"So you really want to join the Syndicate?" Lor looked more skeptical than Dib had wanted, as he looked the Membrane clone up and down. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my people, but... I just thought with you being so friendly with Irkens..."
"Irkens tried to take over Earth." Dib slid on the sleek, black fabric of the Syndicate uniform over his head. He examined himself in the mirror, the high collar was a little stifling so he undid the first few buttons before turning around to look at Lor. "Well?"
"Don't do the collar like that." Lor made a face. "It's a uniform."
"Carrius wears his like this."
"Don't do what my brother does."
"Doesn't he out rank you?" Dib asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Did he tell you that? Only in technicality. We don't even work in the same field. I'm a medic. He's in security. That's like a police sergeant telling you he outranks a doctor."
"But his uniform has more markings of rank."
"That's only because our first officer was actually an Irken!" Lor pouted for a moment as Dib went back to examining himself in the mirror
"I think I look good." Dib gave Lor a grin and Lor shook his head, but he was smiling. "I have always wanted to join a secret alien organization that wasn't trying to destroy Earth! Plus, this uniform is cool! I like that it's black."
"You would." Lor actually laughed. "Well, Cadet," he said the title teasingly. "Are you ready to report to your Captain?" He finally got off the edge of the bed where he had been sitting, walking up to Dib and doing the Syndicate salute. Dib attempted to do the same, crossing one arm over his chest bending slightly at the waist.
"Sir yes sir."
"At ease cadet." Lor laughed harder.
"Did I at least get the salute right?"
"You..." Lor paused. "You tried." He patted Dib on the back before ushering him out of the apartment. "And button up your uniform."
"No." Dib followed him out. It felt a little weird to be walking around campus wearing alien garments, but honestly this was not even on the list of the top ten weirdest things he had done on campus. None of the other students even batted an eye as they left the apartment and headed toward the science building. "You aren't even wearing your uniform." He added looking at Lor in his plaid overshirt, T-shirt, and jeans.
"Earth clothes are comfy." Lor retorted holding out his arms and admiring the fabric. "And a lot more colorful." He looked back at Dib. "Not that you care about color variation, but I happen to enjoy bright clothing."
"I like the black." Dib was more interested in the temperature outside. Usually, the weather was quite frigid this time of year, however, despite seeing the other students walking around in their thick overcoats, he felt just fine in the lightweight, long-sleeved uniform. "Is this thing temperature controlled?"
"It's also armor." Lor informed him.
"This is actually pretty awesome. Do you think I could study the fabric you guys use? I might be able to come up with some improvements if you give me time."
"Knock yourself out... but like, not literally." Lor shrugged.
"Thanks!" Dib was super eager to reach their destination. "So, what do you think my first duties are gonna be? Cracking a secret code? Disarming an alien bomb? Creating top-secret weapons?" Lor's blue eyes narrowed as he gave Dib a blank look.
"You're an engineer, Dib, not an Invader."
"Do the Syndicate have Invaders?"
"Not... really...?" His companion shrugged.
"Well I'm just excited to be able to work with alien tech. I got a Tangean phrasebook from your brother, that combined with the manuals I got from Captain Rose should-"
"I'm sorry... you got what from my brother?" Lor cut him off.
"Some Tangean phrasebook?"
"Oh d-don't." Lor's face went quite red. "No. Dib- Diego- don't use that book. Especially not to the Captain. Have you read the book?"
"Not... much...? But not gonna lie after seeing that reaction I want to go home and read it more." Dib narrowed his eyes.
"Don't." Lor muttered something under his breath in a language that might have been Tangean, but Dib had not picked up on any of those words yet. "Anyway," Lor cleared his throat, straightening his stance, "We shouldn't get caught up on dumb things like this. You'll actually have a busy day, I think. We are receiving a few incoming scouting parties from a nearby solar system- seems the..." he hesitated, "animosity with the Irkens has caused quite the disturbance."
"I'm going to get to meet more Syndicate!?" Dib perked up.
"Probably. We have a few ships coming in for repairs and supplies. So, you picked a hell of a first day." Lor was deep in thought, nearly walking into the clear glass doors of the science building. Dib quickly grabbed his arm- afraid Lor would break the glass with his face. (He had seen Lor break a tree with his body- he didn't want to risk a large, breakable door).
"Easy Doc," Dib grinned. "Shouldn't a Syndicate elite be more aware of his surroundings? You don't want to draw too much attention to yourself." It was a little strange to think he had other friends outside of just Zim. He had resigned himself to his isolation, but as it turned out, the universe held people just as strange as the Membrane clone, himself. It just happened that they were all aliens. It was a bit sad that Dib wouldn't really be able to share his new job with his parents- well... his dad and step-mom. (Dib mentally kicked himself for thinking of Moira as his mother even if only for a few seconds). His dad's refusal to accept the possibility of aliens meant that he wouldn't really get to enjoy this major part of Dib's life.
"You okay?" Dib blinked , seeing Lor's hand waving in front of his face; realizing he had spaced out after lecturing Lor about the same thing.
"Y-yeah." He shrugged off the thought of his family. (At least Gaz thought his new job was cool- well she didn't use the word 'cool'- but Dib could tell she had been impressed). Just getting the first day jitters, I guess."
"Well try not to get too worked up. It's only your first day. I mean it is hard enough with you basically representing your whole species to an Intergalactic Empire." Lor put a hand on Dib's shoulder, trying his best to be comforting. Dib blinked.
"Wait. What?"
"Don't stress about it, come on." Lor dragged Dib to the janitor's closet in the back of the science building where there was a secret elevator to the Syndicate underground labs, hidden away and out of sight. They waited until no one was looking before sliding inside. "You know, your little friend has been uncharacteristically quiet, as of late."
"Friend?" It took Dib a moment. "Oh, you mean CB? Yeah, he's been a bit jumpy recently. He says he got in a fight with the red guy."
"All Mighty Tallest Red?"
"His name is just Voel. And it was not a fight." Dib's phone chimed in with incredible indignation. "He threatened me."
"And what did you do to deserve it?" Dib questioned. He was not usually one to side with Irkens, but he had heard about the never-ending singalong from hell that CB had subjected the taller Irkens to. He was willing to give Voel the benefit of the doubt.
"Nothing. I am blameless here."
"Uh huh." They were already halfway down the hall and Dib wasn't entirely interested in CB's little fight with the Irkens back at the base. In all honesty, Zim had been pretty vocal about his complaints too. It seemed that despite the vastness of Zim's lair and the many levels of high-tech machinery that composed it; the Irkens were constantly on top of one another and getting on each other's nerves. Voel was probably just high strung because his planet was in mortal peril.
Dib knew the feeling all too well.
The doors slid open and Dib saw Captain Rose sitting at a desk with another alien in a similar uniform, however this one had a helmet over their head- it was a little surprising at first. But Dib realized it was stupid to think every alien would be compatible with Earth's atmosphere. Captain Rose looked up and the alien in the suit turned around. It had a pale, yellow skin with white, buoyant hair that had a whisp like appearance as if it were floating. Like with the Captain, the eyes were slightly too large for the face and all one, solid color with no whites or pupils making it very difficult to discern where exactly the newcomer was looking. However, unlike Captain Rose's large, pale blue eyes, this alien had bright, glowing golden eyes. The mouth was covered by some sort of black breathing apparatus that was hooked into the innerworkings of the suit. Dib could see little balls of light in the suit that seemed to almost be orbiting around the stranger's body.
"And so, he arrives, on time. Color me shocked Cadet Membrane. I've been your teacher for two semesters, I'm your academic advisor, and I have never seen you be punctual. You dragged him here in a timely manner, eh doctor?" Captain Rose looked at him with a smirk.
"Sometimes, I'm the best alarm clock." Lor grinned at Dib.
"Cadet Diego Membrane reporting for duty!" Dib decided to ignore the Captain's snide remarks, in a way, Dib could admit he had earned them. He saw Captain Rose's companion look at him, then back to her rather quickly looking as if they were about to speak. Captain Rose held up her hand, shaking her head.
"If it's about his head, don't. He's very sensitive about it and our doctor assures us there is nothing medically wrong." The Captain cleared her throat as Dib narrowed his eyes. "Cadet, this is the leading Captain of the fleet of Syndicate ships that have taken refuge here: Captain Fluorine she is from Periodica." Dib made a note to research the planet later.
"Be free. Be proud. Be unified, Cadet, Medic." Captain Fluorine greeted he and Lor in turn. The voice presented as female, though it sounded heavily synthetic. Dib chalked this up to her breathing apparatus. He struggled to do the Syndicate salute.
"Be free. Be Proud. Be unified." Lor spoke in unison with him, though Dib was annoyed to see how effortlessly Lor was able to do the bow.
"Doc, you're needed in med-bay so get your ass over there." Captain Rose addressed Lor who straightened up. "There are injured from G.S.T. Solar that need your attention. And suit up!" Lor nodded and quickly ran off leaving Dib under the gaze of both captains.
"This is your new engineering recruit. His species seems primitive." Captain Fluorine was giving him a once over, her expression hard to read due to all the protective gear. Captain Rose laughed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, trust me, they are. But this one's smart. He also has weird parents that will send him crazy weapons seemingly at random."
"Oh." Captain Fluorine brightened, "are those the people responsible for that lovely robot that lives in moon base now?"
"You guys really kept the robot?" Dib had forgotten about the whole fiasco with the care package and the moon base. It was a bit surprising to hear his parents had earned themselves a reputation as arms dealers in the Syndicate.
"Yeah moon base loves it." Captain Rose shrugged. "All right maggot, you have a long day ahead of you. Because of the G.S.T. Solar arriving we don't have a lot of time for basics. So, you'll need to be a helping hand wherever you're called. First, I want you to report to First-Officer Rogers in the landing bay. He'll have further instructions."
"Sir yes sir!" Dib replied quickly. He took off in the direction Lor had run, but stopped, looking back at the two captains. "You guys have a landing bay in here?" He had only seen two rooms in the Syndicate base and they had both been rather small.
"Yes. And it is the other way." Captain Rose pointed to a wall on the left and a few of the blindingly white panels slid aside revealing a door. Dib nodded and turned on his heel, reversing his direction and running toward the door. It opened into another narrow hallway with a round silver platform at the end. Dib stood on the platform and a small symbol on his uniform lit up. The platform made a pleasant noise before slowly beginning to descend. Dib reached the bottom and was greeted to an absolutely massive room housing two very nicely sized ships. One he recognized as what was left of the G.S.T. Nova and the other must have been the G.S.T. Solar.
"Heeeey there's my fresh meat- I mean Cadet." Carrius strode up to Dib with a grin on his face. It was cool seeing him out of his disguise, the olive skin, facial markings, the pointed ears and sharper teeth were fascinating to see. Dib would never get tired of seeing aliens. Even after all these years he was still impressed by Irkens. Carrius looked him up and down, hands behind his back, his posture stiff. "Like the way you're wearing your uniform. Did Lor get onto you?"
"That he did." Dib laughed.
"Nerd. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I know your Tangean isn't the best but we have a translator for you and-"
"Speaking of that," Dib hated to interrupt but something lor had said earlier was still on his mind. "About that book you leant me?" Carrius immediately perked up.
"Did you use it? Tell me you used it."
"I have not," Dib admitted, "but your brother's reaction when I mentioned it has left me with a lot of questions."
"No questions. This is work time." Carrius patted him on the back. "So here's the situation: The G.S.T Solar went was in neutral territory doing a supply run when they were hit by Irkens- we know the situation and we were able to maintain a non-lethal approach, however they got hit hard. We need you to analyze the damages. I have a Tangean translator for you to use if you need to read anything." Carrius offered Dib a small blue eye piece that he was easily able to slide behind his glasses. Dib was excited, this was sounding like what he had signed up for.
"Great! Where do I go?"
"You'll report to your direct supervisor." Carrius gestured to a trench coat behind him that deflated into a swarm of glowing, insectoid creatures.
"Oh! Hey Derick!" Dib recognized them instantly.
"It's D3R1K." Carrius corrected. Dib just sighed.
There was no fucking difference. Carrius was just saying Derick.
Derick squeaked and the lens Dib had been given lit up with writing.
When are we starting? We don't have all day.
Dib blinked. "Oh! Hey I can understand him now!"
"Yeah the translator works for all Syndicate languages." Carrius looked at the swarm that was pooling around Dib's feet. "So that means watch your language."
If the intern isn't stupid, we will have no issues. However, we have seen Earth and our hopes are not set high.
Hm. It turned out the collective entity known as Derick was an asshole- or perhaps- a series of much smaller assholes.
The more Dib worked under Derick, the more this thought was cemented in his brain. Derick had the ability to be in many places at once, and thus would get mad when Dib was stuck on one task. However, after Carrius stepped in and calmed the swarm down- Dib was able to finally get to work without seeing a barrage of swear words fly across his translator.
"It seems as if the Irkens damaged the central computer system. The Syndicate AI is offline. It is also very primitive."
"I thought you were sulking because Voel yelled at you." Dib was underneath one of the panels in the ship when his phone finally decided to pipe in. The physical labor was surprisingly grueling given Dib had enhanced strength and reflexes due to being a clone. Still his endurance had impressed Carrius, if nothing else. But he was already getting sore from moving heavy equipment for Derick- who could not lift much- and it was only just now nearing noon.
"I was not sulking. I was thinking."
"Uh huh. And now you're hanging out with me because you don't want to risk another argument."
"I can be in more than one place at one time." CB huffed.
"But I'm right."
"..." The AI was silent for a moment before reluctantly adding. "Affirmative."
"Called it." Dib sat up, wiping sweat from his forehead, careful not to hit his eyebrow piercing with the metal fastens on his uniform sleeve. "Well if you're going to be chatty, why don't you tell me more about the damage assessments?"
"From the story presented, my initial concern would be that a bug was planted for information retrieval." CB's remark made Dib tense up a bit.
"You think you could find one?"
"It would be optimal if I could be hooked up to the ship's mainframe- though it is currently offline. Also... I would be concerned of a virus similar to the one in Tenn's PAK. The damage to their databanks seems substantial."
"Also, I'm not hooking you up into someone else's ship. You like to take things over and not give them back." Dib retorted.
"That is only because I like to be big."
"You're already a house, a car, and a phone. You're fine."
"I am also the cruiser that the Tallests took to Earth. I was a Syndicate ship before but they asked me to leave- so I did- because I do give things back sometimes. And it is rude to accuse me of not doing so. Especially when I am being helpful."
"I'm sorry." Dib sighed. He wasn't really, but he needed CB to focus and the little AI seemed oddly distraught. "Is that what you want?"
"Yes."
"Then will you get out of my phone?"
"No. It is how we bond."
"Then what about my car?"
"I like being your car. It is expensive."
Quit blabbering to yourself. We haven't even started getting things back online yet. Derick must have noticed Dib slowing down.
"I would not be in such a rush to get this repaired. If there is a bug, putting the ship back online will create a security breach in the Syndicate."
"Woah hold up, let's pause these repairs for a second." Dib crawled out from under the panel, waving down Carrius.
"What seems to be the problem?" Carrius quickly made his way over.
The intern has stopped all productivity and seems to be having some sort of mental breakdown. It is talking to itself.
"I'm not having a mental breakdown, not this time." Dib stood up, wiping the grime off of himself. It easily was dusted off of the fine Syndicate materials. "CB just spoke up after hours of us fixing this thing to only now tell us that maybe this isn't such a good idea.
What is a CB?
"Oh hey isn't that the Irken security system that never actually does security?" Carrius asked, pointing his pen in Dib's direction.
"Hey!"
"No no, I saw him do security once." Dib was greatly amused by the description. "Look, CB is an Irken computer. He knows how they do things... more or less." CB's take on the Irken Empire might have been slightly skewed by Zim. "He's concerned the Irkens may have put some kind of bug or virus in the G.S.T. Solar and that's why it's offline."
I thought it was just from the damages, they are quite substantial... though we have installed a failsafe that shuts down all systems in case of a breach. The swarm sounded impressed. Dib was a bit surprised it had emotions other than angry.
"Perhaps the damages were done afterward." Dib suggested. "You know, to hide the fact that the ship went offline to protect itself from the virus." He looked at Carrius to see if he was doing well- a part of him wanted this to be true because it would mean he would not have to lift up any more of the heavy panels for Derick.
"Good call Cadet. D3R1K, you need to do a complete erase of all files from the Solar. That will lose the mission logs but we have the crew." Carrius began typing on the little translucent screen in his hand. "We have checked everyone to assure they are not Invaders in hiding, correct?"
You will need to confirm that with med-bay.
"Ugh Med is kind of overwhelmed at the moment..." Carrius rubbed the wrinkled bridge of his pointed nose. "Cadet, I'm going to need you to run up to Medical and confirm everyone is who they say they are. We can't have another Ron incident."
"Was... that guy's name really Ron?" Dib questioned.
"Move it Cadet!" Was the only answer he got. Dib sighed and walked in the direction Carrius had pointed. He again, just reached a wall. This time it stayed a wall. He looked back at Carrius, but he was engrossed in conversation with the swarm.
"So, this is a nice wall." CB remarked dryly.
"Sometimes doors appear, I just... I'm still not sure how they do it..." Dib squinted at the wall. "It's my first day, okay?"
"And they did not show you how to use doors?" CB sounded bemused.
"I think it has something to do with the badge..." He tapped the little emblem on his chest and the wall slid open. "Oh hey!" He walked through the hall to another platform. As he stood on it, it remained in its stationary position. Dib faltered. "Take me to... Med Bay?" There was another happy little beep and the platform moved upward.
"HE'S GOING CRITICAL! WHERE IS MY BACKUP!?" The sound of Lor shouting took Dib quite off his guard as he arrived outside of a closed door. His badge flashed and the door slid open. There were several different races all on tables as Lor and two other Syndicate members were rushing between the gurneys. A felinoid looking man and a black eyed, multi-armed spidery looking woman immediately rushed to Lor's side. "I need all support systems up and running YESTERDAY!"
"Doctor it seems the life-support systems in the suits were damaged." The cat like man began to explain but Lor was gone. Dib hadn't even seen him leave but in a moment, he was back holding strange equipment.
"I have our backup we'll have to make due. It's outdated but I can't get more on such short notice. I still need to get the lacerations closed on that Jo-adin."
"I can dedicate two of my arms for assistance." The arachnid like woman offered.
"I'll take it, scrub in." Lor whipped on a pair of gloves and began to work on a large, inflated-looking reddish creature with horn-like ears. A clear screen dropped around him, two small openings appeared between he and the other table where the arachnid medic slid in two of the hands protruding from her back. He finally noticed Dib in the doorway. "Do you need something right now?"
"Your brother wanted to know if you had checked the crew of the Solar to see if there were Invaders among them." Dib kept his distance. This was a far cry from seeing Lor waving a light over Carrius's burned face.
"Do I look like I've had time!?" Lor snapped. He took a deep breath. "Sorry... I don't mean to yell but I'm a bit overwhelmed here. I have three critical patients."
"Right..." Dib took a step back as something orange squirted out and hit the glass.
"You want you know if there are Invaders, ask Q. That asshole is flitting around just outside the medical bay. I shooed him out not five minutes before you came in."
"There... has to be another way." Dib looked pleadingly at Lor who was no longer looking in his direction.
"Ask Q. Go one level down to storage, he's probably in the last store room, it's the one under the operating room." Lor waved him off, his gloves slick. Dib turned quickly back to the elevator pad and it took him down just one level to a large hall with multiple doors. Following Lor's advice, he headed toward the last storeroom. The door slid open as he approached and he saw large boxes stacked higher than his head. The ceiling, like in the landing bay, was surprisingly far over him. The room was absolutely massive.
"Hey, Q!"
"Oh boy, a visitor." One of the boxes stirred as a snide voice weaseled into Dib's head. He saw Q crawling along the ceiling. His head turned one hundred and eighty degrees to look at Dib below him. It snapped back the right direction and he let go of the sleek tiles and slowly drifted to the ground. "If it isn't the human pet."
"Seems like you're in a good mood." Dib narrowed his eyes. Q had returned to the original form in which Dib had seen him, the humanoid figure with the too-wide smile and floating scarves. He tilted his head to the side inquisitively.
"Actually, I am. The chaos in the medical bay is delicious."
"Punch him in his creepy face and demand answers!" Dib's pocked piped up helpfully. Q and Dib both looked at the phone.
"He... knows that I can hear him, right? He just can't hear me..."
"Ignore him." Dib tried to wave it off (as much as he wanted to try out the advice). "I'm surprised you're still sticking around considering that you aren't under arrest anymore."
"Free food is free food, Diego." Dib frowned at the use of his real name. Lor and the Captain could get away with it. The Captain because she was now his superior officer and Lor because... well the important thing was that Q couldn't use it. "Because why?"
"Look Q, you can sort-of detect Irken spies, right? With that mind reading thing you used on Tenn?" Dib wanted very much for this conversation to be over.
"Yeah. And?"
"Well, have you checked the crew of the Solar?"
"Maybe."
"Fuck, Q. Have you or haven't you?"
"Maybe." He repeated dryly. Dib sighed, slowly bringing his hand up to his face and dragging it down as he continued to sigh loudly.
"What do you want?"
"Ten extra-large meat lovers pizzas from Bloaty's."
"What? Why? I thought you ate emotions!"
"The sadness of the pizza employees fills me with energy."
Dib rolled his eyes pulling out his phone. "Fine, I'll order your pizzas and then you talk." He had the app. He was a college kid after all, he needed his pizza. "Look if you don't even eat meat can I just order you the regular cheese?"
"No. I want the meat lovers."
"But you don't even eat!"
"I can."
"Will you though?"
"I want the option."
This. This was why he hated dealing with Q. This sort of obnoxious behavior was worse than almost being eaten by him. "Okay, I ordered the fucking pizza now talk."
"No. I want them in my hands. You could cancel the order."
"Q people could be in fucking danger!"
"I want: my pizzas."
To be fair, Dib had strongly considered canceling the order.
The Membrane clone had to drag himself all the way out of the Syndicate base, meet the overworked delivery driver, tip him, pay for the pizzas, walk all the way back to the base while holding ten fucking extra-large boxes of pizza, and get all the way back to Q.
"Here." He went to drop the pizzas and they floated out of his grip. "Now tell me, have you scanned the Solar members? Are they who they say they are?"
"Ask me nicely."
"I got you pizza!"
"But I want to hear a 'please'."
"Ugh, Q, 'please' tell me if the crew of the Solar are Irken spies." Dib was almost hoping they were because at least this would all be worth it.
"No. They aren't."
Dib didn't say anything, he just stormed back into the lift.
There was a happy beep, only now he was taken back to the command room where Captain Rose had been meeting with Captain Fluorine. This time, however, Captain Rose was alone. She looked up as he came in.
"How did it go with Carrius... why... why do you smell like pizza and depression?"
"Don't ask. Just know that no one on the Solar was an Irken spy and also note that I hate Q with every cell in my body, and that if I ever make my own clone son- the hatred of Q is so wound into my DNA that he will also be born hating Q."
"Right. I'll... um... add it to your personnel file... I guess." She cleared her throat. "Well I'm glad you're here." Dib perked up a bit. "That was some initiative you showed back in the landing bay. I am quite impressed. But you still have a lot to do. I have some paperwork here for you to begin filling out." She walked Dib over to a little desk and sat him down. She dropped a stack of papers in front of him. "So get to work."
Dib took a deep breath and began working. Zim had warned him that joining the Syndicate was just asking to fill out forms till your inevitable death. BUT, Dib had managed to help stop a possible Irken bug. The Captain had been impressed. If he continued at this rate, he might actually be able to put Earth on the map. The Syndicate might even offer Earth to join them.
Then his parents would have to see that aliens were real. (Not that Moira had ever really denied aliens- she sure had a thing about moon monkeys that his dad seemed to believe).
Dib blinked. He had filled out several sheets, but was surprised by how much of this was just math. It felt a little like...
He put his pencil down. "Wait... is this stuff from class?"
"Do your fucking homework!" Captain Rose's voice came from behind him. Dib jumped. She had phased through one of the walls and he hadn't heard her.
"We're in the middle of a possible war!"
"I'm your teacher. I'm supposed to encourage you to do your best, not let you fail because of intergalactic affairs. And I don't think: Intergalactic War is going to really fly as an excuse with the Board of Education." Captain Rose leaned over the desk.
"I mean... it might?" Dib suggested. "And isn't your teaching thing just your disguise? Can't you drop it now?"
"Drop it!? I almost have tenure!" She looked aghast by the suggestion. "Plus, I can't have an engineer who doesn't finish his schoolwork. I threw in some Syndicate planet information in the word problems to make it more fun!"
Dib looked at her, his eyes narrowed, but she wasn't budging.
His head hit the table as he submitted to doing his schoolwork.
As he finished, he was ready to leave and just collapse on his bed in defeat. He had done heavy lifting, been a pizza mule for a psychotic eldritch creature, and done about half a semester's worth of math problems. (It was a good thing he was a super-genius because there was no way he could have plowed through the worksheets otherwise). He was hoping things had calmed down in the medical bay long enough for Lor to come home. Dib was just ready for today to be over.
"Cadet!" He jumped as he heard that synthesized voice behind him. Captain Fluorine was heading in his direction. "Can I steal you for a moment?"
"I..." He was tired, but she was a Captain. "Sir yes sir."
"We have a message from an incoming Syndicate Vessel requesting landing. I need you to go help clear the landing bay."
"Another ship?" Dib made a face. "Were you expecting one?"
"Not exactly, but they are not distressed. This is simply a drop off. We'll need you to help move supplies." She walked with him toward the elevator. At least it seemed like she would be joining him, rather than using him for heavy lifting like Derick had done. Dib arrived to see Captain Rose and Carrius already at work on the computers.
"Good, you're here." Captain Rose looked up. "You finished your work.?"
"Yes Professor." Dib could not hide the slight bitterness in his voice. Fortunately, she laughed. "What can I do for you?"
"Think you can move the Solar from the first landing platform to the third?" Dib's face lit up as Captain Rose gestured to a large overhead, floating platform. "We need to make room for the G.S.T Callisto to land."
"I get to help fly a ship!?"
"You... get to help move a ship." She corrected. "Autopilot is offline for the debugging so we need it done manually. I thought you might enjoy being the one to move it."
"I am absolutely ready!" It wasn't much, but Dib was excited to be able to move a ship from point A to point B. Tak's ship liked to drive itself so it wasn't often he enjoyed being a pilot. He boarded the ship with Captain Rose who demonstrated the controls to him. Dib followed her instructions and the ship surged to life. The lighting was very dim, it looked more akin to the emergency lighting he had seen in the crashed Syndicate drone.
"Engines are online, take us up Cadet Membrane."
"Ready!" Dib very gently moved the ship into the air, onto the hovering platform, where it landed with a rough but passable 'thud' He turned to look at Captain Rose. "How did I do?"
"Not bad." She nodded. "Power her down, the Callisto has already contacted us for permission to land." Dib nodded and quickly powered the ship down with some help from the translator in his glasses telling him what the labeling on the buttons meant.
"Everyone at attention." Captain Rose ordered as Derick flooded into their trench coat, filling it out to join the others on the sidelines. Captain Fluorine and Rose stood on either side. He saw Captain Rose make a face.
"What?" Dib lowered his voice. Realizing he had seen her expression, she leaned over to him, keeping her voice low.
"Between you and me, the First Officer on the Callisto is kind of awful to deal with."
The walls slid aside as a smaller vessel with the same pristine, bright metals constructing it that Dib had seen on the other Syndicate ships, made its way into the landing area. It landed effortlessly on the floor that Dib had (expertly) cleared for them. The door opened and a Tangean man in a Captain's uniform stood in the doorway.
"Captain Duke Blitzar of the G.S.T Callisto requesting permission for drop-off. The forms have been sent to your reading devices." The man spoke in the same accent that he heard in Captain Rose's voice, though his was much thicker.
"Permission granted. The acceptance forms have been sent to your ship in triplicate." Captain Rose replied, her voice cool and professional.
"The forms have been received. Drop off in progress." He turned to look behind him. "This is your stop." He stepped aside as a new figure hopped off the steps into the landing area. Dib blinked, then looked at Captain Rose, then looked back.
An Irken.
An Irken wearing a Syndicate uniform similar to the one Carrius wore, but custom fitted to the smaller body. There were Irkens in the Syndicate?
That was weird enough, but Dib had something else nagging at the edge of his mind. He squinted at the Irken as they surveyed the room.
"I received communications from this horrible planet." The voice was filled with disgust. "Communications from my alleged dead Tallests. I demand answers!" Fists were clenched as the Irken looked around accusingly. "The people of this planet are too dense and oblivious to pull off such a deception, so I can only imagine this communication is real"
That's when it hit him.
"Tak!?"
