The Intergalactic Highway

Ironclaw had now witnessed the leader ship in Optimus. He could see the care and loyalty that he put in everyone one of his maximals. This made Ironclaw know that he was indeed in the right place and that Optimus would allow him to carry on as he always has...Well as much as this new planet will allow. This planet is nothing like cybertron, no large cities, bots all over the place or even the maximal elders. He would try to fit in.

Amongst thinking about himself he realised who Optimus had just saved. Not that he knew the identity of fembot, more the situation that she was in. She look just as out of her depth as he was. a lack of experience for the environment she was in. He realised that they had this in common. He wanted to get to know her a little better and see if they could help each other out.

Optimus smiled. "By the way, I'm Optimus Primal." He was certain now who she was, and although Aurora wasn't Nightmist, he saw a part of her in her. It was a little comforting. "This is Arachnitron, Ironclaw, Wintersong and Whitegrazer. Where were you heading in such a hurry?" he inquired Aurora.

Whitegrazer smiled and nodded, "Nice to meet you, Aurora." At first, Whitegrazer thought that she probably came from the pod but there was something familar about her and since Ironclaw didn't seem to know her, only one deduction can be made.

"I was being silly," she admitted, "... going further faster than I should. I just wanted to catch up with Dinobot, Frilla and Rattrap who went off after another falling pod. Big green at the base was otherwise distracted, so I thought I would join the fun."

Whitegrazer chuckled at the young one's youthfulness and eager to go and see where the action is then had to be amused, "Another pod? Today seems to be full of them."

Wintersong sighed in relief as Aurora landed and seemed safe,"Pleasure to meet you Aurora." Wintersong greeted and turned her gaze slightly to look at the sky. It must have been close to midday by now and the tigeress thought it was close to her patrol time. Besides a break from the ship was a little something the tigeress was hoping for,"I should be heading for my rounds Optimus, it's about time I was getting back to the jungle. See you guys later." She gave a final nod before she walked off towards the trees and disappeared into some bushes, her fur only faintly seen through some gaps in the trees.

((Been waiting for a little while so will go ahead and speed this up a bit since not quite sure what else to do.))

Onyx gave a final look at Starshadow but with no reponse he finally turned away,"I'll be of then Starshadow I am curious of the Maximal signatures so I think I'll take a quick look." He said kindly before he transformed and galloped away from the panther female, too eager and curious of these enemies he'd face in the future. Thanks to his beast form though he was able to cover some distance away from his fellow Predacon and to his surprise some in coming Maximals, three that he could confirm. Curiosity peeked the black Friesian stallion slowed his gallop to a trot.

Once the signals seemed closer he came to a halt, awaiting to see these Maximals for himself and if it would be worth starting a fight. Perhaps that could be saved for another day, for now he wanted to see his enemy first, to know what to expect once he joined the Predacons. Though he could only hope none of them would be hostile at first and would talk instead.

Arachnitron watched silently as Optimus flew swiftly up to the falling Maximal. She wondered what it was he was saying...teaching her how to fly? Scolding her for her carelessness? But suddenly, the Maximal grabbed hold of her wings and drifted slowly to the ground. Another crisis averted.

She introduced herself as Aurora. Arachnitron had never seen a 'bot with two beast forms. The wings of a butterfly and the body of a completely different creature...an ermine.....it took a lot of will power for Arachnitron not to stare at her perplexed.

Optimus introduced the crowd of 'bots standing before Aurora. Arachnitron was glad he did; so she didn't have to introduce herself. She could already sense that it probably didn't take a rocket scientist to determine her lineage. Optimus probably already figured it out and was just waiting for their time alone to send her off. Even though she gave off no energy signature, she had a hunch that she probably acted like a Predacon....subtle nuances that gave herself away.....like this situation right now for instance....

Arachnitron began to feel uneasy again. Not scared or anxious....just uncomfortable. She had no idea what to do in this friendly environment....an introduction to the Predacons was to exchange names and keep walking. Or, at any rate, a small power struggle to show dominance over the other. The Maximals, on the other hand, smiled and waved and welcomed the others like long-lost friends. She felt....awkward....standing here not saying or doing anything in response to her introduction. She thought about sending the other 'bots a smile or a wave, but she couldn't picture herself actually looking friendly doing so. So she didn't. She did what she knew best....she stood by and watched silently. There would be time later to learn these strange Maximal customs.

(( OOC: Wintersong's going to get herself into trouble, isn't she? ))

"I was being silly," "... going further faster than I should. I just wanted to catch up with Dinobot, Frilla and Rattrap who went off after another falling pod. Big green at the base was otherwise distracted, so I thought I would join the fun."

"Silly" wasn't the word Optimus would have chosen, more like careless, but he didn't want to call her out on it and make her more embarassed than she already appeared to be. It sounded like the others recommended that she stay behind, but she decided to "sneak" out and put herself in danger. Aurora reminded him of Cheetor, which merely meant that the leader might have his hands even fuller than they already were. They would be overflowing now. Beginning with a light smile, it tapered off while Optimus spoke. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, Aurora, but recovering a stasis pod usually results in confrontations with Predacons, and I would not categorize it as 'fun.' It can get extremely dangerous. I would like you to gain more experience in both your beast and robot modes before you venture out on a mission like that." It may not have sounded very thrilling, and Primal didn't expect her to fully understand, but he hoped she would trust his judgement and heed his suggestion; it would help her in the long run.

"Nice to meet you, Aurora." "Another pod? Today seems to be full of them."

Optimus was just glad that there were enough Maximals to split up and go after each one in hopes of rescuing the survivors. There were times he regretted unloading all of Axalon's precious stasis pods into orbit. Some of them weren't meant to be tampered with, especially by Predacon hands.

"Pleasure to meet you Aurora." "I should be heading for my rounds Optimus, it's about time I was getting back to the jungle. See you guys later."

Nodding to the white tigress, Primal added a reminder, "Keep in touch, Wintersong," and watched her walk off alone.

"Whitegrazer, would you mind showing Aurora and Ironclaw around while I speak with Arachnitron?" the gorilla asked the white equine with a warm tone. He did notice her tail's reaction earlier before Aurora's fall but Primal didn't indulge on it. It was, however, interesting to observe that she might feel the same way toward him. Then again, maybe he was reading her wrong. Well, there was no time to figure it out now. He was still on duty.

"Ironclaw, I need to speak with Arachnitron first," Optimus explained. "Please go with Whitegrazer and familiarize yourself with the area and our ship. I'll catch up with you soon." He didn't know if there was any urgency to Ironclaw's earlier inquiry for assistance, but the Maximal commander felt that the new female arachnid needed his attention first, especially after the breakdown she showed them earlier.

Turning to her, seeing her look a little uncomfortable again, the gorilla said calmly, "If you'd still like to talk, Arachnitron, now would be a good time." After all, he knew there could be any moment any time that something dire would require his attention. It came with the job description. He was the one everyone reported to, and their faction was definitely growing very quickly.

( Knowing her luck possibly. Trouble does seem to find Wintersong quite a bit doesn't it, but at this point she's just going onpatrol but if someone wants to cause something go ahead. XD I am all up for adding to the trouble list which must be close to a mile long by now.)

Glowstick wrote: Huh.. Looks like I hurt your boyfriend Cecaelia. Reluctantly.. I'm sure he'll be fine. Alright. I'll take control now Steelclaw.. we'll need to move the Starhopper out of this area, it's far too close to the Maximal base. Then I'll be able to take it apart to make it fit inside the Leviathan a little easier..then I can take it to it's final destination. So I guess I'll do that at the beach..

Steelclaw got himself out of the chair and started heading back for the gunner's seat.

"Say, there's something I ought to fill you in on, too," he spoke up. "But I mean... I can wait 'till you're done getting the starhopper. Proper concentration and all that..."

* * *

Rattrap wrote:Hurry up, you two! If we continue at this pace, the Predacons will have acquired both,' yeah, yeah, yeah! Ya know, if I had wings or wheels, I'd be able ta catch up faster, Chopper Face! Excuse me and my short little legs!

The vermin should have exercised greater foresight when he selected his beast mode, then. And yet... it was incredibly fitting for one such as him.

"Your short little legs are excused."

Frilla wrote:Think three preds are just ahead in the distance though hard to tell who right now.

As the group got closer, Dinobot's sensors could pick up the signals more strongly. One Predacon in particular seemed to have isolated his or herself and come nearer.

After a few more clicks of running, the robot came into view. Dinobot knew for a fact he had never seen him before.

Although his signal was undeniably Predacon, it would not be good to assume that the warrior had chosen or been forced to align with Megatron. Dinobot slowed to a walk and then stopped in front of the newcomer.

"I trust you have just been re-activated?" Dinobot wasn't one for actual greetings. "Our scanners detected a stasis pod crashing in this sector."

* * *

Cheetor was running so fast, he almost ran straight into Feralnight and Icebreaker. Instead, he skidded to the side, tripped over himself and fell on his side.

"Hey 'bots," he said, picking himself up. "What's the situation? Did they leave?"

((OOC: I know this is really late, but:

Feralnight wrote:Er sorry Icebreaker think it's raining fuzors.

Hah.))

NaitoKage wrote: You and I are the only ones inside at the moment.. Aurora is awake, and all heck broke loose outside with spaceships and pods. I think some of them are back already.

"Aurora?" Orcariner asked.

Trying to analyze the context of which Rhinox used that name in, it did not take long before the orca realized who his senior was referring to.

"The sparkling, kid, thing that came from Nightmist's body?" he added.

Apparently, Orcariner either was in stasis lock longer than he knew or many events had occurred during the last few days. Spaceships and pods were raining from the stars and new transformers were being born from deceased bodies. It just seemed so hectic.

"But hey-" Starshadow then growled. It was up to her now. Retrieve the pod or tag along with the horse? ...The pod of course.

Starshadow walked away and began to search before anyone gets their hands on the pod.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Cecaelia's optics and jaws were wide open as she pulled her cheeks down while watch Icebreaker waddling oddly. Was his back seriously injured? Does he need a someone to give him a medical treatment. How she wished she could help him.

Ironclaw went over to Whitegrazer. "Looks like I'm with you" he said with a smile then attention went back to the fembot that Optimus had just saved. "What's her name" he asked Whitegrazer. He was happy that he could now get to grips with these maximals and where he might be staying for a very long time.

Frilla followed beside Dinobot but once an isolated signal was suddenly stronger it worried her for a moment. Soon enough a bulkier horse then Whitegrazer appeared and she stopped, looking curiously towards this new Predacon who seemed scarred on the face. He was definitely new and looked like his allegiance was picked already though she remained quiet for now to hear what this bot had to say.

(ooc: tinkering a bit with the font color since most characters seem to post in either red or blue..)

Aurora merely nodded understandingly before stepping back a few paces to give Optimus the privacy he needed with Arachnitron. She then turned her focus to Whitegracer, whom she could only assume was another of the higher ranking members due to Primal entrusting her with showing the new crews the ropes.

"I hope he's not too disappointed," she told the equine with a sigh. She had really wanted to prove herself, yet she was too new of this world to fully realize where her talents truly lay. And of course she was hoping for a little fun, seeing the Maximals she'd met so far seemed to be mostly about work and not so much having a fun time. Hopefully some members of the group were young enough to have a similar taste in 'fun' as her.

Ironclaw wrote: "What's her name"

"Aurora," the fuzor responded. "At least that's the name they gave me before I came to in the lab. I rather liked it so I decided to keep it," she smiled. Aurora was not familiar with the true, and rather bizarre, nature of her creation. Icebreaker had only given her part of the story, which was probably just as well. Who would want to know that a Maximal had to die for her to be created, with the aid of another Maximal and the killer of the former Maximal as well?

((OOC: Oh Optimus saw that, did he? ))

"Be safe, Wintersong." Whitegrazer said before the white tigeress disappeared.

"Whitegrazer, would you mind showing Aurora and Ironclaw around while I speak with Arachnitron?" the gorilla asked the white equine with a warm tone. He did notice her tail's reaction earlier before Aurora's fall but Primal didn't indulge on it. It was, however, interesting to observe that she might feel the same way toward him. Then again, maybe he was reading her wrong. Well, there was no time to figure it out now. He was still on duty.

"I will be glad to." Whitegrazer smiled towards Ironclaw and Aurora.

"Ironclaw, I need to speak with Arachnitron first," Optimus explained. "Please go with Whitegrazer and familiarize yourself with the area and our ship. I'll catch up with you soon." He didn't know if there was any urgency to Ironclaw's earlier inquiry for assistance, but the Maximal commander felt that the new female arachnid needed his attention first, especially after the breakdown she showed them earlier.

Whitegrazer started leading them to the platform elevator.

Mystrea wrote:Ironclaw went over to Whitegrazer. "Looks like I'm with you" he said with a smile then attention went back to the fembot that Optimus had just saved. "What's her name" he asked Whitegrazer. He was happy that he could now get to grips with these maximals and where he might be staying for a very long time.

She was about to speak but Aurora introduced herself so Whitegrazer just remained silent.

"I hope he's not too disappointed,"

"He just wants you to know the situation and to help you protect yourself when you do enter such conflict and if you like, I can teach you some moves." Whitegrazer offered the sparkling and continued, "Optimus is a great leader. He only wants the best for us and doesn't want to see any of us get hurt." She smiled motherly towards the young one.

Giving one last look at Optimus and Arachnitron, she smiled warmly towards them, showing the spider that everything will be okay.

"All right, first thing is the bridge."

__________________________________________________________________________

Blackarachnia raised one of her optics at Starshadow who was eager to get the pod. She heard rapid footsteps heading towards their location.

"Maximals." She said to the horse. She transformed and jumped to hide in the trees. She was still deciding if she should go after the pod or wait here. But if Tarantulas was already...

I will just have to bother him. a chortle came out from her mandibles.

Ironclaw smiled back at Aurora and moved towards her. He didn't notice that Whitegrazer was trying to speak to him. He transformed infornt of her then looked down at her realising he was bigger than her. Ironclaw felt awkward and it showed in his face. He put his hand out for her to shake trying to remain focussed.