A/N: Before we get started with the chapter, I want to thank my fellow author, DJ Rodriguez for helping me write this chapter. I was in a creative slump with this story, but thanks to him it's back on track. Thank you, DJ, I literally couldn't have written this chapter without your help! So, all of you reading this chapter go and check out DJ Rodriguez and all of the stories he's written. I highly recommend his story Danny Phantom and the Gates of Hell, along with his Monsters and Magic series which combines Godzilla with Disney. And now, with that all out of the way, let's dive right into the chapter!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Invader Zim or Star Wars: The Clone Wars!
Shenanigans in Republic Prison!
It's been two hours since Zim and Gir arrived at, what they now knew as, the planet Coruscant, and the Irken was currently in the process of trying to learn what he could so that they could blend in and find out more about this planet and its culture. But to do that, they'd have to blend in. Fortunately, that would be the easy part once they had sufficient data gathered. And hey, if the humans back on Earth, with the exception of Dib, were able to be fooled into thinking that Zim was just a human with a skin condition while he was only wearing a pair of contact lenses and a wig, then blending in on this planet would be a metaphorical piece of cake.
"Okay, our first task is to gather some much-needed data on this planet and its inhabitants." Zim said, drawing a giggle from Gir.
But Zim wasn't amused.
"FOCUS, GIR! This is where your advanced information gathering skills come in handy!" snapped Zim.
"Yes, my master!" exclaimed Gir as he momentarily switched to Duty Mode.
"Good." said Zim as Gir looked out the canopy. "You have to observe what these… Coruscantians… consider to be normal. Then, based on your observations, we'll make our disguises and find out just where the heck we are."
And so, Zim flew lower and began zooming around to as he tried to find a suitable place to land. Gir looked around, excited at the thought of a new world to explore. Fortunately for Zim, no one really paid any attention to his ship as it flew around close enough to almost tough the roof of most buildings. The inhabitants must've just thought of it as nothing more than a strange new model of hover car. Eventually, they stopped above an empty alleyway in the slums of Coruscant.
"Here! We stop here!"
Zim landed the Voot Cruiser and quickly disembarked. He took a look around, and to his relief, they went unnoticed.
"Whoo, that was easy. Gir, get out here."
The little robot climbed out of the Voot Cruiser and tried to jump down, but he misjudged the distance from the cruiser to the ground and ended up hitting the spacecraft before landing on the ground with a 'clunk'. But Zim just ignored that little slip-up since he knew that there were more important things to deal with at the moment.
"Hurry, Gir, what did you learn?" Zim asked.
"I saw a squirrel." Gir said as he stood up
Zim just looked at his little robot sidekick with a blank look. Why was he suddenly getting a very serious sense of DeJa'Vu?
"He was doing all like this." Gir started making squirrel movements and chattering noises.
"Concentrate, Gir! It is time for disguises." Zim said.
"I want to be a mongoose." Gir said back.
But Zim was quick to cover the robot's mouth.
"Shh! We need to be quiet!" whispered Zim.
Gir's optics flashed red as he gave a salute in a rare moment of seriousness. Zim quickly walked up to the Voot Cruiser and accessed the onboard data banks. It would seem that Gir had at least managed to stay focused enough to get accurate data on all of the native inhabitants of this planet, although he certainly hadn't expected there to be such a diverse ecosystem. The first creature to show on screen for a disguise was a giant slug creature known as a Hutt. Which Zim immediately turned down in disgust.
"Too ugly!"
Next to show was a strange creature called a Toydarian, which is something that Zim could only describe as a Tapir with wings. Not much of an improvement in his honest opinion.
"Too stinky!"
The third choice was a member of a humanoid species with a crown of horns growing out of its head, and facial tattoos. A Zabrak from the planet Iridonia.
"That one should work." Zim said, satisfied with this option.
The two halves of an engine pod closed over Zim as his disguise was formed over his original body. Unfortunately, because his tech is older, though still quite functional, it still caused him great pain due to the fact that the older tech didn't have anything to numb the pain of the initial disguise process.
"OH! WHY DOES IT STILL HURT?" cried Zim.
It only took about ten seconds before Zim's disguise was complete. And out of the pod emerged Zim from a cloud of steam. His disguise was absolutely astounding because, instead of a wig and a pair of contact lenses, Zim actually looked the part of a real Zabrak male! In his disguise he stood at a height of "5'10 and had a lean build that was built for speed and agility while still possessing great strength. He had a crown of horns circling his cranial cap which were sharp and could no doubt make for fairly deadly weapons in a fight.
His disguise was so good, in fact, Gir didn't recognize him at all!
"Master! Where'd you go? Where are you?" Gir asked, looking around in worry.
"I'm right here, Gir. It's me. And keep it down! Do you want to alert the whole planet?" Zim asked, keeping his voice as low as possible.
"I do." Gir simply said.
Zim chose to ignore that little comment.
"Okay, for you… I'm thinking, maybe, one of those Loth Cat things." he said as he looked through his database.
"Can I be a mongoose Loth Cat?" Gir asked.
After cycling through his options, Zim finally found the Loth Cat that he was to use for Gir's disguise. He gently pushed the little robot into the center of the two pods.
"It seems as though we need to blend in for purposes other than church this time around, Gir." Zim said.
Pressing the activation button, the Voot Cruiser repeated the disguise process and in place of Gir stood a perfect Loth Cat. And seeing these improvements to their disguises, Zim couldn't help but think about all the times they were nearly exposed by Dib, himself especially.
"...Looking at it more closely, I can see how Dib was able to see through our disguises so easily. Now, all we need to do is send the Voot Cruiser up into the upper atmosphere and have it orbit the planet while we gather intel."
Rolling up his sleeve, Zim started pressing buttons on a metal bracer that was the key to maintaining his disguise. After a few minutes of button pressing and inputting instructions, the countdown was started for the Voot Cruiser. And Zim knew that since it was functional, but old, technology, it was going to be a loud one.
"Gir, hide!" ordered Zim.
He was quick to run into a nearby dumpster that was, thankfully, empty as Gir followed him inside while pulling the lid down just enough so they could see what was going on.
"And be quiet! We can't afford to make a sound!" Zim whisper yelled at Gir.
They waited for a tense ten seconds before the Voot Cruiser's thrusters fired up and it shot out into the sky like a rocket, which is somewhat accurate, and reached the far outer atmosphere of the planet where it entered a form of parking orbit around the planet. And just so it wouldn't be discovered, the ship activated its cloaking field to turn itself practically invisible to those who don't know what to look for. Zim and Gir peeked out of the dumpster and saw that, miraculously, nobody had noticed anything out of the ordinary.
And that was a big relief for the Irken in disguise and his little robot sidekick.
"Whew! Step one went smoothly." Zim said with a sigh of relief.
He quickly climbed out of the dumpster and helped Gir out before attaching a leash to the disguised robot's collar. They walked out of the alley and began walking in a random direction as they proceeded to blend in with the crowd. If there was anything unusual about a Zabrak taking his pet Loth Cat for a walk like a dog, well, nobody spoke up about it. For the most part, Zim and Gir were just ignored aside from the occasional passing glance.
The duo was in awe as they saw the various beings that were either milling around or doing business with one another. He saw humans interacting with various humanoids & non-human species. Zim was taking it all in, as this was something that he had hoped would one day become of Earth. To be open for the many species and life forms that inhabited the universe that the Lord created, to get in with the interstellar community and be part of something that would take them to the stars and beyond. However… even he saw that Earth was in serious need of help itself before it could even reach that level of maturity.
And according to his calculations from Gir that he had taken two weeks ago, the Earth's populace would be ready for aliens to come… in about 150 years, give or take a century or two. Zim knew & believed that if the Earth's populace did not get back right with God, there was little chance of them being able to move on to the next level. But he had hope that things would turn out okay for his adoptive planet.
As they continued to walk along the path they had chosen, Zim had overheard a conversation between two beings. One was a dark-skinned woman who worse unusual robes… and having white tentacles for hair! And the other was a woman that looked to be of Asian descent, and she was unusual robes too. But the disguised Irken could sense a great deal of power from them! It was subtle, but he could feel it and he knew right away that they were more than meets the eyes.
The dark-skinned woman spoke to her friend, "I must confess Bultar Swan, that this does not seem right at all. Even if she may have fallen to the Dark Side for a time, this is just highly out of character for Barriss Offee.".
The Asian woman, now identified as Bultar Swan, answered back in a low tone, "I agree with you on that, Stass Allie. But she confessed at the, admittedly, fixed trial of her former friend, Ahsoka Tano, to having framed the poor girl for both the bombing of the Jedi Temple and the murder of Letta Turmond. It disappoints me deeply that she committed such heinous acts, as she was one of the order's most promising upcoming healers. Perhaps she is right about one thing… this war has changed the Jedi. And not for the better, I fear.".
The dark-skinned woman now known as Stass Allie said, "You are right. But perhaps there is a chance for her to be turned back to the light and that she may repent for what she has done. It would be a great tragedy if she was to be kept locked up in the Republic Military Base like so… or worse, given the death penalty".
As Zim walked away, he thought to himself, 'So this "Barriss" girl is being imprisoned and seems to have committed some serious crimes. Hmmm… I don't know why, but I need to know more about her and her motives. Perhaps if we find her, she can tell us more about this place that my computers may have missed. Also… to see if she can be saved. I can't in good conscience let someone die just because they've done horrible things, especially if they can repent for their sins!'.
During his stay on Earth, the Irken had discovered that while Earth had a bright side… it also had its dark sides as well. He had seen the people of the world fall into various traps, becoming blinded by toxic pride, arrogance, foolishness and greed in a way that made him glad he had found Jesus before he could be ensnared in such traps and illusions. He also discovered in seeing various documentaries, both real and fiction, that murderers were those who had disregard for life. Some were clever, some were simple, some were crazy… and some just loved to kill that brought out a sick kind of satisfaction. But the one thing that was clear was that they killed of their own volition, separating them from those who killed with no choice in the matter or when it was required to save another life.
Zim had come to know the fine lines in almost everything, all thanks to putting his mind with Christ. And now he felt that this Barriss girl was most likely a victim of circumstance that needed to be helped. He felt that there was more to her story than meets the eye.
He looked to Gir in his disguise and stated, "Okay Gir, time to look into this more. And also, perhaps find the help we and this Barriss girl needs.".
Gir wagged his tail and exclaimed, "Yes sir!". Zim quickly put his mouth over his disguised companion, thankful that no one noticed a talking cat. Well… even if they did, they would have chalked it up to an alien citizen speaking.
~At the Republic Military Base~
Zim and Gir had managed to locate the base. It was not easy, given that the entire planet was like one large city, so buildings tended to look like another almost identically. But thankfully, they were given directions by human who knew where the facility was at. Now, the duo was looking at the large complex that held Ahsoka. Gir looked to his master and said in a surprised tone, "Whoo! That is one big prison-thingy!".
The disguised Irken replied in a low, impressive tone, "Indeed it is. This place makes any kind of military installation on Earth look primitive all the way.". He was not joking in that, as while Earth did have some impressive prisons, this one left them all in the dust.
The duo heard someone coming, leaping into the shadows to avoid detection. Zim and Gir peeked out from the darkness to see some soldiers passing through, all of them carrying weapons and identical uniforms. He spoke to himself softly, "Hmmm… this bears further investigation. Gir, follow me.". Said robotic partner followed him but running on his two legs rather than on four like a cat would.
Keeping to the shadows, the two beings managed to find a doorway that did not require a console to open. It seemed that the one who made the facility had a backdoor of sort that would open for anyone, in case of emergency. However, the system was more focused on front or behind attacks rather than just from the side. Zim and Gir carefully treaded into the military complex, making sure to not make any kind of sound. Even the hyper-active robot was silent, as he seemed to sense that being his usual self would bring much pain to himself and his master.
Zim and Gir peeked from behind a corner, seeing what appeared to be… identical men at a cafeteria of sort? He thought to himself, 'Whoa! I heard of people being identical twins or even triplets, but this is unheard of! What are they?!'.
The two looked around for an alternative route and found it in the form of a grate that was near the door. Zim knew that his disguised form would not fit… but his real form would. He deactivated his disguise, changing back to his normal form, while Gir did the same. He quickly but carefully unscrewed the grate with one of Gir's robotic fingers. He was glad that his companion actually had the foresight to install basic Earth equipment on him like screwdrivers, cork openers and more. Once the grate was unscrewed, he pulled it out and soon crawled into the vent with Gir following behind him. He couldn't pull the grate back over the opening, so he had to just hope and pray that no one would notice it.
The two crawled around in the vents, hearing things and such in various rooms. They soon came to a grate that faced downward and saw a large compute console. He looked to Gir and whispered, "Okay boy, use Super Spy Eye.".
Gir saluted his master, then put his face into one of the grates… and extended his eye out like a bendable telescope! Zim had installed the program inside of Gir in his younger days, wanting to spy on his adversaries. It has actually been a long time since he even used that feature and was now glad he did forget it instead of uninstalling it out of Gir.
The little robot's eye had to reduce its size a little, but it was not by much. He lowered it around, then spun it like a periscope on a submarine. He looked this way and that, but it seemed that the room was empty for the time being. After a few moments, he retracted his eye back into his head. He knocked his own head to get it back to the right shape and said, "Ding-dong! No one is home! Leave a message at the end of the beep!".
Zim shook his head slightly, but a small smirk was on his face as he found the antics of his faithful robotic servant amusing. He whispered, "Okay, let's get to it!".
Gir used his lasers to cut the corners of the grate, Zim keeping a tight hold on it. Once it was cut off, he put the grate aside in the vent before the two of them jumped down. Once they landed, Zim looked all over the place. And lo and behold, Gir was actually right for once. No one was in the room! He looked to the computer console, cracking his knuckles and typing on the keyboard. He was fortunate that the keyboard had English letters on it, so it made the job a bit simpler. If it was in an alien language, it would have been more difficult and thus wasted time.
He accessed the data base of the installation, and as he was typing, he looked down to see some sort of spherical port of sort. He looked to Gir and whispered, "Gir, sees if you can access the system from there and find out anything you can about these people that are in the building.".
The small robot saluted and exclaimed, "Yes sir, O Typer of Keys!". A square hole appeared from his chest, and from it was a tube with a connector port of sort. It would connect Gir's software right into the computer for direct access! Well… assuming that it was compatible. And amazingly, it was as it fit perfectly into the port that was normally meant for droids.
Gir's eyes flashed as he started to download data into his brain at an amazing pace! Even the robot with his fragmented circuits and such was hoping that his hardware would be able to handle such large amounts of data! And he did, but it was just barely!
His eyes flashed red and spoke in his serious voice, "Download complete, sir!". The eyes flashed back to green, indicating that he was back to normal… so to speak.
Zim replied to him, "Good! You can fill me in on what we are dealing with after I find the place where this Barriss is being held.".
He looked at the screen, finding the level and cell number she was being held at. With that in mind, Zim turned off the console and went to the door. It opened with a hiss, peeking out to see if anyone was around. He spotted an elevator to the right of him, and seeing that the coast was clear, went towards it with Gir following him.
Had he been more observant, he would have seen a security camera catching his and Gir's every move within the computer room…
~POV. Change(Barriss)~
How did I get myself into this mess?
I don't know how long I was unconscious for, but I'm suddenly hearing that the temple was hit by a terrorist bombing, and that I framed my own best friend, Ahsoka, for both the terrorist bombing as well as the murder of the suspect's wife, Letta Turmond. And now I'm in a military prison being held until the senate decides on my punishment for these crimes. Knowing how corrupt most of the senators are, be they Republic or Separatist, I'm most definitely going to be put to death. Or even worse, I'll be frozen in a block of carbonite and ejected into space left to drift along until I either get sucked into a star and burned alive, or crash land on an unknown planet where I'm likely to remain frozen for eons to come!
I'm getting goosebumps from my own fear just thinking about it!
I just don't understand. What has happened while I was out? All I remember was talking to my master, Luminara Unduli, over the holo communicators when she had left for a mission. I went into the city to do some shopping when I stumbled upon someone suspicious running into an alley before giving chase. I couldn't see who this individual was since they were wearing a dark cloak that hid their face. I chased them down to a dead end… and then all I remember after that is pain. Pain unlike anything I've ever felt before.
Next thing I know, I'm getting thrown into a cell by some clone troopers and Jedi Sentinels who only told me what my crimes were, and here I am now.
I sighed and ran a hand down my face. I can only imagine the horrors that Ahsoka had to endure. Everyone can see that Tarkin obviously has it out for Ahsoka and would jump at the chance to have her imprisoned for life or killed. But nobody knows why that is.
All I could do was curl my legs inward and wrap my arms around my knees, tears prickling in my eyes as all of my emotional training from my time as a Jedi didn't matter anymore. I've already been expelled from the order, and my future remains uncertain. I don't know much of anything right now, but I do know one thing…
"I don't want to die…"
The elevator dinged as it made its way down here to the level where I was being kept specifically. Probably another trooper come to mock and scorn me for the death of his brothers. Not that I don't deserve it after what I've done. But as the door opened, it was not who I was expecting. In fact, this individual is nothing like any species I've ever seen before.
They're some sort of insectoid species if the bulbous pink eyes and black antennae on their head are anything to go by. They have green skin that's a different shade to my own, and they wear a strange uniform that consists of a pink shirt with long sleeves, black gloves that cover their hands which have three fingers and a thumb, (Side A/N: I know that Zim has two fingers and a thumb, but for the sake of this story I've given him three.) and a pair of black pants and boots. As they walked out of the elevator, I couldn't stop myself from asking…
"Who are you?"
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: Once again, I want to give a great big thanks to DJ Rodriguez for helping me write this chapter! Thank you, my friend, this really helped the story along. I must say that writer's block absolutely sucks! Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed it, and I apologize for the wait. Please don't forget to leave a review if you so desire, and I'll see you all in my next update.