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Outside the Transport Room

It felt to Sunstreaker like he was being bombarded with Jazz groupies. It figured that he would be popular. He was always latching on to whatever popular fad was going on. Now he had latched on to Earth fads and music. He had no use for it himself. Who cared about what the hairy natives did for recreation. It’s not like they amounted to anything anyway. Just a bunch of little idiots stuck in their way, just like on every other world.

“He bit off more than he could handle and got his aft kicked by cons,” he replied to the questions over what had happened to the intelligence officer. For as popular as the other Autobot was, he apparently couldn’t handle the fight he had gotten into. Of course, Sunstreaker himself wasn’t popular and was more than capable of beating just about any Con out there, or so he thought. ‘Just goes to show that popularity doesn’t mean scrap,’ he thought to himself.

The Autobot warrior eagerly accepted the offer to dump off Jazz on someone else, namely Smokescreen and Windcharger. He had better things to do than drag the damaged bot around. “Pfh, I doubt Jazz did anything. He was probably running from the cons. I will tell you guys this though; Thundercracker won’t be forgetting me anytime soon.” The Autobot smirked as he tapped his empty missile launcher.

He turned to his twin. “Come on Sideswipe, let’s go get some energon. I need to double check my systems and paint job too. I wasn’t built for offroading or teleporting through so much corrosive water.”

Outside Transport Room

Sideswipe slapped Smokescreenon the shoulder and chuckled. The diversionary tactician sure had a way with words.

“Cons? Are you kidding me?! It was Laserbeak and Thundercracker… a flying bulls eye and a wannabe!”

Sideswipe turned to Sunstreakeras he placed Jazz’sinert form on the med berth. His twin’s comments about Jazz’s capabilities irked the crimson warrior, but not enough to correct his brother. Sunny was right in that Jazz should have been able to hold his own, but to bad mouth the mech while he was down and out, well that didn’t sit well.

Sideswipe lightly touched his opposite’s arm and smiled broadly.

“Well, let’s just say Jazz bit off more than he could chew…” He nodded at Sunstreaker and continued. “So Ironhide decided to send in the digestive´.”

That said, Sideswipe made his way past Sunstreaker. “You did get nicked back there. And I need to refuel my pack.”

Outside Transport Room / Corridors

Smokescreen listened as the twins filled him and Windcharger in on some of the details of what amounted to a small skirmish. He smiled at Sideswipe’s comment about Thundercracker and Laserbeak, but he was none too happy with Sunny bad mouthing his friend, Jazz. There was something about Sunstreaker that irked Smokey to the very core of his spark. The yellow warrior often came off as condescending towards others and didn’t seem to care about anyone or anything but himself. The only exception was his brother and even that was a precarious relationship at best.

“I’m sure Jazz did what he could,” Smokescreen assured Sunny as the damaged white mech was placed on the cart. The diversionary tactician then got behind the makeshift gurney, turning to Windcharger in the process. “Come on, ‘charger. Let’s get Jazz down to the repair bay so Ratchet can get him online again.”

Smokescreen then made his way past the twins, pushing the cart and Jazz down the hallway and around the corner. When he was sure Sunstreaker was far enough away he turned to Windcharger again. “Sunny can be a real slaghead sometimes,” Smokey said quietly to the minibot. “The way he spoke about Jazz just now really sizzles my circuits.” It took a lot to get Smokey angry, especially at another Autobot. He was usually very friendly and easygoing, except when he was around Sunstreaker. No matter how hard he tried, Smokey just couldn’t warm up the the yellow mech and now he had even more reason not to like Sunny.

Repair Bay

Moments later, Smokescreen entered the repair bay. “Hey, Ratchet! I got Jazz here. He’s banged up pretty bad and in stasis lock. Please do what you can for him.”
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Armory

Finally, Trailbreaker was finished. It had taken him a while, but the black mech had gone through the ship’s armory and took a complete inventory of every gun, every warhead, every laser cartridge and every bit of ammunition they had. He went down a detailed checklist on his datapad and made sure that everything was fully stocked and accounted for. ‘Breaker didn’t expect to be low on anything since there hadn’t been much in the way of action since the Autobots arrived on Earth four years ago, with the exception of a few minor skirmishes here and there. But he had to make sure nothing had been misplaced and everything was where it was supposed to be. Time to take the inventory up to Ironhide, the defensive strategist thought as he exited the armory.

Command Deck

The door slid open and Trailbreaker stepped on to the command deck. He approached Ironhide with the datapad in hand. “Ironhide, I just took a full inventory of the armory. Everything is as it should be. I even straightened the place up a bit.” He then handed the checklist to his commander. “Now, if there’s nothing else, sir, I thought I might run a few tests on the ship’s weapon systems to make sure everything is up to spec.”

Trailbreaker then took a seat at a workstation next to Brawn. Using his security codes, ‘Breaker accessed the Ark-19’s weapon systems and began running a computer simulation that would basically gauge how well the ship’s automated weapons would respond to an attack. They would not actually fire, of course. That could potentially give away their position. It was all done within the simulation.

While waiting for the test to finish running, the black mech looked over at Brawn. “So, Brawn, how have ya’ been? I've not seen you around lately. You working on anything interesting?”

Seaspray awoke with what could only be considered a shock, “where am I?” he thought to himself as his optic sensors took in everything in front of him. Then it all came back to him, he was on the Ark-19, he had been in one of the ships CR-Chambers, having been damaged just before they had left cybertron he had decided this was the best place to spend the journey as it would give him enough time to recharge. But something was wrong he checked his internal processor and found that he had spent way to long in the chamber, something must have gone wrong with the automatic timer inside it. “Oh well , a couple extra circles of recharge would do me no harm” but now that he was awake he eager for action, and this best place to do that was to report to the boss, and knowing Ironhide there was only one place he would be.

Seapreay moved along the corridors until he reached the entrance to the Command Deck, he paused outside the door to get his bearings, being out cold for such a long time was a real nuisance for him as a number of his internal systems where still coming online. It was almost like having a bad hangover from too much energon; he laughed at the thought, and then entered the command deck.

Command Deck

He looked around and saw his commander Ironhide in the middle of the room as well as two other Autobots at work on two the many computer terminals that lined the command deck he searched his memory for their names and after a micro second it came to him. Trailbreaker and Brawn where their names, he wished his systems would wake up already these delays where driving him nuts, not to mention making him look like a fool. He nodded to the two Autobots and approached Ironhide and said “Seaspray, reporting for duty sir!”

Outside Transport Room/ Corridors

It was difficult for Windcharger to understand how an Autobot could act so callous toward one of his allies, let alone one like Jazz. Indubitably, Jazz was one Autobot whose value to the cause went beyond simply being a soldier. It was Jazz who had gotten them out of many complicated situations in the past with a certain flair that was unparalelled. There was a reason he was sent on special operations missions on a regular basis. He was almost certain to accomplish the given task, sometimes in an unconventional way. But he had one the esteem of most of the Autobots because though he was a great soldier he had the charisma to be able to relate well to his comrades. That was why the Autobots were flocking to help their fallen friend; most could imagine that Jazz would do the same for them.

Windcharger figured Sunstreaker was just having a bad day, but he wasn't about to confront him about it right now and he probably never would. It wasn't in his programming to try and upset the status quo. He figured if he was a friend to everyone, everything would turn out alright in the end. Windcharger was concerned about Smokescreen's reaction to Sunstreaker, though. "Slaghead he may be, but I'm glad he's with us and not the Decepticons," Windcharger addressed Smokescreen's comment. "He's probably just worked up over having to get his paint touched up. You know how sensitive he is. Don't let him bother you." Windcharger smiled hoping that his attitude might rub off and cheer Smokescreen up a bit. "Besides, I'll bet Sunstreaker's just miffed that he couldn't do more to help Jazz," Windcharger added musing about why Sunstreaker is the way he is.

It didn't take long before they had Jazz down to the med-bay. It seemed as if Ratchet was well prepared when they got there. Wheeling in the makeshift gurney, Windcharger helped transfer Jazz's inert body to a proper work table. Standing to the side, the wait for Ratchet's diagnosis seemed to take cycles. "So how bad is it?" Windcharger asked finally, unable to suppress his concern any longer.

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Command Deck

Brawn pressed a few more keys on his computer bringing up a file he'd previously saved, then turned to Trailbreaker with a sly grin on his faceplate. "I'm glad you asked, 'Breaker, he said to his old friend. "I found this place not long ago while processing data, kind caught my optic." He pointed to a map display on his monitor that was currently displaying a section of the western United States. "Check out the topography contours. The humans call this place the Rocky Mountains. I've never seen anything like this on Cybertron. All of it untouched by civilization." Getting more and more excited, Brawn pulled up a satellite view of the Rockies which showed mountains, trees, rivers, and plateaus. "Just look at it. Can't you hear it calling to you. We should check it out when we get some spare time. Whatdya say?"

Command Deck

Skids watched as Seaspray stepped up beside him and Ironhide and gave a friendly smile. "Seaspray! And here I thought you were going to recharge the entire mission away. I'm quite glad to see you're finally feeling better." He leaned closer to the other 'Bot and stage-whispered, "Just wait until you have a chance to see this planet we've been stationed on, it's beautiful. Especially the lake we've taken up residence in."

Repair Bay

Smokescreen assisted in placing Jazz onto one of the repair tables and then stepped away to allow Ratchet plenty of room to do his thing. Standing next to Windcharger, Smokey considered what the minibot had said to him moments before in the corridor regarding Sunstreaker and his not so pleasant demeanor. Perhaps ’Charger was right. Maybe the golden warrior was upset that he couldn’t do more for Jazz and his way of coping was to shift the blame off onto the white mech. This reasoning didn’t really sit well with Smokey, either. But, the red minibot was right about one thing. It was better to have Sunstreaker on their side and not the Decepticons.

“I suppose you have a point, Windcharger,” Smokescreen began. “Regardless of how he acts towards others, Sunny more than makes up for it on the battlefield. He is a great fighter and a good comrade to have by your side in the thick of things. I just wish he showed a little more concern for others instead of being so obsessed with his precious paint job. I mean he’s worse than a femmbot!” Smokey chuckled as a smile spread across his faceplate. The thought of Sunstreaker being like a femmbot was too funny for him not to smile at. “Oh, well, Sunny will be Sunny I guess.”

Smokescreen’s attention turned back to his friend who lay motionless on the repair table. The sense of helplessness began to creep back in to the diversionary tactician’s circuits. Now all he and Windcharger could do was stand and watch to see if Ratchet could bring Jazz back and hope that whatever information he had stored within him was still intact. At least then all this wouldn’t have been for nothing. “If any of my parts or gears will help I’ll be more than happy to donate them. Just let me know, Ratchet,” Smokescreen said, falling into a concerned silence once again.

Command Deck

Trailbreaker gazed at Brawn’s monitor. The green minibot had apparently thought this idea through having done so much research on this area called the Rocky Mountains. Normally, ‘Breaker would have scoffed at the idea of going out and wasting valuable energy on a mere sightseeing excursion. It was bad enough he was sent out on minor scouting missions from time to time, but to simply go out for the fun of it made no real sense to a fuel guzzler like himself.

However, things were different now. Wheeljack had given him a new gizmo that Trailbreaker was eager to test out. It was a capping device that would hopefully help to curve the black mech’s heavy fuel consumption. And this idea of Brawn’s might be the perfect opportunity to test it out for the first time. It would certainly be better than initially testing the device in battle and finding that it didn't work.

“Looks good to me, little buddy,” Trailbreaker replied to Brawn in a quiet tone. “That rough terrain would make a fun challenge for us. You think we could convince Ironhide to let us go out? Maybe if we played if off as a scouting and information gathering mission, he’d go for it. What do you think?”

Command Deck

Seapray optics glowed even brighter as Skids mention the Beauty of the planet, especially when he mentioned that the Ark 19 was stationed on a lake. It must have been destiny that he would awake now, since he was one of the few Autobots to be built to travel across water. “Skids you’ve made my day, I can’t wait until I can get out onto it and experience this lake and the planet in all its glory.” He glanced at Ironhide and then continued “Of course I expect to do that in my free time, after I have finished any orders you have for me.” He turned again to Skids and asked in a more serious tone “Any leads about what the Dicepticons are up to on this planet? Seeing as I’ve been out of it for the entire mission so far, I kind of want to get up to speed.”

Command Deck

There was a certain sense of tension in the air of the Ark-19, or at least it felt that way to Bumblebee. The yellow minibot had felt a growing sense of dread, like a lump of ice had formed in his fuel processor, once word of Jazz's condition had reached to him. Back on Cybertron, when Bumblebee was still convinced he had to prove himself to the other Autobot's Jazz was always one of the 'bots that was there to give him that little bit extra encouragement when he did a good job, and usually the first after Sunstreaker had decided to put him down. Jazz was a close old friend, and one of the 'Bots Bumblebee had looked up to, such as Ironhide, Prowl and even Optimus Prime himself. Knowing that such a good friend of his was in such hard shape, and that he couldn't do anything to help only put the Autobot XO into an uncharacteristic emotional funk.

Bumblebee looked around the command deck, several other Autobot's had made their way up there already. Skids was waiting to speak with Ironhide and Seaspray had finally emerged from the CR chamber to and was now talking with the Skids. Brawn and Trailbraker were also engaged in a discussion and from what Bumblebee could tell it was about some mountain range Brawn had mentioned exploring. Wanting to think about anything but the current situation the yellow minbot walked over to them.

"Hey guys." He said as he stood just behind them. "Watcha' lookin' at there?" Bumblebee asked as he tried to get a good look at Brawn's screen. "Thinking of taking a trip off the Ark?"

Computer Lab

Sitting at his desk, engrossed in one of his current back burner projects Wheeljack was lost in his work and thoughts. His vocalizers glowed softly from time to time as he muttered in thought, barely audioable to himself or anyone else who could of been around. He thought he had finally developed an effective tracking shell that used a mico-gyro jet to propel itself through the air and adjust its direction as it homed in on its target. The only problem he had now was to increase its speed so it wouldn't run out of fuel before it hit.

Wheeljack was just starting to work on finding a way to solve that potential issue when he herd some sort of activity in the ships corridors. To him it sounded like a number of the others were talking about something that had gotten them very excited and he heard what sounded like a lift to move something rather heavy. He got up and walked to the door. The others had moved on bu there was a trail of energon that appeared to be from someones leaking fuel pipes.

Repair Bay

Wheeljack followed the trail of energon to the repair bay. He figured that one of the others had someone managed to damage themselves bad enough to cause their fuel to start leaking. in the repair along, along with Ratchet Smokescreen and Windcharger were standing by one of the operating tables.

"Hey guys, I heard something going on in the hallway and I saw this trail of energon leading here and I was-" Wheeljack had walked up to where the other 'bots were standing as he spoke and then stopped when he saw the battered Jazz laying on the table in stasis lock. "Whoa... I had no idea he was in that bad shape."

Command Deck

Skids smiled at the thought of his news making Seaspray's day. "Perhaps I can give you a primer at some point, and show you around our general area - I've found this planet quite fascinating." Though he chafed a little that his chances to see it and the humans in person as opposed to on a monitor had been scant few thus far.

His smile faded as he thought about Seaspray's question, however. "As for what the Decepticons have been up to... most recently Jazz embarked on a fact-finding mission up on the planet, but..." He glanced at Ironhide and looked a little sheepish before continuing, "I'm afraid I missed out on what the details of said mission are. I only know that he was badly damaged and is likely currently being treated in MedBay. Whatever information he has we won't know until he recovers."