Chapter 16 (Gordon)
As we flew to get Jake and them, I was so excited. Here was a great opportunity, and we just had to capitalize.
So, about fifteen minutes later, we had the entire group in the barn. Cassie, who was there already, doing her stuff in the barn. Ax, who was very much eager to hurt the yeerks. You could even see it on his face, that was rare, to see excitement on Ax. Tobias sat in the rafters, being hawklike as usual.
Rachel seemed to already know what we were thinking, and Marco had figured it out too. From the limited info we told him, he already knew what we were planning on doing.
In fact, the first things out of his mouth as soon as we were all settled was, "You are all insane." He shook his head in disbelief. "It is as simple as that."
Rachel laughed, "Come on, even you have to admit, it is a good insane."
Cassie got up from doing her chores. "Okay, guys, I want to know what this master plan of yours is."
"Calm down, you will all know in a minute." I said as I tried to calm them.
The Marco busted my bubble. "We found the Kandrona." He said simply. Actually, I was surprised he knew that much. I never told him.
{We 'think' we found the Kandrona.} Tobias corrected.
{I am fairly certain that the kandrona is there, it would make sense in this type of environment.} Ax said.
"Can I finish?" I asked politely.
"No, I already know what you are going to say. 'Lets all destroy the kandrona!' or in other words, 'lets all make ourselves even higher on the yeerk's most wanted list.' I mean, come on, what makes you think we could pull this off? As soon as we got it, they would be all over the place and we would be dead."
I looked around, everyone agreed with Marco, and I ave to admit, he was right. But quite frankly, we had stuff to do, and dammit, war wasn't worth fighting unless you were able to stop them somehow, and this would do just that.
But instead of letting me make my great argument, Jake got up, catching all our attention. "Look, Marco's right." I saw Marco get a huge smile, but it was crushed a second later. "But this is too much of an opportunity to pass up. I say we do a vote."
As usual, the almighty democratic vote.
"Those for." I said as I put my hand up. Rachel, Ax, and Tobias all put their hand up. Well, Tobias tried to raise a wing, but fell on hi side.
{Sorry,} he said. {but I vote for go.}
Then Marco spoke up. "I say we wait, I mean, sure, this is big, but it is too early. We don't want them riding our asses for the next year. I would prefer to let them leave it as it is, and do it later."
"But Marco, wouldn't it be better to do it now, nip it in the bud?" Rachel asked. Marco just king of bobbed his head in question. We had him caught there.
"Don't you think that is a little harsh?" Cassie said. "I mean, there has to be another way. We aren't mass killers, imagine how many of them will die." She pleaded.
I did another of my sighs that said everyone was being an idiot. "Cassie, that is the idea! We want to kill them, they invaded us ad are trying to kill us. So don't give me any of that. They started it. If you kill in defence, then it is okay. We didn't want this. So what is the big deal?" I was pretty worked up!
Then Cassie looked at me with a look of pity. "Gordon, how much better do you think of the person who killed people in defence? Especially at this scale. How much better is it if we kill hundreds, thousands maybe?"
"Cassie, if we don't do it, then they will kill even more. Would you kill a thousand people to save a million?" I asked rhetorically.
"Not if there was another option!" Marco said defiantly.
{There is no other option.} Ax said.
"Ax is right, if we can do this, then they might go away. They might be scared to come back, if we do them enough damage." Rachel said. I smiled.
Marco snorted. "You actually think this will hurt them? I think you are all naive. What on earth would make you think this would stop them. They probably have backup, and all it would do is piss them off. So we destroy a kandrona, they suffer a bit, then get another one and come back even more pissed off. Hmph, how stupid."
{Who says they have another, it looks like they have three kandronas, which is, according to ax, way more than enough to support this pol here and the one on the pool ship.} Tobias said.
{This is true, the power of three kandronas is massive, and one could reach as far as the pool ship would be in orbit. It seems the yeerks are focussing their sources here on earth.} Ax confirmed.
"Then it is a perfect time to attack!" Rachel said enthusiastically.
"I still don't know, this seems so be pretty big. I still say the defence would be amazing! I still say wait."
I noticed Jake was silent this entire time. You could tell he was thinking, trying to decide what to think, who to side with.
So I said to him, "Jake, what are your thoughts?"
He got back up, and paced a little. "Well, I can see where all of you are coming from. Yes, it does seem like too good an opportunity to pass up, and yes, it seems like the reaction could be too great for us to deal with, but I say we do it. As long as it is done right."
Rachel and I both pumped our fists into the air, I hoped that was the plan. And no matter what was said, I would try and go for it anyway.
"Well, the votes sa we go, and I can see why. Also, I am sure if sam was here, he would try to do it anyway, but I think we should do what we can." Jake continued. Marco shook his head, Cassie seemed disappointed. "But like I said, we have to do it right. Gordon, you said three towers, right?"
"Yes." I answered. "The EGS tower, the water tower, and the radio tower."
"Well, if it is in fact three places, then we will need three teams. Excluding Tobias, who can't morph, we have six people. That means three groups of two."
"We know how to count." Marco mumbled.
But Jake ignored him. "We definitely can't do one at a time, they will pick up fast and up the defence, possibly cutting us off at the last tower. That could, as Marco put it, be disastrous."
"Stupid, really." Marco added.
But Jake ignored him again. "Tobias could fly between the three buildings, informing everyone of how progress is doing."
{Got it.} Tobias said.
"But there really is no true way to discover what group to go in, so lets draw straws." he bent over and picked up six straws. He cut them all off to three certain lengths. Then he balled them into his fist and held them out. "Pick one."
{I do not understand.} Ax said.
I grabbed one, as did everyone else. "Just grab one, we will explain what it means when you get one.
As it turned out, Rachel and Cassie both got the long ones. Marco and Jake got the medium ones, and the Ax man and I both got the short ones. "Ax, this means we will be working together. Cassie and Rachel will be on one tower, and Marco and Jake will be on another."
{Oh, I see. Which building are we going to?} he asked.
Good question. "Jake, where are we going?" I asked.
Jake breathed heavily. "Okay, Gordon, you go to the Water tower, Rach, you can go to the EGS tower, and Marco, we are going to the Radio tower."
"With my great powers of deduction, I think I figured it out, oh fearless leader. But seriously, what makes you think there will be anything there, I mean, there is nowhere to store anything on a mass of metal rods." Marco said.
"There are platforms, and anything could be hidden in those drum things." Cassie said. She really changed her opinion fast.
"It could be a way to talk to the mother ship." Marco joked.
{Highly unlikely, the yeerks would not need any type of large receptor to communicate at that distance.} Ax replied. He didn't get the joke.
"Oh, and we will do this tonight." Jake said. "It will be better in the dark."
Man, this got more and more fun by the minute. Sure, soon was good, but this soon?
As we flew to get Jake and them, I was so excited. Here was a great opportunity, and we just had to capitalize.
So, about fifteen minutes later, we had the entire group in the barn. Cassie, who was there already, doing her stuff in the barn. Ax, who was very much eager to hurt the yeerks. You could even see it on his face, that was rare, to see excitement on Ax. Tobias sat in the rafters, being hawklike as usual.
Rachel seemed to already know what we were thinking, and Marco had figured it out too. From the limited info we told him, he already knew what we were planning on doing.
In fact, the first things out of his mouth as soon as we were all settled was, "You are all insane." He shook his head in disbelief. "It is as simple as that."
Rachel laughed, "Come on, even you have to admit, it is a good insane."
Cassie got up from doing her chores. "Okay, guys, I want to know what this master plan of yours is."
"Calm down, you will all know in a minute." I said as I tried to calm them.
The Marco busted my bubble. "We found the Kandrona." He said simply. Actually, I was surprised he knew that much. I never told him.
{We 'think' we found the Kandrona.} Tobias corrected.
{I am fairly certain that the kandrona is there, it would make sense in this type of environment.} Ax said.
"Can I finish?" I asked politely.
"No, I already know what you are going to say. 'Lets all destroy the kandrona!' or in other words, 'lets all make ourselves even higher on the yeerk's most wanted list.' I mean, come on, what makes you think we could pull this off? As soon as we got it, they would be all over the place and we would be dead."
I looked around, everyone agreed with Marco, and I ave to admit, he was right. But quite frankly, we had stuff to do, and dammit, war wasn't worth fighting unless you were able to stop them somehow, and this would do just that.
But instead of letting me make my great argument, Jake got up, catching all our attention. "Look, Marco's right." I saw Marco get a huge smile, but it was crushed a second later. "But this is too much of an opportunity to pass up. I say we do a vote."
As usual, the almighty democratic vote.
"Those for." I said as I put my hand up. Rachel, Ax, and Tobias all put their hand up. Well, Tobias tried to raise a wing, but fell on hi side.
{Sorry,} he said. {but I vote for go.}
Then Marco spoke up. "I say we wait, I mean, sure, this is big, but it is too early. We don't want them riding our asses for the next year. I would prefer to let them leave it as it is, and do it later."
"But Marco, wouldn't it be better to do it now, nip it in the bud?" Rachel asked. Marco just king of bobbed his head in question. We had him caught there.
"Don't you think that is a little harsh?" Cassie said. "I mean, there has to be another way. We aren't mass killers, imagine how many of them will die." She pleaded.
I did another of my sighs that said everyone was being an idiot. "Cassie, that is the idea! We want to kill them, they invaded us ad are trying to kill us. So don't give me any of that. They started it. If you kill in defence, then it is okay. We didn't want this. So what is the big deal?" I was pretty worked up!
Then Cassie looked at me with a look of pity. "Gordon, how much better do you think of the person who killed people in defence? Especially at this scale. How much better is it if we kill hundreds, thousands maybe?"
"Cassie, if we don't do it, then they will kill even more. Would you kill a thousand people to save a million?" I asked rhetorically.
"Not if there was another option!" Marco said defiantly.
{There is no other option.} Ax said.
"Ax is right, if we can do this, then they might go away. They might be scared to come back, if we do them enough damage." Rachel said. I smiled.
Marco snorted. "You actually think this will hurt them? I think you are all naive. What on earth would make you think this would stop them. They probably have backup, and all it would do is piss them off. So we destroy a kandrona, they suffer a bit, then get another one and come back even more pissed off. Hmph, how stupid."
{Who says they have another, it looks like they have three kandronas, which is, according to ax, way more than enough to support this pol here and the one on the pool ship.} Tobias said.
{This is true, the power of three kandronas is massive, and one could reach as far as the pool ship would be in orbit. It seems the yeerks are focussing their sources here on earth.} Ax confirmed.
"Then it is a perfect time to attack!" Rachel said enthusiastically.
"I still don't know, this seems so be pretty big. I still say the defence would be amazing! I still say wait."
I noticed Jake was silent this entire time. You could tell he was thinking, trying to decide what to think, who to side with.
So I said to him, "Jake, what are your thoughts?"
He got back up, and paced a little. "Well, I can see where all of you are coming from. Yes, it does seem like too good an opportunity to pass up, and yes, it seems like the reaction could be too great for us to deal with, but I say we do it. As long as it is done right."
Rachel and I both pumped our fists into the air, I hoped that was the plan. And no matter what was said, I would try and go for it anyway.
"Well, the votes sa we go, and I can see why. Also, I am sure if sam was here, he would try to do it anyway, but I think we should do what we can." Jake continued. Marco shook his head, Cassie seemed disappointed. "But like I said, we have to do it right. Gordon, you said three towers, right?"
"Yes." I answered. "The EGS tower, the water tower, and the radio tower."
"Well, if it is in fact three places, then we will need three teams. Excluding Tobias, who can't morph, we have six people. That means three groups of two."
"We know how to count." Marco mumbled.
But Jake ignored him. "We definitely can't do one at a time, they will pick up fast and up the defence, possibly cutting us off at the last tower. That could, as Marco put it, be disastrous."
"Stupid, really." Marco added.
But Jake ignored him again. "Tobias could fly between the three buildings, informing everyone of how progress is doing."
{Got it.} Tobias said.
"But there really is no true way to discover what group to go in, so lets draw straws." he bent over and picked up six straws. He cut them all off to three certain lengths. Then he balled them into his fist and held them out. "Pick one."
{I do not understand.} Ax said.
I grabbed one, as did everyone else. "Just grab one, we will explain what it means when you get one.
As it turned out, Rachel and Cassie both got the long ones. Marco and Jake got the medium ones, and the Ax man and I both got the short ones. "Ax, this means we will be working together. Cassie and Rachel will be on one tower, and Marco and Jake will be on another."
{Oh, I see. Which building are we going to?} he asked.
Good question. "Jake, where are we going?" I asked.
Jake breathed heavily. "Okay, Gordon, you go to the Water tower, Rach, you can go to the EGS tower, and Marco, we are going to the Radio tower."
"With my great powers of deduction, I think I figured it out, oh fearless leader. But seriously, what makes you think there will be anything there, I mean, there is nowhere to store anything on a mass of metal rods." Marco said.
"There are platforms, and anything could be hidden in those drum things." Cassie said. She really changed her opinion fast.
"It could be a way to talk to the mother ship." Marco joked.
{Highly unlikely, the yeerks would not need any type of large receptor to communicate at that distance.} Ax replied. He didn't get the joke.
"Oh, and we will do this tonight." Jake said. "It will be better in the dark."
Man, this got more and more fun by the minute. Sure, soon was good, but this soon?