A/N: Please read my story entitled "The D1 Effect" before reading this. You can read the Fusion of Fire without having read the 1st, but several referances won't make any sense. Really, you won't get anywhere. Honest! Wait, no, I'm not so honest. If you pay attention to every minute detail maybe you can get the jist of it all, but PLEASE read the D1 Effect before the Fusion of Fire. DO IT!!!
BORING DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Animorphs, Ax or yeerks or any of that stuff. What IS mine is the ROTR and all things that arn't the Animorphs and things like that. I am not, I repeat, I am NOT making any money off of this, so DON'T sue!!!
Enough of my insane ramblings, onto the story
The D1 Effect Saga 2- The Fusion of Fire- Part 1
Prologue
As told by War Council Leader John "Condor" Leeroy of Lapios
Geurilla Organizations: The Elite SS, Reign of Ruin
"Roger that base, we are currently T-Minus 15 seconds and waiting for Operation Calcutta," base leader relayed to the catapult team and us on board ready to give a boost to the Euphoria for lift off. The enormous weight of the super-destroyer could not have possibly lifted off by itself, so several LIM launchers would give it a boost before it entered the emptiness of space.
The Euphoria was the only large craft that belonged to the international senate which represented both the nations Mortae and Imporia on Lapios. Both nations had large military presences, but used them only for "defense". The real fleet of the human race was to be that of the senate and it's representitives. The Euphoria was the first of a gigantic line of super-destroyers that were specifically designed for fighter craft deploitation and invasions into hostile territory. The Euphoria was equipped with 40 quasi-terrestrial submersible invasion vehicles, a garrison of 20 bio-bots unique only to the human race, 150 standard soldiers, 2 squadrons of F/y 50's, Alpha and Theta, and three enormous T/f 1 Phantom super-cloakers. A fleet of these super-destroyers could capture virtually any planet there was.
"....3....2....1, ignition sequence lock. Hold on to launch rails," base informed. An earsplitting magnetic ping sounded as the LIM launchers catapulted us 30,000 feet into the air in 5 seconds. Those who weren't at the launch rails were flung back against the wall and pinned for an excrutiating 10 seconds of acceleration. Fourtunately, I wasn't one of them.
The Euphoria soon slowed down to an acceptable speed and for a brief minute, stayed in geostationary orbit around Lapios. Those unlucky enough not to be holding onto a launch rail recovered in that short timespan and walked back to their posts. The Euphoria burst out of the orbit it was locked in after the minute, and Operation Calcutta was underway.
What exactly Operation Calcutta was has an easy explanation. There was a sentient race of mammals that evolved on another planet in the system YIN-12, which housed Lapios as well. The humans on Lapios were urgent in their need to colonize and explore some more, so we sent the Euphoria to greet the inhabitants. Its mission comprised of the president of the humans, Peter Quin who happened to be a close friend, the War Council Leaders, Fred "Jaguar" Rienhound and me, the scientific, technical and engineering chiefs onboard the Euphoria, Sarah "Amazon" Killdeer, George "Buttons" Halloway and Adam "Incinerator" Jones, as well as the senate.
I was cautious throughout the planning of Operation Calcutta. I had never had a good encounter with other sentient species, especially with the yeerks, and didn't want to make this a repeated historical event. Every minute detail was examined by me, my fellow members of the Ruin of the Reign, and the senate to see if it would challenge the future of the human race. After countless sleepless nights, we had ironed out all the real flaws in Operation Calcutta.
According to the plans, the journey to the remote planet we had named Dain would take about an hour, due to the immense power of the sublightspeed engines of the Euphoria and the proximity of Dain to Lapios. During that duration, I spent my time examining the work of lesser officers and chatting with other ones. Nothing too interesting. Or anything interesting at all.
We soon landed on the surface of the Jungle planet in a large grassland near the equator. Buttons picked that spot because it would be the warmest spot, with a nice, balmy 70 degrees that practically all humans could endure. However, it would be at least another 10 minutes before the crews could make certain that the air was breathable, so I spent more of my time idlely chatting with old friends.
"So, Amazon, tell me again, what did you do at Limpopo?" I asked my close friend and fellow covert SS member, Sarah Killdeer, better known as the Amazon.
"Double crossing. The two words in which whole wars can be changed. You've always been too loyal, Condor. The yeerks put Incinerator, Jaguar, Buttons and I in the middle of the encampment, but we could have gone over the the USC any time we wanted. And we did. No problem."
"Makes me look like a loser. Oh, and by the way, I've never learned what exactly you morphed at the battle of Lapios Cave."
"Well, I think it was a Quetzacotalus, according to the blasted databases, that is. 40 foot wingspan, about 30 feet long. Pteradon. Very interesting creature, if you ask me."
"Use it at all?"
"No. Never have needed to."
"Well, coming up on Dain. Operation Calcutta. What is Calcutta anyway?"
"Dunno. Sounds like an Indian name, or some other former South Asian country."
"Whatever. Time to meet whoever these guys are."
We casually started walking over to the departion hatches over towards the west side of the fighter bridge, talking as we went. During the D1 Effect, Amazon and I never had been together, so we still talked about each others adventures through time as much as possible. As soon as I begun to explain the catastrophe of Hiroshima to her the 5th time, the rest of the ROTR bumped into us, along with the senate's leaders.
"Hi. About time you showed. Okay, let's get this party started. For old times sake, Condor will go first. N&E chief's job, you know," Pete said with a wink. Oh yea. That was about 4 years ago when we were first colonizing Lapios. First one to step on the planet. This time, I was going to be the first human to step on Dain.
"Catch you on the flip side, Mr. President," I said smiling. The hatch slowly opened in front of me, revealing a grassy meadow with all sorts of odd flora and fauna growing everywhere. Odd types of ferns and abnormally large flowers added to the odd scene. It was a warped version of Earth, and it didn't seem that comforting to a native martian like myself.
I spoke loud into my voice's amplifier in Galard, the language of the stars. Hopefully the creatures that inhabited this planet spoke it. "Greetings. We are humans, a bipedal race that have colonized the planet adjoining yours after our own had been destroyed."
I waited a minute before anything emerged. Only one voice did, but I could not locate the actual physical being from which it emerged. "Welcome, humans. We have been long expecting your arrival."
Chapter 1
As told by the War Council Leader, John "Condor" Leeroy
Guerrilla Parties: Elite SS Operative, Ruin of the Reign
"You have?" I asked the voice.
"Well, maybe we should back up. Humans, we are the one. The one. That is our name and we use it as a collective. Our race is connected to the land and the land is connected to us. We are one and that is our name. We have only two physical forms, the plin and glin, which are mammals that you have deemed as sentient. We are more than sentient, humans. We are much deeper than sentient. We bind galaxies together, and bring souls to new futures. We are the one. The one that has been worshiped by humans for dozens of millinia."
"You are god?" I asked in amazment.
"No, we aren't. We are nothing of the sort. We are mortal, because the precious plin and glin will die, and we don't have power over anything on Earth, or direct power. We have evolved to thread the patchwork of time how we want it, and the evolutionary bystanders, such as the sentient species, are technically at our mercy. With an enormous amount of strength, we can merge galaxies, stars and even timelines together. It is our work. It is one's work."
I stood there amazed, looking up at the sky from where the voice seemed to be coming, "What do you want the humans for?"
"An experiment. Nothing more. It will provide the human race with oppurtunity and will also put it in mild jeopardy."
The 'mild jeopardy' didn't sound that appealing. "What is it?"
"The merging of different timelines into one. A supertimeline where anything can happen. Well, according to the physical and quantum laws they can. The Sycthes will have came and gone, and you will still be on Lapios and will be just as far along as you are now. There is a key difference, however. Earth is yeerk territory, and so are a vast number of planets. Earth is not the uninhabitable wasteland it is today, but it is still pretty gross and will need to be re-terraformed. The Andalites still exist, and they play the prominent role in the galaxy's defense. They think that the human race is all but enslaved by the yeerks, and won't believe that any human fleet is coming to rescue Earth. As an added plus, the Animorphs are hiding down on Earth, acting as a resistence and have added a few members."
"My family? Are they enslaved?"
"No, the Scythes will have taken them again."
I was angered again. If I couldn't kill the Scythes, then the next best thing was the yeerks. And there was a whole lot of yeerks to kill. An evil grin spread across my face. "We can get back Earth and rebuild the human colonies in that sector, right?"
"I don't know. If the human race is capable of Z-space travel, then yes."
This would work well in convincing the senate and maybe Buttons to go through with the timeline switch. Very, very well. Well, it should, at any rate. Most of us, me included, wanted to restore the human race to what it was before, and the restoration of Earth was one of the things on that "to do" list. Not just colonize it again, but make it the same in every way as before the industrialization of the entire planet and the Sycthes.
To do this, we would have to first take a firm hold on the planet, terraform the land according to the databases' info and recreate several hundred million types of species through the genetical reproduction of their DNA. Not a very easy job, but it was to be an incredible feat if we ever accomplished it. The yeerk's occupation of Earth was actually the first stepping stone in the achievement. If we were to defeat them, then we wouldn't have to wait 200 years until the surface of Earth was safe to terraform.
ROTR and the senate's leaders soon came out after I beaconed to them that it was OK to come out. The voice explained about the experiment once more to us and gave the opportunity to us. Surprisingly, the senate had no trouble in deciding on what to do. I didn't need my reasons. They were unanimous from moment one.
"You are taking to a liking of our plan, human, no?"
"Yes, we are, One. We are completly unanimous in our desicion. You may fuse the timelines together. But, we were wondering, One, what is in the bargain for you?" Incinerator asked.
"Humans, just the thought of you regaining your status is beyond enough of a reward. One evolved to please others, and the energy within our commune is provided by the pleasing of other races. This is, of course, races with good intentions. We know that humans have good intentions."
Interesting, a race of giving. Their scientific properties, if any, depend on their ablility to please others with gifts. Very, very intriguing.
"Fusion done. You may go humans. Please tell us how we did. It is truely One's first time at a gift so large."
"We will, One. And good luck!" Pete called out to the voice as we slowly turned back to go inside the main personnel hatch. The voice disappeared, but it did not do so with any audible notification. Everyone was aware of it, yet, it did not happen in a sensed perception. An odd phenomena.
I climbed the ramp, and being the last one in, I told the computer to shut it. It complied, and the grey-black ramp slowly rose back up onto the hull of the Euphoria. Jaguar was already broadcasting the message, and cheers of exitment and adventure sprung up along the wide corridors and rooms. I walked along, seeing engineers working extra hard to push the engines to get home, navigators already plotting the best course from Lapios to Earth, and soldiers going to polish their bio-bots in the warehouses. Fighter pilots tuning up their F/y's, SS's practicing their swarming tactics and medics were preparing the acceleration serum; a serum in which the reproduction of red blood cells is increased, preventing most bloodloss cases. In other words, the Euphoria was full of it's name, if you catch my drift.
We flew back to Lapios as fast as we could, with the cheers of the crew still echoing in my mind. God, it was going to be a great year. Well, that is, if we won. And we would. Well, hopefully. Argh.
Chapter 2
"I have called this meeting of the War Council on what to do in order to retake Earth and possibly help the Andalite force in the destruction of all the yeerk facilities on all of their captured planets. As a last resort, we will use the fleets of Mortae and Imporia, but the notion is clear that action has to be done only using the international fleet. The Euphoria is the only heavy ship that is within the fleet's arsenal, and although it is only one, it is massive. However, if we truly wish to take back Earth, we must have a much larger fleet of varied ships. Medical, super-destroyers, cruisers and transports should be very prominent, and if we can we should have some lighter ships such as about 20 B-207's. The way we come about finding the sources to create these monsters is now up for discussion," I began within the chambers of the War Council. Essentially, I was the leader of it, but Jaguar was the leader of the light starship division and the guerrilla, but I was everything else.
"We could force both Mortae and Imporia to give us their reserves in exchange for civilian service or perhaps troops. But that won't be the greatest way out of this problem because Mortae and Imporia probably will not lend their fleets in the assault," a high councillor, Dave Vinni suggested. That was my first thought as well.
"Good point, and that is why I suggest this. We could-, wait, Q9, tell me exactly how many civilians have decided to become part of the international effort," Jaguar ordered.
The humanoid robot suddenly buzzed to life next to me. "There are exactly 752,812.2427291 humans accolated to the work force," the android said.
".2427291?" Winston Palmgrove, another war council member, asked in bewilderment.
"Amputees."
"Oh. Anyway, assuming the adults make up a half million people, that should be plenty in strip mining an astroid for minerals within a week. We've pinpointed the astroid of Delphi, about a quarter million miles away, for the job, and the minerals they provide should be plenty to build the fleet in about a month, assuming that Mortae and Imporia help. If they don't, we simply bribe them to do so," Jaguar finished.
"How long have you been working on this plan, Mr. Reinhound?" Vinni asked.
"Ever since ROTR and the senate first heard from One about the timeline fusion. Anyway, does anybody have any problems with that?"
Immediately, the young Jennifer Dove stood up looking rather distressed. Jenifer had actually been promoted to the position the day before because of a brilliant tactical move on her part in the military simulators that actually routed the nearly inpenatrable AI inside the mainframe computer. No one really trusted her, thinking that she would be too young for real discisions. "Mr. Reinhound, I know that when you were fighting at Limpopo fortress I was a mere teenager, but, I must say that there is a flaw. How do we strip mine an astroid within a week?"
Jaguar smiled. "We've already shipped the neccesary labor to Delphi the day we got back, 6 days ago. They have the equipment running at full tilt, and the minerals will be extracted in 7 days."
I shot Jaguar a look. "You have, Mr. Reinhound?" I asked. This took him by surprise, because I almost always called him Jaguar, but the War Council was more of a formal assembly, so codenames weren't used.
"Yes, we have, Mr. Leeroy, and under the senate's descretion. The president in fact highly suggested it, so we went along with the plan."
"Well, I guess we have no choice but to follow through with the plan that the council leader has provided us with. Our next meeting will be onboard the flagship of the fleet. Adjourned," I announced, standing up from my seat. The council room was instantly filled with chatting as all the members stood up and began debating Jaguar's descion. From what I gathered, most liked it, but it was hard to tell.
"Jaguar, please remember to tell me about these sort of things more often, ca va?," I reminded him, as he came walking by me.
"Very well, council leader Leeroy," he said with a smile and then headed out from the war-room in which we were. I followed him out, but not before stopping to talk with Vinni and Palmgrove about the designs of the predecessors to the Euphoria. It was actually sort of a forced discussion, because both of the councillors were eager to present their views to me in order to make it legal for them to do whatever they did. I had to agree to their plans, however, for it to be constitutional and legal.
"Mr. Leeroy, may we speak to you for a second?" Palmgrove asked as I was leaving the room.
"Yes, of course you may."
"Well, Council Leader, we have several plans in the production of the new super-destroyer, the, what are they calling them? The, Titanic class, yes. Anyway, due to the rushed build, we have suggested to completely erase the hyperspace capabilities of them. Besides, the concept of hyperdrive has never really been tested to a full extent, and our armies could use the practical Z-space drives instead. According to the latest charts from Mortae and Imporia, the hyperdrive has cost them the most resources and without a hyperdrive on 3 of our ships, we estimate that we could create an entirely new ship of the same stature with the remaining resources," Vinni presented.
"Plus, the only true reason that the hyperdrive was installed was to save the humans onboard from a Negative Energy Quantum Anamoly explosion, or a NEQA bang, and from Z-space gravity fields that, as you know, pull ships from Z-space into normalizing the immense gravity of the stars. The yeerks don't have this technology, and NEQA bangs are pretty much fictitious according to the scientists," Palmgrove added on to the argument.
"Well, I've never had that many good experiences with scientists or NEQA bangs, so that biases my reply to some extent. You can have your cheaper, hyperdrive free ships as long as the Euphoria has hers in case of an emergency. And, please try to take care of the Euphoria, I spent most of my personal money into building it," I said, allowing them to take out the hyper drives in several of the ships. In fact, all of them except the Euphoria.
"Thank you sir. We will take the plans to the chief engineers immediately," Palmgrove said as they walked away. I did too and walked slowly to the west end of the complex to my quarters to sleep. I needed it after all, because you know that councillors are very busy, well, they are supposed to be. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. ;)
*************************************
As told by the President, Peter "Mon Capitain" Quin
"Your helmet, Mr. President," the Q9 android said in his oddly tilted mechanized voice while presenting me with a silvery helmet with the insignia of a fleet commander. Right now, I was more than the fleet commander, but I liked to think that I was. I could do this more often, and it was far more exiting than being the president of the international effort.
"Thank you, Q9. And tell the mechanics that they should be giving you guys some better paint. I mean, look at you! You are a mess!"
"I will, sir. And it is kind of you for noticing the horrid paint job they gave me." The android walked casually away and looked rather determined as if to go straight to the mechanics and force them to repaint him. That was the thing with the Q9 series. They always did as they were told and did it well.
I started walking towards the sighter bay of the Ecstacy with my head held high and feeling like I was free from bondage. No security guards and other crappy personnel that just hung aroung me like flies and a pile of garbage. Not that I was, or anything like that, but I am pretty sure you have gotten the picture.
It was exactly 14 days after we had arrived back from Dain and chatting with the One and their fusion of the timelines. I had wanted to go as a fighter pilot, because I originally was one before the promotions, but the goddamned secret service wouldn't let me. After several fist-fights, my good friend Condor managed to "convince" them to stop following me around like dogs and let me fight as a military man should. I was assigned to Alpha Squadron Lead for a squadron of F/y 50's fresh from the engineering bay. The old lead stepped down to Alpha two temporarily, and the squadron had one more than the standerd 5 that we had switched to. It was a great feeling, being Alpha Lead again, the greatest pilot in the human race. Whoa, sounds pretty graket (cool) if you look at it that way.
The human fleet took off with a fleet of 5 super destroyers, 12 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 20 B-204 mini-ships and 7 medical ships. Most of the cruisers and all of the B-204's came from the fleets of Mortae and Imporia, so it wasn't that much of a feat in contstructing the fleet in that amount of time. The super-destroyers we named the Ecstacy, the one I was on, the Nirvana, the ship that Condor used to commandeer before it was upgraded, Elation, Pas de Cataclysm and the flagship, Euphoria. It made up one of the greatest achievments of our history, building the fleet in that amount of time. Amazing.
"We are standby for fighter launch," I said over the slightly obsolete Uvadio that we still used sometimes as I jumped into the cockpit of the F/y 50. "Alpha team, check in."
"This is Alpha 2, standing by."
"Alpha 3 is ready to go, over."
"Alpha 4 is set, Mr. President, standing by."
"Alpha 5 here."
"Alpha 6 is standing by."
"Roger that, Alpha team. Launch on my mark. 5...4....3...2...1... NOW!" I called. The computer catapulted the sturdy craft straight out of the fighter bay right as I marked them, and we joined formation near the launched squadron of Theta.
"Hiya guys, are we set for Z-Space launch?"
"Roger that, Alpha Lead. Launch is now pending."
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...LOCK!" Ecstacy called out. In 5 seconds we would be traveling over the speed of light. I switched the Uvadio to Alpha.
"Pax Galaxia!" I called in latin, meaning peace in the galaxy. It was the original motto of the early colonizers of Mars, and we intended to continue the long life of humans.
"Pax Galaxia!" They cried back. And then, silence. Z-Space. It would be another day before we would come out, so I hooked up my shoulder to the REM emmiter and a deep, dream-filled sleep overtook me. Better than the monotony of blackness, that is.
Chapter 3
As told by the War Council Leader, Condor Leeroy
Guerrilla Ranks: Elite SS Operative, Veteran Swamp-Warrior
"Captain, what's our status?" I asked the captain of the Euphoria, Paul Eurgest. I technically had more power than he, but he still controlled what the ship did.
"The Elation and Nirvana are soon to jump out of Z-space to commence the surprise attack on the yeerkish forces near the planet of Mars. Pas de Cataclysm is soon to follow, dispatching several of it's T/f 1 Phantoms and squadrons. We, the Euphoria and the Ecstacy, are in charge of the battery of the planet's defenses, and our ships will be the ones to land to secure the Red Planet."
"What of the destroyers and cruisers?"
"They should be the ones to arrive even before the Elation and Nirvana. Just to make think that the assault is lighter than it truly is. The medical frigates are being timed to arrive in orbit around Mars with the Pas de Cataclysm."
"When are the destroyers and cruisers set to go?"
"They are actually already supposed to be in the fray, Council Leader, and the Elation and the Nirvana should have gotten into the fight right now."
"Good. Bring up a visual of the assault."
"I regret to inform you that the Z-space connections will make the transmission hazy."
"Do it anyway."
"Yes, sir. Comming on screen."
Before me inside the captain's quarters unfurled a large display of the battlefield above Mars hovering in front of the holo-projector. To tell you the truth, there was nothing much to see. No fight. Whatsoever.
"Contact the Elation for me," I ordered to the captain, studying the display.
"Coming on line," Captain Eurgest said.
"War Council Leader Leeroy, what is the meaning of this transmission?" A senate member of whom I did not recognize demanded.
"What is the deal with the battle? Have you destroyed the yeerk forces already?"
"Well, Mr. Leeroy, yes. We have. Their planetary defenses were so incredibly weak that a single destroyer could have taken them all out. I would suggest the acceleration of the project immidiately."
"What about terrestrial defenses?"
"According to the 4, T/f 1 Phantom recconaissance flights, they are inexistant. My guess is that the timeline was altered so that Mars was killed off by the Scythes, but the planet is habitable. Sensors show that it has the identical chemical readout as the Mars before the Scythes."
"Hmmm. Send the Elation's crew down to secure the planet. Build several bases as well."
"Sounds good to me, Mr. Leeroy. End transmission," the senator said, leaving me to further study the display of the 2 Titanic-class super-destroyers drifting nearby Mars.
"Order the acceleration of the operation, Captain. I want every ship to be in orbit around the planet of Mars within the hour."
"Yes, sir. I would suggest for you to go back to your quarters now, however. You look bad."
"Thanks for noticing. I'm rather under the weather today. Dismissed." I said, giving him a very quick salute in which he returned in the same, hasty manner. And I took his advice. I mean, a few minutes of cat nap wouldn't effect that much, would it? Nah.
*******************************
As told by the Visser 1
I told you, councilor, that I have done all I could to destroy the resistance. They are simply too high in number to vanquish, I pleaded before councilor 4.
"You had better have them destroyed. The emperor really doesn't like the empire in jeopardy, especially with the invasion of the Andalite home world imminent. Although, you have proven yourself a worthy commander on many an occasion, so I will let this one past, Visser. You are a lucky yeerk," the voice of councillor 4 rang into my head like a gong.
Thank you, councilor.
"Dismissed, Visser."
The transmission ended and I was left alone in my quarters to think up another way to destroy the ever growing resistence on Earth. The resistence, for those who haven't had a clue as to what has been going on since the capture of Earth, is the group of andalite scum and human dung who have plagued the empire since day one. Their morphing abilities have played out to our diadvantage and we knew that they consisted of mainly humans and andalites. Whenever we had them cornered, they somehow manage to flank us. It seems that their numbers grow by the day, and all infestations of captured members have been in vane since they all have implanted biological viruses inside their ear canal that has been engineered to kill yeerks and only yeerks.
What makes matters worse is that even if there weren't viruses inside the ear canals of the scum, they are consistantly changing their bases. One day, they attack in the middle east, the next, the former United States. Always changing, always on the go.
The good news was that they have done truey little damage to the pools and to the command centers across the Earthern globe. You'd think that they could with the morphing power, but they havn't. They've neglected to use their ability to the fullest extent, like I have, so that has saved our empire from their constant trouble.
As I was thinking of ways to pummel the unending annoyance of the resistance, a hork-bajir guard came running into my quarters, panting hard. The nerve of him! This had better be good.
What is it? I'll have your throat if this is not important!
"Visser, a fleet of 40 ships of sizes ranging from small to ridiculously large has entered the system near the planet that the humans call Mars! They have not been identified correctly, yet, but they cannot be of Andalite origin due to the size of them."
What?! Well, what do they resembled, if anything?
"Human ships, Visser. Although humans have not achieved spaceflight in the real sense, some of the ships have a structural capacity resembling that of their shuttling craft."
Those were the last words of that hork-bajir's life.
*******************************
As told by the Resistence Chairman Jake [ERROR: Data not found.]
"Jake, man, we got something," Marco said from the command console. After 2 days of sleepless nights staring at the blasted screens, we had finally got something. Finally.
"After this long and all the dang rumors from the spys, we had better have got something," I muttered loud enough for him to hear me clearly.
"Well, ya. We have a fleet of 40, I'm guessing, human? ships coming in from Mars. Though you'd might want to know," he said.
"WHAT?! How could they be human ships?"
"I dunno, but it says here that only humans are inhabiting the ships and they were made on a planet named, Lapios?"
"Lapios, that name seems so familiar... Keep looking, and monitor their behavior."
"Well, if you call capturing Mars and setting up several gun batteries, and several thousand troops are landing, and-"
"What the, this was unexpected. Call in Greg and Pete. Tell them to tell the resistance to get underground and into the bunkers. The animorphs and Ax along with Greg and Pete are to stay here and examine them. No chances, Marco," I ordered.
"Yes, oh mighty leader," he countered.
"Well, I sort of am. I am the leader of the only resistance on Earth against mind-contolling slugs from thousands of light-years away."
"You sound so much like you're still a kid. Oh well. Let's get a move on it."
*****************************
As told by the War Council Leader, John "Condor" Leeroy
"I told you, councillor, that the people want Earth within the month! I don't give a crap about the capture of Mars, because it isn't the pride of the human race! The people want Earth!" Senator Joe Cacknoy complained to me.
"I'm sorry, senator, but we must set up proper facilities on the planet before attacking. If we lose, then we have a place to fall back on."
"But we cannot lose. Did you see the incredibly tiny force that the yeerks put here? Pathetic!"
"That was here, senator, not Earth. Our sensors have picked up an enormous fleet of yeerkish ships parked in orbit around Earth. Besides, the invasion will only be delayed for a couple of days."
"Our sensors are picking up nothing, just an Earth with barely a trace of yeerkish activity!"
"Senator, you are very foolish to believe that. Your sensors were constructed before the timeline mergence. Therefore, they will only sense data from our timeline and universe. The War Council installed the newer, updated sensors on the titanics (the super destroyers) although we hadn't gotten around to installing them on every cruiser. The Bliss is not equipped with them, Cacknoy," I argued.
"Even if you didn't, the sensors still would pick up data from this timeline, wouldn't they?"
"No, because technically, they are in a different one. Senator, I am not an engineer, and that is why we hire trained ones to explain the phenomena. From all the information I have gathered, this is the best strategically placed move on our part."
"Mr. Leeroy, I realize that you do have a superior intellect in the militant sense, but the people will not approve of-"
"The people won't care if it takes us a month to prepare, senator! We will have secured the first human populated planet other than Earth! My birthplace! Many other's birthplaces! Mars is not only a strategical location, but it signifies our steps to become a full civilization once more!"
"I see your point there, War Council Leader, but I don't understand fully the strategical aspect."
Niether did I, but I still gave my reasoning. "If the yeerks ever want to annihilate us, they have to first travel the distance from Earth to Mars. Now, that distance isn't big enough for a Z-space jump, but too large for conventional travel for their crude sublight engines. Now, if they somehow were able to create a sub-quantum jump into a lateral matrix on L5 or L4, then it might work, but knowing the yeerks, they won't do that. That gives us a signifigent advantage.
"Now, senator, if you fail to understand the logic in waiting just 3 days, only 3 days, goddammit, then your axis are skewed (you're stupid and I suggest resigning from your position in the senate and go back to Imporia. This is War Council Leader Leeroy out," I concluded. The transmission ended and I headed out of my quarters to oversee the construction of the base.
Chapter 4
As told by the Resistence Officer, Peter Asvaldsson
Hello, my name is Peter Asvaldsson. Actually, Asvaldsson isn't my last name. I forgot my last name. Sometimes I wonder if I even ever had a last name. I just go by that alias, Pete Asvaldsson. Don't ask me why.
If you are reading this, you are probably a free member of the human society. The yeerks have banned all books and literature, so you can't be infested. You are either in hiding, or with us, the resistence. It doesn't matter which, I will tell you what was happening at the time of the resistence's pinnacle strength.
It was the 21st day of April in the year 2008. I was the prominent officer in the resistence, along with my twin, Gregory Skieth. As I said, we forgot our last names, so we have chosen different ones. Chairman Jake led the resistence along with the original morphers, the Animorphs. I am morph-capable, but since I rarely see battle, I have never morphed, although I have aquired several animals to do so.
I was relaxing after a long day of training new recruits and recruiting people in hiding, when the chief engineer of the resistence, Marco, walked in looking nervous. Greg and I both stood up and saluted him, but he quickly made it known that it wouldn't be neccesary.
"Pete, Greg, go round up every member on the surface and bring them down into the underground bunker. We'll tell you why later, but it is big news."
"Yessir," Greg responded. He looked at me and we ran off ready to round up every member we could find. I could only imagine what the "big news" was, but it didn't sound good, so I intended to do it hastily. Really hastily.
Marco ran off in the other direction while Greg and I headed for the empath-transponder (EmTrans) station we had constructed in the underground bunker just for these occasions. What it would do was transmit a message telepathically to those who had a genetically implanted mechanical device placed near their ear. The technology was actually of an andalite form, but we altered it slightly so it wouldn't cripple the human mind.
We quickly ran down the stairs that connected the bunker to the outside encampment. One of the many, actually. The underground bunker was actually a bulkhead to every place in North America by way of Magnetic Levetation Cars, or MagLevs. That is why the yeerks have never captured us, and probably never will. The downside is that no matter how hard we tried, the yeerkish force would never buckle under our relentless assaults. But I had a feeling that was over.
As soon as we were inside the underground complex, we both ran around to the location of the EmTrans where the speakers were that we could direct the message. I spoke into the microphone-shaped speaker first, "All members of the human and andalite resistence, meet in bunker 5 and await instructions. This is the voice of Officer Peter Asvaldsson."
The EmTrans instantly was flooded with acknowledgments that it turned into flashing, green lights for saftey. The room was literally a green daze the instant after I commanded them to meet in the bunker. It eventually wore off, and we walked out of the room and back up the stairs to find out what the "big news" exactly was. Hopefully it was a promotion to Animorph status, but Marco would not have looked so nervous, I mean, he doesn't hate me THAT much, does he? And he wouldn't have the entire resistence moved underground for that either.
"Know what it is?" I asked Greg hopefully while racing up the stairs.
"No, but I have a feeling that this 'big news' is good."
"Me too. Andalite assistence?"
"Not a chance. Their fleet is trying to reach some planet with a prominent species with the IQ of slugs." I smiled. Greg always was a firm hater of Andalites.
"Some other fleet? Maybe, I don't know, hork-bajir?" We laughed.
"I think you have a point, though with the fleet. Who knows? Pelamites maybe? Some force so powerful that our puny, insignifigent phsyces couldn't possibly handle? Likely."
I smiled. We chatted and chatted like we had no big, important things to do, which we did, for several minutes until we finally reached the encampment and started heading straight for the command center on the west end of the base. Greg started looking more and more anxious, as I probably did too, but we were trained since we were 17 by the command of Jake, and our lives are owed to him 20 times over. I think we could have trusted him.
We ran into the tent-like stucture and saw the Animorphs and Aximili over a wide viewscreen. Oblivious to us, probably, but we still walked over to them.
Ah, good. Peter and Greg. Hopefully you will take this news in a positive manner as we have now, Aximili said, turning around to see us better. You can never sneak up on an andalite.
The rest of them turned around and met our gaze. "Now, I would like your opinion on th situation, guys. According to our stolen sensors, we have a fleet of 40 large ships and many other smaller ones around the planet of Mars. It consists of 5, gigantic battleships slightly smaller than pool ships, 28 middle-sized destroyers the size of four space shuttles and 7, blade-ship sized cruisers. As you can see, a force to be reckoned with.
"What is startling about this, however, is that the DNA structure of the beings onboard the ships in this fleet is identical to that of a human's. We can't be sure if they are humans, because these sensors are almost always in someways wrong, but that leaves us with a large problem. What the heck are we supposed to do?"
******************************
As told by the War Council Leader, John "Condor" Leeroy
"Okay, next on the agenda is the prospect of the new, dimesional gate sub. Mr. Adam Jones, the chief director of the Engineering Corps has the blueprints in which we need to ratify the prototype's usage amongst the fleet. Mr. Jones," I said, gesturing towards Incinerator. It was the evening of the eve of the assault, and I called a meeting of the council to straighten every last detail of the battle. Back-up plans, special circumstances, those sort of things.
"Thank you, Mr. Leeroy. As you know, the term space fleet was coined after a large collection of spaceships. This, in turn, makes it a direct copy off the ancient termanology for ships designed for the sea of water. Armada, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, fleet, ships, all of them are copies of old, seafaring terms.
"On the sea, a ship was confined practically to 2 demensions, and could not travel in 3. Then came the submarine. It bypassed the 2 dimensional laws and became able to travel in the 3 in which we are used to, and became a far greater asset in moving unnoticed through the seas.
"Now, what we all know is that a spaceship can travel in 3 dimensions, and is a very useful tool. However, if we could add another one onto that 3 like the sea submarines did so long ago, we could travel yet again unnoticed in most ways like the olden submarines. 4 dimensions, that is. This, of course, would call for a radically differant way of constructing the space subs, like the old seafarers did with the sea subs for operating underwater, so the prototype will much resemble that of a bullet, or a laser needle.
"Since we are actually going into a dimension that we are not designed for, the ways of movement will be vastly different. It will be like the old picture of a man completly flat suddenly gaining depth. Those inside the 4th dimension will be able to move in a way so radically differant that it is indescribable. It will be similar to Z-space, although instead of being in random dimensions, it will focus on only one and the humans inside will be subject to the new laws that the 4th dimension has. However, if we can bypass this, then the space sub will become the single greatest scouting and spying craft in existence. Far better than our current super-cloaker, in fact. Literally invisable."
"Now, like the sea subs, the space submarine can travel back to the 3rd dimension and return to their normal way of moving. This will be essential to the slightly updated version of the assault that has been ratified already by the president and the senate. This meeting is, as I am told, to ratify the usage of the craft."
Immidiatly, Don Santiago stood up, "What 'slightly modified' version of the assault?!"
I then explained, "What the engineer here means is that the preliminary stages of the assault have been changed. This space sub will have a crew of 3 that will come done to the surface and meet the resistence, telling them what is happening, and will lead the resistence in the effort to actually capture the planet. The rest of the invasion will happen according to plan, but with the development of the space sub comes an opputunity we cannot miss."
"Also, you would be quite happy to know, councilers," Incinerator continued, "the Transdemensional Submersible can attack ships in the 3rd demension, however, with very limited power. The missiles designed for usage in our demension will do little physical damage, but the physcalogical damage of 50 missiles streaking out from nowhere is incredible. Fleets of the TDS-1's, as we are calling them, will be indestructable in most regards, yet still, not very powerful. It will soon be required that every fleet include at least five TDS-1's for backup and/or escape."
Councillor Dave Vinni stood up, looking rather inquisitivly at the blueprints of the TDS-1's. "Hmmm, it looks very interesting, Chief Engineer Jones, but how much does it cost to produce?"
Incinerator looked slightly distressed. "Well, we've created the prototype and the cost is larger that one might expect. About 1/3 the cost more than a standerd destroyer, yet less than one eighth the size. A large difference."
Vinni stared intently at the blueprints some more, then continued, "But it should be a very useful asset in our re-conquering of Earth, am I correct in saying that, sir?" He turned to me.
"Yes, Mr. Vinni, and one that will soon prove too be vital. Meeting adjourned. Get to your ships, and if you have any military experience, which you should, stand by the post in which you are most familiar with. AT's (aquatic tacticals) should proceed with the invasion force," I concluded the meeting. The room started buzzing yet again as it usually did after meeting with all the council member chatting about the latest happenings and what the meeting was about. I didn't stay long to chat, and almost instantly after I concluded, I headed to my quarters for the night. I needed the rest. I had to prepare for the next day.
The REALLY, REALLY long next day.
A/N: I know, mostly chatting and no real action, but it will be the exact opposite in the next installment. If there is. PLEASE, I amd begging you, PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAAAAASSSSSEEEE review!!!!! Thanks!
:-)--
P.S. Like my smiley guy? LOL.
BORING DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Animorphs, Ax or yeerks or any of that stuff. What IS mine is the ROTR and all things that arn't the Animorphs and things like that. I am not, I repeat, I am NOT making any money off of this, so DON'T sue!!!
Enough of my insane ramblings, onto the story
The D1 Effect Saga 2- The Fusion of Fire- Part 1
Prologue
As told by War Council Leader John "Condor" Leeroy of Lapios
Geurilla Organizations: The Elite SS, Reign of Ruin
"Roger that base, we are currently T-Minus 15 seconds and waiting for Operation Calcutta," base leader relayed to the catapult team and us on board ready to give a boost to the Euphoria for lift off. The enormous weight of the super-destroyer could not have possibly lifted off by itself, so several LIM launchers would give it a boost before it entered the emptiness of space.
The Euphoria was the only large craft that belonged to the international senate which represented both the nations Mortae and Imporia on Lapios. Both nations had large military presences, but used them only for "defense". The real fleet of the human race was to be that of the senate and it's representitives. The Euphoria was the first of a gigantic line of super-destroyers that were specifically designed for fighter craft deploitation and invasions into hostile territory. The Euphoria was equipped with 40 quasi-terrestrial submersible invasion vehicles, a garrison of 20 bio-bots unique only to the human race, 150 standard soldiers, 2 squadrons of F/y 50's, Alpha and Theta, and three enormous T/f 1 Phantom super-cloakers. A fleet of these super-destroyers could capture virtually any planet there was.
"....3....2....1, ignition sequence lock. Hold on to launch rails," base informed. An earsplitting magnetic ping sounded as the LIM launchers catapulted us 30,000 feet into the air in 5 seconds. Those who weren't at the launch rails were flung back against the wall and pinned for an excrutiating 10 seconds of acceleration. Fourtunately, I wasn't one of them.
The Euphoria soon slowed down to an acceptable speed and for a brief minute, stayed in geostationary orbit around Lapios. Those unlucky enough not to be holding onto a launch rail recovered in that short timespan and walked back to their posts. The Euphoria burst out of the orbit it was locked in after the minute, and Operation Calcutta was underway.
What exactly Operation Calcutta was has an easy explanation. There was a sentient race of mammals that evolved on another planet in the system YIN-12, which housed Lapios as well. The humans on Lapios were urgent in their need to colonize and explore some more, so we sent the Euphoria to greet the inhabitants. Its mission comprised of the president of the humans, Peter Quin who happened to be a close friend, the War Council Leaders, Fred "Jaguar" Rienhound and me, the scientific, technical and engineering chiefs onboard the Euphoria, Sarah "Amazon" Killdeer, George "Buttons" Halloway and Adam "Incinerator" Jones, as well as the senate.
I was cautious throughout the planning of Operation Calcutta. I had never had a good encounter with other sentient species, especially with the yeerks, and didn't want to make this a repeated historical event. Every minute detail was examined by me, my fellow members of the Ruin of the Reign, and the senate to see if it would challenge the future of the human race. After countless sleepless nights, we had ironed out all the real flaws in Operation Calcutta.
According to the plans, the journey to the remote planet we had named Dain would take about an hour, due to the immense power of the sublightspeed engines of the Euphoria and the proximity of Dain to Lapios. During that duration, I spent my time examining the work of lesser officers and chatting with other ones. Nothing too interesting. Or anything interesting at all.
We soon landed on the surface of the Jungle planet in a large grassland near the equator. Buttons picked that spot because it would be the warmest spot, with a nice, balmy 70 degrees that practically all humans could endure. However, it would be at least another 10 minutes before the crews could make certain that the air was breathable, so I spent more of my time idlely chatting with old friends.
"So, Amazon, tell me again, what did you do at Limpopo?" I asked my close friend and fellow covert SS member, Sarah Killdeer, better known as the Amazon.
"Double crossing. The two words in which whole wars can be changed. You've always been too loyal, Condor. The yeerks put Incinerator, Jaguar, Buttons and I in the middle of the encampment, but we could have gone over the the USC any time we wanted. And we did. No problem."
"Makes me look like a loser. Oh, and by the way, I've never learned what exactly you morphed at the battle of Lapios Cave."
"Well, I think it was a Quetzacotalus, according to the blasted databases, that is. 40 foot wingspan, about 30 feet long. Pteradon. Very interesting creature, if you ask me."
"Use it at all?"
"No. Never have needed to."
"Well, coming up on Dain. Operation Calcutta. What is Calcutta anyway?"
"Dunno. Sounds like an Indian name, or some other former South Asian country."
"Whatever. Time to meet whoever these guys are."
We casually started walking over to the departion hatches over towards the west side of the fighter bridge, talking as we went. During the D1 Effect, Amazon and I never had been together, so we still talked about each others adventures through time as much as possible. As soon as I begun to explain the catastrophe of Hiroshima to her the 5th time, the rest of the ROTR bumped into us, along with the senate's leaders.
"Hi. About time you showed. Okay, let's get this party started. For old times sake, Condor will go first. N&E chief's job, you know," Pete said with a wink. Oh yea. That was about 4 years ago when we were first colonizing Lapios. First one to step on the planet. This time, I was going to be the first human to step on Dain.
"Catch you on the flip side, Mr. President," I said smiling. The hatch slowly opened in front of me, revealing a grassy meadow with all sorts of odd flora and fauna growing everywhere. Odd types of ferns and abnormally large flowers added to the odd scene. It was a warped version of Earth, and it didn't seem that comforting to a native martian like myself.
I spoke loud into my voice's amplifier in Galard, the language of the stars. Hopefully the creatures that inhabited this planet spoke it. "Greetings. We are humans, a bipedal race that have colonized the planet adjoining yours after our own had been destroyed."
I waited a minute before anything emerged. Only one voice did, but I could not locate the actual physical being from which it emerged. "Welcome, humans. We have been long expecting your arrival."
Chapter 1
As told by the War Council Leader, John "Condor" Leeroy
Guerrilla Parties: Elite SS Operative, Ruin of the Reign
"You have?" I asked the voice.
"Well, maybe we should back up. Humans, we are the one. The one. That is our name and we use it as a collective. Our race is connected to the land and the land is connected to us. We are one and that is our name. We have only two physical forms, the plin and glin, which are mammals that you have deemed as sentient. We are more than sentient, humans. We are much deeper than sentient. We bind galaxies together, and bring souls to new futures. We are the one. The one that has been worshiped by humans for dozens of millinia."
"You are god?" I asked in amazment.
"No, we aren't. We are nothing of the sort. We are mortal, because the precious plin and glin will die, and we don't have power over anything on Earth, or direct power. We have evolved to thread the patchwork of time how we want it, and the evolutionary bystanders, such as the sentient species, are technically at our mercy. With an enormous amount of strength, we can merge galaxies, stars and even timelines together. It is our work. It is one's work."
I stood there amazed, looking up at the sky from where the voice seemed to be coming, "What do you want the humans for?"
"An experiment. Nothing more. It will provide the human race with oppurtunity and will also put it in mild jeopardy."
The 'mild jeopardy' didn't sound that appealing. "What is it?"
"The merging of different timelines into one. A supertimeline where anything can happen. Well, according to the physical and quantum laws they can. The Sycthes will have came and gone, and you will still be on Lapios and will be just as far along as you are now. There is a key difference, however. Earth is yeerk territory, and so are a vast number of planets. Earth is not the uninhabitable wasteland it is today, but it is still pretty gross and will need to be re-terraformed. The Andalites still exist, and they play the prominent role in the galaxy's defense. They think that the human race is all but enslaved by the yeerks, and won't believe that any human fleet is coming to rescue Earth. As an added plus, the Animorphs are hiding down on Earth, acting as a resistence and have added a few members."
"My family? Are they enslaved?"
"No, the Scythes will have taken them again."
I was angered again. If I couldn't kill the Scythes, then the next best thing was the yeerks. And there was a whole lot of yeerks to kill. An evil grin spread across my face. "We can get back Earth and rebuild the human colonies in that sector, right?"
"I don't know. If the human race is capable of Z-space travel, then yes."
This would work well in convincing the senate and maybe Buttons to go through with the timeline switch. Very, very well. Well, it should, at any rate. Most of us, me included, wanted to restore the human race to what it was before, and the restoration of Earth was one of the things on that "to do" list. Not just colonize it again, but make it the same in every way as before the industrialization of the entire planet and the Sycthes.
To do this, we would have to first take a firm hold on the planet, terraform the land according to the databases' info and recreate several hundred million types of species through the genetical reproduction of their DNA. Not a very easy job, but it was to be an incredible feat if we ever accomplished it. The yeerk's occupation of Earth was actually the first stepping stone in the achievement. If we were to defeat them, then we wouldn't have to wait 200 years until the surface of Earth was safe to terraform.
ROTR and the senate's leaders soon came out after I beaconed to them that it was OK to come out. The voice explained about the experiment once more to us and gave the opportunity to us. Surprisingly, the senate had no trouble in deciding on what to do. I didn't need my reasons. They were unanimous from moment one.
"You are taking to a liking of our plan, human, no?"
"Yes, we are, One. We are completly unanimous in our desicion. You may fuse the timelines together. But, we were wondering, One, what is in the bargain for you?" Incinerator asked.
"Humans, just the thought of you regaining your status is beyond enough of a reward. One evolved to please others, and the energy within our commune is provided by the pleasing of other races. This is, of course, races with good intentions. We know that humans have good intentions."
Interesting, a race of giving. Their scientific properties, if any, depend on their ablility to please others with gifts. Very, very intriguing.
"Fusion done. You may go humans. Please tell us how we did. It is truely One's first time at a gift so large."
"We will, One. And good luck!" Pete called out to the voice as we slowly turned back to go inside the main personnel hatch. The voice disappeared, but it did not do so with any audible notification. Everyone was aware of it, yet, it did not happen in a sensed perception. An odd phenomena.
I climbed the ramp, and being the last one in, I told the computer to shut it. It complied, and the grey-black ramp slowly rose back up onto the hull of the Euphoria. Jaguar was already broadcasting the message, and cheers of exitment and adventure sprung up along the wide corridors and rooms. I walked along, seeing engineers working extra hard to push the engines to get home, navigators already plotting the best course from Lapios to Earth, and soldiers going to polish their bio-bots in the warehouses. Fighter pilots tuning up their F/y's, SS's practicing their swarming tactics and medics were preparing the acceleration serum; a serum in which the reproduction of red blood cells is increased, preventing most bloodloss cases. In other words, the Euphoria was full of it's name, if you catch my drift.
We flew back to Lapios as fast as we could, with the cheers of the crew still echoing in my mind. God, it was going to be a great year. Well, that is, if we won. And we would. Well, hopefully. Argh.
Chapter 2
"I have called this meeting of the War Council on what to do in order to retake Earth and possibly help the Andalite force in the destruction of all the yeerk facilities on all of their captured planets. As a last resort, we will use the fleets of Mortae and Imporia, but the notion is clear that action has to be done only using the international fleet. The Euphoria is the only heavy ship that is within the fleet's arsenal, and although it is only one, it is massive. However, if we truly wish to take back Earth, we must have a much larger fleet of varied ships. Medical, super-destroyers, cruisers and transports should be very prominent, and if we can we should have some lighter ships such as about 20 B-207's. The way we come about finding the sources to create these monsters is now up for discussion," I began within the chambers of the War Council. Essentially, I was the leader of it, but Jaguar was the leader of the light starship division and the guerrilla, but I was everything else.
"We could force both Mortae and Imporia to give us their reserves in exchange for civilian service or perhaps troops. But that won't be the greatest way out of this problem because Mortae and Imporia probably will not lend their fleets in the assault," a high councillor, Dave Vinni suggested. That was my first thought as well.
"Good point, and that is why I suggest this. We could-, wait, Q9, tell me exactly how many civilians have decided to become part of the international effort," Jaguar ordered.
The humanoid robot suddenly buzzed to life next to me. "There are exactly 752,812.2427291 humans accolated to the work force," the android said.
".2427291?" Winston Palmgrove, another war council member, asked in bewilderment.
"Amputees."
"Oh. Anyway, assuming the adults make up a half million people, that should be plenty in strip mining an astroid for minerals within a week. We've pinpointed the astroid of Delphi, about a quarter million miles away, for the job, and the minerals they provide should be plenty to build the fleet in about a month, assuming that Mortae and Imporia help. If they don't, we simply bribe them to do so," Jaguar finished.
"How long have you been working on this plan, Mr. Reinhound?" Vinni asked.
"Ever since ROTR and the senate first heard from One about the timeline fusion. Anyway, does anybody have any problems with that?"
Immediately, the young Jennifer Dove stood up looking rather distressed. Jenifer had actually been promoted to the position the day before because of a brilliant tactical move on her part in the military simulators that actually routed the nearly inpenatrable AI inside the mainframe computer. No one really trusted her, thinking that she would be too young for real discisions. "Mr. Reinhound, I know that when you were fighting at Limpopo fortress I was a mere teenager, but, I must say that there is a flaw. How do we strip mine an astroid within a week?"
Jaguar smiled. "We've already shipped the neccesary labor to Delphi the day we got back, 6 days ago. They have the equipment running at full tilt, and the minerals will be extracted in 7 days."
I shot Jaguar a look. "You have, Mr. Reinhound?" I asked. This took him by surprise, because I almost always called him Jaguar, but the War Council was more of a formal assembly, so codenames weren't used.
"Yes, we have, Mr. Leeroy, and under the senate's descretion. The president in fact highly suggested it, so we went along with the plan."
"Well, I guess we have no choice but to follow through with the plan that the council leader has provided us with. Our next meeting will be onboard the flagship of the fleet. Adjourned," I announced, standing up from my seat. The council room was instantly filled with chatting as all the members stood up and began debating Jaguar's descion. From what I gathered, most liked it, but it was hard to tell.
"Jaguar, please remember to tell me about these sort of things more often, ca va?," I reminded him, as he came walking by me.
"Very well, council leader Leeroy," he said with a smile and then headed out from the war-room in which we were. I followed him out, but not before stopping to talk with Vinni and Palmgrove about the designs of the predecessors to the Euphoria. It was actually sort of a forced discussion, because both of the councillors were eager to present their views to me in order to make it legal for them to do whatever they did. I had to agree to their plans, however, for it to be constitutional and legal.
"Mr. Leeroy, may we speak to you for a second?" Palmgrove asked as I was leaving the room.
"Yes, of course you may."
"Well, Council Leader, we have several plans in the production of the new super-destroyer, the, what are they calling them? The, Titanic class, yes. Anyway, due to the rushed build, we have suggested to completely erase the hyperspace capabilities of them. Besides, the concept of hyperdrive has never really been tested to a full extent, and our armies could use the practical Z-space drives instead. According to the latest charts from Mortae and Imporia, the hyperdrive has cost them the most resources and without a hyperdrive on 3 of our ships, we estimate that we could create an entirely new ship of the same stature with the remaining resources," Vinni presented.
"Plus, the only true reason that the hyperdrive was installed was to save the humans onboard from a Negative Energy Quantum Anamoly explosion, or a NEQA bang, and from Z-space gravity fields that, as you know, pull ships from Z-space into normalizing the immense gravity of the stars. The yeerks don't have this technology, and NEQA bangs are pretty much fictitious according to the scientists," Palmgrove added on to the argument.
"Well, I've never had that many good experiences with scientists or NEQA bangs, so that biases my reply to some extent. You can have your cheaper, hyperdrive free ships as long as the Euphoria has hers in case of an emergency. And, please try to take care of the Euphoria, I spent most of my personal money into building it," I said, allowing them to take out the hyper drives in several of the ships. In fact, all of them except the Euphoria.
"Thank you sir. We will take the plans to the chief engineers immediately," Palmgrove said as they walked away. I did too and walked slowly to the west end of the complex to my quarters to sleep. I needed it after all, because you know that councillors are very busy, well, they are supposed to be. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. ;)
*************************************
As told by the President, Peter "Mon Capitain" Quin
"Your helmet, Mr. President," the Q9 android said in his oddly tilted mechanized voice while presenting me with a silvery helmet with the insignia of a fleet commander. Right now, I was more than the fleet commander, but I liked to think that I was. I could do this more often, and it was far more exiting than being the president of the international effort.
"Thank you, Q9. And tell the mechanics that they should be giving you guys some better paint. I mean, look at you! You are a mess!"
"I will, sir. And it is kind of you for noticing the horrid paint job they gave me." The android walked casually away and looked rather determined as if to go straight to the mechanics and force them to repaint him. That was the thing with the Q9 series. They always did as they were told and did it well.
I started walking towards the sighter bay of the Ecstacy with my head held high and feeling like I was free from bondage. No security guards and other crappy personnel that just hung aroung me like flies and a pile of garbage. Not that I was, or anything like that, but I am pretty sure you have gotten the picture.
It was exactly 14 days after we had arrived back from Dain and chatting with the One and their fusion of the timelines. I had wanted to go as a fighter pilot, because I originally was one before the promotions, but the goddamned secret service wouldn't let me. After several fist-fights, my good friend Condor managed to "convince" them to stop following me around like dogs and let me fight as a military man should. I was assigned to Alpha Squadron Lead for a squadron of F/y 50's fresh from the engineering bay. The old lead stepped down to Alpha two temporarily, and the squadron had one more than the standerd 5 that we had switched to. It was a great feeling, being Alpha Lead again, the greatest pilot in the human race. Whoa, sounds pretty graket (cool) if you look at it that way.
The human fleet took off with a fleet of 5 super destroyers, 12 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 20 B-204 mini-ships and 7 medical ships. Most of the cruisers and all of the B-204's came from the fleets of Mortae and Imporia, so it wasn't that much of a feat in contstructing the fleet in that amount of time. The super-destroyers we named the Ecstacy, the one I was on, the Nirvana, the ship that Condor used to commandeer before it was upgraded, Elation, Pas de Cataclysm and the flagship, Euphoria. It made up one of the greatest achievments of our history, building the fleet in that amount of time. Amazing.
"We are standby for fighter launch," I said over the slightly obsolete Uvadio that we still used sometimes as I jumped into the cockpit of the F/y 50. "Alpha team, check in."
"This is Alpha 2, standing by."
"Alpha 3 is ready to go, over."
"Alpha 4 is set, Mr. President, standing by."
"Alpha 5 here."
"Alpha 6 is standing by."
"Roger that, Alpha team. Launch on my mark. 5...4....3...2...1... NOW!" I called. The computer catapulted the sturdy craft straight out of the fighter bay right as I marked them, and we joined formation near the launched squadron of Theta.
"Hiya guys, are we set for Z-Space launch?"
"Roger that, Alpha Lead. Launch is now pending."
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...LOCK!" Ecstacy called out. In 5 seconds we would be traveling over the speed of light. I switched the Uvadio to Alpha.
"Pax Galaxia!" I called in latin, meaning peace in the galaxy. It was the original motto of the early colonizers of Mars, and we intended to continue the long life of humans.
"Pax Galaxia!" They cried back. And then, silence. Z-Space. It would be another day before we would come out, so I hooked up my shoulder to the REM emmiter and a deep, dream-filled sleep overtook me. Better than the monotony of blackness, that is.
Chapter 3
As told by the War Council Leader, Condor Leeroy
Guerrilla Ranks: Elite SS Operative, Veteran Swamp-Warrior
"Captain, what's our status?" I asked the captain of the Euphoria, Paul Eurgest. I technically had more power than he, but he still controlled what the ship did.
"The Elation and Nirvana are soon to jump out of Z-space to commence the surprise attack on the yeerkish forces near the planet of Mars. Pas de Cataclysm is soon to follow, dispatching several of it's T/f 1 Phantoms and squadrons. We, the Euphoria and the Ecstacy, are in charge of the battery of the planet's defenses, and our ships will be the ones to land to secure the Red Planet."
"What of the destroyers and cruisers?"
"They should be the ones to arrive even before the Elation and Nirvana. Just to make think that the assault is lighter than it truly is. The medical frigates are being timed to arrive in orbit around Mars with the Pas de Cataclysm."
"When are the destroyers and cruisers set to go?"
"They are actually already supposed to be in the fray, Council Leader, and the Elation and the Nirvana should have gotten into the fight right now."
"Good. Bring up a visual of the assault."
"I regret to inform you that the Z-space connections will make the transmission hazy."
"Do it anyway."
"Yes, sir. Comming on screen."
Before me inside the captain's quarters unfurled a large display of the battlefield above Mars hovering in front of the holo-projector. To tell you the truth, there was nothing much to see. No fight. Whatsoever.
"Contact the Elation for me," I ordered to the captain, studying the display.
"Coming on line," Captain Eurgest said.
"War Council Leader Leeroy, what is the meaning of this transmission?" A senate member of whom I did not recognize demanded.
"What is the deal with the battle? Have you destroyed the yeerk forces already?"
"Well, Mr. Leeroy, yes. We have. Their planetary defenses were so incredibly weak that a single destroyer could have taken them all out. I would suggest the acceleration of the project immidiately."
"What about terrestrial defenses?"
"According to the 4, T/f 1 Phantom recconaissance flights, they are inexistant. My guess is that the timeline was altered so that Mars was killed off by the Scythes, but the planet is habitable. Sensors show that it has the identical chemical readout as the Mars before the Scythes."
"Hmmm. Send the Elation's crew down to secure the planet. Build several bases as well."
"Sounds good to me, Mr. Leeroy. End transmission," the senator said, leaving me to further study the display of the 2 Titanic-class super-destroyers drifting nearby Mars.
"Order the acceleration of the operation, Captain. I want every ship to be in orbit around the planet of Mars within the hour."
"Yes, sir. I would suggest for you to go back to your quarters now, however. You look bad."
"Thanks for noticing. I'm rather under the weather today. Dismissed." I said, giving him a very quick salute in which he returned in the same, hasty manner. And I took his advice. I mean, a few minutes of cat nap wouldn't effect that much, would it? Nah.
*******************************
As told by the Visser 1
I told you, councilor, that I have done all I could to destroy the resistance. They are simply too high in number to vanquish, I pleaded before councilor 4.
"You had better have them destroyed. The emperor really doesn't like the empire in jeopardy, especially with the invasion of the Andalite home world imminent. Although, you have proven yourself a worthy commander on many an occasion, so I will let this one past, Visser. You are a lucky yeerk," the voice of councillor 4 rang into my head like a gong.
Thank you, councilor.
"Dismissed, Visser."
The transmission ended and I was left alone in my quarters to think up another way to destroy the ever growing resistence on Earth. The resistence, for those who haven't had a clue as to what has been going on since the capture of Earth, is the group of andalite scum and human dung who have plagued the empire since day one. Their morphing abilities have played out to our diadvantage and we knew that they consisted of mainly humans and andalites. Whenever we had them cornered, they somehow manage to flank us. It seems that their numbers grow by the day, and all infestations of captured members have been in vane since they all have implanted biological viruses inside their ear canal that has been engineered to kill yeerks and only yeerks.
What makes matters worse is that even if there weren't viruses inside the ear canals of the scum, they are consistantly changing their bases. One day, they attack in the middle east, the next, the former United States. Always changing, always on the go.
The good news was that they have done truey little damage to the pools and to the command centers across the Earthern globe. You'd think that they could with the morphing power, but they havn't. They've neglected to use their ability to the fullest extent, like I have, so that has saved our empire from their constant trouble.
As I was thinking of ways to pummel the unending annoyance of the resistance, a hork-bajir guard came running into my quarters, panting hard. The nerve of him! This had better be good.
What is it? I'll have your throat if this is not important!
"Visser, a fleet of 40 ships of sizes ranging from small to ridiculously large has entered the system near the planet that the humans call Mars! They have not been identified correctly, yet, but they cannot be of Andalite origin due to the size of them."
What?! Well, what do they resembled, if anything?
"Human ships, Visser. Although humans have not achieved spaceflight in the real sense, some of the ships have a structural capacity resembling that of their shuttling craft."
Those were the last words of that hork-bajir's life.
*******************************
As told by the Resistence Chairman Jake [ERROR: Data not found.]
"Jake, man, we got something," Marco said from the command console. After 2 days of sleepless nights staring at the blasted screens, we had finally got something. Finally.
"After this long and all the dang rumors from the spys, we had better have got something," I muttered loud enough for him to hear me clearly.
"Well, ya. We have a fleet of 40, I'm guessing, human? ships coming in from Mars. Though you'd might want to know," he said.
"WHAT?! How could they be human ships?"
"I dunno, but it says here that only humans are inhabiting the ships and they were made on a planet named, Lapios?"
"Lapios, that name seems so familiar... Keep looking, and monitor their behavior."
"Well, if you call capturing Mars and setting up several gun batteries, and several thousand troops are landing, and-"
"What the, this was unexpected. Call in Greg and Pete. Tell them to tell the resistance to get underground and into the bunkers. The animorphs and Ax along with Greg and Pete are to stay here and examine them. No chances, Marco," I ordered.
"Yes, oh mighty leader," he countered.
"Well, I sort of am. I am the leader of the only resistance on Earth against mind-contolling slugs from thousands of light-years away."
"You sound so much like you're still a kid. Oh well. Let's get a move on it."
*****************************
As told by the War Council Leader, John "Condor" Leeroy
"I told you, councillor, that the people want Earth within the month! I don't give a crap about the capture of Mars, because it isn't the pride of the human race! The people want Earth!" Senator Joe Cacknoy complained to me.
"I'm sorry, senator, but we must set up proper facilities on the planet before attacking. If we lose, then we have a place to fall back on."
"But we cannot lose. Did you see the incredibly tiny force that the yeerks put here? Pathetic!"
"That was here, senator, not Earth. Our sensors have picked up an enormous fleet of yeerkish ships parked in orbit around Earth. Besides, the invasion will only be delayed for a couple of days."
"Our sensors are picking up nothing, just an Earth with barely a trace of yeerkish activity!"
"Senator, you are very foolish to believe that. Your sensors were constructed before the timeline mergence. Therefore, they will only sense data from our timeline and universe. The War Council installed the newer, updated sensors on the titanics (the super destroyers) although we hadn't gotten around to installing them on every cruiser. The Bliss is not equipped with them, Cacknoy," I argued.
"Even if you didn't, the sensors still would pick up data from this timeline, wouldn't they?"
"No, because technically, they are in a different one. Senator, I am not an engineer, and that is why we hire trained ones to explain the phenomena. From all the information I have gathered, this is the best strategically placed move on our part."
"Mr. Leeroy, I realize that you do have a superior intellect in the militant sense, but the people will not approve of-"
"The people won't care if it takes us a month to prepare, senator! We will have secured the first human populated planet other than Earth! My birthplace! Many other's birthplaces! Mars is not only a strategical location, but it signifies our steps to become a full civilization once more!"
"I see your point there, War Council Leader, but I don't understand fully the strategical aspect."
Niether did I, but I still gave my reasoning. "If the yeerks ever want to annihilate us, they have to first travel the distance from Earth to Mars. Now, that distance isn't big enough for a Z-space jump, but too large for conventional travel for their crude sublight engines. Now, if they somehow were able to create a sub-quantum jump into a lateral matrix on L5 or L4, then it might work, but knowing the yeerks, they won't do that. That gives us a signifigent advantage.
"Now, senator, if you fail to understand the logic in waiting just 3 days, only 3 days, goddammit, then your axis are skewed (you're stupid and I suggest resigning from your position in the senate and go back to Imporia. This is War Council Leader Leeroy out," I concluded. The transmission ended and I headed out of my quarters to oversee the construction of the base.
Chapter 4
As told by the Resistence Officer, Peter Asvaldsson
Hello, my name is Peter Asvaldsson. Actually, Asvaldsson isn't my last name. I forgot my last name. Sometimes I wonder if I even ever had a last name. I just go by that alias, Pete Asvaldsson. Don't ask me why.
If you are reading this, you are probably a free member of the human society. The yeerks have banned all books and literature, so you can't be infested. You are either in hiding, or with us, the resistence. It doesn't matter which, I will tell you what was happening at the time of the resistence's pinnacle strength.
It was the 21st day of April in the year 2008. I was the prominent officer in the resistence, along with my twin, Gregory Skieth. As I said, we forgot our last names, so we have chosen different ones. Chairman Jake led the resistence along with the original morphers, the Animorphs. I am morph-capable, but since I rarely see battle, I have never morphed, although I have aquired several animals to do so.
I was relaxing after a long day of training new recruits and recruiting people in hiding, when the chief engineer of the resistence, Marco, walked in looking nervous. Greg and I both stood up and saluted him, but he quickly made it known that it wouldn't be neccesary.
"Pete, Greg, go round up every member on the surface and bring them down into the underground bunker. We'll tell you why later, but it is big news."
"Yessir," Greg responded. He looked at me and we ran off ready to round up every member we could find. I could only imagine what the "big news" was, but it didn't sound good, so I intended to do it hastily. Really hastily.
Marco ran off in the other direction while Greg and I headed for the empath-transponder (EmTrans) station we had constructed in the underground bunker just for these occasions. What it would do was transmit a message telepathically to those who had a genetically implanted mechanical device placed near their ear. The technology was actually of an andalite form, but we altered it slightly so it wouldn't cripple the human mind.
We quickly ran down the stairs that connected the bunker to the outside encampment. One of the many, actually. The underground bunker was actually a bulkhead to every place in North America by way of Magnetic Levetation Cars, or MagLevs. That is why the yeerks have never captured us, and probably never will. The downside is that no matter how hard we tried, the yeerkish force would never buckle under our relentless assaults. But I had a feeling that was over.
As soon as we were inside the underground complex, we both ran around to the location of the EmTrans where the speakers were that we could direct the message. I spoke into the microphone-shaped speaker first, "All members of the human and andalite resistence, meet in bunker 5 and await instructions. This is the voice of Officer Peter Asvaldsson."
The EmTrans instantly was flooded with acknowledgments that it turned into flashing, green lights for saftey. The room was literally a green daze the instant after I commanded them to meet in the bunker. It eventually wore off, and we walked out of the room and back up the stairs to find out what the "big news" exactly was. Hopefully it was a promotion to Animorph status, but Marco would not have looked so nervous, I mean, he doesn't hate me THAT much, does he? And he wouldn't have the entire resistence moved underground for that either.
"Know what it is?" I asked Greg hopefully while racing up the stairs.
"No, but I have a feeling that this 'big news' is good."
"Me too. Andalite assistence?"
"Not a chance. Their fleet is trying to reach some planet with a prominent species with the IQ of slugs." I smiled. Greg always was a firm hater of Andalites.
"Some other fleet? Maybe, I don't know, hork-bajir?" We laughed.
"I think you have a point, though with the fleet. Who knows? Pelamites maybe? Some force so powerful that our puny, insignifigent phsyces couldn't possibly handle? Likely."
I smiled. We chatted and chatted like we had no big, important things to do, which we did, for several minutes until we finally reached the encampment and started heading straight for the command center on the west end of the base. Greg started looking more and more anxious, as I probably did too, but we were trained since we were 17 by the command of Jake, and our lives are owed to him 20 times over. I think we could have trusted him.
We ran into the tent-like stucture and saw the Animorphs and Aximili over a wide viewscreen. Oblivious to us, probably, but we still walked over to them.
Ah, good. Peter and Greg. Hopefully you will take this news in a positive manner as we have now, Aximili said, turning around to see us better. You can never sneak up on an andalite.
The rest of them turned around and met our gaze. "Now, I would like your opinion on th situation, guys. According to our stolen sensors, we have a fleet of 40 large ships and many other smaller ones around the planet of Mars. It consists of 5, gigantic battleships slightly smaller than pool ships, 28 middle-sized destroyers the size of four space shuttles and 7, blade-ship sized cruisers. As you can see, a force to be reckoned with.
"What is startling about this, however, is that the DNA structure of the beings onboard the ships in this fleet is identical to that of a human's. We can't be sure if they are humans, because these sensors are almost always in someways wrong, but that leaves us with a large problem. What the heck are we supposed to do?"
******************************
As told by the War Council Leader, John "Condor" Leeroy
"Okay, next on the agenda is the prospect of the new, dimesional gate sub. Mr. Adam Jones, the chief director of the Engineering Corps has the blueprints in which we need to ratify the prototype's usage amongst the fleet. Mr. Jones," I said, gesturing towards Incinerator. It was the evening of the eve of the assault, and I called a meeting of the council to straighten every last detail of the battle. Back-up plans, special circumstances, those sort of things.
"Thank you, Mr. Leeroy. As you know, the term space fleet was coined after a large collection of spaceships. This, in turn, makes it a direct copy off the ancient termanology for ships designed for the sea of water. Armada, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, fleet, ships, all of them are copies of old, seafaring terms.
"On the sea, a ship was confined practically to 2 demensions, and could not travel in 3. Then came the submarine. It bypassed the 2 dimensional laws and became able to travel in the 3 in which we are used to, and became a far greater asset in moving unnoticed through the seas.
"Now, what we all know is that a spaceship can travel in 3 dimensions, and is a very useful tool. However, if we could add another one onto that 3 like the sea submarines did so long ago, we could travel yet again unnoticed in most ways like the olden submarines. 4 dimensions, that is. This, of course, would call for a radically differant way of constructing the space subs, like the old seafarers did with the sea subs for operating underwater, so the prototype will much resemble that of a bullet, or a laser needle.
"Since we are actually going into a dimension that we are not designed for, the ways of movement will be vastly different. It will be like the old picture of a man completly flat suddenly gaining depth. Those inside the 4th dimension will be able to move in a way so radically differant that it is indescribable. It will be similar to Z-space, although instead of being in random dimensions, it will focus on only one and the humans inside will be subject to the new laws that the 4th dimension has. However, if we can bypass this, then the space sub will become the single greatest scouting and spying craft in existence. Far better than our current super-cloaker, in fact. Literally invisable."
"Now, like the sea subs, the space submarine can travel back to the 3rd dimension and return to their normal way of moving. This will be essential to the slightly updated version of the assault that has been ratified already by the president and the senate. This meeting is, as I am told, to ratify the usage of the craft."
Immidiatly, Don Santiago stood up, "What 'slightly modified' version of the assault?!"
I then explained, "What the engineer here means is that the preliminary stages of the assault have been changed. This space sub will have a crew of 3 that will come done to the surface and meet the resistence, telling them what is happening, and will lead the resistence in the effort to actually capture the planet. The rest of the invasion will happen according to plan, but with the development of the space sub comes an opputunity we cannot miss."
"Also, you would be quite happy to know, councilers," Incinerator continued, "the Transdemensional Submersible can attack ships in the 3rd demension, however, with very limited power. The missiles designed for usage in our demension will do little physical damage, but the physcalogical damage of 50 missiles streaking out from nowhere is incredible. Fleets of the TDS-1's, as we are calling them, will be indestructable in most regards, yet still, not very powerful. It will soon be required that every fleet include at least five TDS-1's for backup and/or escape."
Councillor Dave Vinni stood up, looking rather inquisitivly at the blueprints of the TDS-1's. "Hmmm, it looks very interesting, Chief Engineer Jones, but how much does it cost to produce?"
Incinerator looked slightly distressed. "Well, we've created the prototype and the cost is larger that one might expect. About 1/3 the cost more than a standerd destroyer, yet less than one eighth the size. A large difference."
Vinni stared intently at the blueprints some more, then continued, "But it should be a very useful asset in our re-conquering of Earth, am I correct in saying that, sir?" He turned to me.
"Yes, Mr. Vinni, and one that will soon prove too be vital. Meeting adjourned. Get to your ships, and if you have any military experience, which you should, stand by the post in which you are most familiar with. AT's (aquatic tacticals) should proceed with the invasion force," I concluded the meeting. The room started buzzing yet again as it usually did after meeting with all the council member chatting about the latest happenings and what the meeting was about. I didn't stay long to chat, and almost instantly after I concluded, I headed to my quarters for the night. I needed the rest. I had to prepare for the next day.
The REALLY, REALLY long next day.
A/N: I know, mostly chatting and no real action, but it will be the exact opposite in the next installment. If there is. PLEASE, I amd begging you, PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAAAAASSSSSEEEE review!!!!! Thanks!
:-)--
P.S. Like my smiley guy? LOL.