(I don't own Invader Zim Kim is mine though)
They finally arrived at Irk, the Massive docked at a repair station and the rest of the ships flew down to their designated parking, few were allowed to park on Irk itself most had to have their ships docked on one of the moons, recruits were rarely given even the privilege of owning a ship let alone using one in their spare time, the humans were no exception most of them wouldn't have much leave time to use their ships so they were parked on a remote moon and transported down to the dormitories, Zim, Dib and Kim were given a residence where they could park all three of their vehicles, it was a bit of a surprise that they were being housed together, each had their own separate room. "I think it's because were the only one who can rein in each other, face it nothing has exploded yet and Kim hasn't strangled a Irken yet" "Not yet but they are getting on my nerves" "Zim has been busy keeping Dib from poking his nose where it doesn't belong and explaining some of the stuff that has changed to Kim" "See if one of us were left to our own devises Chaos would ensue"
They unpacked and argued about rooms for a bit "I'm not going to be stuck in the middle room again you both snore!" "And I don't want to be between two guys and for that matter you snore as well and with my sensitive hearing it sounds like someone's bringing down an entire forest!" "Zim should get the room with the window! So I don't have to smell you stink beasts" they ended up having to draw lots no one was truly happy but it was a fair arrangement, after they were done it was straight to the academy which was within walking distance to get their class schedules. They were all frowning when they returned "So little free time, it wasn't like this when Zim trained for invader" "I think they are trying to rush us through" "I hope I don't burn out this looks harder that what Dad described university to be" they compared schedules to see if any of their free time matched up only once every week it did. "Zim why don't you choose what we do for the first month since we know so little about Irk" "Fine by me my info's over three hundred years out of date" "Yes Zim controls the first month and you will do my bidding and we will have fun" "we have a few days before training starts lets say we explore a bit" everyone agreed and set out the headed to a amusement area the crowds were thick and they stuck out like a sore thumb mainly because they were taller than the average Irken fortunately the rides were adjustable to any aliens body type and they had a blast, they neared a tent boasting the galaxy's strangest creatures when a big crowd let out, they were jostled and pushed soon they were separated, when the crowd let up only Zim and Dib were standing near the tent, Kim was nowhere in site "How could we loose her she's six foot tall!" "Because she wanted to disappear, Zim knows that she was created to blend into any environment when she wants, the tallest told me to alert them I she did this." His communicator popped out from his pak "My Tallest, she is on the move" "Her promise! Tell me Zim just where was her crate stored?" "Near the center, even high ranking recruits are not allowed much in the way of personal items, even SIR bots" "Zim we have to move quickly we have no idea what's in that crate of hers" "Do you think she lied to the Tallest about not wanting to destroy the empire anymore" "I don't know, but why would she ditch us?" "Let's go"
It was to easy to slip into the crowd duck around a corner and change into an Irken, the legends apparently forgot that little detail about her, she pulled off her human clothes reveling the soldier uniform beneath as well as a pak, it had hurt to reattach it after so many years, the life support systems still worked thankfully. Had they insisted on giving her a new pak or a atmosphere adjuster the ruse would have failed, it was easy hiding the small devise under her duster. now to get the package and get to the control brains before it was to late, she stuffed her human clothes in a bag which also contained a small rounded object quickly she zipped up the bag and left the entertainment area she could see Zim and Dib looking around for her but they looked right over the Irken striding by them. It didn't take her long to find where her crate was stored she picked it up from a bored looking service drone and carted it off on a hover dolly, security was rather lax considering she was headed straight for the real rulers of the empire, the control brains word was law and not even the Tallest could contradict it. She placed her hand over a scanner designed to let only Irkens in, it beeped and the door slid open she pushed her cargo ahead of her, she could barley see what was ahead of her with the crate being so big in comparison to her Irken form, the door slid shut behind her and she was plunged into compete blackness, she panicked when she heard something metal moving toward her, she ran but the cable attached to her pak and lifted her off the ground she struggled for a bit until her pak received the command for her body to be still more cables shot out and secured her arms and legs to be sure.
The lights came on reveling the tallest standing beside the control brains "You came early, just like a Irken never late, not even for their trial" Zim and Dib burst in at that moment they too were secured "And here are the witnesses just in time, we can get Kim's trail started "What? You would do this to her after she helped her save the Empire from the Dhahmons, would you go back on your word to keep Earth free as well?" "She was a soldier when she committed those crimes, even on Earth there is no statue of limitations on murder, and as a soldier she must face all of her actions including today's by brining unknown objects to the control brains" "Look at my bag please" she gasped out, it was hard to think as info was being downloaded from her pak and probe, Purple carefully unzipped the bag revealing the contents, gasping he ran to the crate and with his spider legs tore it open the sides fell away reveling dozens of antique paks. Purple yelled at a nearby helper drone "Get these paks to the download station pronto! He reverently picked up the one from her bag and placed it in a download station himself. "The control brains have come to a decision given the new data recovered from the Explorer's base on Earth and the info downloaded from the pack as the one known as the great destroyer" The pak was removed from Kim's back, since it was old it didn't come off easily, then another cable came and removed the probe from her brain once they were both gone and Kim could think past the pain she smelled the blood and promptly threw up only problem was being held in the upright position she couldn't do it properly, she started choking on it. "She's dieing" Dib cried
"The sentence the control brains has decided on is not guilty, citing rule 45829043 initiated by Tallest Blue stating that a if one of a life pair is murdered the surviving life mate cannot be held responsible for his or her actions before or after the incident, as losing the life mate is more than punishment enough." A new pak was attached to Kim's body, she jerked a few times then her breathing steadied but she still didn't move "Zim why isn't she moving" "A pak transfer is in progress it takes a while there is over 300 years of info stored in her old pak and probe and since the probe interface hasn't been used in over 500 years except on prisoners it will be a while" Zim and Dib were released Dib walked up to the tallest who were supervising the antique paks being downloaded "Just what is going on here?" "By Irken honor she couldn't tell us outright, so she left little clues, by first telling us that one of the Explorers by the name of Ber fed her snacks, and by giving us her true name, you yourself were fed clues which you told Zim who told us about the crate being a promise to be fulfilled. It's a Irken soldiers duty to make sure any Irkens who are killed in the line of duty has their paks returned to Irk, A life pair as rare as that is, is even rarer yet that one survives the other, when one does survive they try to bring the pak directly to the control brains, in hopes that they will resurrect their partner." "I don't think Kim knew that the control brains could do that though, she was sad every time she talked about her promise to someone special to her"
"That has worked in her favor, the control brains have ruled in her favor since she kept to Irken rule and brought back all the paks not just Ber's and she didn't beg for him to be brought back"
"What they are going to resurrect her life mate! How?" "All Irken DNA is stored for 355 years after their death 350 years is a paks limit to store memory without degrading while in stasis. It's rare for an Irken to be brought back after death unless he might have crucial info that's needed for an outside court, most won't accept the control brains word, they prefer a living witness. Or that the Irken in question is life bonded to an honorable Irken"
"Ber is coming back?" Kim's groggy voice held such hope "Yes you both earned it." "When can I see him?" "Soon, he should be ready when your pak transfer is complete" "Wha?" Kim's green Irken eyes were barly open she had been fighting off the sedative influence of the linkup "Pak?" "Yes you have a new pak, the old one was way out of date and no longer fully functional, it was doing major damage when you shifted, the new pak like Dib's is programmed for a shape shifter and you will find the interface far better than the old pak and probe combo, you wouldn't have been able to join the control brains with just you pak your personality was stored in the probe and only memories were in the pak.
Kim blanched, had she died when she tried to suicide when Ber died or those other times she was so close to death, she wouldn't have joined Ber in the control brains, she was now glad that Tallest Blue and the swollen eyeballs had brought her back to life.
"Why are you doing this for her" Zim inquired "had we just downloaded the paks we would have reluctant but grateful servant of the Empire, By bringing back her life mate we will have a Soldier whose loyalty is unquestionable." A door opened up and a few drones were escorting a confused looking green eyed Irken, he looked up "Kim! Is that you you've gotten taller, and you kept your promise" the green eyed Irken was jumping for joy nearly reaching Kim who was suspended from the ceiling, finally the cables released her and she fell into Ber's arms "Ber I've missed you so much, do you know how long I've waited to join you, only I thought it would be in the control brains, I can't believe I'm holding you" "three hundred and forty seven years is a long time to wait" she pulled back "You knew?" "Yes our personalities are stored in our paks and we are somewhat aware, you will see when your pak is removed for the fist time" Kim shuddered "I don't want to remove it, I don't want to find out, it was bad enough waiting without you, I can't imagine what it was like for you to be alone in your pak" she snuggled in close and twitched a lekku close to Ber an obvious invitation to join lekku together, he took it they both sighed as the lekku touched. "It really is you, Oh Ber I can't loose you again"
"How long are they going to be sappy like that" Zim complained "Quite some time" Red sighed if it weren't for the fact that we will be putting him in the same classes as her, we might have had to use a crow bar to get her to class and by the way we will be moving them to the housing unit beside yours you will still have to keep an eye on them, but they will be so busy eyeing each other for a few weeks you shouldn't have any trouble "I thought Ber is ranked Explorer why is he in the same classes as Kim who is soldier?" "you didn't get a good look at her schedule did you Zim she's in the Elite advancement, yes she does have to retake some of the soldier programs and a few on Explorers, but her talents will be best used in the elite, you seen how she is capable of figuring out advanced tactics, which gained your team many victories." "Zim could make plans as well she just made them faster" "Zim remember Explorer rank is almost equal to Elite just a different field and you will be the one leading a team deep into Dhahmon territory" "Tallest Red is right Zim is good to have been entrusted to such a important mission, Zim is just sad that such a good team is being broken up." "Although Dib will be staying on Earth the Explorers will need protection in the Dhahmon territory perhaps we will see to arranging a few Elite on the roster."
(Distraction served; oh I know I'm being ever so bad by brining a character back from the dead but I needed something to keep the great devourer busy otherwise she would have eaten up most of the fic herself, original characters are evil that way.
Now that this chapter is up the rest of the Irken Explorers chapters will appear on my deviant art I do suggest reading it as the next chapter in this fic will contain spoilers for the explores fic)