All things considered, Skywarp was doing a pretty good job of looking after Jack, Raf and Miko. At least, as good of a job one could do when in the presence of some of the baddest influences possible to such young minds; Rumble and Frenzy. The two Cassetticon twins had managed to pin down Ravage without Soundwave noticing, and convinced Miko to take a ride on said cyber-cat. Needless to say, she was currently regretting this decision, as Ravage had taken off like a rocket down the many corridors of the ship.
"Honestly Skywarp, I don't how you even let this happen. Weren't you watching them?" Thundercracker said over the comms, as the two brothers scoured the ship for the runaway pair.
"I told you, I WAS watching them!" Skywarp retorted. "I turned my back for one second after getting a message from 'Screamer. Next thing I know, Ravage is screeching like he's been shot, and Miko was riding off into the sunset like a cowboy."
"Cow-boy?" Thundercracker asked in confusion.
"Historic human occupation. I saw some movies about the topic while I was in recovery. I think you'd learn from them, a lot more exciting than those depressing plays you write!"
Thundercracker chose to ignore his brother's remark on his creative abilities, and continued to focus on the task at hand. The blue seeker kept wondering the halls of the Nemesis for a while longer, up until the point he was about to give up.
He rounded a corner, and he saw Skywarp walking towards him.
"I see you havent found them yet." Thundercracker said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, well neither have you, TC." Skywarp retorted.
As the two seekers walked down the main hallway of the ship, with Thundercracker slowing down so that Skywarp could keep up a bit better, that they noticed just how vacant the ship was.
"Boy, the kids sure weren't kidding about this place being empty when they showed up this morning. Usually, we would have passed several patrols by now." Skywarp wondered aloud.
"I can only assume that Megatron gave most of the crew the day off, or something along those lines."
"Ok, so we can't just tell everyone to keep an optic out for Miko and Ravage." Skywarp said, as he leaned against a wall to rest for a moment. "Doesn't Soundwave know how to locate the Cassetticons? Like, with trackers and stuff?"
"He told me he wanted you to clean up this mess whilst he dealt with Rumble and Frenzy."
"Well, isn't that grand. We've been searching the ship for 20 minutes, and we have barely covered this level!" Skywarp lamented.
Thundercracker looked around as he heard footsteps coming down the corridor, and his optics went wide at the sight of the large 'Con that approached, and what he had with him.
"I don't think we have to worry about finding them anymore." Thundercracker said, pointing at the large newcomer, looming over them.
"I believe this one belongs to you, Skywarp." Blackout said, as he held out Miko in his large hand. Skywarp reached out and took her, giving her a comforting smile.
"What in the Sam Hill is going on? First tall silent and creepy tells me about Megatron encountering more Autobots, and now I walk in on a robo-rodeo?" Agent Fowler said from atop Blackout's left shoulder.
"Sorry about that…" Miko said apologetically.
"Blame those twins for this absurd incident." Ravage hissed, as he appeared from behind the large helicopter-former.
Thundercracker rolled his optics, and started to walk away to whatever he was up to before being dragged into this.
Skywarp began to walk as well, with the rest in tow. "Now, let's get you all back to the bridge. I hear the situation on the ground is worsening." he said.
Breakdown stirred from his stasis, shifting on the crudely built slab he was placed on. The last thing he remembered was the ugly mug of the Autobot second in command, and being knocked out. He moved his body into a sitting position, legs hung over the side of the makeshift bed. Looking around, he saw that the cell he was in was just barely holding together, with what appeared to be an interrogation table in the middle of the enclosed room, a single light hanging down over it.
The door to the 'cell' opened, and in stepped a large, hulking mech in dark purple and yellow paint. Bulkhead walked over to the interrogation table, and sat down, placing two containers of energon down as well. He looked up, his optics meeting Breakdown's, as he gestures for him to come and sit down. Slowly, Breakdown stood up and went over to the table with caution, well aware of what his Autobot counterpart is capable of.
Sitting down, he took a sip out of his cup, as Bulkhead did the same.
"Still a bot of few words I see." Breakdown observed. The Wrecker simply shrugged, and took another swig of his drink.
"Ultra Magnus thinks I'm plenty intimidating without talking." Bulkhead responded.
"So, I'm guessing that's why you're here?" Breakdown asked.
Bulkhead shifted, resting his servos on the table, and leaned in.
"You know just as well as everybot that I'm not the most gentle of mechs." Bulkhead said. "But we both know Jazz wont hold back when trying to get what intel he wants, so I'm here to give you a chance. Think of this as an easy way out."
The two sat in silence for a few more minutes, finishing off their drinks. The stillness of the room was occasionally interrupted by muffled shouting, probably from Ultra Magnus.
"And the others?" Breakdown inquired.
"Being taken care of." said Bulkhead as he got up. The Wrecker collected the now empty cups, and made his way out of the room.
Peering out from behind the rock pile he was using for cover, Starscream saw well over two dozen Autobots firing at the small team of Decepticons. Clouds of dust were gathering from laser blasts breaking away at the rocky walls of the large cave system the were within, making visibility awfully low.
"I might have a plan, but you are not going like it!" Starscream shouted over the constant gunfire.
"You 'might' have a plan?!" Steve yelled back, ducking out of the way of some falling rocks that had come loose.
"Just do it, Starscream!" Megatron shouted over his fusion cannon, the loudest gun currently in use during the battle.
The red seeker, leaned out from his position of cover, and eyed up where the Autobots were fiing from. He could just about make out the upper catwalk where the cave opened up, to what he could only assume was their base of operations. He stretched out his right arm, and aimed it at one of the support beams for the enemy structure, and from his servo he fired what would normally not be used in such a confined space. His aim was true, and the missile roared down the length of the cave, causing a large explosion on impact. The cries of the Autobots echoed throughout the cavern, and the small team of Decepticons began their advance.
Moving as swiftly as they could over the piles of rock, dead or unconscious bodies, and twisted metal, Megatron and his team made it to the entrance. As the dust and debris started to settle, Airachnid noticed two figures coming at them, and closing in fast. "Look out!" she cried, as Brawn and Cliffjumper appeared, both slamming into Megatron and Starscream at full force. She managed to jump to the side in time, grabbing Steve with her extra limbs and pulling him to safety as well.
Unfortunately, she didn't look back at where she was going, and tripped over a pile of rocks, and the two fell to the ground. After a few moments of dazed confusion, they scrambled to their feet, only to see that Starscream had been knocked to the ground by Cliffjumper, and Megatron was giving a good thrashing to Brawn, the smaller, nigh invincible Autobot now covered in dents and scrapes. With a final blow right square in the face, Brawn went down.
Having seen his comrade go down to the mighty Decepticon leader, Cliffjumper transformed into a black 70's muscle car with red and orange flame decals, a set of faux bull horns on his hood. With a fury of smoke from his tyres, he took off into the main open cavern, running over a few still semi-conscious Autotroopers on his way.
Megatron reached down, his arm around Starscream's frame. The energon-covered seeker shook his head, blinking quickly to bring himself back to clarity. He watched as Steve and Airachnid ran up to them.
"Woah, you ok Starscream?" Steve asked.
"Yes yes, I am quite fine, thank you." the Vosian prince replied, a slight tremble in his voice. He straightened his posture a little, Megatron letting go seeing that his SIC was still in fighting condition, injured as he was.
…
When they finally stepped into the large open cavern that the Autobots had been using, what stood out to them first was the bright sunlight coming down from above, the same hole in the ground that Breakdown had fallen through. Looking around, they also saw what was clearly no ordinary structure lying in this open area. A large metal surface protruded from the far wall of the cave, a faded yet noticeable Decepticon symbol branded onto what was clearly the bow of an old spaceship.
Before anyone could react, a few dozen or so Autobots appeared up on the catwalks and rocky outcroppings of the mining/ salvage operation. A large figure emerged from some chamber of the ruined ship, moving to stand at the head of the bow. The fiery optics of Ultra Magnus stared down with delight at what was before him.
"Well well well," he oiled, "If it isn't Megatron and his band of merry fools."
"Ultra Magnus, I wouldn't have expected Optimus to let you so far out of his sight." Megatron retorted
"Oh trust me, he hasn't. So long as that pit-forsaken Praxian is around, I'm on a tight leash. Thankfully, he isn't here right now." Ultra Magnus said with a grin.
Megatron looked around, taking in the large, most likely mined out cavern.
"And what of this place? You Autobots certainly seem to have been busying yourselves."
Ultra Magnus chuckled, as if to mock the Decepticon leader. "Simply taking what you thought you could hide from us."
Whilst Megatron's distraction had been holding up, the other three were currently brainstorming their escape over the comms network.
/Are we certain this will work?/ Airachnid asked, not liking the sound of this plan so far.
/It is, as Shockwave would say, 'Logical.'/ came Starscream's response.
/Then let's just do this already, I'm not sure how long Megatron can keep 'Ultra Moron' busy./ Steve added. And he was right, Megatron's chit-chat with the enemy commander couldn't go on for much longer.
The large silver mech peered back at his top troops, who he knew could pull this off. The slight nod was all the signal they needed, and they all sprung into action.
Megatron swiftly raised his cannon to Ultra Magnus, the blast just barely missing as the Autobot dove to one side, letting it take out some poor bot stood behind him. Steve and Airachnid started blasting away, taking out each Autotrooper one by one. As they did, they ran for an opening in the ship, going in to find Breakdown. Starscream, even in his unwell state, managed himself to transform and take flight, gunning down the troops stationed on raised platform and the few Autobot fliers.
Ultra Magnus leaped down, slamming into the ground with great force, rattling Megatron a little, but the Decepticon leader managed to stabilize himself. Just in time, too, as Ultra Magnus lunged at him, with his right arm now transformed into a hooked blade. Megatron dodged, and swung his blade towards the Autobot, the two weapons grinding against each other. The two skilled warriors kept up their battle, whilst the mines around them continued their eruption of fighting. Tiring slowly, Megatron realised that this was going to take a while.
The cries of pain finally stopped, as Breakdown fell into stasis once more. Jazz wiped the away the energon with a spare rag as he stepped out of the interrogation room, his crimson bio-lights faintly illuminating the dim hallway. He strode towards the common room of this 'base' of theirs, mulling over what went down in that cell.
Stepping into the better lit common room, he saw Bulkhead and Wheeljack setting up a makeshift barricade at the doorway that led into the central corridor of the ship. Bulkhead simply nodded in acknowledgement of his arrival. The seasoned spy and saboteur reached into a cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of high-grade, and poured himself some in one of Ultra Magnus' personal glasses. He then rested himself down on one of the large 'couch' slabs that had been set up.
"So, that con' give anything up?" Wheeljack said, leaning a heavy rifle against the haphazardly constructed defences.
"Nah, that mech ain't givin up a thing." Jazz replied, taking a sip from his glass.
"So are you gonna just sit there, or are ya gonna help us prepare for those 'Cons outside?" Wheeljack asked, sitting himself on a chair next to the barrier.
Jazz grinned, saying, "You know I'm always prepared to throw down with the 'Cons, my mech. I'm sure the three of us will handle it like a piece of oil cake."
"Hopefully," Bulkhead grunted, as he practiced his wrecking-ball techniques on a training dummy in the far corner.
"You sure U.M. ain't gonna be mad at us for staying behind while he takes on Megs and the rest of them?" Jazz asked.
"Dont worry about it." Wheeljack said confidently, "Old Barnacle Bottom and Hoist are watching over the ship, just in case we need a quick get away. Not like we need this hole in the ground anymore anyways, now that we-"
"Shhh" Jazz shushed the Wrecker, placing a finger up to signify so. His impeccably toned sensors had picked up something coming their way, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
…
Now that they had fought off the few Autobots that had chased after them, Steve and Airachnid were keeping quiet in the old ship, trying not to let themselves get caught be some random Autobot passing by. Slowly maneuvering themselves down what seemed to be the main corridor of the old and decrepit ship, they spotted a light coming from a room that's door had been left open, but had seemingly been barricaded up. The sound of bots talking suddenly ceased, leaving the empty hallways deathly quiet.
Suddenly, a dark figure leaped over the barrier, and started wailing away at the two Decepticons. Jazz had first thought that he had heard other Autobots outside, but with the way it sounded, there was no mistaking it for somebody sneaking around.
Jazz had always been known as a one-bot-army, even without being a special build, simply having trained his skills for all his life to be one thing; the best at what he does.
Blades extended from his forearms, sticking out a good few feet from his hands, as he began to slice at the Decepticon intruders, his expression hidden behind his now activated battle mask. Thankfully for Steve, he had encountered the Autobots' top special operations mech many times during the war, and had always gotten his aft handed to him. There was no beating Jazz, you just simply prayed he'd find a more important target than you. The common belief amongst most Decepticons was that the only reason so few bots were at the top of the Autobots, was because they were the few who were quite possibly indestructible.
"Tell ya what 'con. Give it up, and we let you and your Stunticon friend go, he's already given us everything we need." Jazz grunted, deflecting Steve's punches.
"You always were awful at bluffing" Steve retorted sharply, as he landed a hit right in his opponents face. Jazz's visor cracked, an even brighter red glow coming from his optical sensors beneath.
…
Unfortunately for Airachnid, she had been left to deal with the two Wreckers on her own at this point. After leaping over the barrier, kicking Wheeljack down in the process, she dodged Bulkhead's rust towards her, narrowly missing his wrecking balls. She spun around just in time to see the big buy trip over Wheeljack.
"Fraggit Bulk, move!" He shouted, trying to shove Bulkhead off of him. Annoyed at this setback he started to fire sporadically at Airachnid. The rounds whizzed by the spider-former, a few lucky shots hitting her frame, as she maneuvered on her extra legs. Having spent his mag, Wheeljack now had to reload. Airachnid took this as the perfect opportunity to disable them for good. From her wrists and extra limbs, she wove a strong web around the two, made easier by the fact that Bulkhead had been knocked into statis, and by no surprise after hitting his head on the ground so had when he first went down.
She ran down the hall, checking every room, and hoping that Steve could hold of Jazz by himself. She raced through the ship, or what she could get access to, but no luck so far. Down at the end of a darkened hallway, she found the final room, and what she felt disgust and relief at what she found inside. Breakdown, strapped down in chains on some slab of metal, drops of dried energon over his frame.
But he was still venting, still alive. And it seemed like he was waking up.
The large mech looked up, taking notice of Airachnid using some kind of acid to burn through the chains. He rubbed his wrists of there soreness, and checked himself over.
"You good to walk? Might have to run, too." Airachnid asked, hurriedly helping Breakdown to his feet.
"Whatever it takes to get out of this scrap heap." He replied, as the two took off as fast as they could.
Megatron, if he was being honest, couldn't count the number of times he had fought against Ultra Magnus. Not because it was too many to be worthwhile, or too few to be insignificant, he would just rather not dignify such a cowardly and devious warrior the very thought of remembering such things. One thing he did always remember however, was how much of a pain if the aft he was.
The equally sized Ultra Magnus slammed into Megatron once more, and Megatron retaliated with a blade to his frame, right over his spark. On any other average soldier, of either faction, death would be instant. That's one thing he remembered, and hated, the most about Ultra Magnus. If Optimus' rumored intense 'reprimanding' had not gotten the oversized-glitch off-lined at this point, then surely, how could anyone?
Jumping back, Ultra Magnus got to a safe enough range once more, and transformed his arms into blasters, and began firing away at Megatron. The damage was minimal, but the impact was throwing the Decepticon leader off balance the longer this went on for. Then. he had an idea.
Megatron transformed, shifting himself into his new M1 Abrams tank mode, the best thing Fowler could find for his size and T-Cog costrictions. A major advantage of this mode, was his fusion cannon and turret merging into one singular, more powerful gun.
"Ha!, You look ridiculous in that primitive form, Megatron. I thought you could do better than that!" Ultra Magnus taunted, a laugh accompanying his maniacal grin.
Megatron had had enough, and charged him, his treads kicking up a cloud of dust. He aimed his turret, and fired right at Ultra Magnus, who was not laughing anymore. The glowing red fusion-enhanced shell struck Ultra Magnus, who was sent flying on impact, as the explosive was loud enough to be heard over the constant gunfire of other skirmishes.
He transformed again, just in time to see Steve and Airachnid with Breakdown.
"Are you alright, Breakdown?" Megatron asked, seeing as he was worse for ware.
"I'll manage, let's just get out of here." He replied.
"Best not to overstay our welcome I suppose." Megatron said.
/Starscream, come on. We are leaving./ Megatron said over the comms.
/Understood, sir./ Starscream replied, shooting down the last of his aerial opponents. He returned to ground, and they made a break for the exit before any Autobots could catch up with them.
As soon as they exited the cave, Megatron went for his comms once more.
/Soundwave, we require a ground bridge./
And as soon as the command was finished being spoken, the familiar green swirling portal opened up before them, and they made their way through.
After everyone had gotten through, Soundwave shut off the ground bridge. Breakdown was in a bad spot, energon still leaking in some places, leaving a trail of neon blue on the floor of the Nemesis' bridge. Miko had to only look once at Breakdown to feel a sense of dread, of horror of what the Autobots were capable of. She had only met Skywarp long after his injuries. But the young humans were never going to be spared seeing the full damage of war on a galactic scale. She jumped down from where she was sitting with Jack and Raf, and rushed over to her recently-appointed guardian.
"Breakdown?..." She asked solemnly, now seeing the details of his wounds up close.
"Don't you worry about me, Miko. It'll take more than a few dents to take out this 'Con." Breakdown said, smiling reassuringly at his human charge.
He reached down, much to the protest of Airachnid saying how he shouldn't stress himself, and picked up Miko in his hands. Then, Airachnid led Breakdown to the medbay, where she was certain to get a stern talking to from his mate.
Starscream, still battered after the skirmish, went and sat down on what seemed to be a Cybertronian couch, tucked away in the back corner near to the human's elevated platform.
"Are you alright Starscream? You look like you should go see Knockout too." Raf spoke up, looking over the air commander. Starscream looked over to the human, who was sitting on the platform next to him.
"I'm quite alright, really. It certainly could have been worse. Besides, Breakdown is far more injured than myself, I'd rather not have the good doctor rushing to fix us both." Starscream said.
"So, there's only one medic out of everyone on board?" Jack asked, as he set aside home of his homework he had been working on.
"Well, not exactly. Breakdown, of course, is Knockout's medical assistant. I suppose at this point 'Nurse,' would be a better fitting title. Then there's Hook, one of the Constructicons. However, they are away with a team gathering resources, and I'd rather not call him back for something relatively minor." Starscream replied.
"Ya' know, Screamer here is a doctor, too." Skywarp butted in, flopping down next to his brother. "Well, not in the medical sense, but he was a chemist before the war. Ran his own research centre and everything." the purple seeker finished.
"Woah. Royalty, head of a scientific base, Air Commander. Just what haven't you been?" Raf asked curiously. Starscream just laughed nervously, never one to try and brag about his well accomplished life.
…
Megatron sat himself down in his chair once more, and started writing up a report of the mission for agent Fowler to review and pass on to his superiors, as well for the records. He knew it was a very boring task, but all that time he spent with Orion Pax and Ariel in the Hall of Records, he caught on to the idea of keeping track of everything. He was pulled out of his work a few minutes later, by a very energetic Steve, who was with Soundwave at his terminal.
"Sir, do we have good news for you!" Steve said cheerfully, as Megatron approached the station they had been working at.
"Mhm, and what might that be?" Megatron asked, looking over the clearly encrypted files on Soundwave's monitor.
"Well, when we were inside that old ship, and after I had taken care of Jazz, I found one of the Autobots' terminals and started going through them. I didn't have time to crack the code myself, so I downloaded most of them, and took pictures of whatever was left. As soon as Airachnid came by with Breakdown, I knew it was time to book it."
"And is there any indication as to what information these files hold, Soundwave?" Megatron asked, watching as the silent communications officer was fully patched in with his extra cables, typing away frantically.
It took a few minutes, but soon enough Soundwave's face screen lit up green, and a few beeps were heard from the monitor, as the encrypted Autobot files started to fall away, revealing plain Cybertronian text. And it was more than just that. Diagrams, blueprints, logistical strategies, even galactic star charts, all started to appear on screen. Plans for a technology that none of them had ever seen before.
"Soundwave, what is that?…" Steve asked, a little confused by the sheer amount of information there was to take in.
"Observation: Plans for large-scale quantum warp drive." Soundwave responded.
At the mention of the device, everyone finally knew what exactly these were plans for.
"Oh you have GOT to be fragging kidding me!" Skywarp replied, as he hastily limped over to the console, leaving his cane behind in his hurry.
"What's up with him?" Jack asked to Starscream.
"A quantum warp drive is what allowed Skywarp to perform his unique ability. No-one has ever been able to replicate such a system though." Starscream replied, taken aback as well by the Autobot intel.
Skywarp starting scanning past all the technical jargon that he didn't bother trying to understand, but taking notice of just how similar these plans were to his own warp core.
"Hey, any clues on who made all this Sounders?" Skywarp said. Suddenly, he found himself being physically shushed, Soundwave pressive his left hand against his face.
"Command: Don't call me that. Observation: Plans are shown to be devised by Autobot scientist and weapons producer Brainstorm." Soundwave finished.
Skywarp was absolutely livid now, his usually chill demeanor turned into a fit of rage at the name of that accursed Autobot.
Megatron took notice of Skywarp's change in mood. He placed his large hand on his shoulder.
"Skywarp, please. Perhaps you should sit down before-" But it was too late. Skywarp slapped away Megatron's hand, giving the Decepticon leader a bit of a shock. Skywarp, doing exactly what Knockout had advised against, activated his thrusters, not transforming, and hovered swiftly out of the bridge, punching a large dent in the doorframe.
He didn't make it far however, as those on the bridge saw as he suddenly dropped out of the air, and sprawled out on the floor, writhing in pain.
Thundercracker, having been coming to the bridge to welcome back Starscream after his mission, watched as his brother hit the floor just as he came around the corner. He quickly rushed over to him, grabbing him in his arms. His optics were dark, he was clearly out cold, and his violet bio-lights were starting to dim out.
Starscream ran over to his brothers, helping Thundercracker lift him up, memories coming back to him of the medical emergency that befell them when they first arrived to Earth.
"Primus, what did you do that…" Starscream mumbled, as Thundercracker and himself carried him away to the medbay once again.
A crash was heard, along with a yelp, and fumes of smoke started to pour out from underneath the quantum warp core. "Frag-frag-frag-frag-frag." The grease and smoke covered scientist said quickly, crawling out from the service hatch in the side of his creation.
"Here, catch." The femme sitting nearby said, tossing over a fire extinguisher.
He caught it, barely, and began spraying it, putting out the large 'small' fire he had accidentally let happen.
Brainstorm took out a rag from his subspace, and wiped down the grime from his dark purplish-blue paintwork, even polishing his face mask some. Exhausted from a day of hard work, he sat himself down at the worktable in the middle of the engine room of the Lost Light. Sitting across from him was Nautica, painted in yellow with streaks of white and purple, and red optics.
She slid a small flask of engex over to him, and taking off his facemask, he graciously took a swig or two from. Afterwards, he passed the flask back to his fellow scientist.
"I'm sure we can get it fixed one of these days." Nautica said reassuringly, placing a hand on Brainstorm's. The two of them still looking over the still smoking mess.
"I know," he replied, "but, slaggit, at the rate Magnus is scavenging resources from this Pit of a planet, it might be years before we can generate enough power to even jump-start the warp drive."
"So long as the Decepticons keep messing up his operations planetside, it will certainly take longer than we hoped."
Brainstorm, in a not too unusual random act of genius stood up, and started pacing around the quantum warp drive, examining all its components.
"Of course, it just might work!" He said cheerfully.
He practically ealped back over to Nautica, and taking her hands, helped her up and started to semi-dance around with her. "It's so simple, I dont get why we didn't think of it sooner!"
Nautica laughed, no stranger to Brainstorm's unusual outbursts such as this one.
"And what might that be?" She asked, always curious of what went on in that computing-module of his.
"We've been thinking too big. But to truly get the bigger picture, we have to think smaller." Brainstorm said, hastily running calculations in his head.
"If we can reproduce it on a smaller scale, it wouldn't take up as much to build and power it." he continued, as he raced over to the worktable, packing up his supplies, and re-cuffing his briefcase to his left wrist.
"Come on, science waits for no-bot!" Brainstorm cried, as he dashed out of the engine room, Nautica casing after him.