Welcome back to another chapter of The Emperor's Wrath of ZIM! I hope you're hungry, because you're about to get a mouthful of Irken Sith action! Let's see what's going down in this chapter, shall we?
*I still don't own Invader Zim or Star Wars: The Old Republic!*
Dialogue Key
"Hi, Floor! Make me a sammich!" = Regular Speech
'That's better! ...I guess.' = Someone's Thoughts
"I made mashed pi-tay-toes!" = Someone Yelling
The Tomb of Ajunta Pall! Acquiring the Sith Warblade!
Third Person POV.
Deep in space and far away from the Earth, the Irken Flagship known as The Massive is on a leisurely course towards the next planet to be conquered in the name of the Irken Empire. Currently, we see the leaders of the Irken Empire, the Almighty Tallest, enjoying a snack as they oversaw the work being done on the bridge. These two Irkens are known as Tallest Red and Tallest Purple.
Like their names and titles suggest, these two Irkens are indeed the very tallest of their species with very thin arms and abdomens that give them a spindly appearance, and are named after the colors of their eyes and the uniforms they wear. Red has crimson red eyes and wears armor and robes of the Irken Tallest. His robes and armor are primarily red with some maroon accents on the shoulders, neckbrace, gauntlets, and the top and bottom of the armored robe. As well as segmented armor around his thin torso. His PAK has a single visible black spot on it as opposed to the common pink spots of the common foot soldiers. Purple wears the same uniform that Red does, only his robes and PAK are varying shades of purple instead of red and black. They both also wear black latex gloves over their two fingered, one thumbed hands.
Currently, the two were just partaking in idle chit chat as they had their snack.
"Hey, remember Invader Zim?" Red asked his fellow Tallest.
"Who?" Purple asked in return.
"Zim? Tiny? Screamed a lot?" Red said as he tried to explain.
"The guy that sends us the donuts?" Purple asked.
"No, that's Invader Jim. He's great." Red replied.
Finally, Purple's eyes widened slightly and then narrowed as he remembered exactly who his fellow Tallest, practically his brother, is talking about.
"Oh, wait. Zim. We hate him!"
"Yeah, that's him."
Purple laughed as he recalled a couple of particular memories regarding Zim that he actually finds funny. Especially considering the fact that most of his memories regarding the, at the time, little Irken are all bad ones. Especially the memory of how Zim went on a rampage that ruined Operation Impending Doom One, killing Almighty Tallest Spork and causing Almighty Tallest Miyuki to go missing. But these particular memories are ones that make all that time they wasted pretending that Zim was actually contributing to the Irken Empire worthwhile.
"Remember the time we lied and told him we were sending him on a secret mission to Earth, but really we were just getting rid of him because he's awful?" Purple asked as he remembered that bit of Zim's history. "Oh! And remember that time we made his defective SIR Unit self destruct along with his base so he'd die after he found out about his mission being fake?"
"Yeah, we're hilarious." laughed Tallest Red. "Good thing we encrypted our files after that little debacle, though. Less chances of that little mistake repeating itself.
As Red took a sip of his slurpee, there was a beeping noise from the main video phone where the Massive received and sent all calls towards the soldiers of the Irken invaders that are sent out to conquer planets.
"MY TALLEST! There's a pre-recorded transmission coming through!" an Irken Pilot reported with a tone of urgency.
"Yup, life's been pretty great ever since Zim vanished for good." Purple commented as he ate another donut. "Anyhow, send that transmission through. I wonder who it could ever be."
"Hello, Almighty Tallest. If you're watching this, then it means my message has been delivered without incident."
Red and Purple stared at the screen in shock as Purple stopped eating a donut in mid chew, while Red dropped his slurpee which spilled all over the floor with the straw sticking out of his mouth. They couldn't believe their eyes. They were so sure that Zim had died in that explosion on Earth and yet here is proof that he's alive. Maybe not too well, but certainly alive. Clearly the Tallest have underestimated just how durable this particular Irken really is.
"I'm certain you were both expecting me to die in that explosion, helpless as you crushed my hopes of being accepted by the Irken Empire and being a true invader. But all you did that day was unleash a power in me that I wasn't aware I had. A power I had all but conceded myself incapable of ever accessing. Yes, I discovered that I am strong in the Force! The very energy that flows around all living beings and is utilized by the Jedi and their adversaries, the Sith!" the recording of Zim explained. "I have been picked up by the overseers of the Sith Academy and am currently undergoing the necessary training to become a Sith Lord. And once I am strong enough, I shall wreak my vengeance against you AND the entire Irken Military! Don't be surprised if I have become a powerful warrior long before you ever have the necessary strength and manpower to fight back against the might of the Sith Empire. Well, I won't waste any more of my time talking to the likes of you, so, Former Invader Zim signing off!"
With that, the recording fizzled out as the message ended. Red and Purple shared a concerned glance as they began to think that they may have gone too far with Zim. And it's too late to do anything to stop it. This is almost as bad as the time Invader Tenn ended up captured by the Meekrob all because one of their slaves switched the labels on a couple of parcels and she ended up getting a bunch of malfunctioning SIRs that blew her cover and destroyed her base.
"Send out an emergency transmission to all currently deployed Irken soldiers and tell them to report to planet Irk for new orders immediately!" Red ordered.
"Yes, my Tallest!" said one of the drones as he sent the signal.
"What are you thinking, Red?" Purple asked.
"We need to consolidate our forces and improve our weapons and defenses. If what Zim's message said is true, then we'll need ever able-bodied Irken we can get for the upcoming war over the horizon." Red explained with narrowed eyes.
Purple looked out the main viewing window of the Massive with an expression of concern. He sincerely hopes that they don't have to go to war with the Sith Empire of all things.
The Irken Empire would never survive such a war.
Even if their defenses did improve.
Zim's POV.
After stopping at a medical station to ask for directions to the tomb of Ajunta Pall, I made my way to this great maze of a burial ground made out of red sandstone. They might as well paint a road sign with all of the bloodstained sand at the entrance. And prowling the outside of the entrance is a species of giant, pale yellow worms with legs, no eyes, and concentric rows of sharp teeth in their oversized mouths that look big enough to literally bite a man's head off.
Still, I'm not about to let these things make a meal of me! So as the first K'lor'slug attacked me, I struck it down quite easily with a downward slash from my Vibroblade. Two more screeched and rushed at me as they hoped to overwhelm me with sheer numbers. But I just smirked and switched my weapon's position into a reverse grip to block their rather large talons on their forelimbs. Not wasting any time, I twirled my Vibroblade to deflect the halted attack and spun on my heel. My weapon easily cut through the necks of the K'lor'slugs like a hot knife through butter. And so, as their heads fell from their bodies, the two dead beasts fell to the ground to become food for the scavengers.
"Three K'lor'slugs down, and only a bazillion more to go." I quipped.
As I flicked the blood off of my weapon and holstered it, I descended down the stairs into the tomb where I came across a peculiar sight. A squad of Imperial soldiers was fighting off K'lor'slugs from behind a barricade of sorts. Some are dead, others are injured, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed that one of them is approaching me. He has well-groomed black hair, and lighter skin around his eyes from wearing goggles. Holstering his gun, the man began to speak.
"Excuse me, acolyte. Sergeant Cormun. Fifth infantry company. Korriban Regiment. Can I - can I talk to you?" he asked.
At first, my Irken anger at this Hyooman's belief that he can speak to the ALMIGHTY ZIM… wanted to come about and make me yell at him and tell him to go jump in a pool of acid. But I quickly stamped that impulse down. This is a new life for me, and I intend to make the most of it. So, I responded as calmly as I possibly could. Besides, if this man is fighting off hordes of K'lor'slugs, then this must be important.
"Speak freely, Sergeant." I said.
"Thank you. You're the acolyte Tremel brought in special, right? Come to prove your worth to Darth Baras?" Cormun asked.
"Yes. That's correct."
No sense in lying to the man.
"Well then, here's your chance to not only show off for Darth Baras, but to start building ties to the Imperial military as well." Cormun said as he explained the situation. "I'm here commanding a hard target mission to eliminate K'lor'slugs in this tomb. They're horrific things… mouths bigger than your head. I've lost three squads of good men fighting them. They come in packs, they just - they'll swallow a man whole."
The K'lor'slugs I fought against hardly put up a fight before I got into this tomb. But then I saw why that is. Looking past Sergeant Cormun, I saw that there are much bigger K'lor'slugs in this tomb. These ones are easily as tall as a full-grown man. With their red, veiny skin, taller stature, and larger mouths filled with teeth sharper than a razor blade, it's easy to see that they're an intimidating bunch that can easily bring down troops and weaker acolytes. But still...
"I have to go in there and claim a warblade from the armory, Sergeant. So if you're trying to deter me, it won't work" I warned the man.
"Understood. I was hoping you could assist my operation while you're in there. The damn K'lor'slugs breed so fast there's no way to wipe them out conventionally, so we started targeting their egg chambers. They went insane! We managed to get explosives to all of the egg chambers, but the K'lor'slugs were all over us before we could detonate them. And before you ask, we can't detonate them remotely because the walls are so thick that they jam any radio signals that try to get through. It's also part of the reason why we can't call for reinforcements." Cormun explained.
I grinned at the prospect of bloodying my weapon once again, even if it is against a bunch of simple creatures such as these K'lor'slugs. My choice is a clear one.
"Sounds like you could use some help. Someone to go in there and detonate those charges manually." I said. "I will finish the job. Have your men remain here to provide cover and attend to the wounded. I'll finish them off."
"Don't underestimate those K'lor'slugs, My Lord, they're… they're smarter than they look." Cormun warned.
While he and his men stayed behind the barricade and began moving the wounded to the medical station, I drew my Vibroblade and charged it up as I followed the directions to the egg chambers that the Sergeant provided me with. It took only a few short minutes for me to find the chamber where the explosives were planted, and along the way I destroyed multiple clutches of eggs that would hatch into more K'lor'slugs if left unchecked. Taking a cautious approach instead of my usual gung-ho style of doing things, I saw my objective. It looks like Sergeant Cormun was right to be worried about the breeding capabilities of these monstrosities.
The explosives were planted smack dab in the middle of a huge chamber filled almost to the brim with eggs double the size of Earth ostrich eggs and covered in a green, veiny substance. Guarding the eggs were five small K'lor'slugs, likely hatchlings, and a larger K'lor'slug with a red carapace. I narrowed my eyes and wiggled my antennae in anticipation as a bloodthirsty grin creeped onto my face.
Time to go to work.
Releasing a war cry, I leapt right at the beasts and quickly killed off the smaller K'lor'slugs by spinning like a top on my heel before making my way to the larger one. This one was much tougher than the hatchlings as my Vibroblade did hardly any damage. So after dodging a strike from the beast's talons, I unleashed a mighty Force Roar that sent it back a couple of feet. My attack did the trick and not only did damage to the beast, but stunned it long enough for me to zero in on my target area. With a war cry, I ran at the K'lor'slug and ran my Vibroblade right through the creature's heart. The K'lor'slug roared in pain as its most vital organ was penetrated by the electrified blade. With one last pitiful growl it fell off the blade and to the ground, dead as a doornail.
With the beasts slain, I holstered my Vibroblade and pressed the button on the detonator. I walked out of the chamber as it started beeping, and after silently counting down from five... kaBOOM! The explosives went off and destroyed ever egg in the chamber, and caused the ceiling to collapse on top of them while effectively sealing off the chamber from the rest of the tomb.
"Well, that takes care of that."
I quickly jogged back to the entrance of the tomb to see Sergeant Cormun getting his surviving troops all patched up. Nice to see that they're going to make it.
"I heard the explosion when you set off the charges. Outstanding, sir." Cormun praised.
I gave a nod of thanks and proceeded to make my way deeper into the tombs, but I didn't make it far when I stumbled upon the corpse of a soldier. Normally, I would think nothing of this, but the wounds on the body caught my attention. These aren't marks inflicted by a predator hunting down prey. These were made by other sentient lifeforms using only one type of weapon: a blaster.
I searched the body for anything that might give me a clue and found a datapad that might have some information. Turns out it's an imperial edict with some orders from someone else higher up on the military pecking order. Well, since this guy's dead, I might as well see what it says.
'Imperial Edict 936: Mercenaries have taken advantage of the K'lor'slug infestation in the tomb of Ajunta Pall, stealing artifacts from its depths-a situation wholly unacceptable.'
'You are authorized to use deadly force to send these mercenaries a message that further desecration will not be tolerated. This task is dangerous, and hazard pay has been authorized.'
'See me at the medical center upon completing your mission for your compensation-Sergeant Rikel.'
By the time I finished reading this message, I was seeing red due to the sheer audacity of these FILTHY MERCENARIES! How dare they desecrate the sacred burial grounds of Ajunta Pall! The first ever Sith Lord! I will see to it that these artifacts are recovered and the mercenaries eliminated, but not before taking a moment to laugh at the collective soiling of ALL MERCENARY PANTS!
...I have REALLY got to stop doing that.
But anyway, the point is that I'm going to march right into that tomb and take care of every last one of these mercenaries! Once I acquire my new warblade, of course. These foolish mercs will wish they'd never chosen to loot a tomb belonging to a Sith Lord as they become nothing more than rust on my blade! I pocketed the datapad as a way to track my mission objective and drew my blade as I trudged deeper into the tomb. It wasn't long before I'd stumbled across an encampment of mercenaries.
It appears to be at least twenty mercs strong, all Hyoomans, and each of them is armed with a blaster or a Vibroblade. They're not as stupid as the Hyoomans on Earth, but they're definitely overconfident for not placing sentries around the perimeter of their camp. I see no evidence of the stolen artifacts, but this is a good time to purge the tomb of this Hyooman FILTH infesting the sacred tomb of the mighty Ajunta Pall.
With a mighty roar, I Force Jumped behind the first two mercenaries, or grave robbers, or whatever you want to call them, and severed their heads from their bodies with a single slash from my blade. This alerted the other eighteen mercenaries as they drew their Vibroblades and blasters. As the ones with blasters opened fire, I ran at them while using my own weapon to deflect their blaster fire as though they were nothing more lethal than a bunch of disgusting spitballs. Like a mighty Lion on the hunt I tore through every enemy that came my way.
I cut off the hands of all of the mercs who were shooting me with blasters right before ending their miserable existences by slashing them across their necks and slitting their throats. Oh sure, those who had Vibroblades tried to fight back, but I unleashed a mighty Force Roar that nearly blew the flesh off their collective bones and stunned them good! In fact, it actually did peel the flesh off the bones of one of the weaker mercs and killed him instantly. Now his corpse looks like some sort of human banana that's had the skin peeled away. While they were stunned I bisected two of them at the waist before cutting another in half down the middle with a downward slash. Finally, I focused the Force to my legs to increase my speed and ran my blade through the hearts of the remaining mercs, turning them into a human shish-kabob. Well, almost all of them.
One of them managed to recover in time and got out of the way before attempting to cut my hands off. But I let go of my weapon and jumped back in time to dodge before picking up a discarded Vibroblade from one of the now dead mercs. With a mighty leap, it was over as I stabbed the totally unprepared Hyooman through his skull, spilling blood, brain matter and bone fragments all over the floor. I left the weapon in the now dead merc's head as I spotted something in the corner of the encampment. Several durasteel crates that look ready to be shipped out. I wonder…
Jogging to the crates I pry one open and find exactly what I'm looking for. The artifacts that were looted by those mercenaries. This was actually a clever move on the looters' part, hiding the artifacts in crates used for transporting rations. No one would ever think to look for anything truly valuable in one of those. After making sure I have them all, I put them in my storage area and leave for the ancient armory.
About ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, hard to tell because this tomb is a FREAKING MAZE, I walked into a room lined with ten coffins containing droids that are clearly not of Irken design. Most of the newer Irken weapons nowadays, like the Megadoomer, are engineered by conquered Vort scientists, actually. And while they are certainly made to last, these machines appear to have withstood the test of time quite well. But more to the point, resting on a near empty weapon rack is a single Sith Warblade of ancient design. I could sense right away that it is meant for me. The Force tells me so. Throwing away my current Vibroblade, I cautiously made my way towards the weapon in case of any possible traps. Once I reached the weapon rack I took a moment to inspect the weapon in question.
It is a large blade that almost resembles an Earth broadsword or perhaps a claymore. A double-bladed monstrosity of a sword with the blade being as black as coal, and forged at a length of thirty six inches with a width of eight inches. Much larger than any sword I've ever trained with. In the fuller of the blade there are red markings which are actually carvings of a phrase written in the ancient Sith language. 'There is only passion', it reads. The hilt of the weapon itself is not elegant in the slightest, but it doesn't need to be. It's a weapon forged for only one purpose: killing all enemies who stand in the way of its wielder.
I pulled the blade out of its resting place and gave it a couple of test swings. Despite being the same size as a Vibroblade, this thing has proven to be much heavier. By my estimate, it likely weighs about twenty pounds in total. If I'm going to use this thing effectively, I'll need to train in it. I sheathed the blade at my hip for easier access until I am confident enough that I can draw it quickly and effectively from my back. I'm definitely keeping this after my trials. Perhaps I can put it to good use in some way.
But as I began walking away I sensed danger. As quick as I could, I backflipped just in time to avoid blaster fire that took out one of the ten droids that suddenly activated, landed behind the shooter in question, and managed to slice the droid's head clean off its shoulders. It fell to the ground as it was deactivated for good, and now I find myself about to fight eight more droids all at once. The other eight droids opened fire upon me and with little difficulty, despite the weight of my new Warblade, I deflected all of the blaster bolts and destroyed the right remaining droids as their own blaster bolts pretty much turned them into shredded cheese.
'Tremel must have placed these droids here as a trap to ensure I was the one to claim the Warblade.'
Well, regardless of the circumstances I've got what I came for. Time for me to get out of this tomb and report to Overseer Tremel at the Sith Academy.
***To Be Continued…***
*The design of Zim's Warblade is that of the Cartel Market item known as the "Ancient Sith Lord's Warblade". I like the weapon, so I gave it to Zim.*
If you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to fav and follow the story and maybe follow me for more of my stories. Also, leave a review for this chapter if you wish to do so. I'll see you all in my next update, so may the Force be with you. Buh-bye now!
