We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
Above ground, the sun had beat down on an unsuspecting Earth, hotter than normal. The rocks absorbed the day’s heat, and now, in the cooling night air, was releasing that heat back out.
Animals that had taken shelter from the day’s heat were now starting to emerge, cautiously searching the air currents for any scent of predator or prey. Day birds were singing their bedtime songs, while the night birds were starting to stir.
Down beneath the ground, huddled within the cooler rock below, aliens moved.
The Decepticon base lay sprawled, not unlike a strange, alien ant’s nest. What it lacked in distance, it made up for in the height of the tunnels. Stark lighting illuminated the halls, and the strange, metallic beings that travelled below it.
Megatron stood in his War Room.
The top of his helm coming somewhat close to brushing the ceiling of the large room he stood in, Lord Megatron stood studying a map that had been projected onto the smoother of the walls making up the room. Large arms crossed in front of him, his crimson optics moved slowly over the map.
The map shown was of an area called Wyoming. There were various towns and points of attraction on the legend in the lower right corner. Lakes and rivers cut blue wandering lines across the image.
To the left of the image, was a small red dot. It pulsed faintly.
An hour ago, Megatron had summoned both Vega and @flamesnort to the War Room.
He had a mission for them.
Last Edit: Sept 4, 2020 18:57:21 GMT -5 by Deleted
The other side of the planet had seen far less summery weather. In fact fresh snow caps could be seen at the very peaks of the mountains. It'd been a quiet evening, another in a string of many thus far. Vega and Sparkplug had easily fallen into a routine of work, usually meaning Sparkplug perched busily at a workbench while Vega hovered not too far away to aide in whatever way she was needed. In between the smaller flagging her down for assistance Vega filled her time with whatever smaller tasks needed to be done in and around their renovated work space.
It was clockwork.
But this evening would be a little different.
Vega was just returning to her busy work once Sparkplug politely shooed her away from the workbench, that was when the summons came. The familiar deep growl of the warlord requesting Vega to Blackridge posthaste. The last time it had been both of them, along with some others, that had been called to an audience with him. To make their cases on why they were here. But now it was just her.
With little time to waste Vega quickly posed to Sparkplug she was leaving, hoping the grounder had heard he over her laser focused attention on her current project. Removing herself from the work room she commed just as quickly for a ground bridge, which ripped open at the black and yellow stripped alcove just as swiftly.
Blackridge was just as overpopulated as it ever was. The hold was larger in size than SparkLabs but felt far smaller with it's dense occupation. Vega paid it no mind making her way down the chiseled out hallways toward the war room. Once there she paused at the heavy metal door- one of the only places in the entire base to actually have a door - and reached over to key in entry request. The doors snapped open quickly and Vega made her way into the room.
She very quickly noticed the map illuminating the room, a red indicator beacon flashing a point of interest on it. Just as quickly she noticed the war lord posed close to the display. She stopped a respectful distance away from him, a hand splaying over her chest plate as she bent forward in a slow bow. Righting herself she stood at attention, standing straight backed with her arms folded behind her back.
"Good evening Lord Megatron, how may I assist you?"
It had been a long laborious day, but in activity Flamesnort found solace. Again he had been helping work the mines with his vehicon pals. It was far from glamorous work but he enjoyed it nonetheless. The heat of the day and the work bothered him not even a little for the mechanical dragon could make himself far far hotter than most would ever experience.
He was at the end of the shift when he received his summons. The timing was good, either deliberate or coincident, it gave him plenty of time to clean the dust and debris from his frame and present his best colors to his leader. Flamesnort only gave causal thought to the nature of the call. A long life and experience had taught him that it was better to go in with no expectations and just roll with whatever came. His guesses were not accurate to be reliable.
The quadframe made his was through the simple corridors of Blackridge to Megatron's quarters. He was just far enough behind Vega to recognize her, but not catch up without undue fuss. He was a few seconds behind the femme when he entered.
Inside Flamesnort dipped his head and closed his optics as he bowed. "Lord Megatron!". He then stood up to his full height, pushing off the floor with his foreclaws and rising to balance on just his rear legs and tail. He dipped his head in respect and acknowledgement to Vega, his comrade, just briefly enough.
Megatron, the map and that conspicuous little red light now had his full attention. "How may I serve"
Megatron turned when he heard both had arrived, looking down at them. Large arms remained crossed over his chest as crimson optics carefully looked each over.
Vega he was somewhat familiar with – she was a Seeker, and therefore had a general frame plan. Tall, her wings were, as with all the other seeker types, generally expressive.
Flamesnort, on the other hand, was somewhat different.
Megatron was aware of those who wore a more...basic frame type. One might even called it animalistic. He himself didn’t really understand why one would remain in such a form – it seemed very limiting to the Warlord. But then again, it would certainly have it’s own pros. It was, in fact, the reason he was choosing Flamesnort for this particular quest, to accompany Vega.
He spoke.
“I am certain by now, rumours spreading as quickly as they do among those living here, that you have heard something about my latest....project.
I am searching for the remains of a weapon....a very powerful weapon that I once held within my army.”
Turning back, Megatron tapped in several commands on the keyboard, and a new image appeared alongside the first. It was a large ship, bigger even than the Nemesis. Built from black metal, the ship was all sharp angles and long spikes, looking more like some poisonous insect than anything else. The Warlord raised a hand and tapped the front of the ship. There, mounted onto the upper part of the flying fortress was what appeared to be a large cannon. A dull gunmetal grey, the cannon looked as if it were partially retracted into the front of the ship. The angle the image was taken from did not give one a good view into the barrel, but one wasn’t necessary. It was apparent the cannon was created to destroy large targets – if the front two thirds were anything to judge it by. It almost resembled, in a loose manner, Megatron’s own Fusion Cannon, neither flashy nor fancy. It was built to destroy, and nothing else.
“Mortillus’ Hymn.
It was mounted on a prize warship, a flying fortress, under the command of someone I made the mistake of thinking had more than one working circuit in his head.
The ship, and the Hymn, were lost.”
Megatron turned back to Vega and Flamesnort, the two images still projected on the wall behind him.
“Until recently, I was not aware of the location of the Hymn. My recent....absence, allowed me to locate it.
Unfortunately, it was broken into many pieces. How many is yet unknown, but the pieces were scattered across this very planet.”
Megatron’s optics narrowed.
“I mean to have my Hymn back.”
Megatron turned, striding with heavy footfalls to the large table in the middle of the room. There, upon the table, stood a smallish device. It was rectangular in shape, about as long and wide as one of Vega’s hands, though much thinner. A small window in the center of the device was dark, what looked like lines radiating out from the center bottom could just be made out. There was an antenna jutting from the top half of the box.
The device was dwarfed in Megatron’s hand, as he turned and walked towards Vega. Holding it out towards her, he spoke again.
“One of the pieces is believed to be in the location shown on the map. Near an area called Sheridan.
“The pieces of the Hymn vibrate faintly due to some of the materials it was composed of. You will not be able to hear it with your own audials, but this device will be able to lead you there, once you are within several meters of it. It will receive the frequency the pieces of the Hymn emit, and you will be able to track it down.”
“It will take time, so I have chosen the two of you as you are flyers. You will be able to get in and out, quickly enough.”
A hiss of engines, a sharp cutting snarl of wind...
High above the ground a dark shape rocketed through the sky, narrow wings cutting long lines through the clouds in a wisping trail of smears and streaks. The reaper moved with purpose, traveling with an obvious goal in sight by the way it seldom shifted direction or deviated from its near linear path. It traveled through the Wyoming sky just north of a city called Sherican, which was nothing but distant glinting glass among gray buildings and lush green foliage. The humans far below went about their days, so very unaware of the alien entities that lingered nearby, a revelation that would not only shake their settlement, but shockwave through humanity overall.
The lands below were broad, and rather dull. Wide open spaces with large fields and rocky portions, peppered with the occasional farmhouse and their surrounding crops and animals. Yet, the Reaper continued, heading towards a more mountainous region which was the intended goal, it having a convenient boon where the chance of being spotted lessened considerably. It was once this landscape settled below, that the Cybertronian altered device would crook sharply, plummeting down towards the ground in what almost looked to be a divebomb, before hooking enough for wings to 'grab' the air and slow.
Once clutching hard enough to abruptly flick momentum up rather than down, further aided by a controlled pulse of an engine, the Reaper ripped apart into a snarl of transformation. Systems hatcheted around while wings remained held out even as they formed into arms, hanging onto any last semblance of 'grip' to stifle speed. With a muffled thrum, Soundwave landed solidly on the ground, right leg bowed to absorb impact while loping arms were held out at either side, fingertips of his left hand gently touching the ground as the last bits of transformation rattled through him.
Now fully formed as the final panel locked into place, the navy mech would calmly ease upright, right arm crooking back towards his body to look down upon a device that was cradled delicately in his grasp. The tool was rough, cobbled in a way due to its experimental nature. Should things work out well, it would be cleaned up from its 'prototype' appearance, yet for now it had a panel of exposed wiring that hooked over the left side down beneath it. It looked fragile, though it would be sturdy enough for its intended purpose and initial trials, a square screen on its front with a ragged set of buttons beneath it. As primitive as it may appear, it was quite valuable for what it may provide the Decepticons.
With a cursory glance given to the tool, Soundwave's visor then crooked down and to the side some, listening for the others that were attending this experimental excursion.
A deep black jet followed shortly behind the slim built drone, maintaining a slightly higher altitude than the officer. While generally the idea of the endemic population spotting them was met without a care Vega still took care to keep above the clouds. She kept a consistent distance between herself and Soundwave making sure he was never far out of her line of sight. There had been no time wasted between their orders being given, joining Soundwave, and their departure. It shouldn't be too much longer-
Soundwave tilted into a decent then, Vega following afterwards swiftly. He had no sooner finished his shift to root mode when she descended, metal splitting apart and resituating in her own transformation. She landed in a similar fashion to Soundwave, taking care to avoid landing on her scarred leg as her wings snapped down and against her back. The soft soil gave slightly under the sudden heft but supported her just enough as she shifted to stand.
A cursory glance of their surroundings, taking in exactly where they were and making a quick note of the cardinal directions in relation to their location. A habit, picked up from her time stranded on Cybertron. Making sure she always knew exactly which direction North was. Keeping one's bearings was vital. Her focus then turned to Soundwave, the slender mech glancing toward her and Flamesnort's direction.
A brief nod as she approached him slowly, "Apologies if you were kept waiting Commander, has there been any indication regarding our target?" She gestured to the ramshackle device in Soundwave's hand. At first it had been relinquished to her - Flamesnort lacking the proper articulation to hold the 'scanner' - but had without question relinquished it to Soundwave once he joined them. The intricacies of how the device worked were still lost on her, their lord having only divulged it's purpose in full. And while her curious nature would love to ask a lengthy list of questions regarding it's construction and it's inner workings they had no time for that.
In last place and for good reason, lagging behind the Reaper and the Tiger, flew the Vampire. Whereas the others had elected to fly high, Flamesnort elected to fly low. His Terran disguise resembled an older aircraft from previous generations, and it was customary to fly such old aircraft at lower altitudes below the majority of traffic and enable the nostalgia they elicited to be enjoyed. But mostly, Flamesnort just did not like to fly high.
With skill born of sheer practice and barely a single iota of talent, Flamesnort came in low, flared up to burn speed and transformed. Twin tail booms joined like a zip, wings segmented and folded, collapsing to hug the sides of his fuselage. Four limbs unfurled and claws stretched. The nose segmented, split and withdrew forming a crest and revealing a mouth lined with precise interlocking shark teeth. Flamesnort landed on the rocks next to his kin with claws digging in to halt his momentum. He looked around with keen senses, processing the lay of the terrain, searching for any signs of squishy activity.
He said nothing to his other comrade and companion. He felt no need to. He was ready to act at their bequest, mission firmly in mind. Flamesnort was looking forward to the activity, treating the day as he would any other hunt, with focus.
The tool Soundwave held had been passed from individual to individual to this point, and as if it were a game it would continue to do so. The moment that Vega would gesture to the device, ((while Flamesnort settled from his transition from air to land)), the navy mech's frame would fully angle in her direction, taking a couple strides forward. Without metal or exclusively stone flooring beneath his gait, his steps were borderline silent, the dampeners in ankle and knees muting any metallic sounds to a soft plastic like tap. Soundwave would not need to travel far to the femme, before his hand would loop forward, the scanner nestled upon an open palm in a rather apparent offering for her to take it and see for herself.
The screen of the tool was not quite like an Energon tracker. There was no pulse upon the radar, no crisp screen that tried to guide to a fuel source with a rough overhead 'view'. It instead almost sizzled, a faint narrowly audible buzz as wavelengths crackled and pulsed across its front like some sort of sound wave that was flicker picking up on ambient noises. A couple of these lines would warble and dance, though the intensity seemed to depend on how Vega angled it.
Should the femme twist the tool around curiously, or turn her frame, she would see that the lines would even out into a slightly lower pulse, before jittering higher in a rather subtle game of 'Hot and Cold'.
While she may tinker with the tool, an inky black visor would glance down at Flamesnort momentarily, before Soundwave turned about again, stepping up the outcropping of dirt and rock they stood upon, so he could get a better view of what was around them. While flying offered a VERY nice scan of the lands and what now surrounded them, it did not negate the validity of seeing it from a grounded position. Able to even more accurately decipher the rise and fall of the environment.
The landscape that the trio looked upon was expansive, but far from flat. Rolling hills and ravines, the earth itself dancing between tan, brown, and rust, with splattered foliage that encroached on the majority of what could be seen. The entire swath of land despite said discrepancy was minimally canted into a slope, angling down towards the city that couldn't be discerned beyond a vague gray smear that was only seen when searched for. There were some rural roads cut through down the way as well, though Soundwave didn't seem to take them as a concern.
The greenery that streaked across it all was lush and aggressive, dense patches of trees and shrubbery, thick and claustrophobic in a way to individuals of their scale. It was nowhere on par with the more vacant desert landscapes many opted to search, instead creating a tangle of branches that wove among one another to attempt to bar entry. In the direction of the city, trees would break up into multiple patches, the ground in between smeared in yellow grasses and fields, with a sprinkle of smaller green plants that made themselves at home. To the north, the trees parted once more, though it was to be replaced with large gray and charcoal rocks that jutted up, streaked in tans and off whites at the distant mountains.
The scanner seemed to direct horizontally, vaguely to the east between the mountains and fields, directly through the trees that were woven together. It was hard to say however, almost a lag in the sensor, an extremely vague gesturing in a 60 degree or so slice of the land.
A sharp wind skittered low to the ground, rustling trees while Soundwave simply watched the horizon with arms loped down at either side. He was wary as he did so, hyper focused on the task as the thin spines that attached to the satellite array would flick ever so slightly. He looked for any glint of metal, any flicker of a scope of some kind...
Had she not been looking directly at him Vega would not be able to hear Soundwave approach. It was a notion that put her on edge, not pertaining to the mech himself, but the fact his steps were impossibly quiet. The idea of being unable to hear another entity approaching her - especially when she wasn't aware of them - always sent a brief buzz of anxious static through her EMF. But Soundwave was directly in front of her, and this put her at ease.
Vega watched him as he approached her - a short trip down the incline - and offered her in silence the device once again. She accepted it, offering a quiet 'thank you' in return as she inspected the scanner again. She had taken a moment once their Lord had given it to her for a cursory glance of it, but now she took the time to turn it in over in her hands. Seeing- and HEARING it give off a low hum as she turned it this way and that. The frequency changing as its positioning did.
Vega glanced away from the device as Flamesnort landed, then again as Soundwave turned silently away to begin walking inland. Not one to waste time either it seemed. Vega quickly followed behind occasionally glancing down at the scanner as they went. Tilting it this way and that to see how the frequency fluctuated as she did so.
The rolling, lush hillside of the Wyoming wilderness was another example of the - admittedly - impressive diversity the planet had. From the dusty hillside that nestled Blackridge in between the cracks, to the steel gray mountains she for the time being called home, and then once again to the view before them. The diversity was admittedly impressive...from a bird's eye view. Traversing the landscape on foot would no doubt be difficult.
There was also the issue of the size of the landscape, there was a lot of ground to cover. Would it be best for the three to split up? Covering as much ground as possible? Or to stay in a group? With the singular scanner it would take the others far longer to search if they branched off.
She lifted her head to glance at Soundwave. "If I may sir, we have a lot of ground to cover between the three of us. Do you believe it would be in our best interest to search in different directions individually? Or - seeing as we only have the one - stay close together with the device?"
Flamesnort could not even begin to imagine he was more intelligent than the two who stood with him, Soundwave was likely an order of magnitude above him in sheer processing power, and Vega was definitely no slouch in the clock cycle department either. Still, he wanted to add his own insight as of the trio, he did possess the most experience of the planet's terrain and what the weather systems could do to that same terrain.
"If I may, I'd suggest we stick close to the scanner, or at least the direction and distance it indicates. The weather and flora quickly cover much. Otherwise, the best we'd find would be some squishie's detritus." His tone was polite and respectful. At most he was the brawn of the group, not the brains. His quad frame providing massive advantages in the terrain they would likely cover, least of all he was simply closer to the ground.
Though he did agree with Vega's assessment that they did indeed have much ground to cover, he was fully aware they were out in the open. He had full trust that the other two could take care of themselves, should they fall prey to unwanted attention. Flamesnort eyed up the trees, judging the distance between trunks and meantally plotting pathways though. Incinerating the landscape was also an option, should it be necessary. Always an option, albeit a last resort.
Initially, Soundwave did not seem to respond to the other two as they discussed the best course of action to take, appearing to be occupied with whatever task he had put upon himself. His frame was perched high on the ledge of ragged stone, while his helm would twitch an ever so faint inch from one side to the other, altering his field of vision to encompass new land. This initial scope of the terrain from a ground view could show small threats that may have been missed from above. While it certainly would not cover what lie beyond the tree line, and was quite limited, he seemed to still put much value upon it for one reason or another.
After a couple fleeting moments, the silent mech would ease his weight back into a far more natural stance, frame crooking around so that he could view the other Decepticons directly. The inky black visor that consisted of his faceplate seemed to settle between the two, making it unapparent who exactly he may be looking upon directly at any given moment. Light from the high set sun glinted slightly off its glass surface.
//̛Both /̸/ -Unified front/̡/̶
A slightly deep voice at first, an edge of a rumble slipping out within the singular word. The second portion sounded lighter, an individual with a higher pitch to it, though it held an annoyed edge. This recording sounded modulated to try to remove the negative tones for it was not applicable here, a robotic twang overlayed though it was still recognizable as actual words.
Soundwave believed staying together was an optimal option given Vega would be leading the metaphorical charge with the experimental device. However, walking side by side was narrowing their visual scanning abilities down to effectively one, meaning she could be out here alone and be just as effective. If they were to spread out somewhat, yet all still move in the same direction, it would turn their linear viewpoint into a broad swatch. Exactly how far they should move from one another was up to debate, for if they traveled through the forest itself their visual connection to one other would be cut near instantly the moment one broke away.
Fully turning about, Soundwave eased forward, taking a slight hop down from the rocky ledge to be on the same level as the other two. For now, he did not take direct lead, for this was a test not only in the devise itself, but in the other two Cybertronian. They should be able to figure out the tool on their own and how it is used. While it was not accurate in the slightest, it should only require a bit of processing to put two and two together.
Any individual in the fleet must be able to go on scouting missions without supervision. In fact, Soundwave was technically not even needed here, only present in case something went wrong with the tool itself so he could try to figure out what had gone amiss. It was better to try to diagnose and find interference when out on the field, than it was for the soldiers to try to explain where they were and describe the situation.
Because of this, Soundwave simply observed, watching to see what the other two did.
Vega lifted her gaze to him as Soundwave slowly turned to face them, making her best effort to maintain something that could be called eye contact. Soundwave's lack of facial features made it more difficult than with any other of her superiors. Her optics cycled closed for a brief moment as he turned and the sun caught on the polished surface of his visor. He then "spoke": 'Both. Unified front.'
Not so much as "splitting up" but the suggestion of a fanned positioning, either mech at the sides while Vega took point with the device. Giving them the ability to broaden their search while also keeping the others in sight if the situation turned sour or assistance was needed. The femme fave a firm nod as Soundwave decended from his position above them with a less than hefty thud. "Understood sir." She gave before turning to Flamesnort to address him. "Stay to my right, about two clicks to stay within eyesight if you will please." Then she turned to Soundwave, momentarily wavering in the fact she was ordering a superior. "If you would take the left please?" Much less an order and more a polite suggestion, she hoped her toes were just within the line that way.
With that she shifted herself forward, waking in a northward direction. Her gaze flicked up and down in regular intervals, monitoring for any changes in the display while also keeping an eye out for any obstacles in her path. As she walked she dwelled on the weight of this assignment. How it's success - and others after it - could lead to the end of the stalemate and the war as a whole. How if this device was proven to work here it would mean only a matter of time to find the other parts of The Hymn, and possibly even expanding the uses to find other relics of their past.
And how it was her responsibility. How it was her who was spearheading this mission and how any potential failure would be on her shoulders. She wouldn't fail. She COULDN'T fail. A sudden warble from the device, Vega lifting it slightly to inspect it. She tilted it slightly, angled it to her left, then her right. There it was again. She held it out more forward, the distortion slight but consistent. Vega quickly turned to the other two at her sides.
"This way, to the northeast!" Turning back she quickly took a slightly quickened pace toward the northeast. A heading. They likely had much farther to go, the signal still faint but certainly not what it was before. Different. Different was good. She quickly glanced up and around her, making sure the others were keeping pace and distance with her.