The Intergalactic Highway

Xzuk scratched at the ground for a moment with his paws.

Stone.

"What kind of a crappy riverbed is this?"

He sat back and looked around.... there were ripples in the water and a small waterfall... The rivers ripples were coming from a large crack at the bottom of the river... It was spring fed... safe to drink..

"Well... then we fall back to the bunker idea. We have a source of freshwater, and someone can be lookout from atop the waterfall."

Icebreaker looked over the area Xzuk pointed to Hm.. A waterfall? Alright, I'll check it dude. He then hopped a few times landing in the river, a rush seen on the surface as the penguin swims up stream bursting out and diving into the water fall.

Moments later he hops out from the water fall splashing into the river, then pops his head and a fin out waving We lucked out, there is a cave passage behind the waterfall. We should be able to defend this area easily enough.

Lucked out is right... there's probably 70 feet of stone and gravel between the cave and the energon in the atmosphere... There's our field dampers...

He took off for the river at a run and jumped in.

"Primus this is cold!"

His servos ran quite smoothly in the water, but man... his joints could lock up if he wasn't careful... after a moment he'd passed under the 120 ft waterfall and saw the cave.

"It's huge... this is perfect..."

It could've held 12 Orcariner... thank The Prime's it wouldn't have to..

He shook himself off and began to drip dry.

"Now if only we had some tech to work with.."

Icebreaker hopped out of the river through the waterfall into the cave. He then looked around The only technology readily available are stasis pods. If you remember where your's is, I could go get it for you. I'm no good at this tech jargin' though, so you'll probably have to leave that to Moonshine and Orcariner. He then turns, his flipper smacking into a stalagmite causing it to break in half, he looks at it Er.. Hey, a chair! Neat!

"It seems our party has grown and what has changed?"FRilla asked when Glowstick said soemthing about an interfernece changing.

"Maybe we can try to steal some of the alien technology too," said Orcariner, "We know where all of the gun turrets are hidden so maybe we can try to reprogram them to work the way we want them to. Maybe after extracting all of the technological hardware from your pods, we can even use the empty shells to collect energon. I've read up on the procedures of how to purify energon via recrystallization, so I might as well give it a shot at least once in my life."

"That's a very risky maneuver Orcariner... but... it may be necessary for a defense..."

"If someone could recover the turret we scrapped earlier... there's a chance that I could reprogram it to defense the cave entrance..."

He sat back and thought of a place to set it... Between a stalagmite would work nicely...

"Any other tech you find would be helpful too... But for now, I want to survey the area. If you would like to leave now, be my guest."

He smiled and swam out to the riverbed and ran off into the forest.

Icebreaker crossed his flippers Guess he doesn't remember where his pod is.. I know where mine is currently.. beached on a block of ice. If you guys can tell me where your pods are I can probably recover them and take them up river to here. he then hopped out of the cave into the river.


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Glowstick raised an eye ridge looking at Frilla I don't like to repeat myself, theres a strange energy signature. Therefore we should investigate it. It does not seem cybertronian in nature.

Moonshine, who had reverted to beast form again a little while ago due to energy buildups, had left the cave and joined the others.

"My pod was damaged," she commented, while ruffling her feathers, "But I'll gladly give you the coordinates if you believe it can help in any way."

Then she looked around a bit. Orcariner's idea was sound, although Moonshine hated the idea of injuring anyone. She was a healer and not a believer in violence solving anything. But she decided to remain quiet about it, knowing the other maximals would likely not understand her point of view.

Icebreaker held up his flipper in a thumbs up while floating in the water. Broken parts are better then no parts, so lay the download on me baby! he said with a smirk.

Scouting log: Entry Number 1.

I have surveyed the landscapes within the 3 miles of the base... It's all quite lush and covered in foliage... it contains many predators... snakes, tigers, panthers, wolves... but despite its dangers, it possesses great beuty as well... canopies... waterfalls, clear watered rivers... This planet is truly a sight to view for bad optics.

"Ugh... Not even Cybertron can compare to this planet... its so peaceful here.."

Xzuk turned and began heading back to base. He decided to try and follow his nose... he could definately smell the other Maximals... why not test out the organic addons?

"My pod's lost at the bottom of the ocean," said Orcariner, "But I'll volunteer to recover the gun turrets."

The Maximal recalled his past attempt to retrieve his stasis pod. His lighting system was inadequate in the ocean depths, and the pressure made his armor feel as if it would have caved in spontaneously. Leaving that memory behind, he turned to Moonshine.

"With Xzuk scouting the perimeters and Icebreaker and I going to retrieve our items, you should probably hold down the fort. Plus, we shouldn't risk losing our only medic to an ambush or something of the sort."

He did not want her to feel left out, but Orcariner knew that if they left their base unguarded, some other wanderer would probably take it...like the Predacons.

That's unlikely, they're too far, he thought, Still, can't take any chances.

He added, "You and Xzuk are the only ones left in range once the penguin leaves the damper fields. I'll contact you if I need any assistance."

With that, he walked off with all of his scanners activated.

Icebreaker received the coordinates from Moonshine, he then saluted and dived into the river swimming off at high speed.

His internal display showed the mapped area from Orcariner. He applied the Coordinates from Moonshine onto the map Hm.. I should grab my pod first, then beach it closer to the river.. then I just have to carry that one from inland and I'll be able to take the two back via the river route.. he then said to himself, rushing down the river he weaved while coming to bends, then went to top speed.

Orcariner stood several meters away from a buried beam turret. He cocked his carbine and gripped it nervously, remembering how he was blindsided before.

"Alright," he murmured, "Time to shine."

Jumping through the trees, Orcariner rolled sideways on the ground and quickly aimed his weapon towards the white icon on his interface map. Just as predicted, the turret detected his robot mode and rose from the ground. The Maximal fired three shots at the alien technology and jumped back towards the trees. There was silence. The giant slowly crept out and was quickly met by an orange streak of pure energy.

"Blast it!" he yelled, jumping back behind the trees.

How the blazes did I miss?! Am I honestly that bad of a shot?

Wooden splinters exploded around him as the turret continued to fire through the woods. Orcariner returned fire, but the disc-like lasers failed to hit their mark.

Ugh, let's just stick to what we know.

Dropping his carbine in annoyance, Orcariner charged the still-firing beam turret with both of his blades fully drawn. He was never a fast sprinter, but the Maximal was agile enough to side step the oncoming fire. With a swift horizontal slash, the weapon was quickly removed from the pole that held it. Exhaling, Orcariner picked up the turret and walked back towards his dropped carbine.

This is going to take a while.

Moonshine was unsure of who to tag along with now that the team was splitting up to retrieve different pods or parts of one.

Orcariner was a big guy and probably fairly strong, but at the same time.. he'd make a bigger target. And he had gotten wounded before..

Xzuk had disappeared to do a survey of the area.. That's something Moonshine might be helpful for considering her ability to keep an eye out from above. But at the same time she wasn't entirely sure if he required assistance..

Icebreaker seemed to have one of the harder tasks, having to make multiple stops to fulfill his mission..

Yet there was also the need to keep an eye out for their new base, in the event that someone else were to stumble across it..

Moonshine decided to stay behind.