He watched from the shadows, shaking in fury as Soundwave guided the much larger mech into his quarters. How could Soundwave not know?! Blitzwing was one of the biggest players on the Nemesis! He was only interested in getting a mech into the berth, taking everything he had to give, and then abandoning him like so much trash. Soundwave was a gifted telepath; how could he not sense the mech's intentions? He wanted to get in there, to tear the triplechanger away from the socially stunted mech. But, he had no reason to even be in this wing, and the third-in-command was a grown mech, able to make his own decisions. He should walk away. He should.

He couldn't.

Blitzwing was not a mech who took rejection well, if Soundwave turned him down. And he was much stronger than the sapphire mech.

Thinking quickly, he sent one of his team to create a reason that Soundwave would be needed immediately elsewhere in the ship. He waited impatiently until he got the confirmation, and then approached Soundwave's quarters. Knocking on the door he waited for a moment. There was no response. Feeling uneasy, he commed his superior, priority two. Still no reply. No matter what he was engaged in Soundwave never ignored priority comms. A loud crash shook the walls, causing the mech to jump. The door flew open, and he stepped to the side, watching in amazement as Blitzwing's heavy, offline form was unceremoniously dumped in the hall. A garnet visor glittered brightly, staring at him in a way that was almost feral. A shudder ran down the lower ranking mech's struts, but he did his best to suppress it. He met the burning gaze evenly, nodding in greeting before saying,

"I hope I am not disturbing anything, Commander, but you are needed on the lower decks. Apparently, there has been a security breach of unknown origin." He would have to ask and see if that was true, or if one of his mechs had fabricated it on short notice. Soundwave visibly calmed himself, intakes leveling, and the cold, aloof mask snapping into place.

"Soundwave: understands." Although the other mech couldn't see it, the telepath was very glad to have something to occupy his time now. He was shaken and angry, and did not want to be alone. Any hint of exhaustion was long gone. Casually stepping over the prone body blocking his door, he joined the other commander as they headed to the breach.

Unfortunately, the breech was an easy fix, a remnant from one of the Autobot spies, most likely, that one of the Decepticons had exacerbated somehow. It only took a few breems to straighten out. Soundwave wasn't sure, but he thought it was the somewhat desperate desire to avoid his quarters (and creations - how was he going to explain this to them?) that had him asking,

"Onslaught: energon required?" Onslaught smiled behind his mask, basking in the musical timbre.

"Yes."

Starscream stared up at the ceiling, bored. He was well-fed for once, and he'd done practically nothing but rest. However, his processor was far from idle. He ran through complex formulas from his time in the Academy, thought about his travels to exotic worlds with Skyfire (who he was thankful had not come to visit - he suspected the Praxian's mate was involved in that), and even went over every flawed weapon his idiotic lord had had built. The purple griffin received almost a breem to itself, simply because it was an abomination that Starscream enjoyed mocking. If he hadn't known better he would have sworn that Megatron had been on an acid-energon trip when he dreamed that up.

But these thoughts only entertained him for so long, and didn't do much to distract him from the real issue - he missed his mates. He hadn't been separated from them for more than a few joors since before they left Cybertron. Megatron had tried to take them away once; he had woken up in medbay with Starscream by his side, dark ruby optics staring at him from a blank face. Hook had explained to the tyrant that he had consumed a near fatal dose of tainted energon, but they weren't sure of the source. Megatron was no fool, and had beaten his second nearly to deactivation. He had never tried to separate the Elite Trine again however.

Sometimes Starscream wondered if it would have been better to kill the commander when he'd had the chance. All it would have taken was slightly more of the rust additive, and nothing would have been able to keep the fragger's insides from corroding. But at the time he had still believed in the Cause, if not in their Leader - he still did. And as much as he hated to say it, the Decepticons would fall apart without their master. It was part of the reason he had never honestly tried to kill the Warlord. Almost everyone forgot that he was a scientist; whipping up an untraceable poison may be Mixmaster's field, but Starscream was not to be trifled with. Soundwave had known, had kept an incredibly close (irritating) optic on him, but Starscream had sensed a frustration in his new friend as of late. Maybe the loyalty wasn't as set in stone as it seemed. After all, he had been like Soundwave once, and Megatron had managed to drive him away; it was not improbable that he would do the same to his Third.

Sighing, he gave up that line of thought. He would talk about it with his trine when he saw them again. Thinking of them brought on a wave of melancholy. He tried to fight it, not willing to show weakness in front of his Autobot guard. It didn't work. Instead, he thought about being curled up with them, of Skywarp begging him to sing them into recharge when the war got bad early on. The teleporter seldom asked for it anymore, but it always seemed to comfort him; maybe it would work for Starscream.

The Air Commander picked 'Warp's favorite lullaby, humming softly at first. As he picked up the melody he began to sing, not caring if the little guard heard him. It was an old Vosian lullaby, one his carrier had sung to him as a mechlet. Offlining his optics, he focused on the words, pretending he wasn't curled up on the hard pad in an Autobot cell but sandwiched between his mates.

"I know that song," a quiet voice interrupted. Optics flashing online, Starscream tensed and stared hard at the Autobot. It was another Praxian, mostly gray with blue accents. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt; it's just that song is very familiar, I don't know where I know if from, but it's really soothing, is it from Vos? Because Vos was close to Praxus, so I might have heard it there, but then again the seekers didn't seem to like us did they, so I don't know if we would have heard it from you or not although I'm not sure why you didn't like us but I guess it doesn't matter can you sing it louder?"

Starscream blinked at the torrent of words. Offense raced through him at the implied words - it had been Praxus that attacked Vos! The seekers had had no problem with their kin until the first bombs fell. But then this one looked very young; maybe he didn't know.

"I caught about half of that. Repeat the last part - just the last part!" Starscream said when it looked like the Autobot would start rambling again. The young face screwed up in concentration, words sounding stilted.

"Will you...sing... louder please."

"What's wrong with your vocalizer?" Starscream asked instead. It was rude, but his curiosity got the better of him. It had to be some kind of glitch. The young mech either babbled or could barely force the words out.

"Nothing!" Bluestreak cried, "It's English! It's so minimalistic compared to Cybertronian and I know what I want to say but I can never find the words because English doesn't have them so then I babble and I know it irritates mechs, but when I try to explain I just make it worse, and no one know how to help! Prowl and Jazz try but they can't be there to translate for me all the time, and I don't want to be a burden, so I've never really asked anyone else and I don't know what to do! I'm sorry you probably don't care." Bluestreak darted backwards, away from the cell, mortified that he had ranted about personal problems to an enemy. The solution was obvious to Starscream.

"So speak in Cybertronian, and they will adapt or lose out." Not wanting to get into a more detailed discussion with the Praxian, Starscream started singing. He offlined his optics, and knowing that he had an audience helped, even if it wasn't his trine. Starscream sang until he drifted into recharge.

Most mechs would say if asked, that patience was not among Skywarp's –rather remarkable – list of talents. Those mechs would only be partially right. Skywarp had patience to spare when it suited him. If it bored him, he saw no reason to waste time that could be better spent on more enjoyable activities. Setting up a prank (read: getting revenge), coaxing Starscream out of the labs or away from the dusty tomes he enjoyed reading, convincing Thundercracker to fly with him at mach two through Devil's Canyon… now those he could spend forever and a joor doing. Listening to Autodorks rave about how delectable his mate sounded speaking Cybertronian, well, it was a good thing Thundercracker was there to hold him back. They got enough of this on the Nemesis and now they had to listen to it here too!? Fraggers were going to die. Just as soon as his blue mate let go of his wingtip.

::Enough!:: Said mate hissed at the volatile seeker, ::I'm just as angry as you are but if we get caught now we will never get Star out. You can get revenge later!:: That settled the younger flyer somewhat. It shifted his considerable processing power (and yes, he was very intelligent, thank you very much; not every mech could calculate vectors, flight speed, warp coordinates and such in under a miliklik while a battle raged around them) away from murder and mayhem to a more deliberate form of punishment. Oh yes, he would plan something spectacular. Thundercracker would probably help. Right now the blue seeker was just grateful that he had managed to distract his mate. Skywarp was more than a little unhinged by all the attention Starscream had been receiving lately.

No mech in their right mind would deny that the Air Commander was a gorgeous seeker. He was all sleek curves, bright, beautiful wings, and deliciously angled faceplates. Add to that the immense processing power, deadly skills in the sky and harmonic voice, he was Pit near perfect. But since their arrival on Earth mechs had been turned off by the screeching. Cybertronians had delicate audial equipment and the horrid mess that Star's vocalizer produced trying to speak the mangled language had been so great that most mechs could not stand to hear him speak. It had led to ridicule and disobedience. The SIC had not taken that well. He had raged at the crew which worsened the cycle until Star had become the most hated mech on the ship. Now he respected once again; mechs listened to him speak (although most had no idea what he was saying) and often sought him out for advice (which they couldn't understand). Thundercracker and Skywarp were proud of their mate and that he was working to revive their forgotten language. But the unwanted sexual attention and propositions were beginning to wear on them. The fact that Star was so damn oblivious just compounded the issue. For a mech who was so smart, he sure could pick the weirdest things to overlook.

Thundercracker did have to admit that he appreciated the friendship between his lover and Soundwave. Once the mechs quit bickering and found some common ground a surprising camaraderie had blossomed. They had spent more time in the sound system's company, and while they didn't always understand everything the pair was saying, it was great to see a genuine smile on their scientist's face outside of their quarters. Plus, the younglings were adorable, though torture couldn't drag that out of either of the Wing Second and Third. The loyalty that Soundwave had to those he cared about was amazing; he had defied their Lord. It was thanks to that defiance that they were here now, hidden in the shadows of the brig, waiting for a good time to swoop in and steal back their mate. It made the blue seeker wonder if Soundwave was really all that loyal to the mech, or if it was a show meant to appease the dangerous tyrant.

::Look TC, the little Autobrat is falling into recharge!:: Skywarp squealed excitedly over their bond. Sure enough, the gunner's optics flickered before going dark. Starscream lay on his back on the sparse berth, staring blankly up at the gaudy ceiling. He had been quiet and still for several breems now. The guard must have felt safe enough to recharge. Thundercracker prodded their bond.

::Starscream.:: The multicolored seeker sat up and looked around the brig. He knew his mates were close by. They had to be for Thunder to sound so clear. Stretching his arms above his head, he pretended to shift around as though trying to get comfortable. That fragging security director was probably watching. It wouldn't do to tip him off to the unexpected visitors.

::Thundercracker? Skywarp?:: The Cybertronian glyphs were almost purred over the bond, laced with their trine leader's pleasure at their presence.

::We're here Star. I can't warp in and get you; the shields were down enough around the brig that I could get in, but not enough to get into the cell. We are going to have to move fast when they transport you to get you out of here.::

::No need. I watched them input the code to the cell when they brought me back. The young one isn't all that fast at it. It's Primus Omega Zero Zero Binary Alpha Delta. Don't wake the youngling. The last thing we need is a flood of Autobots thinking we are attacking their precious sniper.::

::You got it babe,:: Skywarp rumbled. Starscream fought back a scowl.

::If you continue to use foul human endearments I will ban you from our berth for the next one hundred vorns.:: Skywarp pouted but didn't comment. The mercurial seeker would do it in a spark pulse.

Thundercracker calmly slide out of the darkened corner and made his way over to the cell. The force field came down soundlessly, and Starscream was quick to exit. He pressed a quick kiss to Thunder's lips before moving away and letting Skywarp guide them out of the anti-teleportation shield.

A moment later the trine disappeared from the Ark just as the alarms began blaring, jolting a rather startled Bluestreak out of recharge.

Megatron stared at the viewscreen, intently. His third-in-command had literally thrown a mech nearly twice his size out of his room. The Constructicons had to be called to fix the damage done to the floor. It had been a long time since he had seen a demonstration of his Third's abilities. The mech was dangerous. He had forgotten that. And now he had an alliance with Starscream. Not only was that fragging seeker turning his army into a pack of turbohounds begging for a chance to hear the traitor speak now his telepath's loyalties were in question. And he still couldn't slagging understand them! They could be plotting his assassination in plain view and no one on the blasted ship could tell! He had to do something about this. Immediately. And if that meant reorganizing the chain of command to fill some… vacancies, well, so be it.