THE INVASION OF THE SHADOW STAR
By Michael Reaves
Umbra has a new ultimate weapon – The Star Smasher – a particle beam cannon that destabilizes the cores of stars causing them to nova. Umbra’s first test of the weapon is on the star Delta Seven. Dia is patrolling nearby when she witnesses a single beam of energy strike the star causing it to explode.
Meanwhile, at Rob’s lab, the Orbots are wondering what their creator is doing. He locked himself into his lab days prior, and they are beginning to get concerned. Tor thinks he knows what Rob is doing though – It’s the Orbot’s birthday soon! Maybe
he’s working on gifts for them! Bo talks Ono into tapping into Rob’s main computer to see what ‘gifts’ he is working on.But Ono only finds blueprints… FOR NEW ORBOTS!
Rob finally exits the lab only to find all of his Orbots musing over the information on their computer screen. But before he can ask them what has them in a dither, Rondu calls him and Ono to his office.
Umbra has sent an ultimatum to the Galactic Patrol – surrender or in five hours the Sun Smasher will destroy the Earth. Rondu orders Rob to get vital stats on just how powerful this new weapon is before he’ll send in Mighty Orbots. Rob heads straight back to his lab.
The Orbots, still worried about their possible replacements, try to ask Rob about the information they had discovered on the computer screen earlier. But just as they are about to ask him, a circuit board on Rob’s console burns out. He casually yanks it out stating that it’s nice how easy it is to replace old parts like that. He drops it into a recycler which disintegrates it. The Orbots, stunned by Rob’s apparent lack of caring quickly leave in frightened shock. The way he acted has now made them sure that he plans to replace them!
The Orbots sit around in a funk – they have to find some way to prove to Rob that they are worth keeping. They decide to take on the mission to take out Umbra’s Sun Smasher by themselves! After recording a message for Rob, they all beam themselves to the Shadow Star via a matter transporter. As soon as they arrive Shadowbots attack them on-mass!
Rob finds the message the Orbots left him. What were they thinking!? He’s got to stop them! He transforms into the Orbots Commander and beams himself to the Shadow Star as well. But unlike the Orbots, whom materialized on the surface of the inner planet, Rob finds himself square in front of UMBRA and is instantly captured.
Now, as any good villain would, Umbra shows the pinned Mighty Orbots their imprisoned leader to show them how useless fighting is. This irks them enough to break free of the piled on Shadowbots, which they promptly freeze with an ice beam care of Boo. As they continue towards their objective, Umbra releases his Destructocon (I wonder if Megatron knows of this ‘con?) to dismantle them! Ono orders Mighty Orbots to separate to take this menace on. Tor and Bort
manage to dismantle Destructocon instead!
They enter the Shadow Fortress. They soon realize that the corridors they are traveling through are actually the inner circuits of Umbra himself! To show the Orbots that he is all powerful in this world, Umbra causes them to fall through space. Reading their inner thoughts, he drops them upon their worst fear – a robot garbage dump. He then shackles them and dangles them over a recycling smelting pot!
While Umbra is distracted by the Orbots, Rob takes a chance to escape. He bursts the capture bubble he is in and starts to run into the corridors as well seeking his robots. Umbra is unimpressed. He sends in a giant rat-like creature to track him down. The rat corners Rob against a control panel. The Orbots Commander causes an overload, which zaps the rat, chasing it away, and releasing the Orbots from Umbra’s mind grip. This allows Ono to find a data port and link up. She finds the Sun Smasher (with fifteen minutes left before it fires).
Bort makes contact with Rob. They all join up and head for the weapon.
Umbra, realizing that he is loosing more control of the situation, releases the remainder of his Shadowbots on the Orbots. But within a confined passageway, when Rob orders a combination and Ono ignites M-O’s engines, the thrust alone blows the Shadowbots away. The Orbots punch through the side of the Shadow Fortress to freedom.
This is the last straw for Umbra. He orders the immediate firing of the Star Smasher. Werag though tells Umbra that they are not fully charged yet, but the malevolent computer doesn’t want to hear that. The controller reluctantly starts the firing sequence.
Can Mighty Orbots stop the beam from being fired?
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