The Intergalactic Highway

(( OOC: Wow. Poor Snow Trix. Megatron is such a bully! ))

"No, the pleasure is all mine." "No point in crying over spilled oil. Care to show me around?"

"Of course," Optimus answered Airazor, not that he was particularly thrilled to wander the base in the unpresentable condition he was in for a tour guide, but she would at least need quarters to rest for the night. There were, however, some matters he needed to address first. "I would be more than happy to, but I'll just be a minute," the leader said in a light tone.

"At least everyone is okay."

Primal couldn't agree more with Whitegrazer.

"Nice to meet you Airazor and like Optimus said I'm Wintersong." "And welcome back guys."

"Frilla, Wintersong and Whitegrazer, you may go ahead inside for repairs and rest if you need it," Optimus told them. "We can clean up the rest of this mess tomorrow." All he was worried about was safely containing Nightmist's body again which should be done quite soon because they couldn't keep her laying around outside exposed to who-knows-what. There was no need to have everyone loitering outside in the dark. Everyone had had a long day, and some needed time in the CRs, including himself.

"Well maybe I'll have to check. We may be nearly there so it might wait till then." "We'll wait till we get there Optimus which shouldn't be long."

"Copy that, Feralnight. We'll see you soon," the Maximal commander responded and terminated the transmission.

More trouble as usual I take it? Fill me in on the situation, then I'll need to put Cheetor's locking chip back in, unless Orcariner can do it..

Optimus smiled when he saw Rhinox approach. "I can't imagine what gave it away," he commented a little sarcastically at his old friend's first remark. Restore Cheetor's locking chip? What had had happened out there that Cheetor had it taken out of him in the first place? Now the leader was very curious to hear about their day.

"You'll need to go dark until I finish putting this back in,"

He glanced at Orcariner who appeared to have picked up a few qualities he learned from Rhinox during their mission. Optimus was pleased about that. He turned his attention back to Rhinox. "We lost the new protoform to Megatron, reprogrammed to a Predacon. He referred to himself as Inferno. We also bumped into Manterror, another addition to the Predacons now, but I have no idea when and where his pod landed and was activated," he explained. "After we lost the battle and were returning to Base, Nemesis must have flown on ahead of us and attempted to infiltrate the storage unit; I can only imagine she was looking for the rest of her nanos that had been left on Nightmist's body. Wintersong intercepted her, but Nemesis decided to light a match and set the facility on fire. After she intentionally spilled a barrel of fuel, everything spiraled out of control. Wintersong, Frilla and I had no choice but to bail and seek cover. The rest is..." he trailed off for a second when he glanced around at the burnt debris and smoking areas where the shed once stood, "...self explanatory. The compartment holding Nightmist's body blew off entirely and landed over there," said Primal, pointing in its direction. "Frilla said the freezer she was kept in doesn't look damaged but I haven't examined it myself. I need you to quarantine her again, at least so she isn't exposed to the elements out here, or to anyone else who might stumble upon her. Orcariner should be able to assist you. I will also need a debriefing of your mission, when someone has time to spare. And I suspect someone from Rattrap's team will need to speak with you as soon as they arrive. They should be back here with the Nomad soon." Wow. That seemed like a lot to take in.

"Tigatron, what's the status there?" he called over his comm. link. No, he hadn't forgotten about him and Dinobot.

"Everything is well, Optimus," the white tiger replied. "Has anyone returned yet?"

"Yes, Rhinox's team is back with a new comrade. Rattrap is on his way as well. Try to have Dinobot wrap things up soon. It's a bit dark now to continue battling when you can't see."

"I will see what I can do," the tiger said. He was curious to meet the Maximal now. He wondered who he or she was.

-----

"Almost there," Rattrap announced while he continued flying with the radar through the darkness. "Should be arrivin' in about five or ten cycles."

(( OOC: I'm going to give Rhinox a chance to say anything if he needs to before OP goes inside the Axalon to give Airazor a quick tour, unless someone else wants to jump in and show her around. Didn't want to put TOO much into one post. Hah! ))

"Hmm?" Cheetor asked Ocariner. He had been preoccupied with the wreckage and with wondering what had caused it. "Oh yeah," he said as he finally understood the words he'd heard the giant Maximal say.

"Cheetor, maximize," he said despondently. After transforming, he gave another command. "Repair mode."

His optics went black for the second time that day as most of his systems went on standby.

* * *

The trail Steelclaw was following was easy enough to keep track of, and soon he found himself coming to the edge of a forest with the sound of some battle ringing in his ears.

Not wishing to expose himself in plain sight, he kept back from the clearing and peered through the foliage. He noticed Dinobot fighting Venatrix, and after some careful searching, he saw Tigatron as well... just sitting there, doing nothing.

Steelclaw considered sniping at the Maximals- it was a prime opportunity to be rid of two opponents in a war which was better ended sooner than later. But Dinobot, he noticed, was not engaging his optic lasers, and given that his shield was nowhere in sight, he'd probably never used that either. Furthermore, as Steelclaw had observed, Tigatron was making no attempt to help his own teammate. So it seemed the two fighters were engaged in a duel where neither meant any true harm to the other, and both would condemn outside assistance- it was meant to be a fair fight. For him to start taking pot shots would be to dishonor that arrangement, and he didn't want to cheat in that manner.

With no reason to conceal himself, Steelclaw walked out of the woods. And since he was unable to fire on the other Maximal who was safeguarding the fight, he did the next best thing- he looked to him and waved briefly.

"YUCK!" Cecaelia crawled out of the room when the suction cups of her tentacles touched the floor of the lab. "Is this room even get a massive cleaning session? It could use a femme's touch." she giggled at the thought of the room in pink.

"To my room!" she crawled away, not waiting for Glowstick.

Orcariner installed the chip in the back of Cheetor's head and then double tapped the young Maximal's shoulder. Turning to Optimus, he acknowledged the leader's command.

"Fridge," he said, "Got it."

He walked in the direction that Optimus pointed to. Orcariner was curious as to where they were going to place the body now.

Rhinox looked at Optimus as he spoke, rather surprised by all the events that had transpired I see.. Sounds like we've all had one heck of a day. I'll see to Nightmist's situation, just have one of Rattrap's group radio me when they show up and I'll help with that as soon as I can.

Rhinox then started to walk with Orcariner towards the direction which Optimus was pointing at We'll have to be careful, I don't want any direct contact with the vessel until we can tell it's intact.

________________________

Glowstick's optics dimmed not being told the name of the chemical, but assumed he wouldn't push it. He'd have to decontaminate himself either way. Alright. Oh, uh you may want to avoid the CR tanks, Starshadow is in one of them..

He then started to drag Inferno along, catching up to Cecaelia he stopped in front of a door, then opened it with one of his limbs as he let go of Inferno.

The room seemed strangely almost immaculate, where Glowstick's things once were was just a empty room with a simple bed, a table, chair, and large round transparent tank on the floor with a drain hole and lead to a few strange looking clear box like pump devices which appeared to be linked together in a corner(Similar to the devices from Steelclaw's art). Glowstick floated towards one of the devices flipping a switch, the tank filling with water. I eventually ended up spending all my time in the Leviathan, so.. having a room seemed redundant. You'll probably want to refill your tank when you can, the Darksyde itself doesn't have showers, usually cleaning is performed in the CR tanks and those are not filled with water. Megatron himself seems to routinely relax in a private CR tank, but the others have no interest in such, but I suppose you and Starshadow could always use the CR tanks in that fashion.. he then turned the machine off as the water came up to a line on the tank.

Glowstick looked towards Cecaelia speaking again Now, sound baffling switch is next to the light switch at the door, and there is a closet but all I ever used that for was poison slime canisters..I don't use those anymore but..Ah there it is. he moved as he noticed his old poison slime sword hanging on the wall as he took it down Guess I'll throw this piece of junk into storage..Sorry about that, um.. do you have any questions? he then looked towards her again holding the short sword over his shoulder.

"Understood, sir," Orcariner replied, "How do you propose we relocate the body?"

Should the fridge remain intact, then there may not be any issue with direct contact. Still, being in the vicinity of the nanobots would dictate caution even in the presence of a container. Perhaps they had still-functional machinery in the hanger bay that was used to lifting and moving stasis pods. Granted, the crew would have to work hard at decontaminating the equipment after usage for safety measures. Orcariner supposed that was better than risking either him or Rhinox getting infected.

Cecaelia looked around her new room and smiled. "Nope. I'm good! Thanks again Glowstick-san!" she transformed into her robot mode and sat on the bed.

"AAHHHH...Finally a bed to sleep on instead of the floor." she said as she lay her back down.

Rhinox shrugged Not entirely sure myself. I didn't expect the thing to be blown up. I'm guessing you'll have the best chances of spotting it from your height advantage, maybe when Icebreaker shows up we can have him scout the area for heat sources to investigate, it was brief but the explosion should of made the exterior hot.

___________________

Glowstick blinked as he listened to her,though not unusual for some predacons. He then checked the draws of the desk, pulling out a strange crystalline knife Well that's good, maybe things will turn up for you.. What the.. Left the prototype in here too?.. Well.. might be more useful for you then me. he then floated towards her handing her the knife At the very least, it makes a neat flashlight. Heh.. He turned away from her floating out towards the hall, he then transformed to beast mode and wrapped his limbs around inferno, dragging him down the hall towards the CR tank room.


(Item:
GS Custom: Lightning Edge
Effects:A small knife with a crystalline blade able to project a current of electricity to stun (firepower:3) or inflict moderate electric damage(Firepower:6) based off the user's firepower stat and added from the user's melee strike. The blade changes colors based off the user's mood in Cecaelia's case as other users it is based from optical color and can have the brightness of the glowing light on the blade controlled allowing it to be used like a torch or flashlight. The blade itself is inscribed in Predacon text "Lightning edge" and the center sensor displays a spinning icon of GS and a Predacon insignia. The weapon doesn't use a password.


Also.. if you can read what is on that knife, seek help. )

Cecaelia looked at the blade that was given. "Glooowwwwyyyy~" she kept the blade in her small storage compartment on her back and walked out of her quarters, heading Starshadow's room.

"Hmmm..." Of course she was curious what was inside and why did Starshadow wanted her to stay away from it. Without a second thought, she opened the door and went inside. It was horrible, there were multiple claw marks on the walls with small dents. The blanket was a wolf skin with a few holes on it instead of a nice smooth fabric. The table was stained with red blood, probably the blood of the animals on this planet. Everything was in mess, like a room of a unhygenic, messy, lazy bot even the nice decorations was ruined by the blood stain. The octobot noticed a datapad on the table and read it.

"I've been stuck in the planet countless months and still no rescue team on sight..........................Prediction uhh.......I'm as good as dead.......I'm tired of Grapeface's missions especially Scorponok....harassing Sonar was fun.......Glowstick, Blackarachnia and Steelclaw are doing their own things......Tarantulas is doing his usual routine......Waspinator's buzzing around........don't know what Terrorsaur's doing........Nothing interesting going on in the base, I mised the fights in the ring.

.....What is this slag- ........Guns and blades will damage my circuits but screams and burning pains of enemies excite me? .......Weapon making and more...test weapon 1, 2, 3, 4, 5......7 failed. BWAHA!!" not bothering reading any more of the entries, Cecaelia put the datapad down and exited the quarters and closed the door and began to explore around the base.

Whitegrazer was not tired at all but she bet the others were since all she did was run and kept Scorponok at bay which she was glad ended in an agreement rather than a fight. It felt good to not engage in such lust...when it was not needed of course.

She inspected the interior of the separate faculity--all burnt and damaged-- as Optimus was talking to Rhinox. She was intrigued by the nanos that were going through their decreased comrade's body though she was still saddened by the young one's death. It made her wonder what the nanos were doing to the body. She was never into science because of the morality and justification some scientists have for commiting murder and running lethal expertiments all in the name for science. One thing about the Maximal society she had despised.

Though, it was interesting to see but she probably won't be able to see as the nanos were an unknown element and Rhinox would probably kept her from it. She would stay away because of her limited knowledge.

She went over to Frilla, thinking about how it must have been hard to fight her Predacon comrades and see their reaction towards her defecting.

"Hey, Frilla. Been a rough day, huh?"

Venatrix couldn't help but smile as Dinobots fist came at her face. There was simply no way to avoid his well timed counter.
And not only did the Maximal warrior his fist connected with her face, she felt his sword dig into her wrist. Forcing her to release her blade as she wad sent flying.
Was this the end of their dual?
No!
A warrior never gives up before their bodies are unable to continue!
The past dual she had with Dinobot ended after she gave up after she lost her weapons.
One of their first matches, on Cybertron right before they stole the Darkside and the golden disk, was a very short one.
But right after he easily disarmed her and ended her sneak attack in seconds he said something.

"Amateur. Its not the weapons the defines the warrior. Its the warrior that defines the weapon."

Venatrix reactivated her optics as she skidded on the ground.
She quickly rolled backwards, and stood up very quickly.
She had found a little bit more energy to put into this fight.
After transforming into her beastmode, she used her strong legs to jump the distance between herself and Dinobot.
Without wasting any time the black panther dug her teeth into her opponents wrist where he held his sword.

Frilla turned after Optimus was finished and sighed, looking at the damaged facility. But she looked at Whitegrazer and smiled at the taller femme, "Rough indeed Whitegrazer but just glad it's over and to get some rest soon." She replied before heading towards the lift. Facing her former teammates had been worrying yet at the same time she was happy, just happy to show them she wasn't willing to back off just because she had changed. Was the lizard afraid? Oh very much so. But what would be worth hiding instead of helping? That's not what Frilla would do, as much as she despised war the Maximals would need all the help they could get.

-----------

Feralnight leaned back again, ears twitching slightly, only vaguely listening to Rattrap. She was a bit surprised they had escaped mostly unharmed and that for once the confrontation with the Predacons had been well civil. Perhaps they weren't all bad? "Guess some Predacons have some brains." She muttered.

Nodding Wintersong turned to head back in but paused, looking back to Airazor, "Hey Airazor if you want a tour you can come with us. I don't mind showing you around." She offered to the flier, gesturing towards the lift to indicate where they were heading.

"Of course, I would be more than happy to, but I'll just be a minute,"

Nodding, Airazor turned away from the leader and rested her eyes on the massive ship behind them. It was giving off a very bright light which illuminated the surrounding area perfectly. Because of the light, it was difficult to adjust her vision to see the details of the ship itself. She could however, see a shadowy outline indicating its impressive size. Much larger than her stasis pod, that was for sure. As she stared, she got lost in thought. Seeing that she remembered nothing from her past life, she was practically a newborn maximal with no ship experience. She wondered what was inside that could possibly be of any use. Perhaps they use it as shelter? That was very likely... but why would they need something so large for so few bots? Furthermore, why would the Maximal's all live together? Wouldn't that make them a prime target for an enemy attack? Putting all of your eggs in one basket was never a good idea. There had to be some other uses.

"Hey Airazor if you want a tour you can come with us. I don't mind showing you around."

That was... Wintersong. She continued thinking, as she turned her attention towards the cat on the lift. It was going to be difficult remembering everyone's names. "I thought you need to... err, nevermind. " She said, remembering what Optimus said about her going for repairs. Perhaps she wasn't badly enough damaged. Moving forwards, Airazor gracefully joined her on the ramp. "Lead the way."

((For the record, I am considering "Dawn of Future's Past" to have happened. In the show, she was treated as a newborn protoform, and will still be (for now) in the OC storyline. I'll probably make subtle hints though towards her real past.

Also, for those who dont know what happened in that story... (taken from the wiki) -

The Predacons who stole the Golden Disk were pursued by Unit 2 (Tigatron), who was granted clearance from Maximal Defense Command to commandeer transport. The Maximal who would become Airazor was boarding her ship, the Chromia 10, when Unit 2 approached and demanded use of it. "Airazor" at first refused, but suggested she was open to ... persuasion. The call of adventure captured her interest, and instead of handing over the Chromia 10 to Unit 2, she allowed him to hitch a ride, piloting it herself.

Chromia 10 intercepted the Predacons' ship, the Darksyde, which was engaged in battle with the Axalon and guarded by a mysterious third ship. During the ensuing firefight, the Chromia 10 was badly damaged. Optimus Primal had "Airazor" and Unit 2's Sparks remotely uploaded to blank protoforms in the Axalon's cargo hold, which saved their lives, but severely damaged their core mainframes.

))

NaitoKage wrote:Rhinox shrugged Not entirely sure myself. I didn't expect the thing to be blown up. I'm guessing you'll have the best chances of spotting it from your height advantage, maybe when Icebreaker shows up we can have him scout the area for heat sources to investigate, it was brief but the explosion should of made the exterior hot.

"I'll keep a look out," the taller Maximal replied.

Orcariner felt obligated to help Rhinox as much as possible. The elder had taken a lot of stress upon both his body and mind during the mission, more so than the rest of the crew. Being the commanding officer of the task force, Optimus was perhaps expecting Rhinox to provide the debriefing despite the ambiguous request. Orcariner did not want the rhinoceros to be burden by too much work when he should be resting.

"If you want, sir," he said, "I could also prepare the debrief for you at my workstation after we clean up this mess. You've had a rough day and the least I can do is make your presentation to Optimus quicker and easier."

He realized he had just implied that Rhinox was being nominated for the debriefing. Hopefully, the senior officer would not take issue with that or else Orcariner would really be put in an awkward situation.