"Chain of Command"

[Blazemane]

Unless you got something up your sleeve?

Steelclaw chuckled to himself when he heard Cheetor's voice. That was impressive.

"Well, technically I do have something up my sleeve, but your trick would be much more effective, so by all means, go ahead with it. I'll be waiting close to the bridge, so don't notify me when your done- I'll see her leave."

After walking a little further, he ducked into a storage room and just put his head out of it to watch part of the bridge. He didn't have visual contact on Skyfire just yet, but if Glowstick's plan worked, she would walk into his line of sight.

* * *

Just how the treacherous cat moved with the speed she did defied Dinobot's conception of reaction time, but he was more focused on how dirty moving the tiger into his line of fire was. He was briefly glad that his firing had, indeed, been in many places, so she was only hit by a little ammunition, and he had stopped as soon as he perceived the trick that was being played, but all the same...

Dinobot brought his sword in front of himself again and was about to issue a verbal challenge to Starshadow when the standing stones began to glow. He stayed ready to defend against other attacks, but he realized that essentially everyone was focusing instead on this new development.

[NaitoKage]

Rhinox looked at Terrorsaur as the entire stone structure around him started to pulse and glow, it quickly came to his realization about the situation. Hey.. this whole place IS a single device!

He then turned looking towards the pod in a gasp as it started to unfold and open.

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Tarantulus started to reload his gun with another missile as the area became blinding, noticing Terrorsaur's twitching body in the background, the only things on his mind were the blame of what that stupid featherless bird did now, and retreating before something painful happened again.

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Icebreaker watched as Megatron fled, his visor sliding down as the area lit up High energy reactions.. ? he then said to himself confused, it was as if energon crystals were going to explode, but there were none around.

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Glowstick turned his Spider drone noticing as Steelclaw slipped away in a storage room, he then moved the drone behind some pipes on the ceiling of the hall. He changed the channel on his radio signal, matching the frequency Cheetor was using earlier in battle that he detected, he then began broadcasting.

Cheetor to bridge! There's something major going on in the engine room, I need backup stat! suddenly broadcasted from the Maximal communication center on the bridge for Skyfire to hear. Glowstick then inserted static for a moment after the communication played and quickly cut that as well leaving only silence.

He enjoyed his communication skills and the opportunities they would present sometimes.

[Wintersong]

Wintersong shook her head looking up when she heard mos of the firing stopped, catching sight of the standing stones that now glowed. What in the Pit was going on. Getting on one knee the tigress femme looked around confused on what was happening all of a sudden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snow Trix had held back during this time, prefering to wait for a more appropraite time to strike but she quickly jumped back when the stones began to glow. This was unusual. The fox flicked her fluffy tail watching for anything that would happen next.

[Venatrix]

As Saber dodged her attack, and countered with a slash, she knew it was coming.
So she took a step back, barely avoiding the slash, but when Saber's claws where passed her nose, Venatrix moved forward quickly and leaped up.
"Venatrix, terrorize!"
In mid air she transformed to bot mode, and drew her swords while making a screwing somersault.
She landed on top of Saber with her legs trapping the maximal cat, and prepared to slam her blade's into her opponent's side's just behind her front legs.
But then the sudden change in activity within the standing stones caught her attention quit abruptly.
Slag! Just when i was about to end this fight decisively something bad is gonna happen! She thought.

((Waiting for primal to blast her now..... *sighs* I wanted to win this time... *sniff*))

[starshadow]

"Alright fine i'm on my way."

Starshadow was somehow satisfied with Sonar's reply. You better hurry...I have a feeling the predacons will win this battle. she thought with a smile.

But when the nasty catbot noticed the standing stones were glowing ever so brightly. Then, she felt a sharp pain on her leg joint and her left arm.
SLAG!! I think I've excercised too much...I'm doomed. she thought with a growl and took afew steps back, looking at the unusual glowing stones.

((Don't worry Ven, we'll get blast away together^^))

[SkyxDB]

Cheetor to bridge! There's something major going on in the engine room, I need backup stat!

Upon hearing that Skyfire, then ran as fast as she could to the engine room.

[Night-Hunter]

Saber found herself trapped by Venatrix, she snarled baring her teeth up at the Predicon she-cat. Sudden activity caught her enemies attention as well as hers, smiling she took the opportunity and some how kicked the predicon off her and again took a swipe at her.
"Never take your eye off your opponent." She said with a small smile.

[Blazemane]

Steelclaw ducked back in quickly while Skyfire ran right past him, and then he got out of the room. He could even see her running down the hallway away from him as he made his way to the bridge, but fortunately she wasn't looking his direction.

Then he was in, and he rushed around the table in the center, where a great deal of keyboards were. This also allowed him to look down both hallways for any Maximal approach.

He put his rifle on his back and pulled out a memory device from a compartment in his shoulder. Then he placed it in a slot near one of the keyboards, and typed in a short command to the computer.

"Please enter access code" the computer demanded him.

Instead he pulled a panel away from the bottom and started pulling some wires.

"Unauthorized access to interior circuitry. Scanning user."

He remembered this from his work back on Cybertron.

"Hmm... red wire... no" he muttered to himself. "Hey, you know," he said aloud to the computer "you're a lot more protective than our ship's systems. You could practically have any Maximal who'd made it into the base just start ripping all sorts of cool stuff from our databanks. Maybe I should talk to Scorponok about that..."

"Maximal signature present. User identified as Steelclaw. Access not granted."

"You keep thinking that" he said, as he finally made a connection between 5 different wires, even as a bolt of electricity emanated from the computer and zapped him. He sat there for a few moments in surprised shock with a look of passive disapproval. Then he stood up.

"That wasn't very nice. Now..." he trailed off as he saw tons of different folders in front of him. He opened the one labeled "crew information" and looked into Saber-Fang's file. A quick skim through showed some interesting information, but not too much he hadn't known before. So he got out of it. He knew his device could only contain so much memory, so he started downloading the most interesting folders.... "crew information", "Golden Disk theft report", "AXALON SCHEMATICS", "Science endeavors", "Captain's log". He noticed a folder labeled "cheetor's music selection. Don't touch!"

"Oh yes, let's" he replied out loud. Out of curiosity, he opened it, and noticed it was, itself, associated with a network of music selections, so he just took the whole library.

Continuing on, he saw that the Maximals had a file dedicated to known information on the Darksyde crew, and even various notable Predacons on Cybertron. Well, it would be interesting to know what they knew.

* * *

"Sky," said Cheetor on his com-link, "there's nothing out here." Then he lowered himself back into the ship. "I guess I'm gonna' come back to you. Are the scanners still showing any signatures?"

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Awe. Sorry, Ven, but those playing Preds better get used to it. At least for a little while.

And, Blazemane? Steelclaw is evil! And by evil, I mean cool. Curse him and Glowstick! ))

Hey.. this whole place IS a single device!

Rattrap glanced from Rhinox and Orcariner to the pod. He was right! But what the slag was going to happen this time?

-----

Terrorsaur fell to his chest on the ground, obviously knocked out and damaged badly from the whole ordeal.

-----

Megatron watched with wonder, mouth agape, as the alien probe started to unfold.

-----

It was the strangest feeling Optimus had ever felt. His subconcious was retracted and "pulled" back into his body as it delicately formed back to its original state in his robot mode. A small, orangish beam shot up from the probe, creating a small yellow oval-shaped cloud of energy above. Inside the opague cloud Optimus Primal seemed to appear out of thin air; unharmed and fully functional. Unlike the rest who were present, the Maximal Commander's energy levels, raw energon field stabilizers and fire power were at 100%. This he would use to his advantage and attempt to end this battle that had grown so dangerously out of control.

"Look who's back!" Primal declared to the Predacons while he hovered above the open pod and the cloud and beam disappeared, hoping to disappoint them. "And feeling prime!" Targeting them individually with his left dual wrist cannon, he fired one shot at Starshadow, then one to Venatrix, one to Tarantulas, and last but not least, one to Megatron. All powerful shots aimed for their chests. Snow Trix had been out of Primal's line of sight.

-----

Megatron, infuriated and upset about seeing Primal again so soon, tried to block most of the Maximal's shot by crossing his weapons infront of him. The blast of the impact caused him to fly off of his feet backwards.

[Night-Hunter]

"Look who's back!" "And feeling prime!"

Saber allowed herself to smile but that smile faded when she spotted Sonar. Her green eyes widened with horror when he looked at her. She couldn't move the realization of him actually being here caused her to freeze.

"Sonar, Terrorize!" He commanded and transformed into his robot form.
He looked at Saber and smirked at her fear. Instead of attacking her he aimed his weapon at Optimus and fired.

[Alak]

Using his massive height to his advantage, Orcariner used the flat of his blade to deflect the the projectiles aimed at the revived leader.

"Not on my watch, punk," he growled.

The giant had no idea what was going on in the first place and Optimus' return was just as shocking. He was, however, good at keeping up with the flow of things and today was no different. Using his other hand to draw his carbine, Orcariner unleashed a barrage of energy blasts at Sonar. Knowing he was a lousy marksman, the Maximal spread his shots to severely limit the Predacon's room for evasion.

[starshadow]

Starshadow was blasted away by Optimus. Her haunting memories reminded her the pain she expierienced. She screamed in pain and fear, not realizing she was using her banshee screaming ability.
Going insane like a mental patient in fear, she fired her gun rapidly everywhere including Orcariner. Then, she scattered her spikes at the maximals.

[Wintersong]

WIntersong stared in shock for a moment before a shot frm Starshadow nearly hit her. Turning she raised her arms and fired two mini missiles in Starshadow ddirection to try and stop her.

'This panther is insane.' She thought.

[starshadow]

Starshadow saw the missles coming towards her. She sent out her spikes and destroyed it.

She pulled out some of her spikes from her tail and threw it at Orcariner's face.

[NaitoKage]

Tarantulus flew back from the hit, sliding behind some of the stones. It seems Optimus wasn't dead after all he thought to himself.

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Icebreaker ducked and rolled from the spikes, reaching his board as it folded into shield configuration with sparks shooting out from the joints. He attached it to his shoulder and pulled the lever on his gun, then pointed it out at Starshadow firing a thick continuous freezing stream at her. CORK IT! he shouted in frustration from the irritating noise she was emitting.

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Rhinox watched in disbelief at the return of Optimus. He was surprised, but also glad that their commander and friend had returned seemingly unharmed.

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Glowstick shifted signals on the radio, picking up part of Cheetor's message. He didn't want to rush Steelclaw, but felt better to inform him.
Opening up his communications again he sent a signal to Steelclaw Cheetor just messaged Skyfire, I'm not sure how long it's going to take but your cover might be blown soon. How much time do you need?