18.Mar.06 

Part Six

By: Syntia13

Optimus frowned at the sight of fresh paint on Rattrap's door. If Cheetor was fooling around again... There was enough tension in the air as it was... But as he came closer, he realized that the letters were in the rat's handwriting. He read the message and laughed.

Yesterday Kittar had come back after two solar-cycles' absence, and immediately discovered that one of energon feeders from 'her' Med Bay was missing. She went straight to Rattrap's quarters and searched it with such a vigor that things were flying. Rattrap walked in on that, and there was a very intense confrontation, which ended with Kittar running through the base with recovered feeder in her mouth, and Rattrap perusing her and screaming that he really hoped it was true about cat's lives, cause he had already thought up more than nine suitable cat's deaths.

Shaking his head with a smile, Optimus moved along, leaving behind a warning sing.

NO PREDATORS ALLOWED
THIS MEANS YOU!!!

____________________________________________________________________________

"One hundred and twenty and six energon crystals."

"Stop that."

"One hundred and twenty and seven energon crystals."

"Stop that."

"One hundred and twenty and eight energon crystals."

"Stop tha--"

**I trust everything is going well?** a deep voice came through the comlink.

"I officially ask for permission to kill Rust," a screechy voice responded.


Megatron's face screwed up strangely in effort to frown and raise optic ridges at the same time. "Rust?" He inquired. "I hope you remember our little chat?"

**I didn't do anything!**

**He's driving me crazy!**

**Rust only counting cryzztals, Megatron**

Waspinator was secretly delighted. Before Rust, Terrorsaur was relieving his stress pulling stupid pranks on everyone who couldn't very well repay him, namely Waspinator and Scorponok, and having someone annoying the slag out of him was a feast. Even if that someone was Rust.

**Sort that between yourselves, you two. All that interest me is that you come back with a full load, yess.**

"We sure will, sir!"

**I hope so. Megatron out.**

"Sort between ourselves, he says," Terrorsaur muttered. He glanced sidelong at the wolf. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.

"One hundred crystals lying on the ground," he crooned.

Rust shuddered. "Stop that!"

"One hundred crtystaaaaaaaals lying on the grooooound!"

"STOP THAT!"
"But if one smaaall crystal would somehow go baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang--"

"Arrrghh!" stifling the chuckle, Rust lunged for the red bot.

"There'd be ninety niiiiiiiiine crystaaals lying on the groooound!!!!"

Waspinator settled back and watched the wolf chasing after pterodactyl, flying just above his reach. After a while wasp-bot terrorized for a nano to retrieve an orange from sub-pocket. He munched on it, listening to a nice little song and bursts of laughter alternated with mild curses and snapping. It looked like a fine day.

____________________________________________________________________________

Hidden in his secret lair, Tarantulas grumbled. The codes he was currently working on were being particularly stubborn. He intended to include a little catch in obedience program, a catch that would, in due time, allow him to shift affected bot's loyalty from Megatron to himself at a mere voice command. That in itself was a difficult task, made even harder by the fact that he was sure that Megatron would want to verify codes, and he had to ensure that he wouldn't detect this little improvement.
Blinking tiredly, the spider glanced longingly at the screens across the cave. He could use an intelligent conversation... He scowled at his own thoughts. He was a Predacon, he didn't need anyone! But he couldn't stop himself from peeking at the screens from time to time, and thanks to it, he noticed a small blob that appeared on his space radar. It disappeared almost immediately, but since he'd discovered alien influences on this planet, every signal from space was making him jumpy. He hurried over to the console, converting all available energy to scanners, changing frequencies, and finally identifying mysterious object. And then he leaned back in his chair. "This is interesting..."

____________________________________________________________________________

Rust had cracked at the 'Eeeeighty eight littleeee cryyyyyystaaaals', fell to the ground with all paws in the air, and whined for mercy - not for himself, but for the innocent little tune, which never deserved that torture. Terrorsaur, still in the air, had made him ('...if oooone smaaaaaaaall...') to swear to not annoy, attack or do anything else unpleasant to him for the whole week. He would have bargain for more, but the wolf sternly said that he should take what he can, or else Rust won't lift a finger for the rest of the day, and lets see whose head Megatron will have on a platter if they don't come back with a full load.

So now, few hours later, they were going back, Rust dragging loaded sledge and complaining about Terrorsaur's location.
"Get up, slaggit, you can fly back you lazy dactyl!"
Pterodactyl in question made himself more comfortable on the top of the platform. "Make me," he challenged. Rust muttered some curses to Terror's amusement. "You will rue the day you told us you always keep your word."

"I should've bitten my tongue," wolf muttered. "I could've lied, you know," he added a little louder.
Terrorsaur gave a very nice impression of Tarantulas's cackle. "Well, we'll test it."
*Sigh* "Next week at 11:43 you'd better be--" *Sniff. Sniff, sniff, sniff.*
Ears perked, eyes lit, wolf pointed. "Maxis!"


Since the memorable fight at the energon dale, Maximals always mined in at least four-person parties. Today was no different. Between customary Dinobot/Rattrap quarrels and calling for Cheetor to come back and leave that alone, whatever that is, Optimus was already developing a headache, and they haven't even reach the mining area yet!
It would be so much easier if I didn't have to care... Blast the rank's responsibilities...


Rust watched four Maximals, crouched low and shivering in excitement. "So what do we do?" he asked automatically, and slapped his forehead mentally. Would you please pay attention to whom you speak to, bonehead?
Terrorsaur glanced at him strangely. "You're asking me?"
Well, go on, think of something, genius...  

"You're the one claiming you'd make a decent leader--"

"A great leader," Terrorsaur corrected under his breath.

"--so here's your chance. Besides, I'm in for improvisations, not plans."
"All right... so go and improvise some way to lure them away, while me and Waspinator take the sledge back to base."
"Pffft! You're sending one soldier against four without back-up? With such tactics you'd get us all killed in a week! You've just lost my vote." There was a brief argument about democracy, and orders, and who should give them to whom, and finally Waspinator lost his patience.

"Wazzpinator thinkz stupid-bots should watch out for Maximalzz."

Both adversaries looked up and hissed in surprise. "When did they come so close?" Terrorsaur whined. Rust was more practical. "Hide the platform," he hissed and departed.

"Hey, Maxis! Feeling like Pred hunting today?!"
All four of them maximized reflexively, and the wolf laughed. "I guess you are! So lets go!" And he dashed away, but stopped when no one followed. "What, you need written invitation or something?" He terrorized and sent few shots for encouragement. That did it. He laughed and dived for cover.

Optimus's and Dinobot's heads were rotating frantically in search for other Predacons, but it was Rattrap who saw a movement out of the corner of his optic. He turned, shot, and hit Waspinator the same moment someone else scored at Terrorsaur's chest, and both flyers slammed into each other before falling down and out of sight. Grinning widely, Rattrap gave the other shooter thumb up before he realized who it was, and was vaguely shocked when Dinobot returned the gesture.

**%^&$ ^$$ ^%##!!! You two all right?!!!**

"Wazzpinator functional."  "You better worry for yourself."
**Sure thing. See ya home**

"Hey, you dere! Rust! Yer pals are down, so ya may as well give up already!"

The wolf's silhouette appeared on a distant boulder.

"Yer from Breglay, rat?" There was a surprise and amusement in wolf's voice. "I didn't know they had any Maxis on Breglay!" He disappeared before anyone could hit him. Few nano-kliks later he appeared again, bot mode this time, shooting. "Or maybe yer not a Maxi at all?" Shot, shot. "A Pred in disguise, huh?" Shot, shot, dodge, shot, cover.

The 'cover' proved necessary, cause Rattrap squeaked in outrage and started shooting like mad.

Rust chuckled. So here's what makes you tick, ratty. He concentrated on his spark, checking his comrades' position, and sneaked in opposite direction. Now, only to keep Maxis interested for a few cycles... hehehe.

"Here, preddy, preddy, preddy!"

"Shuddup!" Rattrap was practically foaming at his mouth, his blaster's barrel overheating.

"Aww, did I blow yer cover? I'm SO sorry!" And to emphasize just how sorry he was, Rust shot Rattrap's gun out of his hand.
"Gee, you dropped something!"
"Arrrrgh!!!"

After that Rust beastmoded and just ran. He didn't have to worry about keeping Maximals' attention anymore. It was shaking them off (well, Rattrap, really. The rest were more concentrated on stopping mad rat-bot) that gave him trouble.
____________________________________________________________________________

The platform shook suddenly and flyers dragging it turned with a startled yelps. They looked straight into weary green eyes.

"I'm not moving," Rust mumbled, curled in a ball and fell asleep.

____________________________________________________________________________

Tarantulas was swiveling his chair, considering his options. He WANTED to get out of this mud-ball, and here was a chance. He could let the Maximals contact the probe. He could even contact it himself, and without difficulty, as he had much better equipment at his disposal.
But then what?
He could surrender to Maximals, but before Cybertron's ship's arrival it was too risky (what if it never showed up?), and after that they most probably wouldn't accept it. He could reveal his true identity, but once again - it was risky. They didn't have to believe him, and he had no proof. So he would be captured and treated just like the rest of Megatron's crew. True, once back on Cybertron he could contact PSP central and hope they would speak for him... but PSP didn't need officers who needed help. And while his status there USED to be quite high, his current rank was so low he was practically saluting up to traffic constables.

He shivered in hatred as he remembered that.
And the object of this hatred was another problem.
The aliens. Their artifacts were here, and it was a good bet they would eventually turn up themselves. And then...
But on the other hand, PSP officers who ended up in Maximal jail tended to have a very short life span. Sometimes it was so short that they never reached the prison.

Tarantulas's pincer touched the button.
The aliens would eventually come... but 'eventually' can be a very long time.

____________________________________________________________________________

After they'd lost the track of Rust and calmed Rattrap down to the point when he stopped growling incoherent curses, Optimus decided they should go back. They went in heavy silence. They've never seen Rattrap so furious before, and no one knew how to react, and since the rat was radiating with grim silence, they followed the suit. Axalon loomed into view when Rattrap finally spoke.
"Ya were sayin' he's such a menace, an he looks like all bark no bite to me, Lizard-breath."

Dinobot snarled, half annoyed and half glad that the rat was back to normal. "He had successfully driven us away from our task, and sustained no damage. That's more than any other of Megatron troops could achieve, except, perhaps, Tarantulas."
"Nah, he just lucked out, an besides, it didn't do us any harm, so..."

The rather mild argument continued till they reached Axalon, and then the whole episode was forgotten.

Maximals crowded excitedly around Rhinox, asking questions and crying out encouragements. None of them noticed that Dinobot slowly backed away from the control room, frowning slightly. When he was safely out of the others' sight, he leaned against the wall, closing his optics. The probe from Cybertron. A Cybertron, where Predacons were allowed only unarmed and under the tutelage of so called immigration officer. A Cybertron, which he last saw four centuries ago, during one of brief campaign victories. A Cybertron, where he was a wanted criminal.

"We're going home!" he heard Cheetor's excited voice.
What home? he thought bitterly. Something furry rubbed against his legs and amber eyes looked up at him questioningly. He looked away and shook his head sharply.
I want to be left alone.

The red cat walked away.

OK.

____________________________________________________________________________

After four days of pretending that he can't hear Scorponok's more and more urgent complaining, Megatron finally decided to inspect the crack threatening to split the ship's hull in half. It looked about as bad as Scorponok claimed it was. They were discussing the possible ways to remedy that, when Megatron received a message from Tarantulas.  

Few cycles later the comlinks and in-ship speakers livened up.

**All Predacons, report to the control room!**

____________________________________________________________________________

A zoom in on Axalon.
A zoom in on Maximals swarming around it.
A zoom in on a load of long-range signal array components.

Zoom out.

Megatron put the binoculars down and beastmoded.

“They are preparing for departure to more suitable location, yess. Tarantulas, how long before the probe will be positively out of range again?"
"About three mega-cycles, Megatron."
"Rust, where’s the nearest best place for building long range comm array?"  He knew this well enough himself, but he wanted to know how well Rust used the rainy afternoon few days back. The wolf tilted his head. “You mean, a high spot, with no obstacles around, and relatively low energon field level?" The T-rex nodded.
"That would be... the clearing at 2-4-6/3-2-3 grid omega, the plains in the middle of grid zeta or that hill at 1-6-6/5-6-4 grid tetra. All in our territory." He grinned archly. “Maxis are sitting on the largest energon deposits around. Pity for them it’s unstable". 
"And lucky for us, yess." Megatron smiled to himself. Good wolf. Did his homework. “With the load, it would take them about one mega to reach any of this locations, which leaves two mega-cycles to build the relay and send the signal, yess." He frowned. "More than enough time. Let us make sure they won’t be able to use it." He turned to look at his all soldiers considerately. “Rust, Terrorsaur. You will go first and disable autoguns guarding the south-east area, then you will shift to the west and open fire at Maximals, luring them in that direction."
"Aye sir." “Sure."

“Tarantulas, Skorponok. You will sneak up to the relay array and blow it up."
"Yes, Megatron." “But of course, leader."

“Blackarachnia, you will provide cover fire for them if necessary."
"Of course, Megatron."
"Waspinator..." The wasp buzzed expectantly. “You and me will give cover fire for Rust and Terrorsaur, and then join the fight."  And don’t get yourself scrapped again.  

“Yezz, Megatron."

“Good. Let us move closer. We begin on my signal."

____________________________________________________________________________

"...you to watch our backs," Optimus said. The snow tiger nodded. “No Predacon will bother you on my watch, Optimus," he said with a small smile, and departed.


Reptilian eyes narrowed. The cat was heading straight at two scientists.
“Rust, go!" the T-rex hissed into his comlink. “Blackarachnia, take him down! I don’t want him behind our backs."

Blackarachnia measured the target, and with a nasty smile loaded a venomous dart in her launcher.

Kittar jumped at the sudden growl of pain. She was at the Axalon at the time, but she was out and running before any other Maximal reacted. “Cheetor!" she yelled, pulling young bot’s arm as she passed him, and he followed. They managed to make about four steps, before all the Pit broke loose.
"INNNCOMIIIING!!!!!!!!!!!" howled a voice from above. Maximals’ heads involuntary jerked up, to see something blue-gray dropping from the sky, and then the explosions started.

___________________________________________________________________________

Rust howled an impromptu battle scream letting go of Terrorsaur’s feet, and outstretched both arms in the nearest autogun’s direction, shooting grenades from both launchers and taking another aim immediately.

He hit the ground and rolled, laughing out loud. Four autoguns were falling around in little pieces, and one went wild, showering the whole area with fire. But it was only doing it for half a cycle, before Rhinox annihilated it.
Rust whistled admiringly. Wow, one nasty gun there… No, wait, there’s two of them…

And still five more autoguns that could give them trouble. They’re Terror’s job, but to give the flyboy a clear shot...

“Come on, Maxis! What’s with you?! I’m right here, come and shoot me!" And he laughed mockingly at the rain of fire power it brought. “Oh, come on, you can do better!" He ducked behind a boulder, then jumped at the top of it. “Are you lot drunk or something?" He jumped at the other rock, feeling the volley of blasts singeing the fur on his back.

“You haven’t hit me once yet!"

"He’s nuts," Terrorsaur muttered up above Rust’s head. But he was also providing diversion, concentrating autodefences’ and Maximals’ firepower on himself. Red flyer dived rapidly behind defenders’ backs, shoulder cannons ready, and, flying just above the ground, he took out four more autoguns before anyone noticed what’s happening.

Optimus cursed under his breath, and took off, shouting orders. “Dinobot, look out for the rest of Predacons! Rhinox, guard the array!" He didn’t need to tell Rattrap to take down Rust, the rat was doing his best to do just that, and by the looks of it, he was pretty dedicated to the task. Optimus started towards the flyer, but didn’t have a chance to even go near him.

Rust saw Optimus heading to intercept dactyl-bot, and his optics narrowed. Oh no you don’t! His blaster jumped up and barked three times, the same moment when some distance behind him a laser whined.

Optimus yelped and turned in midair when a purple laser hit him in the back, and three energy shots seared past his audio.

“^&##%@!" Rust commented. But through the noise of firepower he’d heard a worried exclamation, so he searched the area for its source, and grinned, sending a high-powered ‘hallo’ to yellow-blue young bot, who exposed himself foolishly.
Yellow-blue bot went down, and Rust went to another target.

“Hey, you need a target practice, rat-bot?!"
Rattrap growled, leaned, shot, and hid. Rust copied the motion.
Rattrap got a singe on his helmet, Rust got a singed dent on his arm. He shook in silent laughter. His spark was pulsing like mad, mech-fluids were rushing through his body, and he felt positively drunk. That, THAT was what he lived for. That was what he could die for.

“You can’t do better than this?!" he screamed, jumping from behind the cover and on the sad remains of autogun. “Come and get me!"
But then he noticed Rhinox moving to the massive heap of array parts, and he couldn’t allow that. Arachnids were there! But how to lure the big guy away? AHA!

“HEY, RHINO! Wanna bet I’ll get to the tiger before you?!"

With a sharp gasp, Rhinox glanced at the prone form of Tigatron, lying way out of his reach, the wolf already racing toward him. He had no chance to get there first. But he tried anyway.

Tarantulas breathed out. For a few nanos he was much closer to Rhinox’s chain guns than he’d ever wished to. Luckily, the green bot didn’t look down in the crevice they were hidden in. “Now," he hissed to Scorponok, and they both scurried under the carts and busied themselves with mining them.

Megatron nodded approvingly at Rust’s strategy.
"Flyers, keep Optimus busy!" he ordered. “Blackarachnia, stay hidden!" He wanted to have at least one undamaged soldier as a reserve. He didn’t join the battle either, contenting himself with sending single, well aimed shots every now and then. His focus was entirely on the array. He saw few small movements there, so he knew his scientists were at work…

Rust run up to the poisoned tiger and one sniff told him who it was. The rain Maxi. “Nice SEEING you," he laughed, terrorizing and putting blaster to his head. “Bye!" But before he could pull the trigger, something hit his hand, making him drop the gun. With a startled yelp he glanced first at the blade pierced through his wrist, and then at an angry blur, currently rushing straight at him at high speed. He dodged, avoiding getting hit in the face with a yellow helmet, caught the attackers arms and got kicked in the most sensitive part of his chest plate, where his beast mode's nose was. He yelped, growled, and tossed the little nuisance away, but not before it hit him in the left shoulder, and he suddenly couldn’t feel his arm. It cut his shoulder joint wires! What WAS that?!

Rhinox hadn’t had a chance to reach Tigatron in time, but he was not the only bot who rushed to his rescue. Kittar was on her way from the very beginning of the battle, not paying any attention to it. Her mind was set at the task in hand – someone was wounded and she needed to get to him. She was dashing from cover to cover in her beast mode, and when Rust howled his challenge, she was just a few meters away. She attacked the much bigger bot without a second thought.
NO ONE messes with my patients!

Rust stared at the small femme incredulously. She landed on her feet, crouched, and HISSED at him, before swinging her arm, and he barely dodged another knife. With a growl he feinted charging at her, and when she raised her arm again, he ducked for his blaster. He didn’t reach it. Something, maybe instinct, maybe spark, or maybe just a swish of air warned him to bend backward, and a rotating sword merely shaved some fur from his chest, instead of cutting him in half. He landed heavily on his back. He didn’t waste time for catching his breath or yelping. The reflex as old as the ‘catch the falling object’ one kicked in. When you fall, you must MOVE.

Dinobot snarled, a little surprised by the swift evade, but he didn’t miss a beat. He raised his sword, changing a hold on it, and brought it down with a force that should pin his adversary to the ground. Operative word – should. It WOULD, if Rust had a grace to stay where he'd fallen. As it was, Dinobot received a forceful kick in the knee, and a handful of dirt in the optics, while Rust rolled away, cursing at the burning scratch on his back and a numb arm.
Still on the ground, he reached for his blaster. Slag that femme, why she had to disable his left arm? With the right one he was much less--  Yiiiiks! He jerked his hand back and rolled away, as a volley from chain guns rattled the dirt between him and his gun.
"I 'ave won anyway!" he screamed in green bot's direction. "And you're a poor looser!" he added, jerking a long knife out of sub-pocket to block a sword falling on his head. "And you too!" he laughed in a blue, scowled face. Then he kicked Dinobot in the lowest part of a chest-plate, using the force of the action to roll over his head and finally get on his feet. Judging by the wince on Dinobot's face, the kick was as painful for him as it had been for Rust. The wolf-bot grinned widely. Thanks for a new trick, small one!


Rhinox didn't even shake his head at the mocking exclamation. He had much more pressing matters to attend to. "I'll take him!" he yelled in Kittar's audio. She glanced up at him from above the Tigatron she was dragging, nodded, and run to the fallen form of Cheetor.


Optimus shot at Terrorsaur, dancing around him, and risked a quick glance at the Maximals below.

Dinobot in a melee fight with Rust.

Dodge, dodge, shot.

Rhinox running to Axalon with Tigatron in his arms.
Shot, shot, shot.

Kittar bent under the weight of Cheetor... Cheetor?! When did he get hi-- "Argh!" The pred flyers took advantage of his momentary distraction. No, correction, Waspinator did. The hit in itself wasn't all that bad, but after a nano-klik the burning sensation started to spread through his circuits. Optimus gained altitude and rained the wasp with fire. Honestly, to got shot by Waspinator... Good thing it was on the foot.
Out of the corner of his optics he saw a speck of purple moving...

Rattrap was angry, frightened and excited all at once. He couldn't shot at Rust, cause Dinobot, how wise of him, was constantly getting in his line of fire. He couldn't shot at Waspinator, cause Optimus was doing the same. Terrorsaur was fidgeting like an epileptic, Megatron was hiding, and the rest of Preds were nowhere to be seen. He felt in his frame there was something amiss, and the impossibility to pin it was driving him crazy.
"Are they OK?" he shouted at Rhinox, as he passed him.
"They will be," Kittar shouted back, pulling Cheetor on a lift.

BEEP **Rattrap! Megatron at 1-6-1!**


Megatron decided to move closer, and as he started running, his comlink activated, and Scorponok reported they're ready, just say a word, Megatron, and with just one missile-- and at that moment few things happened. Waspinator got shot few times and fell down with a scream (can't that idiot dodge?), one of wasp's projectiles hit Terrorsaur in the middle of his back-plate, and the red flyer wisely landed before his jets went out, (keep shooting, you worm!) and Optimus whirled in the air, and headed straight at two scientists' position. Megatron opened fire at him immediately, (to far, slag it!), and his gaze brushed over Rust.

Rust, who was at the moment trying to prevent Dinobot from converting him into a shish kebab.

Rust heard Waspinator's scream.

Rust saw Terrorsaur's fall.

Rust started seeing red.

Rust's comlink beeped.

**Rust! Take Optimus down!**
And that was all Rust needed. Dinobot suddenly found himself without an opponent.

Rattrap was busy shooting at Megatron, (with success, at that), when something howled wildly, and he caught a glimpse of gray fur and white teeth, that tore out quite a piece of metal from his arm in passing. With a pained shout, Rattrap sent a volley of shots after the wolf, as well as a volley of well chosen words. The derisive snigger was only reaction.


Dinobot growled in outrage. "Come back here, coward!" he screamed, shooting laser at the wolf's tail. He was about to pursue, when a buzz from behind distracted him. He turned to see Waspinator, shaking his head and moaning. "Worthless bug," he snarled with contempt, readying to shot him, not bothering to shield himself in any way. Bad, bad move. Cause Waspinator was frightened, and angry, and in pain, and he just happened to fall directly on Rust's forgotten blaster. In his hands, and at the range of just few meters, it looked almost as a space-ship cannon. Dinobot was very lucky indeed that wasp-bot wasn't familiar with the gun, and squeezed out a volley of low-power shots instead of one concentrated blast.


Rust raced straight at the last working autogun. It turned to shoot at him, of course, but he didn't much care. He transformed, jumped, dived, landed on his back (again!) and kicked up at the machine's barrel, forcing it upwards. It stayed there just for a nano-klik, but that was all he needed. His plan was very simple.

He smash-opened the cover of autogun's circuitry. He thrust his hand inside and squeezed the thing that looked like a power converter. (It was) He yelped, shaking his hand (Way to go, genius, now you have no hands to work with!) and flung his arm around the cannon's barrel, forcing it upwards again, and in the general direction of Optimus. The precise aiming was practically impossible, and, to be honest, unnecessary, as with the damaged power converter, the gun went utterly wild.


Optimus had noticed two arachnids crawling out of the crack in the ground, noticed that the crack was leading almost straight to the relay array so much depended on, and suddenly realized what was the point of the whole attack. He rushed toward them desperately, dimly registered some shouting below, and the air suddenly shook around him.


The power converter was a very important part of a gun. It was, surprise, surprise, converting the energy Axalon provided into concentrated, single blasts. With the converter damaged, the autogun started spitting the almost continuous flow of raw energy. Being at the wrong end of it, and much closer than it was healthy, Optimus had no chance. He went off-line long before he hit the ground.

Crouching behind a boulder, only his visor visible, Tarantulas poked Scorponok's arm. “Shoot now," he murmured.

Rust was howling in pain. The rusted autogun didn’t want to cooperate, trashing and trying to break free from his embrace, and as if it wasn’t enough, it started to short-circuit all over, shocking him nastily, but still he was holding it, doing his best to keep the energy flow on falling form of maximal leader. The machine started cracking dangerously, long tentacles of energy dancing around it. It would probably blow up even if Rattrap didn’t send a shot straight into its exposed wiring.

It was really a sight. It would win every Synchronized Blowing Things Up contest, if anyone would organize such thing. The blast from Rattrap’s gun reached its target the same moment Scorponok’s missile did.
The audience was speechless. Mostly because it was temporarily deafened, but that’s just a minor detail. Let’s not pick at minor details.

 
Terrorsaur screeched, hurling himself to the ground and covering his head, as a rain of sharp metal splinters started to fall around. After a few nanos he got up stumblingly, wondering what was that strange noise he was hearing. Then a limp, charred form landed right at his feet and tormented howl ended abruptly.

BEEP **Predacons, fall back! Flyers, bring Rust!**
Terrorsaur looked frantically around, and saw Waspinator running in his direction, hugging a large blaster to his chest. Without a word, each of them caught one of Rust’s arms and run away, dragging him behind, followed by an angry whine of Rhinox’s chain guns.


Rhinox had dropped down the lift shaft as soon as everything stopped shaking. He ignored a cat landing on his head, and raised his guns to send after retreating Preds a very definite ‘and stay out!’.

Kittar jumped down from green shoulders and raced from one bot to another, checking on them.

Functional.
Functional.
Oh SLAG!

“Rhinox!"
____________________________________________________________________________

Megatron lowered binoculars, absentmindedly rubbing scorch marks on his chestplate. “Who IS that cat?" he growled quietly.
"Someone new, obviously," a characteristic voice responded. This time, there was more than a trace of mockery in it. Megatron narrowed his optics and glared at the approaching spider, but he decided to let it pass. This time.
"Good work, Predacons," he said, patting Waspinator's shoulder and moving to bend over Rust. He was really pleased. Mission accomplished, three Maximals out cold, and only one of his soldiers severely damaged. "What is his status?"
Scorponok looked up from Rust's open chest cavity, and clicked his claws worriedly. "It looks bad, Megatron. May not make it."
Purple bot frowned. It wouldn't do to loose an able soldier, no. He kneeled beside Rust. "Tools," he demanded.

Waspinator felt faint with shock. Megatron had commended him! Well, all of them actually, but... He looked at their leader, working with Scorponok on worst damages in wolf's circuitry, and buzzed quietly. Wow. A sudden cackle made him jump. He glanced suspiciously at Tarantulas. The spider was staring at nothing, as far as he knew, though it was sometimes hard to tell with all those eyes. After a while the wasp shrugged and lost interest. The spider was often chuckling for no reason.
____________________________________________________________________________

A small arachnoid crawled near to the group of Maximals, crowded around Optimus.
"It looks bad."
"Dat's an understatement of a century, Big Green! And don't ya even dare to say anythin' stupid, Scal-- what da Pit happened to ya?"
Dinobot sent Rattrap an angry, though one-opticed, glare. He was looking as if someone had spread a string of firecrackers across his face and chest and then fired it. "I have been in battle, you slow processored pestilence!" "Hey! Ya watch--"
"QUIET."
They all looked at Kittar. She pointed one of long metal splinters sticking out of Primal's chest. "Rhinox, pull that out." "It could kill him, his main energon vesse--" technician started to protest.

"NOW." She didn't shout. She just put so much stress on the word, that Rhinox pulled the splinter out before he realized what he's doing. The tips of Kittar's fingers opened, revealing a set of small, delicate tools. Rattrap could only gape as they blurred inside open wound, tying, bonding and welding. After a while she pointed another splinter. "This one."
This one.

Hold it.

Help me here.

Move it.
Rattrap shook his head. She's worse than Chopper-face on a bad day.  

At least she knows what she's doing, Dinobot thought approvingly, scanning their surroundings for any suspicious movement. It would be much more advisable to return inside Axalon, but Kittar had very definitely said 'NO TIME', so they were still outside, vulnerable to attacks, if Predacons decided to come back.


Kittar was working silently, her processor spinning just as fast as her fingers.
Both CRs are taken, Tigatron in the better one, he has to stay there, Cheetor's repairs can be interrupted, Optimus will go in that old piece of junk, it will first focus on protecting the spark, the damage to his external circuitry was steadily progressing, by the time CR is done with the spark, the remaining devastation will be so extensive the repairs will take solar-cycles, she needs to trick the stupid machine into overlooking the minor breaks in spark cavity, and to do that…

Rhinox gasped, when Kittar started cutting wires sustaining Primal's spark. "What are you doing?!"
"A bypass." She calmly attached the wire to hard core circuitry.
"You can't connect his spark to- -" The green bot reached desperately to stop her. She slapped his hand away. "I know what I'm doing."

____________________________________________________________________________

Tarantulas was cackling again. Megatron fought the urge to throw a pliers at him. He made sure Rust's state was stable, and straightened up.
"Spiders, you will stay here with me. Scorponok, you and flyers will take Rust back to base." His presence should prevent any regretful 'accidents' to Rust or later returning party.
Megatron retrieved his binoculars again just in time to see the group of Maximals stirring, barely noticing that Tarantulas is cursing under his breath. 

____________________________________________________________________________

"Done," Kittar announced, raising her head. She frowned suddenly and swung her arm. A dagger swished through the air, pinning small arachnoid to the ground. "Take him in," she ordered, paying no further attention to twitching scrap. No one else reacted either. By now they all knew that 'arachnoid hunt' was one of her favorite sports. Almost every time someone approached her outside she was holding remains of one in her muzzle.

As Rhinox carried Optimus to the lift, Rattrap looked around, taking in the size of damages. "Well," he sighed, "hate ta say it, but ya were right, Chopper-face." "I am always right, vermin. But to what occasion are you referring?" Rattrap ignored the taunt. "Dis Rust can be a problem," he simply said, going to the lift.

They went inside just in time to see Kittar presenting a very sophisticated way of disrupting CR-repairs in progress. Namely, she pulled a plug. Cheetor fell off opening machine with a groan, and Optimus was immediately put in his place. And just as Rattrap thought that the worst was behind them, the worst came.

The amber opticed worst.

"Yer not touchin' me!" he shouted, backing away and shielding his arm protectively. Kittar advanced with tools raised.

"This wound needs to be soldered."

"It's just a scratch! Go and mess wit' Cheetor!"
"He'll be better off with CR, but-"
"I'll be better off with CR as well!"

"*snarl* Cease this nonsense, cheese-ball, this whining does not befit a soldier."
"Hey! Mind yer own business, scar-face! Oh, Kittar, see him? HE needs yer attention!"

"Cut it out, you all!" Rhinox blurted out, lifting a transmitter driver off the floor. "We were lucky enough that this was still inside, even without the rest of equipment we may have chance to contact the probe. Kittar, take care of Cheetor, you two - you come with me!"
Kittar grudgingly let Rattrap escape and turned to Cheetor instead, muttering something about stupid, ungrateful bots, who don't know when they need help.

About ten cycles later she was smiling triumphantly, attending to Rattrap's multiplied wounds. "See? If you had your arm functional, you'd be able to protect yourself against Megatron attack, but no, you had to be unreasonable--"

"Oh, shuddup, female," the rat-bot moaned, covering his optics with a free hand.

____________________________________________________________________________

 
Megatron waited for entire three megacycles and then a bit more before returning to base. Unnecessary, as it proved, because Maximals, after the second beating, didn't try again. Finally Tarantulas assured him that the probe was out of reach and on its way back to Cybertron. Which meant they were... 'safe'. The way scientist pronounced the word made Megatron suspicious, but he was in too good mood to dwell on the subject.

At base they found Terrorsaur and Waspinator dozing in communication room, and Scorponok messing with active CR-tank with slightly worried expression.
"Any problems, Scorponok?"
"Not sure, Megatron. This tank must be broken, it uses up heavy metals three times faster than it should."
"But are repairs going well?"
"Yes, Megatron."
"In that case, simply replenish it, yess. You will check for possible irregularities tomorrow. We've all deserved some rest."

"Yes, Megatron."

____________________________________________________________________________

CR finally removed the last of poison from Tigatron's frame, and Kittar ordered Dinobot in. ("Yeah, sure, go an hide, Dino-butt! Why is it me who has to be left on da mercy of miss Scalpel?" "Shuddaup, Rattrap.") Then it was turn for Cheetor, and Rhinox, and finally Rattrap. ("You don't need CR, I've repaired you!" "Like I'm gonna trust dat!"). Then they waited. Rattrap went back to messing with games' codes, Cheetor was trying to make Tigatron feel at home in 'artificial structure', Dinobot volunteered to watching monitors, and Rhinox forced Kittar to explain him how exactly her bypass worked, and why it was necessary. With a heavy sigh, she started drawing diagrams and energy flow graphs. "...And thanks to that, he'll be up and walking within next two megas, instead of next two solars," she finished. Rhinox remained a little doubtful about that, and Kittar took offence, beastmoded and stalked away.

____________________________________________________________________________

Where the Pit am I?
This is a universal question, obligatory asked after waking up from unconsciousness. Finding an answer can be a long, unpleasant and embarrassing process. Fortunately for Rust, none of it was the case this time. Surroundings were familiar.
CR… So, not dead yet.
He run the standard check-up.

Legs - checked.
Arms - checked.

Head - obviously.

Blaster - che--

Rust sat up hastily, splashing and sputtering the CR liquid.

"My gun! Did someone bring back my gun?"
The answer was silence. Only the stand-by diodes of other CR-tanks blinked at him. He scowled and run to his room.

"Hey wasp, do you know if someone--  Oh, you brought it! Thanks, man!"
Waspinator gave a buzzing yelp when Rust snatched the blaster out of his hand and pulled him in a brief hug.

"You have NO idea how much I like this gun," Rust said, beaming and stripping the blaster down to see if it's all right and putting it back together.
Waspinator decided not to inform Rust that he'd almost dropped the thing into recycle unit by accident. Instead he buzzed a halfhearted 'why'.
"I was custom made, you know. By the best gunsmith I've ever met." Rust was overjoyed to have his favorite toy back, and the good mood made him twice as talkative as he normally was. "It's based on my own circuitry, so I don't have to worry I'll break it, and see--"

He lifted the blaster in the air with one finger. It rocked a little, and then stabilized in horizontal position.

"--it's perfectly weighted. And the dispersion is less than 0,08 inch at 500 meters range."
Waspinator tilted his head curiously. "It must been expenzzive," he buzzed.
Rust smiled strangely, stroking the barrel. "It was," he confirmed a bit wistfully. Then he shook it off and smiled at his roommate. "Wanna try it?" he asked, offering him the gun. "Here is power level control, and here..."

Waspinator happily started messing with buttons, knobs, and switches. It was exactly what he'd been doing when Rust had come in, but now he was being told what function of each gadget was, so he didn't have to guess or experiment. Rust, he decided, wasn't so bad after all.
____________________________________________________________________________

"Did we contact the probe?" were the first words Optimus uttered. The looks on others' faces was the answer enough. He sighed. "What happened? I don't remember much..."
He listened to the detailed, multi-voiced explanation, thinking. They needed something to equal the chances. Technically, they weren't outnumbered, but... well, there was just no comparing Kittar to Rust. To think of it, there was no comparing him to Megatron either. A maximal corporal versus predacon general. Huh! But here he was and he had to think of something. Only what?
"Processor storm, people! What could help us avoiding getting scrapped like that in the future?"

"We could ask Preds to leave us alone"
"Or invite dem for oil an poisoned cookies."
"Or threaten that we will sue them and hope they will die of laughing."
"No, wait, I know! I we can tie the bells to 'em so we hear when dey're comin'."
Rattrap and Cheetor continued on like that, but Optimus was looking at Rhinox. "If we did know their movements..."
"I've already tried to hack their comm codes, didn't work."
"Something different then, maybe we could access their comm central directly..."

Dinobot stirred. "It would be unreliable, the considerable amount of information goes through personal comlinks." He hesitated. "Maybe the surveillance system..."
Optimus's optics lit up. "Rhinox? Could you?" "Hmmm, not without direct access to it, and I doubt Predacons would let me in." "Well, no, but..." Optimus let his voice trail of, as he moved his gaze to look at one specific bot.

The target of his gaze fidgeted uneasily. "I don't like da way yer lookin' at me, Fearless Leader."
Optimus smiled a bit deviously. "I'm prepared to bet one hundred credits that Predacons are totally off-guard right now..."
"Na-uh! No way!"
"They won't expect anything so soon, and besides, didn't you visit them before, Spy Master?"
Rattrap sputtered, pretending he wasn't flattered at all, but now he was fighting a lost battle, and he knew it.

____________________________________________________________________________

The wolf twitched his ear and moved restlessly in his sleep. Then he jerked his head up, awaken and tensed. Something was wrong. But what? A sound? No. A smell? Negative. Hmm.
He sent his spark senses around, and a quiet growl grew in his voice box. Instead of six distant stars, there were seven.
He jumped down off his bunk quietly.


Oh man, oh man, why did I agree to do this?
Rattrap sneaked through the dark corridors, cursing to the Pit his own imagination. It was creating Predacons round every corner.
They surely would be resting after the attack, yeah, right! It was US who took the beating, not the other way round! They could be waiting here with a welcome committee for all we know! Man, I really, really hate this!


The wolf stalked the corridors, his growl so low it was almost an infrasound. His eyes were burning furiously.
No one sneaks up on my pack!


**Rust to Megatron. Rust to Megatron, come in, sir!**
The quiet call interrupted T-rex's sleep. Frowning, he answered.
"It'd better be important, Rust!"
**We have an intruder onboard, sir.**
Megatron stood up abruptly. "How do you know?"
**He's on the third level, I can hear him moving. It's not any of the Predacons, they're all where they're supposed to be, I've checked.**
Then the sound of sniffing filtered through the comlink, and the growl.
**It's the rat. Shall I take him down?**
Megatron was thinking quickly. A discovered spy, or maybe saboteur. How could he use it?
"Not yet, noo. Try to discover his purpose and report. Act only if his actions prove to be of immediate danger."
**Understood. Rust out.**

The surveillance monitor cables were exactly where Dinobot said they would be, attaching a spy transmitter and camouflaging it was a matter of seconds, and now he could get the Pit outta there. He froze for a nano when he perceived the faint smell of wolf's fur. Freeze or run? Freeze or run? He settled for sneaking away. Maybe he was lucky and Rust was only passing near on his way for a midnight snack... He didn't believe it for a cycle. Only when a cold night breeze rustled his fur he breathed out. Phew... Few cycles later he almost got a spark attack, when something jumped at him out of nowhere.
"Slag!" He forced his spark to leave his throat and go back where it belonged. "What are ya doin' here, cat?" "Backing you up," the cat responded, sniffing him up and down for potential injuries and finding none.
Rattrap scowled. "An what would ya do if dere was trouble, huh? Annoy da Preds to death?"
*Snarl* "She could never outmatch you in that department, rodent. Have you accomplish your task?" Raptor's form appeared in the darkness.
"Was dat meant to be insult, Chopper-face?" "Believe me, if I wanted to insult you, you would know about that, you final result of evolution errors!"
***

In the darkness of predacon base's corridor eleven green eyes glinted. They're owners stared at each other for a moment, both surprised that the other managed to surprise him.
"Well," Tarantulas finally grumbled, "what was so important I had to be dragged away from my work?"
"The rat. He sneaked in, messed with the cables and left. I can't smell any explosives, but that's about all I can tell. You're the tech-spec around here, go and check what he'd done." 
____________________________________________________________________________

"Well, it's working. Not as well as it could, but we have access to control room cameras, and that's what counts."
Dinobot snarled. "Why can't we see the transmissions form all cameras? They should be accessible from this cable!"
"Maybe they've rerouted or shut down some of them after the crash," Optimus offered.

Raptor frowned, glaring at the screen. The control room, main entrance, few insignificant corridors and an empty hold. There was something amiss, he was sure. Shaking his head, he stalked off to his quarters. Almost in front of it he found a cat. Kittar was sitting in the middle of the corridor, still as a statue. The only part of her that moved was her tail, slashing so quickly it was a blur. Dinobot came closer to see what had upset her so, and snorted at Rattrap's message. Well, this was really childish. Even acknowledging it was below his dignity. It really was. He would never lower to graffiti war. Never.

He tapped his talon lightly and checked if they were alone. He wouldn't even show he noticed. But... He bent down and whispered something into cat's ear.
____________________________________________________________________________

Cheetor appeared to take his shift on monitor duty in surprisingly good mood. Rattrap glanced at him suspiciously. "What are ya giggling about, kiddo?"
"Ah, nothing." It would sound more convincing if he hadn't giggled again at the word.
He watched the monitors for a while and then cleared his throat.
"Er, have you seen Kittar's door lately?"
"I don't go in dat part of ship," Rattrap said sternly.
"Aw, come on, it's on the same corridor!"
"Well, so I don't go in dat part of corridor."
"Ah, OK."

Rattrap waited a bit for something more, but Cheetor just watched the monitors with innocent expression on his face.

Rattrap tapped the keyboard absentmindedly, and then shut the computer down. "See ya in da morning, Spots."

He walked straight to his room, and the door closed behind him with a very definite *thump*. It opened silently after a moment. The rat checked if the coast was clear, waited for a camera to turn away, and sneaked silently down the corridor.

Dinobot, waiting glued to the door, suppressed the snigger. He waited, straining his hearing. He'd be there in 3, 2, 1... He had to admit that Rattrap took the repartee rather well. There was just a quiet, undignified sputter and he went back to his room. Only after a while Dinobot heard a small 'flop, flop, flop' of darts being thrown with force slightly bigger than necessary. It was what rat-bot always did when he was angry but didn't know what to do about it.
Smirking mischievously, Dinobot rephrased one of Cheetor's favorite lines.

Predators: one, the pray: zippo.

Cheetor was a bit disappointed that Rattrap hadn't taken the bait and didn't go to check Kittar's door, but oh well... He would see it eventually. He smiled at the message visible through one of inside cameras.

All squeaky snacks are welcome

Feel invited