See, I really am back and updating, you have another new chapter!

This chapter is dedicated to Sinister Shadow. Because it's the one she's been begging for. ;)



Chapter 29

The first thing Esplin had to do to prepare for Visser One's arrival was to assemble the members of his personal army on his Blade ship and distribute their red uniforms.

The uniforms were not usually worn, nor were they required at all by Empire law. It was simply a safety precaution initiated by the vissers of the Empire themselves. Political animosity among Yeerks was not a new phenomenon, and fights had broken out between warring vissers before. The uniforms ensured that if such a skirmish were to occur, the Controllers would know who was on their side and who was the enemy.

Esplin did not expect such an incident, but he half hoped for one. He would have welcomed the chance to do away with his rival before she caused him any more grief.

Once the uniforms were distributed, it was time to rendezvous with the Pool ship. It was necessary that Esplin and his crew be there to welcome Visser One, or he would look bad. As much as he disliked the fact, Visser One did outrank him, and rank counted for much with the Council. Visser One could use a failure to acknowledge her superiority in this way as evidence that Esplin was not fully devoted to the cause of the Empire. Which was a headache Esplin certainly did not need.

The Blade ship docked with the Pool ship, and Esplin and his troops disembarked. He barked out some orders to the red-uniformed Controllers, and they began to spread throughout the ship, mingling with the full-time crew of the Pool ship, who wore brown uniforms as a general practice.

Esplin proceeded to the bridge and pulled up the Yeerk information network on the computers. From now on he would be fully aware of every new development concerning Visser One. He would be completely prepared when her Blade ship came to dock with the Pool ship.

He was nervous. He had never met this Yeerk whom he hated so ferociously face-to-face. He did not like the hindrance she posed to his advancement. He wondered what kind of Yeerk she would be like, wondered what lengths he would have to go to in order to topple her from her prestigious rank.

He had no idea. And so he was nervous. And without Hekliss around to defuse his nervousness — as a weak human child, Hekliss was fairly useless as a soldier, and she had her human façade to keep up besides — Esplin had nothing to do but remain at the mercy of his own anxiety. He paced. His tail twitched. His stalk eyes restlessly roamed over the room. Eventually he wished the other visser would just hurry up and arrive so he could get the encounter over with.

His wish was soon granted. The notice came that Visser One's Blade ship was entering the docking port. It was time for Esplin to head there to meet her.

‹Here we go, I suppose,› he muttered as he left the bridge.


In appearance, she was a human female of shorter-than-average height with dark brown hair. Seemingly harmless enough. Yet when her eyes met Esplin's, he saw only the gaze of a ruthless, cunning, intelligent Yeerk.

Perhaps too intelligent.

‹Welcome back to Earth, Visser One,› Esplin greeted her with false hospitality. ‹I trust your journey was pleasant enough?›

"Indeed it was, Visser Three," Visser One said icily. "However, we are not here to talk of my journey, but my destination. The planet I left in your hands." She raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Esplin.

‹I am handling this planet well enough,› Esplin replied stiffly.

"Well enough. Well. We will see about that." She glanced around at the Controllers milling about the docking bay. "Do you have somewhere more private we can talk? Somewhere away from this rabble?"

Esplin looked at her, surprised. But as he thought about it, it began to make sense, at least to him. He didn't trust her in the least, and it was probably better not to risk losing face in front of his subordinates. No telling what she might do. ‹I have set apart private quarters on this ship for myself. Follow me.›

He turned and began walking. Out of a rearward-facing stalk eye, he saw her smirk, then begin to follow.

It was gratifying to be in the leading position for a little while, even for something as simple as traveling to a different location on the ship. It gave him some small sense of satisfaction while it lasted. However, as soon as they arrived at his quarters, Visser One again took charge.

"Now we can talk," she announced.

‹About what?›

"Where do you want me to start?" she shot back. "You failed at eliminating a small task force of the Andalite filth. You insisted on killing Elfangor not with a Dracon beam or your tail, but with a ridiculously large, noisy morph, attracting the attention of nearby humans and nearly giving away our presence. You also failed to capture said humans. Several times you have faced the very Andalites you failed to destroy the first time, and they still live. You are a loud, impulsive, incompetent fool. You are a danger to the success of this invasion and I shall do all in my power to see you removed. Understand me?"

Esplin stared at her with his main eyes, stunned. He had to think of a retort. Had to! Couldn't let this Yeerk — the Yeerk who had profited off of his own achievements — get away with accusing him of being the incompetent one!

His tail had impulsively jerked forward at Visser One's scathing comments, but Esplin's self-preservation instinct had kept him from swinging it at the visser's neck. Now was not the time. A rash act like that would only get him executed as a traitor.

‹Truth hurts, doesn't it, Yeerk?› Alloran remarked.

‹SHUT UP!›

"What's wrong, Esplin-Nine-Four-Double-Six?" Visser One mocked. "Not used to hearing criticism? No one but cowering subordinates around you, who must praise your every action in order to keep their own lives? It is not their opinion you need to be concerned about. I know about your failures. The Council knows about your failures. You have achieved your current rank through sheer luck and audacity, but those qualities will not make you useful to the Empire over the long term. Enough failures, Esplin, and you will lose your rank as quickly as you obtained it."

‹I worked for my rank!› Esplin yelled. ‹I discovered the humans! I infested this Andalite! Every promotion I got was based on something I did! You got promoted because of what I did! You wouldn't even have known about the humans if it wasn't for me!›

"Yes, you discovered the humans. But what did you do about it? Nothing. As soon as you got what you wanted and infested your pet Andalite here, the humans meant nothing to you. I was the only one willing to actually FIND the planet, learn about the humans, and set up operations here!"

‹I reported to Olgin like I was supposed to! They were the ones who were supposed to do something about it!›

"Excuses, Visser Three." She shook her head. "The Council does not take excuses very kindly."

Esplin seethed wordlessly.

"Visser! Visser!"

‹WHAT IS IT?!› Esplin roared, at the same time that Visser One said "Yes?"

The brown-uniformed Hork-Bajir-Controller cringed at Esplin's excessively loud thought-speak. "We are getting a distress signal. Except … it is the wrong frequency. Akrin believes it is the Andalite bandits trying to lure us into a trap."

‹The Andalite bandits?› Esplin grinned with his main eyes. ‹I'll be there. We'll see who traps who.›


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