"Double Jeopardy"

[New Moon]

(Ooc:Just doing this one more post then wiill wait until the others are caught up.)

"Some trees are missing their tops and there's some others tht have bent or cracked brnaches. Assuming that the pod it's not but mile or so away from where we are. Just hidden somwwhere in those trees." Frilla replied before looking at Sonar. "If luck is on our side it might still have yet to scan a form or if it has it's one to join the Predacons." She said before climbing down and jumping down to the gorund. After that she took off through the underbrush again.

[SkyxDB]

"Oh geez, this isn't going well, is it?" said Skyfire feeling a little worried.

[Venatrix]

((OOC: OK finished reading up, and figured out about the 3rd pod as well.
I'll get to refining my post so we can get this thing running.
Pod 3 is gonna be a Maxi: Feralnight , ad Pod 2 a Pred: Black Arachnia.
I take it the Pred still need the craft to transport the pod, and so i think it would be more interesting for the Maximals to sucure Feralnight's pod first, and BA's pod next, and have them lose it to the Preds.))

Valkyrie reseaved the reply from Orcariner.

"Blue 2 to Blue Leader. En route to Bogey 2 but tangos are present several kilometers ahead. Blue 3 is in pursuit but we now have Bogey 3 in the territory. Requesting instructions for course of action."

The bird thought for a second.
She could go after the new arrival herself, but it was possible she would meet with resistance, which automatically meant that 1 or more Predacons would be involved.
She knew she needed back-up.
So the mission commander started to program a new beacon when another transmition comes in, this time over her com-channel.

"Blue Leader," Orcariner radioed to Valkyrie, "this is Blue 2 do you copy? What is your ETA?"

"Orcariner, this is Valkyrie whats happening? Anyhow, since you seem to be a lot farther away from my location i first estimated, i'll head for the 3rd pod myself. You make sure to get to that second pod before the Preds do. Have Skyfire secure the second pod, and the rest of you make sure the Preds don't make her job to difficult. I'll contact you whether i succeeded or failed in securing that new pod. Also note, that if obtaining the second pod would be hopeless, fall back, and send Skyfire to my target area for assistance. Valkyrie out."

With that said, she took to the skies again, and headed straight for her target at full speed.
She had no idea in what kinda situation her team was in at the moment, but she was sure she would get an update from Orcariner before she would be out of communication range.

The Predacons, she calculated, where already on the move and divided their forces to retrieve both pods, and so head a head start. But their fastest fliers where at the other side of the planet, and so giving her a good chance to get to the 3rd pod first.

[NaitoKage]

(One of the OC characters, FeralNight, a Fusor Maximal. So the Maximals gain a new flier.)

Glowstick watched as Steelclaw and StarShadow headed off towards the downed Stasis pod, he then closed the rear hatch of the transport, walking to the cockpit he smacked the monitor as it flickered, then used the distorted image to slowly drive the vehicle into some woodland cover. The vehicle parked, he then started to open the medical kit pulling out and preparing some wires, his tentacles starting to disassemble and open points on his body.

It was certainly risky, but he didn't have much choice at this point. He had pondered the solution over in the back of his head for months, but he wasn't entirely sure how to do it back in those days as he was still studying the features of his aquatic transformation. It seemed however this time he was lucky, originally his body was never meant to fly or move in a 3D environment, but a Squid lived in such an environment. It was the first time he was able to properly utilize the Anti Gravity system to it's fullest by using jets of air to propel himself, but his beast mode couldn't even support itself outside of water. But.. with some modifications.. it could.

His optics moved watching the tentacles, he glanced for a moment noticing Steelclaw had left the Minigun behind, either to increase his speed or to give Glowstick some sort of fighting chance if he came up against the Maximals again. He chuckled slightly to himself, He then started work on disconnecting and adding splicing lines to the Anti gravity generator in his chest, running new lines through his framework to the control points of his beast mode. His lasers focused, then fired well controlled beams soldering the wires to existing points.

________________________________

Icebreaker came up towards the beach, he leaned over sniffing the area. He could smell the leaks from the damaged vehicle had left a trail, but he had more important things on his mind. He then turned his head noticing the smell of burning wood and soil in the air, with a minor hint of ozone and plasma. The new Stasis pod that just crashed was near by, Icebreaker turned towards the water shouting out to Orcariner Hey, that new one is near by, should we make an attempt for it?

[Alak]

((OOC: Ven, Glowstick is going to transport the pod himself instead of using the Leviathan.))

Upon receiving the team leader's message, Orcariner replied to Icebreaker.

"We stay on track," he said, "Valkyrie is going for the new arrival so we're just racing the Predacons to the initial one."

Approaching his friend on the beach, the killer whale's gravity lifts whined to life as they propelled him out of the water. Orcariner chose to remain in beast form so that he would be in prime fighting condition once they retrieve the pod. Shorting out due to energon radiation would also be most unfortunate.

"Tracks lead straight into the trees," he noted, "Want to take lead on this one?"

[starshadow]

((Please excuse me if I made my post out-of-point. Flu is definetly screwing my brains, breathing difficulty(my lung hurts badly) and my eyes hurt . If I'm not wrong, BA's pod is in a snowy place))

Hours of running, the land was full of sand, sand and more sand including cactuses(if I spelled that correctly), the cat would have to be more careful if she ever walked on any quicksand or caught in a sandstorm. "Find anything yet, Steel?" Starshadow looked around and sniffed the air.

[Blazemane]

((OOC: Blackarachnia's pod was in a snowy location in the original episode, but it's been decided that we should modify the episode and put her pod in the American Southwest.

Sorry you have the flu. And don't worry, there's a lot of details flying around in the role play right now. Anyways, I hope you get better soon.

On the note of flying details, let me pretend this happened...

Steelclaw grabbed his sniper rifle out of the Leviathan's turret, some water still dripping off of it from the now melted ice...

*whistles innocently*

Also, to everyone, I have a question about general playing style. Should we, or shouldn't we, take longer with the distances we have to get to certain locations?

On one hand, it would allow for a lot more character interaction beyond battling, and it would also make it more difficult for any given player to just say "we're at 'such and such' a place already. Looks like we get item K." Fast arrivals like that also rush people playing characters on the other side to be where everyone else is, which once again rushes and/or cuts off character interaction, and sometimes just seems unrealistic.

With no offense intended to anyone, how did we, for example, cross the Atlantic Ocean that fast? I mean, the Leviathan could be built with incredible specifications, but it didn't take hardly any time at all after it got stalled for Ocariner to catch up to it, which means it couldn't have been going too much faster than a Cybertronian-enhanced killer whale. And when he did catch up to it- it not moving at all- land was spotted close by.

But on the other hand, I must be forced to admit that if we truly allowed as much time as it takes for the Leviathan traveling a little bit above Cybertronian-enhance killer whale speed to reach America, then we'd be taking way too long. The same is true for a group traveling at a Rhino's speed to reach the poles.

We can only be so accurate to travel time before it becomes absurd. But I do still feel like characters are being rushed by the brevity of their travels. What do you all think?))

[NaitoKage]

(*L* Well, if you want the exact time it would take. I estimate roughly 14 to 16 hours as the transport was well bellow mach speeds, possibly 24 hours to 36.. the reason they saw landfall so quick was because the transport was cut open, flooded, and sinking so badly that realistically.. the maximals either should of never been able to catch up, or the Predacons died a horrible death either at the hands of a number of things that didn't or did happen.

For instance a crash in the ocean like that would of tore the wing off the craft, the crash impact or freezing interfering with the rocket's cooling system could of caused a massive explosion which would of been worse by all the fuel they were carrying as energon is highly explosive even when stable, even further flood damage should of shorted out most if not all the electricals,even further by the fact that Orcariner is almost the same size roughly as the transport slashing it open with Energon blades which can cut through nearly anything, possibly igniting fuel lines and making it explode, or from being battered by Orcariner's killer whale mode.

The Predacons were riding a deathtrap.


And yes, a Rhino going from Africa to somewhere in Russia would take weeks to months. in Beastwars they did it in 1 night. And while yes, there could be the problem of the Pods being caught by others, they're already established to be a certain thing. So creative writing has to be taken in or.. plan B's

Time and speed have been a issue with people for awhile, I mean by all accuracy what is a speed of 10,what is the limit of speed that an air character,land, and water character can get? By the tv show Optimus Primal could fly faster then Cheetor could run, if we go by techspecs Cheetor could run 100 mph which Rattrap could keep up with to a degree, even further some profiles list Optimus Primal flying at speeds of Mach 7, fast enough to escape earth's gravity and get into orbit on his own making the use of the stasis pod to go into space to get away from the planet buster pointless.

I also assume part of the reason why they got to land quick was because people were bored. Which is also why the maximals attacked at sea.

Ofcourse if we want to get even more technical.. I mean the Maximals have an established leader, but the Predacons rankings would probably put Steelclaw(who has no ranking listed in character profiles) or Sonar in command of the operation, rather then having Glowstick pop up ideas going by their numbers, though.. character wise Sonar would of probably just ignored the whole thing and gone alone.

So.. yeah, I think it should probably take awhile before you reach pods logically. Its just we all like TV time I guess.)

Icebreaker looked at the floating whale with a nod "Yeah, I'll take the lead.. Valkyrie is? I don't like the sound of that.. the New pod is close by from the smell of things..." He then looked down at the ground squinting his red eyes noticing Frilla's tracks going in one direction towards the pod, as well as a Steelclaw and StarShadow's going in another direction. "Slag.. They split up! It looks like the Steelclaw and StarShadow are heading towards Delta point and that lizard chick went towards the new Stasis pod...Only question is.. where is the transport going?"

_________

Glowstick continued the operation of connecting wires to enable flight in his beast mode, a few of his tentacles working on using the current system which he used for his limbs in robot mode to be modified for his beast configuration.As he worked, a few of the wires could be seen in his transparent limbs, as he didn't care nor did have the means of making them like the rest of his body. His beast mode was too ridiculous as a disguise anyway as a Firefly squid was 2 to 3 inches in size.. not 3 meters.

[Blazemane]

((OOC: Yeah, so obviously we can't be even close to accurate. But I still feel like we jump the gun sometimes.

And I never edited Steelclaw's profile, but his rank was decided to be a 7. It's just that, Steelclaw isn't very assertive. Story-wise, he probably got the rank from following orders effectively and often, but that is, ironically, the very facet of his personality which prevents him from leading groups. He's much more of a follower. The only person he's good at leading is himself, and once in a while that will lead to him bucking orders.

Glowstick is written to be laid-back, but he's still loaded with initiative, and because he likes to be aware of all of his resources so that he can be aware of all of his options, he's naturally inclined to think of the values and setbacks of each person he's put on a mission with, which makes him the most group-aware of the Predacons on this specific team. Combine that initiative to get things accomplished the specific way he desires with that awareness of his team-mates, and he's naturally going to be the idea maker.

Steelclaw will listen to him because he's the one giving orders, and even when he disagrees, he appreciates the overall goal slightly above the specific ins and outs of achieving it.

Sonar will listen to Glowstick because his mind is on very specific, and sometimes completely unrelated tasks, so as long as somebody has the current plan figured out, he'll leave that task of planning to them and perform the specific actions that are required of him. Of course, one of the reasons his mind is constantly working on other things is because he's extremely independent, so if he does decide to disagree with a command, he generally will refuse to follow through on it. I also think he doesn't try to lead because he doesn't trust the competence of those around him. Why tell somebody else to do something when you personally can insure that it gets done?

Anyways, despite everything that could have happened to the ship under Ocariner's assault, not much really did. Ocariner was repelled, and I wouldn't put it beyond Glowstick's intelligence to repair the ship even in the ocean.

But of course, we did have to get to America at some point. And well, what is one supposed to do? Decide painstakingly that "o.k., now has been enough time?" Or see somebody reach something, and say "Nu-uh?" I suppose, then, that my desires are ambiguous and therefore there isn't any establishable rule to account for them. Oh well.))

* * *

"No, Star," Steelclaw replied simply, walking along in beast mode. "Nothing yet."

[Night-Hunter]

"Some trees are missing their tops and there's some others tht have bent or cracked brnaches. Assuming that the pod it's not but mile or so away from where we are. Just hidden somwwhere in those trees."

Interesting. Sonar thought using on his claw on his wing to stroke his chin.

"If luck is on our side it might still have yet to scan a form or if it has it's one to join the Predacons."

"We just need to change the activation code before it comes out of the pod after scanning a form." Sonar added.
He waited for Frilla to reach the ground before he let go of the branch.
Maybe on the way i could find another test subject. He thought with a smile.

[starshadow]

((So....there isn't any snow?))

Starshadow caught the scent of the pod and. "This way." she said as she jumped over a medium sized boulder.

"I'll get to the pod first and try to-" before the feline could finish her sentence, she slipped on a rock and fell on her belly.

[NaitoKage]

(Nope, no snow. Just rock and desert.. and catcus!)

[starshadow]

((Oh...okie!! I should go and edit my other post then. I think SS would suffer with heatstroke since her fur is black HAHA!! Just kidding...))

[Alak]

Icebreaker looked at the floating whale with a nod "Yeah, I'll take the lead.. Valkyrie is? I don't like the sound of that.. the New pod is close by from the smell of things..." He then looked down at the ground squinting his red eyes noticing Frilla's tracks going in one direction towards the pod, as well as a Steelclaw and StarShadow's going in another direction. "Slag.. They split up! It looks like the Steelclaw and StarShadow are heading towards Delta point and that lizard chick went towards the new Stasis pod...Only question is.. where is the transport going?"

Orcariner made a shrugging motion with his pectoral fins.

"No idea about the transport, but if we're competing with Starshadow and Steelclaw for Delta Point, I'd say we've already lost this race. My grav lifts can't keep up with a bear, not to mention a slaggin' panther, and energon radiation might fry you before you can slide over there."

He thought over the situation. They had no idea where Sonar and Glowstick where, but the killer whale's intuition told him that the latter was probably with the transport. He was, after all, the only Predacon on this mission who had the knowledge and experience to repair it.

"So far we know that there's one Predacon chasing the third pod," Orcariner continued, "If that one's closer, we'll have a better chance to reach it before she can manually change the faction code on the protoform. Even with Sonar there, I know the both of us can send them to the scrap heap without too much trouble."

The Maximal was not one to disobey orders, but he was more than willing to question them if the odds of failure exceeded those of success. Seeing Valkyrie and Skyfire's blips at the edge of his radar, Orcariner decided to send a message out to the team leader.

"Blue Leader this is Blue 2," he radioed, "Delta Point is being pursued by tangos with velocity advantage. Recommendation: alter course of action. Blue Birds pick up Delta objective and Blue Marines pick up Bogey 3. Awaiting approval, over."

Orcariner looked at Icebreaker with an uneasy expression as he waited for Valkyrie's confirmation. The Predacon's communications expert may or may not have picked that message up depending on how far ahead his position is. Regardless, it was a necessary transmission and he truly wanted a logical approach to this mission. The sun above was becoming quite noticeable now and every precious nanoclick that passed by seemed like a several cycles. Pulling up his topography map, Orcariner felt his innards lurch seeing that the beach only led to an expansive desert environment. If he was not thankful for these gravity lifts before, he definitely was thankful now.

[Venatrix]

((OOC: Ehm the discussion on whether or not we all are going to fast cant be decided right now.

Also, wait for SkyxDB to post something. I see it happening for the story to move on again before she has the opportunity to catch up again.
That last one liner i can only interpret as not being happy to be forced to post quickly.
Secondly, please spend some time in posting something worth reading. Last night i was forced to skim through 2.5 pages before i could post. After taking some time to read it more thoroughly today, i cant seem to have missed anything, coz of the many 1 to 3 line posts that are more a waste of time to read, then something you have to read to understand the characters better.

Third, I'm waiting for New Moon to reply to my IM to see how she wants to have her character introduced.))

"Blue Leader this is Blue 2," he radioed, "Delta Point is being pursued by tangos with velocity advantage. Recommendation: alter course of action. Blue Birds pick up Delta objective and Blue Marines pick up Bogey 3. Awaiting approval, over."

Valkyrie checked the information sent by Orcariner and calculated the possibilities, just to end up with even worst scenarios then with her original plan.
"Blue 2, this is Blue Leader. Thats a negative on your recommendation. If Bluebirds change heading for Bogey 2, we wouldn't make it in time. We would be at a serious disadvantage in manpower and firepower to do anything useful. Bogey 2 is in the hands of the tango's for now. However, Bogey 3 is within reach, and if my calculations are correct, Bluebird 1 and 2 will reach Bogey 3 before the tango's do. Stay on the tails of the tango's who are heading for Bogey 2, and slow them down enough for Bluebird 1 and 2 plus hopefully one, to reach your position, and take Bogey 2 from the tango's by force if necessary. Blue Leader out."

Orcariner and the other didn't have the speed to reach the 3rd pod before the Preds do, so she had no choice then to chase after the last pod with the fastest team at hand at the moment.
Better to save 1 and lose 1, then having a good chance to lose them both.
Valkyrie continued on course at full speed, knowing she'll meet up with Skyfire soon enough.