The Kandronian Chronicles
Conclusion
"The Kandrona"
Chapter 1
"Rachel"
Rachel! Rachel! My head was spinning and my body was numb, but I could here Tobias's faint thought-speak between the heavy ringing in my ears.
"I'm okey, Are we dead?" I said, trying to open my eyes without wincing in pain. Tobias and I were in a small, white, windowless cell. Every inch of my body ached, as I laid sprawled on the cold metallic floor. I felt a strange weight around my neck, it was some sort of collar. I looked at Tobias, and saw that they had placed a collar on him too.
No, not yet anyway. He said bitterly. Apparently the Kandronians had only stunned us. Are you sure you are okey? You took a pretty hard blast. Tobias said deeply concerned.
"I fine!" I snapped. I didn't mean too, it was just that it looked so bleak, so hopeless. Tobias understood my frustration, and dismissed my attitude.
We've been separated into groups of two. As far as I know, Marco and Ax are in Cell A, Jake and Cassie are in Cell B, and we're in Cell C. Those collars they put on us are to keep us from morphing. Tobias informed me.
"So what to we do?" I asked him.
The only thing we can do, Rach, we wait. He said solemnly
"If we don't get out of this one, I just want you to know-" I started to tell him, but Tobias cut me short.
We'll get out of this one, Rachel. I promise you. He flew onto my shoulder, and nestled himself against my hair. He stayed there, for a short moment, and then he pecked my scalp with his beak.
"Ow! Why the hell did you do that?" I cried in surprise. Tobias fluttered off my shoulder, he was carrying something in his beak.
Did I ever tell you how much I love you, Rachel? He said gaily.
"What are you talking about?" I asked I was starting to get impatient. Than I saw what he was holding in his beak, my hairpin. He dropped it on the floor in front of me.
"Oh my God, Tobias, I didn't even realize that was in there! Do you think we could use it to disarm the collars?" I asked him hopefully, picking up the hairpin.
We should be able to. I mean the technology is more advanced than anything I'm used to seeing, but I think we could use it to disrupt the current, and deactivate it. Tobias explained.
"Let's do it!" I said eagerly.
Okey, now I need you to bend your head and hold real still. Tobias instructed. He then wrapped his talons between my neck and the collar. He gripped onto the collar as hard he could, managing to break a tiny hole in the outer shell of the collar. Okey jab the hairpin through the hole. I did as he said, there were a few sparks that flew, but it seemed to have done the trick. I started to morph into a Hork-Bajir.
No, not yet! Tobias cried. I looked at him oddly.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
The Kandronians has always been one step ahead of us, I say we beat them at their own game.
"Oh I get it, you want me to pretend like the collar is still working, and then when we meet up with the others, take them by surprise."
Exactly. Tobias nodded,
"You know for a second there, you started to sound like Jake." I smiled.
"Chapter 2
"Cassie"
I sat on the floor, cradling myself against the cold. Jake was pacing back and forth trying to plan our escape, but we both knew it was hopeless. The Kandronians were stronger and smarter than us. I remember them laughing smugly as they shot us one by one with there stun rays. Standing over us, sneering and gloating as we slowly, and painfully lost consciousness. I got up, and walked over to Jake. For a moment time stood still. It was just us, together, maybe for the last time.
"Ha! Well, well, well, petty human emotions at work." A cold, heartless voice sounded. It was one of the Kandronians. He was standing in the doorway of our cell, arms akimbo, and snarling. "Today is your lucky day, our leader wishes to meet you." He said, as he motioned us out into the ship's hull. I saw Marco, Ax, Rachel, and Tobias being escorted out of their cells in the same manner. Everyone had a look of defeat on their faces, everyone except Rachel. I wondered what was going on. The Kandronian led us down the corridor, into a dark room.
"Greetings Animorphs. Welcome to our mothership I do hope you're stay has been a pleasant one." A gruff scratchy voice sounded from the darkness. Suddenly the lights flickered on, and I was face to face with Nagaria, and the Kandronian leader. Two Kandronian guards forced us to kneel before him. All of us except, Tobias, who wasn't able to kneel. I noticed the Kandronian leader looked a lot different from the other Kandronians. His face was older, and more wrinkled than the other Kandronian who all appeared to be the same age.
"Nagaria, Sarnanphis, get me out of this suit, so I may greet our guests in a more natural state." The Kandronian leader commanded. One of our guards quickly rushed to his side and began flipping switches and pushing buttons around the neck area of the suit. The glowing claw stopped glowing, as the two Kandronians lifted their leaders head. That's when we realized that's all of what the Kandronian leader was made of! I gazed in horror, as they lifted the dismembered alien, and gently placed it on a velvet, purple pillow on a small pedestal.
"Much better. I'm so glad to be in my natural state." He smiled, it was the first time we had seen the Kandronians mouth. Usually it was hidden by part of their armor. It looked just as hideous as the rest of the Kandronians face. Small, white, sharpened teeth, and a long, snake-like tongue.
"I am Zorilox, leader of the Kandronians. I have decided to let you watch the your precious planets be destroyed, before we kill you. Sort of an added bonus, you might say." He said sadistically.
Never! Ax said utterly shocked. He tried to flick his tail blade at Zorilox, but the two gaurds restrained him before he got the chance.
"Now, now, Andalite, I will have none of that. You see unlike the Yeerks, we Kandronians have a different philosophy on how to dominate the universe. Instead of enslaving races, we simply destroy them before they have a chance to rebel." Zorilox said.
"Is that why you have all of those explosive devices in your cargo bay?" Jake asked.
"Exactly, I believe you humans call it Nuclear Warfare. The philosophy of conquering by destroying."
"How do you power such devastating weaponry?" Jake asked, faking interest. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to find their weakness.
"The Yeerks are not the only species dependent on the Kandrona. You see not only is it a great source of nutrients to the Yeerk species, it can also be used as a power source." Zorilox smiled.
"That is amazing. What I don't understand is if the Pemalites banished you to a distant planet, how were you able to return here without the use of the Kandrona?" Marco asked, following Jake's lead.
"I'm sorry, I forget how incompetent you're species is. You see the planet Kandrona is just a decoy, in case any of our enemies decided to attack us. It's only purpose is to act like a satellite to the real Kandrona."
"I don't quite follow you." Jake said. Zorilox sighed tolerably.
"You see, long before any of your species were created we had stationed the planet in the center of the Universe, so that whenever we traveled to other planets we could reflect the Kandrona's rays back to our ship from any point of the Universe."
"But if the Kandrona is just a planet, how did the yeerks use it for their nutrients?" Cassie asked.
"That's the tricky part. After we finished the satellite we noticed a small planet developing close by. Of course at the time the Yeerks hadn't even evolved yet, so we decided to do nothing about the planet. In time the Kandronian Satellite began to absorb excess Kandrona waves. The waves began to influence life on the planet, therefore creating species of intelligent life."
I wouldn't call the Yeerks intelligent. Ax interrupted still trying to shake off the two Kandronians trying to hold him down.
"As I was saying, the Yeerks became dependant on the Kandrona satellite, and were afraid to leave there planet, in fear that they would die if they strayed to far from their precious Kandrona. That is until a certain alien species decided to give them the technology to take pieces of the Kandronian soaked surface of the satellite with them as they explored the universe." Zorilox said as he glared at Ax. Ax just looked down at the ground in shame.
"This began to possess a problem for us. If the Yeerks started to tear up the surface of the satellite, they could damage the satellite and leave us immobile. Unfortunately we were too far away to do anything about it at the time. Those wretched Pemalites had tricked us onto a small, desolate planet zillions of light-years away from the satellite. It took us centuries to rebuild our spacecraft and return to this galaxy."
"I thought the planet you were banished to didn't have anything you could use as an energy resource. How did you manage to fly here without the Kandrona?" Rachel asked.
"Who said we did it without the Kandrona?" He smiled. "Did you notice the bright ball of light, that makes up the top half of our ship? That my friends is the Kandrona."
Chapter 3
"Tobias"
Amazing. I said.
"Why thank-you, it is a shame we have to kill all of you. It is a rarity that any other species appreciates our intelligence." Zorilox smiled at the compliment.
So is all of your technology powered by the Kandrona? The suits? The explosives? The weapons? I asked.
"Everything. Except for your morphing collars, we used stolen Andalite technology for that." He said proudly.
That was my cue. Rachel and I have deactivated her morphing collar. We need a distraction so she can morph grizzly. I told everyone in private thought-speak.
How did you manage to do that? Ax asked me wondrously.
We did it with a marvelous piece of human technology called the hairpin. I told him.
Okey, I can distract the two guards, restraining me. The rest of you will have to distract Zorilox, and Nagaria. Ax said told the group in private thought speak.
Leave Nagaria to me. I said. I expanded my wings and took off.
"What the hell is he doing?" Zorilox demanded as he helplessly watched me fly around the ship. "Nagaria take care of him!" He barked. Nagaria started to run after me, he started to aim his claw, but Zorilox interfered.
"No, you idiot, you'll damage the ship!" He cried. The other two guards let go of Ax in the midst of confusion. That was Ax's cue to start bucking and slashing. The two guards tried desperately to confine him. That's when Marco, Jake, and Cassie crowded around Zorilox.
"Please, great Zorilox, our allies have gone crazy! Protect us!" Marco was crying as he hugged onto Zorilox, impairing his line of sight. All the while, Rachel began to morph. The collar shattered as her neck grew into the huge grizzly neck. Seconds later she was fully grizzly.
Oh yeah, it's ass-kicking time! She said happily as she charged into Zorilox. The head was knocked off his pedestal and crashed onto the floor, before it could cry for help.
Alright, call off your guards and deactivate the collars! Rachel commanded with her huge paw hanging over Zorilox's face.
"Do it!" He yelled shakily. They obeyed him. I fluttered down on Nagaria's shoulder in as instigative fashion.
Once the collars were deactivated it was Jake's turn to take control. He told Ax to take Zorilox for insurance, until we got to the cargo bay. He struggled furiously but he was no match for Ax's grip. We reached the cargo bay safely.
"Good job, Rachel and Tobias, we really owe you one." He told us.
No problem, so what do we do now?
"What we set out to do, destroy the Kandrona. Once and for all." He said determinedly.
Chapter 4
"Jake"
"Ax do you think the Andalites have weapons powerful enough to destroy the Kandronian Satellite?" I asked.
I'm almost certain. Now that we know that it's not a real planet, our lasers and missiles should be enough to destroy it. Ax told me.
"Good, contact Erek, tell him to alert the Andalites of what we've learned about the Kandrona, and continue following the plan." I commanded.
Yes, Prince Jake. Ax obeyed.
"Gee, Jake if I didn't know better I'd say you had a plan." Marco quipped. I ignored him, and focused my attention on Zorilox.
"How do you get up to the Kandrona?" I demanded.
"Ha, I'm not going to tell you." Zorilox responded stubbornly.
You will if you don't plan to lose anymore body parts, and no offense but it doesn't look like you got any to spare. Rachel threatened.
"There is an elevator, at the end of the third corridor." He said quickly. Rachel demorphed.
"Thank-you" She smiled at him.
Prince Jake, Erek wants to know where to pick us up. Ax asked.
"Tell him on the roof of the ship, in about five of "our" minutes." I said.
"What about Zorilox?" Cassie asked.
"Leave him here. He would only slow us down, plus it will buy us some time till we get to the Kandrona." I told her. "Marco, I want you to morph gorilla, and carry one of those bombs up with you."
"Yes, sir." He smiled, as he began to morph. When he became fully gorilla he picked up one of the crates, and held it under his arm. We left Zorilox sitting on the floor, cursing us as we ran towards the elevator. When we finally reached the elevator, everyone allowed themselves to catch their breath.
"Okey gang this is it." I said as the doors closed.
"Next stop, Sporting Goods, Lingerie, and Alien Power Sources" Marco joked. We laughed nervously, like we always did when we were in a life or death situation, and Marco told a joke to lighten the mood. The doors opened and the elevator filled with light. There it stood, a massive ball of glowing gas, encased in a humongous glass sphere. We stood there, gaping at it's sheer magnificence. There was small stairwell leading to the top of the glass that encased it. I motioned for the others, as we ran tirelessly up to the top, and onto the glass. Through the glass, I saw Erek in the Andalite spacecraft hovering above us.
"Okey, we need to break a hole in the roof large enough for us, and the bomb to go through. A whale would be too big, and a Hork-Bajir would be too small. We need an elephant." I said
"I'm on it." Rachel said as she began to grow. There was enough width for all of us, and the elephant. The height was what I was concerned about. There wasn't enough space between the glass roof, and the glass case that held the Kandrona. One of the two was bound to break from the pressure.
Ugghh...Jake. It's too tight, I don't think I can morph completely. Rachel grimaced through the pain.
"You have to, Rachel. Come on I know you can do it." Jake said. I heard the roof begin to crack.
"Keep it up, Rach." Cassie encouraged.
SMASH!
Faster than anyone could realize what happened, we were being sucked out into space. Erek opened the bomb hatch of the Andalite ship, just in time for us land in a tangled pile of arms, legs, hair, feathers, elephant and Andalite. Rachel and Marco quickly demorphed.
"Well that was fun. Let's not ever do that again." Marco said.
"Did you get the bomb?" I asked him.
"Right over there." He pointed to the crate. Ax smashed it open with his tail, and we all loaded it onto the bomb hatch. As I filled them all in on the rest of my plan.
It's designed to explode on impact. Now if your theory is correct, Prince Jake, this will crack open the glass case of the Kandrona, and send the energy out into space. Ax said.
"And without the Kandrona satellite to reflect it's energy. The Kandrona will be completely useless." I said.
"I just got word from the Andalites, the Kandrona Satellite has been destroyed." Erek reported.
"Great, drop the bomb, and get us out of here fast!" I yelled. The engines fired up as the Kandronian bomb fell towards it's target
BOOM
WHOOSH
The bomb exploded, the glass case shattered, and the Kandrona erupted out into the stratosphere. We shouted, and cheered. Hugged, and cried. We finally did it! We won the war. The Kandronians will be helpless, and the Yeerks will all die of starvation.
Chapter 5
"Ax"
We were about 500 hundred miles from the Kandronian space-craft. I wanted some time alone, so I stayed in the cargo bay. A few minutes later Tobias approached me in his human morph.
"Hey Ax-man. What are you up to?" He smiled.
Hello, Tobias. I was just thinking about going back home. I told him.
"Nervous?" He asked.
A little, but I'm excited to. I told him.
"Well I'm happy for you. It will be good to finally see your family." He said.
They are your family too, Tobias. I informed him.
"I know. I'm a little nervous myself. I mean my father was an Andalite hero, those are some pretty big shoes to fill." He said.
I know you'll do fine. There is no doubt that you are Elfangor's son. I said proudly, and rested my hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks Ax, you don't know how much that means to me. I've decided to become a human nonlith. I have about ten minutes left." Tobias informed me.
Does Rachel know? I asked.
"No, I want it to be a surprise." He said. Just then, Prince Jake rushed into the room.
"We're getting a transmission from the Kandronians!" He announced. We joined the others in the cockpit. Tobias demorphed back into his hawk form, in case his morphing powers were still needed. A hologram of Zorilox's head/body appeared before us.
"You thought you won, Animorphs." He sneered.
"Um, I do believe we did win, Zorilox." Rachel gloated.
"It is true you destroyed our only source for energy, and soon we will lose control of all our technologies. It is also true you have left us vulnerable and weakened." Zorilox said in mock defeat. Then his eyes began to glow, as he gave us a large, evil grin. "But you forgot about this." He explained. The hologram shifted towards the view of the Kandronian space craft hovering over the Capitol Building. It was the same footage used during the broadcast we saw earlier in the field.
"There is a similar one located, over the top of the Andalite homeworld as well." Zorilox's voice reported.
"So what your spacecraft's don't have enough power to do anything. What are they going to do fall on us?" Marco quipped.
"I didn't say they were spacecrafts. Remember when I said I'd let you watch the fate of your planets?" Zorilox grinned as his hologram face flickered back.
"What are those things?" Cassie demanded.
"Detonation Devices." We watched paralyzed in horror as his tentacle reach for a red button on the ship. The hologram flickered it's last time on the ariel view of our two planets. I remember hearing the sound of the explosion, but I could not bare to watch the rest of the hologram. For a moment everyone stood still. Erek returned to the consul, while the rest of us stared blankly at the floor.
"Th-They were bluffing." Rachel managed to choke out. We all looked to her hopefully, none of us wanting to believe what had just happened.
"I'm afraid not, Rachel. The Andalite ships have reported that Earth and the Andalite Homeworld had been destroyed." Erek reported sadly.
It's odd how things can turn around on you like that. One minute we are celebrating the defeat of our two greatest enemies, and then the next we our mourning the loss of our homes. What happened next didn't really matter. My friends and I had nothing left to fight for, our victory was demolished, along with our hope.
THE END.
*********************************************************************
Well that's about it. There is a sequel, that explains the AfterMath of the
battle. And a follow-up story, but if this series really sucks I won't torture
you all by posting them. :)