Earth; September 1985

     He soared upward into the boundless blue of the sky, slicing the cool
wind with his precisely angled wings and delighting in the sensation:  he was
moving at tremendous speed, unrestrained -- and above all, he was alone.
Always faster and more maneuverable than any of the others, Starscream had
outdistanced his pursuers within minutes, and now even his remote sensors could
pick up no trace of them following him.  Engines screaming in exhilaration, he
leaned into a sequence of climbs and drop-dives, pulling up just short of
the ground and climbing again, up and up into the sparkling blue of the sky.
     The rocky ground with its patches of brush and scrub grass flashed by
underneath him in an intoxicating blur.  He streaked along the jagged
coastline, making an abrupt turn and shooting out over the endless, deep-blue
expanse of the Pacific.  A short distance out from shore, the waves rippled
just enough to catch the sun as he dipped low and skimmed along the surface.
On impulse he went into a series of rapidly spiraling rolls, so close to
the surface that his wing-tips caught the water and splashed it upward in a
corkscrew shower of glistening droplets.  Straightening again, he leaned over
so his left wing gouged a churning furrow into the surface of the sea, then
leaned to the right to repeat the maneuver.  The cool water, the warm sun, the
freedom and vastness of the sky -- it all felt wonderful.  Starscream leveled
close to the waterline and rose at a low angle, slowing to a more leisurely
pace as he turned back toward the shoreline.  The exhilaration of the chase
was fading into a relaxed satisfaction, a pleasant smugness when he thought of
the others, frantically searching for him almost half a continent away.
     Slowing his engines almost to a stall, he drifted the last few feet toward
the cliffsides and transformed amidst the jagged rocks, coming to a landing
halfway up the steeply sloping wall of the shoreline.  Above him, tufts of
rough-edged grass marked the boundary between the drop-off and the level land;
below him the waves foamed rhythmically against the boulders, slowly eating
them away over the eons.
     He found a comfortable spot in the sun and sat down, putting his feet up
on the boulder in front of him.  Leaning back, he rested his head on his
interlaced fingers and looked idly up at the sky.  He smiled to himself and
thought about how he had come out on top in Megatron's own little game.
     Over the past few days, Megatron had taunted him almost playfully with
threats of being replaced -- hinting that he would relieve Starscream of his
rank, and *she* would be Decepticon Subcommander in his place.  She.
Nightbird.  An alien mechanoid who knew nothing about the Decepticon cause, who
had been alive and conscious for only the barest amount of time, and who didn't
even speak the language -- or at least, Starscream had never heard her speak.
But either way, putting a totally inexperienced, newly-created mechanism into
the Subcommander's position would have been disastrous to the war effort, and
Starscream couldn't believe that Megatron actually entertained such thoughts.
Especially when Starscream was the best Subcommander Megatron was likely to
get.  His skill and natural talent were perhaps the only things that had
allowed him not only to hold onto his rank, but to stay alive under Megatron's
rule.  And the thought that some female could show up out of nowhere, capture
his leader's fancy, and replace him, was not only threatening but downright
degrading.
     And Megatron's relationship with Nightbird had antagonized him also.
Starscream thought of it even now with traces of resentment -- the way she had
followed Megatron around the land base like a dark, soundless shadow; how her
unflickering, intense topaz eyes had followed Megatron's every move; how
Megatron would look up from his work sometimes and meet her gaze, and smile,
and the shade of his eyes would soften ever-so-briefly as though he had
momentarily dropped his guard...Starscream had found the whole spectacle
repulsive.  He wasn't sure why he'd reacted so strongly -- Megatron had
brought home sex toys before, and Starscream had never given a damn.  But with
Nightbird it was different.  It wasn't even that she had shown Starscream up
once or twice, though of course this rankled him -- but Megatron had focused on
her with an intensity that went beyond mere physical attraction, and for some
reason Starscream found it personally offensive.  It was his anger over this
matter, more than anything else, that had triggered Starscream's reaction to
Megatron's latest threat of replacing him.  He'd attacked Megatron in the
control room, striking out with his fist and catching him off balance so the
Decepticon leader fell backward....  For a moment it had felt like triumph,
vindication.  In the next instant Starscream found himself enmeshed in an
energy-cage, trapped and abandoned as the others left the base.  He'd been
furious, and a little panicky.  He was a creature of the skies, and if there
was one thing he could not handle, it was to be restrained or enclosed.
     But he'd shown Megatron.  After he'd forced himself to think rationally
for a second, it had been no great trick to escape the cage and follow the
others to the battle site.  He'd found Nightbird, a slender, almost
delicate-looking shape silhouetted against her larger, bulkier opponents,
holding off an entire squad of Autobots on her own, while Megatron stood back
and watched her, the trace of an odd smile playing about his lips.  Well,
Starscream had ended that little scene.  A well-aimed shot at Nightbird, and
she was helpless in the Autobots' clutches.  Megatron stood frozen for an
instant as though stunned, then whirled on Starscream, his eyes flashing
scarlet fire.  Starscream grinned maliciously and leapt into the air, while
Megatron commanded his entire army away from the Autobots and after him.  Oh,
it had been delicious, those first few moments of the chase -- Starscream
dodging a barrage of missiles and laser bolts while his pursuers fell ever
farther behind.  The fact that a random shot had knocked away one of the guns
under his wings had only added to the excitement.  There was nothing quite like
surviving a close call to get the energy circulating in your fuel lines.
     Starscream smiled contentedly.  From his relaxed position on the rocks he
looked up at the sky, following the circles of a single white seagull high
above.  He would 'bum' around the planet for a day or two, until Megatron's
fury had cooled, and then would make his way gradually back towards
headquarters.  It was always the same pattern: Starscream would infuriate
Megatron and disappear for a while -- a few hours, a day at most -- and then
return like nothing had happened.  Megatron would glower at him and demand
"What the hell are you doing here?" -- "I *live* here," Starscream would
retort, and they would trade insults for a few minutes, until Megatron assigned
him some insignificant task and dropped the issue.  It had been that way the
time Starscream planted the bomb in a human scientist's lab that had almost
destroyed the planet -- the time he had toyed with Devastator's wiring and
unleashed him against Megatron -- the time he had tried to take control of the
space bridge and use it to transport all Decepticon fuel reserves to a hidden
location -- and it would be that way this time.  Although, Megatron had seemed
a little more irate this time than those other times.  Starscream thought it
wise if he took two or three days, instead of just one.  Though the truth was,
the other Decepticons had probably already stopped looking for him.  Megatron
was not one to waste huge quantities of fuel and firepower merely to prove a
point.
     The seagull that had been wheeling overhead turned sharply away from the
coast and put on a sudden burst of speed, heading for the distance.  Starscream
wondered lazily as to why -- when abruptly he jolted to full alertness at the
unmistakable sound of laser fire.  A bright beam sliced past him from above, so
close that Starscream could feel the heat.  Frantically he dove behind the
cover of the nearest large boulder, as an additional hail of bolts flashed past
him.  Peering around the edge of his boulder, he saw Skywarp on the rocks above
him, firing with both barrels.
     Starscream transferred his one remaining laser to his left arm and fired
over the top if his barricade.  Skywarp leapt back, but returned fire so
Starscream was forced to pull back.  How had Skywarp found him? Starscream
wondered with a trace of concern.  How had he gotten here so fast?
     He had his answer when the black form of Skywarp suddenly shimmered and
vanished.  Starscream quickly scanned the surroundings, finding nothing --
until the other jet materialized behind him and unleashed a barrage of laser
bolts.  Starscream scrambled for cover on the other side of his boulder as one
of the bolts singed his shoulder-plank.  "Hey!" he cried out in pain and
indignation.  "Enough already!  Get lost!"  He was obviously dealing with an
over-zealous follower of orders, who didn't know when to call off the search.
But Skywarp had always been that way.
     "Get lost nothing," Skywarp replied.  "Megatron wants you brought in."
     Starscream ducked from a renewed burst of fire.  "You're crazy!" he
shouted from behind the barricade.  "Megatron doesn't care where I am.  He just
wants me out of his face for a few days, and you know it.  That's the way it
always is."
     Ominous silence met him in return.  Cautiously Starscream peered over the
edge of the boulder.  Skywarp was not there.  Instinctively he whirled 180
degrees and fired into empty space, just as Skywarp materialized there.
Starscream's beam barely missed him.  Caught off guard, the black jet leapt for
cover.  An instant later he was firing from the other side of the rock cluster,
forcing Starscream back.  "Not *this* time, Starscream!"  Skywarp called, in
reply to Starscream's last statement.  "*This* time you've *had* it!"
     Forget this, Starscream decided, weighing his one laser gun against
Skywarp's two.  He was still faster than Skywarp, and could easily lose him.
He fired a final barrage at his opponent, causing him to draw back -- then shot
into the sky and transformed, dodging the shots that followed him.  Engines
screaming, he tore across the coastline and headed inland, toward the jagged
mountain range that rose from the flat ground in the distance.  He was aware of
Skywarp following, but the other jet was rapidly falling behind.
     Starscream had almost reached the shadow of the mountains when Skywarp
materialized at his wing-tip.  He slammed sideways into Starscream, forcing his
left wing up and sending him into a dizzying spin.  The mountainsides shot
toward Starscream as he frantically tried to pull out of the dive -- and
succeeded, an instant before he would have collided with the sheer wall of
stone.  Skywarp's engines roared above him as he, too, narrowly avoided
scraping the mountain top.  He wheeled away for another attack.
     But Starscream was among the mountains now.  Twisting and winding among
these peaks, he could apply his extraordinary flying skill to its fullest.  All
of Skywarp's teleportation powers would not help him if he couldn't find where
Starscream had gone.  Starscream dodged jagged crags of rock, circled back
through canyons and sliced through valleys so narrow that he had to fly
sideways, and was finally secure in the knowledge that he had lost his pursuer.
     More than a little shaken, he landed in a grove of scrubby conifers that
clung tenaciously to a jagged mountainside.  The sky above was still lit, but
evening shadows had begun to gather between the peaks, and it was in one of
these deep pockets of shadow, between the boulders and the conifers, that
Starscream concealed himself.  In the distance he heard Skywarp's engines as
the other jet scoured the region from above.  Starscream sat perfectly still as
the hammering of his fuel pump gradually slowed to normal.  He had *really* not
expected this!
     He jumped slightly as a triangular shape flashed into view overhead,
against the deepening bands of sunset.  But Skywarp was moving away, drawing a
white vapor trail out behind him until he was out of sight.  Still, Starscream
remained tense and motionless.  Skywarp was a sneaky bastard, and it wouldn't
hurt to remain hidden just a little while longer.  The sky between the mountain
peaks shaded into a deep red that seemed to catch the highest crags on fire,
and then gradually faded into a soft violet.  Starscream watched, listening
intently for the sound of jet engines, and hearing only the first tentative
raspings of Earthly nocturnal insects.  The first stars appeared as the sky
deepened and the temperature dropped.  Starscream stirred finally, when his
joints began to grow stiff from the cool, damp air and his tense immobility.
Still a bit cautiously he stood and stretched, scanning the shadows.  But
nothing larger than a cricket stirred among the rocks and trees, and gradually
he began to relax.
     He was also somewhat hungry, and remembered that there was a large oil
refinery just north of the mountain chain, where the Decepticons occasionally
stopped to fuel up before battle.  With a last precautionary glance at his
surroundings he hovered upwards, transformed as he cleared the treetops, and
headed north.
                              * * *

     He set a leisurely pace at a gradual climb, and eventually rose above the
mountain peaks into the deep, clear black of the sky.  There was no moon, and
the stars glittered intensely with some remote, cold fire; they seemed very
large and very close. Starscream began to enjoy himself again, although the
night wind against him was cold -- but he found it invigorating, and looked
forward to a good meal of refined oil.  The highlands were dropping down toward
more level ground, and up ahead he caught sight of the huge, bulky shape of the
refinery.  Lights strung along its fences and patrols of armed guards indicated
that the factory was on alert status -- due, no doubt, to their suffering
repeated Decepticon raids.  But Starscream was not concerned with their petty
human defenses.  Tilting his wings, he angled down toward the building,
unleashing a burst of laser bolts at the tall chain-link fence that arced over
and enclosed the entire building, even over the top.  A shower of electric
sparks from the partially-molten impact site indicated the failure of an
electrified defense system.  Starscream unleashed a missile and gouged a
respectably-sized entrance into the fence.
     The human guards broke their careful formations and scattered, though
halfway to the safety of the building they seemed to recall their training; as
one they turned and fired on Starscream with their little machine guns.  He
barely felt the bullets.  Laughing, he fired off another few laser bolts, just
to watch them run.  One that was especially brave/foolhardy, and stood his
ground, Starscream simply kicked out of his way.  He walked toward the
building's nearest entrance and began to tear the doors off their hinges.
     Over the shouting humans and the chatter of their primitive weaponry, a
new sound suddenly leapt into Starscream's consciousness -- the scream of a jet
engine!  He turned to see a shadowy triangular shape plummeting towards him,
difficult to pick out against the black sky -- but in the next instant it
released lasers, and *they* were all-too-clear.  Starscream leapt aside as the
bolts struck the refinery wall, where he'd been standing just an instant ago.
A whole section of brick and mortar crumpled inward, and Starscream dove into
the opening as Skywarp made a strafing run past the building, shooting through
the remainder of the fence.
     Taking the opportunity, Starscream leapt back out and shot off in the
opposite direction.  Skywarp wheeled and followed, but he was far too slow.
Already he was falling back.
     Starscream was getting angry now.  What was Skywarp trying to do, win
merit points with Megatron?  Starscream spun into a 180 degree turn in mid-air
and aimed himself straight at his onrushing opponent.  Even with only one
laser, he had more fighting skill than Skywarp, and his greater speed and
maneuverability would give him a definite edge.  Skywarp wanted a battle? --
well, Starscream would give him one!
     The two jets screamed toward each other in the night sky, lasers flashing
and wings tilting from side to side as they dodged each others' bolts.  Mere
seconds from head-on collision, Skywarp broke off and plunged downward.
Starscream shot past him at such speed that he had to make a wide turn, then
plunged to follow.  Skywarp was not rising to meet him now, merely trying to
gain some distance.  Starscream was not going to give it to him.  His engines
screamed as he applied an additional burst of power.
     Skywarp's cockpit opened and Starscream saw something flash silver inside,
was it gold -- it was hard to tell, in the dark, and at this distance.  But sud
denly renewed traces of laser fire angled towards him -- not from Skywarp, but
from Buzzsaw, who must have transformed from cassette mode in free-fall.  More
bolts lanced toward him from another angle, and Starscream caught sight of
Laserbeak, almost as invisible as Skywarp by night, in his red-and-black
colors.  Skywarp too was back on the attack, rising rapidly from close to
ground level.
     Starscream decided that his single laser was no match for three opponents.
Skillfully weaving himself free of their criss-crossed net of laser beams, he
tore away from them in a straight line towards the north.  Skywarp could
teleport after him, of course, but Starscream doubted he would do so without
Laserbeak and Buzzsaw for backup -- and by the time he'd gathered them up
again, Starscream would be well out of their range.
     A mixture of fear and anger mingled in him as he flew.  Why couldn't they
just leave him alone?  Why was this turning out so differently from all the
other times?  Was it possible that Megatron would *not* give up the search this
time?  The thought made him cold all over.  The Decepticon leader tended toward
explosive rages, but he forgot them fairly quickly again, too; this time was
different somehow.  Starscream tried not to dwell on the uncertainty, on the
sickening sensation that it gave him.

                              * * *

     He had burned up a lot of fuel in his battle with Skywarp, and by now he
was seriously hungry.  Looking for lights in the terrain below, he picked out a
twisting ribbon of highway and followed the trickling flow of traffic.  As
expected, the road eventually led him toward a small town with a gas station.
Starscream found the taste of gasoline barely short of disgusting -- most
Decepticons disdained it -- but it would do for now.  He transformed and landed
heavily on the smooth concrete, impatiently tearing away a piece of the
overhang that blocked him from easily reaching the gas pumps.  Unwilling to
waste any more ammo, he entirely ignored the few humans who ran from him in
terror, abandoning their cars with unlocked doors and open gas caps.
     Starscream grabbed one of the nozzles.  He poked and prodded at the pump
until he'd flipped the right switch and heard the hum of the machinery as the
pumps came on.  He regarded the nozzle with a faint grimace of disgust, but the
discomfort in his fuel tanks won out, and he put the nozzle in his mouth.
     He had not even pulled the handle to release the flow of gasoline, when a
searingly painful flash of light went off in front of him.  His optics shut
down in automatic response to the overload, and he staggered backward, losing
his grip on the handle.  Blindly he thrust out his hands, trying to ward off
some imminent attack that he couldn't see.
     "Damn you!" he gasped, bringing one hand to his eyes and pressing it
against the pain in his optics.  Dimly the outlines of his surroundings began
to take shape again.  Atop the gas pump next to the one he had grabbed, he saw
the camera, very small and unobtrusive as it sat atop the flat upper surface of
the pump -- as though some customer had forgotten it there.  "Reflector!"
Starscream snarled angrily, balling his hands to fists and swinging them down
toward the small object.  Immediately the camera split into three pieces, which
grew into robots and scattered in three different directions as Starscream's
fists came crashing down onto the fuel pump.  He spun and grabbed for one of
the retreating robots, when an impact struck him from behind.  Something sharp
scraped into his shoulders and wings.  A familiar snarling sounded right in his
audial sensor: Ravage!  Starscream spun around, trying to scrape the robotic
feline against the overhang of the gas station.  Suddenly he cried out in pain
as Ravage's long fangs sunk into the back of his neck.  Frantically he tried to
reach back and claw at the panther, but Ravage's snarls only increased and he
hung on tighter.  His claws gouged violently into Starscream's shoulders.
     Starscream threw himself backwards at the overhang.  It collapsed, and
Starscream fell with it, deliberately landing heavily in the rubble as he tried
to dislodge Ravage.  He kicked out, snapping one of the uncovered gas pumps
from its base.  He rolled toward the jagged-edged metal, trying to grind Ravage
into the wreckage.  The fangs and claws withdrew from his plating as Ravage
dropped away and twisted out from under the much larger jet.  Starscream was
about to turn on him in fury, when a barrage of laser fire converged on him
from three directions.  Reflector's three identical components were firing on
him from all sides.  The bolts seared his wings and singed his plating.  They
had him surrounded -- there was no place to go but up.  Starscream shot
vertically into the night sky, just as the damaged gas pumps caught fire.  An
explosive column of flame followed him upwards, and Starscream felt the heat
lick at the bottoms of his feet before he was out of range.
     He tried transforming, but the wounds in his neck and shoulders were too
painful.  He flew on in robot mode, a bit unsteadily, towards the garish lights
of a large city in the distance.
     How was it that the others kept finding him? he wondered.  Were they
tracking him somehow?  He fought down a surge of panic.  He was not accustomed
to being a hunted thing.  Usually *he* was the predator, and some hapless
Autobot was the prey.  At the very least, he was the equal of most enemies in
battle.  But now he was exhausted, damaged, and growing weak from lack of fuel.
If he could only find a safe place to rest for a while....
     At the outskirts of the city he turned away from the brightly lit downtown
direction and headed for a dark area of storage yards and warehouses.  Landing
behind a tall chain-link fence that blocked off a series of huge warehouses, he
began to wind his way among the buildings, doubling back every so often in
hopes of losing any pursuers.  Finally he stopped in a narrow alley between two
of the featureless structures.  Standing perfectly still, he listened intently.
Some distance away, the unbroken dull roar of the traffic sounded; a siren
wailed faintly from far away.  But close by was --
     A rustling in the garbage that littered the alley!  Starscream jumped in
alarm, firing off a laser bolt in the direction of the sound.  In the brief
illumination, he saw the pair of large brown rats scurrying away.  Weakly he
slumped against the side of the building and dimmed his eyes, trying to still
the pounding of his fuel pump.  How he hated Megatron for reducing him to this
state!
     He tried taking a deep, calming breath, but it didn't help much.  Perhaps
it would be best if he hid in one of these warehouses for a while.  Brightening
his eyes again, he moved along the wall until he came to an entrance.  With the
last of his laser bolts, he melted a hole into the thick metal door at
approximately chest height.  Reaching through, he groped along the inside wall
until he found and disabled the security alarm that he'd been sure was there;
he didn't want to be disturbed, even by insignificant humans who would have
been attracted to the sound.  He unlocked the door from the inside, and
crouched down to get through.  Within the building he could easily stand
upright.  The ceiling was high above, judging from the echoes of the sound of
his footsteps; it was quite dark and he could see very little.  But gradually
his optics adjusted, taking in the dim orange of faint security lights spaced
along the walls.  He looked around carefully.  If not for his fatigue and the
height of the ceiling, he would have felt claustrophobic in here.  Stacks of
wooden crates were piled double his height, forming winding aisleways between
them.  Cautiously, with his hands out to brush the sides of the crates,
Starscream started toward the center of the building.
     A sickeningly familiar sound froze him in his tracks:  the unmistakable
electronic whine of Skywarp materializing from teleportation, very close behind
him.  Starscream stood motionless and dimmed his eyes, waiting for the laser
fire to cut into his back.  But it didn't come.  Very slowly, Starscream turned
around.
     Only the double, glowing-red coals of Skywarp's eyes were clearly visible
in the dark.  The rest of him was an indistinct black shape.  He laughed
softly, malevolently.  "It's over, Screamer," he said.  A movement flickered
somewhere below his eyes, and Buzzsaw and Laserbeak soared out of his cockpit,
rising to hover just above each of Skywarp's shoulders.  Their yellow eyes
brightened, and a series of energy beams lanced out.  Simultaneously Skywarp
snapped up his lasers and fired.
     Starscream sprang back and dodged around a close-by corner.  "Afraid to
face me alone, aren't you!" he shouted at Skywarp, even as he took off at a run
down the narrow aisleway.  Tearing around corners and winding through a
maze-like series of turns, he dislodged crates and boxes into the path behind
him as he ran.  Too little space in here for a jet to fly -- but Laserbeak and
Buzzsaw had no such problems.  Their energy beams rained down on him from
above, some of them leaving stinging scorch-marks on his outer plating.
Desperately he tried to recall the way back to the exit.  Was it that turn, up
ahead? -- yes, he was almost certain of it.  Grabbing at a corner box and
flinging it behind him, he skidded around the turn -- only to slam to a
complete stop at the sight that met him.  Lined up before the partially molten
door stood Thundercracker, Soundwave, Bombshell, Rumble, and Frenzy -- all with
their weapons trained on him.
     Starscream felt his eyes go bright with panic.  "No!" he gasped, and then
lower, trying to make it sound like an order and keep his voice from shaking,
"No!  I command you to lower your weapons!  I'm your superior offic--"  His
words were cut short by a hail of laser fire.  His rank didn't mean a thing to
them now; they were acting under a higher authority.  Starscream ran blindly
back into the depths of the warehouse, through a curtain of energy beams from
Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, and past them, tearing through the dark and slamming
into crates and boxes in his uncontrolled terror.
     He tripped on a pile of boxes and went sprawling into a jumble of
partially broken crates.  Frantically he tried to scramble to his feet, but was
met with an impassable wall of boxes in front of him.  He whirled around, but
it was too late to get out the way he had come.  The other Decepticons had
caught up with him and were blocking the only escape route -- not even
hurrying, just coming toward him at an almost relaxed pace, their weapons drawn
but not really aimed at him, merely pointing in his general direction.  They
stopped a short distance from him, regarding him in silence.  Ravage and
Reflector had joined them, and now there were twelve robots altogether.  Their
glowing red and yellow eyes seemed to form an unrelenting, impassable barrier.
But a larger shape moved behind them, and they parted willingly to let it
through.
     Megatron's eyes burned into the darkness like living flames.  Even from a
few paces away, Starscream imagined he could feel the fiery glare strike him
like a wall of heat.  He edged backwards until he was pressing himself against
the irregular surface behind him.
     Megatron's pale silver plating glistened in the dim light.  In one
violent, furious motion he reached out with both arms and shoved the
surrounding stacks of crates away from himself, clearing an area of open space.
Then his hands curled into fists and he moved slowly, deliberately, toward
Starscream.
     Starscream's breath came in short, painful gasps.  He stood as if
paralyzed for an interminable moment, then began to tremble all over.  He
thought he'd been afraid before; he was *petrified* now.  He'd never seen
Megatron so angry, so on the verge of losing all semblance of self-control.
He'd never felt such palpable wrath and menace from any being, as that which
radiated from Megatron now.
     "Don't," Starscream pleaded, almost soundlessly.  "Don't...."
     Megatron's first blow flashed out and struck him full-force in the torso,
shattering his cockpit.

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