Thundercracker
Minor
Accomodatus the Obliging, Costumer Extraordinaire
Maybe they should just move my berth to repair bay and have done with it...
Posts: 259
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Post by Thundercracker on Jan 9, 2008 0:42:33 GMT -5
At the signal from Wreckage that the hour of planning is up and it's time to begin the battle, Thundercracker turns his attention from mapping out the area to scanning for intruders. He's at the far edges of their territory at the moment, almost but not quite crossing the border. He could dart across and begin the hunt... but he doesn't.
This had better be worth my while, he thinks, recalling his recent exchange with Starscream. While Spinister and Needlenose never forbade them from switching teams, he's still a bit leery of doing so. Partly because this is bound to make Skystrike and Wreckage furious (or as furious as those two ever get), but mostly because he wonders if the two Mayhems aren't also using this exercise to comb for potential turncoats...
But at this point, better to curry the favor of Starscream than worry about what others think. Especially since his recent failure in the assault against Skyfire probably already has him in poor standing with the Decepticon leader...
He awaits Starscream's arrival, and if his face were visible it would be set in an expectant expression.
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Jan 9, 2008 15:32:25 GMT -5
Starscream doesn't waste time. In F-15 mode, he is closing in on Thundercracker's airspace.
He fires a few wide shots - it's obviously a bluff, they're too wide, but it could be construed as cover fire rather than anything else.
"Catch me if you can!" He shrieks, taunting Thundercracker. Just after he says that, he radios //remember, make this look good.//
Assuming Thundercracker doesn't do too much to stop him, Starscream will continue towards where Thundercracker's 'allies' are. And hopefully, the chase is on!
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Thundercracker
Minor
Accomodatus the Obliging, Costumer Extraordinaire
Maybe they should just move my berth to repair bay and have done with it...
Posts: 259
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Post by Thundercracker on Jan 9, 2008 22:08:55 GMT -5
Well, Starscream isn't trying to deliberately shoot him out of the air yet. That's a pretty good sign...
"Oh no you don't, slagger!" he shouts, tearing off after Starscream. He fires a hail of incidenary bullets at the other Seeker's tailfins, careful to avoid actually hitting his commander but making the shots close enough to look realistic.
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Wreckage
Major
One of the Quiet Ones
Posts: 554
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Post by Wreckage on Jan 9, 2008 22:30:23 GMT -5
OOC: This is not in the border areas, but back at team 'base' – the location of the flag. As Starscream and Thundercracker are on their way there, Wreckage is posting into this thread.
It is not the lack of a prompt response from Thundercracker that Wreckage finds bothersome. The Stryker himself is not known to be exceptionally forward in communications. No, it is the lack of any response at all that troubles him. He casts a brief glance at Skystrike1, mulling over her advice.
"A… distraction would be useful," he rumbles discontentedly. Even more useful would be Thundercracker regrouping. //Thundercracker,// and there may be the faintest edge in that low voice ringing across the Seeker's frequency, //respond.// It is not a suggestion and it is not a request. Mock combat this may be, but it is combat all the same and to be treated as such. Even the most brusque of communication is better than none at all.
Or has Thundercracker already encountered resistance?
1 - This assumes Skystrike has not left the area between the last post in prep and this post. Can be edited if necessary.
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Jan 9, 2008 23:03:50 GMT -5
“If he isn’t back here in the next few minutes, we’ll just have to start without him,” Skystrike says that as she casually set down the glass behind one of the walls before taking to the air. “I’m going to set one of those off, start up a smokescreen.” The seeker hovers a bit higher pointing to one of the hidden missiles behind a wall. “It might be a good idea for you to get away from here before I set it off.” Not that it’ll do someone like him too much damage and there was a wall in the way anyways, but still, it was always nice to warn.
Skystrike quietly settles on top of one of the three buildings, casting a glance over the cityscape before her before crouching down and activating her long range sensors. She pulls her wings back almost immediately and growls in slight irritation.
//Wreckage,// She radios as she quietly crouches down. //Starscream has arrived. Thundercracker is close by him.// Why didn’t he radio ahead to warn them?
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Jan 10, 2008 7:17:12 GMT -5
Good work, Thundercracker! Starscream expertly dodged and weaved through the stray rounds as he continued towards the target. Not long and he'd be in sight by the others now.
Starscream was fast, faster than Thundercracker. He was outpacing his fellow Seeker, but not so much that he was leaving him in his jetwash. They still needed to be close enough to co-ordinate themselves when they reached their target.
OOC: Oops, sorry guys. I forgot to include in my earlier pose that I was carrying a decoy flag. If you ignore the fact that it isn't Starscream's flag's colours (cyan/white instead of just white) it's a fairly decent replica. It's secured underneath his F-15 mode using, um, subspace or quantum or something cartoon physics-y. It's easily enough removed, should someone get in close enough.
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Thundercracker
Minor
Accomodatus the Obliging, Costumer Extraordinaire
Maybe they should just move my berth to repair bay and have done with it...
Posts: 259
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Post by Thundercracker on Jan 10, 2008 9:02:51 GMT -5
//Got my hands full at the moment!// Thundercracker replies to Wreckage's comment, though the response can be heard by both of his "teammates." //Starscream on approach FAST!//
He keeps firing to keep appearances up, also keeping his audials peeled for any further orders.
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Wreckage
Major
One of the Quiet Ones
Posts: 554
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Post by Wreckage on Jan 11, 2008 4:16:31 GMT -5
If Thundercracker has not returned within the next few minutes, they may well have to assume he is engaged with an opponent or otherwise incapable of communications. This is something Wreckage finds vaguely irritating, not the least because he looks forward to the opportunity for combat and Thundercracker has not seen fit to say one way or the other what is happening on his end.
Wreckage appreciates the warning, in his own undemonstrative way, and moves to back off several paces, but Skystrike's radio alert pauses him mid-stride. There is now an expression that could genuinely be deemed a frown contorting the plates of Wreckage's face as he peers upward after the Seeker. Thundercracker engaged and did not send them– Delayed in sending them a warning. Starscream, then, right out of the gate. Vexing and unfortunate at best. And on the approach? To this location? …Even more vexing. What led him here so quickly? Coincidence, or did he detect Wreckage or Skystrike on sensors? Or – Wreckage will not rule out the possibility – has Thundercracker betrayed them so early in the game?
//…Belay smokescreen,// growls Wreckage to the Seeker on the rooftop, ignoring the roar of incoming jets and arming his machine guns in preparation. //Unless you are certain you can operate unhindered later under it. If so, light it.// A brief pause, and when he continues, the words are slow and grudging. //…Do not engage the enemy. Yet.//
Wreckage is not a defensive thinker. He does not hide. He does not retreat. He does not command and he has no head for the ways of airborne operations. None of this is what he was created to do. He should be on the attack, in the field and crushing his opposition, not attempting to fend off an invader like some miserable, flat-footed Autobot.
//Thundercracker!// barked so that both teammates will hear. Is he simply following Starscream, to have let the other Seeker this far into their territory? Has he tried to take down the commander, or is he letting that rank interfere? //Do not let the enemy lead you – lead the enemy. Away from here!// And later answer to his teammates for his oversight, provided it is not the end of them.
Their enemy is Starscream. There is precious little room for error.
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Jan 11, 2008 15:46:08 GMT -5
//I’ve flown in worse filth than smoke.// Skystrike rumbles softly to Wreckage before taking aim at one of the fuses and the oil pooled around it before firing once. The explosion ripped through the dirt and the cut tree tops she’d buried the missile in, sending a violent tremor through the buildings. It was followed closely by the soft tinkling of broken glass, the sound lost in the dull roar of the shock wave. Smoke followed quickly, sweeping over the area in a thick gray and orange haze and smearing the Gillanian sky with darkness. The trees would keep burning afterwards, keep the smog thick for a while. Hopefully, long enough.
Skystrike takes one more glance skywards towards the two other approaching jets before the smoke engulfs her, glimpsing Thundercracker’s blue through the rising wisps of gray before it completely blocks her vision. She too begins to wonder, idly musing whether or not Starscream found them so easily through his own means, or if it was another feat of stupidity from her teammate led the air commander here. Or perhaps… the blue jet abandoned them for his own personal agenda already.
The berkut smirks derisively to herself as she crouches down, upping the calibration of her non-visual sensors before raising both shoulder cannons to target Starscream. She doesn’t, however, open fire just yet.
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Jan 12, 2008 6:43:49 GMT -5
Whaa? Thundercracker didn't say anything about smoke. Starscream flew in as low as h e could, trying to scan the area. He didn't have much of an idea where Skystrike was. But he wasn't getting fired at. So either this was a trap on her part or she didn't know where he was either. Starscream didn't assume the latter.
//I hope you know where that flag is. Use this cover to take it while I keep your 'teammate' busy.//
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Thundercracker
Minor
Accomodatus the Obliging, Costumer Extraordinaire
Maybe they should just move my berth to repair bay and have done with it...
Posts: 259
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Post by Thundercracker on Jan 12, 2008 18:15:16 GMT -5
Blech, what's all this smoke from? Either Skystrike or Wreckage goofed up and blew their base to the Pit, or they opted for a smokescreen without informing him. Slag, couldn't they give him some kind of warning? Whatever happened to teamwork?
Yes, the irony there totally escapes him...
He slips in under the smoke and transforms, narrowing his optics in an effort to have a look around. There's the flag... no wait, that's a decoy... wait... just how many fragging decoys did she plant?
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Wreckage
Major
One of the Quiet Ones
Posts: 554
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Post by Wreckage on Jan 12, 2008 23:18:00 GMT -5
As smoke billows into the air and shards of glass scatter, Wreckage backs further still from his previous location, lowering his head against the rain of sharp fragments. That the battle may well be fought entirely in the air rankles. He did not choose to participate only to do nothing while his teammates glory in combat over his head.
His fugue ends with the sound of transformation behind him and he turns, pivoting at hips and waist but keeping his feet firmly in place to avoid disturbing the glass scattered across the ground. Thundercracker. Why is he not pursuing Starscream?
"You serve no use down here," Wreckage intones at the errant Seeker, and there is the faintest cast of suspicion and contempt to his voice. It is a subtle thing, as with most of the warrior's moods. It may not even fully carry over the noise coming from above. "Are you too afraid to face the enemy?"
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Sky-byte
Minor
Worst Luck Ever
Posts: 334
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Post by Sky-byte on Jan 12, 2008 23:24:07 GMT -5
Sky-Byte obviously should have knocked on wood after thinking that. The feeling of something hard and jagged plopping down suddenly on his back sends Sky-Byte into an automatic flailing in an attempt to buck his rider off. It's a moment or so into this floundering, right before he's about to transform, that he takes into account the size of the mech perched and clinging tightly to him. Frenzy. A rumbled growl makes its way out of Sky-Byte's vocalizer, "You could give a warning next time..." Then again, he's asking this of a Decepticon. It's never going to happen. "You keep hanging on, cause we're off," mutters Sky-Byte before promptly taking off into the air. He's going a little faster than he usually does and yes he's a little irritated at this sudden little rodeo attempt. He's a shark, not a flipping, friendly, dolphin (though some humans seem to be confused with this fact...he doesn't mind that too much there). Pretty soon, Sky-Byte's sailing inwards towards the billowing smoke coming from the sector of two seekers and a...whatever Wreckage is. Sounds like they have other sorts of company around. OOC: Crossposted from CtF: Sky-Byte picks up Frenzy
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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Jan 13, 2008 2:13:13 GMT -5
Skystrike quietly powers down her weapons and activates her antigravs, stepping back, off the roof. If she’d lived a life anywhere similar to the elites, her first instinct would’ve probably been more along the lines of ‘fly out and shoot at anything that looked remotely red and white’. Instead, she keeps close to the buildings so that Starscream’s sensors would have a harder time telling her apart from the local structures, and she waits, perfectly still. Something was amiss though. Something very prominent indeed. Where had Thuncracker gone to? He’d been there a moment earlier. How strange, and yet, it didn’t really surprise her all too much. Seems like really she was going to have to start this alone.
Yes, Starscream, fly a little lower, come a little closer, stay in the skies in perfect sight of her sensors.
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Jan 13, 2008 14:15:20 GMT -5
A cursory scan reveal nothing. Well, okay. it reveals no small number of flags.
//Are there decoys up, Thundercracker?! I seem to not recall that being in the description of this area!// Starscream didn't suspect him of (double-)treachery but these new details were getting annoying.
Time for stealth. Someone wanted him in here and he wasn't going to draw more attention to them. Starscream transformed into Robot mode, taking and holding his own side's decoy flag in his hand. The momentum from flying around in F-15 mode has cleared away at least some of the smoke, but he's still no closer to finding the actual flag.
Wait, is that Thundercracker over there, through the smoke? Starscream didn't hear him transform into robot mode...
OOC: ...Because he's actually looking at Skystrike.
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