Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Year! I guess you could say this new chapter is my New Year's present to you guys. Happy 2020!

We're going to stick with Tenn for a few chapters before going bak to Purple.

Shades of Purple

Chapter 23- The Next Step.

Now that she was free, Tenn realized she had a big dilemma: she had nowhere to go. Most of this part of the universe was within Irken Imperial space. Every second she spent in it increased the chances of being recaptured and brought back to Tallest Purple. She doubted he'd be thrilled with her. The idea of what he'd do if he caught her in his constructive grasp again sent shivers down her spine; she was aware of what Tallest Purple was capable of to get what he wanted.

Despite these worries, Tenn found herself laughing. It's been a while since she was this happy ever since Dren… no more Purple. No more childish fits nor suffocating escorts, nor being treated like a trophy wife, no more of his caresses and passionate-

Tenn shook her head. Damn it, why did she just…?

Anyhow, she better find somewhere to stop by while she decided what to do next. Thankfully, her radar showed there was a nearby space station a few light-years away. Tenn pressed a few buttons, activating the warp drive and shortening her trip via hyperspace travel.

The large, gray, and spiraling space station came into view shortly after. It was noticeably big, but it still didn't compare to the Massive. Tenn saw a few ships coming in and out of the intergalactic structure. Judging by its shape and design, Tenn could tell that this colony didn't use actual energy to travel, but relied on the gravitational pull of passing stars to meander through the galaxy. What was its name? Tenn took a look in the interweb for any information…

The Indra

One of the many space stations within the Crimson Edge galaxy, and of the few which are considered neutral territory. Additionally, it's one of the many manufacturers of the Sweets 4 Smeets* brand, known to provide fudge products for smeets. This has made the station a popular spot for Irkens with natural-born smeets.

Ever since the beginning of Operation Impending Doom 2, Indra has received many refugees from conquered planets, causing a big deal of overpopulation within the space station. This in turn has led to revolts, interspecies conflicts, and worker shortage. It's the perfect place for the black market to prosper if you know where to look.

A black market, huh? It might be better than a regular shop where any Irken soldier can quickly interrogate the shopkeeper. With that in mind, Tenn landed her ship in the shadier area of the Indra. There were lots of run-down ships parked in that place, some belonging to legitimate businesses. At the same time, others only pretended to but were actually carrying illegal stuff or even potential slaves taken from conquered worlds. Tenn parked between two Sweets 4 Smeets cargo ships in the process of being loaded.

Tenn donned a cloak to leave the ship and move around. She might not be in Irken-controlled space, but she was still in danger. This place was reeking with alien species enslaved by the Irken Empire, all of them craving Irken blood. If they were to find out who she was, there would be trouble, and the last thing she wanted was to bring attention to herself. She had to get what she wanted and then get out of here ASAP.

The black market was just like she expected it: dirty, dimly-illuminated, and overcrowded. Shady-looking aliens, some of them wearing cloaks just like her, moved through the streets shooting dirty looks at each other. The shops and stores had no signs nor anything that indicated what they sold unless the merchandise was exposed outside in small tables. Tenn passed by an area that sold slaves: people stolen from their homeworlds, conquered or not, old and young, and sold at auctions. Tenn didn't feel sorry for them: Irkens felt no sympathy for inferior races, not even for their own kind.

Tenn wandered around the place, looking for any shops that might sell ship parts. As she moved through the area, she made sure to avert her gaze from the passersby. The Invader knew how it worked. Something as simple as a look might get her the wrong kind of attention. So she focused on her path, ignoring any attempts to draw her closer until she found the type of shop she was looking for.

The air reeked of fuel and ship oil. Tenn was grateful for her lekku being hidden under a hood; otherwise, the smell would have been unbearable. There were lots of ship parts in there, be it from small items such as gears or wires to engines, propulsors, and warp drives.

Tenn frowned. Most of the merchandise was old and run-down. A few were literally resting in pieces and beyond repair. The few pieces that were in good condition were the most expensive ones. It made Tenn wonder if exposing the unusable ones was a sort of tactic from the seller to prompt customers to have the nice stuff.

Most of the parts were meant for old spaceship models, but she recognized a few of newer, more advanced designs such as the drak splitter or the stardust dancer. Tenn regretfully left the shelf and went towards the shopkeeper: an Insecta.

Insecta, known as 'Bugs' amongst most species, look like huge roaches, as their name implies. Hailing from a planet they refer to as The Hive, they are known to be aggressive, short-tempered, and to thrive on the decay of other species*. Perhaps this is why they got nicely along with Irkens, who were partly bug-like themselves. In fact, Tallest Annok signed a treaty with the Queen of this species cycles ago. In exchange for pure sugar and snacks with high contents of it, the Insecta would act as informants and saboteurs for the Irken Empire.

Tenn, though, was not precisely a fan of this species, mainly because they weren't brilliant. They depend entirely on their Queen for functioning, and even with the little amount of free will they have, they are barbaric and dangerously reckless. In the personal, Tenn had no patience for such type of people. She'd rather deal with fully sentient people.

"What's an Irken doing all the way here?" the bug asked in a deep, raspy voice. Tenn sighed. Guess Insecta could recognize their own kin… sort of.

"I need a warp drive," Tenn said simply.

"What kind of ship?"

"Voot runner."

The bug coughed, or was it a chuckle? It's hard to tell. "That piece of crap?"

"Tell that to me," Tenn murmured. "Look, do you have anything or not?"

"I might have the thing you're looking for, lady Irken…" the bug hissed in a low voice, leaning in further so his antennae could lift her hood a bit. "If you ask me nicely."

The realization of what he was implying brought unpleasant memories of Purple. This spiked Tenn's already sensitive temper; the Invader yanked the bug by the antennae as hard as she could and pulled him closer, glaring into his wide yellow eyes.

"Touch me, and you won't taste a grain of sugar ever again," she growled, baring her teeth.

This seemed to scare the bug into submission. "Now that I think about it, I do happen to have a spare one."

Satisfied, Tenn finished her shopping and left the area, but she didn't head back to her ship just yet. She still had to decide which place to next, after all. Besides, it's been a while since Tenn had actually hung out by herself, so the Invader chose to stay a little bit longer. Not to mention it's been a while since she actually ate something; she had given the bug all the sweets Lena packed as payment since she was down on monies right now.

She headed for the more beautiful part of the station where the Sweets 4 Smeets place was located. Her squeedly-spooch growled as she took in all the pleasant smells coming from the buffets. But since her 'all-powerful husband' wasn't here to get her free food, so Tenn had to conform herself with a vort dog and blorch sticks from a cheaper food stand.

While waiting in the line, Tenn realized that some of the people ahead in the front were Meekrob or Sobrekt. Panicking, she quickly covered half of her face with a scarf and tried to wrap herself in her cloak. If either of those species realized she was an Irken, there would be trouble. But she also saw a chance to hear a bit about the war and how things were going. Tenn subtly raised her lekku beneath her hood to listen to what they were saying.

"...true that your planet fell? We thought it was just a rumor." a kryvtor said.

"No, it is true." the Meekrob's voice sounded sad. "Meekrob has fallen to the Irken Empire."

"How did it happen? You held your own against the Irken Empire for a long time."

"How do you think? An Invader crippled all of our defenses! By the time we realized what was going on, there was nothing we could do."

"I'm sad to hear that. While our people didn't interact much, we Sobrekt admired Meekrob's determination, and the Irken Empire considered you their greatest enemy. That is something to be admired."

The Meekrob looked up at the lizard. "What about you? The news broadcasts say the Sobrekt started a war with the Irken Empire. Why is that? Your leader had previously stated he wished to stay on neutral terms."

"Actually, it was the Irken Empire who initiated the war."

"What? Why?"

The kryvtor shrugged. "I don't know the details. Rumor says that a rogue vessel attacked the Massive and killed the pregnant wife of one of the Tallest. Naturally, since the cruiser in question was of Sobrekt origin, they assumed the Shuryo ordered the attack, and the Empire declared war on us."

The Meekrob sneered. "About time someone gave the Irkens a spoonful of their own medicine. The Irkens kill countless of innocent lives in the Organic Sweeps: women, children, fathers, mothers, brothers… I'm glad their leaders are now feeling that same pain."

"Me too!" a Vortian piped in. "I lost my husband to the Empire!"

"And I lost my parents!"

As the conversation intensified and all the aliens around her shared their hatred of the Irken Empire, Tenn bought her meal and scurried away before they could notice her.

-IZ-

Tenn sat down on a bench in the 'park,' if it could be called that. It was merely an open, empty space inside the station with an Irken statue fountain in the middle and a few metal seats, most of which were occupied. Admittedly, though, there was a beautiful view of space in the ceiling.

Once she made sure there were no Meekrob or Sobrekt around, she quietly but swiftly ate her meal, grimly noting they were of regular quality. She used to think they all tasted alike, but now that she tried the better versions of all foods she knew, she could note the difference. Being 'pampered' had really softened her.

She couldn't help but wonder if Tallest Purple had finally noticed her absence. And if he had, how had he taken it? The first thought that came to her head was that he'd probably kicked a shorter against the wall or destroyed an entire room with his PAK cannons. Then he'd start a witch hunt throughout all the universe to find her. More of a reason to find a planet out of Irken Imperial Space, or somewhere the Tallest would never willingly go to-

Incoming call from Invader Ilk.

Ilk? Why was she calling? Had she spoken to Tallest Purple and wanted to see where she was? Or she still had no idea she had run away and just wanted to keep discussing her plans for conquering Sobr? Whatever the case, after the risk Lena went through to aid her escape, the least she could do was keep helping her daughter survive.

Tenn quickly opened a private line to talk to Ilk. "Hello?"

"Hey, Tenn, how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just having a snack," Tenn said calmly, taking a small slurp from her soft drink. "How about you? How are things on Sobr?"

"Well, I haven't lost my head, so I guess I'm fine," Ilk chuckled. "Zim sent a sample of his DNA a few days ago, and I presented it to . If only you had seen her face! Everyone said they'd never seen her so happy, but to me, she still had that stoic expression. She merely opened her eyes a bit."

"So, that means you're in?"

"Yes! I only need to earn her trust a bit more, so she'll let me work with the mother cell."

Tenn smiled. "Congratulations, Ilk. You're doing well."

"Thank you! I wanted to tell you first before I called Dad and Uncle Pur." Phew, at least she hasn't yet talked to them.

"Ilk, there's something you should know," Tenn took a deep breath, thinking of her words carefully. "I… had a quarrel with Purple, and I left the Massive."

"What…?" there was an exasperated sigh on the other end. "Oh, no. What did he do now?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Tenn said quickly. "I just… need to keep my distance from him for a while. Would you mind telling him you haven't talked to me just yet?"

"Sure thing… I just hope you can work things out, though. Where are you right now?"

"In a space station, but I can't stay here for much longer. There are lots of species here who were conquered by the Irken Empire, and it's risky to hang around here for too long. I almost ran into a Meekrob not long ago." There was a brief moment of silence.

"If you don't have anywhere to go, you could try Saturn."

"Saturn? Where is that?"

"It's in Earth's solar system. Zim started a project with Membrane Labs to move Saturn all the way to the opposite side of Earth's orbit and make it habitable. It's to solve the overpopulation issue. Zim mentioned it when he sent me his DNA."

Tenn's eye twitched. Just when she thought her day couldn't get any worse. "I'm not sure it's a good idea. What if Zim sees me? We both know he's not precisely good at keeping secrets."

"Well, if you want to go somewhere where Uncle Pur can't find you, Zim's presence in that solar system is enough to keep him away from there." She had a good point. The Tallest would rather go straight into a florpus hole than go anywhere near Zim.

"I'll think about it, but please don't mention it to Purple just yet. I really need some time alone to vent off."

"Your secret's safe with me," she imagined Ilk smirking. "Invader Ilk signing off!"

Tenn chuckled. She never imagined she'd hear Ilk end a transmission like that. Zim must have brushed it off unto her.

Zim… Tenn leaned against the wall, sighing. Once again, Zim casually (and unknowingly) brought solutions to her problems. The defective might be a walking disaster, but by this point, she wasn't afraid to admit that he could be… useful. True, he might not be an actual Invader, and his methods had turned out to be quite… unorthodox the few times his plans actually worked, but this, in the end, seemed to be the reason a defective like him could succeed.

Her thoughts drifted away back to Tallest Purple's confession about why he and Tallest Red hated Zim so much. Sure, she had initially thought that their hatred came from nearly destroying the Empire a few times by killing two of its leaders. But to learn that they had a personal relationship with Almighty Miyuki… That gave her another perspective of their hatred of Zim.

Oh, well, at least she could use that hatred to their advantage. Ilk was right, the Tallest would never put a foot anywhere near Zim even if they were offered a mountain of mirror cake. As soon as she stood clear from Zim, she could hide in Saturn until she figured what to do next.

*The 'Sweets 4 Smeets' brand is a reference to a comic in deviantart by CGigal, in which the brand is a factory that produces fudge-based products for smeets. Sadly, it seems like the artists has discontinued the comic, but you can still take a look at it.

*Yeah, these are the same bugs from MiB. My headcanon is that since their way of life is, in a way, similar to the Irkens in that they thrive on destroying other species, and both are insect-related species with an addiction to sugar, they'd actually be close allies of the Irken Empire.