A/N: The first few chapters might be boring because there's very little Zim, Dib, Gaz, Gir, and Tak. There is, however, a lot of Tallest. I have some OCs, but they don't get a lot of dialogue (after the beginning, anyway), and I end up killing most of them anyway… And Maian… Yeah… She's dead. O-e

Prologue

"Red!" the female Irken shrieked, desperate to be heard above the din of the battle raging outside. The Tallest turned to her and growled.

"Maian, you realize there's a war starting here?"

The female glared at him, and the bundle in her arms began to squirm.

"There isn't much time," she shouted. There was a loud boom in the distance, and Red felt like he was on the verge of panic.

"Alright, make this quick!"

Maian rushed towards him and shoved the bundle into his arms. He blinked.

"A smeet?"

"My daughter."

Another crash from outside. The building rocked on its foundation.

Red stared down at the smeet in his arms. She was crying.

"I didn't think… You went through with it…"

Maian blinked back tears.

"Fiz is all that is left of him, Red!" she choked. "Promise me you won't let anyone find out."

Red stared at Maian and nodded. She smiled.

"Now go, my Tallest! Before it's too late!"

"Why aren't you coming?"

"Red… They'll only find out…"

Red's eyes snapped open. He had fallen asleep in his chair, and was dreaming of something that happened… What, a hundred years ago?

He stretched. Time to go pay his little friend a visit.

He stood up with some effort and grabbed his passkey from a nearby table. Making sure his troublesome colleague was nowhere in the proximity, he made his way down one of the many corridors on the Massive.

As crew members passed him, they bowed and muttered, "My Tallest," which Red would acknowledge with an impatient wave or a slight nod. It was a matter of minutes before he reached a door labeled, "PRIVATE."

He slid the passkey into the slot in the wall, and the small red light above it turned green. The doors parted and he stepped through.

Inside, he found a familiar sight. Young Irkens wearing Training Armor were everywhere-dodging lasers, throwing Vortian battle-disks, and firing guns at artificial enemies. Red's eyes narrowed. He scanned the large room for one particular Irken, who he found struggling in the corner. He slowly approached her.

Fiz was found pitifully attempting to dodge the battle-disks thrown at her. If not for the armor she was wearing, she would, no doubt, be dead. Red slammed a hand down on the Disk Dispenser's OFF switch, and Fiz looked up, startled.

"M-my Tallest," she stuttered. She awkwardly scrambled towards him, stopping a few feet away and bowing, then standing upright and saluting. This was the Irken costom.

"Fiz," Red said, formally. Fiz was facing him at an angle, so he could see something amiss behind her back. "Your… 'PAK'… Is coming undone. Again."

Fiz's face turned a deeper shade of green as she tried in vain to correct her PAK. It was, of course, a fake one, since she was an Illegal, but no one on the Massive needed to know that.

Red sighed impatiently and walked behind Fiz. He pushed the PAK into place, hoping no one had seen the act.

"You don't have to be so careless, Fiz," he patronized, "your parents didn't die just to have you discovered."

Fiz turned around and eyed the Tallest nervously. Her parents' death was a touchy subject. The only two Irkens alive that knew the story were Tallest Red and herself.

Fiz tried to be more positive.

"On the plus side, my training has improved!" she informed Red with a hopeful smile. Red did not return it.

"Yeah, I can tell from the burns all over your body."

"She is telling the truth, my Tallest," said a voice. Red and Fiz turned to see a red-eyed Irken named Hex approaching them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fiz's blush deepen.

"Really, now?" asked Red, casually. "I'm sure you've been helping her quite a lot."

"You could say that."

There was a long, cold silence between the three. Red trusted Hex, for the most part, but he did not approve of his affection for Fiz. After the night of her fathers' death, Red's hatred of affection in general had intensified almost alarmingly.

You see, one-hundred years ago, an Irken named Gadd, who Red almost considered a friend, had fallen in love with a female named Maian. Red had helped keep the affair secret, for Gadd's sake, but it had been hard.

When Maian became pregnant with Gadd's smeet, there had been some tension rising between Irk and planet Myhn. Irken soldiers were warned that a war might break out. Gadd was among those soldiers. He was assigned a guard post on planet Z'Aht, an Irken colony, which happened to be where the first battle broke out. Gadd's body was counted among the fallen.

Myhn's armada didn't actually get to Irk for four months-one month after Maian had given birth to Fiz, who was the spitting-image of her father. Maian gave Fiz to Red, hoping he could somehow help her blend in with the "normal" Irkens. So far, that plan had worked out. Fiz was issued a fake PAK and spent most of her time in training. Every day, Red feared that she would be discovered. For some reason or another, he felt some loyalty towards the young female, although admittedly, she was not the only Illegal he knew of. Which was exactly why he was here.

"Fiz… I need to speak to you in private," Red muttered, with a meaningful glance at Hex. Hex narrowed his eyes and turned away, obviously taking the hint.

"Come with me."

In the privacy of Tallest Red's sleeping quarters (one of the few rooms that weren't constantly monitored by the Control Brain), Red confided in the young female

"Fiz... I… Assume you know about other Illegals."

Fiz didn't make direct eye-contact with Red.

"I've… Met a few."

Red knew what she was thinking-This is it. He wants names. He's going to have us all executed. He sighed.

"Don't you trust me, Fiz?" he asked. Fiz shrugged. Sure, Red had protected her all these years, but she wasn't sure if she really trusted him. He did, after all, rule Irk.

"Fiz, I know who they are. I know about Scree, and Quinn, and Zar, and Mikar, a bunch of others that you probably don't even know are Illegals."

Fiz looked up at him.

"Then why did you bring me here?"

Red leaned closer to her.

"Because, Fiz. Your kind can't stay hidden forever. Tallest Purple is suspicious of you, and he's not a complete idiot. If he finds out, he will want you executed. Heck, he might even get rid of me while he's at it. When and if you get discovered, I just want you to be prepared."

A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter was confusing. I did as much explaining as I could. Basically, Fiz was an illegally-born Irken smeet, and Red's trying to protect her, along with any other Illegals. You probably guessed what's gonna happen-Purple will find out and Irk will go into war. But what will happen if Earth gets involved?

Zim: SHUT UP! DON'T SPOIL IT!

Dib: YEAH!

Me: FINE! Anyway, please R&R! Thanks!