One year later…
Visser Three had been getting some odd readings lately. There was an extra life-form reading coming from his Blade ship's computer. To make things even more confusing, the reading seemed to be coming from outside the ship. Visser Three didn't like things that made no sense, they tended to make him irritable.
Visser Three had become somewhat infamous around the Empire for his short temper. Anything that made him angry was something to be avoided, if one wanted to live. Now, these sensor readings threatened to do the very thing that all of his crewmembers avoided studiously.
Land the Blade ship, Visser Three ordered.
His crew knew better than to argue with him, not after he had executed many of their fellows for simply disagreeing with him. The Blade ship plunged through the atmosphere of Earth. Visser Three had fought hard for this planet, but he was still not that much closer to conquest than he had been when the invasion had started.
Part of it was the fact that these humans were more resistant than he had given them credit for being. Not that Visser Three would ever admit to having made an error in judgment. Most of the reason that this planet was not already conquered was the fact that a small force of Andalites had somehow escaped detection and landed on the planet. They had been making a nuisance of themselves for three weeks by now.
The first time Visser Three had faced off with them had been in the Yeerk Pool, only fourteen days after he had killed Prince Elfangor. The Andalites had been in a variety of Earth animal morphs, and had already done a great deal of damage by the time he had arrived. They had even managed to free some of the captive hosts. But only one of the hosts, a woman, had gotten out of the Pool complex itself.
Visser Three wished he could say that the Andalites had all been killed, but he would have been lying. All of them had made it out of the Pool complex with only a few minor injuries, and those would be dealt with when they demorphed. As the Blade ship settled to the ground, Visser Three seethed silently.
He wanted to get this stupid sensor reading corrected so that he could get back to looking for the Andalites. Visser Three saw through the forward screens that they had landed in a large clearing in the forest, he supposed it was as good a place as any to check the sensors. As his technicians checked the systems, Visser Three waited.
Waiting was something that the Visser had done a lot during his life, but he had never learned to like it. It was necessary, and it was also mind-numbing. One of his techs, a Human-Controller, came up to him then.
Irin Nine-Four-Three knew better than to disturb his Visser when he was thinking. If he wanted to live, he would have to wait until Visser Three chose to notice him. Irin was good at waiting, since the sensors took time to work.
Finally though, the Visser turned to look at him.
Yes, Irin. What is it?
"I don't think this is a sensor malfunction. The reading didn't disappear when I reset the scanners. I think this reading is real."
Visser Three turned to look at the command console. Sure enough, the errant life-form reading was still there. It still appeared to be outside the ship, staying static just under the right wing. Visser Three narrowed his main eyes, this reading did appear to be real. As the Blade ship settled to the ground, Visser Three made up his mind to go out and investigate this reading personally.
Once the ship was on the ground, the Visser gathered seven of his most reliable techs and exited the ship. Once he was outside, the Visser aimed his stalk eyes upward. On the off chance that this reading was truly legitimate, Visser Three wanted to know what had caused it.
After ten minutes of searching, it was another tech named Yalen One-Three-Six who spotted it. "It" was a purplish-red pod of some unidentifiable type. It seemed to be some kind of plant, but one of a kind none of them had ever seen before. The techs and Visser Three used a mag-lev elevator to get closer to the pod.
Once they were close enough to see the details, they noticed that there seemed to be someone inside that pod. They were surrounded by a translucent fluid that made it hard for the observing Controllers to make out much of the form inside. Slowly, carefully, the techs detached the pod from its moorings. It had been stuck to the ship with what almost looked like tree sap.
Visser Three, while he was careful to appear bored with the entire process, was intrigued by what they had found. As the elevator lowered back to the ground, Visser Three watched his techs carry the pod off the platform. They set the pod on the ground.