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Chapter Two
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Bridge of the Blargian Space Fleet's Flagship, Veldin Orbit
Having quickly left Kerwan to join up with the Blarg's space forces over Veldin, Captain Copernicus Qwark put away any feelings of guilt he had over abruptly leaving without saying goodbye to his friends, Helga von Streissenburgen and Big Al, to focus on his meeting with Chairman Drek. While he was not sure what kind of security leak the Blarg had on Quartu, and what Veldin had to do with it, Qwark expected that he would find out soon enough.
Upon arriving on the bridge of Drek's flagship, the diminutive Blarg explained that a defective sentry-bot from Quartu had escaped to Veldin with inside information about the Novalis operation, and that just when Qwark was arriving, a local sophont had retrieved the defect before Drek's electroids could recover it first.
"So you want me to land on this side of the boonies and deploy my heroic charisma to seal the leak, Chairman?" Qwark asked with pride in his own abilities.
Before Drek could respond in his own condescending manner, the nearby console beeped which prompted him to answer. "Chairman Drek speaking, what is it?"
"Sir, our second detachment to Veldin has just reported that the defect and the local Lombax, or whatever he's called, are already leaving the planet with a third person's ship." The voice of Drek's robotic lieutenant answered resolutely, if in mounting concern.
"And who is this third person exactly, Lieutenant?"
Drek's answer was immediately answered when he and Qwark looked out the window overlooking Veldin to see a familiar starship leaving the planet much to both of their surprised reactions.
"Captain Starshield was here?" Qwark wondered in shock at seeing the vessel of his fellow hero from Kerwan.
"Chairman Drek, what are your orders?" The Lieutenant asked worriedly.
Though frowning, Drek kept his temper from exploding and instead said. "We'll proceed to Novalis on schedule, Lieutenant, but we must be ready to send our people on the trail of those three as best we can." Disconnecting the communication, Drek then said to Qwark without turning to his direction. "This has become a sincere problem, Captain. You're going to have to take of it when my lackies have trouble themselves."
"Uh, take care of it?" Qwark replied uncertainly. He knew what Drek meant by that, and he did not like it.
"If you want our deal to pay off for you, Qwark, you're going to have to kill Starshield and his newest sidekicks. Now get to it!"
Hearing the angry finality in the Blarg's words made Qwark pause in thought. On one hand, he needed the money and fame, and Starshield was something of a rival of his in many things. But on the other, Qwark did not have the heart to put his fellow hero in harm's way. "Forget it, Drek."
Turning around at last in exasperation, the Blarg dictator replied in an affronted tone. "What?!"
"I signed on because of the money and potential reputation boost from being a spokesman for the artificial planet you proposed. But while the money's good, between the way you're actually doing it and the fact that you want me to take out a fellow hero? You couldn't possibly pay me enough to compensate for how far my reputation and my conscious would tank if I did that! I'm taking you in myself!"
Just as Qwark moved his body to grab Drek, however, he was surprised to hear the sound of weapons priming while Drek smirked wickedly at the man in green's stupefied expression.
"Send him to the Blarg Tactical Research Station, men." Drek ordered his troops as they encircled Qwark and led him away from the bridge. "And make sure that he has a really awful time there."
Hearing the sound of Drek's cruel laughter as he was being led away, Qwark commented to himself. "Well, this isn't going at all the way I expected."
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Tobruk Crater, Planet Novalis
Upon flying over the Tobruk Crater settlement of Novalis, Captain Starshield had Ratchet, wearing a version of Starshield's own armor suited to his size and species, and Clank, connected to the Lombax's back, drop into the fire fight with the Blarg to help any remaining inhabitants escape from the besieged planet while Starshield himself took out the skyborne attack ships. Even if the Blargian space fleet was too strong for him to take out their harvester before it could be used on the planet, the Captain nevertheless, wanted to save as many people as he, Ratchet, and Clank could.
While Clank had to stay put on Ratchet's back at all times due to his lack of offensive ability, with the latter's OmniWrench, Bomb Glove, the Pyrocitor that he just bought from the local Gadgetron vendor, and Clank's own eyes at the back providing warning, they were able to work together to take out the Blargian robots causing trouble along their way before the two ran into a Plumber at the local waterworks who gave them an infobot with knowledge about a pair of Rilgarians in distress in exchange for money that he needed to evacuate Novalis. Upon hearing word from Starshield that a patrol of robots were standing guard over a landing ship, the two then made their way to destroy the ship's escort.
Once they were done, the duo were then surprised to see an elderly Rilgarian exit the ship with an infobot by his side. "Don't hurt me, please!" He said in a panic before he then noticed Ratchet's armor and gasped in surprise. "Captain Starshield?"
"We're friends of his, Mister." Ratchet said, straight to the point. "He's making sure that the Novalians are getting away from the Blarg while we're investigating here. Who are you, anyway?"
"Agnogg Buckwash, Mayor of the Tobruk Crater and Chairman of Novalis." The Rilgarian said with a bow as he eventually calmed down.
Clank than inputted. "Mayor Buckwash, can we assume that you will help coordinate the evacuation from your planet? I am afraid that the Blarg are too strong and prepared for even Captain Starshield to drive off."
Buckwash nodded in defeat as he replied. "I'm afraid to admit it, but you're right, little robot." Exhaling, he then said. "I can't say the same for my citizens, but I just hope my nephew, Skidd, won't mind me "crashing in" as you young folk say."
Ratchet and Clank then looked at the elder Rilgarian in surprise at his words with the Lombax saying. "Wait, are you saying you're related to Skidd McMarx, the pro hoverboarder?"
Not fully grasping their shock, Buckwash replied with a chuckle. "Yes, that's him. Just don't expect any autographs from me, though."
In mounting concern, Clank than asked. "Sir, are you aware that your nephew crashed on Aridia?"
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Solarship Radical's crash site, Outpost X11, Planet Aridia
Once he learned about his nephew's situation on Aridia, Mayor Buckwash all but begged the two companions of Captain Starshield to rescue Skidd McMarx when they had the time. Upon telling Starshield himself once the three did all they could do on Novalis, the official hero agreed to the Mayor's request in seeing how Skidd and his agent, Don Wonderstar, were faring on the desert planet before he would take Ratchet and Clank to his home planet of Kerwan to both inform the authorities at the local Planetary Defense Center and acquire an upgrade that would come in handy for Clank.
Upon landing on Aridia, Starshield granted Ratchet a Swingshot that would allow him and Clank to, as the name implied, swing over obstacles, and had the duo explore the local compound under construction while he surveyed Skidd's ship, the Solarship Radical, at a closer angle.
Regrouping at the Radical later on, Ratchet and Clank had brought with them a Trespasser from the Outpost as well as an irate Wonderstar after having dealt with the malfunctioning Constructorbots while Starshield stood guard over a more relatively relaxed Skidd from the local Sandshark infestation.
"Glad to see you're okay, bro!" Skidd said to his agent upon reuniting with him.
Perturbed by recent events, Don replied. "I'll be better once we get back to Rilgar, Skidd! Now hop to it!"
Gesturing for calm, Skidd said. "Don't worry, Don, we'll be on our way after I properly thank these dudes for saving us." Boarding the Radical for a brief amount of time, Skidd then took out a hoverboard and threw it at Ratchet for him to catch.
Studying it for a bit, Ratchet exclaimed in surprise. "A Z3000 Deluxe! These things aren't even in stores, if you can believe that!"
"And it's yours, little dude." Skidd told him with a grin.
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
Chuckling with Clank at the sight of Ratchet's gobsmacked expression in response to Skidd's sincere, selfless gratitude, Starshield told the Lombax. "What do you say, Ratchet?"
Pulled out of his thoughts, Ratchet said. "Uh, right! Thanks, Skidd!" Smirking at the pro, he then added. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you, if we race, though."
Skidd laughed at Ratchet's words before replying. "I wouldn't have it any other way, bro! See you in Blackwater City!"
Don groaned at how buddy-buddy everyone was being before he then took out a device of his own and said. "If I give the heroes here my Sonic Summoner, can we please just head home right away?!"
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Planetary Defense Center, Metropolis, Planet Kerwan
Once Ratchet, Clank, and Starshield were confident that Skidd and Don could take care of themselves, the three then flew through Space before landing in Metropolis, the capital city of Planet Kerwan and Starshield's overall home, where they were surprised to find a light Blarg presence gunning for them. Instructing Ratchet and Clank to head for the roboshack that Buckwash's infobot depicted back on Novalis, Starshield held off the Blarg and then investigated their activities before finding an infobot containing coordinates to Eudora, where Drek Industries was deforesting the planet under the command of a robotic lieutenant of Chairman Drek himself.
Regrouping with the Lombax and robot at Kerwan's Planetary Defense Center, Starshield observed Clank's new Heli-Pack upgrade before he then led the two inside the building to deliver news of the Blargian offense on the galaxy.
"Isn't this kind of overkill, Captain?" Ratchet asked as they noticed several robotic Galactic Rangers on their way to the office of the P.D.C.'s commanding officer at the time.
"Perhaps, Ratchet, but no less necessary." Starshield replied before they then made it to where they needed to be. "All the same, you two, be on your best behavior while meeting with Captain Sasha Phyronix. Even without being the Galactic President's daughter, she can be quite intimidating on her own."
"Oh, dear." Clank murmured in concern.
Ratchet, however, looked intrigued enough to ask questions before the office door automatically opened to reveal a female Cazar around his age seated at a desk smiling up at them. "Been a long time, Captain Starshield." She told him before turning her eyes to Ratchet and Clank. "I trust that these two are your newest helpers?"
"Va-va-voom." Ratchet could not help but say in awe at the sight of Sasha, which got the others attention and prompted him to say. "I mean, uh, nice to meet you, Captain Sasha. I mean, Phyronix! I-!"
Ratchet's bubbling got all three laughing at his embarrassed expense with Starshield saying. "Try to keep your head together, kid. We need to get to Eudora soon enough, after all."
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Like with The General's Charge, I decided to put Novalis with Aridia and Kerwan for the sake of simplicity. Also got the idea for the Qwark section from a comment by Tangent on Archive of Our Own, so Ratchet and company will be meeting him differently than they usually do.
On that last note, would it be workable for Ratchet and Clank to skip Rilgar since they will not have to find Qwark there? Just something that I am wondering about.