Transformers: Steel Reign

[General Havoc]

Hornet thought quietly about what Shellshock had just said for a moment. "Maybe..." he said, sounding somewhat unconvinced. "Maybe..."

After a moment or so however, he looked back up at the large artillery bot and smiled. "Thanks Shellshock," he said, and gave the artillery bot a big hug, as was his way, though Shellshock was many times larger than even Crimson, and so the best he could do was Shellshock's forearm.

"I just... wish there was some way that we didn't have to kill all of them, or have them kill all of us."

[Cynical Cat]

Hornet did not understand. None of the Autobots, with the exception of Breakout, did. Deathstrike reveled in war and killing, the making and unmaking of fate and destiny, reworking the future to suit the victor's will. There had been a moral transformation, but not the one the Autobots insisted was there. He had not deserted out of any newfound moral principle. He had simply rejected what he had perceived to be a dead end road, abandoning honor and loyalty in favor of survival.

He had betrayed Megatron, having lost faith in his ability to steer the Decepticons through the shoals of disaster. The future he had predicted had never come to pass and Deathstrike had been reduced to a hunted scavenger. That was when he had changed, reduced to a shadow of his former glory. He had tasted what it was to survive at all costs. He had lived for millions of years in torment because of a decision made in fear.

His weaknesses had been burned away by his time in Hell. The Deathstrike that had been wanted to live too much. The one that he was now knew what degradation and despair were like. Better to live in glory for a brief moment than an eternity of shame. He would face Sixshot, Chimera, even Megatron himself, and the shame of his own misdeeds without flinching. He had been purified and become closer to the ideal represented by his name than he had ever been before.

[rhoenix]

As Crimson and Breakout went over the final details for her solo test run, Blindside sat down cross-legged with his hands on his knees, and meditated with his optics closed.

Various things flitted into his mind - the many years spent with his teacher, the looks and words of suspicion some of the other Autobots gave him when they thought he was out of visual or audio sensor range, Shadow's shy smile, Hornet's thoughts about humanity, Deathstrike's thoughts of humanity; but he was careful not to attach to the thoughts - he just let them flit about as they would. Soon enough, he was in a place of silence within himself, hearing and feeling the dull rhythm of his energon heartbeat.

The old mantra came to him, the one he had been repeating nearly since he began his training on that lonely, rocky world.

A warrior is not about invulnerability.
A warrior is about absolute vulnerability.

A warrior does not give up what he loves.
A warrior finds the love in what he does.

He remembered being told by Thundershot, long ago, to embrace all of one's flaws, to embrace all of one's thoughts and feelings and strengths; to embrace here and now as the most precious gifts. With Thundershot's voice echoing in his audio sensors, his optics snapped open.

Suddenly, he knew why this was important. It bothered him to be looked at with suspicion by the other Autobots sometimes, but he understood. He would simply act and say what he would if they did trust him, and let his deeds and words be judged accordingly.

He stood gracefully, and saw that Crimson was about ready for her run. Blindside smiled softly - he thought he was meditating for much longer, but apparently very little time had passed. Walking to an empty part of the room, he began to slowly go through his energy-work practice sets; much slower, more graceful, and less predatory than his combat sets. He smiled again as he relaxed into the movements, feeling the energon within him responding quietly.

[LadyTevar]

BreakOut hadn't mentioned a time-limit for the test, which was the very last question Crimson asked him before heading out onto the training field. The answer was good news: no time limit.

Thus, Crimson just had to take her memory of the holo that he'd shown her, and pick the best way to the button and out again. It was set up like a Decepticon fire base, which gave her a lot of buildings and walls for cover, but also gave them several places for sensors to be mounted. The button, of course, was on the far side from her starting point. If it was a real base, she'd have tried to find another way in that was closer than 400m from the target. But this was a test of her abilities, so she didn't complain. "Alt-mode," she whispered, transforming quietly and rolling out onto the field. Unlike normal, the Harley was eerily silent, and her holo-Rider crouched low over the handles as Crimson eased forward on the first leg of her infiltration.

Avoiding the sensors meant that she couldn't make a straight run for the button, thus her first target was a wall about 50m out, where a single sensor was mounted facing down and out, guarding the access between that wall and the one beside. She transformed again, flattening against the wall, her small size an asset here as the walls were meant for the average Decepticon. Once she could see the sensor, she identified it as one that -should- be visual only. So... as long as it didn't see her, she could be a little noisy and she didn't have to worry about moving carefully. It didn't mean she did either, however, as she slowly moved along the wall, optics flickering between watching the sensor and watching her footing, until she was able to move underneath the mounting and around to the backside of the wall.

One down. A hundred meters to the next opening. Now, it was a slow walking pace, a tight-rope between the arcs of the two sensors set up in the passageway. Neither looked like the one she had just passed, which meant they were either audio, or motion-sensing. No time limit. No passing guards. She could take her time to move, and to make sure she did not make a sound. It took over a breem to cross to the other side, but neither sensor tripped. Crimson took a megacycle to calm herself, rechecking her map of the base to what she saw before her. She half-expected BreakOut to throw a random guard in here, just to make it harder. No, don't think like that. Focus.

So far, Crimson had moved clockwise around the base, following breaks in the defensives. Now there was a building blocking the way, and it had a sensor on every corner, and no opening on her side of it. A pity, going through it would have put her another 200m closer to the button. The way she was moving now was actually adding meters to the distance she needed to cross. Her optics narrowed, focusing in on the sensors set up on the building. Aha... a visual one, on the corner closest to her. But to skirt it, she'd have to get close to what looked like an audio sensor. Choices, choices ... but she didn't trust her skills against another motion-sensor, which seemed to be the one on the far corner. No choice. Again, she transformed, her alt-mode silenced as she slowly crossed the distance, the trigger arcs of the two sensors superimposed over the ground in front of her. Again, she was slow and cautious, slipping quietly under the audio sensor to avoid the visual-based one, moving to the far side of the building, up to the arc of the motion sensor.

Pits ... both this one and the next were both motion-sensors, but again, there was a thin lane between them where their trigger arcs did not meet. Banishing her holo-Rider for the moment as too risky, Crimson carefully drove between the two sensors, keeping her balance perfectly so that no part of her could be caught by either sensor as she moved past. Again, it took time as she crept forward, over a breem to cover the distance, but it was all worth it. There was the button... with three sensors and a wall between them. Visual and audio only, thank Primus. Thus, once again, Crimson took the time to silently approach the audio sensor and use it's arc to bypass the visuals and get to the pedestal with the button. One press, and it was done.

Now to just get back the way she'd came.

It went well, up until she got to the 100m passage between herself and the last wall out. She couldn't say if she got in a hurry, or if she misjudged the arc of the sensor, but the motion sensor on the wall lit up and sounded the alarm. With nothing left to do, Crimson transformed to alt-mode and put her in high gear, the Harley's roar almost as loud as the klaxon blaring her presence as she made for the exit and skidded to a halt beside BreakOut.

Elita-1 would have frowned but considered it a 'win' as Crimson did the job and got out alive. Be interesting to see how BreakOut viewed it.

[Charon]

Shellshock smiled at the smaller autobot. "With any luck Hornet, we won't have to. But it's impossible to say."

[rhoenix]

The alarms going off as Crimson finished her run-through got Blindside's attention rather quickly. He finished up his practice set with a bow, and walked over in time to see Crimson in her motorcycle alt-mode screech to a halt next to Breakout.

Breakout didn't say a single word. He simply looked at Crimson for a moment, and then turned to Blindside, and nodded once. Nodding in return, Blindside walked toward the entrance to the test, coming to a stop right before the entrance, closing his optics, and focusing on his energon heartbeat for a moment. It took a microsecond, but he opened his optics, and carefully stepped through the door.

He activated his map, ghostly and transparent in his vision as he did, his personal map beginning to fill with relevant details as his senses spotted them, such as where the sensors were, what their arcs of detection were, and what type of emissions they detected. In studying the map for a moment, he saw that there were many structures for cover, but that meant also that there were many good bottlenecks for sensor placement. He shifted liquidly into his wolf form, all his senses sharpening dramatically, while helping him to stay hidden.

Studying the layout of the base with his map, he saw the button that needed pressing on the far side of the base, requiring that he dodge the sensors all the way going in, and all the way out - there were no shortcuts. With that, he plotted a circular, roundabout path that was likely to be easiest, and began to slowly walk with soundless steps through the hallway, avoiding the direct path.

He froze after a few meters, noticing two sensors on the ceiling, covering the whole hallway. He took a few seconds to study them, and after careful examination, saw that one was an EM-field detector, and the other was an audio sensor. After his map updated with this information, and extrapolated their sensor ranges, he began. Trusting in the ghostly stealth that moving slowly in this form afforded him, he moved carefully, making soundless steps. After moving twenty meters, he relaxed slightly, though didn't walk any less carefully.

Rounding the first corner, he froze again as he saw three motion sensors, set up in a staggered fashion about twenty meters apart from one another down the hallway. His golden optics narrowed as he studied the space between them to look for a way through, while looking for any other nasty surprises. For now, he was grateful that there weren't any, but still didn't plan to approach these sensors, since there was no way through. He revised his plan, and moved to the next hallway down.

Down the next throughway, he saw that there were more sensors down this hallway, though none of them were motion sensors. Audio and EM sensors filled this hallway - walking carefully and in silence, he moved down this route, updating his map as he went. After studying his map a moment, he saw that he was halfway to his goal of the button. Proceeding down the hallway with silence and care, he reached the end of this corridor, which bent into the last corridor between buildings - the one where the button was located.

He saw that five meters into the hallway, there were more EM sensors, coupled with more audio sensors. Still moving slowly so the sensors wouldn't detect him, he planned each step of rear- and fore-paws with patience. It took a few cycles, but he cleared this part of the hallway, his map updating with the sensor information as he went.

Still looking all around him to avoid any surprises, he continued down the hallway with care, finally reaching the big red button. Naturally, it was guarded by a wall, as well as audio and EM sensors. Carefully reaching a long fore-limb slowly past the motion sensors, he found that his wolf-form's forelimb was just barely out of reach of the button. Extending his claws on that limb with exaggerated slowness so as to not make any noise, the extended claws gave him the extra centimeters he needed, and the button depressed, glowing silently red as it did.

Carefully pulling his left fore-limb back while retracting his claws with equal silence and care, he stood to face the button while he consulted his map once more. It was then that he decided to avoid going down unfamiliar passageways made by the structures, and instead go back the way he had come.

Looking behind him to make sure no sensors had moved in his absence, he then backed up slowly, and turned to face the passageway he had arrived to the button from. Walking in silence, he approached the hallway with the staggered audio & EM sensors again, navigating through them just as carefully as before. He double-checking his map while verifying that everything had stayed the same. He remembered obstacle courses back on the planet he had trained on that had a tendency of...changing if one wasn't looking.

Moving just as carefully as before, he approached the second to last hallway, that his map showed him also had staggered audio & EM sensors. Stepping with care, he reached the last passageway between buildings, and stepped silently by both the EM sensor and the audio sensor without setting off either.

Reaching the door from which he had entered at last, he rose up on his hind legs to push the door open, dropping through the open space in the door while moving through, careful not to let the door slam to set off the nearby audio sensor. Once the door closed, he relaxed visibly, and shifted back into his robot form to walk back to Breakout and Crimson, looking and feeling somewhat fatigued.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike walked to the front of the Ark and looked up into the sky. It was impossible not to pity non fliers. They missed out on so much. "Slipstream, Hornet, this is Deathstrike. Report to me outside the Ark for combat exercises."

[General Havoc]

It was only a couple of minutes before Hornet appeared at the entrance to the Ark, semi-hesitant for once at the prospect of flying. Much as he loved to fly, Deathstrike unsettled him. He wasn't totally certain that the combat exercises wouldn't result in his being scattered in pieces over most of the county. He had heard how Decepticons did thing.

He walked nervously over to Deathstrike. "I'm here," he said, then remembered the protocol he had been taught. "Um... I mean... Hornet reporting, sir."

[Cynical Cat]

"Good," said Deathstrike. "I want you and Slipstream to run combat exercises. Weapons are training power and all that. He's not here yet so go and hide somewhere nearby. He'll search for you and you try and ambush him. I want to see you both in action."

[General Havoc]

Hornet blinked for a moment, confused, then asked a hesitant question. "You... you mean like hide and seek?"

Of all the things he thought Deathstrike would have him doing, this was quite plainly the last. A slow smile crossed his face, one that anyone who was familiar with him would have known was an augury of no good, and he nodded energetically. He knew the area around the arc like the back of his hand, and he already had a plan for where he would hide.

"Right!" he chirped, "I mean... yessir!" And he ran off as fast as he could, making for one of his favorite spots in the whole world, a massive grove of old-growth giant sequoia redwood trees located barely half a mile from the Ark's entrance. Hornet often came there just to sit and relax and even take a nap, relaxing in the shade of the titanic trees that dwarfed even normal-sized Autobots. There was however one thing he could do that none of the others could, which would render him almost impossible to find.

For who in their right mind would look for an Autobot in a tree?

Hornet reached the grove quickly, and spying one of his favorite trees, he raced over to it, jumped up as high as he could, grabbed one of the massive low-hanging branches near the root, and used it to help him start climbing the tree. Metalic though he was, the tree was enormous enough to support something twice Hornet's weight, and Hornet was careful only to apply his weight to the trunk and the largest and strongest branches. It wasn't long before he was perched as comfortably as a monkey or a squirrel in the tree's canopy, laying down on his stomach on one of the largest branches, completely hidden from below, even on the outside chance that someone WOULD think to look for him up here. Cloaked in his green camouflage, Hornet settled down to wait, giggling softly at the impending surprise he was going to spring, and suppressing his laughter as a quartet of squirrels, bemused at finding a ten foot war machine perched up in their tree, decided to use him as a venue for playful wrestling matches, and scrambled and scampered all over him, which tickled terribly, but then that was why speakers had an off switch.

Now the trick would be not falling asleep...

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes, I mean exactly like hide and seek with some target tag thrown in," said Deathstrike but Hornet was already bounding away. The Decepticon warrior chuckled. "I thought you might like that," he said too softly to be heard. The skills being tested were useful, ambushing and spotting ambushes as well as aerial combat. That didn't mean it didn't have to be fun. Throw in a few wise cracks from Thundercracker and teleport-practical joke from Skywarp and it would be like the old days.

[B4UTRUST]

Slipstream was wandering the halls of the Ark when he recieved the summons from Deathstrike.

A few minutes later he wandered out of the front of the Ark, glancing around.
"Alright, I'm here. What's the drill," questioned Slipstrean.

[Cynical Cat]

"Training exercise," said Deathstrike. "Minimum power settings on weapons, no collateral damage. Hornet is hiding somewhere out there. Find him and bring him down before he ambushes you and does the same."

[B4UTRUST]

Slipstream glanced around, trying to figure out where the bratbot would be hiding.
"Guess that cancels Nova Cronum rules. Shame, it would be much more entertaining that way. Oh well, one does what one must."

Slipstream took to the air and transformed. He shot straight up as fast as he could before leveling out at near thirty thousand feet. His sensors began searching, doing a topographic scan of the area to look for areas that are likely to conceal something Hornet's size.

Slipstream had to admit he was at a disadvantage here. Hornet was only slightly bigger then a cassettecon. But Slipstream had one big advantage here. Hornet had a child's mind and armor and Hornet knew the later. The teenybot had a serious adversion to pain and punishment and rightfully so. This was going to become a mindgame, rather then hide and seek as Hornet planned. He opened a general comm channel. What he said next was not nice, not polite and in no way sounded even remotely joking, playful or a tone that might be misconstrued as anything but abject anger, hatred and a desire to inflict a large amount of pain.

"Hornet, you better pray to Primus that I don't find you, insect. I'm going to cause Wheeljack an exhaust port load of extra work when I do! I'm going to rip your Pits-damned giggling little head right off your wings!"

Slipstream's thrusters spewed flames as he accelerated into the dive, engines screaming. Targeting systems came online, weapons charged. He came in for a strafing run, lasers firing as small tufts of grass and rock were momentarily blasted into the air as the low power blasts probably capable of stunning an adult human but little else started to dance over the ground. Slipstream rocketed past the grove of trees, the sonic boom blowing leaves and branches from the hardy wood in his passing.

In half a second he was gone from the immediate area, still accelerating, his sensors scanning the area. He now had more to go off of now that he had passed so close to the ground, more was revealed. Vernier thrusters engaged, spinning him 180 degrees nearly on a dime. He put the throttle wide open and blasted across the distance back towards the Ark. He began to fire the lasers again, blasting in rapid fire.
"Run you insignificant excuse for a bot! I'm going to tear out your spark when I get my hands on you!"

[Dark Silver]

The blue jet had leveled off long ago at 65,000 feet, just on the edge of the upper atmosphere. He was taking a massive risk doing as he did - his cerebral-circuits churning overtime.

If they found him, they would kill him..Megatron would rip out his Spark, and rewrite his personality-core.

He was nearing the Ark now, angling himself down, he would be registering on the Autobot's tactical and proximity sensors - ten miles out. He poured more power to his thrusters, breaking the sound barrier thrice over, as he angled to the ground. He had to acheive the best possible speed, so that the Autobot's guns couldn't lock onto him.

He had to time it just right, or he'd crash nosecone first into the planet - unlike Ramjet, he wouldn't survive that very well.

Thundercracker streaked into the 10,000ft mark as alarms went off throughout the Ark, he passed Slipstream, and his engines released a shockwave of pure sound energy, compressing the air, and radiating it outward with the force of a small bomb. The shockwave impacted into Slipstream, as Thundercracker continued on, pulling up just short of the ground, putting on his air brakes, and transforming in mid-air. He landed not ten feet from Deathstrike and the front of the Ark, his optics fixated on the Traitor, before felling to a knee.

"Deathstrike....." he spoke, his voice sounding strained, as he bowed his head and he fell into stasis lock.

[General Havoc]

Hornet had been on the point of dozing off when Slipstream's angry shouts materialized over the radio. He awoke with a start, disturbing the squirrels on his back and causing them to retreat, chattering, back into the safety of the tree. No sooner had he awoken and figured out where he was, than laser bolts began to rain into the grove as Slipstream strafed the area.

"Hornet, you better pray to Primus that I don't find you, insect. I'm going to cause Wheeljack an exhaust port load of extra work when I do! I'm going to rip your Pits-damned giggling little head right off your wings!"

Hornet caught his simulated breath. What had happened? Had he overslept so much as to make Deathstrike send an angry Slipstream after him?! He remebered suddenly what Slipstream had said to Wheeljack about him, how he was too weak to be allowed to survive. Was Slipstream planning on taking the opportunity to just get rid of him?!

Hornet's optics widened as he mentally prepared to shift back into airplane form and run for his life. And yet as he was about to trigger his transformation cog...

"Run you insignificant excuse for a bot! I'm going to tear out your spark when I get my hands on you!"

That statement startled Hornet to the point where he hesitated and nearly fell off his branch, managing only barely to catch himself in time. Only then did he realize that Slipstream was faster than he was most likely, and far better armed, and so instead of running, he did the next best thing he could do. His spark in his throat, he crept backwards into the main canopy of the tree. Atop the tree, the main branches spread out wide, forming a large nest-like structure covered in evergreen needles. Hornet crept into that, keeping as low as he could, and crouched down in a small little ball, quivering with fright, not even daring to use his radio for fear that Slipstream would find him. He hid, nestled under the pine needles, invisible to all views, and cringed whenever Slipstream passed overhead, hoping and praying that the semi-crazed Autobot would just fly away and he could race for home.

He never even saw Thundercracker arriving.

[Cynical Cat]

"Cancel exercises," said Deathstrike over the com line as he advanced on Thundercracker's prone form. "Deathstrike to Optimus Prime. I am standing over Thundercracker's body. He is in stasis lock and maybe attempting to defect."

The Decepticon warrior knelt by his old comrade. "So, old friend. Why come join the losing side?"

[Dark Silver]

Thundercracker - being in stasis lock - didn't respond to Deathstrike's question. His frame was frozen in place, and remained even as Sideswipe and Brawn rushed out, the first on the scene.

"Thundercracker?!" Brawn was awestrucked for a moment, but he already had his weapon drawn - Sideswipe was already a step ahead, his electron rifle drawn, centered on Thundercracker's head as he stepped closer. "Step back Deathstrike - unless your going to gonna block my shot..." Sideswipe's tone was obvious - he intended to shoot even if unnessacry.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike picked up Thundercracker's limp body. "Prime decides what to do with defectors, not you Sideswipe. He might very well mean it. Now get out of my way."

[Charon]

Shellshock came running at the alarms, getting there as Brawn threatened to blow Thundercracker away. "Ease off Sideswipe. Looks like Deathstrike already handled him."

Shellshock looked back at Deathstrike. "What in the pits happened?"

[Cynical Cat]

"I picked him up," said Deathstrike. "He came in fast and hard to get passed the autoguns. I think he wants to defect. He had doubts about the cause, but he hid them."

[Charon]

Shellshock looked unconvinced, but did not raise his gun or look threatening in any way. "You know Prime isn't likely to buy that." Shellshock sighed some before speaking again. "We should check him first, make sure he's clean of cameras or recorders."

[frigidmagi]

I had been about to brief Crimson and Blindside when the alarms went off, all 3 of us rushed outside. I found Deathstrike holding... Thundercracker!?! I arrive just in time to hear Deathstrike give an what could be called a bare bones report, but really what more was there to say?

"Brawn, Sideswipe, my squad has this covered, I would appreciate it if you check the perimeter sensors and punched out a patrol to ensure there is no one else coming along to pay us a visit. Which I believe would be wise, even if this is a defection, Thundercracker may have pursuers. Shellshock, Crimson, Blindside 360 formation 100 meters out with Deathstrike at the center, thank you." I say loudly, I need to get everyone busy and not reacting emotionally.

"Deathstrike, please stay with me, but have Hornet and Slipstream establish a aireal overwatch if possible." I continue, as I download a sitrep to Teletran I. Deathstrike is the best able to determine if Thundercracker is lying and best able to keep him at ease if he isn't.

Fun Planet this place.

[SirNitram]

Overload rolled out to the opening of the Ark, receiving the basic idea of what was going on. Thundercracker? He began accessing long-term datastorage for the Seeker before the war. In the meantime, he knew where he would be wanted.

"Shellshock, let's get going." A brisk acknowledgement of the order as the undersized cab hauls the trailer alongside his companion. "Hope my accuracy against Seekers is still operating if we need it."

[Cynical Cat]

"Hornet, Slipstream, come in and provide air cover," said Deathstrike. "Slipstream, if you ever speak like that to Hornet again, you'll be spending the next month in the CR chamber." He started walking to the Ark.