The Fall of a Certain Stardust
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or its characters, they're all Hasbro properties.
Starscream woke up from his recharge session. He yawned and put his right hand to cover his optics from the bright light that slipped into his room. He turned to the alarm clock that is ringing and pressed the yellow rectangle button on top of it.
Then, he looked at the alarm clock and read it out-loud "5:17 am. Huh, the sun surely does it job." He got up from his berth and walked over to the bathroom. He switched on the light and pressed the hot water button. The hot water was pouring into the bathtub.
The steam started to form over the mirror nearby the bathtub. Starscream went over to the mirror and drew a smiling face while he was also smiling too.
He went back to the bathtub and turned off the hot water and pressed another button which was a cold water button. When the cold water poured in the amount that he thought it was enough, he turned it off too.
He walked out of the bathroom for a few seconds and came back with his towel. He hung it on the clothes line nearby. First, he put his right foot and then followed by the left one.
Starscream sat down onto the surface of the bathtub, which was underwater. He laid his body down and looked up at the ceiling, thinking of something.
The water didn't do any harm to Starscream's inner or outer structure. It seemed that for five years since the first time he crash landed on this "alien" planet, located in the Alpha Centauri system, he grew more of resistance to water and a few liquid objects.
Starscream got up from the bathtub and pressed the "release" button and the water started to drain. He grabbed his towel and dried himself. "That feels better." he thought to himself. He walked to where he drew the smiling face. It was gone, for sure.
Starscream picked the toothbrush and put the toothpaste on it. He brushed his teeth for a while, like he always did. When he finished, he spitted the toothpaste that already did its job in cleaning him into the sink. He turned on the water and the used toothpaste flowed away.
He turned off the water and switched off the light of the bathroom. He also used his towel to dried his mouth from the previous tooth-brushing and threw the towel into the bucket with a sign the read "laundry".
Starscream went to the kitchen and made himself a breakfast. He looked at the clock that was attached on the ceiling. It was 5:40 am. He made himself three Energon sandwiches with a cup of Energon coffee, as usual.
The crunching sound of the sandwiches and Starscream's teeth rhymed together. The more he ate, the more he thought of someone. Someone whom he had worked with and had the last dinner with as the same thing as he was eating at the moment.
Starscream sipped the coffee and put the cup down. There were a few pieces of the sandwiches and a half-drunken coffee that he didn't finish.
He knew he couldn't finish them. He knew that he always made himself Energon sandwiches and Energon coffee for every morning and every time ha ate them, he just simply couldn't finish them. Starscream left the kitchen and sat down on the floor in the living room.
He reached his left hand to the the music player and selected the shuffle button. The electronic beats of the song wasn't danceable. Starscream remembered very well that this song was among his favorite music from the Earthling. "Those great times, I remember them so well." he thought to himself.
He closed his optics and let the song repeated itself in his mind. As he slipped away into his mind, he saw places – familiar places to be precised. He felt the coldness of a metallic ground that he was feeling. "Isn't this the Nemesis?" he thought.
He heard noises of robots talking. Then, he heard the sound of familiar voices, talking about something important and in secrecy too.
"You known, Commander Starscream, it's only a matter of time before Soundwave knows what we're doing here and I'm very sure that he'll report to Lord Megatron."
"Knock Out?" Starscream asked himself.
"Then, it's your job to keep your mouth shut." Starscream turned his head and saw himself, his other self. He giggled at the fact of how mad he looked when he was aboard the Nemesis.
"I'll try, I'll try." Knock Out replied with his optics looking right back.
"By the way, Knock Out. If this plan turns out wrong, you'll know the consequences, right?" another Starscream said and walked away.
"What a dick." Knock Out swore quietly and got back to his daily work as a senior medical officer.
Starscream continued to wander throughout the Nemesis, the Nemesis that existed in his mind. The sound of robots talking were still there. As he walked pass the communication room, he saw
Soundwave, playing with his mini-cassettes.
"Hey, Soundwave. What do we have for dinner tonight?" Rumble asked with a cheerful voice.
"Inquiry: Dinner for tonight. Designation: Classified." Soundwave answered and held Rumble close to him.
"Aw, Soundwave. You really do like secrets, aren't you?" Frenzy shouted while he was on top of Ravage's back, riding him around the room.
Soundwave replied by nodding his head. He put Rumble down and walked over to his desk. He was fixing Lazerbeak from the previous injury he got from battling with the Autobots. Starscream realized that he was smiling for the whole time that he was watching Soundwave playing with his mini-cassettes.
Starscream wandered further more into the inner part of the ship where all the works are done, the Maintenance room. For sure, this part of the ship was filled with Eradicons, making sure that the ship worked just fine.
There, he saw another Eradicon, arguing with his fellow co-workers with a gibberish voice.
"Do not speak like that about Commander Starscream! He's always nice to me."
"Steve." Starscream thought.
Starscream recalled various moments he shared with Steve. Steve was the only one who wanted to follow Starscream's orders and he was the most loyal Eradicon that Starscream ever known. But yet, Starscream let his greediness for power blinded Steve. Starscream sat down on the rusty metallic ground and said
"Steve, you could have a better life. But yet you keep on following my orders, doing dirty jobs for me. How could I be such a fool to use someone like that for the devil inside me?" Starscream asked himself, lamenting of his actions in the past.
He watched slowly as Steve walked away from his co-workers. The whispering noises were filling in the room as the rest of the Eradicons were talking about Steve and his loyalty for Starscream. All the chit-chats and all the gossips – Starscream never thought of these matters before when he was on the Nemesis.
But Starscream knew one true thing about Steve and himself. He destroyed Steve's opportunity to live. The more he looked into the past, the more he felt the pain inside him – chanting about how wrong that Starscream used Steve as his personal tool.
He got up from the floor and walked out of the room. Once he left the Maintenance room, he decided not to look back, for that he could just simply forget about this place and all the things he had done with Steve.
Starscream spotted an elevator, an old one – but he thought it was still functional. He pressed the "up" button and waited there, arms crossing and tapping his right foot like he always did.
When the elevator reached, he stepped in and pressed the "close" button. He pressed another button and the elevator moved upward. A few human-minutes later, he elevator reached its destination. Starscream stepped out of it and looked left and right.
What he saw was a massive hallway with three or four rooms, each with the identifications of each owners of their rooms. The ground was cold and a bit slippery, though. Starscream remembered that he used to slip over a lot.
Starscream walked towards each rooms and read the identifications out loud "Room 01 – Senior Medical Officer Knock Out and Assistant Officer Breakdown."
"So, this is their room, huh. Interesting." Starscream thought.
He moved forward to the room next to Knock Out and Breakdown's. "Room 02 - Stealth Operator and Assassination Specialist Airachnid."
"Airachnid lives next to Knock Out? Oh Primus, they must be fighting a lot." Starscream said.
He moved next to the room across from Airachnid's. "Room 03 – Air Commander and Second-in-Command Officer Starscream."
"This is my room? Why don't I feel familiar with it? Probably, because time passes so fast." Starscream stated to himself.
But in the dark corner, he saw another room – the fourth room. He went to the fourth and read the identification "Secondary Personal Room of Communication and Computer Specialist Soundwave."
"Soundwave lives here too?" Starscream asked himself.
Starscream decided to take a look in his room. A room where all of his dark fantasy came true and all the dirty jobs he planned. The door slid open automatically, which made Starscream surprised.
Starscream entered the room and switched on the light. His room was filled with everything he made sure to himself that he wouldn't want to be exposed with again. The wall was filled with dry spills from high-grade Energon and scratches. Starscream touched one of the scratches and realized it was from his pointy hands. "Primus." He said with his shrieking voice.
Starscream felt something on the ground, it was piles of papers. He picked on of the papers and read
"Overthrown – Chapter One. It was imperative that he must killed his own leader, the leader he has been working with for eons. He was sure this time around that his plan is going to work. But, no, something inside him was telling him not to do it. It was neither a matter of good nor evil since he was certain that he is evil, for sure.
He picked up his plasma gun and hid it inside himself where nobody could see it. The hallway was empty and silent. "Just as planned" he thought.
His continuous steps echoing the hallway like it was rhyming with the silence. There, he saw his first victim – a senior medical officer. Such a tragic that the life of one of the best doctor on the ship must come to an end.
He hid behind one of the pillars and waited for the doctor to come closer. The doctor was humming his favorite song, as usual. He cocked his plasma gun and put the silencer on it. He had to made sure that his plan is going to work, once again.
He revealed himself to the doctor and greeted with his lies. "Good evening, Doctor." he said. "Oh, well, hello there Commander. Is there anything?" the doctor asked. "Oh yes, there is one certain thing." just as he finished the sentence, the doctor was lying on the floor – dying and pleading for help. "Well, it seems that you've been working a lot lately. As I told you, you should be on vacation and I'm giving you a vacation from your duty, permanently."
He shot the doctor again. The blood started to flow from the doctor's lifeless body. He smirked, knowing that his plan is working out smoothly. He left the doctor's body and hid the gun inside himself once again. "Now, let's move on to the next one." he thought to himself as he entered the dark corners of the ship..."
Starscream didn't finish reading it. It was too painful for him to be reading this. He looked on the date that it was printed and found that it was today, three human-hours ago. Starscream turned his back and found photos, sticking on the walls.
They were photos of most of the personnel aboard the Nemesis, including Megatron. As he moved closer, he noticed that there was something written under Knock Out's photo. "The first victim" he read.
"What in Primus name is happening here?" Starscream shouted.
Suddenly, he heard a voice, a crying voice. Starscream rushed out of the room and found Knock Out, lying on the ground with his Energon leaking out.
"No, please. Starscream! I beg you!" Knock Out shouted and grabbed another Starscream's right foot.
"Oh, Doctor. Sorry for saying this but my plan is working very well and I won't need you anymore. And of course, you've been working a lot lately. You should take a vacation, permanently." another Starscream said and shot Knock Out again. Knock Out was dead, lying there on the cold ground.
Starscream gasped. He didn't want to believe that he actually killed Knock Out. Was that the reason he got expelled from the Nemesis and the Commander position? He didn't know.
Another Starscream turned his face and gazed at Starscream. "What do you think, then? Did you really do this in the past or this was just another fantasy of yours?" another Starscream asked.
"I don't know." Starscream answered.
"Well, then. I'm sure we'll meet again." another Starscream said and left Starscream there as he walked into the dark corners of the ship.
"Did I just kill Knock Out? No, this isn't real at all. It doesn't make sense! He was just another thing I fantasied about. But how? He was just a memory of my mind before. Oh Primus, what is going on in this deranged mind of mine." Starscream thought.
He closed his optics and tried to forget what he just saw. He wasn't sure that he actually killed Knock Out or not? There were too many questions going on in his mind. He didn't want to think about anything, for now.
Starscream opened his optics to the sound of an incoming video call. The music had stopped playing. He got up and walked to his computer, wondering that who is contacting him. Starscream sat down on a chair pressed the "answer" button and was surprised. It was Thundercracker.
"Hello, there. Brother" Thundercracker greeted.
"How did you find me, TC?" Starscream asked.
"A seeker always finds another seeker, Screamer." Thundercracker said.
"How are you and 'Warp doing, then?" Starscream asked Thundercracker and smiled.
"Nothing much. There hasn't been any fights with Autobots for a really long time now. How has it been, four yea-"
"Five years, TC. Five years." Starscream replied before Thundercracker could finish the sentence.
"Screamer, all of us know how much you loathe Megatron and his actions. But there is one thing you should know, Megatron is dead." Thundercracker said with his worried face.
"Megatron? How?" Starscream asked, shockingly.
"He was offlined during the Great War." Thundercracker replied.
"The Great War? I'm confused, TC." Starscream asked Thundercracker.
"When you were disappeared, there was a war between the Autobots and us. Many lives were lost during that time, including the fleshlings too. Even the war lasted for two and a half human-years, its effect is enormous. Heck, I couldn't even sleep like I used to!" Thundercracker explained.
"Who offlined Megatron, then?" Starscream asked, wanting more explanations.
"Surprisingly, it was a virus." Thundercracker replied with his hands holding each other.
"A virus? It's not even possible. How come Megatron got himself infected?" Starscream shouted.
"The Autobots invented a new technology in combat battling. It was known as the Hatchet Syndrome Virus. Screamer, they made a biological weapon that was far superior than what we had during that time." Thundercracker explained further more.
"So, the Autobots planted a virus inside Megatron's body before the war started or something else?" Starscream asked.
"No, they used it during the war. That's why it ended so fast in the matter of two years and a half. If they didn't use that weapon, I think the war could have gone longer. But I'm glad that the war ended before the Energon supplies ran out." Thundercracker said.
"Dark times, huh." Starscream said.
"By the way, the funeral will be held in the next couple of days and every single Decepticons are going to be there. I'm asking you, Screamer. Do you want to go or not? It's your own decision." Thundercracker asked.
"I'll go, TC. I'll go." Starscream replied.
"That's a surprise. I expect you to say no to it." Thundercracker was surprised by what Starscream replied to him.
"TC, I have changed. There's no need for me to hate him anymore. You know what, of all the bad things that I've done for overthrowing him, I realize of who I have become. I have become a monster, TC. A fucking monster." Starscream replied, angrily.
"I understood, Screamer." Thundercracker replied.
"Screamer, I'll be picking you tomorrow night by using the space bridge. When I reach there, I'll knock on your door, okay?" Thundercracker asked.
"Okay. Who's coming with us?" Starscream asked and typed a to-do list in his personal datapad.
"Let me think. Me, You, 'Warp, Knock Out, Breakdown and Orion Pax, I think so." Thundercracker said.
"Knock Out? So it was just a fantasy after all." Starscream thought to himself, relieving that what he saw in his mind was just another fantasy of himself.
"I think I'd better be packing my stuffs. I'll see you tomorrow, TC. Oh and say hi to 'Warp too." Starscream said and got up.
"Bye. May Primus bless you, Screamer." Thundercracker said.
"You too." Starscream replied and pressed the "hang up" button.
Starscream turned off his computer and grabbed a luggage that was lying beside the computer desk. Starscream knew that he is going to face the past. The past the he had left, unintentionally. He remembered that very day when he had his last dinner with Megatron. That's what when he became clearer about who Megatron really was.
Megatron wasn't a warrior or a leader. He was just himself, nothing more. Megatron did explain to Starscream why he acted towards him so violently. It was love, after all. A love that a father gave to his own son, despise his own abusive nature – he sure loved his son.
As Starscream was packing his stuffs, he found a picture of Megatron – holding a glass of high-grade Energon. Starscream smiled and put the photo inside his luggage where he can see it.
When he finished packing stuffs, he laid his body on the sofa and turned on his television. Starscream walked to the television and inserted a data-disc into the data-player and pressed the "play" button. He got back to his sofa as the film started. He recognized this film very well since Megatron gave him the data-disc of this film.
"The Tree of Life." Starscream thought.
As the film progressed, Starscream was thinking about the funeral and everything that he had done with Megatron. He just sat there, thinking of Megatron and himself while the symphonic sounds rhymed with the majestic moving pictures of the universe.
"I guess he did loved me after all." Starscream said quietly as he was thinking of the funeral. In that moment, Starscream felt that Megatron was sitting beside him, watching this film together, like a father and his son.
Starscream didn't know what it'll be like tomorrow at the funeral but he sure that a lot of 'cons will be really mad seeing him at the funeral. But he was sure that he'll be seeing Megatron again, even he though he was dead.
Starscream knew that in this moment, the only thing he needed to do was waiting for tomorrow to come.
A/N: Well, this is a really long first chapter of The Fall of a Certain Stardust. But I think the following chapters won't be this long (maybe?) but they'll do their job in telling the story, though. Also, I do not own "The Tree of Life", which belongs to Terrence Malick and everyone who is involved with the film. Reviews and comments are welcomed as always!