Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who commented on my previous story. The reviews were much appreciated! This story is not a sequel exactly, but it takes place in the same sort of "universe" as my first story. I broke this into parts because it was a bit long for one chapter.

Part One

The situation was grim. The numbers appalling. The plan of action – asinine.

Starscream gritted his dentics as he scanned the data-pad. If it were anyone other than Megatron, he would have considered what he was reading to be a cruel and unfunny joke. But it was Megatron and Starscream knew that this "battle plan" he was reading was meant to be taken seriously. Of course, Megatron was on Cybertron at the moment attending to "personal business." The "business" included overseeing the progress of the reprogramming of the Combaticons. As he was the creator of the unruly gestalt team, Starscream had not understood why he had not been dispatched to Cybertron to oversee the modifications, but Megatron said insisted that his presence would be unnecessary.

No, you fool, what you've handed me is unnecessary! Starscream felt his injectors trembling with rage. While you frag around with Shockwave, I'm handed this moronic 'plan' and am expected to make energon salad out of energon slag!

He squeezed his optics shut in a futile attempt to halt the pounding in his processor. The Decepticons were in a true predicament, and Megatron's natural idiocy aside, Starscream was surprised that their leader had left things in such a state. Energon supplies were alarmingly low. They'd sent millions of cubes to Cybertron from Earth after the female Autobots had raided Decepticon headquarters, and now it had been consumed by repairs, rebuilding fortifications and defenses.

Now their store of energon had dipped below acceptable levels/ Everyone was on half-rations. Attempts at finding power sources rich enough to fill the requisite number of energon cubes needed for normal function had not been very successful. And Megatron, who likely at that moment was glutting himself on high grade and shooting the slag with Shockwave, had left only these ridiculous instructions behind with the quietly menacing declaration that when he got back to Earth with the Combaticons, he expected a new energon supply to have been sourced and ready for plunder. The threat of what would happen, especially to him, if he failed was a scenario all too familiar to the Seeker. He could already hear Megatron's imperious voice thundering: Starscream, you fool! Starscream, you imbecile! Starscream, you worthless bucket of bolts! Starscream -

"Starscream, have you heard anything I've said?"

"What?" He raised his head quickly and was slightly confused to see Thundercracker in front of him, his servos jammed on his hip-plates and a glare in his optics. Starscream recalled that his blue Trine-mate had come to see him in his private quarters, but that had seemed like joors ago, and he'd thought the mech had already left.

"You're still here? Don't you have work to attend to?" Starscream sneered at the blue Seeker whose red optics narrowed even more in response. "Primus knows I do – I've got to find a way to solve this slagging energon crisis -"

Thundercracker's wings twitched as he huffed: "If you'd been listening to me, you would've known that I've come up with something that might do that."

"Oh?" Starscream raised an optic ridge. Thundercracker was no scientist, but he was also no fool. Whatever plan he might have thought up was bound to be better than the slag Megatron had come up with. "And what did you have in mind?"

"It's simple, really: humans."

All right, I take that back about it being a better plan than Megatron's. "Excuse me?"

"Humans," the blue Seeker repeated slowly, as if he thought Starscream's audios were malfunctioning. "Don't you ever wonder why the Autobots are never in these predicaments? Why they never have to go on half-rations or lick the bottom of their trenchers for the last dregs of energon?"

Starscream was silent. The question was unnecessary because he didn't wonder why – he knew. It all came down to leadership. Optimus Prime, for all his numerous flaws, was the epitome of a leader. Megatron was the epitome of a buffoon. It was that simple. Now, if he were leading the Decepticons, things would be different …

"It's the humans," Thundercracker went on, mindless of Starscream's silence. "The humans like the Autobots and this is their planet. Of course they'd know where the energy-rich areas are to be found. There are likely millions of them, some hidden, probably, that only the humans know about. They tell the Autobots and the Autobots take their fill. We need human allies that would do the same for us. Then we'd never have to scrounge like this."

"Humans," Starscream repeated dully. "Humans? That's your brilliant idea? Humans? The same creatures that shriek and run away at the sight of a mech?"

"Aw, get that look off your faceplates," growled Thundercracker. "The humans obviously aren't afraid of the Autobots. Surely we could find some who would … like us."

Starscream blew a long stream of air through his vents. If his tanks had been less empty, he would've laughed, but he didn't think he could spare the energy. Obviously Thundercracker had been under the influence of Skywarp's intellect – or what passed for it – for too long.

"To my knowledge, we've only found one flesh creature who did not fear us or find us revolting," said Starscream with a grimace. "The great Dr. Arkeville. Is he the sort of ally you had in mind?"

Thundercracker paled slightly. "No. But he was insane."

"Exactly. And the same would apply to any other flesh creature who'd join our cause." Starscream put aside the data-pad, slightly thankful to have something else to focus on, but slightly annoyed that the "something else" was Thundercracker's flights of fancy.

"They're weak, the fleshlings," he said with a barely suppressed quiver of disgust. "Their bodies are soft and squishy. They have the most appalling habits and customs. Their brains are sickeningly underdeveloped compared to a mech's, but they are not complete idiots." Unlike some I could name.

Starscream held back from saying that aloud. Anyway, he wasn't referring to Thundercracker, or even Skywarp – it was Megatron that he was thinking of.

"Thanks to our very public conflicts with the Autobots and our very public failures occasioned by our great leader Megatron, the humans understand that we Decepticons want only to strip this mudball of its energy resources for our own means," Starscream went on. "Once we have reduced it to a dried-out husk, we will have no more use for it or the creatures that infest it."

Starscream shook his head slowly. "They'd no sooner ally with us than we would with a race of beings intent on stripping Cybertron of its natural gifts. It is the one thing I can find un-repulsive about the fleshlings – they protect their own – in their own pitifully ineffective ways, of course."

The gust of air that burst from the blue Seeker's vents nearly knocked Starscream to the floor. "Then maybe that's the problem. Maybe if we promised not to hurt some of them, they'd believe us and help us. I don't understand why Megatron goes out of his way to frighten them anyway. They're no real threat to us on their own."

Starscream slowly rose to his pedes. This conversation was drifting into dangerous territory. Thundercracker's odd sympathy for the Earth creatures was well known among the Decepticon forces, and it was largely ignored. Megatron even joked about it at times, but with such a crucial shortage of resources, it could be very different now. With energon stores so low, Starscream could not take the chance that his Trine-mate's foolish indulgence would single him out for a stint in the brig, where an energon ration of any sort was not guaranteed. Also, Megatron might try to make an example out of him for not having his Seekers in line with the "Decepticon cause."

"You are a fool," he said shortly. "We were sparked to become conquerors, lords of the universe. We are Decepticons. We take what we wish and discard the rest. If the plight of the flesh creatures truly pains your spark so much, then resign your commission as a Decepticon soldier and go join the Autobots! I'm sure they'll welcome you with open armaments!"

He prepared himself for a barrage of insults from his Trine-mate, but none came. Thundercracker looked as if he were about to speak, but instead he just turned on his pedes and began to walk away. At the sight of his Trine-mate's back, Starscream noted with alarm that his wings seemed to be sagging and the bolts at the base of his back looked shrunken and almost rusty. His faceplates pulled into a small frown. There was something wrong with the blue Seeker. There had been a strange tension along their Trine bond for several megacycles now, but Starscream had just attributed it to the reduction in their energon intake. That still could have been what it was, but Starscream was not certain. They'd had shortages before and Seekers were designed to be relatively energy efficient. He and his Trine should not be as affected by the lack of energon as, say, the Constructicons were. Yet there was Thundercracker dragging his aft as if he were rusting from he inside out.

"Wait. Come back here."

Thundercracker turned, his optic ridges constricting in what looked to be pain. "Listen Starscream, you've made your point, and I'm not in the mood to be glitched at today, so -"

"There's something wrong with you." Starscream swept his Trine-mate with a searching glance. "You've been sluggish on patrols, and now all this slag about the humans. You never go on about the flesh creatures unless something else is bothering you. What is it?"

"What do you care?" Thundercracker tried to sound harsh, but Starscream could tell his spark wasn't in it. "Obviously you're busy, so I'll just go and drink my fragging half-ration and wait for patrols."

"Sit." Starscream waved a servo toward a bench. "I'm your Air Commander and your Trine-mate. It's my right and duty to care – my life and the life of other Decepticons could depend on it. Now, unless you want me to have Scrapper do one of his special scans -"

"All right, all right! Primus, you don't have to get nasty." Thundercracker parked his aft heavily on the bench. "I'm having some … functional issues."

Starscream's optics narrowed. Whenever Thundercracker acted cagey, it was trouble. "What sort of … functional issues?"

The blue Seeker squirmed uncomfortably, twisting his servos up and around. "It … well, it's embarrassing. It's not the sort of thing I'd want everyone on the ship knowing."

"And you think I'd lower myself to idle gossiping?" Starscream huffed indignantly. "I'm far too busy showing my vastly superior leadership skills to go around flapping my mouthplates about some little hiccup in your programming." Besides, he thought to himself with a sneer, the only people he ever did gossip with were his wing-mates, and whatever Thundercracker was about to tell him, Skywarp probably already knew.

"I'm serious, if I hear one word -"

"For the love of Primus, just spit it out already!" Starscream shrieked, feeling several fuses in his neckplates start to pop. "What? What the Pit is wrong with you?"

"I …" The blue-winged mech shut his optics as if in fear and dread. "I ... I've been unable to overload."

Starscream's mouth dropped open slightly. He hadn't been expecting that. "You've what?"

"You heard me." The Seeker cracked open one optic and then the other. His vocalizer sounded strained. "No matter what I do, I get to the brink, but then, ngggghhh, nothing!"

The Air Commander gaped, truly in shock. "Are you certain?"

"Yes, I'm certain!" snapped Thundercracker. "I don't know how long it's been for you, but I know what an overload feels like and I know I haven't been having them!"

"Primus." Starscream was willing to overlook his subordinate's rudeness under the circumstances. This was serious. "How long has this been going on?"

Thundercracker started squirming again. "Um ..."

"How long, Thundercracker?"

He sighed. "About 18 orns, five megacycles and three nano-kliks. Er, four nano-kliks."

"All that time?" Starscream was aghast. "That was even before the energon shortage, so that cannot be the cause! You never thought to tell anyone?"

"Oh, right. Sure, I wanted to go to Hook and mention that I couldn't overload, not even by yanking my own cable, so he could treat me like some rusty old mech and give me a shot of cybertronium in my manifolds!"

Starscream began to pace around his quarters. While he could have throttled his Trine-mate, a good part of him sympathized. Getting to the brink of overload without release was not only extremely frustrating - something the flesh creatures Thundercracker cared so much about would not understand, Starscream thought derisively - but it was also extremely dangerous for an adult mech. A mech's intake and output systems were calibrated to a fine point, and an imbalance of one or the other could wreak havoc on the systems. In the case of a delayed overload, especially if it was continuously delayed and especially if it truly was happening anywhere near as long as Thundercracker claimed, it could cause a systemic failure and immediate shutdown. Starscream had even heard of a mech in Vos who'd suffered something similar and finally, literally exploded in a messy shower of transistors, bolts and mech fluid. It was even more dire in a Seeker's case because of the hydraulics involved in their flying mechanisms. No wonder Thundercracker had been lagging during patrols and had seemed reluctant to transform into his alt-mode outside of missions. Starscream was astonished that the blue Seeker was able to stay airborne.

"I can't believe this! You've gone through this for so long and Skywarp hasn't lifted a dactyl to help you attain relief?" Starscream demanded. "As thick-plated a bolthead as he is, I can't believe he actually took his pleasure while letting you writhe in agony!"

"No, that's not true. 'Warp's tried to help. He's tried everything," said Thundercracker, his voice strengthening in defense of the black jet. "He feels awful when I can't … you know. Just to get him to recharge, back when we had extra energon to spare, I'd sort of … fake it."

Starscream nodded absently. He'd heard of pleasure-mechs on Cybertron performing such tricks with vials of energon. Usually those mechs had alt-modes that allowed them to distract their partners while they feigned being in the throes of overload and able to spill the concealed energon all over their crotchplates.

"But now with the shortage, I can't, and … he's asking questions and you know how he can get when he doesn't completely understand something." He rested his chin in his servos, the picture of misery. "I haven't said anything because I don't know what can be done. I keep hoping each time 'Warp and I interface that it will be different, but so far, nothing. 'Warp won't even overload with me now, because he feels so bad. But I know he gets himself off in the mornings when he's in the refreshing unit hosing down his chassis."

Starscream rubbed his neckbolts in exasperation. "Hook will not be back for megacycles, and if he has trouble getting the Combaticons back on-line, it could be even longer. This sort of issue is outside Scrapper's expertise. There's not much that can be done. If I take you out of active duty, Megatron will hear of it and wonder why ..." The Air Commander saw Thundercracker's optics widen in alarm. "Exactly. But if we run into the Autobots, I can't have you in the primary column for battle. In your condition, your reflexes are too slow and you're not able to attain top speed. The longer this goes on, the more true this will be. Even that yellow disgrace of a mech Bumblebee would be able to take out your engines."

"So what do I do?" Thundercracker almost whispered. "If I try to force it, I'm just wasting energon. But if I don't do something, I might offline myself if the pressure keeps building up in my circuits. I'm not sure what else to try."

"Maybe you and Skywarp just aren't suited for interfacing any longer," suggested Starscream with a shrug. "You aren't spark-bonded. Perhaps it's time you thought about taking someone else to your berth."

"Someone else like who? One of the Coneheads? Ramjet'd be too rough, with Thrust, it would be over before it began and with Dirge it'd just be … creepy. My ports aren't compatible with the Triple-Changers, and the Insecticons? Ugh … no." Thundercracker tilted his head. "I guess there's Soundwave, but -"

"Soundwave?" Every circuit in his body twitched, and Starscream almost growled the words: "No. No Soundwave."

Thundercracker grinned suddenly. "Why not? It's not like anyone else has invited him to have a good 'face. Maybe he might like a Seeker. You know, he might get hot under the chassis for a gorgeous pair of wings, a sweet little aft and a nice, big, cockpit ..."

"Arrrrrrgh! Frag off!" Starscream screeched in rage. "Soundwave's ... preferences are none of your concern!"

Starscream knew that there could be no secrets in a Trine-bond, but he really did wish that he could have kept his lust for the Communications Officer locked away in his processor. His Trine-mates had needled him about it for vorns. It was depressing to think about anyway. The best that could be said for Soundwave's feelings toward him was that unlike Megatron, he didn't appear to have the desire to offline him on sight. Starscream had not 'faced with anyone in particular since even before they'd come to Earth, and while he would have adored playing with the dark-blue mech's cable, Starscream considered that Thundercracker would have a better chance of getting Megatron to suck him to overload than he would of getting Soundwave to say more than two civil words to him.

"Your reconnaissance shift starts in two megacycles," Starscream said briskly, turning his thoughts away from the object of his desire. "Get some extra recharge time. Considering your condition, you'll need it. Keep me apprised of your situation. If there's anything I can reasonably do, inform me immediately, and no," he said when Thundercracker began to speak, "I'm not a candidate for your berth any more than Soundwave is!" The blue flyer closed his mouth again.

"Well, maybe there is something you can do," said Thundercracker hesitantly, after a klik or two. "You're the only person here who has the access codes to the main computer. And with Megatron away, it'd be pretty easy ..."

"What would?" Starscream had a vague feeling that he wasn't going to like this idea any more than he liked Megatron's plan for finding more energon.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe if you could download some pleasure-bot footage for me … maybe if I could see other mechs going at it, I might get in a better frame of mind for it when Skywarp and I are in the middle of 'facing. Visuals do it for me. 'Warp really couldn't give a slag."

Starscream stared in disbelief at the blue Seeker. "You want me to use my privileged access codes to download pleasure-bot footage for you to overload to?"

"Well, I wouldn't be looking at it and 'facing 'Warp at the same time. That could get complicated. I'd just watch a bit and maybe even upload it to my processor. Mechs only – femmes fake it too much." Thundercracker looked thoughtful, oblivious to Starscream's rapidly darkening face. "You know, it's a shame you and Soundwave aren't fragging each other's CPUs out. I wouldn't mind seeing that. Laserbeak could record the sounds … Reflector could take pictures ..."

The blue Seeker trailed off as he heard a slow hum that sounded suspiciously like an enormously powerful weapon being brought on-line.

"What's that sound?"

-000000-

Ramjet strolled down the hall, wanting to get in a quick 'charge before aerial maneuvers that night. His processor was idling as he passed the quarters of the Decepticon SIC when he heard a sharp, cracking sound from within. He slowed his movements and stopped as the doors flew open and Thundercracker ran out, holding his aft, which appeared to be ... on fire?

"Primus, Starscream, you slaghead!" he yelled over his shoulder, still running and holding his smoking hindquarters. "See if I ever ask you for a favor again!"

The white Seeker reared back as Starscream immediately appeared in his doorway, his null rays still smoking.

"You're lucky you turned when you did or I might have solved your little problem for you!" Starscream bellowed at the blue flyer's back, keeping his weapons raised until Thundercracker had disappeared around a corner.

Spotting Ramjet gawking, the Seeker snapped: "Well? Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Ramjet looked longingly over Starscream's shoulder into the Air Commander's private quarters. He knew where he wanted to be, but considering that Starscream's null rays were still powered on, Ramjet lowered his head, muttered something unintelligible and followed Thundercracker's lead.