IMPRISONED ON MOO-PING 10

Whatever. As horrible as the taste of defeat was, TAK could handle it. What she despised most about the situation was the aftermath of it. She abandoned her ship--which was Irk knows where now--and had inhabited her escape pod since. All that kept her company was Mimi's carcass that floated around her since GIR had left her system and her damaged PAK. Besides her thoughts, she kept herself entertained by dutifully working to repair her Mimi and her PAK.

This task was much easier said than done. Being an escape pod, the resources at TAK's disposal were severely limited. The pod was small, likely having the capacity to fit one other Irken of TAK's height with her, though even that was pushing it. It had basic functions such as an engine and control panel to steer it but not much else. In truth, most Irken escape pods were more complex and better designed, not to mention significantly larger. TAK had made her ship out of scraps on planet Dirt, though, and her main priority had been converting the spittle runner itself. She hardly wasted any time or energy on crafting the escape pod, believing she would have no use for it where she was going. She'd been wrong. 

TAK had barely been a witness to her ship's glory in comparison to this stupid escape pod. It was a petty qualm for sure but she hadn't even painted the insides, leaving the silver Irken walls barren. TAK had stared at the pod's empty walls enough to last her a lifetime, it was enough to drive one mad. TAK had kept her composure, priding herself on her patience, as she worked to fix what had been damaged in her battle with ZIM. 

Mimi was perhaps the most difficult, given her complex wiring and the limited supplies. Most of her systems had been fried after enduring GIR's personality hacking the robot, which was unfortunate. Mimi was built off of an existing SIR unit TAK had located on Dirt and upgraded. If it were not for the fact TAK was so determined to be an Invader, she would have been a scientist. Her far superior intellect would have allowed her to but the job wouldn't have satisfied her. She wanted to be something of greater importance to the empire and have a role that was the highest honor an Irken could receive, that of being an Invader. Still, her expertise in Irken machinery allowed her to engineer Mimi to her liking (who she named as an acronym of My Invader's Mechanical Intelligence) along with her runner. 

Reversing the exterior damage GIR had done to Mimi, including ripping the robot into literal pieces, had been the easiest part. However, TAK found no way of being able to fix the faulty wiring now without running into a bug or rebooting Mimi's systems without it crashing. TAK feared she needed far more complex utility to solve the problem that she had no way to obtain. There was a small indestructible window built into the pod which she could see through well enough. It was mostly the vastness of space and shmillions of stars that she could see passing by her and she recognized none of it. When the occasional planet did catch her eye, she was dismayed to find it didn't match any of the invaded planets claimed to be Irken territory in her memory bank. Landing on a planet without knowing if it was in allegiance to the Irken empire could be dangerous, especially with a faulty PAK that would not grant her weapons or disguises, so TAK refrained.

With Mimi's carcass still looming over her, TAK focused her efforts on her malfunctioning PAK. The damage was evident in the way the silver Irkem metal cracked and the three, purple hatches refused to open up to her. She could unlatch the PAK from her body to experiment on it but only for ten minutes at a time before she had to take a break to regain her energy. Irkens could only go so long without the device hooked to their nervous system. It was a flaw TAK had been eager to eliminate, even back in her days before planet Dirt when she had first finished her implant for mind-controlling inferior species. 

During experimentation, she discovered all of her systems were down, including navigational and communications. These were the most vital and repairing them had been TAK's utmost priority. After all, the sooner she could locate herself and contact the Almighty Tallest about her situation, the sooner they could rescue her from whatever corner of her space she now found herself in and she could get back to taking Earth from ZIM. It took far too long to get anywhere with this but eventually, she managed to get her communication systems back online. Partially.

Only the verbal part of the system would cooperate. The visual system was still down so she couldn't submit a transmission to the Tallest. She hastily sent a written message to them from the PAK but received no reply. That figured. TAK knew the Tallest hardly replied to any written messages. The Irken leaders mostly stayed put at the head of the Massive where they would respond to visual transmissions, which were far more convenient for their all-day snacking schedule. TAK did not abandon hope, however. She managed to infiltrate a network of interdimensional communication and was in contact with many different beings of many different universes. They were of no use, though. Even the Tallest from another universe was unable to help her, which was disappointing. 

At that point, TAK nearly considered leaving her experiments to rest. Then she had an idea.

She removed her PAK and hooked its systems to Mimi. She worked quickly, knowing she only had ten minutes to execute her plan, and pinpointed a stray remnant of GIR's downloaded personality. She waited nervously as her PAK loaded a connection to the origins of the bug before it succeeded. TAK held her breath and opened a communication line.

TAK: Hello Zim.

TAK waited. A minute went by. She could feel her energy being drained from her body as a consequence of the loss of her PAK. She forced herself to hold it together and be strong. Another minute. She started taking deep, hallowed breaths when suddenly, a response popped up on the screen.

ZIM: GIR?! HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!

TAK rolled her eyes. 

TAK: This isn't GIR, you fool! This is TAK! I've hacked into your SIR unit using a stray glitch I found still in Mimi's system. 

She didn't have to wait as long for a reply this time. Zim responded a mere second later.

ZIM: Who?

TAK: TAK!!!! I attempted to take Earth from you several years ago because you are a worthless excuse for an Invader! Remember?!

ZIM: Ah, yes. TAK. What do you want?

TAK cringed as she typed the words onto the screen. This was definitely the lowest point in her mission thus far. 

TAK: I need your help. 

She could practically hear ZIM's maniacal laughter through the screen.

ZIM: MY HELP?? WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY NEED ZIM'S HELP FOR???

TAK gritted her teeth and continued. 

TAK: I'm still in my escape pod. I have no idea where I am positioned. I need you to locate where exactly my line of communication is sourced from and tell me.

ZIM: HA! YOU THINK ZIM WOULD HELP YOU DO THAT?! AFTER ALL THE LIES YOU TOLD ME??? AFTER TRYING TO TAKE MY PLANET FROM MY RIGHTFUL CLUTCHES??

TAK huffed. She could feel her breathing slowing. She could assume she had roughly a few minutes left before she would start to slowly start to lose herself. But TAK couldn't swallow down her pride and, throwing caution to the wind, she began typing at the speed of light.

TAK: YOU SHOULD FOR YOUR EMPIRE! I WAS NOT LYING WHEN I SAID THE TALLEST WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU SO THEY THREW YOU ON URTH WITH A FAKE MISSION! URTH IS MINE FOR THE TAKING AND YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL TO HELP ME, A FAR MORE COMPETENT IRKEN SOLDIER, IN BETTERING THE IRKEN INVASION.

She leaned back, feeling quite happy with herself despite her dwindling energy, a sign that her end would be quick to come if she did not reattach her PAK now.

ZIM: LIES! LIAR! I WILL NOT SIT AND ENTERTAIN THESE DELUSIONS OF YOURS WITH YOU. I AM ABSOLVING THIS COMMUNICATION LINE FROM GIR AS WE SPEAK. GOOD LUCK CRAWLING OUT OF WHATEVER HOLE YOU DUG YOURSELF IN, TAK!!! 

ZIM: NOT!

The line went dead. TAK stared at the blank screen in horror for a moment before roaring. She cried out in a horrid mix of anger and frustration as she unhooked the PAK from Mimi and threw the computer back onto her herself just before she could feel her energy be fully depleted. 

"STUPID ZIM!" she yelled to the empty pod wall. "STUPID EARTH! UGH! STUPID EVERYTHING!"

She kicked the nearest surface to her foot, which just so happened to be the control panel. The panel burst open and when TAK removed her leg from it, a mess of wires and sparks of electricity came out with it. 

TAK groaned. Just great. Not only did her humiliating attempt at receiving Zim's help not work but now she ruined her control panel. The pod would likely go into the auto-pilot mode for now until she could repair the machinery. Of course, that didn't really matter. TAK had piloted the ship to what seemed like the very end of space and still reached nowhere she could recognize. What was the point?