Disclaimer - I do not own The Transformers Franchise, it is owned by Hasbro. This disclaimer will apply to all chapters.

_Neutral Ship_

Alarms blared throughout the ship, almost drowning out the screams of agony and pain of its former inhabitants. Energon littered the hallway, their sources sprawled out at odd angles along the corridor.

Suddenly, a large mech came sprinting down the hallway, his armor singed and scratched. The mech's vents flared as they attempted to relieve the overheated systems.

The mech stumbled as another explosion rocketed the ship, almost tripping over the pede of an offlined mech in process. An automated voice rang out across the ship, advocating for evacuation. The mech was almost to the other end of of the corridor when the door he entered through opened, revealing the invaders.

"You there, Stop," Shouted a mech, his blaster whining as it was raised to fire at the mech. The mech, extremely startled by their sudden appearance, increased his efforts to reach the other door. Blaster fire whizzed past his frame, nicking him in already damaged armor and struts. Messages warning him of stasis popped onto his HUD, increasing the stress already on the mech from the situation. He pushed his systems as much as possible, attempting to reach the door.

"Stop him, NOW," Another invader yelled, aim his rifle towards the mech. Just as the invader was about to fire a round into his prey's plating, another explosion spiralled throughout the ship, forcing the shot into an exposed energon conduit. The force of the round caused energon to burst out, splashing onto the floor of the hallway.

The mech took advantage of the explosion to run past the doors, locking them behind him. He ran as fast as his damaged leg strut would allow, making his way towards the escape pods, energon leaking the whole way.

"Tantalus, a-are you alright," Came a concerned voice from the pod, Green optics peering out towards him. Her wings flicked slightly as she poked him through their bond. He poked her back as he programmed the pod away to get them as far as possible from the ship.

"I'm fine," replied the stress mech, grunting from the effort of keeping himself upright. The femme frowned at the lie, knowing from their bond that it wasn't true.

The femme countered, "No, you aren't." She gestured to his frame with a servo,"I can see the energon leaking from almost every part -"

"It doesn't matter," He cut in, attempting to prolong the conversation about his injuries. The femme frowned deeply, gripping the edge of her seat as another explosion went off.

"It matters to me." She turned away from the mech staring out into space. The mech sighed, moving into the pod as its systems booted up. He wrapped his arms around the femme.

"Everything will turn out fine," He said to her. "I will do everything in my power to keep you safe." She gave the mech a half-hearted smile before leaning into his chest plates.

"I hope so," She whispered to him as the pod forced them into stasis, beginning their long journey as the final explosion ripped through the ship they had escaped from.

_Decepticon Ship_

The Bridge of the Decepticon ship was alive with movement and orders as the assault on the neutral ship continued. The Decepticons cheered cruelly each time a report came through about the termination of another Neutral. The vehicons monitoring the battle relaying orders to the mechs aboard the other vessel.

"Sir, Another escape pod has launched from the neutral vessel," A vehicon suddenly called out to the current captain of the vessel, actually the Third in Command.

"Well Shoot it down," came the curt reply. "I don't want word getting out that this planet isn't safe for neutrals, I have strict orders to not allow any neutrals to live or leave." The Captain watched with amusement as the tow cables retracted. The power core failed, rocketing the ship with its final explosion, sending the neutral ship into several pieces of wreckage and rubble.

The vehicon frantically searched for pod in the aftermath of the explosion, unable to fire accurately through the light produced by the destruction of the ship. His scans brought up nothing, fear settling into his spark.

The vehicon hesitantly reported to the captain, "Sir, the ship's destruction covered the pod's escape." The mech shrank back into his chair as the Captain whirled around to glare at him.

"What did you just say," The Captain asked, rage lacing his voice. The vehicon vented slightly before responding.

"I-it got aw-away, S-sir," The vehicon stuttered out to the Captain. He nodded, seemingly accepting the explanation. Suddenly, he raised his cannon at the chest of the vehicon and fired. The Bridge went deathly silent as the now dead mech's frame slammed into the floor, energon splashing onto the floor.

"Let that be an example," He began, projecting his voice to the entire bridge. "No one shall fail me, . . . and live." He turned back to look out that wreckage of the neutral ship, flicking his servo away from him, "Clean that up, energon stains aren't great floor designs." The bridge remained silent for another nano-klick before several vehicons moved forward to remove their offlined brother and clean the energon spilled by his death.

The Captain remained oblivious to the deep purple optics that were burning into his helm. The fire in her optics revealing her intense hatred for the absolute power he wielded over the crew, for no other reason other than his cruelty. Her processor worked quickly to reassess the logic behind leaving the Captain in charge, venting roughly when it did.

The Second in Command turned to move back towards her station, the crimson visors of the vehicons following her frame all the way.