NCC Central Hub

This is the very center of New Crystal City, and serves as the gateway to the other areas of the base. A feeling of claustrophobia exists here despite the fact that this part of the city is open to the air. Now in Battle Station Mode, the Central Hub has far less buildings than usual, as many have transformed themselves into huge laser defense cannons and missile turrets. There are very few positions one can take to hide from the weapons without being forced to take evasive action. The roadways have laser point-defense systems protecting them. The important buildings, including the medical ward and the command center now have a huge layer of thick metal protecting them, covering up the facilities and protecting them from harm.

Contents:

Soundwave

Trypticon <T>

Decepticon Sensor #1792

The Powerbase

Obvious exits:

North <N> leads to Mount R'Lyeh.

Northeast <NE> leads to NCC Dungeon.

Northwest <NW> leads to NCC Medical Ward.

South <S> leads to NCC Coastline.

Southeast <SE> leads to NCC Residential Plaza.

Southwest <SW> leads to NCC Spaceport.

East <E> leads to NCC Arena.

West <W> leads to NCC Central Command.

Fly <Up>

Soundwave strides out from the command centre, his single Optic band absorbing all the information around him. Bah, noone. But he has such grand plans! Oh, if only there were someone nearby.. even a Seeker would do...

But wait! What is this? There is someone nearby after all! At least, he's on a walkway about a level or two lower, but still, if Soundwave were to search around in three dimensions, he'd find the Seeker soon enough. The little yella fella seems to be heading from the arena to Trypticon itself for some reason or another.

Ah, some activity. Even if Fleet has his anti-gravs on and reducing the sound of his footfalls, Soundwave will be able to pick up on the slight hum of the anti-gravs themselves. Hey, it's that Seeker that's been getting all that attention; the one that he Upgraded recently. "Fleet." He intones, loud enough to get the SEeker's attention.

Yes, ALL the attention. Because he doesn't want it. It's called 'Rincewind Syndrome'. The yellow Seeker looks up as his name is called. Oh, /wonderful/. Well, he certainly can't afford to piss this one off. Fleet kicks his antigravs into higher and floats up towards Soundwave, but doesn't step onto the bridge. He stands in the air at attention. "Sir?"

"Assistance is required." The Tape Lord drones in response, not really caring about Fleet's eagerness. "Your improved combat abilities will prove useful in acquiring energon. State current schedule."

"Nothing pressing, sir," answers the yellow Seeker. Yeah, he came off patrol not too long before, but since then he's had a chance to refuel, so he's good to go. "Patrol in a bit, but I've got time, and it sounds like this takes priority."

"Energon-aquestition is required. Lord Galvatron demands." Soundwave responds. "I have selected a storage facility for refined Oil barrels in America. You will assist in transportation and production of energon cubes." Notice that was a statement, not a request. M'kay? M'kay.

M'kay. Well, fortunatly, as posed in at least two previous sessions, Fleet had started carrying an energon net or two with him at all times since Galvatron first stepped up the raids. "Yes, sir." Sounds simple enough, although the seeker doesn't particularly care for American targets. He always gets hurt. Bad. When he goes to the States.

Enough has been said, it's time for action. "I will transmit coordinates en route." Is all Soundwave finishes with as he transforms. Fleet should know the drill, the tape deck gets the comfy ride while the Seeker takes the trip. No point both of them draining their energon on a round trip.

Fleet isn't used to this drill, but he's bright enough to figure it out. The seeker catches Soundwave and places him in his cockpit, transforming as he does.

Fleet transforms from robot to pyramid jet.

* Spinny! *

Southwestern States

The Southwest covers such vastly different states as California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. New Mexico is a land of broken mesas and high peaks. Colorado has the Rocky Mountains running north-south through the center of the state, and the arid Colorado Plateau to the west, with its many canyons carved by the Colorado River. Spectacularly scenic Utah shares both the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau with Colorado. Nevada lies mostly in the Great Basin, its mountain ranges and high plateaus alternating with valleys running north to east.

Contents:

Soundwave

Autobot Standard Troops #5235

Obvious exits:

Fly <Up> leads to Skies above Western United States.

North <N> leads to Northwestern States.

Northeast <NE> leads to North Central States.

East <E> leads to South Central States.

West <W> leads to North Pacific - North American Coast.

Nevada <NV> California <CA> Arizona <AZ>

Slingshot descends from the skies above.

Slingshot has arrived.

Soundwave starts shrinking drastically. His appendages all fold in on themselves and disappear as he transforms. Once everything is where it's supposed to be, Soundwave is once again assuming the form of a miniscule earthen music box.

Pyramid Jet (Fleet) swoops in towards the co-ordinates given him by Soundwave, to the refined oil storage facility mentioned. As he prepares for landing he opens his cockpit to allow Soundwave to get out before transforming himself, landing a bit more heavily than normal, but doing so on purpose. A good-loud thump is a nice way to let the natives know, 'Big scary robot here! Time to start running!'

The yellow Cybertronian jet unfolds, revealing the robotic form of the seeker Fleet.

Blue Casette Player <Soundwave> sits motionless in the cockpit of a Pastel Pyramid Jet. You know, one of those jets that kind of reminds people of Cybertronian jets. "Target is approaching." He drones to his ride, Fleet. "Storage warehouse is unprepared for Decepticon assault. I will prepare energon cubes. Remove Humans from scenario then proceed to fill cubes." Well, then Fleet transforms. He's a relatively silent Decepticon, so Soundwave will assume that it was acknowledged. He flies out as a small tapedeck, transforming into an even larger Decepticon and landing with an even louder thud.

"TERRANS." He resonates to the humans. "Your fuel now belongs to the Decepticons. Surrender it immediately."

The white sides of the blue walkman shift out from the rest of the Appliance as it grows exponentially larger in size. They fold down, forming feet, while arms appear from the back, fists shifting out. A head and missile launcher appear at the top, and Soundwave stands before you.

"Thank you for flying the friendly skies!" Slingshot glibbly dismisses the rest of his patrolling unit as they veer off towards San Francisco. Today, the Aerialbot has decided to stay out a bit longer, enjoy the fresh Earthen air he missed during his tour on Cybertron. The skies above the southwest are particularly wonderful..thin, crisp, hints of winds but devoid of the smog and humidity of other climes. This would be a wonderful day for a joyflight...were it not for that signal from headquarters. Distress call.

A VTOL fighter changes course grumpily.

Following orders, Fleet fires a few times, sending the humans scattering. Any humans who stick around at this point are pretty much asking to be stepped on. Then he walks in the direction of the storage facility and blasts a hole in it, weapon on low power to help ensure he doesn't damage what is stored within - Fleet is fairly weak physically, else he'd just punch is way through.

Not that is matters, so long as the wall is sufficiently s'ploded. Soundwave enters. "Humans distracting. Beginning cube production." And with that, husk after husk forms in a cubical shape from his chest, falling slowly into a neat pile.

Slingshot soars into view, since just "coming" into view isn't good enough for someone of his calibre. He has no idea who's down there..reports say two, one plane and one "cube-making" machine. That's all he got before his feeds ran for the hills. Ten bucks says Soundwave, but the seeker is a mystery. One way to find out. Slingshot comes up to a position above the hangar with the hole in it, and lowers himself vertically to the ground, until his nose is looking into the hole. "Hello, party people. Mind if I join you?"

Fleet spins and stares at Slingshot for just a moment. Scrap! There was no time! He hadn't even had a chance to begin filling the cubes, and here he was caught INSIDE. He hated fighting on the ground and really, really hated fighting indoors. Unfortunately, the Aerialbot had to be dealt with... rather than responding to the other's rather silly question (the answer would be, 'Yes' anyway) he raises both arms and fires into the roof before taking off, his ascension slowing quickly enough to indicate that yes, he intends to fight... just not down /there/. <no attack>

Slingshot would shrug, were he able to shrug whilst in plane mode. Much rather fight in the air anyhow. He is a fighter, after all. And its not like rising to meet the occasion is any great task. Flip of the switch, thrusters move one hundred and eighty degrees, and faster than you can say "tea and biscuits" the sleek VTOL is on the move..upwards. Once he's on level with the Seeker, he locks his weapons and....remembers what side he's on. Yadda yadda fair warning, talk lines before chalk lines, blah blah blah...ah well. It had to be done. "Stand down, compadre, and I'll make this easy. Put up a fight, and I'll make this REAL easy. Your call."

Fleet WOULD stand down (maybe) if there weren't a telepathic member of High Command not too far beneath him. As it is, he's already berating himself just for thinking what he just thought! Instead kicks his bootjets on and rises in the air so as not to provide a stationary target, instead curving above the Aerialbot and firing down on him, a set expression on his face.

Slingshot evades your Shoulder-Mounted Laser Rifle (Pulse Mode) attack.

Well, what is THIS, might I ask? Soundwave: Force to fill his OWN cubes? Those damn Autobots arrived a lot faster than he expected. There is a small pile of Energon cubes already formed, So Soundwave goes about ripping the tops off of drums to transfer their potential energy into the pink glowing goodness that is Energon. Let Fleet do the fighting, Soundwave is happy to carry on with the point of the mission away from the battle. For now.

Thrusters move ninety degrees, plane goes forward. Luckily, plane goes forward as lasers go downward...and pastward. Into the ground below. Whew. Unfortunately, the sudden movement on both part of target and targetter puts Fleet out of range for Slingshot's can-of-gauss-lovin', so he's forced to resort to firing off two tiny packets of heat-seeking (or rather, seeker-seeking?) goodness.

Slingshot strikes you with Barrage of Ammo! for 10 points of damage.

You are now at 38 endurance and 0 injury.

So much for Fleet's upgrade! The yellow seeker tries to slip out of the way of the ballistic fire, but is just unable to twist away in time, and his left wing suffers for it. The seeker grunts in pain as the part is mangled, but he completes the spin anyway, twirling as he does to stand upright in the air above Slingshot. So far, two of the three Aerialbots he's encountered have managed to somehow FALL on Fleet from the sky (in Silverbolt's case, more than once), and there's a human saying about what's good for the goose... Fleet cuts his thrusters and throws his antigravs in reverse, trying to do a gravity assisted stomp on the other flier.

Slingshot evades your Gravity-Assisted Stomp attack.

Cube cube cube, fill fill fill, oh, the joys of not having to deal with the battle side of a raid. Soundwave has a tidy pile of complete energon compressed down, and is nearly finished with his latest pile. The outcome of the battle is clear to his enhanced audios, even if he can't see it. Fleet isn't winning. Hold it up there Flee, Soundwave will assist shortly...

Physics is a cruel mistress, especially when its falling robot versus speeding fighterjet. Slingshot would love to say that this battle is being won on the basis of skill or power, but, in fact, it comes down to the simple mathematical truth that he's just more awesome. Or faster. Either way. The Aerialbot takes the advantage given to him, and turns himself around, bringing his flight path directly towards that of the plummeting Seeker. Maybe he'll get a lock, and see what fun and games he might have with his steel bullets.

Slingshot strikes you with Steel Bullets for 16 points of damage.

Fleet screams as the mortars rain down on him from above, several nearly ripping his right intake off, others tearing through his face and one putting his right eye out. He covers his ruined face with his hand in an attempt to shield it, but it comes too late. First field of test of his new upgrade: complete and utter failure. He grits his metallic teeth in shame, then rockets skyward again, his injuries making it too painful to transform.

<Decepticon> Fleet tries to keep the whimper out of his voice, and fails. "He's too much. I have to withdraw."

Fleet begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Slingshot, Soundwave.

Oh great, and now he is the only one. Well, Soundwave's energon is covered by the building. Hopefully he can scare off the Autobot so that he doesn't have a chance to destroy it. "Autobot." He says coldly as he emerges from the building, "You are overpowered. Retreat while it is still an option." And as if that wasn't an adequate warning, Soundwave gives a 'warning shot,' aimed specifically at Slingshot's off-hand. He's slow, his firepower isn't that great, but he's a damn good shot. Don't f**k with Soundwave.

Soundwave misses Slingshot with its Concussion Blaster-Gun! (Low) attack.

While his player might feel like crap, Slingshot gloats in the victory, but only long enough to remind himself of the other course in tonight's blue plate special. And by remind himself, I mean get shot at. Now, the question of the night: to f**k with Soundwave, or not to f**k with Soundwave.

What the hell.

"Soundwave. I'm bigger than you. I'm faster than you. And I'm prettier than you. Don't you have a wounded soldier to attend to?" With that, Slingshot unloads Pain the Sequel, Volumes 1 & 2, specially autographed "To Soundwave, with Love."

Slingshot misses Soundwave with his Barrage of Ammo! attack.

The afore mentioned wounded soldier gets away clean because Soundwave distracted Slingshot for him. Now he's on his way back to NCC, possibly to be tended to by a gumby medic, or someone else who's far less scary than Soundwave.