For Siadea. I'm so disappointed in myself for not coming up with a pun name to use as a title.. I'll keep at it and see if I can't come up with something better. For now, though please enjoy yet ANOTHER Vehicon-centric story from me. I would apologize for bringing yet another Vehicon story into this world but, gosh darnit, I just can't bring myself to regret it :Y

You can read all my Vehicon headcanons over here in this Handy Dandy Headcanon Post on Vehicon Organization
It's not necessary to understand this story, though.

Thoughts and criticisms are encouraged and appreciated!

The shift change came and went and still there was nothing.

For the first few sub-cycles there was some worried chatter through the ranks, but by the time half the cycle was gone, some of the crew were on the brink of hysteria. Shift change was never this late. And all the alerts and messages sent out received no response. Something must have happened to the ship. It would have to be something big to knock out the groundbridges and communications.

ST-02, also known as Stanley, was one of the few who had gone into a full panic attack early on, so his work partner ST-03, or Steve as he was affectionately known as, found himself rather occupied trying to ease his nerves. Honestly, Steve was actually a bit thankful for the distraction. He found that calming someone else down had a sort of calming effect itself. Despite him not actually believing that "Maybe there was a power failure!" and "It all could just be a big misunderstanding. They're probably trying to reach us right now!" or "It's probably just some faulty tech; the other mines are fine, I'm sure." It still helped to say it out loud.

It worked well enough for Stanley too, and he appeared to be settling down again after a particularly troubling episode. Once he'd helped Stanley sit on the edge of their mining drill, Steve let out a quiet vent and took a look around at the other members of the mining crew. Everyone had given up on mining by this point; they were all far too anxious to be thinking about work. Besides, their current assignment was a rather small mine, so there were only two units of five miners and one unit of ten soldiers working security. That meant there was not much work to be done in the first place.

The only ones who had any real urgency about them were the three squad leaders all huddled around the communication hub. The console only consisted of a single vid screen and a tiny satellite connection, but it was enough for what they needed. Or at least it used to be. It wasn't exactly doing the trick at the moment.

Steve looked back at Stanley, gesturing over to the unit leaders. "I should see if they've made any progress," he said, "You gonna be alright for a klik?"

Stanley just gave a short nod and rested his helm in his servos. Steve took that as permission to step away, and started towards the hub. As he got closer he could just make out the frustrated back and forth of the officers. It sounded like they were arguing about whether or not they should leave the mine. When they saw him approaching, though, they fell silent. He stopped a few yards from them, pausing to give them the opportunity to speak first.

"What do you want?" FR-01 put his servos on his hips impatiently as he glared down at Steve. He was the leader of the squad of soldiers, so technically he was the head of security for the mine. Also, he wasn't exactly known for being the nicest mech out there.

"I was just wondering if there's any news." Steve replied, careful to keep his tone respectful.

"Nothing yet, ST-03." ST-01 spoke this time. Being the leader of Steve's own unit, she was a bit more friendly. "Try not to worry. We'll let everyone know when there are any developments, I promise." He could hear the strain in her vocalizer. She was only just keeping it together.

"Of course..." Steve shifted his weight back and forth for just a moment before continuing. "But, uh... there hasn't been any contact from any other mines, has there? If we could just get word out to some of them-"

"We're handling this!" FR-01 cut him off, his wings flaring out behind him angrily. "Don't tell us how to do our jobs."

Steve just gave a short nod and turned away, hurrying back towards his station and Stanley. Before he could get very far he felt a familiar EM field flare up beside him.

"That probably didn't go as planned, huh?"

Steve looked up at FR-04 as he fell into step next to him. FR-04 was one of the few soldiers who didn't mind palling around with the miners, and in fact, seemed to genuinely enjoy Steve's company. Maybe even as much as Steve enjoyed his. He had even let Steve give him a human designation even though it was a game only the miners played. He'd decided on Frank.

Frank gave Steve a quick nudge with his elbow as they approached the drill where Stanley was still hiding his face away in his servos. "Sorry about FR-01." he said, "If it helps at all, he's almost as tough on his own soldiers as he is on the working class 'Cons."

"That's not what's bothering me." Steve glanced back over at the three unit leaders. FR-01 was now fervently typing on the console while the other two stood back. "I'm worried about the other mines. We're small here, but some of the bigger ones..."

"Oh yeah... your friend works in that big one way down in the mountains, right?" Frank nodded in understanding. "Well... they're probably alright. They have better equipment there, anyway. They might have actually been able to contact someone."

"That's what concerns me." Steve lowered his vocalizer, glancing over at Stanley to be sure he wasn't listening. "Think about it, if something did happen to the Nemesis, then who else could be getting the communications sent to it?"

Frank hesitated in answering for a moment, then said quietly, "The Autobots. Or... maybe even the humans?"

"The only humans who could intercept our transmissions are the ones working with the Autobots." Steve vented heavily and turned his gaze down, staring intently at the rock floor of the cavern. "Rodrigo is in that mine. And it's the biggest one on this continent at least... And we've all seen what they do to Decepticon mines. They take what they want and then blow the rest up! ...I'm worried about him."

"Did they say if they're able to contact other mines?"

"I don't know. FR-01 didn't answer, he just told me to frag off. In not so many words."

"I could ask for you. I hate to say so, but he's much more likely to listen if it's from another soldier."

Steve looked up at FR-01 again and saw he was angrily rapping on the satellite attached to the side of the screen, trying to get it to work. When that did nothing, he gave a violent kick to the console itself which made the two miners spring forward to stop him from doing it again. As he watched them struggle, Steve shook his helm. No, FR-01 was clearly at the end of his patience, and he didn't need Frank getting himself in trouble over Steve's paranoia.

"Come on, let's just... come on." Steve turned away and stepped up onto the drill to sit next to Stanley. Frank let out a quiet vent but followed suit without complaint.

Another few sub-cycles rolled by without any notable incidents. Although SP-03 did come over and produce a pack of playing cards she'd smuggled down to the mines. She brought along SP-02 and SP-04 and they had all started up a game of Praxus Fold 'Em by betting the crystal fragments in their mine carts. Under any other circumstances that probably would have earned them all a decacycle of refueling on dregs, but at the moment, the powers-that-be were a bit too occupied to care. By the fifth round it had started to get a little tiresome, but none of them wanted to stop. That would mean sitting around doing nothing but wait, and they couldn't bear any more of that. Finally, just as Frank was about to lose his third game in a row, (the poor slagger was just a terrible liar) they heard SP-01 call for everyone's attention.

All the optics in the mine flew to the foreman as she stepped out into the center of the cavern to address the crew. She paused to allow a pair of recharging mechs to be roused by their comrade, then spoke again, louder this time so every audio receptor would pick her up.

"Seeing how we are still unable to establish contact with the Nemesis, we're going to start distributing rations from the mine's stock." she said, nodding her helm towards the stacked energon cubes in storage a ways behind her. "However, we... don't know how long we'll be down here. So portions are going to be halved."

There were some irritated groans and grumbles from a few mechs, but for the most part they remained silent. If they were going to start handing out energon, then that just confirmed everyone's worst fear: they were on their own. And the second part was even worse, because if they were getting half rations, that meant they had no idea how long they would be stuck there.

"Shouldn't we do something?" a voice chimed in from the other side of the mine. One of the soldiers was looking to FR-01, standing just behind SP-01. "If we don't know when help is coming, maybe we should send someone out to look for help..."

"No one is going anywhere!" FR-01 shot a fierce glare over at the soldier who quickly stepped back, wings lowered. "The signal from the mine's communication hub is far stronger than any of our personal comms; if we were to leave, we would have no chance of picking up a signal from the Nemesis. So you're all to stay put until we reestablish contact. And we will reestablish contact! Is that clear?"

A quiet murmur of acknowledgement rumbled through the ranks. Then, at SP-01's command, they all slowly got up and filed forward to claim their half energon cubes. If morale had been low before it was at rock bottom by now. There was hardly a vent or whirr to be heard through out the mine as everyone shuffled around back to their stations to drink their fuel. Steve was the last of the mechs from their card game to circle back around. The others were sitting solemnly, masks off, as they sipped silently from the cubes. He noticed Stanley was shaking again too.

Steve sat down next to Frank on the side of the drill, turned away from the others. "'I can't just sit here not knowing what's going on out there..." he grumbled, keeping his optics down on the plastic lining of his cube. "If something did happen- if the Autobots are going after the mines next, then they'll start at the bigger ones. If Rodrigo-"

"Steve..." Frank interrupted him, but when he didn't offer anything further, Steve looked up and met his optics. With his mask off, it was easy to see the worry in his expression. "I know what you're thinking." he continued at last, "And it's... well, it's not a good idea."

"You don't know what I'm thinking!"

Frank lowered his vocalizer further, "You're thinking of going to find Rodrigo's mine yourself."

Steve quickly pulled his optics off Frank and locked them on his cube again as he shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, I just... I have to know if my friend is alright." he mumbled, "And who knows? Maybe they're not in trouble- maybe they have some answers."

There was a long silence between them as Steve refused to meet Frank's gaze. "You know, I won't be able to come with you." he finally said. "My assignment here... it's my duty to protect this mine and all the workers. I can't abandon my post."

"I know." Steve looked up again. "I would never ask you to do that."

"Then you'll be on your own out there on that weird, organic planet. You won't even have the Nemesis to patch into for directions or coordinates."

"I know." Steve's grip on his cube tightened, the plastic giving a quiet squeak under the strain. "I have to try, though. I just have to."

After letting out a resigned vent, there was a quiet click as Frank reset his mask over his face. "Slag that stubborn attitude of yours..." Then he reached over and took the energon cube out of Steve's servos. Steve didn't protest, he just watched curiously as Frank poured the untouched contents of his own cube into Steve's, filling it to the brim.

"You're going to need this more than me." he said, handing the cube back to his friend. "I'll create a distraction. You slip out while they're not looking."

"Frank... you don't have to-"

"I want to help. And this is the only way I can... so get going already!"

Steve hesitated, glancing over at the other members of their group, still huddled over their cubes with their backs facing them. "Will you watch out for Stanley while I'm gone?"

"Of course."

It was another minute before Steve got up, both his servos clenched around the energon cube. Frank stood up beside him and he felt a heavy servo squeeze his shoulder plating tightly. He thought perhaps he should say something, that maybe this moment was important, but it was gone an instant later and Frank was hurrying off towards the center of the cavern, calling out for SP-01.

Steve didn't stick around to see what sort of distraction Frank had in mind, he turned and quietly slipped past the other Vehicons and towards the opening leading to the cavern's entrance. There was a loud crash and some shouting behind him, but he refused to look back and instead he rounded the corner into the tunnel. The light up ahead was beginning to look less artificial. Steve picked up the pace a bit, and turning around one last curve, he finally saw the opening up ahead.

He stopped, hesitating as he stared up into the blinding natural light. Steve had never been on the planet outside a mine before. For anyone else, this realization might have been cause for further consideration on the sense behind this plan to save their friend. Except, Steve had already made up his mind. He was doing the right thing by leaving, even if the higher-ups wouldn't think so. He was not going to sit around and wait for things to happen. Without wasting another moment, he sprinted forward into the outside world, ready to meet whatever it had in store for him.