Well, it's later than I'd hoped, but here, at last, is the next chapter. Or at least part of it; this was getting so long that I decided to break it in half. Much gratitude goes to grayseeker for her feedback and encouragement over the course of this chapter.
Airline and Wilderwind (sounds like wilderness) belong to me. All other named characters are canon with a dash of creative license thrown in.
Energon had been spilled here. The scent hung in the air, sweet with the soft, heavy metals consumed regularly by bots who valued pleasure over health. Grounders, then; Starscream had never known a Seeker to ingest such metals in large quantity, even when they could find them.
Satisfied, he motioned the Seekers around him forward with a flick of his wings, allowing Skywarp and Thundercracker to go first before following with the rest of the small group. They kept to the shadows, scanning the buildings around them for signs of life, but the area was ominously still. Here and there Starscream could see the scorching of weapons discharge on the walls and roads, but there was no sign of energon beyond the cloying scent. Grounder or not, the smell was enough to put them all on edge.
The largest building in the complex was looming above them when Skywarp flared his wings, bringing the others to a halt. At first Starscream wasn't sure what had caught his attention, but then hushed voices reached his audios from somewhere ahead. They were too quiet to make out words, but for the speakers to be audible at that volume, they had to be close. He looked at Skywarp, who now stood with his head tilted. Noticing his gaze, Skywarp shrugged and held up three fingers. At least three bots, maybe more. Starscream motioned his team on, wings held low to reinforce the need for caution, and crept after Skywarp.
After only a few steps one of the voices rose in volume and pitch, bringing them to a stop again. Starscream still couldn't quite make out the words, but the sharp, quick syllables sounded Vosian. The speaker was distressed, whoever they were, though softer voices were already hushing them.
Skywarp flicked a wing, drawing his gaze, and held up four fingers before pointing at the building beside them. Starscream silently warned the others to stay where they were, then silently approached the corner a few wing's-lengths ahead and peered around the wall.
There were, indeed, four of them, all large-framed Seekers with dark plating. Two were gathered around the smallest of them, stroking his lowered wings, while the last stood a few steps away, clearly watching for danger. They were gathered around the entrance of the building Starscream's team was heading for, but he barely had time to register that before the guard's optics met his.
Whatever audible reaction the mech gave was lost to the distance between them, but the aggressive flaring of his wings wasn't. The other three looked up, all finding Starscream in almost the same moment, and his wings sank back submissively on reflex. They couldn't see it with the wall in the way, but his own bots would know he had been spotted, and that he didn't want this to become a fight. He repeated his warning for them to stay put, then stepped into the open where the other flock would be able to see his reluctance to fight, hoping they would be equally unwilling.
One of the mechs who had been comforting the smallest moved between Starscream and the rest, flaring his own wings. The growl that rumbled from his engines was both a challenge and a confirmation that these were Vosian Seekers; any other Seeker would have greeted a potential enemy with words and an attempt to discern their allegiance, not open hostility. For a moment Starscream stood frozen, not sure what to do. This wasn't the first time he had been threatened by a group of wild Seekers, but he had been alone then, and had only escaped serious harm through complete submission. He couldn't do that as a leader of his own flock and expect either side to regard him with respect.
He pushed the memories aside and stepped forward cautiously, keeping his wings low and chin tucked to protect his throat - submissive, yes, but ready to fight back should the other leader attack. When the mech growled again he stopped, wary of getting too close to the restless flock without permission. He fanned his wings forward without raising them, inviting the leader to investigate the stranger in their midst, and after a few tense kliks the mech prowled towards him, optics narrowed.
Starscream stayed still as he drew near, watching carefully for any sign of impending attack. The leader stepped into easy reach without any further hesitation, head dipping to catch his scent. Warm ventilations wafted over his neck and wings, causing the latter to twitch nervously, but his only other reaction was to slowly turn his head, taking the opportunity to scent the other mech in return.
The leader's plating smelled strongly of rust and iron, and of another bot who must have been his mate. It was the iron-rust scent, mingling with that of the grounders' energon and calling to mind images of sickness and death, that held Starscream's attention. No Cybertronian consumed iron in quantity unless they had no choice - it corroded too readily, leaving bots prone to infection. And there was no choice in Vos, where most of the naturally occuring energon was tainted by deposits from the Manganese Mountains. This particular mech seemed strong enough, but his flock as a whole was almost certainly not, and Starscream had to bite back a snarl when he compared it to the extravagance of the higher castes.
A harsh snort concluded the other Seeker's investigation, then his head dipped to rub over Starscream's neck and shoulders, marking him with his scent. Starscream released a heavy ventilation, forcing himself to relax before tipping his own head back, returning the nuzzle.
Soft footsteps behind him caught both of their attention, but though the leader tensed as Starscream's team emerged from hiding, he didn't resume his aggressive stance. Starscream cast a quick glance over his shoulder and flicked his wings, warning them to keep stay back. As they had the advantage of numbers, it was only fair that the other leader be allowed to decide whether he was willing to let them near his flock.
A low rumble drew his gaze back to the mech, who stepped back just enough that Starscream could see his face. "You have good manners for a grounder pet," he said, voice rasping as though he rarely used it - or as though he had rust in his vocalizer.
"Those are origins I would prefer to leave behind," Starscream murmured, uncomfortably aware of the lilting accent his time in Iacon had left him. He had encountered far too many bots, Seeker and grounder alike, who were willing to reject him for "imitating" the upper class, or for sounding like a grounder in the first place.
The other mech noticed it too, going by the look on his face. But he merely considered Starscream through narrowed optics for a few moments before fanning his wings, calling his mechs to come meet the other flock. Starscream waited until they began their cautious approach to wave his own bots forward, turning to watch the two sides come together. There should be no conflict now that the leaders had accepted each other, but except for Skywarp and Thundercracker, who had been taken from a wild flock, all of Starscream's team had been raised by grounders. He had done his best to educate them in what to expect and how to behave, but there was really no way to prepare for the fierce, battle scarred reality that was a Vosian Seeker.
Though at least this meeting was on friendly terms. Memories of huddling on the ground in the middle of a hunting party resurfaced, sending an involuntary shiver through his wings.
"So what brings you here?" he asked, pulling himself back to the present. "I wasn't under the impression Vosians normally enter areas populated by grounders."
"We don't," the leader replied curtly. "We were summoned by the Councilor who thinks himself a Seeker."
"Contrail?" Starscream shouldn't have been surprised. His spies had warned him that Contrail was calling Seekers to the handful of buildings and roads that made up the "civilized" region of Vos, and he had come here to investigate that very thing. But he had assumed the call was limited to the Air Command and perhaps the flocks who lived nearest to grounders. These mechs had to have come from near the mountains to be in such rough shape.
"All of the other flocks I contacted received the same summons." The mech glanced at Starscream. "Didn't you?"
Starscream turned his own gaze to the darkness of the waiting entryway, brows furrowed in thought. "I wasn't invited."
"Then he doesn't know you're here." The words were a statement, not a question.
Starscream allowed a smile to spread over his face. "He's going to find out."
He moved towards the entrance, not bothering to call to his team. They would see him moving and follow. They always did.
"You're just going to walk right in?"
The incredulous voice didn't belong to the leader, or any of Starscream's bots. He looked back, locking optics with the smallest of the wild flock. The other mech quickly dropped his gaze, avoiding direct optical contact, but disbelief was still clear on his face.
"Is that a problem?" Starscream asked mildly.
The mech licked his lips, casting a quick glance at his leader. After a few moments he muttered, "There could be grounders in there."
Starscream laughed, catching the optic of his Second in Command and motioning for him to fall in. Nacelle would make sure none of the others were left behind. "Dead grounders," Starscream said. "Or captured. Either way, they can't do much. This area belongs to the Seekers now."
"Seekers allied with grounders," the leader countered.
Starscream looked back at him, taking a moment to appreciate how the two sides had reversed their original positions before smirking. "We'll see."
He turned and headed into the darkness, flanked by his mechs. The foyer they entered was heavy with the scent of bots, both grounder and not, but the most recent was undeniably Seeker; more Seekers than he could count by smell alone, though two flock-scents were immediately familiar to him. A soft, eager sound from just behind told him that Thundercracker and Skywarp's original flock was here as well.
Several hallways branched off from the main room. Starscream could see them only as darker shadows lining the walls, but they showed up clearly on radar. His sensors picked up no life signals in the room, so he started along one wall, passing by two halls before finding one where the Seeker scents were stronger. He narrowed his optics to slits to hide the glow, relying on radar to guide him as he crept down the corridor. He sensed the others following as much as heard them, twitching wings held low to pick up the warmth of a frame close behind. But most of his attention was on what lay ahead, and on the scent trail that told him which branch-offs to take and which to ignore.
It didn't take long before a thin, rasping voice came echoing through the halls, growing louder as they progressed.
"We are here to take up a question of the gravest consequence, for it is a question that has brought our society from peace to the edge of civil war in a very few megacycles. The Council first states without reservation that it deplores the acts of violence that have so far taken place. Those must be answered for, and one of our goals today will be to discern who should answer for them."
Starscream opened his optics fully when the darkness began to give way to dim light from the room ahead. He cast a glance back, making sure all his bots were still present, then returned his gaze to the front as the Seekers emerged into the massive briefing room of Cybertron's Air Command; a room normally populated mainly by grounders, but now, for the first time in Starscream's memory, every bot was winged.
"Further, the question of the legitimacy of the castes will be considered," the voice continued, and now Starscream could see that it emanated from a monitor that took up most of the far wall. The grim, familiar face of High Councilor Halogen filled the screen. "The Council feels that the caste system was instituted legally and that Sentinel Prime has overseen its continuation in a prudent way. Were he here, he would be able to speak for himself, but this brings us to a dire reality. There are those among us who would prefer terror and violence to discussion and consensus."
Starscream turned from the screen with a derisive growl, focusing his attention on the room at large. The sour scent of rust was here too, smothering the now-faint traces of energon. Most of the Seekers nearest him seemed restless, standing together in tight huddles and staring around with suspicion or anxiety. None of them were familiar, but their behavior made it startlingly clear that, like the group outside, these were wild Seekers. Not part of the Air Command. It seemed as though Contrail had called the leaders of every major flock in Vos together, and once again, Starscream had to wonder how he'd managed it.
"Sentinel Prime, the Council believes you to be alive and well. We call upon your captors to renounce their ways, release you, and present themselves to the machinery of justice! Regardless of the merits of an argument, it must not be prosecuted by lawless behavior."
"Sure, like that's ever gonna happen," Skywarp scoffed at Starscream's shoulder as various Councilors burst into calls of approval on screen. Starscream hummed disinterestedly. He had already played through this recording twice before leaving Trypticon, in addition to having seen the live broadcast. He didn't need to watch it again here, though he had a feeling Contrail's decision to play it was related to his summoning the Seekers together. Something big was happening.
"I've never seen so many flocks in one place before," Thundercracker murmured from Starscream's other side. "Frag, I don't think I've ever seen Vosians mixing with the Air Command without fighting before."
"Unless I'm mistaken, this won't be the end of the unusual things you'll see today," Starscream replied.
He resumed walking along the wall, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. It was easy to pick out Contrail's mechs once he started looking; they were the ones scattered throughout the room, speaking earnestly to bots who ranged from annoyed to uneasy, and doubtless trying to garner support for whatever Contrail had planned. There was no sign of the mech himself, though that came as no surprise. He would be lurking somewhere nearby, waiting for his plants to guide the crowd towards his way of thinking before addressing them. A useful tactic against grounders, but Starscream wasn't sure how effective it would be here, with bots who trusted few outside their own flocks.
"I beg of you to contain yourselves, fellow Councilors, or else how may we demand of our audience that they keep themselves in check?"
Halogen's voice cut through Starscream's thoughts as easily as it did the voices of the other Councilors, and he turned an irritated gaze on the screen.
"It is said that the former gladiator now known as Megatron is responsible for the disappearance of Sentinel Prime. This is a most troubling accusation and must be addressed.''
Starscream snorted. It was better that Megatron take the blame, but that didn't mean he liked having his accomplishments attributed to others.
"It is further said that the Seekers and their commander, Starscream, have been co-opted into Megatron's unsavory organization. This, too, must be addressed, despite the recent relocation of Starscream to the space station Trypticon."
"Commander, hm?" A cross voice caught Starscream's attention, drawing his gaze to a short, hefty green Seeker who stood with hands on his hips. "Didn't know you spoke for all of us now," the mech continued, raising a brow. "Have you been up to something behind our backs?"
Starscream chuckled. "Oh, come now. It's hardly behind your backs when you know I'm doing it." He raised a hand to his chest and offered a small bow, wings dipping respectfully. "It's good to see you again, Wilderwind."
Wilderwind's scowl faded into a tired smile and he returned the salute, though his own wings angled lower in acknowledgment of Starscream's higher rank in the Air Command. "So is it true?" he asked as he straightened. "You're based on Trypticon now?"
Starscream nodded, glancing back to the screen. "Given the circumstances, I felt it would be for the best. I don't think the Council would have been especially welcoming had I returned to Iacon after Sentinel Prime's disappearance, considering I failed in my appointed task of protecting him."
"And made yourself look guilty in the process," Thundercracker spoke up. "I still think you should have just gone back and said Sentinel told you to get help. It would have been true, and less dangerous."
"As it turns out, it would also have been unnecessary," Starscream replied, waving a hand at the monitor as he turned away from it. "With Halogen dead and war officially declared, my whereabouts are going to be the last thing on any of their minds for some time."
"Or at least until the Seekers join the Decepticons in battle," Nacelle interjected. He glanced down at Starscream, expression worried. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"Would you rather side with the new Prime and his so-called Autobots?" Starscream asked. "Personally, I've had enough of Primes to last a lifetime. And well into the next, if you believe in such things."
"I think most of the Air Command will agree with you," Wilderwind said. "Almost everyone I've spoken to thinks that - What would you call it? Promotion? Ascension? - is what the clerk wanted all along, and the talk about abolishing the castes was just talk."
"'Almost' everyone?" Thundercracker repeated. "What do the rest think?"
Wilderwind shrugged. "They're the ones who don't like either Megatron or the Prime. They'll go along with whatever is decided, though I'm not guaranteeing they'll do it happily."
"For now, compliance is all we need," Starscream said, optics sweeping the room. He spotted a large purple mech with green striping and waved a hand at the others. "Mingle and observe. I need to speak with Airline before Contrail gets tired of keeping us all in suspense."
Skywarp rolled his optics. "Sure ya do," he muttered, wandering off into the crowd. Thundercracker followed close behind, and Starscream had no doubt that they planned to search out their old flock. He didn't wait to see what the rest would do, weaving his own way into the throng. Several bots glanced at him as he passed, and a few faces brightened in recognition. But most regarded him with curiosity or nervousness, and even hostility in a couple cases.
It didn't matter. They would all know who he was soon enough.
"I don't know any more than that," the purple mech was saying impatiently as Starscream drew near. "I don't follow grounder politics, who they choose to lead them doesn't concern me."
His conversation partner, a sleek yellow and red bot Starscream knew only by sight, shook his head. "But surely you agree that it's suspicious?"
"Suspicious that he was trying to keep an angry gladiator in check? I would call it foolishness, to be sure, but not suspicious."
"Am I interrupting something?" Starscream asked, clasping his hands behind him as he strolled up to the pair.
"Not at all," Airline began, looking relieved, but the yellow Seeker cut him off.
"Starscream! Surely if anyone noticed, it was you."
Starscream raised a brow. "What am I supposed to have noticed?"
"The behavior of Orion Pax! Surely it's no coincidence that he called for a new Prime and the Council just happened to choose him! Particularly when he seemed so intent on keeping Megatron from interrupting them."
"Protocol dictates one not speak until told to do so when meeting with the Council," Starscream replied, tone dry. "Frankly, I'm more surprised Megatron listened to him than I am that he was attempting to observe the rules."
The yellow mech waved a dismissive hand. "Yes yes, but the timing! He called for a new Prime rather than propose a search for the old one-"
"Because the old one wouldn't have let things change," Starscream interjected.
"-and next thing you know, he is the new Prime!" the mech continued as though he hadn't spoken. "Doesn't that seem strange to you?"
Starscream shrugged. "Whether they planned it ahead of time or not, it happened. As there's no changing it now, I see no point in dwelling on it. Now if you'll excuse me…"
The other mech scowled, but Starscream had already grabbed Airline by one arm and was pulling him away.
"Thank Primus," Airline sighed once the yellow bot was out of sight. "I thought I was never going to get rid of him."
Starscream rolled his optics. "Why don't you forget about Primus and thank me? I was the one who got you out of there."
"True." Casting a glare at the monitor where the recording was still playing out, Airline added, "Though I hope you didn't want to talk about what happened at the Council meeting. It seems to be all these grounder loving-" he caught himself when Starscream shot him a look and finished, "all these Air Command bots can think about."
Starscream grunted, but shook his head. "There will be time to discuss the past later. For now, I'm far more interested in the future."
"You and Contrail both, I would imagine."
"As it happens, that is what I wanted to discuss. Any idea why he called us here?"
Airline muttered a curse, raising his free arm to rub a hand down his face. "To put it simply? Megatron didn't like your refusal to side with him. Seems like he's trying to get the Seekers through Contrail instead."
"I had heard that Contrail left with the Decepticons after the meeting went sour."
"I heard the same. However he intends to get the Seekers to listen to him, it's no mystery where his loyalties lie."
Starscream snorted, running his gaze over the restless bots around them. "To be perfectly honest, I'm amazed that he even managed to bring them together long enough to talk to them all at once."
Airline was silent for a few moments, then, "They're here because of you, you know."
Starscream stopped walking to stare up at him. "Me?"
"You know most flocks think collared Seekers are happy doing what grounders want. The idea that one would turn on the Prime of all mechs is unthinkable, yet you not only did it, you got away with it. They want to know what you're going to do next."
Starscream had to think about that. It hardly seemed possible; his name was certainly known on Cybertron, but it was because of his association with Sentinel, not by any merit of his own. Few, Seeker or grounder, even knew what he looked like - Sentinel had rarely gone out in public, and when he had, it had fallen on Starscream to discourage unwanted attention.
"I... see," he said at last, unsure what else to say. This was a good thing. It gave him him a clear advantage over Contrail. So why did it unsettle him so much?
He looked back to the screen where Megatron now stood, holding himself proudly as he addressed the Council, and found his answer.
"I believe Contrail means to use that," he said softly. "Thanks to the Council, my name has been publicly linked to the Decepticons. What better way to gain the support of the masses than by flaunting the support of one who has their interest? I can't very well disavow Megatron after my Seekers aided his forces at Altihex, and Contrail knows it."
Airline pulled free of the hold Starscream still had on his arm to run careful talons along the edge of his near wing. "Then let him use it. He can't afford to tear you down if he wants others to follow your example. Doing so would tarnish the Decepticons in their optics as well."
"He'll find some way to discount me after I make my position clear," Starscream muttered, absently pressing his wing into the stroking fingers. "He might label me a traitor to my kind, or suggest that my actions against the Prime were born of selfishness rather than a desire for change." He paused, considering. "I can work with that."
Airline smiled. "You see? Contrail might have made it into politics, but you were sparked to trap bots in their own words. There's nothing he can say that you can't turn against him."
"Perhaps. But turning the Seekers from Contrail is only half the battle. I also need to convince them that following me is a better option than sitting out a grounder war."
"You don't need to convince all of them. Just the most influential." Airline pointed out a lavender and teal femme, then a deep green mech. "Slipstream and Acid Storm are well known and respected leaders. Get them on your side and the rest will follow."
Starscream hummed in agreement, taking a moment to study the two bots before returning his gaze to the monitor. A shouting match had broken out between Megatron and one of the Councilors, and though Halogen was attempting to restore order, the sound of his gavel was lost under Megatron's voice.
"What the High Council has so far failed to understand is that it is our right! Each and every Cybertronian has a right to question the Council's actions, and to demand change when those actions fall short of the Council's mandate."
"What do you make of him?" Starscream asked, indicating the screen as Megatron fell silent at last.
Airline scowled. "He makes valid points, but I don't trust him. He doesn't seem like a very stable individual."
Starscream watched the screen thoughtfully, thinking back to his meeting with Megatron. "Not unstable," he decided. "Just very angry and with no qualms about killing."
"A combination worse than simple insanity," Airline muttered, "because he knows exactly what he's doing."
"Precisely. After all, what are a few lives now to prevent a much greater loss in the long term?"
"You almost sound like you believe that."
Again, Starscream had to think about it. Finally, he said, "Sometimes a few must die for the sake of the majority. It's not a pretty truth, but it's the truth. No doubt that's what Megatron will claim as well, though I fear a few would never be enough to satisfy him."
"And you want to form an alliance with him." Airline sounded more amazed than disapproving, but Starscream knew he wasn't happy about it. "I understand why you don't want to take a chance on the Prime, but is Megatron really any better?"
Starscream frowned at the screen as the data clerk, Orion Pax, came forward to speak. "I don't know," he admitted softly. "But I know how Megatron thinks, and that makes him easier to predict. This other mech…" He shook his head, wings twitching restlessly. "You heard what he said. He openly confessed to believing old stories about Primes, and claims to 'respect our traditions'. Who's to say he doesn't also believe the stories about Seekers? Our origins, our role? Who's to say he counts us among those sentient beings for whom 'freedom is a right'?"
Gentle fingers trailed over his wing again, drawing his gaze back up to Airline. "I understand," Airline repeated. "But it doesn't have to matter. Right now, we have an opportunity to change things. And if you think this is the best way to go about it, you have my support." The hand left his wing to press against his back, warm and reassuring. "I trust you."
"Hmm." Starscream briefly leaned into the touch, then shook himself and straightened. "Let's hope others here share your faith."
Airline started to reply, but stilled as silence fell over the room. It took a moment for Starscream to realize the video playback had stopped, and looked back to the screen to find a powerfully built bronze Seeker stepping onto the stage at the base of the monitor. Starscream had to admit, it was a clever way of getting everyone's attention; a quick glance around showed that all optics in the room were now focused on Contrail.
"Seekers of Cybertron! I have called you here today to discuss a matter of great importance: that of our freedom." Contrail indicated the frozen image behind him with a sweep of his arm. "As you have seen for yourselves, things can no longer continue as they have been. It is my hope that you will agree with me when I say we must take a stand if we are to have any chance of surviving the difficult times ahead."
"Here we go," Starscream murmured. He started towards the stage, Airline following close behind. A few of the surrounding Seekers glanced at them as they passed, and some offered encouraging smiles or nods. But the majority stayed focused on the stage, where Contrail paced slowly as he continued to speak.
While my original plan was to alternate between the past and present, I've decided to post the second half of this chapter next time rather than skipping forward in time in the middle of it. As it's almost time to start preparations for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers' Month) in November, I can't say for certain when the next update will be. But I'm going to try to have it up next month, so here's hoping.