The Intergalactic Highway

Saber looked up as Optimus made his descent back to the forest floor.

"Beast mode."

Saber felt her spark skip a beat when she made eye contact with Optimus, that was when she knew she was in trouble.

"Let's move out. Back to Base,"

Optimus' tone and attitude surprised Saber, well then again he had the right to be irriated she hadn't been very chipper much less helpful since they landed on the planet. After this she would have to find another way to meet Sonar without having to go all the way to his lair.

"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,"

Saber didn't like sound of that but Optimus had the right to know, but she couldn't tell him the whole truth... at least not yet.

"I'm sorry if I haven't been very helpful since we've been here, trying to keep some thing like this hidden hasn't been easy to say the least." She said quietly, walking beside her leader, her green eyes trained on the ground a few feet infront of her.

"I'm sorry if I haven't been very helpful since we've been here, trying to keep some thing like this hidden hasn't been easy to say the least."

The gorilla glanced at the large cat beside him but continued to walk and returned his gaze straight ahead as he said firmly, "You shouldn't have kept it hidden. From me least of all." He might understand if she was embarrassed by it, or scared, and that she didn't want everyone to know, but Optimus felt that she should have told him, even before she decided to board his vessel back on Cybertron. He was quite disappointed. "When did you discover this 'beast' inside of you?" he inquired without looking at her. He had grown angry about it quickly, taking charge and ending his tolerance toward her prowling and hiding. "And how is it triggered?" Obviously, she had some sort of way of controlling it. He had no idea she had this "problem" until now. And for a moment, he wondered how deep it went inside of her and if they could do anything to help her at all.

Steelclaw kept his distance from Megatron the entire walk back to the Darksyde. He didn't consider himself particularly at fault for Whitegrazer joining the Maximals, and especially not for Frilla's betrayal, but Megatron wouldn't be in the mood for any discussions at that moment, and, in fact, he was probably looking for someone to vent on.

He could feel the throbbing pain in alternate mode's chest despite being in beast mode, and as he finally approached the ship, he was glad for memory of the CR tanks inside.

But once he stepped inside the ship's halls, another idea came to him. He walked to Sonar's quarters and transformed to robot mode before knocking on the door with his good hand.

"You shouldn't have kept it hidden. From me least of all."

"I know that now and I know your disappointed, I understand that, you have a right to be." She replied.

"When did you discover this 'beast' inside of you?"

"I'm not sure. I think I've always had it inside me, I wasn't fully aware of it until three weeks after I was made General, but I didn't think it was a threat. It was just this presences in the back of my mind."

"And how is it triggered?"

Saber shrugged. "As far as I can tell, it's triggered by a sudden and last minute need to protect myself, other then that I have no idea."
* * *

Sonar growled when he heard some one knock on his door, and had just gotten to sleep. Letting go of the ceiling he easily landed on his feet then headed for the door.

"What do you want know, Starshadow?" He opened the door only to find Steelclaw. "Oh, my apologizes, Steelclaw, I thought you were some one else. What is it that I can help you with?"

Steelclaw chuckled for a second, then he grimaced from the movement. "No problem at all," he said, regaining his composure. He'd really have to be more careful.

"I should probably figure out how this works myself, and maybe you can help me with the learning too, but I was wondering if you knew how to boost the Darksyde's communications range. I want to contact Glowstick and Snow Trix and see if things are going alright over there."

"No problem at all,"

Sonar looked Steelclaw up and down, he looked like he had been through the shredder.

"I should probably figure out how this works myself, and maybe you can help me with the learning too, but I was wondering if you knew how to boost the Darksyde's communications range. I want to contact Glowstick and Snow Trix and see if things are going alright over there."

"It probably needs new wiring, but I'll see what I can do." Sonar replied, then walked past Steelclaw and headed toward the Darksyde's Control Room.

As the nanobots rapidly repaired the circuits of the fallen warrior, using materials from the empty pod to regenerate the damaged parts of her body, the female Decepticon started twitching. Seconds later the now repaired hand clenched into a fist, just as the Decepticon quickly pushed up. The chains used to tie the body down creaked from the added pressure, before snapping as the pressure just became too much for them to take.

Twisting as if in agony, Nemesis let out a loud cry. The painful memories of the battle that had ultimately deactivated her were still all-too-clear in her mind, images of her final seconds of life replaying in her head. For a moment she was back there, in space, clinging onto those last few moments of life. Her eyes flickered on, taking a moment to focus on the relatively small size of the cargo bay.

What the..?

Nemesis had no recollection of how she had gotten here, much less an idea of where 'here' was. Her last moments had been while she was floating through space, not here in this unknown, and tiny, room.

Was this a prison? A dream? The afterlife? How did she get here? Where was she?

Bewildered as well as a bit panicky she rolled over, landing on the floor of the cargo bay with a loud thump. She attempted to stagger herself to her feet, but slammed into the ceiling before managing to stand up.

Furious, she slammed her fist hard into the floor of the cargo bay, leaving a considerably sized dent as she did. She punched again, not even taking note of her surroundings or the fact her chest region was still glowing from the massive repairs and alterations being done to her as a result of consuming the new technology. All she could think of right now was to get away from this place, this wretched, small place, whatever it was..

Snow Trix turned when she heard the sounds, which each one seemed to be from the cargo bay...wait the cargo bay?! Putting the ship on auto pilot she hurried from the seat and stopped just above where the Decepticon was now activated, staring in utter shock. She was alive! But Snow Trix noticed the sounds were coming from punching the floor, leaving considerable sized dents. "Hey you! Knock it off!" She snapped not caring at the moment if this really was an ancestor, "This craft is the only thing keeping you from ending up dead!"

Megatron walked into the Darksyde breathing heavily, his steps uneasy as he made his way through the halls into his quarters. He transformed to his robot form sitting down in his chair with a pale and mad expression. He had superior numbers and firepower, yet he lost to the maximals. He lost one of his troops, and in the end was almost taken down by a tiny bird with a tranquilizer gun. With the drug still flowing through his system, he was drozzy but not enough to go down. He tried to concentrate, but for now it seemed best to wait until the drug wore off before he made any new plans.

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Tarantulus returned not to the darksyde, but to his lab. He continued pondering over the situation as he made his way through his elaborate network of underground tunnels.

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Glowstick hit the button on the wall causing the shower effect to stop, the tank was mostly filled with water. He wirelessly interfaced with the Leviathan's computer looking at the calculated heading. Hmm.. She's doing rather well. I'll have to make note of this. Speaking of fluffy white creatures.. he gave a slight snicker as he pondered sending a message to Steelclaw to inquire about his "date" with the horse girl, but then stopped as he heard the sudden smashing noises, the inside of the Leviathan shaking violently. What the.. it sounds like it's INSIDE the ship?.. Oh slag..

He then climbed out of the tank and decontamination room, transforming to robot mode. His optics narrowed and flared red HEY STUPID! If you keep doing that I don't care HOW big you are, I'll personally melt you into the pile of scrap you are! Wait.. how are you even online? he then stated blinking as his optics turned blue again confused.

Optimal Optimus Primal wrote:(( 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. ))

((OOC: Whoops! Apologies for that. I went ahead and edited my post.))

Feralnight sighed a bit in relief, putting the radio away and saw the swords waving from Orcanier. Diving down she flew to the killer whale and landed nearby, "We'll at least be able to explain things when we get to base Orcanier." She informed him, "Least it gives us a bit of time." She sighed folding in her wings.

New Moon wrote:"We'll at least be able to explain things when we get to base Orcanier." She informed him, "Least it gives us a bit of time."

Nodding, Orcariner returned to beast mode and activated the hover devices attached to his body.

"We should wait for the others before returning to the Axalon," he said, "The larger our group is, the less likely the Predacons would attempt to intercept and ambush us."

Returning to his thoughts earlier, the orca added.

"As for the debriefing, allow me to do it. It was my decision to leave the Decepticon so I must explain my actions. You and the others were just preoccupied with the Predacons. You shouldn't have to explain yourselves."

New Moon wrote: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.

Whitegrazer slowed her pace a little and walked with Frilla, it was her way of looking out for her.

"It's understandable as it will be whole different department from what you are used to like a new family. It might take some time to adjust but hey, I'm new here so maybe we could help each other out with that." offered the horse bot, because of her years of being a instructor with being around new bots with different age ranges and due to her age, she instinctively has to look out for the young bots.

She looked back at Cheetor and politely asked, "Cheetor, on the Axalon, do we have a sparring room?"

She needed that if she was going to practice or some type of large room. If they didn't, she could always use the field she landed on, which might be more preferable yet with the Predacons around more dangerous.

There was nothing Whitegrazer hated more then to be interrupted when she was teaching.

"Hey you! Knock it off!" She snapped not caring at the moment if this really was an ancestor, "This craft is the only thing keeping you from ending up dead!"

Startled by the sudden voice, but still too frantic to really be able to comprehend what the voice was saying, Nemesis thrashed around to look around the room. Her optics fell upon the small Predacon, flashing red for a moment as she did. This creature was fairly small.. One of the cassettes perhaps..? Nemesis was not about to stop to find out, however, as she turned her attention back to the floor she had been pounding. Had to get out..This place was too cramped, whatever this place was!

HEY STUPID! If you keep doing that I don't care HOW big you are, I'll personally melt you into the pile of scrap you are! Wait.. how are you even online? '

Again a voice startled her, this time it was a male. She chose to ignore the voice for now, slamming her fist hard into the floor another time to finally cause the floor to crack.

Glowstick's optics narrowed If you don't refuse to stop fine.. Glowstick swung out one of his arms as it stretched slamming it into a red button on the wall, the hatch to the cargo bay opened.A sudden surge of energon radiation and wind from outside flooded the room washing over Nemesis. There's your exit if you want out that badly. he then said.

Glowstick looked towards Snowtrix as he moved his squid arms towards the ceiling, swinging out his other feeder tentacle and wrapping it around her waist. His squid drone floating into the pilot seat then grasped the joystick while messing with the throttle to slow the ship to a stop, then pointed the stick down as the Leviathan's bow pointed nose down, random junk including pieces of Waspinator in storage started to slide forward smacking into Nemesis to slide her outside of the ship.