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Bounce Chamber

Vindicator looked down at the Decepticon's resident foul tempered task master. It was one thing to be secretive and play a double card - play two sides off each other to garner as much information as possible, but it was another thing to be forthcoming with the truth, and in dealing with Motormaster - it had to be blunt and hit home hard. It wasn't because Vindicator looked down upon the Stunticon bully, it was because the only way to deal with him, was the same way as he operated. Vindicator glared at Motormaster with an icy look just short of distain, one that he had learned from cycles of being close to Megatron, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and ignore the scraping remark about trying to step out of Megatron's shadow.

Vindicator crossed his arms over his massive chest and glared straight into Motormaster's red optics. He caught a flinch as the icy stare from his amber optics did not give, and showed no sign of backing down from the threatening bully. After checking to see that Psychout was out of receptor-shot, Vindicator spoke, his baritone voice projected at Motormaster's head.

"Motormaster..." The seige expert began "...what you need to realise, is that whilst the Ultrax is your ship, with Starscream aboard - and the fact that, currently, he is your immediate superior - it means that the Ultrax is effectively under his command, and as a result - is his to do with as he pleases..."

"...consider this my brutal compatriot..." Vindicator picked his next few words carefully "...you, like my charge Contemptor, are - as such - an object of brutality! A hard task needs done, the likes of you are sent in because you are a blunt instrument, to be used in extreme situations to maximum effect!"

The seige master slowly unfolded his arms as he continued to speak to the Stunticon leader.

"I observed your actions in the refinery, and you are as cunning and decisive as you are violent and physical...and calm down, that was a compliment!" A smile shot quickly over Vindicator's faceplate as he spoke "..I am not just a 'pup getting bolder' as you would have it, I've been around longer than you, and know a little more about how Megatron kept the rest of the power hungry in line...but consider this!"

Vindicator then pointed an arm towards to a large plasma display on the wall of the bounce chamber, and as if on cue, the external macro camera's from the bridge control, shown a full magnification of the earth's dusty grey moon, and the glinting object next to it. The plasma display winked several times as the screen displayed the silvery highlights of the top warship of the Decepticon army - the Thanatos.

"...Yes, Shockwave is here, and that means the play for power has already begun, and we will all be caught up in it..." Vindicator looked Motormaster square in his optics "What myself and Contemptor do now is for the furtherment of the Decepticon Empire. Remember we all swore loyalty and allegiance to Megatron when we took up arms for the Decepticon Cause. I follow none but Megatron, and Megatron's, not Shockwave's and not Starscream's, wishes...."

Vindicator leaned in and whispered so that Motormaster was acutely aware of what Vindicator was attempting to do. "...I am taking Contemptor to the Thanatos, not only to get the once over medically, but also to reformat his weaponry...and whilst I am there, I will try to find out what old one eye is truly up to in terms of these so called enhancements, and also to make sure that we do not tear ourselves apart...we would be easy pickings for the Autobots if we did!"

Vindicator stood upright and extended a hand to Motormaster.

"I'm asking you to trust me on this one... we haven't seen optic to optic on many things in the past, but now I am asking you to put that aside and trust your Master of Seiges, and the Trophy Hunter..." Vindicator looked directly into Motormaster's optics, a stern, set grimace on his faceplate. He was swallowing a lot of pride in doing this.

Whilst Vindicator was deftly explaining to Motormaster, the grim scenario that they were about to undertake, Contemptor was hovering over near the bounce controls with the diminutive Psychout. The trophy hunter was leaning casually against the control panel as he looked at the micron. It had been a while since he had been alongside the mental terrorist, but Contemptor knew what the small hellraiser was capable of.

"Last time I heard from you, ya little rabble rouser, was you were up in Darkmount working away on some interesting little projects...Mind you, that was when I was cutting open Autobots in mining outposts and rampaging across Cybertron...especially that fun escapade in Altihex!" The trophy hunter grinned at the Micron as he spoke.

He looked at the Micron and laid out the flat of his hand so that the former cassette-con could hop and jump to sit on Contemptor's shoulder.

"I just hope that Vindicator stops yakking long enough so that we can do what we have to and get off this junk heap...and then I can get back to business with that twin cylinder dipstick Runabout!"

Med Bay

At the quick, yet efficient repair job done by Patchwork, Runabout lay there groaning a little as the infusion of concentrated energon started to power through his systems, and true to what she said, Runabout sprung up from the repair table, bouncing around as if he was just assembled.

"Oh man I feel great bro.. yeah ready to go and slag some Autopunks! Yeah im ready to...." there was a dizzying sensation as Runabout almost keeled over "...whoa.. cranial rush!...what was that?"

"That..." Runamuck began "...you tin plated dimwit, was a concentration of pure energin, designed to put your systems back together!"

"Eh?"

"Blades blew a chunk out of you in El Dorado, and you were leaking lubricants all over the place!"

"..oh.."

"yeah...oh...remember, your lucky to even get here if I hadn't have came thundering after you!"

Runabout was left speechless, his face guard still open as he looked at his brother, a little dumbfounded. Admittantly the last few clicks had been a blur and he didn't even remember the angry glare that Contemptor had gave him in the Bounce Chamber.

"So.. what now then? I feel like I could kick aft all day and deffinately take on that lug-heap Contemptor and...whoa..." another surge of energon through his system made him giddy. Yep Patchwork was right, Runabout was acting as if he was ready to take on everyone and everything.

Runamuck didn't fancy his chances in keeping one optic on his brother, and another optic over his shoulder. Instead he elected to offer help to Patchwork.

"Hey, Patchwork?" Runamuck said a little sheepishly, obviously the tell tale of calling her Patchy hadn't sat well with the Decepticon Medic. "I'd rather keep my lugnut headed brother here within easy reach if something does happen, so ....err with that said...I figure... could ya use any help in here???"

Transmission from Shockwave to Starscream

>>"Interrogative: where would this encounter occur? You are at a decided disadvantage in terms of orbital resources. I calculate a 94.874% probability that you will attempt to mitigate my superior positioning; however, I will hear your suggestion."<<
___

Bridge

Rampage had appeared on the bridge of the Ultra with the other Predacons, his blade drawn and ready for combat. Fortunately, he did not find himself immediately under siege as might have happened were he to suddenly find himself in the midst of some Autobot encampment.

Orienting himself, Rampage took a slightly more relaxed stance as Razorclaw saw to business with the Seeker. He was not following Shockwave's orders to the letter, but that was what Rampage had been hoping for. He was steadily gaining confidence that the Predacons would come out of this whole ordeal the better for having gone through it. He couldn't say the same for the rest of the Decepticons, but that would be their loss if it turned out to be the case. Survival of the fittest and all that. The Predacons were nothing if not survivors.

Repair Bay

Her optics were glued to Hellion’s CR chamber and Patchwork as the latter returned to her work in trying to remove the Seeker femme’s chamber. At the mention of her sister’s name, Nightraven looked over her shoulder at Skywarp. A pained expression made its way to her face before she looked back into the glass at her sister. She placed a hand on the chamber and stepped away so that Patchwork could finish her work. The sooner the medic removed the equipment, the sooner her sister could finish her cycle.

The slender femme wrapped her arms around her midsection as she backed up further away. Helly looked terrible. It looked as though she had been through the smelter. Only time would tell if all of the repairs would be sufficient to sustain the berserker though a tantrum that, would no doubt, occur once she awakened.

“Once she gets out of there… things will not be pretty.”

Nightraven shook her head slightly as she imagined what she’d have to do from keeping the tangerine colored femme from tearing the ship and everyone in it, apart.

She finally broke off her vigil and turned around to face Skywarp. She looked away quickly as she recalled Starscream’s comm. The interim Commander had ordered an immediate evacuation from the Stunticons’ ship in an attempt to regroup the ‘Cons on planet.
Nightraven raised her head slightly so she was looking up directly into Skywarp’s optics.

“I…guess we better get to the bounce platform.”

She broke off her gaze to take a quick look at her thigh. The inner wiring, fuel lines and the energon line had been repaired, but there was still a gaping hole in her armor that would still need to be mended. She let out a heavy sigh as her head lifted once again.

“I hope I can get this taken care of planet side.”

Nightraven gave the teleporter a warm smile and ran her hand down his arm before moving past him and heading for the exit. She stopped short and looked back at him.

“Let's go. The sooner we get down there the sooner we can get some answers to what’s going on. It’ll also be nice to get off this sorry excuse for a ship.”

With that the delicate Seeker femme departed from the med bay.

Bounce Chamber

Relieved to find a friendly face on board, Psychout accepted Comtemptors hand, used it as a springboard, and gracefully planted himself on the giants shoulder. "Good to see you too. Heh, Altahex - that was a well paid job, I could have retired on the tech we gained out of that, and I seem to remember you enjoying yourself as always. As for Darkmount..."

Motormaster and Vindicator were deep in conversation, Motormaster looking like he was being lectured by a schoolteacher, Vindicator picking his words carefully whilst the rest of the Stunticons looked on. Psychout figured they were hoping the conversation went well, or Motormaster would take out his frustrations on them and whilst he couldn't hear what was being said, he knew how the conversation was likely to go.

"...What happened in Darkmount is a blank. Last I remember, Mal and I were working on some kind of filtration upgrade for earlier generation Cybertrons to give them more uptime, we'd sealed off the lab due to the explosive nature of the stuff... just in time for the alarm to go off, so whilst everyone hit battle stations, there we were with a megaton bomb in our hands... You can probably guess the rest. Next thing I knew I'm waking up to an overworked Patchwork, Cybertron is gone and Megatron is dead. Bit if a shock, to be honest - I thought Patchwork would be taller..."

The Thanatos will have the records I need to find out exactly what happened, no sense dwelling on it until then...

"So, those scars of yours seem to have healed nicely, but are you still having trouble with that arm? You do know that we can fix that, right? Mal's not on this ship, which means Shockwave will have kept hold of him - you don't let genius like that stay buried under rubble for too long. I'm going to tag along with you and Vindicator as you jump to the Thanatos. Shockwave is a former employer of mine and once I get Mal back out of deep-freeze, we can sort your appendage out and get it strong enough to tear Runabout into as many pieces as you feel like..."

But - equally as important - I have to get back to work Psychout thought to himself. Think of the damage I could do if I was let lose on Sol 3's interlinked computer systems... I could turn the humans against the Cybertronians down there so fast that not even Red Alert would see it coming...

This time though he remembered to keep his voice down, he wasn't entirely sure of the Sunticons allegiances yet - as always, that all depended on Motormaster, still in discussions with Vindicator.

"Comp, Shockwave's a calculator, he's got Starscream so scared that he'll flee to that mudball below with no way of getting back because he thinks our mono-optic friend will actually destroy this ship. His plan to trap the renegades down there so they expend all their energy fighting each other when they are not fighting the bots, is smart. Very Smart."
"With Mal and yours truly helping him, Shockwave can perfect his energon-from-nothing refinement in record time whilst team stupid there is still building swamp-castles. Think about it - Shockwave has the ability to resurrect our dead planet as long as we can keep Starcream as king of the mud people and out of the way."

He realised, as always, that he was going on again.

"...anyway I'm talking too much. Lets get over to the Thanatos and see about fixing your arm - I haven't had a drink in centuries, and I think I owe you at least one for getting me off this heap."

Repair Bay

“Hm?” grunted Patchwork distractedly. It was a moment before the medical engineer’s preoccupied processors could review her audio sensor logs and formulate a more cogent response to Runamuck’s inquiry. “Oh. Yeah. Sure. That’s probably a good idea. Hang on.” Her slender hands worked quickly and with practiced efficiency, but extracting a CR chamber from its myriad connections to the ship while keeping it online and fully powered required almost as much attention and care as a surgical repair procedure on a Transformer.

It wasn’t as if she had a great deal of choice in the matter, however. As far as she was aware, the order to abandon Ultrax with all possible haste remained in effect, and she certainly wasn’t about to leave Hellion where she was. Psychout might have been right about Shockwave having no interest in rendering the old wreck down to its component atoms, but she wouldn’t put it past Starscream or one of his subordinates to detonate the transwarp engines just to deny the Military Operations Commander the chance to salvage anything of use from the frigate once it had been left adrift.

Pure spite, masquerading as strategy. How archetypically Decepticon.

In any event, Patchwork wasn’t about to go against the orders of her superiors—well, not the ones close enough to make her existence acutely uncomfortable, at any rate. But she only had two manual actuators, and there was still a great deal of equipment and material to save. And it was certainly a good idea for Runabout to remain where she could keep an optic on his condition. The only reason she hadn’t suggested it herself was that she had yet to meet a soldier that could follow good advice when it didn’t come from a mech with a bigger gun or tougher chassis. Or both.

Making sure Hellion’s chamber would remain stable without her direct monitoring for a few moments, the blue-and-gray femme rose and began fishing through another of the containers the drones had packed. She quickly withdrew a specialized command input datapad and an oversized storage unit.

This was probably a terrible idea.

No, this was unquestionably a terrible idea. But she was pressed for time, and the mostly-intact Battlecharger might as well be doing something useful while serving as nurse-bot to his brother.

“We won’t be able move the stasis pods,” she said brusquely, nodding at the small number of cylindrical devices, identical to the one from which Psychout had emerged, discreetly stacked in one corner. “Not if we’re in a hurry, and I’m focused elsewhere.” She had no idea where, exactly, the Stunticons had come upon the things—probably spoils from their raids or battlefield salvage; it didn’t really matter. None of the Decepticons inside had completed their dormancy cycles, though, and forcing them into active status now would just create more problems for her. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t already have her fair share of those now.

“We’re going to try emergency spark extraction. More specifically, you are going to try emergency spark extraction.” If Ultrax survived the coming deca-cycles, maybe they could send a team to retrieve the bodies of the inert mechs later. Barring that, they could probably manage to throw something together planetside. It was the best idea Patchwork could come up with, under the circumstances. “Just hook the storage module up to the stasis pod to initiate the transfer from the spark chamber. It goes without saying you need to be extremely careful. Keep the variance within .002 percent standard. Anything more than that, you abort right away and re-initiate when systems read nominal. And for Primus’s sake, try not to kill anybody.”

Leaving the Battlecharger to figure out the equipment, Patchwork returned to her previous occupation. She only belatedly noticed Waspinator leaning against the CR chamber.

“You—pack something or carry something or supervise the drones. Anything, as long as it doesn’t involve idle conversation and me. That would really make this particular Patch-Bot’s orn.” She wasn’t particularly annoyed with the Insecticon (assuming he was an Insecticon; it wasn’t as if she kept track), but she also had only limited patience for idle chatter at the best of times. Which these most unequivocally were not.

Atomization was starting to look like the more attractive option all the time.

Bounce Chamber

Motormaster didn't know whether to laugh or punch his fist through Vindicator's face. Where did they make 'cons like this? From his perspective Vindicator appeared to love his own voice even more than Starscream did. Had he changed this much or had Motormaster himself just forgot how this 'con functioned? Or had Vindicator just been buried under falling fortifications too many times?

"Yer, a fun bot eh? Absolute joker!" Motormaster finally spoke up as Vindicator offered his hand to be shaken. The Stunticon commander proceeded to answer to the gesture by taking hold of the seige master's arm, at first squeezing Vindicator's hand roughly as hard as the other 'con squeezed his. If for a moment Motormaster looked a bit slack-jawed, it was not because of Vindicator but rather a transmission echoing in his head. Razorclaw was here.

"Too bad I am in hurry. Think of all the slagging stories we could share!" The malevolent thug boomed, a malicious, predatory grin on his face. His grip was also turning far more powerful, reminding Vindicator of Motormaster's far superior strength. "I am gonna give you benefit of doubt this time given the past we share. See what the ol' one eye is up to."

Without a warning, Motormaster yanked Vindicator's arm hard, pulling the seige master's face only inches away from his. His grip even more forceful. "You seem to have forgotten though." Motormaster snarled, "I was there from the very beginning. Now, if you excuse me, I have a certain Seeker to take care of."

Sweeping the massive Decepticon out of his way and into the crowd of the four other Stunticons, Motormaster began marching towards Contemptor and the exit, slowing only enough to utter the following words to the fellow truckformer whom he actually respected more than Vindicator. "Keep an optic on your mentor boy. He is growing senile."

Bursting into laugher, Motormaster's hollow, doom-laden voice echoed in the corridor's of Ultrax long after he was gone.

Bridge

A moment later, the doors of the Ultrax's bridge opened before the thuggish leader of the Stunticons to reveal Starscream - and the Predacons. Not just Razorclaw but all five of them. Weapons drawn and joints primed for action. Right now it actually felt like the decision of not drawing out his weapons had been a good one.

"Well I'll be fragged..."

Bounce Chamber

Contemptor looked from the micron on his shoulder to the bombastic Motormaster as he stomped past and left the Bounce Chamber to the Bridge. Contemptor's optics flickered in a blinking motion - as if silent words were spoken. Contemptor would have 'bro-fisted' Motormaster if this was any other situation, but as it stood, this was a more serious situation that - if you beleived the hype - meant everything was held on a damned wire.

Contemptor turned his head back to Vindicator as his optics focused on the Micron on his shoulder.

"Calculator or not - Shockwave can creep even me out Psych. And yep, as skilled as Patch is - the damned automated system has slipped something somewhere. I'll wager you a few that due to Patch being over-worked in there that she's missed something..." The grumbling trophy hunter said gruffly as his mentor approached. "...c'mon short-round, lets bounce!"

Contemptor turned and walked onto the bounce pad as Vindicator trudged up, absently rubbing his hand where Motormaster had applied brute force to cement the handshake.

"I had forgotten how strong that bruiser was Contemptor..." Vindicator breathed "...I suppose we should make for the Thanatos before anything further happens here!"

Contemptor looked again at Psychout and grinned, the two seeming to chuckle at Vindicator's absent-minded situation.

"Yeah..lets bounce outta here, because any longer and I think Motormaster may have pulled your arm off!" Contemptor chuckled darkly "...Seriously! Have you turned into rambling lecturer or have the years of observing turned you into a jaded fool?"

Vindicator turned sharply, his optics blazing with fury.

"What?! By the pit I will..."

"Cool off? Seriously..." Contemptor looked at Psychout "..Do you think this Mal-ware character could fix the inside of Vindicator's head? Get him back to the monsterous seige thug that taught me the finer arts of decimation? Ya know...I fancy a pair of plasma shotguns as my new weapons..The fleshbags think that 'shotguns' are badaft, and by looking at them...they're right...but I want ones that make a bang!" He looked at the Micron as the bounce chamber starter to revolve to full power for transmission to the Thanatos "...ya think that can be possible shortround?"

The bounce pad lit up to a hot white colour as Vindicator rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then there was a bright flash.

Repair Bay

Runamuck rubbed the back of his crainial unit as Patchwork seemed to bark out instructions about what to do. Aside from baby sitting his dullard of a brother, the only safe way was in the Med Bay, and the only other way that he could stick around in the Med bay and not be such a plank, was to actually help out!

Runamuck sighed as he was told, in breif, how to perform a set of spark extraction on dormant 'cons in their stasis pods. Yeah it made sense to do so, for their sparks would be intact incase the unthinkable happened, but the only thing that would be lost other than their physical bodies, would be their memory banks. Meh, Runamuck could deal with that.

He followed Patchwork's instructions carefully, watching as the extractor worked its magic in removing the sparks from the first two stasis chambers.

"Yeah..." Runamuck said quietly to no-one in particular "...this slag's easy to..."

There was a massive bang behind him as Runabout had tried to do a few one arm push-ups. He had toppled the repair table and crashed into a stack of empty crates. There was a grunt and what sounded like a muffled "My Bad!" and Runamuck sprung to his feet and dashed over.

Placing both his hands on the table, Runamuck looked incredulously at his over-juiced sibling, and it had distracted him enough that the spark remover started to go off, its warning pips getting louder and louder as Runamuck stumbled over himself as he yanked the extractor away from the stasis chamber.

"Ah slaggit...is there nothing that I can do right without looking over my shoulder at you al the time Runabout?!"

"..uh.. oops?" Runabout just simply shrugged.

Bounce Chamber

The fact the certain other members of his little band of insane brothers had taken up auxiliary positions behind him just in case Motormaster had decided to go on yet another brutal rampage was not lost on him. Motormaster, though, was satisfactorily distracted by other individuals on the ship. That suited Dead End just fine.

There was a considerable amount of truth in what Drag Strip had said, even if he was only taking the opportunity to have a stab at Dead End's notorious level of pessimism. Dead End just smirked quietly to himself. They would see. They would all see soon enough. With Megatron gone, whatever chance they had of winning this endless war was gone. Bye-bye. They would leech off each other like parasites until either starvation or Grimlock's sword finished them. Or Ironhide's rifle. Or Ultra Magnus' fist. Or whatever other Autobot saw fit to put an immediate end to their gradual and painful decline in to oblivion.

Moving to leave the room altogether and see to getting some actual repairs done, Dead End cast a dismissive glare in Wildrider's direction.

"Yes, I definitely received these wounds just by standing there like a statue. No surprise that you would be too distracted by your own insanity to notice that there was an actual strategy of some kind being used down there. Pfeh."

With that, Dead End turned and limped off towards the repair bay, for whatever good it would do. He intended to at least make good on his 15% energon ration increase before the guzzlers among them hogged up their share and more.

Bounce Chamber

Listening to Wildrider’s taunts made Drag Strip’s energon boil. Not only had the terrorist questioned his fighting ability, but he had compared the yellow mech to the Autobot, Bumblebee! It was enough to make any ‘Con explode with rage. However, Drag kept his cool, knowing full well that his comrade was completely unaware of the battle the former racer had been engaged in with the insane Hex. As always, he would have to educate his teammate.

“You didn’t see me, Wildrider, because I was busy fighting Hex while I’m sure you were off hiding behind a rock somewhere,” Drag Strip revealed with a wide grin before continuing. “I fought hard down there and came out of it with less damage than most of you. Just before I bounced, I fired my gravito-gun at pointblank range into Hex’s chest plate. There’s no way that crazy slagger came out of that unscathed. I won my battle, can you say the same, ‘Rider, ol’ buddy?”

It was then that Drag Strip noticed Motormaster’s confrontation with Vindicator and while he had not heard exactly what was said between the two large mechs, at least his brutal commander’s attention was diverted elsewhere. Thankfully, this would grant the rest of the Stunticons some reprieve from whatever harsh and violent reprimands were surely coming their way eventually. Soon, Motormaster moved away from Vindicator and headed out of the bounce chamber and towards the bridge. Drag breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his cranial unit would remain in one piece for the time being.

Repair Bay

Skywarp stared down at Psychout, waiting for the small minicon to make up his mind, get out or enjoy a lonely space walk courtesy of the teleporter. When the small mech spoke it was to insult the prankster with a phrase that ‘Warp barely understood the meaning of, but perhaps that was the point. Moments later, Psychout bid the seeker farewell and made his way out of the repair facility.

“Good riddance,” Skywarp muttered before turning his attention back to Nightraven, who was standing vigil at her sister’s CR chamber. The still wounded femme looked back at ‘Warp with a pained expression on her faceplate before returning her intense gaze to Hellion’s chamber where Patchwork had begun the process of disconnecting everything from the unit so that it could be moved off the ship per Starscream’s orders. The teleporter wasn’t too sure what to think of the Seeker Commander’s decision to abandon ship, but there had to be a good reason for doing so. Perhaps it had to do with Shockwave’s presence in the Sol System. Maybe there was a threat against the Ultrax that ‘Warp didn’t know about. It didn’t matter as orders were orders and the teleporter’s job was not to think too hard but to simply do as he was told. He had tried thinking too much when he was in charge of the Iran mission and look where it got him. No, this time he would just follow.

Skywarp then moved towards Nightraven as he overheard her say something about things not being pretty once Hellion awakens. That was definitely an understatement that the prankster didn’t need convincing of. “Yeah, and she’ll probably take her rage out on me considering how things ended between us down on the oil field,” the teleporter said quietly with Nighty now in audio range. “Maybe going to the mudball’s surface will be a good thing as I can put plenty of distance between myself and your sister.”

Skywarp chuckled slightly, not because he thought what he had said was funny, but because he was a bit nervous of what Hellion would ultimately do, especially to him. Nightraven then began examining her still open thigh wound and ‘Warp couldn’t help but cringe a little, remembering how he had stuck his entire hand in there to seal off the broken energon lines. He was a warrior and had seen plenty of battlefield carnage, but when it came to Nighty the sight of such damage on her made him twitch a bit.

The only thing that woke him from his gaze at her open thigh was her pleasant smile and stimulating touch as she ran her hand down his arm. Nighty then moved around him and towards the door, encouraging him to follow, as she wanted to get down to the bounce pad as soon as possible in order to get some answers. “I’m coming, Nighty,” Skywarp replied as he followed her out of the repair bay and into the corridor. He flashed her a smile as he walked beside her. “You know, once we get down to the surface, I’ll start looking for something to help patch you up. Until then, just be careful not to bang into anything. I’d hate to see that wound start leaking again.”

Bridge

Starscream seemed irritated. Razorclaw could tell simply by listening to the Air Commander’s voice as he spoke. The red and white mech tried to conceal it, but the Predacon leader knew better just as he knew when members of his own unit were annoyed. Usually, with the Predacons, annoyance would quickly turn to rage which could then be channeled into the field of battle. However, ‘Screamer was an entirely different animal so the speak and would certainly not react the way a Predacon would.

“I happen to agree with you, Starscream,” Razorclaw began his reply as he motioned for his team to back down slightly, but still remain at the ready. “The Ultrax cannot stand up to the firepower of the Thanatos, and it is quite possible that Shockwave could decide to simply blow us out of the sky if he does not hear from me within the next few breems. However, there is still another way to both save this vessel and escape Shockwave’s grasp without being destroyed or tracked. We can generate a transwarp field between us and the Thanatos, which would obstruct their view and thus allow us to make our getaway before Shockwave can have time to react. And even if the purple cyclops did manage to fire off a few shots, we’d be long gone and the transwarp portal closed before any warheads could possibly reach us.”

Razorclaw then calmly stepped over to one of the nearby consoles and punched a few keys with his clawed actuators, bringing up an aerial map of the planet Earth’s eastern hemisphere. “The other end of the wormhole could generate above what the fleshlings call the Pacific Ocean. Once we emerged, we could then land the ship underwater and continue to utilize it as a temporary base until the new one is finished. Even Shockwave will have a difficult if not impossible time tracking us through a transpwarp rift.” The Predacon Commander then quickly turned his attention to the entranceway of the bridge where a large mech stood in the door frame. “Don’t you agree, Commander Motormaster?” Razorclaw wasn’t exactly sure just how long the Stunticon leader had been standing there, but hopefully it was long enough to hear most if not all of his plan.

“My apologies for boarding your vessel without your permission, Motormaster. My unit and I were under orders from Shockwave to subdue Starscream and even disable your ship if it was deemed necessary. Of course, I am here to do neither. Instead, I’m trying to convince the Air Commander on how best to escape from Shockwave’s reach without having to abandon the Ultrax in the process.” Razorclaw moved closer to the Stunticon leader, his weapons powered down in a non-threatening manner. “I believe I have the answer and was in the process of outlining it for Starscream as you entered. Were you able to hear all of my plan, Commander, or should I start over from the beginning?”

Bounce Chamber

Breakdown had kept his position directly behind Dead End, hoping desperately that Motormaster would not catch a glimpse of him and then tear him limb from limb. The scout let out a low whine when the morose warrior began to move off the platform. When Dead End had gotten too far away, Breakdown then let out a whimper. His personal shield was getting away.

As quickly as he could the white and blue Stunticon ran after Dead End and took up the same position directly behind him.

“Look, Dead, I…uh…think I’ll go with you to the med bay. Besides we’re safer in numbers, right?”

The mech looked over his shoulder making sure Motormaster wasn't following behind them.

Repair Bay

The slender hand of Nightraven slid from the glass cover of Hellion’s CR chamber as Patchwork finally removed it from its moorings and placed it on a portable gurney. The black and purple femme seeker looked back at Skywarp and forced a smile.

“Skywarp, she has nothing against you. She’s not going to come after you.”

Nightraven made her way to the teleporter and gave him a sympathetic expression. He was so wound up with his performance during the battle; he was forgetting the bigger picture.

She didn’t acknowledge his musings instead she proceeded out of the med bay and into the corridor.

Corridor

When Skywarp caught to her and took up a position beside her, Nightraven cast a sideways glance in his direction. She quickly looked away before he could catch her though. The thought of him chastising himself was grating on her conscience. After his mention of looking for something to help patch up Nightraven stopped and looked him in optics.

“Skywarp, please stop beating yourself up over that mission. It was your first time in command, and it was fulfilled without incident. You even managed to gather enough energon to last us for quite a while.”

She stepped up to him and placed her hand on his forearm.

“I’d say you did just fine. In fact, I still owe you that reward.”

She flashed him a smile before rising up on the tips on her feet so she was face to face with him. She gently ran her thumb over his cheek and followed it up with an equally gentle peck.

The femme lowered herself and gestured for them to continue on their way.

“We better get to the bonnce chamber before Starscream starts to wonder what happened.”