Sorry For Our Loss

Soundwave sits in the middle of the command center, all monitors displaying the Decepticon logo. It is eerily quiet. As the troops file in, he stands and nods to each of them, waiting for things to settle down.

Breakdown shuffles in, looking apprehensive, though for him that's not really unusual. It's also not unusual considering that Breakdown has a pretty good idea of what Soundwave is going to say.

Hinder doesn't stop in rank and file like she probably should. Instead, she shuffles right on up to Soundwave's feet and puts her little front feet on his foot, her face upturned as if waiting to picked up.

Slugfest bursts in, pelting at top speed. His little feets are practically flying as he runs right up to Soundwave. "Me here!" he announces.

Astrotrain is already here, since he just arrived not that long ago. He's also more or less aware of what's happened, or at least the basics. But he still wants to hear it from the horse's mouth...plate.

Though he does lift one foot out of the way as Slugfest goes scurrying past, giving the little stegosaur an odd....look. "Sheesh somebody forgot to set the traps?"

Shaking his head, Soundwave motions at Hinder and Slugfest to join the rest of the group. "Approximately four earth hours ago, Several Decepticons including myself accompanied Lord Galvatron to an unstable section of Cybertron. Objective: Defend fusion piston from Autobot seizure." he says, looking about as if someone is missing. Oh.

"Overwhelmed by Autobot resistance, Galvatron attempted to use FTL section to Destroy Rodimus prime, by destroying the lens, and transporting Autobot leader elsewhere."

"Result: Failure. Galvatron was pulled into resulting rift, forcing remaining Decepticons to retreat."

&rSoundwave looks about the room a moment uncomfortably, attempting to gauge the thoughts of those present.

"Nononononono!" Slugfest cries out, "Him no can be gone! What do without Galvatron?" Sad Steggy. :(

Hinder shuffles back over toward Astrotrain as directed by Soundwave. Slugfest's reaction is far louder than hers, but pretty close anyway. For her own part, she simply flumphs to the floor and stares at Soundwave.

Breakdown knew about all this already, but nevertheless is distraught by hearing it again. "Man. This sucks. What are we gonna do without our leader? He... he's the thing holding everything together? I mean, we don't have anybody that can replace him! We're all screwed!!!" He clutches the sides of his side, clenching his teeth as he succumbs to panic. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

Astrotrain takes it all with surprising calm, really, rubbing at his chin slowly. "Well it ain't the -first- time the Boss has gone and disappeared like this. Like I said, he's often pretty unhealthy for any kinda contraption he gets sucked into, right?" He trails off then, narrowing his optics at Breakdown as he starts to spaz out, immediately lifting one large fist and trying to bring it down on the top of the Stunticon's head. "If anybody -was- dead outta this, ya idjit it ain't you!"

Combat: Astrotrain misses Breakdown with his Stooge-Boink. (Grab) attack!

"SILENCE!" Soundwave says in a loud, sharp, and very uncharacteristic tone.

Breakdown yelps, "AAHHH!" as Astrotrain swings at him, springing away from Astrotrain and hurling himself over a computer console. He lands on a chair, knocking it over and causing a horrendous clatter. "S-sorry!"

"We will persevere as previously. It falls on every Decepticon to carry out the...wisdom...of Galvatron's designs." Soundwave says. "Cohesiveness in the ranks fell long before disappearance of Galvatron." he says, and begins to pace. "Therefore, discussions will begin with Cyclonus to modify operating procedures, and function reports from all divisions will be obtained by interview."

"Awwww geez, -Cyclonus- is gonna be in charge?" Astrotrain doesn't hide the fact one little bit about what he thinks of that little turn of events. Though naturally he half expected it. "Great, here we go again."

Breakdown pokes his head up over the console, looking distressed, though a little less manic about it. "N-not if someone tries to overthrow Cyclonus. Man, I hope we don't have another civil war!" He's mostly unsure of what side Motormaster would take.

Hinder lifts her head just enough so she can watch Soundwave pace.

Soundwave stops mid-pace, and faces the group. "This is why it is in all Decepticons best interest to report mutinous activities immediately, Breakdown. Such matters will be dealt with appropriately...and harshly." he says, with a flash in his optics. Soundwave seats himself in the console chair again. "You will be informed of any updates to organizational structure within the next two astrocycles, after which point, I will be assembling a party of Decepticons to attempt tracking and possible rescue of Galvatron."

Soundwave pauses for a moment. "...pending evidence that he still continues to function."

Slugfest bounces up and down on all feet at once, imitating a very hyper Hinder. "Oh oh oh me can do that!" he says. Knowing Slugfest however, he'll probably hear it all wrong and think people are conspiring against him.

Breakdown nods his head. "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep an eye out for THAT slag." This is likely to result in hundreds of false accusations from Breakdown flooding Soundwave's inbox, though. "Man... HE has to still be out there somewhere. He just has to be!"

"Eeeeh I wouldn't be ready to write him off just yet." Astrotrain oh so casually straightens and flexes from side to side, getting a couple of satisfying cracks from his servos. "Just remember." And he looks pointedly at Breakdown at this. "When he's back and yer all ready to start kissin his feet, he may be a bit....GRUMPY!"

Breakdown whimpers a little as he crouches down behind the console.

"Decepticons dismissed." Soundwave says, turning to the console and pulling up a rudimentary analysis of the anomaly on the display.

Hinder snaps her head up to look at Astrotrain when he says 'GRUMPY'. She can't help but wonder why he makes it sound like grumpy Galvatron is a bad thing. He's only ever been nice enough to her. In his own grumpy Galvatron way.

================================= Decepticon =================================

Message: 2/84                     Posted        Author

Galvatron is gone. Fri Sep 24   Soundwave

--

A display comes on suddenly, the Decepticon logo spinning on the screen. Then, suddenly, an image of Soundwave sitting at a console. He is eerily quiet. He looks up, as if pondering something.

"Fellow Decepticons" he begins with pause. "You are regrettibly informed, our leader Galvatron is gone." he says, and leans forward. "Today, location B4220.0456, the FTL chamber of the fusion piston system of Cybertron, our leader stepped into a subspace anomaly following conflict with the enemy. At this time, whereabouts are not known."

"Also relevant: Rodimus Prime in Galvatron's...posession...at time of disappearance."

"Matters of duty will be discussed with Cyclonus in Galvatron's absence. Continue orders as assigned, until assigned otherwise." he says. "Soundwave...out." he finishes, staring into the screen, and presses a button on the console. The image disappears.

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

Of course, the Autobots took the news a bit better...

================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/112                    Posted        Author Engine Deactivation               Fri Sep 24    Rodimus Prime -- Rodimus appears on the camera deep in the engine rooms, standing among the shattered remains of a broken lense, dented, scorched, armor cracked and torn, but standing steady.

"Autobots, as you know, Galvatron was trying to activate Cybertron's planetary engines. Again. First, he intended to bring it to Earth to use it as a weapon, but when we stopped him from doing that, he tried to activate them anyway, despite not knowing /where/ it might end up. Impactor tunneled us a route to the engines themselves, where we battled the Decepticons and fought our way to the FTL drive, which Galvatron was powering using that lense he'd obtained recently. During the course of the battle, to keep myself from being thrown into the lense, I, erm... threw Galvatron into it instead. The thing shattered, announcing, '8 of 12. The Devourer draws near.'" He sighs. "I've been told that these things are supposed to be seals, and we don't want to destroy any more. I didn't really want to destroy that one but... it's done now."

"On the up side, and there is a /big/ up side this time around, the planetary engines have stopped activating, Cybertron's not going anywhere, and in the aftermath of the lense's destruction, both Nightseige and Galvatron seems to have vanished."

"Now, I'm not naive enough to think he's gone for good. We've done this dance too many times for that. However, with the loss of both one of their major Cybertron bases and Galvatron himself, the Decepticons are vulnerable." Rodimus lifts his right hand, forming a fist. "Autobots, it's time we strike back. Grimlock, as soon as Impactor's repaired, I want you and he to put together a plan to take back Iacon, and I want it on my desk before the weekend's over. That means Jetfire? Make sure your boys get Impactor back together fast. The tunnel system is back to top priority for the Operations division, as we can use them to support our campaign." Rodimus smiles broadly. "It's time we take our planet /back/." ==============================================================================