Author's Notes: I needed to change my email address for this place, and then I realized I hadn't posted for a while. Oops.

Planet Meekrob

The area was covered in ash and dust... Miyuki glanced back at the Resisty's ship off in the distance before heaving a sigh and standing up straight and dusting her hands off. She couldn't believe she'd actually won the argument about scanning the area alone. It had been a long argument, and she still didn't understand why it was such a big issue, but Lard Nar eventually relented.

"It looks like a battlefield," Lard Nar commented through her headset's communication's device. Agreeing to wear it had been one of the requirements for venturing out on her own. One of her antennae twitched, and she let out a short sigh.

She wasn't really happy about the arrangement, but there didn't seem to be any other acceptable alternatives.

"I know... I'm looking at it too," she informed him wryly. "There are scorch marks on some of the rocks here. They're not the small kind either." There was no plant life to be seen, and the temperature was more than just a little warm. Was this some kind of stone desert?

"The scanners haven't picked up any volcanic activity in this area," Lard Nar told her over the device. "There also doesn't seem to be any current airship movement."

"I guess that narrows down the list of possibilities. There might have been an explosion, but it wouldn't have been close to the size of the ones we saw on Kreedor." She scowled at another scorched area a short distance away. "Or maybe it was a series of small explosions... but that's a very dangerous move for a lone Invader to make. Besides, what could they possibly be blowing up all the way out here? There's no cities or airfields or anything like that."

"They're your people," Lard Nar reminded her. "If you can't figure it out, I doubt anyone else will."

"And that's why I'm telling you that what I'm seeing here doesn't make any sense..." she started walking further away from the Resisty's vessel. "Just what are they teaching invaders nowadays? They're supposed to keep a low profile and blend in with the inhabitants. You can't do that if you're constantly setting stuff on fire or making things explode."

"You sound old when you talk like that," Lard Nar informed her.

Now the leader of the Resisty was deciding to have a sense of humor? "Yeah, sure. I sound old," she said, putting extra emphasis on the "I."

There was a bit of a pause before Lard Nar cleared his throat, "anyway. Be on your guard. It looks like there's something heading in your direction."

"You were just wondering how old I was weren't you?" Miyuki questioned him with a scowl.

"..."

"I hope you realize that silence right now speaks louder than words," Miyuki stated as he crossed her arms over her chest and let out a sigh. She took a quick look around, but she couldn't see anything coming. "How old do you think I am exactly?"

"This isn't a good time to be talking about that," Lard Nar replied. "Whatever is on our monitors should be in your location."

"I'm not seeing anything."

"Maybe it's a ghost!" Shloonktapooxis happily chimed in.

"It's more likely a Meekrob," Lard Nar corrected him.

Miyuki glanced behind her. She could feel the ground trembling a little, but there was still no one in sight. Cracks appeared in the ground, and Miyuki took a few steps back. "Do Meekrob live in tunnels?" she asked.

"... No."

"Oh good, so that hasn't changed," she responded. But there was something beneath the ground. It was making a strange buzzing noise. Then suddenly whatever it was breeched the surface.

It was a SIR unit. Something that Miyuki recognized from Zim's base, only this one had red markings and crimson eyes. It was also carring a large drill that was currently spinning very fast. The SIR lept towards her. She side-stepped it.

"Well, I found the invader's SIR unit," Miyuki remarked. Her eyes narrowed at the small robot. There were sparks coming from its head which was teetering from side-to-side. She wasn't an expert on technology, but there was something about this SIR that didn't seem right.

"Miyuki... that thing is malfunctioning," Lard Nar explained, sounding a bit too calm for someone who seemed to like panicking. He was probably panicking on the inside. "Maybe you should run this time."

"Malfunctioning or not, it's just one little robot," Miyuki replied as she brought her hands out and lowered herself in preparation to charge. She threw herself towards it, but the SIR unit teetered just in time to avoid getting struck. It swung the drill back and forth, catching a piece of her black leggings. Riip. When she landed she crouched down and felt for blood. There wasn't any that she could tell, so she hurriedly straightened to face her opponent again.

It was firing lasers from its head. That would explain the scorch marks. She moved to dodge, expecting that the robot had locked onto her position, but it hadn't. One of the missles landed almost right where she did, and it exploded, sending her flying backwards.

She landed painfully on her back. It always hurt more landing this way because her Pak would dig right into her spine. Grinding her teeth, she carefully picked herself back up.

"Miyuki, you need to stop," Lard Nar was beginning to sound more than just a little concerned. "That thing has no pridictable patterns. You're going to get yourself killed."

"It just caught me off guard," Miyuki insisted. She wasn't going to listen. Maybe she could destroy the head-set and pretend the SIR unit did it during its next attack.

To her surprise the thing had already set its sights on a new target: a large boulder. It was using the drill to turn the rock into sharp shards and pebbles.

"Ok you little..." something grabbed her by the foot. She glanced down and saw another red and silver coloured SIR unit climbing out from the same hole the other one had come from. She was standing right next to it. Quickly she shook of the second robot and lept backwards.

This robot bounced out of the hole and tumbled towards her with some intent. But then it righted its self and started spinning in circles. The first SIR unit completely destroyed the rock and had once again returned its attention to her.

Fighting two was definitly more annoying than fighting one. There many explosions, which would explain the scorch marks she was trying to make sense of earlier. She had to roll, duck, and spin to avoid getting struck by some of the missels being shot all around the area. When she managed to get close enough to strike, the robot was flung into a small cluster of boulders, but it easily righted its self and started another barrage of fire.

This was getting ridiculous.

She brought out her torches from her Pak and they covered her in a force-field. Then two of her Pak legs sprung out, and she used this to launch herself head on at the one that had stopped firing. A few missels from the other one struck her barrier, but this did nothing to slow her down. She used the sharp tips of her pak legs to piece through her target's body. Before she could use the other one to crush its head, it suddenly exploded on its own.

The force of the explosion caused her forcefield to vanish. At least this time she landed face down. She could hear the other one still firing away. A missle struck one of the rocks beside her, and she clamoured to her feet while popping her shoulder back into place. Then using her two pak legs, she managed to dodge a few more blasts.

The shock her body recieved from the explosion was slowing her down. For some reason her arms and legs didn't seem to want to work properly. Her reactions were slower. If it wasn't for her pak legs she probably would have reached her limit. After a bit of dodging, the remaining SIR unit finally ran out of ammunition.

Breathing heavily, she carefully approached the sparking twitching robot. It dropped the drill and sprung at her, grabbing her by the neck. SLIICE. Its head toppled to the ground followed closely by its body. She made sure to crush its head before collapsing to her knees.

"See...? I told you..." she breathed. After a few moments of quiet, she realized her headset was gone.

"Not bad Irken," a voice spoke from somewhere. A glowing white light appeared in front of her. It took the shape of what other races now expected them to look like: a small white glowing lifeform with blue eyes and with an aquatic looking formation sprouting from its head. "Now I think you should tell us why you're here."

Meekrob were known to be telepathic. All of them shared a link with the rest of their people. This way one Meekrob could in fact represent their entire race.

Miyuki breathed a sigh. "I'm here with the Resisty..." she began, and the Meekrob scoffed.

"You don't actually expect me to believe that nonesense do you?" it asked, sounding unamused. "The Resisty are taking a stand against your kind."

"A lot of things happened," she explained vaguely since talking about the time she spend in the blob monster wasn't one of her favorite topics. "They found me, and I'm not technically a part of the Empire right now since I'm supposed to be dead."

"Why are you here then?" the glowing creature questioned.

"We learned that an invader was sent to your planet..."

"There was one," the Meekrob interrupted. "There was a huge ruckus with a bunch of crazy robots, and we discovered the culprit was an Irken invader."

"Oh," Miyuki's antennae perked up. "So you've already taken care of everything then?"

"More or less," the Meekrob responded dismissively. "If that is the only reason you came, then you can hurry up and leave."

It was obvious this Meekrob, and by association probably all of the Meekrob, wanted her off of their planet. Her antennae fell back, and she carefully rose to her feet. This would be a good opportunity for the Resisty to figure out where the Meekrob stood in all of this. Out of all of the planets they'd been to, Meekrob was actually one of the more advanced ones. They even had an armada of their own although it was much smaller than Irk's.

"I have another question," she said.

"Fine. Ask."

"Do you still have the Irken Invader in your custody?"

The Meekrob didn't answer.

"I'm asking because if the Empire knows she's been taken by you, then you might have a fight on your hands in the very near future," Miyuki explained. "We have captured two Invaders ourselves, but we're mobile enough that the Empire will have a difficult time coming into direct conflict." There was a chance that the current Tallest might decide to hurt the people on the planets the Invaders were taken from, but she decided not to mention this for now. The Resisty was kind of a foreign entity anyway. It didn't really have one race of alien from any certain planet.

"Would you be willing to speak with the captain?" she suddenly asked. The Resisty still needed more members, but it couldn't hurt to have a few Meekrob allies. "I know I'm an Irken and I don't represent the Resisty very well, but I think it might be a good thing if you spoke with him."

The Meekrob stared at her for a few uneasy moments. "Fine," it decided. "I will speak with this captain if it will get you people to leave our planet."

Miyuki nearly scoffed. What a single minded guy.

"Don't say anything," Miyuki told Lard Nar as she stepped past him into the ship. He was scowling at her. She probably looked a bit beaten up, but other than a couple of maybe broken ribs and a formerly dislocated shoulder, she wasn't too badly off. Her Pak was already taking care of most of the pain.

"You stopped responding," Lard Nar said.

"The headset fell off in one of the explosions," Miyuki spoke, waving away his worries.

"You mean you lost it."

"I knew that was going to happen," she stated, looking down at him with a frown. "That's why I didn't want to wear it." There were a few more where that one came from anyway. Lard Nar was always worried about supplies and how they would get more of something if they ever ran out. Food was one thing, but devices were another apparently.

"Are you feeling ok?" Lard Nar questioned, glancing away from her.

"I'm fine," she replied, motioning behind her. "I met a Meekrob. I thought you two might be able to work something out."

Lard Nar blinked up at her. "Like what...?"

"An alliance maybe? If not that then maybe some supplies."

"Oh."

She left him to speak with the Meekrob who was waiting patiently outside. As she was walking down the hallway to the control room, she felt along her ribcage. One was broken, and she was pretty sure another was cracked.

"How did it go out there?" Shloonktapooxis asked when she entered the control room.

"I don't know why there were two malfuctioning SIR units out there, but it looks like they were the cause of the scorch marks," Miyuki replied as she seated herself in someone else's chair. "I'm not sure if this was a blunder on the invader's part, or maybe it was sabotage. Either way it looks like the reason she was caught was because of those things."

"She was caught?" Shloonktapooxis questioned, tilting a little as he hovered nearby.

"Yes," Miyuki breathed a sigh. "I underestimated the Meekrob." She smiled. "But so did the Tallest." The Meekrob had proven to the Empire that they could effectively defend themselves against a single Irken invader which meant that option wouldn't be tried again. The only other options was to start a full scale war or to take a bit of time to build up the Empire's soldier count and then start a full scale war.

This was starting to become more complicated... but maybe the Meekrob hadn't made it known they captured the invader.

"You look kind of pale," Shloonktapooxis noted. "Are you feeling ok?"

Spleenk was dead. She lowered her eyes and brought a hand to her face. Why did she need to think of this now? Because after they were finished on Meekrob Lard Nar planned to return to planet Kreedor, her ever logical pak reminded her. Everyone would realize what had happened to him then.

"To be honest... I'm not sure what I'm feeling," she admitted. Maybe she should tell someone about what happened, or at least seek some advice. The floating cone guy seemed harmless enough... maybe she should just say it. She sucked in a breath. "Shloon... I need to tell you something..."