Fireguard

I’d like to introduce you to Fire Convoy. It’s a rare honour, in fact; hardly anyone has met him because almost immediately after his creation, he was assigned the all-important duty to protect the planet Cybertron. Tough job—but then he is a bit of a tough nut. You see, Star Saber did something very nasty and kind of has Fire Convoy over a barrel. He also hates Neogens, but I can’t tell if that’s personal or some kind of brainwashing on Star Saber’s part. Star Saber didn’t like so many Neogens running around on ‘his’ planet, so had almost all of them shipped off somewhere, and now it’s Fire Convoy’s job to make sure they don’t come back.

Cybertronian Orbitspace, 2387.

The Predacon warship sped over the top of the Aktirak aft first and fired its pulse cannons at Fire Convoy. The Autobot was mag-clamped to the hull of his shuttle and skilfully dodged the laser pulses without moving his feet. He returned fire with his handheld fusion pistol, rendering the Predacon ship’s Transwarp drive inoperative.

Fire Convoy barked an order into his com-link: “Railspike, tractor-lock that ship!”

The Aktirak’s tractor beam locked onto the Predacon ship and Fire Convoy released his magnetic grip on the hull. He fired his backpack and somersaulted upwards, then, almost ape-like, he swung his arms in a circle behind his head and dug his steel fingers into the hull of the enemy ship. He gripped hard and ripped a shield panel off with one shrug of his shoulders.

“You’re mine, now,” he said to himself, as he continued to rip panels off until there was a hole big enough for him to board the ship.

Scanners indicated it was a one-man ship: a single Neogen in the cockpit. Fire Convoy sped down the corridor into the engine room. He was far too big for the ship, hitting his head and shoulders on the ceiling and walls. Once inside, he quickly located and removed the ship’s Transwarp cell, tucking it under his left shoulder. He then ran to the fuel core and attached a proton bomb to its control panel, setting the timer to 60 seconds.

“Nah, lets make it 40,” he said to himself with a smile, “I’m getting out of practice.”

As the timer began to count down, Fire Convoy raced out of the engine room, back down the corridor, turned left, then right, then burst into the cockpit.

A blue and green insect-like Predacon was hunched in a panic over his communications console. “I’ve found it! Transmitting co-ordinates on a coded frequency. Do not inform the Tripredacus Council, I repeat—"

Fire Convoy grabbed the Predacon by the back of his neck and lifted him out of his chair. “Neogen, scum!” he growled as he brutally ripped the screaming head from its body. Oil gushed all over Fire Convoy as he laughed in triumph.

The bomb exploded.

Fire Convoy fired his pistol at the windscreen and hurled his mass through it. He flew out of the Predacon ship just as it blew into a million pieces. As if the manoeuvre had been practised a thousand times, the Aktirak hovered underneath him with its cargo doors open. He fell gracefully into the cargo bay and landed on his feet, running to a halt.

“Enjoy that, sir?” asked an uninterested Rapid Run as Fire Convoy charged into the bridge.

Fire Convoy thrust the Transwarp cell into Rapid Run’s hands. “Find a use for this.”

He then walked up to the main viewscreen to see Star Saber’s image fade to black. “What’s going on, Railspike?”

No response.

“Railspike! I’m talking to you!”

“Sir, I’m Midnight Express. Railspike is in engineering.”

“Well, whatever. You members of the Bullet Team all look the same to me!” Fire Convoy was way too bombastic to even feel embarrassed at the situation.

“So what did Star Saber want?”

“Just to let us know that Ultra Magnus has got into some trouble and has been transferred to Brave Maximus to join us.”

“Oh great. Another Autobot criminal is added to the list.” Fire Convoy picked at the dried Predacon oil on his arm. “Must have been serious… he was Autobot Leader after all.”

“Star Saber didn’t say. But I think—"

Midnight Express was suddenly interrupted by the Aktirak’s proximity alarms.

“Sir, we have an unidentified ship in the vicinity.”

“Show me.”

The viewscreen flickered into life, showing a small golden probe-like craft. It was bulbous in shape with alien etchings on its outer surface.

“Looks like Khyaxian technology, sir.”

“Really? We haven’t heard from them for centuries.”

“I’m sending a greeting, but so far no response.”

There was no answer. Midnight Express turned round to see an empty space where Fire Convoy had been standing only seconds ago.

“Um, sir?”