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Post by Hook on Jun 10, 2007 21:14:34 GMT -5
Less than an hour after the jets set out, and after an almost screaming match with Dead End over how he and the others had helpfully cut up the tank for the Constructicon, the groundbound party set out along the road.
Now most of the grasslands were behind them, and the swamp lurked only a few short miles ahead. The three-mech convoy had made good time for all that it was slowed by Hook.
Hopefully they don't lose the road when they get under those unhealthy looking trees.
Cannonball, Dead End, you two post here. We'll pick up Demolishor in a few posts. There's no set order until one of you posts, so just go.
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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 Jun 10, 2007 21:22:38 GMT -5
It hadn't been much of a screaming match: Hook had fussed at Dead End while Dead End continued to read his story. Danforth and the narrator were flying over the high pass to the alien city, and things should actually get interesting soon. However, Hook insisted that Dead End not only move, but haul a trailer!
"Do I look like someone's Chevy Suburban?" Dead End had said plaintively, but said plaint fell on deaf audials. Apparently he did to Hook. Hook beat Shoggoth to the punch.
Dead End kept his radar running on short-range as they traveled. He didn't need to map what was 200 miles out, but he really wanted to know what was coming at him a few miles down the road.
"Oh look, a swamp. Do you suppose we'll just sink into the mud and choke our engines on it, or perhaps it will be corrosive, eating away at our undercarriages until someone's transmission falls out and sinks into the mire, never to be found again?"
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Jun 10, 2007 22:44:38 GMT -5
"Oh look, a swamp. Do you suppose we'll just sink into the mud and choke our engines on it, or perhaps it will be corrosive, eating away at our undercarriages until someone's transmission falls out and sinks into the mire, never to be found again?"
"Oi, enough of that belly-achin', lad!" Cannonball's retort was one of annoyance. This Dead End fellow griped more than some of the rookies on his ship. "Much more o' that, an' ah'll 'ave to blow my audios out.." he added, though in a hushed tone.
"An' just w'ere are we goin' agin, 'Ook?" he asks, dropping Hs faster than than a tray full of cups, belonging to a first-night barwench at Maccaddams'.
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Post by Hook on Jun 12, 2007 13:03:53 GMT -5
"If you lose anything vital, I'll replace it. Find out where those two idiots are supposed to be, Dead End. I want a decent map before we roll one angstrom into that swamp."
Hook did not trust swamps. Structures in swampy grounds had a tendency to sink if not properly maintained. He didn't know how long it would take this particular swamp to cover over the roads, and he did not particularly care to find out the hard way that it already had.
"Oh, and be ready to just shoot them if they refuse to cooperate. If nothing else, they can provide us with parts."
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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 Jun 12, 2007 15:25:20 GMT -5
Dead End considers asking if Hook means the two idiots flying ahead, or the two in the swamp, but then decides the Constructicon would probably not appreciate his wit today. (Which begs the question of which Seeker besides Starfighter does Dead End not consider an idiot?)
"I thought angstroms were used to measure wavelengths of energy, not linear distance along a geodesic," Dead End said in a mild tone. "Dear me, I hope your math processor isn't going already. It's possible the radiation from that star is inimical to our processing units, you know."
"You do realize that in turning my radar up to enough power to map the terrain in that bog, I'll alert everything with a radar receiver within 100 miles or so? It would be just our luck if Omega Supreme happened to be sitting on a beach somewhere just over the horizon--or worse yet, the Aerialbots."
Dead End cranks his radar up and engages it in terrain-mapping mode, then sweeps for, oh, mech-sized moving objects. After a few minutes he says, "I am transmitting an updated map to you--I tried a water-penetrating frequency, but I can't get a very good frequency for that, and it's too long a wavelength for good resolution; about all I could do was mark where the bodies of water deeper than a few inches are. Oh, and there's two moving objects moving along what looks like that elevated roadway I annotated for you. One's average size for a mech, the other seems a bit larger and is a flyer."
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Post by Demolishor on Jun 12, 2007 20:54:00 GMT -5
Somewhere back in the swamp, Demolishor and his team (all one of him) were still trudging through the swamp. The mud was starting to get shallower, but on the other hand the tall trees were beginning to fade into annoying shrubs and underbrush that clung to one's feet and were worse than the sloshing mud.
Demolishor just couldn't get a break.
"They better be close, I'm getting sick of all this glop," he grumbled in Sky-byte's general direction.
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Jun 13, 2007 0:59:41 GMT -5
"Oh, and be ready to just shoot them if they refuse to cooperate. If nothing else, they can provide us with parts."
This would elicit a hearty laugh from the pirate. "Ah do be believin' I like ye sense o' 'umor, 'Ook."
As for the upcoming mechs, he wasn't partial to either having them join, or fighting them. A fight could be interesting, however.
=====
OOC: Sorry for the suck post. Couldn't think up much. Bleh.
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Post by Hook on Jun 13, 2007 13:37:13 GMT -5
"Sense of humor?"
Hook ignored Dead End's inability to grasp true precision and focused on the updated map instead. "Hmm. Their road looks to intersect with ours not terribly far up ahead. Let us be off."
---
Unless Dead End wants something horrible to happen, we should meet up with Demolishor and Sky-Byte this round.
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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 Jun 14, 2007 11:10:25 GMT -5
"As you command," Dead End says, and drives forward along the road, which turns into a causeway over the low ground. A causeway overgrown with vines and creeping plants, but a causeway nevertheless. The black metal still lurked under the tangled vines, and nothing grew very high, testifying to the passage of the maglev road-tanks that sheared off anything that stuck up too much.
"When did I turn into an offroad monster truck with a trailer hitch?" Dead End grumbled as he shoved through a particularly nasty stretch of vines, his engine roaring angrily at the effort. "Do I look like Rodimus Prime? Am I painted in atrocious colors of red, yellow and optic-searing orange, and do I go bouncing merrily over hill and dale without thought of how it's going to tear my suspension out?"
Fortunately, Hook had secured the load on the trailer quite effectively, or it would have all bounced out by now.
"Intersection with their ridge coming up in 0.25 miles," Dead End finally said. "We should see whoever it is coming through that clump of trees to the right in just a few minutes".
Dead End transformed and dropped the trailer; he dropped off the side of the causeway into the shallow water, where he had a good view of aforementioned clumps of trees, yet was below immediate line-of-sight--and line-of-fire. Then he drew his air cannon and waited.
Unbeknownst to him, one of his radar mapping frequencies was just the same frequency as a certain type of homing beacon. Some miles away, a long-dormant tunnelling robot began to come online...
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Post by Demolishor on Jun 14, 2007 14:46:38 GMT -5
The two Decepticons were heard before they were seen. They came crashing through the underbrush with not even the slightest hint of stealth, as at this point they would probably be found no matter how sneaky they needed to be.
The missile tank stumbled out onto the causeway first, still detangling the crawling vines from his knees and making a rather undramatic entrance. Dirty wet leaves were plastered to his turrets and shoulders, and he was covered in caked brown mud from the waist down.
"Uh...hello?" he called out, trying to see if their would-be companions were in audial range. He erred on the side of allegiance; if they'd set up an ambush, it would have happened already.
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Jun 14, 2007 17:58:00 GMT -5
Cannonball followed Dead End's lead, taking the left side of the road for himself, having his gun arm ready for if they were attacked by the newcomers.
"Uh...hello?"
The pirate hesitated for a moment. On one hand, if the newcomers knew they were there and intended to attack, they would have. On the blaster, this could be a ruse to get them to show themselves. He decides to take a rather neutral route in communication: Hunching down more where he can't be too easily seen, and calling out in reply. "Oi, 'o goes thar?"
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Post by Hook on Jun 15, 2007 11:32:28 GMT -5
Hook did not deign to get off the road. He merely armed his rocket launcher.
In fact, when Demolishor stumbled out onto the causeway, the rocket-launcher immediately auto-locked onto him and began to track him.
"Good day," Hook said calmly. "I am Hook. You, I presume, would be Demolishor, and the flying fish would be Sky-Byte. My companions have you in their sights. Now, are you two going to serve under Starscream's command? Answer wisely."
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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 Jun 15, 2007 13:52:20 GMT -5
Dead End has his target on the flying shark--though it would be easy enough to switch to Demolishor should the need arrive. There's a slight, continuous crackle as water parts around his forcefields...
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Post by Demolishor on Jun 15, 2007 16:51:26 GMT -5
"That's funny. I'm not seeing Starscream." He made a show of scanning the skies while his elbows bent slightly. It would have seemed like a casual pose if you didn't know his fingers contained his secondary weapons systems.
"So who are you all, then? Decepticons?" They had the insignias, true, but they were extremely odd looking. None of them had visible powerlink ports (although Demolishor supposed they could be around the back somewhere), and two of them had such basic body structures that they seemed barely capable of transforming at all.
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Cannonball
Minor
Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
Posts: 470
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Post by Cannonball on Jun 15, 2007 22:30:11 GMT -5
"Aye, we be Decepticons, lads." Cannonball answered, though still keeping his gun arm trained on the newcomers, though raising up to be a bit more visible. Half of his visor was visible, glowing with a violet hue, adding some menace to the grin on his face.
"An' ye be right...Starscream donnae be here, but we do 'ave permission tae scrap ye scurvy lot if'n ye don' comply wit 'ow 'e runs things..." he adds, finishing it off with a classic pirate-esque cackle.
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