[Original RPG] The Edge of the Abyss: Image in the Sand (Carbombya)

[Bombshell]

Runamuck and Runabout got to their feet, Runabout passing a glance at Stonecruncher as Runamuck looked at Nightracter. Both of them knew what would happen should they retailiate, so they kept their weapons lowered.

"We never get to have any fun," Runabout muttered.

[optimusskids]

Weirdwolf responded :


"a good idea think I"


Squawktalk yelled in pain in 47 different languages before he could be removed from the board by Scalpel . The constructicons split into individuals and formed a line in front of Brawn to let Scalpel work .


Weirdwolf moved Tracer out on the left

[Arcee]

"I do need some done", Thrust replied to Ramjet, pointing to some damage on his (Thrust's) wings. "But you don't need to wait for me unless you want to."

"Well, come here then!" a somewhat impatient Thundercracker called out. "It's my job for the moment, so let's get it over with," he added, noticing that Thrust somewhat hesitated. He was not surprised that Thrust didn't trust him - after all, he didn't trust the Coneheads much, either - being left to die in space could do that to a person. But they were all soldiers on the same side, and fixing Thrust was, indeed, his job for the moment.

Thrust sat down, entrusting himself to Thundercracker, who started working on his wings. Much to Thrust's relief, the blue sleekie seemed to know what he was doing and caused him no unnecessary pain.

(OOC: Sleekie = "sleek" style Seeker who transforms with "wings up", as opposed to a Conehead.)

[Reflector]

Gigatron delivered one crooked nod in resonse to Bludgeon's report. It wasn't quite the victorious slaughter he'd hoped to hear about, but it was better than a defeat. He trusted Bludgeon's honor to have given him the truth, anyhow.

"Well done. Your time now is yours - have your men gather their things and prepare to relocate to the Nemesis."

The light of the Carbombyan sun filled the hall as Gigatron closed the distance with the station's primary hatch. At the top of the broad ramp, he stopped and allowed his optics to slowly scan the surroundings through the warm desert afternoon. His radio opened the common frequency naturally.

"All construction units, collect the acquired parts from Scorponok's main entry, bring them to Metrotitan, and begin installation. I'll expect a report when the process is complete. Gigatron out."

A glance to his side brought into view those selfsame parts he and Cryotek had gathered. He nodded to Bludgeon, transformed to racer mode, and sped down the ramp into the sands.

********

Scorponok: Mess Hall

Stonecruncher transformed abruptly at the sight of an angry Hatemonger, skittering across the floor as the momentum of his driving scraped off. He pushed himself to his feet and scuttled toward the wall and the door behind the taller Decepticons.

"Er, gotta go, fellas..."

********

Scorponok: Medbay

Hammer nodded to the radio transmission, stepped away from the wall, and waved to his team members.

"All right, let's move. We've got a project - this could be the big one. Roll out!"

Sledge hopped off the bed to the floor; Knockout hurried to finish packing his tools and followed. There, they transformed and sped off for the destination.

[Sixswitch]

"Good," Windrazor told Spinister over the comm. "I need you to run a scan of the Earth if possible. I need to know of all Autobot signatures apart from Fortress Maximus and anything within the immediate area of their base. If you can identify the individual transformers, it would be even better."

He paced the flight deck, waiting for his summoned troops to appear.

[Infecticon]

" Sounds like Scorponok has landed," Carnivac said to Weirdwolf, and let go of the Blades chess piece. " We're gonna have to finish this game later, 'cause I have to go snag a metrodrone to remake my pretender shell before someone orders them to do something else."

Not to mention my list of things to do before we're shipped to the Nemesis isn't getting any shorter, Carnivac thought as he stood up. Then Carnivac looked down at Weirdwolf, briefly remembering the other Decepticon's questions about Pretenders.

"Would you like to come with me and watch the remaking, or would you perfer to met me later outside the Combaticons' old rooms." Carnivac asked, knowing that either way, inbetween those two tasks, he was going to pack up his room.
------------

Nightracer watched Stonecruncher's exit, and wished she had an excuse to leave like that. She wasn't looking forward to what ever Hatemonger said next. Nightracer sighed again, making a note to next time shoot the Micromaster, not the Battlecharger's hand.
-------------

Motormaster looked around what was left of the common room, then down at the three idiots before him. While Breakdown and Wildrider sported quite a few fist sized dents, the room's furniture had seen better days. Meaning they actually behaved themselves, Motormaster thought.

[Warcry]

Medbay, Scorponok

Ramjet shrugged. "Not like I've got much better ta do..."
_________________________

Mess Hall, Scorponok

Scavenger scowled as he heard Gigatron's transmission.

So much for salvaging any of this junk...

The Constructicon stalked out the door behind Stonecruncher.
_________________________

Medbay, Scorponok

Hook didn't even look up as the orders boomed from the loudspeaker. He was busy, dammit, and this construction project would just have to wait!

He continued to repair Headstrong.
_________________________

Mixmaster's CR chamber flipped open, and the chemist shot out of the medbay, heading towards the entry. Bonecrusher exited his pod and followed.
_________________________

Octopunch and his shell continued to be repaired by their respective CR chambers.
_________________________

Main Engineering, Scorponok

The now-orange Scrapper chuckled, amused by the prospect of using stolen Autobot parts to revive a Decepticon city.

"I suppose we'll have to finish this later." He nodded towards the cans of paint. "Subspace those, then come with me. We'll need you to lug these parts."

Long Haul did as he was told, grumbling. The two orange Constructicons jogged towards the ramp.
_________________________

Bugly's Quarters, Scorponok

The Decepticon mystic sat stock-still on the floor, legs crossed. His spark energy continued to replenish itself, healing his body and shell as it did so. The process took time, though, and Bugly wisely spent that time meditating on new strategies that he could confound the Autobots with.
_________________________

Command Deck, Scorponok

Spinister nodded.

"Give me a minute, Windrazor. I'll have to bounce the scans of the human satellite network to increase our range."

The Targetmaster tapped in a few commands, then waited for the scan to complete.

[Sixswitch]

"Acknowledged," Windrazor replied to Spinister. "In addition, do we have any stasis weapons in the armoury? I need something that will induce stasis lock in a Transformer."

"Tell me," he spoke to Fly. "What is the situation with your other half at the present time? Any further news?"

[Heinrad]

Somewhere.......


"All is in readiness, sir."

The man looked up from his meditation, nodded. "Then go with Allah, for what you do in his name is just."

--------------------
Somewhere else........


It was an old submarine, Alpha class modified. The days of the glorious Soviet navy were long gone, lost in an age of rapidly changing borders, crazed would be dictators...... and lots and lots of money.

The captain of the sub was tired. This would be his last mission. It was their last MMRV warhead, a particularly dirty warhead in the 150 megaton range. Even if the target survived the explosion, the radiation poisoning would mean they'd not be helping anybody anymore. Unless helping them to an early grave counted, that is.

On the down side, Carbombiya would be irriadiated, but that was a small price to pay, really.

Actually, this small price was costing the people who'd hired him an extremely large price. Enough to retire and sell this antiquated heap.

"Captain, we're recieving the signal and target co-ordinates."

"Excellent. Prepare to surface."

*********************
Medbay, Scorponok:


Bludgeon: -nods- "Thank you, Lord." -heads back to the main part of Medbay, resumes his meditative position, meditates-

[optimusskids]

Weirdwolf replied :


" good you grow , soon the apprentice will defeat the master. Come with you I will. This Pretender process interest me it does."

[Arcee]

Thundercracker finished working on Thrust and asked, "Who's next?"

Thrust got up and walked over to Ramjet. "Get going?"

[Infecticon]

Carnivac nodded, then exited Weirdwolf's room, believing the Headmaster would follow him. Carnivac took a moment to consult the map of Scorponok he had in his memory files, then started heading towards the exit.

[Ravage]

Hatemonger watched as the brawl came to a close.

"Now, if anyone still has too much energy please remember we do have a gladitor ring." He said a small smiled cracked on his face he then turned and left as he left he got back onto his com-link.

"Gigatron, the brawl is over. Nobody decided to overstep their bounds and the construction based groups should be heading to work on Metrotitan's repairs. I am going to go watch the sensor arrays for awhile. If I see anything interesting I will let you know." Hatemonger said heading to Scorpnok's bridge.

********************

Cryotek back to his lab when he heard Gigatron's orders he then got onto his com-link.

"Gigatron would you like me to assist the construction teams with repairs?" He asked.

[Reflector]

Gigatron clicked on his comlink only briefly as he crossed the span between cities.

"Indeed, Cryotek," he shouted over his blaring engines. "It is objective that the operation be carried out quickly. Gigatron out."

Just as he closed the line, Gigatron began coasting up Metrotitan's hot main ramp and into the city.

********

Scorponok: Entry

A whish was followed quickly by a loud clank. The four Micromasters turned their scanners to the source perplexedly, catching sight of Stonecruncher stumbling through a side door. He eyed the two trucks somewhat shame-faced.

"Oh, hey guys. Sorry I'm late..."

"Where's Excavator?" Hammer snapped as the dump truck backed up to the pile of parts.

"Huh." Stonecruncher scratched the back of his head. "I dunno. I thought I saw the little guy..."

Hammer grumbled and flattened the bed.

"Whatever," he snarled. "Stonecruncher, transform and hook up with Knockout. Grit, you can arm-lift the gentler equipment until Excavator gets here. Move, c'mon!"

The Micromasters did as ordered at once. Despite his mild intoxication, Stonecruncher had little trouble pulling his crane to lift and drop parts systematically into the dump truck bed...

[Infecticon]

As Hatemonger left, Nightracer took that as her que to leave as well. After all, considering some of the past Decepticon punishments she had witnessed, this wasn't even a hand slap and Nightracer knew better then to push her luck.

[Ravage]

Cryotek picked up some tools from his lab and headed off to assist in repairs on Metrotitan.

*************************

Hatemonger began to watch radar arrays and sensors. For some reason I thought the Autobots might show some gall and attempt a counter attack. Or maybe not.

Who knew? It could just be the soilder in him telling him to keep an eye on things. Either way he sat down and watched some of the news reports laughing at Prime, wondering what the inferno the Breastforce was doing and generally passing time until someone needed his help.

[Warcry]

Command Deck, Scorponok

Spinister checked the armoury database.

"Heavy null rays, ion cannons, EMP blasters and stun nets," he told Windrazor. "I assume one of those will meet your needs."

The sensor board pinged. "We have four Autobots in Denver; one reads as a Powermaster, the others as Headmasters. In Portland, two Autobots. One standard Transformer without biological enhancements. The other...the computer recognises his spark frequency. It's Hot Rod."

He glanced further down the list. "One standard Transformer moving through Kansas. Another just now leaving Autobase. Computer gives an 83% probable ID of Mirage."

He glanced at Hatemonger. "You have business?"
________________________

Medbay, Scorponok

Ramjet shrugged. "Sure, Thrust. Not like we've got much'a anything ta do, though."

The conehead strode out the door.
________________________

Hook stepped away from the now-repaired Headstrong.

"Your repairs are complete. And now, I'm afraid, I must leave." He glanced at Thundercracker. "Mind the shop here. Call up the scorpion drones if you need help."
________________________

Main Entry, Scorponok

Long Haul and Scrapper arrived. The Constructicon transport officer stopped right beside the much-smaller Micromaster dump truck. Scrapper started piling equipment in Long Haul's bed, and was soon joined by Scavenger. The salvage officer frowned.

"What's this? You're orange now?"

"Camoflauge," Scrapper answered shortly.

"Oh, bull." Long Haul was nearly shouting. "He just wants to keep us all confused!"

Scrapper dropped a particularly heavy load into the bed, eliciting a groan from Long Haul's shock absorbers.

Bonecrusher and Mixmaster jogged up. The latter was about to say something about the new paint job, but Scavenger piped up.

"Just don't ask. It's easier that way."

[Phantom Starscream]

Scorponok:Mess-Hall

Motorhead just noticed he still had a little bit more to drink. He strode over to the table a gulged down the rest of it. "Now what?"

"You tell me."Roller Force replied,still in vehicle mode. "I just want some more action. "

"Quit your whining. I becha I can win you in a race through the hall." Barricade said.

"A chalange? You're on." Roller Force said. The cranked their engines and disapeared down the hall.

Motorhead watched. He threw down the cup,sat down,and looked around at the remaining Decepticons in the room.

"Geh." He murmered.

[Sixswitch]

Windrazor nodded and smiled.
"Thank you, Spinister," he replied over the comm. Then he opened another channel.
"Windrazor to StarBlade. Before coming to Flight Deck 1, please stop by the armoury and retrieve a heavy null ray."

(OOC: Is Echoshift in the Flight Deck yet?)

[Skystream]

(OOC: Just about to arrive, as a matter of fact. )

The grey Eurofighter known as Echoshift reached the Flight Deck and looked around, spotting Windrazor. He turned to face the other, nodding in greeting.

"You called, sir?"