by Aetrius » Tue Dec 28, 2010 9:58 pm
OOC – sorry for the delay here. Rough few weeks in RL.
Skies above Koraja
Athena intently watched Cyclonus’ aerial antics as he swerved and darted around the buildings near Capital Square to avoid her missile. It seemed to her that he was grandstanding just a bit, seeking not only to avoid, but to impress. It was something she would have expected from a seeker, but not from a thoroughgoing professional like Cyclonus. It made her wonder what he was up to, whether he was just showing off, or if he was trying to cow her before he ever fired a shot. She had little time to ponder though as he pulled up from his last maneuver and fired off a pair of missiles at her.
Split-second decisions were part and parcel of air combat, and Athena faced one now. Her best option for avoiding the missile fire from below was to just kick in her afterburners and get out of range. Missiles were fast, but they had a lot of altitude and distance to make up, she could simply outrun them – stay ahead until they ran out of gas, or she could stay and provide cover. She quickly scanned the battlefield, and saw her teammates bouncing out, so her decision was an easy one after all. She kicked in her thrusters and ran. By the time the missiles reached her altitude, she was miles away and still accelerating. They dropped from the sky, their fuel exhausted, long before she slowed.
Once she was sure she was clear, Athena activated her beacon, and bounced back to the Autobot base.
200 miles southeast of Koraja
>>”Hey Artemis, I think someone fired at you.”<<
Artemis clicked on his comm. at the sound of Vulcan’s voice, scanned his immediate vicinity, and came up blank. >>”Are you sure? I’m not picking up anything close-by.”<<
>>”I didn’t say it was close,”<< Vulcan replied with a laugh, >>”I said someone fired at you.”<<
Artemis was truly confused at this point, and confusion, just ticked him off. >>What exactly is that supposed to mean?”<< he demanded.
>>”Scorponok tried to throw something at you.”<<
>>”From 200 miles away?!?”<<
>>”Yeah, a strait-up non-powered ballistic. He missed by about a hundred miles. The only thing he hit was the ground.”<<
Artemis burst out laughing as he replied, >>”That doesn’t even make any sense.”<<
>>”Yeah, I know, but Decepticons… who can figure ‘em. Anyway, are you ready to bounce out of there?”<<
>>”Yeah, it doesn’t look like I’m going to see any action out here anyway.”<<
>>”Okay, bounce beam incoming.”<<
Artemis transformed, and moments later vanished in a beam of silvery light.
Autobot Command Bunker—The Folassian Forest
Vulcan’s fingers flew across the control board as he brought Autobot after Autobot safely onto the bounce platform. He was still laughing from his exchange with Artemis when Rad and Lionizer appeared on the pad, followed closely by Highbrow, then Roadbuster, Athena and finally Artemis. The chamber was crowded to with all the ‘bots returning from the battlefield, and only made more so when Comcast joined them all.
Vulcan wiped the smile from his face as the seriousness of the situation was forced back to the forefront by Comcast’s statements. He was already considering a way around the communications blackout should that be necessary, and he thought he could adapt the bounce technology to work through the Nebulan power grid given a bit of time, but neither of those things were ready workable technology yet, and for once the engineer managed to keep his mouth shut about what he thought he could do. He was sure the others weren’t in the mood to hear about it, or the time it would take to implement. When they heard that Spartan planned on abandoning the base that would be debate enough.
As if Vulcan’s thoughts had summoned him, Spartan appeared at the door to the bounce chamber. The massive red and black Autobot looked as cool and collected as ever, as if the situation they were in, the overwhelming Decepticon forces they were facing, and the battle they had just been in didn’t bother him at all.
“Before the recriminations regarding my tactics even start, let me be perfectly clear: I don’t care to hear them. My decisions are made for maximum gain at minimum risk to my troops. Skyhammer’s carelessness led us to this situation, and we’ll have to do whatever is necessary to extract ourselves from it.”
Spartan paused only briefly to look at the gathered Autobots, but he didn’t give any of them a chance to respond before he pressed forward. “It will only be a matter of time before Skyhammer is broken and the Decepticons have the location of this base. My team was prepared for this contingency, and has set up a secondary base of operations in the mountain range north of here. Equipment and facilities are in place, and we have been moving supplies from this base overland using robotic trucks designed to resemble their Nebulan counterparts since the Decepticons first arrived in system. The process is nearly complete. We need to finish emptying this facility, clear our database, and be on our way before the Decepticons arrive.”