"You can never plan the future by the past."

"Rafael, is the test subject ready?"

"Check!" Raf said excitedly, "Long-range GPS activated."

"I have doubts whether my recalibrations have successfully extended Ground-bridge range. But there's only one way to find out."

Raf nodded up to the medic, before starting up the toy car. The three in the base watched nervously as the toy car drove into the vortex, only for the toy car to be destroyed a second later.

Pan sighed as did Quintus who had been watching doubtfully.

"Come on! It was just the first try-" Raf tried to convince the medic, only to be cut off by him.

"No, Rafael. It was pure folly. A misguided act of desperation. It takes eons to master Space-bridge engineering," Ratchet sighed, "And no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons."

"No scrap sherlock," Amalgamous chuckled and Pan sighed, shaking her head slightly at him.

"What? What did I say?"

"Just shut up," Megatronus groaned.

"-You know, there is this thing in gym class where you have to climb a rope. All the way to the ceiling. It's really hard," Raf was saying to Ratchet, "And I've never been able to do it. But When I told Bee about it he believed in me. Which made me practice a ton. Finally, just a couple of weeks ago, I made it! To the top."

"What does any of this have to do with gym class?!" Ratchet snapped.

Raf's eyes widened slightly at the outburst, "I-I was-just, I'll give you some alone time," he mumbled, walking away from the medic.

Pan glared up at her guardian, 'There was no need for that,' She "snapped" at him, signing harshly to him before following after her friend

Ratchet sighed, his spark growing heavy, "Optimus," he sighed closing his optics, "I am so sorry"

The Prime would've kept his temper. The Prime would've known what to do, known what Ratchet didn't.

🌟

Bulkhead drove back into the base through the ground bridge and transformed, "No sign of energon spikes," he sighed, "Arcee or Bee find the Space-bridge?"

"They haven't yet reported back," Ratchet said, not looking at the ex-wrecker.

Bulkhead's optical ridges furrowed, "Ratchet. You alright?"

"Hm?" Ratchet hummed, before his optics widened, "Yes! Yes. Let's just get you to the next quadrant."

Beeping from the computer made the two mech's pause.

"What is it?" Bulkhead asked the medic.

"A high-frequency signal," Ratchet frowned, "With an embedded message! for me." -

"Optimus?" Bulkhead questioned.

Ratchet shook his helm, "Starscream. "I have obtained information regarding your Leader. Bring medical kit. Come alone"."

Both mechs looked at each other, missing the look the only human remaining on base sent them.

"I'm literally a fragging ghost to them," Pan deadpanned.

Amalgamous laughed at her comment as Solus patted her back comfortingly.

🌟

"The Decepticons' Space-bridge is located right here," Ratchet said the next day when everyone(Bar Pan) had returned back to base, "Deep within an Energon mine."

"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply," Arcee mused, "Clever. What's our intel?"

Bulkhead and Ratchet glanced at each other, "A reliable source."

There was an awkward pause.

"So!" Ratchet said, changing the subject, "Do we have a consensus?"

June hesitated for a second before speaking up, "Do we know if people can even breathe your atmosphere?"

Fowler spoke up instead of the 'bots, "I'll back Jack up. Completely, state of the art. I still have connections at NASA."

"It's too dangerous," June frowned.

"Mom," Jack stopped his mother before she could go any further, "I know that this is hard. But Optimus risked his life to save our planet. And he's not even human. We owe it to him."

"Jack may be the only one who can do this, June-"

"Ah-ah, bullscrap," Amalgamous "sneezed" and the rest to the Primes sighed with Solus giving the "sneezing" Prime a wack around the helm.

"What's he mean by that?" Pan asked.

Several groans sounded in Pan's head as Amalgamous chuckled nervously, ducking to avoid Solus' servo again.

"-Not everyone is destined for an ordinary life. Optimus Prime was once Orion Pax, after all," Ratchet was saying when Pan refocused on what was happening.

Prima's amusement at that statement flooded through Pan, "How true that is."

Pan tilted her head at that.

🌟

"We will ground-bridge directly into the energon mine and make our way to the Space-bridge chamber neutralizing any Decepticon forces we encounter," Ratchet said, going over the plan again, "Once we secure the Space-bridge we'll send for Jack. Stealth must be an absolute priority. We will most certainly be outnumbered and if any Decepticon should transmit an alert to their warship-"

"-The odds become four hundred to one," Bulkhead finished.

"Scrambling communications upon entry will certainly provide an edge in this regard," Ratchet added.

"Taking the Bridge is the easy part," Arcee said, "You three need to hold it long enough for Jack and me to get to Cybertron and back."

"Rafael climbed to the top of the rope in gym class we can do this," Ratchet said, and he didn't miss the way how his charge smiled slightly at that.

"What does gym class has to do with anything?" Miko asked, confused, "And if Ratchet gets to go on a commando raid, I'm going too."

"Miko," Ratchet sighed, "You will help Rafael operate our Ground-bridge and manage the communications hub."

Miko huffed, "Can't go to Cybertron, can't storm the Decepticon Space-bridge!"

"And nurse Darby will stand-by in case of emergency," The medic finished.

"Son?" Fowler said. Jack turned around to face him, "It's time to suit up."

🌟

"Why would the Decepticon archive be so heavily encrypted?" Orion muttered to himself, typing away as he broke into the archive, his optics widened as the picture shifted, "How could I possibly be "Optimus Prime"?!"

-

"Even our encryptions couldn't keep him from the truth! Orion has much to accomplish and he will stay the course! Even if I must inflict great pain to ensure the completion of project Iacon!"

Pan sighed, shaking her head to get rid of the dizziness, "Jack and Arcee better hurry up."

Here's Chapter Three.

So, there's not going to be much action in the following chapter or two cuz Pan isn't really in them, so I just wanted to give you guys a heads up if I end up like skipping a whole episode(or two). But I have plenty planned for the episodes past "Orion Pax Pt.1/2/3", (namely "Nemesis Prime".😈)

Wait, change of plans, I have a surprise for ya'll.
I think you're gonna like it!

Should I post the next chapter today?

Hope you enjoyed!
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