//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirteen: Crusaders and Communications // Story: Transformers: Deep Space Exploration Team // by TcogArchitect //------------------------------// Published January 29th, 2013 Chapter thirteen: Crusaders and Communications Five hours ago, after Dark Lance and Skybreaker's departure. Bunker sat in his lab, carefully placing another wire into the small device on his work table with a pair of tweezers. He set the small copper strand into the laser-cut groove that would be its new home, and slowly pushed the ends of the wire into their respective connectors before gently pressing down along the entire length of the strand, pulling his hand back and relaxing a bit once he finished. He then grabbed the soldering iron next to him, and cemented the ends firmly in their place before closing the small protective cover and then closing the rest of the small, band-like device. "Finally," he said, stretching his body after sitting hunched over for so long. "Now I just need to test it. Hopefully Burnout isn't too busy." He picked up the small object, and walked out to the elevator. As he was going up, the ship sensors alerted him to someone knocking on the door. ^Well, it's not one of Bloodwing's crew, they would just blast it open. And I don't think Dark Lance or Skybreaker would bother knocking on the door of their own ship, which means it must be one of the locals.^ When he came out of the elevator, he took the hallway towards the bridge instead of the med-lab to find out who wanted their attention, transforming into his beast mode as he went. When he arrived and opened the door, though, he wished he hadn't bothered. Standing before him, looking as innocent and hopeful as they could, were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He briefly contemplated shutting the door right then and there, but decided against it. If he did that, he would never hear the end of it. Instead, he decided to try a slightly more subtle approach. "This had better be important," he said, giving the three an unwelcoming glare. They shrunk back a little from the look he gave them, but quickly returned to their normal cheery selves. "Yeah, it is!" the orange one said excitedly. "We came to get Skybreaker! Rainbow Dash said she was nearly done with the race course, and we volunteered to bring him back!" She grinned widely at the end, obviously happy about helping her idol. "Well, sorry to waste your time, but he's not here. He and Dark Lance went to Canterlot to speak with the princesses. They won't be back for a few hours, at least." The three fillies let out a disappointed "awww" at this new development. Seeing how distressed they were and seeing an opportunity to get something done faster, he decided to give them something to do other than get depressed, and pulled the device he had been working on out of his beast mode's head, getting slightly disturbed looks from the Crusaders. Ignoring them, he continued. "How about you do something a little more purposeful for me, since you're heading off a ways already?" The three fillies' faces lit up at this idea, and nodded their heads vigorously. "Alright, here's the job. See this thing here? This is a high-power communicator. The Energon radiation on this planet is messing with our comm signals, so I made this to cut through the interference. I want you to take this to Rainbow Dash, and use this small red button to turn it on. Then, I should be able to talk to her myself without having to leave the ship. Once we're done, come back so I can use this to contact Dark Lance. And whatever you do, don't drop it. It's extremely fragile, so it will break very easily. Be careful with it." He said the last sentence with extra emphasis, staring hard at each of them in turn to make sure they fully understood how serious he was. The Crusaders took the communicator, and gently placed it in their wagon. Scootaloo then started moving along a bit more slowly than usual, as the other two shouted "Cutie Mark Crusaders Testers, yeah!" Bunker shook his head in exasperation at their antics before turning around and going back inside to work on the mini-miners while he waited. On his way, though, he noticed Burnout leaning against a doorway with her arms crossed, smiling like she knew something she wasn't supposed to. "What?" Bunker asked, stopping to give the medic a questioning look. "I saw that," she answered as her grin widened further. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he answered as he walked past her to continue his work. "Oh, sure you don't. You keep telling yourself that." She giggled a little, then returned to her station to continue her own project. After Bunker got back to his lab, he set up his communications equipment to receive the new communicator's signal, then turned to his next project. Sitting in the corner were five six-foot-long cylinders, each one with a handle on the top. The mini-miners. All of them were severely damaged, having been in one of the less-armored areas of the ship during the firefight and subsequent crash. He grabbed the first one, which had been crushed slightly on one side, and heaved it onto his workbench. He stood it up, and pried open the legs so he could detach the plates designed to protect the sensitive internal mechanisms. Looking in, he found that most of the pieces were actually intact. He pulled his tools closer and started working. He had already fixed the first miner and started on the second by the time he realized something was wrong. He checked his internal clock, and found that it had been over an hour since Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had left. He put down his tools and moved to the comms array he had set up earlier to make sure he hadn't simply been too absorbed in his work to notice it go off. Satisfied that that was not the case, he quickly left his lab to find Burnout. When he got to the med-lab, Burnout was staring at a computer screen which appeared to be running some sort of simulation. The screen suddenly flashed red, and Burnout threw her arms up before leaning all the way back in her chair and letting out a groan of frustration. "Having trouble?" he asked casually. "I can't get the nano-shell sim to work. Every time I try to fix one problem, it causes another." She sighed, and looked at her guest. "So did you need something? You don't come out of that lab just for social calls." "Those three should've contacted me by now. I'm going out to find them. Chances are they broke that communicator, and I don't want them trying to fix it themselves. Fortunately, I put a tracking chip in it, so I shouldn't be gone for very long." He made his way out as Burnout called a farewell to him, and was soon galloping through the forest to retrieve his lost equipment. He followed the small blip on his internal map, and quickly realized he was not heading towards Ponyville. Wherever they were, they either didn't know how to get back, or they weren't able to get back. He quickened his pace, hoping they weren't injured so he wouldn't have to explain it to their families. Before long, he was almost on top of the tracking unit, and he slowed down so he could pay more attention to what was around him. He came across a small clearing near the eastern edge of the forest, and the communicator lying in the middle of it. He picked it up, and noted that it was in almost perfect condition; only a few small specks of dirt blemished its surface. He wiped it off, then put it back in his head's storage area. "Okay," he said to himself. "That's not good. There's no blood on the ground, though, so they weren't severely injured when they dropped it. Now I just need to figure out where they went after that." He began an echolocation scan, using the sound waves to find more freshly-compacted dirt, which would indicate any tracks the fillies or their scooter and wagon might have made. He quickly found what he was looking for in the form of curving lines cutting through the ground. Following them, he came through a particularly large bush to find the scooter and wagon crumpled against a tree nearby. He still saw no blood, but now he was certain they were being chased by something. They wouldn't have left their stuff behind otherwise. After finding their hoofprints leading away from the site of the crash, he once again quickened his pace, hoping not to find a scene of carnage. Fairly soon, he heard snarling ahead of him, and slowed back down to prevent detection. Dropping low to the ground and carefully choosing where to put each of his legs, he managed to push himself far enough through a small bush to see past it without being noticed. On the other side was another small clearing, this one at the base of a short cliff. In the clearing was a group of five strange wolf-like creatures that appeared to be made of wood. There was also a sixth one that was trying to get into a small opening at the bottom of the cliff, scrabbling and growling in frustration at its failure to gain entry. Bunker shifted his optics to thermal, finding that the wolf-creatures themselves did not give off heat, but there was something in the hole in the cliff that did. He zoomed his vision, shifting to a low-light setting, and he could just make out a small patch of yellow that looked a lot like a hoof. ^Well, now I know what was chasing them. Now I just have to get them out of there safely.^ He quickly decided how to dispose of the predators, and he waited to put his plan into action until their pacing brought them into a perfect line. When they were all aligned, he rushed forward, plowing into the first and impaling it with his horn, then continuing through the others, which was made easier when they simply fell apart as they were struck. By the time the last one had registered his presence, it was already at the end of his horn, and had no time to react to his assault. When he stopped, the wolf which had been digging at the cliff had turned to him and was now snarling at him in anger for his fallen pack-mates. Bunker simply laughed once before transforming, startling the wolf long enough for him to pull out his spear and throw it at the creature, dispersing it just like the others. Satisfied that the wood-wolves were no longer a threat, he moved over to the wall and dropped to one knee, lowering his head to look in at the three small, shivering balls of fur inside. "Applebloom. Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo." At the sound of their names, the three scared fillies looked up to find Bunker's metallic head looking in at them. "Come on. Let's get you home." He didn't need to give them any further urging before they all clutched at his outstretched arm, allowing him to pull them out. As soon as they were clear of the hole, they moved themselves to his chest, pressing their faces into his softer organic plates for comfort, and almost pushing him over in the process. Not knowing what else to do, he hesitantly wrapped an arm over them to make them stop shivering, but suddenly stiffened when he looked around for his spear. The weapon itself was still in the ground where he had left it, but the debris from the creature he had impaled with it was gone. He swiftly put the crusaders back on the ground and retrieved his weapon, replacing himself between the fillies and the forest and taking on a defensive stance facing the trees. Recognizing the sudden change in his demeanor and also taking notice of the missing pieces of brush, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo huddled together behind the Autobot, waiting for a signal to do something. Bunker stood still for several seconds, scanning the bushes with every visual wavelength he had, looking for any giveaway that would show him his target. As he started to let down his guard, however, there was a growl. Long and low, obviously from something much bigger than what he was looking for. As he wondered what it could be, he noticed a massive shadow behind the closest trees. It moved upwards, over the canopy, and revealed itself to be a giant version of the wolves he had defeated earlier. "I-it's gonna eat us. We're gonna die." Applebloom started to break down as she panicked, crying against Bunker's leg. Bunker's response was profound in its simplicity. "No." With that proclamation, he took two steps forward and began twirling his spear, allowing the weapon to transform in his whirling grasp. The main shaft split into four pieces and shortened into a wide barrel. The compressed shell shifted and twisted into a stabilizer handle and trigger guard as the handguard pivoted downward to reveal a firing mechanism. The tip then split and turned down, forming a shoulder rest. Bunker smoothly shifted the gyrations of his arms and hands until the weapon was brought to an abrupt stop on his shoulder, ready to fire. The mega-wolf growled at him, and he brought up his targeting system. "Whatever you say, twig-brain." He aimed at the massive creature's head, and pulled the trigger. A small glow emanated from the muzzle, before a beam of yellow light erupted from the cannon, punching a neat hole through his target's head. The wolf reared back in pain, trying to escape the burning beam of light, but only succeeded in sealing its own doom as more of its features were brought into the path of the unyielding ray of destruction. The massive wolf fell, coming apart from itself the whole way down, before slamming into the ground in a huge burst of the same green mist that the smaller versions had exuded upon their destruction with far less sound than Bunker would have thought of such a huge creature. He waited several seconds, listening for any sounds that would indicate the creature getting up again, but heard nothing. He returned his cannon to its place on his back, and turned to the Crusaders. "Are you all okay?" he asked as he made a quick scan to confirm that they were unharmed. "Yeah, we're fine," Applebloom said. "But we dropped your communicator thing when those timberwolves were chasin' us." All three of them hung their heads as she said this, expecting a lecture from him for losing something so important. Instead, Bunker simply reached behind him and extracted the communicator from his storage compartment, eliciting looks of surprise from the Crusaders. "Good thing I installed a tracking device in it, then, huh? I figured something might go wrong on the first test, even though I was planning on using Skybreaker or Burnout for the distance check. Fortunately, following your tracks after I found this was fairly easy. Now, how about we get you home?" All three of them could only nod as they finally started to relax and the adrenaline wore off. Sweetie Belle yawned, and Bunker could see the events of the day catching up to the other two as well. He gave a small sigh, and changed back to his beast mode, motioning for them to get on his back. They gratefully obliged, and Bunker hadn't been walking for five minutes before he heard snoring coming from them. Their departure was made unhindered, but it did not go unseen by a pair of ice-blue eyes in the shadows. When they finally arrived at Ponyville, it was already late in the afternoon. Bunker found Applejack and Rarity about to go out and search for their missing family members, until they saw him coming out of the forest. Seeing their sisters on his back, they ran up to him, Rarity being the first to speak. "Oh my goodness," she cried as she saw them unconscious. "Are they alright? What happened?" "They're fine, just tired. They ran into those wood-wolf things on their way back, and wound up going deeper into the forest. I had given them a new communicator to test when they got back, so when they didn't call me with it, I used the tracker in it to find out what happened. I had to get rid of the wolves, but these three were fine when I found them." Rarity and Applejack had both removed their sisters from Bunker's back at this point and settled them onto their own. "By the way, I don't know where Scootaloo here lives. Do either of you know where her house is?" Both mares thought for a second before Applejack spoke up. "No, actually. Now that Ah think about it, they've never said anything about goin' ta Scootaloo's house before. Ah honestly have no idea where she lives." She looked over to Rarity, but she merely shrugged. "Well, I'll just take her to, um.... Fluttershy, I think? The pink-haired one?" "Oh, don't worry about it, darling, I'll keep her at my place," Rarity said as she levitated Scootaloo off of Bunker's back. "I've had all three of them stay with me multiple times, so having only two of them to handle won't be any trouble. Besides, Fluttershy already has her animals to take care of. I don't want to give her any more work if I don't have to." "Alright, then. If you think you can handle it, I won't stop you. Thanks." He turned and started walking away, waving a short goodbye, until something landed right in front of him and kicked up a cloud of dust. Startled by the sudden movement, he jumped back, prepared to defend himself. This turned out to be a pointless gesture, as the landing object revealed itself to be Rainbow Dash, looking at him quizzically. "What's with you?" she asked, confused at his reaction. "For future reference, never surprise someone who walks around armed. It's bad for your health." He then moved around her to continue his way back, and she started following him. "Yeah, anyway, where's Skybreaker? I finished that course, I want to see what he thinks." She smiled in both pride of her accomplishment and excitement for the upcoming race as they continued walking, until Bunker suddenly remembered what had started the day's whole ordeal. First checking to make sure there weren't any ponies watching, he opened his head-case, getting a look of revulsion from the pegasus next to him as he pulled out the communicator. "That reminds me. Let's find out, shall we?" He put the band on his foreleg, and pressed the power button before carefully punching in the frequency for Dark Lance's comm unit with his other hoof. The screen was blank for a few seconds, and then Dark Lance's face appeared. "Bunker. I see you finished that communicator I asked you about. I assume you want to find out the status of our mission here?" "Yes, sir. Also, when you and the others will be getting back. Rainbow Dash says she finished the course for her race with Skybreaker." "I'll be staying here overnight. I need to speak further with Princess Luna regarding a meteor shower two days from now. Twilight and Skybreaker, however, should be back on the next train in. Be careful, though. We spotted Sharpedge snooping around earlier, and she was back to normal. Bloodwing will probably be making a move soon. Also, I got permission from Princess Celestia to start a small mining operation in the gem fields west of Ponyville. I want the mini-miners up and running by the end of the week so we can get started." "Understood, sir. I've already completed repairs on the first miner, and the others shouldn't give me too much trouble. I take it you'll be back tomorrow?" "Yes. Call me if anything happens. I don't want the Decepticons to damage our equipment when we've finally gained an advantage. Dark Lance out." The communicator went dark, and Bunker turned to Rainbow Dash. "Well, there's your answer. The train should be here soon. Skybreaker is probably tired from playing nice all day, though, so don't be surprised if you have to wait until morning to race." He started walking towards the ship again as Dash took off. "Hopefully Skybreaker wins. Heh, never thought I'd say that about the cocky little 'Bot. Too bad we can't afford him losing that bet." He continued on his way, noticing the lack of animal sounds in the forest. He shrugged it off, attributing it to the destruction he had wrought on the wolves earlier. He had still not noticed the pair of eyes watching him from the brush.