Chapter 37: A lesson in History
One of the classes Cliffjumper had been enrolled in for his first quarter was war history with Kup. It was much as he had expected it to be, but he had been a bit surprised at the subjects. The quarter was a mega-cycle away from being half over but so far they had really only covered important war leaders. Granted, it was mostly to orientate the Single-anos on exactly who their superiors were but Cliffjumper expected much more…well, history. The first few lessons had been about Ultra Magnus and they had just gone down the ladder from there, but aside from facts, they never got much context. At least Cliffjumper understood how the current government came into being now.
He sat near the back of the room, more at Sentinel's request rather than his own desire. Kup shut off the lights with a grunt as he entered the room, smirking a bit when he saw Cliff in the back. Taking a deep intake of his Cy-gar, he snapped it off with a bite, as he had done for every class Cliffjumper was in. It had shocked quite a few students at first, but he had expected that. What he didn't expect was how hard it was for him to last even a micro-cycle without the chemicals, and he just knew it was going to be harder with today's lesson.
"Alright rust buckets" he yelled, calling the class to order, "Today, we're learning about the First Great War!" Several groans filled the class. Apparently the topic didn't have a good reputation, though Cliff was excited to finally learn what he had missed. "Not that war you scrapheads!" Kup shouted again. "I'm talking about the First War! The war wayyyyy back when you weren't even spark's in Primus' optic…well…most of you" he added with a glance at Cliff, though no one could tell in the dark room. "The first Great War was between the Decepticons and Autobots like the Second War, but the Cons were led by Galvatron, not Megatron" He clicked the projector on, showing a picture of Galvatron on the screen. It was apparently one after Cliffjumper had gone under. The bot had more armor so he looked bigger but the crest was the same, as was his paintjob. But in this picture he proudly wore the Decepticon symbol on his chassis and from the look of it…it was branded on, not painted like the Autobot's own brands and the Decepticons he had known. He wondered if the other Decepticons had been required to brand their symbols after Galvatron had done it.
Cliffjumper forced himself to look at it, to accept it as a part of history and not let it affect him personally, even as he felt his spark throb and call out. Some part of him still missed Galvatron. It was the same part that forgave him…and loved him. He felt the sparkling perk up in interest, but he whispered in his spark, it's no one that matters. Forget him. The sparkling seemed to hear him, growing a bit sad, but it continued to listen to Kup as he lectured.
"Galvatron was a military build, at the time harshly oppressed by the government. In response to the prejudice and tyranny, he formed a group called the Decepticons to overthrow it. It worked at first, but his freedom fight evolved into a bloody campaign with himself at the head." Kup continued. "As he tried to take power over the planet with his mostly military built and low laborer followers, the civilians at the time rose up against him. Lead by a few select leaders with military experience, the regular vehicle bots became the Autobots. The two teams fought for control of the planet as the governing force. Ultra Magnus was our leader then as he is now, well, a much younger leader. Despite several attempts to negotiate, the two groups were just unable to agree and the war went on for several centuries.
"Now, as the war went on, the winning card wasn't energon or numbers or control over land, but sanity. We won the war because Galvatron began going screwy. Remember, he and his cons were born and raised military. The Autbots weren't the military force we are now and our numbers were really the only thing giving us a chance. If Galvatron hadn't gone nuts and bolts, this could very well be a planet of Decepticons." Kup added grimly, clenching the end of his turned off cy-gar.
A student up front raised he servo hesitantly, asking "how did he go crazy?"
Cliffjumper thanked primus the kid had asked, he was just as curious.
Kup sent the mini a quick glance before answering, "No one really knows what caused him to crack specifically, though we've all got ideas. What I can tell you is that everyone could see it coming. As a fellow warrior, I can certainly pity him for his long and painful decline." Kup said softly, shaking a bit as he harshly bit his cy-gar, but not to turn it on. "who knows about Decepticon branding? Anybot?"
A small femme in the second row raised her servo, "Unlike Autobots, Decepticons physically branded their followers with the Decepticon symbol. The idea was 'once a con always a con,' or 'a con for life.'"
Kup nooded, "exactly! Well it was Galvatron that came up with that idea in a fit of insanity. He branded himself during a battle and the other cons ate it up, made it their initiation ritual thereafter" Kup rubbed his optics tiredly for a moment. He had actually seen that fit, watched it in fascinated horror.
It was a dark day, threatening acid rain, but the battle had gone on. The Autobots had managed to push the Decepticons into a corner, cut them off from all sides. It had taken every one of their base's infantry but they had done it. He remembered being so proud of the moment, thinking in the back of his processor that Cliffjumper would have loved to be a part of it though the mini had been in stasis for several vorns already. He could still remember the minis on the front lines, smiling with pride over the victory. They had thought they had won the war. He had thought that for a moment too.
Galvatron had been thrown back by Ultra Magnus. But Ultra had been a soft and young leader back then, optimistic and hopeful. He had held out his hand to Galvatron. He could still see it. Galvatron sat up on the ground, bleeding and beaten and tired. Ultra Magnus stood over him hand out reached, pleading, "Come Galvatron. You started this war with good intentions. Why not return to those ideals? We can build a world without the need for brands" he had said with a gesture to his own painted Autobot brand.
Galvatron stared back at him. For a long moment it looked as though he would accept that hand…but then he had glanced back at the Autobot line, near where the minis were. Kup had been able to see the purple bot's sanity slipping in that moment. He saw his optics widen in horror and shrink in anger. He saw the twitching servos as he looked around and mumbled under his breath.
Galvatron had stood and backed away from Ultra Magnus, grabbing a Decepticon ironing brand—something they used to mark energon carriers or camp supplies. He had turned to face them, snapping the branding iron on with a quick swing. Kup could still remember his smirk and his haunted opics as he held the brand over his spark chamber and said, "One cannot wash away the past Magnus."
He pushed the brand against his platting, making his paint sizzle and pop in the heat, though you could barely hear it from all the gasps of the onlookers. But Galvatron remained silent, gritting his denta until he pulled the iron away, tossing it to the ground and leaving a burning hot Decepticon brand over his spark. "I am, and always will be, a Decepticon!" he had roared. "NOTHING WILL CHANGE THAT!"
The way Kup heard it, it was like a death sentence. Like he was resigned to his fate. Like he could never change again. He didn't know what Galvatron meant with the act, but it drove the other Decepticons wild. They stood and rejoined the fight with newfound strength and pride. They broke the Autobot's line. Their victory became a defeat. From then on, the Decepticons were branded when they joined the ranks, adopting the Decepticon ways for life, while Autobots were still capable of washing away their own brands. The choice was always there with them. With the Cons, you were a Con until you died, or got a new body. He was pretty sure there were hundreds of cons living as civilians with new bodies nowadays. Hiding in plain sight, dead to everyone but themselves.
But he was digressing. Shaking himself out of his thoughts he continued, "That was only one instance. He would head out after battles and hang out in the no bot's zone. He talked to himself often…saw things no one else saw. He even kidnapped and interrogated Autobots on pointless information. We never got the full story" Kup said, "but a few years later, he stole the All Spark from the Sacred Temple of Primus."
The students in the room all gasped in shock. Kup nodded with understanding. "Exactly! So of course the Autobots launched an immediate attack to get it back. But when we got to their base, the entire place was empty! We got the All Spark back, but after that we couldn't find a Decepticon anywhere on the planet! Galvatron and his gang had just vanished! "
The room held the atmosphere of a horror story. The dark made the picture of Galvatron seem more real. Bots looked towards each other for comfort and support. Even Sentinel flinched when a desk creaked or a door in the hallway slammed. Cliffjumper continued to stare at the picture, trying to sort out his feelings. Trying to think of how this information made him feel, like Smokscreen had asked all those millennia ago. He felt…sad…for Galvatron. He couldn't even bring himself to think that the bot deserved it. It was easy to see that the bot felt guilty for what he did…and missed him. It seemed that the loneliness he had seen in the Warlord had come back with a vengeance…and eaten him alive.
He swallowed the clump in his throat, refusing to cry but unable to stop he soft trembling of his clutched servos. He couldn't hate Galvatron, not after this. He didn't feel hate when he saw Galvatron's faceplate… but he felt sadness, regret, betrayal… and now guilt.
He could feel the sparkling tremble with sadness and clutch his spark, trying to comfort him, that made Cliff feel even worse. Now he was making the sparkling feel sad! Trying to pull himself together, Cliffjumper took a deep intake, unable to keep looking at the screen. He focused on the desk, the walls, the other students. It was just history he told himself, it already happened; there wasn't any way to change it so just get over it. He had to focus on what was happening now, here.
He focused on the sparkling, placing his servo over his spark chamber as though he was holding the sparkling to his chassis. He reached out to the sparkling, returning the hug with his spark, cooing to it that it was all ok in his head. The sparkling began to calm down, though he still fluttered with worry. Cliffjumper didn't like that feeling. He tried to think of happy things to brighten the sparkling up. He thought of his old mini friends and Hound, and he thought of the old prank wars and he even let a memory of Galvatron slip in, though he quickly replaced it with other thoughts, like his next class and their new home.
He heard the projector click and looked up to see a picture of…not Galvatron? But he looked like Galvatron. He had to shutter his optics several times to make sure he was seeing the picture right. He had the same face and body, but he was gunmetal gray and red and instead of a crest he had two sharp audio fins on the sides of his battle helmet.
Kup spared him a worried glance. He had noticed how the bot had clutched at his chassis, but he didn't know if it was bad memories or pain or something else. But whatever it was, Cliff seemed alright, so he continued with his lecture. "This is Megatron." He said pointing to the screen. "In case you missed the family resemblance, he's Galvatron's son, created when Galvatron stole the All Spark. We don't know who his other code donor is, but he was the heir to the Decepticons after Galvatron vanished. Now this is the war you all know!" he shouted out to the class.
Cliffjumper stared at the new picture. It was strange to think of the huge grey bot as his sparkling's Half-Brother, by code at least. It was even more confusing when he tried to figure out who was older. After all, his sparkling was conceived first, but had yet to be born. Megatron had centuries on the sparkling…and he had his father too. Megatron was the son Galvatron raised. Cliffjumper wondered if he was as lonely as his father…or as cruel.
"The Autobot's gained control of the planet after Galvatron left." Kup continued, oblivious to the mini's thoughts. "They recreated the government and were growing civilization up from the rubble. Inventions were popping up at every turn, many thanks to the newly formed Ministry of Science, including the Space Bridge Network. Bots were calling it the "Silver Age"…but it didn't last long. Megatron began the second war with an attack on the outreaching bridges of the space bridge network. The Autobots immediately gathered up their forces, which had improved tremendously since the First War, and launched a counter attack. But Galvatron and Megatron hadn't been idle the entire time they were gone" Kup added. "Their army had grown in size and power, they had found new energon sources and Galvatron had raised Megatron into an even better military leader than he was."
Kup's optics glowed dimly in memory. All the students lent forward in their seats to hear his next words. "That war last centuries longer than the last. Galvatron vanished for good a few giga-cycles in, leaving Megatron in command and is presumed dead. But even after he left, both sides did a number of things we never would have even thought of before. Eventually it came down to power and strength. Megatron wanted to use the All Spark to win the war and we launched it into space to keep it out of his servos. With Project Omega and the space bridges we were able to force the remaining cons off planet again. For all you new years, Project omega was the plan to create giant guardians to protect the Great Cities on the planet, so they wouldn't be destroyed like they were during the First Great War. They won us the war. All have since been decommissioned and deactivated. The space bridge network allows for instantaneous travel around the universe for bots and supplies. We haven't heard a peep from the cons since then, but that's happened before. You all are the next generation of warriors and protectorates. It's our job to prepare you for any fight you may face and to keep this planet safe from all threats. Class dismissed."
The clock chimed as Kup finished his lecture and headed out the door, slapping the lights on with an unsteady hand as he desperately bit his cy-gar on for the sweet chemicals. He didn't like teaching history. It brought up too many memories. He had enough on his plate without going back for seconds. Really the only reason he agreed to teach it this quarter was for Cliffjumper. The mini would learn it best with someone he knew and respected, someone who'd lived through it. And if he was aware of the situation, Kup could stop before the kid broke down. He had informed him about what happened after the first war, though he avoided it for several lessons. From here on out it was historic inventions, economic development and memorable tactics!
Cliffjumper stared at Kup's back as the rest of the class filtered out. It seemed Kup had changed as well. He was more haunted. Sentinel nudged him to get up and head to lunch. Cliffjumper followed silently in thought as the blue bot ranted about ghost stories and their next lessons and his team.
So that was Galvatron's son… It seemed the warlord's genes were strong; he looked just like his father. He wondered if his sparkling would look like Galvatron too. He wondered if he could take it, and he wondered about Galvatron. What happened to the poor bot? He wanted to know, but at the same time, he didn't. He wanted to leave it all behind, even if it was an unfinished story. He didn't need to know what happened no matter how much his spark said otherwise. Galvatron was dead. It was best to leave such things alone.
End chapter 37