GESB: Operation Time-Cops

[Alic]

Alic made sure to get into town a couple miles and parked at an older motel, just happy that no one found any reason to pull her over. She didn't have her license. Alic smiled to herself. "I'm worried about the cops right now, yeah." She shook her head and turned off the Jeep, wondering how her friends were going to find her in town.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin nods at Myitt, directing a private thought-speech at her.  <<He's definitely a bit rough around the edges, a bit young-minded, but he's coming around rather well considering.  Most graduated warriors would remove their own head with their tail before admitting that Yeerks aren't the absolute embodiment of evil that must be cleansed from the Universe in a righteous flame of arrogant justice.>>

He helps Myitt maneuver the rebel onto the gurney and reactivates the stasis field.  He tweaks the cerebral stimulator to allow it to pass through the Yeerk wrapped around the human's brain and activates it, passing the same vial under Justin's nostrils several times.

[Myitt]

"Yes, I think he'll do all right, under your command," says Myitt quietly, watching Justin.

After a few seconds under the vial's influence, Justin coughs and his eyes open to slits.  He blinks and tries to rub his eyes, but he can't move.

At this point Hadrin realizes there's an Andalite standing over him.  And they are in a definitively Andalite ship.

"What...where am I?" he demands. 

"It's okay, they're friends," Myitt adds quickly.  "It's me, Hadrin.  We're okay."

"Friends?" Hadrin repeats.  "There's more than one?  But he's an...an...."

"Yeah, I know, pretty cool, huh?" Myitt says with a broad grin. 

"You never told me there would be Andalites involved in this mission!" Hadrin snaps, more out of fear than anything else.  "I thought the Sub-visser would--"

"Shh, shut up, she might be able to hear us," Myitt hisses.

"Well, I'd be able to tell if she were here if I wasn't in a stasis field!"  Hadrin glares at Ossanlin, a mixture of revulsion and anger and terror.

<Weren't we just discussing how we were all going to try to hold hands and cooperate?> Tara wonders silently.

[Terenia]

Zorish's anger flares up as the hears Hadrin's voice, speaking to one of the traitors conversationally. I was harboring a traitor myself, he realizes in astonishment, they have managed to wrap their tentacles around the inner facets of the Empire. Visser Three will not be pleased.

Zorish stops fighting for consciousness, realizing that Tamora's absence may be to his advantage. His captors are more likely to slip up if they see a seemingly unlistening body.

[Chad32]

Claxter couldn't help chuckling a bit when he heard Hadrin. After he was done roasting the enemy ship, he stopped the cannons. "Objective completed. Completedededuh." He said, trying out speaking vocally again. "The ship is destroyed. The. Thee. Shipupuh. Ready to pick up our other ootheeer companion now. Now. Oww."

[Alic]

Pulling the keys out of the ignition, Alic sighed. She was bored and hoping everything had gone well. Not to mention time would be running short, and she would need to demorph.
Alic scanned the small parking lot, spotting a dumpster to one side with a solid fence behind it. Or she could ask to use the office bathroom, but those were usually pretty small.
Waiting seemed like the best idea for now.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin looks down at Hadrin slightly taken aback.  Hadrin didn't know that there were a few andalites that supported the rebellion?  It was a bit strange to be on the other side of the coin, Ossanlin had assumed that all rebellion Yeerks shared the same attitude as Myitt.  He darts a slightly exasperated look at Myitt before smoothing his face and returning his main eyes to Justin's face.

Ossanlin replaces the vial in the cabinet it had come from and calmly removes the cerebral stimulator from Justin's forehead.  He lays a hand against Justin's forhead to make sure his reflexes are working correctly, and then removes it.  <You are in a stasis field because it is the best way to work on any patient in a medical facility.  My name is Ossanlin-Rethin-Sephirel, War-Prince and Captain of the Dome Ship Tyrennian.>  Ossanlin grimaces a bit as he realizes that he again has projected information that might best have been kept from Zorish whom could possibly be listening.  Nothing for it now.  He swishes his tail in a slightly agitated manner, the Yeerk had apparently scattered his wits somewhat.  <I thank you for your instrumental assistance with this mission.  Zorish should be able to provide a great deal of useful information regarding the Earth invasion.  Now, if you'll promise to behave yourself...>  Ossanlin deactivates the stasis field, lowering Justin's body back to the sterile "gurney."

Ossanlin looks out towards the ****pit.  <Good work Warrior.>  He switces to private thought-speech.  <<Follow the roadway that Aliciania drove the vehicle down.  Once we reach the populated area start scanning for bio-signs with the short-range bio-scanner.  Use the DNA profile stored by the computer to search out her position.  And make sure the camouflage is active...the last thing we need are a bunch of humans gawking at a spacecraft.>>

[Chad32]

Claxter did as instructed and double checked the cloaking system before following the road. soon enough they made it to town, and bio scans picked up various lifeforms. He also checked the viewscreen for sogns of the truck that Alic drove off in.

[Myitt]

Hadrin flinches at Ossanlin's touch.  He tries very hard to listen to what Ossanlin is saying, but the very idea of being in the presence of an Andalite, unarmed and partially frozen, makes him sick with fear. 

"Yes, and I'm Hadrin Five-Six-One," he says, swallowing, his eyes never leaving Ossanlin's tail.  He relaxes a hair when his body is lowered back to the gurney, exhaling in relief.  He slowly sits up, wincing.  "My host's name is Justin.  Yes, Myitt has told us about you, but I wasn't aware you'd be helping us.  We appreciate your assistance, I...please forgive my behavior, when I'm conducting an illegal mission and my host is knocked unconscious, the second-to-last place I'd want to wake up, unable to move, is in an Andalite ship."  He shuts his eyes tightly against the mild pain from his bruised body.  "No offense," he adds quietly. 

Myitt helps Hadrin to his feet.  "Thank you, Hadrin.  I can't thank you enough.  We'll take you home."

"Hello?" Matthew says from the floor, waving.  "Yeah, I'm still here."

Myitt looks over at Matthew.  "Oh, Hadrin, Justin...I take it you've met Matthew."

Hadrin nods.  "You're very brave, Matthew.  I'm sorry you've been injured."

"Nah, this?  It's nothing," says Matthew.  "Just a battle scar in your little intergalactic war."  He grins, the nerd part of him totally geeking out.

Hadrin looks at Ossanlin briefly and then glances at Myitt, switching to Yeerkish.  "The ship is moving.  Where are we going, and what are we going to do with Zorish?" he says quietly.

"There is another Andalite in Roswell, we need to retrieve this friend.  There are other matters we must deal with, as well.  An Imperial operative is hunting down the Andalite bandits.  As for the Sub-visser..." She shrugs and leaves it up in the air.

Hadrin grabs Myitt's jacket collar lightly.  "The Andalite said the Sub-visser would provide information.  Do you think Reven would approve?"

Myitt sighs and switches back to English.  "What else are we going to do, ask her to tea?" she hisses quietly.  "I don't like it any more than you do."  Back to Yeerkish, "would the Sub-visser treat us any differently if we were in the Sub-visser's situation?"  She pulls away from Hadrin's grasp and readjusts her jacket, looking disconcerted. 

She walks over to Matthew's wall and sits down, exhausted from lack of sleep and weak from mutually growing hunger.  "Ossanlin, why hasn't she awoken, yet?  Are there any major injuries?"

[Terenia]

Zorish listens intently to the conversations, putting together the pieces bit by bit. There is a Yeerk by the name of Myitt, which seems to ring a bell somewhere in the dregs of his mind. Perhaps the name had been on some long-forgotten memo regarding rebels? Then there was Hadrin, the traitor. And the Andalite...one was a mere warrior, a lemming, but the other had provided his name and rank with a boldness that surprised Zorish.

<So, Captain Ossanlin wants information,> Zorish murmurs, <Interesting, although this seems like a long way to come for a war the Andalites scarcely care about.>

Zorish is pondering the deeper meaning of this when he feels the first stirrings from Tamora's mind. She is far from entering complete consciousness, but has lapsed from total blackness into a sort of dreamy REM sleep. Zorish ignores the vivid images that her mind produces, allowing her to play out her fantasies in hopes that he can bide his time and gather more information of his own.

[Myitt]

While awaiting an answer from Ossanlin she steps into the main cabin and grabs her backpack.  She glances at Claxter and gives him a grin and a thumbs up.

"Nice shooting," she says.  Then she coughs and steps back into the other room.

<Wow, that was smooth,> says Tara.  <Can I eat these granola bars now, please?>

Myitt sighs and sits back down next to Matthew, putting the backpack down and unwrapping a granola bar.  Tara turns to Matthew with a fistful of them.  

"You want some?" she says in between inhaling the stuff.

<Damnit.  What wretched timing.  I thought I would have more time to feed in transit, and now I'm faced with interrogating a Sub-visser on an empty tank,> Myitt says irritably.

Tara giggles in the middle of biting a second bar open.  <Didn't know you liked that phrase.>

<Well, it suits the feeling.  Until it becomes a hellbent, twisting agony tank.>

<Don't let it get to the agony tank.>

<I won't,> Myitt snaps.  

<You're going to give me indigestion,> Tara grumbles.

<You're going to be the death of me.>

<Ooh, hope it's not the death of me, too,> Tara chimes.

"Uh...Myitt?" Matthew says, still waving his hand in front of Tara's mechanically eating face.  "I said, 'yes, please'."

"Oh.  Sorry," says Tara, looking down at her fist full of granola bars and handing all of them to him.  

Matthew picks one up, looking back at her worriedly, and unwraps the bar.

[Chad32]

(So what's with the Kit Myitt and Kit Terenia?)

"I believe I have found her. <<Aliciania. The ship is overhead. I will try to find a place to land.>> "I don't suppose landing in the paved area with partially rectangular designs would be viable? Viaablee. Viiiablllle."

[Myitt]

"That's a parking lot," Matthew calls.  "I hope this ship is cloaked, and even if it is, a roof might be safer.  I can take my car from here...right?"  He looks over at Myitt.

"Sure, Matthew.  We're just going to have to erase your memories," says Myitt.

Matthew stares at her.

Myitt grins.  "I'm only kidding."  She slaps him on the shoulder.  "Anyway, you know we're watching you every second of the day, right?"

"I..." Matthew stammers.

"Sure you do.  So go and get your car and drive home.  Tell your mom you've started...I don't know...a Fight Club in Roswell."

"Somehow I don't think she'll believe that," Matthew murmurs.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin softens his expression a bit at Hadrin.  <None taken.  Most of my kind aren't exactly...tolerant. ..of other beings, especially Yeerks.  The propaganda works both ways.  There's a good reason we aren't in her ship.>  Ossanlin tilts his head in Myitt's direction.  <That's actually related to the second part of our mission, which is extremely important.>

Ossanlin turns his main eyes to Myitt.  <She hasn't awoken yet because I've done nothing to speed her convalescence.  The host's brain will eventually reorganize itself and consciousness will come.  It simply takes a bit longer without external stimulation.>  Ossanlin switches to private thought-speech directed at Myitt.  <<I can only assume that you're talking about our plans for Zorish.  I can understand a few words...I think it best to stick with the cover story, I don't want anyone to know what our true purpose here is until we actually reunite the sisters.  The cover-story's ruthless but if it can be believed of anyone, it can be believed of an andalite.  Rebel affiliations make it much more believable.  I don't know why I feel that it's important to keep this quiet, but I've learned to trust my intuition on matters like this.>>

[Myitt]

Hadrin nods at Ossanlin, glancing at Claxter, who is...a naked human.  Or an Andalite in morph.  Strange.  "I assume the Sub-visser's ship has been destroyed.  I don't know about this second mission, but I'll be glad to help, if I can.  As for propaganda, I for one have had quite enough of that in this awful war."  He smiles faintly.  

<My God, you're actually talking to an Andalite,> Justin marvels.

<Calm yourself, I'm not about to hug him,> Hadrin retorts.

<I never thought I'd see the day.>

Myitt looks up at Ossanlin from across the room.  She sighs and climbs to her feet, placing the empty granola wrappers in her backpack.  

"Good, then there aren't any injuries that would make it difficult for Zorish to cooperate," she says pointedly, walking over to Ossanlin.  She takes him aside, away from Zorish, and adds in a whisper, "yes, that works well for now, but how do you think this is going to end?  I doubt we're sending the Sub-visser back to the Empire, and there are only a few ways to remove a Yeerk from its host against its will--none of them are very pleasant."