Another humiliating fiasco!
Autobots were alive, the Apex armor lost. The bone was fetched, but he was painfully reminded that this credit wasn't his. It belonged to Shockwave as the beast's creator. Blasted Shockwave! He managed to steal all the glory for his, Starscreams, military operations while constantly stressing that he had no business in them.
And that mocking voice of his! He knew perfectly well the Predaking wouldn't obey! He set the Seeker up!

The punishment for incompetence wasn't too hard this time, Megatron's mood somewhat soothed by the beast's success? but that was beside the point! And the Seeker refused to feel obliged for the slack. Slightly limping, the Seeker marched through the corridors heading to the upper deck. He decided, the injury didn't require the good doctor to mock him, self repair should be enough to cure it.

As he strolled through the ship,conversations died at his approach, heads were turned, smiles hidden. As he turned corners, he knew they were laughing at him. Him! Starscream! Even his subordinate Seekers seemed to mock him. All because of that blasted cyclop!

Fuming, he stopped at the sharp edge of the upper deck, cursing and spitting half-formed threats. However, he learned his lesson and de-activated the voice box to keep his monologue private.

In a while he cooled down somewhat and turned to sulking and self-pity, sitting down at the very edge, peds hanging. He got so deep into his misery, that he didn't register soft clinking of another mech footsteps until something touched his shoulder.

Starscream snapped back to reality and jumped up, startled. He swinged to face the intruder, rockets ready. It was the Chief Communications Officer, staying not too close to him, his tentacle retracing back into his chassis. For a moment everything froze, then Starscream had lost his patience.

"Yes?!" he snapped, - "What is it, Soundwave?! Autobots?"

Soundwave gave a single negative shake of his helmet and stepped closer. His vizor reproduced a sound wave. "Oh, by the Allspark!" - Starscream exclaimed in exasperation. "Just show me already!"

Soundwave repeated the oscillating wave. Starscream ex-vented angrily and stared at the vizor, retracing the rockets back into his arms. The third time he recorded the wave and played it through his processor.

/Soundwave: requesting permission for encrypted private communication./

Starscream's brow ridges moved up "is this a joke?!" - he hissed.
Soundwave repeated the wave and the Seeker didn't need to record it this time to know it was the same. Out of sudden suspicion he asked "Did Lord Megatron send you here?"
This time the wave was different.

/Negative. No orders received. Requesting permission for encrypted private communication./

"What's with the secrecy? Afraid of being spied upon by yourself?" - he couldn't help but ask, enjoying being the one to "grant permission" despite the one asking for it being Soundwave the Creeper.

A new wave appeared on the dark glossy surface.

/Assessment of Soundwave being the only spy: incorrect. Requesting.../

"Yes! Yes! Ok! Primus, you're persistent!"

/Tune in/ the frequency and codes followed.

Once the connection was established, Soundwave moved to sit at the edge just as Starscream did clicks ago, without sparing the Decepticon Commander another glance.

/So what is it?/ Somehow the encryption preserved all the impatience he felt. Silence was his answer.
The Seeker regarded him for a while then rolled his eyes and sat beside, not too close.

Soundwave didn't look at him, seemingly staring into the sky instead.

/You are not going to win, you know./ - Soundwave decrypted voice sounded more like whisper, with harsh tones to it. Nothing like the monotone voicing he produced occasionally.

/What the scrap are you talking about?/

/Shockwave. You are not going to win it against him. And you wouldn't want to try if you knew his past. You should accept his place and accept yours./

/What is it I hear? You're preaching on me? I won't let a grounder take my place without a fight!/

Soundwave kept silent for a while then transmitted

/... back on Cybertron, when the war was a sparkling yet to be born, Shockwave and I were slaves to the arena/

/Yes, so was Lord Megatron! I'm aware of that! so what?/

/Shockwave was assigned tech. After a fight he would strip the dead chassisses off any re-usable parts. And he would use them to upgrade himself. There were basically no weapons as we were not allowed to have them, but there was one thing he always sought after: processing capacity./

Despite himself, Starscream found himself listening, his face plate twisted in disdain.

/Are you saying he dissected the corpses and put their dead processors into his system?! That's desecration! Disgusting/

/... and memory banks. Yes. Shockwave would also tell his opponents what part of them he was going to rip out and re-use afterwards. By the time he stopped doing that his processing capacity reached the level where he could predict every move of his enemy before the fight even started. He still can. We are lucky that his goal has never been power - all he wants is carry on his experiments and for that the war should be over.

So, if you're thinking you can outsmart him - think again./

Starscream processed it. /Why warning me?/ - he asked suspiciously, -/ Don't tell me you are delighted to work with me - we both know you hated every second that you had spent under my command/

Soundwave was still not looking at him: /Soldiers are tired of the war. We all are. The Decepticons can't win without our military operations being flawless, no matter how perfect the intel I provide is, or how good Shockwave's creations are, the military command is yours. You fail, we all fail./

/Such an exemplary loyal Decepticon, are you? You expect me to buy it?/

Soundwave shifted a little, ex-venting. Why was loyalty so hard to grasp?

/Let's say, I got accustomed to you and I would not want to witness Shockwave telling you what part of you he's gonna scrap and re-use. And he will without hesitation the moment your usefulness for the cause is out/

Truth to be told, Starscream felt more than little afraid at the moment
/Megatron would never sanction that!/ he exclaimed more trying to convince himself.

/Megatron always has a soft spot for those who serve him well. And can explain themselves...logically/ something bitter sounded in the mute decepticon' transmission and a sudden guess lit the Seeker's optics

/He did it to you! What did he take? Your voice?/

Soundwave pushed himself off the deck and jumped down, transforming on the fly.
/Soundwave: terminating encrypted channel/

Starscream watched the surveillance jet bolt away. He had guessed right then. The seeker's wings shuddered. That was one conversation to think about.

The surveillance jet approached a small barren canyon housing their new the well hidden lab. The place was perfect. Soundwave transformed in the air and graciously landed on his pedes.

/Soundwave: arrived/

He waited for few nanoclicks, the suddenly a part of the rock slid in revealing the violet tech. The CSO and CCO regarded each other.

/A message from Megatron?/ - Shockwave's voice appeared on the assigned frequency

/Negative. Off duty./

/You're here to help, then?/

/More like hang out and indulge you with fresh gossip/

Shockwave stepped aside and led the way into the mountain

"Indulge me while you help" he said

Soundwave transmitted his agreement and quickly found himself occupation on a console calculating CNA formulas. While he worked, he reproduced his conversations with Starscream.

Shockwave laughed. "THat was inspired. I especially like the part where I cannibalized the fresh sparklings"

/I said nothing of the sort... Oh./ The transmission carried over Soundwave's soft chuckle /If this doesn't get him in line, I don't know what will/

"Fear is a strong motivator" - Shockwave agreed, - "But our Seeker had always been irrational. It may cause him to do something reckless"

/Then you will tell him that you really like his optics/ - Soundwave's static analogue of laughter filled the broadcast.