Illegal Activity

Everything hurt. Laes was aware of that the moment he opened his eyes.

There were wires attached to his body. They were attached to his arms too, and there was some sort of freaky helmet covering his head.

He immediately threw it onto the floor. It landed with a loud clang and bounced once more before knocking into the wall.

Hurriedly he sat up and tore all of the wires off of him.

At least he was wearing pants this time... that was the only not creepy thing about this whole situation...

The alarm started and the sudden noise caused him to fall off of the table he'd been lying on. He hit the floor hard enough to knocked the air out of his lungs.

This was not starting off as a very good day...

When he was able to breathe again he let out a pained groan and rolled onto his side. His muscles ached and his head was pounding. His legs felt numb until he tried to use them, then they just hurt.

The room was darker than he'd been expecting. All of the lights had been turned off, though there was a faded blue light coming from the screen of the machine he'd been attached to. There were a few smaller green lights below that, and then he saw it: the thing that held Bann's data somehow.

With all of the struggling power of a beached Gorgit, he managed to move himself across the floor.

Reaching the device proved more difficult. He actually had to stretch which hurt everywhere and made it hard for him to breath again for some reason, and he was really beginning to wonder why he decided waking up was a good idea.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been lying down for, but his body seemed to think it had been a few years at least.

Maybe the guards had beaten him. He sure felt like he'd gotten beaten.

His fingers brushed the device. It was oddly warm for something that looked like it was made out of random metal materials. He reached further and managed to snag it before collapsing onto his back.

The guards were going to be here any second. He knew that, but he didn't know where to keep the device… the first thought he had was to hide it in his pants but they'd likely search there first.

The door flew open and a pool of light flooded into the room. Quickly Laes shoved the piece of the hologram device into his mouth before his brain could think of the many excuses not to do that.

It tasted horrible, but he was too scared to dwell on it.

Then he closed his eyes and waited.

"Shlit..." that was Grump's voice. Even after being away Laes could instantly recognize it."I thought you said you gave him enough drugs to knock him out for a week,"

"I-I did..." a new voice stammered.

They sounded scared. Was it another Vortian Laes wondered? He wouldn't dare open his eyes to look.

Thwack! "Ah!"

It sounded like the scared person had been hit.

Laes struggled not to wince. He could hear the guard's boots clacking against the floor.

Clack clack clack.

Grumps was probably standing over him.

He felt the guard snag him by the shoulder. He was trembling badly.

Grumps must know he wasn't really sleeping right now. His irregular breathing and constant shivering gave him away. He was also pretty sure he just flinched too.

"You, get to your feet," Grumps demanded, and he set Laes down only to have him fall over.

As much as Laes would have liked to obey, his legs wouldn't let him. It was probably the drugs, or cowardice, or both, but he couldn't make himself stand.

Grump's boot connected with his abdomen, and he made a small whimpering noise.

"Get up!" the guard demanded.

Laes just lay there waiting for the beating he was going to get for not cooperating. Maybe if there was enough pain he'd go unconscious again.

"He can't!" the other person blurted. "The drugs haven't..."

"Turn the alarm off," Pain insisted.

That voice made Laes' skin crawl. He curled into a tighter ball and squeezed his eyes shut.

There was a small yelp. Yes. That was definitely a Vortian.

"Turn it off," Grumps echoed, sounding annoyed.

A few seconds later the loud piercing alarm was shut off.

An uneasy silence fell over the room. Then Pain spoke again, "I'll take number 777 to his cell..."

There was a shorter pause. Then Grumps mumbled something under his breath.

Pain continued, "can you take the other one back?"

"Yeah," Grumps responded, and he let out a sharp sigh.

Laes felt himself being lifted on the ground. He was carried under the guard's arm like a sack of dirt.

"Usually you're more chatty," Pain commented.

It was difficult to swallow with the device in his mouth. Laes cracked open an eye and watched the shiny floor beneath him. It was never dirty, and he still hadn't figured out how.

"I guess we all have our limits, don't we?" Pain said, and he let out a sigh.

Laes could hear the crackling electric sound of the force fields.

Pain didn't say anything else. The guard simply brought him back to his old cell and placed him on his cot.

Laes listened as the guard's boot steps faded away before opening both eyes and attempting to sit up. It took another try before he did, then he fell forward off the cot and landed face-down on the floor.

He spat out the device and held it tight in his hand as he began crawling slowly towards his computer.

It felt like hours had gone by before he reached it.

He opened one of the ports and jammed the device inside. It really didn't fit properly, but the screen flickered, so he assumed something was happening.

"Can… hear… Laes…?" Bann's crackling voice came through the speakers.

"Y-yeah..." Laes responded, managing a small smile.

He looked over at the other cot that was still in his cell. Lard Nar was gone, but he wasn't alone.

"You..." Bann's voice faded out. It was hard to hear him.

"I can't hear you anymore..." Laes told him, and he rested his head against the speaker.

"You… ok…?"

Tears filled his eyes and dripped down his cheeks. Sniffling, he reached to hug his computer. It didn't matter that this movement hurt his shoulders and that his arms didn't fully want to cooperate. He was just glad he wasn't alone right now.

"I'm ok..." he replied before he started to sob.

"...Don't sound ok..." Bann remarked with an edge of concern in his voice.

"Y-you're the one stuck in a computer," Laes reminded him. "Y-you don't even have your head anymore… you're… you're dead Bann… why couldn't I help you…? I… I didn't want you to die..."

"I'm… still here..." Bann said very slowly and deliberately. "I will… get you out..."

Laes just kept clinging to his computer. He didn't know if he wanted to get out again… not after what happened the last time he did that.

Darden wasn't sure what was driving him anymore. He knew he should be dead. That would be the most loyal thing he could do for the Empire right now: die. Yet for some reason Laes' words were sticking with him.

That didn't mean he couldn't take risks that could potentially kill him, and that was exactly what he was doing. He wanted to see if the worms had built a nest in this quadrant. If they had, he'd alert the part of the Armada that should be flying nearby in a short while.

He hadn't expected to fly into pieces of debris and to find that they made a trail that led to a desolate planet that might have once been a moon…

There were chunks of rocks and dirt and something that could have been organic life maybe floating around. It looked like a planet had been pulled a part here… but then there was a different rocky planet nearby, and it seemed to be drifting aimlessly.

Then he saw something more noteworthy: a familiar looking downed vessel on the surface of that moon or whatever it was. He landed his ship and put on his breathing helmet that every soldier had in their PAKs.

The ship must have remained invisible just long enough after the initial attack to avoid receiving anymore damage. Lucky for its crew… the bulk of their ship was still intact.

It was possible they were running out of air though, and there was no way their vessel would be able to fly in the state it was in.

That's how he ended up in this claustrophobic situation.

The cloaked alien girl was sitting beside him with a small yellow creature in her arms. Ixane was her name. He was pretty sure of this although he usually didn't remember the names of aliens.

There were also four Bludonians, two yellow smiling things, the other small yellow thing with a screw in its head, two floating robots, a green creature that seemed to occasionally barf up purple sludge, a creature with four legs and a strange growth on its chin, a dark cloaked alien with a large forehead, and an alien that had buggy eyes and a segmented body.

At least the guy he hated wasn't here.

His shoulders were tense and he had a harsh grip on the controls. He wasn't used to being around so many strange aliens, and it was worse being in such close proximity to them.

"It's very kind of you to rescue us," one of the Bludonians who was standing much too close to the back of his seat told him.

"I didn't have anything better to do," Darden grumbled. His hands were starting to hurt from gripping the controls so tightly.

Besides… Lard Nar had rescued him twice… once from a tree (much to his embarrassment) and again when he chose to let him on board the Resisty's ship instead of leaving him on the doomed jungle planet.

He'd never felt respect for a non-Irken before, and he never imagined the one to earn any respect from him would be a Vortian of all people. Is that why he was saving these rebels? Did he actually feel indebted to their former leader?

"It's too bad we're down another ship though," the floating robot thing commented. At least he figured that was who was talking judging by their monotone voice.

"I'm not sure all of us will be able to fit inside just one..." Ixane quietly admitted.

"You could take this one..." Darden said, and he could feel the eyes of all of the Resisty members on him.

"You would give us your Spittle Runner?" the large big-headed alien questioned in disbelief.

"And betray the Empire?" Darden responded, suddenly feeling rather defensive. His antennae flattened, and he scowled down at his monitor. "You people outnumber me. You can just take it."

"You saved us Darden..." Ixane spoke, and he cringed when he felt her hand on his arm. "...we're not ungrateful."

"Yes, but you do need another ship," the former soldier remarked, glaring at her and he brushed her hand off of him."It's not unreasonable for you to take it by force since you need it and I am unable to simply hand it over to you."

"Excuse my curious nature," one of the Bludonians spoke up. "But why do you want to give us this ship even though you seem to consider it a betrayal towards your people?"

Darden bit his lip. He wasn't too sure what he was thinking or if he was even supposed to think this way. Maybe being outside of the Empire was somehow altering his programming. Maybe he was becoming defective…

He always thought a defective Irken had to be manufactured incorrectly from the start… he never considered the possibility that an Irken could somehow have their data altered afterwords unless direct tampering was involved.

"I don't really have a people right now..." Darden admitted. "Although I would never want to go against the Empire or my Tallest… I'm not able to properly support them right now."

The Bludonian came a bit closer so he was almost standing by the one who was too close. "Do you want to go back?"

"Yes," Darden answered instantly in his usual honest manner. "But I can't."

"I see… then where are you planning to go?"

"I'm not sure." He'd never had to figure everything out on his own before. Usually he was told what to do and he obeyed. Thinking for himself was not something he was particularly fond of, but he didn't have a choice.

"You are welcome to join the survivors of my people on the planet we are currently residing on," the Bludonian offered, because that was what his people did. They were givers.

Darden wasn't sure he understood the sentiment. Irkens always took what they wanted. They never thought about the feelings of others... doing so would be considered defective. Everything had to be for the good of the Empire and nothing else.

Why would the Bludonian make such an offer to an enemy? It didn't make any logical sense.

"I decline," Darden replied.

He switched the receiver to the Irken broadcast network again. The part of the Armada in the area wasn't too far off. If the other Resisty members decided to follow his advice, they should be nearby.

He glanced at Ixane. The purple cloaked alien was rocking the small creature in her arms. Shouldn't they have found a safer place for the offspring? Maybe that was where they were heading now.

When the Ring Cutters and Spittle Runners appeared on the edge of his monitor, he slowed his vessel down. He proceeded to follow them for a little while, hoping that one of the blind transmissions he sent would be answered.

"Do you people have a meeting place?" Darden asked after the fifth attempt at communicating with the hidden Resisty ship had failed.

An uneasy silence fell over the crew. Of course they wouldn't tell him if they did. He wasn't a member of their group and he never would be.

"Not anymore," Ixane murmured, and she hugged the small thing in her arms closer.

"Perhaps we could try Meekrob?" one of the Bludonians suggested.

"They've closed off their planet to all outsiders," someone else spoke.

"Normally we would meet up on Foodcourtia," a different voice said. They paused for a moment then let out a sigh. "It's impossible to do that right now though..."

Ixane sat up a bit straighter. "Aren't we getting a little close to the Armada?" She asked.

Darden blinked. The fragment of the Armada he'd been following had suddenly stopped.

There were worms approaching from the left side.

He pulled back on one of the control sticks to slow down the Spittle Runner. The communication light started flashing, alerting everyone that they were currently being hailed.

The Armada was heading towards them… and so were the massive writhing group of giant hungry worms…

Darden's eyes widened when he realized what kind of trouble they were in. He hurriedly made a few adjustments, transferring most of the core energy to the engines.

"Keep quiet," he insisted before pressing the receive button.

An Irken appeared on his monitor. Darden's antennae flicked back and he lowered his gaze respectfully.

"You are currently in a restricted area," the soldier on the screen informed him. "All non-military Irken personnel are being called back to Irk."

"I apologize sir..." Darden responded. The screen displaying the area showed the piece of the Armada was approaching at a fast speed.

"Never mind that," the soldier spoke with a scowl. "Right now you need to get behind our forces. Do not delay. The worms are nearly on top of us."

The transmission cut off, and Darden gripped the controls with both hands.

"Hang onto something," he remarked, though he didn't give them much time before he pulled the Spittle Runner forward. He'd gotten permission to approach the Armada, and he was going to waste this opportunity.

At this speed it was more difficult to control the ship, but he managed to weave through the first small section of Irken forces without scraping or crashing against anything. Then he drove the ship below them to avoid any possible collisions with the rest of the fleet.

The communications button was beeping and flashing again. Darden brought the Spittle Runner to a stop, and he watched on the monitors as the fragment of the Armada met head on with the swarm.

He stared as he reached to answer the call. He couldn't look away. There were far more worms than there were Irken vessels. Those soldiers weren't going to survive.

He wanted to be with them. Dying along side his fellow Irkens would be better than wandering alone outside of the Empire.

"Um, hey Darden," a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the screen that was showing who'd made the call. It was the cone alien from the Resisty. Shloonktapooxis.

Darden glanced over his shoulder at the members of the Resisty he'd rescued. "It's fine," he informed them when he realized that the ones who weren't lying on the ground, hurt and in pain from their flight, were still being very quiet. "It's your boss on the line."

He was never going to return to the Empire… he knew this.

Zim was the only one who had ever returned from being exiled and this was only because the small Irken was too defective to care about being banished.

Besides, he'd already betrayed his Tallest by rescuing the enemy… why had he bothered? There was no point in saving these creatures.

Everyone who was able to crowded around his chair to see Shloonktapooxis on the screen. Darden's antennae flattened in annoyance, but since he was the one at the controls he didn't leave his spot.

The worms wouldn't be held back for long. They needed to keep moving.

"Alright, enough talk," Darden interrupted them, and he shoved a few aliens away from his space. "We aren't safe here," he insisted, gripping the main control stick. "It seems the Empire has lost its current borders, so we need to head further into Irken controlled space."

If only he had a map of the Empire's current boarders… remaining on the outskirts right now did not seem like the greatest idea, but they couldn't head too far inwards either without possibly being detained.

"We do have a place… I mean, somewhere to go," Shloonktapooxis began, although he looked and sounded unsure. "Um… it's near… well… you can follow us."

The communication's screen flicked off, and Darden's eyes returned to the main monitor. Almost all of the Irken vessels had been smashed apart. Only a handful were left desperately fighting the giant mass of worms.

Something in his chest constricted when he turned his ship to follow the Resisty's. There would be no honourable death for him along side his people. He would never be anything but a shameful wanderer.