HEY GUYS! I'm back with another chapter! Sorry it took so long! with classes starting back up, and midterms coming up, I'm honestly surprised I was even able to get it done as soon as I did. Thank you for your patience, though.

I'm still deciding if I want to split Orion Pax parts 2 and 3 up into separate chapters, or combine them into one... We shall see. I will be happy once I'm past this trilogy. I like it a heck of a ton better than the One Shall Rise trilogy, but I'm really looking forward to rewriting Operation Bumblebee. I have to get through Orion Pax before I can do that though... Sad day.

Please note: I do not own Transformers. I do, however, have my own OC's which I have inserted into the story. My OC's include Reese Shields and Chase Sanders. Electra belongs to my sister.

Contingency Plan

This chapter corresponds to the episode "Orion Pax Part 1"

"Ratchet, Optimus can't have lost all of his memories. He recognized Megatron," Arcee wasn't buying Ratchet's explanation.

"But, if he didn't recognize his name, then he must have reverted back to his pre-Prime state. He must believe that he is Orion Pax again."

"What do you mean?" The humans looked up at Ratchet, confused.

"The Matrix of Leadership held not only the wisdom and power of the primes, but also all the memories that Optimus made as a Prime. When he relinquished it, he must have lost all those memories, reverting back into the archivist he was before the war."

"Are you telling me that Optimus thinks he's some kind of librarian, and a decepticon!?"

"No, Agent Fowler. Being a decepticon is a choice, and it is one that I have a hard time believing Optimus would make at any point in his life," Ratchet shook his helm in response to Fowler's accusation.

"Then if Optimus is riding with Megatron…"

"It means that Megatron is pulling some kind of ruse on him," Arcee finished Bulkhead's thought.

"Listen to me, Optimus may not know he is an autobot up here," Ratchet pointed to his helm, "But I must continue believing that he will never stop being one in here," He then placed his servo over his spark. "We must locate him to know for certain."

"Hold up, I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for donuts. Are you telling me you don't have any way of tracking down Optimus?" Fowler asked pointedly, rubbing his backside a little.

"That was a tidbit of information I could have gone my whole life without knowing…" Reese muttered, looking away awkwardly. Jack, Miko, and Raf snickered lightly.

"Optimus' signal was lost the minute he bridged onto the Decepticon Warship. They have a cloaking device that scrambles all communication frequencies and life signs. However, we must find him if we are going to initiate his contingency plan."

"Contingency plan? What Contingency?"

"Is that even a word?" Miko quirked an eyebrow at Ratchet.

"You mean the Keycard!" Reese pulled out the key that Optimus had given her. Jack did the same.

"So, what does it do?" Jack inspected the key carefully.

"It grants access to Vector Sigma, the repository of the wisdom of the Primes."

"Is that like some kind of massive supercomputer?" Rafael asked curiously.

"And if it is, where can we find it? Is it here in the base?" Jack turned and began inspecting the computers around him for a place to use the key.

"Vector Sigma is much more than a supercomputer. It is an ancient source of power located on Cybertron.

"Jackson Darby, you are not stepping one foot on Cybertron!" June put her foot down. "Not when one of you autobots can."

"June's right. Why send a couple of kids to do a bot's job?" Fowler came up alongside June.

"Hey! I'm not a kid! I'm eighteen!" Reese folded her arms and glared Agent Fowler.

"Well Reese at least makes more sense, seeing how she's half Cybertronian anyways, but Sending a human to your planet is much too dangerous!" June snapped, grabbing her son's arm and pulling him towards her protectively.

Reese took a sharp breath in order to keep from spouting something back at the nurse. Ever since the whole MECH incident, June had treated her like an outcast, and she was getting really sick of it.

"June, only a Prime or one chosen by a Prime can access Vector Sigma. Optimus gave the keycards to Jack and Reese, and thus, the keys are now imprinted with their bio-signatures."

"But why would Optimus willfully endanger a human? A child?" June wasn't having it.

"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore."

"You stay out of this, Jack, the adults are talking!" June snapped at her son before turning back to Ratchet.

"Maybe Optimus sees more in Jack than meets the eye," Arcee pointed out, standing up for her charge.

"Whether or not Optimus should have left the key in Jack and Reese's care is moot, considering that we don't even have a way of reaching Cybertron," Ratchet vented and ran a servo down his facial plating.

"Why don't you just use the ground bridge?" Miko piped up.

"Miko, the ground bridge could barely get the bots into Earth's orbit. There is no way it could get them all the way to Cybertron," Raf pointed out.

"Well, Ratchet built it. Why can't he just turbo charge the thing?"

Ratchet seemed to consider Miko's suggestion, zoning out from the others as the gears started turning in his processor.

"Well, I don't care, I can't let you go to Cybertron," June huffed angrily and put her hands on her hips, glaring at her son as if she dared him to defy her.

"Mom, you heard what Ratchet said, only one chosen by a Prime can access Vector Sigma."

"Then send both keys with Reese; I will not allow you, or any other humans, to risk their lives for some alien robots who shouldn't even be here on Earth in the first place!"

"That's enough!" Reese lost it. She was sick and tired of June's pointed comments. "You won't risk the lives of anyone else here, but you act like I'm expendable!? I'm still half human you know! My whole life has been human, and even now, I still look mostly human! I understand wanting to protect your son, but I do not appreciate the fact that you see me as some kind of reject, just because I'm different than you! Do you think I asked for this? Do you think that I am happy being half Cybertronian? How would you feel if you were tortured by a psycho who wanted to turn you into a living robotic soldier? How would you feel if you found out that everything you thought you knew about yourself and your family was a lie? Huh? How would you feel!? This whole ordeal has been almost more than I can bear, and I am sick and tired of you treating me like I'm of less importance than anybody else here!" Reese's voice grew in volume and acidity with each word. This had been building in her for a while now, and with everything that had happened, she just couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Reese… I didn't realize-"

"No, you didn't! You never considered how your words and actions could hurt someone so deeply. You didn't lose your parents when you were just a kid. You didn't have to spend two years as a teen in the foster care system. Do you know how miserable that is? Nobody wants you because you are not a small child that they can raise. You haven't been strapped to a table, having to watch someone inject you full of energon, almost killing you. You haven't had your livelihood stripped away from you, your family stripped away from you, your whole identity stripped away from you. You haven't had to face half the struggles that I have, and yet, you treat me like I am something less than you. Like I am not deserving of the same treatment as you. So yes, it is very clear that you didn't realize, nor did you even give a single thought to your words or actions." By this point, Reese was crying. Hot, angry, tears streamed down her face as she continued to yell at the bewildered nurse.

"Reese, please…" June wrung her hands anxiously as she tried to get a word in before Reese could cut her off again.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself. I don't give a care," Reese spat and turned, briskly making her way out of the room.

Down the hall, the others heard a door slam.

"I haven't treated her like that, have I? June looked at the others, completely flustered.

The kids all looked away, unwilling to make eye contact for fear that they would receive June's wrath.

Ratchet vented but didn't say anything either. He too was still angry with how the Nurse had treated himself, the other autobots, and Reese.

"Come on guys, I'm not that bad of a person! Of course I care about Reese's safety! I was just pointing out the fact that she was probably better suited for the task, given her techno-organic nature," June desperately tried to justify herself.

"June, we can talk about this later, in private," Fowler placed a heavy hand on June's shoulder; his eyes were sad. Reese had been right in everything that she had said. Yes, how she said it could and should have been handled differently, but it didn't negate the fact that It was all still true. Fowler knew that Reese needed some time to mend, but he also knew that June had had enough humiliation at that point.

"I'm going to go check on Reese," Raf piped up and started making his way towards her room.

"Maybe it would be best if you just gave her some space…" Ratchet cautioned. "She needs some time to cool off."

"Maybe, but I think she needs a friend too," Raf ignored Ratchet's warning and continued to Reese's room.

In her room, Reese sat with her back against the door. She crossed her arms across her body and clenched her jaw tightly. The tears were gone, having left behind puffy red eyes and stains on her face.

How could June have so little respect for her? Ever since finding out that she was half Cybertronian, Reese had encountered nothing but passive aggressive behavior and pointed comments from the nurse.

"I shouldn't have to deal with this. I have to deal with enough as it is. I don't understand why June is so biased against Cybertronians…" Reese trailed off, cupping her face in her hands. The coolness of the metallic implants felt good against her flushed face.

She took a deep breath, holding it for a couple seconds before blowing it back out. She did this a couple times; it helped her calm down.

She was still doing these breathing exercises when a knock came at her door. She froze, not sure whether she wanted to answer. If it was June, she really didn't want to answer it.

Another knock came, this time followed by a voice. "Hey Reese, it's me, Raf. Can I come in?"

Reese could handle Raf.

"Yea… give me one second." Reese got to her feet, brushed herself off, wiped her face, and opened the door. Raf stood timidly outside, looking unsure of what he wanted to say. "You can come in, if you'd like."

Raf came in and followed Reese over to the bed, sitting down. "Hey Reese, I, uh, I want you to know that I don't see you any differently now that your part Cybertronian. You have always been really nice to me, and I appreciate it."

"Thank you, Raf. Sorry you had to see me lose my temper like that."

"Well, I can't blame you. I think that if I had been in your shoes, I probably would have gotten angry too. I don't think that Mrs. Darby meant to treat you badly, though."

"No, I doubt that she did. She has a heart for helping others; she just doesn't trust Cybertronians, which influences how she thinks of them, how she thinks of me."

"I'm sorry…"

"For what? This isn't your fault."

"I know, but I just feel bad that this happened to you. I guess I wasn't paying enough attention…"

"Don't blame yourself for not noticing. Honestly, I don't think anybody really did… I don't blame anyone, I can't, I didn't let people know there was a problem. I tried to just brush it off, act like it didn't hurt me…"

"But it did."

"Yea…"

Raf leaned over and wrapped his little arms around Reese in a bear hug. He didn't say anything, he just hugged her. It almost made her want to burst into tears right there. He was so precious and caring. Even though he was the youngest and the smallest, he had the biggest heart.

"Thanks, Raf."

"You're welcome. Sometimes you just need a good hug."

"Yea, I guess you're right," Reese chuckled, returning the hug. when Raf finally pulled back, she ruffled his hair playfully. "You sure know how to cheer someone up."

"Hey, I have five older brothers and sisters; I have had a lot of experience cheering others up."

"I didn't realize your family was so large!"

"Yea, but sometimes, even though there are a lot of us, it can still be really lonely. I'm the youngest, and sometimes I feel like nobody even listens to me."

"Well, I can't say that I can relate, but I will always listen to you. Whenever you need to talk, you can come talk to me." Reese smiled warmly.

"Thanks! You and Bee are always so nice to me. You guys are like family too."

"Aww, thanks Raf," Reese laughed and gave Raf another tight squeeze.

"uh, Reese, I can't breathe," Raf choked out.

"Oops! Sorry," Reese immediately let up, letting Raf catch his breath again.

"That's okay, I don't mind," Raf chuckled through gasps for air. "Oh, by the way, the others were kind of worried about you. Do you think you would feel okay with going back out?"

Reese mulled it over in her mind. If she went back out, she would probably have to face June. Was she ready for that? She couldn't be sure that she wouldn't lose her temper again.

Raf noticed the hesitation coming from Reese. "I suppose you don't have to if you aren't comfortable with it yet. I just thought that since the others were so worried, you might let them know you were doing better."

"No, you're right. I was so adamant that I'm an adult, I might as well act like one. I can't just sit in here and sulk forever, not while Optimus still needs our help." With a heavy sigh, Reese pulled herself to her feet. When she got to the door, she hesitated for a couple moments, but finally opened it and walked out. Raf followed along behind.

As she walked into the main room, Reese noticed that all the bots, and even the kids, turned to look at her. It was unnerving, having all eyes on her. What were they thinking? Were they silently judging her for her immature outburst? They probably were.

Bumblebee was the first to speak, or in his case, whirr. "Hey, Reese, you okay?"

"Yea…"

"You sure? It's okay if you are still upset."

"I will get over it… I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?"

"Okay."

Reese walked up the stairs and sat down on the sofa, folding her arms over her chest. She avoided eye contact with the others, afraid that she might see judgment in their eyes.

Instead, she grabbed a magazine off the coffee table and began fingering through it, pretending to be completely absorbed in the pictures on the pages.

"Um… Reese?"

The pages of Reese's magazine crinkled loudly as her grip on them tightened. It was June.

"Do you have a moment?"

No answer, but the magazine looked like it was going to rip in half with how tightly Reese was holding it.

"Well, um… I just wanted to apologize…"

More silence. If they hadn't been covered in metal, Reese's knuckles would have been white with how tightly she gripped the magazine pages. Her hands shook slightly from the tension.

The nurse let out an audible sigh. "I'm sorry for the way I have treated you. I didn't know how to react when I found out that you were half alien. I guess… I guess I was a little scared, like I didn't know what to expect. But I was wrong. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. You have showed, time and time again, exactly the type of person that you are. You are someone who is thoughtful, and caring, and puts the safety and care of others before yourself. You put yourself in danger to save Rafael. I should not have let my fear of things that I don't understand cloud my judgment. You have every right to be angry at me. I'm sorry."

Reese sighed loudly. She placed the now crumpled magazine back on the coffee table, but she didn't stand up. She didn't turn to face the nurse. She just sat there, head lowered.

After what felt like an eternity, with her head still lowered, she finally spoke. "Thank you for apologizing. I forgive you."

"Really? Even after the way that I treated you? I would understand if you were still angry at me."

Reese sighed again, very loudly, and stood up, finally looking the nurse in the face. "I'm not happy with you, but I do forgive you. Trust me, forgiving you is more for my own benefit. If I didn't, I would become bitter, and bitterness is not something I need in my life. Just because I have forgiven you, though, does not mean that I am okay with what you did. I expect to be treated with the same respect and kindness that you would treat any of the other humans around this base."

"I will, I promise," June hung her head shamefully.

Reese only walked away, not bothering to give the nurse another word or look.

A couple months passed, and there was still no news on Optimus' location. It was impossible to track down the Nemesis when its cloaking device was active. This meant that everybody had to continue life as normal, or at least as normally as possible, given the circumstances.

While the kids had school, and Jack, Fowler, and June, had work, Reese was stuck at the base. She had lost her job after the whole MECH incident. She had missed too much time, and there would be no way of explaining all the cybernetic implants that she now lived with. Her time around the base wasn't wasted, though. She spent every waking moment studying the schematics for the ground bridge. She and Ratchet were trying to see if they could upgrade it into a space bridge.

They took turns adjusting power levels, increasing flux capacitors and upgrading the proximity sensors of the ground bridge. However, no matter what adjustments they made, nothing seemed to work. Even Rafael tried to help out, but their efforts were fruitless.

Agent Fowler interrupted their efforts with a call.

"Ratchet! Are you awake? This is an emergency!"

"Agent Fowler, have you found out information about Optimus?"

"It's cons! You know that research facility they hit two months ago? Well, they are attacking it again. I guess they didn't get what they came for the first time.

"Wait, are they still trying to build that space bridge?" Bulkhead asked. He and the others had joined into the conversation when they heard the mention of Cons.

"Maybe, but for all we know, Optimus could be riding with them," Arcee added.

"If there is even a chance that Optimus could be there, then we need to investigate. Roll Out, Autobots," Ratchet ordered, firing up the ground bridge.

Only a few minutes had passed before Bulkhead and Bumblebee returned. Arcee wasn't with them.

"What happened? Was Optimus there?" Reese was practically leaning over the platform railing, tense with anticipation. "And where is Arcee?"

"She chased the decepticons back through their ground bridge. We lost contact with her as soon as she boarded the Nemesis." Bumblebee explained.

"Of all the stupid things she could have done! She better hope that she at least finds Optimus," Ratchet fumed. He desperately wanted to find Optimus as much as the others, but he was wrought with worry just knowing that Arcee was alone on the warship.

"If she does find Optimus, what is she going to do? How would she get him back here? That ship is swarming with decepticons, and I doubt they are going to let a couple autobots freely leave their ship," Reese interjected.

"She and Optimus will cross that bridge when they get there. In the meantime, we just have to hope that she finds him without getting herself killed in the process."

"What about you guys? Are you okay? What exactly happened?" Reese turned to address Bee and Bulk again.

"The attack was already well underway when we got there. There wasn't much we really could do. They took what they came for and bridged out…" Bulk explained.

"Ratchet… I'm stuck in the arctic and could use a bridge…" Arcee's voice came over the intercom, interrupting the conversation.

"The Arctic!?" Everyone exclaimed in unison. Ratchet rushed over to the ground bridge controls and typed in Arcee's coordinates. The portal opened and Arcee came through, looking very upset.

"Arcee… Did you find Optimus?" Ratchet implored, though, based on Arcee's facial expression, it would seem he already knew her answer.

"I didn't see him…" Arcee sat down on one of the many Cybertronian storage crates that littered the main room. She seemed exhausted.

Ratchet stepped forward, immediately activating his scanner, searching for any signs of injury. "So, you couldn't determine the decepticons' location, or if Optimus was even aboard ship?"

"I'm sorry… I couldn't confirm."

"AARGGH!" Bulkhead yelled, slamming his fist into one of Ratchets' drilling instruments, completely crushing it.

"Bulkhead! I need-"

"You needed that? Well, I don't give a crap! The only thing I need is our head Honcho back!" Bulkhead slammed his fists together angrily.

"Arcee, this isn't your fault," Jack tried to comfort his guardian, but his words fell on deaf audial receptors.

"If anything had happened to us, Optimus would have found a way to get us back. I didn't. Simple as that. I failed him, and I failed everyone else on this team…"

As if things couldn't have gotten any worse, Fowler came in over the intercom, and he was not happy. "Ratchet! What happened out there? The reports indicate at least a dozen wounded, and the heats on me to provide some explanation. You bots better get your act together or the Pentagon will make me shut down your base!"

"But, where would you guys go?" Raf asked worriedly. Fowler didn't wait to give an answer, he just terminated the commlink.

"Who knows! Maybe they will ship us off to some island or shoot us into space. Wouldn't that be a welcome relief?" Ratchet's voice dripped with annoyed sarcasm.

"I can't blame Agent Fowler for being angry. Optimus would have evacuated the base of all humans before engaging the cons," Arcee fired back.

"Hey guys-" Jack tried to get everyone's attention, but he was ignored.

"I wonder what else he would have done…" Bumblebee whirred frustratedly.

"We don't know what Optimus would have done because HE ISN'T HERE!" Bulkhead yelled back.

"Guys-" Jack tried again, but still to no avail.

"You're pretty good at stating the obvious Bulk. Is there anything else you'd like to state that we already know?" Arcee spat, getting up in Bulkhead's face.

"Nothing I can say in front of the children," Bulkhead growled back.

"Guys!" Jack stomped his foot angrily, tired of being ignored.

"Here, let me try something," Reese sighed, seeing how none of the bots were paying Jack the slightest bit of attention. She grabbed a giant screw from the pile of repair supplies and chucked it as hard as she could at Ratchet, ducking slightly as it pinged off his armour.

"What in the name of Primus did you do that for!" Ratchet spun around, glaring down at Reese angrily.

"Jack has been trying to get your attention, but all of you are too busy acting like tantrum throwing toddlers! Now, if you would stop bickering for one minute, I think he has something important to say!"

Suddenly, everyone's attention was trained on Jack.

"Aren't we looking over one positive? Nobody is talking about what the Cons got their grimy little claws on."

"Yes, rub salt in the wound why don't you, Jack! We let them finally acquire a power source for their spacebridge, for Primus' sake!" Ratchet yelled angrily.

"Let them finish building their space bridge," Jack explained.

"Why? So Megatron can bring more zombie cons to Earth?!" Bulkhead exclaimed, still failing to see the point.

"No! So that we can commandeer it, and send me and Reese to Cybertron," Jack corrected.

"Huh, that's actually not a bad idea," Miko wondered aloud.

"Oh, well if Miko thinks it's a good idea…" Arcee spat.

"Look, I never said it would be easy, but we don't exactly have any other options, do we? Besides, you guys have seized a space bridge before."

"No, we blew one up. That's a totally different than us seizing and holding one!"

"Besides, we don't even know where the cons are building it."

"Bee's right, we would have to find the thing first." Arcee agreed with Bee's observation.

"Uh, HELLOOOO, if it's a space bridge, doesn't that mean its in space?" Miko pointed at the sky.

"Miko, the term Space refers to its transportation range, not its physical location. Besides, we've been monitoring Earth's orbit since the destruction of the last one. We would know if it were there," Ratchet pinched the bridge of his facial plating in exasperation.

"That means the bridge could be somewhere here on Earth!" Jack exclaimed excitedly.

"It would be like trying to find a servo in a scrapheap…" Bulkhead muttered almost inaudibly.

"Then I guess we better start looking," Arcee vented, realizing that this was probably their only hope of getting access to Vector Sigma.

"But the fact remains, we still don't know what the Cons have in store for Optimus, or if he's truly safe from harm," Ratchet turned away, clearly still upset.

"Just because we are searching for the space bridge, that doesn't mean that we are going to stop looking for Optimus. We will do everything we can to do both." Reese vowed, placing her hand over her heart. No matter what stood in her way, even if it meant putting her own life in danger, she would not stop until they got Optimus back.

Well... What did you think? I feel like it is a heck of a ton better than the original chapter, but I think I'm in a bit of a writer's block, and I'm finding it hard to express my ideas clearly. I hope you guys liked it okay. Please feel free to leave a comment, letting me know what you think. I know I'm kind of shamelessly plugging myself, but I really enjoy reading them and they help keep me motivated to keep writing. Also, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to leave them in a comment or message me directly! I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you all have a lovely and blessed rest of your day :) - Lucy