The Energon Pub

Autobase Prime ~ Ark 13

There was a flash of comprehension in Brawn's optics as Ultra Magnus arrived.

"I guess that answers my question, eh Bumblebee."

Seeing the Commander put Brawn at ease that his friends would be well taken care of. Hearing that Ultra Magnus was about to start his briefing, he said goodbye to Bumblebee with a heavy pat on the shoulder and made his way to the exit.

"Hey Ultra Magnus! Good luck. See ya later Autobots."

Leaving the Ark, he decided to head for the command center and find out when they would be going to strike back at the Decepticons in the Tagan Heights. He wanted to be there to settle a score or two. Walking out of the hangar bay at a leisurely pace, he headed for the command center.

Along the way he felt an almost imperceivable glitch in his micro-processors. With a flare of his optics he looked around for a quiet secluded corner where he could be alone. Satisfied that no one was around he ducked into a service junction and knelt down. Removing a portable transmitter from his chest cavity, he turned it on and once again set it to the appropriate coordinates and spoke.

<<Breaker, Breaker. This is agent One, Niner, Seven, Niner reporting. Over.>>

After a few astro-seconds that felt like a vorn a muffled reply came acknowledging his transmission.

<<Autobot Ultra Magnus is leading a team of Autobots on an off-world mission in Ark 13. A significant allocation of resources has been given to him. Destination: Unknown. Mission objective: Unknown. Over.>>

The unknown voice came again to acknowledge receipt of his transmission and signed off. Brawn switched off the transmitter and replaced it to his chest cavity. He got up and carefully slipped back out into the corridors, making sure no one had spotted him. Causally continuing on his way, he headed for the command center.

Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

Brawn arrived just as Roadbuster was leaving. He greeted him as he walked inside. Knowing he had to be careful in here, lest he get stuck watching monitors until his optics fell out, he scanned about. He saw Trailbreaker and made his way over.

"Breaker ol' buddy. How long has it been?"

He shook his longtime friend's hand.

"So what's the story? Are we going to get back to the Heights and kick some Deceptican, or what?"

Autobase Prime ~ Ark 13

Searchlight followed Ultra Magnus onboard. He was curious as to what this mission was all about. The fact they hadn't really been told much at all by Ultra Magnus was something worth taking note of. It was also noteworthy that Magnus was reluctant to speak in front of Autobots not going on the mission, this suggested the mission had some importance. If it was important to the Autobots that meant it would sooner or later become important to the Decepticons too, which always meant trouble.

Western Gate

"Augment Groove?" said Chase, "I think he'll be augmenting me, that's if he can keep up," he winked at Hotspot, "Plus I can be very focused! Give me a job and I'll do it. Never been set a task I haven't done! Of course I won't be able to turn into Defensor with you but then I'm not sure I would..." Chase shuddered at the thought of the Throttlebots being a gestalt team. It didn't agree with him, plus what on Cybertron would the gestalt call himself? What if it wasn't a "him"? There wasn't a rule about male bots having to transform into a male gestalt after all. Very distrubing thoughts, "So when are we going to leave?"

Autobase Prime- Command Center

Road Rage salutes Elita, a femme she respected greatly for her abilities, and rank.
"Yes ma'am!" She says in a cheery manner glad to be away from that radar screen. Granted she'd rather b advising or guarding Elita, but this is a bit more her speed than flipping through radar and sensor settings, monitoring the bleeps, the creeps and the Sweeps. So to speak.
Variety is nice, too. Maybe now she can get up to date on things incase someone needs her advice on the most recent events.

She cheerfully started on the task given.
Luckily Road Rage didn't know she could be mistaken for a Mech.

Autobase Prime: Intelligence Office

Though Jazz knew this technology Mirage described was going to end up being bad news for the Autobots, he had to admit it was impressive. "I got to get me one of those." Jazz smiled as he thought of the things he could do with a shell that did what he wanted. He could have it serve him drinks, do the reports he was suppose to have done, and the advantages in battle wouldn't be too bad either. With someone like Roadblock using this sort of thing it could mean one one thing, trouble.

"Well, Prime should know about this." Jazz paced bit, not quite sure how the Autobot supreme commander would react, "Optimus already has a lot on his processors though. I can work on a plan so it won't look as bad to him. We can get Perceptor or Wheeljack to work on something to counter it, but without a sample of Roadblock's shell thing I don't think they can go very far..."

Ark-13

Sureshot sat aboard the Ark-13 quietly with his pistol in his hands flipping it over slowly. He was growing impatient as usual as he waited to hear what was going on. He lifted his gaze to watch Ultra Magnus for a moment then returned his attention to his weapon.

Autobase Prime- Corridors

<<Yes ma'am,>> said Panzer over his comm. link to Elita ,<<At least if anything does happen, I'll be the first to know!>>

He transformed and proceeded onto the Command
Center. He was not overjoyed with this assignment, but it at least gave the possibility of good conversation.

Autobase Prime- Command Center

He slowly entered the room and transformed at the monitor control seat. He sat down and started getting aquainted with the interface, something he did very little of.

He looked to Road Rage, the fembot was one of the few who helped him when he was in the medbay.

"So what's the current status? We got any action on these things or are we just waiting to get attacked?"

Panzer never liked waiting for combat to start, it got him jumpy. And him being jumpy was NOT a good thing.

Autobase Prime- Command Center

She looks at Panzer quizzically. But then again he might not have been in a good monitoring position. "Current status? Everything was fine last I checked." She sat down at the data console and began processing the data, and learning while she were at it. "Well, one of two things tend to happen for combat." she says stoically. "One, We do, indeed wait to be attacked. And Two, We go on the offensive and are ordered to attack. When either happens, we'll be some of the first to know. So relax. You might find some interesting reports, or some combat data to enjoy later."
"And there are other missions I can't take into account that we might be sent on."

Her face might have smiled as she spoke but her face plate would keep her facial expressions a mystery.

Autobase Prime: Western Gates

Hotspot shook his head at Chase not wanting to enter to debate with the little mech. Instead he turned his attention to the rest of his team as Blades began to fly towards them from the warehouse district. "I did schedule that way First Aid. And still we are behind schedule and to make it worse we haven't even kicked off our schedule." The Protectobot commander fumed a few more moments as he looked at Groove and then at Streetwise. However eventually he gave up the arguement, he would have to make sure that they ran drills when they returned to work on their abilities to follow orders and such.

Turning west Hotspot transformed into his Cybertronian Fire Truck form. "I don't want to hear any excuses about why you guys were late." He retracted his boom and recycled through his various fluid levels to make sure that his tanks were topped off. Once satisfied he started his engine. "Chase, Groove take point, Protectobots Transform and Roll out."

With that he began to drive towards the hill where the science district of Iacon once thrived. Behind him the others were soon to follow, and above Blade's rotors beat against the Cybertronian sky carrying the huge payload underneith. Next Stop the Four Points Hill.

Autobase Prime: Ark 13

Landfill just smiled to Perceptor and then to Windcharger as he continued his work reorganizing the cargohold. He had just finished the massive stack of crates and pallets of spare parts and tools on the far side of the hold nearest to the medical area of the ship. He supposed it was the logical place to stack them considering their importance to any sort of mission away from a fully functional medical center. Towards the main hatch leading outside was the construction resources that had been stored away by the other groups of loaders, weapons and ammunition, energon and all the other essencials were placed in the center away from the armored hull to prevent accidental detonation should a round pierce the ship.

Once satisfied the materials transport sealed up the cargo hatch, once the single CR chamber was firmly secured and headed to the bridge of the Ark. "Landfill reporting sir." His voice rang as clear as the noxious cloud that erupted from his armpits as he saluted the mission commander.

Autobase Prime - The Ark

Hearing a commanding voice outside, Perceptor moved from the cargo bay to the bridge of the Ark, and saw Ultra Magnus coming aboard. The sight was simultaneously a relief and a dissappointment: If such a military-minded Autobot as Magnus were in command, there was little doubt what the mission purpose was.
"Perceptor reporting for duty, Ultra Magnus Sir", Perceptor said as he gave an overexxagerated salute. "Thanks to Landfill we have our full allotment of equipment and Energon for the trip. Permission to assume the Engineering Station and perform a full pre-flight diagnostic, sir."

Leaving Western Gates, Autobase Prime

At Hotspot's word "point" Chase had already transformed, blown past the Protectorbots and was accelerating hard in the rough direction they were heading. His radar scanned the skies and his optics were scanning ahead and to his sides. He didn't expect to find any trouble, this was Iacon after all and was quite secure from Decepticon raids. However a little voice in his head told him that things tend to go badly wrong when you least expect it. He stayed alert for any dangers.

Autobase Prime ~ Ark 13

"All right! Ultra Magnus is here!"

Windcharger was elated to see the Commander. The last time Windcharger had seen him was at the Tagan Heights just before going into stasis lock. Magnus was responsible for getting him to safety, so now he felt a deep sense of obligation to repay his debt.

For the moment, Windcharger managed to contain his excitement. He returned to his seat with the rest of the Autobots awaiting their briefing. The small force of Autobots going on this mission were not the greatest of warriors, but all were hard working, dedicated, and loyal. A smile spread across Windchargers face as he surveyed the group. Again he grew excited at the possibilites this mission offered. There weren't too many big Autobots that would overshadow his contributions.

Now the Autobots will see what I'm capable of.

Autobase Prime – Hanger (Ark 13)

Bumblebee waved to Brawn as the other minibot walked out of the area. Boy, I sure wish Brawn was coming along. I’m sure we could use him. Turning towards Ultra Magnus, the yellow mech smiled slightly and began to make his way on board the Ark.

Autobase Prime ~ Training Facilities

Scattershot was letting the Autobots defeat at Tagan Heights eat away at his psyche. He had to take out some of his agression on the poor, unsuspecting training dummies. Fully reapired from the previous battle, Scattershot felt like he was in peak form. Landing a devastating blow on his training partner deactivated the drone which was now in serious need of repair. Glaring at the motionless drone, his temper got the better of him.

"How in the name of Primus am I supposed to get any training done on this worthless equipment?! I should be out taking care of business with the Decpticons! SLAG! Once I get my hands on them I'm gonna tear them apart, melt them down, rebuild them, then tear them apart again! ARGGHHHH!"

With a surge of energon coursing through his body, Scattershot tore the limbs off the sparring dummy. Standing there panting, with debris scattered about him, he realized he needed to calm down. Signalling some worker-bots to clean up his mess for him he left for the command center.

I need to get out of here. I'll go to the command center and get a status update, then I'll take Strafe out for some recon. We'll find some Decepti-tweerps to stomp on.

Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

By the time Scattershot had reached the command center he had calmed down significantly. Approaching Elita-1 with a salute, he smiled.

"Scattershot reporting. Any word from big bot yet Elita? I figure rather than wait around here, I'll take Strafe with me and do a little recon. How's that sound? I'll even try to stay out of trouble."

He knew that Elita-1 wasn't likely to believe that last statement, but as leader of the Technobots he had to appear like less of a liability than he can sometimes be. He was far from being levelheaded like Lightspeed and Nosecone. His effectivness as a leader lay in his ability to lead by example. He would never ask one of his bots to do something he wouldn't do himself, and there were few things Scattershot wouldn't do. Putting his life on the line for the Autobot cause came naturally to him. This stemmed from the sense that his actions undoubtedly had an effect on the outcome of the war. Therefore, he felt a deep responsibility to act heroically at every opportunity.

((OCC:- sorry I've been away so long between christmas and tests I've hardly had any free time. Sorry!))

Autobase Prime -Corridors

Strafe was wandering through the corridors having gotten separated from the people he was travelling with. Hoping nothing too bad had happened especially with his innate paranoia telling him something was about to happen.

Well he knew he couldn't help it but sometimes his paranoia really did grate on peoples nerves. Idly the thought that perhaps his separation had been intentional crept through his processor of course he quickly dispelled this notion and carried on walking.

Autobase Prime - Prime's Ready Room

Jetfire nodded at Optimus Prime.

"Thank-you for giving me this task, Prime. I know that your desicion to accept me into the Autobots was controversial to some and I swear I will do my best to find such a world. But the world, Earth... we cannot leave it to the Decepticons. In my time there, I found a planet of the most incredible nature... Cybertron is a dying planet, maybe instead of looking for a planet we can mine to power Cybertron, we should look for a planet to colonise for the Autobots instead."

Autobase Prime - Intelligence Offices

"A sample would be ideal," Mirage nodded. "Or better yet, Roadblock himself. There is probably some modification to his original robot form to allow him to control other components. If we had him on a table, I'm sure Perceptor and the others could somehow reverse-engineer the technology."

After a moment, a bitter laugh escaped his vocalizer. "Of course, how do we capture a Decepticon general alive without all of us getting killed in the process?"

It was a conundrum, certainly.



Autobase Prime - Armory

"Were the Decepticons that took you out blue and gray, and exceptionally ugly?" Sunstreaker asked Bluestreak. "Flying type, with some sort of heat lasers? If they were, those were the same drones that Megatron had ambush Optimus Prime and Jazz on Moon Alpha. We tangled with a few of them, and their leader."

Sunstreaker chuckled. "I guess he was their leader. He was the one with the beard, anyway."



Autobase Prime - Prime's Ready Room

"I've never questioned your loyalty, Jetfire," Optimus Prime reassured the scientist. "Your first loyalty is to the survival of your race and your planet. If that's not an Autobot sentiment, I don't know what is."

He considered Jetfire's statement regarding a colony. After a moment, he spoke once more.

"A colony is one idea. I hesitate to write off our homeworld just yet, but the statistics suggest that you're right, and that Cybertron is dying..." He paused again. "Still. We survived the Great Shutdown. This planet seems to know, at times, what it needs to do to continue to exist. I don't know if we figure into its plans for survival, though." Since we're the ones who seem to be causing its death...

"I trust you'll find a suitable candidate, whatever we decide to do, in the end." Prime stood once more. "Dismissed, Jetfire. You may be able to join Hot Spot and his team if you hurry."

With Fortress Maximus dismissed to work on strategy and now Jetfire having received his mission, Prime wondered if there were any matters that required his attention before he moved on to the next dilemma. Such was the existence of an Autobot leader.

Ark 13 ~ Bridge

Nodding to the various Autobots greeting him, Ultra Magnus made the short trip to the bridge of the Ark, still taking in the realisation that he was now in command of all of this instead of Optimus as it normally was. Noting the presence of Sureshot, already seated and typically with weapon in hand, and Windcharger, looking much better than the last time the City Commander had seen him, along with Bumblebee and Searchlight who followed him onto the Ark, it only left 2 members of the Iacon detachment unaccounted for, well, momentarily at least.

As Landfill and Perceptor arrived and simultaneously greeted him, Magnus returned the salutes before replying "Thank you for the update Perceptor, by all means, please proceed with the system check. Thank you Landfill, please take a seat so I may begin the mission briefing" The City Commander finished, quickly moving to the top of the bridge, partly to begin the briefing, partly to put distance between himself and Landfill's unique odour.

"Ok, nearly everyone's here, the others from Nova Cronum will be briefed later.." Ultra Magnus began "..I've already kept you in the dark long enough, and I apologise for that, recent experiences in Tagan have made me more wary than ever when it comes to the possibility of infiltrators. To that end, any communication with Autobase Prime must be sent with the highest level of encryption possible, and you must also recieve coded confirmation from Autobase Prime before the message is sent, Trailbreaker is fully aware of this, so don't forget, I don't want anything jeopardising this mission"

The City Commander paused as he let his words sink in. Perhaps he was overreacting a little bit, but he wasn't about to take any chances on this one, not when so many innocents lives were dependant upon him. After a few moments, he turned his attention to the actual mission briefing, and not before time.

"Now, our mission is a direct response to Grimlock's findings, and working under the assumption that the Insecticons have passed on the same findings to Megatron. We know that Planet AC 488 possessess an abundance of resources that will more than likely prove far too tempting for Megatron to ignore, such is the current situation with Cybertron's dwindling supplies. This would be enough of a reason by itself in most normal cases, but this planet also is home to over 6 billion sentients, who have no idea of our existence, and will be easy targets for the Decepticons.."

Pausing once more to let the reality and possibilities sink into each 'Bots thoughts, Ultra Magnus kept his focus on the briefing "..I don't need to tell you what the Decepticons could do to the sentients, it doesn't bare thinking about. Needless to say, we must find and stop them while they are still in phase 1 of the Infiltration Protocol, if they reach phase 2, well, it won't be impossible to carry out our mission, but it will make it considerably harder.."

Ultra Magnus looked to each Auotbot in turn as he continued speaking "..Whatever awaits us on AC 488, we must not fail, we must not let the 'Cons get the upper hand in any way, this isn't about us any more, this is about the 6 billion innocents who's lives are at stake, and I'll be slagged if I'm gonna let the 'Cons have their way with them" The City Commander finished, slightly taken aback with his unusual display of intensity, perhaps the Tagan incident was still influencing him more than he'd like to admit.

Re-composing himself, Magnus looked once more at his team "Optimus had informed me that he will be along to have a final word with us before we depart, while he is finishing up with his prior engagements, are there any questions about the mission?"

---------------------------------
Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

"Hmm, looks like Elita's got everything under control.." Trailbreaker pondered to himself as he watched the Femme organize and assign orders to the various 'Bots radioing across the base for something to do. As he sat there casually glancing over the security monitors for the umpteenth time, the Defensive Strategist heard the familiar voice ofBrawn calling to him, before he shook his hand in greeting.

"Too long Brawn, too long.." Trailbreaker began in reply to the minibot "..As for what's next on the cards, I'm afraid Optimus is still in meetings at the moment, trying to work out the best course of action. If you want to be involved, your best bet is to stick around here for the time being, keep me company before my circuits fry from looking over the same monitors again and again.." Trailbreaker joked, knowing Brawn at least had something resembling a sense of humour "..What have you been up to anyway?"

--------------------------------------------------
Autobase Prime ~ Corridors

"Yep, so that needs work, along with those as well, and..." Jedishen trailed off in his own thoughts as he realised that he had lost contact with all 3 of the 'Bots he was supposed to be walking with "..Oops, done it again" The Scout thought to himself as he looked round to see neither Strafe, Blurr or Stormfire anywhere behind him. Tracking back over the last few corridors, Jedishen soon found Blurr and Stormfire together, but no Strafe.

"Uh, sorry I kinda wandered off a bit there.." The Scout began, replacing his damaged weapons back to their various mountings "..Where's Strafe? I thought he would be with you 2" Jedishen finished, slightly concerned with the Technobot's disapearance.

Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

Brawn chuckled in reply to Trailbreaker. The two autobots had much in common. Neither specialized in warfare, but both were among the toughest Autobots. Brawn felt that they were probably both forged from the same batch of steel countless vorns past.

"I don't think either of us have the optics for the kind of work Elita might put us to. Ever since I got back from the Tagan Heights I've been hoping that Prime would send us back in. Although, I've been having this funny glitch in my processors. Ratchet gave me a clean bill of health. Must've jarred something in the fight with the Decepticons. Not enough to slow me down though. Am I right?"

Brawn roughly nudged Trailbreaker with his elbow, forgetting his own strength. Casually leaning against the wall, Brawn's optics looked toward Optimus Prime's ready room.

"How long has the boss been in there? It doesn't seem like there's much happening with the LSC already gone and Magnus about to leave. It's just too slaggin' quiet here."

Autobase Prime - The Ark

Perceptor nodded at Ultra Magnus' orders and sat at the nearby Central Engineering Station, and began a rundown of the ships systems. His routine met pauses as he pondered on what the City Commander was saying.

Systems energising...Infiltrators? I wasn't aware the Decepticons had any sizable number of agents within our ranks. But then I suppose that's the point...initial energising complete...full encryption needed, I'll have to make a note of it, perhaps adjust the default comms settings to use them....Integrity field checks out....weapons....a planet with that many resources, even with the expenditure of spaceflight? Remarkable, a jewel of a world....this won't be a mining expedition will it?....sentients? 6 billion? On one world? Oh my, that raises all sorts of...How do they....He's right, the Decepticons will enslave anyone less powerful than themselves, with their own mix of subterfuge and brutality. Oh, such a waste! All those sentients, with their unique attributes and their energy productions and....so much... A beep brought him back to reality.

"Er, Ultra Magnus Sir, all systems have checked out at above nominal levels. The Ark may depart at any time. Erm...would it be imprudent for me to ask for additional details as to the makeup of this planet and it's inhabitants, at this stage?"

Autobase Prime ~ Ark 13

Windcharger tried his best not to look like he was eavesdropping on Perceptor, but he was curious as ever to find out more about this new mission and Perceptor was likely to have a handle on the big picture. To him, Perceptor was somewhat of an anomaly. Their personality chips couldn't be much more different. Where Windcharger was quick to act, Perceptor was methodical in his approach. The couple of times Windcharger had caught Perceptor talking to himself, made him laugh heartily. Perceptor's idiosyncrasies were always a source of humour.

At the moment, Windcharger was intrigued following a new line of reasoning. Six billion sentient beings on a planet that sounded like it had no defense against the Decepticons. This definately wouldn't be an average exploration mission if the Decepticons decided to show up.

Windcharger found himself wondering about these sentient beings. Would they be as intelligent as a Transformer? Perceptor had also mentioned creating new alt modes as disguises. Would their new forms be anything like those on Cybertron? Are these sentients aware of the vast energy resources on their planet? Would they be willing to share?

Sitting back and shaking his head, Windcharger tried to put all these questions out of his mind for the time being. There would plenty of time for questions on the way to this new planet. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long to get there. He knew that sometimes his eagerness was a bit annoying to the other Autobots.

Just sit tight. Relax. Don't bother anyone while they're getting ready.

Windcharger sat quietly, for once, looking as calm as possible. This was no time to blow a fuse.

*EDIT* Fuzzy pointed out that I can't read minds. Duh!

Autobase Prime - Hallways

Stormfire looked around, Jedishen was right Strafe seemed to have disappeared.

‘We must have lost him a while back, I’ll back track and see if I can find him, and we’ll all meet back up at the command centre, If Strafe’s thinking he should head in that direction, he knows where we were going.’

Stormfire set off back down the hallways looking for the Technobot; he was a good mech and a good friend even after what had happened at Tagan. Stormfire turned a corner and spotted the mech wandering down a hallway slightly off their route.

‘Strafe over here, Blurr and Jedishen are heading up to command and I volunteered for search and rescue’ Stormfire hurried to join up with the Technobot.

Ark 13, Autobase Prime

Searchlight listened to what Ultra Magnus had to say about the mission. His initial hunch had been right. Of course those sentient life forms would make the whole task a lot more complicated. He raised his hand to ask a question, "What level of technology do these sentient life forms have? Do they have inter-stellar travel or have they yet to master metalwork? Also do we know what their reaction will be if and when they discover giant, alien robots in their midst?"

Autobase Prime - Hallways

Strafe jumped when he heard his name called out he almost drew his weapon but he recognised the voice and instead turned round looking a little embarrassed as he heared Stormfire explain what was going on.

"Heh sorry this place is almost like a maze; I turned round for a moment and when I turned back I couldn't see any of you. Naturally I got a tad paranoid and well...I wandered" he did seem rather embarrassed about that whole thing after all he should know his way round better than that.

Still he was greatful for Stormfire comming to look for him; he was always nervous about being left on his own anywhere. What with his fear of people creeping up on him and trying to kill him and all that stuff.

He stood as he waited for the Stormfire to catch up with him "Thanks for comming to look for me though. I appreciate it."

Autobase Prime: Intelligence Office

Jazz didn't like the idea of facing down a such a high level Decepticon for this technology. It wouldn't be very hard to reverse engineer this shell thing if they had the original, but the Decepticon would have to be alive and in one piece for it to work, and most likely Roadblock would rather be like that then captured. Jazz thought on it, figuring something out, about a possible idea. "All we need is the blueprints on it so to speak. It stands to reason that the Decepticons wouldn't have destroyed them so they replicate it on others in their force. So ... getting those specs might be a better option.

Jazz paused and tapped his chin, "Well, ummm... any plan we come up with is bound to be risky, unless we can get Roadblock to step into a scanner..." Jazz just sighed, "Well, I'll think of something. So... is there anything else?" he asked Mirage.

Autobase Prime: Western Gates

"So we still end up being late..." First Aid transformed into his hovercraft alt mode and followed behind. There wasn't much he could do to try and get his way out of the mission so he could focus on his various projects, but he figured once Hot Spot started something there would be no stopping him.

Autobase Prime - Command Center

Fortress Maximus had quietly--as quietly as one of his great size was capable, at any rate--excused himself from Prime's ready room soon after it became clear that the Autobot leader no longer required his direct input. The High Commander remained troubled by recent trends in both their overall strategy and their fortunes in the Great War. First, they had lost the Heights, opening up a new and potentially vulnerable front against the Decepticons. Then, Ultra Magnus had been dispatched to AC488 to check the activities of Megatron's forces there. And now Jetfire was being dispatched to seek out new worlds to plunder for resources.

"Plunder" was, perhaps, too harsh a description; he had no doubt that Prime and the rest of the Autobot leadership would take every precaution to ensure that the local ecosystem suffered minimal lasting damage, regardless of the presence of sentient life forms. Nevertheless, the prospect did not sit easily with Maximus. How long could it be before the capable Decepticon intelligence network uncovered such an operation, and dispatched their own task force to deal with it? Far from narrowing the scope and the waste of the present conflict, they seemed poised to broaden its scale to previously unimagined dimensions. Even his most conservative estimates projected a level of devastation far beyond anything he could reconcile with his most basic values.

But he had held his vocalizer; it was not his place to gainsay Prime before a subordinate. And the Supreme Commander would already be well aware of Maximus' concerns.

And so he did the only thing he could. He returned to the Command Center to contemplate the status of the Heights, and the war in general, his vast intelligence attempting to calculate the most efficient means of striking back at the Decepticons. War was an ugly business, but Maximus was committed to victory. A tortured conscience was a small price to pay for the survival of Cybertron and the Transformer race.