A/N: And now we come one step closer to the end, and a moment you've all been waiting for. One of them anyway. ^_^

While I've had a few scenes in mind for the end of the retelling of the episode Fire in the Sky, how to actually start the retelling was giving me fits, knowing that Starscream played a major role in that episode. Meaning I had to figure out how to utilize him on the other side of the line, having no Skyfire-connected OC to substitute for him. However, I finally did figure something out, and I hope it works to everyone's satisfaction here.

Anon review replies: Okkkkay - With the planet naming thing, I came up with that idea way back when I first started writing in the G1 'verse, figuring that Cybertronians wouldn't refer to galaxies and planets as we would. They would name them more along the lines of their culture. I've used that concept ever since. As for the other part, he might have been more grateful had it happened when he wanted it to, not when he thought it didn't matter anymore. But yes, I agree it is just like him. ^_^

Mariarose - I never abandon my stories, and don't intend to start now. Only way that would happen is if something untoward happened to me. Otherwise, they will be finished, and I've been working on this one for a long while now. Too long to put it aside. ^_^ And here I begin to answer your question. ^_^

G1ntsuk1 - Thanks for the compliment! I don't know how good this one is compared to the last, but I will leave that to you to decide. And in here, you will see how the 'Cons react, at any rate.

And now, on to Fire in the Sky.

"If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way." - Attributed to Emile Zola

Starscream and Wheeljack's Lab - Late July, 1984

Supposing I put this wire here...No, wait...That would just cause another explosion and Ratchet's still mad about the one I caused last week...Not to mention Prowl and Optimus...

And that had been one Pit of an explosion, though in Wheeljack's defense, he hadn't realized that the magnesium he'd managed to get his hands on (thanks to Chip) had been so volatile. It had turned the inside of the lab black before it had finished burning out and had resulted in a lot of melted equipment and datapads on top of that. It took about three Earth days before they'd been able to remove all the equipment and clean the lab completely. Wheeljack suspected that it was only his ignorance of the fact that had kept Ratchet from removing his limbs and reattaching them to other parts of his body. As it was, Prowl had visited him in the Medbay a couple days ago and informed him that they were still short on building materials and repair equipment, so he needed to be more careful about his projects in the future. Specifically, they were not to involve any scientific chemicals or materials from the humans that he knew nothing about. And if he really needed to request such materials, he was to get all the information on them that he could about them before he accepted them. When Wheeljack had appealed to Optimus, he'd backed up Prowl on the issue, pointing out that the reduced amount of space in the Ark since the crash meant they couldn't easily re-purpose another room, and with them not always being able to make a trip to Cybertron through the space-bridge. They would have to make do with what they had for the time being. And given that most had to share quarters now, with few exceptions, Wheeljack had understood it was best to not argue the point, even if he had lost a lot of the specialized equipment he and Starscream had used with that ill-advised experiment. He'd been lucky his friend hadn't killed him for what had happened, since Starscream was also well aware of just how short the supplies were, which ironically had been the reason that Wheeljack had made the request to Chip that he had about utilizing some of their chemicals and metals.

Then again, Starscream hadn't been talking to anyone much this past Earth month. Not since he'd discovered that Earth was the planet he'd actually been to thousands of their years before, the planet where Skyfire had been lost...

With a soft huff of air through his vents, Wheeljack sat back and rubbed at his optics, forgetting about the half-built converter sitting in front of him. Not for the first time, he wished that Prime hadn't decided to keep the information of where they were going first from Starscream. For his own part, Wheeljack hadn't known they were coming to that particular world first. Wheeljack had known the designation of the place for quite a few thousand vorns now; once, during a rare high-grade session in Starscream's quarters, Wheeljack had asked about it, and being that the Seeker had been a few sheets to the wind at that point (as the humans said), he'd talked about the world, and how he and Skyfire had come up with the name for it.

The next day cycle, he'd remembered enough of what he said to hint to Wheeljack that if he ever asked about that planet again, he might find a couple of his latest weapons designs wouldn't work properly when he tested them. Wheeljack had taken said hint and never made a request regarding the world again. Still...he'd always wondered about it.

How strange that they'd found themselves here now, he mused. Wheeljack was never really a great believer in Primus, but he found it truly bizarre that they'd ended up on a world that had proven ill-fated for two Cybertronians. Some would say it was fate, perhaps, but for his own part, Wheeljack wasn't sure what to think.

Whether coincidence, fate, or just bad luck, the fact remained that their being here was really hurting Starscream. He isolated himself in his room as much as he could get away with, aside from duties. The only times he spoke to the Lancia was when he needed to borrow a tool from him for a project. He was coldly polite to Prime when they spoke and didn't join Wheeljack and Ratchet in the Rec Room in the evenings.

About the only time that Starscream seemed to perk up much was when Chip came to visit. Somehow, the youngling had managed to form a bond with the prickly Seeker. Wheeljack suspected it was because Chip felt some kinship with one who'd fought against impossible odds even when everything seemed against them. Whatever the case, he was the only one who'd been able to make the Seeker open up any, and Wheeljack found himself grateful for that, as it made the atmosphere in the lab feel a little less tense than it had been of late.

Still, Wheeljack mused, something was going to have to give sooner or later. This situation just couldn't continue...

"Hey, Wheeljack."

The engineer jumped in his seat at the sound of the voice behind him. What the Pit?

Turning to look behind him, he saw a smiling Jazz. "Hey," the silver mech said again, in an easy-going tone.

"Jazz! What are you doing here?! I thought I coded that door locked!" Even as he said that, he knew it was a stupid comment to make. Jazz had never been one to be deterred by locked doors before. The more security on a door, the more challenging they were, in his optics. And the lab had always been of of his favorite challenges to get into, as Wheeljack, Starscream and Perceptor had all changed the codes any number of times. Starscream's codes had always been the hardest for Jazz to crack, too. As yet, though, not a single one had ever been able to keep the Spec Ops mech out.

Jazz chuckled, and shrugged casually. "Decided ya were workin' too hard, and felt ya needed a break." He gave the mess in front of Wheeljack a once-over. "And it looks like Ah came by right on time."

Wheeljack turned back to the pile of converter parts. "I need to get this done, Jazz. You know that Optimus asked Starscream and I to find a way to convert some of the natural resources here to usable energon so we don't become too reliant on the humans, and I'm already behind schedule as it is."

"Screams still mad?"

Trust Jazz to pick up on the last part of that sentence, Wheeljack thought wearily. "Yeah."

Jazz walked over and laid a hand on the engineer's shoulder. "He does have a right ta be, ya know." As Wheeljack turned his head around quickly, startled by the comment, Jazz went on: "As much as Ah respect Prime, even Ah thought that Starscream should've been told by Prime where we crashed before he left that Medbay. Not a fun way ta find out, the way he did."

"I still haven't figured out how he guessed," admitted Wheeljack.

"Raj was watchin'," Jazz said quietly. "He saw Screams tense up when ya asked about the spot on that one planet on Spike's model. Mah guess is he recognized what ya were talkin' about."

Wheeljack lowered his face to his lap and his headfins flashed a dark gray. "Oh." That did make sense, he realized, considering Starscream's behavior and tone right after his comment. Letting out a heavy huff from his vents, he said softly, "I think he believes I knew where we were going first, Jazz. He's barely spoken to me since then."

Removing his hand from Wheeljack's shoulder, Jazz smiled a little sadly. "Give him time. He's hurtin', Jack. This world took a lot from him. Don't take his silence ta Spark. And Ah know ya didn't realize this was first on the list ta visit. The decision was kind of last second after we took off, and Prime only shared it with a couple of us. If ya want, Ah can talk to Screams and let him know."

Wheeljack thought it over for a few minutes, then shook his head. "Thanks, but it's not your problem, Jazz. I'll try to talk to him again later."

Jazz shrugged again. "Fair 'nough. Offer's open if ya change your processor, though." He grinned again. "Now that we've got that out of the way, how 'bout joinin' me and some others outside? Have some stuff out there that Spike calls snow, and Ah think we should see what that stuff's good for." As Wheeljack glanced back at the parts, the saboteur continued: "If it makes it easier ta play hooky, just consider this a science exploration."

The thought of being able to examine something new on this world was just too tempting for Wheeljack to resist. He gave in. "All right. Let's go," he said, his headfins flashing a bright yellow, as he got up from the bench he was sitting on.

"That's the spirit!" Jazz replied in a laughing tone as he headed for the door, Wheeljack close behind.

As they left the lab, though, Wheeljack couldn't help but wonder...

Kind of strange that it snowed when it was so warm yesterday. Is it even normal for this time of year?

"It isn't normal."

Optimus Prime glanced over at the mech next to him. "You're sure, Starscream?"

The Seeker gave him a baleful look. "Planets have an axis they tilt on, Prime. Usually on a world that supports organic life, the part of the tilt that's closer to the solar star is warmer than the part that isn't. And considering it's warmer here, I'd say the tilt for this particular hemisphere is closer to Earth's particular solar star. Not to mention that from what I've learned from Chip, this area is an arid region that doesn't see much if any snow in a normal solar cycle on this world."

Turning his attention back towards the screens the screens that showed snow storms all over the globe, Starscream considered them for a moment before continuing in a more moderate tone: "Cybertron has very little information concerning organic worlds and their climates, but during our explorations Skyfire and I noted that on those which did sustain organic life, there tended to be a wide variety. In most cases, on worlds that had landmasses, life thrived best in the temperate and tropical regions. Places with extremes like arid, frozen or underwater, life could be sustained, bur evolved somewhat differently by necessity."

Optimus nodded, but was somewhat puzzled by the terms. "Temperate regions?"

The Seeker cocked his head, a thoughtful frown on his face as he determined how best to explain this to the Autobot leader. "I mentioned earlier that a planet has an axis it tilts on, correct?" At Optimus' nod, he went on: "The tilt, as I said earlier, is what determines how much sun a particular area will get. However, even with that, certain areas will get more light than others. Mostly, it's the halfway point of the planet, the equatiorial part, going to a certain point above or below that gets the bulk of that, since it's always straight in the path of the sun, farthest from the top or bottom of the axis. But as you go closer to either pole, it changes."

"How so?"

"On the part of the world that is tilted furthest away from the solar star, it is colder. The part that is tilted closer is warmer. Chip tells me that this time of year is their hottest, meaning this half of the planet is tilted closer to their Sun, though is beginning to slowly shift back. The side tilted away is in their colder part of the year. But going back to the temperate regions you asked about. it simply means the climate is neither too cold nor too hot. No extremes of weather at all. Those fall in-between the hotter parts of the planet, the half-way point I mentioned earlier, and the coldest, which are the poles."

Starscream turned back to Prime and finished his explanation, "So this area falls into one of those temperate regions. And it's normally their warmer season here at this time of their solar revolution. But even then, the coldest seasons as shown in the lower parts of the planet are never as vicious looking as I'm seeing now. Near the poles, yes they're common enough, but they're rarely seen in temperate regions, and certainly never in equatorial."

"So you believe my suspicions about it being unnatural are correct." Optimus let out a heavy huff of air from his vents. From the moment he'd seen the snow outside on Teletraan's screens and heard Spike's words about playing in the snow during July in a desert, he'd had a bad feeling that something was wrong, especially when one considered it had been warm and sunny the day before, not a cloud in the sky. Knowing that Starscream had the most experience with observing worlds and likely the weather situations on some of them due to his exploration experience, he'd called him in. Starscream, still angry about the secret being kept from him, had not been willing to help at first. Then Prime had shown him the images Teletraan had found, and his interest had immediately been piqued. He'd watched for a few minutes, then asked for a satellite image of the planet to be brought up, and then asked Teletraan to match the images to where on the planet they'd come from.

And apparently what he'd been shown had been enough to confirm Optimus' fears.

"Yes," Starscream confirmed. "It seems the Decepticons have found a way to interfere with this planet's climate system, though I couldn't be sure how they've managed to do this. Climate wasn't a scientific topic much discussed on Cybertron for obvious reasons. The only ones who found it of any particular interest were those in the exploration fields, and those who had interest in xenobiology, as there were archived reports from past explorers regarding how it affected the development of biological life." He looked wryly at the Autobot leader. "That second group wasn't particularly a large one, as you might imagine."

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Optimus couldn't help but give a slight chuckle at the remark. "I would imagine not, no." The Autobot leader would never claim he knew that much about certain lines of work, such as the Sciences, but he wasn't unaware that the majority of Cybertronians had very little (if any) interests in organic cultures, for a variety of reasons. Which was a shame, he thought, as much could be learned from those races who had no mechanical "skin", and made up the majority of life in the universe.

But that had nothing to do with the situation at hand right now, Optimus felt, and he put that line of thought away for another time. "Teletraan," he ordered, turning his attention back to the monitors, "run a trace for any large sources of energy that may be causing these unusual weather patterns. And transmit to Sky Spy to do a visual search of the poles as well."

As the AI responded with an affirmative and went to work, Prime turned back towards Starscream to thank him for his assistance, and noticed as he did so that the Seeker was once more staring at the images of the snowstorms on the monitor, standing very stiffly, arms crossed on his chest. Optimus also noted that the Seeker's features were blank, but his optics were glowing brightly, and his wings were now high and tense.

Concerned, he asked, "Are you all right, Starscream?"

Starscream's only response was to look down at the floor, his features darkening.

Optimus tried again. "Starscream?"

For about a minute, he wasn't sure his friend would respond to him, but then he lifted his head and raised his optics to meet Optimus'. "I've felt better," he replied flatly. Shifting one arm to motion at the screens, he went on: "Just...bad memories, Prime."

Optimus felt himself flinch internally as Starscream once more referred to him by the second part of his title, as he'd done ever since that day he'd learned where exactly they were. Starscream had kept his word to him, and had continued with his duties as required of him, but he'd begun to shut his friends out, with Mirage being the sole exception, likely since he'd not known anything at all. The Autobot leader would admit he deserved this for not being completely up-front with Starscream and giving him a chance to prepare himself, but Wheeljack hadn't known where they were going, and while Ratchet had been aware of their destination, he hadn't been aware that this was the planet where Starscream had lost his mentor. He'd reamed out Optimus himself once he'd learned exactly why Starscream was giving him the cold shoulder.

And in spite of his refusal to have much to do with the humans, Starscream hadn't been able to avoid Chip (who kind of liked the idea of having someone else around to debate with), and to a lesser extent, Spike, who'd gone to apologize once he'd learned from Chip what he'd inadvertently done. Optimus didn't know if Starscream had accepted the apology, but after Spike's visit it was soon clear that the Seeker seemed to hold no real anger towards the two young humans for their unwitting role in Starscream's discovery of the truth.

Not for the first time since that day, Optimus wondered how long it would take for Starscream to allow any of them back into his confidence again.

Before he could say anything, Starscream once more broke the silence: "Is my presence still required, Prime?" His voice was still flat and toneless.

The Autobot leader sighed internally. "No, not right now," he replied. "Just keep yourself available in case we need back-up."

Starscream nodded curtly, and then turned and left the room without another word.

With a weary shake of his head, Optimus watched him leave, then began considering which Autobots would be accompanying him once Teletraan-1 determined the location of the Decepticons.

He just hoped they weren't too late to stop them.

Arctic Circle

What a waste of energon, Stormraiser thought sneering down at the mech laid out on the slab.

A few hours ago, a shuttleframe was discovered during the excavation of a crystal shaft they'd found, one which Soundwave had discovered, and had determined went down into the planetary core. As he'd understood it from Thundercracker, Skywarp and Rumble had found the mech after Skywarp had gotten bored and gone down the tunnel to pester Rumble about how long he was taking to get the job done in making another branch tunnel to the crystal. In retaliation, Rumble had used his pile-drivers to try and bury Skywarp, and instead caused an avalanche within the tunnel, opening it further and causing the exposure of a giant mech trapped inside a block of ice. Megatron, upon hearing the commotion, headed over to the site, and once he saw the unknown mech, he'd ordered the excavation of the mysterious being Once the shuttle-framed mech had been removed from the ice, he'd been taken over to the crater where the Decepticons had set up their temporary base of operations, and had begun the work of attempting to revive him by infusing him with jolts of energy. The voltage had just been increased to one million units. When Stormraiser had arrived at the slab after hearing the story, he'd asked Megatron why he was going to such trouble for a mech who, even though he had all his colors, was likely as good as dead, since there was no way to tell what condition his processor was in, due to their having no knowledge of how long he'd been trapped there. Megatron's reply was that the mech's mental state mattered little; his enormous size and frame-type indicated a great deal of strength, meaning he would be a perfect warrior for the Decepticons.

Stormraiser, though, had his doubts. Mental state aside, there was no doubt that yes, shuttle-frames did indeed possess a great amount of strength in their frames. The Decepticon SIC wouldn't argue that point, as he'd seen ample truth of that during battle. They could power through the strongest building in alt-mode and still keep pushing on as though nothing had happened, not to mention they could take out a whole city from orbit if need be with their lasers if ordered to. But even he could tell from simple observation of this unknown shuttle that this wasn't the case here. The mech had only the standard weaponry installation found in all shuttles. Weaponry that, prior to the war, most of that build never used in the course of their lives. He lacked the upgrades that had been done on all warrior shuttles to make them more powerful. Plus, the armor was also standard-grade and didn't appear to have been reinforced at any point. To sum up, this mech, whoever he was, was most likely a civilian who'd never seen an orn of fighting in his life; meaning it was highly likely his imprisonment predated the war. He would require training, and Stormraiser knew that Megatron wouldn't have the patience for that. He'd want to throw the mech right in.

Normally, Stormraiser wouldn't give a slag about what happened to the mech. After all, the weak had no place in an army, and this was clearly one of those mechs who wouldn't last a day, just by his appearance alone. But given the string of defeats they'd had lately, the green-gray Seeker knew that Megatron was looking for more numbers to add to their ranks, and a Cybertronian of unknown background would be perfect for indoctrination, as far as his leader was concerned.

But where Stormraiser was concerned, it was simply a waste of time. He should have just been left there in the ice. Doubtful anyone is looking for him any longer, if he does truly predate the war. And even if anyone was, unlikely they're still on-line by this time.

"One would think you'd be more pleased by the possibility of a new recruit, particularly a flier," a voice next to him murmured.

The Decepticon SIC cast a sideways glance over to see Thundercracker standing there, then slowly moved away from the slab where the mech was laying, not wishing to say what he had to next so close to Soundwave. As they reached the inside of one of the nearby tunnels, he turned his attention back towards where Megatron was overseeing the repairs that Skywarp and Soundwave were conducting. Seeing they weren't paying he and his Second Wing any mind at the moment, he looked back at Thundercracker.

"He's a weakling, Thundercracker," Stormraiser replied in just as low a voice. "We're already pressed enough by the Autobots and their human allies to waste valuable time and energon training a civilian to fighting standard."

Thundercracker frowned. "You sound sure of that."

"Scan him, and you'll see what I mean," the green-gray Seeker answered tersely.

His Trinemate nodded and glanced over at the slab. After a few kliks, he raised a browridge. "Standard armor and weaponry, unusual even for a civilian these days. Definitely not a good prospect right now. You're right, he's little more than cannon fodder," the navy jet replied, still in a low tone. He turned his face back towards his Trineleader.

Stormraiser nodded. "If he had the upgraded weaponry and increased thickness to his armor, I'd think him perhaps worth my time. But as it stands, the majority of what energon we get is sent to Cybertron, and that's only when we can manage to slip our attempts past that satellite of the Autobots. And you know as well as I do that we're on rations currently to allow enough energon to power the Victory. We have no resources to spare training green recruits currently, not even with this batch of energon we've obtained, as most of that will be going to Shockwave as well."

Thundercracker also nodded. "In other words, you believe we should have left him where he was found."

"Or we should have extinguished his Spark and dismantled him for spare parts. And before you say anything, Thundercracker, let me remind you that you know as well as I how badly we need them right now with our supplies also being what they are."

Thundercracker grimaced. "I know." When they'd first gotten in contact with him, Shockwave had promised to send the Constructicons as soon as he could, along with whatever supplies were available. As yet, though, it hadn't happened. Megatron had been letting it slide for now, due to the mech's loyalty, but given their bad luck since awakening on this planet, he wasn't likely to for much longer. So on that count, Thundercracker would admit he couldn't argue the necessity of ending this mech's life for his faction's own good.

But for some reason, he was getting the same strange feeling looking at that unconscious mech that he had so long ago when he watched a Seeker called Starscream facing down Megatron while bound to a wall and helpless, and he didn't know why.

Back then, he'd been curious about the other Seeker's behavior, enough so that he'd approached Starscream while he sat on the floor of a Kaon arena waiting for his execution to be carried out, simply to find out why he'd behaved the way he did. Starscream's reasons had been such as to give Thundercracker enough pause that when he'd been ordered to kill the other mech to keep the Autobots from their comrade, he'd defied the command, not only sparing Starscream, but cutting him free so that his comrades could retrieve him.

No one in his own faction had ever learned or suspected the truth, of that he was sure. And if Starscream had ever learned what he'd done from Mirage, he never gave any sign of it, fighting Thundercracker and his Trine as fiercely as he ever had as soon as he'd returned to the battlefield, saving the worst of it for Stormraiser.

This time, though, was different.

Thundercracker had never met this mech they'd found in the ice tunnel. Didn't know his name or anything about him. Not to mention he was clearly a weakling for a flier and not anyone who should normally be worth any attention from the navy Seeker.

And yet...

Thundercracker frowned.

Something that didn't go unnoticed by his Trineleader. "You know, and yet something is clearly bothering you about this. Care to share?" His tone suggested that Thundercracker should have a good reason for his apparent discomfort.

The navy Seeker shrugged. "I understand what you say and do agree, but it also seems like a waste to infuse all that energy into the mech to revive him, and then just kill him immediately afterwards."

Stormraiser snorted. "Well, lucky for him, it's not my call to make. Megatron has decided he will be useful, and that is all that matters as far as our leader is concerned. However," and now he turned away, "I have other duties that are more important than mech-sitting this civilian." He spat the last word out. "I am putting you in charge of this mech when he finally wakes, Thundercracker, since you seem to be so concerned about him."

As he walked off, Stormraiser called back, "I have just informed Soundwave that you will be my proxy in introducing the shuttle to the Decepticons when he revives, Thundercracker. You know what to do if he won't fall in line."

Thundercracker didn't reply, simply turning his head back towards the slab.

Yes, he knew what to do, all right. And how best to make it look like an accident, should the situation require it. He'd done it before, to Autobots and those Decepticons who'd been deemed traitors. He'd only ever defied orders once, and even though he'd never regretted his action at the time or later, he was unwilling to do the same again.

Once could have been deemed a lapse of attention on his part, especially as there were no witnesses to say otherwise. A second, this time with Soundwave present, would not be considered as such.

He would be executed on the spot if he was discovered going against orders.

This was enough to decide Thundercracker as he began walking towards the slab where the mech lay, with Megatron standing over him, watching the mech carefully for signs of life. Next to him, Skywarp and Soundwave were finishing up with the repairs.

As he reached the slab, he barely noticed Skywarp's greetings, or Megatron's orders to his Trinemate to join Stormraiser in further energon collection and for Soundwave to step back. His gaze was only for the shuttle mech laying there.

Once more, he felt the niggling feeling rise at the back of his processor.

This time, he pushed it back.

No, there would be no going against orders. Not this time.

The mech would be a Decepticon, or he would die. No other options.

Besides..., he thought, as the shuttle mech's optics finally began to flicker online.

Who would be looking for him anyway?

A/N2: Ending seems ominous, doesn't it? Guess I have a touch of the Halloween spirit right now. ^_~

Didn't want to break this up, but chapter was getting longer than I had expected, hence story will run a little longer. Two more chapters and an epilogue to go,

And at this point, if anyone wants to make a guess about how the story will end, I will be willing to hear your thoughts. Can't promise to confirm anything, though. ^_^