The Intergalactic Highway

Starshadow was reading her notebook about her mentor's finding of alien technology and weapons.

"Fine..I'm comin I'm comin..." she opened the door and transformed into beast mode, walking towards the rest of the predacons.

Sonar poked the most likely dead bob cat and sighed.
"Looks like i'm going to need another test subject. At least the honey Bagder is still alive." He muttered.
After he rid himself of the dead bob cat he returned to his lair as his COM beeped.

Sonar, bring your gear and report to the hanger. We're deploying.

Great. Getting pods is a waste of my time. He thought his ears going back.
"Alright. I'm on my way." He said trying not to hide annoyance.

Starshadow leaped on one of the hover platforms with a sigh.
"Alright what's all the commotion about? I'm studying and I do not wish to be disturbed." her ears went back with her red eyes narrowed. She had better things to do than being assigned to complete minor tasks.

((my english sucks alot...))

"Attention! This is a code yellow emergency! 2 stasis pods have been detected who have decaying orbits. One is calculate to drop in sector 11 Victor Alpha 17! The other in sector 34 Delta Charley 79! All Maximals report on the bridge!"

"Heads up, 'bots! Get ready to move!"

Upon hearing these messages, Skyfire awoke from her sleep and groaned. So much for getting a good night sleep she thought. Skyfire entered the bridge yawning. "What's this about pods?" she asked still feeling half asleep.

(( OOC: Thank you, New Moon! ))

With the group's flying speed you should be able to make it to the pods fast, but I think we should send support groups on the fastest routes possible. If our Marine unit goes the ocean route, they should be able to keep up and make it to Point Delta faster then any land route possible.

Primal's brown eyes looked at Rhinox and he gave a nod. "Agreed." He looked at Icebreaker as he spoke up.

"Point Delta?" "Ah! I know that area. That's when we had to split up with the others. That area is horrible man, it's a vast desert with a spread of spikey plants.Just south of there should be the remains of that makeshift base we made."

You seem to know that area well. So that's near where a majority of those pods met up before?

After the penguin nodded in response, Optimus turned his attention toward Rattrap's questions.

"Two pods? Geeze...so then what's the plan? We gotta split up if we're gunna have a chance at either of these." "So who is gunna stay here at base? We don't need another incident like last time."

"Orcariner and Icebreaker, along with Valkyrie and Skyfire will head for the pod in Sector 34," Primal ordered. (( OOC: I'm assuming the one in 34 is Blackarachnia's pod? If not, then switch my Sector 34 order to Sector 11. )) "I will fly after the pod in Sector 11 while Rhinox, Cheetor and Rattrap follow on foot. Saber-Fang and Dinobot will remain here at the base." (( OOC: Did I get that right from our discussion? Just go with it if I'm wrong. You guys can switch up the groups after Optimus is taken out anyway. ))

With that, briefly glancing at Skyfire's arrival to the bridge, Optimus immediately headed for the lift, ready to exit the base and fly at full speed to reach their comrade in the snowy, bitterly cold section of the planet.

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At the Darksyde, Waspinator, in beast mode, buzzed over to Megatron when he started dishing out orders. He hovered near Terrorsaur who was usually his partner in their aerial antics.

"You and Waspinator will buy them a head start - go to Maximal base and hide just outside their door. Wait until the fliers emerge and then..."

"Blast them into scrap!"

"Precisely. Now, go!"

"Ooooo. Wazzpinator will scrap them!" the wasp said as he joyfully clapped his front insect feet together a couple times. Quickly he followed Terrorsaur out of the roof hatch and into the night.

"All right, we might as well get goin'." Rattrap rolled his shoulders before double checking his weapons and bombs. "looks like Spots and I will be glad for fur coats..." He chuckled and patted Rhinox's back smirking easilly.

((ooc: ah okay edited then ^^))

((Your quite welcome.^^)

Frilla thought the progress had been good so far, so sure that she'd stay on land for a while but unfortunately came the fact of the ocean. A small sigh escaped her as she gazed across the vast open sea. The pod was soemwhere across there and though she was a runner on land the sea was another thing. "Looks like I'll have ot hope a patrol comes by now." She said shaking her head.

((OOC: Yeah, I was just a bit unsure of when and where to bring him in. This is another reason why I'm uneasy playing with canon characters ))

Orcariner nodded at Primal's command and turned to exit the bridge. He would have to leave the Axalon through the hanger bay doors since the elevator was too small for his frame. The Maximal spoke out to his penguin comrade.

"Looks like we swim together again, friend. Just try not to go too fast and leave me behind in your trail of bubbles."

Orcariner smiled as he faded into darkness, leaving only the thumping sounds of his footsteps. He hoped that they could reach the pod before the Predacons so that this long trip could be worthwhile.


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Scorponok remained quiet by Megatron's side as always. The towering leader barked orders left and right to ensure their victory. Understanding that a firefight was inevitable, the Predacon scurried back to his lab. Transforming into robot form, Scorponok proceeded to load his claws with his mega missiles. Aside from their leader, this team had no heavy weapons specialist. It would be a tactical disadvantage if they were forced to enter a firefight with mere guns against someone so heavily armed such as Optimus Primal. The scorpion robot opened his personal armory and retrieved a small canister containing a powerful acid he had synthesized. He placed it into a compartment in his tail in case any Maximal approached him too close for comfort.

Cheetor understood splitting into groups. There were two pods- not one. But dividing the groups themselves? Sending Big 'Bot out on his own?

He suddenly realized that Optimus was already heading out, so he jumped onto a table to get slightly in front of his leader. But Optimus kept moving steadily, and Cheetor lifted his paw- slightly out of fear that Optimus was going to walk right into him, and slightly because of how awkward verbally disagreeing with Primal seemed.

"Got to tell you Big 'Bot. Doesn't sound like such a swift move- splitting up."

Dinobot heard the comment just after he came into the room, and was surprised to discover that Cheetor actually possessed that specific fear. He was thinking the same thing.

* * *

Steelclaw arrived at the hangar with his weapon in tow, and then placed it carefully on the ground next to him.

Starshadow wrote:Alright what's all the commotion about? I'm studying and I do not wish to be disturbed.

"Stasis pod duty. We're gonna get another ally."

Steelclaw would be loathe to admit it, but he too had great reservations about the mission. There was something inherently dirty about forcibly changing a Cybertronian life form to fight for a cause which- had they been given the choice- they almost certainly would have fought against.

It certainly wasn't all bad. Steelclaw knew that in the end, if Megatron won the Beast Wars, it would be unlikely that he'd leave any survivors from the current Axalon crew. So essentially, a Maximal re-programmed was a Maximal's life spared.

But what if there were those among the protoforms who would rather die than fight for what they didn't believe?

And supposing the Maximals actually did win? Even with a viable defense that they were forced to fight for Megatron against their will, the new Predacons would still live a harder life on Cybertron. Who out there would care that they were re-programmed and understand their actions? Few. And even if no one blamed them for their actions, they would still be Predacons- subjected to a second-class living shared by all their fellows- the very thing Steelclaw was now fighting to end. There was hope, of course, that they'd switch back to being Maximals, but the re-programming generally changed the transformer's entire outlook. Once one was coerced into being a Pred, they felt like a Pred, breathed like a Pred and thought like a Pred. Which of them would truly want to return to what they once were?

He allowed himself to exhale audibly. For all the risk, and the nearly inarguable treachery involved in changing the Maximals, he was still a soldier fighting a war. And he had been forced to learn long ago that casualties happen. If he left this stasis pod alone to join the Maximals, his goal would be in further danger. And the fear of messing up one Maximal's life was not enough to outweigh the fear of letting all the Predacons' lives get trampled on day after day.

But, slag. It was still really under-handed.

"Hey Glowstick, when do you think we'll be heading off?" he asked as he deployed his PPC and inspected it.

Starshadow transformed into her robot mode.

"Interesting...Let's go then. Waiting for others would be slowing us down." she directed the hover platform near the entrance. If the predacons couldn't retrieve the pod successfully, she would just destroy it so none of the factions would have a new ally on their side.

But who's going to tag along with me? I hope bat-face's not joining the coming game... she thought.

Glowstick walked into the hanger, appearing to be carrying four large gas style cans with a box full of poison slime canisters. He looked towards StarShadow as she seemed to be complaining, then looked towards Steelclaw inspecting his PPC. He walked towards a tarp covered structure as his tentacles move pulling the tarp down stepping back from it and tossing the tarp to the side.

The vehicle dwarfed the group in size, almost as tall as the largest of maximals, with perfectly set lines and welds looking like long streams of coins. The vehicle seemed almost too good to be made of scrap.The long haul of the ship was unpainted for the most part, having a aluminum like finish while obviously being made of sterner things.
The vehicle appeared to have some tools attached to the side, and even a visible turret seat with armored mount but strangely no gun. The wheels of the vehicle seemed stranger housing thrusters in the wheel hubs with heavily modified offroad style tires. And even most noticeable was the strange shape of the craft, as if someone had smashed the designs of an Aircraft carrier into a cybertronian transport.

Glowstick spoke up As soon as we find Sonar. He then walked towards the back of the vehicle, entering a code into a touch pad causing a red light to turn green, then reached towards a handle moving back a bit as he turned it. the Rear section of the vehicle lowered revealed to be an armored ramp with direct access to the cargo bay of the ship.


Glowstick walked inside lifting up one of the seats on the left side of the vehicle, then started to put away the box of poison canisters. Moving to another seat he loaded the gas cans, then put both seats down. If you have any questions before we go, feel free to ask.. Which reminds me.. I remember hearing you whine about wanting to ride a vehicle a few times Star.. do you know how to pilot an aircraft? he then shouted out, he walked to the Cockpit of the vehicle sitting down in the driver's chair, which spun like an office or boat chair. He then started flipping up an array of switches turning the massive vehicle on.

Outside forward driving lights were seen turning on lighting up the normally dark hanger, followed by an array of purple lighting seen across and under the bottom of the vehicle, the song "Don't stop the music" off the Initial D soundtrack blaring for a moment, but the volume then went down to a much more tolerable level. The Cockpit of the vehicle opened, lifting towards the front of the transport, Glowstick then looked over at the two Okay, everything seems to be running right. Hop in and get settled.

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Icebreaker watched as Orcariner exited the room. He knew the giant would have some trouble catching up with the speed of the birds, strangely his land and water speeds were faster then the fliers with him, but he wouldn't be able to keep up such a pace the entire journey. Sometimes slow and steady is just the way to go. He raised his flipper saluting the group "Good luck guys!", then walked towards the back of the hanger to follow Orcariner out, he'd yet to see a whale fly and certainly wanted to be the first to.

Rhinox looked at Rattrap and crossed his arms Yeah, real lucky.. And to think.. those two are probably more jealous to be missing out on the snow. What a weird planet.


(Hmm.. to prevent damage to Valkyrie and Skyfire, it might be better if they exit out the back as well before Optimus manages to leave and get shot up, being interrupted by Dinobot I suppose? Not sure..)

After grabbing his sniper rifle and few other weapons, Sonar went into his beast mode a flew out of lair. He was not looking forward to this.
"Might as well hunt along the way. I might even find a new subject." He said to himself.
The thought of finding a new subject for his little tests made Sonar less moody, the sooner they found the pod and turned into a Predicon the faster he could find a test sugject and continue his work. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with the half breed.

Glowstick wrote:As soon as we find Sonar.

"SCIENCE FREAK IS JOINING US?! Slag...." Starshadow let out a heavy sigh with her ears drooped.

Glowstick wrote: If you have any questions before we go, feel free to ask.. Which reminds me.. I remember hearing you whine about wanting to ride a vehicle a few times Star.. do you know how to pilot an aircraft?

"Well...depends on the controls. I've pilot a ship before and it looked like some video game controllers, thanks to my sister.... The last time I remembered was piloting an alien ship." Starshadow replied and went into the transport, taking a seat.

"Slagging, freaky batman...why can't it be Frilla or Snowtrix....?" she muttered.

Glowstick leans on the edge of the cockpit listening to Starshadow whine about Sonar, which under some circumstances he as well would rather avoid the bat. But unfortunately he would of been a plan B or C if things got too hectic. However, remembering how often Sonar was rarely at the base. He concluded that he was probably flying towards them, his optics dimmed slightly annoyed, remembering that Sonar was the slowest flier of the group, even making his jury rigged flight ability seem quicker.

He then heard her respond to his question about her piloting skills. It was certainly better then nothing, as just in case he had to leave the vehicle or was rendered unconscious more then having Sonar pilot seemed like a good backup plan as well. Ah, excellent. This.. vehicle, has a secondary mode that uses a Ground effect system to increase it's speed and range. Essentially it'd be like flying as if you were landing the craft the entire time. It's mostly computer assisted but there is a manual mode.. Now then.. I just realized how far from base Sonar's lair is.. I think we better meet up with him and head out, otherwise the Maximals are going to have a head start on us.

He then leaned off the edge, closing the cockpit to the transport. The Camera on the top then turned looking over the area.

(( OOC: I think that would work, NK. Or they just take off right after the Preds retreat. ))

"Got to tell you Big 'Bot. Doesn't sound like such a swift move- splitting up."

Optimus stopped and turned around to face Cheetor. He appreciated his concern, but time was against them. They had a long distance to go and a race to beat the Predacons before they got their hands on their comrades. "We've got no choice!" he exclaimed. "We're talking a hundred clicks over rough territory. Megatron's sure to launch his own flyers! I have to get there first!" Just as he swung around toward the lift, he was confronted by the velociraptor.