Coronation
By Shadaloo (AKA Judge Deliberata)
Chapter I: Hindsight is 20/20
"Well...as Megatron has...how shall we say...'departed'...I nominate myself as the new leader!"
The Decepticons onboard Astrotrain stared at Starscream, in utter disbelief at what he'd just done yet expecting no more of him. It had been inevitable, really, Soundwave thought - he had been vying for this position for so long, what seemed like eons, now. Ever since he had first joined the Decepticons, he had questioned Megatron's every decision, pointed out his tiniest weaknesses. He had even attempted to assassinate him, on more than one occasion.
The mystery was, why did Megatron tolerate it? It went beyond insubordination, beyond treason - it was blatantly and obviously raw ambition. Although he had been confined to solitary imprisonment once or twice, and on one memorable occasion, had been discharged from the Decepticons entirely, marooned on an island on the planet Earth, many a Decepticon had been punished far worse, for far less.
Perhaps the answer was that, sad as it was, Megatron needed him around. Although many of the higher-ranking Decepticons were not privy to this information, Soundwave had been present at the many meetings where Megatron had conferred with his lieutenants, planning this or that raid, drawing whichever blueprint, deciding which resource to plunder. Millions of years back, on Cybertron, on Earth, and back on their home planet again, as they had proceeded to wrench it entirely from the hands of the Autobots, and all but win the war. No sole Decepticon could claim to have been the driving force in the conquest - it had been the greatest of team efforts, Starscream too contributing a great deal, plotting out many of the air strikes against the major Autobot strongholds. They had all come this far together, as a unit.
But at what price? Soundwave wondered. Even now, Megatron, Skywarp, Thundercracker and the insecticons were floating aimlessly through space, almost certainly doomed. He wished he could have saved his leader. But it had taken all his strength just to raise his fist and say "aye". If he hadn't, he would have been tossed out with the rest. Although he was fine on the exterior, he was dangerously low on energy. He closed his optics down for a microsecond.
How could they have come so far, to be defeated yet one more time?
And was that what had finally set it off?
He remembered the tail end of the last conference, just after Laserbeak had reported back, having finally learned the location of Optimus Prime's stronghold on Moon Base One, and those impressions he had received from Starscream's mind....
"More than you can imagine, Optimus Prime..."
"Well, I believe it's obvious what our next target is, isn't it?" Starscream smiled, waking Megatron out of his reverie.
He turned his head towards him. "To what do you refer, Starscream?"
Short pause. "It doesn't take a genius, almighty Megatron..."
"Make your point known. My patience isn't limitless."
Again, the chief aerospace commander hesitated, thinking the answer was blatantly obvious. "As I am well aware. I refer, of course, to the Autobots' headquarters on that moon."
"And what makes you think that will be our objective?"
"Huh?! B-but you just said-"
"His time will come." Megatron pressed a button on the panel, backtracking to show the face of his nemesis, and freezing it there. The image having been captured on-screen, Soundwave then transformed back into his natural state. Megatron stared at it, considering. "Prime's time will come. However, a direct assault on his base would be a foolish move."
"What are you talking about?"
Megatron sighed. "Shockwave?"
Shockwave, who had remained silent almost throughout the entire conference, stepped forward. "If Optimus Prime has chosen to make Cybertron's primary moon his base of operations, it is not without good reason. He would not surround himself with any but his finest warriors. For all we know, he may have an entire fleet of shuttlecraft buried under his feet, not just the one we saw."
"He just said they didn't have energon to spare on an attack! Were you watching the footage or not?!"
"He knows he is not safe from surveillance, Starscream. He could have just as easily said that to deliberately throw us off, could have his entire party on that moon playing one large performance, just in case they were discovered without their being aware of it. As you said, it doesn't take a genius."
Starscream pounded his fist onto a table. "I tell you, he doesn't know! He's not that cunning, you're all just paranoid! I say now that we know where he is, we take him. He's nervous, he knows we could have found him by now! That's why he's sending that ship to Earth, for more energon. He's defenceless, and we'll never have a better moment to strike. "
Megatron was looking at the image again. "Your point has been noted, and I shall take it under consideration. However, our objective has not changed. We are going to capture that shuttle."
"WHAT? Why waste time on one shuttle when-"
Megatron turned to him now. "Silence! Prepare for immediate departure."
"...you're afraid of him, aren't you? Of Prime."
Before Starscream could continue, he was looking straight into a familiar-looking fusion cannon, and he was pinned to a wall, a hand around his throat.
"What....did....you....just...say?!"
"Gak...nothing...I...take it...back....hgk...."
Megatron released him, the moment of rage suddenly over. Starscream took several minutes to regain his composure, rubbing his sore neck.
"Still, Megatron, I insist. This is madness! Why won't-"
Starscream stopped. He wasn't even listening. Neither were Soundwave or Shockwave. They were already back into planning their coup.
"... if we could secure their shuttle..."
They were ignoring him completely.
"... send Astrotrain to docking bay 5. This won't take a great deal of us, so no need for any of our larger ships. He can transport..."
His eyes flashed white with his rage for a second. He was being completely ignored, as if that one word, 'silence' as if being told to shut up, as if being bullied, would just put him in his place....
"NAAAAH!" He turned and plunged his fist through the screen, sending a shatter of sparks and glass flying. All eyes were on him now. Before Megatron could say anything, he had already started.
"What does my opinion count for here, anyway?! Why do I even bother speaking to you?! You're all idiots!"
"Starscream, I will have no more -"
"SHUT UP!!!" He screamed with such force that Megatron was actually taken aback.
"Listen, all of you! It was my air strikes that enabled us to take back Kaon! My suggestion to concentrate drone forces on sub-sector 63 that won back Polyhex, where we now stand! Others contributed, but it was my instinct, my planning, MINE! I was right then, and I will be right this time, you'll see!! If you don't take that moon base now, you will regret it, mark my words!" With that, he turned to leave.
Megatron opened his mouth to say something, but he wasn't finished.
"Oh, I'll be at docking bay 5, all right. I'll come along on this -" he emphasized the words, to make it seem all the more petty - "little raid..."
The chamber doors slid open. He walked through, not turning to face them as he said these last few words.
"But it will be my final mission under your cowardly command, oh fearless leader!!!"
The doors slid shut, and they listened in ominous silence as the lift sped away. Shockwave was the first to speak.
"He has become increasingly unpleasant as of late."
"When has he never been? It is of no consequence."
Soundwave, however, was still staring at the doors, deep in thought. "Hostility rising. Dissatisfaction."
They both looked at him. "You were listening in on his thoughts?"
"Affirmative. Megatron, he plans to kill you."
"He has tried before, and failed. He never thinks things through."
"He is serious, now. In addition, his emotional stability is questionable. He will take the next given opportunity."
Shockwave turned to look back at Megatron, his concern only perceptible through the tone of his voice. "If that is true, he has become not only a liability, but perhaps a serious threat. I recommend you have him apprehended, and executed. He is nothing more than a self-serving traitor."
Megatron thought it over for a moment, and shook his head. "You are right. But not just yet. I need him on this mission. But afterwards..."
He smiled.
"But afterwards, I will reactivate one of the smelting pools...just for him...as a reward for his long years of service. And I shall take great pleasure in throwing him into it."
But he never had the chance, Soundwave reflected. And now, he won't live to regret it.
He was snapped back to attention on the present moment. One of the Constructicons had just made a bid for power, using their strength as Devastator as a reason for their rule. It was already starting, as Soundwave had feared. Without Megatron, or any stable leader for that matter, the Decepticon empire would plunge into utter chaos.Well, he would not let that happen. In Megatron's name, he would assume temporary command, and once back upon Cybertron, make plans with Shockwave for the retrieval – and hopefully, revival, were he not too damaged – of their leader, and of the other fallen soldiers.
"Soundwave superior, Constricticons inferior."
"Who are you calling inferior!?"
"No one would follow an uncharismatic bore like you!"
He snickered inwardly. And they'll follow a group of second-rate builders with a collective I.Q. of less than 12 in their amalgamated form? He was about to voice those thoughts, when his own private little army, his children – and yet, not his children at all, each having their own independent personality, emerged form their compact state inside his chest and spoke for him, albeit in a somewhat more abrupt manner:
"Hey, nobody calls Soundwave un-crazamatic!!"
"Yeah, let's kick tailgate!!"And then it started. They tried to form Devastator but Rumble and Frenzy stopped them, and somehow Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet got involved, and as he was trying to punch Hook in the face, Blitzwing knocked him aside, only to be accosted by Laserbeak and Ravage. It was a free-for-all.
And no one even noticed as Starscream clenched his teeth in impatience, and addressed the ship itself.
"Astrotrain, if you will?"
"My pleasure, Starscream. Brace yourself."
And Astrotrain stopped completely, throwing them all off of their feet, towards the front. After they had disentangled themselves from one another, they turned to the sole Decepticon standing, staring at all of them with obvious ire.
"KNOCK IT OFF! You're supposed to be soldiers, and you're all squabbling like empties over an energon fragment! Act civilized!"
Blitzwing advanced on him, pointing a finger accusatorily into his chest. "And what would you know about being civil? You're the one who's been making his hunger for power blatantly obvious from the very start of all this!!"
Starscream shoved him back. "It is my right. I am second in command of the Decepticons, and as anyone with an ounce of common sense should realize, I automatically come to power in the event of the current leader's…" he smiled savagely "…demise or absence."
Soundwave frowned. As painful as it was to admit, he was right. The leadership of the Decepticons was not something voted upon; it went to the next in line.
"Baridium baloney!" Thrust laughed. "Shockwave's second in command, not you."
"You twit. An aerospace commander outranks a military ops commander. If you'd bothered to use that cone-shaped cranium of yours, you'd understand that.
"I am the highest-ranking of us all now, and your new leader. If you don't believe me, we can go confer with Shockwave himself upon return to Cybertron. He'll make a public announcement.
And if he doesn't, I'll order him to…
"All right." Blitzwing went to sit back down. "We'll go see what Shockwave has to say."
There was a long, uncomfortable silence as they entered Cybertron's atmosphere, broken only by Starscream's low chuckle of triumph.