A.N.: Okay guys, I've been plotting the story out, so that I don't get stuck and that the fic won't die. So, I'm almost done, and I'm afraid I must be the bearer of bad news for some of the fans.

Gir will not be a plot-important character. In fact, in most of the chapters he won't make an appearance. I'm also planning a sequel and he probably won't show up at all in it.

For those of you who are going "WAAHHH LOUIE YOU SUCK YOU PUT GIR IN THE BACKGROUND HOW COULD YOU DO THAT I'M TELLING MY MOMMY" , don't worry. Hopefully Shloonktapooxis will make a nice replacement for Gir. I honestly can't see any purpose for Shloonk except to raise everyone's spirits and hopefully he will be doing exactly that.

TL;DR version: Less Gir, More Shloonktapooxis.

This will also be one of the more happier chapters due to Shloonk and a new OC.

"Tak, you need to get up now."

The Irken-turned-Vortian rolled over and blissfully ignored Saki Hir. She didn't want to leave the bed. It was wonderful, heavenly compared to the awful cot she had to share in the prison. Speaking of the cot, she still had the blanket she stole from it. She added "theft of government property" to her mental list of crimes and wondered how much trouble she'd get in if she got arrested. She started to think about her first arrest when Saki Hir pulled the sheets out from under her. Tak tumbled to the floor and hit her head. "Ow."

"Yeah, ow. Come on, everyone's left except for some girl who came on the ship to see Nar." Saki Hir pulled Tak up and led her to the exit ramp, where, true to Saki's word, was some girl. The girl was actually a young woman, and she was Vortian. Her skin was as white as snow, her eyes as red as rubies, and her horns were striped in red, black and purple and also had holes in them. Tak rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, and she wasn't. "Uh.. hey."

"Hey there!" The girl smiled and shook hands with both of them. "I'm Jio Sari. I'm going to be your roommate!" She stood back and flashed a toothy grin.

"Hello, Jio Sari, I'm Saki Hir, and this is Tak." Saki Hir said. "Umm, my brother, did he tell you -"

"That you two would be joining the Resisty? He did, and he assigned you two to share a room with me!" Tak figured that Jio would turn out to be the type of girl who was always happy, all the time. "Hey, what about me?" she asked. "Did he tell you-"

"That you're really Irken? Yup!" Jio started to lead the two away with an obvious spring in her step.

"But I'm not Irken. Not anymore." Tak said defiantly.

The bounce in Jio Sari's gait decreased noticeably, and her happy expression sank. "Oh. I'm sorry." The three walked in silence all the way to the main compound, where Jio Sari's pep found her again. "Oh! This is where we do all the planning and stuff! It's also where all the members of the Resisty stay!"

That got Tak concerned. "But where do all the non-members stay?"

"Oh, there's a refugee colony. Come on, I wanna show you our room!" They continued on to a whole hallway full of members of the same species. They were squat and striped, reminding Tak of Earth bees. "Hey, what's going on here?" Jio Sari asked

"Oh, nothing." somebody answered. "We just like crowding around." The bee creatures filed away until the hallway was empty. "Well that was weird." Saki Hir quipped. "Do they normally do that?"

"Yeah, we usually disperse them in the same way too." Eventually they got to the room. "Ta da! Home sweet home!" The door slid open to reveal a simple room, with a bunk bed on each side. "Okay, I've got the top bunk on the right. You two can choose whichever ones you want. If we get another roommate then they're going to have to deal with whatever we've left."

Tak looked at the ladder on one of them wearily. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to climb it, so she figured it was better to be safe than sorry. "Uhh.. I'll take a bottom bunk." She then plopped herself onto the bed she wanted. "This one."

"Okay. How 'bout you, Saki?"

"I think I'll take a bottom one too."

"Really? Well, that's your choice. Come on, I wanna show you around some more." Jio grabbed Tak by the hand. "I'm gonna show you the little town we've got set up."

"You mean the refugee colony?" Tak asked.

"Yup. Come on, let's go!" The girl dragged Tak out of the base, with Saki Hir following them close behind. "Outta my way, I'm gonna show my new best friend around!"

"Wait, new best friend? Since when did we agree on that?" Tak's question seemed to go unnoticed, and when the three stopped in front of a large glass building, it was apparent it wouldn't get answered anytime soon.

"Okay, this is the hospital. Down that way is the fire station. A little further is the place where all the refugees live..." Jio Sari prattled on as she walked towards the direction of the fire station. Tak and Saki Hir followed her for no obvious reason except for the fact that they didn't want to get lost. A few hours later, they arrived at a pub. "Aaand here's our final stop. You guys want something to drink? I'm thirsty."

"Yeah, that sounds nice." Tak muttered. "Maybe something to eat too."

"Well, we can get it here." Jio opened the door. "Hey everyone!" Quite a few members greeted her in return, leading Tak to assume she frequented the pub often. The bartender waved the three over with a tentacle. "Your usual, I presume?" It asked in a raspy voice as it fluttered translucent wings.

"Yep." Jio Sari said cheerfully. The bartender got to work, it's appendages flying every which way. It set an aquamarine drink in a tall glass in front of Jio Sari and gave emerald ones to Tak and Saki Hir. "That the newcomer's special. It's on the house."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Tak studied the drink carefully before sipping it. "Oh... it's good."

"Glad you think so. It's a family recipe."

"Really? Wow."

"You're never gonna taste it again. I know every face who comes in here, and I only give them my special drink once."

"Hey. Hey guys." Jio Sari said suddenly. "You might wanna ask me any questions you have now, before I get too giddy to answer anything."

"Oh, ok. What's up with your horns?" Tak blurted out.

"They're tattooed and pierced. Do you like them?"

Saki Hir coughed and said, "How about something more relevant? Who's paying for all this?"

"Oh, the Meekrob are. Since they only use their money for power plants, they had tons of it."

The three chatted until the bartender asked if they should have been heading out. "You guys have been here long enough. Poor Jio's kinda pickled."

"No I'm nooooot." Jio Sari mumbled. She laid her head on the bar. "I'm just – I just – I just got a headache."

"Well, maybe we should take you back to the main compound." Tak suggested. "Perhaps you could lay down for a while."

"I don't need to!" Jio insisted while slamming her fist down.

"Well, then, I'm leaving." Tak scooted off her stool, taking a second to correct her balance. She felt a little dizzy, probably from the drink. She stumbled her way out of the bar and into the sunlight. Okay, if I go left from here... I don't know where I'll be. Crap. She decided to wander around, figuring she'd eventually end up at the main compound.

Half an hour later, she was starting to realize she was wrong. Before she could do anything about it, a purple cone-like creature charged at her screaming "JELLY!"

"AAAH!" Tak fell backwards, then struggled to get up again. "What in the world was that for?"

"I was askin' you if you like jelly!" He replied.

"Well, that's not the conventional way to do it, but... I guess so." She said as she finally regained her balance.

"My name's Shlookntapooxis, what's yours?'

That question caught her off guard. "Buh... huh? How did we go from condiments to introducing ourselves?"

The cone smiled gleefully. "Nice to meet you, Buhhuh ?"

"No! No! It's Tak. My name is Tak."

"Oh, that's a booooring name."

Tak sighed. "Whatever. I'm going back to the compound." Tak started to walk off.

"Hey, I was going there too! Maybe we can go together!" He floated in front of her and pointed his tip towards her. "We gotta go that way, though."

"Oh, really? I didn't know." She turned around, thanking her lucky stars that he'd found her. All the way back to the base, he babbled on about things that didn't make sense to her. He also replaced the word "Resisty" with "Pirate Monkeys" as if the first name was taboo. Tak didn't ask him why, figuring that it was probably best not to ask.

When the two finally got back, Shloonktapooxis barged through a whole crowd of Bee Creatures and a Meekrob while Tak sighed and shook her head. Time to go back to my room.

She wondered what she'd do when she got there. She didn't know she'd get a surprise when she opened the door.

It was her new leader.

"Oh! Uh... I'm sorry Sir, were you waiting for your sister?"

"No, I was waiting for you." He motioned to her bed. "Here, let's sit down."

She followed his order cautiously, watching him closely as he took a seat next to her.. "Okay. What do you want?"

"Well, you remember the prison break, where you fought off those Irkens?"

"Yes." It had only been two days ago – or at least it seemed.

"The fighting style you used – it's very similar to the hand-to-hand combat used by Invaders."

"If you're implying that you think I used to be an Invader, you're mistaken." She got up and paced a few steps. "I was trained to be, but... I missed the test. I was forced to wait to take it again, but quite obviously I couldn't wait that long. I went after the person who made me late, for revenge, and got arrested shortly after that."

"Oh... uh... I was going to ask you if you could probably teach me the things you learned."

She turned to face him, and looked him in the eyes. "You're absolutely sure that's a good idea? For all you know, that could piss off the Empire even more than you already have."

"Well, since I'm a high-target criminal, they'd be most likely to send an Invader after me, not a soldier."

Tak pursed her lips. "Do we still have Tenn in captivity?"

"Of course we do. I could use your teachings if she ever decides to make a break for it."

Tak rolled her head until she heard a satisfying pop. Swiftly and suddenly, she leaped at him, grabbed his shoulders and twisted to the ground, throwing him in front of her so that he would land before her. "Ow! What the heck was that for?" He demanded.

"Lesson number one. Always expect an attack. Do you understand, Lard Nar?"

"Hey, weren't you calling me 'Sir' earlier? What happened to that, Tak?" he said as he struggled to get her off of him.

She pinned him down by the shoulders. "When I am teaching you a lesson, I refer to you by name, and you refer to me as 'Teacher'. Do you understand, Lard Nar?"

"Lesson... oh! Yes, I understand, Tak – I mean, Teacher!" He squirmed a little bit.

Tak got up, but lost her balance and fell on him again. "Shit! Sorry..." She rolled off of him and said. "Our first lesson ends now. Come back when you can."

"Okay, I will." As he left, she crawled to her bed and reclined on it. What a day, she thought. It was the strangest day of her life, and had felt like some sort of dream, only she knew she wasn't dreaming because she wasn't half-Irken half-Vortian like she normally was in her dreams. As she shifted around, she noticed that the bed felt lumpier then it had when she'd first sat on it. She lifted up the top sheet to find the prison blanket. How'd this get here? It dawned on her that Lard Nar had brought it for her to keep. She folded it up neatly and slipped it underneath her bed.

Perhaps it would come in handy later.