All's Fair

Chapter 67

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. They belong to Hasbro and Takara. I am merely taking them for a short spin.

Parties were almost always a good thing. A party celebrating the Seeker sparklings and just life in general was being held in the Ark rec room. Hot Rod had an arm around Sideswipe, who was silent, the red twin seething beside him. The mech was scowling at Skywarp, who looked like he was flirting with Optimus Prime, but Hot Rod couldn't be sure because he couldn't hear for the loud music. He felt Sideswipe relax as Optimus politely left the Seeker to his own devices, and made his way over to their table.

"Mind if I squeeze in between you?" the Prime asked, grabbing a chair and scooting in between his two lovers.

"'Sides and I are a little concerned Skywarp was getting a little too handsy with you," Hot Rod said.

"He knows I'm in a relationship with the two of you," Optimus said. "I think he's just happy he can be himself without any worry of retaliation."

"If that scrapheap thinks he can out-prank Sunstreaker and I, he's out of his mind," Sideswipe said.

"I think he lost his mind a long time ago, if he ever had one," Hot Rod offered.

Sideswipe snorted.

"Need I remind you who you're having this particular conversation in front of?" Optimus cautioned.

"It'll be Prowl who'll deal with us, not you," Sideswipe said. "Or Jazz, Kup, Red Alert or Ultra Magnus. Prowl's made that pretty clear since Hot Rod and I got involved with you."

"Oh he did, did he?" Optimus said.

"It's called a 'conflict of interest,'" Hot Rod said. "It's not like you should be dealing with the petty stuff like pranks anyway."

"A prank war is not 'petty," Optimus said.

"Yeah, Rodi. You haven't been here long enough to see how cutthroat it can get," Sideswipe said.

"You're both nuts," Hot Rod said. "Besides, I've had about enough of this party. Kinda lame, don't you think? I'm tired. I think I'll turn in. Coming, 'Sides?"

"Sure," Sideswipe said, standing, taking a few steps before looking back over his shoulder at Optimus, who looked more than a little confused.

:You've put in an appearance, and all three of us are off until second shift Sunday. We owe Prowl and Magnus, so I wouldn't waste this opportunity if I were you: Sideswipe commed Optimus.

Optimus stood, knocking his chair over in his haste to join his mates.

88888

Skyfire normally didn't resort to bribery. He considered himself above it, and among the Autobots, it wasn't often needed to get any of his goals accomplished. However, at the moment, it was. He'd bribed Skywarp with the promise of materials for a high grade distillery if he'd send a message recorded by Starscream to Decepticon headquarters.

Skywarp had ducked out of the party, heading for ops, which was empty. He popped the data disc into one of Teletraan-1's ports, sending the coded message to the Decepticon leader. The Seeker allowed himself a smug grin as he thought about Megatron's potential reaction. It should've been a sobering thought, but he couldn't bring himself to care anymore. Megatron could get slagged.

And just as Skywarp was pulling the disc from the Autobot mainframe, a hand on his shoulder and he was spun around, and slammed hard face first against the console.

"What in the Pit do you think you're doing?"

"Kup, if you let me up, I can explain. . ."

"Gimme one good reason why I shouldn't throw you in the brig," Kup replied.

"For Primus' sake, have you gone senile, you wreck? I'm sending a message to Megatron for Starscream so he doesn't have to face ol' buckethead in person," Skywarp said. "Pit, ask Skyfire. He's the one who put me up to it."

Moments later Skywarp was free, but being dragged out of ops by Kup.

"Pit-spawned younglings," Kup muttered. "Why didn't you say so?"
"I would've," Skywarp said. "But you didn't give me the chance."

"You're luck I caught you, and not Red Alert," Kup said.

"Or Ironhide's crazy femme," Skywarp said. "I don't think either of the femmes like me much."

"Too much time on Cyberton alone without reinforcements hasn't helped Chromia's judgment any, and Elita depends entirely too much on Chromia's counsel," Kup said. "They're fighting a loosing battle."

"Not like both sides haven't fought to a stand-still here," Skywarp said. "Haven't any of you idiots bothered to go over all the intel we gave you?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Skywarp sighed. "Of course. So you don't want to know we did have access to the location of some of Shockwave's energon stores? Not the really big ones, but if you guys went raiding, it might make a difference. But I think it might not make Megatron too happy to know some of the energon sent to Cybertron gets used in Shockwave's experiments."

"You could've mentioned this weeks ago," Kup said.

"We did, but nobody bothered to really listen," Skywarp shot back.

"We gotta tell Prime," Kup said.

"Get fragged," Skywarp said. "It can wait until tomorrow, can't it? Don't wanna ruin a good night, right?"

"Sure," Kup said. "But I need a drink. Care to join me?"
88888

Rumble hated comms duty. He was better suited to destruction, but Soundwave was trying to teach him a lesson in patience by making him take a few shifts at his station. His current workload consisted of listening to his favorite rock show and keeping an eye on monitors which he switched to the appropriate military and civilian channels when anyone ventured by.

Not that anyone cared, but things were suddenly looking up with the ping of an incoming coded message for Megatron.

Rumble commed his despotic leader, who came barging in a few moments later.

"What is it?"

"Coded message from Starscream," Rumble said.

"Play it," Megatron said.

Rumble pushed several buttons, and Starscream's smirking face appeared on screen.

"My dear Megatron, this message is to let you know our oath to you is broken. A member of my trine has shared his spark with the Prime himself, and by the ancient laws of Vos, my trine and I are free of you. I've sworn my loyalty to Optimus Prime, and I now carry a half-Autobot sparkling, sired by my beloved. We're done with you."

The screen flickered to static as the message ended.

"That's all there is," Rumble said.

"Play it again," Megatron said, voice steady and low.

Rumble slipped from his seat as the message started, backing slowly out of the room, and he began to run for Soundwave when he heard the sound of breaking machinery.