In spite of herself, Elriss finds herself laughing at Renlath's words. Maybe she's been wrong about this Yeerk. Sadly, her own laugh causes a wave of nasea to roll through her.
She turns to James, her eyebrows raised. "Where'd you say you come from, again? An Earth where interspecies cooperation is key?" She leans closer, her eyes flashing a hint of ambition, "I'd love to see it." She waves to the Bartender and calls for water, then continues, "We're not dumb, hon. We scout out a world before we start, ever since the fiasco with the Arn and the Hork-Bajir homeworld. Thing is," she grins, "we haven't even met our equals yet. And with every race we take, we grow stronger. We're Yeerks." She nods towards Renlath, sure he'll approve.
The Bartender plunks a glass of greenish-tinged water down in front of her, and she sips it gratefully. She turns to Renlath, unsure how much he knows about the Light, and how much to reveal. The reputation they have tends to be that of an almost-mythical shadow organization or brute squad for the Council, and she gets the idea that, to some degree, they prefer to leave it that way. "The Light is about unifying the Empire," she explains. "It does away with the divisions and the goals of the old way, and it gives us a common direction, common beliefs to work towards. It's a different way of looking at the Empire, a different way of running things." She frowns, not sure she should be telling a Visser he's essentially obsolete. "There's nothing a totally unified Yeerk Empire could not accomplish."