Chapter 106
-0-Mid morning, New Year's Eve
The shifts had changed and the Martian mechs were back. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker along with the younger mechs were down at the beach readying the wood pile for the bonfire. Wheeljack and Perceptor had decided not only to come but to have fireworks. That had been heavily vetted by Prowl and all seemed to be in order.
"There are going to be children there," Prowl said, his three little mechs and their darling femme foremost in his processor. "We can't have anything that will harm anyone, 'Jack, or remind them of something they heard or saw before being found."
Wheeljack backed by Perceptor agreed and worked on their bundles and spires with even more of an eye for safety.
Prowl grinned, happy that the mechs and little femme would have fireworks. They'd always had fireworks on important days in Praxus.
Prime discussing a matter with Springer over the heavily encrypted comm link between Ops Center, Earth and Ops Center, Mars agreed with the plan Springer had posed. Touching base with First Aid, he also received an update on the Seekers, all of whom were decidedly better physically and emotionally than before including Starscream.
Although that Seeker was still the frailest, still had faulty memory recall, still had post traumatic stress to a great degree, his overall picture had improved. Prime felt relief at that in an odd sense. Starscream was his ward now and he had to help him recover. That he could even entertain such a thought given the past surprised him.
Rising, he walked to the Rec Room. Sitting on chairs chatting together, Rambler, T-Bar and Spirit waited with Prowl and their day care mech, Trailbreaker. A long rotating list of mechs who volunteered to help took care of the children while their guardians were on duty had been formulated and had taken the strain off caring for the little ones while working, too.
Trailbreaker who was holding Silverbow in his lap was on duty today. Walking to the table to sit with his family, Prime let everything go for a while. Right now with them, he was as happy as he'd felt in eons, something he thought he would never be able to know again.
Shortly, he would be going on a quick run to Autobot City and a meeting with Starscream. He would talk to him and get a measure of his disability. Then he would get his oath. Without it given, he couldn't let the Seeker fly. It was not so much for the protection and security of the Autobots.
It was for Starscream.
-0-At the beach
The woodpile was divided. There was the pile they would start at sundown and there was the pile that would be supplemental. The mechs had stacked up the main one and it was filled with different additions from Wheeljack and Perceptor who were there to set up fireworks as well. Because there were children they'd decided to make the fire colorful. Putting bags of different elements into the stack at different places would insure that the fire would burn with colorful shades all over it. It would almost be like the Christmas tree that they still had up in their play room. The infants loved it so much they couldn't yet take it down.
"This will be fun, Percy," Wheeljack said as he helped Perceptor set up the fireworks.
"I know, 'Jack," Perceptor said smiling back. "This is going to be the best New Year ever."
Wheeljack squeezed Perceptor's arm. "I agree," he said simply.
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker moved this and that log under Bluestreak's direction as they created a place for the femmes to sit and not be harmed. There was an enormous number of mechs coming, everyone in the garrison. Prowl had worked the schedule so that everyone who was on duty would only spend one joor before someone else came to relieve them.
No one would have to miss more than a joor of the celebration and he'd confirmed to Blue that he, Optimus and the little mechs would come. Silverbow and her teddy bear along with her newly legally confirmed genitors would be there, too. It was going to be great, Bluestreak thought with a smile.
Sunstreaker pausing from hefting logs around looked at Blue and smiled, too. For the first time in his life there was another path besides battle. He had Blue. He had his brother. He had a home to fight for again. He was happy.
"How about that one over here?" Blue suggested to the two as they bent their backs to make it happen, lifting the drift wood trunk to the appointed place.
Ironhide standing nearby watched with amusement. /... where were you two when Ratchet was beating my aft? .../
-0-Autobot City, Mars
Springer stood by the gate as Optimus Prime drove up and transformed. He greeted him and they talked together for a while. Getting caught up, informing Springer of the change of staff during the New Year's event that night, they walked inside heading for the main conference room where Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp waited. He slowed, getting a grip on the tumult of emotions that filled him, then entered.
Starscream looking oddly small and hollow sat on a chair alongside Thundercracker who was gazing in his direction. Skywarp, too nervous to sit was pacing behind them. First Aid, called to the meeting was sitting nearby watching Starscream intently. They all rose including Starscream, his body frail but his pride and manners intact.
Prime moved to the table and motioned them to sit which they all did, Thundercracker and Skywarp pausing long enough for Prime to sit first. When they all had, Prime turned to Starscream who stared at him with a shuttered expression.
"Starscream, I am glad that you are up and feeling better," Prime said neutrally.
Starscream didn't speak a moment, then he leaned forward looking intently at Prime. "I know you don't I." He stated rather than asked it, putting a pall in the room almost before the words rolled out of his mouth.
Prime glanced at Thundercracker, himself surprised. "You do."
Starscream nodded. "I don't think we were friends."
"No. What do you remember?" Prime asked gently.
Starscream thought a moment, the effort painful. Then he shrugged. "I remember we weren't friends. I think you hurt me once."
Prime considered the many times they'd fought and the mutual toll that had occurred from the encounters. "We were soldiers on opposite sides, Starscream. It was never personal on my part. I preferred peace."
Starscream considered that then nodded. "You did. I remember. You bear the Matrix."
Prime agreed.
"The war... is it still continuing?"
Prime nodded. "It is."
"And Megatron? Does he still live?"
Prime shrugged. "We do not know. I was hoping that you could help us there."
Starscream leaned back with exhaustion evident on his face. "He will come. He always comes. I have to fly. He can't catch me in the air. No one can. Did you know," he said leaning forward, "that I am the best aerialist in Cybertronian history?"
Prime nodded. That was true. No one ever existed who could fly like Starscream. That's what made him so deadly.
"When I fly nothing else matters. Nothing can harm me. I can fly and be free. You grounders … you have no idea."
Prime agreed. "I can see that."
"I want to fly."
"I have to know a couple of things, Starscream. I need your oath."
Starscream looked at Thundercracker who nodded with a gentle expression on his face. Starscream looked at Prime studying him for a moment. "I know you."
Prime nodded. "I know you. You have sanctuary here. You will be safe and cared for here. I need your oath as a Seeker that you will lay down your arms and stay here as a neutral, as someone who will not pick up arms in the war again."
"What if Megatron comes? He will come and hurt me again. He always does. Did you know I took all his beatings without backing down? He never could accept defeat so he took it out on me. None of the others were harmed because of me. I, Starscream took them all."
A pang of compassion piercing and bright impaled Prime as he listened. Starscream needed to talk so Prime let him, the expressions of pain and sadness on Skywarp and Thundercracker underlying the horror of what the Seeker said.
"He hurt me in every way possible. There was nothing so low he wouldn't do to me to feel better and I let him. He never broke me, Prime. He never got to me. I never let him in no matter what he did. I beat him every time."
Prime nodded as his tanks churned. "You did."
Starscream looked a bit of his old defiant. "I did. But I know he will come again and I need to be able to fly. I can't let him catch me now. Right now, I'm not strong. I will be again. Then I can kill him. But now he will kill me and I don't want to die before he does. I never did before. Let me fly so I can escape."
"You will always be defended here, Starscream. No one is going to get you here. You have my word."
Starscream considered that. "This fortress is strong. I cannot tell where I am. It doesn't look like Iacon. Is this new?"
Prime shifted. "It's in a new place, Starscream. We are not on Cybertron. We are on Mars."
Starscream mused. "I don't know where that is."
"We do," Prime said glancing at Thundercracker and Skywarp who stared back.
Thundercracker took Starscream's servo, squeezing it gently. "I know where we are, Starscream. You don't have to worry about that. And the Prime is right. We're all safe here. And we won't let him get to you anymore. All of us, the other trine and ours, we've made a kindred oath to prevent Megatron from ever touching you again."
Starscream looked at him clearly struggling to believe. Then he looked at Prime, still clinging to Thundercracker's servo. "If I can fly he can't catch me."
"Give me your oath, the one you can not break," Prime said gently, extending his servo.
Starscream looked at it for a moment then hesitantly extended his own. They gripped and the electrical surge of their personal oaths and that of a Seeker's buzzed between the two. Prime squeezed Starscream's servo then turned his gaze to Thundercracker. He looked ill, strained and sorrowful. Prime looked back at Starscream who still held his servo.
"I do know you," Starscream said quietly. "Do I get to fly now?"
Prime nodded. "You get to. But you must live here. We can help you here and take care of you." Prime glanced at First Aid who was watching with a sorrowful expression of his own. "How is he doing? Can he fly?"
"He's improving a little everyday. As for the memories, I'm not sure. Ratchet had to shunt a lot of his functions through other parts of his processor. Some of them are not going to repair. But the flying portions of his processor, they appear to be healing. He may be too weak to do more than soar and then glide but in time I think he'll be flying well again."
Prime felt ridiculously glad at the news as he stared at Starscream who was looking at Prime's servo which he still held. "Starscream?"
The Seeker looked up, searching Prime's face for answers to memory riddles that filled his processor. "I know you from somewhere."
Prime nodded as he squeezed Starscream's servo gently. "You may fly. But you must not overtax yourself. I want Skywarp and Thundercracker to judge and to recall you if you overdo." He looked at Thundercracker. "Call the base if you are too far away to fly back. Someone will come and get you. I will leave orders. I do not want him to injure himself again. If he can not fly that orn or that joor do not allow it."
Thundercracker agreed. "I've already made arrangements among us to protect him."
Prime nodded. "That relieves my mind." He looked at Starscream. "I hope you continue to get better. Please remember, you are safe here. You have my word as Prime."
Starscream looked at him. "You are the Prime. You have the Matrix. I know you from some place. Were you ever in Kaon?"
Prime leaned closer. "A long time ago. You live in Autobot City on Mars now, Starscream. You are welcome here. You are home now."
Starscream stared at him, still confused. "I'm tired."
Prime rose and so did Starscream, shaky and confused. Thundercracker moved to grip the unsteady Seeker as Skywarp nervously hovered behind him. He steadied Starscream then looked at Prime. "I knew you'd be what they said you are. We won't disappoint you, Prime. Thank you."
Prime moved aside to allow the three to leave the room. He glanced at First Aid beside him. "Thank you, First Aid for what you are doing. They look better and stable."
"They are. The five are in great form," he said. "They came up to standard specs pretty fast. Starscream is a work in progress."
Prime considered that. "Let me know if you need assistance or any support. For some reason, I want him to get as well as he can."
"It's odd isn't it. I wanted him dead for so long and now I want him to live," First Aid said shaking his head in amazement.
Prime nodded. "Me, too."
-0-Nearing sundown
They came in bunches and singularly, walking toward the light of the bonfire. The femmes had come earlier, dragging more men and women with them. They sat in the area designated for them enjoying greatly the music, company and conversation all around them. Dozens of Autobots were there, the four younglings as well. In the water nearby off shore from the party, there were small boats with partiers relaxing, swimming in the light of the bonfire as everyone celebrated New Year.
Silverbow surrendering her little yellow cup for her pink bear stood with Spirit near the fire admiring the flaring reds, greens and blues that poured out of it and streaked up into the night. The other kids passed around the group by Autobots who came to get them felt for the first time the comfort of a community that would love them and help raise and protect them with their own lives.
The ocean was a dark expanse, the moon overhead shining light across its surface as waves lapped gently against the shore. Bots danced, passed high grade gathered for the occasion, laughing and talking as they relaxed together. Every joor, a pair would leave and another pair would join them as their shift became over.
Sitting in a group, Ironhide and Ratchet, Prime and Prowl, Colonel Fulton and his aide, Jeremy sat together talking about life on many worlds as well as this one. The bots told of worlds that the humans would never know and all the kinds of living things that existed. It was wondrous to think that there were colors in the universe that didn't exist on Earth or Mars.
Bluestreak danced with Sideswipe, deliriously happy and then he danced with Sunstreaker, the yellow Lambo laughing and whispering into Blue's audials. The evening continued and then the fireworks began.
Perceptor and Wheeljack lit them off and they roared upward exploding to form different things, some glyphs in their language, some forms of a different life from Cybertron, some flowers of Earth. They watched entranced, everyone, as the moments ticked by. When New Year's Eve finally came, the femmes broke into song and everyone settled to listen …
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
"For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
"We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne."
They stood and sat, those who were gathered on land and sea, all of them listening to the lovely words of the old, old song and at that moment they became one heart, one spark gathering together in the darkness of a new world, a young tribe and an ancient endangered one.
At that moment, the war was far away, the younglings held close in loving arms, lovers and friends together. Tomorrow, the world would bring what it might but tonight they were one people, one family, one regard, one spark. Tonight, it was good to be alive.