Hey everyone! I am sooooooo sorry for the long wait. My mind has been on other things and I kept putting my stories off to the side. But I am back with a new chapter. I hope you like it.

Transformers Prime: The Medic's Assistant

Chapter 33: Orion Pax Part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime

(Autobot Base)

After much tinkering, Ratchet, Stormracer, and Raf were at the groundbridge, ready to give it a test run.

"Rafael, is the test subject ready?" Ratchet asked the young human.

Raf set the remote controlled car down and turned it on. "Check," he said, "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."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Stormracer asked, "let's fire it up!"

Ratchet pulled down the lever and activated the groundbridge. The bridge now ready, Rafael sent the toy car in. The three watched with anticipation as it kept going further down the tunnel.

"Come on," Ratchet said.

Unfortunately it was too much for the car. Electricity dancing around it, the toy exploded into pieces as the groundbridge died down.

The test having failed, Ratchet sadly shook his head.

"Hey, don't worry," Stormracer told him optimistically, "come on, second time's the charm!"

"We're not doing it again," he said.

Stormracer's smile disappeared. "What do you mean we're not doing it again?"

"It was just the first try," Raf said to the medic.

"No, Rafael," Ratchet said, "it was pure foully. A misguided act of desperation. It takes eons to master space bridge engineering. And no one is more accomplished than the decepticons."

Thinking of something, Raf tried encouraging him. "You know, there's this thing in gym class where you have to climb a rope all the way to the ceiling. It's really hard, 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, to the top."

Ratchet angrily looked at him. "What does any of this have to do with gym class?!"

"I, I was just.." Raf went to say.

Ratchet vented as he turned his back to him and Stormracer.

"Ratchet, we can't give up," the assistant said, "look, we'll see what went wrong, try again and-"

"No," the medic said sadly, "I'm done."

Raf looked up at Stormracer. "Maybe we should give him some alone time."

The femme vented, thinking it was probably for the best. "Let's go, Raf."

The two walked away, leaving Ratchet in his sad state.

"Optimus... I am so sorry," he murmured.

(Time skip)

After picking up Sierra from school, Stormracer looked around, seeing no sign of the medic as she approached Bumblebee.

"Where's Ratchet?" she asked.

"Him and Bulkhead bridged themselves out a while ago," Bumblebee said, "they didn't say why though."

Stormracer vented. "He was pretty upset about not being able to turbo charge the groundbridge."

"Raf told me," the scout said, "I'm sure he'll be okay. He's a tough bot."

Just then Ratchet's voice came in through the commlink unit. "Ratchet to base. Bulkhead and I request a groundbridge."

Soon as they brought the medic and wrecker back, Ratchet revealed they received intel and had everyone else come to base. Everyone looked at the screen as the medic showed them a set of coordinates.

"The decepticon space bridge is located right here," Ratchet said, pointing at it, "deep within an energon mine."

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

Ratchet and Bulkhead glanced at each other. "A... reliable source," Ratchet said as they looked back at her.

Arcee frowned.

"So, do we have a consensus?" the medic asked as he looked at June.

"Do we know if people can even breathe your atmosphere?" she asked.

"I'll hook Jack up," Agent Fowler said.

June frowned at him.

"Completely state of the art," he said, "I still have connections at NASA."

June's frown disappeared, but she was still worried. "It's too dangerous."

"Mom, I know that this is hard," Jack said as he walked over to her, "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, but I don't want you to think for one moment that I'll allow him to travel unchaperoned," Arcee said.

"Not everyone is destined for an ordinary life," Ratchet said, "Optimus Prime was once Orion Pax after all."

June was quiet for a moment. She then looked at her son. "When you were little, you always wanted to be an astronaut," she said with a small smile.

Jack smiled back. With the agreement made, everyone prepared for the mission.

(Time skip)

"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, "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," the medic added.

"Taking the bridge is the easy part," Arcee said, "you four need to hold it long enough for Jack, and me, to get to Cybertron and back."

"If Rafael climbed to the top of the rope in gym class, we can do this," Ratchet said.

"What does gym class have to do with anything?" Miko asked, "and if Ratchet and Stormracer get to go on a commando raid, I'm going too."

"Miko," Ratchet said as he approached her, "you and Sierra will help Rafael operate our groundbridge and manage the communications hub."

Miko was not happy by that. "Urrgh! Can't go to Cybertron, can't storm the decepticon space bridge...!" she complained as she folded her arms and stormed away.

"I think she handled it well," Stormracer said jokingly.

Ratchet looked at June. "Nurse Darby will stand by, in case of emergency."

"Son," Agent Fowler said to Jack, "it's time to suit up."

As the teen got ready, the bots started their mission. They made their way through the groundbridge and arrived at the mine, their weapons out and ready as they scanned the area for cons.

"Clear," Bulkhead said.

"Clear," Arcee said.

The five hurried down the mine. It wasn't long until they spotted four vehicons up ahead. Climbing over a drill, Arcee leaped down in front of a vehicon, giving him a kick and a punch to knock him out. The one closest was about to fire at her until Bumblebee rushed over and slammed him against the drill. Another vehicon activated his blaster and aimed it at the scout. But before he could fire, he was struck in the helm from behind. He fell to the ground unconscious, revealing Stormracer holding a large wrench she found on the ground.

The last vehicon tried to contact the warship. "Command, this is space bridge control! We are under attack!" There was only static. "Command, do you cop-" He didn't finish as Bulkhead rushed over and gave him an upper cut with his wrecking ball, knocking the con out.

The communications scrambler in his servo, Ratchet looked at the vehicon. "Shhhhhhhh."

The five bots continued on and made it onto an elevator that took them downward. They arrived at the bottom right behind another vehicon.

"Going down," Bulkhead said as he activated his wrecking balls and knocked the con out. The bots kept going before ducking behind the rocks. From there, they could see a platform, vehicons... and the spacebridge!

"By the AllSpark," Ratchet said.

"Thank you, Starscream," Arcee said.

Bulkhead looked at her with a surprised look on his face.

"Who else would it be?" she asked.

Two of the vehicons were walking when they heard a loud creaking sound from within the shadows. Their weapons activated, they soon saw one of their drills come flying at them as they tried to shoot it. They then tried to run away, only for the drill to land on both of them. The bots then rushed in with their weapons activated. The remaining two vehicons fired back, but were no match for the team. The one had one of his arms shot off before a second blast finished him off. The other one still firing, Arcee leaped over to him and did a flip in the air while firing, hitting and offlining the vehicon.

The vehicons no longer a problem, Arcee deactivated her blasters as she, Ratchet, and Stormracer walked over to the space bridge.

"Whoa," Stormracer said as she stared in awe.

"A masterpiece of engineering," Ratchet agreed as they stopped at the controls.

"Operational?" Arcee asked.

Ratchet turned it on, the screen coming to life. "Fully," he said.

"Perimeter secured," Bulkhead confirmed as he and Bumblebee made their way over to them.

"Now the scary part," Arcee said.

"I'm shutting down the scrambler in order to contact base and maintain communications with the remainder of the mission," Ratchet said.

(Autobot Base)

While the humans waited, Jack had his space suit on as Sierra walked over to him.

"Nervous?" she asked.

"A little," he said, "but not a lot."

She looked him up and down and smirked. "You know, that's a good look for you."

Jack blushed as he chuckled a little. "Really? You think so?"

"Totally!" she said with a smile. Her smile shrunk a little. "Be careful out there, okay?"

Looking at her, he smiled and nodded.

Ratchet's voice then came in through the commlink unit.

"Strike Team to base," he said, "objective secured."

Fowler looked at Jack. "That's your cue," he said.

Jack made his way down the ladder and walked over to the groundbridge. Putting on his helmet, he turned around to look at the others.

The last one getting off the ladder, Raf rushed over. "Bring me back a souvenir," he said.

"So, what happens when you have to go to the bathroom?" Miko asked.

"Safe journey, son," Agent Fowler said.

June walked over to her son. "Just, go already," she said, trying to be brave, "Optimus needs you."

Jack smiled at her before taking a step back. He looked at Sierra who was giving him a smile and a thumbs up. Giving them all a salute, he made his way through the bridge.

"Good luck, Hotshot," Sierra said quietly.

(Decepticon Spacebridge)

Jack soon stepped out of the portal before it closed behind him.

"Locking onto Cybertron," Ratchet said as he operated the controls.

"You ready?" Arcee asked Jack.

He pulled out the key card. "Let's do this."

Ratchet walked over to them. "I'll leave the spacebridge 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," he said.

"Easier to locate?" Jack asked him, "you're not bridging us straight to the big V?"

"Vector Sigma's true location is shrouded in myth and rumor, Jack," the medic said, "it is said the path of the Primes leads there. We must be confident that Optimus will guide you."

Ratchet made his way back to the controls as Arcee looked at her human friend. "Don't worry," she said, "spacebridging is just like groundbridging."

The space bridge was then activated, and sounded way louder than a groundbridge.

"Just a little more intense!" Arcee shouted over the loud whirring sound.

"You got this!" Stormracer shouted, giving the two a thumbs up.

The remaining four watched as the human and two wheeler walked into the spacebridge portal. Soon as they figured they were through, Ratchet tried contacting them. "Arcee, Jack, do you copy?" he asked.

"Roger," Jack replied, "we're on Cybertron."

"Yes!" Agent Fowler and the others cheered, them being able to hear from their end.

"Thank goodness," June said.

"Just keep the sight seeing to a minimum, huh?" Bulkhead said.

"Indeed," Ratchet said, "we don't know if your journey ahead is five klicks or five thousand."

"Understood," Arcee said, "we're out." The line was then cut as the remaining bots looked at the space bridge.

"This could be a while," Bulkhead said.

"Anyone for charades?" Stormracer asked jokingly.

"Spacebridge control, do you read me?"

Everyone fearfully looked at the controls soon as Breakdown's voice came in through the communications unit.

"Spacebridge control this is Breakdown," the blue con continued, "your status report is overdue."

"Scrap!" Bulkhead said. He cleared his throat to speak.

"Bulkhead no!" Ratchet said, "he'll recognize your voice."

"I can make it lower," he said, "higher?"

"He would recognize mine as well," Ratchet said.

"Even if he couldn't recognize mine, they don't even have vehicon femmes," Stormracer said.

The three looked at Bumblebee.

"I can't even talk!" the scout said, shaking his head.

"Come in spacebridge control!" Breakdown ordered impatiently, "don't make me come down there and dent some engine blocks."

"Somebody say something, pronto!" Agent Fowler said.

Ratchet got an idea. "Rafael, patch in Agent Fowler!"

(Autobot Base)

The con continued trying to get an answer. "You have one nano cycle to respond or-"

"This is spacebridge control," Agent Fowler said through the communications unit, "situation normal."

"Normal?" Breakdown asked, "you sure about that?"

"We were just... calibrating the subsystems and we uh, had a surge. But it's fine now. How are you?" Agent Fowler's jaw dropped at what he just said, fearing he may have just blown the whole operation. There was a pause, making everyone worry.

"Uh, uh, never better," Breakdown said, "I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work, huh?"

"Will do," Agent Fowler said, "control out." Soon as it was over, the liaison and everyone else let out a sigh of relief.

(Decepticon Spacebridge)

The bots vented in relief as well, happy they were able to dodge a bullet.

"That was a close one," Bumblebee bleeped.

"Arcee and Jack must hurry," Ratchet said, "it's only a matter of time until we're discovered."

They looked at the portal, hoping the two were doing alright so far.

And that was Orion Pax part 2! I hope you liked it. Next chapter is the last part of Orion Pax where we see guess who again lol. Hopefully I will update again soon. Until next time! God bless!