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"When do we get ta move out, huh?" the green tank growled. Brawl was known for many things, but his overriding sense of patience was not one of them. One of Onslaught's primary duties as a team commander had been to supply the unruly Decepticon with enough targets to satisfy his last for combat. They were all disciplined warriors and even Brawl was unlikely to ever strike out on his own against Onslaught's wishes, but the Combaticon commander understood the value of keeping morale within his unit as high as possible.

"We have been stationed here for a reason, Brawl. You know this. Calm your circuits. I have every expectation that updated orders will be coming through the grid at any moment."

Onslaught returned his attention to the monitor bank in front of him, eyeing the various screens that his Decepticon superiors insisted that he review personally: terrain data, populace, architectural infrastructure. The works. Though he was not clued in to the ultimate reason he needed to do so, as yet, he was confident that such reasoning would become evident with time.

Blast-Off and Vortex were off tending to other duties within their current fortification. Fortunate for them. Ideally, Brawl would get tired of pacing the makeshift command center and find some productive way to occupy his time. If not, Onslaught would soon be at his limit, and Brawl would be scrubbing steel tiles until the Combaticon Commander could see his reflection in them. He....

"Come ON!" Brawl bellowed.

Onslaught's optics narrowed.

Written by Insidious

Incoming transwarp transmission: High Command level identification protocol.
Origin: Cybertron. Sender: Military Operations Commander Shockwave.
Decryption pending... voice message opened.

>>"Onslaught. Given the success of infiltration unit Sigma-1 on Kahje system your commando unit is being relocated to Cybertron in order to provide strengthened security to a critical research project. Additional information provided in attachment file."<<

Training Facility – Holomatter Simulation

Blast-Off flew high above the simulated battlefield in his shuttle alt mode. As was often the case in the real world, the space warrior was separated from the rest of his teammates in order to provide the necessary air support they needed. On the one hand, this meant that he wasn’t confined by the closeness of ground combat like his comrades. On the other hand, he was also up there in the skies all alone, which was a feeling he experienced far too often. It wasn't something he ever wanted to admit to the others for fear of being ridiculed. Instead, Blast-Off kept his lonely feelings to himself and simply accepted his role as a member of the Combaticons. Besides, none of this really mattered here in the training room since he was the only thing that was real anyway.

Blast-Off banked left and caught sight of another group of Autobots that were attempting to flank the Combaticons position. Not on my watch, he thought as he opened a secured comm link to his faux comrades:

>>”This is Blast-Off. Be on alert. I’ve spotted a second squad of ‘bots flanking your positions. I’m moving in to intercept.”<<

The assault shuttle then took aim and opened fire on the flanking Autobots. His powerful x-ray laser burned through the enemy mechs, reducing many of them to charred husks while his twin cannons cut the rest of them down as they attempted to take cover. Once the space warrior was sure he had gotten them all, he opened another comm line to the fake Combaticons below:

>>”Second squad eliminated. Will maintain….” <<

Blast-Off’s communication was then interrupted by the sudden flicker of the surrounding simulation. The image of the battlefield below began to fade in and out as the holomatter projectors malfunctioned once again. “Fraggit all! I can’t even get in a little bit of training without something around here going wrong!”

Blast-Off transformed and landed by the control console. He pressed a few buttons and the simulation then completely disappeared, leaving only an empty room. As usual, the space warrior was alone with no one to help him deal with the broken training program. “I thought this slaggin’ thing was fixed. Stupid simulator!” Blast-Off kicked the side of the console, hoping it would do some good. It didn’t, of course, which agitated him even more.

With no other alternative, Blast-Off stormed out of the training room and headed for the command center where the real Combaticons would likely be waiting.

Fortune favored the patient. Onslaught understood this, even if he was not the most skilled practitioner of said colloquialism. That honor befell, inasfar as Onslaught was concerned, his Predacon colleague Razorclaw. Even so, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before their talents were directed at their next objective. The transmission from Shockwave had been exactly what he and the others had been waiting for.

>>"Understood, sir. We will be en route immediately,"<< Onslaught transmitted in response before swiveling around in his chair to look upon Brawl, dutifully shining the metallic floors on small, utilitarian command bridge afforded by the frigate.

"You see? Had you only waited a short while longer before activating your vocalizer, eh?" Onslaught said. "Take the controls. Get us to Cybertron ASAP."

Onslaught then returned his attention to one of the monitors on his command console, opening the file that Shockwave had sent so that he could review it, undistracted by having to pilot the vessel as well.

Command Bridge

Brawl cracked his knuckles in anticipation as he had the Decepticon frigate Obliteration disengaging its transwarp drive. The medium sized Decepticon warship glided through the remains of various satellites and spaceships that circled their ancient homeworld. The orbit was full of reminders from the wasteful ways of war. It appeared that even scavengers from other spacefaring civilizations had been avoiding Cybertron and the vast amount of salvage it offered. For a moment he was distracted by a sight of a devastated hulk of a Thanatos class battlecruiser lost long before they had been forced to leave Cybertron - before he managed to pull his thoughts together and addressed Onslaught.

"Cloak engaged boss. Approaching Polyhex. Want me to patch you through to the local command hub?"

Command Bridge

Onslaught was not a mechanoid who was really given to any fits of impatience. The time between one destination and another was simply an opportunity for the active mind to catch up with supplementary matters that one may not have had the luxury of attending to previously. In Onslaught's case, he had found time to read up on some of the more intrinsic properties and processes of energon conversion. Basically, how to do more with less, even when it came down to one's own functioning. Perhaps especially, as he and the other Combaticons were sometimes thrust in to missions where resources were far from plentiful.

"Affirmative," Onslaught said quietly, setting his own datapad to one side. "And assemble the other Combaticons on deck."

Though the Combaticon leader was always duty-minded and did not object in the slightest to being sent off-world, he could not deny a certain level of enjoyment when he returned to Cybertron. Minute, at best, but noticeable nonetheless.

Command Bridge

"Yes sir!" Brawl grunted and brought the holographic interface used to communicate with the ship before his optics. Why he had been placed on the helm of the ship instead of Blast-Off or Vortex who were far more qualified for the job had baffled him a bit but Brawl was hardly a mech to think about such things too much. Instead he did what he had been ordered to do.

>>"Blast-Off and Vortex, drag your sorry carcasses to the command deck! Now!"<< He barked to the ship's internal comm system before sending out a secure communications link into the general area of orbital torus state of Polyhex.

>>"This is Decepticon frigate the Obliteration calling the local Decepticon command hub. Requesting further orders."<<

Corridors

As Blast-Off made his way through the Frigate's hallways, his audio receptors were met with the obnoxious sound of Brawl's voice, barking orders at him over the ship's comm. I didn't realize he had suddenly been promoted to leader of this outfit, Blast-Off thought with a frown on his faceplate. Mister Big Mouth better watch himself or I might just accidentally burn a hole through him with my X-ray laser the next time I'm orbiting overhead. The space warrior then approached the doors to the Command Bridge, allowing his body to activate the motion sensors.

Command Bridge

"I'm one step ahead of you, Brawl!" Blast-Off replied as the doors slid open and he stepped onto the bridge. "Just got done a round of training when the holo-matter emitters went down again. I thought those things had been fixed, but I guess I was wrong." The space warrior then moved to the center of the room and stood at attention before Onslaught, his rightful leader. "Reporting for duty, sir!"

Bridge

"I trust that any training exercise, no matter how brief, will sharpen your unique skillset that much more, Blast-Off. I can only hope that Vortex found something equally productive to do with his down time," Onslaught said as he waited for the appearance of a command officer onscreen. Aside from prescribed recharge periods, he sought to continually improve his functioning with every cycle that he had available. He expected the same of his unit.

He had assembled the Combaticons on deck so that they could all hear whatever their superiors wanted them to do as one unit. Onslaught was of no mind to play middle mech on this orn.

Communication relay from Shockwave's Tower

>>"Decepticon Frigate Obliteration, this is Thunderwing. You are cleared for landing in Polyhex, in the Tower's secondary hangar. Coordinates are being relayed now. Further orders will be given upon your arrival."<<

A set of coordinates followed the message.