Sari and Star Saber head to where the plasma energy plant is located. Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus had landed nearby and began terrorizing the populace. Holi and the Rescue Patrol Team arrived on the Galaxy Shuttle to assist in getting the injured to safety and to the hospital.
Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus landed at a city near the plasma energy plant and began firing at the Micromasters. "Look at them little ankle-biters scatter!" Blue Bacchus laughed. "Like shooting fish in a barrel!" He let loose with his shoulder-armed missiles and took out two of the largest towers. Alarms went off all through the city. "Ah! Sweet music!"
"I'm not gonna let you have all the fun!" yelled Black Shadow, and opened up his shoulder mods, letting dozens of missiles fire out, hitting a nearby residential sector.
The Micromaster Defense forces began firing back, hitting them with their particle-combustion cannons. One hit Blue Bacchus dead on in his back, knocking him to his knees. "You slagging ants! I'll get you for that!" and getting back up, turned his gun on the artillery.
"Blue Bacchus! Black Shadow!" yelled Star Saber, landing nearby the two. "Stand down!"
"Hey, Black Shadow, look who showed up!" laughed the cold-hearted Decepticon. "You going to take us on all by yourself, saber bot?"
Black Shadow turned and was about to fire back at Star Saber with additional missiles, when suddenly Sari flew up behind him at top speed. She materialized her energy hammer and slammed it into the back of his helm. The force was so great it propelled him forward until he slammed face-down into the ground, temporarily knocking him out.
"What? Who is this mosquito flying about?" Demanded Blue Bacchus.
"Try and catch me, Blue Bumbler!" said Sari, hovering around and about his chassis, mocking him.
"Don't you DARE make fun of my name!" he screamed, as he kept trying to fire at her with his high-powered gun.
"Be careful, Sari," thought Star Saber, "he's an expert marksman." And Star Saber rushed at Blue Bacchus with his sword while he was distracted by Sari's taunting.
A few of his blasts did manage to come a little too close for comfort. "Yikes, he IS good," she thought, flying back and forth. "At least, we've stopped him from firing on innocent civilians."
Star Saber attacked Blue Bacchus with his sword relentlessly and at the same time deflected his gun blasts, giving Sari a chance to avoid them. This team-up activity between the two gave her a chance to fly closer and closer to Blue Bacchus' arm until finally, she used her arm-blade to destroy his gun. "OW!" He screamed. "You slagging little freak! NOBODY destroys my best mod! I'll kill you for that!" he yelled. But Star Saber managed to get in close combat and grabbing his left servo, used a Jujutsu technique to pick him up and throw him down to the ground, pinning him.
By this time Black Shadow had come to. Rubbing the back of his helm, he yelled, "Who hit me?" Seeing Blue Bacchus and Star Saber fighting, he got up to attack. Sari flew up to him to get in his way. "No so fast!" she said.
He laughed, "And who is this little flying Micromaster, to order me around? Here, eat some missiles!" He opened the mod on his shoulder and dozens of missiles came screaming at her. Sari's targeting mod locked on to each one, and her servos were blurs, taking out every one. They all dissolved into bursts of blue. "You've got to do a lot better than that, Decepticon!" Stunned by this turn of events, and still a little slow from the knock to his helm, Black Shadow was thrown temporarily off guard, which gave Sari her opening. She flew towards his Spark Chamber and used Circuit-Su to paralyze him. He fell back to the ground.
"What happened to me?" he yelled. "I can't move! What sorcery is this? Who are you?!"
"Sari Sumdac, Cyber-Ninja," she responded, and touching her helm, she contacted Governor Riker. "Governor, send for the trooper bots. Black Shadow has been taken down."
"Acknowledged, Sari, thanks" said the Governor. Sari then went to see if Star Saber needed assistance with Blue Bacchus. He was pinning him down with his sword, but then Blue Bacchus managed to transform into his helicopter, and got out of his grip. "Farewell, Star Saber! Perhaps another day!"
"Blue Bacchus! Don't leave me here!" yelled Black Shadow.
"Sorry, about that, pal," he replied. "Every bot for himself!" And started to take off into the sky.
"Scrapping vapor trash! You'll regret that!" cursed Black Shadow.
"Star Saber! Let us focus our energies!" said Sari. Star Saber aimed his sword's energy bolt at Blue Bacchus, and Sari charged the plasma thrusters on her servos with Processor-Over-Matter. Bolts of pure white energy surged out, aimed at the helicopter. Together with Star Saber's energy sword, Blue Bacchus was drained of all power and crashed to the ground.
Sari flew to the crash site and paralyzed Blue Bacchus as well. "He's not going anywhere, Star Saber," she said. "General Riker is sending the trooper bots."
"Thank you, Sari. You have been an invaluable help today. The planet Micro and I owe you a great debt."
"I am honored to have been of assistance, Supreme Commander," she replied.
"Hey, tunnel drone! You get very far?" Black Shadow mocked his partner.
"Shut up!" responded Blue Bacchus.
"Quiet, you two!" Sari told them. Then she said to the Supreme Commander, "Star Saber, let me go see if I can help the Rescue Patrol Team." And she flew over to where they were aiding the injured.
"Holi! Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus have been taken down. The trooper bots are picking them up."
"Sari, that is great news!"
"Is there anything I can do to assist the Rescue Patrol Team?"
"We are just about done here, but thank you. If you make it back to Rocket Base before me, let Clipper know we are OK."
"Roger that. See you back there." And Sari headed off.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Chandra yelled when she saw Sari land back at Rocket Base. She ran towards her and gave her a big hug. "You came back! You came back! Is Holi coming back?"
"Yes, Chandra, Holi is coming back; he will be here soon," said Sari. Chandra ran to Clipper. "Clipper? Holi is coming back!"
"Thank you, Chandra," said Clipper. She then looked up to the sky. "Look, Chandra! Here comes the Galaxy Shuttle!" Chandra started clapping. "Yay! Holi and the Rescue Patrol Team!"
The shuttle landed and everyone disembarked. Clipper waited for Holi to emerge, and ran up to greet him. "Welcome back!" She then asked, "Were there many injured?"
"Quite a few," he replied, "but we managed to get them to the hospital. We're hopeful that we got there in time."
Clipper gave him a hug. "I know you all did your very best!"
Star Saber arrived back, and Holi saluted. "Welcome back, Supreme Commander. We were able to get the injured to the hospital. I'm afraid it will take a while for Ironworks and his crew to effect repairs on the buildings, though."
"Fortunately, with Sari's help, we were able to stop Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus and bring them to justice. They will no longer be a scourge on our sector."
"Three cheers for Supreme Commander and Sari Sumdac!" Yelled Holi. "Hip hip, Hooray! Hip hip, Hooray! Hip hip, Hooray!"
When they returned inside Rocket Base, they noticed a red light beeping on the console; a message was received while everyone was at the Galaxy Shuttle. It was from Optimus for Sari. She and Chandra are to get on the space bridge ASAP and meet him at Cybertron for an urgent meeting. Optimus needed her to reply back, and let him know when she was on her way. Sari contacted him immediately. "Sari here, Optimus; what's this about?"
"I am here on Cybertron with Julie," he replied. Wheeljack is calling a meeting and wants you and me there. Julie will watch Chandra for you while we attend. I'm afraid that's all I can go into at this juncture."
"Understood. We are on our way." Sari closed the communication and turned to her friends. "I'm afraid Chandra and I have to cut our trip short," she said. "Duty calls, as you just saw."
"Acknowledged, Sari," said Star Saber. "We owe you a great debt of gratitude for everything you did today. I hope you will be able to return soon; perhaps you can persuade your partner to join you!" Star Saber then saluted Sari.
Sari returned the salute. "Thank you, Supreme Commander! I hope our time apart will be short, and when I come back it will be with Optimus Prime!" Chandra came up to Star Saber and saluted. "Good bye, Star Saber." Smiling, he returned Chandra's salute. "And goodbye to you, Chandra! I hope to see you again soon!"
Sari turned to Holi, Clipper and the Rescue Patrol. "So sorry to cut our visit short," she said. "I'm sure this meeting is for a very important reason. Your planet is so beautiful! I am honored to have had a part in its defense."
Holi saluted Sari. "Sari, on behalf of the Rescue Patrol Team, thank you for helping to save our people and bringing the accursed Blue Bacchus and Black Shadow to justice! When you have the chance to return, Governor Riker will want to recognize this act, I am sure."
Clipper chimed in. "Yes Sari, I was planning for us to visit Governor Riker's office and see how he and Windrazor are doing. I'm still going there and I will be sure he knows about everyone who participated in today's battle."
"Thank you, Clipper," said Sari. "And thank you so much for your hospitality, and showing us the sights! Chandra and I enjoyed having our own tour guide, didn't we, Chandra?" Chandra nodded, and said "Thank you, Clipper!"
With that, Sari, Clipper and Chandra headed for the tram and boarded the shuttle to Clipper's apartment, where Sari packed their things. They then went to the space bridge transportation center. "Two for Cybertron, please," said Sari. The space bridge controller bot checked Sari's ID and saw that Optimus had already entered in the coordinates for her arrival. "Ready when you are, ma'am."
Sari turned to Clipper. "Thanks again, Clipper. Wish we could have stayed longer. Hope to see you again, perhaps on the security beacon construction site."
Clipper gave Sari and Chandra hugs. "Goodbye, you two! And good luck with your meeting, Sari."
Chandra switched to "human" mode so she could give Clipper a little kiss on the cheek. "Bye Clip!". She then switched back to "bot" mode. "Hmm," thought Sari, "she's getting good at this."
"Ready, sweetie?" Sari started to put an arm around her to help with the jump, but Chandra said, "Let me try, Mommy."
"Alright, let's just hold servos, then," replied Sari, and together they jumped into the huge blue orb.
In the next instant, they arrived on Cybertron. "Welcome to Cybertron," said the space bridge bot. "Optimus Prime is waiting for you at the Metroplex. I will send him a message to let him know you are on your way."
Sari and Chandra headed over to the Metroplex and there they saw Optimus and Julie. "Op! Julie!" shouted Chandra, running towards them. Julie tried picking up the Autobot Chandra. "Ooof! Oh my, Chandra! You are much heavier in 'bot' mode, aren't you? Let's hold hands, shall we?" she smiled.
"I've got a bot friend who can take Julie and Chandra to your apartment, Sari," said Optimus. Then you and I can go to this meeting that Wheeljack has called."
"Do you know what this is about?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not," he responded. "Just that they need both of us there. Wheeljack is a member of the Science Guild, so perhaps it has something to do with what they've uncovered in Starscream's underground lab."
Sari knelt down and told Chandra, "OK sweetie, I've got an important meeting to attend with Optimus, so you go with Julie, and I'll see you in a little bit."
"OK, mommy," Chandra replied, and she looked up to Julie. "We go to mommy's apartment now?"
Julie's eyes opened wide and she raised an eyebrow, seeing how Chandra's vocabulary and sentence construction have taken a quantum leap in just a few days during her time on Micro. "Yes, Chandra, let's go to mommy's apartment." Optimus' friend then transformed into his alt mode and they got in. "Bye, mommy! See you later!" Chandra waved.
"Bye, Chandra!" And Sari and Optimus entered the Metroplex. Wheeljack was waiting for them. "Thank you both for coming on such short notice," he said. Please follow me to the conference room. We will be meeting with Mainframe, Perceptor, and Alpha Trion." They walked down the hallway towards an area of the Metroplex known as an Autobot Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or ASCIF. There were Autobot guards at a large vault-like doorway, with a special access control that opened the door. Wheeljack walked up to one of the guards. "Two visitors: Optimus Prime and Sari Sumdac. I will be their escort."
"Yes sir," said the guard, who turned to the guests. "Please step forward so I can record your energon signatures for identification," said the guard to Optimus and Sari. They did, and he scanned them. "You may proceed."
Wheeljack then came to the access control and allowed it to scan his energon signature. "Identification: Wheeljack. Access granted," said the computer. The vault door then opened. As Sari began to cross the threshold, the computer said "Halt! It then scanned her. "Identification: Sari Sumdac. Escort required; escort is Wheeljack." The same happened for Optimus.
Once inside, they went down a hall to a conference room, where Mainframe, Perceptor, and Alpha Trion were waiting. "Please, be seated," said Alpha Trion.
So Sari and Optimus are in a specially-called meeting. I wonder what it's about? We'll find the answer in the next chapter! Thanks for reading!
