Note: not completely sure about this chapter, but i have been unable to rewrite it that much, so i guess it is as it should be according to my mind. I have a bit thoughts about how far to take this little story. I have written an interlude part, but if i decide to bring it into the story it is going to be a lot more serious, than just working with how to get the three seekers together again. The interlude is an insight into the other Ancients' whereabouts and leading to a final battle and confrontation with the Quintessons. Primarily i have the beginning interlude-ARC as Sunstorm confronting Alpha Trion with new knowledge about Thundercracker(Who they until then has believed missing, and most likely dead) on the bridge of their space ship "Unity" as they keep a secret optic on Quintessa, the quintessons new home ever since the techno-organic beings were vanquished from Cybertron. Havent decided which direction to take. It could be interesting and fun to bring them into the story, but at the same time it would be nice and cozy to work with getting the trine together again, bring Skywarp back to health,(I sincerely doubt i have the spark to kill him off.) and play with the interaction between Star/Thunder, Thunder/Sky and Star/Thunder/Sky.

But dont mind my blabbering.

I hope you enjoy this little chapter.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The sound of footsteps sounds monotonously inside the Autobot Air Commander's quarters.

Starscream is slowly going insane as the hours tick by without anything from Thundercracker. The first few hours didn't cause him any worry, but now it is more than ten hours since the blue seeker left and Starscream is pacing furiously on his fourth hour. There isn't much else to do in Thundercracker's office. The datapads on the shelf held interest for an hour, but since then he has been growing more and more restless and worried.

He tried the door after the fifth hour. Finding it locked and heavily encrypted with a complex and foreign code language he is firmly locked into the blue seeker's quarters until Thundercracker returns. So it is obvious that even if he isn't in the brig he is still very much a prisoner. Not that he would have thought the autobots to just let him roam free. Just... The night before still stands vividly in his mind and this very morning even more so. He can still feel Thundercracker's fingers ghost over his plating. He is still suffering from the unreleased energies accumulated in the intimate moments just before the blue seeker had to leave and in the hope of Thundercracker's return he has ignored them. Hoping to resume what they have begun and getting closer to the blue seeker in a way he has wanted to for a very long time.

But his hope is for naught.

With a deep sigh he resumes pacing.

And even if he knew Thundercracker's comlink frequency his comline is disabled. He knows this because he, in a hopeful moment, tried to reach the old comlink frequency from the Academy time. But all he got was silence. The sign of a disabled comline.

Rounding Thundercracker's desk for the 1.638. time he stops to look at the door and the communications system taking up the spot on the wall to its right.

Should or shouldn't?

Shaking his head to clear it of the foolish thought that any of the autobots would give him any answers or even relay a message to Thundercracker, he resumes his pacing again, but his optics strays to the door each time he rounds the desk.

1.995.

1.996.

1.997.

1.998.

1.999.

At the 2.000 round he stops, his processor racing furiously and warring with pessimism and the need to know.

It can't hurt to try, right?

Still fighting with indecision, he stares at the communication system for a few more minutes. When he finally makes his decision, his spark is pulsing so fast it feels like it is trying to burst out of his chest.

Standing in front of it, hesitation grips him again and his finger hovers over the button labeled 'Command center'. Much to his chagrin there isn't a direct call to the medical bay or Ratchet.

Should or shouldn't?

With a deep sigh and the feel of his sparkchamber ready to crack under the pressure of his spark he pushes the button and breathlessly waits for answer as the line indicates the call going through to the communications hub located in the command center.

All the while thoughts races through his processor, telling him how foolish this is, but he NEED to know what is going on.

In the command center Ironhide looks up from a datapad and turns to the communications hub when the sound of an attempted communication alerts him. With a few keystrokes he taps into the logs to identify the caller and his expression darkens. Without any care he closes the logs and turns back to his datapad, ignoring the continuous sound. A few minutes later it silences and he smiles cruelly.

Not much later he is disturbed again by a smooth 'swoosh' as the door into the Command center opens to allow entrance and once again he turns away from his datapad, this time to regard the one entering.

"Ah, Mirage. What can I do for you?" Ironhide greets before turning back to face the console in front of him and the rows of surveillance monitors.

Mirage just nods in greeting as he enters with a cube in each hand.

"Time to refuel." He replies smoothly, walking up beside the weapons specialist and handing him one of the cubes.

"Since when did you become delivery mech?" Ironhide asks, knowing that Mirage shouldn't be the one to deliver his energon. That had been a part of Firstaid's duty this day.

"Don't tell me you didn't hear Ratchet's bellow hours ago? From what I hear they are still working furiously in the medical bay. So someone had to take over this duty." The spy answers coolly.

"It is impossible not to hear him." Ironhide snorts. Then he scowls darkly at the thought of why Ratchet and Firstaid is caught up in the medical bay. To him it is a waste of time and resource on an enemy who is going to shoot them in their sparks as a 'thank you' if the decepticon gets the chance. But there is no arguing with Ratchet when the CMO is dead-set.

"Any disturbances?" Mirage asks, icy blue optics sweeping the room as he relaxes against the wall beside the door.

"No more than the usual." Ironhide easily deflects the question.

"Hmm. What is that?" he asks the weapons specialist, optics narrowed in suspicion as he gestures towards the lone blinking diode on the communications hub indicating a missed communication. Before Ironhide manages to answer him, Mirage has walked to the console and is tapping into it. When the log shows the missed call from Air Commander Thundercracker's office Mirage turns to look at Ironhide, arms folding across his chest and his optics becoming even icier as he with a raised brow silently demands an explanation.

Not that he really need one. They all know how Ironhide feels about the seekers, Thundercracker being no exception, even if the seeker has proved himself in battle alongside the weapons specialist several times.

When Ironhide just remains silent, his expression dark and showing his prejudice, Mirage just sighs and logs the call as noted before leaving the command center.

At the door he turns to regard the other.

"If I were you I wouldn't turn Thundercracker into my enemy." He states, and then he turns and walks down the corridor towards the location of Thundercracker's office. If it had been Thundercracker trying to contact them he would have done so over comline. That leaves Starscream as the one trying to communicate.

"Mirage to Thundercracker."

Nothing.

"Mirage to Air Commander Thundercracker."

Still nothing.

With a sigh he steels himself for the next attempt.

"Mirage to Chief Medical Officer Ratchet."

"This better be good! I am busy! What do you want?!" Ratchet promptly responds, his voice holding a dangerous threat.

"I need Thundercracker's whereabouts. He isn't responding to me. And he isn't in his quarters." Mirage calmly explains, showing a slight urgency.

"He is with the Aerialbots. Mech knows he needed someone to pull him together." The medic grouses. "Unless the Decepticons is attacking no one is to disturb them. Am I clear?!" the CMO then adds with a growl before cutting the connection abruptly.

Stopping in his walk, Mirage contemplates his possibilities.

Either leave the issue be, or go and see for himself what Starscream wanted, and by doing so trespassing on Thundercracker's privacy and put himself in vicinity of the decepticon.

Just when he is about to turn around and walk away, leaving the issue for Thundercracker to deal with whenever the seeker is fit to it, he hears a furious scream and a following mad pounding on a door. More precisely Thundercracker's door.

With a deep sigh he turns around again. If Starscream isn't scrapping him he knows that Thundercracker will. The image of the scene from the Nemesis halts him for a moment, and he is almost about to turn away from the door again, but then another image presents itself. The way the blue seeker had cradled Starscream as they had left the enemy base. There had been affection there.

Feeling a rare conflicting moment, Mirage is unable to decide what might get him scrapped the most. Trespass, or ignore Starscream when he clearly needs something.

"THUNDERCRACKER!" the scream coming from the other side of the door drags out for a while, almost turning into a wail, and when it fades a soundly sobbing takes over.

Deeply shocked Mirage just stares at the door for a moment. A. Crying. Decepticon. That's a first. And it is the deciding matter.

"Primus save me." he whispers before he steps up to the door and begins the work to decrypt the code on it. It takes a while due to the uncommon use of ancient cybertronian in the code language, but being a tower's mech Mirage is educated enough to know the basic of the old language. Most of the famous sparkling tales from that time were in the old language.

"Thundercracker…" Starscream asks in a small voice at the sound of a code being entered on the other side of the door, and Mirage feels a lump in his throat at the hopefulness in it. Idly he wonders what the decepticon will do when he realizes that Mirage isn't Thundercracker.

The last blip sounds and the door pings with a verification of the code before it begins to swoosh open.

"Thund-"is all Starscream manages to say before he realizes that the frame on the other side of the opening door is too small to be Thundercracker. With wide optics he scrambles away from the door, his frame connecting with the desk as Mirage enters, the thought of escape not even entering his processor at the sight of the mech who isn't Thundercracker.

When the door closes behind Mirage, Starscream whimpers. He is unarmed, trapped and at the complete mercy of the autobot.

"I'm not here to hurt you." Mirage begins to explain in a soft voice, uncomfortable with the sight of the still flowing tears from the decepticon's optics. When all he gets is another whimper and trembling wings he almost regrets entering. But done is done, and whispering another prayer he continues to try and sooth the distressed seeker.

"I know you tried to contact us. That's the only reason why I'm here Starscream. Thundercracker is…indisposed at the moment and unable to return to you for a while. Are you okay? Do you understand?" the spy elaborates, watching the seeker closely.

"In-indisposed? What happened to him?" the seeker sniffs, the crying slowly slowing down and he raises a hand to wipe at his optics and cheeks to remove the fluids staining them.

"I don't know." Mirage answers honestly, and in his mind he adds 'I don't know how much I can tell you. I don't know if Thundercracker has told you anything about Skywarp being here at all.' Out loud he adds further, "He is with the Aerialbots at the moment, and according to Ratchet is to remain undisturbed until he comes around. So he probably won't be returning to his quarters before tomorrow. I am sorry Starscream; you will have to remain alone in here until then. Or I can take you down to the brig if you prefer? Then you won't be this alone and isolated." Mirage hurries to explain, seeing the deeply hurt expression on the seeker's face and the tears welling from the optics with renewed force, but not understanding the cause of it.

"He-… He's with them?" the seeker asks in an almost inaudible voice, the bitterness going completely unnoticed by the autobot.

"That's what Ratchet told me." Mirage nods.

Like flicking a switch Starscream's demeanor changes and Mirage only sees a fraction of it before the seeker turns his back and hides the anguished anger filling his optics.

'Those…Those… They are dead!'

"I…I need to be alone." The seeker states in a controlled voice, showing none of the feelings tearing him apart from the inside.

"Okay. I can leave my comlink frequency at the communication system for you to use if you need anything." The autobot offers, brow ridge raised at the sudden dismissal.

"Th-thank you." The words are forced, the control almost cracking, almost showing the seeker's true state. His wings are held completely taut, not moving at all. If Mirage had been a flier he would never have left in that moment, but he is a ground bound and can't read the seeker's frame language.

When the door locks with a click Starscream waits for several long seconds before the rage filled shriek of madness escapes his vocalizer. In his hate induced state he rips the room to shreds, the only thing remaining somewhat undamaged being the desk, and only because it is too heavy for him to lift.

I am either going to focus Thundercracker/Starscream, with a bit Aerialbot and Ratchet into it in next chapter or delve into Skywarps hopeful recovery. We need a bit of that mayhem Skywarp is so known to cause.