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(Words)- Bez speech

Chapter 20—Red Alert—

Wren's P.O.V….

I shot straight up from my relaxed position awakening GIR as I did so as the alarms went off. I scrambled to my feet while the unit jumped out of my arms out of harms way. Zim jumped up beside me just as quickly. I ran to one of the walls and looked at it for a quick second. I tapped a button and a void opened on the wall.

"What exactly is that?" Zim asked with a wary look.

"Emergency chute," I said resting a hand on a bar above the chute, "it leads to the main areas of the ship. Like the bridge or engineering." I grinned. "Want to go first?"

"Well…"

"Are you scared Zimmy?" I asked leaning back and grinning impishly at him.

"Zim is not scared." He growled back at me, narrowing his eyes.

"Weally?" I asked playfully batting my eyelashes at him.

"Yes." He huffed.

"Well then," I said and lightly tapped his shoulder with my tail, "you're, it." I grabbed the bar above the chute and jumped in with feet first.

Zim looked after me and protested. "Hey! That was not fair!" He then leapt down the chute after me.

I zoomed through the chute like I would with a water slide. Air created a cushion underneath me to allow me to move faster through the semi dark tube. I squealed excitedly and started to giggle at the shear exhilaration of twisting through the bowels of the ship at such a high speed.

Soon I landed onto the bridge laughing my head off. I quickly moved out of the way before Zim landed in the exact same spot. I helped steady him from his rollercoaster ride.

He looked at me and grinned mischievously sliding an arm loosely around my waist. He leaned over to whisper in my ear as he tapped my shoulder. "It."

I wiggled loose and playfully tried to swat him in the air. He dodged away easily laughing. Then both of us fell to the floor as the ship shook again.

"I wonder what the hell is attacking us," I frowned trying to get up, all play leaving me.

Zim stood and absently helped me up. He went to the seat he had occupied earlier and sat down. His hands flew over the console as he brought up a few scanner images. He growled and started to curse in his own language under his breath.

"What is it?" I asked coming up behind him.

"My empire decided to make sure I was either dead or completely lost." He replied. "So it's one of their ships that are attacking us."

"We don't need this." I muttered.

"I know we don't." He said still growling.

The sound of the doors opening caught my attention and I turned to see Rachel and James enter the room. They shot me a funny look, as if they were trying to piece things together.

"How the heck did you get up here so fast?" Rachel asked panting a little. "We had to run from our rooms to the lift and then had to go to another because the first malfunctioned."

"Malfunctioned…. I'll have to check that out later." I murmured then shrugged. "And we got here thru the emergency chute." I added pointing to a spot over my shoulder.

"Emergency chute? We have an emergency chute?" James asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well duh…" I said. "What kind of ship would it be if it didn't have emergency chutes?" I turned back around with a roll of my eyes. My attention turned now on the scanners again.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw James take navigation and Rachel took weapons. The ship shook violently again. I grabbed the back of Zim's chair quickly.

"Problems?" Rachel asked snickering.

"Nope, just thought that I'd try stumbling a bit to see if that's how I should walk from now on," I replied sarcastically, "It's just one of those times that I wish I had a chair so I wouldn't fall on my ass."

Zim looked at me over his right shoulder and smirked. "You can always sit on my lap." He muttered softly enough that I could only hear him.

I smacked him in the back of the head with the palm of my hand. "Hush you." I said scowling as he proceeded to chuckle and my other two comrades gave me a funny look.

"Do we want to know?" Rachel asked looking at James.

"I think I want to know," James replied.

I sighed. "Are we gonna get out of this in one piece or do we fancy many?" I asked.

"Um, leaving in one piece sounds good to me right now. What about you James?" Rachel asked.

"In one piece sounds really good."

"Then let's get out of here or something!" I said making a motion to go with the more than enthusiastic order.

Rachel sighed and shook her head. "Sometimes I worry about you."

"Good, at least I'm not the only one. Need someone else to join in on the fun," I said smiling.

"Yeah…" James said blinking at us. "For once, I'm a little lost for words and the conversation."

"Don't worry," Zim said, "You didn't miss anything and your silence is welcome."

James scowled at Zim. Another violent tremor hit the ship as if brought about by that scowl. Bez bellowed after the tremor.

"There's damage to the right wing after that blow." Zim said his attention focused completely to scanner in front of him.

"If we have to, to save Bez, we may have to destroy that other ship," I said softly. "That is unless we hail it or someone else has an idea."

"I don't think they are in the talking mood right now." James said and dodged a blast with a swerve of the ship.

"James is right. It is either us or them," Zim said.

I sighed heavily. I hadn't wanted it to come to this. "If it has to be, then it has to be." I whispered to myself. "May we survive to fight again. Fire to either cripple or destroy if need be!" I growled eyes narrowing and ears lying flat.

Rachel looked at me and nodded. "I'll try to only damage them," She said. "But you know how bad my aim is."

"I know. Just try your best Rachel." I said. I patted her shoulder then turned and left the bridge. I knew they could handle it. Zim had most likely been in several space fights before and James had enough will to win. Rachel was just stubborn enough not to give up.

Rachel's P.O.V….

I chanced a glance over my shoulder at Wren as she left. She looked a little out of it and depressed. I wanted to know why but I knew I had a job to do.

"I believe I should use the lasers instead of the cannons this time," I said glancing at the guys.

"You were going to have to use the lasers anyway," Zim said. "The cannon isn't charged fully."

"Aw well, any weapon is better than no weapon," James said.

"You just wanted to blow them up," I said to James and went back to aiming. I actually decided to try for what looked like a crippling spot. "Tell me when."

"Now!" both James and Zim said.

I quickly pressed the button to fire and twin purple beams hit the Irken vessel before us. It seemed to falter in space. I chanced a glance at Zim, "Good or bad spot to hit it?" I asked.

"Pretty good," Zim said looked at me, "but we should get out of here while we still have a chance to."

"Fine by me." James said. Bez turned away from the other ship and soon we were off. James hit a few buttons on the console before him. "Bez, keep on this heading. Also, if anything is in your way, go around it."

(I can do that. The way I feel, I don't think I want to run into anything anyway.) Bez said dryly.

James laughed a little along with the rest of us. He stood up and clapped his hands together. "Since Bez has everything settled here, who's up for something to eat?" he asked.

"I like that idea," I said holding my hand out to him. He helped me out of my chair and I added, "It's a good plan since I didn't get a chance to grab anything because I was rudely awoken."

James put his arm around my shoulders and we headed for the mess hall.

Narrator…

Zim watched as the couple moved off onto the lift. He shook his head a little and sighed wondering if he'd have anything like that. Shaking off those thoughts he turned to thinking of what happened to Wren.

"Bez?" he asked.

(Yes?)

"Where exactly did Wren go?"

(She said she was going to check out the engine room and then check out my wing. She didn't know if she wanted to go out to check it or not.)

"Oh." Zim said starting for the lift then pausing. His eyes grew huge. "She's going to go try to go out in space to check your wing? Alone? But, but, that's stupid!"

(If you leave now, you might catch up to her.) the ship offered.

Zim dashed to the lift. The doors shut and Zim paced the space waiting for the lift to arrive on the deck Wren was on.

Wren's P.O.V….

I was being followed by Rouk, the two black spheres, and GIR. While heading toward the air lock I stopped to look for some space suits. Unfortunately there wasn't any.

"Damn." I muttered. "I can't win for losing."

Rouk cocked her head to the side questioningly and the two spheres chirped.

"All I wanted to do was go check the wing." I said looking at them. "I know the sensors can tell us the damage but you never really know how bad it really is till you see it. And if I tried to go out there without a suit I would sorta die."

"I knew that." Rouk said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, right."

"I did. But you forgot that even if you did have a suit you can't go out while the ship is moving." My muse said matter-o-factly.

I muttered under my breath, "Fine then." A little bit louder I asked, "Bez, how bad is that wing of yours?" I walked over to a wall panel and came to a console where I typed in a few access codes.

(It will last for a day or so, but it is slowly tearing. The webbing between the shoulder wing joints is what is tearing.)

"And if it tears too far can it be fixed?"

(It can be fixed, but by then it will take a few flins to mend.)

"Flins?" I asked perplexed. I didn't get that term for some odd reason.

(One flin equals about a week and a half in your time schedule.) Bez explained.

"Ah," I murmured, "and that's bad isn't it?"

(It is if we wanted to get away fast.)

"Damn," I muttered. I started some estimations and planning. I was just finishing them when the doors of the room slid open behind me. I raised an eyebrow before turning to look who it was.

It was Zim in the doorway, and for some odd reason I knew it would have been. His stance was stiff and almost confrontational. I noticed his stance and adjusted mine in accordance unconsciously ready to defend myself if I needed to.

"What did I do this time?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

"Where you planning to go out there?" he asked narrowing his eyes.

"I was going to but decided against it. One too many creatures voiced their opinions and I was overruled," I replied scowling at him. "Why?"

"You should know better than go out there alone," He growled coming closer to me.

"I wasn't going to be alone." I snapped. "I was just coming down here to check to see if they had suits and if they did I was going to come get one of you three down here to help me."

He prowled closer to me till he was close enough to me that I almost felt the heat radiating off him. "I bet you would have," He snarled looking down at me. "I know you would have gone out there by yourself."

I glared at him and poke him in the chest as I looked up at him. At this point in time I hadn't realized how tall he actually was compared to my five foot eight inch stance now. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if he had actually grown a bit since being on Bez. "And what would you have done about it?"

"I would have come after you! What else would I do? What else could I do?"

I turned suddenly and started to walk away. "Why? You probably have better things to do than go after a genetic mess like me!"

Zim grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face me. "I have a damned good reason to go after you," He hissed. "But I'm not ruining the friendship we have now to tell it to you."

"Try me," I hissed back, coming really close to his face. "Right now I'd believe just about anything you'd have to say to me."

Zim started to answer but was interrupted by an alarm. Red lights started to flash alongside the walls and floors.

I spun away from him and headed toward the emergency chute. But not before shouting, "I hate me life! Why can't it just leave me be for a while!" My anger slowly seeped away as I punched a button. "And why can't I even get breakfast in?"

Zim came up behind me softly. "Then would you like to have a between meal with me?"

I looked at him and blinked a little surprised at his soft tone. "You mean brunch?"

He shrugged. "If you want to call it that."

"As long as it isn't called a date," I said and jumped into the chute.

"Sure, why not," He muttered and followed.

Rachel's P.O.V….

James had just finished his meal and I was on my last forkful when the alarms went off. I scowled at the lights that flashed. James stood and I followed as I finished off the last bit of my meal. Jogging to the lift we shot to the bridge only to find Wren and Zim already there.

"After this," I said scowling at her, "you are definitely showing us that damned chute."

"Whatever. I will if we don't get caught or anything." She said waving us off.

I just continued to scowl as I took my seat. James and Zim jumped into theirs as Wren stood behind me.

"Zim, bring up the hologram of the vessel." Wren said.

Zim quickly brought up the hologram. Wren turned to look at it. She walked thru it and then walked around it. She looked at James, "James, keep out of firing range if you can. There is no use to even try to use the shields. One wing is damaged so it won't work."

She tapped at a section of the hologram somehow and moved it. The ship took another hit but she kept her balance.

"James dodge to the right, now!" Zim shouted.

James complied. I growled at having nothing else to do.

"Rachel, your station is also the communication station right now. Open all channels and try to get the other ship to stop firing." Wren said.

I nodded and turned to my post. I tapped a few buttons surprised that I knew which ones to push. "Attention unknown ship. Hold off your attack. We are not hostile. I repeat, we are not hostile." I said calmly.

The line cracked and snapped. But a reply came thru. "To the ship in this sector, we are holding fire. We will talk to your Captain in three kakes. We expect you to comply."

Wren motioned to me to cut the signal for now. As soon as we could talk she hissed, "What in the hell is a kake and who is the Captain?"

(A kake is equivalent to about an hour in your time more or less.) Bez said.

"Ok..." I said, "Then who wants to play Captain?"

The com cracked again. "We need an answer now or we will destroy your ship. Even though it is quite amazing for a ship."

I blinked and looked at everyone then trained my gaze on Wren. "I volunteer Wren!" I said pointing to her.

"Why the hell am I Captain?" she whined.

"Because I said so," I replied glaring.

"Fine," She muttered waving me off, "Send a reply saying I'll meet them here."

I relayed the message and they replied with an agreement. They also wished there be no weapons present during our meeting. That wasn't too difficult because we really didn't have any weapons at this time. At least I didn't think we had any on board.

Wren sighed then started to walk out of the room.

"And where do you think you're going?" James asked watching her.

She turned to look at us, placed a hand on her him and gave us a look. "I'm going to go to Cancun." She said dryly. "Where do you think I'm going? I'm going to go to my room and change. Do you really expect me to meet a real Captain of another ship in my pjs?"

"Well, no. Not really." I replied.

"Then I'm going to go changed and maybe find something to eat," She said walking to the lift with a GIR in tow.

"Be prepared to save GIR," James muttered and stood up.

"Mmmm….Yep." I agreed and followed. "You know how she gets around that robot."