The Intergalactic Highway

(( OOC: Sorry for the late post, guys. I had actually been waiting for Alak since most of Rhinox's second half of dialogue was directed at Orcariner, but I'm moving on now.

Also, for clarification, Rhinox didn't activate Sentinel, he was just checking for its progress and if it was suffering from any errors. ))

"No big deal,"

Whether or not Cheetor was aware, it was pretty awkward for Rattrap to say something like that, but since this team needed as much confidence as they could get, he knew he was the one now who would have to hand it out as much as necessary. How did Optimus always make it look so easy? Rattrap wasn't good at this leadership stuff. He couldn't wait to get back to the Axalon and have Rhinox by his side because he had a far more leveled head about this gig than he did.

"Can we get out of here on the ground?" "We'd totally be safer staying out of sight that way, but if you need someone to fly you out of here--I'm your 'bot."

Driving along at a decent speed with the cat flying along side, Rattrap glanced around and thoughtfully twitched his snout. Checking his internal scanners, it looked like the Predacons weren't on their tails anymore. At least for now. "Maybe it's as good a time as any ta practice some maneuvers with our new vehicle modes," the dragster-like rodent suggested. Seeing a deadend up ahead made out of a high wall of rock, he sighed quietly to himself. "Try pickin' me up while we're movin' at dis speed, fly us to the top dere, and then lower me back on the ground. Easy enough, right?" He got ready for the pick up, dousing the flames from his exhaust pipes so he wouldn't burn his fellow Maximal.

-----

I see.. I heard from Orcariner how bad the war had been on you guys, but I had no idea it was this bad.

Rhinox gave Aerostriker a soft nod in confirmation.

Well.. we do have some data on the enemies we fought earlier, and if you need some extra firepower, you can count on me. Though it sounds like it's going to be a close conflict, so I might want to hold back a bit. Do you have anywhere I might be able to safely store some munitions? I'd rather put them away then risk any further damage to our allies.

Uncertain as to just how powerful or heavily armed this guy could be considering his size and stature, or possibly just misunderstanding his abilities, Rhinox nodded again and said, "We have an armory where you can store them. Saber-Fang can show you," he recommended after seeing her a little down from her attempted joke that he had trampled on earlier. Maybe she just needed more to do, to keep her mind occupied, and hopefully her beast won't surface again any time soon.

Nice to meet you.

"Likewise," Tigatron smiled.

Download complete, upload of personel data,system backup, remote view, and enemy data complete. Enemy data for view on primary display. Enemy corresponding data has been updated.

The white tiger looked at Stag, curious and intrigued as he listened to his updates.

Analysis of enemy unit stands 6 meters tall Titan class, equipped with a Battleship class Railgun and Anti tank class 40 mm Machine Gatling Cannon. Posses superior firepower, armor, and strength. Unit appears to suffer abnormal logic and prone to emotional outbursts. That is all.

Rhinox stepped over from Orcariner to Stag and the holographic image, studying the data on this new Predacon called Tantrum. "Thank you," he told him gratefully. It was definitely an advanatge to have such knowledge and information on a brute like that with a dark battle beginning to loom over their heads like black, ominous clouds from an approaching storm. Narrowing his red optics at the height and heavy firepower, the engineer slipped away into his thoughts for a moment. Even if we manage to bring Optimus back, it may be too late... Glancing from Whitegrazer in his machine to the cables on the floor that led out of the bridge and into another room attached to a stasis pod that was holding a blank protoform, a subtle expression of concern and discouragement crossed his face. But Rhinox shook it off and forced himself to remain positive and hopeful, turning his attantion back to Tantrum's statistics that Stag and Aerostriker had acquired. "So, where Tantrum excels in strength and firepower, he lacks in intelligence," he concluded thoughtfully. They could use that to their advantage. He had also taken note of the other Predacons who had gained TransMetal bodies and those who didn't. Terrorsaur certainly didn't need any more power to boost his ego, but he got what he wanted, didn't he.

That sounds about right.. We managed to damage one of his tank treads, so it'll probably be awhile before he gets here at least..

"Hopefully it will give us more time to prepare before we're forced to face him head-on with the rest of Megatron's team." It definitely worried the rhinoceros. This wasn't going to be like any other battle they've fought before with the Predacons. It was going to be more powerful, more brutal, and more unpredictable. And he worried for those hadn't acquired the TransMetal technology like himself and how they would stand up against those who did.

"Tigatron, try to contact Dinobot and find out where he is," he ordered.

"Of course," the tiger in robot mode responded and politely took Saber's place at the communications console. "Base to Dinobot, this is Tigatron. Do you copy?" he sent over the long-range radio transmission.

"What about the raw energon fields?" Rhinox turned and looked up at Orcariner. "Are any still active, and do they effect the upgraded bodies?" He would check on Aurora and Ironclaw again shortly to make sure their repairs were running smoothly as they should be in the CR's.

-----

"Optimus?" "I can. I can feel you."

As ecstatic as Primal was about this, he kept calm and tried thinking through this unimaginable turn of events. How was this even possible? How could he hear her and feel her this well so suddenly? She... She hadn't died, had she? No, she couldn't have. He wouldn't want that to happen to any of his Maximals. Why even think of such dark and painful possibilities? There was something different about their connection this time, not because he was dead and she was still alive, but because it felt like she was there with him on the other side. The feeling pushed him to look for her, to find her and meet her, but meet her where? How? Optimus floated by other sparks that were scattered everywhere, near and far, moving about and conversing. So he wasn't going crazy, but it was difficult to understand and process all of this. So much of it didn't seem logical. Meeting TyCross and trying to figure out his riddles and visions had been very frustrating. Maybe that was because he was still trying to see things as if he was still alive. If he could let that part of him go, perhaps it would make all of this easier for him.

Focusing on Whitegrazer's voice and energy, Primal continued to search for her, or what felt like her. He still wasn't sure what he expected to find. "Whitegrazer?" he called to her again.

OOC: Sorry for the wait.....Its been a busy couple of weeks between bronchitis, dealing with annual inspections at the facility where I work and running an annual fleamarket that we held on Saturday. Hopefully this week should be much less busy. I will post tomorrow with both characters so I don't hold anyone else up.

(Heh, you want posts that badly? )

Rhinox wrote:"We have an armory where you can store them. Saber-Fang can show you,"

Aerostriker nodded, then looked towards Saberfang smiling Alright, lead the way miss. he then walked over towards her.

Rhinox wrote:"So, where Tantrum excels in strength and firepower, he lacks in intelligence,"

Stag nodded, his mandibles clicking together Affirmative.

Rhinox wrote:"Hopefully it will give us more time to prepare before we're forced to face him head-on with the rest of Megatron's team."

The mechanical insect remained silent, starting an internal combat analyst of the two groups. The situation while possible, was not in the Maximal's favor at the moment.

Rhinox wrote:"What about the raw energon fields?" "Are any still active, and do they effect the upgraded bodies?"

Stag seemed confused by the inquiry to Orcariner. The energon fields didn't seem to be high at all from detection of his sensors. But would probably be something he would have to look up on records later.

He continued thinking of a strategy to make use of the time given to them, his mandibles then clicked as a strategy came to mind Posing inquiry and combat suggestion. Does this facility contain landmines, democharges, or other well suited trap based explosives? Setting some traps in the field will reduce enemy numbers and improve control of the battlefield if placed at choke points. Further more, small charges can be used with motion detectors for causing landslides with some of the terrain if necessary.

There was a lot on the Maximal's list of troubles. Orcariner thought over the scenario of Megatron invading their territory at a moment like this. While he hoped that it would not happen, the opportunity was too logical to pass up. Optimus Primal, one of the exceedingly few Maximals who could match Megatron in combat, was dead from the transwarp explosion. Nearly half of the Axalon's crew was severely injured and placed in CR Chambers. While the new transmetal forms were a nice touch, it was still too early for any of the team members to utilize their full potentials. Orcariner alone still had no idea how to properly fly in his vehicular mode, and some of the features gained from his transformation were still untouched. This was surely a battle they could not win. Yet, surrender was an option that could never be considered. The giant signed at the thought of this difficult scenario.

"The ship still registers sparse clusters of raw energon mines across the planet," he answered Rhinox's question, "The transwarp explosion detonated most, if not all, of the surface energon fields. As a result, we witnessed a massive spike in radiation levels. When our bodies were altered, they changed in a way that helped us overcome some of our previous weaknesses. I guess you could say that we were subjected to forced evolution. With the energon radiation levels at an all-new high, those who were transmetallized had 'grown' highly advanced dampers. It's like we're immune to the side effects of raw energon now. Add increased strength, durability, and speed, and you have yourself a pretty impressive upgrade."

It was indeed an impressive upgrade, but Orcariner had his doubts as to whether or not it would save the crew from Megatron's onslaught. The Predacons no doubt had undergone the same process themselves. Terrorsaur, Nemesis, and the new cow were just examples of transmetal soldiers. Both sides had escalated in technology, but Megatron just so happened to have a huge advantage in numbers.

Extensive damage to nerve cell clusters in forms structure. Commencing complete repair...

The CR chamber's speaker spoke out load as Airazor slept quietly inside its walls. The repair was going to take a long time and while it did, the Falcon was stuck in a nightmare...

Airazor was the pilot of the Chromia 10. Her ship was locked in battle with an enemy ship which her subconscious recognized, but was unable to distinguish. "We're taking heavy damage!!" Unit 2 yelled in her ear. She hadn't met this bot before today, but he was her co-pilot for this mission. And they were failing. Badly. Their ship was vastly inferior to the enemies, yet, the Chromia fought on. "Divert all power to main weapons!" Airazor yelled back at her comrade. "I wont let my ship fall!" Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the aiming column and skillfully began to align the crosshairs of her most deadly weapon onto their target.

But they hit first. The Chromia exploded into flame as the enemy ship's heavy laser seared the hull. Airazor was thrown backwards into the wall.The ships power went offline and the dull hum of the engine became an eerie silence. The feeling of free-fall swept over the falcon as the ship began to plummet towards Cybertron. Amongst the darkness, was her comrade, Unit 2. She couldn't see him, but recognized his voice as he spoke to her one last time. "It's over, Wing Saber. They won..."

Rattrap wrote:Maybe it's as good a time as any ta practice some maneuvers with our new vehicle modes. Try pickin' me up while we're movin' at dis speed, fly us to the top dere, and then lower me back on the ground. Easy enough, right?

Cheetor stared at the rock wall looming towards them.

Right.

"Alright, hold tight; here we go."

Lowering himself carefully in the air, he came right above Rattrap and tried to match his rolling speed--falling slightly behind and then overshooting and going past him. When he finally found his rhythm, he reached down to the narrow spaces between Rattrap's front and back wheels. But as he hesitated, his paw got caught by the large back wheel and then it got rolled right over, which made Rattrap skip and bump back onto the ground and almost torqued Cheetor off of his flight path into the dirt.

"Ah!" Cheetor pulled his paw up quickly and shook it out. Jumpin' gyros; that kinda hurt! "Sorry!" Steeling himself, he reached down again and this time grabbed onto Rattrap's sides without pausing to think about it. Then as he went into the air, Rattrap almost fell backwards out of his paws, and he had to let him slide until Rattrap's wheeled shoulders fell into his grip. There was a terrible squeaking sound as the wheels spun to a stop against Cheetor's legs.

Confident that he finally had a hold of his friend, he flew almost straight up (which he... basically had to do to avoid ramming into the wall, he suddenly realized) and then dropped him carefully onto the ground up there.

Staying in the air so he wouldn't have to put any more weight on the one paw, he spoke with a hint of embarrassment. "Uh... heh... maybe next time I just grab you by the tail. You think that would hurt? Er... right, we can talk about that later. Let's go!"

Cheetor looked around to see what direction the Predacons would be coming at them from, and then he saw something that surprised him--nothing. At first, at least. But in the distance, he thought for certain he saw one or two other 'bots coming towards where the Preds had been earlier. Turning in the air to start flying back to the Axalon, he got on his com-link again. "Cheetor to Maximal base; I think me and Rattrap are really... like, actually, heading in now. Good news is the Preds don't seem to be on our tails anymore. Bad news is I doubt it's because we outran them. I think they're getting more of themselves out here."

* * *

Dinobot was still running when he came to an unusual, mountainous area, filled with natural stone pillars and plateaus. Maybe there had been snow here earlier, but the surface of everything seemed dried out and burnt from the alien weapon. If he had taken the time to put it all together, he might have realized that everywhere he had been since the alien attack could be described the same way: hills, valleys, plains, mountains--all of them now rock or dust. But Dinobot's processor was fixated on something else entirely.

Fate was not a new problem for him. But since the beginning of the Beast Wars, he had never been given so much of an opportunity to rage against it as the one he had now, with the Golden Disks in his possession (and only his). Nor since the beginning of the war had his fear been given such an opportunity to bring itself against him as it had now. Optimus had died in a moment at the whim of Megatron. The life of an entire planet was only moments away from termination. And while the Golden Disk was an opportunity for freedom, it was not a guarantee. It would either side with him, or go against him. And in this moment, it was something as simple as his being entirely alone that finally allowed all of Dinobot's worries to come to a head.

The first rumble of thunder came to Dinobot's audio receptors, and he stopped to look at the place about him more carefully; the place where he stood was flat and secluded, surrounded by tall rock formations. To his right, a confusing jumble of boulders rested against one another.

This would be the place. And with that decision, he transformed into battle mode, letting the animal cry encoded into his systems announce itself and echo about him as loud it would.

Wotan, who stayed in Valhalla to watch his home burn. Oedipus Rex, who ran away from fate only to embrace it unwittingly in the killing of his own father. Macbeth, who threw himself into evil with a wretched dissonance of guilt and helplessness. Tristan and Isolde, who turned from hate to love in an instant by a force they were powerless against, and who followed their obligation to its destructive end. Humans were caught upon this idea: that fate was inescapable.

It would be frightening enough without confirmation in Cybertron's very history. In the accounts of the Great War, it was said that Orion Pax was helped in his transition from dock worker to Autobot commander by the Aerialbots. A second account followed nine-million years later of the Aerialbots finding themselves forced back in time, witnessing the beginning of the resistance against Megatron and, indeed, helping Orion Pax become who he would be for the rest of his life.

Now Dinobot stood with the Predacons and Maximals, in a time long before their own, on a planet with one moon. Earth. The battleground for the ending of the Great War.

Had they all done this before? How many times had Dinobot been on this mountain, underneath this same thunder storm? How many megacycles were left until the Beast Wars ended, and had it ended just the same way in some other iteration of time? If the planet was always left so that the Autobots--his own ancestral enemies--awoke in the future to rise to their eventual victory... did Dinobot always help them win by siding with these... Maximals? Did he ensure the Decepticons' defeat? Did he kill his own fathers?

And more frighteningly, could he not do anything about it, either way? Were his actions not his own choice? Were they his choice, and he would always make that choice the same way? That, too, would be no choice at all!

Dinobot removed the Golden Disks from his subspace and stared at them, and at the glare of a strange, fiery sort of lighting making its way through the atmosphere left behind by the Vok attack, and at his reflection cast detail-for-detail upon the Disks--a reflection repeating perfectly back to him every movement he made.

If living was a matter of autonomy and sentience, it seemed to him that the dissolution of choice was the dissolution of life.

"To be..." he rasped, "...or not to be. That is the question. These... Disks I hold--are they a record of what will be, or only of what may? For if the future is indeed immutably foretold, then my demise is but moments from that confirmation. For I... I could not live if not the master of my fate!

"But: if the future can be changed--if these Disks record merely one path of all the myriad ways the Cosmos might conform--then their power is infinite. And yet, still limited. For they could be used but once, and in that change, be rendered fiction forevermore.

Dinobot growled angrily, his voice meeting with the thunder. "Or I could destroy them!

"But... no. 'Twould be a coward's answer! I will know the truth instead. Then--it will be either them, or me, that face oblivion."

Dinobot strode resolutely over to the boulders and lifted one of them. He tossed the Golden Disk challengingly into the space where the rock normally sat, and the Disk responded with a calling, empty sound.

"...'Till then..."

Dinobot dropped the boulder straight onto the Disk, fully trusting it would handle the blow. Then he stood and sought a way down the mountain.

He would let his fear take him in the end. If it was meant to be so.

((OOC: The Maximals would be in more danger then they are now if the beast surfaced when ever Saber wasn't doing something productive. Rhinox would run out of tranquilizer darts and sedatives at an alarming rate. Lol.))

"We have an armory where you can store them. Saber-Fang can show you."

Saber looked up at the sound of her name and saw the newcomer named Aerostriker giving her a friendly smile before walking over to her.

"Alright, lead the way, miss."

"Please, call me Saber." She requested with a friendly smile of her own before leading him to the armory.

"So you are a big, bad transmetal now, huh?"

Arachnitron turned her attention to Blackarachnia. Transmetal, huh? So, that's what they were calling these new bodies?

"Hehehehehahahaha!"

Arachnitron looked back at Tarantulas who merely cackled in return. She cocked her head suspiciously. That's all he had to say? She was expecting so much more......gloating. Maybe there was nothing to gloat about. Was all that power and strength that radiated from the tarantula just for show? Maybe he didn't feel any different than before? She couldn't wait to see him in action against the Maximals. She wanted.....no she needed to see just what this new body could do.

"Open a visual so we can give our reply to the Tin Tyrant, its to our advantage to rekindle our ties to the rest of Megatron's forces...For now. Oh, and try to compose yourself my dear."

Arachnitron looked away from Tarantulas with a sheepish grin on her face. She was a bit embarrassed that he had noticed her staring, but she just couldn't look away. Arachnitron's organic spider body hung off of her robotic head in a way that looked much like strands of human hair. She snuck a look back up at Tarantulas through her "hair" as she worked on locking in on Megatron's coordinates. She actually didn't know how to do it, but she had watched Rhinox do it before so she figured she could figure it out.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, a virtual map appeared showing the other Predacons' coordinates.

"It looks like they're all rallying around the Maximal base," Arachnitron informed the other spiders.

She stared at the map mesmerized by the other Predacons' energy signatures blinking on the screen. Her mind raced. She was a little worried actually. This couldn't be the end? It couldn't! She just escaped from Cybertron! What would happen if they defeated the Maximals now?! Would the Predacons go back to Cybertron? Would they hand her back over to the scientists so the experiments could continue or would they resume the extraction of her spark as was originally planned before she escaped?

What was she going to do?

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

Inferno reached the coordinates that Megatron had sent to the Predacons. He landed next to the tyrant.

The ant looked around at his surroundings. He counted silently to himself.....the Predacons outnumbered the Maximals by quite a bit. Surely, their time for victory had finally arrived! He could hardly wait to destroy the enemy of the colony! It was long over due!

Inferno threw Megatron a hearty salute. "Inferno reporting for duty, my Queen! What is your command?"

(OOC: Sorry for the short Inferno post. There's not much for him to do at this point, but I didn't want anyone to think he was forgotten about.

Also, Darkspark....I hope Arachnitron's eyeing up Tarantulas is ok. I can definitely see how he would be some sweet cybertronian "eye candy" (so to speak) after that transformation. lol. If not, I can tone it down....)

OOC: Yo, didn't realize we'd moved over to a new thread XD. Is it my turn to post again or are there still players ahead of me?

Blackrosefencer wrote: (OOC: Sorry for the short Inferno post. There's not much for him to do at this point, but I didn't want anyone to think he was forgotten about.

Also, Darkspark....I hope Arachnitron's eyeing up Tarantulas is ok. I can definitely see how he would be some sweet cybertronian "eye candy" (so to speak) after that transformation. lol. If not, I can tone it down....)

No worries Blackrose, I somehow doubt Tarantulas minds being admired by a pretty she spider given his original motivations for creating Blackarachnia . I'm cool with it if ya wanna take Arachnitron's interest in Tarantulas in that direction, it just give Big T more to work with & manipulate in his favor.

Anyway, it seems I was worried for nothing since Una & Phoenix still need to post for Nemesis, Megatron, & Blackarachnia before I need to post for Terrorsaur or Tarantulas again . I think OOP should announce in the old thread that its been closed and we're moving here to this new thread just in case I'm not the only player who was slow on the uptake

((OOC: I will post for BA tomorrow. And as for Whitegrazer, I'm still thinking about what to write next without going too far ahead. ))

(( OOC:

And as for Whitegrazer, I'm still thinking about what to write next without going too far ahead.

una, you don't have to post for her at all right now if you don't want to. I was really grasping for straws with my Optimus post; struggled to write something. We should probably wait a little until the Preds start closing in.

I think OOP should announce in the old thread that its been closed and we're moving here to this new thread just in case I'm not the only player who was slow on the uptake

I apologize, DarkSpark. I think I normally do post something but didn't do so this time. I assumed that when I locked it, people would realize that they couldn't post there anymore and would see the "reply" count increasing on the newer episode part and then check it out and see that it was open now. Very sorry about that.

The Maximals would be in more danger then they are now if the beast surfaced when ever Saber wasn't doing something productive. Rhinox would run out of tranquilizer darts and sedatives at an alarming rate. Lol.

NH, wait until the Preds show up and THEN release the beast. XD

WorpeX, I am enjoying the little tidbits you keep adding with Airazor's past.

(Heh, you want posts that badly? )

Yes, NK, but not to the point of your characters dominating every conversation and question that Rhinox brings up. I purposely write it that he's speaking to a specific character so that they have the opportunity to interact and step up with answers or suggestions. This is the second time now that you have had Aerostrike or Stag interrupt Orcariner's chance to explain things. Simmer down now. By the way, I had already had the mine idea in my head that you had Stag recommend, but didn't have Rhinox discuss it yet because he needed to know if they still had to worry about the energon fields because if it was still a problem, then any Maximal planting said mines would have to be careful not to use up their dampers before the battle; yadda, yadda, yadda. Considering I am no expert on military tactics at all (except what I see in the movies, ), I was pretty proud of myself thinking of the stragety. Yay for us being on the same page. I have more to add to it but that'll happen when I have Rhinox say so.

Thanks for the great posts, guys! Keep 'em rolling! ))

(Sorry about that OOP, I'll remove part of that post then. Though I don't agree with Orcariner's statement entirely, since alot of the surface Energon is stabilized after being blown up. After that and only an Alien relic caused a energon field issue, field dampers generally become useless.His statement makes it sound more like there is more energon radiation, which would make sense if Energon radiation worked like Uranium or other Radioactive radiation. Communication is opened up greatly at that point too until Megatron started setting up jamming towers everywhere.

As for the mine ideas, it is a logical tactic when you're against a large force. Guerrilla warfare tactics are useful too. Or maybe I just get involved in too much Metal gear games.

However unfortunately for Stag's military logic, something Rhinox would know is that the Maximals and Predacons kinda frown on using large explosives or large quantities of explosives around their bases as a gigantic vein of Energon under both bases that could lead to their mutual destruction if ignited.

Not to mention a lack of known time when the enemy would show up since planting mines would take time, as well as having to mark off where the mines are so allies don't step on them which could happen while Rattrap and Cheetor return. Those are the risks that come to mind anyway. )

( Alright, guess I got confused reading it. Sorry for the confusion. )