The Intergalactic Highway

Aurora gave a little wink to Rattrap after seeing his reaction to her previous comment and was just about to say something when she noticed Optimus Primal had indeed joined them. For a primate he was oddly stealthy when approaching the rest, so she could only hope he had not been standing there long enough to hear her little debate with Rattrap about him moments before.

Stepping aside to not be in the way when Optimus approached the black stallion, she gave the commander a quick thumb's up before moving back to the platform. Yet she remained outside with the others, merely lingering in the background.

(ooc: had my first ultrasound for the new baby today. They gave him or her an estimated due date the 4th of June next year, whereas my son was born the 5th of June. )

Onyx was fixing to speak before he noticed the lift coming down and the transformer to step off it struck a great resemblance to Optimus Prime, he assumed this was Primal then and the commander of the Axalon. But once more he looked back at Icebreaker and smiled a bit,"I wouldn't say that Icebreaker, but I could hold my own in a fight that's for sure, didn't get these scars for running." He said referring to the three scars that had once been nasty gashes along his face. "But my primary function was for war when I was brought online yet I moved away from the military life and set out on my agendas so in a word I am somewhat of a free lancer Predacon." He explained briefly before he considered his next words.

"Not quite sure how my proposal might exactly be useful but it is a suggestion, perhaps merely a theory depending on how you view it." Onyx said."What if perhaps a small craft could be built, something similar of like the Levianthan and I'm sure you guys have one as well that could be capable of flying off this planet. There seems enough parts between both ships that it could be possible, but of course if all the engines are shot those might have to be made from scratch. But this planet seems quite rich in raw materials you could very well benefit from it."He said. But the likely chance any of the Maximals would take the idea to spark was likely a slim chance since there was the matter of finding materials strong enough just to make such a thing or even malliable enough to bend to the right shape. At this point it would take several testing and much time of mining just to find such material.

From one point of view it seemed impossible and from another it might very well be a good idea.

================================

"It was brief though I'm sure it was something to be easily traced." Megatron said confidently though it was something that was still on his mind, it had not been some mere accident for the interference to show. It might have very well been something more and he rubbed his chin for a moment,"All of you head outside while Sonar prepares for this project of his. I'll join you momentarily." He ordered as something inside told him this strange anomly was far more important then Sonar's project, far bigger then having to worry about the Maximals. Yes, something big was going on, Megatron could feel it deep down that these aliens were up to something, that there was more to all this then just a mere coincidence.

OOC: Just wanted to share this with you all: The kids at the school where I teach saw a preying mantis the other day on the playground. I didn't get to see it because I was busy dealing with a behavior issue, but they were talking about it ALL day! They were so excited! Nevertheless, it made me think of Manterror. lol

BIC:

At first it appeared that the mantis was going to continue to ignore the spider in the tree...either that or he was just that oblivious to her presence. Arachnitron began to get impatient. She used the silk thread of her spider form to slowly drift down from the tree into his view. He reacted much as she suspected he would. He got battle-ready almost as soon as he laid eyes on her. He spun his weaponry intimidatingly. She stared back at him, unimpressed.

WorpeX wrote:"Spider! Are you another creation of Tarantulas? Or some imitation!? "

Arachnitron reacted on an impulse without even thinking about the guise she was trying to wear. She transformed swiftly and narrowed her optics. "I am no one's creation," she growled at the Predacon angrily. "And I am no imitation! I am the original. It's the others who imitate." She said referring to her other personalities.

Arachnitron looked at him and sized him up. She knew she'd have no problem facing this opponent; she could outsmart him without a doubt. She was not interested in winning this battle, but she was not interested in returning to stasis lock either. She just wanted to get damaged enough to get a reaction out of the Maximals. She'd play him for awhile, then let the Maximal programming regain control. No doubt the Maximal would cower away from the Predacon and probably even high-tail it and run something which the Predacon programming had too much pride to do herself.

Arachnitron folder her arms over her chestplate. "Well," she taunted. "Do those blades actually do anything or are they just for show?"

OOC: Wellllll....like I said, Airrazor could interrupt this little interaction and foil Arachnitron's plans, but, of course, that would also spoil your other character's plans. lol. What a conundrum! I know you're dead set on using the trebuchet. Of course, I know the real reason you put that in your post is just so you could use the word trebuchet.

Cecaelia jusr smiled and skipped to the driver seat of the Leviathan. Humming a cheery and melodious tune as she sat on the seat. "Destination, the b-"

"All of you head outside while Sonar prepares for this project of his. I'll join you momentarily."

Cecaelia stopped humming and frowned at that. "Well..beach or outside?"



Starshadow got off Sonar with her feline ears drooping with boredom. "Nothing to play and nothing to kill...Where's Tarantulas anyway?"

Sonar wrote:If the ships computers are acting up again, I'll deal with them after showing Lord Megatron my project.

Steelclaw said nothing. He thought it good for Sonar to offer his assistance, but he didn't really know enough about the Darksyde's system himself to know if it even was glitching or not, so he didn't want Sonar to feel obliged to look into things. If the bat wanted to check, he would anyways.

Megatron wrote:It was brief though I'm sure it was something to be easily traced.

Oh. Well, if Megatron knew a way to track the information down, everything would be answered in time.

Megatron wrote:All of you head outside while Sonar prepares for this project of his. I'll join you momentarily.

Conceding to his leader's command immediately, Steelclaw hovered to the front of the command center and- once he was above an actual floor- hopped off his board, landing with a heavy metallic sound.

After walking out of the ship's main entrance, he took a glance at the rocky terrain around him and his allies. The day was rather overcast, but he could still just barely tell that it looked like morning.

Then he noticed Venatrix near the west end of the ship, making odd movements in quick succession. She looked like she was... shadow fencing, or whatever the term was, if it existed at all. It might have been for best to leave her alone, but Megatron was going to have her watch Sonar's demonstration anyways.

"Hey Venatrix," he called out to her, ignoring their comlinks since they were close enough to hear each other. "If it's of any interest to you, Sonar is about to demonstrate a new weapon."

* * *

Optimus Primal wrote:Guess we watch from in here you two, but who knows how this might go down.

"I'm not worried. Big Bot's got this one," Cheetor answered confidently. "The four of them were gonna be fine even without Optimus. I just wanna know why Oatbreath stopped by."

Cheetor watched the monitors with Frilla and Wihtegrazer for a while before he decided to start a new conversation.

"So, how's your... y'know, data-collecting coming?" he asked Frilla. "Find anything interesting lately?"

(( OOC: @ Phoenix: Aye, siblings possibly sharing a birthday? That could get ugly. Kidding! That's such wonderful news about your ultrasound! I'm still hoping for a girl. ))

Passing Aurora, who had politely stepped aside for Optimus, he smiled at her thumb's-up and then joined the rest who were speaking with the lonesome Predacon. Noticing Onyx's weapons on the ground, and Icebreaker in beast mode, Primal opted not to wield any of his weapons as well, although Rattrap was still holding on to his gun like a six-year-old with his blanky. Of course, that was just Rattrap being Rattrap.

Alright, let's hear your proposal.

The Maximal leader patiently stood there in silence so as not to interrupt Icebreaker and Onyx who had already been engaged in a conversation.

"I wouldn't say that Icebreaker, but I could hold my own in a fight that's for sure, didn't get these scars for running." "But my primary function was for war when I was brought online yet I moved away from the military life and set out on my agendas so in a word I am somewhat of a free lancer Predacon."

When the black equine pointed out his scars on his face, it subconsciously reminded Optimus of his own, and he slowly, almost unnoticeably, balled his scarred hand as a mere exercise, squeezing and releasing. It helped keep it loose and stretched with the few unrepairable internal mechanics and nerves. A free-lancing Predacon? Onyx's words peaked Primal's curiosity but he still remained quiet.

"Not quite sure how my proposal might exactly be useful but it is a suggestion, perhaps merely a theory depending on how you view it." "What if perhaps a small craft could be built, something similar of like the Levianthan and I'm sure you guys have one as well that could be capable of flying off this planet. There seems enough parts between both ships that it could be possible, but of course if all the engines are shot those might have to be made from scratch. But this planet seems quite rich in raw materials you could very well benefit from it."

Was Megatron supposed to be involved with this idea? Because if so, then there was no way it would work out. And it was much easier said than done, not that it was impossible, but there were other obstacles to be considered. "I commend you for coming here on your own and approaching us with your proposal, Onyx," Optimus said in a friendly voice. "While my Maximals and I would be willing to work with you on a way to resolve our everlasting duration of being stranded on this planet, I highly doubt that Megatron would be as co-operative as you and some of your other comrades might be. And a constant interference from them would render our progress on your suggestion as nearly nonexistant. Let's say we were able to construct a small vessel from scratch together; it would need to be reinforced for anything it might encounter on its voyage in space, it would need a lot of power and energy and working engines, which we're lacking in right now, and it would need a transwarp drive. After all, we still don't know where or when we are. How well would it hold up in space while we waste our time navigating it back to Cybertron?" It was a rhetorical question. Optimus certainly was not trying to discard Onyx's idea, he was simply listing a few bumps in the plan that they would run into; might as well discuss it now while Onyx had made his peaceful introduction. Primal was just as anxious to go home as the rest of them were, but this sounded like it was going to take a very long time to accomplish. And with the threat of the aliens always looming on the horizon, how much time did they really have left on this world? "Not to mention the Vok, whom I believe mean to never let us step foot off of this planet without dire consequences." At least, that's what he gathered from them. The aliens simply just wanted to annihilate them. Still, with that hope and possibility, no matter how slim, of building such a transport that could take them home would be an enormous moral and optimism booster. But how could they get it done with Megatron and his minions, who would simply want the craft for themselves and leave the rest of them to expire on this rock that was full of life and dangerous raw energon deposits? As much hope that Optimus foresaw with Onyx's generous suggestion, he also saw danger and violence. "But if you came here simply seeking for an answer as to whether or not we would be interested in assisting you, then I'd say, yes, we would." What did they have to lose?

Icebreaker tilted his head looking towards Optimus, then nodded Agreed, plus.. I think the closest to that sort of thing would be the Predacons.. as much as I hate to admit it, that squid has been hording so much space material even we have noticed. Two small spacecrafts and countless stasis pods.. When I first met him he jury rigged a transport out of a few broken stasis pods, he kept building it into the transport the Preds have today..


_______________________

Glowstick sat down at the console, he heard Cecaelia and responded Yeah, have us float out of the hanger and watch the show I guess. Then we'll head out.. Wonder what Sonar made. he then started to power up and monitor the engines, the Leviathan's new reactor seemed to be functioning well so far.

Again the black Predacon panther was losing a simulated battle with the avatar of the Predacon leader.
This itself wasn't at all unexpected.
What was unexpected was that it took her program atleast twice as long before it defeated her.
She was thinking about stopping, but her own progress intrigued her greatly.
So starting up the program again was the logical one of the many things she could be doing at that moment.
But before she launched her first attack, she stopped.

Venatrix thought she heared something that was out of place.
She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, so the sound vannished as quickly as it came.
"Computer. End program."
Megatron's image, that she projected in her own mind, vannished so she could focuss fully onto her surroundings, and find whatever or whoever was responcible for that slight sound that caught her attention.
"Beastmode." she whispered.

When she cave the command, the black predacon female transformed into a black panther, and sniffed the air.
After a few seconds, her nose caught a sent and she was tracking the scent with quite some difficulty.

The scent wad everywhere. So it came from the air.
It sertenly wasn't a Predacon.
She programmed the scent of every Predacon into her memory.
And she was almost 100% sure the scent didn't belong this close to the Darkside.
The she heard something much closer by.
She cocked her head up, and watches Steelclaw approaching her.

Hey Venatrix," he called out to her, ignoring their comlinks since they were close enough to hear each other. "If it's of any interest to you, Sonar is about to demonstrate a new weapon."

Venatrix thought about it a second, but the answer was a simple one.
"Sorry, but no. We lack sufficient skills to use the weapons we already have most effectivelly. Besides, something else have caught my attention. Something that doesn't belong around here. So it seems i'll be busy honing my tracking and hunting skills. Thanks for the offer though Steelclaw."

She sniffed the air again and stalked away from the bear.
Not much longer the black Predacon panther stumbled onto a much more potent string of the smell and moved to follow it to its source.

------------------

Valkyrie walked back towards her quarters, when an urge came over her.
It was as if something was trying to tell her something.
Being curious, she stopped in the middle of the hallway and focused on the sensation.
As if she was intoxicated from consuming to much bad energon she lost her balance and fell against the wall.
She regained control of her legs before she fell onto the ground.
The strength returned to the rest of her body when she forced herself up again.
Two words where burned into her mind. Predacon and captive.

It took her a few moments to find the most logical meaning to this. Her subconcious probibly wanted her to talk to or atleast go and see the Predacon they captured during the last operation.
So she turned left and headed towards the Maximal holding cells.

"Depends what data you mean Cheetor." Frilla said as she turned to the young mech but smiled,"By planet standards this place has some diverse places and many things yet uncovered. Which leads to my other data, the aliens or the Vok as we've come to call them now are well shrouded in mystery. I cannot make heads or tails of anything we have on them, even the data tracks Glowstick saved and gave back to me." She sighed and shook her head."My assumption though is Rhinox might not even be doing any better." She added.

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Feralnight heard some of the Predacons and quickly his herself more to the ground which luckily the ship being black allowed her to blend in better. Ears perking forward she wondered what Sonar could be wanting to show and listened closely. But it appeared Megatron hadn't even come out yet and she wondered why.

Though as much as she wanted to find out trying to move would risk her being seen. And likely alert the Leviantan of her presence, that was if someone hadn't already noticed her scent which the fuzor had no idea someone did.

Though Onyx had a good proposal Optimus was right, building a ship would take days. But the Predacons would surely catch on. Wintersong flicked her tail wondering where this conversation would lead to next, in fact it didn't seem Onyx was like even the more sane Predacons. Why would someone who seemed so diplomatic be a pred? It amazed her how some of these Predacons acted but the tigeress kept quiet and looked towards the forest then around them, continuing to watch the landscape just in case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snow Trix looked back in wonder at their leader, wondering why he seemed to be in such deep thought. Maybe something about the computer interference? Shrugging it off the fox femme followed the other Predacons outside reverting to beast mode and still sticking out like a sore thumb. Jumping onto a boulder she waited for this project of Sonar's to start and wait for Megatron to come out.

Cecaelia pouted and held the yoke (if that's what an aircraaft steering wheel is called), but didn't fly the Leviathan out of the hangar when she noticed something was slipping inside and hiding.

"Computer, zoom in." the screen zoomed in but showed nothing. "Glowstick-kun, I think someone entered the hangar. It's black but uhh..it's not fluffy and fat like Steelclaw kun."

Starshadow made her way to the hangar for further self training. She adjusted the thin piece of silver metal which matched her skin color which was meant to cover her new scars on her right optic which was made from Wintersong's claws. It was a constant reminder not to let a maximal off and kill them without mercy. A scent caught her attention. Feralnight...she was close, very close, but why is a maximal lurking around here? To inflitrate the base? ...not on her watch, it should be fun.

The panther bot slowly tracked the scent which led her to a crate where Feralnight was hiding behind. She jumped on top of it and pulled out her whip. "Well, a Maximal dropping by to have some tea with me? Sorry that I'm late for our appointment!" she started lashing her, trying to force her to reveal herself.

"Predacons, an infiltrator volunteered to be our new toy!" she said aloud.

(ooc: Valkyrie is a strange one.. I don't quite now why she would take such a sudden interest in Nemesis, but if you want them to meet you might as well do so soon since Nem will be busting out a little later in the episode. Got it all planned out, just waiting for the right time to execute.)

Aurora watched as Optimus approached the black equine, whose weapons were now on the ground in front of him. It really didn't seem like this Predacon meant them any harm and most of the Maximals seemed to agree, yet Rattrap still maintained his hand on his weapon just in case.

She liked the rat, honestly, even if he was a little quick to judge and a little slow to let his guard down. Underneath the rough streetwise exterior she found him to be a rather fun and oddly caring individual.

Since they were outside the safety of their base, the little fuzor quietly changed to her beast form so she wouldn't be affected by the energon build-up in the event this encounter with Onyx would take a while.

-------

"Hold her still!"

The scientist's orders were starting to sound ever more annoyed as the subject kept struggling against the restraints that were meant to hold her strapped down to the table. As one of the guards came to assist him, he turned to look at the female.

"Why do you continue to resist us? You really should feel proud, my dear," he told her, his voice sounding softening as he spoke. "You are, after all, one among very few to not only have survived this long but to actually have been a success."

The pride was quite apparent in his voice before he paused as he put his tool down. As far as success rate went, it had been a tedious project with only minor successes until now. The young Decepticon female before him had been one of very few to actually have a positive response to the experimentation, yet even now she continued to defy them.

Upon receiving no response, not even an acknowledgement for the gift the had given her, the scientist put his hand on her cheek, quite tenderly at that, a gesture that caused the female to turn her head and look away.

"You really are quite remarkable," he told her, admiring the fruits of his hard labor. "I wish you could appreciate what we've done for you. You are no longer an expendable child off the street. Sometime in the future they will look back on what we have accomplished here with pride. Know you are the future of our kind."

He let his hand slide down her armor, past the part where he had impaled a large spike into her. The head and a part of the shaft portion of the spike had dislodged and was now resting next to the female, whereas the rest of the spike along with the hole it had made into her armor were no longer anywhere to be seen. She had remarkably healed, unscathed.

Intrigued by witnessing this development after his rather crude attempt to see the progression for himself, the scientist pondered ways to measure the extent of her abilities.

"My dear," he told her, without looking up to meet her gaze this time, "You have come so far during your time here. Subject 1047 just doesn't seem to cover it anymore. I almost feel like we should give you a name.."

For the first time this encounter, her optics met his. She seemed much calmer now, less determined to thwart his work. She waited for him to finish before giving her response.

"Several million years ago our great leader, Megatron, took the finest ship in his fleet in his pursuit of Optimus Prime and the Autobots. It was a technological marvel of its time, built to be as durable as it was fast, and implementing the newest weapons and technology available. Of course by your standards it was old-fashioned, but at the time it was an amazing vessel. They named it the Nemesis.."

"Nemesis..."

The female pondered the name for a moment. It almost seemed fitting, somehow.

Smiling a bit to himself, the scientist started preparing to wrap it up for the time being. They could continue the trials later. "Guard, you can return Nemesis here to her quarters in a few minutes." The guard nodded and stepped outside to wait by the door until the scientist was ready. Meanwhile the male scientist collected his tools and closed down numerous monitoring devices.

Just as he was about to leave, the soft voice of the female on the table caught his attention.

"Doctor..," she whispered, "I need to tell you something."

Puzzled he turned around and walked back over to the seemingly restrained female. "Yes?"

She sat up a bit, as much as she could muster, an ever so slight smile on her face. "Come closer..," she urged, pulling her lower lip into a pout.

Although growing a bit impatient again, the scientist did as she asked and leaned in closer.

"You're right. There will be a time they will look back at what you've done here.."


Her move came too quickly for him to react. During the time he spent cleaning up, she had managed to get a hold of the remainder of the spike and had used it to pry open the restraint holding her hand down. By the time the scientist figured it out, she had already rammed the remnant of the spike deep into his eye, shattering the optic lens and circuitry making up his optic. As the scientist howled in pain, the female just kept pushing the spike deeper into the bleeding socket until it would not go any further. At which point she twisted the spike around, grinding into his circuitry to do as much damage as she possibly could, before yanking the entire rod out again.

"Unfortunately for you, that future will come to pass much sooner than you thought."


As the groaning scientist grabbed his face in an attempt to cover up his eye, his knees began buckling and within moments he collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony. Nemesis, on the other hand, swiftly moved the bloody spike to her other restraints to free herself. Just outside the door she could hear the guard shouting for help. It would not be long before they came barging through the door, so she had to be able to move freely by then. The wounded scientist on the floor was going to be her ticket out of here.

---

Nemesis could not help but smile at the vivid memories occupying her mind. She'd been sitting still for a long time, crouched down with her wings wrapped around herself to protect her from the cold. Yet now she got up on her feet, staring intently at the surveillance camera with bright ruby red optics.

Perhaps there was a way out of here after all..

"It was brief though I'm sure it was something to be easily traced." "All of you head outside while Sonar prepares for this project of his. I'll join you momentarily."

"Nothing to play and nothing to kill...Where's Tarantulas anyway?"

Who cares? The bat thought.

He quickly headed to the Lab and gently picked up a small grape furit sized object and placed it in his subspace.

I should have tested it frist before presenting it to Megatron, but it will be so worth it. He told himself.

Once he was out side, he took to the air and just to be on the safe side, he would toss the object away from the base. The Darksyde was already falling apart, he didn't need to add that.

(Well then.. ^_^ Lets just raise that rank cap to 9 if it's a problem. As for characters over certain ranks or roles..I suppose if there was a proper command structure that would work for teams or get certain players to take more commanding roles.)

Glowstick blinked, then changed the camera view as he noticed Starshadow on radar. One of his feeder tentacles moved in a 'facepalm' motion Well this is the start to a great day..

He didn't like the idea of death, but a maximal that so bluntly and recklessly tried to sneak into the predacon base? She'd better hope she was a fast runner, because the predacons were not going to be merciful to that.If she was lucky, she might end up as a bargaining chip though the predacons didn't have a use for such a thing, specially as they didn't know the whereabouts or care about such things for Nemesis.

Feralnight heard someone approaching but before she could move Starshadow had already found her and began to lash at her. Growling the fuzor stood straight and bit down on the end of the whip,"That all you got panther?"She said and leapt forward to tackle Starshadow to the ground, a different side of her she normally didn't show of charging into battle instead of being cautious. So much for old skills

Then again why had she come there? Old memories driving her? Ones that seemed to suddenly start to linger in her mind and driving her to attack the Predacons? She shook her head wondering if she was really in her right mind or being plain stupid. Flying off Starshadow Feralnight glanced towards the Levianthan briefly then back at the panther having to keep an eye on both if they tried something. Only thing was she was greatly outmatched yet still something inside was telling her to come there.