Near the Earth's moon, space trader Dirk Manus is under attack. His ship, the Lazy Sue, is under attack by Hun-Grr, who chases him to Earth. Hun-Grr says he's hungry and keeps firing at the ship.

Dirk starts yelling for somebody to help him, and a nearby EDC station picks him up. One of the station's crew contacts Marissa Faireborn, and tells her that a bogie is entering the Earth's atmosphere. As he gives her the coordinates, she says they're narrowing in and will be there within 26 seconds.

Strafe and Scattershot are with her, and both of them are hyped up for some action -Scattershot was wondering why Rodimus Prime had assigned them to this boring science unit anyway. Strafe says it has something about them still being new and having to work with the humans, but who cares about that now they've got some hard, fast action. He then notices the Lazy Sue coming down and goes after it, but Hun-Grr also appears, and tackles Scattershot.

Not realizing that the Lazy Sue isn't an enemy, Strafe fires on it and causes it to crash. Hun-Grr then collides into him, and all three Transformers hit the ground.

Marissa contacts Autobot City, and the other Technobots pick up her signal. Afterburner wants to do something right away, but Nosecone considers they should give it their careful consideration, and not rush off. However Afterburner immediately rushes off, and Lightspeed guesses Afterburner didn't want to hear what he was saying. They head out and quickly arrive on the scene.

Lightspeed says he calculates a 3 fold rise in Hun-Grr's energy levels, somewhere in his power core. He tells Afterburner and Nosecone to hit him with a crossfire, which they do and send him flying into space.

Scattershot thanks them for the assist, but says they could have handled him by themselves. Marissa lands and says that whoever was piloting this rust heap seems to have run off. Nearby, Dirk buries an object, as Marissa and the Autobots go to inspect his ship.

Dirk then appears and says that rust heap is his pretty lady she's talking about. And speaking off pretty ladies, he says hello to Marissa. He says he's Dirk Manus, a free trader from Epsilon Ariadne. Marissa awkwardly introduces herself, but then tells Dirk he's under arrest for violating the Earth defense zone.

Dirk says that maybe she didn't notice the Terrorcon trying to kill him. Nosecone asks why he was being chased, and Dirk says it might have something to do with the Quintesson base he found one one of Saturn's terraformed moons. Marissa wants to know exactly where this base is, but Dirk says he's a trader -she needs to pay him his fee, and he'll lead them to their nest.

The Technobots transform and merge into Computron. Marissa explains that Computron is figuring out if Dirk can be trusted, as Computron has the computational ability of two hundred super-computers. When it comes to calculating odds, Computron rarely makes a mistake. Dirk asks that no matter what Computron says, does she trust him? She says not really. Computron then gives his verdict: with the datum of Terrorcon activity, the condition of Dirk's ship and the Quintesson intentions toward Earth, his conclusion is that there is a eighty-nine point nine eight eight seven three zero % probability of there being a Quintesson base in the solar system. Their action should be to repair the trader's ship, and then head to the Quintesson base tomorrow morning. Marissa says she doesn't care what Computron says -she's not letting Dirk out of her sight until they leave for Saturn.

Dirk says he wouldn't have it any other way. They go to a party, and he asks her if she wants to dance. She says she never learned, but he says it's easy and takes her onto the dance floor. Later on, however, at the crash site of the Lazy Sue...

...Dirk has gone back, and dug up the object he hid. He then contacts his associates: the Quintessons! He says the original deal was for 2 million credits, but that was before the double cross involving their pet Terrorcon. The Quintesson says that was an unfortunate error of judgment. Dirk says it'll cost them, as now the price has just tripled. The Quintesson says that's unacceptable, but Dirk says do they want the recreator or not. The Quintesson says it's crucial to their operation in this solar system, and agrees to the new price. But he wants to know about the Technobots, so Dirk says he'll throw them in for free. As he ends the call, Marissa appears, having heard everything. But Dirk spins around and fires a laser at her...

...which knocks her gun out of her hand. The two then fight, but Marissa ends up being kicked back and knocked out.

Dirk apologizes and says if she wasn't who she was, and he wasn't who he was, maybe they could have had something special, but now they'll never know. The next morning, the Lazy Sue takes off, with Scattershot, Strafe and Lightspeed. Lightspeed isn't sure they should go without Captain Faireborn, but Scattershot says since when did they have to ask humans about what they can do? Plus she didn't even show up. Strafe says that Nosecone and Afterburner stayed behind, and Scattershot says they don't need them anyway -the day three Technobots can't deal with one Terrorcon is the day he retires!

Dirk is calculating how much money he'll make from the deal, and wishes Faireborn could see it. Back on Earth, Marissa gets up and flags down Nosecone and Lightspeed.

As the Autobots approach Saturn, Lightspeed says about how he's been waiting for the chance to explore space. Since leaving Cybertron, the only stars he's seen are the ones in the sky over Autobot City. To him, the stars, the planets, the thousand moons are like jewels in an alien crown. Before he can continue, Strafe suddenly gets blasted from behind, and then Lightspeed also gets hit.

This is because Abominus has appeared, and Dirk watches as Scattershot is also hit. The Autobots fall towards Titan, as Dirk says nobody said anything about an ambush. With Abominus now chasing after his ship, he also heads towards Titan.

Meanwhile, Marissa, Afterburner and Nosecone leave Earth. Afterburner has tried to contact the others, but received no response. He says if their guys are hurt, that trader has better be halfway to Centauri by now, because if he isn't, by the time he's through with him, he will be! Back on Titan, Dirk makes it to the Quintesson base, with Abominus still chasing him.

However Abominus suddenly stops and transforms back to the individual Terrorcons. Rippersnapper wants to know why they quit and transformed back, because he doesn't want to stop now. Hun-Grr says they have no choice, their masters set a timer to control them.

Dirk lands his ship and gets out. He meets the Quintessons and says it's cute how they've got the Terrorcons on a timer. One of the Quintessons says the Terrorcons could become uncontrollable if they didn't take control. The Terrorcons have their use, but they lack self-discipline. This is demonstrated when Cutthroat and Blot start fighting each other over nothing.

Dirk passes them the recreator, and the Quintessons test it on Blot. Blot vanishes, so the Quintessons presses another button which brings him back. The recreator is a device which can disassemble things on a molecular level, and then also reassemble them. Dirk says that in addition to that, any germs Blot might have had inside him are now gone. The Quintessons realize the device can also heal.

The Quintessons are happy with the recreator, and decide to pay the price Dirk wanted. As the Sharkticons load the credits into the ship, Dirk asks to shake on it. When they don't respond, he gets back into his ship and tells them if there is anything else he can smuggle for them, let him know.

He blasts off and heads into space, but when he checks the credits, he finds out they're made of mimic dust! It seems the Quintessons have double crossed him again, but he had an idea that they would. That's why he planted a micro-sized nuclear nullifier onto the recreator, that will melt it. He goes to activate it...

...but before he can, there is an explosion on the Lazy Sue. As the Quintesson flicks the nullifier off, Dirk realizes this was a triple cross -whilst he was busy planting the nullifier, they planted one on his ship. He ends up crash landing back on Titan, and says those five headed creeps are worse than he is.

Scattershot tells him that's saying a lot, as he, Strafe and Lightspeed confront him. He says he had no idea about the ambush, and was just as surprised as them -more surprised, even. He then tells them to look out behind them, as there are some Sharkticons heading their way, but they don't believe him. Lightspeed wants him to lead them to the Quintesson base, but then gets shot in the back.

The Sharkticons charge forward, so Lightspeed tells Strafe to shoot above them. This causes a load of thorny vines to drop down onto them.

Dirk is upset at how his ship has been wrecked, but Scattershot tells him to forget it. The Sharkticons munch their way through the vines, causing Dirk and the Technobots to retreat towards the edge of a cliff.

But before the Sharkticons can finish them off, they get blasted at. Afterburner and Nosecone have arrived, and take down some of the Sharkticons.

Marissa arrives and shoots at the Sharkticons, which causes the remaining ones to retreat. As she lands, Dirk tells her how fantastic he is. Marissa tells him so is he, before uppercutting him.

Marissa tells the Technobots that they'll leave Dirk here, whilst they go back to Earth to get them repaired. Dirk says they'll never make it, not when the Quints have the recreator. He explains what the recreator is, and also states he knows how to disarm it. Nosecone suggests they should consider this, but Lightspeed points out that his with injuries, they can't form Computron. Dirk tells them to trust him.

As Dirk leads them to the Quintesson base, Dirk says Marissa must really hate him. He says all he ever wanted was the money, it was never anything personal. He says he likes her and she says she knows, that's why she's mad. In spite of all he's done, part of her almost likes him too. Just then a vine wraps itself around one of Marissa's hands, and Dirk tries to save her. Strafe shoots it...

...causing Marissa and Dirk to fall. As they start kissing, the Technobots are a bit baffled at what's going on. But Dirk betrays them yet again, when he takes Marissa's pistol and says sometimes he's so clever, he can't stand it.

He takes them to the Quintesson base. The Quintesson says he's surprised he brought them here, considering the outcome of their last transaction. Dirk says it wasn't like he could flag a cab, plus they've got his money. Marissa says that's all he cares about -to him, money is everything!

As Sinnertwin accidentally knocks Hun-Grr, they being to fight. Marissa whispers if the Technobots are going to do anything, and they say they're thinking -the actions of trader Manus are quite intriguing. Dirk says they're all set -he's getting 1,000 credits and a ship back home. But there's one thing he wants to do himself -the Technobots cost him a lot of time and energy, so here's where he pays them back. He hits a button on the recreator...

...which gets rid of the Technobots. Marissa goes for Dirk, but the Quintesson calls in the Terrorcons. She tries to avoid them but ends up being picked up by Sinnertwin, who she falls off and hits the ground.

With everyone else distracted, Dirk hits another button on the recreator, which causes the Technobots to come back, now fully repaired. The Quintesson says he tricked them, and he tells them life is just full of surprises. He throws the recreator...

...but Marissa ducks out of the way. The Terrorcons form Abominus as the Technobots form Computron. Computron estimates his probability of victory in one to one combat is 48.027%. Abominus fires a laser at him...

...which he avoids, but then takes too long trying to calculate the angle of the return fire, gibing Abominus enough time to charge and knock him into the base. Marissa asks Dirk why he didn't just tell her what he was planning, but he says she's not much of an actress -the Quints had to believe that she'd thought he'd betrayed her! Hasn't he always told her to trust him?

Computron calculates the force necessary to activate the Terrorcon's timer mechanism: sixteen megahertz. He fires a double cannon blasts which hits Abominus, and this causes him to break up.

The Terrorcons hit the ground, as Computron tells them their estimated probability of victory over him is 4.1%. They take off and retreat, and the Quintessons do the same.

Everyone else heads back to Earth. Later on, Marissa says she wishes she could give Dirk the credits the Quintessons left on Titan, but EDC has a rule against paying rewards. Dirk is fine with it, as they've repaired the Lazy Sue, which now almost looks as pretty as her. Lightspeed then rolls up and says that the credits put into the EDC vault are gone!

Dirk quickly kisses Marissa before pushing her back, as he runs off to his ship. As he takes off, Lightspeed asks if they should go after him, but Marissa says no. She's got a feeling he'll be back.

As Dirk leaves Earth's atmosphere, he checks the credits... and finds out that they're made of mimic dust! He says Faireborn has conned him and starts laughing. Back on Earth, Marissa is also laughing.

NOTES

-The Secret Files segment for this episode is about cassette Transformers.

-The Terrorcons, for reasons not explained, are working for the Quintessons for this episode only. They were with the Decepticons in the previous episode, and will be with them for their future appearances.

-At the very end, Marissa confirms the moon they were on was Titan. It's stated the moon has been terraformed... what happened to the aliens who shown living on it in The God Gambit is unclear.