* Waitstate is on the bridge
<Waitstate> has everyone acknowledged the recall order?
* Slipstream and Diablo zooooom away from the main city and head back to the Freedom, annoyed official people chasing after
* Apocrypha is also on the bridge, with permission, of course.
* Avalanche is in Sunspot's quarters helping fix up the damage done during the fight.
<Roadkill> Pretty much. Slip and Diab are on their way back now. They seem to have worn out their welcome, hehe.
* Sunspot is sorta overseeing the repairs, though mostly she's playing with Moonstone.
<Waitstate> Slip and Diab... guns or traffic violations? and I pray it isn't both
<Roadkill> I think it's just air traffic violations this time, grey one.
<Roadkill> We'd prolly have heard from someone if it was -both-. *grins*
<Waitstate> thank goodness. Apocrypha, what've you got from the beacon? I'm hoping we can leave before they start leaving tickets clipped to our hull
* Arashi is in Powerplay's store playing Pacman
* Gravix walks by Powerplay's store
<Gravix> Goodness, there sure is a lot down here with such a small crew
<Slipstream> [comm] Hello the bridge! Opening the hangar bay doors would be an idea, we've got unhappy snail folk after us for some strange, unknown reason... *chuckles*
<Apocrypha> Well, it's encoded. I've been running some archive checks to see if I can identify it. It's probably just an old Decepticon one.
<Apocrypha> If so, we should be able to crack it without problem.
<Apocrypha> From the look of the data, I'd guess it's more spatial coordinates.
<Roadkill> [comm] Gee, I wonder what reason that could be, Slip. *opens the bay doors* There ya go. Try not to crash this time, hmm? ;)
* Powerplay sits at the front of the store
<Slipstream> [comm] Oh, shush you. *comm cuts out*
<Gravix> You must be the shop keep.  Tell me, do you get much business?
<Waitstate> hm. check the central code base. You never know when someone will try an obsolete code in hopes noone bothers to try it
<Apocrypha> Actually...
* Slipstream teases the planet officials chasing after them for a minute or two more, then follows Diab into the hangar
<Apocrypha> The beacon being this old, I doubt we're looking for what the encoders considered "obsolete".
<Powerplay> Yeah, enough to keep me in business here
<Gravix> Odd. There must be a lot of visitors here
* Diablo lands then transforms to robot mode
<Gravix> What do you sell here anyway?  
* Slipstream lands and tfs as well, then watches the annoyed official people go zoom back down to the planet
<Slipstream> Hehehe, that was fun. We should do that everytime we visit a planet. 
<Powerplay> Games, and have a bunch of machines set up so people can come in and play em
<Waitstate> well, I keep a lot of stuff no one uses. But if not, the codebreaking heuristics are at your disposal
<Apocrypha> Well, if it becomes necessary, I'll be sure to -
* Apocrypha 's computer goes ping.
<Diablo> We could. I never knew snails could move so fast though
<Gravix> Facinating.
<Apocrypha> Ah.
<Apocrypha> Got it.
<Powerplay> You wanting to play any game in particular? Plenty to choose from here.
<Slipstream> Hehe, it helps when they have rocket booster things
<Gravix> I must apologize, I'm all out of credits.  I'm a new here as you know.  I don't make nearly as much as I used to
<Apocrypha> Hrm.
<Apocrypha> Looks like a very early Decepticon wartime code.
<Powerplay> Ah, what do you do?
<Waitstate> hm, I would have thought it predated the war
<Gravix> I used to collect bounties, like my brother Artifice.
<Diablo> Seems that way. Think they'd turn to mush from going so fast
<Gravix> We had an agreement once upon a time, and now I'm here in his place
<Waitstate> I know Terrafirma comes from early war stock. I dont know if they had any use for code on her world though
<Gravix> I wonder if I could borrow some of his leftover credits
<Apocrypha> No, it's okay. We've got it right here.
<Apocrypha> Apparently it was cracked pretty early on.
<Slipstream> heh, that's what their shells are for, I guess. *shrugs and chuckles* Anyway, I'm headin' up to the bridge. *wanders off*
<Powerplay> Don't see any reason why you couldn't.
<Apocrypha> Helped forestall the destruction of the main Autobot shipyards at Strephex for a few hundred years.
<Waitstate> alright then. what do we have?
<Apocrypha> I'm just running that now. It's definitely directions of some kind.
<Powerplay> You like it here? Can't say I've seen you around much.
* Apocrypha hands the console over to Waitstate.
<Gravix> It seem rather quaint.  I haven't gotten around much until now
<Apocrypha> Well, here it is.
<Apocrypha> You might as well feed it into the navcomp.
* Diablo goes off to his quarters
* Waitstate looks over the data
* Slipstream arrives on the bridge. "Ta da!"
<Gravix> I've been trying to compile all the data I have on the Cult Of Mordalis.  Facinating stuff really
<Waitstate> Guess I need to call Cirrus up... hey Slip. Fun times down below?
<Slipstream> Oh hell yeah. *grins*
<Powerplay> Anything interesting?
<Roadkill> Heh, how many of the poor local populace did you give heart attacks to this time?
<Slipstream> Oh, I dunno. about ten. ;)
<Waitstate> Care to take the conn? I hate to pull Cirrus away from his break. I think he's helping Sunspot's recovery
<Gravix> A lot of it's just spooky predictions.  I find the little things more exciting.  The Book of Mordalis was written in an ancient Autobot text, on a sort of parchment no less
<Slipstream> heh, no probs. *flumps down at the helm and makes herself comfortable*
<Waitstate> here, catch
<Powerplay> Heh, just how many of those spooky predictions could involve LONAC?
* Waitstate tosses the data pad to Slip
* Slipstream snags it out of midair and looks at it curiously.
<Slipstream> another foray into the wild unknown, aye? nifty.
<Gravix> Most of them don't actually.  The ones at the very end though, that's a different story
<Waitstate> yep. feed it in to the navcom and plot a course. and see if it spits out a proper name for the destination
<Apocrypha> Maybe it'll be back the other way?
<Slipstream> righty-o. *does so*
<Apocrypha> I mean, other than convention, there's no reason these would have to be anything like a straight line.
<Apocrypha> And we ARE getting pretty frontiery.
<Diablo> Powerplay> Oh? What do those ones say?
<Waitstate> if it leads us to Cybertron, I'll be pissed
<Slipstream> y'won't be the only one, great leader
<Slipstream> good ol' cyb is a smeltpool I'd much rather avoid.
<Waitstate> that and we already know how to find it. 
<Waitstate> but I would rather avoid it on principle too
<Apocrypha> Heh.
<Apocrypha> Why would ancient Decepticons carefully hide a course back to Cybertron?
<Gravix> There was one, something like "shadow and light will be seen as one."  I'm certain that's a reference to my brother
<Slipstream> hum dee dum... here we go. we're headed off to some place called Querebel.
<Roadkill> Weird name. kinda nice though.
<Gravix> The last one I can't remember exactly, but it gives reference to at least one more encounter with Spectral Death
<Waitstate> To piss off the ancient Autobots?
<Slipstream> *sniggers* I can go for that.
<Waitstate> So, settle the bet. Is it further out or back in? I've never heard of the place
<Slipstream> I've never heard of it either.
<Powerplay> Ah well, at least we know to expect another encounter with them
<Apocrypha> Doesn't ring any bells.
<Slipstream> it's kinda in between further out and back in.
<Gravix> Yep.  Until I can figure out what's going to happen, I thought I might as well relax
<Apocrypha> Lateral?
<Gravix> and that brings me here
<Waitstate> tracing the rim? heh, well, whatever
<Slipstream> yeah, something like that. 
<Slipstream> course is plotted. shall we be off?
<Waitstate> RK, has everyone checked in?
<Roadkill> Yup, everyone's on board and checked in.
<Gravix> I've spent too much time mourning my brother, it's time to get to know the crew
* Arashi cries as Pacman gets cornered by the ghosts
<Waitstate> then I guess the answer is yes. as they say on TV, engage
<Slipstream> engage? pft. y'should say "make it so!" *makes it so*
<Gravix> Oh my, there sure is some excitement here
<Apocrypha> "TV"?
* The Freedom accelerates, and in a flash of light, enters interphase. Zoom.
<Apocrypha> Oh, right, right.
<Powerplay> Well, the best place I can think of to get to know the crew is in the bar. When its busy, that is.
<Waitstate> Earth entertainment.
<Apocrypha> I vaguely remember it.
<Apocrypha> I didn't spend long there.
<Waitstate> I've known too many humans, Junkions, and people who have no good excuse. 
<Slipstream> So, what d'we expect t'find at this Querebel place anyway?
<Waitstate> at this range out, who knows? 
<Apocrypha> Either what we're after or another beacon, I'd guess.
<Waitstate> I should have gotten Ziggerah to throw in a local starmap.
* Avalanche finishes putting a shelving unit back up and stands back, satisfied.
<Cirrus> Are you sure it's straight?
* Avalanche looks critically at it.
<Avalanche> Looks straight enough to me.
* Cirrus pulls out a small rubber ball
<Cirrus> we'll see
* Cirrus puts it on the shelf
* Trihorn bolts out of Powerplay's store and goes somewhere else
* Avalanche nods.
* The ball rolls slightly, but stops
<Avalanche> Looks good.
<Cirrus> yeah, close enough
* Avalanche turns to Sunspot.
* Slipstream leans back in her chair and puts her feet up, idly keeping an eye on the autopilot
<Avalanche> Do you wanna go down to the plaza or something, now that it's all fixed up here?
* Sunspot looks up.
<Sunspot> Oh, yeah, we could do that.
* Sunspot picks up Moonstone and stands up.
* Cirrus smiles at Sunny
<Cirrus> Whatcha wanna do?
* Sunspot shrugs.
<Sunspot> Maybe we could go to Terra's.
<Cirrus> Mmmm...
<Sunspot> I can work on putting everything back on the shelves later.  You guys need a break.
<Cirrus> We're gonna help later too!
* Avalanche heads for the door. "Sounds like a plan, then!"
<Cirrus> There's a lotta stuff on the floor. It'd take you ages
<Sunspot> It's mostly just pieces and parts of things I might want to build later anyway.  I should really put it in boxes instead of piling it on these shelves.
* Sunspot follows Avalanche out the door, glancing back at what's left of the mess on her way out.
<Cirrus> We should bug Terra to see if she has any spares while we're there then *follows*
* Avalanche goes down to the plaza.
* Avalanche heads in the direction of Terra's.
* Cirrus follows behind them both
<Gravix> I sense some activity about the plaza
* Avalanche walks in and takes a seat.
* Sunspot slides into the booth across from Avalanche.
<Cirrus> Hi Terra! *walks in and takes a seat as well*
<Terrafirma> Evening kids, Avalanche. What can I get you tonight?
<Powerplay> Looks like it
<Gravix> I hope you don't mine Powerplay, but I'm going to have a chat with the others.  I've enjoyed chatting with you
<Avalanche> Hmm, anything special today?
<Powerplay> Don't mind at all. See you some other time
* Gravix walks over to Terra's
<Gravix> Hello fellow crewmates
<Terrafirma> Well, I just processed a batch of triple thick energon wafers
<Terrafirma> Fresh out of the converter matrix!
<Avalanche> Oooo, that does sound good.  And fresh, too.
* Avalanche waves to the new guy.
<Terrafirma> Evening, please sit anywhere. I'll be with you in a moment *smiles*
<Gravix> This is quite an interesting plaza
<Cirrus> I'll have some of those! And a enersmoothie with it :)
<Sunspot> I think I'll just have an enersmoothie for now, thanks.
<Terrafirma> Avalanche?
<Avalanche> I think I'll have some of those energon wafers you mentioned.
<Terrafirma> Alright then. It'll just be a moment :)
* Terrafirma moves over to where Gravix has seated himself
<Gravix> Hmm, would it be an intrusion if I just sat and chatted?  I'm much too low on credits
<Terrafirma> Nonsense! Free samples for first time customers. Glad to finally see you come down here
<Gravix> Oh my, I couldn't possibly
<Terrafirma> Store policy. How else am I going to get you hooked?
* Terrafirma laughs. "Just stay right there and I'll bring you a little something"
<Gravix> I'll be in your debt
* Avalanche turns to Gravix.
<Gravix> Hello there
<Cirrus> Hi! Arent you Artifice's friend?
<Avalanche> Hey, c'mon over here if you want. It's not been too long since I was the new guy, can't hurt to spread the welcome.
<Gravix> Not so sure about that, but I was his brother. 
* Gravix moves over to Avalanche
<Cirrus> That's cool :)
<Gravix> Thank you.
* Terrafirma comes back with a tray
<Terrafirma> Oh, you joined the others. Such a helpful customer you are *laughs*
* Avalanche grins at Terra. "Can't have you doing all the welcome-wagon work here, now can I?"
* Gravix smiles
* Terrafirma sets down a big plate of wafers, a few enersmoothies, and a small variety sampler for Gravix
<Gravix> How quaint
<Terrafirma> It's all about atmosphere you know
<Terrafirma> Can I get you anything else?
<Avalanche> The bar tends to have more action, but there's nothing I've seen to beat the food here.
<Gravix> You've done so much already, would you care to join us Terrafirma?
<Terrafirma> No, no, I have things to tend to up front. But do call me if you need anything else
<Gravix> I would like to see the bar sometime
* Sunspot sips at her enersmoothie.
* Terrafirma tsks
* Terrafirma returns to the front of the store
<Gravix> WEll, not that this place isn't great
* Cirrus dives in to the wafers
<Gravix> I just want to see all the ship has to offer
<Gravix> Next it'll be engineering!
<Gravix> Hah!
<Avalanche> I certainly don't mind the bar, but it's no place for the little ones here.
<Gravix> Little ones?
* Sunspot perks up.
<Sunspot> I can show you around engineering.
<Cirrus> I've been to the bar! It's not as much fun though
<Gravix> Oh, I would enjoy that Sunspot
<Gravix> I want to know this ship inside and out, just as my brother did
<Sunspot> I should go and make sure everything's running well anyway. I can't say I've been especially attentive lately...
<Cirrus> I know the engines are ok. Waitstate had me running diagnostics all last shift. I think my music was bugging him...
<Sunspot> Awwww.  At least nothing major broke...
<Cirrus> I dunno about the guns and stuff though! maybe you'll get to fix those
<Sunspot> Heh, I'll check everything out, just in case.
<Avalanche> So what's your name?  Can't just go around calling you New Guy.
<Cirrus> He's, uh... Gravis!
<Gravix> heh, close my friend
<Cirrus> aw
<Cirrus> sorry
<Gravix> Gravix, pleased to meet all of you in person
<Avalanche> So how long have you been around here?
<Cirrus> I'm Cirrus. I'm the pilot :)
<Gravix> I'm actually aware of all of your names and general funtions.  I've been around for a while studying everyone's profiles
<Gravix> That's why you haven't seen me much
<Cirrus> I got a profile? coool
<Cirrus> was there secret stuff in it?
<Avalanche> Heh, I can't imagine mine is especially long.
<Avalanche> Probably stuff *I* don't know in it, honestly.
<Gravix> Heh heh
<Gravix> My security clearance isn't that high yet.  All I've seen are very basic profiles
<Gravix> Names, functions, basic stuff
* Diablo leaves his quarters and heads for the obs deck underneath him
<Avalanche> Can't hurt to know what you're getting into around here, that's for sure.
<Gravix> In a way, it's rather odd.  I would have expected more to know about me after Artifice's unwelcome transformation
<Cirrus> A lot of us didn't even know much about that til afterwards. Things tend to happen with just a few people knowing around here
<Sunspot> I think I saw you around before...
<Gravix> I suppose details could have easily been lost in the cracks; I was probably the least important thing going on at that time
<Gravix> No matter, we're all here now
<Cirrus> So whatcha gonna do 'round here now that you're out and about?
<Gravix> I'm not certain, I guess I'll just have to see what types I meet
<Gravix> meet
<Cirrus> types?
<Sunspot> I'm the head of engineering here. I could definitely use another hand if you've got any skills in that department.
* Arashi decides he's wasted enough time playing Pacman and goes off to his quarters
<Gravix> I'm a Cybertronian of many talents
<Avalanche> Honestly, I don't do much right now.  The sim rooms here are pretty good.
<Cirrus> Yeah! There's all kinds of games and training sims
* Sunspot nurses her enersmoothie and just watches the conversation.
* Time passes
* The Freedom pops out of interphase a safe distance away from the target planet
* Waitstate watches the approaching planet on the viewscreen
<Waitstate> what do long range sensors tell us?
* Slipstream wakes up
* Hyperion is on bridge somewhere.
<Slipstream> um... hang on a sec. *does sensor scanny thing*
<Slipstream> Whoa, cool. Planet's a wasteland. There's radiation all over the place.
<Waitstate> cool? O_o
<Slipstream> um.. prolly wrong word choice there, heh.
* Slipstream is still not quite fully awake
* Sunspot finishes her enersmoothie.
<Apocrypha> I wonder what it's from. I hope whatever we're here for hasn't been destroyed.
<Sunspot> I think I'm gonna go check on engineering now.
* Gravix follows
<Gravix> Lead the way
<Avalanche> So you wanna get going, Cirrus?  Any big fun plans for the evening?
<Hyperion> I'd assume it most likely has, unless its underground
* Sunspot stands up, counts out the credits for her part of the bill, and waves to Terra on her way out.
<Cirrus> All I had planned was to help out Sunny. looks like she has a nice distraction already though
* Avalanche nods.
<Slipstream> well, the last thingy was underground, so it's possible this thingy will be too.
<Avalanche> Maybe her work will keep her occupied for a while.
<Waitstate> start scanning for the beacon frequency. let's try and make sure it's actually here
<Slipstream> righty oh. *scans*
* Sunspot heads for the engineering section.
<Sunspot> There are a couple other engineers here, and between all of us we keep things running pretty well.
* Waitstate looks to the Science station
<Waitstate> anything Apocrypha?
<Apocrypha> Not from out here.
<Waitstate> keep watch
<Waitstate> Slip, what's our ETA?
<Apocrypha> Primal Program, I think there's radiation on just about every wavelength you want to check.
<Slipstream> ETA is about 10 minutes at our current speed
<Waitstate> is that the sort of thing that would occur naturally?
* Apocrypha shrugs.
<Apocrypha> I'm not really a planetary geologist.
<Hyperion> What if the beacon has been deactivated?
<Waitstate> Nor am I... I can't think of any we might have on board, for that matter
<Waitstate> If it has Hyperion, we're going to have a heckuva time finding it
<Apocrypha> Heh. And here I'd been beginning to think you guys had a whole planetful of Transformers on board.
<Waitstate> you haven't walked the halls much, have you?
<Apocrypha> Well, no. Mostly I've been trying to find this whatever-it-is.
<Waitstate> people used to hold drag races in the corridors. I had to stop them, but only because it was ruining the carpet
<Slipstream> *laughs* I woulda liked to see some of those races.
<Hyperion> Do I need to guess who one of them might have been?
<Slipstream> Prolly not, hehehe
<Waitstate> I'd wager you already have, and probably aren't far off
<Apocrypha> Hmm.
<Waitstate> Got something?
<Apocrypha> Unless this morass of radiation clears up when we reach orbit, I don't think we're going to be able to find the beacon without sending away teams down.
<Waitstate> is it safe to go down?
<Apocrypha> I suppose it depends on where and who.
<Apocrypha> I'd be a little iffy about taking Jak down there.
<Apocrypha> But the fields can't be uniform. There must be areas of lesser concentration that we can at least start with.
<Waitstate> Hyperion, think the any of the Tactibots would be of use for a little hazardous environment work?
<Hyperion> Those with flight modes, yes. Firestorm, no. Ghost, depends on the terrain down there. Diablo, no, for reasons we both know.
<Waitstate> what about yourself?
<Hyperion> Prepared to go if asked.
<Waitstate> whoever's most qualified from your team
<Apocrypha> It'll take a very long time to find this thing if we can only search the planet with two or three people.
<Waitstate> if we can narrow the search, it would be very helpful
<Slipstream> I'd go, but I ain't built for heavy radiation, really. tends to give me a headache, among other things
<Hyperion> Chameleon and Starstorm.
<Hyperion> They'll both have to be careful about the radiation though.
<Apocrypha> I suggest you ask everyone in your crew.
<Apocrypha> Or we could be here a long time.
<Waitstate> I also had in mind Avalanche, and possibly Terrafirma. She's not the most experienced, but she's uniquely qualified to function down there. Roadkill, I was hoping you'd go as team leader
<Roadkill> Not a prob, be glad t'go. 
<Hyperion> Drones could possibly be of use down there. Radiation affecting them is of little concern.
<Waitstate> good idea
<Apocrypha> Maybe you can form five or six teams of a LONAC member and a team of drones?
<Slipstream> alrighty, we're here. y'want me t'put the Freedom in stationary orbit 'round this mudball, grey one?
<Waitstate> ok, let's do this everyone. Roadkill, gather your team and as many drones as you can round up
<Waitstate> Yeah Slip. Make it so. Happy this time? heh
<Roadkill> *salutes* I'm on it. *comms the others and tells them to meet in the hangar bay, then heads out of the bridge*
<Slipstream> Hehe, much better. *puts the Freedom in a holding orbit around the planet*
* Terrafirma closes up her shop, glad no one's currently there for once, and heads to the launch bay to see what's going on
* Avalanche gets the comm.
<Avalanche> Hey, it looks like I'm needed for something after all.  Guess I'll see you when we get back, Cirrus.
<Cirrus> Alright then. Have fun... doing whatever it is :)
* Roadkill stops by wherever the drones are kept and gathers as many as he can
* Avalanche waves and heads off for the launch bay.
* Chameleon and Starstorm show up together in launch bay
* Terrafirma arrives also
* Roadkill arrives at the bay with a string of drones in tow.
* Tip Over also shows up there
* Roadkill quickly explains what they're all gonna be doing to everyone there.
<Chameleon> While we're all still alive, I'd like to say that I'll be mighty pissed if we come across anything like what was at that station
<Roadkill> Heh, I doubt there's anything -quite- that bad down there.
<Roadkill> and even if there was, they'd prolly be all roasted by radiation by now. fun thought, ain't it?
* Avalanche double-checks to see if he still has his gun on him.
<Terrafirma> Fun indeed. I guess not everyone can be built to withstand a nuclear blast O:)
<Roadkill> oh sure, rub it in. hehehe
<Starstorm> Just ignore Cham. He's always like that before a mission.
<Roadkill> anyway, let's get going. *heads towards a shuttle, drones still in tow*
<Avalanche> Now there's something I haven't tested yet...
<Tip Over> Well, I can withstand it for at least a few days. Hazardous waste removal was my specialty
* Avalanche follows to the shuttle.
* Terrafirma also loads up
* Chameleon and Starstorm walk into the shuttle too
* Tip-Over gets in
* Roadkill waits til everyone's on board, then starts up the shuttle, keys the hangar bay doors open, and zooms out.
* Sunspot is still off fiddling around in engineering.
* Shuttle descends through the atmosphere and heads to one of the places planetside with the least radiation
* Panelbeater enters engineering
* Sunspot looks up.
<Sunspot> Oh, hi.  I'm sorry I haven't been around much the last few days, I hope nothing went too wrong...
* Panelbeater puts a toolbox down turns at the sound of Sunspot's voice
* Shuttle lands
* Terrafirma disembarks
<Terrafirma> I assume I'm assigned to the more highly radioactive areas?
<Panelbeater> gah, didn't see you in here, heh. And no, notihng much has been going on. Thankfully 
<Roadkill> I'd assume something like that, Terra. :)
<Tip-Over> I'll take on a more dense area also, *transforms*
<Tip-Over> I just hope the terrain will be kind
* Chameleon and Starstorm walk out of the shuttle
<Sunspot> Everything looks good, and Cirrus said he recently ran some diagnostics.
* Avalanche gets out of the shuttle behind everyone else.
<Terrafirma> I'm more worried about the drones than myself
<Roadkill> *looks around* well, the terrain doesn't seem that bad. fairly flat, far as I can see
<Panelbeater> Yeah, I've been keeping myself busy by touching up some of the more unnoticable details in the Theatre's construct
<Apocrypha> You know, there's not a lot of evidence of blast craters. I don't think this was an orbital bombardment or anything.
<Starstorm> Cham and I will see if we can spot anything nearby from above.
<Roadkill> Right. Keep in touch, you two.
<Avalanche> I shouldn't have too much trouble in the sand.  I have no idea what my radiation tolerances are, honestly.
<Apocrypha> And the cartographer's log mention the radiation sphere in passing. So I doubt we have to worry about some massively beweaponed ship coming to nuke us into oblivion.
<Apocrypha> At least.
* Starstorm and Chameleon tf and fly around
<Sunspot> The Theatre definitely looks like you're keeping it in good working order.
<Waitstate> For once, you mean? heh
<Panelbeater> Sorry to hear about all the trouble in recent times too. Afraid I didn't know our departed comrade as well as I could of 
* Tip-Over takes a few drones and drives off.
* Avalanche transforms to off-road car thingy mode.
<Avalanche> Which direction do you want me to take?
* Terrafirma heads off to her assigned search area, clearing the path of loose debris with her electromagnetics as she goes
<Roadkill> sector 3. the one next to Terra's.
* Sunspot sighs.
<Sunspot> Thanks.  I'll get by, it's just gonna take some time to get used to him not being around.  Not the first time it's happened...
* Roadkill assigns the others to their sectors with the drones, then takes the remaining drones and goes off into his sector
* Avalanche takes a few drones and heads off to search.
* Starstorm doesn't see anything that could be interesting
* Terrafirma moves many large rocks and peeks into caves
* Roadkill wanders around scanning stuff, drones scanning as well
* Avalanche drives through the sand, paying attention to his scanner.
* Chameleon briefly considers dropping spiderbots at others from above, but decides against it
* Tip-Over stops at a cave entry, drawn there by confusing scanner results.
<Tip-Over> Radiation is causing too much interference. Worth a look in there anyway, *transforms*
<Roadkill> [comm to the search groups] anyone found anything yet?
* Tip-Over enters the cave with two drones behind him, scanning for any kind of reliable reading
<Terrafirma> [comm] Dunno. Maybe. I'm following some odd patterns
* Terrafirma goes in to a cave
<Tip-Over> [garbled comm] Negative, scanning readings are to muddled to be sure
<Chameleon> [comm] No sign of much up here
<Avalanche> [comm] Nothin' out here but sand so far.
<Roadkill> [comm] alrighty. lemme know if any of ya find anything.
<Starstorm> [comm] Haven't seen anything either
<Terrafirma> [comm] I have something! It's distorted, but it's definately the beacon signal!
<Roadkill> [comm] coordinates? *starts heading back towards the shuttle
* Tip-Over's comm gives out as he goes deeper into the cave
* Terrafirma transmits location coordinates
<Roadkill> [comm] what's the radiation levels like there, Terra?
* Avalanche slows down to listen to the update.
<Terrafirma> [comm] Pretty heavy at the entrance, but it falls off the further in you get
<Roadkill> hmm. [comm] ye think you'll need any help retrieving the beacon?
<Terrafirma> [comm] Doubtful. Though someone should retrieve the rad inhibitor from the shuttle. I dont know how well this beacon would fare out of this cave
<Roadkill> [comm] gotchya. Cham, Star, y'think you could do that? y'could prolly get there and back fastest
<Chameleon> [comm] sure thing. on our way.
* Chameleon and Starstorm head back to the shuttle
<Starstorm> [comm] We might not be able to get into the cave if the radiation is too heavy
* Roadkill tries to comm TipOver, and gets nothing but static. "uh oh..."
* Tip-Over continues on through the cave, both him and the drones with active flashlights of some such
<Roadkill> [comm] just get it as close as you can. Terra or Avalanche can take it the rest of the way, I'm sure.
* Tip-Over stops when he feels a slight rumbling through the cave. One of the drones suddenly falls through the ground as it gives way
* Starstorm lands, tf's, retrieves the rad inhibitor, then tf's back and follows Cham to the others
* Avalanche decides to turn and head over to Terra's sector.
* Roadkill keeps trying to comm TipOver
* Tip-Over peers down the hole to se the drone tumble a long way down until it disappears in the darkness, but he doesn't hear it hit bottom.
* Sunspot finally decides that everything is good enough in engineering and decides to check in with the bridge.
<Tip-Over> Better warn the others, *tries to use comm* Everyone look out for.. wait, does anyone read me?
<Apocrypha> Hey...Waitstate?
<Waitstate> Yes?
<Apocrypha> One of the away teams is missing from the map.
* Apocrypha points at the map.
* Chameleon and Star land and tf to robot mode at the given coordinates
<Waitstate> ...that can't be good
<Roadkill> [comm to bridge] Yo, Wait. We've lost contact with TipOver down here.
<Roadkill> [comm] It might just be the radiation interfering with his comm, but then again, it might not. 
<Waitstate> [comm] We just noticed that ourselves. We'll relay his last known coordinates to you
<Tip-Over> Comms are down. Will just have to hope the others watch their step *continues on, staying closer to the cave wall*
<Roadkill> [comm] Gotchya, thanks.
<Roadkill> [comm] We've located the beacon though, in a bit of good news. Terra's retrieving it as we speak
<Chameleon> [comm] Someone want to come and take the rad inhibitor from us?
<Roadkill> [comm to Cham] Avy should be there in a minute or so
* Terrafirma waits with the beacon so she doesnt lose it again
* Roadkill arrives back at the shuttle
* Avalanche sees Chameleon and Starstorm standing outside a cave entrance and guesses that's where he needs to be.
* Avalanche drives up to them and transforms.
<Starstorm> [comm] We'll be heading back to the shuttle once we're done here. Our light armour most likely doesn't like this radiation
<Roadkill> [comm] good idea.
* Starstorm hands the inhibitor over to Avalanche
<Starstorm> Good luck in there
* Avalanche takes the inhibitor. "Thanks."
* Avalanche heads into the cave opening.
* Avalanche pulls out a flashlight as he gets deeper into the cave.
* Chameleon and Star tf again and return to shuttle
* Tip-Over rounds a corner he hears some noises from, and spots Terra
<Terrafirma> *shouts* I'm over here Avalanche!
* Avalanche finally gets to where Terra's waiting with the beacon.
<Tip-Over> Looks like I was on the right track anyway
<Avalanche> I just keep running into you today, don't I? ;)
<Terrafirma> And this time you have something for me instead, heh
* Avalanche grins and sets down the inhibitor.
* Tip-Over moves over to Terra and Av
<Avalanche> Hmm, you know how to work this?
<Terrafirma> Tip-Over! Excellent
<Terrafirma> Would you possibly be a dear and transform? You can carry all this much more easily than either of us :)
* Avalanche looks up.
<Tip-Over> I'd have called but something knocked out my comm. We need to be careful, I lost a drone when the ground gave way under it. There seems to be some very deep chasms beneath us
<Avalanche> Hey, glad to see nothing happened to ya.
<Terrafirma> Yes, very much so
<Tip-Over> I'll risk it, but there's no room for my lifters in here, you'll need to load me up yourselves
* Sunspot gets up to the bridge and steps inside.
* Tip-Over transforms and hopes he doesn't end up going through the ground
* Terrafirma fiddles with some controls, and the rad inhibitor produces a satisfying hum. The immediate area begins glowing... no, stops glowing.
<Avalanche> I can get it up there, hang on...
<Terrafirma> That should be no problem
* other drone helps terra and av
* Avalanche lifts the beacon up into Tip-Over's bed, straining a bit.
* Terrafirma gets the rad inhibitor into place
* Chameleon and Star tf to bot mode again and walk into shuttle
<Roadkill> Nice t'see ya back in one piece :)
* Roadkill leans against the outside of the shuttle and waits for the others. 
<Roadkill>[comm] Update?
<Terrafirma> [comm] We found Tip-Over! He's loaded with the equipment and we're about to head back
<Starstorm> Hopefully we'll all still be in one piece when we get back to the ship
* Tip-Over heads for the cave exit
<Roadkill> *sigh of relief* [comm] Good to hear. See you soon then. *wanders back into the shuttle*
* Sunspot takes a seat on the bridge and wonders what everybody's off doing.
* Avalanche transforms and follows Tip-Over out.
* Terrafirma follows Tip-Over
* Scores of drones follow them all
* Terrafirma arrives with the others outside the cave
<Terrafirma> let's get back to the shuttle. I have no idea how long the power cell on this thing lasts
<Tip-Over> We should have had the shuttle come to us
* Avalanche realizes now that it's being shielded that the radiation had been getting to him a bit, but he feels better now.
<Terrafirma> we have to get to a big enough clearing first
* Terrafirma signals the shuttle
* Starstorm pilots the shuttle over and lands it
<Terrafirma> Can you unload yourself?
* Tip-Over tip's his dumpster bin up and the beacon starts to roll down it
<Tip-Over> Catch
* Terrafirma scrambles to catch it, but hopes someone else reacts in time, since she only has one actual hand
* Avalanche grabs it.
<Avalanche> There we go. :)
* Roadkill sticks his head out of the shuttle door.
* cave in the distance collaspes
<Roadkill> Ah, spiffy. *notes the cave collapsing* ... very spiffy. looks like we grabbed the thing just in time
* Terrafirma sees it
<Terrafirma> That was unexpected...
<Roadkill> c'mon, load up and let's go already.
<Avalanche> Ouch.
<Tip-Over> Not quite
* Tip-Over transforms
* Avalanche heads up into the shuttle.
* Terrafirma gets in, secures her drones, and straps herself in to a seat
* Tip-Over enters the shuttle with the one drone he had with him
* Roadkill kicks Starstorm outta the pilot's chair
* Avalanche gets seated, the beacon secured between his feet.
<Roadkill> right, everybody ready? off we go! *launches shuttle off the planet and heads back to the Freedom*
* Starstorm kicks Roadkill back then sits next to Cham
* The shuttle gets back to the Freedom, gets landing clearance, and docks.
* Everyone disembarks from the shuttle and the drones all get put away.
* Roadkill takes the beacon up to the bridge
* Roadkill changes topic to "-=2002.159=- RP forcefully beaten to death with a big stick."