1 Episode Three: Hunting Games
Part Four: Crossing the Styx
July Eighth 2000, Antimorph Flagship, Anubis; orbiting Junk Planet Styx…
DAVID
For nearly a week, we had been running ceaselessly across the galaxy, pursued by every Bounty Hunter in the Yeerk Empire.
True to the old Na's word, the Red Stone had powered our ship well, allowing us to outrun Na planetary defence forces and escape into the Core Systems.
The Core was dangerous- seedy planets, pirates, Hunters and Imperials galore, but it held the location of one planet we needed: Styx, the Junk Planet.
No one knew who began dumping scrap on Styx, or even what it's original surface had been like. It had all begun more than ten thousand years ago, and everyone still dumped garbage there, including the Yeerks and Andalites. The disk told us that no garrisons were on Styx; it was considered neutral ground. With the Andalites unexplicably after us, this was good news indeed.
For the thirty odd years of the Galaxy War, or the War of Yeerk Agression, or the third interstellar war (or the fourth) or the War of Seerow's Kindness, depending on who you talked to; the Galaxy had been split into two halves. On one side were the Allied systems, Leera, the Ongachic Union, Hawjab, Galafurn, and Doorl II. On the other was the Yeerk Empire: the homeword of Mordoria, Bajir, Taxxis, Pentasera, Lummod IV, Nahara, Terra Firma, Garato, Zimmik VII, Kyl, Taloraan, Gekkum, Belarium, Climiuk and Anati. In addition, were rouge worlds, like Concord Dawn, the Gervasid Protectorate, the Dayang Federation, and Clemic IX. Not all the Yeerk planets had a species on them, but were populated with miners and factories.
As I was saying, with both sides after us, safe haven was becoming hard to find. We had to walk on the Imperial side of the massive buffer zone populated by Andalite warships and checkpoints, as it was sparsely patrolled. As long as we stayed away from Taxxis, Bajir and Mordoria, we would be fine.
So what were we doing on Styx, in the middle of the Core Systems?
Shopping for parts.
ALEKS
As I slept, the first dreams came.
Dreams of power and fortune; things that the stone could bring to me if only I would use it, become one with it.
It chose me, out of us all. David too hard minded, Ripper too unpredictable, LaRouche too goody-goody, Skorre too loyal and Sara too weak. I was perfect.
In my dreams, I saw myself surrounded by walls of gold, thousands of worshipping slaves, beautiful concubines, Heroin and booze…
I was a god.
But there was always a voice, [ Wait, Mercenary, for the fall of the King. Wait for the long sleep. Wait for your alliance to take shape. Only then can you possess the power.]
I would wait.
RIPPER
Running! Running down a long tunnel, being chased by demons sent from Hell! If I could only get to the end of the tunnel, I would see salvtion!
"Come on, son. We're here. We miss you. We love you."
My father! My father called to me!
I ran faster, harder!
FLASH
A young boy on a swing set. Me.
"Higher, daddy! Higher!"
"Hold on tight, son!"
"Whee!"
FLASH
"I only need one more power star and I beat the game!"
I was playing a Nintendo 64.
"Yeah, good luck. You got to get on top of the castle, use the wall kick…"
FLASH
She was beautiful. I had been working up the courage to ask her out for months now, I would be crushed if she said no.
"So, do you want to go out Friday night? See a movie?"
"Sure, pick me up at eight."
Hell, yeah!
FLASH
I was surrounded by friends, at a burger stand.
"Man, this is the life. Good friends, good food, I hope it'll be like this forever."
FLASH
My dog growled at the door.
"Rrrrrrrr!!!"
"What is it, boy? What's goin' on, Ripps?"
Men! Men in suits, kicking down the door, and charging in the house. I recognized them, my father's poker buddies, but they looked so different now, un human…
Rippy jumped up and pounced on one of them, one of them shot my Doberman in the head.
Blood was everywhere, I couldn't breath…
Someone was screaming, I don't know if it was me, my mother or my father… but in an instant they dragged me down into a pool, shoved my head under…
And I forgot who I was.
SARA
We had all been sleeping for a long time, as Marc piloted the ship towards Styx.
"The magnetic pull is fuckin' huge! If we're not careful, we'll get pulled down there, and we won't be leaving," Marc explained.
"Well, just be careful then, Marc," I said, plopping into a nice, comfy chair beside him.
"Don't call me that. I'm LaRouche."
"Yeah, well, whatever you want, Marc."
"Crazy kid…"
Ripper walked in, his spiky blond hair all scruffy. He had just woken up.
"Woah, I just had the weirdest dream," he said, showing off his teeth. I cringed. " I was…well, I don't remember, but there were dogs there. Real dogs.Weird…"
David prowled in, a cup of coffee steaming in his hands.
"Set us to land near the south pole, mostly gun placements down there, we can upgrade this thing to take on a whole domeship."
"What exactly were you planning?" Asked LaRouche.
David shrugged, "A few new turrets, more plating a few shield generators and maybe an Ion cannon or two. If we can get it, an extra engine. Pretty much anything."
I said, "Sometimes I just think your making thus up as you go along."
"Yeah, well, sometimes you just have to learn to sit back, relax, and say 'meh'."
I relied, "Meh."
David shot me a dirty look.
"Shut up."
"Yes, Sir, Colonel Klink!"
A dark shape materialized, flooding my vision with darkness.
LaROUCHE
It looked like a huge Scorpion. A ship with a long, flat body and a head like bridge, with two snapping claws and a monstrously long tail, topped in a massive octo-Dracon cannon, eight high powered beams of death. Under the head were two long cannons, and the claws were adorned with Ion Cannons and tractor beams.
I knew what it was: A Gervasid Stryker. Longer than a Lancer, smaller than a Blade Ship.
"You thought I was dead, eh Antimorphs?" Tak Sistranus's low, growling voice chuckled, " Well, that fool 241 left, in the wrong direction. I had enough sense to set you up with a tracking device. Gjon owed me a favour or two."
He had tracked us!
"Bring us around to face him! Open fire with forward cannons, full power!" Roared David.
"The yoke was heavy in my hands, I turned the Anubis to face the Hunter's ship."
I squeezed the trigger.
A bolt of Dracon flew from the Stryker, heading towards us.
It connected! Klaxxons wailed and the bridge was drenched in a red glow.
Our Dracon's landed on Sistranus's warship, tearing off one of the claws. His ship spiralled beneath us, the magnetic pull drawing him to the junk planet of Styx.
"Get us out of here!" David ordered, clutching a chair to avoid being pulled back.
"I can't! I've lost the controls! We're being pulled down to the surface!"
Ripper and Aleks stumbled in.
"This is some pretty shit now, LaRouche!" Aleks muttered.
"The dog's taking us down! We're gonna crash!" Ripper growled.
As we fell to the planet below, we didn't realize that another ship had warped in from Z-Space…
Part Four: Crossing the Styx
July Eighth 2000, Antimorph Flagship, Anubis; orbiting Junk Planet Styx…
DAVID
For nearly a week, we had been running ceaselessly across the galaxy, pursued by every Bounty Hunter in the Yeerk Empire.
True to the old Na's word, the Red Stone had powered our ship well, allowing us to outrun Na planetary defence forces and escape into the Core Systems.
The Core was dangerous- seedy planets, pirates, Hunters and Imperials galore, but it held the location of one planet we needed: Styx, the Junk Planet.
No one knew who began dumping scrap on Styx, or even what it's original surface had been like. It had all begun more than ten thousand years ago, and everyone still dumped garbage there, including the Yeerks and Andalites. The disk told us that no garrisons were on Styx; it was considered neutral ground. With the Andalites unexplicably after us, this was good news indeed.
For the thirty odd years of the Galaxy War, or the War of Yeerk Agression, or the third interstellar war (or the fourth) or the War of Seerow's Kindness, depending on who you talked to; the Galaxy had been split into two halves. On one side were the Allied systems, Leera, the Ongachic Union, Hawjab, Galafurn, and Doorl II. On the other was the Yeerk Empire: the homeword of Mordoria, Bajir, Taxxis, Pentasera, Lummod IV, Nahara, Terra Firma, Garato, Zimmik VII, Kyl, Taloraan, Gekkum, Belarium, Climiuk and Anati. In addition, were rouge worlds, like Concord Dawn, the Gervasid Protectorate, the Dayang Federation, and Clemic IX. Not all the Yeerk planets had a species on them, but were populated with miners and factories.
As I was saying, with both sides after us, safe haven was becoming hard to find. We had to walk on the Imperial side of the massive buffer zone populated by Andalite warships and checkpoints, as it was sparsely patrolled. As long as we stayed away from Taxxis, Bajir and Mordoria, we would be fine.
So what were we doing on Styx, in the middle of the Core Systems?
Shopping for parts.
ALEKS
As I slept, the first dreams came.
Dreams of power and fortune; things that the stone could bring to me if only I would use it, become one with it.
It chose me, out of us all. David too hard minded, Ripper too unpredictable, LaRouche too goody-goody, Skorre too loyal and Sara too weak. I was perfect.
In my dreams, I saw myself surrounded by walls of gold, thousands of worshipping slaves, beautiful concubines, Heroin and booze…
I was a god.
But there was always a voice, [ Wait, Mercenary, for the fall of the King. Wait for the long sleep. Wait for your alliance to take shape. Only then can you possess the power.]
I would wait.
RIPPER
Running! Running down a long tunnel, being chased by demons sent from Hell! If I could only get to the end of the tunnel, I would see salvtion!
"Come on, son. We're here. We miss you. We love you."
My father! My father called to me!
I ran faster, harder!
FLASH
A young boy on a swing set. Me.
"Higher, daddy! Higher!"
"Hold on tight, son!"
"Whee!"
FLASH
"I only need one more power star and I beat the game!"
I was playing a Nintendo 64.
"Yeah, good luck. You got to get on top of the castle, use the wall kick…"
FLASH
She was beautiful. I had been working up the courage to ask her out for months now, I would be crushed if she said no.
"So, do you want to go out Friday night? See a movie?"
"Sure, pick me up at eight."
Hell, yeah!
FLASH
I was surrounded by friends, at a burger stand.
"Man, this is the life. Good friends, good food, I hope it'll be like this forever."
FLASH
My dog growled at the door.
"Rrrrrrrr!!!"
"What is it, boy? What's goin' on, Ripps?"
Men! Men in suits, kicking down the door, and charging in the house. I recognized them, my father's poker buddies, but they looked so different now, un human…
Rippy jumped up and pounced on one of them, one of them shot my Doberman in the head.
Blood was everywhere, I couldn't breath…
Someone was screaming, I don't know if it was me, my mother or my father… but in an instant they dragged me down into a pool, shoved my head under…
And I forgot who I was.
SARA
We had all been sleeping for a long time, as Marc piloted the ship towards Styx.
"The magnetic pull is fuckin' huge! If we're not careful, we'll get pulled down there, and we won't be leaving," Marc explained.
"Well, just be careful then, Marc," I said, plopping into a nice, comfy chair beside him.
"Don't call me that. I'm LaRouche."
"Yeah, well, whatever you want, Marc."
"Crazy kid…"
Ripper walked in, his spiky blond hair all scruffy. He had just woken up.
"Woah, I just had the weirdest dream," he said, showing off his teeth. I cringed. " I was…well, I don't remember, but there were dogs there. Real dogs.Weird…"
David prowled in, a cup of coffee steaming in his hands.
"Set us to land near the south pole, mostly gun placements down there, we can upgrade this thing to take on a whole domeship."
"What exactly were you planning?" Asked LaRouche.
David shrugged, "A few new turrets, more plating a few shield generators and maybe an Ion cannon or two. If we can get it, an extra engine. Pretty much anything."
I said, "Sometimes I just think your making thus up as you go along."
"Yeah, well, sometimes you just have to learn to sit back, relax, and say 'meh'."
I relied, "Meh."
David shot me a dirty look.
"Shut up."
"Yes, Sir, Colonel Klink!"
A dark shape materialized, flooding my vision with darkness.
LaROUCHE
It looked like a huge Scorpion. A ship with a long, flat body and a head like bridge, with two snapping claws and a monstrously long tail, topped in a massive octo-Dracon cannon, eight high powered beams of death. Under the head were two long cannons, and the claws were adorned with Ion Cannons and tractor beams.
I knew what it was: A Gervasid Stryker. Longer than a Lancer, smaller than a Blade Ship.
"You thought I was dead, eh Antimorphs?" Tak Sistranus's low, growling voice chuckled, " Well, that fool 241 left, in the wrong direction. I had enough sense to set you up with a tracking device. Gjon owed me a favour or two."
He had tracked us!
"Bring us around to face him! Open fire with forward cannons, full power!" Roared David.
"The yoke was heavy in my hands, I turned the Anubis to face the Hunter's ship."
I squeezed the trigger.
A bolt of Dracon flew from the Stryker, heading towards us.
It connected! Klaxxons wailed and the bridge was drenched in a red glow.
Our Dracon's landed on Sistranus's warship, tearing off one of the claws. His ship spiralled beneath us, the magnetic pull drawing him to the junk planet of Styx.
"Get us out of here!" David ordered, clutching a chair to avoid being pulled back.
"I can't! I've lost the controls! We're being pulled down to the surface!"
Ripper and Aleks stumbled in.
"This is some pretty shit now, LaRouche!" Aleks muttered.
"The dog's taking us down! We're gonna crash!" Ripper growled.
As we fell to the planet below, we didn't realize that another ship had warped in from Z-Space…