Chapter 12
Raf couldn't stop thinking about her dream last night or about how they were going to stop the Decepticons from bringing zombie 'cons through to Earth. Everything was spinning through her head and she felt dizzy just trying to find an answer to one. Mostly because she hadn't eaten that morning. She didn't have time to think about it because she snapped back when she heard the door open. She jumped out and tried to hide what she was feeling, but she was worried that she wasn't doing a very good job at it. But no one seemed to notice so she could sigh in relief, mentally at least.
As she was about to apologize to Bee for being so quiet when she heard Ratchet announce his find.
"Optimus, we have located the Decepticon space bridge, high in Earth's orbit."
"Out of our reach." Optimus said grimly.
"Okay so you guys don't fly. But can't you just ground bridge there?" Miko said snapping Raf to realize that she had been there.
"The ground bridge has limited range. Stretched all the way in to Earth's orbit it's vortex could snap and scatter us to the stars." Ratchet explained darkly.
"With Megatron mostly already in transit, I'm afraid we'll have to take that risk." Optimus said in a way that made Raf think that he was just as worried about it as the rest of the team. He was just as scared as they were.
They were all drawn to the sound of an engine coming down the hall. It was Arcee and Raf was glad to see that Jack was with her. He decided to come back.
"Hey, guess who's back?" he said nonchalantly.
"Autobots, prepare to roll out." Optimus ordered.
"Where to?" Arcee asked sounding more cheerful than she had been in the past couple of days.
"The final frontier." Miko said full of excitement.
"Space? I thought they didn't have any way to get there?" Jack said in question.
"They don't, really." Raf said as Bee set her down off his shoulder.
"Being seeing you?" Jack said looking up at Arcee. Arcee smiled back.
"Be careful Bee." Raf said as Bee started toward the bridge.
"I will. I'll be back soon." He said as he readied for transport.
"Optimus, if you leave me stranded on this planet taming with humans I will never forgive you." Ratchet said in a way that made it difficult for Raf decipher if he was joking or if he was serious.
"Until we meet again old friend." Optimus said before charging through the ground bridge.
Raf felt her heart starting to race and her hands start to sweat. She hoped she would see Bee again but she found herself hoping that she would see Optimus again too. She didn't know why but she found herself rather attached to him even though she hadn't even really bonded with him like she had been with Bee the last couple of days. For some reason, she couldn't help but wonder if she had known Optimus from before.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Optimus speaking over the com-sub link.
"If Megatron went through the trouble of rendezvousing with his space bridge, he must have an alternate targeting system, a remote one." Optimus said over the communications.
Raf started looking for targeting systems that would be of use for the 'cons. Ratchet seemed to read her mind.
"From what I know about Earth's technology I doubt there exists a radio telescope dish powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron."
"How about a bunch of linked radio telescope dishes, like the giant size-a-ray in Texas?" Raf said finding what she was looking for.
"Zip, zip, zip this is not child's play." Ratchet said in an irritated tone.
"Good thinking Raf. Ratchet have Agent Fowler alert the a-ray staff to a security hazard." Optimus ordered.
Presently, Agent Fowler spoke up. "You soldier, you're out of uniform. Put on some pants." The he passed out on the gurney again.
"That maybe a challenge." Ratchet answered.
Raf set to work with her hacking. But she started encountering difficulties. "I can't get through the a-ray's fire walls. They're too thick." She said feeling defeated.
"You, actually think you could keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet asked.
"Maybe, if I could get in." Raf said starting to feel a little better.
"Hey Raf what if we could get you all the way in, like inside the building in?" Jack asked.
"I could access their systems on the other side of the fire walls." Raf said in realization.
"Too dangerous. The Decepticons would no doubt be watching, most likely on sight." Optimus said in a tone that made Raf think that he didn't want her anywhere near this mission.
"Optimus, you said it yourself this is beyond just the safety of three children." Jack reasoned.
"Yeah, if we fail, we're fragged along with everyone else on this planet." Miko said speaking up.
"Raf?" Optimus asked.
"I want to give it a shot." Raf answered feeling confident that she knew what she could do and that she could do it right.