Anyone ready for a chapter filled with Irken lore!? I hope so! Because this has a ton! It is also the beginning of the main plot!


There was a very heavy silence in the room (save for the sounds of Clark eating food he had somehow found in the few seconds since the trail's unexpected end). Skoodge had feared this outcome- but fearing something and seeing it twist into reality were two very different experiences. Irkens had a built-in code of ethics that would not allow for them to out one of their own in a situation like this. Skoodge had known the traitor was probably Irken - after all- the weapon was Irken .

This whole thing was playing out like some sort of coverup.

This was the reason he had gotten Q involved. He and Zim could prove Clark's innocence but they would be unable to have revealed Ron. Something deep in the programming of their PAKs- a perfectly coded loyalty- rendered them useless. They could fight their fellow but to actually admit them to be Irken was unthinkable. Literally. It was difficult for their data to even formulate a plan to do so.

"This isn't good." The Captain stepped forward, kneeling down to look at the Irken twitching on the ground. Zim still had the touch; Skoodge was impressed. No Irken could incapacitate one of their own as efficiently as Zim . (Even if it was accidental most of the time).

"I know what it looks like, but I assure you-" Skoodge had to try to dismantle the tension. A war with the Syndicate was the last thing Irk needed. There had not been a proper war for some time; he wasn't even sure he knew all the protocols for one.

"You don't have to explain..." She made a gesture and Conner swept in, cuffing the Invader with some sort of new restraint Skoodge had not seen from the Syndicate before. "If it hadn't been for you and your partner, we would have imprisoned an innocent doctor for high treason. I didn't think Lor was guilty, but the evidence against him was nearly indisputable ."

"Lor?" Dib blinked.

"That's my real name," Clark mumbled through a huge bite of a chilly cheese hotdog that he had somehow managed to obtain from MacMeaty's . ( Skoodge was annoyed, recalling the Clark- or Lor- still owed him a hotdog). "I changed it to Clark to make it easier."

"God damn it, Lor is way easier to say than Clark!" Dib shook his head; it was difficult to tell if he was mad or just amused. Skoodge decided to ignore the human as he had served his purpose allowing for the Irkens to stop a possible impending war. (Maybe not stop- but Skoodge was willing to believe they had at least slowed it down).

"Why would an Irken be infiltrating the Syndicate?" Zim , of all Irkens , seemed deeply perturbed by the revelation. Defect or not, he had a deep passion for his planet and he knew the implication this had. "You are an ally. You are not even in the plans for Impending Doom II!"

"We'll have to question the spy to find out." The Captain's tone was severe as she picked the body up off the floor by the arms, easily holding the tiny green body with one hand. "Though I hope this is just a lone Irken acting out of some deep, personal hatred. If this was ordered..." She trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air.

"She'll never talk. Not to you." Skoodge had to be frank. He knew the Irken in question. Zim did as well though it was a tossup about whether or not he would remember that. She was an Invader- one of the top in the class too. They had been schoolmates during Elite Training many years ago. She was supposed to have been light-years away from the Syndicate, back on Irk. Last Skoodge had heard, she had recently finished a mission and returned home for promotion.

There was no reason for her to be attacking an allied planet.

"True, but she might talk to a fellow Irken ." The Captain stood tall, the hand not holding her hostage was now twirling some sort of gun.

"The Syndicate would not kill! You're peaceful!" Zim tried to call her on her bluff but the bright blue eyes narrowed into a dark glare.

"This Irken is presumed to have killed one of my men and is attempting to start a war with our government. I will do what is needed in order to get answers." Skoodge had to scan her uniform. He could see a few medals he recognized from his training in regards to the Syndicate. He gauged that she was no stranger to the field.

"Now there is no need for that." Skoodge did his best to defuse the rising tensions. When he had decided to seek out Zim : it had been in an attempt to escape the crazy politics of Irk. He had never intended to get caught up in anything like this. The plan had been to retire; to slip quietly into anonymity ; maybe write a book or figure out how exactly he had survived being exploded. (It didn't make sense logistically). But trouble had a way of finding Zim . And now, due to Skoodge's ( apparent ) poor choice in companions, it had a way of finding him too. "With the Syndicate's permission, I would like to interrogate the prisoner myself. Irken to Irken ."

"Well... given your willingness to help out one of our own... I suppose that with heavy monitoring we could allow that." The Captain, despite her initial harshness, seemed to be a reasonable woman. She definitely knew her way around this delicate situation. Skoodge was impressed. The fact that she hadn't immediately shot the traitor showed her levelheadedness. Skoodge had not dealt directly with the Syndicate before; but he had a feeling he would be working with these few in order to stop his planet from an all-out war. So, he needed to get a good read on each of the remaining members so as not to cross any lines. " Carrius , Lor:" She turned to her crew members. "Take our prisoner to the interrogation room." Clark swallowed the last of his food.

"But... Captain, I'm a doctor-" He began to object.

"You're whatever we need you to be right now, Doc." She didn't even let him finish. "Can you walk on that ankle?"

"It hurts but... yeah... "

"Then you're helping your brother escort." Clark nodded, hesitantly as he half walked- half limped over to the Irken's body, lifting her delicately with his brother's help and taking her away. "Mister Skoodge , you go with them, everyone else follow me." The Captain seemed to have everything worked out so Skoodge went along obediently- this was not the time to butt heads with a higher up. Clark seemed sullen, and Conner quiet: both quite contradictory to the aspects of their character that Skoodge had seen thus far. Clark was limping rather severely, slowing down the process of getting to the interrogation chambers.

He didn't blame them for being uneasy. There was a lot at stake for the Syndicate.

"If you go out in the sun, you will heal faster." Skoodge remarked, trying to be helpful despite the fact that it was not in his nature to do so.

"You really know what I am? Where I'm from?" Clark looked back at him.

"Your planet was called Kr-" The Irken stirred and immediately Conner slammed his hand on the wall, it slid open into a small room where he threw the chained up Irken in a single chair in the center like she was a rag doll. Skoodge winced a bit- not that it would hurt her, but that still couldn't have been enjoyable. He was ushered in the room by Conner.

"You're in here. We'll be keeping an eye and ear on everything. So, don't try to pull one over on us." Conner put his hand on Skoodge's shoulder . "I trust you Skoodge - you got my brother out of trouble. I know you've got our back."

"It's more that I don't want to go to war..." Skoodge turned to face the two Rangers but they were gone. The wall had sealed up behind him leaving him and the spy in their little, mostly empty, white room. There was just the single chair where The Irken had been restrained with automatic little glowing rope-like bindings.

"Wh... what... happened...?" The Irken Invader blinked, finally speaking in her real voice as her pink eyes slowly cleared, her antennae arching slightly.

"Hello Tenn." She was a top-notch invader and it had been nice to see her in the field. She had definitely earned her way through the ranks despite her size. She had been at the Great Assigning with Skoodge back when Impending Doom II had first begun.

"Skoodge!?" Her antennae perked up. "What are you doing here?" She made a small lurch forward, looking down in shock when she realized she couldn't move her body. "A-Am I tied up?" She looked truly confused. "Wh... what's going on!?"

"I need to ask you a few questions." He was watching her features, trying to gauge whether or not the blast from Zim and CB had actually disoriented her or if she was feigning confusion to try and weasel herself out of trouble.

"Why am I tied up? Where are we!?"

"Tenn, please calm down."

"Calm down!? I'm being held hostage! Did I do something wrong!?"

"You attacked the Galactic Syndicate."

"Wh... what?" Her expression looked completely lost.

"You infiltrated the Galactic Syndicate. You have been posing as their chief of security."

"N... no." She shook her head. "No. The Syndicate are Irken allies. An attack on them would be against the Empire's wishes."

Skoodge sighed, either Tenn was a better liar than he thought, or something wasn't adding up. Irkens were typically good liars, their PAKs kept their pulse steady and kept their voices even and calm. Still, Skoodge had enough confidence in his own abilities that he was sure he could pick apart the subtleties of an Irken lie. The twitch of the antennae, the slightly louder whirring of the PAK trying to stabilize its owner's vitals .

" Tenn , you are on Earth. You are in a Syndicate holding cell. You have been posing as a Syndicate Ranger for an unknown amount of time and- I'll be honest- they are pissed."

"No!" Her antennae went straight back, her eyes narrowed. "I would never go against the values of the Irken Empire! You are lying!"

They were getting nowhere. "Would you allow me to take a look at your PAK?" Skoodge had a theory but it seemed far fetched. "I need to see if you were coded for this mission. I want to check your memory banks." Irkens had an ability to access one another's memories through their PAKS, it was like watching a video- only more invasive as the Irken observing could have a sense of the thoughts and feelings of the Irken being observed. It was a tedious process that most Irkens avoid unless the situation was dire. But, sitting in an interrogation chamber on the brink of war seemed urgent enough.

"I..." Tenn looked displeased with the idea. He could see she was scanning him- checking to be sure he really was the Irken he claimed to be. After an uncomfortable silence, she nodded. "But don't look into anything personal!"

"We'll need to see that footage too, Mister Skoodge ." The voice came from a speaker hidden somewhere in the walls. Skoodge recognized it as the Captain. It was a reasonable request- given she couldn't exactly take Skoodge's word for what he saw.

"Do they have to?" Tenn looked pleadingly at her interrogator .

"It would be in the best interest of our alliance if you would just let them watch as well." Skoodge's reply was as sympathetic as he could make it. Honestly, he was confused. The idea of starting a war with the Syndicate seemed to come out of nowhere. It hadn't been in the original battle plans for Impending Doom II. He had a lot of questions.

"O... okay..." Begrudgingly, she closed her eyes and Skoodge heard the click of her PAK opening. He stood, walking around behind her, hooking up the wires in her PAK to his own, and hooking his PAK to a helpful display monitor that had lowered from the ceiling. The Syndicate seemed oddly prepared to interrogate an Irken given that they were supposedly friends.

He took a deep breath, and allowed their PAK's to sync.

Tenn disembarked from her ship, finally setting foot on the Massive. She had seen the ship only a few times, having read about its build and defenses. It was truly a work of Irken Art (despite being made by the Vort). She had not been back among her people for some time and the cheers of her fellow Irkens made her cardiac- spooch race with pride and excitement. Before her, above the cheering throngs were her Tallest. Red and Purple stood- or rather hovered- at the end of a path that was cleared for her to walk.

"Invader Tenn !" Red addressed her, his voice filling the ship and instantly quieting the celebrating crowd. "Your conquest of Planet Groth is yet another world you can add to your..." he faltered for a moment, clearing his throat, coughing . "You know... your list... of... planets you've conquered ..."

" Repertoire ?" Purple finally suggested an answer only after watching Red struggle for a considerable amount of time.

"Yes. That." Red quickly moved on. Tenn was happier than ever. She had just conquered her fourth planet. She was currently the top Invader for Impending Doom II. The Tallest had even gotten her name right, despite her being small. They knew her!

Skoodge was a bit taken aback at this point. Tenn had been the top Invader a few Earth years prior. However, not long after this particular Invasion, Skoodge himself would overtake her in the ranks. (He felt a little badly, as it seemed she- like most Irkens - adored her Tallest and craved their affection; whereas Skoodge had mixed feelings on their leaders.) He realized he had not seen much of Tenn after this celebration. But that was even more confusing.

This memory was... old .

"Yes, you've done well Tenn. Good job." Purple seemed to just be echoing Red's sentiment, but Tenn paid it no mind. "Keep it up."

"Thank you my Tallest!" Her antennae were trembling with overwhelming pride. To be acknowledge in her field by her Tallest- this was her highest honor.

"You're welcome." Purple relaxed back, sitting in the air, supported by the hover belt as he grabbed a bag of snacks and began to eat, seeming to lose interest in the ceremony.

" Tenn , you've been instrumental in Impending Doom II. Four worlds have fallen to the Irken armies thanks to your Invasion techniques. You have one of our highest success rates and it has not gone unnoticed. We believe you deserve a sort of... reward." Red was trying his best to match Purple's eloquence with limited results.

"For me!?" Tenn squeaked . She felt as if she could fly right off the platform- she was so airy with excitement. "My Tallest I can't-"

" Of course you can't. You're not us. Only we can give out rewards." Purple cut her off. She didn't mind. She didn't even mind that Purple's assumptions about her next sentence were completely and utterly wrong.

" When was your last trip to Irk?" Red intervened in the conversation.

"The planet?"

" Our Planet!" Purple reiterated helpfully.

"Yes," Red looked a tad annoyed, "Our planet." He turned back to Tenn. "We have a mission for you on the home planet. We've been busy conquering worlds and building the Empire's strength, gaining... ah Mothra damn it..." Red turned his gaze back to his co-ruler- "Purple, what's the word for that thing where everyone knows you in the galaxy?"

"Fame?"

"No. Bigger."

"Infamy?"

"No, more positive."

"Renown?"

"Yes!" He whirled back to Tenn. "We have been gaining renown throughout the galaxy - but we sense unrest in the home-world ."

"Unrest?" Tenn blinked. This was her first time hearing of that sort of thing. No Irken dared question the Tallest. It simply wasn't programmed in the PAKs to do so.

"Stupid right?" Purple echoed Tenn's surprise. "It's nothing big, just a few smallers here and there getting agitated because they're short." Tenn raised one of her antennae , tilting her head to the side, rather perplexed.

"But you are a loyal Invader. We want you to go to Irk and remind them of our cause and our progress." Red seemed determined.

"And how amazing we are!" Purple added.

"Yes, and how amazing we are." Red didn't miss a beat. It seemed years of being interrupted by his fellow Tallest had made him more or less immune. "We want you to become a teacher at the Elite Academy. You can share your exploits with our rising military; training them and helping siphon out the next wave of Invaders."

"I... my Tallest..." Tenn had never considered herself for the Academy as one of the prestigious Faculty. That was a position held in highest regards on Irk. "I am honored beyond words. Of course, I would be honored to serve the Empire as one of your Faculty."

"Good." Red waved his hand to signify the conversation was at its end. "Then you are dismissed. Report to the Academy for your retraining and re-coding." Tenn winced slightly. Re-coding was not a pleasant process, even for a promotion. Still, this would raise her standing, so it was for the better.

She hurried out of the meeting room of the Massive, accompanied by the wild cheers of her fellow Irkens . She was being reassigned to Irk. This was the opportunity of a life time. She would be surrounded once again by her fellow Irkens .

As she reached her ship and plugged in the coordinates to her home, she was still trying to process all of the implications of her promotion. She would be training the future of Irk. The Tallest were entrusting her to be their eyes and ears- to pick and choose the Invaders that would carry Irk beyond the stars. From Red, this was the highest honor. He had always taken more interest in Irk's military prowess than his Purple companion.

A million thoughts were racing through her PAK, making it work harder just to keep her the calm, collected Invader she knew she would have to be. The Entire trip back to Irk was just a rush of thoughts and emotions that her PAK struggled to sort. She reached the landing bay and was received by more cheering Irkens .

Tenn had never considered herself a hero, but seeing the wiggling antennae of her fellows and hearing the excited chatter- it was the closest she would feel to being the Tallest themselves. The rush of exhilaration had her disembarking in record time. She was greeted by a taller Irken, a rounder build, golden eyes, wearing the Emblem of the Academy Faculty on his armor. He had been one of her teachers back in her Elite days.

"Sig!" She rushed to him.

"We received the orders to escort you to your new quarters." Sig had never been an overly emotional Irken . Most of the Elites in Tenn's class had attributed his cool-headed nature to his age. Tenn smiled to herself, recalling when she was younger and Defect Zim had suggested Sig was older than the planet itself. In reality, he was only a few generations before Tallest Miyuki. "I believe congratulations are in order Invader Tenn."

"Thank you, Instructor Sig." Tenn tried to collect herself, to act as calm as her (soon to be) coworker. "I look forward to being your colleague ."

"We look forward to having you." He sounded genuine and Tenn thought her cardiac- spooch may just explode from the excitement. He led her away from the cheering throngs and into the busy streets of Upper Irk. Tenn watched as Irkens would recognize her and grin, whispering to one another in excitement as she passed. Others were buried in their tasks, reading newspapers or watching the constant stream of news on the overhead screens. She looked to her old teacher.

"The Tallest spoke of unrest..." He shook his head to silence her.

"Not out here. It is minor, but there is no need to rile up the general public." She nodded, following him to the primary building for the Elite Academy. Tenn had not walked the black-tiled halls, or passed beneath the glowing red Elite Emblem that hovered over the entry way, since her graduation. The nostalgia was almost soothing. The doors slid open automatically as she approached , allowing them entrance. She could see the youngest of the Elites just starting their journeys into the Irken military. A few recognized her instantly and stopped to stare until Sig shooed them away.

"Instructor Sig!" A newer Instructor (one Tenn did not recognize on sight and one of lower status, judging from his uniform) approached them in a hurry. "Vero and Xia are fighting again." Sig's antennae twitched in aggravation .

" Mothra be praised ." He swore under his breath. "This class of Rising Elites has to be the most taxing..." He trailed off, with a heavy sigh, turning to Tenn. "This is why we requested more Faculty." He looked back to Tenn apologetically . "I need to tend to this. Jax will show you to your new quarters. Head to the Control Brains when you are settled in for your Instructor coding." He hurried off leaving Tenn with the out of breath instructor, another tall Irken . This one with blue eyes, and pale antennae.

"Right." Jax looked to Tenn slightly flustered. "Sorry about interrupting your tour. But the layout will be coded into you... and it hasn't changed much since your graduation I'm sure." He recovered, straightening himself up.

"I'm sure I'll find my way. I'm excited to be an Instructor."

"And we are glad to have the famous Invader Tenn." He gestured for Tenn to follow him as he guided her down the halls, passed the classrooms. In one room she could barely make out Sig arguing with two first year Elites. Everything seemed so familiar and yet to be walking the halls as an Instructor rather than a terrified but excited Elite made it all feel different. Tenn was quiet, observing everything around her, taking in what was going to be her new life.

The Instructor quarters were far above the main school. Irkens could use their private chambers for personal study and reflection. It was down-time, yes, but any time spent on bettering yourself for the Empire was time well spent and thus self-study was always highly encouraged. Tenn was pleased to see her new quarters had training equipment, books, targets, strategy games... this place had everything an Irken could want!

"I assume this is to your liking?" Jax remained outside as Tenn looked around in awe.

"Perfect! Yes!"

"Then I shall leave you to get adjusted. Report to the Control Brains when you're ready." Jax smiled at her and saluted . "For our Tallest. For Irk."

"For Irk!" She returned the gesture with enthusiasm. The door to the room slid shut as Jax left. Tenn quickly tried to orient herself with all her new training gear. Never in her wildest dreams had she anticipated ending up as Instructor Tenn ! It had quite the ring to it.

After a while of Tenn enjoying her new perks, there was a knock at her door. She blinked; she had not expected anyone back so soon. Sig and Jax sounded like they were going to give her some space and time to adjust before her re-coding. She walked to the door, sliding it open.

"Oh! It's you." Tenn smiled.

" TeNn , y-U neEd -D N t-E S-Nc-Um."

Skoodge was immediately ripped out of the memory.

That Irken had no face.

Or well... it DID at one point but it was pixilated, glitching beyond recognition. Tenn's reaction in the vision implied that she recognized the Irken in question but the memory had become completely corrupted. He looked to Tenn who had started to have an adverse reaction to his prying. He saw her antennae jerk unnaturally , one of her eyes beginning to twitch. Skoodge immediately stopped the share and Tenn's PAK made an unpleasant click and whir . Skoodge disconnected his own PAK in a hurry as Tenn's began to shut itself down.

The door flung open as Clark burst in with Conner in tow. "Back away Mister Skoodge !" He ran a scan on Tenn who was starting to go limp before he began to work on her with medical equipment Skoodge recognized as being (surprisingly) useful for treating Irkens . It seemed the intention was really to help Tenn as Clark began administering something to her body while he hooked his little scanner to her PAK. "I'm triggering a hard reset. It'll take a while, but she should regain consciousness with minimal negative repercussions ."

"I'm impressed you were able to handle an Irken medical emergency." Skoodge was trying to steady his own cardiac- spooch .

"I'm a doctor." Clark stood back up wincing as he seemed to have forgotten his bad ankle in the wild rush of things. He ran his little hand-held device over Skoodge and looked at the readings. "You have symptoms of anxiety, but you do not appear to be injured. Would you like me to try to administer any treatment?"

"No." He refused quickly. "My PAK can take care of things."

"Then we'll get you out of here while your friend recovers." Conner gently guided Skoodge back out of the room. Skoodge took his time during the silent walk to steady his thoughts. He entered another room where the Captain sat with a now humanoid version of Q, Zim , and that human that got them all into this mess in the first place.

"That was quite the display Mister Skoodge . I hope you have an explanation ." The Captain looked to him expectantly but the Invader shook his head.

" I... Those memories don't add up. For one thing, they are very old. And that end... something happened. Something... messed with her PAK ..." It was so taboo that even saying the words made Skoodge feel uneasy. An Irken's PAK was their very identity: their memories, their thoughts, their feelings... The PAK protected them, made them nearly unkillable , but it also defined them. "That memory was all wrong... I..."

"Take your time. It seems we have quite the mystery on our hands." The Captain rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Though, I'm willing to give Irk some benefit of the doubt here. At least... I'm willing to hold off on suggesting a war declaration ."

"No one wins if we go to war." Skoodge agreed. " So, thank you..."

Dib was watching this all unfold before him completely enthralled. In a way, he was proud of himself for helping find a secret traitor due to his constant paranoia. Sure, the Irkens were taking over the mystery now, but they would still need his expertise...

Probably.

"This is crazy, it's like some kind of conspiracy!" Dib was always ready to break apart an attempt at subterfuge- the wilder the better. "Once that Invader becomes conscious again, we can try to pump her for more info then..." He trailed off looking around. Everyone looked tired. Skoodge was slightly dazed, Zim had gone very quiet, and Clark looked exhausted .

"Y... yeah..." Clark forced a smile before collapsing into one of the floating chairs in the meeting room. Dib walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He had never seen him look so pale before. He looked ready to pass out.

"Hey... before we do all of that... you wanna watch the rest of that dumb movie franchise?"

"W... wait... huh?" Clark blinked up at him, bleary-eyed.

"I mean... you fell asleep last time, and then Q poisoned me... so we didn't get to finish..."

" You're welcome ." Q's input was ignored.

"And it sounds like the Irkens need a second to figure out this whole..." Dib twirled his fingers trying to think of the right word, "thing. Why don't we do something together. You know, so I can apologize for outing you like that."

"I mean... If you hadn't... we may have been killed by a spy. So, I guess you did the right thing." Clark's smile was the closest it had been to that trademark grin since Dib had brought the Irkens to their apartment in an attempt to trap his roommate.

"Let me make it up to you." Dib insisted. He wanted to dive into this mystery. He wanted to unravel the secrets that Tenn's PAK held. But he had always put his quest for knowledge ahead of his relationships. Maybe it was age, maybe it was just that he was tired. But today, Dib felt it was time to put a friend first. Clark needed this.

"I..." Clark looked to his Captain.

"Go on. You've had a rough day. We'll call you if things progress." She nodded to him. "And Mister Membrane?"

Dib straightened up as he was addressed . "Yes Captain?"

"Do your fucking homework."


First time writing for Red and Purple! And Tenn too, actually. Please tell me what you think of the beginning of this new arc! Are there characters you are looking forward to seeing more of? Tell me in the comments!