[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Damage Assessment [Avalanche]

[Optimus Prime]

Episode 3 | Week 3 | Day 4

Something notable happened, that much Optimus easily gathered.

The boomed roars of the new Commander were the initial alarm, Optimus' attention seized the second their indecipherable words echoed down the hall. He knew rather little about Avalanche, the yell possibly being an overreaction to insubordination that seemed to be a fad around base... or it could be something truly detrimental and something to be concerned over. Because of this uncertainty, the Prime was summoned away from previous tasks, heavy footfalls thrumming down the hall to the main corridor just in time to hear the hissed latch of the Medical Bay closing.

When things went sideways, getting involved was a given for any leadership figure. Evaluate the issue, try to find a solution, reallocate resources to resolve it or shift other's jobs to a new role... There were several things that could come up during an active war on an alien planet, especially one that wasn't prepared to know of their existence. This grandiose variety of problems were immeasurable, so there was no way of knowing until throwing oneself into the fray.

Yet, there was one thing Optimus knew well, and that was when it was a medical situation, trying to interject was not only outside of his realm, but could be more detrimental than beneficial when things were actively progressing.

If he needed to react to something, he would be informed.

Cyan optics glanced to the ground of the Control Room, ghosting across the myriad of Energon splatters and marks that streaked in a thin line. The path trailed from the maw of the now closed Ground Bridge, all the way to the Medical Bay that was sealed shut, whatever sounds within unable to be deciphered beyond muffled inklings of words.

Someone was injured, and by the looks of the splatters it was rather severely so. This was concerning for fairly obvious reasons, yet the lack of a call to arms or quick report was a glimmer of good news in a sea of darkness. It meant whatever caused such an issue was self-inflicted from an accident, or whatever harmed them was no longer present to be contended with. This was a small speck of relief, though relief was a very abstract word when true concern for the wounded lay heavily in the air.

There was nothing he could do however unless his presence was requested. Nothing except stay out of the way and wait for the report or to be notified. As such, Optimus' weight eased back, a somber look cast at the door to the other room, quietly wishing recovery and survival, before he would ease around. As he walked, his hand would raise to the side of his helm, calling in cleanup for the shed fuel as he departed the immediate area.

--


Time would be the game now. Waiting to find out what had occurred, waiting to know what the threat may be... While anticipating the outcome, Optimus remained in his quarters, being patient for the time being. Should over an hour pass with no word, he would then look into seeking answers, but for now it was best to let them try to keep whoever it was alive and functional.

[Avalanche]

One of the hardest things for an officer to do, for any mecha to do, was to have to recognise that however much they wanted to help, they weren't qualified and they were in the way. While she'd been of some rough and ready use in helping Patch, as soon as Jetfire had entered the sickbay she was both surplus to requirements and bulky enough that she was an obstruction.

The sickbay doors closed behind her, leaving her standing in the quiet of the control room. Spatters of bright energon marked her stark black and white armour with neon traces, glowing over the darker marks of churned earth and mud across her frame.

The tall femme sighed, a soft vent from her stacks. Stepping more quietly than usual, as if that might somehow disturb Sundance in her unconscious stupor, she made her way down the corridor to the communal wash racks, hoping against hope that no mecha would happen across her on the way.

The tiles rang hollowly beneath her pedes as she stepped into the deserted wash room. For a moment, dead silence ruled, then the spray of pressurised water hitting metal filled the air with a white hiss of static. The traces of blue washed down her frame with a brisk, steady sweep of the pressure nozzle, vanishing into the drain amidst a brief torrent of muddy water. A few small rocks and pebbles followed it as she raked her fingers across the treads of her tyres, turning them slowly to get the mess out.

It wasn't a luxurious process, nor one to linger over. It just had to be done.

A torrent of hot air belted down from above, drying most of her plating, with a few traces of wetness left in corners and panel gaps. Good enough. The next thing would be a report to the base commander. Which in this case meant...

Optimus Prime.

She hadn't spent much time with the Prime so far. The night she'd arrived, there'd been a training exercise that had gone badly, and their first meeting had been cursory at best. Nevertheless, even that had left an impression. It was rare to meet someone she looked up to, physically or metaphorically, but he was a figure of legend.

A figure holding together a base in the face of insufficient resources and poor discipline, against a relentlessly powerful enemy, with his bare hands. She dared to have a measure of sympathy for the mech.

Everyone, everyone, knew where the Prime's quarters were. Girding herself against the trace of nervousness that he generated even in her, Avalanche made her way down the corridors to the blank wall of the door, and knocked twice with her knuckle guards against the sheet metal.

"Commander Avalanche, sir."

His signal to enter came; the door opened, and she stepped into the personal quarters of the leader of the entire Autobot cause. She stood to attention, a looming shape, saluting firmly. Orange, forge-ember optics met cool, cyan blue.

"Sundance has been badly wounded in the field." The words were spoken evenly, but with a certain heaviness of withheld frustration. "Her spark is no longer in danger, but her injuries are extensive."

[Optimus Prime]

The door that Avalanche entered through was barely functional, at best. It was struggling to pull aside with mangled internal mechanisms that clicked in protest... the femme would likely have to help it along to get it aside on its jittering track, which would just highlight the physical damage as well as the internal. Warping metals on the leading edge, what looked to almost be the compression force of a hand was visible, the Prime's rage and inner fire making him force it open with reckless aggression after learning of what happened to Ratchet.

Optimus didn't seem to acknowledge this issue, brushing it aside as if it were normal while he focused on more important things. Like what Avalanche had to say.

While the Commander entered and started to relay her brief introductory report, Optimus pushed himself into a stand, having been sitting at his desk previously. He would ease fully upright with a near silent whir of mechanics activating that had been dormant a moment prior, placing the datapad he had in hand onto the flat surface without a second glance. With his hands now free, Optimus would take a couple strides to the side, only to then square off with Avalanche fully.

"I am glad to hear she survived her ordeal, yet I am understandably concerned given what I saw."

Just because her spark was stable and not at the brink of falling over the edge into the Well of All-Sparks, it didn't mean things were clear and fine. They simply didn't have the means to do major repairs, and should an internal component be mangled or badly damaged, it could be something they would need to cobble a workaround just so her systems still pumped fuel. This was catastrophizing though, many smaller injuries could drain alarmingly to create the splatters he saw. Sometimes the smallest of nicks on the right line could bleed in a way that looked disastrous.

Yet, that did not add up with the 'badly wounded' clarifier that had been used.

"Do we have information on who, or what, caused this incident?"

While it could be seen as more sympathetic to ask more about how Sundance was doing, it was set aside temporarily to try to learn of the cause of this. If there was a potential threat to be aware of, then he wanted to be able to report it to ongoing or upcoming scouting events as soon as possible. In an ideal world it would be an incident of misplaced judgement and an accident, yet Optimus knew such 'luck' was ill-founded here on Earth.

[Avalanche]

The door had creaked and groaned under Avalanche's hand as she'd as first pushed, then rammed it back along its track. The crumpled marks of a fiercely gripping hand were intimately familiar to her; not just from her own particular style of bare-handed combat, but also her own occasional bursts of frustrated anger that had sometimes grounded themselves through being rough with her surroundings.

While it was something she could probably fix with a little time and brute force to bend things back into place, this wasn't the time to offer. It wasn't even the time to make any show of having noticed.

Her helm tilted upwards a little as the Prime rose to stand face to face, keeping her attention on his optics. Her stance lacked the crisp precision someone like Prowl would have probably displayed, but it was a formal at-attention posture appropriate for addressing a superior, and the tremor of disbelief somewhere at the back of her processor that she was personally addressing the Prime had been firmly set aside.

He'd seen something. Had he glimpsed the smouldering ruin of Sundance in her arms as she'd dashed headlong into the medical bay?

She nodded once, her heavy, shovel-like hands clasped loosely behind her. "Sundance reported in that she was engaged with 'Thundercracker', and requested backup. On the heels of the transmission, she broadcast a distress signal, cut off."

Avalanche grimaced. The terror in Sundance's voice wouldn't be easily forgotten.

"Immediately after, on an open frequency, a mech's voice signalled any Autobots listening that he'd shot down a flier, and gave coordinates. Presented as a mark of respect." There was a certain leadenness to the words; while some Decepticons had a sense of honour about war dead, far more were all to happy to use them as lures to gather more targets, tricks she was wearily familiar with. The enemy had earned their name many times over. "When Patch and I collected her from the field, Sundance picked up two inbound airframes. We retreated and closed the bridge before they were in visual range."

While she could have presented her speculation that the message had been intended to lure them out, or even remark that Thundercracker almost certainly referred to the outlier Seeker, it would have been a waste of energon. The Prime could read the obvious as well as she could. The only information he needed right now was the bare facts, and then let him reach his own conclusions.

There was one concern that she would have had in his place, though. The bulky femme paused, then added, "Sundance's initial distress signal went out over general base comms. I reported via the same means that she'd been recovered, did not mention the incoming unidentifieds, and ordered no return to the site be made."

Reading between the lines, that could have been taken as a criticism of the garrison. While she hadn't exactly said so, it was clear enough that she was concerned rogue elements might have gone off to seek revenge for Sundance's injuries if they knew there were hostiles lingering in the area. Still, she presented her words neutrally and evenly, without undue emphasis.

[Optimus Prime]

Thundercracker.

Optimus knew who the mech was, the Seeker’s roles landing him at Starscream's side along with Skywarp in distant days. That said, while Starscream's presence never wavered from the spotlight as he worked his way up the hierarchy to claw to Second in Command, Thundercracker more... faded away. A name not uttered or brought up in countless years as he distanced himself from his more violently ambitious trinemate. To hear he had come to Earth? That was unexpected. It was not clear what events may have called him to this world, and what motivations were in play.

Whether it were his own, or in response to another's.

Even with the Seeker so removed from the war however, he was still a profoundly skilled flyer, and it would be a chore for any number of individuals to try to go toe to toe with him. Sundance was in the wrong place, wrong time, and picked a fight with the wrong individual. Granted, perhaps it was the right individual... for if a different Decepticon had done to her what Thundercracker seemingly had? Well, there would have been no honor or show of respect. There would be no call for aid on her behalf.

They may have simply finished the job instead.

Smeared across the ground, Sundance’s remains would have been found much later by a rescue team... if they could be found at all. Should a grounder go missing on a scouting mission... a general area could be combed... but with flyers? It could be so hit or miss at times, not sure what direction they went and how fast, making the search party that much more strained and spread thin. Alas, this was thankfully not the case, for she was lucky this day and picked the right-wrong opponent.

While Avalanche spoke about two additional inbound airframes, Optimus' weight eased back slightly upon his heel, his already focused attention seemed to narrow further while he considered just what this wildcard meant. If it were any other devoid rock of a planet, it would be very cut and dry. Decepticons. Or some other independents. One, or the other. Here on Earth the lines muddled however. Decepticons, and independents still a consideration, but then there were human elements they had to hide from. Local government... MECH... While MECH had not been shown to utilize such aircraft yet, it did not mean such things were not available to them.

"Your decision was of sound foundation."

Assured, barely a pause after Avalanche said that she did not lead a return to the site to confront whatever had been drawing near. It would have been an invitation for more injury, with a risk of exposure of their kind should it not be of Cybertronian origin. As such, the Commander's judgement call was exactly what he would have done should he have been in her position.

"I will consult with Agent Fowler, to inquire if any Air Force were in the area within that time frame."

If it was the US military? They then knew what it was. If it were not? Then that could be investigated later.

Turning his attention away from the 'how' since it appeared rather cut and dry, while also being out of their hands at the moment, Optimus' focus then shifted back to the fallen.

"What is the extent of Sundance's injuries?”

Some concern slipped into his words then, cutting through the sharper to-the-point professionalism from before. While she did not like him, and they confronted venomously at one moment, that truly meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. As irritated as Optimus was during that training session gone sour, she was still one of his Autobots and it pained him to know when any were injured while serving their cause. He worried even more so that things truly seemed grave from the little information he had on hand.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche could feel the intensity of the big mech's focus, calculations whirring behind those cyan blue optics. While it was a name that had dimmed in infamy compared to the meteoric rise of his trine-mate, it was far too much to hope for that this mention of Thundercracker, on the same world as Starscream, was a mere coincidence. The enemy's already exaggerated air superiority had reacquired an Outlier.

She could trace his thoughts that far. Where she couldn't follow was foreseeing the impact it had on his overall strategy. She simply hadn't been on the world long enough to have a full grasp of his likely long-term plans; all she'd been able to do was address more immediate concerns, working out what she could do with the authority she possessed to help position the garrison for an uncertain future.

Avalanche nodded once at the Prime's acknowledgement of her orders. She'd run units for too long in situations where her troops were badly outnumbered to initiate combat unnecessarily, especially where the benefits were nebulous at best. Agent Fowler was a familiar name also, prominent in the briefing documents she'd had access to as the liaison between Autobot and local governing body. Yes, depending on how thorough the cover up was intended to be, he might need to know-

The Prime's question shunted her attention down a different path. A subtle tension entered Avalanche's heavy hands, her fingers curling slightly, as the all-too-fresh vision of Sundance slumped in her arms flashed before her optics. For an instant, she smelled the spilt energon all over again.

"Rendered non-combatant for the immediate future. Likely longer." Avalanche's words were blunt, edged with the kind of frustration every officer felt for losses that they couldn't prevent. "Both legs are absent below the knee joint. Her optics are severely damaged. Too soon to tell if either is recoverable. Extensive shrapnel and small calibre projectile fire across her entire chassis. Serious energon loss."

Small, simple words for the extent of Sundance's wounds, but embellishing wouldn't help matters one iota. It was tragic, and on a personal level, she knew it would hurt her to see the flier struggle to adjust to her body damage. It was also a fact; it had happened, and had to be accounted for from then on. Avalanche maintained her pose at attention, and her furnace-orange optics didn't waver from the taller mech's faceplate.

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus' gaze remained on Avalanche's own as she spoke, the exposed apertures in his eyes flicking ever slightly as they focused. He was taking in every word, every detail whether direct or implied, and piecing together the unsaid that came with them. It painted a picture that did not bode well in the slightest, and already he could foresee many issues that would come.

Limb replacement... This was not good.

No injury was truly good, the gauge sliding from tolerable, to traumatic and life altering, and this one appeared to slide in the direction of the latter. Back on Cybertron at the onset of the war, when supplies were in more abundance and multiple medical personnel had signed on to be behind front lines and protected, Sundance would fare well. Spare components, a surgeon that likely knew such things well for it was their job for countless years prior, and then time to adapt among others who likely underwent similar fates to be guided. None of this was valid here. Not only was their surgeon out of commission at current events, the Cybertronian metals that would be needed were limited.

Optimus did not wish to think about what options there were to obtain more, such things not supported.

"Were the remains salvaged?"

If they retrieved the pieces that had been ripped off in the retreat, Sundance's ability to recover would increase substantially further. Given it was Thundercracker, it was not instantly apparent how said limbs were amputated however. If it were by one of the mech's swords, then Sundance could be back mobile in relatively quick time. Bridging struts, welding panels, and snaking lines and wires across the sever, then waiting for it all to bond accordingly and mesh into place. Yet if it were by one of the Seeker's missiles, then the results would be far less viable, though still useful. Even if they could only smelt the shredded pieces down, said metals could be used to try to do whatever they could to benefit Sundance, or should it be beyond the bases ability to reconstruct, and she relinquished them, it could save another’s spark whose damages were internalized and required Cybertronian living alloys.

The Prime awaited this answer, ready to act accordingly should they have been left behind. Primarily this goal would be to help Sundance, though it also had the additional benefit of keeping such evidence of their kind away from humanity. A remote region did not equal perpetual invulnerability from discovery.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche was no stranger to the consequences of catastrophic limb damage, both in herself and in others. There'd once been a time when such wounds were, if not trivial, then something that could be recovered from in a reasonable amount of time and full function restored.

Those days were long past.

The thought processes of the Prime transparently paralleled her own. Still, his question put a slight grimace on her faceplate. Whatever spark of hope that the ruined legs could be easily mended was about to be dismantled.

"No, sir. Sundance's leg damage was caused by a large explosion; the pieces were fragmented at high altitude, at speed, and the terrain below is densely forested. It's going to take time and work to recover much."

The work it'd take to recover any significant amount of Sundance's lower legs wasn't the problem, of course. Given time, and detectors tuned for Cybertronian metals, the area around where she was felled could be systemically searched for the small chunks of debris that would have rained down from the sky.

No, the problem was time. A dedicated search team could be out in that area for a long time sweeping the undergrowth for little fragments as small as individual bolts and fragments of shrapnel embedded in tree trunks, which gave far too many opportunities for others to discover them. The aerial combat could already have drawn attention from natives, enticing them to the area, and the Decepticons knew exactly where she'd been downed.

All things taken together, a search team would be far too exposed. And yet, those materials were both precious, and a secret that needed to be protected.

"Recommend we request search and recovery from our native allies. I left a suspicious scar through the undergrowth that starts and stops abruptly; that can be worked on at the same time. While they are on site, we can maintain a strike team by the bridge, ready to respond if the Decepticons return."

A team of humans scouring the area could spend far longer recovering shrapnel without being a glaring risk of exposing their operations, and would be far better at working in the dense undergrowth without trampling it into oblivion. The risk that the Decepticons, or MECH, could turn up in force was mitigated by holding a reserve force ready to engage. Reserve forces that could be thrown into a battlefield at an instant's notice, utterly undetectable until engagement... the bridge was an incredible ace in the hole, that in this case allowed them to both have their cake and eat it.

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus knew the answer to his own question the moment that Avalanche's features pulled from a look of neutrality while giving a report, to a grimace. An expression that said much. There would be nothing substantial on par with a whole limb awaiting installation. This was not a clean-cut slice of a blade, and instead would be a salvage attempt through the undergrowth for remains. Bold colors undoubtedly would aid in retrieval however, the flash of orange a beacon to draw the eye even to the untrained. Putting individuals to task who work in such environments for their jobs? Well, there would be parts to retrieve. It was just a matter of how large the pieces were.

Their structural metals could be re-animated to serve a new purpose despite prolonged time, Sundance's limbs able to be plucked out of the wilderness days, to weeks, to years, to even centuries later... not that there were plans to let them remain lost and disappear under the Earth for such time. The point was, they needn’t rush out this day.

"The Air Force are likely scouring the region already due to the presence of unknown aircraft."

Random appearances of aircraft streaking across any environment for miles on end with no active radar blocking or stealth technology? It would be noticed. However, whether they reacted or not depended on if Optimus or another reported that it was one of their own to disable the need for military involvement.

"The rend to the environment will take precedence given its abnormal nature, yet is resolved easily through declined flight plans."

While Earth's abundance of wilderness could be many miles of dense vegetation, a trench of freshly tilled earth and rock tearing through foliage and trees would stand out much more than some metal beneath the treeline. With military involvement, however, any civilian aircraft that may have been routed to go overhead would be redirected to a different course where they would never lay eyes upon the abnormality.

There would be no unintentional witnesses.

"If the Decepticons have yet to return to the site, I do not foresee interference during salvage. Should they do so, Agent Fowler's men will contact if aid is required."

Optimus seemed to not be concerned over this.

Thundercracker calling the incident in could be translated as an attempt to bait a response in order to form a trap, yet he did not believe this to be the case. Optimus' knowledge on the other mech didn't necessarily line up with this idea, though that didn’t negate a trap altogether. Yet the idea that Avalanche and Patch were able to go in and retrieve Sundance with the unknown aircraft on the horizon and not immediately upon them? That conveyed that if it was Decepticon activity, it likely was them simply surveying the results of the conflict itself, more so than seeking a direct assault of some kind.

These were all assumptions, however, looking between the lines to try to evaluate the incident from the enemy's point of view. Optimus considered if he would order such a return to the region if they were on a planet where the natives were allied with the Decepticons, and the answer to that was a negative.

What wasn't an assumption though was the fact that the Air Force would not hold back on a direct threat, and Decepticons likely were not keen to cause a large incident on that level due to their want to remain unnoticed as well.

"Are there more elements to report?"

Optimus would need to contact Agent Fowler sooner rather than later to begin clearing things up. Only then he could look into Sundance's condition further.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche had stood before a lot of superior officers in her time. Working her way up, step by step, against often fierce opposition. Some had blatantly ignored whatever she had to say, reacting far more to the messenger than the message. Some had been efficient. Professional. A few had even been friendly. The Prime didn't disappoint; where her words were terse and to the point, he understood without finding any offence in her habitual bluntness. While the conduct of the garrison as a whole yet frustrated her, and some portion of that had to lie on the commanding officer, in the presence of the Prime it was hard to feel anything but respect.

None of it made reporting Sundance's crippling injuries easier. But it could have been made harder, and it hadn't. She was grateful for that.

What more might need to be conveyed? Nothing, really. 'Patch is doing everything she can'? He knew that without being told. Every word about the situation, from her worry for Sundance, her anger, her frustration, the same things that he would be feeling as a commander hearing about a grievous injury to one of her troops – all of it had passed between them in those brief, blunt exchanges.

What remained was the fact she was standing before Optimus Prime, with his attention upon her. And he was about to speak to the representative of the native government. "Nothing further, sir." She paused briefly. "There is a longer-term matter, relevant to the native political groups. At your convenience, sir."

She couldn't judge, based on her limited acquaintance with the fabled mech, whether another matter would be a welcome distraction or an inappropriate intrusion at a difficult time. Best to touch lightly, and indicate respectfully she'd broach the matter at a time of the Prime's choosing.