Chronicles of Terrus Chapter 8: Actions are louder than words

Both teams were lined up infront of the Visser, everyone healed and out of their paralized states. I stood on the very left end. Needless to say, the Visser was infuriated and disappointed: With MY team. I didn't care. I couldn't stop thinking back to seven minutes ago. Andalites are going to attack soon? Should I say something? No..It was the word of a pathetic almost brainless being. Nothing it ever said, even were it NOT my host, could ever be taken seriously. I am an overlord, a rightful heir to the universe. By default a conqueror. IT is nothing compared to me! NOTHING! Fellanna. Yeerk help Reg Tanna

In spite of myself, I decided to talk to it. IF Andalites are going to attack, IF this thing is right, I won't regret breaking protocol. I'll be forgiven. If it isn't true, nobody will ever know of this. Except maybe Serri and Eliza. I can trust them. I'm burning curiosity anyway. How am I helping you Reg? I demanded. It was all too happy to reply Yeerk thinks not tell Visser. Not warn Visser. Fellanna Yeerk..Yeerk not see Regs thoughts? Not tell what Reg thinks?

I don't need to see your thoughts or memories. You're nothing of interest to me. Reg is now. Still why not see Regs thoughts? Why question Reg Tanna? I'm not in the habit of reading every little thought you have. Why do you think Andalites will attack? Hruthin left Hork-Bajir long time. Left Hork-Bajir to Yeerks. Yeerks killed Hork-Bajir..killed with smoke long time before. Hruthin come back now. Kill Yeerks. Free Hork-Bajir. Hruthin tell Reg before Reg stolen again, will help in time. Yeerks Pool..ship..Hruthin help when shows. Andalites will attack our Pool ships when they come to take the fresh out of training Yeerks to other planets? They told you that before you became my host? Reg thinks Yeerk DARKAP. Not know this. Not see Reg thoughts. Reg hide them from darkap Yeerk.

I was from replying by being rudely brought out of the depths of my mind. "Terrus 5633 respond this instant or I will kill you." That was the visser, who had his blade pressed to my neck. Everyone else was trying (and failing) to look as if they weren't paying attention.
I brought my now both working arms up faster than he could react, grabbed his arm with mine, then caught his huge wrist blade between my three arm blades and broke it off. I lowered my arms and stepped back just as quickly. I heard Eliza laugh and say from somewhere down the line to my right "She definetely responded." and I heard Serri lightheartedly tell her to be quiet.

Desha and her team started to break form, presumably to help the Visser, but he stopped them with a glance. Desha apologized and they went back to their places. The Visser returned his attention to me and said "You may have completed your training but there are a few things you still need to learn. Respect. Obedience. You need to be unquestioning." I couldn't help it. I was angry which caused me to say "Is there any set date for those? Because I want to ask you one thing Visser. Are there any Andalite ships near this planet? Any Andalites on the surface?" Everyone hissed and gasped.

The Visser stared holes through me and answered "Four months ago there was a small Andalite force but it was taken down by our ship based dracon cannons and fighters...None survived."

I really couldn't stop myself from questioning him even more. "Are you certain Visser? One or two couldn't have survived and sent a message to an Andalite fleet and warned the Hork-Bajir-" He swung his left blade faster than I ever thought he could and laterally cut my chest wide open and my?..my blood gushed out everywhere, the pain was incredibly unendurable. I felt myself growing weaker already and I fell on my side, barely holding myself up. The Visser kicked me over onto my back and said "That kind of talk is treason." The line broke up and the teams took up sides behind the Visser and I.

I looked up at him as I lay there and said spitefully "The only real treasonous act here is you not wanting to let a loyal Yeerk kill Andalites."

The Visser stomped on my open wound and ground his talons around, making me even more of a wreck. "You think yourself better than me?"

My Distractions looked at me, then looked at the Visser. I knew they were asking if they should stop him. I so badly wanted to yes. I wanted this pain to stop. I wanted them to kill him for me. To save me. But no. I'm NOT weak. I can get out of this myself. I shook my head. No.

I pushed the Vissers leg off me and pressed my arms over my injury. Using all my strength, and my tail to balance and support myself, I stood up. I grinned and choked out through my blood "I KNOW I'm better than you, Visser."

The Visser was so angry that he seemed to be restraining himself from literally ripping my head off. "You are an insolent fool, Terrus 5633." He sliced me three more times across the chest and pushed me down in the time it took for me to raise my arms and try to block.

I need to get out of the host before it dies. I felt myself losing control, I felt the oblivion, I felt death rushing through every single part of the body and the brain as I detached from it as fast as I could. Seconds later I was completely detached, I moved through hole in the skull and the ear canal to the opening. I squeezed myself through it and fell on the floor and experienced..It was as if the whole universe was shaking! Were they fighting? Moments later it all stopped and I felt a huge pressure envelope me, like being trapped in a way too small ramonite box, and for the life of me I didn't dare try to move for a long, long time.

I don't know how much time passed. At some point the all emcompassing pressure vanished and was replaced by a "small" liquid environment. I'm in a portable Yeerk Pool! When I get a new host I need to find out about the Andalites. I am going to, with or without the help of my team. I'll prove the Visser wrong. He IS wrong. Andalites are here. I waited in the Pool for an agonizingly long time. I NEED a body, right now. The longer I'm here the longer I'm not out there looking for the Andalites and killing them. I emitted auditory pulses and to my delight I discovered that there was a host waiting for me!

I eagerly entered the ear canal, I was so excited about the opportunity to initiate my self conceived mission and to see my friends again that I didn't even remember to dull the infestees pain as I "drilled" through its' bone and tissues to get to its' brain!

I didn't even take any pleasure in taking control of the host. Sound came in and sight flicked on like activating a video feed on a computer terminal screen. I raised my head and I instantly took in everything. The first thing I noticed was my two friends and Heyo standing infront of me. They had no dracon weapons, but Serri was holding a deactivated handheld holocomputer. Reassured that I was "safe", I examined everything else. I was in a small storage room, I didn't know if the PP (Portable Pool) had been stored here or if it was moved here for my exclusive use now. I didn't know where in the base I was, as there were dozens upon dozens of these little rooms off from the hallways and other larger rooms. Some specific and some not.

This one contained...everything. Ten or so one use only KPEs(Kandrona Particle Emitters) lining a wall, three full crates of cells (Dracon weapon ammo), a small opaque metal container sitting on the floor beside the crates with six handheld computers stacked inside, three HK spheres (Hunter/Killers), another small container filled to the brim with KCs (killing cylinders), a large see through case held four dracon rifles, four dracon beams and what looked like five spherical explosives. To top all of this off, to my utter delight I noticed three ground skimmers in the very back of the room leaning against the wall.

With some difficulty I brought my attention back to my friends. We stared for a couple of seconds. I was enjoying the suspense, the expectant silence. I decided to break it by asking "Who was the one carrying me?" Eliza smiled, which was all the answer I needed. I smiled back and addressed to Serri. "What part of the base are we in smart one?"

He grinned at that "Well miss, we are currently on floor fifty six, third hall from the lifts and seven doors down the hall. You may also need a reminder that we're in Yeerk base/Training Facility 790. Or maybe you want me to tell you my name next?"

"Shut up you darkap. What happened when I was out of my host? I know we ran but did we get chased too? Are we wanted now?" I need to know EVERYTHING and he's taking too long to answer me! I met eyes with Heyo "What happened there?", I asked.
Heyo spoke up finally "We got in a good fight with Desha and her team, Visser 25 hung back. When Eliza picked you up the Visser didn't stop us from leaving and he told Desha to let us go." He paused before saying maliciously "Don't ever mention Andalites around me or I'll do what he did to you but worse. Andalites are nothing but betrayers, liars, and murderers. What I hate worst of all is how they walk all over everyone, throwing their hooves around like they rule everything, and that they HELPED US and now they want to just take it all back and KILL .ONE OF US."

Nobody had anything to say to that. Even I can't help him with that. It's true.

I pushed him back "Visser 25 hung back and let his team fight for him? Who does that remind me of...Get used to Andalites being mentioned. We're going on a little adventure once we get this whole rooms contents put inside a bug fighter. We're going to find Andalites."

My friends exchanged looks. Eliza said hesitantly "Well Terrus we..we don't exactly know what happened with you or why you're obssessed with Andalites now. We need to know what's really going on before we go off on our own together."

OBSSESSED? OBSSESSED? I spoke of Andalites for more than twenty seconds so I'm obssessed? "My host, before it died of course, gained control for a few seconds and it felt hopeful. Confident. It told me that for a brief time it was escaped and it spoke to Andalites on the planet who told it that they would attack the two Pool ships. The ones that transport the masses off planet every eight months. That day is today."

Serri, always the logical one, waved his holocomputer at me said "One, The host didn't escape from here or we would have heard about it. Two, Hosts get moved between bases all the time. Maybe yours escaped from another base and met the Andalites, then was recaptured. Three, I don't see how they could possibly attack and destroy the Pool ships. When you were in the Portable Pool I took a look at the ship cannons targets list for this base from four months ago and combined it with reports from some of our pilots. Here."

He activated the computer and clicked on a file, then held it out infront of us. It seemed to be a recreation of the aformentioned battle. Twenty Andalite starfighters and four freighter class vessels were shown flying towards the planet, all seemed calm until four ship cannon rounds flew up from the planet, all hit and vaporized unsuspecting starfighters. We all watched, completely absorbed by the progressing battle. The other ships all high tailed it down to the planet, still weaving and swerving around the cannon rounds. After a minute the scene changed to show the ships scattering and flying through the trees while being chased by bug fighters. I noted that two of the freighters were only disabled and they crashed onto the planet, relatively intact.

I shook myself out of a trance when the file stopped playing. "Nice show. I'd like to know why they were only shot down. I take it you know where those two freighters crashed?"

He gave me a grin "Of course I do miss. So we're going to defy the Empire to save it?"

He'll never stop being a darkap. I should kill him now. "We aren't defying anything. None of us here have any orders, no missions to complete as given by any superiors. And don't think we're 'saving' anything either. The only thing this team is doing is investigating the strange circumstances and the crash sites and contents of enemy ships."

"What about the Pool ships and all the Yeerks?" Eliza asked. I was getting impatient again. I went over and opened the weapons case and picked up the dracon beams. I threw my friends each one. I looked them all in the eyes. "If this is true, we'll be forgiven and elevated beyond our dreams. If we find and kill or infest the Andalites. We'll save countless Yeerk lives. It will only take this one team to bring them down. The most likely possibility is that they'd go for sabatoge. Infiltration. That's how these things will go about destroying the Pool ships. If this isn't true and there really is nothing going on, then there's no harm, you won't regret the adventure, and we can all just watch the masses board the Pool ships at the end of the day and roam the universe that rightly belongs to them, then we stay and do whatever it is we do. Are you in, Serri?"

Serri dropped his holocomp and grabbed a clawful of cells from the crate next to me "You never had to ask miss. Eliza, will you be joining us?"

She gave him a smile "Only to save lives. Others AND our own." I can keep goals in mind. This team is going to save lives, go up ranks, and I'm personally going to get back at the Visser. Everybody wins. This day hasn't been so bad after all.

But..There's still one more person I have to convince. "Heyo, are you willing to stick with the team and not abandon us when it would be convenient for you? This is going to be your first true personal test." He glared at me and said "I know you see me as a coward and a selfish darkap. You're right. But there's more than a few things keeping me with you three."

I smiled. Perfect. "I always believed in you-" I stared past my friends as the door opened behind them. They froze. A Gedd controller walked clumsily into the room carrying a holocomputer, not appearing to notice us until he ran right into the back of Eliza. She spun around and went to decapitate the fool but I rushed forward and grabbed her by the forearm. Unfortunately I didn't have four other arms so I couldn't stop Serri or Heyo. Both turned and swung a wrist blade at the same exact time, one cutting the poor darkap in half at his torso, the other slicing clean through the gut. The Gedd fell in three distinct pieces, each with their own pool of blood and innards, with the holocomputer in the center of the gore triangle.

Now that the threat was dead (If Gedd can even be called 'threats') I let go of Eliza. Everyone stared at the Gedd, not sure what to do BESIDES stare at the thing. Poor darkap. Poor poor darkap. That's what you get. Say or do the wrong thing, be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you end up dead. This could have been me. No chance of escaping the host. I stepped forward and picked up the gore stained holocomp and activated it. A massive list appeared. "Inventory" I stated obviously. More to take attention off the butchered controller than anything else.

I reorganized the list to the most recent 'take outs' as we called it whenever items were missing from storage rooms. Four of everything gone from..nowhere? "How long has it been since I was forced to leave my host?" I asked no-one in particular. Eliza, still staring at the Gedd, answered me quietly "One hour. Why? Did you find something off in the list?" I didn't answer her right away. Instead I tried to find more information on the missing items. I found nothing. I hissed in frustration and threw the holocomp down at the Gedds' chest. "I found SOMETHING odd. Four of everything in the arsenal are missing as of half an hour ago and it doesn't say WHO took the items OR from where it's all missing. Serri? Stop reloading your weapon and tell me something intelligent that would explain this."

"Gladly miss," He said as he threw a cell at me. "Given the time frame and it being four of everything. It could be coincidence...Or it could be Desha and her team already geared up and out there visiting the crash sites and looking for the supposedly alive Andalite bandits." It means the Visser thinks I'm right!

Eliza went over to Serri and swiped a few cells from his claw. "This isn't just some competition. Actual lives are at stake this time." Instead of pushing her back or playfully hitting her like I expected him to, he took one step closer and offered her more cells "I'm aware of that liz." Heyo barked out a laugh and I just stared. They both seemed to realize they were being watched and Eliza stepped away while Serri stole the cells back that he'd just given her.

Heyo told Eliza with a grin "You should probably get your ammo out of the crates from now on." She did as he'd said and started reloading her weapon from the crate, her back to Serri. I still just stared.

Serri threateningly waved his dracon beam at Heyo "Darkap. I will dracon beam your face off if you ever make a joke about liz an-" He realized he'd said it again and wisely decided to just shut up, but that didn't stop Heyo from laughing at him more. What in the universe is going on here? I got my senses back and went over to the skimmers. Passing Heyo on the way over to them, I whispered to him with a slight grin "I think you'll fit in just fine."

I kept my back to the others and took one of the skimmers off the wall to examine it. A thick slab of metal in the shape of an oval. Two shields that come up over the feet to hold the user in place. Two thrusters beneath it. I like this design the most.

Not knowing if it would even work, I set it on the floor infront of me and seperated the wrist control pad from it and attached it to the top of my arm alongside my right wrist blades. Just like training. I tapped on the control pad and the screen moved up so it was sitting vertically on my wrist. Three green holo circles appeared on the screen along with one red triangular symbol beneath them and a blue square. Three circles..Three digits. Blue square is foot shields. I tapped the button twice and watched the shields come up and go back down. Perfect. I lined up my claws with the green circles, turned around to face my friends and with my thumb I pressed the red symbol slowly and deliberately.

My friends stopped arguing about whatever they were arguing about (I wasn't paying any attention to them, as I often didn't) and stared at me as the thrusters turned on and the skimmer lifted off the ground behind me. I slid the middle circle up slowly and when I saw the skimmer in the edge of my vision I moved the circle back to line up with the other two. I grinned and pulled the righthand circle in its own direction across the screen, turning the skimmer to face towards my friends.

Serri waved his dracon beam at me and said "Good work miss. I didn't think you even payed attention to Coren." He smiled and added, "And It's good to know you're intelligent. That was sort of in question." Darkap. I won't kill him but I'm certainly going to show his miserable self there's a point where I don't take his joking insults lightly. I stealthily pulled the left circle outward and grinned at him. "I'm glad I'm up to standards in the intelligence area. I think it's you who's in question though." He glared and said arrogantly "I'm the smartest one here. Don't underutilize me." Darkap.

I pushed the middle circle straight up and watched as it sped towards him. Eliza and Serri jumped in opposite directions to avoid the thing and Heyo was laughing himself to death again. Eliza was grinning which was a sharp contrast to Serri, who was looking like he'd kill me. I was getting sick of Heyo laughing. I held out my hand to Serri and he threw me his dracon beam. I glanced at Heyo to be sure he wasn't paying attention. Good. The darkap is still laughing. I put the dracon beam to stun and fired across the storage room, hitting him dead in the face. He dropped like a ramonite box. Eliza shouted "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Serri on the other hand looked like he'd been made Visser one! I frowned at Eliza, and gave Serri a quick grin. All I said was "I'm getting sick of Heyo."