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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Feb 3, 2008 9:40:17 GMT -5
Skystrike slows as she arrives at the coordinates Shockwave had given them, pulling lazily skywards. It’d been a relatively straightforward flight, nothing too exciting even with the alien scenery passing by below her. She now circles, keeping a sharp look out for any hostiles as she waited for Starfighter’s and then Duskwing’s and Needlenose’s arrivals.
Supposedly, anyhow. She wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do if the other two Decepticon flier didn’t show up, they hadn’t exactly been given orders on that yet. They’d have to go in and get them, but she wasn’t going to assume anything.
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Post by Needlenose on Feb 3, 2008 14:28:28 GMT -5
After the flash of Sunbeam clears Slingshot out of his path, Needlenose is able to break free of the dogfight he'd been involved in. However, he's still injured, and knows he won't make it home.
He's also terrified, but, unlike his early days as a Mayhem, is smart enough to know that a blind panic won't see him through this.
He makes a radio call, reporting the situation to his superiors, then turns towards the co-ordinates he had given. Another reason for his choice is that it lets him land before he crashes. Of course, with injured tailfins and instruments and thick forest, there's still going to be little difference between the two.
"Hold on tight, boys," he tells his Targetmaster partners. "This is going to be rough."
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Post by Starfighter on Feb 3, 2008 15:41:58 GMT -5
Starfighter twists around as he comes in and tries to follow Needlenose down. He doesn't think much of his own repair skills, especially since he's mostly practiced on seekers, but he'll try to give what relief he can to a superior soldier.
Besides, he has a legitimate excuse to avoid Autobots. What's better than that?
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Feb 5, 2008 8:38:38 GMT -5
Skystrike makes to move after Needlenose at first, but Starfighter's arrival lets her keep her attention on the skies. It would be most annoying to have an Autobot jet sneak on them when they weren't looking and she still had to keep a a lookout for Duskwing's arrival. The other blue jet seemed to be having a rather exciting moment if his report on the radio was anything to go by. Sky-byte's suggestion and mention of her name draws her attention briefly, but the shark didn't give her any firm orders just yet, so Skystrike chose not to budge.
The berkut runs and reruns her long range sensors instead, if only to curb off the sense of unease that'd settled on her wings. With the action being so far away, it was rather hard to work out where everyone was. For a brief moment though, she thought she caught an outline of a jet heading there way, but that disappeared a moment later. Then it reappeared and circled around in the sky.
Strange, Needlenose hadn't mentioned any pursuit and it didn't look like one of the Autobot jets. Might just be Thundecracker out sulking again, but Skystrike knew better than to take matters like this too lightly.
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Post by Needlenose on Feb 5, 2008 9:22:11 GMT -5
The landing is, indeed, rougher than Needlenose would like, but he survives it, taking some further damage in the process. If there's persuit, he's unaware of it - he was pretty sure his speed alone was able to shake the chasers.
The jet's cockpit opens to allow Sunbeam and Zigzag to get out, then Needlenose himself transforms. He immediately crouches and begins scanning the environs, his weapons a transformation away from being ready.
Of course, he doubts this Starfighter is up to the task of tending to his more... non-standard circuitry, but as a Seeker he should at least know how to do basic aircraft repairs on wings and flaps, right?
//Down at <co-ordinates>,// the Targetmaster reports over low-powered Decepticon frequency. //Give me a heads up on your approach. Don't want to blast one of you guys by mistake.//
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Post by Starfighter on Feb 5, 2008 11:58:41 GMT -5
//Just me coming down. Starfighter, I mean, one of the blue jets.// Like that means anything around here. //I think Skystrike's keeping watching.//
Barring any accidental shots across or up his nose, Starfighter's going to land and transform a short ways away. He holds his hands up and out in a nonthreatening gesture. "I'm over here," he calls out, still ready to duck if need be. He didn't think he saw any pursuers , but Needlenose must have been running away from something.
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Feb 6, 2008 7:48:15 GMT -5
//I'm going off to help Duskwing// Skystrike rumbles to Starfighter, igniting her thrusters. //There's another jet in the area, but I haven't identified who it is. Keep vigilant.// With that, she flies off.
((OOC: Skystrike out of the thread.))
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Post by Needlenose on Feb 6, 2008 9:21:40 GMT -5
//Acknowledged,// Needlenose replies to Skystrike. He turns towards Starfighter and dips his head once in a nod. "I am pretty sure I was chased. We'll have to stay alert."
The Targetmaster looks around him, optics narrowed as though to accompany the frown he lacks a mouth to make. "Those guys... they weren't acting like Autobots back there. I'm not sure what's going on, but this is more than a simple attack."
For one thing, a 'simple attack' would probably have been made against base and not a random, unoccupied city.
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Post by Starfighter on Feb 6, 2008 11:51:32 GMT -5
"R-right..." Starfighter looks over his shoulder, crouching ever so slightly to ward off any invisible defenders of the rights of sentient beings.
"They've done unprovoked attacks near Shockwave's tower, but that was over energon shipments. Do they do stuff like that on a regular basis when there's nothing to be gained?" He squats down next to Needlenose, trying to survey what damage he can fix before he actually touches the injured Mayhem.
Random Autobot-initiated destruction scares him greatly, as it means he has far less of a chance of playing 'poor injured Seeker that is quite incapable of harming a minibot and should not be killed' should he be shot down.
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Post by Needlenose on Feb 6, 2008 13:12:25 GMT -5
Needlenose's injuries are mostly structural - his tailfins are badly mangled, and the rest of him has taken a lot of damage in the emergancy landing. This is fortunate, as his internal circuitry is beyond Starfighter's ability to repair.
The engineer shakes his head. "I've never seen Autobots act like this. They're all behaving... pretty uncharacteristicly." In fact, Needlenose is inclined to think they're acting more like, well, Decepticons.
Zigzag crosses his arms and looks up, well, crossly. "Hey, blue, think you can get a move on on the repairs? We're kind of sitting ducks out here."
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Post by Starfighter on Feb 6, 2008 16:59:42 GMT -5
"Yes, um, sir." Starfighter isn't quite sure how to refer to Zigzag, but an assumption of politeness never hurt. "It's just, um, been a while since my last battlefield repair. Is it the same Autobots as we fought last time?"
He carefully leans in, holding a tool in one hand and probing about to find any possible leaks before he gets to bending and welding. The last thing he wants is an exsanguinated commander to explain away--or an exploding one.
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Post by Needlenose on Feb 6, 2008 21:17:57 GMT -5
Zigzag looks surprised when Starfighter calls him a 'sir,' then he turns to Sunbeam and gestures to Starfighter. "I like this guy," he says. Sunbeam grins and nods in agreement.
"Don't get a big head about it," Needlenose snorts to Zigzag. "Your accuracy still sucks." He then turns to Starfighter to address his question.
"Well, I remember Skyblast from the big fight, and remember hearing there was an Aerialbot around, but it's not like I interacted with them too much, what with dealing with Omega Supreme and such," Needlenose points out. "They didn't even have a Prime that battle," No, they had something worse. And Starfighter just let it get away! "But we've known about the arrival of the Future Prime for awhile now." Presumably that's gotten around camp.
Fears of exploding Mayhems are more serious than Starfighter realizes, as Needlenose is fusion powered, but, while there are a few oil leaks and even some fuel, there's no immediate danger of a really big ba-da-boom.
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Post by Starfighter on Feb 6, 2008 21:36:05 GMT -5
If it was something worse, Starfighter is glad to have it go away.
"Do you think they've got something bigger planned, then?" he asks as he starts his repairs, beginning with what looks like the easiest to not screw up. If he welds something on backwards, he's in waybigtrouble.
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Post by Needlenose on Feb 6, 2008 22:29:57 GMT -5
Just keep with the superficial damage, and you'll be fine, Starfighter. Needlenose's inner workings are a trifle complex.
"What, you mean like destroying two uninhabited cities instead of just one? You've got me!"
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Post by Starfighter on Feb 7, 2008 11:58:46 GMT -5
"C-could be a distraction, maybe the others are coming around to, um..." Well, to do something. Starfighter doesn't understand this tactics business. He keeps working even though his hands fumble the tools a bit when his fingers become coated in leaked oil.
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