The Galactic War: Rogue Element ~The Beginning

[Terenia]

Efaen's look of displeasure doesn't ease as she switches to private thought-speak, shielding her half of the conversation from any listening ears. <<I never thought I would hear a Yeerk trying to convince me to be more Andalite,>> she says, not without some disgust in her tone. <<You think using my own form will fool them into thinking I am one of them? I don't know how to be an Andalite anymore. I don't want to know. If that's what you want me to pretend to be, find someone else for your foolish mission.>>

She turns, intending to end the conversation there.

[Chad32]

"You don't have to know how to be an Andalite. It's just that looking like an Andalite would make you stick out less like a sore thumb, and it would be as distracting." Xevec said.

"Apparently you aren't comfortable with that kind of thing. truth be told, I'm not entirely comfortable with cleaning floors. My partner Derrel is an uneducated homeless person. He doesn't do what he does because he enjoys it. He does it because he wants to be useful to people. I thought maybe if you didn't want to be an Andalite anymore, you might be interested in being useful to us, and maybe becoming more valued. Maybe making a friend or two."

"If you don't think you can handle doing something a little out of your comfort zone, I won't try to force you. You can go back to sitting in your room and only coming out for food." He went back to cleaning, thinking this had been a waste of time. Maybe he could find something else to help them survive.

[Terenia]

Efaen stops in her tracks, her lips pressing together into a small scowl. As much as she hates to admit it, Xevec has touched on a nerve. Closing her eyes briefly, she sighs, then slowly turns back to face him. <<I'll do what I can,>> she says, resigned. <<But I cannot guarantee that any of the Andalites on the bridge will give me the time of day, let alone valuable information.>>

[Chad32]

"Thanks. That's all I'm asking." He said.

<<I hope this works, and doesn't blow up in our faces.>> Derrel said.

<<That's the way it goes with any plan. Risk versus reward. If we go down, I'd rather go down fighting, and I'd like to know if we need to start blasting.>>

[Terenia]

Efaen does not respond to his gratitude, continuing down the hall and towards the Dome with an increasing sense of frustration. She should be trying to escape this place, not ingratiate herself with the Andalites here. What good was intelligence if her very presence could bring the Andalite military down on them?

Her feet, bare as a result of continuous morphing, touch the springy grass of the Dome and she sighs a little, letting some of the tension out of her shoulders. Reluctant as she may be to acknowledge and embrace her Andalite heritage, she does always feel more comfortable in the wide expanse of the Dome.

She walks a small distance away from the entryway, letting the illusion of the Homeworld envelop her. A brief, nagging sense of sadness tugs at her subconscious. The only memories she has of this place is being shunted aside, a vecol who threw her lot in with the Yeerks. Part of her wishes she could remember what the Homeworld had been to her before the memory wipe. It seemed like such a nice place, on the surface.

With some reluctance, she relinquishes her human form, shedding the morph and allowing her Andalite self to take precedence. She does so in the shade of one of the trees, uncomfortable with others watching her demorph, even with her natural aptitude for making the process less grizzly.

Once the process is complete, she steps from the shadows and breaks into a slow, somewhat hesitant trot, letting the grass beneath her hooves nourish her as she continues to contemplate.

[Chad32]

Xevec put the cleaner out of the way, and followed Efaen to the dome. He averted his eyes when she morphed, although when she did it the process didn't look as disgusting as when Visser Three did it. He watched her trot around, seeing if there was anything about the way she moved that seemed out of place compared to other Andalites.

It was good that she didn't want to actually be more Andalite, since that might cause her to be drawn to their side. He just had to make sure she knew there was a line between being one, and looking like one. If she could stride that line, she might make a good covert operative. Xevec knew there was a small possibility that Ossanlin had genuinely left the Electorate and was hoping to fill unwanted roles on the ship with rebels. If Keslin and Myitt decided to stay, and they weren't all being taken to Corvis, Efaen could become important. If they did decide to leave, and were allowed to do it, this was possibly a waste of time.

[Terenia]

It takes Efaen several minutes before she realizes that she is being watched. Had she been more accustomed to her Andalite body, she would have noticed immediately, but despite having four eyes, she doesn't have the presence of mind to be looking in all four directions. Only when she finally remembers to swivel her stalk eyes back does she see that Xevec has followed her.

She continues to trot, letting out a small huff of irritation. <You do not need to keep an eye on me, you know,> she says to him as she runs, knowing that she is too far away for him to do much beyond shout back at her. <I do not need a guard.>

[Chad32]

<<She thinks that, now that she's in a more formidable form, I think she needs a guard? That makes no sense.>> Xevec said to Derrel.

<<She's a weird one. She doesn't move her stalk eyes, so it took her this long to notice us.>> Derrel said.

"Finally remembered you had eye stalks!?" He yelled. He didn't really want to yell everything he felt like saying to her. Talking quietly in a hallway was one thing. He didn't want to make it any easier for the Andalites to know they were planning something. There was obviously no way he could keep up with her as she ran, so he'd have to wait for her to come his way or meet her as she came back around. If only they had communicators.

[Terenia]

Efaen's main eyes narrow a little at the snipe, and she huffs another indignant sigh, pushing herself to run faster, her hooves kicking up clods of dirt as she makes a wide circle around the perimeter of the Dome. She only slows when she nears Xevec, her breathing heavy, flanks shining with sweat. In truth, it wasn't much exercise. Any of the warriors on the ship could have easily lapped her and continued running. But she was out of practice, unaccustomed to so much movement in this form. Her Andalite muscles had been given little opportunity to work.

<I am not accustomed to stalk eyes, no,> Efaen admits, her tone sour. <Looking in all directions is unsettling, whatever the advantages may be.>

[Chad32]

"Then that's an area we'll make sure to work on." Xevec said, attempting his friendliest smile. Efaen was obviously not enjoying herself, and he wished he was in a position to offer something to help entice her. Back when he was a Subvisser, he tried the Human ploy of padding his subordinate's pockets a bit when they were less than pleased with what they had to do. It was definitely not standard Yeerk Empire procedure, but it had a dramatic effect on them. Especially if they were Human controllers who could go out and do more mundane things on Earth. Unfortunately he couldn't give Efaen any money or anything, and he obviously wasn't going to use force. He just had to be nice and civil.

"If you're on the bridge, you will want to watch everything you can, so you'll need to use those stalk eyes. If it bothers you, maybe you could just try some simple things. Maybe turning both of them simultaneously while your main eyes are closed. Maybe that will help you feel like you're looking with your main eyes, except you can see in 360 degrees. After you get used to that, you can try it with your main eyes open. Eventually you may be able to operate them like most Andalites do without a problem."

[Terenia]

Efaen stares at Xevec.

<Have you ever had an Andalite host?> she asks, her words sharp as she steps towards him. <Do you have any idea what you are talking about, or are you just pulling it out of your ass? What's more, I agreed to help you, not to be told what to do by you. On what planet do you think I'll ever be permitted on the bridge? Did you miss the part where no one trusts me? Even if I can convince Claxter to give me the time of day, there are protocol in place preventing me from going there.>

Despite having no mouth, her scowl is evident in her eyes. <If you want to find out about what is going on on the bridge, you would likely be better served by asking one of your fellow Yeerks who spends his time there.>

[Chad32]

"When I asked you to help me, I didn't mean to say that I expected you to do all the work alone. I'm trying to help you work through things so that we can work together. Yeah I said the bridge, though the stalk eye thing works in general. It's true I've never had an Andalite host, so I'm not speaking with any kind of experience. I could go in your head and try to get a feel for it myself, though if you want to try this all by yourself, I'll let you do that. There's no need to be so pessimistic, even if we are in a bad situation. That's when despair starts sinking in. You have to keep an optimistic mindset if you want to improve your situation."

<<This lady is proving to be hard to deal with. The plan is bad enough without her being so surly.>> Xevec said to Derrel.

<<Spirits are pretty low for everybody. I don't know if you're trying too hard, or not hard enough.>>

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

"Yes..yes I'm alright...sorry."  Firin shakes himself out if his existential daze.  Shock could wait until the threat had passed.  "Lets get this done...this isn't what I signed up for when the blue-fur promised us sanctuary."  He pops up and fans the room with full-auto ASAR fire, one human controller shimmering into view and crumpling as the stun-beam hits him.  A hork-bajir controller drops his weapon as a stun bolt hits his weapon arm.  "A pincer only works if both sides are in place."


Ossanlin watches the feed in slight surprise.  This ship...was just a freighter.  Why did it have such a large complement of heavily-armed special force shock-troops?  <Stay alert...I'm working on programming your ARC's to help you see the camouflaged individuals.  Observe as much as you can.>  He glances at Esarvit.


<I'm working on it, Prince.>  The Andalite is tapping furiously at his console as well as his personal modified ARC, analyzing and attempting to come up with a solution.


<Sir, the fighter bearing Keslin has returned.>


<Get him to the med-bay immediately.  Alert the human medical staff.>

[Shenmue654]

"You'd better hurry it the **** up, boss," states Joanne, exasperated, a Dracon beam firing from an invisible enemy very nearly over her head. Joanne cringes and fires a stun shot in his general direction, attempting to gain a better cover position as quickly as she can. "This isn' the greatest place in the universe."

It was clear that their plan had fallen apart, and that the only recourse was staying alive. Joanne perks up her ears, listening for the telltale sounds of human footsteps and movement in the chaos. She couldn't figure who would set a trap like this for them, and why--- Was it unintentional? Were these guys like plain-clothes cops wandering around looking for a score? It made more sense than the alternative, anyway...

"Where to now?" Joanne calls to Firin.

[Terenia]

<You want to infest me?> Efaen looks shocked by the idea. <Why? The only person on base who even considered the idea was Arnash, another outcast? Why would you want to lower yourself to infesting the Andalite responsible for the death of so many of your people?>