CHAPTER 7
Starscream's log
Entry #21
I'm both happy and disappointed right now.
Happy, because I have found the remains of the Harbinger, the other half of the lost Decepticon ship. This will make an excellent hideout!
Disappointed, because I've searched the entire ship, and not a single shard of energon is onboard!
I did find something else though, that was quite interesting.
Protoforms. Five of them.
Not only that, but a whole selection of tools and hover-scooters, along with a mobile GroundBridge at my disposal. And an energon refiner too!
These protoforms will do nicely. I'll get back at Megatron, and then I'll strip his ship of all the energon he has!
But first, I need to give them some energon.
And what better energon than my own?
Starscream's log
Entry #22
Success! The cloning was a success!
They are completely identical to me in every aspect. Good looks, sinister voices, they even have my mischievous personality and all my tragic memories.
But that's not all. I forgot that all protoforms are already outfitted with a set of internal organs of their own, so of course they have T-cogs of their own. I envy them.
But, well, this is only good, I suppose. With their wings, taking down Megatron should be a breeze! And after they get rid of my old master, they can take some cubes back to me. Or even better, they could take over the entire ship, and all the energon shall be mine! Including that in the mines!
Brilliant! Oh, Starscream, you are a genius!
This reminds me of those Vehicon clones. I've never actually met the original ones, but I know they were called something along the lines of Airstrike, Landshock and Minecart. Fitting, the last one. If that's his name, anyway.
But those guys were constructed specifically for army-building, which makes them much less…personality-filled, if that's even a word…
…
I really need more energon. I don't think sacrificing my own energon to make these clones was such a good idea after all, but if they can at least get me a few cubes, it will all be worth it.
Starscream's log
Entry #23
AAAGGGHHHH!
PRIMUS! PLEASE! HAVE MERCY ON ME!
THOSE WRETCHED CLONES HAVE T-COGS I NO LONGER POSSESS MYSELF, AND ALL I GET IS THEIR AGONY?! HOW IS THAT JUSTICE IN ANY WAY?!
AAAAOOOUUUUGGAAAAAAHHHHH!
AARRRRRRGHHHH!
MAKE IT STOP!
MAKE IT STOOOOOOOP!
The clone flew out of the ship as quickly as he could and off into the vast sky, course set for the Harbinger.
His 'brothers' had been mercilessly murdered by Megatron, and their plan to take the energon for their original had failed. He didn't know what happened to the last guy, but perhaps a guard had got him.
Megatron had offered them the chance to join him, in return that they kill Starscream. But as the ship was suddenly attacked by an armada of Insecticons, Megatron used the distraction to kill off each of his three companions, leaving only him to survive.
Perhaps that thing with killing the original Starscream to join the Decepticons wasn't such a bad idea after all. After all, he had a T-cog, he was fresh and strong, while the original was an old wreck stuck in bot mode.
He should be the real Starscream, the new real Starscream. Megatron's new second-in-command Starscream. Yes. He liked that. Beats being a rogue.
He approached the Harbinger, transformed and landed by the entrance. He entered the laboratory where he and his fellow Starscreams were created, where the original Starscream was waiting for their return. The clone bowed in staged respect.
"Commander Starscream, I have returned," the clone greeted. "Alone, unfortunately. The others were…unlucky. But I have returned to your side, and I will forever be loyal to you…"
"Is that so?"
The clone was about to shoot his progenitor, but this one was one step ahead and blasted the clone in the chest, knocking him over. Starscream placed a ped on the clone to prevent him from getting away. He held his servo at his own chest, due to the pain he felt from their binary bonding.
"You…knew I was going to betray you?" the clone said, strangely surprised.
"I feel your pain," Starscream said and pointed his missile at him. "Believe me, I really do."
BAM!
"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGHHH! Scrap, that hurt!" Starscream screamed as he executed his clone. He fell on the floor and held on his chest, as the cramping pain decided to join in and have a party with the clone's pain. Awesome!
"Guh…never again," he groaned, crawling over the dead clone. "Never…never again!"
Not wanting to waste any energon, he dug holes into the corpse, but naturally he didn't leak as he was dead. Which meant he had to fetch one of his tools.
It only took mere minutes to reclaim the energon he had given to the clone. It eased up the pain a little bit, but as he didn't have the four other clones, he was still very weak from energon loss.
"I need to find more crystals," he muttered to himself, as he finished draining the clone's energon and rose up, putting the tool back in its place. "At least the mobile GroundBridge will make it easier to get out and back again."
Starscream's log
Entry #24
I am never making clones of myself ever again!
Not only did they give me pain and envy, failed to assassinate Megatron and retrieve energon cubes for me, they are as weak and fragile as slagging Vehicons!
This shows that nothing good can ever come out of cloning!
Well, I don't need them anyway. I have my mobile GroundBridge, and now I'm going to use it to get to an energon mine. I've already found the location of the nearest one and set the coordinates on the GroundBridge.
I'll update the log when I get back, and tell you of the results.
And by you, of course I mean myself.
Because nobody is listening to this log, other than myself.
I'll be going now. Sayonara!
Starscream's notes
I am now exiting the GroundBridge. Oh, thank goodness it placed me behind a stalagmite. I really just hope the Vehicons didn't notice the light from the GroundBridge…
Aaaaaand now they're on their way over here. Great!
I move along as quietly as I can along the walls, relying on my gray paintjob to camouflage me well enough to sneak by them without getting spotted.
They haven't seen me yet. Thank Primus.
I'm nearing an unattended mine cart. There's a fairly big crystal in there. Whoever left this unattended is a fool. I'd thank him if I wasn't so pressed on time.
The crystal is too big for me to carry, even through the GroundBridge. I'll just have to take the whole cart, I guess.
While I'm still unnoticed, I pull out the remote and call forth my GroundBridge back to the Harbinger. They're looking over at me. It's now or never!
"Hey! Stop, right there!" a Vehicon guard yelled and began firing at Starscream, who spent all his strength on pushing the heavy cart through the GroundBridge. Those small workers are much stronger than they look, he figured.
"Careful with that, you idiot!" a miner scolded at the guard. "You'll hit the energon and cause an explosion!"
"So long, suckers!" Starscream shouted and disappeared into the GroundBridge, laughing loudly.
"Scrap," another Vehicon said, not being fast enough to catch the thief. "Lord Megatron is not going to like this…"
"WHAT?!" Megatron yelled into the comm. "You're telling me that you allowed STARSCREAM to get a hold of a cart full of energon?! YOU IMBECILES!"
He hung up and slammed his fist into the wall beside him with fury.
"Lord Megatron," Dreadwing said cautiously to his leader. "Shall I send out troops to capture the traitor?"
"No," the warlord said, as he pulled back his fist from the purple-glowing wall. "We have enough trouble with the ship to worry about Starscream right now. We need to find a way to shut it down so I can regain control of it."
"Yessir!"
Dreadwing and Megatron left the command center together.
"Starscream has become rather bold lately," he said, more directed to himself than to his first lieutenant. "Killed a squadron, letting one of them leak to death, then tried to extinguish my spark with a lake of energon, and now he walks right into one of my mines, grabs a crystal and leaves like he owned the place!"
Dreadwing was surprised to hear Megatron chuckle. "Sir?"
"Oh, Starscream," Megatron continued, ignoring Dreadwing. "You never cease to amuse me."
Starscream's log
Entry #25
Success at last!
I managed to seize a large crystal and am now converting it to liquid form. I left a few shards behind to consume while waiting for the drinkable stuff.
Finally, this is exactly what I needed! With my mobile GroundBridge, I can easily get new energon and keep my inexplicable hunger at bay.
Now, if only there was something I could do about this pain in my chest. It seems to have been a little over a month since it started. I hope it isn't anything serious. Could it be the raw energon acting up? Or...gasp! I really hope I haven't got some sort of Ground Crawler or energon worm! That could explain why my energon keeps draining, and why it feels like there's something moving around in there...
Pling!
Ah, it's finally done! Come to Starscream…
Glugluglugluglug…
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Oh, what now? Can't a bot enjoy his energon in peace?
A message? For me? From whom?
Meet me at the cove. Nightbird.