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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.