Chapter 3
The Decepticon concept of honour is very different from that of the Autobots and many other species are used to.
Some of it´s basics are:
Don´t show cowardice in battle - unless it is a ruse to trick your enemies.
Be always loyal to your leader - unless he is not worthy of your loyalty.
Don´t shoot your enemy in the back - unless it is in battle.
(The last line deserves some explanation. Battle in this sense means open battle, where entire groups of enemies are fighting each other. In a one to one fight, you are supposed to meet your enemy from the front, in a direct exchange of powers. But in battle, where everyone shoots everyone, such attempts would be foolish.)
So the essence of the philosophy is, strength and loyalty is good,
but strength and loyalty combined with cunning and trickery are ideal.
Bludgeon, master of metallicato
xxx
A human philosopher had once said if you look into the abyss, the abyss looks also into you.
That is a good way to say it. The abyss, that is in our case the invisible line between the lust for battle and fighting as a duty for the cause and sheer violence and destruction only for the sake of itself.
Anger, hate, uncontrolled aggression. And we do everything to separate ourselves from it, to not let this things go out of hand.
Cyclonus, Decepticon second in command
xxx
Starscream and Galvatron. Similar but still different.
Galvatron, consumed by his quest against the Autobots. But with him there had been long periods where he was completely normal. He listens, not always, but often. His normal self is always shining through, even if only for the ones who know what to look for.
Starscream, possessed by overthrowing Megatron. With him, it was different. The robot that I remember from the beginning of the war was gone. With him, you didn´t see it on the first look, it wasn´t an accident, it was slower, deeper, permanent corruption
xxx
Starscream, Galvatron and finally myself.
I know only all too well how they are feeling.
Because I know how it is to stand on the edge of the abyss too.
In every waking moment in my life, In the depth of my mind, the voice is in the background of my mind.
Whenever I´m unconcentrated, whenever I don´t put my mind into being who I am, who I want to be, I hear the voice.
Unicron, he did more than just change our appearance, he tried to reform us in his image.
He placed programs, thoughts, a part of him, deep in our minds.
He tried to make us what he wanted us to be.
Killers, cold, efficient, merciless, even more than we already had been before.
Cyclonus the warrior, Cyclonus the destroyer.
The only aim is conquest, the only pleasure is mayhem, the only cause is destruction.
No, I decide who I am, not some monster who had found us in space.
I had been loyal to Megatron because he had been our leader and gave my life, no the life of the one I had once been, a purpose.
I have been loyal to Galvatron because he had continued Megatron´s way. He defeated the Autobots and rebelled against Unicron.
I am loyal to Galvatron because I understand what he is struggling with and I know he can be cured.
I am loyal to Galvatron because he was the first to stand up against Unicron. He was brave enough to face the monster before anybody else did.
It may have been Rodimus Prime who had opened the Matrix, but it was Galvatron who went to Unicron with the intention to stop him.
It was Galvatron who brought the Matrix where the Autobot could get his hands on it in the first place.
It was Galvatron who defied Unicron´s orders and refused to destroy it in the first place.
I know he didn´t do it for me. He did it for his own freedom and only secondly for us others. Like a Decepticon should.
But I know he did it also for us. He also wanted to end the threat for Cybertron and free us, his loyal troops from Unicron´s influence.
Because of him I am free, because of him, I am still my own bot.
And I won´t forget this.
Since Torkulon, since my previously failed attempt to cure him, his state had gotten far better, stable. He has been making plans before, strategies, campaigns. It is nearly like before.
Galvatron is getting better. Soon, he could be completely cured.
And I will do everything to make sure that this will happen.
xxx
Some think I have taken my concept of honour too far, that it makes me less efficient as a Decepticon.
They don´t understand that it is my shield.
I give my enemies a fair chance whenever I can.
I have drawn Ultra Magnus back into a space ship, to keep him from dieing in space, one of our greatest enemies. But how can I let somebody die like I nearly did? Especially a great warrior who deserved better.
I give life and I take it.
And I try not to fall.
xxx
Starscream, yes, I understand you now better than ever before, because I know how it is to be you.
I know, should I give up and surrender to the voice inside me, I would become like you.
I guess that means you are my brother ones more.
I can not really feel sympathy for you, but I understand better how it is to be you then anybody else.
End
