On the way to Planet Jasindu, where the IRIS Supercomputer said the last prototype of the Dimensionator was located, Ratchet and the others spoke with Ace, Talwyn, and the two war bots about what they might have heard while they were in Zordoom Prison. At first Cronk had asked them why it was important for them to share that piece of information, but Zephyr had stopped him when he explained that the four of them were bound to know something about the Polaris Galaxy that they didn't already know. Once that bridge had been crossed Ace informed the group that he had heard about the mysterious Ysmir, who the other prisoners were hoping would come and save them at some point, but before anyone could tell them about the battle they had with the mysterious figure Ace said something else that stopped them.
"Ysmir, according to the inmates, was like a hero to the people of this galaxy," Ace said, to which he shuddered as he reached into his robe and pulled out a chip, one that he handed over to Starlight, who studied it for a few seconds before inserting it into the table they were sitting at, "but where there is a hero, there is always a villain waiting to make their move. The other inmates mentioned that this particular villain only stayed on one planet, plotting her eventual escape, but even though she's been stuck on this one particular planet she's made a name for herself already."
As Ace spoke an image appeared in the middle of the table, thanks to the special projector that Starlight and Angela had created so long ago, though what appeared in front of them all was some sort of shadowy creature that was covered by a robe made of pure darkness. Starlight had read some of the Old Earth myths that were associated with ghost like creatures that were known as wraiths, though she was surprised to find that this one was wearing a robe over its body, reminding her of Ysmir for a moment. As the image became more focused they all noticed that the creature was wearing a pair of spiked gauntlets on its hands, gauntlets that were tarnished by the shadows, while wearing some sort of tarnished silver crown that curved from the forehead and reached down towards the sides of the face. At the top of the crown rested a circle of spikes, eight set in a perfect circle, with a blood red stone set in the middle of the forehead, set between the crown itself and the head spike.
Starlight, despite knowing that it was only an image that was sitting in front of them, couldn't help but feel some sort of fear touch her as she stared at the unusual wraith... while noticing that there were dark purple strands coming from where the creature's eyes were supposed to be located.
"The inmates call her the Witch-Queen of Reepor," Ace continued, adverting his eyes from the image, leading everyone else to do the same thing until Starlight decided to just turn the image off, "though the wardens of the prison called her a number of other names; Fear, the Unspeakable Evil, and Hatred among other things."
"Why Hatred and Fear?" Angela asked, though when she glanced over at Ratchet and Starlight she found that they were thinking the same thing, they were worried that someone was mimicking another aspect of Sunset, as Ysmir might have been the humanoid form they had created for Sunset so long ago.
"Because she has an unnatural ability to induce someone's fear just by looking at them," Ace replied, though he held up a hand to stop them from asking more questions, "Listen, I only wanted you to be aware of her existence in case we ever ended up on Reepor, because both the inmates and the wardens both agree that such a creature shouldn't be allowed to leave that planet. They're afraid that something horrible will happen if she manages to leave the planet and meddle with the other planets... or the other galaxies for that matter."
Starlight remained silent for a time, remembering what she had read about Dark Magic and recalling the moment she had briefly given into the darkness when Qwark had betrayed them the first time. She had never touched the darkness again, not when she had seen how it had twisted Sunset when Searing had taken over, but she could tell, from just a glance at the wraith, that there was some sort of foul magic at work. The wraith had to be magical in nature, because there was no way such a creature should be able to exist and wear a flowing robe made of darkness at the same time without something happening.
Starlight couldn't shake the feeling that they were going to be fighting that wraith at some point in the future, because they had been introduced to Ysmir before fighting her in combat, so as far as she was concerned the same thing could happen here... though she only prayed that she was wrong.
When the Hyperion entered the space above Planet Jasindu, and came to a stop, the group was surprised to find at least three ships waiting above the planet's surface; two belonging to the Space Pirates they had several encounters with, while the remaining one looked like one of Tachyon's ships. As they into their ships, all three of them at this point, and made their way down to the planet's surface they discovered that there were more than just three ships, as there were literally pieces of at least another five scattered everywhere. Even the three they had spotted looked like they had recently been in a battle, because there were holes scattered everywhere and pieces of the ships just floating nearby.
The scene only got worse when they spotted at least three dozen smaller pirates ships crashed all around the city they were supposed to be landing near... along with one of Tachyon's cruiser ships.
"What in the name of the Stars happened here?" Starlight asked, looking at all of the destruction that had been caused to the planet, because while they landed it was easy to see that much of the surrounding forest was either still burning or had trees broken down.
Ratchet, knowing that Starlight had taken to privately saying her new phrase whenever she was alone, decided that now wasn't the best time to wonder about what she said, because the scene in front of them was a mess. Besides the ships that were scattered everywhere, while not even mentioning the trees and the fires, there was also quite the number of bodies scattered everywhere. As they landed Ratchet could see the bodies of Tachyon's forces, body parts that belonged to the robotic pirates, and even the native Kerchu that called the planet home... as if they had some massive war between the three forces.
"War is what happened here," a voice said, just as everyone else climbed out of their ships and noticed Red standing nearby, though there were a few cuts on his arms and legs that had dried up blood under his clothing, but he waited till Blue landed on his shoulder before continuing, "One of Captain Slag's underlings overheard that this was where the Dimensionator was supposed to resting and sold the information to Tachyon, who ordered quite a number of his forces to come here and claim it for him. The newest splinter group of the pirates came to help their new partner claim what wasn't his, then Captain Slag entered the picture and they all started firing at each other. I got caught in the crossfire, trying to save some of the friendly Kerchu that lived here, but as you can see my opponents were not very friendly towards me at all."
"Is there anything we can do for you?" Angela asked, because despite the fact that she disliked smugglers, this particular one had done nothing to wrong her and had actually helped her new family in their adventure to save this galaxy... and potentially the entire universe.
"No, time will heal my wounds for me," Red replied, though he waved his hand towards the city that was in front of them, "but you can help me make sure that no one got their hands on the Dimensionator... because I don't need to tell you the consequences of someone getting their hands on that weapon."
The entire group, Qwark included, nodded their heads and approached the weapon vendor, where Ratchet and Starlight picked up the Razor Claws weapon that was available before they advanced along the path that would take them to the city. They moved through the area, taking in the sight of the native critters that had been caught in the crossfire, killed by either Tachyon's forces or the pirates themselves, as well as the forces that had been fighting each other. Bodies were scattered everywhere, bolts and pieces laying here and there, though the oddest part was that none of the bodies were even breathing at all, indicating that the battle must have happened since they left the IRIS.
They eventually came to a pirate dropship that was blocking their way, to which Angela and Ace pulled out their lightsabers and carved a wave through the ship so they could get to the other side. A few seconds later they passed through a bunker like area that was partly destroyed, if the fallen ship to the right of it was any indicator, but the number of broken bodies worried them all. They were all surprised to find an intact pirate vessel, one that they all climbed onto before Clank hacked into the system and got them started on the predetermined path that had been programmed into the small ship.
It was then that they got their first glimpse of the city from their level, to which they discovered that pieces of the exterior were now lying on the ground or resting on the exterior wall that had several holes in it... as well as blocking their path, just like the ship. As Ace and Angela continued to cut through the thickest of materials, Starlight levitated several others out of their way as everyone else kept their weapons at the ready. They all agreed that it was unlikely that they might find anyone that survived the attack on the city, but that didn't mean that they were going to say that everyone was dead already. There was still a chance that someone was alive and well, despite being injured during the assault, which was why they were keeping their eyes open for signs of life.
"I knew many of these Kerchu," Red commented, staring at the bodies of the armored natives as his partner remained silent, "I helped trade with them, smuggled them things that they couldn't get on their own, and even helped them nurse the sick whenever something happened to them. It... it pains me to see them like this... all for a weapon that shouldn't exist."
"Don't worry, we'll take the weapon and... do... something to it," Qwark said, though he wasn't sure what that something was, as no one had actually told him what the plan was once they had their hands on the Dimensionator.
They entered the building that was in front of them, where Starlight levitated the more hazardous pieces outside before telling the others that the way was clear, allowing them to walk up to an elevator that took them down to an area where they would normally need to use the Swingshot to get across. Starlight created a walkway for all of them to use, allowing them to approach the middle of an area that appeared to be a cross between a work area and an arena... where they found the pieces of a large fighting robot that was surrounded by two of Tachyon's ships.
In the middle of the platform was a stand that was currently empty... and Captain Slag as laying next to it, though he appeared to be wounded from his battle with his enemies.
"Captain Slag?!" Starlight called out, stirring the sleeping robot from his slumber, which had no doubt been triggered to keep himself stable until aid came to him, "What happened to you?"
"A glorious battle against someone more evil than I," Captain Slag replied, letting out a coughing fit as he responded, while making no effort to pick himself up, "Don't worry... old Tachyon didn't get his hands on the Dimesnionator. I tasked Rusty Pete to take the weapon back to our base in the Ublik Passage, but I know that our enemy has no doubt tracked him back to our hidden base. I was able to take many of my enemy's soldiers down before they got a lucky hit..."
"Your dying, aren't you?" Red asked, dropping to one knee as he looked at the pirate captain, and the second jagged scar that ran parallel to his other scar, only this one seemed much deeper than the first one.
"Aye," Captain Slag answered, dropping into another fit of coughing, before beckoning to Starlight with his hooked hand for a few seconds, "Lass... take me hat... take me crew... and give Tachyon one for old Slag."
"I... I will," Starlight said, surprised that the dying captain would allow her to take the reigns of what remained of his forces, but she didn't say much as she levitated the hat from Slag's head.
"Good... luck..." Slag started to say, but the strain of keeping his body together seemed to fade as the power that was keeping him alive faded, allowing his body to go still, much to everyone's sorrow.
Starlight stared at the hat for a moment, allowing herself to forget what was happening around her, before she noticed that there were coordinates inside the interior of the headpiece... specifically for the Ublik Passage. She knew that Tachyon didn't have the Dimensionator, yet anyway, but if she believed what the dead captain had told her then they would soon be under attack by their enemy. A few seconds later she slipped the hat on her head and surrounded the others with her magic, teleporting all of them back to their smaller ships... with a look of shock on their faces.
"Starlight, what's going on?" Ratchet asked, because his sister usually didn't use a mass teleportation spell, without warning anyway, without telling anyone that she was about to use the magic.
"We're going to stop Tachyon from getting his hands on the Dimensionator," Starlight stated, climbing into the ship as everyone did the same thing with the other ships, where Red and his parrot climbed in with Angela, "even if it means blowing him, and his starship, to pieces."
"Then we'll set course for the Ublik Passage and cut him off," Angela commented, while she and everyone else returned to the Hyperion, where they would jump to their next destination, "Hopefully the pirates will listen to us when we arrive."
Starlight hoped that the pirates would listen when they told them that their leader had been cut down by Tachyon's forces... and that the Dimensionator was safe from their enemy's hands. She remembered the wraith that they had been told about, to which she hoped that it was a story and nothing more, otherwise she had the feeling that something horrible was going to happen when they reached their destination.