FULL INTRO:

Sequel to The Breeding Project.

Maroon was the star pupil of the Academy, only offspring to the Tallest and the most loved and famous of all Irkens. Lilith was believed to be an orphan, a hybrid between the most infamous Irken, Zim, and an alien species, yet she was adopted by the Tallest and had skills and talents yet to be tested. He wanted to stay in the limelight and she wanted to prove herself, to find a place to belong knowing that she had none.

Meanwhile, the Resisty grows stronger and builds a force to be reckoned with both in technology and recruitment. The newest and most successful Captain in the Resisty's army wields his assigned ship "The Rancor" against Irken forces with frighteningly victorious results.

Rumors and whispers reach the rival Irkens on Irk and they decide that this is the perfect opportunity to finally prove who is the superior soldier.

Holy Heck! I forgot I hadn't posted this here. I started the sequel, yay! I'm also on AO3 as well if you want to read it over there!

The sirens of the ship were loud and obnoxious and only added to the mounting stress. Steam hissed from the walls and Zim distantly heard parts of the ship exploding. It was happening too fast! There must have been some built up pressure somewhere that enhanced the explosions his bombs were creating. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, but Zim had been delayed in sending out the signal.

The pathway from Voot had been blocked due to an early explosion and Dib hadn't responded to his calls. Zim had just finished altering the ship's internal memory and uploading some false data. He was supposed to head back to the bridge to meet Dib and send out the signal, but there was no response from the human once Zim reported that his part was completed.

The silence worried him and forced him to abandon their plan and head to where his human was supposed to be. Best case scenario he would meet Dib along the way and he could yell at him for not responding, worst case… Zim didn't want to think about the worse case.

He found the hall Dib was supposed to take completely blocked and clearing a path had taken too much time. He had to be very careful removing the debris… just in case. Unfortunately, his fears were justified when he removed a section of rubble and found his mate unconscious and bleeding.

The scene shocked Zim, his brainmeats were unable to come to terms with what he was seeing. He was thankful that Dib was unconscious, the pain would have been excruciating to the human. Another distant explosion spurred Zim into action. Quickly he assessed the situation. Luckily, the rod sticking through Dib's side wasn't that large and it was easily cut with Zim's PAK laser. He left the metal chunk in his body, knowing that he wouldn't have time to stop the blood flow properly if he removed it. The arm though… there wasn't much he could do about that. The debris that fell on it had completely destroyed it.

Gritting his teeth and thankful once again that Dib was unconscious, Zim used his PAK laser to sever the arm and simultaneously cauterize the wound. Scooping up his broken human Zim ran down the hall to the bridge. The only solace Zim took was that he had received word earlier from Dib that the Voot had been sent out. So he knew that Lilith had made it out safely. After reaching the bridge, Zim carefully set him down and immediately sent out the signal to their allies. His antennae went ramrod straight as he waited longer than he should have for a response. Gir crawled out from under the navigator's chair holding a stuffed piggy.

"Mary looks extra pointy," Gir said going over the unconscious human and poking to the metal sticking out from his side.

"Quiet!" Zim snapped. "Don't touch him!" he turned back to listen and luckily Gir obeyed this time choosing to sit next to Dib and play with his piggy instead.

"...on... had trouble… asteroid…. Irken scouts…" the choppy staticy voice said over the very secure and secret communication line. "... five minutes to... Point."

"Zim doesn't have five minutes!" Zim shouted back.

"...as fast...can…"

Zim hissed with frustration and tugged on his antennae. Looking back at Dib he grew even more impatient as blood began to pool under him. He grabbed the helmet that they had placed here in preparation and carefully slid it onto Dib's head and activated the spacesuit that encompassed the human's body in an invisible suit. This would allow the human to breathe in space for a short time, but the suit wasn't made for spending an extended amount of time in space.

They would have all escaped in the Voot, as cramped as it was, but then there would have been record of an escape pod. Someone had to stay behind after launching it to erase any data of its existence. Also the secure line to send out the signal could only be accessed from the bridge and erasing the data and then running to send out the signal would take too long. As furious as he was at their contact being late, if they weren't then he would have missed the rendezvous point since it had taken more time to go back and save Dib.

However, each extra second that ticked by sent the Voot further and further away. It was vital that they remained on schedule.

"...here…"

"Gir!" Zim said and pointed to his PAK. Gir let out a happy squeal and latched on. Zim didn't wait any further and scooping up Dib, he turned to shield the human with his body and activated the last bomb in the bridge. The blast blew out the front of their ship and they were sucked out into space. Zim felt his body take damage even through the protective suit, but a quick glance told him that his human wasn't affected much more.

"Gir! Get us to the rendezvous point now!" he commanded.

"Okie dokie!" Gir said and activated the jets in his feet to propel them away from the ship.

However, the timing was off and he wasn't fast enough as the heat and force from their ship exploding sent them spirling forward. Zim curled his body around Dib's to shield him as best he could. Debris rocketed past them while Gir screamed in excitement. Zim cursed and thought they were done for when he felt a tractor beam lock onto them and quickly pull them into their rescue ship. As soon as the airlock closed behind them, the door into the ship opened and a young Vortian stepped out.

Gir jumped off Zim's PAK and ran under the Vortian's legs and into the ship screaming that his piggy needed a bath.

The Vortian almost tripped over Gir and frowned as the robot ran into his ship, but ultimately decided to deal with him later. "You're lucky I was able to catch you guys-" he cut himself off and gasped when he saw the state Dib was in. "What the Vort happened to Dib?" he said rushing over and pulling a scanner off his belt to wave it over the human. He swore more in his own language as he reviewed the data. "He's in a critical condition. We need to get him back to the Freedom. I don't have the tools here to handle this kind of damage."

"But the Voot!" Zim shouted.

The Vortian shook his head sadly, his face was full of sympathy. "I saw the blast send it out further than anticipated. It will take longer to chase after it, especially since there is no way to track it. If we go after the Voot, we won't make it back to the Freedom in time," he said looking down hopelessly at the human. "I'm sorry, Zim," he said his expression full of remorse and pity. "But you have to make a choice."

Zim felt his insides clench, like his body was caving in on itself. A horrible gut wrenching sound escaped from his lips as he leaned over, cradling Dib in his arms. For the first time in his long life he cried. His despair became a physical pain tearing his spooch apart. His decision would destroy everything. It hurt! It hurt so much, but he wasn't human and to him there was only one choice. Knowing what it would do. Knowing that it would destroy everything between them, Zim held his mate tighter. That horrible sound escaped from his mouth again as the tears continued to fall, but his voice was clear when he spoke.

"Take us to the Freedom."

Also to have things make more sense timeline wise: the beginning of this takes place 3 years after the end of the Breeding Project's last chapter. So in Earth years (natural born Smeets age similar to humans until they reach maturity then their age dramatically slows) Maroon is currently 17 and Lilith is 14 at this point. Lilith was born roughly 3 years after Maroon.