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The orbit of Cybertron: Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos

As a subspace tear closed behind the Decepticon battlecruiser Thanatos which had exited a hyperspace tunnel only astroseconds earlier, Shockwave was finally able to witness the results of the war that had turned his once beautiful homeworld into a pale reflection of its past glory. A scarred husk barely able to contain life of any form. Granted, when he had left to perform his experiments, Cybertron had already seen hundreds of vorns worth of devastation. Yet, the sight before his sole optic saddened him, only to make him even more determined of finding a way to repair the damage caused by countless years of war.

It was all too clear that Thanatos had barely enough energon in its tanks left for a return journey to Earth. Keeping it cloaked on the orbit as stationary orbital bounce station was not an option if a need to leave Cybertron would arise. It wouldn't just be energy efficient. They had to bring the ship to surface and power it down to mask its location from scanning sensors of the Autobots.

Through his interlink with the battlecruiser, Shockwave had all the information available to him that the ship's sensors could provide. Yet, like earlier, the ancient Decepticon kept it to himself and instead demanded a status report from his crew. Some secrets were better to be left as such.

"Razorclaw, Swindle. Status report."

Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos - Bridge

Swindle looked out as the homeplanet of his race appeared before him for the first time in many vorns. He couldn't really say he'd missed the place, he had memories of the place but he had just as many memories of fighting and swindling all across the galaxy after the planet was abandoned. Nostalgia wasn't a quality that suited him, but the reborn planet was still an interesting sight, if only as a new venue for whatever his next scheme was.

Shockwaves command snapped him back to attention and he quickly checked all the tactical sensors he had access to on his consoles. A few kliks later he turned to his commander. "No threats on the scopes: No active ships, weapon satellites or other weapons systems in orbit or the rest of the system. Reflection scans suggest nothing hiding behind the planet or any of the moons. And if theres anything on the surface, its either not a usable anti-starship weapon or the remaining storms are much better at hiding things than they seem.

"There are still possible threats such as inert mines, nanowire clouds, virus-programs hidden on the comm satellites or pop-up charges left on the moons, but they're not the sort of thing you can detect with standard sensors. I'll configure the close-range sensors to give us warning if they see any of the tell-tale signs, to give us several kliks warning time. If we proceed carefully, that should be enough."

I'd mention that those are all Decepticon tricks and the Autobots wouldn't even think of booby-trapping a planet of such sentimental value, but I doubt Shockwave would care. Besides, those kinds of boobytraps can't be sophisticated enough to tell friend from foe, or they'd be detectable. Best simply to be as paranoid as possible, so that if we do get hit by something, its not because of me not mentioning it.

Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos – Bridge

Razorclaw powered down the transwarp drive and brought the Thanatos into a standard orbit around Cybertron. Taking a look out of the front of the ship Razorclaw took in the sight of their race’s home world and thought of all the past transgressions between both factions. He could barely recognize the battle worn world for what it once looked like. Holding back a sigh the Predacon Commander punched in a few commands on the console in front of him. He brought up the status of the ships fuel reserves.

“I have brought us into orbit. I have also run a status check of our fuel reserves. According to the results we have barely enough reserves for a sustained orbit.”

Razorclaw turned in his chair to face Shockwave.

“Orders, sir?”

Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos – Bridge

"Proceed Swindle." Shockwave acknowledged the munitions expert's report. There was nothing in the report he had not considered already but it was better to let lesser the Decepticons believe he needed them for these simple tasks.

With Swindle being kept busy, it was time to deal with Razorclaw's report and the prepare for what had to be done. "Predacons, abandon your stations. Blackwind, take the helm and manoeuver us above the Polyhex sector."

With the first commands given, Shockwave summoned a holographic map of Cybertron in front of himself, zooming the image first into an overview of the Polyhex sector. But he did not stop there, instead he zoomed the image even deeper into the sector, into the area that had formed the citystate of Vos before Megatron had united both Vos and Tarn into one sector he had named Polyhex. Pinpointing a specific section of Vos within the hologram, Shockwave addressed the Predacons again.

"Razorclaw, in order to hide Thanatos you will have to take your team down to the surface. There are several pre-war starship silos hidden beneath the old city. With this one being the most convenient." Shockwave explained and brought up a projection of one of the larger silo's near the enormous building known to most simply as Shockwave's Tower. "You will have to open the silo manually for the hatch opening mechanism is very likely drained empty of energon. Clear the silo of any possible infestations and then power up the landing beacon within the silo. Tantrum's fuel tanks are more than enough to carry the required energon for this task."

"After the beacon has been activated, Blackwind, Swindle and I will land the Thanatos." The ancient Decepticon stated bluntly. He was certain that Razorclaw would know what to do even if all of his numb skulled minions were not going to understand what was required of them. "Now go, this has to be done with urgency. There is 87% probability of the Autobots have intercepted Thunderwing's transmission and are preparing their own scout party to Cybertron if they are not already on their way."

Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos – Bridge

Razorclaw listened intently to what Shockwave had to say. He looked at the projection that was brought up for view. He nodded at the military operations commander as he rose from his seat. He moved closer to the projection and took note of the silo’s location.

“Of course, sir.”

Razorclaw moved to the door of the bridge; he then opened up a link with the rest of the Predacons.

>>”Predacons, you are all to meet me in the orbital bounce platform. We have work to do on the Cybertron’s surface.”<<

Blackwind nodded and made her way over the helm. She sat down in the chair and waited patiently for the Predacons to perform their duty.

Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos – Bridge

Divebomb watched with amazement as Cybertron appeared before his optics. It had been so long since he had last seen his homeworld. Back then it had been alive and thriving with metallic life across its surface. He remembered how he used to soar high overhead as he searched for the next Autobot target to destroy as it scurried about below. Those were the good old days before everything went to slag and they were forced to abandon their planet.

Divebomb's attention was abruptly drawn away from the image of Cybertron as Shockwave gave his orders to Razorclaw, who then commanded the rest of the Predacons to the orbital bounce platform. Divebomb immediately stood from his station and made his way off the bridge and through the corridors of the ship. As he went, the flying Predacon opened his comm to Razorclaw:

>>I'll grab some of the extra ammunition and weapons I took from the earth base and bring them with us. We may need them down on the surface if we encounter anything unusual.<<

Once Divebomb had retrieved the necessary weapons and ammo from the ship's Armory, he made his way to the orbital bounce pad where he waited for everyone to arrive.

Decepticon Battlecruiser Thanatos – Cargo Bay

Tantrum was carefully stacking the extra fuel containers he’d carried aboard the ship when the call came in. He knew he wasn’t really needed on the bridge. Not too many mechs trusted him with the delicate instruments on the bridge. If something went wrong, even a minor malfunction, he hand a tendency to slam his fist through a console.

That was probably one of the reasons why he was a fueler now. If you put your fist through a fuel tank at the very best you’d end up with precious fuel spilled all over you. At the worst you’d have a fuel tank exploding in your face. He’d learn to treat the fuel with respect after the first time that had happened. He just had to control his temper, and the sparks from his horns, when around the volatile stuff.

He snorted as he received the message. The must have arrived on Cybertron. The Predacon had never cared much for their homeworld one way or the other. As long as there was some fighting to be done there then he was ok with it. >>”On my way.”<< he replied to Razorclaw before making his way out of the room and off to the bounce platform.

(OOC: Continued from the Hexagon - Shockwave's Tower thread)


The Thanatos – Cargo Hold

Once the CR chamber was secure and the other equipment was stored away for the long journey, Blackwind locked her gaze on the scientist. She had become so comfortable in his presence that she all but forgotten that he was not on the Thanatos when her crew arrived on Cybertron. Her neutral expression melted to reveal a delicate smile.

“I had forgotten that you never left our home world, and therefore have never seen the Thanatos. No matter. I know the perfect place to have our conference.”

As she made her way in front of him she stopped and nodded at his mentioning of Shockwave.

“Well, if Shockwave was in need of you or I, or both of us, he would have summoned us by now. After all it would have been only logical.”

Blackwind flashed him and smile and breezed past him toward the door. She paused in the doorway and looked over her shoulder.

“Coming, Thunderwing? After all it’s not every day I invite a mech to my quarters for a little one on one conversation.”

With her invitation given the slender femme began to stroll out of the cargo hold and into the corridor.

Thanatos – Cargo Hold

Thunderwing tilted his head at Blackwind’s words. “I suppose you are correct, he would have summoned us. I would assume with most commanders they would want us there on ceremony or for appearances. Such things may become the norm under his leadership. While I certainly respect his intelligence and believe him to be more capable then Starscream, there may be a certain loss of dignity and decorum under his command. Morale and some sense of honor must be maintained, lest we all become simply unthinking machines.”

He stepped back from the CR chamber, giving it one last once over to make sure it was secure. He then looked over at Blackwind, a slight smile crossing his face. He was quite glad he had been able to assist her with a carapace. To say that she was an intriguing female was to put it mildly. There were few Decepticons around that he could say he found interesting and while she wasn’t as technically proficient as he was she did have a keen mind in the political realm. So far he had found their discussions to be highly educational and interesting. Having her at his side through upcoming events would likely prove to be indispensable.

The Decepticon offered her a slight bow at the waist. “I am honored then, and pleased to be among one of those privileged few.” He fell in to step behind her, glancing around to help get a feel for the ship. “I will need to download the plans for this vessel, and likely for whatever other vessels we are using now. I hope you don’t mind educating me in current Decepticon technology and methods.” He smiled at her again, “but I can assure you that I am a fast learner.”

Thanatos—Repair Bay

Inside the repair facility, Shockwave begun accessing data from the previous strength and other tests that had been performed while Darkwing and Dreadwind were under the direct influence of Ore-13 and the composite energies that had been derived from it. Shockwave saw considerable potential in the ore’s application, but he had to be certain that the benefits of infusion outweighed any consequences.

A short time later, the two Decepticons arrived. Shockwave acknowledged their arrival by pointing toward two of the repair tables. The equipment on board the Thanatos would tell him much of what he needed to know, but there was also something to be gained from direct questioning.

“Interrogative—have either of you noticed any detrimental effects to your functioning over the course of the last 7.4 orns?”

The fact that they could cognitively recognize his request and ambulate to this location was already a positive sign that neither of them were on the verge of systems shutdown, but the Military Operations Commander wanted any and all negative consequences of Ore-13 documented and reviewed.