"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go." - Green Day, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Starscream looked up from the datapad he'd been given, glaring at the organic in front of him.
"5,000 credits? We agreed on 10,000," he hissed at the reptilian creature.
The green-orange lizard shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable. "The Osysian Council believes that since the information was obtained in half the time, that only half the amount was necessary," he replied, glancing behind him, as if looking for a way out of the hangar and away from the taller, obviously angry, being.
Starscream was furious. He'd arrived on the lizard planet of Osysia about twenty orns ago, in response to a notice he'd seen at a space station. The planetary government needed someone who could survey their seven moons and see if there were any resources existant on them, and if so, how accessible. Admittedly, they'd been a bit disturbed to see a Cybertronian show up (not surprising, given that he'd heard rumors suggesting that rebellion had broken out in earnest on his homeworld), but they'd negotiated to what Starscream thought a reasonable length of time to complete the project as well as a fair payment for doing so. He'd finished in half the time alloted and had actually done a pretty thorough job, he'd thought, even if he'd been on his own.
But apparently, the Osysian government didn't think so...
Forcing the rage back, he replied, in a tense tone, "The amount to be paid to me was a fixed one, whether or not I had finished prior to the time allowed." He bent down, taking a grim satisfaction in watching the alien tense up. "So what is going on, Srissin? And I mean really going on."
Srissin looked terrified, but shook his head. "Look, I tried to argue it would be a bad idea to renege on a deal with a Cybertronian, but they wouldn't listen..."
"What. Is. Going. On?!" This time, Starscream didn't even try to hide the anger he was feeling. He leaned down a bit further, smirking unkindly when the alien toppled to his back.
The Osysian was shaking now, and looking around the docking area even more frantically for a way out. He tried to scuttle off on his back, but Starscream, seeing this, slammed his free hand down behind him. His optics narrowed.
Seeing this and realizing he was trapped, Srissin yelped frantically, "Okay, okay! I'll tell you!"
Starscream lifted his hand and straightened up. "Talk. Now." The tone left no room for further argument.
Srissin nodded nervously as he pulled himself back to his feet. Lifting his head to meet Starscream's optics as best he could, he began cautiously, "Look, I did try to reason, argue, what you will, that it wouldn't be a good idea to cheat you. After all, you had come open-handed and alone. No traces of anyone else with you..." His voice trailed off uncertainly.
"'No traces of anyone after me'?" repeated Starscream, raising a browridge.
The orange-green lizard sighed, and rubbed the side of his head. "Look, I don't know how long you've been away from your homeworld, but traders come in all the time, and they talk, ya know? Anyway, while you were away doing the surveying, a few Nistra merchants arrived planetside and saw your ship. They decided to tell the Council that they'd passed through Cybertronian space not too long ago..."
Starscream frowned. He was starting to get a bad feeling about where this was going..."And? I'd heard rumors of a rebellion at one of the space stations I was at recently. Is there something more going on?"
Srissin sighed again and nodded. "Yeah. They said they picked up chatter about one of the larger city-states being attacked, Vos, I think it was."
Starscream froze. No. "Go on," he whispered.
Srissin must have picked up something in that tone, for he continued hurriedly, "They got a bit closer to observe and listen, and heard someone from another of the city-states, didn't catch which one, saying that the Senate had gone too far. They didn't hear much else, because the Planetary Defense System picked them up and they had to get out of there. They reported what they heard to the Galactic Council, too."
Starscream shook his head in disbelief. He had kin in Vos, some old flying partners...What had happened to them? Were they safe? Or had they died in the attack? Was Vos gone completely? Whatever the answers to his questions were, the tri-color jet could see one thing very clearly...
Forcing his voice to become level, he said grimly, "So it's likely more than a rebellion now."
Srissin, realizing that it wasn't a question, nodded. "Yeah, and the Council here is afraid of possibly being dragged into whatever is happening there."
Starscream's anger rose again. "I came alone! I didn't know about any of that!" And yet, somehow, he wasn't too surprised by the Osysian government's action anymore. Cybertronians had never been really trusted, not for a number of vorns. He and Skyfire had often had to deal with frightened and suspicious races whenever they showed up. Both mechs had suspected that their size was more than just a bit intimidating to start with, and even the Seeker could admit that his build was off-putting to some.
Not to mention the old stories about the Great War he'd heard as a youngling about what some of their kind had done on other worlds...
Srissin just shook his head wearily. "I know that. And a few others do, too, but the majority just wouldn't listen. Look," he continued, "if there was something I could do to change their minds, I would. But you just go in there demanding answers, they'll likely change their minds about payment at all. We were barely able to convince them to pay you that much..."
Starscream's anger drained out of him as he realized what the organic was saying. "I see...," he responded, sounding almost as weary as Srissin did. He shoved the datapad with the transferred credits into his subspace. "Thank you for letting me know this."
Srissin nodded, still a bit cautiously. "You okay?" he asked, having noted the tone in the mech's voice.
Starscream forced a weak smile to his face. "I'll be all right," he answered quietly. "I should go. If you could, thank your government for me, and state that I hope the information I provided will be of help to them in some way."
The Osysian wasn't quite convinced that the Cybertronian was as fine as he was trying to sound, but had a feeling it wouldn't be a good idea to push. So he simply nodded and said as quietly, "I will. And take care of yourself." He turned and started out of the hangar, looking back once as he headed towards the entry way. The mech was standing with his head bowed and wings slumped, his hands were now clenched into fists. He shook his head and turned away, feeling a bit of sympathy for the giant. Couldn't be easy to hear something like that, especially if you'd been away from home for some time, as he'd mentioned while making his case to the Council to do the surveying.
Even with the way the mech had acted towards him, Srissin found he couldn't really blame him for his reaction. And if that story the Nistrans had told was true, Srissin suspected that the mech would probably have to deal with more of the like in the future.
The lizard shook his head again as he reached his skimmer and climbed aboard. As he started the small transport, he sent a silent 'good luck' back in the mech's direction.
Srissin had a feeling the jet was going to need all of it that he could get.
Alone in the hanger, Starscream pulled himself out of his dejected pose and walked slowly back to his ship. Civil war. He'd hoped, prayed, it wouldn't come to that, yet he'd suspected that something like it would come. It had been part of the reason he'd left, after all...
Vos...
Starscream reached his ship, and boarded it, sealing the door behind him. As quickly as he could manage he headed for the pilot's seat and collapsed into it. His once home, attacked, possibly destroyed...
For a moment, all he could do was stare straight ahead. He hadn't been to Vos for about one thousand vorns before his last mission, though he had kept in touch with a few. And he'd been away from Cybertron for a little over five thousand now...
That thought brought a few other mechs to mind.
"Percy, Cosmos, Wheeljack...I hope you're all right." Not to mention Jetfire and Lunarion. If Skyfire were here, Starscream knew the shuttle would be devastated if anything were to happen to them.
Starscream shook his head, banishing the worried thoughts. It was time to focus. He needed to try and get back to Cybertron, and as soon as possible. He had to know what was going on...Skyfire would want him to find out if his family and their friends were okay.
Exploring could wait for now.
Wasting no more time, the tri-color started up the launch sequence and radioed the hanger with his intentions. After receiving an acknowledgement, he sat back and waited for the doors to open.
It was time to return to Cybertron.