COMPLETE Chapter 16: Black Sabbath

Scene 1: Departure from Blackrock Base   The party will be moved towards the Blackrock Base Muster, where they will be met by Flatpack.   FP: Wait, who's this? We're not using the normal--   BD: That's right, we're not. These were our intruders. They're working of their sentence with a little service. An equitable solution, don't you think?   FP: I don't really care... but what does Kiloton say?   BD: I'm filing the report for Kiloton. Do you have the shipment.   FP: Everything as described. Are you sure they're the right ones for the job, though? Normally we send... something more formal.   BD: Oh, I think they'll work perfectly. They're a picture-perfect fit... (begins chuckling)   FP: Sure thing, Backdraft. Bring it in!   Astrotrain enters, towing the cargo (weight 60). He gives Floop a stinkeye.   FP: Oh, please don't look in there. It's secret. You might try, but it's locked with an encryption that only our client knows.   BD: And it'll stay that way. This is important business to Blackrock Base. As such, secrecy is important. I'll be tracking your movements through our little friends... (he taps his neck). Archer, you'll keep them on task.   BD: All right, here are your weapons and equipment. I can assure you that everything is as it was when you arrived here, with a few alterations. We've confiscated your communicators. In their place you'll find short-range transceivers. All GPS functions from other equipment have been removed, but we've given you a simple waypoint tracker. It'll guide you to where you need to go, and nowhere else. Of course, you'll also need to consider the room your cargo will occupy.   BD: Oh, and just because you have your weapons, doesn't mean you're in charge here. I've planned ahead and installed a dead mech's switch in your little monitors. Try anything, and you'll regret it.   BD: Very well, you have your orders. Dismissed.   Scene 2: On approach to coordinates.   The Speed Demons (elite Speedwagons) approach from a distance, attempting to surround the party.   SD1: Uh-uh-uh! You didn't think you'd be able to just sneak through here without any trouble, did you?   SD2: What's that you've got there? Looks important...   SD3: Be a real shame if something happened to it.   SD4: This doesn't have to be hard. We won't have to waste our time on you if you give up.   SD5: Enough games! Let's rip them to pieces!   The Speed Demons attack. As the battle draws on, small drones can be spotted overhead. These drones appear to be seeding the clouds. Eventually, clouds and thunder will develop overhead and a red substance will rain from the sky.   SD: Oh, now you're in trouble.   SD: Heh heh heh... hell to pay.   A long lonesome horn sounds as Seance approaches. He transforms a quarter-mile from the party and walks towards them ominously through the blood rain.   S: Well. Isn't this a surprise.   S: You're the ones, aren't you? Sentinel's lackeys.   S: Of course, perhaps not for much longer. If you're here now you must have crossed Backdraft. The thought of it makes me laugh.   He does not laugh.   If asked about the "blood rain":   S: Ciel Sanguine. An invention of mine. Microscopic sensor countermeasure. Ferrous filaments suspended in a hydrate solution. Radar, ECM, short and long-range comms are blacked out wherever the rain is. And, there's the psychological effect.   If asked about the cargo:   S: You're in deep enough that it won't matter either way.   He opens the container and removes a shotgun, which he tosses to a Speed Demon.   S: Brand-new firearms, courtesy of the Decepticons. Of course, it can only begin to cover the losses we've sustained from your... intervention.   If asked about his partnership with the Decepticons:   S: Purely out of convenience. Backdraft wants to ensure that the Autobots can't become too entrenched on Earth. That makes his job harder. I've no love for the 'Cons. But the great thing about guns is that they don't have politics. You keep them clean, zero them in, pull the triggers, and they do their jobs.   If asked about his past/his plan:   S: Let me tell you a story. Once, this planet didn't belong to us. It belonged to the Devil's Due, and the Autobots didn't like that. They wanted to get rid of them. The Devil's Due, they said, were evil. They sold drugs. They killed people. They didn't obey the laws. The Autobots were different. They sold land to corporations. They used police actions. They made the laws. It didn't take me long to figure out the truth. On this planet, there's a kind of animal called an elephant. It's the biggest land animal the humans know. Yet, it fears creatures much smaller than itself. That's the secret. The strong fear the weak. Why? Because their strength is an illusion. Their mighty tusks are made of resolutions and back-door deals. Their trunks can only reach for food to feed their greedy bellies. Their ears only listen for the scuttling of tiny feet. Because it turns out we're all mice.   This galaxy is a broken place. The superpowers are quiet now but they're looking for an excuse, anything, to go back to war. It's what feeds them. Every person herded into a choice of ideologies, reinforced, passive, docile. I'm not going to balance the scales, I'm going to tip them over. I'm going to break the dichotomy. Empires. Revolutions. The truth is the world needs something else. Thousands of something elses. As long as our minds are turned one of two ways we will only conceive two solutions. As long as our power is turned one of two ways we will only create two realities. We created hierarchy to keep us safe, but it only made us weaker. I'm going to change that. And it starts with Mission city.   The humans of this country live in fear of a time they called "nine-eleven." They learned then that the power they believed in was not invincible. I'm going to show the galaxy that same fear.   After answering questions:   S: Let me tell you another story. I once traveled in a group like your own. Just a bunch of nobodies at the beck and call of whoever we decided was the strongest. Eventually, we created our own truth. That was a bond that sealed us together.   S: You did some good work, bringing this out here and outlasting my Speed Demons. So I don't feel the need to dispose of all of you. But one of you killed Slayride. And that makes this personal. Pay me in blood, and the rest of you go free. Or show me the bonds that seal you together.   If the party outs Floop: S: You didn't need to tell me. I already knew. Any last words?   S: Then face your fate with dignity. Those who live by the sword...   If the party stands together:   S: I see. You have made your own bonds. Now, show me how strong they are.   Seance and the remaining Speed Demons will attack the party. If Seance is substantially weakened, he will stand down   S: There may be hope for you yet. But will you break free from the chains that are tying you down?   Taking the cargo, Seance will drive away into the desert.