Transformers: Revenge Road

Chapter Twenty-Six

The new Fortress Carrier was nearly complete. The design was slightly different than the earlier Fortress designs: it was even larger, and was built to house both Earth mecha and allied Transformers. Arcee's visits to Fortress One had clearly shown the difficulties of a Transformer even in the huge carrier. So now there would be larger passages, lifts and even a energon-based charging system.

The Fortress was originally going to go to an European Captain named Picard, but after Fortress Fourteen sank, it was decided to give it to Captain Tyler. Now he was supervising the final stages of construction, while readying his command crew.

"I still don't quite understand why you recruited me," Vladamir Zvezda noted, the other man frowning thoughtfully.

"Because while I'm brilliant," Justy said modestly, "I do occasionally go too far. I want someone on the bridge who won't automatically agree."

"Point. Though I suspect my sister Yuriko doesn't always agree," he reminded him.

"Hmm," Justy agreed.

Getting back to business Vlad continued, "The Fortress is ninety percent completed, yes? Will we be getting access soon?"

"I'm bugging command to give us access as soon as possible," Justy nodded. "I'm looking forward to the upgrades..."

"Your experiences on Fourteen have mandated improved sensors across the fleet," Vlad noted. "Though there are limits, even with the best sonar systems."

"Wonder if we should ask the Autobots...?" Justy mused.

"I don't think command wants to be too dependant on them," Vlad said mildly.

"Huh," Justy grunted. They looked at the images of the vessel being built in low Earth orbit as he murmured, "Soon..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"What." Izzy Randal blinked as they took in the... empty lot, basically.

"The address is a high tech research company," Rick Hunter noted, both of them in their fighters. They had shifted to 'Guardian' mode, and were hovering over the site.

"So... the Decepticons swooped down, cut away the foundations and took the whole BUILDING?!" the nearly hysterical rep from the civil defense command asked.

"That seems to be it," Izzy agreed.

"Fuck," the man muttered.

"We'll need to pass this on to command," Rick observed. "Sir, can you tell us about what they built or what their specialty was?"

"Right, right..." the older man sighed.

Back at Fortress One, they were fielding multiple reports of similar activities. Lana Isavia, recently assigned to bridge duties, was compiling the information, "So far there have been attacks on a advanced alloy plant, several high tech hardware companies and Handy Andy's Pipe Fitting Co."

"What?" Lisa Hayes blinked.

"That's what it says," Lana shrugged eloquently.

"What gets me is the carrying off of entire buildings," Claudia noted. "Shouldn't they just break apart or something?"

"Well, we don't really understand some aspects of cybertronian technology," Lisa reminded her.

"Their size changing, for instance," Lana noted. "I guess we just have to accept that, in some ways, they can defy our working knowledge of physics."

"They make physics their bitch, basically," Claudia smirked.

Lisa snorted with amusement.

Lisa and the escort group had arrived back from the Ark a few days ago. The caravan was hit again by the Decepticons, who apparently thought they were a valuable target. The Decepticons took out two fighters and a tank... small losses, relatively, but it still hurt.

"The Decepticons have mostly focused on just energy theft," Lisa noted, "not buildings. Do we know why?"

"What's changed recently?" Claudia mused.

"Alita-one arriving?" Lana guessed.

"Her coming may have caused them to be concerned about the situation on Cybertron," Lisa agreed. "She's second in command overall, right? So her coming to Earth must be important," she added thoughtfully.

They were, of course, unaware that Sixshot had ALSO crashed to Earth at nearly the same time. Though even if they did know, their train of thought likely wouldn't have done differently. They were unaware of how powerful that Decepticon was or how important his message was.

"So they need technology for something...," Claudia mused.

"And plumbing products," Roy Fokker added impishly.

"Protective casing?" Lisa game him a look. "Steel or harder pipes after all."

"Point," Roy conceded.

They bounced around ideas a bit, then Lana suggested, "We should bundle the data up and send it to the Autobots."

Lisa frowned at her slightly, while Claudia went, "Oh?"

Lana shrugged, "Even if we bounce this list of companies over to our best scientists, we still may have no idea if they're trying to build something from Cybertron. The Autobots are our best resource on this."

"You've got a point," Lisa conceded.

"Agreed," Claudia nodded, "we'll send the info along with whatever our scientists have come up with."

"Yes ma'am!" the communications bridge bunny nodded.

They finidshed up their shift, then Claudia nodded to Lisa. "Grab a coffee before seeing our significant others?" she asked.

"Sure," Lisa agreed willingly.

They took a corner table in the Officer's Club, tho it really was just a unused off-unit of the cafeteria. But it was secluded, somewhat, and had a staffer that made good coffee and could pour a drink in the evenings.

"So...," Claudia started.

"I'm tending to shut down Lana a lot, sometimes un-justified," Lisa admitted.

Claudia blinked. "Well, I'm glad you're aware of it at least," she noted. "Is it going to be a problem?" she asked pointedly.

"Sorry," Lisa sighed. "It's mostly a left over reflex, as you pretty much know..."

"If it's a issue, I can re-assign her off the bridge," Claudia noted. The Destroid pilot had been promoted, and had qualified for the bridge station.

"No, she's earned the promotion," Lisa shook her head. "I just have to get used to it," she said firmly.

"Fair enough," Claudia agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Wheeljack and Perceptor were the scientific experts of the Autobots on Earth. But while they were both scientists, they were very different 'types.'

Wheeljack, bluntly, was a inventor and a dabbler. He would get a idea, research it, build a thing, and often not test it completely before trying it out. Explosions sometimes followed. Then instead of continuing and refining the concept, he'd move on to something else.

Perceptor, on the other hand, was a broadly multi-discplinary scientist. If you had a question on something he could either answer it immediately or quickly find out. Like Wheeljack he wasn't an expert, but he was the type to keep looking into something until he felt he understood it completely.

So when the list of stolen facilities arrived, Optimus passed it to them.

"Handy Andy's Pipe Fitting Co?" Perceptor blinked.

"It DOES stand out oddly," Wheeljack agreed. "I'm thinking their equipment will produce casings for whatever they're building."

"That does seem probable," Perceptor agreed. "This list is rather perplexing, however."

"We need to try to figure out the Cybertronian version of the technologies they produce," Wheeljack noted, "even if they are using our version of stone knives and flints."

"Indeed," Perceptor sighed.

After running through the lists and debating a bit, Wheeljack leaned back tiredly. "Looking at this list, I'm even more impressed they can build a transforming fighter," he observed. "I'm surprised they can even FLY!"

Perceptor chuckled. "I feel reasonably certain whatever the Decepticons are building, it isn't a weapon," he said.

"Unless it's to shoot the buildings at us," Wheeljack joked.

Perceptor ignored that. "it's strange... the parts list reminds me of something, but I can't place what," he mused.

"Well, its probably historical," Wheeljack noted. He paused. Possibly it was because he was skilled at lateral thinking, or possibly just a odd bit of memory.

"What? Has inspiration struck?" Perceptor asked.

"It's a Fold Drive!" Wheeljack blurted excitedly.

To be continued...