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

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Earthdate: June 28th 2011

Starscream sauntered into the control room looking smug. He glanced around at all those who were present. However, fatigue was evident in his optics by their slightly erratic glow.

"What is my mission today?" inquired Starscream as he handed Megatron the duty roster that he had been asked to prepare for the next two weeks.

"You have no mission today or for the rest of this week," replied Megatron glancing over the datapad with the Decepticon's workload.

"What?! Why not?" demanded Starscream.

"You're rundown," said Megatron stating the facts. Starscream looked dull; his appearance during the past week was unclean. Megatron knew this was unusual for Starscream. Normally the Seeker was more than attentive to his appearance, but it almost appeared that he did not care about it anymore. Megatron briefly wondered if the Seeker was suffering from depression.

"I'm not rundown," said an indignant Starscream. He shot Megatron a glare so hot it could have easily peeled paint.

"Starscream, look at yourself. You've been late for shifts, you've mangled several missions and you are on the verge of a breakdown; so, I have no choice but to remove you from active duty. I recommend you see Hook in repair bay for a full diagnostic."

"To hell I will. I'm fine. It's nothing that slagging a few Autobots won't cure," Starscream insisted. The red Seeker placed his hands on his hips and locked optics with his leader. He felt the heat of embarrassment raise to his head as Megatron so blithely listed off his week's failings in front of the others. "Dare you order me about like this," he retaliated.

"You're under a lot of stress. I'm confining you to base and that's final." Megatron drew himself to his full height and glared at his lieutenant in an attempt to intimidate him.

"Slag you, Megatron! I am not staying here. I am going for a flight!" Starscream backed a few steps toward the door and away from his leader. He could feel the heat of at least a dozen optics watching him as he took another step back.

Megatron's optics glowed brightly. "I can have you confined to quarters if that is your preference."

"Eat slag!" Starscream was infuriated. He glared at Megatron hatefully as he flared his wings up and his optics blazed brightly for a moment before they flickered. Starscream shivered for a second and wondered if the temperature in the room dropped.

"Starscream, I'm warning you! Keep up with that attitude and I'll have you confined to the brig." Megatron stood his ground. He did not want to antagonize the already distressed Seeker but he knew that he had to lock his lieutenant down one way or another.

"You wouldn't dare! That would only increase my 'stress'," Starscream snarled as he turned his back on his leader and stormed out of the control room. Skywarp and Thundercracker exchanged surprised glances with several other Decepticons who witnessed the whole episode.

The past week had been the pinnacle of Starscream's screw ups. He had failed two missions in a row with both of his teams insisting that his judgement was off and he seemed entirely out of it. Megatron shook his head as the door sealed shut behind the Seeker.

Soundwave turned to Megatron who stood watching the red Seeker leave. "What is your command Megatron? Do you wish Laserbeak to retrieve Starscream?" Soundwave lifted his hand to his shoulder in preparation to eject his casseticon vulture.

"Stand down Soundwave. Let him go. He'll be back when he's ready," Megatron said with a resigned sigh. He glanced at the rest of the troops. They were standing looking dumfounded at the door that Starscream had exited from. Their faces wore various expressions; most looked surprised that Megatron was not going to pursue.

"Just ignore Starscream and get back to work," he snarked as he resumed his own work.

Starscream strode quickly to the lift of the docking tower. He punched the button and the door opened. The Seeker turned around and waited for the door to seal itself shut.

He was surprised there was no shot in the back as he left the room and no sign of pursuit. The lift vibrated as it moved up out of the sea. Megatron could easily lockout tower controls and prevent his escape. Where was he escaping to? The lift stopped moving and the door slid open.

Starscream's optics adjusted as the huge jaw like door lowered letting in the bright Earth daylight. The Seeker walked to the end of the docking tower and leapt into the air, transforming into his sleek F-15 fighter mode and flew out over the ocean and abruptly angled up into the sky. The Seeker gunned his jets and streaked to sub orbital levels: He was upset.

Engineering the virus-like gene was very time consuming. He had to first extract the DNA from a sample and analyse it. They were incredibly tiny. It fascinated Starscream to no end that a human could be built out of such a tiny package of information. It contained information on how the human should end up looking, what colour eyes or hair they had and whether or not they were male or female. Each cell in the human body had these blueprints of life.

Starscream had extracted a few cells from his specimens and attempted to grow pieces of them. It was theoretically possible and he had some success. It often puzzled him that although they had these blueprints within each and every cell of their bodies, they could not regrow an arm, for example, if it was amputated.

Starscream was still annoyed with Skywarp for getting Thundercracker involved. Although the blue Seeker had a hatred of flightless creatures, mechs or animals, he seemed to have a somewhat sickening soft spot for humans, an undesirable trait in a Decepticon.

Science required detached objectivity. He doubted that he could do half his experiments if he allowed himself to get too attached to his specimens. He was forced to move some of his more grotesque experiments to Lab A1. It was the furthest away from his main lab, smaller in size and well plated. It had a barrier that would prevent Seekers such as Skywarp from teleporting in unannounced. It was just as well. What went on in there, he was sure, would make even Skywarp feel sickened.

Starscream cut easily through the thin atmosphere of the stratosphere before he nosed down towards the dark side of Earth toward Mount Etna in Sicily.

The air around the volcano shimmered from the intense heat of the bubbling and spraying magma. Mount Etna was almost always in a state of eruption and had been erupting for half a million years.

Starscream transformed and landed smartly on the lip of the caldera and glanced over the night landscape. Lights from cities not far away glowed softly. He brought his attention back to the boiling magma with in the bowl of the volcano. His scans monitored the activity below his feet. It should give him enough of warning should the volcano suddenly decide to erupt from this location.

Starscream held his hands slightly apart and formed an energon cube and held it over the active volcano collecting the pure energy from its heat and heart. He collected several cubes in this manner piling them at his feet until he had several full. He finished with his collection and compressed them into a smaller, more easily carried pile.

The Seeker sat down on the edge of the caldera looking into the mesmerizing bubbling of the molten rock as the hot gases escaped. Starscream could feel the extreme heat against his body as he watched a fountain of magma spray into the air and over the edge of the volcanic bowl.

It was becoming too hot for the Seeker's taste as he stood up again collecting the cubes under an arm. He flew off toward mainland Europe. There had to be somewhere that was not overrun by humans. Somewhere he could sit and enjoy a bit of freedom.

"Did Screamer come back?" Skywarp inquired apprehensively.

"Nope, no one's seem him yet. Why do you care anyway?" Skywarp ignored Frenzy's snideness and teleported into Starscream's lab.

He removed the food from the cooler and slammed the door shut. He grumbled as he brutishly fed and watered the human specimens. Jolene cautiously watched the dark Seeker as he made his rounds. She decided it would be best to not engage him in conversation as he was obviously upset about something.

Skywarp walked into A4, the room in which the children were kept and was cheerfully greeted with, "Hail Cybertron, Skywarp!"

"Yeah, whatever." Skywarp muttered. The children's salutes were cute at first, but as of late, Skywarp found it annoying and disturbing. Somehow Starscream had managed to undo the damage and fear that Skywarp had initially created and had turned the group of children into a tiny militia of Decepticon sympathisers.

"Where's Starscream?" the children inquired not seeming to notice Skywarp's foul mood.

"I don't know! He ran off somewhere and Primus only knows when he'll come back." Silence fell over the room but was quickly broken by the sobs and cries of the group. "Ah frag, you're not gonna start crying are you? It doesn't help you know. Crying doesn't get you any more food, or toys and it sure as hell won't bring Starscream back. Now, just shut up and eat your fraggin dinner."

The children held back their tears until the dark Seeker left the room. Skywarp could hear them collectively crying as he picked up the data pad that Starscream had set up for him to report on the humans. "All fed and living. You'd better come back soon you bot fragging slagging piece of...ah frag, I'm so pissed at you right now that I can't think of enough insults. Skywarp" He angrily punched at the data pad.

Skywarp teleported out of the lab and met up with Thundercracker in the mess hall. "What's your problem?" Thundercracker asked as he noted the sour expression on Skywarp's face.

"Screamer left."

"So, what's that got to do with anything?"

Skywarp shot a glance around the room and leaned in close to Thundercracker. "I have to take care of his slaggin humans while he's gone."

"Frag, he still has those things in his lab?" Thundercracker had not returned to the lab since the night his curiosity got the better of him. He had no idea what sort of deprave acts occurred in there and decided that "out of sight out of mind" was the only way of looking at the issue.

"Yeah, he's still got 'em. If he's not back in a couple of days, I'm gonna say frag it and not go back. They can all starve to death for all I care," Skywarp grumbled and quickly downed an energon cube.

"Warp, that's not right. Those humans didn't ask to be brought here. Show them a little compassion."

"Heh, letting them starve to death would be compassionate. Frag, I'd be doing them a favour."

Thundercracker sighed as Skywarp started on another cube. "Whoa, take it easy. You're on duty tomorrow."

"Yeah, and this is the only way I can go into a recharge cycle. Four or five cubes and I'm out for the night."

"Too bad Screamer's got the hallway booby trapped or I'd help you out. If only he didn't insist on keeping the dead ones. We could let them all go and say they all got sick and died while he was gone." Thundercracker stared at his cube trying to formulate a plan.

"Forget it. We can't outsmart Screamer. Even if we killed the humans out of mercy, he'd know. There aren't even any chemicals he can't check for. One of them died and he swore up and down that I poisoned it until he did an autopsy."

Thundercracker grabbed the energon cube in front of Skywarp and held it hostage. "Go to your room, Warp. Get some rest and don't worry about anything. For some odd reason, those humans are really important to Screamer. I'm sure he'll be back soon. I doubt he would make you responsible for them anyway. Just feed them until he returns and everything will be ok."

Skywarp nodded and eyed the cube that Thundercracker had taken from him. He quickly grabbed it from the blue Seeker and downed it. "One for the road," he said with a grin and teleported back to his quarters.

Starscream spent three days flying over Europe stopping to gather energon for consumption. At night he would lay awake watching the stars drift overhead deep in thought. He would not realize until sunrise that he had spent the entire night awake thinking.

He had become used to this. He found that he did not require more than a few minutes rest during a day. It helped with his projects. He needed that time that he used in a rest cycle for his work and he had to see this project through.

Skywarp on a couple occasions told him he looked like slag and insisted he return to his quarters to rest. Not that he took orders from him however he occasionally took his advice and left the lab. It was not that he trusted Skywarp alone in his laboratories, he knew that Skywarp knew he'd hunt him down and tear him apart should he interfere with his projects.

What he did in his quarters during those long silent nights was run simulation after simulation, extracting a gene altering it and running tests that would show examples of possible outcomes with children.

He had a possible method of delivering the viral gene when it was made. It was a matter of its construction and finding a quick and efficient manner of creating more. The Autobots had a matter duplicator. He decided he might have to pay them a visit and see if he could acquire the plans at least. Megatron had build a cloning device years before but had the machine dismantled when he needed the parts from it.

Starscream decided he would deliver the new gene sequence with the use of nano technology. A Nano-programmer that would have two purposes.

First, it would rewrite the gene he had selected so it would become dominant and each new child born would carry this gene. Females with the new genetic code would be rendered sterile while the males could carry on and spread the gene through the population. Hopefully by the time it would be discovered it would be far too widespread to stop. It would take several centuries if not a couple millennia for the effects to be really seen; he could wait, his life span was long enough a couple thousand years would be nothing.

The second function of the Nano-programmer would be seek and destroy. Females born with that gene would be infertile. So he planned on setting up the Nano-programmer with a sub command to destroy all X gene spermazoa leaving the Y gene spermazoa to do their work. He also thought about designing a second Nano-programmer: one he could inject into the primary females who would carry their genetically altered offspring. He wanted to double his production and if he could get all the females to have at least two ova at a time.

The Nano-programmer would be unable to be passed on to the genetically altered offspring but it would continue its work in the parents.

After that, he planned on seeding the new children all over the planet. Skywarp's new job would be to drop them off at hospitals across the globe. Humans were such creatures that they would adopt the young that others did not want. It was a perfect idea. Who would suspect that an innocent little abandoned baby would carry such a deadly gene? Starscream laughed out loud at that thought. A sugar coated booby trap.

He was known for his guile and cunning. This was the pinnacle of his plan. Even if he only got one batch of children out it would be enough to bring human population down eventually. Starscream smiled. Thundercracker called him depraved, others called him insane or mad. Most called him incompetent. They were misguided and could not see the real picture. They would learn one day and Starscream would be then known as a destroyer of an entire species.

The Seeker pushed himself into a sitting position to watch the sun rise over the ocean. It would be time to head back. He hoped that Megatron would have forgotten about his drop in status and order to keep him confined to base.

He leapt into the brightening sky and transformed and flew back toward North America. Was there a ring of truth to Megatron's statement? That he was rundown and stressed? He ran a full diagnostic while he flew. Everything came up normal save that his main power core which seemed to be running a touch hot.

'How dare Megatron to have made an inquest into my last two missions,' thought Starscream angrily. 'It was not my slagging fault! If the others had listened to my advice they would not have dropped the device into the sea on the way back to base. Why is it when they screw up I always get the blame pinned on me?' Starscream fumed. 'No one believes me! And they think I lack in good judgement?' The Seeker opened his throttle to full and allowed himself to be propelled at full speed toward the east coast of North America.

Earthdate: July 2nd 2011

Skywarp teleported into the lab as soon as his shift was over. Starscream had been gone for three days and Skywarp only entered the lab long enough to feed the humans. He began his rounds as usual.

"Did you and Starscream have another party?" Jolene asked wryly. She had noticed Starscream's absence and was concerned. She wondered why Skywarp was so upset and hoped her joke would lighten his mood.

"What? Why would we have a party?" Skywarp asked densely.

"Well, the last time Starscream was gone this long, you said it was due to the party you two had," she said as she tugged at a rather thick tangle in her greasy hair. Her fingers worked quickly as she pulled the strands apart.

"No, we didn't have no fraggin party," Skywarp snarled.

Jolene blinked and ceased her questioning of Skywarp. It was obvious to her that he was not in the mood.

He entered the room where The children were. Most sat silently sobbing. Skywarp gave them their daily rations and turned to leave.

"Are you mad at us?" One child asked shyly.

Skywarp froze. He slowly turned and looked at the blotchy tear stained face. "No, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Starscream. Hey, you didn't salute me today."

"You yelled at us the last time we did, so we figured we shouldn't do it anymore."

Skywarp stared at the child unsure of what to say. He opened his mouth as if to formulate words but nothing would come out. He frowned and walked away. He picked up his data pad and began his reports. "All fed and alive...again thanks to me. You owe me BIG TIME..." He stared at the data pad for a moment and muttered to himself. "What's a good insult?"

"Asshole."

"What?" Skywarp looked around the room.

"Asshole. If you're lookin' for a word to insult Starscream, I suggest asshole," replied the man from cage three.

Skywarp grinned as he typed the newly learned word. He sighed heavily and left, avoiding any eye contact with the specimens. Thundercracker had been given the later shift so Skywarp would be on his own that evening.

He teleported to his quarters and pulled out a few energon cubes. He stared at the wall as he began drinking. He managed to down seven cubes before he passed out.

The desert stretched on for miles barren brown surface dotted with boulders and sage bushes and the occasional cactus. In the distance a huge mountain loomed up. Mount St. Hillary. The Autobots' base of operations.

The Seeker Transformed and landed not far from the volcano. The air was cool and the occasional howl from a coyote greeted his audio sensors. As cool as it was he felt very hot. He wondered for a moment if one of his main air intakes were blocked. He quickly scanned for blockage and found that they were clear.

He crept close to the stone wall not far from the entrance of the ark. He watched as the camera scanned back and forth monitoring the entrance. The camera finished its sweep cycle and turned to start again. Starscream quickly aimed and fired his null ray's at the camera rending it useless for a few minutes. Hopefully no one on the other side would notice.

Starscream quietly ran down the hall following a memorized map of the base that Laserbeak and Buzzsaw had created on their various reconnaissance missions. He followed it until he came to a large room: Wheeljack's lab.

In the middle stood a huge device with two circular tables. He was surprised at its overall size. It was not something he could steal on his own. He stepped up to the control panel of the great machine and gazed over the many buttons and dials. He crouched down and tore an access panel from the front of the machine and looked inside. The inside was a mess of wires, cables, lights, buttons, chips and circuit cards. Starscream sucked in a quick breath as he shook his head at the disorganized manner this machine was created in. One of Wheeljack's creations obviously.

It worked once, he knew it worked. A long time ago when he and the other Decepticons had caught that terrible scourge called Cosmic Rust, they had purposely infected the Autobots and this device had saved them. His mind drifted while he gazed inside looking for the hard drive.

Megatron was infuriated at Starscream's accusation of being created of substandard materials.

Starscream chortled to himself as he walked down the hall to the control room. The invincible Megatron was not so invincible after all.

"I'm in control now until Megatron recovers... IF he recovers," said Starscream looking over at the other Decepticons.

"Megatron's condition?" inquired Soundwave.

"He'll live, unfortunately. He only has a rust like discolouration that he thinks is life threatening. When the Constructicons finish making a new chest piece for him, he will be back to normal," said Starscream with a slight wheeze.

He strode to the comms unit by the huge monitor. "Motor Master come in. Megatron has a little mission for you."

"Why can't he tell us?" came the quick response.

"He's having a little rust in repair bay," Starscream quickly responded with a slight smile. "He wishes you to capture Preceptor and bring him here immediately. You will find him by the Statue of Liberty. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Air Commander, we copy."

Starscream coughed abruptly and he quickly covered his mouth with the back of his hand. He wondered why Skywarp who was sitting close by, looked at him worriedly. The black Seeker's optics flashed for a second and he, in a very unsubtle manner, drew aside.

Starscream glared at Skywarp and balled his hand into a fist and was about to throw a punch at him when he noticed his hand. Flecks of reddish-brown corrosion showed on his azure fingers.

"No! This is impossible," he said mortified as he looked at his rust coated fingers. The discolouration was quickly spreading over his forearm and the other Decepticons stepped away. He half smothered a frightened cry and raced back to the repair chamber in which Megatron lay in.

"Did you get my order out?" inquired Megatron not turning to face Starscream.

"I did. The rust... It—it's contagious. I—I'm sick too!"

Megatron turned at the sound of Starscream's panicked voice and smiled as he observed the physical condition of his Lieutenant. "Ah, so you're also made of shoddy materials, Starscream, how ironic," Megatron responded sarcastically ending in a fit of ragged coughs.

The red Seeker looked at Megatron in horror. Rust covered his leader's entire chest, arms and face.

"It spreads so quickly! We'll all succumb in a matter of hours. We'll be doomed!" Starscream wailed in panic.

"Shut your whining, Starscream. It's not going to help. Now sit down and wait with me," wheezed Megatron.

Reluctantly Starscream complied and sat down on the edge of the repair bay table awaiting the Stunitcon's return.

He shook his head as he realized his mind had strayed from the task at hand again. It had done this several times in the past few weeks. His optics stopped their search on a large rectangular box. "That's what I am looking for!" he muttered softly. Starscream reached in and carefully disconnected the wide ribbon of wire and a few other smaller cables. He hoped that this would have the information that he needed.

Starscream quickly stashed the part into his chest and pressed the access panel into position, it settled back with a loud click. 'So far so good,' he thought as he stood up quickly moving to the door. He peeked into the hall ensuring his way was clear and darted back the way he came.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" came the voice of Bumblebee from behind followed by the sirens as the little yellow Autobot alerted the rest of the base.

"Frag!" Starscream cursed as he ran toward the exit. Some how he had forgotten to enable his proximity scanners that would have alerted him to the presence of the Autobot saving him the discovery.

"Yer not goin' anywhere, Starcreep," declared Ironhide.

"Like you'll be able to stop me after you've tasted this!" Starscream fired a couple blasts from his null rifles and Ironhide crumpled to the ground.

"Stop him!" cried Bumblebee, "he's getting away!"

"Of course I'm getting away!" shouted Starscream as he ran out the large exit of the Ark. "You're too slow to catch me!" He transformed and flew off. A few bolts of red laser fire followed Starscream into the dark sky. He flew on toward the ocean and the Decepticon undersea base.

No one noticed his arrival and if they did they ignored him. He was pleased with this outcome as it gave him time to get back to his own quarters and to perhaps check on his lab to see whether or not Skywarp had fed his humans. If they were neglected he would seriously hurt the black Seeker or even kill him depending on the severity of neglect. He did not wish to harm Skywarp but duty and his project first. Skywarp second.

He strode silently through the dimmed halls. Megatron powered down most of the base at night to conserve power. Although their supplies were not low it was still a healthy practice incase there was a time of famine.

Starscream looked into the familiar darkness of his quarters. He flicked the light on and felt suddenly quite weary. He walked in and disconnected his riles and carefully hung them up on the rack by the door.

He strode over to the computer and spied a datapad sitting on his desk. Skywarp has been doing his work. Starscream nodded approvingly as he placed the datapad back down. He wondered whether or not the dark Seeker would carry in his absence. Starscream entered his storage room. He looked fondly on his cache of energon cubes and removed three from the top. He tucked them under his arm and walked quickly to the main Decepticon dormitory.

He stood outside Skywarp's door looking at the locking mechanism. A slight smile played at his mouth as he contemplated his next move.

"Computer, Override locking mechanism on Skywarp's quarters. Authorisation: Starscream, Air Commander," he said softly.

"Enter your authorisation code on passcoder, Starscream," replied the computer.

The Air Commander tapped in several numbers into panel.

"Authorisation code accepted, override on Skywarp's quarters initiated."

Starscream grinned as the door opened and he stepped into the slightly cluttered environment of Skywarp's room. He placed the cubes down on the computer desk and walked quietly over to the Sleeping Seeker. He noticed, as he did, the remains of several empty cubes scattered around his recharging station.

Skywarp, although he was asleep, appeared exhausted. Starscream wondered about his decision in waking the Seeker up. He looked as if he needed his rest. Starscream was curious now if he were also under strain from the hell Megatron was putting everyone through.

"How in Primus' name can you sleep with your rifles on Skywarp?" Starscream whispered with an amused shake of his head. He found his rifles bothersome at night snagging into things or he accidentally discharged them when he had dreams of battles. He made a habit of disarming when he entered his room. He usually returned them to their mountings on his arms when he left but tonight he decided that he would not bother.

"No, this would be a good revenge for all the sudden appearances you've done to scare me."

Starscream reached down with a wicked grin and placed his hand on Skywarp's shoulder shaking him as he spoke. "Skywarp, it's me wake up."

Skywarp grumbled and muttered but did not awaken. Starscream frowned in disappointment. He had hoped to scare the living slag out of Skywarp. He leaned down and grabbed the Seeker with both hands and shook him harder. "Skywarp wake up!"

Skywarp sat bolt upright and shoved his rifle in Starscream's face.

"Whoa, watch it, Skywarp! You can kill someone with that thing!" said Starscream stepping away from the business end of Skywarp's weapon.

"Oh, it's you. What the frag do you want?"

"I wanted to tell you I am back," Starscream muttered glancing around.

Skywarp looked around the room and realized he was in his own quarters. "How did you get in here?"

"The rank of Air Commander comes with some privileges," said Starscream slyly, "I simply let myself in."

Skywarp glared at Starscream. "So you're back. Whoop ti do. You want a fraggin' welcome home party? Leave me alone."

Starscream sat down on the edge of Skywarp's recharge station. "I figured you would want extra payment for your work in my absence. I take they are all alive?"

"Read the fraggin' reports, asshole."

Starscream was shocked at Skywarp's language and tone however he did not let it show. "I will read them in the morning, anyway human slag is vulgar and unenlightening."

Skywarp shook his head. "Whatever. Next time you decide to run off, give me a little warning or I'll leave your humans to die."

Starscream frowned. "I am sorry I so inconvenienced you. Anyway if you let them die, I would tear you limb for limb," he hissed angrily.

Skywarp sighed. "Do you realize what time it is? I don't appreciate being harassed at this hour...or at anytime for that matter."

"Yet you feel that you can scare anyone at anytime YOU feel like it. I thought about letting you sleep but decided since I am up you should be too." Starscream regarded Skywarp for a moment. "You've rested more tonight than I have in the span of a month." The Air Commander sighed as he watched Skywarp push himself up onto his feet. The dark Seeker walked over to his desk and quickly downed one of the energon cubes that he had brought him.

"Primus, Skywarp, slow down. I would be feeling swamped at the speed you just guzzled that. It is some of my best enjoy it, do not inhale it."

Skywarp tossed the empty cube on the floor and started on another one. He looked at the now empty cube in his hand for a moment and angrily hurled it at Starscream.

Starscream leaned aside to dodge the cube. "What the slag is your problem, Skywarp?" he said angrily, he remembered what happened the last time when he asked a similar question. "I can't mind read you know, so if you have a problem you best get it out into the open. Please note I am disarmed and I am not going to fight you, if that's what you want." Starscream held his hands aloft in a gesture of surrender. "Tell me what's eating you."

Skywarp collapsed onto the end of his recharge platform and covered his face with both hands. "Do you realize what would have happened if you didn't come back? What would I do with those slaggin' humans? What if Megatron found out? Frag, you have no idea how stressed I've been these past few days."

"First, I would expect you to attempt communication with me to find out my status, something which you did not do to my surprise. Second, I would expect you to wait at least two weeks and if I did not return or communicate my situation, I would expect you to deep six them or something. Third, I don't even have any idea what I would even do should Megatron confront me about it. I guess I would tell him the truth and hope he believed me. Forth, I did not realize you were that stressed. I might have returned sooner had I known," he said in a kinder tone. "Megatron thinks I am stressed. I am fine, just a bit worn out from all his slagging work and the endless stream of pointless missions. Wanna trade jobs for a day? I can sit around all day and fill in paperwork while you fly my missions," Starscream joked.

Skywarp looked at his Air Commander. "You look like slag."

"Strange, I don't feel like slag." Commented Starscream with a dismissive flick of his hand. "I've had some fun while I was away. Visited Europe, saw the sights and spent the three days and nights in England thinking about my plans," he rambled on.

"When's the last time you recharged?"

Starscream stopped for a moment to think. "Hmm, I don't remember. Not to worry, I fuel up on straight energon when ever I can, I've been ok. Do you know that Mount Etna is lovely at this time of year?" he muttered trying to change Skywarp's questions into a less invasive direction.

"You know what happens when you don't recharge, don't you?"

"Nothing happens, I am fine. Trust me, you know me better than that. I would not endanger myself needlessly," he reassured the other Seeker feeling slightly uneasy.

"You overheat and your processors crash. I've been forcing myself to recharge to avoid it."

"Nonsense, Skywarp, that is just a myth," he whispered looking at his hands.

"Oh yeah, then why are you so hot?" Skywarp inquired.

"Well now you've said it I have felt a little warm when I went to the Ark this evening."

Skywarp could feel intense heat emanating from the other Seeker. "Wha? You were at Autobot headquarters today?"

"Ah! that's right. I have not lain in recharge cycle for twenty-six days." Starscream smiled twistedly. "Yes I was at the Ark, I had to grab part they had that I need," he confirmed.

"You're lucky they didn't slag you, especially the state you're in."

"What state is this? I am simply running hot because I flew straight from Europe and had to beat it out of the Ark in a hurry. I only just got back," insisted Starscream. He refused to believe that Skywarp could be correct. Was he actually burning out? "That sort of close call gets the old fuel pump hammering. It's invigorating, you must try something risky once in your life, Skywarp."

Skywarp shook his head in disappointment. "You're in denial, Screamer. Go back to your quarters and recharge or I'll report you to Megatron."

"You wouldn't dare, I was planning on resting in my chamber after visiting you. But it's very hard to shut my mind off for longer than a few minutes. In other words I've been unable to sleep so it must be the way I'm supposed to be." He was very annoyed that Skywarp was using a tone of authority on him. Skywarp was only a senior warrior and did not out ran him.

Skywarp handed Starscream a couple of energon cubes. "Drink em fast and you'll be out like a light. That's what I've been doing."

Starscream refused the offer politely, "I have plenty in my quarters. I'll admit I've had trouble, on occasion, focusing on the task at hand," Starscream's thoughts strayed. "Wait, Skywarp, You drink yourself to sleep? You should not do that. It's unhealthy, you'll burn out your energy absorbers. You could die from an energy overdose." Starscream warned, concerned for Skywarp's health. He had not realized that the dark Seeker had to resort to that sort of method to achieve a rest cycle.

Skywarp frowned. He walked over to his desk and nervously looked at Starscream. He reached out for the comm button.

"Don't contact Megatron, not at this hour, He'll slag us! I can lay down but I can't guarantee I'll sleep. It would be nice to be able to shut my mind off for a while." Starscream stood up quickly and started for the door.

Skywarp quickly punched the button. "Skywarp to Hook. Starscream is back. He's in my quarters and unarmed. I can hold him until you get here. Over."

"No!" Starscream cried out as his jaw dropped open in disbelief. Skywarp was actually carrying out on a threat. "What are you doing!" Starscream suddenly dashed for the door. "Not Hook. He'll weld me to a repair bay table!"

Skywarp aimed his rifles at Starscream. "I don't have a null ray. Even my lowest setting will damage you. Don't make me shoot."

The Air Commander screeched to a halt a meter from the door. If Skywarp shot him, he would be forced to see Hook. "Skywarp! You're a traitor! I would have gone to my quarters!" Starscream glanced at the door. "Put down your weapon! Please, be reasonable!" he pleaded.

"You may have gone but you wouldn't rest. I'm sorry Starscream. I'm only doing what's best for you."

Thundercracker entered the room. "What the frag is going on here?"

Starscream took the opportunity of the other Seeker's entrance to bolt. He turned on his heal and slammed into Thundercracker, knocking the blue Seeker aside to make his escape. He ran down the hall, wings swept slightly back to reduce wind resistance, and emitted a shrill shriek of terror.

"You're a fragging bastard Skywarp, a bastard, a bastard," he muttered as he fled through the hall towards his quarters. "I will have to get my weapons, I'll have to flee from here again. My experiments will be ruined!" He ran watching the floor ahead of him. He saw a shadow in front of him Starscream looked up and to his horror, he saw Bonecrusher and Hook heading in his direction.

With another shriek he panicked and darted down the hall toward the control room. There was a slightly longer route to his quarters from there.

Hook and Bonecrusher glanced at one another puzzled at Starscream's odd behaviour.

He felt extremely hot from his exertions, hotter than he normally would feel. He had time to cool off since his non stop flight from Europe and his pit stop at the Autobot headquarters. Was Skywarp right?

"That will be the last time I'll do you any favors, Skywarp!" he ranted as he burst through the control room doors, making a sharp right turn and disappeared down the hall.

"Starscream's lost it!" came Rumble's amused voice from behind.

"I didn't know he had it to begin with," muttered Frenzy in response.

"Hey! Wait a minute, Starscream's back."

"Too bad, it was peaceful without him."

Starscream carried on running not looking back. He could see the rest of the Decepticons chasing him in his minds eye; Skywarp, Thundercracker, Bonecrusher, Hook, Frenzy and Rumble. He made a quick left turn and into the small private hall that had the elevator to his quarters. He pressed the button. It glowed and he waited a few seconds and pressed it again rapidly.

"Come on slag you! Move!" Starscream pressed the button several more times. The elevator door slowly slid open. He rushed in, banging his left wing on the door. Hissing in annoyance he pressed the close and the floor button, pacing the lift in a highly agitated way. It felt as if the trip up was going to take forever. He was worried that when he arrived on his floor that Skywarp would have teleported up and notified Soundwave and Megatron.

The lift stopped and the doors slid quietly open. Starscream hesitated and glanced around the hall. No one was there quietly he ran softly down the hall so as to not alert Megatron or Soundwave to his presence.

"Quickly!" he muttered to himself as he punched his password into the passcoder and the door opened. He shot through and sealed it shut behind himself. Panting with relief at his narrow escape, he reached for his rifles hanging on the wall. He was happy he had made it back to his quarters without getting caught. He hooked the rifle to his arm. Starscream reached for the other one and bumped it on the top rack, it slid from his fingers.

"Oops! Come back here you!" he muttered as he reached out to stop it from falling. It bounced from his hand and spiralled down. He leaned down quickly to try to snatch it up as the butt of the rifle hit the floor and triggered the firing mechanism. A brilliant lavender flash of his null ray shot from the muzzle and hit him square in the chest.

"Slag..." His optics glowed brightly for a moment as he realized what had happened and they abruptly dimmed.

He felt the numbing coldness of his null ray speedily disrupting his power flow throughout his body. It started from the point just over where his fuel pump was housed. And shot rapidly through his central nervous system shutting down relays from his brain to his body's limbs. Personally, He had never felt his own weapon's power first hand before and wished he had been stayed the opportunity. In less than a second he went from standing to sprawled, face down, on the ground.

The effect from the null ray finally penetrated his brain functions and put them into a momentary stasis. His optics dropped off line along with all other sensory systems. After a few minutes the effect of his null ray faded and his brain switched into the much needed recharge cycle. For the first time in twenty - six days, Starscream slept.

Thundercracker watched dumbfounded as Starscream ran down the hall shrieking. He looked at Skywarp with his mouth agape. "What the frag was that all about?"

"He thought I called Hook to come get him. He hasn't recharged in close to a month and he's really blown a few circuits. I called you and pretended I was calling Hook. I don't want to see him either. I'm afraid he'd haul me down to repair bay too."

Thundercracker shook his head. "You should go find Screamer and make sure he's ok. I'd better return to my post."

Skywarp nodded and teleported away. He tracked Starscream to his quarters and cautiously teleported inside. He found Starscream unconscious and sprawled on the floor with his rifles lying next to him. He quickly checked Starscream's vitals to ensure that he was all right. Suddenly, the door to Starscream's quarters opened and Hook entered the room.

"What on Cybertron happened here?" Hook inquired. He instantly assumed the two Seekers had a scuffle.

"I don't know. I came in and found him like this. I think he accidentally shot himself with his null ray as he was trying to get them off the rack." Skywarp sensed Hook's suspicions and hoped that he was believed.

"Well, help me get him to repair bay. You look pretty slagged yourself, Skywarp. Maybe you should keep him company there."

"I'm just tired because Starscream woke me in the middle of a recharge with mindless ramblings. I just need to get back to my room. I'll be fine." The last thing Skywarp wanted to do was accompany Starscream to the repair bay. It was far less comfortable than the dormitory and one had to deal with the constant pokes and prods from the Constructicons.

"Very well, help me get him to repair bay and return to your quarters." Hook wondered if an interrupted recharge cycle was the only thing wrong with Skywarp. The dark seeker seemed a bit dazed and sluggish.

The two carted Starscream to repair bay and Skywarp quickly teleported back to his quarters before Hook could change his mind about not keeping him there. Upon returning to his quarters, Skywarp teleported too close to his desk. He banged into it with such force that it knocked off an energon cube which exploded as it impacted the floor. He nervously glanced around the room and hoped that no one heard the small explosion. It was not unusual for Skywarp's judgement to be impaired when he teleported more than two miles, but to have difficulty teleporting the short distance from repair bay to his quarters was highly abnormal. Once he decided that no one was going to come investigate the explosion, he lay down on his recharge platform and shut down with little difficulty.

Negotiations To Be Continued...