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Corridor near mesh hall

After taking Highwire into the stasis storage chamber, Weirdwolf had began wandering towards the mesh hall when Blackwind's communications reached him.

>>”Weirdwolf. This is Blackwind. I have been tasked with putting a team together and head down to the Planet’s surface when Commander Thunderwing so orders. I have chosen you to accompany myself and two others. Wrap up whatever you are currently working on and join the rest of us in the mess hall.”<<

>>"Resist me can you not. Be it so."<< Was the tracker's quick response back to the femme seeker.

Given how close he was to the mess hall already, it took him only few moments to reach his destination. However, having put no effort in hurrying into the mess hall caused the yellow and silver Decepticon arrive into the hall after Blackwind herself had already left it.

"Oh, the vain one and personal enforcer of his." Weirdwolf thought as he arrived to the scene, not noticing that once again, he was actually speaking to himself instead of just thinking. "Past the thick one two pounces would take... the red one fall would with one piercing strike under chin... How sweet it would be to sharpen this one's claws on vain one's armor... bored of all the waiting this one is. Since the demons nothing has he fought. Kill! Kill! Rip apart titanium skin! Tear open fuel lines! Decorated in the brilliant glow of the nectar of life! Art immortal would this one create!"



Corridors

Despite of his fearsome reputation - Skullcruncher could actually be rather good company if anyone had guts to befriend him. Of course, being a mech of few words and generally a slow, ponderous thinker in addition to his even more irritating habits, did not help at all in him gaining popularity. His often tediously slow way of communicating made him appear dim to other - that was not the case however, Skullcruncher was actually deceptively intelligent like his friend Weirdwolf. Unlike his friend though, Skullcruncher hated having to think too much and too fast. Which was exactly where most mechs went wrong when trying communicating with him. If one did not give Skullcruncher a chance to answer on his own time - one took the risk of annoying the hulking warrior with additional questions and making him prone to lash out in anger to make the target of his annoyance shut up.

Skullcruncher did not say anything following Shadowing's good-natured quip but he did flash a toothy grin in response to the espionage specialist. Of course in Skullcruncher's case a toothy grin revealed a set of razor sharp shark-like teeth that even most Decepticons found unsettling - particularly as they were well aware of the hulking warrior's grisly habits. For now, both Shadowing and Shockwave were safe from the cannibalistic Decepticon though. Skullcruncher merely put most the weight of the cyberforming interface on his own arms and began following Shockwave out of the storage bay.

Mess Hall

The crimson and gold mech made his way back into his chair after the femme offered a hand and pulled him back up to a standing position. She was strong, he had to give her that, and he was sure that if given the opportunity she would have torn a hole right through him without batting an optic. The mere thought of what would happen to his finish after that kind of assault sent a heavy shiver up his spine.

And then just as quickly as the three of them entered, Blackwind excused herself and left the mess hall. Knockout stared in her direction until she was finally out of sight and turned to look at Clutch who had only recently returned with their drinks.

“Oh, stop being so melodramatic. The only thing I said was…you know what, never mind. It’s not important right now anyway. What is important is that we’re getting a rare opportunity to prove just how important to the cause we are.”

The Decepticon mechanic flashed his assistant a dashing smile while going through the motions of polishing his servo tips on his exterior finish.

“And we’ll also have the chance to finally get off this floating, confining garbage scow. I swear Clutch, I must be half Seeker. Sitting idle on this thing is causing me so much stress it’s giving me rust rash! I mean that figuratively of course.”

Knockout calmed down and leaned back gently in his seat. He shut off his optics as he placed his hands behind his head.

“You know, I say half Seeker because I’m just as claustrophobic but twice as pretty.”
____

It had taken less than a breem to make contact with Thunderwing and relay the message she had for him. Unfortunately, there had been little to tell and since she was still trapped on a ship with that all knowing all seeing Soundwave, movement was severely hindered. Not to mention the presence of the walking cycloptic calculator.

Blackwind let out a sigh and gently shook her head. What had the faction been reduced to? She wished for nothing more than to have Megatron back in his rightful place…true Lord of the Decepticons. That singular thought bright a diminutive smile to her face. It quickly faded, however, as the terminal she was in front of registered an incoming message from Thunderwing.

The response was what she had expected in that it was simplistic but informative. She felt no need to respond in kind and instead closed the link and returned the terminal to its prior working conditions. Satisfied that her task was handled easily, Blackwind made her way back toward the mess hall where she left the first two misfits to wait. She let out a low groan at the thought of even being in the same location with them, but she was told to gather a team, and no one ever mentioned who should be on it.

She hadn’t gotten very far when she finally received a response from Weirdwolf. A delicate smile grew on her visage as she recalled hearing something similar not long ago. Blackwind shook her head gently and proceeded on toward her intended destination.
____

The position Knockout had taken up was still in play when Weirdwolf entered the mess hall. The wolf-former was a silent stalker, and a very good one at that…but he had this annoying habit of revealing just where he was. Not so good for such an accomplished tracker.

There was no sound when Weirdwolf made his entrance, but once he began that inane mumbling everyone in the room knew he had arrived.

Knockout quickly onlined his optics and moved to the edge of his chair. He thought that other ‘Con had said something about him, but he wasn’t entirely sure. Knockout slapped Clutch on the chestplate with the back of hand in order to get the larger mech’s attention.

“Did he just say something about impaling me? Doesn’t he know doing that would mar these delicate features?”

The mechanic’s optics narrowed into tight slits as he watched Weirdwolf’s every move.

“Clutch, I believe it’s clobbering time.”

She had missed the spoken musings of Weirdwolf, but based on knowledge of the tracker’s quirks Backwind could presume he inadvertently said something that caused her two other team members to go on the offensive.

Blackwind rolled her optics and heaved a heavy sigh. This mission was already getting tiresome, and they hadn’t even been deployed yet!

“You two, stand down! Get your afts back in those seats and keep them glued there. You get up even once and I’ll tear you both new waste receptacles.”

The threat did not fall on deaf audios. Knockout slid further back in his chair and gave Clutch a smug smirk.

“She’s spunky. Spunky can be fun, unless she follows through with that threat. That's when spunky turns to stark raving mad.”

“Weirdwolf. As I mentioned in my communique I am in need of several mechs to accompany me to the planet’s surface. We will be there to reinforce Thunderwing, but only if the need arises. For now we will remain here until we are summoned.”

Blackwind gestured to one of the remaining two chairs at the table both Knockout and Clutch currently were occupying.

“Please, join us.”

Laboratory

The lab facilities on this ship had not maintained the same pristine conditioning as they once held when Shockwave had originally designed this ship for the benefit of Megatron's war machine. It was fortunate, however, that the ship had been entrusted to the Predacons rather than one of Megatron's other, more volatile units. Had a ship of this importance been entrusted to the oversight of the Stunticons or Terrorcons, Shockwave expected that there would be little he could salvage.

En route here, Shockwave had examined the information that had been routed to him via his subordinates. The information inside was variant from Shockwave's original calculations, given what had taken place aboard the Thanatos back on Cybertron, but it was not wholly unexpected that anyone within the Decepticon High Command ranks would see Megatron's absence as an opportunity. Starscream would remain the primary target until another Decepticon's actions warranted a shift.

That did not mean, however, that certain contingencies could not be enacted. With Blackwind still aboard the ship as Shockwave had commanded, the cycloptic strategist was now presented with a scenario whereby he could extrapolate a significant amount of data regarding an emerging, if unproven, technology as well as eliminate a key supporter of a potential rival. Previously, his calculations had left him uncertain of the full value of taking that step. Now that uncertainty had been significantly reduced.

"Imperative--place the device in bay three. I will begin the interface process," Shockwave said to the Decepticons that were following behind him, moving to one of the consoles within the laboratory and initiating a direct connection.

>>"All Decepticon personnel not presently assigned to one of the present, critical imperatives are to report to the laboratory of the Thanatos immediately,"<< Shockwave transmitted over the ship's systems.

Mess Hall

Clutch snickered at Knockout as he sat down across from him. “I think you get plenty of opportunities to get knocked on your aft so I wouldn’t call that rare.” He chugged down the contents of his glass as he listened to what his partner had to say. The larger Decepticon ignored most of Knockout’s whining and complaining. Over the course of their partnership he’d developed a mental filter of sorts that basically blocked out most of his chatter. If he hadn’t he would have gone crazy a long time ago.

“Getting off the ship would be good, especially if there are some Bots down there who need slagging.” He grabbed another glass since Blackwind apparently wouldn’t be drinking with them, and began guzzling it down when the signal from Shockwave came through. He slowly put the glass back down on the table. “Well it sounds like something’s up. Hopefully you didn’t stir something up against us there and this is about some big mission or battle or something.” Clutch stood up and began making his way to the door.

Mess Hall

With a humph Knockout crossed his arms over his pristine chestplate and leaned back in his chair. His partner certainly had a way of grating on his nerves.

“Hey, took me by surprise. How was I supposed to know she didn’t take compliments kindly.”

Knockout uncrossed his arms and placed them behind his head, at the same time he lifted his legs and slammed them down on the table top, crossing them gently at the ankles. The quick, sudden and hard maneuver caused the last of the drinks sitting on the table to topple over spilling their contents over the smooth metal surface. With a satisfied smile plastered on his delicate, scuffed, face Knockout let out a low chuckle.

“So sorry, Clutch. I thought you were finished with those.”

The crimson and gold ‘Con shut off his optics, pulled his left hand from behind his head and flicked his wrist in the direction of the dispensers.

“You can always run and get yourself some more. And while you’re at it you can grab a few more for the rest of us, mein freund.”

Knockout quickly onlined his optics and watched while Blackwiind spoke to Weirdwolf about just why she had called him. It looked as though the track would be joining the rest of them down to the planet once the time was right. Oh, just perfect. That crazed lug nut will be a complete blast down planet style.

Blackwind was just about to pull her chair out when the message from Shockwave came through on the ship wide communications systems. The Seeker let out a low growl as she placed the chair back in its place and looked over the members of her gathered team. Before she could give any orders Clutch had started to make his way out of the Mess Hall.
She let out a sigh before motioning for the other two mechs to follow along to Shockwave’s laboratory.

“Let’s get this over with.”

With a shrug Knockout glanced to Weirdwolf, stood up and let the room.

Laboratory

Surprisingly the advancement through the corridors and to the lift hadn’t taken nearly as long as Blackwind had anticipated. And through another bought of twists and turns she had finally arrived at the small group’s intended destination.

From behind the taller encased femme, Knockout watched the door slide open allowing them admittance into the unusually large room. While sweeping his optics over the space the mechanic took note of anything that could be used as some sort of torture mechanism. One could never be too careful when it came to Shockwave. The mech was capable of just about anything.

Blackwind strode into the room just as confidently as she would in the presence of Lord Megatron himself. The seeker stopped across from Shockwave and crossed her arms over her chest; optics boring into his one.

Laboratory

Skullcruncher tried to move as carefully as he could while carrying Shockwave's precious artifact from the storage into the cyclops lab. And that made the large Decepticon to move even slower than normal. It was likely frustrating for a more agile mech like Shadowing, who had to work far more to synch his movement with Skullcruncher's slow and meticulous way of moving around. Particularly as it was Skullcruncher who was carrying most of the weight of the cyberforming control interface. At least the Thanatos' floors weren't covered in grime and grease like the case was with the Ultrax.

In the end, the rather odd pairing of Decepticons for such a job - did arrive to their target destination. And only to receive more orders the instant they did so. Not that it wasn't to be expected. As Skullcruncher moved with Shadowing into the bay three and gently placed the device down - Shockwave was already speaking to the ship's intercom.

The large Decepticon could only shrug his shoulders and turn to Shadowing with a puzzled look on his face. "Eh? What now?"



Weirdwolf had wasted little time wondering about why Knockout was eyeing him very suspiciously. Apparently he had just spoken out aloud what he had been thinking. It wasn't too surprising to the tracker. It was infidenitely frustrating though. In Knockout's case it had really been just about Weirdwolf's killer's instict making a quick survey of how to kill a possible prey. He had never intended to actually attack the two Decepticons sitting in the mess hall. This annoying habit of his had cost the tracker far too many Autobot targets for his liking but there was very little he could do about it. Even Hook and Scrapper had been out of ideas when they had taken a look inside his cranium after a mission that had nearly proved to be fatal for Weirdwolf.

And thus, instead even considering to enter into combat with Knockout, Weirdwolf had left the mess hall with Blackwind after Shockwave decided to make another surprise request that included the tracker as well.

CR Storage

The door of the CR chamber slid open with a slight hiss, expelling billowing tufts of white vapor. Red optics flashed to life as their owner took in her new surroundings. With a twirl and a flourish, Deathdancer emerged from her CR chamber in an elegant leap, landing lightly. Her dramatic entrance accomplished, the petite femme stretched her stiff appendages. "Ah...feels nice to be back in the world again."

Deathdancer glanced around the empty storage with a slight frown gracing her delicate features. "Hm...no welcoming party?" She walked over to the door leading into the Medical Bay and saw no one there either. Started to get a bit annoyed at the apparent emptiness of the vessel, she began to consider leaving a few of her favorite pranks for some unfortunate Decepticon to lumber into. She was in the middle of debating which of her favorite gags to use, when Shockwave's command came over the intercom.

>>"All Decepticon personnel not presently assigned to one of the present, critical imperatives are to report to the laboratory of the Thanatos immediately."<<

Deathdancer felt her spark light up with joy at the news. "A party! Yipee!" Skipping through the medical bay happily, Deathdancer made her way through the halls until she caught sight of a small group of other Decepticons heading for the laboratory as well. A femme was leading them. She fell into step behind them.

Laboratory

The room had grown quiet; too quiet for Blackwind’s liking. Fear of silence had no bearing on the current situation…it was the mere fact that Shockwave took his time when it came to revealing his little experiments. It was probably one of the reasons Lord Megatron never put his complete trust in the cyclops. The thought brought a delicate smile to her visage.

Blackwind lowered her arms and took a few steps closer to where the commander was positioned. The smile on her face slowly turned into an even expression. The reasoning behind gathering everyone to the lab had better be a good one.

“Well, Commander. Have you assembled us here to only bear witness to one of your experiments, or will we be forced to participate as your personal guinea pigs?”

Knockout wasn’t entirely surprised when the carapace encased Seeker took several steps further into the room…directly in front of the Commander and self-proclaimed leader of the Decepticon forces. Once his ‘shield’ had moved on Knockout was pressed to find something or someone bigger than him to protect him...but most importantly to protect his beautifully polished finish.

The crimson mech sidled up next to Clutch and jabbed the mech lightly in the side to gain his attention.

“The glitch has got a set of cast iron ball bearings if she thinks she's going to get away with speaking to the Commander that way. 50 shanix says she doesn’t make it out of this room alive.”

Laboratory

Shockwave's singular, calculating optic took in every individual Decepticon that had entered the lab facility and cross-referenced them against the current mission-assignments that were presently being tracked within the Thanatos' database. The turnout was not 100% efficient, but a satisfactory degree of attendance had been reached for what Shockwave wished to accomplish. For the Military Operations Commander, now imperator, one procedure simply fell in to place after another. Logically. There was no other way. And now the time had come for the empire as a whole to take its next progressive step.

Blackwind's statements had elicited nothing from the cycloptic Decepticon. They were statements that fell perfectly in line with the mech's personality parameters, thus requiring no immediate attention on his part. The time would come, soon enough, when she would be able to contribute far more than simple words to the Decepticon empire's forward momentum.

"Attention all," Shockwave began, his head turning slowly as his optic continued to scan the responses of those within the room. "Progress is being made. In spite of the loss of our leader, his vision continues forward. As I speak to you now, technology is being put in to place that will convert this carbon-drenched planet in to something more suitable to our purposes or....assure the restoration of Cybertron. The survival of our species--questionable under the direction of any other--will be assured under my oversight."

Shockwave paused, though only momentarily.

"Starscream--the only declared rival to my leadership--will have been dealt with by the Predacons; however, other obstacles remain."

Shockwave paused again, only this time his singular optic settled on Blackwind.

"Declarative: I have developed a new energy source derived from minerals present on this planet. Some have tasted its potency. It is unlike anything any of you have ever ingested. It is my desire that all who wear the Decepticon insignia do so. Energy shortages of our present will be a fragment of our past. Yet here, standing before you, is technology that I have not yet been able to study to my satisfaction. Technology that may well complement the energy advances I have made."

Shockwave's optic flickered.

"Decepticon Blackwind is deemed an obstacle to advancement. Subdue her, by any means necessary, and we shall proceed. I will bring you the future you have been fighting for."

Shockwave's arm cannon charged.

Laboratory

Shadowing took a moment to stretch out his gears after bringing the device here. Even with Skullcruncher carrying most of the weight it was still not easy. None of his physical traits were particularly impressive so he depended on his mind to overcome whatever challenges came before him. Unfortunately his mind was not of much help carrying things.

He listened to Shockwave's proclamation and Skullcruncher's reaction.

"Considering where this meeting is being held I would wager it has something to do with that substance you drank. In any case, getting the rest of the materials here was labeled a priority by the Commander so lets get the rest."

Shadowing headed back towards the storage bay but kept an open communication line to the Laboratory area to listen to whatever Shockwave had in mind. His optics glowed brighter at Blackwind's remarks. He did not have much time to wonder how Shockwave would react when he made his proclamation.

"Well then..." he remarked to Skullcruncher. "It seems like things will become much more interesting."

As he spoke he continued to make his way to the Cargo Bay.