The Intergalactic Highway

"Hey, Optimus."

"How are you feeling?" the gorilla inquired genuinely as he approached Saber-Fang and came to her side. He didn't expect an explanation right at that moment. If she needed rest, then she could have it, both physically and mentally. After all, he had no idea what she was going through, unless he could compare it the time he had Scorponok's cyber-bee stuck on his chest that made him go almost crazy. But he needed to show compassion and treat this situation with great care.

Snow Trix did as instructed and looked at the monitor as Glowstick worked, quite curious of this possibly stasis locked Decepticon. Or non-functioning depending on the circumstances. "Imagine that, a Decepticon ending up in our own war. If she is functional then we have quite a warrior on our hands." She remarked as the body was being brought onto the Levianthan.

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Wintersong's ears were back a bit despite the opposite way the wind was going, unable to take her mind off of what had happened. She had made a rookie mistake and charged head long into something she had not checked might happen. An opponent with many arms was certainly dangerous. Had Wintersong considered it? Not exactly. "I screwed up big time..." She sighed shaking some snow from her head once they were finally leaving the arctic area, "And not to mention put you guys in a worse situation and I'm sorry for that." She apologized, glancing at her teammates.

Yes she could admit being reckless but she knew she should have judged the situation better. The others were there and could have ended up with a similar fate.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I told Dinobot," She said sitting up with a small grunt. "I've had better days."

She couldn't bring herself to look at Optimus or Dinobot, her dignity was pretty much gone by now. She would understand if Optimus or any other of the Maximals didn't trust her any more after this.

Feralnight took to high attitudes when they reached the end, and flew towards where the ocean met the shore and where Orcanier would lie. "Maximize." The fuzor transformed and took out the radio Rhinox had given her to contact Optimus, "Flying wolf to Primal,we are leaving the arctic area and this timein one piece." She said over the radio.

The Leviathan finished loading Nemesis, Glowstick listened as Snowtrix spoke Indeed. Best case scenario we can get her back online..but I'm not sure how to make her deal with the planet's energon radiation.. worse case, she's dead. We use the body to build a giant weapon piloted by one of our team members. he then said, hitting a switch as the transport cargobay closed. Alright, fly us out of here.

Fortunately for Nemesis the G1 sized female remained deactivated for the duration of the loading process, encased in her icy prison as she was brought aboard the cargo bay. The bay was barely large enough to host her body. Compared to other G1 sized robots, she was of a smaller size, yet in a protoform environment she towered next to the much smaller beasties.

Her body snuggly fit in the largest room the Predacon ship had to offer, where she was now surrounded by captured stasis pods and stored research equipment along with the general gear of the ship itself. As a safety precaution, likely due to the many accidents that tended to occur to certain accident-prone Predacons, her body was safely secured with chains to avoid the it shifting during transport.

More importantly the cargo bay was located aboard the Leviathan, a much warmer environment than the freezing cold temperatures she had been exposed to for so long. Although not as warm as the remainder of the ship, it was still enough for the ice surrounding her to start melting to form a pool of water around the seemingly dead Decepticon. Yet her body remained perfectly still, showing no signs of life as of yet.

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Nightmist, although difficult to make out in her current form, smiled to herself as she kept a nice slow pace to allow everyone a chance to keep up on their way back to base. Her young companion, the kittycat who called himself Cheetor, amused her with his eager-to-show-off teenage attitude. Although Nightmist was by no means old, she did find the young cheetah's antics amusing, especially since she herself had never been allowed to experience youth the way he had. Nightmist was very introverted in many ways, and was often afraid to act out on urges to act rebellious should they, on rare instances, occur. She spent most of her time doing research, either dwelling into a book on medical engineering, or by simply watching nature around her. She usually kept the thoughts and conclusions she came to, to herself, not believing anyone else would be interested in her point of view.

"Just say the word, Frilla," she told their newfound friend in a friendly tone, indicating she'd be happy to help if the lizard found the path too difficult to manage. Nightmist did not hold anyone's past against them. She was just happy when someone decided to lower their weapon rather than continue the fight.

"Like I told Dinobot," "I've had better days."

Optimus gave a quiet sigh watching Saber sit up. "We should head back to Base, unless you feel that you need more rest," he told her. "Maybe Rhinox could examine you and see if he can-" The gorilla was cut off when a noise of a lot of loud static startled him.

"Fl... wolf ... Primal, we... leaving ... area and ... time ... piece."

Feralnight? She must have been using the radio that Rhinox had given them but the signal was too weak on the ground where he was. He could barely make out her voice let alone what she said. "Excuse me," Optimus pardoned himself from their conversation and stood up. "Optimus, maximize," he commanded, and he transformed to his beaten-up robot mode. Luckily he would have some time before the energon fields would force him back into beast mode. "I'll be right back," Primal told Saber-Fang and Dinobot, giving them time alone again. Maybe Saber would find it easier to confide in Dinobot instead of the leader, if she felt like talking then. "Prime jets, on," he said, and as they ignited, he flew up through the tree tops without so much as breaking a twig, straight up into the sky at a very high altitude.

Hovering in mid-air, looking like a tiny black spec in the blue sky, Optimus pulled out the radio and spoke through it. "Feralnight, this is Optimus. Please repeat your status, over," he requested while his red optics searched the air for any possible threats, and took in the lush, green beauty of the plains very far below him.

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"I screwed up big time..." "And not to mention put you guys in a worse situation and I'm sorry for that."

"Do not burden yourself," Tigatron told Wintersong as they walked. "No one is perfect, especially in battle. We can still learn from our mistakes and our enemies." He paused before adding, "I do not believe there was much more we could have done."

"We should head back to Base, unless you feel that you need more rest,"

"I'm fine." Saber said trying not to growl.

"Maybe Rhinox could examine you and see if he can-"

Oh, sure, lets see what Rhinox can find. Saber thought sarcasticly.

She noticed that Optimus flinched but not at her.

"Excuse me," "Optimus, maximize," "I'll be right back,"

"I'm not really going to go any where." Saber muttered.

"Prime jets, on,"

Saber watched him fly above the canopy, she looked down at her right paw before lifting it up to look at it, she didn't even bother to sniff it, the smell of the bear was still heavy in the air. Her ears went back in defeat, she sighed deeply before putting it down. There were a few side effects coming out of the Fury; one of them, of course, was fatigue both physical and mentally the other was guilt. She had slaughtered an animal out of cold blood, during her time as general she had accidently slaughtered her entire squad while out on patrol on a planet called Hecktra 4, she had blamed it on a vicious predacon ambush. She knew that she couldn't tell the others about that, other wise they would label her as a monter or even worse... a traitor. Heh, she already was a traitor she had betrayed her own by seeking help from an imfamous Predacon scientist, by the name of Sonar. Once again, she couldn't let the others know about that.

What am I going to do? I can't let history repeat it's self. She thought her ears drooping sadly.

Shaking her head she walked away from Dinobot and sat down near the stream and stared down into the water.

((OOC: Hecktra 4 is a totally made up Planet. lol.))

(Secure the body down? Ha, I was just going to let it slide around in the cargo bay like a loaded shotgun in the back of a pickup truck. Let Primus sort it out. But with that done..)

Glowstick then activated his comlink to Snowtrix appearing to be in the cargo bay securing the body Okay, everything is secured. I'm going to try warming up in the decontamination room. Just continue on course out of here and tell me if anything happens, if you need help the computer does accept voice commands. he then wandered way from Nemesis's body into a small room in the back of the ship and opening the door going inside, which revealed a tank with a few shower heads, which admittedly he'd spent a few days sleeping in as the Leviathan had far better climate control then the Darksyde considering half the Darksyde was in a lava pit.

He hit a few buttons on the wall, then transformed to his beast mode climbing into the tank and leaning back in it, his feeder tentacles draped on the edges of the tank as warm water started to spray down ontop of him to warm up his body and warm up the sludge like cold slime on his body from having to go into the frozen ocean so much. Ah.. best part of the ship.

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Icebreaker nodded in agreement with Tigatron, then spoke up There wasn't much you could do.. Glowstick had too much overwhelming advantage being near a water source, it'd be the same with Orcariner or myself.. Besides, we were supposed to be there to protect you against such situations but failed since we couldn't get there on time. But either way, don't let it get you down. Even if the Predacons can bring that thing to life,it'll just die again. They don't have the means to convert a Decepticon to modern technology.. it wont have any shielding against Energon radiation, use 10 to 20 times more energon then even their transport, and if they made it into some sort of super weapon, big deal. We'll just stop it, as a team.

Dinobot was uncertain what to say next to Saber-Fang, if anything at all. He already knew what the situation was, and questions of how long Saber had been aware of her condition, how much control she truly had in it, what she'd done with it in the past, if she wanted to be rid of it and the like would be sorted out later by far more diplomatic Maximals.

There would doubtless would be subsequent discussions aboard the Axalon where opinions would be stated that he'd disagree with. And when those discussions took place, he'd be around to voice his concerns. But it seemed for now that the best course of action would merely be to wait with Saber-Fang until Optimus came back.

Snow Trix started to fly them towards the direction of the Darkside, keeping the ship as steady as she could through the arctic winds until they finally left the area and flying the craft became a bit easier. This wasn't that difficult. "Least it's something to do." The fox muttered but couldn't help wondering if the Decepticon truly was dead as they though or was just in stasis, waiting to be activated again. Even if she did the cybertronain wouldn't last long before the radiation took care of her quickly. Shaking her head Snow Trix continued on course while pushing the thoughts aside for the time being.

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Wintersong nodded but it still hung heavy on her spark for not doing better. Back on Cybertron her instructor had always told them to never rush headlong into something unless a direct approach could be your best advantage and to assess the situation. Watch your opponent. 'I should have listened better and have to think before I act.' She thought, narrowing her gaze a bit in thought. Trying to be cheerful Wintersong glanced up slightly as Feralnight went to contacting Primal then looked forward again watching for Ocarnier.

Frilla nodded at Nightmist, "So far this pace is just fine." She assured her then looked to Cheetor who seemed to be feeling awkward, "I'm trying not to but it's still...odd changing sides. Guess I've gotten use to the Predacons after being with them for a while." She said though still lingered back a bit.

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Feralnight waited when arriving near Orcanier and heard Primal's reply, "We are coming from the arctic area sir, and in one piece. We ran into Glowstick and Snow Trix but luckily we're all in one piece." She reported but looked at her comrades. Now was going to be the hard part, explaining why they were coming back empty handed.

Orcariner saw Feralnight approaching aerial bound. Unsheathing his swords, he waved his arms in the air similar to that of a landing zone operator. The luminescent glow was sure to catch her attention if his towering frame was not enough. The others were probably approaching slowly but surely on foot. Ice was never an easy terrain to trek across, and the weather was no help at all.

Hmm, he thought, I should probably debrief Optimus myself. If anyone's going to take responsibility for this mission's results, it would be me.

After spending so long in a frozen state first in space then crashing into the freezing ocean of the arctic, the warmer environment of the ship caused the ice to melt at a much accelerated rate. Before long pieces of thick ice cracked and fell into the already considerable pool on the floor.

As the ice melted and revealed more and more of the Decepticon's black and red armor, the extensive damage done to her was also becoming more apparent by the minute.

Yet something else was in the process of happening as well. Deep inside the still figure, hidden beneath the layers of ice and armor, something had started to move.. It was of a microscopic size, so it would be invisible to anyone watching, but one by one the tiny machines were starting to come to life as if awakened after a long winter.

They were a form of nanobots, implemented into the Decepticon when she was very young as part of an experiment to create better soldiers. The experiment had been a success, yet the technology had caused certain side-effects that may not have been the original intent.

As more of these tiny machines came to life, a faint glow started generating in the many cracks in the armor witnessing of a massive fight that was surely responsible for putting this Decepticon offline in the first place.

Moments later enough ice had melted for the female's arm to drop down and dangle on the floor, exposing the severed hand with several digits missing. As the arm dropped, it landed on top of a rescued pod also stored on the ship. The glow soon spread down to the hand, growing brighter and brighter, until the entire section was lit up. Within seconds the glow also encompassed the portion of the pod that was touching the hand, a faint humming sound appearing as well.

Before long it was apparent what was happening, as pieces of the pod began dematerializing whereas the damaged arm appeared to be healing itself. The repairs rapidly continued throughout the body, although the badly damaged areas and the inside components were the first to regenerate.

The body, which had remained perfectly still, was now a glowing mass of activity.

(( OOC: Hey, Alak. OP is just hovering in the air in one place for better reception with the old radios he and Feralnight are using. He's still a good distance away from anywhere near the base. And he'll be returning to his beast mode soon since his dampers haven't fully recovered. Sorry for any confusion. ))

"We are coming from the arctic area sir, and in one piece. We ran into Glowstick and Snow Trix but luckily we're all in one piece."

Much better, thought Primal about the strength of the signal with their radios. Feralnight's voice was coming in a lot clearer now. Optimus was relieved to learn that all of his Maximals were returning from the tundra mission generally unharmed. While he was curious about what they discovered and if they had any trouble with the Predacons she mentioned, he felt the matter with Saber-Fang was more important at the moment and he needed to get back to it quickly. "Glad to hear that, Feralnight," the leader responded as he hovered high in the sky. "We'll meet you and your team back at the Axalon for a debriefing. We've picked up a new Maximal named Whitegrazer, as well as a new recruit from the Predacons, Frilla. But at the moment, I have other business to tend to, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut this short. See you soon. Optimus out." At least it gave the flying canine the chance to skip on spilling the bad news to the boss monkey. Orcariner may be a better candidate for that.

"I'm fine." "I'm not really going to go any where."

Saber's words fluttered around in Primal's mind for a moment while he floated in peace and quiet. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the former general was crushing her once well-established reputation. Ever since they landed on this planet, she offered more negative attitude and secrets than she did with help, always sneaking around with her head down and avoiding Optimus. It really was beginning to irritate the ape. Perhaps it was time to put his foot down and demand results. No more excuses. No more Mr. Push-over.

Putting the radio away, the Maximal leader dropped from the sky with ease but landed a bit upstream from Saber and Dinobot where there was a small clearing. "Beast mode." After his transformation, he strolled down the bank and reunited with the two Maximals, his brown eyes focusing on the feline until he came closer. "Let's move out. Back to Base," he ordered in a firm tone. His new attitude about the situation almost seemed like it was a different Optimus that fell from the sky. "Orcariner's team is on their way back and I'd like to be debriefed as soon as possible. We can discuss your situation on the way, Saber-Fang," Primal added, looking down at her. Without waiting for them, he continued walking on his feet and knuckles in the Axalon's direction.

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Besides, we were supposed to be there to protect you against such situations but failed since we couldn't get there on time. But either way, don't let it get you down.

So everyone was to blame. Or no one. It was just a bad situation all around. Tigatron hoped Wintersong would be able to forgive herself. And he was certain she wouldn't be punished by Optimus for her actions.

Even if the Predacons can bring that thing to life,it'll just die again. They don't have the means to convert a Decepticon to modern technology.. it wont have any shielding against Energon radiation, use 10 to 20 times more energon then even their transport, and if they made it into some sort of super weapon, big deal. We'll just stop it, as a team.

"I hope you are right about that, Icebreaker," said the tiger with a soft rumbling sigh.

"Wintersong, what is done is done. Nothing can change that now. We have to move on and look ahead. Do not keep looking back," he tried encouraging her.