DMK: I'm baaaaack!! I have a few new faces to introduce, and I'm SORRY that I'm not able to update anything else I've written. I don't stick to one fic until its done... and I find that writing other stories often inspire me to finish others that are in progress. This does have a few references to the game Heavy Metal War, but aside from that, its rather enjoyable.

@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@

Chapter Two

"Ratchet?"

"Here."

"Deltastrike?"

"Present."

"Tomahawk?"

"Yo."

"Red-Alert?"

"What's up?"

"Good. That's all of you," Their team leader stated as he entered the names of those present. The mech was named Kronos. He was a 'bot of considerable age, who had lived through many wars and battles in his day, and much more experienced than the four youngsters he was commanding.

"So what are we here for?" Red-Alert asked impatiently. "It's about slagging time I got to kill a few 'cons."

He was met by a glare from Kronos, who cleared his throat and spoke to them all. "You four have been given the order to proceed out to Grid Sector 18254 and prevent a Decepticon ambush. There is a squadron out there that has been damaged and are unable to return for the time being."

"So what your saying is that there are a bunch of dying guys we're supposed to watch out for?" Red was silenced by a jab to his chest from his brother.

Kronos glared at him again. "In blatant terms, yes. But do NOT take this mission lightly. The medics are busy repairing all of the soldiers out there. Until they can function, you four are to help keep any and all Decepticons at bay."

Mother slagging hell, Red thought to himself. This is the LAST thing I wanted to get stuck doing. Now I have to defend a bunch of invalids. No real battle, nothing. Slaggit. I say, if they can't fight, they're not worth saving. Only the real warriors survive that kinda stuff.

Red hated the weak. He hated those who couldn't battle. He naturally felt that those who were weak or unable to battle were as good as dead. They 'got in his way', after all. He had absolutely NO respect for those who gave up their lives fighting, nor for medics. That's another thing he hated. Medicine. Saving the weak was just as pointless.

"We'll move out immediately," Ratchet told his leader finally.

Kronos nodded. "Good. You have five minutes to prepare your weapons and yourselves, and then you're out of here."

The four mechs saluted their commander and left to gather their weapons. As they walked back, Tomahawk looked at Red-Alert out of the corner of his optics. "Yo Red, what's your problem?"

"This slagging mission, that's what," he snapped, not looking at his comrade.

'Hawk sighed, already knowing his friend's attitude. "Why is it that you DON'T care? What's wrong with medics and saving lives?"

"I told ya before, because it's pointless. All I care about in my life is partying and trashing 'cons."

"What about after the war?"

"Don't plan on bein' here that long," Red told his friend absently. "I figure, if this war keeps going on, I'll be gone before it's over."

'Hawk's reaction was incredulous. "What?! You just plan on throwin' your life away?!"

"Jeez calm down," The laid-back Red-Alert told him. "Life's cheap."

His friend growled low in his throat and proceeded to his quarters to get his most trusted weapon. In about five minutes' time, all of Red's team had been assembled in the dry dock and were moving out.

It was a long ride there.

As per usual, Red-Alert had decided to sleep. The youth really and truly didn't care, and instead of preparing himself, spaced out. When the aircraft landed, they met up with several other teams who had been sent on this same mission, and then they entered the makeshift base and med bay.

There was stretcher after stretcher of wounded warriors. A few were already dying, and there seemed to be only three or so medics to tend to them all. It made Red angry, but the sight of so many wounded also triggered another emotion that he had fought to forget: compassion.

One of the healthier mechs strode up to them. Instantly Red-Alert recognized him as one of the teachers at the military academy. He'd even taught Optimus Prime, it was rumored. "Ah, it's good to see you, team RX-0346. From our surveillance and our intelligence gathering, it's been determined that the Decepticon fleet sent to ambush us will strike within the next few days. You must all be on guard."

Ratchet, their team leader, nodded in acknowledgement. "We will be ready when they strike." He then looked to all of the fallen Autobots. "Do you need any sort of medical aid?"

The tall mech sighed and nodded wearily. "Yes. There's too few medics and too many wounded. Any help would be appreciated."

Almost instantly, Red watched his brother begin to tend to other injured Transformers. The makeshift bunker they were all situated in didn't keep out the sweltering heat, and the arrogant mech soon became irritated.

"Primus above... this is SO a waste of my time..."

Tomahawk was about to counter his friend's nonchalancy when an alarm blared. It was an emergency signal, too. Over the P.A system came a voice, "CODE RED! DECEPTICON AMBUSH ON THE BASE! ALL UNITS ARE TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY!"

"Well, looks like the D-cons finally decided to make a move," Red said eagerly. "Fine by me."

Red-Alert and his three teammates hurried to the nearest exit. The second they stepped outside, Red felt the sting of laser fire nick his shoulder. It sent a rush of something like adrenaline through his being, and he instantly began to fire on the enemies. There were about twenty or so well armed Decepticons, five of them seekers or other aircraft. From their base, there were sparsely fifteen healthy soldiers.

"Spread out!" Ratchet told them all. "We'll be harder to hit!"

"No need telling me twice!" Red crowed as he transformed and headed away from his team.

Right towards the Decepticons.

TBC

@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@

DMK: CLIFFIE!!! HA!! Well, the next chapter is gonna be the rest of the battle, aaaaaaand, maybe the ending as well. I don't know. As always, REVIEW!!! And be NICE!! Please?