By Fang Wolfsbane

The day he first boarded the maintenance ship, Highdrive had pretty much given up on any possibility that existed of him ever returning to the academy. He couldn't have hit the target better if even if he had a blaster half the size of Cybertron under his arm strut.

His first day aboard the ship, his mentor, Ratchet, had simply refused to be gentle on him whatsoever. Optimus claimed that it was simply because the older bot didn't wish to coddle him. That was the one thing Ratchet had made clear to all of them.

Bumblebee had been their resident accident prone drone, which left plenty of time for Highdrive to practice basic medical techniques on the other bot, but none so much that he could really say he was gaining more experience in his field.

He still didn't know how it happened, but once Bulkhead had fallen against the ship so hard that he left a pretty big dent on the side. Optimus seemed almost fine to just let it slide, but poor Bulkhead had been on the receiving end of the old medic's wrath.

When he offered to help with the repairs, Ratchet had nearly banned him off the ship. Somehow the responsibility had fallen on Highdrive's shoulder pads. When he tried protesting that the ship had nothing to do with his medical training, Ratchet had knocked him upside the helm and said something along the lines of the ship being the most important patient he'd ever encounter, unless he somehow got the opportunity to work on Ultra Magness. Yeah, no. He had a better chance of encountering another one of those organic monstrosities from the day before that had hurt Prowl so badly.

Both Sari and Tyla reassured them that things like that weren't a regular occurrence, a more freak accident if anything. He didn't quite understand the meaning behind it, but ever since meeting the two human girls, he didn't feel any discomfort or anything of the like around them. They were trustworthy, at least in his optics. Ratchet and Prowl… well, they were another issue entirely.

Learning to adapt to new situations, surroundings and bots was something the academy had taught him, but out of every bot on their team, Bumblebee seemed to have the easiest time doing so. He practically gobbled up the information the two girls gave them about their planet, especially when he heard one very specific word: racing.

Racing wasn't anything new to their species, in fact, there existed a planet in their solar system exactly for that very purpose, the speed planet, Velocitron. None of them had ever been off-planet long enough to go to the planet, but he had often heard tails from his fellow students about the legendary races that were held there from time to time, especially since the end of the Great War.

In a manner of speaking, the activity sounded fun, but it could easily be turned into a wreck and nightmare for medically trained bots in the mere blink of an optic. To this day he still shuddered at the mere mention one of his superiors had told about three bots that crashed into each other and how they had only been able to save one.

Staring at his servos, Highdrive never thought that he, of all bots, would ever have the opportunity to perform surgery on another, much less on a repair ship.

That moment when Ratchet told him that he'd be the lead surgeon in Prowl's case, he hadn't been as excited for the job as he thought he'd be. How could he? He and Prowl weren't exactly best buddies, but he had still known him long enough to care about the silent bot, even if it was just a little.

If Sari and her key hadn't been there…

He shook his helm. He couldn't think like that. Yes, he had technically failed to keep Prowl functioning, and yes, he owed the credit to some bot – someone – else, but what if Sari hadn't been there? What if her key hadn't worked? What if Prowl had stayed offline? He wouldn't be able to forgive himself, that much he knew.

The others had been kind enough not to mention his slip up, but he couldn't accept it. Prowl going offline on that medical berth technically counted as his first loss, even if he was still up and about. If something ever happened to Ratchet or Sari, the others would look to him for help. He couldn't afford not to be prepared. They needed him, just as much as he needed them.

Steeling his resolve, Highdrive nodded his helm to himself, swearing that no matter what it took, he would make it up to each and every one of them by becoming the best medical bot on base even if the Well of Allsparks came to reclaim his spark.

W ith that in mind, Highdrive put the last of his medical data pads in the container he took with him the day he met his team. He refused to fail them a second time.

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