The Invasion of Kwarch: Part 2



=
=================[ The Absolution ]==============================

Relatively well-lit compared to the rest of the ship, the irony is that this area is just a big cavern, more or less. Grim, featureless metal walls stretch from end to end, with room enough for a whole battalion of shuttles on the floor. Background-fodder jets and Constructiwannabes scurry this way and that -- the bay floor is always busy with something, whether it's fueling, repairs, or a good old-fashioned fight. Several catwalks crisscross overhead. The wall furthest from all this activity is taken up almost entirely by giant hangar doors, with a mag-locked technician manning a small panel opening and closing them. Off to one side, a secure doorway leads to the armory.

-- External ship broadcasts for this room are ON         Type +shiphelp for help This is a ship entrance/exit room. Use the AIRLOCK command to leave the ship for it's current location: Kwarch - Industrial Planet --

Contents: Carnivac Photon Rampage Scorn

Obvious exits:  leads to Absolution - Armory.  leads to Absolution - Turbolift. This room is a shuttle room. You can type '+destinations' to take an auxillary shuttle from here.

Astrotrain has arrived.

In a chorus of shifting and spinning parts, Astrotrain's body spins and lifts up into his large robot mode.

24 hours ago, the soldiers stationed in the Sol system boarded the flagship Absolution at the Decepticon outpost on Pluto, carrying with them the munitions, equipment, and fuel needed for a major offensive like this one. 20 hours ago, the Absolution met up with the Despoiler and three other Decepticon troop carriers before entering hyperspace on course for Kwarch. 1 hour ago, the final warning was signed. In thirty-astrominutes, the Absolution and her escorts would reach planetside, attempt to blast through the orbiting defences, and sack the world's capital city. The shuttle bay is swarming with Decepticons milling about. Everyone handles the anticipation differently, with some eagerly bragging about how much they're going to steal, some methodically preparing their weapons in silence, and others hittin' the high-octane fuelpumps early "for good luck."

Photon is silently sitting in front of a console, trying very hard to ignore the more noisy Decepticons. Various images are flashing on the screen as the seeker access every scrap of information he can get about Kwarch. Photon is obviously trying to prepare for the assault by finding the most interesting targets and accessing the strengths of the military forces.

Viator has arrived.

This room is a shuttle room. You can type '+destinations' to take an auxillary shuttle from here.

Viator sits in a darkened corner, trying to shake off the Captain Morgatron's Spiced Energon he consumed the night before in celebration of his successes in Mexico...The LAST time he ever listens to Slugfest. Foolish cassette- this is Viator's time to shine and he can't do it if his optics ache at the sight of things that are too shiny!

Astrotrain would have been one of those hitting the high-octane fuelpumps early, if not for the fact that he's found himself denied access to them beforehand. Something to do with the fact that the last time he took part in an offensive while under the influence, the troops he was carrying ended up ejected into the middle of an ocean a hundred miles away from their intended targets. As a result, someone higher up has decided that this time Astrotrain should stay sober for the attack. Needless to say, this makes for a grumpy triplechanger who is currently trying to bully his way past one of the quartermasters to get that oh so coveted drink. "If I don't get a little pick-me-up before I fly into battle, I get angry. You don't wanna see me when I'm angry, do you!?" "So..." The Quartermaster hides a bit behind his checklist, not quite shaking but nonetheless shrinking away from the big purple frame looming over him. "My choice is I either don't give you the high grade, and tick you off. Or I -do- give you the high grade, and I go against Shockwave's orders? NO THANKS!" Well it's hard to argue with that. "...damn it." Astrotrain mutters, rubbing his chin and staring oh so longingly after the huge tankers full of potent high grade energon. Usually weapons-grade used for a destructive purpose...but for Astrotrain it's just as capable of being drank!

Rampage is as eager as any dull witted, easily-motivated-by-promises-of-mayhem run of the mill rank shock troop. Stopping short of asking incessantly like a Terran toddler, 'Are we there yet?'

"We're here to kick aft and chew energon, and we're all out of energon!" There's a pause, and then Carnivac grumbles as he scratchs off the notepad and flips the page. "That's stupid, we don't chew energon in the first place." Holds the hand clenching the pen up to his mouth and *achems* to clear it. "The only thing you have to fear, is fear ourselves... nah, lame." Another scribble and page flip. Then turns and dramatically thrusts up the pen in hand like it was a weapon. "NO ONE EXPECTS THE DECEPTICON INQUISITION!" After a moment's consideration he goes back to normal and giggles as he marks it off. "We'll go with maybe for that one." Flips a few more pages. "To Punish and Enslave... That's better for -after- we take over." Crumples the entire pad and tosses it over his shoulder, ignoring the complaining as it bounces off the head of a work drone to rebound into a trash bin. "Eh, coming up with an awesome battle cry is too much work."

This room is a shuttle room. You can type '+destinations' to take an auxillary shuttle from here. Up on the shuttle bay's holographic display is a view of the outside. Currently it shows only hyperspace lines, but that'll soon change. There's a loud hiss from a number of Decepticon drop ships as they're inched towards the huge shuttlebay doors. The turbolift doors open to reveal another group of Decepticons preparing to deploy as soon as possible. Among those is Shockwave, the mastermind behind this assault. If the cyclops looks nervous at all, it's perfectly hidden behind the ultimate poker face. He spent the last twenty-four hours going over the last-minute plans. He strides along one of the catwalks that runs over the bay, surveying his Decepticons (and yes, for all intents and purposes they're all *his*). He hears the chatter below. "Astrotrain," he suddenly emits, "You will get your reward once the job is done." He hears Rampage, but declines to answer. There's a chronometer marking down the astroseconds. There's a roudn of cheers that goes up to Carnivac's crazed motto-generating attempts. A voice is suddenly piped through the intercom: *** FIVE MINUTES TO ARRIVAL. HYPERSPACE ENGINES PREPPED TO DISENGAGE ***

Scorn has situated herself along one of the walls of the shuttlebay closer to the front, a few generic gumby Insecticons hanging around her as the femme browses a datapad. One handed though, since one of the mechs in her group appears to be tending to her fingers on the other, sharpening the tips like a dutiful lackey for the upcoming assault. Poison yellow optics lift form the pad when Astrotrain's voice reaches her, the femme snorting softly with a smirk, "Calm down, Astro. You'll get your energon. Plus whatever chemicals you find down on the surface to mix in with that experimental swill you make." The femme subspaces the datapad, holding a hand out to one of the Insecticon, the mech placing a cube in her hand which she downs rather greedily. But once the call goes out for five minutes she pulls her hand from the sharpening bot, giving her posse a toothy smirk and a nod, signaling them to ready themselves.

Fusillade has arrived.

Photon rises from his seat. He is as ready as possible at this point, nothing else can be done. He passes Astrotrain, ignoring him but still wondering why someone would want to get overenergized before an assault... he would rather operate at peek efficiency. He heads towards Shockwave and asks, "Any indication they managed to detect our approach?"

Rampage punches a fist into an open palm. "Now we're talking," he says, nodding at Carnivac. The Predacon gets out his lightning rifle and starts polishing it.

Astrotrain is mollified ever-so-slightly at the promise of becoming absolutely stone-face intoxicated when this is all over...along wit hthe prospect of unrestrained access to explosives and weaponry at that time as well. "Bah! Fine...you can sure as heck bet I'm drinking TWICE as much when this is over and done with! In the meantime...I'm gonna enjoy myself and build up the anticipation and all that!" He turns and jabs a finger at the quartermaster for good measure, "Yer lucky...THIS time!" With that out of the way, he turns and wanders back amongst the others, then towards the dropships. Not to board them of course...as he technically is his -own- dropship, already transforming and taking up his own space as his wings unfold out to either side as his body swells and grows. A moment later, his engines start to glow a faint orange as they come online and start to warm up. "Besides, it's been too long since I got to do an old fashioned 'destroy everything in sight'!"

Parts spin, wings extend and Astrotrain transforms into a huge purple space shuttle.

Viator finally starts to even out and rises, making a few last minute weapon checks. Another planetary assault. The old seeker glances around, eyeing the young Decepticons. He scowls. If this goes awry, it'll because because the little mechs can't deal with the excitement of plunder. He can see it being a problem already. The real glory was the conquest, not the spoils.

Carnivac cackles at the cheering, picks up his rifle from where he left it propped against a wall and leans it against his shoulder. "Ehehe. It's time to reach out and crush someone... Oooh, that one I like!" Not that he's ever not smiling, but the closer they get to executing the mission it's just gotten more and more.. unhinged, to put it lightly.

Fusillade leans forward, wingblades whipping out to their full span, even as her arms lock backward in place as the rear fuselage. Her torso folds out to the become the cockpit of a Terran B-1B Lancer, ready for flight!

Shockwave, still on the catwalk above, shakes his head at Photon's question. "None. If Decepticon Intelligence is to believed, they are entirely unaware of their plans. We've had major troop mobilizations like this before, but the Kwarchans should have no reason to suspect they are the target." Still, Shockwave thinks, their military shouldn't be underestimated. Shockwave descends from the catwalk, landing next to Astrotrain's shuttle form. "Decepticons," Shockwave emits, "The time is now." The voice over the intercom appears again: *** ARRIVAL IMMINENT. ALL FORCES, PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE DEPLOYMENT *** The Absolution shudders as the flagship lurches out of hyperspace in orbit around the planet...

You descend towards Kwarch.

Kwarch - Industrial Planet

From its brilliant orange hazy skies to its dark green sludge rivers, Kwarch is the heavily polluted home to dozens of metropolises. The air, ground, and water are all toxic to most organic forms of life--the natives love it, though. The friendly, outgoing Kwarchans are a green slug-like race, with two arms and a slimey tail. Humans are fine with breather masks, as are fully suited Master Nebulons.

Capital City is demonstrative of most cities, having a grungy, factory-like feel with bronze-coloured gangplanks and catwalks stretching all over the place. Huge smokestacks churn toxic air into the skies at all times. The palace of the President is at one end of the city, and the military HQ at the other. The vibrant colours are beautiful in a strange way.

Contents: Decepticon Starship 

Fusillade arrives from Decepticon Starship . Fusillade descends towards Kwarch.

Astrotrain arrives from Decepticon Starship . Astrotrain descends towards Kwarch.

Photon arrives from Decepticon Starship . Photon descends towards Kwarch.

Carnivac arrives from Decepticon Starship . Carnivac descends towards Kwarch.

Scorn arrives from Decepticon Starship . Scorn descends towards Kwarch.

Despite the thick orange cloud cover, it is a bright, busy work day for the Kwarchan Capital City. Bronze-coloured airships fill the sky, ferrying passengers and cargo to the edges of the city and beyond, while the slug-like pedestrians move about on the catwalks and ground below. The air is poisonous to most organics, but the natives seem as happy as ever. With 2nd lunch hour just around the corner, many workers have headed outside early to soak in some of that 'fresh' air. But high above, trouble brews. In space, Defence Station One rests in orbit, peacefully handling the arrival and departure of the few starships visiting the planet. That calm is shattered as a pair of Decepticon warships blast out of hyperspace, guns blazing. The Absolution's lasers slam into the station, knocking it out of orbit and sending several docked ships out of control. The Despoiler zips past, breaking into a well-planned descent that'll take it over the Capital City. The radio channels suddenly light up as shuttles on the other side of the planet make their arrival. The Despoiler cruises downwards, shaking from the turbulance. Once the clouds are broken, one can see the city below. The Absolution, guns still hot, descends after it. Transports fly from its main shuttlebay.

Viator arrives from Decepticon Starship . Viator descends towards Kwarch.

Rampage arrives from Decepticon Starship . Rampage descends towards Kwarch.

Photon leaps into the triplechanger's shuttle form making a last weapons check as he waits for the others. He mutters something about believing Decepticon intelligence. "With our luck they will be waiting for us with thousands of Ion canons...". He then fall silents and waits for them to enter the atmosphere to jump out. Somehow, he feels safer outside than inside Astrotrain.

Decepticon Space Shuttle  is, of course, among those transports that are rocketing out of the shuttle bay. Dipping up and away from the main formation with the rest of the 'riffraff', the triplechanger gets a bit of altitude over the main invasion force first, so as to judge his approach properly. This has the added benefit of allowing those on board of him to get a proper look below as well, whether they're one of the two that can sit up front in his cockpit, or sitting in his suspiciously more-spacious-than-you'd-think cargobay. Already the first energy blasts are whipping past his form, though it's more from the Absolution firing at the local defenses than them firing back just yet...that's probably going to change shortly. "Bah, lookit this. No challenge! It ain't the same as popping Autobots but what the hey...I ain't one to waste an opportunity." And with that, the triplechanger proceeds to demonstrate just why, as a shuttle amongst other shuttles, he's for the 'elite' crowd. Engines flaring brightly, he blazes a path straight past the other dropships, several of them flaring up now as they start to come under return fire, as Astrotrain agilely rolls over upside-down and starts his approach to the planet's atmosphere. A drunken brash-talking bully he may be, but he's OH so good at this.

Rampage makes the jump from the ship to the atmosphere, following the others that are on their way to their first target. Not the fastest is he in the air, but fast enough. He had a notion to transform and slink around first before ambushing some unfortunate natives.

Space-Going B-1R Lancer, flanking the Despoiler, rolls to intercept one of the floundering airships. The modified Lancer flashes past, one razor-edged wing fileting the electrum skin of the craft. It plummets to the ground, soon joined by a second, and a third. <> With a swirl of rust colored clouds, she bolts ahead.

Boomslang descends towards Kwarch.

Thanks to not being as fast as a jet or other plane, Scorn is forced to board the shuttles with her bretheren, taking the fast route down to the horridly polluted planet. Thankfully that's not much of a deterant to an Insecticon. Scorn's antennas twitch eagerly as she looks out the front of Astrotrain's windshield while holding on, "Drop us somewhere good, Astro. I'm eager to snatch up all the valuable stuff I can and get a good meal out of this fight.

Viator drops out, drifting for a moment, watching the slaughter begin... Another invasion. Another story. Fusillade's commands snap him into action... <> The Seeker transforms and rockets towards a group of Decepticons already hunkered behind bits of wall, a gun tower impeding their progress. The fools. Their lack of experience will be their undoing. <> "For the Empire!" The old mech buzzes the defenses, leaving the towers wrecked in his wake.

Viator lifts into the sky, and transforms into an old Cybertronian classic with a terrible color scheme: a brown, yellow, and white pyramid jet. If it weren't for the Decepticon insignia, he'd look like he flew for UPS.

Shockwave is up in Astrotrain's cockpit along with Scorn. It lets him monitor Astrotrain's instruments as well, using his onboard sensors and 'seeing' whatever he sees. "Do not get overconfi-" Shockwave gets cut off as Astrotrain blazes past the other ships. He reaches up with his hand, holding onto the overhead ceiling for support so he doesn't lose his balance during the rolls. That he doesn't finish his own sentence suggests he's satisfied with the Triplechanger's performance. A quick glance at the instruments tells him just how much firepower is being flung back and forth out there. The Absolution slugs it out with the space station for a few more moments even as it slides past. The Despoiler, Fusillade, Photon, Viator and their escorts are ahead of them. "Excellent, they are after the spaceport. Astrotrain, take us to the military headquarters. Scorn, your Insecticons may deploy now over the city or join in with the attack as you see fit." Other Seekers are trying to catch up to Astrotrain, ducking and weaving as best they can.

Photon sighs and mutters, "Oh joy... pairing up with the old timer...". Just before he jumps out of the shuttle, he looks over his shoulder at Viator, "Try to follow me, don't slow me down and be careful... their fighters are not running on steam engines like the ones you used to fight." Without waiting for a response, the seeker leaps out and transforms into his jet mode, immediatly going after the defense fighters that starts to arrive to intercept the Decepticons ships. <>

Photon leaps fowards and shifts into a golden pyramid jet.

As the shuttleformer dives and rolls Carnivac throws his arms up and screams in the manner one would on a rollercoaster ride. "Whoooohaaaa!" At least he waits for Astrotrain to level off again before jumping out the hatch and using his anti-gravs to slow his decent before finally transforming and hitting the pavement on all fours. Grabs a car-like vehicle in his mouth and tosses it across the street, where it slams into another and, due to the volatile mix of fumes and who knows what else in the polluted atmosphere, goes up in a rather vibrant fireball.

The Pretender beast just giggles as he stalks along, popping off various shots with his anti-thermal cannon to bring civilian vehicles to a screeching alt as their systems freeze over. "Yesss. Time for Arson Murder and Jaywalking!" Someone really needs to regulate his internet in-take.

Carnivac is sealed within his Pretender shell, becoming a giant biomechanical wolf.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Shuttle Conquest II reports successful insertion past the outer Kwarchan defence grid. Deploying soldiers."

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Shuttle Triumph reports it is under fire from ground-to-space artillery and is taking evasive action."

Boomslang cranks the airlock handle and leaps out of Astrotrain, stabilizing himself in midair with his arms and legs so that when he transforms he's already aligned properly to ignite his engines and pursue the formation Fusillade is leading the other fliers in. With the usual ratcheting sound, Boomslang spins and flips and turns into a fighter jet.

<Decepticon> Carnivac says, "Cry havok and turn loose the dog of war! *random boom boom fighty noises in the background*"

Decepticon Space Shuttle <Astrotrain> isn't waiting for the seekers to catch up to him either. If they can't keep up, they get left behind as far as he's concerned! There's not too many things that can catch him in the sky afterall, and Astrotrain exploits that advantage to the fullest. It's testament to the sheer speed of his arrival, his underside glowing bright orange with the heat of atmospheric entry that the anti-air defenses of the headquarters are not all online by the time the triplechanger has literally 'led the charge'. Still, there's the sudden brilliant blossoming of flak all around him, buffeting his form even as Decepticons start to disgorge from his frame. "Hah! Is this the best they got? I seen more firepower thrown around during a drunken brawl!" As fate would have it, there's a harsh crash of metal on metal as a shell bursts directly against his underside a moment later, causing a rapid dip in altitude and what appears to be a crash course towards the streets outside the main military HQ complex! For a split second, Astrotrain seems to spiral out of control in a death-dive...        ...until he transforms yet again, wings retracting inwards and a heavy *KA-BOOOM* issuing out as a thousand-foot strip of the street underneath him is torn up by the forced and VERY rough touchdown of his huge locomotive wheels. The 'landing' is rough for him and his occupants, but he's still going strong as he thunders through the abandoned traffic in the city streets, and proceeds to head straight for the outer perimeter wall of the military HQ....and go right -through- it in an explosion of so-called armored metal and concrete surfaces that cave in under the passage of his heavily armored frame. Turning sideways, Astrotrain then skids to a shuddering halt right in the middle of the courtyard, just as his rear ramp proceeds to drop down with a heavy crash behind him. "...woooo hoooo!" he exclaims shakily, like he were dizzy from the wild ride. "We're here!"

With body twisting in place while folding up on himself, Astrotrain slams to the ground as a huge armored locomotive.

Ground units advancing freely, Viator swings back in line with Fusillade and Boomslang. Photon's comments do not go without notice...<<This is not the time for lessons, young mech, but your time will come.>> "Guardian towers destroyed, Executrix!"

Rampage transforms once he nears the ground, charging at ground vehicles and laying waste to them. His powerful paws bat them aside like bowling pins. "Now this is fun!" he radios to Carnivac, "Bet I can wreck more than you!" Rampage collapses down into his Tiger mode.

"Fast movers on an intercept course, three o'clock low," Boomslang calls out, winging over to starboard to face the bat-like approaching Qwarchian fighters scrambling to meet the Decepticons. Missiles flash up towards him, but Boomslang's radar-defeating shape renders the seeker heads dumb and he rolls around them to shred one of the Qwarchians with a long burst of 20mm autocannon.

It takes a few moments, but the Kwarchan military begins to respond. Bronze, bat-like jets take the skies, flying in squadrons of three. They're well equipped to deal with both the clear air and the hazy thick cloud cover, armed with powerful missiles but weak defensive shields. Anti-air turrets are coming online, firing at anything not registered as Kwarchan. Shrapnel is flying everywhere. On the ground, the slug-like natives are panicking. Air raid sirens are going off, but the civilians don't look like they know what to do. As Carnivac just discovered, much of the machines here are wonderfully flammable. The radio traffic spikes, from civilians calling each other desperately to the military trying to scramble its forces. From inside Astrotrain, Shockwave watches as the enemy headquarters approaches... rapidly. "Astrotrain," he emits. "Astrotrain," he repeats, "You are coming in too fast. You w-" WHOOSH! Shockwave holds onto the ceiling railing with a vice-like grip as the triplechanger shifts into train mode and 'lands'. Unmindful of the 'success', Shockwave heads into the rear, jumping out of the shuttle onto the bronze ground. The Kwarchan headquarters looms above him and the other disembarking soldiers, and Shockwave takes aim with his arm cannon and blows away an enemy walker before it can even get started.

Scorn grins and gives a bow of her head to Shockwave, "Of course, sir. We'll start our descent now to dispatch ground forces and meet you later if needed." With that she leaves the cockpit and immediatly leaps from Astrotrain before he gets anywhere near the military HQ, the slender femme shooting ever downwards towards the ground. <<Insecticons! Deploy and devour everything in your path!>> With the command transmitted all the remaining Insecticons from other shuttles begin to pour out and fall upon the polluted city and start their rein of terror by either fighting the incoming troops, eating anything metallic, or both at the same time. A few interesting insect troops cause their own havoc, like a bombadier mech already showering buildings and soldiers in the thermite-like chemical mixture he fires from his backside gun. Another mech, heavily armored, rolls into a massive ball like a rolly-polly and proceeds to Juggernaut through walls and over cars, making circle outlines in whatever he smashes through. Scorn herself is on the hunt for valuables, melting down doors with her acidic spit or just slicing them with her scythe arms, making sure to root out anything that catches her eye.

"Any time old timer..." emits the golden jet while executing a daring looping to avoid the missile fired by one of the Kwarchan fighter. <<Kwarchan squadron coming on 3 o'clock. I'm taking care of them.>> Photon brutally slowdown, allowing the fighter to pass him. One astrosecond later, the first one is obliterated by his heat guns. A moment later, a second one his hit and crash into the city.

As Boomslang joins, Fusillade chides Photon, <<No need breaking up a perfectly good trine. Looks like the ground forces have inserted successfully, let's go blitz that spaceport. To our 11, about 23 astroclicks out. Once we blow it out, anything there is yours. Parts. High-grade fuel. Don't dally for too long looting though, we will need to rejoin the main battleforce by the end of 2.5 decicycles.>>

The Lancer sleeks back her wings, and engages military thrust, her vectoring exhaust nozzles rippleing in blue cones as she screams past, blowing out oil-sheened building glasses and making larval Qwarchians retract their eyestalks in terror. A few moments later, the bronzy criss-cross of taxiways and red I-beam structures angling upward to the sky loom on the horizon. Rotary carriages ratchet inside her bays, and Fusillade rains down damnation on the spaceport.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Onslaught reports the Combaticons and the Shuttle Conquest II forces have reached their primary target and are engaging."

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Shuttle Triumph reports it has disabled enemy artillery and is making its final descent."

"No sweat, Shockwave. I'm a total and complete expert at this sort of thing!" Astrotrain intones as he rises up into his robot mode once the last of his 'passengers' have disembarked. Whether or not there's actual confidence from others in Astrotrain's boast aside, the triplechanger is quick to join in the carnage. With rifle in hand, he turns and fires off a series of blasts that send several troopers scattering for cover, blowing apart the tracked APC they had arrived in a second later. Another walker rises up from its docking bay, weapons chattering away for a few seconds before Astrotrain produces his sword and heaves it, sending the weapon spiralling end-over-end before it imbeds into the main torso of the mech with a solid *SHRUNK*, sending it crashing over onto its side after a series of secondary explosions rock the hull. "So now what?" He finally asks over his shoulder, rifle blasting another staccato rhythm of energy bolts to keep any would-be heroes hiding in cover from getting any funny ideas. In a chorus of shifting and spinning parts, Astrotrain's body spins and lifts up into his large robot mode. Viator sticks to Fusillade's wing, taking aim with his shuriken cannons on several makeshift anti aircraft outposts poised at knocking the Lancer out of the sky...The blades dig into the armored defenses. There is a moment of jeering from the aliens. Is that all he's got?! The disruptor pulses in the shuriken go online, frying the weaponry systems and any electrical pieces the defenders wear. The old mech sometimes forgets Fusillade's speed, and does his best not to let the struggle to keep up show. Giant Armored Timberwolf <Carnivac> turns and waggles a forepaw at Rampage in the same manner as one would shake a finger. "Now now, don't forget quality is just as important as quanity." Followed by a fang-bearing grin. "Why blow it up if it's not fun to watch, hmmm?" But the conversation is brought to a stop as he lifts his head, ears flicking forward. The noxiousness in the air is making it hard to pinpoint anything with his nose, but his hightened sense of hearing is still going fully tilt, as is the infrared scanners built into his backpack-turret. And now they've picked up the loud sounds and thermal emissions of heavy machinery. With a cackling bark he bounds off down the street, knocking cars aside with his sheer size with little trouble. "This way. To gooy sauce filling of this enchillada of war!"

Minutes later a chain-link and barbed wire fence crushes in the cacophony of screaming metal as Carnivac tears through it with his jaws, and stomps into the lot of one of the cities sprawling industrial complexes. "Jackpot!"

Except for when a couple of what appeared to be decorative spires on the exterior building flip down and swivel to become defensive guns and open fire, sparks flying off the Pretender's shoulder armor as the shots riddle the pavement around him. And then one of the turrets explodes in a blinding flare of red after Carnivac blasts it with his eye-beams.

<Decepticon> Carnivac cackles gleefully "Initiating location and seizure of industrial assets."

Robot Tiger <Rampage> tears off after Carnivac. "Oh no, I'll get there first!" he says, speeding up as his paws carry him through the street. He doesn't even stop to bat vehicles aside, he just rams them away like Headstrong or Tantrum.

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "Commencing bombing run on main spaceport. Objective is to destroy runways and block spacelane slingshots with crippled craft."

F/A-18E "Super Hornet" <Boomslang> carves around in a diving bank to line up with the turrets firing at Carnivac, transforms as he glides in towards it, spikes the barrel with a grenade, and transforms again to blast off as the turret gun explodes.

<Decepticon> Boomslang says, "Well slag, I should've packed some Durandals."

There's plenty of valuables for Scorn, her Insecticons, and any Decepticon to loot. The precious metals in the vehicles and buildings, the museums, the factories, the banks, the power plants, and more offer a wide selection of plunder for the discriminating Decepticon. An enterprising Con can get pretty rich. The defending armies are starting to get their act together, and walkers are now patrolling the streets. They're having to be careful to avoid stepping on any panicking civilians, though. Shockwave doesn't even bother looking at the second walker that's rising up. He knows what's going to happen even before its pilot does. As it topples over thanks to Astrotrain's sword, the cyclops emits, "Now we find the military leadership within this fortress, terminate them, and burn the structure to the ground." Pause. "In no particular order." On the other side of the city, away from the spaceport and HQ, the Kwarchan military is working feverously to evacuate the President, his aides, and several other high ranking members of the ruling government. Three squads of three bat-planes are resting on the Presidential Palace's tarmac while they board a shuttle. Pyramid Jet <Photon> shoot down the last fighters before catching up with the others who are assaulting the spaceport by now. <<On my way Executrix>>. Not being equipped with weapons heavy enough to level the spaceport, the seeker decides to go after all the anti-aircraft batteries intalled around it. The first one disappears in the flash of light as Photon pass over it. He managed to avoid most incoming fire but is still stuck by a couple of light weapons without suffering any crippling damage.

<Decepticon> Carnivac howls (almost literally) with laughter at Boomslang's assistance. "STEEEERIKE! They're out! Nyahahah."

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "Photon, intercept their air fighters. I hestitate to call them air superiority fighters..."

<Decepticon> Viator says, "Executrix, shall I join the others?"

<Decepticon> Photon says, "Consider it done."

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "Allllllllmost done here, Viator. Regroup with Boomslang and the main battleforce."

<Decepticon> Scorn says, "This planet may be filthy, but the metals they use are just /delicious/."

"Well generals and high commandy types are probably gonna be in some armored bunker at the center of this place, right?" Astrotrain grunts, putting one large blocky foot up on the downed walker to brace himself as he wrenches his sword free with both hands, his rifle maglocked onto the back of his shoulder for now. Giving the weapon a few practice swings, he ducks reflexively as several of the native fighters strafe their position before being forced to break off as seekers chase after them in pursuit. Shielding his optics with one hand, he peers towards the front entrance. "Don't worry, I got a sure fire one hundred percent method for locating them!" And with that, he's already transforming once more, slamming down on ihs wheels again and....suddenly rumbling straight through the front battlements, straight up a set of grand stairs (or is that a ramp for a slug-like people?) and through the great entrance doors with a shriek of tortured metal and blast doors wrenching back on their mountings as the nigh-unstoppable force of Astrotrain's locomotive frame goes hurtling on through. And he doesn't stop after that. Wall after wall he crashes straight through, with no care for avenues of approach or typical hallways or the like, just making his -own- entrance as crash after crash after crash rings out. At least, until he suddenly comes to a DEAD stop further within, the heavy smash of metal on metal ringing out as he encounters something TRULY unmovable, the train's rear end rising up into the air from the forced deceleration, then smashing back down onto his wheels with a heavy crunch and shower of sparks. "URUGH! Ooof...I think...I think I found a bunker!"

With body twisting in place while folding up on himself, Astrotrain slams to the ground as a huge armored locomotive.

The flak and anti-air around the spaceport are soon quelled by the efforts of Viator and Photon, leaving Fusillade to disgorge her payload. Eventually, ferrocrete plinths and runways crack and begin sinking into the bubbling bog. "What a terrible place to build a spaceport," she remarks to no-one in particular, orange and yellow reflecting off her glossy white belly as yet another stick of high explosives detonate below. She cackles as she mean-spiritedly reams a bloated transport with a missile, leaving its carcass to block the main acceleration ramp for the spaceport's suborbital insertion runway. She dips a slender wing, banking more nimbly now that she has depleted most of her payload, and angles back toward the Presidential Palace.

Hinder descends towards Kwarch.

Viator drops away from Fusillade, spotting Boomslang in the distance. <<Your will, Executrix.>> Two enemies fighters almost stumble across the ancient mech, desparately trying to find someone to regroup with amidst the chaos. Viator regroups them with their maker, accelerating through the explosion, leaving a contrail like arrow through a flaming bullseye. He buzzes Photon, none to accidentally. <<Boomslang, Fusillade is en route.>>

"Package leader's got the runways in hand, we'll take the buildings," Boomslang radios to Viator and the rest of the strike package, arming a 2000-pound bomb and lining up with the runway lights in an alarmingly low and fast run. The bomb skips across the tarmac and punches into the spaceport control tower's base from the side- the blast cuts it down like a tree. Slug-people tumble from the shattered windows as the tower topples over and crashes onto the tarmac in fire and smoke.

Not wanting to be destroyed on the ground, another three-man wing of Quarcian fighters scrambles from a secondary runway to split and angle in on Boomslang, Viator and Photon. "<<Red Tougous, attack for the motherland!>>" their wingleader transmits to his wingmen, releasing missiles against the intruders in righteous vengeance!

There's plenty of valuables for Scorn, her Insecticons, and any Decepticon to loot. The precious metals in the vehicles and buildings, the museums, the factories, the banks, the power plants, and more offer a wide selection of plunder for the discriminating Decepticon. An enterprising Con can get pretty rich. The defending armies are starting to get their act together, and walkers are now patrolling the streets. They're having to be careful to avoid stepping on any panicking civilians, though. Shockwave doesn't even bother looking at the second walker that's rising up. He knows what's going to happen even before its pilot does. As it topples over thanks to Astrotrain's sword, the cyclops emits, "Now we find the military leadership within this fortress, terminate them, and burn the structure to the ground." Pause. "In no particular order." On the other side of the city, away from the spaceport and HQ, the Kwarchan military is working feverously to evacuate the President, his aides, and several other high ranking members of the ruling government. Shockwave marches through the ruins, not even having to blast at the incoming soldiers. He has flunkies for that. Finally, he catches up to Astrotrain. He eyes the impenetrable bunker. "Solid corbomite shell," he emits. "Capable of withstanding a nuclear blast at close range." Shockwave can't brute force this in time, but he knows the enemy military leaders must be hidden within. He reaches into a hip compartment, draws out a teeny tiny object, he tosses it on the ground. "Hinder. Find a way inside and open the main doors."

The turrets explode thanks to Boomslang's assistance, showering bits of flaming shrapnel and electronics across the lot as Carnivac walks through it like it was a spring tain, giggling the entire time. Another blast from his optics disintergrates one of the loading bay doors, opening it up for whatever Decepticon raiders followed them to the complex. "Metal for the metal gods! Gears for the gear throne! Yeaaahaha--auff!"

A sudden blast of something with a bit more oomph lurchs the Pretender to the side as one of the military walkers stomps over the fence and into the lot. Carnivac shifts his weight as it brings its weapon bank to bear again and unleashes a flurry of micro-missiles.

Unfortunately the operator has no clue of that 'leap 50 feet in any direction' ability Carnivac has in this form to avoid the flock of explosions. The walker turns one way, then the other, trying to pick up the Decepticon on its radar again.

"Yoo hooo, over here~" The walker starts to turn at the cat-call, but only makes it half way before a cannon blast slams into it, causing it to topple over as its movement systems lock from the sudden heat drain, and then hits the ground hard enough to shatter the shielding to the cockpit. The slug-like squirms out of the opening in a panic.

And looks up just in time to scream before a cargo truck is slammed down on top of it. Carnivac can be seen walking away and back towards the complex itself, dusting off his hands at the wreck blows up another smokey fireball into the air behind him.

Carnivac flips up from his grinning mecha-wolf mode into his manic robot mode.

<Decepticon> Carnivac says, "Their toys break -so- nicely~"

Shockwave watches Astrotrain with obvious disbelief. He motions to the Seekers gathered around to hold back until Astrotrain reveals his brilliant plan. The Seekers nod in understanding, focusing on shooting at a squad of infantry while the A-Train does his thing. The front doors of the military HQ are blown apart as the locomotive smashes through it... and keeps going. It isn't until Astrotrain calls out again that he finally motions to the Seekers again, "Home in on Astrotrain's location. Burn anything else." The Seekers take off, shifting into plane mode as they rain fire down on the enemy Headquarters. The building around Astrotrain starts to burn, spewing multi-coloured fireworks in all directions as sections explode. Shockwave marches through the ruins, not even having to blast at the incoming soldiers. He has flunkies for that. Finally, he catches up to Astrotrain. He eyes the impenetrable bunker. "Solid corbomite shell," he emits. "Capable of withstanding a nuclear blast at close range." Shockwave can't brute force this in time, but he knows the enemy military leaders must be hidden within. He reaches into a hip compartment, draws out a teeny tiny object, he tosses it on the ground. "Hinder. Find a way inside and open the main doors." <repose!>

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Onslaught reports they have secured their main objective. Enemy communications network should be disrupted momentarily. Shuttle Conquest II is providing covering fire."

Robot Tiger <Rampage> can leap 500 feet in any direction, and uses this to his advantage as he keeps wrecking equipment and vehicles. It's like a demolition derby without wheels. Leaving the spaceport, Photon quickly scans the area and his radar quickly detect another group of Kwarchan fighters coming towards them. So far it's been almost too easy but the seeker realize that those missile could very well do some serious damage if they hit. So far all those pilots seem to be horrible marksman but it could change. The golden jet flies right through their formation, slamming two out of the sky before executing a sharp turn and blasting a third one into pieces. And then... BAM! He's struck by a missile fired by the Red Tougous squadron. Pieces of metals fly everywhere and smokes come out of one of his flank, "Urg... I'm ok..."

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Shuttle Triumph reports it is deploying soldiers. Snaptrap estimates naval headquarters will be secure within the hour."

Armored Locomotive <Astrotrain>, despite the sudden collision with the nigh-impenetrable walls of the bunker, hasn't got a buckled ram prow or the like, though his paintjob along the front has certainly been scuffed all to hell and back. "...you do that. I'm gonna sit here and...wait'll everything stops spinning," he mutters as the seekers close in around them. Of course, here at the heart of the headquarters, it goes without saying tha the locals are hardly going to go down without a fight, and more than a few armored troopers are soon showing up to rain down fire on the Decepticon's position. Several seekers drop, holed through their torsoes before they take cover, using the Triplechanger's heavily armored locomotive frame as a makeshift barricade. One that can even shoot back as several gun emplacements deploy along Astrotrain's bulk, putting down a rapidfire scattering of energy bolts in return. A couple of the seekers even hop up into the weapon emplacements to man the guns themselves.

Viator swings in behind Photon, cackling. "What do we have here?!" He pushes past the damaged Seeker, using the blast as cover- the pilots were not expecting the charging Viator, missiles away and autoguns firing! Several of the squad are destroyed, the rest scatter to regroup. <<Boomslang, Photon may require additional aid. And a refresher in defensive flying.>> The old mech twists into robot mode, snatching a ejected pilot out of the sky and scowling at the creature. "Such a waste of resources." Squeeze. A puff of organs and fluid. Viator transforms again, preparing for a second pass.

Hinder transforms before hitting the ground, though it's a close thing. She looks up at Shockwave for a moment then turns and dashes off toward the exceedingly well made bunker. Luckily, she's small enough to disappear into the chaos around the fortified structure. On the down side though, that means there's no way to tell if she's still en route to the bunker or if she's been flattened by some of the debris being tossed about by the others.

Several Insecticons have already made their way to the various power plants, their forms clearly visible as they crawl up the side of the massive stacks, syphoning off the raw energy they produce. Others have gotten to shipping containers loaded with precious cargo, nibbling away on anything they can grab. Scorn orders the rolypoly mech to her side, sending him straight down one of the main streets like a massive bowling ball, the few walkers on that street acting perfectly as pins. "Into that building on the right! Smash all the way through!" The femme orders, hissing as she keeps cover behind him. The building in particular seems slightly nicer than the rest, but those looks don't hold up too well to the Insecticon mech when he bulldozes right into it like some robotic Kool-Aid Man. Picking through the rubble Scorn makes her way in after him, optics darting around quickly before landing on exactly what she was hoping to find. A thick vault door. "Ah, just as planned. Alright, big boy. Open it up." The femme grins, snapping her fingers. The rolypoly mech shifts back into robot mode and lumbers to the door, a fist reeling back before slamming a large dent into it. He does this a few more times until the door gives way and falls back on the final punch. Scorn's optics are nearly sparkling when he moves aside and lets her in, the femme met with a large repository of currency as well as walls lined with deposit boxes. The mech sees this too, eyeing the cash, and reaches a hand out grab some and eat it. But before he can even get close Scorn hisses and gives an infuriated skreech, lashing out at the side of his face with a sharp hand. "No!" Her lower jaw seperates and flexes, clicking in annoyance. "I told you before, this loot is for me. And you'll get your reward later. Now head out and hit the next place. You can keep what you get there." The mech doesn't seem too phased by this, not really caring what he does and doesn't get. As long as he eats. So with a grunt he turns and lumbers out, rolling off to demolish and devour some more. Meanwhile Scorn pretty much goes wild with filling her subspace. Oh sweet money.

"I'm coming back to help you out with that," Boomslang sends back to Photon, but as he makes his turn he finds a Red Tougou cutting in to intercept him from his ten o'clock. Boomslang pulls a hard aileron roll and drops chaff as a missile comes in towards him, but the Red Tougou wheels around as it passes and turns with him, forcing him to dive into the ground clutter and transform, disappearing in the city!

The F-18 produces that distinctive transformation sound as it flips around and pops out limbs to assume a humanoid shape.

Combat: Boomslang activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight!

Shockwave flinches as native troopers fire upon him, the Seekers, and Astrotrain. His left side gets riddled with high powered laser bolts. Acting quickly, he vaults over the triplechanger, heroically using the locomotive as cover. "Astrotrain, are you damaged?" Shockwave asks even as he takes aim and fires just above him. The ground in front of a squad of soldiers explodes upwards in their faces, but it's clear the Kwarchans are giving it their all to protect the leadership. Hinder is going to have to hurry. Meanwhile, the government shuttle, flanked by nine bat-planes, is taking off from the Presidential Palace, which has survived relatively unscathed in the initial bombardment. They're heading straight up, trying to use the thick clouds as cover. Chances are the Absolution and Despoiler won't be able to get to it.

As mad as he may be, Carnivac was in his element at times like this. Hunt and kill. Search and destroy. Robotic warrior and predatory beast in almost perfect attunement. Almost casually he strolled back up to the loading docks.

The industrial complex has already descended into madness. Machinery blowing up, Rampage living up to his name, Decepticon troopers trading fire with security forces and making off with whatever goods they can carry. Slug-folk are in a panic, trying to find cover from the insanity around them. Carnivac walks into this like a kid in the candy shop, firing off blasts at heavy machinery the locals are trying to use in desperation to defend themselves. <Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Capital city squadrons, report in. Military headquarters is in the process of being secured."

Space-Going B-1R Lancer has also managed to catch some small arms fire on her wings, the faint waft of magnesium slipping off her as she cruises up alongside Photon. "You sure? Alright! Let's not be too late to the main event!" The capacitors for her argon disruptor wind up, and she swoops past the Presidential Palace's courtyard, nearly atomizing a set of gunners on the ramparts, and shearing off a walker's leg at the joint. It clunks down on its side, the pilot squinching away an ineffectual distance before it cooks off.

She transforms, applying marginally more finesse as she hacks and slashes proteinaceous flesh and oxidized metal alike. She gives a sharp nod to the Isopodicon as he trundles past, before picking through cover to arrive at Shockwave's side, a giant braided copper and silver pectoral featuring a glossy black slug seraphim in its center. She whistles at the reinforced vault. "Whewwwwwwwwwww, wouldja look at that BEAST?! I'd have to pound that with some MIRVs to crack it open! Are they in there? Should I get Boomslang in here and cook them out by napalming the exterior?"

The sleek bomber rears up, wings collapsing onto hips even as the rear fuselage splits to form arms. The horizontal stabilizer slides up, the forward fuselage folds up accordian style, and Fusillade hops up on thrustered feet.

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "Joining you now, Shockwave."

<Decepticon> Carnivac cackles. "Ransacking for fun and profit."

The Red Tougou who was pursuing Boomslang turns his craft around and comes back low and fast, searching for him among the buildings, but it's as if a twenty-some foot tall war machine just disappeared into fat air! Suddenly the light distorts in front of the fighter and it pulls up hard, but there is the shattering BAM of a high speed impact and Boomslang becomes visible with his knife rammed into the aircraft's belly. The fighter shears in half down the middle, each side auguring into the cityscape attached to its own engine.

Combat: Suddenly, Boomslang appears out of thin air!

Armored Locomotive <Astrotrain> can barely be heard now amidst all the firing going on, and when the triplechanger -himself- is the cover that the other Decepticons are using, that doesn't help the situation any. "Oh I'm just fine!" He finally says as he gets the last of the cobwebs out of his proverbial head. The single head-lamp on the front swivels about like the EYE OF SAURON as it takes in the situation. Countless shots impact against his heavily armored side, some blackening his frame, others simply ricocheting off. Occasional bits of armor flake and chip here and there but overall he remains almost unphased. One seeker sits up in his cab, mounting a double barreled laser turret as he tries to put down suppressive fire. "No seriously, Shockwave. In a sec I'll get revved up and run over these putzes. I'm completely and totally fine now!" The headlamp suddenly explodes in a shower of sparks and debris. "...I'm just suddenly BLIND that's all!"

<Decepticon> Scorn says, "Ground forces are thinning out around us, sir."

<Decepticon> Boomslang says, "Skies are looking clear, Commander."

"Keep your comments for yourself Viator. YOU were supposed to watch that zone!" The golden seeker manages to ignore the pain and to perform a perfect looping, which place him right behind one of the Red Tougous. Photon doesn't waste any moment and takes vengence by cutting the fighter's wing with two very accurate shots. He then simply watches as the pilot falls to his death. Then, he catchups with Fusillade and transforms to land near the other Decepticons while making sure to take a shot at any defense force within range. The Pyramid jet unfold into Photon's robot mode.

Hinder reaches the bunker and visually scans it for entry points other than the main door. After a moment, she uses teeth and claws to wrench open a ventilation grate. It very likely sets off alarms inside the bunker, but she proceeds inside anyway. Maybe she can find the power sources for the equipment inside and make the natives blind and deaf.

Viator scowls, taking off after Photon to reconnect with Fusillade. "Ah, yes. Excuses. The primary weapons system of the young." He watches the Seeker dispatch the remaining fighter in silence, transforming and landing next to his rival of the day. "Extraordinarily accurate in melee combat, however." The old mech scowls. "Well done."

The pyramid jet unfolds into an angry old mech, who promptly shakes his fist at some youngster.

Boomslang touches down by the other seekers shortly, cradling his mass driver. "All units reporting. No casualties."

Robot Tiger <Rampage> chases the locals around, and they flee before the alien thing that they don't even know looks like a Tiger. All they know is it's big, it's metal, it's angry, and it will probably squish them beneath his paws if he catches them.

Shockwave fails to get Astrotrain's sarcasm at first, but once the triplechanger complains of being blind it becomes obvious, even to him. Still using the locomotive as cover, Shockwave rises up long enough to fire another flurry of arm cannon shots. Once Fusillade transforms and fights her way to them, he gives her a nod. "Perhaps another time. I have an agent working on gaining us entry as we speak. Holding this position, however-" Shockwave pauses as a lobbed series of gas-powered grenades explode just behind Astrotrain, forcing Shockwave (and possibly Fusillade) to dive away. There's a great number of walkers fighting to retake the bunker, and a couple Seekers that were standing around are even blown apart. "Holding this position, however," Shockwave repeats as sharpnel flies past him, "Is of paramount importance."

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "A'ight folks, we need to cover Hinder -- AND ourselves. Let's buy some time, they're not letting this one go without a fight!"

"Oh, now that we're on the ground," Boomslang exclaims in an exasperated tone as Flashbang and Wipeout get fragged by artillery. He dives for the nearest solid concrete object, which happens to be the foundation of one of the towers that used to support an AA turret. "Grab some cover!"

<Decepticon> Scorn says, "Gaining hold of the city, sir. Shall I have some of my troops move in on your location now?"

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "No--we cannot all converge on one location. Has the Presidential Palace been secured?"

Photon takes cover behind Astrotrain. He didn't realize that the triplechanger could be that useful. He also does a good job at ignoring Viator, busy as he is returning fire towards the Kwarchan, "They sure fight hard... I hope Hinder hurry up, this is not the best defensive position I saw..."

From her position behind a smoldering walker, Fusillade nods to Shockwave. "Got it." She frowns deeply to herself as Boomslang points out the error they made, and she pops back up briefly, her plasma caster firing off a bolt at another one of the walkers, the glowing mass chewing away at its canopy and eventually the occupant inside. There's a gurgle, followed by an acrid sulfurous stench. "Geeze. Well I'm glad that WORKS, at least," she waves her hand in front of her face.

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "Delayed slightly, pinned here..."

Armored Locomotive <Astrotrain> is STILL sitting there like a big dumb speedbump as stray blasts spark and ricochet off of his armored hide. As the remaining seekers around him shift their positions, the last one manning his gun turrets suddenly slumps over as his head is blown clean off his shoulders with a loud *PTANG!* "Oh for the love of...enough of this!" Astrotrain suddenly transforms shifting and rising up in his robot modeand finally able to see again. In both hands, he now has the body of the headless seeker. "Gimme a second." He growls towards Photon nearby, turning back and doing...something with the headless corpse. And at that point he turns back, holding the body overhead, which he has stuffed with no less than a half a dozen grenades that are now beeping ominously. "Special delivery!" He cackles as he chucks the makeshift 'suicide bomb' overhead at the biggest knot of firing troops that he can see.

In a chorus of shifting and spinning parts, Astrotrain's body spins and lifts up into his large robot mode.

What at first seemed like a random swath of destruction proves to be more planned than most people would expect from Carnivac, as it concludes with him smashing through an overhead skylight and landing on the rooftop of the industrial complex. Dropping down into his more agile mecha-wolf mode he makes a few jumps across rooftops and eventually half-leaps, half climbs to the top of a tall structural outcropping. His claws digging in for traction, optic-band turning blood red as IR-targetting sweeps across the urban battlefield.

A few minutes later a walker closer to the military complex shudders as a power sapping ray blasts it from over the rooftops, causing it to topple over on top of a squadron of slug troopers. With the industrial complex pretty much seized and in the process of being raized, looks like he's working his way back towards the central conflict and playing sniper in the process.

Carnivac drops to all fours, turning into a mechanical wolf.

Boomslang leans around the corner of his concrete tower and settles his sights over the hip assembly of an oncoming walker. With a resounding BOOM which almost drowns out the simultaneous sharp clang a railgun slug pierces the walker's chassis through and through, basically disintegrating the hips and causing the cockpit pod to fall to the ground and roll harmlessly up against some other wreckage. Better yet, there was another walker a ways behind it which the slug also shatters on its way into deep space; this one's mechanical innards explode out its back, and the walker topples forwards on fire.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Very well, the palace is of tertiary concern."

Viator mutters something about not receiving the upgrade to his disrupter cannons he had requested VORNS ago and keeps the pressure on with laser fire, taking up a position beside Photon. "The Empire has seen worse defensive positions! In the battle of Serenimech Valley, we were little entrenched behind a wall of junked seekers taking fire from Autobot siege tanks!"

Boomslang ducks back behind cover to eject the steaming heatsink and rack another one into place, as a barrage of artillery from other positions bursts against his cover. "Really?!" Boomslang shouts at Viator, over the noise of bursting shells. "What did you do?!"

<Decepticon> Carnivac in a more lucid tone than usual "Industrial complex almost entirely overrun by our forces, moving to cover military base forces."

Photon shouts, "He ran away!". He also curses at Astrotrain for transforming and forcing him to duck behind a large piece of concrete to take cover. He looks over it, long enough to fire his arm canon before being forced to hide from the returning fire.

As the Decepticons converge on his location, the Kwarchan advance is met with stiff opposition. Numerous walkers are blown away, and Shockwave himself manages to shoot down a pair of bat-planes before they could drop their payload. The planes corkscrew down to the ground, erupting into fireballs on contact. The nigh-indestructible bunker means the enemy doesn't have to worry about collateral damage so much. Finally Astrotrain transforms, and Shockwave backs up to give the mech room. Stepping closer to Viator and Boomslang, Shockwave overhears their conversation. A lot of Decepticons died at Serenimech Valley.

Viator spits in Photon's general direction and ducks down, a walker strafing their location. "We linked what was left of their sparks, waited for the Autobots to close, and Shockwave ignited the dead in a wall of energy! It was a glorious day for the Empire, Decepticons- as this one will be!" The old mech stands and gives 'em hell again, cackling as infantry is cut down by his SEEKER ARM CANNONS (TM)!

Robot Tiger <Rampage> makes his way around to where Carnivac is perched. He takes an opposite positional stance and starts firing with his side-mounted machine guns. "Yeah! Let's level this place!"


 * WHOOMPH WHOOMPH WHOOMPH SHING!!!*

Fusillade's thrown wingblade cleaves through the leg of a heavy APC walker, causing it to clunk awkwardly while its other five legs claw at the air. With an electromagnetic hum, Fusillade calls it back, and snatches the grip back up in her palm, before neatly popping several persistent Qwarchin gunners with her argon disruptor. "Do you think she got crushed in the rubble?" she asks of Shockwave regarding hinder.

Bounding across the rooftops brings Carnivac closer to the military HQ faster than trying to take the streets would. It also brings him up behind another squad of walkers moving in on complex. Oh, what timing. "They think they're going to advance from the rear, do they?", murmurs the wolf to the Predacon. Then leaps off the rooftop.

And after summoning his outer shell again in mid-jump, slams into the rearmost walker with the biomechanical bulk and crashing it to the ground, seemingly uncaring as it partially explodes beneath him and scorchs him with the expulsion of fiery fumes. "Not if I advance your rear first!" The other walkers start to turn towards him, only to get lit up in infra-red targetting scans that he's feeding back to Rampage to help the gunner do his job in mowing the rest of them down.

The tossed makeshift seeker corpse-bomb goes off with a briliant explosion, and a hail of shrapnel that causes havoc at the blast center and in the immediate area around. Astrotrain simply cackles again at his handiwork, looking left, then right. "Quick, find more things for me to throw at them!" Nevermind that he has a perfectly good rifle still magnetized onto the back of his shoulder. As the walker that stafes their position approaches near where Viator is hunkered down, the Triplechanger is already on the move. A bobbing, then a weaving and a startling display of agility for his size puts Astrotrain right next to the other machine, both hands curling out to seize around it's right leg joint. "Scuse me, I'm gonna borrow this!" And with a harsh *RRRRIP* he tears the entire limb free, swinging it like a makeshift bat as the ruins of the mech crashes to the ground behind him in a series of dramatic fiery explosions that would make Sylvester Stallone suddenly overcome with the urge to run away from them in slow motion. Astrotrain, meanwhile, is all but revelling in the moment, sending the torn off 'leg' hurling end over end among the crowds to bean a couple of soldiers upside their heads, sending them crashing down as the big purple con lunges forward to get in amongst them. "C'mere you little freaks, I aint done with you yet!"
 * KA-BOOOOM!*

Carnivac is sealed within his Pretender shell, becoming a giant biomechanical wolf.

Hinder reaches the electrical systems for the bunker and after studying them for a moment just stearts shredding them. Easy enough, and the natives will hopefully be unable to make repairs. Of course, by this time the natives have caught up with her and she has to flee, dashing for those main doors and really hoping that what she's done will have forced the doors to open.

Boomslang takes aim at another walker, but then Astrotrain is on top of it beating it like a pinata with its own leg and spoiling his shot (as well as making it redundant). He sights in on another one just before Carnivac comes plunging down and pins it under his bulk. Boomslang grumbles to himself, but at least he didn't waste a shot.

Shockwave raises his arm protectively as a missile hits the ground in front of him, nearly knocking him off his feet. Enough of this, he decides. "Yes," he replies to Fusillade. "It appears Hinder has failed in her assignment. Have your forces-" Suddenly the main doors slide open. "Hypothesis revised. Fusillade, have your forces deal with the enemy Generals." That vague order gives Fusillade a lot of leeway.

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Onslaught reports their objectives are secured."

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Snaptrap reports their objectives are secured."

Robot Tiger <Rampage> does as he can, firing wildly at the incoming to keep Carnivac covered and make the locals scatter. "Yeah, get them in the rear," he says to the Pretender.

Astrotrain is feeling all high and mighty right about now, scattering a bunch of foes before him. Hands rest on hips, and he guffaws as the main doors finally slide open. "Hah, easy! These freaks are nothing more than target practice and a way for me to demonstrate just how awesome I am!" Right about that point three Walkers appear around the triplechanger, and he disappears under a flurry of weapon-arms being used as bludgeoning tools as they proceed to bury him under a fistbeating frontier-style, complete with a comical dust cloud for good measure. "OW, OW OOOOOOW! OH WHY DOES COMEUPPANCE HURT SO MUCH!?"

Photon keeps returning fire when he hears the door open behind him. "Finally..." He doesn't add anything but turns towards the doors. HE glances towards Fusillade, "Want me to go in? I could hrrrr deal with those fleshies."

Viator reloads, lookst to Fusillade for marching orders. "Standing by, Executrix."

Fusillade's shoulders sag as the doors open back up. "Man, now i have to actually interact with them, WAY TO GO HINDER," she shouts into the vault. She tromps in, and with a wicked grin, invites the aerial retinue to join her. "This should be gravy. Everyone's invited."

She disappears, followed by several shrills from the inhabitants. She emerges with a Qwarchian offier dangling from its tail. Its seething flesh rolls underneath tattooed decorations of rank, the armholes of its bolero-styled, medal bedecked uniform in tatters. Hooking the tips of her fingers into its tail, Fusillade growls out as she hefts it up and down several times, slapping its face into the asphalt several times, "We went to a LOT of trouble getting you guys out. -I- wanted to COOK you in here like a petrocrayfish boil! But they wouldn't let me, so you'd better come up with some juicy info about your most valuable assets to make them not change their minds about you!" She clips its tail with her wingblade, making the Qwarchian shrink as much as possible into its soft carapace. "I don't understand what you want!!!!!!" it garbles in confusion and fright.

After getting a few minutes to beat on the Triplechanger in an entertaining fashion, the control section of one of the walkers detonates after the piercing beams sheer through it and fries the inside. It tumbles over to reveal the snarling monster behind it, though that snarl is coming from the toothy everpresent smile across Carnivac's maw. "You mamma was a snowblower!" And rattles of a few shots of auto-fire from his back weaponry, which should distract the other two long enough for Astrotrain to get his bearings back in order. "Don't you dare offline on us now Astrotrain, there's still victory boozin' to be done!"

Shockwave watches as Astrotrain gets buried by a trio of walkers. He sees Carnivac and Rampage attacking their rearguard positions, and realizes now that the enemy forces will soon be broken. With Fusillade, Viator, and Photon heading inside, that leaves only a few out to help Astrotrain. Carnivac frags one of them, and Shockwave advances and knocks the second aside with a powerful swipe of his arm. The third one he lifts up over his head. "Know this, soldier," Shockwave emits, "This planet is now under Decepticon rule. Spread news of your defeat to the rest of your forces. Your population will obey us, or perish!" The walker squirms as its pilot tries to free herself. "Now go--inform your people of our terms. There will be no negotiations!" Shockwave hurls the walker into the distance.

Viator has disconnected.

Astrotrain is laying on the ground now, spread eagled and looking like he went through a few rounds with a trash compactor. Particularly around the face, at least. As the walkers are all pulled or blasted off of him, he gets up slowly and rubs the back of his head. "Mmmgah fwah mwuh fwuh..." A moment of silence follows, before Astrotrain realizes his jaw is crooked and hanging off at an awkward angle, "...gwuh? Oh...." With that, he raises one hand and proceeds to *CRACK* his jaw back into place again. "....I'm gonna drink a triple helping after this." Hinder skids to a stop when she sees the flyer Decepticons entering through the main doors and detours. She does NOT want to get stepped on, even if those flyers claim it was accidental. So instead she scrambles back through the bunker system until she finds another ventilation shaft and starts working her way back out of the building that way. Photon emerges from the bunker holding two Kwarchans in his hands and displaying a disgusted look on his face, "Do we really need those alive?". He looks down at then, "I say we finish then and move on."


 * blat BLAT*

Fusillade tenderly dabs the Qwarchian's maw into the asphalt a few more times, looking dissatisfied as she continues to mangle it. Interrogation is not really her forte. "Meh. I can't tell what it's saying anyway," she admits to Photon. "What do their rank markings look like? Find the best pattern and colors, and let's keep that one alive."

Giant Armored Timberwolf <Carnivac> picks up a downed walker with his jaws and makes a sideways jerk of his head to toss it aside, sending a few remaining slug-aliens scattering for their lives as it crunches into the ground, half squashed like a soda can before falling over. A chunk of it is still tore off in Carnivac's jaws, which he gnoshes on like a chunk of metal rawhide while waiting to see if there's anything else left still moving and dumb enough to attack them.

Fusillade adds, "Good job, Astro! That was some wicked inertial dampening you were doing."

Photon takes a closer look at the Kwarchan, "Hrm...not the one" he says while throwing the officer he was holdin in his left hand on the wall. He raises his right arm, "This one has the biggest pattern, it would suggest he has a higher rank."

Robot Tiger <Rampage> grabs the opposite side of the walker that Carnivac is chewing on and starts a tug-of-war to slowly rip it apart.

"Ha ha wow, lookit those eyespots and spangles!" Fusillade laughs, before she one-too-many-times forcefully squelches the Qwarchian against the flooring. It bursts, coating her face in mucous. "GAHHSHSAHHHHH!" she cries in terror, the sound fading before breaking into a few giggles. "Heh heh. Heyyyyyyyyyyyy." She wipes the goo on Photon's shoulder. "CHECK THAT ouuuuuuuuuuuut. Here, try this. We should LIIIIIIICK them!!!" She wobbiles giddily.

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "TRIPPIN' BALLLLLLLLLLLLLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

<Decepticon> Boomslang says, "Commander, I think the Executrix is tripping balls. Should we just collect some of the natives and bring them back to let the interrogators work them over later?"

<Decepticon> Fusillade says, "YES YES WE SHOULD THEY'RE MISSING OUT"

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Take over for the Executrix if she is debilitated, Boomslang. I leave the decision in your hands."

<Decepticon> Photon says, "She sure seems... intoxicated."

<Decepticon> Carnivac says, "Slimy yet satisfying?"

Shockwave shows just how much he does not care about Astrotrain's pain as he watches the walker he chucked vanish into the distance. The enemy forces have been demolished, and the military headquarters all but secured. He listens to the incoming reports from the other strike team leaders across the planet. Finally he makes a (non-Fusi-drunk-related) announcement. <Decepticon> Shockwave says, "Decepticons, all our primary objectives have been completed. Kwarch is now in Decepticon hands. Engineers are to begin converting their power plants to generate energon. The rest of you may loot this world dry as you see fit."

<Decepticon> Shockwave says, "I recommend refraining from licking the natives."

Boomslang breaks away from his firing position and heads inside to take over for the wing leader. "I'm taking command of the wing," he drawls. "Photon, Viator, Flattop, collect two of the more colorful natives each and pack them... CAREFULLY... into Astrotrain when he's ready to go. We'll have Soundwave and that horrible little ape of his work on them later." And Sinnertwin, thinks Boomslang to himself. He'd owe me a big favor for that. <Decepticon> Fusillade says, "YOU REALLY SHOULD"

Fusillade flickers saffron optics at the Boomslang, face drawing down into a deep frown. "Why? Noooooooo. What's wrong with it?" She reaches out to grasp Boomslang's wing closest to her.

Astrotrain dusts himself off. And overexagerrated motion that really doesn't do anything to clean himself up, followed by him giving Fusillade a queer glance at her..odd behavior. "...right. I'm not nearly drunk enough for this yet." "Yeah! score another one for the Deceptico..." A seeker holds up a tankard of high-grade that he b rought along in celebration, but is cut off as Astrotrain's fist meets his face, sending him crashing unconscious to the ground. And more importantly, the tankard falling into Astrotrain's open hand for good measure. He quickly downs the contents before letting out a thick belch. "...the first of soon to be many! Alright, let's get this show wrapped up. I wanna get so drunk I can't -feel- no more!" As he says this, he transforms again, dropping his ramp down for would-be boarders to mount up.

"I'm not gonna judge you," Boomslang assures Fusillade. "But somebody's got to collect these guys and you keep popping yours."

Hinder finally emerges from the bunkers from the same air vent where she went in and then homes in on Shockwave's current location, returning to him as her given task is completed. She's not one for lootin... oh, that little bit of glass there is pretty. Shiny acquired, she proceeds on her way again. Photon steps away from Fusillade., "No thanks,.... I already had my share of... energon." The golden seeker grabs another Kwarchan in the bunker, "I got two... they will be helpful..." He then boards the shuttle, disappearing from view. Photon has left. Photon boards Decepticon Starship <Absolution>.

"But the tingling," Fusillade protests weakly, before hanging her head with a tiny "Oh," in response to Boomslang's comment about the smears at her feet.

Scorn has disconnected.

Giant Armored Timberwolf <Carnivac> spits out the chunk of machine he was chewing on at Shockwave's announcement, and trots over to the corner of the HQ building. "A winner is us! Time to mark the new territory." With a cackle he turns a bit from the wall again, and hikes up one of his back legs.

Fortunately the camera pans away to show a few surviving gumbie-cons making faces of disgust instead of the actual act of 'marking'.

Boomslang has left.

Robot Tiger <Rampage>'s face wrinkles up in contemplation of what Carnivac is doing. "Yeah, whatever," he says, "I'll just go inside and wreck things some more."

Shockwave steps away from the bunker where the military leaders made their last stand. From here, the cyclops is able to view a good portion of the city. It is in chaos, with Decepticons streaking across the sky, either shooting at whatever fancies them, harassing the remains of the local defenders, or picking out choice targets to loot. High above the sky, the Absolution and Despoiler rest. The mighty Decepticon flagship is showing damage, but it remains as unstoppable as ever. The civilian leaders of this world, however, have made good on their escape, fleeting the planet. The Kwarchan President, in his shuttle surrounded by his aides, holds his head in his trembling hands. In just a few hours, his planet was defeated. He knows his people will fight on, and never surrender to the Decepticon tyranny, but surely there was something he could do. He couldn't just stay in exile, helpless to save his people. Finally, he raised his head, tapping a button on the control panel in front of him. A bright red, glowing insignia appeared. "Navigator," he said slowly, face illuminated by the Autobot insignia, "Set course for Earth."

=
==================== Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/25                     Posted        Author AAR: Kwarchan Invasion            Tue Mar 06    Shockwave --

Shockwave appears, sitting in a makeshift command centre in the Kwarch Capital City. He's sporting some damage, but nothing too serious.

"Decepticons, our invasion of Kwarch has been successful. Our three strike teams, led by Fusillade, Onslaught, and Snaptrap, have completed their objectives and subdued the three largest cities planet side." Several repair droids idly work to undo the damage done to Shockwave's left arm.

"In the Capital City, Astrotrain and I breached the outer defences of the military headquarters while the Executrix led Aerospace in the form of Boomslang, Photon, and Viator, in demolishing the starport. Carnivac and Rampage took the fight to the streets while Scorn's Insecticons focused on looting. Once all traffic at the port was put down, they joined us in the final assault on the HQ. Agent Hinder successfully infiltrated their last line of defence. The Kwarchan military Generals are no longer a threat."

"Our construction teams are now in the process of extracting energon from this planet's major power plants. In the meantime, Decepticons, I encourage you to loot this world dry. It is all yours for the taking."

"This is not without its dangers, however. Many Kwarchan military units are unaccounted for across the planet, and we no longer have the element of surprise. Expect guerrilla tactics from them. This planet's people are strong-willed... much like the natives of Earth, it seems. Any further resistance must be met with overwhelming force."

"I have also calculated, based on Autobot movements, that there is a 36% chance they would be capable of launching a liberation attempt within six days, and 54% within seven." Shockwave flexes his newly repaired arm, testing it out. "Be ready for them. Shockwave out."

=
=================================================================

=
===================== Reports =================================== Message: 9/25                     Posted        Author Decepticons Invade Planet Kwarch! Mon Mar 05   Shockwave --

"This... is KNUJ."

A Junkion with a thick porn-stache appears on the screen from behind a news desk. "Crisis in the outer rim! A world in peril! Our top story: The dreaded DECEPTICON STARFLEET has attacked the neutral, peace-loving world of Kwarch. In their initial attack, the Decepticons demolished the Kwarchan military, destroyed its major spaceports, and sowed panic amongst the population, and sunk their battleship. Three of Kwarch's largest cities have been switched to the next leading brand."

"We now go live to our roving reporter, Digital-Gamera, friend to children everywhere." We see an image of Kwarch, first from orbit--it is a polluted orange & green coloured world--and then at its bronze coloured capital city, where Decepticon fliers and troopers are everywhere. It's chaos, with the slug-like natives trying to escape the Decepticons. There's gunshots and explosions in the distance, signalling the fighting still continues.

The view shifts to inside a museum, where Frenzy is chucking as many ancient artifacts as he can into a big sack. Frenzy then spots the camera, grins like an idiot, gives it a double thumbs up, and then points to his Decepticon insignia.

Back to the Junkion in the booth. "The Kwarchan military has made too many compromises already, too many retreats. The Decepticons invaded their planet, and they fall back. Will they go quietly into the night, or will this be the day they celebrate their Independence Day?! Will the line be drawn HEAH?! THIS FAH, AND NO FATHA?!"

The newsmech lowers his voice to a whisper, "Will Soggies rule?" he asks. Then, "No word yet on the status of the President and his top aides, but they are believed to be stayin' alive, stayin' alive, ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' aliiiiiive! This is Tron Burgundy, signing off."

"Stay classy, Milky Way."

=
=================================================================