BoP: C4: A Full Glass

A Full Glass
1998

Several months passed without Starscream having the opportunity to return to Cliffside. He remained worried that Megatron might catch wind of his retreat and bar him from ever going there, or worse, going in and destroying it. Nemesis III maintained Cliffside on minimal power and kept him informed of anything that she felt he needed to know.

The worse that happened was a group of hikers, a small family; A man, woman and  two teenaged children came right up to the ledge of holographically hidden cavern. She drove them off by creating a grizzly bear form and roaring at them. After that was resolved, there appeared to be nothing else out of the norm.

Megatron's work with the energy generation projects was in full swing. Three large wind turbines were placed in areas near the undersea base, with plans for three more in the near future. If the Autobots or humans wanted to dismantle them, they would have to face the dangerous proximity of the Decepticon stronghold and their arsenal. Megatron was not going to let these turbines go undefended; Starscream was sufficiently pleased.

The Decepticons were also happy that energon was now a stable commodity and that they could energise a little more freely. The pains of hunger was a thing of the past. The availability of fuel helped calmed frayed nerves and lowered the tendency for infighting. The second phase was already underway. The deep ocean turbines were being set in place by several Aquatic Decepticons. And a base was being constructed that could withstand the tremendous pressures at those depths and be used by non aquatics. Tsunami also discovered an accessible pocket of geothermal energy that they could also use to power the base -  allowing all of the turbine's power to head directly to the undersea headquarters. This process was still in progress. As it was nearing completion, Megatron ordered the Martian mining project to expand into a area where an ultra rare vein of Cybertonium was discovered.

Tsunami and the Constructicons looked into the possibility of mining the deep sea, they determined that it was not economical in resources or energy and the pressures from the ocean could break the mineshaft. It would appear that energy collection was still the best, and most needed resource to obtain at that level. It was also easier and less energy intensive to collect metal ores in space where the gravity of the asteroids or Mars was conveniently low.

The Autobots had become aware of the wind turbines early on. Their Sky-Spy passed over several times as they attempted to determine the nature and the motive behind the build. It seemed unusual to them that the Decepticons would utilise generators when there were easily attacked resources not that far away. Yet as Optimus Prime had said to Ironhide, there was nothing inherently illegal about the collection. The lack of aggressive Decepticon activity caused some tensions to grow between the Autobots and the humans.  The agreement with the Earth's Governments was that they would be provided with all the energy they needed -  only if they continued to protect against Decepticon predation.

The Earth's Governments were becoming increasingly irritated with having to give Autobots energy for free when it was becoming clear that the Decepticons had ceased their attacks and had adapted to farm their own power based on entirely renewable sources. Why were the Autobots unable do the same? The humans were admittedly curious as to where the Decepticons obtained their materials and assumed that it was likely from the unobtainable depths of the ocean. As far as it seemed, the Humans, Decepticons and Autobots were finally living in a fragile state of peace.

Starscream and Megatron did discuss the benefits of attacking the humans periodically, as he had suggested once to “keep the Autobots on their toes, however in the end, Megatron was more amused to watch as the Humans slowly turned against the “Autobot Leeches”. He took satisfaction in the discomfort not attacking the Autobots generated. Both he and Starscream decided it would be interesting to see if the humans would eventually turn against the Autobots when they ceased to be useful to them -  it was human nature.

Megatron also explained to Starscream that if the Autobots attacked the very successful wind turbines, he would relaunch attacks on human energy sites -  even though the submarine turbines were almost operational. Simply as a reminder of how good they had things until that moment.

“Humans would easily see it as the Autobots were grasping at straws to maintain their tithe,” Megatron said with a half laugh. Autobots could be working on their own power generation by now.”

“With what the humans do give them – it really should have been more than enough to run us from the world, if they even had the desire to actually get rid of is. They don't want us gone, there is no profit for them if we leave. They are like ants.”

“Beg your pardon?” Megatron asked widening an optic.

“Some species of ants on this world have cleverly learned to farm a type of aphid – a small insect that parasites onto vegetation. These aphids drink the sap of plants and excrete sugars that the ants then eat. We are much like the aphids, and if we keep going out to drink the humans dry, then the Autobots have something to do and earn their tithe. But now they don't and the humans won't want to give away their limited resources so readily.”

“Indeed. Is this what you do in your spare time, Starscream; study ants? You run off to who knows where for days at a time and then do what?”

“Entomology is a fascinating subject, Megatron, you ought to take it up yourself,” Starscream replied with a shrug. Megatron had been on his case over the past while trying to learn what he does when he is away.

“I hope that an army of ants won't be following you to an ill conceived coup attempt,” Megatron remarked with as dire smile.

“Hardly my style, My Lord,” Starscream responded. He was hoping to avoid being baited in this manner. “If I chose to attempt a coup, you would not see me coming.”

“That, Starscream, is not your style at all,” He laughed dryly. “You've attempted no less than fourteen coups in the past fourteen years. Most of which were within the first six.”

“Not all of those were a legitimate attempt at taking command, My Lord. My job...”

“Your job is to do what I tell you to do, Starscream nothing more, and nothing less...”

“No, Sir... as Second in Command it is my job is to step up to the plate in the event you are unable to. My job is to ensure smooth transition of command until you – for whatever reason - have recovered enough to resume your leadership. My job is to ensure the Decepticons remain functional when you aren't.”

“You dare debate this with me, Starscream?” The Decepticon Leader's face twisted into an angry scowl so severe that the flier took a huge step back fearing that a beating was just around the corner.

“Look, Megatron, yes, I want to lead – I won't deny this. But this argument is getting old, very old. I have not made an attempt on you in five years give or take. It was a stupid move, impulsive, even I was appalled and I nearly paid the price by almost starving to death in the wilds. But look where that experience has us now... energy by the shipload.”

Megatron hand snaked out and grabbed the Seeker by the throat and he lifted the flier off his feet, applying enough pressure to cause some pain. “Don't ever make me regret not killing you upon your return the last time. Betray me again, and I will end you immediately – Do you understand?” He shoved Starscream back and the flier stumbled as he was let go.

“Yes, My Lord...” he responded rubbing his throat trying to smooth the plates that buckled under the Warlords grasp.

Megatron nodded and left the briefing room. He had other, more pressing, matters to attend to.

The Decepticon Warlord had no intention of actually harming the Seeker, only to ensure he was well intimidated. Starscream knew this but the action was effective. There were times when Megatron was truly angry and he did do significant damage. Most of the time it was minor, the Seeker would lose his voice and become very hoarse. He would end up having to remain quiet - which the other Decepticons appeared to enjoy. After a short while he would regain his vocaliser and be back to his normal self. Starscream was somewhat concerned. Had Megatron figured out his plan? He was keeping it to himself, largely to see how things were playing out before making his move. It was like a game of chess where he and Megatron attempted to out maneuver the other.

He was dreading the day when he had to act upon a display of treachery in order to divert Megatron from figuring out his true agenda. The phoenix project would come on line within the next six years. Starscream knew he had to act just before Megatron's power increased enough. He hoped that Megatron would go relatively easy on him when inflicting his discipline. Both the pain and punishment were part of the fliers calculations were deemed an unavoidable yet somewhat acceptable risk -  it did depend on his leader's disposition at the time. He truly did not want to annoy his leader enough that it would be another year on the run, but as he stated once before, he was set and ready to wait the time out.