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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 1:49 pm
by Blackjack
War Academy, Courtyard

"Damned idiots." Sentinel Prime scowled as Soundwave played the footage. He understood what the Praxus soldiers were doing, of course, but could they not wait until he gave the order before attacking? Still, some initiative is better than none, and this is not exactly different from what Sentinel would be advocating. "What's done is done." The Prime said, shaking his head.

"Make sure you keep this information from the news agencies." Sentinel told Soundwave, before disconnecting the link. "Good work. I shall take your words under advisement. Keep me posted. Sentinel Prime out."

Sentinel tilted his horns forwards, activating the commlink that will patch him into the War Room. "Prowl, Kup, Sky Lynx, I have received information that some of our forces in Praxus have shot down a Decepticon-affiliated transport when attempting to flee. In response, Decepticon troops are massing from the northwest, seemingly planning to enter via Tyrest. Get Clocks to confirm this via satellite."

Prowl's clipped voice replied immediately, "Where did you obtain this intel, sir?"

"Does it matt- a trusted source." Sentinel Prime quickly corrected himself. He knew the existence of the Soundwave program was not known to everyone. "Someone with with eyes and ears in Kaon. Get in touch with the guy in charge of Praxus... that jet guy... Afterburner? Engine?"

"Turbine, sir."

"Right. Get him to deploy the Praxus Defense Force, get ready for an attack from Tyrest. Tell him to divide his force between the Tyrest border, concentrate on that...." Sentinel nodded to the guards as he entered the main building.

"Understood, sir. Volks, we need a satellite on Tyrest, right now. Hijack Bishop's little news camcorder, it should be in geosynchronous orbit over the Rust Sea."

"What of our insertion team, the one led by Jazz?" Sentinel said as the door slid open, allowing him, Ironhide and the Temple Knights entry into the War Room.

Prowl turned around to regard Sentinel. "Not well, I fear. They have been compromised, and are engaging the Decepticons. We were planning for them to make their bailout through Praxus now that Yuss have been compromised, and I have taken the liberty of moving Windsail and Fastback's team into Praxus for assistance."

Sentinel's optics narrowed. "Windmill's team is a bunch of airheads. They're the rainbow-coloured Seeker models, yes? And Beachback is too short-sighted to even realize a blaster is being pointed at him."

"Fastback and Windsail were the closest responders we have nearest to Praxus to boost their defense force." Prowl replied to Sentinel Prime. "Unless you want to deploy Sky Lynx..."

"No." Sentinel shook his head. "Not yet. What other flight-capable forces... actually competent ones... do we have in this city?"

"Tracks?"

"Yes, Tricks will do. Send him to Praxus to help in extracting Jazz and Magnus, redeploy Fasttrack and Rainbow Seeker."

"Tracks, this is Prowl." The strategist opened a commlink. "Deploy to Praxus, immediately. You are to rendezvous with a six-man team led by Jazz who are incoming from Kaon. Details are being forwarded to you. You are in charge of getting them in the fastest shuttle moving from Praxus to Iacon. Should the city come under attack, your main priority is to get Team Jazz out, not engage the enemy."

Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:19 pm
by Springer85
War Room

"From the intel that we have gathered so far, their sixchanger is the most powerful weapon they have right now," Kup replied to Prowl. "And while we have some counter measures against him, I don't know if it'll be enough."

Kup paused for a moment when Sentinel's transmission came in. Kup rubbed his chin for a moment. "Strange," he said before Sentinel entered the War Room. "I thought we already had somebody with eyes and ears in Kaon," he added as he looked at Volks for a moment.


__________________


"You got it, chief!" Volks replied to Prowl as he started working on hijacking said satalite. "I'll have access to it in a few kliks." It was then that Jazz's transmission came in. "Commander. I've just received word from Jazz and his team in Kaon. They're under heavy fire and he mentioned something about thinking that they were expected?" Volks scratched his head. "They couldn't have found out through to com link. It hasn't been comprimised and I've been checking for possible breach attempts ever since I set it up."

Kup narrowed his optics. He didn't like this news at all. Nobody outside the war room knew that there was a team heading into Kaon for Magnus. He didn not like this at all.

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 1:46 pm
by Blackjack
War Room

"We will simply have to make do for our best, lest Praxus falls." Prowl replied to Kup. Prowl turned to Volks, and frowned. Compromised communications...

The Decepticons might be tapping into their commlinks, but he had been watching Volks, and he did not do anything suspicious... not that it excluded him from suspicion, mind. Was there anyone else? Prowl did not distrust Network, but with all who had defected to the other side...

"Continue your monitoring. Network, take over for searching for a possible bug." Prowl's optics narrowed as he begin to visibly turn his head around the room, trying to goad the infiltrator -- if there was one -- to making a wrong move and showing himself.

Sentinel Prime scowled. He had arrived at the same conclusion that Prowl and Kup did, and he did not like it one bit. "Change encryption channels for our communications with the Kaon team." He spoke, "After we get our eyes on top of the Praxus-Tyrest regions."

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:52 am
by Warcry
War Room

Soundwave, naturally, heard every order Prowl gave before the Autobots' minions had even begun to execute them. And like the master spy he was, he quickly erased whatever scant evidence existed that suggested he was the traitor they were looking for.

His true allegiance would be revealed in good time, but it wouldn't do for the Autobots to stumble upon it before he was ready. No...not just yet.

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:39 pm
by Springer85
War Room

"You already have eyes on top of the Praxus-Tyrest regions," Volks said to Sentinel. "You're dealing with a pro here," he added. Even though Sentinel is a Prime now, it really didn't mean anything to him and he wasn't going to treat him any different because of it.

Volks frowned. He felt insulted that Prowl even thought about the line having a bug or that it was possible that his line was hacked. His line was secure. There was no doubt about it. Still, just to be sure, he started his own investigation and started to monitor outgoing transmissions and possible hack attempts on his line.

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:15 pm
by Blackjack
War Room

"Don't get mouthy, kid." Sentinel Prime snapped at Volks, although his annoyed expression did have a glimmer of appreciation. "Bring up the images on the Praxus-Tyrest borders on the center holotable."

Prowl had gotten on his knees and hands, sharp optics scanning under the tables, in hinges and grooves, for any kind of bugs or listening devices. This will not do. This will not do at all. "Wheeljack, Highbrow, this is Prowl. I apologize for the intrusion, but I require some advice from the two of you... if you were Decepticons and are to, for whatever reason, infiltrate and intercept communications from this War Room, how would you have gone about doing it?"

Sentinel Prime glared at Prowl, but said nothing -- the strategist was doing his job... but what is there to say that High General Obsidian isn't simply double-guessing and anticipating their moves like the near-supernatural legends some recounts say of him?

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:19 pm
by Springer85
Arsenal

Wheeljack scratched his head. "Erm, well I'm not much of a communications expert," he replied to Prowl, " though I suppose that if you have a very good receiver, you could pretty much intercept any outgoing transmission. You'll just need a very capable hacker to decode it."

Since Wheeljack now has access to a lot of information including schematics to buildings and such, he pulled up the scematic for the War Room. "While talking, I took the liberty of pulling up the schematics for the War Room." Wheeljack scratched his head. "From the looks of things, it's extremely hard to hack your way into the War Room. Somebody probably needs to either be inside the War Room or very close to it to get any information out of there."

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:37 pm
by Aero Blade
((ooc: Sorry for dissapearing, life as usual over here. Terabolt's actually run off on an errand, but Yoketron is still shadowing Sentinel for now. More on what she's up to once I'm able to get a more decient post together on them.))

Suberranian Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

Raiku scowled as Red Alert moved passed without so much as bothering to assist. As he took off skidding and sparking down the corridor, Raiku decided there wasn't much need for quiet, and just flung the panel into the open space to get it out of the way. Being just a bit larger than an average bot like Red, it was gonna be quite a squeeze getting through...

"Why do I get the feeling we were better off with the bomb," Raiku muttered to no-one in particular, transforming and screeching off after Red Alert.

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:23 pm
by Heinrad
Air above the Watchtower:

Tracks continued his slow orbit of the potential battlefield. So far, so quiet. He wanted it to stay that way. He liked it.

Then Prowl's call came in. Head for Praxus, secure a shuttle, extract a team. Maybe he'd brimg peace to a rapidly fragmenting Cybertron while he was at it. He checked the details as they came in and activated his commlink. "Orders recieved, Prowl. I'm on my way."

With that, he changed course and headed towards Praxus, waggling his wings as he flew past Nightbeat.

Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 4:09 pm
by Warcry
War Room

Soundwave streamed a video of massing Decepticon forces to the Autobots through the satellite that Volks had accessed, confident -- perhaps too confident -- that the Autobots would never be able to figure out what he was doing. After all, he wasn't hacking the satellite per se. It, like every other piece of communications infrastructure in the solar system, had been specifically programmed to give him unquestioned access to it's data feeds.

Foolish Autobots have never even pondered the question of whether or not their slaves will rebel against them...
_______________________________________

Suberranian Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

Red Alert checked his rear-view to make sure that Raiku was following -- I'd catch hell if I lost a witness down here, he thought to himself -- but continued his forward progress unabated. He really didn't have any choice, since the tunnel didn't branch off and Raiku was now roaring up behind him. But that was good, because it meant that their quarry had nowhere to go, either.

Good. Time for some intimidation.

Since the other Transformer clearly knew by now that he was being followed, Red saw no purpose in attempting stealth. So to him, that meant it was time to do the exact opposite of being sneaky. His headlights snapped on, bathing the corridor in front of him with bright white light. His police lights and sirens kicked in at the same time, turning the hall into a screaming, blinding tunnel of sensory overload. The running transformer, now clearly visible several hundred metres ahead of them, stumbled into a wall as his eyes and ears were overloaded after so much time in the quiet, dark tunnels.

"Stop!" Red Alert ordered him. "Police!"

The runner didn't listen, but he did stumble again, slowing his pace.

"I'm going to take out his legs!" Red told Raiku. "If I do that, do you think you can grab him?"

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 12:03 am
by Aero Blade
Suberranian Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

"If this space widens, maybe!" Raiku answered to Red Alert. With the friction he was creating in the tight corridor, it was amazing to him that he'd managed to keep up. He wasn't sure he could attempt to transform without getting stuck, let alone aprehend someone.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:12 pm
by Warcry
Subterranean Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

"Well, he's not getting past you, anyway! Just try not to run over him."

Red Alert appreciated Raiku's concerns, since the corridor was barely wide enough for the other Autobot to move, let alone tackle someone. But the robot they were following, who Red could now see clearly, was smaller than average -- there was no way he'd be able to climb over the repair bot's alt-mode to freedom.

"Last chance," he told the suspect. "Surrender or I will use force to arrest you."

The other Transformer's answer was a rude gesture, so Red accelerated a little bit more...and slammed his bumper into the suspect's knees. The runner flew over Red's aerodynamic alt-mode before landing on the ground behind him with a crunch. Red Alert braked hard, skidding to a stop a few dozen metres away. Then he transformed (carefully) to robot mode, drew his sidearm and started to walk back.

"You are under arrest," he said, by rote. "You will remain in robot mode until told otherwise. You have the right to remain silent..."

He continued to read the now-captured robot his rights as he approached, waiting for Raiku to join him from the other side.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 4:40 pm
by Aero Blade
Subterranean Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

Raiku would slow down as he approached, insuring he didn't wind up ramming their suspect back into Red Alert. The mechanic would roll up, and partway onto the prone suspect, parking his front axl ontop of him. Between his weight, and the tight squeeze of the corridor, Raiku doubted either of them were going very far.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 5:07 pm
by Warcry
Subterranean Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

Red Alert walked up to the prone, pinned robot and shone his headlights down on him. Once he had a clear view of the other Transformer, his face twisted into a mask of contempt. The other robot was even smaller than he'd first thought, barely bigger than a Minicon. His body showed signs of an industrial alt-mode, and a splotch of fresh paint had been crudely slapped onto his right shoulder. Under close inspection and with the harsh white light shining directly on the spot, Red Alert's vision was able to scan different parts of the spectrum until he could see the angular purple symbol below.

"Decepticon," he said disdainfully.

He looked over at Raiku. "Well, now we know why they were trying to kill you," he told the bigger robot as he slapped stasis cuffs on his prisoner. "The rebels were afraid that you'd discover they were using your tunnels to smuggle agents in and out of Iacon without passing through customs."

He dragged the Decepticon out from under Raiku's axle, none too gently, and said, "Now you're going to tell us all about what your buddies are planning. Why are they sending you sneaks into the city, and who's been hacking into our computer systems?"

"I ain't talkin', Autobot scrap!"

"That's what they all say," Red Alert told him. "But you'll talk in the end. They always do."

Arsenal

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:20 pm
by Chip1123
Highbrow took a moment to think it over while Wheeljack replied to Prowl. "Yes, a hacker with sufficient knowledge could breach your systems. Another option would be some kind of listening device on the systems, but both of those would leave evidence of their existence, even if only after-the-fact."

He paused a moment in hesitation before going on with his last thought. "The most likely option is that the 'secure' channel is not what its name implies. Someone could have, voluntarily or not, revealed the information needed to get into the system. The highest point of vulnerability of a secure sysem is, after all, the users themselves."

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:10 pm
by Blackjack
War Room

"Hmm." Prowl frowned as he inspected another bottom surface of a table, as he received replies from both Tracks, Highbrow and Wheeljack. "A capable hacker? This is worrisome. Volks, I want a second and third layer of encryption between our communications and Team Jazz. Broadblast, I want all military code encryptions to change between all essential personnel every half-hour." Prowl stood up. "No sign of any listening devices, at least not here. It'll take too long for us to comb every cable."

"Do it. You- guy with the shield- send two or three soldiers to do it." Sentinel snapped. "As for our little hacker.. needs to be in the room, huh?" Sentinel Prime frowned. "I don't think Yolks here is the type to work for the Decepticons... too weaselly... but it does stand that he's the only new addition here... and a former criminal to boot."

"Volks has been indispensable in information gathering for the past day." Prowl replied to Sentinel Prime. "But I do concur. Volks, if you are innocent, you would not mind Network doing a scan of your terminal for any possible manipulation?"

As Volks' satellite image was beamed on screen, Sentinel and Prowl turned as one to see the video of massing Decepticon forces in Tyrest.

"Decepticon forces massing. Just like the intel said." Sentinel Prime said, not hiding the contempt he had in his voice. "Tell Turbine to move resources to the Tyrest border... but not all of them. I'd think our vaunted old fossil knows more strategy than to put all his chips in one place."

"I concur." Prowl said, frowning. He felt that there was something he was missing.... but what?

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:22 am
by Aero Blade
Subterranean Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

Raiku listened as Red Alert interrogated the suspect, but it didn't seem to settle right with him. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was the scouting skills Hound had been teaching him kicking him, but in his mind details didn't seem to add up. This bot didn't look like a hacker, and he knew a few - this one didn't look like he knew a CPU from the dataport. And even at that, he wasn't entirely sure what had been going on was hacking to begin with...

"Hold it Red. Something's wrong here," Raiku said calmly, and with great effort, backing himself off their hostage, but still keeping him blocked off (not that he could transform right now anyways). "The whole team goes into the tunnels, some of them even more than me. Why was I the only one attacked? And if those rebells wanted maintenance data, there's easier ways to get it than invading our workspace. Something else is going on."

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:13 am
by Warcry
Subterranean Maintenance Tunnels, Iacon

"I agree," Red Alert told Raiku as he wrestled the suspect up to his feet by the stasis cuffs. "I doubt our new friend is going to give up any information about it, though." He shrugged. "At least, not willingly. But no matter. Once we drag him back to the station, we can get a warrant to trawl his memories. We'll find out everything we need to know that way. At least, assuming his buddies don't kill him first to keep us from doing it. Which they almost certainly will, since they've got a tap into all our official communications."

He glared down at the suspect. "Don't you?"

"I, uh, I...maybe?" The Decepticon's courage was evaporating now. "But so what? If I talk, I'm slagged anyway!"

"Maybe," Red shrugged. "Maybe not. You talk know, while it's just the three of us down here, and no one knows that we've even talked. You'll at least have a chance to run. But if I have to take you to the station and fill in the paperwork...well, you know better than me how quickly it'll get back to Megatron."

"Yeah," the spy sagged, defeated. Then he looked over at Raiku and said, "We don't care about your tunnels," he told the tech. "They're just a quick way to get from Point A to Point B, if you've got the right codes. Which we do. See, someone up top in your Autobot government? They're actually a Decepticon. We got access to everything from traffic cameras to spy satellites to maintenance tunnels. And there ain't no better way to sneak someone into Iacon than the tunnels. No customs checkpoints to bluff your way through, no need for fake IDs so you don't get flagged as a 'Con...hell, Megatron himself could sneak in and you'd never know it 'til he fusion cannoned somebody."

The Decepticon shrugged. "Don't know why they're coming after you in particular, though. I'm just a courier. Don't know nothin' about the data I'm actually carrying."

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:01 pm
by Springer85
War Room

"You've got to be slagging kidding me!" Volks shouted at the possibility that he would be corrupt and Sentinel referring to him as a former criminal. "Nobody on the entire planet has ever been able to hack his way through my encryptions!"


When Prowl asked him if he would mind Network scanning his terminal, he stood up and flipped over his keybord in a fit. "Fine! Go check it out and see for yourself that I've done nothing wrong!"

Volks started pacing around in the room, waiting for Network to finish. "Join the Autobots they said. Your slate will be wiped clean they said. Yeah right..."

"Will you calm down!" Kup shouted to the minibot. "You're about to blow a gasket! Nobdy is suspecting you of anything yet. This is just standard procedure."

"Oh yeah?!" He replied shaking his fist. "Standard procedure for ex-con's right?!"

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:44 am
by Blackjack
War Room

Prowl remained stoic as Volks did an outburst. It was to be expected -- useful as he was, the self-declared ex-con was not familiar with the military code.

"Nobody on the planet you're aware of." Sentinel Prime told Volks, narrowing his optics. Sentinel's mind was putting two-and-two together. Soundwave is the only other person on the planet that he knew of... and he was not a very trusted quality either. "Look, kid- don't get me wrong. You're doing a good job here, but this is war. This isn't one of your online games or whatever. Everyone in this room is a probably leak... and you- you've just been with us for, what, a week? Before that you are an ex-con. Seems awful convenient, no?"

"Which is why." Prowl quickly cut in, arms folded, face cold. "We have to ascertain whether you are truly an innocent or a Decepticon mole. And, yes- standard procedure for ex-cons." Prowl added, voice apropos of any humour. "As well as anyone else. Broadblast, you check over Network's terminal."