Metalhawk Found

Log Title: Metalhawk Found

Characters: Metalhawk, Wheeljack

Location: Tyxlara

Date: February 24, 2016

Summary: Wheeljack discovers the lost Metalhawk living alone on Tyxlara.

As logged by Metalhawk - Wednesday, February 24, 2016, 9:27 PM

Tyxlara
Metalhawk is a tall, golden robot, extensively modified from what was once a standard leader-class Seeker frame. Alone on the planet Tyxlara, Metalhawk is currently (and often) working slowly though different fighting forms, Titanium Saber in hand as he dexterously slides from one stance to the next. 'Hawk's manner is calm and his focus inwards as he moves through the forms in silent mediation. Sunlight gleams off his polished armor, and the field in which he practices is bright with budding flowers and blowing grass.

Autobot Shuttle  flies down on a smooth descent towards the planets surface, having picked up readings of a rare ore that its pilot wants to get his hand on to enhance his new STACEY weapon. Yeah, he likes girl name acronyms. You got a problem with that, Tiffany? He slowly removes its re-entry shields and glides into the atmosphere, sensors blaring on full and easily detectable. It wasn't expecting any life on this rock. At least not sentient.

Metalhawk looks up as something glints in the sky. Could that be a shuttle, after all this time? Outwardly, Hawk doesn't react strongly, but inwardly his mind is abuzz. He immediately sends out a radio SOS. It can't reach past orbit, but perhaps if that was a ship and it's entering the atmosphere.... Metalhawk sheathes his sword, and starts walking slowly towards where he thinks the ship might land, based on the glance he got of the possible shuttle's trajectory.

Autobot Shuttle  veers towards the SOS. Its pilot would smirk a bit if he had a mouth but he does quirk and optic ridge, "No smeggin way. Kup and Hide owe me 50 ener-creds. I knew it....bet the som-bitch broke his...." he trails off and maneuvers the shuttle to a gentle landing just a few hundred meters from Metalhawk. He scans the area and brings up a visual to verify it is who he thinks it is. Before disembarking from the shuttle he turns on its speakers and blares out, loud as all hell, "HEY! GOLDENROD? Did you forget how to track Autobot beacons? I thought you could jump farther than the smegging transmetal insects, eh? Or did you break your FTL....AGAIN?! Then again, at your age, you might have forgotten you had it, huh?"

Metalhawk looks surprised at the voice, and then breaks into a wide grin. "Jackie?" he gasps in pleasant surprise. "Is that you?" He hurries to the side of the Concordium II, requesting access to unseal the shuttle. "What are you doing here on Tyxlara - not that I'm complaining!" Metalhawk seems aghast that not only has he been found at last, but that it's by an Autobot he knows. He holds his explanation, however, until he can see his old friend face-to-face.

Autobot Shuttle  settles down and opens its hatch, its pilot already at it. The Concordium II unseals its hatch.

Wheeljack opens the hatch as his vocal sidemouth thing blinks and he leans against the hatch, "As I live and breathe, so to speak. Smeggin Metalhawk. You got a lot of nerve still bein' alive. Ya know that?" he seems to be angry and his weapons start to power up. "How dare you...." he pauses, "Aw, who the pit am I kiddin'? I never could fake angry." he moves to embrace the golden bot, "Where the hell ya been Goldenrod? What happened? Last I checked, you went out searchin' for viable sources...then just blink. Gone. Card games hadn't been the same without ya. Ironhide actually smeggin' wins now!"

Metalhawk embraces Wheeljack and then steps back to look Wheeljack up and down as if he can't believe his optics. "I came out here prospecting for energon and got caught up in a storm and crashed. My FTL and long-range radio were scrapped - I've had to subsist on solar power and hope for a rescue. It's been mega-cycles - how's Cybertron? How's the Ark project? Did you ever get it off the ground? I was hoping to bring back fuel for it, but I obviously missed the launch!"

Wheeljack pats him on the back and obeys the 3 second rule. It's not ener-weird if it's under 3 seconds. He leans back up against the frame and sighs, "You've missed a lot Goldy. A whole damn lot. Cybertron's still there. That's the good news.

"The Ark project was also a success. More good news." He raises a finger and pauses. "Bad news? Cybertron is basically dead. We're trying to figure out a way to bring it back but Vector Sigma is done. So is Alpha Trion thanks to Starscream...." he man shudders, "Bastard had us convinced...." he shakes his head, "But that's for once you're caught up.

"We've got a new home now, at least until we can re-power Cyber. It's called Earth and we're close with its inhabitants...the humans. They're organic and pretty primitive compare to us but we're a lot alike. They're good people. You'll like them. But they have their problems too...." he trails off and shakes his head, "I really need to get you linked into the DB so you can catch up. So much has happened but it's good to see you! I thought most of the old guard were dead except for me, Prime, Hide, Kup, and 'Lita."

Wheeljack begrudgingly adds, "Magnus too..." he may or may not mumble under his breath "Holier than thou fairy."

Metalhawk sobers up quickly and nods. "That's a lot to take in. I'm glad you found a new source of energon before life on Cybertron shut down completely. I had hopes from this world, Tyxlara - strong solar energy, if little in the way of fossil fuels or pure energon - but if you've found a world with likeminded allies, that's more than I'd hoped for. I'm so glad to hear so many of you have survived. Hearing nothing all this time - I feared for the worst."

Wheeljack sighs and looks down, "It's worse than you think but also better. Earth is absolutely smeggin' beautiful. But Megatron is still around and so is Starscream and Shockwave. They still like to perform their horrors. Bet at least one of those three is going to plop out a brick when they see you're back though!" he chuckles, "Come on inside. I'll link you into the DB and the new bot encryptions so you can talk to our team. Prime's doing great. The war is still going on but I think we have an edge. Adding you back into the mix? We might win this thing. I know there's a cannon wielding megalomaniac and a seeker that loves himself WAYYYYYYYY too much that's not going to be happy to see you back. Don't you worry. We'll get our homeworld back yet. But Alpha...." he shakes his head, "You're not going to like it when you read about that."

Metalhawk nods, boarding the ship while he takes everything in. "Sounds like after all this time, so much is still the same. I'm not sure if I should be happy or depressed about that. At least you're all still alive, and I suppose it's my duty to jump back in there and do what I can for the Autobot cause. Who is Optimus Prime's Air Commander these days? You'll have to tell him I really didn't intend to abandon my post." He cracks another smile.

Autobot Shuttle 

 * If you've been inside of one Autobot shuttle, you might as well say you've been inside all of them. A silver

floor, silver walls, and a white fluorescent-light lined ceiling. The layout is quite simple, actually. At the very front of the room are two gray pilot-chairs, each one located in front of a small monitor -- a larger third screen spans the width of the windshield, covering from the top of the window to the ceiling. On the left, fifteen feet from the pilot's seat, resides the navigation station. Across from that is weapons control. Lining the edges are numerous seats; each one having a safety harness for those times when there's turbulence outside of the shuttle. A medical repair-table resides in the back left-hand corner -- across from a three-mech prisoner transport chamber.

Wheeljack chuckles as he enters the shuttle and taps the commands to close the hatch. His readings were wrong anyway...there isn't enough Vibranium on this planet to do him any good. It must have been readings from the Titanium Saber. He also taps in commands to give Metalhawk instant access to the database at command level and the autobot encryption protocols.


 * "New head's a kid, and when I say that I mean it for real...not like I say it to you Goldenrod..., by the name of

Jetfire. I think you'll like him. He and Starscream have a history. They really hate each other but Screamer's been gettin the best of ole Jets lately. Even framed him for murder. Only Magnus, Prime and I believed him. The courts exonerated him thankfully. You two will have a lot to discuss." he walks towards the cockpit and continues talking.


 * "Magnus is still in charge of city command. 'Hide isn't security anymore, that's Captain Paranoid...I mean Red Alert.

Hide's now on Prime's personal staff. Kup is a trainer and still a helluva a fighter. Prowl's actually grown up and doesn't even know how to joke anymore. He's a real serious one. The twins stopped being complete idiots and are now just...kinda idiots but they're good warriors. And remember that lad Bumblebee? Well...he's turned into a reliable spy and a great liaison to the humans."

Metalhawk's sky blue optics flash as he takes in everything that's happened since he disappeared. He jacks into the shuttle memory banks and starts downloading everything in TFUMUX's wiki. He gets a faraway look in his optics as his mind starts to process at least the highlights of the last four million years. "Wow," he says as he downloads an overview to go through later. "From what I see, Earth really is beautiful - even more so than Tyxlara. Hawk looks outside the window at the planet that's been both his home and his prison.

Wheeljack nods emphatically as he powers up the shuttle, "Yeah. I had hoped Tyxlara would lead me to a good source of vibranium for my STACEY project but I think your saber is what threw off my readings. Good thing though. One failure I'm happy about old friend." he sits in the pilot's seat and starts up the shuttle, "I know it's a lot to take in, but I think you'll like Earth. They got these things called "Movies"...." he chuckles, "They crack me up. Great stuff. Plus most of their governments are behind us. I'm just glad you're alive. So many were lost after the exodus. And so many more after the chase. It's good to see an old face still in the fight for freedom. Or as the Earthlings we hang out with say "Truth. Justice. And the American way."

Metalhawk accesses files on this 'American way.' "Hmm," he says after some rapid reading. "Seems these 'humans' are just as warlike as we are. It's a shame - besides energy, the other thing I'd hoped to find out here was enlightenment. It seems, however, it's just more of the same in different forms. How have you kept it going all this time, Jackie? I know you've spent a lot of it offline, but still - all this time, and we're really still punching each other over energy deposits, just in a new theatre of war?"

Wheeljack sighs and shakes his head, "It's not easy, Goldy. It never has been and I don't think it ever will be. A lot of mechs think I'm nuts because of my inventions. That helps. It does." he chuckles a bit, "But the truth is? I don't think I'd still be me if it ever BECAME easy. I hate the fighting. I hate the war. And I really hate having to defend another peaceful human outpost from Decepticons because they just want energon. But that's what it comes down to, isn't it? We need energon to survive. The problem is the cons can't do like we do. Make peaceful compacts. Exchange data. Make friends.

"No. They just have to dominate. I'd say I hate them, but I don't. I understand them. I just don't agree. We may be superior but that doesn't make us GOD. Even Primus isn't GOD. Megatron and his ilk just don't understand it. And I'll die before I let the Decepticons exploit good beings for their benefit and control the universe. That's just not happenin'. That's what keeps me going, Hawk." he maneuvers the shuttle into orbit and towards earth.

Metalhawk nods uncomfortably. "After all this time, I'd hoped the dynamics would have changed - that we'd have figured all

this out, and I'd return to a new era of peace and prosperity. That dream is what's been keeping alive alone out here. To

find out it's the same old war, and that no lessons have been learned - I have to admit, Jackie - it's quite a blow."

Metalhawk talks in a personal way that's reserved for his closest friends, discarding the shell of Former Air Commander

for now and just being nakedly honest with his reactions. Metalhawk moves to the co-pilot's seat, looking over the controls and taking note of the advancement in aerospace controls

during the time he's been gone.

Wheeljack sets in a course for Earth and hits the FTL button. Once the stars fade to starlines he leans back in his seat

and sighs, "You're preaching to the choir, Golden boy. And Prime ain't far off that. The problem is the Cons." he shakes

his head, "We've had a few times where it looks like they've learned this conflict isn't worth it. Even a few times where

Prime believed them." he bangs his hand on the wall, "And what do they do? Just go and prove us wrong again. It's

INFURIATING!" he shakes his hand out, "Just recently, this Uncironian monster called Galvatron came back from the dead.

Killed Megatron. Starscream convinced us all that he was for uniting our kind and ending the war. Guess what?" he slams

his hand against a wall again. "A lie. He used that to get close to us. Ended up leading Trion to his death to revive

Megatron to fight the monster. Did it work? Yeah. Was it right? No." he puts both hand on his face and just shakes his

head, "I'm with ya 'Hawk. I'm tired of this war and I just want peace. After the fall of Cybertron and what's happening on

Earth? It's easy to see it's pointless. Why can't we all...humans and Cybertronians...just join forces and form a peaceful

alliance that will last eons? I'd blame the humans with their conflicts...but we're no better. I'd love to say "We're the

good guys and we're right." Well...we are. But that doesn't change the fact the bad guys still keep coming. If the cons

would just lean a bit...we may see peace. But as long as Megatron, Starscream, and Shockwave are alive? That won't happen.

And that makes me really sad. We have to KILL three people for there ever to be a chance at peace. That's smegged up."

Metalhawk sighs. "Would that even do it? I'm afraid even if we took out the Decepticon chain of command, more would just

rise to take their place. It's the idea that's enemy - the idea that might makes right, and that it's easier to take than

to share. The Decepticons think they have to right to rule, and we could cut off one head after another and more may just

rise to take their place. But how do you fight an idea? The Autobots' ideas are better, but it's been this long and one

idea hasn't supplanted the other."

Wheeljack sighs and nods, "Well, I can't argue with that logic. But I can't think of a better plan. Those three plus

Soundwave are the biggest threats. After them?" he shrugs, "Well maybe some can listen to reason. I can only hope. If you

have a better idea? I'm all audials. We've tried diplomacy. That's my preferred method. Starscream outmanuevers us. We've

tried blunt force. It all ends the same. Prime and Megs beating each other down both screaming NEVER!!!!! What else can we

do Hawk?" he makes a slight course adjustment, "Cause if you have an idea? I'm all for trying it. We've been around a LONG

TIME. I'm just as tired of war as you are."

Metalhawk frowns. "I've had a long time to think, Jackie, and sadly I haven't come up with any ideas. Looking back now it

seems like nothing but wishful thinking. It's - it's going to be hard to go back to the endless fighting. My life has been

lonely, but peaceful. If I thought the Decepticons would be happy with it, I'd offer them Tyxlara, and let them bask in

all the solar energy they wanted. But of course that wouldn't be enough. They'd just use it to conquer the next sun over,

and then the next. It seems like once again I'm going to be forced to press my sword into battle."

Wheeljack sighs and nods in resignation, "You and me both. That's why I only go on the front lines when I have to these

days. I still train...but me? I'm not the me you remember. I focus on the science now." he scoffs a bit, "Makes the cons

think I'm soft. I'm not. I keep up with my training. But it's not like the old days. I'm not out there on the front much

anymore. I've poured myself into my work. And I've upgraded some of our warriors and come up with great advances. I've

also failed a lot. But I've also..." he trails off..."I've also come up with terrible things Goldy. Terrible things. But

they'd win the war. Thankfully Prime still has his idealism. I thank Primus for that. Those things are in reserve for only

the most dire of circumstances. And I'm glad. Cause I think Hide, Lita and I? After this long? We'd use them without

remorse. And what would that make us? No better than Megs and Scream. It's going to be good to have you back. You've found

your "zen" as the humans call it." he chuckles, "It'll keep my dumb old aft in check. But I gotta ask, what are you gonna

do about Starscream? The minute he hears you're back...he's going to come for you."

Wheeljack says, "You two never "gelled""

Metalhawk smiles, and a little of his old cocky confidence returns. "Well, Starscream is welcome to come, and we'll have

an exchange of ideas and words like old times, I'm sure." Hawk shakes his head slightly. "I wish I knew where he went

astray. Skyfire and he used to be such great scientists. I looked up to them, wanted to follow them into the stars. Then

Skyfire was lost, and Starscream turned to the Decepticons.... it's was more than not 'gelling'. I - it's hard to explain.

He and I will definitely have words after all this time, that's for certain." Hawk goes quiet, ruminating about the past. Wheeljack sighs and shakes his head, "Keep reading brother. He did more than go wrong. He tried to corrupt Jetfire. Then

he went on to get delusions of grandeur. He thinks and truly believes "Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies".

It's so sad. He, Shockwave, and Soundwave..." he shakes his head, "Three brilliant scientific minds so wasted." he pulls

in to Autobot City's hangar, "Such a shame. That's why I focus on my work now. I still can fight. DOn't believe me? Meet

me in the trainin' room." he'd smirk if he could, "I just let them think "Jackie" is dead. I'm still here. But instead I

pour my spArk and mind into furthering our understanding of the universe. I just wish it wasn't so focused on

furthering it on better ways to kill."

Hangar Bay - Autobot City

 * You're inside Autobot City's massive hangar bay, where shuttles are stored and repaired when not in use. The area is

cavernous, and usually a few of Wheeljack's engineers can be found down here, maintaining the Autobots' transport craft.

Massive elevators raise and lower air- and spacecraft to the landing pad above, and smaller lifts are strategically

located around the hangar to bring in personnel as well.

Metalhawk shakes his head. "It's strange - some of us turn from science to war, and you turn from war to science. If only

more of us could follow in your footsteps. I'd love to study the stars once more, but it looks like I'll be forces into

the fight once more. Welcome home, indeed."

Wheeljack nods and waves his hand, "Welcome back, brother. I wish it was under better circumstances. We'll try to make it

so. Deal?"

Metalhawk stands, and offers his hand to his old friend. "Deal."