Chapter 3

The next day, Wednesday, we decided to meet and discuss what we were going to do. Aldrea had officially put in a request to be transferred to a position on Earth so she could fight the Yeerks here with the rest of us. The request would take a few days to go through. Until she was officially reassigned, she was simply an Andalite warrior on leave.

"Okay, Jeff. Do you have any information about the Yeerks that we could use?"

"I know everything my Yeerk knew. The main Pool is located mainly beneath the mall. The entrances outside the mall are located in a few schools, the movie theater, and there are two in The Gardens. However, they have also built three secondary, smaller Pools in addition to the main one. This way, if the main Pool is destroyed, there are other pools located throughout the city so the Yeerks won't be dying by the hundreds and thousands from Kandrona starvation. You'd have to destroy the Main Pool and all three secondaries to incapacitate the Yeerks. You can't even just take out the Kandrona generator to knock all four pools out because each pool has a primary generator and a backup."

"Okay, so a direct attack is out of the question. Anything else, like a project we could sabotage?"

"Well, one of Esplin's sub-vissers was working on an experiment intended to replace the need for Kandrona radiation. He was attempting to synthesize the chemicals in maple and cinnamon oatmeal that make it a suitable replacement. However, he was attempting to remove the chemicals that have destructive effects on the Yeerk brain stem."

((Is he close to succeeding?)) Aldrea asked.

"Very. Four days ago, the day before I fought my Yeerk for control and starved him, the Yeerk in charge of the project, Sub-visser 3, or Koram Five-Eight-Three, said he was within ten days of succeeding. I know exactly where the research lab is. All the data is contained there. If we destroy it, we can keep one more advantage from the Yeerks."

"Okay, it sounds like we have our first target. We just have to wait until we have Class Four clearance to get some more animals. Then we strike. Where is the facility located, Jeff?" I ask.

"The outskirts of town. A small company called Blackstar Technologies."

"No kidding? Blackstar Tech is a Yeerk organization?" Darren asked incredulously.

"Not originally, but the Yeerks took it over fairly early on in the invasion, about a year ago. They needed a front organization so that they could develop more technology to aid in their conquest."

"I see." I said. "I just want to know a few things: What are the Javrakari?"

Aldrea spoke up. ((The Javrakari are a very dangerous species. They were created by another species, the Kalmra, as warriors. They wiped out their creators, then got involved in other wars that they had no hope of winning. The last I heard, they were extinct.))

"The Yeerks found enough intact DNA to recreate the species. The Javrakari look like velociraptors with four arms. The lower two arms do not end in hands, but one ends in a very powerful energy weapon, the other in an electroshock generator. The upper two arms are assymetrical as well. One ends in a five-fingered, clawed hand, while the other ends in a clamp-like claw that, when closed, forms a blade. Their tail is tipped in poisonous barbs. They can see into a huge range of the electromagnetic spectrum. They are incredibly fast and agile. Every sharp part of their body has poison or venom in it. Last, but certainly not least, their skin is virtually impenetrable. The only things I've seen injure them are their own energy weapons, their own claws and teeth, Hork-Bajir blades, and Dracon beams. The last thing you want to do is fight one head-on in anything but the most powerful morphs." Jeff said.

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Visser Three escaped because a group of Yeerks that first encountered the entity they now follow was ordered to break him out. One of their own switched places with the Visser willingly. Also, the Council of Thirteen has given Esplin the rank of Supreme Visser. All the other vissers are under his direct command. In addition, he has several sub-vissers working directly under him."

"What else is there?" Darren asked.

"The security around Blackstar Tech is really tight. Laser triplines, Gleet BioFilters, security cameras, guards armed with Dracon beams, and a large amount of Javrakari patrolling at regular intervals. If we act quickly, before the Yeerks realize I'm free, my DNA will still be in the Gleet BioFilters, and I also know the control codes to get around the other security systems. The rest of you can hide on me. Once in there, we have to reach the central power chamber, which is hidden in the basement of the facility. Once we're in there, we can cause a catastrophic overload and destroy the entire building and all the information on the project. From start to finish, the operation shouldn't take more than ten minutes."

"You're sure we can pull this off? It seems pretty difficult." Kendra said.

"I'm sure. The only downside is that we've got a window in which to act of only a few days. If we run into trouble because someone realizes my Yeerk hasn't been in the Pool for three feeding cycles, I can always say I was unable to reach the pool due to being on a very sensitive assignment and was forced to use a few single-use disposable Kandrona generators, but there are a few Yeerks who will question that story. We have to act soon. If my Yeerk misses another feeding cycle, and someone notices, odds are they'll come after me."

"If what you're telling us is true, we'd probably have to fight our way out, so we can't do anything until we've got Class Four morph clearance and a few Class Four morphs." I said.

"It's been three days since you put in the applications. I'd say it'll only be, at most, two more days. We'd probably have to act immediately. It's already cutting it close since, by now, my Yeerk would've missed two feeding cycles. The Yeerks are probably already getting suspicious. Our best bet is that they buy the story about my being on a sensitive assignment without access to a pool and having to use single-use disposable Kandrona emitters." Jeff said.

"That's taking a big risk, but I don't see what choice we have." I said. "We hit the facility the moment we have Class Four clearance and morphs."