The team, now realizing that they may be here for many hours, is not thrilled by this revelation. After some time, the start whispering to each other.
“Permission to have fun?” Tie-Grabber asks.
“Granted.” Railgun answers.
“Okay, Mach, you go over there and knock when signaled.”
Machbreaker nods and the group breaks apart, with the sled going towards the left side of the dome. Railgun hangs in the back while Tie-Grabber goes to the right. Both Tie-Grabber and Machbreaker are just out of sight, needing Torchwing to turn his head to possibly see them.
“What the-”
Torchwing muttered once he heard the tapping. He walked over to the source of the noise, only for it to move as soon as he got there. He then turned around and walked over to the other end where the noise was now coming from.
Like Tie-Grabber, once Torchwing goes towards him, Machbreaker books it to be behind the bulk’s sight. Tie-Grabber then runs back up to his side and starts tapping again. As before, he’s prepared to run away and this time Machbreaker will book it more towards the front and start tapping there. Railgun quietly changes the ammo in his cannon to a blank.
“That sounds marvelous! A farcry from what my homeworld is like.”
Thea said eagerly.
“Kalliope is very bright. Shining towers, sparkling cities. My mother’s palace sitting like a crown above it all. A beautiful world of art and culture. It’s truly stunning, but… It all gets tiresome after long enough.”
The process said with a sigh.
“What the hell is going on?”
He said, noticeably irritated. He continued to follow the noises and continued to have no luck. As he paced around the dome following the sounds, a few small bits of flame began to wave and flicker off of his back.
“I would love to see it some day. Though I don’t think it will be now. I’m already taking a bit of a risk as it is.”
Thea said with a bit of a nervous laugh.
“Attention all hands and visitors! We’re about to weigh anchor and take off. We’ll be entering transwarp within the next 30 minutes. To the uninitiated aboard, I highly suggest you come in and stay off the deck. Unless of course you’re lookin to be torn across time and space.”
Machbreaker dashes away, though to further distract the Predacon Railgun fires his cannon at the back of Torchwing’s head.
chunk-chunk BOOM!
The shot screamed its deafening cry upon firing. Of course, it didn’t quite have the punch of regularized artillery cannons, it certainly wasn’t quite. Torchwing might even feel the force of air from the shot. Railgun rushes to the nearest object to hide behind.
Then came the captain’s decree. The Railroad Team were probably fine and didn’t worry too much at the moment. They were a bit distracted after all. Simulus meanwhile makes sure he’s in a safe place.
With all of the chaos happening around him and unable to see any of it, Torchwing war furious.
He gave a loud shout of anger and his body burst into flames.
“What the hell is going on here?!”
The nodded and followed the others into the ship’s interior. The floors were made of the same wooden planks as the deck.
The immediate interior was a large-ish room with multiple passageways. Each one lead to a different area. One to the engines, to the bunks, to the bridge, to the hangar, and to the brig.
Oddball decides to settle in for what he assumed was going to be a long journey. He shifts into his rocket form and shoots down toward the engineering bay. Meanwhile, Backbreaker starts looking for a medical room.
In the engineering bay Oddball would find the same four legged beetle predacon that was seen escorting Razorclaw to the brig.
“Oh hello there! Aren’t you a cute wee little thing.”
She said. The engineer had a very warm and welcoming tone, and spoke with a distinct accent.
Meanwhile Bluntforce walked past Backbreaker, noticing the injury on his back.
“Looking for our medic I take it?”
He asked.
“Down the hall past the bunks. Look for a bot named Newt.”
This time, the three of them just stay hidden and out of sight. None go to make another noise, just leaving it in silence for a few moments. They didn’t want the Predacon to get too angry and start tearing up the place. That would be too dangerous for their health.
Simulus, after hanging around this room, decides to head for the bridge to find some star charts. Hopefully something up to date to see what the pirates find to be the current state of the known galaxy. Prisoners could only give him a limited picture.
Torchwing stood in the center of the room, seething for a few moments, before he eventually calmed down. The flames died down, and Torchwing took a seat on the floor.
The bridge was a large sized room. The forward wall was mostly a window, giving view to the outside of the ship and long deck ahead. Towards the center was a wooden steering wheel. Behind which stood Captain Lockjaw. Maximus stood by his side.
Towards the front of the room was a small command console, where a white and green female predacon stood. Surprisingly she didn’t have anything in the way of beast parts. Instead cybertronian rotor blades and jet wings hung from her back. She appeared to be making last minute preparations before take off.
“The name’s Caparace. Star Talon engineer. What can I call you?”
She asked.
The Star Talon medical facility looked more like a mechanic shop than a doctor’s office. Tools hung from the ceiling. There was a medical bed in the middle with an optional bend in the middle. Spare parts and components sat on various shelves and in cabinets. The place definitely had a somewhat dingier low budget feel compared to Railfire’s organized facilities.
Newt himself was a somewhat thin looking predacon with an obvious axolotl beast mode. He was leaning in the corner of the room taking a stasis nap.
“How sad,” a very electronic voice says, as the team uses the tablet. The voice seems to be coming from the lower right side of the room.
Simulus files away the odd Predacon for later investigation. Not many were like that, probably some story behind it. Though to be on decent terms, Simulus figures he better ask before just walking up to the consoles.
“Captain sir, would you mind if I take a look at your star maps?”
Oddball gives Carapace his name, but doesn’t expect her to understand him. He looks around for the tablet and blowtorch that Railfire had given him, only to realize that he must have lost it in the battle.
Backbreaker enters the medical bay and has a look around at the setup. As long as this guy could fill the hole in his back, he didn’t care how messy he kept the place.
He approaches the sleeping Newt and grabs his shoulder, shaking him gently to try and wake him up.
“Alright who the hell said that?”
Torchwing growled. He stood up and walked over to where the voice came from.
“Well, I don’t suppose why not.”
Lockjaw replied.
“Starchaser, be a dear and pull up our star charts.”
The white and green predacon nodded.
“Aye captain.”
She fiddled with her console a bit, and the lights in the bridge dimmed. The room was overtaken by a holographic star map. There was a small number of highlighted locations. Cybertron being one of them. Though there was nothing to indicate where the ship was.
“Oh, you talk like a minicon? Well that isn’t too much of an issue.”
Carapace said.
“Where’s that red birdie Maximus spends all her time with? She could help us here.”
The engineer was quickly distracted by a large bandana wearing rat running by with some parts held in his mouth. She quickly stomped down on the rat’s tail with one of her rear legs. Stopping the rat in its tracks.
Carapace then wore a wide and clearly forced smile.
“Listen dearie, before we get this little communication issue taken care of, could you do me a favor and step out for a moment?”
She asked, nudging Oddball towards the door of a close side room.
“Hm? Huh? What?”
The medic said as he blinked his optics open and frantically looked around. He quickly got his bearings and looked at Backbreaker.
“Oh. You must be one of the newcomers that the kid found. Well what do you want? Missing arm? Brocken foot? Lucky for you I got a new sh!pment of parts recently so I can do a proper repair job.”