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Corridors

Grimlock, Slag and Sludge entered the Ark-19 without incident. With the bare bones crew on board Grimlock hadn’t expected to meet anyone on their trip to the bridge, and so far that appeared to be the case. Hopefully the rest of this caper would go as smoothly and easily.

Bridge

The Dinobot commander strode into the room, heading directly for the command chair. A quick glance around showed that Jazz was the only Autobot in the room. He had a mild dislike for the other Autobot. He could be an effective warrior, but his penchant for becoming too obsessed with the native culture, music and other nonsense was a major failing. They didn’t have time for indulging such frivolous desires in the middle of a war. Only a protoform cared about such childish things. It was such a sad waste of so much potential.

Grimlock sat down in the command chair, Slag standing next to him looking menacing. He turned to face Jazz at the security console. “Jazz, you relieved of command of Ark-19. Report to Prowl for reassignment. Me think he have something on planet for you to do. Your talents more useful down there then in sitting in busted up ship.” Hopefully that bit of enticement would hurry the foolish Autobot along.

The Dinobot worked the controls on the command chair, tapping into the ship’s internal communications. >>”Crew of Ark-19, report to Prowl on board Guardian for reassignment. Repeat, report to Prowl on board Guardian for reassignment.”<< Hopefully a little bit of backing from his voice would help push the few Bots down in engineering out the door a little quicker. He wasn’t interested in fighting fellow Autobots, but if it was for the greater good then he wouldn’t hesitate in giving them a few new dents and dings.

Bridge

Sludge walked in behind Grimlock and Slag, a smile of satisfaction on his face. Grimlock was going to take control of things and lead them to victory over the Decepticons. The strongest would show those weaklings who thought they knew everything just what it would take to win the war.

As his leader took the command chair, the jungle warrior walked up behind Jazz at the console. Sludge said nothing, as far as he was concerned Grimlock had said all that was needed.

Grimlock said violence only as last resort. Grimlock is strongest, Grimlock is always right. Sludge won't hurt Jazz unless Sludge have to.

Sludge crossed his arms, towering over the much smaller special ops director, staring at him with a look of expectation. Grimlock had given his orders, and Sludge would make it clear that no one, not even Jazz, would disobey Grimlock's orders and ruin his plan.

Bridge

When Jazz knew when things were fishy with Smokescreen, he wasn't counting on the stench of a dead fish on a city bus when Grimlock and Sludge strode in saying how the Autobots needed to report to Prowl.

Sludge stood behind him, not speaking. Jazz smiled and crossed his legs on the terminal and looked up at the larger mech.

"Hey, man! Howzit goin'? Jazz flashed him a smile and leaned forwards to his terminal and continued working.

They had been drifting Starboard ever since they docked with the Guardian... Perhaps if they fired the maneuvering thrusters just a tad, maybe they would be back in line.

He knew for a fact something was up when Grimlock actually complimented Jazz. He knew how big of an ego Grimlock had and how much it took for him to not insult someone's intelligence.

Something's up. I know it. Jazz thought as he got up from his chair and walked to the center of the room.

"Well, Grimlock, I bid you good luck! She's a bit finicky at first, but she falls into her own." Jazz winked as he exited the room and walked a ways down the corridors until he was out of earshot range.

>>Yo! Prowl! Did you send some Dinobots over here? Something is up and I want to clarify with you before I exit the 19.<< Jazz sent a message to Prowl over on the Guardian with a hushed voice.

He, like the other Autobots didn't trust the Dinobots. Especially when they compliment you.

Bridge

Whether his sentiments were honest or not Jazz had still left them the bridge. Grimlock didn’t trust the other Autobot and quickly moved to take full control of the ship. He brought up a localized jamming field that prevented any signals from leaving the ship or coming from the outside in the ship and prevent any bouncing from ship to ship. He then put the ship on full lockdown, but bypassed triggering any alarms. He made sure to leave a path from the bridge to the airlock open for Jazz, but it would be the only route open to him. Hopefully he would take it, but if he didn’t he was ready to escalate things. With control of the bridge he had many more options available to him, and his command codes allowed him to lock out all of the other Autobots on board the ship.

>>”Snarl, we have bridge and have cut off any possible communication with Guardian. If you get too much trouble in engineering, throw them in escape pod and launch them. Need to move quickly.”<<

Main Engineering

Ironfist twisted the hydraulic wrench to secure a connection lead to the secondary power generator. He spun the wrench once in between his index finger and thumb before setting it on the magnetic strip along his hip. He grumbled once again as the connection lead almost immediately grew taunt before he could finish the installation of the secondary console battery monitor that was required before the final connections to the transwarp coolant matrix could even begin.

As he pulled up a already well worn rag from the tool box a large shadow came tromping down from one of the upper decks. His optics narrowed on the larger Dinobot. Snarl, a mechanism slightly after his own energy pump. Save for the over energized violence quotient and an under charged curiosity circuit, he had to say he rather enjoyed the work of the Dinobots as a whole. Of course they were no Wreckers. He inwardly smirked behind his face plate as he tossed the greased rag onto his broad shoulder plate.

"This is rather irregular Snarl." He spoke as he dove deep into his internal communication logs. "19 isn't in any condition to attempt any prolonged transwarp travel. And I doubt Prowl would have agreed to reassignment until my reports had been finalized."

His diagnostic scan came back negative, though the findings were not because a transmission had been received or not. The communication data had been corrupted by the intense radiation within the power generation grid. He could neither confirm nor deny that such an order had been given. It irritated him, and he knew full well that he would have to have his entire systems undergo a complete check for radiation damage, who knew what other sorts of data corruptions had occurred.

"Tough to say Hoist. The damage is severe but the ship isn't exactly going to blow up if she's moved to the asteroid belt for a more stable climate in which to do these sorts of repairs. Besides, the work that needs to be done isn't exactly my complete specialty." He glanced over at the tow truck and gave a nod. "We may as well confirm these orders with Prowl himself. Unfortunately, I haven't completed the repairs to the comm unit down here. We'll have to do it on the next level."

He turned to Snarl. He gave a curt nod informing the desert warrior to free a path to the ladder leading up towards the next deck. If the umbilical had been properly installed upon docking then he would be able to access communications through the terminal on that level. At least then they would be able to confirm or denounce these operational orders.

Main Engineering Deck

Snarl frowned when Hoist asked Ironfist for clarification on whether or not Prowl had sent them new orders. This was already not looking good. If they attempted to contact Prowl for further assurances then the Desert Warrior would have few options but to get rough with them and physically force the two repair ‘Bots off the ship. However, Grimlock’s subsequent communique calmed the plated Dinobot down some as all possible communication with the Guardian had been severed, preventing the prick-bot from learning about their little takeover too soon.

>>”Understood, Grimlock. Only two down here. Not much trouble yet.”<<

Once his private channel with the Dinobot Commander was closed, Snarl regarded Ironfist as he explained that it would be impossible to receive messages down in engineering as the comm unit had not yet been repaired. The Desert Warrior remained stoic as the smallest mech present suggested that they attempt communication on a higher deck.

“Prowl not send orders. Him too busy with important leader stuff,” an increasingly impatient Snarl responded to both Hoist and Ironfist while Swoop stood silently over his left shoulder. “Prowl send Dinobots down to give new orders and take ship for repairs without delay. He said no time to waste. Must leave now. You need see him in person for more orders and give reports to.”

The Desert Warrior moved aside to allow the two repair mechs room to pass him. Snarl hoped that the Autobot duo would simply leave the ship without wasting more time on a futile attempt to contact Prowl on the next level up. It would do them no good, although they didn’t know that yet. Snarl decided to remain patient for now, but if Hoist and Ironfist took too long or got more suspicious then the plated Dinobot would have no choice but to do as Grimlock said and throw the pair into the nearest escape pod and jettison them into space.

Maybe me do that anyway just for fun, Snarl thought with a slight smile creeping onto his faceplate as he waited for the fixit ‘Bots to vacate the premises.

Bridge

Sludge grinned in satisfaction as Jazz walked out of the bridge. It was good to see some Autobots understood that Grimlock was really in charge. He looked down at the empty chair- as usual it was intended for smaller bots then the jungle warrior. He had no choice but to stand.

It was for the better anyway. Sludge was the last bot that anyone, even Grimlock, would want handling ship controls. He had tried once many vorns ago, and he got too confused about what to do and just started smashing buttons and monitors in frustation.

So now Sludge had nothing to do but wait. There were no more bots in the bridge other then him, Grimlock and Slag. Snarl and Swoop were already in the engineering deck, they could take out whatever weakling fixing bots were down there. This was the only bad part about Grimlock's plan.

Out of boredom he started "lightly" kicking the empty chair, the seat slowly bending over with each tap.

"What me Sludge do now, Grimlock?"

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

Engineering

Hoist felt a sinking feeling deep in his fuel tank as he finished the connection to the main power core. Even if it wasn't possible to communicate with Prowl from the engineering deck, as Ironfist had said, sending the Dinobots to bring the Ark-19 somewhere else for repairs didn't seem..... logical. The impatient orders and lack of information from said Dinobots only added to his suspicions.

This all sounds more like Grimlock's orders, not Prowl's. None of this seems right, there has to be something I can do to stall them.

Retracting the clamp from his right hand he extracted the laser he typically used- not because he was expecting a fight, just because it was what he normally had. He walked up to Snarl and Swoop casually.

"Excuse me Snarl, Swoop, but may I ask you something? Ironfist is right that the ship probably won't blow up, but would you really want to take a chance? No offense but, do any of you Dinobots have any engineering training or experience? Unless you already have an engineer assigned for this, may I suggest one of us stay here just to be safe? After all, I'm sure you Dinobots would rather die in glorious battle then in an explosion on the way to a repair station."

Corridors

Jazz was always patient, really. But not hearing a response from Prowl was like getting complimented by Grimlock. It just doesn't happen regularly. Jazz began to walk down the hall to where the door to Engineering would be, he needed to talk to his associates. He pressed the button for the door to open. A beeping noise came from the panel. It was locked.

That's funny. I don't even remember the door closed. Jazz thought as he took a step back to the door next to Engineering.

He pressed the open button, it was locked too. He jogged down the corridor, pressing every button on the panel to open, Jazz was horrified to learn they were all locked. All this was was a path for him to walk down. All of this.

Jazz knew something was up, and he just confirmed his assumption. Jazz jogged to the Engineering door and pulled out his rifle. He slammed the butt of the rifle down upon the console, opening up the interior of the console. A slew of wires and electronics kept the console from dropping to the floor. Jazz grabbed one of these wires and another one responsible for the power to the door. He yanked them from the console and let their copper tips touch. The sparks flew from one to the other and the door opened.

Jazz strode into Engineering and to the engine room.

"Sorry, Ironfist." Jazz mumbled as he aimed his flamethrower into the engine.

Jazz took a quick check of his facts before unleashing the flames into the engine's vital components. Satisfied with the melting slag of a plasma manifold, the Dinobots would have one heck of a time trying to leave. He exited the room and up to the Comm Room where he heard noises from. It must have been his comrades.

Climbing up the ladder as quick as he could, he leaped into the room, walked up to Swoop and jabbed his rifle into the back of the head of the Arial Warrior.

"What are the Dinobots really doing here on the 19? And don't you dare feed me any more slag about repair work, because we both know you guys don't know how to work a simple terminal, let alone repair an entire starship." Jazz said, readying his lights and speakers for the repercussions.

(OOC: Events in this post supersede those in Sideways' post above. In the future I would suggest everyone drop a line with a mod before taking extraordinary actions or doing repairs on ships. At the very least some research on the actual damage would be nice. Also noticing where characters are, like Snarl and Swoop still being in engineering, would be a good thing to keep in mind as well.)

Bridge

As soon as Jazz smashed into the door console an alert was triggered on the bridge. Grimlock let out a resigned sigh. He had tried to get these Autobots off the ship peacefully. It seemed that for whatever reason all of them were suspicious about him. Apparently his rank didn’t carry as much wait as it formerly did. That was going to have to be something he dealt with later though. For now he would just be happy to get rid of these Autobots and be on his way.

The Dinobot commander sent a message to Swoop and Snarl, informing them of their visitor. At the same time he turned to Slag and Sludge. “Slag, go down there and help Snarl and Swoop with other Autobots. Do what you have to do.” A smirk spread across Slag’s face as he cracked the knuckles on his hands while exiting the bridge. Grimlock then turned to Sludge. “Sludge, guard the bridge door. Autobots might try to double back and break in, we not letting them run loose on the ship.”

*

Engineering

Swoop looked at Hoist and gave him a puzzled frown. “What the slag are you talking about? I reviewed the logs back on board the Guardian before coming over. The ship took a couple of hits while underwater, but the engines weren't hit. Heck, the freaking thing flew out of the water and into orbit under her own power. Now you are telling me it might just randomly blow up?” Swoop’s optics narrowed. “What the slag have you two been doing to this ship?”

Before Hoist or Ironfist could answer the Dinobot flier received the message from Grimlock. He spun around just as the door opened and Jazz leveled his gun right at some critical engine systems. Swoop drew his sword and neatly cut right through the barrel of the gun, destroying it. Without hesitating he brought the pommel of the sword right up into Jazz’s face, smashing into it and dropping the other Bot to the ground.

“Did you see that Snarl? He could have blown up the damn ship like that! I think these guys are saboteurs or something! Get them!”

Before Snarl could act though the door slid open and the massive form of Slag stepped in. The Dinobot hadn’t heard the accusations of sabotage, but he was still more then happy to bring a violent end to things. Planting one massive foot on Jazz to keep him pinned to the floor he reached up and plucked Ironfist off of the ladder he was climbing. Using the Autobot as a blunt instrument he bashed him into Hoist hard. Both of the smaller Autobots dropped to the ground, knocked out. Slag offered a small smile to his fellow Dinobots. “That felt good.”

Swoop shook his head. “Well at least that’s over with. Let’s throw them in an escape pod to get them off the ship.” Together the three Dinobots dragged the Autobots to an escape pod and threw them in. At the same time Swoop informed Grimlock of the bizarre twist of events.

*

Bridge

Grimlock was startled by Swoops message. Saboteurs? While the concept wasn’t something entirely new in the war, the possibility of having so many turncoats in one place at the same time was rather extraordinary. He was going to have to pass that information along to Prowl somehow. He didn’t want them to go wrecking up another ship while they were gone. A few keystrokes reprogrammed the escape pod emergency signaler, just before it launched away from the ship with Jazz, Hoist and Ironfist on board.

With that done Swoop and other Dinobots rejoined him on the bridge. Slag quickly moved to the weapon’s console while Swoop took the helm. “Retract docking ramp and pull us away from Guardian.”

Swoop nodded as he punched in the commands. “I don’t know what those guys might have done to the engines Grimlock. I think we should probably use the back up transwarp drive for now, I don’t think they touched it.

Grimlock let out an annoyed grunt at his reply. “Alright, we play it safe. Me sending you coordinates now Swoop. Jump us there as soon as we clear of Guardian and Earth. Then a couple more jumps and we be ready to get our new ship.

*

Orbit of Earth

The Ark-19 withdrew its docking tube with the Guardian and rapidly peeled away from it and the still joined Ark-22. The vessel rocketed way from the other two ships and the Earth. Behind it a lone escape pod floated, sending out a distress signal on standard Autobot frequencies, along with an addendum stating >>“Suspected Saboteurs on board, arrest immediately!”<<

Bridge/Corridor

Sludge stopped kicking the console chair, which was now just held together by a thread. He nodded at Grimlock as he received his orders just as Slag left the bridge.

"No Autobots get past me, Sludge!", the jungle warrior replied, and he went out the door.

Standing outside the bridge, the large Dinobot looked straight down the hall, his optic sensors as sharp as they could looking for any kind of movement.

"Hm, maybe Sludge should use his new rifle.", he thought out load as he pulled his laser rifle out of subspace storage.

Sludge stood there waiting, unaware that the other Dinobots had things well in hand in engineering.

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

Escape Pod, Orbitting Earth

Hoist felt a large headache as his optic sensors came back online. Dazed and disoriented, he tried to regain his bearings on what happened and where he was.

"OW, think Hoist, think.", the maintenance specialist grumbled to himself as he tried to remember.

He was in Engineering trying to talk to Snarl and Swoop while Ironfist tried to contact Prowl. He was trying to stall for time, trying to convince them that they needed an engineer, that something could go wrong with the ship without one of them.

Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say at the time. It's easy to forget that other than Sludge and maybe Slag, the Dinobots aren't idiots.

Swoop was growing suspicious when Jazz came out of nowhere and aimed his gun at some critical systems, probably to prevent the Dinobots from moving the ship.

Oh, that's when the slag really his the fan.

From that point everything seemed to go in a blur. Swoop disabled Jazz, accusing the entire repair team of sabotage. Slag came out and grabbed Ironfist, then swung him at Hoist-

Right, that's the last thing I remember, he used Ironfist like a club to take me out.

His vision becoming clear, Hoist saw Ironfist and Jazz, both down, but without any serious damage to either of them. Just to make sure, Hoist scanned them with his full spectrum scanner- some concussive damage to both of their cranial circuits, and some mostly cosmetic damage to Jazz's face, but otherwise nothing that a breem in the CR chamber couldn't fix.

"Slag wasn't too gentle, but at least he didn't try to finish the job.", Hoist said to himself.

Looking around he realized that the three were no longer on the Ark-19, but one of it's escape pods. Looking out the window he saw the Guardian and the Ark-22 slowly spinning around them, while the Ark-19 looked to be leaving.

"Well that was some cold, hard slag.", Hoist sighed as he waited for the other two to come around.

OoC: Whoops. I didn't know they were still in Engineering. I thought they were up with the others in the comm room. Wow. I am really sorry, guys. I'm not used to making so many mistakes like this. On with the show, I guess.

Earth Orbit - Escape Pod

Jazz opened his optics, noticing a crack in his visor. The last thing he remembered was the fact the Dinobots were taking the 19, and a sword hilt hitting his faceplate. Jazz rubbed it, drat, that would take a bit to fix.

We need to get back to the 19. And when I do, I'll shove the butt of my rifle up Grimlock's- Jazz paused, Okay, if I can activate the Maneuvering Thrusters and turn us into the the 19, maybe I can dock with her... But I need to get a signal out.

Jazz got up and walked over to the console with a dazed stumble as he began to search for a Long Range Comm Link.

Thrusters... Weapons... Artificial Gravity... Jazz looked over the controls when suddenly, Found you!

Jazz pressed the button on the panel and entered in the number for the Guardian.

>>Prowl! The Dinobots are taking the 19! I just tried to stall them a bit by blowing out a Plasma Manifold, but they got to me and it stays intact! They are getting away! We are in an escape pod in orbit, but get them first and us later!<< Jazz said through the comm link with Prowl.

He didn't have time to wait for a response, he left it over the loudspeakers for a response while he walked over to Hoist.

"Sorry I got you all into this mess. The Dinobots were stealing the 19! I don't know why, but they were doing so and I had to stop 'em," Jazz said with a rub on the back of his head, "I was not expecting things to turn out like this, though. They got the jump on me when I melted the plasma manifold, which, mind you, we have spares for. With their intelligence they'll have no clue on how to fix it. Plasma will leak everywhere and disable the ship before they know what hit them!"

Jazz looked over to Ironfist.

"He okay?" Jazz asked as he listened intently for a response from Prowl.

Engineering

Everything happened so fast that Snarl barely had time to register what exactly was going on. One moment Hoist was saying something about staying behind to ensure the ship didn't explode for no apparent reason and then the next Jazz was trying to blast the engines with his flame thrower. Thankfully, Swoop acted quickly and sliced through the white mech’s weapon before he could do any real damage. The flying Dinobot then smashed the pummel of his sword into Jazz’s faceplate, sending him to the floor hard. It had become very apparent to the Desert Warrior that the time for a peaceful removal of these repair ‘Bots had come and gone. They had no choice now.

“Yeah, him could have destroyed us all, Swoop,” Snarl commented just as Slag stepped onto the deck and executed a series of brutal maneuvers that effectively knocked out the two smaller mechs while keeping Jazz pinned helplessly to the floor. “That looked like fun,” Snarl smiled back at his ultra violent comrade before grabbing Hoist by one of his limp legs and dragging him to a nearby escape pod where the green maintenance mech was then tossed inside. Swoop and Slag handled the other two members of the repair team before the pod was finally occupied by all three fixit 'Bots and then jettisoned into space. “Well, at least that’s done. Let’s get to bridge.”

Bridge

Snarl approached Sludge who was standing guard just outside of the bridge doors. The Desert Warrior grinned and patted his big friend on the shoulder. “Autobots gone now, Sludge. We launched them into space. You can relax.” With that said, Snarl moved by the Jungle Warrior and entered the bridge, taking a seat at one of the weapons stations adjacent to Slag. If Prowl decided to send anyone after them, they’d be ready to defend their stolen ship if necessary.

Hopefully, it won’t come to that, the plated Dinobot thought as the Ark-19 disconnected from the Guardian and rocketed away from the small blue marble called Earth. Nothing could stop them now. By the time prick-bot took his cranial unit out of his aft and managed to assemble a team, the Dinobots would be long gone. Now, it was only a matter of getting to the shipyards where they would find their own vessel with enough fire power to eliminate the Decepticon threat not only in the Sol System but in all other systems around the galaxy, as well.

Transmission from Prowl:

>>”Grimlock, if you and your unit are on board the Ark-19 you are ordered to stop and return here immediately. Failure to do so will leave me no choice but to brand you all as traitors, subjecting you to court marshall and a possible sentence on Garrus-9. Do you understand, Grimlock? Bring back that ship now!”<<

Corridor/Bridge

As Sludge stood guard he noticed someone coming down the corridor toward him.

"STOP!", Sludge ordered as he aimed his rifle, "Who- oh, never mind."

The jungle warrior set down his rifle when he recognized the spikes, horns and wings sticking out of the bots down the hall. It was the other Dinobots coming back to the bridge. Sludge stepped to the side and let the three enter the bridge, with Snarl assuring the larger Dinobot that everything was taken care of, all the Autobots were gone.

No reason to stand guard when there was no one who could enter the bridge, Sludge followed behind the others. Instead of taking a seat at one of the consoles like the others, the jungle warrior stood behind the command chair where Grimlock sat. He'd do less damage there.

"We go yet, Grimlock?", Sludge asked as he looked ahead at the view screen.

Bridge

Grimlock sat in the command chair, hands locked together, as he considered Prowl’s message. He would be taking them into outlaw territory with this adventure. Prowl could indeed try and have them arrested, although Grimlock would certainly argue his higher rank outweighed any orders from him. Of course him being missing for so long probably hurt his standing a little bit, not to mention his reputation even back when he was active, not to mention Prowl being highly respected by a lot of Autobots.

In reality they were already past the point of no return. He doubted that turning around now would get them much leniency. At this point it was either come back with the Trion and force things to turn around on Earth or end up in a brig somewhere. He would just have to make sure they came out ahead, and without doing too much damage to their fellow Autobots.

“We going now Sludge. Swoop, take us out of here.”

The other Dinobot nodded and activated the Transwarp drive. In a flash of light the Ark-19 dissappeared.

OOC: We’ll continue to use this thread until the Dinobots have arrived at their destination.

Bridge

Grimlock sat in silence as the ship traversed through transwarp. Part of him felt like celebrating as the first major step in his plan had gone off well enough. There were a few bumps along the way, but nothing quite as bad as he had feared. It felt good to have a victory, even if it was one like this, against other Autobots.

The ship came out of transwarp at one of the designated points on their flight plan. Just to be completely sure Prowl wasn’t pursuing them. They would stop, plot a new course, and enter transwarp again, making it quite difficult for them to be followed. A couple of more stops and they would be at their final location. That meant it was time to get everyone ready for what was coming next. He stood up from the command chair and turned to face his team.

“Dinobots, easy part of plan over, tougher part start soon. When we get to shipyards we going to have to do some acting. We tell them we bringing ship in for repairs and get caught up on new tech. We were buried on Earth long time, need to see state of art technology. That should be enough to get us on Trion, tech types always like to show off how smart they are and what new stuff they make. We learn all we can about Trion, how to fly and operate it. Once we know enough we take it like we took this ship. Just have to be more careful, tighter security there. Have to be on best behavior there, but me know you can do it. We succeed there, we come back to Earth with most powerful ship Autobots have and take fight right to Decepticons!”

Bridge

Snarl relaxed a bit once the ship had entered transwarp. While he had been itching for a fight for quite some time now, he was a bit relieved that he didn’t have to open fire on other Autobots, no matter how annoying and weak they could be. The Desert Warrior would much rather blast some ‘Cons rather than members of his own faction. Still, facing the enemy on the field of battle, whether it be in space or on the ground, seemed a long ways off still. The shipyards they were going to would only have Autobot personnel on duty. There wouldn’t be a ‘Con in sight, which was unfortunate as it meant Snarl would be forced to wait even longer for some real action. It also meant that Snarl would remain disgruntled until he finally got to doing what he loved most - crushing the enemy underneath his oversized foot!

Once the damaged vessel came out of warp, Grimlock stood up and addressed the Dinobots as to what the plan would be once they had arrived at the shipyards. The Desert Warrior listened intently, hoping that somehow a battle would be a part of the plan. Alas, that was not to be, unless it was against the security forces stationed there, but those would be more ‘Bots and not ‘Cons. Still, if Snarl had to wait much longer for a fight, he would gladly pretend he was fighting ‘Cons. The plan, as it was, sounded good enough. However, like the ejected repair crew, there would certainly be those who questioned the Dinobots’ true motives.

“Plan sound fine to me, Grimlock, especially last part where we succeed,” Snarl replied with a grunt as he crossed his arms over his chest plating and leaned back in his chair. “Would rather have more fighting, but me learn what me can to better kick in Decepticon aft plates. Hope new lies work better than old ones. If not, we end up fighting puny ‘Bots again, more than before. Techies might not put up much of a fight, but security mechs will, no doubt.”

Bridge

Sludge stood behind the command chair, listening to his commander as intently as he could. As great as this mission was going to be, though, he didn't like how little action was going to be involved, and whatever action there was going to be would again be against fellow Autobots. And learning new tech? Well, it wasn't exactly like Sludge had gotten much of a handle on all the old tech in the first place.

"Me Sludge would rather smash Decepticons.", the jungle warrior said with a hint of distaste, mostly to himself, "Me Sludge don't like plans with too much talking and thinking."

After a minute of "deep thought", while Snarl voiced his opinion, Sludge looked straight at the Dinobot commander.

"Me Sludge can't think of better plan. Grimlock is strongest, so Grimlock's plan must be best. Me Sludge will do what Grimlock wants me Sludge to do."

Bridge

From his seat at the helm of the ship, Swoop listened intently to everything Grimlock had to say. The Dinobot commander had everything worked out which suited the bombardier just fine. After all, Grimlock was the more intelligent of them. Unfortunately none of the Autobots saw their commander as the brilliant tactician that he was. Instead they considered them all dolts whose sole purpose is to destroy. They couldn’t be more wrong.

As Grimlock finished his speech Swoop took a look over his shoulder at their commander and nodded his approval. Although they still had a long way to go before they arrived at their destination, the flier knew that they were not in the clear just yet. They wouldn’t be clear until they had commandeered the Trion and were well on their way back.

Swoop widened the sensor range of the 19 in an attempt to learn just where they were in relation to the shipyards. Once the results appeared on his forward screen Swoop swiveled his chair around.

“Grimlock, I just ran a wide sensor scan and we’re on track with the Cos Coler shipyards. We should arrive in approximately 6.25 hours.”

(OOC: Apologies for the long delay. Its taken a bit of time to get this storyline organized but I think we are finally ready to go.)

Bridge

Grimlock nodded as the other Dinobots confirmed their support for the plan. They were a good group, there wasn’t an Autobot built he’d rather have next to him in battle. This was going to be a test for them all though as this wasn’t going to be a battle. Trickery and deceit weren’t tactics the Dinobots were accustomed to using. He would just have to hope they would all pull together for this mission.

With nothing left to do now but wait the Dinobot commander sat back in his chair and contemplated what was to come.

OOC: The Ark-19 and its crew are now moved to the new Cas Coller - Alpha Shipyards thread the Somewhere Out There forum.