Part 1 of my 2 part thingy. Part 2 will hopefully be up tomorrow.
Sorry in advance for the mistakes.
I own nothing.
Knock Out shuddered in disgust. The vegetation in this sector of the planet simply RUINED his finish! Not to mention the green of the foliage clashed horribly with his cherry red paint. He shook a pede, appalled, and wondered why he was here again.
Oh yeah. Scouting for that fragging energy signal.
He was a superior officer! 'Scouting' jobs should be left to minor Decepticons, like Vehicons. He had more important things to take care of. This scouting mission was just wasting the time of both him and Breakdown.
Knock Out's assistant was following his own scanner over the hill a ways. He didn't mind this mission, simply because he loved being outside, and there was a chance he'd get his daily dose of excitement. In Knock Out's professional opinion, Breakdown could've handled this dumb job himself, giving Knock Out the time to continue on sensitive projects.
The Decepticon CMO placed two digits to the side of his helm, opening his and Breakdown's private comm. frequency. This wasn't particularly necessary, but they both agreed that the small privacy it offered was comforting, especially with a 'bot like Soundwave in close proximity. "Have you found anything YET?!"
Teasing annoyance was heavy in the former-Wrecker's tone. /Not since the LAST six times you asked me!/
Knock Out navigated around a clump of suspicious-looking bushes. "Sometimes I think Lord Megatron sends us on these 'trips' just to get rid of us."
/You're only getting that now?/ Joked his friend.
The scanner in Knock Out's servo started to beep. "Hold on." He inspected the blinking red light on the small instrument. It was indicating something rather close to his current position. "I do believe I've got something. Rendezvous at my position." He waited for Breakdown.
He heard his partner before he saw him. A small smile wormed itself over Knock Out's faceplates, despite his disgust to be in his current predicament. Breakdown was not known for his stealth.
"Can you be any louder, Breakdown?" He smirked once Breakdown had caught up. "I don't think the Autobots heard you."
"Yeah, well, you'd be loud too if you were my size. Shorty."
They found the source of the energy signal in a small grove of pine trees. They both stared a moment, dumb-struck.
"A… stasis pod?" Breakdown voiced both their thoughts. Knock Out gave the signal to approach and Breakdown cycled his servos into his hammers. They crept forward carefully, inspecting the dusty pod. Once Knock Out had deemed it safe, he crouched and swiped a servo against the dirty symbol carved on the surface.
"It's one of ours." He indicated to the purple mark he'd just cleaned off.
"Should we open it here, or bring it to Lord Megatron first?"
Knock Out considered this. If they brought back an open stasis pod, Lord Megatron may get cross. And, if there was something alive inside, they may possibly bring it back empty. But if he left it sealed, another officer would take credit for discovering what was inside. Knock Out could just see Starscream's haughty grin, or Soundwave's smug silence.
Knock Out couldn't handle that. Just the thought of it made his energon boil.
"We open it now." He flipped his hand to his rotary saw and proceeded to carefully cut a hole in the top of the pod. When finished, he pried the circle off and he and Breakdown peered in to the interior.
Silence settled between them as they registered what the contents were.
Their optics met. A smile tugged at the corners of Knock Out's mouth.
"Oh, Soundwave will be thrilled."