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The Autobots were about to get their greatest breakthrough yet against the Decepticon infiltration team on the third rock from the sun - had it not been for the infamous Decepticon communications officer Soundwave whose security net Jazz accidentally stumbled into.

With Laserbeak's arrival to the scene sending Jazz on the run before other Decepticons would arrive, things didn't go as well as the Autobot saboteur would have hoped for the appearance of Thundercracker took him by surprise.

Now the banged up Autobot spy has to deal with the two Decepticons to get his precious information to Ironhide and others despite the grim odds against him.

Forest near Decepticon base

The tell tale shaft of light struck the ground, followed by the rapid materialization of the two Autobot warriors. The beam of light quickly retracted back into the sky.

Sunstreaker made a quick glance around. They were teleported into a deserted area, which meant they were far from the prying eyes of the humans, but also far from any sort of real road system. That meant they would have to do some off road driving which he did not like what so ever. He had been designed for speed and battle, not for wallowing in the much and mud. That was for someone like Ironhide or Cliffjumper or some other lesser Autobot.

The Autobot let out a grunt before beginning to jog through the woods. “Come on Sideswipe, the sooner we are out and away from all of this organic matter and back on a proper road, the better. I’m not about to try and drive over all of this stuff. Not to mention it will put us closer to a fight, finally.”

Forest Near Decepticon Base

Sideswipe materialized with his trademark smirk and upbeat attitude. The crimson warrior nodded in agreement along with his brother that they had better find an easier route to the Cons than the thick of the forest setting. As soon as Sunstreaker took off jogging, Sideswipe was one step behind.

“Hey Sunny, who do you suppose is after ‘ol Jazz? Can’t be anyone too tough I bet.”

As the two Autobot soldiers finally came out of the tree lined riparian barrier they came across a dirt road.

“I think this is as close to a paved roadway as we’re gonna get!”

On his final word the red twin transformed into his alt mode and began to make his way closer to the Decepticon base and, with any luck, a nice enthralling fight.

“Come on, Sunny, you’re gonna miss all the fun!”

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens

Impressive move... too bad it makes my job more complicated. Thundercracker thought as Jazz's acrobatics saved the Autobot from taking his drone rocket head on. At least he had the Autobot at least partially crippled, resulting in an easier prey. And an easy target was just what he wanted. The thrice cursed infiltration protocol made it impossible to fight at his full strength, at least it meant the same for the Autobots. The blue and silver seeker had purposedly avoided using his incendiary rounds and flamethrower to not cause a forest fire which would certainly alert the natives of the planet to the site. And even though the volcano itself could as well be the culprit for a forest fire here, he didn't want to take chances and get on Starscream's bad side.

Luckily, he still had plenty of rockets left. Another flawless turn in the air and once again Thundercracker dove towards Jazz's position, another missile ready and seeking a target lock.

Of course, things used to get complicated pretty much every time one believed having scored and easy kill. An orbital bounce? Slag! Ain't certainly ours, it wasn't more than an orn ago when Starscream threw a fit after his request for reinforcements had been shot down by the military operations hub. Gotta warn the base although they propably registed it as well.

Simultaneously, Thundercracker sent out two transmissions, first one to Laserbeak and second on directly to Soundwave. >>"Laserbeak, an orbital bounce in southeast! Move to investigate, I'll deal with Jazz."<<

>>"Thundercracker to Soundwave. Thundercracker to Soundwave. We have an orbital bounce 3.5 kilometers to southeast from my position. I have no visual contact. Likely Autobot reinforcements. Waiting for further orders."<<

However surprising the orbital bounce had been, it did not rattle Thundercracker's composure enough to abandon his attack on Jazz. The drone rocket had gained its target while he had contacted the base and Thundercracker wasted no time sending the missile on its way.

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens - Laserbeak

Laserbeak complied with Thundercracker's command without protest. Although in all honesty the avian Cassetticon would have preferred to take his time finishing off Jazz. Climbing above the tree line, Laserbeak swiftly closed the distance between himself and the unknown parties.

It was not long before he was within sensor range. Powerful visual sensors second only to Reflector's were deployed, scanning the new arrivals. Once visual contact was achieved, it proved unnecessary to run the Autobots' images through recognition protocols. Indeed, Laserbeak would recognize Sunstreaker anywhere. He had been a frequent (and frequently very lucrative) subject of his master's gambling on the gladiatorial games of Old Cybertron. And where Sunstreaker went, Sideswipe was never far away.

Laserbeak transmitted this data to Soundwave and Thundercracker. Within moments, both Decepticons received a reply from the Communications Officer.

"Alert: Thundercracker, Laserbeak. Autobots are within 8 kilometers of a Human population center. Terminate Jazz with extreme prejudice; he is the priority target. Warning: do not allow any of them to reach the native settlement. Violation of Infiltration Protocol will result in punitive action. Soundwave: Out."

As soon as his master's voice faded from his audio receptors, Laserbeak came in for a strafing run, opening fire on the Autobot twins.

Nearing Mt. Saint Helens

Sideswipe sped along the dirt roadway all the while hoping for a long drawn out melee with the Decepticons. His mind wandered to thoughts of what he would do to the first Con he met at the rendezvous point with Jazz. Just as he was rounding a corner to exit the forested area into a clearing near the Con base, the red warrior took laser fire from above. It wasn’t enough to disable him, but it did knock him off his course.

“Gah!”

Transforming from his vehicle mode to robot mode, Sideswipe brought his weapon to bear and took a sensor reading of the immediate area. As he scanned the sky above him he opened a comm. link with his brother.

>>”Sunny, keep your optics peeled, we got a Con in the air. I haven’t made a visual, so it’s got to be that turbo-powered tin turkey, Laserbeak.” <<

Near Mt. St. Helens

Sunstreaker roared down the road alongside Sideswipe in their alternate modes. The yellow Autobot made sure to stay just a little bit ahead of the other. It certainly wasn’t a race, but it was natural for him to make sure he was ahead of anyone else. After all, he was faster, stronger and smarter than any other Autobot and he had to make sure they knew it.

The warrior only grunted in response to his brother’s question about who Jazz might be fighting. He knew if it were him he wouldn’t call for back up unless it was a whole squadron of seekers gunning for him. Even then he would make sure he wasted at least one of them for calling for any help. He wasn’t going to have a bunch of Autobots show up and steal all of his kills. With Jazz though it was anyone’s guess how many were after him. He wasn’t a bad warrior, despite his occasional stupidity. Still, it better not just be Rumble and Frenzy chasing after him or he would take both their heads and make sure the Autobot never lived it down.

The laser blasts slammed into the ground in front of the Autobot warrior. Sunstreaker swerved off the road and transformed, gun at the ready. Well, it looked like Jazz was being chased by something. A quick glance around didn’t show him anything in the air, which probably meant Sideswipe was right and it was the small flier Laserbeak. “It better be more than that slagging bird chasing Jazz. He isn’t even worth taking out with my missile. It’ll be nice to have a little target practice though.” He carefully scanned the skies, waiting for the Decepticon to make another run so he could see how many times he could hit him with his gun before he simply shattered to pieces.

On the ground by Mt. St. Helen

Sparks sizzled from frayed wires exposed under jagged sharp metal. A hydrolic type liquid oozed from the pistons that created movement in his leg, creating a puddle on the dusty ground beside him. Sarcastically he whispered to himself. “Ratchet is gonna have fun with this.”

With his leg severely damaged it was impossible for Jazz to transform, instead of retreat the Autobot made ready to engage his aggressors. In the distance a light caught his attention. He smiled, good, back up was on the way. Quickly he raised his weapon and fired at Thundercracker. At that moment he realized the seeker had released a missile. Flipping his wrist the Autobot saboteur changed his target direction to the oncoming projectile. He wasn't as good a shot as Prime but, hopefully he could hit it before it hit him. With the distraction Jazz was unable to do anything about Lazerbeak's sudden change of objective.

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens

Considering how bad they want Jazz terminated, I fail to understand why they didn't send backup to keep those newcomers busy. Laserbeak is going to do it only for so long. I am surprised he actually haven't run away yet. Thundercracker thought as he rotated to avoid Jazz's photon bolts. The drone rocket he had launched earlier wasn't as lucky. Or rather it wasn't sophisticated enough to avoid enemy fire. But it was fast. The blasts fired at it by Jazz caused the rocket to detonate only several meters before it would have struck the Autobot, its pressure wave knocking Jazz down to the forest floor and causing mild burns on the Autobot.

Oh slag, and this was exactly what I tried to avoid. Thundercracker cursed as the explosion lit several fires around the edges of the explosion area. Why did he have to reach the slagging forest? Because I am incompetent, that's why! Oh, well... I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

With several smaller trees already in flames, Thundercracker's corcerns about causing a forest fire diminished quickly as he dove towards Jazz - the very same incendiary guns he had avoided using earlier raining hellfire to the crippled Autobot saboteur and the forest below. The situation was getting out of hand. Jazz was not alone anymore and it would be only matter of time before the humans would notice the fires lit by the seeker's weapons. At least he was save from being spotted due the stealth subsystems used by all the seekers assigned to the infiltration mission, too bad they didn't really help against the Autobot sensors.

Grudgingly Thundercracker decided to contact Soundwave again. He had no illusions about it leading into a mark in his service record but unlike most of the other seekers, Thundercracker followed the protocol to best of his abilities. >>"Thundercracker to Soundwave. We have a problem. The forest caught fire and I am not equipped with means to stop it. It won't take long for the closest park rangers to spot the fires."<<

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens - Laserbeak

Laserbeak came around for another pass at the Autobot twins. This time, instead of suppression fire, he took careful aim with his laser cannons to maximize his chance of terminating the enemy.

The avian Decepticon maintained a high altitude this time. He was well aware of Sunstreaker's prowess, and the cowardly Cassetticon had no desire to experience it firsthand. At this height, he was fairly certain he was beyond the effective range of small arms, which calmed him somewhat. However his records indicated that at least one of these Autobots possessed Ground-to-Air missiles. He'd have to be very careful if he wanted to get out of this in once piece.

But at least they couldn't fly.

Finally receiving a firing solution from his targeting computer, Laserbeak opened fire, each cannon targeting one of his foes.

Message from Soundwave to Thundercracker wrote:>>"Acknowledged: Thundercracker. Situation: Under control. Proceed with previous directive. Soundwave: Out."<<

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens

Sideswipe watched the skies intently hoping that Laserbeak would reveal his location, and as if on cue moved into view and began to fire on the crimson warrior and his twin. As Laserbeak let lose his volley, Sideswipe dove out of the way and somersaulted to his knees where he brought to bear his weapon and opened fire himself. Sneering, Sideswipe yelled to Sunstreaker.

“Sunny! I’ve got this tin plated chicken, you go find Jazz and get him back to base!”

After letting lose a volley of laser fire of his own, Sideswipe smiled at his prey.

“I bet you didn’t see this coming.”

As he finished his statement he ignited his jetpack and took off after Laserbeak, his weapon at the ready.

Near Mt. St. Helens

Sunstreaker dove out of the way of the incoming blasts, returning fire as he leapt through the air until he landed in a crouch on the ground. He scowled up at Laserbeak. Apparently the cowardly little Decepticon was happy to just strafe them repeatedly, moving fast enough and high enough to avoid any return fire. It was enough of an annoyance to have the warrior consider using his surface to air missile. He would get a kick out of seeing the little runt terrified and trying to outrun his missile and an even greater kick out of seeing him get blown away by it. He began targeting the cassette when Sideswipe decided to take him on in the air.

“Good, I was tired of wasting my time on this loser,” he yelled back at Sideswipe before transforming and tearing off down the road. Their mission was to find Jazz and try and help him shake some cons after him. It had better be more than just the stupid bird chasing him though. He wouldn’t even bother to wake up from stasis to fight Laserbeak.

>>”Jazz, this is Sunstreaker. I was sent out here to save your hide, but I swear if you are just running from Laserbeak I’ll kick your aft all the way back to Cybertron. Where the slag are you?”<<

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens- Laserbeak

NO!!! Autobots can't fly! Autbots can't fly!

Laserbeak's wavering morale broke as Sideswipe took to the air. While he'd avoided the red Autobot's fire, his evasive maneuvers had left him completely open for his opponent's surprise ascent. Sideswipe's next barrage nailed the avian Cassetticon in the main engines, sending him into a downward spiral.

This is so unfair, Laserbeak bemoaned as he plummeted towards his impending Stasis Lock.

Leaving Decepticon HQ

An inoccuous slab of loose rock and grayish earth slid upwards in a shower of dust and gravel, revealing an exit ramp designed for those few Decepticons on Earth with ground-based alternate modes. Moments later, a sleek Porsche, its crimson exterior paneling polished to a near mirror shine, came racing from the depths of the secret base, tearing across the narrow dirt path which wound through the nearby countryside before joining the highway. The gleaming sports car was little more than a vague red blur, one that soon vanished into the forested country surrounding the dormant volcano.

Traversing those woods was going to leave Dead End's flawless paint job an utter ruin. How intelligent life--if one were generous enough to recognize the human species as such--could have evolved amongst so much appalling filth was a question that was sure to haunt the Stunticon's memory files long after the Decepticons were finished with this planet. Which wouldn't come soon enough to suit him, frankly. Depressing as Cybertron's near-total desolation was, Earth was worse yet. Having to hide underneath one of the world's larger mounds of muck while waiting for his systems to fail was a far more ignominious end than even he had imagined.

But at least he was finally doing something now. True, what he was doing was carrying a bomb at high speed over rough terrain on his way to what would surely turn into a suicide mission, but it was better than rusting down into an inert heap of Dead End-colored dust. Probably. At any rate, it was sort of pleasant to be away from the other Decepticons. Their constant whining about the lack of hostile front-line battlefield conditions put a massive strain on the glum warrior's logic circuits, sometimes.

Near Mt. St. Helens

Jazz hadn’t heard Sunstreaker ‘s irritated message. He had started to loose function shortly after firing. Thundercracker’s blast had not only destroyed his leg it had also cut into one of his fuel lines. The liquid he had thought to be simply hydraulic fluid from his leg was mixed with, energon. The Autobot slumped as his systems shut down, not only was he now easy prey for the Decepticons but also there was the danger of fire beyond in the trees.

Near Mt. St. Helens

Sunstreaker silently cursed to himself as he got no reply from Jazz. That probably meant he was dead, unconscious or captured. You’d think their intelligence officer would be smart enough not to get caught, or at least tough enough to avoid getting captured or slagged. Maybe that’s why they were in the spy business though, not tough enough for the frontlines so if they got scrapped it was no big deal. Of course, if that were the case almost every Autobot would be a spy.

As the warrior tore down the road he finally spotted the smoke coming from the woods and Thundercracker soaring overhead. “Finally!” he muttered as he transformed. With the Decepticon attacking the ground it was likely that Jazz was somewhere nearby. More importantly, the seeker presented something worthwhile that he could shoot at. In a few seconds he had a missile lock on the seeker. With a smirk on his face, the Autobot launched the missile from his shoulder, sending it streaking toward the Decepticon.

Keeping one optic in the air so he could see his target get blown apart, Sunstreaker jogged up ahead to the source of the smoke. It didn’t take him long to find the stasis locked form of Jazz lying on the ground. “Wuss.” He scooped up the mangled bot and contacted Sideswipe.

>>”Siders, I got whats left of Jazz, time to bounce the slag out of here.”<<

Skies above Mount St. Helen’s

Sideswipe watched with anticipation as his shot hit home and sent Laserbeak spiraling to the ground below. With a smile on his face, Sideswipe threw up his arms in the universal sign for a “touchdown” and began to make his way back down to solid ground.

“HEY!!!! And the crowd goes wild!”

As he made contact with terra firma he got a comm. from his golden twin. He kept an optic on the area Laserbeak had hit just to make sure the Con flier was out for the count as he responded to Sunstreaker.

>>“I gotcha, Sunny. I’m on my way to your location now.”<<

He quickly transformed and sped to the area his brother and Jazz were located. Now all they had to do was wait for someone at base to bounce them back.

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens

It hit. It slagging hit him. Had he not been in jet form, Thundercracker couldn't have hidden his satisfaction when the drone rocket he had fired only seconds ago knocked Jazz out of his feet and apparently caused a statislock as well. With no signs of the Autobots that had bounced in sometime ago on his radar, the blue seeker began dropping altitude to confirm the results and to proceed to seizing what was left of the Autobot saboteur.

A grievous error. Thundercracker had time only to spot Sunstreaker, curse his carelessness and roll just enough to avoid being hit by Sunstreaker's ground to air missile dead on. It still cost him a good chunk of his left wing and with it - his manouverability. Uninterested in testing his combat prowess against both Sunstriker and Sideswipe while wounded and unable to dodge their laser blasts, Thundercracker made a tactical decision of retreating.

With an audioreceptor shattering sonic boom to cover his retreat, Thundercracker hit his afterburners to quickly gain enough distance between him and the Autobots to be safe from their weapons. Which in turn hurt his standing in the optics of his superiors for he had failed his mission. >>"Thundercracker to Soundwave. Bouncers identified - Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. I have been hit. Situation critical. Requesting backup to continue with the mission."<<

Skies above Mt. Saint Helens

Transmission for Soundwave wrote:>>"Thundercracker: Retrieve Laserbeak and return to base for repairs. Soundwave: Out."<<

~Thread Closed~