“This is the ship’s chief medical officer, don’t worry.” Seraphicon assures Oreo as he stands up, getting out of vehicle mode.
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“The guy used to start wars for kicks and giggles,” Trenchfoot scoffs. “Don’t tell me he’s some shrinking violet.”
“He’s a changed man, Captain,” one of the white-and-gold men manning the sensors remarks. “Or so I’ve heard. Perhaps he’s lost his appetite for such things.”
“Let’s hope not,” says Trenchfoot.
“Yes,” Moreyn says to Oreo, “my profession concerns itself with mending wounds moreso than inflicting them- and from the look of you, I’ll guess you’re in need of my services. Call me Moreyn.” (@DuneToa)
The startled patient, relieved that he had time yet to spend in the realm of the living, gets up off the slab and walks off, likely on his way to whatever post he manned aboardship.
Streaks of red, indigo, green and gold shoot past the ship: filaments of exotic particles that vibrate and snap as if plucked by invisible fingers. Rays of light twist and wrap around themselves in the spaces between these strands, creating strange optical illusions- or perhaps illuminating the profiles of eldritch creatures whispered of in ancient spacer tales. It is impossible to say for certain.
Lunawing returns the embrace. “Good,” she says. “I’m not sure how much that’ll do to help me power down at night, but I’ll take it.”
Gyro looks Maximus in eye. “You really can’t tell us more about what’s going on?” he asks. “We won’t go spreading the word or nothing, but people are already talking about what you guys have been doing recently. A lot of them are getting worried.”
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“And why is that, Trenchfoot?” Firestorm asks after flying to the bridge and top speed.
————
“I will leave Oreo in your capable hands, doctor.” Seraphicon says, “I’ll give our human guest the tour of the ship.”
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The twisting and weaving colors reminded Nova of the dazzling auroras she saw as a child. Sitting up on the rooftop, bundled up in a heavy coat in the early hours of the morning. She remembered the old stories her mother told her on those nights. Tales of gods and giants that captivated her imagination. The memories were so far away, yet so incredibly vivid. Looking at the sight before her, it was almost enough to make her homesick… almost.
Thinking about it, how long had it been since she left? Five years? That couldn’t be right. It couldn’t have been that long. And yet, it felt like a lifetime ago since that night. The shrieking winds, the blaring sirens, the feeling of her heart pounding in her chest.
All these thoughts and memories twisted her up inside, which didn’t do much to help her already troubled emotional state. It all just made her want to leave even more. How much longer would she have to wait?
Maximus mulled the thought over in his head for a moment or two.
“Well, Axis really doesn’t want too much information getting out. But if you guys can keep a secret then I don’t see too much harm in it. The gist of the whole thing is that there’s this human punk named Gabrial, and he’s looking for some magical something-or-other that Sentinel Prime hid a long time ago. So our mission is to get to whatever that thing is before the bad guys do. Also I think I heard someone talking about Quintessons being involved at some point? Whatever those are, I’m sure they can’t be too bad compared to the heralds of unicron.”
“Liege has certainly changed over time. Though even if he has lost his taste for chaotic violence, I’m still sure he’ll be willing to help us under such dire circumstances,” Axis replied.
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“Speaking of, I have been trying to contact him so he isn’t alarmed when we get there but I can reach him.” Firestorm says.
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As the Excalibur jet towards its destination, Kitai exited the pack mule, walking around the larger ship, his large size at full display.
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Gravastar frowns. “Redshift,” she says, “How are comms? Any interference?”
From the front of the bridge, Redshift shakes her head as she checks a spread of holographic screens in front of her. “No, Captain,” she reports. “Everything’s clear.”
Unfortunately, the tour will have to wait, as a low tone sounds over the ship’s intercom: an announcement that Excalibur II is soon to re-enter normal space.
“I think we’ll need to take a raincheck on the tour, big guy,” Leslie says.
Through the windows in the hangar doors, the threads of non-reality around Excalibur II ripple and tear away from one another, opening a hole back into normal space. The frigate effortlessly crosses the portal between dimensions and eases into Astrum’s orbit.
A river of stardust meanders through the void: tendrils of noble gases and quadrillions of tiny specks of rock and metal that glitter in every shade of blue, purple, pink, and white. Rising from this cosmic stream is an enormous amethyst ring, its exterior marbled with pools of azure light: Astrum, the colony of Solus Prime, built in the shape of her holy crest. Refuse from the ring-world’s immense subterranean foundries pours out in great streams from its vents, feeding into the nebula around it. Within the ring, a tiny mote of cyan light twinkles, the rays of this artificial sun shining upon the seas and landmasses laid into Astrum’s interior. Enormous machines peak out from between snowcapped mountains, and deep blue waters stretch between carefully sculpted coastlines. Excalibur II rolls and dives into the atmosphere over one such sea, in which Liege Maximo lies waiting.
“You’ve never heard of the quintessons,” Gyro says, the disbelief both in his voice and on his face obvious. “I don’t know whether to be worried or envious.”
“No, Maximus, quintessons are probably just as bad,” says Lunawing, the worried tone she’d had before now returning . “What exactly did this ‘someone’ say?”
“I-it’s probably nothing,” Talon scoffs. “Right? The datanet’s full of whackos who think the quintessons are behind everything.”
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“Oh, thank Primus,” Oreo says. “”I guess my concussion is worse than I thought if I mistook a doctor for a nightmare.”
He sits down on a nearby slab, still slightly dizzy.
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“I don’t really have any details. Axis was still trying to group up everyone else for a trip to Astrum when I left for Eukaris. I think I overheard someone saying that Quintessons might be involved? Nothing concrete I’m pretty sure. Maybe I misheard something and I’m just wrong about the whole thing? Who knows.” Maximus replied, sounding about as unsure as one could possibly be about anything.
“Hold on a minute. Should I know what quintessons are? You guys seem to know what they are, but I don’t think they’ve ever come up before,” Honeycomb asked with equal curiosity and concern.
Axis tried her best to remain calm. There could be a whole number of reasons why they couldn’t reach him. One shouldn’t immediately jump to the worst possibility.
“Liege has become rather solitary since our time fighting the heralds of unicron. He could have simply deactivated his comms for the time being, wishing not to be disturbed.”
Nova was left nearly speechless by the sight before her. But she couldn’t let herself get distracted. She could get a better view after she was outside of the ship.
Before the Excalibur II began its decent Nova approached the hangar door controls. But before she could touch them, she heard the sounds of metal paws against the hangar floor approaching behind her, and a voice that made her heart sink.
No, no! Not him. Not now.
“Hey Nova! I was wondering where you went.” The mikesu’s eager voice projected from his feline machine.
“This place looks nuts! You looking forward to checking it out?”
Nova’s first instinct was to lie. To throw Niko off her trail and not bother with the trouble. It would be so quick, so easy. But…
No… Niko’s cool. He deserves the truth. He’ll understand.
“No. I’m… not going to the planet with everyone else,” The girl hesitantly admitted. Though she kept Gungnir facing away from him.
Niko was confused, and the head of Ferrex coked slightly to one side to reflect that.
“What do you mean? You’re gonna wait on the ship?”
“What I mean is that I’m leaving. I’m bailing on this whole crazy thing, and if you’re smart you’ll do the same.”
“What?! Hold on, you can’t just leave. What about the mission?”
Nova finally turned Gungnir to face Ferrex. As she did so she felt the knot in her gut grow tighter
“What about the mission? I was told this would be some sort of crazy scavenger hunt. I didn’t sign up for a war! I’m not about to stick around and get myself killed.” Her tone was becoming noticeably more agitated and aggressive. Though she was trying her best to keep calm. The last thing she wanted was to make a scene with so many others around.
“No! You can’t just leave like this! Come on, just think this through!” Niko desperately pleaded.
“I have thought it through. This is my decision to make, and you’re not changing my mind!” Nova sternly replied. She turned Gungnir back to face the controls.
“… goodbye Niko…”
As Gungnir reached for the door panel, Niko acted without thinking.
“Nova wait!”
Ferrex lunged forward and bit down on the back of Gungnir’s leg, crushing the external armor and damaging the internal frame. It pulled back, causing Gungnir to fall forward. The machine crashed into the floor. Once he realized what he had done, Niko immediately released Ferrex’s jaws and backed away.
“What the hell?” Nova tried to get Gungnir to sit up and get back on its feet. It was able to do so, but barely. It was clear that the machine’s footing was unstable and could give out at any moment.
“Niko what the hell! You bit my leg!”
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking, I didn’t mean to-”
“You’re effing right you weren’t thinking! There’s no way in hell I’ll be able to fly like this. Why in all the stars would you do that?!”
“I-I don’t know. I’m sorry. I just don’t understand why you want to leave so badly! I really didn’t mean to break anything, honest!”
“Why? You want to know why?!” Gungnir limped one step forward closer to Ferrex.
“I’ll tell you why! Maybe it’s because I didn’t want to get roped into this stupid space adventure to begin with! Maybe it’s because unlike you, I have a sense of self preservation! Or maybe it’s because running away is the only thing I’ve ever been good at!” Nova was shouting furiously now. Loud enough for everyone else in the hangar or the Packmule to hear. But she didn’t care. Her emotions were the only thing guiding her words now.
There was a long pause. Eventually Niko worked up the courage to give a response.
“That sounds pretty heavy… do you maybe wanna talk about it?” He said earnestly.
“What?” Nova replied with genuine disbelief.
“I’m sorry, what?! First you cripple my mech, and now you’re asking me if I want to talk about my feelings? What the hell is wrong with you!”
“I’m sorry! I only wanted to help. I just thought-”
“Oh you just thought huh? Well you’ve clearly just established that thinking isn’t exactly your strong suit!”
“H-hey!”
“And don’t kid yourself. You didn’t do any of this for my sake! You didn’t bite my leg out of the goodness of your heart. You only wanted me to stay so you could keep following me around everywhere. But I’m not going to stick around on this suicide mission just for the sake of your stupid little crush!”
“W-wait, hold on. How did you know about that?” Niko nervously stammered. Ferrex took a fearful step backwards, while Gungnir took two forward.
Nova couldn’t help but laugh.
“Are you serious? Did you honestly think you were being subtle about that? Well I hate to break it to ya tiger, but you’re not exactly slick! Honestly you gotta be pretty messed up in the head to fall for someone like me. Just one look at miss tall, dark, and antisocial was all it took wasn’t it? Hell, it’s almost a little pathetic.”
“Hey- wait minute!”
“Wait! No! I bet I know exactly what you were thinking. ‘Oh look at her, she’s hurting. She’s broken. If I go talk to her and make her feel better, maybe she’ll go out with me?’ Was that right? Come on, how close was I?” The girl jeered in a painfully mocking tone.
Ferrex took another step back, and Gungnir took two more forward, completely closing the gap. Even with the damaged leg, the military machine beared down over Niko’s lion mech.
“C-come on! Now you’re just being hurtful!”
“Oh I’m being hurtful am I? Is that right? I’m sorry, when did I ever leave the impression that I cared!”
“Nova-”
“NO! Shut up! Just shut up for once! Let me put this in a way that’ll get through your dense mangy skull! We are not friends. We are not buddies, or pals, or whatever the hell you think we are! I don’t care about you, or anyone else on this ship! Ever since we met, the only thing you’ve ever been to me is a pain in my side! And now thanks to you, I’m stuck here with all you lunatics!”
Niko struggled to put any words together as he choked back tears. Before too long he forced out a quiet, pitiful response.
“I… I’m sorry Nova… I’ll stay out of your way from now on…”
“GOOD!” Nova shouted.
“Now move aside! I need to find some place to fix my stupid leg.”
In that moment, Nova was glad to be hidden within the metal walls of her machine. That way no one could see the tears burning in her eyes. She limped past Ferrex, trying desperately to ignore the horrible twisted feeling in her chest, as she tried to find some sort of repair station.
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Kitai, after surveying the outside sea, locked behind the windows of the ship, walked to the bridge, before then entering the room, his size dwarfing many of those aboard. “Axis.” He states, intent on getting her attention. @ValkyriePrimal
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“Yes? Come in.” Axis replied.
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“Is something wrong?” He asked, the tension within the room obvious to him.
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“Nothing much. Liege is just proving difficult to contact. Though I doubt it’s anything to worry about.” The Prime answered calmly.
“What brings you here?”
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“Randomness and Curiosity.” Kitai replies, his three eyes focusing on her. “ I was curious to see what exactly was happening in the bridge, and to bring some news: Razor had acquired Quintesson technology, and Gabriel used it to contact us. And-“ He dropped to a whisper. “ I had a vision.” His eyes narrowed upon her.
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“A vision you say?” Axis replied. For a brief moment she thought Kitai almost sounded a little loony. Though she realized how she had no room to talk when it came to visions.
“Well then, what did you see in this vision?”
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“Judgement. A thousand voices coalesced together. I saw machines, reactivated with a new purpose, being becoming new thralls to their causes, flesh being brought back, and-“ Kitai dropped his voice to a bare minimum-“Witwicky. Avalon. Liege Maximo. Beta Maxx. They want them, HE wants them, Axis.”
“A Lonely Moon, A warship, Four Beings searching for another, and my replacement.” His eyes piercing at Axis, Kitai finished his statement.
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Moreyn chuckles softly and steps closer to Oreo to begin repairs. The Eukarian starts by running a scanner over his patient’s body to properly assess his injuries.
“Hm. Your construction is most unusual, my new friend,” he notes as he works.
“I mean no offense,” he clarifies, “we’re all have our oddities, of course. I’ve just never encountered a cybertronian built quite like you are.”
Overhearing this, Gravastar frowns. “Maybe Liege isn’t just being antisocial,” she speculates. “Redshift, how far out are we from his home?”
“We’re still outside visual range, but the sensors are picking up gravitic distortions ahead, Captain,” Redshift reports. The pilot summons another holo-panel with a flick of her wrist, and begins comparing the incoming readings with data from Excalibur II’s archives.
The ship flies between monolithic spires of grey and silver hovering over the water. Occasionally, these towers pulse with blue light and holographic rays bounce between them- a relay network to facilitate communication between Astrum’s systems. Ahead of Excalibur II, however, these data streams are wrenched off-course and drawn to something else in the distance…
Nova’s outburst had drawn the attention of everyone in the hangar: the technicians calibrating the ground bridge had dropped their tools, the marines had set down their weapons, and Beta Maxx and Salvage had come out of the Pack Mule to watch.
“Whoa,” one marine with walnut-colored armor says quietly as Gungnir limps away. “I thought I was taking this hard.”
“Can’t say I blame her,” another with a blue stripe running down his arm remarks. “When the Captain told us we were going up against quintessons, I thought about making a break for it, too.”
Excalibur II’s engineering section is located aftward, while the medical bay is closer to the bow. Either location would be a suitable place for Nova to get her mech repaired.
“The quintessons are… Primus, where do I start?” Lunawing puts a hand to her forehead and thinks for a moment.
“They’re aliens that live in transwarp,” she tells Honeycomb and Maximus. “Every so often, they come into other universes and put the people living in them on some kind of trial. They occupy worlds and take resources or slaves in the process.”
“They tried to do the same thing to us back in the Golden Age,” Talon adds. “Onyx and the rest beat them back- the predacons have, like, a hundred different songs about how badly Onyx thrashed them back then.”
“You’ve never heard one before?” he asks Maximus.
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“Uh, guys, is anyone else noticing the data streams are moving oddly?” Seraphicon asks as he peeks over the shoulder of the communications officer.
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“I remember hearing old songs about Onyx defeating hoards of demons from the beyond, but that was always just legend to me. I guess I never put two and two together.” Maximus admitted, sounding genuinely concerned for the first time since he came into the room.
“But everything is still going to be fine, right? Nothing you can’t handle?” Honeycomb nervously asked.
“I can only hope…” Maximus said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. He felt a sharp tension build in his spark. This sudden anxious feeling like knew something terrible was about to happen, or maybe happened already.
He turned his attention to Honeycomb.
“Sorry kid, change of plans. We’re cutting the visit short, and we’re not checking in with the queen either. I need to get to Carrion as soon as possible and make sure he knows everything that’s going on. I know it isn’t what Axis wants, but there’s no way I’m letting my home potentially face something like this unprepared.”
This is what I wanted right? Just like old times… Onyx help us. I just hope Axis and the others are doing alright.
As Nova left the hangar, Ferrex simply parked itself where it was. Lowering down and entering its standby position not too far from the Packmule.
As a result, Salvage and Beta Maxx could both hear a quiet sobbing coming from the lion mech. The poor boy inside clearly wasn’t trying to talk to anyone, but it seemed he forgot to shut off his external speakers.
“Did I do something wrong? Is this my fault?”
“Stupid leg. Stupid mission. Stupid fuzzball!” Nova angrily ranted to herself as she limped down the hall.
“I never wanted any of this! I never asked for that annoying cat-brat to come into my life and make everything so difficult!” She was unable to control the tears running down her face, which alone made her even angrier. Nevermind how difficult it was to walk her machine even a short distance.
She made her way to the medical bay, hoping to find someone or something that could fix the leg for her. Usually she’d never even consider the idea of someone else working on her Gungnir, but she was under far too much stress to try and make the repairs herself.
Axis’ feathers bristle with stress and agitation.
“Of course. It was foolish to think this would just be a simple visit,” she muttered under her breath.
With one hand the Prime summoned her Phoenix Staff from subspace. With the other she reached out and activated the ship’s internal intercom.
“Attention all hands! Prepare for combat. It appears trouble has found us sooner than I expected. The situation ahead is unclear, and there’s no telling what could be waiting for us. But I don’t want anyone to let down their guard.”
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“Well, you likely wouldn’t meet many others,” Oreo says. “I was partially cold-constructed by humans a few millennia ago, back during the Great War. Unfortunately, the materials they used were from destroyed Cybertronians, and the resulting bits were merely drones that were quickly destroyed as our forces seized the factory in order to regain our dead. About– well, a few centuries ago, Razor, my Mini-Con friend, began a project to use the drone parts to house Sparks from critically injured Cybertronians. I am one of only a few who she was able to help before her lab was shut down due to a company owner selling the advancements to a pirate group. I hope I haven’t bored you with my rambling, though?”
“Hold on a second,” Razor says, heading out into the hangar. She is followed by Defender, who seems quite at home aboard the Excalibur. Razor heads to the nearest viewport, looking out at Astrum’s glowing landscape.
“This is going to be interesting. I haven’t been here since I was much younger,” she remarks.
Defender nods.
“You may want to ready any weapons you have. The Prime must have seen something to have notified us of danger. Wait here. I’ll go find Seraphicon and the Beta Maxx.”
Leaving Razor, he heads for the bridge of the warship, armor clanking as he walks. After entering the hallways beyond the hangar entrance, he asks the nearest crew member for directions to the bridge.
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