"Do you really not know what a conjunx socia is?" Starscream says, a little incredulously. "And -- yes, I do, when it comes to war tactics. If Megatron wants to put himself in the field, I'm not going to argue just because he might get hurt."

The sentiment behind it is kind of weird and confusing and Starscream doesn't really dedicate any processing power to thinking about it, but a fair bit of is...genuine trust, if only in Megatron's ability to fend for himself. He's not the leader of the Decepticons just because of his ideals; Starscream's seen him in battle plenty of times, and he's seen old vids of some of Megatron's fights in the arena. Strika's overprotectiveness almost seems more like a lack of faith to him.