| abstract | - THX 11 At the centre of this system is a brown dwarf star. A number of planetoids orbit at various distances from the sun, ranging from gas giants to small balls of dirt and ice. None are particularly suitable for anything larger than an outpost, but the star itself is highly desired for astronomy scientists wishing to learn more about the nature of the universe. A sparce but wide asteroid field is located at mid-range. The high radiation levels make sensors a touch sketchy. Perceptor's research has once again brought him back to THX-11, large planetoid #103524. Earlier, Dr. Andrea Lassiter had assisted him in identifying a series of markings on the device he'd uncovered, which he had since deciphered and determined that they implied that the subspace energy conduit had actually been specifically designed to power another apparatus requiring sustained high levels of energy input in order to operate. Or so it would appear. And so, the Autobot scientist finds himself and his comrade Fanfare back among the ruins on large planetoid #103524, once again entering the abandoned facility he had explored last time. This time he hopes to venture further into the sub-terranian structure, and discover whatever it was that the subspace device had been intended to be a part of. Ideally, this will allow him to get both pieces of technology to function again. That is, if they ever did. He is also hoping that the Decepticons will not find him again, although that isn't very likely. Well, that's what friends are for, right? Even if Fanfare hadn't been much help last time, outside of transportation... Folding down and around, Fanfare transforms from a Unpainted Gunmetal Grey CF-130 Super Hercules into his robot mode. Folding down and around, Fanfare turns into a Unpainted Gunmetal Grey CF-130 Super Hercules. Bare of paint, Fanfare isnt quite as big an eyesore as he lowers Perceptor down, then leaps after him. The low gravity makes it easy for him, and heHAD survived the first time. He dusts his hands off as he turns to follow Perceptor now, keeping his lightshow to a minimum " How far in do ye ken we gotta go?" he asks finally. F-35B Lightning II is, of course, back to ruin the day, because this would be a boring comic, otherwise. She narrates aloud for Mindwipe's benefit, watching behind some conveniently placed rocks, "So, MINDWIPE and VORATH, this is THX-11, where PERCEPTOR recovered some device. Now he returns to the scene of the crime! So I guess we wait until they find something neat and then steal it." In a transformation that is harder than it looks, Contrail rises up into robot mode. Mindwipe nods absently at Contrail, then stalks quietly over to the entrance. Dropping to one knee, he runs his fingers over the edges. "Interesting," he mutters. CF 130 Super Hercules in a Yellow Can of Whoopass Paintjob continues to follow Perceptor, glancing behind him quite often to ensure they werent ambushed or anythign from behind. He hummed nervously, one prop whirling quietly in the dark, his version of a nervous footstep. Folding down and around, Fanfare transforms from a Unpainted Gunmetal Grey CF-130 Super Hercules into his robot mode. Fanfare continues to follow Perceptor, glancing behind him quite often to ensure they werent ambushed or anythign from behind. He hummed nervously, one prop whirling quietly in the dark, his version of a nervous footstep. Scattershot hovers somewhere in orbit of the planet, playing a support/backup role. <> Scattershot transforms into an awesome BATTLECRUISER! Missiles! Bombs! Guns! Perceptor nods at Fanfare. "Thank you for agreeing to accompany me once again, Fanfare." he says as the larger Autobot puts him down and he transforms out of his smaller secondary form. He examines the area again, which doesn't look too much different than last time, other than being a bit more run down thanks to the fight, and missing the subspace device, of course. The scientist begins to move toward a darkened doorway that appears to be the only exit from the room, other than the hole Fanfare had made last time. He activates a high-power light that radiates forward in a thick, strong beam, directing it toward the doorway before answer Fanfare's question. "I am not certain, Fanfare." Mindwipe peers closely into the entrance, Then transforms as his head moves in for closer study. "Really, Vorath? Now?" The Bat left behind shakes his head. "If you die, I'm asking one of those with two Nebulons if they can spare one." Mindwipe folds up into a giant bat, while his head unfolds into the scientist, Vorath. Contrail is going to let Mindwipe go first and follow him, because Weird Spooky Territory is Mindwipe's area, to be sure! "Ah" the large mech responds as he turns his back to Perceptor, always on guard. Unless he's not "how do ye ken when ye find it then? " he asks, somewhat puzzled at this epxloratino "Ye'll just... ken?" he asks, whirling his blades softly again. <> Perceptor says into the comm, once the Technobot leader has confirmed his presence. <> He has a feeling in his circuits that he is going to have to deal with Contrail again, but he is not the type to trust intuitions like that. He continues through the doorway, directing the light toward the walls. Brushing away some of the dust, he examines them. "Well," he answers Fanfare, holding up the subspace conduit he had taken from here last megacycle. "Presumably the device will have a structure allowing it to connect to its power source." he explains. While Mindwipe frets, Vorath is intrigued by his surroundings, to the point that he doesn't notice the bat cramping his wings to follow. "Did you know," he mutters "that despite the wide galactic community, there are more unidentified ruins than could possibly belong to recognised civilisations?" Contrail whispers back to Mindwipe, her hands folded behind her back, "I didn't know that, but I can believe it. Civilizations are /great/ at wiping themselves out. Sometimes, people like us help. Heh heh." Fanfare ahhs and nods. He pauses, hearing things down the pathway and sighs "Ah think we're nae gonna get out of this one unscathed mate." he remarks to Perceptor as he stares ruefully down in the direction he'd come "Who builds just ONE entrance tae a base these days?" Perceptor continues examining the markings for a few more clicks, then comes to a conclusion on which way to go based upon his findings and moves down a side corridor filled with broken, empty pods. "Yes, unfortunately, it is likely that the Decepticons will detect our presence. Namely, Contrail." He ignores Fanfare's second question. Contrail totally has a Ruin Perceptor's Day App on her datapad, especially for cases like these! And then Vorath goes and makes a target of himself. She sighs, but she does not freeze. Instead, her acid guns flip over her shoulders, and she barks out, "Autobots! Vorath is here to do SCIENCE. Interfere with him, and I'll have to get rough, and we don't want that, now do we?" Vorath eagerly delves further into the ruins, clearly enthused by science. Mindwipe's bat aspect tries to keep up, but freezes in horror as Vorath pushes his way past Autobots in order to study the wall-markings. Fanfare moves to block Voraths' way the moment the Decepticons come into view. He puts his entire leg and giant boot into the mans' pathway "Woah holdup there mate..." he states, and glances up as Contrail starts to arrive as well. He fidgets al ittle, nervous now as he uses his bulk to pretty much take up the entire door, protecting Perceptor "Hold up there then. We got here first. Tae avoid steppin' on each other's toes, ah suggest Turns." he states, lifting a hand. Willing to negotiate, but wanting to buy Perceptor time first. Perhaps Fanfare is hearing Mindwipe and Contrail following them, or perhaps it's something else... The two Autobots come upon a large room with a disc-shaped structure with some sort of sharp-looking projectile coming from the front of it in the center of it. Perceptor's optics brighten at this, and he rushes over to it, again unaware of the Decepticon presence despite the fact that Contrail just yelled. "Ah, this must be the corresponding equipment." He says to himself, examining another series of markings near the bottom of the structure. Yep, there was no mistaking it. This was it. Autobot Battlecruiser continues to chill in orbit, getting irritated from the lack of...things to do. There's a lot going on in the Autobot world, and Scattershot is here, sitting in space and babysitting the science guy. Of course, he hasn't heard from Perceptor in a good bit. Planetry interference? <> Vorath blinks, then rubs his forehead. One moment he was following wall engravings, the next...That was someone's leg, wasn't it. Nevermind, not important. He peers around it at the wall. Mindwipe, on the other hand, is very aware that his head is surrounded by Autobots. "A-heh, Vorath?" Contrail keeps her weapons trained on Perceptor and Fanfare, and she hisses, "Vorath. Science harder." She will cover for the Nebulan, but he had better find something important! Fanfare frowns as his compromise was ignored. He continues to block Vorath as long as he could, but the smaller guy could easily get around the legs if he moved fast enough "Ehy! Eyes up mate! Ah was speakin tae ye." he then waves a hand at Contrail "Put that thing away till after ye answer me question at least. Then Ye can shoot me. Ah said..." and he rumbles his voice louder "He can look all he wants when we're done. That way we're nae bumpin intae each other okay?" Perceptor is already plugging the subspace energy conduit into the large structure in the room while Fanfare is standing at the door, blocking the Decepticons' entry. Strangely, getting the entire ensemble online wasn't as difficult as he'd originally predicted. Maybe this place wasn't as ancient as it looked. The apparatus hums and whirs to life. "Hmm, it appears to be some sort of chemical reactor..." he muses to himself, ignoring Fanfare's urging. Suddenly, something shoots out of the long projectile-like structure and explodes in midair. It's small, but when the smoke clears it looks like a window to another planetoid in the system has appears. Perceptor stares at it, his optics wide in amazement. "Fascinating," he mutters, STILL not even aware that Contrail and Mindwipe are standing at the door. Vorath eyes the disc-structure as he mutters distractedly. "You didn't ask a question, you made a suggestion. And scientific debate is invaluable. If I could just- Oh my. His jaw drops as he witnesses the display. "Fascinating," he whispers, unconsciously echoing Perceptor. Contrail points out tiredly, "Look, more science will get done if Vorath does the science /now/. We aren't going to wait our turn. And while Vorath is out on his own, no, I am not putting my weapons away." "Suggestion. Question. Et rhymes. Same difference." dismisses Fanfare with a wave, irritated. He glowers at Contrail, folding his arms. His foot slides to one side to let Vorath in "Fine, HE can go and do the science. Ye can stay oot here and have a lovely talk with me while the geeks get 'it on." he still hadnt pulled any weapons himself as he stood there... but his wings do open a bit, deliberately widening his girth. "So then... Sup?" While Perceptor and Vorath are staring open-mouthed at the bridge that had just opened, Contrail and Fanfare argue outside. And something is coming toward the 'window'. Something -huge-, and it's coming fast. It looks like a hybrid between a dragon and a praying mantis, only it's the size of Defensor. Before Perceptor could even react, it was already in the room, howling and possibly treading upon anyone in its path, which unfortunately included Perceptor. Combat: Perceptor misses Contrail with his OH NOOOOOO!! (Ruckus) Area attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Perceptor strikes himself with his OH NOOOOOO!! (Ruckus) Area attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Perceptor (Perceptor) used "Ruckus": A Level 1 AREA-MELEE attack. Combat: You took 7 damage. Combat: Perceptor strikes Fanfare with his OH NOOOOOO!! (Ruckus) Area attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Perceptor misses Giant Bat with his OH NOOOOOO!! (Ruckus) Area attack! [Pulled -1] Contrail protests, "What? No! Perceptor will probably turn Vorath into a pumkpin or something completely jetslag like that. Just you wait, you're going to go back to base someday, and Perceptor will have turned Metroplex into a flock of seagulls. I have to chaperone Vorath to make sure Perceptor doesn't egregiously break the laws of physics all over Vorath's face." She tries to get all up in Fanfare's face, like a blue jay harassing a hawk. Then, suddenly, monster attack! She pulls back and then suggests, "Maybe it only hates Autobots?" "Okay, not a photonic projection. Real." Vorath mutters as he rapidly backpedals. "Very, very real." The bat aspect, meanwhile, scrambles to protect Vorath. Staring down Contrail, Fanfare puffs his chest up even further as she came close to him. He unfolded his arms as his orange optics stare at her. A better metaphor would be a flying fish and a blue whale really. "Woy would 'e do that? e's just as mesmerized by what's goin on as yer mate is.... and ah - OW!" he is hit by the dragon thing, not at all seeing that coming, and the mech staggers forwards - right into Contrail! "Ach!" He turns about, almost smacking Contrail with the still-extended wing as he pulls out his small pistol "Percy Git oota there!" Fanfare fires his pistol as well at the thing Oh slag! A monster just came out of that portal! Perceptor finally realizes. And...Mindwipe and Vorath are in here! And so is Contrail! Primus...why did these things always have to interrupt his quest for knowledge? Well, that creature would certainly be an interesting specimen. He draws his concussion weapon from subspace with and takes aim at the creature, hoping to stun it and cart it off back to Autobot City. However, it manages to claw at Contrail while he is preparing the shot. Combat: Perceptor strikes Contrail with his Mantis-dragon claw hands? (Grab) attack! Contrail realises, "Okay, no, the mantis-dragon doesn't like Decepticons, either," as the dragon tears her a new one. "Mindwipe. Can you befriend the dragon with your 'we are both movie monster' ways?" She tries to dart around and get closer to the Weird Science that Perceptor was poking earlier. Combat: Contrail sets her defense level to Protected. Vorath shakes his head as he looks at Perceptor. "Now I know why he had to blow up a universe." Mindwipe, however, glowers at Vorath and Contrail in turn, then turns his hypnotic gaze upon the Dragon-thing. "You will stop. You will listen to my voice alone..." The creature hisses at the Decepticon but then suddenly stops, actually obeying Mindwipe's commands. Perceptor was about to hit it with the stun, but when he sees what is happening he stops as well, intrigued by this phenomenon. "Hmm...interesting." he mutters to himself. Oh yeah, and it drops Contrail onto the ground rather roughly. Fanfare snickers at Contrails' drop at that, lowering his gun a little bit "Ehy, nice trick." eh remarks as the dragon starts to obey... He then glances to Perceptor, and then back once more "Wot should we do with et now? Ah dun think Fort Max would let us keep et." Contrail owies as she is dropped on the ground - so hard that it makes a hole in the ground, which she promptly falls through. Wow, that is a deep, dark hole. There is still no sound of her hitting the bottom. Maybe she fell all the way out the other side of the asteroid, even though that makes no sense. Giant Bat maintains optic contact as he ensures his will is dominant. "Come," he declares imperiously. "Collect Vorath, you have great potential." He subsequently ignores the Autobots. Because giant Mantis-Dragon means he can. The giant obeys Mindwipe, picking up Vorath as gently as it can its foreclaws. Meanwhile, Perceptor suddenly realizes that he doesn't want to be around if a Decepticon has gotten control of a giant praying mantis dragon monster thing. So, he quickly swipes the subspace energy conduit out of the power socket, causing the device to power down and the space bridge to disappear. <> he quickly comms to his friend before jumping aboard the larger Autobot and transforming down into his smaller microscope secondary form. Combat: Perceptor begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Contrail and Giant Bat "A fair idea..." rumbles the giant mech. no wanting to try and waste more energno on the dragon, he transformed, waiting for Perceptor to load up before he hits his jATOS, filling the room with noise and fire as he bursts through the opening. Combat: Fanfare begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Contrail and Giant Bat ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/126 Posted Author THX-11 Investigations Sun Oct 28 Perceptor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ***TEXT-ONLY TRANSMISSION*** Fanfare and I once again traveled to THX-11, once I had determined that the subspace energy conduit was likely to be a power source for some sort of reactor requiring sustained high levels of energy input in order to operate effectively. I was able to find the apparatus, which appears to be a sort of chemical reactor that creates a strange semi-solid substance. This substance generated a point singularity when ignited, and created a small space bridge to another planetoid in the system. Further analysis and on-site experimentation is to come. ...Oh, and Decepticons Contrail and Mindwipe were present. Mindwipe managed to gain control of a large organic creature that emerged from the bridge. Presumably, he has taken it back to a Decepticon base. Perceptor out. ***END TRANSMISSION*** ============================================================================== ================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/94 Posted Author THX-11 Sun Oct 28 Mindwipe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vorath's scientific curiosity was piqued by Autobot activity. I now have a dragon. We need to watch Perceptor more closely. ==============================================================================
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