"Lord Megatron," the large, purple grey transformer said in his cold way, "the humans are... dangerously erratic." "True, Shockwave," Megatron nodded grimly, the grey skinned figure looking up from his command chair in their base in the sunken warship Nemesis. "They're almost as annoying as the Autobots," he added then frowned, "And why are the Autobots still running free on Cybertron? You told me you'd eliminate them within a cycle." There was no defensiveness in Shockwave's voice as he said in his usual efficient manner, "The diversion of resources to this front has made a final resolution to the Autobot problem more complicated to achieve." Soundwave nodded as the blue cassette player Decepticon said coldly, "Resource allocation problematical." That was something of a understatement. The DEcepticon command had multiple fronts to manage, including the Earth conflict, putting out rebellious fires on Cybertron and the recent launch of Thunderwing's exploration fleet... though more accurately it could be considered a fleet of military conquest. When Megatron first authorized Thunderwing the Earth forces hadn't deployed their Veritechs, and if he changed his mind now he would be shown up before the rank and file of Decepticons. 'And Thunderwing is too ambitious not to seize any advantage he can,' Megatron mentally added, 'it's that very ambition that made me decide he and his allies need to be sent far away from Cybertron.' "We have successfully destroyed one of their new outposts," Soundwave said after a moment, "but the Humans' Fortresses are remarkably resilient." All of them took a moment to look at the map of the Earth, taking in the sea based Fortress carriers bases scattered around the globe. Formerly ten of them there were now nine, cruising on patrol to be ready to launch their cargo of fighters and mecha to counter Decepticon activities. Marked in blue they were a secondary threat to the glowing red dot in North America, the accursed Autobot City. "We need more numbers," Megatron growled, "we have to attack them while preventing the others from coming to their aide." "We can reduce our garrison on Cybertron," Shockwave conceded after a moment, "but it will increase the possibility of a uprising of the surviving Autobots there." "There's enough 'Bots to be a threat?" Rumble asked, the mini-transformer leaning casually up against Soundwave's leg. "We don't know," Shockwave conceded with some reluctance, "getting exact information on the Autobot resistance has proven difficult. They skulk like cyber-rats in the tunnels and ruins below the cities..." "And your agents?" Megatron asked. "Dealer has been less than forthcoming," Shockwave said coldly, "I may soon have to take steps." "Offer him more energon," Rumble laughed, "he'll fall into line." "Dealer is ultimately a self serving being," Megatron agreed, "pay him, get the data then dispose of him." "I'll so instruct my lieutenant, Octane," Shockwave said respectfully. "Have Reflector and Ratbat recon the nearest Fortress," Megatron ordered coldly, "we need to know their weaknesses if we are to be victorious." Soundwave launched a cassette, the purple flat rectangle unfolding in midair into a bat-like robot. "Ratbat, take Reflector, Operation: reconnasance." With a piercing cry Ratbat took off, sweeping out of the control room to retrieve it's fellow Decepticon. Not long after the bat soared away from the undersea home of the Decepticons, carrying in it's claws the cameras mode of the spy, Reflector. 0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Explosions rippled across the night sky as a squad of Veritchs chased after their prey. "All right team," Izzy Randal said briskly as the green haired pilot fired off a flight of missiles, "let's wrap this up." "Anyone got an ID on this one?" Rick Hunter asked, the younger pilot taking up the left flank position. The black haired man kept his finger in the triggers even as he swept forward with his wing mates. "His colors match Ramjet," Max Sterling said crisply as the blue haired man smiled slightly, "and his behavior, too." The slightly crazed Decepticon had rammed Ben Dixon's fighter, sending it spiraling away though thankfully Ben was able to eject safely. What had followed was a mad chase across the skies as they tried to catch or exhaust their mad foe. "Ramjet," Izzy used her radio again, "this is a RDF patrol. Surrender, and we might not blow you out of the sky..." "Never!" Ramjet yelled as the black and red jet swung around, diving at Izzy, With a steely calm Izzy opened up, firing high density slugs into her foe along with launching a full flight off missiles. Pulling a lever in the cockpit she shifted to guardian mode as Ramjet barreled out of the smoke and dodged his attempt to ram, then hovered on boot jets as she fired into his vulnerable engines. They watched as the explosion ripped his engines apart, heart the wailing cry them watched as the transformer hit the mountainside. In a flare of light it was over, the gutted wreckage burning cheerfully in the dim twilight. "All right," Izzy said briskly, "we'll guard the site until a recovery team gets here." Then she radioed the nearest Fortress carrier, giving their location and requesting the pickup of a Decepticon corpse. "Anyone up for some cards?" Max joked as they all switched to guardian or battleoid modes, taking up guard positions around the area. Within twenty minutes the team arrived, destroids setting up a perimeter defense while tech crews scrambled over Ramjet, hooking him to carry lines as they prepared to haul him away. "Thanks for the help," the brown haired technician called. "I still don't see why we couldn't have carried it to you," Rick complained. "Wanna risk dropping one again, flyboy?" another tech spoke up, her eyes twinkling with amusement as Claudia LaSalle supervised her team. Rick flushed. "It just happened the one time," he sighed. "Once is enough," Max murmured. "We'll leave it to the pros," Izzy said firmly, "let's move out!" In a well practiced move the squad of veritechs reverted to fighter mode and raced off, shifting to a combat formation. Sonic booms split the sky as they traveled, only decelerating when they reached Fortress One. One by one they cruised in, lines and nets slowing them to a stop, then they climbed out and road the elevators down into the belly of the ship. "Welcome back," one of the flight crew said eagerly, "heard you bagged another one!" "Never mind that," Izzy waved that off, "how's Dixon?" 'Isn't that interesting,' Rick blinked. At one time all Randal seemed to care about her Decepticon kills... something had changed about her. "He's concussed, but I hear his helmet saved him from any worse injury," the crew member said quickly. "Good," Izzy nodded, looking relieved. Her first impulse was to check in with Lisa, but she quashed that. 'My commanding officer is not my security blanket,' she reminded herself. "Okay," she addressed her team, "dismissed." Meanwhile, up on the bridge Claudia Grant smiled as the dusky skinned woman looked at her fellow officer. "You know you want to go down and see her," she teased. Lisa Hayes blushed as the brown haired officer tried to look serious. "I do not," she protested, "I'm sure Izzy's fine." "I heard someone crashed..." Claudia purred. "Dixon, again," Sammy Young noted from where the darker brown haired young woman worked filing paperwork. "You're spoiling it," Claudia rolled her eyes. Lisa fought back a chuckle. "I'll go see her after shift, okay?" she told Claudia. "That'll do," Claudia conceded.
Back to Revenge Road Index - Back to Macross Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction