Ch. 153

Starscream stared at the offered cube of energon then in disbelief at Megatron's smirking faceplates. The warlord was undeterred as he held the energon towards him more insistently even after the seeker turned away.

"You will need to refuel soon, my dear Starscream," Megatron chuckled, "Do you truly believe I will allow you to starve yourself? Your power will not let you die, but there is no reason now why you need to force yourself into suffering..."

Starscream kept his helm turned from him. He had finally been moved to the upper deck of the ship as Megatron couldn't stay away from his duties. The warlord glanced out at his quietly busy troops, each having been informed to speak nothing of the Autobot base or the reports coming in from said location. It was forbidden. So the silent room, aside from small beeps from working computers, was welcomed readily. No problems, no battles, no interruptions...

Megatron stood from his throne and stepped aside, taking Starscream by the arm to sit him down, "Make yourself comfortable, my dear second," he purred, setting the energon cube on the armrest beside the smaller mech, "and refuel. You will need it. We will have a busy evening tonight."

Starscream was not at all comfortable. Never in all his function did he believe he would ever want to jump from this seat, this throne he had sought for so long, in favor of finding the Autobots. In favor of finding his team... The seeker held in a sigh. He was tired. Not just from the physical drain of it all but from the emotional turmoil. Even he didn't know where they had ended up. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, Megatron had been right. Just because the site hadn't been fully excavated didn't mean they weren't still there...

"It's been HOURS!" Ratchet hollered, trying to shove his way to the Harbinger's ground bridge controls; Breakdown and Bulkhead held him back, even as he struggled, "We have to try, we have to get back! Optimus could still be-"

"Doc, relax," Wheeljack winced from his seat in the corner, "I'm tellin' you... Prime's fine."

Ratchet turned to glare at his patient, "And how would you know?! Did Starscream tell you that?!"

The white Wrecker shook his helm, "Nah, I just know. But if we go out like this, Prime won't have a team to get back to..."

Arcee interjected before the medic could retort, grabbing the older mech's arm, "Ratchet. Listen. This is the hardest we've ever been hit before. We all know it. But Wheeljack is right. If we try to bridge in to look for him, we'll be killed. Now you tell me: who will be left then to help Optimus save Starscream?"

Ratchet didn't speak, only glaring and trying hard not to cry. What was left of Team Prime had all made it to the Harbinger in one piece. At least, that had been the growing assumption until the ground bridge had been deactivated and the signal to the Autobot base lost. Then they all waited... and waited... and waited...

"W..." Raf whimpered from atop Bumblebee's shoulder, "Well then what do we do?"

Ratchet kept his glare on Arcee, "We can't just sit here," he hissed.

The femme nodded, "And I more than agree. So, we do what we would have done. New base, new challenges. We'll make do with what we've been given. Once we have established that we won't need to move again, we'll mount a plan of attack."

"I'll need a little help then," Knockout grumbled, "Optimus asked that the rest of the ship be modified to accommodate the extra numbers. I need heavy lifters and nimble digits to help with the upgrades."

Arcee crossed her arms, "Bulkhead, Breakdown and Soundwave?"

Knockout nodded, "The four of us could handle that."

The four mechs left the ground bridge room and Arcee took Ratchet's servos, "Ratchet, this is hard on all of us but we'll get through it. I know I'm not Optimus, I know whatever I say won't make this any better-"

Wheeljack chuckled from his seat and Arcee frowned at him, "Got something to say?"

The Wrecker smirked, "Yeah actually. Cause maybe what I gotta say will make things better. So lemme start with this: assign tasks to everyone else."

The femme wasn't in the mood for games but time dictated they use every second wisely, "Fine... Raf?" the boy perked up, "Can you, Jack, June and Miko contact Agent Fowler as carefully as you can? No traces, we can't chance anything."

Rat nodded, "I have my computer. I could do it. What do I tell him?"

Arcee shook her helm, "Don't tell him anything," she watched as Bumblebee carefully set the boy on the floor, "Establish a connection first. If he has been compromised as our Autobot liaison then we can't have him knowing where we are."

The boy made his way out of the room to find the rest of his friends and Arcee sighed tiredly, covering her optics with a servo, "Wheeljack, you're really in no condition to do much right now, so Bumblebee? I'm going to need you and Smokescreen to go through the supplies and relics we brought here and organize them."

Bumblebee whirled and sputtered, saying it wasn't a problem but that he couldn't find Smokescreen.

The femme looked up in surprise and frowned, "What are you talking about?"

The yellow mech shrugged and beeped to explain that he and the kids had gone around the base a couple times after the ground bridge went down to look for the white mech; he was gone.

Arcee's optics blinked and she turned to Wheeljack, who had a wide smile on his faceplates. Among the many relics thrown quickly about the room they were in, a smaller device that should have been on a console in the corner was visibly gone.

"... The Phase Shifter's gone too," she murmured.

Ratchet looked worried, "Well what does that mean?"

Wheeljack chuckled, "Like I said, Prime's gonna be just fine..."

Patrols surrounding the remains of the Autobot base were running like clockwork. Pairs of Vehicons scouted together, searching as dusk began to settle the blue sky into fading reds. Their only tasks were to find the Autobots and if found alive, to turn them into pieces.

A pair of the drones walked just to the edge of an outcropping of stones but paused from going further. This was the edge of the perimeter. The next patrol would search this spot again in a few minutes. As the pair turned and walked back, a quiet hum echoed into the encroaching night. Smokescreen's helm and upper chassis appeared from out of a rock, a blue phase energy protecting him from being crushed.

The mech frowned into the darkness as he listened for any approaching dangers. A tug on his arm still within the rock made him flinch and he rolled his optics, tugging back.

"Yeah, yeah, hold on, I got you," Smokescreen pulled back, helping Optimus to phase through beside him, "But I think we're gonna have a more likely chance of getting caught if we're both exposed."

The Prime peered out into the night, "I understand your concerns, but I need to see this for myself..."

Optimus looked upward, high into the sky, at the Decepticon's ship that hovered without worry. It was unchallenged, without opposition. The Nemesis exposed itself to the world as though it had already won.

The red mech glared, "Smokescreen, I am torn. We need to regroup with our team..."

Smokescreen sighed, "Yeah, I know... But how can we do that when one of ours is trapped on that ship?"

"That is the dilemma we face," Optimus admitted, "Should we make our way back to the Harbinger, we will have far more strength in our numbers. But if we leave now, we may never find ourselves this close to saving Starscream ever again..."