The Intergalactic Highway

Skyfire received the message of her orders and contacted Valkyrie. "Okay, Val I'm on my way ." she said over the communicator and then flew to the area where Valkyrie was waiting for her. Thankfully it didn't take her long to find Valkyrie 's location and she landed in front of Valkyrie.

Venatrix wrote:"Blue 2, this is Blue Leader. Thats a negative on your recommendation. If Bluebirds change heading for Bogey 2, we wouldn't make it in time. We would be at a serious disadvantage in manpower and firepower to do anything useful. Bogey 2 is in the hands of the tango's for now. However, Bogey 3 is within reach, and if my calculations are correct, Bluebird 1 and 2 will reach Bogey 3 before the tango's do. Stay on the tails of the tango's who are heading for Bogey 2, and slow them down enough for Bluebird 1 and 2 plus hopefully one, to reach your position, and take Bogey 2 from the tango's by force if necessary. Blue Leader out."

"Wilco," he replied.

His gravity lifts hummed as he proceeded up the beach towards the frighteningly barren desert. He looked to Icebreaker to report the command.

"That's a negative," Orcariner said, "Val wants us to stay on course to Delta Point. She knows we can't outrun them so I guess it's our job to ambush them while they're reprogramming the protoform or after they create a new Predacon."

A mission that seemed to lean in their favor quickly went downhill. The blazing sun and the dry heat will make this trek very long and very enduring for the marine unit. It was much different than the continent they came from and the ocean seemed like a haven now. Regardless, a mission was a mission and it must be seen through to the end. Orcariner skimmed through his databanks in search of old articles from previous Great Wars. Most successful ambushes required high ground or at least the hidden presence of the attacker waiting for the victims' arrival. There was no scenario off the top of his head that involved a sneak attack from a transformer who was roughly 2-3 times the size of the enemy. Even during the assault on the transport, Orcariner's presence was already picked up on radar.

"Any ideas on how we go about this?" he asked Icebreaker.

Checking his scanners, the killer whale noted that Steelclaw and Starshadow were already 3 klicks ahead of them.

Orcariner added, "We probably should plan for a 2 vs 3 fight."

"What makes you think we'll reach it in time ebfore it does?" Frilla asked as she ran. The fact this third pod had crashed didn't mean it could have already scanned a life form, for it to no longer be a protoform and possibly end up a Maximal. Unless of course by some dumb luck it scanned soemthing to fit in among the Predacons. 'Likely chance of that happening is one in a million'. Frilla thought mentally shaking her head.

((Hey Sky, Valkyrie was already flying at top speed, so i take it the 2 birdies meet along the way towards the pod.))

Valkyrie nodded at Skyfire as they both flew towards the crashed pod.
The other bird was faster then she was, but she knew they would meet with Predacon resistance right before they could reach their fallen comrade.
She could already spot the 2 Predacons at even this altitude, and it was statistically impossible for them to spot the 2 birds, as they would be no more then 2 very tiny dots in the sky.
The larger bird looked at her smaller companion and nodded towards the ground where her keen eyes detected the movements of their competitors.
"Skyfire, i'll go down, slow the Predacons down and reach for the pod, and start its activation programs, as it seems its unable to do so by itself as it would've done so already. You attack them from the sky while i do so.
"And be careful, the flying Pred has proven to be a pain, and the running one is unknown to me. So keep moving while you attack them. You'll be harder to hit.
"When i started up the pods activation, i'll join you, and attack them from near the pod from the ground."

With that said she looked down again, and picked out her first target. She needed to get it done in one go, or the Preds will reach the pod first.
She grinned to herself, as she took note of how birds of prey functioned and attack their targets from sometimes impossible hights. Her studies of her beastmode's origins where indeed very useful in situations like this.
"May the matrix be with us both."

Then she folded her wings onto her back, and she dived down, picking up speed quickly, while she kept her eyes on her target and saw that her calculations weren't off by a single digit.
Then she went past the point of no return, and unfolded her large wings, and Sonar was suddenly surrounded by a bird shaped shadow.
There was hardly time to react before Valkyrie's large and strong talons snatched the bat from the sky.
She leveled out as she dodged 2 trees before dropping her victim right before she dodged a large boulder, attempting to have the bat smack hard into it.
The large bird moved a bit to the right, and was right behind Frila when she initiated her transformation command. "Valkyrie, Maximize!"
Valkyrie passed over Frilla as she transformed, and fired 2 missiles at the the ground right in front of her.
These missiles weren't aimed at the Predacon, but just a bit in front of her, and one to her left, and one to her right.
They weren't meant to hit her, just to slow her down.
If the lizard keeps running forwards, she would be caught between the explosions, and be thrown of course. If she keeps running, but go to the left or the right, a missile would het her. if she stops, the explosions would possibly force her back a bit. And if she tries to jump over the impact zones, the pressure from the explosions would send her in either direction.
The rest was up to Skyfire now, as she moved towards the pod quickly.

((Note that these attacks aren't meant to cause damage, just to slow your characters down a slight bit. Dodge all the attacks, and the result would be the same ^^))

"What makes you think we'll reach it in time ebfore it does?"

Sonar rolled his optics but didn't reply, instead he pumped his wings harder in order to get there before the Maximal programming kicked in.
He suddenly no longer felt the sun on his back, turning his head slightly he yelled when he saw a pair of talons comming straight for him. Before he could react he was grasp by the brids talons.
"Let me go!" He snarled.
He then noticed that the brid was flying toward a large boulder.
Scrap. He thought.
He didn't open his wings in time and smacked into the boulder.
He growled, ears back.
"Sonar! Terrorize!" He shouted then shot into the air.
He fired two missles at the blasted brid, before going after the second Maximal.

((OOC: NH? didn't you read my post?))

((OOC: NH? didn't you read my post?))

((OOC: No, sorry. I'll fix it.))

Frilla hadn't been at first aware of the two Maximal fliers but as she heard the missles Frilla's immediate reaction was to stop. But event hen as the two missles made impact tot he ground in front of her she hissed, being thrown backwards by the force impact and hit the ground on her back. "Slagging flying good for nothing scraps." She grumbled forcing herself to get up, "Frilla terrorize!" She commanded and transformed. Looking around she tried to spot some cover while int he mean time took out her blaster at her side, switching back to acid pellets and raising it to fire at Valkyerie hoping to at least get a few shots on the flier.

Icebreaker looked towards Orcariner as he spoke, he didn't like the idea of just leaving it to them. But it seemed they had no choice if he went off on his own, it would just leave Orcariner at disadvantage and bring more havoc to the situation. He looked over the desert environment with a frown " Ug.. it's hot already. Well.. I know one way to make this.. less painful of a trip,Maximize!" he then mentioned, transforming to his robot mode he pulled out one of his tarps and hopped onto Orcariner's back.

He drew his frost launcher adjusting a dial on the side, then leaned down firing a slushie like snow from the device into the tarp. He then adjusted the dial again as some randomly shaped pieces of ice exited the gun into the pile of slush. Finally resetting his gun to a weapon setting he put it on his hip and leaned down rolling up the tarp and tieing it with some cord to keep the slush and ice in, a bit of it melting out onto Orcariner. Icebreaker pulled out another tarp which seemed to of been modified, then transformed to his beast mode putting the tarp on like a type of cloak. "There.. that should help us with the heat. As for the situation.. I guess when we get within range try to catch them off guard and lock on them with a few missiles? We really don't have anything suited for taking on that bear other then luck, explosives, and speed.. Unless you have any better ideas?" Icebreaker then stated looking towards the whale as they hovered along.

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Glowstick continued work on his body, his radio picking up a few radio signals, though he didn't pay much attention to what was said, his optics lifted for a moment as he stopped work hearing the voice of Valkyrie. He had a feeling that she would show up. So the Air force and Marine unit were sent.. I guess that means Primal and a Land party went up north.. he stated to himself. He didn't pay attention to the details of the radio conversation, but he wished he did. He finished running and soldering the points on his body, then looked over the vessel he was in. The side wall was heavily impacted from the killerwhale's attacks, he probably could repair that back at shop. But the craft itself would need more parts if it was going to make it overseas again.

He started to reassemble his body, then got up thinking over the situation while lifting the minigun. While he could transport the pod by himself, it would take awhile and either the air force or marine unit would catch up with him. It seemed his best bet would be to do what any Cephalopod does best.. hide. By moving the pod elsewhere himself he could find a way to get it past the maximals, then use any parts from it or other sources to repair the transport and recover the other Predacons to escape.

He went to the back of the vehicle opening the rear hatch, causing it to lower like a ramp. Then stepped out having it lift again. He walked around the craft inspecting the damage on it, walking towards one of the sides of the ship he lifted a panel, his optics and parts of his face lighting up the area as he examined the rocket motors. They seemed fine, but a few of the coolant pipes had ruptured from rapid thermal shock. He pulled out a metal rod from the repair kit he was still carrying, then began work on welding and replacing some of the pipes.

Moments later he crawled under the craft, examining the broken wires and a few damaged fuel lines, he drew a pair of clippers snipping the damaged fuel lines cleanly, then applied some spacers, new line between the two cleaved sections, and clamped up the lines to prevent any leaks. His other tentacles seeming to work on repairing a few of the broke wires, as he worked his body started to short Energon? Che.. Alright. That's about as much as I can do without what I need.. he said to himself, then crawled out from under the vehicle. He closed the panel over the rocket motor Beast mode..

He reluctantly transformed to his squid mode. He was unsure how well the modifications would work, or how well flying in his beast mode would work as it was a marine lifeform that used water to support it's structure. He sealed his mantle, then allowed it to inflate, wires seen streamed along inside his mantle as well as the Minigun Steelclaw left behind stored in it. He floated slowly into the air, then moved his fins attempting to determine how well they would work in the air. While fairly long, it seemed they didn't have the means of providing light thrust like in the water,being more suited for adjusting his movements.

As he lifted into air, he then projected some air from his siphon sending him forward swiftly, he moved the siphon forward projecting another blast of air to slow him down. Floating towards the tree tops, a sudden gush of wind blew into his side starting to send him floating out of control much like a balloon, his mantle attempting to flex under the stress but remaining with some rigidity from the main hard point of his beast mode. He let out a gasp of horror with wide squid eyes, then projected his feeder tentacles to grab hold of a tree top, as the wind died down, he released the treetop. This.. is going to take some getting used to. he then said to himself.

He activated his communication system sending a message to Steelclaw Alright, modifications are complete.. still getting used to the feeling of being bloated.. I detected Valkyrie's voice on the radio, so I assume the maximals probably split up. Be on the watch for birds.. in the air or on land. Should I catch up with you two or call Frilla and Sonar?-Gah.. Oh slag not another breeze! Glowstick then stated , his siphon shifted as he then started to propel himself forward to to counter against being blown around so violently Oh good.. I think I figured it out.. he then responded, a mild tone of anxiety in his voice.

"Need a hand there?" Steelclaw asked Starshadow. The obvious answer was that she wouldn't need help merely picking herself off the ground. But it seemed like he needed to acknowledge the situation, and do so without being derrogative. He didn't have to be mean, because, after all, wherever they went... there they'd be, together. And they couldn't leave each other until the mission was over.

Steelclaw had a hard time figuring that panther out. In battle, she'd fearlessly go toe to toe with foes that looked on paper like a terrible match up. And not only would she survive- sometimes she'd win.

But she seemed inconsistent- she feared and over-reacted to things which didn't require fear. For all he knew, she could snap at his very offering her help. The other panther had come quite close to doing so.

Glowstick wrote:Alright, modifications are complete.. still getting used to the feeling of being bloated.. I detected Valkyrie's voice on the radio, so I assume the maximals probably split up. Be on the watch for birds.. in the air or on land. Should I catch up with you two or call Frilla and Sonar?-Gah.. Oh slag not another breeze!

Steelclaw looked inquisitively at his own foreleg where his comlink was stored in beast mode. A breeze?

"We've already got a heavy hitter over here. And me too, I guess. I think you should head over to Sonar and Frilla. And... are you... alright over there?"

"Thanks but no thanks." Starshadow got up and shook the sand off her fur.

"Where was I again?. Oh yeah!!" she started running in full speed.

NaitoKage wrote:"There.. that should help us with the heat. As for the situation.. I guess when we get within range try to catch them off guard and lock on them with a few missiles? We really don't have anything suited for taking on that bear other then luck, explosives, and speed.. Unless you have any better ideas?" Icebreaker then stated looking towards the whale as they hovered along.

"Hmm," indicated Orcariner, letting Icebreaker know that he was thinking.

The frost was most comforting on the killer whale's back, and he could feel the melted drops slide down his leathery skin. The pod was still some distance away so he could not use his topographic map to plan anything just yet. The word "luck" that the penguin had mentioned was sounding like a key factor now. They were moving around 48 kph at the moment, but that was still much slower than the Predacon blips on his scanners. Orcariner was thankful to Primus that they were at least still in scanning range.

"I guess," he said, breaking the silence, "you will be our main gunner since you have the missiles, icicles, and whatever else you have stored in that cannon. On your board, I suppose you may be able to use speed to our advantage once we get the jump on them. Steelclaw is the one we have to worry about in this type of situation because his shotgun has an incredible punch to it in short to mid-range. If he's distracted long enough for me to get close to him, I can definitely out-muscle that bear in a fist fight."

It did not sound too bad saying it like that, but Orcariner knew that such as task would be extremely difficult. Icebreaker defeated the panther in combat prior to this occasion, but a 2 vs. 1 fight was much different and they both knew that it could very well be a 3 vs. 1 encounter. Such odds require caution, regardless if Icebreaker had the advantage of first strike from behind. Steelclaw alone was an outstanding factor due to his experience, array of weaponry, and mastery over such weaponry. Should the killer whale try to sneak up from behind, the rumbling of his footsteps will give the bear more than enough time to swerve and fire. The Maximal was tough and extremely durable, but even he had his limits.

"You're right about speed," Orcariner continued, "We'll definitely need a lot of that... and luck. Distract and sweep is our best bet against this team. We can try what I said just now, or maybe something different. If they succeed in securing the pod, we can just wait for them to come to us. I can hide, or try to hide, and then spring up on them when they come by. You can pick them off during the whole commotion. I don't know, buddy. I see things going very wrong with either scenario. Got any preference or ideas? I'm down for anything right now."

Icebreaker looked down at Orcariner, he was moving as fast as he could.. but even with the little penguin off him that wouldn't increase his speed. Icebreaker then looked up towards the sky, not a cloud in it. The lack of moisture was less advantageous compared to when they were in the ocean, the abundance of water made it easier for him to freeze the shuttle earlier. He put his flippers behind his head thinking of the situation, remembering his days on Cybertron. They seemed slightly clouded compared to the crew on the Axalon, perhaps a side effect of crashing in the antarctic as a stasis pod. The cloak he was wearing helped but the heat and dryness was starting to get to him.

"I don't know.. All I have for supplies is a canteen of energon, a buncha missiles, some grappling hooks, cable, my knife, and a few other tarps.. You know.. this place kind of looks like a ocean.. of sand." Icebreaker then suddenly leaned up smacking a flipper into the palm of another. That's it! Not so sure on battle strategy, but I know how we'll get there quick! Icebreaker Maximize! he then shouted transforming to his robot mode, strangely still wearing the modified tarp cloak. He leaned down pulling out a spool of cable, then started to work on it. Cutting, crimping, and using an array of carabiners that he would usually use in mountain climbing or securing things.

He then started to move along on Orcariner, running a few cables, then attaching them with a quick release hooks, which he promptly tied together with cable having some hang off so he could quickly remove the makeshift harness from the whale. He finally pulled out a fairly large square of tarp, and started to attach and crimp it to the cables he ran out. "Alright, here goes.. Beast mode!" he then transformed to his penguin mode, picking up two loops of cable with his flippers, he lifted and unfolded the tarp letting it catch into the wind and expand, using Orcariner's reduced weight and lack of friction of the gravity lifts to increase their speed by land sailing. Combine with Orcariner's efforts of the gravity lift, it was starting to look like they would at least be able to start catching up with the Predacon land forces.

_____________

Blazemane wrote:"We've already got a heavy hitter over here. And me too, I guess. I think you should head over to Sonar and Frilla. And... are you... alright over there?"

Glowstick struggled in the wind, then started to lower his altitude Uh..er.. just fine.. Just getting used to flying in beast mode.. I'm like a balloon in the wind. I'll head towards Frilla and Sonar.

Glowstick then started towards the direction of the newly landed pod, he activated his com system on Sonar and Frilla's radios Hey, I'm coming over. Are things alright over there?

Orcariner happily laughed as their speed nearly doubled from the combined efforts of the wind and his gravity lifts. The only other time he would experience this sort of acceleration was in water, but even that required some degree of energy output from him. That was when another idea hit him.

NaitoKage wrote:"... this place kind of looks like a ocean.. of sand."

"We did pretty good work back there," he said to the penguin, "You doing the quick strike and me hitting them from below. This sounds crazy, but what if we tried the exact same thing again? What if... I buried myself underground? I've dug caves into mountain sides in less than mega-cycle, so I could make a hole that gives me enough space to squat into. You have all this tarp that can cover me so that the sand won't disrupt my gears and whatnot. To ensure that they fall into our trap, all you gotta do is hit and run. They'll be sure to chase you if they're under the impression that you retreat because you're overpowered and beaten. Just hover your way back to my spot and I'll be able to catch them off guard using my scanners. Hopefully, Valkyrie and Skyfire will have secured the third pod so that we'll have back-up to finish the fight."

A feeling of giddiness sparked in his servos. Orcariner was a proponent for peace, but he also had a competitive streak. Having the Predacons succeed in their objective nearly killed his day, but the thought of being able to get some sort of compensation out of this was spark warming. Giving them a surprise and beating of a lifetime was a very suitable compensation. Looking at his scanners, the killer whale saw that they were still a couple klicks behind but at least the gap was slowly closing. If they have this much time, Orcariner wanted to talk about something else before the fight occurred. His experience of going against Steelclaw's shotgun back in the ocean made the Maximal very weary of close range combat. While the surprise attack may take him out within astroseconds, killer whale knew that his initial lunge could miss the bear and give him a chance to retaliate. Energon blades were not Orcariner's only weapons, though; he had his carbine.

"Oh, I kind of have another question since we have the time," said Orcariner, hesitantly, "You know I have a gun, and I think it would help make me more of a multi-dimensional soldier if I used it as well as my swords. It'd probably raise our success rate, too, having the additional firepower. The thing is... umm... I'm not exactly Cybertron's greatest marksman or anything. You see, it's a burst fire weapon that requires precision. I like going in arms swinging and using my size and reach, so precision isn't a trait that I particularly excel in."

He gulped.

"I noticed you use your gun a lot like everyone else," he added, getting to his point, "You think you could give me some pointers?"

Hey, I'm coming over. Are things alright over there?

"No, things are not alright! We are getting attacked by a lousy Maximal brid! Who's feathers i intend to clip permently!!" Sonar replied.
He fired a few more arounds at Skyfire before going back to fight Valkyrie.