Transformers: Steel Reign

[rhoenix]

Firetrack spoke up, looking at Shellshock. His eyes almost seemed to have a reddish-orange glint to their normal golden color. "How are Crimson, Stryke and I approaching the Nemesis for our objective? Are we doing this blitzkrieg-style, or using stealth & distraction, or is there another way?"

[Charon]

"I've had a little experience piloting," she reminded them, as she'd spent most of the last four million years in and out of stasislock as she traveled and mined for Energon in the ship that brought her to Earth. "Nothing even close to a warship, though." Her vessel had been so kitbashed it made DeathStrike's patchjob look top-of-the-line.

"You won't have to worry about the piloting, that'll be up to Overload and I." Shellshock supressed a groan at this fact, that was something he was not looking forward to. "Your job's just going to be getting the engine running hot and making sure powers going where we need it to go."

Firetrack spoke up, looking at Shellshock. His eyes almost seemed to have a reddish-orange glint to their normal golden color. "How are Crimson, Stryke and I approaching the Nemesis for our objective? Are we doing this blitzkrieg-style, or using stealth & distraction, or is there another way?"

"Getting to the Nemesis? That's going to be us running as fast as we damn can, blowing open the doors, and getting inside while everyone else is fighting. The sooner we get this done the less casualties Autobot forces are going to be facing at the end of the day. After we're inside, stealth or speed is up to you. Not much of an option for Overload and I but for your team it might be possible."

[LadyTevar]

"So, run in before we're toasted, find the engine room as fast as we can, and get her up and running immediately." Crimson summed up the plan succinctly, before looking over to Stryke and Firetrack. "It will be a tossup which one's better defended... bridge or engine room."

She actually hoped the engine room. Hornet would be attacking the bridge. She really -really- hoped it wasn't going to be heavily defended.

[rhoenix]

"So, run in before we're toasted, find the engine room as fast as we can, and get her up and running immediately." Crimson summed up the plan succinctly, before looking over to Stryke and Firetrack. "It will be a tossup which one's better defended... bridge or engine room."

Looking thoughtful for a second or two, Firetrack nodded finally. "That I know of, between you, Stryke, and I, none of the three of us are built for stealth - but all three of us are built for speed. We don't have to ensure kill shots on any opposition on the way to our destination, we just have to get past them. With our speed, that shouldn't be too difficult. Once we secure the engine room, then we can start proper defense."

[LadyTevar]

"Sounds like a plan to me," Crimson said to Firetrack before looking up at Stryke and adding teasingly. "But I'm not the Mil-bot. Can we do it?"

[Dark Silver]

GM Note: I'm moving time up a bit.......getitng to the action. Enough of the planning stage bullshit.....it wouldn't have worked anyway, considering there would have been Decepticon counter attacks.


-----------------------

Skylynx rocketed through the air, within his lower cargo/passenger hold, sat the precious cargo, the last insertion team - the ones who were going to attack the Nemesis itself.

They were not going in under their own power for a simple reason, they would have been to vulnerable and expended to much precious energy and ammunition. As such, he was ordered to bring them in, drop them off, and protect them as best he could until they were inserted.

"Hang on lads! We're almost there!"

Outside the spacious passenger hold of Sky Lynx, the entire Mechaformed Arabian desert was alight with missile explosions, and exchanges of energy weapons and gun fire.

Sky lynx banked hard to the right as a Decepticon AA emplacement launched a series of rockets. An Autobot flier broke from formation, releasing a his own weapons into the emplacement, destroying it.

"All ready Lads?" Sky lynx called out over his internal speakers, "Releasing cargo pod!"

The red and blue box beneath Sky Lynx's shuttle disengaged, falling to the ground. Miniature boosters on the pod adjusted it's trajectory and rate of descent, dodging some of the stubborn Decepticon's trying to destroy it.

In the air, free of the burden of the pod, the white shuttle transformed into the dino-bird mode, adding it's plasma breath to the firepower of the Autobot's aerial force.

Within moments, the pod had landed in a area of scorched metallic landing surface, the door opening to disgorge the Autobot insertion team. "Everybody off!" Sky Lynx shouted through the internal comm, "Disembark and make with the invasion you lot! We've Decepticons to trash!"


Outside, Decepticon soldiers rushed towards the pod, laser weapons firing, only to be held at bay for a few moments by strafing runs fromt he Autobot flier escort.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson roared out of the bay, getting out and away so the others would have room to disembark. Using what cover was available, she transformed and began sniping the nearest Decepticons with her laser and ion pistols in an attempt to force them to duck and cover. The more she could harry the Decepticons, the better as the rest of the convoy got out and into positions to leap-frog forward.

According to Overload, the plan was Strike and Crim out first for coverfire, along with the other ground-based Autobots. They would cover Firetrack and Hornet as they flew out to start aircover, then Overload charging out in Altform pulling Shellshock behind him at high speed.
Of course, plans never survive contact with the enemy. So far, Crimson followed the plan.

[General Havoc]

Hornet was scared.

He knew he shouldn't be. He knew that the others were with him, and were in any event going to wind up with far more to deal with than he was. He knew that he had intentionally been placed with Overload and Shellshock so that they could make sure nothing happened to him, and he knew that the only reason he was here in the first place was because he had kept insisting on being allowed to come along. He knew that the entire Autobot army was with him, and that Optimus himself had put this plan together and that if they won, it would mean a huge victory for the Autobots and that it might save the lives of millions and billions of innocent humans.

He was still scared.

Quivering like a leaf in the wind, Hornet was sitting in a seat that was many times too big for him. He had tried not to show how scared he was, but he knew he was fooling nobody. His hands and wings were shaking, his optics squeezed shut to prevent tears from forming. He kicked his feet in the air, well above the floor, as the transport pod shook and bucked and the muffled sounds of explosions filtered through the walls. Every one made him shudder, and made him feel a little bit smaller and more useless. He had only the vaguest idea of what was waiting for him out there, but he knew it was going to be the most horrendous fight he had ever been in. Worse than the tar sands. Worse than the maintenance bay. Worse than anything.

A tear leaked out of his optic, and he brushed it away with the back of his hand, sniffling (simulatedly). The last thing he wanted was for the others to know how terrified he was. It did not occur to him that none of them could possibly have missed it.

The pod landed.

"Everybody off!" Sky Lynx shouted through the internal comm, "Disembark and make with the invasion you lot! We've Decepticons to trash!"

Hornet clenched his optics shut as the restraints on his seat popped off, hopped down onto the ground, and transformed into his airplane form. Up ahead, the door to the pod was already opening. He lined up a takeoff lane, his computer tabulating wind and airflow data automatically and telling him how to adjust, and as he feathered his engine, and let the afterburners warm up for the quarter-second they needed, he whispered a plea to anyone listening, Primus or otherwise, that he not be about to let everyone else down.

And then it began.

The door locked into place and Hornet gunned his afterburner, and shot out of the pod like a missile. He saw Crimson already outside for about a tenth of a second before he was well past her, zooming over the ground like a skipped rock, and picking up altitude and speed as he went. By the time the leading ground Decepticons realized he was there, he was already past them, and by the time they turned around to fire at his retreating form, he was hundreds of yards away, and accelerating. One more sonic boom did nothing to add to the din of explosions, screaming, weapons fire, and other noise that cloaked the entire battlefield like a shroud.

The place was in total pandemonium. Hornet's radar display was crowded with signals, friendly, enemy, unknown, everything. So much fire was being directed up into the air that he briefly thought that the entire region was firing at him, and jinked and spun wildly to avoid shots that, had he studied his radar a little closer, he would have seen were being fired at someone else entirely miles away from him. This had the additional effect of throwing off everything that was being shot at him, but there wasn't much of that. The Decepticons had better things to shoot at, for the moment.

And once Hornet realized that, he calmed down significantly, as it became apparent that, despite all the shooting going on, he was alive, and intact, and in the air, exactly where he was supposed to be, and that his friends were down below, waiting for him to cover them the way he had been told to, and so with a metaphorical deep breath, he winged over, and turned back into the main battle.

His radar had more targets painted on it than he could possibly sort through, so he ignored it, and tried to remember what Wheeljack had told him about the missile currently attached to the far stanchion on his right wing. Two of Hornet's missiles were his standard ATA/ATGs, but the other two were a pair of special munitions from Wheeljack's own arsenal, weapons Wheeljack had given him explicit instructions as to how he should use. He wasn't sure if this was or wasn't the moment to employ them, but there were Sweeps overhead, Decepticon fliers far more powerful and experienced than he was, and he did not relish the prospect of engaging them. Instead he replayed the instructions in his head now, and flipped his radar off from active, to silent. 98% of the targets on his display vanished, leaving only the massive Decepticon search radars that were presently illuminating the entire battlefield for the benefit of the Decepticons on the ground and in the air. Four of them loomed all around a massive object that Hornet assumed was the Nemesis itself, emitting massive high-frequency radar signals, painting everything, including Hornet himself, with such force that he could feel the radar waves through his skin.

Hornet flipped on the seeker-cone of his rightmost missile, let it lock onto the active radar signals, and released it.

"Weasel Rifleshot, Fox 3!"

The missile screamed off his wing like a banshee, and Hornet felt a surge of elation as it did so, bucking right to avoid putting himself in the reverse path of any AAA batteries. The missile accelerated to mach 5 in seconds, before the internal motor exhausted itself, and the casing exploded to reveal four smaller warheads, each with their own rockets that spiraled off in different directions. One malfunctioned, spinning downwards into the tarmac below. The other three chose one radar each, and blasted towards them at hypersonic speeds. Two of the search batteries spotted the incoming projectiles, and switched themselves into passive mode to deny the missiles targeting locks, but the missiles were smart enough to remember where the radar signals from before had been emitting from, and flew on unerringly, slamming straight into and through the radar dishes before plowing into the emitting facilities below them, and detonating.

Three out of four search radars blinked offline.

The fourth by now knew something was up, and flipped into passive mode before Hornet could fire another missile at it, not knowing of course that Hornet had been carrying only one such weapon. Passively however, it could no longer see Hornet, whose small size was nigh-impossible to see head-on without a powerful search radar. Temporizing, the Decepticon commanding the last remaining radar ordered his emitter to flip on and off at semi-random intervals, hoping to confuse any incoming ordinance.

It might have confused ordinance, but it couldn't fool Hornet.

Hornet skimmed along the ground at treetop level towards the last search radar, which was still desperately trying to reacquire him. The commander called for assistance, and one of the Decepticon fliers overhead responded, diving down to look for the diminutive Autobot ground hunter, but before the Decepticon could find Hornet, Jetfire found the Decepticon, and blew him to fragments with a missile. AAA on the ground opened fire, criss-crossing the sky, but their waspish projectiles were unguided by radar, and the larger shells screamed past helplessly, unable to target something as small or as nimble as Hornet. Hornet meanwhile was targeting a facility the size of a small building that could neither move nor disguise itself, and his targeting computer calculated a firing solution just as he entered his lasers' range.

A stream of green energy blasts tore into the Decepticon facility at the speed of light as Hornet fired. His lasers couldn't possibly penetrate anything armored, but the radar facility was anything but, and Hornet ripped it to shreds, perforating the building and the radar dish like a doll house before breaking left at the last second and zooming away. He glanced in his rear view cameras and had the pleasure of seeing the radar dish cease spinning and topple over onto the ground, shortly before the facility caught fire and exploded like a volcano, casting flaming pieces of itself left and right.

The last search radar vanished from sensors.

This did not blind the Decepticons, for every Decepticon warrior carried radar of his own, as did every AAA and ground defense installation. In ten seconds, hundreds of personal radars had activated, crisscrossing the sky and ground to re-acquire targets. Instead of one blanket coverage however, the Decepticons commanding the battle now had to deal with hundreds of spotty bits of coverage, and Autobots that flew into and out of individual radars, only to re-appear on others. Coordination of fire and support would suffer accordingly... at least that was the theory.

Hornet did not know anything of the strategic implications of what he had just done, only that all four Decepticon targets were satisfactorily demolished, and that he himself was still alive, as were all his friends, for the moment. He banked back hard towards them now, keeping clear of a nearby autocannon mount that was still trying to find him, lashing at the air with a stream of shells. Already he felt a thousand times better than he had just moments ago, and he did a little barrel roll as he approached the others, already trying to figure out what he should target now.

Such was his relief at not being dead that he didn't notice the pair of Decepticon fliers that had finally managed to acquire him on passive radar, and were presently diving towards him at four times the speed of sound, preparing their missiles for a snapshot at the little Autobot to give him no time to evade...

[rhoenix]

Firetrack was feeling frustrated, but he didn't let it show. Too visibly, anyway. He'd nearly been shot out of the sky by a fusillade of AA fire not ten seconds after he opened his turbines up full blast upon leaving Skylynx' carbo container, forcing him to transform and dive to hug the ground. On the other hand, he noticed as he levelled out five feet above the ground, his anti-gravity engines worked just fine in his robot form. He might be ground-bound for now, but he could still move almost like he had jet boosters. He could use his anti-gravity engines to fly quite a bit faster than he could run, and considering he could run very fast indeed, that was saying something.

Connecting to his personal subspace pocket, Firetrack drew two long, slightly curved blades from mid-air, the edges of which seemed to burn a reddish-orange from their energon coating. Turning up his anti-gravity systems, he began to fly a foot above the ground, going just fast enough to be considered "reckless." The pulse-laser banks on his forearms began to make themselves known as he closed upon a group of Decepticons, but he didn't slow down in the least. Two stayed standing instead of diving for cover from his rapid-fire pulse-laser blasts. Firetrack shot directly past both of them, slashing at both of them with his energon-active blades precisely and hard as he passed.

Suddenly banking, he flew along another pathway, dodging past and above some surprised-looking humans and Decepticons as he went, never flying in a straight line, and never flying more than ten feet off the ground. However, this also left him in a position to see Hornet flying high above, and the two Seekers closing rapidly on his tail. Aiming a burst of pulse-laser fire at the two of them in the hopes of distracting them, he risked opening an encrypted channel to Hornet. He only left it open long enough to yell "Hornet! Bogeys on your six!"

As he returned his attention to his more immediate surroundings, he saw a group of ten Decepticons marching up the street toward him, weapons just beginning to fire, suddenly cratering the area around him. Rapidly dodging left while decelerating, he used a building between he and the Decepticons as cover while trying to dodge around them. As he flew around the building and back onto his original course, he saw a single Decepticon holding a large gun on his shoulder, preparing to fire at something further up the road. The Decepticon hadn't noticed Firetrack ahead of time, but suddenly found out as Firetrack accelerated to rapidly close the distance, slashing viciously at the slow-reacting Decepticon with both blades as he flew past, following it up with a covering fire from his pulse-laser cannons to keep the Decepticon's head down.

He was zig-zagging, and never keeping a straight line, but with every twist and turn, he neared the Nemesis. Once he had a spare nanosecond, he opened an encrypted channel to both Stryke and Crimson. "I almost got peppered by AA fire, and had to hug the ground. What's your status?"

[Charon]

There were a few seconds of pause as the fire of the Decepticon was drawn towards the rest of the team who had already exited the ramp, when the entire drop pod began to shake and make hellish screeching noises. Moment later A giant multi-ton siege tank flew out of the drop pod and actually soared through the air for a second before it landed with an earth shuddering crunch on top of the shell of a Decepticon who had already been brought down.

Shellshock's weapon systems had already picked out their targets and the area turned a bright flash of white as the Autobot unloaded all of his weaponry in one go. The anti-personel cannons began firing at full charge against the cover that the Decepticons had found while the fully charged plasma cannon locked onto one of the heavier decepticons and held the blast down in an attempt to slag him. The twelve heavy missiles streaked high into the air at first, giving time to get away from Shellshock before they armed themselves and their tracking came online. Maneuvering fins turned the missiles sharply as they came down on more of the heavy decepticons who were guarding the 50 meter straight run to the Nemesis.

Shellshock then turned as fast as his treads would allow him, shifting his position to slightly off center as he continued his fullspeed charge for the Nemesis. "Firetrack, Hornet, get down here and get into the Nemesis before the lock us out entirely! Crimson, Stryke, advance under my cover!"

Shellshock had used a large chunk of his energon reserve just in the opening gambit, and his constantly firing anti-personel cannons were beginning to get close to overheating as he refused to let them stop firing.

[rhoenix]

Shellshock then turned as fast as his treads would allow him, shifting his position to slightly off center as he continued his fullspeed charge for the Nemesis. "Firetrack, Hornet, get down here and get into the Nemesis before the lock us out entirely! Crimson, Stryke, advance under my cover!"

Upon hearing this, the facial expression on Firetrack's faceplate grew more determined. Answering back with the same encryption and on the same channel, his reply was terse - which wasn't a surprise, considering he was in the middle of some quick maneuvering to avoid being an easy target. "Acknowledged, Shellshock. I am at ground-level, and now nearly halfway to the Nemesis and closing."

A rapid burst of pulse-laser fire forced most of the Decepticons ahead of him to dive wildly for cover. The one who didn't obviously had the heaviest armor, and appeared to be trying to set up a shot at Firetrack with a rather large shoulder-mounted gun. Beginning to rapidly accelerate while twisting and moving in mid-air, Firetrack managed to close the distance before the larger Decepticon fired, slashing viciously at the Decepticon's hands as he flew by.

Checking his internal map, he saw that he was now nearly 55% of the way to the Nemesis, as he was nearing the spacedock proper.

In the back of his mind, he hoped Hornet, as well as Crimson and Stryke were okay.

[LadyTevar]

"Crimson, acknowledged!" the fembot answered in shorthand, transforming into her faster Alt-mode and gunning for the Nemesis, zig-zagging to avoid humans and Decepti-creeps alike, adding the roaring of her throttle to the cacophany of battle. "Stryke, you with me?"

[General Havoc]

ZAP!

Hornet heard Shellshock's order, but he couldn't reply, not immediately at least, for he was busy...

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Lasers danced all around him as he desperately swerved and twisted, carving furrows in the ground below and lancing through the air. Firetrack had spotted the targets long before he had, and it was Firetrack's call that had prevented them from pre-emptively frying him with their first shots. He now twisted and spun in every direction as both Sweeps pursued him with extreme prejudice, threading not only their fire, but the incalculable volumes of ground fire being flung indiscriminately into the sky by everything in sight.

Up ahead, a gigantic tank-like monster loomed, vomiting flames and destruction in every direction. Hornet, pre-occupied as he was, needed several seconds to realize that it was Shellshock in some terrible new form that he had not yet seen. Dozens of Decepticons melted and shattered before the barrage of fire that Shellshock unleashed, and he unconsciously turned towards Shellshock merely for the minute protection that...

ZAP!

A beam of energy passed millimeters over the root of Hornet's left wing, close enough to ionize his surface and blister the paint. Hornet cried out and dove as hard as he could, which was the only thing that saved him from being decapitated by the Sweep's next shot, for as Hornet had been trying to decide what to do, one of the two sweeps had cut him off from in front and was now trying to box him in and destroy him. He desperately dove, evading two further shots strong enough to vaporize him, as he cried out into his radio in rising panic for help.

Pulling up to avoid the ground at less than five meters altitude, Hornet clawed back into the sky, hoping and praying that he was not about to be pinioned by the pursuing Sweeps. He had nowhere else to go, and at every instant he expected to feel the lasers burning into his tail. And yet... as he pushed his afterburner and threaded his throttle and hoped and prayed that he wasn't about to die, to his astonishment, the enemy Sweeps' fire began to die, and slacken, and trickle off, and then finally ceased entirely. He hesitated, confused, and glanced back in his rear view mirror to determine why... only to find that the Sweeps behind him were little more than black spots, rapidly fading into indistinction, falling away behind and below him, no longer in range to shoot effectively. For a second he thought they had broken off or turned to engage another target. It wasn't for another second that he realized that they were still chasing him...

... but they couldn't catch him.

Hornet had no idea why they could not. He had no idea that Sweeps, having been built for operations in the vacuums of space, were not designed aerodynamically, and consequently, their engines could not propel them in the thick atmosphere of Earth faster than a thousand meters/second. Hornet, smaller, lighter, and built for atmospheric flight alone, was already doing 1100.

It took a few seconds for the implications of that to sink in.

Just as the two Sweeps were giving up the effort of chasing down Hornet as not worth it, Hornet suddenly came back about, making a 10G turn that would have crushed any piloted aircraft to jelly. Both Sweeps by now had selected other targets, and one of them was already making a run on Shellshock, or at least on someone near him. Neither one paid much attention to Hornet, who was zipping back towards them at maximum speed, closing the distance like a tube-launched rocket. Even as both Sweeps opened fire on their targets on the ground, they still paid the little Autobot behind them no mind. Hornet might have been fast, and agile, and damn near impossible to hit, but that only made him a distraction to Decepticons such as them, and they could not have cared less what he did, for if the little Autobot had missiles, they would simply jam them, and there was no way Hornet could carry a gun capable of defeating even their armor.

They continued to believe that right up until Hornet blew one of the Sweeps' limbs off.

He was carrying missiles, and the Sweeps would have defeated them had he fired, save that in his sudden realization that he was actually capable of outmaneuvering these Decepticons, he had forgotten entirely to use his missiles at all, and closed instead to laser range. The Decepticons had decided that whatever cannons could be packed into Hornet's frame were not strong enough to worry about, and they were right, no doubt, save that Hornet's lasers had a rate of fire like solid state beams, and pelted their targets with an unending hail of energy. The nearest Sweep, hearing the screaming warning of Hornet's target acquisition sensors, banked to the right in annoyance, intending to simply come about and flatten the annoying Autobot with a close range barrage, but was not afraid of the shots, for even his armor could surely take Hornet's blasts.

He might even have been right, but half a second later, Hornet hit the Sweep with 250 laser blasts, and it took only one of them, striking just the right spot, to cause catastrophic damage.

The shot hit the Sweep in the shoulder, right in a seam between two armored plates, and punched through into the main energon fuel injection port for the Sweep's front-mounted Particle Beams. The Energon fuel lines were wide open, and the lines caught. A billionth of a second later, the Sweep was flatly blasted sideways by an internal blast that wrenched off its left arm at the shoulder and instantly disintegrated it. Caught completely by surprise, the Sweep tried to recover, but the shock of the detonation had utterly thown off its aerodynamics, and it flipped over three times, trailing smoke, debris, and mech fluid, before slamming into the ground like a meteor, and bursting into a yellow and orange explosion.

The other Sweep, having no idea at all what had happened, could only conclude that Hornet was in fact equipped somehow with cannons powerful enough to down full-scale Decepticon fighters in air to air combat. In its own mind, now outgunned, outmaneuvered, and outmatched by a deceptively small Autobot, the Sweep floored its throttle and blasted away from the battle zone, intending to come back about and re-engage at its own leisure. With vigorous effort, Hornet might have managed to stop the Sweep from escaping, but to be frank, his own processor had been stunned to a sort of torpor by what had just happened, and for a second or two, he cruised on in Autopilot, staring blankly at the burning wreckage of the Sweep he had just shot down in flames. In such a state, he passed overhead of Shellshock and Stryke and Crimson, flying over and through the plume of smoke from the smashed Decepticon flier.

He literally didn't know whether to scream, cry, laugh, or cheer.

[SirNitram]

Shellshock's covering fire eventually subsided, but those unfortunate enough to still be in the corridor it had made discovered what had caused it. The massive red frame of Overload, maximum ground speed, was plowing through their ranks directly at the Nemesis.

Weapons fire struck the trailer again and again, but the tiny cab remain unscathed as it roared towards the capital ship sitting in berthing. Scanners were already trying to find the best way into the ship, and the course was minutely adjusted for just that as a Decepticon footsoldier was smashed under the massive momentum and thrown clear.

[Dark Silver]

As the last of the assault group bolted out of the blue and red box, the sounds of shifting components and the engaged Transformation cog could be heard for a second. The cargo pod transformed into a gleaming, massive red and blue cat, the legs tipped in wicked claws. A group of two Decepticon heavies tried to flank the group, only to be pounced upon and their limbs removed by the cat.

"Hurry lads and lass! To the Nemesis! I'll cover your flanks!"

The corridor of rubble that was being plowed through by Overload, luckily, lead straight for the loading ramp of the Nemesis itself. Unfortunately, sensors could detect, along with the wreckage of Cybertronian war machines, the traces of biological components, humans had been killed along with the Decepticons.

In the air, with the destruction of two Sweeps by the diminutive Hornet, the Decepticon fliers shifted priorities. Those still below the majority of the Anti-Air weapons and the notice of Autobot fliers, started making attack runs on the Infiltration party.

Sky Lynx provided as best he could with cover fire and a "meat shield", though he was being quickly over run.

From the loading ramp, three Decepticon heavies appeared, energy weapons and missiles blowing holes in the metallic ground of the mechaformed shipyard. Other Decepticons, not as distracted by Autobot attacks in the rest of the Shipyard, rushed to the source of closest fighting.

All the time, The Nemesis loomed over them, a mountain of bristling purplish-grey metal and weapons, sitting on it's main thrusters, like a Earth rocket, prepared to blast off...

[LadyTevar]

As Crimson roared down the road to the Nemesis, her sidepacks partially trasformed to allow the ion and laser pistols to emerge. While not as steady as her usual shots, the pistols sent rapid-fire bolts towards the defenders on the Nemesis' ramp. "Overload? Can you ram our way through?

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke rolled down the road, right next to her. He barreled straight at one of the heavies. "Crim, heavy on the right, let's take him." He said, intending to ram into him.

[LadyTevar]

"I've got that shiny bumper of yours covered, Stryke," Crimson replied, slowly to let him get in the lead and giving him plenty of covering fire from her exposed pistols.

[Charon]

Shellshoch had never drawn his heavy cannons away from the enterance to the long ago fallen Decepticon symbol of might. He had left the Decepticons before it was built, but this was not the first time he had seen it, he remembered the one time he had well, for to him it had seemed to only be a few years ago.

Shellshock's missile banks were still empty from his initial assault and would need a lot more time to reload fully, and his anti-personel cannons were going to start overheating very soon. Regardless of attacks Shellshock did not initiate evasive maneuvers. At this range, with his size and weight, they would be worthless and would only serve to throw off his aim. He was paying for his being in the open as several shots had openned holes in his armor. His tread had been nearly blasted off by one shot, and Shellshock shuddered under the force of the blow as another blew off one of his anti-personel cannons. But the ex-Decepticon had his target lined up and firing another full-charge shot into the Decepticon heavy on the left Shellshock thundered on.

[General Havoc]

Hornet was snapped out of his thunderstruck awe as new orders came racing through, and from his vantage point he saw the entrance to the Nemesis opening up, and a trio of Decepticon heavy warbots moving down to engage his friends. From the radio calls (and the rather obvious DEW lines), it was clear that Shellshock was taking on the Decepticon on the left, and Strike and Crimson the one on the right.

Hornet gulped and recited a very brief prayer to Primus, unaware that his radio was still open and that his frightened plea was being broadcast to the entire team.

"Primus, please don't let me mess up, please don't let me mess up, please please please please..."

Left unspoken was his desire to not be vaporized. That part went without saying.

He banked.

He came about behind Shellshock and Crimson and Stryke and Overload, and zoomed towards the Decepticons at cruising speed, still well above the sound barrier, and easily fast enough to avoid what little desultory fire directed his way. He did not weave or maneuver, for he was trying to get his targeting computer to guarantee a hit, and such things would have thrown it off. His repeated exhortations continued in sharp soft whispers, the fear palpable through his voice, but he kept on steadily, even as the leading Decepticon opened fire on him with some kind of rapid fire weapon. An Autocannon

"Please... please... please..."

Shots flew by at uncomfortable distances and absurd rates, and it seemed to Hornet that he was the only one in the air, that every Decepticon was shooting at him, that the approach was taking a hundred thousand years. He quivered as the shells streaked past close enough to feel the shockwave, but did not abort his run, not even when one struck home, hitting his wing obliquely and ramming a three-inch hole straight through it. Biting back the cry of pain that engendered, he accelerated yet further until finally the magical blaring tone burst into his auditory sensors.

"Please... please... please... pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasePLEASE... RIFLESHOT!"

He released the bomb.

The Laser-guided munition fell away from Hornet for half a second before an internal rocket motor took over and dipped its nose down towards the Decepticon. The bomb accelerated to Mach 8 in two seconds, screaming down towards the Decepticon like a meteor, its armor-piercing warhead designed to destroy runways, it would burrow right through whatever it hit, and detonate inside.

At least that was the theory. Hornet, having fired the bomb, pulled up as hard as he could, shooting upwards into the sky, so wound up and relieved at merely being alive that he couldn't even bring himself to look back and see if he'd gotten a hit.

[rhoenix]

As he neared the Nemesis herself, Firetrack adjusted his flight course for the three heavies at the ramp, just as Hornet's bomb went off. He adjusted his altitude to 4 meters above ground level, and took aim. The three targets were still painted in Firetrack's HUD, despite him being in robot mode, which allowed him to fire at the three.

Which he did, with relish. Pulse laser fire erupted in an unending stream at the one on the right, aiming as much as possible for the upper chest and faceplate. He pushed the power on his anti-gravity engines to full, accelerating now past 100 miles per hour. The rocket launchers, normally hidden on his shoulders extended up. In his HUD, he mentally led his target with his targeting reticle, and fired both rockets above his left shoulder, aimed at the right-side Decepticon's right hip.

He would later remark on the irony of this incident. This was indeed showing shades of his old self - trying something overly daring and foolhardy, and perhaps even reckless. However, this time it wasn't to get noticed by fembots, or to vainly try to gain recognition from others. This time, it was simply about entering the Nemesis the best way he could think of. If it didn't work...this could end up very, very, badly.

He flew low, aiming to shoulder-ram the right-side Decepticon's right leg. If this worked as he hoped, he would fly right past the Decepticons into the Nemesis, and trip the right-side Decepticon, allowing a hole through which the others could race into the mighty ship looming above them.

Skill roll (Target: <= 3):

[Dark Silver]

OOC: rhoenix you are a very lucky bastard.......

GM Note: I'm utilizing a d10 system for any skill base attempt. Talk to me if you think a situation may need it.


---IC----

The Decepticon soldier to the right was engulfed in a hail of laser fire, as he brought his arms up, using the heavy armor to protect his faceplate. So concerned with protection of his face, he missed the fact two rockets flew right at him....

The Decepticon was consumed in the conflagration of chemical and Energon charged explosions, his constituant peices flying outward and back, leaving only the lower portions of his legs standing.

Meanwhile, his partner was pounced upon by Firetrack, the Autobot's anti-grav engines giving him greater speed than the Decepticon Heavy could anticipate. He steeled himself for a impact, but the sheer force caused him to buckle over as pain sensors registered the impact. The Decepticon feel to one knee, clutching the shredded armor and broken servos in the leg, just as Overload rammed into him.

The Decepticon's head flew backwards, passed Firetrack, and landed at the top of the boarding ramp, as Overload and the other Autobots continued in.

The few Decepticons left guarding the entrance ran into the ship itself, radioing their allies deeper within the ships bowels.

[rhoenix]

Though he kept himself calm, Firetrack couldn't quite suppress the smirk on his face as he turned a hard right once he was within the mighty ship Nemesis, intent on following his internal map to the engine room.

Opening an encrypted channel to Shellshock, Crimson, Stryke, Overload, Hornet, and Sky Lynx, Firetrack tersely gave an update as he suddenly dodged some frantic gunfire from the Decepticons retreating deeper within the bowels of the ship. "Firetrack to strike teams - we have gained the entrance to the Nemesis, situation hot. Now proceeding en-route to the engine room."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson and Stryke barrelled into the Nemesis, barely bothering to break as they took the corner and followed on Firetrack's exhaust. "Crimson to Firetrack... right behind you."

[Charon]

Shellshock cursed himself as the other decepticons fell back into the Nemesis. This was bound to get ugly really quickly. Shellshock transformed as he continued forward, smoothly shifting from rolling to running as he got through the door. "Firetrack, Crimson, Stryke, don't get seperated. Keep together and get to the target safely. You go too fast and you'll bumble your way into traps."

Shellshock came to a stop and examined each of the corridors in turn, acting as support until the rest of his command deck assault team arrived.