1Sabotage

A/N: Well, golly gee. It's my first, full-length, non-parody Ratchet and Clank work!

This story is dedicated to my best friend. She's always been there for me during rough times, and she's nuts about Ratchet and Clank!

Also dedicated to Hirad Coldheart, my favourite R&C writer on the site.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Chapter One: Minor Details

Ratchet's heart almost stopped when he saw the Starship Phoenix. Green flames flickered on her hull, her port side was crushed, and the bridge was almost ripped away. He slowed his craft almost to a stop. "Oh, my God."

"What?" Clank looked up from his book, and his metal jaw dropped.

Ratchet stomped on the accelerator, repeating, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God." He felt his stomach churning as he docked his craft within the ruined ship.

Clank glanced at the scorched walls of the docking station. "Someone must have attacked the ship while we were gone."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Ratchet snapped, tumbling out of his craft. He crashed into a heap on the floor, and lay there for a moment.

"Well, look what the 'Noids dragged in. About time you showed up, Lieutenant."

Relief surged through Ratchet when he heard the calm female voice. Sasha. He pushed himself off the floor and saluted. "Admiral." He glanced up at her face, thankful that she was alive.

"Report to Commander Laxon for repair and maintenance, Lieutenant." Admiral Sasha commanded. She twirled on her heel and began to stride away.

"Wait," Ratchet said a bit unprofessionally. When Sasha turned and faced him again, he went back into salute. "Admiral."

"Speak freely."

Yeah, right, Ratchet thought. He hadn't spoken freely with her since they tacked "Admiral" onto her name. "What happened here?"

Sasha hesitated, blue eyes darting to the side. Ratchet knew that look, and his anxiety doubled. A few tense moments passed before Sasha replied, "We were attacked."

That's all?! Good God, Qwark could even figure that out!

"By who, ma'am?" Ratchet persisted.

"Minor detail. Report to Commander Laxon for repair and maintenance."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sasha marched out of the docking station.

Ratchet took a few slow steps forward, and then stopped. "Minor detail?!"

"Perhaps she is simply distracted," Clank said.

"Maybe, but...minor detail!" Ratchet shook his head. "It's not a minor detail if someone attacks you for no reason. Something's wrong." He walked resolutely towards the blast doors that opened to the rest of the ship.

Clank didn't follow. "That's not the way to the Repair and Maintenance department."

"We're not going there," Ratchet said.

"But–" Clank ran to catch up with the lombax. "Where are we going, then?"

"Sasha's office."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you sure about this?" Clank asked.

"Sure. Sasha keeps a log of everything that happens. Piece of cake." Ratchet connected his Hacker to Sasha's workstation.

Clank glanced quickly around Sasha's office, at the potted plants and the soft carpet. "That isn't what I mean." He jumped up and sat down on Sasha's pink desk. "If we are caught–"

"We won't get caught," Ratchet assured him. He pressed a few buttons on the Hacker, and it beeped impatiently. "Great. We're in."

"Sasha may have good reason not to tell you," Clank said.

Ratchet squinted at Clank as he sat down in front of Sasha's workstation. "The only reason she won't tell me is because she's an admiral now," he said. "I guess she thinks it's unprofessional to 'speak freely' to her inferiors."

"Inferiors? Ratchet, you're her best friend..."

Ratchet's fingers paused on the keyboard. He sighed. "Not anymore."

After a few minutes, Ratchet found Sasha's log. "Boom." He clicked on the log's icon, and a window appeared on the screen, reading: "Enter password."

"Oh, crap," Ratchet said. "Clank, will you get the password for me?"

Clank hesitated. "I'm still not sure–"

"Do it! I want to know who Sasha's up against."

With a shrug, Clank turned towards the workstation. His eyes glowed blue for a moment, and he said, "The password–" He stopped, glanced at Ratchet and chuckled.

"Come on, what the crap is it?" Ratchet said.

"The password is 'lombaxluvr'."

"Oh, man." Ratchet quickly turned back to the screen.

"All lowercase. No spaces. 'Lover' is spelled L-U-V-R." Clank chuckled again.

Ratchet ignored the chuckle, punched the keyboard buttons. He scrolled through the log until he found the newest entry.

17 September, 5015.

At seven hundred hours, the Phoenix was attacked by Veldinian troops. She took heavy damage on her port side...

Ratchet felt his stomach drop. He stopped reading; backtracked...

Phoenix was attacked by Veldinian troops.

"Ratchet, you are shaking. What did you read?"

Clank's voice sounded to Ratchet as though it were swirling, drowning, distorted by water. He stared at the screen, its hideous, bright green text blurring. A moment later, he was staring at the metal ceiling. On his back in plushy carpet, in a cold sweat, barely able to breathe.

"Are you awake?" Clank droned at him.

"What?"

"You're in Sasha's office, Ratchet. You read her log and then passed out."

Passed out? He never passed out. What the heck had he read that would–

He remembered.

"It's Veldin," Ratchet said. At Clank's silence, he repeated, "It's Veldin, my Veldin, my own people." He barely heard his voice raising in terror.

"I–I can't believe it," Clank said at last.

Ratchet sat up, dizzy. "Go read the flipping screen," he shouted.

"Calm yourself."

Ratchet laid back down, not calmed at all. At last he said, "How long was I out?"

"Nearly an hour. We are lucky nobody has walked in yet." Clank read the workstation's screen, and looked down at Ratchet. "Are you all right?"

"Do I look all right?"

The robot and the lombax jumped, suddenly alert, as they heard a voice outside the door. "Please inform the President that Congress has unanimously–"

Clank quickly dropped under the desk.

Ratchet sat up.

"Hide," Clank hissed, barely audible.

"No," Ratchet said. He stood up, still shaking a bit, and faced the door.

"Why not?"

The doors parted, and Sasha entered the office with an armful of papers and a worried face. Without even a glance in Ratchet's direction, she turned to the file cabinet beside the door.

"Sasha," Ratchet said.

The cezar dropped most of her papers with a yelp, and whirled about. She saw Ratchet, and her nostrils flared. "Ratch–Lieutenant." Sasha leaned against the file cabinets and cleared her throat. "This is a restricted area–"

"Why didn't you tell me it was Veldin?" Ratchet interrupted, unmoving.

Sasha glanced around the office, took in her powered-on workstation, the Hacker. "Minor–"

"No, it's not a minor detail!" Ratchet shouted. "If my own people are attacking you–attacking me–then why can't you at least have the freaking guts to tell me?"

After a moment, Sasha mumbled, "I don't know."

Ratchet shook his head, smacked the desk. "I mean, just because you're admiral and I'm not doesn't mean that I'm not entitled–"

Now Sasha yelled, "It's not like that, okay? It's not like I chose to become admiral! But my dad won't get off–" She stopped, and abruptly turned away from Ratchet. When she turned around, her eyes glittered with tears. "I didn't tell you because I didn't know what to do."

Ratchet and Sasha stared at each other until Clank rolled out from under the desk. "Was it Chancellor Zillbran?"

"Yes," Sasha replied. "I think he's actually shooting at galactic domination this time. Since Marcadia controls most of the galaxy's natural resources..."

"I'd like to get at him myself," Ratchet snarled. "Idiot. Veldin isn't even his own planet. He's a Nazi is what he is."

"What are you going to do?" Sasha asked.

Ratchet narrowed his eyes. "Fight with you. Free Veldin."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Ta-dah! A little trivia: The name "Zillbran" is inspired by "Branzillo", the name of the dictator in "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" by Madeline L'Engle. Good book, that; go read it. But first...review!