Tunnels Designed To Torture Nightbeat

Petrified Lake

Ripples of not water, but smooth, pastel blue marble cover the floor of the chamber like frozen waves. There was never a lake here, though, only the facade of one. The flow of water carved these imitation waves and swirls eons ago, when this was the bed of a mighty river. Now, only the petrified vestiges remain in the marble to mark the course of a river that apparently evaporated millions of years ago. The smooth, fine-grained walls and ceiling are the purest of white in color and have a silky, opalescent sheen, obviously from a different sedimentary layer than the floor below. If all is quiet, the sound of water running somewhere can be heard, echoing faintly throughout the cavern.

Contents:

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt;

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;

Chromia

Rewind

Jetfire

Rodimus Prime

Obvious exits:

Channel &lt;D&gt; Tunnel &lt;S&gt;

Andi Lassiter has arrived.

Rodimus Prime stands straight and looks down at his datapad, expression twisted into a faint frown. "We /really/ need to have a better idea what's down there before we get started building," he observes to whoever might be here. Then he tucks the datapad into subspace and adds, "As a heads up, we /did/ get far enough to find a high-magnetism area beyond here. That'll make tough going, but we should be able to get past it."

"Already prepared for that, Rodimus," Jetfire replies from over Rodimus' shoulder. Then again he was back to being over pretty much everyone's shoulder again now. "Thanks to Springer and his Wrecker buddies being able to recover one of the cannon placements from the Cobalt Plains, I was able to modify a magnetic nullificator based on the reverse polarity shielding we had used to prevent the weaponry from being harmed by the magnetic fields in that location. It should allow us to pass through that chamber without major issues this time."

Nightbeat looks dubious about whether or not this is even going to work. He spreads his hands and then places them down on his hips. Then he raises one fingerand opens his mouth the speak, shakes his head, sighs, and lets the hand fall. Better if he doesn't say anything. He doesn't want to jinx it. But...

"Great, Jetfire!" Rodimus answers cheerfully. Unfortunately, he spots Nightbeat's dubious look and raised finger, and he turns towards the detective. "Problem, detective?"

Chromia glances around the cavern as she slowly moves forward, taking a moment to appreciate the beauty here. Her hands, however, never stray far from her weapons. The odds of an ambush here were extremely, extremely remote, but if it's one thing she learned over the millennia was that it was never a bad idea to be ready. She herself isn't overly interested in the scientific gobbletygook that Jetfire was spouting at Rodimus, nor did she understand it; it was a little beyond her scope of focus.

"I wonder if there's anything similar to this on Earth," she murmurs, brushing her hand lightly over the nearest wall.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; is standing around, with its pilot all nice and comfy inside. Jayson currently has his hands off the controls and casually folded behind his head (though no one can actually see him doing this). It's always fun exploring with the Autobots, but for now he keeps his silence as he listens to the mechs talk.

Rodimus Prime looks around. "If so, I haven't heard about it," he answers Chromia, then smiles. "I've asked Jetfire to make sure the design of the outpost works /with/ the cavern, not against it. This really is gorgeous." Then, louder, he asks, "So! Everyone ready?"

Chromia nods her head in the affirmative,"Ready," she replies, stretching her arms a bit and rolling her neck slightly.

Impactor has arrived.

Nightbeat stays silent when Rodimus Prime asks him if there's a problem. They're probably already doomed. Now, all there is to do is roll with it. He grunts, "Yeah, sure thing, boss."

Jetfire gives it a bit of a dimissive wave. "Now now, don't give me all the credit. I've had Grapple working on designing it as well. If there's an architect that can preserve this instead of disrupt it, it's him. But yeah, I'm ready to go here."

Andi Lassiter has been following along, often having to rely on one of the Autobots to help her cross uneven terrain or catch up to the faster moving individuals. For the sake of ease, she opted to wear a standard EVA suit to the exploratory mission. On top of being lighter and easier to deal with, she's got the advantage that the suit's systems can be temporarily turned off, making her immune to severe magnetic fluctuations. Well, other than then equivalent of pressure headaches from the magnetic fields. The suit's hand holds a slightly larger and more powerful version of her usual medical scanner, this one calibrated for scientific readings.

"All right, then! Onwards and downwards!" declares Rodimus as he heads down the tunnel!

Rodimus Prime moves south into the tunnel.

Rodimus Prime has left.

Jetfire moves south into the tunnel.

Jetfire has left.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; moves south into the tunnel.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; has left.

Impactor moves south into the tunnel.

Impactor has left.

Chromia moves south into the tunnel.

Chromia has left.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; moves south into the tunnel.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; has left.

Andi Lassiter moves south into the tunnel.

Andi Lassiter has left.

You move south into the tunnel.

Magnetite Mine

Narrowing again, this section of cavern is more like a tunnel. The entire east wall is a solid mass of metallic black crystals shaped like miniature pyramids, sparkling brilliantly in the light. Scattered around are odd pieces of ceramics, in the form of small boxes, primitive digging tools, and pillars to stabilize the ceiling. The west side was apparently once another exit from the tunnel, now sealed by a massive pile of collapsed granite slabs as well as fragments from the shattered ceramic pillars that failed their intended purpose to prevent the cave in. Immediately noticeable is a very strong pull, almost enough to drag a normal-sized Transformer off his or her feet. It is an effort just to stand still.

Contents:

Andi Lassiter

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt;

Chromia

Impactor

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;

Jetfire

Rodimus Prime

Obvious exits:

Tunnel &lt;N&gt; Tunnel &lt;S&gt;

Rodimus Prime winces as he steps in, and automatically braces himself by placing a hand against the entry, and then the anti-magnetism device is activated. He breaths a sigh of relief. "Much better. All right, folks, let make our way through here quick - I'd just as soon not rely on that thing for too long."

Chromia nods, having briefly felt the pull just before the device was activated. Looking down at the human in the EVA suit, she smiles and asks,"If you want, you could ride on my shoulder; it can't be terribly easy to keep up with us," she offers, before looking around to, once again, examine the area for possible threats.

An earthquake shakes the ground, followed a few seconds later by the ominous sound of rumbling, another reminder that Charr is a volcanically active planet.

Andi Lassiter tries to look up at Chromia, having to turn her entire torso to where she can see the tall Autobot. "I'd like that except...would your internal systems interfere with the scans I'm taking?"

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; steps along silently, save for the faint whirr of his exo-suit's joints. He can't help but pause and stoop to poke and prod at the digging tools, despite Roddy's urging. Quite content to remain at the back of the group, he gives the bizarre crystallizations a thorough once-over before moving on... and bracing on a metal knee as the ground quakes and rumbles.

Nightbeat is shaken but not stirred by the earthquake. He looks around anxiously, as if expecting the anti-magnetism doohickey to fail at any time and explode, caving them in with the silence and the leeches.

Chromia looks back down to Andi and shrugs,"How would I know? But the surest way to find out is try; if it does, then I can put you back down," she finishes, just as the quake shakes her footing a bit. Good reflexes keep her balanced until it passes, and she gets down on one knee and offers her hand,"Here, grab on and hold on; I'll bring you up...try your scan, and if I slag it up, then I'll put you back down."

From Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;, Jayson Redfield takes a deep breath. "Into the rabbit hole again," he remarks as he follows along after the Autobots and his fellow humans. He seems to have taken it upon himself to stay at the rear of the group, in case someone unwanted is following them. Thankfully, however, that doesn't seem to be the case. He barely winces at the earthquake.

Jetfire was in the background for a few moments, making sure his device was actually working. Yeah, that's it. Everyone can't be in every single scene of the episode after all! "The anti-magnetic field is holding constant. Everything is a go here."

From further back in the tunnel, a certain robot comes stomping up the way and into the Magnetite Mine area. The rather strangely purple and gold decoed Autobot scans the area for a quick moment before returning to his brisk jog. His pace quickened, Impactor makes up the distance in little to no time ... padding up on heavy feet behind Jetfire and his clunky machine.

"What tha 'ell is that?" he blurts out, stabilizing his balance during a small-ish quake. After so, the Wrecker leader gives Rodimus and Nightbeat a slight nod and his gaze wanders over the rest of the crew gathered.

Rodimus Prime holds his footing easily during the tremor, although he looks around warily. He grins at Impactor. "That is.. uhm. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's keeping us from sticking to the walls, so I like it." He starts to head furhter south, looking down the tunnel. "Any reason we shouldn't just move on?"

Jetfire turns to look back a moment when Impactor stomps up to the group, almost thinking the momentary shaking was him before he remembered that Charr was volcanically active normally. "Magnetic nullificator. It's cancelling out the magnetic fields that occupy this cavern that are like the Colbat Plains but considerably stronger otherwise due to being concentrated into a smaller area... and no Rodimus, there's not anything here other -than- the magnetics, it would seem."

Rodimus Prime moves south into the tunnel.

Rodimus Prime has left.

Jetfire moves south into the tunnel.

Jetfire has left.

You move south into the tunnel.

Echo Chamber

A more typical-appearing underground cavern, this chamber is also larger, higher, and more open than most others. It's made of the everpresent granite, the walls and ceiling inset with numerous large, brilliant crystals. There are no stalactites hanging from the smooth ceiling, either, only stalagmites rising from the floor. The missing stalactites are piled randomly on the floor, broken into large, jagged pieces. Unlike the usual silence of the cave system, there is sound here, a deep, musical hum coming from no particular direction, but echoing pervasively throughout the entire chamber.

Contents:

Jetfire

Rodimus Prime

Obvious exits:

Tunnel &lt;N&gt; Tunnel &lt;E&gt;

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; has arrived.

Impactor emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Impactor has arrived.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; has arrived.

Chromia emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Chromia has arrived.

Andi Lassiter emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Andi Lassiter has arrived.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; tosses whatever priceless treasure he may be handling and heads on down the tunnel after Rodimus. He checks his sensors twice, assuming the hum to be a glitch in his audio receptors at first. "Hmm. Anyone else hear that?"

Nightbeat grumbles, "I could hear it five miles away - blasted freaky, is what it is." He crosses his arms and sniffs, clearly disapproving.

Chromia angles her head slightly to look at Andi, whom is now perched on her shoulder, as she walks,"Your gizmo working alright?" she asks, before turning her attention back to Spike,"Yes, I hear it...it's sort of pretty, but I think it would get on my nerves after awhile...if I had them," she adds with a bit of a quirky smile, before turning her attention forward again. Her steps are more deliberate and careful now, seeing as she has a 'guest' that wouldn't do well if she suddenly tripped and fell on her face.

As Monitor speaks, its voice is echoed through the chamber, the echo reflecting off of the perfectly formed walls, becoming magnified and focused until it forms an almost tangible force, and filling the chamber with an overwhelmingly loud, but pure tone that seems to be coming from the inset crystals. The roof, floor, and walls of the cavern start vibrating ominiously, slowly building in intensity as tiny cracks start forming in the ceiling...

Rodimus Prime hmmms. "I think it's kind of nice," he proclaims. Then he looks back at Jetfire, then down at Andi. "Any clue what's causing that?" Then he frowns up at the areas where the stalagtites are supposed to be, and looks at where they're piled. "See if we can't figure out the... what the!" he exclaims, clamping his hands over his audio circuits.

As Monitor speaks, its voice is echoed through the chamber, the echo reflecting off of the perfectly formed walls, becoming magnified and focused until it forms an almost tangible force, and filling the chamber with an overwhelmingly loud, but pure tone that seems to be coming from the inset crystals. The roof, floor, and walls of the cavern start vibrating ominiously, slowly building in intensity as tiny cracks start forming in the ceiling...

"... faded... faded..."

"Uhh, I'm no expert on tha subject ... but that doesn't look good." Impactor laments, following closely behind Jetfire and his contraption. When the cracks start to form, the Wrecker moves into a more defensive position. "No, seriously guys. Heads up!"

As Monitor speaks, its voice is echoed through the chamber, the echo reflecting off of the perfectly formed walls, becoming magnified and focused until it forms an almost tangible force, and filling the chamber with an overwhelmingly loud, but pure tone that seems to be coming from the inset crystals. The roof, floor, and walls of the cavern start vibrating ominiously, slowly building in intensity as tiny cracks start forming in the ceiling...

Andi Lassiter studies her scanner as Chromia walks. "Looks okay...uh oh. Everyone, freeze and be silent!"

Jetfire shuts off his device once they're past the magnetic area, in order to conserve it's power supply, and tucks it back into subspace. Then cocks his head to look up. "My guess would be that the smooth surface and shape of the ceiling make it a natural acoustic amplifier.... Don't let Jazz or Blaster in here," he half jokes.. and clamps his mouth shut when Andi speaks up, turning his head to look at her with a quizzical expression.

From Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;, Jayson Redfield was enjoying the musical hum. And then he cringes as a loud noise erupts from his earpiece. To make things worse, he notices the cracks forming in the ceiling, and he freezes, not enough daring to touch the controls of the Pegasus.

Nightbeat drops the floor, curled up in pain. His audios are just as sensitive as he just claimed, and... this is putting him in a WORLD of pain. But he doesn't even whimper. Because even as much sound as a whimper will just make his murderous headache worse, given how his audios are still ringing like churchbells.

Andi Lassiter switches to internal radio systems and transmits to the others, &lt;&lt;This place started reacting to our voices, like crystal to a high pitched sound. Switch to radio transmissions only... Nightbeat, are you okay? &gt;&gt;

Chromia winces at the sudden loudness, but looks up to see the cracks forming in the ceiling. She lifts her free hand and holds it above Andi like a parasol, after a fashion; that way, should any chunks large enough to harm the human or breach her suit fall, she has some modicum of protection. She also remains silent, although her expression is pained from the noise.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; winces at the increase in volume, his blue optic band flashing as it scans over the forming cracks. He falls still as per Andi's orders, only daring to shift his gaze back to poor Nightbeat.

&lt;&lt;Nightbeat,&gt;&gt; Jayson says softly over the internal radio. &lt;&lt;Hang in there...&gt;&gt; He looks around, bracing himself for whatever may happen.

Nightbeat grits out, &lt;&lt;Can't say I'm exactly 'okay', dollface.&gt;&gt; He slowly starts to uncurl, no sudden movements. Ugh, this ringing is going to last for weeks, he swears.

&lt;&lt;Good idea,&gt;&gt; Rodimus says over the radio. &lt;&lt;We'll keep it to radio in this area.&gt;&gt; He looks smirks at Jetfire and adds, &lt;&lt;Jazz and Blaster are absolutely /not/ to use this place for... whatever. There's already cracks in the ceiling! Anyway, that seems to have calmed down, so we should probably move on. /Carefully/, and making as little noise as possible!&gt;&gt;

Jetfire reachs over to slowly help pick Nightbeat back up, silently glad he doesn't have audial sensors that sensative. Then nods a bit to Rodimus in agreement that they should move on. &lt;&lt;Definately need to warn people to stay away from this room. Not only could a cave in be dangerous, but it would tip people off to us being here if there was one.&gt;&gt;

&lt;&lt;Roger that Prime, and what exactly are we doin' down 'ere?&gt;&gt; Impactor comments, very carefully moving towards Nightbeat with the utmost 'tip-toe' caution. &lt;&lt;Don't tell me ya plan on movin' us in?&gt;&gt;

Nightbeat accepts Jetfire's help up - that's how shaken and rattled he is. He still looks a bit dazed, honestly.

Andi Lassiter watches her scanner's readouts as the acoustic levels drop back to pre-noise levels. &lt;&lt; Okay, I think we're good to keep moving. I'll speak up if anyone makes a noise that hits those volume levels again. &gt;&gt; She pats Chromia's shoulder where she's sitting lightly. &lt;&lt; Well, this will certainly make for a good booby trap. &gt;&gt;

&lt;&lt;That is /exactly/ what I plan, Impactor,&gt;&gt; Rodimus answers. Then he waves back down the tunnel. &lt;&lt;Only I was planning it back there, in the petrified lake. We should have an outpost on Charr. It's too useful to the Decepticons, and just think: this is one of the few places where if we raid their energon, we can use it ourselves and /not/ have to worry that they stole it from someone else! Anyway, looks like the tunnel turns here, so let's continue on.&gt;&gt;

Chromia nods lightly in reply,&lt;&lt;Yes, in some ways,&gt;&gt; she agrees, smiling lightly before carefully moving forward again. Her footsteps take on a slightly slower, but more fluid motion as she tries to keep noise from her footfalls to a minimum,&lt;&lt;But it would be a shame to see this place come crumbling down, so let's hope it doesn't come to that.&gt;&gt;

Rodimus Prime moves east into the tunnel.

Rodimus Prime has left.

Jetfire moves east into the tunnel.

Jetfire has left.

You follow Rodimus Prime.

You move east into the tunnel.

Web Gallery

The tunnel widens at this point into a chamber of gossamer silk, the delicate-looking but incredibly strong fibers woven into the finest of gauze webbing and anchored to the stalactites and stalagmites. Many of these stalactites and stalagmites have merged into columns, making the way through the chamber roundabout and confusing, as well as providing an excellent support structure for the intricate webs. Though the silence is absolute, the webbing flutters like a roomful of ghostly dancers from a mild, cool current of air wafting through the chamber. Caught in some of the webbing are some of the tiny leeches, dead and emaciated, their bodies sucked dry.

Contents:

Jetfire

Rodimus Prime

Obvious exits:

Tunnel &lt;W&gt; Tunnel &lt;S&gt;

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; emerges from the tunnel to the west.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; has arrived.

Chromia emerges from the tunnel to the west.

Chromia has arrived.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; emerges from the tunnel to the west.

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; has arrived.

Impactor emerges from the tunnel to the west.

Impactor has arrived.

Rodimus Prime stops short very suddenly as he arrives in this area. He frowns, looking around, and spies the dry leeches.

"You... might want to avoid touching the webs," he observes.

From Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;, Jayson Redfield makes his way along after the others carefully, scanning his new surroundings and unable to suppress a shudder. "It's like a spider's den in here...wouldn't be surprised if we found a giant black widow..." It's not that he's afraid of spiders. He just doesn't want to run into a giant one.

Nightbeat groans and slaps his knee, &lt;&lt;Now that's not morbid at all!&gt;&gt; He looks around, squinting. He even looks up. If there's a spider here, it's a really, really sneaky one, he has to say...

Andi Lassiter emerges from the tunnel to the west.

Andi Lassiter has arrived.

Chromia frowns lightly at the webs and their dead leeches, being sure to keep her passenger far away from even the remotest chance of coming into contact with one of them,"Andi, if you think you're going to hit a web, tell me; I don't want to chance you getting attacked by whatever made them," she says, carefully picking her route.

"Yeah, well this isn't gonna be easy ... sneak buildin' a base right underneath the Decepticon's noses? It was hard enough ta keep Debris under wraps, and that was on Cybertron Prime." Impactor objects, keeping up with the others.

Jetfire ughs. "If it isn't spiders, its snakes. Always something." He shakes his head a bit ducking down to avoid walking into some of the higher hung webbing with his height. "I was going to say a serious study needs to be made on some of the peculiarities of this planet while we have a posting up here.... but someone else can deal with studying this room. Blech... Not touching the webs is a good idea. Most things that make webs like this sense -through- them..."

Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; reluctantly withdraws his suit's hand at Rodimus' warning, and slaps the Pegasus' shoulder instead. "You're not afraid are you? Very interesting critters, arachnids. If that's what created this..."

From Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;, Jayson Redfield keeps his weapon systems activated, just in case. "Wouldn't want to run into a giant snake, either," he says to Jetfire. "As cool as snakes are." At Spike's question, he snorts. "Me, afraid? Not a chance. I just don't want to run into anything that could eat me--Scorponok's already tried that." And then Jayson KO'ed him with his machine guns. That was epic.

Andi Lassiter says, "Wait, Chromia." She tries to get a REALLY up close scan of one of the pieces of webbing. If this stuff is stronger than Terran bio-steel, she wants to know about it. "Let me get a closer scan."

Rodimus Prime grins at Impactor. "Hey, if it's that difficult, maybe I should put you in charge of it! Isn't pulling off the things no one else can part of what the Wreckers do?" Then he glances towards Jetfire. "Though it'll be even harder to get the base built without /builders/, I imagine!" He walks further into the room, moving carefully to avoid the webs. Luckily, as large as he is, he's also pretty agile, so he manages it nicely.

Chromia nods lightly and steps closer to one of the webs, but keeps her optics peeled for any sudden movements that might suggest a predator of some form,"You be careful...and don't TOUCH it, whatever you do. The last thing I want to see is something hauling you up to be eaten."

"I almost wish I was still small right now," Jetfire murmurs under his breath. Thankfully despite being the tallest one here he's also fairly nimble on his feet when he needs to be, and mostly takes an excessive amount of ducking to keep from walking into any of the stricky strands. "Be careful over there, ladies."

Keeping his sight above, Impactor creeps along ... still silently from the room prior. He's on edge here, that's for sure. If it's not from the natural dangers they face in these deep dark depths, it's the fact that they're tresspassing on Decepticon central. One false move, and they could be buried up to their necks in rubble or freaky space-spiders. But even worse, the hounds of Galvatron's hordes would be upon them immediately. He's made of the sterner stuff, but he's no idiot. "Makes little difference ta me Prime, whatever my motley crew can do ta help ... it's just not the most logical choice, that's all."

Andi Lassiter chuckles softly. "I won't, Chromia, I promise. I'm not to keen on being a spider-lunch myself." She holds the scanner a few inches from the closest piece of webbing. "Wow." She carefully pulls her hand and the scanner back away from the webbing.

Chromia keeps her optics probing, but asks,"Anything good?"

Nightbeat is relatively short, which is considers to be a blessing, at the moment. Also, that hearing that was killing his earlier isn't so bad - the webs rustle ever so softly in the breeze, and his enhanced vision makes this easier, too. He murmurs, "Hey, the spider's probably not adapted to eating humans. Dunno if that'd make any diffference."

An earthquake shakes the ground, followed a few seconds later by the ominous sound of rumbling, another reminder that Charr is a volcanically active planet.

================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/166                    Posted        Author Ongoing Orders                    Sun May 09    Rodimus Prime -- Text only.

"General Orders Addressed to All Autobots:

For those who haven't been keeping tabs, the quick summary of the situation is this: it's been better. A lot better.

The Decepticons have Mexico, the surface of Cybertron, and all of Charr. We don't spend a lot of time thinking about that last place because it's pretty hellish, and we don't spend a lot of time thinking about Hell, either, but the fact is, pleasant or not, it's pretty much a huge energon factory for the Decepticons, and that makes them holding it bad for us. We need to make up some lost ground, but not all of it needs to be done in the same places it was lost.

Charr: The preliminary work to set up an underground outpost on Charr's dayside is already underway. The surface of dayside is pretty horrible, but it's also where they've set up their solar collectors, so putting a base there will put us in easier striking distance of those. Explorations are already in progress, and after that we need the outpost itself constructed. We're setting up in the petrified lake beneath the razor-looking area. That cavern is /beautiful/, and operations has been asked to create a design that incorporates as much of that as possible. Everyone else, help them as they need you, and please, don't wreck the cavern. Further exploring on Charr is a good idea, too. Just be careful when you're on the surface.

Cybetron: The Decepticons are doing a lot of building. We need to find out what they're building, so scouts, get scouting and spies, get spying. We already /know/ what they're doing at Magnaron, though: airfields for the building and training of more fliers. Now, even if they build new Transformers, they still need to get the laser cores from somewhere, but they might have some in storage, so a fresh source of bodies is still a bad thing, and a place for training or quick take-off to space is also a bad thing. The worst thing, though, is that they're using human slave-labor imported from Earth to build it, so while we need to get in there and do what we can to stop their building, we have to watch out for bystanders. /Freeing/ bystanders would be even better.

Wouldn't hurt to look into retaking portions of the surface. I know Jazz suggested a small outpost in the radio basin for projects or meetings where we don't want to risk Soundwave or similar listening in, and that has interesting potential, but because it would also be hard to call for help from there, whatever we do, I want it kept small. I also want to look into expanding our holdings underground. What's the feasability of micro-outposts throughout Cybertron, strategically located beneath major Decepticon holdings? Military, Operations... Intelligence, hell, all of you, I want feedback on this idea.

Earth: The Decepticons have Mexico, and the Shark is there. Trypticon is... well, last we heard, he was in orbit around Jupiter, but now that everyone's sizes are back to normal, it'll be easier for the 'Cons to move him. Metroplex is back in California. Anyway, as we know, the Decepticons are using humans from Mexico as slaves. Expeditions to free as many as possible are /highly/ encouraged, and do what you can to help any escapees across the border. Sabotage or spy on their operations in Mexico where possible. One thing about them parking the shark is that at least now we can keep tabs on it. I'm open to suggestions on how to turn that to our advantage. For the rest of the planet, just be ready to respond quickly when the Decepticons get up to their usual funny business, because we all know they will.

Continued...

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===================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/167                    Posted        Author Ongoing Orders pt 2               Sun May 09    Rodimus Prime -- "Elsewhere: We've got the Steelhaven at the Dyson Ring acting as our outpost there. With resources spread as thin as they are, now's not the time to set up a permanent outpost in the area, but when there is time, see about more scrap scavenging. We seem to have gotten some good use out of that. Another idea... there's that strange ring of squares around the sun in that system. You know, the ones that provide a day-night cycle for the ring itself? As large as they are, they've /got/ to have their own gravitational pull. Maybe we can look into setting up solar collectors there? Just a thought. As I said, resources are thin right now, but this is something that would give us a good return on resources spent.

That's it for now, folks. Stay alert, look for opportunities to gain back lost ground, cause trouble for the Decepticons, and if the Decepticons cause trouble for anyone else, stop them.

-Rodimus Prime"

OOC: I may be unavailable for the week, and since there's no major plot going on, I thought I'd do this to provide RP suggestions. The general themes are 'Free human slaves,' 'Sabotage Decepticon operations on Cybertron and in Mexico', 'Spy on the Decepticons in Mexico, Cybertron, and Charr,' 'Explore Charr, Cybertron's underground, and the Dyson Ring,' 'Build stuff on Charr, in the Radio Basin, maybe on the floating squares near the Dyson Ring,' and of course, 'Stop the Decepticons from doing their general evil everywhere.' Some of these things would be single-faction scenes, some can be either single-faction or duel-faction, and some require the Decepticons to be doing something to be spied on or to try to stop sabotage attempts. Of course, spying, exploring, and sabotaging attempts can be discovered, leading to conflict. I'm cool with the Decepticons finding out that we've started poking around Charr at this point, as long as they don't locate where we're trying to hole up! Anyway, if anyone finds themselves wanting RP, feel free to grab one of the ideas listed above and run with it!

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Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt; folds his arms. "Well there ya' have it Jase. If it eats you, it will probably get indigestion," he chuckles, then throws his arms out to balance as the tremors pass.

From Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt;, Jayson Redfield rolls his eyes, but smirks, even though Spike can't see either gesture. "I probably don't taste very good, either."

Rodimus Prime places a hand against a stalagmite to hold himself steady as the area rumbles. "Careful, everyone!" Then he glances back at Impactor. "Less logical than letting the Decepticons set up solar collectors, geothermal taps, and everything else on this world to power their war machine, and then just /leaving it alone/?" He shakes his head. "This place isn't pleasant, but it's been left alone way, way too long. That was our mistake, and it is making things harder on us now, but the longer we just ignore things, the worse they will get." He hmms. "I think I see the exit over here, guys."

Spike Witwicky takes Exo-Suit Salamander &lt;Spike Witwicky&gt;.

Spike Witwicky goes home.

Spike Witwicky has left.

Andi Lassiter says, "Yes would be an understatement, Chromi....whoah." She leans closer to Chromia's neck to brace herself against the quake and hopefully stay clear of the webs very close by. "I'm not going to get used to that. Lived in California for way too long."

Jetfire squats a bit to steady himself as another tremor ripples through the area, having been ready for it. "You could set a chronometer by those. Odd that geothermic activity would be so regular, but that could very well be why they've been able to tap it so efficently here.... I'd suggest moving on to somewhere that falling down would not be such a hazard if a larger shockwave hits."

Impactor follows along, the exit ... how convienent. "Yes, yes ... all things considered, we shouldn't let Charr to far off our radar. But buildin' a secret base under their very feet? Ahh, never mind." he grumbles to really no one.

Chromia nods a bit, keeping her balance by extending her arms slightly and shifting her feet a bit,"These quakes are a nuisance, especially in a place like this," she says, slightly irritably, as she looks at the others for a moment,"Tell me about what you found in a bit, once we get out of this place."

Rodimus Prime chuckles and shrugs. "Well, we've done it before! All right, let's move on."

Rodimus Prime moves south into the tunnel.

Rodimus Prime has left.

Jetfire moves south into the tunnel.

Jetfire has left.

You follow Rodimus Prime.

You move south into the tunnel.

Diabase Dike

The chamber is lit by a pulsing, sickly green glow, coming from the dark, tubular mass of diabase exposed by the crumbling of the weakened granite around it. The dike is liberally splattered, almost totally covered, with splotches of glowing material, like algae on a sea rock. Some of the chunks of fallen granite glow, though more weakly, while various slabs of high ore content rocks in the walls and ceiling pulse strongly. There's a strange, burning sensation, though the temperature isn't much higher here than anywhere else. Optic sensors start flickering, but those are only the most noticeable. Most internal systems are fluctuating dangerously as well.

Contents:

Jetfire

Rodimus Prime

Obvious exits:

Tunnel &lt;N&gt; Tunnel &lt;S&gt;

Chromia emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Chromia has arrived.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; has arrived.

Impactor emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Impactor has arrived.

Jetfire awks softly not two steps into the next chamber. "Whoa. It's like a bad neon sign shop in here." Fumbling a bit he taps at the side of his head, until he gets a decent visual filter to come up, thank goodness his optical systems are designed to be able to handle assorted light and visual phenomenome. Being blinded by a nova while in mid-galactic flight is a bad thing, after all. "If you're sensative to bright light don't look directly at the stuff."

Chromia has disconnected.

"I think he's talking to you, Nightbeat," Rodimus says almost cheerfully as he moves forward, avoiding looking at it himself. "Lets get some readings on this stuff before moving on." Then he smirks. "Well, the good news is, if the 'Cons try to come at us from this direction, they won't have an easy time of it."

"It's...kinda pretty, really," Jayson remarks as he looks around. Luckily for him his cybernetic eye isn't sensitive to bright lights.

Andi Lassiter emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Andi Lassiter has arrived.

Jetfire frowns a bit. "Let's not stick around too long. I'm picking up minor fluxations in more than just the visual field. Nothing hazardous -yet-, but ...." He pauses, rubbing his chin. "I wonder if Crosshairs could weaponize this stuff; use it in a disruptive bomb or something."

Nightbeat covers his mouth. He's a robot. He can't vomit. But /Muzzle/, his Nebulan partner, promptly loses his lunch. While he's busy being Nightbeat's head. Ewwww. Looking completely disgusted, he transforms into a car and kicks Muzzle out to go clean up his *master armour.

Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll.

Amazed at their leader's audacity to even consider such a plan, no less intend to move forward with it ... Impactor moves into the area, immediately squinting admist the pulsing green light. Soon adjusting with help from the glowing objects all about them, the Wrecker continues along his train of thought. For a Prime, he's sure got the balls of a Wrecker ... maybe he was one in an alternative universe *winkwink*. "So that's tha big plan then Roddo?"

"Right now, it's to keep moving forward," Rodimus answers Impactor, doing just that. "I already have Jetfire and Grapple working on designs for an outpost in the lake-looking area. I'm... guessing asking for another spacebridge terminal is probably a bit much, but if we can't have that, a second escape route would be good, and if we can't find one here..." he grins at Impactor before moving futher south, "Well, we'll just have to make one!"

Rodimus Prime moves south into the dark tunnel.

Rodimus Prime has left.

Jetfire moves south into the dark tunnel.

Jetfire has left.

You follow Rodimus Prime.

You move south into the dark tunnel.

Lava Tunnel

The narrow tunnel opens out on a much wider, more rounded tunnel, inclined steeply upwards for a few hundred feet, then completely blocked by a huge mass of solidified lava. Originally a volcanic vent, the tunnel runs straight and true, at least until it was blocked by cooling lava when the volcano became less explosive. The solidified lava batholith is studded with large crystals of kimberlite, quartz, and peridotite imbedded in the usual, finer-grained granite. The curving walls of the tunnel are made of darker diorite, indicating that this area was once an ocean floor.

Contents:

Jetfire

Rodimus Prime

Obvious exits:

Tunnel &lt;N&gt; Tunnel &lt;E&gt;

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Exo-Armor Pegasus &lt;Jayson Redfield&gt; has arrived.

Impactor emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Impactor has arrived.

Andi Lassiter emerges from the tunnel to the north.

Andi Lassiter has arrived.

Rodimus Prime looks around, and hmphs. "All right, nice. Finally an area that's /not/ trying to kill us!" he says cheerfully.

Impactor has disconnected.

"Yet," Jetfire adds wryly after Rodimus' comment. But his attention is quickly taken by the solidified lava. Or more so the crystals that are stuck in several spots of it, and some of the other material composing it. "Hmmm... interesting."