Starscream: Rise of the Air Commander
Chapter 26: Engine Three
A month after Polyhex, Vos still moved through the upper atmosphere as if nothing on Cybertron had changed.
Starscream stood along the command platform, watching the flight corridors while Seeker patrol wings rotated through their positions. From above, the city looked as it always had: clean lines of towers suspended in the sky, aerial lanes busy with traffic, refinery vapor drifting past the outer rings. Normal, or close enough to appear that way to anyone who did not know what the tactical map behind him showed.
Kaon. Tarn. Polyhex.
Three major cities now under Megatron’s control.
Which meant the question had become simple.
Which one came next?
Thundercracker worked the operations console behind him while Skywarp leaned against the railing, watching the incoming patrols with idle interest. Starscream studied the tactical map of Cybertron turning slowly across the display, considering the lines of movement between industrial territories, defense corridors, and Autobot response routes.
He was still considering it when the alarm sounded.
It cut sharply across the command chamber, not a defense alert, but engineering.
Thundercracker straightened immediately. “That’s not airspace.”
Starscream turned as the console flashed red across one of the structural systems. Skywarp pushed himself off the railing. “What now?”
Thundercracker read the display quickly, and his expression tightened. “That’s one of the lift engines.”
Starscream’s red optics narrowed. Vos remained in the sky because of the massive propulsion systems embedded throughout the lower structure of the city. Without them, the aerial metropolis could not maintain altitude.
Thundercracker looked back at him. “Engine Three just dropped output.”
The alarm sounded again.
Starscream moved toward the console. “How bad?”
“Bad enough to trigger a stability warning.”
Outside the command windows, sky traffic continued normally, the citizens of Vos unaware anything had changed. Starscream stared at the readout for a moment. If a lift engine failed, Vos did not simply drift lower.
It fell.
Starscream opened a direct channel. “Engineering.”
The reply came immediately, nearly swallowed by noise in the background. “Command?”
Starscream’s voice remained calm. “Explain why my city is losing lift.”
The answer came back through the channel with the sound of chaos behind it. “There was an explosion. We have a fire in the engine housing.”
Starscream went still for only a fraction of a second.
Thundercracker looked up from the console.
Starscream cut through the delay. “I’m coming down.” He closed the channel and turned. “Thundercracker, hold the air rotations.”
Thundercracker nodded and immediately returned to the console. “Understood.”
Skywarp pushed off the railing. “I’m coming.”
Starscream did not argue.
They moved quickly through the command corridors toward the lower levels of the city where the lift engines were housed. The deeper sections of Vos were louder than the command deck. Maintenance teams were already moving through the passageways, emergency lights flashing along the walls as fire suppression systems began activating. The whole lower structure vibrated with an uneven resonance, not yet failure, but no longer stable.
The smell of burned metal hit them before they reached the chamber.
Starscream stepped through the blast doors into the engine control bay. Engine Three filled the cavernous space beneath the city, its massive stabilizers glowing unevenly while repair crews worked around the damaged housing. A section of the outer plating had been blown outward, leaving scorch marks along the surrounding structure. Fires still burned in several places where energon lines had ruptured.
The chief engineer hurried toward him. “We’ve got it contained.”
Starscream looked past him toward the damage. “What happened?”
The engineer shook his head. “We don’t know.” He gestured toward the engine housing. “None of us saw anything. None of us heard anything before the blast.”
Starscream studied the pattern across the engine casing.
The lift engines were old. Everyone on Vos knew that. They required constant maintenance, and occasional failures were expected.
But not like this.
This had been violent. Too violent.
Behind him, Skywarp watched the engineers move around the damaged structure, his usual amusement gone.
Starscream finally spoke. “You’re telling me a critical lift engine exploded, and no one saw what caused it.”
The engineer hesitated. “That’s correct.”
Starscream’s optics narrowed slightly.
The engines were old. Yes. Prone to failure. Yes.
But this was wrong.
Before he could say anything else, another alarm sounded.
Thundercracker’s voice came across the command channel. “Starscream.”
Starscream opened the link immediately. “What is it?”
Thundercracker did not hesitate. “Engine Five just dropped output.”
Silence filled the engine chamber.
Starscream slowly looked up toward the massive machinery above them.
Two engines.
Minutes apart.
This was no accident.
Starscream watched the burning engine for only a moment more, then opened a command channel. “Thundercracker.”
The reply came immediately. “Go.”
“Contact command,” Starscream said, voice tight but controlled. “Inform Megatron we have multiple engine failures. Possible sabotage.”
Thundercracker did not question it. “Understood.”
Starscream turned back toward the engineers. “Evacuate the lower deck. I want everyone—”
The explosion cut him off.
This one was massive.
The entire chamber lurched violently as a detonation thundered through the structure beneath them. The floor dropped for a split second, and emergency lights flickered hard enough to turn the whole engine bay into fragments of red and shadow.
Engine Six.
Skywarp grabbed the railing beside him. “That one wasn’t small!”
Starscream did not answer. He was already moving toward the open viewport along the chamber wall. Smoke and debris were pouring upward through the lower maintenance shaft.
Then something enormous shifted.
A deep metallic groan echoed through the structure.
Starscream’s optics widened slightly.
Engine Five was tearing loose.
The stabilizer frame cracked as the damaged engine assembly gave way entirely, ripping free from the mounting structure. For a moment, the massive machinery hung suspended beneath the city.
Then it fell.
The engine dropped away from Vos, vanishing into the clouds below. Two engineers were pulled with it, tumbling after the collapsing machinery before their flight systems caught. Skywarp leaned over the edge, tracking them. “They’re flying!”
Below, the engineers stabilized themselves midair and veered away from the falling engine mass.
Starscream barely registered it.
He was staring at the engine readouts.
Engine Three—offline.
Engine Five—gone.
Engine Six—destroyed.
Vos required at least six of its eight lift engines to maintain stable flight.
The entire city trembled again.
For the first time since returning to Vos, Starscream realized the unthinkable.
Vos might not stay in the sky.
Before he could issue another command, the alarm changed. A new tone cut across the chamber.
Security.
Thundercracker’s voice came sharply through the comm. “Starscream—Engine Six just flagged an intruder!”
Starscream turned immediately toward the secondary display monitoring the adjacent engine housing. The camera feed flickered once through smoke and emergency lighting, then stabilized.
An engineer’s voice shouted over the channel. “There!”
A figure appeared in the frame, dark against the firelight, moving fast across the maintenance structure. Not an engineer. Not security.
The mech sprinted straight toward the open intake housing of Engine Six.
Starscream stepped closer to the screen. “Stop him!”
But the figure never slowed.
One of the engineers tried to intercept him.
Too late.
The intruder leapt straight into the engine intake.
For a fraction of a second, the chamber was silent.
Then the explosion ripped through the structure.
Engine Six detonated from within. The blast tore through the stabilizer assembly and blew outward across the housing, shredding half the surrounding framework. The entire city lurched violently.
Skywarp braced against the railing. “That one’s gone!”
Starscream was already looking at the readouts.
Engine Three—offline.
Engine Five—gone.
Engine Six—destroyed.
Three engines.
Vos required six of eight to maintain stable lift.
The numbers updated across the display.
Lift capacity collapsing.
Altitude dropping.
There would be no repairing Engine Six in time. No stabilizing the system. The alarms throughout the city changed again, a deeper warning tone echoing through the structure as gravity compensators strained and the massive aerial city began to descend.
Skywarp looked out through the opening in the chamber wall. “Starscream…”
The clouds below Vos were rising.
The city was falling.
Starscream forced the thought aside and opened the command channel. “Thundercracker.”
“I see it.”
“Throttle the remaining engines,” Starscream ordered. “Reduce lift evenly across the system. If we can’t hold altitude, we control the descent.”
Thundercracker did not argue. “Understood.”
Across the systems of Vos, the remaining engines began shifting output, their stabilizers adjusting to slow the collapse of lift. For a moment, the descent steadied.
Not stopped.
But steadied.
Starscream watched the readouts.
Altitude still dropping.
Skywarp looked through the opening toward the clouds below. “That’s not slowing it much.”
Starscream knew.
The remaining engines were already straining beyond safe limits just to keep the city from breaking apart. Another tremor rolled through the structure as the massive aerial city continued to sink through the sky.
Thundercracker’s voice came back across the channel. “We’re losing more lift.”
Starscream stared at the numbers. Even throttled down, the engines could not compensate for the loss of three. Vos was too large. Too heavy. The descent was accelerating.
Around them, the emergency network began broadcasting warnings. Civilian traffic filled the aerial lanes as residents realized something was terribly wrong.
Skywarp turned back toward him. “We’re running out of options.”
Starscream knew that too.
There was only one order left to give.
The one he had never imagined speaking.
He opened the command channel to the entire city.
For a moment, he hesitated.
Then Starscream made the decision.
“Evacuation.”
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the city heard him.
The emergency network lit up across Vos as evacuation alarms echoed through every district. Warning lights flared along the towers while automated systems opened the aerial corridors for emergency traffic. The calm skyline Starscream had watched only minutes earlier vanished.
Now it was chaos.
Civilian flyers launched from platforms across the city. Cargo carriers tore away from docking rings. Maintenance crews abandoned the lower decks and rushed toward the upper flight lanes. Starscream watched traffic explode across the airspace around Vos.
Skywarp stared out through the opening in the engine chamber. “That’s a lot of people.”
Thundercracker’s voice came across the command channel. “Evacuation network is active. Civilian lanes are open.”
Starscream looked between the two members of his trine. “We need to get everyone out.”
Thundercracker answered immediately. “I’ll control the flight lanes.”
Skywarp nodded. “I'll start moving people.”
Starscream turned back toward the engine chamber. Below them, the clouds were getting closer.
Vos continued to sink through the sky.
A new signal cut into the command network.
Thundercracker’s voice sharpened. “Megatron has the alert. Soundwave is routing support.”
A second later, another channel opened.
Soundwave’s voice came through calm and exact, the steadiness of it almost unreal against the chaos filling the engine bay. “Laserbeak and Buzzsaw dispatched. Evacuation assistance: in progress.”
Starscream’s jaw tightened. “Acknowledged.”
The channel closed.
Skywarp vanished in a flash of violet light. “I’ll start clearing the upper platforms.”
Starscream turned from the engine chamber and moved back into the corridor at a run. “Thundercracker, get to command.”
“I’m already on my way.”
Engineers and technicians rushed in the opposite direction, heading for evacuation corridors while emergency lights strobed along the walls. The whole structure vibrated beneath Starscream’s feet.
Vos was still losing altitude.
By the time he reached the command chamber, Thundercracker was already at the primary console trying to stabilize the engine network. The tactical display had changed completely. Instead of patrol wings and city traffic, the screens now showed structural stress warnings and altitude loss across the city’s frame.
Starscream stepped up beside him. “Status.”
Thundercracker did not look up. “Three engines gone.”
“I know.”
“The remaining ones can’t hold lift.”
Starscream studied the descent readout.
Altitude was dropping faster now.
“Redirect power.”
Thundercracker glanced over. “To what?”
Starscream pointed to the engine network display. “Stabilizers and guidance thrusters.”
Thundercracker understood immediately. “You’re trying to steer it.”
“Yes.”
Starscream’s optics fixed on the terrain grid now appearing on the lower display.
If Vos was going down, it was not going to crash blindly.
Thundercracker began rerouting the power grid. Across the underside of the city, the remaining thrusters shifted output, their angles changing as Starscream tried to balance the enormous structure.
The city rocked again.
Skywarp reappeared on the platform. “Evacuation lanes are filling fast. Buzzsaw and Laserbeak are cutting through the jams near the upper rings.”
“Keep them moving,” Starscream said.
He leaned over the console, adjusting the descent vector while the terrain map expanded below.
They needed somewhere open.
Somewhere large enough.
Starscream pointed to a wide stretch of uninhabited ground outside the major cities.
“There.”
Thundercracker adjusted the thrusters. “You think we can make it?”
Starscream watched the altitude drop again.
“We’re going to try.”