Dead End
Major
Yes, we're all doomed. I already knew that.
Posts: 797
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Post by Dead End on May 7, 2007 13:08:17 GMT -5
Dead End received no reply to his comment about the garage and its vehicles. Surely Hook knew he was asking for instructions, especially after Hook's request not to further damage the facility?
// Hook? Skystrike? // Had some unknown enemy attacked silently and without warning, destroying or incapcitating them before he could even notice? Had one of them quietly killed the other and was even now waiting in ambush for Dead End? Perhaps both of them had decided that two could go further on the fuel supplies of three than three could.
Dead End drew his concussion rifle and stalked around the back end of the garage, looking for trouble. He scurried across to the cover of the two outbuildings, then worked his way around the far end of the main building until he flanked Hook and Skystrike.
Hook crouched on the ground, in some distress--his cable had spilled, something the fastidious Constructicon never allowed to happen--and Skystrike stood some distance away, looking somewhat confused. Their postures did not suggest an imminent ambush of Dead End. No other beings or vehicles were in sight. Dead End held his weapon ready and risked a quick blip of his radar at low power; there were no other non-stealthy vehicles within 5 miles or so.
// Skystrike, what happened to Hook? //
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Post by Hook on May 7, 2007 13:37:30 GMT -5
No teammates, no Megatron, only two other Decepticons... He didn't even have his trumpet. His plan had been worthless from the moment he conceived of it, he had wasted time and power on it that could have been put into something useful...
He noted Skystrike's sudden removal from his side, then her cautious re-approach.
Stop this, he informed himself. I will have to explain myself if I continue to behave in this manner. It is also not helpful. I need to pick up my line and figure out a different method to achieve survival.
He thumbed off his energy sword and stood slowly. The sword went back into subspace, and then he reached awkwardly behind himself to ensure that his line retracted smoothly. There was something comforting about the feel of it running over his fingers.
"Nothing is wrong," he informed her, baldly lying. "I believe Dead End mentioned vehicles in the other building? If they can be removed, we can scavenge them for spare parts."
He turned and stared at the main building, noting Dead End peeking around the corner at them. "You said this was a service station," Hook pitched his voice to carry. "We have identified a vehicle-repair bay, the organic waste-disposal building, possibly the energy storage building. What, then, is this building for?"
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on May 8, 2007 5:58:59 GMT -5
// Hook? Skystrike? //
Skystrike nodded, not really realizing she wasn’t responding. She was busy watching Hook’s every move, twitching at every movement of his arms until the plasma sword was stowed safely away. The flier didn’t know whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing.
// Skystrike, what happened to Hook? //
The flier paused, thinking over the Porsche’s words for moment and then replaying the situation over in her head. What had happened? She remembered Hook explaining to her how to use plasma sword then him saying something about the dam and then the rest was a bit of a blurr. She was, however, machine and as she replayed the event over in her head for the third time in a span of a few seconds, things began to make sense. She remembered visual based data better than audio but she recalled the crane’s words well enough; he’d been talking about the metal needed for building the dam.
//I guess we’re not building the dam. // the flier said, slowly, unsurely. //He was talking about what we needed before he slammed the plasma blade into the ground and… Well, this.// Skystrike watched as Hook began to pick himself and his line up taking a few cautious steps towards him and then stopping. She decided that he could handle himself well enough without this flier invading his personal space, although Skystrike still gave him a rather disapproving scowl when he told her that he was alright, but said nothing. None of her business.
At least, not yet.
“Yes, Dead End said he found some vehicles in the garage.” The flier responded, her voice returning to its more or less normal rumble. “Scavenging parts would be exceedingly useful. But first we’ll need to try and figure out how these things work before dismantling it completely. Might be useful for trying to figure out how to get energy out of the service station later.” If there was any energy. She quickly shut that thought off in some dark corner of her mind. There was energy, there was always energy, the problem was tapping into it.
As she watched Hook, the little puzzle pieces began fitting together; his expression, his words and this new behavior. She didn’t understand it of course, at least not fully although she knew Hook’s reputation enough to at least formulate some idea of what might be wrong. The flier wasn’t much of an architect after all and so felt little loss for the dam. They had a service station with vehicles they could take parts from and maybe some energy still leftover from the time when there’d been visitors. They could work things out from there and they had to work together to get through this dilemma, otherwise, their chances of survival were pretty much nil.
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Dead End
Major
Yes, we're all doomed. I already knew that.
Posts: 797
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Post by Dead End on May 8, 2007 13:39:47 GMT -5
// I never did quite know the quirks of Constructicons, // Dead End tells Skystrike privately. // I can't say what would distress Hook in particular about the current situation.//
He steps around the corner of the building, gun muzzle pointed at the ground. Dead End looks briefly at Hook, violet visor glowing slightly, and then contemplates the main building.
"If it is comparable to human facilities, this would be the building where the vehicle drivers and passengers refuel, purchase their vehicle recharge, probably where they pay for any repairs carried out in the service building, and possibly buy small quantities of common supplies. In short, this would be the cash register/convenience store and possibly a small, fast-service restaurant."
Dead End thinks a moment longer. "If this is like a military waystation, there might also be medical facilities for the drivers."
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Post by Hook on May 8, 2007 13:52:17 GMT -5
"If you can think of anything that we might find of use in such a facility, let me know," Hook said distractedly. His expression had taken on the vague aspect of someone holding a comm conversation. "Otherwise, get the vehicles out of the bay and check them for charges." It didn't occur to him that the other two might not have the tools to check for charges. He was too distracted by the sudden and confusing conversation with Long Haul. So distracted in fact, that he stopped reeling in his line. Long Haul's abrupt sign-off led to him actually dropping another length. OOC Note: Hook has just gotten Long Haul's sign-off in the Crystal City Frequency thread. He is going to be slightly distracted for a little while by the confusingness of what just happened.
Some of the vehicles do have charges, and if we can get at those, we can recharge everyone. Then some of you can go scout while Hook does techy stuff.
Next post by me will have some added, not-Hook stuff.
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Post by Starfighter on May 8, 2007 20:21:33 GMT -5
A few miles away from where actual interesting things are happening, Starfighter woke up with his face in the dirt.
Must have passed out at my desk again or something. Memo to self, refueling is a good thing.
He sat up and looked around, confused by the waving strands of green...what, cables? Thick wires? Some bored soldier had filled his office with garbage for a lark, more likely than not. Starfighter stood and gazed up at the ceiling--sky. It was sky, brighter and bluer than what he'd been looking at for the last hundred vorns. In front of him, as far as his optics could see, there was nothing besides more waving strands, more blue sky, and nothing even vaguely resembling Shockwave's tower. Nothing.
Starfighter's air intakes began heaving even before the laser core flare happened--he'd practically anticipated it, if there was ever a time for him to have one, this was certainly it. His wings shook, his hands crossed his chest to grip his arms, and he could feel the searing heat spread throughout his chest. At least there was no one around to see him, if that could be considered a comfort.
Calm. Find a calm place. Starfighter went over the week's energon intake figures in his head until his shuddering finally stopped and allowed him to straighten up. It couldn't be as bad as it seemed, there was always a way out of strange situations. Somehow. He could see something moving off in the distance, it might be other Decepticons.
//Hello? This is Starfighter of the Decepticons, please respond.//
Or it might be demons and he'd just marked himself for death. It wouldn't surprise him at this point.
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on May 9, 2007 5:48:10 GMT -5
// I never did quite know the quirks of Constructicons, I can't say what would distress Hook in particular about the current situation.//
//Well that’s just great.// Skystrike muttered over the comm. watching Dead End step out of his hiding place. //I think he’s unhappy about not being able to build a dam but that’s… kind of far fetched.// ‘Far fetched?’ she thought to herself. No, being miserable over a dam that wasn’t even real yet wasn’t far fetched. She’d been living too long around mechs who threw violent tantrums over dust in their joints; this? This wasn’t far fetched even though the flier found it a bit odd for someone she thought of as her superior.
She listened idly to the Porsche as he described the place and nodded. The descriptions were familiar although she had never seen a restaurant or a 'convenience store' before. She hadn’t exactly been interacting with humans a lot except for the time when a 'Con she that couldn’t remember the name of, came back with a few of them on the underside of his foot. To her, humans equaled to messy red mush Decepticons stepped on.
The flier shuddered inwardly and made a slightly distasteful face, but she pushed it to the back of her mind and made a note to see if it would be possible to find some useful things in the ‘convenience store’ as the dark red car had called it. She didn’t see anything convenient about the buildings at all; they were all too small.
“Will do,” Skystrike said in answer to Hook, turning to go before she faltered, noting the odd expression on his face. The crane seemed to be going through a sudden fit of weird that seemed very out of place in the short span of time she’d known him. This wasn’t normal behavior; the Hook she’d heard of wasn’t particularly famous for public outbursts of strange behavior-
The seeker took a rather startled step back from him when he dropped his line again.
“Hook,” she murmured to him, a sliver of concern tinting her voice. “Maybe you should rest for a bit. You’re not acting ‘alright’.” She didn’t wait for him to answer though and turned to go. It was only a suggestion and Skystrike was sure that someone a few million years older than her knew what was and wasn’t good for himself.
She still nearly tripped over herself when a strange voice spoke in her head.
//Hello? This is Starfighter of the Decepticons, please respond.//
It must have been one big glitch with the warp gate system. Skystrike thought, making a low pitched and surprised sounding noise before looking around to both Dead End and Hook quizzically.
“Uh, anything metal on the radar, Dead End?” She asked awkwardly before switching to her comm. link. //This is Skystrike of the Decepticons. State your status and... describe your current location.// Asking for the stranger’s current location alone wasn’t of much use. He probably didn’t even know how he got here, much less, where he was on this alien world.
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Post by Starfighter on May 9, 2007 10:39:43 GMT -5
//I'm in some sort of plain, surrounded by green strands of waist-high...stuff.// Starfighter inwardly flinched at the crude term, but he didn't really know what else to call it. //The ground's covered in a strange orange-brow substance possibly organic. I can't recognize any familiar landmarks, and the tower is nowhere in sight. If you turn around a bit and see a seeker silhouette, you're probably the people I'm looking at. If you aren't, then they might be hostiles. //
He fumbled for his datapad, activating the uplink to the Decepticon database so he could find some information on this 'Skystrike'. If she didn't have an entry, he'd know it was a trap.
It shouldn't take this long to connect...
There was nothing. No connection, no database, not so much as the weekly news. All gone, as if it had never existed.
//And...if this isn't a trick, I don't think I'm on Cybertron anymore.//
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Dead End
Major
Yes, we're all doomed. I already knew that.
Posts: 797
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Post by Dead End on May 9, 2007 13:46:09 GMT -5
Dead End noticed Hook's suddenly distant behavior--he was in comm-link with someone, but whom? Not Skystrike, judging from her puzzled look. He mulled over her comment about Hook's distress over his dam project--dam? Right. Hook had gotten excited over the stream the Stunticon had found--obviously he thought he could do something useful with it. Evidentially that plan hadn't worked out.
That might explain it. Hook was almost as bad as Onslaught about his plans going wrong--no matter that the first rule of warfare was 'No plan survives contact with the enemy.' An Onslaught-style depressive perfectionist as team leader. Joy. Really, one depressive, namely Dead End, was quite enough for two or three teams.
And then there was Skystrike--she seemed rather nervous and edgy, almost like Drag Strip in a hot firefight. Too long in the combat zone, perhaps? Or just marginally crazy like Drag Strip?
“Hook,” she murmured to him, a sliver of concern tinting her voice. “Maybe you should rest for a bit. You’re not acting ‘alright’.”
Dead End would have sighed if he'd been human. That wasn't going to do any good at all. He quietly predicted that Hook would sharply deny that there was anything wrong, and insist on pushing forward with whatever he had in mind twice as fast. If whatever was upsetting him didn't push him over the edge into a murderous rage at the more inappropriate comments.
Now that was an idea. Dead End turned that possibility over in his mind; could he take Hook if Hook berserked? He really couldn't tell if it was a reasonable possibility or just his bad risk analysis routine at it again. He glanced at Skystrike; she was definitely getting a bit skittish. If she fled, the chances that they'd all die sooner rather than later increased dramatically. Dead End's engine rumbled; whatever had plucked them from their proper places and flung them here as so many pawns wasn't getting his life as a freebie!
"Skystrike, do calm down. Hook either will or will not stabilize; the worst that can happen is he beserks and kills us both. All that means is we die sooner rather than later, so nothing to worry about, really--since we're going to die eventually anyway." Dead End waves one hand dismissively, and turns to Hook.
"Hook, if there is some danger or problem that we don't know about, it might up our short-term survival chances if we did. If you have a plan that you're working toward, do share. We might have seen or thought of something that will prove useful."
//Hello? This is Starfighter of the Decepticons, please respond.//
Dead End's nearly instantaneous response is to light up his radar at mid-range for one sweep, then shut it down as soon as he picks up the nearby robotic form.
“Uh, anything metal on the radar, Dead End?” asked Skystrike
"Yes, about 1.5 kilometers WNW, in the grass, stationary. Profile is consistant with a non-stealthy Decepticon jet in robot mode."
There's a brief radio conversation between Skystrike and the newcomer, and then Starfighter says, //...if you turn around a bit and see a seeker silhouette, you're probably the people I'm looking at. If you aren't, then they might be hostiles. //
// That would be correct, Starfighter. I am tracking you now from our position. This is Dead End of the Stunticons. //
//And...if this isn't a trick, I don't think I'm on Cybertron anymore.//
// That would be a correct assessment of our situation. //
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Post by Hook on May 9, 2007 21:58:59 GMT -5
.75 kilometers north by northwest from the service station, there is a large thicket of thorny plants. Black branches intertwine and wrap around each other, grow through each other. Long, wicked thorns cover the branches, and there are almost more thorns than the dark red leaves and tiny yellow flowers. The plants grow so thickly together that a person can't see more than a few inches into the interior of the thicket.
If someone were to look closely enough, they might see the tiny, hollow bones of the local avians nestled behind the flowers.
---
Hook listened to the vocalizations of his fellow Decepticons, but was too distracted by the fact that Long Haul had cut him off. Long Haul had cut him off!
... Dead End thought he might go berserk and take out both Skystrike and Dead End? What?
"Unfortunately, Dead End, I already know you're insane, or I would have to severely question how you decided that was even a possibility." His line reeled in again. Honestly, he hadn't dropped it in the last three thousand, six hundred, eighty-five years, and he dropped it twice today. If missing his gestaltmates was affecting him this much...
Someone would have to carry the Stunticon whenever it hit Dead End that his brothers were gone. Or perhaps not. The Stunticons were insane. It might not even bother him.
"Hook, if there is some danger or problem that we don't know about, it might up our short-term survival chances if we did. If you have a plan that you're working toward, do share. We might have seen or thought of something that will prove useful."
"Long Haul is out there somewhere," he said flatly. "As for the rest of it, we need to get those vehicles out and check their charges-"
A radio call comes over his communicator, this one once again the forlorn call of a jet who had no idea where he was. Fortunately, Skystrike and Dead End seemed to be handling it. In a rare fit of seeing what was actually there about himself, he did not think he was fit company right now.
"Ask him for a date-stamp before he gets here," Hook added as his line finished retracting. Then he stalked over to the vehicle bay.
The shadows had gotten significantly longer, he noted, and glanced up at the sun briefly. Only a few more hours until it set, from the looks of it, then he knelt down to study the large doors.
Lifted doors, he decided, after examining them. The same color as the building, not a different color as was common on Earth. However, that looked like a handle... He slipped two fingers into it and tugged.
The door rattled as it lifted, but only came up a few feet before it encountered an obstruction. Locked.
All of the myriad passionate emotions in his head abruptly boiled down to the simplest, easiest one: anger.
Metal screeched and tore along jagged edges as Hook exerted his not inconsiderable strength to bodily rip the door from the building.
OOC Note: The thicket is in a direct-line between Starfighter and the service station. It is a big thicket.
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on May 10, 2007 7:05:18 GMT -5
Skystrike gave Dead End a look.
“That’s not helping me calm down,” she said flatly to him before turning her attention back to Starfighter’s words.
//I'm in some sort of plain, surrounded by green strands of waist-high...stuff.//
//It's called ‘grass’, I think.// She said idly before continuing, //you’re near our location then so it shouldn’t be too much trouble finding you or vice versa.// The seeker left Dead End to pick up the conversation in favor of listening to Hook talk. And to keep an optic on him.
She wasn’t particularly worried about Hook attacking her as the dark red car had guessed the crane would. She was hard pressed to believe anything that the Porsche said that wasn’t a report of some kind at the time being, really, but Hook’s quirky behavior was worrying her. He was thus far the most useful mech in the group and having him upset over something might eventually affect the whole group if they weren’t careful.
The seeker gave Dead End a sidelong glance when Hook spoke of the other’s insanity. It was odd really, Skystrike didn’t really think of Dead End as being particularly insane. Then again, her general definition of ‘insane’ brought up memories of the nameless mech who leapt at your back and tried to pull your fuel tank out with their bare hands. She shuddered, wings twitching uncomfortably.
Thankfully, what Hook said next surprised her out of her unpleasant reminiscing.
Long Haul? She thought, trying to recall where the name came from. The blue jet idly remembered that he’d been one of the Constructicons, Hook’s team mate.
Skystrike faltered. Hook’s team mate? On this planet? Well that explained the expression he had earlier although why the crane sounded so unhappy about the new discovery made her scowl. Fortunately for the green mech, the seeker was brought back to the new comer on hand before she could think about questioning him on it.
She listened to Dead End’s reply to the stranger’s question before turning to in the direction she supposed this ‘Starfighter’ was in and scowled slightly. Dead End told her he was a jet which confirmed what the mech’s name implied well enough. Skystrike wasn’t all too sure whether to be thankful or annoyed, quite frankly. Her last few encounters with ‘fellow’ fliers hadn’t been all too pleasant –come to think of it, any encounters with other seekers ever since her demotion hadn’t been all too pleasant.
It’s just one. The blue jet thought to herself. If he is annoying, it’ll be easy enough to ignore. The fact that she was beginning to think of her own model as pests was probably a sign that she’d been spending too much time around Lighter anyways.
Skystrike caught Hook getting up and leaving them from the corner of her optics and turned to look after him, nodding slightly in response at his request for the new seeker’s date stamp. Her optics flickered a bit as he walked away but she opted to leave him alone; he needed it, and besides, from the look of things, she’d find out sooner or later whether she liked it or not and it was probably going to be the latter.
This became especially apparent when a distant metallic screech reverberated crisply through the afternoon air.
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Post by Starfighter on May 10, 2007 9:44:27 GMT -5
Dead End, 'grass', no connection to the Decepticon database...
//Is this Earth? Did something happen to the space bridge? I wasn't even near it when this happened, I was three floors down.// Although it wasn't as if anything else was making sense.
Starfighter gently took to the air, still clutching his datapad to his chest as tightly as a human child would clutch his blankie or an Autobot his gun. It was the only thing in this strange place that belonged to Cybertron. Something strange and buzzing flew into his face and he jerked back, yelping and flailing.
Bugs, right. Like tiny organic Insecticons, did less damage than a tiny piece of dust on the planetary jets. Nothing to be concerned about.
//All right, I'm coming over there.// Unspoken is 'please don't shoot me down, that wouldn't be a nice thing to do and it would make me very sad. And possibly dead'.
Starfighter was over the other Decepticons' heads in under a minute, flying past and around them before looping back to land in front of Dead End and saluting. He fumbled for something appropriate to say before finally landing on "Starfighter of Shockwave's tower reporting for duty, sir." He felt he must look like an utter fool.
Then again, that was normal.
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Dead End
Major
Yes, we're all doomed. I already knew that.
Posts: 797
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Post by Dead End on May 10, 2007 10:52:38 GMT -5
"Starfighter of Shockwave's tower reporting for duty, sir."
Dead End looks at the newcomer--pale blue Seeker with yellow trim. Something twitchy about him, but not quite in the same way as Skystrike or even Hook.
"Oh good, you didn't come in shooting. Or thinking seriously about it. That's an improvement," he says dourly. He glances at Skystrike. "Do try to remember that the ones with the purple logos are on our side, Skystrike. Unless they're the raving psychotic ones... that aren't Stunticons. I'll handle my brothers if they turn up."
Wait. Skystrike's timestamp--she came from before the Stunticons existed. She wouldn't know. That might explain some of the odd looks he's getting.
"Starfighter, your most recent timestamp? Since you seem to recognize me and asked questions about Earth, I'll assume you are from after 1985. Now, to answer your questions, we don't know what happened. If it was a space bridge accident, it was a rather impressive one--all of us seem to have been plucked from different points in space-time. I, for example, last remember a date about 20 years ahead of Hook's last valid timestamp. Skystrike is from a few years before that."
The masked Stunticon continues, "I can also tell you this is decidedly not Earth. I am quite familiar with that planet's gravity, flora, and solar spectrum, none of which are the same as this planet's. Therefore, this is not Earth. We do not yet know what planet it is. We have found the recently abandoned ruins of a technological civilization; we don't know who or what else is on the planet with us."
"Now, ignoring all the possible different ways that this unknown world can kill us, our most pressing immediate issue is locating an energy supply. If we do not do that soon, we will starve to death before the rest of the unknowns can kill us. I could have stayed on Charr if I wanted that experience, thank you," he concludes drily. "Let's solve the fuel problem so we can find some other way to die."
"Skystrike, Starfighter--I have the impression that you know Hook of the Constructicons. He seems to be the senior officer here, so as far as I'm concerned, he's in command. I am not familiar with either one of you; please, do share some information about yourselves, your current assignments, and your occupational specialities. As for myself, I am Dead End of the Stunticons; I shoot things as necessary and provide air and land long-range sensory and navigation capability to my unit." Translation: I have a big honking radar emitter with a really good detector and computer hooked up to it.
His purple visor glows in the fading light. "Skystrike, my unit, the Stunticons, was created after your departure date. Megatron created us as a five-member combiner team of Earth-type ground vehicles to counter Autobot tactics on Earth. My teammates, should you run across them, are Breakdown, Wildrider, Drag Strip and Motormaster. Avoid Motormaster if you can; he has an uncertain temper and is a very close second to Megatron in physical power. No doubt Hook can fill you in on our other quirks; he is quite familiar with our construction." There's a touch of dryness in Dead End's tone; just a touch. "My unit served on Earth for decades before circumstances sent us elsewhere; we were all familiar with operations on organic planets--at least, that one."
Dead End tilts his head slightly and looks from one to the other. His expression is very hard to read between the mask and the visor, but one might get the notion that he's waiting for a response.
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Post by Hook on May 10, 2007 12:32:42 GMT -5
Hook had not actually gone that far. He was just across the blacktop from the other Decepticons, one of the large vehicle-bay door in his hands. It promptly got tossed aside, skidding across the 'parking lot' with a grating scrape of metal.
He listened to what the others babbled on about, but it didn't interest him quite as much as what was inside the building. He peered inside on his hands and knees, then reached in and dragged out one of the vehicles. Curiously enough, it had wheels and rolled nicely.
Hook sat back and considered the vehicle, one hand running over it absently while he thought. If he felt any humming that would be a good way to tell that the vehicle held a charge, however a lack of humming did not imply that it had no charge, merely that it was off.
Big tires with deep treads, a squat enclosed box of a cabin, and built rather tough at a guess based on its weight. Off-road vehicle of some sort then.
This would work so much better with his toolkit, he decided. A moment later, it sat next to the vehicle, and he thumbed it open and then began looking for a voltage-meter.
What did sanity say about electric recharge points? You had to open something to get at them. Exposed electrodes, especially on an organic planet, were just begging to cause a blinding flash of light and a broken vehicle.
Therefore, it would have to be covered. Therefore, one of these two seams at either end of the vehicle would be the correct one to lift. Or they both would. He wasn't picky if he found the engines rather than the recharge electrodes.
With the care and delicacy that went with the reputation he had gained as the premier surgical engineer in the Empire, Hook worked a small but strong lever into the lift-point at the front end of the vehicle, and levered it open.
"Ah, the engines."
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on May 11, 2007 10:32:58 GMT -5
"Starfighter of Shockwave's tower reporting for duty, sir."
The immediate reaction Skystrike had to that was to level an annoyed more than suspicious glare at Starfighter. A higher ranking seeker. Great, she was going to spend the rest of her time here with a higher ranking seeker. She absolutely hated higher ranking seekers, the feelings of dissent a result of a few millennia of dealing with the snobby vermins and their ilk for far longer than she liked to think about. The Berkut made a gruff, unhappy rumbling noise as she shifted her weight a bit so that it settled mostly on one foot, her wings pulling back ever so slightly.
"Oh good, you didn't come in shooting. Or thinking seriously about it. That's an improvement. Do try to remember that the ones with the purple logos are on our side, Skystrike. Unless they're the raving psychotic ones... that aren't Stunticons. I'll handle my brothers if they turn up."
“Stunticons?” Skystrike’s optics flickered quizzically but the rest of Dead End’s speech made enough sense. A bit of anger began to bubble up in her and she crossed her arms indignantly.
“Considering the fact that my visual sensors are better than yours, I’d think I’d recognize purple symbols well enough, Dead End.” She sneered at the Porsche, wings pulling back a bit more and ailerons twitching. She wasn’t incompetent, she didn’t need to be talked down to like some newly sparked that’d just been thrown out of the factory, especially not by a manic depressive mech she’d just met. Only Core Breaker got to belittle her like that and Dead End was nothing like Core Breaker.
"Starfighter, your most recent timestamp? Since you seem to recognize me and asked questions about Earth, I'll assume you are from after 1985. Now, to answer your questions, we don't know what happened. If it was a space bridge accident, it was a rather impressive one--all of us seem to have been plucked from different points in space-time. I, for example, last remember a date about 20 years ahead of Hook's last valid timestamp. Skystrike is from a few years before that."
“… What.” Skystrike uttered any traces of resentment lost in a moment of thorough confusion. How the heck did that work? It sounded more like one of Lighter’s and Trucker’s more crazy theories. Like how you’d be able to travel back in time if you went fast enough. Or something like that. It involved going so fast that you arrived in time before whatever it was you were trying to catch began again. Which kind of made sense but it rather hurt her CPU thinking about it.
"Now, ignoring all the possible different ways that this unknown world can kill us, our most pressing immediate issue is locating an energy supply. If we do not do that soon, we will starve to death before the rest of the unknowns can kill us. I could have stayed on Charr if I wanted that experience, thank you. Let's solve the fuel problem so we can find some other way to die."
“How about we don’t die at all, live to get off of this planet, get back to our respective times and preferably go back and rejoin our teammates, hmm?” Skystrike snapped snidely, leaning in just close enough to attempt to swat her wing lightly across the top of Dead End’s helm. “Then, we can go consume copious amounts of tainted, high grade energon and forget every-blazing-thing! Then you can go ahead and get yourself killed however you fragging want.”
"Skystrike, Starfighter--I have the impression that you know Hook of the Constructicons. He seems to be the senior officer here, so as far as I'm concerned, he's in command. I am not familiar with either one of you; please, do share some information about yourselves, your current assignments, and your occupational specialities. As for myself, I am Dead End of the Stunticons; I shoot things as necessary and provide air and land long-range sensory and navigation capability to my unit."
“Yes, I know Hook; he turns into a piece of Devastator. It’s kind of hard to forget that. And I have no objection to him being the boss, although his, uh, new behavior is beginning to worry me a bit.” She cast a brief, slightly aggravated glance in the direction the crane had gone in, noting the piece of metal that was now in the parking lot. The blue jet hissed air out of her vents loudly and crossed her arms, turning her baleful glower onto Starfighter once more before she continued.
“Assignment and occupation specialties, huh?” Dull azure fingers tapped against the armor on the seeker’s upper arm impatiently. “Well, the team I was supposed to be protecting were hauling fuel to a Decepticon base in a city named Falel in the edge of the city state of Kalis. I’m the, uh, ‘personal bodyguard’ of a fuel distribution team who call themselves the ‘DFD’.” She left out the fact that she’d been kicked out of her trine and was now a considered to actually be part of the DFD team. That part, these strangers didn’t need to know, especially not Starfighter.
"Skystrike, my unit, the Stunticons, was created after your departure date. Megatron created us as a five-member combiner team of Earth-type ground vehicles to counter Autobot tactics on Earth. My teammates, should you run across them, are Breakdown, Wildrider, Drag Strip and Motormaster. Avoid Motormaster if you can; he has an uncertain temper and is a very close second to Megatron in physical power. No doubt Hook can fill you in on our other quirks; he is quite familiar with our construction. My unit served on Earth for decades before circumstances sent us elsewhere; we were all familiar with operations on organic planets--at least, that one."
“Ah. Right.” Well, Skystrike admitted to herself reluctantly, it made sense. Somehow. The entire situation had just been revealed to be more bizarre than anything Skystrike had ever expected it to be. Time travel, alien planet and complete strangers gathered on said alien planet because of… what? The warp gates were a possible answer; warp gates were still a very unstable technology despite the fact that it’d been around for so long. They were a good way to travel, sure, but when they glitched, they really slagging glitched.
Or maybe it was one of those parallel universe or dimension things; some kind of rip in space and time that vacuumed in certain individuals from the timeline, dimension or universe into this… This planet could be a nexus of some sort? Or maybe it was all just an illusion like she'd suspected since the beginning.
Skystrike looked up at the sky, watching the last traces of blue vanish over the horizon, the sky turning an odd myriad of colors ranging from a fiery orange to a deep and rich purple. She’d never seen such a sunset before, the closest she’d remembered was the time when Cybertron was brought into the earth’s gravitational field. The single star of the solar system scattered light across the metal planet’s icy towers and skyscrapers, the sudden warmth causing wisps of vapor to drift into the thin atmosphere and then settle on the wreckage below, hiding the ruins of civilization and war under a blanket of silvery golden gossamer mist. She remembered that, she remembered that very well, remembered the sense of hope the settled over the group and…
Realizing she’d been staring at the air for a bit too long, the flier roughly ended the train of memories and dragged her attention back to the other two mechs. Never let your guard down around people you didn’t know, Skystrike berated herself quietly.
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