The Energon Pub

Autobase Tau Command Center

Skyjack marched through the halls of the Autobot command center. He nodded a greeting to one of the Autobot technicians that passed him in the hall, who returned the gesture. He had been here for a few weeks now, under the guise of the Autobot Backwing, gathering information on personnel and logistics in this sector. If he had known that this attack was coming, he would have spent more time trying to gain access to the facilities command systems so that he could shut down the defenses. There was nothing to be done for it now, however. He would have to settle for a less subtle approach.

“Hey, Backwing. Have you heard anything about our attackers?” Curbjumper, one of the Autobots Skyjack had befriended in his time here, asked as he walked over next to him.

“They’re new designs, apparently.” Skyjack responded. “Nobody seems to know much about them besides that. Still, we’d better get to the armory and get out there to help fight them off.”

“Right.” Curbjumper nodded and followed Skyjack to the armory.

Curbjumper walked over to one of the gun racks. “So, are they new types of jets, or what?”

Skyjack grabbed an energy dagger from a rack of melee weapons. “Doesn’t matter. Not for you, anyway.”

“What do you mea-“ Curbjumper’s question was cut off as the energy dagger jabbed into the base of his neck. Skyjack relished the look of confusion and betrayal in the Autobot’s fading optics.

Skyjack pulled the dagger out of his victim’s neck and stored it in his personal compartment as he might still need it. He then added a few explosive charges in with it, as well as a laser pistol. He glanced back over at Curbjumpers dead body, and then grabbed a laser rifle from one of the weapon racks.

He set the rifle’s power cell to overload and then placed the weapon in Curbjumper’s limp hands before he left the armory. The explosion from the power cell should do enough damage to the body that whoever found it should believe Curbjumper had been killed by an unfortunate weapon malfunction. He didn’t really need them to be fooled by this for too long, just long enough that no one would get suspicious until after he had done some more significant damage.

Skies over Energon Refinery

Realizing the con was no longer following him, Stormfire pulled out of his dive in time to see Cyclonus fire his bombs at nosecone, Stormfire quickly took aim and released two missiles, hoping to intercept the bombs before the hit the Autobot. The to visible adversaries were both airborne now, Stormfire heard Sunstreaker call after one of them. An idea crossed his mind, he headed towards the yellow Autobot and touched down just in front of him.
‘get on’ he called to Sunstreaker ‘I hope you’re a good shot’.
Stormfire waited engines humming for Sunstreaker to take action.

Energon Refineries

Lightspeed transformed into robot form and dashed over to Sunstreaker's side. "You should show some gratitude for timely responce..." He pulled out a wire from his wrist and pressed it into the yellow warrior's left armed access port. "Now don't move... I need the data in your battle computer unfragmented."

Scattershot barrelled out and loaded all of his turrets to thermal shells. He charged his pulse cannon and dove down on the green and white transformer engaged in combat with the other autobot. The Technobot's targetting computers hummed internally for but a brief moment as he narrowed in on his target. "Well how do ya like this, them cons decided to roll out with a new model of scrag... Lets see if he can take the heat of battle... and I do mean heat." With that each of his turrets fired their loaded shells down on the target with a steady stream of energy supporting them from his pulse cannon. It may not destroy the new mech, but Scattershot had little doubt it would leave the mech up for much of a second round.

Energon Refinery District

Sixshot saw and heard the flying form of Scattershot roaring through the air. He was quite prepared for the incoming fire when he heard it come screaming down from the Technobot. He veered off to the side, letting the various blasts and shells hit the road next to him and behind him. This Autobot apparently had considerable firepower, but not the ability to use it effectively, another disappointment.

He continued driving at the ground based Autobots, Sunstreaker, Nosecone and now Lightspeed, with his blasters blazing away.

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

Cyclonus kicked his engines up to full throttle and easily raced out from under the diving Technobot Strafe. He slowed down and circled back around, firing his lasers on Strafe once more.

Skies over the refinery district

Strafe was getting fustrated this guy was annoyingly fast and manuverable. Not to mention a good shot; the scorch marks on his tail proved that. Still this time Strafe blasted his engines full using the momentum of his fall to gain some speed as well as dodging cyclonus's laserfire. Pulling up at the last possible minute (which he nearly didn't manage due to his damaged manuverablity) and shooting quite litterally back into the sky. Turning Strafe opened fire once he had Cyclonus back into his sights; hoping he'd at least hit him.

Autobase Tau

Skyjack continued to move through the Autobot base unimpeded. He was supposed to be one of them, after all. However, his cover wouldn’t last for much longer. He was on his way to the base’s primary power supply. If he destroyed that, then all the base systems would shut down.

Or at least, until they activate the back ups. Skyjack thought to himself as he walked down the hall. The Autobots aren’t quite that stupid.

He found two technicians on duty, Crowbar and Socket, when he got there. At first, neither of the technicians noticed his presence as he walked over toward Socket.

“Oh, hey. Did you need something, Backwing?” Crowbar asked as he finally noticed the spy’s presence.

“I don’t need a thing.” Skyjack replied as he took another step closer to Socket, then drew out the laser pistol and burned a hole through the technician’s head.

Crowbar simply stood there with his mouth hanging open as he stared in shock at Socket’s now lifeless form. Skyjack then leveled the pistol at him and, though it didn’t seem physically possible, Crowbar’s jaw dropped even farther. He then dropped with it as two beams of energy lanced into his chest.

Skyjack put away the pistol and took out half of the explosive charges he had stolen from the armory and began placing them around the room. He finished up quickly and then left. If he hurried, he might be able to destroy the back up power supply as well before any soldiers came after him.

In the corner of his vision a timer counted down the time left until the charges went off. When the timer reached zero, the floor trembled beneath his feet and the lights went out. Now there were just a few questions, the answers of which would have a great effect on the rest of his now changed mission.

How long would it take the Autobot’s to figure out that the damage hadn’t been caused by the attackers?
How long until they started looking for infiltrators?
Most importantly, how long until they figured out that it was him?

Refinery District

Besides the agile, purple aircraft and the versatile Sixchanger, a third shape glided across the air of the Tagan refineries, slashing through the cloud of dust and smoke that rose above the ground.

The dark blue hovercraft tilted and turned, avoiding incoming blasts and stray shots, then, with a sudden thrust and roar of its engines, it dove downwards, released a barrage from its lasers on the nearest refinery tanks, cracking, denting and burning the thick walls of the storage facility. Though even the considerable firepower of the craft was not enough to blow through the tank at once, two or three more assaults would surely get the job done.

However, the hovercraft turned away from the stationary target. Through the mind of the Transformer that was actually the dark blue form, raced a thought, a desire to rain down punishment on the Autobots surrounding him and his other two powerful companions.

It was the sole reason for his existance: to become the scourge that desolated the land below him and slaughtered all living beings who stood in his path.

Suddenly coming to a halt in mid-air, the hovercraft began to change its form, taking up the shape of a mechanoid being, spreading dark, intimidating wings on his back, clenching his fists that ended in razor sharp claws, his crimson optics flickering menacingly. He touched down with a loud, booming sound, cracking up the upper layer of the ground beneath him.

"Misbegotten fools!" Scourge, as he set his aze on them, grunted loudly towards the nearest Autobots, that happened to be Nosecone and Lightspeed. "Stand in our way and perish!"

With that, he released a powerful burst from his heat lasers towards the two Autobots.

Autobase Tau ~ Command Center

Roadbuster's mood had slowly improved as the attackers had been engaged in the refinery district, and although he wasn't getting any solid reports back, just the knowledge of Scattershot leading the attack was enough to relax the Wrecker, for the time being at least. An incoming message from Iacon further improved his mood as he was informed that reinforcements were being sent from Uraya, led by Ultra Magnus no less, which would indicate that he would be taking over command duties for the Tagan province, freeing Roadbuster up once more.

However, until that time came, Roadbuster remained in the Autobase HQ, overseeing events and trying his best to coordiante the Autobot defence against the Decepticon attack. As he stood watching over the monitors, trying to see as much of the battle as possible, Roadbuster was staggered as an explosion rocked the Wrecker and the whole command center, causing a momentary black-out, before the lights returned.

"We're under attack! The Decepticons are bombarding the base, they just took out the primary power generators!" A young Mech shouted, panic clear in his voice, a low murmur filling the air in the HQ as those present started to panic, some more than others "Alright, quiet QUIET!" Roadbuster roared, trying to get himself heard above the chatter "I've been in the middle of Decepticon bombardments, and trust me, that wasn't a Decpeticon bombardment, that sounded to me like the explosion came from inside the base itself" The Wrecker moved to the middle of the room so as to make sure he had the attention of everyone.

"Now is not the time to be panicking and shouting, I want all unecessary base functions deactivated, the base defenses are priority one, followed closely by communications. I want a containment team down to the power generators on the double to put out any fires and secure the area for the techs to get in there and repair what they can. If we have got a 'Con on the inside, we need to move quickly, someone go back over the security videos just before the explosion as soon as you can, and someone lock down the area around the secondary power generators until I can get down there, if they go down, we're just sitting with our tailpipes hanging out"

Roadbuster finished another long string of orders and looked at those around him "What are you slagging waiting for?! MOVE!!" He bellowed, immediately the noise level in the HQ rose once more as everyone scrambled to carry out their orders and rectify the situation. Roadbuster turned to a young Mech he had worked with before, while pulling his automatic laser rifle out of subspace "Straightline, you're with me" "You really think we've been infiltrated Sir?" Straightline inquired, pulling his own rifle out of subspace
"I can't say for certain, but I ain't taking any chances" Roadbuster replied as he began to leave the HQ, Straightline in tow.

Just before leaving, the Wrecker turned back to the young 'Bot who had been helping him through all of this, and was currently in the process of re-routing the remaining power to various parts of the base "You, what's your name?" "Um, Uplink Sir" The mech replied "OK Uplink, I want you to keep me informed of everything, once you've got those security videos backup, I want to know about anyone who was in the area around the time of the explosion, you got that?" Roadbuster ordered, not waiting for a reply before dashing out of the command center.

Looking down the corridor, Roadbuster spotted, through all the rushing mechs, one calmly walking towards him, Skyjack, or has the Wrecker knew him, Backwing "Backwing.." He called out, motioning for him to get closer "..You're with me, we're going down to the backup power generators, seems we may have a Decepticon infiltrator in the base, and you've been chosen to help me hunt him down" Roadbuster grinned, the prospect of some action at last putting the Wrecker's mood over the top.

Mental alarms started going off in Skyjack’s mind when the base commander, Roadbuster, called him over. This is too perfect of an opportunity. It has to be a trap.

“An infiltrator?” Skyjack asked in surprise. If it was a trap, playing along with it should convince the Autobots that they had him thoroughly trapped. If it wasn’t a trap, then this would work out in his favor. I’ll be able to shut down the back up power, and take out the commander at the same time.

His yellow t-shaped optic visor looked down at his right hand as he lifted it closer to his face. The vice-like claw at the end of the built in missile launcher opened and closed as he cycled the weapon’s internal loading mechanism. “I’ve got an anti-personnel fragmentation missile armed and ready. It should put the infiltrator out of commission without too much collateral damage to the base.”

He looked back over at Roadbuster. “Has anyone been able to figure out where the infiltrator is or how they got in, yet?”

Oil Fields

Sunstreaker looks over to Stormfire, and ponders his offer of being flown around. Before he could reply though Sixshot changed to tank mode and started shooting at them causing Sunstreaker to take cover. He looks over to Lightspeed as he land.

“You have a funny definition of a timely response.”

He reluctantly raised his arm to allow Lightspeed access.

“I don’t like doing stuff like this, but if your going to be of any use at all in the battler I guess you should know what your up against.”

He takes cover again as more blasts are sent their way. He turns and spots Scourge.

“Ah, finally that’s where the third con went off to!”

Not liking the situation Sunstreaker felt a bit better now that he knew where all three cons that he originally saw at the start of the battle where. He turns to see Scattershot fire at the Con now in tank mode who drove towards them. He looks towards the Autobots around him

“Stormfire, take care of the third con. Lightspeed, Scattershot, give me some cover.”

He transforms into car mode and starts to drive towards Sixshot trying to avoid the gunfire.

Skies over the refinery district

‘Right’
Stormfire took off in the direction of the third con, judging by his size and shape he would be less maneuverable than the other two, still Stormfire would use caution until he had more data. Stormfire looped behind the con and began firing his lasers in staggered bursts, attempting to drive his adversary closer to the ground.

Autobase Tau

"I like your thinking kid, but I'm sure Command would prefer us to try and take the infiltrator into custody for questioning" Roadbuster said in response to Backwing's reply "Personally, I'd prefer to slag the waste of Energon and answer any questions later, but that's probably why I'm only in temporary charge around here" He continued, a rye smile on his face.

"As for who they are, where they are and how they got to be here, we're working on that at the moment. With the power out, it's taking a bit of time to get some things back online, but I've got someone going back over security feeds just before the explosion, hopefully it shouldn't take too long" The Wrecker answered, the fact that he was staring the Decepticon infiltrator right in the optics completely unknown to him "Until then, we've got to haul aft down to the backup power generators, that'll be the most likely target the slagger will go after, and it's possible that they are already there, locked in, so no more talk, let's go"

Autobase Tau

Skyjack nodded as he followed Roadbuster down the hall. “Gotcha. Non-lethal force.”
He would have to hope that whoever was working on recovering the security footage didn’t find him out too quickly. If they waited until after he was already down to the backup power supply before spotting and reporting him, then he just might be able to pull this off. Unless of course, this is a trap. In which case, the odds are that they won't let me see anything besides the inside of a cell for the rest of my cycles.

Skies over the Energon Refinery district

Cyclonus was growing annoyed with this little Autobot. He clearly outmatched him in speed, firepower and maneuverability, yet he continued to fight. Obviously this one lacked intelligence along with fighting skills. If the rest of the Autobot fliers were as weak as this one, then it was no wonder the Decepticons dominated the skies. At least the yellow one he fought on the ground had some skill in combat, so not all Autobot soldiers were pathetic.

It was time to end this little dogfight and move on to more worthy opponents. He flew straight at Strafe, pouring fire at the Technobot. He didn’t try to dodge the incoming fire as it would work against his aim. He felt that he could absorb more of Strafe’s firepower than the Autobot could absorb his fire. It was time to find out if he was correct in his assumption.

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

Energon Refinery district

Sixshot spotted Sunstreaker racing at him as he continued to fire at the small group of Autobots. He didn’t think much of the smaller yellow Autobot, but at least he was showing some courage in actually running towards him and not away from him as the other Autobot had done. That courage, however, wasn’t going to save him. As he grew closer to the Autobot, he shifted from his armored carrier mode to his wolf mode and leapt at the Autobot, with his fangs and claws ready to tear into him.

Skies over the Energon Refinery district

Strafe hated this; in fact he loathed it. The really big thing he hated was that he realised that if he calmed down he could shoot better...the only problem was that he couldn't calm down.

'Damn' he thought unable to actually get out of the way, thanks in part to the tail damage; Strafe just hoped that his armour was strong enough to at least keep him alive.

To his credit he didn't scream or cry out as he was hit; but his momentum kept him going on a collision course with Cyclonus and without any manuverability he was really worried he'd hit.

Energon Refinery district

Sunstreaker raced towards Sixshot with confidence. The Decepticon had him heavily out armed, but that didn’t matter. Sunstreaker was a warrior. The odds are hardly ever in your favor. You simple deal with it. If you can’t then chances are you wont live long.

However, as Sunstreaker gets close enough to make his move he found out that despite all the fights, battles, and things that the veteran warrior has been through and seen that there are still a few things that could surprise him. The Decepticon has shown to be able to change from tank mode to plane mode. Triple changers aren’t something new to Sunstreaker, and feels that they highly over rank themselves. However, a Transformer with four alt modes? That was new.

As Sixshot surprises Sunstreaker by changes into animal mode Sunstreaker didn’t have enough time to react. Sixshot slams into him causing him to swirl off and his right side to hit a wall.

Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generators

The journey to the sector housing the backup power generators was made in good time, as Roadbuster lead Skyjack and Straightline through the halls and corridors of the Autobase. Upon reaching the locked down area, the Wrecker opened up a channel to the HQ, and his optics there, Uplink.

"OK Uplink, we're in position, I need you to open blastdoors A-9, F-12 and then the main blastdoor into the backup generator room"

"Affirmative Sir, blastdoors opening now" Uplink replied, a loud hiss from the first door accompanying his reply as it slowly opened "Before you ask Sir, I'll soon be checking out the security feeds, the power grid has been reassigned to all necessary areas and the database is slowly coming back to full power, I'll let you know what I find"

Roadbuster thanked Uplink before quickly closing the link down and looking to his 2 'Bot team "OK, if the 'Con is in here, he's going to be trapped and probably a little bit freaked out, so be on your guards. I'm on point, you 2 follow behind and cover each other" The Field Commander went to enter through the door before he was stopped by Straightline "But what about you Sir? Shouldn't we cover you as well?" Roadbuster just smiled and shook his head "Don't you be worrying about me kid, my armor's as thick as my head, I'll be fine, move out" Roadbuster finished, gesturing for Skyjack and Straightline to follow.

Autobase Tau – Backup Power Generators

Skyjack followed Roadbuster and Straightline through the doors. Okay, they’re letting me through the blast doors. This certainly isn’t a trap. This will allow me to get to the generators, but how will I get back out? He would have to hope he could find some way to get back out of the base, because he certainly couldn’t afford to let the Autobots capture him, not with as much information as he knew. He had to suppress a shiver as the only alternative popped up unbidden in his imagination. I’ll just have to hope it doesn’t come to that.

Skies over the Energon Refinery district

Strafe seemed to be damaged to the point of barely being able to maneuver. This rendered him effectively useless in the fight. As he had expected, the Autobots didn’t seem to have anyone who could go head to head with him in aerial combat, if this pathetic warrior was an example of their air forces. He fired a few more shots at Strafe before twisting around, narrowly avoiding a collision with the Technobot.

Cyclonus came around after passing Strafe, letting the Technobot retreat for now. He soon spotted another airborne Autobot, the Technobot leader Scattershot. This one looked more impressive, but his bulk likely meant he wasn’t maneuverable. He appeared to be another easy target for him.

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

Energon Refinery district

Sixshot moved quickly to take advantage of Sunstreaker’s surprise. He quickly bounded over to the Autobot’s position and began slashing at him with his claws, relishing in the experience of such up close and personal combat. This is what he was built to do, and he liked it.

Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generators

Slowly making his way into the area, with only the dim red lights that accompanied a base alert lighting the way, Roadbuster was already running through scenarios that could take place in the immediate future. Ideally, if the infiltrator was locked inside the area, he would know he was never going to escape and just give himself up, but the Wrecker knew this was about as likely as him turning down the chance of battle, and so concentrated on more likely outcomes, chief of whch was the Decepticon getting gunned down as he tried to escape.

Some way behind Roadbuster, Straightline walked along near Skyjack, checking out each darkened area for both explosives and the infiltrator who may have put them there "What do you think Backwing? You think that 'Con is in here?" Straightline inquired, glancing down behind one of the generators.

Approacing Autobase Tau from Uraya

"To the Autobot commander at Tagan. This is Ultra Magnus. I'm coming in with reinforcements. Give me a status report on your situation there."

(OOC: This post is mostly a reminder to myself if not others that I've not forgotten about my other characters.)

Outpost B-13?

Beneath the rubble of what use to be Outpost B-13 could be seen the occasional spark of electrical wires shorting out, lights flickering on and off, and a steadily growing pool of liquid energon and other fluids. What remained of the scout Blackstreak was gradually ebbing away into a permanent stasis lock. If there was anyone nearby who could hear over the racket of combat might discern a slight computer voice counting down to permanent shutdown.
"*crackle*-minus 20 Breems to...*crackle*...


T-*crackle* 19 Breems to...*crackle*..."

Autobase Tau – Backup Power Generators

Skyjack watched Roadbuster move along further down the room. He then turned to look at Straightline. “I have a feeling that the infiltrator is real nearby.”

He drew the energy dagger he had confiscated from the armory early and swung it down toward Straightline’s back. He hoped to take the Autobot down quickly and quietly, not wanting to draw Roadbuster’s attention until he was ready to attack him.

Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generators

As his search continued, Roadbuster's attention was drawn to his commlink as it crackled into life "Roadbuster Sir.." Uplink's voice cut through the static "..Ultra Magnus requests a status report, shall I patch you through to him?" Roadbuster came to a halt before replying "Yeah, I suppose I better fill him in on what's going on" The Wrecker replied, waiting momentarily before Uplink confirmed the link was made.

"Ultra Magnus Sir, Roadbuster here, glad you could join us, time is short so I'll give you the quick version of recent events if you don't mind. Aproximately 1 hour ago, the Decepticons launched an attack on the Tagan province, led by 3 mechs, none of whom we've been able to identify, we've come to the assumption that they are prototypes fresh of the production lines. Their current position is the Refinery district, where they are being engaged by the Technobots, Sunstreaker and Stormfire. As of this moment, I'm unsure how the battle is progressing on account of the next part of my report"

Roadbuster paused as he looked back to see where Straightline and Backwing were, but couldn't see them from where he was "Not so long ago, our main power generators were taken offline by what we believe to be a Decepticon infiltrator, don't ask me how the slagger got in, that really isn't high on my list of priorities right now, catching him is though, that's why I'm down in the backup power generators sector, my circuits are telling me this is his next target"

The Wrecker paused once more as a small smile spread onto his face "I don't know where you want to start first Magnus Sir, but as of this moment, the Tagan province is under your command, and you're quite welcome to it. Now if you don't mind, I've got a 'Con infiltrator to slag..er I mean capture, if you need any more info, contact Uplink in the Command Center, Roadbuster out"

Straightline didn't look over at Skyjack as he heard the Decepticon's answer "You really thi....ugghgh" Straightline uttered as the energon dagger cut deep into his internal circuits, severing several internal fluid lines. Slumping forward onto his knees, the young 'Bot's rifle hit the floor with a thud, followed by more strange vocal sounds, but try as he might, Straightline couldn't form the words to warn Roadbuster, and his body soon slumped to the floor and went into stasis lock, leaving Roadbuster alone with Skyjack.

(OoC - Just in case anyone's wondering, Straightline and Uplink are a couple of 'Bots I made up just to help things along when it was a bit quiet, they have served their purpose and now will disapear)
------------------------------
Approaching Outpost B-13

The journey from Autobase Tau had been a long one, Inferno only hoped he'd made it in time "Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I had a faster alt mode" The fire truck grumbled to himself as he led his S&R team into what amounted to a disaster area.

"Primus..." Inferno muttered to himself as he saw the remains of the outpost for the first time "3 'Cons did this?" He asked himself, transforming on the move and sliding to a halt "OK team, lets go, those fires need to be put out asap, and we need to clear this rubble and find any survivors, Command said there were 2 Scouts present in addition to the 3 guards already stationed here, lets go!" Inferno shouted, clapping his hands together to install some urgency, as if there wasn't a need for it already.

As the various crews went to their assigned tasks, Inferno could hear a countdown of sorts under one of the piles of rubble. Not sure what it was, his first thought was that it could be a bomb left behind by the Decepticon attackers. Dashing over to the pile, the S&R 'Bot began throwing pieces of mangled permacrete and steel out of the way, until a leg came into view. Pausing briefly, Inferno prepared himself for the possibility of this leg not being attached to it's owner, before resuming his debris removal.

After some frenzied work, Inferno was relieved to see that the leg was still attached to it's owner, along with another leg, and that this 'Bot was Blackstreak, one of the Scouts he was looking for "Medic!!" Inferno shouted "Get over here on the double, we've got a seriously wounded 'Bot here, massive fluid loss and several injuries. Get him stabilised and get the nearest EVAC unit out here to get him back to base, let the Medics back there fix him up.

Approaching Autobase Tau

Magnus grumbled, obviously not satisfied by the way things had gone at Tagan, and determined, now more than ever, to put a stop to it.

"Monco, Operator, push your engines to the max. We've got to get there now."