Decorated space-faring hero Countdown arrives on the Vis Vitalis to see his ailing mentor Thunderclash—at last, the famous Autobot's old war wound has apparently gotten the better of him, and he now lies at death's door. Escorted by the ship's first officer Firestar to the side of the mute, unmoving Thunderclash—trapped in alternate mode by rigor morphis—Countdown is left alone with his former teacher... at which point, he hears a knocking coming from within Thunderclash's trailer. Peering inside, Countdown only has time to scream...

On the Lost Light, Brainstorm, Getaway, and Skids are all hanging out in Nautica's room, but the Camien bibliophile would rather read about the Froidian Classification System than indulge their silly antics. Mention of the psychologist's name leads Skids and Getaway to talk about Rung, while Brainstorm manages to convince Nautica to try out his upside-down harness, which she ends up enjoying. Brainstorm has also completed an upgrade to Nautica's wrench at Getaway's request: the addition of a torch that counters attention deflectors, which Getaway plans to use to keep an eye out for the stealthy Ravage. Just then, an unfamiliar ringing is heard throughout the ship...

Simultaneously, in "Swerve's", Ravage and Bluestreak observe as Swerve—introverted following Ratchet's recent departure—finishes up his four-week viewing of every piece of human art and entertainment ever created. Just as he is describing the lessons he has learned, Swerve is interrupted by the ringing noise, which turns out to be a giant gong that Rodimus is ringing in order to summon the crew together. The gong signifies that the crew have "accomplished something": they have caught up to the Vis Vitalis, and Rodimus can barely suppress his glee when he announces the news that his long-hated rival Thunderclash is on his deathbed, and that the crew are invited to a "pre-wake" in his honor. After giving the crew the news, Rodimus and Megatron privately reveal to one another that they will not be attending the party, and their attempts to make excuses for not doing so lead to them scheduling a meeting for themselves during which they will "plan".

Later, the pre-wake party is in full swing aboard the Vis Vitalis, and the Lost Lighters are all enjoying themselves... except for wallflowers Rung, Nautica, Nightbeat, and Cyclonus. While Nightbeat takes Nautica's wrench and goes off to snoop around the ship, Nautica is approached by Firestar, who it turns out is her old room-mate and Amica Endura from Caminus, and who joined the Vis Vitalis crew when she and some other Camiens picked up a distress call and helped fix some damage the ship had taken. As she and Nautica swap stories, however, it soon becomes clear that Firestar is more "frenemy" than "friend", her catty remarks about Nautica's abilities and insistence on using the hated nickname "Naughty Nautica" soon mounting up, culminating in an awkward silence and an uncomfortable parting of the ways.

In Thunderclash's quarters, Camien crewmember Velocity shows Minimus Ambus the supposed map to Cyberutopia that Thunderclash has carved into the room's wall, drawn from his dreams. First Aid completes his examination of Thunderclash, which yields surprising results: whatever is killing Thunderclash, it is not his old spark injury, which has been miraculously healed around six months prior. Velocity explains that a passing medic was responsible, but cannot remember anything about her. Unable to deduce what has left Thunderclash in his current sorry state, First Aid opens his trailer to carry out an internal examination... but finds nothing.

A little later, after the party has wound down and most of the crew have returned to the Lost Light, Nautica hems and haws about staying for the funeral. A tired, out-of-sorts Skids tells her a few others are staying too, and will be picked up by Rodimus on his way back from a supply run; others such as Nightbeat, who has just found a strangely exhausted

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