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Command and Control- Soundwave

Soundwave didn't even have time to respond to Thundercracker before the Autobots disappeared from his scope. They had escaped. Fortunately, this was an eventuality the Communications specialist had prepared for. Besides, Reflector's initial reports were already coming in, and they indicated the intrusion had not been as catastrophic as they'd feared. It was too soon to be certain, but it appeared that the Autobot had acquired only a few recent files and transmission logs. This was quite a relief, to say the least.

Nonetheless, it was not the intrusion that concerned Soundwave the most. It was the disorganized fiasco that had been the Decepticon response. For once, Soundwave did not disagree with Starscream's assessment. It was disgraceful, frankly. And potentially a far greater danger to their mandate than one Autobot spy.

>>"Thundercracker: Retrieve Laserbeak and return to base for repairs. Soundwave: Out."<<

Switching channels, Soundwave addressed the Combat Air Patrol.

>>"Attention: CAP. New orders: Incoming. Target designation: Falin, Alaska. Coordinates: Streaming. Purpose of settlement: Petroleum harvesting. Operation: Harvest. Standard containment policies in affect. Survivors: Zero. Witnesses: Zero. Good Hunting."<<

There. Put them in their element, and see if they shape up. If their performance did not improve under such favorable conditions, then perhaps it was time for this operation to be handled by someone other than Starscream and his so-called Elite troops...

Thrust over-heard Soundwave's orders to the CAP and waited no longer for orders. If there was desturction to be brought upon this watse of a planet, Thrust wanted in!

Thrust spoke quickly to Soundwave, "No need to issue orders now comrade, I'll be joining the rest of our flybots before you even notice I'm gone...See ya in a few cycles!"

With that, Thrust exited the command center. He flew into the sky and transformed into his V-TOL jet mode. He hit his afterburners hard, but no to hard. Thrust accelerated as quickly as he could, but took careful notice not to exceed Mach 2, as the wrecthed humans on this planet would surely notice his speed and take special notice of something traveling at Mach 5 with-in the atmosphere.

Thurst thought to himself, "By the Inferno, I've been stuck in that command center forever! It'll be great to meet up with Blitz and Skywarp, even if their senses of humor is in bad taste from time to time. It'll even be a pleasure to suffer the company of that creep Dirge..."

Base Outskirts

As Blitzwing heard Soundwave's assignment, he saw a chance to redeem himself. Just a small bit of coordination could give me that spotlight I need. He quickly got a plan in order. <<Hey guys, meet me by the US-Canadian border. We need this to go off without a problem, OK?>> He marked a destination point for them, and flew off to meet them there.

Why Blitzwing wanted to be in control was a mystery. He would have relegated the questions to his psychatrist Headgame, but the poor mech had to go through PTSD rehab after some of his sessions with Blitzwing. Heh. Funny what happens if you strech the truth a tiny bit. But Blitz had never shown ambition like this before, except for his stint working with the Insecticons, and that was to see if he could make Venom have a spark attack. Shame he didn't. Bombshell got a week's worth of rations from that bet.

Gambling. That was his other hobby, aside from murdering and traumatizing people who probably didn't deserve it. That intrest, he could trace. It went back to his gladitorial days, when he would play Trion's Cube and other games between matches. Sometimes in a 10-way he'd have a Deadpool on who died first. He would always win, just by getting the first kill. Ahhh, those were the days.

As Thrust was rocketing through at mach 2 he recieved Blitzwing's command.

"Who put you in charge?" Thrust thought to himself. "I've never been to big a fan of you Blitzwing, what do you have over me? Ok, so you can change into three different modes and have more firepower than I do! OOoowwww...scary! I bet my engines force could shatter the armor plating right off your exo-skeleton!"

Thrust continued to think about this as he rocketed through the skies and changed to course to meet with Blitzwing and the other Fly-Bots. He thinking significantly changed when he thought about what Blitzwing would do to him if he knew Thrust was thinking this way...

"Ahhh...I suppose we could have a worse commander than Blitzwing. At least he has a flying alternate mode, unlike some previous. Like that loud-mouthed bragart Motor Master. Even worse, that pompous fool Onslaught. I wonder where in the universe those two are stationed? Ah well. At least Blitzwing knows how to entertain the troops. So long as it isn't directed at me..."

Decepticon Headquarters

Ramjet already had the base within sight when Soundwave's new orders came through. Hexagonal nuts! They make me waste all my fuel putting out some stupid fire, and now they get the jump on me going to have some real fun. That just ain't fair.

His thought was interrupted as he diverted his focus to not crashing through the hull of the Decepticon headquarters. He'd been in trouble enough in the past to know better than to go crashing around whenever he wanted, even though it was a quicker way in. He transformed, which was his way of showing he had no intention of ramming anything, and entered the base.

As he walked down the corridor to get refuelled, he received Blitzwing's transmission of their rendezvous point. It wasn't too far away. If he was quick about refueling, he could be back out there and hardly lose any time. Picking up his pace a little, he opened a comm-link to the CAP.

>>This is Ramjet. I have to refuel first. I'll rendezvous with you in a few breems. You'd better wait.<<

Infiltration bunker - Repair facilities

It had taken a considerable time for Thundercracker to pick up Laserbeak and fly back to base due to the damage to his wings. He still considered himself lucky for being able to avoid the worst of the possible damage that Sunstreaker's ground to air missile could have caused. Poor Laserbeak hadn't been as lucky. The avian minion of Soundwave was pretty roughed up from his encounter with Sideswipe.

Well, at least you are still alive. Thundercracker thought as he tugged the smaller Decepticon into a CR chamber. Although it is yet to be seen if our failure has... consequences.

With Laserbeak recovering in the tank, Thundercracker stepped into one himself. Due to his relatively minor injuries it wouldn't take him long to recover, still - he wasn't exactly looking up to hear Starscream's opinion on his performance today.

Decepticon HQ

It hadn't taken long for Ramjet to get fully recharged. The minimal damage he had sustained fighting the forest fire wasn't enough to slow down the Decepticon who was habitually ramming through concrete and steel. A few scratches and dings were all he had. There would be plenty of time to fix that once he returned from his mission victorious.

Grabbing the few wires dangling form his torso, he hastily removed them and left them laying about for someone else to put away. Ramjet was fully focused on catching up with the CAP and had little time to worry about such little things as cleaning up after himself. He was a warrior. One of the greatest in Cybertronian history, at least in his own mind. Cleaning up messes was drone work. For Ramjet there were bigger things to worry about.

Standing up and heading out, he radioed the CAP. >>This is Ramjet. I'm done here. I'll rendezvous with you in three breems.<< The lack of chatter between his comrades was slightly disconcerting. Typically, a mission like this would have them overflowing with enthusiasm. A chance to break something and end the lives of numerous earthlings didn't come along every cycle. It was one of Ramjet's favorite new hobbies, and he was sure some of the other Decepticons felt the same way. The earthlings were hilarious when they panicked. Running all about screaming and begging for their lives to be spared. The thought made Ramjet smile.

Leaving the Decepticon base, Ramjet took to the sky where he felt most at home. He headed in the direction that Blitzwing had designated as their rendezvous point. Hopefully there would be some earthling air traffic that he could take care of along the way. Decepticon air superiority was not to be taken lightly. That was something Ramjet worked hard at to maintain. It had been cause for disciplinary action in the past, but that didn't matter to Ramjet. Everyone had to earn the right to fly in his airspace, even other Decepticons.

Ramjet often thought he was a good judge of character. Flying skill could say alot about someone. Even though he didn't particularly like some of his comrades, he respected their flying and combat abilities. Being able to stand up for yourself was paramount. This deep seated belief formed the core of Ramjet's morality. His programming had made him a bully. But the Decepticons provided him the means to be the bully he is. If he couldn't have that, then his existence would mean little.

Flying on in silence, Ramjet became frustrated with the sense of isolation. He opened his comm-link to the CAP and left it open. He began talking away hoping to stimulate some sort of interaction that would help pass the time to Alaska. >>You rust buckets better watch your afts. I'm coming up behind you fast. I'm going to be the first one to the oil fields, and I'm gonna get all the earthlings to myself. I'm gonna squish them all over the place. heh heh heh. Some bunch you are. So scared of a harvesting mission that your vocalizers have shorted out. Don't worry. I'll take care of you if you're gonna act like protoforms. I can take you back and haveStarscream nurse you 'til you're ready for a real mission. HAHAHA!<<

Thrust circled the area which Blitzwing designated to meet. He was there first, as per usual for a Decepticon with his speed. He wasn't called Thrust for nothing.

Boredom set in for Thrust, as he waited impatiently for signs of another Decepticon. A large Earth-style passneger jet came on his radar, Thrust thought this would be a great chance to relieve him of boredom.

"I bet I could have that jet liner destroyed and be back here before the rest of the CAP noticed I was gone" Thrust thought to himself.

Fortunately for the humans, he was contacted by Ramjet. It won't be the same as shooting down a jet liner, but contact with another Decepticon was always preferrable to going near a creepy human!

As Thrust listened to Ramjet's boring, inane chatter he decided to respond, opening a comm-link direct to Ramjet

"HA! Have you gone completely wireless dent head? You'd have to catch me before you throw yourself at me! Come into MY airspace, and I'll be miles away before you even think of getting me in your cross hairs, double back, and blow you out of the sky! Face it you glorified flying battering ram, you don't have the engines to match me!"

Thrust considered Decepticon air superioty a sacred thing as well. He was not as brash as Ramjet, or as hard headed. He always figured though, if he were the fastest in the sky, no one would be able to take him down. He did know when he was outmatched in armor though. He attempted to contact Blitzwing.

"Blitzwing, how far out are you?" Thrust could count on the half-breed triple changer to put Ramjet in his place. If, not, surely neither one would back down and Thrust could bolt and come back later to finish of what remains of the winner.

Canadian-American Border

Blitzwing broke through a cloud as he transmitted to Thrust, <<I'm right here, guys. Anyway, let's try to wipe out the town first, before we get the fuel. We don't need screamer finding out there were witnesses. >> he swooped around, doing all sorts of fancy arial maneuvers, a lot of them being more showoff-like than practical.

In the end though, it was getting boring, waiting for Skywarp to show. <<Sooooooooo... Anybody heard a good story lately?>> Of course, by this he meant he could share one of his war stories, which he thought were hilarious. Other veterans become geriatric imbeciles. me? I'm gonna be a comedian.

Thrust got annoyed at Blitzwing, the aerial acrobatics show was somewhat impressive. Thrust knew he was just showing off. Of course, Decepticon mentality took over and Thrust decided to do the same. He revved his engines up as loud as they could go and did a spiraling manuever at Mach 3.

This was not the fastest Thrust could go, not by a long shot. But Starscream had strict rules about exceeding Mach 3, for fear of being noticed by the humans. Thrust decided to engage Blitzwing in converstaion, if only to indulge him:

"Take out the town? Sounds just fine to me! Those annoying little critters are fun to shoot at as they go screaming with their hands in the air. As if some false idol was going to save them! HA!"

Thrust thought a little more, better to keep Blitzwing entertained than angry!

"As for a war story, yeah...I've got a few. I was going to take out an Autobot surveilance station back on Cybertron. Innaccurate inteligence from Reflector showed the area clear. There was a whole battalion of AUtobots near by. As soon as I showed on radar they opened fire on me like it was Primus' birthday! After dodging their feeble attempts to shoot me down, I deaccelerated as I neared their surveilance tower. Once I was right next to it I revved my engines as hard as they would go. The Autobots were disoriented form the noise...and the tower...heh, it's structure couldn't hold the sudden impact my engines created. It came crashing down on the whole battalion! I never seen anything so hilarious! How about you Blitzwing? Top that!"

American - Canadian Border

A sonic boom echoed over the land as Astrotrain arrived on the scene. Typically the Decepticons liked to maintain a lower profile than that, but the triplechanger had a lot of catching up to do to meet with the others. He’d been able to talk his way into joining the mission after pointing out his rather large carrying capacity, especially compared to the others. Blitzwing and the seekers would probably blow more energy laying waste to the fleshlings then they would bring back in the form of petroleum. While fuel transport wasn’t exactly his forte, anything was better than sitting around base waiting for something to happen.

Astrotrain opened a comm line as soon as he arrived. >>”What are you slaggers doing flying around here. Lets get this raid going! You should know better than to wait for Skywarp. The teleporter is probably already flying over the village blowing it to bits. He’ll probably be laughing at us when we get there since he had all of the fun!”<<

American - Canadian Border

Glory hog, Blitzwing thought to himself. Astrotrain wasn't needed on this mission, but the sentient cargo drone just had to smooth talk his way in just so he could see some action. Typical.

<<All right, then, let's blast!>> Blitzwing took off towards Alaska. Just to make the trip shorter, he replied to thrust's story with one of his best.

<<OK, OK. One time, on Polaris V, Deathasaurus assigned me and a few others to go back up an agent. So we go there, and guess who we find? Sixshot! apparently, Deathy wanted him to have an escort home, but after seeing the destruction he was causing, well, it was too good to resist. So, just for laughs, I took a center for abandoned protoforms, grabbed each little protoforms, smallest first, and popped their tiny spines! Those screams were hilarious! It got so good, even Sixshot had taken a break to watch!

Problem was, ol' Deathy happened to be a bit of a softy for the little ones. So he was furious at me the next day, but he couldn't punish me, since the tyrest accord an' all wasn't broken. But, his little sycophant Inkblot, he tried to do some thing. After evening mess, he came up behind me with a fork. i'd do something about it, but i was, er, overenergized. Anyway, I hear a BANG, and next thing I know, Inkblot's innards are covering the walls! Now I can't prove it, but I think a certain commando had liked my routine. How 'bout you Astrotrain, you got any good stories from your cargo runs?>>

The question was not only an insult, but also a challenge. If that freight drone wanted to get respect, he had better have a good story.

Thrust laughed and laughed at Blitzwing's story:

"Hahahahahha! Creatures of flesh make the best sounds when you squeeze them just right! I can almost imagine the fluid leaking from their corpses! Great one Blitz!"

With that, Thrust was off. He revved his engines up and traveled off to Alsaka with the rest. He quickly took the lead, accelerating as fast as he could without breaking any protocol rules. His sudden acceleration made Astrotrain's entrance look slow by comparison.

Thrust did ease off the throttle a little though, he wanted to stay with-in comm range to see if Astrotrain had any good war stories other than hauling cargo. Thrust was angry Astrotrain dared to show speed near him. Now it was the glorified cargo carrier's turn to impress the group. He also slowed down, slightly, to make sure he got to Alaska first, but not before the others. If there were resistance there, he would need bigger firepower.

Canadian American Border

Ramjet laughed heartily at the chatter over the comm-link to the CAP. This was the type of reaction he'd expected from this group. A bunch of real warriors trying to impress one another with tales of bravado and daring-do. Getting the others fired up wasn't usually too hard, and it made the job at hand all the more enjoyable when there was a little competition between comrades.

Now only a few breems behind, Ramjet engaged his afterburners to catch up to the main force. Having his cluster bombs there for the initial attack would be helpful. He could lay a carpet of cluster bombs that would sufficiently destroy most objects in a few hundred meter radius.

Utility aside, Ramjet also didn't want to miss out on the fun. Decepticons weren't known for their generocity, so he'd have to take the opportunity to have fun rather than ask for it. Of course, if he missed out on the fun then the others would have to listen to his grumbling all the way back to base.

American - Canadian Border

Astrotrain almost laughed as the seekers jockeyed to take point of their little group. The seekers were like pack animals that way, at least when Starscream wasn’t around. One of them always had to be the alpha warrior, the best, fastest and brightest. They would never realize how far from the truth that all was. This was a backwater assignment if he had ever seen one. It wasn’t just the fuel run they were doing either, it was this whole planet. Infiltration was boring. Elite units like Razorclaw’s or Hun-Grrr’s got the sweetest assignments. Those were the assignments to hunt down Autobots or outright conquer and destroy worlds. They definitely weren’t sneaking around or going on fuel raids.

The triplechanger let Thrust take the lead of the group, for now at least. When you could fly from planet to planet zipping along faster than sound in an atmosphere wasn’t really all that impressive. He felt like he had provoked this group of seekers enough already. They were already trying to gang up on him a bit, led by Blitzwing of all people. He thought he knew the triplechanger better than that, but then he was the blustery warrior type. Just being around the seekers probably sucked him into this type of talk.

>>”Well, I don’t have any stories quite as good as killing a bunch of weakling flesh creatures, but I do have one good story. I was just taking off from a supply run when I noticed and unexpected guest hitching a ride. Some Autobot spy had latched on underneath me. Apparently he was hoping to get a ride back to our hidden base. I didn’t have time to land and take care of him, so I simply dropped altitude and scrapped him off against some mountains. There were bits of him scattered over miles and I fond one of his hands still hanging on to me when I got back to base!”<<

Mount St. Helens

Skywarp hated humans with a passion. To him they were disgusting, slimy creatures to be stepped on and then scraped off his foot. He certainly wanted nothing to do with them let alone have one crawling about in his cockpit. But that’s exactly what the seeker had to endure for a short time while transporting the park ranger back to Decepticon Base. The little flesh bag had seen the fire that the CAP had caused during the recent skirmish with the Autobot twins and there could be no witnesses to tell the tale. The last thing the ‘cons needed were more humans crawling around their base.

So, Skywarp reluctantly volunteered to capture the fleshling and bring him back to Soundwave. Even though the distance had been relatively short between the base and the ranger station, ‘Warp didn’t want the creature scurrying around inside him any longer than need be. He decided to simply teleport to the ranger station, grab the human, and then teleport back to base. But even that was too long for the seeker. Once he dropped the organic off with Soundwave, he thoroughly disinfected his cockpit before heading back out to meet up with the rest of the CAP.

American-Canadian Border Region

With a flash and a pop, Skywarp appeared next to Ramjet, who was attempting to catch up with the rest of the group. “Hey, Ramjet! Nice job putting out that fire back there. Didn’t know you had it in you. Ha ha!” ‘Warp teased the conehead whose solution to the fire problem had been unique and right up the flying battering ram’s alley. Crashing through all those trees wasn’t exactly what the black and purple seeker would’ve done, but it worked and that’s all that mattered. “Good thing you have a hard head or that fire might still be burning.”

As Skywarp closed in on the rest of the CAP, he opened his commlink and listened to the others tell silly war stories. Pathetic, ‘Warp thought. They’d rather live in the past instead of focusing on the present fuel raid and creating a brand new war story to tell one day. But, if that’s what they wanted, then the teleporter had no problem adding his own, better story to the mix.

>>"You guys call those war stories? Please. One time, back on Cybertron, I took out an entire Autobot base single-handedly. Without any warning whatsoever, I teleported in and unleashed a barrage of my heat-seekers, knocking out several of their defensive guns in one shot. Then, every time those stupid Autobots tried to shoot me down, I simply vanished from sight and quickly reappeared on the opposite side of the base where I pummeled them with more rockets! Before long, the Autobots were in retreat and the base was in ruins. Ha! They probably thought there was a whole squadron of seekers attacking them when, in fact, it was just me!"<<

OOC: Decepticons on the fuel raid will moved to the newly created thread in the New Battlefield forum.

Command and Control

With most of the Decepticons assigned to his infiltration team either off-base or engaged in other tasks, Starscream turned the full weight of his attention to the unusual energy readings he had been monitoring for several planetary cycles now. There was potential there, he was certain of it, the potential to catapult him through the ranks and into the position of true leadership he craved. The problem, of course, lay in exploiting this unusual resource most efficiently. At present, the Seeker leader did not have the proper facilities or expertise at his disposal to do so efficiently.

Honestly, who amongst his present crew of malfunctioning malcontents could he possibly depend upon to treat this matter with the delicacy and discretion it required? Soundwave possessed most of the necessary skills, but was about as trustworthy as a starving Mechannibal. As for the rest, well, Starscream found himself surprised almost daily that they hadn't yet managed to blow up the entire mountain in some spectacular display of epic incompetence. Blitzwing alone probably would have levelled the entire range by now out of sheer boredom if the leash on which he was kept hadn't been of necessity a tight one.

He could, perhaps, attempt to pursue this interesting discovery on his own. Nevertheless, for all his ability, Starscream was but one mechanoid, and there were limits to what he could accomplish alone. That in itself wasn't so terribly off-putting--what truly gave him pause was the possibility that the Autobots might stumble upon this odd energy form themselves while he was attempting to divine its secrets. It was a thought he did not relish.

The leader of the Decepticons' elite Seeker Corps had been called many things over the course of his operational lifetime, many of them true. Treacherous. Vainglorious. Self-centered. Reckless. All that aside, he truly did despise the Autobots with all the considerable venom he could muster, and while he might occasionally neglect the war effort in favor of the chance to snatch a little more personal power to himself, he was hardly prepared to just hand those puling, anachronistic cretins such a decisive advantage.

Which limited his list of available options to one. And the one he relished least, too.

Tapping a few commands into the control panel mounted into the arm of his throne, Starscream sealed off the command center and prepared to run a narrow-band transluminal hail from the St. Helens base through the more powerful communications array of the battlecruiser hidden in orbit. It was a breach of protocol for an infiltration team, but undoubtedly worth it. Probably.

"Hail, Megatron," he began, more than a hint of irony coloring his tone, though this was nothing unusual. "I think I've stumbled upon something you might like to have a look at with your own optics . . . "

The Decepticon HQ was quite empty. Ramjet knew not where the others were. But he wanted to hurt someone. Bored and restless, Ramjet walked into the throne room where StarScream was. The Coneheaded Seeker looked at the leader of the Earth Decepticon forces. "StarScream. I am bored. Give me something to do or I start making dents here in HQ."
Ramjet tapped his foot impatiently. He had been offline and needed some action. He wanted to hurt somebody, well alot of somebodies. "Well?" The burgundy and white bot awaited an answer from his superior. With or without his permission, Ramjet was going to do something. He just wanted a direction to go to find some Autobots.

Decepticon Medical Room]

Mixmaster could feel his servos starting to move into action, one by one systems coming back online. The bot hadn't braced himself well enough during a fall off of a cliff, and... well... a few tons being dropped at the right altitude can cause a few days or weeks being out of commission. He'd been in stasis while repairs were done to his legs and back.

When his optical lenses found their focus he observed his new paint job, both the new green redeco to accent his purple mechanics, and a bunch of graffiti the other cons had left behind. He sucked air into his audio, causing a bit of static for a second. The 'con stayed a moment longer in the bay, getting the graffiti off of his arm, lest he be seen going around the base with a 'con's rendition of a human laser-painted on his arm.

The cauldron the bot used now, was a lot heavier, and thicker than the one he'd had back home. Not enough room for as many contents. The volatile mix was hungry. He'd have to feed it later and see what came out. When his circuits had enough juice, he began to stand, scanning the inside of the new base's medical chamber. Mix was wondering what kind of mundane tasks he'd have to do to keep the base running, hoping some of the other Constructicons were functional, not wanting to have to do the work of his teammates, alone.

Central Chamber
Mixmaster got to his feet and continued to the door, passing through, and getting his orientation. Nothing exciting going on, pretty empty. He followed the sound of a pleading voice in the background. Heading toward it, the Constructicon found himself near the throne room, sucking air through his teeth, remembering the work he had to do to make sure Starscream had his perfect throne... slag it.

Throne Room

Mixmaster propped his foot against the door opening, preventing it from closing as he stared into the room. The 'con had no orders as far as he knew, and checked into the throne room, seeing what he could of what was going on or if there were immediate orders posted anywhere. He stepped back out into the mail hall and propped against the wall nearby.

Central Chamber
Mixmaster sent out a small range transmission in the area. >>Mixmaster, online again. Who's here, and what's busted?<< Waste of a transmission, and if he was lucky enough, the time of the others.

Earth Orbit

The small shuttle easily slid into the open hangar of the larger Decepticon vessel. Both vessels maintained their full stealth modes, making detection even while docking a remote possibility. The hangar doors closed, rendering the ship completely invisible to even Autobot scanners once more.

The shuttle doors opened and a lone figure exited the vehicle. A quick signal of authorization codes from the Transformer to the ship gave him full access to it. The Decepticon strode through the vessel corridors with purpose. He knew exactly where he was going and didn’t waste any time elsewhere on the vessel. He walked past the armor, the repair bay and the bridge until he reached his destination.

The Decepticon moved to the teleporter controls, bringing the device online. The ship was kept in orbit specifically for this purpose, to allow teleportation or ‘bounces’ from one part of the planet to the other or from the planet to the vessel itself. It took very little manipulation to reset it to teleport him down to the planet surface. He set the automatic timer on the controls and stepped back from it. Seconds later he felt the familiar tingle and saw the glow that always accompanied the process.


Outside the Decepticon Base

The lone Decepticon’s arrival was greeted by nothing more than the scrambling of the native animals, frightened by his sudden appearance. It was as he had planned. He had not broadcast that he was coming. He did not want to alert any Autobots spies to his plans. He also wanted to see how this particular outpost operated. If the information he received was correct, and it was something he was going to verify firsthand, then there was possibly a major security issue here. If that was the case then he would make an example of this little backwater outpost. Mistakes of this magnitude would not be tolerated, especially on such an unimportant world as this. They didn’t need the war escalating on some worthless mudball.

The large transformer stalked up to the base entrance. He entered his command security code into a panel hidden on the side of the mountain, careful not to let his weapon scrape or brush against it. What had appeared to be nothing more than a rocky patch of the mountain slid open, revealing the Decepticon base hidden inside of it. He stepped inside, making sure the door sealed shut behind him and the camouflage was reactivated. He strode as confidently through this base as he had the ship in orbit, even though he had never been inside of it. It was a Decepticon base, and everything Decepticon was familiar to him.

As he walked he tapped into the base’s internal communication system. Soon his voice echoed in the audio receptors of every Decepticon in or near the base. “Decepticons, report to the main briefing room immediately.” He continued walking, not waiting for any acknowledgement of his orders. All Decepticons should know better that to delay or question the orders of Megatron.

Thrust descended as quickly as he could without breaking the sound barrier. He was the first to return from Palin, Alaska and the successful fuel raid, as per usual He flew along, just above the tree line. If he went any lower he would start lopping the tops off. As he flew along, he contatced the Decepticon base. This was standard procedure at this point of the integration plan.

"Thrust to base. The mission was a complete success, we achieved full surpirse and raided the area. Not a single biped survived. Permission to dock. Blitzwing threw a biped into one of my engines, and it splattered everywhere. I want to get the thing sterilized. Who knows what germs or viruses that little criter may be carrying? Is that alright with you boss man Starscream?"

As Thrust was circling, thinking about going Mach 4 down a crowded street in a heavily populated municipality he recieved a transmission from the base. It was not quite what he expected. It was Megatron himself calling for all Decepticons to meet on the double.

"Great" Thrust thought to himself, "And I just called Starscream the boss. Megatron will kick my wings off for that...slag any docking procedures now. I'm not going to keephim waiting."

With that Thrust had landed and transformed. He walked through the hologram and into the base. If he could, he would have gulped; fearing what Megatron may do to him.

Infiltration bunker - Repair facilities

Only moments earlier Thundercracker had stepped out of the CR chamber where he had been recovering from the injuries caused by Sunstreaker's ground to air missile several breems earlier. Laserbeak had still looked pretty roughed up so he had left Soundwave's bird of prey in peace, only glancing the tank interface to check the progress of Laserbeak's recovery process. 44% certainly meant it would still take a while. Deciding it was time to move out and face Starscream and whatever the mission commander would throw at him, Thundercracker began walking towards the door leading to the main corridor of the base.

Then it struck like a lightning bolt from a clear sky. While Thundercracker had been worried about Starscream's possible outburt in response to his failure of eliminating Jazz, the transmission suddenly echoing in his head completely erased such thoughts. Megatron.

Shocked and filled with a sudden feeling of dread, Thundercracker fastened his pace and began moving directly for the briefing room.

Base outskirts

Whaaaaaaaaaa? It took Blitzwing a moment to rationalize the order given over the comm.Megatron? Oh, slag, oh FRAG! I gotta look good in front of the boss if I wanna start genocidin'. Raising his speed, the triple-changer accelerated towards the base.

Decepticon Base

Blitzwing landed in the hanger and went to robot mode on landing and charged through the halls to the briefing room. He moved with the greatest sense of urgency, acting as if his head was on fire. Gotta look good, be on time...

Briefing room
Rushing in, Blitzwing immediantly composed himself and bowed to one knee.
"Blitzwing reporting in, O glorious..." The triple-changer looked up. The room was empty. Guess I'm the first one here. Hilarious. He chuckled to himself.

Thrust laughed, entering only a split second after Blitzwing, whom Thrust had started to consider a great comrade. If nothing else his sense of humor was second to none.

Thrust addressed the Triple Changer:

"Yeah Blitz, your the first one here. Someone actually beat ME for a change. How about that? I would have been here first, but I had to get my engines disinfected from when you threw the biped into them! By the pitts if that wasn't one of the funniest thiongs I've ever seen."

Thrust propped himself against the wall and folded his arms. When others arrived he wanted to blend in with the background. If Megatron was going to blame people, let the idiots who want themselves be seen get blasted first