1291/Battleground: Protihex 5 - 2

Cast of Characters: | Prowl, Soundwave, First Aid, Hammerstrike, Healthpoint, Starlock, Scrapper, 135

**Prowl has posed:**
    Once again, the skies are alight with the fires of battle, this time over the city of Protihex. Prowl is at one of the watch tower control stations, watching the battlefield for enemies of note. It seems the Cons have brought out the big guns this cycle, with Sixshot and Soundwave identified as the enemy forces advance.

    He loads an incendiary charge into a long-range launcher mounted into the side of the tower and fires it into their midst! It would explode wherever it lands and set anything in its blast radius aflame.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Down on the ground Starlock was leading medical efforts to those wounded, stabilizing patients on the field, and setting up beacons on those she did to allow someone like Healthpoint to reach them, and medi-vac them out.

      On her monitor, she gets a signal of a nearby decepticon.. mainly the six changer, which was going to be an issue in the long run for /everyone/ if something wasn't done, she'd also catch glance of the blast that strikes the nearby combatants. She'd click on her radio, after taking in a heavy vent. "<<Right, Healthpoint, you can see the evac beacons I've placed?>>" She'd question as she transformed into her mini-bus mode.

      "<<Going to be rough reaching them with all this fire.>>"

**Hammerstrike has posed:**
Hammerstrike had been called to Protihex, not necessarily as one of the sentries, but rather because it was just part of routine maintenance. It just happened that a Decepticon assault occurred while he was there. For the most part, rather than charging into the fray, Hammerstrike is keeping close to the defenses, monitoring its structural integrity closely. He's got his hammer out, ready to swing at anyone who gets too close. In the meantime, he's laying down very weak and poorly aimed suppression fire into the encroashing enemy.

The radio chatter elicits a grunt of disapproval, but he is wise enough to keep his thoughts to himself in the heat of battle.

**Healthpoint has posed:**
      <<"I can see them. I'll move them to the back of our lines, but carrying them around while engaging in combat should be avoided if possible.">> the large VTOL that is Healthpoint reports back to Starlock while flying over the battlefield. She ferries injured to the rear lines, then returns to the front. <<"Alright...I am going to use my Syringe Missiles. I suggest everyone take cover!">>

      The big VTOL takes up a position hovering above the walls and several hatches open along the leading edges of her four wings. Then with a whoose of rocket power, number of missiles that are tipped with needles as thick as most mechs' fingers go zigzagging across the battlefield.

**First Aid has posed:**
First Aid comes to the call for once. The ambulance drives towards the defenses, transforming. "Right, so distraction time." he says. He looks to one of the closest cons, firing at oh, Soundwave. He aims for the knees, not near any vitals. He's that kind of person. "Okay, lets try to get them to retreat rather then kill anyone."

**Scrapper has posed:**
Scrapper roars onto the scene the way only a piece of brightly colored heavy machinery can. He's had to repair the mining facility defenses and now he's come to pay back the Autobots by making a mess of their own set up. Of course the Autobots open fire as soone as they see the Decepticons coming, there's explosions and flames, but the Constructicon stubbornly plows through it all, ignoring the flames licking at his chassis. He's making straight for the defenses, up until he's hit with one of those damn needles, and whatever was in it causes him to loose control of his steering subsystems! Wheels lock, and what was a dramatic charge turns into a haphazard skid that sends him spinning around into who knows what.

**Soundwave has posed:**
Soundwave staggers back as grenades come raining down destruction upon him and the troops, but it's not enough to shake the spymaster's will to get this job done. Even when one of Healthpoint's syringes strikes him, crippling a leg.... but not felling him. Or- ow, when First Aid unleashes a rather heavy blow. "<< Focus on the base... Autobots have multiple medics and can repair themselves but if the base falls, so do they. >>" He sends out the radio message, then sets his sights on the aforementioned target. Transforming, he sends a barrage of Eclipse Rockets towards what appears to be a weak spot., then returns to monitoring the battlefield, seeking any advantages.

**Sixshot (135) has posed:**
Sixshot speeds towards the Autobot defenses, ignoring the flames that spread over his form. Taking note of Starlock he moves higher expecting a familiar shot. But instead of a nova cannon blast he barrel rolls to avoid the missiles as they fly past. Sensors scan the battlefield before he dives down, quickly righting himself as he performs a strafing run, releasing missiles.

**Prowl has posed:**
    Missiles fly from Sixshot as he executes a strafing run, but most of them don't hit anyone. Prowl is knocked aside by a nearby explosion though when one of them does hit the base at least. "Hmm..." he checks the terminal as it registers the damage. Not much yet, but they're far from being home free here. He watches the Decepticons' movements, and decides to focus Soundwave for now. << Starlock, keep Soundwave occupied--he's too focused. >> With that, a data packet comes her way, revealing a weak point created by the grenade earlier.

**Starlock has posed:**
     "<<MOTHER FRAGGER!>>" Starlock snaps over her communlink as she misses Sixshot AND her cannon jams! Welp, that strategy is out the window. She quickly gets back into her root-mode, sliding across the field as she takes note over the situation... Also taking cover when Healthpoint mentions she's gonna fire.

      She would take a moment to send First aid a silent radio message as she see him land a strike on Soundwave, she'd give a soft smile behind her face mask, before shaking her helm, and brought her hand up as she started running across the field, drawing her Dual blades hilts, and igniting the blades. "<<Nice shooting HP, and well aware, be careful with what you do.>>"

      Scrapper.. Scrapper was definitely going to also be an issue...However Prowl gives her data for soundwave and... Oooh boy, this was going to be an issue. She'd take a vent and kick on her pede boosters and go blitzing a cross the field after the Outlier, attempting to silence her thoughts on only the battle.

**Healthpoint has posed:**
      Two out of three isn't bad! And Healthpoint's shots were even all actually at their targets!

      Unfortunately, as those syringe missiles fly there is a rather unseamly 'clank!' from her internals. "...scrap..." she says softly before transforming. No time to mess with a weapon jam right now! She lands at one of the defense control consoles and looks over the battlfield. <<"Deploying drones.">> she comms to her comrades. She takes extra time to aim since that flyer is giving them trouble, then lets those little nuisances fly.

      <<"Thanks, Starlock!">> she radios. <<"You too, you two!">> she adds, meaning Starlock and First Aid.

**Hammerstrike has posed:**
I sprobably thinking that medics should stay away from the front lines and certainly shouldn't be encouraged to go after high profile enemies like Soundwave. But Hammerstrike is probably too unimportant to have his mind read.

Hammerstrike sees the Payloader rushing to the defenses, only to stumble and crash into Soundwave. He peers at the defenses to gage their sturdiness. Then decide to take a risk and complicate matters more for Soundwave. Hammerstrike charges at the leading Decepticon with his hammer raised high, intent on bringing a powerful blow down on the comm's truck's bonnet.

**First Aid has posed:**
First Aid sees Scrapper coming, and aims for him. "You Decepticons better get out of here." he saarls, trying to be as aggressive as he can. "We've got this base secure." Oh fierce Aid, go!

**Scrapper has posed:**
Scrapper rattles back and forth a bit, mechanical parts grinding in ways they shouldn't as he forces himself away from the collision with Soundwave.

Only to get mobbed by the obnoxious drones instead.

Now he can't make heads or tailpipe of the battle for entirely different reasons. With a growl he transforms, and just starts swinging wildly to get the drones off of him. Who's going to get whalloped instead this time?

**Sixshot (135) has posed:**
Sixshot studies the battlefield for a moment as the drones buzz and sting around him. Moving in closer he quickly transforms back to root mode, sensors going wild. Doesn't take long before he finds what he believes to be a weakpoint, taking aim to strike hard.

**Soundwave has posed:**
Soundwave is getting hit very hard, making him remember why he likes to stay in the shadows and watch from a distance. Ow. The outlier staggers under the damage, armor busted, joints loose and wobbly. Not good. And it just keeps coming- Hammerstrike charges him and given that his legs are already pretty wobbly, he can't get out of the way in time. CRUNCH. The spymaster's audio stereo playback screeches with static as he's flung backwards. And just as he's getting up from that, somehow, he's hit again- BY SCRAPPER. At THIS insult the outlier just stops a moment and gives the Constructicon leader a long, hard stare with his sensors. Oh yeah, you and your team are getting some CHOICE assignments in the next few cycles. By CHOICE I mean HORRIBLE and stinky.

His HUD screaming at him, his vision and agility almost gone, warnings beeping at him, he has no choice but to retreat to much further distances. "<< ...I will watch from afar. Focus on base. Do not further disappoint Megatron- or me. >>" With that, so as not to be offlined next hit -from foe OR friend- the beat up Decepticon leader has to flee- I mean make a tactical retreat. Yes.

**Prowl has posed:**
    Prowl watches with satisfaction as Soundwave retreats from the battlefield. He's glad the mech is doing the smart thing--as those in the intel field typically do. It's not that he doesn't respect the comms officer, but he certainly wishes he wasn't so...misguided.

    At any rate, the other big gun is next--Sixshot. He crouches in the tower, his targeting algorithms locking onto the sixchanger as he readies a missile.

    << Autobots, keep up the pressure, we're not out of the smelting pools yet. >>

**Hammerstrike has posed:**
Perhaps someone else might gloat over being an instrument in causing the ranking officer to turn tailpipe and run. But that is not Hammerstrike. With a grunt, he withdraws from the close fighting, lest the glitching out Constructicon get in control of his faculties and delay him. No. Hammerstrike is more concerned with a more delicate matter.

Repairs.

With his skill only middling, he dare not wait for the base to be falling apart before beginning to attend to it. Besides, there are plenty of Autobots to keep things going.

**Healthpoint has posed:**
      One good thing about being behind the defenses at one of the outposts is that Healthpoint actually feels useful on the battlefield for once. Soundwave retreats, which seems like the beginning of the end for the attackers. But, Healthpoint rarely counts her turbochicks before they hatch. And so, as Hammerstrike focuses on repairs to the defenses, Healthpoint turns the turrets on the attackers.

      <<"A-at least there's no chance of hitting you guys with these!">> she radios to her allies before lasers fill the air, aiming at the remaining Decepticons.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock nods at Prowl's command and glares at the currently, ever elusive Sixshot, and draws her stave, and stows her blades, extending the beton into the full staff with the crystal deploying she rushes after Sixshot, pressing the button to set the crystal alive with electricity, which forms into the shape of a blade.

      "<<Keep an optic on everyone's vitals, I also have my refueling tank so don't be afraid to call if you need it!>>" She'd radio as the maglocks disengage on her auxiliary tank.

**First Aid has posed:**
First Aid seems relieved as Soundwave retreats "We have one on the run. Dont let them regroup." oh hes focusing on firing, on proving he /can/ be combat capable today. He fires at Scrapper, keeping on him!

**Scrapper has posed:**
Scrapper can't imagine what sort of punishment work Soundwave will certainly come up with, which really isn't reassuring. Leaving one's imagination to stew on it is almost worse than whatever the actual job may turn out to be. This really is not a good night.

Well, at least Soundwave made a run for it. Scrapper isn't all that hot right now either, he's lost track of who's hit him with what from where thanks to all the jumble his senses have been. "Frag this nonsense." He starts backing away from the defenses, but as he's doing so, he pulls out a large launcher-like device. His newest marvel isn't another type of bomb, it's a means of utilizing it! "But I can still make your clean-up bill expensive!" Scrapper fires the delivery mechanism with an audible \*THMP\*. The projectile flies to latch onto the defense wall, but instead of an immeadiate explosion, it starts to vibrate. Harder and faster, to the point that the kinetic energy it produces is just as potent as any explosion, sent through the structure and hopefully something will break and crush the Autobots using it to protect themselves too!

It's nothing but spite, but at this point, Scrapper really doesn't care.

**Sixshot (135) has posed:**
Sixshot looks to Starlock as she charges in quickly backing up, barely even glancing at the small wound the medic was able to inflict, "Medics should stay in the back, but you are brave and foolish." The sixchanger quickly shifts into a all too familiar mode. The armored carriers wheels and treads tearing into the ground as he moves to another position. The launchers ontop opening as sensors scan the area before releasing a massive payload of missiles.

**Soundwave has posed:**
Soundwave has retreated somewhere he can lurk in the shadows and loom and sneak but not actually have to take any more damage. Indeed, as Intel he's too smart- yeah that's it- to risk making others have to retrieve his inert carcass. So he watches. And LOOMS. And especially watches and looms over Scrapper's way. Oh yessss. However, he can agree with the Conbstructicon's logic, "<< Any time Autobots spend repairing is time they are diverted from other things. Proceed. Leave as much destruction as possible. >>"

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock takes the explosion, even though it hits her in a critical place, as well as taking Sixshot's fire, she just grits her denta though it and smiles knowingly, giving a chuckle even, though the energon leaking over her optics and glasses. Now who said She was aiming to do damage?

      Sixshot will find that he now his a bright, glowing, gagged, electric-made, star shaped Bullseye on his platting. Starlock kicks herself off him and speeds away, attempting to get to solid cover as she attempted to seal the leaking wounds. "<<Hey Aid, think you can Hit Sixshot with those crystals of yours? Should ruin his armor enough to make him think twice about remaining.>>" She'd radio.

**Prowl has posed:**
    Prowl curses when Scrapper's kinetic bomb shakes the base's foundations, dealing quite a bit of damage but still not quite coming near to felling it. Alerts flashed, but the barriers were still stable enough. Despite the violent temors caused by the explosion, the strategist manages to avoid falling into any cracks or getting crushed by any debris.

    << Autobots, focus fire on Sixshot, we need to get rid of their main source of firepower. >> He does so himself, launching a missile out of a targeting panel attached to the walls of the tower.

**Hammerstrike has posed:**
That throbbing device does not look good at all. Hammerstrike can feel it through the panel he is working on. In a rare display of self preservation, Hammerstrike pulls the panel he was about to re-attach away and uses it as a cover, shielding himself from Scrapper's spite bomb. It is just as the dust is ettling that Hammerstrike pushes the large panel off of himself, only to be blasted by Sixshot. Hammerstrike is still for a moment or two before he rises to his feet, scowling at the sky. There isn't much more he can do for the base as the battle grows in intensity. There just aren't the resources for any more patching that hasn't been destroyed in the crossfire. Proper repairs will have to wait for when the fighting stops and a shipment of new materials arrive. Alas.

Hammerstrike gathers up a large chunk of debris left by Scrapper's attack and lobs it at him, but otherwise continues to stay close to the walls. He'll manually hold them up if he has to. Sixshot may be a bigger threat but Hammerstrike just can't throw hard enough to hit a flying target.

**Healthpoint has posed:**
      Whatever that thing is that Scrapper used...it blows Healthpoint clean off the wall and crashing into the ground behind it. Which is lucky in the sense that it means Sixshot's missile barrage misses her. But quite unlucky in that when she gets back up she leaves several parts behind on the ground and there are sparks coming from one of her optics, which loses its green glow every now and then. "Wh-what in Primus's name was that?!" she exclaims as she makes her way back up the wall to the defense controls.

      Whatever it was, there are still two dangerous Decepticons on the field, and that's no good. Even with her damaged targeting systems and vision, Healthpoint keeps the turrets firing.

**First Aid has posed:**
First Aid turns to Sixshot. "Okay..one..one down." he fires at him with that decrystalizer cannon, keeping on the offensive. "I got this. I got this. He'll be running soon." He says to himself.

**Scrapper has posed:**
It's a pyrrhic success, but success none the less. Using some of Goth's drone technology to assist in payload delivery allows for demolition devices that do more than just blow up really big. Scrapper will take what he can get at the moment. Push more repair work on the Autobots when the Decepticons control two major resource holdings. "Let's see your limp gasket logistics infrastructure deal with -that- workload!"

It doesn't go without retaliation though, as debris is thrown at him, and turrets open fire. The artillery fire hurts, but the debris chunk manages to lodge itself in the apeture of the launcher, and that gets Scrapper a bit exasperated. "Son of a gli--"

The launcher backfires, the explosion hurtling the Constructicon violently away from the battlefield. \*PING\*

**Sixshot (135) has posed:**
Sixshot is certainly frustrated as he releases a vent from his systems. The only real annoyance being Prowls missile. The sixchanger says nothing as the carrier seems to flip in place as it shifts to a more beastial form looking to Starlock seeming ready to go for her throat. Leaping towards the mini-medic the sixchanger changes course snapping his jaws near the femme growling out, "Next time prepare a grave for one." The wolf running off afterwards.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock's finials flick upward as she quickly rolls from her cover to avoid Sixshot's snapping jaws and glares at him. Temptation was there to mouthoff, even more so than normal given the other nights events.... But she bites her tongue.. /this time./ However he still gets a rude gesture.

      She looks over the field, two retreated and Scrapper was down, that was that, their troops were retreating, Starlock would take a moment to transform and unjam her cannon. "<<Good work guys.. lets work on getting the injured back to deacon...>>" She'd vent out.

**Prowl has posed:**
    << Good work, Autobots. >> Prowl says over the comms as the Decepticons' last big gun retreats, and the rest of their forces quickly follow. << Private Hammerstrike, I want you in charge of getting Operations teams dispatched to begin repairs to the outer shields. Ensign Starlock, I expect to see a sitrep by next megacycle. First Aid and Healthpoint, get the wounded to the nearest field repair facility immediately. >>

**Hammerstrike has posed:**
Hammerstrike dusts off some debris and begins to survey the damage. <<"Sir.">> He responds in acknowledgment and sets to his task of patching what he can while he waits for a proper crew, and proper materials, to arrive.

**Healthpoint has posed:**
      Healthpoint starts to target the Decepticons again...but when she looks out over the battlefield again and peers through her blurry vision...she sees that the Decepticons are retreating! "We...we won? We won!" she exclaims, then lets out a short cheer. Then Prowl's orders come through and she nods. <<"That is one order you do not even have to give, sir.">> she radios as she transforms. And much like Starlock she takes the time to unjam her weapons now that there is more time. Then, she starts loading up with wounded and even carries one of the larger mechs beneath.

**First Aid has posed:**
First Aid puts his weapon away and nods "You got it." He looks around for the injured, seeing who is hurt the most. "That..wasnt too bad this time. Getting better at this. Not sure if thats a bad or good thing though."