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Iranian Desert - Central Hub

Contemptor had timed his shots just right before charging at Ironhide as the main bulk of the plasma blasts hit home on Ironhide's torso. It was apparent to the trophy hunter how his opponent was given his name as the plasma burst hit the autobot square in the chest and singed his armour, it also cracked some of the glass from his alt mode. Contemptor was stumped as to why there wasn't a gaping crated where Ironhide's chestplate should be. Using his onboard diagnostics, Contemptor found that, in the tussel when he was thrown into the wall of the ruined building, the coolant casing was cracked and the plasma cooling gel had leaked out over the conductor coils.

'Ah... that explains it i suppose' Contemptor thought as he charged forwards, swinging the axe up ready to strike down the Autobot veteran 'Still, it's a let down..I won't allow it...' Contemptor's thoughts turned into an open shout as he saw Ironhide stumble forwards, Skywarp firing at the rear.

Contemptor took his chance and swung down hard, the blade of his axe sparking into life as le let loose a cry of proclimation

"Glory for the Decepticons!"

There was a biting sensation and the feeling of contact as Contempors good optic glowed with malice as his axe cut down through Ironhide's shoulder. There was a tearing of metal as the main socket on Ironhide's shoulder was torn off from Contemptor's axe swipe. The large decepticon smiled in satisfaction as he towered over Ironhide, but his satisfaction was short lived.

In swinging his axe down, Contemptor had overextended his reach, leaving his already damaged knee exposed. He snapped his head to the left to glare angrily at Ironhide, not knowing his folly and his good optic suddenly flared in anger and agony as the veteran autobot's heel stomped his already mangled knee. There was a sweeping motion and Contemptor landed hard with a thud in the sand, his axe sent into the sand as he lost his grip.

Contemptor let out a snarl of disgust as he reached for his Plasma Pistol. But as he did so, there was a chill pain shooting up his left arm. It was a deep needling sensation as the super cooling fluid from Ironhide coated his left arm fully, freezing it down at the molecular level - and deep into Contemptor's skeletal structure.

"You'll pay Ironhide...I'll take your hea..." Contemptor let out a growl of pain as he felt his arm shatter under the impact of Ironhide's foot into his elbow joint as the frozen metal cracked and shattered under the stomp of Ironhide's heel.

"GRaaaaghhh!!!" was the sound from Contemptor's vocalizer as he rolled to the right and up to a kneeling position, a look of utter hate and anger crossing his faceplate as Ironhide turned and broke from combat, running back to his autobot brethren. Contemptor took his hand away from the shattered stump of his elbow and pulled his plasma pistol and proceeded to fire numerous shots - all of which missed their mark due to the range from his position to that of the running Ironhide - whom had been joined by the damaged Hardhead.

All Contemptor could do was spew forth a slew of earth and cybertronian curses at the feeling autobots. It was then that the communication came through from Starscream about aborting the mission and returning to the Ultrax, and as this made Contemptors mood even more violent, the sight of Skywarp taking off caused Contemptor to contact the prankster and curse at him in his audio receptor.

"Fragging Bastard Son of a Glitch!"

It wasn't Skywarp's fault, but as injured as Contemptor was - he knew that leaving any behind was the last thing needed. He opened a channel to the prankster.

"Sorry Skywarp...I hope your friend is ok...I'll collect Hellion and meet you on the Ultrax - possibly the repair bay..."

Contemptor cut the communication and sent a transmission to Starscream

"Acknowledged Commander Starscream...I will retreive Hellion and then be ready for bounce."

Again, he cut the transmission and glared off into the distance, his one good optic glowing in the setting sun.

"Trust me Ironhide...when the time comes, I will take your head as a trophy. By the nine hells i will not stop untill I do!"

Iranian Desert – Central Hub

Ratchet let out a sigh of relief when he heard Warpath let him know that he could hear him. That meant that he was still fully functional, he may ne be in one piece, but he was functioning. The CMO made his way out from his secure location and move toward the rubble where he had seen Warpath last. He hesitated slightly when he saw some movement, but relaxed when he realized it was the tank-former.

“Glad you’re okay, Warpath…”

He trailed off slightly when he noticed that the cannon that once protruded from his chest was now gone. The red mech made little to no optic contact with the medic, causing a wave of concern to wash over the CMO.

“I’ll get you back in one piece as soon as I can.”

Ratchet forced a smile before he laid his hand on Warpath’s shoulder. It was then that Ratchet heard the annoying vocalizations of that Insecticon. Ratchet pulled Warpath out of the line of fire from his stingers only to be surprised by Waspinator’s sudden explosion. Ratchet on-lined and off-lined his optics as he stared at the molten mess left in front of him. Lifting his head he noticed Hardhead battling that crazed berserker femme Seeker.

Ratchet nearly jumped when his comm link came to life with Ironhide’s voice. Scrambling to regain his composure the medic began pulling Warpath along as he responded to the mission commander.

>>”I’m alright. I’ve got Warpath with me, but he’s in bad shape. I can take a look at your injuries as soon as I can find a secure location. Meet me at these coordinates.”<<

He had scanned the area and found one that was nowhere near any of the ‘Cons making it possibly the best location to evaluate his patients.

Somewhere at the Bottom of the Persian Gulf

Thrust began finally stir from the shock emergency lock up his systems had went through after breaching the ocean surface roughly at mach 5 and hitting the bottom of the gulf in the relatively shallow waters where he had wounded up to.

His diagnostic subroutines were giving rather disheartening status updates thorough his frame. His form was badly mangled and the damage he had gone through in response to his wing being obliterated by a blast by Hardhead was preventing him from transforming. His communications equipment were also malfunctioning. So badly in fact that he never received the transmission from Skywarp.

Unable to move or contact the other Decepticons, Thrust activated his emergency beacon, hoping that the others would take notice of it eventually. Still, he knew far too well that he would not be the first casualty of a battle to be left behind to rust away. Having lost his sense of time anyhow, Thrust fell to energy saving mode, only keeping the emergency beacon on sporadically.

Central Hub - Why are seekers so stubborn?

>"...This is Contemptor...I am in the process of retreiving Hellion. I have sustained some...minor damage."< Contemptor looked down at the shattered remnant of his left arm as he spoke into his tranceiver, and he grimaced as he absently touched his upper arm strut. He was deffinatly sour over the previous encounter.

Contemptor had sent his transmission to Vindicator on the Ultrax. He didn't know that the Siege Commander was aboard the Ultrax, so it came as a surprise when the baritone vocals rattled around his cranial unit that his only close friend was in orbit watching what was happening in the desert. His surprise was even more lengthened when the growled reply jolted him into action.

Contemptor turned and made his way towards Hellion - her energon signal was faint, but showing that she was still functioning. Contemptor wondered if she had gone into stasis lock, but it would not be foolish to expect the battle with the Autobot Hardhead to be an easy task.

Contemptor tried again to contact the femme as he approached at a purposeful stride.

>"Hellion...Hellion this is Contemptor do you acknowledge?.....Hellion respond!"<

If anyone would have questioned Contemptor in his feelings, the faint tremor in his vocalizer when he contacted the berzerker would have gave away his usual calm and cold exterior.

'Dammit seeker.. answer me!' Contemptor snarled under his breath as the form of Hellion came into view in the distance.



>"This is Siege Commander Vindicator to all Decepticons in the Iranian Desert. Co-ordinates are being broadcast for assembly for safe Bounce Extraction back to the Ultrax...Leave no 'con behind!"<

Above the Combat Zone

Starscream was banking around after he had dropped his cluster bombs when the transmission came in from the Ultrax, but not from Soundwave as he had expected, but from Vindicator. He barely recalled so-called siege commander's name on the roster for the Decepticons he had under his command, but if this unknown was taking charge on the Ultrax that meant Soundwave was no longer on the ship. And with Shockwave now in the system the Commander knew exactly where he was, and this only confirmed what Starscream had already suspected. The Seeker noted the locations for Hellion and Contemptor and broadcasted the coordinates to the Ultrax so they could be bounced up to the ships.

>>Vindicator, Starscream. Most of the ground team are with the energon they have secured, I have also marked the locations for the other members of the team not in the zone. You should be able to bounce us all back to the Ultrax, and do so ASAP. We have a number of wounded that need immediate attention.<<

After he cut the transmission Starscream flew low to the ground and transformed back into his robot form and waited to be bounced back up to the ship.

Iranian Desert – Central Hub


As the sounds of battle continued around him, Warpath was in another world. With his turret cannon now in several pieces scattered amongst the rubble, the normally loud and upbeat warrior was almost completely dispondent. Though Ratchet assured the crimson warrior that he would be back in one piece, it did little to raise Warpath's spirits.

"Yeah, sure doc." Warpath mumbled, still looking away from Ratchet, who did all he could to physically pull the tankbot despite Warpath's unwillingness.

You'll put me back into one piece, but it won't be the same will it? I've seen and heard enough. Everyone said my cannon was always getting in the way and knocking things over, or blocking things. You're just gonna fix me up and leave me without a new one, probably stick me with some flimsy gun. Maybe it did get in the way sometimes, but it was MY cannon, and it's who I am!

Warpath then overheard the Autobot CMO contact Ironhide. It sounded like they were going to regroup, something that Warpath now dreaded.

No, I can't let them see me like this!

Iranian Desert - Several Miles from the Central Hub

Skywarp leveled off and descended towards the sand dunes below, one of which partial concealed the train car containing the bulk of the energon they had procured during the mission. Transforming in midair, ‘Warp ignited his foot thrusters and used them to blow away most of the sand that covered the large container. Once that had been completed, the teleporter landed on top of the box car and removed the camouflaged netting that covered the rest just as he received Thrust’s emergency beacon indicating that he had crashed. Apparently, it would just be Ramjet to provide any form of assistance, but even the power-hungry conehead was still no where to be seen. “Figures. I can’t count on anyone for help around here,” the prankster muttered to himself as a frown became etched across his faceplate.

Astroseconds later, Skywarp received a message from Vindicator on board the Ultrax. Without assistance from his fellow Seekers, the teleporter would be unable to reach any designated bounce extraction point. Teleporting was not an option, either, due to the large size of the train car and the highly volatile contents therein. No, 'Warp would not risk destroying not only himself but the energon stockpile they had worked so hard to gather from the pipeline. Vindicator would simply have to bounce him and the cubes from their current location, leaving the box car behind. The black and purple seeker opened a secured comm line back up the the Ultrax:

>>”Vindicator, this is Skywarp. I am unable to reach any bounce extraction point. You will have to bounce me and the energon cubes I have here from my present coordinates.”<<

Iranian Desert: Skies above the Dunes

Slingshot weaved back into the rapidly expanding clouds of smoke and rock. He cut back his engines to the minutest amount in order to allow his snap half S turn to bring him back into the dust and billowing debris. Two bursts of laser fire slammed across his aileron tearing off a large chunk and causing him to spin down towards the deck.

He cried out in pain as his systems desperately tried to compensate for the damage. "Damn fragging standard model." The Aerialbot sniper flipped himself over and dove deep into the dust cover, rocks pelting his form but causing little damage in compared to the smoke trail his wing was emitting. Ramjet would pay for that.

Angling his sensors back to trace the source of the laser fire, Slingshot pulled back on his damaged ailerons and leveled himself off. He knew he could not last too long before he required servicing or at least was forced to the ground. Loading several chains of mortars into his cannons. Without a clear target except for projected course corrections and angles for Ramjet's possible escape routes, Slingshot fired. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

Iranian Desert - Central Hub

Hellion continued to crawl through the sand as she saw the various Transformers running around in the distance. She couldn’t make out who was who, but she knew that there were Autobots out there, and she needed to kill them. The seeker continued to drag herself forward with her good arm, clawing at the ground to drag herself a few more feet.

Then the signals came in calling for a retreat and an end to the battle. “Nooooo” came out of her vocalizer as a rough whisper. She said it again , louder this time, then a scream. “NOOOOOO!” She slammed her fist on the ground in frustration as another battle had ended with her enemies surviving.

The berserker finally began coming down from her rage as she received a signal from Contemptor. With most of her fuel having been spilled or burnt out of her, she had only enough energy left to turn on her locator beacon before falling into stasis lock.

*

Ironhide simply nodded at Hardhead as he jogged past him. He didn’t really like someone else trying to play the bodyguard act on him but he didn’t have the time to argue now. They needed to get everyone back together and regroup, get wounds patched up and ready for the next round of fighting.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of jet engines roaring. He turned around to see Skywarp rocketing away. Contemptor was rolling around on the ground and didn’t look to be attacking anyone soon. It looked like the battle was over and the Cons were getting out while the getting was good. Ironhide grunted. It wasn’t exactly a victory but he felt they had at least given as good as they got.

>>"Affirmative on that Ratchet, I'll get everyone else to meet us over there."<<

>>”Autobots, meet up at the provided coordinates. Looks like the fight is over so we need to get together, gather the wounded and head home.”<<

Ironhide pressed his remaining hand against the stump on his shoulder. He was leaking out some fluids despite doing his best to cut off the flow to his shoulder internally. He could keep going for a while longer though, it just stung like the pit. He glaced at his severed arm tucked under his good arm. It looked like a pretty clean cut, hopefully a quick fix. He walked over towards Ratchet and waited for the others to join him.

*

Iranian Desert - Several Miles from the Central Hub

Slipstream transformed and landed in front of Skywarp. She had been circling high overhead, the other seeker had slipped down below her and landed. She grunted a bit as she landed, the shrapnel from the near miss fired by Warpath still stinging. The damage wasn’t as bad as she let on though. She just wanted to make sure that her sudden withdrawal from battle was completely justified. She wasn’t about to go above and beyond the call of duty on some phony distraction mission.

“Commander Skywarp, I’m glad to see you intact. I assume you have already requested a bounce back to the ship?”

OoC:I thought of this with Ramjet and Waspinator. Dunno if I am allowed to do this, but Waspinator's destruction needed a little more humor. But don't worry, it won't last long.

Central Hub

Ramjet was flying with fierceness, then he heard a horrid scream. He knew who it was; it was that idiot Waspinator.

>>You okay my buzzing friend?<< Ramjet asked through a comm link with Waspinator.

>>Not aga-zzrrrrrk-aain...<< Waspinator responded, then nothing but static.

If Ramjet were in the position to, he would have facepalmed at the message. But unfortunately, he wasn't and he was needed elsewhere.

He kicked in the airbrakes and narrowly missed a string of mortars from the annoying pest Slingshot. His anger built up slowly, it was urking him that he couldn't finish the battle and Starscream ordering the retreat made him even more angry.

The camel's back was about to break. Soon.

"Hey, I gotta go! This isn't over!" Ramjet called out to Slingshot as he turned back and kicked in his afterburners.

He flew over to near Waspinator's last known location, it was near a damaged Warpath and Ratchet. He flew dawn low and transformed in the front of what was left of a supply bunker, and walked in. He rummaged around the crates and found a net that was covering some of the crates to hold them to a wooden base. He yanked it off and tied the tops together, but leaving one end open to put the form of Waspinator in.

He slung the net over his shoulder and jogged over to what was left of Waspinator, then picked up an arm of the lowly Insecticon and put it into the netting as fast as he could. He did the same with some of the other body parts, then shoved the torso into the netting.

He accidentally clunked Waspinator's head and it sprung to life, somehow.

"What? Whatzz going on?? Why can't Wazzpinator zzee!?" Waspinator said as Ramjet slung the netting over his shoulder.

"How are you still online? You should be deactivated." Ramjet stated as he began to jog through the battle and toward Skywarp.

"Truzzt Wazzpinator, Wazzpinator go through more than thizz." He said, voice bouncing as the net was flinging on his back, for it wasn't tied down too much.

Waspinator was losing a lot of Energon, he would have to make this quick.

He slid behind a building and rested his back against the wall, he would need a recharge later.

>>Skywarp, I've got Waspinator here with me, I'm coming as fast as I can on foot.<< Ramjet said as he put his weight on the wall.

Waspinator's protests were too muffled to hear.

Iranian Desert - Central Hub

Hardhead didn’t need coordinates to find his way to the meeting place. He simply followed Ironhide to their designated rendezvous point. The danger from a Decepticon follow-up attack had waned as the seekers continued their retreat from the area. There had been no clear winner here as both sides had suffered losses. Although, one could argue that the side which retreated first was the loser. Unfortunately, the ‘Cons had also apparently gotten away with at least some amount of energon, but it was unclear as to just how much. Regardless, the enemy had succeeded in their main objective and that didn’t sit very well with the green warrior. At least it wasn’t the Autobots who were retreating as the stubborn mech would have scoffed at the notion and kept on fighting until the bitter end even if it meant disobeying orders. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.

Hardhead reached the rendezvous point at about the same time as Ironhide. The war veteran looked over to his one-armed field commander and nodded. “That looks like it hurts, ‘Hide,” the green warrior said as he focused in on his friend’s severed arm. “Although, I guess it’s better than losing your head, right? Heh heh!” Hardhead couldn’t resist poking a little fun at himself, considering the lose of his cranial unit in a prior battle. Hopefully, it would liven the overall mood a bit, but he wasn’t expecting too much.

Iranian Desert - Several Miles from the Central Hub

Skywarp watched as Slipstream circled overhead before landing beside him on top of the train car. The femme was another seeker who had abruptly withdrawn from the battle, but at least she had signs of damage to her frame, even if it didn’t appear to be too serious. It mattered little to ‘Warp as the saboteur was one of the few on this mission that didn’t give him a hard time and had actually showed him some degree of respect. Even now she still referred to him as “Commander”, a title that didn’t seem to go with his name and probably never would again.

“There’s no need to call me that anymore, Slipstream,” Skywarp replied sheepishly to his fellow teleporter. “I'm afraid I stopped being the commander of this mission the moment Starscream arrived. And, yes, I've already contacted Vindicator on board the Ultrax and told him that he'll have to bounce the energon and myself from this location.” The prankster then received Ramjet’s communication and quickly opened a channel back to the white conehead:

>>”Understood, Ramjet. However, there’s no rush to get here as Vindicator will be bouncing us all back to the ship within one breem. So, just sit tight wherever you are.”<<

OoC: Sorry if this seems like a double post

Iranian Desert - Going home

Contemptor looked at the prone form of Hellion, and the mess of the dust and grit around her damaged form, fluids from her internal systems had turned the sand into a dark mire of mud and slush. Over time the desert would reclaim itself and all traces of spilled Cybertronian body fluids would be obliterated by the winds and the sun. Contemptor however, didn't care about that at the moment, for all he cared about was getting Hellion back to the damned Ultrax and getting himself a new arm.

'Grr....time to pick you up and take you home seeker...' Contemptor grumbled to himself as he began to retreive his energon axe before getting to Hellion. The only thing that bothered him was his left knee, as the scuffle with Ironhide had left him with a limp that was irritating to the point of frustration. If Contemptor were a human, his knee would have been dislocated and have required surgery to repair it. But as it was, he was more than a measly human, and easier to repair and, therefor, superior.

Contemptor looked down at Hellion and, with his damaged knee, gingerly crouched down and wrapped his arm around the bezerker's waist - and being a femme, her structure allowed Contemptor's arm to hook her before lifting her up over his shoulder. The injury to his knee hindered his movements, and after he stood with the stasis-locked seeker slumped over his shoulder, he removed his arm to press the transmitter switch on his chest. The large shoulder plates that helped form up the front engine housing of his alternate mode helped keep the femme in place so that Contemptor could accept the bounce signal back to the Ultrax.

"Well kid..." Contemptor said to Hellion "...we're goin' home..."

There was a faint buzzing in the air around the large truck-former as a shaft of light slowly got brighter and brighter, and when it was at its brightest, where once the large decepticon stood, there was nothing but a set of large foot prints that was slowly being filled in by the soft blowing desert winds.

Iranian Desert – Autobot Rendezvous Point

It hadn’t taken long for Ratchet to make it to the coordinates that he provided Ironhide. The CMO scouted the area before he settled down and removed his medical kit. It wouldn’t be long before the other would arrive and he’d be elbow deep in energon and mangled parts. Ratchet took a look around and spotted Warpath who had been following him to the location.

The CMO was no psychiatrist, but the tankformer looked as though he needed someone to talk to. Ratchet’s optics narrowed as he picked up one of his wrenches and threw it directly at Warpath’s head.

“Warpath! Quit your moping! Losing that damned gun is not going to terminate you, but if you keep this crap up I sure as hell will!”

Once he was done reprimanding the tankformer, Ratchet opened up a link with Ironhide, who still hadn’t shown up.

>>”Red! Where the hell are ya? I’m gonna contact the Guardian and give them our location so they can bounce us back, but I wannna get everyone patched up beforehand. Get here as soon as you can.”<<

That done Ratchet opened a link with the Guardian.

>>”Guardian, this is Ratchet. I’m sending you the coordinates the Iranian team will be located at for a bounce pick up. DO NOT initiate until I contact you again. Out.”<<

Iranian Desert – Autobot Rendezvous Point

As far as Warpath was concerned, he wasn't in Iran, or even on Earth. Right now he was in his own personal hell. Something he felt important that had made him an effective warrior, something that made him unique compared to the other Autobots, was gone. Any replacement Ratchet would put there, if he even did replace it, would be different. Warpath hated the thought.

"OW!" the tankformer shouted in surprise as he felt something hard hit his head.

The warrior looked around expecting to see one of the Decepticons making some half-aft, last minute attack as they left- probably that lame insecticon, Waspinator wanting to say he got the last shot in. When he realized there were no Decepticons around Warpath looked down to see what it was that hit him. He then noticed one of Ratchet's wrenches on the ground, and picked it up. He finally looked over at the CMO, who gave him a good chewing out. Warpath limped over to the medic, handing the wrench back to him.

"Sorry, Ratchet.", Warpath apologized, "I'll try to pull myself back together.... so to speak, heh."

Though he still wasn't his loud, boisterous, usual self, Warpath was at least trying to get himself back up. It wouldn't be easy, though.

Oh, my poor, poor gun....

Central Hub

Ramjet sighed when he received the transmission from the Purple and Black seeker.

He began to fume, if he was a Human, he would have changed color to crimson out of frustration.

"I can't believe it, Waspinator! I practically did nothing but labor this battle!" Ramjet stated, but no response came.

"Waspy?"

He placed the net on the ground to check the Green Insecticon's status. It was grim, Waspinator was offline and he was low on Energon.

He grit his teeth and stepped out of his cover and aimed at Warpath carefully, then fired out of rage.

He felt the air become static, so he picked up the netting with Waspinator inside, and he was bounced out in a shaft of light.

(OOC: I’m getting Starscream moved to the Ultrax)

Iranian Desert

After Starscream’s communique to Vindicator, and once the Impromptu Commander had landed safely, a blinding beam of light pierced the sky from above and bathed the silver seeker in its brilliance. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the light and Starscream were gone.

*All of the 'Cons should be back on the Ultrax*

Transmission from the Guardian to Ratchet

>>This is Blaster, I gotcha, Ratch. Just say the word and I'll bounce you all up<<

Iranian Desert – Autobot Rendezvous Point

As Warpath handed the wrench over to Ratchet, he thought he heard something. He turned around to see what it was, only to be caught in the shoulder by Ramjet's laser, just before the conehead was bounced.

"OWW! WHY THAT SLAGGIN!", Warpath screamed in pain as he grabbed his shoulder.

For now Warpath's depression was gone, replaced by anger and physical pain. The maroon warrior removed his hand to get a closer look. His shoulder assembly was still intact, but a good chunk of armor had been taken out. All in all, this battle was not one of his shining moments.

"AAARGH, BLAM! No good, rotten coward! Shooting a 'bot with his back turned and without a weapon!" the warrior steamed.

Warpath turned back to Ratchet.

"Fraggin, just get us back up there and fix me up so I can forget about this!", Warpath angrily asked, "The faster I can get my gun back, the faster I can BAM, all those slaggin' cons into scrap!

Iranian Desert – Autobot Rendezvous Point

“I’m coming, I’m coming slaggit. I ain’t that fast even with all of my limbs attached Ratchet,” Ironhide yelled at the medic as he jogged over to the rendezvous coordinates. He was starting to feel a little weak from the loss of fluids. He took a seat on the ground next to Ratchet, dropping his detached arm on the ground next to him. “If you can just seal up the leaks on my shoulder I should be good to go Ratchet.” He slowly pulled his hand away from the wound wet with various fluids. His internal systems had shut down most of the flow to the injury but there was still a fair amount dripping out.

Ironhide looked around at the other Autobots. It looked like they had taken some nasty wounds, but nothing life threatening. Warpath was probably sulking about his gun, but hopefully he wouldn’t have any problems once it was repaired. Hardhead had taken a beating but lived up to his reputation. He didn’t see the Aerialbots around, which was a little concerning.

>>”Silverbolt, Slingshot, you flyboys alright? We are gathering up to head back to the ship.”<<

The red mech looked over at Ratchet. “Just get everybody patched up enough to make it back to the repair bay. I don’t want to stay here any longer then we have to. The humans are bound to come poking around sooner or later.”

Iranian Desert: Rendezvous Point

Slingshot cursed as he pivoted over and slowed his mad dash towards oblivion. The flier was exhausted, low on fuel and high on emotion. This battle was already over and he didn't like it. The facts were that inwardly he was grateful that he hadn't managed to screw things up this time around causing the deaths of his fellow Autobots. But it was also mixed with the realization that this was yet another indecisive battle to which there was no sure winner.

Ironhide's voice crackled over his communications link bringing him back out of his brief bout with brooding. "Yeah, I'm here. Don't know about our fearless leader but at least I managed to keep these skies clear and safe for friendly travel." He let loose a callow yet hollow laugh.

He transformed into robot form as he approached the deck. Landing in the sand he made his way over to the collection of other Autobots. "At least I managed to fair better than most. And I got me a little tattoo coming for one downed and out Decepticon Cone Head."

Iranian Desert-- Rendezvous Point

Ironhide’s communique signaled the end of the Autobot offensive in the battle but Silverbolt wouldn’t be satisfied until he and every member of his team were back on the ground and getting a good once over by Ratchet.

For that reason he refused to respond until he saw Slingshot break off his pursuit of the Deceticons and radio in. Grateful the young mech hadn’t gotten his fool head shot off gave Silverbolt the silver lining he needed to take from the battle. None of his team was severely damaged and he was pretty sure he only needed a cursory repair.

Flying towards the ground he responded to Ironhide. >>“I’m fine Ironhide, will be at your location in four astroseconds.<< Ending his transmission Silverbolt turned towards the ground pleased this descent was of his own doing.

Once on the ground he sighed noticeably at the solid thunk his landing made. Once on the ground his optics blinked off for a second as power rerouted itself. He needed more than a once over, that was for sure but he had to see to his team first.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Slingshot with some Autobots talking up his conquests. Someday he’d learn but for now he was entitled to his fun. He earned it in Silverbolt’s mind. It didn’t take him long to find Ironhide as the Autobot was helping some injured bots to the location. Their victory was hollow at best.

“We’re both ready for transport.” His optics flickered again but his internal systems took care of it for the moment.

Iranian Desert – Autobot Rendezvous Point

“It’s about slaggin’ time, Red!”

Ratchet cast Ironhide a heated glare as the old warhorse sat down next to him. Ironhide then placed his severed arm down on the ground next to him. He then pulled his hand away from his shoulder where his arm was once attached. Ratchet move in closer to have a look at the same time he roughly tugged Ironhide over.

“That was a perfectly good joint attachment! I know because I was the one who installed it!”

With his optics now focused on the red mech’s face, Ratchet shook his head as he began to seal off the leaks. As he worked he grew quiet. Silently he thanked Primus that Hide and the others were not seriously injured. A couple of breems passed and Ironhide’s shoulder had stopped leaking any and all fluids. Reattaching his arm would take more time and more precise tools.

“Done. Once we get back on board the Guardian I’ll get that arm reattached.”

The CMO looked over his shoulder and spotted Slingshot heading over. It didn’t seem as though he was in need of major repairs, but he was certain that the Aerialbot could use some Energon and some down time. Silverbolt arrived just after Slingshot. A slight smile began to form on Ratchet’s face when he noticed Silverbolt’s optics flicker. The smile faded quickly replaced by a deep frown as he quickly stood up and stalked over to the Aerialbot Commander. Without so much as a warning Ratchet reached up and took hold of Silverbolt’s head and tugged until the taller mech was staring him in the face.

“What in the Pit did you do? Why are your optics flickering?”

Ratchet turned Silverbolt’s head from side to side trying to spot the injury that could have caused the abnormality.

Iranian Desert-- Autobot Rendezvous Point

To say Ratchet surprised him was an understatement. While not known for his bedside manner, Silverbolt had always believed Ratchet was given a bad reputation by his fellow mechs that didn’t like repair bays. Having one’s head nearly pulled from his neck servos can change that perspective post haste.

“What in the Pit did you do? Why are your optics flickering?”

“I crashed.” Of course the phrase came out as “Af crafft”. Before Ratchet could ask him again he grabbed the medic’s hands freeing him from the maniacal grip. “I crashed. Dirge… surprised me.”

There it was, he got it out in the open and was sure he heard Slingshot snicker. Ignoring the looks he was sure were directed his way Silverbolt stood as proud as he could. When his optics flickered again, this time staying dark for longer than the others he fought against the fear rising in him.

“I can wait. My team needs attention.“ He knew Ratchet wouldn’t let him off without a thorough exam despite his efforts, so he resigned himself to the fact he was at the medic’s tender mercy. Not the way his day was supposed to end.

Iranian Desert – Autobot Rendezvous Point

Ironhide offered the chief medic a smile at his griping. “Yeah, you installed it, but how long ago? Warranty probably ran out ages ago, probably do fer a replacement anyway. Mebbe you can drag me in fer all that maintenance you are always sayin’ I need.” He waited silently for a moment as Ratchet did his work. He knew better than to rile him up too much while he was busy working, particularly when he was the patient. He did clap him on the shoulder with his remaining arm when he was done. “Thanks doc, I’ll hit the repair bay once we are up and I’ve filled in the head honchos on what happened here.”

The smile faded from his face as he considered that meeting. He wasn’t exactly sure what to call this mission. At best it was a stalemate really. Both sides had gotten their licks in and gone home bloodied and battered. That almost felt worse then a loss. At least when you lost you knew where you stood and what had happened. This whole thing was just a confusing mess. Ah well, he’d let Prowl figure out the details, that was his thing after all

The red mech looked up as the Aerialbots landed. He mostly ignored Slingshot’s cocky comments. The young ones always like to talk up every little thing they did, like they wanted an energon goodie. Silverbolt on the other hand wasn’t say much, at least not much intelligible. Ironhide stood up and walked over to where Ratchet was examining him. “Is he alright Ratchet? We can delay bounce until he checks out or emergency bounce out now if he needs some heavy treatment.”