| abstract | - Cybertronian Spacecraft - The interior of the Ark, the most famous ship ever to leave Cybertron. It's seen better days, and much is in disarray and disrepair after it's fateful crash landing. The illumination in the Ark's main command center is somewhat dimmer than normal, as not all the necessary repairs to restore the lighting in the downed spacecraft has been completed just yet. But there are signs of life all over the former bridge of the ship, where Wheeljack and Ratchet have toiled away to get what systems that they could back online. The main viewscreen shows constant rotating images of the planet Earth's landscape as Teletran One continues the massive job of scanning the surrounding terrain for anything of interest. Everything from vast forests to grasslands full of herds of ancient mammalian creatures filters across the screen. But while the Autobots might have been initially fascinated at the world they had found themselves on, there were more important matters at hand. And one of them involved these mysterious new arrivals. When Remedy was brought in under the guard of Brawn and Wheeljack, she wasn't locked up in the brig, but she kept a close eye on at all times. It wasn't hard to guess that she wasn't quite trusted, and what was going to be done about this remained to be seen. While Reidan's meeting with the two past Autobots had been more friendly, there's still a sense that he too has been brought in for questioning now rather than a simple invitation to take shelter alongside the Autobots. There's a mystery afoot, and someone intends to get to the bottom of it... In the center of the command bay, Remedy and Reidan wait now, seated at one end of a large table with various seats arranged around it. Waiting. It's almost like giving off a feeling of being on trial for something... Meanwhile in the bowels of the Ark, hidden from view, Amber still sneaks about. Unfound so far.... Reidan Wesley walks along, having developed a slight limp on his way. He was seated ON the table now, his hoverboard set out of reach. He had his hat beside him,and was just now taking out his pipe. Nervous? Indeed! He fishes in his other pocket before looking about for a guard "Nobody minds if I smoke, right?" he asks aloud. "This is ZOWIE, weird!" Warpath exclaims, as he wanders into the room and picks a seat. He has to sit carefully, due to the fact that if he's not careful, he'll bump his cannon barrel against the table, and that would just be no fun at all. He looks over at the strangers. "POW, hi," he says. Bumblebee twiddles his thumbs, nervously. "Wheeljack, what're we gonna do? I mean, we're stuck here..." he mutters quietly, glancing at the strange femme and the organic beside her. "....Smoke? Uh, that can't be good... right?" he asks, confused. "I mean, if on of us Cybertronians starts smoking it means something's gone wrong..." He rubs one of his horns. "...What're you called, anyway?" he asks to both the organic and the strange femme. Remedy looks over at Reidan, shaking her head, "No... I don't know what they would think about that." She is in the presence of heroes. She looks at the various bots, putting names to faces, most of them in the mausoleum. Brawn humfs with a smirk, noticing the pipe and perhaps ascertaining it's purpose better than Bumblebee. "Exhaust away." Perhaps not. He folds his arms across his chest. "What kind of fuel do you burn anyway?" Amber MacKenzie waits to move until there's a certain degree of ambient noise. During those times, she explores the extent of her personal warren. The Ark's disarray helps immensely in that. Though she's mostly hidden, there are times when she crosses an area that, if someone were looking into the separation between two pieces of equipment, they might see a hint of movement. The sound of voices reaches her, and she slowly moves in that direction. And into the command bay steps a ghost! "No," Prowl says as he emerges from the shadows. "There is NO smoking on board the Ark. No telling what kinds of chemicals spilled during the crash. This whole place could go up flames if someone is *careless.* In fact..." He snatches the pipe out of Reidan's hands, throws it to the ground, and grinds it into little bits with his foot. "There. Now we're ALL a lot safer. But we're not completely safe, are we? After all, I have no idea who the hell YOU two are, but I know this. I demand an explanation. NOW." "It is unhealthy for my kind as well, somewhat. However, it is one of those nervous, addictive habits and -HEY!" he ducks the huge hand that clatters his pipe away, going sheet white as he flops backwards in fright "I got that from Sherlock! You just had to say NO..." he stammered, halfway angry, halfway afraid as he props himself up on one elbow, looking over to Remedy with his pale features. While there's technically a seat present for him, Wheeljack wasn't sitting in it. Not when there was still so much work to get done, and while Ratchet certainlly knows his stuff... patching together a stranded space cruiser with little more than scrap parts and adhesive bonding strips was firmly in the field of a more open-processored engineer. As such he was standing amongst a big mess of cables leading in and out of a wall compartment, trying to find which ones were burned out and which ones are good. Ignore the sparks that crackle past him down and again. At the outburst from Prowl he pauses and turns to look back, module 'ears' on the sides of his head flashing on and off in time with his comments in leiu of having a visible mouth. "Prowl, would you ease off the accelerator a bit? I know we're all on edge here with Prime missing and our ship a wreck," he stops and twitchs to the side as a few more sparks spit out of the electrical panel, as if to prove the point, "But could you refrain from scaring the grease out of the ones that might have a clue as to what's going on until after they explain it?" Remedy stands up, saluting Prowl, "Autobot Medic 1st class Remedy, sir!" Boy, but, you can hear the C-U-R, instead of S-I-R. "I can't really explain why I'm here, Sir, but, I can say for certainty that I'm here right now!" Stupid Auto-prick... She's dealt with his kind before... Bumblebee steps towards Prowl with his hands up in a placating manner. "Hey Prowl ease up! You scared the little guy!" He turns and leans just a bit so he's optic-to-eye with the smaller organic. "...Prowl's just trying to do good fore us, you see? We... uh, we're kind of in a bind..." He smiles weakly. "I'm called 'Bumblebee'. And you are?" Seems he's taken a liking to the organic... "Who's Sherlock?" Prowl says, hands on his hips. "He your Decepticon contact? You supposed to report back to him? But I'm getting ahead of myself..." He paces around the backs of the newcomers. "I didn't get an answer to my first question! Who. Are. You? That's not hard, is it? I mean, you know your names, right? Unless your processors... or whatever the organic equivalent is... are BROKEN, you ought to know that at least." He smiles at Remedy, but not warmly. "Oh, good, yours is working. Say, something wrong with your vocalizer? Your "sir's" sound a little funny." Apparently Prowl is all too familiar with that substitution. Wheeljack tries to take some of the edge off of him, but Prowl won't have it. He levels a finger at him, and declares, "Stay out of this, Wheeljack! And by the way, you've still got an Ark to fix, don't you? Maybe you should get on that." Then *Bumblebee* butts into his business, too, buuut... hm. Okay, he's asking questions, too, maybe he can work with this. Reidan Wesley stares down at the amber and wooden dust, and the bits of ash on the floor. HE then stares at Bumblebee, then guestures to the sparks bouncing away from Wheeljack. And then back to PRowl with a scowl before looking instead to Bumblebee "I am Reidan Wesley. I'm a chef. And yes, I know you are in a bind. The two gentleman who saved me the other day from the tiger explained it all. As for what we're doing here... I really dont know. " he notes, answering to Bumblebee, even if it answers Prowls' question too. Amber MacKenzie freezes as Wheeljack's voice sounds, uncomfortably close to where she is. Uhhhhhhhh, this is close enough. She can hear them all perfectly clearly from where she's at. In fact, she quietly backs off a bit to a safer distance. Once kneeling in a better place, she finally has time to process what's being said. Yes, that Cybertronian is indeed a dick. Or maybe he's just playing Good Cop, Bad Cop for Remedy and Reidan. Too bad she hasn't actually seen him. Brawn snorts. "Nah, don't go soft on them, that's an insult. I'm sure they can take a little verbal melee from Prowl and live to forget about it." Brawn walks around the table and says, "Sure we saved you... that four legged creature looked like it had bigger teeth than you after all." "THAT..." Reidan pipes out of turn, guesturing to his crushed pipe "Is not 'verbal melee'." Remedy laughs, "No, Sir, just expressing myself. And, stand down regarding the human. He's not connected to any decepticon spyrings." She rubs her eyes, sparing a glance at Wheeljack, like she's asking how he puts up with the stick in the exhaust port. As if things weren't tense enough for Remedy, her radio crackles inside her audial receptors, filled with static but with the unmistakable voice of a familiar someone. "..medy. Come in...*crackle* ..dimus...*crackle.* We're *HISS* rou*BZZZT* to your pos*CRACKLE*" It's a good thing that this is all inside her head and nobody else can hear it, right? "ALERT." Teletran One's voice suddenly blares out, the main viewscreen flashing orange, "UNIDENTIFIED TRANSMISSION DETECTED. ERROR....ORIGIN UNKNOWN." Well -CRAP-. Bumblebee tilts his head in confusion. "...Chef? What's that mean?" he says, optic twinkling. He flinces as Prowl starts yelling again, but relaxed once the Security Officer's said his piece. "Don't worry, Reidan Wesley, you help us and we'll help you as much as we can." He glances at the femme, Remedy was it? He gives her a soft smile before turning back to the ...human? "So... can you hel-" he goes dead silent as Teletraan One starts sounding the alarm. "Oh no, what now?!" Wheeljack vents what would be a sigh out the grating that covers where his mouth would be. "Yes Prowl. By the way, you're not really making a comfortable work environment for doing so, just so you know." The reply is mostly a deadpan, but there's a hint of wry undertone to it. You work around Prowl for a few hundred stellar cycles and you learn to just.. well, not get to you at least. "Yow!" He jerks a hand out of the compartment and shakes it a few times to wave away the light singe of smoke trailing off it. Then Teletran flares to life and starts droning moments later. Wheeljack squints one optic at the electrical panel. ".. I guess that was the right relay interface after all!" He shrugs, not looking a gift turbohorse in the mouth, and shuts the panel. Prowl shakes his head disapprovingly. "You're hiding something from me! Both of you! Nobody just appears anywhere unless they're Skywarp, and he's only slightly dumber than the two of you, but he still knows the basic gist of how he "appears" somewhere. So, I'm going to ask again, who the hell are you people and where do you come from? If I'm not satisfied with your answer, well, let's just your rations are going to be cut. Significantly. Oh, but don't worry... Reidan. I've already taken your dietary needs into consideration." He reaches into an arm panel, and reveals a bowl full of... wet algae? "All the biomass and moisture necessary to keep you alive for a while, I'm sure." Once Remedy challenges him--that was a challenge to Prowl, anyway--he wheels on her, pointing a finger right in her face and about to unload on her before--"What!? More intruders? Everyone, spread out and look for them! Brawn, stay here and look after the prisoners. *Beat them* if they try to leave." He pulls out his acid rifle, and turns around, scanning about suspiciously as he walks off. "It means I ... "A pause to think. "A chef prepares and portions out fuel for humans. In my case, they are the SECOND most important person in the organization in which they are employed. He eyes the Algae, blinking a little bit, then he looks to Remedy "It seems BOTH our civilizations have become more... civilized as the aeons passed. I said before I dont know HOW I got here. I was heading to my house and was sucked into... someting. A time hole, by the looks of it... and then I ended up here, and then the cat chased me down." he stares, going even more pale at Prowl, and even wobbled a little bit back and forth at the last order, before toppling right over. The red tank minibot stares in horror at Prowl. Then he looks over at Reidan. "ZOOM, dude totally owes you a new one of...whatever those are," he says, as he gets up to help search for more intruders. "Maybe the new intruders are BLAM, Decepticons? I hope so, I want to kick one right in his tail fin!" Remedy stiffens as she hears the radio, ignoring the finger. She glances at Reidan, then at Prowl as he stalks off. She has to contact the autobots on the outside, dimming her optics, "Rodimus... something isn't right here. Wheeljack, Brawn and Prowl are all active here. Along with Warpath... they are suspicious of us. Also, they picked up the radio transmissions." Amber MacKenzie is suddenly quite pleased that she made her own transmission while still outside of the Ark. She tenses as this Prowl character goes into his acute paranoid routine and idly wonders if he has reason to believe everyone's out to get him. Well, yes, he does, come to think of it. Who *isn't* out to get him? She shifts uneasily and reminds herself it may be harder to get out of this place than to get in. Reidan Wesley is out cold it seems. Brawn head-dome-tilts at Prowl. "Beat them? You must /really/ hate these strangers." Brawn turns towards Remedy and Reidan. "Don't worry. I'd only take a swing if you did first." He smiles. Guard duty on a world without civilization while Teletran is making alarms while on the fritz. Brawn is all calm and jovial. So, which Autobot is going to suffer an ulcer first? Teletran may not be able to figure out the origin of the transmission, possibly due to some repairs that are still needed to be effected, but the external security cameras are working just fine. At least -most- of them are. Those that are immediately around the Ark at least. "ALERT, UNIDENTIFIED VEHICLES APPROACHING." And sure enough the camera flashes to show the entrance of the Ark itself. And two vehicles in particular now making their way directly towards the Ark, and starting to come -inside-. One of them sporting none other than a large, flaming paintjob, keeping it at a slower speed so he doesn't outpace the drill tank alongside of him. "Alright Impactor, I could be making a huge mistake right now," he muses aloud over the snarl of his engine, "...but I'm tired of sneaking around. Things are already messed up. Just TRY not to go making any 'dead' jokes here, alright? Let's try not to make this any worse than it already is." Wheeljack slaps a palm to his faceplate as Prowl jumps at the alarm to the worst possible conclusion right off the bat. "It was the -interception- program, Prowl, not the intruder alarms." He holds up a finger as if to say more.. then Teletran One chimes in again. "-That- would be the intruder alarm." Brawn then pauses, eyeing the fallen human creature. "Who hit him when I wasn't looking?" Prowl stomps up to Teletran 1, lowering his rifle. "Teletran 1! Report on the transmission! Did you intercept any of it? Can you give me an idea on--" Then Teletran has a new report to deliver, and Prowl's jaw drops as he watches a feed of the strange vehicles driving in. "I KNOW that, Wheeljack. But one thing tends to follow another!" He steps up to a wall panel, opens it, and pulls down a level, and a loud klaxon blares. "INTRUDER ALERT! We have two intruders inside the Ark! We should be able to subdue them, but if they don't surrender, SHOOT TO KILL. We can't afford to mess around, people!" Two vehicles it may be, but technically one's a robot. Surfing a winnebago. Teletraan I can be forgiven for the mistake. The Wrecker is keeping his balance surprisingly easy. When you're a big guy that doesn't have a convenient alt mode for quick travel, you tend to get used to this sort of thing. He just grunts at the comment about dead jokes. He's never met any of the Autobots from the Ark who died. Heard a ton about them, but never personally met them. He's actually a little eager about it--especially if Ironhide is there. From talking with Kup, Ironhide must have been a legend. "Assuming their Ark's the same as ours from 1984, what kind of defenses can we expect?" Bumblebee's optics widen as Prowl snaps out orders and arms up. Despite what the paranoid mechs says, Bumblebee's more worried about the strange organic. "O-Oh no!" he says, picking up the organic. "Is he damaged?" he cups the poor creature in his hands. "Hey hey hey come on! Prowl just yelled at you, Reidan Wesley..." He looks up at Teletraan's screen, and seems intrigued by the strange vehicle. Not that Prowl is. "H-Hey Prowl, maybe they're friends of these two?" Remedy isn't that conversant with organics, but, she moves over to look at Reidan, narrowing her gaze, "Bumblebee, I think he suffered what humans call a 'faint'. He should be fine in a bit." Reidan Wesley stirrrs a little bit in Bumblebee's hands "Urrrgh... " he moaned, confirming Remedy's words "... am I back in the congo again? Someone was threatening to beat me if I dont talk..." he shudders "I really hope the past hundred years was NOT just a dream and i'm still in that hut..." "If you shoot to -kill- they can't answer any questions about what the frag is going on, Prowl." While far from the most serious of Bots, Wheeljack is at least trying to keep Prowl from going too far off the deep end. "Besides! I found some of this -really- sticky black goo while we out on patrol before running across that fanged thing that might just make a great determent measure." Pause, even as he's pulling his own weapon out. ".. A bit of a mess to clean up afterwards, though." Amber MacKenzie frowns. This guy is going too far. She rises to her feet but hesitates and shakes her head. There's nothing she can do. Her hand dives into a pocket, and she pulls out a rather expensive Swiss Army Knife. That's the extent of her weaponry. "Probably not much. Even when they woke up at the -right- time, it took a lot of time for them to get some proper security systems set up." Rodimus muses aloud at that. And even as the Winnebago passes the outer perimeter and actually -enters- the Ark, starting to rumble down the main hallway, the blaring lights and shrieking klaxons greet his audials. "...of course the early warning systems could be getting a once over in light of recent events. Look let's just try to keep things as civil as we can. These guys are gonna be understandably nervous..." And at that point, Rodimus is rounding the last curve in the hallways, the sound of his engine rumbling as he pulls up right into the command center where the other Autobots are preparing to meet his arrival. The young Prime screeches to a halt as his headlights flash into the room and he picks up that there's an awful lot of weaponry being readied. "...okay they could be a -lot- nervous. No sudden movements." Brawn turns away from the two 'guests' Bumblebess is coddling and looks towards the two new guests. "So, who's hot wheels and pretty bot?" "Shh, it's okay, little buddy." Bumblebee says soothingly, lifting the human up, still cupped in his hands. He looks up as the strange vehicle enters the room...! "They have Autobot sigils on them Prowl! Don't shoot them! They don't look like Decepticons!" Reidan Wesley blinks a few times at Bumblebee's words, then says "It's a rescue party from Cybertron! You're all saved!" in a loud voice. Prowl gives Bumblebee a dubious look. "Friends of theirs? That's what I'm afraid of!" He stalks forward to intercept the intruders. "I *intend* to question them, Wheeljack. And enough of your little discoveries. I have important things to do." He steps right in front of Rodimus Prime as he screeches to a halt, hand held out in the classic "STOP" gesture, rifle raised in the other. "That's far enough. You!" He points at Impactor. "Dismount, lower your weapons, and get your hands up!" He then gestures at Rodimus. "You, the... whatever kind of vehicle you're supposed to be, transform and follow suit! Do it or you're both gonna be on the receiving end of a lot of pain." He makes a face as Bumblebee and then Reidan try to reason with him. "Oh, *please.* Do you have any idea how easy it is to fake an Autobot symbol?" "Well, ZANG, what's going on?" Warpath wonders, "Are there POW, Decepticons around? Who's this guy?" He points at Rodimus. Reidan Wesley rubs his head a little bit in confusion still, then mutters "I really really want a smoke right now..." under his breath "I do NOT recall him acting like this before. What happened to logic?" mostly to Bumblebee. Wheeljack rubs his forehead for a moment. Where's Ironhide when you need someone with a resonably sane abiet crudgeny cranial unit on their shoulder assembly? Idly he leans over and holds up a hand (partially to shield the blink from his diodes being seen) to one side of his head as he whispers to Brawn. "Who discharged their oil in Prowl's energon ration when he was revived?" Bumblebee looks down at the human in his hands, and brings him up so that the human can climb onto his shoulder. "...Prowls doesn't want to lose anyone." he tells Reidan softly. "He's just protective of us, that's all. He's a good guy, really..." Reidan Wesley snorts softly "And I'm two hundred years old." Impactor doesn't relish the idea of fighting these guys, even if the Ark is defenseless. They're all known to be incredible warriors with endless courage. Crouching down to better balance himself, Impactor winces as the klaxons and whirling lights start up. "Just adds to the mystery about what the f--- is going on," he mutters. As Rodimus skids to a halt, Impactor does hop off of him in case Prime wants to transform to robot mode (and to obey Prowl). After this, though, he raises his hand & harpoon to show he isn't carrying a weapon. Other than his harpoon. Dangit. "Wow," Impactor snorts at Prowl, "Grimlock was right. You /are/ a..." Rodimus's words pass through his mind again. The words about playing this cool. "...responsible and decent fellow." Impactor bites his tongue for having to say that. Flaming Winnebago waits for Impactor to dismount from his trailer before he transforms, rising up to his full Prime height, with both hands lifted in front of him in an attempt at a placating gesture, "Easy now Prowl," he says in an even tone. That sort of voice he takes whenever he's thrown into a dicey diplomatic situation. "Take a look at us. We're not brandishing our weapons, and if we wanted to really cause trouble I think we would have tried something a little more imaginitive than just driving through the main entrance face to face to a situation where we're clearly outnumbered, right?" A slight tilt of his head follows, as he does his best to appeal to Prowl's logic circuits. But he hasn't forgotten the whole purpose he came here for either, and he makes a point of making -that- well known. "Remedy, you alright?" Remedy looks toward the entry way to the Ark, "Yes, Sir, I'm fine... Just getting to know our 'hosts'."She moves slightly, "Hey, Reidan you okay? Feeling better?" Brawn gives a short chuckle to Wheeljack. "Everybody he's ever pointed a finger at?" Brawn steps forward to eye the pair of unknown Autobots, his feet coming close to where Amber is concealed. The hook hand impresses him. That's about it. He nods at it. "Nice." Amber MacKenzie decides to stay put until Prowl gets his head out of his... exhaust. She inches forward, though, enough to chance peering out from a shadowy corner but still back far enough to dive back in should a firefight erupt. Bumblebee smiles over at Remedy as she checks up on the human he's holding. "I think he'll be fine, Remedy was it?" he smiles, a bit shyly actually... Though once he looks up again at the newest arrivals, Wheeljack's optics light up as he spies the purple bot's unusual appendage. "Attaching a blade directly to the actuator limb, that's brilliant!" The light-nodes start flashing with greater intensity as he gets excited. "You can't disarm a sword that isn't in a removable grip." Gives the shorter Brawn a light bump with his elbow. "Want me to replace one of your hands with a big sharp impliment? Then you could punch -and- slash Decepticons at the same time." ... He sounds maybe just a wee bit too eager to try that out on some-bot... Prowl glares daggers at the two supposed Autobots. "I don't know who this 'Grimlock' character is supposed to be, but I don't like him already," he snaps. "And your arm's weapon? Yeah, I guess that is a neat trick, Wheeljack... especially when someone tells you to disarm. Now you've got a perfectly good excuse not to. Of course, I could always just shoot it off if I wanted to." Then Rodimus steps in, and Prowl's face goes blank for a moment as he listens. Is Prime getting through to him? Then... "..ah ah ah. Hold on, there, "Autobot." You're talking to me, and I'm the one asking the questions. First off, who are you two? And don't lie, Teletran I will be able to tell." That's not quite true, but maybe they'll believe it. "Secondly, if you're really Autobots, how did you get here, if you didn't get here via the Ark?" Brawn chuckles to Wheeljack, "But then I couldn't do all my favorite moves other than punching. I'd miss headlocks, torso crushings, and making knots out of Deceptijerks. Nah, if I need anything more thanb my fists I'll stick to just picking it up." Reidan Wesley rubs his head a little bit as he grumbles "/I/ want to go home as much as you guys do, and to be honest I am not too keen on ANY of us getting home if I'm going to be threatened, insulted, then having my property destroyed, and then falsely accused. I would almost have thought I was being held prisoner by Decepticons." Impactor grits his teeth. "If you shoot it off-" Impactor bites his tongue again. Primus on a stick, it is /hard/ not to want to murder this guy. "...then you'd be shooting first. Not too Autobot-like." Impactor sounds odd saying this, as if he's really unused to having to take the position of peacemaker. Finally, unable to take any more of this, Impactor takes a step towards Prowl. "Look, you have two choices. Either kill us now or don't kill us. But for the love of Primus, don't make us listen to more of this. Make a damn decision already, Prowl." Wheeljack hmms, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Good point. It wouldn't be much of an improvement if it distracts from your best moves," he replies with a chuckle. Yeah, Prowl being a son of a glitch is being partially ignored for the moment. "Maybe Trailbreaker will let me install one in his weapon arm instead of the gun muzzle. It'd be more fuel efficient for him to just stab Decepticons after they bounce off his forcefield." Remedy shakes her head, sighing... "Well, Bumblebee, I think he's gonna be okay also. Matter of fact, there's another human somewhere in the Ark. Want to see if we can find her?" She looks at Prowl digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself. Bumblebee seems to take offense at Reidan's words. "Now hold on, little guy? We aren't anyway NEAR as bad as Decepticons..." He pauses, looking at the large red Cybertronian, the one with the flame paintjob. "...." He turns back to Remedy. "...Could you? It'd be best if everyone was together, Remedy..." Amber MacKenzie finds her view blocked by Brawn now, and she whispers quiet British obscenities to herself before ghosting back to the wall, then down the block and past the minibot. She keeps away from the direction of Prowl's voice in case the triggerhappy @#$%?! catches a glimpse of her and shoots. Warpath has a thought. If Prowl ever told him to disarm, what would he do? Reidan Wesley points to his crushed pipe again wordlessly. "I was threatened with a beating. I admit that claiming that is not very useful with the evidence I've seen, Bumblebee." he admits to Bumblebee quietly, hooking an arm around a knee. "Yes, you -are- asking the questions. I see..." Rodimus responds not quite so clearly to Prowl, his gaze panning about the interior of the command center, taking stock of who's here. And who in particular is not. "Then that means Optimus isn't here afterall, is he? I was afraid of that..." As Impactor steps forward, Rodimus raises one hand to rest on the Wrecker leader's shoulder, "Well, things are already messed up at this point, I don't think we can do any worse by now. Alright Prowl. How we got here is a bit of a long story, so I'll start with who we are. This is Impactor, one of my soldiers. Remedy over there is another Autobot that serves under me. As for me..." He squares up a bit, setting his jaw. "My name is Rodimus Prime." And yes, he waits for it. Brawn huhs and after a few seconds pause says, "I didn't know they were giving out more command rank titles... where was the line up for that?" Wheeljack snaps out of his musing of new ideas spawned by Impactor's harpoon-hand at that. "... Another Prime?" Emitters dim briefly as he considers this, then flare up brightly as he snaps his fingers. "I've got it! They're Autobots from another parralel dimension with strange coloration patters and unorthadox weapon placements, sent here to ... I don't know, I ran out of concept after that far. Sounds like they're looking for our Prime with this Prime." Reidan Wesley says, "I could have told you that, if I wasn't threatened!" Prowl's face betrays, for just a moment, the incredible stress he's been under since they were reactivated and Optimus Prime, who Rodimus just mentioned was not found among them. Then it's gone... and Prowl is then *floored* by who this strange Autobot claims to be. "Rodimus... *Prime*? Do you expect me to believe this? You're Autobot Leader now, right when we lose OUR leader? That's some convenient timing, *friend.* And hold on, *tough guy,*" he barks at Impactor, "I haven't decided yet." Prowl's door wings twitch when he happens to overhear what Remedy said. "Wait.. what? What did you say? There's another... human, you said? That's what he is? And there's another crawling around somewhere?" His optics narrow. "Well, you guys need an atmosphere to breathe in, don't you? What if I took away the atmosphere? I bet that other human would stop crawling around, wouldn't he? Teletran I, activate Halon gas fire extinguishing system, command code BETA NINE FOUR TWO THREE THETA SIX." Bumblebee gives a bit of a start as Rodimus declares that he is, in fact, a Prime. He holds him hand up to keep Reidan on his shoulder, as he turns to Wheeljack, and listens with interest at the scientist's theroy. And then... Prowl goes overboard. Again. "Prowl, what are you doing?!" The yellow minibot might be the (assumedly) youngest Autobot of the Ark team, but knows that Prowl's over-reacting. "Stop it, they're NOT enemies! Please, just, just relax? Please?" he pleads, doing the Cybertronian approximation of puppy eyes at Prowl. Remedy blinks, "You FRAGGING Con SUCKIN' Quinteson!" She moves to take a shot at Prowl since his focus seems to be on Prime, likely complicating things considerably "BELAY THAT ORDER RIGHT NOW." Rodimus' voice suddenly cuts out, going straight from his gentle diplomatic tone to, the one he takes with troops who've been disobedient just a LITTLE too much for his tastes. He's a Prime, but he's a different Prime than Optimus, and always will be in his approach. As for Prowl...he suddenly finds himself on the receiving end of Rodimus' right arm sweeping out and suddenly lifting him off the ground, crashing him against the nearest wall as Rodimus gets face-to-face, his expression hard and deliberate. "Is this what Autobots do? Shoot first, ask questions later? Is this what Optimus would -want- you to do? Mercilessly kill intelligent organic beings that aren't even capable of protecting themselves!?" His voice turns to a harder edge then. "You want proof? HERE's your damn proof!" With his arm still pinning Prowl to the wall, his other hand raises up and pulls open his chestplate, allowing the shimmering glow of the object within to cast its light across the entire room.. Warpath rubs his head. He looks back and forth between the strangers, including the one calling himself a Prime, and Prowl with his twitching so much he must have robo-Parkinson's. "Are we going to have to BLAM, bust some crankcases?" Autobot Matrix of Leadership A spherical metallic object, approximately the size of a Cybertronian fist. A hexagonal window is cut in its bronze housing to reveal a multi-faceted, crystaline core. Surrounding the spherical housing is an elipse-shaped handle, with four fingerholes cut out on either side. It glows with a shimmering blue light. Impactor starts to take a step forward, lowering his hand and harpoon arm. But Rodimus beats him to it, and Impactor instead takes the time to watch the other past-Autobots to make sure none of them are going to try anything funny. He doesn't think they will given their reaction to Prowl's craziness, but just in case. Once Prowl gets pushed up against the wall, Impactor smirks. "Don't even think about it, Warpath," Impactor snaps at the minibot. "Let Prime do his thing and this gets to stay all peaceful like." If showing the Matrix doesn't do it, nothing will. Brawn does that single back step stagger stance complete with arms spreading out just slightly from the body and complimentary mouth gape. Not at the sudden violence cause that was pretty cool, but at the Matrix flash. Amber MacKenzie heard Prowl, and she acts instantly. Not to save herself, as she can't make it out in time, but to buy time for someone else to save her. She takes a deep breath and then rips her backpack loose and rummages for her drinking water and a thick, densely threaded t-shirt. Pouring the water over the cloth, she puts together a makeshift mask and presses it over her mouth. Too busy with her own affairs, she misses the light show. The Halon gas begins spraying out in a great howl, and it may become a bit harder to breathe in here for a few moments! Meanwhile, Prowl lets out a great "OOF" as he is slammed into a wall with great force, clenching his teeth as he glares back at Rodimus Prime. Then... he sees the Matrix. He gapes in shock. "How...? But... that's impossible!" A few precious moments pass, then Prowl finally declares. "Alright. Teletran I, deactivate Halon gas fire suppression system, command code TWO TANGO NINE SIX FIVE DELTA TWO. Cycle atmosphere." He meets Rodimus's gaze. "I... know I haven't been a popular leader, but Optimus is *gone.* Someone had to act, make tough decisions, and I was the only one left who could do it. We may be Autobots but we don't have the luxury of letting compassion blind us in a situation as desperate as this." "Okay, wherever they're from, I think that pretty much proves they're the real thing. In some form." Alas Wheeljack doesn't have a mouth to gape open. It's hard to tell if he's talking about the Matrix, or the way Rodimus pretty much handed Prowl his skidplate in one blow. He does however walk over to put a hand on Rodimus' shoulder afterwards. "As much as some of us really wanted to do that, don't be -too- hard on him, sir. He may have a dipstick up his exhaust port half the time, but Prowl was trying to cope with an extremely compromising situation we've found ourselves in." Bumblebee lets out a small gasp, as the Matrix light shines forth. "...So you are a Prime... From the future?" he asks softly, stepping forward, optics a bit wide. "...Um....I shouldn't ask, but... Do we defeat Megatron and the Decepticons?" Brawn scoffs at Bee's question. "Of course we do." To emphasize he punches his fist into an open palm. ~CLANG~ Remedy ignores the talking as she is down on her knees, looking for Amber. She hopes the human is good, "Amber?! Hey, AMBER, if you're okay, come out, or shout out!" She moves about, scanning for the human... Rodimus Prime still holds Prowl against the wall for a few more moments all the same. Something about the fact that he just about flooded the room with a gas that could potentially have killed the humans has rubbed Rodimus in EXTREMELY the wrong way, and he has to do his best to calm himself down. "I don't want to hear explanations, or excuses." He says suddenly, his voice as sharp as the harsh *CLANG* as he pushes his chestplate shut again. Only then does he step back, letting Prowl's feet touch the ground again. Rodimus turns now and starts striding towards the middle of the room, his face still set in a hard line. "We -never- lose touch with our compassion. No matter how hard the situation gets. That's something Optimus ALWAYS taught each and every one of us, and it's the -one- single and most important thing that sets us aside from the Decepticons. Don't EVER lose sight of that." He turns back to face the others now, unconsciously having moved through the room to a spot near Teletran's control panel, a position of command as he studies all the Autobots present. "I understand things are difficult, and I understand the situation is confusing, and desperate. But don't forget who you are. I don't want that. -Optimus- doesn't want that." He takes a moment to take a deep breath, to let his systems cool a bit after the...heated words. "And Optimus isn't -gone-, Prowl. He's missing. If it's any consolation, Megatron seems to be missing too. We spotted Starscream and the rest flying away from here earlier, and he wasn't with them. It's going to take time to explain, and I'm not exactly -how- I'm going to explain this, but there's an awful lot of things that are very...wrong right now. Things that shouldn't have happened, and shouldn't be. And we need to figure out what happened." Amber MacKenzie holds her breath for as long as possible, even though she hears the counter order. When she can't hold it any longer, she finally takes a deep breath, then another and another. No dizziness, no weakness. She leans back against a wall and sighs in relief. The sound of her name being called rouses her, and she wearily climbs to her feet. Looks like the caper is up, so she walks forward, between some broken equipment, and out into the open. "I'm here," she finally responds, glaring at Prowl. She could have died because of him. Warpath gives Prowl a /What the hell, hero?/ look. Impactor folds his arms, listening as Prime really lays into it for Prowl. To be honest, Impactor needs to hear some of this as well, and he knows it. He's never been big on the 'what would Optimus do' ideal, though. "Hey. Human. You injured?" Impactor asks Amber. See? He knows compassion. The speech just sinchs it. "Definately a Prime.. Wait a bleem." Emitters flash twice rapidly, the closest Wheeljack gets to a double-take. "Megatron is missing too?" Scratchs his head with one hand. "We thought the Decepticons had taken Prime." Pause. "Unless Starscream tried one of his crazy coups while both leaders were still out cold." Shakes his head a bit. "You'd think after a few million years the mech would get a clue.. But I don't think he could of pulled -that- off, even with his two stooges helping him." Most of Prowl's recent shinnanigans are forgotten as the mad scientist mulls over all of this while pacing back to the component access he had been working on. "But who -could- of? Shockwave was left on Cybertron... or at least, he wasn't in the raiding party... The Decepticon ship was flung who knows where when the boarding mag-locks busted during our crashcourse..." Remedy holds a hand out so Amber can climb into her hand. She looks over at Prowl, "You should be embarassed to call yourself an Autobot! Innocent til proven guilty. I... I can't believe this..." She got to live through the multi-million cycles between when the Ark left, and they contacted Cybertron again "Its simple actually." notes Reidan, now that the action was over. He was still pale, and trembling a little bit "Something happened that opened up a time hole. Sometimes when that happens, people end up swapped. It may be that Megatron and Optimus are in OUR time." Bumblebee continues to stare at Rodimus, carefully making sure the human on his shoulder doesn't fall off. At the human's words, he carefully turns his head to look at his new friend. "You mean... Optimus traveled to your home time?" He's not sure what to think of this. "But, he shouldn't have any trouble right? I mean, it's not like Megatron has his army with him." Brawn just listens but absorbs only the basic points and not all this more advanced stuff like coups and science and there being a second little human creature apparently having been here alla long right under their noses. Prowl lets out a gasp as he falls back to his feet, almost dropping to his knees, but thankfully for him he manages not to. He picks up on something. Rodimus definitely has a very... charismatic way about him. And somehow he senses his authority is slipping away from him. Prowl makes a pained face--he had just started to get his bearings on what the hell was going on, then THIS guy's going to come along and take charge? He may be a Prime, but he still has no idea who he is. "Well, I think I made the right calls," he says, rubbing his dented chest. "All things considered." Prowl clears his throat now he thinks he's regained his composure. "I'd like to believe that... Rodimus. I would. Optimus was the best of us. But I see no evidence that he isn't gone for good. At least Megatron won't be bothering us." The thought of Megatron stomping into the Ark, unopposed and flanked by his Decepticons, filled his days with dread. "Or so you say. Regardless of Optimus's status, even though you are... somehow... a Prime, I'm going to have to remain in charge for now. You're still a newcomer to us, after all." There, that oughta do it. He gives Remedy a tight-lipped look. "I *made* the right call," he repeats. Reidan Wesley snorts, loudly. Impactor snorts, a little louder. Reidan Wesley says, "I find that hard to believe, considering you MAY have killed your only way of finding Optimus, AND getting home, for all you know." Amber MacKenzie seems to ignore both Impactor and Remedy. She bends gracefully from side to side, stretches forwards and back until her hands touch the floor, and then finally straightens up. "Fine, thank you," she says tightly to Impactor. Still ignoring Remedy, she marches forward, wishing she were Cybertronian-sized for just long enough to b***h-slap Prowl. "Prime," she acknowledges more courteously. "Thanks again." Impactor doesn't bother pointing out all the ways Prowl is an idiot. He'd be here all day if he tried. Reidan can give it his best shot, though. As for Amber, the Wrecker just nods. He still has no idea why a civilian ran into this mess to begin with. "If it makes you feel any better," he tells Amber. "If he killed you, he would have been next." "Time travel? Slag it!" Wheeljack smacks his fist into the other palm, then holds it up with two fingers just barely apart. "I was -this- close with the alternate dimension theory! Time is just relative, after all." And there Prowl goes, trying to reassert himself. Instead he occupies himself with something else a bit more important. "How many of you Autobots from the future are there, anyways? It'd take a lot of chronological displacement to relocate as much importance as Optimus -and- Megatron." Yeah, he's mostly forgotten Prowl's dickery for the moment, in light of the situation taking a scientific bend. "Wait, forget that. How'd you time travel?! We could go back in time to stop from ever needing to leave Cybertron... wait, no, forget I suggested that!" Frantically Wheeljack waves his hands to dismiss the idea. "If the theories on temporal regulation are correct, that would just cause a different divergent timeline, which could actually be inconceivably -worse- than the situation we're facing right now..." Warpath looks around at his fellows. "Well BLAM, I don't know about you, but I'm convinced." He rubs his forehead. Reidan Wesley fidgets in his pockets, and glances to the pile of ground amber on the floor again with a sigh, actually nudging Bumblebee's head gently with an elbow "THat's the thing. I, personally, do not know. As I was /trying/ to explain before being threatened, I was going home on my hoverboard, and was sucked into a time-hole. I really had nothing to do with it this time." Rodimus Prime does the worst thing he could probably do to Prowl at this point. He turns his back on him, spinning in place to look towards the command console of Teletran One, "Fine, Prowl. If that makes you feel better, you go right ahead. I still intend to find out what's going on. And I'm going to find Optimus. Unless the day comes that you actually -see- him d..." Rodimus pauses for just a moment, almost...ALMOST choking on the words, "...you never give up on him. He'll never give up on you." As Amber walks up to him, Rodimus finally allows himself the faintest smile, looking back down to her. "As long as you and Reidan are okay, that's what matters. I'm sorry, I should have been more straightforward in this situation rather than trying to observe from afar. That's going to change right now as we try to get some answers. Wheeljack..." He spins suddenly on the inventor. "I don't know how many of us there are, really. There were four of us and one human initially...Tracks is off trying to find out what the Decepticons are up to. And I suspect some of -our- Decepticons came through as well. Reidan here is a recent arrival who seems to have shown up after we did...I can only hope we don't get more coming through by accident. There was some kind of relic, an ancient artifact and a portal...we got sucked through it. Have you repaired Teletran One enough that you could go through the security archives? I'm not one hundred percent certain but I think we might find some answers there." Bumblebee manages a small smile at the human on his shoulder. "I guess neither of us asked for this, huh?" he says. As Rodimus begins talking again, the minibot's optics flicker. Optimus... will die? He doesn't want to believe it, but, even Primes can fall. He only catches some of Rodimus's next words, but thiose words make his optics widen a bit. "...The war's still going on, in your time?" he asks Reidan, not wanting to interrupt whatever it is that the important ones are doing. Brawn's head explodes after what Wheeljack just said. Not really. But still. When Rodimus gets going he gets less fuzzy in the brain department. "Well... there was this one flyer type that Wheeljack and me didn't recognize... shot at us." Reidan Wesley perks up suddenly at what Rodimus said, turning to focus on him. He then carefully aims to slide off Bumblebee's shoulder. He was still a little wobbly as he rolls his shoulders somewhat, glad that it was over, and his rational thoughts returning. "A relic? A cube? With your alphabet on the sides? " he asks, guesturing "About yea big?" Prowl just stands there, trying to look stoic and in-charge as everyone disses him and Rodimus turns his back on him. "No, we've got to identify sources of energy before we do anything else. We won't solve any mysteries if we're all running on empty. Wheeljack, I want you to launch a Skyspy probe and identify something we can use. Maybe that black stuff you found earlier." He then glances at Prime, face betraying a bit of anxiety. What was Rodimus about to say, there? Impactor says, "Tell me about him, Brawn. What did he look like? Broad, flat wings compared to a Tetrajet? Missiles mounted underneath? Twin rudders in the back? Colour scheme? Passenger compartment on top of the fuselage?" Rodimus Prime asides simply to Brawn, "Was he a seeker? Dead grey coloured? If so that'd be Windshear." Brawn nods. "Yup, ugly motherboard fragger. That's the one." Rodimus Prime just gives a nod towards Impactor at that. Reidan Wesley coughs a few times loudly "Ah, the golden one here posed a question, as did I." he notes. Remedy nnghs, "Oh, Primus... He's here? Well, things have gotten interesting." She gets up, stretching Wheeljack deadpans, "Trust me, if its security related, it works. Thanks to -someone's- insistances." But this is no time for finger pointing. "And there was that, too." As both Rodimus and Prowl start giving orders he walks over to the main terminal, keys lightly up as he taps across the controls. "For goodness sake, Prowl, cool your carburator. I can bring up the security archive -and- program a Skyspy for recon. It's called multitasking." Pauses to rub his chin. "In fact, I might be able to modify it to scan for chronotronic particles as well, and see if it picks up any farther temporal anomalties. I'll get right on that." Goes back to tapping across the console controls as the security log files come up on Teletran's main screen. Rodimus Prime nods at that. If he was bothered at all by Prowl's own throwing orders around, he doesn't show it. Instead he just stands with arms crossed, watching as the information starts to play across the screen in front of him. "Try anywhere from 24 to 72 hours ago. It shouldn't be hard to find the starting point, just narrow it down to the first activity detected in the Ark since you crashed here." It takes Teletran One only a minute or so to narrow the fields down until it finds the first transmission. A blinking *TELETRAN ONLINE flashing at the bottom right as the pre-recorded footage starts to play. The familiar layout of the command center can be seen in the staticky image, along with all of the Decepticons and Autobots strewn about in their unconscious and damaged states. On the video, the console for Teletran One can be seen blinking rapidly as it launches a Skyspy satellite into the air, which begins to dutifully scan the surrounding area. The footage follows the skyspy as it catalogues the local wildlife and vegetation, and then happens to focus in on something else. The future Autobots and Decepticons, all laying prone and unconscious where they lay. The Skyspy studies each of them in turn, and then begins to scan them, probing and checking out their structures, before interfacing and scanning their unconscious minds and memory banks. In the scene playback, Teletran One has been seeking a technological source to use as a basis to repair the transformers on the Ark...and in the memory banks of the unconscious future Autobots, it's found -exactly- what it needs. Knowledge of the individuals in fact, modes that are already optimized for them. With this treasure trove of information, the Skyspy returns...and Teletran One sets to the repairs, focusing on Megatron first... The footage continues to play as Teletran repairs Megatron dutifully, forming the infamous gun mode. It is just putting the finishing touches on Megatron's form and is about to revive him when... ...several tentacles suddenly come onto the screen from just out of camera range. The camera that -should- be able to see who they belong to appears to have been damaged and wasn't broadcasting at the time. Megatron's inert form is pulled free of Teletran's repair beam and Optimus' is pushed in place as well. Again Teletran dutifully starts to repair the Autobot leader, putting his body whole, but again his form is removed before he can be revived. The next image snaps to an outside view. A crude makeshift hoversled that half floats and half drags as it is pushed along. Optimus and Megatron's bodies, inert and side by side as they are carried off. And the one making off with the prize? Specific details are impossible to make out, as the image is fuzzy and broken occasionally by static. But the tentacles, and the unmistakable egg-shape... "...I should have GUESSED as much." Rodimus almost snarls, one fist slamming into the open palm of his other hand with a heavy *CRACK*. The security footage continues to play in the background, showing as a seismic disturbance briefly dislodges Skywarp's body and sends him crashing down into the repair beam of Teletran One...and things then begin to happen as normal. Impactor steps up behind Wheeljack, looking at the controls and monitor over his shoulder. He's glad the rest of the past-Autobots have swiftly joined their side in the fight against Prowl. He folds his arms as the footage begins to play. "Fraking Quintessons. It was /their/ relic. This all makes sense." He glances at the past-Bots, unsure of how much they know about the Quints. Reidan Wesley frowns "If it was, then why did it have Cybertronian on it? " he asks aloud, rubbing his chin as he starts to pace unsteadily back and forth, fishing still in his pocket. "Friend or foe recognition must of been out of wack still," Wheeljack grumbles as Decepticons are repaired first. ".. Though that explains why I now have wheels and this tiny control compartment," thumps a hand to the car cab that composes his chest, "instead of storage bay of a maintenance transport." And the bulbous shape and tentacles apprear briefly. "Wait, wait, what the null was that?! It looked like a mobile aborted fetus of a space squidroid." Pauses as everyone likely looks at him oddly. "What? I studied some xenobiology from Beachcomber before the Ark departure. I had no intention what so ever to try and give an Autobot tentancles, honest." Freaking mad scientists. Even the 'good' ones want to make abominations from time to time. Remedy shudders as she sees tentacles... She remembers the last time she had any interaction with tentacles. She turns away... unable to look at the screen. Bumblebee lets out a loud squeak as Rodimus smacks his hand into his palm. "W-What are those things?" he wonders aloud. He crouches down to speak with Reidan. "They are from your time? What do they want with us? Why'd they take Prime and Megatron?" Amber MacKenzie frowns at the video. She's not all that familiar with Quintessons, but... "It looks like they're using a jury-rigged transport. Aren't they supposed to be super technicians or something? Maybe they crashed, too." "Quintessons? What are BLAM, Quintessons?" Reidan Wesley says, "Very tasty with rice..." "Cybertronian?" Rodimus suddenly blinks as if hearing something else. He turns then to look at Reidan. "What's this about a cube with Cybertronian on it? The relic -we- saw was a giant tranguilar device, and it had some Quintesson etchings on it. Come to think of it..." He rubs his chin suddenly, "The Earth Defence Command was overseeing the dig site. And we hadn't heard -anything- about that, odd considering how close it was to Mount St Hillary. Do you -know- something?" Prowl had also been wondering what was up with his current getup, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, he stares at the security feed for a moment. "What... so our leaders have been kidnapped? But by whom?" He looks around curiously. "Quintessons? That's who did this? Why? Nevermind that... Wheeljack, do you think this hover-sled that they used could be tracked somehow? Maybe it has an energy trail, or it presses the foliage into the ground... *something.*" Reidan Wesley hesitates for the merest nanosecond, his eyes blanking. Both hands were shoved into his coat deeply as he stops his pacing. "I was just taking a guess actually sir." he admits "Energon cubes, data cubes... I figured most of your tools would be cubic. It seems logical after all." Rodimus Prime can sense an evasive answer a mile away. He has to deal with Air Raid on a -daily basis- afterall. "Reidan..." he says, as he leans down to one knee suddenly, getting very close as he looms over the human, "Take a look at our situation here. If you -know- something, we need to know it as well. It could make the difference between us being able to fix this and get home or having to spend the next mi...many years here." Bumblebee looks at Reidan, his face... sad. Not angry, not upset, just sad. "...Reidan, please. If you know anything that can help us get Optimus back... please?" The yellow minibot looks so hopeful. "...I, I want to call you friend, Reidan Wesley." Reidan Wesley sighs a little bit "Only if it can be kept between us." he says, giving in perhaps TOO easily. He looks at Bumblebee, face softening. "... I had to at least make an attempt Bumblebee, Because i am /technically/ under orders that it is top secret, and I'd rather not have ANOTHER court martial." he notes to Rodimus, continuing "Down in Brazil, we found a cube. It was about yeah big along one edge, and had your alphabet all over it. I could perhaps do a quick mock up. It went all glowy when Jayson tried to use his padd to translate it, and talked to the cube. It said something about "Pandora'. We were told not to tell you guys about it, because you were 'hiding' it from us and its 'time we stood up for ourselves' and that nonsense they go on about each time they kick you off the planet." Wheeljack starts tapping controls again. "It would depend on how much of any potential emissions have deluded by this point. The gaseous atmosphere of this planet is still dense with dozens of trace elements left over from it's formation and recent geothermal activities." Wheeljack pauses to look up, and muffled somewhere on the ship the *thmp* of a satellite probe launching can be heard. "But since we're already sending out a SkySpy to scan for potential energy signatures anyways, I just added that to the queue alongside chronometric distortion." Remedy blahs "Remember what I said about this being a long explanation?" Rodimus says to all the other Bots who are inquiring about the 'Q' word. "It just got even longer. Bare with me for a minute." He looks back towards Reidan, and frowns. "Yeah, I guess that doesn't surprise me. In most cases we don't have any problems with the EDC but you always get the few hardcases. I don't see how that cube links up to the EDC dig site we saw south of Mount St. Hillary earlier though." Amber MacKenzie sighs. "Politics and leadership paranoia sticks its ugly nose where it doesn't belong again." She pauses to bestow another glare on poor Prowl. "We know all about that, don't we? So they don't bother to ask you about it, just make assumptions. Idiots." Reidan Wesley wells as he fidgets again, then puffs "Sorry, I /really/ need to smoke right now. I'm under rather a lot of pressure." he confesses to all present, fidgeting in his pockets. "It displayed a map which led us to the dig site you saw." "Aaand there's the link. OKay..." Rodimus sighs, putting one hand to his forehead. Reidan Wesley shrugs "Sorry. I'm still a little rattled." he admits, truly apologetic. "The other humans were just looking after their own interests, from the sound of it," Prowl says, probably emphasizing with some Terran officer with a nearly identical personality. "If we brought our war to some other civilization, I wouldn't blame them for being a little angry about it. Anyway, go ahead and tell us about this map." As if Reidan needed his go-ahead. Prowl certainly made it sound that way. Impactor hmphs as it turns out Reidan knew more than he was letting on. He shakes his head in disappiontment. "Humans are just fine at starting wars on their own. Didn't need our help." Bumblebee kneels down and gently picks up Reidan, placing the human back on his shoulder. "It's okay, Reidan. I understand. I'm not angry." he says soothingly. "Now, tell us about.... this Quintessons? Are they from this world?" Reidan Wesley replies to Impactor "Oh, dont get me started." he huffs "And dont give me that look. I was under ORDERS. Orders I honestly objected to in the first place. You're ont the only ones who want to go home." he speaks, a tone of bitterness in his thread. Then he glances to Prowl, blinking "... What else is there about it you want to know? It was a hologram map of approximately this time period, and the EDC went and dug up where it had a pin on the map." Reidan Wesley allows himself to be picked up again too. Wheeljack lets out a satisfied sigh. "And while that's going, I'm going to get back to work on putting enough ship together we can keep using it for a hideout." "...and they found a Quintesson relic that happens to hurl us back to this time frame, just when they're up to something so we can try to do something about it? That explains stuff but it creates even more questions." Rodimus rubs his chin, then sighs and looks back to the others. "We're definitely not seeing all the cards here. And before we get bogged down in too much, I think we need to get more information. Hopefully Teletran's scans will pick up something of interest, now that Wheeljack's made his adjustments. In the meantime maybe we should try to get settled and I'll let Tracks know it's safe for him to come back here." He casts a sideways glance to Prowl. "ASSUMING that's okay." Reidan Wesley adds "I do not know THAT part of the situation I'm afraid. I was busy cooking a feast, and then recovering from it." he fidgets a little bit more, glancing to that pile of amber. ANd then sharply to Prowl. Remedy sighs, walking over to sit down, "Prime, the Quintessons? That's never good." She leans forward to rest her elbows on her knees. Prowl peers down at Reidan. "That's it? Just a little mark on a map? Alright, then. I guess that will have to do for now." He then gives Rodimus a look. "Settled in, maybe, but not relaxed. We need to maintain constant patrols for the Decepticons here on this planet. Also..." He looks at Remedy. "You mentioned that you saw a Decepticon not from this time period? Was he the only one? If not, can you provide descriptions of the others?" Reidan Wesley shrugs helplessly at Prowl "/I/ didnt build it." he points out simply. "If you look at your inventory, and see if you can find what is missing from it, we may be able to narrow down WHAT this 'pandora box' is." he notes. "No, it's never good when they're involved. But we've messed up their plans before. And we can do it again." Rodimus offers reassuringly to Remedy, before tilting his head towards Prowl. "My assumption is going to be that all the Decepticons we were fighting got pulled through with us. There's a seeker with them, who isn't one of the three you know. A few others, I'll give descriptions...and Cyclonus." He winces slightly, but not too much. Could be worse. Could have been -Galvatron- who came through. "Some of these guys are no joke, and I especially mean Cyclonus. If I can offer some advice, try not to get into a fight with him if you can help it." Bumblebee shly raises his hand, like a shcoolmech at classes at the Iacon Adacamy. "Uh, Prime sir...?" he asks hesitantly. Rodimus Prime can't help but grin JUST so slightly. Some things never change. Like Bumblebee. Well except for the whole 'Goldbug' thing BUT WE WON'T GO THERE. "What is it, Bumblebee?" Reidan Wesley finally takes notice of Amber, almost jumping in surprise "... Who are you?" Bumblebee clears his vocalizer. "...What's a Quintesson, sir? Are they from this planet, or somewhere else? And, uh, why are they interested in us?" Prowl frowns. "I understand that, but I'm still going to need a description if we're going to avoid this 'Cyclonus' character. Is he a seeker, too? Or a helicopter? Seems to make sense, given his name..." Amber MacKenzie eyes her fellow Terran, perched there on Bumblebee's shoulder. "Amber MacKenzie, journalist for EarthWatch News," she responds way too courteously. "How nice to meet you in these awkward times." Impactor answers that. "Quintessons are disgusting aliens that think they can enslave us, regardless of how often we beat them down and rip off their tentacles by way of saying 'no'." Remedy looks at Prowl, "I'm familiar... Well, if you engage Cyclonus, do it with a numerical superiority." She settles down, looking over at Bumblebee, then back at Prowl, "Cyclonus is a jet. A very bad jet. He's trouble in either form." Getting up, she goes to give what she knows of the cons that followed them through the portal. Reidan Wesley hmms "Ah. Reidan Wesley. " he pauses, then looks to her, then away, looking now concerned as he fidgeted. "If we're going to be here longer though, I think appropriating some human food and tools - and a new pipe - would be very good as well." he suggests aloud. "He's a Spacecraft, actually. An interstellar one." Rodimus answers Prowl bluntly, and with deadly meaning in his tone. "We better PRAY that he doesn't figure out Cybertron's position in the meantime and manages to make contact with Shockwave or we're going to be in a lot more trouble. Luckily it's been adrift for awhile so he may not have an exact idea and won't want to risk it." To Bumblebee, Rodimus falls silent for a few long moments, before he tilts his head back, "The answer to that question...honestly Bumblebee, it's a long and difficult one. And I'm -not- the one who should answer that for you. Optimus might be the best one to ask...WHEN we get him back. For now, just trust me that they're bad news...and Impactor's description more or less sums them up in a good way." Prowl doesn't look concerned. "An interstellar spacecraft? Well, that shouldn't be a problem. If the Decepticons having energy problems like we are, and I see no reason they aren't, he won't have enough energy to fly to Cybertron anyway. Primus knows we depleted our reserves just getting the Ark over here." He turns to the Ark and brings up a display of various sensor readings. "He's Nuclear powered." Rodimus adds as an oh-so-casual aside. Prowl freezes. Slowly turns towards Rodimus. Sighs. Lowers his head, shakes it. "This is all so ZINGO, confusing," Warpath complains. Amber MacKenzie snorts softly. "Human food is what we make of it, and since I doubt either of us are familiar with prehistoric flora, that leaves meat." She smoothly climbs atop an odd-shaped cabinet to get on more level terms with Reidan. "I have some water purifying tablets that will last a few days, but that's probably an easy fix with some help from our Autobot friends. A simple distillation system would do the job. I don't pack any weapons, so we'd probably have to make some kind of snares and hope there is some local fauna that's small enough to be caught. I am *not* going after anything larger." Bumblebee sighs, and crouches down, as to get a closer look at the human femme. "...Amber, huh? Name's Bumblebee!" the minibot says cheerfully. "I dont think we need weapons." he points to a nearby visible gun "That will do for us. And i am actually somewhat familiar with the flora of this age. We're close enough to our own time that it should only taste a little bit different. And Carrots will be purple." he notes to Amber "A distiller is easy to set up. A bucket, a hole in the ground, a rock and a plastic bag is enough. We shoudl be just fine. Its not like we're the donner family." he still looked anxious though, pulling out his tobacco pouch. Yeah he wont let THAT one go. There's something disarming about Bumblebee, even for a woman in a bad mood. "Yes. Pleased to meet you, Bumblebee," Amber responds almost pleasantly.
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