Animorphs: The Replacement
[insert normal disclaimer here]
Thought-speak in Italics
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My name is Tobias and I was restless. I just couldn't stay in one place for very long before having to fly off and look for something else to do. Not that there was a whole lot to do really. When you know that your entire life is going to change by the end of the next day it's hard to try and accomplish anything beforehand.
And our lives definitely were going to change for better or for worse. You see, we've been fighting this war with the Yeerks for more than three years by this point and so far they've been winning. But this morning Jake said he had a plan, one final plan, that would finally settle the score either way. If it worked then by the end of tomorrow the Yeerk invasion would be over and all the human hosts would start to get released. If it didn't work then all of us would end up dead and the Yeerks would have no one to stop them from making all the humans on Earth into controllers. It was just that kind of plan. All or nothing. To win big you've got to gamble big and we were gambling huge. But I trusted Jake. After being under his command for over three years how could I not? And even if the plan didn't work and we all ended up dead I knew that we would've given it our best shot. We definitely weren't doing any good just sitting there in the Hork-Bajir valley while the Yeerks tear up everything around us that's for sure.
So, as I said before I was feeling a bit restless and I decided to go one one last flight before the sun went down completely. It could have very well been my last chance to do so. But as I was trying to ride a quickly diminishing thermal I noticed something far off in the distance. At first they were only two dark specs against the colorful sun-setting sky, but as I zoomed in on them I began to see just enough detail to identify them.
The first thing I noticed was that they were both birds, probably raptors, and one was much bigger than the other. This gave me a good idea of what was happening, but what really tipped me off was that the bigger of the two seemed to have no head against the light colored sky behind it. The only conclusion I could come up with was that the bigger bird was a bald eagle. And since we were significantly far away from any river valleys I could further assume that it was in fact Rachel in morph. And if that was Rachel then the other smaller bird must have been Jake. He was probably taking her aside to tell her what she would be doing tomorrow as part of his final plan.
Jake had been doing that to everybody throughout the day including me. I guess it kind of makes sense to only tell people what they need to know. That way if someone gets captured or something they can't tell the Yeerks everything about Jake's plan so we'd still hold some element of surprise. But... I couldn't help but be curious about Jake's plan. I trusted Jake completely when he told me he had a final plan set up, but just because I trusted him doesn't mean I wouldn't be naturally curious about the rest of the plan. I mean, having to sneak into the Pool Ship with Toby and her platoon just so I could "eat" Erik before join up with the rest of the team was cool and everything, but why the hell was I supposed to do something like that? If that was my part of the plan then I could only imagine what everyone else had to do.
So I couldn't help but be a bit curious about everything else that was going on tomorrow, but I wasn't about to ask Jake or anyone else for that matter about what they were doing. But, if I just so happened to overhear Jake telling someone a bit more about his plan then it really wasn't as bad as going and asking for more information, right? I knew I probably should mind my own business and let Jake and Rachel have their talk in private, and if it was anyone else I probably would have, but he was going to be talking to Rachel. MY Rachel. We had become so close over the past three years. She knew everything there was to know about me and I knew everything there was to know about her. Why not add this in there as well? And it wasn't like it would be a HUGE deal anyway since then I'd only know one-fifth more of the plan than I already did. What's the worst that could happen?
Since they were flying slightly away from me and the sun was directly behind me I figured they hadn't seen me. (Jake would've probably said something to me if he had). I made sure to keep the same distance between us as I followed them down next to the tree tops (so I could quickly duck into them if they looked back). I didn't have to follow them for all that long before both Jake and Rachel suddenly dropped down and out of sight. At first I wondered wether they'd spotted me and were trying to lose me, but then I remembered that there was a clearing up around where they were. It was the perfect spot to have their meeting since it was so isolated from the rest of the Hork-Bajir valley. I sped up a bit so that I could make it there before they started talking.
I didn't quite make it into audible range before they started talking unfortunately. The first thing I heard clearly was Jake saying, "I just wanted to tell you that before tomorrow. If everything works out then that's great, but if it doesn't I just wanted you to know."
It wasn't a huge loss of knowledge though. Jake was probably just telling Rachel how much she meant to the group and how much he'd appreciated what she'd done and all that stuff just in case he never got a chance to say it again. He'd done the same to me during our meeting. Rachel then came back and said how good of a leader Jake had been and all of that stuff just like I had done as well. After they exchanged a hug it was time for them to finally get down to business.
This was the moment I had been waiting for and luckily for me I was close enough to find a decent perch without making too much noise doing so. I slowly glided down through the tree tops and almost silently maneuvered through the tree branches until I spotted the perfect branch. From there I could hear them clearly and I also had a good line of sight to them without being too close to get spotted. As quietly as I could I flared my wings and took a nice perch on that tree branch so I could watch the show.
"Rachel," Jake said somberly, "you have the most important mission of all. You're going to be the back-up."
Rachel's expression turned from being slightly excited to slightly disappointed at the news. "Back-up?" she asked slowly, "what do you mean by back-up?"
Jake took a deep breath before he said, "Tom's Yeerk and I have made a deal. It's not important when and where this all took place, but what's important is the deal itself. He's willing to get us past the pool ship security, but in return he wants control of the blade ship and free passage off of Earth. He says he's willing to help us because he's as fed up with Visser One as we are, but I don't trust him. I can't trust him. I know he's going to try and betray us one way or another and even if he doesn't I can't let someone like him go free. That's why I need you."
Jake took a small pause which gave Rachel enough time to say, "So, what do you want me to do?"
"I managed to get some third party information which gave me a good idea of where Tom would be sleeping tonight," Jake continued. "What I need you to do is to catch up with him and follow him wherever he goes. Never let him out of your sight. It would probably be best if you used your flea morph to stay directly on him as much as possible. He will eventually make it to the Blade Ship and take control over it. I'm almost positive that he won't be able to resist gloating about fooling Visser One and stealing his Blade Ship so he'll have to come within close range of the Pool Ship to do so once both are in orbit. Here is where things get a bit varied depending on how everything else went."
"In the best case scenario we'll already have control of the Pool Ship and be more than ready for the Blade Ship to arrive. We'll already have the weapons warmed up and lined up so that we can deliver a crippling shot to the Blade Ship to keep it from running away. After it's immobilized we can then try to board it and take everyone aboard the ship, including Tom, prisoner. But if they don't surrender, which will probably be the case, then we're going to have to fight them all at which point you can jump off Tom and help us."
Jake took a big sigh before continuing, "In the worst case scenario... We'll either be all dead or maybe we just haven't gotten control over the ship when Tom arrives. In either case if it looks like Tom and the others on board are going to escape then it will be up to you and you alone to stop them. You're going to have to quickly find somewhere to demorph and morph into something suitable so keep that in mind. Your main target will be Tom since there's no way I can let him escape. And once you deal with him you'll have the rest of the crew to deal with as well... We'll try to do anything we possibly can to help, but chances are if it comes down to this then there's nothing we can do. You'll be on your own and there's really no plan for getting you back."
There was a long an eerie silence between both of them for quite a long time as everything began to sink in. Eventually though Jake broke the silence and began to talk once again. "I just can't let Tom's Yeerk escape. Even if things go flawlessly with our plan to take control of the Pool Ship there's still a small chance that Tom's Yeerk might end up escaping while the rest of the Yeerks surrender. He's very high up in the chain of command and he needs to be held responsible for all the things he's done to the human race as well as whoever else he's tortured. And even if we don't succeed and the Yeerks take over and enslave the entire Earth I'll have died happier knowing that at least one high-ranking Yeerk was dealt with. And you're the only one who I know could do it without hesitating. You're the only one out of the group that, if I gave the order, wouldn't think twice before doing it. I'd love to have you along with the rest of us but I really need you to do this even more."
"I know it must sound like a suicide mission and it could very well end up being one," Jake solemnly continued. "But even though I've been the one making all the hard decisions over the past few years I simply can't make this one. I'm not going to send you on a suicide mission. I'll leave the decision in your hands. If you're willing to accept this mission and prevent Tom's Yeerk from escaping then I'll continue on and tell you everything else you need to know. If not..."
Jake kind of trailed off as those last words rang through the air. Both Rachel and Jake stared down into the ground as a long silence fell over both of them. Then, all of a sudden, Rachel looked up and quietly said, "Jake, I'll do it."
WHAT? I yelled out without even meaning to, ARE YOU CRAZY? Realizing what I had just done I tried to get quiet again, but it didn't take me long to figure out just how stupid that idea was. My cover was blown. They knew I had been listening the whole time. The only thing left to do was to come out of hiding and give them both a piece of my mind.
I stretched out my wings and jumped off the branch. I glided through the tangle of branches and eventually popped out into the clearing. As soon as my talons hit the ground I began to morph into my human form (actual yelling gets emotions across far better than thought-speak yelling does). But I simply couldn't wait until I had morphed to begin. My surprise at Rachel's answer had quickly turned into anger on my flight down from the branch and I was ready to burst.
What the hell is wrong with you Jake?!? I yelled in thought-speak as I turned my attention to him first. He was still busy staring at the ground looking as if he almost expected this to happen. You're willing to sacrifice one of the Animorphs, your own cousin, just to get some closure with your brother for being a controller? We've all been through a lot and it's tough on all of us, but you can't be making stupid ass calls like that right now. You seriously can't think of anything better for Rachel to do than to go kill herself as well as Tom? Rachel's probably the most important member of our team and you just want to throw her away like some worthless piece of garbage? How could you even think of doing something like that?
By this point I was human enough to use my mouth, so as I switched my focus from Jake to Rachel I made sure to give it a work out. "And what about you Rachel?" I asked as I quickly swung around to look at her. She avoided gazing at me and pointed her eyes to the ground similar to what Jake had been doing. "What the hell were you thinking when you said 'yes' to this idiotic mission? Do you really think Tom is that important of a target that you have to sacrifice your life in order to take his? You know that the rest of the crew isn't just going to let you stand by while you kill him, right? You're going to have to take them all on and there's no way you can beat them all, especially all at once. And think about everyone you'd be leaving behind. Your mom, your dad, your sisters... me. All for what? So you can kill Tom and have whoever's left take over control of the ship before escaping anyway. Is that really worth it? Is that really worth your life to you?"
Rachel didn't have anything else to say as she continued to stare down at the ground. I turned around to stare at Jake and he was almost in the exact same position. "Doesn't anyone have anything to say?!?" I yelled in frustration.
"We need to get Tom's Yeerk," Jake said almost emotionlessly without even looking up. "If we manage to capture the Pool Ship but for some reason can't capture the Blade Ship we need someone on it to take out their leader who just happens to be Tom's Yeerk. Even if they can't take out the entire crew they'll take out the leader which should disorient them for some time. Maybe by then we could figure out a way to stop them."
"If we couldn't stop them before what makes you think a few extra minutes are going to help? This whole thing is about getting some closure with your brother, isn't it? You couldn't save him so now you have to kill him, right?"
Jake let out a big sigh before saying something that I wasn't ready for, "Right. You've basically got it."
I immediately went silent as Jake continued. "I've fought this entire war just so I could keep alive the simple hope of one day rescuing my brother. And... I've failed at that. I've failed miserably. So, since freeing him isn't an option anymore I figured I'd do the next best thing and release him from the torture he's been enduring for quite some time now."
I took a pause simply because I didn't know what to say back. I wouldn't have in a million years guessed that Jake would actually do something like this. He was usually the most calm, collected, and rational thinking out of all of us. He had to be. He was our leader.
"Jake..." I began after a long pause, "are... are you serious? Because if you are then I think you've finally snapped."
"I'm serious," Jake said in a very serious tone, "and quite frankly I don't care what you think about me."
"But Jake..." I continued, "I know you've been through some tough times and everything. We all have. But you can't be doing stuff like this. You can't just throw away Rachel's life because you want to "help" your brother. You've got to stay focused on the big picture. We're fighting for the freedom of the entire planet. You can't let some personal things get in the way of that. We need Rachel at the heart of the battle. She's the best warrior in the group by far."
Jake wasted no time before responding, "If Rachel doesn't go then I will."
I went silent for another good moment before saying, "Jake, you know you can't do that. We need you along with us. We need you to carry out your plan. This will be the final one... you said it yourself. It's too important for you not to come along."
"Nothing's more important than freeing Tom to me right now," Jake said coldly. "If no one else is willing to go then I'm going to go and make sure Tom gets freed one way or another. I've made up my mind and there's nothing you can do to change it. If I do end up going I'll tell Marco everything I think he needs to know and he'll be the one that would lead you tomorrow."
"Jake, you're crazy," I added in, "you're really finally crazy. Just sit back, relax, and think about it..."
"I have thought about it," Jake replied with a hint of rising anger and frustration in his voice, "that's all I've done is think about it! I don't care if you say I'm crazy and hate me for the rest of your life. Someone is going to go and kill Tom tomorrow and it looks like it's going to be me. I'm really sorry that things ended up like this but this is just something that's got to happen. If I lay there dying inside the pool ship thinking about all of the things I've failed at I simply can't let one of them be freeing Tom one way or another. And if Rachel isn't going to go then at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing it was done firsthand!"
It was at that moment that I realized exactly what I had to do. I knew that Jake wasn't going to budge from his position but I also knew we needed him to lead the team. And we also needed Rachel on the team so we could fight our way through if need be which it probably would at some point. And she had too much to lose and leave behind if she went on the 'Kill Tom' mission. But there was someone else who would be perfect for the job...
"Jake, you can't go," I said after a moment's silence, "and Rachel can't go either. We need both of you on the main team." I took a short pause before saying, "I'll go."
As soon as those words left my mouth I heard Rachel say, "Tobias... no..."
"I'm the ideal one for the mission," I said back strongly. "You both have families you'd leave behind if you went and died. What do I have? A mom I've known for about a week. And you both have powerful morphs that will be incredibly useful during a battle. What do I have as my most experienced morph? A bird that'll do you a whole lot of nothing inside a ship. Just get Ax to take my place as a Taxon and everything will be fine."
Rachel looked like she wanted to say ten different things but she knew that each of those things would only further prove that I was best suited for the job. Jake just stared coldly at me. Whatever was going on in his mind wasn't going to show through his face. But soon enough he finally spoke again. "I just want to know one thing," he said almost emotionlessly, "if the time comes and I give you the order to take out Tom would you do it? Would you do it without giving it a second thought?"
I didn't even try to search myself for the true answer. I simply put on my fiercest hawk-inspired gaze, stared directly into Jake's cold, worn, empty eyes, and gave him the answer I had to give him. "Yeah," I said with as much force as I could, "I'll do it."
There was a long pause as Jake and I simply stared into one another's eyes. It was almost as if he was trying to pry into my mind and see whether or not I would really do it. I knew he'd be looking for a little bit of insecurity or something in my facial expression so I kept my face solid. I didn't have much time to process what I had really volunteered for so I really had no idea if I could pull it off or not. The only reason I was doing it was to protect Rachel and the mission. And I would do anything I could to protect Rachel...
After a long moment of silence between us Jake finally blinked and said, "Alright, if you're willing to go then you can replace Rachel. Tom will be staying at my family's house tonight so you should meet up with him as soon as possible. Do whatever it takes to follow him no matter where he goes or what he does. The normal surveillance technique isn't going to work. I need you to physically be on him at all times except when you need to morph. And even then make sure to get off and on quick. It is incredibly important that you don't lose him or, even worse, let him know he's being followed."
"There will be one point where we will come within thought-speak range of each other," Jake continued. "At that point I'll attempt to make contact with you to see if you're still where you need to be. If not then I'll have to take your place and the whole mission will change drastically. I would prefer if that didn't have to happen so make sure you stay in contact with Tom no matter what. If I do end up needing you, for whatever reason, to execute your mission I will make the signal as clear as possible. Likewise for the boarding signal if you feel a strong shock beforehand. If you don't hear anything from me and it appears that Tom has gotten away then I need you to act when you think the time is right."
He took a deep breath before saying, "Do you understand everything? Do you know what you have to do?"
"Yeah," I said back in one of those tough guy voices, "I got it."
"Good," Jake said back almost emotionlessly, "so start morphing. It's going to be a tough flight over to my family's house since the sun's almost gone and you need to get there as soon as possible."
"Tobias," Rachel called out sounding like she was on the verge of crying, "wait..."
This was one of the very few times that I actually took the initiative and immediately kissed Rachel. There were a million different things I wanted to say and there were probably a million different things she wanted to say as well, but our kiss summed everything up perfectly. And it was no ordinary kiss either. This kiss was the most intense kiss I'd ever given her. I was busy playing my tough guy roll and I wasn't about to let Rachel talk me out of it. I needed to be the one to do this just like I needed to be the one to get captured and have the demorphing ray tested on me. I was a perfect match for the job and everyone knew it. Besides, if I did end up dying this is how I wanted Rachel to remember me. I wanted her to know that I loved her enough to give my life for her. Under different circumstances I know that she would have done the same for me.
At first Rachel was kind of surprised by the sudden and slightly forceful kiss, but as she came to realize it might actually be our last kiss ever she kissed me back just as passionately. I wish we could've stayed like that forever but I knew I had to leave on my mission as soon as possible. As difficult as it was for me I slowly broke the kiss and moved my head away from Rachel as I began to morph.
Rachel wanted to say something more. I could see it in her face. But she just couldn't come up with what she wanted to say first. And before she really had a chance to think about it Jake interrupted the silence between everybody when he said, "We need to get into our bird morphs as well," to Rachel. "I need to get you a taxxon morph. I'll explain everything on the way. It'll be easier for you to replace Tobias than to get Ax involved in all of this too." Rachel painfully took her eyes away from me and gave Jake a nod as she began to morph as well.
Since I had a head start on them my morph was finished first. I seriously debated whether to say anything to Rachel or even Jake before I left, but I figured that in the end it would just be easier to leave without saying anything. I felt like if I let my true feelings show I would start to second guess my decision and then Jake wouldn't let me do it anymore. That was a risk I simply couldn't take. So once I was finished with my morph I opened up my wings and began to flap furiously for some altitude.
I didn't look back until I was a good distance away. By that point Rachel and Jake had finished morphing and had started flying in a perpendicular direction. I gave one last look at the both of them before focusing myself on the task at hand. I had a long hard flight ahead of me which I hoped would distract me from the slowly invading realization of what I had just agreed to do.