DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.

A/N: Time to do something from Toby Hamee's perspective, methinks…

CHAPTER 18

Cassie

I'm pretty sure that it was Flavius Vegetius who said, Sī vīs pācem, parā bellum – "if you want peace, prepare for war."

In a way, since I wanted peace, I helped others prepare for war. I drew up a list of useful morphs which Andalite warriors could use – which was more or less every kind of morph which we Animorphs had acquired. Jake did a well enough job with teaching others about morphing in general, but as someone who was a relative expert on animals on general, this particularly duty fell to me.

Most of the Andalite warriors who had already been on Earth for the meeting with the Kelbrid had already gotten Kelbrid and Hork-Bajir morphs, and a covert idea had been agreed upon: In the middle of the night, I would lead these morph-capable Andalite warriors into zoos and have them acquire the creatures there.

So no one on Earth would catch on to these covert plans, I explained these things on the Dome ship Elfangor. It was fascinating for me to get a good look at a Dome on an Andalite Dome ship – there wasn't much time for sightseeing back when we rescued Ax all those years ago. No animal life, but plenty of plant life, however.

Currently, I was in the process of describing such a morph.

(This creature is called an owl,) I said, perched on top of a crystal growing out of the artificial pond in the center with the Andalite warriors all gathered around. (This particular breed is known as a horned owl, because of the obvious crest on the top of its head. Owls are nocturnal predators who feast on small rodents. They have incredible eyesight and hearing; however, because of their cone-shaped eyes, they have to turn their heads entirely if they want to look in another direction. Their feathers are also designed so they can't be heard, even if they flew right in front of your face. They should be ideal for surveillance, observation, and maybe the occasional quick escape.)

And just to demonstrate, I took off and flew around the Dome, over Andalite heads and through tree branches. I also hooted a few times, just for the sake of it.

As I settled down on the ground outside the cluster of Andalite warriors, I demorphed. "Any questions?" I asked once I was fully done demorphing.

One Andalite gestured to me. (I have heard that owls are used and can be trained to deliver messages. I was merely curious if this was true.)

I raised my eyebrow. Looks like this particular Andalite warrior had somehow come across one of those Harry Potter movies or something. "No, sorry, but that's just in a particular kind of fiction. Still, other birds have been trained to deliver messages in the past, such as carrier pigeons."

And so the demonstrations and explanations went on. I had acquired even more morphs which I hadn't had during the few years I fought the Yeerk Empire with my fellow Animorphs, such as tigers, rhinos, grizzly bears, and gorillas. Other than that, I showed them the kinds of morphs which all of us Animorphs had acquired and used over the years: Fly, cockroach, elephant, chimpanzee, osprey, hawk, eagle, wolf, parrot, cockatiel, cheetah, cape buffalo, beaver, snake, horse, squirrel, seagull, flea, skunk, wolf spider, bat, mole, anteater, seal, polar bear, mountain goat, eel, trout, shark, dolphin, whale, squid (those last six I had to morph near the pond, and that nearly caused some problems with each)…

After it was all done, and the Andalites cleared out to retire to their quarters, I heard a gravely voice from behind me:

"Cassie? I would like to talk to you."

Toby Hamee

My name is Toby Hamee.

And currently, I needed to talk to my friend, Cassie.

She jumped, surprised, and turned around to face me. "Oh, Toby, it's you," she breathed in relief.

"Yes, it's me," I said with a Hork-Bajir grin. I had know Cassie for years, and even more recently, I had come to be good friends with her soon-to-be husband, Ronnie. They did the work they were hired to do by the American government, but they still took the time to go out of their way to protect myself and the other Hork-Bajir situated in Yellowstone from humans who were simply being… well, idiots, to put it mildly.

When I wasn't looking out for my people and teaching young Hork-Bajir, I was reading human books and texts lent to me by Cassie and Ronnie. I was known as a "seer" among my kind; in other words, I had greatly heightened intelligence compared to the rest of my kind. I can humbly say that I was probably smart enough to attend any given human or Andalite university on either species' home world.

"Anyway, like I said, I need to talk to you."

She gave me her full, undivided attention.

Taking a deep breath, I told her what I had to say.

"I am going to help fight."

Strange how so few words could be so hard to say…

Cassie blinked, puzzled. "Come again?"

And so I reiterated

"I am going to help the human forces in this inevitable conflict, Cassie. And if you have no problems with doing so… I would like you to watch out for my people for me… please."

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure, Toby… hypothetically, I wouldn't mind doing that, but I just have to admit that I didn't see this coming."

I sighed. "Good point." Gathering my thoughts, I explained it to her.

"Make no mistake, Cassie, it is an honor for me to look after my people. However, I feel that with some of my skills and my intellect, I would be better suited for helping on the field of battle."

I had been reading plenty of those said human books and texts, to the point I wanted to write some of my own things. I already had the morphing technology, and I had my own human morph created by the Frolis maneuver which made it practical when I met with the government, since I was the de facto leader of the Hork-Bajir. And much like my ancestor, the great Dak Hamee, I just had a thirst for knowledge, where the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.

I had already drawn the attention of professors who marveled at my intellect, tacticians who marveled with my strategies, and even got an offer from a master of the human martials arts form known as karate to be taught with those skills.

If I were to learn new things about combat, at least I would be learning it from a species who knew how to fight. Obviously, the Andalites and even the Kelbrid had been at it longer when it came to warfare in space, but humans were no slouches either. They had had millennia of practice with warfare among their peoples, ever since their first civilizations, and war often accelerated technological progress, which would explain how human technology went at a much quicker pace than Andalite technology had.

I didn't like the idea of fighting in another war all that much either, but as a certain human saying goes, "Better to be safe than sorry."

However, even without a back-and-forth conversation, weighing the pros and cons of my decision, Cassie understood.

"I understand perfectly, Toby. Since I already have a job, I can't be there all the time, but I know and trust quite a few people who can be there for your people when I can't be there."

I let out a small sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, Cassie."

She nodded in return, but she also looked up at me. "Just… take care of yourself, okay?"

I gave a tiny Hork-Bajir smile. "Of course, Cassie. That goes without saying."

She came towards me, and embraced me in a hug, careful not to accidentally cut herself on any of my blades. I gently hugged her back as not to accidentally crush her in my grip.

"Anyway, I must be getting back."

I nodded and bade her farewell as she left. At Alloran's invitation, he allowed me to come here to talk to Cassie, and then to let me stay here on the Dome ship during the night.

Tired, I walked to one of the foreign Andalite trees and situated myself in one which I judged to be most comfortable, with gently curving branches and green and blue leaves. After sampling some of the exotic bark, I slowly feel asleep, thinking of the current state of things.

TBC…

A/N: So, how was this chapter?

Note about Toby Hamee: I just had this crazy idea… pairing Tobias up with his namesake. Anyone think such a thing would work? (Hey, inter-species romances have been done before in the series… and ironically, if it weren't for those inter-species romances, neither Tobias nor Toby would exist.)

Next chapter is something from Marco's POV again… –Quillian