A more aggressive plan in The Conspiracy (#31) could have saved Tom

[Dogman15]

As soon as Jake learned what the stakes were, he should have gotten the Animorphs to help him remove all of Tom's electronic devices (if any) and bar him from using any phones. In an even more ideal situation, Jake would have heard about the trip into the mountains his family would need to take before Tom did, and he'd be able to trap Tom even sooner.

So you cut Tom off from being able to communicate with his "friends". You expedite the trip into the mountains while keeping Tom restrained with handcuffs. Of course "he" (his Yeerk) would constantly complain and yell obscenities, and this would make some sense to Steve and Jean. But if you aggressively contain Tom like this without mercy, his Yeerk would eventually die, and after that, the real Tom would be infinitely thankful, and the Berensons come out of the ordeal much stronger than before; a closer-knit family.*

How would you execute a more aggressive plan for stopping Tom in this situation?


*Of course, this makes me wonder what the Yeerks would do with the Berensons after they got back to the city. Let's discuss that!

[RYTX]

What parents are going to let a kid handcuff his older brother for 3 days? How would you keep that hidden?

Tom be freed might, might, have been managable, but if the folks found out about it through that process, they'd have to go under ground.

Really in any event they'd have to go underground; Tom was too high up not to be noticed, and presumed dead after 3 days, he could never go home, and the Yeerks would start hunting down any lose ends. Probably starting with friends of his and Jake's.  Tom could have been freed in 31, but unless the host was killed too, it would have started the search for human resisters much earlier than it ended up happening

[Dogman15]

In that case, I'll bring up the topic that I know has already been discussed to death: In The Diversion (#49), Jake should have ordered Cassie, Rachel, and himself to evacuate their parents (Steve, Jean, Naomi, Walter, and Michelle) and siblings (Jordan and Sara) to the Hork-Bajir valley immediately, after the battle at the laboratory.

Poor Dan Berenson.

[TheWolfEmperor]

Hindsight is 20/20.

[Dogman15]

Sorry about bumping this thread, but it came up in a web search I was doing after reading https://archiveofourown.org/works/21300995/chapters/50724155 this story. The even better solution would have been to keep Aftran as an ally (with Erek's help making holograms and faking things, and providing Kandrona) instead of sending her off as a whale nothlit. Here's a link to the series this story is a part of: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1009743

[TheWolfEmperor]

Aftran was a known traitor to the Yeerks who knew far too much about the Animorphs. She was pretty much useless to them as an ally and letting her become a Nothlit was the only safe decision. Unlike the Hork-Bajir, the Ellimist wasn't helping out the Yeerk Peace Movement.

[Dogman15]

She was pretty much useless to them as an ally and letting her become a Nothlit was the only safe decision.

I disagree with this. I replied to your reply in my thread about Aftran, so please consider some of those options for her. https://animorphsforum.com/index.php?topic=22358.0