The Intergalactic Highway

((OOC: Just read the NK's post, sorry for the contradictions found in mine. I was writing it at the same time lol))

"Got it," replied Terrorsaur to Glowstick.

He cocked his rifle and maliciously grinned.


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Seeing Feralnight fly past him, Orcariner heard her report to the Nomad.

"Transport, this is Marine 2. I am verifying that it is indeed a friendly who is outside the vehicle bay. Use the turret's visuals for further verification is necessary. He's the only one out there so lock up tight once you get him inside. Over and out."

Feralnight was fast as she was rapidly approaching his position. Her speed reminded him of why he envied flight-capable individuals. They had a lot more freedom and mobility in battle than larger folks like Rhinox and him. He actually had a conversation at one point about this with Rinox, except what the latter seemed to display was more along the lines of admiration than envy. Orcariner wished he could be that mature but it was hard to control emotions sometimes. Maybe if more battles were fought in the ocean, he would not have a problem since he would be part of a group that has the tactical advantage.

An explosion from a distance shook the Maximal out of his thoughts. The killer whale's radar was still limited due to the energon field, despite being outside of it. He zoomed in his optical sensors toward the location but could not see anything beyond the trees. Orcariner wondered if that was the result of the Predacons or the clone. Perhaps, with all of the fighting, some energon deposits around the main field had exploded. One cluster already went up in flames so the idea of another explosion was very far-fetched at all. Orcariner transformed back into his beast mode and surged forward with his hover devices. The speed increase was not that much more compared to his beast mode, but should the deposits start to explode, at least his body would not get struck down by the radiation.

"I got a bad feeling about this," he muttered, "Can't wait to blow this thing up and go home."

Steelclaw didn't hear the clone approaching at all, so he had no way of evading the missile that came for him.

While it landed close to his side, it was also slightly in front of him, and with a surprised shout, he was thrown onto his back with a good deal of his front armor charred off. He stayed where he was for a few moments to regain his senses and in case the alien might still be waiting for them to make a move. But he heard nothing nearby. Maybe the alien was noiseless, but all the same, he couldn't waste time on account of a possibility. So he rose slowly to his knees.

Snow Trix wrote:Steelclaw? Are you alright?

"Yeah, I should-" he was suddenly interrupted by a fit of coughing as a small amount of oil dripped into his vocal processor. Once he was satisfied things were cleared, he continued. "I really am. You?"

Glowstick wrote:Slag! Steelclaw, SNowtrix are you alright?! The Ghost just appeared out of the woods above you guys, he's heading towards Primal and Icebreaker.

He was glad for the confirmation that the alien wasn't there. He was about to respond when energon surges started coursing over him. Well, that didn't take long.

"Beast mode," he commanded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. His biggest problem was the pain the missile had caused, but he could deal with that. What mattered was that he hadn't been rendered inoperable. Looking back to the place where he had been shooting from, he noticed his rifle had been thrown away from its position too. Walking over to it, he inspected it for a moment. It appeared to be relatively unscathed, and that gave Steelclaw a small feeling of vindication.

Looking beyond the tree-line, he noticed two things. Firstly, the Leviathan was changing directions and firing at what seemed to be thin air, and was thus probably the Ghost. And secondly, just as Snow Trix had said, Ocariner was out on the field. Now he was in beast mode, moving at what appeared to be full speed. Both sides were now moving towards the same target.

((OOC: Hey Alak, was Ocariner changing directions in your last post and moving towards the explosion he noticed, or is he still going towards Optimus?))

((OOC: He's still going for Optimus. Big guy gets distracted with his thoughts, but he's not the type to deviate from his objective. The Clear Convoy is your only problem at the moment. Not an easy one, but still the only one.))

Terrorsaur swiftly grabbed Starshadow's hand fired his jet pack to life. Without giving her a chance to say anything, the Predacon jettisoned them both out of the Leviathan and into the sky.

"Hold on, little lady," he said, "I'm taking the fast lane this time."

The afterburners roared as they shot towards the battle field. Terrorsaur was still eager for a rematch with the Ghost, but taking on a mobile fortress was a suitable challenge in itself. It was one that he was more than willing to take on with Waspinator.

Snow Trix looked over as Steelclaw was up again and pain finally registered from her side and head, likely from the explosion and collision combined. "Yea I'll live. But I am getting quite annoyed dealing with this Ghost." She said annoyance edged in her voice. She stepped forward a bit and flicked her tail, wondering whether to attack Orcanier or go for the Nomad. "Should we go for the whale again? Or try for the Maximal transport?" She said not taking her gaze from the field.

"Hey Leviathan, and sign of the alien on the scanners? I don't want him to take me and Snow Trix unawares."

How should I know. Sonar thought rolling his eyes.

Computer! Autogun online, anti air fire. Target using sound mode. Sonar, look alive, 9 oclock high. Put the Quasar turret into consecutive mode to compensate for lag between the gun's fire. Alright Predacons, slight change of plans. All report to Hanger and use the rear airlock to exit. Terrorsaur and Waspinator, I want you to fly Frilla and StarShadow down into the tree line, then make a break onto the Maximal transport. StarShadow and Frilla I want you two to focus on Orcariner. Keep your distance and you'll be fine. Tarantulus, I want you to head towards Snowtrix and Steelclaw to check on them if repairs are required, then proceed into the battlefield.

Sonar didn't resond to the squid command but he did what he was told, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the screen, he was debating on shooting the Phantom when it saw it or shooting at a Maximal but not hitting them. He liked to mess with his prey before striking.

* * *

Waspintor nodded and went toward Frilla.

"Can Wazzpintor carry small lizzzard-bot?" He asked tilting his head as he spoke.

Frilla didn't argue but didn't like the idea of going after a transformer three or four times her size, unlike others who might like the challenge. Sighing she turned to Waspinator as he spoke and nodded, "As odd as it'll be to b flown around sure. Ready when you are." She replied.

Starshadow blinked as Terrorsaur grabbed her hand. Meow...a battle to take away my boredom.. she thought with a smile. But which Maximal she's going to face. Starshadow hoped her opponent was Saber since her last battle was interrupted.

"As odd as it'll be to b flown around sure. Ready when you are."

Waspintor nodded.

"Wazzpintor! Terrorizzze!!" After transforming into his robot form he gently picked up Frilla and carried her out of the ship.

* * *

Thanks to her great sense of smell, she soon picked up the scents of her fellow Maximals as well as the Predacons. She narrowed her eyes when caught the scent of some thing else, some thing she didn't reconize, she turned to her head slight to look at Dinobot.

"We're almost there, I already picked up their scent as well as some thing else."

(( OOC: LoL at Icebreaker's tongue. Nice, NK. ))

"Tigatron, change of plans," "I want your eyes on the radar. If they're close enough to shoot Optimus, then they're close enough for our radar.

Tigatron thought the same thing but he didn't see their signatures on the radar. Well, at least not until those two large explosions went off, throwing two Predacons around. "I am detecting Steelclaw and Snow Trix in range of the energon field!" he announced to Orcariner.

Put the cannons on auto-aim and have them shoot anything that resembles a Predacon.

The white tiger followed the orca's orders instantly, arming the turret system on the Nomad and telling it to target Predacon signatures.

"Someone caught him by the head, left a good gash that put him in stasis lock, we're just outside the Nomad now and he needs to come in now before something else happens."

Perhaps who ever shot Cheetor and Optimus were one of the ones who was hit by those explosions. Hopefully it was enough to distract the sniper, or snipers, from firing at Orcariner and Feralnight.

"I'm going to give some aerial support. Wintersong, Tigatron I placed Cheetor near the cargo bay entrance get him and hurry the others need help."

"Transport, this is Marine 2. I am verifying that it is indeed a friendly who is outside the vehicle bay. Use the turret's visuals for further verification is necessary. He's the only one out there so lock up tight once you get him inside. Over and out."

"Wintersong, grab Cheetor and bring him in. Quickly," Tigatron requested, looking down at her by the cargo bay, since the tigress was by the door where Feralnight had left him.

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The Leviathan's fire narrowly missed the clone as he flew off, the shots whizzing by his body too close for comfort. He heard the sounds they made as they pierced the air around him, zooming off ahead of him into the distance. Approaching Optimus quickly, the Vok also noticed the largest of the Maximals joining the party. But they'd be gone before Orcariner could reach his precious leader and the sneaky penguin. Targeting the ground by Primal and Icebreaker, he fired a missile from above before he dived.

Watching the explosions that were not all that far from his position, Optimus wondered if it was the alien making all of that commotion. Moving Icebreaker's body to a more comfortable position, the gorilla heard something in the air this time and looked up. In the time it took him to see the incoming missile, all he could muster was a gasp before he was blown right off of his feet and backwards into a rock, the ground exploding into dust and debris upon impact from the missile. Luckily there were no energon deposits nearby. The boulder stopped Optimus and he fell to the ground on his stomach again. Opening his eyes, grumbling under his breath, he slowly pushed himself up with his good arm to kneel on the ground.

Landing on his feet, the Vok approached the Maximal Commander as the dust cleared. He decloaked while he walked up to him, bending down and grabbing the gorilla by his throat, lifting him up and holding him back against the rock.

Optimus watched him decloak, but he didn't have the effort to defend himself as he struggled with the dizziness from the previous hit. Feeling the pressure around his neck, he instinctively grabbed the clone's wrist that was holding him, trying to pry his hand off from his neck, and gagged as he was pulled upward with his feet off of the ground.

The visible clone tilted his head in 45º toward his right, watching the leader struggle. "You are in the way," he said coldly, straightening his head. "We will not tol-" Before he could finish, he found a foot in his face.

Primal took advantage of the alien's talking, as well as his strength. Pushing off of the boulder with his back and pulling upward with his hands on the clone's wrist, he swung one of his legs up at the intruder's head, giving him a good upper cut with his foot.

The "Ghost" released his grip on the leader and stumbled backwards but didn't fall. He glared at Primal while he rubbed his chin. Instead of attacking him with firepower, the Vok transformed to his beast mode to test how he could do with hand-to-hand combat in this alternative form.

Primal fell to the ground on his feet, rubbing his neck and angrily baring his teeth as he regained his focus and watched his evil clone. It was disturbing to see him staring at himself. And if any other Maximals, or Predacons, came along and saw this, they may not know which one was the real Optimus! Fine. If he wanted a fight like this, then he'd get one. Primal was far more confident, experienced and comfortable in his gorilla form than this clone was. He would win this round easily. But if he angered his opponent, it might turn into a gruesome outcome. "I'm through talking," he stated in a low voice, narrowing his eyes at the alien.

((OOC: Guess who's been playing Call of Duty and is ready to show it in this post? *points to self* This guy!))


"No!" yelled Orcariner, his optics widening as an explosion overtook Optimus and Icebreaker.

Ignoring Tigatron's transmission, he continued to run towards the scene but by the time that the dust settled, the giant Maximal stopped in his tracks. The clone had apparently broken its cloak because there were two gorillas facing each other. Both bore fervent expressions and it was impossible for Orcariner's optics to differentiate between the two. Shoulders slumping, his head dropped in frustration as he was yet again placed in another helpless position. All day long they were attacked by this unseen foe or shot in the back by hidden Predacons. Everyone was always hiding and taking advantage of the Maximals' work in the field. Everyone was taking advantage of the wounded. Now he was expected to tell the difference between two look-alikes? If this was the way the Beast Wars were going to be, then Orcariner was going to have to do something to counter it.

"Feralnight," he growled, "Cover me, I'm going to be in a tough spot for a little bit. Beast mode!"

The massive mech transformed back into his killer whale form and his hover pads hummed to life.

"Computer, divert all power to communications, radar, and mapping processors."

The hover pads died and his body slowly descended onto the earth. Despite the energon interference, his radar quickly expanded to almost its maximum capacity picking up the clone, the snipers, the approaching fliers, and the Leviathan.

"Gotcha," he whispered, "Let's see you hide now."

Opening his mouth, Orcariner unleashed a high-pitched stream of sonic waves. He made sure to turn his head to capture all of those who sought to harm him and his team. Hardware screamed throughout his body as it busily worked to create a 3-dimensional map of the feedback. The internal computer proceeded to merge the sonar map with the radar map, creating a fusion that allowed him to see every single individual and vehicle within a 1 kilometer radius. Personnel took the form of arrows with green representing friendlies, red representing Predacons, and yellow representing the alien clone. The vehicles were colored respectively to their factions and were icons that bore the external outline of their appearance. This map would now provide everyone's location in real time, what direction they were facing, and what their elevation was compared to his own.

Transmitting data to all Maximal personnel within local region.

Orcariner strained to keep his sonar emission with everything else that was being processed in his body. Hot air was being filtered out of his blow hole, but even that was not enough to prevent his internal systems from heating up. He prayed to Primus that the heat would not slow down his CPU.

Transmission complete. Radar up-link established.

It was well worth the effort. Every single Maximal, and even the Nomad and its reinforcements, now had a mini-map on their user interface showing the complete data that he himself had acquired. No Predacon will move undetected. Ambush was no longer possible for the enemy. The best part of it all was that every Maximal will now be able to know which Optimus Primal was the real one and which one was the clone. If he was not emitting so much sonar, Orcariner would have smirked. He had the endurance to keep this up for probably 30-40 more nanoclicks, but that should be enough time to get the injured back to the transport. It should be enough time to defeat the clone.


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Terrorsaur and Starshadow approached the new section of the battlefield where Steelclaw and Snowtrix used to be hidden at. He stopped in mid-air when a faint sound caught his attention. Looking down, he raised a brow at the sight of a killer whale laying uselessly on the ground with the fuzor flying above him.

"Hah! Fish out of water!" he yelled, "Well, kitty, that right there is your designated opponent."

He dropped her off on the ground, even though they were still some distance away. It was not like Orcariner was going to be able to stop her even if he knew she was coming. He was, as Terrorsaur blatantly said aloud, a fish out of water.

"Have fun, make us proud, the usual," he said, "Glowstuff said I'm raiding the transport, but I'll be nice and take down the fuzor for you."

Winking, he jetted off towards Feralnight with both shoulder cannons drawn.

"Hah! Fish out of water!" "Well, kitty, that right there is your designated opponent."

"It's time for the cat to eat the fish!" Starshadow claws were already out as she landed on her feet.

"Have fun, make us proud, the usual,""Glowstuff said I'm raiding the transport, but I'll be nice and take down the fuzor for you."

"Awwwww~ thank you so much, darling~!!" she blew a kiss and waved goodbye as he took off. Now...for the whale...
she thought with an evil smile and walked towards Orcariner.

"Nice tail, whale boy!" she fired out a large ball of plasma beam out of her mouth and licked her fangs. Whatever the catbot was going to do with the helpless maximal, she would make him suffer slowly and painfully.

Frilla couldn't help finding this very weird in a way, being carried by a bug, the prey carrying the predator. Or well from what she had observed from the origin of her beast form and not to mention she was not use to being carried. "No offense Waspinator but this feels odd." She said looking at him.

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Feralnight growled and flew above Orcanier, keeping a watch on the two Optimuses below which was quite confusing since if she had to shoot it would be very bad to shoot the real one. "Cover you the best I can." She replied to Orcanier before she caught sight of Terrorsaur. Just great. "Change of plans big guy, but it seems the annoying squawker came back for round two." With a growl she turned, banking around to face the Predacon.

"On it." Wintersong opened the door from the cargo bay looking around quickly as she got out and picked her fellow feline up and pulled him inside to where she could safely close the door. "Definitely seems he took a hit to the head. Put him in stasis lock." She said to Tigatron as she took a look.

"No offense Waspinator but this feels odd."

"It izz alright small lizzard Bot, Wazzpintor findzzz thizzz odd as well." Waspintor replied looking at Frilla.

When they reached thier destination Waspintor put Frilla on the ground before finding Terrorsaur.

Wazzpintor is going to be blown into a Million pieces... Wazzpintor just know it... The gaint Wasp thought as he went into his beast mode.

"Waspinator!" radioed Terrorsaur, "Proceed to engage the transport. The doors are at its rear, and from there you should be able to find a way to break in and avoid that massive gun. Leave this femme to me. We have a rematch to uphold."

Seeing Feralnight turning to face him, Terrorsaur laughed. He was still out of range to land any accurate shots. Firing his afterburners, the Predacon accelerated to his opponent with his missiles ready.