The Intergalactic Highway

OOC:

DarkSpark wrote:OOC: Yo, I'll post tomorrow because I'm exhausted from work, and for the most part I like your post Blackrose, but I'd like to point out that if Inferno shows up now and burns Big T alive early, the stasis pod won't be ready to receive the data tracks BA later acquires to finish programming the escape ship...So don't I need time to begin work on the craft first? I mean, if BA could modify the craft on her own she wouldn't have tagged along with Tarantulas in the first place for as long as she did.

I don't see that there was a way Tarantulas could have done it at this point anyway with Orcariner being right behind him. Orcariner was certainly NOT going to let him touch any of the pods while he was functional so we'd be shooting at someone anyway. But, perhaps, at this point, the Preds can all gang up on Orcariner and then take Inferno out once Orcariner is down.

I don't know that Tarantulas really needs to start the calibrations on the pod. I mean, it's not like he really gets that far in the show. If BA can finish it with whatever she downloads from Ranty's head, then certainly she can start it with help from whatever she downloads. Does the download need to happen at this particular moment at all? I mean, the Maximals would want the pod finished, so she'd need to go into his head anyway to help the Maximals finish. So maybe that part can happen later.

Or maybe Tarantulas does it later. Maybe you and Una don't even want to do the neural link part and Tarantulas doesn't go down at all....there's no real reason to do it unless we wanted the trio to stay a trio for a while.

OR can Tarantulas start the calibrations while under fire? I mean, maybe Arachnitron gets the device from BA, then Tarantulas takes the thing off that BA put on it, then while Arachnitron gives him cover fire he starts installing it. And then at that point, Inferno can do his thing. For that, though, you'd have to wait for Una to decide whether Arachnitron managed to grab the transwarp drive or not.

It's not like anyone will take Inferno or Orcariner down with one shot....so there can be a few shots fired while Tarantulas gets things started.

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

"Hhhmmm, yes, I see..." Tarantulas murmured, wondering if perhaps the cat tracked them all the way here or if maybe she'd been trying to cut a deal with the maximals for some unknown purpose...Either way it was ultimately irrelevant, she needed to die just as badly as the rest of them, he didn't have the time or the desire to build more than one escape craft.

She'd need to be taken out along with Blackarachnia, preferably as soon as possible so they wouldn't have time to rally against him and his partner, his usefulness to him would last for as long as Blackarachnia and Starshadow remained functional.

Blackrose wrote: 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."

"You heard the lady, hand it over, play time is at an end" Tarantulas cackled, pleased that events were playing out in his favor again so soon after Starshadow's unwelcome return.

He'd be off this rock soon and back on Cybertron, receiving a hero's welcome for accomplishing his mission despite the odds stacked against him.

Alak wrote: 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."
Image

Tarantulas gasped and whirled around in shock at the presence of one of the maximals largest and most powerful warriors, standing right behind him!

"Fools! How did they not see this THING sneaking up behind me?!" Tarantulas snarled inwardly, his rage overcoming his dread for the moment, amazed that something this size could be stealthy enough to catch him off guard.

He stared up at the massive leviathan and cursed every cybertronian deity he could think of as he contemplated his next action, one which would determine whether he lived to begin work on the escape craft or got cut in half right here and now before he even got the chance.

Una wrote: 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.

"Easier said than done widow, you're not standing within reach of his blades" he hissed at her in irritation, knowing he needed to act fast but knowing it was likely they couldn't take the brute down in one shot, not daring to take his optic off of him, he wanted to be ready to dodge when and if those blades came for his head.

His best bet was his cybervenom launcher, which would at least slow him down even if it didn't knock him out immediately...He'd have to draw VERY quickly to shoot the maximal before he eviscerated him.

Blackrose wrote: 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....

"The ant too?! What's next? The ghost of Optimus Prime himself?!" Tarantulas cursed as he used the distraction caused by Inferno's unexpected arrival to draw his gun and fire one shot at Orcaliner before running for cover behind one of the stasis pods.

Blackrose wrote: 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.

Tarantulas had noticed Arachnitron going for the transwarp drive even as he made his escape, simply yelling at her to "Bring it to me!" as he began his work on the first stasis pod he could get his pincers on, hoping the two giants Inferno and Orcaliner would keep eachother busy and scrap Starshadow and Blackarachnia for him, and hopefully eachother.

He normally wouldn't risk something like this under such heavy fire, but the immanent destruction of the very world upon which he stood was a powerful motivator. Even if he destroyed the others now, he was doomed if he didn't get the escape craft working, thus it took priority over everything else.

He put on a visor over his optics with cables that ran into the pod itself, his tool filled pincers moving faster than they ever had before, reworking the pod for space travel even as his mind began the tricky task of reprogramming its computer for space travel and navigation. He was putting his spark into this task, appropriate given it was at stake if he failed.


OOC: WHOO! Done, hope this works for everyone, as always, I'll edit if I goofed somewhere "goes out to lunch"

((Loving the battle and treachery with the spiders! Great posts everyone!))

"No," "You and Rattrap take the rear of the ship. The Predacons are gathering there, so Orcariner will need some back-up," "Wintersong and Ironclaw may be unconscious there as well. Approach with caution and secure the cargo bay"
"Why not just let Sentinel handle 'em?"
"We can't spare the power!"
"So, we get to do it the hard way. ...As usual."
"One more thing,""When you confront them, I want them functional."
"You just have ta spoil my fun, don't ya?"

Airazor was a touch dejected when her idea was turned down, but Optimus quickly gave her new orders which she liked much more. So far she hadn't had much of a chance to prove herself to the maximals - and Tigatron - without getting slagged in the process. Now was as good a time as any to finally do that. Luckily, she was in beast mode for the past hour and had made repairs. She was feeling much better now after the massive electrical shock the aliens had given her.

Nodding towards Optimus, she responded quickly. "You can count on us." Immediately after, she began to beat her graceful wings to get airborne. As she flew off, she grabbed Rattrap with her talons and sped towards the rear of the ship. According to the readings which the Orca had given them, they could likely fly in through one of the rear roof hatches and move in towards the cargo bay quietly. They could sneak up on the predicon's from there and take them down.

After the short flight, Airazor dove down into the hatch and let go of Rattrap. "Maximize" She whispered, and landed on the ground with her two robotic legs. Looking back towards Rattrap, she reached behind her back and grabbed her talon blaster hidden behind her tail feathers. This weapon wasn't as powerful as her rockets, but it was ideal for close quarters battles. With this, she wouldn't cause as much damage to the ship or any allies. "Lets hit it!" She spoke to her friend, and began to slowly walk through the hallways.

Optimus Primal wrote:"Aurora, 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."

The small fuzor pulled her lower lip into her mouth and bit lightly into it. It really was as if this nightmare she'd been going through the last few days had no end to it. Just when she had started eyeing some hope, something else would happen to make the situation even worse. Now their base was invaded and her friends lay injured, possibly poisoned.

She started walking towards the lift where Wintersong lay motionless on the ground and Ironclaw was no doubt still inside, when another change in the moon caught her eye. It almost seemed subtle at first, with the moon now dark against the sky, but the rapid motion of the change was still enough to catch her attention. It was changing its shape to something far more menacing now, something resembling a weapon aimed straight at the planet. Their home.

Aurora froze in her tracks for a moment, staring at the change that was taking place, before managing to pull herself together. They really did not have much time.

Gathering her thoughts again, she made her way over to Wintersong. The tigress appeared unconscious but at least she was alive. There wasn't much Aurora could do for her at the moment until the cybervenom wore off, so she gently pulled one leg and an arm and rolled her over so she was laying in the recovery position. At least it was a bit more comfortable than laying in a heap on the ground. The tigress' condition seemed stable enough so Aurora then turned her attention to Ironclaw who was still inside.

Meanwhile Nemesis watched with amusement as Umbra shape-shifted into the familiar form of Dinobot and went to see Venatrix. A most interesting ability indeed..

Yet she did not follow immediately. Instead she returned to Megatron's location, finding the commander staring at several monitors while talking to himself. The avian female slipped silently into the darkest area of the room. She watched the monitors for a moment, noticing the new change in the former moon. It was starting to look rather menacing now, like a huge weapon aiming its barrel at them while preparing to fire.

Megatron & Computer wrote:"Now to see if my faith in Tarantulas's abilities are justified."
"Signature located, establishing position."
"The Maximal base, and the shield is down,oh yes."

So this was why Megatron had allowed that sneaky spider to roam freely.. Nemesis was pleased to see her faith in sticking it out with the Predacon commander had not been entirely misplaced.

Emotions can play a powerful role in any situation, especially in the heat of combat. Regardless of how much training and preparation was drilled into an individual, the power of one's emotions could easily suppress a fighter's higher functions. One particular emotion, Orcariner saw, was panic. The theatrical effect of suddenly revealing himself from the darkness was devastating on the Predacons' plans. There was no need for them to say much, because their reactions were clearly illustrated through their expressions. The spiders were typically the swiftest strikers Orcariner had studied throughout the Beast Wars. Their methods of operations were bred through speed and cunning tactics. Fortunately for the Maximal, the panic he aroused in them prevented that from becoming their advantage. His foes were acting through instinct now. No elaborate schemes. No traps that may be laid for the giant. It was simply a fight for survival for them. Orcariner would not have wanted it any other way.

Suddenly, Inferno arrived through the doorway.

Inferno wrote:"All enemies of the Colony must be terminated!!!!"

Blast it.

Inferno had been under the radar this whole time by remaining in beast mode. Orcariner had to assess this new variable in order to reformulate his plan of action. Being outnumbered four to one was bad enough, but now this Predacon team actually had someone who had noteworthy firepower. The fire ant was already firing his weapon, forcing the larger Maximal to crouch as the missile grazed the crown of his head. Arachnitron was quick to take advantage of the distraction, bringing up her cyber-venom gun. However, in her act of desperation, she had already telegraphed her intentions. The spider's swerve was already half-way trained towards the killer whale when he had his swords crossed in front of his face.

She really is with them. She was a Predacon all along.

The vibrations resonating his energo-swords indicated that the shot had been successfully deflected. Orcariner hated how his face was unguarded because protecting it meant that he was forced to blind himself. The next couple of moves had to be played from the enemy positions he had memorized. Panic was a powerful emotion, and it was an invaluable ally when it was his foes who were suffering from it. Rather than take evasive action in the fairly large bay, they chose to stand still and fight against a Maximal who could trample them within a few strides. Charging forward, Orcariner quickly lunged his left arm out towards Tarantulas. He was the alpha male of the group, and so the orca would use him as a meat shield. As his hand reached out, the Maximal felt a painful sting as something impaled it. It turned out that Tarantulas' draw was still considerable during times of duress.

Stupid, Orcariner. Shouldn't have exposed yourself like that against him.

The arachnid dashed towards the stasis pod as if it took more priority in the Predacons' mission than Orcariner himself. The killer whale's long reach still allowed him to make a grab for the fleeing Tarantulas, however. The sensation of paralysis quickly shot through his hand and up towards his wrist. Orcariner had to act quickly before it became entirely inoperable. He struggled against the poison as he proceeded to wrap his fingers around his opponent's body.

Optimus, where are you...



((EDITS: Including Tarantulas working on the stasis pod due to popular request. Made the grab for Tarantulas more of an in-process as opposed to a complete action.))

NaitoKage wrote: 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?

Venatrix didn't turn towards the location she heard Dinobot's voice from.
She deactivated her shadow-program, and started to smile as the image in her mind of Dinobot vanished.
"You know as i do, Dinobot, maybe even more so, that a warrior like you and I need to keep polishing up their skills when ever they can.
Our enemies will be doing the same."

She finaly turned around to face Dinobot, keeping her smile on her face.
She never even wondered once what Dinobot was doing at the Darkside, or even how it was possible for him to sneak past the many security grinds surrounding the Predacon base.
He wasn't built for stealth, or had the skills to avoid detection by all the security that where active at that moment.
The black female simply didn't care how, or even why he was there. She just hoped he was willing to compare each others skills in combat.
"So let me see if your skills have improved as much as mine mine...."

With that said, Venatrix darted forwards at full speed, and when she was in range, threw a quick punch to Dinobots face with her right arm.

((I'm going to assume that Venatrix will discover this ploy when she smells Umbra instead of Dinobot.))

"Beast mode."

Opening a panel on the wall beside the lift, Optimus glanced down to see those who climbed on and placed both of his hands on the wheel and used a lot of his strength to manually crank the lift back up into the bridge with the all the weight that was now on it. Hearing Frilla's voice, he turned his attention to her while he continued lifting the Maximals up into the base. She looked like she was in bad shape but he was glad she was awake now.

"It's good to see you all."

After a nod to her, the Maximal leader in his beast mode asked, "Are you all right, Frilla? Were you and Rhinox able to find anything about the Vok before you were attacked?" A loud clank sound signaled the lift had reached the top and was clamped in place safely for those to step off, so he released the wheel and looked at the newest Maximal who was also just coming to. As much as he enjoyed introductions, there was no time right now to get to know one another. He needed to stay focused and get the intruder situation under control and figure out what to do with the very large Vok weapon.

"Dinobot, get Rhinox to the CR," Optimus told him. He wanted him awake and repaired as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, he was unaware of the dose of cybervenom that the spiders had given him and that it was unlikely that his old friend would be joining them in this very dire situation. A shame because he definitely could have used the engineer's expertise on the matter.

On the bright side, Primal saw Feralnight had joined them on the lift. Why she was outside, though, he didn't know. She looked a little bit beat up as well. What in the world had been going on here lately? Everytime he left the Axalon, it was in shambles when he returned and his Maximals were injured. Something would need to be done about that in the future. ...If there is a future.

"Whitegrazer, Cheetor," ((OOC: Just assuming that she came up with them as well to save time. Hope that's okay, una.)), "get down to the hangar and assist Aurora with Ironclaw and Wintersong. Bring them inside immediately," the gorilla ordered as he started flicking through the monitors and security cameras trying to find a visual on the trespassers. "Airazor and Rattrap are on their way to back up Orcariner, but be on alert. Blackarachnia, Starshadow, Tarantulas and Inferno are in the cargo bay." Scanners and the killer whale's sonar picked up their signatures but there were no cameras in that section. Why were they in there? And he guessed that Starshadow had changed her mind about being with the Maximals. That was quick. It was times like this when Optimus wondered if it was worth it to give some of these Predacons or renegades a chance to waste his time and betray his trust and compassion. No need to dwell on it now, though. Although he honestly thought he saw something different in her.

Moving to the center console of the bridge, Primal brought up a 3D holographic schematic of the planet and the Vok's weapon. He hoped to get some more information on the weapon, if there was any to be found, while waiting to see if Frilla had anything to offer. Earlier readings had indicated that all of their stasis pods that had still been in orbit were now helplessly falling toward the planet, spiraling out of control. They were going to crash everywhere. Closing his eyes for a moment, he didn't want to think about how many he was going to lose now because of this. His eyes opened when a specific pod marked with an "X" on it flashed across his mind. Primus, where was that one going to fall? Would he survive? Would he be activated...? No time to worry about that now.

Watching Airazor and Rattrap take off to enter the base in another place, Tigatron mentally wished them well but knew he'd see Airazor again soon. He followed the others to the lift and had stepped on and squished with them like a can of sardines. Lifted up to the commander center by their leader, the white tiger glanced around in sorrow as he took in the minimal damage and his more seriously injured friends. Stepping off of the lift, he maximized and smiled warmly at the new female that he had spotted coming back to the base when he had left to find Aurora. She seemed kind and sweet. "I'm Tigatron," he introduced himself to her while Optimus was handing out orders for the others. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

-----

After being snatched up by Airazor, Rattrap fell through the opened hatch and landed in kneeling position as quietly as he could on the metal flooring inside, still gripping his gun and targeting it down the corridor just in case. Immediately he looked around to make sure the coast was clear of any traps or arachnoids. Seemed good to go.

"Maximize"

Standing up, Rattrap looked at Airazor as she transformed and armed herself.

"Lets hit it!"

Giving her a quick grin, he nodded and started following her, picking up the pace but still being mindful of any surprises around any turns and intersections. Orcariner might be able to distract the five Predacons for a little while, but he was greatly outnumbered. Rattrap knew why Optimus sent him and Airazor in as reinforcements; they were both much smaller than the whale and therefore quicker and more agile. Hopefully they wouldn't get there too late because a downed Orcariner would be a very problematic situation for them, especially now when the aliens wanted to blow everything up. Hang in there, Big O, thought the master marksman, We're on our way. It wasn't fair to leave him alone to fend for himself. He was a friend to everyone with his personality, and he had recently been traumatized by losing Icebreaker. In fact, it had been some time since he last saw the big guy. If the Preds were to get him angry, well, there might not be anything left of them once he and Airazor would arrive to help.

Venatrix wrote:"You know as i do, Dinobot, maybe even more so, that a warrior like you and I need to keep polishing up their skills when ever they can.
Our enemies will be doing the same." "So let me see if your skills have improved as much as mine mine...."

As she spoke, the fake Dinobot stood rather casually. When she started to run however, he changed into a halfmoon stance, something rather strange for Dinobot to do. Running foward she was going to attack using momentum from her speed, a hard style attack likely. He also assumed from the brutality Dinobot showed earlier, probably the same.

As she threw her punch, he twisted at the waist blocking with his right arm to deflect the blow, then twisted at the waist bringing up his left knee to her stomach, though held back some of his strength as he didn't want to damage the smaller warrior. He then stepped back, with his back facing towards the hanger opening. "Our" enemies you speak of..just mean me.

(Smell and other hints would probably clue her in he isn't Dinobot. Like not transforming into beast mode,not having his weapons,being abnormally flexible, or having different martial arts styles since Umbra hasn't seen Dinobot fight properly to copy his style yet. )

OOC:

NaitoKage wrote:(Smell and other hints would probably clue her in he isn't Dinobot. Like not transforming into beast mode,not having his weapons,being abnormally flexible, or having different martial arts styles since Umbra hasn't seen Dinobot fight properly to copy his style yet. )

Has he even seen Dinobot at all???

Also, I just thought I'd point out:

1. Arachnitron has no energy signature which is in her bio. Not sure what that actually entails though. Would she appear on anyone's radar...Maximal or Predacon? Would the Predacon computer actually be picking her up? Would Optimus know that she's there? Especially since the Hybrid persona is in control at the moment. Also, she has the inhibitor chip implanted which I'm sure probably comes with it's own little hidden secrets that only Tarantulas would have thought to include. I don't know how she would appear...would she be invisible or would she come up as "unknown" or something??? I mean, if she comes up as "unknown" then there really is no point to not having an energy signature....you can figure it out by process of elimination. :-p

2. Inferno also shot at Orcariner. Not just Arachnitron.

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.

It's entirely possible that you may have seen the post before I edited it a bit later. I realized that what I had wrote made way too much sense....Inferno's crazy and should be doing something totally ridiculous. So I changed it a bit.

OOC:
(Yes, Umbra met Dinobot and Feralnight earlier, they discussed the situation non violently and the Maximals agreed they probably wouldn't want a mercenary working for them.
Umbra's copy ability only works if he physically sees the target, hears them speak, etc.

In the case of energy signatures.. for Arachnitron we just assume she shows up as Predacon at the moment.. but if you want her to not have a visible energy signature you could list that as her special ability..

In Umbra's case, he just flips between Maximal or Predacon, though considering he wouldn't want to set off the Pred base's defenses, probably is set as Predacon while being disguised as Dinobot at the moment. )

(Hmm.. that does leave the question. Now.. energy signatures are useless towards Orcariner's sonar since echolocation is visual reflections of sound.. But do we use energy signatures for Radar? It is a similar concept, but usually with radar signatures they're memorized in a computer based on shape or size of the craft, as otherwise everything from birds and bumblebees pop up on radar which is part of how stealth works, reducing radar signatures detection to the size of said birds and bumblebees disappearing from radar.. which if that is the case, technically Arachnitron is immune to radar based targeting weapons example:Certain types of missiles or autoguns that don't use heat detection.. )

((OOC: Sorry, I didn't see any mention of Inferno firing his weapon when I first read it, but I'll go ahead and edit it into my post. Also, radar uses radio waves so we could just assume that her exoskeleton is designed to absorb it. NK is right about sonar since it uses sound waves. They operate on two entirely different wavelengths which means Arachnitron would have to be specifically built to evade both... which would've made her one very expensive robot to build lol. Although, if you really want to get technical, she would be emitting some form of radiation (heat, electrical, etc.) if she's talking, moving, firing a weapon, and so forth. Just because her spark isn't releasing energy from her shell doesn't mean her body isn't generating energy from physical activity. Nothing is completely cloaked, as NK mentioned a few episodes back.

Also, I just want to remind you guys that Season 1 Orcariner doesn't use sonar as a means of detection unless if he's putting up Beacon 2.0 which utilizes both sonar and radar for 30 seconds. Not that it'll change anything that just happened, but just know that permanent upgrade won't happen until Season 2. So, let's just say that he can't recognize Arachnitron's identity when he's using radar. He can, however, recognize her using sonar based on the 3D feedback... or at least confuse her with some other spider.))

((OOC: I hope my post is okay guys. Hopefully, I didn't forget anything. Woo! Lots of stuff happening. ))

Her spark had pulsed a whispering hum as she closed her eyes. Despite her empathy, she didn't need it to feel the environment around her. Exhaling, she realized that everything and everyone was in a very dark place. But she wasn't. There was a certain peace that radianted from her. It was the peace of knowing that she will not die. Facing death of such a scale wasn't uncommon as she remembered the conversation she had with Optimus before they went to the aliens, telling that certain fact about her. She wished she had gone into more detail with that, but time was unforgiving towards her and fate didn't look too kindly on her for trying to recount it seemed.

".....MEGATRONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

No. She refused that vision. Never did she wish upon visions to come to her. She was an empath and low-leveled at best because of the injury, and visions weren't on par course for such a person. Never had she asked for them when they rarely showed up to plague her. Her master always told her that her visions came from her self-conscious attachment to those she exposes herself to and her weaknesses. Weaknesses he tried to force out of her for decades to no avail. Though, it had been a long time since she had been with such a tight-nit group, which she was proud of being with. They were good people. Fear of losing them was always there and she knew she would feel it, but she waved the fear away, regaining the peace within her. Peace to move forward forgetting what she saw and to stare death in the face, telling Death to go away. They were going to survive...all of them. She knew it.

She noticed Feralnight and smiled at her, but looked with concern at her char marks as they all stepped on the lift--she had to tranform back to robot mode-- when Optimus told them it was safe, feeling again the horror and worry in his spark. And like her usual self, she reached through his spark, cuddling it with her warmth. ((OOC: Cuddling. LOL. ))

"Everything will be all right."

Frilla's greeting warmed her spark, "It's good to see you as well, Frilla, and that you are all right, but I see you have endured alot. So have the others..." Looking around at the damage, she didn't care for the machinery as that could be fixed. She prayed that Rhinox who still was unconscious, will be able to wake up soon. Oh! She saw someone she never saw before. Despite not knowing the new recruit, she hoped the Maximal was okay when Optimus ordered her and Cheetor to assist Aurora.

She nodded at Optimus, giving a comforting smile before she along Cheetor made their way to the hangar. Aurora seemed to be all ready helping Wintersong. The halls of the Axalon echoed and she could hear the rucus coming from the cargo hold as she and Cheetor made their way towards Ironclaw. He didn't look too good.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia was about to put her plan into fruition despite how desperate it was when she was surprised by Inferno's appearance and took a rocket to the chest. Her body made a thud against the wall beside her and slumped.

"Commencing internal repairs."

She wished to hiss at Arachnitron for taking away the transwarp drive away from her, but she still had her little trick stuck to it. But like everyone else, she was fighting for survival, she knew that playing death with death...won't please anyone. Now, that she thought about it, her best bet was to...disgustingly help her enemies. And not who everyone thought.

Having seen that Wintersong appeared to be in stable condition, all things considering, Aurora was feeling hopeful as she approached Ironclaw and knelt down next to him. The larger male, too, was unconscious, laying curled up on the floor a little to the side. She sighed upon seeing him like this as she put gentle hands on his head to turn his face towards her, only to gasp as she locked eyes with the blank stare of his. After nudging him without getting a reaction, she lifted his arm and noted the stiff, almost jerky, movement as she lowered it back down.

Ironclaw was not in a very good shape at all. Physically she didn't see any major burn marks or signs of bullet entries, so she could only assume he'd been hit hard by the spiders' cyber venom.

The little fuzor silently cursed the Predacons for all the damage they caused while she called for help. Ironclaw needed medical assistance soon or he may not make it at all. It would help if they knew what compounds the venom was made up of, so Aurora took a quick sample of the badger's mech fluid while waiting for help to arrive.

Fortunately she didn't have to wait long before Cheetor and Whitegrazer came down the hallway. Aurora waved them over but did not say anything.

"Been in better shape Optimus but nothing serious, as for the Vok there wasn't much I could find on my end and I don't know what Rhinox found."Frilla responded, smiling when she saw the others there safe and sound. But now there was just the fact of finding out if Wintersong and Ironclaw would be alright since it seemed they had remained during the battle and were now absent elsewhere if they had to be helped. It frustrated her a bit that they hadn't known the spiders were coming but then again they seemed to sneak just about anywhere without getting caught too soon, it was what made spiders so deadly on this planet and it seemed the spider-bots had taken advantage of the sneakiness their forms provided.

Cramming together with the others on the lift Feralnight shook her head at Cheetor's question,"Would have made it easier to blame one of you for an accident if it had been Cheetor, but Arachnitron sent the Axalon a fake distress signal and I went to investigate, would up getting hit by one of Tarantulas's self-destructing arachnoids."She told him while stepping off the lift and was surprised at the damage the bridge had just in a short time. "And now we know why." She said with a low growl, angered towards the widow for driving what could have been an extra hand at the Axalon but it also seemed the spiders had had the element of surprise if they had been able to take down Rhinox with ease. Least he and likely the others had gone down with a fight.

Stepping on the lift Feralnight transformed to robot form, a slight wince coming from the movement due to the slight burns she had but they weren't too bad that she couldn't function as normal.