Knockout hated the planet the second he set foot on it.
It was barren and cold and dusty. The reddish-brown sand clung to his plating like scraplets to a junk pile, seeping into the grooves of his armor and making his gears itch.
"Why are we out here in the first place?!" The medic whined. "I'm not a scout! I belong in my nice clean medbay, not in this-this rusted dustbowl!"
"You prob'ly shouldn't have sassed back at Starscream," Breakdown suggested. Knockout grumbled in response. His assistant was right, of course. Starscream had only sent them out here on "patrol" because Knockout had made a snarky comment. If he'd kept his mouth shut-or if the Air Commander was less petty-they'd still be inside the ship while the drones completed repairs.
"There's not even a reason to patrol. The planet is empty." Knockout gestures around at the untamed landscape. "Sensors showed zero signs of life. There's nothing here but dust and ice."
"It's kinda pretty, though. Reminds me of the Acid Wastes."
"That's not a complimentary comparison, Breakdown."
"Hey, don't knock it. The sunsets are amazing."
Knockout rolled his optics. He kicked a rock out of his path, not even caring if it left a dent. Detailing would give him something to do later. The rock clattered across the ground, landing in a puff of dust. Knockout paused-the displaced sand has uncovered something. It was encrusted with sand, but it looked...mechanical.
"Hold on, Breakdown." Knockout crouched and scooped the surrounding sand away from the mystery object. Gradually, a tiny robot was revealed-a simple little thing the size of his palm, with wheels and metallic wings and a little periscope. Breakdown gaped at it as Knockout picked it carefully off the ground.
"What is that?"
"A drone of some sort, I'd guess." Knockout examined it from all angles. It was crudely built-what kind of drone would use wheels on this terrain instead of hover technology? It was surprisingly sturdy, but it had clearly stopped functioning some time ago. A remnant of a civilization long gone, perhaps. The thought made his spark twinge with empathy. "Alas, poor robot-abandoned here to be forgotten and buried by the unforgiving sands. What a tragic fate."
"Poor little guy..." Breakdown agreed.
"Since we're here, we may as well give it a proper resting place." Knockout pulled a buffing pad from his subspace and gingerly began cleaning off the drone. Death was no reason not to look one's best, after all. Breakdown started breaking down a nearby boulder, using the pieces to construct a tiny tomb. It was silly, perhaps, but they had nothing better to do right now. And, after millenia of war, holding a funeral for an unknown robot was a nice change of pace.
"There you are; good as new." Knockout held the cleaned robot up to the light. The sunlight glinted off its wings and highlighted its scuffed plating. He was tempted to give it a proper polishing, but-no. Cosmetics were in short supply and he needed them for his own finish. "What an ugly thing you are-built for work, not looks, I suppose? Pity. Did you even have a name?"
Knockout was not expecting a reply. When the drone whirred at him, he nearly dropped it. Breakdown snapped to attention at the sound, expecting an attack. "What is it?"
"It's-it's moving!" Knockout watched in awe as the drone's dark lens lit up. It adjusted its periscope and rolled forward on his hand. He quickly set it back on the ground, letting it trundle around their feet.
"I thought it was dead!" Breakdown gawked at it. His face lit up. "It's a miracle!"
"Don't be daft. There's a reasonable explanation." Knockout didn't know what it was, but there had to be one. How could it suddenly regain power after…? Oh! "It's solar powered! Like a photovoltaic cat. When its wings got dusty, it couldn't produce energy anymore and it went into stasis."
"And now it's alive again!" Breakdown got down on all fours to watch the drone examine a rock. He looked happier than Knockout had seen in a long while. "Good work, little guy. Never give up; survive no matter what ya gotta do."
Knockout hated to rain on his friend's parade, but… "It probably won't survive much longer."
Breakdown's stricken face was almost comical in its intensity. "This planet has dust storms often," Knockout explained. "Sooner or later, it's bound to get grimed up again. And there's no sentient beings here to clean it. It'll go back into stasis."
Breakdown was speechless. He watched the little drone roll across the rocks and bump into his hand. Instead of moving around, it seemed to study the hand more closely. Its little claw-arm prodded him like a cat batting at an unfamiliar toy.
"...Can we keep it?"
"What? No!"
"Why not? It's harmless!" Breakdown scooped up the drone, holding it close to his chest. "It shouldn't have to stay here all alone. Imagine being the only living thing on the planet, just waiting for death to come to you again. We can't leave it behind!"
Knockout huffed, but he eyed the drone with consideration. It was true that it seemed harmless… and if it ran on solar power, it wouldn't deplete their energon reserves. And… it made Breakdown happy. His friend had always struggled with panic attacks, and the war didn't help that at all. If having a pet helped relieve that stress, Knockout could say it was a medical necessity.
"...We'd have to keep it in our quarters. If it gets into the halls, it'll get stepped on. And it needs to stay out of the way."
"I'll make a pen for it!" Breakdown grinned. He got up and headed briskly back to the ship, cradling the drone with a rare gentleness. "It needs a name. How about Tank?"
"It's far too fragile for a tank."
"Mm… then Dusty!"
"I'm certain it's had enough dust to last a lifetime."
Breakdown huffed irritably. He squinted at the drone to gauge its reaction. It had to like its name, after all. Wait-was that writing on it? It wasn't an alphabet Breakdown recognized, but it looked like writing. He activated his translation unit. After a few nanocliks of study, his program popped up with a word. "Oppor...tunity?"
Knockout hmmed thoughtfully. "...That's actually not bad. It's been granted a remarkable opportunity, now that we've found it."
The drone buzzed. Breakdown took that as approval. "Opportunity it is!" He patted its little scope with one finger. "Welcome to the Decepticons, Oppy."
Millions of miles away, on a small verdant planet in the same solar system, a team of interns and engineers clustered around a screen.
"...This isn't a prank, right?" An intern asked hesitantly, eyes glued to the computer screen. "This...is a real feed from Mars?"
An engineer adjusted her glasses. Her hand trembled-whether from excitement or anxiety, even she couldn't say. "Someone call the director. NASA just got the breakthrough of a lifetime."