Author's Note: Posting this is a little unusual for me, normally I wait until I've outlined the story and have mostly finished it before I even think about posting it. As you can imagine, the result is that I never post anything ever. I find something very therapeutic about writing and instantly receiving feedback from a fanfiction, which I haven't done in a very long time. So this is kind of a present to myself, and I'm just going to free write and post it. As a result, I'm not really one-hundred percent certain where this story is going and most of the chapters are probably going to be really short (like this one) and all chapters will probably have some time gaps in between when I post them. This was just a warning, so I'll stop my rambling and let you get to the story. I hope you enjoy, and reviews and criticism are more than welcome and appreciated.
Authors Note End
"Can you hand me that….uh" Ratchet pointed towards a pile of junk and snapped his fingers as he tried to remember the name. Clank, having a vague idea of what he needed, grabbed the appropriate part and slid it under the ship in Ratchet's direction. "Yeah, that thing. Thanks, pal."
He continued working quietly as he focused on installing a new navigation system into Aphelion. With a few more vague directions between Clank and Ratchet and a final turn of his wrench, the system was installed.
Ratchet slid out from under the ship, wiping the the sweat from his brow. "Those are always such a pain to get in there, or at least the ones with a warp drive are."
"Now we can find where that code was coming from." Clank said.
"Aphelion." Ratchet spoke. "Can you find the source of that code we received earlier now?"
"Processing…" She spoke. "...Unable to locate source."
"Well so much for shelling out all those extra bolts." Ratchet groaned.
"Perhaps I can try decoding it again." Clank suggested.
"You said you couldn't, though."
"I was not able to decode it upon receiving it, that is true. However, I think I might be able to now that we have access to better suited technology."
"Well," Ratchet scratched the back of his head. "It's not like we have anything to lose."
"I will get started right away, then." Clank said, making his way towards a computer at least three times his size. He began typing out commands as quickly as his little robot fingers would let him.
Ratchet tried waiting out of sheer polite obligation. A few minutes passed until it became clear that this was going to take some time and it wasn't long before he found the his eyelids were getting heavy. He found a comfy looking chair and fell asleep almost instantly.
x
"Ratchet." Clank said, shaking Ratchet awake.
"Huh? What?" He jumped in his seat, his brain not quite awake yet.
"I have finished." Clank reported.
"Oh," Ratchet stood up and stretched. "That took you longer than normal."
"It was rather complicated." Clank went back over to the computer. "Whoever it was that was attempting to contact us was trying to do so in secret."
"Let's just hope they're friendly." Ratchet said as he followed. He noticed it was night time already.
"Displaying message, now." Clank pressed a button, a pale, blue hologram lit up before them. The projection was staticy, it was safe to assume that whoever sent them the message was doing so from a primitive planet. The static began to clear up as the sender mumbled something incoherent.
"Ratchet, is that…?"
Ratchet's eyes went wide. "Azimuth?"
