Delta Angel.

Chapter One.

A/N: 1 vorn is equivalent to approximately 83 human years.

Starscream could only stare in disbelief at the tiny little organic that lay nestled in his palm, lifting it carefully to optic level to observe, his scientific curiosity overcoming his instinctive disgust.

Starscream had never seen such a tiny human before, or at least not that he recalled. It appeared to be recharging, and was pleasantly warm there in his hand. He could crush it or throw it from him of course, but before taking any sort of action, he decided to check up on the human's 'internet' for information on such tiny fleshlings.

A few seconds later, destroying said fleshling was the furthest thing from his mind. His research had quickly led him to conclude that this one was an 'infant' a 'child', or by Cybertronian reckonings, a 'sparkling' or 'youngling.'

As in any society, there were moral values and taboos in Cybertronian culture, moral values and taboos that had often been broken and ignored by various Decepticons (and some Autobots) from before the war began. Of course some taboos were greater than others and thus rarely broken. One of these was a taboo on killing the young, and nowhere did it specify that those young had to be Cybertronian. Of course, there were some Cybertronians who would break that taboo, but they were very rare – and Starscream was not among those few.

The small being stirred, turning over a little, and Starscream brought his other hand up quickly, fearful that the human sparkling would fall and damage herself, - for his research indicated this one was a femme - but she stopped moving, with a little puff of hot air from her mouth against the metal of his palm, before raising her opposable digit and inserting it into her mouth. Starscream carefully drew his hand close to his chest, bringing the little one closer to the warmth of his Spark. The small one's surface area to volume ratio would mean she might quickly chill, and Starscream did not want that.

The movement roused the child, who knuckled her eyes and then sat up, blinking sleepily and then looking about with a wide-eyed curiosity that again reminded Starscream of some of the younglings of his own kind.

"Greetings, human youngling." He said to her, then added a few clicks, not sure exactly how to speak to young humans. Did they understand the language of their adult units or did they have a sparkling-language of their own?

She removed the digit from her mouth before speaking as she looked up at his face.

"'Llo, angel." she said. "'I'm Rachel." Starscream nodded, filing the youngling's designation away for future reference.

"Greetings, Rachel. I am designated Starscream." He raised a hand and tapped his chest with a finger. "Starscream." He repeated slowly.

"Starsky - Starscra – Star – Star-angel." She struggled with his name and gave up at the end. Starscream nodded again.

"Star-angel then. It will suffice." He said, looking up the word 'angel' on the Internet for she had now used the word twice in reference to him. He noted that the word "suffice" went over her head, but noticed that she took his own nod and use of the name as acceptance of the designation.

There was a wealth of information on angels on the Internet, some of it conflicting, but Starscream's processor power enabled him to sort through it all and work out what sort of 'angel' she saw him as, and he found it both ironic and flattering. He smiled at her, as best as he could with his face, curling his digits up around her as she had stood and he did not want her falling. He noted her lack of fear in the face of the sharp-tipped claws and razor-edged knuckle-blades and found himself wondering if her fearlessness was down to trust, ignorance or a combination of both.

Rachel smiled back. "Star-angel." She said again. "Why you here?"

Noting her truncated speech, he realised she did speak the language of the adult forms, but a reduced, simpler version of it. He would have to attempt to do likewise.

"I need a place to shelter for a bit." He said. "What is this place?" He hoped his language was understandable: he could not think of a simpler way to explain. Luckily, it seemed she understood more words than she spoke, and was possibly a fast learner.

"This Daddy's barn." She said. "I tell Daddy you here, he come see you." she said.

"No!" he said in alarm. He didn't mind the youngling knowing, for she seemed to believe he was a celestial entity, something Starscream did not want to disabuse her of. If adults found out, however, it would be dangerous for him, especially being so close to the Lennox lands.

"No." he repeated more gently. "Your parents – that is, Mommy and Daddy - cannot be allowed to see me, not yet, they must not even know I am here. My purpose here is a secret, one I cannot tell even you." He said.

"Why?" she asked. Starscream skimmed angel stories, fastened on an explanation. It was a cop-out and it made him cringe, but he used it anyway.

"God said I mustn't say." He said, offlining his optics briefly at the very idea that he was a messenger from Primus.

"But why?" she asked.

"I don't know. He didn't say why. Who am I to ask God why?" he said, really hoping she wouldn't persist.

Thankfully, she seemed to accept it.

"I'm bored." She said. "Can we play?"

"What do you want to play?" he asked.

"Hm. Dunno. We play angel games?" she asked hopefully.

It only took a few seconds for him to analyse all the sparkling-games he knew of and eliminate those not suitable or beyond the ability of a squishy youngling, and was glad to find there were a few word and counting games he could play with her. He smiled at her again.

"Why not?" he said.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

He managed to keep the sparkling human entertained by using counting games, naming games, and holographic projections until she heard her father calling her name. He bent down to put her back on the floor, and was startled when she stretched her arms along the bottom of one side of his helm and pressed her moist lips against his metal cheek, removing them with a loud smacking sound. It wasn't, he was relieved to note, as wet a kiss as it sounded.

"Remember, don't tell your Mommy and Daddy about me. It's a secret." He cautioned her as she waved and headed for the door.

"I won't. Promise. Bye Star-angel. See you tomorrow!" she called.

Of course, Rachel was just bursting to tell somebody about the angel in her father's barn, but she had promised the star-angel she wouldn't tell her Daddy or her Mommy, but he hadn't said anything about her friends.

"Phone Annabelle?" she asked her mom.

"Okay, but make it quick, your food is almost cooked." Her mom said.

Rachel went to the upstairs extension and hit the speed-dial to Annabelle's her mom had programmed in it for her. Sarah answered the phone, and called Annabelle.

"'Lo, Rachel?" Annabelle asked.

"Come round tomorrow. Wanna show you something." She said. "I gotta real live angel. It's in my barn. But don't tell your mommy or Daddy. It's a secret." She stage-whispered the last word.

"A real angel?" Annabelle asked excitedly, her eyes going round. She dropped her voice. "I won't tell, let me see! Please?"

"Call for me tomorrow and I show you." Rachel promised. She heard her mom calling her name.

"See you tomorrow. Bye!" she said, and put the phone down.

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Starscream knew that he really ought to go now the sparkling had found him. He was only there because when he had tried to land at an air base, they had begun to shoot at him. He had aborted his landing, changed his decals, and tried at another base with the exact same result, and a brief scan of the area revealed Cybertronian scan technology. It seemed the Autobots had given their squishy allies the technology to differentiate between their own drones and a disguised Cybertronian. Needing somewhere to hide, recharge, lie low, and plan, this barn had seemed the ideal place.

The problem was, where else could he go? This location was convenient to him because not only did it have buildings big enough to conceal himself in, but he was close enough to the Lennox farm to possibly pick up some information, but not so close that he risked being found by the weapons specialist, Ironhide. The big 'bot seemed to have appointed himself as guardian to the Lennox-squishy and the fleshling femme Starscream had twice glimpsed and whom he assumed was his mate. Starscream was sure that if he were detected that the heavily-armed Autobot would categorise him as a threat, and Starscream didn't have any illusions about what his chances would be if he got on the business end of the Autobot's massive arsenal.

Finding another location with the same concealment and spying opportunities would not be easy, and if he was telling the truth, Starscream didn't really want to go. The human youngling was fascinating in her behaviour and really quite charming. She didn't have the knowledge or learned fear of the unknown that the older humans had, and as such accepted Starscream at face value. That was something Starscream had not experienced in vorns, and he found he liked it.

Yes, he sighed, he really should leave, be gone by the time the squishy youngling returned here, but Starscream found that what he should do and what he wanted to do no longer tallied. He stretched on the floor of the barn and huffed air through his vents. He would move on in a few days, once he got a chance to slip out and locate a new hiding place. The immature human had promised to keep his presence a secret, and he trusted her when she had promised not to tell her parental organisms that he was there.

He would like to keep in contact with the small human a little longer - for the purpose of scientific curiosity only, of course, he told himself.

Yes, he would have to move on, but he didn't need to leave just yet.