The Intergalactic Highway

OOC:

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:I meant more toward what the spiders are up to, Phoenix. I don't think anyone but probably Megatron would have any clue as to why they're even there at the Axalon, but Starshadow has already hinted about them escaping using a stasis pod. What would even make her come to that conclusion? Unless there was something she saw or heard back before she joined the Maximals. But I can't remember everything. I just don't want characters to be so predictable or try to be on the advantage just because their player has seen the show.

Starshadow was a part of this whole thing way back when the spiders were in Tarantulas' lair tormenting him. But then she opted out. So she knows the spiders are trying to escape and she had been present when they were discussing the plans to take Arachnitron's ship and work on getting it functional again, but she didn't know about the plans to convert the stasis pods. She had left by that point. Now she wants in again apparently, but she says she doesn't know how long it will be until she posts again.

I'm still confused as to which lift we're talking about. Ironclaw made a run for the hangar with Wintersong, which I don't think actually has a lift, but I'm not certain. Optimus and the others at the front of the ship, by the bridge which is at the opposite end of the hangar (across the waterfall). There's a lift there but that's not the hangar. So what's supposed to be damaged? I don't think the lift that leads to the bridge should be damaged just for the sake of the other Maximals who aren't fliers don't have such a hassle getting inside the ship.

You're right. I just looked back at her post. I guess I misunderstood what she meant. The lift I was referring to was the lift in the bridge which is what I thought Mysteria meant. It was my turn and I was confused and I posted anyway. I didn't want to keep people waiting since everyone was getting impatient. So I imagine I rushed through while reading Mysteria's post and didn't read it very carefully.

I adjusted things a little bit in the post I made where Arachnitron shot the lift. I made it so that she shot the controls. The lift itself is not damaged, but a flier may have to go in through the roof hatch and operate the lift by hand. It might help give the Maximals something to write about until Inferno does his thing, but if you really don't want it shot at all, I'll edit it out.

And I thought I'd just point out...we didn't actually get to the actual season finale part of the show until towards the end of the Season Finale Part Two thread....the Season Finale Part One thread was the events of the episode "Before the Storm." We were really ambitious to try to throw three episodes together into one. So it should be of no surprise that we're still working on it.

(( OOC:

Starshadow was a part of this whole thing way back when the spiders were in Tarantulas' lair tormenting him. But then she opted out. So she knows the spiders are trying to escape and she had been present when they were discussing the plans to take Arachnitron's ship and work on getting it functional again, but she didn't know about the plans to convert the stasis pods. She had left by that point. Now she wants in again apparently, but she says she doesn't know how long it will be until she posts again.

Ah, okay. Thank you, Blackrosefencer. That's my bad, then.

So, there's a lot for me that I'm re-reading because it has been a long time since I first read some of these posts, trying to recall who all is on the bridge and were cybervenomed, so if I make an error, please let me know and I'll edit my post. ))

"I think we should all get inside the base," "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."

"I agree with Dinobot," "It's inevitable, but it's not over yet. There is still some time left that we can figure all this out. We just have to wait for the Vok to make the first move and hopefully, we can make one ourselves."

Looking from Dinobot to Whitegrazer, Optimus nodded in agreement. He was still hopeful of the grave situation. He had to be. They were still alive and so there was still a chance for anything to happen that would help them survive this chaotic ordeal. As their commander, Primal remained calm and open to ideas.

Remotely deactivating the shields, the gorilla fell to his knuckles and walked on all fours toward the lift waiting for it to automatically lower, unaware of what Aurora had just discovered on her little screen. However, he got distracted when Ironclaw's voice came through on his communication link.

"Are there any Maximals outside the Axalon? Repeat, are there any Maximals outside the Axalon?"

Odd. If the badger was inside, why was he asking if any of them were outside? Everyone should have been inside by now except the ones they knew had gone to the alien site, and Aurora and Tigatron. Wouldn't the scanners have detected their signatures and let those inside know of their location? "Ironclaw, this is Optimus. We've just arrived," he called back but heard only silence in return. "Ironclaw, do you copy?" he asked after a moment. Slightly confused, instinct told him that something was off. That was when he realized that he was still waiting for the lift to lower; it should have by now. Turning around, he took notice of the younger Fuzor's expression.

"Aurora, what is it? What do you see?" Optimus asked with concern. While waiting for her to answer, he stepped away from underneath the base for a moment, looking around its perimeter for anything suspicious. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could see beyond the waterfall at the stern of the ship where the hangar was, but otherwise, everything seemed quiet. Primal wasn't buying it, though. Something was wrong, and they needed to get inside. They didn't have time for this. He motioned for Rattrap to come over and check out the lift's operating system.

"Somethin' ain't right," Rattrap finally spoke up after his feet finally touched the ground. Rubbing his shoulders where Airazor's talons had gripped him during their entire flight back, he walked over to the others and glanced around the area. "I mean, besides the moon bein' fake and all," he added. Seeing Optimus wave him over, the rat waddled to where the lift was supposed to lower, then he stood up on his hind legs and easily climbed up the poles that were holding the ship off of the ground to get a better look at the external parts of the elevator. Reaching over and opening a panel underneath, a couple sparks popped out and showered the ground below before burning out. Rattrap looked down at their fearless leader, shaking his head, before going further.

Seeing the sparks, the gorilla motioned Rattrap to stop and hold on before looking back to Aurora again, waiting for her report. If there was danger inside, hostiles, they couldn't risk charging inside right into a trap. A great deal of worry was building up inside of him again, however. What was going on? Were his Maximals in danger? Were they harmed? He didn't need this right now! Why were they always fighting to surive? Always struggling. Primus help the ones who were causing trouble inside...

(( OOC: I'm just winging it with making the lift having to be used manually. I have no idea how it would actually work. LoL I'm thinking maybe there's a crank Rattrap can turn and it would override the damaged controls in order to lower it. ))

After listening to Optimus, Dinobot and Whitegrazer, Tigatron frowned deeply. The Vok meant to destroy this entire world? Why? What gave them that right? All of the creatures and beauty of this planet, why did they feel they had to exterminate it? This was much worse than he had originally thought. His mood seemed to lighten, though, as soon as he saw Airazor fly in with Rattrap. Without haste, he walked right over to the falcon when she landed and greeted her warmly with a smile. "Are you all right? What happened back there?" he asked curiously. Her feathers seemed a little ruffled, but otherwise she looked okay externally. But he had no idea what she had been through not long ago at the alien site.

Optimus Primal wrote: "Ironclaw, do you copy?"

Aurora stirred as Ironclaw's voice came through. His words held a certain urgency to them, yet she did not need to wait long to find out why that was. As she looked back down to the screen she saw the still forms of her fallen comrades on the bridge, causing her body to numb and her eyes to widen in disbelief.

This couldn't be happening..

Optimus Primal wrote:"Aurora, what is it? What do you see?"

For a long moment she merely stared at the video feedback streaming across her monitor. Then, in a trembling voice, she responded;

"There's trouble inside. Everyone on the bridge are either unconscious.. or worse."

All the while she did not take her eyes off the screen, standing as if frozen in her tracks until the sudden appearance of one of the spiders caused her to jump.

"Spiders!"

She looked up as the voice of Rattrap caught her attention. She was relieved her friend had returned safely, seemingly unharmed, yet her worry for Ironclaw was now truly starting to set in. Then a thud sounded, as if something or someone hit the ground.

Umbra wrote:Well, that does sound fun.

Nemesis could not help but smirk at the fake Venatrix. Somehow she doubted the octopus would enjoy being on the receiving end of Nemesis' talents. "Careful what you wish for," she responded cryptically without elaborating further on the topic. Being a freak of nature was hardly something she normally revealed to those around her.

Umbra wrote: I only carry a few of those at the moment.. but a better copy would be Dinobot, I was around him for awhile during the negotiations. Ofcourse the Maximals don't know of this skill.. for all the more fun.

"Nor do most of the Predacons," the winged female added, "So I'm sure you could have some fun with them too. In fact you should try the Dinobot disguise on when you go see Venatrix next. I do believe she would enjoy that." She indicated the direction the black panther had disappeared off in.

Umbra wrote:If you do take up her offer, I might be interested in watching.. as a learning experience.

"Of course. A learning experience." She let out a light chuckle.

"Are you all right? What happened back there?"

"I think so." Airazor responded to the first question and looked down at her arms. For some reason, the first thing she always checks is her arms and hands when deciding if she was ok or not. It was just her instinctive reaction and she had no rhyme or reason for doing it. Looking back at the tiger, she finished. "We met the aliens face to face. They weren't pleased with us."

"Somethin' ain't right, I mean, besides the moon bein' fake and all,"

As they approached the lift, Rattrap had noticed that it wasn't working properly. Truth be told, Airazor would likely not have noticed for quite some time. She simply didn't visit the base enough or use the lift often. She much preferred to fly in and make a dramatic entrance over standing on a cramped elevator. She wasn't a huge fan of tight spaces, although she's been getting much better than when she first joined the beast wars. She hadn't experienced any major claustrophobic episodes since.

Sparks flew out as the elevator rejected Rattraps idea of fixing it. It seems that a flier might be needed in situation! She thought, and quickly volunteered herself to contribute. "I can take Rattrap and fly in through the roof hatch. We can lower the lift manually from there and pull it back up." She spoke confidently, although neither of them were heavy lifters on their own, together they should have no problems.

Starshadow wrote: Why were the spiders going to the cargo bay? The panther pondered about it for a moment and pushed that thought aside. Starshadow smirked after most or probably all the maximals were knocked out. Following them to the hallway, she saw them trying to incapacitate Ironclaw. With a laugh, she revealed herself.

"You spiders late.." she said, "before you start getting funny ideas or start shooting, I'm still on your side since I want to get out of this dirtball or whatever you guys are planning."

Tarantulas' optic narrowed at the unwelcome sight of Starshadow, the fuzor who'd been aiding Blackarachnia earlier before he'd retaken control of the situation, he'd wondered where she had went but had hoped she'd been accosted by either Megatron or the Maximals.

Now he had three fembots to do away with instead of two, and unliked Arachnitron he had no sway over this winged wild cat. If Starshadow decided to side with Blackarachnia again it would be two against two for control of the escape ship he STILL needed to build before they all burned, the odds were no longer entirely in his favor.

"And where have you been all this time my flying feline friend? We'd assumed the worst" Tarantulas greeted even as he contemplated ways to kill her along with the widows.

Blackrose wrote: So apparently, this bot wasn't a Maximal....she was just masquerading as one. Arachnitron was confused. It had, after all, been the Predacon who was in control before. She supposed the Predacon would have recognized the panther.

She was not amused. This was not part of the plan. They did not need another escapee. Just where were they going to fit everyone?! She gave Tarantulas a meaningful look. When they took Blackarachnia out, they were definitely taking this new bot out too.

Tarantulas briefly shared Arachnitron's glance, glad that the two of them were of one mind on the matter of Starshadow's future. Though of course, he was not going to be able to take Arachnitron along either, but he needed her to take out the other two before he made his escape, his alliance with her needed to be indulged a tad bit longer...How much easier things would have been if it had just been the three of them. Arachnitron would shoot Blackarachnia, only to end up being shot in the back herself before she even had time to realize she'd outlived her usefulness.

Una wrote: Blackarachnia was amused by Ironclaw's attempt to protect his friend. After all, they were going to join their comrades in death when she escapes from this doomed planet anyway. It was futile.

Starshadow popped up from the hallway like a giggly self. Blackarachnia smiled at her. Though, she questioned why Starshadow was here, but if she can use Starshadow to help her out. It won't matter.

"My my, you are a sight for sore eyes, Starshadow." Then she smirked at Tarantulas. It was a big smirk, "Of course, there is always room for one more." If Tarantulas and Arachnitron didn't like it, not her problem as they could do nothing against her.

She reloaded her cybervenom and aimed it right at Ironclaw's chest, standing over him, "Aww, how cute." She tilted her head with a smile before she fired the dart at his chest.

Should they really waste time in picking up Wintersong's body? Would it make any difference since the Maximals outside would probably guess something was afoot by the fake cooridnates?

Might as well keep the facade up to be safe.

"Tarantulas, grab that body back up here." She ordered him with glee.

Tarantulas' mood was too sour at the moment to take much pleasure in the slagging of Ironclaw, especially with Blackarachnia making it ever so obvious how pleased she was over the unexpected return of her catty accomplice. He wanted to carve that ugly smirk off her face with an energon knife, never having been more grateful for having chelicerae in place of lips, gave him a far better poker face than other bots.

Then she dared to order him to carry her prey for her...As if SHE were in command again.

"One, I don't take orders from you, wench. Two, the maximals cannot get in so easily with the lift damaged, we have no need for hostages. Three, this world will be reduced to cosmic dust in a matter of cycles, I LITERALLY have no time to be lugging half scrapped maximals around when I have an escape craft to work on. Stop wasting time and FOLLOW ME!" Tarantulas hissed as he stormed off to the cargo bay where the pods awaited them, expecting Arachnitron to watch his back or at least put herself in a position to slag Starshadow and Blackarachnia if they made a move against him while he worked.

Blackrose wrote: "Or," Arachnitron countered. "YOU could go get it while we go see to not getting blown up with this dirt ball of a planet! Let's leave the body and get lost!"

She didn't know where she got that sudden bolt of courage. Perhaps she felt as though the presence of this new femme threatened her place on the escape pod. Starshadow evened the odds. If it were just BA, Tarantulas and Arachnitron could take her down easily, but now that it was two against two, the odds were no longer in their favor.

Or perhaps, she were feeling more and more like her Predacon self. She wasn't sure how long the effects of the inhibitor chip would last. So far, she still felt like herself, but maybe the chip was weakening a bit.

Without waiting for anyone to respond, she continued towards the cargo bay.

"You are wise beyond your years my dear" Tarantulas mused in agreement of Arachnitron's assessment of BA's "orders."

He'd decided he was going to miss his new assistant when the world was destroyed, oh well, he'd have a hero's welcome when he returned home to the Tripredacus Council with his mission of destroying Megatron and his gang once and for all accomplished. The loss of the Golden Disks would be disappointing, but at least the rebel and his underlings would be quelled finally, along with the irksome Maximals he'd been dragged into fighting all this time as well.

They soon found themselves in the cargo bay with several maximal stasis pods neatly lined out before them.

He turned to face Blackarachnia, leg turrets locked and loaded as he said "Time to handover the transwarp drive Blackarachnia, if you truly wish to survive what's to come of course."


OOC: And we're FINALLY in the cargo bay! YAY!


Let me know if I forgot anything or got something wrong and I'll fix it, sorry if I ask that often, its just I've forgotten why we were cut off from Starshadow before so if I missed something let me know.

He wanted to be alone. It was a desire so strong that it even compelled him to be ignorant of everything that had transpired on the Axalon. It was this same wanting of solitude that brought him great agitation when he heard the sounds of Predacon voices entering the cargo bay. The darkness was interrupted by the light coming from the open doorway. Still hidden in a slumped position behind the Nomad, the mourning giant checked his radar and recognized all four individuals who dared invade his privacy. Sensors detected the presence of Tarantulas, Blackarachnia, Arachnitron, and Starshadow. Curiosity peaked as he took note of the latter two names, for he was under the impression that they were both Maximals now. Perhaps they were traitors all along, or maybe they were being held hostage. He was leaning towards the former due to the fact that both Starshadow and Arachnitron were at the back of their traveling formation.

Tarantulas wrote:"Time to handover the transwarp drive Blackarachnia, if you truly wish to survive what's to come of course."

Upon hearing the Predacon spider utter those words to his partner, Orcariner now knew that he was witnessing a web of lies unraveling itself as their mission was coming to an end. He was not going to idly sit on the sidelines while a Predacon power struggle ripped the Axalon from the inside out. On the other hand, this was still potentially a four-on-one encounter. No matter how tough his armor was, the giant was still outnumbered against foes who were known to emphasize wits over brawn in battle. Orcariner's radar stretched outward to see how many reinforcements were nearby. Everyone in the ship was already downed, albeit alive, including the similarly bulky officer, Rhinox. Outside was a different story. Optimus Primal and his team were well within range to storm the ship if need be. Orcariner might as well call out to them prior to engaging this uphill fight.

Initiating share sequence...

Uploading Beacon 2.0 now...

"Optimus," he whispered into his radio, "Check your sensor map over the next 30 seconds. Four hostiles on my mark. Entering the back will be your quickest option. Orcariner out."

Standing upright, the Maximal soldier stepped around the Nomad and approached Tarantulas from behind. It looked like both of the Predacon spiders were already inside the bay while Arachnitron and Starshadow were just at the entrance. Any sign of aggression on his behalf would mean the latter two could easily escape out of the room, and the orca was not exactly built to engage in confined, in-door pursuits. He brushed off that concern, however, thinking that he would just tear down the walls instead. Optimus and Rhinox would have to yell at him later for the lack of finesse. Focusing at the situation at hand, Orcariner commanded out loud.

"Lights on!"

The entire hangar lit up, revealing the looming giant standing behind Tarantulas.

"You have two options, spider. Leave the ship voluntarily, or I send you out by force."

Both of his energo-swords were drawn out simultaneously from his gauntlets.

"Your choice."

Steelclaw was taken away from his unanswered worries when he heard the mechanical whirring of a transformation just behind him. He turned in the direction of the noise, and then, to his amazement, saw Venatrix standing there. Where had she been all of this time? He was just about to say some greeting or another, but she immediately started with her report.

Venatrix wrote:Megatron, i have secured the 7 locations you had sent me to without a hint of anything that could mess up my mission.

What seven locations? What mission? And why had it taken her so long? He would have to figure all of this out later on, but since he expected Megatron would respond to her, he avoided saying anything and instead gave her half of a smile to acknowledge her presence. He quickly got the feeling that it was too small a gesture for as long as she'd been away, but then... oh well.

Megatron wrote:They plan to terminate us through their weapon that was once the moon, but globes are old and out dated. No, this time they plan to use some other method which my theory is some kind of ray of sorts.

Oh. A super-weapon attacking from outside of the atmosphere. Well that was... even worse than he'd hoped. There wasn't a transformer on the planet who had the range to fire back.

Megatron wrote:It the spiders can do their part correctly we will be able to retaliate Steelclaw.

Steelclaw stifled the sigh that wanted to breathe out of him; he decided to resign himself to ignorance in the face of all the cryptic statements he'd been hearing.

Venatrix wrote:Excellent work Venetrix and good timing I must say, for your return.

No denying that.

It was a small relief, he thought, to see Megatron completely unphased by the situation. After a while, he started, "Megatron, do you?..."

His attention was caught away when he saw Onyx over in the hangar go into beast mode and then dash out. What was he doing?!

"Excuse me," Steelclaw interrupted himself. Without really knowing what he could accomplish, he dashed to the hangar and then outside. He was quickly noticed how dark the world seemed now that the second moon was hidden in shadow and there wasn't a giant alien energy beam shooting up into space.

When he'd run a short distance and realized Onyx was going to completely outpace him, he shouted out loud after his receding teammate before he could completely get out of earshot. "Onyx! Onyx, where are you going? That weapon could start up any moment!"

Didn't the fighter know that already? Then what could possibly motivate him to leave the safety of the base?

* * *

Cheetor's head whipped to the side when he was disturbed by the distant, muffled sound of an explosion. He considered for a half a nano-click that the alien attack was beginning, but nothing happened afterwards. So what was that all about?

The next moment, he saw Feralnight flying out of the edge of the bordering trees from the nearby forest, and he squinted to make his optics zoom in on her. Were those... char marks?

"Hey, Feral," he patched into her com-link. "I thought I heard something nasty going down over in your direction. All systems still go for you, or do you need backup?"

Dinobot walked with the rest of the group, listening to Optimus try to get a response from the urgent-sounding Ironclaw, and watching on with suspicion as the elevator refused to go down. Without his realizing it, his lips started to part to show his set of grimly barred teeth. As the rat had observed, this was indeed most ominous.

Aurora wrote:There's trouble inside. Everyone on the bridge are either unconscious.. or worse.

Dinobot tilted his head in Aurora's direction. She had his attention.

Aurora wrote:Spiders!

Dinobot growled loudly and stared at the hull of the ship as if he could peer through its metal frame and straight into the optics of its invaders. He had had enough of Predacons stealing into the Axalon during the Beast Wars, and he hoped to make such an example of this party that it would never happen again.

(YES. I am sort of back my lovely ladies and handsome chaps! If I disappear for a really long time, it means I'm really busy. Darkspark umm...Star's not a gargoyle cat anymore years ago because of some reason. No need to edit. Kitties LOVE tuna.)

"And where have you been all this time my flying feline friend? We'd assumed the worst"

Starshadow chuckled and bit a claw nail, "I had a free pass to the maximal base."

"Lights on!"

The lights came back? So there is one more maximal not taken down? What the slag...

"You have two options, spider. Leave the ship voluntarily, or I send you out by force."

So it was giant whale steak Orcariner..The situation definitely would not end well if she is spotted with the spiders. She growled when he drew out his swords and walked closer to Blackarachnia.

"If we stay here longer, we probably would not have much time to do...whatever you guys are planning." she whispered to the gold femme.

((OOC: No, it's all good, Alak. No need to apologize! I'm just glad to see Orcariner again! It's been so long! XD ))

"Ironclaw, this is Optimus. We've just arrived," "Ironclaw, do you copy?"

Maybe what she felt was coming from there after all. She hoped everyone was all right. No one could deal with any sort of grave news right now.

"Somethin' ain't right," "I mean, besides the moon bein' fake and all,"

Rattrap was correct. Even she could see something was up with the lift and when Rattrap came back, it confirmed her suspicions. Something was going on in their base.

"Hey, Feral," he patched into her com-link. "I thought I heard something nasty going down over in your direction. All systems still go for you, or do you need backup?"

Cheetor was contacting Feralnight and she walked closer. She, too, had heard the little explosion.

"Is she okay?"

"Spiders!"

She heard Aurora shout spiders and she exhaled, remaining calm over the situation. Why were the spiders in their base? For what purpose? She would think they would be back in their own base, trying to survive or maybe they knew something they didn't? Also, why was Feralnight doing outside? Everyone should be at base. What was going on?
__________________________________________________________________________________

"One, I don't take orders from you, wench. Two, the maximals cannot get in so easily with the lift damaged, we have no need for hostages. Three, this world will be reduced to cosmic dust in a matter of cycles, I LITERALLY have no time to be lugging half scrapped maximals around when I have an escape craft to work on. Stop wasting time and FOLLOW ME!"

"Or," Arachnitron countered. "YOU could go get it while we go see to not getting blown up with this dirt ball of a planet! Let's leave the body and get lost!"

Energon was boiling inside Blckarachnia right now. Usually, she was calm and cold, but right now, her priority of surviving destruction to the point of impatience dealing with these two idiots was dragging her to the brink of insanity.

Seeing Tarantulas aim at her for the transwarp cell, a twitch came upon her right optic. She was ready to blow a circuit and about to scream when another big lug of the Maximals came at them.

All right, she was ticked.

"What are you two doing? We outnumber him four to one. SHOOT HIM!" She screamed at Tarantulas and Arachnitron. She was ready to fire or whatever when her mind began to plot. Maybe she should just get rid of Tarantulas and Arachnitron right here right now? They were nothing but nuisances to her now! They planned on killing her anyway! What was the point of letting them two survive? Maybe it was too late to do anything to escape now and the better option could be to side with the Maximals. It didn't matter what they did now! They could probably be nanoclicks to destruction! But then she rethought. She needed Tarantulas, but not Arachnitron. Arachnitron was just a pawn like she was. Well, she just needed his mind. Nothing else.

She needed to be careful in her next move. There was a dark smirk she gave to Tarantulas behind his back.

(( OOC: Orcariner! *glomp* ))

"There's trouble inside. Everyone on the bridge are either unconscious.. or worse." "Spiders!"

Primal bared his sharp teeth for a moment, releasing a deep growl at the news Aurora announced. Clearly the gorilla was very angry. Just as he was about dish out orders, he was stopped short by Orcariner's voice on his comm. link. It was such a relief to hear him that he immediately cooled down and regained his focus. He just hoped the larger Maximal wouldn't suffer the same malfunctioning as most of the rest of his comrades were.

"Oh, great!" Rattrap commented sarcasticly. "Just when you think things can't get any worse."

"Optimus," "Check your sensor map over the next 30 seconds. Four hostiles on my mark. Entering the back will be your quickest option. Orcariner out."

As Orcariner promised, Optimus suddenly had an internal mapping of the base where Orcariner's impressive sonar was indicating the intruders' locations as well the rest of the Maximals. Primus, most of them had been temporarily incapacitated; most likely by cybervenom. NO! His fists curled into balls of rage but just getting mad about it wasn't going to help anyone. At that moment, the fake moon began to shift...

As the dark sphere beyond the atmosphere revolved, beams of white light began seeping out of the panels that were making up the outside diameter which started to retract. The entire fake moon opened up on two symmetrical ends as the panels continued to shrink and surround another sphere that was held right in the center of the transforming weapon. A gold beam bursted outward to the ring of panels and then changed itself into a rather menacing looking piece of destruction. There was a tube that formed right in the center that appeared to be the weapon's barrel, so to speak. The outter ring of collapsed panels rotated counter-clockwise while the center part of the weapon rotated clockwise. There it sat quietly again beyond anyone's reach to stop it.

Noticing the Vok-made moon shifting, it was obvious to Optimus that they were running out of time. "Rattrap," he called to the rat, gesturing him to come back down. The Maximal Spy nodded and slid down the pole landing on the ground and waddling back over to everyone.

"I think so." "We met the aliens face to face. They weren't pleased with us."

Tigatron watched Airazor run her hands over her arms, giving her a thoughtful sigh about her statement, and then a frown of sadness and worry. For a moment, he placed one of his front paws on her hand as a means of comfort until she voiced an idea.

"I can take Rattrap and fly in through the roof hatch. We can lower the lift manually from there and pull it back up."

"No," Optimus denied Airazor's request coldly. "You and Rattrap take the rear of the ship. The Predacons are gathering there, so Orcariner will need some back-up," especially with two Maximals who were more agile than he was against the spiders and Inferno. And Starshadow. "Wintersong and Ironclaw may be unconscious there as well. Approach with caution and secure the cargo bay," he ordered them.

"Why not just let Sentinel handle 'em?" the rodent asked.

"We can't spare the power!" the Maximal leader made clear.

"So, we get to do it the hard way. ...As usual." With that little complaint, Rattrap maximized and drew his gun, ready for Airazor to pick him up and fly him over to the hangar.

"One more thing," Optimus added, watching the Spy wield his weapon, "When you confront them, I want them functional." A dark glare crossed the gorilla's face. He wanted to know what exactly the arachnids were doing in his ship and paralyzing nearly his entire team at the worst possible time. They must have had a trick up their sleeves. But what...?

Purposely sighing loudly, the master marksman whined rhetorically, "You just have ta spoil my fun, don't ya?" Walking over to Airazor, Rattrap playfully patted Tigatron's head before motioning to the birdlady that he was ready to move out.

"Aurora," the gorilla called firmly for her attention as an attempt to keep everyone focused. "Go with Airazor and Rattrap, and tend to Wintersong and Ironclaw. I fear they've succumbed to the cybervenom as well. I need everyone inside the base as quickly as possible. Be careful."

Judging by Orcariner's mapping, all of the hostiles had gathered in the cargo bay. For what purpose, he did not know, but since there was no threat now in the command center, he had to get the rest of his Maximals inside the base before that massive weapon above them was going to fire who-knows-what at the planet. There was no time to take the scenic route around the waterfall to get the grounded bots through to the hangar, and he didn't have the power yet to fly each one back and forth after having just reverted to beast mode to rebuild his energon resistance. Time to improvise. Taking Airazor's idea of entering through the roof hatch, he looked at Whitegrazer, Tigatron, Dinobot and Cheetor - before he noticed him a little distracted by something in the distance -, and simply said, "Wait here." Using his beast mode to his advantage, he leaped on to one of the stilts holding up the bow of the ship, much like Rattrap had just done, and climbed up to the bottom of the Axalon. Then he reached over and grabbed the outter edge with a hand, then the other and then using his feet to grab hold and help push up, effortlessly pulling himself up on the side and then climbing all the way up to the top of the ship above the bridge. Standing there, he remotely activated the roof hatch, opening it and hopping down inside of the command center.

There he found Rhinox, Frilla, and a new Maximal Optimus had not yet met all unconscious. They must have retrieved her from one of the stasis pods. This warmed his spark, even if just brielfly, minus the paralysis she had unfortunately succumb to. The smell of recent gunfire still wafted in the air. There were shells from Rhinox's gun scattered everywhere, as well as some bullet holes in the seats, consoles and walls. To imagine the struggle his friends went through to try and defend their base only to be easily pinned by cybervenom angered him greatly. They could have easily have fallen to stasis lock... or death. And if he had lost one more friend... WHY were the spiders there in the first place?! What purpose or advantage could the Axalon possibly provide for them?! He couldn't dwell on that now, though, he had to help the others inside so that they could reclaim their base of operations and hold the arachnids responsible for their actions. It wasn't very long ago when Glowstick had attempted the same kind of infltration, and the consequences costed his life as well as Icebreakers. Once again when Optimus wasn't around to defend them. Protect them. Save them.

Quickly, Primal went over to the lift finding the controls damaged. Figures. They were trying to slow them down. Overriding the automatic demands to use the manual controls, he forced the lift downward as fast as he could. As it slid down, he stopped it just two feet short of touching the ground where everyone could easily hop on and crank it back up. "Let's go," he told the others he had left outside not wasting any time, motioning to the them that the coast was clear and to get on. Then Optimus climbed back up the hydrolic shafts to get of their way and into the command center, ready to manually crank it back up.

(( OOC: If I missed anyone who is unconscious in the bridge (including any arachnoids/drones left over?), please let me know and I'll edit that part. And my apologies if I did. Very tired; been a long and eventful day. ))

As she was approaching the Axalon Feralnight could make out some movement going on in the front of the crashed ship, focusing her gaze to see what it was but was relieved to see the others had finally arrived back safely. But it concerned her that none of the others had come out to meet them or even allow them inside right away. When the fuzor had left there had been almost everyone inside the bridge, or just down the halls close enough they would have done something along those lines but she couldn't recall a time when a team was ignored to come inside or the lift often just came down to let them in. Unless something happened? Could it have involved Arachnitron's false distress call and that in some way the widow was involved?

Not knowing how right her thoughts were Feralnight pushed herself to move faster until the sound of Cheetor's voice startled her to a stop briefly, though the femme soon relaxed and continued her flight,"All systems go Cheetor."She responded, though just with a small edge of pain in her tone. The char marks of where she had been hit by the self-destructed arachnid droid still sore and slightly painful, but she was baring the pain as she had done many a time in the past and even in previous fights during the Beast Wars. It wasn't too much longer had Feralnight answered Cheetor did she finally circle above them, watching them prepare for something and it seemed Optimus was handling what seemed to be a problem with the lift and it certainly wasn't the best of indications. Pushing the worry aside the fuzor descended to the ground to join her comrades and folded in her wings when she landed with a soft grunt. "So what's going on here?"

Inside, shortly after Optimus had arrived within the bridge, Frilla's optics briefly flickered as she was coming around as the affects of the cybervenom began to ware off enough that her systems were rebooting and allowing her to awaken. Though it was still a few minutes more before she was able to focus and take in the scene around her; the bridge was pretty much in ruins from what seemed a fight that broke out sometime while she was downed by the cybervenom though she wasn't quite sure who had been the one to fire the shots. Nearby it seemed Silverstreak had too been shot down, and it seemed she was shot while she was down as well to which at the same moment Frilla noticed slight pain began to finally register to her processor.

Looking down the frilled lizard realized she too was shot, her armor however still hardly offered protection so the bullets were still able to strike a painful blow all their own along her neck, shoulder, and down her back. As much as she would have wanted to go into the CR chamber for repairs there seemed other more important things they had to worry about and one of them was to check the situation and she forced herself to sit up on her knees, surveying more of the damaged bridge, finding Rhinox down for the count but no signs of Wintersong and Ironclaw nor even Starshadow, who she was unaware was aiding in the events in the cargo bay. Next Frilla turned her attention to where the lift sounded as it was going down followed by Optimus coming back up, which was a relief to see was back and she guessed the others were just outside as well. Knowing this Frilla relaxed just slightly but not fully,"Beast mode."She said softly, transforming to allow her systems to begin internal repairs before she walking towards the lift,"It's good to see you all."She said as she approached.

((Hope the timing is alright with Frilla awakening, figured it might be time since it's been a while since her and Silverstreak were knocked out.))

One by one it seemed his Predacons were finding someway to distract themselves, Megatron wasn't at all surprised since it hadn't yet become known that they would indeed meet an unfortunate end but his attention turned to the bear as he began to ask something that was until Onyx's timing seemed to interrupt whatever was on his underlings mind. But it was quite odd the equine decided to suddenly want to take off when the fake moon could prove to activate at any giving time, and this wasn't the first time he had gone off on his own.

Deciding to set the situation aside for now Megatron turned his attention back to the monitors, pressing a button to switch the image towards the sky as to see the current state of the Vok-moon only to find that it was once more beginning to alter in appearance, one that didn't make it any less welcoming. No, the sight certainly even made Megatron a little uneasy, doubt beginning to settle into his once confident thoughts that they might be able to beat this contraption that was hovering within the atmosphere of the prehistoric planet. Though it wasn't a complete loss as he still had his plans which involved the plans between the spiders, Tarantulas especially. "Computer, activate program-Zero Hour." He commanded as it responded with,"Activating" to which Megatron turned his attention to the holographic image of the landscape around the Axalon and the ship itself. "Scanning transwarp signature."The computer added as the t-rex leaned closer as the scanning began to zoom in on the ship, searching for the transwarp cell that Tarantulas had stolen earlier.

"Now to see if my faith in Tarantulas's abilities are justified."He said to himself while watching. Soon the computer spoke once more,"Signature located, establishing position." Soon the screen focused on the Axalon itself which made the Predacon leader somewhat surprised and excited,"The Maximal base, and the shield is down,oh yes." His tone was full of excitement now,"Computer, scan maximal base, use alien frequency."He commanded next, getting a response of scanning before the reply came in,"Several maximal signatures detected outside base,three non-functional. Units Tarantulas, Blackarachnia,Starshadow, and Arachnitron and maximal unit Orcanier active in stasis hold. Unit Inferno enroute to same location." "So my loyal drone is still with them, and the Maximal is facing some unfortunate odds even for his size, perfect."He said with a wicked smirk.

((Whew, had to actually watch that scene to actually get it right. Hope this is okay since I had to improvise with the whole active and inactive maximals plus the Predacons. If I missed anything let me know.))

Outside the Darksyde Onyx skidded to a halt when he heard his name being called, kicking up dust as he did and faced the one following him who turned out to be Steelclaw. Though it wasn't surprising someone had decided to pursue him for suddenly taking off the black stallion wasn't quite sure what he would say when his fellow warrior caught up, but there really was no other way to explain his sudden change of thoughts in no longer being part of the Predacons. Least not this team, to be more specific.

When Steelclaw was close enough Onyx decided by then he should just say straight out what he planned to do and he really had no other option as the alien structure began to transform into something far more menacing then before. "Since there is really no other way to put this Steelclaw I am deciding to leave the Predacons. It doesn't take long for someone to realize that they don't belong some place and it took only a few days to finally hit that my place isn't among this crew of Predacons, especially under such tyranny of Megatron has been leading with."The stallion said in a straight forward way but was all the while calm, swishing his tail slightly. "It's a last minute decision I know but if there is just the slightest bit of time I will take the risk before that weapon hits this planet and possibly winding up in oblivion but leaving this time seems better then dealing with the overgrown lizard."

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

Shortly after Frilla had come around Silverstreak too began to show signs of coming back to consciousness. It wasn't quite the start she was expecting for crashing on a new planet, being ambushed and shot in the back by someone and winding up on the floor the next minute as something affected her systems to force her into stasis lock. Adding to it she could feel pain from where bullets by Tarantulas had penetrated their way into some places but she didn't bother to check where, it could be a concern later since she wanted to see what was going on more then worry of serious injury. Though if there was anything serious it would have been obvious already. Pushing herself up to one knee Silverstreak blinked a few times to allow her optics to focus before finally being able to take in the damaged bridge around her, possibly done from after her and Frilla had been knocked out of this fight before hand.

What's more she heard Frilla speak nearby and turned her gaze towards the lift to find another bot there which she assumed was another of the Maximals and some were soon to follow from the sounds of things. Glancing around once more she took notice of Rhinox lying in stasis lock not too far away but it seemed he had made a good effort to try and defend the Axalon before he fell to the same affects of cybervenom her and Frilla had faced. With a soft grunt Silverstreak pushed herself up but unlike Frilla remained in robot mode as she approached the lift with curiosity of who would be coming up and at the same time wondered where their attackers had gone in such a hurry after this conflict.

Umbra raised an optic ridge as he observed Nemesis, clearly her motives of having him use the disguise would not be beneficial.. normally anyway. He then smirked as his tentacles shifted wrapping around points of his body increasing his height while his texture and colors changed, taking the appearance of Dinobot.

Well.. I guess I'll just have to see about that..


Walking outside near silently, he came up behind Venatrix but kept some distance of at least 25 feet. He crossed his arms as he let out a low reverberating snort before he spoke Practicing as a warrior is all well and good.. but with disaster upon us.. don't you think these actions to be..inappropriate?

OOC: I know Inferno is red, but I use red for Arachnitron's predacon programming. So as not to confuse readers, I will use yellow. It's close enough to red and fire is yellow too so it works.

I hope this doesn't totally screw up the plan, but thinking back to what happened in the show: Inferno shoots Blackarachnia first and then burns Tarantulas after he tries to fight back. When they're distracted, Blackarachnia gets up from being shot and shoots Inferno.

I figured Inferno is not the smartest of bots and wouldn't have thought to just wait in the hall until Orcariner did all the shooting for him which is what I, personally, would have done. Nor would he have felt any particular loyalty to the spiders to shoot at Orcariner since they are betraying the Royalty. So...hope this works out okay....

BIC:

Tarantulas nearly bit off Blackarachnia's head for her assuming control and ordering Tarantulas to grab Wintersong's body and pull it out of plain sight. His mood seemed to soften a tad with Arachnitron's quip back in Blackarachnia's direction.

You are wise beyond your years my dear"

He said to her and proceeded to enter the cargo bay. She smiled behind his back glad to know she had done the right thing.

She followed Tarantulas into the cargo bay and looked around in awe. She had never actually been inside the cargo bay. She knew where it was, but had never seen it. There were Maximal stasis pods lined up against the walls. She was getting closer to leaving with every step she took.

Tarantulas turned back to Blackarachnia with his leg guns pointed at her.

"Time to handover the transwarp drive Blackarachnia, if you truly wish to survive what's to come of course."

While Tarantulas aimed his weapon on Blackarachnia, Arachnitron raised her cybervenom launcher towards Starshadow. She didn't want the other femme to try anything with the intentions of saving Blackarachnia with the hopes of leaving the planet with her. She looked at the panther sternly. "Don't move. Once Blackarachnia has handed over the transwarp drive, you'll be spared. Move before she does and you'll be scrapped." Arachnitron addressed Blackarachnia without taking her optics away from her target. "Give Tarantulas the transwarp drive or I'll shoot the cat. I'm sure you'd rather not be outnumbered again."

Before anyone could do anything more, the lights came on. She looked over as one of the larger Maximals, Orcariner, loomed over Tarantulas his swords drawn.

""You have two options, spider. Leave the ship voluntarily, or I send you out by force. Your choice."

Blackarachnia shouted from her place in front of Tarantulas the desperation apparent in her voice:

"What are you two doing? We outnumber him four to one. SHOOT HIM!"

Arachnitron looked at Tarantulas for guidance not sure of what to do. She could do as Blackarachnia said and shoot the whale. He was outnumbered as she pointed out, but what if she tried to escape with the transwarp drive? Arachnitron did not want to be left on the planet to die. Her other option would have been to feign allegiance with the Maximal, but she figured he probably already counted her as one of the Predacons. They had all counted her as one of the Predacons, hadn't they? They had kept a guard, of sorts, on her ever since she'd been among them.

She thought back to her previous attempts at fooling the Maximals and remembered that she had done a pretty good job tricking them into thinking she was in trouble. Perhaps, she could trick them all into believing the Predacon was coming back. Her screams of pain might distract them long enough for Tarantulas to get the transwarp drive back from Blackarachnia.

She just needed Tarantulas to give her some sort of command...
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Inferno watched from the hallway. Tarantulas' guns were aimed at the taller she-spider. The little she-spider's guns were aimed at the cat. And suddenly out of nowhere, the aquatic Maximal showed up to the party. He chuckled quietly to himself as he sat concealed in the hallway. No one knew he was outside in the hall following the spiders.

"Inferno, terrorize." the ant murmured quietly.

He transformed and landed on the ground in the door way to the cargo hold and fired his rocket launcher at Blackarachnia and then proceeded to fire at Orcariner with no regard to the fact that he was vastly out numbered.

"All enemies of the Colony must be terminated!!!!"

He threw out a military salute before raising his weapon to fire again on the enemy....

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As Arachnitron still contemplated what to do, another figure appeared in the doorway and fired his weapon at Blackarachnia and also Orcariner claiming that all of them in the room were enemies of the colonies. Arachnitron narrowed her optics at him musing on the bug's logic circuits and wondering at his identity. He must be crazy to take on all five of them on his own with no back up, but she knew now was not the time to take out the red ant. She had about a split second to take advantage of this situation. Blackarachnia was distracted!

She turned her weapon on Orcariner, fired her cybervenom launcher and then dove towards Blackarachnia reaching out to grab hold of the transwarp drive she still held in her grip.

Just after Steelclaw stopped running and Onyx was about to explain himself, Steelclaw's attention was forced upwards as he saw the alien weapon shift and spin and separate itself into two parts with a speed that didn't seem to logically match its massive size. The sight was astounding; Steelclaw thought that the device had a certain visceral... presence to it, waiting beyond the planet's atmosphere against the backdrop of stars, but waiting, still, where everyone could see it perfectly, as though it wasn't really in space at all.

And the way it hovered there, like it was looking straight down at surface of the planet... and this was what everyone was going to have to contend with... and Steelclaw's mouth dropped open a small ways.

He snapped back to the only-slightly-more-immediate issue when he heard Onyx.

Onyx wrote:Since there is really no other way to put this Steelclaw I am deciding to leave the Predacons. It doesn't take long for someone to realize that they don't belong some place and it took only a few days to finally hit that my place isn't among this crew of Predacons, especially under such tyranny of Megatron has been leading with. It's a last minute decision I know but if there is just the slightest bit of time I will take the risk before that weapon hits this planet and possibly winding up in oblivion but leaving this time seems better then dealing with the overgrown lizard.

Onyx was defecting. No, no, not right now; not like this.

Tyranny? He said tyranny. Unstoppably, Steelclaw's processor wandered over to the sight of Glowstick's frame hitting the Darksyde's grate floor. Tyranny? Yes, Megatron had flaws, but they hadn't been enough to make Steelclaw doubt his own place yet.

Now wasn't the time to think about that in depth. Onyx was going to run to the Axalon and join the enemy forces.

Steelclaw looked up when he made peripheral notice of a change in the alien weapon. He could see now that it had stopped transforming and that it's concentric spinning was slowing down. It was ready, or near ready. Onyx was going to run to the Axalon and he wasn't going to make it. How to stop him?

"Onyx, listen to me. Listen to yourself. You've become convinced that you'd prefer death over serving under Megatron." Yes, this was right. With as little time as he had to try to save Onyx from his suicide mission, he had to go for broke. "But that's exactly the point, isn't it?" he exclaimed emphatically. "If you think Megatron is really that tyrannical, then you don't just want to get away from his banner--you want to put a stop to everything he's doing here.

"Look back up," Steelclaw said, motioning that way with his muzzle and looking there himself. His words were beginning to speed up in agitation. "That thing is done putting itself together." He fixed his gaze back onto Onyx. "It's ready to go off in like... now. Hear me: you can not make it to the Maximals in time. And when you die trying, how in the world is that supposed to help put a stop to Megatron?

"Come back to base with me. I won't tell anyone else what you're going to do. And then, if we all survive this thing, you'll be safe to go straight to the Axalon like you want to now. But if you go running off with that thing up in the sky, then I'm going right to the Darksyde database to file you under 'deceased', because you don't have a shot."

Steelclaw turned around, took another worried look upwards and then beckoned to Onyx with his head. "Come on. We've got to go."

* * *

Cheetor looked carefully at Feralnight's burns after she landed near him. She did seem to be moving fine, and she said was fine and all, but those marks looked terrible.

Feralnight wrote:So what's going on here?

"I don't actually know, but it's got something to do with those eight-leg Pred freaks. Well, minus Scorponok anyways. Nobody inside's talking back on their coms, and the lift..."

Optimus Primmal wrote:Let's go.

Cheetor turned fast to see Optimus standing on the platform.

"Nevermind," he continued with Feralnight. "The lift's doing great." Cheetor hopped on and just barely managed to make room for Dinobot, who wasn't a moment behind him in getting on. The raptor's eyes were narrowed, and his teeth were still showing, so obviously, he was in bad...der mood.

Cheetor went sideways to make more room between himself and Dinobot. "So what was going on with you?" he asked Feralnight. "You find a minefield or something? I'm pretty sure I never left any of my grenades in the forest."