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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The Gadgeteers
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Approaching Planet Barlow, Bogon Galaxy
Coming out of warp, a purple fighter craft of Blargian design found itself near the desert planet, Barlow, in the Bogon Galaxy. Once home to a factory owned by Gadgetron Corporation, the company were forced to close down their Bogon branch in light of their competitor, Megacorp's, rising monopoly in the galaxy. Normally, Gadgetron employees would not bother to examine their abandoned business ventures, let alone in the Bogon Galaxy, but for the Gadgetron Central Intelligence Agents making their way to Barlow, the times were changing.
"Ratchet and Clank to Mister Lumos," the Lombax pilot in purple Chameleon armor best associated with the G.C.I.A. called via the ship's intergalactic communication system, "Come in Mr. Lumos."
Soon enough the screen on the dash showed, Gadgetron's chief executive officer, Wendell Lumos, responding to Ratchet's call with the scenery of Gadgetron's headquarters in the Solana Galaxy being seen in the background. An elderly Kaleboan from Planet Kalebo III, Lumos was as green and reptilian as many others of his race, and wore a basic brown attire that seemed to go with his white beard and glasses.
"Hello, boys," Lumos called out good naturedly, "I assume that you're both in Bogon right now?"
"Correct," the small, grey robot at Ratchet's right, Clank, said in response with a nod. "I am pleased to admit that the new gravimetric warp drive worked out better than I feared."
After defeating the Blarg that threatened the Solana Galaxy, Ratchet and Clank were left with little else to do when the celebratory phase died down, which was what brought them into Gadgetron's employ, having done a sponsorship deal with Lumos just before their fight with Chairman Alonzo Drek. Thankfully, Ratchet's engineering and combat skills mixed together with Clank's intelligence made the duo substantial assets of their employer.
Shrugging off Clank's previous doubts of Ratchet's latest invention with a smile, the Lombax turned to Lumos and said, "We're about to drop down on Barlow, sir. We'll let you know what the insider has to offer soon."
Nodding in acceptance, Lumos replied, "Good to hear, Ratchet. We'll talk later then."
As soon as the call was disconnected, Clank then turned to Ratchet and said, "I know that this is a competitive business, but are we sure that exploiting an "intelligence leak" is ethical?"
Exhaling at the old topic, Ratchet answered, "It might be a bit shady, but at least Lumos isn't the kind of guy out to conquer entire galaxies. At least not as bad as Drek did, anyway."
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Vukovar Canyon, Planet Barlow
Finding a suitable meeting spot in front of the only, if unofficial, Gadgetron shop in the Bogon Galaxy, Angela Cross waited for her contact from the corporation itself to arrive. A tall Lombax with yellow hair in a pony tail and blue eyes, she wore a blue and grey jumpsuit with grey and red boots. Once a top geneticist for Megacorp, Angela had been unceremoniously fired by her own boss and supposed friend, Abercrombie Fizzwidget, when she protested the eminent release of the lab-born monster currently resting in the cage near her feet.
While Angela viewed herself as a more moral person than most of the other Megacorp personnel, her fears of what Experiment #13 would do if mass produced and sold on the open market had made her steal the experiment while in disguise. Granted, she had to admit that after getting burned by Fizzwidget, she could not resist sticking it to him, which, coupled with her desire to continue working as much as living after doing a good deed, led her to contacting Megacorp's Solana rival, Gadgetron. In exchange for blowing the whistle on Megacorp's unethical practices, Wendell Lumos had promised to help Angela establish a new life in the Solana Galaxy.
As she waited for the contact to show up, Angela had to avoid the native tribesmen, the hover-biking Desert Riders affiliated with Thugs-4-Less, and, her least favorite, the Gadgetron Hounds of Cuddly Death that her potential new employers had created for the same reason that Megacorp produced Experiment #13, but had devolved into hateful creatures after Barlow was abandoned. Comparing the artificial canines to the small, blue furball with an antenna and two feet in the nearby cage, Angela could not help but wonder if she was acting wisely at the time.
"Miss Cross," a robotic voice asked aloud.
"Whoa," Angela let out as she was startled by the newcomer and nearly dripped to the ground before she was caught in the arms of another fellow in purple armor.
"Uh, sorry about my pal, ma'am," the armored figure said in a way that Angela could not tell if he was embarrassed about the scare, or of how he caught her in his arms before helping the female Lombax back on her feet. Allowing Angela to stand to see both her tailed rescuer and his shorter robot, the guy in armor cleared his throat behind his helmet before saying, "I'm Ratchet, and I'm sure you just met Clank. We're from Gadgetron."
Adopting a professional yet satisfied look, Angela commented, "Good to see you showed up." She was just about to go into details when Clank interrupted in surprise.
"This is curious."
"Uh, what is," Ratchet asked his friend, just as unsure by his words as Angela was.
Seeing that he had both their attention, Clank answered, "Well, I scanned Ms. Cross, and while there are some obvious differences, she appears to be the same species as you, Ratchet."
"What," both felinoids let out in shock.
Angela, having not seen another Lombax since her own mother passed on, was about to deny Clank's words until she saw Ratchet take his helmet off to reveal his yellow-furred, green-eyed head that wore an aviator's cap. And right then, Angela could see that while there were some differences between herself and Ratchet, there was no denying that the latter was as much a Lombax as she was.
Shaking his head to clear the awed look on his face, Ratchet seemed to choose his words carefully as he said. "I know we still have a job to do right now, Ms. Cross, but maybe when you have the time, we can talk about our people and stuff? Truth be told, you're the first Lombax I've seen all my life," he then added with a slight grin, "and not a bad looking one either."
Her heart going out for Ratchet, Angela showed a broad smile towards him as she planted a kiss on his forehead and then said, "Call me Angela, Ratchet, but I don't mind talking with you about anything at all.
"Glad to hear it," Ratchet replied bashfully.
At the sight before him, Clank could not restrain a laugh.
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I had some ideas to make this a longer story, like making Ratchet a Gadgetron employee from the start of the series instead of what I depicted in this one-shot, but I decided to hold back so I could quickly get some stuff done among other things.