“The rust took us… many were consumed, reduced to crumbling wrecks within weeks… I was sent to get help, but I was too late. They- they were all gone when help arrived.” – Gantry
The time: 5 centuries after the Great War ended. The place: a small settlement on Caminus, principal business the extraction and production of raw ores. Nothing unusual, nothing to disturb the peace. Not until a miner realized that his armor was rustier than usual. Then another, a manager, came down with the disease. The authorities tried everything within their power to stop the Rust Plague, but it spread rapidly, bringing many down with joints too rusted to move, hydraulics leaking and cracking as their metal was consumed.
A last resort was agreed upon. One bot, named Gantry, was to go for help, making all hast to the nearest town. Gantry made the journey, one that normally took a week, in only 3 days. A group of medical experts was able to return with him, equipped with tools and medicines that could save the town. But their return was one of grief, not triumph. They found the buildings empty, the mine abandoned, and the hospital… corrupted. Even the settlement’s doctor had succumbed to the plague, and his spark had darkened but a few hours prior.
Gantry later joined with a group of mercenaries under the command of Lockdown as a hired gun, hoping to escape his past by blazing a trail of fire to burn off his guilt. Instead, he wound up in prison in Iacon, captured by an aging Prowl who let him off with a reduced sentence in exchange for the bot’s help in destroying a bioweapons facility that was being operated in a scheme to put Swindle, Swindle, and Swindle permanently behind bars.
The facility was destroyed, and Gantry remained in prison for several years, but on his release he was hired by Prowl as a deputy, to help keep the peace alongside heroes like Devcon and Red Alert. This job he accepted, and brought peace and prosperity for over a century, prompting the leaders of Iacon to create a medal in his honor, awarded to members of emergency services for excellence in duty.
In later years, Gantry retired and opened a secure storage business, utilizing the subspace storage common in the galaxy as well as new quantum computers to store weapons and data for governments outside the realm of enemies. The business became extremely successful, with its yearly profits putting Gantry and his partner Deadbolt in the top 500 businesses in the galactic stock market, even rivaling Swindle & Co.