The Energon Pub

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

Rollbar brought up Fortress Maximus' co-ordinates on his screen. The Battle station had travelled quite some way in such a short time, his size and strength hid his speed,

Southern Iacon ~ Border Zone

>>Yeah, I got a visual on him now, thanks Rollbar<< Trailbreaker replied as he signalled for the Tagan refugees to begin heading towards the huge form of Fortress Maximus.

Going on ahead, Trailbreaker closed the distance between the tunnel exit and the now grounded battle station, before trasnforming "Good to see you Maximus, I only wish it were under better circumstances..." The Defensive strategist began, before turning to point out the multitude of casualties following in behind him "...Most of what we've got here are casualties from the first 'Con attack who were in the process of recovering when they hit us again, those injured in the current battle have yet to get through the tunnel from Tagan, so expect the worst and hope for the best"

Message to Autobase Prime from orbit wrote:>>" *static* this Grimlock *static* from scouting *static* Insecticon prisoners *static* need immediate *static* falling apart *static* send up *static* take that *static* Scrap!"<<

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

Saluting Trailbreaker, Cog nodded, gesturing to one wounded-bearer to take his casualty to one of the battle station's repair bays.

"Fortress Maximus wishes he were meeting you under more favorable terms," Cog told Trailbreaker, "and so do I. We've received only very sketchy satellite imaging of the battle. Is it as bad as it looks?"

Being a subordinate being to the immense construct that was Fortress Maximus, Cog possessed a sort of sentience. Yet all that he said, did, and heard was shared by Maximus himself, and, in some indirect yet undeniable way, dictated by Maximus. Besides that, Cog himself comprised two separate, subordinate entities - Gasket and Grommet, each with his own unique personality that somehow meshed into the single personality that was Cog.

Complex, to say the least.

Nevertheless, Maximus and all his components moved with a smooth, collected grace that belied no conflict between the parts that made up the whole. As injured and dying Autobots came out of the tunnels, they were quickly triaged and moved to wherever they needed to be moved for care.

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

Rollbar replied to the Dinobot, he tried to sound encouraging.

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

It was easy to miss him, you couldn't be blamed really, he was just so much backdrop in the turmoil and chaos. He filed out after the other two, nearly on their heels, just off camera as he looked out over the line of wounded coming in. There was another fight somewhere, people were doing things, impoertant things.

Stick Shift didn't know how to feel about it, oher Autobots getting hurt was a bad thing, yes.. but he didn't -know- these machines.

The groan of a pained unit slowly drew his attention over and away from his own lack of self. He knelt beside the soldier, providing a stoic ear as the horrors of the attack rolled out. He set to work, by-passing damaged circuits, assessing damage, marking parts that could be repaired or could be replaced.

"Are you even listening to me?!" the patient cried.

"No.. not really." responded Stick Shift honestly.

Southern Iacon ~ Border Zone

"Heh, seems like I'm meeting everyone under pretty dire terms at the moment, I arrived at Tau just after the initial 'Con attack hit, and things have only got better from there really.." Trailbreaker replied to Cog as he returned the salute "..As for how things are going, I'm not really the best one to ask, the moment the base was hit, Magnus ordered me to get all of these guys out of danger.." The Defensive Strategist nodded at the wounded being attended to and the non-combat 'Bots "..All I can tell you is that the 'Cons hit us and hit us slagging hard, they had some kind of new drone that was making a real mess of the turrets and anything else they set their sights on, and they weren't in their tens, there were hundreds of the ugly glitchheads.."

Trailbreaker paused again as he helped one of the limping injured onto a nearby stretcher to be taken away "..If that wasn't bad enough, I haven't heard a single word from Magnus or anyone else since I left Tagan, and I don't know about you Cog Sir, I mean Maximus, but that doesn't exactly fill my circuits with confidence." Trailbreaker finished. He hated this feeling he had of uselessness, he knew he had to lead the retreat, there wasn't anyone else, but it still didn't stop him from wishing he had been there alongside Magnus, at least then he'd know if the City Commander was OK or not.


A bit futher away at the tunnel exit, the rest of the Tagan refugees were beginning to surface, some injured, some unharmed, some in stasis lock being carried on the shoulders of others. Halfway through the tunnel, Jedishen had stopped to help along one such victim of the Decepticon attack, who didn't have the reserves of power to get him to the safety of Iacon. The Scout, damaged himself due to his part in the battle, emerged from the darkness of the tunnel, to the sight of Iacon, with the Autobase far off in the distance.

With his charge over his shoulders, Jedishen followed the directions of a couple of earlier arrivals, heading off towards the huge structure that was Fortress Maximus. He hadn't seen much in his short existence, but it seemed to the Scout that this was one of the darkest days the Autobots had seen for some time.

(OOC – using ** ** to designate a flashback/memory sequence in this post)

Tunnel from Tagan Heights to Iacon:

As Blurr made his way down the tunnel he paused and glanced behind him as his mind wandered back to the last few minutes of the battle at Tagan Heights.

**Peeking around the corner of his temporary shelter, Blurr saw an incoming vehicle headed towards his location. He wasn’t sure who it was, but it had a Decepticon emblem so he wasn’t going to stick around and talk.

Lunging out from behind the scrap pile, Blurr rapidly fired a couple shots from his electro-laser in the general direction of the ‘Con. If the shots hit he would be pleased, but if not he wasn’t going to fret about it too much so long as the shots bought him the time he needed to get away.

Stowing his gun away, Blurr transformed into his hover car mode and took off as fast as was safely possible across the battlefield towards the tunnel.**

I-wonder-if-the-shots-hit-that-Decepticon-car?-Oh-well-if-it-did-that-‘Con-will-be-angry-when-he-is-able-
to-move-again.-I-think-Stormfire-was-the-last-one-to-leave,-I-hope-he-succeeded-in-closing-the-tunnel-
entrance-behind-us-so-we-don’t-have-to-worry-about-the-Cons-coming-up-through-the-tunnels-after-us-
before-we-have-had-time-to-move-the-wounded-and-set-up-a-defense-at-the-tunnel-exit.

Blurr leaned over and looked at his right leg. It appeared that the leak had slowed some, which pleased the anxious mech.

At-least-it-doesn’t-appear-to-have-been-too-serious,-when-I-get-to-Iacon-I-think-I-will-skip-visiting-the-
medbay.-No-reason-to-be-another-person-running-around-in-there-when-there-are-more-important-
injuries-to-be-dealt-with-by-the-staff.

Straightening back up, Blurr glanced behind him one last time as he felt a wave of disappointment wash over him. They had lost the base. As he resumed speed walking down the tunnel, Blurr could only hope that something positive would come out of this situation.

Autobase Prime - Hanger Bay


Walking as fast as she could, Elita finally made it to the hanger bay. She was determined to get to the moon and see Prime. He was in trouble and the only help he had was from Jazz. All in all just having one Bot with him would have been fine, but she had no clue as to how many Decepticon were there, and knowing Megatron, he had them all.

Making her way into the shuttle, Elita quickly sat down and began the take off sequence. Opening a channel to the command center, Elita blurted out her flight sequence.

>>”I’m ready to make my way up to the moon. Tell Fortress Maximus I will return shortly with Prime and jazz.”<<

That said, Elita closed the cannel and commenced take off.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Tunnel from the Heights to Iacon

Hot Rod swiftly transformed into his robot mode and began making his way toward Blurr. He firmly slapped his hand onto the messenger’s shoulder.
“You did great out there, Blurr.

I’ll tell ya this, I have no idea as to what Roadblock was using, but we sure could use it on our side.”

Turning to face the tunnel’s entrance, the cavalier finished what he was saying.

“It looked to like some sort of shell he could remotely control form any location. I tell ya this ol’ buddy, Elita and Max will like to hear about it.”

Transforming back into his sleek alternate mode, the fiery youth sped down the tunnel to Icaon.

“Thanks-Hot-Rod,-you-did-great-out-there-too.-Your-idea-to-slap-an-explosive-on-that-thing-was-terrific.-
The-Decepticons-keep-churning-out-all-this-new-technology.-We-could-definitely-use-some-new-equipment-as-
well.”

“Yes-of-course-you-are-right-they-will-definitely-want-this-info.-Perhaps-Perceptor-or-Wheeljack-will-be-
able-to-make-something-from-the-info-and-create-some-new-inventions.-That-would-help-our-side-a-bunch,” Blurr responded to Hot Rod.

Blurr transformed into his blue hover car mode and raced off after Hot Rod down the tunnel.

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

They appeared over the edge of the horizon, slowly making their approach towards Iacon and safety, battered and bruised, some missing the odd wing or armour plate, others looking like they’d been in an incinerator. The Autobot bomber force, the last group to leave the Tagan heights, were making their final approach. Slightly behind this group was a final machine, by far and away the most damaged; two wings missing, most of his armour destroyed or scorched to a black mass, multiple systems failing, but still he flew on his task not done. The Autobots headed towards Fortress Maximus, Touching down in front of the mighty warrior, Stormfire to landed with as much dignity as his failing circuits could muster. Bringing the flyers to attention, Stormfire delivered his report to Fortress Maximus.

‘Sir, Tagan has been completely and successfully evacuated. Ultra Magnus appears to have escaped the Decepticon attack, but his current location is unknown, the tunnels leading to the base and the escape passages have been totally collapsed, with most sections destroyed beyond the point of repair. We were the last group to leave the battlefield, and have compiled a lot of data on the new Decepticon combat drones, their strategies, priorities, and weapon capabilities.’

Stormfire signalled to the other Autobot flyers, who began to remove the weapons from subspace that they had removed from the armoury at the start of the assault.

‘We also bring the Tagan armoury, I thought it prudent that we didn’t give the cons a free weapons hand out, anything we couldn’t carry was used to destroy the tunnels.’

Report over, Stormfire dismissed the flyers, who headed off to the med bay or CR chambers, Stormfire didn’t focus on where as his body began to shut down, Stormfire collapsed to the floor, unable to override his internal systems any longer. But there was someone who could, someone who didn’t feel pain, someone that was more a thing than a person, that someone made Stormfire’s broken body move, made it stand up, made it bring it’s optics back online, but now they were a brilliant blood red color, and the intellect that looked out from those eyes was not Stormfire.

Autobase Prime - hangerbay

Sureshot squealed to a halt as Elita closed the doors to her shuttle and began her take off sequence.

“Primus, gotta Love a Fembot”

He mumbled as he transformed into robot mode. Elita either didn’t know he had been right behind her or had forgotten he had volunteered to come. He watched as her shuttle commenced takeoff. He turned to look at the remaining flight craft, he could handle the smaller model with the nice laser system, easily alone. As he ran towards the craft he radioed Elita.

>>Elita, I’m making good on my promise. I’ll be right behind you.>Hey Rollbar, I’m following Elita, in shuttle #347 ….. Just thought I’d let ya know incase …. Well if ya needed to talk to me for some reason.<<

Surshot laughed, he could not remember the last time he actually had a conversation with Rollbar. But the poor mech was getting left behind, Sureshot figured he could at least let him know what was up. He patted his weapons as he locked in. The thrusters fired and he set a course to follow Elita-1.

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

Cog nodded at Trailbreaker's words, every bit as dismayed that the situation in the Heights was largely a mystery to the Autobots in Iacon.

"And no word of Magnus yet, either," he said. "One would expect something over the comms regarding his status, but nothing." As Cog pondered this, Stormfire and the other Autobot flyers approached and unloaded their stashes of weapons from Autobase Tau. Stormfire then commenced to give his report.

"Well, that's something at least..." Cog's responses were interrupted by Stormfire's sudden collapse. Before Cog could even help the Autobot to a repair bay on Fortress Maximus, Stormfire stood up once more of his own volition. There was something...odd about it all, though. Transformers did not often fall down into near-stasis only to rise back up again...

"Report to a repair bay immediately," Cog told Stormfire decisively. "For full repair and refuel." And a full diagnostic scan. That was very odd.

---

Emerging from the tunnels, Mirage was greeted by something resembling a field hospital and a refugee camp, all of it overshadowed by the massive mobile battle station form of Fortress Maximus. This looks familiar. All of us...banged to Pit and back again. For the thousandth time. He sighed slightly as he drove out past Hot Rod and Blurr into the open and pulled around to where Trailbreaker was speaking with Maximus' proxy, Cog.

"Did Magnus make it out, Trailbreaker?" he asked, nodding at Cog in greeting. "I didn't see him again after his little armor stunt, I'm afraid..."

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

Strafe was exhausted, he'd been chased by a half-crazed stunticon been shot at by sweeps and suffered a glitch in his system due to his earlier crash. Still he was very concerned about his team-mates safety, though he was pretty sure that no-one would have let them come to too much harm.

Strafe landed tiredly looking for all the world like he just wanted to curl up somewhere and re-charge. Thankfully he wasn't too damaged a little singed here and there but he was mostly operational. Still he dropped anything he had managed to pick up along with the other fliers before leaving for the med-bay.

Southern Iacon

Panzer lay paralyzed, the two other bots carrying him where probably exhausted from his constant attempts to move and start fighting again. He later went into voluntary stasis lock by the time he knew he could fight no more. He entered consciousness now and scanned the surroundings, he was in Iacon and he was safe...for now...

Southern Iacon ~ Border Zone

"Armor stunt?.." Trailbreaker replied as Mirage arrived from the Tagan tunnel and added his voice to those wondering of the location of the City Commander "..Sounds like a good show, shame I missed it really.." He joked, as was his way, before resuming a more professional manner "..As I was just telling Cog, I haven't heard from, or seen Magnus since I took my leave from Tau. I've been scanning as many frequencies as I can, trying to pick up any kind of signal from him, but I've got nothing so far" A shrug of his shoulders was just about all Trailbreaker could add to his answer to the Spy's question.

As the conversation went along, Inferno arrived, still carrying the battered form of Roadbuster. The journey had been one of the S&R Specialists tougher ones, the tunnels from Tagan were long, and Roadbuster was not, what one might call, lightweight. As he approached Mirage, Cog and Trailbreaker, he could just about hear what they were talking about, and thought they probably wouldn't appreciate him interupting them, instead he offered a nod and as much of a salute as he could to Cog and continued on, knowing his eventual location would be one of the repair bays inside of Fortress Maximus' Battle Station mode.

Having passed over his injured cargo to the attending drones to transport further inside, Jedishen moved onwards as well, knowing he would in time have to make his way there as well, but figured that there were more casualties present in need of immediate attention than him. One such casualty caught his attention, as he spotted the damaged form of Stormfire reporting in with those who mattered, suddenly collapse. The Scout immediately began to try and make it over to the Aerial Warrior, but was cut off by a group of injured passing in front of him, obscuring his view.

When the group finally passed, Jedishen was surprised to see Stormfire back on his feet already. Thinking it slightly odd, the Scout moved over to speak to Stormfire, maybe see if he needed any help to get inside Fortress Maximus to one of the repair bays "Hey Stormfire, you need a hand getting ins..." Jedishen began as he approached, but stopped abruptly as he came round the side of the Warrior and caught a glimpse of his optics, and specifically, the colour of those optics.

The same deep red glow emanated from Stormfire's optics that was present at the earlier incident back in Tagan, making the Scout take a step back, wary of what may happen "..You OK Stormfire?" Jedishen asked, his voice flat and without inflection.

Reaching the tunnel exit shortly after Mirage, Blurr exited and transformed into his robot mode. There were Autobots running around all over the place. A group was currently forming around Cog, as the other bots came and reported in. Off to the side Inferno was carrying Roadbuster towards the med bay and a couple of Autobots were carrying the limp form of another in that direction as well. He thought he recognized the robot being carried along as the one that had taken a pounding from the Stunticons at Tagan.

“Come-on-Hot-Rod-I-see-Cog-we-can-go-and-talk-to-him.-I-wonder-if-any-of-the
-others-found-out-anything-interesting-or-valuable-about-the-‘Con-attack.-We-lost-an-
important-tactical-facility-but-perhaps-we-will-be-able-to-decipher-something-from-
this-battle-that-could-help-us-take-the-Heights-back-or-maybe-even-win-the-war,” Blurr prattled as he walked away from the tunnel towards the assembled Autobots.

As he was walking closer Blurr saw Stormfire take a faceplant into the ground in front of Cog and the others.

That-can’t-be-good-I-bet-he-is-massively-damaged-from-staying-behind-to-guard-our-rear
-as-we-retreated.

Within a few astroseconds Stormfire stood back up, surprising Blurr. Blurr suspected he wasn’t the only surprised one as he saw Jedishen stop approaching Stormfire after he stood up.

How-odd-maybe-Stormfire-isn’t-as-wounded-as-I-originally-thought.-I-will-be-up-there-
in-a-second-or-two-so-I-will-be-able-to-see-what-is-going-on.

Upon reaching the group Blurr greeted Cog and the other Autobots, then looked over at Stormfire.

“Are-you-alright-Stormfire?-You-look-like-the-Decepticons-used-you-for-target-
practice-and-then-tried-to-recycle-what-was-left-into-spare-parts.-Do-you-need-help-
getting-to-the-med-bay?,” Blurr asked as he eyed Stormfire anxiously, something seemed slightly off with the other mech, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Southern Iacon

It’d been to slow in asserting It’s control, others had noticed the odd display that had resulted, they’d be wary, and It’d find it harder to act. Even as he assessed his possibilities, he was struggling with his two main priorities, destroy, and keep Stormfire safe, Whilst he had no doubt that he could destroy those who knew his secret, Stormfire’s body was in dire shape, his personality had automatically been withdrawn to the place where it lay whilst It was in control.

As It looked around it did something It had never done before, it began to question the interpretation of It’s programming, Stormfire would not want these mechs destroyed, they were… friends, surely these mechs would make It’s job easier, they would protect Stormfire, but would Stormfire risk himself to save these mechs? This he could not allow, Stormfire carried something vital, if he had no friends, then Stormfire would have no reason for irrational action on the battlefield. But then again Stormfire’s personality always seemed to put him in the most dangerous area of the battlefield regardless. It would wait, but first it had to know if friends were a boon or curse.

It moved over to Jedishen and Blurr, one, Blurr had shown concern, but he didn’t know. The other, Jedishen knew a little of what could happen in this situation, and he showed fear at those possibilities. It had to know and it decided a blunt approach was best, he looked both mechs square on the optics

‘Will you defend Stormfire when I am gone?’

A yes no answer was all that was needed, one thing that stuck in It’s thoughts was that despite their differing levels of knowledge with regards to the situation both were concerned, he recognised now why he had been told to find the Autobots, they had compassion, an emotion he could use to his advantage. He could not stay here much longer Stormfire’s condition was getting worse. He knew that as soon as Stormfire was placed in a CR chamber, he would be forcibly shutdown and sent offline until Stormfire woke him again, but Stormfire’s condition had forced his hand this way, pity, he’d wanted to talk to Mirage again

‘Stormfire is dying, take me to the Medbay.’

Now he would see how useful friends could be.

“Uhhh-you-are-Stormfire.-What-are-you-talking-about?-Did-you-take-too-many-shots-
to-the-cranial-unit?-Don’t-worry-though-we-will-take-care-of-you-and-make-sure-you-
are-fixed-up-and-well-defended-if-that-is-your-concern.-We-aren’t-Decepticons-so-we-
won’t-just-abandon-you-and-leave-you-to-find-your-own-medic-like-they-would,” Blurr said until Stormfire spoke up again.

“Of-course-Stormfire,-I-will-take-you-there-right-now,-we-can’t-have-you-dying-on-us-
and-while-you-are-there-maybe-the-medics-can-fix-the-glitch-in-your-system-that-
makes-you-talk-in-third-person.-Although-if-you-want-to-talk-like-that-then-it-is-ok,-
it’s-just-a-little-odd,-I-never-talk-about-myself-in-the-third-person,-but-I-do-talk-a-lot.-
I-talk-so-much-I-sometimes-get-yelled-at-for-it,” Blurr rattled on as he walked over and slipped his arm under Stormfire’s shoulder to support him. The speedy blue ‘bot then looked over at Jedishen.

“You want to grab his other side so we can get him to the med bay?”

Southern Iacon ~ Border Zone

The voice was so similar, but yet there was still a slight edge to it, a clinical coldness that gave away that whatever 'It' was, It was in control at the current time, and It was asking questions. As Blurr answered in his own rapid style, Jedishen, waited, looked and listened, returning the blank stare coming from Stormfire's battered form. As he saw Blurr move over and duck under one of Stormfire's arms, Jedishen gave his answer to the question offered.

"Of course I'll defend him, I'm an Autobot, it's part of what differentiates us from the 'Cons.." The Scout paused as he nodded in response to Blurr's query and began moving over to the other side of Stormfire "..Why, are you planning on leaving us sometime soon?" Jedishen continued as he took some of the weight of Stormfire, his tone slightly less flat, with a hint of sarcasm "I wonder if It can detect sarcasm" The Scout thought to himself.

Iacon-Border Zone
Luckily for the wounded there Road Rage arrives in robot form to help with the wounded in her limited capacity rather than transformed under the advice of her superiors.

When she arrives she looks for the nearest higher ranking Autobot to be apprised of the situation, and receive orders.
Meanwhile she'd opt to make sure that no Decepticons followed the wounded. She has many talents but medic isn't really one of them. Sure she has some medical training since the person she protects might end up injured and she would need to keep them going.

After looking around she spots Cog speaking to Trailbreaker, and walks up. "Road Rage reporting for duty!" she offers a crisp salute punctuating her statement.
She didn't like arriving late, but she was to finish a fairly important task of miscellaneous nature, and was advised to get to the wounded in robot mode which meant she had to run some of the way.

Border

Progress had been slow for Searchlight and Freeway. Neither were especially strong so carrying another Autobot with them was always going to require some hard graft. Even Freeway had run out of jokes to say he was so tired by the time they got out of the tunnels. So they sat down next to the wounded Panzer, "No one got a fresh mug of energon?" Freeway said looking around forlornly, "Guess not,"
"Hey, Road Rage!" Searchlight called, "We do have a wounded Panzer here that might require what aid you can give him,"

Iacon-Border Zone

She comes to attention as Searchlight near Freeway call out to her. She looks over spotting the less brawny pair carrying a heavy Panzer. Whew. Its not surgery. She hoped anyhow since the injured bot looked reasonably intact.

"I'll go help them." She excused herself, then hurries over to the bots in need.

She figured that if they were going to give her an order it'd be to help Panzer, Searchlight, and Freeway.
Road Rage helps them move Panzer, who's heavy even to her, to a medical table, or what ever was out there that served that purpose.

"He looks beyond my abilities. We need more medical knowledge, and tools than I have." she says after looking over Panzer.
"The round that hit Panzer seemed to do more than just hit him, and digging it out isn't going to fix the secondary damage preventing him from moving."
A little rewiring, some plasma welds, splints, touchups, and other minor things yeah, but nothing like this was in her capabilities.
Road Rage looked up from Panzer for a medical unit, summoning over a medical drone if one's available.

Autobase Prime----Command Center

Scoop entered the Command Center. He saw that Rollbar was one of a few bots still here and he saw him complaining. For some reason that did not suprise Scoop. He just shook his head and went to a panel. He looked over the situation reports to catch himself up and then asked Rollbar "What is our current situation Rollbar" he did not continue with what some bots would say offering help. It was obvious that he was there and he would do what was needed in the situations that were going on.

Scoop then heard the situations going on. Things were getting interesting on all fronts. Grimlock up in orbit, Fortress Maximus and others going to aid other autobots. Leaving Rollbar here to act as a field technician. No wonder the throttlebot was the way he was. Scoop being there should calm the smaller bot down a bit. At least that is what Scoop thought.

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

Through his autonomous proxy, Cog, Fortress Maximus was fully aware of the conversation transpiring among the Autobots Stormfire, Jedishen, and Blurr. It was a bemusing discussion to say the least, and he wasn't entirely sure what to make of the aerial warrior's mystifying inquiry. He did hope, however, that it was merely a symptom of some rattled logic circuits and not any kind of more serious malaise--his repair bays were equipped to deal with all manner of structural damage, but critical neural processor malfuntion was a somewhat larger defect than he was prepared to take on, at the moment. Perhaps once he wasn't dealing with so many casualties at once . . .

"While this is all very fascinating," Cog interjected mildly, "Fortress Maximus feels that we should continue with our evacuation, and defer the philosophical discussions until a more opportune time. I'm sure Trailbreaker would agree?" The diminutive mechanoid looked over to the larger Defensive Strategist inquiringly for an affirmation, then continued, "To that end, he asks that you please continue loading our disabled comrades aboard so that we may get under way. The sooner we return to Autobase Prime, the sooner we will be able to repair, regroup, and begin planning our counterattack."

It was, perhaps, not the ideal moment to bring up that particular strategic reality, given that most of these 'Bots were just now coming from the battlefield, many of them in very poor shape. And Ultra Magnus as yet remained unaccounted for. But the facts were the facts, unpleasant though they might be: the Tagan Heights were far too important a strategic resource to allow the territory to fall to the Decepticons uncontested. The longer they delayed, the more time Scorponok and his troops would have to fortify their new position.

Which would make digging them out again more difficult than treating a severe infection of Cygnan metallophage.

Cog looked over to where Road Rage was doing her best to treat the barely-functional Panzer, and called out, "If you would please transport him to one of the repair bays, Fortress Maximus will attempt to regulate his condition straightaway."