Chapter 18—Fluffy Revenge—

Zim's P.O.V….

"Andy!" Wren squealed as she leapt into his arms for a hug. She then dragged him into our rooms before pushing him toward the other side of our couch. She scampered back to me before crawling onto my lap as I lounged against the arm of one end.

"Zim," he greeted with a nod before sitting.

I gave a nod back, slightly distracted from him by a lapful of Wren who was cuddling into me.

"I heard you've been having a bit of trouble," Andy started saying as he extended his legs out in front of him after sitting.

"Just a bit," Wren said with a slight raise of a shoulder. "One of the Resisty challenged his leader and said leader is just an ass honestly."

Andy laughed as she grinned. "So, what did you want me to do?"

"I need to know how long you'd be willing to stay here to keep an eye on things," she admitted honestly.

"Well, how long do you need me to stay?"

"That's the thing, I don't know honestly. I just don't want to lock you into something that you're going to regret later."

"He only snorted and rolled his eyes at her. I blinked and my lips quirked a little in a smile. That was such a Wren gesture it wasn't funny. And the more time I spent observing the other, I could spot more of her mannerisms in him. Though he was more level headed than the girl on my lap and a little less excitable.

"I don't think that would happen," he said. Then he gave a wry little shrug. "I need a break truthfully. I know my crew does too. Hell, we'd be happy just patrolling this sector to be frank. At least for a while."

Wren smiled with relief. "If you're sure. I have no clue when we'd be back this way when we do leave. We keep in contact but I am trying to find Earth too. Who knows what we'd run into as well. I just need someone else to watch them long enough to be able to see if they'd be willing to join us."

"I can understand that. Really, I have mostly civilians on board my ship. It's almost three fourths of my crew that are civilians. Sticking around would be more beneficial because of the smaller crew regardless of who gets posted onboard."

Wren nodded looking thoughtful. "Would you be adverse to taking on a few other crew members?"

"Nope, my teams are badgering me to try and get a few different species on board honestly," Andy laughed. "They've seen the Irkens, Delalines and Sharshans and want to try to mingle. They felt left out."

Wren laughed as she relaxed more into me, worry over what Andy was going to say being erased right then. "That's good to hear! You can send people to see the station you know. I'm willing to let a couple of my crew be guides."

"I think it might be worth seeing if Andy would like to upgrade his ship as well while here," I said finally adding my opinion in. "If he's going to be spending more time here, that is. It'd give him more of a break and give the ship builders something to do instead of building racers."

Wren burst into a fit of giggles. "Really?"

I nodded and smiled as she continued to giggle. "They didn't know what else to do with their time."

"At least they found something," Andy laughed as well. "I don't see a problem with redoing our ship a bit. We hadn't been able to fix all the damage from past fights. That and we really aren't sure how to fix it honestly. Is there any common form for your ships?"

"Not really," Wren frowned with a tilt of her head. "They just go under our name I think."

"I have been toying with a few designs," I admitted quietly.

She looked up at me with excitement in her eyes, "Really? Can I see?"

"They're not fully done," I hesitated. "I've only been working on them one and off and only in bits and pieces here and there."

"Sooo? Don't care. You know that!" she smiled brightly up at me.

I could only smile back as I gently shifted her from my lap to get my vid screen where everything was being kept. Coming back to my spot I set up a hologram connection and projected what I had so far.

It definitely wasn't a lot.

There were parts of ships here and there and three different sizes of ships. Now by looking more at it I could modify the middle one a little and make it another class of ship. Cut the decks and make it a swift battle craft built for swooping in and then swooping out of harm's way before the enemy could recognize what was going on. With the technology from Bez it would be faster than the fastest Irken craft.

"Well damn," Wren murmured in awe as she leaned forward to get a better look at what I had. "These are amazing!"

"Simplistic, elegant and yet menacing all in one," Andy added as he leaned forward to investigate the specs. "If I had any choice of ships, I would choose these over any others. They're well thought out and look highly agile unlike others I've seen. With all of the species we've come across their ships haven't looked this good!"

I blinked. "They're not even done yet."

"Doesn't matter!"

"They're brilliant Zim!" Wren smiled. "I don't think I've seen anything like this ever! When they're finished do you think Bez would be able to house the smallest on board? At least a couple? I'd like to have a few of the largest ready too. We'd need a symbol too, so people would recognize it and the ships instantly so they knew they belonged to us."

It was hard not to smile as Wren and Andy engaged in a small debate as the whether or not the new ships would be named as well or just coded for recognition amongst the other ships.

I got up to get a drink and chuckled under my breath as Wren whine, "Andy, we are not calling the ships after members of Star Trek!"

In another part of the universe….

"Shit!" a small Irken yelped as he dodged another bought of weapons fire. He had been doing so well with this planet before these monsters decided to begin landing. Thank the Tallests he had an escape plan just in case.

Though he didn't think he would have needed it for this. Who could have planned for another invasion to happen as well?

He slid around a corner as he dodged another blast that decimated the spot where his foot had been moments before.

"I hate my life. I hate my life. I hate my life!" he thought rapidly as he ducked under a fallen beam from one of the houses that had fallen into the alleyway.

The aliens that were firing at him bellowed in frustration as the tiny alien continued to dodge their attacks. They snarled and then screeched as the little menace slid under a semi collapsed building and out of sight. They couldn't follow through the rubble fast enough and hissed their displeasure at the loss of the little insect.

Seconds later a rumbling echoed thought the area and the semi collapsed building began to quake. As the debris began to rise and shift, an escape pod shot off into the sky, leaving the invading ground troops screeching.

"Leave it. One little menace is no trouble to our cause. It and others like it will be destroyed in due time," something said from behind the foot soldiers.

They turned and gave a submissive whine as they lowered their heads respectively. The being paused a placed a clawed hand upon the nose of one of the foot soldiers. They watched the pod fly out of sight.

"These pathetic beings will be crushed and there will be none left to oppose us. After those fools barred our way millennia ago, we will take back what is rightfully ours," they snarled.

Several answering snarls joined in and screeches as they agreed with their leader.

The Irken Armada….

"Tallest Red, incoming transmission," one of the communication's underlings said as he turned sharply in his chair to look at his Tallest.

Red froze mid sip of his drink and slowly turned to the speaker. He put his drink down, a sick feeling in his gut. "Put it through," he rasped out.

"My Tallest!" A small Irken Invader sighed in relief. He was bruised and battered and looked exhausted. "I have to report to you that the planet that I had almost conquered has been taken over by some sort of gigantic reptilian, insect thingy beings. They almost killed me! I barely escaped with my life and had to bring you this information immediately!"

"Were you followed?"

"I-I uh….. I. No. I'm sure I wasn't. They didn't even fire as I was escaping. Shouldn't they have been firing at me as I escaped?"

"Where were you positioned?"

"Planet Kinonvf My Tallest!"

Red sat down heavily in his seat and covered his face with a hand. "They're getting closer by the hour," he muttered. "They'll be upon us within a matter of flins."

"Sir?" one of the techs said uncertainly.

"Invader, report back to the Armada and give a full detailed report when you arrive. Coms, send out a message to Captain Wren along the relay and tell her everything as soon as that Invader's report is complete. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

A flurry of activity rushed around Red as the lesser scrambled to complete his orders. The urgency echoing within each of their minds.

With Wren….

Narrator….

"I have a bad feeling about all this," Wren said as she balanced on Andy's shoulders.

"I always have a bad feeling about things like this," Andy said with a chuckle.

"Then why are we doing it?" Wren asked tilting her head to the side while looking at him.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, duh."

Wen giggled at Andy sounding like one of the stuck up cheerleaders from back home. She sat the last domino into place. She turned when she heard the door open only to see Zim in the doorway. "Hi Zimmy!"

He paused, looked at the both of us and raised a brow. "Dare I ask?"

"Probably no…" Andy answered as he gave a grin that could match Wren's Cheshire cat one.

Zim noticed as he stood there in the doorway that they almost had the same grin when they were up to something. And he was even more surprised at how close alike the two were when he watched Andy blow his bangs out of his face almost exactly like Wren did often.

He rolled his eyes. "Continue. I'm just not interested and will not partake in this madness you've created."

"If you say so," Andy said with a shrug of one shoulder causing Wren to yelp and grab Andy's hands to steady herself.

"Andy!" she whined.

"Sorry Wren-kit!"

She blew a raspberry at him. "We should let Zim knock the first domino over."

Andy perked up at that, "We should!"

"Oh no, I am not going to have any part of this," he growled as he made his way through the mine field of dominoes.

"Please Zimmy?"

"Yeah Zim, please?"

He paused midway through his dodging dominoes set up slong the floor on his way through the kitchen. "Why?"

"Because it'd be awesome and destructive! Even if it's on a small scale. It'd still be destructive!"

"And you gave us the idea!"

"How did I give you the idea?"

"You'd have to start it to seeeee it!" Wren said in a sing-song way enjoying the little glint of mischievous evilness that was her boyfriend's eye.

He gave a small sigh then smirked, "Where does it start?"

"Yay!" Andy and Wren cheered throwing their hands into the air. Wren yelped as she began to slide backwards off of Andy's shoulders. Andy grabbed her ankles a little too late and they both fell back, hitting the floor with a thud that made Zim wince.

"Ow…." Wren groaned then began giggling.

Andy joined in with a chuckle. "You ok?"

"Yeah, the floor broke my fall," she giggled harder.

Andy burst into a bout of laughter as she shifted to get up and held a hand to her to help her up from the floor as well.

Zim only shook his head with a sigh. "You two are almost as bad as GIR and CADIE. Now, where's the start?"

Rachel….

Rachel blinked as she saw dominoes fall down the hall she was walking down. She tilted her head to the side as she watched it travel further down the hall. She looked up in time to be startled as an excited Wren, Andy and a much calmer Zim were jogging down the hall after the falling objects.

"Come on Rachey!" Wren giggled breathlessly as she grabbed her best friend's arm.

Rachel yelped as she was drug down the hall. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Dominoes!" Andy and Wren exclaimed together with a giant grin.

"Don't ask," Zim sighed. "I don't have a clue myself. I just started the fall of those little blasted things."

"When the hell did you put these up?" Rachel asked trying to talk and keep up.

"We've been at it all day!"

"All day…."

"Yep, the finale will be epic!"

"Do I even want to know?" Rachel frowned looking at Zim.

"Probably not…" Zim muttered. "I don't even know what it is."

"Come on guys! Less talky, more runny!" Wren laughed as she surged forward causing Rachel to yelp and stumble.

They followed the dominoes down the hall, up the incline to the greenhouse, past the greenhouse, over the conduits in the mess hall. For a moment Zim thought they were never going to end or end very anticlimactically. That is until they got to the crew lounge.

Wren stopped in the doorway where a mass of crew members were enjoying their time off. A set of dominoes broke off from the main line and bumped against a switch causing a bubble machine to start up. People started looking about confused, wondering what was going on as bubbles started dispersing through the room.

Andy and Wren watched the main line of dominoes intently though. They climbed up a premade ramp, triggering a balloon to float up and hit a lever that released a small cup of ball bearings. Everyone turned to look at the sound and watched as the ball bearings hit another lever which lit a small torch that burnt through a cord releasing a larger weight onto a catapult. That flung a small figurine into a basket which spun till it hit yet another lever which caused the front of a box that was sitting on the floor to lift.

GIR and CADIE ran out squealing madly. Around each of their waists were cords connected to the ceiling. As they ran toward the doors where Wren, Zim, Rachel and Andy stood, the cord seemed to rip open the ceiling. And as the two SIR units ran out the doors the ceiling opened and a huge mass of feathers and what looked like packing peanuts fell onto the slightly horrified crew members in the room. By the time all of it fell, the room looked like winter had hit. Everyone was covered in the white material.

"That was awesome!" Wren crowed and launched herself into the mass causing fluff and stuffing to fly everywhere.

Rachel looked at her best friend like she grew another head. "How long did that take you?"

"I had help! Sooooo….. maybe ten hours off and on," Wren answered popping up out of the mess.

Feathers and packing peanuts were stuck in her hair and to her ears causing Zim to look at her fondly. It made a very cute scene making him wish he had a camera so he could take a picture. From beside him he heard a click and whir and saw Andy and snapped a few pictures. He winked at Zim and gave a smile.

Wren turned to the crew in the room. "And that is for making me sign all those damned leave releases! Swamp me with them again and I will make it slime next time!" she cackled as she started literally bouncing toward the doorway.

Andy caught a few more pictures of her looking so carefree while in the mess she caused and knew she didn't have to clean up.

"I told you she'd get us back!" Someone from the back of the room shouted, then burst out laughing.

"Oh shut up Frank!" someone else shouted back before several other people started laughing.

Rachel pointed an accusing finger at Andy. "You helped, didn't you?" she hissed.

Andy gave a shrug and a slight grin. "There's half of my crew in there as well, so it was part of my revenge too. They flooded me with leave forms and I had to get them back somehow."

"Who's going to clean this mess up?" Rachel asked pointing toward the crew members dealing with the mess.

Wren bounced out into the hallway, a small pile of fluff and stuff clinging to her and following her out the door. Some of the main mass spilled out onto the floor of the hallway. She shook herself like a dog would to rid herself of most of the stuffing. Grinning at them as a feather or two still stuck in her hair and the fur of her tail.

Rachel pointed an accusing finger at her friend. "You and Andy are almost as bad as those two damned SIRs!" she hissed.

Wren stood and grabbed her finger and gave Rachel a grin. "But you love me like a sister regardless. And admit it. That was pretty awesome Rachy."

Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes while yanking her finger out of Wren's grasp. "It kinda was. How in the world did you manage it?"

"Bez helped a lot actually but we set up most of the dominos and most of the fluff and the little complicated things," Andy said.

"So you guys got this?" Wren asked as she popped her head back into the lounge.

Several members of the crews were throwing stuff at each other. "Yes ma'am!" they laughed still throwing stuff.

Wren laughed as the door closed and Rachel glared at her weakly. "GIR and CADIE…" she muttered and turned to leave. "They're just like GIR and CADIE. Un-bloody-believable…"

Wren turned to Zim. "Soooo?"

He smiled at her and shook his head. "You two are trouble."

She grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck while standing on her tip toes. "You still love me though!"

"That I do," he grinned back, resting his hands on her hips.

"Good!" she giggled, tail lashing lazily behind her. "I would have pouted if you didn't."

Andy snorted. "She would have and then have given you the cold shoulder. Made that mistake once. Never to it again."

Wren stuck her tongue out at Andy and giggled. "Served you right. You're my brother. You're supposed to love me."

"So says you."

She sniffed and stuck her nose into the air. "I shouldn't talk to you now."

"But you won't, because you love me little sister," Andy teased poking her in the side causing her to jump and squeak in Zim's arms.

She glowered at him, "So says you."

He poked her again and she eeped. "Andy…" she warned.

He did it again and soon she was giggling as she tried to wiggle out of Zim's grasp to get away.

"No fair!" she cried. "You're not supposed to help him!"

"All's fair in love and sibling war," he laughed as she giggled in his arms.

"I give! I give!" she squealed as she giggled hard enough she started to cry.

Andy stopped with a grin. She scowled at him. "Ebil, ebil Andy. I'll get you back." She then turned her scowl to Zim. "No kisses for you either. You helped him!"

She wiggled out of his grasp and gave a little huff and pout as she walked away, arms crossed over her chest.

"Aww, Wren, you can't snub us!" Andy chuckled as the two men followed her.

"Watch me!"

Andy looped an arm around her shoulders. "Come on Wren-kit, you know we love you."

"Well I don't love you."

Zim looked an arm around her waist from the other side of her. He kissed her temple. "You don't mean that Grashe'."

"I do so," she pouted. "And no kisses."

"You said he'd get not kisses, not that he couldn't five them," Andy grinned.

She huffed as Zim gave a grin as well. "You did say that."

"Evil boys. You're ganging up on me."

"You're not the only one who can be even you know," Zim laughed.

Wren grinned and stuck her tongue out at Zim. "Because you're soooo terrifying Almighty Invader Zim."

"Maybe not to you, but to others I'd hope so."

"I'm terrified," Andy stated with mock seriousness.

"I'm with Andy. Scared witless," Wren said seriously as well.

"You are such a horrible woman sometimes and I'm going to throw you into the water fountain," Zim growled playfully as he suddenly scooped her up over his shoulder.

She yelped at the change of position. "Don't you dare Zim," she grasped his shirt to try and stabilize herself and get down off her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Andy, would you like to join me?"

Andy laughed as Wren squirmed. "I would love to Zim!"

"No!" Wren squealed. "I dun wanna get wet! Zimmy dun throw me in the water fountain!"

"Nope, made up my mind. You're going in the water fountain!"

"Nooo!"

Rachel's P.O.V….

I had to pause on my way back from the mess hall with my iced drink. I stood in the entry of the greenhouse as I heard a huge yelp come from inside followed by a splash. I turned to look and saw Zim had thrown Wren into the fountain. I tilted my head as then Wren pulled a laughing Andy into the fountain as well. Zim soon followed as the two in the fountain pulled him in as well.

It seemed like Bez got the levels right in purifying the water so it wouldn't harm the Irkens. I had to congratulate him for that. He'd been trying for months to get it just right. And that led into another train of thought that the possibility of a pool would be made on board. I kind of missed swimming.

(I could throw you into the fountain as well if you wish,) Bez said mischievously.

I almost lost a sip of my drink as I began to laugh. "That's quite alright," I thought to him. "I'd rather not spill my drink."

Bez rumbled with laughter. It vibrated through my bones pleasantly. (If you're sure.)

"Positive. Thank you though," I smiled as I continued down the hall.

(You're welcome. You might want to be careful. The Terrible Duo are going to be running around the next corner."

I stopped and lifted my drink as two screaming SIRs ran by me startling a Sharshan that was behind me and almost toppling the box he was carrying.

I turned quickly and helped to settle it before it toppled. "Thank you Bez for the warning," I smiled. "You're a life saver."

(Again, you're welcome Rachel.)

As I made my way to the bridge I decided to take Wren's office to do a bit of work. She obviously wasn't using it at the moment seeing as she was moments ago playing in a fountain.

Pulling up some vids I started going over some reviews of what we had to do yet. The Elders wanted to meet with Wren to ask her a few questions about taking a small handful of Delaline youth on board to gain ship experience. They wanted to put themselves back out into space and stop hiding. I thought it would be a good idea so I'd bring that up to her when she was just a bit dryer.

The Resisty crew was still acting up but not as bad as before. By guard reports Tiz was getting into more fights which was not good. I was worried about the kid. Bringing him on board as part of the crew might be a good idea. He showed spunk and drive and he'd already made a friend on board Bez.

Really though, I'd like to see the Resisty as allies with us. I know they really don't like the Irkens, and for good reason. But since our treaty with the Irkens the Resisty and the rest of their people would be safe from everything. But how would we convince them it was a good idea?

As I pondered this the bell for the door began to ring almost frantically. My head shot up and I blurted out a 'Come in'.

One of our security guards that had been watching the Resisty burst into the room.

"Ma'am! There's a problem with the Resisty!" he blurted out, slightly panicked before pausing slightly confused. "Co-Second in Command? Where's the Captain? This is urgent…"

"Last I saw she was in the greenhouse indisposed. Now, what are the Resisty trying to do?"

"A few of them with the leader jumped a couple of our guards that were watching them. They are now holding them hostage. Along with the rest of the Resisty that didn't join them."

"Crap," I muttered as I jumped out of my chair. "Bes, tell Wren to get herself presentable and to get her ass over to the Resisty hold. Inform them of the situation and that I'll meet them over there with a security team."

(I will do that.)

I sighed as I tossed my drink cup in the bin. Just another thing I didn't need to worry about.

Unbelievable. Finally got this chap written and typed up. It's been sitting on my computer for a bit though. Sorry about that. Grad stuff and everything!

Which, by the by I'M GRADUATING! I'm finally done. Donedonedonedone! YAY! Go me.

Good news too, I have the next chapter written. Though it's a really depressing chapter. I mean really depressing. I almost couldn't believe I wrote it!

Anyway, till next time!