Inverted Insignia Chapter 9 Fields of Blood

Inverted Insignia
Fields of Blood

Riftwing was not present. He could not even detect him, so he leaned over the control panel and managed to hack into the console by using a key. It was simple enough to do with the correct cypher. After a few moments, the program finished running and the Password was given. Quickly, the Seeker punched in the given password and the world of choice opened up before him.

He had many options. Scenic vistas, alien worlds, cities, battle simulations, Mountains, Oceans, Sea of rust, forests, fields. He chose a combination of fields and forests that would be ideal for a duelling field. Next came the options for NPC's He chose several who were just bystanders. They'd simply be observers. Then he had choice of challengers. The choices resolved around those with various weapons skills. Starscream had decided on a more classical method of duel: Back to back with pistols.

Selecting a few other options, time of day, planet, type of pistols, how many paces, the simulator created the field. It was an open plains with copper-leaf and gold-leaf trees on either side. The glinting forest with shimmering gold leaves and brown was beautiful sight to behold. The sun was rising to the east. Either side of the field people came into view. One carried a box with small hand held pistols. Each weapon was loaded with one round. It was held by the referee. From the opponents side, stepped a mech, grizzled and battle scared. He appeared more intimidating than he did in the line up.

“The duel will commence between Blindspot and Starscream. Starscream is the challenged.” The referee announced. “Will the combatants meet in the middle back to back. They will each take one step per count and turn and fire. The first would or kill wins. If both miss it's a draw.”

It seemed real enough, the Seeker only hoped that the simulator was using simulated rounds and not real rounds. He did not wish to actually be injured or die. Starscream stepped forward and looked at the opponent, he was quite large. The other looked back and had the flier not known that it was a simulation, he'd not have guessed. The other looked at him with hatred and loathing, as if Starscream had committed some crime that needed to be resolved.  One he turned his back on the other he could feel the hologram turn around. His wings twitched. Starscream could feel the magnetic field of the hard light image behind him. It was surreal and tingled in a strange way.

“1...2...3...4...5” the voice counted as each number was spoken they took a step, hands at their side. Starscream's hand shook as the number increased “6...7...8...9...10” On ten the pair spun around. In a moment Starscream felt a searing pain in the centre of his forehead and he fell over backward. His body was locked and he was unable to react. He fell over backward stunned. For the briefest of moments, Starscream thought he was actually being killed. But then he realised he was frozen in place and the pain, although shocking was brief and then non existent.

“Starscream was hit by a fatal shot the the head, Blindspot wins,” the game simulator announced.

He moved his mouth and his voice came, not weak like he had thought it would be, but strong as ever. “Again! Restart the duel, and lets do it again.” The stasis field let up around Starscream and he returned to the start position. Blindspot did as well. Again the Referee counted to ten. As they spun around, Starscream once again felt the searing burn of a shot hit his chest and once more the Stasis field shut him down and he fell back 'dead'.  He gasped in surprise, that hurt a lot more this time around. He wondered how the simulator targeted his nervous system to relay a simulated burst of intense pain. He disliked it intensely. This gave him resolve to actually succeed.

“Starscream was hit by a fatal shot to the chest, Blindspot wins.” the computer announced.

“Again!” he called out. The field released him and he took his position once more. He needed to spin faster, the other was a grounder, wingless and had less resistance on a turn, but if he carefully calculated a spin while using his wings to carefully off balance him just a little, he could pivot rapidly and possibly get the bead on his opponent. On ten the Seeker spun, using his planned technique. Again he was struck but the stasis field did not activate. He fell to the ground and tracked his opponent and fired. His shot struck, but did not kill. Still he had a shot and struck.

“Starscream was hit first. Wounding shot on Blindspot was not lethal. Blindspot wins.”

“Nyargh! Again, I say again!” the Seeker was getting a bit frustrated, however he forced himself t calm down. He battled Blindspot over and over for much of two hours. As he continued he found his skills improving, his speed at the turn and fine tuned adjustment of his wing tip twist. Soon he found he was scoring the winning shots. After another hour of repeated successes, Starscream ended the simulation. He sat down and took a breather.

His next task was to explore the weapons he had been given. The Null rays. The simulator was changed to a work room, benches, tables and tools. All of which  were hard light, but the tools could be used on real weapons.

His new weapons were feeling more and more natural as he got used to wearing them, although he found he would bump them or they'd get caught on things, he learned where they were and started to make allowances for their size. These were his given weapons, the tools he would likely be fighting battles with, and hopefully winning.

Starscream turned the new weapons over in his hands. They were as long as his arm, the tip extending just past his finger tips. The muzzle was was somewhat bulbous, being wider than the shaft of the weapon. The shaft narrowed just before the tip and widened toward the shoulder mounted charging chamber.  The charging chamber had three fins, in a light blue. Two of the fins were found on the sides and the remaining fin was located on the top. It was deeply grooved with a heat exchange vent, that allowed it to keep itself cool under more intense use. The vents, he re-examined had high powered fans residing just beneath the mesh, this was why they whined when he charged them up rapidly. Air drew in through six intake slots just at the base of the barrel, washed over the mechanisms and hot air out the back.

He could see there as a ammunition feed chamber that could take a belt of rounds, in the bottom. The belt would have to be stored in the inner arm, which could result in some movement hindrance. He was not sure this was a thing he wanted to use. However, upon inspection of the inside, it was discovered that there was a series of prisms that could convert light into a highly concentrated form of laser. The weapon was not only an energy weapon a potential firearm, but a laser weapon as well. The light would pass through a magenta coloured ruby giving it its strength and power. He considered altering the program to allow for the weapon to fire a laser charge. It sill would technically not be a firearm. Lasers were not powered by the primitive, yet effective mix of sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre, they were powered by light. Light was virtually instant. Light produced no sound, unless it was lightning and the sound was caused by air being super heated. Lasers were beautifully stealthy. He liked this aspect: Stealth.

The drawback of a laser was that at a distance, the beam eventually widened, the power of the blast would be reduced as it was no longer concentrated. Lasers were better close to mid ranged, or at least the potential of the weapon that he held. The adjustment of the weapon would take a bit of time. To learn the process of the conversion, to the science behind the laser. As a scientist he felt this should not be overly difficult, but he wanted to be sure of the weapon's safety if it was going to be nearly permanently attached to his arms. The last thing the Seeker wanted was to have his limbs blown off or melted through.

'Null rays.' he thought as he programmed in the desired practice. The misfire protocol was removed. He did not feel they would cause any problem. If they did he would find out first hand. Safety was off. He realised the mechanism he would be fighting could cause him actual damage. This was to give him reason to avoid being hit. His wings twitched at the thought, but as he had it figured, it would be better to learn how to defend in a controlled live situation than in the middle of combat. Where you only ever get one chance. The computer knew that if the wound was life threatening, to contact the medical bay.

He inhaled a deep breath and looked toward the scene. It was of a war torn set. Broken beams, craters from mortars, smoke, fires, puddles of oil, pools of dark muck, bodies strewn around, number of them Seeker's, many of them grounders. It looked like hell. Starscream all but froze on the spot being confronted with a realistic image of war. He assumed the computer drew it from an ancient war. Starscream would not be happy to know that the scene was from a recent battle.

“You are to protect your two team mates, drawn from your file – Skywarp and Thundercracker. They are grounded as are you, Skywarp is injured. Thundercracker is attempting to render assistance. You are to protect them and yourself, until a medivac vehicle arrives to airlift you three to safety. You are the sole survivors. The rest of your unit is dead. The rules are: there are no rules.”

Starscream cocked his head. 'No rules? But there are rules to every game...'

“War rarely has rules that people comply with, war is not a game.” the computer responded before the simulation came to life. Huge mortars rained down, they exploded noisily. His fuel pump started to pound and electro adrenaline roared through his systems. It nearly shocked him at how powerful the surge was, it caused his entire system to shake before he settle down. The simulated Thundercracker called out to him. He was holding a very injured looking Skywarp. Feeling of pain jarred through his systems and shock at seeing his usually jovial, if not annoying trinemate laying there nearly lifeless with Thundercracker rendering what little assistance he could.  He tried to keep in mind this was a simulation, and that the characters he was watching were not real. It was not his wingmate laying there dying. It was a rendered model of skywarp, down to the finest detail -  unfortunately. He kept this thought in mind until an explosion of a near landing mortar peppered him painfully with rocks and dirt. They stung, some even caused minor injuries. Tiny wounds bled, from where rock and stone embedded into his surfaces. He threw himself to the ground and crawled over.

“Skywarp's dying, I think,” the simulation of Thundercracker said. “Don't let him die...”

“Not on my watch,” Starscream replied, hurrying to the radio communicator. He sent out the distress call. As he did tanks rolled in. Their movements shook the ground with an intense rumble, they started to fire lasers at the trio. Starscream realised he would have to draw their attack so that Skywarp and Thundercracker could be spared the fallout.

He stood up and bolted toward a broken down building, jumping over bodies. A couple of the corpses disturbed him, their heads were blown open, the brain unit still sparked and it appeared as if their eyes followed him. Their mouths were open in silent screams. He wondered, were these bodies alive? He turned and fired his null rays at them. The brain sparking ceased and the dim glow of red faded to black. They were alive... he felt revolted and yet he knew it was, the right thing. Or were they? The simulation seemed too real.

The tanks fired a volley at the moving Seeker, three laser bolts flashed past him, the forth struck his wing, burning a hole right through it. His pain sensors flared and he screamed sharply. Turning his weapons to full power he fired several bolts of his null rays at the tanks they froze very briefly and then started to roll again, as if they rapidly rerouted power from a secondary source. He would have to locate that source or some other way to stop them. As he ran, he tripped over a lump, a body. Spiralling head over heels, he landed face first next to something, a machine gun. Large rifle, heavy and with a clip three quarters full of ammo. He cocked it then aimed firing at the semi-inert tank's. The machine gun had significant recoil. He could smell the stink from the black powder as the acrid, almost acidic smell burned at his olfactory senses. Bracing himself he stood alone in the path of the great tanks firing the machine gun. He alternated with blasts of his null rays.

He was not making much dent on the machines. Then it came to him. Tanks were most heavily armoured on the fronts. He ran toward the tanks, zig zagging to make himself harder to track and attack. He lept up and grabbed the barrel of the huge cannon and swung upward then landed on the top, much like he had with the Iron Hoof. Here he ripped open the hatch and fired both of his null rays into the cabin. The great machine rolled to a stop. He slid inside and found robot drivers, he took them out with a shot of this purloined Machine gun and then looked around. The machine was still operating, it was only rendered offline briefly. He quickly closed the hatch and then looked over the controls. He had never driven a tank. The only machines he had ever controlled was a Shuttle craft. As a Seeker he never dreamed of controlling a land vehicular, and here was his chance.  It was oddly not that dissimilar in spite of it being trapped on a two dimensional plain instead of what he was used to, three dimensions. It had a steering control and a shifter. It also had pedals and a ground braking system. He doubted he would need brakes. Not for what he had in mind.

The machine was also relatively slow to control. It took a few moment to turn the machine, and by the time he had the other tanks had pivoted their turrets. He ensured he had the front of his tank facing their weapons. He figured that it may still resist their fire power while he attempted to get the slow machine to speed up. The engines roared and the cramped inner cabin started to warm up significantly. He grunted  as his wing started to sting in response to the heated air. The needle of the tank was buried in the red warning zone and lights started to flick on indicating critical malfunction as the tank had picked up significant speed. Starscream, worried about the heat, popped the hatch open. This opened him up to other risks, but it allowed the heat to escape and for him to feel as if he could breathe and a little less claustrophobic. The tanks neared and he fired on them using the cannon. The whole machine lurched awkwardly. As soon as the tank neared he jammed a metal object into the pedal and then climbed out the cabin. The air outside the tank was refreshingly cool.  The first machine crashed into the second tank, which cause it to roll into the third tank. The three tanks were abruptly engulfed in a plume of fire and sparks. He stopped their advancement.

Starscream jumped up with a cheer and then felt the heat of a laser strike him in the chest. He fell to the ground with a gasp. He had not noticed that one of the 'corpses' had climbed to his feet. It was alive and had been playing possum. It had struck him with a critical shot. As he fell, he fired his null rays, neutralising the “corpse” then fired his machine gun finishing the corpse off. Not far away he could hear the whine of engines. It was the medivac vehicle. It had arrived to collect Skywarp and Thundercracker, but he was in the field away from his teammates. He had got them to safety, but he had not been able to. He watched and off lined his optics, thinking, if this was a real war, he had just been left for dead. Or had he? There was sounds of feet coming nearer and nearer, the vehicle had not left. Strong arms had picked him up and pulled him across the field to the medivac. The door closed and the simulation ended.

He was laying on the floor, fluids seeping from his chest. He coughed and more fluids welled up between his lips. “This is for real?” he gasped.

“I told you he'd come here,” Skywarp said. “He's been running the simulations heavily lately,”

“I didn't think he'd remove the safety,” Riftwing replied his tone was deeply concerned. “Any weapon could be used to inflict lethal damage if the safety was off....”

“How did that cadet get into the simulation anyway?” Thundercracker demanded.

“I think he slipped in when Starscream was in that tank, ya know?” Skywarp replied.

“Thundercracker put pressure on that line there,” Rifwing ordered. Starscream could feel hands move into his chest area.  Pain erupted throughout his system then faded as the other applied pressure as directed.

“Did Starscream kill him?” The blue Seeker asked as he worked to save his trinemate.

“Yeah, four in the span of a two weeks... he's getting ruthless.”

“Cadets cannot override the safety protocols.. It shouldn't be possible so tell me how did he manage to override them?” Riftwing demanded. “This is my system, I designed it and I'm the only one able to override.”

“He's Screamer, he's a science geek. You know them, they learn quick. He has smarts.” Skywarp tapped his head to indicate the brain.

“Not quick enough, or smart enough.” Thundercracker muttered. “Reckless, that's what he is. SHe isn't going to survive this academy if he keeps getting scrapped.”

“But Thunder, they can't scrap him, that's the problem. They keep trying and they fail. Look, he squirmed out of the one I helped him with, then he killed those three other guys and he killed that fourth just now. He's done kinda well if you think about it. Survived basically five attacks killing four of his attackers.”

“Starscream's barely gonna survive this... look at him. He's been getting out of stuff by sheer dumb luck.”

Starscream was exhausted from the pain in his chest he felt an intense need to sleep; if only for a bit. His feet and fingers felt numb and tingly, the voices were distant. He felt unable to focus on the fuzzy form and he decided to offline his optics. He felt the fatigue creeping from his feet and fingers up his arms and legs into his torso. As it did, he exhaled slowly, fluids bubbled up between his lips and out through the nasal passages. His pump rate began to slow, but did not stop. It fired a off a beat at the rate of once every half minute. The machines in the medical bay started to scream warnings at the fading life signs.

It was not that Starscream had been special to receive medical treatment. Many cadets after their fights and scraps had been taken to the repair bay for repair. The Decepticons wanted survivors, and if they survived the fight, they were more than welcome to whatever aid they needed. But many cadets were dispatched before any aid could arrive. This was entirely acceptable as it weeded out the weak. Starscream though had some natural ability to survive some gruesome wounds he had sustained, both at the academy and in his youth.

Skywarp and Thundercracker exchanged glances and medical staff worked quickly to repair the injuries the Trine-leader had sustained. The shot had ripped through his canopy, barely missing the spark chamber, it blew through several fuel lines, and missed the main feeder lines of the fuel pump. The fluids seeping into his mouth had entered into his air exchange system from those feeder lines. The leaking tubes were quickly clamped off by the medics as the spilled mech-fluid was mopped up. It had started to gellify and darken as the life-energy dissipated. Medics connected fuel lines to tubes at the base of his throat, they fed energy rich fluids to the brain unit, to prevent it from starving and important data being corrupted or deleted. Their fingers flew as they focused on their job.

Starscream, his wingmates, and the medics were not alone, for above them faces glanced in from a window at the top of the room. Medical students were watching the medics repair the injured Seeker. There was probably a professor with them explaining the procedure as they viewed Starscream not as an injured-possibly dying cadet but as a subject of study. Yet another reason cadets were more than welcome to receive aid. They became the live subjects or cadavers -  depending on what was required.

As the repairs were completed, electrodes were attached to the fuel pump to stimulate it's activity as the fuel lines were finally reconnected. Fluids resumed flow through the energy starved system. The Seeker's colours, although significantly faded began to return. Medics disconnected the emergency feed lines to the brain unit then wheeled him out to the recovery room. Skywarp and Thundercracker followed and decided they would wait and be on guard, protecting Starscream from any other attacks, particularly while he was vulnerable.

*  *  *

Darkstar's voice was deep and angry sounding as he spoke to Riftwing and Stellardrift. “What do you mean the boy turned off the safety protocols?”

“He managed to override them...” Riftwing replied, his voice was not as deep as Darkstar's but it trembled slightly.

“I thought it was impossible for any cadet to tamper with your systems...” Darkstar hissed.

“It is supposed to be, I think he might have noticed me put in my password...”
“Change it – We can't have cadets messing with the systems. Who knows what damage they'll cause if they get into the main database. Primus, Riftwing, I thought you had more sense than this!”

“Darkstar,” Stellardrift interjected, “we realise you have invested an interest in this particular trio to advance, however, it is Riftwing's and my opinion that you are pushing them well past what they are capable of doing at this point. You are more likely to see the trio killed than to see them graduate.” Stellardrift's his voice was gentle sounding. Not like the near bass tone of Darkstar's or Riftwing's.

Riftwing muttered a rumble of agreement.

“You two think I am pushing them too fast?” Darkstar asked his tone had become a little less angry.”

“They need to learn the skill sets of a warrior before they can be moved up any further. I know you are itching to make Starscream a level five Cadet, so he can graduate as an officer, but he is not anywhere near ready. None of them are. He does not have the mental fortitude of a killer. He is still very much a soft shelled scientist. You may have your spark settled on the wrong person for the job. I doubt Starscream is capable of ever becoming strong enough to become a Seeker leader. And if he is strong enough, allow him to make that choice himself. If he desires to lead, he will, But only if he can fight for it and fight to maintain his place.”

Darkstar sighed. “You could be right, we'll leave them at their current levels and allow them to progress as nature dictates.”

Riftwing patted Darkstar on the shoulder. “We'll continue their training as we planned, just allow the evolution to occur and they should be fine. They appear to be a balanced trine, they have a genuine friendship, they should succeed.”

In the other room, Starscream had overheard the three talking and listened as best he could. The three elder Seeker had left the adjacent room and their voices faded to the point he was unable to listen. 'A leader of Seekers,' he thought. An entertaining notion, only problem was...he was not sure he could. All he wanted to do right now was get out of the Academy alive.