An Autobot shuttlecraft shot through the interstellar void on a course for Cybertron. It was named the Starcruiser, and on board were the five members of Firestormer Team Beta-5.
The team members were huddled at the front of the ship's bridge, Trixter and Afterburner reclining in the pilot's and copilot's chairs while Air Raid, Upstart, and Strafe sat on the floor behind them. Above them on the viewscreen a battle raged between the evil Empire and the Rebellion. X-wings streaked through a canyon in the surface of the Empire's massive space station, the Death Star, followed closely by the Empire's own TIE Fighters. All optics were glued to the screen as Luke Skywalker, leader of the Red Team of X-wings and the young man destined to become a Jedi Knight, took aim at the Death Star's one weak spot. As, from out of nowhere, the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke's now-dead mentor, whispered, "Use the Force, Luke," Trixter heard a beeping noise coming from her communications console, signaling an incoming S.O.S. She swung her feet down off the control board and patched the message through to the main screen.
"Hey!" the other four shouted in unison as the picture suddenly turned to static.
"Sorry, guys, but we're getting an S.O.S. from another Autobot ship," Trixter informed them as she fine-tuned the signal. "And anyway, it's not like you don't know how it ends," she added with a smile.
For a moment the screen was filled only with static, then it resolved into the face of a battered Autobot. The scene behind him was the smoke filled bridge of a small Autobot cruiser, just barely larger than their own Starcruiser. The sound quality of the message was poor, but they could just make out, "...please respond...killed everyone...please help..." before the screen and sound went back to pure static.
"Dammit!" Trixter exclaimed to herself as she turned the dials back and forth, trying to get the signal back. Then she noticed that Upstart had gotten to his feet and was standing beside her chair.
"Trixter, was that..." he said quietly, staring agape at the screen.
"Yeah, I think so," she replied. She turned to find the others staring at the pair expectantly. Trixter knew that look. She and Upstart had been best friends for longer than most of them had even known each other, and at times their cryptic exchanges completely lost the others. "There was a friend of ours named Furie who disappeared a while back," she explained. "We just assumed he had been killed..."
"And that was him," Afterburner finished for her.
"You guessed it," Trixter said. "You guys feel up to a rescue?" She turned back to the comm console. "It looks like the signal originated pretty close to here. We should get there in just a few minutes."
Those minutes passed quickly as the team prepared themselves in the shuttle's small armory for whatever awaited them on the other ship. Then it took a few more minutes for Trixter to maneuver her ship for docking and attach the 'Cruiser to the other ship using the magnetic seal around the outside of their doorway. Then, as the team gathered around, the Starcruiser's door slid open and Afterburner went to work making a breach in the hull with a cutting torch. Soon a piece of the hull roughly the size and shape of the Starcruiser's door fell away into the other ship.
Cautiously, the five Autobots stepped aboard. They found themselves in a long hall with a large pair of double doors at each end, and smaller doors spaced evenly down the length of the opposite wall. The broken bodies of two of the crew members lay sprawled on the floor at one end.
The team stood silently, guns raised, listening for whatever else might be aboard. All they heard was the faint crackle of comm static coming from the double doors near the bodies. "Whatever did this, I think it's gone now," Afterburner whispered eventually.
"Okay, let's head toward the bridge and get Furie," Trixter said, pointing to the door that the static was coming from.
They proceeded quietly down the hall, Afterburner and Strafe walking backwards so nothing could sneak up on them. As they stepped carefully around the bodies, a gunshot echoed through the metal corridor. Everyoned jumped at the sudden noise. "Sorry. Thought I heard something," Strafe apologized.
Soon they reached the door and Upstart tried to open it. The button that made it slide open had been shot through with a laser, and all that remained was a lump of melted metal. He braced himself and tried to pull the two halves of the door apart.
"This place is too quiet," Strafe said, looking back down the hall. "If anything here was still alive..." Trixter shot him a warning glance.
"Furie's probably just unconscious on the bridge," Upstart said, still struggling with the door. "This thing's really stuck! Gimmie a hand, Trixie." Trixter grabbed the edge of one of the doors, saying, "I told you not to call me..." The door suddenly slid open and their inertia threw the pair to the floor.
Upstart got to his feet and stood in the doorway. "By Primus, lookit this mess!" he exclaimed, looking around at the battle-scarred wreckage of the bridge. The room was a ruin, and several dead Autobots were mixed in among the burning control panels and mangled chairs.
Trixter was the first to see Furie, and she rushed to his side. Still clinging to consciousness, he looked up at her, smiling weakly.
"Trixter? Is that you?" he asked in a whisper.
The others gathered around. "Is he okay?" asked Strafe.
"He's just a little busted up," she said, looking up at them from where she knelt beside her friend. "He'll be all right."
"Lets just get him back to the Starcruiser," said Upstart. "All these bodies are giving me the creeps."
The five Autobots carried Furie back to their ship and set up a place for him to lay down at the back of the bridge until they reached Cybertron. Trixter let Air Raid pilot the ship so she and Upstart could stay with their injured friend. Furie lost consciousness almost as soon as they laid him down, and the trip proceeded uneventfully until, just a few minutes away from Cybertron, Furie sat bolt upright.
"no No NO!" he cried suddenly, clutching his head. Trixter and Upstart jumped back, startled. "Hey, what's happening to him?" Air Raid asked as the team jumped to their feet.
"I don't know!" Trixter replied. "Furie, what's wrong?"
"I...don't want to...hurt you..." the injured Autobot said painfully. Then he pulled a gun from a hidden leg holster. "I...I can't control it..." He stood up and started firing erratically around the bridge, still clutching his head with his free hand. All but Trixter took cover, but as Upstart lept behind a chair a laser blast hit his shoulder and he let out a howl. Trixter tried to pull the gun away from Furie, but his grip was too tight. Then he turned it on her. Trixter looked Furie straight in the face, trying to keep the fear she felt hidden. "Furie, I don't know what's wrong with you, but I know you were once my friend. I don't believe you would kill me," she told him calmly. For a moment he just stared at her, trembling, and she realized that his injuries were more than physical. In that moment, despite the fact that he was the one holding the gun, he looked utterly terrified. Trixter could tell that something beyond explanation had happened to him since he disappeared, something that had shattered his sanity. She also realized what had happened on the derelict ship. "You were what killed everyone on that ship, weren't you?" she said quietly.
"I never wanted to hurt anyone," he replied shakily. "You've got to help me, Trixter! Please..." He dropped his gun, collapsing into her arms as it clattered to the floor. Hearing that the danger had passed, the others came out of hiding.
"Is he okay now?" Upstart asked, shaken and clutching his wounded shoulder.
"I think he'll be okay until we get to Cybertron, but we need to get him to a medic as soon as we land," she said, laying Furie back down on the floor. "Looks like you could use one, too," she added, glancing at Upstart.
"Yep, this is the last time we let you two bring one of your friends aboard!" Afterburner laughed nervously, surveying the minor damage done to the ship as Air Raid sat them back on course for Cybertron.
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