Lies, Lies, and More Lies

The planet of Duxn IV has been long fought over by the Decepticon and Autobots. A mostly jungle world with pre-industrial natives, the planet is ripe with the sort of crystals that make Decepticon superweapons so profitable. The war on the planet has been a long, dragged out affair. Since the Autobots landed to root out the Cons, the theater quickly turned into a quagmire with high casualty rates as both sides sent more forces into the meat grinder to fight through the thick, hostile terrain. The jungle is hot, messy, and ripe for ambushes and traps.

That was all true until several days ago, when a Coalition armada swept through, nuked half the planet into char, and set up several semi-permanent outposts to guard against further Decepticon incursions. Now, the Autobots have a presence here with nobody to fight and the aliens are helping the natives while the bulk of their armada has departed for further operations. At one such outpost, three alien shuttles are sitting on the tarmac, waiting to take on some wounded before returning to the capital ships in orbit.

Blurr has traveled to Duxn IV, as it's just the right place for the kind of operation he's hoping to endeavor upon. As per Chromedome's request, he hopes to find a way to sneak onto a Coalition ship and download copies of their security system files. He lands his vessel at a temporary Autobot settlement and wastes no time making his way to the nearest Coalition outpost.

Keeping to the piles of smoldering wreckage and whatever is left of the dense jungle terrain surrounding the outpost, he surveys the situation; noting the shuttles waiting on the tarmac. Scanning the area, he searches for any Coalition personnel who might be nearby. If it's all clear, he might be able to just dash inside without anyone seeing him. But if there are too many people about, he might need to make up a story about wanting to help them reinforce their systems against foreign code...

The outpost is well fortified in that there's a temporary wall around it and there's guards milling about, but nobody is expecting an attack. Up until now the Autobots have appeared content to let the Coalition nuke the Decepticons for them. This post, is centered in the middle of a napalm bombing site. The ground is flat and black, with no trace of the vegetation that covers the rest of the jungle. The line between jungle and ex-jungle is sharp. There is green and browns on one side, several metres of darkening, and then pitch black with zero signs of native life.

Blurr will know, if he arrived via normal Autobot channels, that a few Autobots were caught up in the napalm strikes as well. At least one site was nuked from orbit while both the Autobots and Decepticons were fighting over it. Four Autobots and seven Decepticons perished instantly. Of the three shuttles on the tarmac, one is being fueled up by an attendant and maintenance crew, one is having missiles reloaded onto it, and one sits alone--but this one has suffered obvious damage as one of its engines has been blown off.

Blurr takes all of this information in, then considers his options. He's not sure if those shuttles would provide him with the access necessary to obtain the files Chromedome is looking for. He might have to commandeer one of them to get to the flagships. Even if he runs past the crew and guards without them seeing him, they'd certainly become suspicious if one of them took off suddenly.



He eyes the maintenance crew. Maybe it'd be best to try to trick them into letting him take one of the small ships. If that approach failed, then he'd resort to more...forcible measures, but for now he'll go with lying his way in.

Thus, he approaches the gate as politely as possible and tries to get one of the guards' attention. "Hey there! E-excuse me?"

The maintenance crew are a varied bunch of aliens that Blurr probably won't recognize. An red insectoid type, some kind of green skinned gal, and a non-Cybertronian robot with antennae sticking out of his head. As soon as Blurr approaches the outpost, there's the clattering of metal hitting metal as guns are raised and loaded, aimed at the speedster. Even upon seeing the Autobot insignia, they don't relax. The green skinned gal steps forward. She addresses the guards and says something in an unknown alien language. The universal translator gives Blurr the gist of it: 'Don't fire just yet'. The guards don't visibly react, though. Then she produces a scanner and steps up to Blurr. "Please hold still," she says in heavily accented common. She holds the scanner up so he can see it. The scanner looks like a real scanner.

Blurr nods as the female brings out the scanner. "Sure thing." he says, smiling at her. Well, here's to hoping Jetfire's emulator works the way it's supposed to... He does as asked, and does his best not to move too much as she completes the scan. He's not worried about it, since he's not hiding anything at the moment. Yes, he's probably got an empty data disc in his subspace, but what's so suspicious about that? That is if the device can even detect what he's got in his subspace.

The alien gal walks right up to Blurr and, while standing on her tippy toes, runs the handheld scanner up and down a few times. Finally she takes a step back and turns to the guards. She says some more things in her alien language, but the only word that sticks out is 'Autobot'. The guards stop pointing their guns at Blurr, but they're clearly still on guard. In broken common, the alien gal asks, "What do you need, Autobot?" Blurr might notice that her rank insignia is fancier than the rest, so she might be in charge.

 Slingshot says, "Don't let me scare you off, lil' Raid!"

<Autobot> Air Raid says, "Ahhh can it!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Phew, so far so good... Blurr thinks to himself as the guards appear to lower their weapons. "Well, first of all I'd like to thank you guys for taking care of the Decepticons on this planet for us. This particular theater's been a long struggle for us." he begins. "I know Prime doesn't really appreciate your efforts, but he hasn't been here in several stellar-cycles. Anyway, I just wanted to help you all out. Some of the techs in our Operations division have something they wanted me to deliver to your superiors--so I was wondering if I could borrow one of those shuttles to take to the flagship."

<p class="MsoNormal">The rest of the crew return to their duties while only the green skinned gal keeps talking with Blurr. Maybe they don't know common? She stares at Blurr for a few moments. Common isn't her strong suit either. She then goes ahead and tries the obvious thing: "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong," she says. Then, after putting away her scanner, she holds her hand out and motions with the other.

<p class="MsoNormal">Well it wasn't 'yes' but it didn't look like a 'no' either so, he just returns the universal greeting and his optics follow the motioning hand to see what she's trying to indicate.

<p class="MsoNormal">The green skinned gal motions again, but when it becomes obvious that Blurr doesn't get it, she tries common again. "Give me the device. I will give it to my boss." After a thorough examination, but she doesn't say that. The opinion of the Autobots in this armada is all over the place, she thinks. She's never met one before personally, but from talking to others they're either all a bunch of robo-jesuses reincarnated or robo-satan worshippers.

<p class="MsoNormal">Argh, no, no, no, that won't do! Blurr shakes his head. "No...I need to explain to them how it works, missy. Besides, Operations is paranoid about the Decepticons intercepting it--they don't trust anyone but one of their own to deliver it personally. Trust me, if it were up to me I'd just pulsewave it over. But you know how those guys can be. Always so protective of the results of their hard work."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert has encrypted this channel.

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "Blurr, have you made any headway into the Darkmount situation?"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Blurr says, "I will be leading an investigation team to the relay stations within the mega-cycle, Red Alert."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "Good, I haven't read your movement on the sensor-arrays today."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "I feared the worst."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Blurr says, "Aw, don't worry about me, Red! But your concern is appreciated."

<p class="MsoNormal">The alien gal stares blankly at Blurr and motions again. "Captain's orders," she replies. She points to the ground in front of Blurr. "I am not allowed to bring anything outside up to the ship without examination." K'gard inspires loyalty in his men, women, and other. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew resumes their work on the first two shuttles, refueling and re-arming it. Half the guards are still watching Blurr, while the other half are scanning for any other possible intruders.

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "Oh, I wasn't worried for your health."

<p class="MsoNormal">"But you just examined me." Blurr argues, pointing at the scanner she'd put away only moments ago. "Or is he wanting something more ...invasive?" Depends on how invasive, of course. "I mean--slag, examine me all you want."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "I was worried you'd been kidnapped by Decepticons, tortured, and interrogated to give up Autobot secrets."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "That's all, no big deal."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Blurr says, "Again, your concern is appreciated, Red Alert."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Repugnus says, "Remember, Blurr, they can never torture you if you enjoy it!"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Blurr says, "Of course, Repugnus!"

<p class="MsoNormal">The alien folds her arms. "No gift, then. Goodbye, Autobot. Please send your wounded our regrets." Others may have no problem with nuking the Autobots as well as the Decepticons, but she's much more cautious than some of the others.

<p class="MsoNormal">Regret? She regrets it, hm? That was interesting. K'gard, and not to mention Silas, didn't seem to have much in the way of regret for wounded or dead Autobots. "Regrets, huh? Say, what's your name, miss?" he asks, moving away from the current subject for the moment.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Cryssil," she replies, pointing at herself. Her common is good enough to understand a question like that. She then points to the Autobot. "Blurr," she says definitively.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Cryssil," Blurr says pleasantly. "Nice to meet you. I'm--" But he grins as she already knows who he is. It doesn't surprise him. "--right. So you regret hurting us? Unlike your boss, K'gard? He doesn't seem to care. But does he?"

<p class="MsoNormal">She smirks at the mention of K'gard and steps forward. "Duxn people have lived with war for decades," she says. "K'gard follows orders to stop that from happening again. Regret harming Autobots? Yes. All of us do." Pause. "Most of us do." Pause. "Not Silas."

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr nods at her words. "I know! Exactly, so you know what it's like--to have to live with war for so long. We just want the same thing you guys do. For it to all be over so we can live in peace. But all the Decepticons want is war and conquest. They keep attacking us, so we have no choice but to fight." He tries to keep his sentences as simple as possible. "You can help us stop them. Just let me speak to your superiors. I'll tell you what--you can even escort me there yourself. You can make sure I don't do anything suspicious." If this doesn't work, though...he's just going to make a break for the nearest shuttle and take off with it.

<p class="MsoNormal">The alien gal looks left, looks right, and then starts advancing towards Blurr. The woman puts her hand on Blurr's... well, his leg since he's way taller than she is. "I and my soldiers will escort you. Out of respect for the Autobot cause and the honour we know Autobots believe in."

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr nods. "Thank you, I knew I could count on you." he says, smiling. "Well, let's not waste another moment--we have a war against evil to fight!" Though he waits for them to signal him forward. Wouldn't want to set them off...he doesn't know much about this particular race.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cryssil motions with her hands. Blurr might not get the idea until she tries making the transformation noise with her lips. The shuttle that was getting refueled appears to be done. She issues some orders to the maintenance crew and to the guards, and a small squad accompanies them. The ramp to the shuttle slides open, and it's clear that it's meant for transporting ground vehicles. Hence the transformation request.

<p class="MsoNormal">Perfect. Blurr obliges and his body folds in on itself as he shifts downward into his hovercar form and moves onto the ramp and into the shuttle. Part of him feels bad about deceiving these people...Cryssil seems to be a decent person. And she'll probably get in a lot of trouble later for allowing this to happen, once the damage has been done.

<p class="MsoNormal">But, on the other hand...he also feels there's not much he can do about it. After all, they did choose to serve someone who is intent on destroying the Cybertronian lifeforce.

<p class="MsoNormal">Sorry, Cryssil...

<p class="MsoNormal">The shuttle ride is unremarkable, though during it Cryssil brings up Blurr's races on Velocitron a few times. Apparently she's seen him race there in person. He's something of a minor celebrity, after all, and she even goes ahead and takes her and his photo together. The ship flies smoothly up through the atmosphere and into space, far away from the devastation below. Up in orbit is a beige, spikey warship. It looks somewhat like a gnarled stick with thorns on it, and it's clearly not of the same make as the more traditional shuttle. Warning klaxons go off as the shuttle touches down in the hangar bay.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr obliges the pictures and light conversation to pass the time, doing his best not to talk too fast so she can at least get a gist of what he's talking about. Finally, the ship comes into view. "Heh, well that's an interesting design. I don't think I've ever seen a ship like this one before." he comments casually, just before the klaxons go off.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Malachoran," she explains of the ship. The klaxons are, it seems, just regular warning noises signalling an incoming vessel to dock. The shuttle lands and the hatch opens. The ramp extends and Cryssil leads everyone off. The soldiers are keeping a close eye on Blurr, but they aren't really expecting him to do anythin stupid. The Autobot badge means something to them. Out in the hangar, the interior is just as alien as the exterior. The walls look like they have orange mold on them, but nobody pays it any mind.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr exits the craft and follows Cryssil as she leads everyone off, surveying the hangar bay area. For now, he just lets her take the lead. The longer he can continue without raising obvious suspicion, the better. If things start to get off in a direction that is less than productive, he'll have to make a move, but for now he waits.

<p class="MsoNormal">The ship doesn't have elevators, but rather the corridors just ram up, split apart, and merge at seemingly random places. Cryssil and her guards don't have any problems navigating this place, but as the crew seems to be Insectoids it's clear that she's as much a foreigner here as Blurr is. After a good five minutes at a non-Blurr pace, they reach what appears to be a dead end. Then the wall squirks open (that is the closest term possible), revealing a chamber inside. A larger Insectoid is within. It clicks at Cryssil, who replies in alien. The words 'Autobot' and 'Blurr' are distinctive. The ship Captain--as this is surely what he (she? it?) is--looks to Blurr.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr nods his thanks to Cryssil and steps up to the ship's captain. "You probably already know who I am, but first off I'd like to thank you for allowing me an audience with you on your...great ship." It was pretty great, yeah... with orange mold all over the walls. But whatever. "Anyway, some of the techs in Operations have been working on some protocols to help protect your systems against foreign code." he explains, producing the disc he'd had in his subspace. "But, they need to have a look at some of the fleet-wide security programs in order to perfect it. They've asked me to obtain the file images from you." He seriously hopes to Primus this guy/girl/whatever it was will be able to understand the emulator at this point, and trust him enough to allow it. But of course, if not--he'll just have to do things his way.

<p class="MsoNormal">The alien Captain stares at Blurr. It keeps staring at him as Blurr talks. It keeps staring at him after he finishes. Just when one might be under the impression that it didn't understand Blurr, it replies in a low, gutteral tone that doesn't sound natural for it: "No."

<p class="MsoNormal">Cryssil stands at the door, fidgeting nervously.

<p class="MsoNormal">There is this pause after the denial. One of those pauses that seem to stretch on for an eternity but really only lasted for fifty astroseconds or something. Blurr glances about the room, scanning for the best exit route. His optics finally fall on Cryssil standing at the door nervously-- then with a fleeting apologetic look to the female, he bolts! Transforming back down into his vehicular form, he dashes toward a corridor off to the left, hoping to find a terminal he can interface with and use to access the security files, or to find a map that will tell him where he can find said access. Will the aliens be able to move/react that fast? Or will they react at all?

<p class="MsoNormal">In a flurry of moving parts, Blurr folds down into a pale blue-colored supersonic hovercar.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar <Blurr> compares his Velocity to 75: Success!

<p class="MsoNormal">The fleshy portal that serves as the door out of here squirks close as Blurr bolts. It squeams together tightly, but Blurr... is... already through, leaving poor Cryssil and the Insectoid Captain behind. Within moments, there's klaxons going off again, but this time they're higher pitched. The tunnels in this place are all confusing, and there's entrances squirting closed randomly. It's hard to find anything mechanical, let alone something like a map. In one hall, a pair of Insectoids spot Blurr and point at him, chittering loudly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Slag it all, Blurr thinks to himself. These Primus-forsaken organics...But there HAS to be machinery SOMEWHERE in here, right? How else would they navigate this oversized waterbag through space?] He wonders to himself.

<p class="MsoNormal">Then a bunch of guards spot him and point, and he quickly takes off in the opposite direction before they can start moving toward him, all the while still searching for anything he might be able to interface with and find some form of useful information.

<p class="MsoNormal">The ship is unfortunately unfamiliar and confusing, and so the speedster is relying on blind luck. How is said luck? It is... average. Evading some acid rifle spit blasts from the two guards, Blurr goes up, then down, then merges, then splits, then up, then down, then left, then right. Then he finds himself right back to where he was before. Maybe. Or is it somewhere else? Orange mold looks like orange mold, and soon enough a security detail of three multi-coloured, well armoured insects move to corner the mech from both sides, firing acid guns at him in a crossfire. They are immune to the acid, of course. Is Blurr?

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr traverses the slagging maze for the next several breems, with no luck. He manages to evade acid guns, since liquid doesn't travel quite as fast through any given medium as bullets or lasers do, but unfortunately is unable to find any terminals. Oh come on, the captain was in that room I was just in, shouldn't there be a control room somewhere nearby?

<p class="MsoNormal">And then he's cornered. Ugh, frag it all to the afterspark... But then he gets an idea. How much do these guys know about mechanoids, anyway?

<p class="MsoNormal">This time, instead of dodging the acid, he lets it graze a shoulder--and even though he isn't critically injured, he pretends to be; seizing his own body up and collapsing to the floor. Perhaps they will take him to their version of the infirmary...or maybe they'll try to vivisect him. In which case he'll just have to bolt again once they let their guard down...a risky move, but banking on pure luck isn't exactly any more desirable. This place is huge. Besides, Cryssil seemed to have a decent sense of honor. Maybe the rest of her team did, as well.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar <Blurr> compares his Intelligence to 75: Success!

<p class="MsoNormal">The hovercar quickly unfolds upward and outward to reveal the fastest terrestrial Cybertronian in the galaxy, Blurr!

<p class="MsoNormal">There's loud chittering as Blurr goes down, apparently for the count. One of the guards motions with his mandibles to the others, and the remaining two move in to Blurr and start inspecting him by pressing their feet against him. One of them touches around the acid wound, apparently trying to sense how much damage was done. After some more chittering in a language that even the universal translator can't deal with, the two hoist Blurr up onto their backs and begin carrying him somewhere while the third stays behind, acid rifle trained on Blurr.

<p class="MsoNormal">Up up, down, down, left, right, left, right, bow, aft. This place is really a maze, but at least as he's getting carried around Blurr will be able to kinda sorta mostly figure out the general layout. More than a few crewmembers pop out to watch the procession. Finally, one of the fleshy portals squicks open to reveal what looks like some kind of maintenance bay. There's actual machines here connected to the moldy walls in an almost cyborg-like fashion. There's a few Blurr-sized tanks being worked on, but everyone stops to watch Blurr arrive.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cryssil and the Captain are also present.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr's optics have dimmed so as to appear that he is unconscious, but in fact he is actually actively scanning the areas the procession passes through on their way to the maintenance area. Heh, talk about inefficient design. Couldn't these guys come up with a more convenient network of corridors? Heh, oh well...too bad for them, and all the better for him.

<p class="MsoNormal">And then finally--yes! Terminals he can access for some actual intel. But for now he remains still, waiting for the right moment to make his move...

<p class="MsoNormal">Since the insectoids are speaking in alien, it isn't clear if the dimmed optics are completely effective. It's too bad Blurr can't fake turning grey. The two guards set Blurr down on one of the vehicle hoists--those lifters that raise vehicles so workers can get underneath. It is pretty uncomfortable to be on this in robot mode. Once he's there, one of the doctors(?) begins raising him. Everyone else, Captain included, get into a pretty animated discussion of chittering and clacking. The lead guard (Sergeant?) and Captain are really going at it, with the former looking very agitated and the Captain calmly replying.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cryssil walks up to the lift and rests her hand on Blurr's arm, shaking her head. The doctor says soemthing to her, but she doesn't reply.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr waits, unmoving as the insectoids argue animatedly amongst themselves. Are they going to keep arguing, or actually do something? Hah, they remind him of Insecticons, somewhat. He really hopes they all wander off eventually. If there are some doctors or medics around, he supposes they'll probably stick around, but he's hoping the tech types won't be nearly as well-suited to dealing with a combat situation as the guards and other soldiers are.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Captain and the Sergeant are going to keep arguing, it sounds like, though it's pretty one-sided as the Captain deflects each of the Sergeant's complaints. It's clear who the superior here is. The doctor meanwhile finishes raising Blurr up on the hoist. He skitters in underneath the speeder and looks up. Does he know Transformer anatomy? Blurr better hope... not? Or yes? Could be bad either way, but he's reaching for a laser scalpel right now. Cryssil watches this silently.

<p class="MsoNormal">Uh-oh! He's going for the scalpel! Blurr would rather not be cut open by someone who probably doesn't know the first thing about Cybertronian anatomy! Besides, the captain and his lackey appear to be quite distracted with their argument. Suddenly, he jerks off of the lift, jumping down. With a series of mechanized hums and clicks, his electro-laser expands out of subspace and he fires off a blast at the apparent doctor, hoping to stun him first since he was nearest. He leave Cryssil be...for now.

<p class="MsoNormal">The doctor knows that Cybertronians are an extremely hardy race. He knows this from dealing with all the crippled and wounded Decepticons. He snags the alien scalpel, which is designed to fit his strange claws, and reaches up... just in time for Blurr to hop off and blast him with a stun shot. The doctor's multi-faceted eyes go wide as he topples over. "Blurr!" Cryssil shouts in horror. The Sergeant and his guards are quick to react, firing acid spit at him. Anything that misses will melt the machinery, but leave the actual walls unharmed. Strong mold?

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr smirks as the doctor falls over. "Ha, gotcha." he chuckles, and dodges the acid spurts, but tries not to stand in front of any machinery. Dashing behind the captain and sergeant, he fires off two successive blasts from the stun weapon with the intention of disabling the two of them as well. He can't download the intel while they're shooting acid at him, after all. "Haha!" he taunts them, "Did you fleshies really think I was out? Slag, all those commercials really did pay off! Who ever said acting wasn't useful in war?" he jokes.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Honour... righteous," the Captain says in a gutteral tone. As he moves towards Blurr, one might realize just how huge he is. He towers over the speedster, and nearly completely blocks the way around him. He's so huge that even the guards can't get around him to get to Blurr. "Not so Autobot after all. K'gard will hear of this deception. The galaxy will hear of this deception. More will rally behind our banner." He swings a massive claw at Blurr. Cryssil backs away. One might think it's out of fear, but she's actually accessing one of the computer terminals.

<p class="MsoNormal">The hovercar quickly unfolds upward and outward to reveal the fastest terrestrial Cybertronian in the galaxy, Blurr!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr compares his Agility to 90: Success!

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> First Aid says, "Red, Yahoo! technically always has an exclamation mark after it."

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr's optics widen at how huge the guy is. Maybe he hadn't been showing his entire body earlier, or maybe the speedster just hadn't been paying much attention to it. Likely the latter. Slag, he'd probably have to shoot this guy at least ten times in the head before he could stun him. He jumps out of the way as the giant claw comes down, then backs slowly toward Cryssil as she is accessing one of the terminals...heh, maybe she was on his side the entire time--who knows?

<p class="MsoNormal">Gazing up at the captain, he still maintains his cover story, despite everything. "N-no! Captain, please! I swear by Vector Sigma's circuits that I'm trying to help you! We have intel that the Decepticons are planning to invade your weapons systems with malicious code that will assuredly cause their targetting systems to go haywire and attack your own allies! We can't let you go charging into battle against them without proper protection--you'd be flying right into a trap! Please, believe me!" He's standing right in front of Cryssil now, though their backs are turned toward each other.

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Red Alert says, "Why?"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> First Aid says, "That's the name of their company. Yahoo! Inc."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Velum says, "Wow, sounds like you had an adventure, Red. Sorry I couldn't make it."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Maverick says, "I reckon the first one was a might ecstatic about the internet."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> First Aid says, "I was a Hotbot man way in the beginning."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Lies. Lies. Lies," the Captain spits verbally before actually spitting acid. The point where Blurr was standing has almost completely collapsed from his weighty claw smashing into it. "Guards, destroy this machine! If he will not speak the truth, then we will get the truth by prying it from his cold, dead, microchips." The Captain takes several steps back as the three guards move in. But then they stop when they see Blurr is right by Cryssil. Is he taking her hostage? If he glances behind him, over the green gal's shoulder Blurr will be able to see the words: TRANSMISSION SENT. DESTINATION: BENIGN INTERVENTION. MESSAGE RECEIVED. Cryssil slooowly turns around and looks up at Blurr with furious determination in her eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal">"No! This isn't fair...I'm just trying to protect your people! Innocent people will die. Your innocent people!" Blurr dodges the acid, but they'd better be careful where they shoot now, as he's standing right by Cryssil. He reads the words on the screen, which are translated to him by the emulator. "The slag did you do?!" he demands, but doesn't wait for an answer before he grabs her and thrusts her in front of him, placing her between himself and the captain. Holding her in place with one hand, he inserts the chip into the computer with the other and begins copying all data he can possibly access onto the device. "Thanks for getting me into the system, anyway." Will the captain harm his own soldier for the sake of terminating the intruder?!

<p class="MsoNormal">Nobody is believing Blurr anymore. One too many lies have sealed that door. "K'gard and Silas will hear of what you did here," Cryssil says. Her job down, /now/ she begins to look afraid. Blurr is large, metal, and practically invulnerable compared to her. The technician cowers away from Blurr, but can't run fast enough before getting picked up. The three guards and Captain hold their position. "Even if you destroy the Thorn, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the fleet," the Captain chokes out. The doctor meanwhile has come to and is now next to the other insectoids, ready to move in case he harms their technician. "If you hurt her," the Captain says, "I will kill you."

<p class="MsoNormal">Cryssil struggles, but she's no Spike; she can't outmuscle a Transformer.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Ugh, get it through your dense watery brains that I'm trying to help you!" Blurr exclaims. The download is nearly complete. "If you'd just believed me in the first place, none of this would have happened! If you'd just cooperated, and let me get the information our techs need, you wouldn't be accidentally melting your own machinery, and I wouldn't be holding this innocent soldier hostage!" he exclaims in frustration. "But nooooo you think I'm lying, that I'm gonna blow up your ship."

<p class="MsoNormal">DOWNLOAD COMPLETE.

<p class="MsoNormal">The chip ejects into his open hand, and he turns around, and lets go of Cryssil, tossing lightly to the floor. He shrugs, gesturing around in general. "But look--not a single hint of an explosion. No sabotage. Look!" he points at the doctor who is clearly fine. "I didn't even kill him. I didn't kill anyone, I didn't even hurt anyone, and yet here you are, threatening to pry the truth from my 'cold, dead microchips'! Just look at yourselves, you caused this!" he cries, shaking a fist, then points to the display, which indicates the completed download. "See? Look, I did exactly what I said I would do! No sabotage, no blowing up the ship. Here, you can have a look at it yourselves!" he says, stepping aside. And if they oblige, they will find that he is not, in fact, lying. At least about that part. There is indeed no evidence of any kind of sabotage--because, well, there isn't any.

<p class="MsoNormal">The four insectoids glower at Blurr, keeping their spit rifles trained on him. They don't fire so long as he's got his hostage, though. The Captain doesn't say anything else, believing that the time for words has clearly passed. They and this enemy are not going to see eye to optic on this. The Captain notes inwardly that Blurr's story has changed from wanting to give intel to needing to take intel, but at this point doesn't even bother mentioning it. He can see the words DOWNLOAD COMPLETE as easy as anyone else. If the Thorn is still here after Blurr is gone, they can go through the memory banks to see what exactly he did to them. Nobody makes a move for the datapad. Instead they open fire as soon as Cryssil is out of the way.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr compares his Agility to 90: Success!

<p class="MsoNormal">Well--that hadn't gone the way Blurr had expected. But, nothing does anyway, does it? Mission accomplished, at any rate. If the terminal is to be examined, it will be found that he did in fact copy the information he'd said he'd needed in the beginning. And as alleged, there had been no sabotage. But the question was, what for? He claims he's using it for the benefit of the Coalition...but is that, in fact, the truth? How far would the Autobot go to 'protect' innocents?

<p class="MsoNormal">In a flurry of moving parts, Blurr folds down into a pale blue-colored supersonic hovercar.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar <Blurr> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr is far too fast for the clunky and plodding Insecticoids. Their acid spit rifles spray the area where Blurr /was/ when they should have been shooting where he was /going/. Within the blink of an eye, Blurr is out of the room. Cryssil rushes to the terminal Blurr was using and begins locking it and the rest of the computer network down while the Captain resumes the general intruder alert.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr quickly finds a port, and jumps ship. An Autobot shuttle sweeps by below, and he lands on it, disappearing inside as it zips away. Fast, fast is Blurr's strength--you want better lies ask Repugnus or Hubcap. Still, in his defense, that was a pretty good coverup compared to what he's used to...heh!