Impulse — transformers2005


Name	Impulse
Faction	Autobot
Function	Security
Alt Mode	Hovercar
Type	OC

Profile

"Speed is essential for quick victory."

One of the few that can truly contend with Blurr as one of the fastest land-based Transformers, Impulse -- originally known as Slipstream -- is one of the oldest living Autobots from the Second Cybertronian War. He is also one of the few Alteronian Autobot survivors who endured two million years worth of torture and experimentation. The result of the Decepticon meddling has enhanced his 'speedster' qualities to a new level, yet has also kept him riding a fine line between extreme speed and burnout from overloading his neural inhibitors. His hovercar altmode is extremely fast and agile, yet durable enough for any rough-and-tumble vehicle combat. Making use of his 'speedster' qualities by learning a Cybertronian martial art form, Impulse is a potentially formidable foe in melee. Still haunted by his torture and the torture of the other Alteronians by the Decepticons, he can be baited into confrontation if he isn't careful, and his average firepower makes it less likely for him to hold out in a prolonged engagement.

History

Sometime after the beginning of the Second Cybertronian War, Slipstream was created in one of the few remaining creation factories on Cybertron as part of a unit of stealthy infiltrators. Designed as a 'speedster' type with a high-speed hovercar altmode for more recon-oriented duties, his creation-mates numbered Sheng among them. Despite their being the same age, Slipstream always took on a 'big brother' mentality to the unit, especially with Sheng, whom he would jokingly call "li'l girl".

In the aftermath of the Second War, with almost nothing whatsoever to do, Slipstream signed up with Sheng for the Alteron colony, hoping to find a bit more action. If nothing else, it meant a new world to explore.

At six times the diameter of Earth (a planet that the Transformers wouldn't discover for several million years yet), Alteron was a desert planet with gold sand, as well as black and red rocks and cliffs. With the heat (hot enough to kill a human in under four hours, if they were to ever visit), Slipstream's original color scheme was altered and his initial stealth-based technology removed. He was repainted gold with black trim and dots, in order to better blend in with his new surroundings so that he wouldn't stand out from the terrain around him and be an easy target.

To complement his design specs as a high-speed courier and reconnaissance operative, Slipstream had training in various combat-related fields, serving as an advisor of sorts to the Alteronian Autobots who had come to the desert world to mine for new energy sources. As a result, Slipstream quickly established himself as one of the fastest and most efficient Autobot scouts and warriors on Alteron.

For several million years, Alteron remained relatively peaceful, unscathed even by the resumption of hostilities to herald the beginning of the Third Cybertronian War. In that time, Slipstream bonded with many of those he worked with, although none of those friends could measure up to the sibling relationship that continued to develop with Sheng. It was during this time that, just in case anything were to happen, Slipstream began learning one of the Cybertronian martial arts, utilizing his speed for added advantage.

The peace and tranquility that enveloped Alteron was unfortunately shattered five million years ago with the arrival of a Decepticon army led by five generals. The communications relays were destroyed almost immediately by the Decepticon fleet -- however, the retaliatory strike by the Autobots crippled their vessels and rendered them unsalvageable.

The damage, sadly, was already done: the Third Cybertronian War had officially spread to Alteron.

The damage was made all the more tragic by the betrayal of one of their own. Whitewind, at the time a lower-ranking member of the Alteronian Autobots, was actually a Decepticon double agent, supplying the enemy with information that enabled the Decepticons to assassinate many of the higher-ranking Autobots on-station. With time, Whitewind herself became the leader of the Autobot forces. Sheng had, by now, become the chief security officer for the remnants of the Alteronian Autobot forces; Slipstream became her XO. Those promotions, however, didn't last for long before the worst was to be revealed.

Having finally gained control of the Autobots, Whitewind began issuing all sorts of new orders, most of which were intentionally designed to kill the Autobots by a war of attrition. No one initially suspected her of being a traitor at first, and so it was generally assumed that Whitewind, being unaccustomed to being a command-rank officer, had yet to come into her own. After nearly three million years of war on Alteron, however, the Alteronian Autobots had been thinned out sufficiently to allow Whitewind to initiate the final act of treason: she gave the Decepticons the access codes to the Autobot base of operations.

By this point, Slipstream had become suspicious of Whitewind's seeming incompetence, and had begun to investigate the matter more thoroughly. He gathered the evidence, but as he was contacting Sheng to let her know what he'd found, he heard the alarms going off throughout the radio link. The Decepticons were already invading. By the time he arrived, he found most of the Alteronian Autobot forces had been killed already, and before he could really do anything, he was knocked unconscious. The last thing he saw was Whitewind, standing over him... with her Decepticon insignia proudly displayed.

The survivors were subjected to horrific tortures and experiments. In Slipstream's case, the Decepticons worked on augmenting his neural net capabilities in direct proportion to his speed, completely bypassing what inhibitors he had in place from his original construction. He could think faster, but it was every bit as much of a curse as it was a blessing, as it accelerated not only his neural net functions, but his physiological functions as well. The faster he moved, the faster he would speak and think. For most, this might have been a good thing: for a 'speedster' like Slipstream, however, it was absolute hell.

Slowly but surely, the survivors dwindled until only fifty remained -- out of the original million Autobot colonists. Slipstream, however, had suffered so much neural net degradation from the constant torture and experimentation that he finally entered stasis-lock, unable to continue powering himself any longer. The Decepticons, of course, left him in his cell to rust away into scrap metal.

In 2005, however, everything changed in the course of one night. Popular belief holds that, almost at the exact moment that Rodimus Prime opened the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, a stealthed individual infiltrated the Decepticon base -- which they had claimed from the Autobots -- and not only freed the Alteronian Autobot survivors, but also killed the Decepticons still present. Whitewind was believed to be the last one killed.

Assessing the casualties, Slipstream's body was found. While some makeshift repairs were attempted, the main problem was the lack of dedicated medical personnel. Undaunted, Whitefang -- who now was leading the Alteronian Autobot survivors -- brought Slipstream's chassis to Cybertron, where his primary functions were restored. With the help of Sheng and DepthCharge, Slipstream began to regain a measure of full functionality, although not as much as he'd originally possessed.

After only eighteen months, however, Slipstream returned to Alteron. While it had initially been good to see Sheng again, tensions had developed between them both that threatened to estrange them. While the two were reconciled before his departure, Slipstream still had several issues -- notably the seeming belief that the 'old-timer' couldn't do the job hed been doing for far longer than most of them had ever existed.

It hadn't helped that Whitewind had apparently not been killed on Alteron after all -- she had holographic generators that had been used to fool everyone before making her escape. Without caring for the consequences, Slipstream had gone after her to try and kill her once and for all -- instead, all he succeeded in ultimately doing was killing another holographic decoy, as the supposed 'remains' turned out not to be her's at all.

Ten years have passed since returning to Alteron, and slowly Slipstream began to face his inner demons. Only within the last couple of months has that culminated in a complete rebuild -- a new body, built to not only better withstand the stresses of high-speed maneuvers in both his robot and hovercar modes, but also to build upon the initial inhibitor technology developed by DepthCharge to promote better overall efficiency. With that new body came a new name: Impulse.

Now, he's ready to move on, and return to Cybertron once more. And what challenges lie in wait for him, only time will tell...