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Gifford National Forest

A crack rends the air as 3 large figures and one much smaller are deposited unceremoniously into a copse in the forest. Surrounded by giant trees, they are sheltered from prying eyes, but not for long.

The smallest and most nimble of the group, Psychout, is the only one to land on his feet but finds himself startled by a bizarre crunching noise as he lands.

"Ew... what the pit is that? Vin, you've been here before, any idea what it is I just landed on?"

Gifford National Forest

“Slag on a Scraplet” the howl of frustration came as the world turned white then seconds later various shades of green and brown below him with a lot of blue above him. it was then he realised he had materialised off the ground “Oh you gotta be slagging me” muttered Crueljaw as he landed with a bang. It was only his pride he had hurt as he lifted his frame off the ground and took a moment to look up at the blue sky with the clouds floating serenely across the expanse.

“I hate it here already” the bodyguard grumbled as he dusted his frame off and knelt as he felt slightly exposed despite being in a forest it was also partly due to the bounce sickness he was feeling being up right wasn't high on his priorities. “These tall green and brown things have eyes lots of them we’d better get moving what is the plan” he growled as he drew his shotgun his optics scanning the tree line. He was aware of his colleagues appearing but was concentrating on the safety of the party.

Gifford National Forest

The assassin appeared out of seemingly nothingness as did her comrades as they all came out of the bounce. Darkfire activated her thrusters for a split astrosecond to cushion her fall and land lightly on her feet. She ignored Crueljaw's less than graceful landing and took her first look out on Sol-3.

It's so...organic...

There was a certain beauty and serenity to this world however. Long ago, she would have liked to meditate here while she practiced Metallikato. Darkfire glanced over to both Psychout and Crueljaw as they expressed distaste for this world. Like most Decepticons, they probably thought anything organic was disgusting.

The assassin turned her optics outward once more, following Crueljaw's cue. She drew out her Null Ray and kept watch through its scope, looking up from it and glancing around the area occasionally. There were no signs of the little fleshlings that inhabited this planet yet, but they were sure to arrive.

Gifford National Forest

Vindicator had landed in a crouch, his hulked over stance absorbing a lot of the impact from the drop from the air. True that he had been to this mudball before, but it was on a rocky area, not an organic area...not somewhere this...green...or alive. True that this was a recon mission, but be damned if the moisture in this area was going to afect his gears and servos. There was a garbled, and distressing statement coming from the diminutive mechanoid that Vindicator turned and mech-handled in one massive paw, turning Psychout over to reveal his back. Oh yeah he had landed in something interesting alright, and whatever it was, used to be alive and was now...what was the fleshbags called it? Oh yeah...roadkill...

"Well short-arse...whatever it was has left a lovely decoration of....meat up your aft.." His internal computer classified the dead animal as a beaver "...beaver...nice catch...if there's any left you could mount the head or have it stuffed!"

Another grumble came from Crueljaw as the bounce sickness took the surly mechanoid by the lugnuts and shook hard, for it was hard to shake Crueljaw, because he was as stocky as they come, and twice as bitter.

"..Jaws...thats because this place is crawling with organic life...and they're called 'trees'..." Vin's internal database was calling up the flora and fauna of the Gifford National Park, a pre-requisite of being stationed inside the base - orders of the top brass to help understand the workings of this mudball. He was kind of glad that the only one that didn't complain about being bounced down to Sol-3 was Darkfire, for her silence spoke volumes at her wonderment at the life on Sol-3.

Vindicator had been here once, but kept his displeasure to himself before he began to peel off the remains of the bear from the back of Psychout and gave him a spray down of chem-burn from a nozzle can that he had picked up from the med bay. It had to come in useful at some point, so using it here on this mudball was ideal, as it helped remove the grizzly mess of a beaver from Psychout's back before setting him back down on the ground. Vindicator then stood up to his full height, towering above the other con's, thankful that the tall trees were helping to hide his frame from the prying eyes of the world.

"Now.. how far are we from the former base...hmm..." he consulted his internal gps as he flipped up a computer terminal on his forearm as it projected a beam of light to generate a 3d map of the area infront of the group.

"As you havent been on this rock before..." he said, his baritone vocals hushed to not attract unwanted attention "...we are here..." the red blips flashed on the holo-map before the topographical display spun and rotated around, zooming in to show the location of the base, and the fact it was sprawling with humans. "...the 'natives' seem to have moved in..." he grumbled something in cybertronian under his breath "...their local military power I'd wager, still no match for our firepower - but...not something we should do considering how many of these metabags are on Sol-3..."

There was a whupping sound in the air as Vindicator snapped his head skywards, one of his shredder cannons aimed up at the cloudless sky.

Autobot? No it wasn't one of them. The engine noise was all wrong...his optics zoomed in on the sound as if to try and pinpoint the noise. The Apache gunship came into view as it scuttled through the sky towards Mount Saint Helens.

"...military...seems that the felshbags are more serious about investigating the ruins...we need to move...double time!"

Gifford National Forest clearing.

Everyone landed safely, and after Psych had had the beaver paté removed from his back and had finished being thrown around like a ragdoll by Vindicator, he looked at the map to work out where they were in relation to the old base, and exactly what was going on before the noisy interruption

"Its nothing to worry about Vin, we're in enough cover here for them not to see us just yet."

"Just time for me to fill you all in the on the rest of our mission. Infiltration Protocols blah blah blah remains our top priority, however there are a few other things that need to be addressed, and with that monotone munchbox on the bridge watching our every move I couldn't be 100% truthful in my initial briefing."

Psychout paused. He scanned the tree-line for prying eyes whilst the others brandished their weapons. There was no point in him doing the same, but he was also a little on edge, the helicopter had moved on but there would be more. He remembered that this was his first real mission in millennia and his first ever to non-Cybertron tech landscapes. It felt alien. And squishy. But, most of all invigorating.

He focused on the job in hand. "This is the only time this matter is to be discussed openly." He allowed that to sink in.

"This mission is considered to be compromised. Blackwind's actions on the Thanatos mean that Commander Shockwave does not have the control of the ship he believes he does, and Thunderwing is to be assumed an enemy of the same threat level as Starscream. Thunderwing is to be watched where possible and all actions that countermand Shockwave's orders are to be noted and reported to me at the earliest possible opportunity. Discretion and caution are advised, as Thunderwing is not currently aware that he is under suspicion, and it will remain that way until we hear otherwise from the Commander. Luckily for us, Thunderwing also appreciates the importance of the Protocols as much as Shockwave, and isn't likely to try and break cover, so this shouldn't affect us in this initial part of the mission.

"This is your one and only opportunity to question me on this issue before we begin the mission, so think carefully..."

When you are sure you are satisfied, you have your tasks. Darkfire, you are on aerial recon. I want a rough idea of numbers, technology level and layout of the military base at the foot of the mountain, as well as any other military equipment in the surrounding areas and its movements. After that you are to patrol the region for potential Cybertronian interference until we are able to clear you for landing within the base itself. Vindicator, same as Darkfire from ground level, beginning in the militarised zone and fanning outwards towards the civilian sector, making a note of any variation in military insignia and identifications for later use. After your full sweep is done, try and locate us some caves or some shelter for us to use as an outpost until we are established in the military camp, then link up with Jaws and I and we will move out to to gain access to the old base. Remember, we are in Phase 1 - remain in your altmodes at all times when not in the outpost.

"Jaws, we're going to go get a coffee.... Whatever that is. I call shotgun!"

Gifford National Forest

Crueljaw finally stood up right his bounce sickness subsiding enough for him to attempt it as he stood his optics still scanning the surrounding area as Vin explained that the tall things around him where trees and full of organic life. “So they still have lots of eyes you colossal slag deposit” at the same time he heard the aerial vehicle as it flew overhead and turned to view its boxy form. “An aerial drone? Assault platform?” the enquiry was for clarification everything on this planet was new to him and confusing Billions of organic life forms most of them not even the size of a hex nut.

Tearing his optics from the tree line and the billions of eyes for the time he took a look at the map as Psychout discussed Thunderwing. Crueljaw had never met the con only briefly seen him at a distance on Cybertron at Thunderhead Pass back when the planet was full of life. “So we feign peace but prepare for war with this pretender to the throne?”

it was then that the diminutive Psychout started dishing out the orders he groaned as he heard he was going to be Psychout’s taxi. “You ruin the interior and I’ll be using you to clean the inside of my shotgun barrel” he growled as he got his slag together and started to transform into his humvee alternate mode. In seconds a black humvee was sat idling in front of Psychout and the others “see you on the bounce Vin, Darkfire watch your back up there it’s a big expanse plenty of places to hide with that white floating cover”

With that Crueljaw opened his Driver's side door “What in the pit is coffee?”

Gifford National Forest

Psych climbed into drivers door of his long time friend and ally. "Coffee? It's a type of supercharger fuel for organics as far as I can tell." He'd had the very basics of Earth's culture from the network on the Thanatos, but in his opinion, this mudball was ugly. But all this organic matter meant it was horrifically primitive and therefore ripe for the taking. He was looking forward to testing their 'technology'.

He idly recalled his previous days on Cybertron - the proper old days, before the 'Seeker incident' - and how civilisations such as this on Cybertron we're drawn into the conflict by his playing of both sides, his skill at manipulating those only aware of half the picture and then, whilst brother fought against brother and their defences were down, Megatron would lead his followers in to 'save' them from themselves and take what was rightfully his.

How things had changed. Megatron was gone. Starscream, the talentless cretin who nearly cost them Altagon completely, now dares to claim the Decepticons as his, whilst Shockwave works towards our future as a race - the next step in Cybertronian evolution that will take us beyond a mere transforming robots. Starscream's arrogance and ineptitude would tear the species apart through stagnation, and that can not be allowed to happen.

He looked at the surrounding trees whilst putting his feet up on the dashboard of Crueljaws rather comfy Hummer alt. Plundering this planet should be easy, but if it was going to go wrong, it was almost guaranteed to be a certain seeker who would cause it...

Psych began the radio chatter as soon as he was comfortable, and as a destruction from his darker thoughts.
>>we should be safe on this frequency, it's out of range of most fleshling scanners and those that can find it will hear garbled machine noise. So, anyway, as headcase here is practically a native to this mudball compared to us, he can now fill us in on what went wrong with the base and why it was collapsed. Vin? Who screwed up so badly they had to defrost me to come and sort it out?<<

Gifford National Forest

The huge amounts of trees was providing a challenge to Crueljaw’s alternate mode “wish I still had my Cybertronian bridging vehicle mode I’d easily make it through these things” the irritation at having to surrender his former alternate mode to blend in with the natives. As he rolled on to it he grumbled again “so what is this they drive on this its uncomfortable” seconds later he found a large rut and slammed into the dirt hard and continued on his journey.

The trees where still all around him he could still feel the eyes burning into his shell “Stupid creatures why can’t we just wipe em out it’ll save us enslaving these stupid critters” he muttered as the scenery moved past the decepticon cycled through the radio stations catching the end of a terrible song the DJ said it was by something called Justin Bieber he quickly moved it on looking for any radio traffic he could use “see what I mean if any sane life form heard that caterwauling they’d kill the thing that created it or at the very least remove its vocal cords to stop it singing again” he commented to Psychout as he hit another rut and bottomed out making a grinding noise not that Crueljaw cared as he slammed into another rut.

"you'd of thought they would have made highways or something"

Gifford National Forest

The assassin digested the new information piece by piece analyzing it critically in the span of a few astroseconds. A smirk graced her features. "Ah, the plot thickens," the assassin said to no one in particular. It seemed Blackwind was an agent of this Thunderwing character. Curious. It seemed that she had been enlisted into Shockwave's cause. Darkfire didn't particularly mind. He was the most logical choice, if not the most charismatic. But then, Darkfire preferred a well thought out plan as opposed to stirring speeches-or eulogies as they sometimes turn out to be.

The femme nodded to Crueljaw curtly in acknowledgment. She glanced over in the direction where the helicopter had disappeared in. "See you, Vin." Darkfire leaped up into the air, transforming in mid-flip and soaring into the blue earthen sky. She tilted upward, treading the fine line between ascent and stall. It did not take her long to reach a suitable elevation above radar range.

The assassin leveled off, skimming the cloud bank and peering down onto this new world. Below her, the Gifford National Forest sprawled out below her in an emerald carpet of green. Darkfire wasn't sure that she had ever seen so much green before.

When the Decepticons take this world, I ought to save a piece of this land for meditation.

It had been some time since Darkfire had the time to meditate. Once the team infiltrated the base, maybe she could. The assassin tilted slightly, banking to the left soaring over Mt. St. Helens. The military camp quickly came into view after Darkfire cleared another cloud. It looked like a fairly small camp. Not exactly what one would call a fully established base, but that was to be expected.

The assassin spied what she thought was an airstrip nearby when another cloud cut off her visibility. A wave of irritation washed over Darkfire. Slaggin' white fluffy things. Darkfire soared onward the appropriate distance before banking to fly by the camp again. She kept an eye out for any activity, but didn't notice anything. At least, not yet. She opened a communication to the rest of her team.

>>No initial signs of any Autobot activity. Stay sharp.<<