Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Training Facility

Inferno slowly dredged onto toward the Training Center aboard ARK 22. His new body configuration was not easy to get to used to, but he was confident he would get the hang of it. He knew the training center would be the best way to speed up this process. In his line of work, he had to be at his best, and going half-witted in the line of fire was not something he was willing to do.

Inferno quickly punched in a simple training exercise under a search and rescue parameter and left the training center unlocked, in case anyone wanted to join him. As Inferno entered the trainer, a computer voice greeted him:

"Location: Earth, Northern Hemisphere, Hawaiian Islands. A dormant volcano has become active due to Decepticon interference.

Objective: Find and protect trapped Autobot and protect from Decepticon assault."

"Now this is more like it," Inferno exclaimed aloud. "FINALLY some action, this Decepticon won't know what hit him!"

As the scenario become active Inferno had to briefly shield his optics. The lava flowing on the ground was brighter than he was used to. They quickly adjusted and Inferno was very impressed to see his armor was holding up well in such an intense heat. Thinking as quickly as he could, he first fired his flame supressor cannon. A gel-like foam made contact with the lava and sizzled away into smoke.

"Well, that is going to be utterly useless. Best divert my attention to more bountiful endeavours. About this missing Autobot..." Inferno thought to himself. He began his search, first using only his aural sensors. In heat like this, and lava spewing forth on the ground screams from another might make it easiest to locate said other. When he heard none he activated his internal sensors. They scanned and located two potential pings. "BINGO!"

Inferno picked up one lifesign pinned under some debris, not to far from him and another signal off in the distance moving at very high speeds. It was obvious to him which one was the trapped Autobot, and which was the Decepticon.

Inferno declared outloud, "Well, got some ground to cover. Let's give the fire truck thing a whirl!" With this Inferno transformed into his alternate mode and began driving toward the trapped ping...

(OOC: Continue tomorrow, do not want to clog board with one post)

Hallway

"Why would he leave the room without telling me?", Red Alert frustratingly asked himself, "He knew I was in the CR chamber, why would he go like that before I was out? What could he be hiding, what is he-"

For a quick moment Red Alert stopped himself, even when his sensors continued to send him an almost nonstop barrage of signals and information. It was normal for him to be suspicous of others, it was part of his job after all. But now he was starting to think his best, and possibly only friend might be conspiring against him. Even he had to stop and think twice about such an accusation.

"No, no, no, not Inferno, he wouldn't.", he tried to reassure himself, "He would never betray me, never. But maybe...."

Now he was wishing he hadn't gone into the chamber, even if he needed a new alternate mode and a general tune up. Every moment he was in stasis something was happening, and he couldn't stand the thought of anything happening without him knowing. As he pondered a nearly endless list of scenarios as to what had caused Inferno to leave wihtout him, he came across the door to the training facility.

"Now I'm going to get some answers.", the security director said resolutely as he pushed the button to open the door.


Training Facility

Stepping in, Red Alert found himself in a strange environment he wasn't used to. Some form of hot liquid flowed along the ground in what appeared to be a tropical climate.

"This isn't real, this is just a simulation,", Red Alert reminded himself as his highly tuned sensors sent him a cascade of readings that made it all the more difficult to tell, "This isn't real, it's just a simulation...."

Slowly, cautiously he walked through the holographic simulation, carefully avoiding the lava despite it not being real lava. After only a few astroseconds he noticed a large red vehicle, heading toward two virtual mechs.

"Inferno! How can you be playing around at a time like this?!?", Red Alert yelled.

Corridors

Smokescreen moved quietly through the ship as quickly as he could, his hand still holding on to Tracer’s as a way to both guide her and keep her steady at the same time. He worried little about Razr as he knew the small turbofox would have no trouble keeping up with his master. Smokey’s only real concern was being discovered, not by the frigate’s internal sensors, but by a stray Autobot they might encounter in the halls. Even though the ship had only a skeleton crew aboard, it was this fear that forced the rallybot to be more cautious, especially when they came to a corner or intersection. One never knew what or who was just out of sight. He certainly didn’t want a repeat of when Jazz discovered him leaving the Ark-19. That was an awkward moment to say the least.

Finally reaching their destination, Smokescreen approached the entrance of the shuttle bay and entered the security codes that would allow him access to the small vessels within. The doors slid apart and the diversion expert stepped across the threshold, still guiding Tracer along the way.

Shuttle Bay

Once inside, Smokescreen let go of Tracer’s hand for a moment as he turned around and accessed the control panel next to the doors. Instead of hitting the switch, he opened up the panel and yanked out a small circuit board, causing the doors to slide shut and lock. He and Tracer were now effectively sealed within the shuttle bay until Smokey either replaced the circuit or a mechanic with the proper knowledge came along to fix the doors. No one could get in or out and that’s exactly how the rallybot wanted it. The diversion expert placed circuit away into a small compartment in his waist before moving back over to the drug-addicted femme.

“Okay, we’re good, Tracer,” Smokescreen said in an assuring manner as he took hold of her hand once more and guided her over to a small shuttle craft at the far end of the bay. “We’ll use this one. It’s small enough that the cloaking device will easily conceal it.” I hope. The red and blue racer pushed a button on the outer hull and the hatch popped open with a hiss. Smokey then ducked down and entered through the tight opening, immediately taking off his backpack and placing it in front of him on the floor of the shuttle. Opening the satchel, he carefully lifted the cloaking device out of its concealment and carried it to the rear of the craft where he could connect it to the power core and primary engine systems.

“Trace, just take a seat somewhere while I hook this up,” Smokescreen called back to her, as he placed the device down and activated the magnetic strips on the bottom that would hold it in place. “This shouldn’t take too long.” Of course, the rallybot hadn’t been entirely truthful in his last statement. He really didn’t know how long it would take since he didn’t know exactly how to hook it in to the shuttle’s systems. Thankfully, he wasn’t in this endeavor alone and had a secret ace up his sleeve. The diversionary tactician then opened an encrypted comm link to his inside connection:

>>”Hey, it’s Smokescreen. I’m on board now down in the shuttle bay. I need a little assistance with the cloaking device. Are you free to talk?”<<

It took a few astroseconds before a response came back over the secured channel. >>”Of course, I’m free, Smokey. What do you need?”<<

>>”I need to know how to hook up this blasted cloaking device. It looks complicated.”<<

>>”Not if you know what you’re doing, buddy. Okay, follow my instructions to the letter and you’ll be ready to go in no time. First, remove the small panel on the lower back side of the cloak and pull out the two cables, one red and one green. They are thicker than normal wires. Once that is done, connect the green one to the primary coupling on the shuttle’s power core. The device will draw it’s energon from the shuttle, itself. Then, connect the red cable into the main engine port, allowing the device to send highly charged neuronic particles into the engines themselves which will allow for a silent run. To the naked optic, you’ll be visible, but sensors will be unable to pick you up. Theoretically, anyway.”<<

>>”Wait, what do you mean, theoretically?!?”<<

>>”Never mind. It’ll work just fine. Now, once those connections are made, you need to enter the activation code on the keypad mounted on top of the device. Now, enter the numeric code exactly in the order that I tell you or you risk the apparatus locking up and not working at all. The code is as follows: 9 4 3 3 5 5 2 2 5. Once the code is entered, hit the yellow button and the device will be online and fully operational. Let me know when you’ve got it up and running.”<<

Smokescreen had listened intently to everything the mech on the other end of the comm link told him, even the theoretical stuff that made him very nervous. He followed the instructions closely, opening the back panel and hooking up the pair of cables into the proper outlets. He then moved on to the keypad and entered the code just how it was relayed to him and pushed the yellow button. Smokey then waited for a moment as the cloaking device began to hum to life.

>>It seems to be working. I think we’re in business! Thanks a lot, ‘Jack!<<

Bridge - Science Station

Wheeljack sat at his terminal, communicating with the diversion expert through a non-verbal internal comm line so that no one else could hear what was being discussed. The two mechs went way back to the days when infiltration on Earth meant little more than sitting around tinkering with gadgets or running diagnostic programs. Being that the computer labs were adjacent to his own work space, ‘Jack and Smokey had become quite close. In fact, the rallybot was usually the first one the resident mad scientist would show off his latest inventions to. Unfortunately, one of those creations had exploded in Smokey’s faceplate during a small skirmish with the ‘Cons, leaving him in stasis for a short while. ‘Jack had owed the rallybot one ever since, which was why he was willing to help in this instance.

>>”Glad to hear it, Smokey, ol’ buddy. I’ve already diverted the ship’s sensors around the shuttle bay so that when you activate the outer doors, no one up here will detect it. Just remember, don’t push the shuttle’s engines too hard. The cloak may not hold up under intense stress.”<<

>>”Got it. Anything else I should know, ‘Jack?”<<

>>”Yeah, whatever it is you’re up to, Smokey, don’t do anything that’ll get yourself killed. Okay?”<<

>>”I’ll do my best, buddy. If I need any more help I’ll contact you on this channel.”<<

>>”No problem. I’ll be here. Good luck to you. I hope she’s worth it.”<<

>>”She is. Thanks again. Smokey out.”<<

As the internal encrypted comm link went silent, Wheeljack couldn’t help but wonder if he was really doing the right thing by helping Smokescreen and his lady love sneak down to the planet below. He hoped they weren’t doing anything illegal, but who really knew with Smokey, considering his checkered past. Prowl was a tough ‘Bot to get around, which was why the rallybot had contacted the mechanical engineer for help. ‘Jack had divulged where to find the requested equipment stored in his old lab over on the Ark-19, things that led the scientist to believe that Smokey was up to no good. Still, Wheeljack was there to help his fellow Autobots, and the diversion expert had always been a good friend in the past so there was no reason not to help him now even if his activities were a bit suspicious.

Wheeljack glanced around the bridge, seeing Springer at his station looking bored while Bluestreak chatted up Arcee on the opposite side of the room. At least, the gunner wasn’t running his vocal processor in the scientist’s audio receptors. He’d barely be able to hear himself think let alone try to silently communicate with Smokescreen. The only ‘Bots that were uncounted for, who should still be on board, were Inferno and Red Alert.

Red Alert! Wheeljack thought as he sat up straight in his chair. Oh, Primus, I completely forgot about him. If anyone was capable of finding out about Smokey it would be that paranoid mech. I’ve got to make sure he doesn’t go near the shuttle bay.

The Autobot mad scientist quickly checked the ship’s sensor grid, at least the portion he had not tampered with, and found Red Alert to be down in the training facility with his buddy Inferno. Good, perfect place for you, Red. Now, if you’ll only stay there for a little while longer.

Training Facility

Inferno was having a tough time traversing the rocky terrain is his new form. The land formations were foreign to him, and atop that lava was randomly spewing forth from the ground itself. He came to a screeching hault and nearly toppled over at the sudden stop when he heard his friend Red Alert's voice. He quickly transformed and fell to a knee.

"Red? What in the blazes are you doing here? Avoid that liquidy stuff. It'll melt right through you!" Inferno shouted to his friend and partner. "What do you think your doing?"

Inferno was shocked to see his old friend enter right into such a dangerous situation, especially since he was ill equipped for it. He knew he would get an answer though. Red Alert may a paranoid bot, but he didn't act without at least a bit of rationale.

Training Facility

"What am I doing here?", Red Alert incredulously replied as he walked closer to Inferno, carefully tip-toeing his way around the simulated lava, "What are you doing here?!?"

Red Alert took Inferno's warning very seriously. He could tell now that his friend had turned off some of the safety protocols in the simulation, and though possibly not as hot as the real thing, from his sensor readings it was clear the lava would most certainly leave more than a few burn marks.

"I know you like to have plenty of action, but why do something so dangerous at a time like this?", Red Alert frantically asked, "With Optimus gone the Decepticons could attack at any minute! And with Megatron gone every Decepticon commander and senior officer in the quadrant will be coming here to claim his position! They could be mounting a massive assault on us right now and you're here risking your life for holographic bots in simulated lava?!?!"

There were so many variables, so many threats, it was almost too much for the security director to handle! Red Alert started to forget he was in the training facility as several holographic seekers flew overhead.

"SEE! They're already attacking!"

Without warning Red Alert fired two missiles at the simulated Decepticons, then immediately lifted his rifle and fired wildly at them as if his and Inferno's lives were at stake. Though in his frenzy he missed many shots, but enough hit the targets to leave none left flying.

"We need to get out of here now, and get on the bridge where we can at least see them all coming!"

Corridors

Tracer’s hold on Smokescreen’s hand never loosened as the rallybot guided her through the corridors and on toward the shuttle bay where their transport would be waiting. She tried to keep as close to him as she could but the physical drain on her systems were making it difficult. As they neared their destination the femme nearly tripped over her own feet, but with Smokescreen secure hold on her servo she was able to keep upright and continue on. Razr was never far from the two ‘Bots. His loyalty was always reassuring to the troubled femme.

At the doors to the shuttle bay the duo stopped and the former gambler entered the security code. They made their way inside with Tracer moving as quickly as she could manage.

Shuttle Bay

Once Smokescreen had let go of her hand Tracer moved to a crate that was sitting next to the door. She leaned heavily on the makeshift crutch as he proceeded to override the lock sealing them in and the rest of the crew out.

Tracer lifted her head as she looked into the rallybot’s optics. She gave him a small smile as he took hold of her hand again and helped her to one of the shuttles. Slowly the femme made her way into the small ship sticking closely behind the blue and red mech. Padding directly behind Tracer, Razr moved into the shuttle and settled in beside his master.

The femme scout stopped next to Smokescreen as he removed the satchel from his back and placed it on the floor. He then opened the bag and removed what looked like a cloaking device, one that bared a resemblance to those Wheeljack had often utilized. She was about to question just where he had come by the device when she recalled that Smokescreen had left her quarters while she contacted Oil Slick to set up the meeting, obviously to get what he needed from the engineer. I hope he didn’t steal that.

She flashed him an uneasy glance, but he would never see it as his back was still to her. Tracer shook her head lightly, but the movement only caused her to become even more unsteady on her feet. With a low groan she placed her hand on the nearby wall to keep from toppling over. To her side the small turbofox cocked his head to one side and gently placed his paw on her foot. She gave him a quick smile before she reached down and gave him a pat to the head.

“I’m alright, Razr.”

Her attention moved from her pet and the spinning sensation in her head back to Smokescreen. The mech urged her to take a seat and be patient while he got the equipment hooked up.

“Al…alright.”

Very slowly and cautiously Tracer moved to a nearby chair and lowered herself into it. The femme drew up her legs, resting them on the seat and wrapped her arms around them as tight as she could manage. She let out an exhausted sigh before she offlined her optics and rested the chevron that adorned her forehead just below her upright knees. With any luck this whole ordeal would be over and she would finally have what she needed to feel again.

Training Facility

Inferno could tell his old friend Red Alert was getting agitated by the situation. His paranoia was clearly getting the best of him, but Inferno had to crack a small smile when he saw Red Alert fire some missiles at the incoming simulated seekers. He could use this to his advantage, and finish the simulation all at the same time.

Inferno called out to his friend, "That's the spirit Red! Knock those seekers out of the sky! We'll show these Decepti-goons whose boss!" Excitedly, Inferno fired two of his own missiles at the incoming seekers. Naturally, they were able to weave out of the way but the delta formation they were flying in was broken up. One of them was left clearly exposed.

Carefully aiming his energy dampener Inferno fired upon the exposed seeker. The energy dampener beam hit it on the belly. The beam did its damage quickly and the targeted seeker's engines began to short out. Inferno watched with pride as came crahsing down into a lava fissure, boiling down to a smoking wreck.

he quickly turned to Red Alert before firing again and yelled to him, "You have more advanced sensors than I do Red, can you locate the pinned Autobot? I'll keep these second rate fly boys off your back while you do! Once we rescue our lost friend, we'll head up to the bridge as you'd like! But finding the lost 'bot is my PRIMARY concern at the moment!"

Inferno went back to firing at the Seekers, confident Red Alert would see the simulation as a valuable training exercise. Or at the very least his paranoia will set in and force Red into thinking the simulation was real and the primary objective would be met. It was a dirty trick to do to a friend, but Inferno had to test his new abilities before entering real combat with real Seekers.

Training Facility

The ground rumbled, spewing smoke and more lava as the volcano started to become fully awake. It was a dangerous situation even without the Decepticon assault- at least, that's what it was meant to look like.

"This is just a simulation..... THIS IS JUST A SIMULATION!", the security director tried to remind himself even more.

He couldn't believe that despite everything he'd said, his best friend still insisted not only in continuing this unneccessary excercise, but that Red Alert become involved. Actually no, he could believe it. Unlike Red Alert who often saw dangers hidden in every nook and crany that others never even thought of, Inferno only saw the danger right in front of him. Unless the real Decepticons showed up, it looked like Red Alert would have to help finish the training exercise before they could leave.

"Oh all right, fine! I'll help you, but you'll be sorry if we come out and the Ark is swarming with enemies!", Red Alert reluctantly replied.

With all of the noise and the heat and the smoke even Red Alert's finely tuned senses were put to the test. Avoiding the occasional laser fire from the sky, did his best to scan the area with every sensor he had- olfactory, optical, thermal, audio- wait!

"Help..... someone help me please!"

Red Alert could just make out a faint voice coming from near the base of the volcano.

"I think I have something!", he hollered to his friend as he ran toward the source, searching for some visual confirmation.

After a hundred meters of running and scanning, Red Alert finally found an electronic signal; at the base of the volcano, just barely visible underneath several tons of rocks. Red Alert could see some lava flowing from the top of the volcano toward the trapped bot.

"I've found him, Inferno!", Red Alert shouted, activating Infernos internal alarm out of habit, "He's trapped on the southwest base of the volcano, and he doesn't have much time! Hurry!"

Red Alert transformed to his lambourghini mode. It was the first time he'd done so since they arrived in Earth's orbit, so he found some difficulty driving along the rugged terrain. Still, he drove as fast as he possibly could to save the trapped mech.

<<Stay calm! Inferno and Red Alert are on our way to help!>>

Shuttle Bay

Once the comm line with Wheeljack went silent, Smokescreen gave the cloaking device a final look over before standing up. It gave off a warm glow and gentle hum in an almost orchestrated symphony of light and sound. It amazed him that something the resident mad scientist had built would operate with such harmony. Of course, all the bells and whistles in the universe didn’t mean it would work right or not eventually blow up like many things ‘Jack had invented.

At least he remembered that he owed me one after that warhead debacle, Smokescreen thought as he turned away from the cloaking apparatus and made he way towards the front of the shuttle where Tracer had found a seat and curled up in it. As he passed by the main hatch, Smokey hit the switch, closing the doorway and locking it before then moving to the troubled femme’s side.

“It’s almost time, Tracer,” the diversion expert whispered to her trembling form as he knelt down and placed both hands on her upright knees. “We just need to wait for the Dinobots to make their move and then we’ll make ours. It won’t be long now.” Smokey leaned forward and kissed the top of her head above her chevron. He then stood once more and walked to the pilot’s chair of the small craft.

Once the rallybot was seated, he brought the shuttle’s primary systems online. The control panel came to life within astroseconds as lights flickered on across the board and a small view screen in front of the diversion expert began to run down the status of every component of the vessel, both hardware and software. Everything was in the green, including the engines which had adapted well to the cloaking device now attached to them. Now, if everything would only stay working.

With everything set and ready to go, Smokescreen left a secured comm line open so that he could listen in on any nearby transmissions without being detected. Once the Dinobots were gone with the Ark-19, comm chatter about the incident would surely increase exponentially amongst the Autobots on both remaining vessels, giving Smokey the signal to finally depart for Earth. Come on, you Dino-dolts. What the slag are you waiting for?

Training Facility

Inferno was blasting away at the Seekers when Red Alert called over to him. He had just downed the second Seeker and felt great pride when he heard Red call over to him.

"Oh all right, fine! I'll help you, but you'll be sorry if we come out and the Ark is swarming with enemies!",

'Be sorry if we were swarmed by enemies? HAaaaa!' Inferno laughed toward his old friend. "We BOTH know I'd prefer that!"

Inferno started targeting the third Seeker when Red ALert anounced he had found the trapped Autobot signal. He smiled when he saw Red transform and drive off toward the trapped 'bot. Following suit, Inferno transformed into his fire engine and began racing off. While he could not hope to match Red's speed, his heavier frame made traversing the rugged terrain a bit easier. Inferno raced until he was about twenty yards behind Red Alert. He deemed this a safe following distance.

"Just point him out RED ALERT! I'll handle it from there good buddy!" Inferno was swollen with pride. He was at his finest now. Rescuing a trapped comrade, downing two Seekers, and he even got Red Alert to cooperate with him. This was turning out to be a great training exercise.

Training Facility

Red Alert's mind was racing back and forth- this was a training simulation, but it seemed so real that he felt right in the thick of things, trying to rescue this trapped Autobot.

"We need to hurry Inferno, or that poor bot will be melted into slag!", Red Alert alerted his friend, before remembmering, "Wait, no no! We need to hurry and finish this so we can get back out in the real world before it's too late!"

Red Alert's tires were beginning to wear out as he made it to the base of the volcano. A large pile of rocks, possibly from an avalanche- no, holographic rocks that were placed there to look like an avalanche- lie on top of a small green minibot, just his head, shoulders and arms visible, the rest of his body buried underneath. A light trickle of energon came from the bot's head, having formed a puddle on the ground near him. Just above him was a stream of molten lava coming toward him.

"Oh thank Primus....", the trapped holographic bot gratefully said, "Help me out of here... please."

"He's not real, he's just a hologram.", Red Alert said to himself, again trying to reassert his grip on reality.

Red Alert could start to feel the temperature rise as the lava came closer, the smell of sulfure filling his olfactory sensors. Quickly he went next to the bot and removed the rocks on top of him.

"You're not real, you know that?!?", Red Alert yelled at the bot with a dirty look, "We should be out there keeping an eye out for Decepticon attacks, and instead we're risking our skidplates for your holographic tailgate! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!"

Shuttle - AR -221

The space surrounding her seemed to be spinning so fast she had to fight the urge to purge her systems. Her focus needed to remain on the task before her. Get down to the surface, hand over the intel and receive her reward. The same list went over and over in her processor it was the only thing keeping her from simply falling apart. That and Smokescreen. She never realized just how much he meant to her until they were finally reunited, but keeping him in the dark about her addiction was something she would never forgive herself for.

The thought caused her to squeeze her legs even tighter toward her body. The scout let out a low groan as a tremble raked her frame. Why couldn’t they be on their way already? Tracer shivered slightly. Be patient. The Dinobots need to make their move first before we can even lift off.

Tracer flinched away from Smokescreen as the rallybot knelt down in front of her and paced his hands on her upright knees. It was unintentional and she hoped he didn’t take it personally. Every circuit, every electrical impulse, every sensation was amplified tenfold. Her entire body was hyper sensitive. It was a horrifying feeling. Even the touch from the mech she cared about most sent pain through her entire frame.

The scout let out a low pain filled moan as Smokescreen leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss just above the chevron that adorned her head. When the red and blue mech stood and finally made his way to the pilot’s chair Tracer lifted her head slowly and watched him take his seat. How could he even agree to help her?

Tracer shook her head slowly before she rested her chin back down on her knees. The gambler was akin to a saint in her optics.

At the sound of a light beeping signal, she raised her head and stared at the back of Smokescreen’s chair. It had to be Grimlock and his crew finally making their move.

“Wha…what’s that? Have the Dinobots finally taken the 19? Are we able to go now?”

Shuttle AR-211

Smokescreen noticed the beeping signal coming from the control console moments before Tracer had heard it and inquired about whether the Dinobots had made their move. Before the diversion expert could answer her, a wave of chatter over the secured open comm line filled the small shuttle craft. A warning from Jazz, who was in an escape pod, followed by a response from Prowl signaled that the Dinobots had indeed successfully stolen the Ark-19. Then another message from Prowl to Grimlock was heard, demanding that the Dinobot Commander return with the ship at once. Of course, Grimlock would never comply with such a demand, especially not from a mech like Prowl.

“Yes, it appears those Dino-dolts have finally stolen the 19. All optics are now on them and not us. We should be fine to leave,” Smokescreen finally responded as he looked over his shoulder at the troubled femme with a warm smile. “Just hang on, Tracer. This could be a bumpy ride.”

The rallybot returned his attention to the controls as he brought the engines to full power, causing the craft to hover just off the floor. He then sent a signal to the outer bay doors, which opened moments later to reveal the blackness of space beyond. Since Wheeljack had already disabled the sensors around this part of the ship, no one would be able to detect the doors opening or them leaving. I don’t know what I would’ve done without ‘Jack.

Wasting no further time, Smokescreen guided the cloaked shuttle forward and out of the bay. Once across the threshold, the doors closed as the diversion expert made an immediate sharp right turn before then diving down underneath the Ark-22. From this angle it would be near impossible for anyone on board either remaining vessel to visually see their small shuttle craft as there were no windows on the undersides of the two Autobot ships. Plus, the escape pod that contained the repair crew was no where in sight, having already been retrieved by the Guardian. Those facts along with the cloaking device made it a certainty that Smokey and Tracer would make it to the Earth’s surface without anyone noticing.

It’s getting back that’ll be the trick, Smokescreen thought as he piloted the shuttle away from the larger ships and down into the planet’s atmosphere where turbulence began to shake the tiny craft violently. “Hold on, Tracer! This is where it gets a little rough!” The diversion specialist shouted over the noise as he maintained a firm grip on the controls, keeping the shuttle steady as they descended further towards their planet side destination. “We’ll be there soon! Just stay with me back there!”

Traning Facility

Inferno was driving along, and he barely heard his friend Red Alert announcing he found the trapped mech. As Inferno transformed and ran up as quickly as his giant body would allow. Red Alert had already removed the debris. It was easy for Inferno to reach down and take the injured bot into his arms.

"Hey, great work Red!" Inferno congratulated. "You truely are one of the best! I'm proud to have served with you today, even if it was ONLY a simulation."

Inferno offered this praise to Red Alert as it was well deserved. Slowly, the holograms around them began to fade away. The molten lava, the final seeker in the sky, even the bot Inferno held in his arms. He smiled knowing his mission was complete, and he even got to blast a few seekers. Not nearly as much fun as grounding Starscream and his cronies. But the simulation was much safer. He put his hand on Red Alert's shoulder, towering over him.

"Well old friend, my work here is done. I couldn't have done it without ya!" Inferno again offering praise to his oft paranoid partner. "I do believe you wanted to get up to the bridge. By all means, lead on."

It was a little mean to force Red into one of his training sessions. Inferno thought it for the best though. They were on unfamiliar territory with Earth and both were in new, untested bodies. Inferno had the desire to start uo a new, harder session; but he made a promise to Red Alert to head with him to the bridge. And Inferno always intended to keep his promises.

Training Facility

A sense of relief came over Red Alert as the simulation ended. The strain on his sensors from all the holographic projections was gone, and now he could focus on real threats. He looked at his friend, Inferno, who had pushed him into it. In all fairness, now that he thought of it, it probably was necessary. Different planet, different alternate mode, different environment.

"Thank you, Inferno, I couldn't have done it without you.", Red Alert complimented, "And now that we're done we can finally get back in the real world where there's real problems!!"

The security director headed straight for the door, determined to get back into the thick of things.


Corridor

Stepping out of the training facility, Red Alert started heading for the bridge.

"Right, now we get to the bridge, and make sure we now if anythings happe-"

Red Alert stopped. His advanced olfactory sensors had picked up something odd. It was Razr's scent, but he was unaware that turbofox's still existed, let alone that an Autobot in the Sol System had been taking care of one.

"What is that strange scent?", he said to himself as he analyzed it, "It's not an Autobot, it's not even a Decepticon, I'm sure of it.... But it's definitely something from Cybertron...."

The securty director set his olfactory sensors to maximum- the scent was leading down the corridor. Red Alert followed it, contemplating what it could possibly be.

Not a Transformer, no, no, some kind of animal? We were docked on Iacon, something could have come on board. But what could-

"OH SLAG NO!", Red Alert shouted as he realized what it was, continuing to follow the smell.

<<Red Alert to the bridge, we have a problem! I've detected an unusual scent in the Ark-22 corridors and I've come to the conclusion that we're infested with cyberrats! We must have picked them up back on Iacon, we need to find and eliminate them NOW, before they start tearing the ship apart from the inside!!!>>

Red Alert continued to follow the scent, until finally it stopped right at the shuttle bay door.

"This must be it! This must be the vermin's nest!"

Red Alert punched in his clearance code to open the door and- nothing.

"What?", he exclaimed as he punched in the code again, with still no result, "Oh slag, no, no, no."

Red Alert slammed his fist against the controls in frustration.

<<Red Alert to Wheeljack, I need you at the door to the shuttle bay! The cyberrat's scent comes here and the doors won't open! This must be where they're nesting, I'm sure of it! I need you down here to open the door so we can wipe them out immediately!>>

Bridge

Wheeljack’s spark skipped a pulse when he heard Red Alert’s initial message echo across the bridge’s main intercom followed closely by a second one over Jack’s own personal comm line. The paranoid mech had apparently picked up a scent once he left the training room and it led him right to the shuttle bay doors. Of course it did. Why not the one place I didn’t want him to go? Naturally! The mad scientist placed a hand on his forehead and sighed before opening a channel back to Red Alert:

>>Okay, Red, don’t get your circuits in a twist. I’ll be right down.”<<

Wheeljack then stood from his chair and turned to the other Autobots present on the bridge. “I’ll head on down there to see what’s got Red all in a bind. I'm sure its nothing serious. Be back soon, I hope.” The mechanical engineer then grabbed his toolkit and headed for the doors but was quickly stopped by Bluestreak.

“You need any help down there, ‘Jack?” The gunner asked with a friendly smile. “If there is a cyber-rat infestation aboard you’ll need an extra hand to help deal with them. Those things can be pretty vicious and even very large at times. I can remember encountering a few back on Cybertron before we departed and let me tell you they were not happy to see me. One tried to bite my whole head off even! Can you imagine that? That’s how fraggin’ big it was! Then there was another one that was much smaller, but it’s bite still hurt like a....”

Wheeljack raised his hand into the air to stop Bluestreak’s neverending ramble. It’s not that he didn’t appreciate Blue wanting to help, it’s just he didn’t need an entire oral essay on cyber-rat behavioral patterns and size differences. “I’ll be fine, Blue. It could be nothing but Red’s over developed sense of paranoia again. Besides, Inferno’s already down there, as well, so between the three of us I think we’re covered. I’ll comm you if we need additional assistance. Okay?”

Looking a bit defeated, Bluestreak nodded. “Oh, sure, that’s fine. I’ll be right here if you need me, ‘Jack. Be careful.”

“Don’t worry, Blue, I will,” Wheeljack replied as he patted the talkative gunner on the shoulder before turning and walking off the bridge.

Corridors

As he made his way through the hallways of the ship, Wheeljack couldn’t help but feel a little bad about rejecting Bluestreak’s offer of assistance. The black and silver mech meant well, but there were already enough ‘Bots being drawn to the shuttle bay as it were. ‘Jack didn’t need to try and deflect yet another one especially since Blue would surely talk his audio receptors off in the process, making it very hard to concentrate.

Taking a turbo lift down to the lower decks, Wheeljack stepped off and took his time traversing through the remaining corridors that would lead him directly to Red Alert’s location. Sure, the paranoid mech would get even more antsy during the long wait, but ‘Jack just wanted to make sure Smokescreen and his femme had enough time to vacate the shuttle bay before the scientist had no choice but to finally let Red in. He could only stall his anxious comrade for so long, after all.

Rounding one final corner, Wheeljack was now in sight of Red Alert standing in front of the shuttle bay doors. The mechanical engineer smiled under his face shield before walking up behind the paranoid mech and giving him a good hard pat on the back. It would likely startle Red Alert, but that was the point. Sometimes, it was fun to watch his overreactions, if not a bit mean.

“Hey, Red! Sorry it took me a while to get down here. I had to grab my tools along the way. Almost forgot where I put them. Heh heh.” Wheeljack’s little white lie was plausible enough, considering his toolkit had actually been near him up on the bridge, but Red Alert didn’t need to know that. “Now, let me take a look at these doors.”

The mad scientist stepped closer to the control pad and entered the security codes to see for himself. Wheeljack knew what the outcome would be, he even knew the cause, but he wanted it to look as if he was approaching this situation for the first time with no knowledge of what actually was wrong. “Yeah, it's likely just a blown circuit or something. Probably caused by a power surge during the transwarp jump. Things like that can happen sometimes. I’m going to have to bypass it in order to get us inside.”

Wheeljack placed his toolkit on the ground before opening up the access panel on the wall next to the hangar doors. He then bent down and grabbed a soldering torch from his kit before returning his gaze to the exposed circuitry and cables. After studying the various connections for a few moments, he started pulling out some of the wiring and establishing new pathways around the broken, or in this case missing, circuit board. “Mmm, this may take a little more time than I originally thought. I’ve got a primary board that’s blown here. I should be able to get around it, but it might take a few breems. Bare with me.”

In all honesty, Wheeljack could bypass the missing circuit in less than half a breem with both hands locked in stasis cuffs behind his back. However, in order to give Smokey plenty of time to get going, ‘Jack decided to stall Red Alert a little longer. He hated doing so, but he owed the rallybot one and the scientist always made good on a promise. “So, Red, you really think we’ve got cyber-rats nesting in there? What makes you say that? Have you seen any of their energon droppings lying around or is it just that sniffer of yours acting up again?"

Cargo Bay Entrance

Inferno had a hard time keeping up with Red Alert once he took off at full speed toward the cargo Bay. He was not very mobile, even Bumblebee was faster than him. He had hoped Red wasn't leading him on a wild goose chase. Cyber rats seemed fairly unlikely to him.

He thought to himself, "Cyber rats? On this ship? About as likely as Ironhide being fuel effecient...still Ol' Red has been right about this kind of thing before. I guess I'll have to see how this pans out. Who knows, maybe I'll get to exterminate the little pests."

Inferno become a little worried when he heard Wheeljack would be joining them. wheeljack made Inferno a little uncomfortable. He was always afraid he'd be fodder for one of Wheeljack's upgrades or experiments. The mad scientist always put him on edge. Without saying a word though, Inferno clumsly came to a hault as Red Alert looked anxious to get into the cargo bay and Wheeljack fussed with the door.

The wait started to make Infenro impatient. While he was no sort of engineer and didn't understand what exactly Wheeljack was doing with the wiring, he did understand one simple fact. There was a door impeding him from his objective. Perhaps a more simple approach would suffice?

Inferno asked Red Alert and Wheeljack, "Uh guys, wouldn't it save a lot of time if I just forced the door open? I'm certain I can pry it open, or rip it off it's hinges. If there is a nest behind there don't we want to take care of it post haste?" Inferno waited for a response, simling at the thought of tearing the door down.

For a search and rescue specialist, he was rather destructive. Inferno wouldn't have it any other way though.

Outside Shuttle Bay

“What?!” Wheeljack exclaimed as Inferno made the suggestion to pry the doors apart or rip them off their hinges and possibly wreck them in the process. “No, no, Inferno. There’s no need for that. This is not an emergency that requires damaging the doors further, which I’ll just have to waste my time repairing later. It’s not like Decepticons are on the other side, after all. Cyber-rats can be nasty little critters, but they're not going to destroy the entire ship. Just let me do my job and we’ll be in there before you know it. I’ll try to speed things up, but please just be patient.”

Wheeljack quickly realized that between Inferno’s and Red Alert’s eagerness to get inside, he would have to finish his task quicker than he would have liked. Otherwise, they may just ignore his pleas and rip the doors open anyway. Hopefully, Smokescreen and Tracer had already departed, leaving the shuttle bay void of any mechs, cyber-rat or otherwise. If they hadn’t, well, ‘Jack would worry about that later. For now, the mechanical engineer simply focused on making his slow rate of speed believable as he got closer to successfully bypassing the missing circuit board.

Corridor- Outside Shuttle Bay Door

Red Alert paced back and forth numerous times as he waited for Wheeljack.

"Why is he taking so long?", he said to himself flustered, "Doesn't he get how serious this is? They start chewing through the walls, then the ships circuitry, then the next thing you know we're trying to hold the ship together, overrun with cyberrats while the Decepticons laugh and take out whatever's left of us!"

Suddenly he felt something touch his back. Without warning Red Alert sprung into action, pulling out his rifle and spinning around to face his would-be attacker. Those rats wouldn't take him alive.

"GET BACK YOU!!!", Red Alert shouted as he readied to fire on- Wheeljack. His cooling fans taking in more air to cool his overworked circuits, he lowered his rifle, "SLAGGIT DON'T DO THAT!! If you had been a cyberrat I would have blown your head off! What took you so long?"

Red Alert watched anxously as the engineer started getting to work, listening intently to what he had to say. Before long his good friend Inferno had made his way there. Both tried to calm the security director down, trying to reason with him the unlikely chances of cyberrats. Red Alert would have none of it.

"Now look, my olfactory sensors are working just as perfectly as the day I went online.", he insisted, "I know what I smelled, it was some kind of Cybertronian animal, and we encounted a number of the pests when he were in Iacon. What else could it be? Did Mirage bring some turbofox along to hunt? Or does Arcee have some little petro rabbit as a pet?"

Red Alert became more and more fidgety as Wheeljack seemed to take forever to get the door open, all the while Red Alert processed what the others were saying, trying to explain some of the inconsistencies in his reasoning. No, he hadn't seen any droppings, but still.... Oh slag no!

"Dear Primus, it's worse then I thought!", Red Alert deduced, "Don't you see what happened? The cyberrats didn't just get bigger while we were gone, they got smarter as well! Wheeljack you need to work faster!"

Red Alert began to pace again, "It all makes sense now! They knew enough to keep their droppings out of sight, and they must have done something to cause the power surge! It's no wonder we haven't detected them on any of the sensors, they're smart enough to either avoid them or disable them without us knowing! But they weren't counting on me to sniff out their scent, and that will be their downfall!"

Red Alert waited for Wheeljack to get the door open, getting more and more impatient by the astrosecond. Inferno seemed to be getting antsy too, as the search and rescue specialist suggested forcing the door open with his great strength.

"We may just have to break it open, Inferno!", Red Alert agreed, his digits twitching in anticipation, "For now we have the element of surprise on them, but how long will that last? Wheeljack if you don't get this door open soon they'll figure out we're on to them!"

Outside Shuttle Bay

Oh, brother, Wheeljack thought to himself as he was forced to listen to Red Alert’s paranoid rants about the newly intelligent and likely non-existent cyber-rats. It was almost as bad as one of Bluestreak's tirades. Red was clearly delusional if he thought those little critters could hide their own droppings and intentionally cause a power surge that would short out the shuttle bay doors in order to protect their nest. Sure, it was possible for a cyber-rat to accidentally short out an electrical device, but not deliberately. They weren’t that smart regardless of what the security mech thought.

“Relax, Red. I’m sure the cyber-rats aren’t on to us. Everything will be fine. And there’s still no need to break anything, like I just said. Besides, I’m almost done here. Just give me a few more astroseconds, okay?” Wheeljack pleaded as he sped up his work, knowing that his stalling tactics had pretty much come to an end. It should be all right, however, as Smokescreen has had plenty of time to leave the ship and head on down planet side. At least, I hope he's gone by now. No telling if he ran into any more problems. Although, if he had I’m sure he would’ve commed me by now.

Making the final bypass connection, the mechanical engineer closed the access panel and re-entered the security codes. This time the shuttle bay doors parted down the center and opened wide with a hiss, exposing the vast room beyond. Wheeljack then held one hand up to both Red Alert and Inferno to stop them from proceeding in first. “Allow me, gentlemechs. I’ll go in and see if the coast is clear.”

Shuttle Bay

Wheeljack then proceeded into the chamber where a variety of shuttle craft were docked. He looked around, pretending to search for cyber-rats when in all reality he was checking to see if Smokescreen and Tracer had left yet. Unfortunately, his scanners would be largely useless considering the fact that the wayward ‘Bots were using his very own signature inhibitors to shield themselves from detection. The scientist would simply have to rely on his optics to determine if they were still here or not.

After walking around the room a bit longer and finding no mechs or warming shuttles in sight, Wheeljack concluded that Smokey and his companion were gone. Thank Primus, ‘Jack thought as he turned back towards the open doorway where he fully expected Red Alert and Inferno to already have entered through. “Looks like the coast is clear, guys. I don’t see any cyber-rats anywhere.”

Inferno waited quietly, if somewhat impatiently for Wheeljack to finish and open the cargo doors. He became even more impatient when asked to wait a few seconds more.

"This is driving me binary!" Inferno thought to himself. "First it takes forever to open the pitt forsaken door now I have to wait when there is potential danger? Still...I don't know a thing about cyber rats, other than they sure are fun to shot. Best let the whacko scientist go in first. He'd be better at locating the nest than I would. Once he finds them though, their ugly little hides are mind!"

Inferno checked all his systems during the wait, and he was operating at full capacity. He did transfer a little bit of energy from his sensors to weapons though. Between Red and Wheeljack, sensor sweeps would be covered. A little extra firepower might go along way though. Finally the all clear signal came from Wheeljack. Inferno began stepping into the cargo bay.

"Be ready Red Alert, these little things can be pesky. Just point me towards their nest and I'll take of them..."

Shuttle Bay

Red Alert held his rifle up, his index finger just off the trigger as he entered behind Wheeljack and Inferno.

"I'll be the judge of that, Wheeljack", the security director replied, "If there's any sign of them, even the slightest drop of waste or so much as a wiggle from one of their nasty tails, my sensors will detect it!"

Red Alert moved in a constant circle as he walked through the shuttle bay, to keep anything from sneaking up on him as well as not allowing anything to pass his notice.

Where are you, you disgusting vermin? You may be able to trick Wheeljack, but you won't fool me any longer!

With each passing astrosecond that Red Alert searched he became more and more alarmed from the lack of any readings or signs, and it wasn't for a lack of trying. Wherever he looked he scanned over every micrometer with his sensors, searchign for even the slightest hint of any cyber-rat. But there was nothing. What was going on?

"I don't get it!", Red Alert said confused, "Even if they knew we were coming, there should still be some signs of them! Some chewed up cables, or a hole in the wall! Even the original scent I picked up has gone cold, what's going on?"

The security director continued scanning, though he was beginning to thing that maybe Wheeljack was right about the cyber-rats. But that didn't mean something wasn't up. The unusual scent, the door to the shuttle bay being disabled. There had to be something. And as Red Alert neared the end of the shuttle bay, another piece of the puzzle showed itself- or more precisely wasn't there at all. His neurocircuits went into a frenzy he saw one of the shuttles missing from it's designated spot.

"Wheeljack! Inferno! Over here!", Red Alert frantically shouted, "One of the shuttles is gone!"

Shuttle Bay

Wheeljack’s amusement at Red Alert trying to determine where the cyber-rats had gone was quickly replaced by a sense of dread at the security director’s discovery that one of the shuttles was missing. Thankfully, the mechanical engineer had already altered the logs to reflect one less shuttle, but he still needed to come up with an actual reason for why they were one short. His mind raced quickly to come up with another lie to tell. In all honestly, this was becoming more than just a bit of a burden for him. If it had been any other mech he was covering for other than Smokey, he would have respectfully declined.

As it were, Wheeljack had made a promise and he was going to fulfill his end no matter what. He ran over to where the neurotic ‘Bot was standing and patted him on the shoulder. “Whoa, easy there, Red. Don’t blow a gasket. We were one shuttle short when we left Cybertron,” the scientist replied as he pulled out a datapad and accessed the log. He then handed it to Red Alert for his own examination. “See, it’s right there. I updated the log myself a short time ago.”

Of course, Wheeljack also knew that Red Alert would demand a reason for the missing shuttle. What exactly had happened to it? Well, the engineer had managed to come up with a quick answer that would hopefully satisfy his paranoid comrade. “The reason we’re one short is due to my own failure back on Cybertron. I was attempting to install a new plasma coil of my own design that was intended to make the shuttle fly more efficiently. Unfortunately, once I had it hooked up, the coil overheated and exploded, damaging the craft beyond repair. We were then suddenly called back to Earth. I didn’t really have all the necessary parts I needed as the damage was too extensive, so I just discarded the broken craft before we left. No need to haul around a useless wreck after all. I have to admit, I was a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, which is why I never mentioned it to anyone.”

Wheeljack hoped that his explanation would satisfy Red Alert and Inferno. But, just to be absolutely safe, ‘Jack decided to try and shift the conversation back to the possiblity of a cyber-rat infestation. “As for where those cyber-rats disappeared to, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe they….wait an astrosec.” The scientist had another one of his brilliant ideas.

Moving away from his two suspicious comrades, Wheeljack jogged down the bay a bit before going behind one of the other shuttles where no one could see him. He then quickly bent down and opened his toolkit and reached inside. He pulled out an old rat trap of his that he had forgotten about until now. He had tinkered with it back on Cybertron after the initial encounter with those creepy rodents. However, it never worked right, so he just discarded it into his toolkit with all the other junk.

“I think this is what that nose of yours picked up, Red!” Wheeljack called out as he reappeared from behind the shuttle, pretending that he had just found the trap undereath the craft. He walked back down towards the two ‘Bots, holding the device in his right hand while still carrying his tool bag in his left. “It’s an old trap that I invented. It’s supposed to give off a cyber-rat scent that lures them in and then zaps them dead. This one must have just run out of scent. That’s probably the source of the odor you detected and why it just stopped. I must have placed this in here just after we had first arrived on Cybertron and completely forgot about it. That was a while ago, after all. Sorry to throw you for a loop there, buddy! I meant no harm.”

Wheeljack sincerely hoped that this would finally lay to rest all of Red Alert’s suspicions. Everything had been accounted for: the shorted out doorway caused by a power surge, the cyber-rat scent caused by the old trap, and the missing shuttle caused by Wheeljack, himself. They were all lies, of course, and ‘Jack felt terrible about havig to tell them. Hopefully, this would put Red Alert’s paranoia at ease so that he didn’t have to tell any more and they could all move on to other things more important.

Shuttle Bay

So someone stole a shuttle, but why and when? Does it have anything to do with the cyber-rat smell? Was a decoy, or some part of their plan, or was it all just a coincidence?

Red Alert's mind filled with questions, his processors working overtime to figure out what was going on, when he was startled by Wheeljack patting him on the shoulder. Fortunately for the engineer he didn't get the barrel of the security director's gun in his face this time.

"Slaggit stop doing that!", Red Alert frustratingly said.

Before the security director started alerting the other Autobots in the system, Wheeljack explained the reason for the missing shuttle. It was certainly plausible, everyone knew there was always a risk of something exploding whenever Wheeljack tested one of his new inventions. After taking the datapad from the engineer, Red Alert took a thorough look through the log. Aside from the fact it had been filed late, everything checked out. Rather than relief, though, Red Alert felt a great deal of frustration at the whole mess.

"Wounded pride is no excuse for creating holes in security!", Red Alert scolded the engineer, "I should have been informed about all of this the astrosecond it happened! Did it ever occur to you that someone might have taken advantage? If the Decepticons had known about this they could have easily planted a replica of the shuttle in here without me knowing any better, and loaded it with explosives or a commando unit to take control of the ship while our guard was down! And how do you explain for the cyber-rat scent, hm?"

At first Wheeljack wasn't sure how to explain the possible infestation, then he suddenly remembered something. Red Alert stood and watched as the engineer ran over to a shuttle far away, got down to the floor and picked up some kind of device. Like many of Wheeljack's devices it was difficult to tell what it was until the engineer explained it. A trap that used cyber-rat smell to lure them? That certainly made sense. Red Alert rubbed his chin a he thought about it.

That would seem to wrap everything up- the smell, the locked door, the missing shuttle. But it was rather convenient that Wheeljack would explain things only now. He's not an idiot, surely he would have remembered such things earlier. But still, I can't be chasing around phantom rodents, not when there's always the chance of a Decepticon attack.

"I suppose that does explain everything.", Red Alert said thoughtfully as he rubbed his cranial plate, "But can you get that trap running again? I'd like to confirm it was the same odor I picked up. And if you can get it to work it would be most assuring to know we have it, just in case."

Red Alert took a long look around the shuttle bay. Something still didn't feel right, he could feel it deep in his spark. Whether it was cyber-rats, Decepticons, or something else, he just knew there had to be something else going on, something he wasn't aware of. He hated that feeling and hating not having any kind of evidence to act on it. For now he would just have to monitor his sensors and play things as they came.

"Then I guess there's no more reason to stay in here.", he said to Wheeljack and Inferno, "We should go back to the bridge where we can keep a better watch on things. If they took my warning seriously, even though most bots don't, they should have run a sensor sweep of the ship for any rodents. And if there aren't at least we can keep a better watch on whatever the Decepticons might be plotting."

With that the security director turned around and headed out of the shuttle bay.

This isn't over yet. Something is happening without my knowing. I just need to be more vigilant.