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Bounce Chamber

Wobbling slightly, Streetwise tried to shake off the dizzying effects of the bounce as the light faded. All of this...their...ceasefire with the Decepticons...the Fallen....all of it raced through the interceptor's mind. Losing Optimus had only been the first blow. Now, everything seemed to be giving way to even greater nightmares.

Nothing you can do about it right now, Street. Focus on what you can do.

Streetwise remembered Ultra Magnus and the wisdom that he had displayed. It reassured the unnerved interceptor. He was glad that Magnus had come to lead them. Looking up with somewhat lightened spirits, Streetwise took in the room's remaining inhabitants. There were few. Kup. Hot Shot. Ironhide. And Groove.

Stepping down from the bounce pad, Streetwise mulled over the details of the treeline and shoreline as well as the direction that Decepticon reinforcements had come from and committed it all to memory. Even though the two factions had set aside their differences for the time being, it would still be useful to know the general location of the Decepticon earth base. Any detail could help. Streetwise was determined to be of use. He hadn't been there in the search for Optimus.

Streetwise grimaced as he walked toward the door, feeling the sand grate on his internal mechanisms. He needed to clean them out before he did anything else. Fantastic. That was what he got for driving on sand with a crazed Combaticon firing away at you. The interceptor tried to avoid excessive movement as he edged toward the door. Groove, however, soon walked over to him. Streetwise smiled companionably at his teammate as he invited him to a trip to the med bay.

"Sure thing, Groove. Love to. I've got sand in all the wrong places from distracting Brawl. That little gambit could've ended ugly if Ultra Magnus hadn't called the ceasefire when he did."

Streetwise kept moving out of the Bounce Chamber as he talked, happy to have Groove along.

Captain’s Ready Room

Once Ultra Magnus had granted him permission to enter, Wheeljack crossed the threshold of the ready room and quickly made his way to the desk at the far side where he took a seat just as the City Commander had stated as much. The follow up comment regarding the faux Cosmic Rust incident in his lab made the mechanical engineer flinch slightly, but hopefully it was not too noticeable. ‘Jack had expected this and had an answer all set and ready to be delivered.

“Yes, Commander Magnus,” Wheeljack began as the larger mech slowly sat down behind the desk. “Everything has been taken care of, sir. There is no sign of Cosmic Rust anywhere and Smokescreen has improved greatly. He’s still breaking in his new body, but he should be at 100% within a few more cycles give or take. He’s currently assigned to my lab here on the Ark so I can keep a close optic on him just in case. Smokey was helping me anyway when he got infected so it made sense for him to hang around a little longer. I don’t anticipate a relapse, but I’d rather err on the side of caution in this instance.” The scientist saw no need to bring up Tracer’s involvement in all this as it could lead to more questions that were better left avoided. As it were, the City Commander quickly moved on to more important matters.

As a holographic display appeared over the desk in front of both mechs, Ultra Magnus wasted no time in bringing Wheeljack up to speed on the current assignment of the scouting team lead by Prowl along with long term plans to build a permanent Autobot Colony on the surface. The area in question was a secluded valley where enough natural energies could be found to power such a city for the foreseeable future. It was just a matter of how to tap and convert such energies into what they needed in order to maintain a large base like what the City Commander was proposing.

The mechanical engineer leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knee plates, as he studied the glowing images in front of his optics. For a brief moment, he had forgotten all about Smokescreen and his troubled femme friend, Tracer. The possibilities here were endless and the Autobot scientist’s skills would be put to excellent use in such an environment. Not to mention, there would be no chance of becoming bored.

“I see,” Wheeljack stated with a sense of awe as Magnus continued on, revealing the schematics of an old space bridge design, one that the white mech had not seen in countless vorns. It had been quite some time since this type of transportation technology had been utilized by either faction during the war, but that did not mean it couldn’t be reinvented for the modern era. Not only did the City Commander want the space bridge redesigned, but he wanted the scientist to invent all new additional technologies with the help of a team of Autobots comprised of Hoist, Ironfist and Blaster. This was certainly going to be a big undertaking, one that would pull him away from Tracer’s problems, leaving only Smokescreen and likely Axle to handle her continuing Syk addiction and mental issues.

But I can’t say no to this, Wheeljack conceded to himself as he sat back in his chair. Not only was Ultra Magnus his commanding officer who was giving him a new set of orders to fulfill, but the white mech also did not want to be left out of such a challenging task. This was the exact type of thing that he lived for. Besides, there was simply no way around it. The assignment was far too important and would require the majority of his attention for the foreseeable cycles in order for everything to be invented and constructed properly. The Autobot cause depended on it. Smokey and the others would just have to understand and find a way to handle things without the scientist’s constant help.

This was not to say that Wheeljack was going to abandon his friends completely. He’d still be able to help once and a while. He just wouldn’t be around all of the time like he had been in recent cycles. They would find a way to make it work no matter what.

“Well, that certainly is a tall order, Commander,” the mechanical engineer replied once Ultra Magnus had finished with the initial briefing. “However, I’m definitely the mech for the job, and I look forward to the challenge with utmost vigor. It’s been a while since I’ve had an assignment of this scale, but I’m sure that with a team like those you have mentioned, we’ll be able to succeed in this endeavor. Perhaps we could also bring in Perceptor on this. Last time I checked he was studying a new found ore with the potential of generating a potent new form of energon if refined properly. I’m not sure how far he’s gotten, but it might be something to think about.”

Wheeljack paused for a moment as he considered what questions he had for the City Commander before moving on. The scientist had so many, but he would not overburden Magnus with minor ones that only an engineer would be able to figure out, anyway. Instead, the white mech looked for some clarification regarding this new global space bridge that had to be redesigned and constructed. “Sir, when you say ‘global space bridge’ it sounds like you want some kind of, what’s the right description? Ground bridge? Is it your intention that you want a portal that would allow us to travel around the planet instantaneously without the use of orbital bounces? If that is the case, then your typical space bridge design will require a major overhaul and downsizing as it was intended for travel through vast distances across space and not shorter ones around a single planet. It can be done, of course, but it will be more than just a simple refinement I’m afraid.”

Bounce Chamber

Air Raid arrived late to the Bounce Chamber, and seemed that technical errors were following him where ever he goes, but it was just a few seconds and he was sure that it won't hurt. The Aerialbot was still unsure of what happened back in the yellow sea, he wanted to ask someone about it.

Something was coming up on Air Raid's comm link:

"Slingshot to Fireflight, Skydive and Air Raid. Looks like we've got our own friendly haven to call our own. Meet on Deck 6 of the Ark 22. We can bring this space up to our standards... before Fearless Freap returns from his little scouting assignment"

Air Raid knew it was a chance for him to ask someone about all the slag that happened down at the Yellow Sea.

Deck 6 - Aerialbot Barracks

Air Raid arrived the Airforce Hanger Bay, the place was a bit of empty, the Aerialbots are few, and it's not unlikely that the number could get fewer sometime when one of us turns to scrap.

The Aerialbot walked towards Slingshot

"Hey Sling, you know i came late in the last mission and missed out all the action" Air Raid paused, glancing his partner's ''Trophies''

"I didn't understand anything of what was going on, Autobots and Decipticons having a truce, and the Fallen is a living legend, and i am hearing the name Hot Rod all the time, can you tell me what the frag was going on?" Air Raid asked Slingshot.

Corridors

Tracer eagerly took Smokescreen’s hand in her own and trailed along with him through several halls. Along the way they encountered several other ‘Bots but none of them seemed too interested in either one of them. Not enough to warrant full on conversations, thankfully. Instead they offered both her and Smokey a simple nod or a smile. On a couple occasions there were a few words exchanged but nothing long enough to keep them from moving forward. Tracer tried not to draw attention to her and when acknowledged personally the femme offered a simple nod and a brief smile.

Everything seemed so new, at least to Tracer. She didn’t recognize anything, not even the horrid orange paint brought back any memories. Then again, according to Smokecreen she wasn’t even assigned to this ship. “Yeah. I’m alright.” She said as she lifted her gaze from the floor to look the rallybot in the optics as he glanced back at her.

One final corner and Smokescreen stopped. Before them was the open expanse of the docking ring that would lead them onto the Guardian…the ship that she was assigned to for vorns. Tracer stared for several moments, her optics focused intently on the end of the ring. Her attention was then pulled to her escort as he prepared her for their next move…locate her quarters. But it was not him who would be leading she would have to do it. “I’ll…” She paused and turned her head so she could look at Smokescreen. “I’ll try.” The femme flashed him an unsure smile before looking down the docking ring. She took in a deep intake and took the first step onto the docking ring.

((OCC: Alrighty, I’m moving these two to the Guardian.))

Deck 6--Aerialbot Barracks

It had taken Fireflight a little longer than usual to get where he was going, as it usually did, but he finally made it to the area where he had been told he and the other Aerialbots would be meeting. He had stopped and chit-chatted with a couple of different Autobots along the way, so he didn't feel too bad about running behind. A little non-threatening, non-war chatting did everybody some good from time to time.

Walking in and hearing the last part of the ongoing conversation, it sounded like that was going to come to an end real quick.

"The fallen what?" Fireflight interjected as he walked over to pour himself some crude oil mix that might help his pistons start firing on a few more cylinders and focus.

Captain's Ready Room

Ultra Magnus let slip a knowing grin. "That is persicely what I mean Wheeljack. Currenly orbital bounces leave us vulnerable to detection by the Decepticons. The energies alone will leave a ship exposed or a relay compromised, provided a Decepticon is utilizing a watchful optics on passive energy sensors. The spike may not locate the origin but the terminus on the planet surface could be triangulated given enough time and experience... which we both know the Decepticons and particularly Soundwave has in abundance."

The Autobot Commander paused briefly as he allowed what he proposed to further turn the inventor's mental gears of probabilities. There was much that could be developed from these older technologies and even newer uses could be discovered. Furthermore, refinement of bridge technology could be used for more militaristic purposes beyond the simple movement of mech and materials two and from battlefields. In addition there were other reasons for the development of that technology. They needed an advantage on this world beyond the permanent colony he charged Wheeljack to construct. "I know this is a tough haul for anyone Wheeljack. But I am giving you the green light. Or perhaps a better phrase could be used, I want you and your team to take the safeties off."

Magnus paused briefly again. This time he reached down and toggled the holographic display controls. The green wire holographic mesh flickered and desolved from the old Space Bridge Gateway schematics. The room went dark for a nanosecond before the wire mesh reconstructed itself into an enlarged version of the older Teletrann Sky Spy modules. "The bridges are not the only technology I wish to see repurposed. Once the Global Space Bridge is in operation, I want to make it the sole mode of instant transportation on the planet."

The smaller satellite rotated before splitting into four quarter images of diagrams, internal schematics and other points of view. "I want your team to work on an orbital defensive grid to surround the planet. Invisible to the native population, that goes without saying, as well as prying optics of the Decepticons." His voice trailed off briefly as his gaze settled on Wheeljack. "This satellite network will become our optics and audio receptors of the planet, but they can do that already. I want you to add another function. This planet must become inaccessable for the Decepticons, or at least make them expend larger amounts of energon to try to traverse the distances between where ever the scrap they are now, to where ever they go and back. Thus I want your team to develop a bounce nullification grid. A shield over this planet that will prevent unauthorized transport two and from the surface via the Bounce Systems."

Ultra Magnus gave the engineer another few moments to absorb the largest task he has been assigned in quite sometime. "I thank you for accepting this assignment Wheeljack. Requesition which ever specialist you need. Perceptor would make a fine addition to your team and I will leave it to you to assemble them. I have already given the appropriate authorization for resource procurement for your task."

With that the holographic projection system deactivated and Magnus stood up to full height. "Again, I realize this may be an overwhelming task. But we all have faith in you and your fellow engineers." He offered a reassuring handshake before allowing the engineer a firm nod of dismissal. Now Magnus had started the wheels turning. The first pebble had been tossed against the mound of debris, soon that would grow into an avalanche of advancement and turn the tide of this dismal war.

Deck 6: Aerialbot Barracks

Slingshot adjusted the bent thrust vent from Thrust blown off during the battle over the desert not too long before. His audio receptors were keenly aware of the comings and goings outside of the large bay doors that seperated his recently claimed haven of privacy from the rest of the ship's population. Thus he was not surprised that the first set of footsteps to actually give pause to the new arched cybertronian script sign lining the top of the doors, actually began entering an activation code to the security locks that had been installed.

"Glad to see you finally managed to find you way back to the land of the semi compotent Air Raid." The snide comment meant to pull the insecurity back into the dark recesses of his personality. He did not need to let the absolute crazy of the squadron to actually see the true success story have a shadow of self doubt, Slingshot would never live it down.

He pulled out a custom metal sign from the box that held his trophies and hung it below the twisted metallic component. 'Thrust's thruster.' "At least one of us managed to at least live up to our potential." The sharpshooter pivoted on his heel and glared up at the slightly larger and decidedly more powerful flier. "Maybe next time you'll actually show up to briefings rather than follow a flight plan logged by one Navigator Fireflight."

The large doors slid open once again. "Speak of the scrapper himself. And where have you been. Let me guess got lost looking for Sprockets again." Slingshot released a loud laugh as he walked over and slapped the hapless navigator and the couragious flier on their respective shoulders. Not necessarily devoid of malice, but decidedly not entirely a sign of friendship. They were, after all, a relatively new squadron of misfits.

"The Fallen? Oh yeah. Appears ole Hot Rod was playing host to some eon's old godlike Prime bent on the destruction of our entire race just for the scrap of it. Shame, seemed like a nice kid too." Slingshot gave a flip of his wrist over his head as he made his way to the claimed charging slab near his trophies. "Not that it matters for us anyways. We got more important things to worry about. Like how I managed to best not only one of the Decepticon's premier fliers in Thrust, cowardly or not, as well as their two big brusiers in Blitzwing and Astrotrain."

He turned again to face his squadron members. "Thats right, I got those multiform freaks in a single shot. Who wants to touch me so they can experience greatness?"

Corridors

Groove smiled as Streetwise joined him, glad to have the company as they walked to the medical bay.

"Yes, thank Primus for Ultra Magnus' decision..... though, I guess it wouldn't be appropriate to thank Primus considering the circumstances."

Groove's processors still had some trouble grasping that The Fallen had really returned. Despite the fact that he had directly encountered him earlier, and had sensed before that there was something sinister within the mech that had once been Hot Rod, it still seemed like something out of a deep recharge cycle. Of course the soreness of his armor plating and servos was a good reminder that he was awake.

"It seems somewhat surreal, doesn't it?", he asked his fellow Protectobot, "First we have to come to terms with one of our greatest fears, when Optimus disappears without a trace. And now we face something that has haunted the nightmares of our kind since the very beginning of Cybertronian society."

As Groove finished his sentence the two reached the door to the medical bay, an afterthought occured to the scout.

"You don't suppose they're connected, do you Streetwise?", the scout looked at Streetwise as the medical bay door opened, "That it's not just a coincidence that The Fallen returns when Optimus vanishes?"

Security Office

Red Alert came to a screeching halt as he reached his office, transforming back to his robot mode right in front of the door. After making a quick survey of the surrounding area, he went through the drawn out process of entering his lengthy security code, which took almost a breem, before the door slid open for him.

Out of habit the security director did a visual inspection of his office, but found that everything had been as he'd left it. With a sigh of relief he went to his computer terminal.

I have to do this right, get everything that I know and have witnessed reported correctly. Unfortunately I don't have any concrete evidence, but I should have enough to at least take one or two mechs into custody for questioning.

Reaching behind the monitor, he pulled out a cable and extended it to the back of his head, where he connected it to an output port. After keying in a series of commands and security codes, he downloaded information from his own hard drive that pertained to everything he had witnessed since he first noticed the "unusual smell" that led to the shuttle bay. Visual, audio, and especially data from his olfactory sensors- he wanted it to be clear that there was a connection involving the turbofox he had been chasing.

The entire ordeal with Hot Rod is serious, I understand that., he thought to himself, But I'm sure Kup and the Protectobots are capable of handling it for now. Right now I need answers about that missing shuttle, and just what Wheeljack is up to. It can't just be a coincident that it all happened at the same time that the Dinobots stole the Ark-19.

Once the pertinent data had finished downloading to the computer terminal, Red Alert removed the data jack from his head, then went to work sorting out the necessary data into a report for Prowl. A scowl came across his face as he thought of the strategist.

Maybe you weren't leading a conspiracy, but that's still no excuse to lie to me about matters of security. If I don't know what's going on, then I can't do my job properly, you of all mechs should know that, Prowl. We've worked together with Autobot Security and Intelligence enough times that you should be able to trust me.

After several kliks and reading it over three times, Red Alert felt he had filed all that he could, and downloaded the report onto a datapad. The security director then tried to open a comm-link to Prowl, but got nothing.

"What? Is he not here?", Red Alert asked incredulously as he went to his terminal to search for the strategist, only to find that Prowl had bounced down to Earth some time ago, "Slag! So who do I....."

Going back to the computer he searched for whomever was the next ranking officer and their location, guessing that it would be Kup or possibly Hot Spot. The answer the computer gave him both surprised and infuriated him.

"ULTRA MAGNUS!?!", he shouted, "When did he even arrive in this system?!? I should have been informed before he even got here!"

Red Alert fumed. There was no doubt that the next time he saw Prowl, the strategist would get a big piece of his mind. But right now he had to hold back his anger and report his findings to their current commander. He opened a comm link, holding back his frustrations.

>>Red Alert to Ultra Magnus. Sir, I need to speak with you as soon as possible about a security matter that I've been investigating for the past several cycles. I believe it is connected to the Dinobot's theft of the Ark-19. <<

Before Ultra Magnus gave a reply Red Alert grabbed the datapad and left his office, locking the door behind him with another exceedingly long security code. He then proceeded toward the captain's ready room.

Corridors

Streetwise returned Groove's smile with a companionable one of his own. He enjoyed being part of a team. The interceptor was no stranger to going it alone, seeing as how he often tailed the Decepticons to wherever they decided to retreat to, but he enjoyed having back-up that he knew he could count on. Streetwise offered Groove a wry smile when he mentioned thanking Primus not being appropriate.

"Dark times they are right now, but...I trust Ultra Magnus's judgement. He's no Optimus - no one could replace him - but he is the best mech for the job."

A sigh escaped Streetwise's intakes as he thought of their lost leader. If only he could have gone down there and searched. Find something that they might've missed before. He briefly considered asking Ultra Magnus to let him go down and search through the rubble rock by slagging rock until he found some sort of sign of Optimus. Not knowing what had really happened to their leader was almost worse than seeing his broken body strewn across the battlefield because the nagging flame of hope could incite more torment than the death of Optimus could. The interceptor pushed those thoughts away when his fellow Protectobot spoke up again.

"Yeah," Streetwise said as they reached the medical bay doors, "We come face to face with the very bogeyman - as the humans say - that we were told stories about as protoforms to make us behave. I'd swear I was in deep recharge cycle if it weren't for this infernal sand grating on my internal mechanisms. The Fallen..."

Streetwise looked at Groove more intently as he mentioned that the two events might be connected. The interceptor frowned as thoughts raced through his processor.

"I wouldn't put anything past the Fallen. If it is the Fallen's doing, it's a pretty ingenious master stroke. By doing away with both Optimus and Megatron, both sides would be in disarray, making it a prime time to strike. The Decepticons...will probably fight amongst themselves and weaken in process. The Fallen...could probably strike at the Decepticons then, and the Autobots would be all that was left."

"Or the Fallen could just be taking advantage of the current situation, although that seems a bit too coincidental to me. Either way, we're in deep slag, Groove. I hope this truce with the Decepticons pans out."

An after thought struck Streetwise. He figured it was the least he could say to try to stay optimistic for his friend. The interceptor had been a bit worried for his friend since he seemed to hold himself personally accountable for some of what happened.

"Hey, if this all works out in the end, maybe it'll be the first step toward real peace. We just have to take things one cycle at a time," Streetwise added with a smile.

------

Bridge

Arcee stood from where she had been sitting for what seemed like vorns and stretched her aching servos. She glanced over to the bridge's only other occupant, Springer. She wondered if she hadn't accidentally slipped into a recharge cycle after chatting with Springer about Cybertron. It was strange how much time had passed without anyone reentering the bridge. Arcee felt a restless need to go walking about the ship to find out the latest news.

The pink warrior walked over to the triple changer with her characteristic sweet smile, unease darkening her otherwise gentle features.

"Springer, it's been too quiet. I'm worried if something happened. Would you care to join me to find someone to give us the latest news?"

Deck 6: Aerialbot Barracks

Fireflight rolled his optics at Slingshot's attempt at taunting him, still smiling in the process though. It was just Slingshot being Slingshot, and Fireflight had long ago learned to accept that.

"Sprockets. Yeah. Something like that. This planet really is something else. Easy to get distracted with what all they've got going on down there. Thankfully Slingshot didn't feel the need to simply taunt him, and provided an answer to his question. Thought it wasn't the answer Fireflight had been expecting. Not by a long shot.

"Oh...okay. Do what now? That Fallen? Huh...," Fireflight began, obviously a little bewildered now as he began to think about the ramifications of Slingshot's answer. He thought maybe Ultra Magnus or Prowl had taken a nasty spill. And maybe someone laughed. And maybe they ended up in the brig for laughing. But this was a little more important than that. A little being exponentially. He continued to listen as Slingshot switched up the subject at hand from the Fallen to the battle he had been in, but Fireflight quickly switched it back.

"Yeah, greatness. Good job on the trips," Fireflight said, allowing his compatriot's ego to get stroked a little, if only to get back on to the more pressing topic at hand. Bringing up a basic search screen on the monitor in front of him, Fireflight began to dig in to the archives of the Autopedia.

"So...I'm guessing someone's making a plan, right? Right? Or are we just counting down to our extinction? If the Fallen was inside Hot Rod..that....that compromises us on so many levels I can't even began to think about it. I bet Red Alert's spark collapsed on itself. We're kinda dead. I wonder if it's too late to become a NAIL. The Fallen probably wouldn't care anyway. Man...this sucks."