RNP Chapter 127 Tagan Heights
Chapter 127 Tagan Heights
The Tagan Heights consist of metal canyons, old mining tunnels, energy transfer stations, ridge forts, and layers of transport bridges, forming a complete highland war zone.
The surface defense line resembled a metal plate folded haphazardly by an engineer long ago, with many faults and gaps, making it seem like there was room for maneuver in any of them.
In a real fight, every fold and unevenness would be at risk of crossfire.
Every mine tunnel could lead to an ambush point.
Every seemingly abandoned relay station can light up again in a certain cycle, becoming the starting point for the next round of competition.
At first, Tagan Heights was just another line of defense.
Then, one Star Year after another passed, and it became an old wound that kept reopening.
-
The Autobots' Thunder Rescue Team was first deployed to Tagan Heights to recapture the Seventh Elevated Power Relay Station.
It is nestled between two mountain ridges, connecting the highland transport bridge above and the old mine tunnel power supply network below. Although not large in itself, it can supply power to three temporary defense lines nearby.
After the Decepticons occupied the area, the Autobots' eastern support line became increasingly difficult to suppress.
The regular assault team tried twice.
The first attempt failed to get close to the relay station.
They got close a second time, but when they withdrew, they had lost half their aircraft.
The third time, the command assigned the mission to the Thunder Rescue Team.
After listening to the mission briefing, Jack summarized it in his own way: "Go in, blow up the main gun turret, restart the relay station, and then come out?"
Tongtianxiao stood in front of the tactical projection, his voice calm and still.
"Before entering, confirm three evacuation routes. The first route is the transport bridge, the second route is the eastern exit of the mine tunnel, and the third route is the maintenance shaft on the back of the high ground."
Looking at the projection, Jack raised his chin: "Will the enemy wait for us to finish drawing the route?"
The person standing next to him, using the partition, immediately and cautiously interjected, "That's not what he meant."
Tong Tianxiao looked at him: "I know what he means."
Partition: "..."
Jack chuckled: "See, they figured it out."
Ultra Magnus will not elaborate further on this little episode:
"There are residual power pipelines beneath the seventh elevated energy relay station. Excessive blasting could cause the entire ridge to fracture. Your task is not to blast a new canyon into the highlands."
"That's a shame," said Jack. "That sounded pretty effective."
Tong Tianxiao stared at him, his eyes filled with disbelief and shock.
The jack casually raised his hand: "Just kidding."
The partition clearly didn't believe him and gave him a leisurely glance.
As expected, Jack added, "Part of it was a joke."
At the edge of the projection, several other members of the Thunder Rescue Team were inspecting weapons.
Cyclone snapped a set of small thrusters back onto his back armor, while the firing pin delayed the breaching explosives. Roadhog, carrying his heavy cannon, glanced down at the relay station's structural diagram, presumably judging where would be the best place to smash it open. Pyro squatted to the side, tapped a blackened energy magazine, and then tucked it back into his waistband.
Their formation didn't look like they were about to carry out a sophisticated mission at all; it was more like they didn't quite understand what "standard operating procedures" meant.
Tong Tianxiao looked at them, his brows furrowing slightly: "Proceed according to plan."
The jack slung the twin swords back behind his back: "Of course."
Hearing this from the side, the partitioned room member sighed.
-
In the nineteenth cycle after the mission began, the first evacuation route was destroyed.
The Decepticons planted a delayed detonation point in the middle of the transport bridge. When Cyclone and the air suppression team swept over the bridge, the entire bridge folded in half with a crash.
The broken metal beam plummeted into the fog, creating a dull thud.
Tong Tianxiao immediately changed the command in the channel: "First evacuation route is invalid. Switch to second route."
As the jack slid down the outer wall of the relay station, it looked up at the broken bridge and said, "They're really enthusiastic."
The partition withstood the firepower of two Decepticons in the passage below, slamming one of them directly into the wall: "You still have the mood to comment?"
"I have to have some hobbies."
"Could you please not pursue your hobbies amidst gunfire?"
The main gun turret at the forward relay station turned towards them, and the two aircraft said no more.
That thing was supposed to be an old-fashioned defense system, slow to react and with an unreliable power supply. But the Decepticons modified it, connected it to a new temporary control console, and when the muzzle lit up, the entire mountain ridge trembled.
The jack saw it and rushed over.
"Jack!" Ultra Magnus's voice was less steady. "You've deviated from the course!"
"The route is below its cannon muzzle."
"Wait for the partition to be moved in!"
"Wait for it to fire?"
Before Magnus could answer, the main turret began charging.
Jack stepped onto a raised piece of armor plate and leaped into the air, flipping to avoid the first barrage of fire. An explosion erupted beneath his feet, the blast wave lifting his entire aircraft into the air.
The bulkhead came crashing up from the side, and the heavy hammer smashed through a support column, forcing the main gun turret to deviate by half a beat.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the jack was lowered onto the outer shell of the turret, the twin blades were inserted into the control gap, and a twist was made with a reverse hand.
"Now!" he shouted.
The firing pin's explosive device flew into the gap from below, and Pello pulled the trigger button from a distance.
The inside of the turret lit up briefly.
Immediately afterwards, the explosion ripped open from the inside out, peeling off a layer of the entire main gun emplacement from the middle, and flames shot out along the ridge.
"Main gun turret disabled." The jack landed, a laugh in his voice. "Look how fast."
Tong Tianxiao showed no relief: "You detonated the backup passage ahead of time."
The jack looked down. Half of the maintenance well beneath the gun emplacement had collapsed, and the third evacuation route was gone.
The channel went silent for a second.
The partition forcefully pushed aside the broken slabs pressing down on Roadhog: "There's a second route."
Tong Tianxiao said, "Enemy reinforcements have appeared near the second route."
At the entrance to the old mine tunnel, Decepticon reinforcements were already arriving in force.
Jack chuckled: "Then let's go out the way they came from."
Tongtianxiao's tone turned a little colder: "That's not the evacuation route."
"It'll be there soon." With that, he rushed out again.
The partition sighed, muttered a few words, "Old swindler," and followed.
Cyclone swooped down from above, taking control of the firing point above the mine entrance. Roadhog's heavy artillery blasted open the side wall, and the breaching squad, carrying the hammer, drilled straight in through the breach. Parrow dragged an injured teammate behind, cursing the mine tunnel as if it were his nemesis.
The Thunder Rescue Team's advance was chaotic, appearing disorganized and haphazard from a tactical projection perspective.
They kept deviating from the route, using impromptu blasts, and filling in for each other to squeeze out new exits from the collapsed passage.
But they were also very clear about each other's damn personality traits and ways of doing things.
Before the jack could sever the control line, the bulkhead had already shielded him from the flank fire.
As the whirlwind swept low overhead, the firing pin preemptively dropped the explosive device into the blind spot after it passed.
Just as Roadhog unleashed his firepower, Pyro dragged the wounded out of the gap.
Tong Tianxiao watched the constantly changing route on the tactical screen, his optical scope growing heavier and heavier.
The relay station's power supply core has finally lit up again, and the three Autobot defense lines on the east side of Tagan Heights have simultaneously regained power.
The seventh elevated energy relay station was recaptured.
The Thunder Rescue Team emerged from the mine tunnels where Decepticon reinforcements had arrived, their bodies covered in scorch marks and their armor warped by the explosion.
The jack was the last to come out; it was pitch black and looked like coal, but his tone was light and cheerful.
"Mission accomplished."
Tong Tianxiao stood outside the temporary command post waiting for them: "The damage exceeded our expectations."
The jack pulled a piece of shattered armor off his shoulder and tossed it aside: "But the relay station is lit up."
"You detonated the backup passage prematurely, causing the third evacuation route to fail."
"Because the main gun turret is about to fire."
"You didn't report it."
Jack looked at him and said, "If I report this, we'll be dead."
Standing between the two machines, Geban raised his hand with a headache: "We made it out alive."
Tong Tianxiao looked at the partition: "This is not standard combat procedure."
Jack immediately chimed in: "But that's Thunder Rescue Team standard."
Several members of the Thunder Rescue Team around him chuckled.
Tong Tianxiao didn't laugh: "Standards can't be defined by survival; that's not a standard."
The smile on the jack's face mask faded: "You think we relied on luck?"
"I think you've expanded controllable risks to the brink of becoming uncontrollable."
"Because if you don't charge in, you'll never take it."
"There's no point in rushing in and not coming back."
The two machines faced each other from a distance, and this time the partition did not obstruct them.
He knew very well that neither side was entirely wrong.
In places like Tagan Heights, many positions simply cannot be captured without the Thunder Rescue Team.
But Avatar wasn't wrong either; completing a mission doesn't mean you can always come back.
The wind carried the bitter smell of burnt metal and leaked energy, and the relay station lit up again in the distance.
The two aircraft ultimately said no more and withdrew.
-
Less than two weeks after the seventh elevated energy relay station was recaptured, the mining tunnel on the north side of Tagan Heights was lost again.
After three more cycles, the Broken Ridge Turret was relit by the Decepticons.
The transport bridge that the Autobots had just repaired was blown up in one section.
The Thunder rescue team was moved over to fill in the gaps, then to the next spot, and then the next.
As soon as you press down one red dot, another one will light up, and this process is repeated to stitch the dots together.
Jack sat outside the makeshift repair shed, head down, wiping his blade. Next to him sat Bieban, a patch hastily hammered onto his machine by an ambulance.
In the distance, Tong Tianxiao was checking the next round of defensive line adjustments with the police car.
After observing for a while, the jack suddenly said, "Has he always been this tight?"
He didn't even need to look at the partition to know who he was talking about: "He's the commander, the Autobot's second-in-command."
"I know. The problem is, he even has to write down the angle from which he's standing in the plan beforehand."
The partition thought for a moment: "Sometimes this can be quite useful."
The jack turned to look at him, and his expression said a lot.
The partition emphasizes: "Sometimes."
Jack chuckled: "You're trying to offend neither side."
"This is based on my experience and is the truth."
Jack sheathed the knife behind his back: "You think he's right?"
Looking out from the partition at the still-flaming fires on the Tagang Heights, new orders were being sent in one after another. He pondered for a moment.
"I don't think he wants us to die."
The jack was silent for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.
"This is truly a very difficult task."
The partition chuckled softly.
After the laughter subsided, both machines fell silent—this was no joke.
-
I emptied the jacks and partitions, and took advantage of the time before Tagang Heights malfunctioned to go to Crystal City.
The partition said he needed to go there.
The jack, which was leaning against the repair shed, raised an eyebrow after hearing this.
"Go see her?"
"Um."
Are you sure you want to do it now?
"If we delay any longer, another transfer order will come."
The jack thought for a moment and said, "That makes sense."
As the two machines scanned through the neutral protocol, Jack glanced down at his locked weapon access and wondered, "Does this have to be done here?"
Looking at him through the partition, he said, "Don't cause trouble here."
"Do I look like the kind of machine that would cause trouble in the medical tower?"
The partition remained silent, and the jack tilted to one side.
Your silence is hurtful.
"I'm giving you a chance to think it through yourself."
"That would hurt even more."
The depths of the Crystal City Medical Tower remained quiet.
When the hibernation chamber door opened, rumbling and confusion peeked out from beside the hibernation pods.
One blue and one red, the two pairs of optical mirrors lit up at the same time.
The jack paused for a moment: "From the Soundwave family?"
The partition also saw them and whispered, "It's hard to say right now."
Jack looked at the two little guys and chuckled, "Fine."
He didn't get too close, after all, those two miniature giant robots looked like they would start causing trouble if he took another step forward.
The jack is a nuisance, especially with its booming hammer arm already poised to strike.
The vector lay in its hibernation pod, its deep purple outer armor completely closed and repaired, with a silver-gray nameplate hanging from its neck.
The partition walked to the hibernation pod and stood there for a while.
"Fighting has broken out on Tagan Heights, and it's estimated that it will last for quite a while."
Jack crossed his arms and glanced around between the hibernation pods and the sealing markers.
"You used to be quite good at causing trouble for those office workers."
The person behind the partition chuckled and turned to look at him.
Jack also had a smile on his face: "He's praising her."
The partition sighed: "I know, it's just that your way of praising the machine needs improvement."
"I think it's quite sincere."
A slight rumble shook the area, and the distorted optical mirror lit up.
Jack looked at them: "You think so too?"
Partition: "Don't tease them."
"I'm building friendly relationships."
"...This is more like a provocation."
"Many friendly relationships begin with provocation."
She held back and didn't argue with him inside the medical tower.
After a moment of silence, the jack returned its gaze to the hibernation pod, and the playful expression on its face slowly faded.
"Our team specializes in doing dirty and dangerous jobs."
The jack looked down at the scorch marks on his hands, then looked up again, his tone even cheerful.
"That's good, we have to have a chance to go eventually."
Looking at the blue-green flame on the vector's chest, the partition slowly thought that if she were awake, she would definitely stop them and say a lot of things, probably asking about their mission losses, evacuation plans, medical plans, and command chain approvals.
She'll probably annoy Jack, she'll annoy Tongtianxiao, and then she'll give all the machines a piece of her mind, and he probably won't escape it either.
Thinking of this, the optical mirror on the partition flickered slightly, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. He had spotted the jack.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I didn't laugh."
You almost laughed just now.
You've misjudged.
"How come you're even less able to lie than Tongtianxiao?"
The partition finally gave a genuine laugh, but it was immediately suppressed by the fatigue that had accumulated on Tagan Heights.
The jack stopped teasing him, looked at the gravitational vector inside the hibernation pod, and suddenly raised his hand to gently tap the outside of the pod.
It's like a high five, and also like a greeting.
"Let's go and take that high ground first."
He said.
"When you wake up, if you think we fought too badly, you can scold us yourself, and I promise I won't talk back."
The person behind the partition immediately retorted, "Are you sure you want to get yelled at by her?"
Jack turned and walked out: "That sounds better than being nagged by Tongtianxiao."
The partition followed: "Old swindler, you absolutely mustn't let Ultra Magnus hear this."
"Would he include this in his report if he heard it?"
"meeting."
The jack seemed speechless or shocked: "Then let's not let him hear it."
The two machines left the hibernation chamber.
Far away on the Tagang Heights, the seventh elevated energy relay station stands brightly.
Meanwhile, the mine tunnel further north began to flash red once again.