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| - Recap: The PCs and several NPCs such as Soundwave and Starscream have gathered in an emptied portion of the R&D facility inside the Repair Campus to SAVE THE WORLD. or at least you know, the Decepticons. Soundwave and Robustus were fine tuning the giant-gun-shaped Shrink Ray that they had developed for this, while they waited for the others to assemble. Stormfront attempts to walk as carefully as he can, given the number of delicate components here, and the way the metal floors and walls tend to shake under even typical footfalls from the giant mech. Still, when called for this mission, he responded readily enough. Robustus had commed up the participants of this little adventure they were about to have, the mech prepared for all possible issues that may arise that he could possibly foresee. "Ah good, they are arriving." he states Shadowstar walks in behind Stormfront, the sleek femme making sure all her weapon systems are functioning properly before looking toward Soundwave and Robustus, then toward Starscream before looking up at Stormfront. "Finally, time to get this nano business over with." Bytaboom enters the room, her tail swishing behind her in agitation. She sits back on her haunches, looking toward Starscream, then Soundwave, then Robustus, then the others before looking back at Robustus. She remains silent, her thought processor running. Soundwave looks over... and then up at Stormfront. His optical band brightened "Heavy Fighters: Welcome. Largest mechs: Possible complication." Robustus glances up at the large mech, "Actually this may benefit us sir." the medic states. "He could carry all of us inside to the target location." Shadowstar looks up at Stormfront. "Well? Do you think you could handle those nanos long enough to get us to where we need to go?" she asks. Stormfront nods to the assessment. "I am capable of carrying this complement, sir. If that assists, I will be happy to volunteer in that capacity." the towering mech responds. Stormfront also nods to Shadow's question. "I was designed with durability in mind. I believe so." Discordia nods quietly, satisfied as he gestures towards the circle painted on the floor "Proceed into the circle then. We will be under the influence of the Ray for one hour. After we have shrunk, Reflector will apply us to an infected mechanism to track down the nanobot." Robustus moves to the circle, "Let us hope that our subject's system will leave us be so we can be in and out within that time frame." he states. Stormfront steps into the circle, drawing his heavily armored appendages in as much as possible, retracing the thick wings as far in as possible as well, trying to fit entirely within the target area and leave space for others. The doors to the repair bay slide open, and in walks Nitrogear. Not surprisingly, following him closely is the air commander, Starscream. "All the delivery systems you designated for testing proved unfeasible, Comrade." Starscream looks to him and nods. "As I projected." Starscream then turns his optics to the motley crew ready to be shrunken. "Soundwave!" Starscream screeches, "Is everything ready to go?" Bytaboom rises from where she sits and takes a few steps back. Shadowstar moves into the target area as well, her wings folding in to take up less space as well. She looks over as Starscream walks in. Soundwave waits for everyone to stand, and nods to Starscream "Confirmed. Enter the area and I will join you." he states, moving to that area as well as Reflector took up the controls. All three sets. Robustus nods to the two other seekers joining them. "So what was that about delivery systems?" he asks. Stormfront peers down among the seekers and mission leaders, waiting for the shrinking patiently. "If there's not enough room in the target zone, with the whole crew assembled, someone or someone’s can stand on my shoulders." he offers, cautious, in a limited zone, of even shifting his feet. Shadowstar leans back against Stormfront as she waits for the shrinking. "Let's just get started already. I want to be able to go outside again." "Very well." Soundwave nods and turns to walk to the area. Well big enough for the mechs to stand there easily. "On ten, Reflector will activate the ray. Reaction to ray: Unknown." he states to the crew. Bytaboom enters the target area, her optics narrowing, "Do we know how many there are?" You say, "Depends if the patient's self repair system is currently online. So in other words, could be none, could be thousands." "Excellent!" Starscream hisses, "I was not about to let the whole lot of you hog all of MY glory for yourselves!" Without hesitation, Starscream folds his wings and stands in the circle with everyone else. Looking over to Nitrogear, Starscream asks, "Well, what are you waiting for? Your invitation?" Starscream takes on a sarcastic tone he usually doesn't take with his protégé. Nitrogear shakes his head, "No, Comrade Starscream." and proceeds to step into the circle, making sure he's fitting in a small of a space as possible. "And yes Robustus. But I found them unpractical." Shadowstar continues to wait. Not much else for her to do. She does get her weapons ready though, just in case nanos attack as soon as they are shrunk and inside whatever poor mech has been chosen. Stormfront readies his weapons as well - in this case, opening both chest bays to reveal row after row of missiles inside. His optics narrow. "Ready to proceed, sirs." At the count of ten, the entire world lights up with a bright blue beam, that slowly faded through the rainbow to red as the world started to grow larger around them. And larger, and larger as they shrank more and more, until the scrapes in the deck plates below them became huge canyons miles deep. Soon nothing recognizable could be seen from where they were, shrunken down to the size of microbes. Robustus shakes his head a bit at Starscream, but keeps his commentary to himself. The lurch of sensation is rather unique as the ray hits him. The further sensation of shrinking a bit disconcerting as things get bigger. "I hope I don't get stuck." The feline Decepticon replies in a sarcastic tone. As she glances around, Bytaboom blinks her optics, "Okay, this would be better if used on the Autobots. By the way, am I the only scout?" Shadowstar's optics widen a bit as she watches the world shrink. She keeps her eyes open and weapons ready for any nanos. Sure, they aren't inside yet, but you never know what tiny things might be right there on the tile with them. "Why? Do we need more than one scout?" she asks. Stormfront is as hard to read as ever, with the faceplate and not-very-expressive optics behind reinforced ballistics proof glass. Still, he's at the ready as they shrink, quickly doing readings of the area around. "Definitely not a scout. I believe I'm on transport duty though. As soon as we determine there's no immediate threat, I'll have everyone board." "You will not be stuck. I use this technology every time I transform." explains Soundwave, who had his own blaster out, and tapes ready to roll. He looks about, then suddenly there was a very mild earthquake "Panic: not required. Reflector: Moving us to host unit." he explains Robustus feels the shaking as Reflector moves them to another location. "For once someone is carrying me, rather a unique experience." he murmurs. Starscream's dental plates twist up into a grin as he starts to shrink. He eagerly anticipates deploying his new programming on the infected nanos to fix this issue once and for all. Starscream peers over to Bytaboom, "So, you DOUBT your own capacity?" Starscream screeches. "I'm sure we can find a replacement..." Starscream grins. "So don't let me down!" Nitrogear, on the other hand, has a much more gentle tone. "Don't worry, Comrade Byta. You'll do just fine." Bytaboom glances at Starscream, "I don't doubt my capacity, sir." She glances at all the others, "I have a feeling we'll split up." She glances at Nitrogear, "Thanks." "Negative. Too easy to get lost. Not enough firepower in individual teams. " notes Soundwave "Objective: Track down and restrain Nanobot, resist attacks by others simultaneously, and download new program." he explains Shadowstar wobbles a bit from the shaking as Reflector picks them up. "Why would we split up? We only have to catch one nano and reprogram it." Stormfront makes sure they don't come immediately under attack, then the massive mech transforms into his 'flying fortress' mode, a plane large enough to mount six full sized seeker jets on the underside and still have nose and engines overlapping, the massive armored wingspan casting long shadows over the others. A boarding ramp extends down from the midsection. "Please come aboard, and give me the desired coordinates." "Negative. Too easy to get lost. Not enough firepower in individual teams. " notes Soundwave "Objective: Track down and restrain Nanobot, resist attacks by others simultaneously, and download new program." he explains, nodding to Shadowstar as they thought alike. "We must prepare to be airborne momentarily." Robustus enters the large mech once he transforms, "Coordinates? This is a body we are going into, not a planet." he notes with a chuckle, "Reflector should be injecting us close to the self repair unit itself. I'll let you know when I see it." he assures Stormfront. Starscream nods in agreement with Soundwave. "Correct, Soundwave. We shall seek out our prey together, and then I shall release the genius of my programming upon it!" Starscream rubs his palms together greedily, as if anticipating the moment. "Stormfront! Search for the following nanobot pattern consistent with the infection." Starscream says, providing the raw data needed to plot the course. Nitrogear looks ready. "I am ready, Comrades." Then, he looks over to Starscream, as if ready to learn from him as well. "Are you ready, Byta?" Nitrogear asks softly, while he readies himself to transform into his swift jet alt mode. Muttering to herself, Bytaboom states, "Ready as I'll ever be." Shadowstar doesn't move into Stormfront's cargo bay, instead transforming and latching onto one of the many ports he has along his hull, ready to provide fire support. "Let's get going already." "Yes sir." Stormfront answers. "If I am to protect you all from initial assault, you will all need to get inside. Please strap in. Normally I would attach seekers to the undercarriage for quick deploy, but that leaves them vulnerable, so if you wish to attach there, be aware you are not entirely protected from attacks from below. I have input the infection location pattern, sir. Searching now. As soon as everyone is securely strapped down, I will launch." As he speaks, he opens two missile bays, preparing for combat and launch simultaneously. Soundwave climbs in last, moving to the 'bridge' area to watch carefully now "IF we see one, we must act swiftly to disable it without damaging it too much. As well, once it is injured or sees us, it will summon others to attack us." Robustus inclines his head to that, already strapped in and watching from the bridge, "I'll keep an optic out for any nanites as well sir." he states, after all he should be able to recognize them now he's seen one under a microscope. Starscream makes his way to the 'bridge' area as well, using several monitors and sensors. "Not everyone can be on the bridge." Starscream replies with a snarky remark. "When we find our mark, I'll want you to ensure proper ... handling procedures are followed." It's implied that when Starscream indicates 'handling' he means sedation or restraint. Nitrogear isn't quite sure why Starscream invited him along this mission.. so he remains seated firmly within Stormfront's hull, right next to Bytaboom. "Can the nanobot be outsmarted?" Bytaboom asks. She gives the commander a look and glances at Soundwave, "If we are quick enough?" Stormfront fires up the VTOL engines, rising off the ground once everyone is aboard. "Be ready for quick deploy. I can take hits, I can protect you all, and I have containment facilities when we have a prisoner... however, all of my armaments are heavy - other people will have to handle restraint, while I provide you cover." Shadowstar is starting to wonder when they will be injected into the sick mech. From her spot on Stormfront's hull she can see all there is to see. "Don't worry. I'll handle pacification of the nano." Suddenly, there was a violent tremble and the ground shot away beneath them! "Stormfront, rotate front-back axis one hundred and eighty degrees!" 'above' them another surface loomed out of the gloom, fast approaching "And activate antigravs." Then he speaks to Bytaboom "It is automonatous. But designed to seek out and destroy intruders. Therefore: Maybe." Robustus immediately scans intently with his optics once they are in the patient, looking for the object of their mission. "Be ready at the door everyone, once I spot the nanite we need you'll have to be quick about it." Odin picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20 Odin rolls a 6! Starscream looks back over to Bytaboom just as she is giving him the look. "Too dangerous. We don't want to provoke the army of nanos a typical Mech has. We just want one.. Therefore, it is best if we use discretion." Starscream corrects, punching in his current plan of action and instructing Stormfront on NOT to provoke. "Just a little ways further." Starscream taps a button and the yellow light appears above the cargo door for 'GET READY'. As it does, Nitrogear stands up and takes out his usual armament - a rifle, and proceeds to charge it with a *Bpsheeing!* "Come on, Comrades. We got work to do." Bytaboom rises and does a quick weapons check. She walks over to the cargo door, "Let's get this over with." Shadowstar waits for orders or nano attacks as she is carried along by Stormfront, her missiles ready all along her wings and her laser blasters ready on her jet body. There is good and bad to the situation. The maneuvers take place in what would seem an agonizingly long time for a seeker, multiple jets needing to fire to turn him about. "Adjusting, sir. Antigravs activated." comes the internal speakers. On the good side, he's made for rough conditions and flying under fire, so it remains as smooth a ride as could be hoped for. When the others get ready to deploy, a bomb bay door opens up for the seekers to drop out of. Meanwhile, Stormfront opens up two more missile bays, bristling with high explosive armament. The cargo door opens as well as his scanners sweep for signs of the nanos, still serving as a buffer from initial attacks for the others until they find a target. "I will remain with Stormfront to oversee the situation." notes Soundwave. He hits a button though "BUZZSAW, Eject. Mission: Escort, guard and report back." Robustus picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20 Robustus rolls a 9! Robustus is still looking for a nanite for us to wrangle, so far he isn't seeing any, which could be a bad sign... or good... depending on your outlook really. "Hm, perhaps we should damage something just slightly to draw a few out." he murmurs thoughtfully. Starscream is a tad wary of that because he doesn't want to call in the army, but if it what must be done, then it must be so. "Robustus, take the most calculated shot you can. Draw as few as possible." Starscream instructs, remaining seated on the console and continuing scans. Nitrogear is itching to go, as always. He looks longingly up at the yellow light, waiting.. waiting for it to turn green. He idly pets Bytaboom on the top of her head as he does, "Come on.. Come on.." he mumbles to himself. "Patience, Nitrogear." Bytaboom replies with a purr. She also looks up at the light for a moment. She calls to Robustus, "Hope it works, whatever you do." Robustus inclines his head, "Stormfront, aim and fire a minimal charge at the object straight ahead." he intones gently, "Get ready everyone, we should have something to tackle momentarily." Shadowstar seems surprised at the course of action. "Wait, aren't the bad nanos damaging things? Seems like we'd only draw good nanos, since the bad ones wouldn't bother with repairs." "Missiles and precision bombs armed, sir." Stormfront informs the mission leaders. "Feel free to set coordinates and fire to draw attention as needed. That way they will trace the shots back to me, and, ideally, fire upon me, not our precision crew. Sensor sweeps proceeding." he calls. "At the command, he arms the missile, targeting the coordinates given and opening fire with his lightest missile - which still makes an impressive explosion. For a few minutes, nothing happens. And then a faint tremble of steps... Ree Reee Reee Reee... A tall, spidery creature like a Mantis rees its' way aross the landscape, chittering somewhat as it came to investigate the minor damage caused, somewhat confused. Odin picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20 Odin rolls a 20! You say, "That's it!" Starscream grins and screeches, "And that's why I'M the one who's calling the shots." Starscream clarifies, "Even the bad nanos will want to make this Mech damaged exactly like he was.. and this new damage isn't part of their specification." Peering onto the monitor, Starscream says, "Hold position." With just a cursory look.. Starscream determines that THIS is the IDEAL nano for them to capture and reprogram. "Decepticons! Proceed with capture operations!" Starscream turns the light to 'green'. Nitrogear grins and without another word, jets out of Stormfront's hull and heads straight for the nano. Bytaboom goes out after Nitrogear, her weapon already raised and aimed at the nano. Shadowstar laughs. "You haven't even done anything." she says in response to Starscream. Since she is already outside of Stormfront, she simply detaches and engages the nano, firing missiles and lasers at its legs to try and immobilize it. "Come on nano! Let's make this quick!" Stormfront is not well suited to the capture mission, so instead, he arms all bays, and prepares to defend the recovery crew, moving to a position to try and give them as much cover as possible, willing to take fire for them. Soundwave holds on tightly as the floating Stormfront continues to move forwards. Noticing them fast, the insect like Nano Repair bot is almost as large as Stormfront, although not as massive. It chitters grinding blades in its' mouth area as it starts towards them quickly. Robustus cautions, "Don't kill it or damage it, we need it to spread the new program to the others. Disable only." The mech isn't a flier so cannot really assist the others in that manner. "Try targeting the legs with some sort of rope, trip it up." is suggested. Starscream only gets irritated by Shadowstar's remark. "Then I guess I have to show you how it’s done!" Starscream stomps to the cargo door and jets out as well. He's got his transfer mechanism stored in his subspace, ready for him to use when the nano is properly subdued. Starscream has joined the battle. Nitrogear, however, is ready for a fight. "Trip it up, huh? I can manage that, Comrade." Nitrogear replies to Robustus' comment about disabling it, going in close for a melee trip attempt at the nano's legs. Nitrogear picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20 Nitrogear rolls a 2! Stopping for a moment, Bytaboom glances at the nano, "Yuck. That is one ugly looking nano.." She swings her tail at its legs, "Take that!" Shadowstar ...well, luckily it seems her missile/laser attacks had little effect. "Rope? What do I look like, a wrangler?" she says as she transforms to her robot mode, then looks to Stormfront. "Hey, do you have any cables or anything?" she asks before charging the nano, attempting to knock it off its feet by leg-sweeping any legs that Byta didn't get. "Yes, there are docking cables and transport restraints, as well as numerous cargo ropes in the holds. I can't get to them easily, but anyone inside should have no problem collecting as much as is needed." The creature is surprisingly fast, and shrieks again with a chitter. Moving its' head down, it starts to snap at Shadowstar, moving after her as it lifts up one leg to avoid the attack, now distracted by that specific Decepticon. Robustus hrms softly, "Starscream sir, try your null ray on it, that should keep it out for long enough to install the software." Starscream's already WAY ahead of Robustus. Starscream laughs as the three attacking Decepticons try, and fail, to trip the now-attacking Nano. Eight legs sure helps with the stability, as sure enough if one gets tripped up, others support the nano's weight as it stabilizes and re-establishes itself on all legs. Starscream simply readies his signature null ray, raising it up to shoulder height and looking through the scope. "Watch and learn." Starscream's grins as he lines up the shot ... and *PEW!* fires a shot. Bytaboom sees something coming and makes a duck and cover mode. More like run and get out of the way mode, "Incoming shot!" Shadowstar blinks as she is targeted, and quickly flies back toward Stormfront, snatching some cable from the hold before heading back toward the nano. She grins as she dodges around attacks, and tosses Bytaboom one end of the cable. "Let's wrap this up!" Of course, whether said wrapping is needed depends on whether that shot hit or not. Stormfront moves to provide cover for the girls, moving to be the bigger target and take some of the heat off them, and possibly distract from what they're doing to help them out. The lightning zots over the Nanobot and it seizes up, before collapsing! Twitch twitch Bytaboom grabs the cable in her mouth, starting to wrap one end around four of the legs, "One ugly sucker up close.. I am so heading to the wash after we get back to normal." Robustus watches out for any other nanites that may arrive at any moment. "That's got it. It's down. Stay on your feet, we may get more." the medic cautions over the Con comm system. "Stormfront, I hope you got some good scanners on you." Starscream puts his null ray back into his subspace, wearing a smug grin on his face. "And that's how it's done." Starscream thinks to himself, jetting over and pulling his program transferring device out. Starscream works quickly, opening an access port and plugging the device in. He pushes a button and begins the upload. "Decepticons! Cover me and prepare for extraction!" Starscream orders, his shrill vocalizer not being the only thing that's making noise. Nitrogear immediately takes up a defensive posture, ready to defend Starscream's upload against any attack. Looking over his shoulder, Nitrogear reports: "I have you covered, Comrade." "My scanners are reasonable. I do have a lot of heavy ordnance here, if we do get company before he's loaded, I can provide some coverage. Still, hurrying might be best. I'm laying in coordinates within the body for our pickup now, to engage when everyone is aboard." Odin picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20 Odin rolls a 18! Glancing at Shadowstar, Bytaboom replies "Should we let the guys lug this and head back?" Shadowstar hmms, floating in the air as she considers. "Let's go ahead and secure the legs so that just in case the amazing Starscream doesn't work fast enough, the nano won't eat him or something." She gets to work binding the legs together at the joints. Stormfront readies his missile bays, preparing to provide heavy covering fire for the others until they're aboard, if more trouble arrives. Robustus nods to the mech's reply and moves to the door to assist anyone inside that may need it, he can also watch for any more nanites as well from here. "Uh oh, think we got company!" Scritch, scritch, tap, tap.. The sound of LOTS of nanos are heard crawling throughout the host body. Sounds like the cavalry's been alerted and are fast approaching. Starscream looks down at his uploader.. Come on, can this darn thing move any slower? The program uploads and begins patching, "Hold the line..." Starscream says as the program patches. Nitrogear takes up his weapon and begins shooting at any one of the numerous nanos that have appeared out of the proverbial woodwork. "We definitely have company, Comrade!" Nitrogear says in reply as he attempts to hold off the horde for just a little longer. Bytaboom raises her cannon and blasts off a shot, "Blast it.. can't you work faster? I wanted to get out of here before the horde got here!" Shadowstar blinks as all those other nanos appear, and she decides that blasting nanos is more important that tying up this one. She hops into the air and begins twirling gracefully, missiles firing from her wings and bombarding the incoming nanos. Well, a few of them anyway. Stormfront doesn't bother to pick out targets; he's just trying to slow the advance. He fires a salvo of heavy missiles, just trying to hit the walls and area around the swarms to dissuade them and force them off course to buy time for the others, while letting anyone who wants to be more precise take one of the gunner's seats to try and get individual missile locks to improve the targeting. Robustus takes his personal laser pistol out of subspace, which he very rarely uses, taking shots at the creatures legs to slow them down. "Note to self, find an easier way to upload the nanite software so we don't have to repeat this over twenty times." he murmurs softly. "Don't hit anything vital!" he yells out to the others, and well it's meant for Stormfront as well. Starscream retorts with a screech, "You think I -WANTED- to face off against an army of infected nano-bots?" Starscream looks down at his device again.. all tasks completed. He disconnects the device and stores it in his subspace. "We're done here. Decepticons, RETREAT! Get inside Stormfront and man the guns! Stormfront, get us out of here!" Starscream barks out the orders to be heard above the heat of battle, then proceeds to flee, paving a path directly towards Stormfront's open cargo door. Nitrogear is not far behind. "I hear that, Comrade. Let's get out of here!" Bytaboom turns and races towards the cargo door, catching up with Nitrogear. Shadowstar is happy to get out of here, and blasts off toward Stormfront, making her way into the cargo area. "Alright! Let's get out of here before we are deconstructed!" she shouts, firing shots out the door. Stormfront fires one more salvo, then seals himself up, taking the hits as he hits the jets. He's not as fast as a seeker, but he can carry everyone, and protect them from the roughing up of a fighting retreat. He can also provide his own cover fire, letting Soundwave or whoever man his gunnery stations to fire back at the horde behind them to slow them down. Robustus steps out of the way, moving over to a gun to man it and shoot at the nanites to keep them at bay and still not damage anything vital. After all he has to fix this mess later. Soundwave had been keeping watch all this time as he opens the cargo bay doors "Our time is almost up. We will return to normal size once everyone is loaded.” he announces. Moments later, Lifted off into safety they started to grow again. The world started to grow more into view as things 'shrank' and became visible and recognizable once more. Home safe! "Mission: Complete. Status: Awaiting successful recovery of test subject." reports Soundwave simply
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