Chapter 8

    None of us were sure what to do next. We didn't really want to go back to the pool, it was too soon. And we wanted to give Ax a chance to recover. But we couldn't stay in the shack, not if the yeerks were out here. So, I grabbed the canvas bag, shoved as many cans of food in as possible, and then we set out to try and find a new place where we could hide.
    We walked aimlessly through the woods for over an hour, we really didn't have a place to go. All the houses were being used to house controllers, maybe a few outlying farms wouldn't be inhabited, but none were nearby. Except...
    "Hey, Cassie, do you think your farm would be safe?" I asked.
    "It might be for a day or so. But the new pool is going to be in the field, that's why the yeerks were clearing the woods. To make more room, and hunt us down,"Cassie said.
    "Let go hang in the barn for a day or two. We can hide up in the hay loft or something," I suggested. Then I turned to Ax, "You wouldn't happen to know the way to the barn, would you?"
    < To the south, > he said distractedly.
    "Okay, that's a start," I said, "So, which was is south?"
    He pointed to his right with one of his weak Andalite hands.
    "Oookay. Let's go that way," I said, taking the lead. I'd been a leader for so long, that it almost seemed natural. In the old days, I would have felt totally weird being in the lead, but we'd been so long without Jake, it was a habit now. Besides, I don't think Jake was ready to lead yet.
    After another half hour, we came out of the woods and into an open medow. We quickly went back a few feet into the woods, hiding in shadows. We weren't going to risk anybody seeing us. Luckily, our black morphing suits blended in with the shadows, and Ax stayed behind us, so he wasn't quite as noticeable.
    "Okay, I see the barn. I don't see any yeerks, but that could easily change. Anybody have any suggestions as to how we're going to cross this huge medow to get to the barn without anybody seeing us," Marco said. "It's a bit to far to go as bugs."
    "Marco's right," Jake said, "Wait, see the small band of trees leading practically up to the house?" Jake said, pointing to a strip of trees, probably only 4 trees wide. "We could sneak through there, and then sneak along the shaddows of the house to get into the barn."
    We cautiously made our way through the trees. It was an uneventful walk, no controllers were around anymore. And there wasn't a single living, breathing thing in sight. Only dying trees. The fact that there wasn't any animals left was a fact that still depressed Cassie, even though we'd been living with the diminishing animal population for years. Ever since the yeerks started to openly fight Earth.

    FLASH! All of us snapped our heads up to look at the sky. A bug fighter was skimming through the air, shooting down buildings.
    "What the heck?!" I shouted, "Why're they doing that?"
    < They have begun the attack, > Ax said in his annoyingly calm Andalite why.
    "Duh, they've been attacking for the last six years!" Marco snapped.
    < What I meant was, they've begun attacking openly. They must have enough troops to fight the humans openly. I'm afraid human weapons will be of little consequence to the yeerks. Although they have advanced greatly in recent years, the yeerks still have highly advanced weapons. Earth is lost, unless my people come soon. >
    Every day since that day it'd been attack after attack from bug fighters. There were almost constantly skirimishes in the streets, humans versus Hork-Bajir. Unfortunatly, it was always yeerks one, humans zero.
    And then, about a month after that first 'open attack' it started. The killing of animals. Bug fighters shot dracon beams burning away entire areas of forest. Poisoning the atmosphere making it hard for plants to grow. It was a horible scene to witness.

    Before long, we were at Cassie's old house. It looked very different compared to how it looked when I used to come here to hang out with Cassie. The paint was gray and peeling, windows were broken, and the remaining shards of glass were caked with dirt. The doors were all open, or ripped off their hinges. The yard was reduced to dirt and stone. Occasionally, there was a small shrub, but it could pretty much be declared a waste land.
    We walked around to the back where the barn was. The barn looked alot worse. The huge wooden doors had been burned away, either by a fire or dracon beam. The walls were rotted through in places. Inside, the straw on the floor was mildewed and smelled musty. Rusty cages lined the walls, some having been smashed onto the floor. All the doors were opened. Before Cassie had fled her house, once both her parents had become controllers, she had opened the cages of all the animals so they'd have a chance to escape, not that they had any place to escape to.
    "Well, isn't this a cheery place?" Marco said. "Well, it's not quite like home, but it'll do." He climed up the ladder into the hayloft, cleared an area of straw, and laid down. I climbed up after him and made myself a little nest in the straw. It wasn't very comfortable, but it was more comfortable than a dirt floor and a threadbare blanket.
    "Oh, this feels so good," I said.
    "Yeah, right," Marco said sarcastically.
    I sat up and looked at him, "No, I'm serious here. You may have forgotten, Marco. But I'm the one who's been sleeping on dirt floors and rotting tree logs for the past couple months."
    Marco looked away, embarrased. As controllers, the others had had nice, warm houses and beds to sleep in, while I had to tough it out in the woods.
    "So. What are we going to do now?" Jake asked as he and Cassie climbed up the ladder into the loft.
    I looked down over the edge of the loft and saw Ax just standing in the doorway of the barn, in plain sight of any controllers in the area. "Ax!" I hissed. He turned a stalk eye up to look at me. "Why not just put a neon sign over your head that says 'Come get the Animorphs'?" He looked puzzled. "Get out of the doorway!" It finally dawned on him that standing in the door wasn't the smartest thing, and he moved under the hay loft out of sight.
    Cassie sat down on the loft beside me and sighed, too depressed at seeing her old home in such a state to suggest anything.
    "How about we get some food?" moaned Marco. "I'm starving."
    "You are such a wimp, Marco. I'm not even slightly hungry yet. How 'bout you Cassie?" She shook her head no. Then I remembered why Marco was so hungry. He and Jake had gotten three square meals a day as controllers. They weren't used to having to go more than a couple hours with out food. When we had been living in the woods, we had gotten so we could go a couple days with out food. Me and Cassie are able to go for three days with out getting too hungry.
    I searched through the bag and tossed Jake and Marco a can of fruit, "You guys eat this. Neither me or Cassie are hungry."
    We sat in silence for about half an hour, listening to Marco and Jake devour the can of fruit.
    "Okay, now that's taken care of, same question," Jake said, "What do we do now? Hang here?"
    I looked out the window over the door at the sky. It looked like it was probably only 5 or 6 at night, but I was tired. "How about we get some sleep?"
    Marco laid back down in the straw, "I'm there," he said groggily. He was asleep almost immediatly.
    "Sleep. That sounds so wonderful," Cassie said, laying down. "Oh, this feels so much better than that bed I slept on as a controller."
    "Yeah," Jake said.
    "I don't know," I countered, "I've wanted to have a real bed, at least a decent blanket, for so long."
    "But would you want it to be from a yeerk?" Jake asked pointedly.
    I thought about that, "They'd be, like, the only race I wouldn't take a blanket from."
    "Same here," Cassie agreed. "Now, if nobody minds, I'm gonna get some sleep."

Chapter 9

    I didn't get much sleep that night. I'm not sure why, the straw was infinitly more comfortable than the dirt I was used to. Maybe it was the smell of mildew in my nose, or maybe the weirdness of hearing four different sets of restful breathing at once. Or maybe...maybe it was the fact that Tobias' old roost was in plain sight no matter which way I tossed and turned.
    I must have gotten some sleep, because I woke up suddenly with Marco's face grining at me. "Wake up sleeping beauty."
    I raised my arm to punch him, but he dodged out of the way, so I settled for grumbling at him for almost an hour.
    After we the four of us had split a can of cold soup and Ax got back from grazing, the same question was running through all of our minds, what to do next?
    "Attack the yeerk pool?" Marco suggested half heartedly.
    I shook my head, none of us wanted to go back down there. Ax was still acting like a zombie, and although he tried to hide it, I saw Jake with tears running down his face. Now,they could be from the loss of his entire family, but more likely they're from horrible memories of being a controller. He'd been a controller the longest of us all.

    We were sitting around in an old abandoned tool shed in the middle of no where, planning an attack. We didn't think the yeerks knew about us yet, turns out, we were wrong.
    "Holy...RUN!" Marco shouted, a look of terror on his face. We all looked in the direction of a dirty window, there, smiling evily, was a Hork-Bajir.
    "Oh, sh..." I said, picking myself up off the dusty floor and running like there was no tomorrow. Tobias was flying right behind me, Cassie and Jake had gone out through a side door, Ax and Marco had gone out through a hole in the wall. Tobias took off through a hole in the trees to the safety of the sky. Cassie must have split up from Jake, because next time I saw him, he was running alone, being chased by Hork-Bajir.
    I watched in horror as his jacket caught on a thorn bush. He tried to yank it off the thorn before it dawned on him to just leave the coat behind. But it was too late.
    "Jake! No!" I shouted, running towards him, concentrating on my grizzly bear morph as I ran through the woods.
    "No! Rachel, don't be an idiot! Save yourself!"
    < I don't think so! > I said, mostly girzzly bear. I caught up to the Hork-Bajir chasing Jake just as he broke free from the thorns. I quickly took out one of the Hork-Bajir, but the others started attacking me immediatly.  I looked at Jake with my poor bear vision and saw orange and black fur rippling accross his skin. He was morphing to tiger to join in the fight.
    < AHHHHHHHH! > I shouted in pain as a Hork-Bajir left me without a right paw.
< Guess it's time to work on my left hook, > I joked grimmly as I hit the Hork-Bajir with my good paw, although it wasn't all that good. I'd been slashed dozens of times by the Hork-Bajir and was losing blood fast. My already dim bear vision was growing dimmer, I was going to pass out!
    < Rachel! > Jake shouted at me, < Get out of here! I'll handle them! >
    < No...Jake...you...can't... >
    < Rachel, you're going to pass out if you don't get out of here. MOVE! >
    What could I do? I lumbered off, leaving Jake to fight. I planned on getting behind an outcropping of rocks, demorph, and then morph bear and get back to helping Jake.
    By the time I had demorphed, he and the Hork-Bajir were gone. Only leaving a tattered jacket on the thorn bush.

    "We should find out as much as we can about this operation to make a yeerk pool in the field and stop it," I said.
    Cassie shook her head, "We already know all there is to know about it," she tapped her head sadly, "We were all Vissers. Jake was right below Visser Three, if there's anything to know about that pool, we already know it."
    "So? Is there anyway to stop this?"
    < No practical way, > Ax said, speaking voluntarily for the first time. < The only way I know of would be to destroy Visser Three. >
    "Ax's right, that's not practical in any way, shape or form," Marco said dejectedly.
    We went back to sitting silently in the hay loft with Ax below us. Sub conciously, my eyes kept drifting up to the rafters where for so many years, I could count on Tobias roosting.
    After day dreaming for I don't know how long, Cassie shook us all from our zombie-like state. "Where'd Ax go?"
    I leaned over the edge of the loft, looking for Ax, "He was right there a minute ago," I said as I pulled myself back up.
    We all leaped or climbed down from the loft and carefully crept out to the woods to find Ax.
    We searched for at least two hours, with no sign of him. Nor did we ever see a sign of him again. After a few days, we resigned ourselves dejectedly to the fact that we had lost Ax for good. He most likely hadn't been re-taken by the yeerks, we would have been caught by now if he had. Ax joined our list of casualties.
    One morning, about a week later, I was out wandering in the woods, looking for berries or something to eat. With four people to supply, our rations had grown from few, to non-existant.
    Accidentally, I stumbled upon what would look like an outcropping of roots to most people, and that what I thought it was at first, too, untill I looked at it closer. Last time I checked, roots didn't grow in the shape of crosses.
    I sat down on my knees in front of the tiny cross. The only thing marking the grave of Tobias, one of the best warriors, and friends, I'd ever known.
    I used to come here about once a day, under the guise of looking for food. I'd come, cry, apologize, and just talk to Tobias. I know, it's dumb. He's dead, right? But, somehow, I feel closer to him when I'm here. Like, he's right next to me, listening solemnly to everything I say, consoleing me when I cry. Telling me it's not my fault he's dead.
    "Hey, Tobias. Sorry I haven't been around lately," I whispered to the air. "But I have a good excuse, really. We freed them. Yeah, them. Marco and Jake and Cassie and Ax. Well, if you ask any of them I saved them, but I couldn't have done it alone, and I didn't."
    I took a steadying breath. I didn't know why I was going to say what I was about to say, there wasn't a reason. Maybe I just wanted to say it out loud. It was a forbidden subject with everyone else. "We lost Ax about a week ago, though. Not to the yeerks, at least, we don't think it was to the yeerks. I mean, I"m here, aren't I? We kind of got lost in our thoughts in the barn one day, Ax wandered out, and then it was bye bye Ax. I don't know what could have happened to him, there weren't even any hoof marks. He probably morphed bird and flew and some stupid controller shot him down."
    Suddenly, I felt a hand  rest on my shoulder gently. I guess I didn't realize what was happening. I really thought, although it's really stupid, that it was Tobias. I took the comforting hand in my own, then, after a moment, jumped up, embarrased. Standing in front of me was Marco, definetly not Tobias.
    I wiped my grubby hands over my eyes, trying to conceal my tears. "Hey, Marco. Um, I was just, um, you know, looking for...herbs, on the ground here."
    Marco smiled good naturedly, "And you commonly talk to herbs before picking them?"
    I looked back down at the ground, silent. Marco took a couple steps towards me and stood beside me. "Just so you know, Rachel, I don't think it's stupid, or silly or childish to talk to Tobias. Before...before I knew what had happened to my mom, whenever Dad and I went to her grave, I'd talk to her. Or I'd talk to a picture of her at home. Just telling her how my day went and stuff."
    I looked at him, amazed at what I was hearing. I mean, I know Marco is capapble of incredible acts of compassion, and I suppose it makes sense to keep talking to your mom, even after she's dead. But...oh, my emotions were a mess. I was a mess. "Well, I've still got food to find, care to join me?"
    We walked cautiously through the forest, looking for the smallest sign of a berry bush or some type of plant we could eat. "So, what brought you out here?" I asked to break the silence. It is very creepy walking in a dead silent forest. You know the quiet there often is when you walk alone through a forest? But it's not really quiet. There's birds chirping in the trees, bugs buzzing around your head, animals crawling through decaying leaves, but there weren't any sounds like that here. The leaves on the ground were few and far between so our feet didn't make a sound as we trudged through, and all the animals were long gone.
    "Oh, nuttin' really. Jake and Cassie were getting all gross and disgusting, you know how those two can get, so I figured I'd come out here, get some fresh air, get even cuter by getting a fabulous tan, and then I saw you sitting on the ground, so I delayed my tanning plans and came over to see what was up."
    I smiled a tiny bit. Even now, after a week and a half of puting up with Marco's ego and bad jokes, it amazed me I could smile or laugh or joke with  him, or anybody else.
    Marco and I've developed a special relationship. We're both sort of 'alone' in the group. Cassie and Jake can fall back on eachother when things get tough, but both Marco and I are very strong, independant people, although Marco hides that behind his bad jokes. But ever since I saved him, we've been hanging out together when Cassie and Jake hang together. We aren't boyfriend/girlfriend, don't even think about that one, we're just much better friends than I could have ever imagined us being.
    After awhile we returned to the barn, laughing and talking, we turned in expectantly to be greeted by Jake and Cassie. We didn't see them. We looked through the barn and through the woods, they weren't there.
    I sprinted back to the barn, gathered our few meager belongings, and set back out into the woods with Marco, looking for our lost friends, and safety from the yeerks.

Chapter 10

    Marco and I barely spoke the rest of the day, we just trudged aimlessly through the forest until we were, quite unexpectedly, in the foot hills of the mountains.
    "Shall we check in on the Hork-Bajir? Maybe Cassie and Jake got there somehow," I suggested.
    Amazingly enough, the Hork-Bajir colony had lasted far longer than any of us expected. Once Jake had been caught, I was sure that the Hork-Bajir would be found and forced back into slavery. Each time someone was captured, I was sure they would be gone, but somehow, they prevailed.
    After a few minutes of climbing, we found a cave and took a huge risk.  We morphed our birds of prey so we'd be able to find the valley easier. Yeah, it was stupid, and yes, Marco made very sure I knew that.
    < Marco, for the last time, I know that this is a major risk, but do you see any yeerks here in the mountains? >
    < Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there. >
    < Well thank you Mr. Doom and Gloom. Can't you just enjoy this? I mean, we're flying! >
    < Yeah, yipee. We're flying to our death. >
    < What is your problem? > I was growing impatient with him.
    < Oh, nothing, just the fact that at this moment, there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of dracons beams focussed directly at us. >
    < There aren't any, now-- >
    I was interupted when suddenly a bright blueish-white light engulfed us. I passed out, I dont' know for how long. When I woke up, I was human, and lying flat on my back staring up at a blue metal ceiling.
    I tried to sit up, but as soon as I did, my head began to throb. I quickly laid back down. Suddenly, standing over me, was an Andalite.
    "Ax?" I managed to croak out after a minute.
    < I do not know of an 'Ax', I am Darashi-Radier-Perscap, Medical Officer of the Andalite Dome Ship  Nebula Strike. Who are you? >
    "I--I am Rachel. A human being who needs a drink of water badly." Whatever these Andalites had done to me, it was having long term effects.
    While Darashi got me a glass of water, he continued to ask questions, although I couldn't answer, < Who is the one with you? Who is this Ax that you thought I was? How are you free? Earth has been captured entirely by yeerks. >
    After gulping down the water greedily, my head began to throb less and I could talk easier. "The one I'm with...where is he, anyway?"
    < Transparent the wall, > Darashi said, and with a flicker and shimmer the wall behind me went from the same pale blue metal as the ceiling, to transparent. In the next room, Marco was still unconcious. "Well, he's Marco, a friend of mine. Ax is...was...a friend of mine also. His full name was Aximili-Esgarouth-Isthill. About a week ago, he disapeared and we haven't been able to find him. I'm free because I was part of a small resistance against the yeerks along with Marco and Ax and three other humans, Jake, Cassie and Tobias. Jake and Cassie I fear have been re-captured by the yeerks, Tobias is dead, and Marco is a recently freed human controller. No doubt you heard of a sudden disapearance of several vissers?"
    < Yes, we have, > Darashi replied.
    "Well, that was us. Marco there was Visser 10, or something. Ax was Visser 4, Cassie was Visser 5 and Jake was Visser 6. There, now that you know my complete history and the history of my friends, would you mind telling me why I am here?"
    < Our sensors detected an energy field created during morphing. After we ran a scan over you and confirmed you were not yeerks, we brought you aboard for further questioning. >
    "Hey, where the heck am I?" I heard Marco say from his room.
    I looked to Darashi, "Bring him in here."
    < But-- >
    "Bring. Him. In. Here. Please." I said through clenched teeth. This Andalite was begining to get on my nerves.
    Reluctantly, Darashi ordered the computer to allow Marco in. "Where the heck are we?" he asked when he'd joined us in the room.
    "A dome ship. An Andalite dome ship. In space," I explained.
    "Oh. Okay, as long as it isn't anything serious."
    < Please, follow me. The captain wanted to speak with you once you were able. > Darashi led us out of the room into a long coridor. The walls and ceiling were a reddish-pink. From what Ax told us once, it's to simulate the color of the sky on the Andalite homeworld. Instead of a metal floor under our feet, there was soft, springy green grass.
    After walking for a few minutes and taking several drop shafts, Darashi led us into a room with three other Andalites.
    < Greetings, humans. I am Captain Rystor-Dakil-Baroble, this is my first officer, Janin-Lackby-Adina, > he gestured to the Andalite at his right, then his left, < and this is my technical officer, Zwarda-Nolin-Batey. Who are you? >
    "I'm Rachel."
    "I'm Marco."
    < Greetings, Rachel and Marco. I'm sure you have many questions, and we'll do our best to answer them, if you will answer some questions of ours."
    We shrugged, why not?
    For the next hour and a half, we talked with Captain Rystor. We answered alot of questions that we were expecting, you know, how were we free, and how we could morph. And the captain answered some questions of our own, was he sure there were no free people on Earth? Yes.
    The captain offered us the opportunity to stay with the crew on the dome ship. Marco and I agreed. It's not like there was any place else we could go.

Chapter 11

1 year later...
 
    My heavy leather boots calnked on the metal floor of the coridor. I strod purposefully through the coridors of my ship, the TalonClaw, towards the bridge. My first officer had awoken me in the middle of the night saying there was an urgent message for me.  One that could only be accessed from the bridge.
    I took the drop shaft to the bridge and accessed the messageboard by my command chair. Marco's tired face snapped on
    "Hello, Commander Marco," I greeted him formally with a grin on my face.
    "Hello, Commander Rachel," he greeted me, with the same grin. It'd been almost two months since we'd last been in contact with each other.
    "I suppose there's a reason for waking me up at two o'clock in the morning?" I asked, pushing my hair out of my face. Normally it's pulled back in a braid, but I didn't have time this morning.
    Marco sobbered, "We have a lock on them."
    I knew who 'they' were, but I wanted to make sure I had heard him correctly, "You're sure?"
    "Yeah. We have a lock on Jake and Cassie."
    "Where?" I snapped, no longer tired.
    "They're both on a ship hiding among the astroid belt back in Earth's solar system. I can get there in about half a day, when can you get there?"
    "If I leave right now I can get there early tomorrow."
    "Well then, I'll leave you to make that course correction. See you tomorrow."
    "See you." I flicked off the messageboard and turned in my chair to face my helmsman, "Cacitini, set a course for Earth's solar system. The astroid belt."
    Cacitini swivled a stalk eye back to look at me quizically, but tapped in the course correction.
    < Commander? If I may so imply, what is this change in course about? > Cusdo, my first officer asked. < Our orders aren't to return to the system for another month. >
    "Cusdo, in case you haven't noticed, I don't follow orders particularly well. But, if you want, I can put your official protest in my log."
    < That is alright, Commander. But may I know why we are heading to Earth's astroid belt? >
    "I have some...unfinished business...back there that I need to take care of. Now, I leave the ship in your capable hands, Cusdo. I'm going back to my quarters to see if I can get more sleep."
    At 7:00, I promptly walked onto the bridge. Silver and black uniform crisp, hair pulled back in a severe braid, and fully refreshed.
    < Greetings, Commander, > Cusdo greeted me as I slipped into my chair.
    "Good morning, Cusdo. I trust everything has gone smoothly."
    < Yes, Commander. >
    "Cacitini, what's our ETA?"
    < At our current speed, Commander, we shall reach the astroid belt at approximatly 2:36 AM tomorrow. >
    "Can we go any faster?"
    < Only by going into Z-Space, Commander. And I don't recommend that. Our Z-Space engines are still not fully repaired from our last meeting with the yeerks. >
    I cursed under my breath. I knew the engineers were working as hard as they could on fixing the Z-Space engines, but we needed to get to a space base soon to get vital replacement parts.
    "I'll be in my study room. Contact me if I'm needed," I said as I walked into the small room just off to the side of the bridge. Everytime I step in, I get a slight feeling of deja vu. It's very much like the room that started this adventure a year ago.

    < Rachel and Marco, please report to the captain's rooms immediatly. >
    I was jerked from my reading by the captains call. I carefully marked my place in my book and stood up to leave my quarters to head for the captain's rooms. Just before I walked out the door, I looked in the mirror and inspected myself.
    My hair was pulled back in the braid I wore it in almost constantly now. I was wearing a fairly simple outfit. An emerald green blouse over black spandex leggings.
    As I walked out into the corridor, I practically ran into Marco. "Watch where you're going," I snapped for no good reason. Probably nervousness from going to see the captain. The captain doesn't just call you in to his rooms to talk about the weather.
    "Yeah, whatever, Xena. Let's get to the captain's rooms before he calls for us again."
    Captain Rystor turned around to face us when he heard the door slide open and admit us into his room.
< Hello, Rachel and Marco. >
    "Hello, Captain," Marco and I said in unison.
    < You are wondering why I called you here. I have a proposition for you. How would you two like to join the military forces? You would each command your own ship, and although you would not be directly a part of the Andalite military, you would recieve your orders from them. >
    I was stunned. Commanding my own ship? Not even in my wildest, well okay, maybe my very wildest, dreams had I ever thought I'd get to command my own ship.
    "I'd be honored, sir," I replied.
    "Um. Yeah, same here," Marco said.
    < Excellent. When you return to your quarters, access your message boards, I will send you the names of who you need to contact to finalize your choice. Dismissed. >
        Marco and I walked back to our quarters, dazed. This was totally and completely unexpected. When I walked into my quarters, I heard my messageboard beeping from it's place on the wall.
    "Incoming message. Status:Urgent. Do you wish to receive?" it announced in a monotone voice. Kind of like the guy on that old internet service...what was it called? Oh, yeah AOL when you had an e-mail.
    I pulled up a chair and pulled up a smaller message board from my desk, "Yes."
    On the screen appeared Captain Rystor's recorded image.
    "Hello, Rachel and Marco. Attached to this message is a list of people you must contact to confirm your choice to accept positions in the military. Next to their names is the information you must give them." His image blinked out and was replaced by a list of four names. We had to contact the recruitment office, a ship yard, ship registry and the crew registry. We had to tell each of them basically the same thing, who we were, why we were contacting them, where we were so they could confirm our identities blah blah blah. There were slight variations on some of them. For example, when we contacted ship registry, we had to give them what name we wanted for our ship. I chose TalonClaw, commemorating both Tobias and My favorite morphs. Talon for his red tail hawk, Claw for my grizzly bear morph.
    Marco chose TigerFist. Tiger for Jake's morph, Fist for his gorilla morph.
    In just under a week, we both received our confirmations. The next day we would be delivered to Space Base 103 to take command of our new ships.

    I pushed my chair away from the desk. Reading crew reports can get very dull. I walked over to the small food storage compartment in my room and was just about to pull out a can Coke when Cusdo hailed me.
    < Commander Rachel! >
    "Yes, Cusdo?" I asked, raising my voice so the ship's intercom would pick it up.
    < A Visser's Blade Ship is heading towards us. It's not in weapons range yet, but it's on an intercept
course! >
    "Raise shields, I'll be out there in a second."
    Before heading out onto the bridge, I activated my messageboard and typed a very quick message to Marco. Telling him not to bother with the astroid belt, Jake and Cassie were on their way to get me. I also gave him my coordinates so he'd be able to come join the fight.
    < Commander, they're trying to contact us, > Operations Officer Trax announced.
    "Send it through."
    On the screen in front of me, I saw both Jake's and Cassie's faces appear, both had twisted, evil grins on their faces. Grins that were very out of place.
    "So, Rachel. Oh, it's Commander Rachel now, isn't it? It's been a long time since we last met, good to see you again," Jake taunted.
    "Too bad you won't be seeing me for long, slug."
    "Why Rachel! Such harshness, and towards your cousin and best friend too," Cassie teased.
    "Sorry, but you must be mistaken. I no longer have a cousin. Or a best friend," with that, I cut the transmission and gave the order to fire, but not to destroy the ship. I wanted them alive. Nobody on the bridge understood my reasoning for this. Well, perhaps one did. My shorm and the best warrior on the ship, Alaxia-Reshput-Vestree. Yes, she was female, but I got her on board saying that if they're going to let a female command a ship, they might as well allow a female warrior on board. Since Alaxia was my shorm,kind of like a best friend, she knew all of my secrets, including that Jake and Cassie were yeerks. She'd never seen a picture of them, but I'm sure once I gave the order that I wanted them alive she figured it out.
    < Commander! The Blade Ship is releasing Bug Fighters! >
    "Then release our fighters!" I snapped. Sitting around in a ship barking out orders always makes me restless. Well, there was a way to solve that.
    < Commander, where are you going? > Cusdo asked as I stalked off the bridge.
    "I'm taking out a fighter."
    < Commander! I must protest! >
    "Your protest will be noted and logged."
    I felt Alaxia's hand on my arm, < Rachel, this really is a foolish move. >
    I yanked my arm away, "When your best friend and cousin are yeerks and are bent on destroying you, then you can call my decision foolish." With that I ran off the bridge and to the docking bay where my personal fighter was.
    I launched my fighter minutes after the others had been. I figured we'd taken one or two casualties already, but I'd still be able to get in there and help kick some butt, boy, was I wrong.
    My ship may not be the largest or strongest, but it does have the most advanced fighters the military has to offer. The bug fighters should have been no match for them. But I was wrong. The fight had been going on for less than five minutes, and already our forces were half gone.
    Why? I asked myself as I deftly dodged a dracon beam and fired a shredder right back. Then, I got my answer. The Blade Ship wasn't going after the TalonClaw, it was going after the fighters! Well, duh, I told myself as I dodged bug fighter after bug fighter. Both Cassie and Jake would know that I'd hate to sit in a ship and give orders while friends were out getting slaughtered. The yeerks hoped that I would come out in my fighter and they'd destroy me with one order.
    "Incoming Transmission. Status:Urgent. Accept?" The computer's voice said.
    "Oh, yeah, this is a great time for a message," I said aloud. "Yes."
    "Hey, Rachel! Need some help?" Marco asked as his image flicked onto my messageboard. I looked out the window of my fighter and saw the TigerFist emerge from Z-Space right behind the Blade Ship.
    "Excellent timing, Marco. Be careful with that blade ship though. We've got friends on there."
    "This is so typical, Jake always needed me to come save his butt."
    "Marco, a warning. Don't send out your bug fighters. The yeerks are destroying fighters rather than going after our ships."
    "What? Why?" Marco asked as I docked my fighter.
    "Well, with mine they figured that I wouldn't want to sit in a ship while my friends were fighting, so they're most likely trying to get me while shooting at fighters. I'll contact you again in a minute. I'm docking my fighter and I need to go give the order for the fighters to retreat."
    I docked my fighter and got to the bridge as quickly as posible. Without a word to my crew I pushed the communications button on the arm of my command chair, "All fighters back to docking bays immediatly. This is a direct order. I repeat, all fighters back to docking bays immediatly." I cut the link and started barking orders to the rest of the crew. "Target shredders on their shields, weapons and engines, be careful not to hit any of our retreating fighters or the TigerFist."
    < Commander, the Blade Ship is trying to open communications once again. >
    I sighed, "Put them through."
    The screen flickered and Jake's face appeared on the screen. Behind him, I could here frantic orders being shouted and saw plumes of smoke rising from many consoles. We'd done some damage.
    "Begging for a cease fire, yeerk?" I sneered.
    "Does this not go against your sense of honor, Rachel?" Jake asked fiercely. "Two to one?"
    "There is no honor when it comes to yeerks. All's fair here."
    The screen divided in half. Three way communications had been opened between my ship, the Blade Ship and Marco's.
    "Ah. Marco-roni," Jake taunted when Marco came on. "Good to see you again. I was just explaining to Commander Rachel here the meaning of honor."
    "And she told you there is no honor when it comes to space slugs, right?" Marco asked heatedly.
    Jake shook his head sadly, "Neither of you have a sense of humor anymore. It's such a shame I'll have to kill you both." He turned to look over his shoulder. "Target life support systems for both ships. Fire half our weapons at one ship, half at the other." He looked back to us, "It's been a pleasure knowing you," he said sarcastically, then cut the link, leaving me and Marco.
    "Okay, this is a good thing," Marco said.
    I turned to the helmsman, "Evasive manuvers, NOW!"
    The ship twisted and turned, trying to evade the weapons that were being targeted at us. I heard Marco order his ship to do the same thing. "I'll talk to you after we get out of this," I told Marco and severed the link.
    Suddenly, space was filled with a briliant red light. The yeerks had fired, directly at the point we had been but a moment before.
    I let out a huge sigh of relief. We were safe for awhile, it would take hours for the yeerks to replenish their energy supply and mount another attack.
    "Is the TigerFist still out there?" I asked Trax anxiously. I couldn't see it on the screen, but that meant nothing.
    Trax searched his instruments for a minute. < Yes! It's still there, but it appears to be severely damaged. It was knocked away by the force of the yeerk's blast. >
    "Helm, take us to the TigerFist, communications, open a chanel with the TigerFist, let's see exactly what Commander Marco needs." I turend to face the screen just as Marco's bruised face appeared. Behind him, the bridge was bathed in red emergency lighting. "Marco, do you need assistance?"
    He grimaced, "You could say that."
    "Hold on a minute, we're on our way to tractor your ship with us to a space base. We'll dock with you and  get your crew on board here and treat any wounded."
    "Sounds great. But hurry, we have severe casualties."
    I cut the link and waited patiently untill we were ready to dock with the TigerFist. I stood at the docking bay doors with a medical team. The hatch opened and revealed Marco and two Andalites who I recognized to be his First and Tactical officers.
    I stepped forward and hugged Marco, it'd been so long since we'd seen each other in person. It had been a month and a half since we had talked, but it had been...well, I don't think I've seen him in person since I took command of the TalonClaw.
    "Good to see you again," I said.
    "Yeah, you too," he said, huggin me back. Unexpectadly, his knees buckled, almost causing both of us to fall over. One of the medical officers rushed forward immediatly to check his wounds. < Mild concussion...fractured arm...sprained ankle...nothing too serious. Could you help him to the medical bay, Commander Rachel? I would like to see to the others on the ship. >
    "Of course. C'mon, Marco," I said, gently laying an arm over my shoulder, "Let's get you patched up."
    Just as the chief medical officer was finishing repairs on Marco, the messageboard beeped. "Incoming Message. For:Commander Rachel. From:Andalite Council Status:Urgent. Accept?"
    "Now what," I said to myself, "Accept," I told the computer. On the screen the image of the most powerful Andalite in the galaxy appeared. Leader Setrel-Kret-Ginklay.
    "Greetings, Leader Setrel," I said after I got over my momentary shock of being contacted by him, "To what do I owe this honor?"
    "Commander Rachel. You are to report immediatly to the homeworld. We have urgent orders for you here, but we do not trust our comunications. How soon can you arrive?"
    I did the math in my head quickly. "Our Z-Space engines are severly damaged, so it would take me at least three days to arrive, if not longer."
    "Please set your course immediatly."
    "Of course, sir."
    "Oh, and Commander? Do you know of Commander Marco's location? We have been unable to contact his ship."
    Marco walked up behind me, "My ship was damaged severely just a few minutes ago during an incursion with a yeerk Blade Ship. We haven't had a chance to asess the damages yet, but I assume that communications were knocked offline."
    "You are requested to attend this also, Commander. Please arrive as soon as possible. Leader Setrel out." He blinked off the screen.
    I opened the inter-ship communications and contacted Cusdo.
    "Yes, Commander?"
    "Set a course for the Andalite Homeworld. Maximum possible speed. I'll be to the bridge momentarily, after I find quarters for Commander Marco's crew."
    "Yes, Commander."
    I turned to the medical officer, "Is the Commander allowed to leave yet?"
    < Yes, Commander Rachel. Commander Marco, I'd like you to return tomorrow so I can check on your concussion. >
    "Yeah, no prob, Doc."
    I led Marco out of the medical bay to the nearest drop shaft.
    "We're going to deck three," I told him just before stepping in. In order to operate dropshafts, you must think of the number of the deck you want. Confusing at first, but you get used to it.
    Moments later, we were delivered to the third deck of the TalonClaw. "So, what do you think our orders are gonna be?" He asked as we walked down the corridor.
    "No idea. Maybe they're ordering us to take a vacation."
    "And just where would we go? The last two free humans in the entire universe."
    "Oh, I don't know. I hear the Mall of America is great this time of year," I joked lamely.
    "Yeah, if you can fight the yeerk bargain hunters."
    We walked in grim slience the rest of the way to Marco's new quarters. "Here's your quarters. It's not the Ritz, but it's the best we've got. Behind my own quarters, of course."
    "Ha ha. I'll talk to you later, Xena."

Chapter 12

    < Commander, we shall be landing on the homeworld in five minutes, > Cacitini stated.
    It was three days later, we were just entering orbit around the homeworld. I was on the bridge, Marco was sitting in the seat to my right, the only other seat on the bridge besides my command chair. Both the TalonClaw and TigerFist had an extra seat on the bridge so we could visit each other's ships and be comfortable. The Andalites have made our ships very comfortable.
    Five minutes later, we were cleared for landing and desending from orbit to a military base on the Andalite homeworld. When Marco and I led the procession of both our crews off the TalonClaw, we were greeted by Leader Setrel and several War Princes. The wordlessly escorted Marco and I to a large meeting room at the base.
    < Thank you for your prompt arrival, Commanders. > Leader Setrel greeted us as we took the only two seats in the room. < After months of searching, we have the flight plans for Vissers Five and Six. >
    "And you want us to destroy them, right?" I interupted.
    < That is one way of putting it, yes. >
    "Um. Do you have any visuals of the hosts of the Vissers?" Marco asked. I was confused for a moment, but as one of the War Princes searched the records for the visuals, it clicked. Marco wanted to see if either of them were Cassie or Jake.
    < Here you are, Commander Marco, > one of the War Princes said, handing Marco one of those PADD type things that used to be on Star Trek. I leaned over to look and caught my breath. Jake and Cassie had been given to the new Vissers Five and Six.
    "I'm sorry, sir, but we can't destroy these vissers. We can capture them and hold them for days, but we can't kill the yeerks and the host bodies," I protested.
    < Why not? What makes these two hosts any different than the billions of other hosts the yeerks have
taken? > Leader Setrel asked.
    "Remember we used to fight the yeerks back on Earth with the other Animorphs? These two are Jake and Cassie. The Leader and his ecology nut girl friend," Marco explained.
    "My cousin and best friend," I added.
    < That is inconsiquential. Nothing can stop us from defeating the yeerks. I'm sure you've taken other loses before. This won't be any different. >
    "But it will be, sir," I said, standing up. "Eight years before you came, the yeerks had started their open attack of Earth. One by one, all of us were captured. First Jake, then Marco, then Ax and finally Cassie. Tobias, the nothlit, was killed in battle. I was the only one to survive. If you could call it that. After Jake was captured, I became the leader. I led the attacks that killed one of my close friends, Mellisa Chapman, my cousin Tom, Jake's brother, my own family. I'm tired of killing friends. I won't have a hand in the slaying of my cousin and best friend."
    < Commander Marco, do you feel this way also? > Leader Setrel asked calmly.
    "Jake was my best friend, sir. I,too, have had to commit many attrocities, too many to list. And I don't want to add any names to the list of people killed by my hand."
    < I see. Then I formally relieve both of you of duty untill further notice. Niether of you shall have contact with your crews, nor shall you have access to your ship. You will have accomodations here at the base untill you decide to fight the vissers, or the vissers are destroyed. War Prince Ranata, please escourt the Commanders to their new quarters. Dismissed. >
    Marco and I sullenly followed the War Prince out of the meeting room.  After a few minutes of walking through the base, War Prince Ranata led us into a building that looked like an old Earth prison. < The two of you shall have this building to yourselves. It's divided into two different appartments. You shall have food that is acceptable to humans delivered to you three times a day. Good day. > He sauntered off.
    Marco and I walked into what we'd be calling our home for who knows how long. "Hey, it's Buckingham Palace!" Marco exclaimed sarcastically.
    The place was about as far from Buckingham palace as you could get. The walls were plain gray, and the floors were covered in gray carpet. The room we were in had two chairs, a desk, and a message board. Upon closer look, the message board could only receive incoming messages, we couldn't send any. Tucked back in a corner, was a bed with a small night stand next to it which had a clock on it.
    "Well, looks like we've got a new home for awhile," I said dejectedly and walked into the adjoining room, which would be my apartment. The decor was a carbon copy of Marco's room.
    I looked out the barred window and sighed at the sun set in the north. A bug flew in the window around my face. I brushed it away and continued to stare out the window, when the meaning of that bug sank in.
    "MARCO!" I shouted as I sprinted from my seat by the window to his room.
    "What?" he asked looking up from the point on the wall which he was staring at.
    "We can bust out of here, get to our ships and get back to space!"
    "How?" he said, brightening.
    "Morph fly and fly our way out through the bars on the windows! We can wait a day or two untill your ship's fixed, then we can fly outta here!"
    "That's insane," he said, turning back to the wall.
    "Oh, you want to live in an Andalite jail?"
    "And just what are we going to do out there? We won't have a crew to run our ships, we'll be chased constantly by the Andalite military. It's hopeless."
    < No, it is not. >
    I looked towards the door, there stood Alaxia, with the crews of both the TalonClaw and the TigerFist.
    "Alaxia!" I shouted and ran to her, "What are you doing here?"
    < We heard you had been detained for refusing to kill the hosts of Vissers Five and Six. All of us were going to be asigned to serve on different ships. We decided that breaking you out of here would be better than allowing you to be tried for treason and us being sent to other ships. >
    "What about my ship?" Marco asked, standing up from his chair. "It's not exactly in flying condition."
    < We have...borrowed...the supplies needed to repair your ship. We can repair it on the run. >
    "Y'know," Marco said to me, "I can see why you two are shorms."
    "Alright,then. Let's go!"
    Alaxia and the other crew members of our ships made sure it was safe for us to cross the base and make it to the TalonClaw. It was pathetically easy to sneak around the base. One of our crew just had to start one of the guards in a conversation and we could walk by with out incident. And the military over estimated their guards. They figured we wouldn't be able to get past the rest of their guards, so there weren't any around the TalonClaw, with the the TigerFist just behind it, ready to be re-attached by tractor beam.
    I gave the command codes to open the entrance hatch to the TalonClaw and silently ushered everybody on board. As quietly as we could, we reinstated power, attached the TigerFist by tractor beam and started the engines.
    By the time the Andalite Guards tried to stop us, we were well into the world's atmosphere.

    "So, what're we gonna do now, Rebel Leader?" Marco joked, walking onto the bridge the next day. We were in the safety of Z-Space. While at the base, the military had started repairs on the ship, probably hoping to give it to who ever was going to go after Vissers Five and Six. They hadn't started repairs on the TigerFist, so we had to do everything ourselves. Luckily, our crews had some of the best engineers the Andalite military had to offer.
    I leaned back in my chair. I'd been out of the command chair for less than two hours, and yet, it'd been like I'd been gone for years. "Oh, I don't know, blow up the Death Star? Blow up a couple Cardassians?"
    Marco laughed and layed a hand on my shoulder, "You've got your sci-fi mixed up. Rebels and the Death Star are Star Wars, Cardassians are Star Trek."
    "Oh, who cares. Any sign of Jake or Cassie?" I couldn't refer to them by their yeerk designation if I wasn't in a conversation with them.
    "Not yet. If only we'd gotten those flight plans!"
    < What flight plans, Commander Marco? > a member of his crew asked.
    "The council said they'd gotten flight plans for our friends. They were going to be given to us so we could hunt them down."
    < Warrior Alaxia? Did we recieve flight plans when we raided the offices? >
    < I believe so. Let me check my files. > Alaxia turned to her computer console and started searching. Everyone on the bridge was silent in anticipation. < Commanders? We have the flight plans. >
    "Yes!" I shouted and high fived Marco. "Alaxia, transmit those coordinates to helm. Cacitini? Once you have those coordinates, take us to the next stop on the plans. I want to get ahead of them."
    < Yes, Commander. Setting course...now. >
    "ETA?"
    < One hour, Commander. >
    "Cool." I was too excited to be concerned about protocol. I was back in my ellement. Running from the bad guys, although the Andalites weren't officially the bad guys. They were bad guys to me though, they wanted me to kill my best friend and cousin. That's bad enough for me. And, since all of us were rebels now, nobody cared much about protocol.
    "Twiso," Marco said to one of his engineers on the bridge, "How long until the TigerFist is repaired?"
    < We are just running some last tests on it to be sure everything is repaired. It should be ready for flight within the next half hour. >
    "Hey, Rachel? Can I talk to you in your rooms?"
    "Sure, Marco." I led him into my small room just off the bridge. "What's up?"
    "Just what are we planing to do to Jake and Cassie? This is space battle, we can't exactly go on there and tie them up."
    "I know. I've been going over all our options. I can't come up with anything. Leader Setrel was right, we should have just gone along with his orders and killed them."
    "Whoa, whoa. No way. Not unless it's absolutly necesary. We can go over plans in here. We've got an hour. Both of our great minds working together, mine being the greatest,of course, are sure to come up with something."
    We scoured over different strategies for almost the entire hour before Cusdo summonded me to the bridge. We were coming out of Z-Space.
    I watched the screen in front of me as the whiteness seemed to have a hole ripped in it. Through the whole in the white, the black beauty of space could be seen. We were coming out just between an astroid belt and a large purple planet.
    "How long untill the yeerks get here?" I asked.
    < They're here now, Commander, > Tactical Officer Janiji said, with just a quiver of fear in his voice.
    I jumped up from my chair and faced the screen. There, silhouteted against the deep purple planet, was the ominous form of the Blade Ship.
    < They're contacting us, Commander, > Trax said tersely.
    "Put them through."
    "Ah, a welcoming committee, eh?" Cassie sneered from the screen. "I'm afraid I don't like welcoming committees."
    "What a coincidence. We don't like space slugs," I said, and motioned for Trax to cut communications. I turned to Marco, "Get to the TigerFist. If your engineers haven't finished their tests, tell 'em tough. We've got a situation here. Since we don't have a better plan, we are going to...to take out the Blade Ship."
    "WHAT?!" Marco screached. "We aren't going to destroy that ship as long as Jake and Cassie are on it!"
    "Yes, we are, Marco. Remember what we said when we freed those Hork-Bajir? Free or dead? Well, they aren't free. And since we can't save them..."I turned away. I didn't want Marco to see the tears in my eyes.
    I felt Marco glare at my back, but he did leave for his ship.
    Alaxia walked up next to me, < Rachel? >
    "Leave me alone," I said tersely. "We've got a job to do here. Power weapons. Fire at will."
    < What are we aiming for, Commander? > the weapons officer asked.
    I held back the tears, "Anyway to destroy that ship," I said, my voice wavering.
    I watched as the blue glare from our shredders lanced through space towards the Blade Ship, and their red Dracon beams fired back at us.
    The battle was going pretty evenly untill the TigerFist got into the fight. both of us fired our shredders at the same time...and the Blade Ship...blew up....
    I left the bridge and went to my quarters, standing tall, not letting anybody see my face. As soon as I entered my quarters, I laid down on my bed, and cried.
    I cried for...well, I don't know how long. I faintly remember somebody coming in and sitting with me. I don't know if it was Alaxia or if it was Marco or if it was somebody else.
    I woke up late the next morning, still in my uniform. I got up from the bed and walked over to the mirror. I was a mess. Half my hair was pulled out from the braid and was sticking up at odd angles from my head. There were dark circles under my eyes and my normally crips, blue eyes were a watery red.
    A chime echoed throughout my quarters. It took a moment for it to register that somebody was at the door.
    "Hold on a minute!" I shouted and went into the bathroom to make myself at least slightly presentable.
    A minute later I answered the door looking like my normal self. It was Marco, not the person I wanted to see right now.
    "What do you want?" I asked, going to what served as my living room and sitting down.
    "I wanted to see how you're doing."
    "I'm doing great," I snapped.
    "Yeah, sure."
    "No, really. I am," I said, lightening my tone.
    "Hey, Rachel. This is Marco you're talking to, okay? I may not be able to read you the way Tobias could or Cassie can--could. But I can tell you aren't taking this great. I was there too, remember? And I know I spent all of last night in my quarters, crying my eyes out. Not my best hour, but what could I do? I'd killed my best friend!"
    I motioned for him to site down next to me. "Yeah, Marco, you're right. That wasn't our best hour. We both had to kill friends. But, y'know? I think it was for the best. At least Jake and Cassie are free now, where ever they may be."
    I stood up and walked to the viewport. Marco came up and stood beside me. "Yeah, wherever they are, they're free now. Free and happy."

 Back to Journal
 Back to FFAP 1