::Chapter Eight::

Unknown islet, close the Autobot Base...

Starcscream scowled and turned to face his trine."Alright, you two better prove yourselves to me and Megatron out there...He specifically said he wanted secrecy, so try not to make noise.", he hissed. Skywarp rolled his crimson optics."Hmph. Megatron always wants slagging secrecy. No wonder we always lose to those Autobots.", he mumbled. Starscream growled."You will not speak of your master that way again. And do not fret over his weak leadership; all will be solved in time.", he replied sharply, a twisted smile forming on his faceplates. Thundercracker groaned." 'Screamer, that's what you always say. But none of your plans have succeded so far. And you think you're smarter than Megatron himself.", he uttered gruffly, tilting his wings downward and tapping a footpad impatiently.

The trine leader narrowed his optics and turned to face his challenger."It's not my fault! Everything is due to bad timing, you pithead! And my plans would work if I had more cooperative helpers...", he snapped bitterly. Thundercracker only scoffed."Bah! That's the excuse you give every time something goes wrong.'Bad timing'. I don't think you'll be able to overthrow Megs even if you wanted to.", he said, sneering. Starscream hissed."You, pathetic Seeker, need to respect me. I am your trine leader, and shall stay that way for now. Until I offline, You. Will. Respect. Me.", he threatened, his optics glowing bright red in anger. Skywarp snorted."Shut up, Thunder. Let's just get over with this recon mission, so we can get back to base.", he snarled, his patience wearing thin. With a grunt, Starscream transformed into his alt mode and blasted off, with his trine not far behind. Thundercracker sniffed."Slagger.", he mumbled to himself.

A few minutes later, Starscream growled and scanned the island down to the smallest detail."Slaggit. No sight of the pathetic scout at all. 'Cade, what is your status?", he growled. A tense voice replied."Starscream, I haven't seen the glitch-spawned scoutling or the fleshling. Probabilties they are at the Autobot base together: 89%.", he replied. Starscream quickly landed on to a patch of grass away from prying optics and snarled, his processor working at top speed."Lord Megatron will not allow failure this time...How can I observe the idiot scout and his organic friend when they are hidden safely behind the walls of that pathetic base? Only drawing out the protective squad would...Of course! We'll draw out the Autobots! They would never let the little one near combat, due to his size change...However, I'll have to send a drone to the spying for me...They would suspect something if I didn't show up...", he mused to himself. Congratulating himself on his brilliance, Starscream transformed into his bi-pedal mode and sent a comm to his scout team.

Starscream:: My thickchipped comrades, I have a plan that will succeed in giving us the observation time we need.::

Barricade:: Frag no. Your 'brilliant' plans always affect us. Let's just send a drone to do the job for us.::

Skywarp:: I agree with Barricade...For once, he has a smart idea.::

Barricade:: What do you mean 'for once'? I always have good ideas, glitchhead!::

Thundercracker:: Your ideas are as good as 'Screamer's. Which, in case you were wondering, are not very good.::

Starscream:: You doltheaded Seeker, I heard that!::

Barricade:: Starscream, do us all a favor and offline those glitches. They're getting on my fraggin' nerves.::

Starscream:: I would do it gladly. However, they are my trine, and Lord Megatron finds them useful. And if Megatron says they're useful, then they're useful. No matter how much of a hindrance they may be.::

Thundercracker:: Some trine leader you are...But then again, that's to be expected.::

Bonecrusher:: You are all useless. We want to hear plans, not pathetic bickering. All of you are worse than sparklings fighting over energon.::

Starscream:: Thank you, 'Crusher. At least someone has sense enough to respect their higher-ranking officials, Now, as I was saying, I have an idea that will gives us the obvservation time we need to complete this blasted mission.::

Bonecrusher:: And just what does this plan consist of?::

Starscream:: We will attack the Autobots, of course!::

Skywarp:: HAVE YOU SLAGGING GLITCHED? They'll offline us easily, and Prime shall have our heads on that energon sword of his! We might as well announce our surrender to those Autoscum.::

Starscream:: SILENCE! I shall not allow another interruption! Besides, that's only part of the plan. Learn to listen, thickchipped drones!::

Thundercracker:: Great, we've got a suicidal trine leader who also happens to be our second in command.::

Starscream:: Thundercracker, I shall deal with you later. For now, listen to my plan...::

Starscream could almost feel the approval from his comrades as he told them his plan. Everything was going to be perfect. The chances of them failing utterly were slim to nothing, and that was good enough for the trine leader. After cutting of communications, he focused on the military-grade building that lay a couple meters away from him. His optics shone brightly, and he clenched his claws, almost savoring the victory. This plan could not and would not fail. As second in command to the Decepticon forces, he would see to it. And after all of this was over, he would resume plotting on how to overthrow Megatron, so that he, Starscream, would take over the Decepticons as a leader."The universe shall soon know of my mental prowess and shall bow down to me, Starscream!", he said in a gloating tone. Quickly, he changed back to his alt mode and flew away, so he could finish working out the details of his greatest plan ever.

Unfortunately, the Seeker had failed to notice a pair of optics that was watching him from up close. The Casseticon ruffled his metallic feathers, then snorted as he flew off towards where Starscream hed left, his optics never straying from the path for an astrosecond."That fool thinks he is truly brilliant. Bah...He would never rival Lord Megatron as a leader. Most likely, he would lead us to our fall.", he grumbled to himself. Slowly, the Casseticon angled his wings towards a strip of land and landed, where he found the second in command in his bi-pedal mode, apparantly seeking shelter for the night. He seemed to be focusing on recharge, since he did not bat an optic when he saw the Cassetticon. Rather, he transformed to his alt mode and slowly shut down all systems, before entering deep recharge. With a hiss, the Cassetticon flew away, his path all but clear to where he was heading: To inform Lord Megatron of his espionage mission's results.

YAY! I finished another chapter! I really don't get a chance to update often, so forgive me if I don't post up quickly. I do tend to post multiple chapters when I can, however, so I guess it kind of makes up for my dilemma. Anyways, yes, in a future chapter, I will show a Decepticon attack on the Autobots. Starscream is extremely positve it will work out, but, considering his previous failures, I doubt it. And in the next chapter, I will show you how Sam and 'Bee's little visit goes, so be prepared. You know the drill! SP Out!

PS- Sorry for the short chapter. I was running out of what to write...;;