(Please see all previous disclaimers. Please forgive the long wait, was busy.)
Unaware that the Decepticons had visited the site, Optimus commed agent Fowler to request that the area be listed off limits, at least temporarily until things could be assessed and found safe. Upon hearing the description of what Optimus had informed the agent of, Fowler agreed and listed the specific coordinates near the site as off limits for the time being, but he did let Optimus know that they would have to be taken care of as soon as possible and Optimus agreed.
As the Autobots reached the site, they saw a few things – the cons tracks, the unusual marks around the area, and the broken open Cybertronian craft. "Optimus…" Ratchet uttered in shock upon seeing the craft.
"What troubles you, old friend?" Optimus asked, sensing Ratchet knew something he wasn't sharing, at least not willingly.
"This is an ancient craft from Cybertron.."ratchet started before he was interrupted.
"We can see that" Bulkhead stated.
"Quiet, I wasn't finished" Ratchet retorted. Optimus indicated for Ratchet to continue. "You see, this was created long ago by Cybertronian scientists. They were testing… things, and their experiments often finished with unwelcome results. The unwanted results were catapulted deep into space, as a way of showing that they were rejected."
"What kind of experiments would require such secrecy and extreme measures?" Rafael asked, not quite understanding.
"The kind were bots were mixing bot data with other living organism data" Ratchet replied, the answer leaving a sour taste in his mouth.
"You mean like mixing human dna and animal dna?" Miko asked.
Ratchet looked at her and processed her question, "the answer to that is yes and no" Ratchet stated, not liking where this was headed.
"Just say it, Ratchet" Arcee piped up, sick of the mind games.
"Ok, ok. Cybertronian Scientists we're attempting to cross Transformer data with earth animal data. Some of the experiments worked well and were kept. Other crosses were considered failures, and jettisoned deep into space. I believe that this capsule held the form of a rejected beast bot, as they were called" Ratchet replied.
"Cool" Miko uttered. This was now becoming more interesting.
"Optimus, the fact that this is open and empty concerns me. Either the Cons set this up, or we have a live beast bot roaming around" Ratchet informed the leader.
Optimus nodded. "We must find this beast bot, if it is alive, as if we don't, the cons will and will exploit it" Optimus commanded. The others nodded, not sure what they were looking for or if they would find it, but they felt a duty to find this beast bot and save it.