| abstract
| - Alumina - so named for its fabled deposits of bauxite ores, the name now takes on another meaning - 'a lumina' or 'without light'. This Earth-sized planet orbits no star, and with the bauxite deposits long since mined, it would seem that night has fallen on the planet for good. On the surface of the planet, there are few structures, mainly just mines and mines for miles and miles under the ground. There is a powerplant that draws on energy from a geothermal core tap. It gives wan, emergency lighting. There is an old, ransacked laboratory and an equally ransacked techno-plantation house. A ramshackle spaceport sits nearby. Contents: Powerglide Buzzsaw Sweepcraft Red Alert Warpath has arrived. Boomslang has arrived. Galvatron has arrived. Eternal night. Alumina is a sunless world, much as Cybertron once was. Only an active molten core keeps this world from being entirely frigid and dead, but it's nippy and chilly outside, anyway. Without clouds or atmopsheric haze, the stars shine brightly, nearly drowning out the wan lights from some of the structures. It's quiet here. Too quiet. So Nightbeat observes, as the Autobot shuttle touches down, near a laboratory of some sort. Red Alert is piloting the shuttle, while focusing on both that and the airwaves. Still, he notes an area that looks to be of interest, and touches down, near the laboratory. Then he stands up and looks around at the passengers. "Now, I... I realize you are eager to face Galvatron, but if possible, we want to find what's to be found here ahead of him. That's our first priority, understood?" Oh, why does he bother? The Decepticon shuttle lurches toward the plantation house; Galvatron is at the controls, so the ship travels at a rather unsafe speed until he suddenly slams on the brakes to avoid rocketing into the planetface, at which point the ship shudders and lowers, landing with a 'whump.' When the ship is still, Galvatron rises, stalking with hunched shoulders toward the airlock. "There's some structure nearby -- Decepticons, investigate it. I demand this 'Omega Sanction' -- I don't care /how/, but /do it/!" Galvatron then kick the airlock so hard it opens, and disembarks. Tailgate has arrived. Powerglide is sitting, nay, lounging in one of the shuttle seats, legs up on the chair in front of him. On his lap is an Us Weekly magazine which he lazilly flips through every now and then. "What was that, Reds?" he asks, not even bothering to look up. Tailgate comes running in from the back of the shuttle to make a grab for Powerglide's magazine! Red Alert covers his face with his right hand. Then he turns to Nightbeat. He mutters to Nightbeat, "... plan.... serve... as they... out... to figure... what's going..." You sense Red Alert covers his face with his right hand. Then he turns to Nightbeat. "New plan. We let them serve as a distraction for as long as they can safely hold out while we try to figure out what's going on ourselves." Yes. /Too quiet/. That is truly a problem for this mission. "Dangit, an' I say a tank is TOO allowed in joustin'! Juss' don't ask how I know or anythin'! Hey! Put down yer dang storybook--BOOM!--I'm talkin' here!!" Yes, he's been arguing for a while. However Red Alert starts talking. "Awww okay..." Warpath grumbles at the mention that they're not meant to attack Galvatron. He quietly hopes that he can still beat up couple of those Swoops.. Nightbeat unbuckles out of his chair, draws his plasma blaster, and checks it over. Then, he carefully pokes his head out of the shuttle door. Nightbeat pokes his head back in the door and pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand. he thinks he'll take the 'too quiet' outside over the 'Primus, I will have a headache for a week' inside. Nightbeat mutters to Red Alert, "Aww, you... that.... C'mon, there's... out..." You whisper "Aww, you don't mean that. Much. C'mon, there's a building out here," to Red Alert. Red Alert nods, following Nightbeat outside. He scans the area, frowning. "There's something almost... familiar seeming about the architecture, don't you think?" he absently asks as he moves towards the laboratory. Powerglide is obviously ignoring whatever Warpath is saying. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, man," he murmurs, flipping over to the next page (featuring an article about Angelina Jolie's head-in-a-jar.) When Tailgate yanks it away from him, he frowns, crosses his arms, and just looks upset. He wont do anything about it, though. "Hey!!" Warpath yells at Tailgate. "That's enougha that! Save the fightin' fer the Deceptahcons!" a pause. "Errum.. the ones that're gonna be a last resort of attackin' that is." Boomslang disembarks after Galvatron with rifle in hand, cone turning this way and that as he looks around for anything that looks like it might be an Omega Sanction. "Sooo... maybe the ruins of that house over there?" he wonders, taking in the overgrown remains. Tailgate looks as cross as he can with Powerglide. "Do you have /any idea/ how many /slaves/ it takes to make one of these?" he accuses while dangling the magazine in front of the other minibot's face. Red Alert has already left the shuttle, and is apparently content to leave the Minibots arguing inside. "Do you have /any idea/ how LITTLE I CARE?" Powerglide snaps, jumping up out of his seat and stomping after Red Alert and Nightbeat. They were annoying, but not /half/ as annoying as the guy with a /magnet/ in his forehead. "Hey! Wait up for ol' Powerglide, guys!" The plantation house would have been quite beautiful and opulent in its day, but its day was apparently long before any of them were built. It seems like any of value that wasn't riveted down has been stripped, but there might be something left inside. Tailgate looks like he's about to retort, when he gets distracted. "Ooh, is Angeline Jolie marrying Brad Pitt again? Saucy!" Then he notices Powerglide is ditching him. "Hey waitaminute!" he yells, tossing the magazine, then transforming and rolling out. Tailgate flips forward onto his face and pulls in his arms, changing into a classic Pontiac Firebird! Kup has arrived. Warpath takes off after Powerglide and Red Alert. He's not really sure how much use he can be on a fact-finding mission, but if Bumblebee can take Spike along to spy on the Decepticons than why the heck not! "Any chance yew're, uh, triangulatin' the signal're sumthin', Reddy old pal?" Nightbeat cautiously approaches the decrepit laboratory. Rust has dulled some of the metal, but the architecture does look oddly familiar to him. He hnns. Then, the detective tries to kick the door in. It hits a dusty floor with a thud. Kup stretches his back as he steps out of the shuttle. He's the last one out, apparently. "Nff. Gut's still killin' me. If I ever see Galvatron again I'll strangle him." He frowns. "Well, that or get trashed again." Eventually he catches up to the other Autobots, optics wide as he takes in the sights. "Wow, this place might be older than me. Bet the janitor ain't been here in eons." Red Alert is outside of a shuttle, heading towards a laboratory and peering around him, optics narrowed. He shakes his head. "I couldn't get any more specific than this planet, Warpath," he explains, frowning as he peers through the door Nightbeat just kicked in. "I think... some of the older parts of Cybertron use similar style buildings, don't they?" He glances back to Kup, because obviously Kup would know this! "This place is a dump," Powerglide scoffs, eyeing the 'scenery' with a look of utter and complete contempt. 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am vroom-vroom-vrooms right next to Powerglide, rolling along at near-idle speed. "Yeah, it totally sucks. It looks like your quarters back at Metroplex, Powerglide." Powerglide says nothing. He lets a kick to Tailgate's door suffice. 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am ows! The inside of the laboratory might look a bit more familiar to anyone who has run into Quintessions much - it looks like they might have worked here, a very long time ago. Most of the computers and sensors have been pried out of their mounts, and the table and cabinets are bare. However, there are a few scraps here and there that someone observant might notice and be able to get working. Galvatron nods as Boomslang indicates the plantation house, beginning to march toward it. The chill of the planet does not seem to bother him as he advances. "Hh. An unremarkable structure," he groans, as if bored by the sight of it. Nonetheless, he moves toward the door, and punches it inward, using his cannon arm so that he may more readily blast anything inside waiting for him. Warpath swats Powerglide upside the head with an open palm. "Ah can't take yew anywhere, can I?" And then he turns to Kup, who was HERE ALL ALONG, for his sage advice. IF it was Cybertronian in design then that's surely got to be a sign the Quintessons were here first! The door readily yields to Galvatron's might. Inside, it against seems like it was once a really lovely place, but it's been packed up and stripped. It seems like it was designed with Quintessons in mind, however, with a pit where Sharkticons might have once been kept and a massive whirlpool bath. Powerglide sends Warpath the nastiest glare he could possibly muster. That jerk. As he pokes his head into the laboratory, everyone's favorite red minibot (Powerglide, for you slower people) gags. "The inside is even worse!" The term "Hey that's like your quarters too!" Could have escaped Warpath's vocalizer at that point. Instead, he just says, "Heh." Sunder's been here the whole time, honest! Blame the animation errors. The Sweep follows Galvatron through the door. He snorts in disgust. "This place reeks of the five-faced squidbrains," he growls. "I can still smell the leavings of Sharkticon-meals." Kup notices Warpath staring at him, and nods at the minibot. "Yeah, I seen places like this. This is a Quintesson facility. The whole place follows their architectural style. Eh, and also, there ain't any chairs. That's another dead giveaway. The Quints don't need 'em, and their servants ain't special enough to get 'em. Place looks like it's been emptied out...." Kup picks up an entire desk, lifts it over his head, and tries to shake out anything that may be inside. "...but maybe they forgot something. So look around, guys, but be careful. Quints love setting traps." One lonely little datadisc falls out of the desk Kup is shaking. Looks like it must have gotten stuck in the back. Red Alert frowns and rubs the bridge of his nose. Then he lowers his hand and gives a long sniff before stepping inside cautiously and looking around. He nods towards Kup, and he heads towards one of the empty computer mounts. "They cleaned this place out pretty good before leaving," he murmurs, then sniffs again. "Welp!" Powerglide exclaims, clapping his hands together. "Looks like we're all done here. Last one back to the shuttle is a loser!" Kup doesn't notice it because his optic-sight is failing. "Yeah, they did." He sets down the table with a disappointed frown, nearly crushing the trinket with one of the table's legs. The Pontiac Firebird isn't a mindless machine after all! It jumps up off the ground and transforms into Tailgate! Tailgate hops to his feet and runs over toward Kup. "Hey, old man! Whatcha got?" Red Alert, meanwhile, has a pretty sharp eye for details. He turns towards where Kup is, then gasps and rushes towards the others. "Careful, Kup!" he exclaims, trying to scoop up the disk. The disc is extremely antiquated. It would have been obsolete before Kup was built. However, Red Alert may be able to access its data. Galvatron stalks around the barren first floor, shoving things out of his way and generally going out of his way to break what's left. "This can't be all this place has -- nnngh, even when they've /left/ the Quintessons /still/ manage to try my /SAINTLY PATIENCE/!" To demonstrate how patient he is, Galvatron fires at the ceiling so that a chunk of it falls and crashes through the floor, with the intent to open access to both what's above and below. Boomslang peers around from behind Galvatron and looks down the hole, covering it with his rifle. The basement mainly seems to be full of dusty Quintesson sporting equipment. Looks like they weren't concerned enough to take /that/. Also a few horrific cience experiments that they couldn't be bothered to grab - a body that looks something like a Transformer strapped to a table. No sign of a transform and long, long dead. The proverbial skeleton in the closet. Above, there just seem to be living and sleeping quarters for Quintessons. Red Alert summons a datapad from subspace and examines the disk, then tries to insert it into the datapad. He shakes his head, muttering, "Don't have the right adaptor with me..." Then he frowns and peers at his forearm. "Direct access can be risky..." he notes. Tailgate huhs. "Did anybody hear that?" "I don't think this guy's going to be any threat," says Boomslang, putting his rifle's tactical light on the ancient robot corpse. Tailgate points at Warpath. "I think he's settin' off microcharges again. Heh heh heh.." Red Alert glances at Tailgate, looking distinctly suspicious. "Hear... what?" Nightbeat heckles Red Alert, "What are you, afraid of a little datadisc? C'mon, that thing's so old. You gotta have newer firewall definitions than anything it can spew out." Then, he looks over at Tailgate. Hear what? Warpath also has a keen set of optics on him--you don't get to be sharpshooters without noticing things. He tries to get Kup to move,b ut Red beats him to it. "Hmmm, if'n there's a risk in accessin' the data directly, why not get me t'read it? NOt sayin' I ain't useful but there aren't that many important files're anythin' on me..." Galvatron squints, looking down where Boomslang's light shines. "Shoot it anyway," he snorts, before dropping into the hole. The ancient robot seems to have been partially vivisected. He seems to have starved to death, neglected and forgotten. Shooting him just makes him look even more dead. Kup looks around at everyone, puzzled. "What? Got what? And why should I be..." Grimacing, he finally notices what Red Alert is holding. "...careful. Uh. Woops. Right. Well, Warpath volunteered to access the files, Red. What do you think?" He turns to Tailgate. "Lad, the voices in yer head ain't real." Boomslang puts a few rounds into the dead guy just in case he's a zombie with a sharp cracking sound. "Yessir. Right, well... I think I saw another building out there further down the ridge." "But you also don't have my decryption routines, Warpath," Red Alert answers. Then he narrows his optics and glares at Nightbeat. "Well, of /course/ my firewall definitions are up to date!" he answers huffily. Then he blinks and considers. "But /Warpath/ probably has a port compatable with my datapad." He hands the disk over to Warpath and says, "Do be careful with it! And here," he hands Warpath the other end of a wire attached to his datapad. "Hook this in somewhere." The dead robot is not a zombie. Sadly. Just a dead servant robot. The power plant down the road is still working, albeit inefficiently, despite the many millions of years it has been left alone. Tailgate harrumphs, rolling the Rs. "I'll have you know I'm equipped with the finest in long-range ranging and detection equipment that energon can buy, old man! Just cos I misplaced the instruction manuals a couple thousand years ago doesn't mean I don't know that.. wait, what were we talking about again?" "Alcohol, I think," Powerglide says with a shrug. Galvatron illuminates the basement room with the glow of his orange cannon, looking around for anything he can scavenge or steal that might be of more use than a dead guy. "We'll investigate it next," Galvatron calls up hoarsely as he tries to find some kind of records for the experiments. "If the Omega Sanction was part of these macabre experiments..." Galvatron lets his thought go unfinished, caught up in rummaging. Warpath isn't one to not nobly put his own life at risk, but he feels kind of silly when he's putting it at risk from a datadisc. He presses a button on his forearm and a disc drive appears. He connects the cable handed to him by Red Alert, then carefully inserts the disc. And idly wonders when the last time he updated his firewalls was... There are a few other 'pet' projects in the basement and an awful lot of bizarre sporting equipment. The Sweep enters the basement and inspects all the strange projects. He wrinkles his brow at the dead servant bot. And sporting equipment? Since when were those floating squidbrains physically active? They always seemed like the lazybodied intellectual type. Sunder wonders how much of it's actually 'sporting equipment' and how much could actually be classified as some sort of torture devices. "Very odd," he murmurs. Well, the Quintessons /did/ leave the sporting equipment behind. They can't have liked it that much. Once the disk is in place and Red Alert's datapad is hooked up, Red Alert gets to work trying to decrypt the data on the disk, using the routines he has on storage, working quickly but methodically. Nightbeat murmurs to Warpath, since the lil' guy has made a guinea pig of himself, "You're brave, kid." Galvatron eyes the sporting equipment, and takes a Quintesson space-badminton racket for himself. Then, he flies out of the hole. "There's nothing worth taking," he says, as he pushes the racket into subspace. "Let's try the other structures." Galvatron helpfully cannons the wall, for ease of exit. "Try not to die or..whatever," Powerglide scoffs, scratching at his elbow. "Mining logs," Red Alert pronounces. "Most of it pretty routine." He looks up at the others. "There's a lot of them, though, and... if I'm reading these dates right - and I'm certain I am - they range from the height to the Quintesson Empire, then end... about the same time the first slave revolts on Cybertron were beginning. They seem to cut off when we were freeing ourselves!" Warpath would blush if he could, but either way he scratches the back of his head. "Awwww.. 'm just doing whutever I can t'help." He shoots Powerglide a look, knowing this is the closest he's gonna get from empathy from his good buddy." Eventually the data is decrypted and Warpath can start accessing things. "Hey, I'm in." He starts going over the files. "WOW, this is just boring. Minin' data, incident reports, nothin' major." He pauses. "Waiiitaminiit... these files're OLD!" He gives out a couple of dates that probably make Kup look like a spring chicken. Red Alert attempts to download what he can before unhooking the cable. Sunder rubs his beard, and then takes a piece of sporting equipment down from the wall and squirrels it away into his subspace pocket. "Singe might enjoy this," he murmurs, then follows his Emperor through the hole in the wall. Kup folds his arms across his chest, waiting for the data to come up. "Yeah, back in those days, datadisc drives were slow, and if you took the disc out of the drive, that would take down all the info. Most computers didn't have enough RAM to handle all that data, ya see. And if you wanted to make a copy, you could do that, but only on a computer with two datadisc drives, and it would take several days for the process to..." Red Alert interrupts his story-telling with something that's actually important, which annoys him a little. "Ehnnnh. So. This was a mining station? What's with the lab, then? Bit excessive for raw ore." He looks between Warpath and Red Alert. "Eh? That far back? So they must've abandoned this place when we rebelled against them. Hm. Still, I think we're missin' sumthin'." Nightbeat looks vaguely concerned and asks, "Hey, if we rebelled against the Quintessons here... where are, well, /us/? This is a dead world!" He gestures, waving his arms widely. Tailgate uhhhhhs at Nightbeat. "We're right here, chief." Galvatron begins the flight toward the power plant -- but because he sidetracks himself investigating any structure he sees between point A and point B and shooting at them when they refuse to yield any answers, it might take him a few. Red Alert stands up and shakes his head. "We're missing what this 'Omega Sanction' is, for one thing." He looks around at the others. "Maybe we should try the other buildings?" Warpath shrugs at Nightbeat. "Lot can happen in a buncha million years, ain't like leaving a planet or gettin' killed in a war or whatever is somethin' new to us..." He leaves it that. The buildings easily crumble before Galvatron's awesome might. Warpath turns to Powerglide. "Hey Powahglide! Think yew could have a look for somethin' whut might be a transmitter or something? Red Alert mutters, "Well, there's an idea." Then, louder, he points out, "The signal was incredibly old, though. I'm not sure how long it's been bouncing around the galaxy, but this 'Omega Sanction' was supposedly completed some time ago." He tilts his head, optics narrowed, and asks, "Might it have anything to do with the Guardian robots?" Nightbeat covers his face with a hands and says, "No, I mean... this doesn't look right, you know? Where are the signs of struggle? This place is dusty and falling apart, but there wasn't any battle fought here. The Quintessons just... packed up and left." He slips out of the laboratory, and he notices some of the building Galvatron has knocked over. Nightbeat says lowly, "Uh oh." Sunder follows along, watching Galvatron blast random objects. The remnant stench of Quintessons still permeates his sensors. "If Quintessons were here, surely they had a journal recording. It would indeed be lucky if we could find one here." He resumes scanning, trying to pick up any Quintesson life signs. Kup grimaces, looking at the floor. "I vaguely heard 'a this Omega Sanction a long time ago, actually. Didn't hear anything of real substance." He begins to follow Nightbeat out. "Just contradicting rumors, but all of it was bad." Once he's outside, he follows Nightbeat's optics. "Ehhh... was that building like that when we got here?" There are no life signs. Inside the power plant, however, there must be some operational computers to keep the power grid running, however. Tailgate tags along, tailgating Kup and Nightbeat outside. "What's that?" he asks, pointing over at the hole in the building. "Uh.. I'm-a go check it out." Boomslang reaches the power plant early, having travelled there as the crow flies. The jet-powered crow. He's already kicking the door open when Galvatron shows up. Gotta make a show of initiative and bravery now and then, and this place seems pretty dead. He ducks in and sweeps the interior with his taclight. Red Alert follows the others outside, peering out from behind Kup and over Nightbeat's head. "No... no, it wasn't, Kup," the security director answers. He says softly, "The Decepticons have been through here." Tailgate flips forward onto his face and pulls in his arms, changing into a classic Pontiac Firebird! "Have been? As in gone?" Warpath says to Red Alert. "Now who's bein' hopeful?" 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am starts driving across the rugged terrain, bouncing and shimmying all over the place on the way over to check out the broken building. The door falls with a hideous creak. Inside, the lights flickers a bit. All sorts of obscure dials and meters are about, and there is a very deep hole where the core tap runs. However, the power grid glows on a few monitors. Power here. Power to the house and the laboratory, but most of the power is going elsewhere. Going down into the mines. Nightbeat squints at some of the damages and notes in a hushed voice, "Those ballistics marks... that's fusion artillery damage. Recent, too." Kup facepalms. "Enngh... Galvatron. And he's using the whole place for target practice. Ok, everybody. Let's check this place out, but be careful. You don't wanna run into that maniac alone." 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am is already off on a trek to run into that maniac alone! Red Alert studies the area around them. He looks up towards the powerplant, than over in the distance. "That building's already been wrecked. All that's left is the power plant and... looks like a spaceport?" 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am skids to a halt next to an opening in some random building, turns around and peels out after the other Bots. Nightbeat transforms, keeping his headlights off, despite the dark and the gloom. He heads off towards the spaceport - the tracks indicate that the Decepticons headed towards the power plant. Kup waves both his arms at Tailgate. "Lad! Lad! Get back over here and--" Then the minibot disappears inside a building, prompting Kup to kick the ground in disgust. "Ugh. Someone remind me to have that guy take a psych eval. Let's go for the space port!" Transforming, he races off after Nightbeat. Kup falls forward, folding up into really old looking futuristic truck! Boomslang pokes at a few of the computers, but he's no expert. "Man, these things are old. I wish Fulcrum was here, he knows computers." The computers Boomslang is poking at rather clearly show that the lion's share of power produced here is being shunted underground, into the mines. Enough to power several cities! 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am didn't disappear into a building? The car bounces all over the place, trying to catch back up with his compatriots. Seems as if all the action is going to be wherever Tailgate and Nightbeat are going! Warpath transforms and, erm, gradually trundles his way over... Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll. "Oh wait, I got something..." says Boomslang after a few minutes of trying to figure out how the C: prompt works. "It's down in the mines. Something big drawing lots and lots of juice." Red Alert tilts his head back, shakes it with a sigh, then leaps forward into vehicle mode. He follows along behind Kup and Nightbeat. And past Warpath, reeeal quick-like. *zoom* The spaceport that the Autobots approach is quite, quite abandoned. The launch tower might have computers left in it, though. Can't very well launch and take the launch computers along. 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am pulls up next to Kup and transforms, hopping on one foot as the momentum carries him sideways. The Pontiac Firebird isn't a mindless machine after all! It jumps up off the ground and transforms into Tailgate! Fire Chief's Car pulls up near the launch tower, as that's one really obvious marker, anyway, and transforms. The first thing he does, as usual, is sniff the air. Then his head darts around as he scans the area quickly, displaying his usual nervous twitchiness. Stale, dead air here. Light scorching on the launch pad, mostly eroded by time. Cybertruck stops by the launch tower, and tries to steady Tailgate as he suddenly rejoins the group right next to them. "Heh, you find anything, lad?" The faded green cybertruck springs up and splits apart, revealing the ancient Autobot, Kup! Tailgate holds up a rock. "I found a rock! We're looking for mineral samples, right?" The rock contains traces of bauxite ore. Sunder continues to follow Galvatron, but trying to keep ahead of Boomslang. "I wonder what we'll find further down," he wonders. Since the majority of the power from the station seems to have been shunted underground, Sunder surmises that if they find anything of interest, that's where it will be. "We're looking to find out what the 'Omega Sanction' is," Red Alert explains in the tone of someone who's resigned himself to the fact that he's going to have to repeat himself a few more times. He creeps up to the tower, then tries to force the door open. The door easily opens, the hinges whining. Inside, the launch computers are still there, intact. Porsche 959 transforms to bring up the rear, again drawing his plasma blaster, looking around suspiciously. 'cons to his left, Quintesson labs to his right, and he's stuck in the middle with Minibots. The puzzle pieces of Porsche 959 rearrange into the hard-boiled Autobot detective, Nightbeat! Kup's cheek twitches. He so wishes Tailgate was a Decepticon. So bad. So very bad. "Put that fraggin' thing down," he growls, then checks up on Red Alert. "Need any help there, lad?" Red Alert heads in, examining the computer. First he checks to see if any of these things have an operational status. If they're not, he looks for data storage devices of some sort. If he can't manage that much, he'll start seeing about pulling out hard drives. As Kup addresses him, he addresses the room. "Just trying to get these active, Kup, sir." Tailgate is steadied, then drops the rock and draws out his Fisher Price Junior Laser Pistol. "Alright, where are they? It'll be just like that showthingy at the something kerbobber. Wait, the good guys won that right?" Red Alert frowns. "One of the Sweeps is reporting 'confusing life signs.'" With a little work, the Autobots can get the launch computers running. The last time this launchpad was used was right around the slave revolts on Cybertron. Any flight plans? Kup ennnghs, stepping inside the tower. "Yes, Tailgate, they did," Kup replies, despite having no idea what Tailgate is talking about. He hovers over Red Alert's shoulder, watching the computer displays. "Life signs? On this rock? Keep listenin' in. And what have you found, here?" There are flight plans - to where Quintessa would be, if it wasn't destroyed. "He says it's fluctuates. One moment he'll detect many life signs, the next, just a single one," Red Alert explains as he tippity taps at the computer. He gestures to the date. "The dates match up to when the laboratory was abandoned." Then he hnns, softly. "Looks like they pulled out for home - Quintessa." Boomslang descends into the mine shaft, checking the corners with his light. Tailgate keeps his optics peeled, scanning around using his super-amazing Scout abilities to try and spot any Decepticons. Sunder heads into the mine as well, since the life signs he detected seem to be emanating from there. He places a clawed hand on the wall of rock, pondering whether the rocks are causing interference. He shakes his head and continues on his way. If there is interference, the only way he'll find out is if he goes down the path. Inside the mine, there are corpses. Dozens of them. All robotic, all looking like ancient service-line units. Some blasted clear in half. Some crushed. Kup rubs his chin as he considers these developments. "Strange life signs still on the planet, and all the squids pulled out ages ago. I don't like this. Not one bit. Red, do you know where the Decepticons are now? If they unleash something..." "They haven't said," Red Alert answers, looking back up at Kup. "But... there's only one building we have yet to check." He sighs. "We've lost time, checking everything /else/ first." Sweepcraft is a sweepchair Sunder shifts into his fearsome-looking robot mode. Nightbeat mutters, "It's always the last place you look." Kup nods grimly, stalking back out of the launch tower. "The mines, right? Then let's get there right away." He smacks Tailgate on the shoulder before he transforms. "C'mon, Spaz, we gotta get to the Decepticons before they do something really fragging stupid!" Quietly, he mutters, "And let's just hope *we* ain't doin' nuthin' stupid." Kup falls forward, folding up into really old looking futuristic truck! Red Alert glances up at Kup. "So... we follow them up to the power plant?" he asks, heading towards the tower exit. To Nightbeat, he says, "For most people, it's because they stop looking after that." He sniffs. "We just picked the wrong spots first." Once outside, he transforms, reporting, "Dirge... is having a poetry hour." Tailgate ows! "Don't call me spaz, jerk! Uh.. I mean, sir! Sir jerk!" He trudges along after Kup, putting away his pistol and... Tailgate flips forward onto his face and pulls in his arms, changing into a classic Pontiac Firebird! Nightbeat considers Kup's orders, nods slowly, and transforms to follow Kup. He replies to Red Alert, "Then don't stop lookin'. Ever." Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll. "I never do," the lambo replies as it rolls towards the power plant. Deeper in the mine, there are more and more corpses, all horribly mangled and maimed. Some are just hands and feet, their whole bodies immolated as if by a powerful energy blast. Also, the ceiling is quite high. Almost oddly high. And deeper still in the mine: A sudden cave-in. Well, not so much a cave-in. More like a giant column of death boring into the ground, incinerating any rock in its path, leaving not even crumbs to fall. And then: Galvatron descends. "Hh." After the scene transition spinny, Kup finds himself outside of the entrance to the mine shaft, looking up at the wiiiiiide tunnel ahead. "Oh, brother, this reminds me of all kinds of places I shouldn't 'a walked into." He pauses, staring into the darkness. "Well, let's go!" And on that positive note, Kup trudges inside! The puzzle pieces of Porsche 959 rearrange into the hard-boiled Autobot detective, Nightbeat! The Pontiac Firebird isn't a mindless machine after all! It jumps up off the ground and transforms into Tailgate! The faded green cybertruck springs up and splits apart, revealing the ancient Autobot, Kup! Tailgate hops up to his feet and draws out his Jr. Laser Pistol once more. "Alright lads, once more into the breach! Ha ha! I hear that in a movie once. What's a breach?" Red Alert is further up in the mines. Or something. Because they travelspinnied. "Keep in mind," he warns, "that there may be a Sweep down there. He'll be able to hear us almost as soon as we can hear him - we'll have a hard time taking them by suprise." Then, he follows Kup into the mine.
* heard Nightbeat follows Kup and the others down into the mine, looking at the corpses and commenting, tone hushed, "This... this was a massacre. There ain't any Transformers here cos they're /dead/." Kup shrugs. "I think it's a female human's undergarment. Which I guess explains a lot." He kicks one of the dead bodies, scowling deeply. "Yeah, they're toast. All of 'em. And if whatever did this is still alive, then a Sweep's gonna be the least of our wories. Let's keep moving." "Nice to see you, sir," says Boomslang, touching two fingers to his cone in a salute. "Looks like whatever happened here, we missed it," he says, gesturing with his rifles to the bodies and chunks of bodies. "But something's still down there drawing power." The Sweep snarls as he detects other life signs now. Only this time, it's Autobot life signs. "My Leader, there are Autobots approaching," he says, "And another life sign which seems...large. Somewhere deep in this mine." Galvatron's dramatic arrival into the mines awakens something down a little deeper. Something big. That life force Sunder was feeling. The machine that's been feeding off the power plant. A red optic visor larger than any Transformer here flickers to life. There is a groan as servos that have not moved in millions of years activate. A dark Guardian, the violet and gunmetal twin of Omega Supreme, booms out, perhaps some of its words echoing up the shafts, "The Omega Sanction has been completed. No survivors. The Omega..." It pauses, its gun arm whining as it charges. "...Sanction must be completed." "The Sweep he-" Red Alert cuts himself off and widens his optics. "Something else. Very loud." He repeats the words, "'The Omega Sanction has been completed. No survivaors. The Omega Sanction must be completed.'" Tailgate stares. "Omega Supreme is here? That's /awesome/. Let's go see if he'll help us clear out these Decepticons!" He starts to run ahead. Kup holds out a hand to Tailgate as he runs after him. "Wait, dammit! WAIT! We don't know what this thing is!" "Tailgate, stop! Not Omega Supreme!" Red Alert exclaims. He points to the height of the caverns. "Do you have any idea how Omega started out?! The Dark Guardians! I faced one of these inside Neocron a few years ago. It even has the same voice!" Nightbeat tries to estimate what kind of power output you'd need to get that kind of sound output to carry through tunnels. Either a wicked sound system... or something huge. Didn't Red Alert mention Omega Supreme earlier? Didn't Sunder mention a massive life force. He says slowly, warning Tailgate, "That ain't Omega Supreme. Voice is wrong - what Red Alert said." Galvatron squints as he hears the bellowing deep in the caverns. "I think we have more to worry about than the Autobots right now," Galvatron says, grunting. "You two -- keep the meddlers at bay. This /Omega Sanction/ will /bend to my will/ -- or I will /exterminate/ it." Galvatron smiles a small, cruel, smile, before moving deeper down. Tailgate skids to a halt, able to stop much quicker than Kup (who's right behind him). "Okay!" If Sunder could reach out and grasp onto Galvatron's shoulder, he'd be gripping hard enough to dig his nails in. But he does not. His ruby optics are widened in panic. He knows that's not Omega Supreme...but what the creature is saying frightens him greatly. /No Survivors/. "My leader! That thing is programmed to destroy us all! If you can bend it to your will, that would be excellent, but I have the feeling we may end up having to destroy it." he says to Galvatron. Well now at leaset Sunder has an idea of what the Omega Sanction is. An extermination program, most likely. "I shall do as you say," he adds, when Galvatron orders him to keep the Autobots busy. Kup, naturally, runs right into Tailgate. "Wait... ACK!" Tailgate falls over in a heap! "Argh! Watch where you're going!" The Dark Guardian unit walks upward into the caverns - oh, those high ceilings? Made just for it, that it might police the slaves. That it might kill them all, if worst came to worst. These robots never had an Alpha Trion to lead them. They were simply murdered as soon as the Quintessons on Alumina received word of the Cybertron disaster. The Decepticons might see its crimson optic band, lurdly bright in the dark, approaching. Boomslang is eager to agree. "Yessir, I'll be... back over this way, covering the entrance in case the Autobots show up!" He does his best to put himself out of the line of fire of anything shooting at Galvatron (or vice versa). Red Alert skids to a stop as Kup trips over Tailgate. "I'm tempted to suggest we just leave the Decepticons to deal with the Guardian, or vice versa, but... do you think there's a chance it might gain control of the thing?" Kup shoves off of Tailgate, shaking his head. "Watch where YOU'RE going! Let's go, everyone!" "Go which way, Kup?" Red Alert asks, confused given the question he had just asked. Tailgate picks himself up and brushes rocks off his armor. "Aw, you dented my head," he grumbles, then follows along. Nightbeat looks to Kup and asks, "Uh... got any idea how our ancestors handled these bad boys? Because I sure don't." Kup blinks. "Ehh... I dunno, dammit. You're the one with the ears!" he says, throwing up his hands. "And Red, if there's even a chance the Decepticons learn how to control this thing, whatever it is, we have to stop them, no matter what it takes." He gives Nightbeat a meaningful look. "The Decepticons would usually sabotage a Guardian with something like a cassette, or, failing that, they'd hit it with enough artillery to level a city." Galvatron advances a bit, then finally stands his ground once the giant dark Guardian is visible. "GUARDIAN!" he calls, his raspy voice deep and commanding. "I AM GALVATRON! GALAXIES TREMBLE IN MY WAKE -- I HAVE CONQUERED /DEATH/ ITSELF! YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME! DO YOU SERVE AT MY WILL, GUARDIAN -- OR DO YOU DIE AT MY FEET?!" The Decepticon leader's cannon glows as he screams his threat, fist shaking at the giant robot with pregnant rage. "Well, if they have any cassetts here, I haven't heard of them," Red Alert considers. "But Galvatron probably counts as enough artillery to level a city." He looks at the others, then turns down the tunnel. "We should go nearer, then, and make sure he has to destroy it." Red Alert sounds rather reluctant to face either Dark Guardian or Galvatron himself. The Dark Guardian looks at Galvatron. It might even look thoughtful, but that would be giving it too much credit. It's simply trying to decide if Galvatron fits the parameters of 'slave robot to be killed' or 'other - ignore'. Finally, it reaches a conclusion and attempts to grab Galvatron, to crush the warlord in its three-clawed hand. Dumbly, it repeats, "The Omega Sanction must be completed." "NYYARRRGHHH!" Galvatron cries, his angry voice echoing up through the tunnels as he's picked up, claws digging into his purple and silver armor. He bangs on the Guardian's forearms with his fists in a spasm of fury, his cannon still glowing. Tailgate starts running again. "Sounds like he's gonna have to destroy it. Ooh. Let's go watch!" Nightbeat listens to Kup's explanation of 'how to kill a Dark Guardian'. It's... less useful that Kup's stories usually are. Sighing, he draws his plasma blaster, which feels rather woefully inadequate right now, and he runs down the mine shafts to reach the chamber. Kup smirks at Red Alert, taking a flashlight and pointing it upwards at his face. "Awww, you ain't scared 'a the scary robots are ya? Heheheh. Come on. You know we gotta do it." And on that note, he hustles off down the tunnel. "Careful!" Red Alert shouts after Tailgate as the other runs ahead. "Galvatron isn't the only Decepticon down there!" Still, despite his concerns, he runs along with the rest of him. As Kup taunts him, he sniffs. "There's nothing wrong with reasonable caution! Besides, acting /despite/ fear is bravery. Acting /without/ fear is usually just foolhardyness." "Slag!" exclaims Boomslang as the Guardian lumbers up and starts squishing the Lord of Destruction. He spins around and reflexively fires off a spray of gauss slugs at the Guardian's transparent faceplate with a rapid snapping sound. The Dark Guardian clutches at Galvatron. The Unicronian-made machine is rather more difficult to smash than a simple slave, but it keeps trying. Its red optic band roves the cavern, seeking out another target. Alighting upon the Seeker, the gauss rounds doing little more than getting its attention, it fires at the winged robot with its main cannon. "GALVATRON!" Sunder shouts, as the not-Guardian grabs the Decepticon Leader. He fires up his headcannon, attempting to shoot the clawjoint, and perhaps force the mechanism to drop Galvatron. If it doesn't let go, they'll be even more outnumbered than they are now. "Slag!" Boomslang yells a second time as the giant laser cannon swings towards him. He lowers his rifle and simply vanishes with a soft fizzing sound like radio static. The laser beam slices right through the spot where he was just a moment ago and blows a twelve-foot-wide and four-foot-deep crater out of the floor of the mine behind. Combat: Boomslang activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight! Tailgate scampers around a corner only to be faced with the biggest robot ever. "Slag in a blender!" he yells, pointing. "Uh.. you guys are going to need a new Galvatron." Kup hustles further down into the cavern, and smirks at what he sees. "Heheh, looks like Galvatron made a new friend, guys." He holds out a hand to the other Autobots. "Let's let 'em play with each other for a bit. This is kinda funny." Tailgate leans over to Kup. "Uh.. when it kills Galvatron, who's gonna kill /it/, old man? You? Heh heh.. we're all gonna die." Nightbeat raises a finger and points out, "Not if we run real, real fast." Red Alert arrives with the rest of the Autobots. "We've got a shuttle on the surface, and I'm pretty sure Omega Supreme was the only one of these things that ever got equipped for space travel." He twitches, looking around. Kup smirks at the other Autobots. "Don't worry. I won't let it kill Galvatron. Just hurt 'im nice and good. Anyone got a camera? I wanna record this for posterity." He chuckles like the cruel old bastard that he is. The Dark Guardian is exceptionally tough. Sunder will have to work a lot harder to even put a dent in it. Its head swivels around, popping off a shot at Sunder with the laser on the back of its head. Nightbeat offers, "Well, I got a photographic memory," which isn't helpful to anyone but Nightbeat, unfortunately. Sunder yelps as the laser nearly grazes him. He feels the heat of it as it just wings by his shoulder as he dives for cover. "Mighty Galvatron! Can you free yourself?" he shouts, before loading his secondary firing chamber of his disruptor rifle and lobbing a rocket-propelled grenade at the Dark Guardian's not-face. Red Alert frowns, and sniffs at the air, tilting his head. Although he's watching the battle mostly, he still continues to scan around him, half expecting an attack from some other end. Combat: Fire Chief's Car searches for Boomslang. Combat: Boomslang has been found! Combat: Fire Chief's Car transforms into his Red Alert mode. Tailgate waves his hands at Kup. "Ooh, ooh! Why aren't we letting it kill him, again?" Galvatron groans, a claw sunk deep into his stomach, creating a sparking wound; his back fares better, but not much. "IDIOTS! INCOMPETENTS!" he screams as Sunder and Boomslang fail to free him; his cannon glows as hot as his temper as the Decepticon tyrant swings his arms around. "WHY -- MUST I -- DO /EVERYTHING/ --" Galvatron brings his cannon to bear, pointing directly up at the Guardian's lack-of-face. "--/MYSELF/?!" And with that, Galvatron fires. Boomslang may be invisible, but he's not inaudible, and he leaves traces. Red Alert is exactly the kind of guy to spot footprints in the dirt of the mine floor trying to sneak away from the scene and get back to the shuttle. Sunder's attacks continue to do more or less nothing to the Dark Guardian and it pops off a few more head-laser shots at the Sweep. However, the Dark Guardian was designed in a more primitive time, long before Unicron gave his gift to a dying Decepticon warlord. It wasn't built to withstand a fusion cannon. Its whole head explodes, and it sinks to its knees as it dies, wrist going slack. Nightbeat is also a pretty observant guy. Hmm, didn't he hear more Decepticons down here than just Sunder and Galvatron? However, as the dying Dark Guardian sinks to its knees, the detective decides that running like blazes is the better part of valour. Nightbeat begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Kup, Galvatron, Boomslang, Sunder. Red Alert notices the subtle traces that indicates, 'Invisible person wandering by,' and decides to follow them. He doesn't care if the Decepticon's just saving its own hide, but he needs to make sure the Autobot shuttle isn't tampered with. "Oh, uh," says Boomslang's voice. He reappears, tucking and rolling around Red Alert with a blaze of slugs from his gauss rifle! Not at Red Alert, however- at the falling Guardian. "Good shot, Sir!" As the Dark Guardian collapses, it... does not let Galvatron go. "NNNYYAARRRGHH!" the Decepticon leader squeals as he tries to free himself, buying the Autobots precious seconds. Kup shrugs at Tailgate. "Because we don't want that thing wandering around free. Or did you forget it's killed every Cybertronian it's ever met? Now let's go finish off the Decep--" He trails off as Nightbeat suddenly runs away. "Where the frag are you going?" Kup looks back at Galvatron, and wonders if it might be a good idea to follow them. Red Alert totally takes advantage of those precious seconds. Red Alert transforms to take advantage of those precious seconds. (Besides, it's really late). Sunder dives out of the way of the dying Dark Guardian's shots again, sighing in relief as Galvatron /HEADSHOTs/ the mechanism. "Well done," he purrs. Red Alert retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots. Tailgate's optics blink on and off as Galvatron makes the thing's head explode. "Aw slag, we're hosed." The Dark Guardian's wrist servos lose power and at last allow the tyrant to escape its post-mortem clutches. In its day, it was terrifying and unstoppable, but it has met its better. If Kup had a hat, he would throw it down in total disgust. "Fraggin' A." As it is, he just kicks a rock at Galvatron, then transforms and peels out. Kup falls forward, folding up into really old looking futuristic truck! Tailgate calls out really loudly, way too loudly really, "Heeeeey Gaaaalvatrooooon! Tell us who's your new booooyfrieeeend!" The minibot starts firing his little Fisher Price Junior Laser Pistol, which makes weak 'pew pew' noises, then pops and hisses as a fuse blows. "Aw, slag! Exit stage holycrapI'mleaving!" Tailgate peels out and heads after Kup! Tailgate flips forward onto his face and pulls in his arms, changing into a classic Pontiac Firebird! Lasers and rocks strike Galvatron as he struggles to get free. "BWWWWAAAAHHH!" he cries, firing at the floor near him, not even coming close to hitting the retreating Autobots. "There's Autobots!" shouts Boomslang back over his wing to Galvatron. "It's okay, I got 'em!" He ducks behind a support beam and lays down a suppressing fire against Tailgate. 1986 Pontiac Trans-Am yells as he drives away, "Heeeelp! I'm being suppressed! Ow ow ow ow ow ow OW OW!" Once the excitement of the beheaded Dark Guardian is settled down, and Galvatron is free, Sunder also lays down cover fire. Red Alert has disconnected. ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/144 Posted Author The Omega Sanction Thu Jan 29 Red Alert ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Red Alert appears on the screen, meaning you can view him in all his twitchy glory. "Yesterday evening an ancient broadcast in the Quintesson language was picked up on Cybertron. By all indications, the transmission was actually billions of years old. Once translated-" Red Alert pauses and glances to his left, then continues, "once translated, transmission said, 'The Omega Sanction has been completed.' I was able to trace the origin of the transmission to the planet Alumina, a metallic world. Unfortunately, the Decepticons intercepted and translated the same signal." "Kup, Nightbeat, Powerglide, Warpath, Tailgate and I investigated the signal source. We discovered an abandoned mining world that gave every sign of having once been-" he pauses and looks to his right, then continues, "part of the Quintesson Empire. By pulling up ancient records, we were able to determine that it had been abandoned at about the time the revolts began on Cybertron, and that they retreated to Cybertron. Unfortunately, /current/ radio transmissions revealed that the Decepticons were also on planet - I recognized one of the Sweeps and Galvatron himself, but there was a new voice I haven't been able to identify yet. They were on planet, and seemed a step ahead of us, since we were no closer to finding out what the Omega Sanction was, while they were exploring a mine, the one place we hadn't looked, and were detecting strange, inconsistent life signs. We followed them down the same mine and encountered numerous corpses - bodies of service-line Cybertronians, our ancestors. Not long after we discovered the bodies, Galvatron, who was further down the mine, managed to wake up one of the Quintessons' Dark Guardians." "For those who don't know or remember what the Dark Guardians were, they're... well, think of them as Omega Supreme's cousins that never turned against the Quintessons. The Quintessons were known to use them as recently as the Neocron incident." Red Alert stops and shudders. "We crept down to where the combat was taking place and, well, watched. The unidentified voice proved to be a blue-gray conehead Seeker with cloaking capabilities - I'm asking Intel to get me a name to match with this guy. Before the battle was even over, he tried creeping back up the tunnel, and I followed to make sure he wouldn't try to tamper with-" he cuts off, frowns, and seems to towards the ceiling for a moment before continuing, "tamper with our shuttle. Partway up, he suddenly decloaked and slipped around behind me, heading back down. Shortly after, Nightbeat went driving past me, heading for the surface, and I followed. Based on what I heard, Galvatron defeated the Dark Guardian. It is... my belief that the Omega Sanction was an order given to exterminate all... all 'slaves.' All our ancestors." He pauses, frowning, and then finishes, "Alumina... Alumina is a graveyard for our kind." "That is all." Blips out. ==============================================================================
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