The Energon Pub

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

"Yes, ma'am," said Rollbar. This wasn't exactly the action he had in mind. Monitoring communications would be more suited to someone like Blaster or Hubcap but neither of them were around.
Wideload sat down and adjusted his seat. He tuned the radio scanner and targeted the area around the Cybertronian moon, "Lets hear what we find," he said putting on a set of headphones.

Autobase Prime - Medical Facilities

Megatron...

Images, baleful and horribly vivid, flashed through a slumbering mind.

Shockwave...my friends...did you...make it out alive...did we...win?

The most terrifying images, though, were not those of the two most powerful Decepticons on Cybertron. A more coherent dream galvanized around nightmarish flickerings, images joining together to form a narrative. A battlefield, more like a slaughterhouse than a proper setting for war - if there were any proper setting for a war - materialized in the sleeping intellect. A Transformer towered over his comrades and foes alike, his immense arsenal raining fire and chaos onto the Decepticons.

Gradually, as Decepticon after Decepticon fell, it became difficult to discern who the massive Transformer's allies and enemies were. The broken bodies piled deeper and deeper, blasted to fragments and twisted metal by the huge warrior. It appeared that all were fodder for the giant's calculated, methodical wrath.

For a long time, the dreamer did not recognize this behemoth that strode the battlefield, seemingly invincible, undeniably powerful, and unquestionably destructive. But with aching slowness, as the dream unwound in the dreamer's mind, he realized that the terrible giant was him.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY 98%...99%...100%. INTERNAL REPAIRS COMPLETE. ENERGON LEVELS AT OPTIMUM OPERATING CAPACITY. CR PROCESS COMPLETE. The dream was interrupted by the cool, direct voice of the dreamer's diagnostic system. Consciousness replaced the nightmare, and the images vanished from the mind's optic. They did not disappear from memory, however.

The CR chamber, an especially large one designed for especially large Transformers, slid open with a gentle whoosh. Its occupant sat up, then stood, stepping out of the chamber. His gleaming armor looked as good as the cycle it had first been forged.

Fortress Maximus was once more fully functional. Turning, he marched out of the Medical Facility with his enormous strides and made his way for Autobase Prime's Command Center.


Autobase Prime - Command Center

A long shadow was cast in the towering, ornately carved entrance of Autobase Prime's Command Center. Its owner stepped into the cavernous area, returning the salutes of a few technicians and comm operators. He immediately recognized one Autobot in particular, and approached her, saluting though they were of roughly equal rank.

"Hello, Elita-1," Fortress Maximus said, smiling as he greeted Elita. "How long was I out?"

Autobase Prime – Command Center

“You aft lovin piece of slag!”

Sureshot slammed his riffle down on the table totally unaware that anyone else was in the room. He had walked in with his mind preoccupied.

“How could you jam up on me? HOW?”

He banged his fist on the tabletop beside the gun. Normally other bots never got to hear him speak to his weapons. It was kinda embarrassing sometimes, like talking to himself. He has missed a shot for the first time in as long as he could remember. The ground had given way beneath him and his riffle jammed. Oh Primus forbid he ever miss a target. The gunslinger enjoyed a privilege not given to other bots, he was immune to rank and regulation which led to his arrogance. Lifting his gaze he suddenly realized he was not alone.

“Oh ……. Hi Elita didn’t see you there.”

He picked up the weapon and placed it back in its holster.

“So babe …. Uh… What’s been going on?”

He covered the distance between them in just a few steps. Humility was a word he knew nothing of and was not about to learn. He looked behind her at the computer system where Rollbar and Wideload sat. In an attempt to see what he might have missed.

“Where is everyone?”

As he said this he felt the presence of Fortress Maximus behind him. He turned and grinned at his fellow bot.

Autobase Prime – Command Center

"They're on a kick ass, dangerous mission," Rollbar said to Sureshot, "I guess you weren't invited to participate either. Pretty crap that we stay behind while the others get to do something really cool like that,"

Autobase Prime – Command Center

Turning from one screen to the other, Elita entered some commands into the terminal in front of her. As she prepared to move across the room, she stopped when she heard a most welcomed familiar voice.

With a smile on her face she addressed the mech that had just arrived.

“Hello Fortress Maximus. I trust you stayed long enough in the repair bay this time.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The gigantic transformer had a tendency to not listen to the medical staff when he, usually, needs to.

With a nod toward Sureshot, Elita looked back to Fortress Maximus.

Autobase Prime - Command Center

"I'm afraid I didn't have much of a choice this time," Fortress Maximus told Elita-1. "Shockwave and Megatron did such a bang-up job on me that I went offline in Polyhex and woke up all the way over in Iacon."

He looked around the Command Center, then examined one mammoth forearm, noticing the gleam on the newly-repaired armor. You know it's bad when you wake up afterward looking better than you did the day you were built. As Sureshot received an answer to his question from Rollbar, Maximus smiled slightly.

"Dangerous mission? Would that be where Prime is, then?"

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

"Yeah Prime gets to go on all the cool. really dangerous missions because he's awesome," said Rollbar to Maximus.
"Erm, Miss Elita One, ma'am, sir?" said Wideload from next to Rollbar, "I picked up a short signal orbiting above the Moonbase where Optimus Prime is supposed to be. It was pretty brief but on a Decepticon frequency,"

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

“Again I totally miss out. It’s more like they made a point not to ask me.”

He said looking at Rollbar. His optics then moved to Fortress Maximus, he spoke with a grin.

“True, you are lookin pretty spiffy big guy.”

As Fortress mentioned Prime Sureshot’s interest pricked up, ~ where was he at the moment? ~ Then Wideload answered his unspoken question. Silently he comment to himself ~ On the moon huh? ~ but then his thoughts were quickly redirected at the mention of Decepticons. He removed one of his riffles and spun it in his hand while he spoke to Wideload.

“I wouldn’t put it past ol’ Megs to have something treacheries waiting up there. Never could trust him. They aren’t called Decepticons for nothing ya know.”

Autobase Prime - Command Center

Ultra Magnus' message from Autobase Tau in the Tagan Heights came in as his face appeared on a holo-screen.

Ultra Magnus wrote:Elita One and Fortress Maximus, Autobase Tau's perimeters are currently under attack by an unknown force of Decepticons. We are currently evacuating our injured to Iacon via the underground tunnels. Requesting support, both combat here and retrieval in the northern border of Tagan. We'll try and push them back, but I don't know how much Tau can take in its current state.

Autobase Prime - Command Center

As Ultra Magnus' visage appeared on the main holo-screen, Fortress Maximus turned and listened carefully. Well. Now we know how the peace conference went. If the Decepticons are attacking Tau, Optimus is almost certainly under attack as well. The architect considered his response for a moment. We're shorthanded here and at Tau. Holding the Line in Nova Cronum is taking up a lot of our mechpower. He looked to Elita-1.

"If I take Wideload to the northern border, we should be able to handle the medevac from Tau," he said. "But I'd bet my last energon cube that if Prime isn't under attack by Megatron already, he will be very soon." Once again, we're burned by our faith in the essential goodness of our kind, he reflected bitterly.

"I'm not sure we have enough forces here in Iacon to aid Tau and Optimus at the same time." He paused. "It's an ugly decision to have to make. Suggestions, Elita?"

Autobase Prime - Command Center

"Hey head honchos, I got an idea that might help the injured in Tau."

Elita 1 and Fortress Maximus turn around to see Ratchet, smirking like always and never down about anything.

"Hows about I handle the medevac. You are gonna need a medical expert," said the chief medic, "so why not send in the best."

Autobase Prime – Command Center

Elita looked to Wideload as the throttlebot brought the fact of an ambush on Prime and Jazz to her attention. The short range sensors seemed to pick up the fiasco on the moon base.

Elita’s fear was made more known when she received an alert for the Heights. According to Ultra Magnus, Autobase Tau was now under attack.

Her mind was a jumble of thought as she processed the two scenarios.

“We are so under handed that we can barely defend ourselves. However, we’re going to have to forego proper procedure and send as much help as we can afford to Tau.”

The femme commander looked to Fortress Maximus and offered a slight sigh. She knew that Megatron wouldn’t abide by the rules, but Prime had to try.

“Max. You’re going to have to lead a team over to Tau to help out. I’ll try to gather a small group to help Prime.”

Autobase Prime – Command Center

Sureshot slapped the riffle back into its holster, as the mood became more serious with Magnus’s message. He looked from Maxinus to Elita, seeing the inner conflict by the emotion in her face. He felt sorry for her for a moment. Then he stared at the computer council deciding his next move. He had come to respect Prime over time and he felt troubled by the prospect of a dirty Decpeticon ambush when it was just Prime and Jazz up there.

“Elita, I…. Wanna help Prime. I volunteer to be the gunner for Prime’s back up if You’ll have me.”

This was a notch down from his normal egotistical self. But he wanted her to see how serious he was, and what better bot to do some shooting than Sureshot? Long ago both Megs and Prime bartered for his allegiance because of his skills, Prime had won out but over time Prime had also earned Sureshot’s respect. Even if at times it seemed Sureshot had no respect at all. He wasn’t about to loose out on a chance to give a little back.

Autobase Prime - Command Center

And here we all thought Sureshot didn't have an earnest cog in his chassis, Fortress Maximus smiled slightly as the shootist volunteered for the mission to aid Optimus Prime. There's a reason he is an Autobot, after all. The large Autobot strode over to a console and punched a few buttons in rapid succession. He already had in mind two other Autobots to send with Elita-1, but it appeared they were nowhere within Autobase Prime's confines.

"This is a fantastic time for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to go missing," he frowned. Tapping a few more buttons on the console, it appeared that at least one shuttle was missing from the Hangars...and no one had followed proper procedure for acquiring use of the craft. "Mystery solved, I suppose. Elita, Prime might already have some help on the way."

Maximus looked to Ratchet. "We'll roll out for the northern border immediately. Wideload, you're with us as well." He saluted Elita-1, then turned to go, before briefly turning back.

"Primus be with you, Elita. And with Optimus."

The large Autobot moved with surprising swiftness from the Command Center, trusting that Ratchet and Wideload would follow him.

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

"Have fun manning the phones," Wideload said patting Rollbar on the shoulder. He transformed and followed Fortress Maximus out of the door.
Rollbar thought there was just a little bit of unfairness that Wideload had got to go on a dangerous mission and he hadn't. He could understand why Wideload had been taken but he would have loved to have gone along too. He turned back to the console and continued monitoring the communications from the Moonbase, "Good thing, we haven't received any distress signal. Bad thing, they may not be able to send a distress signal," he said to Elita.

Departing Autobase Prime

As Ratchet and Wideload followed him to one of the exits of Autobase Prime, Fortress Maximus broke free of the confines of the military installation. Leaping into the air, he transformed into his massive battle station mode, taking the Throttlebot and the medic aboard as he did so. Hovering above the ground on anti-gravity engines, Fortress Maximus engaged his main thrusters and rocketed off toward the border. Using this alternate mode to convey all three of them to the edge of the Tagan Heights would be much quicker than having Ratchet and Wideload drive in their own alternate modes.

"Once we arrive," Maximus told his two passengers, "Wideload will handle triage. Send the most serious cases to Ratchet and my repair bays first. Stabilize the less serious cases with the aid of Cog, and we'll work on them as soon as we can."

The trio flew toward the border, where tunnels from the Tagan Heights would allow the wounded coming from there to reach the relative safety of Iacon. I only hope we're not too late...here and on the moon.

Departing Autobase Prime

"Whee!" said Wideload as he was lifted off, up into the air by Fortress Maximus, "If I had a house I could probably see it from here," he sat back and enjoyed the free ride from the large Autobot, it would probably be the most fun thing about the trip.

Departing Autobase Prime

"I tell ya Fortress I could throw one heck of a party on ya," exclaims Ratchet as he, Wideload, and Fortress Maximus head for Tau.

OOC - I removed your use of another player's character from this post. You're free to edit the post and add more dialogue/actions by Ratchet, but making other players' characters talk, etc. is off-limits.

Autobase Prime – Command Center

The femme commander looked to Fortress Maximus as the gigantic transformer left the command center. She hoped to Primus that Prime was holding his own on the Moon and that Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Jazz are taking care of one another’s backs.

Elita began to move toward the exit when Rollbar brought to her attention that those on the Moon would probably not be able to send a distress signal.

“You’re right, Rollbar. And that’s why I’m heading up there.”

With that, Elita – 1 transformed and headed to the hanger bay.

Autobase Prime – Command Center

Sureshot watched Fortress and the others leave. Then looked at Rollbar as Elita spoke to him. She quickly transformed and headed towards the hanger. Sureshot gave Rollbar a sympathetic look and a slight wave then transformed and headed after Elita-1. He caught up to her and cruised just behind.

“Elita you don’t think their shuttle’s been blown apart do you? After what Rollbar said I just get this sinking feeling ya know…… but don’t worry we’ll show those cons what the wrong end of a laser canon looks like.”

What Sureshot said probably didn’t help her, but he was still trying to recover from his slight step down off his ego. Shooting something always helped but there was no time.

Autobase Prime – Command Centre

"I'm not technical support! This isn't in my job description!" Rollbar shouted annoyed as everyone abandoned him. He listened a bit more to the communications and wondered if he could somehow incorporate a ramp into the Command Centre so that he could practice jumping.

Southern Iacon ~ Tunnels from Tagan

With his transmission to Ultra Magnus dealt with, Trailbreaker opened a link to Autobase Prime. There were a lot of wounded that had made the trip from Autobase Tau, and the Defensive Strategist knew that there would be yet more slowly filtering through the tunnel, far more than he and the few medics that had made the journey could deal with without proper facilities.

>>Trailbreaker to Autobase Prime, anyone home? We've got multiple casuaulties of varying severity that require transport back to base, not to mention the high probablity of more injured making their way here from the battle in Tagan, so someone better get the Medbay online as well<<

Autobase Prime – Command Centre

Rollbar radioed back to Trailbreaker,

Southern Iacon ~ Tunnels from Tagan

As he finally exited the tunnel and looked out over Iacon, Trailbreaker smiled to himself as he heard Rollbar's reply >>Hey, why are you apologising for sending the chief Medic in the Autobot ranks and everyone's favourite Battlestation? That's more than I was expecting. Give me their coordinates and I can let them know what to expect, Trailbreaker out<<

Southern Iacon - Border Zone

As they neared the Border Zone, Fortress Maximus decreased his altitude and slowed to a final stop, touching down on the planet's surface once more with as much grace as an enormous space-going battle station could muster. Once solidly on the ground, anti-grav engines disengaged, ramps lowered and bay doors slid open to ready Fortress Maximus for receiving wounded. As well, Wideload and Ratchet could now exit and make their own preparations for dealing with the casualties from the Tagan Heights.

From within the battle station rolled Gasket and Grommet, the semi-autonomous defense tanks that formed part of the being that was Maximus. The two vehicles approached each other and merged, transforming into Cog. Cog stood ready near one of the repair bays.

And now we just wait for the bad news...