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U.S. / Canadian Border

Hook remained relatively quiet as they continued their journey. The little opportunity to do something had satisfied him enough to curb his complaining, for now at least. He still felt that most of this operation was well beneath him. He was designed for delicate work, not this simple grunt type of field work. Some day he hoped that command would truly fully utilize his vast capabilities. A personal lab on some isolated asteroid somewhere would be ideal. With all of the equipment he could ever want and without any interruptions it was almost beyond his imagination what he could possibly create.

He was broken from his reverie by the words of Long Haul. While he wouldn’t have used the exact words of the other Constructicon, he had posed a good question. He awaited the response from Scrapper, eager to get to work and get this mission completed. There was likely to be plenty of far more important work back at base for him to complete.

Canadian Mountains

They're like a bunch of protoforms at times... Scrapper muses, as he drives up the incline into the foothills of the mountain range. "Not much further now, at least in terms of distance. It seems Shockwave left this sample in the middle of this inconvenient pile of rocks and dirt. The deposit is buried up here somewhere. Scavenger should have us a reading soon."

Mountains...such inconvenient things. Why did the creators of these organic planets leave them lying around all over the place? And why haven't the natives moved them yet? Even with their small bodies, a few thousand cycles would be long enough to clear this wasted space. And they could extract minerals too.

Scavengers shovel swings about. "Got a scent, boss. It's faint, but its coming from that ravine."

"I suppose it'd be too much for a more convenient location...Well Constructicons, its not like a bit of off-road driving will dismantle us. Head for that ravine, and prepare flight modes if the going becomes unstable." Scrapper raises his shovel slightly and turns off the round, bumping over the rough terrain on the last leg of the journey.

Canadian Mountains

Hook was barely containing his complaints as the Constructicons continued to traverse the planet. He continued to be annoyed and disgusted over how primitive the planet was. It seemed at every turn there was some new obstacle, whether it be crushed rocks, organic debris or water. It was going to take some incredible work to make this world truly suitable for Transformer life.

Of course that was assuming they didn’t simply strip the planet of all of its energy and raw materials and leave it a barren rock. That would certainly be acceptable. Not even he could deny that the planet had large potential to feed the Decepticon war machine with materials and fuel.

Well, whatever high command decided to do with the planet he would be happy to never again traverse its native terrain again.

Canadian Mountains

Scrapper lands next to Scavenger, as the sensor specialist tapped his shovel against a non-descript patch of mossy rock. "It down here boss, directly underneath this point. I'd say less than 300 deltons down."

"Excellent. I was afraid we might have to rearrange the geography to get to it. Long Haul, pull out the type 3 drill. Hook, you handle the sampling, I want some nice clean cores for analysis. The rated accuracy is 600 microns, I know you can improve that by at least a factor of 30. And try not to cause any vibrations: All the loose rock on the slopes could be an issue. I don't want to have to dig our equipment out of an avalanche."

Canadian Mountains

Long Haul pulled up to where Scrapper stood and transformed to robot mode. They were in the middle of nowhere, so it was reasonably safe to do so now. The Constructicon transport listened as his leader barked orders to the group. I’m setting up drills now? This is different, Long Haul thought as he moved into position above where the ore deposit was located.

Reaching into subspace storage, Long Haul pulled out the required Type-3 drill and began assembling it. The time it took to do so was minimal and before long the drill was ready to go. “All right, I’m all set up here, Scrapper,” he informed the Constructicon Commander. “I’ll start the drilling now.” Long Haul then set the device on a low speed to help minimize the vibrations and watched the drill begin to dig into the rocky earth.

Canadian Mountains

Hook nodded at Scrapper as he gave the orders. He would have little problem matching and exceeding his leader’s expectations. This type of delicate and precise work was his forte after all. This would finally be a bit more of a true test of his abilities, something to make his coming along as a worthwhile investment for High Command.

The Constructicon waited patiently as Long Haul drilled a hole in the ground. Once the other Decepticon had reached the correct depth Hook went to work. Once the drill was removed from the hole Hook carefully lowered a probe and sample collector down into the opening. Once the probe reached the correct depth he activated the collector, allowing it to clamp down around the sample.

Hook transformed to his alternate mode, preferring the more precise control it afforded him. He lowered the hook down and attached it to the probe and collector. He carefully began winching the sample up, careful to keep it perfectly still. Finally the sample emerged from the hole. Encased inside the clear cylinder was a care sample with a large crystal visible inside of it. “Your sample Scrapper, in perfect condition as requested.”

Canadian Mountains

"Why thank you, Hook." Scrapper gingerly took the core sample and looked it over. It didn't quite look like regular Energon, being green and heavy, but it had a tantalising pink luminescence in the middle of it...Definitely worth further examination.

Scrapper elbowed Mixmaster aside as the chemist attempted to crowd into him for a better look. "Not yet, Mixmaster. We take this back to base for full examination, before we do anything else. Constructicons, pack up the equipment and prepare to retrace our steps. With any luck our bypass of the border control should still be intact, and we can be back in our proper base in no time."

Scrapper stowed the sample in his internal storage and transformed. "When you're ready, gentlemechs."

Canadian Mountains

Long Haul watched as the drill dug deep into the earth. Once it was finished burrowing to the appropriate depth, Hook extracted the ore sample and gave it to Scrapper. The Constructicon Leader was pleased with the sample and gave the order to pack up and return to base.

Long Haul quickly dismantled the Type-3 drill and stowed it away into subspace storage. He had assumed that he would be needed to transport the ore back to base, but since the sample was small enough, his services were not needed in that regard.

Long Haul then transformed to dump truck mode and pulled alongside Scrapper. "Ready when you are, boss."

Canadian Mountains

Hook carefully stowed away the probe, pleased with his personal success on the mission. It was obvious now that only his precise skills could have recovered such a substantial and intact specimen for further testing. Still, he wished that he could have skipped the substantial journey to the location of the specimen. It was just another in a long like of unappreciated sacrifices he made in the name of the Decepticons. He transformed into his alternate mode, ready to head out with the rest of the team.

Canadian Mountains

"Constructicons, let's go." Scrapper transforms and drives out of the ravine, leading the team back the way they came. Theres a definite temptation to cut loose, to activate flight mode and just fly back to the base at top speed, but Scrapper knew better than to risk that type of reckless behaviour at this late stage. Instead he plotted a course to retrace their steps as closely as possible. Tedious, but it had worked well last time. Hopefully the humans were still ignorant of their presence, and they could get back to the lab without incident. The cover of darkness, which was rapidly setting in, should help with that.

He thought about his bored teammates. Some of them might like an incident...

[Dev, now that the battle at the base is concluded, its up to you whether you want to speedily end this thread and get us back to base, or perhaps spice it up with a run-in with Border Control.]