Chapter Text
The story begins shortly after Starscream returned from Earth without Skyfire, Megatron lost his job as a miner, and the poorer city-states began to feel the effects of the energy crisis.
Drifting
What sort of a pathetic Seeker gets claustrophobic in space? A vacuum might rip a lesser creature apart, but for all its enormity it couldn’t crush a mech. That there was literally nothing of substance between him and his goal did not mean he was any less trapped than had he been in gaol.
Well, his ‘sentence’ was nearly served.
One more jump and he’d enter Cybertronian space - then it was just a matter of time before it’d all be over. It couldn’t be soon enough. The upgrades that made him space-worthy weren’t designed with long term exposure in mind, and the weakly-shielded extremities of his body were blistering from prolonged exposure to gamma radiation.
Starscream swore, lurching away from the energy barrier that had burnt him. He resisted the urge to retaliate, having already established that the energy barrier was more resilient than his fist.
He wasn’t in space, he was in Iacon Penitentiary. Actual gaol. At least that explained the dream. He'd been on a scientific expedition with his mentor, Skyfire, working towards his post-graduate qualifications - but disaster struck and he'd returned alone, his mentor lost somewhere in the polar ice of a distant planet. Low on fuel and without Skyfire's engines (rated for long distance space travel) it had taken almost a vorn to make it home. Nearly a third of his life. Now he was in a cell. It was beyond unfair; he didn't even have a word for what it was.
The first thing that Starscream had done upon returning to Cybertron was to refuel. Real liquid energon - at a bar. Unfortunately when he tried to pay for it his student credit line was declined. The barkeep been surprisingly understanding about the situation, having Starscream thrown out into the street rather than arrested.
He'd headed to Iacon Science Academy, because his dormatory had long since been occupied by other students. After a few rounds of "Starscream! You're alive! ...Where's Skyfire?" people had started to stare and whisper. This in itself was nothing new, but in no state of mind to deal with it, he'd cleared out his locker and all his research. This (apparently) was theft, since he'd created it using Academy resources. He'd been arrested - but not for the theft. They actually believed he'd killed Skyfire; when he'd nearly died trying to rescue him; when it was the university who wouldn't spare the funds to mount a search party!
He drummed his fingers on the cell floor, frustrated and bored. When he’d first arrived here there’d been mechs in the adjacent cells, which had at least served as a distraction from reality. They were all gone, now, and there was nothing to do but read the free data files on legal procedure he’d been given.
‘Behave and we’ll end you gently,’ another prisoner had summarised. Starscream hadn’t taken the mech’s word on it, but couldn’t truthfully claim that his meticulous study of the documents had left him feeling optimistic.
Eventually he heard footsteps approaching. Consciously, he plastered on the most pleasant smile he could muster, allowing the guards to restrain him and lead him from the cell.
Meeting
"Senator Ignotus," began the new PA, once bidden to enter. "Delegates from the embassy of Vos have arrived to see you, regarding an incarcerated Seeker."
"Delegates?" Ignotus mused, stressing the plural. "Never mind. There are a number of Seekers in our prisons; which Seeker do they want, and why?"
"Er, nominal designation 'Starscream', sir… He attended the academy here, and murdered his mentor." He had the seeker’s native designation written down too, but he wasn’t going to try to say it.
Starscream? The senator frowned at his clerk for a little too long.
"Allegedly," Added the PA, as though concerned he had not been politically correct enough. Ignotus stared for a moment more before sighing and leaning back in his chair. He wished he’d read the calendar memo.
"Wait another klik, then send them up," he said, partly to give himself time to prepare, and partly because he didn't really want to deal with anyone from Vos. The rulers of such backwater territories tended to have an over inflated sense of their own importance. If he was extraordinarily lucky, they would only be here to tick boxes - it was much more tedious when people took a genuine interest.
The hope that he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone particularly uncivilized was dashed when he scanned the briefing packet.
One of them was a Council-mech named Steelcap, who had been raised and schooled in Iacon proper. Ignotus had met him before and remembered him to be pleasantly unremarkable. The other was a Vosnian native - apparently a military dignitary, which explained how a Seeker could get into politics, but didn’t save the senator from having to meet with a savage.
Ignotus smiled, and welcomed the pair into his office.
“Senator Ignotus! It is a pleasure to see you after so long,” said Steelcap, before gesturing to the war frame Seeker accompanying him, “my associate, major Powerdrain, though I’m told the name is only a rough translation.”
Ignotus had the distinct impression that a more literal translation of the name would not be socially acceptable. ‘Powerdrain’ was a huge mech, at least twice the size of the average Iaconian, and he was coloured a ghastly mix of army green and energon pink.
“A pleasure, I’m sure.”
Thankfully, as the meeting progressed, the Seeker seemed content to stand at the back of the room and stay quiet, which made Ignotus suspect that his diplomatic position was just a flimsy cover for his role as brawn. Steelcap, in stark contrast, was conversational, intelligent, and as reasonable (ie. morally negotiable) as any other dignitary. Unfortunately he was also well informed.
“-The defendant was a beneficiary of the ‘Broader Horizons’ scholarship exchange, and had been studying in Iacon for well over a vorn before the expedition…. However, his application for Iaconian citizenship was never granted, he’s still a citizen of Vos.”
The senator nodded and gave a false smile; Broader Horizons had been his initiative, back when open-mindedness was a fashionable quality. Apparently it was too much to ask that the past be quietly executed without anyone making the connection. “Unfortunately the legislation around naturalizing foreign students is somewhat ambiguous. I gather there is a specific reason you couldn’t discuss this with lesser officials?” Seeing the Seeker smirk from the other side of the room, Ignotus figured he’d hit the nail on the head.
“Solving problems like this quickly is in everyone’s best interest. Sometimes an uncommon situation requires an uncommon solution.”
A moderately lengthy time later (because meetings never seem to pass quickly when you’re being blackmailed) they came to what was an unexpectedly painless agreement. Vos got another wretched Seeker, and Ignotus got to avoid the scandal of having a mech he’d brought into Iacon convicted of murder.
He waited for them to leave, then called back his PA.
The Trial of Starscream
Starscream was given some gentle encouragement by the bailiff to enter the stand, and though this irked him no end, a rare sensibility (or perhaps stupefaction from the situation he found himself in) prevented the normally volatile individual from attempting to deck the officer.
The stand was a circular platform raised about a step off the floor, facing the much taller stands of the jurors, the council magistrate, and other court officials that the Seeker hadn't bothered to learn the correct term for.
Bright lights glared down at him from above, designed with the idea of dazzling the optics of the speaker (prisoner or witness) such that they were disoriented and unable to easily determine the identity of those above- more for psychological reasons than security, although a containment field could be rendered around the stand if required.
“Prisoner Gwaxchias… Gwaixs…” somebody above struggled with what the seeker guessed was supposed to be his native designation. Truly, a pathetic effort. Properly spoken, a Seeker’s native designation was nothing more than a burst of digital noise, which most cybertronians would only interpret as static. Standard Cybertronian vocalisers were incapable of reproducing the sound, and reading out the data the names represented could take an awfully long time. The speaker gave up.
“Prisoner Starscream. You have been found guilty of the following crimes-” Starscream only managed to keep from smirking by reminding himself that the only reason he was here--
“larceny, breaking and entering, development of unauthorised weaponry, providing false credentials…”
--one of the reasons that he was here was to be sentenced to some horrible and enduring punishment for the murder of the only person who’d ever gone out of his way to help him.
“…and the murder of second tier scientist, designation Skyfire. The plaintiff organisation, Iacon Science Academy, has registered a preferred penalty of deactivation or extended hard labour. In the case of an inconclusive verdict from the jury, trial will be suspended under the Judicial Priority Act, until policing resources become available to reopen the case, or new evidence is presented.”
The JPA was a nasty bit of legislation that would leave anyone unable to meet bail or pay a court fee serving their sentence or in stasis while waiting for a trial. Starscream had neither credits or anyone from whom to beg them, so this was a serious concern.
“The prosecuting officers have informed the jury of the case specifics. The defence may now speak.”
Starscream repressed his nerves. Nothing he could say would change the outcome of the trial, even if he could repudiate every piece of ‘evidence’ against him. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could keep the fascists and functionists in the stands from going home early.
“Your honor, as this is a matter of Cybertron Law, the proceedings should be opened with the use of the defendant’s - that is, my - legal designation. I am insulted that for such an important occasion I would be addressed by sobriquet!”
A Timely Interruption
When the Senator’s assistant arrived at the court building, he was still running hot from the hurry to arrive in time, and his fans were buzzing audibly.
He had hoped that his new job would be dignified, limited to offices and gala balls… but here he was exhausting himself to rescue a murderer from his well-earned fate.
Senator Ignotus hadn't been pleased to discover that the trial was already in progress, but the courts were sufficiently overburdened that the schedules for minor hearings were never set in steel. It didn't help that the Iacon Science Academy was pulling strings.
Fortunately, the court was still in session when he arrived, though it seemed to have devolved into some sort of a screaming match between the Seeker and anyone who could get a word in edgeways.
“--I told you, you imbecile,” he was ranting, “that my weapons were legal when I built them--”
“Starscream! Shut up or be held in contempt!”
“--and I didn't kill anyone, and you shut up! If you think i hold you in anything but contempt you're wrong. And I didn't give you permission to call me that!”
Not surprisingly, most of the jury was trying to think up ways to get back to their usual lives as quickly as possible, and the majority of those who were listening wore looks of extreme irritation. There were enough charges that the Seeker was bound to guilty of at least one of them, and probably a whole lot more beside that had yet to be discovered.
The PA wasn't sure he wanted the mech out of confinement either, but such was his job.
“Sorry! Excuse me!” he shouted over the racket. “Honourable magistrate of the court, the Senate compels an adjournment of this session.”
Out of the Frying Pan
Councillor Steelcap studied the Seeker on the opposite side of the interview room’s security partition. Its face was the picture of scepticism.
“So, let me get this straight,” said Starscream in flawless Iacos. There was no trace of the primitive’s original accent. High pitched, but then, Seekers were androgynous, so maybe that was normal. “You are offering to set me free, but in exchange, I have to be your leader.”
“Ah, haha, I hardly think you’re fit to be the leader of Vos, Starscream - that’s what the council is for. We are offering you an outdated title for the sake of diplomatic immunity. The title ‘Emir’ was stripped of any actual authority before either of us were sparked.”
“What does it accord then?”
“Just that; diplomatic immunity.” Steelcap explained, “it would seem that you have enemies in high places, and they want you out of the picture. Your former colleagues at the Science Academy were, shall we say, adamant about your guilt.”
“Please, they're bigots, not conspirators.” Said Starscream, snidely. “Iacon’s legal system is a moronic joke. My conviction was a forgone conclusion regardless of whatever anyone was ‘adamant’ about.” There hasn't been an Emir since the last winglord, over a hundred vorns ago. How invested in my destruction are the Science Council that the government of Vos needs to take such extreme measures to extract me? ...And why would Vos bother? “So tell me, please, what I did to deserve this exceptional treatment?”
“Don’t underestimate your value, Starscream. Highest recorded academic scores at the War Academy? First of your frame-type to be admitted to the Iacon Science Academy? Is it really such a surprise that somebody thinks you could be an asset?”
Yes! Being brilliant never made a difference before, thought Starscream cynically; but his wings perked up.
“Fine, whatever you need me for, at least I’ll be free.”
“Relatively.” Steelcap pushed a datapad through a slot in the security screen. “Sign this and you’ll be transferred to Vos. I can assure you the suites at Council House are a lot better than Iacon Penitentiary.”
Starscream waited while the mech left, then reached for the contract. Whatever ‘relatively’ free meant, it couldn't be more of a death sentence than an actual death sentence.