Chapter Twelve
Puck felt a thrill of excitement through his half-Drac body as Moonbeam and posse ripped through into Z-space, the Pool Ship they left behind was a write-off, it's demise not as dramatic as the first but it was still no more than so much floating scrap metal, it was imploding, slowly crumbling in on itself, escape pods blazed away but not fast enough for all the Yeerks on board, frozen bodies floated from the torn sides.
Puck turned to his master, "My liege, as you can see this beast is vicious, he is passionate, he wants to appease even though he does not know it."
Rage rolled in Mephisto's voice like flowing lava, lethal and unstoppable. "This latest beast you display to me is but a pup in the ways of destruction, he knows naught of true power."
"But he learns fast my lord." Puck's voice quivered in a way no other would ever have the pleasure of hearing, "He wants to learn, destruction is his passion and is a creature of such passion that it makes him unstoppable."
"You are struggling my servant, you have failed me too many times and have begun clutching at straws." Mephisto rumbled.
"It is not my fault!" Puck cried, "That meddling Orff! He's the reason for your displeasure my lord."
"DO YOU DEFY MY WORD?" Mephisto's voice was earth shaking; mortal hearts would burst at the smallest rumbling of that bass level.
"No, no of course not my lord!" Puck squealed, "I beg your mercy!"
"As I am a benevolent master," The air grew thick with unspoken irony, "I will give you yet another chance, but fail me not Quinz or the consequence will be more horrible than you imagine, life and death will gain new meaning for you."
"I will not fail you again my lord." Puck told him quickly, "I have a, a good feeling about this one."
Chapter Thirteen
The light glared into the Yeerk's host eyes, "Well gee Taz, sounds like he's holding out on us wouldn't you say?"
The Yeerk's left eye was swelled, it'd be a hell of a black eye if he got to live long enough "What are you talking about? I've answered everything you asked!"
"Damnit man! Don't play games with me!" Yelled Dave and he backhanded the Yeerk, sending him to the floor.
Actually the chicken shit alien had been very helpful, they now knew the basics of the ship, including how to access more knowledge, incredibly useful, the lizards were 'Hork-Bajir' apparently, the bugs were 'Taxxon's' and the Yeerks...
The Yeerk's were slugs. They took over bodies, made the real owners slaves in their own mind, and took the bodies as hosts, without any bond money down.
They'd be invading for years now, in secret, taking humans left and right and nobody had noticed, pretty sweet operation but to damn slow, at least to slow for this 'Yeerk Empire' and so open warfare was to be declared, the alien ambassador, 'first contact' was just a ploy to get the Pool Ships deep into the system, where they could take the human race with as little trouble as possible.
They'd killed the head of the movement, Visser Three, who'd been fighting for open warfare for years apparently, poor dumb bastard, all that trouble and he got his head blown off as soon as he steps out of his ship.
"I'll tell you anything you want, please just let me feed." The Yeerk begged, Moonbeam turned away in unmasked disgust, this alien in human body would sell out its race so it could 'feed', pathetic.
Another fascinating tit-bit they'd found was that the Yeerk's must feed every three days in a 'Yeerk pool' from some weird radiation in the water or they'd die, this Yeerk's situation wasn't desperate yet but it was shit-scared and wanted out of his host.
Moonbeam gestured out the window to the blank nothingness of Z-space, "I just wanna see what's on the other side of the rainbow first." His whole face twitched around a sickly amused expression when he talked.
The kid's face visibly paled, Moonbeam wondered if the Yeerk inside that pre-teen head could have controlled it if he'd been in the right frame of mind, it wasn't very comforting, 'approaching Taxxis' the computer chimed in.
The pure white melted away into regular space, a planet loomed ahead, an ugly and desolate looking world even from this distance. There was a ship in front of them, something unknown that looked like one of those tridents that the Roman gladiators had in ancient times
Siggs still sat at her station, Rachel and Roach had gone to make sure the rest of the ship was completely slug-free, so far so good, "Anyone else got an ominous feelin' about this?" She asked.
As if preluded by her commentary a face of one of those ugly centipedes appeared onscreen, "Unssscedualed ship." Hissed the Taxxon, "Identify yoursselvessss or ssuffer the conssssequencesssss. You have ssixty ssssecondsss."
Moonbeam turned to the Yeerk with an air of quiet calm despite the circumstance, "This doesn't bode well for you slug."
"I'll set new cords! Neutral territory!" Screeched the Yeerk as Moonbeam pulled his gun.
"Forty ssecondsss." Counted the Taxxon.
Moonbeam gestured with his gun to the Yeerk's station, his fingers flew across the keys.
"Hey there, this is Morris Day and the Time, we'll be here till Thursday, to whom am I speaking?"
"Not undersstood, repeat transssmmisssssion."
"Z-space drive is ready!" Cried the Yeerk.
Moonbeam turned to Siggs, "Prepare to fire." He said, she gave a mocking salute with a Marlboro burning between her fingers.
He turned back and opened channel, "I said, shove it up your hissing arse bug-ugly." He motioned to Siggs and she opened fire on the smaller scout ship.
The beams lanced up the body of the Trident Ship, rather foolishly not protected by shields, the body cracked and spears of light ripped through the engines, it blew, sending debris spiralling through space.
"They'll send fighters!" Yelled the Yeerk but somewhere between 'send' and 'fighters' Moonbeam had punched the ship into the blankness of Z-space.
"Well, looks like we got another trouble-making slug on our hands." Commented Dave.
"Simple enough problem." Taz muttered.
Siggs leapt from her chair and pulled a switchblade from the pocket of her jeans, ivory handle and a glittering 4-inch blade, "Yeah but we can take our time with this one."
"Please no," said the Yeerk, "I'll tell you everything."
And he did, in the process he unwittingly made himself a useless member of the team, explaining how the posse could use the ship's computer, giving them full control of the Blade Ship and all the universal info they could ever want.
Nose dripping blood that ran over his lips, two black eyes, and a cheek laid open by knife wound the Yeerk begged to be allowed to feed.
Moonbeam told him with an air of innocence that under the watchful air of the posse he could feed, (Rachel and Roach had finished their sweep of the ship, everything was dead) the Yeerk went into the pool room and knelt at a pool of murky sludge, they could see little creatures, slug's the size of rats swimming below the surface.
The host knelt and put his head by the water, "My host is voluntary." the Yeerk said, "And terrified of you, do not worry about restraining him." All very matter-of-fact till the barrel ground the back of his head, "Oh, no."
"Bye slug." was the last thing he heard before the top of his head blew cleanly off. The body collapsed into the pool, scattering the slugs in confusion, haemorrhaging blood mixed with the molten lead water.
"What you want us to do with him?" Roach rasped, his sleeve was covered in blood and drying streaks ran down his arm but he didn't seem to care.
"Flush the whole fucking lot of them into space." Moonbeam said offhandedly, "Roach, go to the med-bay, there are 'healing tanks' there or some shit, the computer will heal ya."
"Aye aye." Roach agreed, rubbing at the bloody arm subconsciously.
Chapter Fourteen
The whiteness of Z-space gave way to normal space as Moonbeam stared majestically out the Bridge window, an outside viewer might have compared his noble stance to Patton, or Washington as he crossed the Delaware.
Nothingness in a million miles in each direction, an endless, awe-inspiring view, stars glittered like diamonds many light years from where he now stood, a blood-red nebula drifted into view, millions of light years away.
The Contents of the Pool gushed from the ship, crystallised water entrapping Yeerks and the dead human host who never had a say in his fate.
An airlock back in the ship opened and spewed more bodies into the space, Hork-Bajir, Taxxon and even Human corpses joined infinity, they'd been collected and unceremoniously piled in an airlock to be ejected.
"Computer, any civilised colonies in this sector?"
"No, the closest civilisation is a small grouping on the moon of Menschu."
"What's it like?" Dave asked.
"Sector under dispute, no-go area for Yeerk or Andalite forces, artificial colony, bad reputed for smuggling and theft, high crime rate, casinos, population comes and goes, average is.."
Dave cut him off, "Take us there." It sounded like his kind of place.
"As you wish." Said the neutral computer voice, not judgemental of its new masters or what had happened to it's old.
The Blade Ship jetted off and disappeared from normal space, leaving it's drifting graveyard behind.
***To Be Continued***
Britz-Well folks, shoot us a review, I'm working on something a little different at the moment so I'm warning you, no reviews means it'll be a while till I get around to the next chap.
Puck felt a thrill of excitement through his half-Drac body as Moonbeam and posse ripped through into Z-space, the Pool Ship they left behind was a write-off, it's demise not as dramatic as the first but it was still no more than so much floating scrap metal, it was imploding, slowly crumbling in on itself, escape pods blazed away but not fast enough for all the Yeerks on board, frozen bodies floated from the torn sides.
Puck turned to his master, "My liege, as you can see this beast is vicious, he is passionate, he wants to appease even though he does not know it."
Rage rolled in Mephisto's voice like flowing lava, lethal and unstoppable. "This latest beast you display to me is but a pup in the ways of destruction, he knows naught of true power."
"But he learns fast my lord." Puck's voice quivered in a way no other would ever have the pleasure of hearing, "He wants to learn, destruction is his passion and is a creature of such passion that it makes him unstoppable."
"You are struggling my servant, you have failed me too many times and have begun clutching at straws." Mephisto rumbled.
"It is not my fault!" Puck cried, "That meddling Orff! He's the reason for your displeasure my lord."
"DO YOU DEFY MY WORD?" Mephisto's voice was earth shaking; mortal hearts would burst at the smallest rumbling of that bass level.
"No, no of course not my lord!" Puck squealed, "I beg your mercy!"
"As I am a benevolent master," The air grew thick with unspoken irony, "I will give you yet another chance, but fail me not Quinz or the consequence will be more horrible than you imagine, life and death will gain new meaning for you."
"I will not fail you again my lord." Puck told him quickly, "I have a, a good feeling about this one."
Chapter Thirteen
The light glared into the Yeerk's host eyes, "Well gee Taz, sounds like he's holding out on us wouldn't you say?"
The Yeerk's left eye was swelled, it'd be a hell of a black eye if he got to live long enough "What are you talking about? I've answered everything you asked!"
"Damnit man! Don't play games with me!" Yelled Dave and he backhanded the Yeerk, sending him to the floor.
Actually the chicken shit alien had been very helpful, they now knew the basics of the ship, including how to access more knowledge, incredibly useful, the lizards were 'Hork-Bajir' apparently, the bugs were 'Taxxon's' and the Yeerks...
The Yeerk's were slugs. They took over bodies, made the real owners slaves in their own mind, and took the bodies as hosts, without any bond money down.
They'd be invading for years now, in secret, taking humans left and right and nobody had noticed, pretty sweet operation but to damn slow, at least to slow for this 'Yeerk Empire' and so open warfare was to be declared, the alien ambassador, 'first contact' was just a ploy to get the Pool Ships deep into the system, where they could take the human race with as little trouble as possible.
They'd killed the head of the movement, Visser Three, who'd been fighting for open warfare for years apparently, poor dumb bastard, all that trouble and he got his head blown off as soon as he steps out of his ship.
"I'll tell you anything you want, please just let me feed." The Yeerk begged, Moonbeam turned away in unmasked disgust, this alien in human body would sell out its race so it could 'feed', pathetic.
Another fascinating tit-bit they'd found was that the Yeerk's must feed every three days in a 'Yeerk pool' from some weird radiation in the water or they'd die, this Yeerk's situation wasn't desperate yet but it was shit-scared and wanted out of his host.
Moonbeam gestured out the window to the blank nothingness of Z-space, "I just wanna see what's on the other side of the rainbow first." His whole face twitched around a sickly amused expression when he talked.
The kid's face visibly paled, Moonbeam wondered if the Yeerk inside that pre-teen head could have controlled it if he'd been in the right frame of mind, it wasn't very comforting, 'approaching Taxxis' the computer chimed in.
The pure white melted away into regular space, a planet loomed ahead, an ugly and desolate looking world even from this distance. There was a ship in front of them, something unknown that looked like one of those tridents that the Roman gladiators had in ancient times
Siggs still sat at her station, Rachel and Roach had gone to make sure the rest of the ship was completely slug-free, so far so good, "Anyone else got an ominous feelin' about this?" She asked.
As if preluded by her commentary a face of one of those ugly centipedes appeared onscreen, "Unssscedualed ship." Hissed the Taxxon, "Identify yoursselvessss or ssuffer the conssssequencesssss. You have ssixty ssssecondsss."
Moonbeam turned to the Yeerk with an air of quiet calm despite the circumstance, "This doesn't bode well for you slug."
"I'll set new cords! Neutral territory!" Screeched the Yeerk as Moonbeam pulled his gun.
"Forty ssecondsss." Counted the Taxxon.
Moonbeam gestured with his gun to the Yeerk's station, his fingers flew across the keys.
"Hey there, this is Morris Day and the Time, we'll be here till Thursday, to whom am I speaking?"
"Not undersstood, repeat transssmmisssssion."
"Z-space drive is ready!" Cried the Yeerk.
Moonbeam turned to Siggs, "Prepare to fire." He said, she gave a mocking salute with a Marlboro burning between her fingers.
He turned back and opened channel, "I said, shove it up your hissing arse bug-ugly." He motioned to Siggs and she opened fire on the smaller scout ship.
The beams lanced up the body of the Trident Ship, rather foolishly not protected by shields, the body cracked and spears of light ripped through the engines, it blew, sending debris spiralling through space.
"They'll send fighters!" Yelled the Yeerk but somewhere between 'send' and 'fighters' Moonbeam had punched the ship into the blankness of Z-space.
"Well, looks like we got another trouble-making slug on our hands." Commented Dave.
"Simple enough problem." Taz muttered.
Siggs leapt from her chair and pulled a switchblade from the pocket of her jeans, ivory handle and a glittering 4-inch blade, "Yeah but we can take our time with this one."
"Please no," said the Yeerk, "I'll tell you everything."
And he did, in the process he unwittingly made himself a useless member of the team, explaining how the posse could use the ship's computer, giving them full control of the Blade Ship and all the universal info they could ever want.
Nose dripping blood that ran over his lips, two black eyes, and a cheek laid open by knife wound the Yeerk begged to be allowed to feed.
Moonbeam told him with an air of innocence that under the watchful air of the posse he could feed, (Rachel and Roach had finished their sweep of the ship, everything was dead) the Yeerk went into the pool room and knelt at a pool of murky sludge, they could see little creatures, slug's the size of rats swimming below the surface.
The host knelt and put his head by the water, "My host is voluntary." the Yeerk said, "And terrified of you, do not worry about restraining him." All very matter-of-fact till the barrel ground the back of his head, "Oh, no."
"Bye slug." was the last thing he heard before the top of his head blew cleanly off. The body collapsed into the pool, scattering the slugs in confusion, haemorrhaging blood mixed with the molten lead water.
"What you want us to do with him?" Roach rasped, his sleeve was covered in blood and drying streaks ran down his arm but he didn't seem to care.
"Flush the whole fucking lot of them into space." Moonbeam said offhandedly, "Roach, go to the med-bay, there are 'healing tanks' there or some shit, the computer will heal ya."
"Aye aye." Roach agreed, rubbing at the bloody arm subconsciously.
Chapter Fourteen
The whiteness of Z-space gave way to normal space as Moonbeam stared majestically out the Bridge window, an outside viewer might have compared his noble stance to Patton, or Washington as he crossed the Delaware.
Nothingness in a million miles in each direction, an endless, awe-inspiring view, stars glittered like diamonds many light years from where he now stood, a blood-red nebula drifted into view, millions of light years away.
The Contents of the Pool gushed from the ship, crystallised water entrapping Yeerks and the dead human host who never had a say in his fate.
An airlock back in the ship opened and spewed more bodies into the space, Hork-Bajir, Taxxon and even Human corpses joined infinity, they'd been collected and unceremoniously piled in an airlock to be ejected.
"Computer, any civilised colonies in this sector?"
"No, the closest civilisation is a small grouping on the moon of Menschu."
"What's it like?" Dave asked.
"Sector under dispute, no-go area for Yeerk or Andalite forces, artificial colony, bad reputed for smuggling and theft, high crime rate, casinos, population comes and goes, average is.."
Dave cut him off, "Take us there." It sounded like his kind of place.
"As you wish." Said the neutral computer voice, not judgemental of its new masters or what had happened to it's old.
The Blade Ship jetted off and disappeared from normal space, leaving it's drifting graveyard behind.
***To Be Continued***
Britz-Well folks, shoot us a review, I'm working on something a little different at the moment so I'm warning you, no reviews means it'll be a while till I get around to the next chap.