Out There
Prologue
**Prepare to board your ship arisths. I assume even young warrior cadets like yourselves know how to pilot one of these. You are the 2 top arisths on board.** Our War Prince was giving me and my sister, Annalissia, a final briefing before sending us on a mission we had been awaiting for years. As the top arisths on our ship, we were being set on a human study mission. Missions were sent out to different planets every so often, more and more since our defeat of the yeerks. The evil parasitic race that had once been our greatest and most powerful foe were now nothing more than groups of blind, immobile slugs confined to the pools on their home planet. Without having to worry about them, we Andalites could put more of our energy into the study of the other species in the universe. As we were lead into the hangar, our father, Aximili, approached us. **Goodbye daughters. You must contact me the instant that you land. I want to know for sure you are safe.** Then he continued in private thought speak, **Your scanners may pick up human life forms on that planet that have multiple DNA forms inside them. Those are my fellow warriors from the days when I fought alongside humans. One of them is my former prince, and two are, in fact, your Aunt and Uncle. It would be good of you to contact them, and bring them to your ship so I may speak to them. Make that your own private mission. Also, take this.** He handed us a bag. **Do not open it until you have taken off. I think you might like to use what's inside. It would make your studies easier.** Then he switched back to open thought speak. **Good Luck.** He said. **We have reached your ship.** I looked up and saw a ship that was small, but beautiful. It was brand new, never before flown. **There are quarters for each of you, a food supply, and a main control room. The main room has a weapons station, a computer, and a pilot station. The Council is giving you direct orders to make contact when you land. Good Luck. We'll see you in a few years.** After War Prince Goloth had sent us on to the ship. We went to prepare for blast off. **OK, you're clear.** boomed the voice on the transmitter. We turned on the ship's main thrusters and lifted her into the air. We had a clear take off and prepared ourselves for what was supposed to be a long, boring journey to planet earth. Of course we should've known better. That was exactly what Prince Elfangor, our uncle, had thought at the start of his first mission under the command of the disgraced War Prince Alloran. On that very mission, Alloran was infested as the first and only Andalite host, and his comrade Arbon condemned to living the rest of his life as Taxxon in the living hive. A boring mission. Yeah, right. We should have foreseen the hell that was to come.

















Chapter One
We had been flying for about 1 month, and we had still seen nothing in the blank white of Z-Space. Not a planet, ship, or any sign of intelligent life. We had opened the case that our father had given us to discover a morphing cube, which we used immediately. Nothing exciting had happened since then. **Annaleah, I think I see something on our scanners. Go check.** I walked over to the scanners and turned them on. **It's a ship! Let's see what it is.** I zoomed in on the ship. What I saw I would remember for the rest of my life. **Annalissia, that's a Yeerk Pool Ship.** I whispered, scared. **That's impossible. You need to study your ships better. Blind, immobile slugs don't fly ships. Now, let me see this ship, ** Annalissia replied arrogantly as she strode over to where I was. When she saw the ship on the screen, a look of shock came over her. **I'll cloak the ship,** she said, running over to do so. I saw more ships coming up on the scanners. **Annalissia, there are more. A lot more.** One by one, ships came in from regular space. Transport ship. Blade ship. About a dozen Bug Fighters. And then, the most terrifying of all, the Yeerk Mothership. **What do we do?** I asked. **What can we do?! We have to contact the Homeworld immediately!** She answered. **No way! Are you insane?! If we send a transmission it will light up every Yeerk sensor in the area!** I responded. **Then we run.** **We can't just run!!!! That Transport ship probably has prisoners. We have to help them. I'm going to dock with the Transport ship. ** I said firmly. **WHAT?!?! We can't dock with the transport ship! Are you out of your mind?! If they're keeping prisoners, what exactly do you think a 2 Andalite arisths are going to do to stop them? We can't take on 2 fully grown Hork Bajir, let alone a Shock Troop!** Annalissia shouted. I ignored her and continued to dock with the Transport ship. **Annaleah, you've gone nuts. This isn't heroic, it's suicide!!! Plus the fact that you're about to break a bunch of Andalite laws. Just forget about it, please!** I didn't respond, but just walked over to the weapons closet and pulled out 2 shredders, setting them both on stun. I threw one to Annalissia. **This is not a job for 2 warrior cadets! We should contact the Homeworld!** Annalissia insisted. **They'll never get here on time, even if we could contact them without being spotted! We have to do this!** I yelled. **The Yeerks may have some sample of a new species to conquer,** I added as I finished docking with the Transport ship. Annalissia still didn't want to go, so I took charge, right then and there. **Look, the ship is still cloaked, so no one will see it docked to this ship. Stun the first Hork Bajir you see, then acquire it. If there are any more, knock them out so they'll be unconscious for a few hours. If they put up a fight you can't handle, don't think about it, just kill them with your shredder. Taxxons you can slice with your blade, they're no big deal. Any Gedds, knock them out, they won't give you much trouble. If you see a high ranking Yeerk, shoot it. If it's something you've never seen before, don't attempt to fight it, run. After we deal with anything that might try to stop us, we morph into Hork Bajir and pretend to patrol the halls, looking for prisoners. If we find any we bring them back with us and head to Earth. Ok, get ready, I'm opening the hatch. Let's put some tail into em'** I ordered. Annalissia just stared at me with a shocked expression. Usually she was the one giving orders, but I'd just deflated her giant ego. The hatch opened, and we stepped into the Yeerk Transport ship.