Somewhere beyond time and space.
The ellimist muttered an ancient curse as he saw the conefighters wear down the Black Light's shields. This was not supposed to happen. The Andalite / Human Alliance had defeated the yeerks as he had foreseen, but this had been completely unexpected. He grimaced as the shields of the small ship collapsed. This had not been a part of his plan. And more importantly; where had the alien ships come from? Carefully he examined the timelines. How had the Crayak...
Aha.
Very clever for him to be. Now how was he going to right all these wrongs?
The ellimist soon realized that he was out of options. He had not prepared for such an eventuality. The Crayak would win now, unless... Slowly an idea took shape in his mind. It was bending the rules pretty far but he didn't have a choice. The alternative was to allow the Crayak to do whatever he wanted with the galaxy. That, he thought, was no alternative.
He reached out and yanked a timeline.
Earth, Two decades earlier.
Jake's tiger-morph let out a roar that made the ground shake as he jumped on another hork-bajir, locking his jaws around its neck. Behind him a surviving hork-bajir rose, diving for his unprotected back.
Behind you! Cassie yelled. Jake twisted around with incredible speed and slammed his mighty paw in the side of the alien's head. The yeerk got his head ripped off.
Rachel on her hand was busy with her own hork-bajir. The thing came at her like a berserker, and managed to give her a nasty cut in the chest before she planted a paw in his chest and sent him flying backwards. At the same time Marco lifted one hork-bajir high up in the air and then slammed him into the floor, squashing two taxxons in the process.
Yeeehaaaw! I've always wanted to do this! He yelled as he used the controller as a bat, knocking out another hork-bajir. Those few taxxons who had survived until now got a very good idea: Get the hell out of here! So they ran, leaving the battle to the hork-bajir.
The Animorphs was busy smashing a yeerk laboratory, witch was in the process of developing a morph-seeker. It was a device that could trace the morph-signature to any morphcapable. The victim didn't even have to morph for the device to work. Needless to say, if the project was ever completed it would mean the end of the only resistance against the invasion of Earth. Thanks to the Chee and their spy-network, however, they had been able to locate and destroy it while it was still under construction.
The yeerks had set up a laboratory in a warehouse witch officially belonged to a company named Sviatren, Inc. Not a very good choice since 'sviatren' meant 'slaughter' in the yeerks language. Getting in had been easy. All entries was very heavily defended, with biofilters everywhere. Except alongside the walls. So Jake's rhino-morph simply made a very big hole and scared the heck out of the yeerk scientists. Rachel, Tobias and Cassie watched their backs while Jake morphed tiger, Marco totally trashed the morph-seeker itself, and Ax hacked into the yeerks computersystem and uploaded a virus that would destroy all research data.
So far, so good.
But, of course, this was not the quietest option, and now hork-bajir and human controllers were storming inn. And to make matters worse the yeerks had blocked them off their improvised 'door'.
Jake, we can't keep this up for long. We have to get out of here! Marco yelled as he knocked out another hork-bajir.
I know, I know! I'll morph rhino and make another hole. Jake yelled back. Just hold them of for a second.
But they can se you! Cassie said.
I'll just hide behind the wreak of the morph-seeker. He said as he dodged behind the fridge-sized device.
As Jake demorphed and remorphed, more and more hork-bajirs was flowing in. Both Rachel and Ax had gotten several bad cuts, Marco's right arm was broken, and Cassie was limping. Only Tobias looked relatively unharmed.
Perhaps he being a hawk for so long has honed his survival instincts or whatever. Rachel thought.
Come on, Jake! Marco called. These bastards just received reinforcements! We can't hold them of any longer!
Suddenly, tree hork-bajir came out of nowhere and charged towards Rachel. Crap. she thought. She knew she could not take on tree of them at the same time, at least not in the condition she was in. But Rachel being Rachel, she did the exact opposite of turning tail and run. Standing on her hind legs she roared, announcing that she was not going down without a fight!
Then suddenly two of them went flying while the third was trampled down, by an angry rhino with an angry Jake inside. He didn't even slow down, but continued charging forwards until he went straight through the wall with a crash.
Oh, goodie! A new exit! Marco said and ran for the new opening. Rachel, Cassie, Tobias and Ax were not far behind. The big problem was that, grizzly bears and gorillas don't run very fast, at least not when they are wounded. Fortunately, Erek was waiting for them on the exact spot they had left him.
Although the Chee could not fight due to their pacifist programming they could help in other ways, like emitting holograms, making them invisible for pursuers. Of course it was quite unnerving demorphing to human, and then morphing to bird not fifty paces away from the enemy, only protected by a hologram.
But it worked.
The exhausted Animorphs flew away from the remnants of the laboratory with the yeerks still looking for 'andalites' in morph, and with Erek 'helping' them.
That went well. Jake remarked.
Yes, suspiciously well. Marco added. Usualy we barely get away with our lifes.
Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?
Because it is my job! In addition to being paranoid, I'm also the funniest, cutest...
Shut up, Marco. Rachel and Tobias said in unison.
But really. The yeerks usually have at least one nasty surprise in store for us. It would not surprise me if they decided to throw it in our faces right...
Oh shit! Tobias suddenly yelled. Look below us!
...now. Marco finished. But he shut up pretty quickly when he saw what Tobias had already seen. If they had been human, all color would have drained from their faces. Marco was even so flabbergasted that he almost lost control of his morph. They were flying high above the abandoned construction site, but even at this distance they could clearly see what was going on below them. Half a dozen humans were busy digging out what looked like a simple sphere, three meters across.
Is that the Time Matrix they are digging up? Rachel gasped.
Do you know of any other large spheres lying around here? Tobias said.
Get down and go battlemorphs! Jake ordered and dived towards the ground with the rest of the small group not far behind. They landed behind an unfinished wall and immediately began morphing. Unfortunately, they had to demorph into humans before they could become... something more dangerous, and precious minutes was wasted.
"Ax, do you think they know what it is?" Jake asked as he became fully human.
I highly doubt it, prince Jake. If they had known, they would have used it already. They probably scanned the area and got some unusual sensor readings, so they decided to check it out. Such low-priority tasks are usually left to sub-vissers.
Hurry up guys, the already have half of it uncovered. Cassie said, who, of course, was the first to complete morphing.
Allright, let's go! Marco said seconds later as he clenched his enormous firsts.
The human controllers jumped in surprise when Jake roared, and then their eyes grew wide in shock as they saw the assorted gang of animals charging towards them. They immediately understood what they were facing.
"Andalites!" One of them screamed, then dropped his shovel and ran for it. His companions followed his example, knowing all to well that they were no match against andalites in dangerous morphs.
Shall we pursue them? Rachel asked.
No, we have the Time Matrix to take care of. Jake asked.
Prince Jake, we should hurry. Ax said. Now the yeerks know that this artifact is important, and will inform Visser Three about it. And he will know what it is.
How much time do you think we have?
I estimate one to two minutes.
Then don't just stand there! Rachel said. Use the damn thing to get us out of here. Make it transport us to Cassie's barn or something.
Although he was more than hesitant to actually use what was potentially the most powerful weapon in the universe, Jake knew they could not let it fall into the hands of the yeerks. So he urgently placed a paw on the sphere and concentrated hard. Here we go.
The surface of the Time Matrix shimmered. Then it went black.
Something is wrong! Marco yelled. Jake thought he could hear laughter, then they all slipped into total darkness as they lost consciousness.
Disk Ship Sunrider, En route towards the Yeerk Homeworld, Year 2023.
Captain William Cartman was having a very bad day. First the Alliance loses one fleetbase, one outpost, two Disk Ships and one Dome Ship in only a week. Then the Yeerk Homeworld is bombarded from orbit by unknown ships. Next, an experimental stealth-ship, supposedly undetectable, vanishes in the same area. And as that wasn't enough, the crew onboard that ship had once gone under the name 'Animorphs'. That small group of five humans and one andalite had been far from the only ones to fight in the war, but it was their actions that had turned the tide. If it had not been for them, Earth would have been yeerk territory by now, and the Andalite Homeworld probably a radioactive wasteland.
After having received the encrypted transmission from home, he had informed the entire crew of what had happened and what they had in wait. He knew the crew now thought the same thing he did; If the Animorphs was dead and the hostiles still there when they arrived, the enemy would not survive an encounter with them.
"What's our ETA?" He asked impatiently.
Still one hour, thirty-seven minutes left. Came the reply. The Sunrider was one of the very few ships with a mixed crew of both humans and andalites. This arrangement dated all the way back to when andalites and humans first allied. It was believed that mixing crew like this, would allow them to better understand each other. So far, no one had complained. Andalites enjoyed tremendous respect from the humans for having fought the yeerks for so long. Humans enjoyed equal respect from the andalites for having risen from being a backwater race, into becoming a galactic superpower in only two decades, and then helping defeat the yeerks.
Cartman's chain of thought was interrupted by the familiar sound of the alarm klaxon.
"Captain, we have a intruder alert on deck 6." His Tactical Officer reported. A human this time.
"Scramble a security team! Seal of the relevant area!" Cartman ordered. Now what? He thought.
"Done. Deck 6 has been hermetically sealed. ETA of security team is fifteen seconds.
Exactly fifteen seconds later, twenty heavily armed marines stormed out of the elevator and into deck 6. They quickly made they way past confused crewmembers and down the corridor, stopping by a door with a sign witch read 'Storage bay 4'. After forming up, with ten marines at each side of the door, their sergeant spoke. "Alright. Set your weapons at stun. Remember that this is what we have trained for! Whoever is in there, they don't stand a chance. Open the door."
The marines entered the dimly light room in a professional manner, ready for anything from hork-bajir controllers to acid-bleeding aliens. But they never had any need for pulling the trigger. Inside the room, among crates of all sizes, was five humans and one andalite, lying on the floor without moving.
"You check them for a pulse. We'll cover you."
"Yes, sir." One of the marines said and moved closer to one of the intruders, flipping the figure over on its back he felt for its pulse. Only now he saw it was a female, with blonde hair, a beautiful face, and... Then his brain finally connected the face he was looking on, with the face he had seen so often in the historybooks. "Holy shit!" He exclaimed and jumped up.
"What?" The sergeant asked, instantly alert. Then he also saw it. All color drained from his face. "That's... That's impossible!" Forgetting everything about procedure, he started checking the others lying on the floor. It was them.
It was impossible.
"Sec-Team 4 to bridge."
"This is bridge. Have you captured the intruders?" Cartman asked.
"Um, yes, but...I think you'd better come down here and have a look yourself. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Two minutes later Cartman walked into Storage bay 4. "This better be good, sergeant. We are underway towards a possibly hostile area, and I am supposed to be on the bridge."
The sergeant said nothing, just pointing towards six figures lying on the floor. Frowning Cartman took a closer look. Blinked, and looked again. And a third time. Then he checked the others. It was impossible to mistake them for somebody else. It was them.
"Is this some sort of joke?" He asked, as he looked up.
"No, sir. This is what we found."
Cartman tapped the communicator on his left arm. "Cartman to sickbay."
"This is sickbay."
"I want a Medical Team to Storage bay 4 at once, five humans, one andalite. As soon as you have finished checking them for injuries, I want you to run a DNA test."
"Yes, sir. Anyone specific you want us to compare their DNA with?"
"Yes. Jacob and Cassandra Berenson, Tobias and Rachel Fangor, Marco Jones and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill."
"...Say again?"
"You heard me. The Animorphs."
Disk Ship Sunrider, Sickbay, One hour later.
Jake slowly regained consciousness, only to find Marco standing over him with a stupid grin.
"About time you woke up."
"Marco?" Jake said, sitting up in the small bed. "Were are we? What happened? Where are the others? Are they okay?"
"Whoa! Slow down. One question at the time. The others are here, as you can see, and yes, they are okay. Problem is, I don't know where 'here' is, or how we got here."
"I think we are in some kind of hospital." Cassie said. "There are doctors and nurses running in and out all the time."
"And I begin to get tired of telling them how I feel." Rachel added.
Tobias flapped down to the floor and began morphing human. "According to Ax, we have been unconscious for over an hour."
Wherever we are, it is clear that the Time Matrix transported us here before disappearing to some unknown location. The question of 'where' remains unsolved, though. Ax said.
"Have you tried to talk to the doctors?" Jake asked as he stood up, a little bewildered over being in human form without remembering having demorphed.
"Yes, but they wouldn't say anything, they just continued to look funny at us." Marco said.
Whoever these humans are, it is clear that they know what I am. None of them reacted strangely when seeing an andalite.
"So you are saying they are controllers?"
I seriously doubt it, prince Jake.
"How come?"
One of them smiled to me. It was a friendly smile, and yeerks isn't exactly known to be friendly towards my people.
Rachel started to say something, but she never got any further than opening her mouth. Just then the door slid up, and a man walked in. He wore a very familiar black uniform, with a small crest on his left breast. It was an Earth surrounded by twenty-four stars.
The Animorphs stared at the man. They had seen that uniform before, when the ellimist transported them to the future.
"Oh, my God." Jake breathed. "What year is it?"
"2023." The man answered, slightly puzzled.
Marco sat himself on the bed. "Two decades. That infernal machine transported us more than two decades into the future."
"Machine? What machine?" The man asked.
"Do you mind telling us who you are and what this place is, before you begin asking questions?" Rachel said.
"Sorry. I am Captain William Cartman and you are onboard my ship, the Sunrider, witch is currently on its way towards the Yeerk Homeworld.
"The what homeworld?!" Marco asked alarmed.
"Don't worry, the yeerks were defeated three years ago." Cartman smiled. "The Yeerk War is over."
The Animorphs breathed a sigh of relief. The ellimist had told them that the yeerks had been driven away from Earth, not that they had been completely defeated!
This is a human ship? Ax asked.
"Yes, built and operated by us. But it has a few andalites onboard as part of an exchange program. Now could you please tell me how you got onboard my ship?" Cartman asked and turned towards the one witch he knew had to be Jake. After all, he didn't know about many other kids that gave the impression of being made out of living steel.
Jake sighed. "Alright. My name is Jake, and this is -"
"No, no." Cartman interrupted. "I know exactly who you are, but I don't understand how it's possible."
"I'm not so sure myself." Jake said. "We were on our way home from one of our missions against the yeerks, when we, incredible as it sounds, stumbled over a bunch of human controllers in the process of digging up the Time Matrix.
"The Time Matrix?" Cartman gasped.
"I take you've heard of it?"
"Yes, but I thought it was only a myth!"
"It's not a myth, believe me."
"Alright. You found the Time Matrix, then what?"
"Well, we didn't know how the heck it had gotten there, but our first and foremost priority was to hide it, so the yeerks couldn't get their hands on it. We were running out of time, so we attempted to make it transport itself and us to a more secure location. But something went wrong and we lost consciousness. The next thing I see is Marco's face."
"Yuk!" Rachel added.
"Haha." Marco said.
"Well, this is one heck of a coincidence." Cartman said.
"What do you mean?"
Now it was Cartman's turn to sigh. "It began a week ago, when we lost contact with Zarya Fleet Base. Then we lose in quick order one outpost, two Disk Ships and one Dome Ship. Next, our groundforces on the conquered Yeerk Homeworld send a distress signal saying they are being bombed from orbit by unknown warships. High Command sent the Black Light, a ship equipped with the latest in stealth technology, to figure out what was going on. As soon as they arrived, all contact was lost.
"It sounds to me as if you have a new war on your hands." Rachel said.
"It would seem like that, yes. But it gets worse. The crew onboard the stealth-ship was... well, you. Your future selves."
This revelation had the effect of effectively silencing the Animorphs. They just stared at the captain for several seconds, before Marco spoke up.
"Um, so we are kind of... missing in action? We are not confirmed dead?"
"That's right." Cartman answered. "There is a small fleet waiting for our signal to enter the starsystem. We were sent as an advance scout, and to look for survivors. So, there is still hope."
"I don't understand." Cassie said. "Surly our future selves would have remembered us going to the future, so why did they voluntarily walk into what could be their deaths?"
Cartman started to say something, then stopped with his mouth halfway open. He just stood there like he had suddenly frozen into ice.
"Captain? Is something wrong?" Jake asked.
CASSIE ASKED A QUESTION AND I BELIEVE I CAN ANSWER.
"Ah! Mr. Non-Interference!" Marco said. "How nice of you to join us!"
WAS THAT SARCASM, MARCO?
"What in the world makes you think that?"
Ignoring Marco entirely, the ellimist continued. THE ANSWER TO CASSIE'S QUESTION IS THAT WHEN I TRANSPORT YOU BACK TO THE PAST, I WILL DELETE YOUR MEMORIES OF THESE EVENTS. IF I DIDN'T, IT MIGHT ALTER THE COURSE OF HISTORY.
"In what way?" Tobias asked.
DIFFICULT TO TELL. PERHAPS YOU WILL BE OVERCONFIDENT AND LOOSE THE WAR. OR PERHAPS JAKE AND CASSIE WILL JUST NEVER GET MARRIED.
"So now you'll just take us back to our own time and wipe out our memory, leaving us to die in a couple of decades?" Marco said upset.
NOT YET. YOU SEE, I COULDN'T TRANSPORT YOU TO THE FUTURE, THAT'S AGAINST THE GAME RULES. I EVEN BENT THEM PRETTY FAR DOING IT THE LAST TIME. The Animorphs got the impression that the ellimist was wearing the biggest smile in the galaxy. BUT YOU CAME HERE ON YOUR OWN ACCORD, AND NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE I CAN JUST AS WELL EXPLOIT IT.
"Oh, I get it." Marco said. "If we happen to find the Time Matrix, and use it to travel to the future, it is not your fault, is it?
PRECISELY!
"But what are we suppose to do? And why didn't you let us arrive here a week earlier, so we might have prevented our own potential deaths?"
JUST REMEMBER THAT MORPHING CAN BE A VERY POWERFUL WEAPON WHEN USED CORRECTLY.
"What do you mean?" Marco asked at the same time Cartman said "I don't know."
"I hate it when he does that." Tobias said.
"Excuse me?" Cartman frowned.
Jake sighed. "We just found out why, captain. Do you know what an ellimist is? Well..." After a somewhat complicated explanation, in witch the good captain asked a lot of questions, he looked carefully at all six of them. Then he finally nodded.
"If that had come anybody else, I would have declared them insane and locked them up."
"Lucky us." Marco said.
The captain's communicator beeped. "Cartman here." He said.
"Captain, we'll exit z-space in fifteen minutes."
"I'm on my way." Turning the communicator off, he continued. "Since it is your lives at stake you might want to accompany me to the bridge."
The Animorphs quickly followed Cartman through several corridors before stepping into an elevator. On their way the small group received a lot of attention by crewmembers, who either thought that they were hallucinating or that this was some sort of sick joke. But no one dared speak up, seeing their captain was leading them.
Arriving at the Sunrider's large bridge, Cartman stat himself in the captain's chair and began immediately issuing orders. "Cloak us and go to Defcon 2 as soon as we exit z-space. Passive scanning only. No use in broadcasting our presence." The bridge crew urgently complied although they often cast uncertain glances at the small group of kids gathered near the elevator door.
In was fifteen nerve-racking minutes for the Animorphs. All of them tried to conceal their fear from the others, and traded looks witch said 'don't worry, we've come this far, we'll probably come out of this alive, too'.
Z-space exit in ten seconds. The Helm reported.
"Stand by." Carman said. Behind him the Animorphs tensed. Now they would soon know if their future selves were alive or dead.
Exiting now. On the viewscreen they could see z-space abruptly transforming into normal space. A distant sun could be seen in the center of the screen, and a large gas-type planet to the left.
Scanning no ships at all, captain. But I have a lot of wreckage here.
"Go to active scanning. What kind of wreckage?" Cartman asked.
I'm scanning the remnants of one Dome Ship and its fighters, among remnants from unknown ships. In addition I have..." Pause. "I think I have... wreckage matching the specifications of the Black Light.
Cartman could hear the small group behind him drawing their breaths. "How much?"
70 metric tons. The Black Light was 82 tons. I'm also scanning a small amount of organic material.
"Could we gather some of it and run a DNA match?"
I don't think so, sir. It is spread over a very large area. And judging from the wreckage, I doubt there is a single cell left alive.
Cartman glanced at the Animorphs. Jake face could have been carved out of stone, Rachel had a grim look, Ax had no expression at all, while the rest were more or less pale. He didn't blame them. They had just been told that they would die in two decades, and nothing they did could prevent it.
He sighed heavily. "Alright. Send an encrypted message to Eternity about our findings. And take us closer to the Yeerk Homeworld, see if you can contact our groundforces."
The crew urgently complied, all the time casting uncertain glances towards the small group of devastated Animorphs. No one uttered a word. Even the TO was silent.
As soon as the Yeerk Homeworld came into view, the Helm spoke up. Contact established.
"On screen." Cartman ordered.
An andalite soon appeared on the large screen. He had a brutal scar on the left side of his face, beginning a little above his main eye and down to where his jaw would have been if he had had a mouth. His synthesized voice boomed out of the speakers. "Ah, finally! I was beginning to wonder if the entire Combined Fleet had been destroyed."
Cartman smiled. "I can assure you that's not the case, war-prince. It looks pretty bad, however. We have lost several ships already, in addition to an outpost and a fleetbase."
"The Dome Ship in orbit... no one survived?"
"I am afraid not. Whoever the attackers were, they were careful to destroy all remnants of it. Didn't anyone make it down to the surface in the life capsules?"
"No. The enemy fighters seemingly had a lot of fun blowing them up." He said bitterly.
"What about your own casualties?"
"Surprisingly small. Of twenty thousand troops, only fifty-two were killed, a little above a hundred are wounded. They just leveled the morphing centers with the earth, then withdrew."
Cartman nodded thoughtfully. Why had the hostiles done this? There was no strategy behind it.
"Alright. We will stay here for a while and scan the rest of the system, before we signal the waiting fleet to move in."
Secret staging area, Alien command ship, Bridge.
"Guardmaster, the fleet is ready."
"Good. Proceed to..."
"May I remind you," One figure interrupted, "that it is I who is in charge of this operation?"
"And may I remind you, that it is I who is in charge of this operation's... special areas, and that I only answer to the highest authorities, not to you." It was not a question.
"Then concentrate on your 'special areas', and let me take care of the invasion."
The Guardmaster thought of arguing further, but he knew that their attacks had to be swift so the Alliance didn't get the time to mass their forces. Witch meant they didn't have a second to waste. Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, the quarrelsome little commander was right.
"Of course, we all answer to the same authority." He said and smiled a smile witch held no warmth.
Momentarily satisfied the commander turned to his underlings. "Take the fleet into z-space. Set course for the Yeerk Homeworld." Phase 2 of the plan was underway.
The Sunrider, High Orbit, Yeerk Homeworld.
It was a devastated small group of Animorphs captain Cartman found in the cabin he had assigned them. Jake and Cassie were sitting on the small bed, holding hands. So did Rachel and Tobias, although Rachel appeared to have accepted her fate. Marco sat in a corner staring a something only he could see. Ax tried to look like a warrior, but he didn't hold his tail as high as before.
"How are you guys doing?" He asked.
"I've been better." Tobias said.
"I always fared something like this would happen." Jake said. "But I never thought it would happen after the war was over."
"Yeah. First we survive the yeerks, then we are killed." Marco added.
Cartman nodded bitterly. He had studied the Animorphs when he was younger, he knew exactly what they had accomplished. They deserved better than this.
"High Command just went public about the Black Light back home. But they decided to keep a lock on your presence here for the time being. I did, however, receive permission to inform my crew about you, and how you came here. I left out the entire ellimist-affair, though. I don't think anyone enjoys the thought of being used as chesspieces by superbeings.
"So, now everyone on this ship knows who we are?" Jake asked with mixed feelings. From what he had gathered from their previous trip to the future, they were world-famous warheroes in this age.
"Yes. It was for the best, I assure you. A lot of wild rumors were floating around here."
"Such as?" Marco asked.
"Quote: The Animorphs has returned from the dead, and a thousand ellimists are waiting their signal for attack in z-space."
That brought a few smiles. Suddenly the alarm klaxon brought an abrupt end to the smiles. Almost simultaneously the captain's communicator beeped.
"This is Cartman. What the hell is going on?"
"Captain, you are needed on the bridge immediately! There is a shitload of alien ships coming out of z-space!" Cartman was already on his way out of the door before his TO had finished, with the Animorphs right behind. They quickly made their way past crewmembers, who were rushing to their stations as fast as their legs could carry them, and into the bridge.
"Status!" Cartman yelled as soon as the elevator doors slid up.
"We have approximately 800 one-man fighters and 40 triangular vessels the size of our own ship, in addition we have 80 smaller ships that appear to be troop transports."
"How many onboard?"
"Approximately 500, sir."
Forty thousand troops! Cartman thought. "Tactical evaluation?"
"The triangular vessels are in the process of taking defensive positions around the planet among most of their fighters, the remaining fighters and the troop transports will enter the atmosphere in six minutes."
"Have they noticed us?"
"No, they have not begun high-intensive scanning of the system yet."
"Hail our groundforces."
The andalite war-prince appeared on the viewscreen les than five seconds later. "War-prince, as you may have noticed, we have a slight problem up here."
"You humans truly know how to understate a problem, captain!"
Cartman managed a strained smile. "We estimate that at least forty thousand troops are coming your way. I strongly suggest that you evacuate."
"We have already begun."
"Good. We'll try to buy you some time." With that he cut the transmission. "Take us directly into the path of those troop transports." The Sunrider began accelerating towards the enemy almost before Cartman had finished the sentence.
"Ax." Jake said quietly. "What chance do you think we have against one of those triangular ships?"
I don't know, prince Jake. I have never seen ships like that before. However, I talked to a few of the andalite warriors serving aboard here, and it looks like this 'Disk Ship' is at least the equivalent of our own Dome Ships. Its weapons is some kind of modified shredders witch can pump out at least a tenth of the energy of a main shredder-cannon on a Dome Ship per shot, with roughly one second to recharge.
"So this ship only packs a tenth as much firepower as a Dome Ship?" Rachel asked.
No Rachel, I am afraid you do not understand. Each cannon can fire one shot every second, but this ship has thirty of these cannons, all capable of targeting and firing independently of one another. Moreover, these are the light weapons, mostly used against enemy fighters. In addition it has eight heavy cannons. All of these weapons have their own independent targetingsystems and emergency powersources with multiple backups, in case main power should fail.
"So this ship is a flying fortress and designed to fight on until it's nearly completely destroyed? I like it." Rachel grinned.
"Of course you do." Marco muttered.
We are in position, my prince. The Helm reported.
"Decloak and take us to Defcon 1. Launch fighters."
From the fighter bays located at the sides of the vessel, 36 E-shaped starhawks swarmed out. Their cockpit was located in the center, with the engines directly behind. They had two "wings" curling slightly downwards, each tip ending in a powerful shredder.
"Enemy fighters are attacking." Tactical Officer warned.
"Order our own fighters to take defensive positions around us. Target the transports. Aim at their engines."
The Sunrider fired at three transports at the time. Their shields collapsed under the heavy bombardment, then their engines were reduced to scrap as the shredders tore into their armor. The transports began to drift helplessly through space, and the Sunrider moved on to its next victims. Behind them a steady stream of their own transports and shuttles rose from the surface and disappeared into z-space.
"We have disabled 19 troop transports. "The TO reported. "The fighters are holding their own, but just barely. In addition, a dozen of those triangular ships are coming our way."
"How many have we gotten of the planet?"
"Over 11 thousand."
"Continue the assault."
The Sunrider disabled an additional six transports before the TO spoke up again.
"Sir, the triangular vessels have begun bombarding the planet!"
Cartman cursed. "Alright, get us out of here."
Captain, the jump engines just went offline!
"What? How?"
I don't know. There is some kind of jamming preventing us to open a jump point.
"Can you determine where it's coming from?"
I'm scanning now... It's coming from the lead triangular ship.
"Set a course directly towards it. Target it with everything we have."
The triangular ship was caught with surprise as the Sunrider heaved around like a rabid dog, firing with every weapon it had. The hostile responded with launching its fighters, but was soon reminded in a harsh way that they were not up to Alliance standards. The E-shaped human fighters used less than a minute to cut the number of conefigthers in half.
But in the meantime the Sunrider itself had not been inactive. It hammered away at its aggressor, drastically reducing its shields. And after one squadron of E-fighters abandoned the dogfight and joined in the attack, it was only a matter of time before the enemy's shields would collapse.
But just as the Sunrider was about to deal the killing blow, an orange sphere, barely a meter across, shot out from the front of the triangular ship. It raced across the void between the two opponents with a incredible speed and hit the Sunrider square on, resulting in a large explosion witch severely reduced the ship's shields.
"Shields are down to 32%" the TO reported as the ship shook under their feet.
"Continue firing!" Cartman barked. "What the hell did they hit us with?"
"I don't know. Some kind of missile - I've never seen anything like it."
The ship shook again as the enemy scored another hit.
"Shields are down o 6% Minor damages on hull. The enemy's shields are down!"
"Target the energycore before he launches another of those missiles again!"
Golden energybeams from the human-built shredders cut into the hull of the triangular ship. Seconds later the core destabilized and the enemy disappeared in a ball of fire, vaporized metal and wreckage. But not before it had squeezed of one last salvo of green energybeams. They drained the Sunrider's remaining shield-energy, and then impacted on the hull.
The jamming is gone! The Helm reported.
"Jump!" Cartman ordered.
As the Sunrider entered z-space, green energybeams from three other triangular vessels shot through the part of space it had been in only seconds earlier.
Alien commandship, Bridge.
The commander of the fleet watched as the Sunrider disappeared into z-space. "It is of no concern." He said. "The humans will be dealt with when the time comes. I thrust the Guardmaster is massing his own ships now?"
"Yes, he said he would personally command the fleet."
Good. That meant that the Guardmaster would be out of his way for some time, and he would be free to do his job. He had no idea where the Guardmaster was heading, nor did he have any desire to know. To much curiosity could get you killed.
"Well, proceed to set up the Carvius Base. Make sure everything runs smoothly, I'll hold you personally responsible."
The Sunrider.
The Animorphs breathed a sigh of relief among with the crew as the emptiness witch was z-space filled the viewscreen.
"Okay, we're safe for now. Damage report?"
"Minor damages on hull, and we lost six fighters. The rest are retreating back to hangar bays. In addition, the bastards scored a lucky hit; our z-space engines are damaged, we can only move at half speed. But all in all I'd say we were lucky to survive at all."
"Agreed. How many of our forces got of the planet?"
"About eighteen thousand, sir."
Cartman grimaced. Two thousand already dead! This war doesn't begin to good. '''Alright. Begin repairs and get our shields up and running again. Send an encrypted message to Eternity about the situation, and for God's sake, tell the fleet not to move in!"
Fleet Base Eternity, Admiral Gates' personal office.
"Yes, what is it." Gates said after pressing a button on the communicator. It was a special type witch used high-order encryption for top priority transmissions.
"Sir, we just received rapports from the Disk Ship Sunrider. I think you might want to see them."
Words appeared on the screen and Admiral Gates sat down to see what Cartman had to say. As expected, it was about the invasion. Good. The Sunrider had not discovered anything important. The invasion was even a little ahead of schedule. It wasn't until he accessed the other rapport that he understood that something was very wrong. After the first three lines he paled visibly. And by the time he had finished his face had taken an unhealthy ashen-gray. For the first time in his career the yeerk didn't know what to do. The Time Matrix? The Animorphs are alive? Impossible!
He had to rapport to his superiors. He had to rapport to his superiors at once! But first he had to get Gates under control again.
The Sunrider, The Animorphs' cabin.
"I don't get it." Cassie said. "What does the ellimist think we can do here? And why didn't he let us arrive just one week earlier? That way, we could have prevented our own deaths."
"Perhaps he lost a bet." Marco muttered.
"Wouldn't surprise me." Rachel said.
"I just can't believe this!" Tobias said. "We have just been told we'll die in some twenty years, and now he expect us to fight in another war?"
Sometimes you don't have a choice. Ax said. The only think we can do now is to die like warriors.
"Ax is right." Rachel said fiercely. "I won't go down without a fight!"
Tobias smiled. "I knew you'd say that."
"Remember we are not dead yet. We still have many years ahead of us, and I intend to exploit them to the fullest." Jake said with a sidewards glance towards Cassie. "I just wish I knew how we are suppose to help in this war."
Jake had barely completed the sentence when the now so familiar sound of the alarm klaxons sounded. The Animorphs looked at each other for about two seconds. "To the bridge!" They said in unison. Less than a minute later the small group entered the commandbridge.
Cartman and the TO eyed each other. "Leave them." The captain said quietly. "What's the status of the alien ship following us?"
"They have the same course as us, towards the yeerk-colonized planet Nivasjup, and are approximately half an light-hour behind us, and gaining fast. They appear to be of the triangular type. They... z-space jamming is occurring!" The deck shook under their feet as the Sunrider was violently ripped out of zero space, among with their aggressors.
"Defcon 1, now!" Cartman ordered.
"Shields are up, shredders armed. Guess you don't want me to launch fighters?"
"No, they'll be slaughtered."
The enemy is advancing towards us. The Helm warned.
"On screen."
The large viewscreen changed into showing fifteen enemy ships coming towards them in a tight formation.
"Target the lead ship."
Captain, they are hailing us.
"On screen." Cartman said surprised.
The viewscreen suddenly showed a being sitting in a chair on the bridge of one of the hostile ships. It looked like a very big hork-bajir, except it was completely black. Its blades were also bigger, in addition to having some nasty spikes. "Greetings, captain." The creature grinned evilly. "I am Guardmaster One of the Black Guard; the Emperor's personal elite forces. I am ordering you to power down your weapons and your shields, and surrender your vessel immediately."
"Wait a minute." Cartman said. "Who are you, and why are you attacking us?"
"Why, in war you attempt to kill your enemies, do you not?"
"But we are not in war with each other. We have never met before."
The creature threw its head back and laughed out laud. "We have met before, and we are in war. You see, the war between humans, andalites and yeerks are not over yet!" he sneered.
"You are a yeerk?" Cartman gasped.
"Yes!" He thumped his chest with a first. "How do you like our new, genetically engineered hosts?"
Cartman was flabbergasted, and the Animorphs equally so. How had the yeerks built up such a fleet of warships? It was impossible, they just did not have the resources. In addition, such a project could not possibly have escaped the notice of the peacekeepingforces.
"But if you are yeerks, why did you attack the morphingcenters and kill your own people?"
The Guardmaster leant forwards. "Those yeerks, if they still could be called yeerks, were traitors! Traitors are executed."
"You were heading towards Nivasjup before you yanked us out of z-space. You are not going to..."
"Kill them to? Of course I am."
Cartman couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You are going to slaughter twenty million of your own people?"
"They are not my people anymore! They trapped themselves in human morphs! They are worse than traitors! I repeat my earlier command, captain. Surrender your vessel or be destroyed. Your have thirty seconds to comply." Then he cut the transmission.
Cartman shook his head. "I can't believe..." He turned towards his TO. "Do you think the small fleet gathered there can withstand fifteen of those enemy ships?"
"Not a chance in hell."
Cartman sighed. "And we promised the yeerk nothlits to protect them from external threats. That leaves us with only one choice." He glanced at the Animorphs. Only Jake and Cassie seemed to understand what he was about to do, the rest just looked at him confused. No matter, they'd understand soon.
The yeerks are hailing us again. The Helm warned, this time with hate in his thoughtspeak voice.
"On screen."
"The thirty seconds are up, captain. What is your decision?" The yeerk asked as he appeared on the viewscreen.
Cartman took a deep breath. "Guardmaster One, I am ordering you to power down your shields and weapons, and surrender your vessels. If you refuse, I will take whatever actions are necessary to stop you."
The look on the yeerk's face was priceless. He gaped at the captain for several seconds before he regained the ability to speak. "Is this a joke? I am commanding a fleet of fifteen warcruisers, and you are asking me to surrender? Don't be ridicules! What are you going to do if I refuse? Attack? There are easier ways to commit suicide!"
"Perhaps. But we fought and died for what we believed in during the war, and we will do so again if need be. You have ten seconds."
"Captain, you can not possibly -"
"Eight seconds."
"I will not -"
"Six seconds."
"You will be destroyed, captain!"
"Four seconds."
The remaining seconds passed. Cartman knew the yeerks wouldn't back down. But he couldn't let them slaughter the millions on Nivasjup. Besides, he didn't fancy the idea of becoming a controller. First we fight yeerks. Then we have to fight to protect yeerks. Cartman thought. The universe must have a sick sense of humor.
"Divert emergency power to shredders. Target the lead warcruiser with all weapons." Cartman ordered quietly. His Tactical Officer grimly followed orders. Cartman glanced at the Animorphs. All of them glowed with grim determination. Ax had taken an warrior's stance, and Rachel was even grinning! They really are the Animorphs! He thought as the last shadow of a doubt lifted from his mind.
The Guardmaster for his part still couldn't believe his own ears. "Captain, stop this nonsense! I am giving you a chance -"
"Fire."
* * * * *
To be continued... (muhahaha!)
Sorry about the rather tin plot at the beginning of this chapter. It isn't easy to be a writer sometimes. I know it took quite a while to get this chapter up, but keep in mind that english is not my native language, so it takes a while to produce a new chapter in passable english. Hm. Guess most people has forgotten that this story even exist...