going to need a cleanup crew to bring back our dead inside." He gives the pretender a pat on the back, nudging him to come along with him and hoping to spare him the grisly sight before continuing back to the main corridor. Whirl adds in a low, low voice. "Autobots this time." Eventually the Autobots will find themselves staring at a large slab of reinforced bulkhead blocking the entrance into the command deck. OOC: Take a look at the object and it'll tell you what to do! Obligatory PEWPEWPEW time! Reinforced Bulkhead There's a control terminal on the wall that has had its panel opened up. It looks like someone had attempt a crude security bypass effort, but it seems that the attempt was abandoned midway. This is a weapon object, see '+help WeaponObject' for more info Usage Restriction: None Can You Use It?: Yes Ammunition: None Required Energon: 200 Endurance: 50 / 50 Mode: 1 of 1 (Vehicle)==================[ TACS Weapon Object #10247 ]===================
Rewind peers at the bulkhead, "Well someone must be here if this thing is down." he looks around for the control panel, "And someone sure tried to get it to open up too." "Hey, I got this!" Landmine says- he's in the front, of course, and as he sees the bulkhead, he can't help but chime in- perhaps in an enthusiastic attempt to distract the rest of the Autobots! And so, his sword comes out- *VWOOM!* Landmine encases himself in his Pretender armor! Combat: Space Miner strikes Reinforced Bulkhead with his Laser Saber attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Reinforced Bulkhead 's Agility. (Crippled) Grapple stares at the bulkhead for a long moment. Then, he stares at Landmine as he shoots at it. "If that bulkhead is there, wouldn't that imply that someone is currently on the other side..?" "Well BAM, now you're talking," Warpath says. He lobs a shell from the tank barrel on his chest. "Time to POW, blow stuff up!" Bug Creature scuttles up to the bulkhead as well, whipping out his claws. "Hey, now, don't bogart all my fun! I want to cut things, too!" And he hops up to the bulkhead, sinks his claws in up to the ceiling, then lets gravity carry him down as his claws slice right through the plating. Once his feet touch the deck, he stoops over to complete the slash all the way to the floor. Combat: Bug Creature sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Warpath strikes Reinforced Bulkhead with his Conventional Shells attack! Combat: Bug Creature strikes Reinforced Bulkhead with his Shearing Claws attack! Grapple takes a step back as everyone fires what they have on the bulkhead. "..Furthermore, if the crew are dead in the medical bay and the Decepticons dead further back, who caused the damage that was already on this thing..?" Horsepower is still a bit disturbed by all he saw in the med bay. So, needless to say, he's more than ready to do something else for a distraction. ".. Well, might as well use the chance to test this new baby out." He raises one arm, clenches his hand into a fist, and uses his other arm to brace it. It... looks like he's taking aim with a weapon. Except he's not holding a weapon. At least not obviously so. Until with a small boom his whole fist shoots off like a rocket propelled battering ram at the bulkhead! Space Miner pauses at that, and glances back at Grapple, lowering his saber. "Y'know...that's actually a good point." he hmms, and rubs at where his chin would be were it not for the faceplate. "Do we know what happened to the shuttles? Could remotely someone patch into the computer now that we're operational?" Combat: Horsepower strikes Reinforced Bulkhead with the Horsepower-forged Rocket Punch attack! Rewind shakes his head, "I need direct access to the computers in the command center, which means this bulkhead needs to get out of my way." Whirl raises his weapons module, a tiny glowing sphere suspended in place just outside of the gun barrel. This begins to glow brighter and brighter as it collects energy, before finally unleashing in a massive burst at the bulkhead. Combat: Whirl sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Whirl misses Reinforced Bulkhead with his Wrecking attack! The reinforced bulkhead takes a tremendous amount of punishment! With the damage it had sustained before and the additional firepower it had to withstand just now, the bulkhead is practically swiss cheese with many gaping holes here and there. Fortress Maximus can't help but marvel at the incredible durability that this bulkhead possesses, "It's a shame to have to put down such magnificent piece of Autobot engineering..." He comments as he balls his left hand into a fist and winds up for a punch, "...but what happened to the Archa-Yau must be known!" Having said that, the Headmaster leader throws his fist forward towards the bulkhead! Combat: Fortress Maximus sets its defense level to Fearless. Combat: Fortress Maximus strikes Reinforced Bulkhead with its Maximum Force attack! Combat: Reinforced Bulkhead is completely disabled. Rewind makes a low whistling sound, then says, "Now /that/ is what I would call maximum destruction." "Yeah, Ah hear ya," Horsepower agrees, even as Maximus uses his massive fist like a wrecking ball to finish the job. He walks over, and pulls a large piece of the bulkhead out of the rubble. "Wanna see just what that thin' was made of. Might come in useful fer other buildin' projects."
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* CRRRRRRRANK-CLANK-CLANK-----clank **** A section of the swiss cheesed reinforced bulkhead flies off backwards at last under the final strike, at last it finally fails and leaves behind a hole big enough for all of the Autobots to pass through. Grapple stares at the bulkhead as it's destroyed, visibly impressed. Then, he gives Rewind an odd stare. "..That was a terrible pun." Still, a small smirk. "Now KABLAMMO, that's how it's done!" Warpath whoops, "Way to go!" He follows along. "I wonder if there's anything else that needs POW, taking down?" Fortress Maximus steps through the hole in the reinforced bulkhead, "I'd like to find out too, Horsepower. It might be wise to refit the rest of our ships with this type of materials as well." The Headmaster leader shakes his head at Warpath, "Personally I hope we don't have to tear this ship apart any further." Having said that, he presses the button to open the command deck's door and steps in to find---- < Archa-Yau - Command Deck **** WOOOOOOOSH **** The moment the door opens the atmosphere behind you begins pouring forward, the strength of the pull is almost like that of a raging current, as it escapes out towards the gaping hole at the forward end of the command deck. During some point in the past the Archa-Yau had sustained catastrophic damage to its command deck, and the weapon discharge that penetrated into its interior has left much of the interior in ruins as a result. Most of the computer terminals are either melted scrap or barely operational. It most likely that those who survived catastrophic attack were sucked out into space. Damaged Computer Terminal A lone computer terminal furthest away from destruction is spared from complete oblivion. It flickers on and off intermittently as it displays garbled data on its monitor. Upon closer investigation one will find that information on the monitor is that of ship logs of the Archa-Yau's captain. OOC Note: Those who are technically inclined can attempt to reconstruct the data. Contact Fortress Maximus for details. Horsepower meanwhile Horsepower digs another hand out of his storage, and with a click and clank plugs it back into his arm to replace the one he smashed the bulkhead with. "Ah reckon this launchin' arm is gonna be a handy little piece of work." That done, he lowers his arms back to his sides to look around. "So... now what?" Grapple lets out a gasp that probably isn't heard by anyone -- after all, sound doesn't carry all that well in space -- and immediately grabs for something that is connected to the ship well and strong. A random piece of equipment; he doesn't even look what it is or if it's half wrecked or what. Just grabs hold for dear life, really. "I regret nothing!" Repugnus cries as he is nearly sucked out with the atmosphere, but manages to spin about and sink his claws into the floor before he is pulled out. Unfortunately, his claws are so sharp that they continue to slice through the floor, and consequently he is still being pulled towards the breach, albeit more slowly. Rewind's optics flicker at the 'view' to space. A hand snatches at something to keep from being swept out. "Well that explains that." he mutters mostly to himself, not that it would be heard anyway. Aaaand so busy with replacing his hand, Horsepower doesn't even notice there's something wrong with the room until the lack of a barrier between them in space snaps him back to reality. "Oh frag it all! Grab onto somethin!" He whips out one of his chains, wrapping it around an exposed beam in the wall before he's sucked out. With the other hand he snaps out to grab Rewind before the little tape-bot can be hauled away. "Don't worry li'l pard, Ah gotcha!" Warpath quickly grabs for something to hold onto as he feels the vacuum try to suck him out into space! "Yeah, close the door, BLAM, close the door! There's a ZOOM, awful draft in here!" Fortress Maximus opens the door to find himself staring at the dark abyss of deep space where the front of the Archa-Yau's bridge is supposed to have been but before he can process any further data from the scenery, he finds himself swept forward by the atmosphere behind him that's flushing himself towards the vacuum outside! Thankfully the remains of a computer terminal is within reach for Fortress Maximus to plant both of his big mitts against to brace himself from being pulled any further. Eventually the command deck's door closes and the last bits of atmosphere flushes out of the gaping hole in the bridge and thus releasing its deadly grip from the Autobots inside. Rewind nods to Horsepower, "Thanks." Now that he's safe he can look for a accessible terminal, that is if there IS one. "What a mess. May take awhile to access things, but I can give it a go once things equalize pressure wise." Once that happens he says to the bigger mech, "Can release me now." Whirl is halfway out of the hole before his pincers manage to close securely on a bit of ripped floor, legs dangling in space. He pulls himself pincer-over-pincer back inside and then sideways to take up a place next to the hole. "No prob." Horsepower sets Rewind down once it’s safe, yanks his chain loose and retracts it back in. Once the atmospheric gust is gone, Grapple quickly regains his footing and lets go of the wrecked equipment. He then frowns at the massive damage. Well, now he was even MORE confused and alarmed than before he came in here. "How in.." Fortress Maximus climbs back up onto his feet and extends a helping hand to any other Autobots who might need some help getting back up onto their feet before looking around the command deck, << I was hoping to find at least someone here, but at least this explains why no one responded to our hails. >> Looking down to Rewind, Fortress Maximus nods, << I'll be counting on you to do what you can, Rewind. We've searched all of the ship and have come up with nothing so far. Maybe the data is the only thing left we have to go by. >> "Wow, what the POW, slag happened here?" Warpath says, as he looks around. "Think maybe the crew was ZOOM, sucked out into space?" Whirl points at the flickering terminal in one corner. "Well, maybe if someone can get that one working again..." Horsepower says, "Not the most pleasant of ways to go, nope." Fortress Maximus (FM) pages: You'll only be able to reconstruct these details. - There was sabotage to the Archa-Yau' reactor core that caused the shut down. - There definitely was a Decepticon attack, but it was repelled by the Autobots. - The few remaining Autobot survivors left on the shuttle towards an unknown direction to get help. The location that they headed to is too fragmented to be recovered. Rewind nods and heads over to the least damaged of the terminals to set to work, hoping he can somehow find something on the computer system to explain the mess they discovered. Tappity tap. Tappity. Tap tap. Fingers flying along as his optics peer at the screen which flickers from normal hue to dim to overly bright back to normal.. and so on. Bug Creature stands at this point, musing, "Yeah, I can't wait to see who was a badass enough dude to kill all of those Decepticons! Maybe..." He puts on a dramatic face. "...HE'S IN THIS ROOM!" The computer responds accordingly to each and every command that Rewind inputs into it. Soon fragmented data, the ones that can be recovered, slowly begins to piece together. Grapple stares at Repugnus as he poses dramatically and, in the architect's point of view, completely unnecessarily. "Is that concept truly something to be excited over?" He's somewhat more nervous about it. Fortress Maximus nods grimly in response to Horsepower's comments, << The Steelhaven didn't detect any active emergency transponders. Whatever happened to the bridge crew, at least it looks like they won't have to drift in space until they run out of energy. >> As usual a frown can be seen on Fortress Maximus face in response to Repugnus' antics, but at least it does lighten up the atmosphere somewhat. Soon the Headmaster leader heads on over to the computer terminal that Rewind is operating and leans over, << How's the situation, Rewind? >> Rewind vents softly, he double checks his work to be sure he got it right. Shakes his head and vents again. The cassetteformer announces, <> he pauses and looks up at Fort, <> he looks over at the others, <>
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