Mission Mechanus: Briefing

Iacon Plain

The bright, golden light of Prima Facie and Altera lend this huge section of unbroken surface a soft glow, even through the thick layer of ground metal dust and debris that covers it. The flat, metallic plain continues as far as the

optic to see, only to be broken in the distance by the broken ruins of a once great city. Like a Phoenix, the city of Iahex once rose from the ashes of Iacon,

and like that same Phoenix, Iahex has once more burned itself out in the fires of war, returning again to ashes. Still, this dreary region of destruction and promises broken has an expectant quality to it, a waitfulness.

The Phoenix's cycle is never-ending.

Overseeing the hard labor here at the Iacon ruins was work in itself, Impactor reflects.. tilted back in the seat. Inside the hastily constructed 'office', the

Wrecker leader pours over activity reports of the area. On one side, he's assembled a listing of active duty clean bill of health grunts.. the other side full of Intelligence operatives in good standing. In the middle is a bunch of scrawled lines, some scribbled out.

Paperwork however, was never Impactor's bag.. eventually growing bored and pacing the 'office'. It's not until he hears the new arrivals outside, does Pacman storm out the dwelling and out towards the wreckage.

Paperwork isn't Warpath's bag, either. He's all brawn. "Wham, BANG, let's get this mess cleaned up!" he says. He's already got some piles of rubble sorted and

ready for carting away. "We'll have this place back in shape in no time!"

The tank splits down the middle, then rises up. The treads separate into legs and arms pop out of the sides. The head comes out of the top of the tank. It's Warpath!

Sandstorm was often very glad that his line of work, save the necessary report or such, was very light on 'paperwork'. As is he's sitting on top of one of the piles of cleared rubble, its height giving him a rather nice view of the area around them. Makes a good lookout post, he's decided. He's got his blaster at hand, but it's just resting in his lap with one hand on the grip, having not needed it recently.

At the sound of Impactor stomping out he looks down and gives a brief waving salute and a smirk. "There you are Boss. Was wonderin' how long you'd put up with being couped up. All's quite out here." Pauses at the crunch in the background of more rubble being tossed into the piles. "Other than the work, that is."

Decibel has been making trips between the clean up site, the Debris base and Earth for the past few days trying to keep up with all the new info flooding in and making sure it gets to the right people. Thankful to get out and away for a bit he makes the drive to the 'pit' transforming far enough away to enjoy a quiet walk to where a few makeshift buildings have been put up closer to the hole in the ground. Thinking it best to check in on the progress so far he heads

to the one marked as the office.

"Longer than yer last recon hike, I can tell ya that!" Impactor laughs to Sandstorm, stopping to check up on a couple of new recruits struggling with fallen rubble. Bending low, the Wrecker leader braces the middle of the 'chunk'.. while the other two support the sides, all heaving in unison to deposit it into the back end of a dumptruck.

One solemn nod, and Impactor is off to greet the rest of the party personally. "If you wanna get yer hands dirty right now, Path. Be mah guest, though we'll be

havin' ah sit down when Max decides ta grace us with his presence."

Sandstorm snickers a bit, but doesn't get a chance to respond before his radio crackles and he turns his attention to it for a moment, muttering in response now and then. Likely the other recon patrols checking in by the sound of it. "Speaking of which, it's still quiet out there," he reports back in the end. "..

Almost too quiet. But as long as they're leaving us alone for now so we can get work done."

The office is of course empty when Decibel arrives it's occupant having tired with paper pushing and gone walk about. Having figured on this result he tilts his head a bit taking a good listen the smiles and heads for the door on the opposite side of the structure. One good thing about Impactor and his fellow Wreckers is they tend to be easy to find given the noise level that usually follows in their wake. Exiting the office door Decibel gives a wave to those nearby, "How goes the hard labor?"

The dull hum of anti-grav generators can be heard from above, and if one were to

look up they'd find a large space craft in the process of landing in a clearing near the vicinity. Thankfully it's not the prelude to a Decepticon invasion though. It's actually just Fortress Maximus going through the process of making a nice and proper landing, having hauled construction equipment and building materials from one of the few Autobot outposts that still remains on Cybertron.

Landing struts extends from the ship's interior and slowly sets the bulk of the vessel down onto the ground. Cargo hatchs open, boarding ramps lowers, and equipments are hauled out on gravlifts by Autobot engineering teams who are tasked with working on the reconstruction efforts.

Fortress Maximus' voice can be heard being broadcasted from his external speakers, "I hope I didn't keep you fellahs waiting too long. I bring extra equipment, materials, and more importantly, a fresh set of crew to lend a helping hand."

"Seen werse in mah time, though it's still comin' long slowly." Impactor replies

to Decibel, giving Sandstorm a nod. "Hey, nothin' wrong with silent. That means bravo squads are doin' their jobs of keepin' tha Cons on their toes and distracted elsewhere."

The Wrecker leader strides over towards the camp, craning his neck to see Fortress Maximus' landing. "Bout time." is all he grumbles, taking a seat on a crate.

"So when are these piles going to be BLAM, melted down?" Warpath wonders, "I can't wait til this place gets all cleaned up properly. And maybe this time we can POW, build it so good that the Decepticons can't knock it down? Yeah, it's too quiet, maybe we should make some noise!"

"Damn right. I told 'em not to go looking for fights, but if they can pick a squabble with Cons wandering too close, go for it. Especially Seekers. Don't need them flyin' overhead." Sandstorm looks up and lifts his gun at the thrumming anti-gravs, but relaxes when he sees it's Fortress Maximus and not an impending attack. He pushes himself up from his seat with a hand and slides down

the side of the pile. "I think the work is making enough noise as it is Warpath," he remarks with a smirk, resting his blaster against a shoulder. "At least for now."

Nodding in polite reply Decibel waits on any further comments as Fortress Maximus arrives with supplies and additional support crews. Noting the bulk of his frame remaining parked to unload he instead greets Cerebros as he approaches

and then grabs a seat of his own. Not as comfortable as the one in his office this large slab of ferro concrete has one good point, Bumblebee can't adjust its

height.

Amongst the Autobots that disembarks from the cargo bays of Fortress Maximus are

Cerebros and Cog, who is most likely controlled by the big guy himself. The two can be seen assisting the Autobot engineers in unloading some of the larger equipments before breaking off and heading over to the rest of the gathered Autobots, leaving the rest of the task of unloading to the remaining crew.

Cerebros returns Decibel's greetings with a wave of his own, before Galen's voice can be heard coming from it, "Still out and about here in the construction

zone, Decibel?"

Meanwhile, Cog can be seen walking over to rest of the Autobots as well before Fortress Maximus' voice can be heard through the drone's mouth, "I apologize for

the delay, but it's to be expect what with how outdated my engines are. The output just isn't quite there anymore." The drone folds its arms across its chest as Fortress Maximus' voice continues, "So, what did you fellows wanted me here for?"

Decibel gives Cerebros a slight tired nod. "Here and about a dozen other places.

Was dead calm there for awhile but now the intel is coming in like waves and we've been busy sorting through it for anything worth looking into." Shifting a bit to stop the slab he's sitting on from rocking he looks over towards Cog waiting for the others to reply. Having only recently gotten back on site himself he really isn't sure why they were all asked out here himself.

Guessing which drone does what, and who is operating it, has always been a favorite past time of Impactor's. The Wrecker teeters on the edge of his seat, trying to figure out which one houses the Nebulon.. and which robotic component will creepily emit Fortress Maximus' voice. The riddle is soon solved, when Cog starts spouting his greeting. Or rather, the Headmaster Commander's greeting. You know.

"Yeah yeah, gather round Bots. There's ah reason I called this improptu meetin',

ah reason why we were watin' on Max here." Impactor informs the group, standing from his seat. "We're in ah bind Autobots, not that I gotta tell ya. We're strugglin' fer materials, our stock ain't gonna hold out much longer.. we've really borrowed all we can from tha Junks. At this rate, we'll prolly get 'er done round three cycles from now."

"Oh, wait.. I mispoke. Three VORN cycles to complete, give our current stock."

"And WOW, what a noise it is!" Warpath says. While noise of all kinds is music to his audios, Warpath prefers the sounds of explosions and construction. When Fortress Maximus asks, he gathers around with the rest. "Three vorns? BLAM, that's a pretty long time."

Sandstorm shunts his blaster to subspace, mainly so he can cross his arms over his chestplate. "Mispoke my exhaust. I see what you did there to make a point." He narrows his optics a bit at Impactor, just to emphasis the scrutiny. You work

with a mech long enough and you learn to read the signs, especially when you've got a keen optic for details. Though after the bit of barbing Sandstorm gets a bit more serious. "I take it that's including the estimates on what we're going to be able to reforge or recycle?" He doesn't really need to ask for himself, he's heard the workers grumbling about it being less of a turnout than hoped.

But someone has got to ask it in general.

"Estimates? That's including the fifty percent Sit-Com assured me we'd get back on tha wreckage." Impactor gruffs.

Impactor continues, "We're buildin' Iacon here, not Minicon."

Decibel does a bit of math in his head as the resource situation is commented on

and figures the estimate is close enough that it can do without correction to get a closer number. "Half this world can be recycled if we have to. I mean how many layers upon layers have we built over the years. We salvage a few other areas and we stop offering aid all over until we get ourselves set. We're stretched thin enough as is." Stopping he looks at Impactor and smirks. "But you

know all of that or you would not have called us all together. You are planning something, so spill it what are you thinking? And how much is it going to hurt?"

Cog would frown if only his expression would probably show from under his mouth plated face, "I'm still in the middle of negotiating trade treaties with a few alien worlds. The quality of the building materials that we're after isn't something that is found on most worlds. It seems us Cybertronians have developed

a terrible reputation for having advanced weapons technology to the rest of the inhabitants of the galaxy. I'm surprised how often our trade partners have requested us to share weapons technology with them. That is something that's completely out of the question."

Having said that though, Cog focus its attention back onto Impactor, "But you didn't summon us over to just give us the bad news, right?"

Sandstorm stifles back a laugh as Decibel calls out Impactor on scheming before he does it himself.

"My my, how well ya know me fellas." Impactor laughs, once again taking a seat. "Course I wouldn't waste yer time just givin' ya tha bad news, what kinda Bot would that make me? Well all things considered, I'm ah Wrecker.. first and foremost. But I digress, back on point."

Taking out his personal data-pad, Impactor forwards some files to those gathered. "I'm sendin' ya relevant files on hostile worlds we can.. how to put it, liberate the materials needed." Pausing to let them catch up, the Wrecker takes out his thermos of enerbrew and takes a swig.

"Bad news is, top 'o tha list is Mechanus. And quite possibly, the most viable. All tha others are offshoots at best, busts at werst."

Decibel expected as much from the Wrecker leader, why negotiate and hope when one can chew gum and liberate. Oddly enough Decibel is more onboard with that plan himself having had his fill of sitting and letting things happen instead of

getting everyone proactive for a change. Reviewing the data that gets sent he quickly comes to the same conclusions.

"Couldn't have found some safer places to relieve of their excess material goods

eh? Least it won't be boring trips if we follow through."

Sandstorm pulls out a padd as it beeps from getting the data transfer and looks at it. "..." Okay, peering between the datapad and Impactor, even Sandstorm is taken aback for a moment at what his commander is suggesting. And that's with being use to some of the off-the-wall plans this guy comes up with. "Right. Well, you know *I* ain't gonna have a problem with beating people up and taking stuff they don't deserve." He waves vagely at the other Autobots present, before

tucking the hand with the padd back under his other arm. "But you're probably gonna have to explain how we do this without lookin' like the Decepticons to everyone else. Some of them might not buy just 'because they're not happy with us'."

Save some of them are already agreeing, which makes him snicker a bit. "Com'n Deci. Where's the worth if you don't work for it a bit, eh?"

"So we're going to beat up Decepticons and POW, steal from them?" Warpath wonders. He sounds just a tiny bit confused.

"Most of tha worlds aren't inhabited, well.. by tha speakin' type. Most of the ones on tha list will be simple land and grab ops, avoidin' tha local wildlife ta get away with tha booty." Impactor replies to both Sandstorm and Decibel, a slight smirk playing across his features.

"But that'll only account fer one third of our needed materials. The better, but

riskier option, would be Mechanus.. which would kick in tha needed two thirds of

raw metals." the Wrecker advises.

"If worth having or doing, is worth fighting for, is what We Dinobots believe in." Swoop says, yes he's been here the whole time. Maybe you need your optics checked if don't notice Dinobot in the room? "Why not? Thwy take from us. We had first. We just takign back what our, in only language they know.""

Sandstorm jabs a thumb in Swoop's direction, betting it was just the same lack of attention that lets Snarl slip out of sight for extended periods of time. "See, this is why I like Dinobots."

Cog raises both optical grooves in surprise, "Mechanus?! Impactor, do you realize that entire planet poses an extreme threat to Cybertronian life?" He waggles a finger sternly, yep, waggling it. Ol' Maximus is in lecture mode now, "I can't in good conscious authorize a raid on Mechanus, it's much too dangerous. Materials can be obtained in other places, eventually everything can be done in due time. We can't, however, replace lost lives." Cog resumes folding

his hands across his chest in disapproval, "And something as reckless as assaulting Mechanus would very much be us throwing away precious Autobot lives." Decibel grins and nods as Swoop joins in and thinks they may be on to something.

Then Cog speaks up voicing the thoughts of Fortress Maximus getting all parental

on the group. "Two thirds you say? That's almost too good to pass up even if it is risky. Of course I can probably whip up a few things to bring along to boost our survivability a bit and if we send the right people it should minimize risk as well."

"That's tha fightin' spirit!" Impactor cheers Swoop on, who appeared out of no where. Or was he there the whole time, that sneaky ninja dinosaur!

When Fortress Maximus finally responds via Cog, the Wrecker leader develops a scowl across his face. "I know tha odds, and I say it's worth tha risk! One stop

at Mechanus, and we'll be set.. relaxed back on neutral, hell. The base would pratically build itself!"

"So BLAM, why are we afraid of this Mechanus guy?" Warpath wants to know, "Doesn't sound so ZAP, tough to me!"

Oooh boy. Someone's gone into lecturing mode on Impactor. This isn't going to turn out well. "Y'know, the fact that we'd be weakening such a threat by removing their resources should count for something. Just sayin'.." Sandstorm scoots a

little off to the side. Brave as he may be, he doesn't want to be between two big hitters if they start arguing with more than words. More likely in Impactor's case than Maximus... but he's seen what the big guys is capable of. The shuffle brings him closer to Warpath, so he leans over and explains to the minibot in a voice that juuust doesn't qualify for whispering. "No Mecanus is the name of the planet. It's the Mecannibals that live on it, they eat metal and

robots, -that- is what people are uptight about."

Cerebros gives Sandstorm a look as the triplechanger's comment offers incentive for him to bring the point home, "An entire world of enemies presents a much deadlier threat to an assault team than a fortified Decepticon outpost." Having said that, Cog returns his visored, mouth plated, face to bear on Impactor and Decibel, "The quick and 'easy' path is often filled with concealed perils. I forbid this from mission from taking place." Uh oh. Fortress Maximus is pulling ranks now, but it's too bad he's doing so in his far less intimidating form.

-20 points on the intimidation factor. Too bad. So sad.

"You got tha gall to shoot our only hope down buster, you do it in person!" Impactor roars at the drone, whether or not Galen might be inside it's metallic shell.

"Desperate times call fer desperate measures, thought you of all people would know that Max." the Wrecker gruffs. "But I guess we can pack up ship and run away, tail tucked tween our legs."

Uh oh, the kid gloves are off!

Shaking his head Decibel crosses his arms and comments, "No surprise you don't want to pick up a blaster and make the tough call. Better to hope we can talk our way into some resources than getting dirty to get them."

He sighs and paces a bit as he continues.

"Look we're getting beaten all over the place. Thunderwings steals some of our fellows and forces them into those shells, the Cons take over the city then the planets forcing us back into holes and they rape Mexico while we sit on our afts. Now Rodimus and the others are taking some time away, and maybe that's for

the best as they called for the same actions you are Maximus. And that's no action. If we don't get off our rumps we're gonna loose this war. Time to put up

or shut up."

"No so whats so hard. Hit mechannicbles hard and fast. Go down cut through swarms get what needs and get to drop point. Straight line of action." Swoop speaks up in his simplistic direct way of thinking.

Cerebros has been very much a spectator like the rest of the other Autobots up until now. It's a good thing that Galen is actually Cerebros' head, otherwise his ears would be ringing if he had Impactor roaring at him. Things are starting

to turn ugly though and the Nebulan controlled Autobot reluctantly steps in between Impactor and the drone that's being remote controlled by Fortress Maximus, "Hey look, I know you're all concerned about the progress of Iacon -and- the well being of our own, but let's try to keep it civil." He then gives Decibel a pained look after listening to the Intel CO's two cents on the matter,

"This isn't helping either, Decibel."

"Don't speak ta us 'bout ours, Galen." Impactor snidely remarks, arms crossing over his chest. "Looks like I've got tha pull, what do ya have to say Maxi? Or are ya too busy figurin' out ways to bury yer head in tha sand ta come up with a

good counter point?"

So much for this saying a nice quiet discussion. Sandstorm just shrugs his shoulders a bit, you don't really need to ask where he's going to side. "It's not that we don't appreciate your concern, big guy... But they're right. It's the sort of situation where we need to start considering less... easy methods. No, it probably wouldn't be a pretty operation." He pauses, thumping a fist to his chestplate. "But if it means setting up a strong point for the future of this faction here, some of us are more than willing to take the risk." There's a pause, and he turns his head a bit to peer in Impactor's direction. "Hey, ease back the throttle a little boss. As much as I agree with ya, even I think you're getting a bit sharper than necessary there."

Decibel snorts and steps away a bit, but not for long. "Look I'll agree we need to be civil, we're all on the same side here after all. But frak it all Maximus look at us. We have a literal hole in the ground as our base if we don't count the Debris outpost. A hole! Our biggest defense up here, Omega supreme, is guarding a friggin' city nobody gives a turbo-rats behind about instead of helping us out. We have to do something and if that something is a few volunteers risking life and limb to procure some results then what the heck it's

worth a shot."

"Oh," Warpath says, "Well in that case, we'd better BLAM em before they POW, eat

us!" If he didn't have a face plate, he might look somewhat worried.

Cog narrows its optic band as Impactor raises his tone on the short remote controlled drone before looking over to Cerebros, "Stay out of this, Galen." Having said that Fortress Maximus rarely heard deep dry tone is spoken, slow but

stern, as the remote controlled drone shifts his attention back to the Wrecker leader, "Choose your next few words wisely, Impactor. You're standing at a fine line between voicing your opinion and outright insubordination. Let there be no mistake. I -will- have you brigged should you pursue this course of action any further."

As the other Autobots voices their legitimate concerns on the matter, Cog turns its head over to each and everyone of them before giving them the death glare (Shameless plug! http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathGlare)... which

just really doesn't have the same effect as having Fortress Maximus himself personally doing it.

Pity.

As Cog channels the glare that is the anger of Fortress Maximus, Decibel knows that for this round the battle is lost. Maximus has made up his mind and it seems there is no way to alter it now and further arguing will only cause hard feelings. They had their fair and balanced debate and now the verdict has been given. Decibel can understand that and lets the matter drop even if he doesn't agree. Giving Cog a return nod that says 'I don't agree with you but you are the

bot in charge' he moves a few steps away hoping cooler heads will prevail.

"I still say sending the Dinobots to munch them before they munch us would be a fine idea," Sandstorm more or less agrees with Swoop. Then lifts fingers to the side of his head as his radio crackles again. "As much as I would loooove to stick around and continue this... discussion." Not really. Not much of a discussion anymore, either, but I degress. "I've got word on of our patrols ran into a bit of trouble and needs backup. 'Scuse me while I go bail them out." The

Wrecker turns and springs off, using one of the scrap piles to dart up and get a

bit more elevation before transforming and taking off.

Staring the drone right back, Impactor is unflinching as the end-all be-all ultimatum and threat is delivered, via Cog. Even with the smaller stature and lack of presence, the message is in no way diminished.

The intimidation works it's magic on the Wrecker leader.. but not in the way intended.

"Oh trust me Max, I choose all mah werds carefully." 'Kiloton' replies, a wry grin creeping across his mouth. "You can take this post from me, you can take the duty and responsibility as well. You can take and take until I'm nothing left, but Impactor." he grits out, teetch clenched and grinding off eachother.

"But in the end, we're no different.. you and I. All 'cept one big thing, I'm not satisfied by stickin' to tha status quo. Where has that got us so far? Here.

A big hole in the ground and another pacifistic dolt of a giant for our 'guardian'. Well tell ya what, big bot. You keep reachin' fer that good fer nothin' hippie ideal, me? I'm going to actualy DO something bout this dicament."

Striding off, Impactor turns around to give Cog a menacing glare. "You ever get tired of runnin' way from all our problems?" he muses. "Guess not, once a coward.. always ah coward."

"I don't run away from MY problems, BLAM, thank you very much!" Warpath interjects. "Who's running away from SPLAT, what problems?"

Cog lets out a vented sigh, to the surprise of visible surprise of Galen who is in control of Cerebros. Looks like biological habits are still to rub off on Fortress Maximus. Soon the remote controlled drone begins walking back towards its main body, but not before leaving a small fist indentation into the side of a ruined building along the way. Cerebros follows along shortly, probably with the intent to try to smooth things out.

Eventually Cerebros and Cog both disappears into the main body of Fortress Maximus, who promptly transports back into his robotic mode and broadcasts on Autobot broadband channel, << Impactor. Brig. NOW. >>

Looks like Galen's attempt at diffusing the situation backfired. Daaaaah.