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Badlands

“Nothin’ but scrap…”.

Getaway dropped the viewfinders down from his optics, his vision returning to its normal capacity, not that it made much difference. Instead of a close up view of scrap he now had a nice wide view of scrap, the once complex intersection of speedways now little more than a junk pile. What had taken centuries to build and been obliterated in days.

Careful.

Getting a little sentimental there my boy, good Bots are gonna start thinking you’ve got feelings. Must be a bad influence of the current company he was keeping.

“…and I ain’t yapping about no Decepticons”.

Getaways faceplate took a sour turn as he stood on the small outcrop, slinging his double barrelled shotgun into its harness across his back. He didn’t especially enjoy sticking his head up out the rabbit hole like this, but even the most experienced of patrols had to get their bearings from time to time, especially when trying to navigate through a maze like this. Considering her trade, he imagined Dragunov liked it even less.

“Not that there’s much difference of course”.

With a loud clang Getaway dropped down from the outcropping and back into relative safety, the veteran finding himself back in the middle of his hand picked squad. He found the thought amusing for a moment, hand picked indeed, he really needed to pay more attention to what he was doing in future.

Sitting in Bunkers burned his aft plate, being all cosy and warm. The veteran might have a few ranks to his to his name but nothing busted his chops more than sitting behind a desk and pushing pencils. If promotion was too ever lead to that then he would turn it down flat, no chance in Pitt was he turning into Prowl. One of him was enough. Getaway was a Line Trooper, end of story, he belonged in the muck and grime along with every other grunt in the Autobot Ranks.

This is why he couldn’t wait to get back out in the field, doing something other than counting his days. But before he could do that, the upper class muckity mucks had demonstrated a rare form of generosity and let him pick his own unit, damn nice of them, not something he was used to either. Most days you got what you were given, if the Bots were a green eared pack of Protoforms, too bad, and you gotta live with them, until they got fragged at any rate.

This was different, this time he could plan his own party, and he could pick a squad that was based entirely on merit. On reflection, maybe he should have just picked Bots he knew. At least that way he wouldn’t have been surprised to find out his hand picked team were also all hand picked Fembots.

Not that he minded the Fairer Frame, they sure were nice to look at, only, well, the Veteran hadn’t been too thrilled to find out he was about to be outnumbered three to one.

“Alright Ladies, lets keep moving, I’m startin’ too rust by just standing here”.

Badlands - Getaway's Squad

"Copy that," Dragunov said in a dry tone, like a worn out echo to Getaway's remark about the area being nothing bur scrap. She had to agree with the officer on that. Even her sophisticated visuals could not pick up anything but rubble, dust and bombarded, burnt highway sections. A wide, greyish field of rotten metal.

The other two femmes who accompanied the gruff veteran sighed almost simultaneously. It was already the third checkpoint where they found "nothing but scrap", since they had left Autobase Nu. Ingram and Glock were at first very much excited about being picked for Getaway's squad, for they were finally able to switch guard duty for something else. Even if it was only a patrol, their chances of bumping into some action had increased somewhat. One would never know what they could find out in this no mech's land.

But now that they were out there, they might as well had stayed inside the base.

"Well, if even our dear Elite Queen can't pick up anything in sight, that's prolly because there's nothing in sight..." Glock said with a shrug. The only thing she found amusing out in the open is making snide remarks about the sniper femme Dragunov and calling her names. For some reason, Glock couldn't stand that removed, high and mighty attitude the lighter femme radiated, and she didn't have any plans of making a secret of it either.

"Why, that is the kindest compliment I have received this orn," Dragunov answered with a slight flicker of optics and a faint smile forming on her facial structures. For one, she wasn't lost with words, nor with snide remarks herself.

They would have continued to test each other's patience, but Getaway cut them off by ordering them to move on.

Ingram didn't particularly care, nor did she catch the unfolding antipathy between the other two femmes. As she began to walk behind the veteran officer, she was too busy finding the most convenient position to carry the enormous particle beam cannon she had with herself, on her shoulder. It was too large and too heavy to simply tuck into the subspace holster and besides, holding such weapons in her own hands did good to her sense of security.

"So... um... sir, any chance of us runnin' into somethin' out'ere? This li'l baby is beggin' for me to try'er out..." She said in her usual, simple manner, giving a pat to the side of the particle cannon. Ingram was simple, but at the same time, she was open-sparked and would gladly try to get close anyone she was together with. In this case, Getaway. And of course, she had her hopes of someone finally drawing the possibility for some action before them.

Over the Tygus Span

"Where are the slaggin' Autobots?" Dunehopper wondered aloud as he wheeled around to line up for another attack run with the rest of Rapture's unit. "I came for a fight, not for target practice!"

He primed his incendiary bombs and activated his targeting computer. The computer - a surprisingly complex device, given Dunehopper's relatively low actual intelligence - began to lock onto the second span. A low-powered targeting laser shot from the golden Seeker's nosecone and began 'painting' the span. Soon he would achieve a solid target lock, and be able to launch the devastating munitions.

"Rapture, anyone...we have incoming yet?"

There was a sharp hint of dismay in his voice over the comm. He was spoiling for a good fight...it had been too long.



Hangar Bay - Ark-13

Stepping over to Windcharger's station, Skydive attempted to look over the Minibot's shoulder without seeming too intrusive. Well, his flight vector calculations seem about right. We shouldn't crash into anything, at least. It appeared that the eternally impatient Minibot had handled the task more quickly than Perceptor could order Skydive to assist. That was fine, though; Windcharger had completed the calculations satisfactorily.

"We're all set, Perceptor," the Aerialbot seconded Windcharger's report to the executive officer. "Once Silverbolt and Ultra Magnus are aboard, we can launch immediately."

Onward and upward, Skydive thought. Though he was not frowning outwardly, the Aerialbot was more than a little apprehensive about leaving Cybertron. And why not? Leaving their homeworld...so many risks. Space travel, especially transwarp travel, was frought with potential danger. On top of that, they had little idea of what sort of world to which they were traveling. The inhabitants could be belligerent, hostile, xenophobic...if we are detected, the results could be disastrous. But it was not for his own personal safety that Skydive was afraid.

We may never see Cybertron again. It was a difficult fact to accept.

“There hasn’t been a day since I was built that some Fraggin Con hasn’t taken a shot at me…”

Getaway commented as he yanked his shotgun out of its holster, bracing his faithful weapon in both hands as he resumed point. He got a lot of stick for his choice in hardware, at long distance it really wasn’t worth a slag, but up close and personal, that was a different story. On a battleground like this, with the tight turns and cramp quarters, this beast kicked like a mule and it took one blasted tough Con to get back up again. Of course, that’s why he carried extra bullets.

If shooting a Con didn’t work, it just meant you hadn’t done it enough.

“…it’s why I’m so pretty”.

Briefly turning his attentions to the Femme’s that were following him he took note of their agitation. None of them had been in the field for a while, it’s partly why he choice them, they had the skills, they had the experience, but it was like any soldier worth his salt, you don’t use what your taught, you go mad.

It wasn’t like it used to be, when the Autobots were a Civilian army, fighting as best they could and learning along the way. These new Mechs (and Femmes) were trained to fight from the moment they were built, like him, it was their function in life, it was their purpose. Without your purpose you were…well…you weren’t anything.

Times would change when the war was over, they would find new functions to bring purpose to their lives, but for now, they were soldiers. They had to act like it; they had to actually do it. Sometimes they even just had to blow slag up. Not very Autobot like sure, but Pitt, it sure felt good sometimes.

“So don’t you be worryin none Girl…”

Getaway directed his attention more towards Ingram, the large Femme lugging around a Canon that was bigger than he was. She was a perfect case in point; he could tell by the way she was practically fondling that weapon of mass destruction in her paws. She wasn’t malicious, she had just been given a new toy and then told she couldn’t use it.

Where was the fun in that?

“…no doubt my good karma will spread around”.

His optics took a harder tone as he briefly looked over his shoulder at each member of his unit. Levity was all well and good, but a good Autobot was an alert Autobot, he had survived all these scrapes over the years by dropping his guard. His thick head helped too.

“Now optics open, it may look like nothin’ but scrap around, but like I said, ain’t much difference between them and the Co…”

Getaway didn’t have chance to finish his statement, the reliable vet of a hundred battlefields suddenly disappearing from view. One step and the ground opened up beneath his heavy footfall, several tonnes of lose wreckage suddenly giving way and dropping the Autobot into the unexpected darkness.

There were no Cons so far on this patrol, but he had found a nice hole.

Badlands - Getaway's Squad

Ingram was about to run the words Getaway told her through her cranium, again and again to fully comprehend them. She could figure out that Getaway basically told her not to worry because something was bound to come up, but with all that "karma" and stuff, it took some more effort for the large femme to grasp.

But before she could arrive at the end of the process, there was a sudden, wild, thrashing noise, and the officer disappeared from her view. The three femmes, more by instinct, then by conscious course of action, froze still surrounding the hole in the ground, crouching down and weapons raised, their optics running across the area, searching for anything that might be the cause of Getaway's ungraceful stumble downwards.

Nothing. There were no enemies in sight.

Upon the realization that they were not under attack, the squad members lowered their weapons and turned towards the spot Getaway had fallen through. The cover layer of the surface was much thinner than usual, and would easily crumble under the weight of a mechanoid with above average stature. It was also visible that the full diameter of this underground cavity was relatively large. If they had removed the rubble piled on it, Ingram would have easily fit in there in her tank mode.

Dragunov kneeled down besides the ripped panel and activated the headlights built into her helmet-section. The two beams of light penetrated the darkness and began scanning the inside of the cavity.

"Getaway, sir? Are you alright?" Dragunov said loud enough for anyone down there to hear. And if they heard, they would answer.

Ingram placed the particle cannon she had been holding so gently on the ground, careful no to break it in the process. She had a tendency to wreck her equipment, but before that would happen, she always did her best to try them out at least once.

As the cannon rested, she and Glock began to peel off the piles of rubble and wreckage from the entrance of the duct to see what it really is.

Getaway lay still for several moments, his well enforced frame coming to rest face front of the unforgiving ground, small pieces of debris falling down onto, and then pinging off his armour. His optics remained dim until a larger chunk of scrap ricocheted off his cranium and scattered off onto the floor next to his docile form. With a quite hum light returned his optics, his systems slowly rebooted and a groan escaped his vocalizer. He already knew that in the dark, damp cavern he now found himself in, that this had not been his most graceful moment.

“Getaway, sir? Are you alright?”.

The veteran heard the question echo its way down to him as he pushed himself up to his feet, gears and joints complaining as he shook his dented cranium. At least he knew the voices weren’t coming from his head, he recognised that the question had come from his sniper, Dragunov, so he couldn’t be too badly hurt.

“I’m fine Girl!”

He shouted back up, hearing his own deeper echo bouncing off the walls all around him. His optics struggled to adjust to the dim light of his surroundings so he popped out a torch attached his wrist, bringing light back into his world.

“While I’ll be a son of a Glitch!!”

Getaway wasn’t easily surprised, even under the most stressful of conditions, even in the tick of battle. His almost unmatched talent for keeping his cool and maintaining focus in even the harshest conditions, had earned him a respectable reputation. It was always good to have an Autobot who could keep his head when all those around him lost theirs.

His discovery however, had been a little bit…unexpected.

Even for him.

“Girls! Get your Afts down here!”

Getaway shouted back up with a renewed sense of urgency, this little recon mission had just earned itself a new mandate. The underground tunnel was both vast and stretched at least as far as his own optics could see. Granted, it had seen better days, the roadways were all ripped up and the walls had caved in at several points, but the overall structure was still intact. It was still stable.

Which was always handy when concerning underground highways, more significantly, it wasn’t supposed to exist. All of these tunnels had been collapsed along time ago, flattened by both sides to avoid lending the opposing side an advantage. Clearly one had escaped notice.

This could be handy…

“The way down is a slope, but it’s a tricky little slag to navigate so watch your step! Try to be a bit more graceful than myself yer hear?”

Autobase Nu ~ Hangar Bay

His fears about bringing the Ark to Nova Cronum seemed to have been quite justified, and he really hated being right at times like this, it was just far too big a coincidence that the 'Cons had launched an attack so close to the huge vessel's departure, but there wasn't much that they could do now, their priorities lay elsewhere.

"That won't be necessary Silverbolt.." Ultra Magnus shouted back in reply "..The Ark is more than adequately equipped to deal with a situation like this, for whatever minor damage the Seekers may inflict, it's not worth putting you and your team in the line of fire"

Striding back into the Hangar Bay, the City Commander was quickly heading up the boarding ramp back onto the Ark, and was soon on the bridge once more, noting that Perceptor looked to have everything well under control.


Down below Ultra Magnus, Slingshot was about to reply to the Scientist's request that he man the sensor station with his typical good grace, when the arrival of the mission Commander halted him in his tracks. Standing to attention, roughly, the VTOL Jet moved slowly over to his assigned post and took a seat, before presing a few buttons with more than a hint of disinterest.

"OK Windcharger, let's get those engines fired up, when Silverbolt is onobard, we are out of here.." Ultra Magnus ordered from the top of the bridge "..OK, I want the Ark's defense systems fully online, if those Seekers come after us, then we'll need to be ready. Air Raid, Sureshot, I want you 2 on the ships auto-cannons, Swerve, Searchlight and Bumblebee, I want you 3 to monitor the Ark's defenses and report any damage the 'Cons inflict, and also, if you can, give Air Raid and Sureshot a hand to keep the Seekers at bay, Perceptor, good job"

The City Commander remained standing as he awaited their departure "I'll be slagged if we came all this way to be stumped by a few measly Seekers, not this time" He thought to himself, his grip on the rail infron of him tightening.

----------------------------------------------
Autobase Nu ~ Medbay

"Huh? Nurse thing?" Orpheus replied to Sub-Zero as he too moved over to Topspin to help him onto the nearest table "..I'm no nurse.." The black 'Bot continued "..I'm too clumsy.." He muttered to himself as he went to grab the injured Wrecker, only the Wolf Mech's question stopped him from making another huge blunder "..And stupid.." He muttered again as he cursed himself for being such an idiot.

Smiling as he began to assess the latest set of injuries Springer had collected, Archangel had to stop himself from openly laughing at the Wrecker Commander's relentless, yet good natured, teasing of Minerva. As he began working in earnest to get his patient on his way, the young Medic listened to Springer talk openly about the latest monstrosity to emerge from the depths of Decepticon territory "Sixchanger eh?" Archangel began in reply "..Hold on, this will smart just a bit.." He interrupted his own reply as he sealed off multiple leakages in quick succession "..Sorry, well, look at it this way.." He continued, pausing to look up at the Triplechanger before smiling "..There's just more things to go wrong with him then aren't there?"

Badlands - Getaway's Squad

It took a few astroseconds for sound to echo back and forth in the cavern. It was almost enough to make Dragunov start to worry, but eventually, Getaway's response got through to her. The sniper released a sigh of relief that her officer seemed to have not suffered any significant injuries.

Dragunov was not the kind of mech to hold any particular concerns for the well-being of others. Well, at least on a personal level. If it was duty, that was an entirely different matter. Her background in the aristocracy had taught her that revealing true intentions was more often than not the wrong approach to things. However, when entrusted with a task, Dragunov would do all in her power to fulfill expectations perfectly. Out in the field, keeping an eye out for your superiors was one such task.

Ingram pushed up and threw the last rusty piece of junk blocking the entrance away. The bulk that Dragunov herself probably wouldn't be able to move, let alone roll aside banged loudly as it was cleared out of the way by the robust femme. If there was one thing certain about Ingram - besides her obvious attraction to guns -, it was her considerable physical strength.

"That's that," Glock said as she kicked away some small metallic pebbles from the edge of the cavern entrance and looked down into the dark. The slope was wide and it looked like to have been made artificially, by precise and heavy construction machinery.

Getaway seemed to have noticed the same, as he called all three of them down there.

"Think you can manage?" Glock asked in a tone of challenge, again from the sniper and made a wag at the tunnel. She didn't seem to miss a chance at snapping at Dragunov.

"Want to race to the bottom?" The white femme asked back confidentally.

"Heh, don't make me crush that perfect picture you have of yourself," Glock retorted, and with light, but well measured steps, she began to descend into the tunnel, kicking up small clouds of dust wherever she stepped. Whatever that tunnel was, it had been rusting and gathering dirt for a long, long time.

Dragunov did not reply, just shook her head slightly as Glock began to move downwards. Setting her own visuals to light enchancement mode and tackling her rifle on her back, she also began to descend.

Ingram stood there a bit longer, looking at the particle cannon she had placed on the ground, then at the tunnel, then back at the cannon again. The weapon was large, and carrying it down such a slope might be bad for its structural integrity. In other words, Ingram really didn't want to drop or break it.

"Gotta do this carefully..." She then said, and picked up the cannon, placing it on her shoulder and gripping it tightly with one hand, to hold it firmly. She then stepped catiously down on a ledge, while clinging onto another with her free hand. A little slower, but step by step like that, she made her way downwards, to the level Getaway and the others were at.

"What is this place?" Glock asked as she looked around. In the depths, the tunnel widened, and not only Ingram's tank form, but whole convoys of vehicles could travel across it with ease. Numerous roadways and pillars filled the view, circling and stretching around and outwards, to great distances. It had clearly been not used for a couple of millenia, rust eating away at the cracked and collapsed road sections, one or two cave-ins had spilled debris and large portions of metallic stoncrete inside, but in its entirety, the tunnel seemed to hold.

"The old underground tunnelways. They were used as alternate traffic routes a long, long time ago. Before the Kaon uprisal," Dragunov said as she herself carried her look around the cavern. "Supposedly, all of these path systems have already been rendered useless ages ago. Either by the warfronts, or the factions destroyed them intentionally to prevent entry to certain areas by the other side."

On this one occasion, Glock left her remarks to herself. She found the gigantic tunnelway far more interesting a sight than Dragunov. Still, she had to admit that the sniper had considerably more knowledge on Cybertronian history than herself. Of course, not that it mattered much. History won't save you when a gun is pushed into your face.

"It's slaggin' dark down 'ere!" Came the crackling voice of Ingram, indicating that she made it down without breaking either her weapons, or herself. Then, the heavy weapons femme realized that some adjustments to her visuals should solve the problem of weak lighting.

"Whoa! This place is huge!" She commented as she found the adequate light enhancement level and looked around. She seemed even more fascinated by the place itself than Glock, which was not really a surprise. Ingram had a thing for anything that was big. If it was a weapon, all the better, but if not, mere size would matter enough.

"Where to now, sir?" Dragunov turned to and asked Getaway.

Badlands - Getaway's Squad

As the Fembots under his command proceeded to make their way down, Getaway turned his own attentions towards his own, more immediate, needs. Namely the relocation of his own boomstick, one that had escaped his grasp during the verterans headfirst swandive into the abyss. He couldn't honestly say where this artificially constructed tunnel would ultimately lead, but he wasn't going anywhere without the most effective insurance policy he had ever come across.

Sweeping his wrist mounted searchlight across the cracked and broken floor he finally found the target of his search. Protruding upwards from a pile of twisted scrap was his double barreled beast, he supposed he was lucky the thing hadn't gone off during the fall, blasting its own owner in the most embaressing of places. He had no interest in explaining to anyone how he been shot in the aft by his own weapon.

Grabbing the handle firmly, and with a solid yank, he pulled it free from its early retirement, aiming a critical eye down its barrel. He was no engineer but he knew when something was broken when he saw it, and he knew every inch of his chosen weapon. For the moment he could not detect that anything was amiss. The barrel remained unwarped and the sight was still straight.

Beutiful.

The double barreled beast would serve him yet.

By the time he was satisfied with his own inspection, his internal repair systems also giving the all clear, the Fembot trio had reached him. Ingram was the last to arrive, the tall Fembot still lugging around that canon around that should probably be welded to a bunker. He was still getting used to her towering presence, Fembots weren't meant to be bigger than he was. Some Mechboy out there had clearly been thinking outside the box for her construction.

Well nuts to it, just so long as she could do her job then he didn't really give a frag.

"Where to now, sir?"

Dragunov had asked, she still had that annoying habit of making him sound all important than he was but at least she had stopped saluting.

"Well colour me curious..."

Getaway turned his wrist mounted searchlight back down the artificial tunnel, the dark void extending far further than his little light could penetrate.

"...but I'd like to know where this Retrorabbit hole goes".

Slinging his Shotgun into its holster across his back the Autobot suddenly and quickly transformed, a series of programmed gears shifting and twisting into place, the Warriors mass taking on the form of a heavy speeder. Once complete, his tires hitting the ground with a little thud, his eager engine roared into life and headlights illuminated the way ahead.

"Only one way a Bot like me can think of to find out...Ladies, lets Roll!!"

Ark-13 - In Hangar

Perceptor seemed inflated as Ultra Magnus commended him, and made another stiff salute. "Thank you most graciously Ultra Magnus Sir. I shall endeavour to maintin this level of operational efficiency." He then sat back down.
Perceptor soon realised that in this combat situations, with Ultra Magnus using the new arrivals to filled the need combat roles, he wasn't going to have a whole lot to do in this fight, not having a specific task. I suppose I shall just have to assist the others in their tasks. Perceptor began accepting feeds from the other consoles in the bridge, ready to point out any mistakes or make adjustments if needed. A more sensible bot might have seen this as nosy, or even untrusting of his teammates. Perceptor merely saw the chance to increase team efficiency by overseeing them. That was what command staff did, was it not?

Badlands - Getaway's Squad

"Heh, I hope this works out right," Glock sniggered as he followed Getaway's example and throwing herself forward, transformed into the curved, sleek hovercraft that was her alternate mode, her frame making the all familiar cracking noise of hundreds of body parts shifting and sliding into place. Once the transformation was done, her engines and lights coming to life, and her repulsors sweeping dust aside from under herself, she sped after the squad leader. She was obviously eager to see some action, finally.

Dragunov followed suit as well. While she did so, she pondered for a moment, why Getaway seemed to be a little... well, annoyed with her. She was just doing her duty, afterall. The thought went across Dragunov's cranium again and again, but had yet to find the explanation. She could navigate her way clearly and easily in the upper echelons of society, but as it turned out, she might just have difficulties with the simpler, more straightforward parties.

The world she had known before the war, and the world she was living now were so much different.

Ingram transformed herself, into the long-barrelled heavy tank that served as her secondary form, and carefully attached the particle cannon onto her turret. The massive vehicle now looked even more bulkier than it already had been, and even more intimidating, with two main cannons instead of one.

"Hope this place won't collapse under some treadin'," Ingram muttered as she revved her own engines, easily over-roaring all the noise the other three vehicles made. The echoes of the thrashing, loud sound the tank released could very well make the others feel like the ground was trembling under them.

Then, she shifted gear and started to roll forward, rumbling after the faster, more agile vehicle forms of her squadmates.

Silverbolt got onto the Ark and headed straight towards the main bridge. He noticed that they had about a dozen other mechs with them. In a way, Silverbolt was glad that Ultra Magnus decided against an air battle with the Seekers but he knew that his Aerialbots would have enjoyed the battle. If this mission was as crucial as he thought, they needed everyone as tip top shape as possible. It seems that Magnus hasn't lost his touch of getting everyoen ready for battle.

"Aerialbots, let us keep this ship together with the rest of the Autobots on board. Skydive, get clearance from Prowl to take off once we are ready. Keep an eye on those Seekers who are coming in. Remember, this isn't as manuverable as you or Air Raid like to try to be."

Silverbolt took one of the empty seats and prepared for lift off. He did notice that Skydive was up in the pilot seats so he knew his second would get them up and out of there without too much trouble.

Fireflight followed Silverbolt on board but decided to stay one deck below to assist with whatever was needed. It is always good to have one more mech to patch any holes that may come with the attack of the incoming Seekers.

Swerve looked at Ultra Magnus as he gave the orders. An attack by the Cons wasn't too surprisingly but they all hoped it would have been avoided. He manned his station making sure that any of the defensive systems that weren't operatoinal got online and were prepped.

(OOC: I am home which those who know me understand how frequent I will have access to Internt. I won't be back at college until March 30.)

Autobase Nu:

It had been nice for the first couple kliks, but after that his trek from the crash site to the base quickly lost its appeal.

I should have just transformed and flown back, Devcon thought with a sigh.

Walking up over a hill Devcon could see all the way back to the base. The base still looked the same way he remembered it looking when he had left the planet ages ago.

Except for the giant spaceship parked on the landing strip. He had to concede that it hadn’t been here when he had left.

Looks like I chose an interesting time to return to Cybertron. I haven’t seen one of those in several millennia.

As he started down the hillside, Dev opened up a channel to Autobase Nu.

<<This is the Autobot Devcon, requesting clearance to enter the base,>> Devcon stated formally through the open comm link. He had no doubt that the other Autobots had mentioned he was back when they made their reports, but he still preferred to give the base and its commander a heads-up rather then just strolling on in.

Over the Tygus Span

Ghost’s invisible form glided before the other seekers, scanning for autobot signatures.

>>I have found nothing yet Dunehopper. Rapture permission to fly ahead another 500 meters.<<

The stealthy spy did not give heed to the spirit of the dead mech beside him, for Ghost was now immersed in his work.




Autobase Nu Medbay

Zero’s optic visor glowed a kindly soft shade of blue.

“Aww Orph You have a good sense of battle. You keep yourself alive. I wouldn’t call you dumb. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Everybody’s got stuff their not so good at. Look at me, My alt is small and slow and looks like Weirdwolf”

The wolf bot moved closer to Topspin his glossy ebony armor shiny in the med bay lights. He looked down at his own arm, no…… Weelbar was wrong pink was defiantly not his color.


----------------

Springer cringed just as Archangel warned him about the impending pain.

“That’s true, I’m a hassle to repair I can only imagine how difficult someone like him could be.”

Springer turned to allow Arch better access to his body. His optics resting on Topspin, Orpheus and Subzero. It seemed the two darker bots were in the med bay as much as he was. When the young medic had finished the repairs Springer had needed the triplechanger placed a hand on his fellow flier’s shoulder.

“I give you my word that I’ll get back here for you to finish up…….. but Prowl needs my warming smile at the moment.”

Springer grinned and slid from the table. He exited the medical facility and made his way down the hall. As the Wrecker entered the Command Center the sound of an alarm caught his attention. Looking at the screen he spoke.

“Prowl we have a problem…….”

The green bot pointed at the screen.

“….There are Cons attacking the Tygus Span. I guess our chat needs to be put on hold again, but I’m sure you heard some tidbits from Kup and Silverbolt on that sixchanger. ……..”

Springer looked at the screens again.

“I’ll take whoever’s not being repaired and break up this party. Hopefully they don’t notice the Ark-13 and turn their attentions to it.”

>>Orpheus, Sub-Zero, and anyone else functional in there with you report to the Command center for a briefing. We have some cons to deal with asap.<<

He opened another channel…

>>Sorry Arch my repairs are gonna hafta wait.<<
Springer looked back at Prowl.

“Don’t you ever itch for action….. I could never sit at a desk all day.”

((OOC: I guess I'll just take this opportunity to bring Drillbit in and to just forget his entrance. Good luck!!))

Autobase Nu

The sound of the emergency alarm filled up Drillbit's audio receptors. He immediately jumped into attack mode, only to remember that the battle was outside. He ran to the command center and saw Springer looking at the vid-screen.

"What's happening? The alarm is giving me a neuro-surge!" said Drillbit trying to speak over the blaring klaxon of the security system.

He looked at the leader of the Wreckers, he was a massive green image of a pure warrior. Strong, skilled, hard-boiled was the triple-changer. He then looked at Prowl, the master of order and balance, a diplomat and politician. He saw both sides of the fray, and he was glad to be in the middle.

Autobase Nu - Command Center

Prowl abandoned his ongoing assessment of the Decepticon prototype Kup's team had recently encountered in the border regions when Springer alerted him to the latest flare up of active hostilities. Truly, he was not going to be remembering this cycle fondly in his personal logs; they had reeled from one disaster to another like a Throttlebot after too many servings of high-grade energon at Maccadam's. After listening to the Triplechanger's proposed course of action--and tuning out Drillbit's somewhat less than helpful exclamation--he nodded, routing additional power to the long-range sensors in the vicinity of the Span.

"Proceed at best possible speed, Springer," said the analyst, his digits running adeptly over the input panels of his control console. "The Tygus Span is our main supply artery from Iacon. I'll pass the word along to Autobase Prime; perhaps they will be able to provide your response team with some backup."

Autobase Nu ~ Ark 13

"Alright! Everyone's aboard. Autobots please take your seats and prepare for lift off."

Windcharger cracked a smile as he smoothly went through the start-up procedures. All systems were operating at maximum efficiency. The Ark shuddered as the engines spooled up. Giving the engines a moment to idle, Windcharger triple checked his coordinates. Smoothly, he increased throttle and the Ark glided up into the sky. Avoiding all turbulence, Windcharger guided the craft into orbit and at the calculated position broke free of Cybertron's gravity and headed for deep space.

He wished he had something to say at this monumental moment, but as usual the words escaped him. He simply looked in wonder at the blackness that unfolded on the main monitor. It was even darker than he'd imagined, like Megatron's soul, he imagined. Making sure to keep a keen eye on their current position to maintain course, Windcharger remained uncharacteristically silent.

The Tygus Span- Nova Terminus

>>"Negative, Dunehopper. No enemy contact at all."<<

Things were going rather well.

Almost too well. All of Rapture's calculations had led her to expect Autobot resistance long before now. What was taking them so long? If their response time was really this lax, why exactly hadn't the Empire crushed them yet? This was too easy. Something else was happening in Nova Cronum, the midnight femme was certain of it.

The others could sense it as well. Ghost was even asking to venture a bit farther afield. It was, by and large, not a bad idea. Their stealthy approach had left them ill-informed as to the larger situation in this Orbital Tarus State.

>>"Permission granted,"<< Rapture replied to Ghost. Meanwhile, the rest of the strike team had reached optimal attack position.

>>"Commence second attack run,"<< the former Cassetticon ordered her team. Her photon pulse cannons unleashed a staccato of destructive energy on the second pylon.

Autobase Nu ~ Medbay

Although kind and well meant, Sub-Zero's words fell on deaf receptors, as Orpheus was already sliding down into his usual hole of self loathing. After his close call with Top Spin, he slowly backed away, while inside his head, he continued to curse himself for being so stupid.

Across the Medbay, his work on Springer completed, for the time being at least, Archangel had begun to move over to his next patient, when he spotted the all too familiar signs that his longtime friend was exhibiting "Don't worry about him Sub-Zero.." The young Medic began as he placed a hand on the wolf 'Bot's... pink shoulder? Taking a moment to double check what he just saw to make sure he wasn't having a sensory malfunction, Archangel smiled briefly while making a mental note that Minerva may have a sense of humor after all "..Leave him to me, you go get your armor sorted out, can't have you wandering around like that for too long, you may..."

Stopping what he was saying as Springer's message blared through the Medbay's tannoy systems, quickly followed by the personal message, Archangel looked down and smiled to himself "I'm gonna get him for this, he's gonna pay" He thought to himself, before looking up to Sub-Zero once more "..That settles it, we can't have you fighting the 'Cons looking like that.." The Medic called over 2 drones and gave them orders to sort the young 'Bot's armor out asap "..Take a seat here, the drones will fix you up in a klik, I've got to go sort something else out"

Orpheus was oblivious to pretty much everything going on, even the call for him to meet the Wrecker Commander "What would have happened if I had grabbed him?" The young warrior wondered to himself "Same thing as always, you would have messeded things up, idiot, all those others were right, you're no...ow!" The hulking black 'Bot was snapped out of his internal ramblings by a short sharp pain emanating from the back of his head "Hey! Who did..Oh" He began, before seeing the culprit of the slap "What's wrong Arch?" He inquired "What's wrong?" The Medic replied, accompanied by another short, sharp slap to the large head of his friend "Ow!" "I'll tell you what's wrong, you're being called up for a mission, but you're far too busy wallowing in self doubt to hear it. So here's what you're going to do, stop thinking you're an idiot, stop cursing yourself, and get your stuff together, and get going with Sub-Zero to meet up with Springer..."

"Yeah, but.." Orpheus began, but was cut off with almost immediate effect "..No, what have I told you I'm going to do to you if I find you putting yourself down like that?" Archangel questioned, causing the black warrior's shoulders to slump before replying "Chop me up and send each part of me to a different area of Cybertron" Orpheus replied with an unnerving display of familiarity, giving the impression that he'd heard this threat multiple times before "...Exactly, now, I want you to make sure both Springer and Sub-Zero remain safe and make it back from the mission, preferrably under their own strength, but if needs be, you are to make sure they get back here to this Medbay, are we clear?"

A simple nod was all that the young medic needed to know his orders were recieved "Right, wait for Sub-Zero, when he's ready, you follow him to meet up with Springer, and on the mission, you follow Springer's orders without question, OK?" Once more, a simple nod was all the answer needed "..OK, good lad, show them stupid 'Cons what they're dealing with"

The Tygus Span - Nova Terminus

As Rapture gave attacking orders the seasoned conheaded seekers were more than up to the task.

>>"Understood."<< Was Dirge's only com line reply to Rapture as he prepped two missiles for launch.

"Engage attack pattern Theta-7." with vorns of working together the dark blue seeker trusted his wing mechs could run the rest on auto pilot.

Firing his heat seeking missile, Dirge barrel rolled out of his center V formation position, letting letting Ramjet take center with his laser rifles to serve as both guiding sites and a heat marker on the column.

"Now we're in business!" Thrust yelled as he matched Dirge's spiraling blue path around Ramjet. His two compressed air rifles moving in sink with his leaders machine gun fire. The burgundy bomber's equally unique engines were prepped for his last closing maneuver.

"Eh, I still can't ram the column..." Ramjet grunted as he was currently on a collision course. continued beams from his laser rifle ensured the accuracy of his fellow coneheads. Once the Dirges set of Missile hit, the red winged seeker ceased fire, attempted to slow, and readied his cluster bombs for close deployment.

Thrust was the first break formation from below, whipping his concussion bombs ahead into the column, acceleratingly forward and in front of Ramjets path with a powerful wind tunnel skyward. Dirge entering the wind tunnel also past Ramjet on his break away from the collision course letting the minimal drag aid his escape. Finally Ramjet breaches the wind tunnel, releasing two of his cluster bombs, and uses its forces to avoid his desired impact with the column.

For the difficulty of the maneuver, Theta-7 was preformed in under half a breem, and lacking continued hard target artillery. Despite the coneheads's better efforts, after 2 missiles, 4 bombs, and a few rounds from varied seeker rifles, the column still stood.

"Atleast the Autobots aren't here yet." Dirge processed to himself. The Conehead instinctively began rerouting for a second pass.

Tygus Span - Nova Terminus

>>"That column is startin' to piss me off!" Dunehopper snarled into the comm. "Standing there, mocking us!"<<

The golden ground assault Seeker cut hard left and lined himself up for another attack run, his targeting computers locking onto the column once again. Once they achieved a lock, he primed his incendiary bombs and swooped in once more, launching the munitions at the bottom of his dive. As he went almost completely perpendicular to the ground and hit his afterburners, the bombs detonated, engulfing the column and part of the Span in roaring white and red flames.

>>"Slag! It's still standing!"<< Dunehopper leveled off once more into a circling pattern, awaiting Rapture's next commands. Though annoyed that the Span hadn't toppled yet, Dunehopper didn't mind too much - the longer the bridge remained standing, the longer the Autobots had to show up. While the success of the mission likely hinged on whether or not the Seekers could finish their task before heavy forces arrived, Dunehopper didn't care one bit. He was spoiling for a good fight.

I can't wait!

Tygus Span - Nova Terminus

Rapture agreed with Dirge completely. The Autobots' lack of timely response, while unexpected, was definitely a windfall. One to be exploited to its fullest.

The midnight femme carefully considered Dunehopper's comments before responding. The Ground Attack specialist was clearly spoiling for a fight. While that was not necessarily a bad thing, she also suspected he was delaying the destruction of the second column in order to wait for the enemy to arrive.

And -that- was simply NOT acceptable. The mission was to destroy no less than one half of the bridge supports. That came before any personal desire for violence and glory. Still, as the strike team came around once more, Soundwave's daughter decided that perhaps all the thug needed was proper motivation.

>>"Dunehopper. I'll tell you what. I'll authorize the attack on the third pylon. But my approval comes with a price."<<

>>"I want that second pylon down. NOW."<<

The Sleek interceptor punctuated her transmission with sustained burst of fire from her pulse cannons. The energized photons impacted the same crack over and over, flying through the air like tracer rounds.

>>"Seekers! Concentrate fire on my target."<<

Autobase Nu
Zero shook off the drones as they completed the re-paint on his arm. Now the handsome young wolf-bot was once again the blackest of ebony and trimmed with silver, accented with blue support pieces. The drones had also reactivated his Absolute zero canons and recharged them. Looking over at Orph and Arch, the dark bot said,

“OK, I’m ready! Come on Orph.”

Zero started jogging down the hall to the control room where Springer awaited, Orphus following close behind. He came to a halt seeing Drillbit and Springer.

The Green Wrecker commander smiled as the two bots reported. Pausing a moment to contemplate the soon to arrive Elita 1 and team.

“I’m guessing you two are all we have at the moment…….. Sub-Zero, you’re riding with me, Orph I want you to stay with Prowl as back up until the other team arrives.”

Transforming into his wheeled mode, the Tripplechanger spoke again,

“Prowl Tell Elita I’ll try to leave one or two for her, but I cant make any promises. Zero, get in, Drillbit, let’s roll out.”

Zero changed into wolf mode and leaped into Springer’s cab, just as Springer started forward.

Nova Cronum Heading to Tygus

The three Autobots sped down the roadway towards the Tygus Span, the explosions from Dunehopper’s attack reverberated through the air.

“Weapons ready you two, we’re coming in to a hot area.”




Tygus Span

Ghost took Rapture’s permission with a silent response of speed, his dead companion keeping pace with him. The invisible seeker ignored the bravado of Dunehopper’s firepower as he flew further ahead, suddenly his sensors picked up the signatures of Springer’s team.

>>Rapture, Autobots detected, commencing strafing run.<<

Unable to detect him, the Autobots had no clue Ghost was upon them. The stealth seeker opened fire lighting the path before them with lasers.

En route Heading for Tygus Span

Drillbit had transformed into his mining tank mode to best suit the transit to the Tygus Span. He looked to his comrades and felt a sense of security even when heading to a battle such as this.

<<So what's our strategy? I've never really been in a real fight so I'm eager to see how you elites do it.>>

He knew that he's probably get chewed out for being so formal during this time, but he had no choice but to act this way. His neuro circuits were trying to ready themselves for the upcoming assault and he needed to calm down. Small talk was the best way to do it.

Tygus Span - Dirge's Wing

After the navy blue con head turned his squad around he was more than happy to finish what his mechs started, irregardless of who gave the order. Locking target with Raptures pulse canons machine gun fire found the column as he let his fellow coneheads double up on bombing detail.

>> you heard the Con. Make it rain like the acid that carved the sonic canyons and we'll stay to break some bots after. <<

Thrust was so eager at the promise of more destruction that he almost yipped out loud, but thought better of it. Following his leader, the maroon flier readied his concussion bombs and fired his compressed air rifles at the column.

Ramjet mostly registered the possibility of something he can collide with as he prepped his own cluster bombs and let his high power laser rifles assist the combine seeker assault. While his bombs weren't as devastating as the others on hard targets, the column was hardly a hard target anymore.

As the second wing made their pass, 4 bombs burst against the heavily damaged support beam.