Author's Note: This is my first Transformers fic. I've watched all of G1 online and am obsessed. This is AU-ish in nature and contains slash, so please be forewarned. There will likely be some dubcon and "sticky" elements in this later on, and I'm rating it to reflect future chapters. This is sort of a riff on "The King and I" with a little "Jane Eyre" thrown in. So yeah, not quite crackfic, but I don't blame you for thinking it might be. Also, I just made up Cybertronian monetary units. If there's a real, canon term for it, PLEASE let me know. Thanks!


I loved flying like this. High enough so that the lights of the city below looked like dots of energon, smooth enough so that the soft currents flowed up and over my wings, and fast enough to make the grounders look up at the sky with their mouthplates open.

I would miss flying this way – especially with them.

My comm link crackled to life. "Well, why the frag are you going? Stay here with us, glitch-head. Who needs the slagging Academy anyway?"

"Quiet, Warp. Star's got the right idea. Education is important. If your processor was half as big as your mouth, maybe even you'd understand that. By the way, you're breaking formation. Get your aft in gear!"

I laughed and slowed down just a klik as we tightened up again. Yes, I would miss my trine-mates a lot. We'd been together for thousands of vorns and being without them, even for as short a time as I was planning, would be strange. But Thundercracker was right. Education was important – to me, anyway. I'd gotten top marks in my classes the orn before and had even been asked to present research on the different forms energon might take throughout the near galaxy at a conference in Iacon City. But I'd had to leave the Academy for lack of money, and there was no way I would just forget my studies and quit. I'd come so far to stop now for any reason, especially one as stupid as finances.

Not having money was nothing new to me. I'd never known my creators. I'd been left as a foundling at a center right outside Vos where sparklings were abandoned pretty often, even though the Cybertronian government said the problem was improving. Ha! Those liars always talked out of both sides of their mouthplates.

Not very many Seekers were ever abandoned and it made me wonder sometimes what the Pit my creators had been thinking. For awhile, I thought there might have something wrong with me, but there wasn't any hitch in my programming and as a sparkling, I was flying better and faster than Seekers three times my age. It's possible my creators were just so poor they couldn't afford another mouth to feed. Energon was once plentiful on Cybertron, but it had been growing scarce over the past few thousand vorns and becoming expensive. I'd earned my keep at the foundling home by keeping an eye on the sparklings there. I'd been good at it, and Coralmoon, the toothless old femme who'd run the place, had been sorry when I'd been accepted into the Cybertron Science Academy since now she'd have to pay someone to do what I'd done for all those years.

I hadn't been trined then – that came a little later. It almost didn't happen at all. I was considered "old" to have never been a part of a trine, and so I was usually passed over by Seekers looking for a third wing. I'd managed to convince myself that I was better off as a lone mech when I met Thundercracker and Skywarp my first year at the Academy at a party that had been given by some of the heavy spacecraft. I'd not been much for parties but there was a shuttle I'd wanted to get to know - a mech named Skyfire who'd been in some of my cosmic chemistry and astrophysics classes - and I knew he'd be there. He had been there – pressed up against a slag of a femme who had obviously enhanced chestplates. I'd been so depressed that I'd taken off for home, literally running into TC, who'd been bored to rust and was leaving too, and Warp, who followed TC anywhere he went. They were a bonded pair that hadn't found the right fit for a third, but they'd both noticed me and when they saw how well I could fly, they'd been impressed. As different as we all were, we bonded pretty quickly. After so many thousands of vorns being alone, it was nice to have a trine … a family.

And now I was leaving them. It made my spark ache to think about it. I didn't want to, but it couldn't be helped. These days, a lot of things could not be helped. I didn't pretend to understand it all.

I slowed down as we approached home. I knew that it would be only a little time before I was back again poking fun at Thundercracker and trying to get Skywarp to ease up on the high grade, but knowing that I was going to be gone even for a little while was beginning to sink in.

We landed gently, one after the other, before transforming and walking into the quiet spire we'd shared for so long. Looking around, I got a lump in my throat, and TC thumped me on the backplates and told me that he and Warp would look over my baggage to make sure I had everything I needed. I didn't mention that I'd already checked and there wasn't much I had to take, anyway. Some research I'd been working on, a few cubes of pricey high grade from Skywarp. That was it. Anything else I'd need, I'd get when I got to my post.

"So this mech you'll be working for. He's a Decepticon?" asked Thundercracker when we got to my room.

I was surprised by the question. "What makes you think that?"

"What else would he be, living in Kaon? They're everywhere there now." TC shrugged. "I just assumed ..."

"He lives right outside Kaon, not in the city itself. I … don't know that much about him, just that he works for the government, travels a lot and has sparklings that need extra tutoring in the sciences because he wants them to get a place in the Academy. He's willing to pay a lot of oolocks for my services."

"I'll bet he's willing to pay a lot of oolocks for your services!" Warp laughed, nudging TC with the edge of his wing. "Especially if he is a Decepticon. I hear they drill constantly and don't have time to go out and socialize."

"Go 'face yourself, Warp. He hasn't even seen me and I doubt he ever will," I said, frowning. "The femme at the placement agency says he travels a lot and is barely ever at home,which is why he needs someone to tutor his sparklings. He probably doesn't even know I'm a Seeker and he probably couldn't give a slag. And I don't think he's a Decepticon."

I saw TC give me a look. He knew I didn't like talking about the Decepticons, a bunch of fraghead military-designates who'd escaped from the fighting pits where they belonged and were going all over Cybertron saying that they were sparked to rule over everyone. The consumer-designates were starting to resent it, but what could they do? They weren't built for combat – they were built to serve and help and give pleasure. But it wasn't them I was worried about; they'd soon remember their place. These other mechs had the potential to be real problems.

These so-called "Decepticons" were headed by a silver mech who called himself Megatron. I'd actually met him once, when he'd come on a recruiting trip to Vos. TC and Warp were older than me, and while TC had finished his courses at Cyberton's War Academy and had a respectable job as a patrol craft monitoring Cybertron's southern perimeter, Warp had washed out of school and was living off the remains of his creators' fortune. Warp wasn't smart, but he had gifts a Seeker could only dream of, and somehow this Megatron had heard of him and had come to Vos specifically to try to persuade him to join his faction. I still remembered how the slaghead had strutted in as if he owned the place, talking down to us like we were just-sparked mechs still wet behind the audios.

When TC said that we'd decided, as a trine, that we would not join the Decepticons unless we were all in agreement to it, and we all were not, the fragger had left, saying that it was a pity, but he was sure we'd see reason soon enough. Megatron had been pretty arrogant, but polite, to TC and Warp, but he barely even looked at me until he'd left. Then he turned his head and we'd locked optics. His were filled with pure hatred, as if he'd known I was the one against joining him and the rest of the naive fools he'd talked into going to his side. I'd glared at him right back and was a nano-klik away from punching him right in the mouthplates. I'd never felt such hate on sight for any mech.

I really hoped my new employer wasn't a Decepticon. Anyone who'd follow that Megatron fragger couldn't be very intelligent.

"Hey, Warp, go break out the high-grade, huh?" said TC quietly. "Let's give Star the send-off he deserves. Make sure it's the right temperature."

Skywarp didn't have to be asked twice, and he quickly disappeared. TC turned to me with a sigh and I realized at that moment that it had been arranged between the two of them for Warp to go on some errand and leave me alone with TC. I groaned low in my vocal processor. That could only mean a lecture. I hoped the high-grade wasn't just a dupe because I always needed to get slagged off my aft whenever TC gave me one of his "talks."

"Star, we're going to miss you," he paused. "I understand why you don't want to take the oolocks to pay for the Academy from Warp, but … I … we wish you'd put aside that Primus-loving pride of yours and at least consider it. Even with energon as expensive as it is, Warp can afford it. It's not like he's using it anyway other than to buy cubes of high-grade."

"No. I already told you, I'm not going to slag around with my servo out expecting to be given everything. That's not my way. I … I need to earn this. I can't explain it any other way, TC. I just need to know, deep down in my spark, that I worked to get where I've gotten."

"I understand, Star, I do, it's just … you'll be so far away," he murmured. "And … and war's coming."

I looked up sharply. "It's not. Don't say that. Especially in front of Warp. You know how he is; if he hears that, he'll want to fight, join the fragging Decepticons -"

"Yeah, I know." TC put a servo on my shoulder. "But he's not like you, Star. Fighting is all he has. You know that, too."

I just stared at him. Thundercracker could be really gloomy when he wanted to be. He was a smart mech, but he thought too much and it slowed him down in everything - his flying, the way he interacted with other mechs. He had so much more potential than just a common patrol craft, if he'd get out of his processor a little and just take more chances. I saw the seriousness in his dark-red eyes, though, and felt a little shiver of energy run through me. He was serious – he really thought that there would be war, that the Decepticons would either sway all the military-designates to his cause and somehow, some way, the consumer-designates would oppose him. And how would they do that? By throwing their cleaning implements and energon-refining instruments at them? Most of the Decepticon slagheads were grounders, but there was a rumor that they had worked out some technology that allowed them to fly. Not as well or as fast as a born Seeker or even a heavy cruiser, but still, it was something - if it was true. And if it wasn't, it didn't matter: the military-designates were warriors from the first spark.

If there was war, it would be over very, very quickly.

"You have to promise me something. A few things, to be honest," he went on. "The first is that you'll be careful. You're going to be way out in Kaon, alone. Try not to slag anyone off there. You'll probably be the only Seeker around and that'll attract attention enough on its own without you adding to it by flapping your mouthplates when it's not necessary."

I grinned. "When have I ever done that? If I tell a mech to go 'face himself, it's usually very necessary!"

He grunted. "That brings me to the second thing. Look, there's no easy way to say this ..." He blew out a loud gust of air and gave me a long, searching look from helm to pede. "You're young and you're beautiful, Star. That's going to attract even more attention – unwanted attention. It might not be a good idea for you to let anyone know how ... inexperienced you are."

I blinked at him slowly. "Inexperienced?"

"You know what I mean. That you've never interfaced before." TC's face-plating was glowing the same color as his eyes. "It might give some mechs the wrong idea, and they may decide to try you. I know you're fast, but in Kaon, that might not be enough. It's different if you find someone that you want to be sparkmates with, but don't lead anyone on. It won't be pretty. If some mech offers to buy you a cube of high-grade, just be aware that it probably isn't because he wants to talk about the latest planetary discoveries or theorems with you."

I looked away, feeling my own faceplates heat up. Sometimes Skywarp teased me about having an unbreached port, but TC had never brought it up until now. It wasn't that I was a prude and thought there was something wrong with interfacing. It's just that I didn't want to hook up with a random mech or femme for a quick 'face, especially not for my first joining. It'd be great to have a sparkmate, the way TC and Warp were bonded, but other than Skyfire, I hadn't really found someone I'd liked in that way. Plus, I had my career to think of. One day I wanted to settle down with a sparkmate and have lots of sparklings, but right now, I wanted to continue my studies and go on great adventures to advance the glory of Cybertron in the fields of intergalactic science and exploration. 'Facing and bonding could wait.

"I'm not a sparkling, a femme or an idiot, Thundercracker," I hissed. I only used his full name when I was good and slagged off, and he knew it, and raised his optic ridges in surprise. "I know when a mech just wants to be friendly and when he wants to bend me over. Besides, I'm going to Kaon to earn enough to finish the Academy, not to make friends or sit around refueling stations getting slagged off energon. I probably won't even have that much free time, and my leave joors I'll be spending back here with you and Warp, so spare me the wide optics and wagging digits. I know how to handle myself there."

"All right. Fair enough. I guess that leaves the third thing ..." He took a deep breath through his vents. "I know that we've agreed that we won't join the Decepticons unless we go as a trine. But you have to swear to me on Primus's spark that if it comes to war, you'll consent to all of us joining Megatron's faction."

"What? NO!" I shouted, enraged that he'd even ask. He knew how I felt about the Decepticons, and especially Megatron. "First of all, there's not going to be any war! And even if there was, that slagface is no leader. I'd sooner follow a garbage transport into the Pit than follow that sorry excuse for a mech anywhere!"

Thundercracker just looked at me calmly looking while I threw my fit. When I'd finished yelling, he said in that same quiet voice, "There's going to be war, Starscream. It may not be today or the solar cycle after that, or the solar cycle after that. It may take tens of thousands of vorns – but there will be war. It's coming. I feel it in my spark. And when it does, Warp will want to fight, and so will I. And so will you – it's in our programming. Hopefully if won't come to that, and the consumer-designates will give up on the silly dream that they're just as good as we are. But if they don't and if there is war between us, we'll have to choose sides and we will have to fight. Swear to me you won't stand in the way of that."

TC was giving me that deep stare that I could never really look away from or resist and it made me resent him at that moment. Here it was, right before I was going to leave and work for at least a few thousand solar cycles to earn my keep, and this was my going-away gift – words of doom and a promise to be forced from me. I didn't really blame Thundercracker. He loved Skywarp and only wanted to see him happy, and fighting made Skywarp happy.

But at the same time, I hated the idea of having to even worry about putting aside my dreams of exploration in the cosmos and scientific discovery for the life of a soldier. It didn't seem to me that the consumer-designates would be so stupid as to try to rebel, but something knocked in my spark and I felt a strange sense of dread. TC must have seen it in my optics because he smiled wearily and eased his grip on my shoulder. That little smile sent shivers through me and I immediately felt immensely sad for TC – for all of us.

"I promise," I murmured. "I give you my word on Primus's immortal spark that if there is war, our trine will do our duty and join with those who would fight to keep the natural order of things."

"That's all I ask, Star. Thank you." He smiled wider and made his voice light. "But I hope you're right and there isn't any war, and that you leave the Science Academy at the top of your class and become its pride and joy."

I smiled back, but it wasn't completely genuine. Suddenly I just wanted to crawl into my berth and recharge until the day broke and it was time for me to board the train for the outlands. TC must have noticed the tiredness in my faceplates because he guided me to my berth and made me lie down, saying that the high-grade would keep for when I returned on leave.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Star," he said as I started to drift off. "How many sparklings does this mech have?"

"They weren't entirely sure at the agency. Somewhere between three and five," I said drowsily. "But I'll mainly be tutoring a set of twins. The femme at the agency said they're at the age where they'll probably be a pain in the aft, but twins usually are."

"Yeah, and so are trines, so you shouldn't have any problems there." TC said with a grin and started to leave. "Me and Warp'll set our chronos so that we'll have you at the hovertrain station in plenty of time."

I thanked him and listened to the retreat of his stabilizing servos as he went off to the room he shared with Warp. As I drifted off, I thought of my new post and what awaited me there. The last thoughts I had before recharge took over me was not of TC's dire predictions of war or that useless piece of scrap Megatron, but of the twin sparklings that would soon be in my care: Frenzy and Rumble. I remembered the warning from the femme at the agency and chuckled. As young as they were and with such silly names, handling them would be a piece of energon cake.