Hot Spot, being base commander, was in on the fact that Star was Verasuvius, along with the rest of his brothers, who were all officers in some capacity. The meeting usually consisted of them and Red Alert and a couple others also in on the secret, but today Red was absent. Business proceeded as usual, with the meeting and then with orientation of the new group that had been dropped down the Hole. While Star was telling them about their supply silo, Smokescreen lifted a hand to ask, "So how do we get all this stuff?"
"We have our ways of siphoning off the Tagan Heights without detection." Star explained with a smirk.
"They must not be very attentive if we can take so much without getting noticed." He said, perhaps a bit suspicious. "But from what I've heard, this Verasuvius does not have that issue."
Streetwise exchanged a glance with Hot Spot. Star's smirk turned into a grin.
"You'd be surprised." She told him. "Trust me, Smokescreen, we've been doing this for a long time now."
The Praxian subsided and the tour carried on, nobody thinking anything of it. And that was exactly how Star wanted it.
Once orientation was done Star checked the supplies, moving between facilities and talking to as many mecha as she could to be sure she understood what was needed before she returned to the med-bay, where the twins were just finishing their paint jobs. Sunstreaker seemed much more relaxed as he gave himself a last once-over in the full length mirror. Sideswipe joined him to sling an arm over his brother's shoulder.
"Mech, we look good."
Sunstreaker batted his twin away. "One of us does, at least, and don't scuff my paint job."
"You two done? We need to head back up."
Both twins jerked around at the voice to find Star leaning against the door of the back room they were relegated to hanging out in. They were still unsure of the strange femme and gave her guarded looks.
"Yeah, I guess we are." Sideswipe answered finally.
"Great. Come on, then." She moved to the back wall, where there was no door, and pressed her palm to it. A door-sized panel appeared and slid to the side. She disappeared into the dimly lit hallway beyond without a backwards glance, and the twins looked at each other before the red mech shrugged, and both moved to follow.
At the end of the hallway the wall drew back to let them into the elevator again, and Sideswipe paused to look down the dark, branching tunnel to the right.
"Where's that one go?" he asked.
"Further into the catacombs. It's an emergency escape route, if we ever need one. Primus forbid." Star muttered. The wall closed behind the red twin and the elevator started moving up quickly. They were back in the dim berthroom in the matter of a breem, but before either mech could move Star grabbed their shoulders to hold them still, cocking her helm as if listening. After a moment she released them.
"We're clear." She announced, heading for the door to the living room beyond.
"Clear?" Sunstreaker asked suspiciously.
"We have to be pretty paranoid around here. If anybody so much as begins to suspect…it could be catastrophic for the community. That's why I need your complete silence on the matter." Star explained as she moved to the small table by the windows. "So." She turned to them, one optic ridge raised and a cube of energon in each hand. "Now do you want some energon?"
The red and yellow mechs exchanged a glance and then Sideswipe held out both hands like a sparkling pleading for candy. "Yes."
~0~
She asked the right questions at the right time, and the twins opened up to her—Sideswipe did at least—eagerly telling her their story since Optimus Prime had died, and their favorite battle tales after that. Having plenty of energon in their systems relaxed them enough that they turned back into the twins Star had heard about; lively, confident, and completely at ease with everything around them. Once they'd finally exhausted their story repertoire, Sunstreaker gave the femme on the couch across from them a narrow look.
"What about you?" he asked. "There anything bigger going on here than the Sonic Canyon? All these resources and information at your disposal, what are you doing with it?"
Star leveled a very serious gaze at the yellow twin, and then the red one. Then she smiled wryly. "Half a vorn ago I would have had no answer for you. Thunderous changed that."
Both mechs soured.
"Don't give me those looks, you know he's changed the game. He's shaken the Decepticon's foundations with what he did. Ours too, admittedly. But honestly, before we had a Prime the whole point of this was the community. We didn't have any plan besides that. We had no one to offer the resources to except for the individual troops in the province. Since we have a leader again, we have someone to give it to." Star contemplated the slightly sullen mechs for a few moments before leaning forward, setting her cube of energon down. It was still about half full while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had already drained their second cubes.
"We have a plan now, but before I tell you I need to know that I have your silence."
Their silent conversation was private again as Star kept her mind carefully to herself, reading only their honest intent when they turned back to her.
"Alright. We'll keep our mouths shut. What's the plan?" Sideswipe asked eagerly.
Star smirked, leaning back. "Hot Spot has kept in contact with Prowl, and Thunderous Prime through him. We're still hammering out the details, but within the vorn we're taking the Tagan Heights for the Autobots. It will be the first Autobot province since Iacon fell."
Both mech's optics widened. "How?" Sunstreaker wondered.
The femme grinned widely at them. "Come on, you guys. I'm Verasuvius. I own this province. We don't get much attention because we're only good for manufacturing, so basically I am the supreme commander around here. I can make stuff happen. I can weaken the defenses until the cost of taking it will be relatively tiny. I've already started, and once we take it back I can accelerate production to almost double what it is now. We're ignored, but we provide over half of the Decepticon's manufactured goods. When they lose it, it will be nothing to scoff at, and we can immediately start funneling 100% of what we make into the Autobot cause. We'll have somewhere safe to gather again. We'll have a chance again. This province is the first step." She practically glowed with hope as she explained it, and it was infectious, but the twins knew better than to hope like that by now.
"What's the catch?" Sunstreaker asked.
Star shrugged, leaning back. "The Prime's security and position are much less stable than ours. Maintaining constant or even regular communication is practically impossible. We have to be exceptionally paranoid to keep the information from falling into the wrong hands. It makes planning slow, but we're getting there. It will be within the vorn. We also only get one chance to make this work, and we can't afford to miss this opportunity under any circumstances. But with Jazz and I working our magic here, an entire army lurking beneath the province with full access to the Sonic Canyon catacomb maze, and a Prime to lead us again, I have complete faith in our ability to do so."
The twins were quiet as they thought about it. "It sounds amazing." Sideswipe finally admitted.
"Yes." Star agreed.
"So who's this Jazz?" Sunstreaker asked after a moment. Star grinned.
"Speak of the devil…" She started as the door behind her opened to let a red and black mech with crimson optics in.
"An' he shall appear!" The mech finished as the twins pinned him with identical mistrustful glares. "You talkin' about me behind m'back again, Star?"
"Of course." The femme sat back, putting her pedes up on the short table between the couches. Ricochet sauntered over, a blue visor slipping down over his optics, grinning.
"Well then, I expect our guests to have a pretty good opinion of me." He hopped over the back of the couch and bounced gently in the surprisingly soft cushions next to the femme. "So y'came back up. I don' think that's ever happened before." He said to the twins.
Star crossed her arms over her chest. "Nope. Any trouble?"
Jazz sighed dramatically. "The resources manager from Altihex is gettin' his gears in a twist again, but otherwise it's a pretty quiet cycle, for once."
"That's good. You can hang out with us, then."
The mech grinned. "That's what I was hopin' for."
The twins were giving him hard looks, and finally the mech properly introduced himself with a jaunty salute. "Autobot Jazz, formerly third in command of the Autobot army under Optimus Prime, currently working undercover as Ricochet, second in command of the Tagan Heights province under Verasuvius."
"How long have you been here?" Sideswipe asked.
Jazz grinned lopsidedly. "Twelve vorns, just about."
Stories were exchanged some more, and then when the conversation wound down again Star asked, "Well, anybody got any ideas of what to do for the next few joors before I get to drop you two off?"
They contemplated for a moment before a devilish grin spread over Sideswipe's face. "You got any high grade? I know a pretty awesome drinking game."
Star let her own devilish grin appear. Jazz groaned.
"Hold on, I'll go get some." The femme said.
"You should be warned, Star don't get drunk." Jazz told the brothers while she was up.
"Hah! Everyone can get drunk. You just have to get enough high grade into them." Sideswipe retorted.
Jazz solemnly shook his head. "Naw, mech. She don't get drunk. I've tried the stuff she drinks, an' if that don't make ya drunk then nothin' will."
Star came back with four cubes, three an electric blue and one an odd green-blue color. She set them down on the table and gently pushed Jazz's helm to the side on the way back to her seat. "Hey, play well enough and maybe I'll go into sensory overload and you can tell everyone you beat me in a drinking game."
"Like that'll happen." The mech scoffed. "I've seen you drink three of those and walk across the room without stumblin' once."
Star grinned as she popped open her cube and took the first sip. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker eagerly took their first gulps as well, grinning at the pleasant buzz that spread through their systems, optics brightening.
"Alright then, boys, how do you play this game?" Star asked.
~0~
Seven joors later Star, frame black and optics red again, gently lifted Jazz's head off her lap and got up to retrieve three vials from the dispenser before returning to shake the twins awake. Both mechs groaned, Sideswipe putting a hand to his head while Sunstreaker buried his in his arms.
"Drink this." Star told them, offering a small vial of clear liquid to each. Blearily, they obeyed, and then gagged at the after-taste.
"That is nasty stuff." Sideswipe complained, though quietly.
"Well, it's that or spend the rest of the cycle with a hangover, and getting dropped down the Hole with an extreme sensitivity to light and noise would not be the fun experience you were hoping for. Besides, if you got there and Ratchet found out you were hung over, he'd throw a fit at me. After he threw one at you."
Sideswipe sat up, frowning, and his brother rolled over, almost falling right off the couch, to return the look before smirking. They both got to their feet and stretched, headaches completely gone already and the rest of the symptoms fading fast. "Sooo, what was that stuff?" the red mech asked.
"Ha, nice try." The femme retorted, stepping back over with small disks that she attached to their chestplates. Their forms flickered as the holograms engaged, and both mechs looked over the damage, Sunstreaker with distaste evident on his face.
"Yikes. Is this what everyone you drop in the Hole looks like?" Sideswipe asked, inspecting his mangled arm.
"It's what the dummies look like." Star replied, pulling the laser line port from subspace and looping the cords around their chests. "Now, just stay as limp as you can while I fly you out there, and once I drop you try to wait a bit before you move; the ridge guards can still see you until you get below the rim. You'll still have plenty of time to enjoy the fall, don't worry." She ordered, leading them towards the window wall next to the small table. "Are you ready?" she asked, testing the cords with a gentle tug.
The twins nodded. "Yup."
"Alright then, brace yourselves."
Star turned and ran at the window, diving right through the liquid force field and transforming. The laser lines locked, jerking the two mechs after her. The flight was over too quick, in their opinion, but then the Hole was yawning wide and loud and bright beneath them. The jet curved back the way she had come, waiting for them to come out of the swing before disengaging the lines. The twins fell, straight and neat into the Hole, and Verasuvius circled a few times, watching, before streaking back to her tower with a chuckle to wake up Ricochet and start the new day.
The incredible noise of the canyon drowned out both mechs' enthusiastic whoops as they fell.
~I'm really not sure how this day could get any better!~ Sideswipe thought to his brother.
~Me neither!~ Sunstreaker agreed.
~0~
Jazz gulped down the nasty-tasting liquid, grimaced, and then shook his helm while Vera finished cleaning up the last of the mess. Once the miraculous potion had done its work, the 2IC tilted his helm at his commander.
"So. You record all that?" he asked.
Vera placed a crystal formation back on top of a datacase and turned back to him with an absolutely wicked smile, leaving no doubt in the saboteur's mind at how much embarrassment she had caught. "Need you ask?"