Jade glanced around at the twelve mechs present, not counting herself and Bullet, then asked what she knew Bulllet was probably allready thinking. "Uhm, won't it, uh, be a bit..." she tried to ignore the glare a certain black and purple femmeseeker was leveling in her direction. "Well, a bit... obvious what we're doing, if we just go rushing in there with a bunch of people?"

At this point, said femmeseeker cut her off with "Why don't you just say it, you think it would be dangerous and we're not good enoough to protect you." She spat. "Sheique." the silver mech a few feet from her warned. He apparently was the commander of the group she was a part of.

"I don't think..." Jade looked away from where the femme had a challenging look like "go ahead, call me a liar and I'll take your head off." look. Jade glanced at Bullet. "I'm not saying you're not skilled, I just think Shockwave might be expecting us to come back, and could be waiting for us with an army of his drones or something." she shrugged. Yes, they were guests here, and she figured this group was probably quite skilled at... whatever it was they did. But she did not want herself and Bullet to be put in danger by going and doing something really really stupid like running into a base full of Decepticons who were *excpecting them*.

Orbit simply glanced at his two teams, then back at the pair. "I understand your concerns.." he spared Sheique, the femmeseeker a cursory glance when she huffed indignantly, then continued "However, We have two of our most specialised teams, as well as the house of koeleth-nor." he motioned to Landspear, who replied with an affable grin and a small wave. Backdraft rolled his optics. Bullet glanced over at them"Specialised in what, though?"

Orbit simply chuckled softly. "In infiltration and sabotage and the such." he looked towards the two groups. "The Marauders. Team one." the white and pink femmecar saluted, and the rest of her team simply stood at attention silently. "And," he motioned to the silver car "Team two." The silver mech saluted crisply "Sir!" Orbit turned back to them. "So you see, you are in good hands. Our intention is not to go barging into Shockwave's tower by force, but to sneak in. The house of Koeleth-Nor will be right behind you to... clean up, should there be any kind of trouble, and to provide a distraction, should the need for one arise." The pair nodded. "I see." Bullet mused.

Orbit turned and nodded. "It is time for us to move." A chorus of "Yes sir!"s sounded in reply. The sivler car, Stopstreet, turned to his team. "Marauders, move out!" the group transformed and started their engines. Driveby transformed "Marauder team one, we are the lead. Be aware and stay close." a chorus of "Yes Sir!" sounded from behind her. "Move out!" The group took the lead, pausing as Jade transformed and Bullet transformed, settling into her cockit.

Jade tried to stay low, almost letting herself be startled as Backdraft and his fellow fliers swooped in near-soundlessly.

"The tower is a few megamiles away. We'll settle into a building a little ways from there we have set up as a lookout point," Driveby radioed, "and use it as a temporary base." "Okay." Jade radioed back. A few long minutes they had arrived, and Jade let Bullet out before transforming and landing. Driveby silently put a finger to her lips in a signal to be quiet, then motioned to the other marauder team and made a hand motion. She then pointed to the seekers and made a circling motion. "Aerial recon." Jade thought.

The other marauder team quietly crept around the building, radioing one another that the area was clear. Driveby nodded to her team, who hefted their weapons and crept inside. The front room was pitch-black and a laayer of fine metal dust covered everything. Jade eeped as her foot hit something, and Bullet caught her arm, giving her a reassuring look. It was just a bit of flooring that had come loose and was sticking up.

The tank-mech came back in the room. Jade remembered his name was Cap. "We're all clear here, sir." he saluted. Driveby nodded. The smaller car that Jade recognised as Cable came back in. He handed out small luminescent bars. "Here, these are for lighting. Don't wanter off to far. Empties might be around. They like to grab people and drag em into the understory, suck the fuel right out of em." At first Jade thought he was joking, but there was no humor in his tone. And he wasn't smiling, either.

Once the other Marauder team came in, Driveby nodded and glanced all around. "Currently, we are waiting on a signal from our agents inside shockwave's tower. Once we get the green light, we will sneak in and activate the spacebridge." She nodded to Bullet and Jade. "Cable," she looked at the little yellow car with teal sidepanels. "I want you on surveilance of the communication frequencies. If Shockwave even calls for a drone, I want to know about it." The little carbot nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

"Beacon, I want you topside with the others, aerial recon." The little grey jet opened his mouth, but she held up a hand. "I know they don't like you very much, but we have to work cohesively as a team if we want this to work. If they hurass you, let me know about it later and we'll work things out." The little jet nodded, sounding less-than-enthused. "Yes ma'am."

"Cap?" The little tank appeared from the shadows. "Yes ma'am."
"I want you to be ready for any... uninvited guests. Keep your vibration sensors on maximum." he nodded. "I have the perfect suprise." he glanced at Jade and Bullet. "Mind if I set a few... booby traps on the way in?" he asked, a dark smile making itself evident. Driveby frowned behind her vocoder mask. "Just make sure none of our troops get caught in them on the way out." The tank bowed slightly. "Have I ever done something so novice?" he didn't wait for an answer. "Don't worry. I'll make sure my bombs only stick to Decepticons." he added with a dark chuckle.

"Gunlock?" Said jet appeared out of practically nowhere (actually the shadows) directly behind Jade. The jet smothered a shriek of suprise, earning a very evil-looking grin from the black colored jet. "You called for me, ma'am?" he said politely, giving Jade an amused glance. Driveby didn't look as enthused, however. "Still trying for that position as one of the shadowgaurds, I see." she noted. The dark colored seeker bowed respectfully. "Ever hopefull, commander." he stated, tone slightly amused. Driveby resisted the urge to roll her optics, instead flatly relpyling "I see." before continuing. "I hope you won't have any problems flying up above with Koeleth-Nor and looking out for Beacon, then."

Gunlock, the black colored jet, gave the smaller blue-visored grey mech (Beacon) a clearly distainful look, but nodded. "As you command." he said simply. Driveby watched him melt back into the shadows. Sometimes that one scared her. And not because of his skills of blending into the shadows, either. She knew his past, or, at least, parts of it. And she knew his mentality. She just hoped he would stay as loyal as the rest of her team. She shoved the thought aside, focusing instead on the current situation. "Stopstreet." The silver mech saluted. "As the leader of Marauder team one, you realise my command has precedence here?"

"Yes, sir." the silver carmech replied. His dark green optics never wavered from looking straight ahead. "Good, I wanted to make that clear. However, in the even that our teams should be seperated, I will not hold it against you to lead your team in whatever way is necessary to complete this mission. "Yes sir." he turned to his team. "You heard her. Follow her orders as you would mine."

A soft chorus of "Yes sir" sounded in reply.

Driveby looked at the purple flier femme, Sheique. "Sheique, I want you to stay with us. We may need your... unique skills." the femme nodded silently, then glanced at Bullet and Jade like he wanted to argue, but didn't. "Mucker, tracker, you're with us." said mechs nodded. Landspear walked in and nodded with a smile. Driveby looked at him. "Landspear, you'll be with us as well." He nodded.

Cable glanced at his wrist, on which a small red light was blinking. It was his comm. "Yeah." he answered. After a second, he said "Hang on." He looked at Driveby. "It's for you, boss." The femme nodded and turned away activating her comm. "Driveby here... yes...very well, we are on our way." Another second or two and she added "We will signal upon arrival. Driveby out." and she closed her comm, turnng to the others. "That was our team inside. It is time to move. We have created a false security warning in the farthest western sector of Shockwave's base. If we hurry, we can get in and activate the spacebridge before he returns."

Cap stepped up, cracking his knuckles. "Want us to give 'em a real show so they stay busy for a bit longer? I'm sure I can keep them out of your gears for a while." he grinned. Driveby shook her head. "That's a negative, cap. We don't want half the planet knowing we're here." the little tank wilted slightly at her implication (of large explosions), but just nodded. Driveby glanced at the others. "transform." Jade glanced at Bullet, then at Driveby. The femme looked at the pair. "Tracker can give you two transportation, so we can move faster. We'll need you on the ground when we get there, and it would be a waste of time for you to fly and possibly be spotted." the two nodded. "Backdraft." she commed. A grumble sounded from the other end of her comm. "You are going to meet us on the ground at the entrance to shockwave's tower, right?"

"the seeker grumbled about not wanting to go, and from the look on Driveby's faceplates, there were probably some rather... choice words miuxed in. "Razer and Dusk have requested your prescence on earth. I would assume they miss you." she threw that one in, knowing it would probably convince him. She glanced at the pair of Bullet and Jade, and they could see from the way her faceplates crinkled slightly around the edges of her optics that she was more than likely smiling at her... convincing choice of words.

0-0-0-0

End Notes:

Since this is being written after the RP Series (it chronoligically takes place before it, lol.) it's a little difficult to write the Marauders before they changed. You'll see. Their personalities will change somewhat over time. Anyway, here's a few notes I've jotted down on this fic:

1. There are actually two Marauder teams. The Marauders are the Kintaari specialists. The best of the best, in each of their own fields. And, for the most part, willing to commit acts that would probably make most of the other Kinta'ari sick to their fuel tanks.

2. Yes, Cap is waaaaay too happy to "blow stuff up". A little *too* happy if you ask me, but that's just how he is. Or was... oh, whatever. (sorry, I had more written on that, but I don't want ot give it away just yet, in case you haven't read my other fiction, specifically that which references Cap's past.)

3. Cable is still afraid of everything a lot of stuff, and Gunlock suprised me by coming out of his shell a little bit in my headspace. He was actually trying to prove himself worthy of the shadowgaurds, a ruthless and merciless group of seekers who spend their lives skulking the darkened catacombs underneath cybertron. Their covered faces and darkly-colored chassis have been the last thing many a mech has seen. The shadowgaurds also protect the city and it's surrounding areas, and try to scare off any "rifraff" that may try to find their way in.

4. I didn't intend to go into such depths when I wrote the inner workings of the Kinta'ari as a group (or, at least, the military side of them. They have a small military-type group that takes care of different aspects of their protection and getting energy for them, but in reality the majority of the kintaari are neutrals, who have no idea what goes on outside the walls of their underground city.

5. The command center isn't connected directly to the Kintaari city, where most of the Kinta'ari live. It's the base for their military. The actual city houises neutrals and those looking to escape the war. The Kinta'ari are kind of particular about who they allow to join them, however. They don't let just anyone in.

I think that's it. I should have more up soon.

Questions comments and reviews are welcomed. Flames will be redirected to inferno or used by Backdraft to fry unsuspecting Decepticons. :-p