A month passed before the Polyhex campaign began.
By then, the war room beneath Kaon had become more than a command chamber. It was the center of Megatron’s expanding war. The tactical table dominated the room, its projection casting a rotating image of Cybertron above the surface while city markers burned across the display: Kaon, Tarn, Vos, and farther north, Polyhex.
Megatron stood at the head of the table. Soundwave worked the communications console along the wall, his red visor steady while the cassette units moved quietly through the chamber, relaying data across the network. Shockwave stood opposite Megatron, his single yellow optic focused on the tactical display.
Starscream arrived with Thundercracker and Skywarp. He stepped into the room and took his place along the table, wings folding neatly behind him.
Megatron did not waste time. “Polyhex will resist.”
The city marker pulsed slightly on the map.
“It is heavily fortified,” Shockwave said. “Industrial production centers. Defensive artillery. Ground forces significant.”
Soundwave added calmly from the console, “Sentinel’s security forces: presence confirmed.”
Megatron finally looked toward the table. “They will expect a ground advance from Kaon.”
Starscream studied the display for a moment before speaking. “What if the ground forces are not the first attack?”
Megatron’s red optics shifted toward him.
“The Autobots have one consistent weakness,” Starscream continued, pointing toward the projection. “Most of them cannot fly.”
The tactical map adjusted as Starscream expanded the aerial overlay. Seeker formations appeared across the display, spreading over Polyhex’s upper defensive perimeter.
“If the wings strike first, we hold the sky.” He traced a path over the city’s artillery towers and relay points. “Sentinel’s forces will be forced to defend from the ground. They cannot reach us there.”
Silence settled over the tactical display after Starscream finished. Polyhex rotated slowly above the table, its industrial districts glowing in layered bands of defense, production, and population density.
Shockwave spoke first. “Industrial density: extremely high.”
The city’s interior districts illuminated across the map.
“Labor population significant,” Soundwave added.
Starscream studied the rows of production towers filling the center of the city. “Which means they will not resist us.”
Megatron’s optics shifted slightly. “Explain.”
Starscream pointed to the inner districts. “Sentinel’s forces defend the city’s command structure, but the people inside it are the ones the caste system chained there. If anything, they will help us once they understand Polyhex can fall.”
Shockwave processed the thought. “Probability of civilian resistance to Decepticon presence: low.”
“Sentinel’s forces positioned primarily around industrial command centers,” Soundwave confirmed.
Megatron looked back at the projection. “Then they will defend the system.” His voice hardened. “And we will dismantle it.”
“Once the wings control the sky,” Starscream said, highlighting the upper industrial districts, “Polyhex opens from within.”
Megatron nodded slowly. “Good.”
The skies above Polyhex belonged to the Seekers before the ground battle fully began.
Starscream led the first strike wing himself, with Thundercracker on one side and Skywarp on the other. Their trine cut through the upper atmosphere above the city in a clean spearhead formation while the rest of the wings followed in layered patterns behind them. Below, the endless towers of industry filled the horizon: refineries, assembly complexes, energon processing stacks, and production towers venting long columns of vapor into the air.
Sentinel’s security forces responded quickly.
Anti-air batteries fired from defense towers along the city perimeter, their shots streaking upward toward the Seeker formations now controlling the sky above them. Starscream adjusted his course slightly, letting the first barrage pass beneath his wing before he opened the channel.
“Maintain altitude.”
The command moved across the wing channels instantly. The brigade held formation, high enough to keep the advantage, close enough to draw the defense towers into wasting fire. Starscream rolled into the first attack pass with Thundercracker and Skywarp matching him perfectly, his trine moving as one machine through the defensive fire.
Below them, the ground battle had already begun. Decepticon forces pressed inward from the southern access corridors while Sentinel’s forces shifted between the towers, trying to reinforce the industrial command centers before the city’s defenses collapsed.
Thundercracker’s voice came across the command channel. “Eastern defense grid is weakening.”
Starscream watched flashes of energy fire between the towers below. “Strike wing two, target the relay tower. Wing three, suppress the northern battery.”
Skywarp vanished in a flash of violet light, reappearing beyond the next line of fire before diving across the top of a defense platform. The tower’s targeting array shattered under the strike, and the battery beneath it went silent.
“They’re pulling their ground forces inward,” Skywarp reported as he flashed back into formation.
“Just like the plan,” Starscream said.
The wings continued circling overhead, and one by one, the defensive guns of Polyhex went silent.
Starscream held altitude above the city while the wings maintained control of the sky. Below them, the endless towers of industry began to settle into a strange calm. The fighting that had raged through the southern districts pushed steadily northward, exactly where the plan intended.
“Autobot ground units withdrawing toward the outer perimeter,” Thundercracker reported.
Starscream watched the movement between the industrial towers below. Columns of defenders were being forced back through the streets toward the edge of the city. Behind them, workers emerged in pockets from the factories and service corridors, not attacking the Decepticons, not blocking their advance. Some opened access gates. Others cut power to isolated defense systems before Sentinel’s units could use them.
Polyhex was not rising against Megatron.
It was letting him in.
Skywarp flickered briefly into position beside Starscream. “They’re running right into Sentinel.”
Starscream nodded once.
Far beyond the towers at the northern perimeter, the sky burned with weapons fire.
Sentinel had arrived.
His forces gathered around him along the outer districts, trying to push back toward the city center, but every attempt to advance was met by the wings circling overhead. Seeker formations cut across the skyline in controlled sweeps, forcing the Autobots to stay low and scattered across the perimeter streets.
They could not reach the sky.
Which meant they could not break through.
Starscream adjusted his position and looked down again. The central avenue of Polyhex stretched between two massive refinery towers, smoke drifting across the street in slow, dark coils.
And there stood Megatron.
The Decepticon leader held the center of the avenue, his forces spreading out behind him as the last of the city’s defenders were driven back toward the northern perimeter.
Across the avenue stood Sentinel Prime.
The distance between them was barely half a block.
Starscream watched the two figures facing one another through the haze rising from the industrial district. The wings continued to circle high above the city, holding the sky, holding the line, leaving the ground below to them.
Autobot units were pulling back fast. Some were damaged. Some dragged others with them. None slowed. None stopped to regroup.
“They’re breaking,” Thundercracker said.
“Yes,” Starscream answered.
Below them, the street between the refinery towers became strangely still. Megatron stood in the center of it, while Sentinel Prime landed hard enough to fracture the plating beneath his feet.
Starscream expected Sentinel to turn first, to gather the defenders, to stabilize the line.
Instead, Sentinel stepped forward.
His red optics locked onto Megatron. “You think this city belongs to you now.”
Megatron did not move.
Behind Sentinel, Autobot units continued retreating down the street, some nearly colliding with one another in their haste to reach the perimeter line. Sentinel never looked back at them.
Starscream frowned slightly. “What is he doing?”
Skywarp appeared beside him again, watching the scene below. “Oh, this is good.”
Sentinel continued advancing down the avenue. “You destroyed the Senate. You tore apart Cybertron’s government.” His voice hardened. “And you believe that makes you its ruler.”
Megatron remained exactly where he stood.
Starscream felt a slow realization settle in. Sentinel was not trying to save his forces. He was not trying to hold the city. He was trying to confront Megatron.
Megatron’s forces held the entire district behind him. Sentinel’s forces were retreating. The wings controlled the sky.
And Sentinel was walking straight into it.
Starscream could hardly believe what he was seeing. “He still thinks he has the advantage.”
Sentinel’s voice carried across the street as the two leaders closed the distance between them. “You destroyed the Senate and think that makes you ruler of Cybertron.”
Megatron did not raise his cannon at first. He took a slow step forward instead. “The Senate destroyed itself the moment it chose control over its own people.”
Sentinel scoffed. “You speak of people like you are their savior.”
Megatron’s gaze shifted briefly toward the towers of Polyhex rising around them. “I speak of freedom.” His red optics returned to Sentinel. “And you speak of ownership.”
“I speak of order.”
“You speak of fear.”
Sentinel’s hand moved toward his weapon. “You believe this mob behind you makes you powerful.”
Megatron raised his arm slightly.
The fusion cannon began to glow.
“I believe reality has already proven my point.”
The blast ripped down the street.
It struck the pavement just short of Sentinel, tearing open the avenue and sending molten plating and debris erupting into the air. The shockwave rolled through the district. Sentinel was forced back a step, and the Autobots behind him scattered as the ground split open between the two leaders.
Starscream held his altitude above the refinery towers, optics narrowing slightly.
So that was the famous cannon.
He had seen Megatron fire on the Senate structure from a distance, but this was different. This was not a building taking a blow. This was Sentinel Prime himself forced backward by a shot Megatron had not even aimed to kill.
A red Autobot pushed through the line behind Sentinel.
Ironhide.
“You’re not breaking through this,” Ironhide said quickly. “We don’t have the numbers.”
Sentinel kept his optics locked on Megatron.
Ironhide pressed harder. “They’ve got the city.” He gestured upward. “And the sky.”
Starscream circled above the industrial towers, watching the entire exchange unfold.
Ironhide lowered his voice. “We stay here, we lose everything.”
Sentinel hesitated.
Across the ruined avenue, Megatron lowered his cannon slightly.
The message had already been delivered.
Ironhide spoke again. “Fall back.”
A moment later, Sentinel turned.
Autobot forces began pulling away from the perimeter of Polyhex. Above them, the Seekers maintained their hold on the sky, formations cutting clean arcs through the smoke.
Polyhex had not fallen because Megatron’s ground forces overwhelmed every street.
It had fallen because the skies had belonged to Starscream.
He watched the defenders retreat beyond the outer industrial line and felt the tactical shape of the battle settle fully into place. The Senate had never understood air power. Sentinel had responded to it too late. The workers had not risen to protect the old command structures, and the Autobots had been forced to fight a battle they could not reach.
Starscream looked down at the city now secured beneath him.
The Seekers had not merely supported Megatron’s conquest.
They had made it possible.
And for the first time since accepting the title, Starscream understood the full weight of what Air Commander meant.
The city was Megatron’s.
But the sky above it was his.