A Plee for Justice: Part 1
The Maximals return to Cybertron in a Attempt to get a trial agsinst the Predacon goverement.
PART ONE
Rhapsody was broken out of a half sleep as Wraith came in. Once he explained why he was here Rhapsody sat on her bed which was a log at the moment. "Sit down Wraith." She said calmly as a frog hopped by. The wolf sat down on the log/bed, his mood seemed to matched Rhapsody's. "I accept your apology, and i hope you learned a little somthing. Listen Wratih you're a great ki... guy." Wraith seem to be struck by the use of that word, "But right now I don't have time for something like... like this.. i mean." Rhapsody was having a hard time not being akward, even being a strong leader and even speaker there were some things that were akward for everyone.
"You know I'd hate to be an Ice queen but maybe you should just put this out of your mind for awhile." Wraith was crestfallen to say the least as his head seem to slump a bit. "I am not saying you not a cuttie or anything.." Rhapsody mood seemed to lighten as her youth seemed to shine through from when she was as young as Wraith. Wraith smiled weakly as well. "Can i count on you to be there for me if i ever need someone to talk to again without putting the moves on me?"
"Sure." The wolf nodded and the two sat in silence for another moment till a comm beebed on in the commanders room.
Burnout was on the other line, "We are begining our approach on Cybertron."
"Right, be there in a minute." Rhapsody set the comm down and stood putting a hand on Wraiths shoulder. "Come on, lets go."
Once the two reached the bridge Rhapsody put an all call for everyone to meet in the commons area mand then headed there herself.
(I am not sure how old rhapsody is thats why a few lines were unclear, but i think from now on you can assume she about a earth equivelent of 26-29.Anyways everyone meet in the commons area. Including Relic.)
Solarflare wished that primus would just take him now instead of having to return Switchblades question. His mind raced and his heart bounded through his head. The finch took a step back meeting a wall and slid down it to a slumped postion on the floor. "Solarflare whats wrong?" Switchblade said quickly rushing to his side, she noticed his troubled expression and took a spot next to him.
"I.. I would love to go with you and be your Partner.." He said, if possible a tear would be rolling down his cheeck but his expression was enough.
Now switchblade's mood seem to change very quickly to a curiousty SF had never seen before. "Then whats the problem."
"I Made a promise to someone in the resistance who you may have known named Nocturna. She was killed in a battle and i promised her that i would contiue with the resistance until Endport was broken from terany...I want to ... but i just can't leave the resistance, not until endport is free..." Switchblade's mood from the past quickly returned as her expression and personality clamped shut into cold metal.
"I see.." She was Unsure what to say and stood up preparing to leave but she was halted immediatly by a hand grasbing hers.
Solarflares expression was even more wracked with grief as she turned and looked at him questioably again. "But... but I don't want you to leave.. you see i... could stand to be.. away from you.."
Switchblade was extremely confused as looked at solarflare with almost with a gasp. "What..." She managed to say.
"I love you switch... and i won't let you walk away from me like Nocturna slipped away from me..." There it was, plain as a spark. Switchblade was dumbfounded and nearly colapsed back to her postion next to Solarflare. Both stared blankly into the hallway. Both sat very still their minds racing through the information from the other. SF was much more calm then before now that his secret was out.
"So..." He said, switchblade still in disbeilef.
Tundra was walking along the walkways of the ship. She was fuming at her brother, what had changed him so much, he had been friendly and social when he had left their homeworld. Of course, that was before it blew up. Suddenly she walks across a that crazy fuzor, what did they call her again, oh yeah, Catfish, she also notices that she was with a male wolf-bot, strangly enough, it wasn't Queiron, or that other one, Timber, yeah that was the name. "Hello Catfish, who might this be?"
while on his continuous treck inside the Xavior, Trapper finds himself again on the bridge....
Trapper:
"Okay okay, first off, could someone give me something to do, and could I get a ship schematic download?"
Tundra blinks and realizes, to her surprise, that she’s alone in the hallway. The only sign of the two figures she’d seen, or at least she’d thought she’d seen, only moments ago was a strange, quickly fading, purple glow. The color quickly faded, along with the memory of ever encountering anyone, leaving Tundra standing, confused, in the middle of the hallway with the strange feeling that she’d forgotten something important.
Penji ambled in, his high mostly worn off. He tapped the complaining Trapper on the leg as he passed by.
"Chill."
Vinoc walks up behind her and says "Talking to yourself again, sis. you know that tends to make people think your crazy."
"ALL MEMBERS OF THE RESISTANCE, MEET UP AT THE COMMON ROOM RIGHT NOW! I REPEAT..."
Querion looked up from the design he had done, gazed at it admiringly for a few more moments, then rolled it up and stashed it through a portable sub-space portal. The wolf-bot made a mental note to clear his sub-space vault; it would seem that it was getting rather occupied lately. The door slid open, and the Maximal walked off.
He passed the CR hall yet again, and noticed the ferret banging loudly on the hatch. Querion walked up, unlocked the chamber, and grabbed the ferret by his neck, dragging him off to the commons.
"Best not to leave you here alone. Can't be sure what you'd get yourself into," the wolf-bot smiled, baring his canines to full effect.
Mandrake whomped alone down a random corridor before he heard Rhapsody's call to the commons. He paused for a moment and contemplated ignoring her, for the young fish/cat fuzor had disappeared again, and his old heart worried about her. At the same time there was nowhere she could go on a single ship, and he had to make an appearance at the commons to know what was coming next.
"Compromise, compromise." The old 'bot let out a gusty sigh, and the little light-toy popped out from under his shell and hovered by his head. "You belong to her now. Get out there and stick beside her." The miniature comet raced off like a loyal puppy, attracted to Catfish's personal signature like iron filings to a magnet. In moments, it was gone. Mandrake snorted good-naturedly and whomped off in the opposite direction.
"Sure, sure. No trouble. Trouble no me. Urk."
"Right."
Skitch gasped as Querion dragged him by the neck. This couldn't be good. Maybe they would punish him. Maybe they would kill him. Maybe they would put him to WORK. Skitch gagged at the thought. He decided to try to make some friendly conversation.
"So... Seen any good holoflicks lately?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"It was called "The quiet ferret who didn't get his head smashed by an angry wolf"." Querion grinned a wicked smile.
Skitch swallowed hard.
Tundra looks at Vinoc and says, "we can argue latter, right now we've been called, probably for a meeting." "Well, that would probably be what calling the entire resistence together would immply, considering i don't think we have anyone among us who has a desire to kill us, for the fun of it, or to get us out of the way."
Dusty looked up at the announcement over the ship's intercom, then jumped down off the Whiplash's wing. Giving the small starfighter one final pat, she switched to beast mode and wandered casually out of the Xavior's docking bay and into its corridors.
"Mmmkay, this'll be interesting. Tryin' t'find the commons area on a ship I don't know, full of people who don't know me..." Spacedust paused for a moment, head tilted slightly to one side as she listened, pinpointed the direction the most noise seemed to be coming from, and started down that way. "Lessee if this is the way t'go, and if I can find someone t'show the way if it ain't..."
Trapper aproaches the bridge's consol and plugs himself in, then after getting a map download he heads out to the common area now fully familiar with the ship's interior.
Trapper:
"Penji?"
Penji:
"what"
Trapper:
"You coming?"
Penji:
"Whatever"
they set out to the common area.
Weede stumbled out of a random doorway and fell into step behind Penji and Trapper.
"Heading to the common area, the common area, why? 'Cause it's common! Huh huh huh uh huh."
--------------
As Spacedust walked along the corridors, she was greeted with the sight of Buckshot leaning against a wall. He had a frown on his face and appeared to be in deep thought.
"'Scuse me," Dusty said as she approached him, "Wouldja happen ta know the way ta this common room?"
Buckshot blinked, and glanced at her.
"Who are you?"
"Oh! Sorry- I'm Spacedust, but call me Dusty."
"I'm Buckshot."
She extended a hand, and Buckshot shook it with a noticeably hard grip.
"Ya all right?" Dusty asked.
"Me? Oh yeah! I'm peachy-fragging-keen. You know, it's just that we got a cold-blooded murderer among us and everybody's too much of a f***ing p***y to make him pay."
Dusty blinked.
"Anyway, yeah, it's this way. Come on." Buckshot said, gesturing for her to follow him.
Trapper, Penji, and Weede enter the common room....
Trapper:
"well, this looks far from common......"
Penji:
"Wow"
Weede:
"..."
[Onboard the Xavior – Solarflare and Switchblade]
Switchblade’s jaw dropped a fraction of an inch. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Solarflare? Love her!? Was the finch out of his mind? She was a street rat, a nothing, and an armed courier. She was mean and unattractive, and…
Switchblade locked optics with Solarflare, still curled up into a small ball on the Xavior’s metal floor. The finch ‘bot lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. It was almost as if he were afraid of something. Switchblade’s response perhaps. Maybe he was afraid that she would turn him down. That she would disappear one moment when his back was turned. Who knew? Maybe it was something else entirely. She certainly didn’t know - and that bothered her. ‘This could ruin everything,’ she thought.
For a moment Solarflare’s eyes looked back up, hoping to read a reaction on the badger femme’s polished features. He saw nothing there, however. Switchblade’s face was a cold mask. Solarflare’s heart sank. It was the same look she’d worn the day he’d first seen her. She was slipping away. His eyes sank heavily to the floor, thin translucent tears threatening to spill from their corners. Solarflare felt decidedly sick.
Then there came the silence
For what seemed like an eternity, neither ‘bot spoke. The quiet droning of Burnout’s craft was like thunder in the void. Switchblade looked away from her huddled friend, gazing down the corridor, and trying concertedly to look at anything but the seated Transformer. The silence thickened and deepened. Still neither spoke. Several times Solarflare opened his mouth a fraction of an inch, as though he were about to speak. But he never uttered a word. He would seem to make up his mind, and then, only seconds later reverse it, keeping still. The young ‘bot’s shoulders sagged, taking on a very dejected look. Sooner or later, both of them knew, one would have to break the awkward silence. Unfortunately, neither wanted to be the one to do it. They were saved by the ship’s P.A. system.
//ATTENTION ALL MAXIMALS, // It blared. //PLEASE REPORT TO THE SHIP’S COMMONS IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT, ALL MAXIMALS PLEASE REPORT TO THE SHIP’S COMMONS. //
Switchblade lingered for only a moment, then turned and walked away. Solarflare let her go, saying nothing. A single tear fell from his left optic, impacting silently on the cold plated deck. He had lost her, just like that. And what was worse, he knew it. Deep in his spark, he knew it.
Primus, what had he done?
[Elsewhere]
Hidden in his own secluded corner of the ship, the Predacon Cutter listened to the grating announcement with a growing sense of dread. Though he had managed to slip quietly away in the midst the Buckshot / Relic brawl, he knew that it would not be long before his presence (or rather the lack of it) was noticed. The Pred shuddered nervously. Then the filthy creatures would search for and find him. Surely they would not take kindly to the idea of a Predacon running loose in the bowels of the ship, where he could easily sabotage them. Yes, he would be uncovered, and held captive again. Tortured even! There was no avoiding it. He was caught, and could not hope to hide long from an entire crew.
Cutter snorted and pushed his small blue frame out from his hiding place. He stood on shaky legs, moving around slowly to work out the kinks. When he was satisfied, he began to pick his way slowly back through the ship. At length he passed through the small doorway leading back into the ship’s main storage compartments, closing it carefully and resetting the latch. It was, he supposed, always better to have a hiding spot prepared should hiding suddenly become necessary. If he remained, he would only be discovered; one avenue of retreat cut off for good. By handing himself back, however, he could bow to the inevitable while managing to keep at least one ace up his sleeve.
Cutter continued to walk, winding his way toward the commons room. The announcement had only specified Maximals, but so what? By showing up, he only proved what a good little dog he was. It would be better that way. The crew might be more inclined to let their guards down, allowing for his eventual escape. Of course, escape brought its own problems too. But that was another hurdle altogether. Best to take care of his unwilling captors first. “One step at a time,” the modeless ‘bot muttered.
So he walked on, drawing ever closer to the ship’s commons. The closer he came, the more his nerves began to show. He did not like walking, arms wide, into the lion’s den. But then, there were many things in his short life that he’d been forced to do against his will. Why should he expect this time to be any different?
The small blue Predacon passed the collapsed Solarflare on his way, leaving a flowery string of greetings and apologies in his wake. The words came unbidden to his lips, and only subsided once he had left the heartsick ‘bot far behind. When he reached the commons he found it nearly half full. None the less, he managed to secure one of the rooms far corners, drawing himself into an unobtrusive ball of blue metal. Beneath the noise of the room Cutter whispered to himself: “One hurdle at a time…One hurdle at a time…”, attempting to calm his racing nerves. After a while, the words became a sort of chant, with a regular beat and unerring pulse. Small and seemingly insignificant.
Beneath the metal of Cutter’s shoulder, another device pulsed as well, sending out a tiny seemingly insubstantial locator signal. The signal raced away, losing itself in the vastness of space beyond the Xavior’s hull. It traveled through the silent vacuum past stars and planets, asteroids and comets.
All was still.
All was quiet.
And then, far away, something answered back…
Trapper stands in a corner of the common room as others onboard the ship slowly collect in the room....until something happens.
Trapper reequiped his sensors when he replaced his arm, this time the scanners that were tied into his pain receptors. An experimental technology he had been working on, but the nanites had compromised his normal scanners so he thought 'what the hell'....what would the chances be of another scan interception, no one even reacted when he picked up the predacon warships.....come to think of it, no one even followed up....they were still out there......either way, his sensors picked up a predacon signature heading toward the common room, the pain receptor interface worked perfectly....unfortunately for Trapper.
Trapper:
"ARGHHHHHH"
He falls on the floor and cringes.....his usual luck at work....
"Hey whats your name, are you new?" Mimi's sweet smooth voice broke Cutter's stream of consious babbling. THe Predacon was caught in a terrible shock by several things, Her politness, her not killing him, and her beauty.
"Umm a cutter ma'am, forgive me is this your spot, i am sorry if it is, i will go if it is.." Mimi Noticed the Predacon insignia and smiled sitting down next to him making him even more nervous.
"Oh just stop, thats not my seat and you don't have to be so polite. YOu got sucked in here in the last battle huh?" She asked watching him almost shiver in nerves.
"Yes ma'am i followed Sir Solarlfare and Miss Switchblade here after the PRedacon HQ incident." He said his heart darkening a little.
"Well don't worry, we will take good care of you, i imagine if they brought you with them you must have helped them. Don't worry we'll take good care of ya." She repeated as Cutter seemed to get relaxed, or as relaxed as he possiblely could be.
-----------------------
Solarflare sat and stewed in hate of himself, "Way to @#%$ up again." He said quietly whipeing his optics. "@#%$ this breifing too." He said Standing up and heading to his quarters slowly. He couldn't believe himself, he could have been partners with her and stayed by her for along time before telling her, it would have been easier, she would have understood. "What now," He thought, "What was he without her...."
-----------------------
"ALright people settle down." Rhapsody said looking around the commons room, everyone seemed there except solarflare, catfish, and relic..."Damn" She wanted him to be here. "Ok everyone knows why we are here, we are about to land on Cybertron very shortly so lets go over the plan. First we will head directly to the citidel, if we are not arrested on the spot...." She said in a lower tone as some of the maximals glanced at each other. We will try to pleed are case to the elders and get a trial. The more of you that come to the citidel the better chance we have of swaying their opinion so i am begging you to stay with the resistance, don't give up when we are so close. Are there any questions?"
"What about that Blood sucking Murderer that is roaming this ship!" BUckshot said angrily.
RHapsdoy sighed and once again relci could be here to defend himself. "First off buckshot if you ever start a conflict like that again with a teammate i will have you court marshelled!" THe words held an empty threat as she had no connection with the army at the moment. "I have decided not to report, or file the inncident with Relic. Reports that i have gotten show that somthing was over relic that wasn't himself so i plan to get to the bottom of this myself." A few grumbles and a few sighes of relief was heard. "Any Other questions?" She asked.
At the news of this new plan, Wraith looked particularly disturbed. "Hey listen, I'm all for staying with the resistance, but I've been in a Predacon prison once before. I'm not going back...ever."
Rhapsody took a long, hard look at him. Dammit, he was already in trouble again. Taking a deep breath, he finished his opinion before she could peg him as a desserter. "I suggest that somebody stays away from the main group, so as to bust you guys out if the trial doesn't go well. Seeing as walls are no resriction to me, I elect myself for that job."
Buckshot voiced a thought. "If walls can't hold you, why are you so afraid of getting caught?" He asked slyly. Wraith glared at him. "I was held in a cell that was designed to interfere with my phasing abilities. In a nut shell, I can't walk through Pred prison walls."
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