The Intergalactic Highway

Starshadow was panting with exhaustion. I won't...be defeated...like this.. she thought with a growl. The energon surge added her physical pain. The feline fainted and tumble down the mountain from the top to the bottom.

"Thanks for the save, Icebreaker," Orcariner radioed.

Seeing how he still had some distance to go, the Maximal retracted his right blade and pulled out his carbon instead. His aim was horrendous using two hands, so Orcariner couldn't even fathom what shooting with one hand would be like. Still, he should help out his friend just like how the latter helped him a nanoklick ago. Knowing that Starshadow naively allowed her emotions to control her actions, the giant robot shouted.

"Hey, furball! Reenact the 'surprise kitty' look for me!"

He blasted away at her with the carbine, laughing out loud tauntingly.

Starshadow coughed out alot of mech fluid because of Orcariner's attack. She didn't have much energy to transform into beast mode as she took the fall. "So...just like old times..." her scarlet red optics watered.

(( OOC: I have been reading this all, and I do want to chime in with Steelclaw and Cheetor, but should we give Valkyrie a chance to catch up, or are we just assuming she'll get back when she gets back? The story is getting farther and farther ahead of her. ))

Icebreaker ducked as shots started to come from the distance, he then shouted as their radios seemed to be jammed Easy on the boomstick! Something seems wrong with her.. Icebreaker walked towards the fallen Starshadow poking the body with his gun, his infrared visor sliding back with his battle mask She's in pretty bad shape.. I didn't do this.. must of been the earlier battle.. He then pulled out some wire tieing Starshadow up.

It wasn't in Maximal code to kill Predacons, merely detain them. He then walked down the hill towards Orcariner pulling out a spare magazine attaching it to the side of the gun, then unclipped the line he usually kept on the gun so he wouldn't drop it when climbing I wasted alot of energy on that landslide, so take this and help Cheetor out.. Careful on the splash damage and no "full power to Primary weapon"junk if your using the ice mode.. with your energy reserves you'd probably cause a tornado.. Icebreaker then passed off the gun to Orcariner, which seemed to fit his build more then the 3 meter tall penguin bot.

He walked towards his knife picking it up I'll watch the kitty, maybe I can get some information on what the slag is going on around here.

(Vena originally proposed a idea of a rule of "after 3 days move on without them", basically this whole mission is just to keep Valkyrie busy/away/unable to lead while Rattrap takes command in the main story anyway so I don't think she'll mind too much.)

Starshadow's tail slipped out of the wires with the spikes out and cut it to set herself free. The feline crawled to a near-by boulder to support herself. "Divert plasma energy..to power pack.." she panted. The femme focused her gaze to Orcariner and pulled out her darts she made. With her sense of farsight, she aimed the crosshair at the whale's shoulder joints and there's no way she would miss. The feline threw the darts at the targeted parts of Orcariner.
"This should paralyze his hand movements."

(( OOC: You guys have EIGHT posts in ONE day (that's just today, and today isn't over yet!) between the three of you. I think that's a little much. It's just like what happened in all of the Lounge topics. If you guys could keep one post a day, it wouldn't feel like Ven (and anyone else who's currently MIA) is missing so much.

And the "three days" rule wasn't decided on exactly how many days it should be. I would like to have it at five. Even so, since she hasn't posted anything since December 22nd, I believe, then I would move on without her. But not too fast otherwise she'll get discouraged to post at all. It's a lot to catch up on when it's eight posts or more a day. I'd suggestion slowing down, Starshadow and NK. ))

Steelclaw had shot Ocariner in the leg in an attempt to deter him. He may have fought for the Predacons, but unless Steelclaw was doing some mission which absolutely required enemy silence, he still aimed for non-vital parts first.

This was only partly because of the way he felt about killing from a range where he himself was in no danger. He was after all, a warrior, and death was a result of war. But by now, old battle scruples had simply become a matter of habit. Maybe someday it would be important to develop some new ones.

Either way, he had been busy placing another round in his rifle's barrel, and by the time he had looked back into his scope, Ocariner was too close to the hill to actual even be seen from Steelclaw's vantage point. By the time he came over the hill, he and Icebreaker were too close to Starshadow to risk sniping.

But now Ocariner had left, and Starshadow had given herself enough distance from the penguin to give the sniper a window of sniping opportunity. He could have chosen Ocariner, but he was heading towards Sonar, who's flying capabilities seemed to give him more than enough tactical advantage to stay out of trouble.

So, he placed the scope over Icebreaker's frame, near the center of the chest, but not where he estimated (though he couldn't really know) the bird's spark chamber was. Since Icebreaker was moving, Steelclaw had to be sure he was moving his sights right on line with his target's motions.

And then he fired.

(( OOC: Just wrote this after Optimal Optimus Primal posted, but I think I should leave it, if that's o.k., because Steelclaw hasn't moved for a while himself. Anyways, whether you want me to take this down or keep it, I'll still pause after this one. ))

((OOC: Don't worry Naito. I'm in a good mood today ^^
Alak, try and use your posts to dictate your own character's movement and not a character played by somebody else, unless you have permission from the player to do so.

OOP: TNX. My eyes started to get irritated from all the reading ^^))

Valkyrie was still flying towards the trail of smoke when she suddenly caught a flash of light coming from the higher right side edge of her vision.
It could've been lightning, but she didn't think it was wise to not react.
With the obvious smoke plume ahead, which she doubted was caused naturally, it might as well, or probably was a shot fired from a Predacon, or an other hostile source at her.
Valkyrie maximized and twisted her body so that the beam only took out a few feathers on her wing as she twisted.
When she was finally facing the direction the shot came from, and moved her wings into that direction, and launched 2 missiles at the targeted area her advanced processing units calculated the shot came from.

Because her counter strike would force her attacker to move away from that location, she was safe to observe the activities below on the ground.
She then noticed her 2 missiles where shot into the clouds in vain as the sniper, who obviously was a Predacon, fired from a different location.
This bot was a threat to herself and her team, and should be taken out quickly.
He was able to keep the other Maximals away from himself, and at range of his sniper, but knew she could close that gap between herself and the Predacon easily, and quickly.
The other problem was that from this position she could see the crashed ship with ease, and already seemed to be stripped.
This battle was a senseless one, and they seemed to be at a disadvantage as well.
The logical action to take now is to retreat and regroup, to prepare for a counter offensive, as they simply couldn't let the Predacons get away with the salvaged equipment.
She opened up a communication on the Maximal frequency to her teammates to send her order to withdraw from battle, and regroup.
"Maximal. Cease your engagements with the Predacons and retreat to vector alfa-tango-538 and regroup at a better defensible position.
I'll keep the Predacons from following at combat range. Valkyrie out."

With that said, she transformed back to beastmode and flew towards Glowstick while moving around just enough for him not to be able to get a lock on her.
A few meter away from the Predacon, she quickly transformed back to her robot mode and fired a salvo of her feather missiles at him, before disengaging and targeted Starshadow, to fire 2 missiles at her back, before transforming to her beastmode again and flew through a few trees. There where at least 2 more Predacons at combat range of her, and needed to divert their attention from her comrades long enough for them to reach a safe distance.
Valkyrie had the best chance of succeeding in this because she was fast and nimble in the air, and able to target anything from great heights.
And so she swiftly darted out of the tree line, and went streight up into the sky and transformed to robot mode again.
She used her optic sensors to track down all the Predacons and halt their movements from the air.

Starshadow was too tired to walked and took in the blow of Valkyrie's missles. Her back slammed a near by tree. Her shoulders and stomach emitted out sparks. Groaning and wincing in pain, she laid on the ground. "Looks like...I'm the main...attraction..." she chuckled abit then later turn into a low growl.

Glowstick watched as the bird came in for the attack in her robot mode, his tentacles then untwisted as both lasers came on, seeming to spin and slice through the missiles as they came towards him.

Knocked back by the concussive blast of the missiles blowing up prematurely he then floated watching Valkyire escape and make her attack on StarShadow, his optics zoomed in as he sighed And that is why I didn't want them involved.. che'..

He then deactivated his float system,radio jamming,and transformed to squid mode falling from the sky. His tentacles coiled forward like a drill while his fins made adjustments to his guided fall.

After reaching a certain altitude, Glowstick transformed in mid air, his tentacles expanding to reduce his speed with his siphon blowing air bellow him, he then floated above StarShadow firing one of his feeder tentacles down wrapping it around her and pulling her up Sure you don't want that lift now?

(OOC: My bad, I'll keep that in mind)

Orcariner continued to fire his carbine while backing up towards the river. As soon as he felt the water level reach his knees, he returned to his killer whale form and dove to the bottom.

System repairs initiating.

"Ok, where to next?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I need a lift." Starshadow groaned in pain. "Bring me to the Darksyde...I need some rest in the CR tank."

Steelclaw saw through his scope that Ocariner was falling back, and then got his face away from his gun long enough to see that Valkyrie was flying around and blasting at the Predacons.

"Sonar", Steelclaw spoke into his radio, "you're a flier. Can you forget the cheetah, and give their flier some trouble?"

Steelclaw quickly put away his rifle and deployed his arm-docked PPC. He knew that aiming at a moving, airborne target- especially one who was above you- with a non-automatic weapon was about impossible. Glowstick, Steelclaw noticed gladly, had the right idea using a weapon which provided a constant threat, because it provided the chance for him to adjust his aim. He could see where his ammunition was going. Steelclaw's PPC would serve a similar function.

"Please go away." he stated blandly, though loudly, as he fired on Valkyrie.