The Energon Pub

Energon Refinery district


Stormfire couldn’t grasp where this sudden change of plan had come from, the con broke out of his grapple and flew off, commanding the others to follow him, despite, he hated to admit it, their domination of the battlefield. Stormfire quickly took stock of the situation. The Decepticons were heading towards the Autobase, Stormfire realized he had some work to do, Transforming and landing rather hard on the ground he returned to his robot mode, opening a channel on all frequencies registered to the Tagan heights

‘Attention any and all Autobots, three Decepticons have breached our defenses and are heading towards the base, all three are capable of flight and are exceptionally dangerous, one of the has displayed at least four transformations.’

Hoping this would give the Autobase some warning of what was coming Stormfire then opened a channel to the command centre.

‘Command this is Stormfire Decepticons heading your way, we have multiple casualties at the refineries, Sunstreaker appears to be in stasis lock and Scattershot doesn’t look like he’s far from the same condition. Do you wish me to provide you with back up or remain here and see if I can get these guys to a med bay?’

Stormfire kept the com online for a response, and took a quick survey around the battle zone, from the looks of it, he’d got off easy.

Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generator Sector

"But I'm not looking for you, 'buster," Magnus sourily grumbled to himself as he noticed the pile of parts on the floor no doubt belonging to Roadbuster himself.

Looking back towards Monco, he gestured with his hand for him to follow his lead.

Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generator Sector

Following closely behind Magnus, Monco narrowed his optics and begun to search the place around the small two bot group.

Also noticing the pile of parts on the floor, Monco caught the gesture from the commander and gave a small nod before continuing forth.

Autobase Tau ~ Command Center

"Message recieved Stormfire..." Uplink replied as the situation was relayed to them from the front lines "...A team will be dispatched to retrieve the casualties immediately, your abilities would be most useful in assisting with the defense against the Decepticon attack, grab anyone you can along the way and get back to base asap, Command out"

Uplink left the link open to Stormfire while opening up another to Inferno "Inferno, come in Inferno.." "Yeah yeah, I'm here, and I heard what Stormfire said, I'm on my way now" The S&R specialist quickly replied, already back in the shuttle bay he had only recently left and heading towards the recently unloaded transport, his small team quickly assembling once more.

Uplink sent a quick acknowledgement along with Stormfire's coordinates to Inferno, before turning to Operator once more "If you're really that good at interfacing with the base defences, now's the time for it. The reserve power is holding together for now, most of the defenses are online, I'll leave the rest up to you, let me know if you need any help" Uplink finished as he got out of his seat to allow Operator to get to work.

-----------------------------
Tagan Heights ~ Caught Between

He had been driving for what seemed like ages, without getting anywhere. Admittedly, his injuries were slowing his progress, but Jedishen was still not close enough to get involved in the battle at the refineries.

As Stormfire's broad message came through the Scout's commlink, there was only a slight pause as his systems registered the change of destination and his new route filtered through. He was in fact closer to the Autobase than he was to the refinery district anyway, so it was possible that he may be able to reach the base in time to help in the defense against the 3 Decepticon's.

Autobase Tau ~ Command Center

Operater just smiled and allowed his interfacing nodes to get to work on the computer that Uplink had just moved from. It seemed that the power grid was stable like his fellow autobot had said. He then was able to get the defenses guns of the base online to target the decepticons that were heading toward the base and began firing at each one of them with as much percision as he could muster out of himself. He then told Uplink "The cons incoming will have a little ditraction, but with their speed the defenses will not hold up agaisnt them. We need to signal all bots that are available to get over here or we will be becoming a perminent part of this bases parts."

Energon Refinery district

‘Right anyone I can….’ Stormfire wasn’t to pleased with this prospect as it was exceptionally unlikely that he’d find many bots still working. He ran through a mental checklist in his head, Jedishen; lost contact after the initial explosion, Blackstreak; lost contact, Sunstreaker; stasis lock, Scattershot; unable to stand upright, Strafe; badly injured and by the looks of it unable to fly. That left Lightspeed, Nosecone, and Afterburner on the field. Stormfire signalled to the three mechs to come over and join him, whilst he moved over to where Strafe was.
‘Strafe, do you think you can still fight? We’ve got to try to stop the Decepticons before they destroy the Autobase’

Autobase Tau – Backup Generators

Skyjack ignored the sarcastic tone to Roadbuster’s voice. The Autobot was obviously trying to rile him up and force him into making a mistake. “Oh, I’m sure I could teach them quite a bit.” He replied. “I’ve met a few of them, and let me tell you, they really need to learn how to maintain cover. I’ve lost track of how many Autobot spies have made their presence painfully obvious.”

If Skyjack was judging the position of the destroyed generator and Roadbuster’s position at the time he had fired the missile correctly, than the Autobot should be right around the next generator. This was assuming that he hadn’t already moved, of course.

He was about to move around the generator and engage the Autobot that he hoped was there, when he thought he heard footsteps from back the way he had come. Looking back, he caught a glimpse of two robotic forms making their way into the generator room, and unless his optic was playing tricks on him, one of them appeared to be none other than Ultra Magnus himself.

Skyjack felt his spark sink. His chances of escape just dropped astronomically. His only hope now was to either negotiate with the Autobots, or hope that by some slim chance the other Decepticons managed to make it this far into the base very quickly.

He slipped back into the shadows between the generators. He couldn’t rely on luck, so he was going to need to talk with the Autobots. He doubted they wanted to die any more than he did. He would just have to hope they caved in before him.

“Magnus!” Skyjack shouted to make sure that the other Autobot could hear him clearly. “I must say I’m surprised that they sent someone like you to deal with little old me. I’m touched. But I digress. I’ve got enough explosives to slag everything and everyone in this room. So my question is, are you and your troops ready to meet Primus?”

Autobase Tau – Backup Generators

Magnus silently cursed as the voice rang throughout the base. It was his hope that he and Monco could meet up with Roadbuster before whoever it was that he had been chasing had an opportunity to escape. Well, with that missile out of the launch tube, he had to make sure it didn't impact against their personal shields.

The mech's words were an all too obvious attempt to play at his ego, and he was really above having them impact them as deeply as he wanted. Still, the threat of explosives was bad enough to halt his step, if only for a moment. Truthfully, a Decepticon would be crazy enough to do something like that, but would anyone be as crazy as to knowingly commit suicide?

"I have a better question," he said, gesturing for Monco to circle around the other way, hoping that he could distract whoever it was that was talking so that Monco could get to Roadbuster. "Are you really willing to go down with the rest of us? I can't imagine anyone, even a Decepticon, knowingly taking his life in a frankly futile act of defiance."

Autobase Tau – Backup Generators

Hearing a voice from the darkness, Monco begun to search the room with his optics trying to pinpoint where the voice is coming from.

'Now..,' thought Monco slowly backing up after he noticed the signal from Magnus. Slowly Monco walked around and into the dark; shaded by the generators. Ever so slightly he then made his way to the otherside of the generators.

Energon Refinery district

Strafe was sore and tired but he realised his job wasn't done; he looked over to Stormfire as the mech came closer and asked his question; Strafe winced slightly as he ran a diagnostic on his systems "I've sustained a lot of damage; mainly to flight systems. But I think I can still fight. Just don't expect me to fly anywhere; I'm grounded" Which was in Strafe's opinion worse than being unconsious; this was made apparant by the slight mourful tone that crept into his voice as he spoke the last two words.

The nervous flier wasn't doing all that well; his nerves were holding up relatively well considering everything; but he did indeed feel as bad as he looked.

Energon Refinery District

"Suck it up!" came Afterburner's oh so sympathetic reply to Strafe once he joined the gathering. "Either get your systems going or find your self a hole to crawl into!" he added, this was really a offer to let Strafe stay behind and hide away from danger, Afterburner's sour disposition just made it sound so.. well. rude.

"If those rust buckets can't keep their tab As in their slot Bs just because they let some scrap-aft of a Decepticon in then we better move befor they cyber-chicken out and ditch the place, come on!" snarled Afterburner, another fight looming over the horizon, he quickly transformed and got moving, the others left with a wash of heat from his thrusters and the shriek of his engine in their ears.. he would have popped a wheely.. but his wheels were too sticky, "Stupid sparking, wheels, cramping my exits!" growled the Technobot as he sped off towards Autobase.

Autobase Tau ~ Command Center

As Operater set to with the firing of the base defences, Uplink couldn't quash the uneasy feeling he had within him "I believe that all available units are on their way already Sir..." Uplink replied to Operater's suggestion "..The base garrison have all been deployed in defensive positions throughout the base, and all other Autobots out in the field are on their way, that's just about all we've got to offer" Uplink finished, taking a seat as he did so "Do you think it'll be enough to deal with the 'Cons Sir?" He asked, already having a good idea of the answer.

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Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generators

His systems fully stabilised once more, Roadbuster began to make his way back to his feet, while hearing Skyjack's voice, seemingly a bit closer to him than before, offer up threats to blow them all to pieces "Not slaggin likely" The Wrecker thought to himself, as he crouched down.

As the voice of Ultra Magnus cut through the darkness, putting into words Roadbuster's thoughts of moments earlier, Roadbuster opened up a secure commlink to the city commander "So what's the plan Magnus? Do we keep trying to talk him into submission, or should we try and relieve him of his explosives?" The Wrecker asked, knowing full well which option he would prefer.

Outside Autobase Tau

The three Decepticons streaked over the Autobot base. The skies above the base were soon filled with laserfire and missiles as the base defenses roared to life against the attacking Decepticons. The three quickly separated, assuming that spreading out the fire between them would make it all easier to avoid.

>>”Sixshot, deal with the surface to air missile launchers. Scourge, destroy their other defenses. I will attempt to bomb the main facility itself. Our fellow Decepticon had best make a quick exit out of there.”<<

While Cyclonus enjoyed the greater challenge of attacking the Autobase straight on, it wasn’t a sound strategy with only the three of them, even as powerful as each of them was. The base defenses alone were going to be enough to give them trouble, let alone whatever Autobots lurked inside. Things would quickly reach a point where they would be forced to withdrawal. But until that point was reached, he planned to do as much damage to the base as he could. Flying over the base, he dropped the last of his incendiary bombs.

Scourge peeled off from the others, his disintegrator cannons lashing down at the Autobot defenses while he did his best to dodge the incoming fire. This was far better than destroying defenseless buildings, but it wasn’t his ideal battle. He could only hope that he would be able to hunt down whatever Autobots survived their assault.

Sixshot swooped down next to the Autobase and transformed into his siege tank mode. He opened fire on the nearest SAM launcher, destroying it in a bright yellow fireball. At the same time his armored form came under a barrage of laser fire from the base’s ground defenses. This was his most heavily armored form and would be able to absorb a considerable amount of damage.

That didn’t mean he wanted to take all of that damage. He changed to his beast mode, using fangs and claws to tear apart the ground defenses firing at him. This destruction wasn’t as good as fighting an enemy one on one, but it had its charm. He could feel the lust for destruction building with in him. He wanted to bring down the entire base himself. Whether he would be allowed to or not was a different story.

Energon Refinery district

[NPCing Lightspeed and nosecone to get them to Tau]

‘That’s fine Strafe, get on I’ll fly you there myself, Stormfire told the damaged warrior’. As Lightspeed and Nosecone raced off after Afterburner, Stormfire transformed and sat on the ground waiting for Strafe to climb on. The sound of distant explosions echoed across the now deserted battlefield, and as the sound reached his processing cortex, Stormfire felt something stir deep within his mainframe, shuddering slightly he repressed the urge, and focused back on the task at hand.

Outside Autobase Tau

Lightspeed was gaining on him, Nosecone was out of sight or underground, Afterburner himself was tearing across the road! Or what passed for it.

He watched as Autobase Tau got lit up like a christmas tree, anger boiling over as he watched the attackers strike against the base's defenses with impunity, "Who do these trash heaps think they are?" growled Afterburner to himself, attention shifting to the Sixshot as he tore into the ground forces, he could handle Scattershot.. let's see how he handles himself against a -real- mech!

Firing his thrusters, Afterburner surged forth with a new burst of speed, rocketing himself up and over the wreck of some long forgotten warrior that never made it to the CR chamber and hurtling himself into the air, "It's Skidplate kicking time!" howled the gunner as his tires came slamming back to the harsh terrain of Cybertron, swerving with the impact of landing and opening up a barrage of wild fire on Sixshot, his volly of rapid fire plasma wasn't as impressive sounding as something with solid ammunitions but the sight of plasma smashing into whatever it hit always consoled Afterburner on this fact[/b]

Energon Refinery district

Strafe did look a little down trodden at Afterburner's oh so kind reply. He did hurt a lot as it was and his team-mates telling him he was over-reacting didn't help. The flier was normally nervous and paranoid but with his wings damaged he was just short of panicking.

With a small smile Strafe was glad of Stormfire's offer "Thanks; I...I appreciate it" Strafe's nervousness was beginning to get the better of him as he climber on top of Stormfire and readied his own weapon "I...I hope I don't let you down" he fought to keep himself calm but his situation coupled with his normal feelings were playing havoc on his systems.

Energon Refinery district

Stormfire grunted as Strafe climbed on, the bot was going to considerably reduce his mobility in the air. Listening to Strafe’s downtrodden reply, Stormfire attempted to console him.
‘You’ve got nothing to prove to me Strafe, and I have every confidence in you. You are a skilled and level headed warrior and I know you’ll be of great help to me. Now, I’m not going to be able to avoid much fire as long as your up there, so do me a favour and knockout anything that comes my way. I’d also like you to take the detonators I brought with me, if I can keep the cons distracted, hopefully you’ll be able to place one on them, they might be tough but I doubt they’ll be able to shrug off an explosion of that magnitude at point blank range.’
With that Stormfire fired up his engines and raced off towards the distant glow that was the besieged Autobase, Strafe clinging on.

Autobase Tau ~ Backup Power Generators

Magnus wasn't about to discuss battle strategy, even over a secure comlink. Roadbuster would just have to figure out what to do on his own, and hope he didn't explode things while doing so.

He did send a simple text message back to Roadbuster, however, explaining to him in no uncertain terms just what the best course of action should be.

"Do whatever you feel is necessary. Just don't bring down the house around us doing it."

Energon Refinery district

Srafe tried to position himself where he wouldn't case too much troubble to Stormfire pulling out his gun he checked it over carefully; forcing himself to calm down at least a little.
"Thanks; I just hope my nerves don't get the better of me...okay...I'm ready" and in truth he hoped he would stay that way. The detenators safe where he could reach them Strafe prepared for the oncomming fight and hoped to whatever deity was out there that he wouldn't fall off.

Autobase Tau – Backup Power Generators

“I assure you, I am quite prepared to die.” Skyjack replied to Ultra Magnus’ question. “Besides, it won’t be completely futile. You and Roadbuster would both be killed, leaving the base without a skilled commander. The generators will also be destroyed, shutting down the defensive emplacements and making it much easier for my buddies outside to do their work.”

Autobase Tau – Backup Power Generators

It was a very realistic plan, Magnus had to concede. But there was one little flaw in the plan that their unknown assailant either didn't realize or simply forgot about.

"If you plan to do all that, what's keeping you? Why don't you actually do it instead of trying to talk us to death?"

Autobase Tau – Backup Power Generators

With himself pressed up from behind one of the generators, Monco waited to the sign from the city commander.

"...why don't you actually do it....," drifted from Magnus' direction.

With the signal, Monco brought his revolver up to his waist; coming out from behind a generator and fan fired into the darkness, which was situated between the two generators.

Outside Autobase Tau

(NPCing Nosecone and Lightspeed)

Stormfire flew into the combat zone, the Decepticons currently occupied with destroying the fairly extensive turret defence systems. Noticing that Afterburner had engaged in combat with the armoured tank, Stormfire patched through a request to Lightspeed and Nosecone to try to occupy the two Decepticon flyers, Scourge and Cyclonus.
‘Strafe, we’re going for the tank, if Afterburner can keep him distracted you should probably be able to get a mine fixed on his hull, it might not stop him, but hopefully it will destroy some of his weapon systems.’
With that Stormfire began descending to give Strafe a clear shot at the tank.

Outside Autobase Tau

"Understood Stormfire." Aiming his rifle with one hand; while holding a mine in the other, Strafe tried desperately to keep calm and keep him aim true. Strafe did realised that he might need his rifle should he need to provide cover fire. He also knew if he could keep calm and focused that he wasn't that bad a shot; the only problem was that Strafe couldn't help but worry and his nervousness often cost him his accuracy. With a cycle of his intakes he aimed and holding the mine prepared to slam it onto Sixshot's outer plating. Hoping against all odds that no other autobot would get hurt today and that Stormfire would not be hassled too much by his weight. Well if needed Strafe was more than prepared to jump off the jet and take his chances on the ground.

Skies above Autobase Tau

Cyclonus grunted as one of the anti-air lasers that ringed the Autobase struck him in the fuselage. The shot wasn’t crippling, but the hits he was taking were beginning to add up, not to mention his rapidly depleting energon levels. Their mission had been only a raid to start with but was quickly devolving into a full scale assault. They needed to wrap up this engagement and withdraw back to Decepticon territory soon.

>>”Decepticon Skyjack, if you plan to escape from the Autobots I suggest you do it soon or we will have little choice but to leave you behind.”<<

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Outside Autobase Tau

Sixshot’s attention was quickly drawn to the chagrining form of Afterburner. The plasma blasts slammed into his armored form, leaving black scorch marks on his armor. The sixchanger shifted into his car like armored carrier mode and charged straight on at the Autobot, firing away with his hypersonic concussion blasters. He would see what this Autobot was made of, perhaps literally if the ended up slamming into each other as the raced towards a collision.