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The Ultrax is the frigate used by the Stunticons and it reflects their personality. It is beat up, dirty and fairly ugly, but fully armed and operational. Or at least it was. Forced to hide from Shockwave and the Thanatos, Starscream propelled the frigate into the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean through a transwarp rift. Now it lies at the bottom of Kurile Trench, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. A null field generated to shortcircuit possible tracking devices left by Soundwave, has left the ship a pale imitation of its former self. To make it fly again would require a good deal of maintenance but at least Starscream's Decepticons have something to call a base for now.

Corridor leading to the bridge

As Motormaster's consciousness finally returned, the massive Stunticon found himself lying on his back, thrown out from the bridge by either the transwarp jump of the crash. Not a single beam of light - excluding the glow of his own optics, something that he really did not even register - penetrated the all consuming darkness surrounding him. Pulling himself up, Motormaster turned on series of lights, including the headlights of his truck mode. With the corridor now bathing in light, the massive Stunticon was finally able to give a look at his surroundings. Nothing seemed broken, his immediate surroundings looking as ugly as ever. However, the blast doors of the Bridge had been slammed shut by lack of power. At least it didn't look like anyone had managed get oneself mauled by the doors. Although Motormaster had to admit he would not have minded getting a chance to laugh at some unfortunate bot who'd have had his leg or arm crushed by the doors.

What did bother the Stunticon was the fact that he could not hear a single sound. The ship had turned silent. Was everyone else still out? He doubted that. As powerful as he was, his systems didn't reboot any faster than the average bot. Then why the Predacons weren't already trying to cut through the blast door? He was not going to wait for an answer.

Pulling out his trusty sword Motormaster ignited the powerful weapon and began to push the tip of the burning energo-blade against the blast door. There was no going through this door with sheer brute strength of his. As powerful as Motormaster was, he was not Scorponok. These doors were not called blast doors for nothing. While it was going to take a while, he'd cut through the door faster with the energo-sword than his atom-smasher rifle. He could only hope the Predacons were already up on the other side, putting their blades to work.

Repair Bay

Emitting a low groan from her vocalizer, Patchwork raised a free hand to her cranial unit to check for damage—and perhaps in an effort to stabilize her optics’ data-feed. It was dark, of course, dark and smothering as the void between galaxies, but that was to be expected. The null field would have knocked out virtually all of Ultrax’s systems, and most of them would have to be re-initialized manually. She checked the plasma torch she had been using to secure Hellion’s CR chamber to the deck, noting with some relief that she hadn’t managed to slice clean through the hull while she’d been offline.

The medical engineer rose, relieved to note that she hadn’t wound up pinned under anything bigger than a packing crate. It was slow going in the dark, but eventually she managed to grope her way over to her work station at the far end of the bay. From there, she was able to activate the emergency lighting for that part of the ship.

It was … not quite so bad as she had expected, really. Most of the supplies she had packaged for transport via bounce now lay strewn haphazardly across the floor, and it looked like several canisters of medical-grade lubricant and fuel had broken open. The blast doors were firmly in place, which probably meant that she and anyone else in the repair bay were stuck until power was restored. But, at a glance, it appeared that the CR chambers and stasis pods had not suffered any irreparable damage.

Small favors, then.

After checking on the battery pack powering Hellion’s chamber to reassure herself that its energy levels remained adequate for the time being, Patchwork began the laborious process of salvaging what she could of her supplies and tools. She was, in all likelihood, going to find herself in need of them again in the very near future.

Bridge

Razorclaw’s optics flickered on as his various internal and external systems began to reboot. Unlike many others around the ship, he had been seated and thus did not end up lying on the floor. Instead, his upper torso and cranial unit had lain against the control console in front of him, which was now dark as was the rest of the bridge. Sitting back up, the Predacon Commander felt around his terminal until he found the switch for the bridge's emergency lighting and activated it. A warm reddish glow filled the room, allowing him to visualize the rest of his unit along with Starscream, who were all near completing the process of rebooting.

“Everyone report your status,” Razorclaw ordered, mainly to his Predacons, as he carefully stood from his chair. “It appears as though the ship is without primary power, a side effect of the null field.” Razorclaw continued to survey the bridge and quickly spotted a small leak on the port side. They had apparently made a successful crash landing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The question was where exactly in that huge body of water did the Ultrax settle? Before that could be determined, the hull crack needed to be sealed.

“Divebomb, get your aft up and solder that breach shut. It’s small now, but it will surely grow if not dealt with immediately.” After pointing the area of concern out to his aerial subordinate, Razorclaw found his way to the entrance of the bridge where Motormaster had once been standing. However, the Stunticon Commander was no longer there and instead the blast doors had been activated, effectively isolating the bridge from the rest of the ship. It was a safety protocol, one that was likely triggered during the crash. However, now it was an obstacle that they needed to overcome if they were to ultimately restore full power to this junk heap of a vessel.

Razorclaw pulled out his vibrating sonic sword and quickly jammed it into the edge of the blast door, the molecular bonds of which began to break down, making it a bit easier to cut through the six foot thick barrier. On the opposite side, the Predacon Commander could just barely make out a similar sound of metal scraping against metal. It was likely Motormaster trying to get back into the bridge utilizing his own sword.

“Predacons, draw your swords and assist me in slicing through this blast door. It’s imperative that we free ourselves from this potential tomb and restore power to the ship. Now get a move on!” Razorclaw bellowed back to his squad. Tantrum quickly reacted and rushed to his commander’s side, pulling out his electro-sword and digging into the door frame. The other Predacons would soon follow. Divebomb, of course, would be a bit delayed in helping the rest until he had that minor breach under control.

Bounce Chamber

Skywarp awoke on the floor near the bounce pad. His vision was a bit fuzzy at first but that soon cleared, revealing the darkness that now surrounded him. “Where the slag are we?” The teleporter questioned, not being able to see anyone. After each of his systems were fully online once more, ‘Warp stood up and carefully made his way across the room where he found the overhead light sensor that was located next to the doorway. He hit it several times, but without success. The room was still dark.

No power, the prankster thought, quickly switching on a smaller light that was mounted on the right side of his cranial unit. It gave little illumination, but it was better than nothing at this point. Looking down, he quickly found Nightraven and Ramjet, their own systems slowly rebooting after what he could only assume was a crash landing. He could vaguely remember before blacking out, Ramjet trying to apologize to him and Nightraven, but not really sounding very sincere in his efforts. Skywarp could care less as he ignored the trouble-making conehead and knelt down beside the femme seeker, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

“Nighty, are you okay?”

Corridors

Drag Strip slowly awakened to the realization that he was in total darkness, completely unaware of his current location. Am I dead? Is this what the Afterspark looks like? Did the ship crash and burn? Where the frag am I? The former racer’s thoughts were sporadic as he sat up, his systems now fully rebooted. His heads-up display kicked on automatically, giving him an operational status of every module, circuit and process running within his framework. Clearly Drag wasn’t dead. Otherwise, he would not be able to view his HUD let alone feel his own spark pulsating within his chest cavity, a sensation that was commonly felt by some mechs after a sudden and complete reboot.

“Thank Primus,” Drag Strip muttered to the darkness as he then activated his own head-mounted light. Looking over to one side, he found Wildrider lying next to him. For some apparent reason, the terrorist was taking a bit longer to boot back up, an obvious sign that the grey Stunticon’s systems were not as efficient as Drag’s. “Come on, loser, get up already!” The yellow racer shouted as he picked himself up off the floor. He looked back down to see his comrade still lying there. “Suit yourself.”

Stepping over the terrorist, Drag Strip carefully made his way down the blackened corridor towards the repair bay. He still had his back to get fixed and he wasn’t about to wait for Wildrider to get up and join him in order to do so. Of course, with the power still out, he would likely still have to wait until the CR chambers were back online unless Patchwork could work her magic in the mean time.

Repair Bay

The intense darkness that had consumed Breakdown began to fade when his HUD rebooted and his optics came back online. Although it was just as dark in the repair bay as it was while he was unconscious. This didn’t bode well. The white and blue Stunticon scurried back up into a seated position as he tried to recapture his bearings.

“Wha…wha… what happened? Are we one with the Allspark? Why is it so dark?”

His questions were directed at Dead End whom he remembered being next to before he fell into, what he thought was oblivion. When he got no answer the scout feared the worse. That he was actually one with the Allspark…or worse that he was now in the far reaches of the Pit.

Breakdown let out a low whimper as he slowly rose and tried to feel his way around, a difficult task since he was still without usable servos. He didn’t make it far before his foot hit something solid.

“Dead? Is that you?”

Bounce Chamber

It took a little longer for Nightraven’s systems to reboot, but once they did the Seeker femme let out a low groan. Her cranium hurt. She probably hit the floor harder than expected. Once her optics came back online she was able to see a small source of light coming from, from…somewhere.

When she felt Skywarp’s hand on her shoulder and heard him ask if she was alright, Nightraven flashed the teleporter a weak smile. She let out another groan as she started to sit up. Her hand went to the back of her cranium, rubbing it to ensure there was no damage.

“I’m alright. Just a slight processor ache, but I’ll live.”

She let out a light chuckle as she looked around the small area that was being illuminated by the light mounted on the side of Skywarp’s head. It was still too dark to see very much, but she was still able to make out the unconscious form of Ramjet. Everything else was shrouded in darkness.

“So, the lights don’t work. Is the door closed? If it is we’re stuck in here until the power is restored.”

She looked back down to Ramjet and back up to Skywarp.

“I already don’t like how this is going to play out.”

Repair Bay

“Wha…wha… what happened? Are we one with the Allspark? Why is it so dark?” Dead End heard a voice grumble in the darkness.

His HUD had come back online, an act that already surprised him. He hoped that this was not would await him in the hereafter, if there was such a thing. He felt around in the darkness. It felt like the same aged steel floor he had sat down on moments earlier. But it was clear that the Ultrax was not back to functioning at optimum capacity. Where had they ended up? Had they managed to trade one prison for another? What was going to happen if...

Ow, Dead End thought, as something hard impacted with his leg.

“Dead? Is that you?” came that voice again, more recognizable now. Breakdown.

"In all my operational glory," the Stunticon mumbled, pulling the outstretched leg closer to his body. "I suppose it's not even worth getting up yet."
___

Bridge

"Feeling good," Rampage said, after he had come back to full activity and their unit leader had asked for a status update. They had come out of their little ploy alive. That was all that mattered. Everything else could be dealt with once they regrouped.

When Razorclaw had ordered them to draw their swords and assist, Rampage quickly did just that. Even with no primary power in the ship and little in the way of traditional optical navigation, Rampage's movements were smooth and instinctive. He had no trouble operating in near darkness back on Cybertron. He actually kind of liked it. He wasn't going to lose that capacity now.

Medical Bay

Waspinator felt movement on the shoulder he held to so tightly. His blue optics, odd for a Decepticon, pierced the darkness a short distance away. He fluttered his wings as his systems came back online, trying desperately to hold tight to the shoulder which was moving around so much.

He lifted off for just a moment as Patchwork moved off, most likely to the CR Chambers. Waspinator could not tell for the light was so dim.

Feeling nothing below him, he transformed into robot mode. He fluttered his wings again and reached out to his left, he hit something! He pat his hand on whatever it was. It felt like...

"Oops! Wazzpinator sorry, Wazzpinator's mistake!" Waspinator said apologetically, he didn't know who he touched, but he was pretty sure it was Patchwork.

He pulled his hand back rather quickly out of embarrassment, and then he began to feel to his right, where he felt a table. Waspinator walked over to it and felt around for anything that would give light. He felt what seemed to be a chemistry kit. Feeling for the knob to light the flame.

Suddenly, the flame lit and the light from the flame lit the room at least a bit further. It was at least bearable, as he could see the room a bit better. He lifted the almost candle-like flame and carried it around the room to light it a bit better.

*****

Bounce Chamber

Ramjet's optics opened sharply and a groan escaped his vocalizer. He couldn't see! Were his optics offline? Ramjet pushed up from his stomach down position and stood up, head banging a small bit. Due to his disability, he was sure that the pain would be unbearable to others.

He shook his head to steady his senses. Once acquainted with the dark environment, Ramjet noticed that Skywarp and Nightraven had completely ignored him.

"Well I'm fine! I'm so glad you care!" Ramjet said. You could almost see the sarcasm seeping off the words.

Ramjet spun his arm and several clicking noises emitted from the shoulder, he spun it a bit more and the noises ceased.

He sighed as he rubbed the back of his cranial unit, as he was trying to remember where he left off with his apology to Nightraven...

I was childish... Nah... Foolish. Yeah, that's the word. Ramjet thought as he made his way to Nightraven.

Better I do this in private. Less of a blow to my ego. Ramjet mused as he tapped Nightraven on the shoulder.

"Hey, uh," Ramjet rubbed the back of his cranial unit, keeping a close eye on Skywarp, "Nightraven, could I talk to you in private for a bit? Better that way."

He gave his best "Trust me" look, but couldn't quite tell for the darkness.

Bridge

Divebomb groaned as he pushed himself up. His optics flickered to life as he scanned the darkned room. So much for room to fly, he figured. Not long after pushing himself up, Razorclaw had already given him an order. A small one, but at the very least he would be working away from the rest, even if it only was a few feet.

"Fine, and yes sir." Divebomb responded quickly, jumping back up onto his feet. His advanced visual sensors quickly kicked in and spotted the crack easily, even in the darkened room. Wordlessly, he moved towards the breach in the hull, and took out one of his particle beam rifles. He toyed with the weapon for a little bit, before a low energy based heat emerged from the barrel. It wasn't a professional one, but for the time being it would have to do. With one hand on the stock and another around the handle, he carefully worked to solder the breach shut.

Bounce Chamber

Skywarp breathed a sigh of relief when Nightraven fully awakened and confirmed that she was okay now that her systems had rebooted. She then looked around before asking whether the door was closed. ‘Warp glanced over and noticed that the door was, indeed, shut and apparently locked. The idea of being stuck in a small room with Ramjet was enough to make even the bravest of warriors shudder in their circuits. However, it would not be a problem for the resident teleporter and the object of his affection to avoid.

“Yeah, the door’s shut, Nighty,” Skywarp responded as he helped the femme seeker to her feet. “But don’t forget that I can still teleport. So, we won’t have to wait for the power to be restored to get out of here..." he said as he then leaned in closer to her, "...and away from you know who.”

Just then Ramjet’s loud remark about being fine and no one caring echoed throughout the chamber, giving Skywarp a processor ache along with Nightraven’s. "Great, he's up," the prankster remarked sarcastically. 'Warp then turned to look over at the conehead as he approached Nightraven and asked to speak with her in private. “Where exactly are you going to go in here that’s private, Ramjet? It's not a big room, so I’ll be able to hear anything you say no matter where you stand.”

Skywarp then took a hold of Nightraven's hand and leaned in close to her once again before whispering into her audio receptor. “Just say the word and we’re outta here.”

Bounce Chamber

After finally standing up and steadying herself, Nightraven looked back to the door when Skywarp had mentioned that it, in fact, was closed and most assuredly locked. She turned her attention back to the Elite Seeker when he reminded her that he’d be able to get them out by simply teleporting his way into the corridor beyond.

Nightraven flashed him a smile before she looked back to Ramjet, who had asked to speak with her in private. The request was odd, and she certainly had no desire to be close to the mech in any situation, especially here in a locked room.

Her attention was brought to her hand when she felt Skywarp’s wrap around it. She looked back up and met the black and purple seekers optics as he leaned in and whispered that he could very easily teleport the two of them out of the chamber while leaving the conehead locked within.

Nightraven flashed him a faint smile before she turned to look at Ramjet.

“Whatever you have to say, Ramjet, you can say it without having to corner me.”

Her hand instinctively tightened around Skywarp’s as she watched the coneheaded seeker hoping he wouldn’t take too much offence to her answer, but at the same time ready to give Skywarp the go ahead to get them out of the chamber and away from the maroon and white warrior.

Ultrax Hallways

Runamuck was the first of the two battlechargers to come round from the instant jump drop, and true to his word - whoever the mech was that announced the deployment of the nullfield, Runamuck's cerebral processors where still fuzzy - the null feild had knocked out the battlechargers, as well as every other con on the ship and now, coming to, and still in vehicle mode, Runamuck felt like he was sporting one hell of a hangover.

He groaned as he tried to scan the darkened hallway, but his optics couldnt pick up any light source in the dingy blackout that was the now inert ship of the stunticons. He internally grumbled to himself and fired on his headlamps, the neon bulbs illuminating the dark corridor, and whilst it allowed Runamuck to see, it was also to locate his errant brother.

Angling his head lamps, Runamuck found his brother in the most unflattering position - upsidedown, and headfirst into an empty oil barrell. Runamuck however transformed and sighed at the sight of his twin. Time to save him again!

Taking a step forward, Runamuck heard a shlucking sound around his feet. The sound was followed by a sploosh as he stepped forwards. A cursory glance downward and his sensors took in the black murky solution he was standing in, and it read out on his HUD as a composite mix of Sodium Chloride, NaCl, and Hydrogen Oxide. Runamuck shrugged and splashed forwards to Runabout just as the emergency lighting started to kick in, sparsly seperated - red oily lighting dimly lit the black corridor as Runamuck pulled Runabout down from his unflattering position and sat him upright and started to yank the oil barrell off his head.

"Just slaggin perfect!"