Transformers: The Lost Light

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder looked down at his old enemy, trying to keep the grimace off his face. "Ratchet's up to his elbow joints in wounded, but you'd not reach the table. Deck Six is sealed off, I'm betting hull breach. They've probably closed the heat shield over it since we're going planetside." A Sit-Rep, more to himself than to Deathstrike, but Pathfinder needed to talk to try to get his processors straight around the former... no.. still a 'Con.

"So, no repairs til we get planetside," Pathfinder finished. "At least your size will help ..."

Pathfinder was interupted by UltraMagnus contacting him via ship's comm. "Pathfinder, find Breakout and ready for a SRT as soon as we touchdown." The comm cut off sharply, making Pathfinder snort.

"Change of plans, Deathstrike. We find Breakout, he and I go SRT, and you do whatever you can here." He looked down at the minicon once again, and a small spark of the old humor escaped. "Need a lift?"

[Cynical Cat]

"There's climbing rungs for small Cybertronians, I'll manage. The SRT needs good scouts. Go."

[rhoenix]

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."

"Acknowledged, Blaster - I'll catch as many as I can in the next thirty seconds," Novawing reported back over the comm, even as his jet form rapidly reached the first of the falling crewbots. Transforming, he reached out and grabbed the Autobot by the wrist, and told the bot to hang on as he engaged his jets in robot mode to move toward the next survivor.

He moved quickly though carefully, getting several Cybertronians to grab one another by the arms and form a daisy chain of sorts, with Novawing himself in the center. Within less than a minute though, the ship was rapidly approaching the atmosphere of the planet.

Growling under his breath, Novawing quickly tagged all the bots he hadn't managed to grab (approximately 25) in the noosphere, and used his jets at maximum power to race back to the still-open hangar.

"Hang on bots, this is going to be close!" he called over the comm to the bots with him, just as he and eleven other bots flew through the open space of the hangar door, landing and skidding over the floor from their rapid re-entry.

Novawing glanced out the hangar door once more, growled once more to himself, and slammed the control to shut the hangar door. "Novawing to Blaster," he reported. "I managed to grab only eleven of the survivors before the ship was going to hit atmo. I've marked the rest for the SRT's."

With that, he made his way to the bots he had managed to save, and began helping them to their feet.

[LadyTevar]

"There's climbing rungs for small Cybertronians, I'll manage. The SRT needs good scouts. Go."

"hmmph... Let's check in first," Pathfinder said. After all, the noosphere plainly stated who held Deathstrike's chain. "Breakout, this is Pathfinder. I got the sitrep, and I have your mini*CON* here outside Medbay. What's the plan."

[SirNitram]

"Outrunner, beginning high-speed SRT's." The Bugatti Veron burst out through the breach, it's lower chassis magnetizing to cling to the ship as he gunned the engine. The lack of sound was eerie, but he raced for those a ground-pounder could get. They weren't many, and with the ship descending, he couldn't stay out forever. On the other hand, he was even faster with such low atmospheric pressure holding him back.

[frigidmagi]

I set Hornet back on his feet and get up. I realize it is best to at least attempt to explain things to Hornet.

"We're not crashing but we did have an accident. So we are landing on a planet. Some autobots were pulled off ship, we have to go find them. We are going to need someone in the air to help in search and rescue. Will you come with me and search in the air?" I said. I open a com channel to Pathfinder.

"hmmph... Let's check in first," Pathfinder said. After all, the noosphere plainly stated who held Deathstrike's chain. "Breakout, this is Pathfinder. I got the sitrep, and I have your mini*CON* here outside Medbay. What's the plan."

"Pathfinder, this is Breakout, I am heading to the main exit for S&R, please join me. Deathstrike, I assume you will be joining the repair work?" I said as I move towards the exit.

[Cynical Cat]

"Flying out and rescuing 'bots isn't something this body is capable of," the Decepticon replied. "I have small hands, feet that don't magnetize, and experience at field repair so I'll be helping Rachet."

[rhoenix]

Once the bots had been settled, Novawing immediately got to work assisting with repairs to the ship, trusting the SRT's to get the remainder of the unfortunate Cybertronians still unwillingly outside the ship.

Once this repair of this hangar was complete though, he would immediately jump in - but for now, he had to prevent others from fallint out.

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder nodded to Deathstrike as he got Breakout's orders. "Copy that, Breakout, I'll come to you and leave Deathstrike to Ratchet." Signing off, he gave the former 'Con one last long look, feeling he should say something but finding the processor too crowded to come up with anything that made sense. "... Ratchet's got his hands full, don't give him trouble."

With that Pathfinder turned and walked away towards Breakout's position. Even he wasn't sure if that came out as a dismissal, a warning, or a threat.

[General Havoc]

Breakout might as well have asked Hornet if he liked flying.

"I can find them!" he yelped, his voice halfway between excitement and concern. "I can find anything! And I promise I won't crash into anything!"

He said these things as though he had not moments ago crashed headlong into Breakout. But then that was hardly his fault.

[frigidmagi]

"I can find them!" he yelped, his voice halfway between excitement and concern. "I can find anything! And I promise I won't crash into anything!"

That seemed an oddly specific promise... Still an air patrol was an air patrol.

"Good, lets go then." I said, heading towards the hatch.

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder met up with Breakout... and looked down at the Other MiniCon from earlier. "Good to see you again, Breakout. How long til Roddy has the ship down?"

[rhoenix]

The low rumble shook the hangar bay, as the hangar doors finally closed smoothly shut, and sealed as they should. Novawing gave a small, grim smile of satisfaction as he ran system diagnostics on the hangar. Once satisfied, he once again activated his comm, speaking to both the boss of the hangar bay, as well as the overall command staff of the ship. "Novawing to Command - repairs to the disabled hangar bay are complete; there is no further decompression danger from that bay. With your permission, I'm now going to join the SRT's."

With that, he nodded to the Cybertronian in charge of the hangar, and raced out into the corridors to join the SRT team closest to him. He actually had to engage his forward thrusters to rapidly force himself to a stop to avoid running into several Cybertronians standing in the hall, including Breakout and some other 'bots he'd met more recently. Among them, he noticed Deathstrike, in his prisoner's body. Internally, Novawing shook his head at how strangely fate sometimes worked out.

"Breakout, good to see you," he acknowledged the Autobot war machine with a nod, before looking at the others. "I'm glad to see the rest of you uninjured as well. Are we about to sortie for rescue?" He asked, as he shared the noosphere markers he'd made for the overboard Cybertronians that he could not save before.

[General Havoc]

Hornet followed Breakout, almost literally quivering with anticipation, as he met up with two of the bots they'd seen before: Pathfinder and Novawing, the former a ground scout, the latter another flier. He tried to restrain himself from saying the eighty-seven things that came to mind to say, conscious of the fact that this would be his first real assignment within this ship and with his new squadronmates. But from the way he was clasping and unclasping his wings, shifting his weight, and running flight diagnostic after flight diagnostic, it was clear he was eager to go out and show everyone what he could do. The possibilities of flying on an alien world with an alien atmosphere didn't hurt. And of course the others who'd fallen out of the ship would legitimately need his help. What more could he possibly ask for?

[Dark Silver]

The Lost Light slipped through Orbital space cleanly, despite the flaming wreck that was one of her five rearward engine thrusters. Unfortunately for the survivors, Outrunner couldn't reach any of them without disengaging from the hull of the ship - something which would put him in the same position as his lost crewmates.

Blaster told him so over the comms, and ordered the NAIL speedster back into the ship, before the hull temperatures got to the point where the Cybertronian would melt into the hull.


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

"All hands, brace for Atmospheric Inseration. Things might get a bit bumpy..." Blaster's voice called out over the ships internal comm system.

The trip, amazingly though, wasn't as rough as could be expected.


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

Ultra Magnus and Rodimus were the main boarding hatch as the Lost Light landed, Rodimus himself was anxious to move on. Still, they held the SRT back for the moment, while the ships two senior officers checked things out - Breakout's team wasn't the only one who would be going look for survivors.

"Well, we made it down in one piece," Rodimus said, "That's something. But I'm telling you Magnus, I will find out who sabotaged us, we will fix the ship, and rescue our friends and will make this a good day. Now, where should we look?"

Ultra Magnus scanned the horizon, looking and analyzing, before he pointed outward at a group of falling stars, "There. We should go there."

Rodimus looked in the direction where Ultra Magnus pointed, then looked back to the larger bot, "You mean near that meteor shower?"

Magnus shook his head, beckoning Breakout over, "Prepare your team, you'll be recovering Autobots in Quadrant 35-2 Bravo. Take Swerve with you, he is a Metallurgist, he can also help locate raw materials to help with the repairs. Try to avoid disturbing any local lifeforms, if possible"

"Magnus?" Rodimus, looked almost annoyed as he spoke the name again.

"That's no meteor shower. That would be Polaris, Waverunner, Hench, Doubleheader...."

Rodimus' eyes widened for a moment, then his head dropped, his voice lower as he mumbled something.

"What was that Rodimus?"

"I said, not a good day."


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



Rachet moved efficiently through the Med bay, though to the outside observer, it looked like a madhouse. Still, he had categorized the injuries and gotten the worse ones at least temporarily stabilized. That was until the doors opened again, and Deathstrike entered.

"What are your injuries Deathstrike," Rachet said, moving towards the much smaller current monoformer. He assumed Deathstrike was here for treatment.

[Cynical Cat]

"A few dents," Deathstrike replied, "but that's not why I'm here. I thought you might need another pair of hands with some repair skills."

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder exited the hatch as the rest did, shamelessly and silently listening into Magnus & Roddy's conversation. He followed Magnus' arm where he pointed, the meteor shower bright in the sky.

Unlike Roddy, Pathfinder caught on as Magnus shook his head and turned away to give Breakout their marching orders. Cybertronians were tough, strong, and hard to kill, but there was a reason most falling stars never hit ground on a planet with a good atmosphere.

Polaris, Waverunner, Hench, Doubleheader....

Pathfinder lowered his head, saying a silent goodbye to yet more comrades.

"I heard, Breakout," Pathfinder said softly. Quad 35-2 Bravo. Pity about Swerve."

[SirNitram]

Outrunner blazed back across the hull, executing a jump behind the hangar's shields and doors just in time, spinning like a top to shed speed. "Woo." He murmured. "A little too close, for a lot of nothing. Now to find out where the hell we are.."

[General Havoc]

Hornet was hardly the most perceptive Autobot ever built, but even he knew how to read between certain lines.

The excitement drained from his face as quickly as it had arrived, as Pathfinder made his comment. Though Pathfinder had been speaking to Breakout, that was nothing to Hornet.

"What... what happened to Swerve?" he asked, his voice sounding very much like he might already know the answer. "Is... is Swerve gonna be all right?"

[Dark Silver]

For his part, Swerve had heard Ultra Magnus' order, and yelped. Not that he was against, per say, going out from the ship, and after all, this WAS A alien world - even if they didn't quiet know WHERE they were. As Hornet asked his question, Swerve appeared behind the flier, and slapped the not much smaller (there was less than half a head's height between Hornet and Swerve), "Nothing a good Engex Spritzer wouldn't fix. So Maggie is sending me out with you lot huh? This will be great, it'll be like another quest, a quest within a quest, a mini-quest! oh no...better even better, a SIDEQUEST! Yep, just what we need to get the bal rolling right after that rough take off. So, little buddy, you're the new guy huh? I heard Wheeljack built you back on Earth. Never been there myself, I was over on Vestoon III after the Decepticon Surge, got back to Cybertron in time for that big Chaos thing. Oh man that was crazy let me tell you....."

Swerve, was as usual, earning his nickname - "Shut the Hell Up". Of course, he may have met his match in Hornet.


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

"Help repairs huh? Check on Tailgate in the annex - I brought him aboard before we launched, found him in the Mittenous Plateau minus his legs. I think I have most of the major damage sealed....after you're done there, go see about Hydrant over in Bed 10. You may be able to patch the hole in his left leg." Rachet gave his orders to Deathstrike as well as he could, as he placed a patch on the leaking fuel line of the Autobot beneath him.

[rhoenix]

For his part, Swerve had heard Ultra Magnus' order, and yelped. Not that he was against, per say, going out from the ship, and after all, this WAS A alien world - even if they didn't quiet know WHERE they were. As Hornet asked his question, Swerve appeared behind the flier, and slapped the not much smaller (there was less than half a head's height between Hornet and Swerve), "Nothing a good Engex Spritzer wouldn't fix. So Maggie is sending me out with you lot huh? This will be great, it'll be like another quest, a quest within a quest, a mini-quest! oh no...better even better, a SIDEQUEST! Yep, just what we need to get the bal rolling right after that rough take off. So, little buddy, you're the new guy huh? I heard Wheeljack built you back on Earth. Never been there myself, I was over on Vestoon III after the Decepticon Surge, got back to Cybertron in time for that big Chaos thing. Oh man that was crazy let me tell you....."

Swerve, was as usual, earning his nickname - "Shut the Hell Up". Of course, he may have met his match in Hornet.

Novawing's optics went dark as Swerve arrived, shaking his head as Swerve clapped Hornet on the back... and began talking.

"SWERVE!" Novawing barked, interrupting the very wordy Autobot, and gaining his attention. Novawing regarded him calmly, keeping his thought processes calm in preparation for the rescue operation. "We can talk later. Rescue first."

With that, he turned back to the rest of the rescue team. "Alright - are we about ready?"

[LadyTevar]

And yes, Swerve was living down to his reputation. Oddly, NovaWing got to speak before Pathfinder did. Whether Swerve would listen is another matter. "Hey Swerve," Pathfinder said to be polite.

[General Havoc]

Maybe the others found Swerve annoying. Plenty of them found Hornet annoying too. And Hornet had moments ago completely misunderstood Pathfinder's comment, and fearing the worst, had expected to find Swerve dead or in pieces or some other terrible fate. When Swerve popped up behind him, Hornet's relief was visible and instantaneous.

Swerve wasn't that much taller than Hornet was, but he was considerably heavier and bulkier, and his friendly slap on the back nearly bowled Hornet over. But as soon as Hornet had recovered his balance, he turned around and happily gave Swerve a giant (for him) hug, relieved to see the Autobot in one piece. Swerve's tendency to talk without end was nothing to Hornet. Happy to see Swerve alive (and to have someone willing to talk to him), he happily tried to parse through what the hyperkinetic Autobot was saying, nodding when he could to anything that needed an answer, and generally just trying to keep up.

[frigidmagi]

"Novawing, Hornet, hit the air. Do a spiral recon with us as the center. Report any bots or debris you see when you see them. Report any threats when you see them. Everyone else, move out in a line, keep about 30 meters between you and your optics open. Many of them are still alive and if we get to them fast enough we can keep them that way. Now, Roll Out!" I ordered. I transform into my earth alt mode and begin moving towards the indicated quadrant.

[LadyTevar]

"Yes sir," Pathfinder replied, transforming and heading away from the ship to the assigned Quadrant. Reaching 30m out from Breakout, Pathfinder easily slipped into synch with the bigger 'Bot, keeping the distance as exact as he could barring obstacles. More than just optics were open for input, Pathfinder also had a full sensor suite that had seen plenty of use digging out 'Con ambushes and bases. Setting those sensors to seperate Cybertronian input from the background elements was simple. Finding out if a large piece of Cybertronian metal was a piece of the ship or the remains of a comrade would be the rough part.

"Do you want me to take point, Breakout?"