The Abysmal Passage

[Corvid]

She calmed down, and he with her. As she made an observation about the technology, there was a moment where he took the time to recollect himself. Thank goodness. His eye shut. He focused on the heat of the engine around him. The calm washed over him, and he could answer her. More calmly now, his demeanor changed.

"That's one use for it, yeah. You sure you haven't done this before? You're a natural."
"The Theta System uses it to make a network of information for safety. When you can see everything around you, nothing can sneak up on you. Especially useful when you’re trying to avoid the factions, but it won’t help us in this system.” Blast the Astrobots. They should have contacted him by now. Withou the Coalescent Lens’s use, which he’d relied on for some time now, he felt vulnerable. In a place overrun by Decepticons, no less.

[Cybiscus]

Her antennas flutter briefly from the compliment, gently waving a hand and using it to rub the side of her neck, all while chuckling and muttering a low “well you know”. She quickly adjusts herself once more, moving the hand away from her neck to rest at her side once more, resuming the stance she had before. “Yeah, I guess this ship’s in a pretty tight spot now.” She taps on the surface once more, looking down in thought. She heard about the different factions here and there, but never to their full extent. Most of it due to some parts of the language she couldn’t understand. So, she felt really out of the loop with this sort of discussion. With a couple of seconds of considering, she lets out a light sigh before getting the question out.

“So, I’ve noticed that you don’t really enjoy the topic of factions coming up. I don’t mean to seem like I’m being nosey- but your expressions are pretty obvious sometimes. Why don’t you like them?” She swallows after her last word, remedying the slightly dry throat she has at the moment. This could spike up a response that held any tone. Swiftcut only hopes that it wasn’t anything too negative. She does not doubt in her mind that the response wouldn’t be good at all. The topic just seems like a touchy subject- at least from what she assumes. The best case scenario is that Graphene decides to not talk about it, and the two could maybe move onto a subject that isn’t bad.

[Corvid]

"Hah! Been in worse spots before," he said with a hearty chuckle. The thought seemed more than enough to amuse him. Might have made the Aulveni wonder just how many adventures the rugged cargo ship had been taken on.

Swift asked about his home, and while his smile faded to a more muted expression, the mech's candid response might surprise her with how mild it is regarding what's usually a sore subject. While a few of his words do almost seem to growl out of irritation, it's for the most part tame, considering. Tamer than any time the subject had been brought up in the past before.

"My city got caught in the crossfire early on in the war. We didn't choose a side. Tried to stay out of it, but they fought with us anyway. The Decepticons did. And my city wasn't the only one. But in the end, both factions were to blame. They razed my city, our world, and then when they were done doing that they moved on to others. As if ours wasn't enough already." He finished, huffing warm air. Orange never looked to have deeper meaning in it than it did in his eye; right now it was sharp, like his piercing gaze could be when someone touched something they shouldn't have- she'd seen that look before. But now, it wasn't directed at her. And all at the same time, his normally bright eye burning with passion was somehow... different. No longer hot, but warm; inviting. The look hid in his expression like a concealed treasure waiting to be dug up; he spoke with a subtle, masked fondness for the home he'd lost, and not just the sorrow he felt over losing it.

[Cybiscus]

Swiftcut’s eyes grew somewhat from the reaction. It wasn’t at all like anything she was anticipating. Though she’ll admit, she did not mind the sense of lightheartedness in the mech’s voice. Listening to his words, she starts to get the imagery in her head. There was once a vague looking Autobot who didn’t look so pleasant, with a face matching it. As for the robot that was representing the Decepticons- it hardly seems like it was even remotely robotic. More like a monster with sharp fangs and claws. Either one she never wants to come across in the future, given how both of the factions were like in Graph’s short story. Her eyes glowed then as she stares at the mech, trying to imagine the city he was raised in. It was kind of difficult to do so since she hasn’t been any other civilizations. Not like she could get an idea what Cybertron was like- she had never set foot on the planet. She could only take fragments of remembrance from the old cities on Aulvenia, trying to match them up with the mech before her, just to get an idea. But, nothing came up- everything looks out of place compared to him.

Once he finishes his response, the Aulveni focuses her gaze on his face, which was turned away, but she could make out some features, namely his optic. The glow emitting from it makes her antennas perk up somewhat, processing the tone of his voice and trying to make out some of the body languages. It was the only thing she could rely on to get a grasp of the mood that was set currently. She knew what his smile was, what his chuckle meant; they evoke positive feelings in her, specifically comfort in this case. However, at the moment, the expression on his face made her slightly wary. She begins to choose words that were appropriate, trying to make herself look not as provoking, or rude. She won’t lie- for a while now she was very curious as to what the Cybertronian culture is like, or was like. Perhaps this was the only time she could get to know what Cybertronians are like- who knows how much longer she’s going to be around them, so might as well get the time to understand them.

“Were you ever fond of your city? What was it like before...you know?”

[Corvid]

“We’re nearing the field,” he remarked after examining the map more closely. “I should double check the inhibitors.”

When Swiftcut asked about his home city, Graphene didn’t acknowledge it. A hand swiped the navicomp’s map of the system out of the way, a low hum from deep in his chassis signifying either that he was satisfied with the response time of the image, or some measure of dissatisfaction with the unfinished portions of the map, or perhaps with their location in relation to the field. Maybe even a combination of the three. He didn’t nod his head, or wave a hand to dismiss her. Instead, he deflected the question. It wasn’t harsh- cold, perhaps- but Swift was observant. She could ascertain that it wasn’t her he was ignoring, but rather, the subject matter of the question. He began to leave the warmth of the engine room, stepping out into the hallway from where Swiftcut had come.

"Follow me. We tend to get busier when we're around the fields, and anyone with free hands who knows how to check the inhibitors can make a difference in a crisis."

[Cybiscus]

There was a brief flick from one of Swiftcut’s antennas, and with a combo of her biting her lip, she felt awkward from the silence. She blinks a couple of times, looking to the side, just to look elsewhere rather than the mech. After that, she didn’t know what to say, more like she had nothing else to say. Without a response, the conversation was pretty much over. The Aulveni couldn’t think of a different topic at the moment. In fact, she was focusing more on her cheeks burning up just a little. She probably went over a line right there. Her hand instinctively reaches up to the side of her face to pretend she had an itch somewhere to hide her embarrassed, pink cheeks while turning her head to the side. With this new tidbit of knowledge, it was probably best to not ask about the story of his life. Really, this could go for any other Cybertronian. Chances are, she might not even see them again once she returns home to her band. Making friends out of any of the Cybertronians would not matter when they live in entirely separate worlds. Swiftcut only has a job here to help around the ship, until she returns home, and that was the end of it.

Her antennas twitch from Graphene’s voice, snapping her out of their thoughts, “Oh, right.” she merely mutters out, taking a step to shift herself away from the table, following the mech out of the engine room, her face appearing neutral. She said nothing more, her eyes forward as they head to the next area.

[Corvid]

Before long he was leading her on a trip that could have been considered a tour of half the ship- at least of that floor. From where they had been on one of the lower levels at the back of the ship they traveled along a single long, straight hallway to one of the front cargo units, and along the way passed by numerous of the less utilitarian rooms; the floor's three private quarters and the common area, as well as a storage room for personal items. When they reached the cargo unit, he led her inside.

All cargo units had a similar design. Inside, sturdy walkways blocked off with safety railing, and with stairways leading up on one side and down on the other surrounded three sides of the cargo's interior at each floor of the ship: the interior three walls, leaving the outside wall open. This was for ease of extraction for the items within the storage compartment. He led her up the staircases a few floors. And at the center could be seen the holding space for cargo- a completely open space, with no floors that meant a large drop to the bottom for the higher levels. They were split at the level closest to the middle, however, turning what would be one very tall storage space into two storage compartments instead of one, and each of the two had their own systems for opening the compartments to the outside. Swift had likely seen the inside of these cargo units before. Plenty of times the work she did for her stay on the ship included moving storage around for inventory. In their ascent, they passed the cargo unit's bisection. They reached one of the middle floors, and he led her out of the unit.

From there, back down the hallway they went only a short ways. Along the hallway of the middle floor third from the top, several rooms with the ship's more vital systems were housed. One room contained the Passage's navigation systems. The room next to it was their destination.
Inside the adjacent room was a system which looked even more thrown together than anything else on the ship. It was a ghastly, if not humorous, sight to behold. It wasn't likely she'd been here before, because until now the room had been left shut- and now it seemed like that was probably because of the eyesore that was this device. This was the system for the ship's subatomic interference inhibitors.

"Alright," he said more to himself than to her as the lights to the room flickered to a brighter setting. "Plugged in, t'sk. _{Why wouldn't it be? Correlator never remembers to unplug things. Why save power, anyway?} Ahem. Yeah, well, this is it." He steps to the side, a sign indicating he wanted her to step up to the controls. Not that she would understand the non-standard body language.

[Cybiscus]

Swiftcut always had a fascination towards the ship. Though it was ridiculously massive for the number of occupants at the moment, it is still impressive to her. Even though she hasn’t seen many ships in her life, maybe a few, but only from a distance. She remains behind Graphene during the small tour, but a bit farther behind than usual. She was stopping a couple of times to take a glimpse at details she had seen before during her time on the ship but wanted to take more in for future reference. Naturally, she didn’t need to take a look around the cargo areas-she knew plenty of information from the amount of work she had to do in them.

She emits a few clicks, one of her antennas flicking a couple of times as they both approach the room. One look inside of it and her lips almost pinch together. She has no idea on what to make of the contraption before her. It was like a frankenstein of technology that was making her head hurt, just a bit, but the uncomfortable sensation was there. She looks at Graphene, then back at the controls again before stepping closer to them. Just the sight of it made her slightly nervous. If she thinks he’s going to do what she thinks, trying to get her to understand what it even is, would take some time. “So- why are we here?” She inquires in a way that sounds like: Have you lost it?

[Corvid]

She seemed... unenthused. The corners of his lips drooped very slightly in disappointment with himself.

"Well," he sounded like the wind had been taken out of his sails just a bit- not that he was upset, or hurt by her lack of enthusiasm- like what normally would have been a lively explanation for a piece of interesting technology, as Swiftcut was used to hearing from him by this point, was instead a rather normal explanation. Boring, in comparison to how he normally explained the ship's technologies, "this is the machine which activates the ship's..." before he could explain fully, Graphene was interrupted by the familiar voice of Correlator... was this where he'd wandered to while they'd cleaned his mess together?

"You're explaining it all wrong!" Correlator shouted.

"Shove off, I can- wait, how is there a wrong way to explain- no, never mind actually. I don't care. Shove off!" At this point, Swiftcut might have found it hard to tell whether they were still jokingly engaging in their usual banter, or seriously fighting. They were having fun.

"No, you shove off!" Correlator shouted back. His voice was growing louder, coming closer.

"Why don't you say that to my-" Correlator burst into the room.

"Go on now, go," the mech insisted, stomping into the room and marching behind Graphene, beginning to push the mechanic out of the inhibitors' room, Graph's feet dragging as he went. "I'm done with you, no, sick of you pushing me into the background. I refuse to sit quietly behind the scenes while you steal the limelight of ~my~ creation!" Correlator didn't seem mad, and Graphene likewise- looking more confused at his friend, playing at putting up a struggle as he was pushed out of the room completely, stuttering beneath his breath.

"But, I- well- I- *huff,* fine-" finally, he resigned with a final glance at Swiftcut that mixed confusion with petulant, reluctant acceptance of his defeat. Maybe he should have been more enthusiastic in his description, like Correlator always was…? He just didn’t know what could have gone wrong. Maybe he needed to make his presentations more interesting or attention-catching, somehow… The thoughts swirled and lingered in Graphene’s mind, the mech scratching his head as he walked off to dwell on what he could have done differently to catch Swifcut’s attention better elsewhere, no doubt working on some part of the ship.

Correlator closed the door behind him, turning around and resting a shoulder and arm against the door with a leg outstretched in front of him in a posture that *oozed* over-exaggerated, but genuine exhaustion (oh, yes; he'd seriously been pushing Graphene that whole way, and the mech was heavier than he looked), sealing the deal by wiping his forehead with the back of his other hand as he'd seen oh-so many organics do before. (Why did they do that, he wondered?) Snapping his attention quickly back to Swiftcut, the enthusiastic mech's eyes scrunched up in an unseen, but all the while very well defined smile.

"So!" he said, "let's get started!"

Before she could pace herself and try to comprehend what inane encounter she’d just witnessed, Correlator was already diving head first into a rambling monologue.

“See, Graphene’s got no business showing off my invention! I know, I know. The work of a regular genius, hold your applause till the end. _{(Actually, you can applaud now if you want. I won’t stop you.)}” *clap* “This is it! The marvelous device that protects us from the Fields of Resonance. Pretty neat, huh?” He leaned casually against the machine, a loose bit of metal falling off that he didn’t seem concerned about. Shoddy craftsmanship, for sure; not graced by the touch of finesse Graphene’s mechanical prowess brought to the ship’s machinery. Seeing that would have made Graphene flip out just now if he were still here. “’Protect us from what,’ you might ask? Well it’s simple! Er, no! Not simple! It’s complex theoretical physics!”

Oh good, maybe he would spare her- nope, it seemed instead like he was going to explain it all to her anyway.

“The Fields of Resonance, you see, is a region of space affected by an astral anomaly. You probably know that much from your own travels: everyone does. But what you don’t know is that we, that is, Accelerator and I, figured out exactly what that astral anomaly is! The Fields of Resonance confirm Quantum Field Theory, a scientific theory that states, in part, that all matter in the universe vibrates on the subatomic level. And using our science-y stuff (okay, Accelerator did the science, I just helped), we figured out that the astral anomaly in the fields causes all matter that passes through it to vibrate at a different frequency from the rest of the universe. For us, it causes a state of rapid subatomic decay that ends in hideous, excruciatingly painful, gruesome death… Pretty neat, huh?” He paused here for a moment, perhaps expecting praise, perhaps eager to gauge Swiftcut’s response. But he picked up without taking more than a few breaths of air- and realized just how horrific his last statement might have been for people more normal than he was.

“Don’t worry, though,” he reassured her, “that’s what the inhibitors stop from happening.”
“See, this big clunker isn’t the inhibitors themselves. Actually, the inhibitors are outside the ship, hidden in little pockets that they only come out of when we need them! This here-” patting the machine, causing it to groan in protest- “is the interface we use to activate them! Once activated, they generate an energy field around the ship that negates the effects of the Fields of Resonance’ contradicting vibrational frequency-” he might have more to say. With Correlator, you never know. But for now at least, there was a pause at last long enough for Swiftcut to respond to him- stop him from rambling, perhaps- or at the very least, to attempt picking up the puddle of words he’d dumped over her head.

[Cybiscus]

The Aulveni’s antennas held back slightly once again, the lack of enthusiasm was hard to miss. She knows that Graphene gets excited when talking about anything even remotely related to the ship or his work. She doesn’t know, however, that this device wasn’t his- though she really couldn’t tell as much due to seeing his workshop previously. Though, she should give the mech some credit; he was excellent at his craft. Maybe it was something that she said, or how she conveyed it that made him lose the enthusiasm, which made her feel bad of course. The sound of Correlator’s voice causes her to jolt, definitely grabbing her attention.

Swiftcut begins to fidget with her fingers awkwardly, shielding her hearing a little with the antennas twitching back once more. Graphene’s volume tends to get a little too high for her whenever he decides to shout to Correlator from across the ship- a dramatization. She looks up at Graphene for a moment, then eyes on Correlator as soon as he makes his appearance in the room. What unfolds next leaves Swiftcut speechless. Yes, she has seen these two mess around before, but she always has no idea on how to respond to it. Does she stop them? When is it appropriate to do so? It was her instinct to stop whatever commotion was going on that would gradually escalate. Of course, this situation was nothing compared to say one of her band members starting a fight. However, the feeling was still there.

All she could give Graphene was a light shrug, along with the familiar awkward nibbling on her lip. Indeed, the mech before her now, Correlator, was dramatic as usual. He definitely got her attention with how much he talks with such excitement. Is he talking fast, as well? Who knows.

The Fields of Resonance, Swiftcut has undoubtedly heard of it before, at least during her travels on the Passage. She has never seen them herself-she should consider herself lucky that she hasn’t. By how Correlator describes it, it sounds like the end of times. Now she kind of regrets not being as impressed of the device like before, the thing’s probably saved her life plenty of times without her realizing it.

With intent, the Aulveni listens to the mech explain the inhibitors away, grasping whatever bits of Cybertronian she could understand to piece everything together. Yes- the inhibitors are useful, and essential because they prevent a catastrophic event that the Fields of Resonance causes-seems to be it. Through the slight pause in Correlator’s explanation, the Aulveni lets out a light cough from her throat, hopefully enough to catch his attention.

“I see- it’s actually pretty impressive. But- do you mind showing me how to use it? I’d hate for us to come across these fields and for me to be the one responsible for getting it working- and for me not to know how- I really don’t want to imagine what would happen.” She fidgets with her fingers once more, in a soft way. Hopefully, she didn’t come across as rude for interrupting him like the way she did.

[Corvid]

Speaking fast as well? Absolutely, he was. Fast enough that he was half way into his next sentence already before Swiftcut's question properly registered to him, causing the mech to pause and interrupt himself. "-and you know, it feels pretty- Huh? Show you how to- oh sure, yeah. You just flip this switch, and hit this button right here. So as I was saying-" Such a simple mechanism, it was comical how much Correlator bragged over it. And yet, he seemed profoundly proud of it.

The conversation could have lasted another five, ten, maybe even fifteen minutes long- it would have been hard for her to tell, or anyone for that matter, with the verbose nature of Correlator's speech. He told tales of their previous adventures together, he, Graphene, and the other members of the crew the Aulveni had met; stories of grandiose adventures that couldn't possibly be true, and even some unassuming claims of his own accomplishments in aiding the group of Cybertornians. All of it told with absolute confidence of their infallibility. For all she knew. Besides, he hadn't given her many points to cut in and ask.

When the conversation finally came to a halt, Swiftcut looked up and found herself inexplicably roaming one of the ship's hallways. Had they been walking the entire conversation...? Correlator's speech must have just had this captivating quality to it, enough for her to lose grasp of her surroundings. He was certainly a distracting person to speak with.

"Well, this is me," he said, pointing to another of the rooms on the ship. Did he have business in there? Had he said? It was possible she might have missed it in the muddle of words. She'd only been able to reply at key pauses in his speech, so it was possible she had missed-
"Swiftcut," her attention would have immediately picked up to the suddenly slower, more somber tone in his voice. "I'm still working hard at it. Don't you worry," he places a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll find Aulvenia, together." Then, stepping past the threshold of the room before them, he gave a faint wave, and just before the door closing in front of her, "Anyway. Cya."


After the inhibitors had been activated and their brief journey past the dangerous outskirts of the fields of resonance had concluded, Graphene informed the crew of an upcoming stop for supplies on a nearby planet.

[Corvid]

Tissiress, Borealis, next stop: Leva III.

It had been an eventful couple of stops for the crew, most of all for Swiftcut and Graphene. After picking up another passenger in the small Nagacon Rile, a necessary stop for fuel at Borealis Station led to an unfortunate encounter with the infamous mercenary, Shadow-Strike. With it refueled, the ship was now making its way to Leva III on Graphene's order to lie low while Shadow-Strike left the system in case of any unpleasant surprises he might have organized for them with the Decepticons after their meeting.


The captain sat with a cube of burnt umber ale in-hand, against Correlator's wishes. He'd tried, but Correlator knew more than anyone that you couldn't stop Graphene when he was in a state like this. For Swiftcut's sake, he hadn't made too big a fuss about it. With a drink and a chestful of shame, Graphene had begun explaining what happened on the station to Correlator, and afterward went about explaining the truth of just who Shadow-Strike was to Swiftcut.

"It's true he's a bounty hunter. A mercenary, really, but what's the difference? He doesn't worship Unicron, though. He hates him. Last I heard, dark energon deposits- that's Unicron's blood- disappear everywhere Shadow-Strike goes... that's how the stories go, anyway. But dark energon itself is thought to be a Cybertronian myth, the 'ichor of the uncreator.' No one knows who Shadow-Strike is, really, except that when he's hired to do something, he pulls through. Usually leaving a path of death on the trail behind him." Swiftcut would have easily been able to note the difference between now, and earlier. His voice was steadier, his nerves reined in. Perhaps due in part to the drink, but nevertheless; he was speaking truth, and with Correlator nodding along all the while, she could be sure of that.

She'd also know that there was still more to the story. "Councilor," making decisions for others- that wasn't all there was to tell. Correlator glanced her way, a reassuring presence that promised answers to be given now that he'd calmed the other mech down. But if she paid close attention, she'd also notice Correlator was letting Graphene go at his own pace. Whatever there was to tell, it was serious enough that- whether for lack of being able to in one go, or in order to avoid overwhelming her with information- it was something that had to be explained slowly.

[Cybiscus]

Before Swiftcut was asked to join the two mechs, she had taken some of her own time to recollect her thoughts and simmer down a few flames she had in her mind. While she did that, she made no hesitation to check on the state of Rile. Really, she had no idea what the Nagacon was going through right now; if anything the pain was definitely worse than some feelings of offense she had when Graphene made his attempt to shield the truth from her. As she thought over it some more, the Aulveni doesn’t really have the right to know personal things about the mech. Sure, she was just a crew member on the Abysmal Passage, but that was it. The two have never really made much of a connection before, just small talk every now and then. And of course, she thought it was better that way in the end.

Even though she was clear on what her thoughts were, she listened intently to Graphene as he explains who Shadow-Strike was, all while glancing to Correlator on occasion. Indeed, she had noticed that the mechanic's demeanor had changed, compared to the sporadic mannerisms he had back on Borealis. Now, after hearing more about him, the Aulveni really couldn’t blame him for wanting to get away from him so quickly. And- how foolish it was of her part to raise her voice to the mercenary. Anything could have resulted from that, but luckily it was the luckiest route. Her antennas twitch in thought now, her glowing eyes focused on Graphene. There was one thing that she was still curious about, the word that was mentioned- “Councilor”.

From the looks of it, that word, in particular, seemed to be more of a private matter for Graphene. It was almost apparent due to the fact he had yet to mention it- like it never happened. Yes, she was a bit irritated before that she didn’t get answers straight away, but it was wrong of her to assume she would. Clearly, she wasn’t thinking straight entirely, with so much tension that was going on before and not to mention the dilemma that was the Astrobots. Swiftcut wasn’t on the perfect mindset- and possibly the same could have been for Graphene. So now, she doesn’t pry on it; instead, she lets the mech say what he has on the mind, anything at all that he felt was necessary to mention. This left her silent, just to listen respectfully. Or, more like she had no idea what to say. The topic of “Unicron” and “dark-energon” was definitely a foreign concept to her that she could provide hardly any input on.

[Corvid]

A moment passed in uncomfortable silence as he struggled to find the words.

"Take your time," Correlator admonished Graphene.

Starting again was... hard. As far as he was concerned, he'd left this all behind him. Carbyne agreed. So did the Astrobots. It had never occurred to him that bringing on new crew members would also mean sharing the truth. Subconsciously, perhaps he'd known it would come down to this. Was that why he'd always avoided bringing on new crew members before? Finally, Graphene shifted, his optic dull and almost lifeless as the words passed like the life leaving his spark, and just as quiet-

_{"I killed."}

The truth hurt to admit. His voice rose only slightly as he continued with his explanation.


"It was on Cybertron, before the war. The Decepticons were new, a movement pushing for equality: they called for the end of functionism. The idea that a Cybertronian's alt mode dictates their function- and the unjust treatment those seen as having "lesser" alt modes received under that idea. Any bot with an alt mode made for manual labor was treated with disrespect. My city, Terracost, was full of them. What the Decepticons talked about- *sigh*- it appealed to a lot of us. We saw the corruption around us, and we wanted to end it. I, and many other Terracostans, supported the Decepticon cause. Our city council supported them. Then... the Decepticons showed us their true colors."

Looking away from Swift, "The first few attacks were small enough that the Decepticons could justify them. Few were hurt. But things escalated quickly. Soon, the Decepticons were killing en-masse. They weren't a revolution-.. they were terrorists. That's when I stopped supporting them.

The Terracostan council didn't.

They saw what the Decepticons were doing as a 'necessary evil.'*a visible cringe*Things were never going to change, so change had to be forced, they reasoned. I tried to convince them to pull their support of the Decepticons. Terracost shouldn't...  -Terracost couldn't become a city of murderers. So, I stopped them..." His face reflected the anguish he felt recollecting the time- his actions. He could barely look up at Swiftcut, now hanging his head low in shame.Ironic,[/i]he thought. That in the end, I, too, resorted to a 'necessary evil.'

"Before they could publicly announce their support for the Decepticons, I sabotaged the city council building while they were in a meeting and killed them. Then, I framed the Decepticons for it, claiming that they killed the council because Terracost was planning on opposing the Decepticon cause. In the end, Terracost remained neutral. It remained neutral until the very end, when the city went up in flames."

[Cybiscus]

The Aulveni blinks from the first couple of words. Did she hear that right? Yes, the admission was soft enough, but it wasn’t something she would think to hear from Graphene. But, once he begins explaining himself further, Swiftcut could feel the inside of her mouth go dry. To which she clenches her jaw tight to close her mouth and swallow. She listened to the whole thing, still at a loss for words. Even if she would have found even a sliver of words to piece together, they were all just a bunch of blurry letters, glyphs. Scanning over the mech’s face, she could tell the mech was hurting- she knew he was. But she couldn’t help but compare bits of this story to them- the High Command.

It was such a miniscule comparison, but it was their twisted idea of sacrificing so many to keep everyone else safe. Murder that was guised as a sacrifice for the greater good. That thought alone made the Aulveni slightly nauseous. She was- frustrated, there was no way that she would ever compare Graphene to the High Command, she knew better than that. The difference between them is that he actually regrets his actions, or at least, that’s how she was reading his body language. It happened in the past as well, possibly hundreds of years ago and it wasn’t current. And, in a twisted way, one would consider his actions the only thing that he could do at the time. Still, she can’t get over how the idea was wrong.

Her arms remain in a tight fold, one of her hands squeezing at an arm slightly. Although her placid expression didn’t say much, her antennas were loud, sinking further against her helm at a sluggish pace from each sentence that came. Swiftcut would stare at Graphene, look at Correlator, then back to staring at Graphene once more. Once he was finished, she takes in a silent, deep breath. It was- certainly a lot to process. And as if it wasn’t bad enough, the awkward silence that came again felt even more overbearing than before. She had to say something, she thought. Was she required to say something?