Starscream: Rise of the Air Commander

Starscream stepped away from the balcony rail. “We need to speak to him.” Thundercracker looked over. “To Shockwave?” “Yes.” Thundercracker glanced down toward the chamber floor where the debate had already resumed. “You think they’ll let us?” Starscream had already turned toward the exit. “I am not asking the Senate.” Thundercracker sighed and followed. They moved quickly through the corridor leading out of the visitors’ gallery, descending the wide ramp that connected the upper levels of the Senate complex to the lower administrative passages. Several other observers were already leaving the chamber, the discussion inside growing louder as the debate over Vos continued. Starscream ignored it. Shockwave’s removal had been too abrupt. Too controlled. If Sentinel had wanted the debate to continue, he could simply have ruled the senator from Tarn out of order and moved to the next speaker. Instead, he had him removed. Starscream stepped into the main corridor outside the chamber and stopped. Empty. Thundercracker frowned. “They should have come through here.” Starscream scanned the hallway. Two security guards escorting a senator would not move unnoticed through the central corridors. Even if they had taken the nearest administrative lift, there should have been some trace of them: an opened access panel, a security imprint, the echo of movement through the polished hall. But there was nothing. No guards. No Shockwave. Thundercracker looked both directions down the corridor. “That’s strange.” Starscream said nothing. His optics moved slowly across the intersection ahead. Something shifted in the corner of his vision: a figure standing at the far end of the corridor. Tall. Still. Watching. Starscream turned his head. The corridor was empty. Thundercracker noticed the movement. “What?” Starscream looked back down the hall. Nothing remained. “…Nothing.” But the moment stayed with him. Someone else had been looking for Shockwave. Starscream looked down the empty corridor again. “If Sentinel declared him out of order under Senate authority…” Thundercracker glanced over. “…then Shockwave is in contempt.” Starscream nodded slightly. “And if he is in contempt of the Senate…” “He’s in a holding cell.” Starscream’s optics narrowed. Which meant Shockwave had not simply disappeared. He had been taken somewhere controlled. Thundercracker’s expression tightened. “How do we even confirm that?” Starscream was quiet for a moment. Then Thundercracker’s face changed, a slow grin spreading across it. Starscream immediately disliked that expression. Thundercracker tilted his head slightly. “You know who can get in there.” Starscream closed his optics briefly. A quiet sigh escaped his vents. “…Right.” Thundercracker’s grin widened. “Skywarp.” Starscream looked down the corridor again. “If we are going to involve him, we should do it quickly Bifrost.” Thundercracker chuckled. “Don’t worry.” He turned and started down the hallway. “He’s probably already caused trouble somewhere.” Starscream followed. For the first time since leaving the Senate chamber, the situation felt almost manageable. After all, few security systems on Cybertron were designed to deal with a teleporting Seeker. Thundercracker activated his comm. The channel clicked open almost immediately, and Skywarp’s voice came through the line. “You have excellent timing.” Thundercracker raised an optic. “Why does that not sound reassuring?” A faint metallic clang echoed through the transmission. “Well,” Skywarp said casually, “I’m currently in a holding cell.” Thundercracker chuckled. “Downtown Iacon?” “Yeah.” Starscream glanced sideways. “You’re not even near the Senate.” “Nope.” Another pause followed. Then Skywarp’s voice came again. “So what do you need—” The sentence ended abruptly as a burst of violet light snapped into existence in the corridor between Starscream and Thundercracker. Skywarp stepped out of the distortion field as if he had simply walked through a doorway. He straightened slightly and glanced around before noticing Starscream. His optics widened. “Well, I’ll be—” He pointed slightly. “You’re back.” Starscream did not waste time on greetings. “Yes.” Skywarp tilted his head slightly, studying him. “Heard you were off-world. Thought you got lost.” “I nearly did.” Thundercracker folded his arms. “Focus.” Skywarp looked between them. “Alright.” Starscream stepped forward slightly. “Shockwave.” Skywarp’s expression shifted. “What about him?” “The Senate placed him in contempt and removed him from the chamber.” Skywarp nodded slowly. “Yeah, that sounds like something they’d do.” “He should now be in Senate detention.” Thundercracker gestured toward him. “And we would like to confirm that.” Skywarp’s grin slowly returned. “Oh.” He cracked his knuckles slightly. “So you want me to go look.” Starscream met his gaze. “Yes.” Skywarp shrugged. “Alright.” A faint shimmer of violet light began to gather around him again. He looked back at Starscream one more time. “Good to see you back, Screamer.” Starscream’s optics narrowed. “Do not call me that.” Skywarp grinned. Then he vanished. The corridor fell quiet again. Thundercracker leaned slightly toward Starscream. “You know he’s going to cause a scene.” Starscream watched the space where Skywarp had stood. “Yes.” A brief pause followed. “That is why we asked him.” The violet glow faded completely. Skywarp simply was not there anymore. Thundercracker folded his arms. “Well. That was fast.” Starscream remained still, watching the space where Skywarp had stood. Time passed. Not long, but long enough for the silence of the corridor to settle again. Then Skywarp was suddenly there. No flash. No distortion. One moment the hallway was empty; the next, a black-and-purple Seeker stood between them, his armor catching the overhead light. The deep purple highlights along his wings and shoulders broke the dark lines of his frame sharply. Skywarp glanced both directions down the corridor, then back at them. Thundercracker straightened slightly. “Well?” Skywarp tilted his head. “I checked.” Starscream waited. Skywarp shrugged. “I slipped through the detention levels. Sneaked around a bit.” Thundercracker raised an optic. “And?” Skywarp’s expression shifted. The grin faded. “There’s nothing.” Starscream’s optics narrowed. “Clarify.” Skywarp gestured vaguely behind him. “No guards. No prisoners. No Shockwave.” He shook his head slowly. “The whole place was empty.” Thundercracker frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.” Skywarp looked back at Starscream. “It was quiet down there.” He paused slightly. “Too quiet.” Starscream said nothing. Skywarp’s voice dropped slightly. “Like a tomb.” The corridor fell silent again. Thundercracker glanced toward the direction of the Senate chamber. “They removed him.” Starscream considered that. Shockwave had been taken under Senate authority, placed in contempt, escorted out under guard, and yet there was no record of him in detention. Starscream looked toward the far end of the corridor. The pieces were beginning to move, and someone had already removed one of them from the board. Skywarp shifted slightly, wings flicking once behind him. “I’m telling you, the detention level was empty.” Thundercracker frowned. “That doesn’t happen by accident.” Skywarp glanced toward Starscream. “So what now, Screamer—” Starscream’s optics snapped toward him. “Do not call me that.” Skywarp grinned. Thundercracker ignored them both. “If Shockwave isn’t in detention…” “Then he never arrived there,” Starscream said. Thundercracker looked at him. “You think they moved him somewhere else?” Starscream shook his head slightly. “No.” His gaze moved down the corridor toward the direction of the Senate chamber. “I think he was intercepted Bifrost.” Thundercracker’s expression tightened. “Intercepted by who?” Starscream began walking. “Someone who knew exactly where he would be taken.” Skywarp blinked. “Oh.” He pushed away from the wall and followed. “That’s worse.” Thundercracker fell in beside Starscream. “So how do we find out?” “The Senate security network.” Thundercracker raised an optic. “You think they’ll just let us read it?” Starscream glanced toward Skywarp. “No.” Skywarp grinned again. “Oh, I like where this is going.” Starscream looked back toward the Senate complex. Shockwave had been removed in full view of the Senate. That meant the system had recorded it. And if the Senate thought the matter was finished, they had made a mistake. The Senate security network did not make it easy. Thundercracker kept watch in the corridor while Skywarp slipped in and out of restricted areas, appearing beside terminals most citizens were never meant to access. Each time he returned, he brought a stolen clearance token, a bypass code, or a brief window before some silent alarm decided it had been insulted. Starscream worked quickly once the access panels opened, pulling security logs, guard assignments, detention records, and everything connected to the removal of Senator Shockwave. At first, the results looked normal. Shockwave had been placed in contempt. Two Senate guards had been assigned to escort him from the chamber. Their route had been logged. Starscream followed the path through the system. Visitors’ corridor. Administrative hall. Detention level access. Then nothing. The records ended. Thundercracker leaned over the console. “What does it say?” Starscream’s optics narrowed. “It says he arrived.” Skywarp tilted his head. “But he didn’t.” Starscream continued scanning. Additional logs appeared: guard identification numbers, transport clearance, access authorization. All of it stopped at the detention level entrance. Beyond that point, the system recorded no further movement. No cell assignment. No guard activity. No prisoner entry. Skywarp folded his arms. “That’s impossible.” Starscream did not answer. He ran the search again with different parameters, different access points, different time ranges. The result did not change. The system showed that Shockwave had been escorted to detention, then the record simply ended. Thundercracker frowned. “Can someone erase Senate logs?” Starscream looked at the screen. “Yes.” A pause. “But not without authorization.” Skywarp leaned against the wall. “So whoever grabbed him had the keys to the system.” Starscream’s gaze shifted slowly toward the direction of the Senate chamber. Shockwave had not simply been removed from the debate. He had been removed from the record. Starscream shut down the terminal. Thundercracker crossed his arms. “So what now?” Starscream was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “For the moment… nothing.” Skywarp blinked. “That’s not very satisfying.” Starscream turned away from the console. “Which means whoever did this believes the matter is finished.” He looked down the corridor. “They are mistaken.” When Starscream and Thundercracker returned to the visitors’ gallery, the debate was still ongoing. The chamber had grown louder since they had left. Several platforms flickered as senators requested recognition from the Speaker. At the center of the chamber, the Vosian senator remained standing. “…and I repeat the question,” he said, his voice carrying upward through the chamber. “If the Senate insists that Vos must land, then I ask again—where do you intend to place an entire torus city-state?” A few senators nodded politely. Others ignored him entirely. Starscream stood very still at the balcony rail. Shockwave’s platform remained empty. Thundercracker noticed it too. “They didn’t even bother replacing him.” Starscream did not answer. His attention moved across the chamber carefully, systematically. He watched the senators now the way he would study a complex machine: who spoke, who remained silent, who avoided looking at the Tarn platform. Then something shifted at the edge of his vision. Starscream turned his head slightly. A figure stood near one of the lower access corridors beneath the balcony level. Tall. Still. Watching the chamber. The mech’s armor was deep blue, marked with lighter panels that caught the chamber lighting in quiet reflections. Starscream frowned slightly. He had seen that figure before. In the corridor. During their search for Shockwave. For a moment, the mech looked upward. Their optics met. Then the figure stepped back into the corridor. Gone. Thundercracker noticed the movement. “What?” Starscream looked back toward the chamber. “…Nothing.” But the thought stayed with him. Whoever that mech was, he had now appeared twice. And both times near the disappearance of Shockwave. Starscream turned his attention back to the floor of the chamber. The Vosian senator was still speaking, still asking the same question. Where would they put Vos? Starscream felt a flicker of irritation. The senator was not fighting. He was stalling. The difference mattered. A true representative of the aerial caste would not be asking only logistical questions. He would be challenging the proposal itself. No self-respecting Seeker wanted Vos on the ground. Starscream’s gaze moved across the chamber again. He knew the rules of Senate procedure. A senator could be formally challenged for conduct unbecoming their office, or for failing to represent the interests of the state they claimed to serve. Starscream looked down at the senator speaking below. The Vosian senator had allowed Ratbat to control the debate. He had allowed Sentinel to silence Shockwave. And now he stood there asking the same harmless question while the Senate prepared to ground an entire city. Starscream’s wings shifted slightly behind him. Thundercracker glanced sideways. “What are you thinking?” Starscream did not look away from the chamber floor. “I am considering Senate procedure.” Thundercracker blinked. “Oh no.” Starscream leaned slightly forward against the rail. “If the senator from Vos will not defend his own city…” His optics narrowed. “…then someone should.” Ratbat’s platform illuminated again. The Kaonian senator stepped forward, wings folding neatly behind him as he addressed the chamber. “If the Senate insists upon relocating Vos, then perhaps the solution is simpler than we have considered.” Several senators leaned forward. Ratbat gestured toward a projection of Cybertron that appeared above the chamber floor. The southern hemisphere rotated slowly into view. “The southern polar region of Cybertron remains sparsely populated,” Ratbat said. Starscream’s optics narrowed. “The citizens of Vos possess natural flight capability. Relocation to a polar region would therefore present minimal inconvenience.” A murmur moved through the chamber. Thundercracker stiffened beside Starscream. “You’ve got to be kidding.” Starscream did not move. The insult was obvious. The southern polar region was not merely distant. It was isolated from nearly every major Cybertronian power route, far from the aerial lanes Vos had built its culture around, far from the research corridors, far from the trade paths, far from the high-altitude traffic systems that made the city what it was. It was the farthest edge of relevance, dressed in polite cartography. Minimal inconvenience. Ratbat had said it as if Vos were a set of movable platforms and not a people. Starscream’s fingers tightened around the balcony rail. Ratbat smiled faintly. “The city could be grounded safely upon the polar surface. Transportation concerns would be… negligible.” Starscream felt the irritation hit him like a surge of static. Negligible. The Vosian senator—Altivus—remained standing at his platform. He said nothing. Starscream waited. Altivus merely inclined his head slightly, as though considering the suggestion. Thundercracker leaned closer. “Is he serious?” Starscream did not answer. He was watching the senator, waiting for the objection, waiting for the defense of the city. It did not come. Altivus simply stood there. Starscream straightened. Below them, Sentinel prepared to recognize the next speaker. Starscream’s voice cut through the gallery. “Speaker.” The word carried farther than Thundercracker expected. Several senators looked upward. Sentinel’s optics shifted toward the balcony. Starscream did not hesitate. “I invoke procedural challenge.” The chamber grew noticeably quieter. Thundercracker slowly turned toward him. “Oh, you did not just do that.” Starscream continued, voice steady. “The senator from Vos—Altivus—has failed to present the position of his constituency.” A ripple of conversation moved through the chamber. “No self-respecting member of the aerial caste would accept the grounding of Vos without opposition.” He looked directly at the senator below. “If Senator Altivus will not defend the city he represents…” Starscream’s wings shifted slightly behind him. “…then his authority to speak for Vos should be questioned.” Silence fell across the chamber. Not the soft silence of attention. The procedural silence of machinery forced to stop. The chamber systems recognized the invocation. Platform lights shifted from debate sequence into challenge protocol. A thin, formal tone rang once through the amphitheater, cold and unmistakable. Sentinel’s expression hardened. Ratbat’s faint smile widened. Thundercracker leaned back slightly. “Well,” he murmured. “That should get their attention.” Far below, Senator Altivus finally looked up.