The Energon Pub

OOC: Heap and Bludgeon are digging at the pile too, but they could easily be on the other side, out of sight.

Sector 905

As an experienced Decepticon supply handler, Swindle has used to foul looks, particularly from the elite groups like the Seekers. He'd been more than once accused of being "too cheerful" to be a Decepticon himself, but this kind of commentary did little to dissuade him from his proven profit-gathering external face.

"'Preciate it, Seeker sir. Old Onslaught never forgets a 'Con that did him a favor. I'll put in a good word for you...Ramjet? No, Ramjet's the one that's all dented...Dirge! That's it. Weren't you the guy that bought those flight control microchips from me a few cycles ago? Or was it those Enhesion Missiles? Now that I think about it, it might have been Thrust...."

Swindle continued digging through the pile as he prattled on, the act of snatching up anything of any value not slowing him in the least.[/b]

Skies Above Sector 905

For a rusty old pile of junk, the Guardian was fast, Starscream had to give him that. Not so fast that he could easily outrun the Seeker Commander in an atmosphere, of course, but fast enough to elude most of his subordinates easily enough. The red and white Tetrajet fired off several more blasts from his main cannons and null rays, not really anticipating any appreciable effect on the brute. As expected, the pathetic jalopy had soon crossed into what was effectively Autobot airspace, beyond Starscream's reach.

But only for the moment.

Turning about lazily in the air--and largely ignoring most of the little, personal melodramas unfolding around him as his troops succumbed to varying degrees of pride, fuel-lust, or stupidity--Starscream set his course back for the tower, signalling Dragonfly and Dunehopper to do the same.

It seemed that Cyclonus and his pet Sweeps had declined to join in the chase. That was to be expected, he supposed, given that they were essentially sparkless, unimpassioned tools for more ambitious, more imaginative mechanoids like Megatron or Scorponok. Barely a step above a basic combat drone, really. If there were no joy in their work for them, then Starscream could hardly see the point.

In any event, seeing off a retreating enemy properly was a good habit for a hunter-killer to develop, even if his chances of actually bringing down the target were slim to nil.

As Rapture and her squadron pulled up alongside his own, Starscream chuckled lightly. Her performance had been every bit as good as he had expected, and her command capabilities were impressive. All the more reason to have her working with him rather than against him. Though he would still keep a very close optic on her activities--that went without saying, really.

>>Permission granted. Very well done, Sub-Commander. But let's try to keep some of our more enthusiastic brothers on a bit of a tighter reign next time, shall we?<<

When the group passed over the spot where part of the ground team and the Sweeps were busily excavating Onslaught, Starscream noted the leader of the Coneheads among them. >>When you're done digging around in the dirt, Dirge, you can join the rest of us back at the Tower,<< he transmitted sardonically. >>Exemplary performance against the Guardian. I'll expect more of the same during our next outing.<<

Perhaps there was a future for the somber Seeker as a squadron leader, after all. Would wonders never cease?

Sector 905

--hrzt--

As his primary systems came back online, the burning glow behind Onslaught's orange visor slowly guttered back to life. It did not take the Combaticon long to process his present circumstances: he had been unable to react quickly enough to avoid the falling debris, and now he was buried beneath several tons of collapsed Polyhex skyscraper. An unenviable position, to say the least.

Still, the damage could have been a great deal worse. According to his preliminary diagnostics, his right arm had been crushed and was now non-functional; fortunately, that appeared to be the worst he had suffered. His armor was scored and dented, as one might have expected, and the plating on the right side of his torso had been partially caved in, but there were no serious internal malfunctions. Aside from a few minor leaks and loose connections, he appeared to be more or less wholly operational.

Firing his rear mounted cannons in the near future would probably be inadvisable, however. So it might have been a stretch to claim he was still fit for combat.

A shift in the pressing weight above him alerted Onslaught to the rescue efforts. Soon, he was able to force the last of the broken composite building material off his upper body with his remaining arm. As he pulled himself back to his feet, he nodded briefly in gratitude to those of his saviors not part of the team he had commanded in the field.

"Commandant. Dirge." His voice was stiff, but courteous. No Decepticon officer particularly relished being reduced to such a state before an audience. Still, he had little desire to seem coarse or outright rude. The Combaticon's optics then turned to regard the members of his attack team: Blitzwing, Heap, and Swindle.

"I believe I instructed you to return to the Tower," he observed mildly. There was no genuine reproach in his tone, only a faint hint of dry humor as he gingerly stepped down onto more even terrain, cradling his mangled limb. "However, given the circumstances, I think that I can overlook this breach of orders. Just try not to make a habit of it. As you were, Decepticons."

Near the PSR

After he fired off the last of his missiles Skyshroud turned around and flew towards Starscream and the other seekers.

He was rather disappointed that the Guardian had gotten away, but his superiors all seemed pleased. He decided not to question it any further, after all he was a solider not a strategist.

Sector 905

Blitzwing grinned and saluted Onslaught.

“It won’t happen again sir!”

The triplechanger turned to look at the small assembly, a smirk played across his visage. ~Gee for a mech that everyone thought was haughty there sure were a lot of cons who “cared” about his welfare.~

He glanced at Swindle, the guy had made quite a fuss over Onslaught’s short disappearance but perhaps it was only because they were both Combaticons.



Above shockwave's tower

Ghost sighed his work was done. He watched a small silver figure upon the ground with slight interest. She had broken formation to help a weak fallen soldier.

“Tisk Tisk Tisk , so the rumors are true. She does behave like a damn Autobot.”

Transforming he turned to face the unseen voice.

“I agree, Rapture should question her but it appears she has other things to do.”

Ghost then observed the rabble around Onslaught and burst out laughing.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself, in a way YES they are doing the same slag as her. What the pitt has gotten into them? I’m sure Screamer and Shockwave would agree it’s a waste of mech power and time.”

Ghost gritted his teeth.

“You don’t agree? …….. Yeah well I forgot your into self sacrifice, but still………..”

Ghost gave up and flew into the hanger. Landing he then proceeded to the back and sat in an empty chair. It was doubtful anyone would notice him.

Sector 905

Well, his humor circuits don't seem to be damaged, so I guess he's ok. Swindle knew better than to open his mouth when Onslaught was giving orders, jokingly or otherwise, so he simply saluted using his retreival claw and headed back to the ammo sled. As he hitched it back on, he focused an optic back to make sure Onslaught didn't need a hand getting back to the Tower himself. As he did, he watched the other Decepticons who had helped in the rescue.

Even the Fliers got respect for the Boss. He is really is the next big thing. Roadblock gets nuked next cycle, he's in there. Sure as the Pit.

Sector 905

Heap restricts his reaction to a very small, short lived grin, and then his face becomes impassive again. He gives the City Commander a tight, crisp salute and then stands at ease, addressing Onslaught, "Sir, request permission to act as escort back to base," he says. He knows Onslaught probably did not feel to good about being in such a state around other commanders and air warriors, and did his best to convey his respect for the Commander and get him back to base for repairs as quick as possible.

Ground level PSR

Needing help off the battlefield was one thing for consumit seeker, but in his battle deficient condition he felt worthless. Requiring Silverstrike to coddle him too his feet magnified this feeling as well. His pride would have preferred a drone tending to him in his weakened conditioned."Never let an Allie see you as weak, unless you want another enemy" Still, it was better than being left to rot.

As Turbulence was being attended to, he couldn't help but feel a myriad of emotions. He was disappointed that his attack did nothing in helping the seeker squadrons bring down the Autbot Guardian. He never expect to single handedly do it but had he been able to remove the already loosened armor piece with the plasma bomb, his wing-mates would have had a more suitable target. The blue and bronze warrior was also frustrated that on his first mission with Quantum, a skilled veteran, he not only crashed but managed to keep another capable seeker out of the fight. While admittedly the current visuals were nothing to complain over, and he was in need of patch work, he couldn't shake the question why this silvery seeker had disengaged the enemy on his behalf. Perhaps she was ordered? Whatever the case, the exact moments leading to his crash escaped his data banks.

Going over what was in his data banks, Turbulence processed a seeker roster for this current mission. While he may have seen her before, he's never actually placed name to frame. Upon the reflective femme brandishing her blade to suecher his leaks, it became easy to guess her name. Before he spoke up, it was all Turbulence could do to muffle a grunt as she pulled the shrapnel from his leg. After which, He refused to let any anguish over this patchwork repair escape through his features; finding only moderate success. Compared to his leg the remaining mending was relatively less painful.

"The soldering of your energy sword is likely far more tolerable than that of my serrating sonic sword, SilverStrike. A fitting name for a seeker swordmech. I will repay this debt."

Seekers weren't known for carrying swords in an air fight; unless they were particularly skilled. If she were any good with her's on the battlefield, perhaps she could use a spar sometime. "A training session would hardly repay her... kindness?" the damaged con though. He would have to find another way to atone with her.

As they moved, the Seeker recognized a few land markers among the wasteland, "At least We're on the con side of the PSR line. You wont have to fight the Autobots on my account."

The wreckage of a warrior walked reluctantly leaning on the femme flyer. He then relinquished his support from Silverstrike as Quantum and Nightraid approached. He couldn't imagine what the tactician was thinking let alone his squadron leader. Steadying himself, it wouldn't do for him to show any weakness now.
<hr>

ooc: post in progress (12hr or less)

Sector 905

Reforge face grimmist at the realization Dirge had come down to support in the search. Fear begain to crawl through the sweeps circuty, "Could the master want me to join in as well?" as he pondered this it happened that any action he would take would prove too late. The ground pounder commander was located.

Not cheering as Onslaught was found functional, if not fully, the Decepticon coremech glanced at Cyclonus currious if he would 'call off the sweeps' as it were and order the pack back home. This rescue mission was starting to feel like a combaticon commander appreciation meeting. The mobile missile launcher looked more than capable of returning to base unaided; his services would not be needed.

Sector 905- Skies Above

Ramjet circled like a buzzard waiting for 'good news' though weather Onslaught was found or not mattered little to the air warrior. It was more a look at Dirge interacting with Swindle then helping in the rescue of the latter's fallen commander. He'ld rather not stay around for this, but knew better than just running back to base.

The red winded warrior transformed and folded his arms waiting for Thrust and Dirge to depart the field.

Skies over Sector 905

With the final bits of rubble and dust pouring down the sky, the red and black tetrajet swept through the air high above Onslaught's burial location in a wide angle and began to slow down. His wings twisting and turning Thrust transformed and looked down, grunting with disappointment. The battle was over. The battle against the guardian. Everything should or at least could have made it something not easily brushed off, something magnificent. Yet it left nothing in the mind of the seeker, not even a scar.

Crossing his arms over his chest plating Thrust's optics wandered from the generic rubble and Decepticons in the area below to Dirge while waiting for him to return. The feeling Thrust had didn't sit well with him at all, not one bit.

Sector 905

If a look could kill, Swindle would have been certainly dead in front of Dirge for the idea of getting flightcontrol chips from Swindle would have insulted any elite flyer.

"You are mixing me with someone else." The seeker had said gravely before joining up the digging effort, speaking with the swindler no more.

Starscream's transmission didn't really lift up his mood either. Dirge had to admit that most flyers felt tasks like the one he was attending were beyond them. But slag it, if the same would happen to him, Dirge wanted others to remember he had been generous enough to help instead of leaving them to die. He was pretty sure he could have trusted his wingmates or some of the other seekers to help him would he have been in a similar situation but Starscream? Hardly.

When Onslaught finally appeared from under the rubble, got back on his feet despite the damage he had suffered and greeted his saviors, Dirge gave a slight nod as his own response. He did not laugh or make fun of the events transpired like Skywarp or Thrust would likely have done. It wasn't his style.

Doubting his presence would be needed longer, Dirge followed Starscream's suggestion and rocketed back to the skies, joining Thrust who was circling above them.

>>"Let's get back to the Tower Thrust. Enough excitement for one orn won't you agree?"<<

Shockwave's Tower - Command Center

With the Guardian driven from Polyhex, Shockwave had seen little reason to dally on the battlefield. He had transforming back into ray gun mode and flown at top speed back to his Tower. There was much to do, and, despite his infinite patience, the military coordinator knew that now was no time to take things slowly. Analysis: our recent strikes at the Autobots have altered the momentum of the conflict. The Autobots are now on the defensive. However, based upon historical precedent and the abilities and personalities of their commanders, they will likely develop an effective counter-offensive within a few orns.

Once within his Tower, Shockwave transformed once more into robot mode and made his way to the Command Center. Sitting upon the control throne that was designed for his particular form, the cyclopean Decepticon linked into the Tower's vast collection of sensors and surveillance equipment. The batteries of scanners and sat-link arrays comprised a major part of the Decepticon military's intelligence-gather capacity, and zettabytes of data that streamed from them into the Tower's main computer were now at Shockwave's fingertips.

The diversionary strike on Nova Cronum appears to have been successful. Excellent. Incoming data revealed that the Decepticon force that had been sent to Moon Alpha had returned. Nothing yet indicated their status, but numbers suggested that losses were light, nothing more than a few drones. Still, Shockwave suspected that something would have come across the comm bands or networks had Optimus Prime fallen. Fact: Megatron's egotistical nature would demand public revelation of his rival's deactivation. Until evidence to the contrary surfaced, Shockwave would assume that Optimus Prime continued to function. The Autobot leader was one variable that the military coordinator had little desire to leave unaccounted.

Opening a secure comm channel to Kaon, Shockwave prepared a brief report for Megatron. Protocol demanded that the Emperor be notified of the Decepticon success in Polyhex. That formality handled, the military coordinator returned to his own machinations.

<hr>
Near the PSR

"Don't worry, we'll get his sorry aft next time," Dunehopper told Skyshroud as he pulled alongside him.

The Seekers were headed back to base, and though he was disappointed that the order to plow on ahead into Nova Cronum's airspace wasn't given, Dunehopper was pleased with the orn's events. Got to drop some bombs, Omega Supreme got chased back to Nova Cronum, Seekers looked good all around...not a bad orn's work, not bad at all! He spoke to Skyshroud again as the two flew back from the PSR with the others.

"Man, I gotta say...you've got some lugnuts on ya," he told Skyshroud. "Might've been a violation of orders for you to show up like that...but who cares? You got your shots in against the big 'Bot."

Dunehopper wondered if Starscream or Rapture would be upset with the rookie Seeker, but rather hoped they weren't. He doubted he could've resisted the urge to join in the fray if he had been left back with the home guard squadrons.

Hanger bay

Silver did her best not to smile, yes it was a coincidence that her name fit her function. And at one time in her life she had been a cobalt color not silver. At that time she had carried two arm mounted magnetic lock destabilizer canons. Though for as long as she could remember she had whiled a sword. But her personality had led her skills to remain a secret from the data bank files. Very few Transformers knew what she could do. He felt he owed her a debt. There was no need to repay her, but somehow she knew telling him that would have no effect. So she simply nodded. As they walked he made a comment about the Autobots.

“I would fight them because it is my duty, do not feel you would hold me back in any sense. Besides I prefer ground combat over air raids. It is more to my taste.”

As she said this she inadvertently looked at her own shoulder and its lack of weaponry. In the air she could fly circles around a bot but had no way to actually shoot one down. They were now within the tower. The hanger bay doors above them. She had not noticed how far they had come. And it was good for Turbulence.

“Wait here and I’ll get the medic drones for you.”

She left him and hurried down the hall. The repair wing was mostly quiet. A few drones were busy cleaning. She ushered two drones back with her to Turbulence.

“I’ll leave you to their care. I must go speak with our commanders. Good luck with your repairs Turbulence.”

Sky's Over Polyhex

Skyshroud was on his way back to the hanger when Dunehopper flew up next to him and said "Don't worry, we'll get his sorry aft next time,"

"I sure hope so..." the younger seeker replied.

"Man, I gotta say...you've got some lugnuts on ya, Might've been a violation of orders for you to show up like that...but who cares? You got your shots in against the big 'Bot."

Skyshroud was a little nerves he knew that he was supposed to wait, but he just couldn't resist a fight with a real live Guardian Robot. He chose to take the compliment when he could get it, most of the ranking Decepticons gave no praise at all only punishment. He then replied "I would sacrifice my chassis for a shot at glory, I just wish we could have pursued him."

Skies Above Sector 905

With a subtle hint of humor, Rapture responded to Starscream's comment.

<Understood, Sir. But I think we must let the hounds run on occasion, lest they begin to wonder how strong the leash is. Relaying recall order. Rapture out.>

Switching to a wideband comlink, the midnight femme contacted her those of her brethren who were still in the air.

<Attention All Seekers! This is Rapture. Orders from Commander Starscream follow. Return to base at best possible speed. I repeat: Return to base. Rapture out.>

She observed the exchange between Dunehopper and Skyshroud with cold amusement. Evidently the two were cast from the same mold. Good. The wily femme knew well that such malleable and enthusiastic warriors were quite useful indeed. Deciding to put a word in, the charismatic femme opened a secure channel to the young Seeker.

<You did well today, Young One.> Her voice was authoritative, but carried a subtle note of amusement, even affection. It was a tone that had wrapped many male underling around her finger through the vorns. <But next time, try to make it to the engagement in a timely manner. If you are forever late you shall never get to kill anything.> Rapture chuckled silently. Males were so easy to manipulate.

Rapture and her wingmen broke formation, heading for home. Less than a breem later, the Trio touched down in the main hangar bay. The Seeker Subcommander addressed Thundercracker and Skywarp once they were on the ground.

"Nice job, boys. Get your afts down to the repair bay. Looks like you two took enough shrapnel to bring you back up to max takeoff weight." The two male Seekers complied.

With the mega-cycle's events complete, the former Cassetticon's mind turned to her next move. She was playing a dangerous game. Starscream's support was vital at this juncture, lest he suspect her true intentions. But she required the new Air Commander's approval for her promotion to be official. Cyclonus, it was said, was not overly fond of Seekers. She suspected that particular prejudice was an intentional addition to his programming. She doubted her unique origins would do anything to excise the Seeker stigma from her in Cyclonus' mind.

It mattered little. Rapture felt certain that the new Air Commander would respond to results, regardless of her phenotype. She had every confidence that the Prototype was a finer leader than Starscream was on his best mega-cycle. The canny femme would require his tacit approval if she was to remove Starscream, and the threat he represented to the renewed prosperity of her phenotype.

Starscream had made good in recent cycles, it was true. Nevertheless, probabilities were high that this trend was simply another high point in the Seeker Commander's seemingly endless cycle of rise and fall. Her father had once said he believed Starscream possessed a personality glitch that caused him to subconsciously thwart his own grandiose power-plays. To the midnight femme, that seemed a very likely supposition indeed.

But if Rapture had anything to say about it, the Seekers would not be accompanying the vain officer on his next political freefall.

Sector 905

"Affirmative sir" Nightraid stated in response to Quantum then fired all he had left on Omega Supreme.
As Rapture's orders came in Nightraid slowed down and finally headed for his downed comrade.
Turbulence and Silverstrike were indicated on his internal map and he headed back with Quantum.
Descending, Nightraid landed first on his right foot then the other. Attached to his side was the hilt of his energysaber. "milady..." he nodded at Silverstrike who rushed of rather fast. The tactician then turned his attention to Turbulence. "You alright?" he said. His faceplate moving as he spoke. He took in Turbulence's appearance trying to gauge the severity of his state.
He looked at Quantum then Rapture's orders came in. "Hmmm well you heard the lady. Time to return. Feel up to the trip?" he said with a sincere worry. Undoubtably this would all be seen as some sort of 'victory'. Frankly no matter what Rapture or Starscream would say on the matter, he had made his own analysis. And despite some benefits from this conflict... the escape of Omega Supreme negated most of their efforts. It had been a good opportunity... but a wasted one for the most part.
He was curious to see what powerplay and ambitious diplomatic moves would be made by Rapture and Starscream upon their return. He preferred the female Seeker by far, she had more backbone and was at least a real soldier. Starscream for all his brilliance didn't care for his men, his cause and not even his own honor... he cared for his ambitions and that was all... well that and his own life. A waste of skill and intellect. But Rapture still had much to prove herself. And he was curious to see if she would be worthy of the trust.
He'd need to reload back at the base as he was out of heavy weaponry, something he disliked greatly as it left him weak for a counter attack.

Coming to stand next to Heap was Bludgeon who slammed a fist into his chestplate, respectfully saluting Onslaught. "Commander." he said brief and to the point. Dust and diry on his purple and green form indicated he had done his best to clear rubble... even with a certain enthusiasm. Not that the Master of Metalikato showed enthusiasm ever...

Leaving Sector 905

In general, Swindle had found that Onslaught preferred to have people follow his orders than fawn over him like a protoform doing its first reformat. Besides, Heap and Bludgeon had stayed behind to look after him. So Swindle took one last look back and joined the convoy of decepticons returning to the tower.

A parade of fliers passed over him as he drove to Shockwave's Tower, including the dour Dirge. I was sure it was one of those coneheaded seekers who bought them....eh, I can't tell those fliers apart anyway, it could be been Dreadwing or Astrotrain.

Just before reaching the tower, Swindle left the road for a Breem to make a pitstop at a bombed-out bunker, abandoned for over a Vorn. Here was one of the many hide-aways where Swindle kept the items he'd picked up or bought for resale. He quickly dumped the less saleable of the items he'd recovered during the operation, as well as 2 clips of omni-shells from the ammo-sled. The ammo records were altered to show Heap had used them in the barrage; Being quartermaster had taught Swindle many tricks. He'd pick them up in a Deca-cycle and sell them to Brawl, most likely.

Wish I'd gotten a few chips of Supreme's armor, he thought as he headed back to the Tower. Even those cloud-skippers would have shelled out for something like that.

Leaving Sector 905

It nagged the black and white seeker that they didn't got the guardian down. But at least it would be out of service for some good amount of time... enough time for the Decepticons to take advantage, no doubt. Nightraid and Skyshroud had joined him on his daring plan to stop the guardian before it reached Autobot airspace.

"Hold fire, Skyshroud." the stalwart seeker ordered "You have done well. Now let's get our wounded back to Polyhex" and the first on his list was Turburlence, who had a bit too close contact with the Autobot giant. As him and the other seekers approached the destination of Turburlence and the female seeker Silverstrike, he noticed that his wingman looked a bit... ashamed?

"You should be proud of yourself" the squadron commander said, laying his hand on the seeker's shoulder "Your bravery is an inspiration to all of us. You able to fly, soldier?" and with that Quantum opened a portal in the air close by, that would bring them close to the outer defense perimeters of Polyhex. The last few portals had drained him of energy, so he looked forward to a nice, if brief, time to recover.

Before leaving the ground, Quantum made sure to also acknowledge the female seeker for her swift action when Turburlence had been hit. He would have blamed himself if he had lost his new wingman so quickly.
"My gratitude, Silverstrike. We are in your debt"

Skies over Sector 905

"I don't know about that Dirge. Unless I was in stasis lock during the fight- which I don't remember being in, I'd dare say I feel... underwhelmed." Thrust told to the closing in squadron leader.

"The giant lives. Until the colossus is indistinguishable from the ruins surrounding us... this ain't over. Not for me. Not for you." The spent seeker glanced over his shoulder at Ramjet before transforming back into his jet form. "Not for any of us."

Thrust barely bothered with the short transmission from Rapture, mostly giving it a frown and erasing it to the endless depths of bit space.

((OOC: Tasbirk and I deciede it was easier for Rapture to give permission right in my post rather than making an extra post for her to say yes.))


Hanger bay

Silver had been grateful that Quantum had portaled them to the tower. He had been pleased with her actions and she gave him a brief salute. It had made the walk much shorter and lessened the chances of her patch work coming undone. Before she had rushed off to retrieve the drones she had let Nightraid take over the job of steadying their fellow seeker. She smiled as he nodded to her. She left the males with the drone. Her time with the seekers had run out. As most of her fellows traveled in groups almost always with their wingmen Silver faced a more solitary existence under direction of the Tyrest Warlord.


Her bimetalic argentiferous body very noticeable among the well painted seekers. She approached Rapture, Skywarp and Thundercracker had been dismissed. Silverstrike’s expression was blank. It was best not to show her displeasure.

“Rapture I have need to return to Tyrest. My duties there have been put on hold and it is time I return to them. I apologize.”

She looked at the other seekers then back at Rapture, no doubt Thunderwing would have another irrationally difficult mission awaiting the reflective femme. Her optics caught a glimpse of Starscream behind them. Perhaps she should say farewell to the seeker commander. He was an egotistical self-centered jerk beyond a doubt but somewhere Silver still held a very thin thread of respect that she once had for him.

Even though he always said something to perturb her. Receiving permission to leave, she saluted the second in command and turned away. Heading toward the seeker commander. She stopped just behind him and a little to his right.

“Nice flying Commander, but I could still out maneuver you.”

Her smile was coy, she knew he they did not have much time to converse, but speed had always been their friendly rivalry, and she had watched his stunts while engaging the giant.

Sky's Over Polyhex

As Skyshroud and Dunehopper returned to base Rapture chimed in <<<You did well today, Young One. But next time, try to make it to the engagement in a timely manner. If you are forever late you shall never get to kill anything.>>>

Skyshroud felt compelled to reply but had no excuse for being late so he kept quiet but he did acknowledge <<<Skyshroud to Rapture, copy that. I will be there sooner next time.

Shockwave's Tower - Main Hangar

Upon reaching the looming edifice which served as the very conspicuous center of power for the city-state of Polyhex, Starscream transformed and lighted very near to the same spot from which he had previously departed. The red and white Seeker was quite obviously in high spirits, his optics gleaming with a post-battle glow that would have been familiar to those who had known him longest, but had not been seen for quite some time. There was nothing quite like combat to fire up the circuits and make a Decepticon feel truly alive. Except for victory, of course.

And despite what some nay-sayers might have thought, even among his own troops, he was confident that this had indeed been a victory. They had achieved their objective, had they not? Wasn't that the definition of a triumph? True, the Guardian survived to function for another orn, but destroying the old rattletrap hadn't really been within the scope of their orders. Shockwave had wanted it driven out of his precious little territory, and that was just what they'd done.

He was particularly pleased with the performance of his Seekers. True, the engagement hadn't given them quite the opportunity to shine that he'd hoped, but they'd acquitted themselves favorably, in his optics. And certainly, they'd been more consistently and effectively in the thick of things than those upstart Sweeps. Or that other new toy of Megatron's with the six gazillion alternate modes.

Starscream stretched to work the stiffness out of his joints, shooting his newly-minted second a grin. Rapture had performed every bit as well as he had expected, given her pedigree. The same pedigree that meant he couldn't trust her as far as he could throw Devastator on a high-gravity world in the face of a strong headwind, but that was true of practically all Decepticons. It wasn't anything he couldn't work around.

He caught Silverstrike's parting jibe as she exited the hangar, no doubt on some sort of errand for Thunderwing. If his mood had been a little less buoyant, he might even have taken umbrage at the very idea of there being a more maneuverable flier among the ranks of the Decepticon elite. Given his present joviality, however, he simply glanced over his shoulder and favored the femme with an unperturbed smirk.

"Not even on your best orn, Sparkles. Run along, now. The sooner you take care of whatever it is the Valckastan wants of you, the sooner he'll let you out to play again."

Such a shame she had wound up in Thunderwing's service. Starscream was certain he could have made much better use of her abilities. She really was an exemplary model of his ideal for the Decepticon elite, swift, elegant, lethal. It might have been necessary to ween her off that ridiculous sword of hers--these weren't the Dark Ages, after all--but there was always some room for improvement.

Now, to wait for the rest of his troops to return from the field so that he could begin the agreeable task of lavishing them with praise. It certainly beat the alternative, at least.

Sector 905

"Permission granted," Onslaught replied after taken a moment to weigh Heap's request. While he probably didn't require the escort, per se, there seemed little reason to rebuff the veteran's offer. He certainly wasn't prepared to do so on account of anything so futile as pride--after all, he was damaged, and if his condition deteriorated further en route to the Tower, it would be useful to have another set of hands around.

For now, however, they had lingered on the battlefield too long already. It was time to return home.

"Bludgeon," he said in response to the Master of Metallikato's salute, offering a nod of acknowledgement--and perhaps gratitud, as well. While the Combaticon's impassive comportment gave little indication of it, it was gratifying to see that his continued functioning was deemed a matter of priority among those recently under his command. Onslaught turned and waved for the pair to follow with his functional hand. "Come. Let us return to the Tower. I believe we have all earned a short reprieve." At least, until the next assignment came along.

Unable to transform due to the damage he'd sustained and unwilling to walk all the way back to the center of Polyhex, he launched himself into the air, with only the slightest sputter to betray his state of disrepair. He was hardly the most graceful or swift of Decepticon fliers, but it was certainly preferable to covering the entire distance on foot.

Sector 905

While Heap was never a big fan of the air, he took off shortly after Onslaught, trailing slightly behind to make sure that if anything were to happen to the Combaticon, he would be able to react to it.

Shockwave's Tower - Main Hangar

Dramaqueen forever. Dirge sighed inside his mind after listening to Thrust's melodramatic play.

"It couldn't bother me less. Mission goal was accomplished." Dirge replied to his wingmate and flew into the mainhangar of the Tower, not being very surprised seeing Starscream already there waiting.

Great. Looks like we are getting another victory speech. He looks way too proud of himself. Like Thrust wasn't bad enough. The gloomy seeker thought as he transformed and landed few dozen meters away from Starscream.

Hanger Bay

As Skyshroud approached the hanger bay he noticed that Starscream was already there along with most of the other ranking seekers such as Dirge and Rapture. He was very excited, he hoped that Starsceam would give one of his famous victory speeches. As he transformed into robot mode he walked towards the back of the hanger so as to be out of the way.

Leaving Polyhex


Could she have expected any less of a comment from him? Probably not. He would never admit anyone was better then him at any thing. Such was his way. She was careful to avoid the other high ranking cons and Dirge’s squadron making her way out of the hanger bay. She flew in robot form, to a nearby ledge and quietly checked her unique prototype warp capable engines. She would need fuel when she landed.

Her argent frame dropped from the edge, re-emerging a breath later in the form of an elegant reconnaissance jet. Sleek reflective and a far cry from the standard tetrajet form she once held. Her alt mode would take her to Tyrest in less than a breem, covering the distance at speeds measuring more than 3.00 X 10^8 m/s. She laughed to herself. Had she been chasing an autobot the mech would have no chance. Especially if she had the killer instincts of Rapture and Jadewind and the weapons to match … she wondered just how dangerous she could truly be. As she hovered pondering these thoughts she engaged her engines scanning to make sure she would not hit anything en-route she held back a moment more.

Just before opening her thrusters she gave her body a command, the outer surface of her hull became like mercury, liquid like and in constant flux. The unstable and very deadly properties of the forbidden element merged with her, were the very things that allowed her to move at such speeds within the atmosphere of a planet. The element was a poison to most Transformers. With a sound resembling the ring of a sword being drawn, she was gone. All that remained of her presence was a strange ripple in the air caused by her advertent of air molecules.


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Returning to the tower


Blitzwing happily transformed into his jet mode. He held back as best as he could but he was still faster than those in robot mode. He reached the tower before they did. Landing he scowled at the seekers gathering in the bay he would wait for his ground team and debrief but he really did not feel like listening to Starscream or his followers.

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Hanger bay

Ghost sat quietly unseen by anyone in the hanger, Just as he liked it. His optics took in every move made before him. Let them have their fun. he would simply watch.

Shockwave's Tower - Hangar Bay

Speeding to make up for lost time, Swindle entered the Tower Bay in the mid-turn while braking, and promptly flipped over on his side, the ammo sled unhitching and sliding a good ten meters further on. Transforming, Swindle picked himself up and looked up to see a full squadron of Seekers in the bay with him and frowned. Slag, bet they found that hilarious. Damn cloudjumpers...

Picking up the sled, he walked over to Blitzwing to await debreifing. "Hey, Blitzwing, you're sorta an impartial middle-Con in all this. Which do you prefer the company of: Fliers like Starscream's lot over there, or ground-pounders like us? You can tell me, I won't go blabbing your preferences."