28- Orion Pax (Part 2).
"Optimus Prime?" Starscream said in disbelief, aiming his missiles at him.
"Please, I mean no harm."
"Oh?! Then, what are you doing here?!"
"Research, for Lord Megatron."
That left Starscream confused. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"I do not understand. And why did you call me Optimus Prime?"
Starscream finally lowered his weapons. "Eh, why wouldn't I?"
"Because my name is Orion Pax. I am far from being a Prime."
Starscream took a look and saw that Optimus had the Decepticon symbol on his shoulders.
"Ah, you reminded me of someone I once knew. That's all." Starscream invented.
"You are Starscream."
"Yes."
"Lord Megatron told me you had been terminated."
"Lord Megatron says many things, only some of which are true."
"You…do not suggest that our leader would speak falsehoods?"
That made Starscream laugh a lot. "You truly are being kept in the dark, aren't you?"
"You speak in many riddles, Starscream. Please, tell what it is that you know." Orion asked.
"And in return…" Starscream started.
In that moment, the door opened and some Decepticons air soldiers appeared, with guns ready.
"Starscream, surrender." One of them ordered aiming his gun.
Starscream went to cover right behind Orion.
"Hold your fire." Orion demanded.
Starscream immediately changed to his starfighter mode and flew above them and through the ship's halls.
"Remain in the lab." One of the soldiers ordered.
"But I…" Orion started.
"Lord Megatron's orders." The Decepticon interrupted him before he closed the door and changed to his vehicle form and chased Starscream.
Other Decepticons tried to shot down Starscream, but he eliminated them all first with his laser guns as he flew through the ship's corridors. Noticing that he was being followed by an air soldier, Starscream changed to robot form and landed on top of him. He blasted him with his gun until the soldier started to get down and jumped and returned to vehicle form. Next, he used one of his missiles to blow the hangar's door. As he made his way out of it, the Nemesis's guns fired at him, so he tried to get away as fast as he could, until one shot hit him at one of his engines, making him scream in pain as he wandered aimlessly through space. Meanwhile, at the Autobot base, Ratchet was about to see if his modifications on the ground bridge really worked.
"Aris, is the test subject ready?" Ratchet asked.
Aris put a mouse droid, one linked to a remote controller. "Check. Long-range GPS activated."
"I have doubts whether my recalibrations have successfully extended ground bridge range, but there is only one way to find out." Ratchet said as he activated the portal.
Aris used the remote controller to guide the mouse droid at the portal.
"Come on." Ratchet said.
The droid was about to reach the vortex, but before it could it began to spark before blowing up in pieces. Ratchet sighed in disappointment, while BB-8 shivered horrified from what he witnessed.
"It was just the first try." Aris said, trying to cheer him up. "And don't worry, BB-8. We'll never use you for this kind of tests."
"No Aris, it was pure folly: a misguided act of desperation. It takes eons to master space bridge engineering, and no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons." Ratchet said in defeat.
Then Aris decided to share something. "You know, there is a special Force ability, one very similar to the Force push but more powerful: the Force Repulse. My dad asked me if I wanted to learn it, and I said yes. But it is a very hard technique to learn, and I didn't manage to learn it. But, when I told Cliff about it, he believed in me, which made me practice in a more calm and patient way. And finally, just a couple of weeks ago, when I was about to practice with dad again, I made it. I unleashed enough power to mess up an entire room. I'll never forget dad's face when he saw that I manage to learn it."
"What does any of this have to do with Jedi training?!" Ratchet asked frustratingly.
"I…I was just…"
Ratchet simply growled and went back to the terminal.
"I'll give you some alone time."
Aris left, and BB-8 left with her. What they didn't know was that Cliffjumper witnessed the entire scene.
"What was that for, doc?"
"What do you mean, Cliffjumper?"
"You know exactly what I mean! I know you are frustrated, but that doesn't give you the right to treat Aris and the other children like that. She was only trying to help you, and that's the way you appreciate it? The children are trying their best to help us in this dark hour of ours. I don't know how Optimus manages everything, but I'm sure he wouldn't want you to act like this. All of us." Cliff expressed mad before leaving Ratchet.
Ratchet sighed. "You're right, Cliffjumper. Optimus, I'm so sorry."
On the Nemesis, Megatron already knew about what happened with Starscream, and went to see how was his old friend.
"Orion, I'm so sorry for the recent commotion. You weren't in any way harmed, were you?"
"No, Lord Megatron. But why did you tell me Starscream was dead?"
"Because he's dead to our cause. Starscream was my most trusted lieutenant, until he turned traitor and joined the Autobots. Never have I witnessed a more profound act of deceit. He did not do or say anything troubling to you?"
"No."
"Good. Perhaps it's best to forget the entire incident and return to your project." Megatron finished as he left the room.
"As you wish, my lord." Orion said.
As he returned with Soundwave, Megatron growled his teeth in anger, knowing that Starscream could had ruined everything.
"Orion was never very adept at the art of deception. I made a mistake not terminating Starscream when I had the opportunity. A mistake I do not intend to make again."
At the same time, Bulkhead returned to base by the ground bridge, changing to robot form.
"No sign of energon spikes." Bulkhead reported.
"Then you had the same luck as I when I did my patrol. There is also no news from the Jedi or the Republic teams." Cliff added.
"Arcee or Bee find the space bridge?" Bulk asked.
"They haven't yet reported back." Ratchet answered.
"Ratchet, you're alright?" Bulkhead asked, noticing Ratchet's behavior.
"Just a little hard time, Bulk. But the doctor is fine now, right?" Cliff asked to Ratchet face-to-face.
"Hum? Yes. Yes, let's just get you two to the next quadrant."
In that moment, the main screen started to glow and beep.
"What is it?" Bulkhead asked.
"A high-frequency signal. With an embedded message. For me." Ratchet saw.
"Optimus?" Cliff asked with hope.
Ratchet checked it, but was not who they thought. "Starscream."
"Really? Screamy decided to contact us? He knows we can take him now that he became rogue. Why he bothers?" Cliff demanded.
"Let's figure it out." Ratchet said as he started to see the message. "I have obtained information regarding your leader. Bring medical kit, come alone."
"You think is a trap?" Bulk asked.
"Hum, I don't think so. If I know Scream, that I know him, when he gets involved into some huge mess that results into one he cannot deal with without any kind of support, he tries to get help from the easiest source." Cliff explained.
"And said easiest source, you mean us." Bulkhead deduced.
"Exactly. But he only appeals on that choice when he had something to offer in exchange." Cliff finished.
"Then let's see what he has for us." Ratchet decided.
Wasskah, Trandosha's Moon
Starscream lied inside a crater near to the beach he made when he fell from the atmosphere. He was leaking energon and had all his body burned. He was groaning in pain when suddenly he saw a ground bridge appear in front of him. Ratchet, Bulkhead and Cliffjumper came out from it.
"I told you to come alone!" Starscream exclaimed.
"And since when do we listen to you?" Cliff said as he and Bulkhead pulled out their weapons, in case they needed them.
"What?! Why did you come?!" Starscream shouted annoyed.
"Because I knew you would miss me." Cliff simply answered, making Starscream groan.
"Whoa, you look very bad. Terrible." Bulkhead observed.
"Well, that's what happens when you fall to a planet's orbit like a meteor, which is exactly what happened to me!" Starscream yelled as he coughed.
"You look miserable, Starscream. You know? I could do the same you were planning to do with me the first time we met in Saleucami." Cliff menaced, making Starscream shiver. "But I don't intent to, I'm not like you. Besides, you said you had important info for us."
"Where is Optimus?" Ratchet demanded.
"Patch me up and perhaps I'll tell you."
"I can worse your condition if you want." Cliff warned.
Starscream groaned. "Have sympathy. I'm leaking here, and my entire body is burned."
"Then I suggest that you speak quickly. As Optimus been harmed, in any way?" Ratchet asked.
"He's fine, fine. Can't you see I'm the one who's been harmed?"
"Where is he?!" Bulkhead demanded.
"Where do you think?! He's on Megatron's warship!"
"Which is located where?" Ratchet continued.
"Hehe, now? Who knows? It's a ship, it moves. It took me months to track, only to get fired upon." Starscream ranted.
"You wouldn't go to the trouble of calling me here unless you had information to trade. Real information." Ratchet reminded.
Starscream sighed. "Very well. Your beloved leader may have lost his senses: he goes by the name Orion Pax now, and it seems Megatron has led him to believe he's a Decepticon."
Cliff laughed a little. "Tell us something we don't know."
"What? How could you possibly know that?!" Starscream exclaimed.
"We're wasting our time." Ratchet concluded as he and the other Autobots headed back to the portal.
"Wait, that's all I have! Really! You can't just leave me like this!"
"Unless you know where Megatron is hiding his space bridge, you can stay here and rust." Bulkhead proclaimed.
Starscream gasped in surprise. "Space bridge? Do you mean to tell me that they actually finished building it without my supervision?!"
That caught the Autobots' attention.
"You know something about that, don't you?" Cliff deduced.
Starscream laughed. "It hurts most right here, doctor. And can you two please bring some water from the beach for my poor burned skin?"
Moments later, everyone was present in the base's main hall, including the kids and their families, looking at the screen.
"The Decepticon space bridge is located right here, on an unknown planet from the Wild Space. Deep within an energon mine." Ratchet introduced.
"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply and out of the Republic's eyes, clever. What's our intel?" Arcee asked.
"A reliable source." Cliff simply answered, so Arcee looked him with a confused look.
"So, do we have a consensus?" Ratchet asked to Sky's parents.
"Do we know if people can even breath your atmosphere?" Lux asked.
"That would not be a problem. The Republic scientist section can provide us with the last improved models of space suit technology." Obi Wan reassured.
"Remember that we used those suits during our raid with Cad Bane, Snips?" Anakin reminded.
"But it's too dangerous, Master. We're talking about a planet billions of light-years away from our galaxy, not visited by any of our kinds before." Ahsoka said worried.
"Besides, I don't feel myself ready for this task. What if something goes wrong? What if I screw it up?"
"Sky, we know that this is hard, but Optimus risked his life to save our galaxy." Luke told him.
"And he's not even a Force wielder. We owe it to him." Leia added.
"We know you're scared, and that it seems something too much big for you, but Optimus would not entrust the key of Vector Sigma to you if he didn't believe you could be able to do this." Aris added.
"Our parents ended the Clone Wars and stopped the Sith complot that started everything, and seemed something impossible to achieve. If they manage to do that, we can also do great things." Leia added.
"Your friends are right, Sky. You may be the only one who can do this. But I don't want you and your parents to think for one moment that I'll allow you to travel unchaperoned." Arcee said.
"Not everyone is destined for an ordinary life. Optimus Prime was once Orion Pax after all. We know this may be a hard task for you, Sky, but you will have all our support for carry it out." Ratchet told him.
Sky looked at everyone, who smiled at him, which gave him so much determination, and he finally made a decision. "Alright. I will do it."
"We know. You're stronger than you think." Ahsoka said, proud of him.
Meanwhile, at the Nemesis, inside Orion's workstation…
"Okay. Optimus Prime." Orion typed on the computer, trying to search about who belonged that name. After that, an image appeared on the screen. "Optimus Prime: leader of the Autobot invaders. I reminded Starscream of him. And Lord Megatron said Ratchet was the Autobot leader. Someone is not telling the truth."
Back at the base, the Autobots were preparing their plan.
"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 started.
"Why not simply launch a massive attack alongside the army to capture the zone?"
"Because, master Skywalker, the Decepticon warship may not be far away. And a full fleet of starships may draw too much attention, enough to make them sound the alarm and send their entire army to lock its position, making it impossible to reach. That's why we five will be take care of this mission." Ratchet clarified before getting back with the plan. "Once we secure the space bridge we'll send for Sky. 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 400 to 1." Bulkhead finished.
"Scrambling communications upon entry will certainly provide an edge in this regard." Ratchet said, holding a coms scrambler on his hand.
"Taking the bridge is the easy part. You four need to hold it long enough for Sky and me to get to Cybertron and back." Arcee pointed.
"Aris managed to learn the Force Repulse ability; we can do this." Ratchet declared, making Aris smile.
"What?" Luke asked in disbelief.
"Did you really do it?" Leia asked excited.
"What does Jedi training have to do with anything? And if Ratchet gets to go in a commando raid, I'm going too." Han offered.
"Han, you will help the droids operate our ground bridge and manage the communications' hub." Ratchet instructed.
"Oh well, I guess is better than anything." Han said in defeat, while the other kids chuckled a little.
"And the Jedi and senators will stand by in case of emergency." Ratchet finished.
"Then Sky, it's time to prepare you." Anakin declared.
Unknown Planet, Wild Space
The ground bridge took the Autobot team inside a cavern. They arrived with their guns ready.
"Clear." Bulkhead reported.
"Clear." Arcee repeated.
"No sign of enemies yet." Cliff added.
So the team started to make their way in. Not far from there they found a couple of Vehicons and a heavy soldier with a mining drill. Arcee got at top of the drill and landed between they two, kicking one in the face, knocking him out. The other tried to shot her, but Bee smashed him against the drill.
"(Not a wise move.)"
"Command, this is space bridge control, we are under attack." The heavy soldier called by com-link, but he only heard static. "Command, do you read…"
Immediately, Bulkhead hit him with his wrecking ball, sending him flying. Before he could get up, Cliffjumper finished him with his sword.
"Shhh." He said.
The Autobots reached to an elevator, which took them to a lower level.
"Going down." Bulkhead said before he smashed a Decepticon's face with both wrecking balls when the elevator stopped.
They continued their way until they finally reached to a huge chamber, where they covered behind some boulders.
"By the Allspark." Ratchet expressed.
Right in front of them, stood the space bridge: a huge construction, guarded by a few Decepticon snipers, tanks, air soldiers and lots of engineers.
"Thank you, Starscream." Arcee said, making Cliffjumper to look at her surprised. "What? Who else would it be?"
Two of the Decepticons heard a sound, making them prepare their guns. And next, they saw a drill flying at them, they tried to destroy it firing, but it ended crushing them. That allowed the Autobots to start their assault. The Decepticon snipers were the first to fire them back, but the Autobots managed to eliminate them one by one. The engineers also tried to defend themselves, but Cliff and Bee managed to sneak behind them and fire at the generators of their backs, exploding them. Once all enemies were defeated, Ratchet walked to the space bridge command terminal.
"A masterpiece of engineering." Ratchet contemplated.
"Operational?" Cliffjumper asked.
Ratchet typed on the terminal, activating it. "Fully."
"Perimeter secured." Bulkhead reported.
"Now the scary part." Arcee said worried.
"I'm shutting down the scrambler in order to contact base and maintain communication through the remainder of the mission." Ratchet said before contacting the base. "Strike team to base, objective secured."
"That's our signal." Anakin said, so R2 activated the ground bridge.
Sky was now wearing a very advanced space suit. He climbed down the stairs before putting on the helmet. With the portal open next to him, he looked at his friends before leave.
"Try to bring me back a souvenir." Aris said.
"Nah, don't do that, just be careful and go for that vector." Leia added.
"We will be ready to help you however we can." Luke said.
"So, what happens when you have to go to the bathroom?" Han asked.
"May the Force be with you." Obi Wan saluted.
"Make the Jedi Order to be proud of you." Anakin added.
"Just think how lucky you are to be the first of your people to journey to that planet." Padmé comforted.
"We believe in you." Satine supported.
"I'm ready for this." Sky said hugging his parents.
"We know. You will make it." His father said.
"Trust in the Force and there won't be anything you can't do." His mother added. "Now go. Optimus needs you."
"Thank you, all of you." Sky thanked as he saluted them as a Jedi.
Sky entered the ground bridge and reached the space bridge, where the Autobots were waiting for him.
"Locking onto Cybertron." Ratchet announced.
"You're ready?" Arcee asked.
Sky pulled out the key. "Let's do this."
"I'll leave the space bridge portal open in order to eliminate any communication lag over the great distance and make it easier for you to locate when you're ready to return." Ratchet informed.
"Easier to locate? You're not bridging us straight to Vector Sigma?"
"Vector Sigma's true location is shrouded in myth and rumor, Sky. It is said the path of the Primes leads there. We must be confident that Optimus will guide you." Ratchet explained.
"Don't worry. Space bridging is just like ground bridging." Arcee reassured.
Ratchet activated the space bridge. The force of the portal was noticed.
"Just a little more intense!" Cliff shouted.
"Yes, I already noticed it!" Sky answered.
Both partners walked to the portal.
Cybertron
The space bridge transported them in middle of the ruins of a big city. As he observed his surroundings walking alongside Arcee, Sky's fear turned into excitement.
"Whoa. I can't believe it. I'm actually in a planet far from our galaxy. Arcee, this is incredible. Arcee?"
Sky could feel that his partner was not excited as him, instead, he could feel pain and sadness in her.
"This isn't how I wanted you to see my home." She said sad, lowering her head.
"I'm so sorry."
"In the fog of war, it's hard to see beyond the next leg of the mission, for the next punch in the fight. We did everything to save Cybertron, but when the fog finally lifted, there wasn't much left to save."
"Arcee, you and your friends are not responsible of all this destruction, Megatron and his followers were. You were just trying to do the right thing. And there is always time for second chances. Some worlds of our galaxy had it, maybe yours too."
"Do you really mean it?"
"No. I really believe that." Sky reassured, making her smile.
"Arcee, Sky, do you copy?" Ratchet called by com-link.
"Affirmative. We're on Cybertron." Sky answered.
That cause the children to yell happy and gave each other some high-fives while their parents simply smiled and the droids moved excited.
"You heard that? He made it." Lux said to Ahsoka.
"That's our boy." She said happy.
"Just keep the sightseeing to a minimum, huh?" Cliff asked.
"Indeed. We don't know if your journey ahead is five clicks or five thousand." Ratchet clarified.
"Understood. We're out." Arcee told them before she ended the communication.
"Okay, Ratchet said the key would guide us. But I don't see how or what I'm supposed to…" Sky said, until he observed the key glowing with more intensity.
Sky moved the key to every direction, seeing where it glowed most.
"Curious. My instinct is also telling me to go that way." Sky revealed.
"There you go." Arcee said before changing to vehicle form.
Sky climbed on her and they started to make their way through the necropolis, following the key's guide. Meanwhile, the rest of the Autobots waited guarding the space bridge.
"This could be a while." Bulkhead remarked.
"Space bridge control, do you read me?" Someone called suddenly through a com-link. "Space bridge control, this is Breakdown. Your status report is overdue."
"Scrap." Bulkhead cursed as he was about to answer, but Ratchet stopped him.
"Bulkhead, no. He'll recognize your voice." Ratchet advised.
"I can make it lower." He suggested changing his voice's tone. "Higher?"
"It is still you. I also have an indistinguishable voice." Cliff said.
"He would recognize mine as well." Ratchet added.
They looked at Bumblebee, thinking of he may could fool him.
"Come in, space bridge control. Don't make me come down there and dent some engine blocks." Breakdown menaced.
"Somebody said something, pronto!" Han shouted.
"Wait a minute."
"Ani, what is it?" Padmé asked.
"I got an idea, a risky one."
"What risky idea?" Obi Wan asked, not convinced.
"3PO, I need your help." Anakin revealed, surprising the droid.
"Me?"
"Ratchet, we have an idea. We're going to patch in C-3PO." Anakin informed them.
Breakdown was starting to lost his patience.
"You have one nano cycle to respond or I…"
"This is space bridge control, situation normal." 3PO reported, acting as one of the Decepticons.
"Normal? You're sure about that?" Breakdown asked suspicious.
"I'm sorry for the delay on reporting. We detected some native life touching up the infrastructure and we had to use force in order to make it left. In the process, we damage by mistake some of the infrastructure. We had to make a full scan of the subsystems to see if it suffered some damage, so we had to shut down everything for safety. But the scan is now complete and it seems that everything is fine. So, how are you?" 3PO invented, making everyone to get nervous.
"This is not going to work." Obi Wan mumbled.
There was a short silence until Breakdown answered. "Uh, hm, never better. I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work, uh?"
"Will do. Control out." 3PO said before hung up. "How I did it?"
"Perfect." Anakin congratulated.
R2 and BB-8 also congratulated their friend. Meanwhile, Orion continued his investigation.
"Why would the Decepticon archives be so heavily encrypted?"
Orion continued typing, until he finally managed to break the code, in that moment the image started to change. Once it finished, he widened his optics in shock.
"How could I possibly be Optimus Prime?"
Unfortunately, Soundwave detected all his efforts and showed it to Megatron, who wasn't happy.
"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."
Back to Cybertron, Arcee and Sky continued their search, following the key across the ruins of ancient cities. The key pointed right at another city in ruins.
"That way." Sky pointed with the key.
"Toward Kaon?" Arcee asked surprised.
"The Decepticon capital." Sky recognized.
The couple reached to a long bridge that lead to the remaining ruins of Kaon. Arcee stopped right at the head of the bridge.
"We're on foot from here." Arcee decided. Sky got off her, allowing her to return to robot form and pull out one of her weapons. "Don't want engine noise to attract the wrong kind of attention."
"Cons?" Sky asked.
"Vermin." Arcee corrected. "So get at hand your lightsaber."
Sky did it as he continued using the key. "This way."
They started to advance toward Kaon, but Arcee was right that there might be something else on Cybertron instead of Cons, but she didn't know that it was closer than she expected. Right beneath them, under the bridge, something crawled beneath the ground, and noticed their presence. Something big, purple and fierce was going for them.
To be continued…