[GC]

Chapter Three

[GC]

Logging Site, Planet Eudora

In Captain Copernicus Leslie Qwark's experience, the quickest way to kill a good, mutually beneficial deal was double dealing. And, as he was flying his spacecraft closer to the forested world of Eudora, he was not looking forward to being discovered by either the newly retitled Executive Chairman Drek, or Galactic President Phyronix as a triple dealer.

"It was supposed to be a harmless comeback plan," Qwark was telling himself as he piloted his sizable ship characterized by its green color and his logo alike through the planet's atmosphere. Having been offered a spokesman opportunity for the new Blarg homeworld still under construction, Qwark had agreed to be their eyes and ears in the event the Galactic Authorities would oppose their plans for New Orxon in exchange for another chance for wealth and fame, but even then, he needed to be convinced by Alonzo Drek himself that while billions of people would be temporarily homeless at best, they would not need to get into violent situations.

Of course, if what the two Lombaxes and their robot friend were telling him were accurate to even the slightest degree, then Qwark needed to decide where he had to take his stand. On one hand, he needed the money Drek was offering, but on the other, that did not mean he was immoral enough to sacrifice innocents to get it.

Pushing his doubts to the back of his mind, Qwark finally landed his vessel close to where Azimuth had landed his own ship. Stepping onto the ground, he saw the broken remains of Blargian Axebots and Sawbots scattered around the area, which made him feel relieved, impressed, and jealous all at once. "I can definitely see why Helga likes you so much, Praetor," Qwark commented with a slight smirk, despite his own uneasiness.

It was then that the building near the landing pad then opened up for a large, red-eyed, painted in green and gold robot with a protruding jaw trying to flee, but Qwark immediately blocked the former's path as he friendly greeted, "Hi, how are you," before punching the robot in his metallic face straight down to the ground just in time for Azimuth to appear with his fanciful Omniwrench at the panicking robot's head.

Grinning at the spandex-wearing superhero, Azimuth said, "You sure made a convincing appearance at the last minute, Captain."

Caught off guard by the Lombax's question, Qwark could not help but stammer sheepishly, "Uh, crazy coincidence, Mr. Azimuth! I definitely wasn't waiting for this moment to happen!"

Chuckling good naturedly, Azimuth replied, "Relax, Qwark, I'm just messing with your ego," then turning back to the robot, he harshly demanded, "Now, Lieutenant, tell us where your boss is."

"The Supreme Executive Chairman left his last location on an infobot," the Robot Lieutenant admitted frantically before adding, "Release me and it's yours!"

Sharing a smirk with the older Lombax, Qwark commented, "He says it like we wouldn't confiscate it off of him."

"Or that he didn't drop it on his way out," Azimuth replied just as amused. More seriously, he then asked, "I trust that the Galactic Rangers will come by to manage damage control and arrest this idiot here, right?"

Responding with a nod, Qwark said, "I had to be careful reporting what you told me to the President once I saw the Blarg troops on Kerwan myself, but he's definitely telling his soldiers to be prepared for wherever Drek Industries may strike next." Seeing that it was just him and Alister right there, Qwark then asked, "Speaking of soldiers, where are your two cadets?"

"Ha, haven't called Ratchet a cadet since he turned thirteen," Alister said with a shake of his head in nostalgia before telling Qwark, "He and Clank are taking care of the rest of the robots, but as soon as they're back, we'll look into what the infobot has for us."

[GC]

Blarg Tactical Research Station, Nebula G34

Having acquired a Suck Cannon on Eudora alongside Ratchet while Alister handled the Robot Lieutenant, Clank soon learned that the newly retitled Supreme Executive Chairman Drek had recently advertised the occupations at the Blarg Tactical Research Station, which felt like a decent lead to continue their pursuit of him with Captain Qwark joining up as well to help them in the search. Shortly arriving at the space station built into several asteroids and surrounded by some Blarg warships, the four than decided to split up on three separate directions.

While Clank had volunteered to go out the Station's airlock to explore its exterior as the apparently sole member of the team that did not need to breathe, Qwark, however, explained that his unique mutation allowed him to survive in space for a lengthy period of time even without an O2 Helmet, which made him just as suitable to venture out of the airlock as Clank would. Alister then decided to explore further into B.T.S. while Clank accompanied Ratchet by shuttle to travel to one of the decommissioned warships.

Once onboard, Ratchet quickly took out the lone Blarg Space Commando standing guard, and, with Clank on his back, they made their way further to the bridge against small, frog-like experiments and the larger quadrupeds with snapping jaws from the infobot advertisement until they finally arrived, but with no obvious prize in sight.

"Great," Ratchet said sarcastically and added to Clank, "we fought our way past mutants for nothing."

Disengaging from the Lombax's back for a brief moment, Clank then saw the warship's self-destruct button and turned to Ratchet eagerly, "Actually, if I remember my Blargian ship schematics and operating procedures correctly, and I do, we should be able to acquire something by activating the self-destruct sequence."

Chuckling, Ratchet brought Clank onto his back as he said, "Well, that sounds like a fun move to make for me. Let's do it!"

Immediately pressing the big red shiny button, Ratchet then proceeded to run back to the shuttle as the warship began to tear itself apart. Fighting for both his survival and Clank's against another mass of mutants, Ratchet, along with a previously hidden infobot, finally made it off the warship as it exploded into bits. Returning to B.T.S., and seeing that the older members of their group had not yet returned, Clank disengaged from Ratchet before the two then looked at the infobot's contents themselves for the sake of argument.

Instantaneously, the logo of Drek Industries was displayed on the screen as Drek's own voice was heard saying, "Good evening, fellow Blarg. Supreme Executive Chairman Drek here, with the latest update on our quest for a new home!" Switching to a map of the known Solana Galaxy, Drek continued to say, "Over the next few days, you may notice an increase in my company's activities around the galaxy. While this risks alerting the authorities, our current strategy is critical to securing safe passage for our harvesters."

"Okay, but how," Ratchet asked just as curious as Clank was while the video continued.

"In order to do so, I've called for a fleet of some of our finest forces to be gathered at our depot on Planet Gaspar," the image then changed to a volcanic planet with a large outpost where multiple Blarg vessels were refueling before Drek then added, "Once they are prepared, the fleet will then be dispatched to a key military base with orders of permanently removing the problem it represents to our glorious plan! And once it is destroyed, our journey to New Orxon will continue closer to the final stages." A fiendish chuckle was heard before the transmission finally ended.

Turning to Clank, Ratchet said, "You know, pal, with the way he acts, I'm a bit surprised that Drek hasn't been publicly classified as crazy yet."

While he could understand where his friend was coming from, Clank nonetheless, replied, "Even so, we should stop the invasion force from leaving Gaspar as well as learn where they plan to attack in case Drek wishes to strike again."

Ratchet nodded knowingly at that, "Here's hoping he'll actually be on-planet by the time we get there."

Right then, the airlock opened for Qwark to proudly proclaim, "I've returned with a hydrodisplacer to use!"

"Could come be useful then," Ratchet replied uncertainly just when Alister was shown grinding his way on the nearby rail to join the.

The older General shook his head tiredly as he said, "The sole "gadget engineer" I found informed me, after an intense transaction, of course, that the Blarg have recently captured Hoven to use as a bomb factory and are building a base in orbit of Oltanis for a future attack." Turning to Ratchet, he then handed out a pair of boots saying, "Oh, and these are for you, my boy."

While Ratchet eagerly examined his new gear, Clank announced, "We found an infobot for Drek's announcement. He is gathering a large force on Gaspar to prepare for a strike on a military facility."

Rubbing his chin in thought with an audible hum, Qwark then said, "Well, if I remember my astrography right, the nearest military base to Gaspar would be Fort Krontos on Batalia."

"Then we should tell the Rangers about all these locations at once," Alister said firmly and added. "We can pick a place to go to after that's done."

As everyone nodded, Qwark felt the need to say, "Let's hope that the Blarg didn't leave this transmission as bait for us to wonder in an even more dangerous trap, though. The problem with infobots is that you can never tell who may have left the original message for the finder to, well, find."

"That much is true, Captain," Alister replied with an experienced edge in his voice.

[GC]

A bit shorter than what I imagined, but I just wanted to make this a bit distinct from my last update for Prog it Up, which then made me think of making it diverse by changing the last infobot's coordinates, so you know how that goes. If anyone has questions on why the difference in messages, I advise checking Qwark's last quote here. Expect the next update at some point in the future.