Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, copyright Hasbro, Seibertron's Heavy Metal War game, or War For Cybertron, just the characters that I created for my own usage on said games. I'm not making any money off of them, I just play the games for fun.

Author's Note: Anyone who can tell me the source of Argus' name gets an energon goodie.


"Dramatis Personae"
'Supply Run'
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'


Rings of Saturn,
orbiting planet Saturn, Sol system
A.D. 1999, human Gregorian calendar

Ever since the Autobots had established their Moonbases orbiting Cybertron, resupply had been a concern as the planet itself was essentially under the complete control of Megatron's forces, the Space Bridge was locked down and was linked directly to Darkmount in any case, and perhaps most importantly; Megatron himself was no fool, nor were his lieutenants. The warp gate that made space travel between Cybertron and the Sol system possible was on the outer edge of the system and to get there from Earth, supplies had to travel through the asteroid belt and the outer planets whose moons and rings made excellent ambush sites. Despite the majority of the Decepticon Battlefleet being stationed on Cybertron itself, flights of Seekers or Decepticons with spacecraft alternate modes being assigned to these ambush zones was an all too common occurance.

And if the Dominator-class cruiser currently unleashing a broadside from his port batteries were to say anything about it, he'd likely say that he'd take great pleasure in the day when he no longer had to ensure convoy safety and could simply hunt down the Battlefleet forces and blast them out of what he privately referred to as 'his' sky.

"Seeker inbound, bearing fifty-six, thirty degrees down," the voice of the nearby Firestorm-class frigate broke in over the communications channel, "Who calls?"

"Resolute calls," the Dominator answered back, "Stick with the convoy, Argus."

"Roger that," Argus replied, "Good hunting."

"With these for targets?" Resolute tight-beamed back as he rolled to starboard to bring his broadside batteries to bear, "We could leave the shells floating in space and some of them would fly right into them."

"Yeah," the smaller ship replied on the tight-beam, "And then the humans would probably claim we were littering their system."

"Unlike the Commander, they don't impress me that much," Resolute admitted as he twisted, turned and accellerated towards the still oncoming seeker, "They themselves have done nothing to repel the Battlefleet - it's their planet, but they're content to let the Autobots do all the fighting."

"Different levels of advancement."

If he had been in robot mode, Resolute would've had a visible reaction of annoyance at that reply, "A missile's a missile, 'Gus. As long as it's explosive, it doesn't matter what kind of payload it's carrying, you get hit with enough of them you're gonna be spending time in repairs minimum. Personal experience... magnetic containment field up, charging main gun..."

"Target area is clear of allies," Argus confirmed from above and behind.

"Firing main gun..." The magnetically contained ball of plasma flew from the long barrel mounted under the forward prow of Resolute's cruiser mode.

"Target well hit," Argus confirmed as he saw the jet-mode seeker lose part of its thruster assembly and right wing and begin to drift, dead in space, "Stasis lock confirmed."

"Escort, this is transport Agartha," a voice broke in over both Transformers' radios, "I have enemies in my rear arc, request immediate assistance."

"Argus responding," the frigate answered, coming to a new heading that would bring him in line with the transport towards the rear of the convoy, his smaller size and greater manuverability allowing him to come about faster than Resolute.

"Raker... well, this is a good hunt, isn't it?" Argus commented to himself as he saw the space shuttle Battlefleet Micron attacking the Agartha, "I still owe him a few from that fracas over Phobos..."

"Resolute, Argus," the Dominator-cruiser communicated over a tactical channel, "I'm coming about and inbound, keep them busy until I can line up for an attack run."

"Argus, Resolute," the frigate replied, "I make no promises about them surviving that long. Lance battery charging... firing."

The principle behind a laser Lance battery was a simple one; multiple laser emitters were arranged so that all of their laser beams became one focused beam, this reduced the chance of emitter burn-out and made it an ideal weapon for piercing energy shields. The Lance beam that Argus fired didn't need to penetrate a shield, it struck Raker in a direct hit to the nosecone and began to burn its way through the ceramic tiles of the Battlefleet Micron's heatshield.

Raker screamed in pain and transformed, using the momentum of the action to twist himself down and out of the path of the Lance beam as the damaged frontal section folded to become his chest, arms extended from the sides of his space shuttle mode and the thruster section dropped and split to become his legs.

"You Martian traitor!" The shuttle Micron shouted angrily.

Still closing in on his target, Argus engaged his own transformation systems - his armored prow unfolded down until it was open on the same plane as his lance battery, then prow and lance folded backwards along his keel. The upper half of his frigate form folded out to become arms while the rear section, including his engines, extended to become his legs. Twisting in space and slowing to a stop only a few hundred meters away from Raker, Argus' head rose from his chest and the two spacecraft-turned-robots faced off.

"If you would call that treason," Argus countered, "Then we've made the most of it."

"And the next thing you'll have made of you is your deactivated body shell as my newest trophy," Raker retorted.

Argus reached into his subspace pocket and drew out a sword, slightly curved with intricate carvings along the flats of the blade, "I'll never understand Battlefleet Decepticons and their prediliction towards pointless threats."

"You'll regret those words, traitor."

"No regrets," Argus shot back, activating his sword's energy field, "No fear, no doubt, no regrets. Not eight million years ago, not now."

Raising his sword over his head, Argus fired the thrusters that now formed the back of his lower legs, the wings formed by his opened prow flaring outward as he flew towards his opponent. As the distance closed, Argus lowered the sword from a vertical position above him until he was holding it horizonally, blade out to the side. Raker tried to throw himself backwards, out of the way of the oncoming strike, but it was too late; he had underestimated his opponent, doubted that one of the rogues would have it in them to attack with the intent to terminate him. Sparks of lightning filled space around the two as the energy field of Argus' sword met the metal of Raker's body, disrupting the bonds that held the molecules themselves together and allowing the sword to tear its way through the Battlefleet Decepticon until it had severed him in half.

"This battle is over..." Argus informed Raker, "And you're already dead."

"Clear forward," Resolute's voice broke in over Argus' communications systems, "Magnetic containment field up, charging main gun...

Argus adjusted his position and fired his thrusters, flying upward away from Raker as the other mech tried to physically hold himself together.

"Firing," Resolute announced, a white-hot light shooting forward from his main gun and flying across the void.

The magnetically contained ball of plasma impacted with the two pieces of the Battlefleet Decepticon and for a brief moment there was a new star in the sky as the containment was breached and Raker was engulfed in the super-heated gas.

"For those who refuse to see the crime of their actions, there can be no redemption," Argus intoned before twirling his sword and returning it to his subspace pocket.

"This is Agartha to all escorts, we've got a clear run to the warp gate; thanks for your help, mechs."