The Intergalactic Highway

OOC: @ NK, true about the Preds being used to weird stuff, but I feel like this is a bit different. I mean, covering your room in blood or testing live creatures seems fairly normal for a pred...maybe quirky at best. Arachnitron's not weird or quirky, she changes from a Predacon to a Maximal sometimes in mid sentence which is something that could jeoparadize the Predacons' mission (assuming she ever did that in the middle of a mission). Quirky things you can learn to live with, but having two different personalities with two different loyalties (well, three personalities with different loyalties) means having to constantly wonder who you're talking to and are they your ally or your enemy?

Which is why I figured I'd remind players about the optics color thing at this point. They were red before when most Preds probably took notice of her. They are green now. Wouldn't that be kind of weird to see someone's eyes change color all of a sudden? Even if you don't care one way or the other about the person, you might probably be a bit curious as to know why...maybe even suspicious too.

( Well.. Star also happens to bite and suck energon out of allies, Sonar has been prone to attacking allies.. though Predacons usually don't trust their comrades, the concept is alien to them. Betrayal is expected, and even rewarded in some cases. And Arachnitron going from a Maximal to a Predacon personality in the middle of a mission would probably annoy some members, but the result depending on if it's a sneaking mission would be they'd probably shoot her if it's the more aggressive predacons, or talk to her if it's more cautious predacons..If it's the middle of battle, probably not care as much considering Arachnitron's Maximal personality isn't prone to violence.. so.. she's kinda harmless to either side.

As for optic color change, that does also happen from strong emotions being felt. Like when Blackarachnia supposedly died and Silverbolt's optics turned red with rage. )

Nighthunter/Una: As for Predacons going into the Maximal base, we'll get in there.. Well, the Octopodes will anyway. Though I'm surprised you'd want to keep Saber in there while Dinobot,Cheetor,Rattrap,Orcariner,Wintersong, and Aerostriker are heavily outnumbered outside. Only one Rhinox wants to stay in the base seemed to be Tigatron. Whitegrazer ofcourse, being too busy with Rhinox's NewAge meditation Sparkcatcher thing, so all she has to do is try to comeback in time. )

((OOC: I see your point. Now that I've thought about it, if Saber were to do ape shite banana's inside the ship she could cause Whitegrazer's death. i guess I can have Saber go banana's outside and on the Predacons.))

(( OOC:

Nighthunter/Una: As for Predacons going into the Maximal base, we'll get in there.. Well, the Octopodes will anyway. Though I'm surprised you'd want to keep Saber in there while Dinobot,Cheetor,Rattrap,Orcariner,Wintersong, and Aerostriker are heavily outnumbered outside. Only one Rhinox wants to stay in the base seemed to be Tigatron. Whitegrazer ofcourse, being too busy with Rhinox's NewAge meditation Sparkcatcher thing, so all she has to do is try to comeback in time. )

Placing everyone where I had Rhinox say so wasn't really my strategy yet, I just wanted to give those Maximals something to do and set up the traps outside. I wasn't expecting the Preds to attack as quickly as they have, so we'll just have to improvise now. Makes it more fun and challenging, anyway.

((OOC: I hope this post is all right, OOP.

It's perfect, una! You could have gone a step further and "taken" OP, but that's okay. I can push it along so Whitegrazer gets back in time to add her assistance to the battle. OP won't be on-line for a little while yet; not until many of the Maximals are injured poorly or whatever.

OOC: Can't take them down himself? But Primal...Don't you know? You have the touch! You have the power! YEAH!!!

Oh yeah. My bad. In that case, "I HAVE THE POWEEEEERRRRR!" ))

IC:

"I too will go with them," "I suspect you are right about the Predacons attacking while we work. And if they do, then those of us setting up our defenses will appear to be the front line. If I may suggest it, put some of our better shooters up on the roof, in the rocks, anywhere out of sight. Let them be the real first response. The rest of us on the ground can rally quickly and beat the attackers back."

Rhinox nodded to Dinobot's suggestion, agreeing with him, and watched him acquire his weapon and ammunition from the rack that had dropped down from the ceiling.

"Besides, I don't trust that one with demolition charges..."

The engineer smiled lightly at the raptor's comment and said, "He'll do fine," though he doubted his reassurance was of any consolation due to Cheetor's history of butterfingers and inexperience. He was growing up, though, in a sense, so Rhinox's own confidence in the young cat had increased over time.

"Oh, good. It won't explode in my face should I drop it."

Why was everyone so concerned about handling these demolition charges? Did none of them ever use them before? Rhinox managed a chuckle at Saber-Fang while shaking his head.

"I'll try not to Rhinox."

He squinted one of his red optics at Wintersong, unsure that he believed her words. Nevertheless, he knew she would use better judgment than she has in the past. This time was certain life or death. This was going to be the mother of all battles.

"Hopefully we'll have some luck on our side."

Now that statement Rhinox couldn't agree more with her. And he couldn't help but glance at Whitegrazer in his machine.

"Warning: Unit Whitegrazer's conscienceness is fading rapidly. Any disturbance will result in termination of spark."

As Winter, Dinobot and Cheetor left the base, Rhinox went back to Whitegrazer's side to check her vitals. They were still fading... He'd have to pull the plug momentarily and bring her back, with or without Optimus.

"Thanks," "The turret should be operable independently from the transport now. It's running off what's left of the Nomad's power core, so you shouldn't have to worry about running out of juice for at least an hour. I used pieces from the door to create a makeshift shield, so that you'll be protected from return fire. Granted, your field of vision is pretty limited, but I'll be around to feed my Beacon 2.0 into your interface. Think of it as one of your video games and you should do fine."

"Pfff. I don't need experience from a video game ta operate dis bad boy," Rattrap told Orcariner. "Just point an' click, know what I'm sayin'?" he grinned as he patted the turret gun system. Of course, the whale's Beacon ability would be a huge help for him to target them.

"I'm thinking we should station you somewhere outside of the Sentinel's perimeter. That way you'll be able to shoot at them without having our own shields interfere with your work. Plus, maybe you can draw some of their fire away from the ship so that Sentinel can stay up as long as possible."

Rattrap followed Orcariner as the giant picked up the gun and walked out of the hangar to the outdoors. "Good idea," agreed the new Maximal leader. "Not too far from some other cover either in case I gotta bail." All he had to shield himself besides boulders and the turret's own shields were his hubcaps, and those weren't going to be enough.

"Where do you think I should put his?"

The much smaller, TransMetal Maximal looked around and found the perfect spot. "There!" he said as he pointed at an elevated, partially flat ledge that protruded from a larger rock formation about 50 yards away from the base. It was tall enough for Orcariner to reach and place the large gun on top. Part of it had collapsed earlier from the aliens' failed attempt to exterminate the planet, leveling some of it off, and what still stood higher than the flatter spot was still short enough for Rattrap to rotate the entire turret gun all the way around 360 degrees. And at this distance, if an evacuation was necessary, it was only a quick sprint from the Axalon.

"Attention, Maximals!" Tigatron called out on every Maximal's communication link. "Inbound Predacons!" as he observed the fliers' sigantures suddenly bleeping up on the scanners with some ground units in tow. And all of them were moving fast.

Looks like the fliers are already here. We'll keep them distracted, you guys do your thing. Any sniper's assistance or autoguns will be great though.

"Got it covered," Rhinox assured Aerostriker, and watched him and Stag exit through the roof hatch, seeming to be pleased about that little convenience. He'd have said their fliers used it frequently but he had already left to intercept Manterror.

"Understand this, my fellow Maximals," Rhinox opened his link to the others. "Do whatever it takes to stop Megatron and his fleet of Predacons because they are not here for hostages or surrenders. They will not be merciful. They are here to terminate us. Watch each others' backs and do not let them succeed!" He would be joining the fight soon enough.

Hearing Tigatron's warning and suddenly Manterror's blades lodging themselves into the broken ship's exterior armor, Rattrap looked up at Orcariner with determination and climbed up the rocky structure, readying himself to start firing off his new toy. There was nothing close enough to fall on top of him, and the footing for the turret would not be easy to detiorate with gun fire alone in order to knock him down. "Let's go, Big O!"

"Rattrap, what's your sitaution?"

"Outside with Orcariner, settin' up the Nomad's gun turret for extra firepower. Big O's idea," he answered Rhinox.

Satisfied with his reply, as well as Orcariner's creativity and usefulness of weapons they couldn't otherwise operate without the Nomad's power, Rhinox responded, "Perfect." Then he told the computer, "Autoguns, on-line!" and the automatic guns began targeting enemy signatures within range and firing at will.

(( OOC: Keeping the shields down just in case Orcariner needs to grab anything else out of the base. Any Maximal can deactivate and activate the shields at their leisure anyway, as well as Sentinel. ))

-----

"I'm certain. Though, I wish had enough time to tell you what kind of bot he was before you ever had the chance to meet him."

Optimus smiled warmly at her, the expression suggesting that it was okay.

"I was a prisoner of war to a Predacon commander and his people. I was forced to fight for my life and they watched and cheered for their warriors to kill me. That's where they got TyCross to come out and that's the first time I saw him. We met in the battlefield... and I lost."

Primal's smile faded as Whitegrazer went on to explain who TyCross was and how they had met. It cleared up his earlier suspicions and questions that TC himself had failed to answer. Although something told him she was smiling again, he felt a deeper distraction and pain to the memory that was far clearer in her spark than the energy she was trying to disguise it with. He couldn't help but frown lightly.

"But in that loss, I gained a different understanding of the world around me. I thank him for that loss. Though, we still had a lot to learn from each other before we began to really understand each other, and soon, I saw him as my mentor and my father. He may seem chaotic and manipulative some times. It's all just a facade. Deep down inside, you can see a bot who is fighting for the greater good...in his own little way.

Her definition and explanation of TyCross was certainly an eye-opener for Optimus. Why couldn't he have just said all this himself instead of constantly trying to push Primal's buttons and giving him nothing but frustrating riddles? He was not fond of mindgames. Despite all of that, though, he now understood her relationship with her master and what he meant to her. He could respect that.

You just have to know how to deal with him." "I do. If I ever see him again, he and I are going to have a little talk about what he did to you here."

What he did to me here? thought Primal. Did she know about the visions and emotions that he zapped into his spark? No, he didn't think so. As troubling as they were, he tried to keep them aside. Some day there would be clarification. As his optics seemed to distance themselves for a moment, he gently shook his head and looked at her... or rather her energy of the presence of her core-conscience. Whether or not it was his own mind molding her into what he remembered her as with her entire body, or something on her end, he didn't know but it brought his spark to peace when he looked at her. "I'm certain he meant well," he said.

"You should thank Rhinox. It was his invention that has bought me to you."

He tilted his head, curious, and a smile emerged again on his semi-transparent face. "I should have known." ...But what else could it do?

"Isn't it beautiful, Optimus? We aren't just Maximals or Predacons here. We are Cybertronians. There is no war or hate. Everyone just living together in peace. Someday... some day our planet will be just like this."

His focus followed her's, looking around and taking in everything that was the Matrix. Yes, it was beautiful. But even with all that it was, he didn't want to stay here. He wanted to go back and finish what he had started with his Maximals. ...What he had started with Megatron. Unfortunately, his optimism and hope wavered like a sea-saw with her last comment. He feared there was too much corruption, greed, and selfishness for such a peace on Cybertron as she had described. But he refrained himself from saying so.

"The Predacons are attacking. You must follow me back."

Primal's optics suddenly narrowed in anger. He had no idea how long he had been gone now, but if this was Megatron's final stand against the Maximals as he assumed it was, then this was the time to make a difference and take a huge leap of faith. Without knowing how this was "supposed" to work, what she even meant by him following her back, or even with what body he was supposed to use, Optimus simply reached out and laid his hand on the center of her chest where her spark would have been had they been alive. "Lead the way, Whitegrazer," was the last thing she heard him say in a firm voice before a bright flash blinded her and suddenly darkness surrounded him again. The Matrix was gone for both of them. Sheer silence and a pitch black void swallowed Optimus, but something was different this time then when he had died. Traveling separate ways, their link was interrupted once more and neither of them could detect the other. Did it work...?

Cecaelia reverted to her beast mode and followed Umbra.

I believe we should try to remain as stealthy as possible and focus on taking out their defenses.. probably from attacking the personnel in the bridge and taking over their defense controls. We can get in easily with one of my disguises, if necessary I can conceal you on my back and let you off in the doorway without them detecting you. After that, they'll be onto our presence. But I am open to suggestions if you would rather do it differently.

"Well..your idea is perfect enough. But I suggest that we should do it quick. Megatron doesn't like waiting. We should try taking out those who are not in the bridge so that it would be easier for the others to finish off the rest of the maximals." Cecaelia picked up her speed and slightly rose up to the surface to check if there was a way in to the Maximal's base.

"Predacons... ATTACK!"

The final battle has begun to settle the war once and for all which Starshadow grinned evily, "THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ASKED!" she pulled out Mortem and started firing with joy. Targeting the autoguns was of course the first priority. Maybe after this bloodbath, she could have the opportunity to leave the planet and return to her own comrades, her only family. But first things first.

OOC: Here's my post! Hope its cool with everyone, sorry again that it took so long. I was gonna say something to BA, but figured Tarantulas' last orders to her from before were good enough, unless Una needs/want eight legs to say something more. Also, lemme know what ya think about Tarantulas giving Arachnitron a ride, I figure he wouldn't want to leave his new assistant in the dust (or wait too long to reach their destination), BUT, I also realize he might be too proud to give someone a lift willingly. If so, I can alter the post and have Arachnitron follow behind him or something since he's not a nice guy after all lol.

Phoenix wrote: Nemesis' faint smile perked up into a grin.

"Indeed. We'll have to figure out what to do with the bodies once we are done here."

She briefly entertained the idea of keeping a stash of them as fuel for her nanobots.. once they were fully functional again that is. It was only a matter of time.

The female transmetal then transformed, forming a fierce bird of prey, and let her boosters ignite as she soared into the sky. She could not help admiring the army that had gathered below, its leader holding a position on a tall boulder looking out at his soldiers. And then the command came in a loud, confident voice.

"Heh heh, we could always decorate the exterior of the Darksyde with their remains, or open up a trophy room. I call dibs on Airazor & Dinobot" Terrorsaur replied to Nemesis with a wicked grin, fangs flashing.

Phoenix wrote: "Predacons... ATTACK!"

"Let the good times roll Flyers! Do what we do best, TERRORIZE!" Terrorsaur cawed as he flew onward into battle, deftly avoiding incoming autogun fire as he activated his shoulder cannons and fired two missiles at the nearest autoguns, the resulting explosions not only obliterating the guns, but damaging the hull of the Axalon as well.

"Attacking from the air with automatic weapons....NOW THAT'S A SPORT!" Terrorsaur cheered as he changed coursed to come in for another attack, keeping his eyes open for any maximal flyers that may have chosen to join the fray.

NaitoKage wrote: Independently, the gun in his hand Stag was aiming himself out as he observed Nemesis and Terrorsaur flying towards them. Even though Nemesis was moving swiftly in her bird form, Stag found it strange he couldn't detect a thermal reading. Perhaps some form of stealth was applied to Nemesis, but that just meant she couldn't be targeted by Aerostriker's missiles without some extra effort applied. Stag aimed at Nemesis, then unleashed a high powered Electron beam at her left wing shoulder.

Meanwhile the combat information of the enemy locations, as well as Aerostriker's location were sent in an update to Orcariner's Beacon 2.0 system.

In spite of the fun he was having, Terrorsaur spotted the newbie, the one who'd tried to ground him last time, opening fire on Nemesis, and while he normally left his fellow preds to fend for themselves, he did hope to become leader someday, and it would be harder to destroy the maximal base without the aid second best flyer the predacons had at their disposal. The others weren't nearly as good as he was or were prone to being blown up, so that left him with one option...

"Nemesis! Incoming maximal flyer, protect your left side!" Terrorsaur warned, as he himself fired several laser shots in Aerostriker's direction, eager for some payback.

"I've been dying to test these babies out" Terrorsaur said with a smirk, licking his lips as he drew his brand new swords from his arms and flew forward to close the distance between him and Aerostriker, a sea of flame left in his wake as he swung both blades at Aerostriker, one blading aiming for his gun hand while the other went for his flight pack.

Blackrosefencer wrote: "Yes, I can do that." she said softly convinced that Tarantulas had meant what he said. "But...." Her voice trailed off and her optics shifted their gaze looking down away from him almost in shame. Should she tell him that she suspected the chip was breaking down already? He would need to know something like that, right? It would be like not telling a medic that you were leaking mech fluid. But would he decide that it was a sign that the chip was ready to be replaced and replace it or would he decide the chip wasn't working correctly and it never would? She couldn't take that chance. This had to be a cure and it had to work.

She reminded herself that the voice of the Predacon was still so distant that she couldn't make out any of her words. Not to mention she couldn't even hear the Maximal yet. Tarantulas was probably right. There was still time before the chip would fail completely. She had nothing to worry about.

"You're just a little nervous because you're not used to being the only voice in here. You're probably not even hearing the Predacon's voice...it's probably just the trees rustling or the wind blowing and playing tricks on your mind," she reassured herself. No, she shouldn't tell him about the Predacon's voice...not yet. Not until she was sure that it really was the Predacon that she was hearing. She couldn't bear to hear him say that there was nothing he could do.

She looked at him again and offered him a small smile hoping it looked like she was reassured and not still nervous. "Never mind. You're right. Not hearing their voices is making me a bit jumpy that's all. I guess it's something to get used to."

Suddenly Megatron's voice rang out from Arachnitron's comm link channel. She had muted her end of it, but left the channel open in case Megatron had a response.

"Make it quick or you will miss the entertainment."

Tarantulas narrowed his optics at her for a moment, sensing she was hiding something from him, but the green color of her eyes and her demeanor assured him that she was still indeed the hybrid, and that she was still his to command.

"If she is indeed hiding something, there will be time to examine her and her chip more thoroughly later, for now, I simply need her in the field, and if she fails my expectations, I still have my newly chained pet Blackarachnia to fall back on" Tarantulas decided to himself, though having a willing assistant over a mind controlled slave was preferable, easier to work with and a sign of his superiority over the other predacons.

Hearing Megatron's voice over the comm link, Tarantulas said "Very well my dear, but know that you can always confide in me later once the maximals are taken care of, unlike the Tin Tyrant, I take care of my subordinates. Try to keep that in mind if any issues should arise."

He slipped his hand down to the small of her back and began to lead her out of the room, trusting that his new slave Blackarachnia would do as he had instructed once he'd left, or else face the consequences of her defiance.

Blackrosefencer wrote: The Hybrid felt a little bit of the Predacon programming's battle lust slip though the barrier...so to speak. The Hybrid didn't usually seek out a battle, she usually just let them come to her. But for some reason she felt like maybe slagging some Maximals must put her mind at ease. Her smile turned a bit mischievous. "Aren't you just dying to see what the upgrade did to your weapons?" She winked at him not necessarily intending to flirt...just hoping to change the topic and get them out on the battle field. She didn't want to think about the chip failing anymore. She suddenly, inexplicably, really wanted to shoot something. It was a feeling that made her even more nervous because it was further proof that the chip must be failing more than Tarantulas knew. But she had to keep it from him for now....if the beast wars ended and the chip failed at the same time....they would destroy Arachnitron for sure and there'd be no Maximals left to save her from that.

Arachnitron's wink and smile gave Tarantulas bad memories of Blackarachnia's seduction routines, but he could sense the fembot's intent wasn't the same, so he simply replied "More than merely my weapons were upgraded, beast mode!"

Tarantulas reverted to his spider form for the first time since his resurrection, his new beast mode being more mechanical looking than before in sharp contrast to his organic robot mode. But after analyzing his new tech specs, he knew there was more to his new beast mode than just a new look and more powerful form. Concentrating, a pair of wheels emerged from under his body as his legs folded up along his sides, transforming him into a transmetal spidercycle.

Revving his new engines, Tarantulas said "Impressed? If so, climb aboard unless you wish to walk all the way there."

Hearing the news through his radio, Orcariner's optics widened in alarm.

"We need to move fast. Really fast."

Using his thrusters to propel himself towards the protrusion that Rattrap had indicated, the giant placed the large gun down in a stable position. With a grunt, he slammed his fist into side of the rock itself, effectively creating a hole large enough to conceal the battery.

"Rhinox," he radioed, "We're outside proximity range so you're clear to pull up Sentinel's shield. Rattrap and I will do our best to draw the Predacon's gunfire away from the ship."

He looked back his smaller Maximal companion. This attack was coming on much sooner than he anticipated, and there was a lot of uncertainty that he did not like. With only two soldiers outside to defend the base, there was not much that they could do against the entire Predacon team.

He said to Rattrap, "Let's hope you and I can distract them long enough for the others to finish setting up shop. We're going to have to hit the Preds hard and loud."

His headset was now feeding him warning messages. The number of enemy signatures were popping up all over his radar. This was possibly the most amount of Predacons that he had ever faced in a single battle. This would also the first time that he had ever seen Megatron in person. The idea of it shook his spark. Orcariner has heard many war stories from his teammates about the tyrannosaurus rex. Only a few Maximals had ever fought the Predacon leader, and even fewer had actually bested him in single combat. The ship's databanks registered Megatron as having the highest firepower, strength, and durability out of the entire Darksyde crew. As their leader, it only made sense that he was also rather intelligent. With a nervous sigh, Orcariner fired up his thrusters and launched himself into the sky to meet the enemy head on.

Already, he could see that the majority of Predacon flyers were airborne. Manterror had already taken the initiative of launching the first strike, as Orcariner could see saw blades glistening off the evening sun flying towards the base. The giant Maximal unsheathed his sword and powered up his energy shield. With a booming battle cry, the orca dashed towards the group of flyers with his weapon pointed forward. While they clearly had the advantage in numbers and firepower, he hoped that the sight of a large flying sentry would at least disrupt their formation. In the sea of red blips, his radar detected that Aerostriker had already left the base and had begun attacking the Predacons. While the Maximal flyer had performed well in the most recent battle, Orcariner had a bad feeling that the newcomer would not last long. Granted, he was fast, but no one could take on that many flyers at once. Not to mention the fact that Terrorsaur seemed to be armed with some new weapons.

"Predacons!" he yelled, "I'm the one you should be worried about!"

Accelerating as much as he could, Orcariner geared up his face plate prepared himself for a collision course.

Saber grabbed few a automatic weapons before heading outside to give the Predacons something to think about.

"Predacons, I'm the one you should be worried about!"

Yeah, up until the beast decides to make an appearance, then I start killing people. Primus, I hope that does not happen. Saber thought before firing random shots at the Predacons. It was simply to keep them on their toes.

(ooc: Just a quick note.. Silverbolt will be part of the flyers for now. Megs had previously ordered Inferno to be part if the initial ground strike force. He may have flight capabilities but I believe his talents are put to better use at the front line. Manterror and Waspinator are joining the air strike force momentarily so we'll need people on the ground as well. I'll be making a response a little later today.)

Primus, I've seen some nasty things in my time, but I think you take the cake on ugly Bug boy.

With relative ease, the mantis was able to out maneuver all of the maximal's shots. He ducked low to avoid the first few lasers and then dashed to the side to be safe from the rest. They were simple shots to evade and he had years of practice over such a new fighter.

Explosions behind the two immediately alerted Manterror of Nemesis and Terrorsaur's presence. Rows of Auto Sentries were taken offline, giving the predicon fliers even better control of the skies. They were unstoppable and there was nothing that one maximal flier could do about it. He was a sitting duck.

"I have a new game to play, maxi-loser. I'm going to throw these razor blades at you and you are going to catch them." The green mantis yelled back to his instigator. "WITH YOUR FACE! HAHAHHA" And with no remorse, he hurled a volley of razor blades at his opponent. He didn't care that Terrorsaur was trying to get in close to do the same, afterall, killing any other predicons in the process was simply collateral damage.

---

Repair process complete. Opening hatch doors..

Airazor's green optics burst to life once again and they saw the unopened hatch doors in front of her. The damage she had sustained earlier in the day was now only a memory as her silver body shined from the new repairs. However, the feeling of awakening from the CR chamber was not her favorite. It usually brought about extreme nausea and headaches. This time was no different. "Uggghhh" She groaned, gripping her head and leaning on the walls of the chamber. "I really wish these chambers would fix illness as well as damage..." Her voice echoed in the enclosed chamber as it bounced along the metal walls.

The doors were still not open, despite what the computer had mentioned before and Airazor was beginning to panic. She never heard of anyone getting stuck in a CR chamber before and the sudden reality that she might be the first dawned onto her. Reluctantly, she moved away from the walls which had been supporting her and she pounded onto the door. "Help!!" She yelled, hoping someone was in the hanger, even though it was unlikely. She waited a moment but there was no answer. "Why do these things always happen to me?" She said to herself, trying to think of something else. Inside the chamber there was nothing to grip onto, so pushing the door open manually would be impossible and firing her weapons at point blank range was ALSO not a good idea. Not unless she wanted to visiting the other CR chamber. She had to call for help.

Opening up a channel to the Maximals on her COM she spoke calmly to them. Trouble is, she had no idea of the battle happening outside the ship. "This is Airazor to all maximal's. I'm stuck in the CR chamber, it wont open. Could someone come down and help?" She closed her COM and waited for a reply, but the first voice was that of the CR Chambers computer.

Error. Door jam. Please contact technical support.

"Great, it didn't even give me a number to call."

((OOC: I'm liking Airazor's dry humor, Worpex. And Manterror's craziness...))

Steelclaw got back on his com-link while he took out his gauss rifle and started checking the rounds inside of it.

"Thanks, Waspinator," he said. "I think this means I owe you one."

Megatron wrote:Predacons... ATTACK!

Steelclaw closed his weapon and pumped it to load a round into the barrel. He took a step forward and then, speaking calmly, as if it was a routine question that he needed to have clarified to in order to best follow Megatron's commands, he asked his leader, "Sir, are we accepting any surrender?"

* * *

Dinobot was irritated.

The Predacons fliers were already engaging the Maximals, and he wanted to join in the defense as he had told Rhinox, but the enemy was simply too far away for his weapons to handle yet. Perhaps that was just as well; he was not yet finished laying down the explosives and holograms, and he didn't want to think how he would respond to the temptation of abandoning that job if he had the choice.

Suddenly, he heard a sound behind him as Cheetor transformed into beast mode and extended his thrusters. Dinobot extended an arm. "Stay at your post!" he commanded.

Cheetor looked back at him with a mix of anger and worried haste. "The Preds are already here! I've got to go help Striker and Orcariner."

"I have yet to witness you fly in battle mode," Dinobot retorted. "If that is because you can't, then you would be entering the fray without a weapon. I don't care how you imagine yourself tackling and clawing the enemy--that is a move of desperation, and you will only be in the way of your comrades! Megatron's ground troops will be advancing here. We can create an effective screen against them, but only if we continue you with our job."

Dinobot immediately felt a small pang of guilt, thinking about how he'd gone to retrieve the Golden Disks, but he crushed it without hesitation--that was far different.

Cheetor looked the other way towards the aerial battle and then finally transformed with a groan of frustration. "Slag! They're outnumbered, Dinobot!" Even as he spoke, he angled an explosive into the crook between a boulder and the ground.

"That is the way of--" An explosion echoed behind them, and Dinobot saw one of the autoguns go up in flame while Terrorsaur flew away. The next moment, a shot came in from Starshadow.'

"They're here now!" Cheetor called. And it just didn't seem right to him to let the Preds start taking out the base's defenses just so that he could... put up more defenses. Putting the rest of what he had in his subspace, he put his arms together and returned fire at Starshadow as he advanced between rocks so that any fighting they did wouldn't be right by the base.

Dinobot knew there would be no calling Cheetor back now. As for Terrorsaur, he would have to trust one of the other shooters to take care of him. Was that Rattrap up on the ridge? Good. For everything else the rodent lacked, he was an incredible shooter.

Still, Dinobot rushed with the rest of his work. The sooner he was done, the better. "Wintersong, Saber," he called on his com-link. "How close are you to completion?"

Blackarachnia had been exhausted from the stain of resisting Tarantulas's will over her. She had closed her optics for a second. In that second, she saw figaments of figures, places, and things that even shook her to her core. It was horrific, disturbing, and creepy. Awaking was the greatest thing for her and overhearing Arachnitron's plight. That chip was only temporary, which she already knew as well as her knowledge of Arachnitron's mental problems. She knew what that felt like now. Yet, she was going to find her own way to get Tarantulas out of her head not ask anyone else to help her. Arachnitron was desperate and she knew Tarantulas would do anything to keep Arachnitron on his side. How many chips would he make before Arachnitron realized his solution never benefited her, only him? When she was useless, he would adandoned her to those voices she wished to quieten. Stupid, little widow.

She started to groan and get up. Her head was still pounding and that made her very irritable. It wasn't just that. Those images... she couldn't let go of them. Ugh, his mind was still inside her, swimming around like a bad computer virus. She remained silent as she headed back towards Megatron's quarters. She didn't have any confidence of finding anything and hoped she didn't have to fight off any boobytraps. Now, she knew Tarantulas', but Megatron was a whole different ballgame. He always had something up his sleeve. Well, at least, she got to see what Megatron had in his room. The only people allowed were Inferno and Megatron himself. She didn't blame him. She wouldn't allow herself or anyone in here either. Too much that could be used against him. She opened the door manually. The room was tidy and sterile. Passing his little pool of energon, she sniffled a crack of anger at the idea that Megatron used the energon for such a luxury.

"All going for the worthy Predacon cause, my skidplate!" Pompous slagger!
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Touch of Optimus' hand on her, the sparks zipping past her in alarming speed, and her consciousness been drag down like it was tied to an anchor back to her body was so swift that when the hatch lifted and opened up, everything seemed hazy and unfocused. As she tried to stand up, her feet didn't even feel the metal floor beneath her, which made her feet dance against the strange black surface just as she did within the Matrix. But she knew she wasn't there yet her soul was having an issue adjusting. Everything seemed unreal to her. It looked like a dream. Was it a dream?

"Unit: Whitegrazer's core consciousness is back to normal parameters."

"Thank you, Sentinel." She chuckled softly even though she didn't feel her consciousness was.

Thunderous booms were happening outside. Her survival instincts kicked in. She was about to dash to the bridge of the Axalon but then she changed course to the blank protoform. Optimus was right behind her. Why wasn't he here yet? It was then she realized she had forgotten something. Time was endless in the Matrix. A few seconds could be a few minutes. A few minutes could be a few hours. A few hours could be a day or a month. She wondered how long it took her to get here. Hopefully, Optimus would be here shortly. They may have to hold out for a bit before Optimus' spark could enter back into the living world and into his new body.

Her connection to Optimus was once again lost. It was like The Matrix wanted her to be kept in suspense along with everyone else. She laid her hand upon it to stabilize herself as she was about to fall again. Though she wanted to place her hand there in the first place, slowly, she caressed the lid and smiled.

((OOC: Yes, I really need to stop with these edits. ))

Wintersong briefly stopped when hearing the explosions back towards base, turning her amber optics to the aerial battle going on above much to any Maximal's dismay. They were striking far earlier then they had expected, making this task all the more difficult and it seemed to only add to their problems the Predacon ground unit was already on the attack to follow up. And their autoguns weren't standing a chance. "Grrr, why do the odds always have to be against us?" Wintersong muttered, ducking as a shot from Starshadow shot past, though certainly a ways off from hitting her. Still it had been better safe then sorry, the tigress really had enough getting blasted today as it was. From where she was though Wintersong really wondered if she could do much damage to the Predacon forces, somewhat hoping her mini-missiles could draw attention from the base.

But at that same moment she heard Airazor's call for help and Dinobot's com. of their progress. "Airazor Tigatron and Rhinox should still be inside, the rest of us are out in the middle of a battle with the Preds, and unfortunately we're swamped out here to come back inside."Wintersong reluctantly answered, now wondering if her fellow tiger or Rhinox would hear that call but not knowing Whitegrazer too was inside and back. "And Dinobot I only got a few more explosives on my end, I should be done in a few kilks."She added before peeking over from behind a boulder and firing four mini-missiles, two from either wrist towards the direction of the Predacons before ducking back down and planting the last few explosives she had into a few other crevices before she quickly slinked back to join her comrades.

Nemesis had been so preoccupied with the task at hand, namely blasting away at the Maximal defenses, that she had not even noticed the incoming beam from Stag. Fortunately one of her fellow flyers had her back..

Terrorsaur wrote:"Nemesis! Incoming maximal flyer, protect your left side!"

Her reaction was spontaneous, tilting herself to the right so that she was flying sideways, just in time for the concentrated beam to barely miss her left side and continue on into the atmosphere above. After a sigh of relief, Nemesis chuckled at the unaccustomed notion of having someone give any thought to her well-being. Perhaps allying herself for the time being could prove helpful.

She opened a channel to Terrorsaur, almost expressing her gratitude, before realizing that she was at a perfect angle to take out another of the Maximal auto-guns. Several rounds from her particle cannon aimed directly at the base of the gun rapidly caused the firing weapon to topple over into a smoking pile on the ground. Nemesis then went into a series of dives, climbs and rolls, avoiding the incoming fire from other automatic guns and Maximal resistance as well.

Nemesis merely cackled, adoring the sensation of the air beneath her wings as her weapon fired off round after round against her attackers. Being a moving target in rapid flight gave her a distinct advantage over the Maximals on the ground beneath. If they attempted to hide behind boulders and other obstructions, she merely circled around and fired at them from the other side.

The glee was apparent in her voice as she once again opened a channel to Terrorsaur. "Be careful or I might label you as a team player," she responded teasingly before adding a quick; "It's good to know my back is covered."

'Thank you' were not words that came easily to her.

Some distance away she spotted the source of that beam that had fired at her earlier.

Well now.. It appeared this particular Maximal wanted to play rough. Nemesis was game for that.

And so she opened fire, a steady stream of electric blasts directly at her target.

(ooc: Will have to post for rest later.. Got talked into working overnight.)

Manterror's dodging was impressive, but not surprising to Aerostriker, practically being a expert of different methods of flight, he could tell from Manterror's design he wasn't made for fast long distance flight like Terrorsaur, but short highly maneuverable bursts. His wings also made him produce less heat being more stealthy and hard to target with his missiles.

Terrorsaur wrote:"Attacking from the air with automatic weapons....NOW THAT'S A SPORT!"

Aerostriker's attention had been peaked, hearing the unavoidable sound of Terrorsaur in the distance closing in after haven just blown up two of the ship autoguns. Stag spoke up Error, Missiles are not classified as "Automatic weapons."

Aerostriker spoke up as he flew backwards swiftly from the sudden laser fire from Terrorsaur I don't think being pedantic with him is going to help Stag!

Stag ejected a spent cartridge, cycling a new one in while observing the area around them. With the top side Autoguns down, the ship only had turrets for taking out land forces, it was a sitting duck to all the fliers.

Terrorsaur wrote:"I've been dying to test these babies out"

Aerostriker swung his right leg straight forward, while his left leg bent at the knee, his back thruster's right thruster vectoring it's thrust forward as his leg thrusters kicked in, suddenly sending him backwards and swinging in a hard arc to the left of the much larger Terrorsaur's amateurish sword attacks. As he was about to straighten his legs to activate his afterburners to pull up, his right arm suddenly pointed Stag straight down and his thrusters cut out against his will.

Manterror wrote:"I have a new game to play, maxi-loser. I'm going to throw these razor blades at you and you are going to catch them." "WITH YOUR FACE! HAHAHHA"

Orcariner wrote:"Predacons!" he yelled, "I'm the one you should be worried about!"

Stag's afterburner suddenly kicked in, dragging Aerostriker straight down with a yelp in surprise as most of the blades narrowly missed, one carving through part of his left shoulder armor. H-H-HEY! I thought we had an agreement on warnings! he shouted. A warning would of been inefficient at that time, recommend converting to vehicle mode.

Airazor wrote:"This is Airazor to all maximal's. I'm stuck in the CR chamber, it wont open. Could someone come down and help?"

Aerostriker let out a sigh hearing his radio, and his partner. It's going to be one of those days huh? Vehicle mode. He suddenly spun in midair transforming to his jet mode, catching the air with his wings, then firing up his thrusters and skimming just above the river's surface as he pulled up, his afterburner suddenly kicking in as Nemesis then started shooting at him.

(And for clarification, Aerostriker's dodge leaves Terrorsaur on a collision course for Orcariner, and Manterror's buzzsaws. The fliers are piling up in one area.*L*)
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Waspinator rushed in finally in his wasp mode,slowing down and hovering near Steelclaw as he set down the Minigun near him. Wazzpinator deliver Bearbot's gun as promised, now Wazzpinator enter the fray! he then said with a buzz as he transformed to his jet mode flying towards the Axalon, then started firing a rapid burst of plasma blasts from the antenna on his wasp head to pepper along the ship as he flew over it.

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Quickstrike ran towards a group of rocks, then took cover peaking out as he saw the Maximals grouped infront of their base, as he was about to attack with his cobra head, one of Wintersong's missiles came flying towards his position, knocking the fuzor over with a shout of What in tarnation!?

_____________

Cecaelia wrote:"Well..your idea is perfect enough. But I suggest that we should do it quick. Megatron doesn't like waiting. We should try taking out those who are not in the bridge so that it would be easier for the others to finish off the rest of the maximals."

Umbra listened to Cecaelia, through was still scanning Cheetor, observing his mannerisms and actions as he spoke to Dinobot in the distance. With the scan completed, he moved one of his tentacles slithering his body over carefully, reaching over and pulling Cecaelia up onto the rock bridge. Stick low and to the back of the lift... Umbra..Maximize..

The rock camo pattern shifted, changing color to a tan and striped pattern as Umbra transformed to his robot mode in a low crouch on one knee, which took slightly longer as his tentacles coiled onto parts of his body while his exterior changed it's texture, color, and shape completely. Once the process finished, he had the appearance of Dinobot, though sudden patterns of burn marks and superficial damage added to the disguise, to make it seem more convincing that he'd been battling outside.

He gave out a quiet snarl, much like Dinobot normally did drawing his poison blade, then put the sheath away into subspace. He concealed the blade along his right forearm, his left hand then moved grabbing Cecaelia by the top of her mantle and walked towards the Maximal base lift, setting her down on the platform as he stepped on I'll draw their attention, when I attack and they're drawn to me, transform and start shooting. he said, even sounding like Dinobot, though not speaking exactly like him.


Umbra took a deep breath, then hit the button on the lift causing it to raise up into the ship. If any of the Maximals outside did happen to see the sudden doppelganger of Dinobot, it didn't matter. He was already inside, their hopes of survival were to be dashed like a sand castle at high tide.

After the glass to the lift canopy opened, the fake Dinobot walked into the room giving out a sudden roar as he spoke Megatron's forces outnumber us 3 to 1!What are you still doing in here?! he spoke in a tone of anger with his fists clenched to his sides, he then stopped as if relaxing his body to give the appearance he'd regained his composure No.. this wont do..

He then walked towards Tigatron abnormally quiet as he grabbed the Tiger robot at the console with his left hand covering Tigatron's mouth to muffle his scream out of habit, his right hand twirling the concealed blade out into a standard grip, then plunged the poison short sword into Tigatron's back. It would seem if we can not defeat his forces.. we must become them! he let out a low snarl, as he attempted to move Tigatron while turning, as if to use him like a hostage, or living shield.