//------------------------------//
// Tools: Kreeli Comet 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	Starlight, Ratchet, Angela, Clank, and Qwark sat around the table in the Hyperion, going over the various items Qwark was able to get his hands on before being discovered by Emperor Tachyon, which sill annoyed him because he had, according to what he told the others, used all of his stealth abilities to avoid being detected while he was gathering what information he could find. One of the items he had secured was a gadget known as a Holo-Pirate Disguise, which worked like the Tyhrraguise, though instead of questioning why that was useful they turned their attention to the second item. It turned out to be another small robot that contained information on its hard drive, though this time it contained a few bits of information that were related to something called the IRIS Supercomputer, which was apparently one of the smartest pieces of machinery in the entire galaxy... and that it was currently being held by Captain Slag of all people.

It didn't take them long to guess why Tachyon was interested in such a machine, because it would be able to tell him where the Dimensionator was located... and then he could do whatever he wanted with the terrifying weapon. This pretty much meant that they were going to have to figure out where the weapon was located and either retrieve it until it could be hidden again, or help guard it until they could figure out how to permanently stop Tachyon. Despite all of this news, and the fact that they were going to have to piss off Captain Slag again, Starlight remained silent as she stared out of the nearby window and looked at the planets they were passing.

"Is something bothering you Starlight?" Ratchet asked, though he had the feeling he knew exactly what was making his sister be silent at the moment, "Its about the fight, isn't it?"

"Ratchet, we killed Ysmir." Starlight replied, but even as she said the words she couldn't help but wonder by their opponent looked like the humanoid version of their sister, the one they had created so long ago, "We beat her in battle and then she shattered into a thousand pieces... and we never got to ask her any questions about who she was and where she learned all of those abilities."

"Then you should blame Emperor Tachyon for forcing us to fight in a kill or be killed type of battle," Qwark commented, causing Ratchet and the others to turn towards him for a moment, to which they discovered that he was cleaning the bow he had used earlier, despite the fact that it hadn't been damaged at all, "though we should be counting our blessings that Ysmir wasn't actually Sunset in disguise, given what she was able to do before coming to the arena. If we had been forced to fight Sunset... well, I don't have to say what would have happened."

Starlight shook her head, knowing that even if Ysmir had been Sunset in disguise, which was unlikely, then she wouldn't have gone all out against them like that. One of the things that she couldn't wrap her head around was the fact that when Ysmir was fighting it almost seemed like her style was a direct copy of Sunset's own style. The moment that thought came into her head, and refused to leave, Starlight opened one of the fights that Red had recorded for her and the others, almost as if he had known ahead of time that they were going to be fighting Ysmir at some point.

As she watched the fight once more, and had it set up so everyone else could see what she was doing, Starlight immediately noticed something that she hadn't noticed previously... to which she opened up the command terminal and downloaded all of Sunset's moves so she could compare the two fighters. After some tinkering she laid an image of Sunset over Ysmir and started the video from the beginning, to which they all watched as both of the fighters flowed in the same motion. Not once did either of them break from what the other was doing, leaving Starlight to wonder if someone had been watching her sister from the beginning of their journey, because there was no way that someone could mimic Sunset's moves without any flaws.

"Despite the fact that Ysmir is missing a sword, she seems to have copied Sunset's movements down perfectly," Angela commented, though she was somewhat disturbed by how accurate Ysmir was in the video, "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"If someone was watching Sunset the entire time, then we had best be on our guard," Ratchet said, to which Clank nodded his head, "its possible there might be people who have studied us as well, so we should be careful of any new strange enemies that we come across in the future... wouldn't want them to give us a nasty surprise."

Despite what Ratchet and Angela said, and what they didn't say, Starlight wasn't convinced that Ysmir had just been a fan of Sunset's style and had copied it, and Sunset's hair color, to the point where she looked their sister. There was something odd going on with the person they had just defeated... and unfortunately they couldn't ask her any questions about herself. Starlight sighed as she focused her mind on how they were going to get to the Supercomputer, though she suspected that it was going to involve fighting a lot of pirates.





When the Hyperion got near the location of the IRIS Supercomputer, the Kreeli Comet, Ratchet and the others received a rather unusual call, as the people who wanted to speak with them was none other than Captain Slag. Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds, wondering if they should accept the transmission or if they should ignore it, until Starlight touched the button with her hoof.

"Ahoy there, young scallywags!" the robot proclaimed, his face appearing on the screen as he stared at all of them, "I see that you are approaching the Kreeli Comet... no doubt in search of the IRIS, like so many before you. I'll tell you what; I'll let you use the Supercomputer if you do a little something for me."

"And what would that be?" Angela asked, knowing that striking a deal with a pirate was a bad idea, but she decided to keep her mouth shut as she listened to the pirate's request.

"Your stunt on Ardolis left a few of my soldiers questioning my every move," Captain Slag replied, his tone indicating that he wasn't pleased about the event, "the pirates that are stationed on the Kreeli Comet are the mutinous bunch that departed from my company shortly after our mutual friend Red returned from Sargasso. Before their departure they stole a good portion of my treasure, which I would like to have returned with haste... so my request is that you put down these mutinous dogs and secure the area. Once they are taken care of, and my treasure is secure, you will be given access to the IRIS Supercomputer... where you can ask it anything you want before you leave."

Starlight and the others shared a quick glance with each other, debating whether or not they should trust the pirate captain, before quickly returning their attention to the screen.

"You've got a deal," Starlight said, to which the others nodded their heads, indicating that the terms of the agreement were fair and that they would gladly help the captain out, as he actually hadn't done anything to them in the time they had known each other.

"Wonderful." Captain Slag stated, though he seemed to be happy that they were willing to help out, if the look on his face was anything to go by, "I shall be waiting for your transmission."

With that said the transmission between them and Captain Slag was cut off, to which the group continued their preparations while wondering what obstacles they would be facing on the comet. Starlight turned her attention back to the gadget that Qwark had gotten his hands on, because she had been able to modify it down into a symbol that could rest on someone's belt, just like the gadget she had invented back before Nefarious' invasion. Considering how big the actual gadget was, at least four times as big as it needed to be, she stripped it down and made four of them from the entire gadget, though she had tested them and was relieved to find that they still worked. Now all four of them would be able to infiltrate the pirate compound without being found out until it was too late for their enemies, which Starlight assumed was the original purpose for the device.

When they reached their destination they took the two smaller ships down to the comet's surface and landed near the point that Captain Slag had sent them, as he and his band had built the place and knew where the best entrance was. After they landed, and made sure that Aphelion knew to keep herself and the other ship safe while they were gone, the group approached the weapon vendor and replaced all the ammunition they had used against Ysmir, which was followed by Ratchet and Starlight picking up the next available weapon; the Pyro Blaster, the Polaris flamethrower weapon. They then walked forward and found four pirates standing guard in front of a door, one that had a pirate head on the front of it, to which they got the chance to test out their new weapon and burned the pirates to the ground.

With the pirates taken care of, and they were out of the sight of the doorkeeper, Starlight and the others tapped their new gadgets, to which an illusion washed over them. The device changed their normal bodies into the robotic version of themselves, while also adding a menacing look that gave them the appearance of being pirates, or more specifically pirates that belonged to the ones they were currently fighting against.

"Ahoy, me hearties!" the doorkeeper greeted as the four of them approached it, not even aware that they were using a gadget to fool it, "Dance the jig, and celebrate yer... er... piracy!"

As the group started to, as the door put it, 'dance the jig' they noticed that the doorkeeper conjured an image of a dancing robot that moved in the way they were, though when the projection moved to the right they were expected to do the same time. It didn't take them long to do the dance, without failing the first time, to which the door opened for them as the doorkeeper chuckled, where they found another group of pirates standing around and chatting with each other. All they had to do was wait for Starlight to levitate one of the pieces of scrap metal into the air and fire it at the explosives that the pirates were standing beside, blowing them up and opening the way for them to move forward.

As Ratchet attached his wrench to the bolt crank and moved them upwards, where they would be able to advance through the pirate fortress, they disengaged their disguises for the moment as they rode to the top of the ship they were on. They found six more enemies waiting for them at the top of where their elevator was headed, but they stood by explosives, like a group of morons, and Qwark was more than willing to eliminate them with an arrow to the explosive container. With the group taken care of Ratchet, Starlight, and Angela activated their boots and rode down the grind rail that was in front of them, though before any of them could question how Qwark was going to follow them the question was answered, because he happened to have his own pair of special boots as well.

When they reached the end of the rail they had to take out a pair of pirates that were standing in front of them, and the pair behind that pair, but the four of them were able to do so with some ease and came to another area that had four more pirates standing around a fire and a fifth one manning a turret. Qwark had them pause for a moment as he drew another arrow from his quiver, to which he aimed at the pirate standing by the turret and put his arrow in the head of his target.

"Nice shot Qwark!" Ratchet said, though for a moment he couldn't believe he had said that, which was followed by them declaring war on the rest of the pirates in front of them.

It didn't take them long to take out the remaining pirates, even though they received allies in the form of two normal pirates and one of the bigger electrified ones, so they were able to move on again. Starlight wrapped her magic around the four of them and levitated them all up onto the ship that was in front of them, using the back entrance that was available, where they opened fire on the pirates that were standing there. When the enemies had been taken care of they moved to the side, out of the doorkeeper's sight again, and reactivated their disguises, which was followed by them approaching the door and dancing the jig, as per the door's commands.

On the other side of the door they found a large number of explosive containers, which they blew up automatically, and a group of at least seven pirates walking around, who shouted at them the moment they discovered each other. Another one of the electric enemies showed up as the last of their foes fell, though Starlight used her magic to pin it to the wall so they could tear it to pieces. Starlight then levitated them across the walkway they could have walked on, but she decided to save a few seconds and get them closer to their destination. When they reached the front of the ship, however, they discovered a massive robot pirate, clad in some sort of armor with a gun that fired large explosives, that was blocking their path.

"Ahoy invaders!" the large robot declared, glaring at them for a few minutes, as if he was deciding who to attack first, "The name is Shamus McSoggeybridges, and I lead these pirates. I will cast you into the depths of the universe and plunder your ship of all its treasures!"

"Good luck with that," Starlight said, a grin appearing on her face for a moment, just as the same thing happened to the rest of the group, "You'll find that we're not easy to beat."

As it turned out the battle was extremely easy, as all Shamus did was stand where he was and fired his round explosives at them, which Starlight grabbed and threw back at him to damage his armor while Ratchet and Qwark fired at his chest and Angela cut into his leg armor from behind. After a minute of fighting part of Shamus' armor exploded, dropping pieces of raritanium, before the mutinous pirate captain fled to recover from his beating. They then advanced forward and picked up any necessary ammunition from the weapon vendor, though as they did so Qwark aimed at the two turrets that were waiting in the area they were going to have to pass through and took out the pirates that were manning them.

With the turrets taken care of they noticed more pirates, all armed with shields, coming their way, to which they opened fire as they slowly made their way down the walkway. As they moved forward Qwark also took out the other two turrets that he noticed before they could open fire on them, ensuring that they wouldn't be overpowered by the pirates. Eventually they came to a bolt crank that allowed them to lower a bridge that was blocking their path, where Angela, Qwark, and Starlight protected Ratchet while he turned the crank around. When the bridge was down, and their enemies were taken care of, they walked over it and entered another area with no pirates waiting for them, which meant that they were going to be ambushed.

That was followed by Shamus, his armor apparently reinforced in the small amount of time since the last time they had seen him, reappearing and destroying the bridge they would have used, though he simply hung on the ledge he was hanging from and fired at them... just like the last time they had fought each other. It was basically the same fight as before, only this time Angela had to switch to her guns because the enemy wasn't coming down and fighting them, and after a minute or two Shamus lost another piece of his armor, and the raritanium connected to it, before he retreated again.

It was then that the group discovered that the strange robots that Clank could see, and Starlight could also focus on if she used her magic to see them, had given Clank a laser that was capable of cutting into stone and earth like they were made of butter. With the ice wall taken care of, and the way open, they moved forward and fought the small group of pirates that were standing guard outside another camp area. After a few seconds of searching they found a tunnel that would no doubt take them closer to their destination, to which they fought the few pirates that were standing in the tunnel, though at the end they came to what appeared to be the ancient entrance of the IRIS Supercomputer, which was guarded by one last group of pirates.

It didn't take them long to get around the enemies that they discovered in front of their destination, though they had to activate their disguises once more to bypass another doorkeeper. Once they danced the jig, and the door was lowered, they took out the explosives that were in front of them and walked forward, to which they discovered that Shamus was waiting for them in front of the entrance to the IRIS Supercomputer... and that he was willing to fight them to the death. After another minute of the same routine that they had used earlier, to great effect, Shamus' armor exploded, though this time it appeared that he was dead for real.

They then walked into the area that would allow them to converse with the IRIS, where they found that it had to have been damaged during the time that Captain Slag had taken control over it... though there was a circular hatch that Clank could fit in to make the necessary repairs on the computer. Starlight, using the shrinking device they had picked up on their last adventure, slipped inside Clank's storage container as he moved into the inner workings of the IRIS, where they would get to work while Ratchet, Angela, and Qwark told Captain Slag that they had upheld their end of the bargain.

As they opened their communicators to call Captain Slag, and tell him the good news, Ratchet spotted the pirate in question walking towards them, along with the robot that called itself Rusty Pete.

"Those still loyal to me are already collecting my treasure," Captain Slag said, glaring at them with his eyes for a moment, indicating that he wanted nothing more to do with them once they had departed from the comet, "Ask the Supercomputer your questions and be out of here before one of my more idiotic followers tries something funny."

"First we have to repair IRIS to some state of functionality," the communicator said, to which Clank and Starlight appeared on the screen, "there appears to be some internal damage and pieces missing from their proper locations... Captain Slag, you wouldn't happen to know where the required pieces are, would you?"

"Look, IRIS was damaged when we found her," Captain Slag replied, though at the same time he snapped at one of his pirates, who ran off to go get something, "I'm not sure who was here before us, they never answered any of our attempts to communicate with them, but they were in the process of dismantling this machine. We were able to stop from from running off with all the parts, which would have made fixing IRIS impossible, but I'm not going to lie, I'm no genius like the people who made this machine. I never tried to put her back together, because I knew that I was only going to make it worse, but I did keep the parts nearby so someone else could do what we could not."

A minute or two later and the pirate that Captain Slag had sent away came running back with a large crate of parts, which caused Clank to come back out of the shaft he was in, allow Starlight to shrink the box down to a height that would allow them to get the parts inside the machine, and then return to his work. Once the box of parts had been delivered, and their work was done, Captain Slag and his pirates bid them farewell, intending to get away from the and never cross paths again. Ratchet, Angela, and Qwark stood in the main part of the Supercomputer, waiting to see if Clank and Starlight could turn it back on and help them figure out where the Dimensionator was located.

After some time, between thirty minutes to an hour, Clank returned from the shaft and Starlight enlarged herself after she jumped out of his chest, while at the same time the IRIS turned itself on and powered up.

"We were only able to fix her about halfway, so she's at fifty percent functionality," Starlight commented, sounding annoyed that she could have done more, but there was only so much she, Clank, and the Zoni, the special creatures Clank could see, could actually do with what was available to them at the moment, "If we find someone that had the time to repair her, and knew where to find everything needed, I'm sure she would reach one hundred percent in no time."

"Welcome Ratchet, Clank, Starlight, Angela, and Qwark," IRIS said as it fully activated, speaking with a voice that echoed all around them, "I have been expecting the five of you for a long time."

"What can you tell us about the Dimensionator?" Ratchet asked, because that was their main concern at the moment, as anything else they could ask was irrelevant at the moment.

"Dimensionator," IRIS replied, calling up the schematics, which appeared on the main screen for them all to see, "Created by the Lombax architects of Breegus Minor. Its creation marked the turning point of the Great War."

"Where is it now?" Angela asked, because she knew that if they had the exact location of the weapon they would be able to either defend it or secure it so it couldn't be used at all.

"The last prototype was hidden by explorer Max Apogee in Kerchu City," IRIS replied, though that piece of information informed them that they might bring Talwyn here to see if they could figure out where her father went... after they secured the powerful weapon.

"Before we go there the Zoni told Starlight and I that Talwyn had been captured," Clank mentioned, though he noticed that both Ratchet and Angela seemed annoyed, which was understandable considering that Talwyn was one of their friends and allies, "They said that she would die if we left her there."

"Then that is where we'll go next," Ratchet said, to which they all turned backwards and made their way outside the room they were in, though at the same time he had to wonder if IRIS could tell them where Sunset was located.

Ratchet only hoped that they would have the time to come back here and figure out all of the questions that he had about his sisters and where they came from, because all he had at the moment were questions and none of the answers. He suspected that, in time, he'd have all the answers, but for now he would have to settle for saving the Polaris Galaxy from Tachyon... and then they could focus on answering all the questions that they had.