The Search For Rodimus

Northern Mirrored Plains

This is the horizontal equivalent of the vertical Razor Ridges: a vast, flat landscape made up of a single, slightly rippled, mirrored surface. White-hot sunlight beats down from above and is also reflected from below. There is no protection anywhere from the temperatures that are high enough to boil away internal fluids, the solar radiation that is playing havoc with one's sense of direction and mental clarity, and the painful light that seems to be exploding against the inner surface of unprotected optics. The hazy mirage of a building out in the middle of the monotonous terrain provides a possible temporary haven, if it's not a mirage...

Outside, "Hn. 'member. Us gotta be FAST."

So says Grimlock as he tromps across Charr's barren landscape. He has his optic visor narrowed against the glaring, hellish light- and occasionally glances down to the datapad clutched in his hand. "Hnn. This where him signal stop." he says to the unlikely crew he's gathered for this mission. Grimlock doesn't like being here- for any number of reasons. Circumstances make it even worse.

Outside, "Fast is Me Sludge's middle name!" the Mecha-Brotosaurus pipes in while galavanting along with his fearless leader. "But uhh, Me Sludge not know what last name is. Hey, Grimlock ... what last name?" he questions, keeping pace and stomping with all the careless abandon in the world.

Jayson Redfield doesn't like being here, either. But he's willing to tolerate it for Rodimus's sake. At this time, as he follows after Grimlock, he has his goggles lowered over his eyes in an attempt to reduce the severity of the outside light, which is bright even when shown on his sensors. He comes to a stop and scans the area, then, without a word for the moment, he heads off to the side and directs the exo to pick something off the reflective ground. It's a piece of Rodimus's armor. "Aw, man," he breathes. "Prime...where *are* you..."

Outside, Reidan steps out ito the shuttle and starts, blinking. He stares through the viewscreen at the others "... They really need to warn me when they hijack me." he utters.

Outside, Exo-Suit 5385 Starknight Spare  bounds along the surface, a little clunky for ground operations but probably a better match for the hostile environment than the ARES. When Jayson stops, Sam catches up fairly quickly. "Found something?" the engineer inquires over the radio.

Outside, "Us not -HAVE- last names. 'less last name is 'Dinobot.' or somethings." a pause. "IS NOT IMPORTANT NOW." he says, and then looks out over the barren desolation- then glances around. "Hnn. This is where him Roddy-mus signal go out." he says, looking around. "Me Grimlock say look for clues!" he says, and then sets about doing so himself!

Considering Grimlock's optics are nearly 40 feet off the ground, this is a bit harder than one would expect.

Outside, Not yet noticing Reidan, Jayson turns the Pegasus toward the Starknight, showing Sam the bit of metal that he discovered. "A piece of Prime's armor," he transmits. "It's not much, but it's a start."

Outside, Reidan takes up a seat in the shuttles' seat to peer out the window, relaxing as he crosses one ankle over his knee to observe the others.

Outside, Unlike his boss, Sludge's noodle is able to closer inspect the ground. And he's doing such, walking akwardly in a sweeping pattern with legs splayed out to account for the swaying neck. "Oh, him Grimlock smart. Maybe that's why him in lead?" he observes, still scanning the ground for signs of Rodimus Prime.

Outside, A 'little' tape is something of hardly any consequence, so a tape-con is never difficult to take around, even when Blaster isn't around. Steeljaw unfolds from his cassette form when the transport he was bumming a ride off reaches the surface of the planet. And instantly he's regretting it.

"The glare here is horrible, it's almost shorting my visual circuits," He rumbles, shaking his head a little bit. "Other senses are working fine. Give me a moment." Lowering his head to the ground, he starts to sniff, working his way towards the center of where the signal was lost.

Outside, From Exo-Suit 5385 Starknight Spare , Sam frowns, something hidden by his suit's mirrored visor. "Grimlock, fight was here. Rodimus Prime ah.. arrived here alone, or there were others?"

Outside, Grimlock hnnns, and looks over at Sam. "Says here him Rodimus go on him own." he taps at the datapad again, and grunts. "That STUPID." this said, he looks over at Jayson. "You find piece? Hnn. What color am it? Am it IMPORTANT piece? Or just, like, him wing-thingies on him back?" he grumbles s'more, and then looks over at Steeljaw. "What you find?"

Outside, "Could just be a piece of the wing," Jayson emits. "It's hard to tell." He scans some more, the sensors settling on Steeljaw and allowing him to watch the lionbot.

Outside, Mecha-Brontosaurus  finds some refuse that he promptly noses through. "No him Roddymus here Grimlock!"

Outside, Exo-Jet Apollo  drops out of the sky above and then transforms into robot mode. "Decepticon sensors everywhere," James warns over the Exo's external speakers. "And my sensors show at least one orbital sensor in the process of retasking. That's probably how they spotted him in the first place."

Outside, Reidan blinks and reaches forwards, eyes on the screen as he fiddles with the radio...

 Reidan says, "Jayson, just a few steps to your left, I saw something tilt up out of the sand as you landed. Its very well hidden."  Sergeant Jayson Redfield says, "...What are you even *doing* here?"  Reidan says, "I was in the back doing inventory and expiry date check on the emergency survival rations."  Sergeant Jayson Redfield says, "...Oh. Uh, sorry, bro."  Reidan says, "no harm done."  Reidan says, "... Bro."  Sergeant Jayson Redfield says, "Heh heh."

Outside, Steeljaw stops for a moment, nose as close down to the ground as it can get without actually touching it. He sniffs it carefully for a few seconds. Almost meticulously. He's serious about his scents, yo!

"Hm. Rodimus's scent was here," He mutters, starting to walk again. Slowly, as if moving too fast would make him lose the trail. "Blast Off was here as well. Probably under considerable weight." A pause rests on one of the tread marks leading away from the site. How'd they miss those? The glare must be making everyone fail their spot checks. "I'm picking up a number of other scents too. A number of decepticons. Redshift, Catechism, Fusion." ... "But also..." Another pause.

Then abruptly, the metal lion takes a step back, looking absolutely bewildered.

 Sam says, "Interesting. There is hazardous environment survival equipment on shuttle. Charr is er.. not hospitable. Use caution if forced to evacuate to surface."

Jayson Redfield lifts a hand off the exo's controls, gently touching his earpiece with his fingers. "To the left...?" He turns the Pegasus's sensors and notices something sticking out of the ground. He approaches and picks it up, then peers over at Steeljaw questioningly. "What's up, dude?"

Outside, Grimlock just sort of...facepalms at Sludge. Well, at least the big guy's having a good time, and he's better company than Slag. But, back to the matter at hand!" Also...whut?" Grimlock asks of Steeljaw. He hmms, and looks over out at the horizion once again. "Them septi-cons prolly capture him Roddy-mus. Me no think is 'nuff parts layin' round if him dead." he grunts. Maybe he's been hanging around Nightbeat. Or maybe he's being an optimist!

 James Bailey says, "That's not going to happen. We bring these Exos for a reason." He pauses and then adds deliberately. "Isn't that right, kid?"  Reidan says, "I gathered. I have no intentions of exiting the shuttle unless ... forced."  Reidan says, "And there is also a few regular spacesuits for those of us unqualified to pilot exosuits"  Sergeant Jayson Redfield chirps, "Right!"

Outside, From Exo-Suit 5385 Starknight Spare <Sam>, Sam turns toward Grimlock. "Possibility also is incapacitated, not captured. Should widen search."

<EDC> Reidan says, "Luckily the shuttles are all equipped with two."

Outside, Mecha-Brontosaurus <Sludge> is still busy rooting through the garbage, hoping to show up the tracker with a good find. So far he's found nothing, but garbage.

Outside, Steeljaw coughs, which might just be a way for him to clear his sensors. Because he lowers his nose again to get a closer sniff. Only to pull his head back abruptly, like someone went spritzed him with vineger.

Turning his head a bit to look at the others, the cat somehow manages to look a bit disturbed. Which is saying something for him. "I smell something that smells like Optimus Prime," He mutters, voice lowered respectfully.

Turning his head back, he takes another long sniff. "And Wheeljack, and Ironhide..."

Jayson Redfield stares at Steeljaw. He's not one to doubt the lion's senses, but something just doesn't feel right about this. "Are you sure?" Well, stranger things have happened, he supposes.

Outside, Reidan falls silent and settles back on his seat, continuing to watch. He had little else to do.

Outside, From Exo-Suit 5385 Starknight Spare <Sam>, Sam turns slowly back to Steeljaw. "Er.. certain..?"

Outside, Grimlock doesn't seem too impressed with Steeljaw's analysis! "Thems is dead." he notes, and hmms, scratching at his helm. "Them septi-cons is using dead guys's guns n' stuff, member? Read re-ports. Is sciency stuffs." he hmms. "So...thems septi-cons find him Roddymus, n' shoot him with dead guy guns. Then..."

Grimlock tromps over towards the skid marks Blast Off seems to have left, and grunts. "Thems put him in spaceship. Hn."

Outside, "Maybe when them ded guy guns hit someone, they make him Roddymus dead?" Sludge exclaims from the pile, lifting his head up to rejoin the conversation.

Jayson Redfield hasn't been reading the Autobot reports lately, it seems. He blinks behind his goggles, falling silent for a moment. Then he remembers what Reidan pointed out to him, and then he approaches Grimlock, takes his hand, and puts a piece of charred shrapnel in it. "Here."

Outside, Exo-Jet Apollo <James Bailey> takes a few steps closer to where Steeljaw but halts before he can crowd the Autobot. "Do the Autobots have enough spaceworthy assets to track him? Or to maintain a blockade of Charr or Cybertron?"

Outside, "I know what I smell," Steeljaw replies cooly to the accusitions. Then snorts in a fashion that sounds more like a growl than anything else. "I smell SOMETHING of Optimus, Wheeljack and Ironhide here. Which means that they must be using THEIR weapons." His voice lowers down into a deeper growl at the concept of that sort of disrespect.

But he pulls himself together, tail flicking angrily behind him as he peers far up at Grimlock. "That is what I would theorize, yes."

Outside, Grimlock grunts at Bailey. "No." he says. "Me Grimlock say is too late anyways. Fight was while 'go." he nods, taking up the bit of shrapnel Jayeson has given him. "See? Shrapnel no warm." he grunts, and then stands back up.

"Me Grimlock no think us can do anythings right now-" except for leading a reckless charge against the Charr base with Sludge...except for those puny weak humies along for the ride. Jerks. "Us need get back to spaceship n' tell others. Me Grimlock gon' make PLANS."

Outside, From Exo-Suit 5385 Starknight Spare <Sam>, Sam hrms. "Decepticons very likely have functioning spacebridge, blockade likely ineffective."

Jayson Redfield activates the Pegasus's thrusters and takes to the air to get a better look around. He scans once more, slowly, taking in every detail of the terrain. All he sees are more traces of battle...and no sign of Rodimus save for the scattered bits of armor. He sighs in defeat and starts to descend.

Outside, Usually Steeljaw would be all for plans. But this time? Well, he'd probably just like to go rip out some Decepticons vocal circuits right now. He glares up at Grimlock, tail flickering a few more times in agitation. Then simply huffs a little, before setting out to sniff around for whatever other clues or hints he might be able to find at least until the transport is ready to go.