WRONG TURN TO THE BABY WAR

[jetsplaining]

So, good news -- the space bridge prototype worked. Less good news -- it seems to have taken Starscream with it instead of the drone, which was definitely not the intent. And he hadn't intended to send it to a...ship? It looks like he's on a ship. He can feel the hum of the engines through the bulkheads. There are almost definitely people on this ship -- whose is it? It seems Cybertronian in make, but it's not as though the ports of Cybertron have been especially bustling lately. The hallway he's in is too nondescript to give him a clue as to just what kind of ship this is, but the lack of Decepticon insignias in sight doesn't install a great sense of confidence in him.

His radio pings are hitting dead air, so either no one else was transported here, or the trip messed with his comms. Neither prospect is especially heartening. Clutching his datapad to his chest, Starscream flattens himself against a wall and starts inching toward the nearest turn in the corridor, calling out in a low hiss.

"Megatron?" Nothing. Well. Hm. "Slipstream? ...Strika? Anyone?"

Comments

[towardspeace]

Ah. Hm.

"Maybe you do," Megatron allows, "but I can warn you right now it won't be enough."

[jetsplaining]

Starscream can't believe he is still being forced to endure this conversation, or that he has no conceivable way out of it right now. His eyes dart around for signs of other mechs, but right now this stretch of corridor seems to be utterly empty save for the two of them.

"What do you mean?" Starscream narrows his eyes. "I don't want be in charge of the Decepticons. I loathe politics, and when this war is over, when we win, that's going to be half the job. Besides -- more importantly -- if I'm running the entire Decepticon army, I'm not exactly going to have any time for scientific pursuits." He clenches his jaw. "One of these days, I am going to get my name first on the byline of a paper," he mutters.

[towardspeace]

Oh, that's right. The whole science thing. Megatron is finding that absolutely surreal but also kind of charming, in a detached, bewildered sort of way. The idea of Starscream writing a scientific paper is absurd? But this one seems very passionate about it.

"Hm. Yes. I'd focus on the science, if I were you," he says, tapping his chin thoughtfully. It can't be worse than how it's turned out in his timeline, anyway, he thinks. "I'd imagine second in command would be a lot of politics too, though." He supposes so, anyway. In his experience it's mainly seemed to involve murder attempts.

[jetsplaining]

"At least then I'd have some input," Starscream says, but that sounds like a lame argument, and Megatron is forcing him to think about that particular goal in ways he hadn't considered. He absolutely hates it. He falls silent for a few moments, his shoulders stiff.

"I do actually like him, you know," Starscream says abruptly. He doesn't mean for it to come out as defensive as it does, but while Starscream absolutely flatters himself by thinking he's capable of a certain level of ruthless, what Megatron is accusing of his future self makes it seem like he doesn't believe Starscream actually cares for him. He's insufferable and utterly self-absorbed, but the should-be perks of the job aren't the sole reason he's there, shockingly enough.

[towardspeace]

Megatron looks at him in faint surprise. That isn't a lie, he realises, and that's an extremely weird realisation. It's not as if he never liked Starscream; he wouldn't have promoted him at all if he hadn't. But, well. It was never like that, and he's fairly sure that any admiration Starscream had for him at the outset was subsumed fairly quickly by his craving for power.

"... Why?" he asks, genuinely curious.

[jetsplaining]

Starscream gives Megatron a funny look, but he supposes if things really were that bad with this universe's Starscream, then maybe Megatron really doesn't get what Starscream would see in another version of him. He purses his lips slightly, tapping a finger on his arm.

"Because he's clever," he says, "and he's interesting, he's very good at what he does. He's self-assured, he isn't needy, and he actually knows how to hold an intelligent conversation, which is more than I can say for any of his enforcers."

Deadlock can barely hold a conversation, full stop, and his tolerance for Slipstream's bullshit is at an all-time low. Maybe if she'd stop teaming up with Soundwave to make those infuriating slapcam videos he might eventually get to a point where he doesn't want to shove her out a window five minutes into every conversation.

"And he acknowledges the same in me," he goes on smugly, which isn't entirely true, because Megatron has never once implied that Starscream isn't extremely high-maintenance. "He thinks I'm clever and engaging, and he tells me so. He appreciates me."

It is not actually as mutual as Starscream believes it to be, but as far as he's concerned Megatron sees him as equal as he sees anyone, which is what makes it so frustrating that he hasn't made Starscream his second-in-command. And while the ego boost that comes with praise from your cunning and terrifying warlord boyfriend is a big part of the draw for Starscream, there is, weirdly enough, a kind of affection there. Although Megatron could stand to pay more attention to him. He wouldn't mind being appreciated more.

[towardspeace]

Fucking uncanny. It doesn't not sound like Starscream, is the thing? None of this is anything Megatron would be especially surprised to hear Starscream give as a reason he liked somebody. It's just that in this Starscream's timeline that person is him. And it's not just a grab for power? He seems genuine about it, for Starscream-consistent convincing reasons.

Megatron lets this bizarre state of affairs sink in a little, turning it over in his mind a few times. He honestly can't imagine what his alternate timeline counterpart must think about this. After a moment's consideration he decides he doesn't want to try, and just nods, slowly.

"... In that case," he says, "do yourself a favour and don't let him become a monster like I did."

[jetsplaining]

Starscream does not...really know how to feel about the weird direction this conversation is continuing to go in. He narrows his eyes at Megatron, his mouth twisting into a frown. He's increasingly resentful of this Megatron's conviction that if nothing is done, the Megatron he knows is going to inevitably turn into some horrible tyrant who turns out to be just as destructive to Cybertron as the old guard was -- or that it's somehow Starscream's job to do anything about it. It's not that he wants to see his conjunx become a monster, but he also doesn't really see how it's his responsibility, either.

"And how, exactly?" Starscream demands. "What do you expect me to do, tell him to call off the war? Somehow I don't think he'd listen."

This is why he needs to be second-in-command, obviously.

[towardspeace]

Megatron sighs impatiently.

"No, and I don't think that would end well for any of you, either. But if he's anything like me..." He presses his knuckles against his forehead. "Just -- remind him of what he's actually fighting for before he loses sight of it too much. If there's any influence you can leverage at all make sure he doesn't forget that he's doing this for Cybertron, not for himself."

[jetsplaining]

As annoyed as Starscream is at being told what to do by this ultimately disappointing version of Megatron, the idea that he has any kind of say not only in the course of the war, but the kind of person Megatron might become, the very fate of Cybertron, is starting to take hold in his mind, and it does have a certain appeal. Obviously he cares about the future of Cybertron; it's his future, too, after all, and he doesn't really want to see Megatron change for the worse, which this Megatron makes sound like an inevitability, an eventuality. Starscream could change that.

He gives Megatron a curious look, his eyes sharp. "You think I have the power to influence him that much?"

[towardspeace]

He shrugs. "If what you say about your, ah, relationship is true, then perhaps." He pauses, considers. "If you don't think this Strika you mentioned already has the situation under control, anyway."

[jetsplaining]

Congrats, Megatron, now Starscream is actively thinking about manipulating his boyfriend. For the greater good. Obviously.

"Hm. Maybe." He frowns slightly in thought. "She does care about his welfare, but at the same time...she might well just encourage him. She might just as easily encourage him. In the grander scheme of things, I think she might believe he can do no wrong. She was one of his very first followers, after all."

So Megatron needs him to keep him from going astray, obviously.

[towardspeace]

Megatron really wishes he could be talking to Strika about all this instead, honestly. He'd very much like to hear her stance. For all that he just about believes this Starscream when he says that he cares, he doesn't trust him as far as he could throw him -- which, with his diet restricted to fool's energon, is not particularly far.

Still. He's getting somewhere, even if it's somewhere egotistical and self-serving. He just hopes that's enough to get Starscream to actually make an effort at this.

"... What do your Decepticons stand for?" he asks, tilting his head a little as he contemplates how best to move this. "What do your Megatron's writings espouse?"

[jetsplaining]

"Equality," Starscream says promptly. "The freedom to choose. His early blogs were a lot more abstract -- the Senate cracked down hard on dissenters -- but eventually his criticisms got more explicit. Functionism dictated nearly every aspect of Cybertronian society, and the selection system itself was far from objective. Even being in a given class didn't guarantee you a decent job; if the people in overseeing your cohort thought you were better suited to something else, then those recommendations carried a lot of weight. Sure, there were transfer programs..."

He waves a hand. "It's about being allowed to choose your own life, your own destiny. About everyone having the same opportunities. Obviously the whole system had to go -- tear it out by the roots. Overthrowing the Senate was just the first step."

[towardspeace]

As he speaks, Megatron nods along thoughtfully. This is all very familiar, which is both reassuring and pretty ominous, but --

"... Wait," he interrupts Starscream before he can clarify what the next step might be. (Here's hoping there are not six steps.) "His early... blogs?"

He says it like he is an old man repeating a word that he has heard the Young Uns use, which is pretty much exactly what he is.

[jetsplaining]

Starscream gives him the exact sort of look that Young Uns give old people in response to that tone.

"Yes, his blogs. You know -- his posts? On the net?" He eyes Megatron skeptically. "How did you get your ideas out there?"

[towardspeace]

"I wrote a treatise," he says, sounding a little offended.

[jetsplaining]

"So did my Megatron," Starscream says with totally undeserved and unnecessary smugness. "He just did it in posts instead of chapters. And it wasn't so one-way -- putting it on the net allowed an exchange of ideas. Strika wasn't the only one who encouraged him. He had followers long before the Decepticons were even founded. It's where he met Orion Pax."

He makes a disdainful little sound. Seriously, Orion is extremely lame and he does not get why Megatron is so hung up on them. "Anyway, he had a little help staying under the radar -- and by the time the Senate realized how far it'd spread, it was too late to stop what was happening."

[towardspeace]

"Hmm," says Megatron. Despite his kneejerk response to deem this objectionable in some way, he basically can't? That sounds like a pretty decent approach, honestly. Perhaps he'd feel differently if he knew more about online cults of personality and Callout Culture™, but he is absolutely not that plugged in.

"Does he still value that? The... exchange of ideas, I mean." Because that was sure as heck missing from his own revolution...

[jetsplaining]

"He enjoys a good debate," Starscream says, shrugging. "But the Decepticon philosophy is pretty well established by now, and the fundamentals of that were really embodied in his transition to more radical politics. That was why Orion Pax broke up with him, you know," he can't help but add, like the unpleasant shitbird he is, "and as for the Autobots -- Elita One can't be reasoned with. She won't settle for anything less than unconditional surrender."

[towardspeace]

Oh dear.

"The Decepticon philosophy ought to be allowed room to evolve," says Megatron, looking noticeably concerned. "Especially with a revolution bringing such a drastic shift for everyone on Cybertron -- no," he shakes his head, "these are precisely the mistakes I made."

Part of him is just a little bit glad to hear this, because it means this other Megatron is not in fact Better Than Him -- but for all that he's probably never going to drop the niggling feeling that actually a healthy exchange of ideas is unnecessary because all of the ideas should be his ideas, which are the best ideas, he also knows for a fact that isn't objectively a good thing to think and is in fact exactly what kept him digging this awful hole for four million entire years.

And this alternate Megatron sounds well prepared to be heading down the same route.

He grimaces.

"Look, Starscream, I'm not saying you need to try to reason with your Autobots, but you need to keep an open mind. If you let that philosophy become dogma then you can justify any kind of tyranny in its name."

[jetsplaining]

Starscream frowns a little. He's hearing an awful lot of don'ts and not a whole lot of dos. This Megatron is making it sound like they're already nearly doomed to fail, which is not really how Starscream would prefer to characterize the current state of the Decepticon movement. Thriving! They're supposed to be thriving, even if the Autobots are holding them back.

"Alright, so what would you do, then?" he says, really wanting to know exactly what keeping an open mind is supposed to mean in the middle of a war. "You've overthrown the Senate -- the old government is in pieces -- and there's a ground war with an independent faction that's not only becoming a struggle over territory, but over resources, too. They impede your progress every step of the way, trying to hold together the pieces of a society that's already fallen apart while you try to march toward progress -- oh, and their leader's made it personal with you on top of everything else. So if it were you -- and it was once, obviously -- what would you do to avoid the path you've gone down before?"

Megatron really should let him into those tac meetings. Or at least let him write the briefings.

[towardspeace]

Fortunately -- or perhaps unfortunately, for Starscream -- this is a subject Megatron has spent a lot of time thinking about.

He pauses for a second, weighing the question. "Tell me more about the situation on your Cybertron," he says. "What strategies are you deploying against the Autobots? What do the civilians think of your cause?"

[jetsplaining]

Civilians? Hahahahahaha.

"Well, immediately after the Senate was finally dismantled, the plan was to have Decepticon forces occupying every major Cybertronian city so that Megatron could begin the post-Functionist reform -- starting with an overhaul of the nursery system, and the job assignment protocols with it -- but by then the Autobots were already organizing, and even after the fall of the Senate, there were still pockets of the old memory trying to resist against the Decepticons."

Starscream hadn't joined the revolution until a little later, so the beginnings of it he'd only seen from the other side, but he's pretty well-versed in both sides of history by now. "The Autobots opposed the occupations, and then it became about territory, and they attacked the cities -- they even took some back and got enough of a foothold to keep the fighting going. The public opinion on the war is...mixed," he admits begrudgingly, wobbling a hand back and forth, "and the Autobots were preemptively offering protection to civilians the second they had enough forces to do so. And now Cybertron's sustainability is in decline, and the fight is shifting focus from territory to resources -- not just energy, but nurseries too." He frowned. "The Decepticons only control a handful of nurseries right now. They're pretty fiercely guarded."

[towardspeace]

'Yikes' is not a word Megatron has said or even thought at any point during his extremely long life, but the little uptick of his robot eyebrow zone definitely communicates a yikes-adjacent sentiment.

"Nurseries," he repeats thoughtfully. He's not, of course, familiar with the term, but the meaning is fairly easy to intuit, especially considering how much importance Starscream's placing on them. "Hm. Do your Decepticons offer protection to civilians as well? What about alliances with groups opposed to the old system but who don't want to take on the Decepticon badge?"