| abstract | - Cybertron Olympic Site - Intersection Here are the many roads and underground monorails that link the three Olympic Site districts together, as well as providing easy transport to the gleaming Crystal City itself. Above ground one can have an excellent vantage point for the rest of the site. To the north one can see the tall Roman-like pillars of the Central Stadium. To the east one can see the rows upon rows of shops from the Commercial District. To the west one can see the stubby multi-sized and greatly varied buildings of the Habitat District, and to the south one can see the gleaming walls of Crystal City and the beautiful spires and towers that make it up. "<>" the voice of Ramjet crackles over the Decepticon shortwaves. His highly-tricked out, thickly-plated YF-15 Star Eagle frame gliding effortlessly through the sky. The occasional twinkle of some far-off star, clearly visible in Cybertron's eternal twilight, reflects off his mirrored plating. Within, Ramjet's cockpit controls scroll an array of exotic images and flashing lights at Wiretap. The topographical layout of Crystal City, reduced to wireframe, rotates endlessly within the leftmost console. On the rightmost, a DRADIS-readout identifies numerous 'friendlies' -- the Decepticons he's taken with him and the citizenry of Crystal City. One enormous red blip is tagged OS(A), the unmistakable label of Omega Supreme. Internal com flicks on and in the center screen, an animation of Ramjet's face appears to speak to Wiretap. "If Omega Supreme's blip even /drifts/ one micron.. let me know immediately." F-35B Lightning II transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her body, and her wings rotate into position at her hips. Fleet is silent as he follows along behind Ramjet. He's uncertain as to why he's out here, but he's never been one to rock the boat, and so he is. He hasn't been much for conversation this trip, but as often as not, he's not one to initiate it himself, anyway. Exo-Tank Hermes Tank cruises up to the site of the Crystal City Spacebridge that provides transport to Six Lasers. Although this is ostensibly 'unaffiliated' territory, the EDC's intel on Cybertron is horribly out of date, resulting in recent mishaps such as Talons coming for a landing at Trypticon. Inside, James frowns at his computer, beeping urgently at several new sensor contacts that show up as 'purple' which is fast becoming the universal color for 'threat' throughout the galaxy. He double-checks to make sure they're within the borders of Crystal City and then transmits a brief heads-up to his fellow exo-pilot. F-35B Lightning II has a need to go smite a certain pool table-manufacturing company for giving her SPACE pool balls dripping with fell non-Euclian geometries that are incompatible with her pool table. Thus, she is here, at the spacebridge, the gateway to worlds. At the sight of Ramjet, she does a neat clockwise quarter snap roll and then snap rolls back counterclockwise - an aerial salute. Wiretap monitors the screens inside Ramjet's cockpit with cold detachment, wishing she didn't have to look at the facsimile of the conehead's visage. "Omega's position is stationary, for the moment. No sign he's noticed us, and no communication on any frequencies I'm monitoring either." The weasel-faced Decepticon replies, keeping her magenta optics on the screens. "Hrm. Picking up a signal from inide the perimeter... EDC communications. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything useful." Exo-suit Phoenix One Tank cruises up a couple of minutes later behind the Hermes, and slows itself to a crawl next to the hermes. It's turret turns slightly but doesn't bother with a target lock on any of them as the turret rotates around again. Exo-Tank Hermes Robot clips a hand-held weapon to it's back, somehow making the movements slow and elaborate to make a show of it. Not here for a fight indeed. Then it turns and marches towards the Spacebridge. Before stepping inside it pauses. James frowns in his pilot's compartment. Is it his imagination or are those Decepticons headed straight in this direction...? Exo-Tank Hermes has left. "-What-?" comes the response from the simulcra of Ramjet's face. His animated optics seethe bright red. "The Olympics are over. What the frack is Terran /filth/ doing on the throneworld? Hnnnh.. a certain -Governor- has become far too accomodating again." His teeth grit together and his jaw protrudes out with a grunt. As Catechism offers her aerial salute, she'll find herself clicked into the recon frequency majordomo'd by the Air Commander. "<>" comes Ramjet's voice over the Decepticon shortwave. "<>" Within, Ramjet tilts his flight-stick to the side. He curves around, adjusting his heading for the City's Spacebridge. Apeface , a decidedly unconventional aircraft. Horrorcon Spacejet-1 streaks along with restrained speed but completely unrestrained stress on the engines. Huge rooster tails of smoke peel out from exhaust pipes as the roar of the engine overwhelms Apeface's ability to hear anything on the shortwave. Emblazoned on his cockpit glass are the holographic images of people being horribly injured by animals and random chance, as well as executions by firing squad, caught on tape, plays. Apeface giggles churlishly and peels off from formation in a daring barrel roll that sees him nearly clip Catechism and Ramjet with a wing. Nearly. All around the spacebridge, crowds mill about. The spacebridge, post-Olympic games, has reverted to a once-every-fifteen-minute schedule, meaning that anyone planning on using the bridge is going to have to go in a group. From the looks of it, there's no one else in line.. Exo-suit Phoenix One Tank turns it's back towards the space bridge and the tank backs in before transforming into robot mode. The pilot has noticed that the cons are headed their way, but doesn't fire.....especially since they're in neutral territory. The barrel of the main gun retracts into the turret, as does the mini-gun. Then the turret separates, becoming a bulky looking twin rocket backpack and the entire body raises up, with the shoulders extending out from the upper arms. The tracks of the tank covering themselves and separating into legs. After it stands up, the head pops out of the main body and it's optics flash, ready for battle. F-35B Lightning II does the aerial equivalent of shaking her fist and demanding that Apeface get off her lawn! She transforms and lands near the spacebridge, frowning to herself, half because of Apeface's crazy flying and half because of Ramjet's orders. Duty before pleasure. Fleshy-squishing before razing pool table manufacturers. She moves to enter the spacebridge. F-35, Marine Corps variant, transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her shoulders to expose her face, and her wings rotate into position. Wiretap already pretty much TOLD everyone there were humans present, but leave it to Ramjet to state the obvious. "Accessing Crystal City's infrastructure mainframe... Tapping into the spacebridge monitors. Looks like it's running in a 15-minute cycle, the Terran filth -and us- will have to wait to board." Fleet once more reaps the advantages of being unnoteworthy. Score! "<>" the Seeker replies to Ramjet, adjusting his flight to avoid any reactions to Apeface's antics. He dives towards the area around the spacebridge, transforming on approach to land lightly on his feet. Once landed, he scans the area suspiciously, keeping on the alert for oddities. Once inside the spacebridge, the happy voice of the Six Lasers' Announcer comes on with Mandatory Commercials before launch! "Welcome to Six Lasers! Be sure to check out the Ba----" The announcer cuts off suddenly, and a much less happy sounding computer voice takes over. "Warning: Anomoly detected. Warning: Anomoly detected. Warning: Destination not found." A few moments pass. "Status: Security system override: New Destination Found. Diverting." Then, all is silent. Voron Outpost(#5226TOen) The outpost seemingly was once sectioned off into various rooms, as evidenced by a heavily-barricaded door to the western side of the room. In the center of the room sits a large spacebridge terminal, of an odd design similar, yet not similar, to the current spacebridges used by both factions. Scattered debris lies all around the room. Off to the south is a rather massive barricade that seems to cover up a small, barely transformer-sized hole ripped in the wall. The spacebridge comes to a halt, and, eerily, the Six Lasers' announcer comes back on again. "We hope you've enjoyed your ride, and enjoy your time here in Six Lasers!" Exo-Tank Hermes Robot unclips that weapon again. Fleet stands rather near Catechism and Ramjet, optics wide, face set in a worried frown. That error did not sound good. He glances back towards the other Decepticons, then sets his lips into a grimmer expression and clenches his right fist. When the spacebridge opens...the sight is anything but Six Lasers. A closed room. A dirty room. Debris everywhere. Cold walls. And two strange-looking Seekers staring right back at them. One of them, at least, looks to have his weapons trained... This is definitely no place like home. Catechism is jostled around and rendered vaguely nauseous by the spacebridge ride. She gets to her feet and covers half her face with a hand, muttering, "The Ba? What in Straxus is the Ba?" Catechism then points a black gauntlet at the humans, and she growls, "You fleshbags! You sabotagued the spacebridge, didn't you? You're a bunch of terrorists, coming to our planet, blowing up our stuff!" She then drops silent as she notices the mystery Seekers. Exo-Tank Hermes Robot moves over to the other side of the now-cramped space inside the spacebridge, so that it's 'back' is against a wall while it faces the Decepticons. The external emitters click on, transmitting James' voice. "Aren't the spacebridges a -Decepticon- technology?" Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot turns it's head towards the hermes and the speakers click on...with the pilot chuckling. <> Wiretap keeps behind the legs of the larger Decepticons, but her bright magenta optics look around furtively at the contents of the space bridge terminus... Which is definately not the one at the Nepsa System. Something very bad hasj ust happened, and she reckons it will get a whole lot worse before it gets better. The mink-like Decepticon cassette keeps quiet, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to herself. Catechism snorts, "The Autobots bootlegged our technology and made it much worse." She demands of the unfamiliar-looking Seekers, every inch a surly officer, "Weapons down, men!" She cracks her knuckles, as if to emphasise her point. "Now, I ant a sitrep, on the double, or there'll be heads on pikes." Bluster and bluffing: they're what's for dinner. Fleet crouches as he spots the two strange Seekers, ignoring the human insults, as there's really more important things to concern himself with at the moment. No matter who the one stranger has his weapon pointed towards, Fleetwind does not raise his arm in return. At Catechism's ploy, though, he relaxes, and indeed, crosses his arms and taps his right finger on his upper left arm, managing to appear casually irritated. Desolon stands motionless, arms raised and cannon trained, first on Catechism, then on Ramjet, then on James, then on Catechism again, as Catechism seems to be barking out orders. "Identify yourselves...." Though trailing, the request does not seem up for discussion. Subponor looks over to his brother in arms, "It talks. But is it safe? Is it another visual miscommunication?" he speaks through a partially constructed face. Most of him is partial. The way things look, it appears as if something has been biting at him. Taking chunks off that have gone unrepaired except for hasty vital fixes. His voice is low and grating, as if barely holding onto life. "The walls have eyes, Desolon, and have they have mouths..they have made themself manifest after all these vorn.." Fleet gets completely left out again. Rocking! "AIR COMMANDER RAMJET of DECEPTICON AEROSPACE," roars Ramjet. He's already had his weapons drawn on instinct, pointing one at Desolon and the other at Subponor. "And I have LITTLE DESIRE to have some TROOPER pointing his weapon at -ME-!" Fingers slide inward, resting against the palm panels that conceal the firing mechanisms of his rifles. "So immediately place your weapons in the direction of -THOSE- two Autobot sympathizers.. or else!" Ramjet's optical ridge lifts and crinkles, expressing his ultimate indignance. Those two Autobot sympathizers being the two Exo-Suits nearby. Catechism looks over to Ramjet (and Fleet) and confides, sotto voce, "The second one is cracked, at the very least." Then, she turns to Desolon, getting up in his face, her shoulders hunched and her arm guns whining noisily. Catechism snarls, "Soldier, *you* do not make demands of *me*, understand? I don't care what kind of po-dunk installation this is, that you don't know what's what, but - yes. What Air Commander Ramjet said." Wiretap slinks out a few steps, looking over the strange pair that is present to 'greet' this wayward group of Decepticons. "Wiretap, Decepticon Communictions officer." She replies. No need to lie to these two... They look like theym ight give up thier cores and die at a moments notice anyway. Thier odd comments are recorded and filed away for future reference. Visual miscommunication? Exo-Tank Hermes Robot shifts a few steps away from the Decepticons, still trying to keep his back to the nearest wall. After a second James' voice crackles out of the emitters again. "Let's all calm down here. 'Desolon', right...? Where are we? What happened to you two?" James tries to keep his voice calm and reasonable, while at the same time he's inside his Exo frantically running sensor sweeps and entering battle tactic variations through his Exo's computer systems. Desolon stares down Ramjet now...his weapons not lowering, however. Too many years of paranoia.... He stares down Catechism as she steps into his face, but does not fire, his neural net scrambling to take everything in. "Deceptic...." He glances over at Fleet...at least someone didn't seem to be hostile. "Autobo..." His optics almost dim a little. "So the war continues..." He turns his head from Catechism. He was a Decepticon, after all, and the leader had identified himself, so no use in talking to anyone else -- apparently they were jerks millions of years ago, too -- "I am Desolon..this is our technician, Subponor. You have landed at the Advance.." He seems as though he's struggling to even remember where he's assigned. "..at the Advanced Outpost of Voron." "At least..what's left of it." Subponor narrows his eye..the other one is gone outright, leaving a gaping socket filled with whirring and clicking mechanisms. Occasionally there's an arc. "Whelps, Desolon.." he rattles, sounding like a human with bad lungs, "We request help and the walls send us whelps and the subjugated. Now there is no hope for us, we will be fetted for the maw of the beast, and we shall succumb under its claw once more." Interestingly enough, especially for, say, Wiretap, while the Decepticon broadband and radio works here, the contingent will find that any radio communication with anyone 'back home' has been cut off...they are apparently far, far off course. "How pleasant." Ramjet snorts with a hefty gust of his nose. It wasn't so pleasant after all. "Now either divert your weapon from my crew and I or I will see to it that we will get to the bottom of this mystery without your existence. My operating systems run short on resources to devote to patience circuits." Desolon side-quips back at Subponor, without taking his optics off of Ramjet. "We stopped asking for help six million vorn ago, when we realized they weren't listening...I don't think the walls brought them to us." He continues staring at the scene as it unfolds in front of him. Fleet rubs the back of his head and sighs. "Ah, yes. Because I haven't had my daily dosage of doom prophesies yet today," he says in response to Subponor's rambling. And here he thought getting off Alkor Zephyr would get him away from that stuff! Ramjet stares at Desolon. "Five rels, Trooper. Five rels to lower your weapons or else." Desolon reluctantly lowers his weapons. He could tell this was going nowhere quickly. Catechism mutters to Ramjet, Fleet, and Apeface, "Probably a colony crew that was forgotten in the shuffle. Lunatics." More loudly, she comments to Desolon and Subponor, "Welcome back into the fold, then! You will need to be debriefed. However, there is an *infestation* that we must handle." She turns wrathful optics upon the fleshlings. Wiretap's optics and external ears flicker, an outward sign that she is frantically accessing the communication network. All frequencies open... but deathly quiet. Very disconcerting. "I've never come across any mention of Voron in the DCI database. What are the spatial coordinates of your outpost, Desolon? And do you have a functional long-range radio system I could access?" From Exo-Tank Hermes , James Bailey keeps his Exo's 'head' pointed at the Decepticons, but inside he's panning the sensors around and then zooming them in on the spacebridge. He tries to visually inspect it for damage or signs of malfunction...he doesn't know anything about how the technology works, but maybe he can do something basic like hotwire it to reactivate, if (when) the EDCers decide they have to leave in a hurry. Subponor walks in front of Ramjet - "Or else what? You'll put us out of our misery? You've watched us here for..primus, I've but forgotten. Internal chronomoter damaged..well, I can't remember how long ago - irony, eh? I continue - put us out of our misery? We've been in it for longer than you've been around, with your shiny parts and your pointy..little..top. No doubt there's no resources for patience subroutines. There appears to be room for little else." he looks at Wiretap's question, "If there was, do you think we'd have spent the last countless cycles here of our own volition.." he takes a few steps back now, "They wolves sent you? they crafted you and they sent you to be our end, have they?" he looks to Desolon, "Our end, Desolon. Sweet release..no more being killed a little at a time..now it will happen all at once. No release, no escape..our relief has finally arrived." he half-smiles and stands at attention and salutes - random parts fall out of his chest cavity, "Hail! New Guardians of Voron!" Ramjet grunts. "Now that you've worked the /stupid/ out of your systems," he says as he glares at Desolon. "...we have an issue. These Autobot sidekicks," he turns his cone to direct both mystery Decepticons's attention to Bailey and Keldahoff, "..are now infiltrating this Advanced Outpost and we have been transported, by some error of the Spacebridge, to this ..." Ramjet's optics squint at his surroundings. Familiar but off. "..place. And unless you somehow spurt out some relevant information that we are all in a dire situation that requires us to magically forget our differences and team up to fight some greater threat, I intend on disposing of this security breach immediately." The Air Commander slides his arm out and points one of his rifles at the Hermes Exo-Tank. Wiretap grumbles, and makes a mental note to have Soundwave install long-range communication suite ASAP when they get home. IF they get home. Exo-Tank Hermes Robot raises it's own weapon, an SMG-like gunpod, aiming right back at Ramjet. The other arm brings up a heavy metal shield. The external emitters click on. "Try it and you can bet we'll be taking a few of you down with us. Starting with you." Inside, James continues his scanning. He zooms in on Desolon and Subponor now, trying to figure out how badly they're damage and where the best chances are to land a crippling blow to remove them from the equation first. Catechism ponders the situation at hand. She is in the middle of nowhere - really nowhere. As in, does not exist, nowhere. There are some arrogant fleshlings. The spacebridge has gone wrong. She is staring at two crazy Decepticons. Sighing, she asks, "Say, does Straxus mean anything to you, Desolon and Subponor?" It's her stock question, these days. She idly points an arm gun at the Hermes for daring to smart off. Desolon glares back at Ramjet, althought with a confused look on his face, as Subponor almost makes sense for a minute. That was the longest streak of lucidity he'd put together in a while. "Commander, if that is your rank...if anyone commands anymore...our spacebridge failed millions upon millions of years ago. We were stranded here, with no one who knew how to fix the fragging thing. Sure, Subponor could maintain it, but when it gets..." He shudders. "Irreprable. It took desperation for us to blockade ourselves in here..and we almost had it working..." He looks at it. "You weren't expected...Subponor...I have to believe that it's shot again..." This last part is stated, as a question, at Subponor. Desolon stands up straight at Catechism's idle comment, fist to his chest. "All hail!" He looks almost bashful a moment later...it had been a while. They'd taken to simply referring to him as "The Big Aft" around the base, when they talked about 'home' at all.. Subponor blinks like Colonel Tigh at an optician's convention at Desolon, "did..Did she say Straxus? All is possible..there is light in the darkness again and we shall follow the path to redemption." he seems to brighten up, though ignoring the opportunity to All Hail because well, there's nothing to hail. Yet. He walks over, pushing past Catechism, Ramjet, and the weird little one (the exo) towards the Spacebridge - "Let me examine the components one more time..we were missing a vital piece before." he looks around, "Keep the wolves off me while I work, and do not let the walls see..they have a million eyes, the walls, and do not break with friends easily." he hunches over and examines the spacebridge. Fleet raises both brow-ridges and glances sidelong at Catechism and Ramjet. These people are even more behind the times than he suspected. He lowers his arms, shaking them a moment. He appears to still be in a rather idle stance, but he is, in fact, ready to spring into (or away from, since this *is* Fleet we're talking about) a conflict should one arise suddenly. Now, the one thing they need most is INFORMATION, not a fight. Wiretap finds the strangepair of ancient and decrepid Seekers far less of a threat than the two exo-suits, and steps forward to regard Suponor and Desolon. "Despite your situation, you do have something we need, Desolon. Information. Tell us what we need to know, and we can see to it that you recieve what you want... An end to your suffering, one way or another. You can start by telling us what's been eating your friend. wolves, of some kind?" Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot is pretty much ignoring the entire cavalcade of Decepticons as the robot only scans the surrounding areas.....including the spacebridge itself.... Catechism narrows her optics thoughtfully, at Desolon's response of 'All hail' when she mentions Straxus and at how Subponor also shows recognition. The man got around! She then prods, "Does the name 'Megatron' mean anything to you?" She has a hunch that it won't. One does not 'all hail' a cussword. Subponor rears up, "Wait..wait...the walls blink. The wolves quit howling for a moment. The name..the name is the thing..megatron..megatron...another whelp. Scrawny." he looks at Ramjet. "Not as sharp in the head as you, a bit more blunted." he rubs a mangled chin, winces. "Ohhh yes..Desolon..I remember him now. I lost 50 energon chips in his first bout at the Gladitorium...in the times before walls, before wolves...when Straxus guided us all with a comforting hand." he leaks energon from his eyes, "Such times...they never existed. There is only howling and walls now - unclosing eyes on the walls and the piercing of wolves teeth." he mutters, going back to work. "Yes yes yes," Ramjet waves his hand in the air as Desolon needs some kind of confirmation of his rank. "What part of AIR /COMMANDER/ did you not process?" His cone slides from the left to the right, in a headshake. "Unbelieveable. Every frakking moron questions it! Like it is the Big To Do." His nostrils flare in another snort. "So you claim allegiance to Straxus? Okay. Fine. History lesson for you. Megatron succeeded Straxus. Galvatron succeeded Megatron. Was Starscream Air Commander during Straxus's rebellion? Sorry. Long ago. Sometimes the memory engrams get a little fuzzy from that far back. Hnh. Well, I succeeded Starscream in being Air Commander. Big time." Ramjet's optical ridge lifts at that. He likes succeeding Starscream. Big Time. Ramjet then looks back, optical ridges still raised in James Bailey's direction. "What did you say? 'Taking a few of /us/ down with /you/? No." He shakes his cone rather matter-of-factly. "You won't. In fact. If I cared to know you any better, I would tell you that I would inform your kinsmen that you were buried in Advanced Outpost Voron. But I don't. Goodbye. Decepticons!" He announces rather loudly, in case anyone were suffering from hearing problems. "Eliminate this mouthy menace. Starting with this one," Ramjet motions to James with a forward jerk of his arm and a hard clench of his fist. His rifle opens up. Ramjet strikes Exo-Tank Hermes Robot with M61A-1 20mm . As luck would have it, there comes a heavy pounding against the makeshift barricade towards the south of the room. A distinct howling can be heard from outside. Catechism looks incredulous. Megatron, a scrawny whelp?! The times have certainly changed. She listens to the howling noise, and she considers. There are... lots of them. And two old Decepticons who date back to the days of Sraxus. There are two humans. They can smash the humans and *then* worry about the stupid wolves. Ramjet is sorta space-capable, isn't he? Worst comes to worst, Ramjet take Wiretap in his cockpit and run for help *after* the humans are bloody stains. She shoots. Catechism strikes Exo-Tank Hermes Robot with 25-mm GAU-12 cannon . Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot turns it's head towards the south....and towards the scraping. <> The speakers from the exo just as the shooting starts. "Wonderful.....there's a possible threat and the Decepticons insist on firing on us. how nice." The suits weapons don't power up though. "I surmise that means we'll be recieving a hands-on demonstration instead of a lecture, Desolon?" Wiretap says wryly. She shakes her head, and watches as the Seekers think with thier weapons instead of thier curcuits. She looks to Subponor. "your spacebridge's vital components are clearly functional; Otherwise we would not be having this conversation. Perhjaps it is the guidance system that is malfunctioning, and not the matter-shift system or the transwarp coils?" Exo-Tank Hermes Robot stumbles back as it's thick armor absorbs the attacks, then raises it's shield in case further shots are forthcoming. Inside, James eyes his tactical displays and the info scrolling along on reported (and suspected) capabilities of these contacts. Ramjet and Catechism are tough, sure...but they're not Shockwave. They're not -Bruticus-. James's not concerned yet, just carefully reviewing his options and odds. He notices that his Exo's motion has taken it that much close to Subponor... And then the Hermes turns it's arm to one side, pointing it's gunpod at the decrepit Decepticon's head. So close that it almost touches his forehead. "Do you Decepticons would like to see Cybertron, Earth or anyplace else again." James' voice echoes out. Subponor flattens himself against a wall, causing a clattering of small parts to fall from him once again. "They're here!! Oh my straxus and primus they have returned!!" he looks to the spacebridge, looks to the barricade. "The answer..must find..the answer..." he paces a little, looking quite ZOMGFEAR! at the barricade. "If Straxus still lives...then there is hope for a us all. No time for scrawny fighters nor walls...the answer must be in..within..myself..look inward to the answer...Desolon, my friend..my colleague...hold off the wolves and their howls for me one last time?" he asks as he walks over to the space bridge. He takes what looks to be a deep breath and then rips what is left of the external plating of his chest open. He is a patchwork of inadequate self repairs - who knows how long he has lasted this way? Leaking energon like a sieve - which only makes the wolves howl more wildly, the scratching and pouncing ont he barricade making it dent inward as they begin to successfully breach the makeshift defenses, he pulls two pieces that seem to be integral to his own self. He no sooner connects the parts to parts of the spacebridge - bypassing some malfunctioned components, and the spacebridge begins to hum through self diagnostic and startup routines. It is about this point that the wolves burst through the barricade and begin to flood the room, making a beeline for Subponor. "Unless any of the rest of you know how to build a SPACEBRIDGE from SCRAP METAL, i'd recommend protecting Subponor!" Wiretap shouts, boosting her voice by reversing the polarity on her recording gear. She leaps up towards a console near Subponor... She has little capability to fix this broken, decrepit old space bridge, but she can try to keep Subponor functioning. "Let me help you..." she says quietly, and enacts a few quick patcgh jobs on Subponor's degraded parts. Ramjet is Ramjet. Best in the business? Just about. He didn't become Air Commander by backstabbing, politicking, and blasting every single obstacle in his way to achieve his goal. Oh wait. He did and there is a laundry list of individuals -- Decepticon, Autobot, Junkion, and human alike who have suffered from his actions. Dirtiest player in the game? He's no Scourge but close enough. Ramjet doesn't even flinch when James takes his licks and fronts. His hostage attempt might have swayed this Decepticon -- if a beeline of wolves didn't just flood the room. "Oh. Shut up." Ramjet dismisses James as he swings his rifles for the direction of the wolves. He opens fire promptly, clenching his hands together to unload the capacitors of his weapons at as many of the creatures he can. "On the bounce, troopers!" Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot takes a different stance than before and yanks an energy sword from it's shoulder before slashing the nearest wolves. ((I'm covering Subponor!)) She yells to wiretap and slashes at more wolves. The Spacebridge indeed lights up and powers on, but from the sounds its making, it doesn't seem like it's going to stay that way for long. Subponor lays against the wall, watches the wolves enter. "Desolon...go while you can..." he's dying and he smiles softly to Wiretap, "Futile..effort..but will take your..kindness..to primus.." a couple of the wolves slip through and clamp hold of Subponor and start dragging him out towards the breached barricade. He looks helpless to stop them, his one optic looking resigned to the fact. Wiretap can do little to stop the wolves from dragging Subponor into the night. She is only a cassette... A radio with feet. There is ONE thing she can do. She looks Subponor in the eye, his one eye... And shoots a blast of electricity into the ravaged Transformer's gaping chest, aimed at a critical component of his life support. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot continues to swing at the wolves coming at them.....then a weapon at the hip of the mech swings up and blasts another wolf out of the area. The Phoenix One can't get to the other seeker however, but it's keeping most of the other wolves at bay. For his part Subponor almost looks pleased as Wiretap's blast hits his lasercore straight on. His optics flicker brightly, for one moment, and a smile creeps across his face, before everything goes grey. He disappears out the hole in the wall. Quickswitch's optics flicker blearily with orientation readings. He sets a big hand to the side of one of his fins as he steps unsteadily from the Spacebridge mis-transport, "Ooh.. This isn't Six Lasers.." he murmurs. Wiretap never thought she'd be so glad to see a bunch of Autobots bursting out of a spacebridge, but it's not the least-likely event to happen so far today. Too busy putting Subpoor out of his misery, it looks like Wiretap has missed her ride home. Seems like she's stuck in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hungry turbowolves, with no allies save for the unknown Desolon. Wiretap scrambles for cover behond a console, using the tip of her long tail as a periscope to watch the action. "Autobots! We're going to be eaten alive by turbowolves!" "Whut?" Grimlock, while physically slow, isn't as dumb as you think he is! Really. "...This not Six Lasers." he echoes Quickswitch's sentiment, and peers about- annoyed that he's lost the opportunity to have some fun on the Tilt-O-Barf. (It's tilty!). "...But it not so bad." he says, watching the Traumatized decepticons. "Me tell wolves to use salt! 'cuz 'cons taste bad!" Desolon blasts a Turbowolf out of its little turbomind...this was a raiding party, and they've already started to retreat out of the hole... he is focused on then, and the hole, and not paying attention to what goes on around him. Too many millions of years of fighting the bastards have done that to him. Exo-Tank Hermes Robot takes a few sidesteps to get closer to Talazia's Exo-suit, but while the other EDC exo-armor is using melee attacks, the Hermes unleashes firepower. It unleashes a barrage of energy bolts (turns out that gunpod only looks like an SMG, it's actually some kind of beam weapon). James concentrates his fire on the turbo-wolves farther away, trusting Talazia to handle any that get in close. Every time he gets a chance he snaps off a few shots towards the hole in the wall, where entering turbo-wolves are massed together and he can't miss even when aiming hastily. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot folds it's hip laser back towards the leg as the mech swings it's sword again...cutting another wolf in half, just before the rest retreat. The mech puts the saber away in it's shoulder and starts to look around......especially towards the space bridge. <> Quickswitch finds himself nodding to the big Dinobot Commander, "..Oh holy--" a flurry of motion and Quickswitch changes to beast mode. The assault beast growls, "Turbo-wolves?! Where the frag are we?!" he eyes the area, optics slits, and a binary growl uttering toward the turbo-wolves in primitive communication, "Just let em rip the Cons apart, then /deal/ with em ourselves! Or we could do that the other way around," he grins a little. Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into an assault beast. As the last of the turbowolves makes their way out of the hole in the wall, the strange seeker turns towards the rest of the group, and blinks a few times. "I take it...that the bridge worked." He notes the smoke rising from the control panel. "At least once." He looks towards Wiretap and the two humans, who, luckily, aren't shooting at each other. Then, to the two rather freakishly large new arrivals...and what looks like possibly a smaller companion lagging behind? "Who...." he lets the question linger. After eight million vorn, his neural net isn't precisely meant to handle all this. "Me Grimlock!" so says the Dinobot commander as he stomps out of the ruins of the spacebridge. He glances around at the desolate, wolf-carcass strewn landscape, and hrrs- finally tromping over towards Desolon. "You seekerbot tell me Grimlock where me is! You tell or me Grimlock SMASH YOU FACE." he growls, flexing his mitts. Little bigger than a turbowolf, this guy, Wiretap scampers up onto a console, eyeing the new arrivals suspiciously. It's like Primus chose the two mechs /least/ mentally capable with handling this messy situation. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere on a desolate outpost that was forgotten /vorns/ before you were built, Grimlock. " she replies, unsure if the dinobot can even understand words with more than one syllable. "The spacebridge is dead, and we have no communication with Cybertron." she looks to Quickswitch. "Do you have an FTL drive stashed anywhere in that amalgamation of modes?" Assault Beast pokes his nose, olefactory sensors working in distaste at the fallen turbo-wolf stench, "Just like him," the Six Changer growls under his breath, then swings his head and takes a step toward Grimlock and these...Decepticons, and stares. The assault beast replies to the nameless Con, "...I do not," in a tone that would not invite further questions. Exo-Tank Hermes Robot lowers it's gunpod, the barrel still glowing dull red from the heat of repeated discharges in such a short time period. After a moment it marches over to the opening and looks outside. "Looks clear." James reports over the Suit's external vocalizers. "I'm going out for a look." Exo-Tank Hermes has left. Grimlock takes a few moments to process Wiretaps' words. He stands still for a few moments, and grunts. "Huh." is all he has to say- taking a few moments to process the information- Until he finally stompastompastomps over to peer out the hole in the wall- and then to the motley collection of chumps (and Quickswitch) he's stuck with. "Hrr. Me Grimlock say me in charge now!" he thumps his chest, proudly. Desolon watches James rush out the hole, and without even a moment's reaction, screams. "Don't go out there alone!" Apparently forgetting any kind of affiliation, if ever he knew it, he makes a run for the hole, meaning to follow James outside. "Wonderful." Wiretap replies, in a tone that says she means anything BUT wonderful. "We're well and truly fragged, I think. Unless..." Her magenta optics alight on Desolon, her ermine mouth pursed in thought. "you didn't come here oh-so-many years ago on a spacebridge, did you? You came here on a SHIP, or someone came here on a ship. I think we need to brave the walls and the winds and the wolves and FIND it." Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot makes it's way over towards the hole in the wall. <> Then the Phoenix One ALSO heads out the hold in the wall... Grimlock hmms, and peers at Wiretap. "Yeah!" he says. "Find ship! Me Grimlock BEST PILOT!" and with that said, he glances after Desolon as the seeker jets off. "HEY!" he grunts, and stomps after him. "You septi con do what me Grimlock say!" Voron Outpost The terrain offers little to be desired; brown rock and dust as far as one would care to roam. Here and there can be found bits of scrap metal and other materials, but it seems as though the bulk of the area has been picked clean of remnants, perhaps by scavengers, or more optimistically, by whoever might still be living inside the small, fortified outpost that acts as the scene's sole landmark.. That oaf in charge? Oh, right, and the humans words come almost as amusement, until Quickswitch realizes the human is quite serious, "This is no operation for you," hey, this is hardly the time to disagree or to argue about it. We've gotta get out of here! "Human, whoever you are." Quickswitch shrinks down into his utilitarian laser pistol mode. Cliffjumper has arrived. As much as Wiretap hates the idea of being out here unprotected, she doesn't trust anyone present enough to hitch a ride with them. Desolon may be a Seeker, but he hasn't been a /decepticon/ for eons, she thinks. Hopefully Grimlock, Quikcswitch, and the Exo's have enough firepower to keep the wolves ta bay, and hopefully Desolon has enough processing power left to lead them where they need to go. "Desolon... There has to be a ship somewhere on this rock, right?" Grimlock -IS- the oaf in charge! "Hey! HEY!" he says, stomping after the rest. "All you chumps need do what me Grimlock say! 'cuz me Grimlock am BESTEST LEADER EVER!" he growls, and then looks over the planet landscape. "...This planet dumb." he mutters. "Where spaceship?" Desolon rushes outside after James, calling out to anyone who will listen. "Alright...alright..before we all go running off getting ourselves /killed/, I don't care who's in charge, but listen to me. If you want to live, we stick together." He turns around and looks at Wiretap. "I wish it was that easy...but follow me. I can at least show you the landing strip. There might be something of use that's left...though I doubt it." He turns and starts walking towards the west, mumbling, yet audible. "Maybe Primus loves me, and Pervidius is still alive..." "Yeah, Grimlock, this is kinda a delicate situation here. Calls for some delicate thinkety-think," though Quickswitch was not at all happy with this mishmash of a situation. He continues moving forward in assault beast mode. Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into an assault beast. "Lead on, Desolon." Wiretap replies, falling in line behind the ancient Seeker, and keeping her eyes and ears open for trouble. From Exo-Tank Hermes , James Bailey sits in the privacy of his pilot's compartment and eyes Quickswitch's image, half frowning and half sneering. Then he glances at Grimlock's image, and his expression looks skeptical, but a little more careful. Finally he triggers his external emitters again, although his voice is perfectly respectful and reasonable. "Sure, Grimlock. You're in charge." His voice takes on the tone he uses when debreifing superior officers. "We all arrived here on the spacebridge, and I doubt there's a working ship here, or else these Decepticons would have used it to escape long ago." He makes the Exo gesture at Desolon. "Speaking of which, maybe one of you guys should keep an eye on the other one." Now it points at Wiretap. "Keldahoff and I will take point." Inside, James sizes up the Autobots present. "We're faster than most of you." The Hermes reconfigures into Exo-Tank configuration. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot makes it's way over towards the hole in the wall. <> Then the Phoenix One ALSO heads out the hold in the wall... Voron Debris Field The barren rock stretches out ad infinitum, but here the bleakness is broken up by bits of metal and other materials that are scattered around the area. Most are small, indistinguishable shards, but here and there are more gruesome clues as to the nature of the debris: a transformer-sized robot arm in one place, half of what looks like a transorganic wolf in another. Closer inspection would reveal more of the same, strewn about the field. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot makes it's way towards the outer edge of the group and keeps it's optics on the left side of the group before moving forward towards point. It has no visible weapons, but all present know that what you can't see doesn't mean it's less deadly. Assault Beast moves over the ground, paws clicking faintly until the sound is finally suppressed out by stealth systems, "You guys try anything," he hisses, vocalizer trembling and spitting with near and sudden rage, "an turbo-wolves'll be the least of your worries!" he keeps one optic out, at the edge of the group, for wolves, and the other on the Decepticons. Cliffjumper has arrived. Wiretap sighs. Decepticons like Ramjet are not the ONLY ones to think with thier weapons. "Do I look like I want to start a fight, Autobot? I just want to get home, something I would THINK we'd all have in common." Grimlock rumbles along with the rest of the group! Kinda towards the rear, since he's gotta walk no matter what. "Hnnn. Me Grimlock want know who good at techie stuff!" he says. "...'cuz, uh...me Grimlock not." he admits- it's a hard, hard thing for him to do (despite the glaring obviousness of the fact). "So somebody need fix spaceship! Desolon leads them for what seems like miles, despite the planetoid's small size. They arrive at a field of... body parts. "The last ship we had took off millions of years ago...we never heard from them. A few vorn back, we had what we thought was a radio broadcast from one of the crew who escaped, but it cut out as quickly as it began." He's walking semi-backwards now, almost like a sickening tour guide to the damned. "Maybe there's some part out here that we ca--" He stops cold. He's turned around, and he sees something in the distance. "No......." Desolon takes off running, full-tilt, towards an escape pod in the distance. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot continues to walk with no sign of danger. Until Desolan starts running for the escape pod. "damn" utters the pilot as the mech suddenly extends something resembling wings and rockets towards DEsolan....hoping to either stop him or more if the seeker tries to escape with something useful.... Exo-Tank Hermes Tank accelerates smoothly, trying to keep ahead of Desolon. It's got a top speed comparible to most racecars, but with transformers it seems like it's always a toss-up who knows how fast they go, depending on faction, altmode, and any number of personal design quirks. So James tries to keep ahead of the Decepticon, while calling out things like 'halt! stop where you are!' over his Exo's speakers. And all the while he tries to keep the Decepticon locked in his targetting systems, in case Desolon requires 'convincing'. Grimlock, brutish warrior that is, is entirely unphased by the strewn body parts. "Hn. Me Grimlock miss big fight!" and as Desolon takes off, Grim does the same- very slowly lumbering through the air after him! Yeah, Grim can fly. Quickswitch's form twists and turns into another as he walks, the monolith robot form stepping gingerly over the fallen parts, "Terrible.." he whispers, "Primus.." then, commotion processes, and his head snaps up as he transforms reflexively into beast form, leaping over a large half-torso, "Where the /frag/ are /YOU/ goin?! GET BACK HERE!" He leaps, aided by wings, in pursuit of the Decepticon, the ancient horrific scene forgotten. Desolon stops cold outside of the escape pod, which is noticeably half-buried in the ground, as though it crash-landed. Slowly, Desolon lifts a hand and opens the door..he doesn't seem in a hurry to 'escape.' Instead, he steps slowly inside the escape pod.. Abandoned Escape Pod A standard escape pod...at least, it was standard for the Decepticon army many, many millions of years ago. There is no one here, and no sign of inhabitation. Despite the crash having damaged most of the control panels, the ship's 'vocoder' seems intact. Grimlock hmms, and peeeks his head in. "Hello?" he says, blue optic visor glowing in the darkness. "This spaceship tiny!" It especially is now that Grimlock's inside. Desolon is walking slowly up the short pathway in the middle of the pod, to the control panel..he sits, idly playing with the buttons, now all broken. He seems lost in reverie. The ship is empty, save for all of the adventurers. Cliffjumper has arrived. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot trots it's way in and keeps it's optics upon the seeker. <> the mech blurts out as it stalks towards the seeker in the chair. Desolon turns in the chair, even as part of it snaps off. He stares at Wiretap (despite him not being here OOCly). "That ship you wanted...left. I guess someone tried to make it back....that radio signal..." He turns to Talazia. "Someone came back..or else an empty ship came back..." He peers back at Grimlock. "Uh...Terrorcon? You?" He points, just to make it clear who he's talking to. "There should be a black button behind you...if you.." He pauses. "If you push it, there might be a message left on the vocoder." "Me DINOBOT!" Grimlock notes, if a bit irately. "No terrorcon! Them smell bad!" and with that said, he hmmms, and turns to push the aforementioned button- not TOO hard, either. Delicate thinking! The assault beast pushes past the enormous Dinobot Commander, "Lemme in," he grunts, stalking forward. He shifts modes once more, this time the accelerated, ratcheting sound leads into his utilitarian pistol mode, which points at Desolon's head, <<...You fled!...Remove your hands from the controls... Slowly. Now. You were warned...>> the assault unit issues efficiently, waiting. Quickswitch shrinks down into his utilitarian laser pistol mode. Desolon removes his hands from the controls. "This ship isn't going anywhere....the only control I'm interested in is that black button. The rest of this is useless." Grimlock pushed the button! Let's see what happens. The dinocommander also attempts to grab Quickswitch by the handle so as to use him all shooty-like, if needed. "Hn. Me Grimlock's gun betterer." As Grimlock presses the vocoder's playback button, a scratching sound fills the hull...after a few seconds, a voice can finally be heard. "...finally found it...finally found home. I've left the rest...no way around it. Going ho......" "......nough power, going to cr......" "......ade it to the surface...the damned things don't seem to b......oing to try and make it to base. Corescr......" The vocodor falls silent. The barrels turn suspiciously, "Grimlock--WAIT--" Quickswitch was indicating the black buttons, then, he feels the hands grip his grips solidly, and its attention focused, then, on aim, strength, power levels--and the recordings playing back, "..What is this?" Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot listens to the playbacks and the pilot shakes her head. <> Grimlock hmms, and waves Quickswitch around a bit. "Hnn. Them crash. Prolly dead now. Why that 'portant?" he asks, and reaches over to *POKE* desolon with his free hand. Desolon glares up at Grimlock...but realizes that the mech, and his newfound weapon were probably both able to take him out at a moment's notice. He simply stares at the gun.... transformers turning into guns? Really? How would anyone take a robot turning into a gun seriously? At least it was an Autobot. No self-respecting Decepticon would allow themselves to have such an alt-mode. He begins to stand up slowly. "There's...nothing else here. Let's go. I .. I think I know where we have to go. I've got to find Pervidius..." "Traitrous. Typical," Quickswitch says, scornful, and then, "I almost--how ridiculous--I almost feel sorry for you.." he says crisply, barely believing the sentiment even as his vocalizer softens. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot looks towards Desolon and just stares....the pilot however, opens the speaker up. <> The pilot says as the mech steps in front of the seeker. "Grimlock, I am going to transform, and I suggest you let go of me before I do," Quicky informs the Dinobot leader. "Who Pervidus?" Grimlock grunts- and then he tosses Quickswitch away- content to have a gun that doesn't, y'know, talk back. "Do him have spaceship? Me Grimlock fly spaceships! Me BEST PILOT!" Desolon stares at Talazia. "Pervidius was the only other one of us still alive..up until last cycle. He was the last scientist to survive, and the one who had rebuilt the spacebridge, with Subponor as his helper. He left through that hole ... ... a cycle ago.. he needed one final piece; commanded me to stay put. Hasn't returned..but if he's still out here..he might be able to get us home." Laser Pistol transforms as he's tossed away, landing on robot feet, "Urgh," he looks back, sounding unconcerned, "At least one of us can. I never had to pilot anything else." Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode. Grimlock considers this information. "Fine then. We get part, then we go home!" he grunts. "Go find guy! Me Grimlock make sure them monsters no eat you. Wuss." Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot turns away. ((Let's go then.)) The mech then turns and just looks at Grimlock. ((I can pilot spacecraft too, Grimlock.)) And the mech walks past Grimlock. Grimlock hrrs at Talazia. "Me Grimlock better pilot!" "Heh, yeah. Let's get out of here!" Quickswitch shifts into beast form once again. Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into an assault beast. Desolon says nothing, and brushes past the rest on his way out the door. He doesn't look back. Voron Debris Field The barren rock stretches out ad infinitum, but here the bleakness is broken up by bits of metal and other materials that are scattered around the area. Most are small, indistinguishable shards, but here and there are more gruesome clues as to the nature of the debris: a transformer-sized robot arm in one place, half of what looks like a transorganic wolf in another. Closer inspection would reveal more of the same, strewn about the field. Contents: Apeface Abandoned Escape Pod Voron Plains Here, the debris that scatters the land to the east gradually lessens, leaving yet another blank patch of rock and dust. Yet another wasted space on a wasted planet. Off in the distance, however, a slight depression can be seen; if one ventures close enough, one might even see tracks in the dust..some small, almost like pawprints; others larger..as though something, or someone, was being dragged into the depths.. Cliffjumper has arrived. Desolon is walking determinedly now, straight towards depression in the otherwise barren plains. He's been gazing out over the expanse of the horizon, and mumbles something about "Primus, don't make me go in there..." Once he arrives at the edge of the steep, yet walkable path down into the underground, he turns, and looks at his fellow travellers. "No one's ever come out of here alive. Granted..anyone who tried was a fool." He pauses. "Coming?" Without waiting for a response, he begins to head down.. "I bet anyone who ever tried wasn't a Sixchanger, or a Dinobot!" Quickswitch pads on forward. "That 'cuz me Grimlock no go down there 'fore!" he says, and boldly follows- pulling his Energo Sword from subspace in order to make for a very sharp, very red, very glowy sort of torch. Assault Beast 's optics glow, giving their own sort of light. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot trots it's way forward. <> The mech moves past and follows right behind the seeker. Voron Caverns Dark and cramped, the tunnel nonetheless seems to open up as one heads further into the abyss. There are pieces of metal and other substances littering the floor and walls; here, a transformer-sized hand lies open, stretching out to a freedom that its former body obviously never grasped; there, an ancient Decepticon sigil lies, half covered in dirt. Beyond, the cavern continues. Contents: Turbowolf Cliffjumper has arrived. As the group descends farther down into the tunnel, a lone Turbowolf, perhaps a picket or sentry, makes its presence known, and tries to attack Quickswitch! Turbowolf strikes Assault Beast with bite. Metal clangs in the dark! A fierce metallic yowl as the assault beast digs its claws and attacks the turbo-wolf, wrestles with it, "Grraggh--We got company, guys!" Quickswitch strikes Turbowolf with bite. Turbowolf is deactivated under the fierce barrage of attacks. Grimlock hnnns, and watches the Turbowolf go down. "That quick." he mutters. And siiiighs. "You old septi-cons must be big wusses to be scared of dem." he says, and nudges the corpse with one foot. Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot trots in and is passed by a turbowolf. Once the mech turns to fire on the turbo wolf, Switch already has it beaten. "Well....file says he's an assault mech." She says to herself as the mech turns back towards the tunnel. Desolon continues walking downwards... Voron Cave The caverns open up into a giant cave, which seems to be well-inhabited by some kind of trans-organic wolf-like creature. The debris continues into this space, where larger pieces are being devoured by small packs of the creatures. That is, unless whoever, or whatever, has just entered the room has startled them.. Contents: The Pack Pervideus Cliffjumper has arrived. Assault Beast follows, energon and oil dripping from its mouth. The turbo wolf has been taken care of. "So, err... What now?" Quickswitch inquires, growing nervous suddenly. I don't trust these guys. As the group emerges into the cave, they can see....turbowolves, /everywhere/. Off in one corner, a few are resting. Over in another corner, one is idly munching on what's left of Subponor's faceplate..an energy trail leads the eye to what's left of Subponor's torso, entrails of wires and plating protruding from various holes, and bits of boards and chipsets scraped out and littered on the ground, where they've become feed for some of the smaller wolves. Desolon stares for a while...but fights back the urge to extract his dead comrade. Eventually he spots what he's been looking for, the decimated corpse of Pervidius. He points. "There. That's what I need. Who's the quickest one here?" Grimlock hnf. "Him wussy smarty pants get thing for ship. Then me Grimlock fly ship off stupid dirt planet!" he grunts. "That simple." he waves his sword around the cave, illumnating the...messy scene. "Uuuuh. Me Grimlock tough, but no fast. Quickswitch?" he looks at the sixchanger. "You turn into car-thing, right? Fast thing?" Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot starts doing checks on the mech from the inside. ((The Phoenix One is capable of escape velocity, but it'll make a LOT of noise when it does. Quickswitch? How fast can you go?)) The mech turns it's head towards Quickswitch.>> "I'm quite fast in all my alternate modes," Quickswitch considers for a moment, "My drill tank mode is relatively fast. My current mode is also fast," the beast shudders internally, "Even my pistol mode is fast. The quiestest would likely be this one. I don't have a car mode, however," the beast peers at the den of turbo-wolves and the scene, "I hope you don't mind tooth marks." Desolon also turns towards Quickswitch. "I'm not sure if he's alive...chances are, no...but alive or dead. I need what's left of him. Especially if he has anything in his hands...hand." He listens intently. "He's got enough tooth marks. A few more won't hurt...just get him out of there. The rest of us will provide covering fire." Grimlock SHOULD be yelling at Desolon in order to reassert his leaderyness, but he's sidetracked by the possibility of random violence. "Oooh, me Grimlock do fire!" and he transforms to his dinosaur mode, spitting forth a burst of flame! *FWOOSH!* Exo-suit Phoenix One Robot chuckles at Grimlock. ((you hit from high and I'll pick them off grimlock!)) The mech says as it begins to transform. as the tank emerges from the form...it fires it's minigun into the fray! The mech's head slides into it's chest as the rocket pack closes and slides together before extending it's mini-gun and Main Gun barrels. It's shoulders then swing downwards before the arms retract into the body. The body then leans forward as the legs fold together to lock together as armor on the sides of the tank. The body then locks into place between the side armor panels, revealing itself as a tank! With a grunt and a growl, Grimlock changes into a robot T-rex! Watch out. The assault beast is off, slinking downward past two sleeping turbocubs (NOT Sweepcubs!). It steps carefully, its objective clear, and covered by the distractions above. Working with Decepticons is irregular--the thought intrudes abruptly--but only until we get out of here--and then--then /what?/ The feral creature, different from the turbo-wolves, a form he saw in Sixshot, follows the debris trail to the bulk of the dead Decepticon. The assault beast leaps and twists, taking down another turbo-wolf quickly until the wolf's primitive processes still. "Hey! HEY!" Grimlock rumbles. "You Quickswich no eat stuff! You get guy! No be distracted!" Yeah, so much for a stealthy mission! Regardless, the dinocommander is not at all intimidated by the turbowolves, as he breathes another breath of fire their way- if they're smart, they'll stay back! Animals hate fire, right? Exo-suit Phoenix One Tank keeps firing it's minigun at all of the enemies in sight. but as one turbowolf leaps for Quickswitch, the tank's main gun fires on it....knocking it to the far side of the cavern. Desolon stands aloof, taking careful aim and firing with the precision of a hunter who has seen this kind of a beast before. He seems determined, if stoic. His expression seems to shift from sadness, to anger, to stoicism with each passing burst of his arm-cannons. The Seeker continues to fire, close enough to Quickswitch to make a difference, but far enough away so as not to hit the Autobot. Millions of years of not having seen an Autobot have made him rather impervious to the whole inter-factional debate others might be having. Exo-suit Phoenix One Tank doesn't let up on the fire as Quickswitch nears his goal.....nor does it let up on the cover fire. Assault Beast 's whips up and around as the turbowolf leaping at him is taken out, ((Rrrr, I /am/ you saurian imbecile.)) Quickswitch hunches his body down, creeps forward a little further and stops over the dismembered corpse, and a few feet away, his limbs, ((I believe I have him!)) Quickswitch bites into one of the arms and gathers it along with the rest of the destroyed body. He braces his huge and yawning mouth around the creature and its arms and legs, half gathering it up, ((Here goes.)) The beast begins with a crouch, to leap up and fly back with the pocked remains. Exo-suit Phoenix One Tank starts backing out of the cavern as Quickswitch starts to retreat....still firing it's mini-gun at the various turbowolves and any that get close to Quickswitch eats a main gun round..... Exo-Tank Hermes Tank pulls up next to it's fellow hover-tank and adds it's own firepower to the effort, sending volleys of mini-missiles to try and finish off the turbo-wolves Talazia targets. What the EDC lacks in raw offensive power, they can sometimes make up for with coordination and concentrated fire. Desolon backs up as soon as Quickswitch hits the ledge, and continues backing up, firing at the oncoming turbopack. "I might suggest running, at this point, or driving, or flying, or what have you. I don't have the energon to transform, but just get back to the outpost." Quickswitch rockets back in a long leap--turbo-wolves snarl and snap at his heals, <<...Understood, Decepticon. You'll provide needed astro-seconds...>> the assault beast speaks around the body carried in its mouth, as it shifts modes suddenly once it reaches the mouth of the cave, the body tucked into a subspace pocket, and the jet departs with a mighty sonic booooom. Accelerated, Quickswitch transforms into a sub-orbital jet. Sub-Orbital Fighter Jet rockets away. Exo-Tank Hermes Tank starts to hover backwards, expending it's last few missiles and then adding a few blasts from it's laser turret. The emitters click on. "Roger that! Pheonix One, the Autobots are pulling out! Fire by extraction!" The two tanks start a firing retreat, taking alternating turns darting ahead, and then turning to cover the other. Sub-Orbital Fighter Jet flies on back. << TRAVEL SPAM >> Voron Outpost The outpost seemingly was once sectioned off into various rooms, as evidenced by a heavily-barricaded door to the western side of the room. In the center of the room sits a large spacebridge terminal, of an odd design similar, yet not similar, to the current spacebridges used by both factions. Scattered debris lies all around the room. Off to the south is a rather massive barricade that seems to cover up a small, barely transformer-sized hole ripped in the wall. Cliffjumper has arrived. At long last, the group makes its way back to the outpost...the wolves are following, but their speed is no match for the travelling adventurers, especially not when being shot at. Desolon runs into the outpost through the hole in the wall, and waits for the others. The debris of Pervideus are already set in some organized fashion on the ground some distance inward of the hole in the wall. There is a drill tank sitting quietly, waiting, just hanging around like Shockwave does in space-gun mode occassionally, "Glad to see you're all back," Quickswitch's casual tone greets them once they return, and the big tank transforms back into robot mode, "The rest of your friend, what remains of him, is over here," the Sixchanger indicates the pile with a gesture. Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode. Exo-Tank Hermes Tank hovers over to where Pervideus is, then reconfigures into it's simulated 'robot' mode. It scans the pile briefly. "Keldahoff and I can take care of him." James' amplified voice offers, casually. "If you Autobots can handle Desolon?" The Hermes reconfigures into Exo-Suit configuration. Desolon makes his way over to Pervidius, and takes the remaining hand of the torso and opens it... nothing. With a sigh, Desolon stares down at his old comrade, and tries to remember what Subponor had done earlier. He comments back to the Exo-robot, even as he rips open what's left of Pervidius' chestplate. "I'd turn around and handle the wolves that are bound to be following us. I'm about to fix your ride home, and as such would be the least of your concerns." He begins rummaging around in his friend's innards. "Of course," and the assault unit transforms into pistol mode and aims, remaining perfectly still in the air. Only now, in this brief respite has Quickswitch had the time to observe /that/, the human form in simulated robot mode. Anger erupts along his systems, and disgust and deep offense that they would /dare/ imitate the Cybertronian form and function. How /dare/ those little turbo rats, and how dare they tell /him/ his protocols, "Move an you're ashes! As a matter of fact, do /ANYTHING/ an I'll reduce you to /scrap!/" Quickswitch finds himself bellowing in the small outpost, frustration causing stress to his circuits and accelerated algorithims, moods, thoughts. Damn humans. Damn Decepticons, "I'm goin outside--But I'll be RIGHT BACK!" Quickswitch shrinks down into his utilitarian laser pistol mode. From Exo-Tank Hermes , James Bailey frowns briefly, then shrugs. Well, it was pretty low on the priorities list anyway. Under things like 'survive' and 'step foot on Earth again'. He takes up his controls, maneuvering his Exo-Armor over to the large hole in the outpost wall. The Hermes takes up a sniper position on one side of the opening, and directs Talazia's to take a spot on the other side. The external speakers click on. "Autobot, maybe you'd better stick close to that Decepticon. In case he needs your assistance," James adds after a moment. Desolon sighs, and....closes his optics. The sound of cables ripping apart is sickening. Perhaps a day at the mechanic's for a human, but for a mech, the sound is not unlike that sound your intestines must make if someone punched a hole in your stomach, grabbed on, and yanked. After a few moments, Desolon gets up and walks over to the smoking control panel. He has the peices of Pervidius in his left hand; with his right, he begins to dislodge the pieces of Subponor that were crudely inserted into the panel, taking note as to what piece went where, and how it was situated. He may be a warrior, but a few million years of scraping life together will teach you some things about how technology works. And what time doesn't teach you, desperation will. Desolon turns his head to the door. "I'm not sure how long we'll have. You may want to get inside. Call in the other one...the Automaton." Exo-Tank Hermes Robot marches towards the Spacebridge. He pauses just before entering. "Autobot...this might be our only chance to get back to Cybertron." Then it ducks inside, immediately moving to the side to make room for Phoenix One and Quickswitch. A low, belabored sigh escapes his vocalizer, "Fine," and then Quickswitch assumes position again, the assault unit's pistol barrels align with the Decepticon's head, "...You would be dust before we return, human," the assault unit observes the years it would take otherwise for them to get home, and its attention is focused on keeping optic sensors and targetting on the Decepticon. The sounds of metal rending as the corpse is disemboweledfilter down into the labyrinth of its mind and the distant churn and activity, but the assault unit feels nothing achieve connection with itself, with the event. Spacebridge This object has no description! (editor's note: Woops. Knew there was something I'd forget.) Cliffjumper has arrived. Laser Pistol floats backward a little toward the Spacebridge, but it does not lose its aim. "Automaton? How archiac," Quickswitch utters. From Exo-Tank Hermes , James Bailey mutters to himself, "Not that archaic." But when he triggers his external emitters he says much more soothingly, "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." Desolon finishes putting the pieces in place, and walks slowly towards the bridge. He doesn't know what he's heading back to, but there had been Decepticons from there. Maybe there were more. Wiretap also follows, since she's totally still here, and Grimlock close behind. Desolon stands at the edge of the spacebridge, and turns, looking out into the outpost one last time. At the hole in the far wall, turbowolves begin to appear. They first make their way to what is left of Pervidius, and begin dragging it back towards the door. The next wave notices the mechs on the spacebridge. Desolon calmly reaches over and pushes the activation button. The spacebridge lurches into motion. There is nothingness, then, eerily, a voice comes over the loudspeaker. "Thank you for visiting SIX LASERS!! We know you had a GREAT TIME, and look forward to seeing you again real soon! Have a great day!" The doors open, revealing a bustling Crystal City.. Cybertron Olympic Site - Intersection Here are the many roads and underground monorails that link the three Olympic Site districts together, as well as providing easy transport to the gleaming Crystal City itself. Above ground one can have an excellent vantage point for the rest of the site. To the north one can see the tall Roman-like pillars of the Central Stadium. To the east one can see the rows upon rows of shops from the Commercial District. To the west one can see the stubby multi-sized and greatly varied buildings of the Habitat District, and to the south one can see the gleaming walls of Crystal City and the beautiful spires and towers that make it up. The pistol is in mid-shrug when reality twists again--and the correct destination appears. Cliffjumper has arrived. Desolon tentatively steps outside of the spacebridge into the metropolis, and stands stunned by the sight presented to him. He's forgotten about the rest of the people on the bridge...even the pistol that was probably still aimed at his head. It was all so...different. Overwhelming. Laser Pistol is indeed still aimed at the Decepticon's head. Gratitude is fleeting. The surrounding culture is both disregarded by the assault unit and far removed if not even understood by it at all. The present duty being at the fore of its processors. From Exo-Tank Hermes , James Bailey breathes a small sigh of relief as he checks the sensor systems, all signs confirming that this does appear to be Crystal City and they are back on Cybertron. He activates the external emitters one more time. "Thanks for the assistance, Autobot. This is supposedly neutral territory, so I think we should be okay from here." He tries to put meaningful emphasis on the word 'neutral.' Desolon breathes his own sigh of relief at the word. "Neutrals." The word sounded nice on the vocalizer of someone abandoned at his post for the better part of ten million years. He sat down where he stood, intent to go nowhere for quite some time. He was outside, and not fearing for his life, for the first time in more years than most of the passers-by had been alive. He does manage to look back to his companions. "I still am not sure who you are, or what brought you to us, but I am grateful for your assistance." No one was fooled that it had been willing, but then, he did come from a time where a certain sense of honor still existed, even in Decepticons. Exo-Tank Hermes Robot reconfigures into it's hover-tank mode, floating a few feet off of the ground. "That's between you and your superiors," James responds to Quickswitch as he performs a few quick checks to make sure all of the Exo's systems are fully functional after the spacebridge transport. "We can find our own way from here." Both tanks turn and speed off. The assault unit at once scoffed, feeling dislike. Primus, am I going soft?! er, oh...he sounds strange.. Curiousity, bafflement, at the tone, even further that he could--not--frustration and wrath burst as it finally occured to him, "You don't sound like a Decepticon," that's what it was. Abandoned..was he..? /Custody?/ "They abandoned you, man. And you might not like the current Emperor. A really crazy bastard named Galvatron. Trust me, you're better off coming with me to whatever fate decides." And /then/ what, Quickswitch? he inquires acidly of himself, "Er.. uh... yeah thanks." ...This is highly irregular... Desolon nods, while returning his gaze outwards. "Of course." He seems to disregard the rest of the Autobot's speech, even while he's already mulled it over a million times in his mind. On one hand, new leadership might be a new start..he wouldn't be reporting to the same mechs who'd sold him out years before. On the other hand.. was a Decepticon empire not led by Straxus even worth imagining? And the Autobots...had obviously grown some hutzpah since he last faced off against the legions of the shopkeepers and the streetsweepers. Even their weird little minibot allies were valid in battle. Things had certainly changed. The laser pistol experiences a sudden surge around its barrel. Emotion, perhaps, then, the pistol itself transforms, the miserable look passing quickly as he transforms from pistol to robot mode, "Er.. excuse me. This is Crystal City. It's a neutral territory, guarded by the Autobot Guardian Omega Supreme and run by the Governor Airwolf.. Do you know Governor Airwolf?" Quickswitch transforms into hovercraft mode and makes a nervous circle around the Decepticon, "I've just recieved orders to--" Quickswitch flutters, "..oh, I'm not much of a negotiator. I'm an assault warrior. The Autobots would like to talk to you.. Please decide quickly.." Desolon stands, rather shakily...the adrenaline wearing off, leaving him in his normal state of near-death. He starts to leave, slowly, in case he wasn't allowed...times gone by, one might be safe in a neutral city, but might not. Times might have changed. He pauses long enough to turn a head. "You want to find me, you know where to look...doubt I'll be leaving here for a little while, at least." He continues to walk forward, and fades into the crowd...at least, as much as an outdated design with even more outdated faction sigils can 'blend in.' Chances are, he'll be easy enough to find if he's wanted.
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