The Energon Pub

Skies Above the Maximus Line

"Understood Skywatch, thanks for the info, make sure you keep those targets coming in" Silverbolt replied back to the young Airspace Control 'Bot, while moving into formation with Skydive and Air Raid "Are we going for the old concentrated fire approach, or should we adopt a wide arc approach to try and disperse the Seekers from their target Skydive?" Silverbolt commed his second in command and chief strategist for the Autobot aerial forces.

"Why do we need a strategy?" Air Raid interrupted bluntly "..Just pick a Seeker and blow them out the sky for Primus' sake" The black jet finished with his version of strategy before opening fire in the direction of the incoming Seekers led by Starscream.

"Typical" Slingshot muttered as Air Raid charged at the Decepticon flyers. His contempt at his teammate's 'Tactics' was interrupted by something large moving very fast past him, almost knocking him out of the sky, followed by a challenge of sorts shouted to him. The Aerialbot was thrown completely off his previous course by the wake left by Astrotrain, but quickly regained a stable course with some quick manouvers and was soon hovering over the Maximus Line, looking in the direction of his attacker.

"I'm sorry, did something just refer to me as a flyer wannabe?" Slingshot asked, slightly incredulously "Stupid Decepticon, why would I need to catch you when I could just shoot you down from here?" Slingshot readied his twin mortar cannons before adding "Here, let me show you" Slingshot finished, before opening fire on Astrotrain.

----------------------------
The Killzone

Somewhere in the middle of the wasteland that stood between the 2 defensive lines, stood a large black Autobot, chuckling to himself as he fired a continuous stream of laser fire at anything that came towards him, and interspersed that with some occasional heavy laser cannon fire at the stationary defenses on the Decepticon Line. Orpheus was in his element right now, there was no place he'd rather be than on that battlefield, slagging Decepticons. he knew very little of what was going on, but he'd been told to move out and follow those in front of him, and that was enough to get him started.

"I wish 'Shen was here" He thought to himself as he knelt down to reload his Chaingun, the spent cartridge steaming as it fell out of the bottom of the gun "It's always more fun slagging 'Cons when he's here" The Warrior laughed a bit more as the new cartridge clicked into place and he reminded himself of what he was told to do by his closest friend when he last saw him, and promptly looked for the nearest Autobot who was his Superior so he could follow them.

Through the explosions, Orpheus spotted one such Superior in his Tank mode, firing away at the Decepticon line, and decided to go and help him out. Back on his feet, Orpheus strafed out from behind his cover, laying down a stream of laser fire to deter anything from getting too close to him and made his way over to Hardhead, before proceeding to kneel down and prepare his twin laser cannons for fire.

OoC: Don’t forget my Pred players, the Predacons haven’t taken beast forms yet.

How’z about a little one-on-one time, Hardhead?

The Killzone

Rather than delve into battle as his teammates did, Razorclaw bid his time to wait for the right target. It was dangerous to stay stationary for too long a period with both enemy and ally ordnance flying about, so the Predacon commander knew he’d have to be quick. Besides, it wasn’t like there was a lacy of targets running about. But he needed one that wasn’t moving around too much, or was distracted, or was slow to move, because rather than strafe wildly in the hopes of hitting something, Razorclaw wanted to make every shot that he fired count.

This was, after all, a war for resources as much as it was a fight for the Predacons’ rightful mastery of the planet and the galaxy. It would not do for them to waste ten mega-joules of energy just to win back five. In that respect, he agreed and admired his fellow Decepticon Ratbat. If only more Predacons saw things their way, perhaps they would have conquered Cybertron and exterminated the Autobots by now. Instead, he was stuck working with thugs like Tantrum.

Finally an Autobot candidate came within his sites. The black and orange Decepticon dropped down to one knee and brought his arm-mounted concussion blasters to bear, aiming directly at Hardhead’s turret. Satisfied with the line-up of the shot, he unleashed a bombardment of lethal force upon his enemy.

Skies Above the Maximus Line

" Aerialbots, watch your port vector, Starscream is moving to engage." Skywatch warned.
He turned a fragment of attention and firepower to the inbound missiles, catching one of them, and damaging the other. Not that it mattered when the damaged missile slammed into a bunkers wall, cracking it. The autobot survivors would have to fend for themselves.
Skywatch wasn't paying attention to that by the time it happened. He was passing Decepticon ground movements to Fortress Maximus "Predacons inbound." Was the only message.
Data passed, Skywatch went back to his primary focus..air defense. Starscream was already moving away. Blink and Wink had very obligingly lined up along the line for a strafing run. With that pass, every air defense weapon on the line would be able to take a shot without uncovering anything.
The Line Spoke as every weapon along the Line fired at the two with sequential shots.

Watching Starscream break off and feint the Aerialbots, distracting the bulk of the Autbots ground forces, Psychout took his chance and aimed a few distraction shots at a pair of generic ground troops that had become seperated from the scrum that was the battlefront. It worked, and the pair began to head towards his position and he grinned evilly.

None of them fitted the criteria for parts recovery so he was free to take aim at will and activating his doppleganger holgram, he forced it to break cover as a distraction tactic. Monitoring both the lost autobots and the location of his light-based twin he waited until one had given chase and the other had his back to him and took his opportunity to ferociously gun it down, recovering the stasis-locked corpse as fast as he was able and diving back for cover. Still chasing the doppleganger its partner would soon notice its compatriots absence and return to find him...

Mal Practice had taken over from Psychout monitoring the battle as the casualties mounted on both sides. The seekers erratic aerial manouveres had confused the ground based Autobots, and seemingly had bought enough time for the Predacons to begin to engage behind sixshots assault. Mal had always dreamed of getting his hands of Sixshots circutry, a 5 alt transformer? What i wouldnt give to know how to make a copy of that!

Sitting back down in his cover position and releived by his cassette counterpart, he unpacked a small device, shook it furously, placed it in its socket on his work bench and waved his hand over a sensor pad. He hauled the corpse ofthe dead autobot onto it and began to extract his surgical equipment. Psychout looked down from his viewpoint with a pained expression
"What in the pit are you doing now!? You do you even realise there is a battle going on!"
"...Which we are not a part of, yet. Anyway it seems our faction have remained mostly uninjured and those that have been downed clearly are too weak to be worth my talents. I may as well get some work done so its not a total waste of energon being here. Besides, I havent studied Autobots scouting circuitry in a while, lets see what upgrades they give them these days eh? Shockwave pays well for information like that..."

Near suburbs of Polyhex

Brewer zoomed throughout the grounds of the outter areas of the Maximus Line, wondering if there would be other 'bots in need in those areas as well. As he carefully, but still quickly scanned his surroundings, he soon caught sight of a collapsed form near an enormous formation. As he got closer, he could see an Autobots insignia upon his shoulder, and scans revealed that the 'bot was deceased. But why was he moving? Morely, the corpse was being dragged to hide behind the formation, and Brewer found this to be quite suspicious.

Transforming and taking cover behind another formation, the Search and Rescue Specialist pulled out his Plasma Blaster, knowing there would be something dangerous behind this obvious mystery. He crept to where the body once was and peeked behind the formation to find a darkly painted 'con, accompanied with a cassetticon - Mal Practice and Psychout. Oh, what joy. Decepticons to battle with. Brewer thought over his decision about wanting to join in battles. Why didn't he agree to being a Medic? At least they didn't fight as much.

No sigs in RPG forums please -Devastron

Skies of Polyhex - Bunker Strafe

Fire sprung up from the bunker at Blink and Wink. They knew the risk of their action, but if they simply flew over it they would of only hit a small section, and a lot of their fire would miss the line itself. By lining themselves up they had an easy shot inside the line itself, which made it worth the risk. Blink let’s loose two bombs to drop inside the bunker. As Wink saw them being dropped she followed suit and dropped two as well. Blink broke formation and quickly turned off to the right as Wink did the same going left. Wink radios to her sister

“Why didn’t we...”

Blink replies before Wink could get the full question out

“Too early in the battle. We don’t want to give secretes away just yet. Let’s do run 9. Well let loose our carpet bombs on them.”

Before they do so they pick up the Aerialbots on radar and spot them going after Starscream. Wink radios her sister again

“We should help him.”

“He ordered us to go after the bunker, he hasn’t ordered us yet to go help. We don’t want him to get upset by taking his kill.”

“Yes, but he is out numbered, and I think he would be more upset if he is shot down.”

“I don’t see him being shot down, but...you have a point...”

They pull up into the air and take formation wing to wing. The then swoop downwards aimed at the in coming Autobots plans at coming at them at a 45-degree angel and open fire.

[the suburbs of polyhex on the edge of the battlefield]

Leaning over his bench, Mal Practice was ignoring Psychout's play by play of the battle in favour of the dead Autobot. In less than a minute he had stripped his new toys chest section down and was elbows deep in its throax cavity, muttering and pulling out oil-covered wires as he went.

It came as a shock to him when Psychout gave a yelp and pulled him to the ground, dragging the mutilated body with him whilst pointeding silently at a giant broken viewscreen mounted in the opposite wall.

In the reflective darkness of that screen, something had just moved. Something green...

Polyhex, Initial defensive line

Thrall growled. Already many of the decepticons had mounted a counter charged, yet here he was, standing here with the cowards and the weaklings. His tactical sense had held up until that point, saving his strength for when the Autobots got close enough to the lines. But his bloodlust was mounting.

Finally, he decided he'd waited enough.

"Bane... let's get those slaggers.." he growled, and scaling the rubble charged down into the kill zone, transforming into his minotaur mode as he did so. Gathering momentum, he didn't stop or move around, instead just plowing into the terrain like a cannonball. Smashing his was through, his horn-based electrochargers began to charge up as he noticed a group of fast moving Autobots in combat with a squad of decepticons, the balance was pretty neutral. Grinning evilly, he threw himself through the ruins of a wall and charged, firing his electro charger towards them. Coils of electrified energy coarsed across, one such beam hitting an Autobot square on, sending him staggering back in pain. It wouldn't of killed him by any means, but damn it would of hurt.

"WHO'S FIRST????" he bellowed, slowly turning and then charging the group of Autobots, his fellow Decepticons following behind him..


The killzone

Hardhead's firing was momentarily disrupted by a loud, and somewhat painful explosion to his right side which rattled his internal componants. A quick damage assesment indicated that his armour, as thick as it was was cracked, somewhat moderately. This wasn't a grunt that had just fired at him. It was at least a sargeant.

He transformed and imediately ducked into cover, his shatterblasters materialising in his hands as he scanned the area. THen, he saw a flash of orange and yellow, and realised just who it was that he was fighting. A predacon.

'Slag' was his thought for the day. He well knew the reputation of that squad of nut-jobs, that they had in ages past been warlords in their own right. And if it was Razorclaw, well, even he would have trouble. Fortunately for him, he was one of the few Autobots designed specificly for combat.

Noticing another mech nearby, he glanced over to Orpheus. "Get ya slagging head down! We got preds in the area!!" he barked, and finally found his opponant. It was Razorclaw. "Stay in position, and for slags sake watch your back!!" he continued, and aiming his shatterblasters, firing a barrage of crystal shards right back at the Predacon commander from his cover. This was going to be difficult. He was just glad his damaged armour was now at his rear, instead of his front.


Nearby, Fortress Maximus strode the battlefield, all his weapons blazing. Dozens of decepticons fell to his precise and measured bombardment, and he was attracting a fair amount of flak himself. HIs armour was getting badly discoloured as various varieties of ballistics hit him, from acid to incendery to plain old dum dum rounds. Fortunately for him, he had the armour of a battlestation protecting him

Hearing Skywatch's warning about the Predacons, he cursed, having a feeling that that was going to be the case. It also meant the distinct possibility that their plans would be forced to change. BLowing another hole in a decepticon defensive position, Maximus glanced around. The faster Autobots were already engaging the decepticons in close quarters, whilst the heavy weapon fire teams were finally taking up their positions. He'd have to watch for those Predacons to protect their artillery....

Polyhex - Initial Defensive Line

Without having the opportunity to reply, Bane saw Thrall run towards the approaching Autobots.

"Idiotic tin-can.." Bane mumbled and began striding towards the direction Thrall had headed. Thrall was a remarkable warrior, but the thick-headed brute was a horrible tactician. Bane had initially planned that the regular forces would take the heaviest beating and soften up the bulk of the Autobot forces, before the Corrupticons would charge in and make short process of those remaining. Ofcourse that plan was now pretty much gone down the drain with Thrall's foolish initiative. In any way, Bane had to make sure Thrall wouldn't be destroyed. With the hotheaded Corrupticon dead he would have no way of restraining the virus who was threatening to eat away of his sanity.

Suburbs of Polyhex

This was going to be a challenge of decision for Brewer. Would it be best to just let it all go? Or should he stay and fight to get that dead Autobot? He checked his weapon stats and confirmed that they were fully loaded. With a careful peek around the formation again, he tried seeing exactly who he was up against and if there were any more hiding, but then saw a dark monitor screen that would save him from blowing his cover. He studied it carefully, checking every detail that he saw, and found that there were two 'cons. Apparently, they did have an important purpose for this Autobot corpse, what with all the electronic gear they had.

It just struck Brewer that maybe they could see him as well. With the hard stares he was getting through the screen, it was obvious they did. Slaggit, he blew his cover faster than he hoped for. Quickly, the S&R Specialist pulled himself back to hide from the view of the screen. Oh, what to do?

[Suburbs of Polyhex]

Psychout met Brewers reflected gaze for a fraction of a second as he hit the deck, dragging Mal Practice and his corpse plaything with him. sitting in the cover of a destroyed building he looked around for the best strategic gun placement and means of escape.

"Mal, We've been spotted. One emergency vehicle class Autobot, seemingly solo, Unable to determine threat level but he is armed."

"Slag! Why cant they just leave me to work in peace?" Mal whinged quietly as he began searching through the many equipment compartments secreted around his body "...honestly, all i want to do is find out how to make better Decepticons!" More rummaging led to slightly louder whispering "...nope that that one, damn, where did I put them again?" after the fifth or sixth compartment had been searched and various inappropriate implements had been inspected and and returned to their homes, the absent minded medic seemed to finally locate what it was he wanted... "Yes!! got them. You ready for this Boss?"

"Slag Yeah!!" Psychout enthusiastically replied and powered up his weapons as a live concussion grenade was tossed over their cover in the direction of Brewer and the pin was thrown in the opposite direction...

"NOW!!"

(((OOC: Psychout... I LOVE your avatar. That's funny! :3 )))

Suburbs of Polyhex

As Brewer thought over what he wasn't going to do and how to do it. Something flew and bounced right next to. He looked at the rough egg-shaped object that finally settled only a couple feet nearby and swore that he emptied his excess fluids right there. "Aw, sh-" The grenade exploded, pushing the Search and Rescue 'bot further in the direction he lunged to - away from the grenade. He suffered some damage, pretty good damage, but it was nothing that would make him handicap. Armor was dented and broken, and a few pieces of debris had lodged themselves into him, but that was nothing too terribly bad.

"Ugh," he picked himself up from flattening on the ground and looked behind him, seeing the fairly heavy destruction such a weapon had caused to his cover. Not much was left of the formation. "I need one of those," Brewer activated his Plasma Blaster and set it to high. Now... where are they hiding? He crept to the edge of his formation, peeking around it to study the area. They were gone, but there was a building nearby - obviously, those 'cons were hiding in there. "Yeah," he smirked, "I really need on of those grenades. They'd be perfect for me right now." If he could spot the enemy, he could begin firing. No need to give up exactly where he was. Keep them guessing, though there wasn't much to guess about.

Skies over Polyhex Line

Darkwing and Dreadwind had both declined to follow Starscream on his strafing run of the Autobot defenses. Neither of them was really designed for ground assault, and attacking entrenched and hardened defenses sounded more like suicide than anything else. As depressing and gloomy as the two of them often were, they weren’t about to just fly into the maw of death itself. The two Decepticon fliers continued to patrol the Polyhex defensive line, until they spotted the incoming Aerialbots.

“Come on Dreadwind, let’s spread the misery for some of these Aerialbots.” Darkwing broke off from his partner, moving off towards the Aerialbots. With a sigh Dreadwind followed him. The two Decepticon jets raced after the Aerialbot leader Silverbolt. The opened fire with their guns, trying to bracket the Autobot in and line him up for a missile shot from Dreadwind.

Maximus Line

There were now no fewer than six Decepticons hunting Silverbolt. Given the limited amount of available air support the autobots had, there wasn't anything good about this.
"Silverbolt be ready to move into the fire zone, do not deviate from the course you are being fed. Failure to comply will result in you being shot down by friendly fire"
Skywatch passed a course feed with marker to the commander.
"Remaining Aerialbots, prepare for a breaching run on the Polyhex lines. Ground forces have closed in and are taking excessive fire" Skywatch set up the dead zone data and passed it to them. They would have to be very careful to not move out of the safe corridor, or they'd face the Polyhex defense net alone.

SKywatch aborted the fire on Blink and Wink. it was ineffective anyhow.

He took a moment to realign several systems. "Silverbot, Execute manuver plan....now"
following the aerialbot commander a two hundred meter radius
zone was suddlenly saturated with a visible density of fire. Starscream, Darkwing, Dreadwind, Astrotrain, Blink, Wink, and a few other drones were caught in the explosion of fire while the Aerialbot commander manuvered wildly.
That'd keep their attention.

The Killzone, close to Polyhex

Bellowing loudly, Thrall's bulky minotaur mode smashed through a broken building and subsequently into an Autobot, slashed from collar to chest by a swipe from Thrall's energised horns.

"ONE!"

twisting around, he continued his assault on the frenzied Autobots, grabbing one by the head and with his immense strength, throwing him into the air with a roar. He felt the pattering of laser fire as one of the autobots fired a flimsy pistol towards him, Grinning, he twisted his form around and diverting more energy to his horns, and with but a thought the energy sparked out and condensed into a ball, which then imediately expanded into a bolt of energy, striking the autobot in the side, causing him to stagger back, dropping his pistol. He had a feeling Bane would take care of him, as he normally would. He was the hammer that should shatter their foes, wheras Bane's more surgical precision allowed him to act as a dirk, finishing off those staggered back by his initial onslaught.

A few autobots opened fire about three hundred feet away, and he staggered to cover, transforming and activating his arm-mounted neutron cannon. "BANE!" he barked. "Got some serious flak on our right side!" returning fire, his shots mostly decimated the rubble surrounding his assailants. Some decepticon grunts were nearby, attracting the brunt of their attention, but he knew they would have to act fast to take advantage of this. Either way, he waited for his fellow Corrupticon to catch up so they could attack, together.

(((OOC: Cheers DeathCaller, it made me chuckle. Might put it back on later...)))

[Suburbs of Polyhex]

Psychout powered up his special ability. Slowly, an aura of dark hoplessness flodded the area as he broadcast a pulse of energy designed to intimidate and dishearten his foe. The ability that had earned him his name steadily created a wave of negative empathic energies enveloping the surrounding area and ensuring all those who were within its range and not protected would be filled with unholy dread and either flee or cower in terror.

Then, activating his hologramatic duplicate, Psychout dived out from behind his cover on both sides of the building at once. Landing in a crouch, he somberly remembered the days when he had an altmode that was useful in a situation like this, and in a Shrapnel-like dual voice both incarnations of him issued a warning to to Brewer.

"Autobot! You do not know what you have stumbled upon. This is your only warning. Leave now and you may keep your spark, persist and it is forfeit!"

Both cassetticons held their crouched positions, brought their weapons to bear on Brewers last known position and fired simultaniously; one burst real laser, one a mere projection of light slammed into the same rocky formation. Laser fire ripped into the outcrop in an effort to locate their adversaries position and hopefully trap him under the resulting debris.

They then held their fire and positions as Mal Pulled the pin on a second grenade...

Edited, damn sig!

The Killzone - Close to Polyhex

"I hear you.." Bane answered his longtime partner as he suddenly appeared behind the staggered Autobot and drove one of his swords through his chest. Black smoke came out of his mouth and the light in his optics began to fade as his spark joined the Allspark once more. Bane put a foot on the Autobots back and pulled his sword out again.

Not far away was a group of Decepticons lead by one of the rookie commanders, Imploder. Bane knew him. He had potential to establish himself as a competent subcommander in the Decepticon Army and his presence here was convenient for Bane.

>>"Imploder, keep them busy"<< Bane messaged him and Imploder's sudden awareness of their presence told Bane that he had received it. The youngling barked something and the others intensified the fire, which gave the two Corrupticons more room to operate in.

He turned his attention to Thrall. His skull-shaped maks transformed unto his face and he threw off his cloak, which disappeared into his subspace pocket. His two vibroswords glowed slightly as if they couldn't wait to siphon the lifeforce out of their enemies.

"After you"


Skies Above Maximus Line

Quantum had heard the orders of Starscream and intended to follow them. But he had taken the liberty to improvise a bit and taken a dozen Decepticon fliers with him to ambush their foes from behind. To do this he used his ability to create wormholes and opened up one of them once he was far away enough to not get any unwanted attraction.

One astrosecond later another wormhole appeared behind the Aerialbots and their allies. Quantum came out first and opened up fire.

"Fire at will!" he commanded his troops as he targeted the command-bunker where Skywatch was located and threw off some of his load.


(OOC: Those who got Con-fliers, you can introduce them here as one of the troops lead by Quantum... if you want, that is)

The Killzone, close to Polyhex

"Gladly.." Thrall replied with a grin to his partner, and spinning around with a roar, engaging his flight mode and projected himself upwards, his neutron cannon set on fully automatic, blasts of neutrons firing left right and center. Some of them hit the Autobot defenders, sending them down. He'd have to confirm his kills before his kill counter could register them properly.

Already, in the lower left corner of his optic, a bright red digit counted how many kills he had made so far. Only one, but this was just the opening few seconds of the engagement. He hoped that by it's end, it would be in triple figures.

Touching down again and ducking behind a pillar, he diverted all available power to his cannon, crackling purple energy starting to erupt from it's sides. Such overcharging was a risky, often dangerous enterprise, but Thrall knew his weapon, and knew how much he could push it before it exploded. Then, spinning round he fired it, a large, powerful beam erupting from it and causing a small explosion, scattering debris and detritus everywhere, as well as a convenient dust cloud. Barreling forwards through the smoke, he roared with all his fury, laser blasts passing by around him. Only one managed to hit, and even that just singed his armour.

"KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!" he chanted in a frenzy as finally, he was among the Autobots, his energon axe materialised as he used it's immense size to decapitate one of them, firing a series of bolts from his neutron cannon into a nearby mech. As he span around to face another, he had to dodge a thrown knife, and deflect another with the heavy armour of his forearm, lest it struck any of his vitals. He knew Bane would be with him now, the two working in sync to butcher this entire position. But now, he was lost in bloodlust, his fury at the establishment the Autobots had created unleashed. He couldn't care less. Even if some lucky Autobot was capable of striking him down now, he'd already made them pay dearly. Every more kill was a small blessing, another moment whereby he lived to fight, lived to conquer, lived to stop the Autobots from winning this war.

His optical kill-counter moved up to four, then five, then six...

THe killzone, Mid-area

Crouching behind some cover, the aerial battle going on above him, the ground battle goign on above him, Fortress Maximus took a moment to readjust the battle line to meet changing circumstances. Already some of his forward units were meeting heavy resistance, and many weren't reporting back at all. This sudden Decepticon counter attack had caused them to slow down. With all this aerial flak, their support units would arrive too late to support the vanguard.

>>>Units gamma, sigma, Zulu and Cron. Regroup and meet at co-ordinates 34,24,75213. All remaining units keep in formation..<<< he barked over the com, as the chaos of war consumed him. Firing several times towards the encrouching Polyhex line, he prayed his units would do their jobs.

The Killzone - Close to Polyhex

Letting Thrall do the dirty work, Bane took care of everything that escaped the berserker's rage with swift efficience. He cleaved the arm off one of the Autobots, who had just evaded a fatal blow from Thrall's axe, and cut open his chest, killing him instantly. Normally Bane would play a bit with his prey, but this was war and he had to react accordingly, leaving his hobbies till later when the battle was won.

Another Autobot tried to backstab Thrall, but Bane intercepted pulling him down on his back. He drove both his vibroswords into the unfortunate Autobot's chest, hitting several vital components. A third tried to come to his comrades rescue, but Bane saw it coming and let go of his swords which were still in the Autobot's body. From between his knuckles ejected razorsharp claws and he also drove those into the chest of the other one, and teared his opponents chest in two. He grabbed his swords again and transformed to his monster-mode, leaping towards the remaining two Autobots that weren't engaged with Thrall. He caught one and took a nice chunk off him with his two mouths, to the despair of the other who began to ran.

"Thrall, get him" the Black Death barked with both his mouths filled with electronics. At the same time Imploder and his band arrived and began assisting Thrall with the last few who were attacking him.


The Killzone

Juggernaut fired one blast after the other at the incoming Decepticon masses. With every successful hit he took down 2-3 of them. Positioned on top of one of the small hills, he noticed a Decepticon spearhead into their flanks. He transformed back to robot-mode and took a closer look while being hit by several shots that didn't seem to have much effect. One good thing about grunts was that they weren't given the big heavy guns.

> He messaged his commander. The Corrupticons were living legends, even among Autobots. But they were also some of the most feared, malign and vicious that the Decepticons could offer. Their breakthrough could very well boost the morale of the rest and that should be avoided by any means necessary, even if it meant using some of their reserve troops now. For now it was up to Maximus to decide what they would do.

(OOC - Dammit, I did a whole post this morning and it isn't here Oh well, here we go again) IC

Skies Over The Maximus Line

"As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate flying" Silverbolt thought to himself as he recieved Skywatch's pre-planned flight path through the maze of fire "It seems as though our popularity with the Decepticon's is as high as ever" Silverbolt observed while taking damage from the laser fire directed at him, impacting on his left wing and the back of his fusilage, fortunately, not causing too much serious damage, but he couldn't afford to continue getting hit like that.

Who exactly the shots that damaged him were fired by was something that eluded Silverbolt, there was so much ordinance in the sky, it was a bit difficult working out what was friendly and what wasn't. Regardless, the Aerialbot Commander trusted Skywatch completely, and quickly banked and took up the course that would guide him through the wall of fire being directed by the young 'Bot. The fact that one stray missile or flak burst from the ground based defenses could quickly end his participation in this battle didn't really occur to Silverbolt as something to concern himself with, such was his trust in what Skywatch was doing.

"I've got to help Skywatch out, he can't take on the entire Decepticon aerial force by himself" Silverbolt thought to himself as he swerved and veered through the sky "Aerial squadrons 2, 5 and 9 proceed to coordinates 23.472 and engage any Decepticon forces you encounter, squadrons 1, 3, 4 and 7 proceed to my coordinates and prepare for attack, all other squadrons remain at your current positions" Silverbolt ordered, before preparing to get out of the firewall and prepare a counter attack.

Slingshot meanwhile was slightly annoyed that some 'Bot he had never heard of was passing out orders to him, but seeing as how his target had just been attacked, he didn't really see he had much else to do but proceed to the deadzone and carry out one of his primary functions and support those troops on the ground while the opportunity to do so presented itself. Jetting off, the Aerialbot's resident ego searched for something he could destroy, something that was worthy of his talent, a few Decepticon grunts caught the brunt of his mortar cannons, but Slingshot searched for something more, and found it in the middle of the Autobot forces.

Unable to actually identify Bane and Thrall, or indeed anyone in the area, Slingshot just locked onto the nearest one, which happened to be the one making the most noise, Thrall, and proceeded to fire off multiple mortar rounds towards the Decepticon gladiator, before ascending to higher altitude to get a better view of what was going on.

Air Raid completely ignored Skywatch, and instead of helping out the ground troops, the black jet swung round to ready himself for another attack run at whoever he could see. Thanks to the Airspace Control 'Bots constant fire from the ground defenses, Air Raid had not yet been targeted directly, and was currently enjoying himself immensely. Lining himself up, Air Raid spotted something appearing out of some kind of hole behind the fire being thrown up by Skywatch "Ah, slaggit, they're going after the kid already" Air Raid mumbled to himself, as he gunned his engines and accelerated towards Quantum, firing as he went, hoping to intercept the Seeker before he could complete his attack on the command bunker housing Skywatch.

Polyhex Defensive line

The Polyhex defenses were not as formidable as the Maximus Line, but they had been designed in part by Shockwave. The Decepticon second in command had known he could not match the Autobots gun for gun, so he had created a more intuitive automated system. It scanned and looked for high priority targets or weak points in the Maximus Line defenses and in the killzone between the two city states. Instead of blanketing the area or the skies with ordnance, it saved its most powerful and high tech weapons for these priority targets.

A sensor sweep of the killzone revealed one large, powerful Autobot raining down fire on incoming Decepticons from on top of a hill. The target was identified as Juggernaut, a high ranking and powerful Autobot. Standing on top of the hill made him a highly visible and easy target. A full barrage of artillery and lasers was fired at the entire hilltop.

As the scans penetrated the outer layer of the Maximus Line, another priority target was found. An unidentified Autobot (Skywatch) was sending out multiple signals to other Autobots. While these signals could not be decoded, it was obvious that this one was, at least in part, coordinating the attack. A barrage of artillery and missiles was fired at him. Interspersed in this barrage was some special radar seeking missiles. They would lock on to the scanners this Autobot used. They were highly effective at taking out communication and scanner centers.

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

Skies over the Killzone

Darkwing and Dreadwind broke off their attack on the Aerialbot commander as he scrambled back to the Maximus Line for protection. The two of them got a bit singed by the massive fire coming up from the line but they both escaped relatively intact.

“So, how do you want to send us to our death now Darkwing?”

“Ok, so attacking Silverbolt wasn’t the best idea, but how was I to know the coward would run back home for help? Let’s find someone easier to shoot down, like that Aerialbot there; Slingshot is his name I think.”

“At least this way we can get killed dogfighting.”

The two Decepticon jets climbed into the air and moved in behind the lone Aerialbot and began lining him up for a missile shot.
[/b]

((OCC: I've lost track who's nearby??))
The killzone

Rampage had tried to heed Razorclaw's warning but as he got into it he felt the insinctive need to kill slowly taking over. With a feral roar Rampage lost it and charged headfirst; litterally, into battle. As he did he felt the need to feel half-processed energon running down his frame as he slaughtered those who got in his way. Yes he did enjoy this life of his as he targeted the nearest autobot.

(OOC: all, Skywatch is not exposed on the lines, he is in the command bunker a bit back in the Maxminus Line. He's also a hovertank, not a real flyer .)

Seeing the attackers break off from the Aerialbot commander, Skywatch pulled some of the fire off the area and let the defense net settle back to it's usual defensive patterns, watching for more Decepticons closing.

"Slingshot, Decepticons behind you." Skywatch warned then switched channels. "Silverbolt, why has your group has aborted their attack run?" He queried.

In the background some 'Bot yelled "INCOMING!". SKywatch shifted the fire again, targeting the missles, getting some..but nowhere near all of them..and none of the artillery. The bunker rocked, powdered metals sifting down, along with a few moderate sized chunks of roofing.
Several feeds went offline as the roof antenna were blown to flinders. Electrical fires and shorts were everywhere, but no bodies. Several would require moderate repairs though.
Most of the air defense net went back to local control. "Skywatch is relocating" He announced to everyone in his net link. "Current defensive position compromised. Stand by for updates."
The Aerialbots would have to largely fend for themselves. THe remaining links were sufficient to keep them safe from blue-fire,keep their positions in the battle, and allow the continuation of the bombing run, but any more remote targeting data would have to wait.
He transformed and made his was out the rear of the bunker, heading for one of the secondary command bunkers at his best possible speed, while maintaining what links he could.

Suburbs of Polyhex

Something strange... something that felt... hopeless. This feelings overpowered Brewer, crossing his logic circuits and confusing him to be unable to tell reality from false thoughts. He even felt so negatrive about everything he had done or was doing. What in Cybertron's name was going on? And for the Autobot corpse - he didn't even bother trying to think about how he could save that creature. But something in the back of his mind told him to worry. Maybe he should try. Before furhter thoughts, an explosion destroyed another few feet of the formation Brewer was taking cover behind. There was very little left, and he needed a new one fast.

Suddenly, there was a voice, no wait.. two voices speaking to possibly him? There was so much confusion, Brewer went ahead and took it as if they were speaking to him. Those voices warned him to leave or parish. Such an idea as to escape wasn't a bad choice... or was it? Brewer was so confused. He looked to the ground in thought, then noticed his weapon charged and ready for action. Obviously, he was going to head into battle, but something made him feel like it was useless... as if he was fearful of what was happening.

This feeling... it confused Brewer. What should he do?

The Killzone

Now, this was what he was talking about. Motermaster just grin as he enter into battle as he just couldn't wait to get his hands dirty with the destruction of the few Autobots that decide that they would be able to take him down. That was a laugh, some rookie thinking that they might be able to take down someone as powerful as the likes of him. In his vehicle mode, he just laugh out load as he mow down another Autobot against him.