Transformers: Steel Reign

[SirNitram]

Overload transformed and did what he could to seal bulkheads once Hornet was with him and Shellshock, grunting. "Not how I planned to launch a starship." He muttered.

[General Havoc]

"Six hundred meters, four hundred meters, two hundred meters, impact."

The video feed cut moments before a massive explosion bucked the air around Hornet, and he banked right as hard as he could, barely daring to look and see what his bomb had wrought. When finally he did, he saw the last of the three armored Decepticons laying prostrate on the ground next to the entrance to the spaceship, black smoke pouring out of a massive rent torn in his armored hide. Sparks and flames from within the battered Decepticon indicated that he had managed to knock it out, though the thought that he might have killed the Decepticon did not even enter his head.

Probably for the best.

He zipped down low and braked as he approached the entrance to the Nemesis, easily evading a burst of autocannon fire from somewhere. Carefully as he could, he aimed himself into the entrance to the Nemesis, reaching stall speed just as he entered the massive spaceship, transforming, and landing on his feet inside.

He recovered his balance and stood back up and looked around. Overload was here, and Shellshock, and further down were Stryke and Crimson and Firetrack. His wound up processor counted them and counted them and counted them again before concluding that they had all made it, they were all inside, and Overload sealing the entrance behind him provided the finality he needed.

He was shaking like a leaf, wound up like a clockwork toy, his wings quivering, so stunned by everything that had just happened that he did not even notice the ache in his right wing from where the Decepticon autocannon had fired right through him. He gulped a few times and closed his optics and made the fake equivalent of taking a few deep breaths, and as Overload finished up sealing the entrance, Hornet opened his optics back up and smiled nervously at Firetrack and Crimson and Stryke. What he wanted to do was to race over and give Crimson another one of his trademark hugs, in the hope that it would help with the fact that he was rapidly becoming scared out of his processor... but he didn't. What would Shellshock think, after all, and Overload, who had brought him along to help them capture the bridge of the starship. After all, he was supposed to be acting professionally, like the others were. He was supposed to be...

...

...

... nevermind.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Hornet sprinted over to Crimson and gave her as big a hug as he could muster, clenching his optics shut and letting tears of mech fluid leak out of them. His right wing had a three inch hole hammered through it from which mech fluid leaked slowly, but Hornet wasn't hugging Crimson because he was damaged, nor even because he was scared exactly. To be frank, he didn't really know the reason why, but he knew that it made him feel a little better, and he squeezed her as tightly as he could before finally letting go and smiling (still nervously, but more genuinely) up at Crimson and the others. "Thanks..." he said, and without another word of explanation as to what he was thanking them for, he ran back off to Shellshock and Overload.

Besides, since when did Hornet need a reason for a hug?

"... so..." he said, still trying to mask his fear, without much success, "um... when do I get to learn how to fly the Nemesis?"

A prospect to strike fear into the sparks of all who considered it...

[Charon]

Shellshock snorted as he checked his scanners one more time and started to move ahead. "Overload, take the back. Hornet take center, keep your scanners active, I want to know if we're going to run into any surprises before they happen. Move 'bots."

With that Shellshock began to move methodically forward, taking the shortest path that he had been able to find towards the bridge of the ship.

[rhoenix]

Having stopped further up the hallway than the others, Firetrack chanced a quick look back to see what was happening. Making sure he was fully prepared for a Decepticon to round the corner at any moment, he quickly replied to Hornet first, before taking his cue from Shellshock. "Once we get this ship loaded into the simulators back at home Hornet, you can fly it all you want."

Switching channels and encryption protocols to another strong one, Firetrack spoke next to Crimson and Stryke. "Firetrack to Crimson & Stryke on closed channel. I can keep up with you two going your max land speeds in your alt. modes in my robot form flying. So, I'll be right above you. Here's the route I was planning on taking," he said, uploading three compressed images of the Nemesis with highlighted routes through the great ship. "As well as the two alternates I worked out if shit goes wrong."

Using his engines, he floated up toward the top of the hallway he was in, high enough to allow Crimson and Stryke to pass beneath him if they had to. "Ready?"

[LadyTevar]

"Ready. Let's go." Crimson's engine roared as she took off, following the first of the three highlighted routes Firetrack picked, letting Stryke back her up.

[SirNitram]

Overload covered the rear of the bridge group, oversized pistol and sword in hand. "Don't worry, Hornet. We'll get you to the bridge. You just tell me where to knock out the bad guys, right?" Knocking out would be a better way of saying it to the little 'bot. That's repairable.

[General Havoc]

Hornet fell in between the massive (to him) forms of Shellshock and Overload, nodding nervously up at the larger warbots as he trotted along lightly, his sensors pinging everything in sight. What monsters, or the mechanical version thereof, lay within this massive spaceship, he did not know, but he was cowed enough by his surroundings to remain very quiet and very alert, the best that could generally be hoped for as far as he was concerned.

[rhoenix]

"To the engine room, then!" Firetrack said decisively, as he engaged his anti-gravity engines to match Crimson and Stryke's speed directly below him.

As they proceeded, being able to focus three times the amount of firepower at any given point was guaranteed to be useful. This became especially true as a surprised-looking Decepticon entered the hallway, looked at what was causing the noise, and was about to call into his radio when a barrage of direct energy weaponry was loosed at his specific direction.

Though one or two of the three smirked as they swept by the unconscious form of the Decepticon, no words were exchanged. Perhaps none were needed.

[LadyTevar]

"You two may want to lower your audio receptor settings," Crimson told them with a wicked tone to her voice. "Metal walls make for very loud echos, you know."


She gave them just enough time for that to sink in and for Stryke at least to take the suggestion, before the FemBot took the silencers off her engine and gunned it for all it was worth. In the relatively close confines of the Nemesis' hallways, the roar of the Harley Sound (tm) was enough to shake the walls and damage eardrums as she shot ahead.

[General Havoc]

Something roared in the deep darkness of the labyrinthine corridors of the Nemesis, the echo bouncing about like a rubber ball before it reached Hornet. When it did, the distance, distortion, and everything else made it sound like anything but a loud motorcycle engine, and very much like the unearthly roar of some horrific monster.

Hornet, his finely-tuned sensors already keyed up to maximum sensitivity in the silent spaceship, his electronic nerves on edge from his surroundings, let out a very non-robotic yelp, and a moment later, he was clinging to Overload's leg, shaking uncontrollably, his optics darting this way and that as though expecting some kind of bot-eating horror to emerge from the very walls.

[rhoenix]

The instant Crimson disabled the baffles on her exhaust pipes, the audio filters Firetrack used to hear over his own engines activated, filtering out the sheer volume of the noise.

Chuckling to himself beneath the noise (not that he would have been heard being nearby Crimson anyway), Firetrack felt a little wistful - he wished the corridors were large enough for him to transform into his alt-mode; then everyone would hear some serious noise.

In the meantime, he contented himself with tracking their progress through the corridors of the voluminous Nemesis, and picking off Decepticons unwise enough to investigate the noise Crimson was making. That thought made him chuckle wickedly - the Decepticons further away would probably think something terrifying was loose within the ship, due to the acoustics within.

[Dark Silver]

The Autobots managed to get aboard the Nemesis, the skeleton crew which remained onboard were mostly construction drones and human skeletons. Very few would be able to handle a Autobot assault team.

He was on the Bridge, his second was securing the Engineering section. Between them, there were six Decepticons capable of fighting.

It would have to do.


"Lugnut to Decepticons!" the voice reverberated through the Bridge, echoing throughout the entire ship via the comm systems. The voice had not been heard in thousands of stellar cycles by most Autobots, but the voice and name was near legendary to those who enjoyed the old Gladiator Pit holos.

"By the word of Megatron, you will destroy the Autobots! For the glory of Megatron, you will use their slag to repair the hull damage! Do not disappoint our Master! Secure the Nemesis till his glorious arrival!"


Red alert klaxons and lights sounded throughout the Nemesis, as the ship shuddered. On the bridge, Lugnut stood by the navigator console, his single forward facing optic locked onto the controls.

Somewhere deep intside the ship, fission engines began to fire up, sending power into the Energon convertors, surging power throughout the ship. The very deck plates began to rumble with the power as the nuclear PDE engines began to fire up, and the massive star-dreadnaught started to take to the air.

"What treachery is this? I did not order take off!"


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


Meltdown guarded the door, he heard the coming of the autobots, the echo of the engine coming down the hall. The sheer volume of the sounds shook him and his warriors, but they were not phased. Meltdown's thermal rifle was pointed down, waiting to open fire.

"Engine core at 96% capacity and primed! Propulsion systems primed, and waiting."

Meltdown looked back at the drone he put incharge of priming the engines, "Initiate full burn! The Nemesis must fly!"

Warning klaxons sounded loudly as the engines were fired up, and the deep thrum of the engines moved through the desk plating.

"Come at us Autobots!" Meltdown called down the hall, a smirk of maniacal glee on his faceplate.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson radioed over the noise of the klaxons and her own roaring engine. "I caught a scan before the engines started: Three 'Cons: two big, one little. I call the little one. Any plans how to run this?"

Why did they turn on the Nemesis' engines? Are they planning on using it to fight? What are they thinking? a subroutine of her processor worried at that problem as the rest of her prepared for the upcoming fight.

[rhoenix]

Crimson radioed over the noise of the klaxons and her own roaring engine. "I caught a scan before the engines started: Three 'Cons: two big, one little. I call the little one. Any plans how to run this?"

Answering over the same encrypted frequency with Crimson's engine noise filtered out, Firetrack spoke up. "I got the scan too, and I have telemetry. All three are standing on the ground, and don't look like they're moving. I have two HEAP rockets left, which should be enough to get the big guy's undivided attention. Would you two mind hitting the two smaller ones first, and then help me finish off the big guy? I can keep him preoccupied until then."

As he spoke, the rocket launcher on his right shoulder, holding his remaining two HEAP rockets, rose smoothly upward. Direct-fire though the rockets were, he had sensor lock on his target already, his pulse laser banks set at full power, and his energon-active swords out. Firetrack was as ready as he could be.

[LadyTevar]

"Take him down, Firetrack," Crimson encouraged with a grin. "Just don't hit anything IMPORTANT in the Engine Room."

[Charon]

Shellshock came to a stop before he came to the last turn that would lead to the hallway to the bridge. "Hornet. Give me a reading." The old warbot was meanwhile going through the schematics again. This hallway led directly to the bridge. He tried to do some calculations, guessing at how much damage those doors could take, and exactly how big the hallway was. Shellshock smiled grimly. If they could form Breachload in here and fire down that hallway without blasting the bridge to smithereens, this fight would be a lot easier.

[rhoenix]

"Take him down, Firetrack," Crimson encouraged with a grin. "Just don't hit anything IMPORTANT in the Engine Room."

Though half his attention was still on creating valid possibilities of attack, he did smirk as he replied. "Oh, you know the human saying - if you can't fix it with a hammer, it's broken! Don't worry though," he said after a pause, "I won't make anything explode unless it's the only option."

As they rapidly turned down the last remaining hallway before the entrance to the Engine Room, Firetrack readied his grip on his swords. The heavy Decepticon up ahead, though still out of view, was going to become very familiar with them here shortly.

[General Havoc]

Hornet stopped just short of slamming into the back of Shellshock's leg when the artillery bot spontaneously stopped, and of all things, asked him for a reading. Nervously, Hornet gulped and activated those elements of his sensor suite that were of use in a place like this. His CC-APR, his UHFE Sensors, and his Thermal scanners all went to work, trying to determine what was up ahead, and it was several seconds before he nervously piped up.

"Um... there's... two barricades in the hallway up ahead," he said softly. "They're not very thick, I can see through them. I... don't see any Decepticons though. Maybe... maybe they all ran away?"

[SirNitram]

"That'd be too easy." Overload rumbled as he converted to vehicle mode and gunned his engine. "Thin barricades.. My favorite kind."

"Breachload once we take the Bridge. Hornet, follow without getting too far behind or ahead." And then the handbrake dropped, and the massive red hauler launched forward.

[Dark Silver]

Meltdown popped out of the door, his thermal rifle already filling the hallway with deadly energy bolts, one of the smaller Decepticons laying down another sheath of fire on the low side. Meltdown's optics flicked to the incoming rockets, and before the smaller warrior could respond, Meltdown hurled him one armedly into the path.

Pulse lasrers pinged and scored the Decepticon's armor, energy bleedthrough shorting circuits locally, before the missles exploded against the armor.

The Decepticon flew back, a gaping hole in his chest plate, one leg twisted and melted beyond recognition, and his optics dark in Stasis Lock.

Meltdown unleashed a rocket of his own after hurling the Decepticon, the single missile flying towards the Autobots, backed up with a screen of thermal laser fire.

"You Blaspheme the Glory of this Hallowed Vessal Autobot Scum!" called out Meltdown, before disappearing from the doorway.

---------


"Argh...Stop this ship!"

"We can't! Drive systems have been started from the Engine Room! Bridge Override has been locked out!"

"ARGH!! MELTDOWN!" Lugnut's voice reverberated through the hall as he screamed his anger.....

Just intime for Overload plow through the barriers, and right into the Bridge. Lugnut, having millions of years of combat experience, turned, and with his monumental strength, punched directly into Overload's trailer section, missing the cab by a scant half a meter.

"For the Glory of Megatron! The Autobots will not take this bridge!"

The two smaller Decepticons joined their commander, ducking behind a console, and using it as cover to open fire.

[rhoenix]

As Crimson, Stryke, and Firetrack directly above them rounded the last corner, they were greeted warmly in true Decepticon fashion. They observed the door to the Engine Room was open, just as they realized the largish bulk of Meltdown's frame was suddenly filling the space, already shooting high-temperature thermal bolts. Two smaller Decepticons crouched on either side, helping to add to the volume of fire. The response of the three Autobots was to eagerly return the favor, their own high-energy weapons filling the air, Firetrack's pulse lasers turned up in power enough to ionize the air as each bolt passed through it.

Smiling grimly, Firetrack's response was immediate. Both his remaining rockets screamed through the air, aimed at Meltdown's less-armored side. The response wasn't quite as good as Firetrack had hoped, but it was still good. Meltdown stopped firing, and bodily heaved one of his surprised-looking cohorts into the way of the two HEAP rockets roaring rapidly toward them. The Decepticon had time to open his optics wide in shock and surprise, as he realized what was about to happen one moment too late. The Decepticon flew back, a gaping hole in his chest plate, one leg twisted and melted beyond recognition, and his optics dark in Stasis Lock, mercifully before his body slammed against the bulkhead from the impact.

Unleashed a rocket of his own after hurling the Decepticon, Meltdown quickly followed it up with a burst of thermal laser fire, one of the bolts striking Firetrack's still-raised rocket launcher, melting some of the metal enough so it would no longer retract, though he managed to barely dodge the high-speed rocket as he flew.

"You blaspheme the glory of this hallowed vessel, Autobot scum!" called out Meltdown, before disappearing from the doorway.

Firetrack was fully in battle mode, but a somewhat subtle change seemed to come over him. His optics, despite still showing their normal gold, seemed...hotter, somehow. The color was that of molten gold, almost seeming to boil and churn angrily, as he accelerated much more rapidly toward the seemingly empty doorway. His voice sounded eager, and yet much more malicious than before. "We Autobots call it 'pest control,' chickenbot! Don't run, you purple Decepticon failures, you'll only die tired!"

Holding his blades crosswise across his body, he kept rapidly accelerating toward the doorway. As he crossed the threshold, his energon blades slashed out to the sides of the doorway hard, aimed for those who might be standing on either side of it within the Engine Room, waiting for someone to breach the doorway.

Immediately afterward, he spun around, dove, and flew low right at Meltdown, his pulse lasers already spitting high-energy bolts aimed at Meltdown's joints, paving the way for limb-disabling slashes from his blades.

[Charon]

Shellshock was not far behind his brother and moved up to give him what cover he could. He had to be careful with his shots, lest he destroy something important. That was going to be somewhat of a disadvantage for his team, at least until it became clear that they couldn't steal the Nemesis. Shellshock hefted his heavy pistol in one hand and stepped behind what cover he could. Many Autobots and Decepticons preferred to empty their clips with rapid fire, Shellshock was from a different kind of 'bot. He waited for his clear shots and now he waited for one on Lugnut's companions.

[General Havoc]

Many Autobots and Decepticons preferred to empty their clips with rapid fire, Shellshock was from a different kind of 'bot.

Hornet wasn't.

Not possessed of the finest sense of combat timing or tactics, Hornet raced nervously in after Shellshock and Overload. He wanted to help his friends, a desire balanced keenly against the fact that he very much wanted not to get shot. On balance, he made the decision that he should probably leave Lugnut to Overload or Shellshock, either of whom were better suited to deal with someone like that. Accordingly, he let the others enter first before rushing into the room and selecting one of the two Decepticons other than Lugnut as a target. Barely a tenth the size of Overload or Shellshock, neither of the other Decepticons had even noticed him entering, and one was reaching over its cover to shoot at one of the others, which he did not know. With his spark pounding in his auditory sensors, and his sense of moderation thrown out the window, Hornet simply raised both wings and opened fire, point blank, at full speed.

Three hundred laser blasts struck the enemy's position in less than four seconds as Hornet opened fire, turning the entire wall behind the enemy into a cascading fountain of sparks and twisted metal. Hornet was simply spraying, not taking the time to aim carefully, for his mechanical nerves were taught and twitching, and the fear in his spark was matched with the exhilaration of what was happening. By sheer luck, Hornet's shots were not directed at a control surface, but simply at a bulkhead wall, but whether or not he had hit anything useful was another question.

[SirNitram]

Overload span out on the Bridge of the Nemesis, his trailer sweeping around the topspinning cab like a shotput around a thrower. As it came to a halt, the ancient Autobot transformed upwards. "Okay.. I felt that.." He muttered, before closing the distance with the equally hefty Lugnut. Two massive Cybertronians duking it out, no problem. Besides, how fast could he be?

[Dark Silver]

Lugnut and Overload met head on in the bridge. Lugnut swung first, his massive fist going high as Overload ducked beneath it, and delivered a punch into the abdomen of Lugnut.

Decepticon armor crumpled with the blow, and Lugnut stepped back, his unblinking red optic fixed on Overload. "That actually hurt..." he said, almost in awe, before two laser turrents lifted on his chest, and twin bolts of energy flashed at the large red Autobot.


Meanwhile, Shellshock and Hornet laid down surpressive cover fire, trapping the two small Decepticons and keeping them out of the fight.

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

Firetrack rushed through the door, weapons blazing. It was pure luck which allowed the smaller Decepticon warrior to dive away from the weapons burst.

As he turned to meet Meltdown, the Decepticon Warrior had already trained his thermal rifle onto the Autobot and fired a blast. Fire Track's left side flared with the heat of the energy bolt, even as it flew wide and caused sparks and slag to fly from the doorway hatch. He only barely dodges the two swords coming at him. Meltdown brought his rifle up to block the blades, even as fell backwards. The two blades struck the weapon, cleaving it in two, as Meltdown fell on his skidplate.