And now the robot who probably has not two but three religions based on him: Starscream. And for good reason! He's such a. . colorful character. And hey, even though I promise I'm going to go back and edit these to make them better, I'm on a roll! Three in, like, four days? That's incredible! And I'm not even on a Transformers kick!
There was no excuse.
No excuse for this incompetence. This lack of efficiency. Just because something didn't seem clever enough didn't mean it wasn't the way to go.
Since the Decepticons and the wretched Autobots had been on the filthy, backwards planet Earth with creatures who had only left their planet a total of maybe six times, there had been countless opportunities to end this little vacation, drain the planet of its energy, and destroy the Autobots once and for all. They could have gone home months ago, had it not been for Megatron's love affair with ridiculously complex plans.
Starscream, sitting in his quarters' control panel, double-checking the attributes of a large hydro-power dam, felt a vibration make its way through his motor relays from top to bottom. A shudder.
Earth.
This planet, long before it had inhabitants, had destroyed his career. Sometimes Starscream wondered if it had destroyed his life, too, but then the horrified cries and dimming optics of his enemies always drove that dreaded feeling away. After all, had it not been for the trip to Earth and the loss of Jetfire, he would have never discovered his passion for war and battle, and would have never experienced the pleasure such destruction and power gave him.
He would never admit it to anyone unless it was to his advantage, but Starscream had admired Jetfire, and even considered him a friend. Starscream had always felt slightly guilty for his loss, and when he came back to a destroyed life's work, he vowed to make it up to his friend by destroying those who had made Jetfire die in vain.
Who knew he'd end up sleeping on the same planet that ruined his career for four million years?
Starscream chuckled, sort of. A low, quiet, angry sound. His optics narrowed. It wasn't this planet. It was Megatron.
Megatron was no idiot. That's why he was the leader of the group of beings that were going to take over the known universe. That's why he had so many followers, and that's why he commanded his troops with the confidence of knowing that they would obey his orders, out of fear if nothing else.
Megatron was charismatic. He was able to talk his way out of paying for his failures. He was able to talk his way into the anger and fear and pride of millions, convincing them that they were the masters of the universe and deserved to destroy all that stood in their way.
Starscream agreed with all of that. It was true. The Decepticons were a breed of creature far beyond any other. Yes, a breed. Though the Autobots and the Decepticons were both Transformers and both Cybertronian, the difference in willpower caused the great dichotomy between them. The Autobots were weak with compassion and their leaders were weak with mercy and empathy. Because of their hesitance to break the code of so-called "morals" that they worship, the Autobots did not take the opportunities to destroy their enemies or take advantage of others that the Decepticons did, which is why they would never be fit to lead anything. They weren't practical. They weren't logical. They simply did not have the facilities to be in charge.
That is why Starscream was second in command. He was similar to Megatron, and maybe, deep in the back of his mind, he understood Megatron's reasoning and would have done the same thing in his position.
Would have destroyed the lab.
If Starscream had found out that it was Megatron and the Decepticons who had destroyed his lab at a different time; if he had found out before he had developed a taste for power through destruction, fear, and conquest, then he would have left. But he had found a part of him that desired the universe; a part of him that hated the Autobots for their weakness instead of for what he thought they did to him.
Starscream knew that he could not try to ignore the memories that were popping up in his head, because he had to keep his anger and spite high at all times. No leader who wanted to be powerful and mighty and feared could ever calm down. If he wanted control, he could never relax or else he would lose the passion and the fire that drove him towards his ultimate goal.
As time went on after he had joined the Decepticons, Starscream was starting to get a feel for how the Autobots 'ticked', so to speak. Their compassion. Their empathy. Their mercy. Their honesty. Their weakness.
How could these sappy Transformers have destroyed his lab? They babbled on about peace and love and equality, so why would they have destroyed the most famous work-in-progress for near-unlimited Energon sources?
Starscream finally settled for the hypothesis that the Autobots must have thought that an unlimited supply of energy would mean an unlimited amount of firepower with which to destroy each other.
He had to settle for this hypothesis because it was imperfect. Why would the Autobots want their home planet to run out of energy, when that would cause all of them to fall into stasis? They wanted everyone to be in a state of suspended animation until some aliens came over and found them? They'd rather be dead than at war?
Since this was a hypothesis only, and one that left Starscream doubting, he decided to ask Megatron. Megatron knew things that Starscream didn't, because as a leader, he knew that there were certain. . things that a leader kept to themselves and themselves only - not even their second-in-command could know everything. Knowledge is power, and in order to stay in power one must keep knowledge in check.
Megatron had laughed and told him that it didn't matter why they did it, just that they did. Besides, he said, that was millions of years ago. Starscream was no longer a scientist, he was a warrior. His hatred for the Autobots should be for their weakness, not because of some little explosion that had occurred in the past. The whole science thing was a distraction for Starscream, anyway. And even better, Megatron added, the destruction of his lab had caused Starscream to join the Decepticon cause and help realize the goal towards total conquest.
It was then that Starscream put two and two together, so to speak. It was so logical. It was so practical. It was so merciless and cruel.
It was Megatron. Megatron had destroyed his lab - and Thundercracker's lab, and Skywarp's lab. The plan was a classic Megatron Master Plan. And Megatron had kept his cool for half a million years. Starscream, the brilliant scientist, uncanny at deducting the truth from random clues and evidence, had been fooled the whole time.
He was angry at Megatron, indeed. Furious. But a part of him knew that it was absolutely brilliant and absolutely the Decepticon way. It was the kind of thing that Starscream would proudly do himself, and was the kind of action that made the Decepticons more powerful than the Autobots and the rest of the creatures in the universe who "played fair".
He wanted to destroy Megatron, and Megatron knew it. It was for vengeance, and it was for power. Starscream would have never joined the Autobots, even if his lab wasn't destroyed, because he desired fame and worship far too much to settle for universal equality and coexistence. He wondered if maybe some time long ago he would have settled for that.
Who was he kidding? Of course not!
So back to what happened when he found out that Megatron had destroyed his life's work. Ah, yes. Starscream seethed, and his irritation grew when Megatron didn't do anything about it. Megatron didn't view Starscream as a threat. Not at all. Starscream knew, however, that Megatron must have had confidence in Starscream's abilities because he was not demoted. He was still Second-in-Command, and knew more about how Megatron planned and how Megatron led than anyone else - with the probable exceptions of Soundwave and Shockwave, who were Megatron's confidants because of their unwavering loyalty. They were Megatron's ideal Decepticon followers, because of their loyalty. They did not question Megatron's actions, and Shockwave, despite having complete control over Cybertron for four million years, still yielded to Megatron's word the second they made contact.
But they were only followers, because their loyalty was almost to the point of some kind of honor. It was that weakness, loyalty, that meant they would never be true leaders; that made them benign.
As the years went by, Starscream started studying Megatron in a new light. Not as the glorious leader that would destroy the Autobots and lead the Decepticons to ultimate power, but as a test subject of sorts. He was observing him objectively, as he would a lab rat. Starscream had found that Megatron had a glaring weakness: his pride. He would do anything to save face, even if it meant abandoning a perfect opportunity to crush his enemies or to pass by a chance to manipulate some group of unintelligent beings in order to gain an advantage. He would retreat far too quickly in order to save face - he would simply give up.
Starscream was biding his time and he was constantly making direct and brash vies for power at inopportune moments. He would then supplicate himself to Megatron, which Megatron thought was humiliating to Starscream. This pattern, which had continued on Earth as well, kept Megatron at bay - kept Megatron thinking that Starscream wasn't a threat.
At least, Starscream would keep telling himself that, and keep convincing himself that he wasn't honestly trying to usurp Megatron when he performed these stunts. He tried, even though he knew that no one was really on his side; they were all too convinced by Megatron, or in some cases, too scared of Megatron.
Starscream was not a jet with incredible foresight, but he was a jet with mind-boggling determination. He had a trump-card, one that he had been waiting for 500,001 years to use, and if Megatron didn't get them off of this planet soon, away from its filthy, useless creatures and its quite disturbing memories, he was going to use it.
As he heard a slight rumbling go past his door, jet engines powered low, he grinned as his trump card hovered by.
I'm glad that wasn't less than 1,000 words! But it looks like there's some kind of plot forming. Of course, it was actually my intention the whole time, but I couldn't bring myself to actually focus on it. And I know this isn't really about humans at all, but I figure Starscream doesn't really give a flying rat about humans. Master Solo! Wanna be my beta?