A/N: Here it is! Chapter two! As always, Rate, Review, and Enjoy.

Disclaimer:. IZ belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.

Chapter Two:Captain On Deck!

Kiv stepped onto the Ripper's bridge, and saw that all the crew were already at their stations.

"Captain on Deck!" A voice to her right announced.

Kiv looked over to see an Irken with crimson eyes saluting her. Looking back to her crew, she noticed them standing and saluting as well.

"At ease," Kiv replied, settling down into her Captain's seat.

"Captain. My name is First Mate Nix. I'll be helping you run the ship." The crimson-eyed Irken said, standing respectfully next to Kiv.

One-by-one, the rest of the bridge crew approached and introduced themselves to their Captain.

First, the two pilot navigators on board approached and saluted Kiv.

"I am navigator Vea." The green eyed female spoke.

"And I am navigator Aveo." The red eyed male said.

Kiv nodded and sent them back to their stations. Next was the sole communications navigator on board.

"I am communication navigator Ente." He said, saluting.

"You look...short,"Kiv said, looking slightly shocked, "I thought navigators were supposed to be..taller."

"It's some kind of defect within my growing cycle." Ente explained, "I used to be taller, but I started shrinking around my 50th year. I think it's stopped now."

"That's...interesting," Kiv replied, before sending him back to his station. Next was the weapons navigator/security officer.

"I am weapons navigator and security officer Gewehr." He said, his words stiff and respectful.

"It's nice to meet you.." Kiv replied, resisting the urge to add 'sir' to the end of her sentence.

"Glad that's out of the way." She said, sinking into her chair.

"Unfortunately not Captain,"Nix replied, there are still the other decks to contend with."

Kiv sighed, before getting up and following her First Mate to the lift. She arrived first at the 'recreational' level that contained all of the necessary living quarters and facilities needed to sustain a crew.

"Looks rather empty on this floor," Nix commented, "Looks like everyone's in the mess hall."

Kiv followed Nix out of the lift and to the room on the left.

"Welcome to the storage room, Captain," Nix said,"Quartermaster Sev should be here somewhere."

Kiv's eyes wandered around the large boxes and crates of foodstuffs."Will we really be gone that long?" She asked, "I thought Earth was only a few months away."

Nix looked over at Kiv "Remember Captain. It's a round trip." He replied, leading her out of the storage room,"Across from here is the medical bay."

The Sole Medical Irken standing in a small office glanced over as Kiv and Nix arrived in the room."Captain!" She announced, saluting," I am Medical officer Hyuna."

"This looks cramped,"Kiv idly commented, looking around.

"That's because Medics usually aren't needed on board ships," Hyuna replied," Our Paks can handle most injuries."

Nix led Kiv out of the medical bay, back into the lift. "Welcome to Main Engineering Captain." He announced as the lift arrived at the floor.

The lighting was dim here as the ship conserved power for the upper levels. Quite a lot of swearing and complaining was heard on this deck.

"Captain."

Kiv looked over to see a rather short Irken saluting her,"My name is Head Engineer Graft. Sorry I can't speak to you for long, but there are some matters that require my attention."

As the other Irken hurried away, the source of the complaining was revealed. "...stuck on this damn ship, As a damn janitor!, and all because of damn Zim!" Tak rounded the corner, carrying a mop, while Mimi carried a bucket of cleaning fluid, "I don't care what the Captain says, I'll kill Zim myself once we get to…" Tak froze as Kiv and Nix wandered into view.

"Back to your duties Janitor Tak," Nix said, passing by.

Kiv and Nix arrived at the cargo bay, which was currently swarming with Irken dockworkers. "As you can see Captain!"Nix shouted over the noise made by the many tasks that were going on,"The cargo bay isn't really big, but it can possibly fit all the crew of this ship. Anyway, I believe that's it for the major parts of the ship! Once our journey gets underway, you can greet the other crew."

As Kiv and Nix headed back to the bridge, the First Mate pulled out a data recorder." This is for when you need to record your logs,"He explained, "It's standard procedure in case something goes terribly wrong during the journey. Then the salvage ships will know what exactly happened."

"Thanks," Replied Kiv, taking the recorder. The two arrived in the bridge, where Kiv sat down in her seat. Activating her seat's communicator, she commed the Engineering level. "Are we ready to get underway?"She asked.

"Almost Captain," Graft replied,"My team just needs to get the main computer online."

Understood,"Kiv replied, cutting the transmission.

The entire ship started shaking.

"Computer online Captain," The head engineer commed, "The ship is ready."

"Set a course for Earth, Navigators." Kiv said."

"Understood Captain."

The ship's rumbling went quieter and fell silent as the it moved out into deep space.

"Ship," Kiv announced.

"Yes Captain Kiv?" The onboard computer responded.

"I will be on deck two. Inform me if anything changes. You have the bridge Nix."

"Understood Captain."

Kiv stepped into the lift, and sent it down to deck two. Upon arriving she found the corridor had more activity than usual.

She stepped surreptitiously through the crowd, not drawing much attention as she hadn't donned her uniform. She arrived at her private room that displaying the Irken military insignia on the door. Entering, she sat in front of her private terminal, plugged in a wire leading from it to her Pak, and started downloading information relating to Earth and its species. Kiv turned on the recorder that Nix had given her.

"Testing...testing." Activating the recorder, Kiv played back the message that she had said. Satisfied that the recorder had worked, she began speaking.

"Captain's Log. Stardate...2100 Irken Time. The mission is underway. Our orders..to kill Zim who has betrayed his kind multiple times. This crew feels much more different than I'm accustomed to. Even through command training, I have never had a crew that has caught me off guard like this one. They seem much more vibrant. More...alive. But on a more serious note, Janitor Tak has been known as a volatile Irken. I will keep a close eye on her, in case one of the crew provokes her. This is Captain Kiv. Signing off."

A/N: That's it for Chapter Two! Hope to see you in the next one!