Chapter Eleven: Time

Wheeljack's workshop was small, but just as Starscream remembered it from their numerous raids on it to try and rob him of some device or another that would give them a foothold above the Autobots in the war. It was a tad dusty in places and a bit disorganized, as if he moved from project to project, working on them and finishing them when his interests saw fit.

Thundercracker and Skywarp sat against the far wall, near the door, deep in recharge. Skyfire sat against the only bare wall, his head slumped to his forward, also in recharge. Starscream took the bench that was the only seat, but lay staring up at the ceiling, wide awake.

He opened a private channel.

Skyfire? Are you awake?

In the darkness he could see Skyfire flinch and raise his head. His ice blue optics met Starscream's. I am now.

Oh. Sorry. Don't let me disturb you.

What is it, Starscream? Even over the channel, his voice was calm and gentle.

I was wondering if…if now you trusted me. After what Ratchet said.

Skyfire moved, drawing his knees up and placing his hands on them. I know you're not crazy. I know…I know you weren't trying to undermine me. But this…vision stuff…

Not exactly something taught at the academy, is it?

No. Those two, Skyfire motioned to the recharging jets. They think you can see the future. Until I have some more solid proof…I don't know what to think. He paused. That's not what's keeping you up, is it?

Starscream averted his optics. No. It…it's nothing, Skyfire. Just so much to think about, that's all. For emphasis he turned away, making as if he were trying to get comfortable on the bench.

How did you get all those scars on your spark, Starscream?

Starscream watched the wall that the bench joined to, crossing his arms. You wouldn't believe me if I told you.

Well…even so. I've seen a few sparks; I'm not by any means trained in the medical field but I know what one looks like. If it isn't the curiosity that makes me want to know…it's concern. What happened to you?

Everything.

"Are you two up?"

Starscream and Skyfire looked up to find both Thundercracker and Skywarp awake…or rather, Skywarp awake and Thundercracker trying to wake up. Starscream cut off the private transmission. "Couldn't recharge."

"Were you guys talking about stuff? Like, what happens?" The purple jet got up and made his way over and crouched by the bench.

"No, not really…" Skyfire replied.

"What's going to happen in Vos? What about Iacon?"

Starscream exchanged glances with Skyfire and then returned his gaze to Skywarp. "I…"

"Is he talking?" Thundercracker said groggily from the other side of the room.

"He's gonna say something!" Skywarp motioned for his friend to join them. The blue jet made his way over reluctantly and sat, leaning against a work table as he tried not to fall back into recharge. The two turned to Starscream. "Well?"

Should I tell them? I mean…what happens if they know what happens? If they don't, they end up being recruited by Megatron, but even with them and Skyfire and maybe even Wheeljack, as much as a dolt he is, what could we possibly have to offer in resistance to Megatron? He's probably starting to form the idea of rebelling right now. If we were going to do something…IF…the time to get started would be right now.

Starscream turned to Skyfire, who shrugged. Skyfire hates war. I know he does. Who knows what will happen to him if he is forced to fight to stay alive? This war should be avoided…because if he doesn't join the Autobots, whom I would never ally myself with, he would never willingly join Megatron's Decepticons. He would be a neutral…and the neutrals are some of the first to perish thanks to the war.

The red jet stood and went over to one of the monitors in the room, switching it on. Picking up a stylus, he drew a straight line and began writing the timeline of his previous life.

…..

Wheeljack entered his workshop to find the lights on and Starscream working busily at a monitor. The two other jets were still in recharge, but not where he had seen them last. Skyfire sat more or less where he had been, watching Starscream as he wrote his notes. "What's goin' on?"

"This is the timeline of events that will happen in the future, at least, it will happen if things are not changed," Starscream replied, stepping away from his work. He pointed to the beginning of the line. "This is where we are, after we avoided the expedition, which did claim the lives of our replacements. This," he motioned to a large part of the line. "This is the civil war that will break out between the revolutionary group of the Decepticons and the Autobots."

"Aren't those the guys who were at the head of the last war?" Wheeljack went over to the monitor and studied it. "That was a long time ago."

"It's going to happen again," Starscream motioned to the monitor. "Right now the senate and all their little nobles and aristocrats who line their pockets are hording energon because the mines within all explored space are going dry. The military and those who aren't 'useful' are going to feel the brunt of it first, mostly in Vos, Tarn, and Kaon," Starscream paused. "Kaon…where the Decepticon movement will start, spearheaded by an ex-soldier named Megatron."

Skyfire moved next to Starscream. "Who is Megatron?"

"Nobody, right now, but if he's allowed to, he will take over the entirety of Cybertron," Starscream met optics with his friend. "He'll start rallying those ex-soldiers and the poor who won't want to stand around while a famine hits. They'll become Megatron's army, the Decepticons. Aside from Megatron, his most loyal followers and friends are mechs named Shockwave and Soundwave. They'll start raiding shipping docks and storehouses, and not just for energon. They're going to go after discarded military weaponry, and establish a stronghold, and by this time they will have plotted against the senate and the Prime…Sentinel Prime, whose successor will go to lead on the Autobots."

"Who defeat Megatron, right?" Skywarp piped.

"Ha! No," Starscream scoffed. "The Autobots are too protective, and don't take necessary tactics to stomp out Megatron on the numerous occasions when they are able to. Mercy may be a virtue, but Megatron doesn't believe in mercy," he paused, shuddering. He pointed to a point in time, nearly sixty thousand vorns in the future. "After losing most of the planet to Megatron, the Autobots make a desperate run for energy, but Megatron follows, and they crash land on…well, on the planet we were supposed to survey. They continue the war there after forty eight thousand vorns because by that time, the planet will have evolved many types of life, with its most ancient dead becoming a type of fuel. During this time, Cybertron is nearly laid to waste, and any surviving inhabitants are forced into stasis. This enables Megatron to take control of Cybertron."

"What's that at the end of the line?"

Starscream scowled. "…I die."

The others visibly shrunk back from the red jet. Even Skyfire, who earlier made it clear that he did not buy into these stories, seemed upset. "Are you sure?"

"I am positive."

"…how?"

Starscream 's scowl deepened. The stylus suddenly snapped in two from the grip he had on it. "Megatron." He shook from anger. "He…kills me!"

The others exchanged glances. Wheeljack shrugged. "Well, if you know how it happens, can't you change it?"

Skyfire took Starscream's hand and uncurled his fingers from the broken stylus. Starscream relinquished it and moved away from the group, sitting on the bench. "I'm not too familiar with time paradoxes, although I can safely assume that, if anything, this is what produces these images for Starscream, if they are in fact true representations of the future. It would only be logical that, if something in the timeline is changed, a new timeline, even if only slightly different, would emerge, and if something is avoided, the memory of it would be erased with no accord to it or the avoidance of the event. It would be as if it never happened."

"I remember what happened to you in the ice, Skyfire," Starscream muttered, his head in his hands.

"Yes, that makes more sense to me than just 'images' and 'visions'," Wheeljack said. "But I've seen some pretty unexplainable things in my time. Like…for one, how did your friend know my name? Or any of the details about these two," Wheeljack motioned to the other jets, who shrugged.

"Because if we continue as we are, and do not stop Megatron, Thundercracker and Skywarp join his forces."

"Nuh uh," Thundercracker spoke up. "I don't want to end up on some dustball planet in the future."

"Yeah, you don't tell us what happens to us," Skywarp added. "Like, how we die."

Starscream shrugged. "I think the Autobots…you know…"

"The Autobots what?"

"If I was you, I wouldn't want to know," Wheeljack interjected. "Wait…do you know what happens to me?"

"Yes, you…"

"No! I don't want to know."

Good, because I don't think I want to explain just who I've killed. Starscream let his hands fall onto his legs and looked up at the others. "Well?"

"I wanna see who this Megatron character is," Thundercracker said. "I mean, if you're goin', I wanna go."

"Kaon? I dunno," Wheeljack cringed. "I'm just as curious as the next bot, but Kaon…you're talkin' some really rough territory."

"It's a military state as well, isn't it?" Skyfire asked.

"Yes, but it breeds a different kind of soldier," Starscream said. "More ruthless. Megatron would start the war and would be reluctant to end it because it's all he knows. I know he would fight until he was the only one standing."

"That doesn't sound very good," Wheeljack muttered.

"How about we think on this for an orn," Skyfire suggested. "I mean…surely if we were to go to Kaon, if that's where we intend to go, although I am against the idea, we would need to be prepared?"

"Yes, Skyfire is right," Starscream stood and paced. "We certainly cannot go into Kaon unarmed," he met optics with Skyfire. "If we go, that is."

"We haven't enough credits to get weapons, and we'd have to leave Iacon to steal some," Thundercracker said. "No thanks to the military."

Starscream's inner radio crackled. Starscream?

Yes, Skyfire?

You aren't seriously considering going to Kaon, are you? This is…Kaon. I mean, you know as well as I do what happens there!

Don't you want to stop this from happening?

Yes, if it were to happen, but in theory, it is completely unfounded…

Starscream cycled a sigh. The others looked to him, waiting. He hated it, but he thought it was best to…

"We'll wait here for the time being…while I, uh, devise a plan," he went to the door and, as it slid open, cast a glance at the scribbles and lines on the monitor. He looked back at his friends. Are they really willing to follow me to Kaon?

His red optics met ice blue ones.

No…there still needs to be proof.

How can I prove what is yet to happen?

Or what may not ever happen?