Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Bounce Chamber

Lore-lock nodded to Smokescreen as the diversion master reminded him of the robo pup's teeth. When the Bounce controls fried out Lore-lock's hope of saving the energon went with the functionality of the equipment. Not wanting to end up like those very same controls he sticks to Smokescreen's exhaust ports. They grey scout may not be good at diversions, but he could do what he could to help get the crew out, as smoothly as possible.

Corridor
I just hope we can save more of that precious energon He thought as he tried not to get hit by Starscream's wall of fire. When he got to Prowl, Lore-lock also transformed, but with his axe out. "I brought my can opener." He calmly tries to joke, but ready to swing at the bulk head to open a way out if need be.

Corridor

Rumble was seen hurtling off of Brawn’s back as the Autobot shook him off. He used his flight abilities to help stabilize himself, keeping him from slamming into the wall too hard. He had to quickly scramble out of the way as Brawn tried to clobber him with Frenzy. “Watch it ya big slaghead!”

Soundwave was a bit surprised at Starscream’s praise, particularly how he announced it to the other Decepticons. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though as the seeker began signaling a general withdraw from the battle. He was all in favor of leaving the Autobot laden craft, but first he had to retrieve his minions who all seemed to be having a rough time of things.

While Starscream provided covering fire Soundwave charged forward down the corridor. He spotted Brawn swinging Frenzy like a club. His visor flashed red before he took aim and fired his concussion gun at Brawn’s hand, causing him to release the cassetticon. He followed it up with a barrage of mini-rockets aimed at the minibot.

With Brawn occupied and Rumble moving to scoop up Frenzy it was time to rescue Ravage. Soundwave’s chest dropped open as another cassetticon launched out. “Laserbeak: Eject. Operation: Rescue.”

Laserbeak streaked down the corridor, swooping down at Ravage. The Decepticon’s talons latched on to the net entangling Ravage. Thrusters kicked it and Laserbeak pulled up. Between his efforts and Ravage’s continued slashing at the net the cassetticon was able to get free. Leaving his bombs behind he dashed back down the corridor, followed by Laserbeak. Both of them transformed and slid back into Soundwave’s chest.

Soundwave turned and ran back towards Starscream, Rumble following behind with the stasis locked Frenzy. Soundwave added his fire to that of the Seeker’s in an effort to drive Jazz back so they could exit the doomed ship.

*

In the Shadow of the Freighter

Hellion continued to roar and yell in anger and frustration as she clawed at her lead covered face. Bits of the metal and possibly her face fell away as she tried to get her damaged optics clear with only some success. She could finally make out some fractured, blurry images through her cracked optics. Unfortunately Ironhide was not in her limited line of sight.

She then received the signal to withdraw from Starscream. She roared in frustration at being denied any sort of vengeance against the Autobot. Not knowing where they were retreating to the seeker simply went up. At the very least that was one direction that would take her away from the doomed vessel.

Corridor

Brawn felt something his his arm, causing a forced reaction to let Frenzy go. He turned to see it was Soundwave, coming to the aid of his minions as he fired several concussion rockets at him. Brawn ducked, but this was clearly Soudnwaves intended goal. The rockets passed ove rhim, hitting the wall and exploding right behind him.

After a moment, he got up but even Laserbeak was not flying over him, with Ravage. Something was up. Briefy checing his arm's funcitonality, he noticed it was showing only minimal movement. He'd have torget it repaired once he got back. He then saw Smokescreen coming to him, saying something. Brawn could not tell what it was being said since Frenzy had incapacitated his audio receptors.

"What?" was his only reply. But he knew something was up. Only moments later did he recieve Ironhide's comm to evacuate. How did they get bombs off? No... that wasn't important. Getting out was priority.

Jazz, meanwhile, ducked back as he was met with covefire, taking a grazing to the front hood. It was time to escape, just as the Decepticons were doing. he ehaded for the Sotrage bay.

Brawn, menahwile, followed Smokescreen.

Storage

As the tohers arrived, Prowl nodded at Smokescreen's report.

"I recieved it as well." Prowl responded. "Everyone, get ready to swim, we're oging to use the storage bay doors to make our exit. We'll set one charge and blow it. We'll then swim to the surface as fast as we can. Hopefully, the shock of the blast will propell us further upwards."

"Sounds like a plan." Jazz said. "Just gotta keep in mind I set a few already."

"That will be fine Jazz." Prowl replied. "Somkescreen, you and Lore-lock quickly find something to keep this energon from floating out of this crate. We have to hope this thing will have enough bouyancy to float to the top. We'll detonate once everything is good. You have 1 minute!"

With that, Jazz ran over to the door and placed a charge. If all went well, the water woudl quickly flood the room and they could swim out.

"All set!" Jazz said as he ran back towards the group.

Bridge

The forward glass began to crack further under the force of the water pressue. And then.. it gave.

Form the outside, the massive pressure squeezed the forward hull, cushing it like an alluminum can, causing the ship to tilt forward.

Illusory Kelp Forest

"Steeljaw!!" Hound crawls towards the leonine Autobot, keeping low to avoid Thundercrackers fire. "Of all the 'Bots I thought I'd be talking to today, you were way down on the list!! Listen, we gotta..." Hound trailed off as the two of them recieved Ironhides message.

"Oh slag!!! Steeljaw, I need help moving Hardhead clear!! Grab his head and get going, maybe fire something to keep Thundercracker off our-!!" Hound was cut short by said Seekers final shot, as the torpedo lands a little behind the scouts, throwing up a massive cloud of sand!!

"AAaggh!!! No!! Hardhead...I can't see where the head got to!! I think it was knocked clear!!" Hound desperately starts deploying sensors to find it, mindful that the freighter could go up at any minute...

Storage Bay

Smokescreen felt a sense of relief once Brawn, Lore-lock and Jazz had all made it into the storage bay without getting slagged by the Decepticons. As the door to the hallway shut behind them, Smokey quickly activated the locking mechanism just in case the 'cons tried to follow. He then turned back towards the others. "I'm glad to see you guys are okay," the red and blue mech said to his teammates before listening to Prowl's plan of escape. There was also the issue of getting the crate of energon out of the ship safely without the cubes floating away once the water gushed into the freighter.

"No problem, Prowl. I'm on it!" Smokescreen responded as he quickly scanned the bay for what he needed. He soon found a lid that appeared to be the correct size and brought it over to the crate. The diversion expert then placed the metal cover on top and pressed down hard around the edges until it clicked into place. The accompanying hissing sound indicated that the container full of energon was now sealed and ready to go. "The energon's good to go, Prowl!"

Just then, Smokescreen felt a sudden shudder as the ship tilted forward, causing the energon crate to begin sliding across the bay. Smokey quickly grabbed the container with both hands and tried to hold on with all of his strength, but he was slowly starting to slide along with it. "Brawn, anyone, help me with this! The energon's not exactly lightweight!" The diversion expert singled out Brawn because he knew the minibot was the strongest mech in the room. However, help from anyone would do just fine at this point.

Storage

Lore-lock nodded to Prowl and was looking for a suitable cover when Smokey called for help. "I'm coming." The scout replied, as he rushed to the downhill side of the energon container. "This might hurt" He thought as he connected with the still sliding crate. Despite his added efforts the crate refused to stop moving.

"If it's this heavy dry, I hope we have a flotation device for when it gets wet in here. I really don't wanna have to leave this wonderful stuff behind."

Storage bay

As the ship tilted, Prowl began to slide. His sliding them turned into a tumble as he approached the all and ultiamtely collided wiht it. Fortunantly, Jazz had managed to set the charge with moments to spare. Various cubes fell beside them, hitting the wall as the ahip continued it's tilt, befoe stopping.

Jazz had taken a slightly longer fall as he hit the wall, cracking some of his exterior, but nothing to he couldn't walk off, or swim off in this particular case. But he saw the crate sliding towards the wall, which would make all that ahjrd work go to nothing if ti crashed.

While Brawn could not hear Smokescreen, insitnct told him he would be eneded as he hit the wall. He rolled over and lifted his legs to hold up the crate, but it was still heavy, even for him.

As Lore-lock came to help out and made his comment about hoping for a flotation device, Prowl felt the need to respond.

"I'm counting on bouyancy to take effect. We'll guide it out. If it does, we ride this thing to the surface! I'd rather risk an encoutner with the humans than watch us get blown out of the water. Additionally, this will subtract from the energy that will explode once those bombs go off, saving a little mor eof the sea bed. It's just ashame we didn't have a chance to use that Bounce Platform to get rid of them. Go ahead Jazz! Hit it!" he commended.

"I gottcha Prowl. Watch out gang, it's time'ta tear this joint a new blow-hole." he said, just before pressing the detonator.

There were several explosions throughout the ship, though relatively minor form Jazz's handywork, but the one they needed to explode came through as the depth charge blasted a hole through the bay doors. A massive ammount of water gushed in and began flooding the storage bay in no time. Addiitonally, the water pressure force the whole to open wider. It was working. Jazz decided he needed to inform Ironhide of their plan.

>>"Hey Ironhide! We'bout to take to boatride to heaven outta here. Tell Prime we'll need a way out once we hit the surface!"<<, he told Ironhide over the comm, as he was certain the old-tiemr was growing anxious over their status.

It didn't take long before the room itself began to flood, allowing the Autoboss to swim. Prowl grabbed Brawn and pulled him out of the way. The crate took a slight bounce but began moving. Depite it's weight, it showed some sign of bouyancy.

"Okay, now we jsut wait for this room to fill and we swim for it. Grab onto that crate!" Prowl said as he floated in the water.

Jazz grabbed onto the crate, expecitng the others to follow suit. Prowl grabbed it, as did Brawn.

Storage Bay

"Thanks guys!" Smokescreen shouted to Brawn and Lore-lock as they helped him to keep the energon crate from sliding out of control and crashing against the far wall. Unfortunately, unlike the crate, many of the Autobots in the room took a hard hit after sliding across the bay. Thankfully, no one suffered any permanent damage. Then Jazz gave the heads up and detonated the various charges he had planted throughout the ship, including the one attached to the outer bay doors. The explosion rocked the storage room, blowing a gaping hole in the side of the ship and allowing sea water to rush in.

As the storage bay began to quickly flood, Smokescreen could feel the crate becoming somewhat buoyant as it began to float in the water. This was good news as it would be easier for him and the others to steer the container in the right direction to get the energon outside. Prowl then shouted for everyone to grab a hold of the crate and wait for the room to completely flood. Once that happened they would all swim for it and hope to get clear of the freighter before it exploded. Since the diversion expert had never let go of the crate to begin with, he continued holding on to it and waited for the moment when they would all head out and make their way to the surface.

Corridors

Soundwave and Rumble began stumbling down the corridors as the ship began to twist and lurch as the hull was breached. Soundwave could hear water gushing into the vessel from multiple points. It was followed shortly thereafter by detonations across the vessel. They were too small to be Ravage’s explosives. They were either energon cubes or explosives set by the Autobots.

In any case it didn’t really matter. The hull of the ship was rapidly tearing and weakening. There was no point heading to the hatch now. They would simply make their own exit. He took Frenzy from Rumble, allowing the other cassetticon to work.

“Alright, everyone hold on ta something!” Rumble transformed his arms and began pounding on the wall. The vessel shook with the impacts and the wall quickly began to warp, bend and finally tear open.

Soundwave grabbed Rumble before he was swept away as the water pressure widened the tear. The corridor quickly filled with water as the communications officer moved towards the tear and widened it enough for him to slip through, presumably followed by Starscream. Soundwave and his minions quickly shot up through the water, making their way to the surface.

*

Storage Bay

As the ship lurched the energon cubes went tumbling. Some bounced harmlessly off of each other while others smashed into walls and detonated. Explosions began to surround the Autobots. Waiting for a steel crate to float all four of them up to the surface seemed like a recipe for their untimely demise.

(OOC: This is my IC way of telling you that there is no way that a steel crate filled with energon is going to be very buoyant at all, let alone enough to float so many transformers to the surface. Just get out of the ship and drive away on the ocean bottom.)

Ocean Floor

Krunix had been observing the entire time, updating telemetry and unit counts and sending instant updates to the Decepticons outside of the shuttle. He was in the process of trying to shift through the spectrums via his visor to help Thundercracker locate Hound when the order from inside the Shuttle came through. Krunix flipped over to all receiving Decepticons.

This is Krunix. You heard the boss. Disengage immediately. This means you, Hellion. Krunix chose a rally point near above ocean level, and sent the location to every Decepticon in the area Located optimum fallback point given everyone's current position and the size of the explosion. If you cannot get there under your own power, report in now, otherwise Starscream has issued orders and you're expected to follow them. Honestly, Krunix cared little that Starscream had been the one to give the order, or cared much for the Air Commander in general. The point was the order had been given in the mission, and it was time to follow through.

On top of the freighter



The clock was running, and Ironhide was nearly out of time. A red flashing timer had appeared in the corner of his vision, giving him a countdown until estimated seal failure. He had planned on surfacing and bouncing, but with the ‘cons bugging out and heading up, that would be like jumping from the proverbial frying pan right into the fire.

His only other option was to transform and roll for it. With his altered form, his head was, of course, retracted, so the compromised seal would be protected. He’d have been worse than useless in truck form in a fight underwater, but with the battle over, transforming was by far a better option.

The old mech leapt from his perch on top of the ship just as the doomed freighter began its death throes. An explosion rocked the vessel, followed by the staccato thumps of others as the energon began to cook off. Had Ironhide not received Jazz’s comm. moments before, he’d have been in a panic, as it was he was only slightly terrified. The worst part of being mission commander was the thought of his fellow Autobots, his buddies, being in danger. His first instinct was to protect them, he was a security bot after all, and sending them into the fray just ran counter to his programming. He wouldn’t be able to relax until everyone was safely back at the Ark.

He accelerated away from the ship, making a run to pick up Blaster and the wounded. He needed to get them clear – those proton bombs would be a big enough explosion, but when you added in the ship’s fuel supply and its’ cargo, there would be massive devastation.

>>Hound, drop yer illusions buddy. I’m in truck form and headed yer way. We gotta get Hardhead outta here. Blaster you and the little guys hop on too. We’re rollin’ out.<<


Illusory Kelp Forest


Steeljaw hadn’t the time to reply to Hound’s greeting when Thundercracker’s torpedo exploded sending the geyser of sand and rock into the water. Hound was momentarily panicked at the thought of losing Hardhead’s cranial unit, but Steeljaw was as cool as ever. Of course the fact that he still knew where to find Hardhead’s severed part made that a bit easier. Despite the lingering aroma of spent munitions and the millions of natural scents in the area, Steeljaw could still discern the leaking hydraulic fluid and energon coming from Hardhead’s cranium.

“Don’t worry old friend, I’ve got it,” Steeljaw remarked calmly, loping through the still swirling debris and returning with Hardhead’s head held firmly in his jaws. Talking was now out of the question, so he simply glanced at Hound and motioned with his nose towards Hardhead’s body, hoping the little scout would shoulder it and follow as he raced away from the freighter.

He’d ran no more than a few steps when Ironhide’s comm. signal came through, but despite the mission commander’s orders, he kept right on running. He knew Ironhide was faster than he was, and the others would catch up to him soon enough, but right now his priority was getting clear of the blast radius with at least part of a wounded comrade.


Ocean Floor – Crash Site


As Skywarp disappeared from in front of him, Blaster dove into a roll, expecting the teleporter’s inevitable blow to the back. Had he not reacted so quickly Skywarp’s torpedo would have surely caught him squarely, but instead it passed harmlessly over him and kept right on going out to sea.

He rolled on to his feet and came up facing the direction the shot had come from only to see Skywarp retreating. Blaster considered firing at the seeker’s dwindling form, but quickly discarded the idea. There were more pressing matters than taking potshots at fleeing Decepticons, namely the fact that the freighter they were so close to was about to blow up. He’d heard every comm. signal from both sides, so he was perhaps more aware of their current situation than anyone else on the field. He knew the ‘cons weren’t going to be a problem unless they disobeyed orders, so he had no qualms about turning his back on them and getting out.

“Back in the box Eject,” he commanded, opening his chest cavity and allowing the cassetobot to rejoin him. For once, Eject returned without comment, so Blaster was ready as Ironhide roared by. He grabbed hold of one of Ironhide’s pipes and swung himself into the truck-bed, transforming as he went to minimize both his size and weight.

”I really hope all those trees are holograms,” he commented as Ironhide barreled down on the kelp forest. The big mech didn’t slow at all, even as Ramhorn and Rewind joined him by leaping into the bed of his truck as he passed.

“You and me both,” Ironhide replied as he passed harmlessly through the first layer of kelp, closing in on Hound’s position.


Some distance from the battlefield



Ramjet had just gotten his railguns back online when Starscream’s orders came across his receiver. The seeker grimaced and launched himself skyward to join his fellow ‘cons who were also streaking away from the battlefield.

>>Brilliant battle-plan Starscream,<< he transmitted on the main battle-channel, knowing all the others would hear his comments.

Autobot Freighter – Storage Bay

Smokescreen braced himself as the ship rocked violently, sending energon cubes scattering across the bay. It didn’t take long before some of the cubes began colliding with the walls and exploding on impact. The situation had suddenly become very dangerous for the Autobots and, on top of that, the crate’s buoyancy had all but disappeared as the heavy container sunk down to the floor like a rock. Smokey struggled to move it, but was met with no success.

“It’s no use guys, this crate’s dead weight,” the diversion expert shouted over the surrounding explosions. “We need to get out of here now before we all end up a permanent part of the seabed.”

Smokescreen then let go of the crate and swam for the gaping hole in the bay doors. Once he was outside of the freighter, Smokey transformed to vehicle mode and sped away along the ocean floor, hoping to get clear of the blast radius.

*******

Skywarp received Krunix’s transmission and immediately ascended towards the surface alongside his fellow Decepticons. >>"Roger that, Krunix. I'm on my way now."<< 'Warp then accelerated and soon emerged from the waters of the Gulf, transforming to his F-22 Raptor mode and flying off to the rally point.

Lore-lock grumbled when the sea water stopped lifting the crate. Even though it might mean more weight he decided to go for it, and transform.

"Could one of you load some of them cubes into my limited cargo area? If we only save a few that's better than losing all." He said as the sea rushed in and began to cover all. "Unless of course someone else has a better idea."

Fading Kelp Forest

The relief when Steeljaw reported in almost overwhelmed Hound. The Autobot tracker had been just the mech for the job, and now Hound had to make a good account of himself as well. Straining against his injury, the scout turned off the illusion, transformed and reversed towards Hardheads torso. The cable line at his rear snaked out and wrapped itself around an arm, and then the 4x4 dug its wheels in and began to drag the immobile body. It wasn't easy, but with his special tires he was making some progress...Probably not enough with the rumble behind him growing.

>>Ironhide, transmitting my course to you. I can only move this big lug so far, I need another big lug to gimme a hand. I-is everyone else clear too?<<

Cargo Bay

Prowl, brawn, and Jazz all saw the crate begin to sink, much to their disappointment, and to make matters worse, the energon was beginning to explode. It would be only a matter of moments before it would begin a chain reaction. Lore-Lock have offered to carry some of it, however, they were already too late.

"Forget it! Let's get clear!" Prowl ordered as he began swimming out of the hole of the now filled storage bay.

Prowl exited first, followed by Jazz, and then Brawn. Though Brawn couldn't hear, it didn't take much for him to put two and two together as to what the strategist said. However, transforming would not do him much good.

>>"Jazz. My audio receptors were shorted by that little freak, Freny, and Starscream knocked out my engine. Mind if I hitch a ride?" he asked Jazz.<<

>>"Why not? Hop on!"<< Jazz said as they approached the ground. He transfomred and Brawn hopped on.

Prowl then transformed and drove off as fast as the water would let him. But he knew, they were about to take one wild ride.

>>"Get as far as you can and find cover! If not, then ascend and brace for impact!"<<

Jazz knew that with Brawn riding, they'd fall behind. He needed to find a spot where they could take cover while everything hit the fan. Luckily, he spotted an outcropping of rocks nearby and pulled behind there while the others progressed on. Jazz found a rather sizeable ditch from which they could hide, especially at such a close proximity. Brawn got off and Jazz transformed back into robot mode.

>>"Dive, Duck, and Cover!"<<, he told Brawn over the comm as he hit the .

Brawn, being the sturdier of the two, dropped to cover Jazz. It anyone was going to take the brunt of the blast that hit them, it was going to be him. It was better one Autobot be taken out of commission rather than two and he was alreayd in rough shape, and starting to fill with salt water. Least Jazz could haul him back if he went into Stasis Lock. He activated his emergency beacon so that if need be, they could be recovered by the other Autobots.

>>"[b]Ironhide, don't worry about us! Just get going!<<[/i], Brawn said to him over the comm.

Prowl, meanwhile, continued to make for the main outcropping of rocks and transformed back into robot mode to swim as he approached them. If he could reach the top, he would probably be safe. He took note of Brawn riding Jazz and suspected he suffered damage that possibly incapacitated his transformation cog or engine from the fight. He just hoped there would be plenty left to fix them both up once the worst was over. he managed to get over the rise and transformed bakc into car mode, speeding away, as fast as he could, in the direction the other Autobots were fleeing in.

Since Prowl gave the order to haul tail Lore-lock threw his most colorful cybertronian phrases into the air. While cursing he made tracks for the same out cropping that the strategist aimed for. Seeing Brawn's beacon on his local scanner he decided that it might be wise to activate his own, being as he was the last one out of the hot zone.


>>"Just great, Blaster goes to all this trouble to bring home some of the good stuff, and we only managed to get a few small loads recovered. Can we please just bounce the next batch of smuggled energon onto a safe spot on the moon. Then we wouldn't have such a mess to deal with if things go as far south as they did this time."<< The recon-o-bot calls into the open frequency.

Ocean Floor

As Smokescreen sped away from the crashed freighter, he spotted Blackstrike lying motionless a short distance away. Changing course, the diversion expert rushed to his friend's side and transformed back to robot mode. Leaning over the Autobot flyer, Smokey could clearly see that 'Strike was in stasis lock and also missing an arm. The red and blue mech quickly scanned the area and found the severed limb lying nearby. After retrieving it, Smokey grabbed the larger 'bot by both legs and began dragging him further away from the crash site.

It was slow going due to both Blackstrike's size and the diversion specialist's lack of physical strength. Smokescreen knew that he couldn't get far enough away from the ship before it exploded. Instead, Smokey managed to drag his friend over behind the same outcropping of rocks where Brawn and Jazz were now taking cover.

"Mind if we join you guys?" Smokescreen said to his comrades as he pulled Blackstrike to safety. The diversion expert then activated his own beacon and ducked down behind the rock formation, as well, hoping it would provide enough protection from the forthcoming explosion.

Ocean Floor

Jazz waved Smokescreen over with the incapacitated Blackstrike, as he apprached. Brawn saw him as well. However, Prowl had gone on ahead.

"Welcome to the huddle. It crowd's just fine." Jazz said. But he felt he needed to let Smokescreen know about Brawn. "Might wanna use your comm line to talk to Brawn if you intend ta. His audio receptors ate up more amps than Blaster's capable of popin'."

Prowl, meanhwile, continued to race further away from the ship. Despite his slower pace, he was already a decent distance away. However, he had no time to get out of the blast raduis. He needed to find cover. He saw an outcropping of rocks, which looked to be a decent shelter. He drove and hid behind there, remaining in car form to try and keep a low profile as everything happened. Then, he waited.

(OOC: Sorry for my real long delay in replying guys, school caught up with me for a few days and I couldn't get here.)

Inside the crashed ship

Starscream did his best to lay down covering fire and once Soundwave and his minions were clear he quickly evacuated the ship himself. He chided himself internally for not setting a proper fallback point, he had taken care to ensure that the operation went as smoothly as possible that such a critical detail had slipped him was more then just a little embarrassing. Regardless, his team for the most part seemed to want to regard him as incompetent, and Ramjet's insubordinate comments certainly didn't help. He would have to deal with him.

>>"All of you clear of the battle area, transform if possible and head for these coordinates." He set a rally point a safe distance out to sea. >>"Hold position until we are all assembled, then we will return to base.<<

Starscream broke the surface of the water and transformed and headed for the rally point.

>>"And Ramjet, when we return to base we will be having words over your insubordination."<<

Skies above the crash site

It didn't take too long for Blitzwing's vision to return. He had transformed into jet mode before rocketing into the skies from the sea below. To his annoyance he spotted a fishing boat roughly a mile away from his position. And by the movements onboard the ship, the flesh creatures had seen an F-15 emerging from the sea like a cruise missile fired by a submarine.

Without giving the situation much thought, Blitzwing maneuvered towards the fishing boat and fired a torpedo, obliterating the boat. Wanting to make sure there were no survivors, he circled the area for couple of minutes to make sure all humans had drowned before speeding off towards the rally point with Thundercracker and other Decepticons that had joined him in the air.

>>"Starscream, I encountered a human surface vessel when I cleared off the water. It has been dealt with. Heading to the rally point."<<

The Crashed Ship

The shattered vessel, rapidly filling with water, racked by explosions and torn open in several spots, shuttered from internal explosions and the water pressure. Finally, the twin bombs planted by Ravage detonated. The bombs, combined with the small amount of energon left in the vessel, generated a considerable detonation. A fountain of water and a small steam mushroom cloud erupted from the surface of the water as the detonation shot up to the surface. The vessel was reduced to complete debris and rubble, leaving no physical evidence of its presence aside from a spike in energy and radiation readings.

*

Fleeing the Explosion

Soundwave darted through the water as fast as he could. He was not as swift or sleek as the seekers were, even underwater. He was larger and bulkier then any seeker, and carrying Frenzy was not particularly helping him. Both he and Rumble were struck by the underwater shockwave as the ship detonated. Rumble was sent hurtling away and Soundwave went tumbling end over end.

The communications officer was able to stabilize himself, still clutching the damaged Frenzy in his arms. He quickly began scanning around for Rumble.

“Hahahahaha! That was slaggin’ awesome! I hope all of those scraphead Bots were still in there when it blew!” Rumble picked himself off the ocean floor, a smirk on his face. “Frenzy is gonna blow a circuit when I tell him he missed that explosion!” Soundwave looked down at the cassetticon and merely shook his head. He then shot up towards the water surface, Rumble tagging along behind him. They broke the water surface and flew low along the surface, heading towards the rally point.

*

Hellion broke the surface of the water, still tearing at the lead covering her face. Finally she began to clear some of it from her optics. Her vision wasn’t great, her optics having been cracked, but she could vaguely make out her surroundings. She clenched her fists in anger, ready to go back down to the battle below.

It was then that she received the retreat order. She snarled and punched out at the air in frustration. Again she was going to be denied a true battle. Next time she was going to make sure that Ironhide left the fight in pieces.

The seeker transformed, a bit of scraping and scratching from some of her battle damage. She then rocketed off towards the rally point, her vision and scanners of her alternate mode letting her see clearly.

Ocean Floor, Fleeing the Wreck

The shock wave from the blast hits Lore-lock and sends him spinning tail pipe over head lamp. He grunts and groans from the very unpleasant process of being so heavily dented. To make things worse, the pressure wave was followed by a wave of sand and sediment, quickly burying the hapless bot. I sure hope comm signals can get through this stuff, he thinks as he is quickly immobilized, not even able to transform.

>>I don't know if any of you can get this, but I'm needing some extraction.<< He called out on all autobot frequencies.

Ocean Floor



Ironhide had his sensors locked on Hound, and was roaring towards him at the top speed he could manage underwater, all the while trying to ignore the illusionary forest that he was passing through at break-neck speed. He breathed a sigh of relief when the illusions suddenly dissipated making his trek much, much easier.

“Blaster, be ready to grab Hardhead. Ah don’t wanna slow down any more than ah gotta,” he said as they barreled down on Hound and his wounded cargo.

“Don’t worry. We’re good to go,” Blaster said. In the few moments they’d been in the back, the communications specialist had recalled Ramhorn and called Eject forth once more. Ramhorn was stronger, but hands were needed for this particular job.

As the big red truck closed in, Eject and Rewind leaned over the side, grabbing up Hardhead’s body and hauling it up onto the back of the truck with them. The big warrior wouldn’t come close to actually fitting into the bed itself, but with them holding on, they were able to keep him balanced onboard and at least not dragging the ground. It slowed their flight down considerably, and poor Ironhide would be feeling the strain from this particular stunt for days to come, but they would make it clear, and Hound, free of his burden, should as well.

Ironhide poured on every bit of speed he could muster, his sensors tracking the bombs countdown to extinction, and reached a safe distance with barely an astrosecond to spare. The blast wave of the explosion was powerful and would have been even more devastating had the Autobots not managed to transport the bulk of the energon from the vessel, but it wasn’t enough to knock the severely overloaded truck from its wheels. He ground to a stop as the concussion passed and activated his sensors.

A few moments were required to sort through the static and determine that all the Autobots had survived, though one besides Hardhead was in stasis lock. Tension flowed from him when he knew everyone was, if not safe, then at least alive.

>>Aw right, all Autobots crank up yer locator beacons, ah’m callin’ back to the Ark fer a bounce. If yer haulin’ out wounded, make sure you got a good grip on ‘em,<< he transmitted on a general frequency, then switched to a private channel for the benefit of Lore-lock. >>Just turn up the gain on yer beacon Lore-lock. If that don’t work just lemme know and ah’ll come dig yuh out.<<

“Blaster, call Prime and let’im know we’re ready to go.”

“You got it,” Blaster replied, then opened a long range channel back to the Ark.


Skies above the crash site



"Oh you're absolutely right we will," Ramjet muttered as he fell into formation with the other Decepticons streaking away from the battle-site. The conehead was even looking forward to it. He'd taken chastisement from Megatron, because, for now at least, Megatron was the stronger, and Ramjet was in no position to resist. Starscream, on the other hand, was much more in Ramjet's weight class. If Screamer thought Ramjet would let him berate him for calling attention to his flawed plans, then Screamer had another think coming.

Ocean Floor

As the blast hit, Brawna nd Jazz were immediately picked up and thrown some distance. By the shock. But Brawn got it the worst, already damaged form Frenzy and Starscream, the damaged he was receiving from the impact was enough to deactivate him. he fell into stasis lock as he and jazz hit the ocean floor.

As the shockwave came at Prowl, he was immediately picked up by the force of the imact and outward flow of the water and carried further out, however, being further away form the ship and in car mode, was beneficial. His car form hit the ocean floor, damaging his siren lights. Even his front fender too some damage form the rolling before he cam to a stop and was immediately covere dby sand that ahd been carried by the blast. Feelingly slightly disoriented form the impact and dizzy from the tumble, he took a few moments to regain his equilibrium and immediately did a system check. He hah sustained minor damage to various external regions, his sirens were damaged, healdigth and blinker systems were no funcitonal and a bent axle. Essentially, being is disguise left him with damage that was practically superficial and could be fixed in a CR chamber. He decided to give a shot at transforming. He immediately felt like he had ot sturggle just to change, however, this was probably somehting that could be fixed with one transformation. He recalled one time, prime had taken a nasty tumble but had walked away with minor damage.

He gradually worked and shifting his vairous body parts to change abck into robot mode, getting his legs first, then fliping his torso and flipping his front fender down, spreading his door wings, folding out his arms, and finally evealing his head. He did a visual examinaiton of himself. Indeed, he was in much better shape than his paneling which took the brunt of the damage.

He looked back at where the ship was. In it's place was a large crater. The ecosystem was devastated. He let out a sigh of frustration that this had been allowed to happen. While having not been on Earth long, but he knew that if the Decepticosn contineud to be allowed to get away wiht these acts, their first dialogs with the humans would not go well. The Decepticons were taking complete advantage of Cybertronian Law through loopholes, and it left the Autobots limited to what they could do and they would be the ones to suffer the penalty dealt by the humans unless something were done to show their intentions. It was time to confront Prime regarding this issue, otherwise, there would be more tragedies like this to occur.

As soon as he received Ironhide's message, he activated his locator becon and opened a channel.

>>"I'm here Ironhide. Beacon actvated."<<

Jazz was more fortunant, being in better shape. After a few moments, he regained consiousness and got up. he suffered some minor damage and felt his left arm's mobility limited, A diagostic indicated it had been dislodged form it's joint, mos tlielly from the tumble. Ratchet would be able to fix that up in no time. He looked down and was Brawn out. He ha suffered additional damaged to his armor and even lost an arm, which he then located a few yards away. he walked over a grabbed it before walking over to Brawn. Lookin around, he sought for signs of Smokescreen and Blackstrike, who had been with them before the blast occured. He placed the severed arm on Brawn and grabbed him as Ironhide's message came through. Up instruciton, he activated his locator beacon.

>>"This is Jazz. I'm okay but my arms in bad shape. Brawn's gone to lala-land and'll probably feel like a million energon cubes after a trip to the CR chamber."<<, he replied.

Ocean Floor

Just before the freighter exploded, Smokescreen had managed to switch on Blackstrike's locator beacon just in case the two of them were separated during the blast. That way, even if he couldn't find his friend afterward, the Autobots could still bounce the stasis-locked mech back to base without much difficulty.

Astroseconds later, the explosion happened and the shock wave hit the clump of rocks Smokey was hiding behind, which hurled him and his comrades back a considerable distance. The diversion expert tumbled end over end along the seabed before being slammed up against a larger rock formation a good distance away. "Argh! Frag that hurt!" It was like hitting a steel wall as his back and right side were crushed inward upon impact with the unforgiving sediment.

Once the blast wave had dissipated, Smokescreen managed to pry himself away from the rock wall and stand under his own power. He did a quick systems check and detected an energon leak coming from his right side which had sustained the most damage during the explosion. Acting fast, Smokey quickly pulled out a small clamp and sealed off the cracked tubing that was now exposed along his right side. It wasn't a permanent fix, but it would last long enough until he got himself to a CR chamber.

It was then that Smokescreen noticed a series of sparks coming from his back where his right wing door used to be. "Slaggit! Where'd it go?" Smokey muttered as he looked back towards the rock wall. He knew it had to be somewhere close since it had still been attached before he collided with the wall. The diversion expert then peered down as his foot struck something metallic. "Found it!" Smokey picked up the severely damaged wing, barely able to make out the '38' that was now mostly scraped off. "Well, the CR chamber's gonna have a field day with me," Smokey said as he received Ironhide's transmission.

>>"Roger that, Ironhide. I'm turning my beacon up now. I'm pretty banged up, but I'll live."<<

Smokescreen switched off his comm and leaned up against the rock wall for support. He didn't have the strength the look for Blackstrike, but his friend's locator beacon was activated so Smokey wasn't too worried. The diversion expert simply waited to be bounced back to the Ark-19 where they would all get the repairs they needed.