Sari and Adam meet up with the Captain of the crew going to explore Megatron's crashed ship
Next morning, Sari had breakfast with Julie and Ron, before they left for school. "Are you going exploring today, Aunt Sari?" asked Ron.
"Yes," she said, "Your Dad spoke with the crew Captain, and I spoke with my partner, Optimus. Your Dad and I will be helping the crew explore an old shipwreck."
"Cool! Can I come with you?" Ron asked. "Maybe it has buried treasure!"
"Well, we're not sure what it has," laughed Sari. "But you've got school, kiddo," she winked.
"You'll be coming back, won't you?" asked Julie.
"Of course, sweetie! I'm not leaving yet!" she said, and gave both of them hugs as they got up to head off to school. "Have a good day! See you when I return!"
"Bye Aunt Sari!" said Ron and Julie. Sari waved goodbye, and sat back down with her cup of tea.
"Those two sure love you," said Mikaela.
"And I them," Sari responded. "You and Adam are doing such a wonderful job up here. You all are my private sanctuary," she smiled.
"Good morning, Sari, good morning, hon!" Said Adam, greeting the two.
"Morning, hon!" said Mikaela, giving him a kiss.
"Morning, Adam!" said Sari, giving a hug. How'd you sleep?
"Oh great, Sari, thanks! Terrific dinner last night, Mikaela," he said smiling. Sari nodded.
"Oh, you two! I just pick out the menu," she demurred, "the robo chef does the rest."
"Well, it was delicious nonetheless," said Sari. "Thanks!"
"So what time are you two heading up to the surface?" asked Mikaela.
Adam poured himself some coffee. "I spoke with Captain Nakadai last night. She would like us to meet her up at the top of the elevator at 10:00. We can leave after breakfast."
Adam donned his space suit, and Sari switched to "bot" mode before they took the elevator up to the lunar surface. Captain Nakadai was waiting for them at the elevator doors.
"Adam, good to see you again," she said. "And you must be Sari Sumdac."
"That's right, Captain," said Sari. "Nice to meet you."
"We appreciate your assistance, Sari. I hear you took down the Decepticon Slipstream, who was trying to get to the crashed ship."
"My partner, Optimus Prime and I intercepted her before she arrived, yes," said Sari. "We were able to get Slipstream back to her prison cell on Cybertron. That was when we began wondering what might still be attracting Decepticons to the crash site."
"We're wondering, Captain, whether there might be something underneath the ship," said Adam.
"Quite possibly," she said. "No one ever thought to look underneath. We may have to do some extensive explorations."
They walked toward the shuttlecraft. Captain Nakadai turned to Sari. "We'll have a crew of seven on this initial expedition: three humans and three Autobots. You make the seventh. Am I correct in saying that as a Technorganic, Sari, you straddle both groups?"
"Correct," Sari responded. "I am half human, half Autobot."
"Got it, thanks," she said. "I've worked extensively with my Autobot partners, but haven't had the opportunity to work with a Technorganic. In your Autobot mode, you should have better maneuverability in and out of the crash site than me or my human crew. I also understand from my briefings with Adam that you are a Cyber-Ninja, with powerful defensive and offensive capabilities?"
"Yes, I am. While I don't expect us to meet up with any dangers, I can certainly assist in that area."
"Excellent! Again, thanks for your help."
They came to the shuttle craft, being readied for takeoff. The rest of the crew was already aboard. Captain Nakadai brought Adam and Sari inside.
"You all know Dr. Witwicky," she said to the group. "I'd like to introduce the seventh member of our team. This is the Technorganic Sari Sumdac, who you may know as Optimus Prime's partner. Sari is a Cyber-Ninja and a member of Cybertron's Elite Guard. We're very fortunate to have her join us on this expedition."
"Sari, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Darby, Crosshairs, Lancer, and Longrack."
"Pleased to meet you," said Sari, as she went around and met each member of the crew.
"Well, let's head out to Megatron's ship," said Nakadai, and piloted the shuttle away from the base site.
The wreck of the Nemesis was about an hour's shuttle ride away. "Have you been involved in prior investigations?" asked Sari.
"Only of the exterior," said Nakadai. "Earlier expeditions had gone inside, but what useful items that may have been available were removed by Autobot Intelligence, lest they fall back into Decepticon hands."
"Makes perfect sense," said Sari.
"It's remarkable that after almost 25 years, there hasn't been a thought to look below the surface," said Adam.
"It's quite possible," said Sari, "that any secrets below the Nemesis died with Starscream. No one had knowledge of the things he might have been doing, with one exception, and that was Slipstream. We were lucky to have recaptured her before she completed her mission."
"There it is," said Nakadai. The wreck of the Nemesis, its hull sticking out of the lunar surface like a lawn dart, loomed on the horizon. "Starscream certainly stunk at landing," she observed wryly. Everyone laughed.
Even a half-buried Decepticon battleship still managed to dwarf the shuttle craft. Sari gazed up at the enormous hulk as it towered above them, and wondered how Optimus and the crew of Teletran-1 must have felt seeing it for the first time.
Captain Nakadai rounded the hull and landed the shuttle near the aft section of the ship. The crew discussed their plan.
"Sari, you, Crosshairs, and Lancer go and board the ship. Descend into the part that crashed below the surface and look for any entrances that might lead to underground areas."
"Darby, Witwicky, and Longrack, you begin checking the exterior grounds for entrances. I will take the shuttle up and run a 1 Kilo scan of the surrounding area. The sensors may detect the existence of underground tunnels or openings."
"Alert the rest of the crew if you find anything."
Everyone took off for their respective areas.
Sari, Crosshairs and Lancer located the entrance that had been used by Cybertron Intelligence, opened the hatch and went inside. Sari entered first. Crosshairs and Lancer followed behind, using their Autobot Lights to illuminate the interior. The deck went down at an acute angle, so the bots used the mags on their pedes to steady their descent. Sari scanned the walls as she went along, looking for signs of a hidden doorway. "Sari, do you need a light?" asked Crosshairs. "I'm good, thanks," she responded. "I can see in the dark."
"You can?" Asked Lancer, "How, if I may ask?"
"My optics can pick up the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet," she explained.
"That's a pretty cool mod," said Lancer.
"What's everyone's status so far?" Asked the Captain.
"Still making our descent," said Sari. "nothing discovered yet."
"Nothing on the outside Captain," said Lieutenant Darby.
Starting my scans, said Nakadai.
Everyone continued on their routes. Suddenly, Nakadai cut in. "Team, I'm picking up something," she said. "There appears to be a large rectangular shape about 50 meters below the surface of the Nemesis. It extends beyond the ship in length and width. Depth estimated to be about 200 meters. Shielding prevents me from scanning the interior."
"Starscream must have an entrance here somewhere," Sari said. "Probably down towards the bow, if the underground site goes from 50 to 200 meters below the surface."
"Do you think he would have planted any booby traps?" asked Lancer.
"That's a good question, Lancer," said Sari. "You never know. If we locate an entrance, we'll have to be extremely careful."
They continued their descent down towards the bow of the Nemesis. "All of the equipment is stripped out," said Crosshairs, scanning from side to side. "Cybertron Intelligence certainly did a thorough job."
They finally arrived at the very front of the ship. "If Starscream put an entrance anywhere, I imagine this would be the place," said Crosshairs.
"I'm with you, Crosshairs," said Sari. "OK, let's start looking for any cracks, any variances in the hull or deck, anything that might suggest a possible entrance."
Lancer and Crosshairs began carefully checking every possible surface. Sari combined her optics with Cyber-Ninja Crystalocution to try to detect any weaknesses or hollow areas in the hull's integrity.
"Sari, come take a look at this," said Lancer.
Sari came over to where Lancer had noticed a spot on the deck, just below the helmsman's console. "Look here," she said, and pointed underneath. "When we walked past this area, the dust moved differently right here." Sure enough, the dust betrayed a slight line on the surface under the console.
"Good catch," said Sari, and used her Crystalocution skills to trace a distinctive outline of a hatch under the console. "Let's let the Captain know what you found."
"Captain Nakadai, it looks like Lancer located a hatch," she said. "I can definitely make out the outline of an opening, just underneath the helmsman's console,"
"Excellent! Proceed with caution – there may be some kind of failsafe device involved."
"Acknowledged," said Sari. "I am able to check for it before we open the hatch."
"Keep this comm open. I want to know everything you are doing down there," said Nakadai.
"How will you be able to check?" asked Crosshairs.
"Like this," she responded, and put a servo on the deck. Her digits opened up and the prods made contact with the surface. Immediately her optics went from blue to all white and she began "seeing" the internal circuitry of any systems that might be integrated with the hatch door.
"There's definitely a Decepticon failsafe device built into this trap door," said Sari. "It was programmed by our friend Starscream. He absolutely did NOT want any unwanted person opening it," she said.
"Why Sari? What are you detecting?" said Nakadai.
"It's connected to multiple Decepticon bombs," said Sari.
"Abort! Abort! Pull back!" Yelled Nakadai.
"Acknowledged," said Sari, and retracted her digits. Her optics changed back from all white to blue. She turned back to her two mighty nervous Autobot companions. "Alright, let's work our way back out." They climbed back up inside the ship and out to the lunar surface. Everyone returned to the shuttle craft.
"OK, please explain to me, Sari, how you were able to determine that there was a booby trap integrated to the hatch, and bombs connected to it," said Nakadai.
"I have a mod that allows me to connect to and 'speak' to any electronic circuitry," she explained. "All I need to do is make physical contact. Once I touched the trap door, I entered the system that was connected to it and could 'see' its systems and operations. I recognized the Decepticon programming, and it told me that it was built by Starscream."
"It told you?"
"Yes. I also saw how Starscream programmed the ignition device, where the bombs where located, how the system was enabled, and how it can be disabled."
"Did you just say you have the ability to disable it?"
"Yes."
"OK, I don't want to proceed any further until I have reported back to my superiors at the Lunar Colony."
"Understood," said Sari. "I will also report back to my partner, Optimus, and we will let Cybertron know our findings."
On the trip back, Adam spoke to Sari and Nakadai. "This is an incredible find, Captain. We should have guards posted around the Nemesis to keep intruders away."
"I agree," said Nakadai. "That will be my recommendation as well."
"The last thing we want is for someone to attempt to open that trap door without first disabling Starscream's failsafe device," said Sari.
"Unfortunately, Sari, you may be the only person besides Slipstream who can turn that thing off," said Nakadai, grimly.
"Lovely," Sari said, "another thing for my resume: Decepticon Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist," she sighed.
So Sari and Captain Nakadai's crew made a great discovery: the distinct possibility that Starscream had a hidden lab underneath Megatron's crashed starship! That was probably where Slipstream was headed.
Lancer found the trap door, but Sari's "mojo mod" also determined that opening it would trip a failsafe device – and we know how much Starscream loved bombs!
Sari is confident she has the ability to disable the booby trap, but once that's done, is that all there is to Starscream's failsafe system? And what is inside the hidden lab? We shall see! Thanks for reading.