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Shuttle

Roulette was about to reply to Elita-1's disappointing remarks when suddenly the engines activated. The shuttle suddenly jumped and Roulette flew towards the wall.

Shuttle

Having been mostly just background decoration amongst the group of Autobots at this point, old rust bucket Patchwork finally spoke up for the first time: "Well, now that we've more or less avoided immediate termination and replaced it with possible termination, would all of ya please raise yer servos if you're dying?" An awkward pause. Misplaced gallow humour, how lovely.

"All right, stupid question!" He grumbled as he immediately started assessing whoever was in the most dire need of repair. Obviously, his own well-being did not account into this, if his scarred metal hide was any indication.

Shuttle

Firestar brought herself to her feet with a grunt of effort. Chastising herself for her undignified appearance, the rescuer searched to for a seat and took a seat.

Thunderclash wrote:"Are you alright? Is everyone alright?"

Firestar gave Thunderclash a nod. "I'll live. Are you okay, Commander?"

A new voice joined the group. Firestar noticed that it came from a older-looking 'Bot. She stood and pointed to Thunderclash. "I presume you're a medic? Thunderclash needs to be looked at."

Firestar turned to return to her seat, only for the hyperdrive engines to kick in and throw her to back of the shuttle.

"SOLUS DAMN IT!"

Shuttle

"Sorry!" Elita called out, keeping her optics glued to the navicomputer even as she heard various crewmates being thrown about by their sudden jump to transwarp.

Better than the alternative...

"Fraggin' sparks, I can't believe we pulled that off," she muttered.

Now, at least, they were on course. Where? She hadn't decided yet, but getting away from that monstrosity of a ship and Skyquake and his Predators was all that mattered right now.

"Chromey, can you take the wheel for a sec?"

Shuttle

“You got it, ‘Lita,” Chromia said wearily, giving Elita a pat on the shoulder. Plopping down in the pilot’s seat with a huff, she tried to get a feel for the shuttle. Decepticon engineering wasn’t exactly something she was well practiced with, but it couldn’t be too different from any old shuttle. Same principles applied.

Back in the passenger bay, Thunderclash held up a hand to Patchwork, not to indicate that he needed repair, but signaling for him to stop.

“Attend to Road Rage, Boss, and the others first, Patchwork,” he said before the shuttle jostled violently once more. He managed to reach out and catch Firestar before she was flung all of the way into the wall, heaving her back to her seat as she uttered a string of profanities.

“But perhaps that would best wait until the turbulence has calmed.”

“Uh-oh,” Chromia’s voice came from the pilot cabin. Following it, a sudden loud rumbling and quake shook the ship.

“That…did not sound good,” Thunderclash commented, strapping Firestar in.

“Hang on, everyone!” Chromia shouted over the low roar, “We’re not out of this just yet!” From where she sat, Chromia held onto the steering wheel and jabbed several buttons while alarms and warning bleeped at her on several monitors.

“I slaggin’ know! Now go away, ya blasted-“

BOOM!

((OOC: Everyone aboard the shuttle, we will be moving to the new thread Hoven – Buried Secrets.))

Nemesis - Hangar

The hangar was a chaotic mess. Troops trying to flee in shuttles, others finding themselves being crushed beneath shifting scaffolding or loose crates, and to make matters worse, the airlock was open and pull anything not tied down into the vacuum of space. Of the Deceptions that went chasing after Thunderclash and his brigade, Stalker and Snare immediately entered the hangar to find themselves getting pulled away from their target. The Predators tried to anchor themselves to the ground beneath them, but find no such luck as they were pulled into the void behind them.

>>“Mag-boots aren’t working! I-I’m losing hold!! SKYQUAKE!! HEELLLL-“<< Stalker attempted to comm as he slowly disappeared out through the airlock. Skyquake soon bursted through the corridor, only to catch sight of the Autobot procured shuttle.

Before the sky commandant could further react, the intensity of the depressurization had his boots scrapping against the floorC trying to pull him out the airlock as well. When he lost his footing, Skyquake drove his digits into the hangar floor. The ship seemed to rumble and screech as his actuators tried to keep his hold aboard the ship.

“Enough of this! I command you to cease this ridiculous ploy against my crew!” Skyquake barked out. Metal rustled and the shipped seemed to let out what sounded like a growl.

”Hahaha! Fool, you have no command over ME! You are no Megatron!”

“Cursed beast! You dare insult your commander?!”

”You lost command when you brought the city-speaker aboard! You thought you could hide her, but I see ALL!”

Storage containers disengaged from the crane overhead and began to tumble towards Skyquake. The sky commandant braced himself, believing his toughened armor could withstand the barrage. While his armor all but dented in a few spots, the collision did manage to loosen his grip enough to lose hold of the vessel.

“No! NO!! NOOOOO!!” Skyquake bellowed as he drifted through the threshold. Once outside the ship, Skyquake tried to regain his bearings before he watched the distance between he and the Nemesis slowly drift further and further apart. The Predator commander was quick to transform into his jet mode, rocketing himself towards the ship.

”You are relieved of duty.” The ship bellowed our once more before firing its engines into full power and slipping into transwarp.

Skyquake’s engines cut and the Greens and black Decepticon halted his course as he watched the vapor trails disappear further into the cosmos.

“DAMN YOU TRYPTICON!!! DAMN YOU TO THE VERY PITS YOU CRAWLED OUT OF!!”

Space - Later

Floating. Waiting. That’s all Skyquake could do now. He was left stranded, his ship was gone, and to make matters worse, Thunderclash managed to get away in all this...

>>“Skyquake? Are you there?”<< Came a voice echoing in his audio receptor. It was Snare.

>>”Skyquake here, I read. What is your status?”<<

>>”Skydive and Falcon managed to procure a shuttle shortly after being ejected from the Nemesis. We just retrieved Talon and Stalker and closing in on your signal.”<<

>>”Can Stalker locate the Nemesis, our current position, and any nearby Decepticon station within the system?”<<

There was a moment of silence after his inquiry. While he was waiting, a curious thought came across the stranded Decepticon. Skyquake flipped opened a panel along his forearm and began looking through his files. He still had Thunderclash’s map...

>>”Stalker here. Scanners not picking anything up within the current system. We were the furthest operating vessel last time I checked the star map back aboard the Nemesis. Appears the closest outpost to our current position would be Char, but we’re looking at a few months time unless someone stumbles across us along the way.”<<

>>”And what’s our timeframe for these coordinates?”<< Sky asked as he transmitted the supposed destination of Thunderclash’s “mystical map”. There was another moment of silence as Stalker plugged in the numbers.

>>”A cycle or two, give or take. But the destination is... vague.”<<

>>”Of course it is, but it’s the last known place Thunderclash was heading before our eviction. We head that way, try to catch them in an ambush!”<<

>>”But Sir, that’s chasing legends and fairy ta-“<<

>>”It’s not about his ill-feed fable! If we cannot return to Megatron with his flagship in tow, then we shall bring him the head of each Autobot that managed to escape our grasp!”<<

Another moment of silence passed on the comms again.

>>”Understood. We’re closing in on your position.”<<

Skyquake’s jade optics soon fixated on the hull of the recovered shuttle. A hatch opened along the side of the vehicle and he could see the optics of his fellow Predators standing behind the viewports that lie before him. The green and black Decepticon made his way onboard, the thought of Thunderclash’s doom driving each step.





((OOC: If we would like to close the thread, we may.))