One billion Energon Cubes and a few ceremonial Cubes of Megatron's Private Reserve. It's a lot of money.
This is the prize money for the discovery of a new, uninhabited planet that's full of valuable resources. These planets are rare. Unlike humans, Decepticons have no use for a lot of gold, or silver, or diamonds.
Instead, the Decepticon Government seeks planets that are full of oil and have absolutely no defenses. No chance of rebellion. Not even the chance of some microbe deciding that silicon tastes good. The only way to ensure a total lack of any opposition is to find the oil on a completely lifeless planet.
These planets are incredibly rare. Crude oil is the result of the long-term breakdown of biological lifeforms. To find a planet with crude, and without life, is a truly incredible feat.
But it's possible.
Suns expand, magnetic fields change, meteors strike. And with billions of planets in the universe, these cataclysms occasionally happen to planets with life on them - and make them into planets without any life on them. Nothing remains but the rock...and the crude.
Due to the tiny chance of success, most Decepticons don't bother looking for them as a regular activity. Instead, they raid and connive, and save this type of exploration for the off-times. Most Decepticons will save up Energon so they can take a "vacation" of several years every few decades. Since there's no retirement, these prolonged time-off periods serve to rejuvenate the spirit and allow for activity that is unlikely to bring any financial gain.
Activity like looking for lifeless planets that have crude oil underneath their surfaces.
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The group of five fighter jets easily cut through space in a "V" formation, oblivious to how those on "primitive" planets would think that to be impossible. The light of a nearby sun glinted off their forms, revealing the seals of the Decepticons.
Suddenly, the leader banked and headed for a nearby planet. Its clear atmosphere revealed that it was made of rock rather than gas, and his sophisticated instruments detected that it was of sufficient density for a proper landing. Their massive bodies would not sink.
At the edge of what could be the planet's atmosphere, they circled as the leader tested the chemical makeup of the air. They didn't want to land only to find out it was corrosive! Soon, the tests revealed that it would be okay to go ahead and fly down, and they proceeded to start descending.
As they neared the surface, they could see that there were no lifeforms big enough for visual detection. No plants grew, and no animals roamed. Yet they could see that there were once rivers and lakes on this place. They didn't know what liquid the rivers and lakes had been filled with, but the eroded channels and empty indentations were a clear sign that some type of fluid had once been there in abundance.
Perhaps this would be it.
Perhaps they were about to land on their one billion Energon Cubes.
Perhaps they would never have to raid again.
With resounding clangs, they hit the surface with a simmering excitement. Each one had special modifications installed; modifications that allowed them to examine a planet for both livability and the presence of crude oil. The leader had the best rig; he could detect things from high above the planet that most others could not.
Altogether, each one had invested at least a million Cubes on his modifications, and their leader had 10 million Cubes' worth.
They looked around the planet with their blasters at half-ready. They were sure there was nothing else here...but they wanted to be *completely* sure. Sometimes, a planet looked barren, but had millions of sapient creatures living in advanced underground cities.
After their leader did some basic sonar checks of the subsurface, he concluded that it was sand and rock for a depth of at least several hundred feet. It was extremely likely that there'd be nothing of consequence living below.
The light of a dying sun bathed the planet in its red glow, causing the flashy colors of the group to look odd in the unusual light. Even with the color distortion, it was obvious that their paint had metallic-looking particles within it. This was "solar paint" - a special coating able to generate some solar power for its wearers. It allowed them to be much more efficient than a pure-combustion setup, but didn't entirely replace the need for combustible fuels.
Their leader, Heatseeker, quickly got to work. Crouching down, he pulled a kit from the storage panel in his right calf. Expertly, he scooped up some soil and put it into the kit's test tubes and added reagents. He corked the tubes and gave them the kind of shaking only a machine can do. If there was microscopic life here, at least one of the tubes would change color.
The red sun made Heatseeker's red body look a bit menacing as he waited for the possible chemical reactions. His yellow wing stripes did little to dull the effect.
The others stood around waiting. They looked a bit bored. They figured there was nothing alive for lightyears around, and the only reason they didn't complain about the delay was because of what had happened when someone decided to check out a planet that ended up having silicon-eating mold.
The test tubes remained the same soiley color they started out. No microbes.
Heatseeker then held up a thin rod. This analyzer would give a better read of what kind of atmosphere they were standing in. Soon, it gave two beeps. Just enough oxygen to run an engine on.
"Okay, we've got a combustion-supporting environment!" Heatseeker announced triumphantly. This was great news; they would be able to stay a lot longer since they'd be able to run without using up their solid fuel.
They didn't care about the other components; they'd already determined that none of it would corrode them and that's all they really cared about in that regard.
In a maneuver they'd clearly done before, they began to fan out. The other members of the group - Spotter, Sonar, Siphon, and Lightblaze - chose positions from which to begin their surveys.
All in all, this was likely one of the most highly advanced geological survey teams this part of the universe had ever seen. If there was even a drop of crude oil on this planet, they would find it before they left.
The survey progressed normally. It was a rather boring affair, and only the promise of mega-Cubes kept them going. Sonar would check for the kind of rock formations likely to have oil, and the others would drill cores from any likely spot. The procedure was methodical and meticulous, but would only become exciting if something came up other than another core of plain rock.
At least, they thought nothing else could make it exciting...
