The war room remained quietly active.
Data streams shifted across the central projection table while Soundwave monitored communications traffic from Kaon’s industrial sectors. His red visor remained fixed on the incoming signal flow, still and unreadable, while his cassette units moved through the chamber with practiced efficiency. Each carried out a small task that kept the operation running smoothly: signal routing, data transfer, sensor monitoring, physical relays where direct connection would have slowed the system.
Starscream continued studying the room.
The infrastructure. The coordination. The layered systems of information and movement.
This was not the work of a single gladiator.
It was the foundation of something much larger.
Thundercracker leaned toward him slightly. “Megatron isn’t improvising.”
Starscream shook his head faintly. “No.”
Before he could say more, the reinforced door behind them opened again. Heavy footsteps entered the chamber, steady and unmistakable.
Megatron stepped inside.
The room shifted almost immediately. The builders had presence. Soundwave had control. Shockwave had logic. But Megatron had gravity. Everything in the room seemed to center on him as he crossed toward the command table, his red optics moving once over the space as if confirming every system was where he expected it to be.
Behind him came three smaller mechs.
Starscream noticed them immediately. They moved together with practiced coordination, their frames slimmer than most Cybertronians in the room. Each had a distinctive optical lens mounted across the upper section of his frame, one large central lens built for recording and observation. The three separated near one of the auxiliary data stations and began connecting compact recording modules into the network ports along the console.
One adjusted a sensor node. Another extended a recording arm. The third aligned the large optical lens across his upper frame, focusing it toward the center of the room.
Starscream tilted his head slightly. “Observers.”
Thundercracker followed his gaze, optics narrowing. “Not just observers.”
Starscream said nothing for a moment. Soundwave’s cassette units already moved throughout the chamber, monitoring signals, transferring data, maintaining the communications network. Audio. Signal traffic. Information flowing constantly.
Now the three new arrivals were calibrating optical equipment, scanning the room with precise mechanical movements.
Thundercracker leaned slightly closer. “I saw them at the arena. They were recording there too.”
Starscream nodded once. “Visual surveillance.”
Skywarp tilted his head. “Well. That’s comforting.”
Starscream allowed the faintest hint of a smile. “No. It’s efficient.”
Megatron glanced briefly toward the three mechs as they finished synchronizing their equipment. “Reflector.”
The central unit adjusted his lens slightly in acknowledgment. His two companions continued their calibration without pause.
Starscream recognized the structure immediately.
Three bodies.
One function.
Thundercracker muttered quietly, “So they record everything.”
“Yes,” Starscream said.
He glanced once toward Soundwave, then back toward Reflector. Audio and signal monitoring from one side of the room. Visual surveillance from the other. Cassettes moving through the chamber like the inner mechanisms of a machine. Reflector capturing what Soundwave did not need to hear.
Starscream folded his arms slowly.
Megatron was not just building an army.
He was building a system that could see and hear everything happening across Cybertron.
Starscream allowed himself a small, approving smile.
Yes.
That was the kind of system that won wars.
Megatron did not allow him long to admire it.
“Starscream.”
The name cut cleanly through the quiet of the room.
Starscream turned toward him.
Megatron stood at the central command table, one hand resting on the edge of the tactical projection as Cybertron’s map rotated slowly beneath it. “You have seen enough.”
Starscream stepped forward slightly.
“I did not bring you here to observe,” Megatron continued.
Thundercracker folded his arms, watching the exchange carefully. Skywarp leaned against one of the consoles, his grin still present but quieter now, attention sharpened by the weight in Megatron’s voice.
Megatron’s red optics fixed on Starscream. “I brought you here because collaboration is now the logical step.”
Shockwave’s single yellow optic flickered faintly at the word.
Starscream tilted his head slightly. “You assume that decision has already been made.”
“Yes,” Megatron said without hesitation.
The answer hung in the room.
Starscream studied him. “You’re confident.”
Megatron gestured toward the tactical display. “I would not have revealed this operation if I believed otherwise.”
Starscream glanced briefly around the chamber again. Soundwave coordinating communications. Reflector’s trio aligning their optical systems. Shockwave managing strategic data. The builders somewhere deeper within the base, assembling infrastructure that could appear and vanish faster than Sentinel could react.
Megatron turned slightly, facing him directly now. “You have already concluded that the Senate will fall.”
Starscream did not deny it.
“You have begun organizing the Seekers.”
Thundercracker raised an optic at that.
Megatron’s gaze remained steady. “And you brought your trine here tonight.”
Skywarp’s grin returned faintly, but he did not interrupt.
“You are already preparing for the world that follows the Senate,” Megatron finished.
The statement was not a challenge.
It was an observation.
Starscream folded his arms slowly. “You’re assuming I intend to stand on your side when that world arrives.”
Megatron shook his head once. “No.” He leaned slightly over the command table. “I am assuming you intend to stand on the winning side.”
The room fell quiet again.
Thundercracker looked between them. Skywarp’s expression sharpened with interest, but this time he made no joke.
Starscream held Megatron’s gaze for several seconds.
Then he nodded once. “That is a reasonable assumption.”
The tactical display between them continued rotating slowly, cities and industrial routes sliding across the projection as if the planet itself were being measured for war. Starscream let the silence sit for a moment, then asked the question that mattered.
“If I am to be Air Commander…”
Megatron waited.
Starscream finished the thought. “…who do I report to?”
Thundercracker glanced sideways at him. Skywarp’s grin faded into something more serious.
The question was not about ego.
It was about structure.
Megatron did not hesitate. “To me.”
Starscream nodded once. “Directly.”
“Yes.”
Starscream considered that for a moment. “No intermediary command.”
Shockwave spoke quietly from one of the data consoles. “Efficient command structures minimize delay.”
Megatron continued. “The skies require rapid response.”
Starscream folded his arms behind his back. “That would make the Seekers a separate command branch.”
Megatron nodded. “Yes.”
Starscream glanced briefly toward Soundwave at the communications console. “And intelligence?”
Soundwave’s red visor remained fixed on the data flow, but Starscream knew he was listening.
Megatron answered the unspoken question. “Soundwave gathers information.”
Starscream nodded slowly. “Shockwave provides strategic analysis.”
Shockwave did not object.
Starscream looked back at Megatron. “And the skies.”
“Will be yours,” Megatron said.
Skywarp exhaled softly. “That escalated quickly.”
Thundercracker’s voice was quiet, serious. “No. It didn’t.”
Starscream did not look at either of them. His optics remained fixed on Megatron while the implications settled into place. Industrial cities. Energon routes. Transport lanes. All of it depended on movement, and movement could be controlled from the air.
“There is one more matter,” Starscream said.
Megatron waited.
Starscream gestured slightly upward. “Vos.”
Megatron nodded once. “It remains yours.”
Starscream’s optics narrowed slightly. “That city was almost grounded by the Senate.”
“The Senate will not be in a position to repeat that mistake.”
The room fell quiet again.
Starscream considered the answer. It was not reassurance. It was not a promise dressed in sentiment. It was a strategic statement. Megatron did not intend to protect Vos by pleading for it.
He intended to remove the system that had threatened it.
Starscream gave a slow nod. “That arrangement requires consideration.”
Megatron’s expression did not change. “Then consider quickly.”
Thundercracker’s arms remained folded, his expression controlled but intent. Skywarp, for once, did not fill the silence with humor.
Starscream looked back at the map of Cybertron rotating across the war table. He had not accepted. Not formally. Not yet. But the structure had been named now, and once a structure existed, it could be measured.
Direct command under Megatron.
Soundwave as intelligence.
Shockwave as analysis.
Reflector as visual record.
The builders as infrastructure.
The Seekers as the skies.
Starscream’s optics narrowed slightly.
A command structure.
Before the conversation could go further, movement caught his attention. Shockwave had stepped away from the central consoles and was organizing several data wafers into a small portable unit. The purple and silver mech worked with quiet precision, his single optic scanning the information one last time before he sealed the case.
Starscream watched him for a moment. “You’re leaving.”
Shockwave did not look up immediately. “Affirmative.”
Thundercracker glanced over. “Already?”
“A scheduled experiment requires my presence.”
Skywarp tilted his head. “Experiment?”
Starscream’s optics narrowed slightly. “The builders.”
Shockwave turned toward them. “Correct.”
Starscream had noticed their absence. The green-and-purple team had been present earlier during the arena operations. Now the war room held only command staff, communications, surveillance, and strategic planning.
“What are you attempting?” Starscream asked.
“The integration protocol.”
Starscream recognized the phrasing immediately.
The comment he had made earlier returned to him.
Imagine if the six of you were one machine.
Starscream folded his arms. “You completed the system.”
Shockwave nodded once. “Yes.”
Thundercracker frowned slightly. “Completed?”
“The Nexus interface has been implemented.”
Starscream studied him carefully. “But not tested.”
Shockwave’s optic flickered faintly. “Correct.”
Skywarp chuckled. “That sounds like a good reason to test it.”
Shockwave lifted the data unit. “The builders are currently preparing for the initial attempt.”
Starscream tilted his head slightly. “You’re confident.”
“Confidence is not relevant.”
Starscream almost smiled. “Of course not.”
Shockwave moved toward the exit corridor. “I will accompany them.”
Megatron spoke without turning from the war table. “Proceed.”
Shockwave inclined his head once and continued toward the door.
Starscream watched him go. The earlier conversation still turned in his processor. The idea had been casual when he’d said it, an offhand remark while watching the builders work.
Imagine if the six of you were one machine.
Now Shockwave had built something around it.
Thundercracker shifted slightly beside him. “That sounds… dangerous.”
Skywarp grinned. “That sounds fun.”
Starscream said nothing. He was still watching the corridor where Shockwave had disappeared when Megatron spoke again.
“Starscream.”
He turned.
Megatron stood at the war table, red optics steady. “I trust your curiosity.”
Starscream tilted his head slightly.
“As well as your scientific background,” Megatron continued.
Starscream understood immediately.
Megatron gestured toward the same corridor Shockwave had taken. “Go.”
Thundercracker glanced between them.
Megatron finished calmly. “See what we have in mind.”
The scientist in Starscream was already interested. The strategist in him understood something else as well. Megatron would not have sent him if this experiment were unimportant.
Starscream nodded once. “Very well.”
Thundercracker pushed himself off the console. “Well. If we’re going to watch something explode, we should probably be there.”
Skywarp laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely not missing this.”
Starscream moved toward the exit corridor, and the three Seekers followed the same path Shockwave had taken deeper into the base.
Behind them, the war room continued operating without pause. Soundwave monitored communications. Reflector’s trio adjusted their recording optics. Ratbat remained perched silently above the chamber.
And at the center of it all, Megatron watched the map of Cybertron rotate slowly beneath the command table.
Soon, he suspected, the planet would see something entirely new.
And tonight, Starscream would be among the first to witness it.