#solargale

       The war only recently started, Megatron rose through Kaon’s arenas and achieved the role of the city’s Grandmaster in this Solar Cycle’s Luna Aurellian, a gladitorial event to who gets to rule the city state of Miners and Warriors. Next was Polyhex with the Inquisitorious that held the council being overthrown by Starscream and his coup, leaving the previously loyal left to fight for the war effort, myself included.         I am Aetheres, a seeker forged in Polyhex, supposedly a spark harvested from one of the old cities below or one of the Sea of Rust mesas, it doesn’t matter, except that it changed how I was forged. My Spark changed my fated protoform to its will instead of being a normal seeker like my commanders like Thundercracker, Acidstorm, or even Nacelle. Although they aren’t the best examples as many of them had the privellege of modifying themself, a very rare case for those who are meant to follow like me, however this war has broke the confines of what is acceptable and what itsn’t. I mostly am stuck aboard Commander Nacelle’s ship, stuck monitoring movements of other vessels as we are auxillary given the distrust but I think even the commander doesn’t have full trust for those who are in power over him now, even the respectable Thundercracker when he is on transmissions appear to gain the commander’s ire in his gaze.      A lot can be told from a bot’s eyes, including this specific day, one of the Lieutenants appeared to have a wild eyeing for a scheme, he was someone I did not formally meet nor was I ever under his propper chain of command but he appeared to have the charisma of an Iaconian senator that day, speaking to Commander Nacelle like an equal rather than a soldier under his command. It was odd but his wild perception and his words seemed to cause something, a set of dominos. Next thing I knew, my Lieutenant was wrapped in, and another. Over half of Nacelle’s crew was apart of this being headed by the now promoted Lieutenant Commander: Solargale           “My fellow Decepticons, we have sat stagnant on this ship and, I have got the premission to lead, and now we have a mission that will surely gain the praise of Brigadeer General Starscream and Lord Megatron!” Solargale’s speech was full of many flowy words as such, it was definite that he had practiced his skills, afterall he was a seeker from a small city named Vectus under the jurisdiction of Polyhex so he was likely a leading figure there but a small fry until now. His Gold and torqouise coloring was his most stand out but his red eyes were all I could see. His words were a mix of drive, ambition, even a little mania but his more commendable aspects seemed to outshine his manic nature  in this speech that I almost became enamoured in. My servos and wings ached for flight as he gave his plans that I barely heard, just speaking about the Archipeligo states such as Rust Haven and Damnatorus places that had their own reverence of things that most cybertronians supposedly did not understand given Iacon labeled them as savages. The city of precieved serenity and peace not even being able to naturalize these Rustbound civillians, certainly an aspect that Solargale glorified in his speech but as soon as he was done we were boarding smaller ships, almost like a swarm of insecticons to decend into the sea of rust instead of being on the coast from Iacon.

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A few Decacycles later         My Lieutenant’s vessel was the one I was on and instead of heading into what looked like a ship graveyard, we were stationed at the edge, and it just so happened we came across something. A large ship that seemed to be made from patchwork metal. The ship seemed to not see us so we advanced and took out their primary engines, leading to it to crash in the sea of rust. Upon landed was my first taste of war, what we found was a rather sickening, the vessel was now mangled a couple of our shots seemed to breach the cabin, causing the ship to tear apart, The ship seemed to have a small crew though, some died upon impact with the ground, rust getting into their spark, others did survive, being hurt such as one brown and yellow Rustborn with four horns that I found specifically launched unto the hull of the ship when I climbed up, hearing what they called themselves when I did:           “H-help, the attackers- They- They destroyed it” His voicebox barely echoed the words as I climbed up the wreckage, seeing his form skidded and even with a gash of metal being stabbed into his shoulder as he asked for help but I was confused as to why he asked me at first. Did he not know who attacked him? Did these Rustian people have a wider range of forms dominating their cities? Was Brown just a common color in this area given the rust?        I was flooded with questions like this which lead me to ask him as I began to treat some of the wounds from the crash so he could be stably be taken into Decepticon custody for questioning: “Don’t you see this symbol I am not one of your shipmates.” My words came colder than I wanted but the horned Rustborn was likely going to not see me again, being put on a prison ship or maybe made to join the Decepticons. If he were recruited he would, given his Ground Vehicle status, be meant that he was more likely to be put on a ship with a space bridge if not a role on Cybertron itself. Still though he persisted:            “Rustborn- Your spark- Incessant Coughing, its stregnth, you know tranquility here- right?” His words sputtered out as I tore the piece of fragmented metal out, he was likely delerious given his tone, there was no way to truely tell what this nonsense meant, he just needed to stop bleeding energon and then he can be transported. I went silent after that but he still pushed with words and pleas that seemed to have his delierous tone make him less believable: “Patches- Him and his Conjunx, they were in the elevator- S-Save them!”         He cried out as I carried him away, even if he was true, it was likely given his condition that they did not survive the deathtrap. I tried to be silent and brought him to the prisoner hold where another Decepticon took the prisoners in, thus I left him in his care and went back out. Ultimately I did not find anyone and when having to get back to the ship, I heasitated. I did not know why, perhaps it was due to this war, perhaps it was due to what that prisoner said, with some kind of unheard calling to the sea that I felt. Either way I knew where my allegiances should lay... Right?         Ultimately I went to Rust Haven with the Lieutenant and the prisoners were carried off but I was called elsewhere, the Lieutenant Commander was in battle, and needed reinforcements and thus I was picked to join and flew there. ______________________________________________________________