All Hail Lord Starscream; Ruler of the Decepticons and Emperor of Cybertron.

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Earthdate: 09.29.2004

Starscream arrived to the control room earlier than normal. He had been down to his lab to check the condition of PF10. The room was empty with exception to Reflector and Frenzy uploading the latest viruses onto the human internet.

Starscream smiled slightly then frowned as he walked over to the briefing room. He could hear the muffled voice of Megatron talking, then Thundercracker asking a question and Skywarp's sudden outburst of laughter and Megatron demanding silence so he could answer the question.

The Seeker cocked his head straining to listen. He wondered what was going on and was annoyed that he was not included, yet again. Starscream sat down and reflected on what he had hoped was his release from confinement.

"Light duties," Hook informed him, "means you are not permitted to fly on missions, simple or otherwise. I know you, Starscream, you are likely to do a few aerobatics and pop all your delicate connections."

Starscream's hopes had been dashed for flying free.

The battle simulator provided no release from the tension he was feeling; the computer, it appeared, would not give him a program that would challenge his skills. Disgusted and disappointed he left the simulator games alone and relented to doing the light manual work: paperwork.

Relentless unending piles of information and data input. He scowled as he looked over at Reflector and Frenzy. 'Data entry was grunt work, slag work,' he thought angrily as he heard the voices inside the briefing room laugh. His rank of Air Commander had been temporarily removed until he could resume duties. Soundwave it seemed was eager to take his place at Megatron's side and effectively relegated Starscream to third position. Soundwave said very little which irked Starscream even more.

How long was he to suffer this humiliation? The red Seeker wondered as he began his daily routine. He felt fine; he hoped that his next visit to Hook and Scrapper would mean that he would be free to go back to normal duties and reclaim his position in the Decepticon hierarchy. Again his thoughts frustrated him. Why was he the one being punished? Skywarp was the one that had beaten the living slag out of him in the first place.

Starscream frowned again, his mouth curving downward as he angrily punched at the keys of the keyboard. A particularly angry stab at the enter key popped it and the key jumped into the air and clattered across the floor.

The Seeker pushed himself from his console and leaned down to pick up the runaway button when the Decepticons started to file out of the war room, Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet, Ravage, Rumble, Astrotrain, Blitzwing and, following behind chatting happily to one another, Thundercracker and Skywarp.

Skywarp held his hand up to Thundercracker for a brief moment to stop their conversation. He locked optics with their grounded wingmate, waved cheerfully and shouted, "Have fun Screamer!" the other Decepticons laughed as they filed out of the room followed by Soundwave.

A bolt of fury flooded Starscream's fuel lines as he fought back the urge to beat the slag out of Skywarp. Sometimes even he wasn't sure when the animosity was real or just an act. Perhaps it was just as well, he reacted with genuine fury.

Megatron approached him holding out a datapad. "Starscream, I would like you to enter this information into the master computer then I would like you to scan sectors one, five, seven and fifteen. Contact me immediately if there is anything unusual."

Starscream snatched the datapad looking at it sourly. "When will I be back to lead the missions?" demanded Starscream suddenly. Skywarp's passing comment had upset him more than it should have.

"You will be back when the Constructicons deem you fit to fly and lead once again," responded Megatron.

Starscream shot a glance at Frenzy and Reflector who seemed to have taken an intense interest in what was going on between their leader and Starscream. "Can we talk in there," the Seeker pointed to the now vacated briefing room, "there are too many pairs of audios and optics in here."

Megatron smiled slightly and gestured to the room with his weapon arm.

Mouth set in a firm thin line Starscream strode in with Megatron following behind. The door sealed behind them.

"And you wanted to say, Starscream?"

"I want to go on the mission, I am fine, I feel fine. I've had no headaches in about a month. I want to be permitted to fly!" pleaded the Seeker. "Why am I being punished, what for?!"

"Punished? You are hardly being punished, Starscream. Punishment would be confining you to the brig, bound hand, foot and gagged," said Megatron smiling slightly, he enjoyed watching the frustration and fury that dwelled in his lieutenant's optics.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I see no reason to right now. However, I will order Hook and Scrapper to see you tomorrow morning, perhaps they can run tests and do the psychiatric test to determine if you are mentally and physically fit for duty."

"A psych test? On me? Never!" Starscream was horrified. Megatron was seemingly hell bent on keeping him off missions forever.

"Starscream! You will take the test or remain grounded and if you continue to refuse the test, then I will see that you are deactivated and melted down into welding rods. Do you understand?" shouted Megatron.

Starscream backed away and swallowed hard. Although such tests were not uncommon in the Decepticons, they were occasionally grounds for an individual to be terminated. And he knew he couldn't bluff them out, he would be attached to every lie detector available. "Y-yes, Mighty leader, I'll take the test without any further questions."

"Good, then perhaps sometime after tomorrow, you will be back ruling the skies." Megatron turned and left Starscream standing alone in the briefing room.

Silently the Seeker returned to his post and studied the contents of the datapad. As he was entering the information into the master computer, it abruptly occurred to him that this was what Skywarp and Thundercracker had recently been through.

Starscream finished his work early, all required paper work was filled out and ready to hand in to Megatron. The sector scans had turned up nothing and a few other optional scans also turned up nothing important. He looked over at Frenzy who was busy doing something. Quietly he rose from his seat to leer over the Casseticon's shoulder.

"You are chatting, online to humans?" said Starscream in disbelief.

Frenzy jerked in surprise and quickly killed the application. "What's it to you, you flightless metal meathead?" responded the little mech.

Starscream reached down and picked up the little Decepticon by the throat and raised him to optic level, his lips curled. "Frenzy, address me in such a manner again and I'll show you the meaning of pain." He tightened his fingers briefly before he dropped the little mech down. "I might be on light duties but I am still your superior!"

"Go get slagged Screamer!"

Starscream picked his datapads up and left the control room. Frenzy and Reflector glanced at each other and started to howl with laughter.

His energy levels felt somewhat low and he debated with himself if he should pick something up from the break room or just continue on to the lab.

He pushed the door open a crack and peered inside. The room was occupied. Starscream made a low grumble. He was hardly in the mood to interact with others. He glanced about quickly and took note of the occupants. There were a small cluster of Seekers sitting by the huge sea window and another new pair of Seekers, purple and green sitting at a table chatting quietly and a third unknown yellow Seeker sat apart from the others reading a datapad and consuming some solid fuel.

Starscream sighed wearily as he quietly closed the door; no one had noticed his presence.

The Lab's soft lighting spilled into the hall floor as he pushed open the door. He could hear the somewhat excited or agitated voices of the humans as they chatted or shouted at one another.

"Computer Illumination at ninety-five percent," starscream said quietly. The lights brightened as he entered the laboratory. He passed his long black topped work table and deposited his datapads down. He would have to take a look and make sure everything was in order before handed them to Megatron.

Quickly he walked around the Lab checking on various experiments he had been running and taking notes. Abruptly he cocked his head, the humans were talking nosily. Their tinny voices irritated him. "Computer, play the Cybertonian battle fury suite," muttered Starscream. Soon the energetic strains of synthesizer music filled the air.

The human voices became louder, more agitated.

Starscream groaned as he stepped into Lab A3. He wondered how much longer it would be before Skywarp returned from the mission. He hoped there would not be too many casualties, repair work took away from his free time and he was rarely given any extra compensation for his wasted time.

"A psychiatric evaluation," he muttered angrily. He had been thinking about Megatron's words all day. "For me, a test to find out if I am mentally stable. I am not the one who is insane," he grumbled at the cabinet full of bottles. He drew an empty glass flask from the cabinet and clutched it in his hand. "Skywarp, if I get back into the air I will run you into the ground," said the Seeker furiously as he clenched his hand for a moment.

The splintering crack of glass shattering into fragments and hitting the hard metal floor attracted his attention. He looked at the splinters in his hand and the glinting shards on the floor. Angrily he exhaled.

The Seeker leaned down and started to clean up the mess as the cacophony of human voices reached his audios.

"STARSCREAM!" they shouted unison. As a unified group their voices carried above the haunting Cybertonian melody. He knew he should have looked in on them when he arrived. They could wait a little longer.

"SILENCE HUMANS! Or I will deep six the lot of you!" he bellowed back through the open lab door. He knew that by giving them a reaction they would only insist that he attend to them. The Seeker continued to sweep the shards up and dump them into a recycling receptacle.

The human voices quieted and Starscream continued to stew over the injustices he had suffered during the recent months. Again his thoughts drifted to Skywarp and fury once more filled him. He wondered again why he had been so quick to try to save him. He knew he could have saved himself a lot of trouble by not interfering with Megatron and Skywarp when he did.

"I must be insane, what was I thinking?" the frustration faded as he realized the help the dark Seeker had given him. It hadn't been free help. Skywarp demanded to be paid for his work, it was fair in the end, but how much longer would Skywarp keep up his end and maintain his silence?

Starscream had been surprised that the base did not know about his experiments when he was freed from the confines of his quarters. Despite his anger towards his wingmate, Skywarp seemed to have been loyal to his word.

The human voices rose to an audible level. Another hot bolt of fury blasted through the Seeker's fuel lines. He gritted his teeth in anger as he turned from his work table. The music failed to soothe his pent up rage. He wanted out, he wanted to fly and run his engines at full throttle, to attack and tear apart Autobots.

"Humans! What did I just say? SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" he roared as he burst into his main lab. Starscream's rifles whined as they charged to full power. His optics glowed a brilliant blazing red as he rounded the corner. Starscream stopped short of blasting the cages when the voice of M10 fully caught his attention and he could finally understand what the man was saying over the clamour of the others.

"Jolene's in labour!"

Starscream's mouth dropped open and he powered down his weapons. Starscream's optics dimmed in brightness, yet they still maintained a glow of recent fury. "Why didn't you say so?" he said flatly.

"Aye, an' we did try. Ye paid us little heed," retorted the Scottish man.

Starscream turned his head and glared at the man in the ninth cage. He cocked his head and leaned down to gaze sourly at the woman in labour. "Can't it wait? Does she have to do this right now?" he inquired irritably. He knew activation of a new Mechinoid could wait until it was convenient. Why could this human not wait until such a time?

"Ye, shouldna look at her like tha', Decepticon, it's not tha lassie's fault, it's yers."

Starscream muttered a string of Cybertonian curses at the human as he darted off to acquire his lab notes on human births.

User Name: Starscream

Password: ********

Personal log for: STARSCREAM

Earthdate: 09.29.2004

Subject: New male specimen

Human female from cage ten finally reproduced. I never realised how inadequately prepared humans were when it came to assisting other humans in their replication methods. When I asked if anyone was familiar with birthing I only got insults. One of these days those humans are all going to find themselves dumped into the sealock.

Regardless of the situation I managed to get a couple volunteers from cage one and cage six to lend a hand. My audios are still ringing from the screeching and screaming that the human made, as well as a number of vulgar curses that were directed at me. Oh well, I suppose this is normal for them.

It's very hard to remain open minded, objective and calm to an experiment when it's cursing back at you.

My overall impression of the whole scene is of disgust. I haven't been so put off since the first time I had seen humans couple. If I had taken the time to sit down and think about the whole process, I might have realised that humans come out the same way they go in. It's revolting. I thought for a moment that they would dissect the human female to extract the child, but upon my queries to some of the other specimens they suggested that a caesarian section is performed only in grave circumstances.

Now compared to our own reproduction methods and depending on the size of the mech, it can take a few days to several months to construct a new entity. That entity is then made to their final "adult" size. Humans are tiny compared to most Transformers and their much smaller offspring take several months to grow. They are born immature, helpless and stupid and if I am correct in my assumption, humans remain small, helpless and stupid for a number of years.

I am perplexed at how such creatures have managed to survive and evolve to be the top specie on their planet. I would assume the young would have to put a lot of faith and trust in its elders. Interesting thing was when the child's screaming erupted from its pale waxy mouth and echoed through my lab, all the humans shouted demands to see the new specimen. The humans had an immediate protectiveness toward the new life form which made it very difficult for me to examine it closer. Humans are such fickle creatures. I wonder if I can use this trait to my advantage.

The one thing that still confuses me is when does the human get their spark? And more importantly how?

I guess now my little colony is going to grow. My plan is now moving into the next stage.

And now I can dread what tomorrow might bring.

- SS

Earthdate: 09.30.2004

Starscream had received his summons to report to the repair bay as Megatron had promised the day before. The examination with Hook and Scrapper proved to have pleasant results. He was indeed well enough physically to return to full duties; however it was not up to them to decide if he was mentally capable of handling the job.

Hook had voiced concerns that Starscream had suffered possible permanent damage to his databanks; there were a couple other sources that also suggested that the Air Commander had a few proverbial loose screws. It was for this reason that the psychiatric evaluation order had been issued.

As Starscream walked through the door to the room where he was going to have his psychiatric test he realized who of all Decepticons was going to do it. Before him stood Soundwave and with a groan of despair he settled himself down for what he knew would be a highly invasive morning.

'Shields up,' thought Starscream as he blocked off access to secret areas of his mind with a firewall. The Seeker knew such activity would look suspicious but it was better than having Soundwave know everything that went on in his head.

"Disarm," ordered Soundwave. Starscream grudgingly complied. The large blue mech took the weapons and leaned them against the wall well out of reach. He returned to the Seeker and hooked up wires from the machines all over his body. Several head pieces lined a shelf on the wall, Soundwave selected one that would easily fit a Seeker and strapped it to Starscream's head.

"Is, this all necessary?" the Seeker asked nervously.

Without a word Soundwave flicked the machines on and the room was filled with a light hum and the tick of devices recording Starscream's vital statistics and his emotional state.

Soundwave sat opposite Starscream and booted up a data pad. His optics narrowed as he turned his attention to Starscream. "I must determine that the equipment is functioning properly. I will ask you some questions to determine this before we begin."

Starscream glanced at the wires that Soundwave had hooked to his fingers. The tight fitting cap that had been settled around his head irritated him. He had the feeling of being tied down and it did not make him feel very comfortable. "Get on with it then," he said with a hint of agitation.

Soundwave observed Starscream for a moment before proceeding. "Name," he intoned without any emotional inflection.

The Seeker cocked his head at the redundancy of the question. "Starscream," he uttered irritably.

"Rank?" inquired Soundwave, He prepared for the secondary mental attack, the infiltration to see what other information he could extract.

"For Primus sake, why not ask it of me in one easy lump? Aerospace Commander." Starscream wondered if this was in fact true. Megatron had him confined to base and effectively removed his command until further notice.

Soundwave cocked his head as he glanced at the monitor directly behind the Seeker's head. "Simply answer the questions, Starscream. Classification?"

Starscream pondered the question for a brief moment. He knew he was classified as a Decepticon but he was in the subclass of Seeker. He frowned slightly as he answered, "Decepticon." Starscream twisted his wrists slightly and flexed his fingers in an attempt to wring the nervousness out of his system.

"Answer incorrectly: name?"

"What? Oh—uh, Thundercracker," responded Starscream.

Soundwave wordlessly watched the Seeker for a few minutes while he checked the read outs from the machinery. The machine was reading correctly, Starscream's answers had the response needed to declare that the machine was working properly. Only one area seemed to denote a touch of confusion. Soundwave downloaded the information into the datapad and typed in his own comment to the Seeker's responses.

Soundwave settled back down into his seat, scrolled to the appropriate area of his datapad and glanced up at the Seeker. His optic brightened for a moment as he prepared his first question and readied the mental assault. "I will ask you a series of questions. After each question you will answer with a 'Never', 'Sometimes' or 'Often' depending on the frequency of the occurrence." Soundwave paused for a moment giving Starscream a moment to assimilate the information. "Do you understand?" he said slowly annunciating each syllable of his last sentence as if Starscream was unable to comprehend quickly spoken words.

The Seeker's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Often," he quickly answered, chuckling softly.

Soundwave's optics brightened in surprise as he glared at Starscream. He quickly glanced up at the monitor and made a small note in his data pad. Starscream's sense of sarcasm had not changed, which was unfortunate for the Decepticons. The Seeker's ability to come up with quick witted responses showed promise that he had retained at least that much.

"What? You asked me a question and I answered as ordered. Are there rules against that?" inquired Starscream with a hint of disgust on his voice.

Soundwave ignored Starscream's remarks and began the test. "Have you experienced overheating, hot, cold or even icy jolts through fuel lines?" he inquired as he probed the Seeker's mind. Thoughts and images whirled; he could make out scattered memories of the attack he had suffered by Skywarp. That was still on his mind, anger and rage was close to the surface.

Starscream smiled slightly wondering about the nature of the questions. It sounded more like something the Constructicons should be asking not the communications officer. "Uh... sometimes, well I mean just yesterday I had a hot energon and it made me feel quite warm inside," the Seeker joked.

"Answer never, sometimes or often," stated Soundwave. As he probed further into Starscream's mind the more organized the Seeker became. The chaos and confusion were from thoughts that were close to the surface, the rest were neatly filed away and saved for recall on command.

"Sometimes," the Seeker said as his smile faded. He knew Soundwave had very little sense of humour and this was going to prove to be a far more stressful session than he had expected.

Soundwave made a note of the images he had seen on the Seeker's mind. "Difficulty going into a recharge cycle; insomnia; nightmares?"

"Sometimes," Starscream muttered after a long pause. Nightmares and dreams had occurred at least a few times a week. He wondered if he should have answered "Often", but they did not occur every night. Starscream drew a deep breath and attempted to calm himself slightly.

Soundwave regarded the Seeker, watching him and his failed attempts to cover his nervousness. He decided he was going to ask a question that would force the Seeker to answer "often". He knew how jumpy Starscream had become after Skywarp's beating. If Starscream answered anything less than that, the machines would prove that he was lying. As it were, the machine was reading Starscream as if he was an active fault line. "Neuromechanical dysfunction; trembling, shaking, nervous tics, frowning, erratic optic glow?"

"Ugh," Starscream said weakly, "often."

Soundwave probed deeper still. He came to a mental doorway he attempted to unlock. Suddenly a burning wall of flame burst up between him and the door he was picking. He glanced up at Starscream and nodded as he made a brief note in his data pad. "Self-conscious feelings of guilt, inadequacy, poor self-esteem?" he asked flatly. Starscream was surely self-conscious, the firewall indicated such, but he seemed to have a strong spirit and the firewall was strong. It would take some work to break. Soundwave withdrew from that area of the Seeker's mind for a moment.

"Never!"

Soundwave mentally scowled at the Seeker and jotted a brief comment in his data pad. The power of Starscream's declaration and the mental thoughts and images that backed it up almost sent Soundwave's probing attack way off track. Again he encountered emotions of fury and hatred. "Mental confusion, poor judgment, poor memory?" he asked.

"Who do you think I am, Megatron? Never."

Not the full truth, Starscream had some difficulties remembering things. Some thoughts displayed confusion, mostly around the time of Skywarp's attack. This was to be expected though. The Seeker had been attempting to correlate his jogged memories and his probe again brought him to the sealed door and the wall of fire. "Just answer the questions. Fuel Pump Malfunction Symptoms: Rapid pump rate, chest pains, high fuel pressure?"

"Sometimes," said Starscream with an angry scowl. What was he getting at, why did he ask such strange questions? Starscream felt his firewall systems warn him of uninvited mind probing. The Seeker's thoughts were centered in the deep walled off recesses of his mind. He quickly formulated a plan to show Soundwave some interesting and very vivid images.

Satisfied with Starscream's responses and reactions, Soundwave continued with his note making. After a few minutes had passed while he silently observed Starscream he downloaded the vital statistics from the computer into his datapad. Rubbing his hands together, Soundwave made himself ready to slam the Seeker with another series of questions. "Simply answer yes or no. Have you experienced an increase in drinking energon?"

"No."

Soundwave observed flashes and images of Starscream consuming energon at what appeared to be a party. His answer was truthful; the Seeker did not usually consume more than he needed in order to survive. The odd occasion he indulged in what could be considered more than necessary. He could see Megatron at the door and a fresh memory of fear and pain crossed the Seeker's mind. Soundwave was perplexed, why was Starscream thinking about those days two months before? "Increase or decrease in recharging?" intoned Soundwave. He skimmed along the firewall looking for a weak spot to get through. He knew there had to be somewhere that Starscream could not keep under lock.

"You know, Soundwave, for a yes or no question that one takes the cake... my answer is no and, lets see, no," stated Starscream, his voice dripping in sarcasm. The Seeker could see increased agitation in the communications officer's optics; things were not going too well in the mind probe department. Starscream allowed a knowing smile to cross his mouth before he smothered it with a scowl.

Soundwave huffed and made more notes in his data pad. Starscream had been quite quick to notice the error in the question, he should have realized and separated them into two questions but it gave him a bit of insight to the Seeker's astute observations, despite them being laced in caustic sarcasm. "Fuel Rejection?"

Fuel rejection? Starscream pondered for a moment, he did could not recall the last time his system rejected energon. "No, fool rejection yes," sniped the Seeker in response.

"Was that yes or no?" Soundwave immediately responded.

Angry with Soundwave's seeming lack of a sense of humour and the fact he could feel the Communications officer probing once again Starscream found his reserves worn down and his temper was increasing. "No! Slag you," he snapped. His concentration was almost entirely focused on maintaining the firewall that Soundwave was so intent on breaking through.

"Answer the questions with yes or no only!" responded Soundwave sharply. Slight inflection of agitation coloured the Decepticon's voice. "Persistent, inappropriate thoughts, impulses or images that you can't get out of your mind such as a preoccupation with getting dirty, worry about the order of things, or aggressive impulses?" Soundwave looked Starscream directly in the optics.

The Seeker did not avert his gaze instead he leaned as far forward as he could in his chair and responded. His mouth became a thin hateful scowl that partly curled into a hateful smile. "My answer is yes, and you are giving me those very aggressive impulses. Keep it up and I will shred you," snarled Starscream as his optics flashed brightly.

Soundwave glared as he observed the spike in the readings on the monitor. His mental probe was assaulted with a vivid image of Starscream hauling him off his feet and crushing his throat at the same time tearing his armour off piece by piece. It was a far fetched image but it reinforced the fact that Starscream was infuriated with the questioning.

Soundwave felt somewhat uneasy. He knew he would have to report every bit of information he collected from Starscream willingly supplied or not. He grew suspicious of Starscream's firewall and the new flood of violent images. "Need I remind you that this report is going straight to Megatron?" He asked as he waved the datapad tauntingly trying not to look outwardly disturbed by some of the violent acts that Starscream wished to commit.

"Do you want me to lie or say the slagging truth?" Starscream snapped at Soundwave, he did not have to be reminded that Megatron was going to get the test results. If it was the truth Megatron wanted he was going to get it. "You'll see through my lies with that fragging machine behind me." The Seeker jerked his head in the direction of the monitor behind him.

Soundwave rubbed his forehead in aggravation. The readings were spiking everywhere. Mental probes continued to sort past the mess of Starscream's now very chaotic mind. "We shall continue. Fear of places or situations where getting help or escape might be difficult, such as in a battle or underground?" he asked as if Starscream had not spoken or thought his threats.

"Yes, as any NORMAL Seeker should," the Seeker replied hotly. Why, Starscream wondered, did so many of these questions relate to the present situation? He knew that he was almost a kilometer underwater, he was in a situation that he could get no help or "escape" from. These situations did not bother him much until he felt that his integrity was being threatened and he felt threatened.

He could not counter Soundwave by returning attack; all he could do was defend himself against the invasion. This was quickly wearing him down.

Soundwave managed to shunt away most of the hateful mental pictures. Again he was before the wall. He had to admire the Seeker's attempt at protecting himself. The harder he tried the stronger Starscream's emotional response was. Soundwave glanced at the readings. The flames of The Air Commander's mental barrier was becoming less bright. He knew that a few more questions might wear the Seeker enough to cause him to drop his guard and let him pass into those secret portions uncontested. "Persistent and unreasonable fear of an object or situation, such as flying, heights, Casseticons, energon, etc?" came the toneless question.

Starscream laughed harshly and wearily, "You are asking a Seeker if he is scared to fly? My answer to that is No. As for the cassettes, why should I be afraid of them? They are not important," he responded.

A few minutes passed and no one spoke. The whir of machines as they recorded every emotional response that belonged to Starscream was the only sound. He for once felt as if he could be read like a book. He shifted uncomfortably as Soundwave glanced up at him with a penetrating gaze.

Soundwave spent several minutes hovering close to the surface of the Seeker's mind; he was allowing Starscream time to calm down. The images that met him were still rapid and angry but they were slowing with frequency. He hoped he could break through the firewall barrier this next round. Starscream held up remarkably well against his prior attempts, the next attempts should trigger more emotional responses and drop his guard. The emotion of fear grew up again in the Seeker's mind as the rage faded.

He sifted through the slowing mental images pausing to take note of one, a large book, its white pages flipping over and over in the breeze. Soundwave attempted to take a closer look. The pages were blank. Unsure of the significance to the thought Soundwave ignored it and continued to make notes in his datapad.

Starscream shuffled his feet and uneasily glanced over his shoulder to try to get a clear view of the machine.

The communications officer prepared himself for the final assault. "Last series of questions. I will ask you questions about hypothetical situations and you will give me the answer that you feel best fits." He paused to allow Starscream to collect himself. He could see the Seeker's mind empty of all superfluous thoughts and emotions. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"Just get it over with, my armour is going dull."

Starscream's mind again filled with images and emotions. One showed him returning to his work in the control room, an image of flying in the sky, happiness, joy, freedom abruptly followed by intense sadness and longing. He could see that the Seeker wanted nothing more than to do what he was designed for; to fly. He followed the path back to the firewall that hid the door. It was blazing with its original intensity. Starscream was able to reinforce it. This surprised him as he thought Starscream was too exhausted to rebuild those barriers. "You are in the storage room line where a sign reads: Take only two energon cubes, please! Skywarp has taken four. What would you do?"

Starscream cocked his head and thought for a moment, he faintly recalled a situation like this before. "I'd ask him what the slag he thinks he is doing. As Air Commander if anyone can take a couple of extra cubes it would be me," supplied Starscream.

Soundwave spotted a brief image of Starscream pointing at a pile of cubes then at Thundercracker, he could see Skywarp smile and hand Thundercracker the cube. Soundwave found it somewhat interesting that Starscream's words did not match his thought, but the monitor did say he was stating the truth. Had Starscream managed to mess with the machine? Or did this actually happen? "At times You have to work with incompetent people. How would you cope?" Soundwave said almost immediately.

"I try to ignore the slackers," muttered Starscream. He knew everyone on base was incompetent to one degree or another. He knew Megatron had the biggest load of incompetence. The Decepticons could have easily been led to victory long ago if he had simply shut his mouth, ditched his schemes and just attacked when the Autobots were not looking.

Soundwave narrowed his optics and studied Starscream for a moment. Megatron weighed heavily on the Seeker's mind. Images of various failed attacks, screwed up schemes and plans flickered across the mind. Severe feelings of irritation and agitation surfaced. "There is an important job to be done. How would you handle it?"

Starscream exhaled heavily as he answered. The test he felt was rigged. For what purpose? To get him into a vulnerable position and let Soundwave take advantage of his situation? It was an excuse, he thought in the back of his mind, to get at what goes on in my thoughts. Silently he added more mental strength to help resist Soundwave; he was fighting him with almost everything he had. "I would prefer to do it myself, unless it's a huge job and I can oversee that it's being done correctly. As the saying goes, if you can do it better... do it yourself and I can do it better."

An image of Starscream leading an attack and succeeding. Soundwave was well aware now that Starscream was onto his mind probe. The Seeker was unable to school his emotions or surface thoughts; however he could use them defensively. "Someone criticizes something you have done. How would you react?" Soundwave slammed into the firewall with all his willpower trying to force past.

Starscream winced with what seemed to be an onslaught of pain from a sudden headache. Stifling back the whimper, the Seeker answered. "Depending on who it is, I might consider shooting him in the back. I really don't see why anyone would need to criticize my work, especially if I can do it better," he hissed.

Soundwave scoffed and made a note in his data pad. Hacking a computer was a far different task to hacking a sapient mind. A computer rarely fought back, it would provide resistance with a multitude of codes, but it did not have a willpower. It did not think or calculate his next move. Soundwave could see the door through the weakening wall. Starscream's mental strength was being eroded quite quickly. "There have been times when you were very angry with someone. Would you hit or shove them?" again he slammed at the firewall, it buckled.

Anger questions, Starscream thought. He wants to determine my level of hostility. The Seeker glanced up at Soundwave who was regarding him with an intense level of concentration. "If I get the opportunity to whip them into line yes and if they don't have me pinned to the floor, or a chair." Starscream was furious, he fought back against the mental attack. His firewall sent stress warnings to the Seeker's mind; he used his remaining strength to reinforce the firewall. He knew that with another violent mental push Soundwave would break through.

Soundwave was pushed back away from the door, renewed flames of the firewall spread outward. He had almost been able to get it open. The Seeker's mind had almost been exposed but for all his attempts Starscream managed to fight him off. He could see that his test subject was wearing down but he knew that further attempts would be dangerous to Starscream. It seemed that Starscream was willing to give it his entire being to protect himself from such an attack. "Final question."

Starscream glanced up, his optics quite dim from his intense concentration and fatigue. "It's about slagging time," he snapped exhaustedly.

"If you recall something that has angered you previously, how would you feel?"

"How do I feel? From recent angers? Infuriated, enraged, I can tear things apart... and oddly disappointed."

Soundwave could see a glass flask on a shelf; the azure hand plucked it up carefully. Images of Skywarp's attack darted back across the thought stream, intense anger slammed into the probe. The communications officer could see shattered shards of glass in Starscream's hand falling to the floor in a lab. He could see a final intense image of the flask and inside held a ghostly image of himself as it was destroyed again and again. Quickly the communications officer backed out of the Seeker's mind. His mission at breaking past Starscream's mental defenses had failed.

Soundwave made several more notes in his data pad. He glanced up at Starscream who leaned forward in the chair, exhausted. Soundwave was tempted to make an ambush on the Seeker's mind while he was recovering but decided that it would result in damage, he was to question Starscream, not kill him, and to determine if he was fit for work. He stood and slowly removed the devices from Starscream. "You are free to go. I will have my report ready for Megatron this afternoon. He will inform you of the results."

Starscream sat in silence for a few minutes; he did not feel that he would have the energy to move off his seat. He no longer wished to be in the presence of Soundwave. With a slight groan he pushed himself to his feet and exited the repair bay area. He would have to report to duty soon, however he decided he would stop in his quarters and have some energon.

Megatron watched as Laserbeak reported his travel log skimming over forests and searching for undiscovered energy sources. Soundwave entered the control room followed by a weary looking Starscream. Megatron smiled briefly and motioned Soundwave into the office.

Starscream shot them both a sour glance and settled into his work beside Skywarp and Thundercracker, ignoring the jibes that the dark Seeker made about his appearance. He did not care, he was too unhappy about the recent events.

"And your report is ready so soon?" said Megatron as Soundwave closed the door behind him.

"It is," replied Soundwave. He handed Megatron the psychiatric evaluation and Hook's physical evaluation.

"The Constructicons agree that Starscream is functioning fully and I have determined that Starscream is functioning at maximum mental capacity and can resume his full duties," Soundwave intoned without any emotional inflection.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, He managed to construct a formidable firewall and block out my secondary mental probes to the recesses of his mind. Only someone who has full control of his mental faculties can do that. He battled me from start to finish."

"So, he was aware of what was happening. Could you see if he was he plotting a mutiny? Treason? Anything?"

"I cannot say, it does not appear to be unless it lies behind the firewall. What I can say is this: he has strong determination and desires to prove himself to the others."

Megatron looked at the evaluations for several minutes, saying nothing and scowling as he read the detailed descriptions of Starscream's thoughts and images. He looked up at Soundwave briefly, "I want you to keep an optic on him. I don't fully trust Starscream or his motives, not after Laserbeak gave us that report about him and Skywarp. And that other suggested report about him and Astrotrain and this," he tapped the datapad with his finger, "is disturbing."

"As you wish leader," responded Soundwave.

"Send Starscream in here when you leave, will you please?"

Soundwave nodded and exited Megatron's office.

Starscream lay on his back in his recharge chamber, smiling. His optics glowed brightly from the joy at being given back his rights and privileges, but the joy was dampened down by the feeling of exhaustion. He had been put through mental hell. Blindly he groped around to locate his datapad that he had been reading for the past hour and committed his thoughts to a new log.

User Name: Starscream

Password: ********

Personal log for: STARSCREAM

Earthdate: 09.30.2004

Subject: Psychiatric Test from Hell.

Will someone please remind me why I am here?!

And the voices remain silent. Trust me on this, if you are not insane before you join the Decepticons you will be after, especially after you've suffered the Constructicons's poking and prodding at you and then Soundwave asking a million unrelated questions distracting you from the truth while he attempts to pick your brains with a mental scan.

It's fortunate that I am familiar with his tactics because the moment I realised who it was, and how daft can I be for not thinking it would be Soundwave doing the test, I managed to initiate my firewall protection. I really don't need someone running rampant through my mind. Now, I have often said that it would be nice for someone to understand how I think, but Soundwave would not use the information he learns from me to understand how I think; he'd use it to have me slagged and take my place as second in command.

I have no idea what he was looking for; he was persistent in his assault. I honestly think this was just one big cover for something more nefarious. Megatron never said anything about the secondary probe nor did Soundwave but we all knew what was going on. This throws up my guard a bit more and makes me wonder if I should be doing more to protect myself in future.

But that is now over and done with and it appears that I am completely back to normal. Megatron has finally given me back all my access codes and my title. It is fortunate because tomorrow I get to show the world that they cannot keep Starscream from ruling the sky.

- SS

Prisoners Negotiations