HOC: Koriolis - Prelude

Another day, another mission, another...set of paperwork. Elita One hems and haws over the bureacratic part of her job. Some leaders knew the importance of the reports, the analysis. She was one. Some leaders seemed to enjoy it. She was not one. Elita One speaks to the data recorder set up, "Final estimate is that the Cons possibly lost no forces aside from Triggerhappy, Autobots currently are listing Blades as MIA, no major damage to note. Combat leaders Sky Lynx and myself suffered minor damage, and will be repaired shortly. Elita One out..."

As Elita One is filing reports, Blurr is anxious to discuss the next phase of the plan with her. The failure at Cuprahex was, needless to say, a major disappointment.

Quite suddenly, the courier is standing in front of the fem's desk, waiting (im)patiently for her attention. "Wait...BladesisMIA?" The reversion to near-unintellibly fast speech is a sign of how agitated he is.

Elita One startles as Blurr is suddenly right there. Not enough to comically fall out of her chair, but enough to elicit a reaction. "Blurr!" She pauses, reasserting herself, "Knock next time, Blurr...and yes, at the moment, Blades hasn't been located. It seems he and Triggerhappy crashed through the first shuttle's hull and disappeared down below. Of course the real reason is that the animators forgot to include him after the commercial break but that would be breaking the fourth wall again. She puts her hand up, "Easy. It'll be some time before either side has control of what's left of Cuprahex, so we've got plenty of time to keep scouting for him. We'll find him. Primus knows he's a tough one."

Blurr nods, sighing. "I know...I'm sorry. I guess I'm just wound up about it. I just feel like we put so much effort into that operation only to have it slip through our servos...." he sits down, looking dejected for a moment, before peering back up at her. "You think we could try to salvage ? There's got to be something of value Shockwave missed, maybe an auxiliary data storage bank, or--or..." he trails off, stopping himself so that he doesn't start off one of those long-winded rants composed of words that all run together and would be impossible if he actually had to stop to breathe, but of course he doesn't.

Elita One wordlessly gestured to the seat beside him. "Ravage was on-site. He's the Cons cleaner of late. If things had fallen differently, maybe we could've gotten something out of it. If your team, not that any of you did anything less than an exceptional job, could've taken the reactor room instead of blowing the conduit, maybe we could've found a way to repair and reactivate the shield until reinforcements arrived. If Shockwave hadn't ordered Ravage to scuttle the banks, perhaps we could've salvaged something. Remember, even when you were on site originally Ravage was there to blow the computer banks. They're hiding something of significant importance." She pauses, "Which is why we need to press forward. We're going into the rust storms, I'll be asking Horsepower and Perceptor to help with an armor coat to help protect the inbound team, but it can't be a large force obviously. There's an abandoned bolt hole there that should have access to another security line."

Blurr nods, synthesizing a sigh. "Think this one will be easier to get at?" he mutters. "I know, rust storms, and all that, but at least it won't be shielded. Maybe the weather will be all we'll have to deal with."

"We'll still have to look for Blades, though...I can go rifle through the ruins of Nightsiege."

Elita One nods, "The Protectobots are taking care of their own, Blurr. Hot Spot will be on site shortly, and I trust no other Bot to do as thourough a job as he. Twin Twist was still on site from beforehand as well, they'll find him." She changes the subject, "As for Koriolis, it'll be a smaller venture, for sure, and no broad full-scale assaults, but those that go will be challenged by the weather itself. On the bright side, if there are any Con patrols, and I venture there will be since Shockwave is on to me now." She sighs as well, "They will have the same issues at hand. It'll be a fight of agility, not of armor. You and I hold the advantage there. Unfortunately, driving there will not be easy either, as there are few roads that aren't mired in sand and rust. Another small bonus is that I doubt any aerial patrols will be able to see us from too great a distance, as the storm will give cover."

"You've got a point, there." Blurr smirks slightly, looking a bit more hopeful this time. "Well you know that both of us have got the agility thing down like Proteus' Promise. Heh. Mired in sand and rust is for people with wheels." he chuckles. And wheels are overrated, of course.

But then he frowns slightly. "Wait, Shockwave is onto us? As in he knows what we're after already?"

Elita One muses, "I am sure he knows something if not exactly. He saw the security spike, he's incredibly talented at surmising goals. It probably took less than a decicycle for him to put together Magnaron and Cuprahex. Our advantage is that there are other areas we can spike into, he can't simply reinforce all of them with a lot of firepower, so the Decepticon forces will be spread thin." Elita kindly ignores Blurr's remark. She DOES have wheels, which is weird because her altmode is supposed to be Cybertronian, but there you go.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that." Blurr mutters, not liking the thought of it. But underestimating Shockwave is worse than simply facing the fact that he is very good at drawing accurate conclusions based on what he does know. Fortunately for them, his knowledge or speculation of it won't help that much, since as Elita said, there are enough of them that he couldnt simply fortify every single one. "So, this node in the Koriolis, where is it exactly? Is it underground, in the air, or on the surface? And how far are we going to have to go to get to it? Could we take a shuttle there from orbit or is that too dangerous?"

Elita One considers the questions, "I haven't decided on the best way to get there, but its needless to say that the less time we spend in the open, the better. The problem is my main forte is underground work, and that entire area underground is incredibly dangerous. I've pinpointed the actual node, as I said, it's in a bolthole, perhaps at one point in time it was a security access point, I really don't know. It's been surrounded by rust and corrosion for ages. I do believe its still operational. My main concern is that the Decepticons may simply try to blow the place and deny access."

"Then we have to make sure they have no idea where we're planning to strike next..." Blurr continues. "I suppose any way we decide to take down there is going to be dangerous, but is this network going to be more dangerous than the surface or the air?"

Elita One gives that a moment, then nods. "Yes. I believe so, at the very least, we could attempt to drop in and scout the area. An armor coat would help delay any rust corrosion, but we couldn't keep a shuttle on site, the turbines or hoverpads would be too delicate to keep in the air for long. Underground we couldn't trust any step we took. Areas as fragile as Terran wood interspersed with large holes where rust has eaten away at Cybertron...Going down there would be a nightmare even for me, Blurr."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Better than rusting away on the surface, though, right?" Blurr isn't too fazed by the idea. Sure, Elita One is more agile than most Autobots, but compared to him? This should be a walk in the Helix Gardens for him....right? "Still, it'll be dangerous--we'll need a small squad. You and I...and maybe one other. I don't think we'll have to worry about heavy 'Con resistance if any at all. If it's as hellish as you're making it out to sound, I doubt very many of them would want to venture down there."

<p class="MsoNormal">Elita One rubs a hand on her face, facepalming "Blurr, I'm telling you. You don't want to go down there. It wouldn't bother the Cons so much, but most of us don't have flight or hover capability. Even your hoverjets might be enough to crack entire plates of rusted metal, and then you'd fall as well." She closes her optics for a moment, "I'll work out the plans, it sounds like you want in, so I'll ensure you get a briefing when it gets done. Your opinions and concern are noted but I need to get back to finishing this last report and assessment for Intel before I go onward."

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr nods, standing. "Yeah, I guess I'll let you get back to the grind." he says, as he turns toward the door. But he stops momentarily, glancing over his shoulder at her. "You know, this is weird because other people are always the ones telling me this, but you could really use some time to vent your ducts. I can tell. Next time you have at least a cycle or two, let me know. Drinks on me." he chuckles, giving her one of those charming smiles that he used to sport in front of the cameras back before the war. "See ya, 'Lita."