CHAPTER 1

Starscream's log

Entry #1

I am Starscream, former Air Commander of the Seekers and second-in-command of the Decepticon army.

Yesterday, I was betrayed by my fellow Decepticons. Particularly that Airachnid femmebot. I led her to the Harbinger, a lost Decepticon ship, and in return, she wrapped me up in her disgusting, organic web and left me for the Autobots!

Thankfully, Optimus Prime decided to spare my life, in return that I led them to the Harbinger as well. I thought they might take me in, but oh, was I foolish.

I didn't take note of Prime's little assassin, the wretched Arcee, one whose partner, Cliffjumper, I extinguished the spark of some months ago. I accidentally revealed myself as his killer, and naturally, Arcee did not take the news well. She tried to kill me!

But I managed to cleverly trick her into releasing me, and once that was done, I put my claws into her and gave her what she deserved! But she fought back, and almost had me killed, but lucky for me, Team Prime's scout, Bumblebee, arrived just in time to stop her from taking my life. I escaped while they were working it out.

My wings are free of that damn clamp, and I have now announced myself an outcast. A rogue.

I am Starscream.

Decepticon outcast. Enemy of the Autobots.

Servant to no one.

Starscream's notes

As I finished writing my log from yesterday, I set off to find a hideout. If I want to form my own empire, I have to start with a place to stay. And also to survive, of course. But such a thing is hard for a rogue, I now know. Finding enough energon to sustain myself, finding temporary shelter to sit out the weather.

And this is only my first day as an outcast. I know, hard, isn't it?

I fly above the treetops, scouting for any possible energon sites. I could try going for the energon mines, but, well, I don't really dare to go against Megatron this soon after leaving the Decepticons. So instead, I am searching for small, unclaimed sites with no Vehicons nearby to bother me…

Success! I see a cliff with a very faint bluish glow. I fly down there, transform and then approach the cliff wall. Yes, I was correct. There is a slight contrast in the sand-colored wall.

I try beating the wall with my fist, but it's too solid. I then try swiping it with my claws…but naturally that only left claw marks on the wall. I'm getting quite frustrated. If only I had some tools…

Oh, silly me! Who needs mining equipment when you've got build-in missiles? I take a step back (actually a lot of steps back) and fire my right arm-missile at the wall. That did the trick! Chunks of rock are flying everywhere, and behind the wall I find…

By Primus, are you joking?! There's barely enough energon here to last a day! How am I going to…

Well, no matter. I wouldn't be able to carry more with me anyways, at least not until I find a suitable base. I enter the site and begin carving out the crystals with my claws. It's taking forever, but missiles aren't going to help here. They'd only blow up the entire place, and my energon would be gone…

"Do you always talk to yourself like this?" an unfamiliar voice says behind me.

I turn around. A tall, dark green and orange mech is standing before me. He's really big, perhaps even Megatron-sized! His face is purple, covered by a faceplate, and his optics green, something not very common but not unspoken of. The strangest thing about him though is the big red pearl in the middle of his chest. I've never met this bot before, but he clearly doesn't seem to be a Decepticon. I don't believe the Autobots would have such an eerie fellow either, though. So who is he? What is he? Maybe I should ask him…

"Speak up!" the ominous mech said to the Seeker. "You are Starscream, second-in-command to the Decepticons, are you not?"

Starscream flinched by the mech's powerful voice. "Former second-in-command," he admitted without knowing why. Usually he'd brag about still being in charge of Megatron's military, but for some reason, this particular bot had the ability to make even Starscream tell the truth.

"I see. You're an outcast, I understand. For how long?"

"I was…betrayed yesterday. Surely Megatron did not mean for Airachnid to double-cross me, but…" Starscream shook his head and snarled. "I don't need to tell you any of this! Who are you? Speak up, or I'll fire!" He pointed his left arm missile at the stranger. He didn't seem intimidated at all by his threat. On the contrary, he seemed mildly amused.

"You're a brave one, aren't you," he chuckled.

"Well…of course I am!" the Seeker lied, the first one to this stranger.

"I was joking. I know you're a coward in nature. I know all about you. More than you even know yourself, actually…"

The mech approached the Seeker. Starscream backed away, missile still pointed at the stranger's chest, at that big red pearl which Starscream could only assume was his spark chamber. His back hit the wall and he moved his fingers threateningly. The stranger did not back off.

"St-stay away! I mean it!"

"Go on. Fire at me," the stranger dared.

The Seeker hesitated for a moment. But as the stranger was only a meter away from him, he made his decision and clenched his fist, thus firing the rocket. The outcome…was not in the Seeker's favor. The dark mech simply leaned to the side and dodged the missile with a bored look on his face. Starscream attempted to transform to get away, but the stranger grabbed his wings with a powerful grip, preventing him from switching modes. The Seeker placed his servos onto the mech's chest, trying to push him away, but with no luck.

"Wh-what do you want from me?!" the Seeker cried.

"Nothing. On the contrary, I want to give you something."

"Do I dare to ask…?"

The stranger withdrew his right arm behind his back. Starscream prepared for the worst, but as the mech's servo returned, it opened and revealed six little glowing balls, lying in his palm, all in different colors.

For a moment, Starscream forgot all about the current danger and stared fascinated at the colorful spheres. "What are those…?"

"Energon pellets," the stranger explained. "Each pellet will fuel you up for a month, and in addition will give you special abilities. More power."

Starscream stared wondrous at the pellets. Power-enducing, month-fueling energon pellets? No, it couldn't be. It was too good to be true. This mech was up to something.

"And you're giving them to me," Starscream concluded, getting pretty uncomfortable by the painful grip on his right wing, and how close the stranger had approached him. "Why? What do you want in return?"

"Didn't you hear me before? I don't want anything in return from you. All I'm asking is…use them wisely."

I suppose there's nothing wrong with free energon, Starscream thought to himself, even if it's just a few drops...

Starscream mustered all his courage to remove his left servo from the stranger's chest, reaching down to the other mech's servo. The energon pellets were handed over to the Seeker, and the stranger finally released his grip on the smaller mech's wing. It had gained some dents, where the servo had held it, but should probably still be flyable.

Starscream held his servos around the tiny pellets. He looked up at the large mech.

"Why are you doing this for me? Who are you, anyway?"

The stranger's faceplate slid down, revealing a thin line that made out his mouth, which turned into a smile. "Call me Creop Trivem."

"Uh…" Starscream wasn't sure how to respond to that. He had never heard such a strange name before, not even of human names. Perhaps it was in a special language and meant something like 'tall and dark' or 'creepy weirdo' or…

Creop Trivem switched to his alt mode, a hover-plane of sorts. This startled the Seeker, as he had not been prepared for him to leave so soon. Before he left, before Starscream could say anything, Creop said an eerie rhyme:

"When Sol becomes a black hole,

When you accept what you least expect,

When the star falls and leaves a scar,

When the dragon is heard,

The Dark Lord shall return…"

And without another word, Creop took off and seemingly disappeared with a plop! Starscream was left behind, baffled and quite creeped out. He looked down at the energon pellets, shining and glowing gently with inviting light.

"Perhaps one wouldn't hurt…" he mumbled to himself, took the blue pellet and swallowed it. It gave a strange but nice jolt as it passed through his body, making his wings slightly twitch.

"That was…nice. Still pretty hungry though. Maybe two more is okay…"

He took the pink and green pellets and bigger jolts went through him. He ended up jumping into the air with excitement without knowing why. This was fun!

"Ah, perhaps one more will do the trick…"

He took the yellow pellet and swallowed it. It didn't give him quite as good a feeling as the others did, but it did leave him with a tickling feeling in his spark chamber.

"Last one," he said and swallowed the red pellet, not satisfied enough to end with the yellow one's effect. This time he almost transformed, so much was he filled with energy. He couldn't believe that mere minutes ago, he was fearing for his life! What the Pit had he been so afraid of? This Creop Trivem was probably an admirer and wanted him to succeed!

He looked down at the last pellet in his palm, a purple one. This time he hesitated; it looked suspiciously a lot like dark energon. He had already tried that stuff once and it did not go well. But this was refined, not a raw crystal, and probably more stable.

"Oh, what the heck," he said and swallowed it. "It's not like I have anything to lose noOOOO—"

This time he actually transformed, zooming into the sky and spinning, looping, doing all sorts of aerial tricks and WOOHOO-ing during the entire time. This was much better than regular energon! Not even a whole barrel could match the effects of those pellets!

Then Starscream remembered he had eaten them all. Scrap. Well, at least he'd be fueled for six…no wait, one month? Creop didn't specify if they all worked during the same month after use, or if to add the months up like…

"Oh whatever, it doesn't even matter! I have an entire month, at the very least, to find a base and more energon before I have to worry about feeding again! Plenty of time!"

It didn't take more than a week, however, to discover that he was completely wrong…