Transformers: The Lost Light

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes," said Deathstrike, "we'll see."

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder stared at the small bots. "Ok, that is the freakiest thing I've seen in vorns. I need a drink." With that the scout-bot turned and walked further into the Lost Light, intent on seeking either a strong batch of energon or his bunk, whichever was closer.

[rhoenix]

Shaking his head at the sight of Deathstrike being the recipient of a... "hug," Novawing walked into the ship, keyed his security keychain to the ship's, and acquired a local map of the ship. Tracing a route to the Armory, Novawing ignored the stare from Ultra Magnus as he walked into the Lost Light, and into the Armory.

He first detached the long, thin gauntlets from his wrists, and placed them both carefully to one side of his locker. Next, Novawing disconnected the connection from the twin-railed railguns on his upper arms, and the powerful vectored variable-thrust fusion engines on his back, placing both railguns in his locker, to the opposite side of his gauntlets. Finally he lifted up his torso plate, extracted a small device with great care, and placed that gently in the very center of the space his locker held.

He stared at the contents for a few moments, before closing his locker in the Armory, and locking it securely.

[LadyTevar]

One planet Pathfinder had fought on long long ago the military had a saying: Never pack what can't be left behind. Pretending to be one of their small recon vehicles, Pathfinder had heard quite a bit of their sayings and curses, but that one had stuck with him. It was a good rule to live by when you never know where you'll be next, and if you'll be able to go back for your belongings before you move on. Thus, Pathfinder had no packed bags, no collection of memorabilia, just himself and his onboard weaponry. It was easier to move on that way.

Now Pathfinder walked the hallway of the Lost Light, his processors idly comparing inner volume to outer. The ship was huge... far bigger than the Arc or any of the other vessels Pathfinder had ever seen. The noosphere had a map of the basics: bridge, engine room, habitation suites, but it wasn't enough to be all of the ship. A slight frown crossed Pathfinder's faceplate. Where did HotRod find this ship, and what was missing from the maps?

The old itch was returning, the urge to go and find out the boundries, map the unknown, see what was out there (or in this case, inside the ship), but Pathfinder let it idle for now. Launch would be soon, and then he'd have plenty of megacycles to roam the ship. Right now, he found a untaken hab-suite and claimed it as his, simply by coding it to his IFF. He set the sleeping pallet for launch position and settled down to wait for word to strap in. Again, his processors turned over the puzzle of the empty maps, trying to extrapolate decks and what might be found on them from what little he had of naval data.

Scrap, this was a big ship.

[rhoenix]

Walking out of the Armory with an sigh, Novawing began creating a priority check-in map for himself to explore the ship properly. According to his rough calculations, it would likely take him 2-3 cycles just to get a preliminary map of the ship, let alone know it well.

Still, far better 2-3 cycles than millenia - Novawing thought darkly about the Nemesis, and how there were probably corners of that ship that only Primus knew. If he was going to be be here, especially as an Autobot on a mission of relative peace and exploration, he might as well explore the ship properly while he could. As he exited the doorway of the Armory his wings folded down, giving the appearance more of a cloak than of wings behind his shoulders. With that, he began exploring routes of the ship, and properly appending his internal map of the ship as he went.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike turned and headed back into the ship. The hug hadn't been entirely awkward. Deathstrike had seen organics embrace their children many times and he had embraced his close comrades in the past. He had no idea why an Autobot would deliberately create another Cybertronian in a form as physically and mentally deficient as a small child, but Wheeljack obviously had.

It struck him what was really wrong about Hornet. It wasn't that he was an experiment, it was that he was an experiment and an expenditure of resources that had no utility towards the war. Sure small 'bots could fight, but one didn't expect a child to fight or possess technical skills. The empire he had forged had eliminated famine and plague, ended slavery, and brought prosperity and science to a backward people but that had been intended to serve the war as well as the people. Hornet was not so.

"So this is peace," said Deathstrike softly. It was a strange, frivolousness thing, but he did not hate it.

-----

In the cargo bay of the Lost Light, two slim antenna peered over a crate. The whipped around, scanning the cavernous room with bright red photoreceptors. Then their owner crawled up.

The smith was small, the size of very large cat or a mid sized dog. It's crab like head house a dozen small utility limbs the ended in manipulators and tools. The millipede like rest of its body contained its motion systems. "Must find, must find," Smith said to himself. It rubbed manipulators together in agitation. It had spent a long time in evasion mode and needed a stress killing reboot and diagnostic.

Tiny metal legs carried the little 'bot up the wall to the illuminator. A screwdriver limb removed the screws while manipulators caught them. "No noise, no noise," it hummed to itself. The panel came loose, revealing the power cable conduit that fed the luminators and other minor systems. It was small, but so was the Smith. Carefully Smith removed the panel and climbed in, holding onto the panel by one limb. He moved it back into place and held it.

"Oh no," it whimpered. "Screws holes on the other side. No grill, no grill." It tittered nervously. "Torch torch." It fired up its laser welder and burned the panel into place.

"Must find, must find."

[Dark Silver]

The Lost Light, Kimia / Iacon
Two Hours before Launch

Not for the one thousandth, much less the first, time - Red Alert wondered why him. Admittedly, he understood why Rodimus would want him as the Chief of Security for the ship and it's crew - no better ears or mind in the business. If something was even slightly fishy, Red Alert would figure it out and know about it in short order.

But there were so many....PEOPLE!

"NEXT!"

Red Alert didn't even bother looking up from his data slate, merely looking at the next in the list, "Whoa....100,000,00. That's a Impressive Serial Number..." Red Alert finally looked up to the orange and white robot standing before him, holding a large box of....ships?

"I know you."

"Yes Red Alert, you do."

"Rang...Ring...."

"It's Rung."

IDW_Rung.jpg (60.15 KiB) Viewed 11211 times

"Oh yeah Rung...Sorry, I didn't recognize you there. . ."

"I was your psychiatrist."

". . . ."

"For six hundred years."

"Err..yeah, nevermind. What's in the crate?"

"It's my hobby, I collect model ships. Mostly Arks," Rung held up a beautiful scale replica of the Ark-1 from the top of the box, showing it to Red Alert, "I've been doing it a long time."

"But...you were a Autobot..."

"Yes?"

"I mean, you fought. How'd you manage to KEEP this stuff?"

"I have a knack for staying out of harms way."

"We were at war for six million years."

"I've been remarkably lucky, this particular one I've had since Optimus and Megatron took out Ze..."

Rung's sentence was left unfinished, as two Cybertronians flashed through the air just above himself and Red Alert - a purple fighter and a blue helicoptor. Cyclonus barely missed the two Autobot's heads by mere centimeters, while one of the outrider pylons of whirl caught Rung on the outstreched arm near the elbow....and tore it clean off.....

-------- o ------------

"Get back here Cyclonus! I'm not going to let you tell them! I'll kill you you Decepticon scum!"

Energy pulses flashed past Cyclonus as he avoided the wild firing of Whirl. "I told you Whirl, I wasn't a Decepticon! I fought for Galvatron, I was a CYBERTRONIAN! I was off planet for 2 million years before the war even broke out! I only went there because I thought it was Scourge. "

A laser bolt bored into Cyclonus' fuselage, and the Cybertronian Warrior felt the pain lance through his systems. This was outrageous! he had to get on board the ship - Rodimus had promised him a place upon it. But this insane Autobot was intent upon taking Cyclonus out. According to his onboard GPS, he was over what used to be the Mitenous Plateau. No one should have been out here, so he could fight back against Whirl, if the Autobot would not stop.

Another laser bolt impacted his left wing, and Cyclonus chose that moment to react, pulling himself upward and transforming - Whirl passed just under him, and then he was on top of the crazed Autobot killer. Cyclonus' fist smashed into Whirl's cockpit, even as the Autobot transformed under him, and the two tumbled from the sky.


----------- 0 ----------

Lost Light Bridge

"At last count, a total of two hundred and eight Autobots and two Decepticons," Drift finished the preliminary Roster, looking up from his data slate and looked to Ultra Magnus and Rodimus.

Rodimus over overjoyed, his arm pumping in the air, "Two hundred and eight?! Suck it Prowl! "A big none event huh?" HAH! Suck it Bumblebee! You know, when I have that 'gun in your hand' speech. . . "

"Great speech," Drift intoned.

"Thanks. But when I gave that speech, I never imagined we'd get so many! Two hundred and eight, that's simply amazing, gotta be some sort of record."

Ultra Magnus stood stoic in the background until that point, reached out for Drift's data slate, with only a "Give me that," to accompany it.

"These are your new crewmates Ultra Magnus....wait, why are you frowning? I mean, more than you normally frown."

It took only a few moments of looking at the names on the slate, before Magnus began to speak, "He's delusional, he's a liar, he's mad (I mean literally), he's dangerous, this one owes me money...he was demoted after that incident with the turbofox, I don't trust him OR him - especially in their combined modes, he was arrested for impersonating a Superior officer, and if he is who I think he is - never, ever let him near a crossbow. And that is just the 'A's."

Magnus tossed the data slate back to Drift, "You should have let me handle the door in my way. I would have turned back any wayward characters."

Rodimus just started flabbergasted at Ultra Magnus, "Ultra Magnus, your definition of "wayward character" is someone who has their Badge at a angle."

"Precisely. In DIRECT contravention of the Military regalia act! Besides, I let Pathfinder through with a .5mm leftward lean - with a stern warning."

"Magnus," Rodimus shook his head, "Sometimes, my friend, I wonder how you see the world...."

Ultra Magnus looked at Rodimus, and a small overlay box appeared just next to his face

Rodimus
Dreams of being heroic and important. Tends to not follow the rules too closely. Means well but his impulsive tendancies often get him into trouble. Can he hot headed.

Risk of Future Criminal Activity: Variable

Magnus merely looked at Rodimus and shook his head.

[SirNitram]

'Hey! I'm 'None', not Autobot.' Outrunner spoke up.. A little. His voice didn't actually raise, as he was expecting Red Alert there, and the poor guys ears would need rest. 'I have to keep what little integrity I got. That means owning up to not being able to muster when Optimus needed it.' A glance between the two commanders. "Rodimus. A pleasure. Heard about you.'

[Dark Silver]

The voice was unexpected - especially since it came from behind the hulking figure of Ultra Magnus. Even he, the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, was rather preturbed by that.

"And you are?" asked Rodimus - he hadn't met all of the Cybertronians boarding the ship, and while he knew now how many would be aboard - 208! - he didn't even bother checking the list of names. All that mattered is so many believed in him enough, believed in how good he was and how great this mission would be, that they chose to follow him - not Optimus, not Bumblebee, not Prowl - but Rodimus Prime.

Drift scanned the dataslate trying to figure out who the NAIL was, as Magnus spoke, "Outrunner. Yes, you are Non-Aligned....you're also a Non-Combatant. Why are you on the bridge? This is for authorized Personel Only."

[SirNitram]

"Door wasn't closed, and if I've learned one thing from running away from danger it's that you get a look at everywhere. Apologize for the trespass." A tap of his forehead to Rodimus. "Outrunner. Courier before the war, coward throughout."

[Dark Silver]

Rodimus smirked at Outrunner, "Well, we'll be leaving as soon as the last person is aboard, shouldn't be more than a few hours. I suggest finding a Hab-Suite and getting ready. We'll be off soon." Rodimus gave Outrunner a thumbs up, "Off to find the Knights of Cybertron and Cyberutopia."

If Outrunner listened, he could almost swear Rodimus believed his own words......


-------- 0 --------

Several kilometers Above the Mitenous Plateau, Cybertron

Cyclonus and Whirl fought.

For his part, Cyclonus didn't want to fight, he honestly just wanted to make it to the ship - he was promised a place upon it by Rodimus,. Cyclonus had lived with and sung great songs in Old Cybertronian about the Knights of Cybertron and the Guiding Hand after the War, after he helped Nova Prime bring peace to Cybertron, back when he was a long side Jhiaxus and Galvatron. . . .

Whirl's odd excuse for a first barely missed Cyclonus' head, "I told you Whirl, I didn't want to fight you! I have places to be...but just because I don't want to fight you doesn't mean I WON'T! And let the lesson be learned, I WILL kill you!"

With that Cyclonus' own fist was smashing into Whirl's side, attempting to break through the armor and get to vital circuits beneath. He felt the armor cave in slightly, as Whirl's single glowing optic head slammed into his own. Cyclonus was dazed by the blow, which was followed up by several more headbutts, and fist.

"I'll kill you! I'll murder you you sick freak!" Whirl shouted, continuing to slam Cyclonus as the two fell to Cybertron.

-------- 0 --------

Mittenous Plateau, Cybertron

"You know we'd be there by now if you actually had a half-way decent Alt-mode, Rewind."

"Oh there you go again, with the Alt-mode bashing. Everytime you get aggitated and nervous, it's always the same thing with you Chromie."

"I'm just saying, transforming into a Data-stick? You may as well be a monoformer!"

Rachet, Chromedome and Rewind trekked across the area once known as the Mitenous Plateau - and may well again be in a couple of centuries....or millions of years, unless some enterprising Cybertronians began to Cyberform their own world. Rachet shook his head, "You two always bicker like this?"

"Rewind just likes to make things a little dramatic..." Chromedome replied, "Besides, I mean, a Data Stick? You could have upgraded."

"Well excuse me Chromie for not transforming into a Super Space Tank or something! 'Every Shape has it's purpose', and I chose to believe that!"

"Yeah well, I'm just sayi..."

The conversation was interrupted as two large figures, one purple and grey, the other blue and black, slammed into the ground several meters ahead of the trio. Rachet was the first to react, the Autobot Chief of Medicine rushing forward, as Whirl began to pick himself up.

"Whirl are you OK?"

Whirl looked around, saw Rachet, Chromedome and Rewind, and then to the unconcious form of Cyclonus. A plan formed quickly, and he began to act, "I had to defend myself! He attacked me! I found him torturing Sweeps out in the wild, and tried to stop him. He's CRAZY!"

Rewind and Chromedome looked at one other, then back to Whirl, "Ain't that the Oil Pot calling the Energon Kettle..." Rewind whispered.

"Gotta take him out, gotta finish this. And I found nothing says "finished" quiet like a shot to the head." Whirl was pulling out his rifle, and taking aim at the unconcious Cybertronian even as he said this.

"Now wait Whirl, he's unconcious, he's not hurting anyone, put the gun down."

Whirl spun on Rachet, his unblinking optic fixed on the Medic, "You trying to talk me down Doc? This is you trying to talk me down...like...like...like someone who needs to be talked DOWN?! I'm gonna finish him off! He's Dange. . . "

Whirl never got to complete the sentence as the ground beneath him erupted with the force of raw Energon going critical. The former Wrecker was thrown back, landing in a crumpled heap not far from Cyclonus, groaned once, then passed out.

"Hey!" a small voice shouted from the newly created crater, "is anyone up there? Did I miss the launch?"

Rachet looked down the hole and blinked. Today was certainly off to a intersting start.


------------- o ------------

The Lost Light launch pad, Kimia, Cybertron
Evening, Launch Time

Finally, all of the crew was aboard - 209 Autobots, 2 Decepticons, and 2 non-Aligned. Though to Rodimus, the ones that mattered was the number 208. 209 Autobots! They trusted him and believed in him. He was indeed a Prime.

"All quarters secured, crew ready for launch," came the voice of Perceptor.

"Engines are operating at 96% Efficiency, fuel tanks and supplies are full. We're ready for launch." reported Hound.

"Rodimus, we're getting a incoming call for you." Blaster spoke up from the Comms station.

"Whose it from?"

"Bumblebee. You want to take it?"

Rodimus' smile faded slightly, "Nope. All hands, brace for lift off. Once we're clear of Cybertron's Gravity Well, we'll initiate Quantum Jump Drives."

"Contra-Grav thrusters are standing by."

Rodimus waited a few more moments, smiling to himself, setting himself in his command chair, "Lets get out of here."

---------------- 0 ------------------------

Autobot Air Control, Kimia Spaceport, Kimia

Bumblebee and Prowl watched as the massive white starship began to rise from the launch pad, the whine of contra-grav thrusters easily lifting the gleaming bulk of the ship from the surface of the planet.

Bumblebee was saddened by this - so many leaving the home they fought so long to reclaim, and he felt, just below the surface, that if Optimus Prime was still here, they wouldn't have left.

"I thought you had something planned?" Bumblebee said disheartened, looking at the ship, then to Prowl as The Lost Light turned gracefully in the air, presenting her thrusters to the two Autobots, and began to pull out of the Atmosphere.

Prowl said nothing, continuing to watch the ship as Bumblebee watched him.

Prowl continued watching the ship, as it pulled into the upper Atmosphere of the planet.....and exploded.

"I do." Prowl said calmly, as Bumblebee's jaw dropped, and the diminutive leader of the Autobots fell to his knees.

------------ o -------------

The Lost Light, Unknown Sector of Space

"What the hell was that?!"

The ship rocked beneath their feet, the emergency klaxons sounded throughout the ship, and Swerve was in one of the communal rooms with a many of the rest of the crew, celebrating the lift off.

Swerve had been on many ships, had lifted off and left a planet's gravity well, and this felt NOTHING like any of those times - this felt like the ship was under attack! "Oh man, I knew this Quest would be great! Not even off planet and we're being shot at!"

Swerve actually sounded excited for this, as others stumbled and attempted to get sure footing as the ship continued to rock - and suddenly the Universe shifted...the orangish glow faded and the shaking stopped, leaving only the emergency klaxons blarring.

"Quantum Jump Successful." Came the computers monotone voice over the comm speakers, replaced instead by the voice of Blaster, "All Crew, brace for Emergency Planetary insertion and landing!"

[SirNitram]

"Quantum WHAT?!" Outrunner tried to hang on as the ship lurched. "Planetary WHAT?!? Are we crashing already?!" The autobot was optimized for roads, it meant little traction.

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder had joined the lift-party in one of the communal rooms, figuring it would be good to meet & greet the other 'Bots on the flight. Swerve had been the life of the party, as always, and Pathfinder had been able to sit back and relax. Back on a ship, heading out with good companions he'd known for vorns, and for once No Battle in front of them. Maybe in a vorn or so, they'll head back to Cyber...

The ship rocked beneath their feet, the emergency klaxons sounded throughout the ship. "Oh man, I knew this Quest would be great! Not even off planet and we're being shot at!"

Pathfinder had time to groan "Prime, I hope not..."

the Universe shifted...the orangish glow faded and the shaking stopped, leaving only the emergency klaxons blaring.
"Quantum Jump Successful." Came the computers monotone voice over the comm speakers, replaced instead by the voice of Blaster, "All Crew, brace for Emergency Planetary insertion and landing!"

"Great Job, Roddy, broke it already," Pathfinder grumbled, helping some 'bots to their feet before taking Blaster's advice.

[rhoenix]

Novawing had lost himself in his multi-galactic model, carefully studying a stack of history reports and cosmological survey reports in his cabin. Like usual, his door was left open, inviting others to speak if they wished, but for now, he was trying to not lose himself in memories.

With an abrupt jolt, reality intruded in the form of the ship shuddering ominously, and alarm klaxons blaring all throughout the ship. "Quantum jump successful."

Novawing narrowed his optics. That seemed more than a little unusual... but it was followed by Blaster's announcement. "All Crew, brace for Emergency Planetary insertion and landing!"

Shaking his head with a sigh, Novawing immediately saved all his work on his galactic model into his personal databanks, and immediately began helping the crew prepare the ship for an unexpected high-speed landing. "Less than a damn solar day..." Novawing grumbled, even as he raced with the rest of the crew to lock down the ship to help survive the landing.

"Novawing to Ultra Magnus," he added, as he finished reinforcing a bulkhead near this crew section. "I'm going to get my armaments from the Armory. My shield and blades will be helpful shortly."

Once the bulkhead was done, he raced to the Armory, and began re-arming himself from his locker, rapidly checking all systems, double-checking the stability of his shield generator and singularity plane generators. Once done, he moved immediately to continue assisting the crew to prepare the ship for the impending crash.

[Cynical Cat]

The ship's sudden lurch threw Deathstrike off his feet and bounced him off a wall, denting his left forearm, before sending him tumbling down the hall. As he struggled to his feet, the ship lurched again. He attempted to keep his balance, but his emergency reflex subroutines were calibrated for a much larger and far more massive body and this one lacked the capacity to mag lock itself to the floor. As a result, he fell again, banging the back of his head against the floor.

He snarled as he got back up. "Status!" he barked at the ship's computer. It didn't answer. Of course it didn't answer. Bracing himself against the wall in case there were further gyrations, he headed towards the med bay.

[General Havoc]

Hornet had spent the last few hours before takeoff exploring.

The ship was enormous, built (of course) for beings considerably larger than Hornet. Everything was, it seemed, or at least everything he'd encountered since leaving Earth. It was true that nothing on Earth was sized for him, the Cybertronian buildings being too large, the human ones too small, but here it was all one way, and worse, as though the ancient Cybertronians had been building for giants. Nobody here seemed to have a sense of scale, not that Hornet was one to talk, really, but it was annoying after a while having to literally climb every one of a flight of stairs.

Still, the ship was something new and different and large enough that Hornet could likely spend months seeking out every little nook and cranny of it. Given that, he could hardly have been less concerned with scale and architecture. He'd spent the time prior to takeoff wandering largely at random, letting his auto-mapping software work in the background as he drank in what was to be his new home for the foreseeable future. So far not many people had been paying him a lot of mind, save of course for Outrunner. A lot of bots seemed to dislike Outrunner, something to do with the war, Hornet could never tell. As far as he was concerned, Outrunner was a bot who knew the value of a drag race, and better yet, a ground bot who was neither afraid to take a flier on, nor thought himself too exalted to so much as talk to one. Hornet didn't know many of those.

Announcements on the noosphere were, of course, not tremendously relevant to Hornet's mode of thinking, and he did not pay them any mind. The ship's takeoff was nothing but a dull roar and a vibration of the deckplates beneath his feet, something that could as easily have been caused by engine tests or the activation of nearby heavy machinery. Had he stopped to think about it for a second, he would have realized that they were airborne. He did not.

Not, at least, until something went drastically wrong.

He had just finished climbing one of the many, many flights of stairs to be found within the ship, a process considerably more literal for him than it was for most, when a loud crash, and accompanying klaxon alarms, sounded from somewhere deep within the vessel. He hesitated, turning to see which way they were coming from, only for the ship to buck beneath him like a living thing. A normal transformer might have been merely staggered, but Hornet was normal in no sense, and the jolt knocked him cleanly off his feet and back down the stairs he had just ascended. He tumbled backwards, bounced twice, and finally crashed through the open hatch at the base of the stairs, colliding at an unfortunate rate of speed with the much larger Cybertronian unfortunate enough to be walking past it just at that moment.

Such was the nature of being on a ship with Hornet.

[frigidmagi]

Breakout had ironically enough been looking for Hornet, wanting to get him settled into a room before anything occurred. Such things were not to be as the take off went brutally wrong. Breakout stumbled and threw out a hand to stabilize himself.

What was that? An attack (18.9%)? Sabotage (22.3%)? Engine failure (12.4%)?

"Computer, re-ack!" Breakout never got to finish his sentence as Hornet came hurtling down the hall to slam into him. Breakout was knocked right off his feet, he wrapped his arms around Hornet and took the fall, landing square on his back.

"Hornet?" He asked a little confused.

[Dark Silver]

The Lost Light,
Sector Traxi-B, 10,000 Lightyears from Cybertron

"What the hell happened? Perceptor, Mainframe, Highbrow? Anyone?" Rodimus stood in the middle of the bridge, as the "crew around him worked to bring the Lost Light under control. He tried to look like a calm center of the storm around him, but he was edgy.

"We Quantum Jumped before we were ready. We hopped halfway across the galaxy, and I'm sorry but we're flying blind here," replied Highbrow.

"What's the damage?"

"One of the rear thrusters exploded, Deck six is in flames, it looks like our subspace comms are fried, and...oh no..."

Ultra Magnus shoved Highbrow to the side, eyes narrowing as he read the read out and ordered in several commands, "Hull breach on one of the upper deck hanger bays. Resealing now, heat shields are in place. Looks like some of the crew vented out though."

Drift looked up from his station, "Internal sensors indicate we're missing Polaris, Waverider, Fizzle, Rad....about 40 Autobots all told."

Rodimus' face set, his optics narrowing. "This is not how this mission starts. No one dies on my watch. NO ONE. Once we set down on the planet, we'll make repairs, we'll find and rescue those Autobots and make this a GOOD day."

-------- 0 --------

Medical Bay, Lost Light

Rachet rushed through the med bay, checking on his three patients - Cyclonus was still unconcious, Whirl was restrained and under "protective coma" and the little mech they pulled out from the Mittenous Plateau was near hysterical, "What happened, what was that!"

"Calm down Tailgate - everything will be alright. Apparently we Quantum Jumped - Going to land on a planet and try to get things sorted."

The Med-bay doors opened, and Rachet turned, "Give me a second, if you're not in critical condition that is, I just need to adjust the Nucleon flow."

[General Havoc]

Hornet wasn't very clear on just what had happened. One moment he was literally bouncing down the stairs, and then next, someone seemed to catch him. He lay stunned for a second, his internal gyroscope doing three dimensional loops inside, and it wasn't until he rebooted his optical processors that he realized who had caught him.

"I didn't do anything!" insisted Hornet, optics wide as he protested his innocence. "I was just climbing the stairs and everything started to shake! It wasn't me!"

There were a multitude of reasons why Hornet felt it necessary to insist on this matter.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Are... are we gonna crash?!"

[LadyTevar]

"Just bringing in a couple new patients, Ratchet," Pathfinder said, helping the dented and dinged 'Bots in. "Deck six lost pressure, don't know how many got stuck inside when the blast doors shut." It was bad, very bad. While old ships can have accidents, Pathfinder had seen far too many ships hit by enemy attack. The NAILs wanted the warriors gone, but they didn't have the capacitors for this, did they?

"I"ll get out of your way and look for more injured, Ratchet." Pathfinder said, leaving the old medic to do what he did best. Medical was central to the ship, which meant Pathfinder had a wealth of directions to head out in. He would be of no more help on Deck Six, the blast door was shut and he had nothing that could open it or do repairs. He flattened himself to the wall as more wounded were brought in, simply nodding acknowledgement in passing to those who saw him.

Turning down another hallway, one he'd not yet been down, Pathfinder's sensors looked for more who may need help. The Noosphere lit up immediately as soon as he turned a corner. "Deathstrike."

[rhoenix]

"...I repeat, we have a hull breach in the upper deck hangar bays! We have bots overboard! I repeat, we have bots outside the craft," Novawing called over the comm to the command staff, even as he raced toward the breach, and the hellish void outside that the unfortunate Cybertronians had been drawn out into.

"Beginning rescue operations immediately, requesting backup," Novawing called out once more, before transforming into his sleek trans-atmospheric fighter form, and shooting outside of the Lost Light toward the beleaguered Cybertronians hurtling toward the planet.

[frigidmagi]

"I didn't do anything!" insisted Hornet, optics wide as he protested his innocence. "I was just climbing the stairs and everything started to shake! It wasn't me!"

Oh Boy... It was gonna be one of those voyages (Probability 88.245% +/- 2%). I could tell already. I concentrated on keeping Hornet from banging into anything and keeping myself from swearing. I had no idea where Deathstrike was, my guardianship of the two Cybertronians was not starting well. I was unsure whether to blame myself, Bumblebee, Prowl, Hot Rod, the two in question or the malicious deity that clearly ran the cosmos. It was probably the fault of everyone on the list.

"Are... are we gonna crash?!"

Hornet's voice intruded on my rather unproductive musing. The Bot was right, first thing's first.

"I don't know Hornet, but I'll find out and then we'll figure out what to do okay? Computer! Report Situation!" I said.

[Dark Silver]

From the outside, aside from the wound in the hull and the flaming mess that was the starboard most rear thruster - the Lost Light didn't seem that very damaged - and not even a second after Novawing burst through the rent in the upper hangar the heavy heatshields closed over, partially sealing the wound. It would be sealed enough, at least, to allow the ship to survive entry into the planet "below".

"Novawing, this is Blaster. Grab who you can and get to one of the lower hangers. We will be going atmospheric, gotta set down to make repairs planetside."

--------- 0 --------

Rachet was surronded by chaos. Cybertronians were being hauled into the medbay, and he did his best to evaluate the cases - thankfully most weren't too severely damaged and could wait. "Get him onto table 4, I'll have to seal off his oil leak. No external wounds, just some bumps, you'll hold Grunk."

The Autobot Chief of Medicine continued his work - it was almost enough to let him forget about the issues with his hands.....


--------- 0 --------

"Hull breach to Upper Hanger deck 3. Damage to primary power relays on Deck 6, terminal damage to rear starboard ion thruster. " The ship's computer reported to Breakdown and Hornet calmly, as the ship itself smoothed out in it's flight - finally. This was followed momentarily by the ships comm,


"Breakdown, this is Ultra Magnus. The ship's Quantum Drive malfunctioned - somehow a Quantum Jump occurred while we were still within Cybertron's gravity well. The ship is damaged, we're going to be setting down on the planet below. I need a SRT (GM Note: Search and Rescue Team) prepped to recover survivors from possible planetary re-entry. Find Pathfinder and assign him to your team."

[Cynical Cat]

"Pathfinder," Deathstrike replied. "I can't save anyone in this body, but I do have some experience with repair work. I came to help the only way I can."

[General Havoc]

Hornet wasn't entirely sure what most of what the computer was saying meant, but it sure sounded like "crash imminent" to him. He knew enough to know that "terminal damage" was not something you wanted, particularly not in your engines.

But all that went out the window as soon as the radio message came through requesting an SRT to help recover survivors. The mechanics of how survivors could have come to need rescuing was entirely beyond Hornet's frame of reference. The meaning of the acronym SRT, however, was not.

"I can help!" exclaimed Hornet, and it was clear from the tone of his voice that he did not find the concept as ridiculous as it probably sounded. "I can find them, wherever they are!"