User blog:Bzero/Riots at Hydrax Spaceport

A dizzyingly beautiful shot zooms over the boiling Rust Sea. The ocean of dust and corrosion swells and expands as if something was being pumped into it from below, causing it to rise and spill out over its banks and down into the Sonic Canyons. The flying camera skims low over the roiling surface of the Sea until suddenly the flat Hydrax Plateau looms up out of the mix. The image races across the mesa to a dusty, cracked tarmac, which is overrun with scores of neutrals literally fighting each other over access to the small number of passenger ships waiting to take off from Cybertron.

A voiceover is heard: “This was the scene earlier this cycle at the normally-quiet Hydrax Spaceport east of the Neutral Territories. Hundreds of desperate Cybertronians attempted to flee the planet, fearful of the cataclysmal seismic eruptions that cultists claim signal the literal end of the world. With most of Cybertron’s resources tied up in the war, local citizens have had to rely on off-worlders to assist – some giving all they have just for a chance to escape. Even at such a high cost, riots broke out at Hydrax once it became clear that there would not be nearly enough transport craft for all who were frantic to leave.”

The scene changes to an empty tarmac, where dozens of Cybertronians remain huddled in the dark. The camera pulls out, revealing small clumps of clustered neutrals all over the Hydrax plain. “For now, those who must remain behind wait for the next arrival of off-world spacecraft. The Hydrax Plateau may be a dangerous place for the alone and unarmed, but for some the prospect of being left behind as Cybertron tears itself apart is a far more frightening fate. Instead, they’ll brave the dangerous of Hydrax and the Rust Sea, and, if they’re lucky, a new life off-world.” The transmission ends.