Inspired by a plot bunny found on LiveJournal's TF Bunny Farm. I hope you all enjoy it!

The Federation Flagship USS Enterprise-D powered through space under half-impulse, on its way through the neutral Indri system to put in at Starbase 495, for restock and minor repairs. Their journey from the Durala system had been rather uneventful, but for the short skirmish with Cardassian rogues that put the ship in need of repairs. Luck had been with them, however, as nothing vital had been damaged, and what had been was easily stabilized for the trip to Starbase 495.

Ensign Justin Savero, a relatively new addition to the famed ship - only 10 months had passed since his assignment there - crawled through the Jeffries tubes somewhere between decks 6 and 7. His commanding officer, Liutenant Geordi LaForge, had sent him to make sure there were no damaged circuits hiddden behind the bulkheads that might cause further problems.

The 22-year-old engineer from Rugby, North Dakota, USA, Earth, turned on his back and prised a panel loose from the ceiling. He set it beside him and pulled out his triquarder, running a few scans as he poked and prodded the revealed circuitry. Nothing seemed to be out of place, and aside from a few minor fluxuations, the systems were running quite efficiently. Justin closed his triquarter, put it back in its holster on his belt, and replaced the panel to the ceiling of the tube. He rolled onto his stomach and crawled to the next intersection, where the space was large enough for him to stand up. He tapped the commbadge on his uniform front.

"Ensign Savero to LaForge."

"LaForge here. How's that systems check coming?" The Chief Engineer asked.

"Just finished, sir." Justin replied. "Everything checked out A-OK. There's a few minor fluxuations that might require monitoring, but nothing is seriously damaged. It'll all hold 'til we reach Starbase 495."

"Good." Geordi replied. " Bring those readings back to Liutenant Draan, then report to transporter room 2. You've been assigned to the away team."

"Yes, sir." Justin replied. He let go of the commbadge and opened the panel on the side of the chamber. He crawled out into the hallway of the Enterprise-D, closed the panel, and stood up. "Away team, eh?" He smiled excitedly. It had been a while since he'd left the ship for anything but shore leave. He walked down the hallway toward the turbolift, which he rode to Engineering, and dropped off his findings with Liutenant Draan - a man with reptilian features, yellow eyes, and a slight hiss in his words. Then he rode the turbolift up another two decks and jogged down to transporter room 2.

The Enterprise-D's mission was, above all, to explore. Therefore, upon the discovery of a seemingly deserted class M planet - dubbed 'Saga I', by neighboring systems - they had stopped to scan its surface. To the surprise of the crew, they found the ruins of a long-forgotten humanoid civilization. And so, the trip had been delayed a day for the sake of exploration.

Inside, he noticed not only Lieutenant Commanders Data and Worf, but Captain Picard as well. The captain smiled and nodded to the Ensign as he joined them on the transporter pad.

"Now that we're all here..." Picard looked toward Chief O'Brien at the transporter controls."Energize." O'Brien nodded and activated the transporters. A familiar tingling sensation enveloped Justin's body as his molecules were broken down, scattered, and thrown through the pattern buffers.

When he rematerialized, Justin didn't feel hard rock beneath his boots. He didn't feel soft soil, either. It took him a split second to register that he felt nothing, after which, he began first reaction was to scream and flail - but the wind stole the breath from his lungs, so all he did was flail. The Ensign managed to flip around to look down, and quickly wished he hadn't.

The ground was rapidly approaching. He estimated that he'd rematerialized roughly 500 feet or so above the landscape, and had very little time to save his life. The Ensign gulped and shielded his eyes as his vision became filled with green. He plummeted through the trees, snapping smaller branches and getting bounced off the once that were too sturdy to break with his velocity. By the time he thudded to the cool, soft loam beneath, Justin felt like he'd broken everything there was to break. His eyes remained open a few moments longer before unconsciousness claimed him.

Two miles away, Liutenant Commander Data looked around the mountain foothills he'd materialized among. This was certainly not he surface of Saga I, as he'd expected. To his left, Data could see Liutenant Worf climbing over a spur of rock, looking no worse for wear. To his right, Captain Picard was walking toward him across the grassy slope.

"Data, where are we?" The captain asked.

"I am not sure, sir." The android replied, trying his best to sound confused. "Perhaps there was a transporter malfuction, as this is not Saga I. Also, I have noticed that Ensign Savero is missing."

"Perhaps he materialized nearby?" Worf suggested. "After all, we did not materialize as a group." Picard noddedand tapped his commbadge.

"Captain to the Enterprise." He paused, waiting for a response. Picard frowned when he received none and tapped his commbadge again. "Picard to the Enterprise. Enterprise, respond." The link remained quiet.

"It appears we have no communication with the Enterprise." Data noted.

"It appears so." Picard muttered flatly. He sighed. "We should find Ensign Savero, and then try to find out where we are, and how to reestablish communication with the Enterprise." Data and Worf nodded in agreement. Worf pointed toward the forest nearby.

"A flock of avians took of quite suddenly from that direction when I materialized." He explained. "Perhaps Ensign Savero's appearance was the cause?"

"A solid assumtion." Picard nodded. He started walking in the direction of the forest. "It won't do any harm to begin there."

"...is it dead?"

"Looks dead to me." A second voice spoke with a note of disgust. "It's leaking that red liquid again...that means its hurt, I think." Something big poked his side and Justin groaned in pain, roused from unconsciousness.

"Aha! It's alive! TC, think we could use this fleshie as a hostage?"

"Skywarp, look at it!" The second voice - TC - protested. "It's gonna - what's the word - bleed to death as it is. Why would Megatron want a dying hostage?" Something massive scooped him up off the forest floor and rolled him onto his back. Justin cried out in pain and twitched, unable to curl up as something pinned his legs against the cold surface beneath his back. Eyes squeezed shut in pain, he continued to listen to the conversation above him.

"Those goody-goody Autobots'll probably think they can save it, or something." The first voice - Skywarp - explained with obvious glee. "They'll surrender so fast, it'll set your turbines spining! Best part is, the fleshie will die anyway!" He heard a sigh from TC.

"Fine...but I'll carry it."

"Awww!" Skywarp whined, and Jason whimpered as he 'changed hands'. The pressure returned to pin his legs, but it was a tad less painful this time - more to hold him in place, than to immobilize him. "Why do you get to carry it?"

"Because you'd drop it and kill it, and then this little 'venture' would've wasted five minutes of my life."