Categories > Books > Animorphs > The Progression

CHAPTER 16

by Quillian 0 reviews

Something new from Jake's POV...

Category: Animorphs - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Action/Adventure - Characters: Jake - Published: 2005-12-28 - Updated: 2005-12-28 - 1749 words

0Unrated
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.

A/N: /URGH!/ On top of having to put this fic on hold for two months because of college, I lost a lot of my computer files, especially for my fanfiction, TWICE in a row! I would just like to thank everyone for bearing with me while I fought with Real Life to get this done.

Also, Gryphinwyrm7 pointed out in his review for chapter 15 that the humans in this fic wouldn't just sit around and wait to be attacked again... which, of course, I knew as I was planning and writing all this. Still, either way, I would like to thank him for pointing that out, and so this chapter is dedicated to him.

Furthermore, the name of the Arn which appears in this chapter this is named after my reader and friend Alara Moonrunner.



CHAPTER 16

Jake

No one said it, yet just about everyone knew it anyway: We were going to go to war.

Oh, this wasn't announced to the rest of the world just yet, of course. There were still certain things that needed to be done.

Even before I was asked if I could help out, I offered if I could do so. At one point in time, after the end of the Yeerk War, I wanted nothing ever again to do with war or fighting. However, now and in retrospect, I knew that it was really that I needed to recover from what I had gone through, and to come to grips with everything. I was a good leader and fighter, as the Yeerk War had proved... I just needed to get used to some things. Besides, I'm not the kind of person who would let entire races go into war while I just sit back and do nothing.

While I had spent the past few years teaching people about the morphing technology and how to use it, I had given myself a sort of unorthodox military education, learning things on my own which military students are typically taught. I had come to an agreement with my superiors to learn these sorts of things from official instructors before I would go out on my own and lead people into battle or on missions. I had done well leading a handful of fellow teenagers against an entire alien invasion force... but that didn't mean I couldn't learn more.

There were several secret meetings between humans, Andalites, Leerans, Yeerks and Kelbrid. The first of these was where an important question was asked...

"No offense, but if you Kelbrid are so powerful and well-equipped, then why do you need help from all of us?"

...and we got the answer to that question...

"We already told you about some factors, such as Setheon's ability to live in unconventional ways or how various species or members of species are siding with him," Saventi began. "But there is another, more serious reason, which is to be discussed in a military conference like this because it is not fit for public knowledge."

The Kelbrid ambassador then took out another one of the Kelbrid-style information discs which we had become familiar with. He set it down on the table in front of him, and activated it by waving his hand over it.

"Our spies have found increased and harried movements of a few different species who could be working for Setheon, each numbering in the billions... and none of which we have been able to identify." As the information disc began to come to life, he then added, "They are using some kind of cloaking technology which we are still trying to understand, on top of how they work only during the nights of the planets which they are situated on... but apart from their basic shapes and body structure, we know virtually nothing else about them."

Shadowy images floated in the air. It started out with shapes we were familiar with... humans, Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Gedds, Skrit and Na... but then the unknown shapes began to form...

Skeletal, insect-like creatures skittered around, arms flailing and jaws gnashing... serpentine-like creatures shot through water in feral ways... big, tough-looking things lumbering on four legs before they broke into a run, looking like they could take down a rhino...

The rest of us exchanged glances with one another. Well, this was certainly new...

As the images faded and the disc shut itself off, Saventi turned back to address the rest of us. "I have said it before, but I will say it again... It is not as though we want to pick fights with other species or drag any other species into these fights, but often, one has no choice but to fight."

I couldn't blame Saventi for reiterating what he had first said when he and his fellow Kelbrid had shown up. Lots of people had gone accusing the Kelbrid of trying to rope us into a fight we weren't needed in. Granted, those people may have been paranoid hecklers, but even still...

Of course, lots of people trusted the Kelbrid, especially with the overwhelming proof they had given us that this was one threat that just couldn't be ignored. One person even brought up something as a comparison... I forget exactly what it was, but I know it was written about Nazi Germany during World War II, and ended with something like "By the time they came for me, there was no one left to speak up for me." In other words, an unchecked problem can soon become everyone's problem, and this was just one of those examples.

During one of these conferences, we also saw some things which the Leerans and Yeerks had developed, or at least in terms of spacecraft.

The Leerans developed their own fighters, roughly based on their own physiology, as we saw when "Lord Esplin" attacked. Inspired by Andalite Dome ships, they developed some of their own ships which contained artificial parks to resemble their home world. These "Globe ships" had a central sphere within the ship which resembled their native planet with Leera, while there was a round bridge on the top that looked sort of like the bridge of the /Enterprise/.

The Yeerks had taken apart most of their Pool ships, since the Yeerk Republic didn't go around enslaving worlds the way the Yeerk Empire did. In an effort to disassociate themselves as much as possible with the previous Yeerk regime, the new Yeerk government ditched just about every kind of ship which the old one used. Their main carriers were still Pool ships, but they had evolved into something else to the point where you knew it was based off the old kind of Pool ship, but you could also see that it was different (kind of like how in the Star Wars movies, the Republic Star Destroyers looked different from the Imperial Star Destroyers a generation later, but you could tell that the former preceded the latter). The old Blade ships were as much a show of power for privileged vissers as they were deadly and functional, and so they were all scrapped and abandoned. While the Yeerk Empire used only one kind of Bug fighter, the Yeerk Republic currently had three different kinds of fighters in the works with different purposes, inspired by different Earth insects...

Stingers: Modeled after dragonflies, these things looked sort of like X-Wings flying backwards, with the pivoting wings towards the front instead of the back.

Bombers: Modeled after butterflies, these things had lots of bombs with various effects stored away in pockets in their wings. Much like Warthogs used in the Air Force, they were relatively slow but loaded with explosives.

Needlers: Modeled after mosquitoes, these things were rather small, not much larger than an adult Hork-Bajir, and were designed for espionage and sabotage.

We were just wrapping up one of those meetings one day when Arklan 256 announced that one of her friends had arrived.

Two Marines entered, guarding a small creature that walked on four legs and was covered in brilliant blue-green feathers. It was an Arn.

He (or she?) walked at what humans would consider to be a sedate pace. As this Arn newcomer came forward, Arklan announced to the rest of us:

"May I introduce... Qualaramoonrun. She has been in charge of the small community of Arn refugees which we have protected for the past several years, ever since the start of the war."

There was a polite smattering of applause as she stepped forward. While the Arn were few, she told us, she and her fellow Arn would happily supply for any medical needs that would inevitably coming along during a conflict.

All sorts of plans were drawn up between the militaries of all species. All of the human nations had pooled all their resources into a single organization, UEMI (United Earth Military Initiative).

A week after most of the preliminary talks, I happened to run into Cassie again. While any chance of us together in a relationship had disappeared, that didn't mean we couldn't ever see each other again or avoided seeing each other again at all costs.

We only spoke some words to each other, not a lot, but the meanings beneath those words spoke in volumes. I would go off to help fight; but she would stay here and do what she could to help without having to directly fight.

Just like months ago when I gave the order to ram the Blade ship, a thought occurred to me:

Some things change, and yet some things never do change.



TBC...

A/N: Well, yet another chapter... what else can I say?

Also, I don't know if I'm writing this too realistically, but this only my first multi-chapter Animorphs fanfic, and I'm doing the best I can with it.

I don't exactly know what's next, but I can tell you that there's only a few more chapters left of this story... -Quillian



/EXTRA!/

Okay, people, I have a confession to make here...

Star Wars is most likely going to be a note-worthy influence on this small series of fanfics.

There, I said it.

The same way Star Trek was a note-worthy influence for K.A. Applegate in writing the Animorphs series (as well as /The Lord of the Rings/), this fanfic series will be somewhat reminiscent of George Lucas' galactic playground. (I know just as much about SW as I know little about ST.)

Oh, and the popular Halo franchise will probably also be nodded to in this series.


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