Our Summer Vacation...

[Unknown User]

After a five minute wait, a lone controller approached the area were Kildor had been. The contoller was a woman, about twenty-five with fair features. She glanced about rather nervously before saying, "I've come for your answer."
-------
Kildor walked back to the van, slid the door closed and sat with sigh, his eyes slipped closed.

[radgeek]

Jo looked at the woman and growled at the controller.  If working with her wasn't going to feel her father than she wanted no part of it.
Kalsha seven-four-nine came down the stairs from the zoo.  Lena Tollhouse, her host, was a short, African American is her yearly thirty's.  She was a zoologist at the zoo and was hoping to catch Kildor before she left.  She saw Sandresh sitting on a chair.  "Have you seen Kildor?"
"He's gone for now," Sandresh said.  "I believe he is investigating the death of Sub-Visser Ultor."

[donut]

<<With the destruction of the Galaxy Tree, our goal is to delay the yeerk conquest of Earth until more andalite forces can arrive.  That will take a minimum of one of your years.  This will be a long fight.  We need to gather as much information as we can about the yeerk forces and build a viable resistance.  We will need help of the yeerks who are against the empire, but we cannot survive what Kildor is asking.  If we agree and do not do what he wants, he will not trust us and may attempt a reprisal.  We will have to take steps to ensure that he will not.  Kildor is helping the resistance, but he is not part of it.  They may not share the same goals, and may be more willing to help us.  Kildor is also intending to kill the controllers and hosts that know you are human.  That includes Josefina's family.  We should ask for her family back as a condition to helping him.  I do not like the idea of agreeing to this and not doing it, but it is our best course of action.>>  Tarry told the morphers privately.

<Yeerk, we will agree to this under several conditions.  First, one of the hosts who knows Josefina is human is her father.  He will be delivered to us, uninfested, before we go to the yeerk pool.  Second, we need a way to contact the resistance.  Third, we need detailed maps of the yeerk pool and the facilities within it.  Fourth, we need to know the yeerk's combat strength; numbers of human, hork bajir, and taxon controllers; the number of handheld dracon beams available, the number of bugfighters and capital ships available; where these are located and how long it will take for them to respond to an attack. Fith, we need locations for all yeerk pool entrances and the security proceedures for entering and exiting the yeerk pool and how they will be defending if the yeerk pool is attacked.  Finally, we need to know the protocol for defending the yeerk pool in an attack.  These are nonnegotiable.>

[Unknown User]

The female controller simply nodded at Tarry and said, "I will tell Kildor." A few minutes later kildor approached the tree in which Tarry resided, an irritated look on his face.
    "I am willing to work with you on the terms you have given, Andalite fool, as they are obviously a joke that no thinking creature would accept." Kildor began his characteristic pacing, his face twitching and flinching as he thought. Joseph Rightly, his host, found the pacing very annoying, which is why Kildor indulged in it so much. "I can give you the information you ask for, at least about our troop strength and tactics. The location of Yeerk pool entrances and the entrance protocols are also not problem. These things fall directly into my realm as an intelligence officer. As for the human that you asked for, I cannot do it. That particular human is host to the yeerk that is next in line to rule the Texas operation. His name is Wintium and he is under heavy guard. That dog of the Empire is being so well protected that even I, with my combined power of the intelligence core and as a high ranking associate of the resistance, cannot get to him.
Wintium is the best protected yeerk in the Empire right now."
   Kildor stopped talking long enough to light a cigarette and to lean against a nearby telephone pole, being careful not to hurt his broken arm further. "Regarding your request to have a resistance contact, I will be that contact. You will speak to me when you want to speak to them."
  Kildor put out his cigarette and stood, a sudden sick smile on his face, "You have given your terms Andalite, now I will give mine. I am tired of arguing with you in the middle of the night, I am tired of bickering with you pointlessly. I need your help for this mission, that is true, but I am a hateful man and am not given to being kind and understanding. If you refuse my request this time, I will personally arrange to have Josefina's step-mother executed. In addition to that, we lie not 20 feet from Brian's house. If you refuse my request again, I will have all of them infested or executed tonight. You will be satisfied with the information I give you and you will help me in my quest to destroy the Empire. Refusal of my request will also be seen as a deceleration of hostilities between your group and the part of the resistance and yeerk empire that answers to me. You are a relatively smart Andalite, you know that we of the intelligence core have great power. Refuse me again and you will make me your enemy."
   Kildor made his hand into a gun and pointed it where he thought Tarry was and started laughing rather hysterically. Between bouts of mad laughter he managed to say, "I can play hard ball too, parrot boy."

[warren_bearclaw]

That sure sounds like a lot... SEan thought. Tarry was right, in a way. If they didn't follow through with the plan they agreed to, they'd probably make an enemy out of Kildor, which wouldn't be good. He figured this guy had his secret reasons for this meeting, and ticking him off wouldn't be good. Turned out, it wasn't. Tarry gave their conditions, and Kildor returned, demanding their cooperation. He was a bully, big time. A deadly one. They couldn't afford to have Jo and Brian's families destroyed. That would break them.

<We have been ordered to be your distraction, and are being enforced by threat of death to those we're fighting to save. Is this right, Yeerk?>
Post Merged: April 08, 2011, 11:33:35 AMBrian was furious. How dare he threaten his family! He jerked, trying to not fly into his face. He could surely rip out his eyes before... <We'll go with your stupid plan. We'll be your cover while you do your thing. But if you lay one hand on my family.... Let's just say you should fear anything alive.> He fumed. He wondered if the others were going to drag this out any longer. This was something they had to do. They couldn't afford not to. If they did this, they'd be working with this guy, who he currently dispised, on taking out their enemies. If they didn't, if they refused... they'd have more to worry about.

[Unknown User]

Kildor answered Brian first. "Good choice human, I knew one of you had it in you to stand up to the Nothlit. I am glad you've come to your senses, and can assure you that your friends and family will remain unharmed as long as you are willing to do what needs to be done to hurt the empire."
  Kildor answered Sean next. "No that is not Right, I told your pet parrot that you would be full partners in the attack. Not bait, not a distraction, not a useless parlor trick to be thrown away. Your Andalite is the one that has made it seem that you will die. Almost Everything I said here tonight before I went to the van and came back has been honest/unthreatening, even though it disgust me to talk to you. I never said that I thought you a token unit to be thrown away. In fact, I believe you will be what decides the battle. I have seen morphing and know that it is powerful. I want you to fight by my side, though not as my equals. Humans' are no were near as strong as Andalites or Hork_Bajir, and your race is so stupid it does not realize what is happening to it. Despite that, you are powerful."
   Kildor lit yet another ciggarete and walked back to the van without another word, he was so tired of dealing with people. Tired of humans, tired of yeerks, tired of Andalites. What the spy wanted more than anything in the world was simply to squirm out of his host in the middle of the woods and allow Joseph Rightly to crush him beneath his heel. That would be poetic justice Kildor thought as he climbed into the Van, poetic justice indeed.

[donut]

<Yeerk, you have not told us how to contact you or when and where we will meet.>

[radgeek]

Force must be the only things the Yeerks know, she thinks to herself.  They just want you to do what they what you to do and threaten you if they don't get there way.   <If we do this we should do it while they think I'm sill Sub-Visser,> Jo said.  Wintium that's... <Is that the same Wintium that infests my father?>  Jo asked, her voice becoming hard again.  Stray thoughts and memories of the Yeerks that lived in the bodies of her family.  She asked a question that she asked before only with the Yeerk name this time.  <What's up with Sandresh?>

[Unknown User]

Kildor returned to the van without responding to Tarry or Jo; he just wanted the night to be over. A moment later, the female controller who had come up to the morphers earlier returned to talk to them again.
    "Kildor, brave and cunning spy that he is (this was said with just a hint of sarcasm), told me to tell you that you can contact him by Emailing him at DapsenHumanity@yahoo.com  and that you will be meeting at the public Library nearest Brian's house at 9:00am, no one will give you trouble. He also wanted me to tell you that at exactly 1:30am two police officers will arrive at Brian's home by order of the Intelligence Corps of the Texas Operation. These men will remain at his home as personal protection for his family against the Empire."
    A moment later the van started up and pulled up to where the woman was standing, she got in and from inside the van Kildor said, "I am sure this will be the start of a partnership that will allow much damage to the Empire." At least until I destroy you as well Kildor thought, but that won't happen for a while yet. After that, the door closed and the van pulled away into the night.

[radgeek]

<I have my eyes on him,> Olivia said from the sky.

Jo had never seen Sam attack anyone but she found that when Sam was provoked she could attack.  Jo was very aware of the teeth in her mouth.
"Sandrash," Wintium said. "I'm glad I found you.  We should go back to that farm."

[warren_bearclaw]

  Kildor's smoking was starting to really aggravate Brian's more sensitive lungs. He felt somewhat.. guilty, at Kildor's words of 'standing up' to Tarry. Was that a horrible choice he'd made? <I'm not...> he starts. But... didn't he? He'd totally gone against what Tarry had said, about the dangers and pointless risk of going down to the Yeerk Pool. It felt just wrong, undermining his authority. But wait a minute, he thought. Didn't Sean say we should go? Who was he to follow? Who was he supposed to take as his leader? Tarry was an experienced warrior, and someone who knew about the enemy they were fighting. But that was because he was an Andalite. Sean was human, one that he'd known for quite a while. He hadn't been the best authoritative figure, he guessed, but was it his place to judge his right to leadership? Brian felt really uncomfortable after realizing the position he was in.
  At the mention of his family though, he began listening again. <He's going to ... they'll be safe?> He started to feel that wave of relief well up inside of him, but suspicion was the dam that stopped it in its tracks. <I meant what I said about hurting my family!> He shouted mentally at the retreating van. <<I'll kill you myself if you touch a single hair on their heads!>> He shook, honestly frightened by the dark shadow that had grown over his heart as he yelled his death threat.
  He looked back at his house. His family was safe, and if the word of that Yeerk could be worth anything, they would be for a while, if not indefinitely. His heart ached, overcome with the desire to go home. To hug his mom. To be able to sleep in his own bed in his own room, just down the hall from his younger brother's. That was something he could never have now. And it was all the Yeerks' fault. At least they're safe for now... he thought. It wasn't much of a comforting thought.
  <Let's get out of here.> He said.
  This had been one heck of a day.
All manner of thoughts zipped through Sean's mind. Brian had had the guts to say what he had been wanting to say. There wasn't anything they could do to the Yeerks from the outside. They had to get in there, and doing some damage - with the advantage of Kildor being in on it with them - had to be a good way to start. Tarry had said that the goal was to 'Delay the Yeerk conquest of Earth'. Well, surely breaking things and stirring up chaos was a good delaying tactic. And as much as he didn't like to admit it, Kildor was right about another thing; they had a lot on their side. If things turned sour on them, they would easily be able to morph and get away. He would just need to make sure that they all acquired insect morphs before they went. Actually, he thought, it would be good for everyone to have a second person morph, too. He didn't feel guilty at all, planning to 'harvest' people for their needs. This was the fate of humanity they were talking about. These kids needed every advantage they could get in fighting their diabolical enemies. <Nine AM, Houston Public Library. We'll be there.> Sean said. His agitation at this meeting wasn't combining well with the squirrel's general anxiety. He agreed with Brian right now. <Yes. It's time to go.>
Post Merged: April 11, 2011, 11:56:49 AM((TIME-SKIP! Whoa!)) That night, the group decided to take the risk of staying at Sean's apartment. While it might not have been enough to base such a decision on, Kildor hand't mentioned anything suggesting that he knew anything about Sean, or even Chad or Kristen. And even if he was aware of the extra three members of the group, there was the faintest chance that he would be true to his word about wanting their help. If that was the case, perhaps he'd be willing to help them by ensuring the were safe through the night, as he was supposedly doing for Brian's family. And while he didn't say it out loud, Sean was still bothered by the fact that he'd sent his son home when there was the chance he'd been compromised. A while after Kildor had driven off, Olivia returned from following the van, and the group piled into Brian's car, exhausted, for the ride 'home'. No one slept much at all.

In the morning, some quick decisions were made. If they were going to be visiting the Yeerk Pool, for any reason, they would need as much strength as they could get. That meant they needed Chad and Kristen. The plan was for Brian, Josefina, and Olivia to meet with Kildor at the Library at 9:00am as expected. Tarry would be there too, but would have to stay outside and out of sight. Before then, Sean would go to the school and somehow try to get Chad and Kristen out early enough to be there as well. Hopefully, Kildor didn't intend on them entering the Pool at nine o'clock on the dot. The others at the library would have to delay him if so, since they still didn't want to tell him about the other three members. Secrecy might end up being their only advantage. Tarry wasn't too comfortable with the plan, and was sure to point out several tactical weaknesses. But time was not on their side.


The bell rang. And instantly, the halls were flooded with raucous teenagers on their hurried ways to their next class period. The only way Sean knew where to even begin looking for his son was the fact that as his father, he was able to get hold of Chad's new schedule for the semester. He waited in the hallway, hoping to see him as he passed by in the flood of people. Sean wasn't even totally sure that Chad had actually followed through and gone to school that morning. He couldn't blame him, really. But right now, he really hoped he had.

[Unknown User]

All 1000 members of the Texas operation assembled in the main cavern of the pool complex in order to welcome the arrival of Visser Three. Not even Kildor, as a member of the Intelligence corps, could get out of the meeting. In fact, Kildor had been chosen by vote to greet the Visser as he emerged from the bug fighter he was taking the trip in. Kildor walked through the complex to reach the parking ramp where the Visser was waiting, every controller was lined in neat rows like some ww2 documentary.
  <your people will fail just like Hitler did, yeerk.> Joseph Rightly said as Kildor got into the car that would take him to the parking ramp. Kildor was surprised by his host's comment. The man rarely spoke.
  <They are not my people human. I have no people. I hate them as you do. Can't you tell?> Kildor said to the man as the car reached the top level of the parking garage. The driver got out and opened the door and Kildor thanked him briefly. I'll kill him one day Kildor thought of the driver.
   The bug fighter began it's decent and Kildor watched as it landed about fifty feet away from him. The cloaking device deactivated and the ramp emerged. Kildor approached the bug fighter and stood ten feet from the ramp, watching as the Visser emerged.
   A wave of hatred and nausea flooded through Kildor as the Visser stood before him, Andalite body seemingly electrified in the early morning air. It was all Kildor could do to keep from Rushing the yeerk general and getting cut down by the powerful Andalite tail. Not to mention the Hork-bajir on either side of him. Kildor thought he vaguely recognized one of them.
   "Greetings my Visser," Kildor said, "The Council of Thirteen Welcomes you to Texas. May the Kandrona shine and strengthen you."
------------------------------
   The ride from California to Texas had been stressful for Visser Three, but not nearly as stressful as it had been for the Taxxon fool he had cut in half. As the bug fighter prepared to land, the Visser began issuing orders. <Move it fools! Don't you see we are preparing to land? Are you plotting against me?! I will introduce all of you to the Varnax!>
   Normally a bug fighter contained a Taxxon and a Hork-bajir as crew, this one had held three times that many people, and the four living controllers (the Taxxon had died) rushed out of the bug fighter to stand on either side of it as the ship had landed and the ramp had extended itself. The Visser emerged and was immediately confronted by an injured looking human male that wlcomed him.
   <Silence!> The Visser shouted after the man had finished. <What is your name?> The Visser scuffed a hoof in a gesture of contempt as the man introduced himself as Kildor and told him that he was a part of the intelligence Corps. The Andalite-Controller despised the intelligence corps, almost as much as he hated the fools that currently occupied The Emperor's council. One day, when he had obtained his seat on the council, the entire Intelligence corps would pay for it's insubordination.
   <Take me inside,> The Visser snarled impatiently at the man as he began morphing human. The ride to the main Chamber of the pool complex would take five minutes and would be much more comfortable as human. Morph complete, The Visser got into the car, the infernal spy sitting next to him in the back seat.
   "I hear that my old friend Ultor has perished," the Visser said as the car began to head down the ramp and into the tunnel that led to the pool complex.
   "Yes my Visser," the spy replied as the car sped along, "your glorious servant perished yesterday as you know. Killed by Andalites and traitors."
   "Good," Visser Three snarled, his face contorting into a mask of hate, "the man was a fool."
--------------------------------
   Kildor hopped out of the car practically before it had come to a stop. It was parked nearly in the center of the complex, and the legion of controllers stood to the side of it, Cheering the car's arrival. Kildor opened the door for the Visser, who got out and quickly demorphed. The Visser's guards, who had been transported in a separate vehicle, quickly surrounded thier leader.
   The rebel and the Visser walked through the crowd of Human, Hork-bajir, and Taxxon controllers. A pathway had been created in the middle of the mob with a dracon armed Hork-bajir stationed every few feet.
   Suddenly, one of the controllers burst from the crowd with a dracon and fired at the Visser, barely missing. The shot plowed into the chest of one of the Visser's guards and the Hork-bajir's torso disinegrated. Kildor heard Visser Three roar in anger and suddenly, to the horror of everyone present, he was on the traitor and was cutting him to pieces with his powerful tail. <All traitor will die,> Kildor, who was in a rage at the unexpected assassination attempt heard the Visser roar, <You present me with fanfare and happiness and try to murder me?!>
   Kildor desperately wanted to reach into his coat and cut the Visser's throat as the genera left the nearly dismembered human corpse and approached the him.  "I mean no disrespect, my Visser, but we do have a problem with traitors here. They are everywhere, so very close, all the time."
  <Perhaps YOU are a traitor as Well,> the Visser snarled, his tail ready to strike. <perhaps you should be fed to the taxxons?> The Visser stomped his hooves in anger as he talked.
   "I would remind you that I am a member of the intelligence corps, Visser. I am a tool of the council, one they would be most upset to lose." Kildor slipped his hand into his coat and wrapped it around the knife within. Not even an andalite could remorph fast enough to stop from dying if Kildor decided to strike.
   <There may come a time, fool, when that will not save you. One day I will be a councilor and you will die.> The Visser and his men continued on toward's Ultor's former office, leaving the spy standing there. Kildor saw the firmilar Hork-bajir once again though he could not place him in his mind. In a few hours, when we meet Visser, Kildor thought at the retreating Andalite figure, You will not live to walk away. 
   

[gorillaman16]

Shaun awoke early the next morning to go to school. When he was in class he noticed that Brian wasn't in school and he found it very suspicious considering the events that happened the past night. Shaun still wished he would have known what was happening and why Brian said he would contact him when he is needed. What if I need to contact Brian? he wondered. Brian saw a man standing in the hallway looking for somebody and decided to go help him out. "Hi i'm Shaun, who are you looking for maybe I can help?

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

A quick trip to the zoo last night had gone without much incident.  Kristen knew her way around much better than the others, and getting a hold of the security guard's schedule so she knew where they were had helped.  There had been a scary moment when she had to duck into a cheetah cage to avoid an unexpected guard--security had been ramped up a little since the break-in--but she had acquired it.  Along with her other morphs, Kristen now had a cheetah, a peregrine falcon, (she had sought that one out, diving was going to be fantastic) and a dolphin.  The guards hadn't even spotted her, thanks to a fly she had acquired at home.

Now she was back in school.  But she was a senior now--only one year left.  Kristen attempted to rub the sleep out of her eyes.  Her escapade to the zoo had left her feeling like a zombie in the morning.  But she had managed to catch the bus and get through her first class.  Goody...

Kristen was walking towards her second class when she saw Mr. Black standing in the hallway near the office.  She bit her lip to keep her from calling to him--that would be a little odd.  But someone else was standing right there.  So, Kristen "tripped," her books spilling out of her arms.  "Oh, man," she muttered, flushing despite the fact that she had done it on purpose.  She probably looked like such an idiot as she scrambled around on the floor, stacking the books back on top of each other.  She had plenty of time to get to her next class, it was right nearby.  Mr. Black had to be here for something important.

[warren_bearclaw]

"Hi i'm Shaun, who are you looking for maybe I can help?" he hears. A student who seemed to be about his son's age approached him.

No, I'm Sean... Was his first thought. And then, he was worried. Was this a Yeerk trick? Had they found him after all? I'm getting paranoid, aren't I?

"....Maybe." He says. "I'm uh, looking for my son. His name is Chad. I'm... not sure if he's supposed to be coming out of  Room 213 or 230, so... I might be in the totally wrong - "

Just then, an insanely thick American History textbook slid a stop in front of his feet. Sean noticed Kristen, who had 'dropped' her stack of books. Oh good, she was just who he needed to see right then. He bent down to help her. "Looks like you're enjoying school already, little lady. I don't know why they make you carry all of these books around all day. Wasn't like that when I was in school...." He said. He looked sideways at Shawn. He was uncomfortable with him standing there. "I'm taking my son to a pool party this evening, after he does some studying at the library." he says. He puts a bit of emphasis on the first word of the next sentence. "NOW... That should be a bit more... exciting than the first day of school. Hopefully you'll find something fun to do yourself this afternoon." He stood up, and handed Kristen the books he'd picked up for her. He smiled. He wondered if he'd done well enough playing as if he didn't know her.

He turns back to Shawn. He says to him, "You wouldn't happen to be friends with Chad, are you?" He gives Kristen a look. Maybe she knew this guy? Hopefully, she'd gotten the hint.