Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet & Clank, or any of its associated characters and lore. That right belongs to Insomniac Games.
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Shielded by the Stars
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Chapter One
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In Orbit of Planet Veldin, Solana Galaxy
Flying in space for what felt like hours, a black starship with a golden canopy was being piloted over the planet Veldin by a lone sentient being whose armorlike spandex matched his personal starship as well. Once a Private in the Solana Galaxy's military forces, he had left such service upon his promotion to Captain and was currently renowned in his native galaxy and several others as the hero Captain Starshield.
Having undertaken a routine patrol of the galaxy, Starshield was looking for any signs of planetary distress that would warrant his attention, but it was not until he had arrived close to the desert world that he saw something odd yet intriguing. Two minifighters were chasing and firing upon a third one, and his ship's scanners indicated that all three were manufactured by and registered to Drek Industries.
"Better go see what's up with the Blarg." Starshield said to himself as he flew towards the minifighters just when the pursued was show down and fell to the nearby planet. Already under the impression that the pursuers were up to no good, Starshield decided to ignore them to focus on saving a potential life.
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Kyzil Plateau, Planet Veldin
Quickly landing his ship not too far away from the minifighter's crash site, Starshield exited out with his blaster pistol in tow and after observing in annoyance how seemingly none of the Kyzil Plateau's residents were already investigating the crash out of fear, or apathy, he was about to head out when he then saw a youthful, bipedal feline attack robots with a Bomb Glove and OmniWrench on his own way to the crash site. Impressed by what he was seeing, the Captain then ran across the Plateau before arriving near the wrecked ship and shot the surviving robot, that he recognized as a Drek Industries electroid, before the latter could attack the feline sentient.
The aforementioned youth's attention was grabbed by the sudden blaster fire, and he turned around with a deactivated robot in his arms to see Captain Starshield smiling at him much to his awe. "Holy scrap metal!" The feline exclaimed in amazement. "Are you the Captain Starshield?"
Starshield showed a humored yet mostly modest grin as he replied. "Well, I'm definitely not green enough to be Captain Qwark, my friend."
The feline laughed knowingly before clearing his threat in a professional manner and held out a hand while saying. "The name's Ratchet, Captain. Welcome to Veldin."
Starshield reciprocated the gesture as he said with a sincere look. "Nice to meet you, too, Ratchet."
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Ratchet's Garage
With Ratchet leading the way, he, Starshield, and the deactivated robot from the minifighter soon moved to the former's workshop/residence where Starshield was further impressed at the youth's mechanical skills as he had built a crude yet mostly usable spaceship on his own prior to the Captain's arrival. Engaging in conversation with Ratchet while they looked over the miniature robot, Starshield learned that he was a Lombax who, after spending most of his life alone, wanted to explore the galaxy in search of adventure and opportunity at least and possibly find more of his own kind at most.
While Starshield could tell that Ratchet had a hidden self-centered streak, he nonetheless, saw potential in the young Lombax, and was contemplating how to talk him into going into space via a different method when the robot finally reactivated itself in front of the two organics.
"Hey there, little guy." Starshield said first to the robot with a welcoming look. "How are you holding up?"
Landing on the ground from Ratchet's work table with a clank, the small robot replied. "I believe I am in optimal condition, sir." Taking a better look at Starshield, he then asked. "Judging by your attire, am I correct in assuming you are a hero capable of saving the galaxy?"
Chuckling good naturedly, Starshield answered. "I've actually saved three separate galaxies on four separate occasions, but that's beside the point." Taking his hand out, he said. "I'm Captain Starshield, and the Lombax beside me is Ratchet."
"What do we call you?" Ratchet asked with a friendly enough smile.
Studying the hand for a bit in confusion, the robot eventually reciprocated the gesture out of curiosity while saying. "My serial number is B5429671."
Visibly uncomfortable with the designation, Ratchet suggested. "How about we call you Clank for short? It's probably easier to remember than a serial number."
Thinking it over, the newly dubbed Clank nodded. "That would suffice, I suppose." Turning to Starshield, he then took out an infobot from his compartment and said. "All the same, Captain, the galaxy could use your help."
With the infobot playing a video of a black-haired and bright blue-eyed Blarg in a business suit, Starshield recognized him from the start as Alonzo Drek, the head honcho of Drek Industries that employed all but the entire Blarg species, and remembering what he was told of Drek's reputation, Starshield did not expect this to be good news. "Hello, citizens of-." Drek's opening speech was then replaced with the subtitled image of Planet Novalis, and while Starshield could understand Ratchet's prompt to roll his eyes, the veteran soldier turned hero recognized a targeting method when it was right in his face. "My race, the Blarg, have a small problem that I can't help but feel partly responsible for. Our planet, Orxon, has become so polluted, overpopulated, and poisonous, that we are no longer able to dwell here. But I, Chairman Alonzo Drek, inheritor of my father's company and all-around leader of my people, have a solution!"
As the video went on, the illustration of an artificial planet was briefly shown as Drek explained. "We are constructing a pristine, new world using only the choicest planetary components available. So, what does this mean to you, you might ask?" The blueprints of a giant crane-like machine were then shown, followed by an illustration of that same machine tearing a chunk of mass from a whole planet. "Using highly sophisticated technology, which you couldn't possibly understand, we will be extracting a large portion of your planet and adding it to our new one."
While Ratchet's eyes widened at the news, Starshield's fists curled in anger while Drek went on to say. "Unfortunately, this change of mass will cause your planet to spin out of control and drift into the sun where it will into a flaming ball of gas, but, of course, sacrifices must be made. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Cut!" Someone out of camera view declared, and Drek's expression angrily changed as he ranted.
"And if you don't like it, you can take your whiny, sniveling, snot-nosed populations, form a line behind me and kiss my Blargian-!" Drek then turned to his right in surprise. "We're still on? Well, turn it off you complete idiot!"
With the video concluded, Ratchet murmured. "The people on that planet are gonna be hosed, if they aren't already." Turning to Starshield, he added. "You better do something quick, Captain."
Nodding knowingly, Starshield replied with a grin as he turned to Ratchet and Clank. "Then we should head to Novalis and see what we can do before we alert the authorities on Marcadia, boys."
Ratchet reacted in surprise at the Captain's words as his exclamation and facial expression suggested. "We?!"
Gesturing for calm, Starshield explained with an apologetic look. "I know, Ratchet, I should've asked you first, but I've seen the way you fight, and I think you can be a big help in this matter. To top it off, you did say you wanted an adventure, right?"
Indecisive at Starshield's words for a moment, Ratchet finally exhaled tiredly before asking. "Is there a chance that I'll get some other benefits along the way?" Noticing Clank's glare, he showed the palms of his hands defensively. "What? I need money among other stuff!"
Shaking his head with a small smile, Starshield placed his hand on Ratchet's shoulder as he said. "It's not necessarily wrong to want a reward for your troubles, Ratchet, but try not to be consumed by such prospects. At the end of the day, real heroes act because they care for the cause."
Noticing the arrival of more Blarg minifighters, Ratchet was quick to say. "And we'd better start moving!"
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Originally, I figured Ratchet and Clank would run into Captain Starshield by chance on Kerwan during the events of the original game, but thankfully, Tangent, the author of Widget & Clank: Lombax Bebop, offered me the above idea, so there you have it. There's also a third possibility of Ratchet and Clank looking for a different hero from Captain Qwark altogether due to a change in posters in Ratchet's Garage, but one good thing at a time.
Additionally, looking through the 2016 reimagined works gave me some ideas of how Cora Veralux, Brax Lectrus, and Elaris could be featured in the events of the main series, so I intend to give them a shot in some works. Looking over all three, I can imagine some possibilities from working for corporations like Gadgetron and coincidentally being close to a planet targeted by the Blarg (Cora was to have designed the Flux Rifle from Up Your Arsenal and to be from Novalis), being Solana military officers that Ratchet and Clank would later meet in Metropolis for obvious reasons, or some combination of the above.
I also thought about combining Elaris and Hydro Girl from Deadlocked together since they are apparently similar in appearance, but while I can imagine they are of the same species, the former character seemingly has horns while the latter has more noticeable gills, so you know, conflict of interpretation. Speaking of Deadlocked, having read the novelization and game guide, it turns out that the Grapplemania thing Brax participated in, was just a wrestling event and has nothing to do with DreadZone. Just wanted you all to know that.
