DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS OR THEIR BRANDINGS THE WHOLE SPARKLING IDEA WAS FROM VARIOUS PEOPLES AND I MAKE THIS IN THEORY WITH THEM. BUT THE WHOLE SEEKER NESTING THING IS MINE. OH AND I DO NOT OWN THE SPARKLINGS.
A/n: In this story Starscream is a femme and seekers in my opinions are more like birds in regards to their behavior and courtship rituals. In this story the ritual is like a pair of bald eagles that fly on the wing when it comes to courtship and mating. So here you go oh and seekers are like falcons when it comes to defending the nest.
Summary: there were rumors of a seeker hanging around the Hawaiian island chain. So when the Autobots went to investigate the sighting it was not as they seem.
A NEST OF SEEKERS
Hatching Baby Seekers
Optimus Prime watched the monitors as Bumblebee gave his report and sent the photos of the nest to Ratchet and to him. Surprised he was to see such a sight as he looked at photo after photo.
"What do you see Optimus?" asked Lennox as he looked at the photos.
"I see a nest with three eggs inside and one of them could be Megatron's offspring," Optimus said
"Why is it important that we get the eggs Optimus?" asked Lennox again curious.
"Well from what Jetfire told me before his departure Megatron has no heirs because his spark song…that is the intensity of his spark or as you humans say; his masculinity is too strong for femmes to create life with. Because of this Optimus saw how sad Megatron was during Cybertron's golden age. He tried to get the mech to be happy but he did not succeed. Megatron adopted a sparkling because of this…but that sparkling died during a raid from an outside force devastating him." Ironhide said as he entered the room.
"How sad," Will said kind of understanding where this was going.
"That race was a species that had dominated Cybertron for a long time till finally we were able to defeat them and throw them out. When this happened their sister species that looked similar to them in all aspects except ideology and the fact that they had five faces instead of four had offered to rebuild for a price. Of course by this time Cybertronians would not tolerate it and blasted anything that looked like them. By this time Megatron was sparkbroken and for vorns could not get over the loss of his adopted sparkling Shearwater," Ironhide said remembering that time.
"Did you have any sparklings Hide?" asked Will
"Yes I do but they are in a hatching nursery on Cybertron; you see we need Energon in our life support to make them hatch. We unlike humans we have to place our infants in containment tanks to receive nutrients before they are ready to be fully born into our world. Mine have been starved of that for a while now. You see the Allspark was not only the giver of life but a valued source of renewed energy. After the defeat of Megatron well you know how that went," he said
"Hide I am sorry," Will said
"It does not matter we found another source of creating energon and that is through harvesting the rays of your sun. That is why we are able to produce right now. Thanks to human technology we found that instead of destroying the sun we can use its light to give us life. We have to thank you humans for that," Ironhide said and Will smiled.
"Well that was very touching Ironhide," Optimus said
"Well I did remember it from my mech creator," Ironhide replied
"Very understandable Ironhide," Optimus replied back to him.
"So if you guys incubate in eggs then why haven't we humans seen it?" Will asked
"At the time it was a very private matter seeing as we did not feel the need to reveal that part yet," Optimus said as he waved his hand at someone at the door.
Will turned his head just in time to see the forms of Epps his friend and combat buddy as well as other members of the recently formed N.E.S.T. (Non-Biological Extraterrestrial Species Team)
N.E.S.T. is a team of both humans and Autobots who wished nothing more then to hunt down and destroy or contain Decepticons. Most of the time it was to kill them until the recent cease fire with Soundwave.
Then it became really quite as N.E.S.T tried so keep things quiet by making sure that no rogue Decepticon gets in the way of harming humans.
And so they had succeeded in doing so keeping the silence between the two species.
As the days turned into months that is exactly what had happened. The former agency Sector Seven was disbanded only to be reorganized into N.E.S.T. and those that follow N.E.S.T. such as former research people for Sector Seven were all entered into N.E.S.T.
Those that weren't were left with full retirement and whatever they had. In fact most joined with other government agencies in research and development.
Amongst them was Agent Simmons who because of his family history and training was part of the strike team for N.E.S.T. he commands the second unit while Major William Lennox commands the first.
Since it is downtime he was currently researching along with Simmons and the Autobots the purpose of Starscream's nest.
"Ok what I don't get is this: how is it that since you all hatched from eggs made from the Allspark's energy and specially made life pods that Starscream is able to produce using a method I am familiar with?" Lennox asked.
"I believe Ratchet and Silverbolt are the ones you should talk to Major they know more about Seeker physiology then anyone else." Optimus replied
"Oh," Lennox replied
"In fact since he is coming up here I suggest you wait for him until then," Prime replied.
As soon as he said it Ratchet came in through the main doors.
"I saw the images Prime and I have to say that I am impressed." He said examining the photos on the main screen.
There he looked at the samples that Bumblebee sent and was truly impressed by their origins.
"Three of the highest commanding officers in the air elite which includes the supreme commander himself; whom everyone knows has a record of not being able to produce an heir has finally done it. And with none other then the annoying air commander herself," was the first words that Ratchet said as he met up with them.
"Well it was a bigger surprise to find out that this whole time Starscream was a femme," Ironhide said to him.
The door opened and Elita One Optimus Prime's mate entered she held in her hand their own sparkling whom was asleep.
The door closed when the last of the commanders both human and Cybertronian entered. Closing the door and locking it they turned to Optimus who remained seated in his chair.
After the humans have settled down and the light dimmed even more Optimus displayed the images and the samples on the table in holographic form for everyone to see.
"As you can see here Starscream has indeed laid a clutch of eggs three in total," he said showing the images of all three eggs.
"Are they all from Megatron?" asked Red Alert as he examined the closest one which was the egg that was black and trimmed with violet and white.
"No," Ratchet replied as he showed the samples from the eggs that Bumblebee sent.
"The eggs all came from different fathers. Seeker femmes mate with three mechs each to ensure that at least one or all three of the eggs will survive. Unlike other types of transformers or even humans; seekers are built more like the many avian species of this planet. They lay eggs that already have a hard shell where the rest of us have to rely on energon feeders and containment eggs for ours. Seeker hatchlings are already self sufficient in creating their own energon from the moment they exit the mother's body. As shown here the eggs are hard and armored already and will unfold once it is time to hatch." He said and showed images of previous Seeker hatchlings.
"The hatchlings when born are in their protoform state. Unlike normal sparklings Seeker hatchlings don't need energon pods to survive. They can live in the outside world without the aid of such life pods. Parent seekers must hunt for prey to feed their offspring once they unfold from the 'egg' form as you call it. For you humans this is a transformers most basic form and is useful when traveling through space. It is equipped with thermal armor allowing entry into the atmosphere to be safe and sufficient. For seeker hatchlings they use the same principals, but the difference is that their armor is too weak to be used in atmospheric entry." Ratchet continued
A man in the audience raised his hand and Ratchet acknowledged him.
He was one of the medical staff on board at N.E.S.T.'s main medical facility.
"Um pardon me for interrupting sir, but what purpose to these so called 'Seekers' have in reproducing without the so called help of your, 'Energon Pods?" was the question.
"Seekers got their name for the purpose of exploring other planets to find stuff and to study them," said Ratchet
"So why does this one have weaponry if they are originally designed to explore," said the same man.
"That answer is simple my friend," said a new voice and they all turned to find Jetfire having just returned from Hawaii at the door, and back in his original alt mode of an SR-71 blackbird.
The older mech walked in and sat down, "sorry I am late," he said
"Nothing to worry about my friend," Optimus said as he looked at the rest of the group.
"We seekers are designed originally as explores to look for stars that can be converted to energon until we discovered your world and a better way to harness the star's power without destroying it. During the war they were redesigned to be more like 'Hunter-Seeker' scout hunters and assassins that can swoop out of the skies and kill whom they pleased. I myself was unable to go through the changes but Starscream did to hide the fact that she is a femme." Jetfire said
"All seekers share one thing in common though," he continued when Ratchet data burst him what was happening.
"Oh and what is that?" asked the man
"When it comes time to mate many males flock to a single female in season hoping to be the ones to mate with her. Femmes mate with as many mates as possible not just three," he said looking at Ratchet.
"Though they kept the number at three in the least to control the amount of eggs produced many femmes would mate with as much males as possible." And with that his optics glowed and revealed a group of seekers from long past doing an aerial display.
"As you can see the lead male would normally be up in the air calling for the femme and showing off a dazzling display. It is all in our programming as flying transformers. When designed based on an organic form; we tend to follow some of the habits of such form because our creators infused it into our programming." As he said this he showed the videos of various behaviors that goes with it including the male dancing on the ground in an odd display of masculinity.
"It all depends on type and class of jet that a seeker transforms into and cross breeding not as common but it does happen." He said showing two different types of seekers courting each other.
"Normally other Cybertronians tend not to notice such behaviors since it is private. Seekers on the other hand have to breed in the air so the displays are usually spectacular to watch," Jetfire said as he smiled to himself.
"Now the fun part comes and nesting begins. The mated pairs know whose offspring the femme has in her chambers so when they follow the femme down they start to gather materials for a nest. That is when they become aggressive showing off a dangerous display as they swoop in and attack anything that poses a threat to their nest and young," Jetfire said.
"Now when the hatchlings do arrive that is the most dangerous a seeker will get to. They will fight to the death to defend their offspring and there is always a sentry watching. The others will gather food to feed the young and it is normally the femme that stays home. Now there are cases where the males are killed and the femme is left to fend for herself and her offspring. Now when this happens the chicks are usually left to someone that the mother can trust to protect them." Now the image shifted to the photos that Bumblebee brought back.
"In this case a family unit of humans," when he zoomed in on the human footprints.
"But why humans? I mean Starscream is a Decepticon and they don't really like humans that much?" asked Will
"Well I think that when her mates were killed Starscream's programming to find alternate babysitters has kicked in right when the human family unit showed up. I think that because of that they had been adopted to look after Starscream's clutch." Jetfire replied
"Well that sure is one way to protect your kids," Epps who was sitting on Ironhide's other shoulder opposite to Will and kept quite for quite sometime finally spoke up.
The other humans agreed as they looked at all the images that were brought back. Each was astonished by the sight of such eggs and the size of them.
"Now the thing that gotten to me was the size of this one," Jetfire pointed to the largest one.
"What are the readings to this?" he asked Ratchet
"I'm afraid that the father to that one is Megatron while the other two are the offspring of Nightwatcher and Shadowstorm two of the deadliest fliers Cybertron has ever seen," replied Jetfire.
"Deadliest?" asked the same human who spoke earlier.
"They are assassins designed to be swift and deadly. They had a record of quick clean kills so far and would have kept it that way had the Hawaiian Military not disposed of them with their flying to defend the nest," Jetfire said
"Now how is it possible that the Hawaiian branch of the United States managed to dispose of two dangerous Decepticons faster then anyone else?" this time it was Keller who replied.
"That is simple," Jetfire said
"I've flown with these guys for a while and they don't fly like how normally aviators fly. In fact they base some of their flying on birds because the conditions surrounding the islands are more hazardous then anywhere else due to the islands isolation. Plus because of the isolation they are more alert and on guard then any other port in the world,"
The others were silent then finally it was the general closest to Ratchet who spoke up.
"You know we could use some of them for our N.E.S.T. team," he said
"That could be true but our main concern is the largest egg in the clutch," said Optimus
"Yes I have to agree if this is Megatron's offspring then we are in some deep shit right now," said Will
The table is quiet till Ironhide finally spoke up, "You know if this is some way for Starscream to gain absolute control of the Decepticons then would it be possible for Soundwave to attack her to keep his title as leader right?" he asked looking at Optimus.
"What do you think," Optimus turned to the figure in the shadows.
Everyone turned noticing the figure for the first time with glowing red optics shining from one of the walls. It slowly skittered down from where it was perched and appeared on the table. The form of Scorponok was revealed to them all. Will and Epps quickly jumped back afraid for the first time as the scorpion-con approached.
He paid the two humans no heed whatsoever.
"It could be a possibility I have no doubt that he will retaliate to defend his title. In fact he dispatched Ravage to carry the deed out. Unfortunately the cassette is unwilling to speak for fear of being seen as a traitor to the cause. But rumor has it that Soundwave is not in the right mind and I have to agree." Was the reply in a raspy voice that seemed to send them all shivering from where they were hiding.
"What do you mean?" asked Optimus
"Well considering that the Fallen our high commander as he is known has named Megatron his apprentice and thus lord of all Decepticons he has imbued him with many dark gifts. The problem with that it comes with a price and finding the right femme is hard to come by. Now Soundwave being as he originally left to protect the Fallen when the Decepticon forces split all those millennia ago was something to be amazed by. Now when Soundwave disappeared and then returned it was assumed that he was doing a mission for the Fallen. But I have my doubts along with my master Blackout. Before he was deactivated Soundwave began to seem more logical and cold towards his work when normally he was just detached due to his telepathy. His cassettes know more on what's going on then I do, and I will try to establish contact again with them. Hopefully I will know what is going on in the meantime." Scorponok said
"Thank you my friend you know that we appreciate the great risk you are giving us by relaying this information," Optimus Prime said to him.
"Anything for the ones who saved me from Shockwave's drones," with that Scorponok returned to the shadows and clambered up the walls to the spot he was currently hiding.
"Now then if this readings are correct and Starscream has indeed given birth to Megatron's offspring then the throne will be assured." Said Jetfire
Once again Scorponok spoke this time from his hiding spot. His glowing red optics gave the humans a shiver down their spines.
"That is the law of the Decepticon cause decreed by the Fallen himself, and since Megatron is a descendent of the Fallen then it is to assume that if he could produce offspring then that offspring will be an heir. The femme who managed to do it will be queen of the Decepticons and her position can't be challenged by anyone. To do so will be punishable by death in the slowest most painful fashion," Scorponok replied
"Then how is it that this Soundwave wants to kill off Starscream then? If that is assuming that is what he is planning on doing?" Keller asked
"He is planning it, but that is not his style. Soundwave is a mech bent on information only as he is the overall communication's officer. Assassinations is not really his thing and having Ravage do such a thing instead of gathering information is something that not even I would be leaving in the dark. Strange things have been happening lately since his landing and I can assume it would get worse." Scorponok replied
"You keep mentioning this 'Fallen' who is he?" asked Prowl the tactician and second in command of the Autobots.
"The Fallen is an ancient Transformer whose real designation has been lost throughout time. He killed the original Primes who from the old tales used to destroy stars to feed to the Allspark. Now the rule of the original was not to destroy any star that contained life. Because of his betrayal and greed he was determined to use the machine to destroy the star of this world. His brothers on the other hand trapped in another dimension leaving Megatron his only descendent the one to carry out his deeds. Thus he created the Decepticon army," Scorponok replied
"So he shattered the peace on Cybertron just for that? Greed?" asked another bot and Scorponok turned his head and nodded.
"Now we would follow our lord through the pit and back and his law decrees that femmes who can produce heirs are to be the next queens of the army. There is a problem with that and only one can be queen. Many have tried and have failed leaving others fearing for their lives when Megatron comes to choose from amongst them to be his mate. That particular spark song has been passed down through the generations of high lords due to the fact that the Fallen himself was a Prime. And Primes are hard to breed since their direct descendents of Primus himself." With this everyone was silent well every mech.
"Primus?" asked one of the generals
"Primus is our god," said Ironhide
"Oh kind of like Jesus or Buddha here on Earth," said Keller
"Exactly," was the reply
"Now as I was saying," Scorponok continued
"Seeing as those who are descended from the great Primes of old tend to have strong spark songs and thus can only breed amongst selected individuals with equally strong sparks. Even though all of us are descended from the original 13 transformers we have to remember that the Fallen is one of them. Decepticons are from all walks of life and Megatron being as he was when the fallen one corrupted him from what he used to be to a direct descendent then that leaves something. The fallen must have not have time to find a femme so leaves it to Megatron to carry out his legacy. Now that Starscream has finally had a hatchling that carries not only Megatron's spark song but that of the Fallen as well. A direct descended of the most twisted of all Decepticons and the original Decepticon himself." Scorponok said feeling satisfied to say this with pride.
"Well 'Con tell us this then how is it that this can assure Starscream's ascension to the throne?" asked Ratchet.
"Only the strongest most conniving and clever of femmes can become mates to the lords of the Decepticon Army. And being that Starscream matches that description then the throne is assured since it shows that the youngster is healthy and ready to be born at any given time." Scorponok replied
"So since the law also stated that if there is no heir then the next in command needs to take the command chair," said Keller
"Very cleaver fleshling; let me tell you this then," with that he skittered back into the light of the table towards Keller.
The man could not help but move back a bit as the Decepticon came close enough to strike. The sounds of many weapons powering up and cocking was heard.
"Let me tell you this then; What if say Soundwave managed to have Ravage kill Starscream then what? Will he be able to ascend to the throne. Well your answer is yes it is possible, but there is just one problem to that," Scorponok replied his voice a series of hisses and clicks.
"What problem would that be?" asked Optimus
"The fallen himself," Scorponok replied
"Every Decepticon knows that the fallen has powers that no other bot has. And being that this power along with his impossible strength and speed he is one deadly foe. He can wipe out armies with a single wave of his hand. Now his brothers and fellow Primes locked him away for a reason. That reason was he was much stronger then they were and so used their technology to lock him away. Now that does not stop his influence on unsuspecting bots like Megatron but he does know when he is being deceived. He can sense the minds of others as well as feel the presence of the hatchling himself. I should know I've seen his power used before and it wasn't pretty," Scorponok replied.
Everyone shivered at the thought of what the Fallen could have done to others.
"So why is that important?" asked Epps
"The fallen can sense the sparkling as I've said before so he can tell when someone lied to him and will kill him on the spot for it. In order to pass the test and become the next one in line for the command chair one has to pass a few trials for the cause. Pass and the Fallen one will give you the power to become the next lord of the Decepticons. Fail and Death will be your reward," was all that was said.
Scorponok then skittered back to his spot and waited patiently for it to end.
"Well that leaves us with no choice then," Optimus said
"And what is that?" asked Keller
"We must get to the hatchlings before Soundwave does,"
----HAWAII----
The sounds of rustling awoken Kaeo as he slept near Starscream.
The seeker for the most part was deep in recharge her servos were clicking softly in her rest period. The night was cool and the nightly fog rolling in giving the cave a mysterious look. School had just gotten out for the summer and Kaeo was determined to stay with Starscream and the eggs. Next to him was his sister Rachel who was snoring away. Kaeo at first glared at her but then the sound started again.
"Mom!" he whispered to the other sleeping figure on his other side.
"What is it honey?" asked Michelle as she woke to her son's cries.
"Mom I hear something," Kaeo said again and this time Rachel woke as well.
"What are you talking about squirt," she whispered.
"Something is in the nest," Kaeo said
"Then Starscream should be awake now go back to sleep," replied Rachel as she turned over to go back to bed.
The sound started again and this time Kaeo was awake.
"Mom," he said
"I heard it too honey," Michelle said to her son.
"So have I human," said another voice and two glowing red lights appeared in the darkness.
"What is it?" asked Michelle.
At this Starscream turned on her lights and pointed it downwards.
There amongst the nest the eggs started to move.
"Oh my God! They are hatching!" said Rachel
Sure enough the eggs were moving all by themselves too like normal eggs would. The sounds of clicking and whirling could be heard from within the eggs. Clicks, whistles and static noises could be heard as well and at this Starscream replied. She walked over cooing them and encouraging them to hatch. The three humans moved closer by kept their distance to make sure that they are not accidentally injured during hatching.
As they moved already she could see the first signs of transformation. The blue egg with red and white trimming began to break apart first. It was as if something started to grow outwards from the egg form before it morphed slowly becoming arms and legs. They could see the little claws on his hands and talons on his feet as finally after what appeared to be hours when in fact it was about fifteen minutes of slow transforming a little head emerged and two glowing red optics appeared. It fell backwards onto the ground and began to squeak in process. Starscream gently helped it up with her talons careful to keep the sharp points away from him.
She gently helped it up again as it tried to get onto its multi jointed legs. Squeaking in surprise and much protests the little one managed to get up. Looking around it finally spotted the strangers in its nest. Having recognized the sounds and chemical compounds of these creatures it made its way slowly to them and squeaked.
"It is so cute!" said Rachel.
The little one was blue all over with no signs of wings yet but little wing buds are around its arms making it look more like fins. He hiccupped and then a loud sound came from him echoing across the walls of the cave.
"What was that?" asked Kaeo looking at the little one.
The hatchling was looking back at Kaeo with its bright red optics and mimicking his moves. It laughed as it tried to play with the boy. Being careful of his claws which are still blunt and not yet sharp the little one ended up falling backwards onto the ground and then getting up again. Laughing Kaeo played with the little one till another egg started to move.
Turning they all looked at the blue one as it came by its brother and started to chirp in encouragement. The dark black one with the purple trimmings began to fade then disappear only to reappear behind the white one. Then each time it phased in and out it would show different stages. Again it took about fifteen minutes for it to fully unfold and when it did it too had that strange curious look on its face.
Bright red optics shown around to each of the people in the nest. Starscream wanted to laugh at the sight of this when the final one started to hatch. With some difficulty it took a total of an hour for it to fully unfold into a white mech. Shaking himself off the white one showed no signs of having any sort of ability other then it had blue optics instead of red. He was curious though as he explored everything in the nest and then the humans. His larger size making him quite large by chick standards but in all the three of them were just a huge delight to the household.
"I have to say Starscream that you should be one happy mama," said Michelle.
Starscream looking rather proud smiled softly.
"I am Michelle indeed I am,"