A/N: Wow, my very first finished fic! And it what
only 3:59 a.m., yay! I made it! Anyway, this my very first Animorph fic. I'm
not sure what books it takes place between. I just know, Tom is dead, Jake's
parents are controllers (?) and the rest of the Animorphs parent's are staying
in the Hork-Bajir Valley. Sorry, just finished reading #49, yup, I know the
last book already cam out, but the last book I read before taking a
LOOOOOOOOOONG break from Animorphs was read sometime last year. Sorry if the
character are a little OOC (out of character) but like I said, its been a
while. Not one of my best works, but I'm proud of it, considering I actually
finished it. Whatever though, basically, hope you like it. I don't mind
constructive criticism ( actually that would be good, it would definitely help
my writing) so come one BRING IT ON! Ok, sorry, definitely need more sleep! ^^;
*New A/N: Ok, just wanted to make some minor grammar
corrections. He he :J that's what I get for trying to write this at four
in the morning. Like I said, just a few minor changes, so the story still the
same.
*Oh yeah,
Animorphs and its characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them.
Judgment and Decisions
By Sarasi
We watched them.
Silently they
calculated, weighed, and determined every outcome of their plan; considering
traps, deaths, and risks.
To us it
was astonishing, frightening even, but for them…. it was just another mission.
Another possibility for death. Sure, they had no intention on going into a
kamikaze mission, but really was there any plan that wasn't in a time of war?
We stood
around them, us, the parents, as the Animorphs, the only savior's of our planet
planned.
Usually,
while the kids were inside planning their missions, we, the adults were
outside, building, laughing. It had been different today. I knew from Marco
that the Animorphs had been planning a raid on one of the Yeerk bases.
I had asked
if I could attend it. Eve was talking to that little Hork-Bajir named Toby
while. I knew that Cassie's father had gone with her to talk to Toby about the
Hork-Bajir anatomy. So, in general, I wanted to spend some time with my son.
Marco had given me a dirty look, saying something about how embarrassing it was
to have one of your parents around when you were hanging out with your friends.
We both laughed at that, knowing, this was something more than 'hanging out'.
For some strange reason, that thought
scared me this time. I wanted so much just to tie Marco down on his bed
and lock him in a room until this stupid war was over. Ironic really.
Marco and I
had argued some, drawing the attention of the rest of the human parents. It was
from my request that they had gotten the idea that they too wanted to see one
of their children's meetings. Soon, it
had turned into a full out scream-fest as the rest Animorphs joined in and went
head to head with each of their parents.
It was so
trivial really; our children had gone into meetings without us since the
beginning. It was the missions that scared us really. The idea that our babies
would never come home was what usually got us arguing with them. Now for some
reason, we needed to see them as they planned.
In the end
Jake had gotten us all to calm down. Our argument had taken a few minutes,
something Jake was not willing to repeat. Time here, was of the essence. They
needed to plan now. In the end, Jake had finally agreed. The only rule, he
said, was that we were to stay silent and not to interfere. Normally, I
wouldn't have taken such harsh words from a kid, but I knew he had been through
a lot. All of them had.
We went
into large group trees, several feet away from the rest of main camp of the
Hork-Bajir tribe. They gathered together, Marco sitting against one of the
trees, Jake standing stiffly against another, Cassie laying a comforting had on
his shoulder. Tobias perched on a third tree with Rachel leaning against it,
while Ax stood at attention nearby.
Us, the
adults, stood around them, watching intently. At first, things began slowly, as
they were obviously uncomfortable with our presents. However, the discussion
had soon begun.
"What do we
know about the base?"
"It is
heavily fortified and on constant 24 hour watch Prince Jake. There is a 12 foot
stone wall topped with barbwire surrounding it."
Rachel
says, "that shouldn't be to bad. "
"Nope, are real problem comes before that "
Marco says with a sardonic grin, "The grounds surrounding the wall is filled
with land mines. They go on about 100 feet from it. Yeerks are obviously not
known for their tact."
"Any
weaknesses?" Jake asks.
Ax nods,
"the area in front of the main gate is clean. There are the gleet biofilters to
get through though, but they will not be a problem. Our main obstacle would be
trying to get pass the Taxxon hounds. They are trained to sense any life forms
that they are not programmed to let in."
Marco
laughs harshly, "got to love Visser One. He sure knows how to welcome his
enemies."
"I say we
do it," Rachel states. "We have to, this is our last chance to do this before
the main weapons systems are moved to the Yeerk mother ship."
I nearly
laugh at this, it almost sounded like something from out of a Star Wars
obsessed freak's mouth. In another reality, it could have been.
Jake nods
then asked, "is there away in?"
This time
Marco speaks, "none really, but we need to go in and destroy everything from
the inside. So, I figure, the best way to go is down. We can dig our way
through, starting just beyond the mine boundary. Then we dig under them and
then under the walls. There's an old cavern built there. If we can find away to
blow it up, the ground over it will become unstable, taking the building on top
of it out."
A look of
alarm passes over Jake's face, "you mean, it's a…"
Marco nods,
"a Yeerk pool."
Suddenly I
understand Marco's implications. He couldn't mean too…
"Jake," Cassie whispers. "What about the
people in the building and Yeerk pools?" I see her let go of his hand to face
him
Again silence falls on the group, each
of them glances at Jake before they look back at the ground. I know now, that
they have forgotten our presents.
Jake
finally speaks, "how many?"
"I'm not sure Prince Jake, but-"
"How many?"
I notice,
for the first time, the exhaustion behind Jakes eyes. He looks like an old man
in a teenager's body. Losing his parents and brother to the enemy as well as
his responsibility as the Animorph's leader, shows on his face. He grips
Cassie's hand tightly as he waited for an answer. At that moment a thought that
has not occurred to me for the first time, crosses my mind, they shouldn't
be doing this, they're only children.
"On
estimate, over three hundred men and women," Ax finally answers.
The woods
around us are silent, with only the distant voices of laughter coming from the
direction of the camp.
Marco
speaks, "we have to do this Jake. This is our only chance."
As he said
this, my eyes grow wide. Marco is talking about….as if it was ok. As if those
lives at the base were unimportant to the whole of their mission. In a sense
they were, but…the way he said it. As if it were nothing in the world to be
responsible for the deaths of so many. Through all his words, his eyes remained
hard and calm. His jaws clenched tightly in resolve.
My insides
suddenly feel queasy as the argument goes on.
"No,"
Cassie cries out. "We can't do that! Most of them are innocent! We would be
murdering them all."
Her voice
seems to ring out in all of their minds as they again lapse into silent
thought. I slowly scan their faces; Marco is still staying with his decision,
only now there is a hint of sadness and guilt within his eyes. Rachel leans
hard against the tree, thinking. Cassie eyes both read anger and sadness, while
Tobias and Ax's faces remain, to all appearances emotionless.
Then there
was Jake, his face was a mask of determination. I could literally see him
weighing the decision carefully. Again I am frightened at thought, it is almost
as if he were the Judge, weighing out the lives of his team, the enemy, and the
casualties that come as a result of it all. As I look at the faces of all the
Animorphs around him, I notice, they to are weighing lives. Even Marco and
Cassie.
So,
Tobias suddenly says. If we don't go in, the Yeerks get another powerful
weapon to try and kill us with. If we do, three hundred plus people get to die
too, maybe, even possibly taking us along with them.
His voice
is calm, collected, as if he is trying to figure out the next move on a game
board. I never knew much about Tobias, save for the things that Marco had told
me about him. Still, I had met him personally. He was a good kid. Now though,
it seemed, just like the others, his personality had disappeared and turned
into this ruthless war general.
Cassie
suddenly smiles, "maybe we could set off an alarm to try-"
Marco
interrupts, "to risky, we can't take the chance that they'll get the weapons
out before the place blows."
Rachel's
eyes are hard as she considers the words of her teammates. She too, has become
a cold warrior, while Ax remains silent. I am not very good at reading his reactions, but his eyes, they
were as calm and cold as Rachel's.
As my mind
suddenly returns to reality, I notice that all the other parents have left.
There is only me, and the rest of the Animorphs. The fears I've felt before this
meeting are suddenly increased. I realize now, why exactly Marco and the others
had not wanted us, the adults, in here. They new what they would have to talk
about, what they would have to decide. In away, they were trying to protect
us. Again, there was so much irony in
that. Weren't we supposed to protect them?
It is only now, despite it all, do
I realize the pain that this war has caused, not only for Marco, but the for
the rest of the children as well.
I find
myself leaving the area, following the footsteps of the other parents. My mind
is reeling at the decisions being made within that meeting. Me, I simply walk
away from it, but them, our children, they must stay there and weigh everything
out. They must decide, who lives and who dies, themselves or their enemy. In
this war, as in every other, there is no black or white, only grey.
A/T: OK, well, there
ya go! Tell me what you think!
