The Zarkov Sector is a largely abandoned sector at the edge of the Polaris Galaxy, located close to the Cerullean Sector. It was located in "dark space."
Twenty years before the events of Into the Nexus, the entire sector was given an Alpha-9 classification by the Polaris galactic president, declaring it haunted and evacuated all citizens to neighbouring sectors.
History[]
Before Ratchet & Clank[]
Meero City's orphanage — the childhood home of Vendra and Neftin Prog.
The tear in space-time caused by the Fongoids' misuse of time travel eons ago had left residue of spacial damage, and thinned the walls between dimensions around the Zarkov Sector of Polaris. On planet Yerek in this sector, two young denizens from a dimension known as the Netherverse were sent through one of these small spacial rifts by their parents and grew up at the local Meero City orphanage. The two Nether twins; Vendra Prog and Neftin Prog had an unhappy childhood, but found solace and kinship with a creature which spoke to them through rifts in the planets caves. Vendra named the creature Mr. Eye and sought a way to help him and the other Nethers cross over into this dimension by engaging in years of strenuous study pertaining to quantum mechanics and transdimensional tunneling.
A map of the Zarkov Sector, highlighting planet Yerek
Twenty years before the events of Into the Nexus, the Progs put their plans in motion. To further erode the walls between their dimensions, Vendra constructed rift beacons of her own design to amplify the spacial anomalies in the Zarkov Sector, causing the ethereal forms of the Nethers to become visible to all. A sector-wide evacuation was put into effect by the Free Polaris Galactic President of the time, and the entire sector became classified as haunted. With the sector now abandoned, Vendra and Neftin had free rein to conduct their transdimensional experiments. To help Vendra in her objective, the Nether Leader imbued her with unnatural powers and abilities — almost akin to magic, leading many to fearfully regard her as a space witch. The two became known as an infamous crime team and committed numerous felonies across the galaxy needed to further their plans.
Before the Nexus[]
When it became evident that the twins would need help to break the barriers between their dimension with that of the Netherverse, they decided they would employ Pollyx to help bring about their dream. For this to happen, they hired Thugs-4-Less, who began to set up shop in the Zarkov Sector to aid their new employers, and even built a battle arena, Destructapalooza, on planet Kragg. After Neftin and Vendra had formed a large enough force of Thugs-4-Less goons and warbots, they attacked Pollyx Industries on planet Terachnos and kidnapped Pollyx, but not before Ratchet and Clank arrested Vendra. Neftin however escaped, and planned her rescue over a six month period while Pollyx worked from planet Yerek on several devices, including a crude model of a Lombax Dimensionator.
Into the Nexus[]
After the destruction of the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship in the Cerullean Sector and the deaths of Cronk and Zephyr at the hands of the Prog twins with help from Thugs-4-Less, Ratchet and Clank secretly stowed aboard a Thug ship and were brought to Yerek. Ratchet and Clank were determined to get revenge for their friends and pursued the Progs throughout Zarkov to bring them to justice.