The Intergalactic Highway

((OOc: Warning! Whitegrazer rambles...I mean makes a speech here.

What's it with me in writing speeches? I must have a speech fetish. ))

No," she said with a quite determined tone of voice. "I don't want to stay behind this time. How am I supposed to make sense of this socalled war if the only Predacon I've ever even seen is our friend Onyx here, who has made it clear he is not out to harm us? I don't want to sit back and twiddle my thumbs while my friends back at the base are in danger."

"You don't understand, Aurora. The situation is chaos. We don't know what the Predacons are doing. Maybe it is some random attack or maybe they are out to capture Arachintron and get their comrade. I don't know." She looked towards the second moon then back at Aurora, "But one thing is clear: you are still a trainee. You are not ready. Battlefields are not just point and shoot, save the day. You have have to assess your enemy's tactics, their stragety. You can't just rush in headstrong to save your comrades. It's noble, yes, believe me." She smiled, "But bad things happen. The warzone is an unforgiving place. Just look at what happens to us."

She laughed, "I should have scars for the number of times I stepped into the pit of war, battling enemies. My armor always seems to come out shining white. Kind of ironic for what I seem to act like. Heh."

She realized she was rambling, so she went back on topic.

"Look, Aurora. You are just...you are not just another soldier to us or to me. You may hate us for coddling you too much to the point that you are sick of that, but years later, you will be grateful, trust me. Many soldiers like myself...we are just bodies for political gambles. Tools..." She stopped herself.

She got on eye level to Aurora, "Sorry, but I can't allow you to. Even Predacons and Decepticons don't let unprepared soldiers go into battlefield. You must be trained. So, you are staying here for the good of yourself and our comrades. Someday, you will meet Predacons in battle, but not today. I promised Optimus that I will look out for you and that's what I'm doing. Also, Icebreaker won't approve...I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. That Maximal can make any weapon at his disposal and he will definitely use it on you." She smirked, eyeing her new freeze gun, "Just give us, your friends and family, time to help you so you can be ready. You have a lot of potential. Don't go out on a battlefield and get killed before you can realize your true potential. It will be a waste of life and every life is precious."

Her spark seemed to glow when those words were said.

"Every life is precious. Everyone's."

Looking the direction the other two Maximals had left he then gently touched the scars along his face and sighed,"Seeming as the situation has grown to a worrying one I must be going less your comrades think something bad has happened to you."He said looking back to Whitegrazer and Aurora as he felt his time with them was drawing to a quick close.

She drew her attention at Onyx, noticing his scars as he touched them. Despite her comment of not having scars seeming a good thing, she wished that she had some scars. Scars that showed she was alive. Sometimes, she felt like she was not part of this world...

"It's a shame, Onyx. A darn shame." She said sadly.

Frilla wrote:You can shove it up your tailpipe Steelclaw, I do appreciate not being taking prisoner but Nemesis will stay in the brig until Optimus says otherwise and I suggest you leave now.

Steelclaw was both angry and kinda' proud. Frilla had the makings of a hero. Shame that it took joining the Maximals to manifest that part of her though.

Frilla wrote:Look we're not forcing Arachnitron to stay here, she is welcomed to choose either side or go it alone so a rescue mission seems pointless besides trying to get Nemesis, now as I said leave.

Arachnitron wrote:If you think you're just going to waltz out of here with Nemesis unchallenged, you're crazier than I am.

It was indeed Arachnitron's choice whether to stay or go. But if she chose to stay, it was his right to consider her a hostile.

So be it. Steelclaw was ready to draw his weapon and do his best to put both of them in stasis lock with one quick shot a piece, but something happened to stop him...

It's shoot first then ask questions!

And what's this rescue mission, no hostages slag? Take the Maximal, leave the flier and let's blow this joint sky high! What kind of Predacons are you?!

Was that supposed to mean she was a Predacon now? Probably. But Steelclaw was immediately suspicious. What were the chances, really, that this Predacon had multiple personalities? Wouldn't she be capable of faking an alternate personality to diffuse the situation and then try something later?

Well, either way. If she was faking, she would have to keep up her pretenses for a while. So for now, he could make suggestions whether or not this was real.

"I'm not taking the Maximal," he barked. "And while blowing the place sky would be... well, particularly awesome, there isn't time. We've got to move."

Just as Steelclaw turned around, he heard Icebeaker's voice, and his weapon was finally drawn. Out of habit, he lined up for a shot right between the Maximal's optics.

Icebreaker wrote:Fancy meeting you two here..Hostages aren't a bad idea.. but you know.. I'm bad with hostages..Maybe Meat shield is more fitting for this scumbag.

Steelclaw suppressed the urge to point it out to Icebreaker, but he had seen this scenario before. So what was a shot to Sonar's head going to do? Put him in stasis lock? They were robots in disguise, not actual animals.

Sonar wrote:What a Predacon way of thinking. Maybe you and Steelclaw should switch sides.

No, they were on the rights sides. The Predacons had come back for what was rightfully theirs, and this Maximal chosen to fight back by making an easy threat.

Sonar wasn't the epitome of the kind of Predacon Steelclaw wanted to fight for. But in this mission, he was not wrong.

Glowstick wrote:We can't sustain this battle any longer, prepare to fall back to the Leviathan.

Time suddenly seemed to grind to a halt.

Icebreaker wrote:Sounds like your boss is calling.. Maybe you should listen. Tell you what.. I'll trade you this slightly damaged bat for the lizardgirl.. But the Spider has to make the choice for herself as to where she wants to go.. Nemesis isn't on the table to bargain. Clocks ticking..

Wintersong wrote:Let Frilla go and your rat with wings friend can go without a scratch.

Steelclaw would have rolled his optics, but he kept them trained on Icebreaker. Frilla hadn't been taken. He spoke a few words to get Icebreaker listening.

"Look, pal, how do you suppose-"*BLAM*

Mid-sentence, without warning, he pulled his trigger, with his barrel still trained on its original region of Icebreaker's forehead.

Without pausing for a second look, he whipped around while pumping his gun, fired at Wintersong's chest, pumped and fired again.

((OOC: Whether Icebreaker and/or Wintersong get knocked out- or even get hit- is up to the individual players. I clarify that in case this reads like I'm saying what happened to your characters.))

* * *

Terrorsaur wrote:I really can't imagine the reward Megatron will give me once I give him your head

"There is good reason for that," Dinobot growled back. He fired another round of his lasers. Terrorsaur was still very much in the fight, but he wasn't moving any closer, so Dinobot began advancing on him, finally unsheathing his sword in case things actually did come hand-to-hand.

He picked his pace up and ran towards Terrorsaur at a full sprint. The flyer was going to stay and fight or try to fly back, but either way, Dinobot was going to make the distance as small as Terrorsaur would end up letting him.

* * *

There was this weird kind of joy to running near top speeds. Cheetor found that his mind tended to work overtime whenever he was kicking dust into the air. He felt more content to ponder, less afraid to ask the questions he would never ask at the Axalon.

"Rattrap," he spoke up. "Why do you guys listen to Preds like Onyx? Megatron's trying to grab a bunch of energon and then turn Cybertron into a war zone. And if he wins there, he's gonna keep going around the galaxy.

Cheetor paused as he dashed into a stream and kept his head away from the splashing water as much as possible.

"I mean, Scarface seems cool enough, but he's still trying to help Megatron do everything he wants to. Aren't we kinda' encouraging him, making him think we don't think he's thinking all that wrong?"

The sudden shot from Dinobot's eyes forced Terrorsaur to fall backwards lest he get blasted into stasis lock. Back against the dirt, he was about to get up before he was greeted with the sight of Dinobot with his drill sword drawn and ready. Panic quickly overtook the Predacon as he scratched against the dirt in attempt to run away. His legs, for some reason, would not properly push his body up. It was as if they were too shaken with fear to be able to function in any rightful manner. Terrorsaur had seen these situations in Cybertronian cinema. It had always struck him as cliche whenever the victim of some horrific murderer would crawl away from the impending threat rather than simply get up and run. Unfortunately, the pterodactyl himself was not stuck in the same situation and suffered from the same terrible legless syndrome. All he was able to do was panic.

Activating his jet boosters, Terrorsaur tried to widen the gap as much as possible. It would take Dinobot mere nano-klicks to advance on his position otherwise. The red flyer's body felt scorched as it was dragged against the earth by his jets' astonishing acceleration. Not yet ready to actually become airborne, Terrorsaur crashed head first into a boulder. Everything spun around him, and the Predacon fell over several times while trying to get up. He fired a few random shots in Dinobot's direction, but shook his head and flew back into the air while swaying from side to side. Too dizzy to concentrate on his actions, Terrorsaur involuntarily dropped his gun and transformed back into beast mode.

"I'll get you... I'll get... next time..." he squawked.

In the distance, Optimus spotted smoke rising up toward the sky at the Axalon's location. No, he thought with worry, his spark pulsating faster as fear washed over him. Fear of his Maximals being seriously injured... or worse. Was it the Predacons? Or was Rattrap fooling around with his explosives? It was possible that it was just an accident for an experiment, but then again, no one was returning his transmission earlier. Something was wrong, his instinct told him. In great concern, Primal increased his speed, hurrying to his crew's aid.

-----

Having climbed on to Cheetor's back, Rattrap held on to the yellow cat's shoulder's, but not tightly enough to hurt him or bother him, as ran as quickly as he could back toward their base of operations.

"Rattrap," "Why do you guys listen to Preds like Onyx? Megatron's trying to grab a bunch of energon and then turn Cybertron into a war zone. And if he wins there, he's gonna keep going around the galaxy." "I mean, Scarface seems cool enough, but he's still trying to help Megatron do everything he wants to. Aren't we kinda' encouraging him, making him think we don't he's thinking all that wrong?"

"You got me, kid," the rat admitted with a sigh. "I just do what Optimus says. ...Well, sometimes. But I don't trust dat stallion, and yer right. These Preds like Onyx and Steelclaw are still on Megatron's side, and they're gonna keep doing what he wants them ta do in order ta gain control over us an' Cybertron. Maybe we're just hopin' that they'll realize Megatron's intentions and how he'll throw 'em to the curb if he finds out they're conversing with us and sparing our lives. You know, how Yogi helped Free Willy with his alien clone, and how Blacky keeps accidentally-on-purpose bumping into us and spying but he doesn't even take out his gun and fire at us. He just wants ta explore this planet and learn about it? Sounds kinda like a Maximal explorer, doesn't he? So what the heck do Preds like him and 'Claw actually believe in? Either they're masters of mind games, or they don't know which side they should really be on." He paused for a moment, thoughtfully, and then added, "Or maybe Fearless Leader's right. Maybe allegiance doesn't define us. But then why do we have it?"

-----

Tigatron stopped firing upon Glowstick as soon as he fell to the ground. While maintaining his target on him, he remained in his position and watched him and Orcariner carefully.

"Orcariner!" the lean Maximal shouted as the squid's punch nearly knocked the whale backwards off of his feet. He could the Axalon shift a little when he used to stop himself from falling over. Growling in his throat, Tigatron fired a few more shots at the Predacon when he began floating away, but they weren't intended to hit him, just chase him away. After all, he was damaged and outnumbered.

We can't sustain this battle any longer, prepare to fall back to the Leviathan. Cecaelia, get inside and pilot the ship.

That was a relief. This seemingly pointless battle to Tigatron had gone on long enough.

Three on one? I guess your friends really don't have enough confidence in you..

"Maybe," "Or they had no one else to shoot after beating your cronies."

The white tiger in robot mode moved closer to his injured comared, Orcariner and Wintersong, and lowered his weapon as the Predacons began their retreat. Frowning as he visually examined their wounds, they were pretty beat up and would require some sinerious medical attention.

"Wintersong," "Sonar somehow got into the base. I think Icebreaker's got the situation under control, but I want you to get in there just in case anything bad happens. We'll be fine out here. Glowstick and his eight armed companion are outnumbered five to two. Plus..."

Looking up at the large Maximal, Tigatron seemed puzzled at Orcariner's smile, or rather, what looked like a smile with the injury he had just recently sustained to his jaw. Was he happy that they defeated the Predacons' attack on their ship? Normally Orcariner wouldn't celebrate so openly about that.

"Optimus is coming."

Ah, of course. Their leader's signal must have been registering on the whale's long-range sonar. Such intriguing abilities the orca had. Thank the Matrix that Optimus was on his way. But what had taken him so long? No matter. Surely the Predacons wouldn't be foolish enough to stick around now that the Maximal Commander was about to join them.

"Beast mode."

Watching Wintersong revert to her beast mode, he returned her nod and then looked back up at Orcariner. "We should get you to a CR chamber," Tigatron suggested while in the meantime the Predacons should be making their retreat to the Leviathan. He hoped.

(( OOC: Are communications still jammed now that Glowstick is leaving and in pain? Also, Optimus will be arriving in my next post. ))

Ironclaw came out fo the cover once Glowstick had left. He looked around and saw that Wintersong was fine, however she and Tigertron were hovering over Orcariner, he must have taken some damage.

Ironclaw knew he should have done it a while ago but his cannons unfolded out of his arms. They started to hum as they powered up. He knew the Predacons were retreating but he wanted to be sure. Ironclaw moved past the others and followes the Predacons retreat. He then saw Dinobot after his fight with Terrorsaur. "Dinobot, you alright?" He shouted froma distance.

Feralnight watched as Manterror was suddenly shot from behind and chuckled in amusement as he tried to fly then looked at the peregrine falcon."Sure did and I have to say, good timing." The fuzor said with a grin before putting her swords away and looked around."Seems the preds are finally going away at last, but what the heck was this for?" She wondered before looking back at Airazor with a puzzled gaze. It didn't seem to make sense that they suddenly attacked for any reason less they were trying to get Nemesis, yet it seemed they had failed.

-----------

Frilla watched the others and stayed where she was as she looked at Arachnitron. She was useless to help her friends and could only stand and watch as Steelclaw attacked them. Turning her gaze to Arachnitron she gulped a bit,"Arachnitron if you want to leave then do it, we're not trying to do anything to you. Just leave Icebreaker and Wintersong out of it and leave with them."She said calmly but her voice was edged with fear slightly. There really was nothing she could do or say to push the situation away from turning more violent. All she could do was hope they didn't kill her next.

Snow Trix heard the transmission and it seemed their time was running short,"Look spider make a decision and make it quick, either your with us or not." She said with an annoyed growl towards Arachnitron now watching the others as she got her blaster. But it didn't seem she would really be ableto help and they would have to leave Nemesis this time."Steelclaw we'll just have to get the spider, there's not enough time to get Nemesis." She muttered to him, ready to sprint away if needed. But it wasn't like they had much else to do but get away and make the Maximals back.

(Ouch, Railgun to the face at near pointblank range. Or as the kids say.. BOOM Headshot!)

In mere fraction of a second, there was no chance to react. Perhaps it'd been lucky for Sonar, who was a full three feet shorter then Icebreaker, making the shot so much easier. The metal slug pierced the sound barrier leaving a sonic boom in it's wake, swiftly striking Icebreaker's head. The force of the blow tearing through the top portion of Icebreaker's head causing it to fragment and splatter with oily metal shrapnel sticking into surfaces of the corridor.

With just the jaw remaining, a mixture of sparks, energon, and oil poured out from the open wound as the body collapsed into the floor in stasis lock. It seemed likely when he awoke again, he would have one massive headache.

________________

Glowstick surveyed the area as they appeared to stop shooting at him once he called the retreat, he was glad for this as he doubt he'd survive being ganged up by the rest of the Maximals anyway. He floated towards Manterror projecting his tentacles and grasped onto the mantis' body pulling him towards himself allowing other limbs to assist in lifting the insect.

Glowstick then proceeded into floating up towards the Leviathan. There's no way I'm leaving any more of them to be captured.. he muttered to himself, he opened the hatch ontop of the Leviathan, then dragged Manterror inside towards the crew quarters, placing him down on one of the beds. Deactivating his jammer to conserve power, he then activated his comlink Cecaelia, when you see the others escape the base, open the Cargobay and inform me. I'll try to help get them back on.

One of his tentacles slipped inside of his medical bag, pulling out a small gun like device and placed it to his neck, it then injected a painkiller into his system. He let out a sigh of relief.

((For the very first time, I thumbs uped of Steelclaw's action. If Star were there, she would've been very proud of him. ))

"Hai(yes), Glowstick-kun!" Cecaelia replied. So all the action and shooting was a waste of effort. The mission is a failure. Megatron would probably ignore about this if he finds out what her team was doing. The bullet wounds were killing her tentacles and other beast mode parts. It was bearable but it hurts more when she moves.

I should've get a pretty and an armored beast mode. she thought.

Wintersong gapped at what Steelclaw did, watching in horror as her teammate was suddenly damaged into stasis lock but her gaze snapped back to Steelclaw as she dodged the shot aimed for her, though just barely as the shot hit the wall behind her, making her wince from the movement from her chest. It was a surprise she was even alive from all the times she had been hit in the same area so many times, or that she didn't have a scar already, or perhaps she really just got lucky form all the times she put herself into danger. Either way all these hits to her chest armor it was going to get her into some serious trouble if she was hit right now in the same place as the deep gash, likely even put her in stasis lock next.

Turning towards the four Predacons and hearing Frilla's words, the tigress hated to admit that Arachnitron might just have to go. It saddened the white tigress to have to possibly see a friend leave but there was really no choice in the matter,"Just take Arachnitron and leave, there's been enough damage for the day."She growled as she moved towards Icebreaker to protect him just in case, trying to get towards Frilla was going to be a no go since Steelclaw, Snow Trix, and Arachnitron's predacon personality were too close to help the frilled lizard though she could, for the time being, watch over Icebreaker till they left or someone came as back up.

Let Frilla go and your rat with wings friend can go without a scratch.

Hey I resent that! Sonar thought growling slightly.

"Look, pal, how do you suppose-"*BLAM*

Sonar wasn't exspecting Steelclaw to actually fire his weapon at Icebreaker, but he did. He was totally grateful that he was shorter then the flightless bird. He turned to look at the downed Maximal and he smirked.

"Nice shot. All though I could have easily escaped. I was just wanted him to think he had all the power. Oh, and I take back what I said about you and headless wonder over there," Sonar commented before looking at Frilla. "We still taking the runt hostage or what?"

OOC: Sorry for the wait everyone! This is a busy time of year. And sorry to tell you, but Arachnitron's not done complicating things....

BIC:

Arachnitron narrowed her red optics defiantly and glared at Steelclaw who answered her earlier remark.

Blazemane wrote:"I'm not taking the Maximal," he barked. "And while blowing the place sky high would be... well, particularly awesome, there isn't time. We've got to move."

She scoffed at his response. "You're not in charge of me," she snapped. She complied only in the sense that she didn't fire her cybervenom gun, but she didn't lower it either. She turned her gaze back to Frilla menacingly. Things were going well for the Preds...there were four of them to one Maximal, but things evened out fast. Suddenly, Icebreaker stepped out from behind the corner and the lift that had brought Sonar came into view again with Wintersong aboard.

Icebreaker wrote:Sounds like your boss is calling.. Maybe you should listen. Tell you what.. I'll trade you this slightly damaged bat for the lizardgirl.. But the Spider has to make the choice for herself as to where she wants to go.. Nemesis isn't on the table to bargain. Clocks ticking..

Wintersong wrote:Let Frilla go and your rat with wings friend can go without a scratch.

Arachnitron looked at the white tigress in surprise. She cackled in delight. "He's not MY friend. Shoot him if you want," she spat.

The Predacons and Maximals equally looked at Arachnitron with anticipation awaiting her choice as to which side she wanted to belong.

Snow Trix wrote: "Look spider make a decision and make it quick, either your with us or not. Steelclaw we'll just have to get the spider, there's not enough time to get Nemesis."

But the question was a complicated one at that. It arose a moral dilemma unlike any other. The Predacon programming was in control for the moment, so her obvious choice was to go with the Preds. But if she did, what of the Maximal and Hybrid personalities? They, ultimately, were going somewhere by force. Likewise, if the Maximal were to choose, the Predacon would be somewhere that she didn't want to be. So who got to choose? Did Arachnitron stay with the Maximals since that is what the Hybrid and Maximal programmings wanted....outvoting the Predacon. But was that really fair to keep the Predacon programming a hostage in her own body? Where did this refuge from Cybertron belong?

Then, all at once things began to spiral out of control. Steelclaw turned around, aimed his gun at Icebreaker and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed throughout the halls of the Axalon. Arachnitron looked over in shock, the shot was enough of a distraction for the Maximal programming to regain control. Her green optics were wide with fear as she assessed the situation. She lowered her cybervenom gun and put it away still staring in Icebreaker's direction watching in silence as Wintersong ran to him. She was surprised to hear Wintersong say to the Predacons:

Wintersong wrote: "Just take Arachnitron and leave, there's been enough damage for the day."

She looked at the tigress with a hurt expression on her face. How could Wintersong just hand her over to the Predacons? She turned desperately back to Frilla.

"Don't let them take me!" she begged, panic stricken. "They'll send me back to Cybertron!" She looked over at the lift....she had to get out of there. But before she could run, her optics changed colors again.

"Shut up, Coward!" the Predacon spat. She looked over at the other Preds. "Let's get out of this place." She took a step towards the Preds, but her optics changed again with her next step. She froze in her place and looked back to Frilla again.

"Please help me! If she goes back to the Preds, she'll destroy me!"

"That's right!" the Predacon interrupted. "Because this body is mine!"

But despite the Predacon's confidence, her steps were beginning to falter. The pain the spider was feeling shot through her body violently. The pain was even too great for the Predacon to ignore. She leaned against the table that sat in the middle of the bridge. The Predacon and Maximal switched back and forth furiously. with her optics color changing red to green, red to green, red to green. She howled in agony.

Finally, the screaming stopped. Arachnitron hung over the table weakly, she looked up at the others as the Hybrid who had been able to take control long enough to speak...the pain was still blatantly obvious. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "They're switching....too quickly....can't....stop....the....rage...."

Arachnitron screamed again. But this time, when she stopped and looked up at the others, her optics were neither green nor red....they were completely white.

She made a sound almost like a growl as she flipped over the table she was leaning on. She pulled out her energon pistol and fired a few shots blindly through the bridge. She then turned to the computer consoles next to her and drove her fist through the screen of the closest one. She didn't speak....for in this condition, Arachnitron could not speak. She stumbled around the bridge blindly, for in this condition she also could not see. And if the others were attempting to calm her at all, their cries fell on deaf audio sensors....for in this condition, she also could not hear.

This condition that the Maximals and Predacons were now witnessing wasn't a fourth personality. This was, in a way, a bot with no programming whatsoever.....it was a programming glitch as a result of the extreme pain her body had been experiencing while the Maximal and Predacon programmings fought for control of the body.

The spider finally found her way to the lift, she threw herself roughly against the wall of the lift, showed her fangs and let out a small growl. The lift took her down to the ground below the Axalon. She began running blindly away in the direction of the woods. She had no destination and she had no knowledge, in this form, of the necessity of her beast mode. And to make matters worse, her power levels were beginning to quickly drain as a result of "the rage."

"Seems the preds are finally going away at last, but what the heck was this for?"

Airazor looked towards her friend and shook her head. "I have no idea." She responded in her smooth and gentle voice. The Predicon attack had come as a complete surprise to her as well. "Knowing the Preds, they were likely just bored."

At this point, the battle appeared to be won. Glowstick was packing what remained of Manterror up onto their vessel and the rest of the Predicons had either fled or were still inside the Axalon... and with that thought, the Flier immediately jumped back into action. Feralnight was likely correct in her assuming that they had come here for a reason. What that reason was, she couldn't really say. Perhaps they were after information from their ship, and if they were, they had to be stopped. Still in robot mode, she dove into a steep descent from the sky. Her plan was to either catch the predicons while they were escaping or to cut off the exit so that they couldn't. Either way, they weren't going to get any Maximal secrets on her watch!

As if by a stroke of luck, the Lift began to drop just as Airazor was getting closer. She quickly zoomed in her optics to get a better look at the one leaving the base and it was... Arachnitron? The Falcon was a bit stunned to see her simply abandoning the Maximal base for no apparent reason. If their were predicons still inside... why would she leave? While she knew that the female spider had a tendency to run off on her own, she also didn't think that this was exactly the most appropriate time to do so.

Now left with a decision to either follow the Maximal or to defend the base, Airazor decided fairly quickly. The base was more important. They could organize a search party when Optimus returns to find the Spider, but for now, she appeared to be safe as no Predicons followed her out. Or at least, none had done so yet. Slowing her speed, Airazor came to a slow hover not too far from the Lift. Extending her arm, she watched as two missiles "popped" up from her wrist. Aiming towards the lift, she simply waited for any Predicons to dare follow her comrade into the woods.

((OOC: To think I was worried that Sonar would be the one to cause mayhem inside the ship...))

IC:

Tigatron wrote:"We should get you to a CR chamber,"

The giant nodded in agreement. He wanted to wait until all of the Predacons had left the territory before lowering his guard, but with most of their opponents down, the Maximals had everything under control. Orcariner retracted both of his swords and sighed, dribbling some mech fluid down his chin as he did so. Suddenly, the elevator shaft sprang downward with a whoosh. Arachnatron appeared from the ship and quickly ran off towards the woods like a maniac without acknowledging the presence of any Maximal nearby.

So much for control...

Orcariner simply pointed his thumb at the fleeing spider and looked at Tigatron with the most confused look on his face.

(( OOC: All right. Time to give the Preds inside the Axalon a little push, me thinks. Indecisiveness in a desperate situation will get you no where. Clearly. I'll be moving Optimus quickly in this post, so read it carefully. He needs to redeem his absense. After this, I await Blazemane's post to catch up.

Also, what do you guys think about this, when Optimus meets Megatron to talk about the pending truce after this battle, he'll have a couple Maximals with him for support just in case. But what if there was another Maximal who happened to follow them on ground and use OP's and Megs' talk as a distraction to infiltrate the Darksyde and get information on the alien disk? There are plenty of unharmed characters left to use for this whole part. Essentially, Megatron's and Optimus' talk about the truce almost falling apart will be the equivalent on the show as Rattrap and Airazor trying to sneak into the Predacon base, being the diversion for another Maximal to actually succeed in doing so. "Oh well, Megatron. What goes around comes around." And Tigatron doesn't have to be the Maximal to get the alien golden disk info, either. I was thinking Ironclaw could do it since I think he'd be capable of it and he'd be good for snooping around the dark ship. Would you be comfortable with that, Mystrea? It would give you a lot to do. ))

IC:

Swiftly approaching his vessel, lowering his altitude, Optimus took notice of the new damage to it, as well as Dinobot nearby, and Orcariner, Ironclaw, Tigatron and Rhinox. Except for the Leviathan, he couldn't spot any Predacons roaming around outside. And from his direction and perspective, he hadn't seen Airazor and Feralnight either. In fact, it was awfully quiet now. Diving in for a closer look, Rhinox seemed to be out cold on the ground, or paralyzed, and Orcariner was heavily damaged as well. Great concern filled the leader and he immediately flew to his old friend's side. Swooping in, Primal landed with a heavy thud on his feet as a plume of dust surrounded him, clearly growing upset with this scene that his dark red optics gathered. Stepping out of the cloud of dust that began wafting away in the breeze, Optimus kneeled down on one knee to the durable engineer with a small frown. "Hang in there, Rhinox," he said softly.

After witnessing Arachnitron suddenly run off, Tigatron feared what might be happening inside the Axalon. From where he was standing, though, he could not see Airazor or the lift; he was quite a distance away around the other end. However, Optimus had finally arrived, and after a quick glance up at Orcariner, he jogged over to their leader, his gun still in his hand, and the injured rhinoceros to give him a quick run down on the situation so Orcariner wouldn't have to suffer from using his jaw to talk. "Optimus, there are a few fellow Maximals who have sustained damage. Dinobot, Ironclaw and I arrived to the battle scene a little late, so I do not know all of the details, but I believe Rhinox and Orcariner took the majority of the Predacons' firepower. Glowstick was wounded and declared a retreat." He paused before he added, "Optimus. We have not seen any other Predacons retreat. There are still hostiles inside, toward the command center, I believe."

Primal looked up over his shoulder at Tigatron before standing up and turning to him, listening as he updated him on the situation. His optics briefly ventured to the whale behind the tiger, examining his damage. He was slagged. Anger was beginning to take over his concern. Had this been Megatron's plan all along?! Despite his outrage, Optimus kept himself composed and thought quickly. "Have the others out here regroup with you," he ordered Tigatron with a firm tone. "You and Dinobot get Rhinox into the base so he isn't exposed to the energon fields. And get Orcariner to the large CR chamber. Use the Axalon's hangar to enter the base," Optimus emphasized, "I don't want anyone using the lifts. Not while there are still Predacons in there. Have Ironclaw keep an eye on the Leviathan." And just as soon as he had arrived, Primal quickly hurried off to the hangar, leaving it open for the rest to follow as soon as they were able to.

Entering the ship's hangar, Optimus grabbed a spare reinforced shield that was on the wall, slipping his left arm through the loops on the back of it, and immediately made his way toward the corridor, stepping lightly so as not to make any loud sounds. He stopped at corners and intersecting halls, peering around them cautiously to make sure there weren't any Predacons lurking. And he prayed Nemesis hadn't escaped. Fortunately, everything seemed calm. Although the Maximal leader wasn't as stealthy as some of his smaller Maximals were, he made sure his shield didn't clang against anything, and that his feet were as quiet as he could possibly make them on the metal floor.

Approaching the command center, Optimus kept himself out of sight in the corridor, holding the shield very close to his body. Crouching, he silently picked up something with his right hand that his optics spotted on the floor. A piece of shrapnel from something. Or someone. Then his gaze began following a trail that lead to a splatter everywhere. Standing up, he walked closer toward the main bridge, hearing Maximal and Predacon voices within. Stopping just near the entrance, he finally found where the mechfluid had come from. Icebreaker. By Primus... Primal thought, nearly choking in his throat. He was not expecting such a scene. Icebreaker... What had they done to him?! A quick scan told him that the penguin was in stasis lock. He would need medical attention as quickly as possible. The Maximal leader could feel his body temperature rapidly rising in fury. Clenching his jaws, he gave a subtle but speedy glance to peer inside the room and get an idea who was in there. He saw the three Predacons, and Frilla and Wintersong. Still hiding in the corridor and looking for a diversion, Optimus sent a signal to open the roof hatch, hoping it would distract the Predacons just for a moment. As it slid open, Primal stepped into the command center, placing himself with his shield between the Preds and Icebreaker to protect his fallen comrade, and activated his right duel-wrist cannons, automatically targeting them around his shield and at Steelclaw's hand that held his weapon in case he would try firing it again on someone.

"Steelclaw, Snow Trix, Sonar, I'm giving you two choices," Primal told the Predacons in a very cold and deep voice, his oil boiling inside him, his spark racing, and his optics narrowed just above the shield. Really, after what they had done to Icebreaker, they didn't deserve any chances. He blocked the way he entered the room so they wouldn't be able to escape that way and harm the other Maximals who would be using the back to get in safely. "Surrender or retreat. You're outnumbered and surrounded. And your transport is pulling out."

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Meanwhile, outside, Tigatron called to the honey badger and the velociraptor, unaware (like Optimus had been) of Airazor and Feralnight who were still roaming out there as well as Whitegrazer, Aurora, Cheetor and Rattrap who were further away. "Dinobot, Ironclaw!" he called them over. Using their comm. links might be unwise since they might still be jammed, or the Predacons could still hack into them and listen. "We must get Rhinox inside!"

Turning to Orcariner, he looked up at him and asked, "Will you be able to get yourself to the CR?" No one else was really big enough to hold his hand and help him along, but he knew he could grab a hovering dolly or something in order to get him to the repair chamber if the orca didn't have the strength on his own.