ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT OF THE PERSONAL KIND

Part Five

The first problem the High Guard had with their new leader was getting him to stop and go in the right direction.

Shockwave and Soundwave were the ones who finally took it upon themselves to go down and talk to Megatron while Starscream and the other fliers went into a holding pattern above the trio. This was likewise going to be a problem. Megatron, whose only alt was ground-based, was now in charge of a bunch of bots who could all fly. Besides heading the wrong way, Megatron had also been about to venture out onto a seismically active lava plain overlaid with frozen energon, the worst possible combination for sudden tectonic upheavals. Starscream could see that Soundwave was showing their new leader something from Soundwave's vast collection of files and recordings. He hoped that the quick impromptu briefing could at least halt Megatron's headlong charge into certain death.

A little surprisingly, whatever Starscream's two lieutenants said, it seemed to do the trick. Soundwave switched back into his aerial alt while Shockwave, using his heel thrusters, gripped Megatron and lifted them both aloft. The big silver grounder didn't look very happy about being carried at first. Then, by sheer coincidence, a score of stone spires began abruptly punching through the energon sheet directly beneath them. Megatron's expression altered after that. He eyed the thrusting monoliths with considerable respect and a little awe as they all overflew them, no doubt imagining what might have happened to him had he insisted upon proceeding under his own power on the ground.

One of the only reasons that the High Guard had survived as long as they had was because they'd always been very organized. They always had several alternate bases on hand to shift to at a moment's notice should their current headquarters be discovered or come under attack, and every flier knew where they were and which position each occupied on the priority list should anyone become separated. Starscream and company knew exactly where they wanted to go once away from Iacon City and it certainly hadn't been on the heading Megatron had taken.

The novelty this time was that they for once felt it safe to relocate as a group instead of slipping off in twos or threes and trying to remain hidden as much as possible. The other Cybertronians were no longer hunting them and would in any case have their hands full with other matters for some time to come. The Quintessons were still a threat, but easy to spot coming, plus they were the new Prime's problem now. With everyone free to move at speed right out in the open, it didn't take long at all for the High Guard to reach their new headquarters by midafternoon.

It was, of course, another shipwreck, plowed up against a tangle of stone spires. They all fell to their tasks out of long habit, some of them clearing the spaces within, others checking all the open hatches and the vessel's exterior. The whole area was another seismically unstable one and prone to upthrusting, which had already created long complex ridges of good cover nearby. Not ideal, but the ship itself still had a sound hull, even if its interior structures had partially collapsed, and would just be shoved aside if the worst happened. Soundwave took readings and pronounced that they were safe enough for the foreseeable future, and they moved in.

Starscream himself took several other fliers with him to retrieve the nearby cache of energon he'd ordered hidden away years ago. He'd insisted that numerous similar caches be set up over the decades whenever they'd stolen fuel enough to spare. It was a precautionary thing, strictly for emergency use, and Starscream remembered with grim humour how he'd threatened to beat his warriors into scrap if he ever caught any of them trying to get cute or greedy by dipping into any of the caches. They never had and would surely be glad of it now. The crates held enough for everyone to have their fill for days.

When Starscream got back to their new base, he found the hangar space already set up for use as a common area. The big bay doors on either side had been forced open to allow for quick access and to vent the smoke from several fires burning within, started to provide light and heat and comfort for all. Shockwave took charge of cutting up and doling out the energon. It was another little ritual Starscream had once presided over, to take muster and look over his warriors when they came up one by one to note any damage or other issues which needed further attention. This time it was Megatron doing the presiding, with Soundwave attending him to help familiarize him with his new underlings. Megatron glared at Starscream the whole time the flier helped wrestle in the crates of fuel, which made Starscream so nervous that he did a slow fade to the very back of the waiting group as soon as he could. That was the problem with fights for dominance, the severity of the consequences for the loser. Unsuccessful contenders didn't just step down a rung, they fell to the very bottom of the ladder.

Starscream was the last of the High Guard to collect his energon share and had to slink off a distance before he could even eat. Megatron was still looking hard at him, off and on, but didn't appear as though he wanted to murder him anymore. Starscream wondered whether Megatron was mad because he'd briefly taken command while Megatron himself was busy with Sentinel. It seemed unreasonable, yet probable. Their new leader seemed to have a lot of anger issues and had as much as declared that he'd never show a wit of mercy ever again after sparing Starscream's life after their fight.

Starscream studied the faces of the other warriors standing around inside the hangar and felt his spirits drooping even more when he noticed more and more of them missing. Two of his squadron leaders seemed to be gone. He saw only Skywarp, Thundercracker and Turbo, the remaining three. He couldn't spot at least eight more of the other fliers, although he supposed it was possible that some of them had already retired into some of the former workshops lining the hangar bay, which had been converted into communal rooms to rest in for the time being. Distressed, he looked for Turbo again, the most senior of his squadron leaders and the one who would have stepped in to take muster in his place.

Turbo was still standing near the energon crates and had just cut himself off a few more cubes to nibble on while he pondered through his own thoughts. Everyone was free to do the same, use the knife left behind to reduce the solid slabs of refined fuel into manageable bites to assuage any lingering hunger or start filling up the small spaces every Cybertronian carried somewhere on their person to store a stash of rations for later. He looked at his former leader with considerable sympathy when Starscream sidled up. Like all the others, he would follow Megatron now and considered Starscream just a member of the rank and file at the moment, but his captain's change in status didn't negate the friendship which had always existed between them.

"How many?" Starscream asked quietly.

"Fourteen. Most were killed during the attack at our other base. The rest at Iacon."

Starscream winced. Fourteen more of the old High Guard gone. It was a bitter loss.

Turbo continued to regard Starscream while he finished eating. The senior squadron leader was uncommonly big for a flier of his sleek configuration and a good deal taller than the other bot. He transformed into an equally large jet of immense strength, a lethal fighter-bomber rendered all the more formidable by his somber colouring. Even his face, dark green beneath a black helmet, gave him the baleful look of someone glowering out at the world from perpetual shadows, yet his temperament was nothing like his ominous appearance. Turbo was actually very good-natured and one of the calmest of the High Guard warriors. He had little interest in fighting with anyone except his enemies.

To try and lift both their spirits, he said to Starscream, "Maybe you can help me out some with another thing I've got to deal with now. I could use your advice."

"Why? What's up?"

"It's better if you just come and see…"

Turbo led him past the furthest common rooms and into a different enclosed space where the light from the fires barely penetrated. Several fliers were already standing by there and looked up expectantly as the other two came up. Oddly enough, they appeared ready to be…entertained?

Starscream peeked inside and was confronted with numerous sets of Cybertronian eyes, glowing in the dimness. All of them bright blue. "What in Primus is this?" he exclaimed, startled.

Turbo pulled him back a little, so they could speak more privately. "These jokers apparently followed us when we left Iacon," he explained. "They said they don't want to live there anymore after what happened with Sentinel and all. What should we do with them? I mean, yes, we could use more fliers after losing so many, but these morons are all civilians!"

"I dunno," weighed in one of the bots who'd been hanging around. He had a stupid grin on his face, likely hoping that dealing with the strangers would involve some juicy mayhem and violence, as if the day's events hadn't been enough. "The big one looks like he might be able to handle himself."

"What big one?" said Starscream.

He went back to look inside more closely. Then he saw him, a large mech with the sort of powerful, yet still somewhat streamlined proportions common to those who worked security trades which required an aerial alt. He was a very dark, uniform blue and almost blended into the room's subdued lighting, and somehow managed to look sullen despite wearing a visor and mask.

Starscream had the strangest sense that he'd seen him before. Then he had it. During one of the last times he and Soundwave had been perusing a hacked broadcast from Iacon City together, they'd watched a piece on the mining operations, nothing useful as it turned out, just public propaganda. A big dark blue bot with his face obscured had spoken briefly during the piece and he'd looked an awful lot like the one they had in custody. Starscream even remembered his name. He'd been in a snarky mood while watching the footage, and when the mech being interviewed had been labeled as 'Darkwing, mining supervisor', Starscream had rolled his eyes and thought, wow, wonder why they named him that? If that Darkwing and theirs were one and the same, it was no wonder that he'd fled Iacon City. He looked to be a nasty piece of work and had the air of a violent bully about him. Probably afraid that the miners he'd been abusing would chase him down and beat him to death.

There was one other fairly sizeable bot amongst the strangers, but the rest all looked as though a single swat would knock them to the ground. Not exactly warrior material.

"Well?" Turbo persisted. "What do you think? I don't want to be the one who has to kill them all."

"Does Megatron know about them?" Starscream asked.

"Not yet. He was in his quarters when we moved them inside."

His quarters… Two days ago, the room would have been Starscream's quarters. He swallowed his bitterness and flung up his hands.

"Keep them confined and go tell Megatron," Starscream advised. "They're his problem now."

When Megatron was informed about the surprise additions to their ranks, he insisted that the newcomers be brought to him one by one for his private, personal evaluation. Before the end of the evening, two of the seven were gone. Surprisingly, neither of them was Darkwing. That bot came back from his interview tottering and battered, yet still very much alive. Megatron, for whatever reason, had deemed it necessary to administer a brutal beating before pronouncing him acceptable. Starscream still had his doubts, yet yielded to his leader's decisions and helped see to it that the new members were fed and given a quiet corner of the hangar bay in which to rest and recuperate. Having them out in the open, where everyone else could see them, made it easier to keep an eye on them and forced them to start integrating and finding their place in the hierarchy. They all seemed too cowed to cause any trouble for the time being and it remained to be seen what actual use any of them would be.

When it got fully dark, one of the lookouts standing the first watch of the night, rushed back inside the ship to announce that there was a strange new glow off in the distance and that it had the distinctive pale blue tinge of energon about it. Almost everyone charged outside after that to see it for themselves and the excited speculations started at once.

Starscream eased up behind Megatron and Soundwave to try and overhear their conversation.

"The new Prime has the Matrix," he heard Megatron mutter. "Could he have used it to reactivate the planet's flow?"

"Probable," said Soundwave. "I have no data to confirm a direct correlation, but the loss of the Matrix Of Leadership does seem to have precipitated the energon drought. Its reacquisition by a true Prime may well reverse the situation."

"Sentinel had his hands on the Matrix for only a few seconds before it vanished. I saw that in the recordings myself."

"Not unexpected. Sentinel was no Prime."

In the end, Megatron decided to put off any further investigation until the morning. They were all still varying degrees of worn out and wired after the past day's traumatic events and he didn't want anyone behaving recklessly because of it and getting themselves lost or hurt in the dark. Starscream found himself nodding in agreement. Their new leader was learning to be pragmatic as well as inspirational. The strength of one bot over another was still paramount, true, but none of them would get very far if the strongest bot turned out to be a careless idiot.

to be continued...