Knockout was floating.

Outside of the triangular window before him, he could see a small planet, barely even a moon. Around it, pieces broke off and floated into the abyss, like a flower shedding its petals. Only these petals were far from that of beauty- discarded metal, rusted and corroded tore off in chunks. The very compact garbage the planet was made of crumbling away before his optics. A waste planet, Junkion.

Knockout had been unamused when he and his partner had arrived to the rust ball, chasing a warship which was chasing a second warship, hoping that the first had room for two more mouths to supply energon to. They never even touched down on Junkions surface, by the time that they arrived there was little point. See, it wasn't just plates of metal breaking from the dumps gravitational pull.

Bodies. Cybertronion, or perhaps from elsewhere in the universe. Metal carcasses floating in space like a child's doll dropped into a lake. Unmoving, unthinking, unfunctional.

The Autobots Ark had arrived to the planet first. Knockout did not know what exactly had transpired, only that by the time that he and Breakdown had arrived, tailing the Nemesis' signal, both ships were engaged in combat. The planet crumbling to dust underneath them.

The planet was unraveling, and quickly. Scraps the side of buildings shooting off into the unforgiving vacuum which surrounded them.

"There is still time to help them," Breakdown mused "at least, some of them."

Knockout looked to the screen in front of him, displaying the Nemesis' quickly evaporating signal grow weaker by the second. They had been too late, the ship had taken off after the Autobots. The cherry medic turned his glance back to the viewport, to the growing swarm of bodies. "There is no time," he said with defeat.

Breakdown did not seem to like this answer. "You have a duty to help them, Knockout."

"I have a duty to Cybertronions, and the only living ones on this side of the galaxy will be gone within the minute." Knockout spoke more firmly this time, but Breakdown only frowned, "We don't have enough fuel to chase after them forever. We need to get within range and send a distress signal or we will be stuck here..." Knockout gestured to the bodies which we're slowly approaching, "...like them, forever."

Knockout grabbed the controls of the ship, directing it towards the direction that the Nemesis took. As the ship spun, it hit something with a thud. Knockout gaped in shock at what was before him. A body. But not just any body, a Cybertronion body. A seeker, a femme. Her purple and grey body was coated with fresh energon.

The Nemesis' signal grew even fainter, if they didn't act soon, they would be stranded forever.

The purple femme, with her Decepticon insignia proudly displayed on her chest, hovered there. Motionless.

"By the Allspark," Breakdown gasped, "commander Slipstream."

The Nemesis' signal approached the limit of the ships scanners.

Slipstream opened her eyes, ruby optics peering through the ships viewport and directly at Knockout.

Knockout slammed on the accelerator, and the pair shot off into space.

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Knockout opened his optics, shaking the memory from his helm. With any luck, he would forget about the dream by noon.

Rubbing his forehead, he slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. The makeshift berth was far from comfortable, he didn't understand why they couldn't have taken an actual berth from the Nemesis before returning to Earth. Whatever, he had recharged in worse conditions.

The room, with it's flimsy human-built walls and dull grey, well, everything, was far from visually interesting. His room on the Nemesis had good verticality, intricate designs carved into the purple walls and pillars which arched from the floor to the ceiling. This room was a boring grey box. Grey ceiling and a grey floor, which gave foundation to grey walls. Not to mention the simplicity of it. It was a sad large cube. Honestly, more depressing than the war.

His boxes were still yet to be unpacked. He really didn't have much in terms of belongings. Everything that he had was mostly comprised of tools, which Ratchet had promptly stolen and hidden in the medical bay.

Deciding to leave the three boxes for later, Knockout exited his room. There was a short hallway, with doors that led to the other bots rooms, and then the exit. Their rooms were arranged in a hanger of sorts, a large metal building which's exterior was identical to that of the main base's hanger.

Knockout traversed the reddish rocky ground. He had to move slowly, as to not crush the humans. Ratchet had warned him about the risk of them going underfoot and going 'squish'. That mental image was enough to get through to Knockout. He did not need organic mush all over his peds. Plus, Bumblebee would probably be mad about it.

The humans fortunately made things easier for him. They moved in groups, organized into lines. If there were any stragglers then they would go out of their way to avoid him. They seemed to have an air of respect for him, or maybe it was fear. He liked this.

As he walked to the main base hanger, he made a mental list of everyone that he knew to be on the base with him. There was the bug, and the medic who hated him, and, anyone else? A few vehicons had come through the portal, but he imagined that they had since returned to Cybertron.

So there were three of them. Two medics and a scout. Or warrior? He was not completely sure of Bumblebees rank. He would refer to him as a warrior in his mind, only if to save his pride from taking orders from a scout.

Knockout stepped into hanger E, the familiar buzz of Cybertronion equipment putting him at ease. It was slightly brighter inside the hanger than the desert, the morning sun only just crossing the horizon. Good, it will be too early in the morning for the human to be awake.

"Sup Doc Knock?"

Never mind.

Knockout walked past the landing where the human was standing without acknowledging it.

"Rude." Miko spat out.

Knockout could hear Ratchet and the bug conversing, but there was a third voice there too. It was unfamiliar to him. Rounding the corner, Knockout looked at the newest member of the team and- oh, oh it was just a vehicon.

All three bots looked at him, falling quiet. Awkward. He wondered what a vehicon was still doing on Earth, he was under the impression that they were not trusted around the humans for long periods of time.

Said vehicon cocked his helm to the side, and then waved excitedly. "Hi!" It spoke.

Odd. Vehicons did not typically speak unless spoken to. Let alone address a superior in such a casual manner. Knockout raised a brow ridge at the vehicon, regarding it with unease.

"You probably don't remember me," it stammered, "but we've met before, in the medical bay? Not too long ago."

"I see a lot of vehicons in the medical bay," Knockout responded. "it would be impossible to identify you all individually."

"Yes, well, I know," The vehicon continued, "this was more recent though, right before we came to Earth." When Knockout only gave him an empty stare he slumped his shoulders. "I was set to guard you, and you, uh, growled at me. I tried to introduce myself but it was a little chaotic," the vehicon laughed awkwardly, "anyway, I'm Steve."

Knockout squinted in confusion. "Steve? That name sounds uncharacteristically human."

"Well I mean, it's not my real name, my real name isn't really a name at all. I picked this one."

"I see." Knockout was not unfamiliar with vehicon culture. They were assigned identification numbers, they had no real names. It was not uncommon for them to choose a personal identification title to use amongst each other. Using one before a superior though, now that was unheard of. "I suppose that formalities ended with the war." Knockout spoke hesitantly.

"Steve is as much of a member of this team as anyone," Bumblebee spoke, "those demeaning standards don't exist here." The implication was clear, Knockout was not a superior anymore. Even if the vehicons were all he could really pull a rank over to begin with. Knockout glanced over to Ratchet, finding that he shared a similar expression to him. Old habits die hard, he guessed. Not even the elder autobot was above tradition. It would seem that both medic's had more in common than previously thought.

"No offence, bug, but what exactly does this "team" even do?" Knockout questioned.

Bumblebee looked like he was going to retort something about the nickname, but seemed to change his mind. "We are acting as an outpost for planet Earth. Should any remaining Deceptions arrive here we can not leave the humans undefended. We need some Autobots to remain behind to act in case of an emergency, and contact Cybertron for backup if needed." Ratchet grumbled something, and Bumblebee added on "We also need to keep Ratchet from starting any arguments with the human leaders."

"Hardly a fair request. They act like insolent children." Ratchet vented.

"We need to keep up relations with this world," Bumblebee continued, "the Well may be functional again, but it is not immune to abuse. The energon which grows here is an invaluable resource."

Oh, so that's the real reason. They were guarding energon. Cant have any cons growing strong enough to attack Cybertron, you need to cut them off from energon completely.

"It should be fairly easy, pits, consider it a vacation." Bumblebee said, although the joy in his voice sounded forced. Knockout briefly wondered if the bug even wanted to be here either.

"Just have to keep our eyes out for any unusual breaches in the atmosphere." Steve added.

At that moment, an alarm went off. Knockout looked around until he found the source of the noise, a monitor which was flashing red. Ratchet rushed over to the computer, typing frantically.

"What is that?" Knockout questioned, covering his audios from the loud noise.

Bumblebee sighed, "A breach."