The Empire of Vos

Prologue: All that remains...

The lone seeker tore through the skies at a speed that could've shattered glass, the loud 'BANG' of his hypersonic travel being heard long after he was gone from sight. The lone seeker was troubled, angry, and his erratic, almost careless flight pattern was proof of this. Soon he was closing on his destination and his engines almost stalled at the sight that greeted him. And he felt relieved that he did not took his wingmates with him... He would've a hard enough time dealing with his own emotions without handling theirs. But they will know, soon. Everyone will know!

The lone seeker had but one thought in his processor: They did it!

They dared to live up to their threat and do the unthinkable!

The thick black smoke rising from collapsed, shattered spires as he flew over what remains of Vos a few days after the attacks that destroyed his home city couldn't hide the extent of the destruction. The young seeker stopped and transformed, red, blue and white plating shining, lighted by the still lively fires raging through what was still the most beautiful landscape of all Cybertron merely a few days ago.

A terrible rage took over Starscream as he surveyed the damages, flying slowly over the still smoldering rubbles trying to detect any sign of life. Any energy signature. Anything... Anything that would give a speck of hope that his life was /not/ going to the pit. That his entire existence was /not/ a complete waste, a cosmic joke played by Primus for some reasons. That he and his trine mates weren't the only remaining seekers from Vos on the entire planet...

The he, Starscream, Prince of the Empire of Vos, had not become a crownless Heir of a dead Empire...

The red and blue seeker let out a anguished keen, and flew towards what remained of the Emperial Spire. Maybe his Father wasn't here when they attacked... If there was any hint of what was about to happens, the old Emperor would've taken precautions to get to safety and stay safe until the crisis was over. Starblaze was clever, wise, and for Starscream, throughout his entire sparklinghood and youngling years, he had been an immovable, solid rock that nothing could shatter or break. He had seemed eternal...

But now, as he tore through the remains of the Emperial Spire looking for survivors, traces of anything that could let him think that his father and his closest mechs were still alive, that certitude was wavering, bending. The center of the city had been meticulously destroyed. Nothing remained standing, and there was no way anything here could've survived. The seeker wasn't a fool and Warfare wasn't foreign to him. What shattered the center of Vos looked like a weapon of massive destruction. They indented to let nothing standing here...

Nothing at all...

Starscream finally found what he was looking for, and his mouth dried when he saw that the hidden pannel leading to the secret access tunnel meant to be used by the Emperial family in such occurrences had been torn open, blasted through with energy weapons. They had known... They had know about this when they attacked and probably intented to hunt down anyone trying to flee the attack using that tunnel.

That meant...

He heard a faint sound from some distance in front of him, further down the tunnel, and Starscream didn't hesitated to run towards the sound. The whimper turned into a coughing and then a gasp of pain, and he finally found the source. Someone was under the rubbles here, he could see a black hand and dark blue forearm poking though... he only knew one mech with such a color pattern.

"Father!" he cried and fell to his knees working on freeing the old mech from the rubbles.

Starblaze looked up at his son when he was finally freed and his red optics were dimmed to a deep burgundy, almost offlines. Starscream slowly took his father's hand in his trembling ones and felt a heavy weight in his chest, almost chocking him, making cycling air difficult. The ole Emperor was dying... His chest had been torn open and his spark was beating slowly, unsteadily through the gap. Starscream could reach for it and stroke it if he wanted to... He would not survive this injury, and the pool of energon blood around him was... Well, he had probably lost almost every last drop of it on the ground.

"Father..." Starscream began in a chocked sob, clutching his father'c cold hand to his chest.

He was almost surprised when the hand closed weakly around his own and looked at his Father's optics, whom were locked on his. Despite the pain and darkness threatening to swallow him, the old Emperor spoke to his only son, coughing and wheezing badly. His usually shiny, pristine plating now dull and faded. He was on the brink of death and he knew it...

"S-Star... Stars-scream... Son... You... You are now..." He seized up and coughed more energon, and Starscream squeezed his hands, fear and pain clutching his spark. "S-son... You are... n-now... Only r-remaining... Of Vos... Take..." He shakily freed his hand and reached at his side, pawing the ground blindly, and Starscream looked at what he was trying to get. His spark almost stopped. No... No he couldn't! He was not prepared!

He guided his father's hand towards the Scepter of Vos and the old seeker clutched it weakly, before he grabbed his son's hand and wrapped it around the ornate object. Starscream's optics were wide and he was shaking his head in silent denial. This object had been the symbol of the Vosian Emperial Family for as long as Cybertron itself. It had been passed from Emperor tp Emperor throught time and now... Starscream looked at the object as if it was burning him and gritted his dental plates.

"Father no! I... I can't..."

"You can!" The old mech,m as wounded as he was, had found the strenght to push himself up to his elbows and said firly. "You are... the only... remianing... S-son... You... you are... new... Emperor of Vos..." He reached and clutched his son's shoulder with all his remaining strength, Making Starscream wince at the intensity of his look when he added. "Make them pay!"

ANd then he fell backward and didn't moved anymore, optics offline and going dark, and through the gap in his chest armor, Starscream saw his spark flickering before extinguishing, leaving a shell behind. Starscream stayed there, mouth agape, chest on fire with a lot of melted emotions, and for a long time just looked at the Scepter now in his hands.

Emperor of Vos, of all the Seekers and flying mechanism of Cybertron. How could he? He was all that remains...