They waited for several more hours before they reached out to the Resisty. Dib felt impatient and eager to do so as soon as they could, but it was clear Zim was tired, and maybe still a little wary. He didn't want to push Zim—he might change his mind again if Dib was too insistent about this.
And he felt maybe a little bad seeing how tired Zim was. The whole situation must have been eating at him all night. He cuddled with Zim for a few more hours, and when he did get up to grab a breakfast bar, he made some hot chocolate in the microwave, adding a dollop of whipped cream from a spray can.
He handed the cup to Zim, who gratefully accepted it and slowly sipped at it, leaning against Dib's side.
It took him some time to finish the hot drink, but once he did, he looked a little more energized. "Alright, I'm ready," he declared. "Let's make that call."
"Great!" Dib beamed, darting to the closet and pulling on some clothes before heading to the cockpit. Zim was right behind him, grabbing his shirt to pull on it and straighten out the wrinkles. They both sat down, and Zim turned on their comms system, plugging in the contact code they'd been given.
They waited a minute or so as their ship searched for the contact…and once it was found, a connection was quickly established, several silhouetted figures appearing on-screen.
"Zim and Dib!" the one in the center said. "The others said you were considering our request. Have you come to a decision, then?"
"We did," Dib said. "We're willing to help!"
"He devised a foolproof plan and everything," Zim said, pulling out the stack of papers again. "First—"
"Stop!" One shadowed figure said, Dib recognizing the voice as Ixane's. "Don't say it, this isn't in a secure line! And…" She narrowed her eyes. "You're in an Irken ship, aren't you?"
Zim paused, then slowly put the papers away.
"Let's just meet in person then," Dib said. "We can discuss the details, and we need to get that device from you, anyway."
"As long as you don't attack us again," Zim added, glaring at Ixane's silhouette.
She huffed. "As long as you don't pose a danger to us, I won't do anything. And that whole situation could have been avoided if someone didn't think keeping your identity secret until we met was a good idea…" She glared at one of the other figures out of the corner of her eye.
"A-Anyway!" the leading figure said, typing something on a keypad. "I'll send you our current coordinates. Hopefully you'll be able to make it soon!"
Dib confirmed they received the information, and with that, they broke the connection. "Looks like they're still near Groceria," he said, pulling up a map that showed their route there. Fortunately, it looked like there was a jump gate they might be able to take advantage of, though it would take a bit if time to get to that.
Zim stood up and stretched. "Why don't you get us there?" he suggested. "I'll need to make a list of components for the Irken disruptor." He pulled a tablet out of his PAK and began scrolling through what looked like old blueprints.
Dib grinned, taking the controls of the Voot and pushing their ship forward. If being in space feel freeing, flying as even more so. He weaved around a few moons, setting them on the path to that gate. Zim, meanwhile, was still going through blueprints, jotting a few things down.
It actually didn't take too long to make it to the jump gate, and once they'd gone through, they just needed to head a few systems over. Zim loudly crowed when he found the exact blueprint he was looking for, highlighting a few things on it.
Dib skirted around the edge of Groceria, using the orbit from one planet to slingshot to the neighboring one the Resisty were in. Necessary, no. But it was fun.
The coordinates led them to a jungle planet that appeared untouched. Dib entered the atmosphere, following the precise coordinates and landing in a clearing just outside the mouth of a cave…which Enor was standing at. All three of his expressions brightened when the windshield popped open to reveal them.
"Oh, good," he said. "You didn't have any trouble finding us?"
"Nope," Dib said as he hopped out. "GIR, keep an eye on the ship."
The small robot saluted him, eyes and chest briefly flashing red, before he went back to coloring in some sketches Dib had made for him.
Zim climbed out after Dib, tucking his tablet back into his PAK. Enor turned and led them deeper into the cave. "We're really glad you agreed to this," he said. "It's a pretty short list of people we'd trust to make a stand against the empire."
His words made Zim shiver a little, but his steps didn't waver. "Don't mention it."
Dib glanced over Enor—specifically at his heads. He'd only heard the center one talk, but the other two would still emote. Did each head have its own separate thoughts? Which was in charge of the body…or did they share control?
"Can your other heads speak?" he suddenly asked, taking Enor a bit by surprise.
"That's…well, complicated," Enor said (still just his center head). "You see—"
"Oh, excellent, you two made it!" a voice said as they entered a large chamber in the cave. Dib felt briefly disappointed his answer was interrupted…but brightened when he saw all the aliens in the cave, standing around their ship in the back.
It was a relatively small group, to be sure, but there were so many types of aliens among them that Dib was intrigued. He recognized Ixane and Shloonktapooxis from the other night, of course, but wasn't even sure what species all the others might be.
Except for one—he at least knew that the grey, horned alien standing in the center was a Vortian. He was the one who had spoken, and his…horns were twitching in excitement, a wide grin spreading over his face.
"Zim!" he said. "Enor confirmed that it was you, but it was hard to believe without seeing it for myself."
"…Lard Nar?" Zim said, antennae twitching upwards.
Dib raised both eyebrows. "You two know each other?"
"Oh, yes!" Lard Nar said. "Zim was sent to work in the same labs I was in when he was much, much younger. The last I saw him, he wasn't even the height of my waist yet!"
Zim groaned, hiding his face. Lard Nar chuckled. "Right, sorry, not talking about height. Anyway, I'd like to think we got along pretty well before…" His voice trailed off, and Zim looked…nervous, almost? "Well, before a lot of things happened and we both ended up leaving the lab."
He beamed widely. "But it's great to see you again! This must be your partner, Dib, then?" He gestured to Dib, who nodded. "Sounds like we gave a lot to catch up on."
"Yeah, we can have a reunion!" a lanky green alien with long, thin limbs said from behind him. "Ooh, with a potluck and everything!"
Lard Nar perked up a little. "Hey, that's—"
"Not the purpose of this meeting, Spleenk," Ixane said. "The idea of a reunion can be discussed after the most pressing issue, captain."
"Right!" Lard Nar cleared his throat, sitting up and trying to look more serious. "So. You're willing to join our cause, then?"
Dib nodded, meaning over and nudging Zim. Zim pulled the plans out of his PAK, handing them over to Lard Nar. "I think I came up with a pretty good plan we can use to make this work," Dib said smugly.
Lard Nar rifled through the papers, the rest of the Resisty crowding around his chair to read over his shoulders. Zim stepped back to Dib's side, while Dib talked about a brief overview of how the plan would work.
A wide grin spread over Lard Nar's face, and the rest of the Resisty—even Ixane—looked impressed. "Yes, this...this could work!" Lard Nar said, dramatically holding up the plans. A few papers slipped away, which he quickly fumbled for, the aliens around him helping catch any he couldn't.
He shuffled the papers back together and cleared his throat. "Anyway. This is a very good plan…though we would need that 'Irken disruptor' mentioned…"
Zim reached into his PAK again and pulled out some blueprints. "Fortunately, Zim has a solution already," he said. "Though the original was destroyed by angry bees, so you're going to need to make your own."
Lard Nar nodded as he skimmed the blueprint. Ixane looked more interested in these plans, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Can someone go grab the device?" Lard Nar said. "The communication one."
A short, green, blob-like alien with pink liquid around its mouth zipped over to the ship, returning just as quickly with a device barely smaller than it was. It reminded Dib of a computer tower…though with a satellite dish sitting on top, and the Resisty logo plastered on the side. The same device Ixane had shown them, though the logo was new.
The blob handed the device to Lard Nar, who thanked it and passed it to Zim. Zim's PAK popped open, a metal arm emerging and grabbing the device to pull the whole thing in. Dib watched, a little impressed. What were the limits to his PAK, he wondered…
"And this is for you two," Lard Nar said, handing a small chip (also with the Resisty logo on it) to them. "To use personally, I mean."
Zim squinted at it slightly suspiciously as he took it. "What's this supposed to be?"
"A communication chip," Lard Nar said. "You can use it to create a secure line of communication with our ship, anytime you need to. It works in the same way as that device you'll be delivering to the Meekrob, but it needs to be plugged into an existing communication device."
"Do you give these out a lot?" Dib asked, looking at it curiously.
"To anyone who's interested in helping us!" Lard Nar said proudly.
"Which to be fair isn't a very long list," Ixane added, making Lard Nar deflate a little. "Sure, most people dislike the Empire, but finding anyone actually willing to fight? That's the difficult part."
"Because fighting the Empire doesn't tend to go well," Zim muttered under his breath.
"And yet you're still doing this," Ixane pointed out.
Zim frowned. "I have faith in my Dib's plan. If you can pull off your part of it, we'll be fine. And it's not fighting them, it's...sneaking around them. That's all."
"Tell yourself whatever you need to," Ixane said. "As long as you see this whole thing through to the end."
Zim crossed his arms and glared at her. Dib placed a hand on his shoulder, a gesture he hoped was comforting. "So," he said. "When exactly are we doing this?"
"As soon as possible," Lard Nar declared. "We'll build this disruptor and reach out to you…and as soon as you're free after that, we'll put the plan into action."
"And the disruptor shouldn't take long at all!" Spleenk said cheerfully. "We just need to get the right materials, and Nar and Enor can put it together like nothing!" Shloonktapooxis whooped in agreement.
"We'll wait for your call, then," Dib said. "Unless…Zim, did you want to hang around?"
Zim hummed, looking at Lard Nar and considering. Then he glanced over at Ixane, and at some of the other aliens in the back…who Dib noticed had very, very neutral expressions when they looked at Zim. Kind of like they were trying to keep any actual emotions from coming out, really.
"Maybe later," Zim decided. He leaned over and took Dib's hand. "And while we're here, you can explore a bit more of Groceria…as long as you don't try to sample anything poisonous."
Dib's face lit up at the idea of checking out this system again, being able to learn more about what foods different aliens might eat. They said their goodbyes to the Resisty and headed back outside to their ship, the communication devices safely tucked inside of Zim's PAK.
In the Voot, he headed into the bedroom, and Dib heard bickering between him and the AI. There were a few shouts, but a few minutes later, he emerged, holding the communication chip with a grin. "The AI didn't short out with this plugged into your laptop," he declared. "It should be safe."
"Good, good…" Dib said. "Are you always going to use it as a lab rat for new things?"
"Probably for as long as it tries to insult me or threaten me," Zim said. With a few appendages from his PAK, he popped open the communication panel and slid the new chip into an empty slot, letting it click into place.
"Anyway. Are you excited to have a way to talk to Lard Nar now?" Dib asked. "He seemed pretty happy to see you."
"Hmm." Zim tapped his claws on the dashboard. "I suppose having a way to reach out of him isn't…bad."
"Never knew you worked in a lab, though," Dib said. "If you ever mentioned that to Dad, he might actually start to like you."
"It was when I was young. Very short period of my life," Zim said with a shrug. "Not one I think about very much. …but I suppose I could keep that in mind if your father-unit gets angry at me again."
Dib snickered. "Yeah, just imagine him getting ready to yell and suddenly stopping a minute to think about that information…" He huffed. "But then again, if he's that angry, he'd probably yell without listening to a word you say." He had a few bitter memories of that.
Zim patted his shoulder, bringing him to the present. Dib sighed and leaned against him, relaxing. "…I guess we should get prepared," he said. "So that we're ready when they call us."
"Mmyeah," Zim hummed. "Quick break to explore and get some supplies, then we can upgrade the cloaking system. Sound good?"
"Sounds great." Dib pecked Zim's cheek and got settled in his chair. Zim smiled and grabbed the controls, pointing the ship back towards Groceria and taking off.