A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the delay. Lost track of time for awhile and it's taken a solid week and a half of work to get this done. This is a very large chapter. 25,000 words. Couldn't find a good place to break it up and is centered mostly around Tak.
Was very distracted with building my crew on an MMO and teaching them to operate as a single unit rather than a bunch of uncoordinated individuals. But I find it a bit interesting that just as in this story they are nearing a point of potentially building a defense force for earth, and here I am building one online. Have about ten new players so far. Gives me new appreciation of the job Zim, Gaz, Dib and Tak have ahead of them. It's a lot of hard work and takes a lot of time. Well, I am very ADD, my readers. Laser-like focus, but only in one direction and not regulated.
This chapter goes into some matters regarding biology. Actually this chapter revolves around it. No, it is not a lemon. While not really more than what one would learn in health class, it is way outside my comfort zone of writing. Yes, I admit I am a very prudish person. I needed a reason to get Dib back to Earth and couldn't come up with other options. I spent nearly a week trying until I came up with this.
General Tak's codename within the SEN is Ninja Spirit. Gaz's would eventually be Dark Fury. Will take suggestions on what Zim's should be. Gir and Mimi won't need any.
Thanks as usual to all my reviewers and PM'ers: 8th Demention (I hope my instructions helped you out in posting your own fanfics), Zerg170 (who has reviewed from the very beginning. Much appreciated!) memmek10k (who had been around for quite some time as well), Catgirlfireflare, Kazehana23 (who has PM'ed back and forth an a few occasions. Always good to consult with you), crazyanimefreak15, RocketMan131, cold blue and .5.
coldblue: Thanks for your lengthy review and your willingness to help. No it does not annoy me, and I think I finally found a place to put Mini into the story. I read what happened to her while researching on Wiki, and had to go back and watch the Tak episode again because it's very easy to miss. But that is what happened. Mimi will have a very minor role, but she is back. As for a fight with the Irken Military, that has been done by many writers and I like being unconventional. This story was always going to go in a direction that is… different. I hope you will like the end of phase three in the upcoming chapter and phase four: Recovery. We are not quite there yet, but getting close. Glad you liked the idea of turning the moon into a black hole cannon. It's so insane I could just picture Zim wanting to do that and how badly things would go wrong if he did. Actually that would make a cool episode. But everything will remain covert, which is incredibly easy since the majority of humans in IZ are so unobservant. One thing I would like to point out is that there isn't any Earth Empire. It is too small, isolated, technologically undeveloped, dumb, ect. Zim and Gaz are rulers in name only to keep Zim in exile, but they are assigned to be more like secret and unseen guardians. Sort of like how MIB is covert and unaffiliated with any Earth politics, and operates so that the rest of Earth remains undisturbed. And since no one wants Earth, talk about a cushy job. But I agree that in a few decades Earth would be a nasty hornet's nest to stick one's nose into. But that is beyond the scope of this story. However, your review caused me to think about what happened to Skooge (I am ADD). He's been gotten rid of on multiple occasions and was the conqueror of Blorch. I could see him as 'Governor' of Blorch, now a parking structure planet, much like Zim is 'Governor' of Earth. Valet parking anyone? Who knows? I may even work that in to the story later.
Tuesday Morning, approximately 3:30am Earth Time - Irken Time: not so early.
Tak was running. It was exhilarating, finally able to run after so many years. She ran laps around the maintenance bay which was growing more and more crowded with cargo containers waiting to be stowed away everyday. Her powered armor whined as servos rotated and joints bent. Her foot cast was off, but she was still only half her weight and had lost a great deal of muscle mass during her starvation diet on Dirt. Granted, the armor was doing most of the work right now. But her own muscles were getting something out of it. And using powered infantry armor was doing something more important for her in using it for physical therapy. Retraining her muscle memory. She knew she had lost a great deal during her time on Dirt. It wasn't just the crippled foot. The savage diet and missing Irken nutrients hadn't done wonders for her stamina levels or physical health. That didn't even include the effects of existing with a broken soul that knew she was never leaving that place of pure muck.
She jumped over a stack of boxes, flipping over in a mid-air somersault. Then landed flat on her faceplate and skidded several feet before halting on the deck. She quickly picked herself up and looked around. There was still no one around. Their escorts Yat and Flom had been reassigned to other duties the previous day as it was clear that Dib and Tak could be trusted not to hijack the ship or do something crazy. Plus she was the commanding General of Earth's system defense forces (even if they didn't exist yet) and Doomwind was marginally part of that. There was no deliveries for several more hours and the rest of the crew was off doing other things.
Tak grumbled as she set off again at a slow run, thankful that no one had seen that and annoyed that she could be clumsy now. But the Irken sighed as she thought of what her bondmate Dib would say. You're pushing yourself too far again. Be patient. She didn't want to be patient.
Or was it that she had forgotten how to be patient? In order to stay sane, she had been going through the motions of hopelessly staying alive while waiting for the end to come back on Dirt. That wasn't patience. That was surrender.
She growled at herself at these useless thoughts as she turned a corner. What is wrong with me? she asked herself. But she knew. Dib had been right. A part of her was still back on Dirt.
Tak was angry with herself at this. She ran a little faster. I'm not on Dirt. My life isn't over anymore. I have a bondmate. I am a General now. She jumped over a crate and kept running. Another small stack of crates came up. She planted her gauntlet covered hands on the top container and vaulted over them. Her fingers slipped and threw off her balance. Tak skidded along the deck again on her armored rear as she let out a primal screech of rage.
She remained seated on the deck for several moments to collect herself. Purple eyes closed and she took in several deep breaths. I shouldn't keep doing this, she told herself. I know I'm not ready for that. Why do I keep trying? I was only going to run in a circle for a while. Why do I keep trying to perform like this is a combat obstacle course?"
Tak stood up and headed back to the long and narrow compartment that was being used as an infantry equipment locker. She sat on a crate, powered down the light armor suit and pulled off the helmet and gauntlets. As the suit was put away, she pondered what she had been doing. Attempting basic and even more advanced maneuvers over obstacles while running. Ones she had learned in her first days of combat training.
Tak hissed at herself. It was stupid. She should be happy that she no longer walked with that horrid limp. That she could go on a slow run for a short distance unaided. Using the powered armor for physical therapy was a good idea, yet she was trying to do too much. She had no business hurdling obstacles at this point. What am I trying to prove?
The Irken had caught herself in this cycle several times in the past few days. Why do I do this? She asked herself as she disconnected the legs from the torso and extracted her lower limbs. I know better. I tell myself I won't push too hard, but then I try to go beyond what I should. Beyond what I can right now. Why am I-
trying to show I can be Elite? Tak finished her question. Part of her mind was still back on Dirt, but another part was further back as well. Still trying to prove that she could be elite. She thought back to her earlier inner remark. Of having a bondmate. Being a General. I had it backward for a moment, she thought. I have the position of General, but I am a bondmate. That is who I am now.
The Irken squirmed her way out of the torso on the floor like a worm, glad no one was around. I am even skimping on my PAK maintenance. I am supposed to be getting six hours a night at a minimum, not two.
Dib hadn't caught on since humans slept for at least eight hours each night. She had spent most of the time enjoying just being in her sleeping bondmate's arms. Except when he started grunting in his sleep. Then she got up to accomplish something. The faint odor he emitted at such times wasn't unpleasant. Just strange, and that muffled grunting sound was rather annoying to have directed into one's antennae. Humans, even a bondmate, were just weird.
Tak put her armor back in its assigned locker and smoothed out her gray fatigues. She was glad that the Irken uniforms had been changed. Her mental associations were still skewed, needing to withdraw from what was Irken rather than alien like she was supposed to. It would be for the rest of her life. So it was good to wear something that reflected her work and yet did not scream Irken. Tak shook her head. It was starting to get confusing. Wanting to go forward, forget the past and yet bits and pieces of her mind stuck back there. She left the compartment to go find her Dib. His latest attempt at teaching the other Irkens about Earth should be almost over by now.
"No," Dib told his class of fifteen smallest Irkens. He did not know how this topic got started. But this sort of thing seemed to happen often. Perhaps this time it had something to do with the peach fuzz on his face. He hadn't brought a razor for shaving, another thing he had forgotten in his rush to rescue Tak. "A milk mustache is not really a type of mustache that humans grow. It comes from having cow's milk sloshing up over your upper lip when you drink it and forming a film there when you put the glass down."
There were several sounds from the class indicating disgust. One of them stood up to ask a question. "Why would humans wish to steal and ingest an animal female's produced nourishment for its young? Is there a shortage of human females to milk for your nourishment? From what you have previously said about Earth population, this does not seem likely."
Dib brought his hand up to his mouth and shook his head. It amazed him how such naively asked questions could be so wrong. And these classes seemed to specialize in that department. He was thankful at that moment none of them had heard of breast pumps for new mothers. He was very thankful that no one had asked where milk actually came from. Yet.
"Which part of the female does this 'milk' come from? And how does one extract it? Is that why lines to female public bathrooms are so long? Is that where human milking takes place?"
Oh God, Dib thought as he covered his face with his palm.
The door to the compartment opened and Tak stepped through. Dib saw the look on her face and was torn between concern for her and thankful that her distress was perfect timing.
"That will be all for today," Dib told the class as he made his way to Tak and took her by the arm.
The door closed behind them as they made their way to their quarters. Dib put a hand on her shoulder as they walked along the corridor. They didn't say anything. It was a short walk and Tak wasn't going to open up in public when she was troubled in this way.
They walked into their quarters and doors closed behind them. Tak stepped into the shower. Dib let out a sigh as he looked at the floor, trying to give her a moment of privacy. Tak had no understanding why this was necessary for him or why this made him uncomfortable. He was just bathing her. Granted, this activity was accelerating. Especially after her painful debriefing with Agent Darkbootie yesterday morning.
The SEN agent hadn't been forceful or nasty with his questions. He was rather patient and benign in his verbal probing. In fact he hadn't asked about many things she had been expecting, such as about the Irken military, technology, codes, training methods and so on. His questions had been about her. Her life as a smeet, her ill-fated visit to Earth and after. Those had brought up many bad memories and Dib had stepped in, telling Agent Darkbootie to give them an hour. She had to be bathed four times in three hours that day. After that Darkbootie made easier inquiries. About her bond with Dib. How he was treating her.
Tak brought herself back to the present with a shake of the head. Perhaps that was why she seemed so fragmented today.
"Dib?" she asked.
"Yes?" he responded as his hands began to apply the cleansing gel to her skin and began to rub.
Tak relaxed into his touch. The tensions within her mind melted away. She closed her eyes and began to purr. The Irken kept this up for several seconds. "I think I'm becoming addicted to this," she said. It was a semi-logical guess. It made sense as the frequency of how much she needed this correlated with the amount of stressful situations she was required to endure. Then she noticed Dib's fingers had gone still.
She opened her eyes. Dib was staring at her with wide eyes. His hands withdrew from her.
"Dib? What is wrong?"
Those five fingered hands went back to work. "Nothing," the human said.
Tak looked at her bondmate closely. He was withholding something from her. She took his hand in her own. "Dib, open up to me."
Something about this seemed to make Dib more edgy. "I can't. Not like this," he said, gesturing to her.
Tak eyed her human. When he got to rubbing cleansing gel on her chest and belly the tension he was trying to hide increased. She looked down to her Irken body. Tak had put on some weight, but it had only been half of a week. Her ribs still protruded grotesquely underneath her green skin, and her arms and legs did not look much better. Even if there was some improvement, it still looked bad.
"This disturbs you," Tak commented. "I know I look terrible. Ugly even. To touch me when I'm so-"
"Tak," Dib interrupted as he began wiping the Irken down with a towel. "Stop that. It's not you. You are not ugly so stop talking like that." He turned away and handed her the fatigues she had been wearing. The human went on in a softer voice. "Tak, doing this for you, which I want to do to help you, is effecting me."
"I don't understand what your problem is, or why you are behaving like we need a wall between us at these times. You are my bondmate. Irken bondmates have no need for privacy between them. We are bonded."
Dib looked back at the Irken. Tak was dressed once more. He reached out to her and took her three fingered hand into his own five fingers. "Tak. It's a human thing. There isn't anything about this human aspect in your culture. I don't even know if you are even capable of such things and, and… gosh, Tak. I can't even talk about it. I don't know how." He took a deep breath. "Tak, I'm starting to have dreams about this."
Tak of course was not satisfied. "Dreaming? What could be so difficult about your human dream? It sounds like all you dream about in your sleep cycle is exercise. And how you manage to drool into your own lap while laying on your back is beyond me. I'm right there with you, so I know you don't sit up in your sleep."
Dib's face went white then immediately changed to the deepest of reds. "I… I…" he sputtered. "Because I'm starting to… I mean I… it's getting hard to stay detached when I… when we…" He finally gave up. "Tak, I'm just trying to do right by you. But I don't know much about this sort of thing. Not in real life. Please, Tak. Just let this drop for now."
Her bondmate left their quarters. Tak was very not satisfied with how this went and naturally she was not going to 'let this drop.' She had been intending to get some PAK maintenance after her sponge bath. Instead she sat in front of the room's computer interface and requested a communications channel to Earth. She really didn't want to talk to Zim about whatever this was. It was unlikely he had any more insight into what was going on than she did. Gaz might, but she would be asleep back on Earth and would soon be too busy getting ready for skool. Tak wanted answers NOW. She accessed the protocols Dib had stored within Tak's ship. A few minutes went by before the display updated. Connecting…
Another few minutes went by. A shadowed figure appeared on the display. The shape groaned and a few joints popped. "Hello?" the shadow mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it? Oh hell! This had better be important. I just got back from a nighttime stakeout after going to a party and even I need sleep."
"Agent Tunaghost?" Tak asked.
"General Ninja Spirit? What is the trouble and why are you calling instead of Agent Mothman?"
"To be honest I don't know. Di- I mean Mothman is going through something and he's not talking to me. He says it's a human thing and that I wouldn't understand, but he can't explain. I think he tried for a moment, but he had to leave the room. Leave me. He said that bathing me was effecting his dreams in some way."
Agent Tunaghost stumbled in her thoughts for a moment. "Wait. What? He bathes you and you're troubled that its effecting him?"
Tak nodded. "When I bonded, my need for any privacy regarding anything from Di- I mean Mothman, was destroyed. Privacy should be a thing of the past between us. But my bondmate keeps putting up some kind of barrier between us at times. He tries not to look at me until after I am sitting in our shower stall. I know he's only cleaning me because it has become necessary for me in order to find relief from the strain of what is happening around us. My need for him to wash me has been increasing with the stresses, and I told him that I felt like I was starting to become addicted to his washing me and-"
"Wait. You said that?" Tunaghost interrupted.
"Yes. Then he got this strange expression and froze for a moment. When I asked him to open up to me, he finished my bath in a hurry, fumbled some kind of disrupted attempt at an explanation which made no sense."
"I'm not surprised," Tunaghost replied with a smirk.
Tak went on. "He made some comment that this was effecting his dream state. I don't comprehend how dreaming of exercise has anything to do with looking at me or bathing me."
"Exercise? Why would you think that is what he dreams of?" the shadow on the display asked.
Tak tilted her head. "Because he has started to grunt in his sleep. Don't humans grunt when lifting heavy objects? Anyway, after that his skin turned strange colors when I said I couldn't figure out how he managed to drool into his own lap in his sleep. I sleep right next to him, so I know he doesn't sit up in his sleep-"
"Ninja Spirit, stop. You have to stop."
Tak closed her mouth. Agent Tunaghost let out a sigh and pressed several buttons on her own system. A primitive Earth electronic voice spoke out. "Recording deleted."
The Irken had been over-focused to remember about that part.
"Tak, girl," Tunaghost slowly spoke. "that's not drool, and your bondmate isn't dreaming about exercise. If you were human, bathing you would be, um, very suggestive to him. Becoming addicted to that sort of attention and asking him to open up to you could be even more so. He is a guy, Tak. That part of his biology is always standing by, and runs mostly on automatic. Not looking at you undress is his way of treating you with respect, as well as blocking out sensory input that could put his biology on high alert."
"On alert?" Tak asked. "Why would such a thing be seen as a threat?"
"Oh dear," Tunaghost let slip. "Tak. Are you really that naive?"
Tak looked at her with fire in her purple eyes. "Excuse me? I made to be an Irken soldier. I was not grown nor trained to be innocent, human!"
Tunaghost gulped. "Tak, I'm not insulting you. I'm speaking as one girl to another. Mothman, your bondmate, is struggling with things he wasn't prepared for. He is a social outcast on my planet. He's never had to actually face these sort of things before, and he is still young without much practical understanding himself. Agent Mothman was never going to have a mate here on Earth and he knew it. He wasn't prepared for what he is dealing with now."
The human on the display took in a deep breath before continuing. "Tak, your bondmate is dreaming about mating. His biology senses an opportunity. That's what I meant by high alert. That part for humans is usually automatic, and your bondmate is probably trying to suppress it for your sake. But it manifests in his sleep when his defenses are down."
"You mean at night when I wake up… that is his… mating goo?" Tak asked.
"I've never heard of it called that before, but yes." Agent Tunaghost replied. "Listen. Your bondmate has a major savior complex in his mental makeup and it is not well balanced. You have been traumatized, and he is taking care of you. Protecting you, even from himself. This is a very complicated situation for him. And this sort of thing between humans is rather complicated in itself. If done or handled incorrectly this sort of thing can leave some of the deepest mental scars a human can have, and you've already taken plenty of those."
Tak didn't say anything. Tunaghost spoke further. "Tak, you have known nothing of this sort of thing. That is why you are naïve. On this planet, to take advantage in this way is one of the worst crimes one can do to another. We have to have laws to protect those accused of such things because most people would prefer to hunt them down and kill them all, and sometimes accusations are false or misdirected. And one other thing. On our planet there is only one sentient species. Not hundreds. Part of him may feel guilty about responding like this to an alien who knows nothing about such things. Do you understand?"
The Irken nodded her head. "My mate keeps saying he is trying to do right by me. I did not realize what he meant or how much he was struggling. He is being a good bondmate to me."
She looked down into herself. She had been focused on her own self and her own troubles. At least when it came down to her own stresses. Coping with her own new responsibilities, how to measure up to them. She showed some support for her mate, but not like Dib was with her. That would have to change. Well, to a degree. Tak couldn't change the fact that she was Irken, and Irkens were fairly self-centered. They didn't just bond with everyone they met after all. "I must do better for him," she decided out loud.
"Oh, Tak." Tunaghost remembered another piece of advice. "Try not to hold any of his dreams against him. Humans can't control what they dream about. It's sort of like purging a set of data buffers at times. They can be made up of random variables."
"What do you mean?" Tak asked. There was a lack of a pleasant tone in her voice.
"Humans can't control who or what they dream about most of the time."
Tak did not like the sound of that. But it wasn't like she could build a machine that would let her enter Dib's dreams and kill whoever he was dreaming of in a deserved fit of jealousy. Well, not right away at least.
"No," Dib told his next class of that morning. He was standing in front of a long table in front of several rows of seats filled with Irkens. On the wall behind him was projected an image. "Just because a neighbor's dog relieves itself on Gaz's lawn is not an excuse to vaporize the dog. Or the neighbor. Or fling the neighbor's house into space. You should remind the neighbor to put the dog on his leash when let outside. Oh, and don't ask the dog."
They had been watching a home movie that had caught a rare and brief scene of Gaz retaliating one night after stepping on a doggie land mine. The picture did not show a small flaming bag of dog poo on the neighbor's porch. More like a bag of fifty pounds of pig manure with an M-80 stuck in the middle. Dib was struggling to explain how Gaz's behavior was in no way acceptable human behavior. She was just able to get away with it. Of course the Irkens were taking in scenes such as these like candy after a long diet of lima beans.
The door opened and Dib saw Tak step inside. He was about to send her a smile in welcome. She did not come to his classes. Then he saw the look on her face. It was not a happy look.
Tak cleared her throat to get the room's attention. Irken eyes turned around.
"Clear the compartment. I want a word with my bondmate."
Three quarters of a second to respond was too slow.
"Clear the faptizek compartment, now!" Tak rumbled.
It wasn't the slightly raised volume, but the burning hint of seriously ticked off bondmate that was carried in her tone.
Bondmates were rare in the Irken civilization, but the word was that if one was harmed you really did not want to be found in the path of the other. The rumor, however, was that you absolutely did not want to get in between them when a quarrel appeared on the horizon. Getting caught in the middle of a head-on collision between two dreadnoughts was more pleasant. The compartment cleared in less than six seconds.
"Who is she?" Tak asked once they were alone and the door closed
Dib was very confused. "What?" he asked.
"Your dreams. I know, Dib. You are guarding yourself toward me, but when you go to sleep you let it go. Is she human? Is that it?" Tak's spider legs extended out of her PAK as she approached and lifted her over rows of seats.
"Tak, I don't know what you are talking about. There isn't anything to be jeal-"
"I had a talk with Tunaghost, Dib," the jealous Irken informed her bondmate. "I know what you were dreaming about. I have a good idea what you were leaking. Did you think I was stupid for thinking it was drool?"
Dib backed up. "No, Tak. Never. I just couldn't… I didn't know how. Irkens don't function like that. You don't even have the concept! You Irkens think so much of what humans do is disgusting, but…"
Tak was now within a few inches of Dib's face. The spider limbs retracted back into her PAK, and now her voice was quieter. Dib wasn't sure which was worse. The loud Tak or this quiet Tak. "Tunaghost said some things to me. That this is difficult for you. That you are trying to look out for me with some strange human notion that I don't understand. That your biology is responsive to stimuli and you are trying to suppress it for my sake. But it comes out at night when you sleep. We share a nest. We sleep together. I smell it, Dib. I hear your heavy breathing in my antennae at times. Don't think I don't know that your goo soaks your shorts. You may be dried out by the time you wake up, but you'd better believe it's a different story when I do!"
This sounded very bad to Dib's ears. But to Irken hearing? "Tak, please-"
The purple eyed Irken didn't stop. "You are my mate. You hold back from me. Feel a need to avert your gaze from me when I get ready for bathing or change clothes. You feel you need to because I'm not your mate yet. Tunaghost said it is out of respect for me or something like that. I have no need for you to do so, but you do. Fine. But you sleep by my side. I sleep in your arms. Yet you mark me with your goo in your sleep-"
Oh god, Dib thought.
"as your mate while you could be dreaming of marking someone else? Is she human so you can feel guiltless about marking someone as your mate? Is that it? Because I'm an 'alien?' Well I have news for you, Dib. You're the alien around here. You're not the only one bonded outside their species! Now, Dib, tell me who she is so I can go into your dreams and kill her for stealing what is rightfully mine."
Dib sat down on the table behind him. "You can't do that. You don't understand."
"No. You don't understand. We both know I'm very good at making machines. I'm rather sure I could."
"Tak, please sit down," Dib invited the Irken before him.
"Tell me who she is," Tak insisted.
"I don't remember much. Humans don't usually remember their dreams."
"You're stalling. Tell me." Tak's arms crossed.
"Tak, listen!" Dib said forcefully. "Human mates don't mark each other like that." He pointed to the engagement ring on her finger. "That is how we mark our mates. Not to mention we have these." He fingered the bonding necklace hanging around his neck.
The Irken stopped glaring for a moment. She was missing something. But that didn't really matter either. "Many species do use a mating scent as a marking, so excuse me! But you were still dreaming and Tunaghost said you were dreaming of mating. And you still won't tell me who! That means you're hiding who it is. That means its not me."
Dib began to see the logic behind the jealousy. "Tak. You don't even know what human mating is, do you?" He saw a symbolic wrench get tossed into the envious gears of her bonded instincts. "Did it occur to you that I'm really uneasy talking about that rather than who I was dreaming about?"
Dib asked another question. "Do Irkens males mark their mates like that? With a scent marking?"
The anger left Tak momentarily. In fact she felt a tad hollow right now, looking at the ring on her left hand. The truth was she had no idea. Only her bonded instincts which were rather territorial. Okay, extremely territorial. Her bondmate offered her a seat next to him on the table. She took it, letting her feet dangle over the deck.
"Dib. Tunaghost said you're biology was on high alert. Tell me who you were dreaming of," she asked quietly.
"Tak, Tak," Dib cooed, putting an arm around her. "I bathe you once or twice everyday. Four times yesterday. For an Irken it might just be a cleaning. For you it has become part of how you cope. Therapeutic even- Ow!"
An Irken claw dropped down to rest on the table after flicking his ear. "Quit stalling," she ordered.
"Hey! I was getting there. Really, Tak. With the constant contact we have? Who else would I dream of? I sleep with you, bathe you with my own hands when you're stressed."
Dib let out a sigh. He really was stalling. The human looked into his hands. "I was dreaming of you, Tak. Most humans don't talk about those kind of dreams because it makes us vulnerable to intense ridicule and scorn from other humans. I'm not supposed to have those kind of dreams about aliens."
Tak didn't really understand what was happening inside the mind of her mate, but he was battling something within himself alone. And it was coming out in his sleep. But she knew the tools. Suppression, repression, avoidance. The pushing of a piece of one's self down into a hole. It was a crude method of dealing, or more precisely the learning of how not to deal, with something. But it cost a person. It may have saved her sanity back on Dirt, but it cost her heavily.
The human continued on. "I was dreaming of you becoming my mate. It can mean something different to a human. It's not just a mental or emotional bonding like it seems to be for an Irken."
Tak's jealousy transmuted into elation. Her bondmate was dreaming about her being his own mate. Then it occurred to her that she didn't even know what dreaming really was either. It wasn't an Irken thing. She began sensing just how much she didn't know. Tak turned her attention to her bondmate. "Dib, you can't suppress a part of yourself. I know what it does to a person. Believe me." Tak took one of his hands. "You, my bondmate, are human. Don't try to stifle what you are."
They sat there for some time. "Dib? About your goo…"
Dib let out a groan.
Tak tightened her grip on his hand. "Dib. How am I supposed to understand? We are bondmates. I need to know." Dib didn't say anything. "Remove the personal aspects. Scientifically speaking, what does it do?"
He knew she was right. And definitely had a right to know. "Tak, the short version is that back on Earth that is what a male releases to fertilize a female's egg cell. To propagate their species."
The realization hit Tak hard. She had been jealous because she had reckoned a possibility that her bondmate's dreaming was about marking a mating scent on some imaginary human to make her his human mate, while Dib and Tak slept in their bedding together. He was human, and his biology could have been geared in that direction. Of course Tak's instincts sensed a violation. But the truth was Dib had been dreaming of fertilizing his chosen bondmate that he shared his bedding with.
The basic concept was enough to make any Irken puke into dry heaves, douse themselves with water for a year and then pick out every part of their brain that held that knowledge. And that was just for starters. But Tak? Tak had been right there with Dib when these things happened. Smelled the smell, heard the muted grunts and heavy breathing he emitted in his sleep. She had been indirectly exposed to his fertilization goo.
And yet for her it was the best news she had received in seven years. Perhaps in her whole life.
Tak knew how she would have reacted to any of this before Dirt, probably with lethal force, and yet could not imagine such a thing. She gave Dib's hand a comforting squeeze.
"Dib. It's alright."
The human looked at the Irken beside him. "Tak?"
"You are not in this alone. There are some things I'm struggling to adjust to also. I push myself too hard because a piece of me still tries to prove I can be elite. Another part goes back to when you rescued me from Dirt. I have to learn to let it go. So do you. Nothing about us is natural or how things should have been. But that's okay with me."
They sat there for several minutes. "You don't have anyone to talk to, do you?" Tak asked her human. He gave her an odd expression. "I mean about sensitive things that would turn others away."
Dib didn't say anything. He just shook his head.
Tak stood in the packed cargo bay with an opened crate of spare parts. She was almost finished. She had been decontaminating, scrubbing, pulling and replacing parts, soldering. She hadn't asked permission. She was the General, and these materials were going to the new base on Earth. And that base was under her authority. Beed had checked in of course. The ship was his responsibility and he had to answer to Lady Gaz if anything happened. Once he was satisfied she was left alone to her work.
It took nearly three hours before the unit powered up and blank eyes turned red.
"Hello, Mimi. It's been along time."
The SIR robot saluted, and its holographic generator activated. The metal robotic form was transformed into a graceful black feline. The eyes examined the Irken standing before her starting at the feet. Those eyes narrowed in fury that said 'Who did this?'
Tak answered the non-verbal question. "Irkens did this to me."
Then Mimi's eyes reached Tak's necklace and widened in surprise. 'Mistress?' those eyes inquired.
Tak kneeled down closer to Mimi. "Yes. Everything has changed. You will not like them, but you will accept them. It that understood?"
Those red eyes narrowed once more, but blinked in compliance.
"Good." Tak resealed the container of spare SIR unit parts and tapped instructions into an automated grav lift to return them to storage. "We were rejected from the Irken military. They sent us back to Dirt. We were there for a long time. I was supposed to die there."
The Irken sat down next to the black feline who looked up at her Mistress. "Mimi, do you remember the human Dib Membrane?"
There was a nod. Even though Mimi had lost her memory disk back on Earth, it was a portable backup unit. Not the primary memory core. "Dib rescued us and has been taking care of me. Mimi, I have bonded with him. The human is my bondmate."
Mimi flattened her ears and those eyes turned into slits. A silent hiss. "I know you don't like it. I also do not care. He is my mate and you will accept him as such. That means Dib is your master."
Mimi's expression did not change much. But her tail swished back and forth. Tak could guess what was being expressed. "The humans are no longer an enemy species. Earth is designated as a protected planet and we are going to be a part of that. Acknowledge."
The eyes and ears returned to normal and the tail stopped twitching.
"Mimi. They dumped us in the sewage zone on Dirt. They disposed of us as such. We don't owe Irk anything. But Dib? When he found out what happed to us, he didn't wait. That human was the only one who came for us. Mimi, I need him. In a way he rescues me from Dirt everyday. But he is alone in many ways."
The black feline shape tilted her head.
"I don't care what you were trying to do!" Dib yelled at the display before him. He was back in their quarters and giving Agent Tunaghost the riot act. "You have no idea how possessive an Irken can be! I've seen Ninja Spirit threaten other female Irkens just because their job was to show me to my room. Her jealousy streak is supercharged, a mile wide, and has a hair trigger. Are you getting the picture? She came after me in a jealous fit because she got this idea I was dreaming of putting some alien marking scent on someone else! Guess who put that thought in her head?"
"I'm sorry, Agent Mothman," Tunaghost told him.
Dib allowed himself to cool off a little. He ran a hand through his hair. "Tunaghost, I have no idea what I'm doing. She needs some kind of therapy with her trauma. I'm doing the best I can."
"Mothman. You need to start listening to yourself. You are avoiding a big discomfort zone and treating your bondmate like a patient. Ninja Spirit is not your patient and you are not her doctor. You two are married or whatever they call it out there. She came to me because her mate was shutting her out of something and she wanted to know what as going on. Ninja Spirit needs you to treat her as what she is. Your Irken wife."
"I know, I know," Dib replied. "I just have to figure out how."
"Yeah, I don't envy you. Maybe you should start off by taking her on a date."
Dib heard the door behind him sweep open and shut. "Alright, Tunaghost. If Ninja Spirit calls again, please just direct her back to me? Mothman signing off."
He closed the communications channel and stood up, popping several vertebrae along his back. "Look, Tak about today…" Dib turned around and Tak was not there.
Sitting on the deck was a black feline with red eyes. It was vaguely familiar, and Dib was absolutely sure there were no cats onboard.
A beam flashed out, and a holographic message began to play. It was Tak.
"Dib, I fixed Mimi. She is our SIR unit. I have updated her on you and what has been happening. She knows you are my bondmate, so don't worry. I know you need someone to talk to. Mimi can fill in until I have educated myself. I will be in the communications compartment doing research, so don't bother me." The message blinked out.
Mimi sat there and regarded Dib with a look that said 'you are so not worthy of being my master.'
"Aloofness, disdain, an air of superiority. Seems like you have acting like a cat down to a fine art."
There was a tilt of the head, as if to ask 'Was that a compliment or an insult? Not that I care.'
Dib sat back down in a chair, and Mimi swooped up onto the tiny desk before him.
"I don't know what to say."
Mimi fixed him with a look that plainly said 'That's because you are an idiot."
"Hey, I care about her. Tak means a lot to me. She's been through enough. I want to help her heal. Help her have a good life. I… I…"
Dib gave out a sigh. "I want to be a good mate. But I have no idea what that means. I mean not too long ago Irkens were a threat to my planet. Now they're a key part of its protection. I was guarding my homeworld from Irken invasion, now I'm trying to teach this group how to become a part of my home." He fingered the necklace around his neck. "Out here Tak is my wife, but on Earth she is my fiancée. There is a difference, you know. But right now she's both at the same time. It's enough to make my head spin if I think about it. I don't even know what that makes me."
Mimi straightened her posture. Apparently this had not been a response she had been anticipating. She climbed down off of the desk and onto his lap. It was remarkable how ethereal and lithe she was considering underneath that hologram she was a metal robot.
"When I help bathe her, its supposed to be therapeutic for her. But I'm starting to lose my ability to detach. I'm starting to be affected by it and Tak has no clue what that sort of thing means. It feels like a betrayal. I shouldn't feel that way when I'm trying to help her through a tough time."
Mimi curled up in Dib's lap and rested her holographic chin along her back. Her eyes flicked up to Dib's. As if to say 'You aren't very bright, but you are loving toward my Mistress. I guess you will do. For now.'
Tak sat in the comminications compartment alone. Announcing that she was going to be using most of the displays to research human bonding rituals had that effect on confined spaces. She stopped listening in over Mimi's encoded transmitter. She had enough and didn't want to intrude further. She had looked up several keywords using the datalink routed through Zim's Computer back on Earth to access databases there. Wife, fiancée, and some related ones such as boyfriend, girlfriend, husband. Mate, it turned out, had so many meanings that the word lost any meaning without a specified human context. In a way, her human had been trying to live in a relationship who's specific meaning was in limbo. Dib was right, several applied at the moment, and it would be confusing for him.
She looked up some more keywords. Something about bathing her was getting at him. Enough to influence his dreams. Shower and mating seemed like a good place to start.
Thankfully it led her to a clip of a mildly mushy scene on a recent broadcast movie. Or perhaps Computer was censoring some of the search results. She wasn't sure, but she quickly shut it off when things started getting… friendly. It was disturbing how quickly that happened. It seemed a female allowing any male to bathe her was an invitation signal. One of many humans seemed to have as her research spread out. Humans seemed to respond very quickly to such signals, too.
She realized Dib was fighting a battle within himself. He was trying to find balance in completely unfamiliar territory with a damaged bondmate who had no such thing in her own culture. And had been doing so for days, all the way back on Dirt. He was honoring her by shielding her in his own way. He mentioned a few of his mental defenses he was applying in her behalf, but it was still effecting him.
Then she got to the crime reports. There were some very sick and twisted humans out there. Tak began to understand what Tunaghost had told her when she had called. It was no wonder her Dib was so uncomfortable. Why he looked away when she changed or entered the shower. It was some kind of protective mechanism to protect the naive within his human mindset. It would not release until conditions were acceptable, and Dib had been pushing on that in order to tend to her way of coping by being bathed. In fact conditions were ambiguous for him. Tunaghost and Dib had been correct. She was naïve. But that could be corrected.
She sped through her research. Being able to store and compute data into her PAK rather than just her brainmeat was a huge advantage in research. Tak switched over to human biology, running through it very quickly. It was interesting. They were very fragile, yet complex creatures. So very different from Irkens. Then she discovered babies.
That was what Dib's biology was trying to do? This was what humans meant by mate? And why wasn't she blasting the displays into a million pieces like a normal Irken?
Because she wasn't a normal Irken. She was completely bonded to a human. Her biological nervous system was tuned to accept her mate's biological processes. That is what allowed Irken bondmates to live in close quarters without killing each other when one had to go to the bathroom in a cramped spacecraft. But since smeets were made in smeet factories, no one had looked closer into it.
Wait, why was she looking up Irken biology? Oh. Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Wait. It was just curiosity. That was it. Comparative analysis. That made sense.
Until Tak looked up her own medical analysis. And saw all five missing egg sacs. She had been harvested as a donor upon graduation from smeethood while she was unconscious during the adult PAK upgrade. Tak got angry. That was for herself. Then she got jealously angry for her mate. Her egg sacs belonged to him, and him alone. How dare they! How DARE THEY, they better not have- she couldn't even finish the concept.
Then it hit her just how far her bonding instincts had taken her. Tak gave herself a shake and hit a button on the terminal in front of her. "Sentinel Lim, report to Communications at once. Priority one, urgent."
A few minutes later Lim arrived at the compartment out of breath. She had run all the way from the far end of the ship. Lim found Tak backed against a bulkhead. Something in the other Irken's expression made her take a step back. "General Tak?"
Tak turned her gaze away from the display and fixed her vision on Lim. "That's General Tak Membrane." She pointed to the display. "F-f-find out w-what they d-did." She was in such a rage she could barely speak the command.
"I don't understand. Who did what?" Lim asked.
"If they made smeets with my eggs… that are rightfully my mate's-" Tak didn't finish the threat.
Oh lords of Irk! Lim thought. Everyone on Irk knew you did not harm a bondmate. Once long ago a General's mate had been attacked and injured. The result was three galactic sectors rampaged just to hunt down one perpetrator. But stealing a bondmate's eggs? That sounded like a whole different level of violation. Just the concept was wholly alien to think of.
Lim practically flung herself at the controls. She scanned through records as fast as she could. There were so many! "Tak. Listen to me. It's not just you. All females have this done. They need egg cell membranes in the smeet factories. It is how things are done. Its not an attack on you."
Tak looked at her coldly. The words she spoke sent a chill up Lim's PAK. "When you are a bondmate, then you will understand."
Lim focused on her work. She hoped that word 'when' didn't haunt her until the day she died. On Irk, becoming a bondmate was always something heard about from an acquaintance of a work partner of a supervisor of an associate of a collogue who heard it happened to someone on another continent. But Lim had seen it happen first hand to Tak, an isolated, marooned and rejected Irken. It could happen to anyone.
It took time, but Lim finally found a record. No one ever inquired into these things, so no one ever took measures to classify them as secret. "Tak. There was an accident. Several thousand egg sacs were destroyed by a malfunctioning conveyer. Four of yours were among them. The last one was damaged. It was repaired, but categorized as substandard. It was never used. Tak, that was decades ago. It's lost somewhere in deep storage. It's impossible to find a record."
Tak sat down. Irk had taken so much from her already. They destroyed my egg sacs? she cried deep within herself. She was torn between grateful that they had not been… used and hurt at the destruction. But Tak pulled herself up out of that inner pit. There was still one out there. She pulled out a communicator from her PAK.
"Mimi, come down to Communications. I have a job for you."
"Tak, what are you doing?" Lim asked.
"I need information retrieved. I have a custom built Standard issue Information Retrieval unit onboard," Tak deadpanned.
Mimi swept into the room in her feline form and up onto the control interface.
"Mimi!" Tak commanded, pointing at the terminal. "Locate my egg sac."
Lim pulled Tak to the side of the room. "Tak, what are your intentions?"
Tak looked her straight in the eye. "I'm getting my egg sac back for my mate."
Lim didn't say anything. All of this was very non-Irken behavior. Tak looked at her some more. "Sentinel Lim, you don't understand. Do you? I didn't either until now."
"What don't I understand?" Lim asked. "I know we were not told about this, but they take samples from everybody."
"Lim, do you want to be bonded. To have a mate?"
"Ugh, no," was the answer. A very standard Irken answer.
"How about having a smeet?" Tak asked.
"WHAT?" Lim nearly screeched.
"Check the records if you dare. You will probably find you have had several offspring made in the smeet factories. Their DNA is engineered and reassembled, but the egg cell as a whole…" Tak left the rest unspoken.
Lim looked at the computer terminal as if all the horrors of the universe were waiting to spring out at any moment. It might have not been far from the truth. Me? Offspring? Lim thought. Somehow she felt violated. It was so unnatural. Like having her eyes opened to that knowledge made her less Irken than before.
She left the compartment in a hurry. Ten minutes after she was done vomiting she opened up a communications channel throughout the ship. A long list of names was read off followed by "drop what you are doing and report to squadron ready room three at once."
Tak was in the equipment room putting on the final pieces of her powered armor. A stubby particle pulse rifle was leaning next to her and several stun grenades were hung from clips on her suit. Mimi was sitting next to her.
Lim walked in and leaned against a bulkhead. "So what's your plan?" she asked.
"The smeet factories are deep underground, but the raw material depositories are closer to the surface. I go in to the lobby and start demanding my egg sac as a bondmate while Mimi sneaks in. She locates the stasis unit, alters the records to indicate it as disposed of, and she takes it out of there before I get thrown out by security. And wearing this, it will take a lot to throw me out."
"Doable." Lim said. "Upfront, public, loud, but clean. And then everybody will know who you are. You're still supposed to be on Dirt. They could ship you back there."
"I know, but I don't have many options. Besides, Dib can always come back to get me. Speaking of Dib, does he know about any of this?"
"We've kept this quiet. He's in his next class. You know those classes are more popular that he realizes? Some of the guys like to watch his skin change colors by figuring out the most awkward questions to ask. And the more they learn, the more awkward the questions get."
"I will have to remember to tell him when I get back." She paused. "Can you make sure he's distracted for the next few hours?" Tak asked. "He would try to stop me."
"There will be one of the home movies right after, so no one should notice a thing. Except perhaps the light attendance," Lim replied. She opened up a locker and removed her own standard body armor, double side arms and a pilot's helmet.
"Sentinel Lim? What are you doing?" Tak asked.
"Suiting up. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"But why?"
Lim began putting on the battle jacket. "Two males and a female. One of the males went missing six years ago while on patrol. No one bothered to even go look for him. The other died of injuries during training. The female is a smallest. Cleans out the main sewer system. I don't want to know her name or what she looks like, but I had a message sent about a job in the life support section. She'll be better off with us on Earth. Beyond that I don't want to care. I'm still Irken."
"Lim-" Tak broke off. She should have kept her thoughts to herself.
The other Irken female adjusted the light body armor around her torso. "Some of the others are doing something similar. The ones that accept jobs will meet one of the cargo shuttles at the spaceport while we're out. But we're doing this without authorization. We want you to speak to Lady Gaz in our behalf if she wants them sent back. This is our price, Tak."
"The price for what?" she asked.
Lim snapped her fingers. About two dozen other Irken females entered the compartment and began suiting up in either body armor or powered armor. Weapons were hauled out and checked. "For opening up some more options for your little operation. I've got two assault shuttles being prepped and loaded with ordinance. The only condition is that you act the part of the General and stay out of the way. Leave any grunt work to us. You are at very high risk of compromising your ability to reason. Not to mention your physical condition. That could blow the whole thing and we can't have that."
Beed caught up to Lim as thirty seven armored Irken females filed into the maintenance bay and toward the waiting assault shuttles.
"Lim, when one of the guys told me that the whole female complement was looking really ticked off and was loading up to do some serious damage, I had to see for myself." He glanced over at the shuttles. He did a double take at the air-to-surface missile pods slung under the stubby wing pylons, and the figures running systems checks within the side turrets holding the rapid-cycle plasma cannons.
Beed caught Lim by the arm. "Lim, what is going on-" He broke off at the haunted look in her eyes.
Lim checked the power cell in one of her side arms. "Beed. Let it go. It's something Tak discovered and believe me, you don't want to know. If anyone asks, us girls are just taking her out for some group therapy."
"Therapy?" Beed asked. That was an Earth word. Two suits of powered armor stomped by, each carrying a riot control heavy weapons flechette launcher. The kind that was belt fed rather than using an attached magazine.
"Yeah," Lim responded. "Therapy. Irken style."
Two Earth-gray Irken assault shuttles broke through the cloud cover over the facility. Side doors on the craft opened up. "We're ready." Lim called from the pilot's seat to Tak, who was in the middle of the craft.
Tak's armor whined as she bent down to look at Mimi. The feline form looked back. "You understand what you have to do?" she asked again.
Mimi merely squinted with those red eyes, as if to say 'Of course. Just like the last five times you asked.'
"Execute," Tak ordered.
Mimi dropped her holographic feline disguise and hurled herself out of the shuttle. The robot deployed the jet turbines from her legs and shot toward the building below.
"She's out!" Tak yelled.
"Transponder change! Comms live!" Lim yelled back. The transponder codes of the shuttles changed from transport to military intercept. "All vehicles in the vicinity of sector five-nine-eight. Rouge SIR unit on the loose. Clear all traffic. This is now a no-fly zone. Repeat. Rouge SIR unit on the loose. Clear all traffic. Retrieval squad engaging now."
Traffic around them scattered, just as predicted. A rouge SIR unit was a terrifying thing. The assault shuttles circled back around and dove after Mimi.
"He's heading for the repository! I have a firing solution!" radioed the second shuttle.
Tak keyed into the communications net. "All units weapons free. Take the shot."
Four air-to-ground missiles broke free from the second shuttle and blasted after Mimi. She dodged at the last second, and the missile spread streaked down and impacted its actual target. Auxiliary atmospheric pumps covering a ventilation shaft leading down into the repository. The apparatus exploded, leaving a giant hole which Mimi sailed through and down inside.
"Check your fire!" Tak ordered. "The unit is inside the building. We'll have to do this the hard way. Shuttle two land on the roof and secure the airspace. Your squads move in and follow it down. Shuttle one land at the entrance. Heavy weapons units secure the entry points. Nothing gets in and nothing robotic leaves. My squads move in, ground floor."
The security supervisor behind the array of computer terminals on the ground floor looked up as a vibration shook the building. Intruder alarms sounded on his display. Then his eyes grew wide as debris thudded onto the ground outside and a rather un-Irken colored assault shuttle landed. Troops launched themselves out of hatches and the rear loading ramp, flowing into the lobby and toward him.
"You!" one of the armored forms hollered in his direction.
All their armor was of various shades of gray, mottled in misshapen blotches that formed no discernable pattern. Like a painting droid had gone crazy and no one cared. Except for what appeared to be unit patches. The silhouettes of black sheep holding baseball bats. Not that any Irken would recognize what is was. The mysterious and very lumpy silhouette could be mistaken for something other than fluffy and harmless. But there was no mistaking a very blunt and unsophisticated weapon in its hands.
But the one speaking, the tallest of the short soldiers moving toward him, was different. The armor coloring was the same, but on the breast was a purple Irken military symbol with a large spear stabbed up the center. It was very easy to imagine it as an Irken skull mounted on a pike. "Your facility has been infiltrated by a rouge SIR unit. It thinks snacks are invading this sector. Who is the supervisor here?"
The guard behind the desk spoke up. "I am the duty supervisor, but It's my first day. Who are you?" He gestured to their oddly colored armor. "I don't recognize-"
"Of course not!" the taller one bellowed. "Would you want to be recognized as military if you were sent after a SIR unit?" She leaned over the desk and into his face. "You have no idea how fortunate you are that we were nearby. Now evacuate all non-essential personnel."
He couldn't see much past the armor. Only the face through the clear plate of her helmet. But this Irken's posture, her aura in the way she spoke and commanded said elite. "Second squad!" she barked. "Secure every transport shaft leading past this floor. First squad set up my command post."
"Yes, General," came the responses.
The supervisor's face paled as his fingers entered commands on his terminal. A general? A SIR unit was horrific enough, but if a general was needed to go after it-
The general's attention was directed toward him once more. "Supervisor! Open up the access shafts to the lower levels for my third squad. I want them to setup a snare beam down there in case it gets past your security and my troops."
"But General," the supervisor said. "No one is allowed down in the lower levels. That's where we store-" Something about the look she gave him halted him before he could complete the sentence.
"Let me make this absolutely clear," the female general spoke down at him in a tone that would have frozen the tectonic drift of continents. "That SIR unit is the most advanced there is. It will slice it's way through barriers and walls. It will access any lift and ventilation shaft necessary to sweep this building. That includes the lower levels. Right now it has identified snacks as the enemy, but it might not know what snacks are. If it gets down there, what do you think it might do to the storage area if there is a misidentification?"
The supervisor's face turned white. It was his first day. He had pulled on his feet, stretched, meditated on growth, even hung upside down by his feet for ten years before he had finally become tall enough to become a supervisor. And now this happens on his first day.
Then one of the armored figures said something that sealed his sense of doom. "General. The Governor and our Lady did not send an energy snare generator with us."
Oh, Irk! This was a Governor's Own unit. Probably even a rapid reaction team.
Another voice echoed out of the General's armor. "Sir! The SIR unit has broken through the seventh floor." The sound of sporadic weapons fire could be heard. "Every snack machine was destroyed. It's still using the ventilation shafts."
The supervisor spoke up as non-essential Irken work drones flowed past them and out of the facility. "General. There are ten snare units on the third floor. My security teams can get them out."
The general moved around the desk and stood over him looking at a schematic of the building. "Have two brought down to the lower levels for third squad. Deploy the rest at the lift shafts and these locations," she said pointing out corridor intersections on several floors. "And open up those access hatches so third squad can get in position! Have two more of your squads join them."
"General." Another voice sounded over the suit's communications as the supervisor complied with the given orders. It was either that or let the SIR unit run amok. The storage area was too valuable. "The SIR unit is learning. It's running along conduits for the security systems. If we shoot we will damage them."
"Do what you have to do," the general ordered.
Naturally the supervisor never realized the video and audio pickups in Tak's armor was transmitting what was displayed and heard at his terminal on a private and scrambled frequency.
Mimi disemboweled another snack machine on the fourth floor with her clawed hand and leapt away in time for blaster fire from her 'pursuers' to finish it off. Several other snack machines, chairs, surveillance pickups, and security locks had met similar fates. Locks especially had a high rate of friendly fire. The rest was cover up damage.
The SIR unit bounded across the corridor and into an intersection.
"There it is!" came a cry from two gray armored figures.
Mimi jumped, put a fist into the wall and swung around the corner before energy blasts burned into the floor. She landed horizontally onto the door in the crossing corridor and it broke open. The robot landed on the large computer system in the room, reaching over and throwing a now unconscious guard out the now doorless arch in the wall.
"EMP Grenade!" came a shout. It was an order, but also a warning to Mimi.
A cutting laser from Mimi's eyes sliced into a shaft behind the wall. She knew it was there from the telemetry she was receiving by way of Tak's view of the supervisor's terminal display. A flashing blue grenade bounced into the room, and the robot scrambled inside the duct and down the tube to the next floor. She powered down with a three second delayed reboot.
A pulse of invisible EM energy flared in the room above and washed through adjacent rooms and floors, including Mimi's location. A second later Mimi powered back up. The security memory core up above was now a sophisticated assembly of slag. There would be no record of today's mayhem. Secondary objective achieved flashed her mission profile.
Mimi carefully opened a vent and shifted back into her holographic feline form before quietly climbing out. The lighting had gone out from the EMP burst, and a black cat in a black room was easy to miss. There were several squads by the lift, and the shadow silently swooped backward and to the equipment sitting behind them. An access panel was opened and the stealthy form slid inside the energy snare's containment capsule. The backup lighting kicked on, illuminating the halls once more.
"Hurry up!" one of the guards said in a voice of urgency. They picked up the device, along with it's passenger, and carried it into the lift and down to the lower levels.
The supervisor waited nervously. Things had gone quiet for almost fifteen minutes now. Every squad in the building was roaming each floor, searching for the intruder. The then communications went wild.
"Contact!" came a shrill voice, followed by several smacks and a heavy thump that sounded suspiciously like an unconscious body dropping to the floor.
"It's in the lower level entrance!" called another voice over the sound of weapons fire.
"Don't shoot! You'll hit the storage pods!" came an order.
"You tell it that!" came the response.
"Snare Emitter one charged!"
"Fire!"
"You missed you idiot!"
"No, you missed!"
"Emitter Two charged!"
"Fire!"
"Missed again!"
"You're an idiot!"
A more familiar voice to Tak's hearing came over the communications frequency. "Throw stun grenades. Keep it's attention on us and away from the storage pods."
Several loud thumps echoed though the open channel.
"It's really ticked off! It's heading straight for us!"
More weapons fire.
"Emitter one charged! Firing!"
"Got it! Reeling it in. Activating containment field."
"General, Third squad. We have it. The SIR unit is struggling, but losing power fast. Someone must have winged it."
Tak keyed into her communications. "Good work. Hold your position until the unit is down. Then fall back to the shuttles for immediate departure." She turned to the supervisor. "We value your cooperation. It made accomplishing our mission much easier. In fact it was essential."
The relieved supervisor beamed. He probably wouldn't have if he had known about the real mission behind the statement.
The snare's containment vessel sat on the deck of the crowded shuttle as they lifted up out of the atmosphere. It hummed with blue light within the caged frame. Mimi's robotic body lay inert within the field.
Lim called from the pilot's seat. "General Membrane? Tak? I couldn't believe my eyes how that all fell into place. How can you plan around so much improvising like that? If that is what you are like now, I'd hate to have been on the receiving end before you, you know. Lost so much. You really are elite, you know that?"
Tak had been waiting for such an acknowledgement for most of her life. But now? Now it seemed almost immaterial. She merely gave some comment of acceptance. There was something more important on her mind right now.
She reached down to shut off the containment field and opened the frame. Mimi's eyes flashed red, and the SIR unit climbed out of the opened cage and sat before her Mistress.
"Did you get it?" Tak asked.
The SIR unit opened its head and pulled out a small stasis field container. Tak took it within her hands. Inside floated a pinkish organ with an oval shape. There was a spot where it once attached to a large tubule leading to her body, and another indicating where it had been repaired. This was her last egg sac.
"And the records? Did you alter them to indicate my egg sac was disposed of?"
Mimi's holographic form took hold, and eyes blinked with a slight nod of the head.
Tak's vision blurred until she couldn't see anything at all. Irk had taken everything from her until nothing was left. Now for the first time she had taken something back. Something taken that rightfully belonged to her mate.
"Thank you," she sobbed in her joy. "Thank you all."
The other Irkens looked at each other. This was a very non-Irken response.
Lim spoke over her shoulder. "It's a bondmate thing. We won't understand." She looked out of her side viewport at the cargo shuttle being escorted back to the Doomwind by the two returning assault shuttles. But then perhaps a part of us does, she thought. Maybe we all went to take back a piece of ourselves.
She opened up a channel. "Doomwind, this is Black Sheep Two. ETA seventeen minutes. Three shuttles. Please quietly have the bio-technician standing by in the medical bay. It's a personal matter for the General. She will skin you alive if you put it out there for the whole ship to hear."
Beed met Lim in the maintenance bay after the shuttles had docked and began offloading. A few Irkens used modified grav lifts to remove unused ordinance and deposit the three remaining missile pods on a pallet, which was carried away down a large shaft back to the blast-proof bunker where such hazardous weapons were designed to be kept. New arrivals walked across the deck, gawking.
"Lim?" he asked, pulling her aside. She was towing some powered armor and a stack of weapons on a hand lift behind her. Other armored figures were leaving the bay and heading back to the armory. "How was this 'therapy' you took General Tak on?"
"It's General Tak Membrane now. Some bondmate thing. Anyway it went perfect. No hitches."
"Want to fill me in on what is going on?"
"Not really," she replied. "I don't want to think about it."
"Okay. Then who are they?" he asked, pointing to the new arrivals.
"That is what I don't want to think about. Get them settled in for us. Okay, Beed?" she asked.
"Lim!" Beed said forcefully. "Lady Gaz is trying to stockpile supplies so we don't have to come back. But our numbers keep increasing. We're not going to have enough space for more supplies. Not to mention the concern the humans will have about so many of us being on their world. We Irkens have a reputation you know."
Yat came up to Lim. She wasn't watching her volume as much as the other two. "Lim! I saw him. I didn't mean to. I didn't want to! Didn't want to know what he looks like or anything. But I saw him. He has blue eyes too! You know how rare that is. It can't be a coincidence."
"Sentinel Yat, go put your gear away," Lim told her. "Spread word that the female contingent is to take six hours of PAK maintenance as of now. Take turns if you have to, but that is an order."
"Lim," Beed started after Yat walked away. "What is going on with you? I know you took off for Irk and you are short one missile pod. You bring up new arrivals with no notice, need, or even permission? You didn't even give me an advisory warning! And now mandatory PAK maintenance? For six hours?"
"You want to know what's going on?" Lim hissed in a whisper. "They took our egg sacs and made smeets with them! We know they are made in the factories, but we didn't how or the implications! I have offspring, Beed. One survivor. A female. That is who these new ones are. They're ours. They took something from us. We couldn't, Beed. We couldn't let this go. But Tak? She's a bondmate. She almost went berserk and was going to go down there armed and alone. She saw it as a flagrant violation of her bond."
She saw the look of growing nausea on Beed's face. Then terror at the last bit about violating Tak's bond. It was easy to imagine that an Irken bondmate might burn a planet for something like that. "It's taken care of. We recovered her last egg sac in a way that had them thanking us we robbed them, and they think it's destroyed. Tak's better now. As for how Lady Gaz would react to all this, I think she'd call our response restrained compared how she'd retaliate. You remember in the movie we were shown how she responded when an animal left waste in her yard? Imagine if she had been harvested like we were."
Beed didn't say anything. He didn't know how to react. Lim went on. "Some of us offered our offspring jobs here. They don't know. We won't tell them who they come from. It's bad enough we have to live with this. No one else should have to." There was a pause. "I don't know why we did this. Something in me needed to give my female a chance at something before she died like my males did. My PAK isn't handling this, Beed. I don't think it was meant to. I don't want to know which one she is. I don't want to care. I don't want to lose what makes me Irken. Oh, IRK! Yat? Yat knows which one is her offspring. I can't imagine how she can handle that."
"Lim, you're in shock. Take all the time you females need. Stay in the maintenance cycle for a week if you need too. I'll try to make contingency plans in case we need to leave Irk space in a hurry." Something in Beed was telling him it was a good thing they were leaving for Earth in three days.
Tak looked at the bio-technician after he finished his work. There was a nerve block patch near the bottom of her rib cage. She lay on her back on the examination table. Scanning arms hovered over her abdomen.
"The organ appears healthy, and the repair had been done acceptably well. Circulation is good, and the attaching tissues are holding. The main tubule has been mended and is healing. However, you are at risk now. This organ is very fragile. Any impact to this region could rupture the sac lining. No Irken has had those enzymes released into their systems."
The Irken stopped and looked at Tak. "Sir, I'm just a technician. I run the machines and analyze the results. I can make broad repairs. But this is a specialized field, and I'm not sure anyone has ever looked into this. I certainly haven't. I've never even examined an egg sac before. No Irken in living memory has done this, Tak. There is no telling what will happen."
"I have done some research, but it is very limited," she informed him. "Mostly an overview of the organ function itself. Not really on how it works in detail." She wasn't going to go into particulars with just anyone.
"Tak? Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. "If you go into combat… you just can't. Never again. Even a minor fall could rupture the organ. You could end up having to wear body armor at all times to keep it intact. I can still remove the organ-"
She interrupted the technician. "I will accept this. My studies indicate that the egg sac is supposed to be that way and would reseal itself." She looked at the technician. "I developed my egg sacs naturally while a smeet. Their removal when I graduated from smeethood was not. They were not ejected as part of my development. They were cut out of me."
The technician looked very uncomfortable. For him, this was a mystery organ. But it was medically part of a female Irken's anatomy. Sort of. They were removed after all. Not put back in. He figured there was a reason for that.
"What about inside?" Tak asked.
"There is a single egg cell contained within the central area. The cell however was indeed damaged. It does not seem viable. The tear in the cellular wall is extensive, but not enough to cause it to burst open. How it managed to continue this long outside of stasis to run even a single scan is a mystery to me. But I was trained for battle damage repair and organ trauma regeneration. Severe injuries. Not… this."
"I understand. A few weeks ago I would have probably been insisting on its removal, not its restoration. But that was before I was bonded. It changes things. When will I be released?"
"Tak, you've just have what amounts to an organ transplant. You still need at least forty five minutes of accelerated regeneration before you can stand. And somehow I doubt all you will do is stand up. Plus you have been skimping on your PAK maintenance. That is not optional for you, Tak. Three hours minimum here. Plus another three once you get back to your quarters. Understood?"
His patient nodded, and the technician set up the maintenance cycle. As Tak went to sleep, the technician pondered to himself. He was really outside of his field here. Plus it was an area of research no Irken had any business examining. He was having enough trouble keeping his lunch on the inside. But if he asked just where she had recovered her own egg sac, his guts might not remain inside of him either. Some things were just better left unknown.
Earth local time: Slightly before lunch. Irken local time: Later than that.
Dib finally found her in Doomwind's fire control center. It was a small spherical chamber deep within the island superstructure of the vessel. The curving walls made up a single display of surrounding space in all directions. Two chairs were positioned below and to either side of a central one. These positions guided direction to priority threats for the port and starboard point defense batteries while the raised central chair assigned targets for the tactical computers in the secondary energy turrets.
It also made an excellent observation lounge and Tak was standing in front of the chairs looking out into displayed space.
"There you are," Dib said, moving to stand next to her. "I've been looking for you. No one knew where you went."
The latest home movie and the resulting lengthy and awkward discussions afterward had ended nearly an hour ago. He had to admit that their household was not a good example of acceptable human behavior. Tonight's scene had been one from years ago. It showed Dib running from Gaz's flesh eating security dolls after he had given her a Werewolf Barbie doll as a present, and her yelling "That's not a doll. These are dolls! And keep your paranormal crap out of my toys!" It seemed Gaz had many qualities that an Irken could relate to.
Tak didn't take her eyes off of the ringed pink planet that hung before her. "I needed some space. I have had a lot to think about today."
It sounded like he wasn't supposed to say anything in response, so Dib took in the view. "It is an amazing sight."
"I had to go down there today," Tak commented. "I never want to see that cursed planet again."
The human didn't know what to say to that. But if she had to go down to the surface and deal with hordes of Irkens, her stress levels must be through the roof. "Are you all right?" he asked.
Purple eyes closed for a minute. "Better now. I just realized my PAK is unmistakably defective now. It's high level behavior governors apparently are not functioning at all any more. Probably haven't for years. At least since I nearly went insane on Dirt."
Dib pulled her close to comfort her. A defective PAK was devastating news to an Irken. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she told him. "I'm glad. It's allowing me to consider and do things that I couldn't have before. It least it's not like Zim's PAK which is wholly defective."
Dib pulled away to look down at Tak. She looked up at him. "Dib, you need us defined, don't you? Because humans have so many different kinds of bonding where we Irkens only have one. The things that regulate your behavior is confused at the moment because you have not had your rituals."
He supposed that would be what it looked like from an outside perspective. Tak didn't stop. "You have kept saying that you are trying to do right by me. I didn't understand what that meant before. I do now. It was your way of showing me respect and honoring me as a wounded mate. And a few other things I had no concept of. But I looked some things up today. I think I understand better now."
Oh jeez, Dib thought. "Tak, you didn't have to do that. Gosh, what you must think. I know that to an Irken-"
"Dib, shut up," Tak insisted. "When I bonded to you, my mind was permanently altered. Your biology does not disgust me. It can be disturbing at first, but I adapt quickly." The shorter Irken put both her hands on her taller Human's shoulders. "Dib, you need something clearly defined because of the circumstances we are in. Different worlds have different definitions for what we are. It is confusing you. Let me make it clear for you in human terms."
She looked into his eyes. "When I bonded to you and put on this necklace-" She gestured to the one around her neck. "-you became my Human husband. I may not clearly know what this role entails, but that is what you are. When you accepted me and your bonding necklace, you accepted me as your Irken wife. That is what I am. This fiancée thing is for how your society would see us until your authorities filed their slow paperwork and we had a social recognition ritual. But we are not on Earth and our bonding had nothing to do with their laws. Every other planet recognizes us for what we are, even if you have not completed your own bonding cycle yet. It is okay to have a reaction in your biochemistry when you bathe me. I understand what that can mean to a human now. You don't have to pretend you don't in order to shield me. It is okay to see me dress. It's not wrong to treat me as your wife. I want you to."
Dib took her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Any other Irken would have killed him long ago just for that. But Tak… Tak was different. Tak was bonded to him. Tak was special.
The Irken looked at the ring on her finger. "My Human, I am grateful that you made me your Earthly 'fiancée,' for it was your human way of promising me that you will not abandon me, and that you wish to go through your needed ritual on Earth. But that does not change that we are in an Irken 'marriage,' to use a human term."
Actually, this conversation (or was it a lecture?) answered the question he had sought her out to ask. It was Tunaghost's last suggestion, but it was sound.
"So, I take it you wouldn't mind if we went on a date?" the human asked.
Dib offered Tak his arm. She accepted it and walked with him out the door, turning her back on her native homeworld displayed behind them.
Dib made his arrangements. They were fairly pathetic for a first date, but the couple was on a warship in the vacuum of space. He spread one of their blankets out on the deck plates of their quarters. A container of honey for Tak. A bag of trail mix and dried peaches with a bottle of water for himself. Plus a small human flashlight he had brought along for atmosphere sitting up on the middle of the blanket. French cuisine and candlelight it was not, but it was the best he could do with what he had.
He stood up and examined his last minute handiwork. On a good day, any human girl would probably laugh at this and walk away. And that would be before he opened his fat mouth about his paranormal work and the existence of aliens.
A door opened and someone walked in. He heard Tak's voice. "Mimi. Wait outside the door and make sure we are not disturbed." The door closed as Dib turned to look. He did a double take.
Her holographic human disguise was active, and her bob cut blue hair waved as she moved. Her PAK was still visible as the hologram's ability had deteriorated after her long stay on Dirt. It couldn't extend beyond her skin to include attire, but it worked well enough. This human looking Tak wore the red silky 'woo-a-mate' outfit Gaz had sent along with some other clothes. The backless halter top fit snuggly around her PAK and seamlessly extended down into a knee length skirt.
"Tak what are you-?" Dib started to ask.
"We will be on Earth soon. I will need this appearance most of the time." She paused. "Besides," Tak said quietly, "I wanted to look healthy for our first date. Not like a malnourished 'alien' survivor."
Dib nodded his understanding, and held out his hand for her to join him on the floor.
They ate, talked about technology (Dib on propulsion and sensors, Tak on weapons and counter-weapons), how Dib's day went (awkwardly). He shared a few jokes and Tak even laughed at one or two. The date wore on and snack supplies and conversation topics dwindled.
"Dib?" Tak asked, sitting across from him. The upright flashlight separated them on the blanket. "I need to talk to you about something."
"Sounds kind of ominous," Dib commented. "Does this mean our date is over?"
"I don't want it to be. I like this 'date' thing. But I not sure how to approach you about this."
Dib motioned Tak closer, and the human disguised form slid over and snuggled next to him. She began. "Dib, about this dreaming you've been having-"
Oh god, Dib thought. Not again.
"-I am glad it was of me. It is unIrken of me to think that, but I am. Something within you desires to be my mate. It is true that I did not know what that meant for a human, so I started researching. I discovered why you seemed uncomfortable bathing me, why you kept talking about being detached. Dib, do not worry anymore. You have done well by me, because I was naïve."
"Tak, don't worry about it," Dib said. "It's true the biologic triggers are largely automatic, but it doesn't have to go anywhere. It's a choice, not a requirement. I don't ask anything of you, Tak. I know Irkens don't do that sort of thing. And I've bathed you enough to know you are probably a female drone. It's okay. I can accept-"
He stopped at the intense hurt look in her human looking eyes.
"Dib. I didn't just look into human biology. I examined my own as well. They took my egg sacs. Made me a drone. I got so angry. But then I got jealously angry for you. If they had made smeets with them, I think I would have started an orbital bombardment of Irk."
The human didn't know what to say, but knew any female would have felt such an instinctive violation over such a thing. And Tak had suffered so much already, and was not speaking figuratively about an orbital bombardment. He pulled the disguised Irken closer and placed his chin on her blue holographic hair in comfort.
Tak kept going. "I realized I was jealous because I saw those egg sacs as rightfully yours, Dib. My mate's. But they were destroyed in an accident. Only one exists now, and it was damaged and lost."
"I'm sorry, Tak," Dib told her. And he was. Truly sorry.
"Dib, I made a decision. Perhaps I should have talked to you first, but I went down to Irk to deal with this."
Great. The armada is next door too. I wonder how much of a head start we have? Dib thought. "How bad was it?" he asked.
"It was difficult to pretend to be calm, but the other females were with me. They did all the real effort while I stayed back. The egg sac is registered as destroyed, so no one will go looking for it."
Dib let out a sigh, partly out of relief that Tak hadn't blown up a good chunk of a planet in retaliation, but a large part for the disguised Irken in his arms.
"When I got back, I followed through with my decision. I had the surgery to have it transplanted back where it belongs."
Wait. What? Pause, rewind, attempting playback.
"The egg cell itself was torn, and labeled as unsuitable. It is probably lost already. But the rest of the organ is healthy. However because it is easily ruptured, I am no longer cleared for frontline duty."
Dib finally got some words out. Some new concepts were still catching up. "Tak? You gave up… But all your life… You sacrificed…" He wasn't speaking coherently.
Tak understood anyway. "I know. I'm just a staff officer now. But it's okay, Dib. Lim complemented me that I was elite. I've been waiting for that my whole life. But it didn't mean anything compared to having my egg sac back for my bondmate. I did this for you, Dib. Your biology has been seeking out my egg sac when you sleep. But I can't be receptive."
Dib held her close. "It's alright, Tak."
"I want you to be my husband, Dib. To treat me as your wife, who happens to be Irken. Not like an alien."
"I know Tak. I know. I will. Wait- what are you talking-"
"I did the research. I know the procedure is invasive and will be disturbing at first. I choose to accept this."
Dib pulled away to put some space between them. "Tak? Do you know what you sound like you are asking for?"
Tak reached for his hand. She placed it high on her abdomen. Dib felt something there. Under the slight red cloth, the flesh and muscle fibers that was far too thin to indicate a healthy diet of past years, was a hard knob of an organ.
"That's your-?" he asked.
She nodded. "My egg sac. It rightfully belongs to my bondmate."
"But Tak, I'm from a completely different planet-" Dib started to say.
"Don't you think that is blatantly obvious to me?" Tak said, her eyes watering. "You're an alien too, Dib. You're supposed to be an inferior species. You're not the only one facing issues with this. I'm betraying everything it means to be Irken just by talking to you about this. But to steal and put my egg sac back in my body for my alien bondmate? I shouldn't be doing any of this even if you were Irken!"
"Tak," Dib said softly, placing his other hand in hers. "Are you sure about this? We don't have to. You can change your mind."
Tak's human disguised eyes closed tightly, and Dib felt her abdominal muscles contract under his hand. After another second the knob under his hand softened as he felt a pop vibrate through her thin flesh. She opened her eyes slowly with a slight smile.
"What just happened?" Dib asked. Partly of alarm and partly of fascination.
"I just ruptured my egg sac," Tak explained. "It is now leaking enzymes."
"Are you going to be okay?" Dib asked in concern. Organ rupture did not sound like a good thing.
Tak looked into his eyes warmly. "Yes. But in a little while a section of my abdomen will start to dilate. I am about to go into a mating cycle."
"All this because I had a dream?" Dib asked, a tear in his eye.
Tak gave him a look that said such a pathetically simplistic explanation was ludicrous.
A former enemy alien- no. His Irken wife Tak was sacrificing everything she had previously held dear for him. Because he was her bondmate. Well, there were other reasons too, but he was the big one. He was the reason for deliberately rupturing her egg sac. Dib pulled his wife close.
"But, Tak. I'm not in love with you yet. I mean I will someday, but this is something humans do when they love each-"
Tak gently put a finger on his lips to shut him up. "Dib," she said softly. "I'm Irken. Irkens don't love. We bond. I don't expect us to be the same and somewhere in your brainmeat you know that. We can accept this. As for you, you care for me, show respect for me in a weird human way, tend my mental wounds. You rescued me, and look to my needs everyday. You worry over me. Have shown too much concern to 'do right' by me. What do you call that? If that isn't this 'love' then what is?"
Dib let out a sigh. She was right. "I'm really nervous about this, Tak. It's a major step to take."
Tak rested her forehead on his human nose and wrapped her antennae along his scalp. "I know, Dib," she whispered. "I'm uneasy too. I am the sickest deviant in the history of Irk. But I want this to happen."
Somehow this made Dib feel better, not because of her unease but because he shared in it. "You're not sick, Tak. We're bonded."
They just sat there holding each other on the blanketed deck in their quarters for a minute. "Dib," Tak inquired. "In your dream was I Human or Irken? Because I can keep the hologram on if it makes it easier for your brainmeat to accept this."
He didn't really answer the question. "You can turn it off, Tak."
"Good. You can bathe me then," Tak suggested in a tone he had never heard before. "It will take time for the enzymes to take effect, and I would like to be clean and relaxed when they do."
Oh dear lord. Just where was she looking when she researched this?
PAK maintenance cables retracted and Tak stretched out in their hammock next to Dib, careful not to disturb his sleep and luxuriating in so much skin-on-skin contact. There had been a lot to figure out. They both were clueless on a practical level, not to mention different species. And their experience had been different. Her human seemed to go through something far more intense than herself. But then she had been designed to endure intense long-term combat conditions without batting an eye, so perhaps she was just more resilient.
She had been expecting intrusiveness, invasiveness. To be disturbed. Perhaps to be conquered in some way. But instead of intrusiveness; appeal and welcoming. Instead of invasiveness; joining and tenderness. A closeness beyond comprehension. Rather than disturbing; mere strangeness turning into shared weirdness, then an awkward yet intimate naturalness.
Tak felt within her abdomen the human mating goo left there. She knew that earlier in her life she would most likely have been gutting herself to get the contamination out, or have simply killed herself in disgust for what she had just done with a human. Yet such concepts were also beyond her mental framework now. No longer part of her universe. Tak was happy with her mate's presence within her. Her nerve endings felt they were dancing in contact with the foreign enzymes. It was very pleasant to experience. Pleasant to know they were now a part of each other.
Her immune system would no doubt neutralize the foreign substances within her, but her body would absorb what had been deposited. Instead of making her sick, she was content to think that as making her a tiny part human. Tak knew that wasn't how things worked in real life, but the thought made her feel as one with her mate. She had had enough of anything Irken to last several lifetimes.
Oh, I am truly a sick deviant, she thought to herself. And I'm glad. Why would I want to be normal? This is so much better. The thoughts warmed her soul as memories came back to her.
She groaned softly, thinking about how she just did NOT want to get up so very much. Tak slowly turned and got up out of the hammock, picking up the clothes off of the floor. It would not do to leave things a mess. She put articles back where they belonged. This wasn't Dirt, after all.
A scrubbing with cleansing gel followed. Dib had gotten rather sweaty and had dabbed both of them down with a towel regularly before the moisture became concentrated enough to start to burn her skin. That had slowed things down, but it had added to the experience. But the smell of their mating remained on her, and Tak had a training session soon. It would not be prudent to go in smelling like that.
Tak stepped out of the shower stall and saw the pair of human eyes looking in her direction. She couldn't help but smile as she put on her gray fatigues. "You're not averting your eyes anymore."
"Seems kind of silly to look away now."
They weren't to the point of flirtatious talk on the order of 'do you like what you see' or other such things.
"I'm glad."
"Me too."
Dib sat up on the hammock and let his feet dangle over the floor. "Are you alright?"
"Yes. I feel… right. Whole. You?"
"I feel… different. Good, but different."
"I know what you mean," Tak said as she pulled on her boots. She looked at her mate. It was a wonderful word. With all sorts of subtleties and meanings attached to it. Like a whole new horizon had been opened up to her. She went over and ran her antennae through his hair, taking in his scent. "You can go back to sleep if you want. I'm on duty in ten minutes, but I'll be back soon."
"Tak?" Dib called after her as the Irken approached the door. She paused. "You're not alien to me. Not any more. You're my Irken wife."
Tak beamed at him, his formal acceptance. "And you're my Human husband. Dib, I enjoyed our date. I hope we can go on another soon."
"We will," he smiled at her. "You do know that dating doesn't always lead to… you know." Dib blushed.
Tak blushed as well. "It doesn't mean it can't," she said with a mischievous smile. The Irken stepped through the now open doorway and turned into the corridor as Mimi in her feline holographic form swept into the room.
The door closed as Mimi flowed up and onto the hammock, squinting at Dib as if to say 'What did you DO to my Mistress?'
"Uh, Mimi. I think I've created a monster."
Red eyes blinked.
"She's my mate. I may or may not be in love, but I do love her. I'm thankful she's doing better." He wasn't sure what to say to the SIR unit, but it seemed better than nothing. And it was the truth.
Mimi walked along the hammock slowly, and curled up on the blankets where Tak had been. Red eyes peered at the human, and then closed. Sort of like saying, 'I'm keeping my eye on you, but you'll live. For now,-' Dib startled when the holographic feline head bumped his side. '-Master.'
"Grab! Pivot! Throw! Recover!" Tak hollered. "Again! Grab! Pivot! Throw! Recover!"
She was walking among pairs of Irken crew going through basic hand-to-hand drills. It wasn't complicated, just throws and tumbles to condition soldiers to not only toss an opponent, but also to recover quickly from being thrown themselves. They were in the ship's mess hall, which had been converted into a training area. It was one of the largest compartments not dedicated to ship operations or storage. Not that it was giant, but large enough for fifty Irkens to take turns throwing each other onto the floor.
"You! Spread your feet further apart. Shoulder forward. That's better. Come on, Black Sheep! This may not be invader school, but you're Gaz's Own! I expect more than just adequate from you. And I'm not seeing adequate yet. Again! Grab! Pivot! Throw! Recover!"
Another set of Irkens tumbled onto the deck plates. Tak had elected not to put down excess packing materials on the floor to use as padding. It cluttered up the place, and was a pain to pick up and return all the way back into one of the cargo bays. "All right. That is enough for today. Now get out of my sight!"
Tak left the mess hall and walked down the corridors. She absent-mindedly scratched her belly. The previous sensations of dancing nerve endings had given way to an itching. It was probably just her body adjusting to the recent changes or mending after what she had just put it through. Perhaps it was her egg sac resealing itself as it was supposed to.
Lim caught up to her. "General Membrane. I watched your training session today. I hope that was you in a good mood."
Tak nodded as she continued her walk. "Yes. That was a good mood. My husband planned a date with me. It was… very enjoyable."
"Husband?"
"Human word for the male bondmate. I am his wife." There was a smirk in Tak's eyes.
They walked on a bit farther. Lim wasn't really interested in language lessons. A bondmate was a bondmate whatever you called it. Tak of course knew better.
"Uh, Tak? Are you all right?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You're walking strangely." Lim commented.
"How so?"
"There is this slight swing to your hips when you walk."
Tak pondered this. "I guess I am feeling very female right now." She scratched her belly again.
Lim pulled her aside. "Tak. Did you do what I think you did with your egg sac?"
Tak nodded.
Lim pointed to Tak's belly, which was still being scratched. "What are you doing?"
"It's probably nothing. Just adjusting to the new-" Tak broke off. There was an unusually warm spot under her fingers.
"You're going to the medical bay. You're getting checked out by the bio-technician."
"Lim, it's probably a little infection."
"Get going. If there is something wrong you need to know."
Tak lay once more on the examination table in the medical bay. The technician was fiddling with his controls nearby. No one else was in the compartment. "Technician Pean? You are going to need something to control your nausea."
"What? Why? You are the one-"
"What you are going to find out will disturb you, and probably cause vomiting. You may even desire to see me executed."
"General Tak- I mean Membrane. I have seen a great number of injuries and poisonings that do truly horrific things. I assure you that- wait. Executed?"
"Technician Pean. I'm a bondmate to a human-" Tak began.
"Yes I'm well aware of that. I'm also aware that it was unintentional. The Tallest recognized Zim's bond-"
"Technician!" she interrupted in turn. She took a deep breath. "I'm a true deviant," Tak admitted quietly. "The worst there is. I ruptured my egg sac on purpose and deliberately mated with my human. His biological material is inside me. My husband and I are mating partners now."
The poor technician nearly had a stroke.
After he had put on the biggest anti-vomiting patch his head would support, the technician activated the controls and watched the results come in through his fingers as his hand was covering his face in a vain attempt to shield his eyes. Scanning arms hovered around Tak.
"Ugh. The… umph… egg sac has been resealed, but the temperature is elevated. There is no organ damage or deterioration by the… hgmp… contamination. The… urp… goo has mostly dissipated and the heat generated by your egg sac is dissolving the rest- Oh. My. Tallest. What are THOSE?"
"What?" Tak cried in concern.
"THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"
"What? Where?"
"Most are decayed, or failing rapidly, but… but… OH MY EYES!"
"What is it?" Tak yelled at the technician.
"That's not goo!" The technician activated a display so Tak could see. She looked and saw a biological version of a space battle. It looked like swarms of missiles were attacking a superdreadnought at point blank range but were failing miserably.
She had done research, but not down to the cellular level! She looked at the technician with wide eyes. Tak knew what that giant mass on the display was.
Most alien species had genetic goo which an egg cell absorbed if the genes were compatible. That was it. But what kind of physiology developed something like this? It was almost Irken-like. The tactician in Tak saw the purpose of cellular torpedoes designed to seek out, target, intercept and attempt to penetrate the defenses of cells in order to deliver their genetic payload.
The few little missiles remaining were decaying very rapidly. It was an environment they were not designed to exist in after all.
The technician fiddled with the instruments before him. "Tak. Your body is killing them off. They cannot survive to infect your organs, and I do not believe they will infect your genetic code. Scanning deeper… The egg sac is unaffected except for the temperature, which is disinfecting the area. A few more minutes the foreign bodies will be exterminated."
More scanning. "The egg is still not viab-" the technician stopped in mid-sentence. "The damage to the cellular wall has been healed. I can see the scar. This is not my field, but it seems the egg has repaired itself within the last few hours, and the invader's enzymes are not compatible to cross the barrier." There was a pause as readings were cross-checked. "The temperature anomaly is puzzling. There is no sign of infection, so what is causing your egg sac to- wait a minute. The egg is emitting heat. Much higher than normal Irken cells. The sac is just containing it."
The technician looked up from his displays and at Tak. "The cell should still be inert. This has been activated."
Tak's mind exploded in a thousand different directions at one. How? was foremost on her mind, but for a second. The cell had been torn, but was mending rather than dying off. Like a hull breach on a ship, surrounded by missiles seeking to penetrate otherwise impervious defenses. One slipped through the breach before containment could be restored, and the egg responded like it was supposed to by activating it's metabolism and burning up any surrounding goo before too much genetic material could be absorbed.
"Tak," the technician said. "You don't have to worry. The egg won't get very far. The genetic code must be a complete mess. It's not possible to- I mean it will self-destruct before long."
Dib stepped out of the shower stall. He had managed to doze off some, but it wasn't any real sleep. He grabbed a towel, dried off and slipped on a pair of shorts.
"What?" he asked Mimi, who was watching him.
She glared back at him as if saying 'That is one unimpressive body.'
Dib picked up a shirt to put on when the ship-wide communications kicked on. "Dib! Dib, help me!" It was Tak's voice, flooded with emotions. None of them good. Panic, fear, anxiety, bewilderment, disorientation. Hurt. So much hurt and trepidation. "I need you, Dib. I need you nooooow!"
Dib hurled himself out of his quarters and down the hall in only his shorts, with Mimi zipping from side to side ahead of him.
"Tak, you need to be sedated," came a voice over the communications. Followed by a crash. "Security to the medical bay." Communications cut out.
Medical. She's in medical.
Fear filled Dib as well. Something was wrong with Tak. We were reckless, he thought. What were we thinking? We both knew better. We both could have gone into anaphylactic shock right away. He felt at fault for whatever was now ailing her. He had to get to her.
Irkens scattered before him through the ship's corridors with Mimi streaking along side him. They all had heard that distressed cry from one bondmate calling out to the other. Even if he was human, no Irken was insane enough to remain in that path.
He reached the medical bay to find five Irkens in body armor trying to restrain Tak. Her spider legs were extended and all eight limbs, both natural and cybernetic, were in a freewheel martial dance with her opponents. Dib had seen this state often in Gaz. Tak was in the zone. The bio-technician was out cold on the deck with a sedative patch plastered on his face. One Irken in body armor was thrown across the room, then another. Both jumped back up and into the fray.
"Tak!" Dib yelled into the doorway. He didn't know what was going on, but Tak was in the medical bay for a reason. This needed to stop before either Tak was injured further or killed someone. "Mimi! Secure this room, NOW!"
Mimi dropped her holographic disguise and launched herself into the room. Moments later Irkens in light armor were hurled one after another into the corridor, and Mimi stood in the middle of the room with weapon ports open. Blaster cannon, particle beam emitters, small anti-personnel missiles and even several of what looked like knife versions of a chainsaw. It was enough firepower to punch a hole through the armor plates of Doomwind's outer hull. And they were no where near the outer hull. No one was coming though that door except Dib.
Dib rushed to Tak, who's spider limbs retracted. She sat heavily on the floor. "Tak! What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Tak just looked at him. She looked lost, now that she was no longer threatened and near her mate.
Beed and Lim arrived outside in the corridor. "What on IRK is going on down here?" he asked.
Dib nodded to Mimi to allow them to enter the compartment. "I don't know. I just got here."
Beed pointed to the Irkens outside wearing body armor. "You! I want this section clear. You got that?" The Irkens acknowledged and trotted off to ward off foot traffic as Lim moved to pull the patch off of the bio-technician and helped to revive him.
"Tak, talk to me." Dib pleaded "You called for me. I came, Tak. Please. Tell me what's wrong!"
"Dib?" Tak asked in a daze. "Our egg. It… it… it was torn. I.. I don't how to handle it."
Dib examined Tak's expression and her eyes. They seemed unfocused and confused. Running on pure instinct.
Apparently Tak had lost the egg. She had told him it had been damaged and would not last long.
"Oh, Tak. I'm so sorry you lost it." She had so much taken from her, and every time she got a little back, something more was taken. "I'll help you through this. You know I will."
The bio-technician groggily sat up. "I just advised the General that it can't survive once it begins dividing and that it should be removed and disposed of as soon as possible," he told Lim.
Wait. What? Can't survive? Divide? Dib thought.
Tak on the other hand had a million things competing in her crowded mind. Half of which she was not able to process. Three things had priority. Her mate, her bond, her doomed egg.
And something Zim had said during one of her communications.
'They have many different kinds of bonding. Usually only one for mates, but also several for those considered their family unit… but their strongest is for their offspring.'
"… the cell wall mended, but some genetic material must have gone through the breach before it sealed. The egg cell is active," the technician kept saying.
Tak reached out to take Dib's hand, and brought it to her abdomen. He felt that knob under her flesh. There was a warmth there that wasn't there before.
And in that moment, Dib's entire universe shrunk down to three points of light. Himself, Tak, and a little bundle of warmth within her resting under his hand.
Tak was pregnant.
When that little spark of life started to replicate, half of it would need water to live. The other half would need to do without to survive. Two mutually exclusive requirements. And that was just one thing.
It wouldn't survive long.
"Dib?" Tak spoke weakly. Even at her top form, she was never designed to cope with this.
The plea spoke volumes in a single word. She wasn't ready or equipped to deal with this, but losing the egg, this part that was two bondmates combined, could shatter her mind.
"Is there something that can be done?" Dib asked no one in particular.
"We can't save it, if that's what you mean," the technician said. "We don't have the expertise, the equipment or anything. We'd have to go to the smeet factories. And the instant anyone discovered this, you would all be executed. It would be better to remove-"
"MIMI!" Dib commanded. The robot saluted. "If any Irken speaks about removing or disposing of" Dib spoke the words with venom "our child, put them in an empty room and weld the door shut!"
The room went silent. The Human had given an order and the SIR unit accepted it. Harming a bondmate and the potential results were almost legendary. But now they were regarding a bondmate with a damaged mate and doomed smeet. The nearby Irkens didn't think the entire universe combined could hold off the retribution if someone tried to harm that doomed egg. Even if he was human, he was a bondmate.
"Lim, order Communications to go silent. I don't want word of this getting off the ship," Beed commanded. Lim turned to an computer terminal to relay the orders.
Tak looked into Dib's eyes. He looked into her's. The rest of them may have come up empty, but he knew one person who had been making unnatural lifeforms for years. Who made laser weasles, napalm squirrels, giant hamsters, mutant rats and hypnotic chickens in vain attempts to conquer his homeworld. And was such a maniac that he wouldn't even think twice about if it was possible. And just happened to be Governor of the world set aside for endangered species.
"Tak, do you want this?"
Tak began to speak. There was hope in Dib's eyes. "Dib, I only have one bond. Humans are different. Your strongest is for your smeets. Don't leave me behind."
It wasn't well spoken, but Dib understood. Tak was afraid. She was bonded and was biologically dependent on him. She was afraid for his bond to her, but also for the egg. Irkens didn't have families. They didn't have offspring. Just one bondmate. Tak was afraid Dib had not finalized his human bond with her, and would be left behind when he bonded with the life within her. She was afraid of being abandoned in favor of his child. And Tak could not survive without her bondmate.
He was in survival mode and reality hadn't really caught up to him yet. He had other priorities. Tak and a new little life. Reality could hit him later.
"Tak, my bond with you can become stronger in this. Our baby is our bond. Nothing will ever change that. Even if we lose the egg, we have this between us. You and I are one now."
Tak nodded. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Some of stress, some of relief, some of things she didn't have names for. Dib's own emotions were in another time zone, but his mind was going into overdrive.
He turned to the bio-technician. "How long do we have?"
"Perhaps two hours until division starts. I don't know."
"Mimi, go to our quarters. Put the bare minimum Tak will need in her ship and whatever you can cram in the back in ten minutes. I'm guessing that will be the PAK maintenance unit."
Dib turned to Beed. "Zim could help us. I need Tak's ship ready to fly right now, and a message sent to Gaz."
"The hypergate is on the inner orbit of Irk's first moon. We're still orbiting the third. It's at least twenty minutes out right now, and we only have approximate coordinates for Earth. And both Zim and Gaz are still in their 'skool.'"
"We need Computer to relay a message anyway," Dib stated. "He can fine tune the coordinates for us."
Gaz sat in class. The teacher was droning on about something stupid she already knew. Another hour and then she and Zim would have detention for their part in the Cafeteria Incident. Her GameSlave 4 began beeping a certain tone. Whatever it was wasn't good. Computer never interrupted her during skool. She discreetly pulled it out of her backpack and read the message on the screen. Her eyes went wide.
Urgent- Urgent- Urgent- From Doomwind: Medical Emergency: Critical. Tak pregnant. Egg cell can't survive long once replicating. Tak's ship requests emergency recall via hypergate direct to Zim's base. ETA fifteen minutes from your mark. Will send after-action reports when available.
Gaz- I'm the father. Need Zim to save our baby. Don't know if she can take this loss. I'm not ready to lose both a child and a wife. Please. I beg you. Help us. -Dib
[Approve?]
Dib always annoyed her, and had often gotten himself in trouble in his pursuit of Zim. But this plea. This was different. Gaz mashed down a button and there was a beep.
"Gaz! Pay attention."
"I just realized I have a doctor's appointment." Dib owed her big time. But it was the only excuse that would get both her and Zim out of skool. Unfortunately it would confirm the false rumors about her 'condition'. Any other excuse was liable to be debated. "I'm scheduled for a, uh, prenatal checkup. And I forgot it was today. I can't miss it. Unless of course the skool wants me to risk a miscarriage and get sued."
She didn't wait for the teacher's permission. Gaz just ran out of the classroom with all the whispering and down the hall. Fifteen minutes wasn't a lot of time to grab Zim and get to his base. She opened another door and stuck her head inside.
"Zim! I forgot we have a doctor's appointment today. We need to leave right now."
"Wait just a minute, Miss Membrane! Why does Zim have to take you to the doctor? Can't you drive yourself?" Zim's teacher asked the interrupting Gaz.
"That's Mrs. Membrane, and I need Zim to take me because he's the one who put this bundle in me in the first place and he's going to take responsibility. Now MOVE IT, Zim!"
Nobody was going to argue with a hot-tempered Gaz 'mood wing.' It seemed the incorrect rumors about her could be useful. They ran out into the parking lot and got into her Jeep.
Zim looked at her rather confused. "Gaz-blossum, you are sick? Why go to a pathetic human doctor when we have the medical lab at my base?"
She tossed him her GameSlave to read the message. "There is nothing wrong with me, Zim. But Tak and Dib need us at your base."
Zim read the message. "Why should Zim help clean up their stupidity?"
Gaz gunned the Jeep and it roared off of skool campus. "Zim, I know you kept the smeet design you showed me in Computer's databanks. I could have said something to cause you to think that I wanted her growing in the smeet chamber we were given." She pointed to the message. "One misspoken word and that could have been us. That might even be us someday. If we had a smeet in trouble, what would you do?"
Probably something a bit extreme.
Lim stood next to Beed on the bridge of Doomwind. Engines were now powering up to full and the vessel was sliding forward and up above the ecliptic. An announcement was broadcasting. "All personnel prepare for maneuvering. This is not a drill. Secure all stations."
"Beed," Lim whispered. "This is wild and you know it."
"I know," he whispered back. In his previous 'career' as a logistics specialist, aka delivery pilot, his life had been all about getting a package from one place to another in the least amount of time regardless of what may go wrong. Setbacks required shortcuts to be taken. "But you were a logistics specialist too. You know we've all wanted to try something like this. Besides, they don't have time and this is a critical objective. Just get me a new orbital parking slot closer to the hypergate for when this is over."
"Understood. FTL field generators spun up and standing by. Opening launch bay twenty three."
Tak sat in Dib's lap and both were strapped in as they watched the launch bay doors open to space. Mimi was down at their feet under the control panel of Tak's ship. The Irken went through the steps of powering up the craft while Dib's held her tightly. As if his arms were another set of safety straps.
No, he was clutching them tightly. His five-fingered hand held tightly to the warm spot in her abdomen. As if the egg sac could fall out of her and roll around on the floor. She had recovered enough to be able to function on a sort of autopilot, relying solely on the training and experiences of her previous life before Dirt.
She was practically robotic, like she didn't know how to respond to events. In truth, she didn't. Tak looked over her shoulder at her human mate's eyes. He was in the same state. He looked back.
"Tak, we both know you're the pilot in the family. Not me. Your ship doesn't have a real AI. I can't do this manually. You can. Just focus on the immediate task at hand. Breathe deep, let it out."
If she was more herself, Tak probably would have snarled at Dib for treating her like a fresh trainee. But just as she was focusing her energy into piloting skills to keep from being overwhelmed, he was focused on keeping her that way to hold off the tsunami of reality that would hit him soon enough.
Tak took a deep cleansing breath and let it out, resetting the power grid to pour nearly everything into propulsion, maneuvering control and the inertial dampening field.
The controller acknowledged the incoming signal. "Hypergate control. Go ahead."
The voice came back. "This is Governor Zim and Lady Gaz's vessel Doomwind, Black Sheep Prime."
Great, another governor's ship making demands, the controller thought. Wait. Did he say Governor Zim? Black Sheep Prime? He felt a chill. Zim, the devastator and one-man plague of any Irken who had the misfortune of being on the same planet with him. And a Prime designation indicated the commander of that particular governor's personal unit. He spoke with his governor's voice if he used that callsign. And anyone who signed on with Zim and his human bondmate had to be unbalanced in his brainmeat.
"Go ahead Doomwind." What came next gave him chills.
"We are declaring a medical emergency and are usurping the next slot for a long range subspace jump. One small craft. Clear all traffic in front of the hypergate and approach vector two-one-six at once."
You did not want the concepts 'unbalanced,' 'Governor's Own,' and 'emergency' to ever be anywhere near the opening of any verbal interaction during your work shift. And you really did not want the name Zim mentioned on the same day of such a thing.
"Doomwind. Confirm request. Did you say clear all outgoing traffic?"
"Confirm. We are on a least time course and will not be able to stop for any obstacles."
In other words they were going to run over any ship in their way. The supervisor instructed his subcontrollers to redirect traffic. "Understood. Traffic is being cleared. Hypergate is powering up. Tell us your destination so we can look up the coordinates."
"Your coordinates are not accurate enough. The craft will be jumping directly into Earth's atmosphere. Transmitting manual coordinates for you in five seconds."
One of the Irkens below him hissed. "Did he say, into the planet's atmosphere? But, but that's insane." Usual practice was to sling a vessel to about ten light-minutes from the target destination. Roughly the distance from Earth to it's sun. Two light minutes was considered risky given no one could see what traffic or space junk could be around the planet. But practically onto the planet's surface?
The supervising controller directed the incoming navigational coordinates into the hypergate's control computers. "Doomwind, coordinates received and loaded. We do not have you within our approach pattern or traffic control scans. What is your location?"
"We have just left orbit of the third moon and will be going into FTL velocity in twelve seconds."
"Are they mad?" came a cry.
The control supervisor cringed. A ship was coming at them at interstellar speed. Whatever was going on over there screamed something beyond urgent. And fit with what little he knew of a Governor's Own unit dealing with a threat of some kind. For them, the concept 'all options are on the table' meant something different than to most sane people. They took it far more literally.
He looked out of his viewport. There was nothing out there. Then for a fraction of a moment too short to process, a long blur that reached across the starscape and a very large vessel seemed to materialize out of empty space as it momentarily tapped it's FTL field generators for a split second. It's sublight engines were blazing as it moved forward.
"Capital class vessel! Battle cruiser mass!" cried a report. "I thought they said small craft!"
"It's off the approach axis!" came another. "It's turning!"
Doomwind banked and turned with all the grace and speed of an office building. But the vessel did it, presenting the ship's broadside to the hypergate at close range. A small craft blasted out of one of the open ports running along the side of the ship like roundshot out of a cannon. The controller watched in a mixture of awe and dismay as the tiny craft hurled toward the aperture of the high tech slingshot awaiting to fling it across subspace to it's destination in the blink of an eye.
"Sir! That ship's power! Sensors, even life support. Everything! Its all channeled into maneuvering and propulsion!"
As the Doomwind curved up and away from the area, the little craft began to rotate. They were going into the hypergate backward. Somehow the controller knew. Someone of vital importance was dying on that ship and this was an all-or-nothing effort to save them. He had a suspicion that a bondmate had to be involved.
The little craft's engines flared even more. They were using their main engines in a maximum power braking maneuver as the energy of the hypergate grabbed the ship and it vanished in a blink of light, presumably straight into Earth's atmosphere.
The controller, amazed at what he had just witnessed, wished them well. Whoever they were.
He turned to his staff. "We will not be lodging a complaint over this incident. Return to normal operations."
"Hypergate control. This is Doomwind. Medical craft has reached its destination. Returning to parking orbit now."
The control supervisor gazed at the departing form of that capital ship. He almost felt sorry for anyone who had to go up against those people on that outdated and obsolete vessel. They were obviously crazy, but they could pull off things no other Irken would even dream of trying.
Tak struggled to keep her ship on course as it fell backwards ten miles up above the Earth. Fire and superheated gases swept around the craft, past the clear canopy and trailed behind their path. The engines whined with all the power the ship had. But they were slowing.
She felt the human arms around her as she handled the controls. Holding her tight as G forces built up. This was insane, what they were doing. But a part of her was beginning to understand. Technically speaking Dib didn't have to be here, taking these risks. But he did. He had to be here, with her. With- with her smeet.
There were no words to convey the concepts. A Human's strongest bond was with their offspring, and now she was beginning to understand what that meant. It didn't overshadow Dib's bond to her. It completed it. Expanded it to include someone more important than either bondmate, for that little cell they were putting everything on the line for was both of them combined.
Because of that, if the humans started using their brainmeats and rose to their intelligence potential rather than going about their lives like a bunch of sleepwalkers, this planet would be the most dangerous hornet's nest in the universe if the wrong person poked their nose into it.
Tak's ship continued to fall and slow. The fire and superheated gasses dissipated, and the edges of the ship's hull cooled to below glowing hot. The ship rotated once more a quarter mile above the planet's surface. The roof of Zim's base opened and Tak's ship landed heavily, but adequately, where the Voot Cruiser was normally parked.
As the roof closed overhead, Dib released the straps as Tak opened the canopy. He picked her up and jumped out of the cockpit with Mimi's feline form close behind as Zim and Gaz appeared on the rising lift platform. Neither Dib nor Tak had ever been so glad to see him before. Of course they had never been glad to see Zim before, but still…
Mimi finished tying Gir to one of the defense gnomes. Both were in disguise out in the front yard. Their owners had wanted them out of the way for a time.
"I wuvs youuu." Gir said, strapped to a gnome.
Mimi's eyes said 'And you are the biggest idiot I have ever had the misfortune of meeting.'
Mimi stood guard to make sure Gir did not escape and cause something to explode, including himself.
Gir hugged Mimi. "Do you want a tuna cupcake?"
Argh! How did he get loose? Gir's head spun around from the slap of her holographic paws.
"Zim, can you…" a distraught Dib stood by Tak's side as she lay on a table in the medical lab.
She was unconscious with a tiny incision over where her egg sac was located. Small and strange looking probes were lodged inside the cut and guided by Zim's hands. He read results from a nearby display. Gaz stood leaning up against a wall, waiting.
Zim looked at his long time adversary and brother-in-law. "The cell has not yet divided. Zim is using cooling rods to slow down the metabolism. The cell as a whole is fine, but the genetic encoding structure is a mess. This was not supposed to happen naturally."
Dib looked down at Tak and ran a hand along her brow and back to an antenna. "I know. Can you do anything to save it?"
"It will be extensive. The egg must be extracted and nanosurgery performed. The genes will need to be removed and resequenced. Dib-stink. The DNA must be almost completely taken apart and rebuilt. Humans and Irkens are just too different."
"But the one you designed for Gaz-" Dib started.
Zim interrupted. "Is a wholly artificial construct in a computer simulation. It would be engineered much like a piece of equipment from raw materials. Not by a natural process. This-" he indicated Tak with his hand "- is utterly different."
Dib sighed in defeat. "I understand."
"But it's not impossible."
The human looked at Zim.
"There are two options. Remove the genetic code and construct a new one based on what it would be if the two halves were compatible. Half Irken, half Human. The other will be to remove the incompatible sections and replace them with donor material from either you or Tak. But the encoding would probably either be almost all Human or Irken. Not equal portions."
"It wouldn't be a clone?" Dib asked.
"No. A piece of it would still be made up of both genetic codes. Just not much of what was originally there for one of you."
Dib knew what his decision would be. "Can you pull this off?"
"With the greatness that is ZIM? Do you really have to ask?"
"Yes. Your plans don't often work out the way you think they will."
Zim glared at the human. "Only because you get in the way. But you will recall that Zim's production of unnatural creatures is very successful."
He had a point.
"Then use Tak a donor to fill in what it needed," Dib told Zim. "And when you are done, put it back in her egg sac." He doubted a mostly human embryo with a need for water could thrive in an Ikren egg sac or smeet chamber. But Irkens needed PAKs to survive.
"Zim, about a PAK-"
The Irken looked at him. "Zim knows. Zim did not wish one for his simulated smeet. But that was designed to function without one. This- this is unknown. Zim will do his best, but her intelligence may be quite limited for an Irken. Maybe even for a human. Time will have to tell."
He stepped away from the table to let Zim get to work. "Zim? It's a girl?"
"It is a cell. But it is encoded to be female."
Dib stepped away and Gaz joined him, guiding her brother back upstairs to the living room. "It will be alright. You'll see," she said.
The couple sat on Zim's couch. They were holding hands, yet staring blankly ahead. Now that they were no longer in crisis mode, reality was catching up to them. Occasionally one would come up for air long enough to give the other's hand a comforting squeeze. To let the other know they weren't alone in this.
"Dib?" Gaz softly called out from the entry to the kitchen. "Why don't you and Mimi take Tak's ship home? I'll bring her along in my Jeep. She's been through a lot and needs a place to rest."
Dib followed the instructions glassy eyed. Gaz had to remind Tak to activate her disguise before going outside. Before they left, Dib and Tak looked at Zim. "Thank you for saving our baby," Dib told his former enemy. Tak merely nodded her head, any sign of hostility no longer present.
Tak in her human disguise lay in Dib's bed. Dib sat next to the bed holding her three-fingered hand. "How are you holding up?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said. "Am I really going to have a smeet?" Tak knew the answer, but still needed to ask the question.
"We're having a little girl," Dib said. "We're going to be parents." It hardly seemed real to him either.
"If she isn't intelligent- If there is something wrong with her brainmeat without a PAK-"
"She will still be our girl and she will be amazing," Dib told his shaken Irken wife.
He was shaken too, but humans had been having kids since there had been humans around. Irkens had not. Tak was probably the first in several centuries at least. If this was scary for him, what must it be like for her? She needed his comfort too much for him to get lost in his own thoughts as well.
"Will you still take me on dates?" she asked. "After all this, are we still… mating partners?"
Dib smiled and kissed her hand. The one wearing her ring. "Of course."
There was a knock from the open door. Gaz was standing there with her overnight bag. Dib got up and walked her down the stairs into the living room.
Gaz turned to him. "You know, not long ago you wouldn't have been caught dead doing any of this. Or would be trying to expose them. You would have chosen Earth over everything else. Whatever that means. But now you sleep next to an Irken each night. Accepted her into your life. Take loving care of her. Started a family with an Irken. Even trusted Zim to save your baby for you. Told him to repair her genes; to be mostly Irken because that gave your kid the best chance to be born."
His sister put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Dib. You weren't stupid for once."
"I got her pregnant."
"She's your wife. It happens. But you didn't lose it when you needed to keep your head on straight. Didn't sacrifice your baby's life in an effort to make her mostly human. I'm not sure you could have done that in the past. That's why your not stupid. Just make sure you stay that way."
They regarded each other for a moment. Then backed off because it was too weird.
"Listen, Dib. I'm going to Zim's for the night. You and Tak need alone time together with all of this. You've had your whole lives turned upside down and it will never be the same."
"Thanks. We really need it."
"Listen, Dib. When the baby comes, I think it might be a good time for me to move in with my husband. Your girl could have my room. I guess it depends on how long until the due date."
Dib didn't say anything.
"But I guess that is something to consider in the future."
Gaz turned for the door.
Dib spoke up. "Uh, Gaz? Be careful. You know…"
Gaz looked over her shoulder. Dib wasn't protesting anything. Forbidding anything. He knew that she was married. Was much farther along in building her relationship with Zim than he was with Tak. That she loved that alien and Zim loved her in his own crazy way. That one day she would have a child with Zim and maybe several. Everyone at skool already believed one was on the way. He just was expressing that he didn't want her to have a scare like he just had. Just because Zim and Gaz couldn't conceive naturally didn't mean something couldn't go very wrong.
"I will," she said. "Zim and I, well, we're more closed off than you are. Sort of like a pair of porcupines, I guess. Plus I would have to have the 'birds and the bees' discussion with my Irken husband, and I'm not looking forward to that anytime soon. You know he can be a bit clueless."
She turned once more for the door and paused before turning back around. "Dib? Thanks. For respecting that it's my choice."
Gaz stood in the medical lab. Zim wandered inside. "Zim has to go to the new base. Two more of your primitive aircraft are available for modification. It disgusts me that this is Tak's plan, yet Zim is the one who has to do the work."
"How is it going?" she asked, not looking at him. Zim had been very busy the past few days.
"Two demonstration examples are complete. The rest are waiting for the main shipments of parts to start arriving. However Zim refuses to fly such primitive contraptions."
Zim walked over and stood next to his human wife. They remained there for a few moments. "Why are we staring at the smeet chamber?" he asked.
"I'm just thinking," she replied. "Tak's situation, the rumors at skool. It just brought some things up, you know."
Zim just nodded. It did indeed.
Gaz opened up some more. "I have to admit that part of me wants to say 'why not.' We're married, have resources to live upon. Everyone at skool only thought I was expecting until today when I used it as an excuse to get us out of skool early."
Even though both knew that the other thought of having offspring in the future, they had never openly talked about it.
"You wish this to happen also?" Zim asked. It was a tricky subject. Caution was warranted to not provoke Gaz.
"I do," Gaz told her Irken husband. "But not right now. I have the rest of this year and another after that before I'm out of skool. Plus we have all these other things going on and almost two hundred Irkens to get settled soon. When we do this, I want to be smart about it."
She paused to ponder for a moment. "But I see all these projects and demands on our lives and where would we fit a smeet in at all? I don't want that to happen either."
Gaz sighed. Zim took a hand. "Gaz-blossom. You are divided?"
"Yeah," she said with another sigh. "It's part of being human."
They didn't say anything for awhile. Just stood there.
"Zim?"
"Yes, Gaz-blossom?"
"When we do, have kids I mean, I don't want to use the smeet chamber."
"That will mean risks, discomfort and-"
Gaz interrupted. "I know what it would mean. It's what I want."
She paused again to think some more. "Zim?"
"Yes?" he asked.
"I want you to use my eggs. And my DNA inside them. I don't want our smeets to be completely built by Computer. I know they have to be engineered, but I would like them to be as natural as they can be. Half you, half me."
"That will be more difficult, but is no challenge for ZIM!" He raised his arms in the air, but only half-heartedly, as if in jest. He smiled. She smiled back.
"Can one still be her?" Gaz asked. She was referring to the half Irken girl stored as a genetic simulation in Computer's memory.
Zim nodded.
"I'm glad. I want her to be my firstborn."
The couple stood there for several more minutes. Not so much looking at the smeet chamber, but just being together.