Note: plain Italics is Seeker-song, while ::comm::
Note2: I tried to make up a kind of an 'accent' for Starscream, but it was kinda hard to do – actually the slow update was mostly thanks to this; the effect I wanted to achieve was a kind of a sibilant, hissing-screeching, hard to understand speech, but with retaining the readability of it in the fic. I hope I succeeded in it, pronunciation is my weak point, accents especially, English not being my mother tongue. Please, don't hesitate to criticize it if you feel like so; I'd really appreciate it.
Part IV
It's a long way
The way back to the Ark was quiet. Prowl drove without wanting to catch attention, while Starscream flew ahead and stayed at the top of the volcano, waiting for him to arrive. Once Prowl reached the Ark and could talk to the Prime, told him what happened; they came out together and he transformed and landed in front of them, nervous but hoping, afraid and angry, not knowing if he had made a grievous mistake or the best decision of his life. Other Autobots also came out and as they stood around them his agitation became visible; many of them, despite of the earlier talks about it were less than optimistic or outright mistrusting the Seeker. He kept turning in the circle, trilling low, nervously, half minded to lift his weapon, half trying to convince himself not to; automatically drawing closer to Prowl, the only one he so far trusted. It was the Prime who noticed the source of his nervousness and ordered everyone to leave or at least draw back a bit.
"I'm sorry, but mechs are interested. They mean no harm."
He trilled again, understanding but nevertheless thankful for the more free space that they got. Emotions roiled in him as Optimus Prime repeated what they have agreed with Prowl, and they let the other Seekers out and cut off the collars from them. Thundercracker and Skywarp were even more nervous as they didn't understand what was going on but were fearful of the mechs standing still around, vary of the attentions. He tried to explain it to them, but the freedom/flight/friends got only blank stares from them; for them the only freedom they knew was their former life in the Sonic Canyons. After it, he tried to elaborate but the cage/negative/collar/negative only got fear from them as reaction. It took him the rest of the day trilling, warbling and even acting things out to get at least the main points across to his fellow Seekers.
By this time only a few Autobots remained around; Jazz (who was rescued earlier, mostly unharmed, only knocked out in the attack that got the other two captured) listening to the language and recording it, Prowl to help Starscream with the explanations and Bumblebee who was simply curious about the Seekers. They spent the night in the hangar, where Hoist and Grapple quickly dismantled the cages but they couldn't do more, considering that nobody had any idea of what kind of accommodation the Seekers wanted or wished for. It was more than a bit queer to see how unwilling Starscream was to step in the hangar – while the other two were hurrying in, to be in the place they considered safety. To Prowl it awakened old, painful memories, back to the time when he saw a similar scene, with Thundercracker and Skywarp…
Their capture and escape was told later in the rec room and the simple, unadorned tale of the tactician left little doubt in anyone that he could thank his life to the Seeker. It changed a lot of attitudes how Starscream was viewed, both his intelligence and his loyalties. Not all of them though; some prejudices are more deep-set than a single instance could change them and mechs react differently if forced to face their actions, their injustice – some takes it better than others, while some prefer ignorance, denial or even anger. But at least some of the Autobots were trying to change their views about their Seekers, making up for the past and willing to let them become part of the crew.
The next day brought more upheaval, at least to Starscream who was undoubtedly the spokesmech of the trio – if the term could be applied to someone not capable of speaking that is. Prowl convinced him to see Ratchet to find out if his vocalizer could actually pronounce Cybertronian or if not it could be adjusted to do so. Prowl was surprised how much Starscream was afraid of the proposed examination – until he remembered their suspicions of the origins of his changes.
"Starscream, do you know a mech called Shockwave?"
His answer was an angry but fearful shudder, accompanied by a firm nod.
"Did he make… experiments on you?"
Smaller nods, painful, shaking wings and the Seeker pointed a servo to his helm, mimicking taking it off and clawing in. It was a definite answer, albeit one that neither of them liked; Shockwave's experiments could and usually did include unstable, dangerous or unpredictable surprises. But it explained his hesitation from Ratchet…
"Ratchet is not like Shockwave. He will not do any experiments on you. He only wants to see your vocalizer. Do you want to be able to talk with us?"
"eeeesssssss!" – he screeched and nodded too, watching him enquiringly whether it was understandable or not.
Prowl looked back at him with surprise. "Did you just say 'yes'?"
"eeeesssssss!"
"So you can speak?" – Prowl wasn't sure, but it would change everything again that they knew about him and the Seekers in general. But his sad helmshake answered his question at once.
"But do you want Ratchet to examine your vocalizer?"
Starscream nodded, still a bit fearful but hoping too. He had of course tried to imitate many times the sounds that the other mechs made, but even to his own audials the results were bad, the sound rarely coming even close to their sounds. But he wanted to be able to speak and trusted Prowl enough to believe him about the medic. They trekked to the med bay with Prowl telling him the parts of the ship, introducing the Autobots that they met, and generally behaving normally, like he was a new member of the crew, coming around the first time. He had warned Ratchet of the complication that the Seeker's memories of Shockwave meant and the medic tried to be nonthreatening and friendly with the visibly nervous Seeker.
"Just sit here and lift your head. I'll just scan you first, nothing more."
Starscream obediently looked up and sat unmoving until the tingling sensation of the scan passed, trilling a very quiet, low stanza that got Ratchet smiling before he started to examine the scan results. It was a sound very much like a sparkling would make in such situation, making the big and quite dangerous looking Seeker suddenly vulnerable and… almost cute.
"Have you tried to speak like us?"
Starscream nodded but shrugged too, signaling that he had no success with that.
"The vocalizer is quite different from ours, so it is not surprising. I don't think you could learn much."
"Can it be modified somehow?"
"Brilliant idea Prowl. I would have never thought of it, had you not mentioned."
They both turned their heads, surprised at the clearly laughing trills from the Seeker. Ratchet especially was nonplussed that he understood the sarcasm, but it shocked Prowl too.
"But yes, I think I can modify it somewhat that gives him a chance… only problem that his 'accent' of their songs will be affected a little too." – he looked questioningly to Starscream but he didn't fully understand the whole sentence. – "I mean if I modify it, you can speak our language – but you will sing worse than now." – The Seeker looked worried about it but it was Prowl who expressed his question for him.
"Will you be able to reverse the change if it turns out wrong for his singing?"
"Yes, of course."
"Starscream? Do you want this?"
He bent his dark helm to one side for a while, little trills and warbles escaping from his vocalizer as he thought it over, glancing at the patiently waiting Ratchet, like he was measuring up the medic to see if he could trust him. Both officers present watched the process interestedly; moments like this were the strongest proofs for the Seeker's sentience, as he was measuring up facts and circumstances and made a decision, instead of just going with instincts. At the end he nodded and his wistful glance expressed clearly that he desperately wanted to be able to communicate.
"Okay… in that case just lie down here and try not to move. It won't hurt but it will take some time."
He wasn't patient that was sure, Ratchet mused while he worked, apparently being unmoving was a real task for him; the servos, the wings, the feet all twitched from time to time and he made a visible effort of stilling himself every time they did. But in a few breems the medic cautiously nudged the necessary components into a new alignment, soldered the wires into their place and finally closed the plating over it.
"There you are. It is ready. Now, don't try to speak or sing in any way for a few breems at least! It'll have to settle properly." – Starscream sat up but stayed where he was and didn't try to speak either. He was nervous, maybe even more than before the change. – "When I tell you that you can, I want to repeat what I tell you, just quietly and without forcing it. Okay?"
He nodded and awaited the medic to pronounce the 'settling' ready, whatever it meant. It wasn't long before he started, telling single words first for him to repeat and signal if he understood the meaning or not. It was a long, tedious process and his pronunciation was at first hardly understandable and getting slowly better even after a good joor's practice when they decided to stop for the day.
"Can you sing well enough still?"
Some happy, slightly scratchy trills answered to his question, accompanied by an enthusiastic nod; apparently no matter how he wanted to be able to speak, his language was still far easier for him. He tried the range of his new vocalizer with some notes that tested the mechs' audials as well, but apparently he found it satisfactory and returned to a more normal pitch, singing to himself as all the Seekers did most of the time.
By the time they got back to the hangar, not only the cages were completely gone, but part of the big space was now walled off, giving the inhabitants the privacy when they felt like it; and included some furniture too that the Autobots offered. The Seekers found the berths comfortable, but strange to recharge so high off the ground – besides none of the berths were big enough for three Seekers and they didn't even understand the idea of recharging separately. The various recliners and stools were still tested by them, as to whether they liked them or not – they considered them more like toys than furniture. The soft, metallic mesh covering for things they found nice but strange; Cybertron, the metallic-crystalline planet never had many such plush surfaces in nature. They had an energon dispenser of their own in the hangar too; and all three Seekers tested incessantly their freedom to come and go as they pleased. The hangar's outer doors were wired to open and close with simple buttons and Prowl was smiling slightly seeing Skywarp standing there and pushing them as fast as the doors could follow – easily a hundred times in one breem.
He had a sneaking suspicion that the black Seeker was going to be a handful now, that he had a free run of the ship. For him apparently all this upheaval and freedom thing meant new games, discoveries and playing – and Starscream warbled and screeched to both of them all the time, apparently explaining the things that he could. They did laugh at him first, hearing his changed voice but both of them were staring surprised when he first started to speak Cybertronian words. Thundercracker too tried to mimic him, but he had no more success than when Starscream did it at first. But they understood him apparently, Prowl mused as he continued to observe them. In a while they could give them a comm line too, although it will be hard to understand their speech through that. Starscream also started to learn writing, as reading was already in his grasp.
Trine
Both Seekers felt when the time came to decide the leadership. They were flying together for a few orns now, getting out every joor they could, enjoying the freedom to fly whenever they wanted to, going back to the Ark only for necessary recharge and refuel. They got to know each other, the styles, the abilities, the temperaments and started to weave their flying together, into a true Trine. All three of them learned to fly point as well as second and third positions before one cycle the exchange suddenly got tangled up and Skywarp teleported away from his hissing, jostling mates, transforming and clawing into each other's plating in the air. Starscream looked somewhat smaller with his lighter and brighter colours, but he was no less riled up than the darker blue and black Thundercracker; both of them were in mech form but floating-flying in mid-air, wings flaring to issue and accept the challenge, thrusters straining to gain position. Then the claws flashed in the sunlight, the engines and vocalizers growled, hissed and screeched as they fought – for real the first time since they met.
Trine fights were half serious, half ritualistic; to win one of the contestants had to force their opponent to the ground either by intimidation, injuries or just sheer tiredness at the end. The fights rarely caused serious damage, since the prospective trine-mates have always been few and losing one to serious injuries was a worse outcome than losing the fight and a great shame to the 'victor'. The two Seekers twisted and tumbled through the air, falling and rising as they tore vicious claws into the other's armour – but never into the wings - and tried to make the other lose altitude. They were almost evenly matched at first; while Thundercracker was bigger and stronger, Starscream was faster and more agile – and had the advantage of advanced training too with moves that no Seeker but he used. It took some time but he countered all the blue Seeker's attacks – and when he couldn't come up with new ones, he started charging and Thundercracker just couldn't cope with them.
At the end he gave up, succumbing to the other's more sophisticated, cunning style, unable to withstand him to force them downwards, losing altitude. His defiant trills quietened as his strength sapped until he was not even fighting back, only keeping himself from crashing heavily. Starscream knew that he won and accordingly he wasn't forcing the issue any more; still together, they tumbled downwards, but it was him controlling the descent, both to keep the blue Seeker from injury or from retaliation. When they landed he looked into Thundercracker's optics, still keeping him covered, waiting until he saw the wings droop to properly submissive position, trilling Starscream/leader/trine to him. Skywarp appeared beside them as well, acknowledging him as trine leader too, warbling to the both of them, happier than Starscream ever seen the black Seeker. For him the only important thing was that they had each other at last, not the actual rank within the trine.
There is one more important thing to Trine fights; they don't carry grievances from them. Starscream won it and so he would become the leader, but that was it – Thundercracker felt no resentment or frustration for being second, just accepted his place in the Trine, just as Skywarp did his. This acceptance might have had something to do with a huge mating orgy at the end that sealed the Trine bonds - and caused even the twins to blush when the patrol route took them that way accidentally and they came across the Seekers. They weren't known for their prudery but when they came back from the patrol, late by almost a joor, the twins looked shocked to the core and told no mech what they'd seen. When the Seekers returned, several joors after the twins, they looked like caked in fluids and dirt – and who knows what those covered – exhausted to the point of dropping, nearly empty of fuel, but happy as clams.
The incident had an interesting side effect too; while Seekers were considered clever animals, no mech even thought of interfacing with one. But, as the twins argued one evening, sitting in the rec room, if they were mechs too, and their interface equipment was similar, then they should be considered eligible partners too. Which argument resulted in a deep, ringing silence around the table, as the mechs present tried to imagine it. Or tried not to in some cases.
Trial and error
The only thing that still had to be improved was the interaction of the Seekers with the Autobots. After a few millenias of habit neither side could change their attitude easily, and while the Seekers took their freedom cautiously and didn't test it with wild schemes, many of the Autobots were more vary and some still opposing to it. Optimus Prime of course notified the whole crew of the new status of the Seekers and Prowl gave some advice as to how to deal with their presence there, but it was all too new still and basically neither side had any good idea as to how will they be able to live together as equals. Since Starscream could talk – a little and after a fashion – there was at least a way to clear misunderstandings that were apt to come up.
Still, Prowl found it interesting that since they could come in the Ark itself, they haven't done so, preferring to remain in the hangar or outside, not approaching any of the Autobots who didn't make the effort of going down to their place. Since he couldn't discover the reason for it, decided to ask the Seekers outright.
"Starscream, why don't you come to the ship any more?"
"Neverrr cæmeee therr."
"But Thundercracker and Skywarp did sometimes."
The Seeker turned to the other two, clearly asking them about it with the trills: Inside/go/why/query. Thundercracker answered him with an outside/forbidden/flight/run, while Skywarp, remembering the last time they did it, shook his wings fearfully.
"Theyyy coud not fly, so dey ræn. Forbideeeen outsssseid. Nov outssseid betterrr. Flying betterrr."
"I see. I noticed that you don't like inside places at all."
"Sssmæll plæces bæd. Verrry bæd."
"But the ship is hardly small. Sometimes you could come in to talk mechs. The rec room is quite big, it shouldn't be a problem"
"Mossst hæte ussss. Ve sssee. They don't vænt to talllk." – wings drooping slightly as Starscream showed that he understood perfectly the general mood surrounding them still. "They don't hate you… they don't know you yet. Some are afraid. Some mistrustful."
"Afræid is veak. æutobotsss ære værrrriorss, yesss? Not veæk."
"Mechs are afraid of unknown and Seekers are unknown – and dangerous."
"Veee keep vorrrd! Not dængerusss!" – he was agitated and hissing worse than usual. – "No hurrrt æutobotsss, no hurrrt humænsss. Ve rememberrr!"
"I mean you are big, strong and can be dangerous. I didn't question your promise not to hurt any Autobots."
"Okayy. But no going into ssship yet."
"How much your friends understand from our conversation?"
"TeeCee is undesssænding lot. Mossst vorrrds. Prrroblæm isss sentencesss. But he væntsss to ssspeak too."
"Really? I'm glad to hear that. If you want, I'll ask Ratchet to modify their vocalizers too so they can, is that all right?"
The blue Seeker was nodding happily to him, signaling his understanding. It was even more than he expected after such a short time and Prowl got more and more hopes of this whole experiment was working out well.
"Immæ teching dem vorrrds."
"Good. Why don't you come to the rec room with me? I certainly don't hate you."
"Ve talllk here. Why go therrre?"
"So that you might meet others. Learn more words. Besides there are games there that you would probably like."
"Gæmesss?" – The inner battle was almost visible on his frame and wings. Starscream loved discovering new things, Prowl noticed by this time, with a vengeance almost, wanting to learn something in every breem, considering the time not spent with acquiring knowledge wasted. But he was still vary of Autobots, especially if there were more around him. – "I go. Sssee new gæmesss."
Turning to his trine he trilled a quick games/inside/coming/query to them, not quite saying that he'd prefer the trine to back him up, giving them an out if they didn't want to. Which Skywarp quickly took, remembering still to the last time he was punished for going there. Thundercracker was torn between staying with him or going to see the promised games, Skywarp holding him back, while Starscream encouraged him to accompany him; and Prowl watched, thoroughly fascinated by the inner workings of the trine in action. In the end Skywarp was left alone – and if he was any judge of Seeker expressions peeved as well by being left behind. But his fear was stronger than giving up and follow them… at least so far.
The other two Seeker trooped after him through the Ark corridors, Starscream watching everything interested, Thundercracker still rather sticking close to the smaller Seeker. Entering the rec room, Prowl led them to a side table amongst the incredulous stares of the mechs sitting already in the room. It caused some snickering among them to see that both Seekers automatically sat on the ground, totally not used to couches or chairs, but so far no mech approached the trio and no discernible remarks floated towards them. Prowl introduced Starscream to several games that lay around, and after rifling through some of them, he started to examine a chess set more in detail.
"Whatsss disss?"
"It is called chess. A game for two mechs, simulating war between them, with some rules."
"Wærrr æmong de piecesss?"
"War between the two armies: black and white. Each figure can move according to rules and can fight with certain other figures. The goal is to eliminate the other army or its key pieces."
"Teæch me de rulesss!"
It came as a disappointment to Starscream that the figures didn't actually fight when they met, but otherwise he enjoyed the war-game. He lost quickly, but didn't seem to mind it, starting another game straight after the previous one. Thundercracker was still very quiet, sticking close to his trine leader, following the movement of the pieces on the board with interest for a while, but he got bored by it soon and started to look around for other games. Starscream, on the other servo was fascinated with chess and didn't want to leave it until he could devise a workable strategy.
"Neeed betterrr væy to bættle the piecesss. No fliersss."
"Need much better strategy if you want to beat Prowler." – came the unexpected remark from the approaching Jazz. – "He is a master player."
Starscream hissed at the interruption, optics flashing and wings hiking up as he saw the smaller Autobot sitting down by the table, on a couch. Although he was still slightly smaller this way than the Seeker who stayed on the ground but the jet didn't know him at all and he saw Thundercracker's worry as well. But Jazz didn't mind the aggressive display and laughing easily he showed the blue Seeker the nearby case, full of scaled up jigsaw and mechanical puzzles and other logic games. Few played with those any more, the result of one bout of Wheeljack's fascination with Earth games, only the jigsaw puzzles saw some use by the more childlike of the crew, but they were heaven for the Seekers – and the act nicely defused the Starscream's hostile mood too.
"I have time for one quick game only, before I have to go. And I don't expect anyone just introduced to chess to be master of it. It takes time to learn the best strategies."
"Ah vill learrrn ssstrætegy. Gæme mussst sstæy hierrr?"
"No, there are more sets. You can take this one with you."
They played a match and Jazz could already see seeds of strategy emerging in the Seeker's moves. He lost again of course, but it was still amazing to see the way his thinking shone from his actions; all the more humbling from the being they all considered a mere animal just a few orns ago. Unfortunately it didn't humble everyone; as long as Prowl was there no other mech approached them, but when he left, Jazz noticed several curious and some more hostile glances towards the fliers. But looks can't hurt and he didn't think that anyone would be openly hostile towards them right there, in public – considering their size and twitchy tempers, it was just common sense.
So, when Smokescreen came over and sat with his lopsided smile at the table, Jazz didn't think anything bad of the situation or heading into such. He introduced himself and offered another game to Starscream, which he accepted, while Thundercracker, who got bored by the puzzles and started to miss Skywarp left to their hangar. The rec room started to fill up with mechs coming off duty and some of them stared incredulously at the Seeker sitting on the floor and playing chess; but he caused no commotion, and signaled his occasional discomfort, caused by the stares only with some nervous twitching of his wings.
"So, Starscream… tell me, what it was like to be Decepticon?" – the question was abrupt, almost rude in tone, coming from the so far quiet and observing Smokescreen.
"Bæd." – came the laconic answer, the calmness of which belied by an almost violent jerking of the wings.
"How so?"
"Cægesss are bæd. Desepticonsss ære cruelll." – the nervous shuddering of the wings became more and more pronounced.
"Were you cruel too? If you were a Decepticon…"
The blazing red glare that Starscream lifted to Smokescreen's face would have unnerved even braver bots than him – but he answered calmly enough, concentrating on not letting his temper get the better of him.
"Ah væsss not. Vhy not æssssk a Desepticon?"
"Maybe because I see one now, right here?"
"Ssstærssscream isss no Desepticon."
"Like anyone believes that…!" – the angry voice belonged to one of the minibots that Starscream didn't know the name of but who looked like nearly exploding in a rage. Starscream welcomed it more than the sly insinuation of the Praxian; he could deal with open anger better. After all, Decepticons acted like that all the time…
"Sssome believe, sssome knov. The ressst isss ssstupid enough not to mætterrr."
"YOU call mechs stupid?" – Cliffjumper spluttered in his rage. – "You are barely more than a drone!"
"Starssscream cællsss you ssstupid, becæussse you ære." – the clawed servo moved with unbelievable speed, pinning the red minibot to the wall behind him, a vicious talon stopping just micrometers away from the main energon line in his throat. – "Wissse mechsss realizzz vhen dey ære in dængerrr."
"It… it just shows that you are still a Decepticon!" – Cliffjumper was afraid but as was his nature, he covered it up with aggression. – "Let me go you mindless drone!"
"A mindlesss drrrone doesssnt let you go." – The smirk was downright terrifying, showing threat, contempt and nervous anger at the same time with just enough flashing of the fangs to stress the first. But the wings flared high showing the dangerous-looking Seeker even bigger than he was, adding to the threat tremendously. Thundercracker also dropped the game that he held and moved closer, backing up his trine leader.– "Ah, Starssscream might. If you æsssk. Nisely. And fassst."
At times like this, Jazz mused watching the scene develop, even his bright, cheerful colour-scheme seemed to darken, becoming just another threatening visual clue. The whole great, streamlined frame was one coiled spring, ready to attack and showing it. How was he doing that? The TIC wasn't afraid of things taking a bad turn; he saw that Starscream was controlling his temper and well, Cliffjumper did deserve a bit of a lesson for the insult. This way, unless they got physical, the whole thing wouldn't have to end up at Prowl's desk for punishment and such things, while the crew could learn not to try and pick on their newest members.
"I… I won't ask while you threaten me!"
"Maybe you should apologise because you were insulting." – He decided to show support to the Seeker, not at all sure how it would be received. He simply didn't know Seekers enough to guess their customs in this kind of matters. Starscream glanced at him, surprised, but Jazz saw a tiny bit of thankfulness twinkle in his optics for a nanoklik.
"Sssmæll bot vasss inzulting Starssscream. Mussst æpologissse."
Cliffjumper was sulking but he knew that he lost and spectacularly to boot. "I didn't mean to… to call you a drone." – he growled fast, reluctant and barely loud enough for Starscream to hear. He wasn't going to retract calling him 'Decepticon', that was for sure.
Starscream saw quite clearly that the minibot was as far from an honest apology as he was from Cybertron, but glancing to Jazz, gauging his reaction, he knew that it was acceptable contrition by their standards. Removing his claws from his throat, he left Cliffjumper go, sat back to the chess board and moved his rook, deliberately ignoring the other bot slinking away, obviously already working up another rage. He finished the rest of the game quickly, losing his taste for it, although Smokescreen tried to draw out a bit more, and refused to talk any more. At the end he thanked the game and headed out from the rec room with the air of not quite escaping, but leaving a dangerous ground anyway. He wasn't against confrontations, but it would be nice to know the rules first.
Working together
After giving a few orns for the Seekers to settle into their new, free life, Prowl thought that the time arrived for them to get used to fulfilling their end of the deal, besides not harming anyone. This part, they kept meticulously, not a single mech or human was injured so far, not even by accident; he knew that as time went on the more uncontrolled and insanely devious Skywarp would probably cause some trouble, but so far he trusted his trine mates to hold him back. He was the least developed of the Seekers, barely understanding anything beside fighting, mating and rambunctious games, a creature of instincts and emotions. Bumblebee called it adorable, Jazz cute, but to Prowl he seemed more like Sideswipe as the frontliner could have been while a youngling; likeable and a handful, but with the promise of the later deviousness. Because it was always there, the same vicious nature and ruthless fighting as in all Seekers – just in him it was almost entirely without control.
The modification of their vocalizer went without any problems and Thundercracker was starting to learn to speak words, but strangely, Skywarp so far refused to speak any or even to tell them why. They were all given comm link devices, safely tucked under their plating and Prowl's suspicion was correct; through the comm link, even Starscream's sibilant, hissing-screeching words were hardly understandable and it only got better in a long time. Until then, the communication was largely one-sided, but the Seekers didn't seem to mind. They had a separate alarm signal in case and their jobs hardly required much talking.
At first he set them regular patrol routes to fly, each of them covering an area alone and some together; sending back to the Ark regular reports that consisted – so far as communication was limited – simple, pre-set messages like 'all-clear', 'checking area', 'Decepticon forces', 'heading back', and so on. The patrol taught them to work regularly and meticulously; a task in which Skywarp regularly failed to no one's surprise - but interestingly Starscream too; his voracious curiosity usually led him to abandon the patrol route to examine something or just to have a look around. So far Prowl didn't even think of punishing them for this as he would have done if the twins abandoned their patrol in such manner; he knew that it would break the slowly building trust that the Seekers displayed in them. So far he only tried to stress the importance of the patrol and told Starscream that he could examine anything afterwards.
As for reports even after groons he still gave Prowl datapads with only a 'nothing happened' glyph on it and in this he proved to be difficult; if asked he would tell anything they saw, sometimes even lapsing back into trilling and singing, or enacting things – but written reports he steadfastly hated and avoided doing whenever he could. No matter that he could and liked to read, Seekers were at spark creatures of voice, sounds and singing. He tried to teach Jazz of their language and they did make a little progress, but the structure of the language was far too alien, even for the music-loving officer. And of course it didn't make his reports any better, much to the frustration of Prowl.
"Starscream, I don't have the time to sit here and listen to you regaling me with your adventures on patrol. I must read hundreds of reports every day."
"Ssso, Ah give you shorrrt onesss, rrright? Mæke Prrrowl hæppy with lessss reporrrtsss."
"No, that's not what I mean. You should write down what you saw. That's what a report means."
"But Ah tell betterrr!"
"Starscream, I need the report written, not told."
"Ah vrite vhæt isss imporrrtant. If nothing isss, Ah vrite nothing."
Prowl usually gave it up sooner or later. Their arguments were eerily similar to the ones he sometimes had with Jazz; he debated with meticulous logic and unquestionable facts, Starscream fought back with brilliant illogic and wild emotional leaps; and similar to the TIC, he was also adept at making unwanted things unheard. To include him into an officers' meeting was another exercise in futility; he got bored by it after a few breems when the topic didn't concern him or the Seekers and a bored Starscream while interesting to watch – was quite a handful. Besides he was incredibly vary of Optimus Prime and Prowl haven't been able to draw out the reason from him either; he suspected that it might have been an instilled reflex by Megatron or something similar and couldn't alleviate it in any way he tried.
Of fighting and battles, they needed to learn little, since it was their function as far as any of them remembered; the only thing Prowl was trying to teach them, mainly to Starscream of course, was to pay more attention to the armies in general, to discover strategy and tactics so as to be able to attack where it was most effective. For this their regular chess games resulted in an unexpected bonus, as the Seeker totally accepted Prowl's superiority in strategic matters and never hesitated in the battlefield when he ordered something to the Seekers. His own grasp of strategy and battlefield tactics grew too both by studying and observation of Prowl's in chess - and later in battles.
Fly high
They all knew what the Decepticon alert klaxon meant and when they heard it one morning, Starscream immediately knew what to do. Prowl's comm message reached them while already outside and they wasted no time to fly ahead to gather info. The Decepticons attacked a smallish power plant and arriving there, the Seekers saw them terrorizing the humans and making energon as they usually did; conveying back the aerial images Prowl was able to plan an effective attack by the time the Autobots arrived there. Not that it went all that different from the usual hit and run battles that Cons used for energon collecting… they all knew the routine after so long.
Starscream flew low over the Con ranks, trying to pick on his tormentors from before; the Seeker wasn't against a little vengeance, seeing nothing wrong with it. They were mean and cruel to him and since he could repay that, he would. His Trine had no preference which Cons to attack and Prowl only told him to strafe the ones defending the plant – which he did as it coincided with his intention. Drawing up before the retaliatory fire, he saw the Con Seekers flying their way, towards the Autobot ranks and Starscream had a sudden idea. Leading his Trine to intercept the Coneheads he initiated a well-known game that Seekers used to play; something similar to tag, it involved them for a few kliks while the two trines rolled and twisted around each other, without actual fighting. It looked like they got into each other's way and their flight paths tangled; but under that pretense he could trill some to them and he saw Thrust listening.
He sang listen/attention/important, followed by fly/high/dare. After that last bit even Thundercracker and Skywarp looked at him bemused, not understanding what he meant; but he continued. Leader/bad/fly/high was a concept that they understood, as Thrust's hesitant warble indicated and he reinforced the suggestion with trine/fly/high and Starscream/fly/high/success made them look at his wings, missing the clamps and gaining wing-mates. Thrust sang a quiet things/hurt/obey/leader back to him, but he countered with Autobot/remove/things and Autobot/leader/allow/fly/high, which was the most complex sentence-like concept that their language allowed for. Skywarp couldn't stay quiet and trilled his fly/happy/free/dance to the Con Trine, even though he was naturally reticent in the presence of stranger Seekers. The short flight around each other allowed for nothing more and the Trines parted; but Starscream knew that he planted the seeds of doubts and thinking into the other's mind.
As for flying high, it is a special concept in Seeker culture, one that became almost obsolete since the Captivity, but still an integral part of their psyche. Before, in freedom, all family flocks were led and ruled by the creator; it was no democracy, the leader's words were law. When the younglings of the group grew up though, they started to question that authority in the first signs of adulthood, and looking for their own mate or trine. But when they found it, they had to leave their family flocks first, breaking the familial bonds in order to form the new ones. This ritual was called flying high, because it encompassed the whole flock flying upwards as far as they could, with the 'escaping' young Seeker trying to outfly the others vertically. If the leader of the flock agreed to his leaving then he let the youngster fly ahead, but sometimes, when he didn't want the young Seeker to go, it came down to a real flying contest and sometimes even an aerial domination fight.
Even though most youngsters remained with their flock until finding a mate and the consequent courting; but sometimes they left, in a fit of rebellion against the strict rule of the flocks' leaders. Starscream was one of these, the Wild Ones, as the more conventional fliers called them; all unmated young Seekers, living alone or in temporary pairs, flying away from the established familial territories, visiting them all in the hopes of finding their mates. They were the vagabonds of Seekers, carrying and spreading news, gossips, tales and songs amongst the flocks that rarely if ever flew over each other's regions. They were also the braver, the more adventurous ones, and as such considered a good catch by the more traditional, family-bound Seekers.
All in all, flying high, especially against the leader meant freedom, and those who dared it were considered to be brave and proud, the act itself considered positive. Starscream, taunting the Coneheads with it knew quite well what he was doing; as they were an established Trine, he could not entice them in any other way, and convincing would require time, which is quite hard in the flurry of the battle. By planting the concept of flying high into their meta he made them known that it was possible and if they were brave enough they could follow his example. It was up to them to discuss it and in the next battle, give an answer. Until that time, he would have to tell it to the Autobots too…
Starscream flew on, leading his mates, firing on the Con grounders where Prowl told him to do so, but his mind was suddenly working on a separate level, where he saw not only his and his Trine's fate but other Seekers too. It was uncomfortable first, as he lived alone far too long to be sociable, to think of a flock, especially such a huge one that included all living Seekers. There has never been such a flock. There has never been a leader of leaders who would have authority over all the fliers. But he learned from the two warring factions that unless they adopt this custom, they would remain insignificant, unimportant, fragmented. Only as one flock they could hope to be equal to the Autobots and Decepticons alike, only this way they can all be free.
Radical concepts from someone, a mere groon ago only concerned with avoiding punishment from Con soldiers, wearing a collar and having almost no contact with other Seekers. But, as Starscream continued to think, while executing his maneuvers flawlessly, it was logical; Autobots were led by Optimus Prime, the Decepticons by Megatron, while Seekers by no mech. And he saw where that led them – into cages. Only when he dared to fly high – albeit with the permission of someone – could he lead his Trine to freedom. He had no doubts that other Seekers would choose this instead of a cage... if only he could explain it to them.
Twin troubles
After the incident with Cliffjumper, the Seekers didn't go to the rec room again for quite a while – they were mostly content to have the company of those Bots who took the effort of going to their hangar for talking and like Prowl usually for an occasional game of chess. But he kept calling them there again, wanting to try and integrate them into the crew, make them familiar to mechs so that they would be more accepted. Even so, he was surprised when one orn it was Skywarp who answered to him positively and sort of prodded the whole trine too to go. The scene was different this time in the rec room too; far more mechs relaxed everywhere, paying less attention to them and some music played in the background, setting the Seekers a bit more at ease.
Prowl got them sitting among a low table – they still disdained the chairs, especially for relaxation – and called over Blaster on the pretext of music to give them more exposure to different mechs. It worked nicely for a while, even with the problems with talking, as it was still mainly Starscream who could convey their thoughts, albeit Thundercracker was trying his best to contribute too. But Skywarp was less interested in the talks he couldn't fully understand and more in the games – unfortunately those were farther from their table this time. It took him some time to gather his courage and leave the safety of their company; the others were quite entrenched in the conversation to pay much attention that he left.
Skywarp tried to be as inconspicuous as he could as he wandered towards the chest, holding the games that TC told him about; but it is a fairly hard task if one is nearly the biggest and certainly the strangest in colouring. No surprise then that his advance was followed by several stares and glances; but after the last time when Starscream schooled Cliffjumper almost nobody was inclined to pick a quarrel with the Seekers. Still, his wings were plastered flat on his back and he glanced around nervously – especially when he saw certain pair of red and yellow mechs sitting close to his goal. He knew the twins of course and he was afraid of them, especially Sunstreaker, and his glowering was enough for him to stop and rather give up getting to the games.
But Sideswipe stood up and cuffing his brother lightly, called the Seeker forward, grinning like somebody gave him an unexpected present. Truth to be told he was wondering how to get close to him alone, separated from the other two; the three Seekers were just too dangerous of a target, even for the frontliners, and Sideswipe had plans with the most naïve of the fliers. Disregarding his brother's angry glare, he sat beside the visibly nervous Skywarp, shoving a randomly picked puzzle ball into his servo.
"Hey Skywarp! Glad to see you here. You wanted to see these?"
Skywarp only answered with a really anxious, low chirping, and hesitantly looked at the ball. He wasn't as much thrilled by the puzzles as his mates, but didn't dare to antagonize the frontliner, so he turned it a few times around, trying to find out what to do with it. Sideswipe quickly had enough of his clear confusion and unresponsiveness and picking the puzzle from him, showed the flier how it worked. Skywarp imitated his moves easily after seeing it once, and picking up a different, more colourful one, thrust it into the red warrior's servo to show it too.
"Okay, flyboy, let's see how this one works."
Skywarp's nervousness slowly lessened as he spent a little time with Sideswipe – but it returned periodically, when his glance fell onto the still morose Sunstreaker, glowering at them angrily. Times like those, his trilling quietened again and automatically moved a bit farther from the yellow mech. It was hard as he didn't want to get nearer to the red one either – the Seeker didn't notice Sideswipe's clever maneuvering with which he put him between them, forcing him to choose between getting closer to one of them. He only felt his growing unease that was soon enough to make the games uninteresting and he started to fidget to get out of the corner that he was subtly maneuvered into.
He soon found out that to do that, he would have to go through either of the twins; an idea that very nearly made him panic and the not so subtle grins on the twins' faceplates just sent him over the edge. Teleporting away suddenly he appeared in the midst of his group, crashing into the table, sending all cubes flying, energon splashing on them all and the mechs shouting at him. Blaster wasn't really angry, more like surprised, but the sudden energon shower didn't exactly endear the Seeker to him either and he left them to get cleaned up. The Seekers also left the rec room soon after a trilling-warbling conversation that made them a spectacle again. Skywarp was upset when they got back to their place, but he couldn't even express why, as in reality the twins did nothing, Sideswipe even tried to attend to him with the games. The others didn't see what happened until he teleported back to them, so they all considered it to result of nerves only and Skywarp's general fear of the twins, nothing more.