This is a background story for Armada Starscream, it started out as part of my story By the Grace of Primus where Starscream was telling Grace about his past, but then I kept coming up with more ideas and it turned into an entirely separate story.
"This was a stupid idea, we're going to get caught."
"Quit being such a wimp Warp, the only way we'll get caught is if you keep whining and making noise." Thundercracker replied.
"Will both of you be quite? It sounds like they're talking about me." Starscream whispered successfully silencing his bickering siblings before he crawled closer to the grate on the air vent they were hiding in.
"Are you sure about this Darkwing? He's so young." Skydancer asked.
"I've heard the Autobots and Decepticons upgrade their sparklings weapons at far younger ages and Starscream is mature for his age. Plus I'll only be upgrading his weapons to the point that he could shock someone, not do any real damage. With the number of neutral cities that have been attacked recently I think it's worth the risks to know that he would be able to defend himself if we're not with him." Darkwing told her.
"I guess you're right. What about Thundercracker and Skywarp?"
"We'll start out with Starscream and see how he handles the upgrades then decide about the other two, although if the attacks get too close we may have no choice, they'll need to be able to defend themselves." Darkwing replied.
"Alright, well might as well get this over with and tell them, but how do we explain why we're upgrading his weapons? We've worked so hard to ensure they're childhood isn't ruined by the war, I don't want them to suddenly find out and start worrying about it." Skydancer said.
"We can tell them that slave ships from another planet have been sighted kidnapping sparklings, I found Starscream in the library the other day reading a book about when that use to happen. He knows that only sparklings who were away from town or alone at the edges of town were ever taken, so it shouldn't worry him much since the three of them never go anywhere alone or outside of town. We'll just be being the paranoid parents he's always telling us we are and taking that precaution to make sure he's safe." Darkwing suggested.
"Alright." Skydancer replied letting out a sigh as she wrapped her arms around her husbands waist and leaned her forehead against his. "I can't believe after all these years of trying to escape the war it's threatening us, I had truly thought as long as we remained neutral we could raise our children without worrying about it." she said.
"Well try not to worry about it, we'll get through this, there's more of a chance of there not being an attack than there is of there being one, as small as the town is there's not much reason for them to attack. We don't make anything that would help either side with the war like some of the other neutral towns that have been attacked. I'm sure we'll be just fine." Darkwing reassured her, kissing her forehead before they headed toward the door.
"Get back to our room quick, they're heading in there now." Starscream whispered as he turned and began rushing his brothers through the air vent.
When they got to where the vent opened into their room Starscream quickly grabbed Thundercracker's hands and lowered him to the floor while Skywarp held onto his feet to keep him from falling out of the vent. Once Thundercracker was on the floor Starscream lowered Skywarp onto Thundercracker's shoulders. As soon as Skywarp was down he lowered himself onto Thundercracker's shoulders and replaced the vent cover.
Starscream quickly grabbed a book and jumped onto his bed while Thundercracker and Skywarp sat together on the floor and started playing with their toys just as their door opened.
"Boys, we need to talk." Darkwing said as he and Skydancer stepped into the room.
"What about, dad?" Thundercracker asked as he and Skywarp climbed up onto the bed to sit next to Starscream.
"Well, did Starscream tell you about the book he was reading the other day, about the evil bots who kidnapped sparklings?" Darkwing asked.
Thundercracker and Skywarp nodded that he had and Darkwing continued, "Well there have been reported sightings of slave ships around Cybertron, no kidnappings yet, but just to be on the safe side your mother and I have agreed that it would be a good idea to activate Starscream's weapons tomorrow, just in case you run into any trouble."
"Cool, what about Warp and I, do we get our weapons turned on too?" Thundercracker asked managing to sound excited even though he already knew the answer.
"Not right away, we'll see how your brother does with his and then if the sightings of the slave ships continue we'll discus activating your weapons." Skydancer replied.
"Screamer get's to do everything first." Skywarp complained.
"That's because I'm the oldest." Starscream replied sitting up a little straighter.
"Only by a few minutes." Skywarp and Thundercracker replied shoving Starscream backwards onto the bed then slid closer together so their wings blocked him from being able to sit back up.
Starscream struggled for a moment to pull his legs out from under his brother's wings and hopped off of the bed, "Well that few minutes obviously made a big difference since I'm so much smarter and more mature than you two." he said ducking behind his father's legs as a pillow was thrown at him.
"Now boys, settle down before you wake your sister." Skydancer said scooping Starscream up and setting him on his bed, "It's time you three got to sleep too."
"Tell us a bed time story first?" all three boys begged gathering around Darkwing's feet.
"Alright, first one in bed get's to pick the story." Darkwing told them.
"The one about the star saber!" Starscream said as he swiftly lunged into his bed and under the covers before his siblings.
"But we just heard that one a couple nights ago." Skywarp pointed out.
"So? It's my favorite and I was the first one in bed." Starscream replied.
"Sorry Warp, he was in bed first." Darkwing said then started to tell the story, "Long ago there was a tiny race of transformers known as mini-cons. During a great war someone discovered that when a regular transformer combined with a mini-con they became much more powerful. When the bad guys found out about this they tried to enslave all the mini-cons, but the mini-cons didn't want to fight and tried to escape. Only a few of them did escape, but they were quickly found by the good guys, they were afraid at first, but eventually realized that the good guys didn't want to force them to fight. They would ask for their help, but never made them fight if they didn't want to."
"One particularly powerful group of three mini-cons decided to offer to help the good guys as long as they helped rescue the other mini-cons. When they agreed the mini-cons revealed that they could combine with each other to form a powerful sword, one more powerful than any other, called the star saber. With the star saber the good guys attacked the bad guys base and rescued all the mini-cons. Once the rescue mission was over a large ship was built for the mini-cons and they all left to find a place where they would be safe from the evil bad guys who wanted to enslave them."
"Do you think the mini-cons are still out there?" Thundercracker asked.
"Of course they are and someday I'm going to find them and the star saber will be mine!" Starscream said.
"You can't just make them do what you want if you were to find them. You would have to treat them nicely and respectfully if you wanted them to work with you. If you were mean to them and made them do things they didn't want to do then you could be in the middle of a battle or something and they would run away from you if they had a chance, but if you're nice to them then they would stay by your side and help you. You have to be nice to people if you want them to help you." Darkwing told him.
"Okay, I'll be really nice to them, because I want to find the star saber and have it forever." Starscream said.
"Good, now get some sleep." Darkwing said before he and Skydancer each told them good night.
"So what do you think they meant about there being a war?" Thundercracker asked once their parents had left.
"I don't know, maybe the mini-cons came back and the bad guys came back too and are trying to enslave them again." Starscream said, then grinned adding, "If they did we'll have to rescue them and they'll be so grateful that the star saber mini-cons will want to stay with me."
"You're obsessed with those sword mini-cons." Thundercracker said throwing his pillow at Starscream.
"They're not just any sword, they're the most powerful sword ever!" Starscream exclaimed tossing the pillow back at Thundercracker.
"You three had better be sleeping." Skydancer said as she opened the door.
"We are." all three boys responded as they quickly settled down.