Starscream: Rise of the Air Commander

The silence in the chamber lasted only a moment before the Senate erupted. Platforms flickered across the amphitheater as senators demanded recognition, their voices overlapping in a rising storm of argument. “A citizen cannot invoke challenge—” one called. “This is a violation of Senate procedure—” another protested. Somewhere else, a sharper voice cut through with, “The point stands—” Sentinel struck the central console once. The sound echoed sharply through the chamber. “Order.” The chamber did not quiet. He struck the console again, harder, and this time his command carried across the entire amphitheater, amplified by the chamber’s systems. “Order.” Slowly, the noise subsided. Starscream remained standing at the rail of the visitors’ gallery while Sentinel’s optics lifted toward him. For several seconds, the Speaker of the Senate simply studied him, and Starscream did not look away. “The gallery will remain silent during Senate proceedings,” Sentinel said at last. “I invoked procedural challenge,” Starscream answered immediately. A ripple moved through the chamber again, but Sentinel’s voice remained controlled. “Procedural challenge may only be issued by a sitting senator.” “The senator from Vos has declined to represent the position of his constituency,” Starscream said without hesitation. Several platforms flickered again as senators reacted, and beside him Thundercracker shifted slightly. Starscream continued before the chamber could swallow the point. “The people of Vos are not represented in this debate.” Sentinel watched him carefully. Below them, Ratbat’s wings shifted slightly as he observed the exchange. The Kaonian senator said nothing, but the stillness of him was not passive. It was calculation. Sentinel raised one hand, and the chamber quieted again. “Senator Altivus.” The Vosian senator looked up. “You have been challenged,” Sentinel said, his voice carrying clearly through the chamber. Altivus hesitated only briefly before stepping forward from his platform. Starscream watched him closely. This was the moment that mattered. Altivus could defend Vos. He could reject Ratbat’s proposal. He could call the southern polar relocation what it was—an insult dressed in administrative language. He could fight. Instead, the senator inclined his head calmly. “The suggestion from the senator of Kaon deserves consideration.” A wave of disbelief rolled through the gallery. Thundercracker muttered under his breath, “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.” Starscream did not move. He had just received his answer. Ratbat’s faint smile widened. Across the chamber, Sentinel watched the reaction spread through the Senate before he spoke again. “If the citizens of Vos believe their interests are not represented by Senator Altivus…” His gaze lifted toward Starscream once more. “…then the proper remedy is election.” The chamber fell silent. Sentinel turned back toward the assembly. “Until such time, Senator Altivus speaks for Vos.” Starscream’s wings shifted slowly behind him. The message was clear. The Senate would not solve this problem. It would not save Vos from a bought representative. It would not reject an insult unless forced. It would allow Altivus to stand there, silent and polished, while Ratbat and Sentinel discussed grounding an aerial city as if it were a budget line and not a people. The silence in the chamber lingered after Sentinel’s ruling. Then Starscream spoke again. “Then I call for a vote.” The words cut across the gallery like a blade. Thundercracker turned his head slowly, but Starscream continued before anyone else could interrupt. “Senate procedural statute seventy-two.” A few senators immediately looked toward their consoles. Starscream’s voice remained calm. “If a constituency’s representation is formally challenged in chamber, the Speaker may authorize a confirmation vote. I request that vote be scheduled immediately.” Sentinel studied him. The chamber waited. Starscream did not look away. He knew the rule. More importantly, Sentinel knew he knew the rule. “The citizens of Vos will confirm whether Senator Altivus represents them,” Starscream finished. A long pause followed. Ratbat’s optics narrowed slightly, and several senators began speaking quietly among themselves. Thundercracker leaned closer. “You’re serious.” Starscream did not look at him. “Yes.” Sentinel finally spoke. “The procedural challenge has been acknowledged.” A flicker of reaction moved through the chamber, but Sentinel’s gaze remained on Starscream. “Under Senate statute, the constituency of Vos will be granted one cycle to confirm their representation. If a majority of Vos citizens support Senator Altivus, the challenge will be dismissed.” Thundercracker blinked. Starscream remained perfectly still. “But if they do not…” Sentinel’s gaze shifted briefly toward Altivus. “…Vos will elect a new senator.” The chamber stirred again. Starscream spoke once more. “You have one week.” Now the chamber erupted again. Thundercracker stared at him. “You realize what you just did.” Starscream finally looked down toward the Senate floor. Yes. He did. Because if Vos rejected Altivus, someone else would have to represent the city, and Starscream had no intention of letting that someone be another mech willing to ask where the cage should be placed. The Senate chamber was still arguing behind them when Starscream and Thundercracker stepped back into the corridor. Thundercracker looked over at him. “You just gave yourself a week to overthrow a senator.” Starscream walked calmly beside him. “Yes.” Thundercracker waited a beat. “That was not sarcasm.” Starscream glanced toward the windows overlooking the aerial lanes of Iacon. “Altivus has already destroyed his own credibility.” “You’re assuming people noticed.” “They did.” Starscream’s voice was calm, almost analytical. “The Senate session was broadcast. The citizens of Vos watched their senator consider grounding their city.” Thundercracker raised an optic. “You’re sure about that?” Starscream nodded once. “I graduated first in my academy class.” Thundercracker smirked slightly. “You mention that a lot.” Starscream ignored him. “I served in the Science Directorate. And before my expedition, I was already known within Vos.” Thundercracker’s expression shifted slightly. “You’re planning to run.” Starscream finally looked at him. “I am planning to give the citizens of Vos a competent option.” Thundercracker studied him for a moment, then smiled slightly. “Well.” He crossed his arms. “You’ve definitely got the ego for it.” Starscream did not respond to that. Instead, he looked toward the distant sky beyond the Senate complex. Vos still floated there. Still free. And in one week, the city would decide who spoke for it. The debate in the Senate continued behind them. Starscream no longer cared. By the time he and Thundercracker reached the transport platform outside the Senate complex, the decision had already been made. Thundercracker leaned against the railing and asked, “So we’re not looking for Shockwave anymore?” Starscream shook his head slightly. “Not directly.” “That doesn’t sit well with me.” “If Shockwave has been removed from the Senate system, we will not find him by wandering through corridors.” Thundercracker crossed his arms. “So what’s the plan?” “We win.” Thundercracker stared at him. “You make that sound simple.” Starscream turned toward the flight platform. “I graduated first in the Vos Flight Academy.” Thundercracker groaned quietly. “Yes, you’ve mentioned.” “My work in the Science Directorate is already known within the city,” Starscream continued as he stepped onto the launch platform. “And Altivus has just demonstrated in front of the entire Senate that he will not defend Vos.” Thundercracker followed him. “So your campaign speech is basically ‘I’m smarter than the other guy.’” Starscream spread his wings. “In more diplomatic language.” “I hope so.” Starscream looked toward the distant horizon where Vos floated high above Cybertron’s surface. “For the moment, Shockwave’s disappearance will remain unanswered.” His engines began to power up. “But once I hold the Senate seat…” Thundercracker’s wings shifted. “…then you start asking questions.” Starscream nodded once. “Yes.” A brief pause followed. Then Thundercracker smiled slightly and spread his wings. “Well. Let’s go win an election.” Both Seekers launched from the platform together, streaking upward into the open sky toward the floating city of Vos. Starscream arrived in Vos less than an hour later. The city was alive with movement, aerial traffic flowing through the open sky lanes between the towering structures. Hundreds of Seekers moved through the air in disciplined patterns that had defined Vos for millions of cycles. Starscream slowed as he approached the central communications tower. Thundercracker pulled alongside him. “You really want to do this?” Starscream did not hesitate. “Yes.” They landed on the broadcast platform, and the technicians inside recognized him immediately. A few murmurs spread through the room. “Starscream?” “I thought he was off-world—” “Is that from the Senate feed?” Starscream ignored the whispers. “I require access to the public broadcast network.” The technicians glanced at one another. One of them looked as if he wanted to ask for authorization, but Thundercracker leaned slightly toward them. “You probably want to do that.” A moment later, the transmission systems activated. Across Vos, screens and audio relays flickered to life. Starscream stepped forward. The city watched. “My fellow citizens of Vos,” he began. Aerial traffic slowed as pilots listened. “The Senate of Cybertron is debating whether our city should be grounded.” A ripple of reaction moved through the sky lanes, but Starscream continued. “Our current senator, Altivus, has chosen to ask where Vos should be placed.” He paused. “That is the wrong question.” Starscream spread his wings behind him. “Vos was not built to sit on the surface of Cybertron. It was built to fly.” Several flyers in the distance changed course, circling closer to the broadcast tower. “No self-respecting citizen of Vos would accept the grounding of this city,” Starscream said, optics burning with conviction. He looked directly into the broadcast camera. “And neither will I.” A brief pause followed. “In one week, the citizens of Vos will confirm whether Senator Altivus truly represents them. If you believe Vos belongs in the sky…” His wings shifts slightly. “Then vote for someone who will keep it there.” The transmission ended. For several seconds, the broadcast tower remained silent. Then Thundercracker slowly smiled and folded his arms. “Well. That should get their attention.” Starscream stepped away from the console. Yes. It would. The broadcasts continued throughout Vos over the following cycles, but Starscream did not repeat the same speech. Instead, he moved through the city: landing platforms, industrial towers, medical facilities, training academies. Everywhere he went, he spoke directly to the citizens of Vos, and the message was always clear. Vos was built to fly. The words spread quickly, but Starscream did not stop there. At the medical towers, he spoke with technicians and repair specialists. At the transport yards, he spoke with cargo flyers and navigation crews. At the engineering towers, he met with maintenance teams responsible for the stabilizers that kept the city aloft. The same complaint surfaced again and again. Kaon paid better. Starscream listened. That mattered more than some expected. He did not listen with sympathy softened into uselessness. He listened like a scientist cataloging evidence and like a commander learning the load limits of his own force. Pay scales. Replacement delays. Stabilizer crews working double shifts because trained mechanics were being pulled toward industrial cities. Medics expected to maintain Seeker frames with equipment that was no longer being updated at the same rate as the systems they serviced. Vos was still flying, but it was being asked to do so while the Senate quietly thinned the systems that kept it in the air. So Starscream spoke again to the city. “The Senate claims Vos consumes too much energy,” he said through the broadcast network. “But I have spoken with the citizens who maintain this city.” He paused. “The problem is not Vos.” His optics hardened slightly. “The problem is that Vos has been ignored.” The message resonated immediately. Seekers who kept the aerial corridors operating, technicians who maintained the stabilizers, medics like Corona who kept the workforce functioning—all of them heard the same promise. Starscream spread his wings as he finished the broadcast. “If Cybertron expects Vos to serve, then Cybertron will value the people who keep it flying.” Altivus did not remain silent. Not entirely. His counter-broadcast came from a polished chamber lined with old Vosian banners, the kind of room meant to make history look like endorsement. He stood centered beneath the city seal, wings folded neatly, posture calm and dignified, his voice controlled in the practiced cadence of a mech who had spent too long speaking without saying anything dangerous. “Vos requires stability,” Altivus said. “It requires experience. It requires a representative known to the Senate, known to the procedures that govern Cybertron, and known to the city he serves.” The message repeated through official channels. Choose stability. Choose experience. Choose the name you know. It might have worked before the Senate broadcast. Before Vos had watched him consider Ratbat’s insult. Before he had failed to say the only thing the city had needed him to say. No. Starscream did not answer Altivus directly. He did not need to. Instead, he stood on an open platform above one of the stabilizer towers while maintenance crews watched from catwalks and repair rigs. “Experience is useless,” Starscream said, “when it is spent conceding.” That line traveled faster than Altivus’s entire speech. Thundercracker stood beside the broadcast console later, watching the reaction ripple through the city. “You’re not just running for senator anymore.” Starscream glanced toward the sky outside the tower. “No.” Thundercracker smirked slightly. “You’re leading a revolt.” Starscream watched the aerial lanes of Vos fill with traffic as citizens gathered near the broadcast towers. “Not a revolt.” He paused. “A correction.” The results began arriving just after the final voting window closed. Across Vos, broadcast towers lit with cascading streams of data as the city tallied the confirmation vote. Starscream stood on the upper platform of the central communications tower, Thundercracker leaned against the railing nearby, and Skywarp sat on the edge of the platform with his legs hanging over open sky. Below them, the air lanes were crowded. Hundreds of Seekers circled the tower, wings flashing in the sunlight as they waited for the result. Skywarp looked down at the gathering crowd. “Well. No pressure.” Thundercracker smirked. “You’re enjoying this too much.” Skywarp shrugged. “Hey, I voted.” Starscream said nothing. His optics remained fixed on the large display panel above the tower. The first district results appeared in a surge of numbers. Altivus: 12% Starscream: 88% Skywarp whistled. “That’s… not subtle.” Thundercracker folded arms. “First district doesn’t mean much.” More results appeared. Industrial sector. Medical towers. Training academies. The numbers continued to climb. Altivus: 9% Starscream: 91% A ripple of excitement moved through the Seekers circling the tower. Then the final districts reported, and the numbers locked into place. Altivus: 7% Starscream: 93% For a moment, the city was silent. Then the sky erupted. Seekers roared through the air lanes in celebration, dozens of flyers accelerating upward in sweeping arcs above the tower. Sonic trails braided around the spires. Flight teams broke into old academy patterns, not for ceremony, but because celebration in Vos had always belonged to the air. Skywarp laughed, stood, and clapped Starscream once on the shoulder. “Well. Congratulations, Senator Senator.” Thundercracker shook his head slowly. “That wasn’t even close.” Starscream finally looked away from the display. Across the horizon, Vos still floated high above Cybertron’s surface. Still flying. Just as it had been built to do. Starscream spread his wings slightly. “This city will remain where it belongs.” Thundercracker smiled faintly. “In the sky.” Skywarp grinned. “And now you get to go back to the Senate and ruin Ratbat’s day.” Starscream’s expression hardened slightly. Yes. And now he could begin asking questions.