The Intergalactic Highway

(( OOC: XD Those liitle arachnoids can roam around all they want and try to get the rest of the Maximals once they show up that are inbound for the Axalon, but Optimus is going to smash them because he's already on edge, and once he finds those that are already unconscious from the cyber venom, he's going to be very, very angry. "HULK SMASH!" Maybe they shouldn't tamper with Sentinel, though, because the Maximals are going to need it, and it should be pretty well protected from any intruders ever since the mishap with Rattrap and Dinobot. And "double Dinobot".

Nooooo, Silverstreak! Wake up so my Maximals can meet you! XD

Okay, Alak. Poor guy. ))

As Optimus descended, he spotted Aurora approaching and Tigatron not far behind her following on the ground. While he felt this immense sigh of relief that she had been found and decided to return to Base, the thought of losing all of them still loomed over his head just as the alien's fake moon did over the planet. What were they to do? Whatever it was, they would have to save this world and its habitants... no matter the cost. Glancing back just a bit and toward the ground, he could see Whitegrazer galloping onward as her white beast mode stood out as well as Aurora's and Tigatron's at night, even with only one moon shining now. Cheetor was still with her but who was that now that joined them? Dinobot? What was he doing out here? Coming to aid them at the alien site perhaps?

Just before Primal touched down on the ground near the Axalon, he disengaged his thrusters and reverted to his beast mode, landing on his feet with a soft thud. The raw energon fields had started to mess with his unprotected circuitry since he had been in robot mode far too long. Taking in a breath before everyone else who was inbound was going to surround him shortly, he casted his gaze back up to the dark sphere beyond the sky, sadness and concern washing over his face and filling up his brown eyes. The Maximal leader took this moment of peace to gather his thoughts and try to untangle the overwhelming emotions that were not only his own but Whitegrazer's as well, and the strange voice he had heard earlier. Of course now all he could feel from Whitegrazer was reassurance and determination. However, it couldn't block or mask the very unsettling worry he held inside for her and everything she apparently hasn't been able to tell him yet, and for each of his Maximals. What was threatening this planet right now was something he had never imagined of encountering and didn't know how to handle it or what to do. Whitegrazer was telling him everything was going to be all right, possibly originating from her visions, but he couldn't fathom if she meant that was because they were all going to perish or that there was going to be some sort of miracle that would present itself in the next hour and save them.

Completely unaware as to what was happening inside the Maximal base, Optimus waited outside for the rest of his Maximals to gather around him while his mind replayed that voice and those visions that had spontaneously appeared in his head. If there was time, he would have to ask Whitegrazer about them. Was something or someone trying to invade his thoughts? To tell him something? And was she aware of what was going on?

-----

"I forgot that you weren't a real Rat." "Besides, I think the Alien's gave you enough warning!"

"Hah! Oh yeah?" Rattrap said at Airazor. "You'd be wise ta remind yerself dat I ain't a real rat, and I will bite back!" he smirked. "And these aliens can kiss my pink, hairless butt!" he added while squirming a little bit in her grasp. "Are we there yet?" Watching Primal fly down and land already, the brown rat couldn't wait to feel the ground underneath his paws again.

-----

"It is hard to understand how killing someone could possibly be considered good to either side,"

Aurora had a good point, but Tigatron didn't expect her to understand it entirely. There was so much for her to learn, he just wished she could be learning the better qualities of life instead of the darker ones. Quickly, the white tiger made his way back to the Axalon, eager to see Airazor return with the group despite the situation they were all in together with now. During this desperate time, it would only be right to be by her side and do all that he could do to protect her and their fellow comrades. Watching where Optimus had landed, the white and black cat picked up his pace and headed for his position, hoping he would have more answers about this sudden turn of events.

Seeing Tarantulas quickly fall while inaccurately shooting off a wild dart, Rhinox assumed the Predacon had been struck down by his frantic assault. Assumptions were never good to make in battle, but in the heat of the moment the officer chose to forgo caution. The center console was swiftly propped up and Rhinox's optics narrowed. They intended to use the Maximal's own base as a means to shield themselves. It was a clever idea since destroying the ship's computers would provide a setback for the crew. However, considering the alternative, the rhinoceros warrior merely shook his head.

I'll just build another one.

Both trigger fingers squeezed, Rhinox's chain guns of doom continued to roar. The two rivers of ballistic ammunition tore apart the round table with little effort, revealing Blackarachnia behind it. He proceeded to concentrate his fire on her, completely unaware of the drones that were silently approaching him from below.

Umbra wrote: I am simply Umbra.

Nemesis watched in silence as this new aquatic team member, whose alternative mode bore a certain resemblance to the deceased Glowstick, introduced himself to Megatron. The new guy appeared to be a smooth talker and swiftly greased the commander's ego for approval. It was an approach that had worked for other Predacons as well, given Megatron's fondness of blind loyalty and praise.

The former Decepticon didn't say anything, merely offering a brief nod as the newcomer passed her on his way to the hangar. She pondered following to find out more about the cephalopod but decided this was not the time. Judging by the events that had taken place at the alien site, resulting in one of the moon changing its appearance considerably, they were very short on time before a potentially catalytic event was to take place.

Although she had never been to Earth personally, Nemesis had been told the stories of the world of the humans that aided Optimus Prime in his war. Many things on this planet matched those descriptions yet a few major differences such as the presence of the twin moons, the abundance of energon deposits, and the primitive humanoids had prevented the assumption of this being the legendary plant. Now those issues were all falling into place. If this truly was Earth at an earlier stage of development, there was a chance that the transformers of the old days were about to arrive or perhaps were already here. If this was the case, perhaps escape was no longer priority. They now had the ability to change history. It was a tempting thought indeed, provided they survived this day.

"Sir, what's going on out there?"

"History coming undone..," Nemesis muttered to herself in a quiet voice. She then started moving to the command center to keep an eye on the progression of the aliens' plans.

Aurora slowed down as she noticed Optimus and the other Maximals approaching the base as well. Slightly concerned she cast a glance back to make sure Tigatron had kept up with her, sighing in relief as her striped friend was closely behind on the ground below. The fuzor didn't exactly feel like another lecture right now, but judging by the look of urgency on Primal's face he appeared to have other concerns right now. More than likely involving the missing moon.

The tiny female made a circle around the area before landing on the ground alongside the gathering team.

Ironclaw followed Wintersong to the corner but decided not to go round it. Then Wintersong called out a name, a name he had not heard before. He wondered who it was. He took a quick peek around and saw that it was a Predacon. What was she doing? Did she know this Predacon? Ironclaw had the feeling that Wintersong wasn't helping herself. He also noticed two other Predacons. They were all spiders. He started to detest the creatures simply because the Preadons had decided to inhabit that alternate form. The sounds of fighting true his attention again, he took another quick look. Rhinox had engaged the spiders, Filla and Silverstreak have gone down. When he drew back his eyes were wide, staring at the floor. He had to make a decision, now.
As he searched for the right course of action he noticed a small insect like drone crawling across the Axalon floor. He t.ted his head and then crushed it with his foot. This act fuel his courage and made him deploy his oversized arm cannons and move close to Wintersong's rear. Before he made his play a strange sensation made him recoil. Ironclaw put his weapons away and calmed himself. He rolled his eyes and smirked a little. 'Optimus would like this' he thought to himself. Going guns blazing was a bad idea, a lot of potential collateral damage. He stayed behind Wintersong, hidden. He placed his hand on her back, letting her know that he was there and reassuring her.

Wintersong's ears went back slightly at what Arachnitron said and seeing the new insignia on the widow's arm, hating herself for knowing she had helped her once friend make this decision."Arachnitron there is really nothing I could say to apologize for what I said before, but I do mean it now. I jumped the gun during that invasion on the Axalon and I realized what was going on only after I saw your expression."Wintersong said truthfully but made no move to retalitate before feeling the hand on her back from Ironclaw.

Flicking her tail the white tigress rested it on the badger's arm to show she acknowledged him, but she wasn't about to reveal Ironclaw being behind her nor did she become distracted by the battle going on across the bridge. For now she only waited.

Feralnight sighed, finding herself becoming frustrated with not being able to find the suppose to be injured spider. There was no signs of battle, no signs of a scent trail, nothing to show something had truly occurred there and the fuzor had explored most of the area by now that someone would have been seen. Shaking her head winged wolf was about to leave instead of continue this wild goose chase until she heard a rustling in the shrubs to her right side. Curious Feralnight turned and began to walk towards the source of the noise, though she was also cautious when approaching.

Stepping forward she came to a halt and raised her paw to begin moving aside some brush hoping it was just a mouse or bird lurking there.

((I wasn't sure if you wanted to cause the arachnid to explode there Darkspark so I left that open, but I can do so and just edit that in instead if not.))

Strange events had been happening within her. So much was happening all at once. The flashes...her master's silence... those locks keeping her from getting the answers she seek. When she got enough information, she will ask her master again, but for now, she had to put all that aside as her comrades needed her. Everyone needed each other in this dark hour. They couldn't afford to be away.

Hah, she looked around at the ones who had gathered together: Optimus, Airazor, Rattrap, Cheetor, Dinobot, Tigratron and Aurora. Her smile became one of content. It was good to be among people again, living with friends, people she cared for. It was...nice.

Sensing the worry from Optimus, she wondered why he was so concerned specifically for her. All she did was smile towards him for comfort. She didn't know what he had seen moments before.

Looking up at the second moon, which wasn't lightening up anymore, they were running out of time. They needed to do something.

Now, that she thought of it; her concerned turned towards the stasis pods still floating around. There were sparks and from what she saw before, some were falling down the sky. Hopefully, they were all right.

Again, how were the people back at base? She didn't hear anything from them in awhile. Her concern grew. She felt it.

"Has anyone heard back from base? I haven't heard from anyone back there in awhile."

((OOC: I actually didn't know what I wanted Whitegrazer to say here. I hope this is okay. ))

_______________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia hung low for a bit, smirking at all the trouble Tarantulas had, but her chuckles turned to a loud yell of shock when Rhinox's weapons blew away her cover. She let out a hiss at the big lugnut. She transformed into her beast form and jumped quickly towards the wall, dodging any fire Rhinox threw at her. The whole entire Maximal base was covered in bullets. All these fighting made her scorn herself, but most of all, those two spiders. She blamed them especially!

She continued to dodge to allow the arachnids a chance to incapitate the rhino.

((OOC: It's a regular ol' shootout in the Maximal base. And Rhinox! The miracle worker has to fix it all up or maybe make the spiders do it. XDDDDDDD Nothing is going as planned for the spiders but this is all a riot to read! Come on, arachnids, do your thing. ))

OOC: Hey Feralnight, you can edit in the Arachnoid's self-destruction if you want , otherwise I'll make the little bugger go boom myself after Blackrose makes her next post & its my turn again

Megateon quietly lisstened to Umbra, even though his thoughts really lied elsewhere at the time but he had his attention on the cephalopod long enough to hear what he had to say and merely nodded slightly in greeting. There was some delight that they had a new Predacon but also annoyance that the other pod had likely been a Maximal or hadn't activated at all. Shaking his head the tyrant pushed the annoyance aside since there were more pressing matters at hand.

"It seems our old friends of the Vok have grown tired of our stay here Steelclaw, and there is little time for us to retaliate."Megatron said simply while rubbing his chin in thought since he would have to devise a plan to stop the aliens though he did have one in mind. There was just the matter of the spiders being able to accomplish their goal so as to accomplish his own.

================

In the hanger Onyx had paid no attention to Umbra arriving, in fact he hadn't paid much attention to anything else other then his own thoughts. Soon as the octopus transformer spoke to him however the black stallion snapped out of his thoughts to reality again and looked at Umbra for a moment, considering his options. "Suppose a few drinks wouldn't hurt." He said after a few kliks. Though as he took one of the square cups Onyx observed this new Predacon, feeling he bore a similar apppearance to the now deceased Glowstick.

"So who might you be comrade? I didn't get a chance to regroup with Steelclaw when we searched for the fallen stasis pods, but I am assuming yours was one."Onyx asked managing to calm his uncertain mood.

(( OOC: So, Blackrosefencer and I surprised each other at TF Expo over the weekend and it was glorious! She submitted a brilliant script to the script reading contest and won! Too awesome. With her winning, she participated in the script reading auditions with Garry and the two creators of TF Expo, got to sit next to Garry at the pizza dinner, and then she watched her script come to life as some of us read it outloud with Garry. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised how well her script was written; judging by everything she writes here with Arachnitron, who's such a complicated character, it's no wonder she rocked the convention with her writing skills. It was such a pleasure to finally meet her in person. You go, Blackrose!

Back to the game, I'm going to buy the spiders a little more time to get their skidplates moving before OP and his team enter the base because as soon as they do, they'll be searching for the spiders who poisoned their comrades and that won't leave them much time to get as far as they need to with programming the stasis pod. ))

The gorilla turned his head toward Aurora, watching her glide down toward him with Tigatron approaching on foot right behind her. Primal offered the young Fuzor a faint smile, relieved to see her return, but he didn't speak. There was no need for a lecture, not now. There were far too many bigger things happening that required his focus. Besides, he was just glad that she was all right and that she came back. That was all that mattered right now.

Hearing Whitegrazer's hooves, Optimus looked in her direction and wanted to return her smile, but it was difficult. This was a very desperate time, and although he welcomed the calmness and peace that she was sending him, the images he had seen earlier continued to flash through his mind and they still made him a little uneasy and concerned. With her was Cheetor and Dinobot, and Airazor and Rattrap were flying in as well.

"Has anyone heard back from base? I haven't heard from anyone back there in awhile."

Giving a quick glance to the Axalon that laid quietly nearby over the waterfall, Optimus pointed out in his beast mode, "The shields are still active. Everyone should be inside by now. They're probably researching what they can from the Vok anomaly." He didn't seem worried about the silence, after all with the shields still up, they should be pretty safe inside. The Predacons wouldn't be bothering them now, not with this alien threat hanging over all of them and threatening their lives. Little did he know about Arachnitron's distraction which had lured some of his Maximals away from the base, as well as the gunfire inside the command center which could not be heard from outside.

"Optimus," Tigatron said while he slowed down and approached the group, catching his breath. He walked up to Aurora and stood beside her as he looked to their Commander. "What is the meaning of all of this?" he asked curiously and worriedly.

Looking down at Tigatron, Optimus didn't know what to say at first, so his brown eyes wandered across the others' who were surrounding him looking upon him for answers. How do you tell your comrades, your friends, that they were about to meet their fates? That this was quite possibly the end? "The aliens, the Vok," he began explaining to the group, "intend on destroying this entire planet, including us and the Predacons." Shaking his head slightly, Primal went on to say, "I tried reasoning with them but they weren't interested. I suspect that the fake moon will be their final attempt at defeating us." His gaze turned upward, staring at the dark sphere as if anticipating it to begin turning into some kind of a giant weapon that was powerful enough to wipe out a whole world. "And this time... I fear we have no way of stopping them..."

OOC: So sorry for the extra wait. I've had so much to do. I really imagined this summer with more days off that consisted of me just enjoying some free time as opposed to studying for tests. Because of said tests I had to put off cleaning things up around the house and squaring away some things I needed to do. So now I'm WAY behind with those things. I still have so much work to do.

(( OOC: So, Blackrosefencer and I surprised each other at TF Expo over the weekend and it was glorious! She submitted a brilliant script to the script reading contest and won! Too awesome. With her winning, she participated in the script reading auditions with Garry and the two creators of TF Expo, got to sit next to Garry at the pizza dinner, and then she watched her script come to life as some of us read it outloud with Garry. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised how well her script was written; judging by everything she writes here with Arachnitron, who's such a complicated character, it's no wonder she rocked the convention with her writing skills. It was such a pleasure to finally meet her in person. You go, Blackrose!

Aww! Thanks, OOP! I kind of wish I would have had the courage to let others see my writing a long time ago. Maybe I would have sought out some formal writing classes. This weekend really gave me a boost of confidence and inspired me to go back to working on some things I have started. It might be good for me to write again.

Also, you rocked with the script reading! I was so impressed by how well everyone brought my script to life! But now that you've talked me and my writing up, I feel like I have to make this post really awesome... no pressure or anything!

BIC:

When Arachnitron had noticed Wintersong in the doorway, she had taken a few steps closer to her; thus, causing her to be a few steps away from the other two spiders while they did their thing. Her cybervenom weapon was pointed at Wintersong. She hadn't really expected the white tigress to pull her own weapon out which she didn't.

She remembered only bits and pieces from that invasion. The Predacon programming had been quite active at the time. The Hybrid and Maximal programmings had tried to fight her fearing returning to the Predacons in case they were to be used as another experiment. The Predacon had been in control and then regained control every time one of the others had pushed her back...so the memories the Hybrid had of the event were few. The one thing she did remember was Wintersong telling her she could go with them.

"Arachnitron there is really nothing I could say to apologize for what I said before, but I do mean it now. I jumped the gun during that invasion on the Axalon and I realized what was going on only after I saw your expression."

Arachnitron had been shocked when she heard Wintersong say that, but hadn't really understood at the time that Wintersong didn't know that the Predacon had been in control. Arachnitron knew now, thanks to Tarantulas, that her optics gave her identity away, but even so, perhaps one of the programmings with the green optics had happened to be in control when Wintersong looked over. Perhaps Wintersong hadn't even known who was in control. She supposed it wasn't easy to keep track of these things. Sometimes the three personalities inside her weren't even sure.

But none of that mattered anymore. She knew the inhibitor chip was just a temporary solution, but at the moment, it seemed like the way to go about doing things. She felt nothing at the moment. The Maximal would have felt sorry for Wintersong and forgiven her. The Predacon would be angry and hateful attacking with full force against the tiger. The Hybrid was different. She had been angry, but she knew anger was pointless. She didn't often hold on to it for long. She just wanted to get off this planet, but she kept up appearances for one simple reason. Wintersong at the moment was preventing their escape.

She narrowed her optics at the tiger. "Look," she started a bit sarcastically. "I'm sure the Maximal programming would appreciate your apology, but I don't imagine she'll be back anytime soon. She and the Predacon are gone. Tarantulas and I got rid of them. But on the off chance she turns up again, I'll pass along your message. But, right now, you're blocking our escape route. So you can either move or -- "

But she was interrupted. Rhinox suddenly appeared shouting.

"Tarantulas!!!"

"Slaggit!" Arachnitron cursed. She held up an arm to shield herself from the shots Rhinox fired and watched the other spiders take cover. She knew with her allies pinned down that the only viable thing to do would be to change her target. Wintersong could wait. Rhinox was the threat. She turned her weapon on the green beast and fired two shots from her cybervenom weapon. Then she joined the spiders behind cover. She noticed a few of Rhinox's shots had lodged themselves into her right arm, but it wasn't going to be anything that would slow her down.

Megatron wrote:It seems our old friends of the Vok have grown tired of our stay here Steelclaw, and there is little time for us to retaliate.

Our old friends, Steelclaw thought derisively.

"So... they're going to try to kill us now?" he asked Megatron. "How do you mean? They're sending an army of clones? They're coming down in a war ship? They're going to drop a couple neutron bombs? 'Cause as little time as we might have to retaliate--and forgive me for intruding on your calm state of mind with my somewhat insubordinate confession of panic, here--you do mean to retaliate anyways, right? Somehow?"

This would absolutely be the worst way to go. Steelclaw would hate being defeated by the Maximals, but even then, he'd be seeing one of the natural risks of engaging any enemy fulfilled--that enemy winning. He would go down fighting his war.

The aliens didn't know about the state of affairs on Cybertron as far as he could tell. They didn't care about why the Maximals and Predacons were fighting; they just wanted to get rid of them both. To be killed for that reason would make all of the effort, actions and choices which lead him up to and throughout the Beast Wars completely pointless.

He wanted to start thinking of a few plans of his own to defend against the aliens, but since he didn't even understand what the threat was at the moment, his processor was instead filled with mental images of a sea of thousands of identical robots, and how he might try to fight them off before dying to the overwhelming numbers. He wondered then how much ammunition he actually had left for his weapons...

* * *

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:The aliens, the Vok... intend on destroying this entire planet, including us and the Predacons. I tried reasoning with them but they weren't interested. I suspect that the fake moon will be their final attempt at defeating us. And this time... I fear we have no way of stopping them..."

It was an old habit of Dinobot's, when confronted with the possibility of death (and it was an old habit of Dinobot's to be confronted by death), to go through basic military theory and remind himself of those principles which had borne him through previous challenges. It actually wasn't the best time to go through things he should already know and and which he should be applying without even really thinking of the source of his knowledge. But it usually gave him a new sense of confidence anyways.

On this particular night, his mind turned to an author from human history who had stumbled upon many of the same ideas laid down by Cybertronian strategists, even without the benefit of communication with them.

...when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

That was not particularly helpful now.

...that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

The knowledge of this fact was actually a bit unsettling. Dinobot couldn't know how precisely the aliens meant to destroy the entire planet with their fake moon, so he only supposed that the place they ought to be defending now was their own base. Why precisely weren't they all running in there now for their very lives?

And he knew that he didn't have any idea of what part of the Vok's arsenal to attack; there didn't seem like there was any place that could be attacked. These aliens were skilful in defense indeed.

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory...

Well, they were certainly facing annihilation. Now, how to strive for victory?

"I think we should all get inside the base," Dinobot suggested out loud. "We may know better how to deal with this alien threat if we can discuss it in the company of the rest of our comrades."

((OOC: I had a really bad case of writer's block going into this; it's just going to have to be what it is.))

(ooc: Congrats, Blackrose! That is truly awesome! Wish I had a writing talent like that.. )

Nemesis could not help overhearing Onyx accept a drink from the new Predacon as she passed by them in the hanger on her way to the command center. She was not one to overindulge in such behaviors, even if she had been known to have some drinks in the past, but somehow the prospect of the end of the world made a drink or two very tempting.

Onyx wrote:"So who might you be comrade? I didn't get a chance to regroup with Steelclaw when we searched for the fallen stasis pods, but I am assuming yours was one."

Indeed. This Umbra had picked a rather unfortunate time to join them. Still.. the winged female had no intention of merely sitting idly by while these aliens wiped all of them from the history records. For that she'd come too far and experienced too much. It wasn't that she feared death, exactly, but the very thought of merely being removed from existence was a less than appealing one. Too much was at stake to let the situation stir up a panic, though, especially if she was right about this planet being Earth. All the pieces of the puzzle seemed to point to that conclusion at least.

She folded her wings around herself, forming a feathery cape, as she stepped closer.

"He is Umbra," Nemesis responded before the new team member had a chance to as she circled closer to them. She eyed them both in turn. Part of her was almost a bit surprised that Onyx was still with them. He almost seemed to hesitate during the attack on the Maximals earlier that evening and certainly seemed to lack the blood lust many of the Predacons were known for. Still, Nemesis didn't really care much about allegiances or lack thereof. She had not joined the Predacons to form friendships so she tended not to meddle in the affairs of her comrades either.

Her gaze drifted back to Umbra.

"Forgive my intrusion but I don't believe we've met. They call me Nemesis."

Manterror made it back to the predicon base after quite a long run from the alien site. He was exhausted, but not so much that he didn't have the chance to gaze at what was left of the second moon. It had begun to change its shape completely, turning from a sphere into a smaller ball with a ring around it in only a few seconds. They clearly were a huge threat to Manterror's goal of taking over the world and he only wished that he had thought of this soon. A giant moon which can turn into a mega blaster... he thought to himself. This made his warship made from a stasis pod seem like a water gun in comparison. It was pure genius by the Aliens, and Manterror couldn't help but be a little jealous of the idea. Though, he wouldn't admit it to any of his "comrades".

It seems our old friends of the Vok have grown tired of our stay here Steelclaw, and there is little time for us to retaliate.

"Bah! I knew that moon was fake all along!" He lied in response. He truly had no idea how they were going to defeat this new enemy and all seemed pretty much lost. For the first time since the start of the Beast Wars, he was rather glad that Megatron was on his side. He seemed to have a plan and hopefully it would work.

---

"Optimus, What is the meaning of all of this?"

Airazor's spark almost skipped a beat when she heard Tigatron's voice. It felt like almost an eternity since she saw him. She was glad that he was o.k and that he found Aurora. Remaining quiet, the falcon waited until the white tiger was done speaking with Optimus before saying anything, but she also silently hoped that he would notice her first.

Alak wrote: Seeing Tarantulas quickly fall while inaccurately shooting off a wild dart, Rhinox assumed the Predacon had been struck down by his frantic assault. Assumptions were never good to make in battle, but in the heat of the moment the officer chose to forgo caution. The center console was swiftly propped up and Rhinox's optics narrowed. They intended to use the Maximal's own base as a means to shield themselves. It was a clever idea since destroying the ship's computers would provide a setback for the crew. However, considering the alternative, the rhinoceros warrior merely shook his head.

I'll just build another one.

Both trigger fingers squeezed, Rhinox's chain guns of doom continued to roar. The two rivers of ballistic ammunition tore apart the round table with little effort, revealing Blackarachnia behind it. He proceeded to concentrate his fire on her, completely unaware of the drones that were silently approaching him from below.

"RAAAHHHH! TAKE HIM DOWN!" Tarantulas yelled aloud as he narrowly avoided being torn to shreds by Rhinox's gunfire, having the sense to dodge to the right when he felt the table vibrate with continuous shots that could only mean its use as a shield had been outlived.

He noticed Blackarachnia had been seeking cover beside him, and he wished he had time to chuckle at the thought of her being blown apart in his place. Instead, he armed his cybervenom launcher as the arachnoids that had been scurrying about Rhinox's massive feet followed his earlier command and latched to the maximal's legs, pouring copious amounts of electricity into his body with their taser claws.

"Nighty night Maximal, be grateful that you will sleep through this world's end, BWAHAHAHAHA!" Tarantulas cackled wildly as he turned to attack the next maximal who crossed him.

"Slaggit!" Arachnitron cursed. She held up an arm to shield herself from the shots Rhinox fired and watched the other spiders take cover. She knew with her allies pinned down that the only viable thing to do would be to change her target. Wintersong could wait. Rhinox was the threat. She turned her weapon on the green beast and fired two shots from her cybervenom weapon. Then she joined the spiders behind cover. She noticed a few of Rhinox's shots had lodged themselves into her right arm, but it wasn't going to be anything that would slow her down.

"By Unicron's beard, couldn't she have waited until Blackarachnia's destruction before she got herself damaged?" Tarantulas thought of Arachnitron's condition, but at least the damage was minimal and he could still make use of her before this ordeal was over, and her attacks had distracted the rhino from him and his pets...However, she'd let one maximal slip past her. Sloppy.

"Must I do everything myself? DIE MAXIMAL!" Tarantulas growled as he fired a cybervenom dart at the maximal called Wintersong, eager to finish these fools off so he could escape the planet's demise.

Newmoon wrote: Feralnight sighed, finding herself becoming frustrated with not being able to find the suppose to be injured spider. There was no signs of battle, no signs of a scent trail, nothing to show something had truly occurred there and the fuzor had explored most of the area by now that someone would have been seen. Shaking her head winged wolf was about to leave instead of continue this wild goose chase until she heard a rustling in the shrubs to her right side. Curious Feralnight turned and began to walk towards the source of the noise, though she was also cautious when approaching.

Stepping forward she came to a halt and raised her paw to begin moving aside some brush hoping it was just a mouse or bird lurking there.

((I wasn't sure if you wanted to cause the arachnid to explode there Darkspark so I left that open, but I can do so and just edit that in instead if not.))

The drone, sensing a maximal target at long last, having traveled all this way out here for one, simple, deadly purpose, quickly lunging forward with startling speed at Feralnight, legs outstretched to grip its prey moments before it did as it had been programmed to do...self-destruct with enough fiery, all encompassing force to decimate an entire maximal rescue party.

The explosion could be seen and heard from quite a distance, for those still alive to bear witness to its sudden appearance.


OOC: Sorry for the wait everyone, was pretty busy today, hope the post was worth it . And congrats Blackrose on your writing contest win, & nice work on your latest post . And I hope my post is alright with you Feralnight, I left it open as to whether or not your character was caught in the blast or not, but wanted to make it clear that the drone had been made to take out a larger group of maximals than what was ultimately sent to respond to the distress signal. If I forgot anyone or missed anything, let me know and I'll edit my post tomorrow.