Raker's optics flickered on, and the vision of his memory faded away. He felt the chill of a cold steel bench pressing against his back, and the momentary blindness from the yellow lamp directly above him. As his optics adjusted, the room around him came into view. It was small, with five more benches identical to the one beneath Raker lined up against the back wall. A lamp hung above each. Thin cupboards and stout crates along the side walls stored a wide variety of medical supplies.
Raker groaned as he sat up and swung his legs over the right edge of the bench. His head hit the lamp on the way up, sending the fixture crashing down onto the floor. It shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, much to the annoyance of Raker. He brushed it aside with his foot and stood up slowly. The door was directly ahead of him, but it looked far too small to fit him. Raker sighed as he opened the door by the bronze handle and ducked through the frame. He still clipped his shoulders and elbows on the way out, however.
On the other side of the door was a long, narrow hallway with two doors on each side. Raker decided to check the communications centre, as that was where some of his comrades spent most of their time. The ceiling was high, but still not high enough for Raker to stand properly. He shuffled uncomfortably across the concrete floor to the first door on his left. He opened it and stepped inside.
The communications centre was one of Raker's favourite rooms in the base, for it was one of the only ones in which he could stand. It was shaped like a dome, with computer monitors and consoles covering every inch of the walls, save for the doorway. In the very centre was a circular hologram projector. Raker was disappointed to find the room empty, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt to contact the others and find out what's going on. He sat down in front of one of the larger monitors and flicked a small switch on the corresponding console. An image of the head of a blue robot flickered onto the screen, accompanied by a signal bar.
"Optimus, this is Raker, do you copy?" Raker said into the console's microphone.
"I copy, Raker," responded a deep, powerful voice through the computer.
"Where is everybody?" Raker asked.
"Blaster detected Decepticon activity near New York City; we're on our way there now. Red Alert advised that we leave you at base to give you time to recover." Optimus explained. The signal bar rippled as he spoke. "How are you feeling?"
Raker looked cautiously at his left hand. His original had been torn off a week earlier by the Decepticon Demolisher, so Raker's friend and medic Red Alert had constructed a replacement. It looked almost identical, but it had four fingers as opposed to his original's three. The change was taking some getting used to, but the sentiment behind it made the transition easier for Raker.
"Better, thank you. Please tell Red Alert the replacement feels perfect." Raker requested. He moved his fingers in a recurring wave motion as he spoke.
"Sure. Optimus—
"Wait!" Raker suddenly cried. The monitor next to the one he was using had suddenly lit up and made a loud, blaring noise. "Sorry, sir. The computer has picked something up. Give me a moment."
Raker tapped a few buttons on the monitor's console, and the source of the warning was displayed on the screen. It was a map of the solar system. Raker's gaze was drawn to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. On the side closest to Jupiter was a flashing red blip with a data-box pointing to it. The box read: "Unidentified Cybertronian Ship – No known Autobot or Decepticon affiliations".
"Sir," Raker said slowly to the other console, "there is a ship from Cybertron on the edge of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is not making any efforts to communicate, nor does it have an Autobot or Decepticon energy signature. How should I proceed?"
"We can't risk the chance of the ship being a disguised Decepticon vessel, or worse." Optimus answered, then paused for a moment as he spoke to someone on his end. He returned several seconds later, "Red Alert believes that you're fit enough to investigate. Do so quickly, quietly and without drawing their attention. Their position in the asteroids should make this easy. Report your findings back, and no matter what, do not engage the ship! Understood?"
"Yes, sir. I will be on my way at once." Raker promised. "Raker out."
Raker switched off both computers and reached the exit in a single stride. He crouched low beneath the door frame, and turned left when he entered the hallway. At the very end of the long corridor was another door, one built to resemble the wall around it. It rose into the ceiling at Raker's approach. He ducked through it and found himself in an aircraft hangar.
Raker did not bother lingering in the hangar; instead, he rushed through it, not bothering to take any notice of anything. All that mattered to him was escaping the confinement of the base. He half-ran, half-fell onto the rugged tarmac that stretched along the hangar and beyond as a runway. The sun was beginning to creep below the horizon, so everything was showered in gold. The sky was cloudless, revealing a massive canvas painted with dozens of shades of orange and pink. The base was built in the middle of the South-West American desert, so the only landmarks as far as the eye could see were the occasional mesas and dunes.
Raker stumbled onto the runway, then straightened up quickly. He placed his hands on his hips and looked proudly at the sun. Though many years had passed since his time on the moon, one thing that hadn't changed was his love of nature. The whole world was beautiful to him, with its boundless possibilities and unique life-forms. Even there, in the middle of nowhere, he still saw the beauty of the place. It was one of the reasons why he had been so keen to come to Earth.
Raker knew he had to keep moving, so before he could get too lost in his surroundings, he shifted his gaze from the horizon to the sky above. He could make out the soft light of thousands of stars, desperately trying to break through the vibrant sunset. Beneath his visor, Raker smiled, and his orange eyes softened. So often he felt like a giant trapped in a miniature world, but in space he was completely free and unlimited in every way. He loved the planets for their beauty, but he adored the blackness between them. It was the only place in the universe where he had complete control; the only place where he was truly comfortable.
A sense of desperation to be there began to fill Raker's spark, until he could no longer bear to wait. He rolled his shoulders slowly, then the engines on his back flipped down to face the tarmac. They glowed orange, the very same colour as Raker's eyes, and then less than a second later he was propelled into the air. He shot straight up, like a rocket taking off. His ascent was slow at first, but accelerated gradually until he broke the sound barrier at 25000 feet.
Less than a minute had passed when Raker left the outer atmosphere. As he felt the pressure of Earth's gravity fade away, he turned to look one last time at the Earth before he continued to the asteroid belt. Raker had never seen such a majestic planet before. The sapphire seas and emerald continents melded together perfectly from his height. Clouds swirled around the whole planet, forming obscure shapes and patterns. The sun and moon reflected off of either side of Raker's visor as he hovered for at least a minute, watching, observing. It was one of the most incredible moments in his life; that is, until he spotted the Amazon rainforest. It resembled the moon he had arrived on all those years ago. Raker looked sadly at his new hand, then he closed his eyes, and returned to the past.
Raker awoke in a wide, cubic room with a single light fixture in the ceiling. Three of the walls were solid titanium, and the last was a shimmering purple energy field. Raker had seen many like it on Cybertron. Touching it resulted in a nasty shock that numbed the limb for hours, so Raker stayed well clear of it as he tried to stand. The ceiling was far too short, however, so Raker was forced to sit against one of the metal walls. Blue statis cuffs bound his wrists together. Statis cuffs usually induced paralysis, but Raker's had been deactivated.
A sharp knock from outside the room made Raker jump. He looked up hopefully, only to see one of the pale red robots on the other side of the energy field. The robot was holding an assault rifle in one hand; it used its free one to power down the energy field. It called Raker out. He rose to a crouching position and shuffled through the small gap. Once he was through, the robot shoved the barrel of the rifle into his back. The muzzle was hot; it had been shot recently.
"Move," was the robot's only word as it led Raker forward.
Raker was not at all surprised to see that the room had been a cell in a block full of them. There were ten more alongside the one Raker had been in, but they were all unoccupied. Supersonic's whereabouts jumped to the front of Raker's priorities. He took a double glance in every cell as he passed, but to no avail.
He stopped at the end of the cell block, where a barred door blocked his progress. The red robot nodded at a camera on the ceiling that was angled towards them, and the door slid into the wall with a quiet hiss. Another painful jab in the back later and Raker was walking through the door and into an open-ceilinged area. It was a balcony of sorts, built on top of a blocky steel complex constructed in the middle of the jungle. Raker watched as small creatures flew out of the forest canopy, then dove back in upon seeing the complex.
"Ah, how good of ye to join us!" yelled the grainy voice of Axer.
Raker moved his head almost fast enough to break the neck joint. He had been too mesmerised by the creatures to take notice of most of the balcony. It was a rectangular space, with blue energy field fencing around the edges. There were five other robots besides Raker and his escort; Axer and Supersonic among them. Supersonic was flanked by two more red robots, whilst the third waited to join Raker and his fellow. Axer was leaning heavily on his sword, using it as a cane. He grinned widely as Raker was forced closer to him.
"I was beginning to think ye'd never wake up!" Axer remarked with a sinister chuckle. "Yer friend an' I were having a lovely chat in your absence, Raker!"
Raker was not very surprised that Axer knew his name, but he was still taken aback somewhat.
"What do you want with us, Decepticon?" Raker asked calmly, holding back the urge to king-hit Axer.
"Decepticon?!" Axer spat, disgusted. "Those scrap piles are just as useless as you Autobots! Nah, we here are neutrals. Do ye know what that means?"
"No." Raker said bluntly.
"It means we be very intolerant of any Cybertronians taking part in the War. We couldn't give a blasted servo which side they fight for, all we care about is that ye all destroyed our home!" Axer explained viciously. "Now, as ye might imagine, that 'as made us very unhappy!"
"It was Megatron and the Decepticons, you glitch!" Raker snapped, shaking off the robots on either side of him. "The Autobots tried to save Cybertron!"
"Take 'im back, boys, I don't want his stench corruptin' my pristine figure!" Axer said angrily as he waved his hand dismissively. "Ye see, we don't really mind too much whose fault in particular it was. All that matters is that we can't go back to the planet where we were born, because of you!"
"You're blind, Axer!" Raker roared, barely containing his anger.
Axer slapped Raker across the visor with edge of his sword, leaving a deep cut, "Enough of yer lies, we have some business to take care of! Supersonic 'ere tells me ye have fellows waitin' up in the skies. Why don't we bring 'em down so we can greet 'em?"
Raker stared at Supersonic, his orange optics wide, unblinking and just visible through the cut in his visor. Supersonic looked apologetically back, then leaned on his heels and looked away.
"Oi! Ye aren't watchin'!" Axer hissed.
Raker rolled his optics and looked where Axer's gangly finger was pointing. Through a space in the clouds, the Starwing was visible in low-orbit. It wasn't until Axer's low chuckling filled Raker's audio sensors did he realise what was about to transpire.
"Don't do this!" Raker said urgently. He tried to move towards Axer, but the red robots held him back. "Stop!"
Axer said nothing, he simply smiled and continued pointing at the cruiser. Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from nearby in the complex. A large hatch on the roof swung open, revealing six missiles with red tips arranged in a hexagonal shape. Raker and Supersonic wrestled with their respective guards, but it was of no use. White smoke billowed out of the spaces between the missiles.
Altogether, the six missiles erupted from the roof, spewing yellow flame in their wake. They accelerated almost too fast for Raker to follow, but even if he had, he knew where to look. The missiles were heading straight for the Starwing, and it wasn't making any attempts to evade. Raker tried to activate his communications link to warn them, but the neutrals must have removed it during his unconsciousness. All he could do was watch, helpless, as the missiles locked on to the cruiser and flew towards it.
Raker started to hear Supersonic mutter, "Move…move…," under his breath. The former was thinking the same, but chose not to say it aloud.
The missiles were within fifty metres of the cruiser and rapidly closing in when Raker finally realised exactly what was going to happen. It looked like it had dawned on Supersonic too, for the other Autobot had begun to shake violently. Raker tapped his fingers nervously on his thigh. Axer's chuckles grew into maniacal cackles. Then the missiles hit their target.
The entire cruiser exploded in a spectacular, blossoming ball of orange fire. Small chunks fell from the sky like meteors, peppering the jungle. A cloud of black smoke hovered where the Starwing had been only a few seconds earlier.
Supersonic let out an anguished cry and sunk to his knees. The neutrals on either side of him pointed their rifles against his head, but he made no attempt to move. Raker did nothing but watch, frozen in shock and sadness. Axer turned and made sharp eye contact with the large Autobot.
"It's a shame, really." Axer said sadly. "It would have been much more interesting to kill all of you in person. But, alas, I suppose I can manage with just the two of you…"
