<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "All available units, report to my location at once

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "All available units, report to my location at once."

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

Galvatron

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>

Galvatron looks over his shoulder as the transformation commences. "Soundwave. I trust all of our plans for this operation are in order? Thorough intelligence?

With Galvatron's orders Fleet, who had been flitting about overhead, comes in for a landing, transforming to his robot mode before he's even within site. He touches down gently near his emperor and Soundwave and faces them, standing immediately at attention and offering a proper Decepticon salute, but doing nothing else.

Soundwave turns to Galvatron when he speaks. They are standing in the hub overseeing the transformation of Trypticon. Responding in his droning voice Soundwave intones, "Of course Galvatron. The human nation has inadequate defenses for a full-scale Decepticon assault. We will crush them."

Galvatron smirks, "Excellent. I didn't figure they could have opposed my might. However, there is the issue of the Autobots. Is our strategy a good one? Ready to take them on?

"Your finest tacticians have crafted this plan." The Tape Lord responds, not faltering his gaze from Galvatron for an astrosecond. "Casualties are inevitable. But victory is assured."

'Casualties are inevitable.' JUST the sort of words Fleet /loves/ to hear! He lowers his hand but continues to stand at attention, staring in the general direction of the present high command types, but managing to not really focus on either of them, already trying to work out ways to make a contribution /without/ being one of those casualties.

Galvatron nods at Soundwave, "I leave the success in your hands, Soundwave. If you are successful....I will reward you, greatly. If you fail...." he pauses, "I trust I needn't finish the sentence?"

"Sentence completion is unneccessary. Punishments for failure are known." Though, in the case of Soundwave, he knows these punishments more from administering them for Galvatron more than actually receiving them. That's the joy of being Galv's happy helper. Soundwave also picks up the Seeker behind him, but chooses not to respond.

The transformation is complete. Trypticon is ready to move. Galvatron turns to address the crowd, "Trypticon will be submerging and travelling now. The plan is simple...invade and take over Carboyma."

Ah, so THIS is the wonderful plan put together by Galvatron's finest tacticians! No wonder they're so well paid! Fleet, as a minor gru- uhm, trooper, is not the sort to respond to such a statement, but he does nod his head, mouthing 'aye, sir' more to himself.

Catechism has arrived.

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "NCC is to be placed in battlestation mode. Full alert status. Is that understood?"

Cyclonus arrives from the NCC Central Command to the west.

Cyclonus has arrived.

Catechism just reports in, saluting the relevant Big Bad Boss Decepticons, and fades into the crowd of generic Seekers. Another day, another chance for victory! She looks pretty happy.

Cyclonus is of course not one to miss major events, or even minor ones for that matter. However, Trypticon's transformation is something that could easily wake even a dead mechanism and Galvatron's second is far too attentive to have missed even the sound of the first clanking gear. He approaches Soundwave and the Decepticon ruler, bowing his head slowly in reverence to Galvatron. "All is ready, My lord."

<Decepticon> Mixmaster says, "Um.. sure thing, Galvatron.. OW! Quit it, Long Haul!"

Verdant has connected.

Verdant arrives and goes over to Fleet and Catechism. He looks nervous, uncertain of himself. This is the first time in a good long while that he's seen any true action and he hopes to give a good accounting of himself.

Soundwave, standing at the side of Galvatron, turns to survey the assembled Seekers. "Open transievers for global positioning of target nation: Carbombya. Expect human resistance." With that, he transmits the location of the nation.

Fleet does as he's ordered, nodding unconsciously as he receives the co-ordinates. He has certainly been expecting human resistance - NO ONE is likely to want to just give up their country without a fight! - and won't be too surprised if some of the Autobots show up as well. For his part, though, he intends to go after the easy targets (if any), coward that he is.

Verdant likewise does as order, taking in the transmission of the coordinates. He knows he's not much of a fighter, but he has no sympathy for the humans, especially not after learning of everything they've done to rin their superiors in the planet's plant life. Venting on them shall be ...enjoyable.

Catechism will go after whatever she's told to go after. She generally trusts that her commanders know what they're doing, and she's not afraid of getting herself splatted. The cloudy Seeker has not seen this particular commander before in person, though. She tries to recall what the datafiles said - Soundwave?

Cyclonus turns toward Galvatron and notices something out of the corner of his optics, a look on his leader's face that belies....a problem. "Lord Galvatron, forgive my assertion, but perhaps I should escort you to Arachnae for a scan before our journey to Carbomya." Perhaps it's just the fact that he is also Unicronian, but the look on Cyclonus' face shows that he believes something is wrong. "Soundwave, proceed as planned. Lord Galvatron and I shall follow shortly."

Soundwave also has concern for Galvatron's wellbeing, though it might not be as 'noble' as Cyclonus'. "Very well. I will assume command for the assault." He watches Cyclonus leave with Galvatron. Hopefully his 'medication' isn't being rejected by his sytem. That would be.. bad.

Soundwave turns to the troops. "We depart for Carbombya now. Do not fail the empire." And then to Fleet, the highest-ranking unit left, he approaches and transforms.

WHAT? Fleet is the highest-ranking unit left besides Soundwave?! How'd /that/ happen! The pastel seeker catches the cassette player and places him gently in his cockpit, transforming and taking off. Although he tries to keep his increased level of nervousness under-control, and he's quite used to operating while frightened anyway because, well, he's always frightened, no doubt the telepath is aware of his fear anyway.

Cyclonus has disconnected.

<Decepticon> Scrapper says, "The Constructicons will see to transforming New Crystal City to battle mode."

Catechism transforms to jet mode to head out with her fellow Seekers, making yet another mixed triad. Two MilOps and a MSEes; two normal Seekers and conehead. It doesn't bother her. At least there's not a Sweep here. They're confusing.

Catechism transforms into her alternate mode: a F-35, Marine Corps variant. Her feet flip up against her shins, her nosecone rotates through her body and out in front where it belongs, her arms tuck into her torso, and her wings rotate into position.

Verdant transforms into his own jet mode, noting, somewhat happily, that he, Fleet, and Catechism make up a trio. Threes were always good.

Verdant compacts and folds inward to transform into an F-16 fighter jet.

* Spinny!*

Carbombya

The grassy hills and savannas in the east, bordered by ancient volcanos and sprawling lava fields, are the only part of Carbombya not made up of barren desert. Until recently, the country depended on meager livestock herding and subsistence agriculture, but upon the discovery of a huge reserve of very high-grade oil beneath the shifting desert sands, things changed radically. The struggling democracy weathered multiple coup attempts by greedy neighbors and other interested foreigners before finally succumbing to the tender mercies of a home-grown dictator. There are no refugees from war torn Ethiopia being taken in as slave labor, not here under the enlightened rule of President-for-Life Abdul Fakkaddi!

Contents:

Soundwave

Carbombyan troops

Carbombyan Palace

Obvious exits:

East <E> leads to Red Sea.

West <W> leads to Nile River.

Fly <Up>

F-35 <Catechism> has arrived.

Verdant has arrived.

Ah, beautiful Carbombya! Well, not really. For the most part, this African nation is just sand. But beneath that sand, oh-ho-ho. Oil the likes of which this world has never seen before.

And it's that very same oil that brings the Decepticons to the oilfields today. Three full squadrons of Seekers have been deployed. And somewhere near the front, is a Pastel Tetra-jet that probably doesn't want to be anywhere near there. But it will have to, it's carrying this missions's commander, a small blue tape player that resides in his cockpit.

You bet your buttons that this pastel yellow tetra-jet doesn't want to be anywhere near the front! On the scene, yes, after all, that is his job, and until he starts hurting badly, he actually enjoys it. At the front? No way! Still, he leads the others other squadrons as commanded, and even a little trio of his own. Catechism he knows as reliable, Verdant... well, he realizes the geek can pack a nasty punch when he wants to. He swoops closer to the sandy nation but still stays high, waiting for further orders from the tape deck he carries.

F-35 <Catechism> flies along after Fleet. She doesn't have to 'break' the air herself, which makes flight less work. It's why geese travel in Vs and all that. The F-35's pretty curious to see what Verdant's like in combat. After all, she knows a different green MSE Seeker who can really bring the pain.

Chimera has arrived.

Verdant pulls alongside the others, sliding easily into position. Neither the fastest not the most agile flier, it takes a bit of concentration to keep formation, His thoughts turn toward the fight ahead, with the hopes that he'll give a good showing of himself. It wouldn't do to get shot down, his first time out.

The capital of this small land clearly in sight, Soundwave decides to make his presence known. As if a wide range of guadily coloured F-15s, F-16s, Pyramid jets and god-knows what else is in there wasn't enough. "DECEPTICONS." He intones. "TRANSFORM." He leaves Fleet, transforming himself, and landing on the harsh desert with a thud. "Citizens of Carbombya. You have been claimed in the name of Galvatron. Submit peacefully and you will be assigned appropriate labour work for the Empire. Resist and you will be crushed."

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.

The Carbombyan troops are placed all around palace and Cambombya City. At the moment they do not seem to be expecting an attack. A couple of soldiers are whiping slaves in the streets, there is some tanks parked around the oil fields as well as some cannons. Most of the troops don't seem happy to be there...under the sun.

As ordered, Fleet transforms and lands more heavily than normal not far behind Soundwave. He now does his best to play the part of 'menacing alien robot', and while his pastel paint job doesn't help, most humans find giant robots pretty disturbing no matter what their color scheme. He clenches his fists and prepares for a fight.

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

Green Pyramid Jet will be the late jet. You know. The one bringing up the rear. Maybe she's being all good about watching her fellow Decepticon's back. Or maybe she was just grabbed last minute from paperwork. The world may never know.

Greyish cloud camo and black stand out pretty starkly against sand and dirt. The F-35 thusly painted, who just makes the Seekers not match even more, transforms into the Seeker Catechism, who hits the ground with an audible thump and cloud of dust. She primes her weapons and gets ready to rock and roll.

F-35, Marine Corps variant, transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her shoulders to expose her face, and her wings rotate into position.

Forest Green with white trim and piping isn't exactly jungle cameo.

Nevertheless, the F-16 makes a grand entrace, swooping down and transforming into Verdant, weapons at the ready.

Verdant transforms, his cockpit flipping down to form his chest, his head popping up, arms pulling out from his sides, and lower section extending and splitting into his legs and feet, while his wings move slightly to allow slightly greater freedom of movement.

"AAAAAAARRRRGGGG bhuchafi chababada Decepticons ouchiboudi" As the troops detect the Decepticons, the air are filled with radio communications. The troops are trying to gather, a squad of tanks heads towards the Decepticons who have landed. The presidential guard forms in front of the palace, there is a few jets that takeoff and flies towards the Seekers while the AA cannons opens fire.

Fleet spots the approaching jets, then looks at Soundwave's back. "Permission to engage their aerial units, sir!" Really, the yellow seeker just wants an excuse to get back off the ground (and away from those heavily armored tanks!) but whatever works!

So, the non-peaceful way it is. No surprise there. "Air defense is minimal. Squadron C. Remove them from the sky. Squadrons A and B. Focus on Ground units. And with that, Soundwave fires a blast from his plasma rifle at a squadron of guards that had assembled and were opening fire on him.

Green Pyramid Jet circles and ... C is for Chimera, isn't it? Too bad she's assigned to taking apart ground units. Soundwave does know some of Kim's weaknesses. And more importantly, the strengths. So... once she arrives she's heading for tanks. This should be fuuuun.

The pyramid jet unfolds into a female robot.

<Earth> Abdul Fakkadi says, "This supreme military commander and king of kings of Carbombya, the great and wise president-for-life Abdul Fakkadi! The Decepticons are assaulting my land! I /order/ the Autobots to come and remove them from my desert paradise!"

<Earth> Sunstreaker says, "EDC Command from Autobot City, can anyone verify what Mr...Fakkadi is saying?"

<Earth> Abdul Fakkadi says, "You accuse me of lying? I swear on the grave of my mother's camel that my fair country is in peril!"

Catechism goes tanking, because in Cybertronian, B is for Catechism. Or something. She still stays in the air, because getting run over by a tank is liable to be in the same fun bracket as 'being run over by Long Haul'. Hmm, slow, hard to damage, hit hard...these tanks do have some similarities to the Constructicon. Perhaps Catechism can apply what she learned fighting him, then.

<Earth> Kenya Momesa says, "Colonel Momesa here. I'm in the command center of the EDC Headquarter. We have a satellite passing above Africa at the moment. We will pictures of Cambombya in a few minutes."

Verdant has disconnected.

Fleet leaps up and takes back to the air, transforming back to jet mode in a single, swift motion. Sure, he takes more damage in this mode, but he's also fairly hard to hit, and he might as well test their aim out while he's still at full health. He speeds off to intercept the enemy fliers, powering up his lasers as he closes the distance.

Fleet transforms from robot to pyramid jet.

<Earth> Sunstreaker says, "Nobody is accusing you of lying Mr. Fakkadi."

<Earth> Kenya Momesa says, "I am comfirming Sunstreaker. The pictures show a whole bunch of jets above their capital city..."

<Earth> Abdul Fakkadi says, "You are an Autobot, yes? Well tell this so-called "Colonel" that I am well aware of the equipment he is using to spy on my nation, and that the least I deserve from the opressive EDC is a direct response, and at least twenty.. no, no.. EIGHTY of their finest Exo-suit warriors to help defend my land!"

The squad of tank is ready to fight the Decepticons...almost. They fire at the attacking Decepticons, while all their firepower...which is not much unfortunately. The foot soldiers also fire their AK-47 which of course has little effect on giant robots. In the sky things are getting ugly, there is very few Combombyan jets... and they aren't exactly high tech or well armed.

<Earth> Sunstreaker says, "Colonel, I've got a squad preparing to depart. Care to join us?"

<Earth> Kenya Momesa says, "Mr President... may I remind you that you refused to allow UN inspectors to visit your oil fields and that the UN doesn't approve the way you...manage Cambombya... So sending EDC troops to your help would go against your wish to be left alone..."

Kenya Momesa receives a radio transmission.

<Earth> Abdul Fakkadi bahs! "Very well, then! Your superiors will know of how you have treated me on this day! Always I am performing no evil, and yet you are driven to upset me. But I do not need your pathetic Earth Defence! I now have the mighty Rodimus Prime on my side!" Okay, someone knows very little about the Autobots.

Soundwave's audio units are picking up something. "Emergency transmission being broadcast." He intones, flying up from the troopers he was dealing with. "Jamming all transmissions...." And with that he activates his jamming signals, sending the entire nation of Carbombya into a complete communications blackout.

Kenya Momesa receives a radio transmission.

Kenya Momesa transmits a message via radio to Sunstreaker.

<Earth> Kenya Momesa says, "I am willing to save your butt Mr President but if the EDC goes in... you will have to deal with the UN. You may find the Autobots less forgiving than we can be... in the interest of Earth."

<Earth> Abdul Fakkadi says, "Wait.. wait, what is this? >czrt< I will re>czt<ire more Autob>bbzztz<! My intelligence >czt<ommander is telling me that they are picking up a>crrrzztztzz< ...... <SIGNAL LOST>"

<Earth> And the plot thickens!

Chimera is fast. Real fast. And she doesn't mind getting hurt. In fact... Eh. She's actually trying to avoid it right now. Damnit. She still has that whole 'banned from medical' thing going on. Yahoo. So she's probably going to be working more on avoiding getting hit than anything. Also hooray for communications blackout.

Soundwave starts sending out a jamming signal, blocking all radio transmissions in the area.

<Earth> Kenya Momesa says, "I can't join you Sunstreaker, sorry. I don't wish the let the Decepticons get thier hands on all the Cambombyan oil but my own hands are tied... the UN won't approve."

Pyramid Jet (Fleet) picked the right squad, and the right form! He's fast... not as fast as Chimera, but fast, and he's obviously enjoying himself, making short work of the substandard jets that he's facing. Before now when he's encountered humans they've been using state of the art technology but this... this is crap! The pastel seeker joyfully exercises his 'mean ol' bully' muscles in a way that rarely gets to.

Catechism is a little disappointed in her Carbombyan foes, but she's pleased with her own faction. Their dump trucks are more deadly than the xeno's military machines! And that's the way the universe should be, as far as she's concerned. She takes a few hits, not so agile as some of her Seeker brethren, but it's not enough to slow her down in doing her threshing machine imitation.

<Earth> Sunstreaker says, "Very well Colonel. We're on our way. I hope the UN doesn't disapprove too badly, but we can't allow the Decepticons to kill innocent civilians, no matter which mapline they are behind."

<Earth> Kenya Momesa says, "Good luck Sunstreaker... if things get too ugly... I will see what I can do. Meanwhile I'll contact mr Witwicky."

Soon, all the Cambombyan jets are shot down by the Seekers, that what you get for buying crappy jets. On the ground, things are just a bit better, many soldiers are slaughtered but the tanks hold their own... some are destroyed though... fortunately for the Cambombyan army the AA cannons are still functionnal.

The Carbombyan military is getting their own digs, however. One of the AA cannon turrets has shot down one of the numerous F-16 jets in the sky, and has moved onto a certain pastel coloured one, explosions dot the sky as the ground troopers try to peg the super-swift alien craft.

Autobot Hovercraft (Sentinel) has arrived.

Sunstreaker has arrived.

Hound has arrived.

Air Raid has arrived.

Foxfire has arrived.

Catechism decides to go after one of the AA guns, now that the jets are out of the picture, and the tanks have taken a beating. She doesn't like silly little guns that try to tear her Seeker brethren out of the sky. Silly little guns like that deserve to have large holes kicked in them, she thinks.

Challenge. That's what Chimera is missing here. There's no challenge in toying with these toy tanks and play-soldiers. She wants a challenge. Like taking out turrets before they can continue certain yellow tutors out of the sky. Hey. She almost could like Fleet. Almost. Though Catechism seems to have gotten there before her. Ah well. She'll content herself with... continuing a bit of rampant military distruction. Feh.

Pyramid Jet (Fleet) is in the air! Fleet is kicking ass! This doesn't happen very often, and he enjoys it while it lasts. When the last of the enemy jets fall flaming to the ground (no doubt with most of the pilots parachuting safely to the ground, so the kiddies watching at home can continue to believe that war and violence can be fun and non-dangerous!) he swoops towards the tanks, peppering them with laser and his rail guns as he did with the jets, but now relying more and more on his rockets as well.

Soundwave, after successfully shutting off the transmission (Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage and Ratbat were busy elsewhere, what a shame. They do excellent transmission jamming!) Soundwave returns to the foot soldiers, activating a shrill white noise to disrupt their ability to concentrate. The members of the troop who aren't affected by this, in a true show of loyalty to their leader, decide that the time is right to abandon their weapons and make a run for it.

The Cambombyan troops fights valiantly but all the jets are down, most of the tanks are destroyed and now they lost the AA cannons. Add to all this that their president is a jerk... it's just too much for those poor men... they disband and try to run for their lives.

Out for another lovely beach vacation, no wait, scratch that. Some nutjob decided to blurt out over the emergency frequency that his country was in trouble, and as little as Sunstreaker cares about President Fakkadi he still can't let the innocent people of his republic suffer, just because some dickhead managed a military coup and decided that he was the most important man to have ever lived. To that effect, the hovercraft: Sentinel appears on the horizon, approaching the coastline of this haven for tourists, drug dealers, and OPEC shieks at high speed and coming to a halt just outside the battle zone. The ramp lowers, Sunstreaker emerges and motions for the others. "Fan out..." He grumbles. "Radio's are offline, Soundwave must be here. I'll take him out so we can call for backup if we need it. Hound, Air Raid, Deal with any airborne threats we may have. Foxfire, do your best to get the civilians clear and keep an eye out for stragglers. Lets move."

Hound steps out a moment after Sunstreaker, then nods at the yellow twin's orders, accepting the lambo's temporary command with a quiet reply of "Understood, Sunstreaker"

And there's a grin on the face of the Aerialbot as he charges down the ramp. "Oooh, Sunstreaker, that's an order I can really sink my teeth into!" With that, he transforms, before his jet engines propel him into the air

Air Raid starts to kneel, his legs folding beneath him as his arms are pulled into his body. The nosecone behind his head and the wings on his back each extend and come down, changing the Aerialbot into an F-15 Eagle.

Soundwave watches the pathetic human forces, construed from the various military 'sale days' of other nations, disband and retreat. Now that the skirmish is over, Soundwave's audio units pick something up.. something large and metallic skimming the surface. It's far too big (and quite frankly, it's operating far too smoothly and quietly) to be anything Carbombyan. "Autobots have arrived.." he intones to those around him. His jamming field is still in place so that he can't transmit anything to his units. Taking his plasma gun, he scans the horizon, wondering where they are coming from.

Chimera drops whatever large impliment she's been using to disrupt the aim and calm social order of the Carbomyan army. Well. More like she's been using some large piece of a strut of some kind to smash gun posts. Heck. She's been following orders. For a change. No. She's not looking for the 'Bots quite yet. More like looking for something else to vent on.

With the human military more or less taken care of (even that nasty old AA that SHOT at Fleet last round), the pastel pyramid jet moves back in closer to his mission command to await further orders. Unfortunately, he's in the air and Soundwave is on the ground and thus he's unable to hear the warning. On the other hand, flying in loopy non-patterns above the others gives him a wider field of vision, allowing him to spot the 'Bots that much sooner. He closes the distance with them, internally preparing for the worst.

Catechism shakes a bit of wreckage off her foot and looks around the battlefield. She sights Soundwave and waits for the next set of orders. Ooh, Auto to attack? Now things are getting really interesting, she thinks, laughing to herself. She jumps back into the air and surveys who all has arrived...bright yellow car-thing? "Hey, we captured you!" She zaps off a quick potshot at him.

Catechism misses Sunstreaker with its Zap! attack.

The city is burning, Decepticons are everywhere... civilians are running in the streets, trying to save their life... but they are not all free to run. Near the center of the battle there is a prison where almost 200 slaves are held, locked in cages... they can't run and the building is on fire...

Sunstreaker has no more taken his first four or five steps from the hovercraft before someone, one of Galvatron's lovely seekers, fires off a quick shot at him. His optics narrow as he searches for the offending Decepticon in the skies above, instantly recognizing one of the two cowardly jets that helped Arachnae capture him. "This, is going to be very therapuetic..." He raises his gun-hand and snaps off a shot toward the Decepticon warrior. "Time to fry, little bird."

Sunstreaker misses Catechism with his Gotcha! attack.

Foxfire bolts out of the hovercraft, having wanted to look at the situation before running out into the open. As Sunstreaker told him to do, he starts herding civilians to safety, happy to be playing Sheep Dog rather than getting his aft kicked.

The scout's arms disappear under the front of the jeep while the legs fold up under the back of the vehicle.

Mitsubishi J59 Jeep pauses, concerned, having picked up non-moving humans on his tracking scanners and gently pushes through the fleeing civilians like a salmon swimming upstream, heading for the prison.

F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet zooms though the air like a flying...airplane. "You know, I think Comcast is hiding from me." He says, as he does an aerial overview of the city as best he can, and then he spies another seeker. "Hey! Chimera!" He calls out, trying to get the Seeker's attention. "Where are you heading?" He asks, before firing his vulcan cannon at the Seeker.

Well, he said they'd be there, didn't he? Soundwave spots Sunstreaker. He overheard something about Sunstreaker assaulting him directly.. well that won't do. Soundwave goes out of his way to make this difficult, finding a large and civillian-like building before taking the shot. Soundwave levels up his Concussion gun, taking a blst at Sunstreaker from behind his cover.

Pyramid Jet (Fleet) has at last closed the distance enough to allow him to attack the Autobots. Oh, scrap, the yellow one! He hits firking hard! Let's... go play with someone else, shall we? The pastel jet isn't paying much attention to those Autobots who are herding humans, but there is one of those Aerialbots about... they hit hard, too, but none of them have delivered the sort of damage to him that Sunstreaker has. Fleet flies at the F-15 and fires off his lasers, internally hoping that he continues to go after Chimera instead of him.

You strike F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet with Wing Mounted Laser Rifle.

Catechism half-turns without thought to avoid the yellow one's blast. Little bird? Catechism doesn't like birds. She does not find the comparison flattering and doubts that she was meant to. So the Seeker lines up for a proper run, hoping to actually hit Sunstreaker this time. She's not even picky about where - nothing fancy, no specific window shot or anything.

Catechism misses Sunstreaker with its disruptor attack.

Mmmm... Vulcan Cannon. Is that an emotionless logical cannon with pointy ears? Oh. Wait. Wrong genre.

Either way, a nice blast close to someone is a nice way to say 'Hello there'. Especially when that someone is Chimera. She turns headtilts. And almost smiles at Air Raid. No. That's not a pleasant look. That's a look that specifically says 'DINNER TIME!' Blasting off to meet him in the air, "Why should I answer your questions, when you won't answer mine, Slag-for-processors?" A flip of the wrist, and there's that laser pistol. "What do you want with me now? Want to play tag? Well, you're it." Zappo. Laser lovin'.

Chimera strikes F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet with armLaserThingies.

The fire starts be more intense, from the street, it is easy to hear the slaves screaming, begging for help, unfortunately, no one is listening, everyone is too busy to save his own life.

Mitsubishi J59 Jeep arrives at the prison and smashes the door open, still in vehicle mode, now is not the time to play it nice before quickly transforming in a kneeling position, reaching over to start pulling the cage doors clean off, allowing the slaves a way to escape.

Hound's arms reappear from under the front of the jeep while the legs emerge from under the back of the vehicle.

Sunstreaker is able to roll away from the shots fired by Catechism, but Soundwave's rifle blast strikes him squarely in the chest just as he comes up, causing a brief stumble on his part and a fist-sized dent appears where the blast struck. "Why you...." He snarls, getting up and making a mad dash for Soundwave. This isn't going to be pretty, oh no. Sunstreaker doesn't fight nice. It takes only a moment for him to close the distance between the two. "You should take lessons from Jazz blueboy!" He calls out as he dives toward Soundwave, attempting to knock him to the ground <away from the building> "Get a better library of music, because your tapes, suck."

Sunstreaker strikes Soundwave with Tackle.

Foxfire continues taking care of the civilians, and will continue doing so until everyone is safe, or he's attacked. Whichever comes first.

F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet sighs internally. It would have to figure that he, of all of them, ends up drawing two targets. It's the trouble of having a flying alt-mode. Tends to draw Seekers attention. "Sheesh. Don't you have anything better to do than bother me, Fleet?" He asks, though his sights are focused on Chimera. Now that he's gotten her attention, he alters the angle of his flight path, the previous attacks only doing little more than ripping up bits of his armor. "Hey, Chimera! Catch!" With that, he fires one of the sidewinder's he's equipped with.

F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet misses Chimera with his Sidewinder Missiles attack.

"Your opinion on casettes are unnecessary and unfounded." Soundwave drones in return as he gets knocked to his aft. "Taste is not necessary factor for functioning sound. Merely: Effectiveness." And to make his point, Soundwave fires up his sonic assualt, sending cartoon-like wavy lines out with the intentions of deafening Sunstreaker.

Chimera briefly considers catching the missile and sending it back to Air Raid. But instead just . . . alters her course just enough to evade it. Ole! "You really need to learn how to aim, Flyboy." she says. Mm. Flip guns. Guns. What's charged? What's ready? OH! That'd be her weapon of choice. Gauss pistols. Hey. It's better than a kick to the head. Which may happen later.

Chimera misses F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet with her Not Christopher Walken attack.

Pyramid Jet (Fleet) twists away after his last attack and transforms, turning a barrel roll into an acrobat's twirl, a move that contains far more flourish than is strictly necessary but, after years of aerial dance, is instinctive. As his spinning slows he flings his right arm out and points it at Air Raid, firing off a few shots the moment the other comes within range, his expression focused on his performance.

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

You strike F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet with Death By A Thousand Papercuts.

Catechism is just going to keep shooting at Sunstreaker as long as she keeps getting not shot, one way or the other. If she does start getting shot, she may revise her options. As the Seeker lines up her shot, she makes a mental note not to shoot Soundwave accident. That would be really bad. Hmm hmm, Catechism feels like taser now. Clickety.

Abdul Fakkadi has arrived.

The slaves that Hound just freed runs out of the burning building as fast as they can, about 1/4 of them can escape de flames, thanks to the Autobot, but more are still locked and the roof seems to eb about to fall...

Sunstreaker grahs, of course since he has those big slaggin ears <ok so they're just parts of his helmet, but still> that really hurts. He is thrown back by the sheer force of Soundwave's assault, landing rather un-ceremoniously on his skidplate. "I got yer sound right here...." He raises his gun-hand and takes aim, firing at Soundwave hopefully before he can get his footing and get out of the way. His weapon emits a <bzzzzzzt> sound Yup, lotsa electricity coming your way Sounders. Just as he fires, Catechism strikes home with a nifty little blast that will change his focus next turn. "Alright, I'm done playin with kid gloves...." He says to the seeker.

Sunstreaker strikes Soundwave with Electron Pulse Gun <Low Power>.

Hound glances up at the roof and works quicker, moving from cage to cage, almost as fast as Blurr, tearing the doors off and hoping he frees all these people in time.

<OOC> Foxfire says, "That's quite a feat, Hound. :)"

<OOC> Hound says, "Hey, there are humans at risk here, :p"

<OOC> Foxfire says, "True, but still. :)"

<OOC> Soundwave says, "Humans are at risk, but you still can't go 'as fast as blue'"

The doors to a rear entrance of the extravagant palace of Carbombya's dictator open, allowing that same Dictator, Abdul Fakkadi, to make a break for it. He has received information that his glorious army has been defeated, and that the evil Decepticons are continuing to battle. The Autbots that are here have no idea what's in store for them. He tries making a run for it...

F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet is really hoping he gets some backup soon. Something in the way of a certain Jeep who should, so Air Raid hopes, start shooting at the Cons that are making his life very difficult right at the moment. He keeps losing more and more armor. He pulls up, switching targets from Chimera to Fleet for the moment. "You know, it's just like you Decepticons to gang up one a 'Bot." He fires his 20mm Gatling Guns at Fleet then as he spins round to try and shoot at the one who's so far damaged him the most.

F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet strikes you with 20mm Gatling guns for 11 points of damage.

Foxfire is still herd. Yep. Lots of humans around. But even as he does this, he can't help but wonder why he has this odd feeling that something's going to happen. Oh well, it's probably just paranoia. Or the calm before the storm. It's said that animals can sense things, after all. Maybe that's true for cassette animals? With a small snort, the foxbot clears his mind of these weird thoughts, and focuses on his task.

One by one, all the cages are opened by Hound and all the slaves are rushing outside as the fire become more intense, just as the last humans leave the building, the roof starts to fall.

YEOUCH! That hurt! Good thing the pastel coward transformed, else he's probably be running by now! As it is, several holes are punched through his left wing, promising that he won't be transforming again anytime soon (and saving Air Raid from his rockets). "You 'Bots are all such slagging HYPROCRITS!" He shouts angrily. Fleet? Shouting in battle? Yes! "I can't even count the number of times several of your kind have ganged up on me, but if we do the same, it's 'Oooo, the big bad 'Cons are picking on me!' Slagging bootlegs!" He straightens his flight and there's a click as he changes the operational mode of his shoulder mounted weaponry.

You strike F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet with Rail Gun.

Kid gloves would be /far/ too small for Sunstreaker. Even if one of his hands was a hand and not a gun. "Distraction: Exploitable." He murmers to himself as he, from the ground, swipes his leg, hoping to knock Sunstreaker down on his aft on his own. Even better, Soundwave could knock him into a building!

Chimera could be a smart seeker, and use tactics on Air Raid. Could be. But there's always the other problem. He's suddenly annoyed her by being distracted by Fleet. "What? You don't want to play?" She gives him a mocking smirk. "Well... tough luck." She transforms, and heads right for Air Raid. Crazy? Chimera? Nah.

Chimera jumps up, and folds into a pyramid jet.

Green Pyramid Jet strikes F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet with ram.

Catechism is just happy her shot hit! Stupid grunt-class targeting systems. So she's not paying much attention to that fact and an impending butt-kicking is probably heading her way soon. Instead, the Seeker claps gleefully and takes another potshot, encouraged enough to kick up the power of her arm guns a bit.

Catechism misses Sunstreaker with its laser attack.

F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet transforms after Chimera hits him, as her attack knocks his gyros off balance, forcing him to transform if he doesn't want to make an Air Raid shaped furrow in the ground. The transformation does his trick, as well as allow him to shrug off the damage that Fleet did to him as well, since the rail gun attack did punch a hole straight through one of his wings. "This is getting to be a real pain in the aft." He says as he hits the ground, his torque rifle coming up. "Hound! How about a little help here! Anytime!" He calls out as he fires at Chimera.

The underside of the F-15 comes out and down, as the wings and nose pull up and back as the fighter transforms into.....AIR RAID!

Air Raid misses Green Pyramid Jet with his Torque Rifle attack.

Sunstreaker is really getting sick of this treatment. 3 on 1, 2 on 1. Sad that Decepticons are that afraid of him. What's even more sad, is that they probably should be. He's not a nice bot, that's for sure. Soundwave's kick does send him crashing into a small 1 story building, crushing it beneath his weight. Thankfully it was evacuated quite some time ago, but there is still a lot of damage to the shop. He grunts faintly and rolls away as Catechism fires at him again, raising his gun-hand and snapping off a more potent attack of his own. "This is getting repetitive..."

Sunstreaker strikes Catechism with Electron Pulse Gun <Full Power>.

Abdul Fakkadi, still on the street, eyes the devastation. In particular, he sees a green jeep-bot ripping the cell doors from one of his cell pens. Even though he is far, far away from the rest of the skirmish, he cannot help but yell at the Autobot. "Those are /my/ slaves! remove your filthy hands from them, and return to fighting the Decepticons! Remove them from my perfect nation, and do not interfere with how my lands operate!"

Foxfire stands still, watching his surroundings. Most of the humans are out of harm's way, but he's still got work to do. And that doesn't involve combat, thank Primus.

As all the ruckus of the battle takes place, someone paying attention might notice a slow, methodical <THUD> sound approaching. It's faint, but it grows stronger with each occurance.

Of course the fact that the insane speed of the green jet doesn't help Air Raid any. Probably because it's not supposed to. It's supposed to keep her from getting hit. Which it did. She does a loop-ti-do around the blast, and comes in for a close encounter. The area might be narrow, but hey. if she does this right, the only one getting winged will be ... Air Raid.

Green Pyramid Jet strikes Air Raid with winged.

Abdul Fakkadi stops his rant halfway through as the sensation of the thud causes the ground to tremor. "What in the name of all the camels in the land was that?"

Paying attention, eh? Well, Soundwave is all about the advanced hearing and concentration. "Your efforts are for nothing. Victory will be ours." Soundwave drones to Sunstreaker as he rights himself up and follows through with a powerful punch to his chestplate.

Soundwave misses Sunstreaker with its Haymaker! attack.

Catechism gasps as electricity wracks her form. It's a pity she was flying so low to the ground, because at this height, she's probably going to crash from her momentary shock and loss of flight control. Acceleration is mass time 9.8 and down, down, down! Catechism hits her boot-jets, recovering at the last second. She does have some aerobatic talent, after all. Considering her options, Catechism decides to keep shooting at Sunstreaker. He's the one shooting at her, and maybe if she shoots at him enough, he'll stop. Yes, the girl is hopeless optimistic. She's happier that way. Catechism charges up her magnetic coils and sends forth a gauss attack at her yellow target.

Catechism misses Sunstreaker with its gauss attack.

Verdant has connected.

And the 'Bots are STILL complaining! This is war, folks! Fighting fair is fighting stupid! Unfortunately, Chimera's closing in on Air Raid makes it difficult to fire on him again, and the way she's flying makes it dangerous for him to close himself, but Fleet is a dancer, and part of that involves close in maneuvers, so he swoops in in robot mode, twisting as needed to avoid Chimera as he tries a flyby punch to the back of the Aerialbot's head.

You strike Air Raid with Flyby Punch.

Hound has disconnected.

Trypticon has arrived.

Air Raid growls as he's hit again from both sides, the fly by attacks knocking him backwards a few steps, one cutting open his arm, the other denting his chest. Air Raid is starting to get angry. Who put Wheaties in the Seeker's breakfast this morning? Generally, he doesn't have this much trouble with them. But he's getting whittled down fast, and it's irritating the crap out of him. "Hey! STREAKER!" He yells. "There any way we can get some backup?" He asks, before his fist slides into his arm, being replaced by a small laser nozzle. "Time to even things out just a little bit." He fires his null-ray at Fleet, hoping to at least stop one of his problems

You are temporarily incapacitated by Air Raid's Null-Ray attack.

Sunstreaker manages to deftly evade Soundwave's punch, and then with a bit of quickness he may have forgotten that he had, he sidesteps the slugs fired at him by Catechism. "Major mistake Soundwave...." Sunny drops into a quick combat-ready stance and smirks. "You shoulda never gotten this close." Mocking the Kung fu movies of old, Sunstreaker begins moving his hands in a style similiar to 'snake' kung-fu then shakes his head and stands up straight. "Sorry, channeling my brother there for a minute." He tilts his head toward his right shoulder as one of his missiles arms itself. "One thing you should know, is that I really, really, don't care what happens to me, so long as I take you down with me...." The missile fires straight up into the air, travels about...50 feet or so and archs over, heading right back down toward Sounders. At this proximity, it'll blast Sunstreaker too, but like he said, who cares? Hopefully this'll mean the jamming signal ends.

Sunstreaker strikes Soundwave with Laser Guided Missile.

Sunny's channeling Sides? Great, just what the Autobots need! Not that Foxfire cares right now. He turns his attention to his comrades, quietly watching as they continuing battling...hey, where'd Hound go? Blink.

From the coast, the thuds grow more and more powerful. The sea begins to part around something massive as it approaches the surface of the water. Slowly, steadily, the source of all the problems in Carbombya begins to appear. With a very distinctive roar, the massive cityformer emits his trademark call. "Trypticon SMASH AUTOBOTS!" Yes folks. Trouble is here.

Fleet is struck by Air Raid's null ray and hits the ground hard, skidding a few feet as he does. His vocalizer emits a buzz, but he's unable to really get it work properly. As he struggles to bring his systems back on-line Trypticon arrives on-scene. Trypticon wants to smash Autobots. He is lying on the ground, quite near an Autobot and unable to move. The pastel seeker's optics widen in horror. Oh. Scrap. <no attack>

Soundwave indeed catches the blast, but at least Sunstreaker is as damaged by it. This distraction is sufficient to disrupt the jamming signal. Not that it's required at this point. Trypticon is here. Soundwave, obviously less damaged than his opponent, stands upright and then soars up. "TRYPTICON." He resonates to the Cityformer. "Remove Autobots from Carbombya. The slaves still serve a purpose; spare them if possible." And then, to the Autobots: "You are trespassing on property of the Empire. Leave now or be destroyed."

Verdant finishes with his task, demolishing the last of the tanks easily enough. At the arrivial of Trypticon, his optics grow wide with shock, and he finds himself too amazed, too taken aback, to act. He knows he should do something, but at this moment, finds himself too caught unawares to do so.

Catechism feels the vibrations in the air rattle her wings. She pulls up to get a better view. Lo, the behemoth speaks! Oh, that's just beautiful. Decepticon devastation at its finniest in action. It's times like this that she can see right down to the edge of time and clear off to an inevitable Decepticon victory. It's worth noting that she may need her optics recalibrated. Instead of continuing her attacks, Catechism simply laughs, long and low.

Green Pyramid Jet was going to shoot Air Raid. And again. And again. But hey. There's that 'little too close to a squashible target' bit. Yellow. He had to be yellow. And she had to be at least a little ... non-survivalistic. Since she's seen Trypticon on the move before, she's just going to transform and try to swoop down to see about dragging the silly pastel one out of the way. <Nope. There's no attack right now.>

The pyramid jet unfolds into a female robot.

"What the--" Foxfire stops because he can even finish that thought, his expression slowly becoming one of pure terror. "...Primus." He's heard of Trypticon, yes, but he never thought he'd actually *see* the big dinosaur.

Sunstreaker looks up, up, up, at Trypticon. "Slaggit....Bots, Move it! Back to the Hovercraft, now!" Not much can be done about Trypticon. Blasting him with their weapons won't even scar his armor, and as much as he'd love to hang around and save these people, there'll be another time for that. You can't save people when you're dead. "Retreat!"

Sunstreaker begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Foxfire, Air Raid, Chimera, Catechism, Fleet, Soundwave, Carbombyan troops.

Air Raid shakes his head, his grip tightening on his rifle as he begins to follow Sunstreaker's order, already running for the Hovercraft. He doesn't really have much to say, the normally fun-loving and reckless Aerialbot now feeling the cost of said recklessness, as while he's still functioning, he has been beat up quite a bit. At least he got to take some chunks out of Fleet, but Chimera's ability to dodge all of his attacks is really annoying.

Air Raid begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Foxfire, Sunstreaker, Chimera, Catechism, Fleet, Soundwave, Carbombyan troops.

Abdul Fakkadi looks at this giant behemoth that has reared his head in the background. "For this.." he murmers softly to himself, "They will need to send more Autobots."

Trypticon roars again, he fires intently toward the Autobots with his mouth cannons, but to no avail. They're all just a little too quick for him. He'd give chase but, well, he's a big slagging dinosaur. "Stand still so Trypticon can SMASH AUTOBOTS!"

Not long after Chimera begins dragging the pastel yellow seeker out of the way his own systems come back online, allowing him to move once more. He murmurs a, "Thanks," to the female seeker, because it always pays to stay on good terms with those who are willing to try and rescue you, and then takes to the air to get himself out of Trypticon's line of fire (and STOMPING!) as quickly as possible, expecting Chimera to have an easier time to do the same now that she's no longer burdened by him. Thus distracted, he is unable to take a parting shot from Air Raid.

<Decepticon> Soundwave's jamming has been shorted out. "Cyclonus. Trypticon has scared away the Autobots. Victory.. and Carbombya... is ours."

Too out of the way and not possessed of enough range to fire upon the Autobots, Verdant simply settles for watching them retreat. He wasn't exactly a glorious warrior today, but he's proud to have done his part.

It's lucky for Soundwave that he's in the Sky. Trypticon is big, angry and not very articulate. Imagine if Soundwave was on the ground while Trypticon was sharing his anger with whatever was on the ground. But he /does/ pick up the squealing of a certain human.. one whose voice he has heard before on terran broadcasts. Soundwave ignores the customary parting shot and drops his altitude as he flies down to where a certain president-for-life is.

Ah. There's Air Raid's tailfin. It's a tempting target. Chimera could take a nice shot at Air Raid right now, and still get out of Trypticon's way. But instead... why bother? They're already going. Besides-- she'll get a chance to try and kill him again... someday. She only hopes it's real soon. And just getting out of the way for now.

Catechism doesn't feel like wasting her energon on parting shots when Trypticon, the glorious beast, does such a better job at wreaking havoc. So she just ascends high into the air and out of the way, to join some of her fellow Seekers in obscurity.

Catechism has disconnected.

Kenya Momesa has disconnected.

Air Raid has left.

Air Raid boards the Autobot Hovercraft (Sentinel).

Foxfire is an itty bitty flea compared to Trypticon! And this, of course, is why he's so frightened. He takes a few steps back, suddenly finding it hard to flee, even at Sunstreaker's order to retreat. He simply stares at the giant mech, optics wide, ears lowered...then he suddenly feels a rush of something, what the humans would call adrenaline, and he whips around, bolting toward the shuttle as fast as his legs can carry him. Behold, the "fight or flight" response!

Sunstreaker has left.

Sunstreaker boards the Autobot Hovercraft (Sentinel).

Foxfire has left.

Foxfire boards the Autobot Hovercraft (Sentinel).

Autobot Hovercraft (Sentinel) has left.

Trypticon transforms into his Battle Station Mode.

================================== Reports ===================================

Message: 9/4 Posted Author

International Update Sun Mar 06 LikeaFOX News

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Toupee McShirtstarch is at his broadcasting bench expertly reading the news.

"..and the nation of Carbombya makes the news yet again. The nation which political experts believe was days away from military intervention from the UN was surprisingly assaulted by the race of alien robots called the Transformer Decepticons. We are aware that the Transformer Decepticons weren't fazed by the nations' military power, nor the squadron of Autobot Cybertrons that were deployed. We here at LikeaFOX News have obtained this exclusive footage."

Some brief footage is played, showing two of the robots fighting. In the background is a variety of different jets littering the sky, including a black one that is continually chasing a strange olive green one, without shooting much. In the background, a large blue figure is saying something, but it sounds as if there's something wrong with his sound output. He throws the giant yellow robot onto the building the cameraman was hiding behind. The camera view snows out only to snap back into view from a different (and further away!) angle, where the yellow robot detonating a missile in front of himself and the blue robot for some reason. Suddenly a large rumble can be heard, and the cameraman's angle pans up.. way up.. to something large and black.. so huge that it silhouettes the sun behind it. The feed ends, and the shot changes back to Toupee.

"As you can see, the yellow Decepticon is so enraged with the blue Cybertronobot that it is willing to sacrifice it's own life to destroy it's hated foe.. who our specialists identify as the Cybertron Soundblaster. We can only assume that the large black creature was the Decepticon Leader, Galvatom.

"And now on to our travel section, where I'm sure our reporter, the lovely Soapshow Washup will /not/ be suggesting we visit sunny Carbombya, ahahahaha..."

Toupee keeps on laughing at his own joke until the director mercifully changes the seguement.

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