Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Already your outersphere pilots have gotten hold of the Farlan. It's amazing. I didn't think they could work that fast."

"Yes, they're very good. That's why we pay them a lot. And that's why your pal, Leepo paid them a lot. But right now, the thing that concerns be is the huge space battle over Ablia, the Andalite Homeworld. I have alerted Tassax, and apparently Spalose and he are working out things."

"Let's hope so, for the sake of the Andalites, let's hope so."

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Nothing rested, nothing stood still. Everyone moving, the battle bridge full! Bumping, cursing, laughing, tripping. I nearly collapsed. After a simulated eternity, I reached my quarters and piled in, switching the screen on. Tassax immediately came up.

"Spalose, I'm sending over reinforcements for you. Yes yes, I know its like the first time that I'm risking war machines in battle, but you know as well as I do what must NOT be destroyed for the sake of the Andalites. And it is on Albia."

The psi temple. Where Dmitri's physical essence is kept. I have to go down there. I have to get to himit.

"What did you say?" he asked, swishing his long nerve tendrils back behind his head.

Nothing. I repeated about four times, while talking to every major Captain in my fleet. I arranged for eight Dome Ships, 300 Vavyle Fighters, and 12 of the New Gla War Machines, which were centipede-like in structure to head to a Nav point in Z-Space.

Within the next few minutes, sir. one said. I nodded to him, and he disappeared.

"You sure you want to go to the surface, I mean by now, the Yeerks must have captured every major city. Your brothers are in over their heads." Tassax said.

I'm the guardian, aren't I? The crystal's dying, I have to get it out of there! I gasped, stopping for a moment. A signal came up over the entire Dome Ship, blasting loudly over the speakers.

"ANDALITE HOMEWORLD DECLARED UNDER FIRESTORM BY THE YEERKISH EMPIRE. CONFEDERACY HAS DECLARED WAR ON THE YEERKS."

My hearts nearly stopped beating. Firestorm. My homeworld was burning to death. The Yeerks had set it aflame. Then rage entered my system. Rage and sudden hatred for the vile aliens. But I had to keep it under control.

Word of the Farlan being rescued from the surface of the Yeerk Homeworld had reached every Yeerk living. Their immediate blame went towards their allies. Which were the Confederates. One could almost feel sorry for the traitors. But the main reason the planet needed saving was the temple. And only so much time remained until Dmitri was destroyed.

"Oh, Spal, by the way, you can take a breather for about 2 hours, the temple is underwater, and water doesn't burn." Tassax face molded into a scared smile and then disappeared off the terminal.

I rushed outside, grabbing Rhazori as I went. The bridge was loud with conversation and panic, and I had to close off my mind to keep peace in my brain. Underwaterwho would've known? That should keep it nice and safe.

A flash of light blinded me, and Dmitri appeared hovering two inches from my face.

Save me

No time to waste. I assembled the troops on the bridge and spoke to them. When I was through, everyone was dismissed to the ready rooms, where they entered their fighters and waited for the Dome Ship to re-enter real space. Four minutes till we would re-emerge.

Those four minutes passed like a heartbeat, and soon we punched the engines and leapt out, finding ourselves in the middle of silence. For a moment I checked the calculations. Had we made a miss-jump?

Sir, permission to attack the oncoming Yeerk fighters? a captain said.

Dumbfounded, I replied, Yeah, shoot the hell out of them!

A static shield had been set up around our fleets by Leepo's commanding squadrons. It helped us tremendously. Just then, a pair of shadowy masses appeared maybe 30 miles away. Tassax's troops. Then, above us, another 30 miles up, more figures. Our powerhouses had arrived. Within the heated battled, I made my way to the launching deck, where my personal fighter awaited. Rhazori clung to my shoulder, and within two minutes, we were heading down.

Down to the atmosphere that reeked of smoke. Down into the placed I once called home. Down into the blistering heat of the firestorm.

The whole time I had to fly through there, I was crying. Rhazori piloted the steadfast fighter, heading to the ocean where Tassax had pointed out that the temple was. Yeerk bombers whizzed past our cloaked fighter, still dropping their loads of firepower. Flames reached up almost 2 miles, tickling the belly of our craft.

I regained myself, and noticed that we were approaching the ocean. It seemed so welcoming compared to the smoke filled skies of our once beautiful homeland. We slowed our decent, and dropped into the water.

Almost immediately, we were greeted by Confederate subs, who, having kept the same code, noticed us in our cloak. They escorted us on our journey to the sea floor, where a small rock temple covered in seaweed, was being guarded.

But how-- I started.

"Tassax informed the Confederacy of the psi temple. They were so scared, they believed anything."

That was enough reassurance for me. I stopped the fighter near the temple entrance and dropped a small anchor. I walked into the air lock and began to morph. My skin turned rubbery as I imagined the shark. And as soon as I lay there, flopping around, Rhazori let the water in. It had been maybe three years since I had morphed, so everything was a memory. Until I felt the total calm predator mind subside beneath mind.

I swam close to the temple, and entered through the hole which was the ancient entrance. I grew very dark. Darker than the bottom of the ocean itself. I lost all sight. Aimlessly searching, I suddenly caught glimpse of blue light. Dmitri!

I powered my shark tail and emerged in an air-lit cavern, demorphing and adjusting to the slight darkness.

Why, hello, War-Prince Spalose. I see our earlier attempts to kill you were unsuccessful, but now that I have you right where I want you, I can do my dirty work here and now. the voice was file and I only knew it to be one person. Or rather, one slug.

Glad to finally meet you again, Visser Three.

This would be an easy match. Here, close to Dmitri, I could fully use my psionic potential. So I closed my eyes while facing him. He lashed out at me, but I swerved, feeling his presence in my mind.

Why don't you strike back? he asked, annoyed. I thought you were a skilled War-Prince.

I'm also a smart War-Prince. I focused my internal energy and released it quickly. When I opened my eyes, the Visser was trapped. Contained in a shimmering field of stasis. With no one to harm me, I proceeded, making my way to Dmitri, lying, rather than floating above the podium. He had grown much smaller than the last time I saw him.

Thank you, Spalose. he murmured.

I cradled him in my arms and through my mind, contacted Tassax.

"Alright, you have it. Good. If you can get it to me quickly, we can get it into well, consider it "Critical Care for Psionic Crystals." " he said. I made my way back to the fighter, morphing back to shark when I was knee deep in water. Sheltered in my mouth, I carried Dmitri to the open hatch, and when the water drained, moved him into the fighter.

We're dying, Spalose. We're dying