Ratchet was lost in thought as his ship continued the jump to quantos. For years he had been nervous, and then scared of going to the lombax dimension. Scared of disappointing the only people he could ever remotely call a family.

Of course, that line of thought led him to think of his actual family, the ones he had never really had the chance to meet. He pulled out Alister's pocket watch.

After he died, it was something he always carried with him. His wrench was currently behind him under the seat, so it went wherever Aphelion did, but the watch was something that he always kept close. He popped it open and watched the actual time piece spin before his gaze drifted to the picture set in the other half.

His thumb halfheartedly drifted down the picture while his eyes focused primarily on the half with his father. He swallowed hard. I won't let you down dad. He thought. Not again.

He closed the watch as an alert popped on the screen to tell him that he'd be arriving at Quantos soon. He braced himself for the deceleration and grabbed the controls. When it finally hit he slowed the ship down as much as possible so he could get a handle on the local situation before moving further.

The planet didn't really have an invasion fleet over it, but there was a dreadnought parked in orbit. That alone was fairly daunting. "Aphelion, can we launch a scan without alerting them to where we are?"

She waited and processed what he had asked. "Unlikely. They appear to be scanning for incoming energy signatures in particular based on their last sensor sweep."

"Then I should be able to slip in if I keep my emissions and altitude low once I'm planetside. I'll just have to find a local to get the lay of the land." He replied, though it was mostly to himself.

He brought the ship in close to the surface far out of the sensor range of the dreadnought and flew into the area beneath it so low that he occasionally heard some of the foliage scrape across the bottom. Using a short range scanner, he located a landing zone not far from a group of buildings that hugged the base of a cliff. He also didn't need the scanner to see a large building spewing out smoke a ways past that.

With a glance up at the dreadnought above to make sure everything had gone as planned, he swooped in for a landing in a small clearing. The heat from this planet hit him in a wave all at once when the canopy opened. His clothes did have a temperature control function, but it was limited to the parts of him that it covered, so the rest of him was left to bake.

"Just had to be born with fur." He lamented to himself as he jumped out and got his bearings. He hadn't landed far from the group of buildings his scanner had picked up, so he went in that direction first. He wanted some info from one of the locals first anyway.

He used his weapons to cut a swathe through the forest, keeping the more dangerous elements of the local wildlife at bay, though he did find himself wanting for firepower. Most of his arsenal was back in a weapon locker in his dimension, and the ones he had bought in this dimension he had turned over to Rivet, leaving him wanting. Still, in all his years of adventuring he has learned to make do with limited capacity.

He soon found himself on the edge of what looked like a small settlement, matching the location of the buildings he had detected before. They were advanced looking shelters that he actually recognized as being prefabricated housing. He remembered from the meetings to establish a new galactic government that many different planets and species had been desperate to get their hands on them ahead of what was predicted to be a colonization boom in the absence of the ban on interstellar travel. Maybe this was one of those new colonies that had planned to use the remains of the factory for something else?

Though, it certainly looked like it had been abandoned some time ago. Vines and undergrowth had already started to reclaim a good deal of what the colonists had claimed, one building even being covered from base to roof. On a jungle planet like this one that could happen quite fast, but even then it must have been a few days at least since they stopped being cared for.

He looked up at the various buildings clinging to the cliff face and the spider web of paths and stairways that connected them, looking for any signs of life or movement. After staring intently for a few moments he saw a shadow move in a window before a figure he could barely make out dashed from that building and into the next.

"Hello?" He called up, but there was no response and no more movement. "I just want to ask some questions!" Still nothing.

Slumping his shoulders, he looked around for a quick way up. While there were some swingshot targets further up, here at the bottom there was only the stairs so he had to make do with that. He ran up, doing his best to navigate towards where he had seen the figure before while also stopping to peek into any open buildings just in case.

He had only made it up two flights though when he heard some stones falling down the cliff right next to him. Looking up, he saw a boulder sitting on a lip a few floors up suddenly tip over and start tumbling right towards him.

I guess it's gonna be like that then. He thought as he launched himself forward in an effort to avoid its path of destruction down through the settlement. It tore through walkways and stairs before landing on, or rather in the ground below. The destruction left in its wake had cut him off from the upper levels… at least it would have if he was any normal person. He quickly spied a path by combining some wall jumping, swingshots and rail grinding and started up it.

Whoever was up there was doing their best to stop him though. Boulders continued to fall as he climbed, forcing him to adjust his path a number of times, sometimes even taking out entire buildings as they fell. Ratchet called up to them a number of times in an effort to get them to stop, if only just so this place wouldn't be destroyed, but it was all for naught as the only response he got were somehow even bigger boulders.

Catching his breath as he landed on a roof just a few meters from the ledge the rocks were falling from, he felt the entire weight of the structure shift beneath him. Staying absolutely still for fear of sending it over, he glanced up and saw yet another boulder about to plummet towards him, whoever was pushing it still out of sight behind it.

"WAIT!" He cried. "If you do that, the whole structure will-"

The boulder left the ledge, impacting the roof he was standing on almost immediately. The whole thing groaned under the added weight and rapidly started to buckle. Ratchet frantically looked for somewhere more stable to jump to, but the repeated impacts had finally taken their toll and the whole of this layer of buildings were ready to fall.

Left with no other choice, he put all his hope in one last jump for the ledge via his hoverboots. Putting as much power behind them as he could in one solid burst, he ramped off the building as it tipped and propelled himself forward and up with all his might. Even still, he just barely managed to grab the very edge of the ledge with one hand. He scrambled for another handhold, admittedly doing so in a bit of a panic given the now near fifty meter drop beneath him. Once he had it he hefted himself over the edge, feeling his muscles scream in protest as he did.

Flopping over onto his back at the top, he couldn't stop himself from breathing heavily from the effort he had just gone through. Once he had somewhat caught his breath, he looked around the ledge for whoever it was that had been trying to kill him for the past ten minutes but found no one. Groaning in frustration and effort he stood up and inspected the area in greater detail.

The ledge spanned most of the cliff and was littered with small stones and boulders as well as another handful of buildings with thick cables running from them to the actual top of the cliff another dozen or so meters above. He guessed there was probably a solar or wind array up there and that these were the control buildings.

Looking inside, his guess was proven correct by the consoles setup within, their readouts giving periodic updates on the efficiency of the system overall. What they failed to provide though was any occupants, same as the buildings below.

Standing in the door frame of one of the control buildings, he re-examined the cliff face where it met the ledge. From this angle he finally caught a break and managed to spy a small cave that had been hidden from his view before. Even from here it was actually very well concealed, the rocks that blocked it having clearly been moved purposefully. If he hadn't been looking for anything hidden in this area as much as he was he probably never would have found it.

He steeled himself and prepared for everything as he approached the cave. He only kept his wrench handy as a method of arming himself so as not to scare whoever it was too bad, but his instincts still told him to keep it handy.

Slowly, he stepped closer to the cave, stopping just a few meters from the mouth. It wasn't terribly big, Ratchet himself would barely have to duck to fit in it, and thanks to the echoing effect it gave he could now hear the slight shuffling movement of whoever was inside as they tried to keep quiet.

"I know you're in there." He said. "I'm not here to hurt you, I just want some information. Please."

There was a brief moment of silence before he heard hushed conversation, though it was so quick and quiet that he couldn't make out what they were saying or how many there were. After they were done talking he waited to see what would happen next, though he thankfully didn't have to wait long.

From the mouth of the cave came a small figure that tentatively peeked around the corner at him. He only got a quick glance at them before they ducked back in and conversation resumed, but he saw enough to know that they were a Markazian. He knew those ears and skin from his time with Talwyn. He also knew that it was a child, probably not much older than thirteen.

He dropped to one knee in front of the cave before this round of conversation ended, making sure to set his wrench to the side. When their talk did end, the same Markazian looked out at him again. He gave the most reassuring smile he could muster, but they didn't return it.

"You… You're not one of them?" Their head motioned towards the ship high above, his eyes following the motion to the sky. He shook his head.

"Nope. I'm Ratchet and I'm one of the good guys." He assured. "And if you tell me what's going on here, I can help make sure they leave."

The child looked further back in the cave before stepping out more into the light. They had short cut red hair combed back between their still growing ears, and their skin was closer to orange than he had been expecting. The coveralls they were wearing were ragged and filthy with more than a few rips and tears all over. He could also finally see her tail. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, first, what's your name?"

She was pensive at first, not sure if she could trust him. Finally she told him. "Marni."

"Okay Marni, what happened to everyone else?" He asked, gesturing to the abandoned buildings behind him. "The whole settlement was empty before it collapsed."

Marni shifted her weight nervously. "Sorry. We thought you were coming to take us like they did everyone else."

He pointed up to the ship above. "They took everyone?" She nodded. "Where?" Even as he asked he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

She pointed off in the direction that he knew the factory was in. Even if he couldn't be sure, the plumes of black smoke were visible past the terrain. The cragmites must have decided to use them for labor rather than just wipe them out. He turned back to the child. "Do you know what they're doing in the factory?"

She shook her head. "The only things we see leave are the small ships that go from it to the big one, then they come back. We try to make it so they can't take off, but they still do most of the time. Will you save them?" Even if he hadn't already planned on doing so, the sheer hope in her eyes would have been enough to change his mind.

He swelled his chest to project just a bit more confidence. "That's the plan. Do you know a way in?"

She nodded again and walked over to the ledge, Ratchet following close behind. She pointed to a river not far from the base of the cliff. "If you follow that river, it takes you to a cave. There's a way in through it, but we didn't make it. We found it while we were playing one day and kept it secret from the adults. Do you want me to show you?"

He quickly shook his head, not even considering the offer. "You've done plenty already." He rubbed the top of her head in praise and glanced back at the cave where he now saw more children peeking out now to get a view of him. When they saw him look back they panicked and ducked back in quickly. "The best thing you can do right now is stay here and stay hidden. Here."

He pulled a spare communicator from his belt and held it out, making sure the frequency he used was locked in. "This is a communicator. If they come back while I'm gone and you think they've found you, hold down this button and ask Aphelion for help." He explained and showed them exactly what he was talking about. "I may not be able to come right away, but my friend will if you ask."

Marni gripped the communicator close and thanked him before running back to the cave. Waving goodbye, he turned in the direction she had pointed and added it to his mental map of this place. After, he used a rail from the crumpled remains of the settlement to grind down to the base of the cliff.

Hardly any of the shelters were still usable after his climb, but there was little he could do about that now so he set out while following the river. While moving along it, he happened upon a familiar face. "Ms. Zurkon?"

The robot in question looked away from a haphazard collection of crates, presumably loaded with weapons. "OH. Hello there! Ain't it been a while?" She flew over to him. "I thought you and your robot friend went back to your dimension?"

"Well, we did, but then that happened." He pointed up to the sky to indicate the ship.

"Glad to have you back then! Those brutes are terrible for business you know."

"Maybe I can help on that front." He said. "I left most of my guns either with Rivet or back in my dimension. Think you could give me a hand?"

"I'd love to sugar, but I do run a business. If you need new guns, you're gonna have to pay for em." She at least said it apologetically.

"I understand. Can you at least keep Rivet's account and mine connected so we share purchases? She's gonna be almost as strapped for guns as I am."

"Sure thing! And tell you what, I'll even throw in a couple's discount!" She said excitedly before zipping over to the boxes she had been looking at earlier to pull out some merchandise.

"A what?" He said in surprise. "She and I aren't-" He stopped himself when Ms. Zurkon turned to face him expectantly while holding up an enforcer for him. It will save us bolts. And it's not like I'm confirming anything by just not saying anything to contradict her. Just have to hope she doesn't mention this to Rivet.

"Nevermind. Thanks Ms. Zurkon."

After making full use of the discount to get some extra firepower and ammo, he set out once more down the river.

It didn't take long for him to find the cave that Marni had been talking about, the mouth not far from a bend. He at least took solace that when things were better the kids hadn't been playing too far from home.

There also wasn't much in the way of hostile wildlife inside, the only real hurdle being the low light and the occasional steep drop. The constant drip of water from stalactites overhead quickly promised to drive him insane though. He continued to venture inside while keeping an eye out for the path through to the factory. After a few minutes of spelunking, the flashlight on his hip glinted off of a piece of metal, catching his eye immediately.

Rushing over, he found a large crate resting near a branch in the path. He looked down the branch and saw that, rather than the marks of being naturally formed, this one showed that it had been carved by tools. Marni and the other children seemed to have attempted to open the crate judging by the small handprints in the thin layer of dust, but it was magnetically sealed, preventing them from doing so.

He found the control pad and released the seal, curious if it held the mining equipment that had been used. Rather than mining equipment though, he found explosives.

A LOT of explosives.

Pressurized gelatonium bombs that had been attached to what looked like modified Agorian hand grenades made up most of it while the rest looked like industrial grade blasting caps and mining charges all strung together. He whistled in amazement.

"Good thing the kids didn't get into this. These must be what Alister used to take down the factory." He (gingerly) took out one of the grenades to examine. It was even more apparent as he did that they had been heavily modified, both in payload and method of detonation. "But why did he leave so much behind? Did he plan on coming back to level the whole building but never got around to it?"

Carefully replacing what he had taken out and relocking the container, he turned and started down the side path. It was a straight shot most of the way, right up until the very end where it hooked sharply to the left. Around that corner was when he finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and found it near blinding.

Blinded by the light, he couldn't get a bearing on his surroundings until he recovered. Once his vision cleared, he saw that the tunnel had put him out in an area shrouded by vegetation on a hill overlooking a corner of the factory. Off to the right, barely visible through the foliage, was a tall fence that ran off into the distance and probably around the rest of the facility. The factory itself looked like a mishmash of large rectangles with one domed portion in the center. Every wall he could see was devoid of windows and made of what looked like solid metal plating that led down to a concrete foundation.

"Now I get why he needed so much boom. This place looks like it could survive a salvo from space." He commented before moving closer. While the occasional automated patrol could be seen on the other side of the fence alongside mounted cameras, inside was mostly devoid of security measures. Apparently they didn't expect intruders to make it this far.

Still, he stayed low and moved carefully while he looked for a way into the facility, hugging the wall and ducking between rocks and plants for cover. Eventually he found what looked like some kind of hanger and delivery bay, a wall with gaps in it about ten meters across where ships flew in and out every few minutes. Timing it just right, he slipped in without being noticed and hid behind some shipping crates.

Inside, the hangar was multilayered with him on the ground floor, which seemed more like a storage and offloading area while the upper floors were where the outbound ships were loaded. Most of the activity in here was automated, but there was the occasional cragmite scuttling around. This was the first time he caught sight of them since the one on Corson V, and he felt his heart sink when he did. Rivet really hadn't been lying. There were enough cragmites for an entire galactic invasion, and judging by how long it seemed like that settlement had been abandoned they had been out here in the fringe systems for weeks now, unnoticed.

Shaking off the shock he looked around for where he should move next. I need to stay stealthy til I could find and make sure all the captured civilians were safe. He started to form a plan in his head. Once I do, I'll go loud and cause enough of a diversion that they can hopefully get out safely. Then I'll just have to find some way to deal with-why do I hear shouting?

Immediately spot lights were pointed at him from every direction as sirens blared all over. The aforementioned shouting was coming in his direction and a voice from the facility PA declared that a lombax had been detected in the hagar bay. The crates he had been using for cover were suddenly lifted out of the way, leaving him exposed as cragmites and reprogrammed Nefarious robots started to stream in.

"Orrrr I can go loud right now, that works too." He told himself as he charged the incoming enemies with his newly refreshed arsenal.

Making quick work of the initial force, he moved deeper into the facility while doing his best to avoid major confrontations. He quickly found out that just wandering around blindly was not the way to do that, so he started following the crates that had been coming in on the upper floors of the hangar when he popped out there by accident.

Backtracking the crates to their source, he came out into the main body of the factory, the part with the domed ceiling he had seen from afar. He quickly spotted a walkway he could jump to from the conveyor he was on and did so. Once his footing was secure he looked at the factory floor below.

Most of the floor was taken up by an assembly line that snaked its way across the entire room and was manned by adult markazians at every station. Back under Nefarious it had probably been robots that ran this place, but under the cragmites it was them now churning out weapons for their captors. Even now with the alarms blaring throughout the facility they were still working, though that was likely due to the smattering of soldiers on the floor and traversing the catwalks where he was at the moment.

"Okay, new plan. I'll take out the guards so they can run and then-"

"There you are, little lombax." A deep voice said from above him before a cragmite rivaling the one from Corson V in size jumped from the conveyor he had been on down onto the walkway, shaking the entire thing.

I need to stop coming up with plans. He told himself. "I don't suppose you're here to surrender?" He quipped. The cragmite's only response was to extend a long blade that had been folded behind one of its claws. "I'll take that as a no."

The cragmite swung the blade across at him so he ducked underneath it. While it missed him, it did cut through the cables supporting the catwalk section they were on, making the sway from the large alien moving even worse.

Ratchet rolled backwards to try to put some distance in between them, but the cragmite simply used its ability to teleport to appear right in front of him regardless. It swung down at him while he was recovering, making him scramble to the side to avoid it as the blade now glided right through the floor he had been on an instant prior.

Rather than pull it out to attack again though, the alien twisted the blade and cut out towards him. Barely avoiding it one more time, Ratchet moved back more before pulling out his wrench and swinging down on the spot where the cragmite had cut through the floor. The force broke the rest of the floor and split the entire catwalk sending them both plummeting down below.

Ratchet fell half on a machine that he bounced off before he hit the floor with a solid thud right in front of an elderly markazian while the cragmite fell in an open shipping crate.

"A lombax!?" The markazian cried out in surprise.

Ratchet groaned as he dragged himself off the ground. "Yup, and you should probably run right about now."

The old man stared at him for a moment before he mumbled 'okay' and motioned for everyone to follow him away from the fight while Ratchet turned around just in time to see the large cragmite from before burst through the side of the crate with an angry roar.

Ratchet was about to prepare himself for knockdown, dragout fight, but then he noticed that the crate the alien had fallen in had contained some explosives that hadn't gone off when it landed on them.

Bringing out a gun, he shot the explosives before it could move, blowing it up in a massive fireball.

"Probably a better way to resolve that in a weapons factory, but oh well." He muttered to himself.

In the aftermath of the explosion, the only guards he had to deal with were the ones already on the floor, and since they were only a token force to keep the prisoners in order they went down quickly.

Catching his breath in a brief moment of respite he looked around. The battle had left the surrounding area utterly destroyed, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing given the nature of the factory as a whole. Every workstation was either blown to pieces or now covered in a cragmite that had had the same done to them. He thanked his lucky stars (however many of those he may have) that one of the errant shots didn't set off the munitions all around him.

Once he had recovered he went in the direction the workers had run off in. He thankfully didn't have to look for them for long, they had just hidden in one of the storage rooms nearby. They piled out with the older one from before staying at the front. Now that Ratchet could get a good look at him, he bore some resemblance to photos of Max he had seen. He was rather large with a usually happy face judging by the laugh lines that creased his face and a bushy mustache that led to an equally bushy beard that hid most of his face.

"You…" Ratchet started. "You wouldn't happen to be Max Apogee, would you?" The old man looked puzzled.

"No, but I have heard the name before. Some thrillseeker who sneaks between stars looking for lombax ruins, right?"

Ratchet backpedaled quickly. "Yeah, sorry. You just kind of looked like him. Is everyone ok?"

The old man looked behind him at everyone, probably about forty in total and turned back to him. "A bit bruised and tired maybe, but we're ok otherwise."

"Alright. I'll go find the control room and shut down the security on the perimeter. Once I do, all of you run for it." All the civilians nodded in agreement. The old man pointed to a doorway on the other side of the room.

"I think the room you're looking for is that way. They took us there to threaten us more than a few times." Ratchet nodded and ran off in that direction. Heading back into the hallways of the factory, being sure to make as much noise as possible as he blew his way through any 'roadblocks' they tried to throw up in his way.

It also made it easy to find the control room since all he had to do was follow the path of most resistance. That led him to a room dominated by security consoles and camera feeds across an entire wall. Quickly dispatching the occupants he started to look for the controls to turn off the defenses. Though that was easier said than done. The whole console was an array of buttons, switches, levers and dials with nothing to tell them apart at face value or group them.

"Of course nothing can ever be labeled. That'd make it too easy." He lamented before resorting to just hitting random buttons to see what would happen. The effects seemed to be quite… varied. At points he caused every door across the facility to open, which wasn't bad, but then he activated an internal defense system that he immediately had to deactivate after it shot at him. After that he somehow made every toilet clog and canceled the birthday party for someone named Michael.

"Rragh! Which one of these turns off the security!?" His frustration reached a boiling point.

"Voice command accepted, deactivating automated security." The system responded. Ratchet stared blankly at the computer screen that showed the external cameras and patrols deactivating.

"I uhhh… guess that works too." He said and threw the pipe he was going to hit the console with over his shoulder. During his fumbling he had found the control for the P.A. system (which was a lever for some reason) so he used it to inform the markazians that they could make a run for it when they saw an opening. He also informed all the remaining cragmites in the facility that he would be making his way to the hangar where he would destroy the entire factory. Whether or not they believed him he had no idea, but it at least guaranteed that their focus would remain on him for a while longer.

Using a map that was mostly glowing red at this point he figured out how to actually get back to the hagar from where he was, and was chased the entire way there by a large group of cragmites. Evidently they took his threat quite seriously.

Once he was in the hangar and the group following him dispatched he had the problem of how to proceed. He had really been flying by the seat of his pants when he claimed he'd destroy the factory from here and had no idea how he'd actually accomplish such a feat.

Interrupting his train of thought, a ship arrived from the one in atmosphere, delivering reinforcements and reminding him that even if he destroyed this place there was still an entire ship's worth of cragmites that would just come down and rebuild it. "Guess I'll deal with the ship first then. But how to do that?"

He ruminated on the question during his entire fight with the troops and the dropship that brought them. Once it was nothing more than a smoldering wreck he remembered the crate of heavy explosive in the cave nearby. If he could get it on board, or even just kind of close given the payload, he could knock it right out of the sky.

"Aphelion, meet me at these coordinates!" He shouted into his communicator before he ran out of the hangar the same way he had initially come in, giving her the location of the exit on the tunnel.

Tracing his way back to the cave and then through it, he found the crate of explosives and after syncing it to a detonator started the arduous process of pushing it down the tunnel. After a lot of grunting, sweat and a few tears he finally pushed the high explosives out into the open where Aphelion had finally arrived and was waiting for him.

Hopping in, he used the ship's tether to grab the crate off the ground before pitching the ship upwards toward the dreadnought.

The cragmites of course wouldn't just let him approach their ship without earning it first, and waves of dropships and fighters intended to stop him from doing just that. The result was an intricate dance where he couldn't allow the crate being towed behind him to take even a single hit while weaving through his opposition. During this he actually pulled off more than few impressive maneuvers if he did say so himself, even throwing the crate forward with inertia before catching it again mid fall.

After the fierce dogfight was done (with far too many close calls for comfort) he had a straight line available directly to the dreadnought. Giving it a once over from the outside, he guessed the best spot to hit would be near the engines, that was where most ships this size usually kept their reactor cores anyway.

Taking careful aim, he lined up what looked like a weak point in the armor on the under belly and pulled back on the controls. Using the tether like a slingshot, the crate flew forward away from him and barreled straight towards his intended target. Watching and timing it just right, he detonated the bomb right beneath the weak point.

The explosion immediately ripped through the back end of the ship, blasting up through it and causing a chain reaction of smaller explosions that progressed across the entire body of the ship. Once he saw the engines start to sputter and die he knew the explosion had done its job, so he turned around and flew back down to the surface with a victory cry, mopping up the remaining fighters on the way, though most simply took the opportunity to flee away from the planet.

Landing near the ruins of the settlement, he was greeted not only by the adults he had freed, but also Marni and the other children all cheering his arrival. He climbed out and was quickly pulled into a hug by the Max look-alike from earlier.

"Thank you young lombax!" He said with tears in his eyes. "You've freed us all! What could we ever do to repay you for your kindness?"

"Uh, well first you could let me down." He suggested and the old man apologized while doing so.

Ratchet straightened his shirt from the sudden contact. "Now, I actually do have some questions I hope you can answer."

"Of course! You and Rivet both have done so much for us, I'd be delighted to help any way I can!" He assured him with a large smile. Ratchet figured he was talking about both what had just happened and the whole Nefarious affair. While he and the old man talked, the other adults set about cleaning up what remained of the ruined buildings. The children stayed off to the side.

"Thank you. If you don't mind my asking, how did all that happen in the first place?" Ratchet asked.

"Well, after Nefarious fell, we wanted a new life away from Markazia. Under him it was always so crowded and dark, and some of us had young ones we didn't want to grow up like that." He gestured to Marni and the others. "So we came out here seeking a fresh start. When we were deciding where to go I remembered this place from the news and figured we could either tear the factory down for scrap or maybe use it to make something other than weapons. It wasn't too long after we established our home that Rivet showed up."

Ratchet's head involuntarily tilted. "Rivet came here?"

The old man nodded. "About a week before those aliens came and imprisoned us. She was going to destroy the factory but then saw we planned on making use of it and decided against it. Though I'm wondering how wise that would be now."

Before Ratchet could comment further there was a rumbling that shook the air and ground all around them. At first he thought it was a random earthquake but then he looked up at the sky, seeing that it was actually the dreadnought from before now plummeting through the atmosphere, though the chain reaction he had started before had now broken it into a few different pieces. They all watched silently as one of the middle pieces landed right on the factory before both exploded once more.

"I guess you could salvage that if you wanted." Ratchet said with a nervous laugh.

"We might just do that." the old man replied with a light sigh. While they watched the dust settle in the distance, a thought formed in Ratchet's head.

"When Rivet came here, did she have a helmet on?" He asked the markazian, who thought for a few moments with his hand on his chin.

"Now that you mention it, she did. It did strike me as odd since she didn't wear one on television. Voice was definitely the same though"

Ratchet fished in his pocket for the watch before popping it open. He showed the picture inside but pointed to Alister in particular. "Did the armor she was wearing look like this?" The old man looked and nodded.

He closed and replaced the watch. "Last question then. Did she mention where she was headed next?"

"The only thing she mentioned was helping to clean up more of the old empire but didn't say much more than that. Are you looking for her?"

"You could say that. Thank you!" He said his goodbyes to everyone and even helped to make sure their solar and wind arrays were still operational before getting back in Aphelion.

While in space over Quantos, he took the time to think about where to head next. It was clear that Alister had disguised himself as Rivet for some reason while he was operating, but that itself didn't give much of a hint as to where he was now.

He resolved to call the real Rivet, not just to update her on what he had found out but also to ask her if there were any other places that people had reported her as being but she had never been.

The call was answered immediately, but just as he was about to say hello, a loud and aggressive beep came through. He recognized it as the system automatically censoring… whatever it was she said.

Maybe her side of things hadn't gone as great as his had.