Starscream

ore honest about his lust for power.

These days, he alternatively wishes Megatron would stop being obsessed with his lust for power and chafes under having to work for such a madman. While he serves as Megatron's right-hand man, he constantly looks for a way to become the commander himself and Megatron knows it: Starscream's extremely volatile personality means he is not adept at hiding his true intent. Fortunately for Megatron, Starscream is prone to panic, cowardice and bombastic gestures, meaning that it'd take exceptional circumstances for Starscream to actually manage to get behind him to shove the knife in.

He may be a scientist, but we're not quite sure. That shot was perfect, much like the one who fired it! Starscream after achieving a headshot, Transformers: War for Cybertron==Fiction==

Aligned novels
Starscream may or may not have had a history as a scientist. Regardless of what he did prior, in the early days before the war began he was one of the leaders of the Cybertronian Air Command. When Cybertron fell into chaos following bombings by Megatron's Decepticon followers, Starscream was posted as Sentinel Prime's bodyguard. He was with the Prime at AltihexCasino during a performance by comedian Armorhide when the Decepticons attacked. Sentinel's attempt to flee rather than fight back made Starscream ashamed of his leader, so he hadSkywarp and Thundercracker take him to Kaon Prison rather than the safety of Iacon. This earned him loyalty with Megatron, but wary of how sour a revolution could quickly turn Starscream opted not to be directly involved in the gladiator's operations, posting his Seekers at Moon Base One and Trypticon Station. Megatron was intrigued by why Starscream wanted to occupy "that semi-sentient pile of junk" but despite Orion Pax's research they found no clues, with information regarding the Station seemingly censored.

Whenever Starscream's Seekers were present, the Decepticons were victorious in battle against the Autobots. Starscream however, found Megatron's strategies overly convoluted. As the war devolved into a siege of Iacon, Megatron and Soundwave, by probing into forgotten areas of the DataNet, discovered Trypticon was a storage of Dark Energon, the life essence of Unicron. When questioned, Starscream explained since even the Air Command was not sure what Dark Energon was, he had forbidden its use, fearing the damage Megatron's gladiators would unleash. Megatron forgave Starscream, noting how he "was smart enough to be afraid of it", and was granted access.

Starscream sent a message to the Autobots proposing a meeting. Optimus only granted him a communication channel. Starscream stated if the Autobots did not know what Dark Energon was (they did) they would need to find out — and asked what would he could expect from them if something happened to Megatron. Optimus replied that he sought a just peace. Starscream said he understood, broke off the conversation and flew to Kaon Prison where Sentinel was held. Starscream offered Sentinel a chance to redeem his cowardly behavior at Altihex. The ultimate aim of this road to becoming Decepticon leader was to become Prime in a peace settlement with Optimus, and lead Cybertron back to its Golden Age. Starscream then flew to Moon Base One when Megatron ordered him to Trypticon, where he found the Decepticons had invaded the Station and slaughtered and maimed his scientists.

Megatron and Shockwave forced Starscream to select two survivors to absorb Dark Energon, for what was a successful experiment. Requiring more for the Decepticon war effort, Megatron ordered Starscream to capture the Geosynchronous Energon Bridge, below the ruins of Crystal City. Empowered by his first taste of Dark Energon, Starscream activated the device that transmitted Energon to the Station for it to be Darkened. But the Bridge still did not produce enough, and Starscream was ordered to find the Code Key of Power and Key of Justice to thePlasma Energy Chamber underneath the High Council Tower in Iacon. Starscream decided it was time to release Sentinel, renouncing Dark Energon after realizing Megatron had turned his soldiers into addicts. Starscream found the Key of Power within the Hall of Justice and flew underground to find his plan had failed, as Megatron had mortally wounded Sentinel. He could see within Sentinel's body was the Key of Justice, but was prevented from taking it by Blackout. Megatron fought Starscream to a standstill, sparing him because he realized he was a better soldier than a would-be example.

As Megatron entered the Chamber, Teletraan-1 activated the legendary Omega Supreme to fly it away. Aware Starscream had a better chance of escaping Omega's awakening, Megatron ordered Starscream and his Seekers to down Omega, in exchange for more Dark Energon. Giving up on his attempt to give up his addiction, Starscream gleefully accepted and they successfully blew Omega out of the sky, allowing the Decepticons to retrieve the Chamber and corrupt the core. As Cybertron became uninhabitable, the Autobots left on the largest starship ever built - the Ark. Starscream left the planet with Megatron as they gave pursuit on Trypticon, now a Nemesis-class supercruiser. The two ships entered a space bridge, which separated the two ships to unknown parts of space... Exodus