The Voyage Home

Transformers: 2005 - Fortress Maximus - Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 7:58 PM

-

AC Training Chamber(#4036RtN)

This stark, spacious chamber is well reinforced and shielded to stand up to the strain of many practice bouts. A gleaming training drone stands in one corner of the room, ready for work. The walls are sheathed in reflective alloys, allowing the combatants to observe their motions and progress.

Contents:

Ultra Magnus(#1260)

Sit-Com(#9828)

Getaway(#6979)

Scattershot(#3514)

Amber MacKenzie(#4724)

Training Drone - AC(#8956)

Here within Autobot City's training chamber, a holographic simulation of the Decagon's war room is being projected into the room but without the analysts usually found in the room. Fortress Maximus is currently standing at the center of the room, with his arms folded behind him, beside a holoprojection table awaiting for the volunteers to arrive. His expression is seemingly neutral, but subtle nuances in bodily movement hints at an air of urgency.

Sit-Com walks into the chamber. Here's a volunteer! He looks around and spots Fortmax. "Howdidly ho, neighborino," he says, "What can I do-diddly-do ya for?"

Scattershot leans against a wall opposite Max, a haze of energon smoke gathering overhead. Arms holded, the Technobot commander eyes Max out of the corner of his optics as he pretends to be fascinated by one of the new edition iHolos Ultra Magnus had distributed earlier in the day. Max was usually more of a background/showing up and saving the day at the last minute sort of mech...Scattershot couldn't but be fascinated by what the purpose of the briefing was.

Two other beings are waiting patiently for the gathering to begin, Getaway leans against the wall with his arms crossed. Getaway seems relaxed as he waits. His counterpart, Rev, is just sitting down looking at a datapad muttering to himself about needing more supplies.

Amber MacKenzie isn't quite sure that Terrans are invited, but the invitation was issued over allied channels, and, well, it's critical to Earth, which means she's interested. It remains to be seen if she can be *useful*. "Evening, all," she says quietly as she enters. Most people here, she knows, but not all. Introductions can wait, though.

"No, we needed that intel four cycles ago." Ultra Magnus berates a seemingly puppy-eyed Hound. "Not four cycles from now. Get it done." the City Commander chiefly puts to him before strutting along to Autobot City's training chamber. Striding through the entry way and into the room, Magnus stashes his data-pad in subspace to notice the decor.

Giving Maximus a curt, but silent, nod of his chin; Ultra Magnus makes way across the room to lean up against a wall.

Scattershot shoots a grin at Amber as she enters. "How you holdin' up, girlie? You missed that Junkion completely school my Technos in siege training the other day." He nods torwards Sit-Com. "Still can't believe it."

Amber MacKenzie smirks up at Scattershot. "Don't judge a book by its cover, dude." That's followed by a sigh and a muttered, "Better now." More than that, she doesn't say. Instead, she looks over the rest of the people present, studying them, their weapons, the way they move. If she can't study Decepticons, then she'll study Autobots.

First Aid has arrived.

The training room doors slide open to allow a still damaged First Aid to step in. His injuries have been patched up, but the wounds haven't fully healed yet. "Get lost, Flanders," he tells Sit-Com upon catching the Junkion's comment. Then he goes ahead and completely ruins the joke. "Of course you know I don't /really/ mean that, Sit-Com." The Protectobot gives a nod to everyone as he approaches the Junkion. "I was just finishing the quote. In truth I'm really glad you're here helping us." He glances left and right at the decor.

Velum has arrived.

Sit-Com grins at First Aid. "Hi, Dr. Nick!"

Hardhead enters from the repair bay above.

Hardhead has arrived.

Amber MacKenzie feels rather intimidated by the size of the table, so she does like Magnus and leans back against a wall. "Hullo, First Aid," she greets as the damaged mech enters but tactfully doesn't ask if he got the number of that truck. The gloomy Hardhead gets a cheerful wave, as does Velum.

Fortress Maximus unfolds his arms as the volunteers he had been waiting for arrives one by one, and not being one for theatrics he immediately gets into the meat of things by keying in a few commands into the holoprojection table beside him. Soon a vast, detailed, three dimensional representation of the galaxy is projected at the center of the room. People who are familiar with places in space will quickly recognize the planet of Junk, which is highlighted in green. A blue line, erratically shifting line, can be seen connecting the planet of Junk to Earth, which allso happens to be highlighted in green as well. Numerous red and purple dots, denoting Autobot and Decepticon ships respectively, can be seen intercepting the blue line at various points. Finally a yellow dot signifies a Junkion convoy of ships, which follows along the blue line.

Fortress Maximus gives everyone present an acknowledging nod, but to reply to all of them will take up more time than it seems Fortress Maximus is willing to afford. Without any delay, the Headmaster commander speaks firmly, projecting his voice just loud enough so everyone can hear, "Thank you all for coming here on such short notice. Several weeks ago the Junkions have discovered that Earth was brought down to her knees by the Decepticons, and they've sent a convoy of skilled technicians destined for Earth to assist with the recovery process." Having said that, Fortress Maximus points to the yellow dot, which has completely 2/3 of its journey so far, "While the Decepticons usually don't care much for Junkions, it seems that they've taken an exception to the opportunity to lay waste to a few thousand Junkions. They have been sending in warships to intercept the convoy on every turn."

With a wave of his hand, Fortress Maximus gestures towards the various red and purple dots that had connected with the blue line, "Kup has done a marvelous commanding the Autobots' fleet to provide escort to the convoy and dragging the Decepticon ships down and allowing the Junkion convoys to continue on ahead. However, as you all know, Autobot and Decepticon starship technology is pretty much neck and neck. Simply put, we're at a stalemate and this entire thing has become akin to a tandem race to Earth."

Fortress Maximus pauses for a moment as the computer displays the last legs of the Junkion convoy's journey, which comes to the vicinity of the Sol system, "Defending the Junkion convoy on its last leg of the journey falls to us now. Within a few days, it'll fall upon us to take the Steelhaven and see the convoy reach its destination. Are there any questions so far?" The Headmaster commander asks, knowing that some present here may not have served on starships before, or recently.

"Where is the Absolution in all this, sir?" Amber asks promptly. "Playing tag with the Orion Pax to keep it out of our hair?"

Magnus thinks to raise his hand, then quickly lowers it. Seeing as how the last time he detonated two thirds of the ship and all.

Nodding along all the while, the City Commander remains silent; giving First Aid and the others each their respective curt nods.

Hardhead watches the plan unfold through the holo-computer, he idly rubs his hand along his jaw line as he studies it. "Hmmm...seems do able, what's the catch?"

Getaway looks carefully at the diagram as Fortress Maximus speaks. "Does the Steelhaven have the firepower needed to defend that convoy as it comes in? And aren't Junkion ships nearly impossible to destroy? It would be like shooting... well... junk."

"Busted ships take longer to get there," Sit-Com points out, "Take an extra 4-6 weeks for delivery."

When the call goes out for the meeting it doesn't take Velum long to show up, still in her oil stained jumpsuit work boots. "Hope I'm not late." The Nebulan announces with a smirk, wiping her hands clean with a well used rag, making sure to get some spots on her face, before shoving it in her back pocket to keep her gloves company. Amber is given a nod and a smile before taking a stand closer to the hologram now projected before them all.

While listening to Fort Max speak she unzips her jumpsuit halfway, removing her arms from the sleeves and tieing them around her waist, the plain tank top shown beneath with her dogtags. The woman doesn't seem to have any questions so far though, instead smirking a little before saying, "Just hand me a fighter to fly and point me in the Con's direction, Maximus, and I'm yours to command. Been too long since I last saw space combat."

Wheeljack enters from the repair bay above.

Wheeljack has arrived.

Wheeljack strides into the room. Beware of exploding gadgetry...

"Hi everybody!" First Aid replies, though it isn't clear if he's finishing Sit-Com's quote again or if he's just saying 'hi'. Talking TV is tricky like that. Aid watches the holo map, tilting his head as planet Junk is highlighted. Wow, it's been ages since the remote wasteland world was featured in an Autobot briefing. The Protectobot turns grims as Fortress Maximus announces the fate of so many Junkions. "What's the convoy look like, sir? And what other ships do we have available to us?" Aid tacked that second question onto Amber's.

Wheeljack has been standing in the crowd an entire time, but crowds tend to blend together around here until someone does something to draw attention to them, like cough or sneeze. Or raise a hand in Wheeljack's case. "I know this is a mostly stupid and obvious question Max but even those need to be asked. Just how big of a Decepticon opposition are we looking at here?"

Studying the intersecting multi-colored lines and their approximate distances and estimated times of arrival, Ultra Magnus pulls the data-pad from subspace and taps some commands onto it. Listening to the myriad of questions Fortress Maximus is assaulted with, though he does get a bit of enjoyment out of it; nice to not be on the recieving end every once in a great while, Magnus pulls up some recent long-range sensor readings and a troop manifesto.

Math, probability, statistics; those are better left to the professional braniacs like Perceptor or Chromedome. Ultra Magnus simply tallies up the odds and waits for Fort Max to come out with the plan.

Fortress Maximus turns his attention over to Amber and nods an affirmative, "That's correct, Ms. MacKenzie. Under normal circumstances, I'd have chosen to take the Orion Pax but Absolution is surely to follow and having our flagships duking it out around the convoy as it's trying to make its through will likely put it in greater danger than if we had chosen something less noticeable. There are several Decepticon ships in the area, including the Hellbender."

Having answered Amber, Fortress Maximus turns his attention to Hardhead, "The Steelhaven's is down her skeleton crew, most of the regulars were offloaded onto other ships to make room for Autobot engineers and technicians from Cybertron to come to be ferried to Earth and assist with rebuilding. That means in a few days we're all going to need to be able to handle the Steelhaven as well as her regular crew does."

He then continues on over to Getaway and Wheeljack, "I can't give a definite answer to either questions. The Steelhaven is formidable ship, but the Decepticons have their own comparable counterparts. At this point it's a luck of the draw, we might get one ship, two, maybe even three. Intelligence is sketchy at this point. I do have plans to increase our odds. I'll get to that shortly."

He looks over to Velum and nods, "It pains me that I have to call upon the EDC's service on such a dangerous mission, but the stakes are high. I thank you for your allegiance." %r

Finally he looks over to First Aid, "Three ships in total, two small colony-type ships crewed by 1500 or so Junkions and a Junkion cruiser as her protection."

Hardhead favors Velum with a friendly wave as she enters into the briefing. He looks back to Fortress Maximus. "Hmmm, just like old times..." He shrugs. "Yeah, that is a pretty good catch, but should be manageable." He looks at the gathered group. "How are we going to mask our presence on the Steelhaven, if the Decepticons learn we have weakened our defenses on Earth they may attempt another strike on this planet."

Interest piqued, Ultra Magnus looks to Hardhead. "Not to speak for Maximus, but Earth will be my main priority while you are all getting your astro-bot badges." Breaking optic contact with Hardhead, Magnus looks around the crowd. "I cannot devuldge too much information at current, but within a terran cycle I will hold a briefing.." he trails.

"About what our forces with boots on the ground, are going to do in the meantime."

First Aid can't help but be impressed by the show of force their allies are throwing at this. Several thousand nutty Junkions is nothing to sneeze at. "When you have a moment, sir, I'd like to see the schematics and stats of the Junkion vessels." Everyone here probably knows what a folly that can sometimes be, what with so many Junkion ships being unique. Design 'em one way, and after a few days they're like a whole new ship. New old ship. Old... new... you know.

Amber MacKenzie mulls over the number of Junkion lives at stake here, feeling a bit sick to her stomach. All volunteers to help Earth. She only hopes that if the tables were turned, that Earth would be as eager to help them. "I... don't see that I can be of much use in the battle itself, as I was never trained in combat," she admits. "My knack lies in trickery and deceit, like we used on Mars. Set up fake ships for them to target, try to draw them off, distract them. Make use of the environment. Can we slap a couple engines on asteroids and suddenly send them at the enemy ships? Any stars with a lot of radiation that can scramble most sensors, that we could use to hide our own ships to ambush theirs? Fake radio transmission that their holdings on Cybertron are under attack, things like that."

"For Lordaeron!" Sit-Com exclaims.

Wheeljack nods his head a bit, that was probably the sort of answer he was expecting. He also emits a bit of a chuckle at the 'just like old times' from Hardhead.

Though a moment later his attention and curiosity is piqued by Amber's suggestions. "Hollow out a few asteroids to pack them with explosives and one shot engines? Asteroids are primarily metal composites naturally, it would help conceal any additional payload."

"EDC or not, I'd gladly join the Autobots on any mission, despite the risks. I owe you all at least that much." Velum gives a nod to Maximus before spying Hardhead off to the side, sending a smirk and a nod to both him and his hidden Headmaster Duros. She also gives Getaway a brief glance, eyeing Rev curiously since she's yet to meet him yet, not remembering him from Nebulos. But formalities will have to wait, Velum looking back to the hologram, studying it. "Hmmm... Asteroids may take too long, Amber." She muses softly, rubbing her chin a little in thought. "But scrambling them isn't a bad idea. With fast enough ships we could send them in while the Cons are blind and overtake them."

Amber MacKenzie nods. "Tricks, traps, and deceptions. Holograms, if we have any big enough to fake up a ship. Also, if possible, zig-zag the convoy's course. It'll extend the ETA, but the Decepticons can't be everywhere. I don't know if we have this problem in real life, but I recall Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, where the Enterprise went to negative coordinates and came up from below to attack the enemy. The convoy could come in from solar north or south instead of coming in through the rim, like all the FTL routes I've seen. This could just be the ignorance of a woman who's only left Earth to visit Mars, but sometimes even silly suggestions might work."

The holoprojection of the galaxy map zooms in fluidly towards sector where the Sol system is located. The yellow dot representing the Junkion convoy travels down the blue line, as predicted by the computer during the specified time frame. Surprisingly, -two- red dots, not one, shows up. A blue schematic of a modern starship engines meant for escort-sized vessels appears at the bottom left corner of the holoprojection, and Fortress Maximus follows up to explain his plans, "As I mentioned earlier, I'll be increasing our odds of success. I will be looking into retrofitting my own starship engines with more modern, powerful ones. In essence, we'll be increasing our firepower and ability to react to Decepticon attacks." The Headmaster commander looks over to First Aid and Wheeljack, "I know there may be some complications in this process, but I'd like to task you two to assist me in getting this modification done in time for the day of deployment."

With that said, Fortress Maximus returns to addressing the questions that the volunteers have voiced, first to Amber and Wheeljack, "Kup has used a lot of his tricks, many of which you have suggested, over the course of this tandem race of sorts. They've wisen up since to most attempts at deceit, and have lately even been reported to use our own tactics against us. We're now just as likely to be ambushed using the very same spatial phenomenons that we've been utilizing against them. Hence why they're taking the long way around, avoiding potential treacherous paths on their final leg of the journey."

He looks over to First Aid again, "The information will be uploaded to your terminal after the meeting." Over to Ultra Magnus, "Hopefully Rodimus Prime will be able to coordinate Earth's defense for us. It will be greatly beneficial for us all if you could lend your expertise in commanding the ship while I am deployed in space." Finally Fortress Maximus looks over to Velum, "Hopefully it plays out that way."

"If not already preoccupied, Maximus." Ultra Magnus replies, once again shoving the data-pad away. "I'll gladly repay these Decepticons in kind alongside you."

First Aid nods to Fortress, "Sure thing." He's already thinking up ways to get this done. Typical of the Commanders. They know what they want but have no idea how incredibly difficult it'll be! Normally Aid would prefer focusing on more domestic repairs rather than upgrades at a time like this, but there's a lot of Junkions that might be counting on this.

Hardhead looks at Velum again and returns the smirk as he continues to listen to the plan. He looks at the others in the room and speaks again. "Should I recruit additional, soldiers? In case we have to board a Decepticon ship?"

"Though if they know and reused some of the tricks they may -not- be expecting previous tricks to be reused in a new way on them, if they're thinking we'll stop using things they know we know how to do." Wheeljack rambles out for a moment. "Not as a primary maneuver this time, but if we can hit them out of left field with a surprise revamp -- whammo!"

Then he pulls a wrench out, twirling it in one hand for a moment and then pointing at Maximus with it, the energetic motions making up for his lacking ability to actually smirk. "Fortunately for you Fort, I just reopened The Bodyshop."

Sit-Com nods approvingly as he hears the plans.

Fortress Maximus smiles lightly at Hardhead, Getaway, and Ultra Magnus, nodding his head in nostalgia, "Yes, just like old times indeed." The Headmaster commander moves forward and into the crowd of the gathered volunteers, patting First Aid and Wheeljack on the shoulder as he passes by, "We're all fortunate to have the two of you here, with this done, we'll at least one thing the Decepticons will not expect. One of many that we'll come up with, I hope." He pays extra attention to Wheeljack's earlier comments, "Perhaps so, I'll also submit the data to you, maybe you'll be able to come up with something."

Soon Fortress Maximus begins taking steps towards Amber MacKenzie, and Velum. He first addresses Amber, "Over the few short years with humans, Nebulans, and more importantly Galen, I've come to appreciate your species' ability to surprise races as ancient as ours. I would not count yourself short yet, Ms. MacKenzie. This upcoming battle will indeed be one of deceit and trickery, as all brilliant war strategies are. Perhaps you'll surprise us again by being able to see something that we do not." He then looks over to Velum, "If you can train your soldiers to shoot as well as you can, I'm sure the weapons on the Steelhaven will aim even more true."

With all the pep talk done, the Headmaster leader looks across the room, "Is there any other questions? If not, perhaps we can do a small exercise to familiar ourselves with the Steelhaven and the scenarios we may potentially find ourselves in."

First Aid exchanges glances with Wheeljack as Fort Max puts his hands on their shoulders. Aid looks nervous. He knows all about how the Wheeljack-Medic pair works. He's seen the accident reports, thank you very much. "What kind of exercise?" he asks.

Hardhead shakes his head no as he prepares himself for the exercise.

Wheeljack would just like the remind everyone as the last in base experiment was -not- his doing. He chuckles a bit at the shoulder pat and gives Max a thumbs up in return (you tend to pick up a lot of human quirks when you spend enough time on Earth), then pulls out a datapad and is already fiddling with a few stray thoughts that he's trying to pull together into a solid idea or two, knowing him. The comment about exercises kind of went over his head at the moment.

Velum smirks bright up at Maximus when he approaches her and Amber, giving the massive mech a small salute, "You can count on me, sir. Hell, maybe I can teach your own pilots a thing or two." She chuckles softly at that, but nods at the chance to join in on the exercise. "Count me in."

Ultra Magnus solemnly nods, 'just like the good old times'. Where there really any? Stowing it aside, the City Command braces himself from the wall and eagerly steps from foot to foot. "Just what did you have in mind, Maximus?"

Amber MacKenzie steps back out of the way of the simulation. Her only use in a Transformer space battle is as a Decepticon hostage, but she still wants to watch and learn about basic combat tactics. "Knock 'em dead, Velum," she urges with a smile.

Fortress Maximus turns around, facing his back to the volunteers as he returns to the center of the room. Once the Headmaster commander reach the holoprojection table at the center, the training chamber's setting dissolves away and soon a simulation of the Steelhaven's bridge takes its place, as if to answer First Aid and Ultra Magnus' questions, "There's a lot more to running a ship than taking control of the conn and manning the numerous weapon consoles on the bridge."

"What we need," Sit-Com opines, "Is a Romulan Cloaking Device."

Hardhead slowly surveys the area and notices that Amber seems to be backing out. He takes a step towards here and shakes his head at her. "That isn't where the simulator is occurring operative. You heard Fort Max, we need all hands on deck, which includes a crew." He levels a finger at her. "You are pretty handy with tools, plus you can fit into smaller spaces than the rest of us. Consider yourself part of the Engineering Crew."

Fortress Maximus points towards the viewscreen, "The convoy should be over there. Let's assume the worst case scenario happens and that the Hellbender, a pound for pound match for the Steelhaven, manages to intercept us." As he says this, the training chamber's computer systems processes through recent battle data collected and the convoy and the Hellbender both materializes as well.

First Aid looks to Sit-Com, waiting until he gets the required Star Trek quote. Annnd there we have it. Aid puts his hands together and steps towards the others. His joints are still aching from the recent battle, but training should be harmless enough. He heads to one of the engineering stations. "All systems are a go, uh... Captain?" He glances over his shoulder. Who's the Captain?

Amber MacKenzie gives Hardhead a disbelieving look. The most complicated thing she's ever operated was a Jaguar. The closest she's come to being on a starship is Sky Lynx. Neither of them used anything like this, and no, it doesn't look like the USS Enterprise bridge, either.

Wheeljack snaps out of whatever craaaaaazy ideas he was pondering to look up when the holographic systems activate. "Whowhatwh.. oh, mission simulation." He goes back to mulling over the data pad. "Maybe we could... no, that's silly....or.. hmm...."

Fortress Maximus looks over Ultra Magnus, in response to First Aid's question, "With the retrofit, I will be outside lending a hand in keeping the convoy safe. Command will be deferred to the next highest ranking personnel aboard, hopefully you'll all be under Ultra Magnus' capable command." Fortress Maximus might've glossed over the historical data about Ultra Magnus nuking 2/3 of the ship during the first Unicron crisis.

Hardhead motions Amber towards the Engineering core. "This is what the techs work on..." He motions to the larger portion of the Engine area. "But there is plenty of hard work that goes into keeping theses ships safe in space. I mainly lift heavy things, but with your smaller earth frame, we can get you trained up to make the smaller repairs such as wiring, micro-cracks in the armor." He gives her a reaffirming nod. "Plus, hard work is good for the soul."

"When threatened, the lizard will shed its tail to placate predators," Sit-Com says in his best David Attenborough impression.

Sideswipe enters from the repair bay above.

Sideswipe has arrived.

Sunstreaker enters from the repair bay above.

Sunstreaker has arrived.

Velum grins and nods to Amber before moving off to a more human sized console, taking a seat in the flight chair and looking over the command console a moment before getting to work flipping switches and pressing buttons like it was second nature. "Hm, can't say I ever flew with an Autobot crew before. Certainly not complaining though." The Nebulan grins, gaining control of some of the weaponry aboard the ship, their stats in full view on her HUD.

Sideswipe wanders in, looking around with an almost smug look on his face. He looks like nothing could be better in his life.

Wheeljack blends in with whatever engineering is going on around the core, just like it came naturally. Which it probably does for him.

Amber MacKenzie is bullied into faking engineering work. The only thing that saves the Steelhaven from a quick, asplodey end is the fact that she actually has a knack for technical stuff and the fact that Wheeljack is also there. Hmmm. Maybe the two of them together will explode the ship...

"The Romulans, the Klingons. They're nothing, compared to what awaits you out there," Sit-Com says from another console.

Sunstreaker walkes in right after Sideswipe, although he IS wearing a smug look on his face, a sly smirk tugging at his lip-plates.

Smirking in that 'oh you owe me one' tone to Fortress Maximus, Ultra Magnus sidles up to the imaginary goodness that is the Steelhaven command deck. "Alright, Wheeljack I need you to report to engineering immediately. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker; glad you volunteered. You're both on our offensive capabilities. First Aid, you'll be supervising our defensive capacities alongside Sit-Com. Amber, see if you can't make yourself at home alongside the communication hub. Hardhead, navigation." he rattles out as fast as he can manage, taking a moment to peer around.

"Did I miss anyone?"

Sit-Com turns to Sunstreaker, "Welcome, young Skywalker," he says.

Sunstreaker stares at Sit-com with an arched optic ridge. "What did you just call me?"

Fortress Maximus' armour plates splits open, accompanied by the distinct transformation sound, as his body reconfigures itself into the form of an interstellar battleship.

Sideswipe looks around, wondering what the hell is going on. "So, Sit-Com, what's everyone doing?"

Hardhead looks at Magnus. "Naviagation?" He seems confused for a moment, but makes his way to the bridge console that is navigation. He chicken pecks at the console preparing a course for the ship. "Hmmm..."

"We're going to run a blockade," Sit-Com says, grinning.

Amber MacKenzie takes a quick look around the bridge, her eyes coming to a rest on what actually is the communication station. She may not know engineering, but she knows Terran communications, and there's enough resemblance to give her a clue. She leaves the... whatever station and darts to communications. She's Uhura! It takes some experimentation, though, to start figuring it out. Can't be *that* complicated.

"Over here, big guy." Velum says casually to Magnus from her chair, raising a hand a wagging it a bit to get his attention, though she doesn't look to him, instead still pressing buttons now and then, setting in commands and testing the response of the turrets in her command.

First Aid salutes Magnus and rushes to the defensive station along with Sit-Com. "Shields are up, ECM systems online, all countermeasures engaged, Captain Magnus." The screen shows a whole lot of coloured bars, and darn if they aren't moving up and down a lot.

Interstellar Battleship  disappears from the bridge, conveniently being displaced to the vaccum of space outside by the training chamber's computers. Normally he would be moving at all, but the simulated uprated engines were taken into calculation and the much smaller older battleship begins to maneuver onto the starboard side of the convoy.

Sideswipe looks over at his brother with a smirk and then wonders aloud, "Wonder if they need any Red Shirts...."

"Velum, am I right? I've heard a great deal of good about you." Ultra Magnus chiefs out to the Nebulan member of the EDC. "As with every command, it needs a second. Make sure everyone is on task and doing their job."

Taking a seat in the captain's chair, Magnus brings some engineering readings up on his personal screen and taps a few keys. "Good Aid. Heading, Hardhead?"

Hardhead stares at the console, his vague training kicking in, "Heading is 23, -1, mark 7..." He stares. "I mean Mark 5." He looks at Velum and shrugs slightly.

 Fortress Maximus says, "Let's assume that the Decepticons gets the jump on us."

Amber MacKenzie eventually makes contact with the imaginary Junkion ships and verifies their course headings and status. Alas, there is nothing remotely resembling earphones that she can use, so it has to go to speaker. She grumbles, and rummages through her backpack, finding her own earphones and hotwiring them to the console. There, much better.

Sideswipe grabs Sunstreaker by the arm and drags him off to their assigned stations. "Like a shooting gallery. My favorite game! I'll bet you some high-grade Sunny, I'll shoot more Cons than you will."

Sunstreaker snorts, shaking his brother off his arm and making his way towards his station on his own. He CAN walk on his own! "As if, Sideswipe. I'll take you up on that bet. And don't CALL me Sunny!"

"Heh, glad my reputation preceds me. Alright, you two! Red and yellow pretty boys, on the guns! Got 'em warmed up for you." The Nebulan stands from her chair, reinforcing Magnus' command to Sides and Sunny, waving them to the weapon consoles." Once they're there she nods and steps off to oversee the others. She never watched Star Trek, honestly, so who knows who she is.

Moving to Hardhead next she notes his error, but simply smirks, hands neatly held behind her back in a professional manner. "C'mon Hardhead, get that head in gear. We need those navigations /on the dot/. Wouldn't wanna drive into a sun now, would we?"

The Decepticon Warship dematerializes, but soon reappears again as it jumps out of FTL speed right on top of the Junkion convoy! The hangar bay on the warship opens up and out comes a squadron of Sweepcrafts who promptly begins strafing runs against the Steelhaven and the Junkion cruiser that's defending the convoy.

The pattern of the attack is aggressive, but strangely enough they don't seem to focus on the two lightly unarmed small colony ships. With each strafing run, the Sweepcrafts swing further and further away from the field of battle. As if trying to goad the defending ships further away from the convoy.

Combat: Decepticon Warship  strikes Steelhaven Controls  with its Sweep Attack Squadron Area attack!

Combat: Decepticon Warship  misses Junkion Cruiser  with its Sweep Attack Squadron Area attack!

"Correct navigation to 22, -1 and come down to mach 3." Ultra Magnus relates to Hardhead, swiveling his chair towards Amber's station. "Confirmation of Junkion vessels hull stability and possible headings?"

Suddenly when the twin's bickering reaches the Captain's audio receptors, he pulls around to find Velum is already on the situation. It seems like his choice in second was a well placed one.

BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Or so sounds the sensor warnings when the Decepticon Warship dematerializes.

First Aid grabs onto the station with both hands as the Sweebs strafe the Steelhaven. "Outer hull is holding, Magnus. Minor carbon scoring along the port side. Minor power fluctuations but we'll see if we can't lock it down."

Hardhead looks at Velum and shrugs his shoulders. "The Sun is the bright yellow things?" He says with a hint of Mirth. His fingers dance across the console. "Course adjusted, Magnus."

Amber MacKenzie tries monitoring other frequencies, just out of curiosity and for her own information, but that's interrupted by calls for help. She doesn't have to announce that; the Decepticon ship's visible to all. "Stand by, sir... The colony ships are holding their course, and the Enterprise wasn't hit."

For those down in engineering, the technically inclined might notice an issue with a grid of power relays entering into a feedback loop as a result of the sudden, and violent, attacks by the Sweeps! It will build up and eventually meltdown unless the engineers can make a successful TECH roll!

With the entirety of the bridge taking a slight jarring after the strafing run, Magnus leans forward in his chair. "Keep constant contact with the Junkion Cruiser, Amber. Hardhead, bring us around on the main Decepticon Warship." he barks out, opening up a comlink to engineering. "Wheeljack, we need maximum thrust in thirteen astroseconds." he barks into the communicator, "Yes, it can handle it. No, I can't deal with that now."

Turning his attention to First Aid, "Can you manage without Sit-Com, he's needed in engineering." without waiting for a response, he whirls around on his second. "Velum, get navigational data from Hardhead and correspond with the twins. Direct all main fire on that warship!"

Combat: Amber MacKenzie compares her Technical to 30: Success!

Sideswipe sits down in the chair behind the Plasma Turret and grins, flipping switches and lining up the cross marks on the firing system. "Lets see you handle this..." he says as the ship banks so they can get a better shot.

Combat: Sideswipe strikes Decepticon Warship  with Steelhaven Controls 's Plasma Turret attack!

Decepticon Warship > Combat: You took 15 damage.

Hardhead grrrs to himself as he hunches over his console, his intense gaze bores through the console as he furiously types in course adjustments, making sure they are being feed into the helm. "Course, set, Commander Velum."

Combat: Hardhead compares his Technical to 30: Success!

Sideswipe gives out a grunt of satisfaction as he hits the damned ship...making a mental tick, score one for him.

Sunstreaker takes a seat behind his own plasma turret, bringing its systems online and casting his brother a sidelong glance. "Talk less, shoot more, brother." He growls, opening fire on the Decepticon warship.

Wheeljack was quite content to just continue pondering his probably potentially precarious planning of nasty surprises to spring on Decepticon dupes, but the blaring of klaxxons yanks him back to (virtual) reality again. "Scrap, time to do what they actually put up with my randomly exploding things for being good at." Ditching the datapad and pulling up one of the engineering terminals, the engineer's fingers a flurious dance of improvisation across the controls as he works on both stabilization and getting Magnus his thruster boost at the same time.

Combat: Wheeljack compares his Technical to 30: Success!

Combat: Sunstreaker strikes Decepticon Warship  with Steelhaven Controls 's Plasma Turret attack!

Decepticon Warship > Combat: You took 19 damage.

Starscrap Enterprise, on its five weeks journey to explore strange new worlds... no, not really, but it is very much battle ready and slowly banks to the port side as Sweepcrafts harasses it. The cruiser's shield shimmers as it diffuses the energy blasts that threatens to rake its hull and returns a few blue bursts of laser beam fire in response at pesky fighters and the Decepticon warship itself!

Meanwhile the two colony ships does its best to keep up, but the sheer amount of mass that their engines needs to push causes it to fall behind slightly.

Velum snorts softly at Hardhead's response. "Don't get smart with me, soldier. I can put you in the brig, you know." She teases before getting serious once more at Magnus' order, nodding sternly to the captain. "Yes, sir." She's soon upon a different console, feeding data into the weapons system to adjust for more precise aim on both the swarming Sweeps and the warship in the background. "Good, Hardhead. Just keep us on it and we should have these Cons running in no time. You two, keep up the fire! Make every shot count!"

Perceptor enters from the repair bay above.

Perceptor has arrived.

Perceptor has coming looking for Wheeljack. "Wheeljack, were you able to procure the spare nodes from the Ark?"

Interstellar Battleship  begins turning to the port, having been shielded by the Steelhaven's underbelly and out of the angle of attack by the Sweepcraft, soon begins moving into the open where his weapons can be brought to bear, << Nicely done so far, everyone. You're handling the ship like natural professionals. >>

Amber MacKenzie keeps in touch with the Enterprise and the other two ships she dubs Caprica and Tauron as they fire back and slowly run for it respectively. "The colony ships are lagging behind, sir," she reports. "If they drop back too far, the Decepticons might be able to cut them off from the rest of us."

Hardhead continues to type on his console as he is constantly making course adjustments, absently he says, "The brig? That reminds me of that time on Nebuleon when you insulted..." His voice trails off, "Slag! Why won't the 'Con ship stay still!"

Wheeljack looks up as Perceptor speaks up out of practically nowhere. "Geez Percy, are you trying to ruin the immersion?", he teases the scientist briefly. "But yes, they're waiting in the lab storage for you." Turns back down to the console in front of him. "Sorry, middle of a simulation, trying to keep this subsystem network from blowing up on us."

First Aid nods back at Magnus, though the big guy's attention is already elsewhere. Better to have Sit-Com down in engineering where he can better perform his brand of Junkion magic. For his part, Aid's a competent ship's engineer but nothing remarkable. He tends to focus on smaller machines rather than bigger ones. The closest thing he's done to this sort of thing was building the Golden Age.

Sideswipe swivils his seat around to follow the Con's warship with his plasma turret. Reaching forward to his systems, he adjusts something before looking back at the firing systems and takes another shot at the buggered thing. "You're mother was a trash can..." he says with a growl.

Combat: Sideswipe strikes Decepticon Warship  with Steelhaven Controls 's Plasma Turret attack!

Decepticon Warship > Combat: You took 19 damage.

"The engines, they canna take the strain, Captain!" Sit-Com explains, "If we don't restabilize the baffles, there'll be trouble on the moors!"

Sunstreaker growls at Sideswipe's shot hits the ship, lip-plates curling upwards into a snarl as he, too, shifts the turret to try and keep his aim on the warship. Sideswipe is NOT going to beat him in this! He fires yet again, this time not even bothering to say a word.

Combat: Sunstreaker strikes Decepticon Warship <DW> with Steelhaven Controls <CC>'s Plasma Turret attack!

Decepticon Warship <DW>> Combat: You took 13 damage.

Combat: Sit-Com compares his Technical to 30: Failure :(

Perceptor gives Wheeljack and the others a slightly sheepish look. "Oh, er...I apologize for the disruption. But thank you.

The Decepticon warship comes continues to maintain its intercept course towards the convoy, unlike the Sweepcrafts buzzing around, the main ship seems to have a very clear goal in sight! The warship does occasionally swerve side to side to avoid the bulk of the weapons fire directed right at it. Some plasma shots are absorbed by the warship's heavy shield generators, while other manages to penetrate the bubble and sheer off sections of hull plating as it hits its destinted target.

It isn't long before the warship closes the distance and squeezes into the gap between all three defending ships, where it promptly unleashes a punishing broadside from both directions!

Combat: Decepticon Warship <DW> misses Steelhaven Controls <CC> with its Mass Driver Cannons Area attack! [Pulled -3]

Combat: Decepticon Warship <DW> strikes Junkion Cruiser <Starscrap Enterprise> with its Mass Driver Cannons Area attack! [Pulled -3]

Junkion Cruiser <Starscrap Enterprise>> Combat: You took 10 damage.

Combat: Decepticon Warship <DW> misses Interstellar Battleship <Fortress Maximus> with its Mass Driver Cannons Area attack! [Pulled -3]

Combat: Decepticon Warship <DW> (Decepticon Warship <DW>) used "Mass Driver Cannons": A Level 2 AREA-RANGED attack.

Combat: Decepticon Warship <DW> misses Wheeljack with its Mass Driver Cannons Area attack! [Pulled -3]

Combat: Decepticon Warship <DW> misses Sit-Com with its Mass Driver Cannons Area attack! [Pulled -3]

"Velum, get us on an intercept course between that Warship and the Starscrap.. NOW" Magnus barks out, standing up from his seat at the command console. Up on the forward screen, he pulls up a real time image of the exterior foreward camera. "If you can, nullify their tactical strike advantage."

"First Aid, brace starboard shields for impact on my mark. Twins, take full advantage to single out Sweep targets and eliminate at will!" Ultra Magnus commands, his attention drawn to the side by Perceptor's entrance. "Welcome aboard Perceptor, stick on the bridge to help us handle any technical problems that may arise."

Relaxing back in his seat, Magnus pulls the shipwide intercom online to address the crew. "The Junkions have put themselves at great peril for our allies and ourselves." he looks aside to Amber, "Those technicians will be making it planetside to re-establish the infastructure. Because as much as you all love a good dogfight, I'm sure none of you signed up for this mission to come home empty handed. Now focus, do your job, and the Autobot ideal cemented by Optimus himself will carry us to victory men!"

Combat: Ultra Magnus inspires Velum, Hardhead, Perceptor, Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Amber MacKenzie, and First Aid with patriotic and wise words!


 * SKRRRRTTTTT ***

Uh oh, that doesn't look good. Wheeljack's successful repairs to the power grid did its trick, but looks like that last glancing shot that was absorbed by the shield managed to cause a reverse in the polarity of the power flow right back into the rest of the power grid itself! (Even I don't know what the hell I just said!) However this causes two problems for the crew of the Steelhaven! First, the engine core has suffered containment damage, but perhaps someone can !PATCH it up so it's all better again?

The other problem is the main targeting computers is fried, but luckily the terminal that First Aid is operating can be used to reclibrate the systems... but only if he succeeds at a simple !CHECK ACC=30 roll! Dun dun duuuuuun.

Hardhead focuses on his console as he continues to feed in data, and calculate different courses. "Primus..." He straightens in his chair at Magnus' words. He then works even harder on calculating new courses.

Amber MacKenzie calls out, "The Enterprise is hit, sir! Waiting on a damage report."

Combat: First Aid compares his Accuracy to 30: Success!

Perceptor nodded at Magnus' words and took a seat on the bridge. "Affirmative, Ultra Magnus."

"You got it." First Aid taps the controls, diverting power to the starboard shields. "Careful of those Sweeps, Velum. They're going to pick up the power shift ASAP and start coming at us from the port." Aid doesn't bother mentioning what happens if the Sweeps manage to break through. Spotting one of the bar graphs on his console going extra colourful, Aid quickly makes several adjustments to keep the targeting systems online. "Wheeljack, Sit-Com," he says over the intercom, "Watch the power feedback. We nearly lost the main computer functions there."

"Okeley dokeley," Sit-Com says to the voice over the intercom, "I'll keep it from feeding on itself." He notes that the engine core needs work, so he goes to work on fixing it so that the containment field doesn't blow. "Oh oh oh, I got it I got it I got it. Back, you stray neutrinos!"

Wheeljack excels at thinking on his feet and improvising by the flat of his skidplate. And just because he's handling engineering doesn't mean he can't get some satisfaction from the heat of action. Fortunately one of the consoles that does fry isn't the one that he was working at. But he does step over to it, douse the electrical fire quickly, and yank out some of the electronics. Console was shot, but it's parts were still good!

Which he promptly turns and throws the remaining hardware components towards Sit-Com. "Here pal. Go do what Junkions do best. For the rest of your bros out there!" Magnus' little pep speech probably helped too.

Combat: Sit-Com quickly patches up some of Engine Core <EC>'s minor injuries.

"On it, Captain!" Velum answers from her terminal, pulling away from it to move towards the navigations section with Hardhead, taking up a position on a second console. "Alright, Hardhead, let's get this baby moving!" Space flight is a specialty for her, fingers suddenly dancing over the command keys, catching up to Hardhead in quick succession,

"Ah, don't worry, First Aid, this ship may be big, but with me and Hardhead at the controls they won't be catching us off guard that easy. Sideswipe, keep on the Con ship! Sunstreaker, keep an eye on the incoming Sweeps!"

<Autobot> Fortress Maximus says, "Good eyes, Amber! I'll fall behind and cover the two colony ships."

<Autobot> Wheeljack says, "Keep on the pressure guys, we're plugging holes as soon as they make them down here."

Accepting Hardhead's coordinates and Magnus' command, the Steelhaven indeed moves into position to completely cut off the Decepticon Warship from returning fire on the Junkion Cruiser. With their shields powered up on the starboard side, the Sweeps more or less have free pot shots on the ships side!

That is, if Sunstreaker and Sideswipe don't have anything to say about it.

Galen can be seen within the bridge of the interstellar battleship with an array of controls in front of him as well, it becomes clear that he's the one in charge of navigation while Fortress Maximus computes the precise targetting data required to squeeze off a shot with his pair heavy dual laser blasters. As the battleship moves cruises backwards, the blaster cannons on its sides can be seen spinning around and emitting beams of its own!

Combat: Interstellar Battleship <Fortress Maximus> strikes Decepticon Warship <DW> with his Dual Laser Blasters attack!

The Junkion cruiser shudders, the lightning within the ship blinks on and off frantically as it takes the broadside of the Decepticon warship straight on! The ship drifts way, ever so slightly, apparently temporarily disabled by the magnitude of the damage it just received. It'll no doubt be back in action shortly though, considering how fast the talented Junkions on board can work!

___   ___    _____   ___   _   _


 * _ ) / _ \  |_   _| / __| | | | |


 * _ \ | (_) |  | |   \__ \ |_| |_|


 * ___/ \___/    |_|   |___/ (_) (_)

"The Enterprise's impulse drive is damaged, but they're working on it," Amber reports tersely. "It should be operational again soon... I couldn't get a more precise answer than that. The colony ships are asking for instructions, whether they should try to go on, or form up with us."

Sit-Com has his hands full with the metaphorical baling wire and chewing gum, keeping the engine from falling apart. "I cannae change the laws of physics!" he shouts in exasperation, all Scotty-like.

If Amber continues scanning the Decepticon warship in relations with the Starscrap Enterprise, she just might be able to notice a potential opening for the Junkion cruiser (which by now has drifted behind the Decepticon warship) to take a shot at when they regain control of their ship... but only if she makes the harrowing !CHECK INT=30 roll! CAN SHE DO IT?!

Combat: Amber MacKenzie compares her Intelligence to 30: Failure :(

"Wait, was that one Scotty reference so far or has he done two?" First Aid asks, momentarily forgetting where he is. After a moment's thought, he nods, "Yeah, definitely two." He hasn't forgotten this is a drill, of course. "Streaker, Sides, are you two going to be able to keep them off our port side or what?" he calls out.

"First Aid, stabilize shielding to nominal levels and prepare chaff. If we time this right, we can blind their Warship and move into position to capitalize. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker.. hold weapons fire until we've past the Warship. Amber, do we have an ETA on the Starscrap's funtionality?" Ultra Magnus rambles off in quick succession, himself stomping over to the navigational controls and lending a hand.

Punching in the coordinates and appropriate rationing of energy, the Cap-i-tano pulls up engineering. "I need another sixteen percent boost to thrusters in five astrotiks!"

The Junkion convoy soon catches up with Fortress Maximus, and together they resume their endeavour to hook up with the two other much larger friendly cruisers. Even now the Decepticon warship is still cruising right at them, having broken through the defensive lines, but if the captains of the colony ships flinched, they certainly did not show it to the rest of the crew. The lightly armed colony ships continues to fire at the Sweepcrafts, ineffectively for the most part.

"Now, all weapons go!" Ultra Magnus signals to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

"Aye," First Aid replies with obvious relief as he balances out the shield power again. That maneuver was a wee bit too dangerous for his blood. "Chaff ready on your mark, Magnus."

Amber MacKenzie quotes wryly, "By the book, hours could seem like days... They'll be operational in five days, sir."

Wheeljack goes back to his own terminal as Sit-Com works on patching up the containment systems, bringing up several layouts of the Steelhaven's various subsystems and... aha, that's perfect. Furiously he types in commands in rapid-fire succession, rerouting a few network commands, plugging and interface relay into the secondary systems to weapons, optics glimmering as he finds what he's looking for. He types in a few more commands, adjusts a few more routines, and chuckles slightly as the big red touch-screen 'button' lights up at the end of the console. "Time for a little Wheeljack magic!" And he slaps his palm down on the button.

Along the sides of the Steelhaven multiple vents open up and release in syncronization a mass jettison of thermal energy. The expulsion drains build-up from both the weapons and control thrusting systems, preventing either from overheating to make sure the Twins can keep shooting and the thrusters can keep increasing their output without frying out to get Magnus every little precent of power he wants.

As a side effect it also sends a wave of expulled thermal energy rippling outward from the Steelhaven, giving those Sweeps something else to suddenly think about or get melted in the depths of space!

For the people manning the numerous weapon consoles onboard the Steelhaven. They might be able to line up their shots more accurately, striking crucial places, once the Steelhaven has launched its chaff and blinded the Decepticon warship's sensors as Ultra Magnus had ordered... but only if they succeed in a !CHECK ACC=30 roll two times! If they hit and succeed in their rolls, the Decepticon warship will go BOOM!

"Deploy chaff!" Magnus gives the go ahead to First Aid.

Combat: Sideswipe compares his Accuracy to 30: Success!

Combat: Sideswipe compares his Accuracy to 30: Success!

Decepticon Warship <DW>> Combat: The next attack against you will automatically hit.

Combat: Sideswipe strikes Decepticon Warship <DW> with Steelhaven Controls <CC>'s Plasma Turret attack!

Decepticon Warship <DW>> Combat: You took 12 damage.

Decepticon Warship <DW>> Combat: The next attack against you will automatically hit.

First Aid taps the button. From behind the Steelhaven, a cloud of light Cybertronium alloy bits shoot out, throwing enemy radar systems into chaos. Technically this is detonating 1/10000th of the ship so that the rest can survive.

Sideswipe does his best to line up the plasma turret and growls as he takes a shot at the Decepticon ship.

Combat: Sunstreaker compares his Accuracy to 30: Success!

Combat: Sunstreaker strikes Decepticon Warship <DW> with Steelhaven Controls <CC>'s Plasma Turret attack!

Decepticon Warship <DW>> Combat: You took 14 damage.

___   ___    _  _   ___   _   _

/ __| / _ \  | \| | / __| | | | |


 * (__ | (_) | | .` | \__ \ |_| |_|

\___| \___/  |_|\_| |___/ (_) (_)

<Autobot> Wheeljack says, "There's your thrusters -and- some breathing room to blow their sprockets off. Thank me after we get these boys planetside."

"Got it." Sunstreaker grunts, shifting to aim his plasma turret at the ship again. He doesn't waste any time, firing as soon as he manages to get a lock on it and smirking as it hit.

Sit-Com is still keeping the engine core together and phews. "Felgercarb!" he shouts, as something shorts out and he hastens to repair it.

The Decepticon warship's main fusion cannon extends outwards, a sinister purple glow emits from the tip of the barrel as it indicates that the weapon is charging up. A shot at this range will most certainly seal the deal, but before the seemingly inevitable release of destructive energy occurs the aft of the warship suddenly explodes! It seems that the weapons fire from the Steelhaven managed to penetrate and hit several of the Decepticon warship's main power grid! The explosion that began from the aft continues towards the fore, consuming the ship's hull and everything within in a series of fiery ball of fire!

Annnnd the simulation ends!

Fortress Maximus can be seen once more standing at the center of the training chamber, somehow he got into his robotic mode while all the firework was happening, "Well done, everyone. For some of you, this was a breeze in the park, for others, perhaps it was a harrow experience. However at least now you all have a taste of what is to come in the days ahead of us." The expression on the Headmaster commander's face goes grim as he looks around at the volunteers, "Remember, this was only a simulation. The real deal almost never works out this amicably. I hope all take the time between now and deployment to familiarize yourself with the nuances of starship combat, it may be the difference between victory or death."

Sideswipe blinks, and looks up at Fortress Maximus, "Uhm, deployment? What Deployment?

Ultra Magnus takes side by Maximus, standing tall and handing out congratulations to all the participants. "All things considered, they did a phenominal job Maximus." he whispers aside, so as none of the others who were berated could hear.

Wheeljack almost immeadiately holds up his hand. "If I promise not to blow it up can I retool the real Steelhaven's cooling subsystems to vent thermal energy as a deterent measure like that?"

Fortress Maximus' current form begins to reconfigure itself, shrinking in size, and he eventually emerges in his robotic form.

First Aid looks away from the defensive controls towards the view screen as the Decepticon warship explodes. He knows it isn't really going to be that easy when the actual time comes. Once the simulation ends, Aid stands up again. "No melting, either," he shoots at Wheeljack, "Or burning, or short circuiting, or fizzling, or malfunctioning, or exploding." You'd think 'exploding' and 'blow it up' are counted as the same thing, but no. There are subtle differences.

Perceptor nods in response to Wheeljack's suggestion. "Yes, I would recommend the same."

"Lemme help with the shake n' bake," Sit-Com says.