ANIMORPHS

DEADLY ALLIANCE

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Dramatis Personae

Allani-Therrat-Satele (Allani); Andalite fleet admiral (female Andalite)

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (Ax); Andalite warrior cadet (male Andalite)

Cassie; Animorph (female human)

Dev Stryker; warrior (male Mandan)

Emily Hunter; Eldon 193's host body (female human)

Eldon 193; apprentice to Visser Sixteen, human-Controller (female Yeerk)

Erek; member of the Chee intelligence network (Chee)

Hetch-Tannor-Rastini; Andalite soldier (male Andalite)

Jet Nebula; captain, Auriga Fire (male human)

Jake; leader of the Animorphs (male human)

Kalisch 87; commander of Battle Group Eleven, human-Controller (male Yeerk)

Marco; Animorph (male human)

Nirven 292; envoy, human-Controller (male Yeerk)

Tassaa Bareesh; crime lord (female Skrit Na)

Tannin-Raschin-Terras; Andalite soldier (male Andalite)

Rachel; Animorph (female human)

Sagrillo; deputy of Tassaa Bareesh (male Skrit Na)

Tobias; Animorph and nothlit (male; human/red-tailed hawk)

Verona-Anator-Rimmal (Verona); Yeerk informer (male Andalite)

Visser Sixteen; Hork-Bajir-Controller (male Yeerk)

Visser Three; commander of the Yeerk invasion of Earth, Andalite-Controller (male Yeerk)

Yerna; chief of security for Tassaa Bareesh (male Skrit Na)

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CHAPTER 1

Jet Nebula

The light cruiser drifted against the blackness of space. Its appearance was deceptively insignificant, but to the eye of a pirate, it showed several desirable qualities: no Andalite or Yeerk markings; only moderate weaponry and shields; a crew compartment barely large enough to hold half a dozen people; and no escort or accompanying vessels.

Perfect.

"Come on, Captain," hissed the guttural voice in my ear. "Your choice. But don't take too long. Our friend here isn't going to sit still forever."

I enjoyed keeping my first mate on tenterhooks. After all, I harbored no ill feelings about the mutiny in and of itself. The moment the Galaxy Fire stumbled across something valuable, a takeover had been inevitable. I had hired Redo knowing exactly that and hadn't lost much sleep over it, either. I was one of the only humans off good old planet Earth who wasn't a slave to the Yeerks, and that meant that I'd needed to learn fast. One of the things I'd learned was that dealing with scum like him was just part of the job.

I did not like needless violence, however. For example, the nose of a Dracon beam digging into my side was pure and complete overkill.

"Well?" Redo prompted me as I pretended to hesitate.

"Keep your shirt on," I said in mock-protest. "We only interdicted them a minute or two ago. It's way too soon to plan a course change yet."

"Don't take any chances," Redo said, emphasizing his point with another jab from his Dracon beam. "Just be glad we don't want your ship, too."

I heard a creak to my right, and the familiar shape of Clank appeared on my right, photoreceptors glowing. I shook my head ever so slightly, and he backed out of sight again.

"Don't make me ask again," Redo said.

"All right, mate. Fine." I took the captain's seat and activated the communications equipment. "Since you put it so nicely, let's find out just who these guys are before we steal the hide off their backs."

The cruiser's running lights flickered against the blackness of space. Their systems were still settling after suddenly being yanked out of Z-space, but I felt confident that their communications were running by now. Everyone aboard would be straining to hear what the rugged-looking ship hanging off their bows had to say to them.

I took the com and began a speech that had served me well in the past: "You're nicked, my beauty. Prepare to receive boarders."

"Negative," came the immediate reply. Male, brusque, and, impossibly–human. "We do not recognize your authority."

Well, this was a new one. "Who in their right mind would invest authority in the likes of us?"

"You're a privateer. You work for the Andalites."

"Now, that simply isn't true." Not at the moment, anyway, I thought. "We're humble grifters of an independent sort, and you happen to have strayed across our path. Now, submit easily, and I'll see that my bloodthirsty first mate here doesn't blast you all on sight."

"That won't happen. We're on a diplomatic mission."

"To whom, and from where? If I had a dollar for every time someone used that line on me, I wouldn't be talking to you right now."

A brief pause. Then, in a surprised tone, "You're human?"

"And quite proud of it, thank you. Captain Jet Nebula, of the independent vessel Auriga Fire, at your service. Now either prepare for boarding, or come up with a better set of excuses."

There was a longer pause. "All right, then. What will it cost for you to let us go peacefully?"

I looked at Redo, who was calling the shots. Redo's real employers were the Skrit Na, and when dealing with them, sometimes a bribe was worth as much as the loot.

He shook his head. Apparently not this time.

"You're clear out of luck, mate," I told the person on the other end of the com. "Best vent those air locks, smartish. We're coming in, and we don't want to scuff the merchandise any more than necessary."

They had nothing to say to that.

Redo barked into a communicator as I activated the engines. "Rekk, Fels, get ready to board."

Rekk and Fels were two of Redo's treacherous lot, and I wouldn't mind very much if they paid the price for the mutineers' haste. Something gave me the strong feeling that this ship wasn't giving up lightly. The lines were too lean, the hull too polished. The name on its starboard side–the only ID on it–said CINZIA in bold black letters, recently attached. That showed pride.

No, the humans and whoever else were on that ship might not be above offering a bribe to continue on their way, but they sure weren't going to roll over easily. Few people did, these days. With the Andalites and the Yeerks at each other's throats, people were taking the law into their own hands more often.

Yeerks…

What if… what if those humans weren't humans after all? What if they turned out to be human-Controllers instead, controlled by Yeerks? Well, that would change our whole agenda. I hated Yeerks, hated them like a disease. If that man talking to me was really a human-Controller, with a Yeerk slug in his head, well… they'd be getting what was coming to them real quick.

I turned to Redo.

"So, what do we tell our former bosses when we haul in empty?"

"Not my problem," he gloated. "On paper, you're still the captain of the Auriga Fire. That means it's your job to come up with an excuse the Andalites will believe. I'll be gone by then, with the cargo."

True to form, then, the Lentian was planning to stiff me at both ends of the deal. That changed everything. I glanced at Clank, who was standing innocently in front of the entrance to the cockpit. No one was going to get in past him, if push came to shove. More important, no one would get out …

The Auriga Fire had barely covered half the distance between the two ships when my misgivings about the Cinzia were violently justified. A scattering of red lights danced across my instrument panels, and a buzzer sounded. I studied the display for a split second, before I leaned forward, raised every shield to full, and yelled, "Computer, main thrusters, left side, full burn!"

WHAM! The Auriga Fire rolled side on to the Cinzia and rocketed away from it. Redo was knocked off balance and staggered backwards. Clank caught him, deftly twisting the Dracon beam out of his hand as he did so. At that moment the vessel that had been our prize exploded, sending a blast of white light through every viewport, screen, and shield.

I'd done more than just move the ship away. I'd covered my eyes, and now I stared through my fingers at instruments gone completely haywire. There was barely anything left where the Cinzia had been. Thuds and clangs registered on the hull as bits of the vessel hurtled by.

Redo was barking into his communicator again, quick on the uptake, but not nearly quick enough. "Who fired? Who ordered you to fire?"

"No one fired," I said. "They blew themselves up, and if I hadn't caught the neutrino spike right before the drives went, we'd have gotten it, too."

Redo rounded on me, his face furious. "I should shoot you right here."

"With what, mate?" I nodded to Clank, who pointed the Lentian's own Dracon beam at his chest. I enjoyed watching the look of confusion on his face. "Let's start this again, shall we? We work for the Skrit Na now. I get that. One master's as good as another, provided we get the same cut. But we all get equal shares in that cut, right? Or I tell the crew, who will be spoiling for the fight they just missed, that you were about to rob some of them. And I tell Clank here, who badly needs a new oiling, to tighten his grip on that trigger and send you after the crew of that ship, whatever part of creation they may inhabit now. Savvy?"

Acceptance replaced anxiety on Redo's face. His hands came up.

"Here now, Captain. There's been some kind of misunderstanding."

"Perhaps you'd like to clarify, then."

"Sure, sure. You'll get your share, Captain. We all will. I never intended it any other way."

"And the Andalites?"

"We'll sort them out–together, like. It wouldn't be fair to leave it all up to you."

"Glad to hear that, mate." I nodded to Clank, who flipped the Dracon beam over and handed it back to Redo. "While I'm captain of this ship, as written on paper, plastic, or whatever, I expect a certain degree of civility and common purpose. So long as I have that, we're all going to get along just fine."

I swiveled around to face the instruments, confident that Clank would stop anything untoward happening behind me. And that Redo was smart enough to recognize a compromise when he saw one. I didn't mind who paid me, just like the Skrit Na didn't care who handed them their treasure, so long as someone did. It all came out in the wash, for those left standing.

"Let's see what remains of our sorry friend out there…"

The debris field where the Cinzia had been was expanding fast. Our sensors tracked the largest chunks, many of which were human-sized or larger. That surprised me. A drive blowout would usually have reduced the ship to dust.

Redo leaned over me to point at a screen. "That looks like part of the forward section."

"No life signs," I commented.

"No witnesses," the Lentian said with satisfaction.

"That's normally our job," I said, although I had never killed a single person I'd robbed in all my years of pirating–not after I'd robbed them, anyway. "Don't think they were doing it for us."

"Then why?"

I shrugged. "That's the billion-dollar question."

Redo rubbed his chin, considering this. He had the makings of a good first mate, when greed didn't get in the way. I'd known that the whole time, otherwise I wouldn't have hired him in the first place. "They had something aboard, something they didn't want us to get our hands on."

"Something worth more than their own lives?" I met his gaze. "Sounds pretty valuable to me."

"Even in pieces, maybe."

"Exactly what I was thinking." I indicated the copilot's seat. "Strap yourself in and take the tractor beam. Let's see what we can find."

The Auriga Fire came about and began scanning the remains of the ship whose journey we had intercepted. A strange feeling troubled me as I activated the scanners. It felt like guilt, and I told myself not to give in to it. After all, I hadn't killed the crew of the Cinzia. They had pulled that trigger all by themselves. It was just hard luck that their path had crossed mine, and my good fortune to be breathing afterwards. If my fortune continued to hold, I might yet make a profit from this deep-space run, and then, finally, I could hire a slightly more reputable brand of scum and get back into smuggling again.

Some days were better than others. Maybe this was one of them. I told myself that with all the conviction I could muster, which was plenty for a man in my trade.

And yet, one thing still puzzled me. If those humans had been Yeerks, why would they blow the ship, and themselves with it? Because the one thing that always held true about Yeerks was that, with them, self-preservation always came first. Always.

So why would they have killed themselves?

I calmed my thoughts and tried to focus on the business at hand.

What could possibly go wrong?