The Energon Pub

Repair Bay

"Thanks," Ramplate said as Astrotrain walked away, before looking down at the mentioned knee once more. Trying to move it resulted in a screeching noise that ground against his frame, and the tank-bot decided that he'd wasted enough time waiting, and should take the other mech's advice. Standing up and limping over, he thought to ask Hook outright when Scrapper also came in, and the engineers seemed to be staring together at something on the screen. Trying unobtrusively to get a look at what was on the computer, Ramplate's squeaking limb gave him away.

"Umm... Hate to be a bother but..." he stated while his optics snuck a peak behind the ice-blue visor.

Repair Bay

Mixmaster heard some sort of grinding noise that was none to pleasant on the audio receptors. It was the sound of malfunction, and it may have been the only thing that could have pulled his attention away from what he was currently studying on Hook's screen.

Now that Scrapper had arrived, Mixmaster decided it best to let he and Hook proceed uninterrupted. This Devastator was going to be big...literally and figuratively...and they were all going to have to put their cranial units together if they were going to get a job of this caliber done in any reasonable time frame.

Mixmaster turned and found the source of the minor, grating audio disruption. Glitching knee joint axle, from the sounds of it. He wasn't a surgeon, by any stretch, but this would probably be an easy enough glitch to fix.

"Sit on something so your weight's off my workspace."

Repair Bay
"No, we're just deciding on how we're going to put you back out of commission." Dead End says to Ramjet before making a fist. "You scratched my paint, that tends to cause me to kill whoever does so with a high success rate, not that I am boasting. Such things are futile, like your paper thin ambitions." Dead End then goes for his gun. "And your life." He raises it and fire, aiming for one of his wings. He would strip Ramjet of his pride first, then the disassembly would begin.

"See? That's why we ducked behind this." Skyjack comments. "Dead End's not one to be around when he's mad."

"Wisdom of the freaking ages Jack." Hooligan says, peering out from behind his friend.

Medical Bay

The blast from Dead-End caught Ramjet off guard, and it scorched his wing on his left leg. He felt little pain, but he did feel angry at Dead-End's thin skin. Ramjet looked down at his scorched wing, ignoring the Dismal Car's babbling, he looked at Dead-End very angrily.

"You made the biggest mistake of your life, pathetic as is," Ramjet began to charge firing his Laser Rifles repeatedly at Dead-End, and lowering his head to smash into him, said, "Prepare to know the true meaning of pain!!"

Corridors

Skywarp was a little surprised when Darkride pressed his forehead against the barrel of the seeker’s weapon. Although, he really shouldn’t have been considering that the interrogator’s sick fantasies most likely included having a hole blown right through his cranial unit. It would be something that he’d enjoy just as much as when he desecrated himself with his own tools of torture.

Of course, the reality of the situation wasn’t that Darkride looked forward to dying, but rather he was confident that Skywarp wouldn’t pull the trigger. The interrogator had a back-up plan, which became evident as his words seeped into ‘Warp’s mind like a disgusting ooze that couldn’t be wiped away. Once again a threat was made against Nightraven’s life that made the prankster ease up on his arm-mounted laser, but only just a bit. It was true that the teleporter had been in Darkride’s chamber for an unknown amount of time before he awoke. It was very possible that the filthy mech had done something to the femme during a recharge cycle. Of course, it was also very possible that the torturer was lying in order to save his own spark. But, as the cretin so adequately put it, could ‘Warp take that chance and risk hurting Nighty? Was vengeance worth that high of a price?

Skywarp pushed back against Darkride’s forehead with the tip of his weapon before reluctantly lowering it. The seeker then backed away from the interrogator, his icy glare still locked on to the smaller mech. “Fine. You win, Darkride. I’ll stay away from you. Primus knows that’ll be an easy thing for me to do since I despise you and everything you represent. However, you will also stay away from me and especially from Nightraven. You will not so much as look at her cross-eyed. Otherwise,” the teleporter leaned in closer to his twisted adversary. “I’ll call your bluff.”

Skywarp straightened his stance again, giving Darkride one last dirty look before he turned and walked away from the torturer. Somehow, the prankster knew this was not going to be the end of their rivalry as it was inevitable that their paths would eventually cross again.

Repair Bay

Long Haul stared anxiously at the display screen the others were studying so intently. This Devastator looked to be a very ambitious project, indeed, one that would take many cycles to ultimately complete. It would certainly change the dynamic of how the war would be fought and put the Constructicons in a powerful position within the empire. Hell, they could rule the empire once these designs were actually applied to their exo-skeletal structures. “I’ll undergo whatever probing is necessary to make this a reality,” the green transport replied to Mixmaster before the chemist’s attention was drawn away by the injured Ramplate.

By now, Scrapper had entered the repair bay and was looking at the designs with great interest, as well. Long Haul glanced over at his leader. “Hey, boss. Looks impressive, don’t it? The Autobots won’t stand a chance once we combine into that!” Long Haul’s enthusiasm was beginning to show. He had never been a part of something as important and influential as this Devastator project would prove to be. It certainly beat just carrying stuff around for others. Although, somehow he thought he’d end up doing just that anyway in order to make this an actuality. Regardless, he couldn’t wait to get started on it.

“By the way, how’d everything go with ‘Screamer and the others? I heard you were in a meeting with ‘em. He declare himself leader yet, or what?” Long Haul asked Scrapper, changing the subject for just a moment.

******

Drag Strip stood by as the predictable fight finally broke out between Dead End and Ramjet. However, instead of it being a simple case of fists flying, the doomsayer pulled out his gun and began shooting at the dimwitted conehead, hitting his wing. In retaliation, Ramjet returned fire and charged back with his head down ready to crash into his Stunticon attacker.

“Whoa, guys! Let’s not shoot the whole place up! Motormaster will scrap us all for sure and recycle us into spare parts!” Drag Strip shouted, waving his hands in the air. He didn’t mind getting into a physical scuffle with the conehead, but having a firefight on board their ship was another thing entirely. The place was already a mess. It didn't need any more help from these two.

Drag Strip considered for a moment telling Dead End that he was only kidding about the scratched paint on his head. But then he figured it was too late now, anyway, so why even bother. Instead, Drag stuck out his foot as Ramjet zoomed past him, hoping to trip up the conehead and give his brooding comrade the advantage.

Repair Bay


Finding an empty berth next to the workstation, Ramplate slid onto the slab gracelessly before he pulled his leg up, turning his attention away from the discussion the other two constructicons were having. "Got hit with an ion blast from that Jazz guy before Ironhide hit me. Fused some of the mechanisms and shorted out others," he explained to Mixmaster. Sure there'd been more, but he wasn't going to admit to it. Nothing a CR chamber couldn't fix, but that knee joint needed to be replaced, and he didn't trust the auto-doc in the chamber to do it for him.

Dirge was running different scenarios through his mind when He watched Ram Jet wonder off and say something to those moronic Stunticons. Whatever it was, it was likely irrelevant. Dirge had more important things to think about, such as who to back as leader?

Shockwave, in Dirge's opinion, would make the better leader. His cold, calculating brilliance would be better off with strategy and plotting the Autobot downfall than anything Starscream could muster. Still, Starscream was a seeker, and he would have a hard time turning his back on a brother. Also, as a seeker, Starscream would be more likely to keep his brothers in mind than old one optic.

His thought process was abruptly interrupted when Ram Jet decided to pick a fight with the Stunticons.

"Moooron." Dirge thought to himself, "You caaaan never haaandle aaaall of them...and weeee have mooooore impooortant thiiiings to worry about than in fightning."

Dirge was clearly disgusted with Ram Jet, and found all this in-fighting abhorrent. Ram Jet against all the Stunticons? He's practically playing Energon Roulette with a loaded disruptor. Still, Ram Jet was a wing mate, he couldn't deny that. He ordered his on-board computer to put some additional power to his primary weapons. If asked for help, Dirge would help Ram Jet, or if the Stunticons started to rip him apart Dirge would step in before Ram Jet's laser core was extinguished.

Repair Bay

"Ion damage...plus Ironhide. Grrrrreat. Heheheh, you're lucky that's all the damage you sustained," Mixmaster said, disassembling the kneejoint coverings and tossing them to one side as he went to work ensuring that everything was fused together correctly and in working order. Not a simple task, but something that he and the other Constructicons knew how to take care of after having fought in this war for countless vorns now.

Grabbing new pieces of polysteel that he knew would be necessary, Mixmaster quickly went about forging and welding new coverings over the replaced joint structure.

Heh, hmmmmm, it'll probably be a little stiff for an orn or so, but that'll wear off once you break it in and the CR chambers finish up with whatever else is wrong with ya."

Medbay

Scrapper looked at the design with a sense of awe and returning confidence. Making this possible would be beyond any normal Decepticon or the much-vaunted Autobot scientists, but his team could do it. Would do it, rather, there was no other option, really. With Starscream in charge, his team would need a trump card like this, if they were truly to keep things together.

"It certainly is something, Long Haul. It might just solve all our problems...Hook, get me a list of what we'd need to get this underway! We're probably going to be kept busy for the next while, but I still want to get this started as soon as we can."

He looks back at Long Haul. "As for the meeting, well, it had a....What the?" The noise around the corner turns his attention, and he takes a look, to find Ramjet and the Stunticons embroiled in a battle.

"What in the Pit are you doing! Break this up now! Or I'll break you up and use you to fix the ship!"

Motormaster's quarters

After the meeting between the highest ranking Decepticons on board the Ultrax had been finished, Motormaster had left the bridge and moved to the captain's quarters of the ship where he had taken residence. As the leader of the Stunticons and most of time being the highest ranking Decepticon on board the ship - there had never been any competition over the sole personal room within the frigate. Motormaster was just too powerful and too vile for the most of the Decepticons to challenge for such a trivial matter.

The floor of the room was littered with crushed fuel containers and occasional oil and energon stains with several mangled body parts of his victims adding to the decoration. In truth, Motormaster spent very little time in there. He pretty much had taken over them just because he could and the fact that the captain's quarters on board a Negator-class frigate came with their very own CR chamber. Given how the Stunticon leader was technically vulnerable only during repairs, it made sense. The number of Decepticons that genuinely liked the Stunticon leader was nearly non-existing.

Walking over to the CR chamber, Motormaster reached out to enter his personal command codes into the command console of the CR unit. The fight with Hot Spot had left a bad taste to the mouth of the large Stunticon. Clearly the ship computer had not managed to keep his frame as well protected as he had used for it to be when it had reformatted his body for this particular operation. The way his knee joint had given in... for Motormaster, it was unacceptable. The model of the truck he had used as his alt. mode had also been of too old model year. He had not seen a single truck like it driven by the humans during his brief stint to the roads of the United States of America. A fact that did not sit well with the Infiltration protocols that were still in place. Several changes were in order and the repairs he needed were the perfect excuse for chassis overhaul.

Having given the computer the parameters on what type of changes he desired, Motormaster stepped into the chamber and let his body enter into the state of hibernation the process demanded.
________________________________________

Med bay

While Astrotrain and Thundercracker had been lucky enough to enter CR chamber just before the scuffle between Ramjet and the Stunticons began, there were still plenty of Decepticons present in the med bay that realized how dangerous a firefight in a med bay could be.

The Constructicons were a perfect example of this.

Bonecrusher had been excited to follow an altercation spewing between the Stunticons and Ramjet but he had been expecting an old fashioned brawl, not a fire fight. As the laser beams began flying in the repair bay, the brutish Constructicon followed the example set by his commanding officer and moved next to Scrapper while staring menacingly at the fighting Decepticons.

"You heard Scrapper! Get your slaggin' fight out of the repair bay or you will leave this place as spare parts!" He growled, slamming his fists together. If it came to it, Bonecrusher had no problem in rearranging the faceplates of even fellow Decepticons, and given how strong and tough the Constructicons and Bonecrusher, Long Haul and Scrapper in particular were, the participants of this brawl would be fools were they not to comply to Scrapper's threat.

Corridors

Hellion frowned at everything her sister said. She was throwing a lot at her, and pretty much all of it was unexpected. They were onboard the Stunticon ship, which explained the graffiti and debris, a place she would rather not be stationed out of, but it the old base had been destroyed. Apparently the self destruct had activated the volcano or something; she wasn’t really sure what had happened there. She would just have to trust Nightraven on that as she really didn’t know anything about explosions other then she liked to make them.

The fact that Megatron was gone was shocking and disconcerting. She had never even considered the possibility that the Decepticon leader could be killed. Even now she wondered if it wasn’t some ploy on his part, waiting to return later at the most opportune moment. For now though he wasn’t around and they were stuck on the Stunticon ship. It wasn’t at all a situation she liked.

“Megatron is dead? How the slag did that happen? Who the slag is in charge now?” She slowly walked after Nightraven, still trying to process everything she had said. The seeker was annoyed by it all, and annoyance was just the first step to getting angry for her. “And how did Skywarp save me? And if you were just thanking him why did you push me out into the hall?”

*

Bridge

Soundwave merely nodded at Starscream’s orders. He would assume this was consent to his demands for acknowledging his leadership. He would resume his standard duties and monitor communications. Of course, the seeker underestimated the true importance of what Soundwave truly did. At this position all information and communication would have to come through him. It meant that he could easily move ahead with his agenda undisturbed and safe in the knowledge that no other Decepticons would be able to figure out what he was up to.

*

Medbay

Hook looked over at Scrapper, Long Haul and Mixmaster as they each looked over the plans. “The original concept and designs came from a project Shockwave had been working on some time ago. I was able to find them when Soundwave unlocked all of that information after Shockwave’s return. Since then I’ve been working on it, adjusting it to suit us.”

The Constructicon let out a sigh. “It isn’t quite complete yet. I will need some….assistance,” he spoke the word as if it pained him, “on some of the larger design elements. I’m used to doing fine, precise work and I have most of that complete. Scrapper, Mixmaster, I’ll need both of you to help with some of the final elements. It shouldn’t take long, and then after that we can begin the modifications.”

Hook glanced around the room as the fight broke out. “We need to keep this quiet though. If we keep this completely to ourselves we can be THE elite team in the Decepticon ranks and finally get our fair share of power, respect and command that we’ve always deserved.”

Medical Bay

Drag Strip backed off as soon as Scrapper and some of the other Constructicons warned them all to stop fighting in the med bay. The last thing Drag wanted to do was anger a higher ranking ‘Con and while Scrapper was not Motormaster, he was still a superior officer. “No problem, Scraps. Just foolin’ around is all,” the yellow racer said as he then turned his attention to Wildrider. “Talk about spoiling the party. I suggest we grab ol’ gloomy and get the slag outta here before we tick the builders off any more.”

Without waiting for the terrorist to respond, Drag Strip moved over to Dead End and pulled him out of Ramjet’s way. “All right, Dead, that’s enough. I was mistaken before. There’s nothing wrong with your cranial unit besides the usual doomsday and death scenarios that fill the space between your audio receptors. Now, let’s go before Motormaster finds out what’s happened here.” Drag attempted to guide his teammate towards the door and further away from the enraged conehead. Hopefully, the doomsayer would comply and diffuse the situation before things got completely out of hand.

******

Long Haul mostly ignored Ramjet and the Stunticons’ antics as immature nonsense that didn’t deserve his attention. Besides, Scrapper and Bonecrusher had a handle on the situation and if they needed any back-up, the Constructicon transport was only a few feet away. Instead, he remained engrossed with what Hook was saying regarding the origin of the designs.

“Shockwave, huh? Well, that doesn’t surprise me. He was always one for working on secret projects that pushed the limits of technology. I’m sure glad we can benefit from it, though. If you need any help in gathering materials just let me know,” Long Haul stated, keeping his voice low so not to draw the attention of anyone who was not a Constructicon. He then looked at the design more closely for where he would ultimately fit in as part of the gestalt. So, is that me there as the lower half of the torso?”

Figures. I’m the aft end of Devastator, he thought, then noticing who was at the top. “So, I see you made yourself the head, Hook,” Long Haul teased the surgical engineer with a smile. “I wonder what Scrapper’s gonna say about that since he’s the boss and all. Haha.”

Corridors

The interrogator’s vicious smirk grew even wider as the Seeker pushed the barrel of his weapon against his head before he finally lowered it. Darkride let out a low chuckle as Skywarp backed away keeping his intense stare on the smaller mech. His chortle dying down, Darkride focused on what the teleporter had to say. Of course Skywarp’s concordance came with a hitch. The interrogator’s jovial demeanor faded as he nodded on agreement. After which the Seeker sealed it with a warning. At this Darkride smirked. Seekers. Always such serious creatures. What I wouldn’t give to have one on my slab right now. At that thought Darkride licked his lips with anticipation.

It took the interrogator a moment to realize that Skywarp had already turned and walked away. Focusing in on the winged Decepticon, Darkride called out.

“You surprise me, Skywarp!”

The interrogator slowly made his way toward his prey, a devilish grim plastered on his face.

“I had thought Seekers always got what they wanted. After all you lot do call yourselves, ‘The Elite’ of the Decepticon Empire.”

He shook his head and placed his hands behind his back.

“We both know what you desire. I can help you get it. Give me the word and I can….change her mind about you.”

Darkride leaned in as close as he dared and whispered, “This offer stands for as long as you decide to take me up on it.”

****

As Nightraven moved she focused on checking all the living quarters on either side of corridor in search of the best place for her and Hellion to claim. While the two sisters walked Hellion started to bombard her with questions.

“I told you, Helly, the base detonated and that volcano erupted. Everything is gone, everything.”

She stopped at yet another door and opened it only to be welcomed by piles of discarded spare parts. Dear Primus don’t these idiots clean this place? She moved on to the next room as she tried to answer her distressed sister’s next question.

“I’m not sure who’s in charge yet. All I know is that Starscream made grand speech and asked that the high ranking officers on board go with him to discuss who will be in charge. That group consisted of, Soundwave, Scrapper, Motormaster and Starscream.”

Hellion’s query about Skywarp had been anticipated, and thankfully she had an answer that would satiate her sister’s curiosity.

“Skywarp teleported both of us out of the base before it detonated and I figured you wouldn’t want to thank him so I did it for you. Besides, I know you. You’re not the type to admit you need help, or to even thank someone when do you receive it.”

The twosome finally reached the end of the corridor. Please let this room be habitable. Nightraven opened the door and took a cursory look around. There was some trash and a few full storage containers of spare parts, but nothing her and Hellion couldn’t handle. Nightraven turned around and looked at Hellion a slight smile on her face.

“This is the best one in this corridor. How about this? You gather everything you can and pile it up in that corner and I’ll go hunt down a few storage containers.”

Before Hellion could protest Nightraven was already out the door and making her way back down the corridor. Along the way she started checking every door and room, but each time she came up empty handed. After a few twists and turns she came upon another corridor. This one was considerably longer with plenty more doors to check. Letting out a heavy sigh, Nightraven began to check the rooms lining both sides.

Repair Bay

Much to his disappointment, though not entirely surprised, Scavenger had gone completely ignored by the other Constructicons since they arrived on the ship. He had tried to raise a few points, even offered to help some of the other Decepticons with repairs, but none of the mechs even wanted his help.

Slaggit, I'm sure there's something useful I can do around here.

He had tried so hard to keep himself busy that he only now realized all the other Constructicons gathered around discussing something.

"Hey, Scrapper, Hook, guys, what are you all doing over there?" Scavenger said as he frantically hurried to his teamates.

Trying to push through Long Haul and Bonecrusher to see what had their interest, he finally got a look at the plans for Project: Devastator. The sight of it left him ecstatic.

"By the pit, is that for real? That's bigger than anything I could ever find!" he exclaimed.

Corridors

Skywarp thought he was done dealing with Darkride with the two mechs coming to an agreement to stay far away from each other. This suited the teleporter just fine as he found the interrogator to be a disgusting excuse for a Decepticon. Of course, the torturer had to get in one final dig at the seeker as he walked away down the corridor.

Skywarp stopped in his tracks and spun around to face Darkride once more. The prankster’s actuators were curled back into tight fists, but he prevented himself from striking out at the smaller mech as he knew that would be playing right into the torturer’s hands. Instead, ‘Warp simply glared down at him with a deep scowl embedded on his face plate.

“So, let me understand you, Darkride,” the teleporter began in a deep voice. “You knock me down in front of my seeker comrades, you hack into my mind, you tell Nightraven how I feel about her, you threaten her and now, all of the sudden, you want to help me by changing her mind!? You must really take me for an idiot, don’t you?” Skywarp didn’t believe for a moment that Darkride wanted to actually help him. It was obviously another one of his tricks that would likely end with Nightraven hating him rather than accepting him as more then just a friend.

The black and purple seeker moved slowly towards the interrogator with no intention of stopping his pace. Darkride would simply have to back up or be run down by the larger mech. “I don’t want your help! I don’t want you changing her mind! What I want is for you to stay away from Nightraven and myself like we had agreed just a few astroseconds ago.” Skywarp finally came to a halt, looking directly down into his nemesis’ shadowy optics. “Am I making myself perfectly clear, cretin?”

The teleporter did not wait for a response as he gave Darkride a hard shove before turning and walking away once again. Unlike before, ‘Warp intended to ignore any further taunts from the interrogator and instead remain focused on the empty corridor in front of him.

Repair Bay

Dead End turned and glared at Drag Strip. "Mistaken? Likely as mistaken as someone calling Breakdown an even tempered optimist." Dead End put away his gun as the racer pulled him away. "Try not to be mistaken again." He was no fool, after all they did this to him quite often. "Especially on days like today."

Medical Bay

Ramjet was running forward, he suddenly felt like he had nearly missed something tragic, unknowingly, he had just stepped over Drag-Strip's foot. He looked up to check he was going in the right direction, but to his surprise Dead-End wasn't there anymore and there was only a bare wall in front of him to slam into.

"Whoa!!!" Ramjet exclaimed as he slid on the ground on the balls of his feet to try to stop, but it was too late, he slammed face first into the wall with a crash, and he fell to his aft.

He looked up to see Scrapper and Bonecrusher yelling how they would disassemble them and use them for spare parts, but he was sure they were only emasculating themselves.

He nodded gruffly to the green construction workers as he stood up, then turned to Dead-End and said, "Look, no hard feelings right?"

He then began to walk away, but then he turned back and said, "If there even was a problem with your head, get a CR Chamber."

And with that he walked out of the Medical Bay, and began to wander the Halls for something to do, other than pummel a Stunticon.

Corridors

Hellion was still rolling things around in her head. Things had happened so suddenly. One minute she was in combat and the next she was on this ship with everything gone, including their leader. On top of that her sister was thanking Skywarp for helping to save her, none of which made any sense. Skywarp wasn’t exactly the helpful type and Nightraven rarely wanted anything to do with him. On top of that was her sister’s pretty nonchalant attitude at everything that had happened. Something wasn’t quite right.

She glared at her sister as she walked off. “I’m not a slagging cleaning drone you know! I don’t clean up messes, I just make ‘em!” She turned back to the room and began roughly kicking and shoving stuff into a corner, occasionally smashing or shooting something that proved to obstinate to be kicked easily.

*

Repair Bay

Hook scowled at Long Haul. “I can’t help it if the design dictated that I help form the cranium. Your sturdy structure is more appropriate for lower support, so that is where you ended up. It was only logical.” Hopefully that would shut him up for a while, he thought to himself.

He shot a look of annoyance to Scavenger as he came over to glance at what they are doing. “Yes it is real. Now, while I doubt any other Decepticons present here could piece together what exactly this is, we do need to keep it quiet. So now if we are all done exclaiming over it and drawing more attention to ourselves,” he punched in a command that removed the schematics from the screen, “then maybe we could get to work on it. I imagine Scrapper and I can continue the actual design portions and begin delegating work to the rest of you. It will require some specialized materials and connections among other things so all of you will have a use in this project.” He barely left out the last part about some of them only being needed for labor. At the very least they would be needed to form the legs that drove the massive bulk that was Devastator around.

Repair Bay

Scrapper glowered at the retreating Stunticons and Ramjet, his grimace still showing behind his broken faceplate. He'd have to get that repaired, and the rest of him in general, but with so many wounded Decepticons needing CR chambers he didn't think resting right now would be fair. Better to get the other Constructicons to look him over perhaps, and recharge when the situation was less desperate.

He returned to the side chamber to meet his team again. "This project is just as important as Hook says, but I don't think we can get started right here. If nothing else, its too noisy. We should get somewhere more secure and plan how we're going to go about this. Scavenger, can you sniff out a secure location on the ship for us to do some work in? Preferably one that can't easily be monitored from the bridge, Soundwave might be keeping tabs on us. Take some of the others with you for security, I doubt the Stunticons are the only ones feeling rowdy right now. Hook and I will discuss technical details, and....more political details."

I think I'd rather be in stasis lock than have to talk about this situation, but I can't let myself slack off with work unfinished. The Empire needs me, and it needs Devestator...

Repair Bay

Scavenger's excitement quickly left when Hook removed the Devastator plans from the monitor, but not by much. Just the thought of being part of such a large, important project that could very well put the Constructicons at the top of the Decepticon Empire filled the mining and salvage expert's circuits with pride.

Wow, it looked so big and powerful, and it looks like I get to be the left arm! No one will look down on me when I smash Autobots with that giant fist!

Scavenger's self esteem rose even more when Scrapper gave him the first order to get the project started.

"Sure thing Scrapper, I'll find the perfect place!"

Scavenger walked to the door out of the medbay, the door sliding open as he transformed into his excavator mode.

"Come on, Long Haul, Bonecrusher, we've got work to do!", Scavenger impatiently called as he waited by the door, ready to get started.

Repair Bay

The paranoid Stunticon had kept himself in the shadows of the room in order to prevent himself from being seen and to also keep himself out of direct trouble. With the goings on between the conehead and his morose teammate, Breakdown simply decided to stay as far away as possible.

He let out a low sigh of relief when Drag Strip finally intervened and admitted that he lied to Dead End about the scuffs on the back of his cranium. Thank Primus. Motormaster would have gutted us all if anything happened in here due to the weapons’ discharge.

Once Ramjet had left the area Breakdown finally emerged from his hiding place and shuffled over to the rest of his teammates. He kept his optics focused on anything other than the other mechs’ optics.

“I’m glad that’s over with. Maybe we should contact Motormaster; you know to find out what Screamer and those guys talked about.”

Corridors

The interrogator lifted his chin, his head held high, as Skywarp stopped just a short distance away and turned back to face him. A smug smirk spread across Darkride’s face as he looked up into the Seeker’s optics. An intense fire burned just behind them; hate fueled his intense glare.

Skywarp then addressed him focusing on everything that had transpired in the recent solar cycles. Darkride simply took it in, his expression even and calm.

Once the Seeker had finished he simply turned on his heel and made his way back down the corridor. Darkride’s cranium tilted to the right as he regarded the retreating Seeker.

“Oh come now, Skywarp! I can’t stand seeing you in such anguish over a femme!”

An evil grin spread over his face as he called out to Skywarp once more.

“My offer still stands!”

The interrogator let out a deep laugh as he turned and made his way down the corridor in the opposite direction.

****

Retreating from yet another room that was lining the long corridor, Nightraven let the door close and leaned up against it in defeat. She had just completed her search and it yielded no results. She was considering giving up and simply heading back to where she left Hellion, but she wasn’t quite ready to be in an enclosed space with her volatile sister.

Shaking her head and letting out a small sigh, Nightraven pushed herself off the door and began to make her way to the end of the corridor. Her optics were focused on the floor beneath her as she soon rounded the corner and walked directly into Skywarp.

“Oof!” Her face smacked directly into the slightly larger Seeker’s upper chest causing her head to snap back slightly and throw her off balance. Nightraven tried to grab a hold of his arm but the only thing she could grasp was a fist full of empty air.

The femme landed hard on her aft causing her to bite back a hiss of pain and surprise. After a moment her optics focused on the mech’s feet and slowly moved up until she finally recognized who she had walked into. Oh no.

“Skywarp.”

Bridge

Starscream remained standing at the viewing port for the frigates bridge after the others dispersed from the meeting. He knew most of them were likely displeased with his action to just take control, yet he had hoped that his bid to be reasonable and level headed about the situation rather then tyrannical and just take power. Of course in the end he had been forced to go that route, the council proposition by Soundwave and Scrapper was nothing more then foolish, no proper Decepticon would ever truly abide by that and once someone proved strong enough to stand up to such a thing it would crumble. However, this also meant that the other two officers were likely only going to abide by his orders as long as they saw it fit in with their own agendas.

Starscream understood he now faced a long and difficult road. His shortsighted past had come back to haunt him given that most of the other Decepticons were still content to see him as the sniveling coward he had used to portray himself as, the only who only wanted power for the sake of power. He had come a long way since then, he still desired power, but he had come to learn that power for its own sake was useless, that one needed loyal followers in order to make that power matter. What was the point of ruling an empire that was either empty or wanted you dead? No Starscream truly desired to have the legitimate support of those that followed him rather then being forced to simply because he was in charge. He understood that to do that meant he had to be a good leader, he had to show his warriors that he was indeed worthy of leading them and was not simply a power hungry mech. Such a task maybe impossible for him to accomplish, but he hoped that his actions in the future would prove to the others that he was indeed a worthy leader.

Yet those like Soundwave and Scrapper would likely never truly accept him, and mechs like them could prove to be problematic. He would prefer it if they sided with him rather then merely worked with him as long as it suited them, but he could not eliminate them, he cannot afford to do so nor does he have the means. Others like Shockwave and the various other ranking Decepticons around the galaxy were even bigger problems, they would not be content to simply fall in line for the time being. They had armies and fleets under their command and more then one of them would see the opportunity to take control of the Empire for themselves, and that possibility is what terrified Starscream the most. He felt that if he failed to even convince this small group of Decepticon soldiers that he was a worthy leader that their Empire would be plunged into the conflagration of civil war that would likely end their reign.

He doubted few would agree with his perception of the situation, he figured Scorponok would see the danger that lurked and would likely work with him to keep the situation under control. However, he also knew that the expansion fleet commander was just as cunning and ambitious as any other ranking Decepticon, and that once he felt he was in a position to do so he would strike to take power for himself. No, the proper play now was to slowly build support and then begin extending his reach out to others, and he hoped that by the time the others saw what was happening he would be in a position where to challenge him was far to dangerous and would concede to his rule.

It was an ambitious goal, and one that may never happen, but for now Starscream did not see any other way to save the Empire. Soundwave's deception of Megatron's status would only hold so long until someone came seeking their leader, or an irregularity would appear drawing suspicion. As good as Soundwave is the Commander doubted that he could maintain the charade forever. In many ways this whole situation seemed daunting, but Starscream knew that if he failed here then the Empire would burn as the shortsighted fools who fought for Megatron's thrown tore it apart. He also knew the Autobots would also stoke the flames, doing their best to keep the Decepticons fighting themselves as long as possible as they hurried the Empire towards its destruction.

He would not let that happen. He was set in his course now, he would save the Empire or die trying. Even if his final action was to unite the Empire and save it from the self destruction of civil war then he would do it, so long as the Decepticons endured, grew stronger and continued, it would be worth it.

It was funny to him, just a few short centuries ago Starscream would have been giddy with the opportunity that Megatron's disappearance gave him to take power, but now that was an after thought. Starscream truly was fearful for the future of the Empire now, and although he did believe only he had the foresight to save it he was determined to do so and not see it fall apart in the chaos of civil war.

His thoughts came back to the present and he ran the tips of his fingers over the ridge of his brow. He had much work to do, and a long way to go to even convince the warriors with him now that he was worthy of their loyalty, the rest of the Empire was another matter entirely. His work was cut out for him, and a monumental task lay before him, but he was confident he could pull it off, just as long as someone didn't bury an energon blade in his back before he could accomplish his task.

Corridors

Skywarp managed to ignore the interrogator as he shouted after him that the offer still stands. That was quickly followed by laughter that seemed to echo throughout the halls, giving ‘Warp a cranial ache. Darkride was tenacious in his efforts to get under the prankster’s armor plating, and it had worked to a certain degree. Perhaps leaving well enough alone would be best in order to let things blow over. If the two mechs continued on with this constant back and forth bickering it would only escalate to a point where they would end up tearing each other apart, which was something Darkride would end up enjoying far too much. Then there was the risk to Nightraven assuming, of course, the torturer was telling the truth.

I can’t take that chance, Skywarp thought to himself, not wanting to concede defeat but not wanting to endanger Nighty, either. There’s nothing I can do to him to make him angry or to hurt him anyway. Even if Nighty wasn’t really in peril, the little slagger loves pain, even his own. It’s pointless unless I can find something that would really affect him in some way.

The teleporter rounded another corner expecting to find himself in another empty corridor. Instead, he found himself colliding with Nightraven, who quickly lost her balance and fell backwards. Skywarp’s scowl turned into a look of surprise as he tried to reach out and grab a hold of the femme’s hand, but it was too late. She landed on the floor hard before glancing up at him, saying only his name.

“Nighty!” Skywarp exclaimed, reaching down with his hand in order to help her back to her feet. “Um…I’m real sorry about that. I should’ve been watching were I was going. I guess I can’t win today, can I?” The prankster wasn’t known to act awkwardly around anyone. He was an elite seeker, after all. However, considering what had recently transpired between them, it was hard for ‘Warp not to feel a bit uncomfortable in the current situation.

Repair Bay

Drag Strip smiled back at Dead End, who appeared quite upset with his little lie. “Sorry, Dead. I didn’t mean to agitate you further. Well, I did mean to, but it was all in good fun.” The former racer patted his comrade on the back as he then took notice that Ramjet had just collided with a wall, missing the doomsayer completely. The conehead didn’t suffer anywhere near the amount of damage that he had when Motormaster repeatedly slammed him into another wall earlier, but it was still fun to watch. Ramjet then got back to his feet and told them that there were no hard feelings before he left the room. Drag looked back at his gloomy teammate. “Well, at least we got to see Rammy crumble to the floor again. That’s gotta lift your spark a little, right Dead?”

It was then that Breakdown appeared from the far side of the room and made his way over to the rest of the Stunticons gathered near the door. Drag Strip offered his paranoid comrade a friendly nod. “Well, look who decided to finally join us! For a while there I thought you’d never come out of hiding.” The yellow mech chuckled, as the white scout suggested that they should contact Motormaster and find out what’s going on. “That’s actually not a bad idea, Breakdown. Anyone care to volunteer?” Drag looked from one Stunticon to another, waiting for somebody to take the initiative. Apparently, no one wanted to bother their overly aggressive leader. “I guess I’m elected.”

Drag Strip then opened a comm line to Motormaster, whom he hoped was in a good mood:

>>”Commander, this is Drag Strip. I and the other Stunticons are fully repaired and recharged and awaiting further orders. We were also wondering what had happened in that meeting you were in with Starscream and the others. Should we report to you for a briefing, sir?”<<

******

Long Haul could tell immediately that Hook was agitated with his sense of humor not to mention all the attention they were drawing to themselves as they clamored to get a look at the Devastator designs. In all actuality, Long Haul didn’t really care what component he was in the gestalt. He was simply happy with being a part of something this big and important to not only the Constructicons as a unit but to the overall empire, as well. This could really change things and shift the balance of power in their favor.

Once the plans had been removed from the view screen, Long Haul backed off and listened as both Hook and Scrapper outlined what needed to be done in order to make this a reality. The green transport simply nodded with each statement that was said, adding nothing to the conversation. He had already said too much as it were. It was best to just listen now and do what he was told.

Scavenger was then given an assignment, which he happily accepted before calling for Long Haul and Bonecrusher to join him. It was merely to provide security for him just in case any other rowdy ‘Cons decided to cause trouble. At least, I’m not transporting anything this time, Long Haul thought as he transformed to dump truck mode and joined the salvage expert by the door. “I’m all set, Scavenger. Lead the way.”

Repair Bay

While Bonecrusher was far from a rocket scientist when it came to intelligence, even he understood that Scrapper and Hook had wanted the trio of intellectually challenged Constructicons out of their way. Even the excuse had been rather poorly made, not that Scavenger likely had realized it. There just was not an area available inside a Negator-class assault frigate that could provide any privacy for the Constructicons. The only place with any equipment was the repair bay and the only area with enough space for any building project was the hangar. Quite frankly, he didn't really care. The prospect of such a gigantic destroyer able to crush everything on its path was just something so exciting that had Bonecrusher been a human, he would have been salivating. For now though, he had to be content on this silly little side quest.

"Oh, this is rich." Bonecrusher chuckled as he followed Scavenger and Long Haul out of the repair bay. "Not only the snob makes himself the brains and you the aft of jokes, he actually has the gall to assign Scrapper to be a leg, heh heh."

Lifting his left hand to scratch the side of his head the demolitions expert decided to question Long Haul's choice of form. "And why the frag you have to drive around here? There's barely any room to even maneuver."
____________________________________________

Motormaster's quarters

Drag Strip's communication attempt with Motormaster went initially unnoticed due to the repair process still going on in the CR chamber the Stunticon leader was resting in. Only somewhat later as the process finished, Motormaster was able to listen the saved transmission. Instead of bothering to reply merely to Drag Strip, he decided to rally the troops for the briefing as Starscream had requested earlier. He would have few words to share with his Stunticons but that could wait for bit longer. He did prefer more direct approach with them anyway.

Couple of seconds later, his thundering, doom-laden voice assaulted everyone within the Ultrax through the ship's internal speaker system - calling every Decepticon on board the ship to make their way into the only section of the ship big enough to allow such a gathering.

>>"Everyone gather into the hangar within the next half breem! Commander Starscream will brief you sorry lot on our next course of action!"<<

Repair Bay

Long Haul laughed at Bonecrusher’s question regarding his decision to transform. The demolitions specialist had a good point about there not being enough room. Plus, there really was no need to drive around the ship as the Ultrax wasn’t exactly huge and would be easy to transverse on foot. The green transport was just so used to having to lug things around in his truck bed on an assignment, he had just automatically transformed. He wasn’t accustomed to serving as someone’s security detail. Besides, Scavenger had assumed his excavator mode first, so he was just following his teammate’s lead.

“Well, I figured I’d have to carry your lazy aft around, ‘Crusher!” Long Haul joked as he returned to his robot mode. Motormaster’s communique then echoed throughout the ship, ordering everyone into a briefing with Starscream. “Looks like our little excursion will have to wait. Screamer’s gonna make a speech again and we certainly don't want to miss that.” Long Haul then exited the room and walked off down the corridor towards the ship’s hangar.

******

Drag Strip didn’t receive a direct answer from Motormaster. Instead, his commander’s booming voice came across the ship’s internal speakers ordering all Decepticons to gather in the hangar. The yellow mech looked at his comrades and chuckled. “I guess Starscream’s made himself leader if he’s the one giving us a briefing. It was inevitable I suppose. He’s always wanted more power, and now that Megatron’s gone he’ll be able to take charge without much of a problem. Of course, when other high ranking ‘Cons from around the galaxy learn of Megatron’s demise, they will certainly come to challenge Screamer for leadership. Should be interesting to see how that all plays out.”

Drag Strip walked out into the corridor beyond before turning back to the other Stunticons. “We should get going. We don’t want to be late and incur Motormaster’s wrath now do we?” The former racer said, knowing full well that their commander didn't need a reason to unleash his anger on them.