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Mount St. Helens - Decepticon HQ

Carefully carved into the side of Mt. St. Helens the Decepticon base serves as their fortress on Earth. Equipped with considerable defenses it is from this vantage point that the Decepticons launch their infiltration missions on Earth. The base is fully equipped with room for numerous Decepticons and facilities for creating the facsimiles that are key to their infiltration.
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Command and Control - Soundwave

The situation was unfavorable, to be sure. But it was not yet unmanageable. It took him a mater of picoseconds to collate the information on their security breach and the ensuing sortie, and even less time to formulate an appropriate course of action. The first priority was to ensure the destruction of the Autobot spy. The breach itself was an issue, but it could wait for the moment.

Thundercracker's report of a an orbital bounce was confirmed by the fortress' sensors. This only made matters more complicated. The Autobots were precariously close to a Human city, If allowed to reach the Humans, the Autobots would be able to fade into the crowd of native vehicles. Worse still, the very eve of their triumph was not the time to break Protocol and alert the Humans to their presence. It was equally possible that the Autobots would simply attempt to retrieve their comrade and initiate a Bounce back to their base. But the clever Communications Officer had plans for that.

Soundwave mentally prioritized the required responses, and then began transmitting.

<"Alert: Thundercracker, Laserbeak. Autobots are within 8 kilometers of a Human population center. Terminate Jazz with extreme prejudice; he is the priority target. Warning: do not allow any of them to reach the native settlement. Violation of Infiltration Protocol will result in punitive action. Soundwave: Out.">

This was followed by an encrypted transmission to his Casseticions. It was time to implement a scenario he had prepared for such an eventuality in case matters went poorly today. Switching seamlessly from one channel to another, Soundwave addressed several Decepticons in turn.

"Acknowledged: Astrotrain. Maintain lockdown status. Let no one leave the base without personally verifying their authorization code."

<"Attention: Reflector. I require both the security and system logs, as well your analysis of the intrusion. You have four breems.">

"Blitzwing: You,Skywarp, Dirge, and Ramjet will establish a perimeter patrol immediately. Dismissed."

Having discharged his duty as XO, Soundwave turned to his erstwhile superior. "Action stations reported throughout the base, Starscream. Your orders?."

Command and Control

Blitzwing's hopes died as soon as he heard Soundwave's orders. This is stupid. If there was an autobot intruder, I could flatten him within astro seconds. He grumbled to himself as he walked out the door.

Base Outskirts

Blitzwing kept complaining to himself as he began his patrol in jet mode. What is he, dense? Is he stupid or something. Who the pit does he think I am? I'm the Primus-damned Blitzwing. he kept flying around the base, checking his radar to see if something to kil got in his range.Any time now... he kept hinking to himself.

Command and Control

Chin resting on the back of his fist, a much calmed Starscream watched with a small, ironic smirk as his monotone second-in-command issued instructions to the Decepticons stationed beneath the Terran volcano. It would have been difficult even for him to have said just at whom the expression was aimed; certainly, the situation abounded with absurdity. For a mechanoid such as himself, far more used to engaging the Autobots on the front lines where he could relish the glorious destruction he wrought firsthand, delegating to a subordinate didn't exactly come easily. Still, it was part of the burden of command, he supposed--until he was in a position to dictate what was appropriate conduct in a leader himself, at any rate.

And it was amusing to see Blitzwing stomping off so disconsolately to fly in circles around the headquarters for a few hours. The Triplechanger was a blunt intsturment, to be used sparingly and with discretion so long as the Infiltration Protocol remained in place. His bellicose urges could very easily be inflamed beyond all control, a fact of which Soundwave also appeared to be perfectly aware.

When the communications officer returned his attention to Starscream, the Seeker Commander waved his free hand. Base security appeared to be well in hand, and his original assessment of the strategic situation had not changed. "Commence the operation, Soundwave. I want the Washington city-state leveled before this wretched ball of mud completes another rotation."

Base Outskirts

Blitzwing kept complaining as he flew around the perimeter of the base. Suddenly, his silent gripes stopped as he checked his radar. It showed a few cybertronian signals. The surrounding forest and the distance made it tough to make out who was who, but Blitzwing had served in the war long enough to know what an autobot signal was. He radioed command.

<<Blitzwing reporting in. I've got hostiles on radar and in striking range. Requesting permission to engage, over.>>

Command and Control- Soundwave

Soundwave actually felt a measurable degree of irritation as he received Blitzwing's communique. The Triplechanger's attitude was far too typical of the Decepticons stationed on this backward world. This was a delicate operation. While the natives offered little to no threat, there was the matter of escalation to consider. If they applied too much force here, they risked drawing even more Autobots to this planet and turning Earth into a warzone.

While that notion may have been an inviting one to some Decepticons, Soundwave saw it for what it was: Inefficient. Plans orns in the making were at risk if they were not careful. Resources that could tip the balance of power would be squandered if open conflict ensued at this stage.

>>"Acknowledged:Blitzwing Permission: Denied. Hostiles are currently engaged. Resume course heading 557.2 by 226.1 and standby for further orders. Soundwave: Out."<<

A thought occurred to the meticulous communications officer as he concluded his transmission. Something had to be done to curtail the activities of their more combative subordinates. The Autobots would also be a problem with the operation in Washington. Perhaps one problem was the solution to another?

"Starscream," he stated, drawing his commander's attention. "Action is necessary to occupy our more volatile soldiers during this delicate stage."

He punched a few keys, bringing up a topographic display. "Designation: Falin, Alaska. Purpose of settlement: Petroleum harvesting. Population: 1,353. Distance to nearest neighboring Human settlement: 342 kilometers."

"I suggest a fuel raid. Standard procedures can be deployed to ensure that it is reported as an accident, and that there are no witnesses."

"Furthermore: Should the Autobots become aware of this raid, I believe the outcome would be beneficial. It would allow the troops to test themselves in actual battle conditions, and it would divide the Autobots attention, reducing the likelihood of their intervention in Washington considerably."

Base Outskirts

With a 'pop' Skywarp appeared just behind Blitzwing He had been flying in formation with Dirge and Ramjet and had become bored of their conehead chatter. The black and purple seeker cut his speed down to take a comfortable position at Blitzwing's wing. He noted the triplechanger's agitation at the assignment, and guessed at the further frustration due to Soundwave's denial to engage.

“I can't wait till this stage of procedure is over, and the slagging protocols end. I'm gonna be scraping fleshies off the bottoms of my feet every day if ya know what I mean. How bout you Blitzwing?”

Base Outskirts

Blitzwing nearly did a double-take a Soundwave's response. I can't support them? What, does he want them to get killed? Skywarp's arrival helped calm him down. In Blitzwing's mind, Skywarp was a mini-him. They both enjoyed murder and chaos, and they both had a sense of humor. Diference is, I'm not gonna get myself killed just for a few laughs at Megatron's expense. He resonded to the Seeker. "Tell me buddy. When we hit phase 5, I'm gonna take this world and turn it upside down. You'll se, I'll show ya. When I'm one, Lithone will look like a happy place by comparison!"

Of course, this was all talk. Blitzwing was running dangerously low on ideas for atrocities to commit, and he hoped for just enough time to come up with an idea before hopping to a phase 5. He had a few, but they were just leftover ideas for demoralizing and tourturing the prisoners from his brief stint as a guard on Garrus-9. Those ideas, of course, had violated the interplanetary code of combat, or conduct, or whatever the pit it was, and Blitzwing had been fired. Thankfully, the higher ups had recognized his skill as a warrior and moved him to the front lines, where his talents would be needed, rather than arrest, detain and execute him.

Base Outskirts

Ramjet chatted on inanely to occupy time and kill some of the boredom. Like many Decepticons flying around in circles was not his idea of fun. Remembering past battles was at least enough to keep from succumbing to boredom induced stasis-lock. Ramjet liked the earlier built Seeker well enough, and thought they were pretty good friends. Not as good as Thundercracker and Skywarp were, but pretty good nonetheless.

"Hey Skywarp. There was this one time, on Cybertron, where me an' Thrust were attacking an Autobot colony, and... Hey where'd you go?"

It took a moment to realize that he'd been talking to empty space. Left alone with Dirge, he took up position on the other conehead's wing and flew in silence. The Blue and Yellow Seeker creeped him out. He wasn't afraid of Dirge, for there was little that could scare Ramjet, but he'd seen his fellow Seeker do things that even made his energon run cold. The drone of Dirge's engines made him even edgier. Putting a few more feet of distance between them, Ramjet had trouble eluding the feeling that crept over him. If he didn't get some action soon. He was going to snap, and Dirge would likely end up being the target of his outburst.

Base Outskirts - On patrol

“This is a complete waste of my time!” Dirge thought as he was flying on Blitzwing’s tail. Why Soundwave has wasted four capable transformers on a routine look-out mission in the wilderness by the base while there was an Autobot spy on the loose exceeded him. Nevertheless, here they were, flying in circles with no creature to scare in the distance.

Then, as if his thoughts were answered, he noticed Ramjet closing on him. The crimson seeker flew closer still and for many seconds the only thing to be heard was Dirge’s engine, droning steadily. Dirge wasn’t sure about Ramjet; having been comrades on many battles, the crimson conehead seemed to be utterly fearless. Crushing into another transformer in full throttle, in mid-air no less, showed that Ramjet possessed some powerful circuits – or loose ones for that matter. Estimating the situation, Dirge came to realize that Ramjet was bored and knowing him only too well, that was his most dangerous condition. So, he decided to open a chit chat with the crimson conehead, a carefully planned maneuver to avoid any unpleasantness.

“Say Ramjet.” Dirge started, his voice processors as creepy and cold as his demeanor. “How do you recon? Will we see any Autoslag around here? I learned a new trick on my engine I am dying to try!”

Command and Control - Soundwave

As soon as Soundwave received Thundercracker's message, he activated the fortress's scanners. Thundercracker was indeed correct. The smoke from the fire would be clearly visible from Ranger station five. And while the duty roster for the park rangers showed that the patrolman for that area should have moved on to station six over two breems ago, it appeared he was running late. Because a radio transmission was being sent from station five, reporting a wildfire and several unidentified aircraft.

This was getting out of hand. Had they grown so lax that a few Autobots could cause so much chaos? Or were the rank and file simply so eager for battle that they had become a greater threat to their secrecy than the natives and the Autobots put together?

Whatever the case, action was necessary. It was time to tighten their hold on the surround. Soundwave jammed the human transmission with a thought, and cocked his head to the side, simultaneously initiating several conversations.

>>"Acknowledged: Thundercracker. Situation: Under control. Proceed with previous directive. Soundwave: Out."<<

"He cocked his head to the side as he switched channels. "Disclosure risk," he said aloud to Starscream. "Initiating countermeasures."

Opening another channel, he contacted the Combat Air Patrol. >>"Attention: CAP. Disclosure risk at Ranger station five. Capture the Human at Ranger station five intact, extinguish fire before further native attention is garnered. Soundwave: Out."<<