Chapter 9: Marco: The Plan

***Author's Note***

Thanks for reading. Please leave a Review, Follow and Favorite, it really helps. Sorry for not uploading a chapter last week, I was having some problems with FF and couldn't work it out. A thousand apologies.

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Thanks for listening to my babble, now for what you've been waiting for…

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Chapter 9: Marco: The Plan

"I've come up with a plan." Jake, our fearless leader said rather boldly. "It consists of multiple steps and teams all working together in unison, so it'll be tricky, but I believe that it's our best bet to change the direction of this war in one fell swoop."

We all looked to him to continue. "In all honesty it's bold, dangerous, slightly insane and may be considered unethical and even evil. If we win this war then we may never be forgiven for what we're about to do."

"Sounds like my kinda mission." Rachel, our local psychopath muttered with a laugh.

"I knew that she'd say something like that." I said as I elbowed Tobias in the arm. "Leave it to Rachel to enjoy the ultra violent and dangerous."

Jake gave her and I a disappointed look. "This is a serious discussion, Marco, Rachel. I'm not just suggesting some little attack on a Yeerk building or saying that we try to steal another ship or two. If this plan succeeds then this will be the biggest blow that we have ever struck against the Yeerks. This mission may very well decide and dictate the flow and outcome of this war. If we manage to succeed then we very well may be one step closer to finally beating the Yeerks and kicking them off our planet. Not only that but this mission may lead to us finally being able to defeat them once and for all."

"So what's the plan?" Tobias asked.

"Yeah, I'm curious, sounds like a doozy. Xena's practically drooling over there in anticipation." I added.

"I told you to stop calling me that, Marco." She hissed.

"Well if you'd stop acting like her than I'd stop calling you her." I shot back.

"I don't see what Melissa sees in you, I just don't." Rachel mumbled.

"Well that's easy, it's my overwhelming charm, charisma and without a doubt my-" I was cut off by a very angry Jake who slammed his hands on the table, silencing the group.

"Will you two cut it out?" He stood up from his seat and seemed to tower over us, very un-Jakelike. "I just said that this is serious. We don't have time to mess around. Time is not on our side. Every moment that we waste listening to you two bicker the Yeerks are that much closer to winning this war."

He let out breath as he calmed down. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled." He said as he sat. I shot Cassie a look that he didn't see.

"But what I said is true. The more time that we waste the more powerful the Yeerks become. According to these new numbers from Erek's spies, anywhere from five hundred up to a thousand new involuntary hosts are taken each day nationwide. That means that in a month's time the Yeerks will gain anywhere from 15,000 up to 30,000 new human hosts. And from these notes it seems that with every new host they become that much stronger. These numbers will without a doubt only rise each day. And the only thing there stopping the Yeerks and the eventual fall of Earth... is us." He finished as he gestured to everyone at the table.

"We are the last line of defense for not just our people and our planet but all those free species and planets in the galaxy. I came to terms with this when I did the Walk of the Seer with Toby. It helped show me the bigger picture, it showed me what we have to do." He said solemnly. We each slightly lowered our heads upon hearing his words. We all knew it yet, it was just hard to swallow.

He continued. "If we fall, then not just the Earth but all other planets will fall to the Yeerks. We have the burden, the responsibility falls on all of us here to put a stop to the Yeerks. The Gedds, Hork-Bajir, Arn, Skrit Na, Hawjabran, Mak, Nahara, Ongachic, Orff, Sstram, they all failed and were either enslaved or eradicated by the Yeerks, and the Andalites failed as well." This received a look from Ax. He still liked to believe that they Andalites were still fighting the good fight. We had received word long ago from the Andalites that the Yeerks had attacked their homeworld and that they have been fighting them on and in the space around their planet ever since. Ax doesn't like to admit it but there is an all real possibility that the Yeerks may manage to defeat the Andalite army and take over of their planet. If that were to happen then no race, no planet would be safe from the Yeerks. The Andalites are the most advanced and most powerful race in this side of the galaxy. If they were to fall then the Yeerks would no doubt use their weapons and technology to conquer Earth as well.

"Tobias has previously updated me and told me about all of your missions that you have done since I left. And not to be rude to him, as he has done an amazing job in leading you all these past six months, but you have all become timid in my eyes." He nodded to Tobias giving him an understanding look, he didn't blame him. Jake blamed himself for our current position,.

"Tobias tells me that you do only about two or three missions a month now, and that your last successful mission was over four months ago. You all failed to stop the Yeerks plan to set up a new Kandrona in the city next to ours." He sighed and gave us all an understanding look this time.

"But that is to be expected, you can not fight a war with only four soldiers, that's just an impossible feat. We were barely able to manage to hold them back with six." He looked to Erek and gestured to him.

"It is thanks to the Chee and the free Hork-Bajir that we have managed to get this far. We may be small in number as well in size but we are not small in spirit. This war we fight is unlike all other wars fought on Earth. We aren't just fighting for money, land, resources or just for the hell of it. We are fighting for our very planet. If we fall then the Earth falls as well. No other army in history has ever had this burden, this weight on our shoulders that we all share. And I for one can say that we have not always admitted that fact. It is a crap hand in all honesty. I know of no one who would ever want this responsibility that we all shoulder. We may fight it, run from it, hide from it and curse it, but no matter how hard we fight, how far we run, where we run or how much we simply wish it not to be, this war is ours and ours alone." Jake lowered his head and I could see his eyes start to well up when he talked about not being able to run from this, he hated himself for his actions in this war but he hated himself more for not doing anything.

"Jake, it's okay." Cassie said as she grabbed his hand and rubbed it comfortably with the other. I don't know if the others noticed Jake almost cry in front of us but I know that her and I sure did.

"What I'm trying to say is that this war is exactly that, a war. And that is why I'm suggesting this plan. Normally I would never want to do something this outright unethical but sometimes in war, when the situation calls for it, we must be able to cross that line."

The seven of us sat in silence for a few moments taking in Jake's words. I'm sure that we were all curious to hear his plan.

"So Jake, what's this plan of your? From what you're saying it sounds like we're going to do something and go farther than we ever have before." Tobias said, breaking the silence.

Jake nodded to him.

"Yeah, in all honesty we may be branded as monsters after this war if we manage to win it."

Ax chimed in.

"What is the plan, Prince Jake?" He asked.

Jake sat up straighter in his chair and let out a heavy sigh.

"The first stage of the plan is a lot like Rachel's rash plan when she was filling in for me when I was out of town a few years ago. We will split into several teams and attack several known Yeerk buildings and bases. Visser Three believes that we have started to give up on this war, I want to show them that we will not give up until the earth is free. They know that the Andalites are no longer able to help us, so they believe that they have already won." He took a breath.

"I want to prove them wrong. They have lost their fear of us. As we stand now we aren't even making a dent in their invasion plans. My goal is that by the end of the mission that the Yeerks, as well as Visser Three himself will once again learn to fear us. I want every controller to become afraid when they see even a single pigeon. We will strike them from all sides and in various morphs, they have become all too familiar with our battle morphs. If we change our morphs, our weapons, then they will never know where we are or where we're coming from."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, I knew that he wasn't finished.

"If we attack them on multiple fronts and with the help of a little Chee holograms we can make them believe that there are not six of us but six hundred."

Rachel whistled.

"Six hundred, now that'd be nice. But even with the Chee helping us with holograms how are we going to be able to convince them that there's even half that many of us? What, are we going to try adding some new people to the team?"

I was taking before I had time to think.

"Nuh uh. No way Jose. There is no way we're trying that again, we can't risk another David." The group became silent when I said his name, all eyes shot to Jake in unison. He seemed not to react when I said his name. I was an idiot, I should've known better than to say his name.

Rachel punched me in the arm, hard.

"You idiot, for once would you think before you open your mouth?"

I was going to say something back but Jake spoke up.

"It's fine, Rachel. I'm fine." he looked to Cassie and she gave us a reassuring look. If she agreed then we had nothing to worry about.

"But I agree with what Marco said. We just can't risk another David. We can't put that much trust in total stranger's hands. We need to be careful who we choose to fight alongside us. At first I considered having the free Hork-Bajir use the morphing cube, but I quickly realised that they wouldn't be much help in morphs. The Hork-Bajir are too simple minded to be able to comprehend and think about being inside the body of another creature. Let alone be able to fight as one." He let out another heavy breath.

"We will have to pick our new members wisely, we can't rush this. First of all we have to make sure that whoever we choose isn't a controller. Second, we have to make sure that they will join the fight and will be able to be a part of our team. So here's what I'm suggesting we do about finding new members" He said.

"We will go to of the Yeerk Peace Movement and gather all of the Yeerks and voluntary controllers that we can. Once we get them together we will have all of the Yeerks leave their host bodies and enter our own version of a Yeerk Pool. Once all of the Yeerks are safely in the pool and out of their hosts we will give all willing hosts the option to join us. If they chose to fight with us then we'll give them the power to morph and they will become a part of our team."

"What are we going to do with the Yeerks that agree to this? Just keep them in their Pool?" Tobias asked.

He nodded in reply.

"Yes, we will provide them with protection until this war is over. And when it is over we will allow all of them in the YPM to use the Morphing Cube and become a nothlit."

"Become a nothlit? What makes you sure that they'll agree to that?" Tobias asked.

"Well the Yeerks say that they are enslaving all of these races so that they will be able to experience the world like we do, right?" Jake asked.

He continued.

"They would have no other choice really. Once this war is over they wouldn't be allowed to go back to their hosts."

We all shook our heads hearing this. It was a risky strategy but we needed the sheer numbers to be able to win this war.

"What's the second part of your plan? You said that there were two parts." Rachel asked.

Jake nodded his head.

"The second phase of my plan will be right after the first. After we attack the Yeerks from all sides and they're still trying to figure out what happened we'll attack the Yeerk Pool head on."

This received various looks from the group. From a sociopathic glee from Rachel to a concerned look from Cassie.

"Are you sure that that's a good idea, Jake?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah I gotta agree with prego over here, the Yeerks are more powerful than ever now, how are we going to be able to do anything to them? Every time we go down into that hell hole we barely make it out alive." I said.

"Prego?" I heard Cassie ask quietly.

"I am guessing that you have some sort of ulterior plan in attacking the Pool head on, right, Jake?" Erek asked from behind his hologram.

"Is there some ulterior reasoning for attacking them like that?" Tobias asked.

Jake nodded his head.

"Yeah, there is. While most of us are gonna be keeping the Yeerks busy and wreaking havoc, Erek, some other Chee and Ax are going to break into their control rooms and hack their systems. While in their system we will gather all of the information we can."

"Is that it?" Erek asked. Jake shook his head.

"No, that's only one of the objectives." He turned to Ax.

"Ax, if we got you into their computers would you be able take control of their orbiting satellites from there?"

"Are you referring to the orbiting satellites that the Yeerks have orbiting in the upper atmosphere around this planet?" He asked.

"Yeah the ones that they set up with dracon cannons to shoot any enemy ships coming into or out of our atmosphere."

Ax rubbed his chin for a few seconds thinking.

"If they are set up through the same system then I should be able to without much problem. The only problem would be that their systems for the orbiting satellites would be highly secured. It may take some time to be able to break the security code."

Ax looked to Jake.

"For example, the security codes for the orbiting security satellites around the Andalite homeworld could be anywhere from a dozen numbers to a hundred numbers long. It would take me hours to go through all of the possible combinations by myself by hand."

Jake put his hand to his mouth in a thinking position, he sat motionless for a few seconds.

"Would you be able to get in if Erek runs the numbers for you? Surely your processor would be able to break that code in minutes, right, Erek?"

Erek smiled and let a small chuckle.

"You grossly underestimate me, Jake. I can break any code under a million characters in a few seconds. I can crack that code and get Ax here into their system before they can even realise we're there."

Jake nodded.

"Good, my plan was relying on you guys being able to take control of their orbiting satellites."

"So what's the plan once the brainiacs get into the computers? Are they going to be using the guns on the satellites?" I asked Jake.

"Yeah, once they get into their systems Ax will use their orbiting cannons to take out as many Yeerk facilities and most importantly ships as he can until we have to leave."

The entire group almost gasped.

"Wait, are you saying that we're going to shoot the Yeerks' buildings from space?" Cassie asked, sounding a little concerned.

"That's the idea, Cass." Jake said.

"This is what I meant by unethical and stepping over a line. Not only will we be firing on their ships but we'll be attempting to destroy both of the buildings that house the Kandronas, their community building, their various storage and aircraft facilities but the Pool itself." He said this with a straight face, we all looked to him and expected him to say it was a joke, but it never came. He was serious, he wanted to take them out in one fell swoop.

Cassie grabbed his arm and turned to him.

"Jake, how can you suggest that? Shooting at the Yeerks is one thing but there are innocent people in the EGS building and the community center. Let alone the Pool, what about all of the hosts? Are we just going to kill them? And what about the school and the mall? The Pool stretches under half of the town, we would have to shoot through the school in order to hit the Pool. We can't do that."

I smiled at this, Jake may be our leader and all but if Cassie has something to say about something he said she says it.

Jake gave her a reassuring look.

"I know that, Cass. I've spent a lot of thought on this. I am well aware of the risks, and be rest assured that we will do everything in our power to protect the civilians as well as the hosts in the Pool. Let me clarify, we're not going to be firing on the Pool from space, we're going to be blowing it from the inside."

I raised an eyebrow at this.

"And how exactly are we going to be doing that, oh fearless leader? Because the last time I checked I don't have a bomb big enough to take out their whole Pool."

He gave me a questioning look.

"You guys have all those Yeerk explosives, right? You have crates full of them in the Hork-Bajir valley, right?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, those. I forgot about those. We've never used those." I said.

"Unfortunately, Jake. Pretty much all of those are small, hand held explosives, it would take much more than we have to be able to blow the entire Pool at once."

"Ah." Jake said as he began to think again. He sat for a few seconds before he thought of something. I swear that you could see the lightbulb over his head.

"Hey Ax?" He asked as he turned his attention to him.

"Yes, Prince Jake?" Ax asked.

"What would happen if we mixed the contents of the Yeerk Pool with say, calcium phosphide?"

"Calcium phosphide?" Rachel asked. "That's used in explosives, right?"

"Sort of, it's used in incendiaries. Incendiaries aren't technically explosives, they use ignition rather than detonation." Jake said casually, this received looks from the group.

"Why do you know that, Jake? You some kind of arsonist?" Rachel asked.

Jake laughed.

"No, but I've been reading up on my warfare, explosives are just a part of it." He looked to Ax to answer his previous question.

"Well if you add calcium phosphide to either acid or water it will release phosphine, which is toxic and can cause explosions in air. Phosphine attacks the central nervous system, it can either be absorbed via being breathed in through the lungs or through the skin."

Erek gave a concerned look to Jake.

"What is your plan, Jake? Why are we talking about deadly, explosive chemicals?"

Jake turned to Erek before glancing at each one of us.

"Have you ever heard of Greek Fire?"He asked.

"Yes I have, Jake. I've never seen it in person though." Erek replied.

"What's Greek Fire?" Cassie asked.

Jake answered her.

"It was a type of very volatile and powerful incendiary. The Greek navy would use it to set enemy ships on fire. It was a type of early flamethrower."

"A flamethrower on the ocean, that seems like it wouldn't work to me." I said. Jake smiled.

"That's where this fire is special, Marco. While we don't exactly know how to make it, it was a combination of several chemicals including calcium phosphide, that when it reacted with water it would set the top of the water ablaze. There is no known way of putting out the fire either, it was a devastating weapon." He said.

"Okay, so what?" Rachel asked.

"So I was thinking of making a sort of improved and more powerful form of Greek Fire that reacts with the sludge in the Yeerk Pool, causing it to ignite and explode on contact. If all works out then not only the Yeerks on the top of the 'water' but the ones on the bottom of the Pool would be killed as well. They would be either boiled or burned alive." Without a breath he turned to Ax again.

"How many Yeerks would you say are in the Pool at one time?"

"The average Yeerk Pool could house around two or three million Yeerks in their hostless bodies at any given time." He replied quickly.

"Good. Then if we manage to set off a few of these Greek Fire Bombs then we could take out up to three million Yeerks in an instant. On top of that, with the destruction of the two Kandronas the Yeerks would be unable to ship every Yeerk to the Poolship in order to feed. In the course of a week we could potentially kill off several million Yeerks. Not only that but if we also use the orbiting dracon cannons to take out their ships then we could take out the Poolship or even Visser Three's Bladeship as well. All in all, if this mission goes to plan then we could potentially cripple the Yeerks for months, maybe even years." We all sat around the table with our mouths on the floor. Hearing Jake talk like that was not something we were used to. Jake had always rathered avoiding a move like that. I for one was a little concerned, he had thought of all of this in only a little over an hour. On top of that he had to digest all of the information and data we gave him. I would never understand how his mind is able to process all of that information on top of coming up with plans at the same time. He came up with this entire plan so quickly. A plan that could very well turn the tide of this war.

"Before we go any further Prince Jake, I just want to let you know that we would not be able to completely wipe out the Yeerks so easily. They would surely have fall back measures. Not only that but they no doubt have several other bases set up in the surrounding cities that we do not know about. We may be successful in clearing them out of this city but they would surely flee to another." Ax informed us.

"I am well aware of that, Ax, thanks." Jake said.

"I know that it'll take a lot more than that to get rid of them for good. But if we manage to do this then we could very well get rid of most of the Yeerks in our city. And from there we would only step up our plans and our game and start striking bigger and more powerful blows to the Yeerks." He said. We all looked at him with blank expressions again. We sat in silence before someone raised an objection.

"But Jake, don't you think that that's going a little too far? I mean, the Yeerks are sentient, they have rights too. We just can't go and kill three million Yeerks at once. We shouldn't even kill any of them." Cassie of course.

"Rights?" Rachel nearly screamed. "They lost their rights when they decided to invade and enslave our planet, Cassie. They don't get the option of us being nice to them. They are our enemy, and as our enemy we have the right to kill them."

"I know that they're our enemies but we just can't go around killing innocent-" I cut her off.

"Don't you dare call them innocent, Cassie. They are invading our planet. They want to enslave our entire planet. Not a single Yeerk outside of the YPM is innocent, and that's debatable." I said, my voice raising as well.

"I know that, but we just can't go around killing people. It doesn't matter if their a Yeerk or not." Cassie added.

"But we have no choice, Cassie." Rachel said. "If we don't do this then the Yeerks will take over our entire planet."

"No choice? We always have a choice whether to take a life or not." Cassie said.

"I'm sorry Cassie, but I gotta agree with them. We need to stop the Yeerks no matter what, and if this is the best way than we have no other choice." Tobias said, getting into the conversation.

"Yeah but-" Cassie started but was interrupted by Jake.

"Let's put it o a vote, we've had this conversation before many times. We'll get nowhere if we keep talking about it."

We all nodded in the group.

"Who votes that we go forward with the plan?" He asked.

I, Rachel, Tobias and he raised our hands. Ax raised his hand as well when he saw what Jake voted for.

"All opposed?" He asked.

Cassie and Erek raised their hands.

"I still think that we should try to find another way, but if you all think it's best then I'll go along with your decision." Cassie said with a sigh.

"I was programmed against violence, I can not agree with harming lives, but I will not stand in your way either. I will help you as much as I can but I will not be able to pull the trigger." Erek said.

"Sounds good then, we're in agreement. We'll proceed as planned. I'll keep you all up to date with the plans."

He stood to leave the table when Cassie stopped him.

"Hold on, Jake. Before you go there's one more thing that we need to do. More specifically you." He raised an eyebrow at this.

"And what's that?" He asked.

"You need to try morphing again, Jake." she said sweetly. She almost always talked that way to him.

"Why?" He asked. Rachel cut it before Cassie could answer.

"Because you're out of shape, Jake, that's why. You haven't morphed in six months, you need to get back into the swing of things before you go on any mission."

"That's, true. You need to get used to it again. Come on, I have the perfect morph for you to try to ease you back into it." We all headed to Cassie's barn to check out whatever new horrid morph was bound to be waiting for us.

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***Author's Note***

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Thanks, and until next time this has been Hephaestus.