Earth is Ours
Note: I wrote this because I felt the original Yeerks' plan in the books was not adultlike. Having researched information regarding the military and how Evil Empires work, I concocted this plan.
Yeerk High Commander Sedra 5679 gazed upon the blue planet, planet #3 from its M-Class sun, as it hung in the sky like a jewel, its dayside facing him. It was astoundingly beautiful. It was full of life, including sentient lifeforms known as humans, that were the perfect species to conquer.
Conquering other barbaric species was the Yeerks' calling from their god, who asked them to civilize others. Their campaign across the galaxy would not stop until they had a Yeerk inside every sentient species that walked. Then the Galaxy would be a much safer place, as the Yeerks had a community mindset, and actually had very little conflict in their individual lifestyles on their world, that they called Klimte.
Sedra already had a plan in motion to conquer this barbaric world. First he would send in geographic survey satellites to determine the major landforms and isolated areas. Then he would send teams to the ground to observe the level of technology; Yeerks had superior weapons tech so long that traditional chemical missiles from the ground could not penetrate the Yeerk ships' electromagnetic shields.
He understood the teams would have to be hidden somehow, so he decided the best solution for that would be to require them to dress in spacegear. Humans were in love with 'Roswell' and 'aliens', and positive attention might be brought to the teams as opposed to negative. If a human saw one minus the spacegear, the troop could simply stun the human onlooker and use drugs to erase that spot of memory.
Thinking about secrecy, Sedra thought, if Yeerks were given away, so what? They could burn a few buildings with their highly powerful Dracon beams to give the humans a definitive message. Revealing their presence would simply kick the conquering mission into high-gear.
On the surface, he realized there were reports of high amounts of microwave signal activity. 'Radio' and 'Television' were the culprits there, as were 'Cellphones' and 'Wi-fi'. That was excellent for the Yeerks because they could easily hide their signals in narrow bandwidths the Earth government did not use.
The next step for invasion, Sedra reasoned, was for the first infestations to occur. For that he would require only the most highly-trained, high-ranking officers, and for them only to take same-sex bodies. He could not have any 'love' nonsense getting in the way of business. Unprofessional behavior would not gain the Yeerk Empire a new planet. Officers who did that (Edriss and Essam instantly came to mind) would be punished severely, then relieved of duty.
After the scouting officers would take their new bodies and adjust to them, the next step would be capture more humans from small towns and to infest them, while Yeerk troops set up a temporary Kandrona and Yeerk pool for them to feed. In those spider-shaped poolships were so many impatient Yeerks. A waiting list had to begin soon so they might receive a body.
However, what humans would give up their freedom to...to...a slug? Sedra found a brickwall to his plans, but those were averted. The best places to go were prisons, where people atoned for their sins. He decided to target those who didn't want to be who they are anymore. Those would be easy.
Sedra decided that after he took an entire small town of people, the next step would be to take control of the military. For that, he could station Yeerk warships in the air and in Space for extra support. Hork-Bajir troops could easily subdue humans; a single kick from a Hork could eviscerate any hapless creature standing in front of it. Taking down a few soldiers in that fashion would be enough to convince an entire army to join him.
That thought brought Sedra to the idea of diplomacy. Yeerks had to make friends with humans if they wanted them on their side. But how could the parasites accomplish that? They would have to perform community service, build their highly efficient transport systems on the surface, and share part of their technology. Overall the Yeerks would have to show they could be good citizens too to win the hearts and minds of humans. A basic spaceport hub could be built in as little as five years, provided the Yeerks had the proper funding from the Empire. All the High Commander needed was the Visser warlord's permission.
Finally he thought of the first geographic realm to take over. The continent that had the peninsula hanging from its right side, 'America', looked like a prime target, having many resources, but a smaller volunteer army. He looked to another population center, 'China', which was also rich in resources, but had a much larger army of conscripts. (I might be wrong on that one, plz don't sue me!)
He chose America. Much easier to subdue, as soon as the head of government was cut off and replaced by the Empire's. America's libertarian mindset could be taken down in as little as five years, with the right propaganda.
In Sedra's mind formed a set of plans to complete the takeover. It read as follows:
1-Year Plan: Survey the Earth. Determine its environment. Build first outposts. Set up portable Kandronas. Find prisons. Station the Yeerk military outside the planet. Make first diplomacy contacts.
5-Year Plan: Build transportation networks of hovertrains. Build first hub spaceport connecting Earth to the Galaxy. Bring Space to humans. Start progress on planetary ring. Commence leadership of Yeerk government. Perform diplomacy. Adjust human educational system to meet Yeerk needs.
10-Year Plan: Planetary ring is halfway complete. Start Moon settlements. Build new Yeerk ships on surface. Continue diplomacy plan. Build more spaceports. Build Yeerk-oriented colleges to train new leaders on Earth.
20-Year Plan: Spaceports are complete. Introduce extraterrestrial life to world. Open trade with other planets. Continue diplomacy with Andalites in hopes of recognizing a new planet.
40-Year Plan: Begin a Planet #4 settlement for the Red Planet, otherwise known as Mars. Begin construction on Bladeships. Encourage Andalites to settle as well.
60-Year Plan: Open a larger hub on Mars. Open a fully-functioning planetary embassy far from population centers in case conflict erupts.
80-Year Plan: Inhabit the rest of the Solar System. Continue reaching out Andalites.
100-Year Plan: Yeerk invasion of planet is complete. A unitarian government unifies the planet. Yeerks and planetary inhabitants are friends.
However, the only snag in this plan was the Andalites, those close-minded, grass-eating fools. The Andalites thought they were so right in everything, including the definition of freedom, were regularly killing Yeerks, Sedra's people, without a care. Yeerks held funerals for each other and it really hurt when one died or got sick. What the Andalites were doing in the name of Freedom was sick. Who knew four-eyed beasts can be so intelligent to make space technology but so morally confused?
Thus far the Yeerks had taken over many worlds but the Andalites refused their recognition as a nation of people. They had had multiple diplomacy missions, each one resulting in failure as the Andalites resorted to insults, hostages, and surgical procedures to extract the Yeerk to make the host conform to their idea of 'freedom'. The Andalites' hypocrisy made Sedra sick; they continally called Yeerks 'slimy slugs', 'scum', 'freedom-grubbers', and other things, while whatever the Yeerk said back was looked upon with disgust. Where was 'freedom' if they didn't have freedom of speech?
But what did 'freedom' mean to a Yeerk?
It meant the ability to see and run and play. It meant being a friend to its host. It meant learning the host's culture to understand it. Sometimes Yeerks took on dual identities in their host-Yeerk relationship, letting the host control one strength while the Yeerk controlled the other. Sometimes a host would let the parasite completely take over their minds, and willingly placed it back in their ear. In the opposite case the Yeerk would control the host's basal functions while the host controlled their conscious mind. The relationship was carefully chosen, as the wrong Yeerk paired with the wrong host could easily result in disaster. That's what the waiting list was for.
Unfortunately, however, five meddling, so-called Andalite Bandits were screwing up small Yeerk bases in New York. Sedra knew that would end soon. Although their animal morphs were powerful enough to take down a Hork-Bajir, it would be simple enough to find their problem area in their attack pattern, send in all weaponized troops, and to bring them into custody. There, they would be forced to demorph before officers would send them into a Space Alcratraz prison. The Animorphs would be done for. Finally all security would be checked and a new system developed so morphing spies could not enter. This was a sign the Gleet Biofilters weren't doing their job. Sedra made a mental note to find a new manufacturer for Yeerk identification devices.
Sighing a Hork-Bajir sigh, Sedra went to his computer desk to type down his version of the plan for approval at the Council. Someday, Earth would be his in a new golden era of peace and technology, and he would have the honor of owning the golden medal to place around his neck. Someday.
