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Nearing the Curtain Wall

"When I get my hands on that retardacon, I'm going to make him pay for not being gentle with my bucket", mumbled Long Haul huffing along ahead of Scavenger but far behind Bonecrusher. "No one, I repeat no one, dents me and get's away with it. Once I dump my load, your in the slag heap; YOU HEAR ME, SLAG HEAP!!" hollared Long Haul, with anger shown in his head lights, as he was still in vehicle mode carrying the materials that were not only in his dump box, but also in his sub-space compartment.

After hearing about another trip going to have to happen, Long Haul wasn't too thrilled. Long-Haul was made even more angerier. "I'ma slag every single one of my brotheres when Im done here!"

After alot more astro-seconds then what he estimated, Long Haul finally made it to the curtain wall. Slowing down, Long Haul turned around and stopped, before reversing up to 'Crushers dropped load and tilted his box up, dumping the contents of both his box and sub-space compartment. After that was completed, Long Haul quickly then transformed and stared at the other constructicon.

"After our job here is down, Im going to slag you into pieces, and create tools out of you to help me undent my backside!"

Tagan Heights- The Warehouse District

Beneath her face plate she cracked a smile receiving Mindwipe's signal. Frag if she knew who he was more than what she read as the two had never met in person, rather passing like ships in the night in the two phase assault of the Autobot territories that won them Tagan Heights, but he certainly is the bearer of good news. >>On my way, Sir.<<

Maybe Thunderwing were here? Considering Mindwipe's last post and no news of other conquests it was possible.
She wasn't sure what it was, and it was a frustrating thing that had her eager to follow under Thunderwing. Maybe because he fed her little addiction, but addiction is a to strong of a word.
He set her on Tagan Heights and she fought many enemies there. A radical change from the purgatory she had been in. It was like.. receiving a gift. Something rare in this army.

"Hn, looks like we aren't carrying anything back, are we?" she looks at Silver. "Duty calls."

She radios to Scrapper. >>I must apologize, but I've been called by Mindwipe into service, I'll be reporting to him A.S.A.P. SilverStrike has the information.<< she says calmly to him.

Shrike's mood seems to have lightened, though only a gleam in her emerald optics would show this. "Shall we report to Mindwipe, then?" Her tone is professional, but some cheer slips through.
Getting the go ahead to leave from Silver, she salutes Silver then walks outside the warehouse before she transforms into her sleek cruising mode, blasting off back to Tau like a shrikebat out of pit.
Maybe another like present was coming to her? A chance to battle?


Tagan Heights- Landing Pad

Silver's high speed meant she likely beat Shrike to the landing Pad even with Shrike's head start.

Coming in at high speed just as Shrike left the warehouse district, she ended the trip coming in at a sane speed transforming as she landed. Her engines keeping her from landing on her feet noisily or harshly. She landed with similar grace to Silver.

She immediately saluted her superiors, then Mindwipe specifically, "Shrike reporting for immediate departure, Sir."
With that she headed for the Longshot after Silver, and likely Mindwipe.

On the way she caught a glimpse of Thunderwing finally seeing him in person. He is a busy Mech., so she feels it wise not to bother him.
Still, it's nice to see him in person rather than via the radio.

She enters the shuttle looking around a bit to become familiar with the craft. She wasn't used to flying without her thruster systems powering it. She wasn't sure if it were a welcome change or not.
She sat at the first passenger seat available.

Her stoic appearance hid the deeply buried granule excitement over the 'immediate departure' as she reigned herself in on the way to the pad to keep her soldier mentality strong. She didn't show much emotion, and she likes it that way. In fact she'd not mind showing even less. At least as far as self control went.
Without the discipline she has now she probably would have been giggling and jumping for joy like an air head when she got news of the potential for warfare.

Deceptibase Tau - Power Generators

>>Best of luck Silverstrike, Shrike. I would hope to see you back again soon.<<
Scrapper was a little dismayed at the news of the femme's departure, but he couldn't argue with them being given official orders. Besides, what data they had gathered would be useful, and now that he had already redesigned the Autobot's power systems to a workable standard, the task of actually constructing the things wasn't terribly appealling. Besides, Hook could do a much better job of it than him, even if it would take him much longer.
"I have to leave gentlemechs, business has come up, and I need to see exactly where we stand. Hook, I trust after your excellent job below you can command Mixmaster and Ruckus here." With this, he headed out of the room.

Deceptibase Tau - Control Council Room

Scrapper made his way to the main meeting point of the base, where many a charred spot on the wall marked where an Autobot symbol had been. Sure enough, Silverstrike had left the data there. Examining the contents of the datapad, Scrapper could see it had been worth it: Optical, magnetic and infrared data all greatly expanded his view on where they might find what they needed. Scavenger and company would be busy.
Too bad this is a relatively middle-sized job, or we'd be building retrieval drones to carry for us.
Then something noticed something on the Infrared readouts, a large red spot that, when crossreferenced with an optical map, corresponded to a nearby Energon refinery. That's.....worrying. I'll need to check that out, promptly. He began to tune his radio, trying to see who was available in the region.

Curtain Wall

Triggerhappy was already forgotten as Bonecrusher turned around to face Long Haul. "Ah, come off it, Haul, you know you like the attention of gettin' someone ta beat the dents outta ya. Yeah, getting Hook to go over yer aft, yeah, you love that stuff." He began to casually toss his pile of blocks into the gap in the wall, ignoring that a steel framework and liquid crete where needed first for them to add bulk to.
Scavenger rolled up and dumped the last of the ferrocrete, unable to muster the current even to suggest Bonecrusher act nicer.

(ooc: guess where the first line comes from? Which movie?)
Curtain Wall

" 'Crusher, you son of a Petro-rabbit!" hollared Long Haul raising as fist towards the constructicon. "You idiot, your forgetting to lay the framework, and the liquid 'crete. With the current way your heading, there'll be a hole size enough that Optimus Prime can easily walk through with no problem; and about your comment about my aft, just.....ARGHHH", screamed Long Haul clenching his fists and waving them around madly.

Curtain Wall

Wolfblade patrolled silently gun ready and finger on trigger. She noticed a few Construticons and decided to keep her distance. She removed the scope on her rifle, and stood back at a good range so she wouldn't be spotted by the construticons and bothered. She looked through the scope and looked for any valuble objects or weapons or even technologies they may be carrying.

Deceptibase Tau - Landing Pad

Megatron spared only a brief glance back at the Stunticons before activating the shuttle’s engines. “We go to Polyhex, you will receive your mission there.” With that said the shuttle rose up into the air and shot off for Polyhex.

Curtain Wall

'Ah frag!' Triggerhappy thought as he closed his optics and got ready for what would likely be a severe pounding from the far stronger Bonecrusher. But, thankfully it never came. Triggerhappy slowly reopened his optics and saw that Bonecrusher had been distracted.

"Thank the maker. Now, its time to get out of here!" He said as he turned around, planning on running as fast as he could, when Mindwipe's message arrived.

>>On my way.<< Came Triggerhappy's reply as he transformed and headed for landing pad one.

Deceptibase Tau - Power Generators

"Don't worry about me." Hook replied to Scrapper as he left. "You know how much I enjoy being in command."

Hook looked at both Mixmaster and Ruckus for a moment. He knew what to do with Mixmaster, but was unsure what to do with Ruckus. Due to not knowing the Decepticon especially well.

"Ruckus, any particualr qualities of yours I can use to my advantage?" He asked.

Deceptibase Tau - Curtain Wall

"WILL BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!??!?!", an exasperated Scavenger screamed at the apoplectic Long Haul and the chortling Bonecrusher. "Look, Long Haul, I know you're annoyed at all the bad jobs and 'Crusher's back-talk, and Bonecrusher, I know you're bored out of your mind not breaking things, but we have a job to do, and a lot of very large and very angry decepticons who we'll have to deal with if we're late. I don't want to, but we've got to get moving again, because that's our job.
.
.
....I'm sorry if that speech wasn't all noble and patriotic like Scrapper's ones. Speechwriter isn't my function."

Scavenger transformed to robot mode in order to rest his shovel arm. "There's steel been found by the fliers about a half-megamile North-northeast of the previous spot, so it should be a shorter journey than the last one. I'm going to head over there and sniff it out, I suppose I should reccommend you guys come too. Or ask, or order, or some other word. Bah, no wonder I've got such a niche function..."

Scavenger walked off, resigned to his lot in life dejectedly. Bonecrusher walked after him.
"Least I can figure what he says, not like Scrapper." He then looked behind him, in a toolate flash of insight. "Wasn't there someone....huh. Never mind."

Command Council room

Scrapper flicked through the various frequencies on his radio, and watched as a list of available units came up. There were several fliers around, but all were registered as having existing orders. He thought about contacting Scorponok for direct aid, but then saw that the Designated Command bands where under the control of Thunderwing, of all people.
The politics has started already. Wonderful. Scrapper decided to take things into his own hands, and patched into an altogether different frequency: The central command signals for the squadrons of Sweep Drones surrounding the base.
>>Command Code CR8R, bypass priority 3: Sweep unit 327, acknowledge orders: NonCombatFlyto Cybertron Master Coordinates 130/45 dot 657/3211 dot 19/34, Execute ReconA4 Duration 100K, Labels AllSensors PriorityIR, Transmit AllFindings to DesignatedAlly Scrapper, stop. Acknowledge and Execute?<<
>>ACKNOWLEGDED, EXECUTING<<
...Is 'acknowledged' misspelt in their programming? Aaaragh.

Skies over Deceptibase Tau

Sweep Drone 327 tore away from it's squadron of patrolling drones and swept in a wide arc over the front yard of the base, past Triggerhappy and over the heads of Wolfblade and the Constructicons, heading for a distant, almost imperceptible plume of smoke.

Decepticon Outpost - Landing Pad

Grimlock an' the LSC? Now there's news. Part of the ground forces commander was wary of the possibility of a Dynobot assault on the Heights, but the utterly fearless part of him - which comprised at least 99.9% of his being - relished the thought of tangling with the Lightning Strike Coalition. Been a long time since I had ta take down any o' them LSC glitches. With fondness he recalled memories of battles in the Dark Ages. Been a long, long time.

"Nothin' against Clench an' his crew," Roadblock began, "but I'd best ride out on patrol as well. Not that they couldn't handle the Dynobots, but figger Grimlock's got at least a few more of his ol' gang with him. I'll send my vehicle shell out ta their coordinates." A gob of fluid hit the ground with a wet splat. "Wit' yer permission, o' course."

He continued, answering Thunderwing's first query second. It was a subtle but calculated bit of borderline insubordination, meant to annoy more than challenge. Roadblock had played this game often enough to know that now wasn't the best time to go toe-to-toe with the new commander. Time'll come. Keep it...civil...fer now. Another glob hit the ground as he began speaking.

"Status report is gettin' close ta somethin' like normal operations 'round here," he said. "Scrapper's boys have the fires in the energon refineries contained fer now, an' we should have the factories runnin' soon. A quick reformat ta produce the new drones, an' we'll start crankin' 'em out."

He paused. "My concern? Mechpower. We ain't got the chassis ta hold this place 'gainst a real invasion. Raid or two, we'll hold. Half o' Iacon comes knockin' at our gate, though...ain't gonna be pretty."

Decepticon Outpost - Landing Pad - Thunderwing

Thunderwing stroked his chin as he listened to Roadblock's words. "You make a good point. Our intelligence suggests that shuttle contains nearly the entire Lightning Strike Coalition. Permission granted."

There was no denying the power this fascinating new Pretender technology had granted Roadblock. The Valckastan had been intrigued with the revolutionary process ever since he had first read Scorponok's files on the subject. As his special sensors revealed the transmissions between the Ground Forces Commander and his vehicle drone, Thunderwing found himself all the more interested.

This Pretender technology is far to great an opportunity to pass up, he mused. Now that it has been field tested, I must remember to speak to Scorponok about it.

Filing that away for another day, the Warlord returned to the matter at hand. He nodded as he listened to the coarse Pretender's report. "That is good news indeed," he said, referring to the progress in rebuilding.

Nevertheless, Roadblock was right about the mechpower situation. It was a serious problem. Many of his own lesser functionaries could be brought in from Tyrest to tend to their industrial needs, but that did little to bolster their fighting forces. And it is not as if I can simply take the forces I require from another City-State. Troops are spread this as they are. Unless...

"Polyhex!" he announced. "That is it, Roadblock. Polyhex is the answer to our Mechpower shortage. Starscream and Cyclonus have the bulk of the Empires Air Forces in Polyhex. And many of your own troops are there as well. Now that the Guardian has been routed, I see little need for them to remain there. I think perhaps, between the two of us, Megatron can be convinced that those forces, such as they are, would be better used defending a city that is still standing."

Decepticon Outpost - The Longshot - Mindwipe

Mindwipe hesitated as he received Silverstrike's transmission. Something is...unusual all right. Yes. he thought. But then...there lies the conundrum...Yes?

<<Nothing is wrong...My Shining One. Yes. His Lordship has assigned you to this mission, and Clench asked me to...relay the orders.>> As the argent femme would be there in mere moments, he said no more. For now.

Triggerhappy's acknowledgment was swiftly followed by the arrival of the femmes, Silverstrike and Shrike. The Hypnotist returned Shrike's salute, concealing his chagrin. "I believe...Clench is the officer you are looking for, Milady. Yes."

The Apostate felt a bizarre mixture of elation and nervousness when Silverstrike took a seat directly beside him. He could feel the minute interference generated by her unique plating. It crackled through his transmitters. It was a feeling he knew all too well, and one that he had come to find comforting.

Yet at the moment, the close proximity if his longtime student was anything but calming. He felt the temperature of his cerebro-circuitry rise. His thoughts raced, spiraling in confusing, new directions.

Fool! he chastised himself. You are...uncertain of where you stand with her. Yes. That is one thing. But sitting here gawking at her like an imbecile...is another! Yes!

Tearing his optics from Silverstrike, he addressed his superior. "*Ahem* Reply received from Triggerhappy, General. He is...en route. Yes."

Tagan Heights- The landing pad

"My apologies." She bows to Mindwipe. "As it was you who sent the summons, I thought you would be the one to report to. I shall go and inform Clench of my readiness to go."
With that she turns on a heel, and begins her search for Clench, though she need not look far.

Shrike approaches Clench, then salutes crisply, looking up to his face. "Shrike reporting for duty, sir." She didn't seem too bothered by the fact he's over 10 feet taller than her, larger, stronger, and endowed with a great deal more advantages in combat than she. Discipline, nerves of steel, and a face plate that hides her expressions all helped with that.

Shrike has no delusions of grandeur as she is well aware of the fact she's likely some no name grunt with no reputation since Tagan Heights was her first mission, and she were likely overshadowed by the other more well known Decepticons.
The only thing she can do to get better postings, and a higher candidacy for more combat missions is demonstrate her prowess. A task she's all too happy to do.

Maybe if she impresses the right people she can gain those upgrades she hungers for?
Ah, the simple 2 step dance that guides her existence. Fight, get stronger, fight, get stronger. She will never be content until her body is more advanced than her combat computer can plan tactics for, and that may never happen.

Shrike could only guess as to where she were being lead, why, and maybe even if she's climbing into the proverbial hand basket to pit. Then again such matters were irrelevant. She just hoped it lead to her opening up Autobots like aluminum cans.

Aboard the Longshot


Silverstrike was not completely convinced by Mindwipe's answer. She had known him long enough and well enough to sense he was being guarded with his reply. A random flux flashed over her hull causing an almost undetectable distortion in her reflective “skin”. Her ice blue optics had been watching Shrike and Clench, but the silver femme had turned in time to see Mindwipe's awkward stare and his uncomfortable shift in focus.

Silver paused as the necromancer spoke to Clench letting her gaze follow Mindwipe's to the imposing commander. Her mind wandered to the task at hand. Three Highly skilled commandos, as Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher were also there, and three flight capable cons had been assigned to accompany them. She could only guess that the plan involved an areal assault or some sort of sky born distraction. Either way the fliers were an oddly matched wing.

She was sitting close enough to Mindwipe for the former priest's slight movements to cause him to brush against her wing. The argent seeker smiled finding this amusing, since her mentor was always so careful of her special armor coating. He was in no danger as long as she kept to a solid state. Still something was bothering him.. Silently she transmitted him a message.

>>Bats, I don't believe you. I can tell you're distracted. Is that what you wanted to speak to me about?<<

She allowed the soft blue glow of her optics to rest upon him. She had called him by a nickname she rarely if ever used in public, as a way of hinting she was concerned. Beyond that she could “feel” his tension. The training Thunderwing had put her through had not fallen upon dull circuits. She had long ago learned to feel auras as her father did .... only she kept this a secret to herself. There were a great deal of secrets she kept, especially since she had access to many of her lord's data bases. She may have held animosity towards the Valkastan Warlord but she was loyal beyond any doubt.

But here she was puzzled, even if she was in the sky and Mindwipe at ground level, Thunderwing had always made an effort to send her on some distracting task or mission away from where the commando team would be assigned, and especially away from the shreekbat. The only answer she could come up with on her own with out any input was what they were about to do was paramount to Thunderwing's plans.

Though she had to admit she couldn't help but be a touch excited that her mentor would finally see her in battle, and his witness training in action.

Decepticon Outpost - The Longshot

"He better be quick. I won't be waiting forever for one lousy gunner." Clench had replied to Mindwipe's report considering Triggerhappy just moments after entering the gunship with the hypnotist on his tail. "And ditch that general crap. It is for snobbish slaggers hiding behind their station rather than actions like Thunderwing."

What came to Shrike, Clench barely gave her a glance as he sat down on the captain's seat.

"At ease soldier." He grunted and motioned Shrike to find herself a seat. "I know your service record. Lord High Protector of Tyrest gave me a rookie, a lunatic and a scout as air support to send off against Dynobots. I should likely be amused. He propably is."

"Regardless, you will have to do." He added and turned his attention towards Weirdwolf. "We will launch as soon as that slaggin' dimwit gets aboard. Sending you the coordinates. Steer us in fast and quiet. We need the ship hidden and camoflauged before we start preparing for our surprise to Grimlock."

Tagan Heights- The landing pad

"Yes, Sir." Shrike replies to Clench. She did her best to be at ease, but that term wasn't in her databanks.
She finds a spot to sit, despite her large thrusters at her hips would make the task awkward. The business ends, so to speak, would be pointed at the empty seat across from her. Though the thrusters aren't active, it might be that they would make someone who sat across from her nervous. After all, flight engine exhaust is hardly something worth enjoying, not that she'd blast the person across from her for no good reason.

She would spend her time waiting for Triggerhappy, a con she really is starting to dislike based solely on is stunt during her repairs, and the fact he's delaying the shuttle's departure. If she did not know any better she'd swear he does not want her to fight. That would be a mistake to get in the way of her function.

Shrike is silent now, looking to once again be meditative as she sits in the passenger section.
Her combat computer is given more allocation of her processors to produce scenarios of combat. The advantage of the combat computer training is simple in that she could use her mind to spar based on data collected from others and her own systems, and accurately gauge what she can do in combat better than physical exercises and kata. Still, it's purely physical. The spiritual side of the arts of war is beyond her ability. It's intangible. Nearly impossible to learn on one's own, impossible to duplicate without technology. Technology she does not have.
Needless to say, it's on her list of things to acquire.

Still, what she cannot improve technologically or spiritually, she can improve on her current combat skills, creating maneuvers to combat every imaginable foe. To strive to be a veritable encyclopedia of combat.

OOC: I don't want to rush other players along if I can avoid it, but at the same time I don't want the storyline to get bogged down in minor details. So please don't feel that I'm trying to force people's actions, more that I'm assuming them where the posting gets vague.

Deceptibase Tau - Command Council Chamber

Leaning against a half-melted chair, Scrapper looked on at the various lines of data we was being fed. The refineries were intact: the bombed-out storehouses were still redhot but the valuable pumps were but minimally affected by the attack. Still horribly vunerable to accidental agitation, but unless someone were foolish enough to attack them directly the Hieghts were safe. The material-gathering half of the Constructicons were gathering up what should be the last of the needed materials, while the wonderful communication skills of Hook, Mixmaster, and the immortal vocaliser of Ruckus had somehow managed to stabalised the remaining generators. From here, Scrapper could see where things needed to progress. He'd found the clarity of the little break from the needs of his team to be releiving in some ways. Still, they were the best tools for the job, so he decided the plan didn't need a double-check and headed back into the fray, with some last calls at Scavenger.

Sector A6 - Warehouse District

>>Thanks Boss!<< "Yup, we got Beryllium, and Copper, and Zinc, and..."
"Frag all that Petrorabbit Waste!" Bonecrusher, who'd finally after 5 kliks driving here had remembered Triggerhappy had been awake, was in no mood for more of Scavenger's listing of the contents of the local stores. "We need Steel and Titanium, the proper stuff!"
"I know, I know, it's in there, I just thought that a few bars of the other stuff might be handy. Y'know, Mixer might wanna cook up something special..."
"Yer making this sound like an even worse idea now. Me and Long Haul will pick up the real cargo, you can heft whatever random slag you wanna."
"Ugh, fine, forget I said anything. I'll go across the street and find those circuit boards and laser chambers they need instead. Seeing as I'm the only one around here not Mech enough to heft 50 macrons of steel under their shoulder, I guess that'll be my function for the breem." He trundled off.
"...always on about his slaggin' function." Bonecrusher almost-mused, as he pulled a warehouse door open for Long Haul. "Why can't he just do his job and not mouth about it the whole slaggin' time?"

Power Generators

Scrapper arrived to find a much cleaner room than he had left. Melted ferrocrete, toasted machinery, and best of all, the corpse of a fallen Autobot repair mech had dissappeared, replaced with 9 fully functional primary power generators and 11 blank spaces for more. Looking at the most recently completed example, and the half-face of the unfortunate autobot Mixmaster had deliberately not consumed, Scrapper began to nod his head enthusiastically.
"Good, very good gentlemechs. Now, 2 kliks break to rest your servos, then we must begin on the defense turrets for the base. We'll probably need hover-platforms to get to the more out-of-reach ones, I wonder if the 'Bots were kind enough to leave some to hand..."

Sector A6 - Warehouse District

"Which one of us you mean; Scavenger or myself, you walkin, talkin, exhaust sniffin, piston suckin, scrap of slag," spoke Long Haul grumbling a bit as he entered the doors, after 'Crusher opened them.

"Now get the materials and load me up; faster we get this job done, faster I won't have do anymore transporting," said Long Haul as he turned around and transformed to his dump truck mode.

Decepticon Outpost - Landing Pad

"That ain't a half-bad idea," Roadblock nodded as Thunderwing suggested attempting to get troops moved from Polyhex to the Tagan Heights. "Only thing o' value in Polyhex now is Shockwave's Tower."

An' even that's arguable. Heh, maybe we should ask Megatron if we can haul some o' that fancy gear out of the Tower an' set it up over here where it'll be o' more use. Bet Shockwave'd be thrilled 'bout that. The purple and black Pretender crossed his bridge-cable arms over his chest. He noticed that Thunderwing seemed to be studying his new form quite carefully.

Prolly lookin' fer a leg actuator up on the competition. Ain't we all? Among the Decepticons of similar rank, Thunderwing was arguably the weakest. There was only so far one could go in the Empire's ranks without a significant measure of brute power. Roadblock's own ambitions had been kindled by his receiving the Pretender upgrade. No doubt Thunderwing's own sizable ambitions drew him to the technology. I'll be slagged if I'm gonna be the one ta git him anywhere near an upgrade, though. A glob of fouled transmission fluid hit the ground.

"We kin send the request ta Kaon proper ta cut Polyhex out of the loop," he suggested, his processors coming back to the matter at hand. "Might be able ta draw a few warriors from Kaon while we're at it, too."



Decepticon Outpost - The Longshot

"Set coordinates have I!" Weirdwolf informed Clench as the commando leader transmitted their destination data. The Longshot's navigation systems plotted a low-altitude course that would take advantage of terrain features of help hide the gunship's sensor signature. As it did so, Weirdwolf's twisted though extraordinarily gifted mind analyzed the terrain data.

"Sites numerous for ambush there are," he said. "Our initial barrage to supplement, suggest I that use we the Longshot's weapons from a position concealed."

Pressing a few other buttons, Weirdwolf began warming up the gunship's engines and performing preflight checks. It wouldn't be long now.

Power Generators

"Yay... more work." Hook replied sarcastically to Scrapper "As for the hover platforms, I doubt they even know what one is, probably too 'dangerous' for Autobots to use. Besides, just about the only thing the Autobots have left behind is that." Hook said as he pointed at the half an Autobot face. "So, anything interesting happened to you while away?"

Tagan Heights- The landing pad

Triggerhappy flew towards The Longshot as fast as he could. 'Slag! They're starting the engines, hope I'm not too late!' Thought Triggerhappy as he dived towards the landing pad, transforming just in time to avoid a collision with the ship, but instead creating a rather loud thud as he hit the ground.

"Ah!" He cried as he felt he pain in his legs caused by his 'landing'. "Gah. Frag, busted my slagging leg. Gah!"

Decepticon Outpost Tau- Landing Pad - Thubnderwing

"Agreed," Thunderwing replied. "Shockwave would no doubt be loath to relinquish the troops we require. A direct request will be far more efficient."

Odd that Roadblock would be so accommodating, he thought. It is no secret this dirty commoner has little love for me. Still, his acquiescence is more useful than worrisome. For the moment.

"I am going to the command center. Send me an estimate of what forces we need General, and I'll put the request through."

The aristocrat transformed, and flew off.


Decepticon Outpost - The Longshot - Mindwipe

The Shrikebat averted his optics as Silverstrike's transmission came in. >>In a manner of speaking...yes. I suppose it is. Something has come to my...attention recently. Something that has caused me to...<<

Mindwipe stopped in mid-sentence as Triggerhappy entered with all the grace of a Sharkticon with a damaged gyrostabilizer. The fool would be trouble. There was no doubt in his mind.
And now the twit had injured himself. Wonderful. Rolling his optics, the apostate went to help the fallen warrior. Mindwipe was stronger than one would think, and he had little trouble hauling the prone Decepticon to his seat. "I will deal with him..Sir," he said to Clench. "We may depart at your...leisure. Yes."

With a resigned sigh, he sent a final transmission to Silverstrike. >>Once again...I am afraid we must postpone our...conversation. Yes. My apologies.<<

After closing the hatch, he examined Triggerghappy's leg. It was nowhere near as bad as the gunner's screams would have him believe. Nonetheless, the necromancer had a great deal of experience with discipline cases such as this. Perhaps all he requires is a little...persuasion. Yes.

"Stop snivelling! I will...repair the damage. Yes. But to do that...I must have..." His optics glowed as he brought his hypnotic powers to bear on Triggerhappy. "...Quiet."

Deceptibase Tau - Power Generators

"No, no Dynobots attacked or meteors fell from the sky." Scrapper said as he went through the inventory of the base. "I had to double-check the nearby refineries, the damage from the occupation came uncomfortably close to them. They're intact, but I don't like their vunerablity. If the Autobots are foolhardy, or one of our own side irresponsible, a stray blast could cost us, and maybe the planet, dearly."
"That and materials acquisition. Scavenger reports they've located the last of the raw materials we need and will be back with them shortly. Then they can fix the draught." He pointed at the impromptu corridor that still overlooked the main yard of the base.
"But it looks like you're right, they don't have any hover-platforms, or if they did they were kind enough to destroy them. We're going to have to rely on your crane and old-fashioned scaffolding. Or....perhaps the Sweep Drones can function as impromptu platforms, if their grav-drives were retuned slightly. Yes, that would be a more practical method, and it would free you, Hook, to reprogram whatever's left of the targeting computer while Mixmaster and I fix the weapons themselves."

Warehouse District A6

"Agh, the both'o'ya are such misery-guts about your jobs". Bonecrusher began to place the sturdiest of girders into Long Haul's dumpbox. He was much more professional about it this time; Insulting Long Haul was enough to keep his mood up, so the demolitions expert was more inclined to do his task properly. "Always, never hear the end of it. 'Oh, I'm sick of lifting all this stuff. Oh, I wish my sniffer worked better. Oh, we never get any rest. Oh, Bonecrusher, why did you stand on the little house I made from pebbles?' If ya really wanted to move up in the peckin' order, you should do something about it, not yak to me about it. Wadda I look like anyway, Soundwave?"

Tagan Heights- The landing pad

Triggerhappy's crash and bellowing grabs Shrike's attention. Her optics flashed angrily at him as he broke her meditation which was kept light so she would not miss anything should someone important start speaking. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.
Shrike clenches her right hand creating light sounds of armor crackling and she almost deploys the wrist blade for some amputation, but Mindwipe had settled the problem.
He seemed to be good at garnering her attention and not just hers.
She watched Triggerhappy get babied, and it disgusts her to put it bluntly. He seems weak, Pathetic, unstable, unprofessional, and troublesome, but she holds her anger fueled words hoping to have underestimated Triggerhappy's ability.

A thought occurs to Shrike, and her gaze goes to Clench, "Commander, while it is no small honor to work with you and your team, will there be a briefing on the mission ahead?" She asks bluntly. "Any information to help me prepare for our destination will be highly appreciated." She covers her combat lust and excitement over the coming mission as best she can as she speaks confidently, but she doesn't expect much for a reply. She does, however, expect to do what Decepticons tend to do best, and that's combat, but she can't help but want an idea of who she'll be fighting, and calculating who's head to sever for presentation, and how to best sever the trophy. Maybe she'll be rookie of the Vorn, too?

Aboard the Longshot

Clench's comments were not lost upon Silverstrike's auditories. She had lost count of how many Decepticons disliked Thunderwing and his Valkastan traditions. She herself was of Valkastan make though only a very few actually knew this. To further comment his distaste Clench found the fliers' abilities questionable. Again she could not disagree as she had thought to herself earlier they made an oddly matched wing. What had made her turn her full at tension to the towering ex-pit fighter was the word Dynobot. She didn't need the details to know Tagan Heights was not ready to fend off Grimlock and his collection of mech slaughtering behemoths. Especially after the report on the damage she had taken at Scrapper's request. The lights of the Longshot reflected in her shining chassis. ~This will be a dangerous mission, mistakes will not be tolerated ...... Oh Primus I sound like Shockwave. ~

As he stopped in mid sentence Silverstrike showed no outward sign but Mindwipe's words worried her. It was a rare thing to bother him this much. She turned to watch as Mindwipe “assisted” Triggerhappy. She could sense the unapproval from Shrike as the mech entered the ship. Somehow Silver suspected this would not go well if Triggerhappy was as excitable as she heard he could be.

Silver knew well the outcome of Mindwipe's burning optics. Though he had never used his talent to control her she was well aware of how powerful he was. Turning her focus away she stared at Weirdwolf, she had grown used to his odd speech pattern and for all his “weirdness” he was quite brilliant. He would have them at their destination soon... and Silver would need to wait until they returned and she was alone with the necromancer so that they could speak with out distractions.

Aboard the Longshot

Keeping his vision focused on the holographic terminal feeding him system data from Longshot's sensors, Clench decided to answer to Shrike's question. He had to give the team a briefing sooner or later so why not early on. "Alright crew, listen now and listen well, I won't be repeating myself."

"Intel is reporting Lightning Strike Coalition being present in Nova Cronum. We are expecting them to move to Uraya and start performing hit and run raids against our possessions in Tagan Heights."

"We are set to buy time for the Constructicons to reinforce Tagan Heights by slowing down the LSC. Ideal scenario is the following; we will set up an ambush, drop their shuttle off the skies and finish off the survivors. However, we are not expecting this to be easy. Main priority is to cripple or destroy their shuttle, secondary objective is to cause as many casualties as possible without risking casualties of our own."

"All members of the LSC are veterans and their numbers include the Dynobots. They have us outnumbered and outgunned. I expect you to follow my orders to the letter. There's no room for personal pride. Everything relies on effective realization of mission objectives."

"Silverstrike will serve as a recon, keeping us updated on enemy movements. Shrike and Triggerhappy will be an aerial distraction, as long as the enemy shuttle is airborne; you two will be on your own. Ground team will consist of Weirdwolf, Skullcruncher and Mindwipe. You three will launch the first assault against the enemy to draw their attention. Combined with the air support you will distract even the LSC enough to give me a clear shot at their ship. If we fail we will fall back quickly to Longshot that will be left camoflauged to the fall back point."

Finishing the briefing Clench gave Weirdwolf a launch order. "Weirdwolf, get us airborne."

With the old gunship's anti-gravity engine's starting to lift the ship off the launch pad Clench gave his crew a final chance to present their possible questions about the mission. "Questions?"

Decepticon Outpost - Landing Pad

Giving half a salute to the departing Thunderwing, Roadblock began to compose a list of troops to reinforce the Heights. At least one Seeker squadron, or a squadron of the sentient Sweeps...coupla hard-hitters. Combaticons might fit the bill, wit' Onslaught and Brawl. Or some of the ol' spec-ops crew...Bugly ta git surveillance an' plannin' goin', maybe. He took flight and headed for the Command Center as well.

As he flew, he sent a series of mental commands to his massive vehicle shell, which had until then been roaming the perimeter of the Outpost. With the new commands received, the six-wheeled monstrosity changed course and roared off toward the border.



Decepticon Outpost - The Longshot

"Boss, acknowledged! Questions, no!" Weirdwolf manipulated a few buttons on the main console and the Longshot took flight, quickly setting itself onto a low-altitude course for the suitable ambush location. With the gunship largely flying itself, the tracker turned partially to survey the newcomers to the crew.

Lightweights and types echelon-rear, to me appears! He drew his thermal sword from subspace along with a sonic-whetstone and began sharpening the nasty-looking weapon somewhat distractedly. Do not get in my way, so long as they!

Tagan Heights- The Longshot

Her combat computer ran scenarios based on the plan laid out, but still, there were a few too many ways her scenarios would go.

Her optics remain on Clench "I would like to verify the plan." She states calmly to Clench. "We lay an ambush for the shuttle. When the shuttle is in approach of our location, Triggerhappy and I will be responsible for downing the shuttle while the ground forces remain hidden, then when the survivors exit the shuttle and the ground forces act as a secondary surprise attack while Triggerhappy and I remain in combat? All the while, Silverstrike is our Intel on Autobot movements?"
It was pretty much as Clench said, but it couldn't hurt to be crystal clear about this. Shrike sounds to have no problem with the plan she has laid out, having confidence in her 580mm energy cannon and an assault mode that she feels would work well in downing the shuttle.
Her only concern is Triggerhappy getting in her way at this point.

But she continues to flesh out the plans in her mind, still confirming things with Clench. "Should the numbers prove too great for us, we are to fall back to our shuttle, and retreat when the order is given?"
She wasn't afraid to fly home under her own power if need be, but orders are orders. With survival stated to be one of the major goals next to slowing the LSC, she has no problem retreating when the order comes.