To anyone reading this on November 13th, 2009: Sorry for the long disappearance.
To the rest of you, ignore the previous statement.
CHAPTER 11
I couldn't sleep. That's really not all that surprising, I guess, given the fact that the Reliquary's floor really isn't all that conducive to sleep. We couldn't go home until we got the tracking devices out of the Chief, so we were stuck sleeping on the Reliquary. The ship used to have two beds. Now, one of them was in James' room in the apartment he shared with Tobias, Rachel, Al, and David. The other was being used by the Chief.
Al was sanding over him, slowly moving some sort of scanning device over him. It was shaped like a cricket bat and was about two feet long, grey and roughly rectangular with a section of yellow on either side. One side was apparently for scanning. The other displayed the data.
The Chief wasn't moving, though he was breathing. Al was in his natural form, which sort of surprised me. "I'm surprised he's letting you do this," I said to Al as I approached.
((Prince Tobias thought it might be best if this human were…chemically relaxed.))
"Tobias drugged him."
((That is another way of stating it, yes.))
I sighed. Tobias was getting way too casual about that sort of thing. Not that he did it often, just that he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with drugging a man and letting a creature he categorically hated put its hands on him. The fact that said 'creature' was Al was irrelevant. It wasn't something he should have done, especially not without consulting us.
I ignored all of that for the moment, though. There wasn't much, if anything, I could do. "What's the situation like, Al?" I asked.
((Both good and bad, Cassie. There are two different devices inside of him. One was a simple tracer, just under the skin. A very simple bit of surgery would remove it. I believe you have the necessary skill. I know you do not work with human animals, but this is really little more than making a small incision in the flesh and removing the device. The wound should heal just fine, and I think I could do it myself, but I thought it best to wait for someone with some degree of experience.))
"That's the good part, I assume."
((Yes. The bad news is that there is a second tracer deep within his thigh bone. Rather easy to implant, but considerably more difficult to remove. I don not know how to go about doing that. I would suggest disabling it rather than removing it.))
"How would we do that?"
((An electromagnetic pulse should be sufficient, but we cannot do that here.))
"Why not? You're telling me that you can't make this ship fire off an EMP?"
((Yes and no. While the Reliquary is potentially capable of creating the necessary electromagnetic pulse, we do not have the facilities to create a small, localized pulse. If we used the pulse that the Reliquary can create, we would knock out not only the tracers, but also all of the ship's systems and, most likely, every piece of electronic equipment within the immediate area.))
"So what do we do about it? We can't fly the Chief around in the ship forever," I pointed out.
((Prince Tobias will know what to do.))
I nodded. Tobias would think of something. "Is there anything I can do, Al?"
((Not at the moment. The surgery is unnecessary, if we are disabling the tracers via electromagnetic pulse.))
I nodded and went over to the command station. Tobias was staring out through a transparent section of the cockpit, seemingly at nothing. His hands were on the control node, though, so he was most likely flying the ship manually, probably just for something to do.
I crossed over and stood next to him, looking out through the window as well. There really wasn't anything to see, unfortunately. "Al mentioned the problem with removing or disabling the tracer in Kristina's dad's leg?" I asked.
Tobias nodded. "That won't be too hard to fix. It's really just a problem of getting a time and place to set off the pulse. When we do, the Reliquary will be disabled along with the tracer, and the Yeerks will know exactly where we are when we do it. So we'll need to find some way to keep the Reliquary mobile while it's not even capable of moving."
"How can we do that?"
"I'm going to land on a freight train."
"You…you're serious?"
"Very," he assured me. "A fright train would provide a large enough surface for the ship to land on, and it would be able to support the Reliquary's weight. Although the cloaking system would cut out, it'd be hard to see the ship on top of the train at night, and provided we choose the right train, it might not even notice the loss of electronic systems. We'd need an old one, though."
"Wouldn't landing on a train be really, really hard?" I pointed out.
"Aren't I a really, really good pilot?" he responded.
"From what I'm told yeah," I admitted. "But I don't have all that much to compare it to."
"Don't worry, if I wasn't good, we'd have been dead a long time ago. No one knows flying like I do."
"Maybe so, but flying a fighter isn't like flying as a hawk, is it?"
"In some ways, no. But that's why the Reliquary's special. The control node translates my thoughts into actions. I know how to fly in ways that others can't even imagine. Things that would be complicated decisions to other pilots are second nature to me; first nature, maybe. I fly by an instinct that no pilot I've ever met has. And the Reliquary lets me make full use of that."
I was about to respond to that when it happened, the thing that we'd been half expecting all night. An alarm went off, and all the lights on the ship started flickering from red to their normal colors and back again. "I knew this was going to happen," I muttered.
CHAPTER 12
James stumbled over to the control panel, rubbing his eyes. "What's going on?"
((We're being attacked,)) David answered as he climbed up James' shirt and also rubbed his eyes. Which, I'm a little ashamed to admit, was pretty adorable.
"Not exactly," Tobias explained. "If we were under attack, the lights would be staying red."
((Then could someone shoot us? This is hurting my eyes,)) David responded.
Tobias closes his eyes for a moment and the flickering stopped. "The fact that they were flickering meant that the Reliquary detected what it thinks is a battle nearby."
"Since when does the ship think?" James asked.
"It's a little difficult to explain," Tobias admitted. "Al?"
"Wait," I interrupted, "you think something's complicated, so your solution is to ask the Andalite to explain it? How is that going to dumb it down for us?"
Tobias shrugged. "No idea, but at least he knows what he's talking about."
((It really is not very complicated,)) Al explained. ((The Reliquary's sensors have detected certain elements that it associates with a battle. The energy signatures given off by Bug fighters and Dracon beams, for example, as well as the energy traces emitted by their engines are all things that the Reliquary's computer associates with a battle. Since it has detected these nearby, it has concluded that there is a fight not too far from us and has alerted us to it.))
James sighed. "The ship sounds smarter than I am…"
((To be fair,)) David added, ((That chair over there sounds smarter, too.))
Tobias had decided to ignore them and was instead focusing on steering the ship towards this battle. A green, holographic cube, divided into grids, appeared over a section of the Reliquary's command console; the ship's dashboard, you could say. There wee some small, red dots at the very edge of the cube. They seemed to be moving very, very fast.
"The red dots are Bug fighters, right?" I guessed.
Tobias nodded but didn't say anything. Al walked over and poked the cube with a finger and the red dots stopped moving. Then he poked one of the dots. A small black rectangle appeared next to the cube, with a thin, red line leading from it to the red dot. I could read the words in the rectangle without any problem. It was, indeed, a Bug fighter.
Al poked the rectangle and the cube blazed to life again, the Bug fighters zipping around faster than I could really keep track of. James poked the cube a few times, pausing and then resuming it. "This thing is really, really cool, Al."
((Thank you, James. I am rather proud of it.))
"Al," Tobias began, "show Cassie and James how that grid works, then take the primary weapons station. Who has more practice, James or David?"
((David has faster reflexes than James does,)) Al answered. ((Should he -))
"Yeah. David, take the secondary weapons station. You'll be the one to keep Bugs off my back."
David climbed down onto the dashboard and put his paws against an orange oval. Al grabbed the cube at one corner and pulled on it. Oddly enough, the cube expanded, showing us more of the battle that was taking place. Now, we could see that the red dots, the Bug fighters, were encircling a large, grey dot.
((Prince Tobias, we have an unidentified ship; at the center of the battle. Not Yeerk, according to the censors.))
"What are the specs?"
Al poked the dot and a lot of numbers appeared in the black box that appeared next to the cube. ((It is very large, my Prince. Approximately….)) Al paused and double checked. ((Approximately the same size as a Yeerk Pool ship. I have no idea what-))
"The Zaitsev" Tobias interrupted.
I was confused for a moment. David seemed to piece it together, though. ((Of course. Isn't this a little obvious for the Yeerks, though? They can't cover this up.))
It hit me about a moment later. If the Yeerks couldn't grab Putin once he landed, they had to get their hands on him while he was in transit. This must have been the Visser's idea. Guraff or Salheer would never have done something so obvious.
"Do you think it needs our help?" James asked. "I mean, isn't it kind of like if the Bug fighters attacked a Dome ship or something? They don't stand a chance."
"I'd bet that the Zaitsev is pretty poorly put together," Tobias answered. "Like Dan said, it's mostly just Yeerk tech, slapped together by Russian scientists who probably didn't exactly know what they're doing. I'm not going to gamble Putin's life on their skills."
"But to shoot one of those down," I began.
"They won't want to do that," Tobias interrupted. "Guraff will board the ship and infest Putin. So we're going to have to get on it and stop him from doing that. We- "
((Prince Tobias? There are more unidentified ships approaching. Smaller ones, approximately the same size as the Bug fighters. I have no idea where they might be from.))
"Let's call them and ask," Tobias answered. "Direct a communications channel at all unidentified ships except for the Zaitsev. I don't know if Guraff and his troops are on board already, but in case they are, I don't see any reason to give him a warning."
Al nodded and placed his hand on a sort of spoon-shaped, blue section of the dashboard. A few moments later, he nodded. ((The channel is open, my Prince.))
"Begin the feed, Al."
A greenish light started shining from a lens next to the spoon-thing Al had been touching. Tobias stepped into the light. He spoke with a sense of authority that I rarely heard even when he was giving us orders. He was standing straight, his arms behind his back, almost like he was posing for a picture or something.
"This is Commander-Prince Tobias, of the Reliquary. Who am I addressing?"
A second green lens, this one on the ceiling, flicked on. An image appeared directly in front of Tobias. A very, very large man, maybe even as tall as a Hork-bajir, appeared. "This is the International Invasion Investigation Force ship Zero-Zero-Zero-Zero. My name is Operative Adrian Rook. Maybe you can tell me what the hell is going on here."
CHAPTER 13
We were coming into view of the actual battle, now. Through the transparent section of the window, I could see it in the distance. Mostly, it was just flashes of red and blue light, presumably the Bug fighters shooting at the Zaitsev.
Al put a hand on the grid for a second and the Zaitsev and Tri-I ships turned from grey to green. "Since when does Tri-I have a fleet?" James whispered.
"They've had ships for a while," I answered quietly so that Rook wouldn't overhear us. "When the whole war with the Pythagi started, Jake and I went to Mark the Chee and asked him for a ship, but he said he couldn't give us one because they all had weapons. I think Tri-I has been building their fleet for a while."
((That's a scary thought,)) David muttered.
"At least they're on our side this time," I reminded him.
((Yeah, but how are we going to explain this away, Cassie? What if they figure it all out?))
That stopped my heart for a few moments. "We'll think of something," I insisted. "We always do."
The whole time, Tobias had been speaking to Rook. "The large ship in the center of the battle is the Zaitsev, the ship that is supposed to be transporting Vladimir Putin. It appears that the Yeerks decided to put a stop to that transportation and most likely intend to capture Putin," Tobias explained to him. "My ship detected the battle so I decided to come see what this was all about."
"Glad to have you with us, Commander," Rook answered. "I heard about what happened at Hork-bajir. They say you shot down an entire squadron of Instigators single-handedly."
"An exaggeration," Tobias admitted.
"I'm sure, but don't tell the troops that. If they think you can swat all these Bugs by yourself, the happier they'll be," Rook explained.
"I understand the importance of morale, Operative," Tobias assured him. "And that's why you should probably not tell them that these Yeerks are most likely led by Guraff Four-Two-Seven."
Rook actually looked a little nervous for a moment. "The God General?" Then he smiled. "Now that's what I like to hear. I think it's about time he sees what an Operative can do, don't you?"
Tobias looked away from Rook for a moment. He was probably thinking about Carl Yastrzemski. I know I was. Then Tobias turned back to Rook. "Yeah, I think that's a good thing for him to know. Do your people have any experience in this sort of thing?"
"Nothing beyond sims and a few drills," Rook admitted. "Looks like we should be following your lead. What are you thinking?"
"I need to get onto that ship, Rook. Those Bugs aren't going to let me, and as strong as the Reliquary's shields may be, they're bound to go down under that much fire."
((Prince Tobias,)) Al interrupted, ((more Tri-I ships are approaching. They will be here in approximately ten minutes.))
"You've got reinforcements?" Tobias asked Rook.
"Yeah. We're Zero Wing. First Wing should be here in ten. Second and Third will be here in about twenty, but we can't really plan for any of the others."
"Ten minutes is all I need," Tobias answered. There was this look in his eyes that I knew well. It was the look he always got when all the pieces fell into place for him, that look of realization he had when he saw the solution to all of our problems.
Sometimes, I love that look because it means that someone figured out how to fix things. But at the same time, I hated it, because his solution was almost always bloody. This time was no different.
"Rook," Tobias explained, "I need you and your men to cover me while I land inside the Zaitsev. Then, I'm going to trigger an electromagnetic pulse from my ship. That will disable everything electronic within a certain radius. And I plan to make that radius very, very big."
"You think you can cover the whole battlefield?"
Tobias glanced at Al. Al nodded. ((It would require more power than we typically have, but if I diverted all systems to the task, we should have enough power to cover the area.))
"We can do it," Tobias assured Rook. "I'll land in the Zaitsev and set off the pulse. When First Wing gets here, they can clean up the Bugs, since they'll just be floating dead. The pulse might disable your life-support systems, though. I assume you have independent backups?"
Rook nodded. "A little piece of tech the Andalites decided it would be safe to teach us to make. Should give us about fifteen minutes of oxygen and our flight suits should stop us from freezing solid."
"Alright then. Form up around my ship and let's start swatting Bugs."
"How do you plan to get off the ship?" Rook asked.
Tobias turned to Al again. "You'll be able to reinitialize the Reliquary quickly after it's disabled, right?"
((Yes, my Prince.))
"Then there's only one thing left." Tobias took a cell phone out of his pocket and hit a few buttons. We stood there for a few moments, looking at him.
((Tobias, what are you-)) Tobias raised a hand, cutting David off. Then, I heard a buzzing noise. He passed the phone around so that we could all see the text message he just got. The three words that every Animorph mission needed in one form or another.
"Let's do it."
CHAPTER 14
Rook's ship was to our right, with another ship above us, below us, to our left, and one to Rook's right. There were some more behind us, in almost a cone-shape. The Tri-I ships had an interesting design, sort of like if someone shoved the letter W through the letter O. The engines were on the lower points of the W, with weapons on the two top ends and the cockpit at the part in the center.
We were nearing the battle now and, thanks to the magnification the Reliquary's window provided, I could see the Zaitsev. It was like a half-sphere, with a cluster of engines under it. There were also what several laser batteries beneath the ship, firing blue beams at the Bug fighters. Identical batteries studded the spherical part of the ship. It looked like about half of them were not working, though.
"We're going in hard and fast," Tobias said over the communications channel. "From what I know of Tri-I shields, yours should protect you from the Bugs pretty well, so don't worry about trying to dodge Dracon beams because your reflexes aren't that fast anyway. If a Bug crosses your path, squash him, but don't go out of your way for it.
"Your job is to cover me until I can land in that hangar. Then – and this is very important – you turn and fight. Do. Not. Flee. If you all turn and run, they're going to know something's up and might pull out of range. Try to keep them as close to the ship as possible.
"When the blast goes off, your ship will be completely dark inside. Don't panic. It might be cold but your suits will keep you from freezing. Make sure you have your emergency oxygen unit at hand, though, because you can't count on finding it in the dark. First Wing should be here not too long after your power goes, but just in case they take a few minutes, try not to breathe too much.
"Rook, one of your boys is staying back to inform First Wing of the situation, yes?"
"Affirmative, Commander."
Tobias nodded. "Play time." We all accelerated, though Tobias kept the Reliquary far back from what it could really do so that he didn't outpace the Tri-I ships. Within a minute, we were within firing range. Al and David let loose a barrage of white fire at the Bug fighters. About half of them were buzzing around the Zaitsev, trying to disable the remaining gun turrets. The other half had formed up to meet us.
They weren't really prepared for us, though. I suppose it has to do with the nature of war; or at least war as commanders like Tobias and Guraff fought it. They expected us to move or to try and trick them. Maybe go around them or break off and attack from a different angle. They were expecting something more subtle; they thought far too much of us.
We ran straight through them, Shredders firing. David and Al blew a pair of Bug fighters out of our way and we powered on through. The Reliquary's shield disintegrated the debris as we passed through so it didn't harm our ship. Some of the Tri-I ships went through our hole, some made their own. All made it through.
"Why do we have shields and they don't?" James wondered
"Our ships are better," Tobias answered simply. Then, over the channel, he ordered, "Ships Tri-Zero-Eight through Zero-Zero-One-One, loop back. Those Bugs will be following us and I want you to give them something to think about. Pass through their screen again, then turn around and come right back. That will keep them distracted. The rest of you, stay with me."
I could see on the grid that the five ships behind us turned around and passed through the dispersing wall of red dots. A few of the red ones disappeared. We continued onwards, but they were trying to form up a second screen in front of us. And the Bug fighters behind us were advancing towards us in formation.
I informed Tobias of all of this. He laughed. "Okay, Rook, here's a lesson about swatting bugs. I want you and your boys to charge straight ahead, right where they're trying to form up, firing at nothing in particular. Eight through Eleven are to take your places and shoot anything that gets in their path."
It worked perfectly. The Tri-I fighters that had turned around behind us smashed through some of the Bug fighters from the screen we had bypassed. The remainder of them diverged, moving in the general direction of the Zaitsev but with no apparent path in mind. They were scattered.
The screen they were trying to form in front of us never came into being. The few Bug fighters that had taken up any sort of formation were disintegrated by Rook and his men, and the others didn't seem to want to take their places. The Yeerks were confused, disarrayed. They didn't seem to know what to do.
"Well, now we know where Guraff is," Tobias muttered. "If he was out here, he'd be fixing this mess. That means he must be in the ship. I'd guess the Apostates are with him. Whoever he left in charge isn't up to this.
We continued on almost unopposed. A few Bug fighters tried to get in our way or shot us from various angels, but they were always either destroyed by one of us, or their Dracon beams were absorbed by someone's shield.
Tobias shook his head. "Guraff is going to be very disappointed when he finds out how bad his pilots are. Rook's rookies could wipe them out even without our help. I think they might be worse than the Pythagi."
Soon, we were next to the Zaitsev, approaching a large, trapezoid-shaped hole in the side of the ship. There was some sort of semi-transparent blue field across it. Tobias flew the ship directly through it. ((Localized atmospheric generator,)) Al explained. ((It maintains pressure in the ship, as well as the necessary atmospheric conditions, but allows matter to pass through.))
Tobias landed the ship in the hangar smoothly. "Okay, Alphamorphs: time for part two."
CHAPTER 15
Tobias began morphing to Howler. ((The EMP will disable that atmospheric field, so I'm going to make sure there's some sort of backup so we don't die as soon as we set it off,)) he explained as he and Al left the ship.
I went to check on the chief. He was sleeping peacefully in spite of everything and I was starting to wonder just how many drugs Tobias had managed to slip him. Then I picked up something from beside his bed. It looked like an orange sandwich bag with grey cylinders at both ends. I put one calendar in the Chief's mouth so he'd be able to breathe when the Reliquary's atmosphere cut out.
By the time I was done with that, James and David were both mostly lion. They would have to navigate by scent, since we'd be plunging the ship into total darkness. Lions couldn't smell as good as wolves, but they could smell enough. Their noses would tell them where humans had been, and so tell them the difference between a hallway, a door, and a wall.
I began to morph wolf. When I was about halfway though, I heard a horrible screeching noise, followed by a clang. A moment later, Tobias and Al returned to the ship. ((Found the backup. A large, steel wall that goes where the generator used to be. Essentially a very big garage door.))
He took a look around and then nodded. ((All ready, then.)) Tobias took four of the breathing devices and put one in Jame's, one in David's, and one in my mouth, taking the last for his own. Al put a similar device over his head. One of the disadvantages of not having a mouth. ((Key the sequence, Al.)) He would be staying behind, to get the ship back up and running again for when we were done here, and to keep an eye on the chief.
Al put a hand to the Reliquary's dashboard. A moment later, the world disappeared. I've been in total darkness before, but it's always a shock. One minute, the world existed. In the next instant, there was nothing to see. But sight is not the wolf's major sense.
I could smell David and James, Tobias, and Al. The two lions confused my wolf senses for a moment, since they smelled exactly the same. I convinced the wolf part of me to ignore that. ((Are we all okay?)) I asked.
((I'm sure no one's afraid of the dark,)) Tobias answered. ((We're all fine.))
((It isn't the dark that scares me,)) David muttered, ((it's the Hork-bajir, Ssri'Kai, and Spetsnaz in it.))
I followed Tobias's scent out of the Reliquary and into the Zaitsev. I could smell humans, but faintly. They were here hours ago. And I could smell which way they had gone.
((I'm nearly blind,)) Tobias muttered. ((I was counting on my ability to see body heat, but there are almost no heat traces here, and what there was is fading fast. Let's try to be quick and quiet about this. With your jaws incapacitated and my eyes gone, we've got some problems.))
((Remind me how this was a good idea again,)) James suggested.
((Because at least we were expecting it,)) Tobias answered. Guraff and his boys must be shocked. And Hork-bajir don't have very good eyes. We still have the advantage.))
((Can't fight without my jaws,)) David reminded him.
((And Guraff won't want to fight without his eyes. We aren't here for battle, though. We're here to make him leave. But if it comes down to it, I'll still be able to see him and the Apostates and Kelbrid. If there's a fight, we'll win.))
((Here's something we probably should have thought of earlier,)) James began. ((You know these helpful breathing things that keep us from dying?))
((What about them?)) Tobias asked.
((What if Putin doesn't have one?))
((……….)) After his silence, Tobias thought some words that I can't repeat, some that were never intended to be used as that part of speech, and some that I couldn't even define.
((At least we'll probably have killed Guraff, too,)) David suggested.
((That is unlikely,)) Al said in our heads. ((There is still a large quantity of air in this ship. The reason the Operatives were in danger is because, due to the small volume of their fighter cockpits, they did not have a lot of breathable air stored. However, there is quite a great quantity of it on the Zaitsev.))
((Good to know we didn't just kill the man we came to protect,)) Tobias said. ((So why are we using these breathing things?))
((I do not know, my Prince. You ordered us to.))
((And you knew there was no real reason for it?))
((Yes, Prince Tobias.))
((Next time I do that Al, question the order, will you? It'll save us all some time.))
((Yes, my Prince.))
I spat out my breathing apparatus. I hate fighting, but I felt a lot better about walking around this dark ship now that I had my jaws back.
We ventured forth into the darkness.
