Disclaimer: Truthfully, I never would have thought up Invader Zim. So…no, I do not own.

Summary: Zim has finally thought of the perfect way to stop Dib from interfering. But Dib may find that Zim's plans are the least of his problems…

'thought'

"speech"

-0-0- is a scene/character jump

Chapter 8

The resulting boom sent the entire station lilting to the side.

"Ack! Dib! We must get to our ships!" Zim cried, grabbing the screaming Gir by the top of his head and taking off towards the door.

"What? Doesn't this place have defenses??" Dib shouted, nearly falling over as another beam made the station rock and he lost his footing, his Pak's spider legs emerging to right him and he skittered towards the door after Zim.

"No! I didn't think we would be attack from space! I had them deactivated, since they wasted power!" Zim answered, also with his spider legs out to help against the rocking of the doomed station. He was now cursing himself for not installing defenses, but it hadn't seemed necessary at the time!

Reaching his ship, he threw Gir in and leaped in after. Dib came rocketing into the room, his legs skittering and clanking against the shuddering floor. He shot to his ship and threw himself in, starting it up and following Zim and Gir out of the hatch even as the station tilted so far over to the side that things began sliding down.

Staying near Zim's ship, Dib punched several buttons until he had Zim on screen.

"Zim! What are we going to do?" He cried. He was very inexperienced when it came to space battles verses anyone but Zim!

"We are going to get away, stupid Dib!" Zim shouted back, glaring at Dib through the screen. "Patch your ship's computer into mine, and set it for the same coordinates!" Dib's claws flew over his controls, doing as he was told.

Meanwhile, the Resisty turned their attention away from the crippled space station and focused on the two Irken ships that were hastily flying away.

"Retreating??" The captain shouted. "That is not like the so called powerful Irken elite!"

Zim pulled back on his controls, sending his ship to a jarring stop. Dib continued for a few seconds until he spun about and flew up beside the other.

"What is going on?? We are supposed to be flying away, remember?" Dib asked, eyeing the approaching ship anxiously.

"No! They insulted the Irken Empire and the Irken Elite! They must pay!" Zim snarled, his ship shooting forwards towards the much larger ship.

"Argh!" Dib slapped a hand to his forehead, and followed Zim towards the other ship. "Okay…just like one of Gaz's stupid games…" Dib muttered, and he gulped nervously as they approached the large domed window of the Resisty ship rather quickly.

Zim glared as he pressed forwards, seeming to be heading to a front end collision. Dib, not really want to die so stupidly, pulled his controls hard left, making his deep red ship skim the side of the dome, causing several of the aliens inside to dive back in surprise.

Dib looked behind him, expecting to see Zim splattered against the dome, only to see that the other Irken had done the same, and was currently firing his weapons as he flew alongside the right side of the ship.

Deciding that was a good idea, Dib looked about for the weapon controls. Argh, where did Tak put them?? She had them installed, he knew that. "Ship! Activate the weapons! Fire on the ship!" Dib shouted, and heard a low hum as the lasers powered up.

"Argh! Get them!" The Vortian Captain shouted, grabbing the arm of his chair as the smaller ships wrecked havoc upon the larger, less maneuverable, ship. The Resisty's screens suddenly flickered, and all of them displayed Zim's laughing visage. A few flickered out, Zim's head being replaced by Dib's, who merely glared at them instead of laugh.

"Let this teach you a lesson against going against the Irken Empire!" Zim laughed, sending out those purple energy balls that blasted into the side of the ship, sending all inside rocking to the left.

Dib, not about to be outdone by Zim, sent his own into the left side, knocking the ship back towards Zim's ship. He glanced along the ship's side, looking for something that would cripple it.

There! Those looked like engines! Aiming, he sent a volley of all his weapons towards the spot, and was satisfied to see a rather colorful explosion that sent his little ship spinning away.

"Aha!" Zim cackled. "You shall never again desire to face ME! I AM ZIM!" He crowed, and Dib merely shook his head, sending one last glare to the troublesome ship crew before him on screen before turning his ship around to follow Zim's.

"This isn't the end, Irken scum! The Resisty does not give up! You have not seen the last of us! We already have a plan to end Irken tyranny once and for all!" The captain laughed triumphantly.

Dib raised an antenna at them again, "And what plan is that?" he asked, wondering if the aliens were stupid enough to actually tell him.

"Simple, and yet brilliant! We are going to go after the massive! It will chase us and we will lead it into a trap, where all the ships of the rebellion will be waiting to bring it down forever!" with that, the captain began to laugh, and his crew joined in.

"No!" Zim cried. "We have to warn the Tallest!"

"You actually told us?" Dib asked, eyes wide and his usually flat antenna arching up next to his other one in disbelief.

"What?? Oh no! They know of our plan! They must to be destroyed!" The captain commanded, pointing at the two hovering ships.

"Captain, our left engine has been destroyed! We can only move half speed!" A small, centipede-like alien cried, pointing at a display monitor.

Zim's ship sped off; Dib's following closely, leaving behind the captain's shouts of outrage.

"Now what are we going to do?" Dib asked Zim, leaning back and sighing as he watched the stars whiz by. His ship was on auto-follow on Zim's, so he didn't have much to do other than stare into space. Watching stars zoom by was interesting only for a while. Every now and then Dib would forget his boredom and marvel at a galaxy in the distance, or a quasar or black hole.

"We are going to warn the Tallest, of course!" Zim shot back, pushing Gir off his head. "We can't let them be lured into a trap by those stupid rebellious stink-beasts!"

Dib sighed, leaning back again and starting a mahjong game on his laptop, which he plugged had into his ship control panel. He began to muse over what his choices were.

On one hand, if he helped Zim save the Tallest from their doom, he would be leaving the universe open to conquest by the Irken Empire. That was bad. But if he did not help them, he himself stood a chance of being destroyed for being Irken.

He couldn't go back to Earth, or at least to the people he knew. If he went back, he would be living in complete solitude and isolation, among people he didn't know and who disgusted him about as much as his own classmates did, he would be living a lonely life, unable to get close for fear of being discovered.

If he stayed with Zim, the only person who offered him a margin of respect, he would be able to keep an eye on the Invader, and maybe sabotage his plans subtly. He also would have someone to at least be himself around, and there was never a shortage of entertainment with Zim and Gir.

So…conclusion…it was more worth Dib's time to stay with Zim. That could also mean he was going to have someone to at least talk to, compared to the outcast existence he would receive on earth, and the constant threat of discovery.

Heaving another sigh, he finished up the mahjong game and focused on Zim's image.

"Can't you call the Tallest and let them know about it?" Dib asked. He was not looking forward to actually facing the Irken leaders. He may look Irken, but he didn't really know how to act Irken.

"No. The long-distance transmissions on my ship are faulty, probably damaged in the Resisty attack." Zim said. "And yours are not able to reach that far. Tak must not have upgraded to the newer transmission model."

"What…how do you know that about my ship?" Dib demanded. If Zim had been fiddling around with his ship…

"Silly Dib, I ran a scan to see if you could once I found out I can't. Now, be silent and let us go home to warn them of this devious plot!" Zim shouted, and glared as Gir cheered piercingly behind him.

Five galaxies, two comets, and untold number of stars went by before anyone spoke again, not including Gir's singing and chattering.

"We are nearing where the Massive was last transmitting from!" Zim said, a few hours later. "I'm going to see if I can send a call now, we should be in range for the short-range transmitters!"

-0-0-

"Incoming transmission!"

"From who?" Red asked, feeling a sense of foreboding.

"Zim, My Tallest." The pilot answered.

"My Tallest!" Zim's face came on screen at that moment.

"Ah, Zim! What do you want now?" Purple moaned, rubbing his head. He felt a head ache coming on.

"You are in danger, My Tallest! The Resisty plan on luring the Massive into a trap where all the ships of the rebellion will take you down!" Zim cried out, waving his arms around to get his point across.

"Are you serious?"

"Is this a joke?" Red asked, eyes narrowing.

"No, sirs. It is not a joke!" The screen showing Zim's head split in two, one side showing Zim and the other Dib.

"Oh, ah…Invader…Dib." Purple greeted, grabbing a new bag of doughnuts.

"Yes, My Tallest!" Dib saluted the screen. "Zim is telling the truth! We learned this from a Resisty captain after we crippled their ship. The rebellion is indeed planning on luring you into a trap!"

"Well, ah…we'll keep on the look out then." Purple said, waving them off. Zim was a moron, and that Dib seemed just plain insane.

"Where are you at, Zim?" Red asked suddenly, eyes narrowed. Judging by the screen, Zim was near Irken ships, if the ships visible out the front dome of his ship was any indicator…but to be near Irken ships he had to be…

"Right outside your ship, My Tallest." Zim replied, a tad bit smugly.

"What? Why are you here? Why couldn't you just tell us from Earth?" Purple cried, sharing a look of distress with his fellow leader. Zim was here…doom, doom for all the Armada!

"My long range transmitter is damaged, and Dib's has not been online and needs repairs as well. So the only way to warn you was to come to you!" Zim said proudly. His Tallest are surely impressed with his devotion!

"Well, uh…" Purple cast about, trying to devise a way to get rid of the pest before he caused destruction to the entire Armada and its plan of galactic conquest.

"Well, then you two should put into one of the repair bays and get your ships fixed!" Red exclaimed, and Purple gaped at him. "I'll send notification that you two get first priority on your ships, and the best mechanics possible!"

"Really?" Dib asked, raising an antenna. This was surprising, considering what he had seen of the Tallests' opinion on Zim. Zim, however, was not surprised, taking it all in stride that this was what he deserved.

"Yes! Your mission on Earth is…uh…very important! You need to be back there to finish your mission!" Purple added, catching on to the idea that Red had concocted.

"Thank you, My Tallest!" Zim saluted. He turned his ship and began heading towards the repair bay, Dib following.

As they came around the side of the large flag ship of the Irken Armada, Dib's eyes snapped open wide and his antennae stood nearly straight up in shock. He had been so taken with the sight of the Massive that he hadn't looked anywhere else as soon as it had come into sight…but this…

The entire window of his ship was filled from one end to the other of a cloud of red, pink, and purple. The Irken Armada was larger than he had ever thought…there had to be thousands, tens of thousands, of ships! Single pilot ships all the way to the Massive, which could house hundreds. Dib shook his head slowly…Earth did not stand a chance…

The Massive soon blocked the view as the two came up to one of the side hatches, which opened when they got close.

Piloting his ship into the large hanger, and landing beside Zim's, Dib was caught up in what was happening.

Jumping out and looking around excitedly, Dib noticed that the hanger was mostly empty except for one other ship. It was parked nearby, resting on four legs that looked like enlarged, thicker versions of the Pak legs. The same dark maroon color that the majority of the Irken ships were, it was currently be worked on by a small robot that looked like Gir only with green parts where Gir had blue.

"It looks like a crawfish," Dib remarked, and Zim snickered. Standing near the ship was an Irken female who wore the crimson pilot outfit that covered the lower half of her face. It reminded Dib a lot of his father's lab coat. Thinking about his father brought up things he didn't want to think about right now, so he shoved the thoughts into the back of his mind.

"It looks different than all the other ships," Dib noted.

"It is a fighter pilot ship," Zim explained.

"Fighter pilot?" Dib asked.

"Hmph. They hunt down enemy ships." Zim said, waving a hand to dismiss the subject.

"They get little robots too?" Dib pointed to said robot that was apparently reattaching several wires into the belly of the ship.

"Eh, not the same. Gir is a SIR. Standard Information Retrieval unit. They're given to Invaders to help them with their mission. Fighter pilots, however, get TEM units. Since they chase down enemy ships, they are away from the Armada for long periods of time, and if their ship gets damaged they need someone to repair it. The TEM is used for that." Zim said, figuring he might as well try and educate Dib on the glorious Irken Empire.

"TEM?"

"Technical Engineer Mechanic," Zim explained. "Inferior to the SIR unit, useful only in fixing things and has minor defenses. Now! Enough of that! We have more important things to do!"

"Where are we going?" Dib asked, trying to contain his excitement as they left the hanger.

Zim laughed. "We're going to go meet the Tallest!"

-0-0-

End Chapter

So…yea…I selfishly inserted my OC in here, but this is probably going to be the only mention of her, and I couldn't resist to! Haha…Jynn the Fighter Pilot, Bane of the Resisty and all enemy ships to the Empire. And her little robot Tem…I like him too. Tem is my creation! It makes sense to me…Anyways, if you go to my Deviantart page again, (search Sirithiliel) she is in my gallery as well. :D I like her ship too…go look at the pic! It's perty!