Hi!

Thanks for writing! I wrote this fic a little while ago, so I'm sure it's a 
bit rough around the edges. Hopefully you enjoyed it; I should have another 
chapter out soon. Right now I'm kind of working on Ronin Summer again, but 
I'm sure I'll have time to give the next chapter of this a quick once-over 
and polish up the formatting before I send it off. Did it show up okay? The 
original copies were in rtf, and that never seems to carry over well to the 
list, so I had to do some quick reformatting. Hopefully it wasn't too hard 
to read. ^_^

-> File 1-1: Planetfall

	In the depths of space, it can be very quiet.

Well...yeah.  No air.

You are not the first to bring that to my attention. ;)

This is my own fault: I of course meant "quiet" not in the "no sound" sense, 
but in the "nothing of any interest happening" sense.

Contrary to what most sci-fi movies would like us to believe, there is a 
whole lot of nothing going on up there between star systems. Unlike a drive 
in the country, there aren't even any cows to look at. Which I have always 
suspected is one of the reasons that some aliens seem to want ours. ^_^

My own suspicions aside, I still need a better word. :)

At the moment, that pilot was
feeling about as necessary as a fourth leg on a tripod. His ship had been
soaring majestically through space for what felt like nearly two years,

That's oddly precise unless the reason why it feels like nearly two years 
is because it has been nearly two years.  Which isn't an unreasonable 
transit time given Transformer life expectancies.

Yeah, the average Autobot seems to have a life expectancy of "until Megatron 
shoots you", however long that may be. :)

Unless, of course, said Autobot is a member of the Wreckers, at which point 
their lives tend to get a lot shorter and much more interesting. ^_^

Even the usual hum of the air recycling and
pressure systems was silent - they had vented atmosphere and closed off

So the synthetic flesh needs air?

If a Pretender shell is active, it needs pretty much all of the same things 
that a real human does.
Breathing is one of the ways they regulate their internal temperature, and 
it's a lot more discreet than mounting cooling fans in a supposedly 
biological body. ^_^

Whoo.  Astroseconds.  Sounds all spacey.

Yeah, it's corny, but it's also canon. Transformers have all the usual time 
increments that we do (minutes, hours, etc.), but because they are robots, 
they also have a few extra terms that we as a species do not need.

The "astrosecond" is roughly equivalent to about half a second. Autobots and 
Decepticons tend to refer to "astroseconds" instead of seconds because they 
feel the need to be more precise when it comes to things like computational 
time. Some of their processes literally take "half a second", so they named 
it. In the "Beast Wars" series, Maximals and Predacons referred to an 
astrosecond as a "Click".

Since Transformers also live for very long times (until Megatron shoots 
them), they also measure things in "vorns". One "vorn" is about the same as 
83 earth years. It is possible for someone like Optimus Prime to say that he 
has been fighting the Decepticons for "hundreds of vorns", and be right.

Knowing Optimus Prime, he might actually be referring to one specific 
battle, too. I mean, he does have an Endurance of 10 on his Tech Specs, and 
if nothing comes along to distract him, he might be there for a while.... 
^_^

**********

	Roughly twenty minutes behind and below the Autobot shuttle, given

Not "astrominutes"?

I could have used "breems", if you prefer. A "breem" is equal to 8.3 
minutes. ^_^

their relative velocities and positions, a sleek and nearly invisible
cruiser glided through space like a shark hunting for prey.

Y'know when you're looking to intercept someone you are far better off 
approaching from the front.  As the saying goes, "A stern chase is a long 
chase."

Yeah, but Decepticons are by their natures built for air combat: look at how 
many of them turn into jets. Since all of the guns on an Autobot shuttle 
(what few it has) are in the front, and most of its sensors are 
forwards-facing (Autobots are kind of stupid), Roadblock would prefer to 
approach his enemy from a place where it can neither shoot him nor see him. 
Thus, it would make sense for him to want to "tail" his opponent from the 
six'o'clock position.

As to why he would be below? It gives him a better cross-section of shuttle 
to fire at. Autbot shuttles are very flat, like the Millenium Falcon: from 
the back, there is very little to aim at and it is easy to miss. From below, 
they are broad and long, meaning you can usually hit them with a well-thrown 
rock.

Decepticon ships tend to be more angular and needle-like, which means they 
usually present a very small target profile from any angle. Then again, 
Autobot shuttles are used for cargo hauling and passenger trips, whereas 
Decepticon ships are usually just a bunch of guns with some engines and a 
chair strapped to them, so the design difference is understandable. ^_^

	"Excellent, Iguanus." That made his choices even easier. "We'll
wait for them to burn their rockets - they should slow down to change 
direction.

Not unless it's a rather radical manuever, more than a 90 degree turn. In 
space one does not "slow down to change direction" because ships don't have 
tires or roads that the tires need hold to.

This is very true. ^_^

However, he does have to attack now because if he doesn't he'll lose the 
advantage of surprise since he'll have fire his own engines to match the 
new course.

This is also very true, and a much better reason for him to strike. Think 
I'll give this paragraph a little touch up to have it make some more 
tactical sense. I really am trying to keep the sci-fi in this story as hard 
as possible (considering it's about giant robots who transform into people), 
so help on little details like this are appreciated.

Roadblock strode down the steps that led to Iguanus' station, breathing 
heavily as his pressed his blunt, leathery face against his subordinate's 
scaled snout. "And most importantly," he snarled, "you will do it because
I will have you melted down and turned into commemorative keychains if you 
do not. Are we clear?"

Iguanus is SO gonna fink on you if you both get out of this functional.

Yeah, Iguanus is thankfully *not* one of those Decepticons who are as stupid 
as they look. Since he does not have a personal stake in doing this, he is 
also a bit more objective than Roadblock is at the moment.

Roadblock can be a bit obsessive, almost to the point of single-mindedness 
at times. It's one of his major weaknesses. That, and his habit of fidgeting 
with his hand grenades whenever he gets bored. ^_^

	For a moment, Iguanus tensed, and Roadblock almost expected him
to strike. His second-in-command was tough, he knew, and uncommonly strong 
as long as he was in his synth shell.

So he's _stronger_ in his organic form?

Yep. Decepticon Pretenders do not pick their shells for disguise purposes - 
which is why most of them tend to look like something that crawled out of a 
Resident Evil game (Skullgrin, Bludgeon, Bugly, we're looking in *your* 
direction).  Decepticons pick their shells because they give them added 
powers: Iguanus' shell grants him increased strength and the always-swanky 
"hypnotic gaze" ability.

If there had still been any atmosphere, Cloudburst reasoned, he would 
probably have been sucked out through the large crack their windshield 
seemed to have picked up.

Well no.  The wind simply would have been whistling past him.

True enough. I guess he could have always just plugged the hole with a 
scarf, like Rick Hunter did in Robotech. ^_^

Almost immediately, the LIDAR and RADAR gleefully informed him of an 
incoming ship a little more than one megametre away and closing at roughly 
five kilometres per second.

Lets see now.  One thousand kilometres, means the bad guys will be on you 
in 3 minutes, 20 seconds.  OK, sounds reasonable.

Yep, that is a very respectable speed for a short-range spacecraft. Perfect 
for a small skimmer that wants to close the gap between two larger ships as 
fast as possible.

For anyone wondering why that sounds fast, I'll convert it out of metric for 
you. 5 kilometres is a little more than 3 miles. So basically, that skimmer 
is travelling at a very respectable speed of 180 miles per MINUTE. 
Decepticons like things that go fast, and go "boom". ^_^

	"I really hope we make it through this all right," Pincher said
plaintively. "I have several very volatile chemicals on board that I may 
have forgotten to list on our cargo manifold. Or patent. Or check for 
possible side effects...."

I like him.  He's funny.

Yeah, I like Pincher, too. He's sort of the mad scientist of the group, but 
he's so darned cheerful about it that nobody can ever hold it against him. 
^_^

	"Looks kind of funny for fireworks," Jax said, twisting his mouth
in that particular manner he did whenever working on a problem that made 
Mira want to grab him by the shirt and do some distinctly non-friendly

Or perhaps more-than-friendly?

One or the other. She's rarely sure, herself. ^_^

"That looked like it landed just a few miles from here. I bet if we
ran, we could get a good look at whatever it is before the police tape 
everything off."

	"Are you nuts? That thing could be radioactive, or poisonous,
or..."

How do you expect to get superpowers if you don't check out a few 
radioactive meteorites?

Mira tends to be the voice of common sense in this pairing. The funny thing 
is, she actually is the more imaginative of the two, but because she has put 
so much thought into what *might* happen, she can always think of a good 
reason not to do something.  Jax just happens to posess the uncanny ability 
to win any argument they get into by either ignoring her logic or getting 
her so turned around that she ends up agreeing with him and not knowing why. 
^_^

	"Don't do anything rash, Decepticon," the speaker said, the tinge
of fear in his tone audible even through the distortion. "We are not
unprepared to deal with your kind. We have reactivated you for a
purpose - we would be most foolish not to provide ourselves with insurance 
that you would listen."

So the local government is run by bad guys?

Not all of it, but there *is* a sort of shadowy cabal who have been waiting 
for the excuse to seize power. The problem is that they have had about 
twenty years to forget just how nasty the Decepticons were, and now they 
think they have an advantage over one.

Note for any scheming humans: never, never deal with a Decepticon. He does 
not like you. You are not smarter than he is. He *will* find a way to turn 
on you the first chance he gets. He is a Decepticon. That is what he DOES.

	->Accessing self-diagnostic program RBDC-00342
	->Scanning neural net for foreign presence...

	"Yes," the voice replied. "We have taken command of the drones
away from your Deceptitraan. They are programmed to protect us now: from 
you and any of your kind."

I kind of doubt this guy is part of the "we" who have command of the 
drones.

Oh, he's not. And you cannot imagine how much that bugs him. ^_^

 It might be smarter to disavow responsibility for the shooting down of a 
vengeful Decepticon, particularly if you plan to use him against the people 
who were responsible.

Yeah, but Decepticons aren't big on gratitude, either. This fellow has 
already proven that he can get ahold of energon if Roadblock needs it: 
that's a pretty big "carrot". Now he's trying to use the threat of the chip 
and the drones as a "stick" - basically the gist of it is  "do what I say, 
and I will give you power, but if you attack me, I will turn off your brain 
and sic all those nasty drones on you."

	->Error found. Foreign presence detected.
	->Reconfiguring neural net...
	->Neural net reconfigured. Foreign presence counteracted.

Well, so much for that half of his stick.

Seriously, who *tells* a robot that they've re-wired its brain? It's a 
robot: it has redundant systems and backup files. This poor person is just 
not used to dealing with Transformers: having all those drones to rely on 
has made them soft.  :p

	"Well, then," Roadblock said, sinking to one knee and bowing
gracefully, "I see that I have no choice but to serve you, flesh creature. 
I commend you for your masterful planning in taking such total and 
complete control over me.

What is this Cybertronian..."sarcasm" that you speak of?

Heh. Yeah, Roadblock is pretty obviously laying it on thick here, isn't he? 
Their scheme fell apart so fast that it barely even had a chance to get 
started: whatever else he may say or do from this point onwards, Roadblock 
is totally in control of this situation now. ^_^

	"I could be at a party with every other kid in school right now,"
Mira hissed. "I could be dancing, and having fun, and most importantly, I 
could be not throwing my back out helping you carry a total stranger you 
found lying in some ditch. A stranger who, by the way, happens to weigh 
more than a fully loaded largax!"

The metal he's made out of must be amazingly light.

Well, Cloudburst is not a very big robot, and he's not exactly made of solid 
metal. He does weigh a lot more than the average person of his size and 
build, though; enough so that it would take at least two people to move him 
anywhere, and they would not exactly be enjoying themselves doing it. 
Heavier than a fridge, but lighter than a motorcycle. ^_^

The remodelled cyberdrone hunter seekers are patched
into a country wide sensor grid that continually scans for Cybertronian
energy signatures. I should know; my mother runs the skragging thing!

SO it's what, a joint venture of the city states?

One of the few things that they can bring themselves to agree on, actually. 
The people of Tlaloc 4 were so totally subjugated by the Decepticons once 
that their fear of getting invaded again is almost pathological. No matter 
what else they may be quarelling over, they can at least all agree that 
everybody must have drones.

Except for those radical merfolk who refuse to touch the drones with a 
ten-foot pole and spend all their time praying to some mythical giant called 
Piranus to protect them, instead. But those people are really weird and most 
of the other city-states avoid them at parties. ^_~

The look of fear on the small worm's face was enough to
warm Roadblock's silicon.

Spark, I think.

I think you're right.  Will fix! :)

in addition to the possibilty of a nice snack every now and
again, it gave him a really interesting way to dispose of people.

Excellent justification for a deathtrap.

Yeah, Decepticons tend to do deathtraps for their own amusement. There was a 
wonderful scene in one of the recent Transformers comics where Rumble and 
Frenzy are waiting for Starscream to come by, so they've set up this giant 
barrel full of fish. When we see them, they are standing around it with 
their guns drawn, talking about how fun and easy their new game is... ;)

	"You're a real twisted machine, you know that, Roadblock?"

Tsk.  Giving up the advantage of surprise just to engage in banter? 
Autobots are such tactical wizards.

The problem with Autobots is that they always have to have the moral high 
ground. Poor guys feel guilty if they actually shoot somebody without first 
taking the time to explain to him exactly why he is wrong and needs to be 
shot for it. On the plus side, they *do* get to benefit from righteous fury, 
which I am told is the best kind of fury. ^_^

Thanks for taking the time to respond! I'll be sure to tighten up those 
parts that you thought might need a little more explanation. Take care!

-Morgan Hudson



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