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| - Summary: The track down Guiltor's resurrection ship, and a massive battle ensues as the Decepticons and Autobots try to destroy it. Will they succeed, or do the Quintessons have one more surprise in store for them? Autobot and EDC craft aggressively patrol the airspace over Mexico, the U.S., and Canada, and for good reason. The richness of military and commercial air traffic cutting across the well-behaved jetstreams makes this a prime area for plunder. Most of the weather actions this high up come from the occasional supercell thunderstorm billowing up over Tornado Alley of the midwestern U.S., and from hurricanes over the Caribbean. The extreme northern reaches of the Yukon are coated in snow, the white marching down the spine of the Rockies while rain clouds obscure the Pacific Northwest. At night, the entire eastern and southwestern seaboards light the night skies, the light pollution proclaiming humanity's industrial success. Guiltor appears to be soaring into the atmosphere, fists held out in front of him. His boot jets leave a white trail of smoke which quickly dissipates in his wake, but the monstrous robot does not appear to expect anyone following him. Sweepcraft soars through the darkening North American sky. Evening creeps across the continent and the creepiest Sweep of all is on the hunt with the other purple people eaters. Voidcraft (Arachnae) flies close enough to Geist to 'surf' his wave, akin to a flock of geese as it were. Moisture trails off of the points of Cyclonus' wingtips as he climbs into the sky; the altimeter on his hud ticking off the thousands of feet. His turbines are at a lazy five percent -- barely stroking the sound barrier as he follows Arachnae and Geist -- saying nothing as he observes, permitting those who are reputed as trackers to do the work themselves. Sweepcraft is out tracking with the other Sweeps, doing as he has been bidden--find the notorious Guiltor. His sensors sweep the area with precision, and he hopes it won't be long before they close in on the quarry. The events of the past few days have angered the Sweep, making this personal. Guiltor continues to accelerate, unconcerned about what may be in store for him today. Then, he ducks behind a cloud and... he's gone. The cloud dissipates, revealing nothing. Is he gone? Vanished? Teleported away? It's not often that Scourge leads his sweeps on tracking missions. He has full confidence in his unit's abilities to find anything, anywhere, at anytime. It's even rarer that such a mission would bring the Alpha Huntsmen all the way back to Earth from a sabbatical on Cybertron. However, Guiltor is no average mech. Guiltor is a mech that has attempted some sort of psychological warfare on one of HIS Sweeps. No matter their profile to the rest of the Empire, the Sweeps are still very much HIS unit and anyone bit man, beast, or machine that plays with the mind of his own earns his ire. So flying from Cybertron, and re-entering earth's atmosphere without heralding his arrival, the gleaming and majestic form of Scourge in his mech form slicing through the blue Terran skies as he catches up to his unit, tracking this..thing. Voidcraft (Arachnae) wingovers, skimming from one side of Geist, around theback to the other. She ping-signals the group, "Lost visual. Anyone picking up anything on other bandwidths?" The adopt-a-sweep keeps her flight position behind Geist, using limited telemetry to 'poke' at the cloudcover. Bringing up the rear as he is, Cyclonus remains even more quiet than usual -- very, very good about letting the sweeps do their job. Even when his brother is detected and later comes into visual range he makes no offering -- flying off of Arachnae's left wing. It is only when Guiltor dissapears that the glow of fusion turbines towards the starfighter's aft end intensifies and he begins to move towards the head of the pack. "Find him." He orders, simply. "Use all available options, all available scanning equipment. He has been known to use holographics in the past, and the situation is ideal for their deployment." Sweepcraft transmits over the group frequency: "Welcome, Alpha Tracker. You have selected quite the prey to rejoin the hunt for." Then in reply to Arachnae: "Not yet... let us alter to match last known course at diminished velocity? Scanners to full." Geist sweeps the area. "Greetings, my Pack-Leader. It has been far too long," Sweepcraft says, almost too enthusiastically. "I shall do as you say." When the visual contact is lost, he seems to still be picking up faint signals, so he concentrates on his most sensitive scanning equipment, paying particular attention to anything anomalous. Something is there, all right. He knows it is. Finding it will be easy, once pinpointed. Sunder sweeps the area. Scourge transmits across his unit's personal frequency, his voice thick and low: "Thank you Geist, and greetings to you as well Sunder." a pleasnt rumble in his voice before he continues: "I've recieved reports of this individual attempting to interfere with one of my Sweeps. The last time I checked, the only two that were accorded that were Cyclonus here, and our dear Lord Emperor. Anyone else with the misguided notion that they can supplant that..." he pauses thoughtfully, "...earn my ire. However, I understand our role in this operation is only to aquire and track the target?" Voidcraft (Arachnae) shifts position once more, vectoring out of the paths of those scanning. The hybrid craft's engines keep a steady glow. Ramping up her lilited systems to standard then overclocking them, she knows she can't 'see' what the others can in this form. Across the tight-beam she replies softly, "Greetings and felicitations, sir." It is Cyclonus who responds to Scourge, leaning slightly on his eastern wing to drift away from Arachnae and come up alongside of his 'brother'. "Correct, Scourge. The object of this particular venture is to track him to his base of operations. He must have a location from which he is generating new bodies." He falls silent for a moment and then leans hard on his west wing, perscribing an arc around the small group of Decepticons. "Too much talk, not enough tracking. Find him!" Sweepcraft picks up anomolous readings and processes them. He transmits: "Something cloaked, bearing 23 degrees off my port side. Moving slow." Voidcraft (Arachnae) pulls up sharply, knowing she can make up any lost 'ground' with hard engine burns and transforms. Wings span out as she steps up all systems, pivoting in mid air in order to perform her own 'sweep'-scan. "As you command, sir." response ovr tight beam, attenton focusing on parsing the streams of telemetry and data she's now opened herself up to. Wind speed, humidity, burn trails. Her visor gleams crimson as she focuses on all sensory input, letting folks move on ahead. She'll catch up when or if she gets anything to report. Scourge dips the according wing that's closest to Cyclonus in an unspoken greeting between the two. Letting that be the end of that for now, he turns his head to the assembled sweeps and narrows his eyes. He hears Geist, and points his arm and extends a taloned finger in that specific direction. "You heard Cyclonus, Sweeps! Track and triangulate - reverse diamond formation. Arachnae, calculate his extended sensor range if possible and stay half again away from it. Let's earn our energon, Huntsmen. MOVE!" as he falls back a little wanting to see how they move and respond to his commands. "As you command, my Pack-Leader," Sweepcraft replies, and moves into the correct position in the formation, on one of the leading edges. He's eager to take down this prey, and wastes no time carrying out his orders. As the Sweeps get closer to the last known location of Guiltor, they might notice a shimmering in the air that would go unnoticed by most people. And they may hear the thrumming engines of a Quintesson warship... Not outfitted with the same sort of detection equipment that the sweeps are, Cyclonus does not yet see the vessel in question. Though his attention is certainly focused outwards. Sometimes, the Eyeball Mark 1 is a very useful scanning device. "Report?" He asks, after notice of the cloaked target is heard. "Pursue and identify. Do not assault." Sweepcraft banks and repositions to his spot in the formation. His fuel is pumping just a little faster with the game recovered and the collective comes together to make work of the elusive enemy. He transmits : "Honing... patience... closing..." Arachnae is now the slowest, not being in an aircraft mode, but she's moving after the herd. Wings remain half unfurled, visor a glittering golden-crimson as sensors ramp up to full. Even the clouds are neat in this state of being. "Monitoring a rhythmic pulsing on lower subsonic ranges, cross referencing with known engine signatures." Flick of talons as if cycling through a vid-screen menu only she can see. "Getting a dynamic match to several variences listed in the main codex. Sending the frequency range and position now. Some variences in the athmosphere causing cross-signal chatter so might want to filter for a humidity factor of 4 and a solar-flare pattern epsilon if you're turning on any long range sensory equipment." The object isn't moving along very quickly, but every single indication that the Sweeps can get out of it suggests it is a Quintesson warship. Scourge looks to the location, "Be careful Sweeps - we're dealing with something of Quintesson manufacture here. Cyclonus, you might want to sound genral quarters. My Huntsmen can track and terminate most any quarry - unfortuntely we're not dealing with that anymore." Scourge's wariness of the target is raised by subtle transformations in his mech configuration that make him a little more battle-ready: The sound of weapons being loaded and the slight whine of secondary power systems coming online. "Continue to track the target, but recalculate the sensor range for Quintesson craft and stay a full measure of it away from that thing: I don't want it to know you're following him." Sweepcraft complies, though not out of fear of Quintessons. This is business, and business is goooood. He is patient and will wait for reinforcements. He transmits: "All wronged shall partake in this feast." He eases back, keeping sensors locked. "Follow the orders of Scourge." states Lord Cyclonus. "As distasteful as it may be, we will require more renforcements than we may comfortably permit to assault such a vessel. Stay at maximum range and track it. I will be back..... with the Cavalry. Scourge, keep your anger contained until I return." He banks away then, fusion turbines punching as he accelerates. Sweepcraft acknowleges his Pack-Leader's and Cyclonus' commands and calculates precisely the distance he needs to leave between himself and the now obviously Quintesson craft. He's quivering with excitement, waiting for the reinforcements to arrive. Arachnae's sensors pick up the rapidly expansive distance between her and the others. A shake of her head, a muttered, "Got to get those cross-wired.' And she transforms, hightailing it to get into the position as orderd. MEANWHILE Guiltor waits on the bridge of the Quintesson ship, sitting in his command chair, fingers tapping lightly across his armrests. His optics gleam with an evil light. "Mine... Cybertron... MINE... It was to be MINE!..." A single-faced Quintesson crewmember glances at him, but only dares to do so for a brief moment. Decepticon Shuttle soars in from the skies to the southwest. The Sweeps are flying a course at a 'relaxed' velocity as they keep track of a cloaked Quintesson vessel. Geist transmits to the group: "Has a course of revenge been contemplated, Arachnae?" From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught flies the shuttle toward the vast bulk of the Argosy as it makes it seemigly leisurely way toward the North American content before taking up a position to the right of the massive ship and throttling back the negines to match relative speed with it. He then engages the autopilot and turns again to regard the Decepticons behind him. "We are to maintain a state of readiness as we will most likely be in the thick of it. Vortex, you're with me. You two are to stay with each other once the combat begins." From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught gestures at Dreadwind and Compile when he says "you two". From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile looks and blinks, "What about me Onsy?" he asks. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind is sat at his console his attention is focused on enemy detection after all he knows it's coming. They're waiting, just outside scanner range until everyone is drawn in close enough and then BLAM it'll all go to hell, then the screaming of agony and terror will start, the beginning of the end. Without looking away from the instrument panel, "Great another partner, i hope at least this one isn't as cheery as Darkwing." Decepticon Airbase soars in from the skies to the southeast. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught shoots a glance at Dreadwind's outpouring of negativity before he turns to look toward Compile. "When the orders come through, Compile, you are to be cover Dreadwind as he will be covering you. Vortex will be with me." He gives Vortex a nod before turning to look at Dreadwind and Compile. "Intercooperation is necessary to the success in any combat. Any rogue actions that are undertaken may, indeed, spell doom for us...is that clear, Dreadwind?" Decepticon Airbase rumbles up alongside the Conquest, but maintains a respectful distance for now. It is trying to remain within the clouds to reduce the chances of it being spotted. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind sighs heavily, "Great so i'm being stuck with someone that hasn't got the most basic knowledge of working in tandem with another, he'll probably end up being scrapped in the first fusillade of fire and i'll get the blame." From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught turns away from Dreadwind, returning to face the control panel, as he alters the Conquest II's course to close with it and conceal itself in the cloud layer as well. "If you do your duty, Dreadwind, the blame will not be yours. However choosing to disregard your orders will most certainly result in trouble." From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile looks at Dreadwind, "Well, this will be fun," he states to him as he looks back at Onsy and nods, "Anythign you say." and he looks up at Dreadwind, "You know how to pilot a shuttle?" he asks. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind turns his cold almost dead optics on Compile, "Why would i need to know that? It is superfluous knowledge at best, besides do you know just how much effort it takes to learn the controls and regulations." He looks at Onslaught for a moment before turning back to his console, "Yeah i'd never get the blame for us being wiped out and returning the sole survivor..." Sweepcraft listens obediently to Cyclonus' order regarding the Autobots. Given Guiltor's tendency to go for both factions, it made sense to temporarily employ their assistance to take the Quintesson-Spawn down. He doesn't enjoy working with his foes--they are all prey to him, after all--but if Lord Cyclonus orders it, so be it. The moment of Guiltor's come-uppance is close at hand; he can almost taste it. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught glances over at Dreadwind, matching optics with the other, before turning and slowly shaking his head as he makes a slight adjustment in the Conquest II's course. "With that attitude, Dreadwind, you are liable to become the first casualty." He ceases talking as he stares throug the viewport for a moment, as if recieving a transmission from an unseen source, before giving a brief nod and turning to look around the other two. "We are docking with the Argosy. Prepare for battle." Onslaught then turns to the pilot's console and brings the shuttle in for docking. Decepticon Shuttle has left. Decepticon Shuttle enters the Decepticon Airbase . Autobot Superjet blasts into the are at his usual hypersonic speeds, for once carrying a load of Autobots. He seems to be following the Argosy's trail easily, as if all of his atmospheric scanning and sensor work now allows him to detect where in the skies it has travelled. <>, he transmits to the Autobots inside. <> Decepticon Shuttle exits the Decepticon Airbase . Guiltor leans over a single-faced Quintesson on the command bridge, watching events unfold outside of his ship. "Excellent, they're all here... Soon I will... I will rule Cybertron." His optics twitch. "What did you say?" Snaptrap queries, stepping up from behind him. "Nothing," Guiltor says. "Let us go and greet our... guests." Snaptrap gives Guiltor a suspicious look, but follows him off of the bridge nonetheless. MEANWHILE Tramortis, on another Quintesson ship, rubs tentacles together, chuckling to himself. "What is Guiltor doing?" Delicious demands, hovering up beside him. "He's becoming more and more erratic and..." "Hush, my friend!" Traumortis says. "Now. Watch closely..." He points at a tactical display as it fills with contacts. Cyclonus is keeping his distance from the Quintesson vessel as his little Armada forms itself. Stardrive is barely ticking over; a holding pattern flown as he waits. Once Jetfire is detected he opens up his communications to both the Autobots and the Decepticons. "Autobots, Decepticons. The battle plan is simple. We begin the attack from the outside, follow the lead of the sweeps if you cannot see the vessel. Once the cloak has been brought down, all available firepower -- from myself, brother Scourge, the Sweeps and even you, Jetfire, will target the first hangar door seen. From there, we will board the vessel while the Argosy draws exterior fire." There is a pause, and he apparently decides that there are no questions going to be asked. "Decepticons ...... Attack!" Sideswipe having trounced Jazz at a game of Thumb-War, Sideswipe has claimed the foremost seat inside of Jetfire, the red Mech currently inclines the pilot's char as far back as it will allow him, feet kicked up upon the left console as he watches the Argosy come into view as well as perhaps the Quint ship? "You really have to get some in-flight movies rigged up, Jetfire.. or maybe some stewerdess droids. You know, something to liven up the interior here!" suggests Sideswipe. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind sighs, "Well thing will start happening soon seeing as the Autobots are here so we'd best get to the escape hatches, it'll save time for when we're shot down." With that Dreadwind stands up casting a last look at the scanners before trudging to the nearest hatch. Scourge has coordinated with his own forces and the Autobot forces on strategy and placement. Now the is the time for action! He transforms into his Sweepcraft mode and radios to his Sweeps personal frequency: "The attack is to commence! Let us paint the target for our fellow Deepticons and those repugnant Autobots!" Sheng taps her sheilded talons in a slow pattern on her knee, watching the scanners that she can see. Working with the Decepticons... That gives an idea of teh threat level this Guiltor has been ranked. Oh blast, Scourge was here. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught turns around sharply in his chair as Dreadwind stands up and begins to stride toward the hatch. "Remain in position, Dreadwind! We have been given the order to attack. I am lifting off the ship now." He turns back to his control panel and, after pressing a series of buttons, engages the shuttles engines and flies out of the docking bay toward the rest of the Decepticon formation. Once they are clear he turns to look at Dreadwind again briefly. "You may leave the shuttle and engage outside now, if you wish to escape from more confined spaces. Compile, you go with him. I will attack with the shuttle." Sweepcraft fires his thrusters, gaining attack velocity at the commands given. He cackles darkly as he advances and opens his weaponry ports. His deep cackling grows more and more intense as he opens fire on the 'invisible' ship. Standing on the bridge of Jetfire's shuttle-form, Jazz looks down at the various computer read-outs in front of him. "Alrighty. Check it! Jetfire come to a heading of 325 123.912 MARK Alpha-Beta-Three. We have to stay outside the Quints' sensor range. Slow the shuttle down to cruise for now. Ya dig? Turning around, Jazz looks to the assembled bunch of Autobots in the cabin, "Everyone lock and load. The 'Cawns are gonna blast that freakin' thing open so we can do the inside work. Guiltor is who we're lookin' for. Remember...no blowin' up the bad guys today." Voidcraft (Arachnae) surges forward, on the proverbial heels of her chosen team. From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile looks at Dreadwind, "You pansy," he says. "If we die fighting the Quints, than it is an honorable death. Plus if we take the Autobots with is, think of how we will be rememebred within the Empire. However, I owe Guiltor an aft whooping and I am sure we all can take turns. Besides, if we can get the technology that is makign him survive, than we can use it to make more Decepticons to take on the bots." Peacekeeper rumbles softly as she largely ignores the Red Twin and his usual antics, tapping her foot as she waits for the travel to end and get to the rondevous point. She checks over her weapons, going through the typical pre-battle checklist, and nods once to Jazz. "Acknowledged," she states neutrally as she charges up her rifle's power-cell. Autobot Superjet engages his retro-rockets, decelerating with roller-coaster force that would make a human dizzy from g-forces. <> he announces to the Autobots inside after the fact. But then he goes on. <> His turrets swivel down, and he also opens a series of cargo hatches and weapons bays on his underside, and prepares to pass over are the Decepticons start shooting in. He's hoping that his passengers can contribute their own firepower to the cause even while riding inside of him. Sheng just stays put. Her ranged weaponry is limited in any case, and dropping the sheilds over her talons now would just cause more problems then they solved. Without realising it, she is thinking along the same lines of Compile in a few matters. "Open season on the Quintessons and the mech wiht Optimus' helm and face, but not the Decepticons. Understood." From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught accelerates the shuttle to combat speed, attempting to keep up with the rest of the Deception and Autobot formation, as he too primes the weapons systems of the conquest for battle. At the front of the ship two verical panels slide down, reavealing two quad barreled laser cannons, along with two rocker batteries that slide out and lock into place on either side of the shuttle. As Geist fires upon the Quintesson ship, they seem to realize that there's not much point in running the cloak anymore, and it deactivates, revealing a massive corkscrew warship, with several odd, bulbous metal objects attached to the hull in several locations. But that's not all. Two additional Quintesson warships decloak as well. Wrapped around these Quintesson ships are numerous odd, metallic creatures, which detach from the ships like angry hornets from their nest. It's a bizarre assortment of flying, aquatic metal monsters, and most notable among are the huge lamprey mechs. One lamprey flies by the Argosy, lashing its hull with its glowing fins, and fire erupts from the strike. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind looks at Compile with nothing but depression, "Oh death, it is unlikely that that will happen, much more likely that we'll be maimed and left for dead so we can feel our lives slipping slowly towards the final shutdown. Of course that's what we need, more cheerily psychotic Decepticons, urgh it doesn't bear thinking about. Oh and Onslaught there is never escape from anything, we'll be needed to enter the breach, most likelty in a suicide dive, if we even survive that long." Sweepcraft surges forward rapidly upon the issuance of the "attack" command. And he doesn't hold anything back. He fires his plasma cannons, intending to melt that ship down--or at least punch a decent-sized hole into it. From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile looks and smirks, "Well, that means the bombs I have made I cna set off to end all of us if that happens Dreadwind." From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile begins work on a dangerous explosive device. Almost being dropped from the sudden decrease in speed, Jazz grins, "Eassy there!!! Take it easy!! Hold up!" The Autobot speaks to Jetfire like a cowboy riding a horse. Glancing to the shuttle's weapons system panel, Jazz nods with approval. "Alright...looks like we have enough laser cannons for everyone. Take a position up on each of them. Jetfire will light the target up for ya'll so we can work together to open that hunk-a-junk up. Ya dig? It's no Superfortress, but it's kinda like a scene from Memphis Belle. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind says, "Oh great." The sudden deacceleration has Sideswipe wedged somwhere between the dashboard and the canopy, contorted in a way that is painful and embaressing. "You're a laugh riot...anyone ever tell you that, Jetfire?" grumbles Sideswipe as he tumbles free, sent sprawling without dignity to the deck. Weapons fire quickly quells the Lambor-twin's jockularious actions. Soon his rifle is in hand and he's at the bay door, a hand keeping him firmly onboard as he peppers the outside with laser fire, picking his shots rarely and more just letting loose with a wild barrage of fire. Cyclonus does not hesitate. As soon as his order to attack is given his fission drives power from five percent to a hundred and twenty; waste radiation dumped into the atmosphere in the form of a pale purple spike of energy. So quickly does he accelerate that a shockwave builds behind him, but that is no matter. He is streaking forward; assessing the tactical situation as his forward plasma weapons come online. Magenta streaks of energy lash out not for the ship, but for the lamprey-like creatures. "Units Onslaught and Jetfire. Mind your defenses. Scourge, find that hangar door and get it open. Sweeps... pick an escort and terminate it. All units, fire at will. If it moves, bring it down." Scourge collapses within himself, his wings encasing him as he transforms into his menacing and terrible sweepcraft mode! Sheng grabs onto the bench to keep from being thrown to the floor, and at Jazz's order, heads over to teh closest laser cannon. Right. Now, target target. Hmmm, lots of targets. "Should we focus our fire on the large ships or take out eh smaller, more moble defenses." Becuase the fire that blosoomed where that lamprey touched would probably be far worse on Jetfire. From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile looks and heads to the weapons deck and begins to fire the guns of the Conquest at the enemy .... And not the Autobots, thats later, much later. Right now, he is takign out the Quint ships. "Lets teach these Quints not to mess with the Decepticons. Plus, we can find them and do to them what they have done to us." ANd witht hat, COmpile begins firing. Scourge responds with action, rather than words. He surges forward, defining his position amongst the Sweeps as Alpha by displaying his superior speed and agility. He gets closer than any of the other craft and begins quick-scanning the craft for bay and hangar doors. Autobot Superjet opens fire on the now-exposed ship with his nose turrets, unleashing an intense barrage of lasers. He uses a scientist's precision to train his fire on the same spots as Cyclonus, seeking to capitalize on the Decepticon ace's attacks. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught wonders to himself how he got stuck with these two unmiliitary deviants as they continue with their back and forth as he alternates his gaze between the control console and the front viewport as he homes in on the shocking energy output that Cyclonus's engines are putting out as he follows the Decepticon warrior toward the position. He slides his right hand over, flicking on the communication system, as he responds to Cyclonus. "Orders confirmed, Cyclonus. We are engaging." Onslaught then switches off the signal before beginning to activate the shielding of the Conquest II. Peacekeeper smirks faintly as she finishes checking over her sidearm. She, unlike the mechs, had remembered to strap herself into her seat instead of risking ending up like Sideswipe had upon Jetfire's sharp decceleration. "And so it begins," she comments as she unbuckles from her chair, stands up, and moves towards one of the laser-cannons Jazz had indicated. "Targets coming up--knock 'em down," she states as her optics narrow and she focuses fire on the Quintesson-made flying aquatic-like freaks of engineering flying towards them. Sweepcraft breaks off from the main ship as ordered, banking to make an attack run on the closest escort Quintesson vessel. He manuvers through breaking off lamprey attackers and opens up a series of alternating laser and ballistic fire. "The mere ridiculousness of your co-dependent designs warrents your termination, Quintessons. You beg for extinction. We grant it." Explosions blossom across the Quintesson ship as the Decepticons and Autobots fire upon it, but the purpose of those mysterious bulbous protrusions is revealed as they suddenly explode, spraying the entire area around the ship with a cloud of razor-sharp shrapnel. Supporting fire from the Quintesson ships, carefully timed, fills the spaces between the ships with even more flak, making for an incredibly dangerous environment to fly in. And while the sky is filled with metal fragments, a fighter bay opens on the Quintesson ship. Is that him? Is that... Guiltor, and the Seacons? They look outside for a moment before calmly withdrawing into the ship's interior. Numerous flying monsters are shot down by the Cybertronian's combined fire. Dozens of barracuda and shark bots plummet down to the sky, but hundreds more are left, and the lampreys continue to harass the Argosy, even as it returns fire against them with its own weapons. Serving as more of a commander for the moment, Jazz walks back and forth along Jetfire's cabin, taking note of the work of his crew, "Good shot Peacekeeper! Right on Sideswipe! Atta femme Sheng!" Running up to Jetfire's bridge, he looks over the sensors, "Jetfire...adjust course for 432 134.123 MARK Gamma-Delta-Beta. We'll swoop in over the top for an attack run." From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught suddenly swings the Conquest II to the left and down, twisting the ship over and over to avoid the flak that suddenly fills the sky, but the ship is not entirely able to avoid damage as several metal fragments scratch along the right side of the ship and collide with the starboard missile battery causing it to detonate. Onslaught hits the release button, cuasing the connections to disenage, which cause explosive bolts under the battery to engage and push the battery away from the ship before it detonates. Onslaught steers the ship to the right, diving low under the ship, before he speaks to Compile without turning around. "Compile, target any weapons batteries you can see. This airborne beast requires some of it's fangs be removed. I entrust you to carry out the surgery." Scourge notes the fighter bay opening and locks into it. His systems designate the optimum location to target and the right weapon to use. Selecting high impact, exploding rounds from his menagerie of destruction he begins to fire in short bursts at the fighter bay door in a way designed to weaken if not carve and outright entrance for those who wish to enter. Sideswipe spots the opening fighter bay, his optics narrowing, a wicked smile sweeping over his features, "There, the door's open!" hoots Sideswipe as he looses his hold on the ships interiro and dives, yes, dives out of the bombay doors of Jetfire, free falling for a moment befor he rockets forward, his rocket pack blazing to life and slinging him forward. The red devil zips and weaves through the air, punching through the ships critter defenses and sweeping into the fighter bay befor cutting his rocket pack, letting his feet come to a thunking halt against the deck plating. Autobot Superjet adjusts his course as ordered by Jazz. His entire form shudders a bit as he's struck by pieces of chaff. <> He tries to bring it up on one of his internal screens, the hatch that Guiltor and the Seacons were momentarily seen on. <> He adds as an afterthough, <> Can't hurt to be polite. From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile looks and smirks, "Surgery is my middle name Onsy," he says as he begisn to target the weapon batteries and he opens fire on them as the Conquest flies past it, over it or around it. "Come on, come on... where are the batteries at," he mutters as he fires more shots into the ship to take out the weapons located on it. "I could probably hav ebetter luck doign this in person...." No-one said that this was going to be easy, not even Cyclonus. However, there is a certain relaxation that comes once the shooting starts. Banking hard to the left he swings in behind a Quintesson parasite; forward batteries coming online and firing. A quick feathering of his afterburners sends him past the burning frame and into the thick of things where another plasma blast lances out -- a pair of missiles dropping from their launchers and rocketing off after another. "Argosy, this is Lord Cyclonus. Deploy Squadrons Malleus and Terminus." The Airborne Carrier's bay doors open -- a pair of seeker squadrons launching. "Malleus, Terminus, your mission is close order defense. Keep a path clear for the Argosy." Like little insects then, the Decepticons transform and go to war -- little flares of light seen going off around the carrier. Jetfire's statement snaps Cyclonus out of his revarie and his afterburners flare again as he heads towards the main vessel. "Affirmative, Jetfire. Inside, we finish this. Unit Onslaught, follow us in. Squadrons Apex, Apogee, launch to target escorts." From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind stands at the nearest exit and prepares himself for the inevitable explosion that will signal the beginning of the end or the fact that they can board the enemy craft. Which too him are basicly the same thing, as he awaits his final moment Dreadwind finds himself wondering just what he did to the universe to get stuck with these two eager battle crazed Decepticons. Sheng glances over and curses sharply as Sideswipe leaps from Jetfire. Here's hoping there aren't too many of the enemy in tehre now that Sideswipe's on is own. Sweepcraft isn't too happy with the flak that is evenly spreading across his targeting area. He does his best to dodge it, and opens fire on one of the other Quintesson Escort ships. "The Void take you back, you tentacled slime!" the Sweep howls, as he rains destruction down on the ship. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught keeps the shuttle on what seems like an erratic course but is actually planned to avoid the fire of the batteries they are trying to destroy as they fly along the underside of the Quintession ship. His left hand works rapidly as he continues to steer the ship with his right before he quickly glances at Compile. "I am transferring the targeting data to you. Fire at will, Compile. I will attempt to keep the worst of the enemy fire away from us. Dreadwind, if you can bestir yourself, take the other sensor station. Peacekeeper remains focused on shooting down the Quintesson constructs than anything, even Jazz's praise. However, at news that there's an entrance into the Quintesson ship, she pauses and glances up--especially when Sideswipe decides to go in on his own. "Idiot Twin," she mutters under her breath with a faint smirk. "Ready when you guys are." She fires a few last shots at the 'cannon-fodder' flying about, then prepares to leave. "Alright ya heard Cyke-O! That entrance is open! Jetfire...get us in position and take us in. We're landing in the bay. Keep your weapons hot and ready to go. We don't know what kinda resistance is in there. Ya dig?" The Autobot withdraws his silver laser rifle from space, checking its energy clip before making his way to the landing ramp door. The hatch on the fighter bay begins to close, but Scourge's explosive rounds tear off the bottom half and freeze the doors in place. Guiltor and the Seacons wait patiently for company. As Sideswipe lands within, Guiltor chuckles in the grandfatherly way Optimus used to as he says, "Sideswipe? That is all? You always were reckless and stupid." He raises a hand at the Lambo brother, and it glows red before discharging a crimson bolt at him. "But don't worry, I'll kill your brother next." The other Quintesson warships take some damage as well, but are faring much better as they pour on the flak against the Cybertronians. Aquatic flying monsters continue to streak about the battlefield, snapping and clawing at anything with the wrong IFF signature, and a huge swarm of them bears down on Jetfire. Another swarm tries to track Onslaught's shuttle, but it is engulfed when he unintentionally drops the exploding missile rack on them, blowing them to bits. The Decepticon seekers begin a difficult task of repelling the huge lampreys, but their combined fire causes them to shriek in pain and "swim" away from the Argosy, sparing it considerable damage. From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile loosk and nods, "Got it,"a nd he works. "Oh Cyclonus said to follow him and the others in. Looks like we need to open the door some," and he keeps firing as he fires at all Quints aroudn the shuttle, avoiding the Autobots. The weapon batteries ont he Conquest fire at those that are int he way for hte attack force that Cyc and crew are leading to begin onboard the Quint ship. So Compile might as well make some credits. He giggles as he looks, "I'm goign to be Rumbles high score," he states to Onsy as Compie fires at the targets, keeping a score that is in red numbers running on the monitor... Yes folks, Compile is playing a game, pray he does not run out of quarters. Sweepcraft barrel rolls around and through flak, catching some nearmiss shockwaves... and taking not so superficial grazings as well. But he is fearless and determined. Bent really. "When you build a ship capable of digging into the earth, you have made something to dig its own grave. The skies me ours, you should have remained content to dwell in your puddle, Quintessons." He targets to pick apart the ships weaponry one by one. Sheng fires a few more shots, then heads over to where Jazz is, dropping the sheilds over her talons as she goes. If the enemy is toofar away for melee combat she'll pull her pistol. (Have to get around to upgrading that thing...) Sideswipe evades your Evil Light attack. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught sends the Conquest II to the right, piling on available speed as he takes the shuttle out from under the hull of the Quintession ship, before sending the shuttle around in a tight loop before adjusting it's course to place it on a direct heading for the landing bay doors. "Under the circumstances, Compile, I am deciding to temporarily abandon subtlety in favor of direct action. Fire our remaining missiles at the landing bay doors and blow them off." Autobot Superjet snaps a few hard rolls to weave through all the weapons-fire as he accelerates again, angry blue fires pouring from his engines. He doesn't seem to be worried about following any course or holding steady to give his passengers a better shot. He's just relying on his own flying skills to get them to the hangar bay doors. He fires a few more surgical laser blasts at the edges of the hangar as he approaches, hoping to further disable any ability for the doors to close, then streaks through the opening. At the last second he sweeps his wings back to decrease his profile...and perhaps because he enjoys showing off his variable-geometry wings. He pulls up to a stop right behind Sideswipe. From Decepticon Shuttle , Compile nods and he takes aim, "All wings report in," he says over the open radio frequency. "Set up for your attack run. Time to hit the trench," and he gets a lock. "I got a lock, missiles are hot, firing on those doors," and the remaining 12 or so missile launch and head for the hangar doors to open them up so to speak. "For th Empire and Lord Galvatron. Peacekeeper gets up and follows the others to the landing ramp door, bringing her own rifle out of subspace and sparing only a brief glance to ensure that it's charged up. "Let's get going, then," she mutters softly as she looks down. She braces herself as Jetfire pulls off some aerial maneuvers to get inside the Quintesson ship and to back up Sideswipe, who is already getting shot at. "Why'm I not surprised...?" Cyclonus does not immediatly rush into the Hangar Bay doors; although Jetfire will be conscious of magenta energy blasts that rock around him -- curiously not touching his pristine white aft, however. Indeed, since the Autobots have brought no air support of their own he flies cover for their air taxi -- banking out and away as they all enter the vessel. "Decepticon Squadrons, Argosy, buy time. Play defensively, stay up. This will be over soon. The rest of you.... inside! Bring me Guiltor's head!" And with that, he transforms himself; landing inside the Hangar beside Sideswipe and the Autobots. Sideswipe had heard that this guy looked like Optimus.. but hearing and seeing were two different things. Sideswipe might have been a sitting duck for this rdoppleganger.. if only he would have kept his trap shut. Diving away and to the side, Sideswipe is offered a back glance of arriving reinforcements as he rolls to his feet, a weapon in hand and quickly aimed at this pretender, "Nice of you guys to make it!" he called back to his allies, a smirk quirking along his features as his audials rang quietly. As for Guiltor, Sideswipe steadied his aim, his finger squeezing the trigger and rattling off a bolt of light, laser light, "Stuff it down your smokestacks!" he hooted to Guiltor, a line he always wanted to tell Prime but could never muster up the disrepsect to. Sideswipe strikes you with laser for 2 points of damage. Powerglide comes up behind Sheng, bending over slightly as if to catch his nonexistant breath. Let's not even get into where he's been for the last half hour, or how he even got here. What's important is that he's here now, and we can put any questions behind us. Armed with a simple pistol (hey, he's an aerial guy, why the heck would he need an amazing handheld weapon for anyway?), he poises with a defensive stance. He's a little confused, but once getting his bearings he'll have no trouble kicking ass, or whatever it was they were doing. Yeah, kicking ass. Right? They were going to win, right? "Now what?" Sheng waits and the moment Jetfire comes to a stop beside Sideswipe, leaps out to land beside the red warrior. She looks at Guiltor and hrms. He DOES look just like Optimus. Oh good. That actually makse this easier. From Decepticon Shuttle , Onslaught continues to propel the shuttle forward as the missiles fly toward the hanger doors of the Quintession ship, most of them detonating on the sides and front section, which do not exactly send them falling off into the atmosphere do weaken them enough for a bit of old fashioned piloting. "You had better restrain yourselves. We are going to break through and, upon boarding, we will depart the ship and assist any friendly units onboard in the hunt for Guiltor. That includes leaving the Autobots to their own devices and assisting them as necessary. Understood?" Peacekeeper jumps out after Sheng, landing at a crouch and aiming her rifle at Guiltor but not firing yet. /So this is Guiltor, hm? I see the resemblances,/ she muses to herself. /At least there won't be a case of mistaken identity during this fight./ The purple glow of nuclear turbines dissipitates as Cyclonus transforms into his robot mode. Scourge transforms as he leads the Sweeps into the Quintesson vessel, he gives Sideswipe a snide look. "Pardon the tardiness, /autobot/," the Alpha Huntsmen says as he spits the faction name out like a mouthful of bad energon. "I was merely opening the door for you slack-jawed vermin." From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind stands patiently waiting for the orders to disembark, he uses one hand to steady himself. Finally a breach has been made, Dreadwind takes one final look over the interior of the ship "Yes we'll be torn to pieces momentarily." He keys the door release cycle and prepares himself for the worst. Sweepcraft immediately heads for the main Quintesson ship--the one Guiltor is on. He transforms and heads for the entranceway that Scourge has so conveniently gotten open. "You die today, Quintesson Scum!" he snarls, brandishing his talons. But rather than using them just yet, he gets out his grenade launcher. He aims it at Guiltor and shouts, "Here's a present for you. It's a gift--from the VOID!" Sunder shifts into his fearsome-looking robot mode. The Sweepcraft seems to break apart, bow sweeping back into majestic wings as the central turbine reveals the head and face of the Alpha Huntsmen, Scourge! Sunder strikes you with rocket for 8 points of damage. Snaptrap barks out, "SEACONS! Merge to form PIRANACON!" And as the monstrous gestalt stands to its full height in the spacious hangar, it swings both its fists in a brutal axehandle attack in an attempt to intercept the Decepticon Shuttle right on the nose!. "VICTORY FOR THE QUINTESSONS!" Piranacon roars. Guiltor strides forward confidently as the laser blast scorches his chest. "Oh, Sideswipe, you kidder, you. Ha ha ha. Ah, here's the rest of your friends now! Well, some of them are your friends. Now that you're all here, I would like to welcome you... to our TRAP. This vessel is not a resurrection ship at all, you see. It is a tomb... a tomb for YOU!" Guiltor rushes towards the assembled Cybertronians, all three of his main weapons blazing away. "You will not escape! And Cybertron will be..." His optics twitch. "Will be... will be DESTROYED!" Almost as if appearing from nowhere, the ebony seeker apears like a wraith wisping through the cosmos. His gravity drives push him forward as he spirals after Cyclonus and transforms, landing behind him. His foot thrusters ease his touchdown and his purple optics flicker. He nods his head to the ranking officer and proceeds forward, weapons systems powering up. "Da...nd so it begins.....our time to be bringing the melded abomination who cowtows to the Quintessons to justice" His face is stern and his concentration is unquestioned, as he prepares to bring the pain. From Decepticon Shuttle , The Conquest II is not, despite Dreadwind's prediction, destroyed upon bursting through the hanger doors of the main Quintession ship. The doors collapse inward, hurling across the length of the hanger bay, before the Conquest II bursts through into the hanger bay proper. Onslaught quickly lowers the ship down out of the way, rotating the shuttle to present the entry hatch roughly toward Guiltor and the other Cybetronians, before opening the hatch. "Everyone, deboard and pick your targets!" Guiltor unleashes his Arm Cannon attack on Sunder, Scourge, Sideswipe, Sheng, Powerglide, Cyclonus and Jetfire, striking Powerglide, Scourge, Sideswipe, Cyclonus, Sunder, Sheng and Jetfire. Quickswitch ascends from Sky Above Western United States below. Guiltor is struck by Sunder's grenades but simply charges right through the flames. Scourge takes the shot in the shoulder. Sizzling and baking off the paint in an angry, glowing red splotch. The sound of circuitry beneath the suface melting can be heard if close enough and it causes Scourge to narrow his optics. "Not quite the original." he says, coldly. He rushes forward, the talons flashing in the firefight as he lashes out hoping to gouge something vital on Guiltor. Scourge strikes you with Didn't even chip a nail! for 7 points of damage. Peacekeeper ducks and runs to the side, using the cover of the hail of firepower to give her some time to find some better cover. Somehow, she manages to remain unscathed. "Guiltor's not our only target, everyone!" She shouts to Autobots and Decepticons alike. "We've got to take down Pirhanacon too!" She snaps her rifle back towards the charging Guiltor and opens fire. You evade Peacekeeper's Laser Rifle attack. Dreadwind leaves the Decepticon Shuttle . Onslaught leaves the Decepticon Shuttle . Compile jumps out of the Conquest II and is a firing as he goes and he loosk up at the Gestalt and smile, "Oh I got a special gift for ya," he says as he jumps for the one weak spot in all Gestalts, and the one that he hopes is on Piranahcon, and he pulls out a little bomb, size 8 actually and he goes to plant that on the one spot that will disassemble the gestalt. He activates it and giggles, "Fire in the hole," he states as he flies for cover and waits for the explosion to occur and he than races into the quint shuttle, not goign to see if the bomb worked or not. Decepticon Airbase is bleeding smoke from several gashes on its hull, but its point-defense weapons and the efforts of the Seeker Squadrons keep the giant lampreys at bay. The crew is worried that the other two Quintesson ships will engage them, but oddly, they pass the Argosy by, hardly even bothering to fire upon it all. Rather, the other Quintesson warships are nearing the fake Resurrection ship, as if to block off any escape. Sheng frowns at the odd optic twitching and almost hesitation from Guiltor, and thus fails to evade succesfully. she hisses static as she's thrown back, then gets back to her feet. Well, that could have gone better. She glances at the gesalt but... well it's a Con shuttle and she's out of the way of the shrapnel, and the sweeps seem to be targeting him. She races forward and lunges at Guiltor, talons aimed at his optics. Dreadwind drops through the hatch and as fate would have it being out first he avoided any unecessary trouble with Piranacon's attack. Landing heavily on the deck, he scans around for a suitable target, of course there aren't any since everyone seems to want to fight rather than talk about how terrible life really is. Dreadwind sighs and heads in the direction of Guiltor, "Great all these people here it's not like they're not going to detonate the ship should we actually succeed, as slim a chance as that is." He fires of a wrist blaster at the giant, knowing full well that it will be the last thing he does. Sideswipe jerks back as a blast of weapon's fire punches into his gut, his red colored by the grey of mechfluid and given a bit of dramatic flare with a spark here or there flying from severed wires. "Spawn of a.." he curse, jamming a hand over the wound befor he staggered to his feet and hustled to get out of the way of Piranacon as he danish hammered the shuttlecraft. Great, a friggen evil twin and the seacons, this makes picking targets easy.." smarmed Sideswipe as he got himself sorted out befor launching himself into the fray. "Hey, Crab Cakes!" barked Sideswipe for attention as he did something stupid.. He ran towards the gestalt, his hand retracting into his wrist, a piledriver thrusting out of the empty socket. If he could get close enough he would put that piledricer to good use on Piranhacon's ankle.. praying noone else was aiming low. Sheng strikes you with and now the world will see you for what you truly are for 9 points of damage. As the radioactive backwash of Cyconus' engines diminishes to the background he strides forward in Robot Mode; Guiltor's blasts stitching a small line of craters across his torso and down his left arm. It hardly seems to slow him down though -- it just mars the royal purple paint found there. For the moment, he assumes that the Quintesson creation is managing to be contained and instead fires an irridescent blast of purple energy towards the Seacon creation. Onslaught leaves the shuttle just as Pirannicon swipes at the shuttle, knocking it onto it's side, before he moves backward rapidly from the shuttle as it's fall rattles the deck plates under his feet. He looks up at the gestalt also occupying the hanger before transforming into his third mode and starting to blaze away at the gestalt with all the weaponry at his disposal which is, really, quite a lot. Onslaught transforms into his vehicle mode but, not content with stopping there, smoothly alters his second mode to become his own artillery park. Powerglide just sort of gapes absently as he's struck by Guiltors offensive attack. Struck in the upper arm, smoke begins to burn around the wound; red paint peeling off exposing the metal underneath. Or, atleast where there is still metal. He begins to let out a stream of curses, both Cybertronian and English. There might've been some Spanish in there too, who knows. Nevertheless, he regains his composure as best as he can and takes a shot at the one who struck him. You evade Powerglide's laser attack. Bandit watches as Compile latches something huge on the gestalts back. He is able to remain outside the blast range of Guiltor's fire for the moment. As he surges forward he has to practically high jump over Pirahnacon's leg as it moves around in the somewhat tight quarters for the gestalt. His unparalleled agility helps him pull off the maneuver and brings him closer to his choice of target. Unfortunately with the group pressing forward and the distraction of the merged beast, the seeker is not yet within clear opticshot of Guiltor. Autobot Superjet exclaims, "Piranacon!" Almost helpless in his jet mode but sitting on the hangar bay floor, he's unable to avoid Guiltor's attack. Jetfire turns slightly on his landing gear, until he's pointing in Guiltor's direction. Two large bay doors open on his weapon pods, exposing a pair of gleaming missiles. It's not often he risks using a powerful explosive attack on board a vessel...but as this is a Quintesson ship, Jetfire isn't too concerned with splash damage. "Luckily, he's not well suited for operations out of the water." Who is Jetfire kidding? In or out of their preferred habitat, any gestalt is a force to be reckoned with. But perhaps Compile's bomb will be more effective here. "Excuse me Sideswipe...if you could just step two meters to your left." Jetfire then fires his missiles at Guiltor, one passing by Sideswipe on either side. Autobot Superjet strikes you with missile for 12 points of damage. Scourge's order diverts Sunder from Guiltor, and causes him to focus on Piranhacon. He snarls as a blast from the Apparition sears a small indentation in his wing, but pays it no more mind as he goes after the traitorous gestalt. Warming up his headcannon, he takes aim and fires at Piranhacon with a laser blast--hopefully at a critical junction. Guiltor doesn't even flinch as Sheng's claws tear across the left side of his face, ripping away part of the armor plating protecting and revealing an unprotected, circular optic, much as medics often see when removing facial armor. "You fools. You're wasting your time, fighting me... urngh... while Cybertron is about to be... annihilated!" Guiltor's right eye shows strain, as if he is warring with himself, internally. "And you cannot... LEAVE!" Vile fluids spill out from his shoulder as Scourge slashes it, and Jetfire and Sideswipe's combined fire stagger him somewhat, but he merely whips out his energy sword and dives into the assembled warriors, like a whirling dervish. "I can not let you LEAVE! ARRRRGHHHH!" Piranacon punches the Decepticon shuttle a few more times, but he is distracted as Sideswipe, Sunder, Dreadwind, Onslaught, and Cyclonus attack him. "FOOLS! YOU CANNOT STOP--" BOOOOOM! A powerful explosive goes off on his back, and the Seacons seperate into their component parts. "What the hell--?" Snaptrap shouts, as he staggers, rubbing his head. "WHICH ONE OF YOU FRAGGERS DID THAT!?" Guiltor unleashes his area_melee attack on Sunder, Scourge, Sideswipe, Sheng, Powerglide, Cyclonus, Jetfire, Bandit, Dreadwind, Onslaught and Peacekeeper, striking Powerglide, Onslaught, Scourge, Sideswipe, Peacekeeper, Sunder, Bandit and Jetfire. Compile is snickering off to the side as the bomb goes off and he rushes the Seacons and lands between them, "I did," and his arms transform into Piledrivers. aS they power up, they begin to thump thump thump, and bang the floor as the Supersonics within the pile-drivers o off and at the Seacons. Onslaught doesn't waste any time as the explosive detonates, causing the Seacons to break apart like a matchstick house under the influence of a sledgehammer, but before he can take advantage of the situation Guiltor's sword slices across his hood, cutting into the metal but otherwise doing little damage, before he turns his barrels toward Guiltor and blasts away at him. "We will leave once you no longer live!" Onslaught strikes you with Ballistic for 11 points of damage. Bandit approaches the half-breed amalgamation with purple optics flaring. "How can your be composed of two of the most historic transformers in creation and be the vehicle for our planet's destruction. Is that making sense to you? Nyiet kossack...you are a tool licking at the heels of the Quintessons and doing their bidding without thought or conscience....and for that...." he states as he is slightly moved with the oncoming attack, "You will be obliterated!" He raises his arm and fires a blast. Bandit strikes you with Fusion Beam for 14 points of damage. Dreadwind draws both his thermal melters and sends a torrent of blasts in the direction of the freshly seperated Tentakil, "Amazing, Compile's explosives actually worked, still it's going to be too little too late if Guiltor is right and mostly he is." Somehow in all the confusion Dreadwind avoids taking any damage from Guiltor or more likely Guiltor was just sparing him death like he did before. Peacekeeper sharply brings up her arms to block the blade as it slices past and both forearms are left with a deep slice across the silver, grooved section of her forearms' armor. "Tch," she hisses at the twinges of pain, thankful that at least it doesn't seem to be too bad, for all reports of Guiltor's power. She switches weapons to her less-unweildy handgun and growls, "We won't let you lot annihilate anything--not us, and definitely not Cybertron." And with that, she fires a mild shot at the already-damaged section of Guiltor's face, probably only looking to short out that optic. You evade Peacekeeper's Sidearm attack. Cyclonus has something on his mind as he comes under attack from Guiltor. Really, it almost costs him a chunk of armor but he manages to dodge -- nimbly hopping up onto Jetfire's wing for a brief moment to let Guiltor's frame move past him. "Sunder! Scourge!" He bellows. "Keep your eye on scanners. If Guiltor goes down, we will need to know where he ressurects. Furthermore, transform and engage your sensors now. Energy sources, anything of the sort -- give us data of the vessel beyond the hangar bay." Drawing forth is diamond-boride sword he vaults off of Jetfire's wing, aiming a two handed slash towards the back of Guiltor's neck. Scourge growls as the attack does little damage, nothing more than gouging surface armor and damaging system redundancies. He snarls slightly, "Is that the best you've to offer the Alpha Huntsmen, whelp? You disappoint." he strikes like a cobra, his hand trying to tear into Guiltor's abdomen and forcibly remove something vital. Jetfire transforms into his robot mode. Scourge strikes you with evisceration for 10 points of damage. Cyclonus strikes you with Diamond Boron Carbide Blade for 11 points of damage. Jetfire transforms into his robot mode, at first kneeling on knee and fist, a few fresh scars marring his pristine white armor. He rises to his feet and points the large cannons on his arms at Guiltor and opening fire. But when the projectiles hit, they explode into a mass of gooey substance that solidifies quickly when exposed to air. It's the return of the Autobots' special goo, the very goo that a few months back coated most of NCC! You are temporarily incapacitated by Jetfire's DC and Whirligig's gooey surprise attack. Sideswipe is sent stumbling by a sudden strike from Guiltor, the blade cleaving into Sideswipe's chest and fending him off from the Seacon's collective form.. Good thing too because .. they kind of just exploded. Flung away by the power of the blast, Sideswipe slams against the hanger wall, dazed and pained.. he's not getting up too quickl Sheng manages to evade Guiltor's attack not through any herorism or fancy manuver... but simply due to teh fact that she lands just as Compile startsthe 'ground' shaking, sending her falling t one knee a Guiltor's sword passes her by. Digging her talons in with one hand to steady herself, she waits for most of the ranged fighters to attack, but as she prepares to leap at Guiltor she sees Sideswipe being thrown across te room. A quiet static hiss and she races towards him, then shifts so that any attack aimed for the downed Autobot will have to go through her. (I wonder) "Perhaps killing him is not our bets plan!" she calls. "disable him, knoc him unconcious. Perhaps then we cna trace the signal to his regeneration ship, as this seems to be nothing but a trap." Sunder quickly transforms, as per Cyclonus' orders. He then sets his sensors on ultra-high definition. He scans every part of the ship, Guiltor included, to try to find anything like a resurrection point for the giant Aberration. On board the Argosy, along a hangar bay, a single Decepticon shuttle, colored purple sits quietly. That is, until it begins to shudder, then transforms a moment later, landing a second later as Astrotrain sitting upright; a half empty bottle of some potent energon drink in one hand. "Oooogh my head. That was such a kegger last night...I'll never drink again." He proceeds to tip the bottle up and drain the rest of the contents. Powerglide is, again, struck by Guiltor despite trying his best to avoid any further damage. A hiss consisting of mostly frustration as opposed to pain leaves his vocalizer, followed by another string of curses and death threats. Upon his shoulder (wing, if you want to get technical) there was a nice cleave. If he survived this ordeal, maybe he could use it as a battle scar and pick up chicks. Until then, however, he would have to suck up the pain and try blasting that jerk-face again. Poising his weapon, he fires off another round. Powerglide strikes you with laser for 5 points of damage. Guiltor finally staggers back from an attack--Bandit's. He tries to shield himself from the arm cannon with his forearms, but the blast still melts away his armor, exposing the underlying components. "I... am... not... a tool! Ah... AHHHHHH!" He rears back in pain as Scourge tears out SOMETHING covered in oil from inside his chest, and Cyclonus's sword causes a black spray of mech fluid to erupt from the back of his neck. "Ahhnnngh!" Finally, Jetfire's foamy glue-like substance covers him almost completely, leaving only his head exposed. "Cybertron... Cybertron is MINE! MIIIIINE! It will be... it will be destroyed!... Unnnh... the Quintessons are going to attack it... they put capital ship thrusters on an asteroid... the size of Texas... it's headed for Cybertron now! ARRGH!" He grunts as Powerglide blasts him, and he struggles against the foam. "It will be like the Decepticon attack on Torqulon, but far worse!" Snaptrap, transformed into his turtle mode, stomps towards Guiltor, snarling, "YOU FOOL! You're giving away our entire plan! Once I'm done killing you I hope the Quintessons "box" you!" His sonic cannons open fire on Guiltor with a sound like thunder, and Guiltor writhes under the assault. "You... can't let... my planet... DIE!" Guiltor screams. "Eeeeee!" Tentakill shrieks as he falls over from Dreadwind's weapons fire. Scourge gets Cyclonus' orders just as he attcks Guiltor. "Understood!" He backflips, and transforms into a Sweepcraft and begins to scan. Scourge collapses within himself, his wings encasing him as he transforms into his menacing and terrible sweepcraft mode! Scourge sweeps the area. Bandit continues to press the attack. With Cyclonus moving into melee, the seeker has to roll to the left to get a better angle that would not strike the Decepticon leader. With a cartwheeling action he flips about 70 degrees to the opposing side of Cyclonus and prepares to open fire again. He can hear the gestalt as it splits and tumbles to the ground. He is sure to remember commending Compile for his efforts. As Sheng presses forward barking ideas, the seeker frowns a bit. "Nyiet....disabling Guiltor would not trigger him to being ressurected....so that would only delay our efforts. We must be bringing the bastard down...so we can be tracking his signal...!" With that he is about to fire, when Guiltor speaks, "Tell us where the asteroid is!!!" Onslaught sees that Guiltor is more or less restrained and contents himself with providing fire support against the Seacons. His barrels swivel, target, and fire at each team member in rapid fire succession in order to soften them up for those who will take them down. Sheng scowls at the mention of the asteroid. And at the same time. Interesting... Very interesting. It seems taht Guiltor carries more then just eh leaders apperances. Jetfire takes a few steps to the side, ready to cover Sideswipe just like most of the other heroic Autobots, while still in position to fire at Guiltor. He doesn't shoot though...Snaptrap seems to be doing that for them! "Cyclonus...did you hear -that-? A Quintesson assault force in position to attack Cybertron? Do we trust him?!" Sideswipe staggers to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall as he pushes himself to his feet, optics flickering back to their full glow befor he takes in the situation. Guiltor's in the bag, Seacon's arn't. "I miss punching these guys." remarked Sideswipe with a crooked smile befor he lowered himself to the ground, transforming befor his tires shrieked against the deck plating, scrambling for traction befor he rocketed into the quint's pet gestalt members. Cyclonus does in fact hear what is going on. Guiltor's words are audible to him, as are Jetfire's -- but far more convincing are the actions of Snaptrap. Turning, he levels his pistol and squeezes off a shot at the incoming Seacon; opening up his broadband again. "Jetfire is Correct." He utters. "Discontinue attacks on Guiltor, unless he is killing you. Concentrate fire on the remaining Seacons. Scourge and Sunder -- continue to scan. Compile, get up here and see if you can figure out what is going on with Guiltor." Compile looks as he hears Cyc's orders, "On it boss," he says as he flies over and looks at the form of Guiltor, "Sorry, but do you mind if I jack in?" he asks as he his hand alters into a nasty device and he jams it into the side of Guiltor's neck, "Accessing laser core now......" and he begins to fun process of mind fink Guiltor to get info on this Asteroid. Peacekeeper backs away from Guiltor, optics narrowing as she listens to his apparent rantings. What... is this? What's with this sudden turnaround from being the Quint's obedient construct to seeming to almost betray his creators? "Do we have a choice?" She barks back at Jetfire, casting a cursory glance at the Red Demon as Sideswipe transforms and charges at the Seacons. She flips a switch on her handgun and fires a bolt of lightning at the Seacons, not caring which one she targets but hoping to zap Snaptrap in particular. Sheng shakes her head and leaps at the closest Seacon, planning to slam her talons into him and hopefully rip something vital out. Dreadwind is dismayed to see that his shots take down the tentacled killer though not so much for messing up that happy smiling face, however he just knows that he's going to pay dearly for that later, the universe won't like it. With that in mind he turns to the next Seacon of choice Nautilator, "Give up you are literally out of your depth here, better to lie still and accept your fate." Dreadwind blasts away with both wrist weapons. Powerglide stands with his knees bent and his weapon ready; the smoke from his first wound finally absent. He keeps his optics on Guiltor for a few moments before directing his attention, and weapon, to the group of Seacons. They didn't look like they were doing so hot, but he decided it wouldn't hurt to fire off a round or so at the various gestalt team. Snaptrap was already getting beat on, so he uses his laser against....Tentakil. That thing was creepier then when creep came to creepy town. Onslaught also sees Dreadwind about to engage Natuilator so, admist a mechanical thrumming as his barrels rotate in their turret, fires a brace of missiles toward the Seacon. Confounded. Quickswitch arrived under the aerial battle, his cpu and neural processes stuttering and ticking. At Jetfire's order, the Six Changer shifts forms. The assault unit understood, the long barrel of the gun calculating space between ally and target, marking each Seacon for termination. But, somewhere... Guiltor had told him, together they could defeat... The floating gun turns like a turret, releasing harsh blasts of photon energy toward each Seacon it can sight. The pistol moves, hovering. Quickswitch shrinks down into his seriously pistol mode. Guiltor snarls as he forces him to stand, and, throwing his arms wide, breaks free of Jetfire's goop. "Ahnnn... Ahhhhrnnn... the Quintessons must be stopped..." He turns towards the Seacons, even as the launch bay fills with Sharkticon reinforcements. "NO MATTER THE COST!" He transforms into his armored battle truck mode, and dives right into their ranks (Cue The Touch: ) The Quintessons, all in robot mode, light up the bay with the bay with their laser blasts, but Guiltor shrugs them off as he slams right through them, and they chatter in confusion as they are scattered like harmless toys. "NO! NOOO!" Snaptrap screams in genuine frustration as shots rattle his frame, causing him to step backwards slowly. "THIS IS ALL WRONG!!!" He seethes as his Seacons are gunned down, one by one, and transforms, chasing after the rebellious construct "Guiltor, YOU IDIOT!!!" Then, Guiltor transforms, rocketing up into the air as he opens fire on the Sharkticons, gunning them down by the dozens. He has almost reached a bulkhead when Snaptrap rushes in front of it. "Where are you GOING!?" the Seacon leader demands. "One shall stand, one shall fall." Guiltor raises his arm cannon, and fires off a horrendously bright purple beam at Snaptrap, annihilating him AND the bulkhead. "Fall," is all Guiltor says as he steps through. Compile is holding on, "Stand still damnit," he says as he loosk liek a bull rider and he falls off. "Slag that Quint," he says simply as he looks. "I know where the Asteroid is," he says to those here. "And he is right, it is head for Cybertron." Sheng stares at teh hole in teh bulkhead, optics wide, then at the place that Guiltor vanished into the open air. "That would be much more impressive if he couldn't fly." She considers, then races over to Compile. "Where?" she asks, offering him a (sheilded) hand up. Cybertron is mor eimportant then the rivalry of a current war. Meanwhile, the other two Quintesson ships, and their menagerie of flying aquatic metal monsters, begin to attack the Quintesson ship Guiltor and the others have been fighting on, and detonations rock the frame of the vessel! By virtue of mechanical proccesses not entirely understood Onslaught shifts into his looming robot mode. Onslaught transforms himself as the explosions rock the ship, stretching out a hand to brace himself against a nearby wall, before he turns to look over at Complile as the other broadcasts his message. "Do you know where the weapons deck on this ship is?" Cyclonus leaps upwards and transforms; the sudden flare of purple turbines filling the hangar bay as he accelerates after Guiltor -- the intention being to plough through anything in his way at speed; transforming back to robot mode to move through the hole after the Quintesson Menagerie. He's still speaking orders via broadband though. "Clean up the sharticons. Argosy, Seekers -- target the left vessel. All available firepower. We must reduce the heat. Decepticons, Autobots -- retreat if you must, follow if you will!" Dreadwind sighs again as the battle does indeed turn out to be a distraction as well as a trap, one meant to keep them busy whilst the Quintesson's brought their scheme to fruition. "A huge asteroid? Great as if Cybertron wasn't in a big enough mess already, now it's going to get a huge dent, it's not going to survive." Dreadwind stumbles as the ship rocks and decides to float just above the ground saves any silly falling over. Scourge follows Cyclonus, radioing Sunder to do the same. The seekers, drones, and autobots can be left to clean up this mess. The hunt is far from over. Powerglide tries his best not to fall on his aft from the violent rocking of the ship. He makes his way over to where Jetfire is. Or atleast he would've had he not lost his balance and fallen over from the after shocks of the blast on the vessel. "Anyone else thinking about getting the hell out of here?" Onslaught stands himself upright once the vibrations cease before drawing his weapon and proceeding after Cyclonus as the other begins his pursuit. Compile looks, "It is at...." and the flooring rocks, "Ut oh," he says as he hovers after getting help from Sheng. "Has anyone seen Star Wars?" he asks. Bandit follows orders and provides massive amounts of firepower. Sunder accompanies his pack-Leader and the Decepticon 2IC. The Hunt is still on, and he is relieved that nobody has forgotten that. For all the Sweep knew, Guiltor could be lying. But that remained to be seen. He must not lose sight of him. How long did it take him to get from Jetfire to the ship, how much fuel did he have left? Sideswipe wasn't certain.. but hey, everyone had to go offline sometime, didn't they? Sideswipe barreled out through the hole once a window of opertun ity presented itself, his cog grinding as he flipped out back into his robotic form, jetpack bursting to life along with his rifle, laser bolts sizzling through the air as he picked off the small fry. He dipped and dived, zipping and zapping the nasty critters, smashing and punching when they got to close, ripping teeth free of his battered chasis when they got even closer. Sheng narrows her optics and slams her talons in the floor to balance herself. "You know the location of the asteriod. So you probably know where the regeneration ship that they will lock him away in is... And Aye, I have. ...Wait that had better not mean what I think it does..." He didn't know what was going on, he didn't care. It wasn't a soldiers job to care, just to do what his mission was, or so he was trained. But truth be told, he did care, he cared because his friends were in trouble and so was Peacekeeper. The Sky screamed a jet, an F-22, its gray armor clipping whatever light was still in the sky, moving at fearsome speeds, a contrail behind him, like a tail from the edges of his wings. As The F-22 grew closer to the major conflict it circled around calling out, <> He circled around once more before he transformed in the air. Typically an autobot whom transformed should fall, but not this autobot, no. This autobot ran off the very same technology the Decepticon seekers were build from and he showed that as he passed by his robotic form, only difference was the solid black visor that hid his optics and the battle-plate. Scanning for his targets, waiting for where to strike his firepower. Raptor transforms swiftly into his robotic form, with his optics for a split moment flashing vividly. Peacekeeper watches this and staggers as explosions echo from outside. /Slaggit, are the Quintessons aware of Guiltor's betrayal?/ She regains her footing and sowls slightly. "Get going if you want, but I'm going to see what Guiltor's up to now!" She shouts to the other 'Bots as she transforms and follows Guiltor, running over any Sharkticon that gets in her way. She's not a Hummer for nothing, after all. She spares a fast radio back to the newest arrival to this chaos, <> Peacekeeper twists around and backflips, her body folding together until an M997A2 lands on its wheels. Compile loosk at Sheng as he takes flights, "The part of," and he changes his voice to Obi-Wan, "That's no moon..." and he follows the Sweeps and Cyc out. "Ok, lets take out these ships and than get to Cybertron to back up the forces there," he says to everyone. ALthough he is a rank 1 and a tape, but he is doign his best. Raptor flew over and chuckles as Peacekeeper replied back, <> Was all the flier had to see as he made another round. He wasn't really sure how to go into this. Big battles like this was never truely his.. thing. As Cyclonus barrels through the Sharkticons on the other side of the blasted bulkhead, Guiltor charges through in his wake, firing all of his weapons at any Sharkticons he failed to finish off. As others follow him, more Sharkticons leap out from intersecting passageways and rooms, trying to slow their progress. Eventually, Guiltor makes his way to the command bridge, and tosses aside a five-faced Quintesson as he begins to input commands into the control console. "Must... get... to Cybertron!!! AAAHHH!!" He screams as a single-faced Quintesson fires upon him with a pistol, blasting off his left arm. "G-get away from the console!" the Quintesson yells. The other crewmembers produce sidearms as well. Outside, the Argosy, Bandit, and the seekers lay down withering fire on the leftmost Quintesson warship, smoke and flame belching from its hull. Heavily damaged, it begins to turn away, although it is still stubbornly firing away at the fake Resurrection ship. Sideswipe's efforts do much to clear away the aquatic monstrosities, though. Sheng transforms and races after Peacekeeper, might as well see what's going on here... With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from her battle-mode to her highly updated hovertruck mode, ready to move out. Accelerated, Quickswitch transforms into a sub-orbital jet. Compile loosk as he follows Cyclonus, as he speaks on Decepticon freq and has an idea as he take shots at the Sharkticons that appear. Dreadwind watches as many of the cybertronian contingent races off into Primus knows what, it's such an effort that he decides to just stay where he is and blast away at any Sharkticons that come his way. "We're going to need the shuttle, that is if it even works after the battering it took from Piranacon if not we're stuck." Raptor gets his mark and starts to open fire as he zips in the sky sideways, both of his missile bay pannels open on his arms and unloading his heavy missile out as fast has they could launch. His screen on his visor flickering trying to keep up with the input all over the area. "..if I gotta dive bomb these suckers-- I'll do whatever it takes to protect this planet.." he murmurs to himself as he keeps firing. Cyclonus hesitates not once again; turning and vaulting after Guiltor. Pistol in one hand and sword in the other he hacks and blasts his way along behind -- letting the other bulldoze a path for him without asking questions. He is well aware of the fact that there are Autobots and Decepticons behind him. It is fortunate really, because he is jumped by a Sharkticon -- the metallic beast latching onto his left hand and consuming his pistol. Thumping it over the head with his sword's hilt he then bisects it with a graceless slash and continues on; screeching to a halt as he emerges onto the bridge behind him. Looking around somewhat desperatly as he sees pistols drawn from single-faced Quint guards......the real threat, the five faced one is seen. Sidestepping, he drops into a defensive crouch; taking a gamble as he spies one Autobot behind him. "Quickswitch! Let us finish this! That Quintesson leads!" Hopefully, Sixshot won't hear about Cyclonus cheating on him as he extends both hands in a double-barreled grip; aiming and firing if the Autobot is game. M997A2 <> keeps up the best she can, but... well, she /is/ a slow bulky modified Hummer and the Sharkticons are really good at being roadblocks and speedbumps all in one, and she's especially slow when compared to all of the Decepticon flyers around her. "This is just prime," she growls under her breath as she also reaches the command room, her front grill and grill-bar dented and slashed to ribbons. She transforms, brandishing her rifle in her left hand and a few throwing knives in her right. "If there's one thing I hate worse than 'Cons, it's a bunch'a Quints!" And with that, she fires a three-shot burst at the single-faced Quintesson while throwing the knives in her hand at another group, leaving the five-faced Quint for Cyclonus and Quickswitch. The M997A2 pitches forwards, back bumper over nose, and splits apart, twisting in midair before Peacekeeper lands on her feet, now in robot mode. Gold hovertruck has the slight advantage of being a relativly fast hover truck that can move alongnear the ceiling, evading a good portion of the roadblocks that slowed Peacekeeper down, Arriving she doesn't waiste time with words, but instead just attacks the nearest group of Quintessons and sharkticons that is not currently engaged in battle. Sub-Orbital Fighter Jet follows the carnage through the hangar bay wall, shifting and twisting modes and following the trail left by Guiltor. A low growl as he nears, the scent and /feeling/ of the Quintessons. He both feared and hated those five faced creatures, extremely. He followed after them. At the Unicronian's shout, Quickswitch fights the battle of a nanosecond as his thoughts lascerate and plead and question. Loathing. Refusal. Sacrifice. Honor. He staggered out a Transformation and, dreading the Unicronian's grip, he fought down the heave of his own circuits and the outside world ceased, all there was, the Quintesson, dead in the laser pistol's sights. All emotion ceased as the action was carried out to termination. The searing beam cutting right into the leering death's head. Quickswitch shrinks down into his seriously pistol mode. With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from an updated hovertruck to her sleek and deadly battle-mode, ready for whatever may come. Sweepcraft transforms and slashes at a Sharkticon that pops out at him unexpectedly in the passageway. His talons shred through the creature like a dagger through hot lithium, and the Shark-robot collapses in a heap of spare parts. Paying the destroyed Sharkticon no more heed, he races to keep up with Cyclonus. Sunder shifts into his fearsome-looking robot mode. Scourge has disconnected. Hurantous, the five-faced Quintesson, screams, "NOOOO!!!!!" as Quickswitch's beam lances through his face, and the Quintesson explodes messily immediately afterwards. Single-faced Quintessons are likewise blasted, or otherwise shriek and flail about the bridge as knives are thrust into their faces. Their Sharkticon minions lie dead at their feet from the battle, in a mess of parts. With his remaining arm, Guiltor steers the Quintesson ship clear of the Earth's atmosphere, and begins to move it away from the planet. "We have... little time..." Suddenly, there's a bright flash... the stars change position... and the ship is bearing straight down on the viewscreen! "The jump was successful. We're just beyond Cybetron now. And that... that is the asteroid." He turns to face the assembled Autobots and Decepticons. "My friends... I am... sorry for all I have done. How ironic it is, after all this, that is I who would be the most guilty one of them all..." Turning back to the asteroid, he continues, "...An eternity would never assuage my regrets... But perhaps I can have some small measure of redemption." He aims his arm cannon at the viewscreen, and the asteroid beyond. The cannon on his shoulder, and the revolver cannon on his left arm, now on the floor, merge with the arm cannon to form an even bigger cannon. "You must all leave before I unleash my ultimate attack. I will not survive it. But before you go, I have one final gift for you... There is a seventh Seacon, and he is among you, although he does not know it yet." Raptor watches the ship leave and jump his optics go wide behind his visor as he floats there in the air, "PEACEKEEPER!!" He grits his teeth and clenches his fists, space-- is a place he can not go... Powerglide shoots glances about at those around him before taking his weapon up again, "So, should we, like, just start blastin' or what? Because, if so, I vote we try the Decepticons first." Sheng mentally sighs. Space. WHY is it always SPACE Cold, annoying SPACE. Couldn't they have dramatic scenes like this on Mercury or someplace WARM? But... "Thank you. We will watch for him... or her. ...And we will remember this." She sheilds her talons hitches a thumb toward the exit. "Time to GO." Dreadwind feels the shift of the ship as it jumps to, Cybertron? "Amazing i survive this long to be destroyed by a rock as our homeplanet is destroyed, why do i even try?" There are some Decepticons who would instantly misuse the power that Quickswitch offers, without hesitation and without thought. It would be easy to turn him on his comrades; a bizarre bit of irony in it too. But Cyclonus' baroque sense of honor means that he does not. Only one more shot is taken -- his left hand redirecting the Autobot death machine towards a single-faced Quintesson guard and tapping the trigger, before tossing the pistol upwards in the air so that Quickswitch can key his transformation sequence. When the shooting is done, Cyclonus is faced with a moral dilemma. Broadsword in hand he approaches Guiltor; staring at him face to face in silence for twenty seconds or so as Cybertron grows in the viewscreen. His expression is clear -- he is debating weather or not to trust the Quintesson Amagam. Afterall, all of this could be a trap. "........you ask us to trust you, after you have spent the last weeks torturing us, Guiltor? What evil remains within you? How much more twisted Quintesson programming? You expect us to trust, after you have..." He raises his sword, as though to make a point and then stops as an afterthought strikes him. "...but very well, Guiltor. Each deserves a chance to die with honor. If it is redemption that you wish, you may have it." Sword in his hand and lowering to his side, he turns his back on the amalgam and begins to make his way off the bridge. "Decepticons. Autobots. Retreat. We will give Guiltor his wish. Prepare to attack the engines of the Quintesson asteroid, should...... our newfound ally....... prove to be manipulating us once again." Once, he turns over his shoulder to peer at the amalgam -- and then steps off the bridge, gesturing for the Decepticons at least to follow. Back on Earth, the other two Quintesson warships recall their bizarre drones, recloak themselves, then depart. Peacekeeper makes sure that the Quints she'd thrown knives at are truly dead before returning her attention to everyone else. She then blinks as she listens to Guiltor's last warning. "I see," she states quietly. "Too bad things have to end like this." She nods once to Sheng and Cyclonus and, with a final glance at Guiltor (while secretly glad that she never had to face his psychological warfare), she also turns away and follows the others out. Sheng watches Cyclonous, the cons and otehr Autobots leave, but waits. She's not leaving without Quickswitch. SHe doens't leave allies behind As the order to retreat trickles down through the ranks, Dreadwind looks back at the battered Decepticon shuttle he arrived on and shrugs, "Damn it Darkwing, where have you got to?" He stomps back towards it in the vain hope that it'll work when a suitable pilot is made availabe, even though he knows it won't it's as good a place as any to sit and await the end. Sunder is seething in rage when he leaves with Cyclonus. He trusts the Decepticon 2IC's judgment, but he is disappointed that he cannot pass his own brand of justice upon Guiltor, with much taloned lurv. However, if Guiltor was double-crossing them, he swore in the pit of his laser core that he'd rend the monster limb from limb. "See that you do not betray us even in death," Sunder hisses at the monstrosity, "Or I will deal with you when I join you in the Void." Powerglide prods at his wounds with a finger, looking forward to getting himself fixed. He really, really wanted to get the hell out of here, but going by himself and leaving the others behind would bite him in the aft. With a low sigh-like sound, he stands his ground. "Ugh, I guess I'm not goin' anywhere just yet.." Guiltor stares back evenly at Cyclonus with his ruined face, quietly absorbing Cyclonus's words for a moment. Then finally, "Thank you, Cyclonus. I understand you have no reason to trust me, and were I in your position, I wouldn't either. But I will not disappoint you." He glances towards Peacekeeper as she leaves. "Peacekeeper. Ask Clamptight about Pax.bak. And be sure to bring an armed escort, when you do." Gultor turns back to the viewscreen as the ship accelerates towards the asteroid. It looms increasingly large on the screen, and Guiltor aims his cannon at it, as the asteroid truly is just beyond it. "Now go! Hurry! Powerglide, Quickswitch, use an escape pod if you have to!" Guiltor says. He dares to wait a few more minutes to fire, the ship about to collide.... You say, "You too, Sheng! GET OUT OF HERE!" Laser Pistol flips through the air, ending in a frenetic transformation, the mutant's overclocked cog twisting and turning his form into a monstrous, growing blur that lands with a boom against the deck. He glares downward at the dropped Quintesson, his optics glowing as he turns to look at Guiltor, the fused amalgam of the two legendary Cybertronian Leaders, sacrificing his own life... It was noble... His processes leapt. Not even the Quintessons could warp their inner spirits, their convications, their noble loyalty to Cybertron, writ into Guiltor's very ciruits. Even now, he was a Leader. He had overcome. Quickswitch felt a stirring at this, "Till all are one!" he bellows, charges away with the rest of the combined forces--thunders past dead husks of Sharkticons. Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode. Sheng shakes her head. Well at least the multi-changer didn't try to STAY for some stupid reason. She grabs the injured powerglide and starts rnning, catching up with Quickswitch. "Now we go! Think we cna make it to the others or should we trust escape pod?" Peacekeeper jumps slightly and looks back at Guiltor when he speaks to her directly with that last bit of information. "Acknowledged," she states quietly, knowing who the construct is speaking of. She turns and runs after the others, not wanting to be here any longer when it's quite clear that they're in imminent danger. "Doesn't matter, just as long as we get the frag away from here!" She replies back to Sheng. Powerglide begins to HAUL ASS out of there, following closely behind Quickswitch. With every step, he lets out a terrified swear. "Oh shit, oh shit, let's get the HELL out of here!" In all his years of being around, he never felt faster. Cyclonus jogs along at the head of the Decepticon party; pausing at the blasted entry to the Hangar Bay that Guiltor's initial charge made to see the others are coming behind him. Jogging along once more then, he moves into the shuttle rather than fly himself; manning the controls and powering up the engines as he is the first one on board. By the time the other Decepticons -- and possibly Autobots -- reach the vessel it is hovering; loading doors open as it waits; his finger hovering over the 'punch it' button. Jetfire is still in the hangar bay, where he apparently stopped to mop up on assorted Sharkticons. Seeing the assorted Autobots and Decepticons come rushing back, his optic visor flares briefly. "Guiltor...? The Quintessons...?!" Jetfire transforms into his superjet mode. Bandit nods his head and follows in step with the commander. He transforms and readies himself to fly escort just as Cyclonus instructed. "Understood comrade.....I will not be allowing for Guiltor to doublecross us....of that you can be sure." The ebony space capable seeker exits and locks onto the fuel lines that are connected to the engines. His Apocalypes missles load and are ready to fire in a full volley. With a leap canards and wings begin to fold out and rotate into place. Arms retract and legs change into powerful engines. Out of what seems a flurry of motion streaks a sleek and powerful jet fighter. Dreadwind watches as Cyclonus races into the landing bay and past him to the shuttle, but his speed doesn't pick up any more, at least he beats the rush of other Decepticons that is bound to be just behind Cyclonus. "This thing won't fly i just know it." Peacekeeper shakes her helm and huffs in annoyance. Of all the times... "Questions later!" She shouts. "We've got to get out of here /now/!" And she wastes no time in making sure that Sheng and the other 'Bots board the Guardian before she does the same. Sunder is close behind, so he enters the Shuttle right behind Cyclonus. He's hoping that Guiltor doesn't double-cross them, although he won't be surprised if that happens. Sitting down, he pulls his wings tightly around himself, as if he's trying to keep himself warm. He casts a withering glance at Dreadwind. Quickswitch barrels away from the bridge, thoughts of getting the hell out are the most important... but Guiltor... the spirit of Cybertronians uncrushed in him, lingered in his mind. He shifted modes once more, "We're getting the hell out of here! Even if I have to--" he leaps, following the others out, as fast as his charging processes will let him. He reaches the breach made by Guiltor earlier and growls with a nervous twitch, "Powerglide, get your aft outta here!" Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into a mecha-puma. Assault Beast grabs onto Jetfire with his toothy mouth, rather roughly, if he doesn't object and leaps up into the Autobot Guardian's cockpit with the little guy. Powerglide busts his ass even faster and reaches Jetfire, clumsily, but effectively, getting to safety within his huge form. Quickswitch has left. "Till all are one!" Guiltor agrees. And finally, as Cyclonus, the Sweeps, the Decepticon shuttle, and Jetfire with his Autobot passengers just barely clear the ship in time, Guiltor at least unleashes his ultimate attack. A white light glows from his arm cannon. "INTERDIMENSIONAL STRIKE OF WHITE FURY, ANNIHILATE THE TARGET WITHOUT MERCY!" he screams, and the beam cannon, fueled by an interdimensional link to a black hole, discharges with a brilliant light, that it fills the room with its shining brilliance. It blasts a hole through the viewscreen and straight through the ship's hull, and from there streaks out towards the asteroid. "Arrrnnnngh... I... cannot stop..." The battle-damaged warrior sinks to his knees, but keeps his cannon pointing forwards at the target. Red cracks slowly grow across the surface of the asteroid as more energy pours into it. "I... have... to keep... firing! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" Just before impact with the asteroid, Guiltor's cannon glows red, then-- Space briefly inverts upon itself as a result of the cannon's interdimensional link distorting space and time, twisting both the Quintesson ship and the asteroid, ripping them into thousands of pieces. Then a massive explosion follows immediately after, the result of the energies bottled up within Guiltor's cannon and the Quintesson ship finally released in their destruction. The detonation reduces the asteroid into nothing more than a cloud of dust, which harmlessly burns up in Cybertron's atmosphere. The resulting light show from the tiny meteorites streaking into the atmosphere lasts for an entire hour. From Decepticon Shuttle , Dreadwind shields his optics as the bright light of the final weapon of Guiltor does it's job and saves Cybertron, "Typical it's always a bright white light of destruction, how depressing." Cyclonus pilots the Decepticon shuttle to a safe distance; engines blazing under maximum overload as he makes an effort to put as much distance between his comrades and the doomed vessel as possible. After a moment, he spins the vessel so that the destruction of the Asteroid can be seen. But he does not linger; and elsewhere, as Guiltormeets his creator.... Cyclonus pilots the shuttle towards a Decepticon holding on Cybertron -- and repairs for all present. Bandit watches and has to cover his optics when the blast ensues. He shakes his head, conflicted internally. The death was a hero's death, one that looked to be honorable. The seeker wonders if that opportunity is something that should have been afforded him. When he looks down and sees Cybertron in one piece....he realises that tonight....it does not matter. Sunder shields his optics from the brightness of the explosion, but can't help feeling somewhere in the pit of his core that things aren't what they seem. No, if Guiltor were to show up again, it would not surprise him in the least. "At least this is over," he murmurs, though he sounds like he barely beleives that himself. Peacekeeper slumps back in her seat, watching Guiltor's final attack and the subsequent detonation--her visor tinting to protect her optics--as she sighs. Their homeworld is safe, and that is all that matters as far as she's concerned. The War can continue another day. "Jetfire," she states quietly, "Take us to Iahex. We'll use the spacebridge to return to Autobot City." Autobot Superjet turns and heads for Iahex, and for the spacebridge. Soon the Autobots are back to whichever base they prefer. LATER, AT THE TRUE QUINTESSON RESURRECTION SHIP "Hello, Guiltor." Guiltor's optics flash online as he awakens in the resurrection bay, and he struggles--only to find himself securely restrained within his harness. "Traumortis! Ha. It would seem that I've failed you, haven't I?" Delicious, floating beside Traumortis, sneers, "Oh, yes you did. And wait until I tell Astracius about this failure, Traumortis!" "Failure?" Traumortis cackles. "Oh, no, my friend!!! This is EXACTLY what I was hoping you would do, all along! For you see, what is more tragic, more hurtful, more painful to bear than the death of a hero? Oh, they'll be weeping over you for WEEKS!" "You... planned this?" Guiltor says, shocked. "Hahahaha, indeed! Well done, my creation! And now, for your reward!" Traumortis presses a button, and the Guiltor bodies in the bay are sealed up tightly in metallic pods. Guiltor's horrified optics, visible via a glass port, eventually go dim, and his head slumps forward. "Sleep well, "hero." Hahaha. HAHAHAHAHA! AHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"
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