Transformers: World War II

[Cynical Cat]

"Interesting," said Stephanie. "I'm not surprised. The passenger space of a tank is comparatively large. Deathstrike keeps his cockpit when he transforms, although its more like a coffin with a sensor display and restraints in robot mode."

[frigidmagi]

"Interesting," said Stephanie. "I'm not surprised. The passenger space of a tank is comparatively large. Deathstrike keeps his cockpit when he transforms, although its more like a coffin with a sensor display and restraints in robot mode."

"That's odd. I wonder what Megatron had that in mind for... You ridden in it then, Doctor? You should also be aware that I have deployed Deathstrike along with the other fliers and Pathfinder on recon. It is my intent to move out soon if I can get Commander Flash and the other human leaders to agree." I reply.

[Cynical Cat]

"I have. The cockpit is for transporting small Decepticons, I believe he called them "Casseticons and Minicons" to a combat zone after softening up the enemy with a ground attack and then continuing to support the ground forces from the air. I guess you would be the enemy in question."

[frigidmagi]

"More then once. Although he would never had stuck around to deliver Decepticons as thin skinned as Casseticons and Minicons if I or my unit was around. He was to good for that. Deathstrike doesn't waste time or resources." I said.

[Cynical Cat]

"He said you were a real warrior," said Stephanie. "And he meant that in a way that the other Autobots aren't. He meant it as a compliment."

[frigidmagi]

"Deathstrike and I are military model Cybertronian Warmachines. I was created to fight, so was he. The vast majority of the Autobots are not. They are civilian models who were forced to fight when Megatron launched his bid for power. They do not think like fighters. Neither do most of the Decepticons. Which is good for the rest of us. If all the Decepticons were like Deathstrike, they would have won a long time ago." I say quietly.

[Cynical Cat]

"Deathstrike said something like that. That the Decepticons were descended from military models and many of them were built like them, but they had spent a lot of their lives living as something else and it changed them. Not all of them though. Megatron. Funny, with Deathstrike it always comes back to Megatron."

[frigidmagi]

"Megatron created Deathstrike, as Prime created me. Without them neither of us would exist. We do not have childhoods like you do. We instead awaken fully formed and functional. We are programed with the knowledge we need. Deathstrike was created to be everything Megatron needed in a Decepticon. I think... I think it may be it was created to be everything other Decepticons, like Starscream or Blitzwing were not." I consider this for a moment.

In the past others have compared Deathstrike and myself. I do not know what the Decepticons think of me and I know all to well what many Autobots think of Deathstrike. As for myself, I have clashed with Deathstrike several times. There are times it felt like I was fighting a mirror. For a brief nano second I wonder if Deathstrike ever felt the same.

[Cynical Cat]

"That wasn't why Deathstrike was created. Megatron, well Megatron needed more soldiers. I imagine things looked different from the Autobot side, but from what Deathstrike says the Decepticons were always conscious of how badly they were outnumbered and that you had more manpower, er botpower, more resources, and all those Guardian Robots. He said he was built to do heavy ground attack and starship interception, since the Decepticons did have more fliers and they needed units to build up their numbers and hit the big assets that the Autobots had hard.

"He was in the second batch Fraxxyl created. Five protoforms. They didn't have the Matrix, which somehow matters, so only Deathstrike and another actually lived. He wasn't a special project to create an ideal warrior or anything. He was warrior created with a job in mind. That's all."

[frigidmagi]

"That wasn't why Deathstrike was created. Megatron, well Megatron needed more soldiers. I imagine things looked different from the Autobot side, but from what Deathstrike says the Decepticons were always conscious of how badly they were outnumbered and that you had more manpower, er botpower, more resources, and all those Guardian Robots. He said he was built to do heavy ground attack and starship interception, since the Decepticons did have more fliers and they needed units to build up their numbers and hit the big assets that the Autobots had hard.

"He was in the second batch Fraxxyl created. Five protoforms. They didn't have the Matrix, which somehow matters, so only Deathstrike and another actually lived. He wasn't a special project to create an ideal warrior or anything. He was warrior created with a job in mind. That's all."

"And none of that conflicts with what I just said Doctor. Although you will likely have more raw data on Decepticons and their side of history. I'm afraid there wasn't trade in historical or operational information between factions. I'm not even really sure when Deathstrike was created exactly. Even when most of us left Cybertron and scattered, we tended to try to bury and forget our histories. When we didn't try to bury and twist them under mountains of propaganda." I say with some distaste in the last sentence.

The level of propaganda flowing in every human society was high at the moment, but even then it didn't approach the hysterics I saw on Cybertron or the level some autobots were trying to hit in regards to our human allies.

[Cynical Cat]

"Deathstrike agonizes over his past," Stephanie replied. "Particularly what he views as his mistakes."

[frigidmagi]

We roll up to the Command building. I can see Commander Flash heading towards it back from some patrol of the base I would assume. Doctor Killian's comment seems to hang in the air of my internal compartment. I wonder what Hunter makes of this conversation?

"Deathstrike is not alone in that Doctor. It is a condition near epidemic in my species." I say quietly. My thoughts flash to Wheeljack, who is utterly sure if he had only been a little smarter he could invented the one thing that would stopped the war. Ultra Magnus, who believes he did to little to late. Prime... I cannot imagine that it is any different for the Deceptions. Although I think their regrets are deeply different from the Autobots.

We live for longer then most species can maintain civilizations I've found and yet we do not learn.

[Cynical Cat]

"Price of long lives I guess," said Stephanie. She slid off Breakout. "A lot of decisions means a lot of mistakes and it all adds up."

[Charon]

Hunter had been quietly listening, taking in all the information he could. It was, interesting, to say the least. Once the war machine stopped, Hunter got out as well. "I guess some are quieter about it than others. Some of the others don't seem to worry about a thing." Hunter hopped down off of the tank and then leaned against the tread.

[General Havoc]

Heedless of the discussions ongoing nearer to ground level, Hornet was having the time of his life. He was soaring, dancing through the sky, not literally of course (he was sure someone would chew him out for that), but simply enjoying the fact that he was flying unrestricted for the first time in forever. Deathstrike asked him to watch his sensors and to feel free to ask questions.

That was always a dangerous thing to tell Hornet to do.

"Um, Deathstrike?" he asked over the radio, his relatively advanced sensor suite searching air and ground for anything of importance. "I was... wondering... What... what happened that made you leave the other Decepticons?"

This was in no way the proper moment to discuss such a thing, not that Hornet seemed to notice.

[Cynical Cat]

There was a momentary pause and then Deathstrike answered. "I succumbed to fear. The war had been raging for millions of years and Cybertrons energy energy reserves had dwindled to almost nothing. We had smashed the Guardians, the Autobot Elite Guard, and society itself but we had not won. Both camps were sitting in fortresses and scavenging for what they could in the ruins, each dying by degrees. I could not see Megatron's dream coming to fruition. I saw only inevitable attrition and loss of function. I lost my faith, not in Megatron's dreams, but that victory could be had on Cybertron. So I lead several friends away to another world, where we could build something glorious without opposition."

[General Havoc]

Hornet was quiet for what was, for him, a very long time. Nearly fifteen seconds passed before he asked another question.

"Where... where'd you go?" he asked.

[Cynical Cat]

"A planet called Morishena. Some of the locals worshiped us as gods. We conquered most of the rest. We gave them science, technology, and medicine. We would have gone back to the stars together. Then Autobots came and turned it all to ash. I managed to escape."

[Dark Silver]

Outside the Command Building, despite the time spent acclimating to the Autobots and their strangeness, the sight of Breakout rolling up before it, a a relatively new piece of machinery fresh off the boat, as it where, brought some attention.

Flash was out a few moments later, already he knew about Breakout, and the alt-mod taken by the Autobot Warrior turned Commander, and addressed the vehicle as such, "Breakout, I am Sergeant Major Montgomery, you may address me as Flash. It's a pleasure to have you here..."

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


The scouting groups would find nothing within fifty kliks of the Coldstaph, the countryside was relatively quiet, though signs of fighting having taken place within the past week was apparent where ever they went.

It was consistent though, Allied forces had been pressing forward since the retaking of the Fortress, and occassionally Axis patrols made it past the forward lines.

All, it seemed, was quiet on the Nothern Front...as quiet as it could be so close to home.

[frigidmagi]

Flash was out a few moments later, already he knew about Breakout, and the alt-mod taken by the Autobot Warrior turned Commander, and addressed the vehicle as such, "Breakout, I am Sergeant Major Montgomery, you may address me as Flash. It's a pleasure to have you here..."

"Greetings, Sgt Major Flash. I bring greetings from General Hawk and the high command as well. I have taken command of the local Autobot unit and if you have a moment would like a situational briefing, before we start planning." I reply remaining in vehicle form... I'm not sure if regulations allow me to transform into robot mode and even if they did, it may be better for allied relations to stay in vehicle mode.

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder made another report back to base after he'd made the 50klick patrol with no sign of Germans or Decepticons. While he was waiting for the humans to think that over, the Autobot switched to another channel.

"All quiet down here, Deathstrike. Of course, that's about when you'd usually show up to burn my tailpipe from outside sensor range." The irony and sarcasm in the statement was clear as Pathfinder teased the 'Con once again over past encounters. "So is it a feint, or have they really pulled back from the human's advance?"

[Cynical Cat]

"This territory is only important because of our foothold and we've been sitting and rusting for the last month," said Deathstrike. "The valuable territory in the Soviet Union is the oil fields, the bread basket of the Ukraine, and the industrial cities. None of which are in the north. Cybertronians can land anywhere, so even the foothold isn't important. The smart move is to gut the Soviet Union and ignore us."

The Decepticon flyer continued south. "Leaving the immediate vicinity of Coldstaph and beginning deep recon."

[LadyTevar]

"You want ground backup on that deep recon?" Pathfinder asked, a little too eagerly.

[Cynical Cat]

"You're not going to be able to keep up Autobot, unless you can break the sound barrier," said Deathstrike.

[LadyTevar]

There was a long silence from the ground. "I hate flyers," Pathfinder finally muttered, going back to his own patrol.