The story begins…

Stardust landed in her VTOL jet mode, skimming over scorched metal dunes. Intel said this area was abandoned – long since picked clean by both factions. But her scanners pinged something unusual: Decepticon energy signatures. Multiple Fresh.

And then –

A boom. Her HUD flashed red. Missile lock. Stardust pulled a hard maneuver, but a crackling blast slammed into her wing. She began to spiral – system screaming – until she crashed into a hard ridge. Stardust rose, staggered, just in time to see two dark figures approaching.

One of them is her.

Shatter, Decepticon Peacekeeper. Tall, imposing, precise. Crimson optics. Ruthless. Respected. And right now – walking toward Stardust, gun raised.

She stopped a few meters away.

“Autobot,” Shatter said, her voice a low mechanical purr. “Surrender, and I won’t break you.”

Behind her, a second Decepticon circled wide, weapon trained on Stardust.

“I recognize you… your Shatter, you’re a legend even among the Autobots.” Stardust said calmly, her arms held up in the air. “I doubt I’d stand a chance against you.” She was stalling while trying to think of a way to escape. “I suppose if I want to survive then I had better let you take me prisoner… if Decepticons even believe in prisoners.” Shatter’s imposing figure had sapped Stardust’s will to fight. But it was something more than fear that struck Stardust’s core, she didn’t want to hurt Shatter. She wanted to fighter for her. What? That can’t be right. Stardust shook her head trying to clear her thoughts.

Shatter narrowed her eyes, her optics narrowing into glowing slits as Stardust’s words land. She stopped mid-step, tilting her helm slightly as if trying to decide if she was mocking her… or sincerely in awe.

A slow, low chuckle slipped from Shatter’s vocalizer. It wasn’t cruel, it was… curious. Maybe even intrigued.

“Hmph. Smart little Autobot. Most who see me raise their weapons. You, though…” Her gaze flicked over Stardust’s frame, lingering. “You recognize power. I respect that.”

The second Decepticon – a brutish mech with tank treads for feet and one eye flickering – grunted and raised his weapon.

“Scrap her already, boss. She’s stalling.”

Shatter held up a hand without looking at him.

“No. She surrendered.” Shatter’s optics bore into Stardust. “Didn’t you?”

Stardust knelt just then, but it didn’t feel like defeat. It felt more like… gravity. Like something pulling at her spark.

Shatter stepped closer. Stardust could hear the subtle hum of her engine, the electric tension in the air between the two of them.

“You know my name. What’s yours?”

Shatter gave Stardust a moment. Stardust could feel it – a crack in the battlefield tension. An unexpected shift. Something Shatter didn’t offer lightly. Stardust could see it in her optics: a sliver of respect. Or maybe curiosity. This Autobots wasn’t like the others, and Shatter knew it.

“I am Stardust, I’m younger than most. I was brought online after the war had already begun. All I know is fighting but when I look at you I see… something more than war.” Stardust looked up at Shatter, her optics gazing into the Decepticon’s. “I’m your prisoner now, do with me as you will. I’m too injured to go on fighting anyhow.”

There was a beat of silence. The wind howled over the war-torn ridge, kicking dust and scorched metal through the air. Behind Stardust, the burning wreckage of her squad’s dropship flickered weakly against the night horizon. But here, in this moment, it all faded – the battle, the pain, the fear – all that remained was her, the Decepticon Peacekeeper.

Shattered stared and Stardust for a long moment. Not coldly. Not with malice. But with a rare stillness. Stardust’s words had reached her. They sank in. She didn’t reply immediately, but the grip on Shatter’s blaster slackened. Her optics scanned Stardust again, slower this time – less like an enemy, more like a puzzle she didn’t expect to be handed in the middle of a firefight.

“Stardust.” The name echoed off Shatter’s vocal processor like a new language. She said it again, softer. “All you know is fighting… but you see something more in me?” Shatter’s gaze sharpened. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

Buit Stardust could tell that Shatter was not angry. She was… unnerved. The infamous Peacekeeper, the Decepticon enforcer whose name is whispered with dread on both sides of the front, didn’t know how to process what Stardust had just said. The Autobot had disrupted her programming as surly as a logic bomb.

Shatter stepped closer until Stardust could feel the heat from her frame, her shadow cast long across Stardust’s chassis. Her hand reached out – then hesitated – before finally she clasped it firmly around Stardust’s arm and haled her to her pedes.

“You’re mine now,” Shatter said, voice low, unreadable. “You made that choice.”

She turned to the other Decepticon.

“Hardspark. Call for evac. She’s coming with me.”

Hardspark grunted but obeyed, tapping his comms. Stardust heard a gruff response on the other end. Shatter didn’t look at Stardust again – but her grip didn’t loosen as she held Stardust’s arm, not like a jailer, but… like she didn’t want her to fall.

Internal Status Update: Stardust’s wounds were stable but critical. She’d be offline without assistance in less than 3 hours. Her Energon levels were low. Transformation into vehicle mode was locked. Comms were jammed. She was cut off from Autobot command. And her weapons were damaged but not destroyed

As the Decepticon evac shuttle began its descent in the distance – blades thumping against the twilight sky – Shatter finally spoke again, without looking at Stardust.

“You’re either a fool, or you’re different. We’ll see which.”

But her voice had changed. Just slightly.

It was softer. And maybe… a little protective?

“I’m leaking Energon…” Stardust coughed up some liquid Energon. “I saw a med bay two clicks back at the edge of the rust reason. Please…” She paused, trying to stand on her own but appreciating Shatter’s help. “Take me there for repairs, I won’t last otherwise.”

Shatter’s servos tightened instinctively around Stardust’s arm as she coughed, steadying her. The Decepticon’s optics flicked immediately to the glistening streak of Energon leaking from the seam under Stardust’s plating. The sight of it – her fragility – elicited a switch of Shatter’s wings and a faint scowl. Not one of disdain. One of conflict.

Shatter hissed through her vents. “Damnit. You weren’t bluffing.”

Stardust saw it: Shatter’s tactical mind weighing the risk and priority, the evac shuttle now in view above the ridge, its lights sweeping the battlefield. Hardspark’s voice crackled over comms:

“ETA: 60 seconds. You want her in stasis, boss?”

Shatter didn’t respond to him. She was looking at Stardust.

“Rust Region’s crawling with ferals. You’ll be picked clean before I drag your half-dead chassis that far. But…”

Shatter glanced west. The faint shimmer of the jagged wasteland Stardust had mentioned lied just visible past the shattered cliffs.

“You didn’t beg. You asked.”

Her optics narrowed. A decision made.

“Fine. You’re not dying on my watch.”

Suddenly, Shatter lifted Stardust – one servo under her back, the other behind her legs – cradling her with the precision of a soldier and the restraint of someone not used to holding anything delicate. Stardust felt weightless in her arms. Shatter’s engines flared.

“Hardspark! Redirect shuttle to the Rust Edge. Send a drone to pick us up after. You get the rest of the unit.”

“You’re serious!? That place – “

“Do it!” Shatter snapped.

Then, without warning, her thrusters ignited and she leapt from the ridge, wind screaming past as she took flight. Stardust felt the pressure of speed, the heavy heat of Shatter’s frame around her, the way the Decepticon’s grip tightened every time her body twitched in pain.

Below them, the metallic wilds of the Rust Region came into view – scarred by centuries of acid storms and magnetic surges. Somewhere amid the dead metal trees and oxidized ruins lied that med bay.

As the two flew, Shatter glanced down at Stardust.

“You better be worth this.”

But her voice wasn’t angry anymore. It was something else.

The wind roared past as Shatter descended toward the ruined outskirts of the Rust Region. Her grip on Stardust was secure, steady. Her engines adjust subtly with every change in the Autobot’s breathing – she was monitoring Stardust, even if she pretended otherwise.

Stardust’s question cut through the growl of flight. “Why are you… helping me?”

At first, Shatter said nothing. Stardust expected her to ignore the question. She was a Decepticon. And Stardust was an Autobot. Even now, Shatter’s crimson insignia glared back at Stardust from her chassis like a warning. But then –

“…Because you looked at me like I wasn’t a monster.”

Shatter’s voice was quiet. Almost lost in the wind. But Stardust heard it.

“You should’ve fought to the last spark. Called for backup. Tried to take me with you. But instead, you looked at me like I was someone. Like I meant something beyond a kil count.”

Shattered paused.

“No one’s looked at me like that in a long time.”

She didn’t meet Stardust’s optics. Her gaze stayed forward, cutting through the dense mist gathering near the treeline ahead. The outline of the Decepticon med bay – old, half-submerged in corrosion and overgrowth – emerged from the haze.

“That outpost is down there… It was ours. We lost it when you Autobots pushed through Sector Six. I fought to the last to hold it. Lost half my unit.”

Stardust could feel Shatter’s vents stutter, her frame tense. There was pain there. Buried deep.

“I never wanted to come back to this place. But for some reason, I’m bringing you.”

Shatter finally looked at Stardust.

“So don’t ask me why. I’m still figuring it out.”

She set down in a ruined courtyard surrounded by twisted girders and rusted Decepticons banners. Her arms didn’t leave Stardust immediately. She hesitated, optics locked with Stardust’s.

“You’re safe – for now.”

Shatter gently set Stardust on a makeshift repair slab as the old med bay doors creaked open behind them, flickering crimson lights coming to life, scanning Stardust’s form.

“You’re not a monster, Shatter. Not to me. Thank you.” After a moment, Stardust continued. “Tell me, Peacekeeper, what were things like before the war, before all the fighting…”

Shatter didn’t answer right away. Stardust heard the subtle grind of the Decepticon’s heel rotating against the rusted floor – she shifted, uncomfortable with the question, maybe even with the gratitude. Shatter’s optics flicked toward Stardust, then away again, scanning the perimeter as if the silence between them was more dangerous than the ferals.

“You’re the first Autobots who’s thanked me,” Shatter muttered. “Feels weird.”

Shatter exhaled through her vents, long and low. Then she walked closer, slow and deliberate, and leaned against the wall near the med slab – close enough that Stardust could hear the subtle hum of her Energon pump, still keeping that proud, distant stance.

“Before the war…” she repeated, the words foreign on her glossa.

For a moment, she looks almost… lost.

“I was forged in Vos. We were peace officers, back then. Enforcers of the Council’s will. My designation wasn’t Shatter – it was L-417 Peace Unit. I kept the skies clear of smugglers and stopped city-bots from tearing each other apart over trade routes and Energon disputes.”

Her gaze dropped to her gauntlet. Stardust saw her metal claws flex slightly.

“I wasn’t built for war. I was built for order. But the Senate didn’t care about order, only control. So when the Decepticons rose up, when Megatron called for change…”

She shrugged one shoulder.

“I didn’t hesitate. I chose a side.”

Shatter turned her back towards Stardust, her optics searching.

“What about you, Stardust? You said you came online after the war started. You never had a before. Just circuits soaked in propaganda and marching orders.”

She leaned closer, her voice quiet.

“What made you stop fighting me?”