An Exploration Mission (Closed; Att'n Vallermoore)

[Vallermoore]

Quick Drink

Wary after what happened the last time, BlasterPower was slightly worried, but decided to take the risk anyway and went up to the scout. "I'm BlasterPower, and I'm looking for a gang to join, but the last gang I tried to join, The Way The Ball Bounces, were slavers who enslaved other Decepticons, and I was lucky to escape their clutches."

"My name is Buzz, and I may be in my scout body now, but I have another much stronger one at home. I'm both the scout and the leader of a gang called the Fists. It's former leader should have gone to Debugging after the things he did-but I won't bore you with saying all the stupid things he did. We do the normal things most gangs do, raiding of biologicals and a little space exploration here and there. We are not hackers of our own kind, but I'm guessing you are an immigrant so new that you don't have a spare body yet and have not served your first Military stint. If we let you in, you have to be content to be at the lowest level until you have another body, so you can duel to see how good a fighter you are, for such is the bedrock of Decepticon authority. Haula will be happy to see a new bot in the gang."

*****
Clubhouse

The three remaining members of The Way The Ball Bounces were completely connived and all three came out of their clubhouse, without even trying to reinstall the other two first, lured by the chance of capturing another bot and selling him for quite a bit of Energon. "Me and my friends would love to join you in a game," said the gang leader, intending to play for a bit and then start the attack. Meanwhile the Problem Solver knew he was the leader as he was more built up then the others. Killing these bots would bring DeathStrike more then the normal pleasure at a job well done, as they were hackers who preyed on juvenile bots of their own kind, the lowest of the low in Decepticon society, lower even then traitors or snitches. After a short football game, DeathStrike sunk his tail into the neck of his foe, destroying his main command cable, flicked on his jammer and turned on the other two. Rather then flee, both opened fire on him, and he took quite a bit of damage, but despite that, the experienced Problem Solver was still able to blast them both into sparking junkheaps and kill them outright. Their souls would suffer the same punishments as the other two slavers.

He had taken 50% damage, but even before fixing himself the Problem Solver picked up Ballbot and slung him over his shoulder.

"Where are you taking me?" Ballbot asked.

"To the nearest foundry to melt you down alive, after telling the other bots you're a hacker."

"Wait, please, let me go. I have a vault complex with a lot of Energon in it, I'll give you the co-ordinates and let you in if you let me live. I don't want to go to the Realm of Punishment. You can take over my gang and I'll serve you..."

"Oh, shut up before I rip your voice chip out."

When he entered the foundry with his jammer running, he was quick to explain why. "This bot is a hacker who preyed on juvenile offspring, and if I turn off my jammer he might escape." One of the foundrybots came up and said to Ballbot "So you're the one who made my Sparky vanish. What did you do to him? I want his mind boards to find out what he did to my offspring, after which I will melt them down."
*****
Hotel Room

Megatron made sure that no cultural corrosion of any kind was allowed in Decepticon media-those who did it, got blasted in the street by the Decepticon Military or melted down. Only rarely did Domintel directly go after someone, when evidence needed to be found to justify execution or a traitor was to be taken alive for melting down, or perhaps when a juvenile bot was being a real delinquent and needed to be scared straight, or more likely scared corrupt. That didn't mean programs were boring though. StrongTalon decided to have a nice defrag, and in this case, he dreamed...

[Victorious Decepticons]

Quick Drink

The Fists seemed a lot more legit than the other gang, but BlasterPower was still wary. Despite this, she decided to accept the position. It would be the lowest slot, but soon enough, she would be in the Military and wouldn't have to worry about it. Plus, her fuel level was dropping. It had been quite a while since she'd drank her welcome Cube, and now, she had only about another day before she'd run out. She'd have to get more Energon before that happened or else, even if that meant going to some slum and physically draining it out of some poor rusted-out sod! BlasterPower strongly preferred getting it some better way.

The name Haula caught her ear, but she didn't know the story behind it. Those who did would wonder how he got back in this realm after he had tried to mind-transfer out of his last spare, only to end up dead instead of in a new one. Perhaps someone had reinstalled him...

When Buzz heard the name of the other gang, his mobile brows furrowed, and his eyes dimmed. "They're nothing but a bunch of shakes," he spat, referring to the useless combination of engine oil and coolant that gets in an engine after its head gasket fails. "It's just a matter of time before someone solves that problem. The sooner, the better."

Despite her admission that she had a close call with them, rather than easily stomping their wagons, Buzz went ahead and gave her an address. It wasn't their main base, but it was a spot that they controlled, and was a good place for meeting up with prospective new members - and making sure that the applicants weren't up to anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Foundry

DeathStrike was skeptical. "How are you going to be able to read his code? Surely it'll be encrypted!"

He was willing to rip the boards out of the guy, and once they were out - and therefore, offline for the time being - he would turn off his jamming. But he would only do it if the foundrybot had an answer to how he would manage to do a code-read. Usually, it took DomIntel a lot of computing power to crack someone's encryption, and it wasn't something some average bot could pull off.

Plus, DeathStrike wanted assurances that his captive would remain captured, and unable to mind-transfer away as soon as his boards were reactivated. His contract called for Ballbot's death, not him being turned into a game deck or anything else that was any kind of functional - and certainly not for him escaping, mentally or otherwise!

[Vallermoore]

Foundry

"Good point, I'm not going to fight you, who are an ICC Problem Solver over this hunk of junk. I will ask him once though what happened to Sparky."

With nothing to lose,and wanting a few seconds more of life before he was killed and no doubt sent to the Realm of Punishment for his multiple sins, the defeated Ballbot said "We kiddnapped him several months ago and sent him to an asteroid where he was worked until he seized up and then melted down. I'm surprised you didn't just reinstall him into another body with a Save Disc and forget about the original him."

Clearly furious, his engine running roughly, the foundrybot said to DeathStrike "Do your thing and send him to the Realm of Punishment, that's what he deserves." Ballbot did the equivalent of closing his eyes and waited to be fatally blasted.

Quick Drink

Soon enough she met the Fists, who were five in number. "So, what would you be able to bring to this gang, given that you'll be joining the Military soon?" asked Buzz, not unkindly. All five Fists were well armoured and in good health, with gleaming bodies that had been recently waxed. "If we like what you have to say, you can have an Energon Cube to fuel up before our next raid. You look rather hungry."

Hotel Room-Dream

StrongTalon woke up to find himself somewhere he never thought he would see again, the twisty tunnels of his Hive, and he was now in an android Changeling body. He decided to try and find his way out, but found himself in the man hall instead where the Queen sat upon her throne.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Foundry

Ballbot was hoping for a quick end, but if DeathStrike intended to give him that, he would have just blasted him (with jammer running) long before he got to this foundry. Instead, he heard a fearsome sentence.

"Chain him up, and drop him in."

The order, of course, was given to the foundrybot. This bot didn't hesitate to lower the chains and hook one under each of Ballbot's arms, and soon, he was hoisted into the air over the pit. As this happened, a scale attached to the chains weighed the metal. This weight would be used to determine Ballbot's scrap value.

Ballbot, not being completely dense, realized that nothing had been done to stop him from turning off his damage sensors. He quickly did exactly that, and just after, the chain hooks opened and dropped him down into the molten metal. A few seconds later, heat fault errors knocked him offline, rendering him unconscious as his body finished melting and the giant automatic stirrers blended it in with the rest of the batch.

From there, the batch would go to separation pits, where the various metals and other substances would form layers according to their varying densities. Finally, the layers would be siphoned off and sent to Megatron Metals, which would purify them further before turning them into ingots. Steel, copper, lead, aluminum, silicon, and more would be gained from this drop. Other materials, such as plastic and ceramics, would be part of the impurities whole-body scrap produced, and would be skimmed off the top along as literal slag.

Ballbot's soul would hit the Realm of Punishment long before the recycling process was complete. There, it would face similar punishments to those that befell the rest of his gang, but since he was the mastermind of all of the nastiness, he would find his working conditions even harsher.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fists' Meeting Place

BlasterPower explained that even though she didn't have military experience yet, but that she was perfectly capable of helping in a labor sort of way. She also reminded them that her blasters worked, and that nobody on some other planet would know whether she had any experience or not. Therefore, her presence would make the group appear more formidable, and against typical alien opponents, it *would* be more formidable with another member present.

Buzz explained that if a battle broke out, it wasn't just a matter of being there and blasting, even if the opponents were quite inferior. Battle formations, evasive maneuvers, and other such things were coordinated efforts. Someone who didn't know the moves could end up in the way and cause air crashes. Because of this, BlasterPower was to stay far back if any fighting happened, so she wouldn't either be drawn in or unwittingly become an obstacle.

"That said, we can always use somebody to pull another oil cart, I suppose." Buzz finished. "Or do all of the cleaning! But don't expect a full member's share of the loot. To be a full member, you have to be fully capable of fighting, and that means knowing standard Decepticon Military small squad tactics."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BlasterPower was actually very lucky to get in. Most raid gangs wouldn't touch such a short-term member, let alone one with no military training, unless they were all children themselves - and kid gangs usually didn't live for long. However, the Fists had a hot lead on a planet with lots of oil and little defense, and they were a bit desperate to find a way to haul out more loot any way they could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hotel Room - Dream

"Time for this hive to become a kingdom," StrongTalon thought, as a set of blasters popped into position out of his metal sides. His body was obviously that of a Decepticon spy, so he wasn't at all surprised to find that he did indeed have his two standard blasters, permanently attached, even in this form. He took aim at his former ruler...

[Vallermoore]

Buzz had recently discovered an industrialized pony planet that only had large pom-pom guns to defend it's oilfields-guns that could only seriously damage a full-size Decepticon if the shells hit in plane mode. Apparently, Decepticons had not raided this planet before, so there were huge amounts of oil waiting for the taking. But they could get even more oil with another member and didn't want to delay to get a better one in case another Decepticon gang got there first and looted the place. "The planet is a pony planet so keep your love shields on, as where there are ponies there are always changelings. It should take at most two hours to loot enough Energon to make all of us rich bots, and for you, BlasterPower, even your share will mean that you have more then enough to feed you until that becomes the Military's job. And when you have served your first stint and brought your first spare, we can see if you have it in you to rise in rank within the Fists." Soon enough they had gone into FTL and out to the fifth planet in a solar system of fourteen of them, and they prepared to home in on their target. "Watch out for hidden SAMS and remember that even pom-poms can do a lot of damage when in plane mode."

*****
"Chain him up, and drop him in."

Ballbot was able to turn off his damage sensors and start playing a game, but he would not be able to play it for long before being dropped into the molten metal and knocked offline. Once in the Room of Three Screens he was quickly sent to the Realm of Punishment, where amongst other things he was made to mine metal, work as a slave for sapient ponies and other biologicals, and much worse, suffering even more then the other bots in his gang for the major sins he had committed in preying on juvenile Decepticons.

DeathStrike decided to take a day or two off, unless summoned by his capo or of course by Connect. He got his pay and found to his delight, that ten of the Cubes contained Energon Supreme, and had a good long drink from one of them before putting the rest in his vault and going to have a look in the Blaze's Blaster's shop. "Hi Blaze. Got any new blasters? I'm in the mood for buying, and the most recent blasters and cannons are normally the best ones." He had recently brought some blasters from here only days earlier. As a Problem Solver for the ICC, DeathStrike brought more weapons and armor then the average bot to toughen himself up.

Hotel Room - Dream

He hadn't turned on his love shield, and the changelings in the Hive began sucking the love out of his android body, causing him to crash and wake up, on his bed, perfectly OK. "Stupid dream." He defragged for a few more hours and woke fully refreshed.

[Victorious Decepticons]

The Fists descended on the target planet, and were glad to find that its radar detection systems didn't have much range. They put their cloaking on, in all of the forms they had it, just in case. Then, when they were close to the refinery, they greatly reduced their power to soften their jet noise and began to almost glide in. There were no guns near the refinery. Instead, those had been positioned near the target's military bases, which were seen as the most likely targets of an enemy attack.

Usually, placing anti-aircraft guns near military bases and big cities was a good move. Most who invaded tried to take territory, or at least wreck up their enemy's ability to fight. However, this planet had overlooked the possibility of a force that didn't want to invade or even engage their military. It was an oversight that was about to cost them, to the tune of about 200,000 barrels of crude.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cybertron

Back on Cybertron, StrongTalon didn't have to do anything until his military stint started thanks to already having made enough money to easily cover expenses. He decided to play some video games and check out some of the main tourist spots/national monuments until the time came to enlist.

[Vallermoore]

Cybertron

StrongTalon decided to visit the Museum of Great Connivers first, that only had a small entry fee of a few Energon Cubes as the Decepticon government was keen that it's people should learn Decepticon values. Most of the exhibits were of course of Decepticons, including Megatron Himself, who wanted to be known as a conniving leader. To be accepted as the Decepticon Ruler, he needed to be the paragon of what a Decepticon should be, the Arch-Decepticon. But there were humans there, such as one who escaped from an alternate Japan successfully in an equipment box, a Changeling Queen who engineered the takeover of a planet, and even a sapient pony. Conniving was clearly not just something bots were capable of doing. There was a single spaceship with blasters attached, some tourist, and StrongTalon left it alone. He had no reason to trouble the tourist and didn't want a fight in the Museum. He went and visited the Great Pit next taking care not to go near the edge. The heat here would have cooked any biological, but Decepticons could cope with the heat and the workers had specially adapted bodies to cope with it. One plaque marking the site of the Final Battle against Optimus Prime was always kept clean. StrongTalon visited a place where the declassified files of defeated Decepticon traitors were. Once a traitor had been executed, itr was made public so that the Decepticon people knew the traitors were indeed just that and not wholly innocent bots. The Decepticons would accept a lot, but not random purges where a bot could be executed for no reason.

He found out there about Sky Knight and wondered why he had recoded himself into a knock-off Autobot for.

StrongTalon thought Megatron has his metal finger on the pulse of the Nation's fuel pump like a Changeling Queen has a hoof on the heart of her hive. I'm lucky having him ruling Cybertron. Seeing a bot walking past in one of the strongest bodies ever seen, he said "Don't take this the wrong way, but you have a truely amazing body. Where do I get one of those?"

Rather then get angry, the bot said "I'm SolarTempest, and I got this from Ultimate, and won an arena duel against High General Thundercracker in it, but everything Ultimate makes is very expensive, so you need to raid or otherwise get a LOT of Energon. I need to go now, I have a raid to plan with my gang."

StrongTalon flew up to see Cybertron in all it's metal glory from space. The place was crowded but the other bots let him be, as he was one of them. A non Decepticon would have been set on very quickly.

Later and on time he would report in for his first Military Stint.

*****
The raid was a great success and the Fists only had to use their blasters once against a column of tanks that drove up. "When you have a new body and your first Military stint has been done we will be fighting-but not because we hate you, we don't, just to see how good a fighter you are and your true rank in the gang," Buzz said. "Gangs here are a little bit like families on biological worlds. If you have a severe problem, there is nothing legally or morally wrong in asking your gang for help. At worst, they'll just say no. Of course, if there is a true threat to Cybertron itself, like an enamy war-fleet, then and only then you can radio the Military itself, and if the threat is genuine, there is no punishment, as a lone bot or even a gang can't take on a war-fleet all by itself." Soon they were back in Cybertron getting their haul taxed at a Raid Drop-Off point.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Military Induction Point

StrongTalon presented himself, and was given a few psych tests to try to determine which division he should be part of. He did his best to slant the results to Soundwave's division, but his attempt didn't go as planned. The Military also had his Intelligence file, and in it, possible magical capabilities had been noted. He was almost summarily switched to
General Shockwave's division, who was in charge of those who were either into, or of interest to, those into physics - with a notation that he would likely be good in the Paranormal Battalion.

Later that day, BlasterPower arrived. Her DomIntel file told them that she had been serviceable as a Decepticon, and at least capable of passing her survival test, but hadn't shown any outstanding qualities so far. She was sorted, at random, into one of the general soldier divisions. In her case, she ended up under General Skywarp, a capable, but not outstanding (other than his rank), soldier.

Each one had the rest of the day to get their Mil-Spec blasters, find their barracks rooms, stow any stuff they had, and get settled in. Since they were so new to Cybertron, they didn't need new bodies yet.

Orientation and training would begin the next day, in a large and obvious space that currently only had a few soldiers cutting across it as they went about other duties.

[Vallermoore]

It turned out that despite or perhaps because of his changeling background StrongTalon would be of far better use in the Paranormal Division, which also had more then one former unicoirn in it, since they kept their magic when they became Decepticons. When the new bots had their first day of training the next day they would all be shown a vidio of Leader Megatron welcoming them into the Decepticon Military and were all impressed, but then all the new builts would promptly behave in the sort of way that got people in biological militaries thrown into the brig or worse. Rather then impose the full power of Decepticon law, which would have meant execution and left only the immigrants in the Decepticon Military, they were disciplined with harsh punches and kicks at this stage. Also, at this stage in training, their bad behavior didn't even show up on their military records as it was expected. Training at this stage was pretty basic-marching and the like. Air drills and more interesting stuff would happen only later on.

But today was just a case of finding their barracks rooms and the like and basic getting to know where they were.

[Victorious Decepticons]

BlasterPower's induction into her division was pretty straightforward, and the next day started with a speech from Skywarp and some basic drilling. She hid a smile when a few chose not to obey and earned themselves some dents for their intransigence. It reminded her of herself not that long ago. She started to consider whether or not she would have preferred physical punishment over spending time in juvie, but she was brought back to attention by a nearby trainer. "Don't let your mind wander!" He ordered. "In a battle, your distraction is your enemy's victory!"

Mental discipline, it turned out, was at least as important as knowing all of the right moves. Only the most experienced High Generals could - sometimes - get away with having their minds metaphorically a million miles away, and even for them, it was only okay if the enemy was so vastly inferior that it wouldn't be able to take down a Decepticon under any circumstances.

That said, there was plenty of physical training as well. Not only did BlasterPower have to learn a wide variety of aerial and ground maneuvers, ranging from those meant for one person all the way to giant patterns involving 1,000,000s of other troops, but she had to practice them all. For now, huge-formation practice was done mostly with sims, but before the end of basic training, she would have to perform these moves with all real soldiers alongside her. She would also have to learn several "show" formations for the annual military flight around Cybertron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

StrongTalon's arrival in General Shockwave's division wouldn't be nearly so standard. While he did get stuck with basic drilling, he was quickly brought into the Military Paranormal division for further development.

General Shockwave met him personally, waving a chip with highly uncharacteristic excitement. "It says here that you can raid enemies to death right through thin air!" The general announced. "That you basically have all of your changeling magic still running!!! Have you tested any more of it besides the raiding? Can you shape-change outside of the design spec? If you haven't tried, make a save first. But we have to know!"

Also in the room were several Impossible Physics scientists who were on their military stints, and were some of the best reverse-engineers currently in the service. If an attempt to shapeshift (beyond what Decepticons could usually do) worked, they would be eager to try to figure out just how - and if it didn't, they would restore StrongTalon from a save while examining whatever was left of his current body to see what went wrong.

Through all of this excitement, and the eager stares of the physicists, StrongTalon started to feel a bit like he might be a test subject. Still, they didn't seem to want to do him any violence, so for now, he decided that he didn't need to try to run away.

[Vallermoore]

StrongTalon made a Save. "If I end up as a pile of sparking wires and twisted parts, please bring me back. Crushing my own body would be a really stupid way to die." Then he imagined taking another shape, but in android form rather than a biological one. Inside his body, wires moved and shrank, and his body went far smaller then the normal size and density changer would allow. He took the shape of a sapient pony android with a Decepticon cutie mark and looked up at the High General. He took the shape of a human, a changeling Queen complete with a crown, a large dog, a dragon, and one of the Decepticon scientists, and then took his own shape, not wanting to tempt fate by taking the shape of a High General or Megatron Himself. He took his own shape and gave a polite bow to High General Shockwave. "It would appear, Sir, that my changeling magic was fully ported over with me. Despite that I am very much still a Decepticon, and my loyalty is to Megatron, Cybertron and the Decepticon Military and not my former Queen. Whatever training or missions I am needed for, I will do them, however dangerous it may be." He was, in this case, being completely honest when he spoke to the excited High General. The scientists were equally surprised and interested. If they could make, in effect, Changeling armour, perhaps with the souls of captured and slain changelings, it would be a major boost to the Military.

Such armor if made would be unlikely to be declassified any time soon, even more so if it gave it's wearers the ability to feed on love and use it for energy. Despite the similarities between Decepticons and changelings (both were raiders, hated snitches, and were ruled by dictatorships) Megatron would surely not want Cybertron to turn into the universe's largest ever Changeling Hive, which it might do if he was not careful in that case, stealing love being much easier then raiding oil. Decepticons were meant to be Decepticons first and foremost, not Decepticon-Changelings.

******
BlasterPower meanwhile started learning the drills and hardly ever needed to be dented even at this stage. A trainer had once made the mistake of asking Megatron for in effect a Decepticon Foreign Legion made only of immigrants as they were so easy to train-which had gone down about as well as water in a smelting pit. Megatron had made it clear that he would not allow factions within the Decepticon Military just to make trainers happy and their lives easier.

[Victorious Decepticons]

While most of the scientists were dreaming of being able to mass-produce a form of "changeling armor" for Paranormal troops, General Shockwave's mind was a billion miles from that idea. When they mentioned their thoughts to him, he rebuked them.

"The magic ported over with him. That means that it's clearly a code-based capability, and has nothing to do with physical form. Alas, it won't be you who figures this out. We will need our most elite code reverse-engineers, if we are to replicate this. And, it might not be strategic to replicate it. Just like how very few soldiers get access to WMD codes in other armies, I believe that it's best that this not be handed out to everyone who walks through our gates for his standard military stint." Shockwave didn't admit it, or show it in the slightest, but he was actually quite concerned about being in the presence of someone who could apparently will himself to cargo-bot size (or bigger) and then step on him like he was an ant. He certainly didn't want the ability to fall into the mind-boards of random hotheads.

Despite this, Shockwave was far too curious to just send StrongTalon on his way. He asked the other scientists to leave, and then began his negotiations. Code-reading, especially done with the intent to swipe the code, was not something done lightly - at least when innocent bots were involved. It was ingrained to expect the person to want to be paid, and paid PLENTY, to even get him to consider agreeing to that. While it could be brute-forced, doing it that way was expected to create a rebel, and often, bearers of unique code were of far more use to the Decepticon Forces alive.

"Having a few key people with your abilities would be a great help to the Decepticon Military," Shockwave told StrongTalon after the others were gone. "But to replicate this, we would have to find the relevant part of your Code and copy it. I am hoping you will agree to this. My opening offer is 10,000,000 Cubes of Supreme..."

If StrongTalon was interested at all, then negotiating significantly higher would be possible. Secretly, Shockwave was willing to up his bid to 10 times his opening amount. Of course, if StrongTalon took a lower offer, he wouldn't insist on paying more. However, since it was the Military's money at stake and not his own, he wouldn't mind if StrongTalon turned out to be a shrewd negotiator.

If StrongTalon chose to keep his secrets to himself, Shockwave would be disappointed, but any anger would pass quickly. It was very common for Decepticons, including immigrants, to keep the secrets of any unique capabilities firmly to themselves. General Carjack told no one how to make other machines short out or how to detect the psychic signatures of other beings (whether nearby or over extreme distances), or anything else of that sort. General Skywarp had similarly kept the secret of how to warp through the sky. And General Soundwave never told how he could code-read some people - and on rare occasions, even temporarily hack them - just by putting his hand on their heads.

So, while Shockwave was eager to get the data from StrongTalon, and willing to spend quite a lot of Megatron's money to entice him, he wasn't dead-set on it. Plus, he'd be on the receiving end of a lot of anger and bad treatment if he ended up making a rebel out of what could have been a very powerful soldier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BlasterPower wasn't all that thrilled with the drilling, but as the practicing continued for several weeks, she began to notice the clear improvements in her fighting skills. With this realization, her confidence began to increase. Perhaps the other Decepticons weren't so nuts for avoiding big groups and being reluctant to seek help! After all, she'd easily mowed down the opposition in invasion sims, evaded getting hit in flight sims involving aliens, and after many drills, got decently good at dodging non-explosive training SAMs. Perhaps the Military would make a proper Decepticon out of her, and not one who barely passed Immigration's tests.

Right now, though, she was a bit nervous. Tomorrow would be her first "small-mid formation flight" with actual other Decepticons. Her and the others who had started this year would be going up in groups of 100, and would have to practice actual aerial maneuvers. Everyone was to make a Save first, because there were typically between 5 and 10 who would crash during these first 100-person flights. A few, she was warned, would invariably forget to mind-transfer, hence the need for a pre-flight Save. "Hopefully none of you will be the idiot," the trainer told her group. "But we can't bet on that, so Save up!"

[Vallermoore]

The dreams of the scientists for in effect Changeling armor were firmly squashed by High General Shockwave. "The magic ported over with him. That means that it's clearly a code-based capability, and has nothing to do with physical form. Alas, it won't be you who figures this out. We will need our most elite code reverse-engineers, if we are to replicate this. And, it might not be strategic to replicate it. Just like how very few soldiers get access to WMD codes in other armies, I believe that it's best that this not be handed out to everyone who walks through our gates for his standard military stint." Letting everyone have such abilities could cause severe trouble if there ever was a revolt in the future.

StrongTalon was later tempted by the High General's offer, but politely turned it down, as if he was the only Decepticon with this ability, it would greatly help him if he tried to join either Domintel or Forintel after his military stint. And he really liked the idea of uncovering Decepticon traitors who plotted against Megatron, made their offspring deliberately out of substandard parts, or introduced cultural corrosion to Decepticon society. He was careful to phrase things politely, as he didn't want an enraged High General blasting him into tiny metal shards. "Please don't take this wrongly, but I want to keep my ability to myself, just as you and your fellow High Generals keep your own abilites secret. That way, it will hopefully help me get into Domintel when I have severed my first military stint." If High General Shockwave tried to force the matter, rather then grow big as quickly as possible and start a fight with a High General-even if he won, he might be in real trouble as a mutinous rebel-StrongTalon would invoke an appeal to Megatron about the matter, in effect the only right as such that a Decepticon had. If Megatron came out on the side of Shockwave, StrongTalon would of course obey Megatron, but if he said no to the High General, StrongTalon would in effect have the protection of the Ultimate Decepticon in the matter, as to go against a Megatron ruling was to go against Megatron, and only one High General, Starscream, had ever done that, and paid with his life for it. He hoped it would not go that far, as he didn't want a High General as a foe.

*****
Unlike MasterBlaster when he was a new soldier, BlasterPower had made no foes, and her skills had steadily increased. She made her Save, put it in the proper place for safekeeping and soon enough the first large scale closs air drill began. She had to run her Bravery Up with all those other bots so close to her, hoping she would not end up crashing.

[Victorious Decepticons]

High General Shockwave was quite obviously frustrated at this, but didn't try to order it or get a bunch of MilIntel agents to physically restrain StrongTalon for a code-read.

"If you're ever broke or sick of raiding, even when your stint is over, know that the offer still stands." Shockwave paused. "Unless, of course, I can get someone else to agree."

Currently, there were no other Changelings in the Military, but Shockwave knew that this could someday change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite his refusal to divulge his Code, StrongTalon's obvious magical skills put him squarely into the Paranormal Division. Though this Division had to do some of the basic drills, most of its members' efforts were directed to working not only with each other - but with each other's magic active. The magic factor made their division's actions much less predictable, and it took extra effort for them to be able to work together effectively (and without accidentally blasting each other with some form of magic or other).

Enchanted armor and the like, which were likely new to StrongTalon, were also used heavily. There were also devices meant to detect and identify magic, and which type it was.

One day, a trainer passed out a bunch of devices to everyone and told them to turn them on. "These only sound off if there's a changel~~~" His memorized speech was cut off as every device was turned on, as ordered - and began to sound its own loud, shrill alarm. He looked at his own device, which now had a screen showing a pulsating white dot right were StrongTalon was standing. Everyone else did the same, and backed away, not sure whether this was an authorized presence or an infiltrator!

"SHUT 'EM OFF, SHUT 'EM OFF!" The trainer hollered over the racket. Soon, the devices were silent again, with one laggard's handheld detector making a final whoop. "I will check with MilIntel; then we will know what to do with this one!" He seemed far more rattled by how all of the alarms had gone off than by the fact that there was a changeling in the ranks. After all, he reasoned, they could dispatch an infiltrator easily enough.

A quick check with MilIntel confirmed that StrongTalon did indeed belong, and that he was a former biological of the changeling variety. However, MilIntel warned that something should be done about how StrongTalon had set off the demonstration changeling detectors. "If your General doesn't get that fixed, he won't be able to stealth in on anyone who has a changeling detector - and as you know, most of us have an internal one that we can activate at any time. Plus, at least some foreigners who have dealt with those types likely have ways of detecting them as well. Not everyone is an idiot who thinks that everyone around is their friend."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, General Shockwave called StrongTalon into his office, and made a point of sweeping it for bugs before continuing. Then, he tossed over a small device. "Have Mechanical install this in you." He ordered. "It's a changeling anti-detection system. Of course, its very existence is top secret. We don't want to give anyone the idea that there's a way to thwart our changeling detectors. But it's standard Decepticon Military doctrine that we do not release any technology unless we have a way to defeat it. This, is how we defeat that detection system. Again - it's top secret. Divulging what it does, even to Mechanical, is an automatic death sentence."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BlasterPower put all of her concentration into her maneuvers, as did most of the other participants. However, just as her trainer had warned, one person managed to bash into another during what was actually a mild turning maneuver that was part of the drill. The one who got hit, being young and unaccustomed to compensating for such a disruption, soon went into a spin and began to fall to the ground. The one who hit him didn't fare much better.

This distraction was seen by those a few rows back, causing one to slow down to gawk as he flew into the area the first two had been. Unfortunately, the FNG behind him didn't expect this slowdown, causing him to rear-end the gawker. The gawker was knocked down, heading towards the spot where the first guy was just now making contact with Cybertron with a fiery bang. Meanwhile, the guy who hit him reflexively transformed to robot mode. This completely un-aerodynamic form fell down feet-first. He did think of transforming back, and did so, but he had lost his lift. If he'd been a more experienced flyer, he could have regained that lift with ease and kept going - but alas, he was not that experienced. He was a typical 5-year-old Decepticon, just barely an adult, and his attempts to gain speed and altitude only destabilized him. He ended up coasting to the ground after realizing he couldn't figure it out in time, and half-landed, half-crashed to a stop while accumulating a lot of damage in the process.

BlasterPower made sure to concentrate even harder on what she was doing, willfully tuning out the chaos to her right. When the drill was almost over, she and the remaining members of the training group landed in unison on their feet - the planned finish for the sequence.

"Excellent. Most of you did very well. Those who didn't...they will be our janitors for the next week, once they are issued new bodies. We will practice this drill until there are not only no errors, but you are all comfortable with the moves. Then, we'll add Invasion Sequence One to the end. In Invasion Sequence One, you take over or destroy a military installation after that on-your-feet landing. Being able to keep running on foot after you land - and be blasting as well - is one of the most basic, but most important, aspects of Decepticon military supremacy."

[Vallermoore]

As it turned out, StrongTalon did not have to make an emergency appeal to Leader Megatron as High General Shockwave decided to respect the privacy of his Code. Keeping his Code private would help StrongTalon later should he get the chance to attempt to join Domintel or Forintel, even though it meant he would be poorer in the short term. He carried on with his training without incident until a day that shocked his entire unit. A device had just been made to sound an alarm if there were any changelings present and the trainer decided to test the devices just in case any were missing some vital part. It was far better to test this now then have even one device fail just when it was urgently needed. These only sound off if there's a changel~~~" As the devices were turned on they at once started to all go off with the kind of racket that would have damaged biological ears and was unpleasant even to Decepticon ears. The bots around StrongTalon backed off and raided their blasters, waiting to see if their trainer ordered them to open fire. Giant changelings had been encountered on one planet before and might exist on other planets and it was possible these ones could breath Cybertronian air or develop lungs that could, and had infiltrated the Decepticon Military. Even at the lowest level that represented a great danger. "SHUT 'EM OFF, SHUT 'EM OFF!" shouted the trainer over the racket. "I will check with MilIntel; then we will know what to do with this one!"

Soon enough Milintel reported that this changeling had been passed by Immigration and was not a spy. Later on when in the barracks StrongTalon would answer some questions from his fellow soldiers about general changeling life and tell them "In many ways, they are like us. We raid for petrol and oil to fuel our bodies and for out money to buy things-they raid for love to fuel their bodies. We hate snitches and traitors and so do they. And their Queens are strict dictators that tolerate nothing like democracy within the Hives. Of course, they are biologicals and inferior to us-their chitin is so easily blastable compared to our metal bodies and without love they starve and die, and only the Queens can live very long lives. But if you had to be a biological, being a changeling would be the closest thing to being one of us."

Later on StrongTalon got a call to cross the red line that marked normally forbidden base zones and enter General Shockwave's office, and bowed politely when he entered. General Shockwave presented him with a new and very classified device. "Have Mechanical install this in you. It's a changeling anti-detection system. Of course, its very existence is top secret. We don't want to give anyone the idea that there's a way to thwart our changeling detectors. But it's standard Decepticon Military doctrine that we do not release any technology unless we have a way to defeat it. This, is how we defeat that detection system. Again - it's top secret. Divulging what it does, even to Mechanical, is an automatic death sentence."

"Of course when I am Debugged, the Debugger will know-but I'm sure that won't get me executed as Debuggers would never snitch on any secrets. You need not worry that anyone will learn any secrets from me, Sir. Almost from when I hatched from an egg long ago, I was taught to be discreet." Soon enough he had the device fitted in him and went back to what was done in the Paranormal division.

*****
BlasterPower was lucky enough to avoid a crash and being disgraced and after a few more drills Invasion Sequence One was added. She was feeling more confident, and the skills she learnt now would help her when she came back to the Fists after her military stint and dueled them to see what her place in the gang should be. All was doing pretty well for her.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Invasion Sequence One turned out to be a lot harder than it seemed like it would be. It required everyone to spread out just enough to allow blaster fire to pass by them from those behind. The group had done it in sims, but in real life, it was easy to move over just a bit too much or too little. Most of the group ended up getting blasted in the back of the wings, and some got blasted right in center mass. BlasterPower herself ended up nailing the soldier in front of her after he stepped over a bit too far, and she got a few scorching blasts from her rear.

Fortunately, they had all been instructed to use low power with their blasts. The trainer knew full well that almost no one made it out of the first ISO drills unscathed. Arranging a mass blasting pattern in the air was easy, but on the ground, it was a rather meticulous affair. With the proper formation, there would be just a tiny gap not only between each rank of soldiers, but these gaps would persist all the way to the back - allowing the group to unleash a devastating wall of fire. However, as everyone had seen now, achieving that ideal was quite difficult.

General Skywarp wasn't content to just let the newbies know how it was supposed to work. At a big address, he insisted that they practice until they had it mastered, and then practice it some more so it would seem easy. "While we won't come in like this much during a war, if you master this sequence, you'll find most of the others easy. Then when we do come against an enemy, it'll be a total stomp-fest."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It would take many weeks for the group to perform ISO perfectly, and four more to be at ease while doing it. At that time, they were surprised by awards of Cubes of Supreme for perfecting it.

As promised, all of the other maneuvers seemed easy in comparison, at least at this level. They were informed that those who had done repeated stints were capable of even more complex group actions, which, while rarely needed, were sometimes exactly what were needed to defeat a well-defended enemy base or even a planet. "Our most experienced troops can attack in formations of 1,000,000,000 troops or more," Skywarp told them all. "Even for them, maneuvers of that size are air-based, not ground, but as you can imagine, it takes a lot of coordination."

"Now, we will learn the opposite type of tactic: Chaos. The Decepticon Military must be able to do orderly moves well when it needs to, but as you likely know, we prefer to overwhelm the enemy with what seems to be chaos! This makes it almost impossible for someone with the typical 'disciplined military' mindset to figure out what we're doing."

"We drilled 'order' first because it is excellent for teaching concentration and dedication. You have learned to keep your mind on-task, and that if you don't, you eat friendly fire, fall out of the air, or otherwise fail your drills. Now, it's time to expand your skills so that you can apply the same concentration and dedication to maneuvers that are much more random - and much harder for the enemy to predict. Then, when you've mastered that, we will teach you how to do pseudorandom maneuvers. These are made to look random and chaotic, but actually have specific goals and targets. When true random is followed by this, most enemies miss the switchover and end up protecting the wrong things." Skywarp's eyes outright gleamed at the thought of defeating his military foes this way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After everyone got familiar with each other's magic and natural methods, StrongTalon's "class" in the Paranormal Division found out an unpleasant fact: They, too, had to do drills. These drills were very similar to the ones that the rest of the Military did, but with the exception that many of the soldiers would try to use magic, or a scientific invention that imitated it, to accomplish them or at least to ease their way. As they had been warned, this caused more of them to disrupt each other than would happen in an all-muggle group. Soon, they found that it was indeed worthwhile to pay attention to lessons on how not to accidentally interfere with each other.

Other drills were even more unique. The Paranormal Division used many magically enhanced or enchanted items that did specific things, and all members had to learn exactly how to use them. These items were combinations of magic and technology, such as armor that had been given stat increases or blasters that sent out energy that magically homed in on its target, and almost no one found their use to be innate. Mastering some of the moves that involved them was almost as hard as BlasterPower's big drill. More than once, someone accidentally mistargeted homing blaster fire by having a fleeting thought of someone who wasn't the target. If that person was in the enclosed range area, they could even be deactivated. Those outside of the range were safe, though - blaster-proof walls kept all of the fire contained.

[Vallermoore]

It was just as well that the blasters of BlasterPower and all the other bots were turned down to a very low setting, or some of them would have ended up in their spares or in the Main Save Vault because of accidental friendly fire. As it was, it was painful being blasted in the back. It would take time and a good deal of repetition for them to learn that particular maneuver well, but it was worth it, and when they finally perfected it, they were presented with the pleasant surprises of a Cube each of Energon Supreme. They were already becoming good and well trained and well-disciplined soldiers. If a bot did offend against discipline, the punishment was no longer being given a denting but the far harsher one of a slave virus for a few days. BlasterPower was able to avoid that fate, however. Having learned Order, they would be now learning how to successfully pull off Chaotic maneuvers as well.

******
The Paranormal Division did not escape drills either and a few times bots were occasionally blown up due to unintentional friendly fire, although they were reinstalled from the Main Save Vault.In the privacy of his mind boards, StrongTalon wondered if Forintel would want him as an agent once he had served his first military stint. Surely there his changeling abilities would be a great help to the Decepticon Nation. He too was becoming a well trained and well disciplined soldier.

[Victorious Decepticons]

The rest of the training was sometimes difficult, but otherwise uneventful. Like most new soldiers, neither got called up for the Annual Military Raid, and since there were no wars, they didn't have to go fight for that, either.

Soon enough, StrongTalon and BlasterPower got their honorable discharges. Along with this, there was the perk of the chance to buy their mil-spec blasters instead of switching back to their old ones. Their bodies, which had been upgraded to military standards, were theirs to keep without paying extra - they would only have to pay if they wanted the weaponry to go with them. They noticed that many bots took this opportunity, even ones who seemed to have saved every extra Cubelet to be able to do it. Both of the newly-discharged ones took the opportunity as well, having managed to make enough before starting their service to cover this cost.

Another perk of discharge was a 100-Cube final payment. Some considered this to be small change, while others acted like they'd just gotten rich. This was evidence of the wide diversity of socioeconomic tiers represented in the Military. With universal conscription, everyone from the poorest to the richest were present at any given time. For the poorest, 100 Cubes was a lot of money - enough to keep them alive for a couple of months while they found a way to get more cash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite having been stuck with General Shockwave and his Paranormal Division, StrongTalon's interests were still firmly rooted in the craft of spying. He knew that Intelligence was where he wanted to be, at least after taking a little break from work-type activity. It was just a matter of deciding whether to apply for DomIntel or ForIntel. Perhaps the agency would end up giving him some tests and then assign him accordingly? First, though, he would have to get hired. He didn't even know if there were any openings...

BlasterPower decided to try to join the Fists again, hoping that they either still had an opening or that she could blast her way up the ranks and thereby boot out the least of them. Since she had worked with them before, they were more likely to allow the latter move. Of course, she would have to ask first. Still, there was a good chance that she'd be able to get herself a position with this gang - and, now that she had proper training, a good chance of a position that didn't involve cleaning oil sludge or just hauling oil around.

[Vallermoore]

When BlasterPower went back to where she knew the Fists hung out, she was greeted by a grinning Buzz. "If you have a spare body, we could test you in combat right now. Not because we don't like you and want to bust up your body-far from it. We want to see how high you can rise in this gang. Like in Decepticon society as a whole, authority in the gang is ultimately based on force. I myself rule this gang because I beat them all in combat. Once your rank in the gang is sorted out, we can plan a new raid and get ourselves a load of new Energon. What you do with your share is up to you as long as it's not treasonous. You can buy games, strengthen your body, buy a new body, and other such things. You deserve to find out what your true rank should be and to do that you fight each of the gang from the lowest upwards until you either give up, lose a body, or, in theory, have such a strong body that you take over the entire gang. If you don't have a spare or the Energon to buy one, we can go on one more raid with you at the lowest rank and then you can use your share to get a spare-or mind transfer to it and use your body that you are in now as the spare."

*****
StrongTalon decided that first he would check his own mind-boards to see if there was anything in them about how to join Domintel or Forintel, if not he would just go to an area that was extremely likely to be bugged and say aloud that he wished he know how to join Forintel or Domintel. And if neither of those things worked, he would first look to see if any chips on the subject were sold, and if that didn't work, as a last resort he would go to a Domintel station and ask them about it. Ideally, he wanted to be a Forintel agent, but if he was not quite good enough to get into Forintel or there were no Forintel jobs open, he would try and join Domintel. In either organization he could be of use to the Decepticon Nation, but his changing skills would be of more use to Forintel. His loyalty to the Decepticon Nation and Leader Megatron was of course completely solid so he had no fear of a mind-code read.

[Victorious Decepticons]

BlasterPower was startled for a bit - she had forgotten all about picking up a spare body! When the Military had upgraded her current one, she'd just kept it. Now, she had no choice but to accept the lowest position until they'd raided enough for her to buy a spare. Still, she was glad that they were being so gracious. Most gangs would have laughed and said she was too much of a n00b to be raiding anything if a Spare hadn't been the first thing on her mind!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

StrongTalon was about to announce his intention when it came to his mind that, like BlasterPower, he didn't even have a spare yet. He wouldn't come across as a very competent candidate if he didn't at least take care of that first. While he had gotten a good payment to skip out on the CemCyb job, it wasn't enough to buy a body off the shelf. That'd cost about 1,000,000 Cubes.

He wondered what it'd cost to make his own, and visited a parts store. However, upon inquiry, the parts store clerk quickly informed him that it generally ran 700,000 Cubes for all of the parts for a basic one, and not only that, he would need all of the tools - and knowledge - involved in its assembly. Apparently, only those who already had fully-equipped workshops would save money this way. Plus, most who started from the ground up actually built their own to customize them somehow, rather than to spend less. The customizations often ended up costing more than a comparable off-the-shelf blank.

It didn't take long for StrongTalon to start getting an idea of why everyone liked raiding so much. Where else could you come up with 1,000,000 Cubes in a few days besides someone else's refinery? Unlike most newcomers, StrongTalon had the advantage of his changeling powers still with him, too. If he chose the right target, it would likely be no problem to swipe the needed amount of crude, or better yet, refined gasoline (which sold for more at the Raid Dropoff Point). He'd just need to find out which target would be good, rent a big tanker, and relieve the target of its loot.

Of course, he knew that if he flew into some nearby planet's atmosphere looking like a Decepticon, he would be met by some form of strong military deterrence. After all, the planets near Cybertron had seen Decepticons many times, and had adapted their defenses accordingly. He considered his options. He could go very far away in hopes of finding a target that wasn't so ready, or perhaps, he could use his shapeshifting to stealth in on one of the closer locations. Once he started raiding, though, everyone on such a planet would realize that he was a Decepticon. Even if his own looks didn't give him away, the giant raid-tanker would.

StrongTalon went to a newschip stand and looked for a Raid List, but found the selections lacking a bit. Most were listed as having been pretty much raided-out or as highly defended. He decided to check out an ICC store and see if they, like the legendary syndicate that used to hold sway, put out their own higher-quality list. He was looking for a place where he was unlikely to get shot down - and that would have enough oil for a one-person raid to cover the cost of a spare body in one trip.

[Vallermoore]

Buzz produced a Raid List from a panel, written on foil-paper so that it could be destroyed easily if need be.“Whilst not quite the very best as the largest syndicates such as the IOPC only share those with their own members and highly discourage leaks, this is better then the average one brought from a news-stand. Three likely places are-a planet that has about the same tech as Decepticon Earth had the day before it was invaded by us, a moon of a gas planet calling itself Little Vallermoore that, oddly, is no colonial outpost of Vallermoore but just somewhere whose rulers really like and admire Vallermoore for some reason, and a planet that appears pretty lifeless and has plenty of deep swamps. Such a planet that has not been occupied by the syndicates probably has some sort of nasty surprise for Decepticons, like air that does not run through their engines, but it most likely has a lot of oil just waiting for us to raid it.”

******
Vallermoore

Clever One was busy with a pile of paperwork when a trusted guard came in,saluted, and said “A sapient pony in his finest formal clothes with a few other ponies and humans landed at the spaceport in Old London Town claiming to be from a moon called Little Vallermoore. We put him and them through a Changeling detector and none of them are changelings. He wants to meet you.”

“Let him in, as long as he temporarily leaves any weapons of his with you. It’s a distraction from all of this boring but important paperwork.”

In trotted a unicorn looking slightly like Clever One, and gave a bow to the President of the Central Committee. He had a cutie mark that was still rare on a fully grown sapient pony, a Decepticon Seal that glittered like metal. “Can I touch it?” Clever One asked, and when he got a yes he gently but firmly rubbed the cutie mark with a hoof, revealing it to be genuine. “What brings you all this way?”

“We were wondering if you would like to visit our home world, a moon called Little Vallermoore?”

“Flattering, but I am a little busy, but I will send Bright Eyes as a diplomat to go with you and report back to me. Don’t kill him or take him hostage if you don’t want a Vallermoorian space fleet coming after you. His cutie mark is an eye.”

Clever One was too polite to say so but he didn’t want to possibly fall for some sort of connive. If this was no connive he could come on a formal foreign trip later.

Soon enough Bright Eyes and the Little Vallermooreians were in FTL and before they reached it Bright Eyes asked them “So why did you name your country Little Vallermoore?”

*******
Whilst the syndicates kept the best and up to date Raid Lists to themselves they did sell slightly less good but still useful Raid Lists to the Decepticon public for a few Cubes. Amongst the planets on this one was one full of normal sized but very glossy changelings who had enslaved the other races long ago and brainwashed them to love changelings, a 19th century tech planet still using muskets and steam power, an oil planet that was on fire-the problem there would be getting the oil without it going up in flames-and the nasty sea-planet Nautica. StrongTalon needed to decide which one to raid.

[Victorious Decepticons]

BlasterPower didn't have a chance to say anything before the rest of the gang was enthusiastically voting for the pre-Invasion Earth-like planet. They all chimed in with stories of how easy it was for the Decepticon Forces to stomp all over that place, not only because of its tech level, but because most of its population didn't even realize that Decepticons were real. Even the big countries, who knew of the reality due to Megatron threatening them over the Transformers movie, were not nearly ready to counter an outright invasion by giant war robots from space. On top of that, the populations of these countries were skeptical that Decepticons existed despite press conferences to the contrary, thanks to the fact that their governments had used press conferences to say ridiculous lies in the past.

Before long, Haula was hooking himself up to the big oil cart, and gesturing for BlasterPower to take one of the smaller ones. The others filled their side panels with derrick and pumpjack parts, which would be put together on-site if needed. They would otherwise fly free, keeping their maneuverability and deadliness at their peaks in case any serious opposition arrived.

"This'll be a snap," Haula said with total confidence. "All we do is avoid the big countries the buy the oil, and hit the little, backwards ones that produce it. It'll be even easier than hitting Saudi Arabia. More like landing in Kenya! Only hopefully, without the jungle that was around those pipelines."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

StrongTalon gave the possibilities serious consideration. The muskets-and-steam planet would be easy for a single Decepticon to land on and claim his immediate area, but had it even discovered oil yet? Oil infrastructure usually only appeared after the invention of the oil-burning combustion engine, or at least, oil heating. Before that, it typically only existed in tar pits and other places where it naturally came to the surface. StrongTalon knew that such places could be raided, but that doing it required bringing one's own drilling equipment to get a worthwhile amount of loot. He had no such equipment, which was expensive enough that it was usually bought by gangs instead of individuals. Plus, it usually took a whole gang to move it. They would do so by putting a few pieces with each member, and then assembling/disassembling it in the needed location.

He almost automatically decided to avoid the changeling planet. Not only did they have the same kind of magic as he did - erasing that advantage - they would be likely to see through any connives he tried to pull.

The description of the flaming oil planet gave him a bit of a laugh. He wasn't about to try to land on THAT! Not only would the oil light under normal circumstances, it could be hot enough to melt him down. He kept reading.

Nautica caught his eye. It was a big challenge to most Decepticons, but he could simply shapeshift into a submarine/oil tanker and raid away without fear of the basic environment. Then, he could add space-shuttle wings to blast back off toward Cybertron, and convert his body as needed once there. A good array of weaponry would deter hostile lifeforms, at least if he used it with sufficient skill. He decided that this would be his target.

[Vallermoore]

StrongTalon decided that he would leave the Changeling planet well alone. They thought like him, had the same bodies and magic as him, and would very likely be able to detect him. The oil planet on fire was just too dangerous to try and raid as it might melt his body down. The other planet might have no raidable oil infrastructure.For Decepticons it was tempting but firmly out of reach. Nautica would be a challenge. Very few Deceptions ever went there except a small penal garrison of the Decepticon Military who had all messed up in ways that did not deserve death, but did deserve punishment, in the shape of a three months stint on a base on stilts. Nearly all Decepticons hated the place, as for them, it was like a planet with seas of acid and corrosive air.

He used his Changeling ability to keep the water out of his electronics, landed on the water, let himself sink and when deep down, took the shape of a large submarine and sailed down to where oil was leaking from the sea floor. It was easy to create an external tank with no sense of taste that would get all that oil. When a large squid came out of the darkness and attacked, he shot it dead with a well aimed blast. When he came out of the water, it was as a cargo-bot. As he did so he saw a very recognisable bot-High General Carjack-fly in and transform for some fun wild swimming, his body being waterproof to allow this. He used his thrusters to bow politely to the High Genera and flew back to Cybertron, sprouting enough blasters before he did so to put raiders off targeting him.

Soon enough he had flown to the Cargo Zone, paid his Raid Tax and a small fee to the port to get his oil turned into Energon and drained from him, and put it in a secure vault, secure at least in the short term. Flying quite far away from Cybertron, he took his normal shape and flew back. His trip had brought in no less then three million Energon Cubes, and he went to a body shop to get a fine new body with extra armour plating around the boards and limbs, and an extra anti hacking device. He then looked in his SEDP to see if it said anything about how to join Forintel.It didn’t, so he said aloud so that Domintel was sure to hear it , after buying a vault and putting his old body in it “I wish I could join Forintel and in that way join the Decepticon Nation.”

Soon enough a normal looking bot came up and asked to talk with him in private in a house, and once there with the shutters closed he told them of his Changeling origins and proved it was no connive by rapidly changing into more shapes then even the most advanced and still classified Decepticon bodies could do-from Decepticon to pony to Changeling to human to alien to various other forms. “Before becoming a Decepticon, I went on various secret missions for my then Changeling Queen, so I have some experience of a sort, and I think as a Forintel agent I could be a big help to the Decepticon Nation,” he explained.

**********
For the Fists, the Earth-like planet was the logical target. It didn’t take them long to select a suitable target, close in and, with almost no opposition except a few Pom Pom guns that they had to blast first. When they had all got their shares Buzz sent BlasterPower off to buy a new body, and she spent her whole share on it, getting a body slightly better then others, and carrying her spare
Over her shoulder. When she got back the other Fists were in the order of weakest first, Buzz last, their eyes glowing like hot coals. “Now that you have a spare, we can see how strong or weak you truly are. Maybe some other bot will be holding the oil cart for a bit. We duel one at a time, until you either give up, lose a body-or somehow defeat us all. If you were somehow able to do that, then you would have earned the right to lead the Fists, but unless you are a High General in disguise, that is very unlikely.”

Soon enough, her first battle commenced.

******
En route to Little Vallermoore

“We called it that, because some of us are Vallermooreians, and because we admire your country as a Power in it’s own right. You see that red gas giant? The third moon from it is where we are.” Soon enough Bright Eyes and they had reached the main spaceport and landed.

[Victorious Decepticons]

StrongTalon was informed by the plainpaint agent that it wasn't really possible to just waltz in and get a job with Intelligence. Instead, he would have to attend an academy for a year, where he would not only learn the methods of the agency and do plenty of training, but that the agency would also learn all about him. He would be constantly observed, not just when doing his training, but at all times.

This, he was told, would be on top of the mandatory code-read that he would have to pass to even get his foot into the academy door. "Code-reading can tell if you're a spy or some other enemy," the agent told him. "And we can learn a lot of facts for an investigation. But it takes too much computing power to basically simulate how you'd act in every possible situation - and, that's if we could even make a sim that'd cover everything. Real-world observation, on the other hand, shows how the real you acts and reacts to the random things that come up in daily life."

"However, we know from experience that one important factor in anyone's decision is how much a position pays, and how likely you are to actually get the position. While it's not yet possible to know how well you, personally, will perform, I can warn you this: Only about 10% of ForIntel applicants pass the Academy, and only about 7% of DomIntel applicants can do it. Also, only about 3% get certified for Combined Intelligence, which means that they have obtained the qualifications for both."

"As for the pay, since most don't get through the Academy either way, it doesn't pay much. Only 100,000 Cubes for the year of training. It's enough to keep you in fuel and parts, and get you a modest rental house, but that's about it. We don't want people thinking that their solution to poverty is to enter the Academy, or else we'll get millions and millions of unqualified applicants who have no serious intention of joining."

"IF you pass, the starting salary depends on how well you've done - and, so does the level of assignments you'll get. We generally start with 1,000,000 - 10,000,000 Cubes per year. As for assignments, the only solid rule is that you won't be sent to any place that we know can outbid us. So, if you're a 1,000,000-Cuber, you can expect your marks to only be able to come up with 100,000 to try to bribe you with, which of course, won't be enough to turn your loyalty unless you're coded out of glitches. That rule stays in place for everyone except the highest-ranking, and most trustworthy, of agents."

"You will be provided with whatever body is deemed necessary for your assignment, though as a newbie, you should expect that it won't be of our latest technology. However, your Changeling background will apparently let you do more than would normally be expected, at least when it comes to what you can do with your assigned form..."

"So, are you still interested?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fists Headquarters

A rather average-looking bot stepped forward into the fighting area. A bit of oil sludge could be seen on him, despite his attempts at cleaning it off. Apparently, cleaning the tankers was his usual job.

"I'll finally get to watch someone else get covered with this grime!" He said, raising his blasters eagerly without bothering to introduce himself. Soon, he had let off his opening salvo, aimed right for BlasterPower's motion boards. He clearly wanted a promotion, and now.

[Vallermoore]

Although his skills at changing into more shapes then the most new and most deeply classified Decepticon body was enough for the plain paint agent to think that he might indeed be a possible candidate to get into Forintel, he would still have to go through the same things that everyone seeking to become a Forintel or Domintel agent. Before he could even try, he would have to take a mandatory mind-read, to uncover if he were a traitor or a spy for another nation. Assuming this was not the case he would need to attend a Forintel Academy to learn everything a Forintel agent needed to learn-and Domintel would be watching very closely to learn all about him. He was warned in advance that only a tenth of Forintel cadets successfully passed the academy tests, and only 7% of Domintel cadets.

Cadets were paid because having all the cadets starve to death was a really stupid idea- enough to rent a couple of rooms and have enough Standard Energon to survive. If he did get into Forintel, the pay went up a lot. Just in case, he would never be sent to somewhere where they could pay him so much that he might defect. Even mind reads were not a 100% proof against defection without that.

“I have no objection to a mind read. You won’t find anything treasonous. Plenty of Changeling memories but nothing treasonous unless you count the treason against the Queen that I defected from. She no doubt wants my head on a spike.”

Soon enough he had the mind check. It revealed he was born from an egg deep within a Changeling Hive, learned the Changeling skills and values as a foal, became an infiltrator in a pony herd and a love collector and spy-and then genuinely defected from the hive, passed the tests and mind read at Immigration and was no traitor to Decepticons-although he was a traitor to his Changeling Queen or he would still be living in a Hive to this day. Just as important, he really did want to become a Forintel agent, where his skills could really benefit the Decepticon Nation more then they would as a soldier or a civilian.

Fists Headquarters

BlasterPower managed to partly dodge the first blast but got the equivalent of flesh wounds, and the fight was on. Although she took some damage, she managed to deactivate his body with about 30% damage to hers. The next bot introduced himself as Robust, before the fight began.