Categories > Books > Animorphs > The Progression
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.
A/N: I am so sorry it took so long to update! Curse my college courses! If you want to do the work for me, then please, be my guest! (Just kidding...)
This chapter is dedicated to GenesisDragon, who is great and both writing his own work and reviewing mine!
Also, I would like to give out a nice big thank-you to aizxana, whose series of /Animorphs fanfics are EXCELLENT and deserve to be read! Be sure to check them out if and when you get the chance!/
CHAPTER 14
Arklan 256
My name is Arklan 256.
I am a Yeerk, and a noble and heroic one at that - although I do realize how billions of people of different species will consider that to be a contradiction of terms, especially after the end of the Yeerk War.
Now, here I was in Earth's orbit, aboard my own personal ship which I had built after the end of the war - the /Seerow/. I was actually a good friend to the Andalite prince Seerow all those years ago, unlike those treacherous Yeerks who would later call themselves the "Council of Thirteen".
In the beginning of the Yeerk War, I had operated in total secrecy, never trusting anyone except for a select few whom I had known as long-time friends. Towards the end of the war, I heard rumors and whispers about a Peace Movement on Earth, and knew I had to contact them. It was too late for me to meet Aftran 942, who had already escaped Visser Three's clutches and into Earth's oceans as an aquatic animal, but at least I was able to contact her unofficial "second-in-command," so to speak, that being Illim 871. As the self-proclaimed "Animorphs" continued with their fights against the Yeerk Empire on Earth, I continued all my work behind the scenes as I had done for years - causing "accidents" in the industrial facilities on the Taxxon home world, scrambling reports from probes about home worlds with new potential species to infest, sabotaging ships and fighters before they engaged in space combat with the Andalites in some far-off system, regularly keeping in contact with the Arn whom I helped escape during the battle on the Hork-Bajir home world... All the while, I deliberately targeted cruel, ambitious Yeerks as scapegoats, who (or at least in my honest opinion) deserved the punishments that they got for what I did.
This tactic may sound cruel at first, but I had my reasons. First of all, it showed as an example to other Yeerks about how ruthless and hypocritical their Empire was. Secondly, if I didn't make it so these other evil Yeerks were "punished," then who would stop them for committing more atrocities in the future, then who would, and when? Thirdly, I was able to convince more and more Yeerks as time went on to join my cause, so that by the time the war ended, I had at least a few thousand Yeerks at followers.
As the Andalite forces withdrew from all fronts, even speedily abandoning our own home world which they had kept watch over for so long, I set out to work, and find a way to help fix all the damage that had been done by my evil brethren.
It was Illim who proposed the idea of contacting the Leerans, after hearing about them from the Animorphs. With their telepathy, those psychic amphibians would know for themselves about our good intent. From there, we went to the Yeerk home world and were reunited with the rest of our race that had no idea what was going on all these years.
From there, we tried to start something new: A Yeerk Republic. It was an alliance of all Yeerks from all the pools across the planet, dedicated to making a positive impact on a galaxy ravaged by war for so long.
Nearly everyone was clamoring for me to be the leader, but I didn't think I had the skills, let alone the desire, to continue being the leader of this new order. I was able to find other wise Yeerks to do that, while I remained as a sort of council to them, having my place in things. I was not at the top of the chain of command, but still high up enough; it was just perfect for me. I, Arklan 256, "Heroine of the Yeerk people," was now a role model to follow. (Technically, I was more of a hero; we Yeerks are gender-neutral, and so we sort of "adopt" the genders of our hosts, and the few hosts I had had were nearly all female.)
We did away with the old regime: We abolished their hypocritical laws, did away with the rank of "visser," destroyed the Blade ships, and disassembled most of the Bug fighters and some of the Pool ships (we kept a few for the purposes of our plans).
Following the examples of Andalites, humans and Leerans, we adopted a democratic form of government, in which there was a prime "Dekkent," with several other Dekkents. However, in an ironic twist of fate, we created new ranks: Paxxors and Belgars. While vissers were ruthless warlords serving an evil empire, a Yeerk with the title of "Paxxor" would be one who handled diplomacy and other peace-time duties, whereas Belgars were military officers. Belgars differed from Vissers in that the former had a noble mindset and fought for the good of his people, not the good of himself like the latter. A Paxxor would typically be a government official or representative, while a sub-Paxxor would typically be a diplomat. Likewise, a Belgar would be like a high-ranking warrior, most likely to lead and fight in any future wars we Yeerks would be involved in, while a sub-Belgar would help serve as local law enforcement, much like human police.
In the last few years since the start of our new order, we Yeerks had fifty Paxxors and two hundred sub-Paxxors, prepared to make contact with other species and hopefully improve upon interspecies relations; since it was peacetime and not wartime, we had very few Belgars and sub-Belgars, and so I would estimate that by now, we only had about ten Belgars and fifty sub-Belgars. For our contributions to the resistance against the Yeerk Empire, me and Illim became Paxxor One and Paxxor Five respectively.
Even if it wasn't peacetime, we still had one last matter to take care of: The Council of Thirteen. I was prepared to fight and resist one last time in order to bring those thirteen corrupt Yeerks down for good, but so many other Yeerks had volunteered for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I could turn down the opportunity with a clear conscience. Another Yeerk who had been on Earth, named Eslin 359, who had a major grudge against the Empire, had led the attack on their stronghold of a hideout. For his amazing success, Eslin was appointed the rank of Belgar Three.
Within the past year or so, Illim hypothetically posed an idea: Create an artificial host. The idea spread like wildfire, and soon our engineers were working at all hours of the day to come up with something. Finally, some months later, we managed to create a few prototypes. This robotic vessel could be easily infested, could see and hear, even "smell" to an extent, and could walk and even climb. More and more models were made, and all Dekkents, Paxxors, and Belgars now used these "rovessels," as Illim had dubbed them.
We may not have had enough rovessels or Gedds to go around, but we improvised in other ways. In the artificial pools we set up on orbiting spaceships, we had multiple computer interfaces, with work centers all around edges of the pool and along the bottom, almost like "cubicles," where our students could learn and our scientists and engineers could do research. We were also in the process of designing our own, unique ships designed for interstellar warfare; we knew that many species would perceive this as a threat, but if we to offer our services, we had to have power to back it up with.
Days ago, Illim went with our Leeran allies to talk to the humans, the Andalites, and this new species called the Kelbrid. He was chosen for this assignment since he knew the Animorphs the best, and they would certainly vouch for him.
It had taken a lengthy explanation of things on Illim's part to convince and persuade them, but in the end, it worked. Now the next step of our "Restoration" plan would be ready to roll.
As I was composing my speech for those next few days, Illim showed me a recording of when he was in his own rovessel, and I decided to use parts of his explanation as my own speech.
Now, I was on my own shuttle, the /Seerow/, a gift from the new Yeerk hierarchy. The ship looked like an overlarge Andalite fighter, but with flukes on the bottom like a Yeerk has. With Illim and Eslin at my side (all of us in rovessels), we dropped out of Z-space.
There it was: /Earth/. Landmasses of green and brown, oceans of blue, covered with white clouds, it looked like a beacon in the darkness of space.
I saw an Andalite Dome ship not so far away, plus a few Leeran ships and what I presumed to be a Kelbrid ship. The Andalite ship was closest, and so it hailed us.
Two Andalite faces appeared - one was of War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass himself, and the other I didn't recognize. the second Andalite said arrogantly.
All three of us Yeerks were thinking the same thing: You're just /itching for a chance to blow us up, aren't you?/
"This is Paxxor One, otherwise known as Arklan 256," I announced. "Behind me are Paxxor Five and Belgar Three, otherwise known as Illim 871 and Eslin 359 respectively. This is our own ship, the /Seerow/."
Alloran gaped at us for a moment - before bursting out laughing. The other Andalite looked disgusted and threw the War-Prince a dirty look. Offeran repeated incredulously.
"Yes, the Seerow/," I repeated evenly as Alloran's laughing died down, knowing full well how the Andalites detested Seerow. I stopped myself just in time before adding, "I'm sorry, why, were you Andalites thinking about naming one of your own ships after him?"/
Offeran privately conferred with Alloran for a moment, and then granted us clearance, plus an added warning not to deviate from our present course, to paraphrase what he said. We descended through Earth's atmosphere, with two Andalite and two Leeran fighters closely behind us.
The Leerans trusted us, although understandably, the Andalites didn't. But after all, innocent people have nothing to hide, so I was fine with it.
"Feeling well, Arklan?" Illim said, trying to make conversation - something which I assume he picked up from humans.
"Just fine, Illim," I said calmly. In private, we Paxxors and Belgars were allowed to address each other by our names and designations.
This in itself is a considerable difference from the Yeerk Empire - back then, vissers and sub-vissers always addressed and referred to each other by their rank, never their name and designation. Whether this slightly knew system was designed by the Dekkents for the sake of breaking away from the past or to avoid the sort of confusion that came out of it, no one really knew.
"Obviously, there are going to be plenty down there who hate us," I said aloud as we descended through light blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Beautiful planet, I must say. "Just remain calm and don't let anything they say get to you. That goes double for you, Eslin."
Eslin harrumphed but didn't say anything. He's normally a Yeerk of very few words - that is, unless, he's going on about what he'd like to do to Esplin 9466, the former Council of Thirteen, and other such individuals. As humans might say, he has a "short fuse."
Finally, our shuttle landed on a carrier sitting in the water; from there, we exited the shuttle and boarded a peculiar aerial vehicle with rotating wings - a "helicopter." We garnered a few funny looks at our rovessels, but we - as in Illim and I - ignored them; once or twice, however, Eslin would look right back at the observer.
We flew over the deep blue water into New York City, to the United Nations building. An area was cleared for the helicopter to land, and when it did and everything was secure, we exited it.
I must say, I have never seen a more divided crowd. Clearly polarized, half of the people there were welcoming us with signs showing positive messages (such as "Human-Yeerk Liaison for Peace!") - while the other half were clearly angry at us, and had to be kept back by police officers. I caught some of their signs, saying such things as "GO HOME, YEERK," "HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE TO THE GALAXY?" or "WE'LL FORGIVE YOU - ONCE YOU BRING BACK ALL THE PEOPLE YOU'VE KILLED!"
I wasn't offended, really. Besides, if there weren't any humans who hated us Yeerks, or more specifically, us well-meaning ones, then what would I be doing here?
"Hi!" I said loudly, waving all four of my robotic arms to both well-wishers and ill-wishers alike. "I like you all too!" The well-wishers looked happy at such good wishes reciprocating between us and them, while the ill-wishers looked shocked and disappointed that their unkind tactics weren't working.
Some police officers escorted us, but whether it was to prevent the other humans from doing anything to us or us from doing anything to them, I had no idea.
We made our way to the room in the United Nations where I would be making my speech. I took a good look at everyone else present: The Andalites were greeting us with acerbic glares, the Leerans gazed upon us encouragingly, the Kelbrid looked politely interested, and the various human ambassadors and representatives had those same emotions, and then some.
There was silence as I walked up to the podium. "Good afternoon, one and all - human, Andalite, Leeran, Kelbrid and Yeerk alike. My name is Arklan 256 of the Sulp Niar pool. I have lived since well before the Yeerk War, and from inside, have done my best to undermine it and make things difficult for its corrupt leaders.
"I realize that there are plenty of you, both in this room and elsewhere yet watching this even as I speak, that hate me and my kind, the Yeerk species, for whatever reason. Believe me when I say that I'm not blind to this animosity which myself and my colleagues have been receiving from some people. Some reasons may be justified, like the loss of family or friends during the course of the Yeerk War; others may not be, such as hearing from others that all Yeerks are evil. However, bearing a grudge against me and my kind will accomplish nothing; the Yeerks involved in the war who actually were evil are either dead or imprisoned... that is, aside from the few who serve Setheon, 'The One.' Redirecting your anger at us because you can't take it out on them will only make things worse. Even then, those evil Yeerks who made up the 'Yeerk Empire' were just a mere fraction of the majority of Yeerks, who really weren't 'evil' at all. Over time, I've learned that no one entire species is good or evil, and no one species is perfect... and that you can not judge or condemn an entire group of people based on the actions or misdeeds of a few of its members. I could go on all day, pointing out the flaws and failures of other alien races, except that's not what I'm here to do, nor should I do. I can only ask that you try to put aside your resentment, maybe even shed it, if you can. In my experience, resentment is like consuming poison and waiting for the other person to die. Even then, be it resentment or some other negative emotion... well, I can offer this advice: While it is acceptable to feel a certain way about anything, you have to let it go after a while, because you might end up losing control over your emotions and end up with your emotions in control of you instead."
I paused here to let it all sink in. I think my preamble there may have actually had a positive effect on the majority of my audience, or at least those here in the same room as me.
"I am here to announce the Yeerk Republic's desire to work alongside the human, Andalite, Kelbrid, and Leeran peoples against this evil entity, Setheon. We have some forces designed for combat, and we can make more. We are willing to prove our trust by letting you supervise us as we make more forces, as well as help the rest of you in any way we can. Setheon is that type of evil who will control whatever he can and destroy whatever he can't. Thus, we should stand together, lest we all fall..."
As part of my speech, I repeated what Illim had said a few days earlier in order to explain some things. I also explained about the new government system which was being used, as well as some of the new technologies we had developed for ourselves to make it so we could be efficient without needing host bodies, (or at least those of organic, natural life forms, as opposed to rovessels). I also introduced plans for stable relationships with the other races.
With some help from Eslin, I also explained about our proposed ships. We kept Pool ships more for the purpose of being carriers for our fighters (whereas in the time of the Yeerk Empire, they were made more with the intent of infestation and enslavement), and had gotten rid of those garish Blade ships, which were more about shows of power than actual space combat.
As another way of doing things differently from the late Empire, we designed completely knew fighters. While the old Bug fighters just happened to bear a resemblance to the Earth insects known as cockroaches, these new fighters were intentionally designed after various Earth insects...
Stingers: Designed after dragonflies, they had four long wings attached to the midsection, a cockpit at the front, and a long body/engine at the back. Like the insects they were modeled after, they were swift and deadly. The unique thing was that the wings could pivot so the wings could be flattened horizontally or vertically, or even in a sort of "X" formation. With this unique design, a fighter could simply pivot its wings instead of turning on its side to squeeze through a narrow space.
Bombers: Designed after butterflies, these were, well, /bombers/. Like a butterfly, the wings closed vertically. However, embedded within each wing were several different "sockets," where bombs of different types could be stored. When flying through space, the bombs could be released as the wings "flapped," and so the bombs flew towards their targets beneath the Bombers.
Needlers: Designed after mosquitoes, these rather small craft were designed for stealth, spying and sabotage. Through a needle which could drill into a ship's surface, things could be inserted or extracted.
However, I should stress that I didn't mention all these new Yeerk ships and other forms of spacecraft here, at a public speech; this information would wait until a military meeting.
With my speech and explanation finished, my companions and I were allowed to leave for the day. However, I personally took this time to meet some of the ambassadors from other species and various Earth countries. The Kelbrid ambassador Saventi was a genial being, although, as I had predicted earlier, the Andalite and human ambassadors weren't so friendly or open. Then again, the level of animosity and dislike seemed much less than before. At least I had made some progress.
As we exited the building, the crowds were still there, although those who hated us seemed less numerous than when we had first arrived. One young adult male weaved to us, and Illim walked over to him, presumably because they knew each other. Was this young human perhaps one of the voluntary Controllers who helped the Peace Movement here on Earth?
I could hear Illim speak in normal, casual tones: "So, how have you been these past few years, Erek?"
TBC//...
A/N: So, what do you guys think of my Yeerk OC? (Also, I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't exciting or quite up to par.)
Note about Arklan's name: I remember back in /The Hork-Bajir Chronicles/, there was a Gedd-Controller referred to as "Arklan," who injured himself by trying to use a shredder in such a dense atmosphere. (If you have a copy of it, look on page 91.) I think that Arklan will be a pool-mate or something of my OC Arklan...
Note about the question of Yeerk genders: I've heard various things in fanfiction about this: That Yeerks are a genderless, neuter race which "adopts" genders of their hosts; that they're male-female differentiated like most other species, despite their unique reproduction process; and even one thing where they actually have three different genders. I personally go for the first theory myself; anyone have any thoughts on this?
Note about the opening part of Arklan's speech: I know, it's kind of a rehash and I skipped over parts of it... except I didn't want to repeat the same things over again, and I'm not in the mood to go writing speeches. Come to think of it, I don't think I'm too good a speech-maker, anyway... Also, as for the thing about "consuming poison," that was a paraphrased quote by Carrie Fisher, which goes like this: "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
Note about the new Yeerk Republic fighters: Okay, for the Stingers, think of the X-Wings from /Star Wars/, but the wings can pivot a lot more. I'm sorry if my descriptions leave anything to be desired, but hopefully, as time goes on, it will be easier to understand.
Next chapter is where Erek comes back into the picture... -Quillian
/SNEAK PEEK AT FUTURE STORIES!/
Okay, everyone, I know I mentioned all those possible book titles back after the end of chapter 5, but I think I have things more fleshed out now. At the rate things are going, my small series will have five or six normal titles, plus a few Chronicles thrown in. Here's what it looks like so far...
Normal titles: #1, /The Progression/; #2, /The Unthinkable/; #3, /The Clone/; #4, /The Vault/; #5, /The Crystal/; and #6, /The Endgame/.
Chronicles: /The Yeerk Chronicles/; /The Leeran Chronicles/; /The Kelbrid Chronicles/; and /The Crayak Chronicles/. (Although not necessarily in that order, and I may also write something about Arbron, to be entitled /Nothlit/.)
I may also write a story that takes place a couple of centuries into the future or so, where a young student looks back on the "age of the Animorphs." That would be cool, and I think I could get it done. Also, I'm probably not going to write a "Chronicles" story for every last species ever used or even remotely mentioned through the series... although, it would be cool to try and write something for the Arn, most likely taking place when that asteroid hit their home world. Maybe also the Chee, if I can manage it.
However, between my busy schedule for this college semester and trying to plan an entire mini-series of Animorphs stories with so many chapters each, just don't expect me to keep cranking them out so fast! In fact, this just may be the last chapter for a little while!
A/N: I am so sorry it took so long to update! Curse my college courses! If you want to do the work for me, then please, be my guest! (Just kidding...)
This chapter is dedicated to GenesisDragon, who is great and both writing his own work and reviewing mine!
Also, I would like to give out a nice big thank-you to aizxana, whose series of /Animorphs fanfics are EXCELLENT and deserve to be read! Be sure to check them out if and when you get the chance!/
CHAPTER 14
Arklan 256
My name is Arklan 256.
I am a Yeerk, and a noble and heroic one at that - although I do realize how billions of people of different species will consider that to be a contradiction of terms, especially after the end of the Yeerk War.
Now, here I was in Earth's orbit, aboard my own personal ship which I had built after the end of the war - the /Seerow/. I was actually a good friend to the Andalite prince Seerow all those years ago, unlike those treacherous Yeerks who would later call themselves the "Council of Thirteen".
In the beginning of the Yeerk War, I had operated in total secrecy, never trusting anyone except for a select few whom I had known as long-time friends. Towards the end of the war, I heard rumors and whispers about a Peace Movement on Earth, and knew I had to contact them. It was too late for me to meet Aftran 942, who had already escaped Visser Three's clutches and into Earth's oceans as an aquatic animal, but at least I was able to contact her unofficial "second-in-command," so to speak, that being Illim 871. As the self-proclaimed "Animorphs" continued with their fights against the Yeerk Empire on Earth, I continued all my work behind the scenes as I had done for years - causing "accidents" in the industrial facilities on the Taxxon home world, scrambling reports from probes about home worlds with new potential species to infest, sabotaging ships and fighters before they engaged in space combat with the Andalites in some far-off system, regularly keeping in contact with the Arn whom I helped escape during the battle on the Hork-Bajir home world... All the while, I deliberately targeted cruel, ambitious Yeerks as scapegoats, who (or at least in my honest opinion) deserved the punishments that they got for what I did.
This tactic may sound cruel at first, but I had my reasons. First of all, it showed as an example to other Yeerks about how ruthless and hypocritical their Empire was. Secondly, if I didn't make it so these other evil Yeerks were "punished," then who would stop them for committing more atrocities in the future, then who would, and when? Thirdly, I was able to convince more and more Yeerks as time went on to join my cause, so that by the time the war ended, I had at least a few thousand Yeerks at followers.
As the Andalite forces withdrew from all fronts, even speedily abandoning our own home world which they had kept watch over for so long, I set out to work, and find a way to help fix all the damage that had been done by my evil brethren.
It was Illim who proposed the idea of contacting the Leerans, after hearing about them from the Animorphs. With their telepathy, those psychic amphibians would know for themselves about our good intent. From there, we went to the Yeerk home world and were reunited with the rest of our race that had no idea what was going on all these years.
From there, we tried to start something new: A Yeerk Republic. It was an alliance of all Yeerks from all the pools across the planet, dedicated to making a positive impact on a galaxy ravaged by war for so long.
Nearly everyone was clamoring for me to be the leader, but I didn't think I had the skills, let alone the desire, to continue being the leader of this new order. I was able to find other wise Yeerks to do that, while I remained as a sort of council to them, having my place in things. I was not at the top of the chain of command, but still high up enough; it was just perfect for me. I, Arklan 256, "Heroine of the Yeerk people," was now a role model to follow. (Technically, I was more of a hero; we Yeerks are gender-neutral, and so we sort of "adopt" the genders of our hosts, and the few hosts I had had were nearly all female.)
We did away with the old regime: We abolished their hypocritical laws, did away with the rank of "visser," destroyed the Blade ships, and disassembled most of the Bug fighters and some of the Pool ships (we kept a few for the purposes of our plans).
Following the examples of Andalites, humans and Leerans, we adopted a democratic form of government, in which there was a prime "Dekkent," with several other Dekkents. However, in an ironic twist of fate, we created new ranks: Paxxors and Belgars. While vissers were ruthless warlords serving an evil empire, a Yeerk with the title of "Paxxor" would be one who handled diplomacy and other peace-time duties, whereas Belgars were military officers. Belgars differed from Vissers in that the former had a noble mindset and fought for the good of his people, not the good of himself like the latter. A Paxxor would typically be a government official or representative, while a sub-Paxxor would typically be a diplomat. Likewise, a Belgar would be like a high-ranking warrior, most likely to lead and fight in any future wars we Yeerks would be involved in, while a sub-Belgar would help serve as local law enforcement, much like human police.
In the last few years since the start of our new order, we Yeerks had fifty Paxxors and two hundred sub-Paxxors, prepared to make contact with other species and hopefully improve upon interspecies relations; since it was peacetime and not wartime, we had very few Belgars and sub-Belgars, and so I would estimate that by now, we only had about ten Belgars and fifty sub-Belgars. For our contributions to the resistance against the Yeerk Empire, me and Illim became Paxxor One and Paxxor Five respectively.
Even if it wasn't peacetime, we still had one last matter to take care of: The Council of Thirteen. I was prepared to fight and resist one last time in order to bring those thirteen corrupt Yeerks down for good, but so many other Yeerks had volunteered for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I could turn down the opportunity with a clear conscience. Another Yeerk who had been on Earth, named Eslin 359, who had a major grudge against the Empire, had led the attack on their stronghold of a hideout. For his amazing success, Eslin was appointed the rank of Belgar Three.
Within the past year or so, Illim hypothetically posed an idea: Create an artificial host. The idea spread like wildfire, and soon our engineers were working at all hours of the day to come up with something. Finally, some months later, we managed to create a few prototypes. This robotic vessel could be easily infested, could see and hear, even "smell" to an extent, and could walk and even climb. More and more models were made, and all Dekkents, Paxxors, and Belgars now used these "rovessels," as Illim had dubbed them.
We may not have had enough rovessels or Gedds to go around, but we improvised in other ways. In the artificial pools we set up on orbiting spaceships, we had multiple computer interfaces, with work centers all around edges of the pool and along the bottom, almost like "cubicles," where our students could learn and our scientists and engineers could do research. We were also in the process of designing our own, unique ships designed for interstellar warfare; we knew that many species would perceive this as a threat, but if we to offer our services, we had to have power to back it up with.
Days ago, Illim went with our Leeran allies to talk to the humans, the Andalites, and this new species called the Kelbrid. He was chosen for this assignment since he knew the Animorphs the best, and they would certainly vouch for him.
It had taken a lengthy explanation of things on Illim's part to convince and persuade them, but in the end, it worked. Now the next step of our "Restoration" plan would be ready to roll.
As I was composing my speech for those next few days, Illim showed me a recording of when he was in his own rovessel, and I decided to use parts of his explanation as my own speech.
Now, I was on my own shuttle, the /Seerow/, a gift from the new Yeerk hierarchy. The ship looked like an overlarge Andalite fighter, but with flukes on the bottom like a Yeerk has. With Illim and Eslin at my side (all of us in rovessels), we dropped out of Z-space.
There it was: /Earth/. Landmasses of green and brown, oceans of blue, covered with white clouds, it looked like a beacon in the darkness of space.
I saw an Andalite Dome ship not so far away, plus a few Leeran ships and what I presumed to be a Kelbrid ship. The Andalite ship was closest, and so it hailed us.
Two Andalite faces appeared - one was of War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass himself, and the other I didn't recognize. the second Andalite said arrogantly.
All three of us Yeerks were thinking the same thing: You're just /itching for a chance to blow us up, aren't you?/
"This is Paxxor One, otherwise known as Arklan 256," I announced. "Behind me are Paxxor Five and Belgar Three, otherwise known as Illim 871 and Eslin 359 respectively. This is our own ship, the /Seerow/."
Alloran gaped at us for a moment - before bursting out laughing. The other Andalite looked disgusted and threw the War-Prince a dirty look. Offeran repeated incredulously.
"Yes, the Seerow/," I repeated evenly as Alloran's laughing died down, knowing full well how the Andalites detested Seerow. I stopped myself just in time before adding, "I'm sorry, why, were you Andalites thinking about naming one of your own ships after him?"/
Offeran privately conferred with Alloran for a moment, and then granted us clearance, plus an added warning not to deviate from our present course, to paraphrase what he said. We descended through Earth's atmosphere, with two Andalite and two Leeran fighters closely behind us.
The Leerans trusted us, although understandably, the Andalites didn't. But after all, innocent people have nothing to hide, so I was fine with it.
"Feeling well, Arklan?" Illim said, trying to make conversation - something which I assume he picked up from humans.
"Just fine, Illim," I said calmly. In private, we Paxxors and Belgars were allowed to address each other by our names and designations.
This in itself is a considerable difference from the Yeerk Empire - back then, vissers and sub-vissers always addressed and referred to each other by their rank, never their name and designation. Whether this slightly knew system was designed by the Dekkents for the sake of breaking away from the past or to avoid the sort of confusion that came out of it, no one really knew.
"Obviously, there are going to be plenty down there who hate us," I said aloud as we descended through light blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Beautiful planet, I must say. "Just remain calm and don't let anything they say get to you. That goes double for you, Eslin."
Eslin harrumphed but didn't say anything. He's normally a Yeerk of very few words - that is, unless, he's going on about what he'd like to do to Esplin 9466, the former Council of Thirteen, and other such individuals. As humans might say, he has a "short fuse."
Finally, our shuttle landed on a carrier sitting in the water; from there, we exited the shuttle and boarded a peculiar aerial vehicle with rotating wings - a "helicopter." We garnered a few funny looks at our rovessels, but we - as in Illim and I - ignored them; once or twice, however, Eslin would look right back at the observer.
We flew over the deep blue water into New York City, to the United Nations building. An area was cleared for the helicopter to land, and when it did and everything was secure, we exited it.
I must say, I have never seen a more divided crowd. Clearly polarized, half of the people there were welcoming us with signs showing positive messages (such as "Human-Yeerk Liaison for Peace!") - while the other half were clearly angry at us, and had to be kept back by police officers. I caught some of their signs, saying such things as "GO HOME, YEERK," "HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE TO THE GALAXY?" or "WE'LL FORGIVE YOU - ONCE YOU BRING BACK ALL THE PEOPLE YOU'VE KILLED!"
I wasn't offended, really. Besides, if there weren't any humans who hated us Yeerks, or more specifically, us well-meaning ones, then what would I be doing here?
"Hi!" I said loudly, waving all four of my robotic arms to both well-wishers and ill-wishers alike. "I like you all too!" The well-wishers looked happy at such good wishes reciprocating between us and them, while the ill-wishers looked shocked and disappointed that their unkind tactics weren't working.
Some police officers escorted us, but whether it was to prevent the other humans from doing anything to us or us from doing anything to them, I had no idea.
We made our way to the room in the United Nations where I would be making my speech. I took a good look at everyone else present: The Andalites were greeting us with acerbic glares, the Leerans gazed upon us encouragingly, the Kelbrid looked politely interested, and the various human ambassadors and representatives had those same emotions, and then some.
There was silence as I walked up to the podium. "Good afternoon, one and all - human, Andalite, Leeran, Kelbrid and Yeerk alike. My name is Arklan 256 of the Sulp Niar pool. I have lived since well before the Yeerk War, and from inside, have done my best to undermine it and make things difficult for its corrupt leaders.
"I realize that there are plenty of you, both in this room and elsewhere yet watching this even as I speak, that hate me and my kind, the Yeerk species, for whatever reason. Believe me when I say that I'm not blind to this animosity which myself and my colleagues have been receiving from some people. Some reasons may be justified, like the loss of family or friends during the course of the Yeerk War; others may not be, such as hearing from others that all Yeerks are evil. However, bearing a grudge against me and my kind will accomplish nothing; the Yeerks involved in the war who actually were evil are either dead or imprisoned... that is, aside from the few who serve Setheon, 'The One.' Redirecting your anger at us because you can't take it out on them will only make things worse. Even then, those evil Yeerks who made up the 'Yeerk Empire' were just a mere fraction of the majority of Yeerks, who really weren't 'evil' at all. Over time, I've learned that no one entire species is good or evil, and no one species is perfect... and that you can not judge or condemn an entire group of people based on the actions or misdeeds of a few of its members. I could go on all day, pointing out the flaws and failures of other alien races, except that's not what I'm here to do, nor should I do. I can only ask that you try to put aside your resentment, maybe even shed it, if you can. In my experience, resentment is like consuming poison and waiting for the other person to die. Even then, be it resentment or some other negative emotion... well, I can offer this advice: While it is acceptable to feel a certain way about anything, you have to let it go after a while, because you might end up losing control over your emotions and end up with your emotions in control of you instead."
I paused here to let it all sink in. I think my preamble there may have actually had a positive effect on the majority of my audience, or at least those here in the same room as me.
"I am here to announce the Yeerk Republic's desire to work alongside the human, Andalite, Kelbrid, and Leeran peoples against this evil entity, Setheon. We have some forces designed for combat, and we can make more. We are willing to prove our trust by letting you supervise us as we make more forces, as well as help the rest of you in any way we can. Setheon is that type of evil who will control whatever he can and destroy whatever he can't. Thus, we should stand together, lest we all fall..."
As part of my speech, I repeated what Illim had said a few days earlier in order to explain some things. I also explained about the new government system which was being used, as well as some of the new technologies we had developed for ourselves to make it so we could be efficient without needing host bodies, (or at least those of organic, natural life forms, as opposed to rovessels). I also introduced plans for stable relationships with the other races.
With some help from Eslin, I also explained about our proposed ships. We kept Pool ships more for the purpose of being carriers for our fighters (whereas in the time of the Yeerk Empire, they were made more with the intent of infestation and enslavement), and had gotten rid of those garish Blade ships, which were more about shows of power than actual space combat.
As another way of doing things differently from the late Empire, we designed completely knew fighters. While the old Bug fighters just happened to bear a resemblance to the Earth insects known as cockroaches, these new fighters were intentionally designed after various Earth insects...
Stingers: Designed after dragonflies, they had four long wings attached to the midsection, a cockpit at the front, and a long body/engine at the back. Like the insects they were modeled after, they were swift and deadly. The unique thing was that the wings could pivot so the wings could be flattened horizontally or vertically, or even in a sort of "X" formation. With this unique design, a fighter could simply pivot its wings instead of turning on its side to squeeze through a narrow space.
Bombers: Designed after butterflies, these were, well, /bombers/. Like a butterfly, the wings closed vertically. However, embedded within each wing were several different "sockets," where bombs of different types could be stored. When flying through space, the bombs could be released as the wings "flapped," and so the bombs flew towards their targets beneath the Bombers.
Needlers: Designed after mosquitoes, these rather small craft were designed for stealth, spying and sabotage. Through a needle which could drill into a ship's surface, things could be inserted or extracted.
However, I should stress that I didn't mention all these new Yeerk ships and other forms of spacecraft here, at a public speech; this information would wait until a military meeting.
With my speech and explanation finished, my companions and I were allowed to leave for the day. However, I personally took this time to meet some of the ambassadors from other species and various Earth countries. The Kelbrid ambassador Saventi was a genial being, although, as I had predicted earlier, the Andalite and human ambassadors weren't so friendly or open. Then again, the level of animosity and dislike seemed much less than before. At least I had made some progress.
As we exited the building, the crowds were still there, although those who hated us seemed less numerous than when we had first arrived. One young adult male weaved to us, and Illim walked over to him, presumably because they knew each other. Was this young human perhaps one of the voluntary Controllers who helped the Peace Movement here on Earth?
I could hear Illim speak in normal, casual tones: "So, how have you been these past few years, Erek?"
TBC//...
A/N: So, what do you guys think of my Yeerk OC? (Also, I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't exciting or quite up to par.)
Note about Arklan's name: I remember back in /The Hork-Bajir Chronicles/, there was a Gedd-Controller referred to as "Arklan," who injured himself by trying to use a shredder in such a dense atmosphere. (If you have a copy of it, look on page 91.) I think that Arklan will be a pool-mate or something of my OC Arklan...
Note about the question of Yeerk genders: I've heard various things in fanfiction about this: That Yeerks are a genderless, neuter race which "adopts" genders of their hosts; that they're male-female differentiated like most other species, despite their unique reproduction process; and even one thing where they actually have three different genders. I personally go for the first theory myself; anyone have any thoughts on this?
Note about the opening part of Arklan's speech: I know, it's kind of a rehash and I skipped over parts of it... except I didn't want to repeat the same things over again, and I'm not in the mood to go writing speeches. Come to think of it, I don't think I'm too good a speech-maker, anyway... Also, as for the thing about "consuming poison," that was a paraphrased quote by Carrie Fisher, which goes like this: "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
Note about the new Yeerk Republic fighters: Okay, for the Stingers, think of the X-Wings from /Star Wars/, but the wings can pivot a lot more. I'm sorry if my descriptions leave anything to be desired, but hopefully, as time goes on, it will be easier to understand.
Next chapter is where Erek comes back into the picture... -Quillian
/SNEAK PEEK AT FUTURE STORIES!/
Okay, everyone, I know I mentioned all those possible book titles back after the end of chapter 5, but I think I have things more fleshed out now. At the rate things are going, my small series will have five or six normal titles, plus a few Chronicles thrown in. Here's what it looks like so far...
Normal titles: #1, /The Progression/; #2, /The Unthinkable/; #3, /The Clone/; #4, /The Vault/; #5, /The Crystal/; and #6, /The Endgame/.
Chronicles: /The Yeerk Chronicles/; /The Leeran Chronicles/; /The Kelbrid Chronicles/; and /The Crayak Chronicles/. (Although not necessarily in that order, and I may also write something about Arbron, to be entitled /Nothlit/.)
I may also write a story that takes place a couple of centuries into the future or so, where a young student looks back on the "age of the Animorphs." That would be cool, and I think I could get it done. Also, I'm probably not going to write a "Chronicles" story for every last species ever used or even remotely mentioned through the series... although, it would be cool to try and write something for the Arn, most likely taking place when that asteroid hit their home world. Maybe also the Chee, if I can manage it.
However, between my busy schedule for this college semester and trying to plan an entire mini-series of Animorphs stories with so many chapters each, just don't expect me to keep cranking them out so fast! In fact, this just may be the last chapter for a little while!
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