Chapter 9 - Fumbling In The Dark

Ankmor

Roadtrain was tired. He'd been on the move for the past two days without much rest and his energy levels were almost at zero. Even though he was back in Decepticon controlled territory, he still didn't much like the idea of shutting down and going into a forced stasis out in the open. And anyway, he had news to deliver. News that he dared not transmit, incase anyone else was listening in. There was a spy in the withered team of Decepticons, and it hurt to know that one of the few flyers he actually liked was the spy. Who knew how much information she'd gotten away with? It wasn't something he wanted to dwell on, but he had to. Logistics was his chief task in life, and for the Autobots to know what he's transporting unnerved him severely. Flimsy armour and no weapons didn't bode well against even a single Autobot. Unless he was bigger and stronger than said Autobot. He shunned the ever-present prospect of being torn apart to one side. He wondered how Krusher would take the news. Would he even believe him? Knowing Krusher and his stubborness, more than likely not.

As he approached the main gates, he started to slow. The red light above the automated gates was flashing lazily and erratically. Whisps of black smoke curled into the air from beyond the wall. Roadtrain braked to a stop, heavily abused brakes squeeking somewhat as they halted his bulk from moving any further forward. After a moment, he shifted from vehicle mode and into robot mode, the pale cab of the alien truck splitting open and repositioning itself as torso armour. Roadtrain carefully approached the sealed gates and scrutinized every inch of the faceless metal. He approached the small radio that was built into one side of the frame and depressed the button there. There was a crackle of static then the line went dead. Roadtrain grunted and hefted a long, thin slice of metal that was lay wedged within a mound of haphazardly stacked debris. He inspected it, rotating it in his hands. He then forced one end between the two closed gates and heaved, his feet sliding on the strange, metallic ground as he fought to pry the gates open. He snarled something unintelligable and the gates finaly gave a low metal moan and something within the frame buckled, eventually breaking under the pressure. The gates opened a crack. Roadtrain halted his efforts as his vision wavered and his arms went temporarily limp. He sank to his knees and let the charred metal bar drop to the ground with a dull clang.
''Oh man...'' He wheezed. ''I need a drink.''
He looked through the crack between the gates that he'd opened up and froze. He could just about see the main entrance. And it'd been blown in, taking half the front wall with it.
''What the slag happened here?'' He mumbled and hauled himself to his feet again.
He swayed for a moment on the spot, then gripped either edge of each gate and heaved. The gates moaned and rolled a little further back into their recesses. The resulting gap was just big enough for him to squeeze through.

He walked carefully toward the remains of the main entrance, stepping over debris as he moved. He slowly stuck his head inside. All was dark. Not even the flicker of an emergency light. A small glow caught his optic. He carefully made his way to where it was comming from. Energon dribbled across the floor, leading off in one direction. Roadtrain hesitated for a moment then proceeded to follow the trail of vital fluids. There was a low, electronic moan and he froze in mid-step. He surveyed his immediate surroundings again, scrutinizing every corner, every small crater. Nothing. There was another low moan, and he concentrated on it, pairing it with other vocal clips that he kept stashed away in his data banks. It was Steele. Roadtrain rounded the corner and found the Constructicon, Energon dripping slowly and rythmically from a neat slice in the side of his abdominal armour. He lay at an awkward angle, head tilted back, dull red optics staring at the dark ceiling.
''Steele? What in the name of Primus happened here?!'' He asked as he knelt down beside his felled comrade.
''Autobotzzzz...'' Steele muttered, sparkz leaping from his mouth.
His gaze fell limply onto Roadtrain.
''They cut off our power then attacked.''
''How many?''
''All of them.'' Steele hissed. ''They were all over us. Deadmetal, Raid, Gundog, Blue Falcon-- All of them!''
''Woah, ok. Calm down or you'll bust a gasket or something.'' Roadtrain muttered. ''Where're the others?''
''Krusher's in the main command chamber. Hookshot, in the hallway. Jetstream's still away.'' He mumbled.
''Yeah, I know where she is.'' Roadtrain grunted quietly.
''Whut?''
''Never mind. I'll explain later.''
The old transportation chief then proceeded to heave Steele to his feet, with much difficulty.

''Let's get you into the medibay.'' He grunted as he half walked, half dragged the Constructicon away.
Halfway down the adjoining hallway, they did indeed encounter Hookshot. The much larger Constructicon was in worse shape than his smaller partner, and his optics were dark. Roadtrain propped Steele up against the wall, and he sank down into the twisted remains of a seat. Roadtrain prodded Hookshot in the side with a foot and nearly fell over backwards. Once he'd reclaimed his balance, he gave another prod with his foot and grunted something unintelligable. Hookshot's optics flared to life behind their protective lenses. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing but static and electric hissing came forth.
''How bad's the damage? Superficial, or internal?'' Roadtrain asked gruffly.
He so badly needed to take a stasis nap, otherwise he'd collapse then and there.
''Hrrrrnnnnnnnzzzzz.....'' Was his reply.
''Hey! No goin' offline on me, gottit? I ain't facing that miserable bucket of bolts on me own!'' Roadtrain growled and administered a much firmer kick to Hookshot's person when his optics threatened to go dark.
''Uhn... Huh...'' Hookshot gave a feeble nod and struggled into a sitting position with Roadtrain's help.
''Wait here. I'll be back in a moment...'' Roadtrain muttered.
He turned around and grabbed ahold of Steele's arm and hefted him back to his feet.
''C'mon...''
With a grunt, both bots ambled awkwardly toward the nearest door. Roadtrain pushed the door open, thankful that it hadn't been locked shut like the majority of the other doors on base. He let go of Steele just inside the door, and the Constructicon promptly shuffled his way over to the work bench and started sorting through the assortment of medical tools, all the while trying not to fall over.
''Try and get him as far as the first table, Roady.'' Steele said as Roadtrain made his way back to Hookshot.

Roadtrain stopped before Hookshot. He swayed on the spot, his vision wavering temporarily as he sorted through his systems. He shut down his scanning systems and decided that hauling Hookshot's bulk wouldn't require much use of his primary balancing system. Before he shut off his balancing sytem, he grabbed Hookshot by either arm. He locked optics with him and he twisted a tired grin.
''You ready for this?'' He huffed.
Hookshot nodded numbly and a few sparks flew from his long neck, rivulets of Energon forming at his neck base. Roadtrain then shut down his primary balancing system. He kept a firm grip on Hookshot as the world around him spun. Lack of perfect balance coupled with extreme fatigue threatened to down the old mech. Instead he heaved with all his remaining might. Hookshot made an effort too, and together the severely damaged Constructicon was being dragged toward the open door of the medibay by a mech that was much smaller than he. Inside the medibay, Steele was making quick repairs to his own wounds, ignoring the minor cuts and dents, and trying his damndest to seal up the charred and Energon stained holes and slices in his armour. He looked up at the sound of metal grating against metal, and grunts and swearing. Roadtrain made it as far as the nearest repair table then collapsed in a heap with Hookshot.
''If I ain't back online.... 'fore th' boss is, give this.... To 'im....'' Roadtrain awkwardly reached a hand behind his head and fumbled about for the tiny slot that had suddenly become apparent there. He pulled a small, flat silvery disc from the slot and held it out for Steele.
''What is it?'' Steele asked carefully as he fumbled through the dark, his night vision outlining all objects in a mulititude of colours for him to see by.
''It's... The truth... 'Bout Jets-'' Roadtrain's optics then went dark as his body forced him into stasis.
Steele picked up the small data disc and turned it carefully over in his fingers. He put it away in a specialised compartment within the toughest panels of his armour and set about rigging Hookshot up to the life support systems, which was a task easier said than done when the patient was lay on the floor and the room was in the dark. It was just a relief that the only thing that wasn't rigged up to the main power supplies for the base was the medical equiptment.

Once he'd sorted Hookshot out, he looked down at Roadtrain, who partially pinned beneath the crane. Steele shook his head and instantly regretted it as black and white dots danced infront of him.
''Think I might leave 'em there. Doin' no harm...'' He muttered to himself. ''Best go see what Krusher's damage is.''
He then hobbled toward the door with a fistfull of potentially useful tools.



Gygax

Speeder was zipping around the Space Bridge, intricate tools in hand. His tyres squeeled slightly as he skated into a neat pivot when someone called his name. He looked over toward the door and saw Raid standing just inside the threshold.
''What can I do for you today, good sir?'' Speeder said with a grin.
''Just came to see how much progress is being made.'' Raid replied as he moved further into the chamber.
''Fine. Just got the main computer to sort out now.'' Speeder said as he skated around to the front of the Bridge.
He knelt down and pulled a panel off the side of the entrance to the basin. He started fiddling around with the wiring, a few sparks flying out into the open.
''How's Gundog? Heard Hookshot took him by surprise and nailed him in the back while he was waling on Steele.'' Speeder asked absently as he concentrated on re-wiring the Space Bridge.
''He's fine. Some minor damage to his back armour. Mainly superficial, so no life-threatening damage was done.''
''Unlike Hookshot...'' Speeder prompted slowly, casting a sly look over his shoulder. ''I also heard that you gave that old Constructicon quite the battering. Nearly took him offline.''
''Nearly being the working word. As much as I dislike the Decepticons, I can't help but respect some of them.'' Raid said after a moment.
Speeder looked back over his shoulder, pausing in his re-wiring.
''Respect for their combat skills, mainly. Other than that, I don't much care if they get smelted down for spares.'' Raid said flatly.
''Thank Primus. Thought you'd gone soft on us then.'' Speeder grinned and set back to re-wiring the Space Bridge's main computer.
''The day he goes soft, is the day when he gets reduced to a molten puddle of metal on the battle field by a well aimed disruptor shot.''

Both Autobots turned to see Flashpoint stood in the doorway.
''What're you up to now, Speeder?'' He asked.
''Putting one of my latest ideas into practice.'' He replied.
He replaced the panel and stood up.
''And that would be?'' Flashpoint prompted dubiously.
''Y'remember that code I used to lock up the Space Bridge when we were sent off-world to try and retrieve that micro chip from Carjack a few years back?''
''How could we forget?'' Raid muttered.
''Well, I fiddled around with the coding and I made a duplicate of it. I updated the duplicate and now, hopefully, only Autobot registered codes will work.''
''Have you discussed this with anyone over at central command?'' Flashpoint asked.
''Yup. Joint vid conference with Perceptor, Prowl and the big bot himself. We have the primary code for the system, we're just awaiting confermation that the rest of the Autobot controlled Space Bridges have been locked into the new code grid.''
''And this code will be given to all Autobots?''
Speeder shook his head.
''Only commanders and Space Bridge techies. The knowledge will be limited, as I'm hoping it'll help stop any more Space Bridge related 'hijacking'.'' He replied. ''Well, temporarily limited, anyway. At least until we've sorted out the kinks that are more than likely to occur during the code's first usage.''
''You're a genius in disguise, y'know that?'' Flashpoint said after a moment.
''Well, I'm not one to blow my own horn, but... Yes. Yes I am.'' Speeder replied somewhat cockily.


Ankmor

When Krusher came back online, he was staring at the dimly lit ceiling of the medibay. He looked to one side, his neck creaking in the process. Hookshot was lay on the repair table next to him, various wires trailing from various areas of his body. A lone machine blipped, miming the rythmic pulsating of his Spark. He tilted his head a little more and just in the corner of his line of vision, saw Roadtrain slumped in a chair, arms hanging over the edges of the seat, head tilted back and optics dark. Unlike Hookshot, the Logistics Officer looked remarkably unscathed.
''Uhm, sir?'' Came a unusually small voice. ''If you're capable fo doing so, you might want to see the new information that Roadtrain's gathered...''
Krusher grunted and laborously pulled himself into a sitting position on the table. After a moment of static clouding his vision from the sudden movement, he swung his thick legs over the edge of the table and looked at Steele who'd taken on a rather meek posture, the dim lighting in the medibay making the Constructicon look much smaller than he really was.
''What is it?'' Krusher growled and put a large metallic hand to his battered head.
''Uh, a breach in security, sir. A major breach in security.'' Steele replied nervously.
Krusher locked gazes with the Constructicon. Then he removed himself from the repair table and ambled stiffly over to the work bench where a monitor was displaying a static filled still image.
''Sorry, but I had to check that the data disc was still intact after his unexpected journey. Just uhm, try not to blow a fuse or something when you see what it contains...'' Steele said and backed away from the large form of his commander as he loomed over the monitor.
From his chair, a single optic flickered to life. Roadtrain surveyed the room. Krusher had started watching what he had recorded. His other optic lit up. Now fully energized, he rose to his feet and sidled over to where Steele was standing, clutching something that resembled a large crowbar somewhat protectively.

Both looked on in a mixture of interest and worry. When the monitor went black, Krusher didn't move. His optics remained fixated on the black screen. His grip on the workbench tightened, buckling and tearing the metal. There was a low, electronic growl.
''Get me Jetstream.'' He said quietly in a horribly calm tone.
''Why not let her come to us? I'm pretty sure she doesn't know that I-''
Roadtrain's words were quashed somewhere within the vicinity of his vocal processors as Krusher turned to look at him. The large Decepticon loomed over the two, optics ablaze, the rotar blades at his back trembling slightly and sending a soft metallic clinking sound resonating through the room.
''I don't care if she saw you or not. I want her here now! AND I WANT HER ALIVE!'' Krusher raged, encroaching on the two. ''You will bring her to me in one piece and fully operational, understand?!''
He then spun around on an alloyed heel and slammed a fist down into the workbench, putting a large hole in it.
''I'm going to dismantle that wretched spy alive!'' He howled angrily.
''Uhm, sir-''
''MOVE IT!'' He screamed at them.
Roadtrain and Steele backed down into their corner momentarily, optics wide. It was only when the enraged Krusher put a hole in the wall above their heads did they comply and make a hasty retreat to the safety of the outside world.

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