A War In The Stars || COMPLETE {TFRID}

CHAPTER 30: THE FINAL STEP

Quietly, the Mini-cons stared at the clock on the far wall. It made a ticking noise every second, but every so often it seemed to speed up. That means they were running out of time.

The head of the Mini-con department had just left after telling them the big news. The trial was only forty-eight hours away.

Two days.

There wasn't much time until they decided their fate. The pair hoped that Galaxia, Skybird and Wildstreak had a plan for getting them out of this. However, they had no way of contacting them now that their comms were deactivated so there was nothing they could do to help.

Suddenly, Cadet walked over to them and deactivated their cell bars. He knelt down with a firm expression on his faceplate, but the two could tell that he was frightened, not of them, but something else.

"Okay, so as you know, the trial is only two days away. But the department still needs to perform one more interrogation," he told them. "Jetstorm, you have been chosen to answer the questions."

Jetstorm's optics widened as Slipstream grunted. "Can't we both go?"

"The Chief told me to only bring Jetstorm, if I brought both of you then it could cause you to plot something, but I'm not sure why Jetstorm was chosen."

Cautiously, the black Mini-con stepped forwards then watched at the bars were reactivated, trapping his partner inside. They were both about to leave until Slipstream called the Autobot.

"Cadet," he turned to face the Mini-con. "Are you alright? You seem afraid."

He sighed then knelt down to the Mini-cons height. "Well, before I spoke with the chief, I was told to go and check on your fellow prisoner, Shadow Raker. And the way he acted was...frightening, I managed to keep it hidden but... it was hard."

Slipstream stepped back in fear. Their past mentor was back to using his old tricks. Using fear to scare his victims into getting what he wanted.

Is that how he was going to win the trial? By scaring the judge into making the right choice. The choice that would mean he would be able to leave unharmed while the three of them are placed in stasis.

He looked at Jetstorm. He was also stunned by what the Cadet had told them. They felt safer knowing that the Decepticon was in a separate department but there were no interrogation rooms in the Mini-con area so Jetstorm had to be taken to the Decepticon Department which was a lot closer to the predator.

Jetstorm looked up at the Autobot. Cadet could see the fear in his optics. It made him feel guilty for having to bring him out of the safe zone.

"Cadet, so I have to be interrogated?"

It took him a little while to reply but he knew he had to. "Yes, I'm sorry, but it's extremely important."

Jetstorm whimpered as he looked back at his partner. All the red Mini-con could do was give his friend a warm smile which gave him a little confidence. The Autobot smiled at Slipstream before leading Jetstorm out of the department.

~~~~

The Mini-con was seated in the same interrogation room that Drift had been in. He hoped to once again see his Master, but that was unlikely.

He hadn't been there for long, just a few minutes. Cadet had to leave him so that he could fetch the officer that would be questioning him, he only wished that it wasn't the Chief because they were not on the same page.

"Remove his possessions, including his Mini-cons."

"No."

"Fine, we will have to remove them ourselves. Cadet, get the tools."

All of a sudden, the was forced opened. The Mini-con winced as hit the wall with a bang. His interrogator was revealed...

...and it was the Chief.

This is why it should have been Slipstream.

He's the better Mini-con.

The Autobot sat down at the other end of the table with a holographic notebook. He didn't seem interested in what the Mini-con had to say, but he had to question every Decepticon or Autobot that had been arrested, and at least one Mini-con from each case. It was the law.

"So, you're Jetstorm, correct?" he asked. His voice was loud, wanting to show the Mini-con who the boss was. And it was working.

"Yes," he replied bravely.

"And how many Decepticons have you undeployed on to?"

Why does he assume that Jetstorm has only worked with Decepticons? He wasn't a bad Mini-con, he had just fallen in with the bad crowd.

"Three," he told him.

"Who?!" The Chief yelled as if Jetstorm was a mind-reader. Wanting to get answers to questions he hadn't even asked yet.

"I do not know the name of our first deployer, all I know is that he kidnapped me and Slipstream on Luna 1 at a young age. He then sold us to Shadow Raker who used us as slaves, he was our second deployer. After that, Drift, I-I mean...Deadlock took us from him and became our third and current deployer," Jetstorm explained. He didn't feel comfortable telling the Chief all of this, but he knew he had to in order to protect Slipstream, Drift and the others.

The Chief looked up from his notebook and made eye contact with the Mini-con. He could tell he was afraid. But his story seemed true.

"So, you said your second deployer was Shadow Raker, the same Shadow Raker we have locked up in one of our cells?" Jetstorm nodded. "How did he treat you?"

He wanted to roll his optics, but Jetstorm knew it would only make things worse, so he decided to just answer the questions. "Like I said, he treated us as slaves. He used to force us to bring him energon and hack into things, and if we failed a task, he would either starve us or beat us."

"And Slipstream can back you up on this?"

"Yes."

"So, Jetstorm, as a Mini-con, what do you want?"

It felt weird being asked that, he never had the chance to think about what he wanted. But the sooner he had an answer, the sooner he could get back to Slipstream.

"I want the same thing as my Master, to be an Autobot," he told him. "I want to be able to live life as a good mech and not have bounty hunters on us every day. I want to leave Cybertron and never return, there are too many dangers here. That's what Deadlock promised us before he took us from Shadow Raker."

"Perhaps the capture was simple and easy, however, Shadow Raker will not touch you, because as soon as we reach Luna 1, we will resupply and go as far away from Cybertron as possible. I promised he would never take you, and I intend to keep it."

He nodded, Jetstorm noticed that the Chief was smiling slightly. His spark filled with joy. Maybe the Chief wasn't as bad as he thought.

He stood up and opened the door. "I think I have everything I needed. Cadet will escort you back to your cell. Thank you for your time and see you at the trial." He nodded once more then closed the door.

The experience wasn't as bad as Jetstorm thought it would be. In fact, the mech seemed to want to help the Mini-cons, he couldn't the same for Drift, but he wasn't afraid of him anymore.