Brooding Elita is Brooding

Ruins of Retoris

A metallic wasteland lies before you. The ancient remains of bombed out buildings, and hollow skeletal remains of skyscrapers that populated this city-state is all that is left to tell the tale of this once thriving metropolis.

Segments of the skyways that used to provide roadways for the inhabitants of Retoris can be seen scattered all over the region, having fallen apart either due to war or the passing of time without maintenance. Travel in this area is no more or less dangerous as it would be expected in other similar ruined cityscapes on Cybertron.

The expansive Tunnel of Retoris can be seen looming overhead the ruins of Retoris and it travels all the way north towards the direction of the city-state of Iacon. There are several entrance points strategically located throughout Retoris, all of which are heavily guarded by Autobot security forces.

Autobot Battlecruiser strides out of the entrance of a massive underground bunker in the middle of the ruins...The machinery is in extreme disrepair, with Strafe and Nosecone having to push the doors open when they sputter to a halt prematurely. Afterburner blows past the three of them in techbike mode, revving off towards the jury rigged defense perimeters facing Polyhex. Bottlethrottle trails the Technobots, taking notes as Scattershot rants.

 "Well, it&apos;s absurd we ain&apos;t using it. Talk to Jetfire or one of the science guys, see if they need it." He stares at Strafe. "That means you, small fry." Strafe replies with something extremely rude, and then transforms, blasting back towards Iacon. "Meantime Nosecone, start digging out debris. Make the thing look a little more hospitable." The drilltank salutes amiably, sauntering back down the ramp.

Scattershot transforms into an awesome TECHNOBOT! Fists! Hammers! Shoulder lasers!

So it would appear that Scattershot had requested Perceptor&apos;s presence regarding a sort of sit-rep on the THX-11 situation, which the scientist was quite well prepared to give. Perhaps even -eager- to do so. Besides, he had been on Cybertron this past cycle anyway, checking in on some of the experiments he&apos;s been running on involving the &apos;cybercidic&apos; crystals.

When Scattershot appears to be having difficulty with the door, he makes his way over to it, reroutes a few circuits and recalibrates a couple of torque sensors, and before we know it the door is in perfect working order again. The scientist then stands up and nods to the Technobot leader.

"Scattershot, you requested my presence."

Scattershot watches Perceptor work the door for a few moments with a grin, saluting the scientist once the door is like new. "Ah did." He gestures for Perceptor to walk with him as the Bot turns towards the perimeter defense AFterburner had buzzed his way towards. "THX-11. What&apos;s our situation there? Ah understand you had some Decepticon interference with yer work."

Perceptor nods and follows Scattershot toward the perimeter established by Afterburner. "Ah, yes. The Decepticons did attempt to interfere, however, I doubt they have a clear understanding of what it is I am endeavouring to accomplish. I stumbled across a rather advanced piece of technology on the large planetoid I referenced in my report. It appeared to be some sort of high powered chemical reactor. At first it was unclear as to what purpose it served--it was not an energy source, rather, it required one. During the incident I reported last mega-cycle, I managed to successfully activate the apparatus, which instanteously produced a strange substance in a semi-solid physical state. The substance was ignited, and the process produced a...small-scale space bridge of sorts to another planetoid in the system, from whence an organic creature emerged. Presumably, it had previously inhabited the planetoid on the other end of the bridge, and had stumbled upon the bridge by chance."

Scattershot just stares at Perceptor as he unfolds his tale. Computron and Perceptor would be best friends, but whatever clicks in for the Gestalt&apos;s high massive intelligence just isn&apos;t there for Scattershot. At least, not on this level. There is a very, very long silence after Perceptor completes his report. And then there&apos;s some more silence. Finally: "Well... How bad can you conjecture Decepticons taking control of the region is? What with...chemicals and creatures and semi solids everywhere."

Perceptor sighs a little. He&apos;d tried not to use too many technical terms, really. And even after all that effort, the Scattershot -still- didn&apos;t quite get it...he shakes his head slightly before answering the question.

"It very much depends on whether they understand the nature of the technology I have discovered. However, if they did seize control of it, I have no doubt that Shockwave or other technically-inclined Decepticons would have no trouble determining the device&apos;s purpose and finding specific methods of application. And if this is the case..."

The scientist trails off for a moment, looking grave before continuing. "This would be a very serious development. The galactic coordinates the bridge is opened unto when the reactor is set in motion are controlled by oscillating fields of zero-point energy drawn from subspace via a specifically calibrated energy conduit--the device&apos;s primary power source. If one were to learn a method of controlling the fields&apos; atomic and sub-atomic resonance..."

<p class="MsoNormal">And on and on. A typical mech would have stopped listening now and told the scientist to just cut to the chase.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Cut to the chase, Perceptor." Scattershot comes to a stop at a small gravlift, leading to the top of a defense fortification. The Autobot stationed by the lift, a young looking maverick with a stealth fighter alt mode snaps into a salute. Scattershot returns. "At ease, Blackout." He gestures towards the grav lift to Perceptor. "After you."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor keeps talking for a few astroseconds after Scattershot tells him to get to the point, as if he hadn&apos;t heard him. But then he stops, stammering a little as he steps onto the grav lift.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Ah...er--right. Apologies." he says, smiling a bit sheepishly. "What I have been meaning to explain is that whomever is able to discern an efficient method of controlling the device will have in their possession a space bridge with a controlled-variable terminus. In other words, they will be capable of using it to instanteously travel anywhere in the galaxy--perhaps even the universe."

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot crosses his arms over his chest as the grav lift lurches a bit, taking them to the top of the defense wall. A super space bridge? "Well scrap." Scattershot says wisely after a moment. "Let&apos;s make that not happen." As the gravlift comes to a halt, he steps off, saluting the row of at attention Autobots manning the Wall. "Happy to move a cruiser into the area for support. Would that retrofitted Con science vessel we ganked be of any use?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor follows Scattershot off of the gravlift, once they have arrived at the top of the tower. He is still talking. "Furthermore, the substance created by the reactor only produces the bridge phenomenon when ignited. It could possibly be carried away from the reactor and utilized anywhere in the galaxy to travel instantaneously to the desired coordinates, given the correct field resonance is app--"

<p class="MsoNormal">But he stops and looks a bit disappointed when the Technobot expresses distaste for the idea, and his brow ridges arch a little. "What do you mean? Are you suggesting that we destroy the technology?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot shakes his head as he comes to a halt, making a face at gun battery so ancient looking that it could have given Orion Pax the Matrix. "They&apos;d slaughter us if they hit us here..." He mutters, before turning his attention back to Perceptor. "Destroy it? Hell no. But the &apos;Cons can&apos;t get near it. If we can&apos;t move it to a secure facility, we&apos;ll have to bring one to it."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor relaxes a bit at this, then begins evaluating his options. "Hmm...it may be possible to transort the reactor to a more secure facility, however, transit is always a security risk, as the objects in question would be extremely vulnerable to attack until they have been secured at their final destination." As the Autobots have already witnessed with the crystal transport.

<p class="MsoNormal">"On the other hand, we are limited in our mobile defense capabilities." It was a trade-off, but..."The decision is yours, Scattershot. You far more familiar with what our forces are capable better than I."

<p class="MsoNormal">Rumbling through the sky was a terrible Eyesore. Indeed, a terrible eyesore indeed. Neon orange, lime green and red Ochre interweaving stripes covered Fanfare&apos;s chassis in a hideous expression of what used to be a fine scottish tradition - plaid. He was blasting music as he soared overhead, when he notices the two mechs below. Without a real timeline at this point, he banks around slowly... overshooting the two before he swings around and slows to start landing a mile away, a few minutes later rolling up towards Perceptor and Scattershot "Allo mates! Wot are ye up to?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot is silent for a moment, weighing his options. And then he walks to the wall, leaning over the side.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"> "HEY! AFTERBURNER, SCRAP DAMN IT, THE HELL ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!" Below, on the other side of the wall, the token angry Technobot is wrestling with a few greenhorns and generally being a jerk. &apos;Burner gets to his feet, looking back up to Scattershot and yelling a response: That Scattershot could reenergize using Afterburner&apos;s human reproductive organs. Scattershot rolls his eyes, turning his attention back to Perceptor. "Well, you can have him, if you promise to push him into the damn thing on accident. We&apos;re thin right now, but Ah&apos;ll look into dropping a warship into the area to make Shockwave think twice about mobilizing. He gives Fanfare a nod before noticing his new paintjob. "Well. That&apos;s different. You let Elita do that when she was still fuming?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor&apos;s attention is drawn away from Scattershot for a moment as he turns to Fanfare. "Ah, greetings Fanfare. We were discussing the matter of the technology you and I discovered within THX-11." he explains, before turning his optics back toward the Technobot and nodding.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Very well, then." Though he is not quite sure if mobilizing more defenses will discourage the Decepticons from attacking or simply draw their attention to it and do just the opposite by making them think whatever they were guarding must be important.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Nae. She did go ooop with me when ah went tae get it done. We had a nice talk." responds the jumbo as he turns his music down and his blades to a quieter pace "Oh? Wot does et do? Was et worth et? " he asks, now quite interested in their little discovery "Ah&apos;m nae interrupting am I by the by? " he asked, suddenly anxious.

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot waves dismissively to Fanfare. "Not at all. Casual meeting of the minds, as it were. Though Ah am interested in how yer talk went."

<p class="MsoNormal">The hercules whirls his blades slowly, in discomfort "Eh... Et was really tween me and Elita though, sah." he states reluctantly "We just spoke about her announcement, the Autobots in general... you know, shootin&apos; the breeze and all that." he tries to dismiss it.

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot gives Fanfare a long look before nodding. "Sounds like a solid night off." Turning his attention to Perceptor. "If we did end up moving this thing...What kind of energy resources are we talking about to keep it...contained or whatever?"

<p class="MsoNormal">"Hmm..." Perceptor rubs his chin. "Well, currently the subspace conduit is maintaining energy levels at optimum, and should do so for the forseeable future, if all goes well.

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot nods, thinking for a moment. "Let&apos;s try and get it here. Quickly. Quietly. Maybe mobilize against the Cons elsewhere, take Contrail&apos;s eyes off the place..."

<p class="MsoNormal">Green Orange and Red plaid CF-130 Super Hercules &lt;Fanfare&gt; rumbles at that suggestion "Ah can do et! Its wot Ah was built tae do! Literally!" he states eagerly at Scattershot, his four blades whiping up wind once more "Ah&apos;ll do et! " a little desperate it seems for actual work carrying things perhaps

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot laughs at Fanfare. "You got it, big guy. Perceptor, looks like fate has put you two together. Start putting together a plan to transport. Hopefully we can get it moved before the Cons decide to use it to create an army of alien beasts that do their bidding or something."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor nods. "Thank you, Scattershot, Fanfare. I will begin preparations immediately." He starts walking away, but I have a feeling he is going to run into Elita One.

<p class="MsoNormal">Green Orange and Red plaid CF-130 Super Hercules &lt;Fanfare&gt; whirls again delightedly "Awright! Delivery or death!" he declares, the Suicide Jockeys&apos; motto. He could hardly be happier really "Just gimme times, dates and where ye need it and ah&apos;ll have et there afore ye expect!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot sighs on the inside as Elita makes her grand entrance. More drama that the Autobots didn&apos;t need... He nods and smiles regardless. "Ah&apos;m yer humble XO, Commander. What can I do for you?" He glances at Fanfare. "Actually, do me a solid." he points at several massive crates down aways at the base of the wall. Afterburner is guarding them. "Decagon, please. Also, Burner don&apos;t have to survive the trip."

<p class="MsoNormal">His blades slowly stopped spinning as Elita One arrives. Fanfare for once, goes utterly quiet. He does though, flash his landing lights in acknowledgement of the nod, before he asks &apos;err, should ah bugger off ma&apos;am?"

<p class="MsoNormal">The last time Fanfare saw Elita-One, she was torn between rage and sorrow, choosing isolation for a few days up in the Arctic Circle. If her roaring off in the distance towards the ruins was any indicator, her state wasn&apos;t much better. The pink tech-car ramps off of the ruins of a smaller building, skids into a powerslide no more than 30 feet away from Perceptor as he makes tracks, then hits the brakes, transforming closer to Scattershot.

<p class="MsoNormal">It&apos;s almost a roll-forward how she changes modes, but there&apos;s no added flair or panache to the move right now. "Scattershot, you and I need to talk." Her tone is firm and...probably annoyed, though she does give a brief nod to Fanfare.

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor watches Elita One as she swings in moodily. He is about to leave when he remembers she had mentioned wanting to speak with him a few megacycles ago. He nods in her direction.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Greetings, Elita One. I am aware that you expressed a desire to discuss important matters with me?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Pink Techcar &lt;Elita One&gt; starts to shake her head at Fanfare, but Scatter&apos;s request worked out well enough. "I&apos;m hardly your boss, Scattershot. What..." She pauses, her arms crossed for a moment before she thinks better of it, "I had just made my opinions known about this entire situation we&apos;ve been facing, and then I find myself reassigned back to Cybertron." She gestures around, "Cybertron is my home, I have no complaints about the decision, if it weren&apos;t for the timing." Her voice drops.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Scattershot. Are you trying to get me out of the Earth scene? Is that what this is about? Not more than 2 cycles is my message up, and you&apos;re shipping me off."

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot sighs on the inside as Elita makes her grand entrance. More drama that the Autobots didn&apos;t need... He nods and smiles regardless. "Ah&apos;m yer humble XO, Commander. What can I do for you?" He glances at Fanfare. "Actually, do me a solid." he points at several massive crates down aways at the base of the wall. Afterburner is guarding them. "Decagon, please. Also, Burner don&apos;t have to survive the trip."

<p class="MsoNormal">His blades slowly stopped spinning as Elita One arrives. Fanfare for once, goes utterly quiet. He does though, flash his landing lights in acknowledgement of the nod, before he asks &apos;err, should ah bugger off ma&apos;am?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot listens to Elita, and then finally nods. "Ah can confirm that. But it&apos;s one of several reasons for the redeployment." He produces a cigar out of a small case with the Autobot insignia, offering out of courtesy, though Torque and Fanfare are probably the only two that ever accept one." He lights and takes a few puffs, eyeing her. "Are you really that surprised?"

<p class="MsoNormal">"Righto sir!" responds the Jumbo. He starts to pull away, taxiing carefully to avoid blasting his friends with his backwash of wind as he continues to roll down the wall to Afterburner.

<p class="MsoNormal">Elita One raises a delaying hand to Perceptor, she&apos;s busy being confrontational! "You&apos;re telling me that you agree with Repugnus then? Scattershot, we&apos;re on the edge of something extremely dangerous here, the Autobots need at least ONE Bot who realizes this, out there on Earth, before the entire thing turns to slag. What reason could you possibly have to side with him on this? Ruthless Pragmaticism?" She points towards Scatter, "This isn&apos;t right, and you know it."

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot keeps his cool because his Magnus ordered anger management is paying off. "That&apos;s the only two sides to this thing? Ah&apos;m either a noble Prime of Ah&apos;m Starscream, stabbing people in their sleep, Elita? Yer woundin&apos; me here. Of course Ah don&apos;t agree with Repugnus, but we&apos;re in too delicate a situation right now to let anyone, Autobots or otherwise, see us screaming at each other." He points at her with the cigar. "Look, you&apos;ve got non Matrix Chain of Command issues, Ah get that. But Prime ain&apos;t around, so in the meantime, you&apos;re gonna have to figure out how to trust me, and you&apos;re gonna have to do it quick. Because Ah will NOT tolerate breaches in discipline like that rant of yours, or the one by the damn Monsterbot."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor simply shrugs and waits for Elita One to be finished talk to Scattershot. He elects not to express his own opinion on the matter. Wouldn&apos;t want anyone getting suspicious, after all...

<p class="MsoNormal">Well that doesn&apos;t sit well. "Scattershot, you&apos;re missing my point entirely. It isn&apos;t about who takes orders from whom. I&apos;ll take orders from Huffer if the situation dictates it. What I&apos;m talking about is how volatile the human relations are getting. Don&apos;t make this about what it isn&apos;t." She lets out a long breath, "I understand that you&apos;re not in a good situation here, but the fact you&apos;re shipping me off, right on the cusp of this is a bad call. You talk about trust, Scattershot, right now, I&apos;m at the point where I don&apos;t even know if I can trust my own SIDE. Doesn&apos;t that speak to you about the entire situation?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot shakes his head. "It&apos;s speaks to me about you. This isn&apos;t about orders, it&apos;s about chaos in the ranks. It&apos;s about not encouraging a whole buncha new Sideswipes. You need to trust me to be able to handle things on earth. Ah&apos;m not black opping or assassinating anyone, if that&apos;s yer concern. If you&apos;re doubting mah character, please speak up. Meantime, we&apos;ve got bigger sharkticons to fry. No matter how our business with the new EDC plays out, we may be taking a very quick and very complete trip home to Cybertron, and Ah don&apos;t know if you&apos;ve noticed,"- he gestures to the extraordinarily delapidated and run down first line of Iacon defense: The Retoris Wall- "but the heart of Cybertron ain&apos;t exactly tip top out here...You may not like it, but you&apos;re best suited to get things up to speed here. You&apos;ve got the knowledge, and you&apos;ve got the experience taking minimal resources and maximizing the output." He sighs, stepping to the edge of the wall, resting against the battlements. It looks super dramatic and awesome. "We&apos;ve got plans, Elita. Plans for a Cybertron that&apos;s better than all this, and we&apos;ve got to get them started now. Ah need you on board."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor sighs, finally speaking up. This wasn&apos;t good. Was Elita actually starting to doubt the cause? He knew where -that- might lead...

<p class="MsoNormal">"Elita One, please. Surely you do not expect every one of us to agree on a particular subject matter at all times. We will resolve this issue."

<p class="MsoNormal">One way or another...

<p class="MsoNormal"> That, on the other hand, had a bit of an effect on her. Elita sags visibly, "Scattershot.." Her voice is has a lot softer edge to it, "I.I do trust you." She scowls to herself, "The Autobots need someone to rally behind, you can see that as easy as I. Just...take care of things, alright?" She takes a few steps away, towards Perceptor. "Perceptor, if there is a war with the EDC, it will be the worst catastrophe we&apos;ve ever started...It is not something I afford lightly."

<p class="MsoNormal">"If such a war occurs, Cross will be the one to incite it." Perceptor says evenly. But then again, there are ways to take care of Cross withOUT inciting a war. One just had to be clever about it...

<p class="MsoNormal">"I am certain that Repugnus is one of the few, if not the only one, who believes we should take blatant hostile action against the EDC."

<p class="MsoNormal">Elita One walks with Perceptor out of Scattershot&apos;s audibles for the moment, "That doesn&apos;t mean he won&apos;t incite it himself. A single bomb, a shot down EDC jet, all they need is provocation, and we have the mech equivalent of a flamethrower as Intel Officer, our acting lead." She kicks a piece of scrap aside, "You still assigned to Earth then? Good, need someone with a level head there. I just feel so responsible for the entire forces right now." She looks up into space. "Lead my team for eons, now that we&apos;re reassembled here, everyone&apos;s split to four different currents. I see a faction in disarray, and downright...monsters, running lead. This isn&apos;t what I want, let alone what others would&apos;ve wanted."

<p class="MsoNormal">There, after four months of active duty, she finally refers to her lost companion.

<p class="MsoNormal">Elita is quiet for a moment, then motions to Iacon in the distance, "Before you go, you should take a look at the discovery we made. Remember my hunch the last time we were in Deep Cybertron, when we found that EDCer there? Fanfare and others helped unearth it, it&apos;s a forge, Perceptor." She says it with a hint of pride, "An enormous modular forgework, all of it subspace capable, it&apos;s already been moved to a secure location...there&apos;s a lot there we can relearn..."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor listens to what Elita One has to say as he walks with her, nodding. "Yes anything I may do to assist...although I will be deploying to THX-11 shortly to oversee the transport of the variable terminus space bridge we discovered there."

<p class="MsoNormal">As Elita One tells him about the forge, his optics brighten a bit. He&apos;s certainly fascinated by the idea. "Ah, intriguing. I would be quite interested in examining it myself, if you find it permissible."

<p class="MsoNormal">Elita One nods non-committally, "It&apos;ll still be there when you get back, I could actually give you one of the subspace stands to take on the trip if you deem it usable. Right now, I&apos;m still cataloging and analyzing what we have. Lots of prototype designs, and parts. The place&apos;s security features had some energon-sapping traps. With a bit of help and parts, I actually cobbled together an energon harvester." Elita seems quite proud of that accomplishment, "Broke down those fields pretty quick, might even be that this retro-tech could have a few cures for us in the &apos;disintegration&apos; department perhaps..." She pauses, "I just thought of something." Elita lowers her head in thought, "The EDC&apos;s disintegra....erm cybercidic tech...what if we simply took an armor coating made of Earth metals? Armor coats aren&apos;t that hard to make, I know someone was using them at one point...been a while though. It bears some more thought."

<p class="MsoNormal">Scattershot has been hanging back, letting Perceptor and Elita talk, when he spots Nosecone waving from the underground bunker further into Retoris. "If ya&apos;ll will excuse me..." He heads back towards the gravlift. "Glad to have you on board, Elita. First assignment: You&apos;re attacking Iacon for the War Games. Be ruthless."

<p class="MsoNormal">Perceptor nods. "I commend your skill set, Elita One, though your performance does not surprise me. You have always been very resourceful."

<p class="MsoNormal">He nods again as he listens to her suggestion. "The idea has merit, it would certainly not be difficult to carry out. However, it may impede our mobility." he says, considering.

<p class="MsoNormal">Green Orange and Red plaid CF-130 Super Hercules &lt;Fanfare&gt; takes off a few minutes later, roaring by overhead of all three of them, with the large crates and one Afterburner hanging on inside of him. ACDC Thumps so loudly that one could hear it even as he flew off into the skies towards Decagon

<p class="MsoNormal">Afterburner scowls, pressing his hands to his audio receptors. "YOUR TASTE IN MUSIC SUCKS. THIS SUCKS AND I HATE THIS."

<p class="MsoNormal">Elita One shrugs, "Better than the alternative, the more fragile Cross thinks his weaponry is, the less inclined he&apos;ll be to use it." She looks back to Scatteshot, "We&apos;re putting full sentries and sensors out for the simulation then? I&apos;m not wanting to show Shocks any new ways to raid the city. Frankly, it won&apos;t be hard to take down. Cybertron&apos;s so full of routes and tunnels that few places stay uncontested for long. Heck, I remember storming Polyhex at least fifteen times."

<p class="MsoNormal">She looks up towards Fanfare&apos;s departure, "I think...I may have insulted him when last we spoke, I had forgotten about the Suicide Jockeys." She gives a noncommital sigh, "Too much war." She raises a hand in departure to Scattershot. "Keep him on a leash, Scatter. I&apos;m starting to like Earth, I want it still there when I get done here."

<p class="MsoNormal">Afterburner kicks at Fanfare. "UGH NOW IT&apos;S TOO QUIET. PARENTS NEVER UNDERSTAND."

<p class="MsoNormal">Green Orange and Red plaid CF-130 Super Hercules &lt;Fanfare&gt; says, "There&apos;s yer problem. Ah Aint yer parent."