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| - The spaceways here tend to be downright clogged, with spaceships being forced to take parking orbits for hours as they wait for permisssion to land. Some go ahead and try it, anyway. Collisions are not uncommon. Of course, wiring a bit of moolah to the traffic controllers always seemed to speed things up. Sweepcraft and Sweepcraft escort a grimy, disreputable looking transport craft through the crowded section of orbit. Well, 'escort' is sort of a euphism since Brigand made it known to the smugglers pilotting that there would be at least two Sweeps flying alongside at all times and wouldn't hesitate to blast the transport to bits if they ever suspect it of deviating from the path chosen by the Decepticons. Autobot Heavy Cruiser hangs in space over Pz-Zazz, the only ship the Autobots have in this area that can stop the Decepticons in time! Autobot Heavy Cruiser broadcasts a message over general frequencies. "Attention, transport shuttle, this is the Autobot vessel Steelhaven. Power down your engines and submit to an inspection or we WILL open fire." True to its warning, the ship's guns swivel up and aim at teh transport. Sweepcraft is indignant! He radios over to the Steelhaven, furious. <> He powers up his weapons for good measure. Nightbeat was playing pool with Kup while Grimlock watched. Now, however, he is strapping on a bulky EVA pack to go fight Decepticon smugglers. Nightbeat feels safer now. He drawls over the radio, <> Has he already drawn a photon pistol behind his back? Yes, yes, he has. Sweepcraft subtly alters his direction to increase the distance from Sunder. This is purely tactical - no sense in both of them getting blown out of the sky by one barrage. And not at all because he's less eager than his fellow Sweep to take on the heavily armed Steelhaven. He transmits to the transport. <> Autobot Heavy Cruiser replies, "Gee, DECEPTICONS, I wonder if this ship is carrying contraband? LET 'EM HAVE IT!" And on the command of the Autobot Kup, the Steelhaven, fully repaired, lets loose with all of its gun batteries. It's an impressive barrage of flak shells and laser beams. Frankly it would be pretty terrifying to most space jockeys to have to walk into it. On the command bridge, Kup watches the fireworks dourly, wondering how much good the ship could've done if it hadn't been stolen. Nightbeat really prefers to have a road under his feet or tyres. Space is so... so... nothing. He can't dig his heels in; can't follow the footprints. Also, space is /big/. Big enough to blow his mind, and Nightbeat's pretty sharp. He hugs the side of the Steelhaven as he floats along in space, the EVA keeping him more or less on track. And as big as space is? Space ships sure have some really big guns. Sweepcraft banks quickly to avoid the flak and laser blasts, and guns his engines, preparing to return fire. <> the Sweep snarls, <> He attempts to cripple the craft with his laser-lasso. Combat: Sweepcraft misses Autobot Heavy Cruiser with his Laser Lasso attack! Sweepcraft tries to weave through the array of fire but is struck almost immediately, spinning briefly in an involuntary barrel roll. When he finally regains control and levels out, he's trailing smoke from one of the spacepods of indeterminate purpose set towards the rear of his Sweepcraft form. "Nnnh!" He pulls up to Sunder momentarily and says, "If we lead our transport through here it'll get demolished! Let's test their defenses for blind spots. I'll go for the underside!" True to his word he speeds towards the Steelhaven, then dips at the last instant to avoid a headlong crash and skims along underneath it, firing a few tiny barrages at any turrets he sees along the way. Combat: Brigand sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Sweepcraft misses Autobot Heavy Cruiser with his Disruptor attack! Kup leans back in the command chair, frowning. Seem to be doing pretty well against the Decepticons so far, but can't get too cocky. One might wonder how you can miss a giant space ship, but in the vast distances of space, and considering the distances sometimes involved, you can never be too sure. So it is that the Steelhaven manages to slink out of the way of the Sweeps' attacks, with but a few subtle adjustments that increase the distance between them by kilometers, and just enough to throw off their aim. Kup's reply--a plasma barrage--is swift. Combat: Autobot Heavy Cruiser misses Sweepcraft with its Plasma Turret attack! [Pulled -7] Nightbeat decides to go for the shady ship that the Sweeps are guarding, rather than the Sweeps themselves. Of course, getting out there means risking that he gets caught in Kup's crossfire... which is pretty likely, given that Nightbeat has manage to torque off Kup again. Also, it means that the Sweeps might catch him and tear him apart, which is, again, less scary than what Kup might do, so he putters out that way, platforming off various ships, cheekily waving to the pilots, a pair of cat-like nuns, as he goes. Sweepcraft maneuvers aggressively, jinking up and down, performing quarter rolls to veer around slower-moving commercial ships and evade the worst of the Steelhaven's latest barrage. A few merchant vessels get singed by errant plasma as he passes by, but they're the ones that are operating without Decepticon 'protection' anyway, so what does he care. Finally, when it seems like the Autobot ship has relented, Brigand spins and heads in again for another pass. This time he approaches from behind and then darts along one side, the one just vacated by Nightbeat. Since he's in position he notices Nightbeat heading for the transport vessel that is under their 'protection'. "Oh no you don't!" he shouts, also transmitting over several frequencies the Autobots and Decepticons tend to use (mostly for trash-talking). "I called dibs already!" He fires his own lasso, trying to snag Nightbeat and jerk him back from the smuggler. Combat: Sweepcraft misses Nightbeat with his Laser Lasso attack! Sweepcraft curses as his lasso can't find a projection to latch onto. At least, not in immediate range. <> he says. He opens fire with his disruptors, aiming for an engine and hoping to disable it. Combat: Sweepcraft misses Autobot Heavy Cruiser with his Disruptor attack! Kup barks, "Dammit, that fire's coming too close to the civilians! Watch what the frag yer doin'!" at the gunnery crew, who mumble apologies as they re-focus their sensors on the Sweeps. "That one!" Kup yells. "He's trying to lasso up Nightbeat! Not on my fraggin' watch! I ain't done with him yet!" Multiple laser turrets align themselves towards Sunder, carefully trying to pick him off without hitting Nightbeat, the ship he's on, or anyone that's not supposed to die, and the laser show begins. Combat: Autobot Heavy Cruiser misses Sweepcraft with its Point-Defense Lasers attack! [Pulled -3] Nightbeat manages to evade the lasso, ducking under a small pleasure yacht, to the dismay of the salty old space captain. The detective swings over toward another ship, steadily approaching the 'protected' ship in some weird form of reverse Frogger. <> Combat: Nightbeat sets his defense level to Protected. Sweepcraft barks in frustration as his lasso locks onto the yacht Nightbeat just ducks behind, the energy beam fusing into the sleek metal hull. "Slaggit!" he barks. "These things are useless! Buying in bulk has let me down again!" He ejects his lasso generator with a tiny CLUNK, leaving it to float in space before the beam snaps taught and the entire mechanism is pulled along behind the yacht. Brigand himself zooms straight at the Steelhaven again. "Direct approach, eh? Well all right, I can give it...ahh, who am I kidding. Direct just isn't my style!" He transforms into robot mode, wings spreading out wide as he tries to land on the side of the ship, dig his claws in and secure himself to the ship. Maybe he'll have better luck hitting it at close range. Brigand shifts into his robot mode. Combat: Brigand sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Brigand strikes Autobot Heavy Cruiser with his Claws attack! Combat: You took 3 damage. Sweepcraft decides to go after Nightbeat. Transforming, he lashes out with his talons, baring his fangs and snarling over the shortrange. <
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)