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Autobase Prime- Wheeljack's Lab

Panzer strolled into the lab, with a spring in his step. But his joy would be short lived, to his dismay noone was there.

He looked at his newly acquired weapons and sighed.

I guess I'm just gonna hafta improvise...

He returned to the Armory and noticed something he hadn't before, a blaster that looked like it came from the very hand of Primus himself. Well at least to his optics.

Pretty...

He picked it up and held it close to his plating,this was a new friend, a loyal, trusty Handcannon.

"I'm gonna give you a paint job that'll make all the other guns soooo jealous!" said Panzer in a fit of glee.

He walked off to the Energon Pub to show off his new gun.

Autobase Prime: Command Center

"Tell me about it Windcharger." Jazz did want to see some action himself, being that he dropped the ball on the last battle on the moonbase, being stunned the first attack, and depending on Prime to protect him. "Still Optimus is Optimus and he takes as much time as he needs. Ultra Magnus is the one that worries me a bit. The way I have him figured out, he tends to think up every option. That... may take a while."

Blaster then came in and also mentioned wanting to see some action. "Tagan? Yeah, alright I'll see what I can do." He then smiled at the comment that they can end up like Prowl. "Well if we spend too much time hanging around here, we might even end up like Red Alert."

Autobase Prime- Medbay

Not waiting any longer for his fellow scout Blackstreak walked out the door. "There's no where better to go than the Command Center for the next mission and up to date information," he said allowed as he transformed into his cybertronian racer mode. Speeding down the hallways it didn't take long for him to get there.

Autobase Prime- Command Center

ONce he reached the entrance to the command center Blackstreak transformed back into robot mode. Calmly walking in he took assessment of who was present. Trailbreaker, Landfill, Windcharger, Jazz, Blaster, Hot Spot...His optics went back to the communications officer. "Blaster!" he was surprised to see him there thinking for some reason he would have been somewhere else. "I don't mean to interrupt but I'm back to regular duty," he remembered having to work closely with the communications officer and his cassette sidekicks on so many missions he couldn't count them anymore. "If you don't mind I need a serious update on whats been going on and where I need to be."

Autobase Prime- Command Center

Road Rage took the time no and then to look up from the radar terminal so she didn't get hypnotized or anything by it. She noticed the other people present.
There was a lot going on, but none of it involved her it seems.
Odds are after the loss of Tau, the refugee Autobots would go to help in other fronts. If not be prepared for a counter attack.
She was just an extra set of hands at the moment. Orders will come eventually. In the meantime she's hoping to prevent a Decepticon assault from hitting Iacon too hard.

Autobase Prime ~ Shuttle Dauntless

Chuckling in response to Slag's laughter at his entrance, Inferno returned to a standing position as he looked to the amused Dinobot "If nothing else, I'm good at keeping morale high" He thought to himself, downgrading from a chuckle down to a broad grin once more. About to step forward towards the seats, the S&R Specialist almost sprung a leak as Smokescreen made his own entrance

"Primus, frakkin, slagging, what are you trying to do to me Smokescreen, give me spark failure?" Inferno..inquired, after having jumped about 6 feet in the air, not angry in the least, as evident by the grin that returned to his face after a momentary leave as he was scared slagless by the Diversionary Tactician. As Grimlock made his entrance and gave the order to take off shortly after, Inferno took a seat "Whoever said there was no such thing as the good old times was wrong, really, really wrong" He thought to himself, already counting down the kliks until they could exact some payback for Tagan.

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Autobase Prime ~ Prime's Ready Room

"No, no questions Optimus Sir.." Magnus replied, moving to a standing position "..I will require a datapad detailing the personnel for the mission, and a short amount of time to take a trip to the Medbay for a prior appointment with Ratchet, but other than that, I have all I need. While I'm getting fixed up and re-armored, I'll have Trailbreaker contact those on the mission roster and inform them to make their way to the Ark, and also inform Prowl that we'll be making a small detour to pick up the members of the team currently under his command"

The City Commander stopped talking, feeling that he'd done enough of that already, and now was the time to put some of those words into effect "No more looking back, no more 'failure', no more second chances, this time, it's got to go right, and I'll die making sure that happens" The thoughts ran through his head, fuelled by something quite alien to Ultra Magnus: Confidence.

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Autobase Prime ~ Medbay

What was this?! Thanks from Mirage? Roadbuster began to wonder just how hard he'd been hit at the hands of Roadblock and if he was having an audio malfunction. That wonder quickly evaporated as he caught a slightly confused look on the face of Ratchet as well "Huh, guess there really is a first time for everything" The Wrecker joked, eliciting a small chuckle from the CMO. As the Spymaster took his leave before he could answer, Roadbuster opened a commlink to him.

>>Don't mention it. I'll get those ROM's and reports to you soon, better you than me looking over them, looking over a battle where I got my aft handed to me isn't exactly my favourite past time, see ya around<<

Finished with his reply, the Wrecker looked to Ratchet, who was still working on him "Come on Doc, aren't you finished yet?" He inquired, only to get the reply in the form of an unimpressed glare from the CMO "Alright, alright, no need to shout, just hurry up will you" Roadbuster continued "What's your hurry?.." Ratchet replied, not looking up from what he was fixing "..Got somewhere to go and get the slag kicked out of you again?" He continued, trying to stifle a laugh. Roadbuster slowly turned his head, now returning the glare sent his way moments earlier "Very funny, you glorified Mechanic, just get on with it"


"Huh, what?.." Jedishen mumbled as he heard Blackstreak say something to him and then continue on straight out of the Medbay "Well, that's one less re-introduction I suppose" He thought to himself, while overhearing First Aid request that they all vacate the Medbay. Looking to Stormfire and Blurr, the Scout decided to adhere to the Medic's request, seeing as he'd had run-ins with Ratchet in the past, he didn't want to continue annoying the various members of the Autobot Medical Corps.

"Hey, Stormfire, Blurr, Strafe and I were just about to head up to the Command Center.." Jedishen began, before he hit the point at which he started to struggle for words "..You want to..uh..you might as well come with us, I guess" A shrug of his shoulders just added to his unease at the situation "Oh, that was brilliant, real smooth" The Scout said to himself as he stood awaiting a response.

Shuttle Dauntless

"Woah!" Ironhide shouted as the ship took off, sending him flying. Picking himself back up, he looked around and regained his composure. "Guess I'd better go find somewhere to sit before I cause myself further damage..." He mumbled as he walked from the bridge to a seat. “Looks like the good times are gonna come thick and fast now, right guys?!” Ironhide cried out cheerfully. ‘Its good to be back’ he thought.

Ignoring Inferno, Sludge trudged over to somewhere he could sit. Upon finding a place to sit, Sludge sat down and began to think of various ways to destroy Decepticons. However, upon sitting down and becoming lost in his thoughts, the ship started to move, throwing Sludge from his seat to the floor.

“What the!” He cried, startled somewhat by the sudden movement, as he leapt back up off of the floor. ‘Me hope nobody notice…’ He thought as Ironhide shouted something out that Sludge didn’t hear.

Shuttle Dauntless

Slag continued to be entertained by the antics of his fellow LSC members. "Hey Sludge, what wrong?" he shouted through the short passage to the passenger bay. "Your big aft not fit in seat right? Maybe Red there show you how to use seatbelt." he said, pointing at Ironhide.

Autobase Prime - Command Centre

Perceptor suddenly looked up from his console to find that almost a breem and a half had passed since he sat down. He hadn't recalled sitting down, but looking at the screen in front of him, he saw that he had been looking up over a dozen file directories, from extraplanetary expeditions to mircomotor design. I suppose that I haven't done a search of the archives for some amount of time, and now I've simply lost track of myself.

Looking around, Perceptor could not help but notice the command centre was filling up once again. Most of the new arrivals were warriors, and they seemed to be asking something from Blaster and Jazz. [i]Is the communications system down? No, Blaster would be working on repairs if it were.[/b]
Walking back towards his laboratory, wondering what that odd olfactory sensation in the air was, Perceptor notice Road Rage staring intently at the Radar screens. "Er, I do hope there isn't anything of much concern on our sensors..."

Autobase Prime ~ Observation Deck~

Surprised to be alone here, Brawn warched the shuttle Dauntless depart transporting the newly reformed LSC on their crucial mission. As he reflected on Grimlock's mission a sinister thought crept in from the subconscious of his mind. Quickly looking about with a flash of his optic sensors to ensure the absence of any other Autobots, Brawn crept quietly into a recessed portion of the room. Kneeling down, he opened his chest cavity and removed the portable transmitter that had recently come into his posession. He switched it on and set it to the appropriate coordinates.

"Breaker, breaker. This is one, niner, seven, niner. Transmitting encrypted data now. Over."

Brawn heard a garbled response and began transmitting the data he had stored in his memory banks. The transmission only lasted a few nano-kliks. When this was done he signed off and replaced the portable transmitter to his chest cavity. Standing up and walking back to the windows, he thought to himself, Good luck Grimlock, you're gonna need it. Well, nothing's happening here. I'd better get down to the command center to find out what Prime is planning.

Brawn transformed and drove himself down to the command center to recieve orders.

Shuttle Dauntless

"Yeah!" Sludge cried, aggitated somewhat by Slag's remark. "Well, maybe me show you end of my blaster." He said, staggering over towards Slag.

'Oh well. So much for good times.' Ironhide thought, as he also stood up, staggering towards the two Dinobots. 'Primus, this could end up painful' He thought.

Shuttle Dauntless

Slag's grin widened even more at this turn of events, turning almost into a sneer. Sludge actually managed to figure out I insulted him. There's hope for him yet.

"Me Slag not realise you Sludge had such thin plating. What wrong, new reformat not agree with you? You think 'Dino' mode make you too bulky, too clumsy? Or you Sludge just jealous me Slag got the good mode?". He stroked one of his new obdurium horns as he said this.

Autobase Prime- Command Center

She looked at Perceptor. While her face plate would hide a smile, her voice did well in conveying her smile. "Oh, nothing is wrong at all. I'm just trying to keep busy is all. Maybe learn a bit more about command center consoles." she chuckles softly.

Autobase Prime ~ Medbay

Strafe just nodded to Jedishen the more that came with them, the better; at least, as far as he was concerned. Strafe's inherant paranoia often made him nervous both with people and on his own. He wasn't too sure why either it's just the way he was. Still he was slightly nervous than useual around Stormfire; he was thankful the mechs optics were their proper colour once more, but it wasn't as if he had forgotten the damage that had been caused by his fall and as a result he was almost shy.

Still Strafe didn't object to Stormfire coming with them. Even when Jedishen seemed to mess up what he was trying to say. "yeah comeon best thing to do in order to find out things right?" he spoke with an almost cheerful tone. Strafe might be nervous but he wasn't about to exclude anyone becuase of it. Besides Scattershot would have his wings if he did.

Iacon Command Center (Scoop)

With all of the happenings in the command center Scoop just sat there doing readouts. He then heard some auotobots speak out on wanting some action. He didn't feel the excitement come to him. The battles were not fun. They were needed to free Cybertron from the Decepticon infuence and gaining a golden age once again. He then decided to speak up to Jazz "Sir with all respect I would like to be put on the front lines once again. I am more usefull out there then I am in here." He then looked at his superior waiting his response.

Iacon Command Center (Repugnus)

Repugnus looked on as he heard the autobots wanting to get into some action. Just standing there he did not like that he was being ignored in the long run. He then decided it was time for him to leave. He then said for everyone to hear "I am going to russle up some action some where on this stinkin planet one way or another." He then stormed out of the Command Center and down the hall. He was going to take a shuttle and do things his way.

Observation Deck

Streetwise turned around to Groove and gave his fellow protectobot a greating, and then said "Good at least you have responded to my calls." He paused and wondered out loud "I wonder where Blade's is?" He then got down to buisness "Groove we need to go meet up with Hotspot whereever he is at them moment. He is trying to get us a mission so we aren't just sitting around here."

He then opened up a communicater and called Hotspot. "Sir I have Groove here with me now. Stil no sign of Blades on my end. What would you like us to do?"

Observation Deck

Groove smiled at Streetwise's greeting, he was glad to see one of his fellow Protectobots again. Streetwise told him about their leader's request. "Cool, man. It's nice to have something to do besides just chillin'" Groove said, also wondering where Blades was.

Time to get the team back together

Shuttle Dauntless

‘It’s possible. How are you Inferno? Haven’t seen you for a while’
Smokescreen chuckled as he replied to the red mech, then he felt the vibrations in the floor as the shuttle began to move. Smokescreen walked over to a seat as the shuttle began to move. Shuttle trips, he found, were usually tedious affairs, despite the charged atmosphere aboard this one looked like no exception. Smokescreen’s gaze wandered to the Dinobots new forms, he could see at once they were based of organic creatures. He wondered what kind of world could have produced such a weird from of life, it must be so alien to a cybertronian. One day maybe he would visit, but not now. Now he had to exact some overdue payback on the Decepticons and shift the momentum of the war, before the cons recovered enough and became bold enough to launch a major offensive of their own.

Autobase Prime - Medbay

Stormfire looked at the mechs around him and addressed Strafe and Jedishen
‘You’re both okay if I come with you?’
It was an awkward situation. Despite any attempt to cover up the fact. The others could not hide their apprehension. Stormfire picked it up in the tiny movements they made, they way they stood and where they stood. Stormfire was known for his issues over personal space, but the amount he was being given now was insane. The other thing in his head had severed some of the precious ties Stormfire had formed to other mechs. There had been so few of them to begin. Stormfire simply accepted the situation, he was used to this. Used to being alone, used to isolation. Stormfire made the first step towards the command centre wondering whether the others really would go with him. He’d soon find out.

Autobase, Prime

Walking down the hallway to the observation deck, he uncrossed his arms and held one of his rotor blades in his right hand. Extending the blade, he then began to scratch the walls as he walked by, keeping the tip of his blade on the wall.

'I do hope we get a good mission, Im tired of all this usual, 'We need you to hover in the air and search for injured bots', or 'Go into the sky and fly that way'. Bah what am I saying, this is in the job description of being a protectobot.'

After having his inner monologue, the protectobot made it to the observation deck. Taking the blade off the wall and sheathing it, Blades entered the room and crossed his arms.

"So, is it time; that we Protectobots get to enter this war?" questioned Blades, with a smirk plastered across his face.

Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

Windcharger acknowledged Blaster's presence with nod, and gave a little chuckle at his comment to Jazz. Not one to interrupt or draw excessive attention to himself, he hung out nearby politely listening and casually observing the activity in the command center. Soon, his attention started to drift off as he became lost in watching and thinking.

If Prime's taking this long to make up his mind, something big is going to happen. I just hope it happens soon. Good or bad, I can't keep waiting around here. Maybe I should go out and stretch my leg modules a bit and burn some rubber. Don't want to waste too much energon though. Last thing I need is to hurt the war effort by wasting resources.

As he became lost in his thoughts, Windcharger began to aimlessly wander around the command center. After a period of wandering he found himself bumping into Jazz's leg.

"Oh, sorry Jazz. I didn't see you standing there."

Settling himself back against the wall, he tried to relieve his anxiety. He started humming a tune that came from a deep part of his memory banks. A tune that he could not recall the name of, but one that quickly became a fixation. He could only remember a few bars of the song, which he repeated over and over. There was something about that tune that sparked a glimmer of a memory. He had trouble recalling the full memory file. It seemed as if the memory had only been partially deleted.

That's wierd. Why does that tune seem so familiar?

Suddenly, Windcharger decided he had had enough. He transformed and burned rubber out of the command center, leaving the pungent odor of burned rubber lingering in the air. He drove flat out until he was outside. He had to get away from that song. Buildings flashed by as he reached top speed in a straight away. His attention devoted to maintaining his traction the tune quicly disappeared back into the forgotten recesses of his memory banks. Thankful to have something else to focus he started to chuckle to himself.

Well, my friend. What exactly are you doing? Ah well. Can't be so slagging serious all the time. This at least gives me something to do.

Slowing down somewhat, Windcharger began weaving up down the alleys and lanes. It was like he was chasing his own shadow. He made a game of laying out a slalom course between buildings and seeing how quickly he could navigate it. Dodging in and around buildings, transforming and hopping over obstacles, he continued to play. He stopped and shouted at the sky at maximum vocalization volume.

By Primus! It feels good to cut loose for a change of pace.

Observation Deck

Groove watched as Blades entered the room. Groove didn't like Blades' attitude towards the war, he never did. Never-the-less, he still co-opperated with him.

"Hey Blades. It's about time you got here"

Groove turned to Streetwise.

"So do you know where we're going?"

Autobase Prime: Command Center

"Oh boy, it's filling up again." Jazz commented on the Autobots gathering again in the command center. "They probably just want to be seen with me that's all... I would too if..." Jazz then stopped himself for a moment, "Forget about Prowl or Red Alert... I'm turning in Tracks." It was a welcome distraction when Windcharger bumped into him before running off. Not coming up with anything witty to say he, turned to Scoop,

"Well, we're not even completely sure what we doing and when we're doing to do it." He responded, "We'll be able to figure out what you can do once we're done doing what we're supposed to be doing, which is figuring out what we're doing or going to do." Jazz smiled then paused and went over what he just said.

"Um we're still waiting for word on any plan Optimus Prime might come up with."

(ooc: If anyone want Red Alert's of First Aid's services... you're going to have to call them.)

Autobase Prime: Command Center

Hotspot shifted his weight as he thumbed through the details there in green and black with in the data pad. It wasn't pretty anyway a laser scalpel could slice it. Most of any available combat unit within Tagan had been evacuated back to Iacon leaving Tagan Heights firmly in Decepticon Hands. And it was doubtful any that did decide to stay were still alive to pose any sort of strategic advantage in any attempts to retake the territory.

The Protectobot Commander rubbed at his chin plate briefly before reaching down and pulling up a cable from the console terminal before him. He plugged it into the data pad and set the coupling down next to the key pad. With a suprisingly fluid sweep of his fingers, the officer pried out from the system various intellegence reports and troop sightings from the battle of Tagan. In addition he drew up several detailed reports on Factory Emplacements, bunkers, and other general geographic information of the northern portion of the territory. Once he had compiled the data he sought, all though not totally complete, he uploaded it all into the data pad.

Turning off the console terminal, Hotspot looked over at Jazz once more. "I'm heading down to meet my team. I'm getting to slagging rusty here waitin'." There wasn't much Jazz could do to stop Hotspot once he decided on something, and technically the Protectobot Commander was never assigned to the comms so he didn't have to say one way or the other. But still he felt it a courtesy to a fellow Autobot. "If ya wanna transcript I'll be happy to keep detailed notes. And someday you'll have to tell about them experiences up on the moon, but that'll wait till we're off duty... Catch ya in a bit." He smirked under his face mask while giving a friendly nod.

He then looked over at Rollbar. "I appreciate the data, its going to be put to good use." With that the Protectobot Commander, leaving the issues untouched, made his way to the turbolift door. As he entered he activated the commands to the lower levels and disappeared from the collective sights.

As he enjoyed the ride a communique came up from Streetwise confirming that Groove had been located... and suprisingly enough in the background he could hear Blades wander in as well. Good, almost all together. "Alright Streets, get the tables set up we've got a long discussion ahead. May even net us some vacation time where we'll be able to cut loose." He figured the comment would be decyphered rapidly that this was going to be a strategy meeting. Prime had his advisors and Hotspot had his own. Each member of his team would not stop until any job was completed and any objective met. And for what he had in mind, that determination would be put to the breaking point.

Closing the commlink as the turbolift came to a stop and the door hissed open. Hotspot let out a brief sigh. He stepped into the hallway with data pad in hand still thumbing through the uploaded data. Taking the briefest of moments he activated his own link to First Aid. "I need a status report on your repair jobs First Aid."
_______________________________________________

Landfill kicked the energon dispensor knocking the junk that had collected in the filter loose. A fresh cube of mild octane was soon in the receprical. He slowly reached down and grabbed hold of the container tightly. The mover brought it up to his mouth and began to drink slovenly allowing drips and drizzles to fall from the corner of his lips. The pink liquid flowed down his muck stained body dislodging even newer and more rancid smells. Several drips fell down through the grates of the catwalk down near Trailbreaker but not on him.

The Materials Transport remained blissfully unawares of the mess that he was leaving behind him as Trailbreaker made his comment about a bath and such. "Appologies but I am not exactly sure what you mean by that sir."

He took another swig of his drink finally finishing it off completely. Tossing the crumpled container towards the nearest recycler, but missing, Landfill decended back down to the primary deck where the others were gathered. He dusted his hands sending a wave of oderous particals flying into the air, carroding one or more metallic railings. "So my friends what shall we attempt to accomplish while we await for Optimus's meeting to conclude?"

Autobase Prime - Command Centre

Perceptor nodded at Road Rage's positive spin on things. "Well, do not worry, I am sure we will all have something to keep us busy before too long. The predominant feature of this war is that it never truly ceases completely. Besides, radar observation is a vital role, as are all sensors...". Perceptor then trailed off, having noticed the much less positive rhetoric occuring on the other side of the room.

"Are all of you simply waiting around for Optimus Prime to personally give you orders? I can't see that as being a terribly efficient use of everyone's time. And Commander Jazz, are you not our current Special Operations Commander? You can order a routine combat patrol should you so wish, and if fact, unless I have completely misinterpreted the current military situation, I believe increasing our border patrols would be far from improper."

Perceptor was not the kind of mech to simply stand around all day waiting for others to tell him what to do. Then again, if he was bored he could simply zoom his telescope into a set of atoms and watch them trade electrons. It was a fascinating sights, and quite inspiring he found.

Shuttle Dauntless

Swoop paid little heed to the shenanigans of his comrades. They were a rowdy bunch, and they were just letting off steam. If it got out of hand, he could always threaten to land the shuttle and make them walk. The image brought forth a chuckle from the pilot.

Checking his instrumentation, the Dinobot saw that they were ahead of schedule. At this rate, they would be in Nova Cronum in no time.

"We over the Tygus Span now Boss," the bombardier informed Grimlock. "Me Swoop put us in Nova in about four breems."

As they flew above the great chasm that divided this part of the Orbital Tarus States of Iacon and Nova Cronum, Swoop saw something on his sensors.

Clouds.

"Everybody get strapped in!" the smallest Dinobot bellowed. "Me see rain ahead. We in for some chop."

Gaining altitude to avoid the worst of the storm, the Shuttle Dauntless pressed on towards Nova Cronum, and Kup.

(OOC: That's it for here, peoples. Next poster can take us to the Nova thread.)

Autobase Prime - Prime's Ready Room

Optimus Prime stood as well, placing one hand on Ultra Magnus' shoulder. As he looked into the city commander's optics, he saw something he did not often seen in Magnus' demeanor: confidence. It was not that the city commander wore his self-doubt so obviously, but generally Magnus radiated an aura of caution, almost. It's confounding. His caution, his fear...it's never for his own sake. Always for the sake of those serving under him.

To see confidence in Magnus' face was a relief. The mission to AC488 would be a delicate one, but too much hesitation and second-guessing would doom it to failure. When the Decepticons act, Magnus will have to act just as quickly. Time is not a luxury when dealing with the Infiltration Protocol.

"Go with Primus, Ultra Magnus," he told the city commander. "I'll meet with your unit before you leave, once they've assembled on the Ark-13."

He passed the datapad containing the mission details and roster to Magnus, and then looked to Fortress Maximus.

"I know you're probably itching to get back to Nova Cronum, but before you do, I need your logic processors to deal with our next problem."

Prime crossed his arms over his broad chestplate.

"We need to hit back in the Tagan Heights, and quickly. Thoughts?"

It will never cease to feel strange and unpeleasant, consulting with a pacifist like Maximus for military strategy. But there are few who are better, unfortunately. It was indeed fortunate that Maximus was an Autobot, and a steadfast warrior for the Cause. But, at least to Prime, it was wholly unfortunate that a noble being had to go against the very grain of his programming, vorn after vorn in a seemingly endless war.

<hr>
Autobase Prime - Command Center

Arriving just as Perceptor admonished the assembled masses for behaving like a herd of lost mechasheep in search of their red and blue, Matrix-bearing sheepdog, Mirage chuckled quietly to himself. Ahh, Perceptor. For a mechanoid who spends his spare time contemplating the atomic structure of space dust, you do have quite the sharp vocalizer. Largely ignoring the crowd, the spy made a beeline for Jazz, and steeled himself for the inanities that tended to accompany conversation with the saboteur.

"Jazz, a word," he said to the special operations commander. "Preferably somewhere private."

He waited for the saboteur's response, attempting to remain upwind of Landfill and, well, everyone else there.

<hr>
Autobase Prime - Medical Bay

A CR chamber beeped for a moment and then opened its opaque doors. Out stepped Sunstreaker, in all his gleaming, freshly-repaired, resplendent, and fabulous glory. Looking himself over for a long moment and pausing to admire the high, glossy shine of his new armor plating, the Autobot warrior smiled. It's very, very good to be whole once more.

He looked around the Med Bay, and saw Ratchet and the other medics patching up what appeared to be the last of the casualties from the Tagan withdrawal. He knew that Sideswipe would need quite a bit more recovery time that he had needed due to the damage to his cranial module and neurocircuitry, and so decided to depart the Med Bay without his twin. I'll check up on him later.

Figuring the Command Center would be a likely place to begin his search for information regarding a certain Decepticon, the golden warrior exited the Med bay.

Autobase Prime - Medical Bay

Bluestreak stirred in the CR chamber as his systems came back online. The recollections of what had happened were still vivid in his memory circuits. He was a survivor of the Decepticon attack on the Tagan Heights. He remembered Trailbreaker helping him and the other non-combatants evacuate the base and head for the safety of Iacon. However, during the evacuation, Bluestreak had been badly damaged in an explosion that rocked through the base. The last thing he remembered was seeing Trailbreaker looking down at him with a concerned look on his face. After that, Bluestreak entered stasis lock and everything went dark.

Now, resting in the CR chamber, Bluestreak was finally at peace. This was the only place, it seemed, that the war could not follow him. He hated this Primus-forsaken conflict. He hated war period. Unfortunately, he had so far been unsuccessful in avoiding it. The war first found him in his home city, which was completely destroyed by the Decepticons, leaving him the lone survivor. It was a nightmare he would never forget. Afterwards, Bluestreak eventually made his way to the Heights where he thought he could start over. He thought it would be safe there. He was wrong. The Decepticons had apparently developed a new kind of drone with new technology that aided the ‘Cons in devastating the base in a full-on assault. Bluestreak could only hope now that he wasn’t the only survivor again. He hoped others had made it like he had.

Bluestreak wanted to stay where he was forever. He knew the war was waiting for him outside the chamber and he didn’t want to go back to it. He never considered himself to be the warrior type. He always avoided a confrontation whenever possible. But now it seemed, he would have no other choice. Bluestreak realized that he could never escape the war. He would never be at peace until it finally ended or he ended up as scrap, and the latter was just not an option for him. Bluestreak now knew he would have to fight in order to achieve the peaceful existence he so longed for. He would have to become a warrior, if not a reluctant one.

His systems were now at 100 percent, and Bluestreak knew it was time. His CR chamber opened and the Autobot stepped out into the Medbay ready for the challenges that lie ahead. He looked around and could see medics repairing the numerous ‘bots, some of whom he recognized, from the Tagan assault. <I>Thank Primus, I’m not the only survivor,</I> Bluestreak thought, letting out a sigh of relief. He knew that he had Trailbreaker and the other Autobot warriors to thank for this. If it wasn’t for them, no ‘bot may have survived. Bluestreak knew that one way to thank them was to help them. It was time to get involved.

However, there was one thing Bluestreak needed if he were to fight. He wanted to ask one of the medics, but they all looked too busy to bother. Out of the corner of his optical sensor, Bluestreak caught a glimpse of a yellow Autobot, the one called Sunstreaker, leaving the Medbay. Bluestreak followed him out into the hallway and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Excuse me,” Bluestreak said softly. “I don’t mean to bother you, but I want to help in the fight against the Decepticons. However, I need weapons. Do you know where I can acquire some?”

Autobase Prime - Prime's Ready Room

For his part, Fortress Maximus suppressed the grimace of distaste which was his natural reaction to being asked to actively participate in the destruction which continued to ravage Cybertron. He accepted that, so long as Megatron and his Decepticons remained bent upon conquest--conquest unbound by the horizons of their own homeworld--then his pacifistic leanings were simply not feasible. Perhaps even dangerous, should the Great War continue to spread to other worlds, as it now seemed poised to spread to AC488. His hand was forced. He had to fight, so that others would not be compelled to take up that same burden, to live through that same horror. It was his duty to remake himself into the best soldier he could possibly be, to preserve life and liberty elsewhere and, perhaps, see a return of those values he harbored to his own battle-weary planet.

It was his duty. But he could never bring himself to like it.

His faceplate remained impassive, however, as he reflected upon Prime's query with all the careful consideration that it was due. They could not allow the Decepticons to secure their hold over the Heights, that was indisputable. But opposing the forces they had dispatched there was not without obstacles.

"Retaking the Tagan Heights quickly may not be possible," Maximus said slowly. "Given their overwhelming air superiority, as well as the presence of Scorponok and yet another new breakthrough in Decepticon military technology--if the rumors are to be credited--it would take a much greater force than we could conceivably muster at this time to contest their occupation seriously. However, we may be able to destabilize their efforts at consolidation with smaller, highly-mobile teams of covert operatives. Sabotage and continuous harassment seem to be the best options available to us in terms of undertaking an immediate response."