Author's rantiness at the end.

Words- Regular speech

Words- Thoughts

Words- Chapters and changes

(Words)- Bez speech

Chapter 8—Brawl for Power—

Narrator....

"So they are letting us use the station and gambling on the fight?" Curtis asked just to verify what Rachel was telling the others.

"Yeah, it was weird," Rachel frowned. "But we have the space now for the fight."

"How exactly is this fight going to work and when?" Zim asked.

"As soon as possible," Wren said as she frowned herself. "Krig is pushing more buttons and I"m not happy about how he's doing it."

"Should have just killed him," muttered Curtis. "That's what his Tallests would have done."

"I'm going to take care of it and no one's going to go against me again after this," Wren snorted fixing Curtis with a sharp look. "Sorry to say though to many of the Irkens, but some of you are fucking idiots."

Zim waved the comment off. "Do you have any idea what you're going to wear for this battle?"

"Yeah, I do, and you're not going to like it," Wren said with a sigh, standing and stretching with her hands above her head. "And if I'm going to get the whole thing on, I need to go get ready now."

"Why won't I like it?" Zim asked frowning.

"Because it's not anything with armor," Wren replied walking out of the door.

"Wren..." Zim called after her and followed after her. "What do you mean no armor?"

"It seems that we're left for the planning. We want to make an example of Krig and not make this a sport," Rachel sighed propping an arm on the table and resting her head on it.

Curtis pulled a vid screen to himself and leaned back in his chair, "Let's get started then and get it over with."

Zim's P.O.V....

"What do you mean you aren't putting any sort of armor on when fighting Krig?"

I was pacing in Wren's room as she sat on a kitchen stool while CADIE, GIR, and Rouk brushed her hair out. One of them began braiding small braids throughout her hair. I glanced at her ever so often to make sure she was listening to what I was saying.

Wren hummed. "I mean Zimmy that I've never worn armor before, so I would not feel confident in myself that I could win with it on. It would only hinder me, not help me."

"You should wear something to at least protect yourself!"

"You have to trust me Zim, I'm going to get hurt. I'd rather get hurt by slipping up rather than screwing up because of armor I'm not used to."

I stopped and came up close to her before sitting across from her. "I'd rather you not get hurt at all."

"Getting hurt is part of the job Zimmy," she smiled weakly at me. "Trust me love when I say that I'm going to win this. May get hurt, bruised and bloody, but I'm going to put him in his place and keep control."

She wrapped her tail around my leg. "I'll come back to you in one piece."

"You better," I grumbled stroking the tail wrapped around my leg. "This is just so serious because Krig is just that dangerous."

She stopped my hand with hers and laced her fingers with mine. "I know, but I've been taught by the best I know with fighting. I have faith in my trainer and my training, so have faith in me. Please?"

I leaned over and kissed her. A slow kiss that portrayed all my worry, concern, and love. "I do and will trust and have faith in you. I just worry is all. I'll leave you to get ready. Don't psych yourself out over this."

"I won't, as long as you don't psych yourself out over this either."

I grinned and kissed her forehead. "I'll go help Curtis and Rachel with the planning. I'll see you soon."

"Mmm, yep!" she smiled

I stood and turned and left almost reluctantly. I knew if I would have stopped at the door to look back at her I would never want to let her get finished. I gritted my teeth and entered the hallway with a heavy heart.

Narrator....

Wren sighed as she watched Zim leave. Almost wishing he would look back and ask her not to even think about this fight. When he didn't she ran a hand over her face.

"Almost ready for the hard part?" she asked the SIRs and Rouk as they watched her from where they sat.

"Bring it on," GIR growled trying to look menacing.

Wren laughed and stood to go get the out fit she would be fighting in.

Several kakes later....

The noise was almost like a rushing river in the even hall. It wasn't even a quarter full even with the whole ship and space station crew. Krig was already on the field waiting for Wren to finally come out.

A hush fell over the crowd as a cloaked figure came into the center of the arena.

"You know," the figure said. "We're here because I was challenged for my position as Captain because the challenger was unhappy with how things were run on Bez."

Majority of Bez's crew began to boo and call insults at Krig. Krig only sneered at the calls. Wren held up a hand to silence the rabble.

"What we've one so far seems to work but he was quite unhappy. It seemed everything wasn't right. So I accepted the challenge. You are here to witness this battle to understand why I'm in my position and how I've stayed in my position. I will give the mic over to your favorite announcers because, let's face it, who else would give such good commentary during this fight?"

"Woo! We're back!" GIR squealed as he sat with CADIE in one area of the sitting arrangement. "Our Captain gave some info and what our jobs are is to give the rules."

"This fight is not first blood," CADIE said taking over. "This will be messy if someone's not careful. Weapons are not allowed. To guns, no blades, nothing. If a weapon is used, then the other automatically wins. A win is when one person is either unconscious or killed. Possibly wounded enough to not be able to fight, don't know until it comes to it."

"But a win is also won by the other giving up," GIR said. "Now, if our contenders will get ready to fight."

Wren threw off her cloak, revealing an outfit that was something someone would not consider for a fight like this. She knew this but she had actually spent a good bit of time researching this outfit and thought it fit. She didn't care what the crowd was murmuring. Either at the choice of her clothing or the design upon her skin.

A form fitting top that ended just at the bottom of her rib cage was pure white and almost blended in with her skin. The pants she wore ended above the knee. Her hair held several braids, braided into one tight braid down her back. Her tail lashed to and from as she stood there. Small bells tinkled in time with each twitch to and fro.

Along with the stripes that went down her back and up her legs faintly, there was a shimmering mark curling across her skin. It was the mark of Bez upon her forehead and swirling down her neck, over her shoulders, and ending along her midriff. Again, something you didn't see as battle gear for a space battle.

Krig was decked out in Irken armor and seemed quite smug over everything at the moment.

"Since you two won't wish that the best person would win, BEGIN!"

Krig snarled as he launched himself at her. The crowd roared and booed as first move went to him. Wren danced out of the way of the attack and waited patiently as Krig began to attack again.

"What? Afraid to get hurt? Afraid you'll bruise that pretty little face of your's?" Krig sneered.

"No, I just didn't want to expend my energy so early on. It seemed a little pointless personally," Wren replied calmly, moving away from another lunge.

Krig frowned before snarling again. He struck out with a right punch and Wren smirked as she dodged to the left to bring a kick up to his mid section and an elbow down on the middle of his shoulder blades, right above his pak. He stumbled and fell to a knee as Wren took her stance.

Krig looked up at her, wiping his lip. "Oh, you'll pay for that. You got lucky."

"Try me then. I"m pretty sure that wasn't lucky," she smirked again as he came at her again.

He started punching at her and she blocked and missed majority of them. One slightly her jaw and she stepped back quickly, eying him warily. "I'll have a bruise but not much more than that," Wren thought to herself as she tried to calculate what he was going to try next.

He rushed forward, feinted a punch and delivered a kick to her midsection and as she fell tried to hit the back of her head with his fists. She rolled away at the last second and swept his feet out from under him. She leapt up to dance out of the way once again, holding her ribs. By the end of this fight she was going to have a rainbow across her skin.

"Is she doing ok?" Rachel asked Curtis from where she had her face buried into his shoulder.

"If you'd watch, you'd know," Curtis said with a frown.

"I'm not watching my friend, best friend I might add, get the crap beat out of her by a fucking prick with power problems," Rachel snapped at him.

"She's doing fine. A punch glanced off her jaw and she's only got kicked in the ribs once," Curtis said trying to sooth his girlfriend. "I think she has a high chance of winning if she keeps this up."

"She better win," Rachel grumbled.

Several more kicks and punches were exchanged. Some hit their marks, others were dodges, and some were missed all together. Wren received a kick to the face which split her lip and caught the side of her jaw that the punch glanced off of earlier. She went down to one knee as she wiped the blood away.

Looking up her eyes flashed before she took on the offensive. She feinted a punch to his gut but delivered a kick to the side of Krig's face and followed through with another kick. Before he went down, she grabbed his shirt and using his momentum and hers as she fell backwards, threw him over her body. She leapt back to her feet and turned to look at him.

From his back he looked at her with a deadly glare, noticing a stinging at his cheek where he got hit. He brought a hand up to his cheek only to find blood from a set of eight shallow scratches.

"What are you hiding?!" he shouted. "You are not to have weapons! Disqualification!"

Wren smirked and leaned forward. Claws glittered from the ends of her toes. "This kitty has claws Krig. It's not a weapon if it's part of my genetic make up."

The species from the space stations began to murmur amongst themselves. Curtis, Rachel and Zim were startled at the buzz, especially when a loud murmur of "None of our species has had claws in years. Warrior class Delalines only had them!"

"Could she have been from the lost crew that Bez had held?" "Those were the last of the Warrior class." "It couldn't be she's Warrior class!" "Her coloring proves it! Warrior class always had three colors! They were the only ones with three colors naturally."

"Oh boy. I see this ending weird," Rachel muttered.

"Well, I feel that Wren has a very good chance of winning now," Zim said.

"Why...."

"Well, if Lak's cheering is any sign, she'll win," he motioned to lower in the stands where Grace and Lak were sitting.

"Kick his ass Wren!" Grace shouted. "Show him that no one pushes the original crew around! Teach him that girls kick ass!"

"Rip his fucking head off!" Lak roared. "He should have never challenged you!"

Wren gave Krig another kick and he stumbled back. Exchanging a few more blows Krig somehow managed to catch her arm and then the other to pin them behind her back. Several members of the crowd paused and held their breaths as she struggled to break free. Krig took this pause in the fight to sneer into her ear.

"Ready to give up yet?"

"I never give up," she hissed before knocking her head back into his face.

He let her go quickly and she kicked the side of his ribs and brought her elbow down on the area where his collarbone would be in a human. His eyes grew wide and he collapsed onto the ground.

Wren looked down at him. "Never challenge me again Krig. Next time, I will kill you."

She turned her back on him to face the crowd. They cheered wildly as she stood before them despite the blood that splattered her form.

The next second the crowd gasped as one as Wren looked shocked. She looked down to see a spider leg poking through her left side. It slowly retracted and she fell to one knee as she turned to look at Krig.

"Never turn your back on an Invader," he grinned in manic pleasure as he licked her blood off his leg. The others were out to give him the look of a ready to pounce spider.

Wren clutched her side and cared her teeth in a snarl. Her eyes flashed as she held Krigs gaze. From their spot in the stands, Zim, Rachel, and Curtis saw her eyes dilate so much, her eyes looked blacked and she looked like a demon.

"I knew she wouldn't win," Tormithy said aloud to no on in general. "With that much blood loss, she'll probably not even last the next few minutes."

"If she is a Warrior Class Delaline, she just might surprise you," Felicity said watching more intently.

Zim shot out of his seat to try and reach Wren but he was held back by Curtis and Rachel.

"She's not finished yet Zim, trust me," Rachel said.

Wren's pupils contracted suddenly and sharply to near slits. Blue grey eyes shown like thunder clouds as she suddenly launched herself at Krig, knocking him back several yards with a double kick. She landed on all fours like a cat in a crouched position, snarl still on her face. Krig stumbled to his feet and tried to launch more attacks with his spider legs.

"That should be fucking illegal!" Grace shouted above the din of the crowd.

"Paks are part of an Irken, like claws are to her," Lak growled, "unfortunately it is fair."

From her crouched position on the floor Wren hissed at Krig and leapt toward him. Everyone but the Delalines were surprised as she ran at him, on all fours, missing the spear like jabs of his legs the whole time. He kept retreating as Wren got closer and leapt, tackling him to the ground. Krig's head hit the floor with a resounding thunk that stunned him senseless.

"I should kill you for that Krig," she snarled at him with a very deadly tone. "But you'd like that. So I'm going to do what I originally planned to do. I'm going to send you back to the Armada, just like you'd admit you never wanted to do. The think you didn't know was that the Tallests sent you here because your people are being taken out, planet by conquered planet. You were here to survive you fucking idiot. Now, you're going to go back to fight on the front lines of this war that is coming up. If I see you anywhere near this sector, near my ship, near my crew, or this station, I will disembowel you with my teeth. Is that clear?"

He nodded dazed and she got off of him, but not without punching him straight in the face, knocking him out.

Wren stood, hand clutching her side. "Anyone else want to challenge me? I am the Captain of the living ship Bez. You are my crew until you are handed over to another figure in command. And if you are, you will respect them like you do me. I will have no more outbursts like Krig's upon my ship, while you are under my command. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am!" the crowd roared.

"I can't hear you. Am I understood?!"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

"Now, security, take him to med lab and as soon as he's allowed to leave, put him in the brig," Wren ordered. "I do not want to see him until he leaves to go back to the Irken Armada."

Security rushed over to take him off the field as GIR and CADIE were excitedly replaying the match punch by punch, kick by kick. Curtis, Rachel, and Zim rushed toward the main floor and leapt over the barricade separating the floor from the seating areas. Wren smiled weakly at them before they reached her. Wren wavered on her feet and she wandered why Rachel's voice suddenly sounded so panicked. At the same moment she wondered why things were suddenly growing fuzzy. That's when she blacked out.

Curtis' P.O.V....

Kakes later....

"So, do you think everything will settle down now?" As much as I had hated the fight, I did hope things would calm down to the point they were before.

"Hopefully. I wouldn't mind if it would match what it was before," Rachel said.

Zim swirled his drink in his cup and scowled at the floor, not even recognizing the conversation. He'd been like that for the past forty-five minutes. Rachel and I exchanged looks. She reached over the table and stopped his hand. Rachel took the glass out of his grasp, setting it down on the table, she replaced it with her fingers. She gave his fingers a squeeze.

"Wren will be fine Zim, she's a fighter. You know that. She has so much to fight for so don't worry," Rachel said softly.

He squeezed her fingers back. "But this just isn't a weapon burn on her shoulder Rachel."

"Then go sit by her bed you idiot," Rachel chided with a pat to his hand.

"She has a point you know," I smiled at him. "Why are you sitting here when you can be sitting by her bed?"

"You're right," he said standing. "I'll send word to your guys if she wakes up."

"You better," Rachel called after him as he strode out of the room.

"She'll be just fine," I said seeing the frown on Rachel's face still. "You know that."

"We'd fall to pieces though if she didn't get any better," Rachel worried her bottom lip. "We've only made it this far because of Wren."

"She'd whack you across the back of the head for thinking like that you know," I pulled her to my side.

"And I'd just hit her back," she muttered, resting her head on my arm.

Resting my head on hers, "And we'd never hear the end of it."

Rachel giggled at the thought of such a common scene.

Zim's P.O.V....

Wren ay there on the medical cot, looking ashen. The staff had told me that Krig had missed all vital organs. Which was amazing in itself, because that area had barely any space between vital organs.

I sat by her bed and picked up her hand, wandering just when I had fallen so hard. I looked forward to everyday and enjoyed the nights when she was curled into my side, her head on my shoulder and one of her ears tickling my jaw.

I pulled one of my gloves off and laced our fingers together. I still thought that her hands were elegant and mine were so misshapen compared to her's. But, Wren was the only one I'd take my gloves off for. She always teased me about that too, but never about how different our hands were.

"If you keep frowning so seriously and worrying so much, you're going to get worry lines in your forehead."

I looked up to see Wren smiling weakly at me. She gave my fingers a squeeze.

I smiled back at her. "Well, they're well deserved when I have to worry about you."

She brought her hand to my cheek. "Told you, dun have to worry about me so much."

"Liar," I said kissing her palm and resting a hand on her hip.

"I got lucky, didn't I?" she asked softly.

"You did, I won't lie. You fought like hell though. Sure as hell surprised everyone. The Delalines think your a Warrior Class Delaline, thought to be long dead. I don't know about that but I am proud of you."

"Delalines can go to hell at the moment. I'm Wren, Captain of the living ship Bez, who unwillingly got herself into the middle of a war. I"m a girl who started off human and ended up one of a dying race. I fell in love with an outcast of a superior race and don't plan on leaving him anytime soon. I'm just me, Wren."

I gave her a deep kiss. "I love you too," I whispered pulling back looking into her eyes.

"You better, you're stuck with me," she smiled.

I smiled back touching our foreheads together. Our moment was ruined by a knock on the door.

Wren made a face, "For once, I just want a couple of moments without a knock or interruption."

I laughed giving her another quick kiss. "Come in!" I called sitting back after helping to prop Wren into a sitting position.

Narrator....

The doors slid open to reveal the four Delaline Elders. Wren's brow rose at the scowl one of them was wearing. A crewman pokes his head around the Elders and gave an apologetic wince. Wren flicked an ear at him with a small turn of her lips and he sighed with a smile. All was forgiven.

"So, Captain Wren, we finally meet face to face," Felicity said smiling.

"I apologize for not meeting you sooner and for the state I am in now. It could not be helped though. My crew came first," Wren said with a slight bow of her head.

"The fight was spectacular though!" Felicity chortled. "Best I have seen in years!"

"I'm not sure if I'm thrilled by that or not," Wren said slowly. "I only challenged him in that form because he--"

"Was a dookie head!" CADIE squealed running into the room.

Wren gave a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. The four Elders were startled at the sudden appearance at such an odd thing. Zim caught the perky little SIR mid leap and carefully sat her on the bed beside Wren. Seconds later he caught a stealthy GIR mid leap putting him beside CADIE.

"Where's KIA to keep these two out of trouble?" Wren muttered.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Grace cried as she ran into the room. "Turned my back for only a second and they were gone. Brats!" She grabbed them by their legs and they giggled as they dangled there. "You two have a mess to clean up and you have to get KIA down. None of us know what you used to stick him up to the ceiling, but we want him down."

Grace scolded them till she got to the door. She turned back to the group. "Sorry again!"

Wren waved her out with a smile. "Our two resident mischief makers. Have to love them for the monotony they break up. Now, hopefully we'll not have any more delays. Please, have a seat."

The Elders looked surprised to see four seats where none were before.

"Bez," Wren explained without hesitation. "Small things are not hard for him to do at the moment. And right now, he's more or less trying to apologize for what he did earlier. He often never loses control like that."

They only just nodded as they sat before her.

"We've come to speak with you about why you've come here," Tormithy said getting to the point right away.

"We actually came in thinking that there was no on or anything here to be truthful. We wanted to build a space station as a refugee station. Irken refugees mostly because of an alien species that is destroying them quickly. Mostly likely because they are associated with us

Now, don't assume that it would only be Irkens on this hypothesized station of ours. There would be a few human and even a few Sharshans on board among the Irkens. Sharshans because they were the first species we met after our escape and they've helped us with our first R and R. Humans because we were ripped from our planet and we're not sure where it is at the moment. It would be a way station, protected as it is, where the people or creatures we have treaties with can mingle and understand each other because we need that understanding."

"Since you found out that we were here, what was your plan?" Tormithy asked suspiciously. He eyed her warily from his seat.

"I was coming to speak to you to see if there was any chance to incorporate ourselves into your lives. Then I had a panic attack because I realized I was part of a race and wasn't human as I'd always thought I'd been. Which also lead me to think more in depth that maybe I wasn't fully human anyway. But that's off subject," Wren waved, dismissing much of what was said. "I was going to offer our services, anything that we could do, to help you in return the favor for allowing us to stay."

"And what could you have to offer us?" Tormithy sneered.

Felicity sent a glare at him along with the other two Elders as well.

Wren locked eyes with Tormithy. "You are a dying race Elder Tormithy. I can tell it by the look in your eyes, the way your spine straightened when I said it. How your ears flattened just minutely. WE have people on board that can help or try to figure out what we could do to help with that situation. I refuse to let the people I came from die out without trying to help them somehow."

"You have the same gaze, the same determined stare that my granddaughter had," Marabella said softly out of the blue, taking everyone by surprise.

Wren blinked at her and frowned, "I do?"

"Yes, she wasn't a Warrior class but she had that exact same gaze before she left for an adventure on this ship."

Wren bit her lip and looked to her hands, ears folded flat against her skull. "About that..... they never came back was because of sabotage. Someone shut Bez down by cutting the main plasma cord. The others died at their stations. We have a facial re-constructionist on board so we can give you an idea of who it was. I'm not sure though when that happened."

All four Elders looked startled. "You still have their remains on board?" Carevft asked.

"It felt wrong discarding their remains like rubbish. I wanted to give them a proper burial when I had a face to go with them," Wren confided in them. "I just wish I knew whatg really happened."

"You've brought them back though," Marabella said with tears in her eyes. "That was all we really wished. All we wanted was to have them back. And you've brought them back!"

Wren smiled. "I'm glad that I could do that for you."

"If you went out of your way fro that, I am willing to sign a treaty with you," Marabella said still tearful.

"You fought like a demon cat," Felicity grinned. "You have my vote, had it to begin with."

Tormithy scowled at the two females. "And what about you Caravft? Do you feel the same?"

Caravft gave Tormithy a look. "Tormithy, they are here to help. She fought in the ceremonial garb of a female fighter. She's willing to learn about us as a people and has fought to be able to continue to try and help. If these new people want to help and will follow her orders to the letter, I"m for it. We do not have the ability to fix the station like it was and I don't know about anyone else, but this place has started to look like a dung heap!"

"Than you!" Lak suddenly exclaimed from the doorway of the room as she was passing. "I told Curtis we weren't the only ones thinking it! But noooooooo.....never listens to me. I"m going to go give him a piece of my mind!"

"Our crew is weird," Zim blinked at the now empty door way.

"And I love them for it! Just my type of weird and unexpected misfits that are my cup of tea," Wren grinned. "I'm going to be sad when Lak, Jace, Grace, Min and the babes are gone. Anyway, back to the problem at hand."

"It's three to one, as a vote. The treaty is decided and will be agreed on," Tormithy muttered, while standing. "May the Ancients forgive this mistake. No good will come of this."

He then left without another word. Wren frowned at the retreating back of the Elder wondering if he was always so hateful.

"When will the treaty be finalized?" Zim asked.

"Now if you wish. And to relieve the strain on your ship, we can try to set up a few in the station," Felicity said. "We need to check section and clean things up a bit and we may be only able to take a couple dozen but that should help at least a little."

"That would be a blessing," Wren sighed. "If you need anything from Bez, it's yours. He knew your people before we did and he still is grateful for them. He wants to do anything he can for you."

"So, shall we begin discussing the basics our our treaty?" Marabella asked smiling.

Zim and Wren smiled with a nod. This was going to be a very long treaty meeting.

Finally finished. Sorry for the wait guys. I hope you liked the little teaser though. I wanted to keep people's attention perked. I'm also happy that you guys liked the artwork that I posted. I'm working on Kia now to be truthful. Totally colored on the computer by laptop mouse. That's why it's going so slow. But so far he's a cute little guy.

Um.... I will be trying to throw chap 9 out soon. I know I have a good bit of it typed and ready to go but I'm horrible with getting work out there. Anyway..... going to post this and then start on chap 9.

Later!