| abstract
| - Cuprahex Sensor Outpost The Cuprahex Sector is deep within Decepticon territory, and the dark city of Nightsiege can barely be seen far off to the west. The tall copper-veined mountains loom high overhead, their green peaks contrasting with the brilliant copper-red of rips caused by recent seismic activity. The ruined city of Cuprahex is gone, and in its place is a new hi-tech Sensor Outpost. The outpost is large enough to house approximately 20 Decepticons in comfort, as well as all the twirling radar dishes overhead and various antennae jutting skyward to facilitate long-ranged radio traffic. The outpost is protected by powerful shields, but has nothing in the way of weapons. Instead it relies on the guards stationed here and the nearby capital city for fighting off intruders. 0300 Standard Hours, Debris Briefing Room Impactor walks the length of the room, projector control in hand. The lighting on the room is dark, dulled reds and yellows play off each other in the 'war room' atmosphere. Currently being observed, the Cuprahex Sensor Outpost. "Mechs, we need ta disable tha outpost.. crippling not only their lines of information, but also keeping one less optic to our going ons at Iahex." the Wrecker Leader advises, clicking the lights back on. 0830 Standard Hours, Sky over Cuprahex Sensor Outpost Aboard the sleek and sexy altmode of Silverbolt (ain't wacky size changing grand?), the purple and gold Autobot struts up towards the front view screen and snarls. "What's our ETA, Bolt?" Focus pulled towards the rear cabin, Impactor shouts over the PA system. "Gear up Sludge, almost time ta get inna thick of it!" Sludge sits towards on a bench along the wall, looking at the pretty colours that Impactor has illuminated, although he really isn't following much of the conversation. When given the order to gear up, he looks at his hands, and pulls out a sword in one hand, and a electron cannon in the other, "Uh . . . Sludge geared up enough?" A passenger plane, drawn slightly oversized because of cheap labour and corner cutting, can be seen flying through the Decepticon airspace. Behind it are two Autobot fliers who promptly breaks off they've cross through a specific zone within Decepticon territory and returns towards the direction they had came from, evidently this is as far as the escort can go. Dramatic, isn't it? Inside, Silverbolt's voice can be heard, << We're approximately five minutes out from our intended drop zone, Impactor. >> Windshear was in the Shark's Rib in a fast devloping altercation when the call came through on both earth and cybertronian con bases for all available decpticons to hit the Cuprahex Sensor Outpost. Autobots were picked up on sensors and the order was given to defend the outpost at all costs. Windy met several other cons, took the space bridge over and is now speeding toward the outpost. He was not suppose to be the lone Seeker but so far it sure looked that way. Windshear ignores that 'fact' and continues on toward the outpost. AS he nears the base he runs several possible scenarios through his mind on how this is going to go down. Hes not totally alone but depending on just which Autobots are in this raid, it may or may not be a problem. "Suprehex coming into visual now. Radar is detecting one blip -- Autobot." he announces from his cockpit speaker to his passengers and brings his weapons online. Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet heads toward the bse, or outpost, or whatever it is. He doesn't seem to be in any particular hurry. The Powermaster was in a bad mood, and considering his usual demeanor that was saying something. "Lets just get this over with." Slugfest peers out of Windshear's cockpit. "Outpost? What doing at outpost? Fight bots? Me want fight bots! Me saw them up!" The little stegosaur has his feets up on the console, and his tail is wagging back and forth. From Windshear's form falls a small, blue rectangle, barely visible. Its form expands and unfolds, becoming the dreaded Decepticon Soundwave. He lands cose to the sensor, and heads for the service entry on its underside. The small blue and silver cassette recorder unfolds and expands, transforming into the Decepticon Soundwave. Combat: Soundwave sets his defense level to Guarded. "Good, keep 'er as low as possible.. without colliding inta anythin'. I know how good ah fliers you guys are and all, but yeah. Just sayin'." Impactor comments aloud to the Aerialbot leader, briskly striding towards the rear of the Concorde. "Sludge, when we're directly overhead.. we'll jump in and start tha ruckus! I've got someone meetin' with up with us, hopefully his specialty will be useful in salvagin' this wreck fer intel." the Wrecker leader shouts to the Dinobot, slamming his fist on the side bay door.. it responds by opening, sending a rush of air through the cabin. Where the heck did Decibel come form? Animation error? Last second addition? Who knows, but he's here and that's all that really matters. Weapon in hand he's ready to crush his enemies and see them driven before him or something to that effect. Standing near the others he looks out as the ground races by below. "Heads up guys looks like the farmer knows we're in the hen house. Flyers are inbound at least two current, units Daraww frak looks like my service has been disconnected must be outta bars up here. Gonna start the decryption cycle soon as I get it booted up. Hate flying deaf." In response to the Wrecker leader's request, the passenger aircraft descends down towards the building skylines down below the grounds of Cybertron. Ever so often the Concorde jinks left and right as it avoids rapidly approaching remains of skyscrappers that are still left standing in the vicinity as it travels towards its destination. << Cuprahex's sensor network sure isn't fooling around, looks like Operations' emissions jammer flaked out on us. >> Silverbolt comments through his internal speakers before a series of green indicators lights up on his cockpit, << Enough of the bad news though, here's some good news. We're on top of the LZ now. Ready when you guys are. >> With that said, the boarding hatch on the Concorde opens up. Sludge nods his head in understanding, or his approximation of that. When the door opens, Sludge rises to his feet, turns, and walks towards the open hatch. Without even a glance, he jumps out of the plane. I suppose that sort of thing comes naturally when you can fly. Hopefully Impactor wasn't expecting a ride from Sludge on the way down, since he's jumped out, without either of his compatriots, or a parachute. He falls like a rock, allowing the gravity to take him down most of the way. As he draws nearer, he looks down and squints his optical sensors, "Grimlock say tapedeck bad. Me Sludge must stop bad tape from being bad!" Well, nobody ever did say that Sludge was a marvellous conversationalist. But he does carry a nasty looking Electron Cannon in one arm, which fires off a bolt of yellow energy, striking across the night sky towards the cassette master. Combat: Sludge sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Sludge misses Soundwave with his Electron Cannon attack! Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet notices the Dinobot leave Silverbolt and the shot fired at Soundwave. He cracks his cockpit slightly, "Get ready, Slugfest." he says and then suddenly he air brakes and transforms. As he does he ejects the Stegosaw and grabbing him, does a 'fastball special' toward sludge, "Cut him down, Sluggy." he rasps as he throws him and then he aims an arm cannon up at Silverbolt and fires. An unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet unfolds to become the pretty boy Decepticon Seeker, Windshear Combat: Windshear sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Windshear misses Concorde SST with his Thermal Laser attack! [Pulled -3] Soundwave, not entirely cognisant of the approaching Dinobot, continues his dash for the staircase when his aural sensors detect a doppler-effected crackling, the signature sound of an energy weapon. Instinctively, he ducks, and the shot goes glancing off the handrail and grounds on the base of the sensor. He twists, crouching on one knee, and presses a button on his chest. Combat: Soundwave sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Soundwave strikes Sludge with his good dino bad dino attack! Combat: Sludge has been temporarily incapacitated. The spinning stegosaw hurtles towards Sludge. "Yesyesyes! Cut up Dinobot! Make into little Bronto-steaks! Me get him for you Windy!"
* SPINSPINSPIN* "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Combat: Slugfest strikes Sludge with his Spinning Stegosaw Shuriken! attack! Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet watches as Windshear, the foul up tht he is misses Silverbolt. The powermaster decides to go after the cowardly Aerialbot commander as he flies in closer, taking aim with his blasters and fires on Silverbolt. Combat: Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet misses Concorde SST with his Electro-Kinetic Blasters attack! "Frak. Keep yer attention in tha skies Bolt, me and Sludge.. we'll be takin' a more direct approach!" Impactor laughs, jumping out of the hold right after the Dinobot. Unaided by a jetpack thruster, foot boosters, or even a simple parachute.. the Wrecker fans out in mid-air to create more drag, slowing his descent. Suddenly, he spots a Seeker.. and not just -any- Seeker. It's Windshear, though his paint job is looking a bit dull these days. "Look out below!" he laughs, straightening out.. the Wrecker cuts through the air like a knife through butter, harpoon first. Combat: Impactor misses Windshear with his Aerial Corkscrew (Kick) attack! As the boarding hatch opens Decibel checks his hastily donned pack and hooks a latch to a guide wire. Tightening his grip on his rifle he gives a nod to nobody in particular and takes the plunge. As he descends the cable plays out until it reaches its end pulling a trio of small parachutes free to arrest his free fall. Guiding himself down to as gentle a landing as he can manage Decibel unhooks the pack and surveys the area taking note of the jets taking shots at his ride. "Heads up Bolt!" Thinking to aid his comrade he fires off a few pot shots as he moves for cover. Combat: Decibel sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Decibel misses Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet with his Disruptor attack! As the Concorde travels towards its destination, weapons fire from various sources attempts to meet the passenger aircraft but rapid evasive manuevers prevents a potentially disasterous meeting. Eventually the passengers within Silverbolt disembarks completely and the Aerialbot commander angles his nosecone upwards ever so slightly before transforming into his robotic mode and landing onto the ground with a heavy thunk, "Looks like the easy part's over and done with, now's things gets dicey." Having said that, the Aerialbot commander levels his rifle and takes a few quick pot shots back at his aggressors. Concorde SST transforms into its Silverbolt mode. Combat: Silverbolt strikes Panavia Tornado GR1 Fighter Jet with its Laser attack! Windshear notices Darkwing miss and cant help but smirk at it. Then he hears a laugh and a 'look out below!' and glancing up he sees of all bots; Impactor heading his way. He laughs and easily glides out of the way of the attempted attack. "Stupid, bot." he rasps. The air is his element so of course hes going to be hard to hit even if he is in bot mode right now. The Seeker rears back to throw a return punch when he notices tht Darkwing gets hit. Mad at him right now or no, that momtarily concerns him but hes got no time for that now as he aims a fist sandwich for the Wreckers face. Combat: Windshear strikes Impactor with his Punch attack! Combat: Windshear (Windshear) used "Punch": A Level 1 MELEE attack. A horid shriek emits from Soundwave's chest, and as Sludge throws Slugfest back at the tape commander, Soundwave easily catches the dino, watching Sludge topple over immediately afterward. Soundwave bolts for the hatchway in the sensor, enters, and closes it behind him. Combat: Soundwave sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Soundwave takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Slugfest spins through the air after having been thrown by Sludge. "EEEEEE!" he squeals, right up until Soundwave catches him. He's kicking his little feets! Combat: Slugfest strikes Soundwave with his stegoflailing! (Grab) attack! Having been stunned, Sludge crumples like a lawn chair the minute he crashes into the planet. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to jump out of a plane and then take on Soundwave and his pointy backed cassette. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Sludge has 'skipped' his action for this round. Impactor is punched, but as gravity has a greater strength over the flight path than the Seeker's strength.. he swan dives straight for the facility! Crashing into a sattelite relay, the Wrecker bounces (well, crashes -through- really) the device and impacts with the ground below. Dizzyingly shaking his head, Impactor gathers his wits.. or what's left of them, and moves for the sensors outer perimeter. Combat: Impactor takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Decibel smirks as his shot does little more than waste some of his time, no matter he's got other tasks to attend to. Glancing about to get his bearings on the jet as it rockets overhead he notices the larger form of Sludge crash down like a felled tree. Hoping the jet decided to look for clearer skies with payloads delivered Decibel hurries over towards the Dinobot and checks him over quickly. "Looks like a fried servo, can't be fixing that out in the open." Grabbing the bulky bot under the arms the engineer hauls the prone body off to a safer area to work on getting the servo replaced. By now Silverbolt is huddled behind cover and staring intently at the portable sensor device held in his free hand. A disabled Dinobot being pulled out of the combat zone by a field medic, and Impactor getting knocked through a relay. It's clear by now that someone needs to step up to the plate and Silverbolt does so without much hesistation, maybe it's because he's on the ground that he's feeling braver than usual. The Aerialbot commander stands up from cover and begins taking random shots at Decepticons in the area, "Got you covered there, Decibel!" Combat: Silverbolt strikes Windshear with its Electrostatic Discharger Rifle attack! [Pulled -3] As Soundwave enters the sensor, he has just enough time to see Impactor heading straight for it through the ring of glass that runs around its perimiter. He pulls Slugfest up blades-first in a defensive swing, hoping to avoid the wrecker's full...well...impact, as he crashes through the array. Combat: Soundwave sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Soundwave strikes Impactor with Slugfest's 'dorable dino defense! attack! While he's being wielded by Soundwave, Slugfest EEEEEEES and kicks his little feets. Which may or may not sideways-tapdance all over Impactor. Combat: Slugfest misses Impactor with his the pitter-patter of little FEETS! (Punch) attack! Windshear is pleased when his fists hist Wreacker faceplates but isnt too pleased as he gets an electrostatic discharge shot across his side. Hes had enough electricity on the past 2 days to last him a year slag it. He spins and seeing the Aerialbot leader he aims and gives return fire. Combat: Windshear strikes Silverbolt with his Slow Ray attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Silverbolt's Agility. (Crippled) Apparently on his way down, someone decided to cleave up his left side with some sort of chainsaw? That's what the Wrecker thinks to himself, a hand grasped to the side of his leg as he places another round of explosives around the installation's outside edge. Energon trails behind him, his own footsteps muddling up the perfect splash patterns. Rounding on the bend, the Wrecker leans down and finalizes another charge, placing it on the exterior hull. "Last charge about to be set, make sure yer well nuff outta blast radius!" he emits on the broadband to Silverbolt and the others. They'd intended to dig up some intel on this mission, but with the Dinobot sucking air right now.. Soundwave is a tall order, not to mention the Seeker and the tape. Combat: Impactor takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Weapons fire continues to rain down around Silverbolt's position as the Aerialbot commander draws more and more attention. Sure he's accomplished his attention, but it's not exactly the sort of task that anyone would be thrilled be undertaking. Nevertheless some random Decepticon gumbies gets disabled in the process, and one not so gumby Seeker gets shot in the side. Whoops, this one actually has good aim and Silverbolt soon finds himself moving slower as his systems' self repair systems begins the process of attempting to purge the degradation. "Just give the heads up when this place is about to go, Impactor. Things are getting heated down here though, it'd make things a lot less messier if the job's done sooner than later though!" Silverbolt shouts into his comms system before swinging his rifle around and firing off another shot towards the direction of the relay. Combat: Silverbolt misses Soundwave with its Electrostatic Discharger Rifle attack! [Pulled -1] Windshear notices the Autobot take a shot at Soundwave and swoops down lower and with a click of his arm cannon switches settings and fires again. Combat: Windshear strikes Silverbolt with his Thermal Laser attack! [Pulled -3] "Information: Appreciated." Is heard in the desynchronized synthesized tones of Soundwave over the same broadband, and a moment later, a tiny wisp of smoke leaks from the corner of the charge detenator's display that Impactor had just laid. The display flickers, and goes out. "Remote detenation trigger: also appreciated." Soundwave continues, in a flat, mater-of-fact tone. Silverbolt's electrostatic discharger rifle emits a hissing sound and soon ejects the energy capacitor clip within, a safety feature to keep the weapon from overheating due to prolonged use. Unfortunately this comes at a bad time since the rifle was pointed at Windshear as the Seeker made his approach and nothing happens as a result. The Aerialbot commander takes a shot in the shoulder and drops down behind cover again, "This rifle's overhaul can't come soon enough..." Silverbolt goes through a quick smooth motion of pulling out a fresh capacitor clip and squeezing it into the assigned compartment within the rifle before popping out of cover and returning fire. Combat: Silverbolt strikes Windshear with its Electrostatic Discharger Rifle attack! [Pulled -3] "She's gonna blow!" Diving over a pile of rubbish, Impactor throws his hands over his head and clicks the remote trigger.. optics squint and audios dampen for detonation. Nothing. Gruffing, the Wrecker leader gets back on his feet.. making a dead run for the installation, and the first charge. "You three pull out, someone messed with tha remote trigger.. guess we'll have ta do this tha old fashioned -Wrecker- way!" he grumbles over the broadband, sliding up to the charge and switching it to manual override. Pushing in the series of codes for access, the Wrecker sets the timer to :10 seconds and makes a break for it. 10 Not exactly Prime's five fold manuever, or the series of explosions originally planned.. but the one will set off at least three more. 9 8 7 6 5 Windshear starts running a sweeping scan of the outpost, especially around the area Impactor was at. He just motions some gumby Seekers towars Silvebolt in the process and then suddenly gets another electrostatic blast in almost the same spot as the first time. Ok /that/ smarted a little but Windshear ignores it and realizes the weapons hit scrambled part of his readings. But too late to confuse him on what he read. Slugfest EEEEEES! He runs the opposite direction from where Impactor last was. Despite being stupid, the little stegosaur isn't completely processor-dead. "Nonono! Bomb going off! Runrunrun!" He goes as fast as his little galloping feets will carry him. Soundwave drops down from the damaged hull of the sensor. "Attempt: Futile. Failure: Imminent." Soundwave says, and points his chest toward the device attached to the sensor. A warbling is heard, and a hiss, as the charge vibrates violently. It falls to the ground, the detonator section of it having come apart in several pieces at the seams. Ducking and weaving through laserfire, Impactor manages to evade a legion of laserfire in a matter of astro-seconds.4 Head twitching to the side, the Wrecker realizes Soundwave's foul manipulation and turns back around.3 As the device falls to the ground, inert.. Impactor's over the shoulder cannon charges with an audible hum and bright purple light. "Heh, figured you'd be tha one ta ruin tha plan. Guess that just means you and me will have ta go up with it!" he laughs, instead of targetting Soundwave.. he targets the explosive! "Two..one, and checkmate dear Decepticon!" SKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! The sensor relay is lit up from the somewhat small explosion, setting off two likewise explosions on either side of the installation. Flames and smoke waft through the area, acrid smoke sent up into Cybertron's atmosphere by the minute. After hearing of Impactor's intentions, Silverbolt quickly evacuates from his location and rendevouses with the two other Autobots that participated in the strike. It doesn't take long to get the passengers on board and himself airborne, just in time to see a small explosion blossoming upwards from the relay beneath, << I... I think he planned this. Right? Military doctrine states that we need to vacate the area as soon as possible. Command needs to hear about this! >> That said, the Concorde afterburns his way out of the area. Can a Concorde even afterburn? Probably not. Then again is this thing -really- a Concorde? And what is the secret to life? Silverbolt transforms into its Concorde SST mode. Combat: Concorde SST begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Soundwave dives for the space behind the pillar the the explosive was originally attached to as Impactor levels his weapon, transforming at the same time. It isn't the best cover, but his tiny altmode has a smaller impact zone. This, however, has the undesired side effect of propelling him like a bullet away from the blast area. Slugfest is propelled too, despite his best efforts. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
* PLOP* Windshear is too mad to move and just hovers in spot as the explosion goes off. The force of the air displacement sends him back and it takes a few seconds to recover from the tubulance. But when he does, Windshear zeros in on Impactor, "You will pay for that, Autobot." he seethes and fires. Windshear brings his cannon up to fire and realizes that in the time it took him to recover from the air turbulance that Wrecker had disappeared. Disgusted he spins around and see the rest of the Autobots have retreated as well. He heads toward Soundwaves and Slugfest's last known location to try and at least get their status. Being the closest to the blast zone not only grants one the best show, but the biggest ride. That would be what the Wrecker leader was thinking, if he was concious. Then again, it's hard to remain concious when you're a ball of flames shooting through the air. As it happens, right in front of the viewscreen of a certain Concorde.. or whatever he is this episode. Thanks to the magic of cheesy deus ex machina and questionable cartoon physics, the Concorde spisn around just in time for the flaming Wrecker leader to fly right inside! << What in the?! We won't be needing ot fill in yet another missing mech report. >> That said, Silverbolt jets off into the distance. And Silverbolt's player gets to sleep too, yay!
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