Animorphs: Ressurection

[warren_bearclaw]

Ehruf looked up, working his jaw on a particularly thick cut of meat. <Feel free to ask whatever you like. I don't guarantee that we'll answer, though.>

Marty looked up from the disassembled device momentarily. The mention of an semi-open forum seemed to perk his interest. He said nothing though and continued twisting wires and removing panels. He furrowed his eye brows, and looked at the younger Pemalite girl, pointing at a small cluster of parts. She looked confused only momentarily, but then smiled and ran out of the hut.

[Estelore]

<If I may, what before meeting me did you believe an Andalite was? What propaganda has been disseminated in this region, that we are regarded with such dread? If I may clarify with certainty, we are an herbivorous species, essentially peaceful, and we only participate in defensive wars. Our own planet has all the resources we could ever need, so invasion is unnecessary and out of the question.>

[warren_bearclaw]

<Not surprising, actually. To our kind, your people are only a myth, meant to destroy any last surviving remnants of hope in ours. We are told that the fierce, blood-seeking Andalite War Clans seek nothing but death and desolation to appease the wrath of their savage gods. They are a hive collective of killers, naturally equipped with an armored coating of blades, crushing, shredding jaws, and claws able to rend even the toughest Pemalite warrior in two. Obviously, you do not quite meet those lofty criteria. And while all our folklore of your kind has been fed to us from the Kelbrid, there are still those among us who doubt they were entirely defeated by the Kelbrid, as the stories go. Perhaps it's a desperate attempt to cling to hope. If the 'mighty' Kelbrid were able to wipe out the horrific Andalite race, what can we mere Pemalite hope to acheive?> He sets what's left of his meal - just bones, cleaned white - on the ground and stares ahead, his face hard. What isn't a lie? We waste away, serving the 'Slayers of the Andalite Horde', and they're no more frightening than a Kel-crawler.

The Pemalite girl came running back in and resumed her seating by Marty. She handed him what looked like a tuning fork, beaming.

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Mesa paused in thought.  It is entirely possible that the Kelbrid lied to make them seem stronger, she mused.  A tactic to prevent rebellions.  That would cause...unnecessary effort, perhaps.  She picked up on Ehruf's thoughts.  There must be something we can do to help these people...too liberate them.  But what can a couple of aliens do?  She cut off her thought.  Who were the Animorphs but six children?  She reminded herself.  To us, the Pemalites were something of a myth, she informed them.  You...well, were thought to have died off long, long ago.  Very little is known.  Some people say a disease...some say fierce creatures called Howlers killed you...but obviously this isn't true as well, she finished with confusion.

[Gumby]

Fisher and his men listened intently, chewing on the pieces of alien meat which had been laid out before them. Now at all sure if what it was, they'd treated it quite gingerly at first. After a bit of holding back. fisher had volunteered for the first bite. Taking it carefully, he lit up and remarked that, "It's better than MREs." That was enough for the others who promptly, albeit gingerly, began to eat.

Now as they listened to the Kelbrid-made propaganda about the Andalite barbarians of myth, they rolled their eyes and chuckled lightly. Fisher mentally agreed with Mesa, it was a good plan. Implant a total air of power and might to prevent any future uprisings. Shaking his head, Fisher apoke his disgust.

"Man, if we ever get back we're gonna have to tell the UNSN and Andalite Command 'bout this, together we could put these slimy little Kelbrid to and end." He looked Ehruf. "You deserve better, our people could help you."

[warren_bearclaw]

Ehruf snorted at the comment of Pemalites being extinct... What does it really matter? We're here, and now.

Marty studied the tool closely. He was apparently very absorbed by the seemingly simple tool.

He looked up again, his hard expression aimed at Fisher. Maybe they... <No. Your peoples have never faced an enemy such as our Kelbrid oppressors. You do not know what you're suggesting. Open war would not be a fruitful venture.> He remained quite for a few moments, and served himself a bowl of the stew dish, which he left untouched. <Now it is my turn. Why are you here? You claim to know so little of the Kelbrid, yet you were prisoners aboard their ship.>

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Mesa paused, listening to Ehruf.  And not only his thought-speak.  The Pemalites were all so...hopeless!  They just didn't care for the deeper questions, motive and the like.  They just didn't care at all.  Live one more day, it seemed to be.  Just live one more day.  And that was it.  But...was that...hope she heard?  If only for a second?

Mesa shook herself out of her reverie.  But how much should she tell?  We were investigating what we believed to be Kelbrid transmissions, she said slowly.  These people had taken them in, fed them what little food they had.  She shouldn't be so suspicious.  Something went wrong with our mission...I'm still not sure what happened, she finished, glancing at her friends.  We were at a prison where the transmissions were coming from.  Visiting an...informer, she said carefully, shooting a glance at Shaun.  There was an explosion.  We woke up on the Kelbrid ship.

[warren_bearclaw]

((whoa, it was five days??? dang I thought it was just a couple since the last post.... ))

Ehruf nodded. Not that it made sense to him, he was just acknowledging her response. <You must have been deemed worth Acquisition. I don't think they would have brought you here alive otherwise. They must have targeted your planet next. It was only a matter of time before the Kelbrid decided to move on to fresh territory. Honestly, I - >

He is interrupted by a sudden outbreak of high-pitched howling and yipping, soon followed by shouts and barks of Pemalites sounding the alarm. The younger Pemalites sitting to the side in the hut cowered together. The girl doting on Marty looked frightened as well, but made no noise. She gripped Marty's arm and looked in his eyes, sending messages of fear. Scared! Danger! Hide!

Ehruf went rigid, and almost instantly was on his feet. As he ran out the doorway, the only think he said to his guests was <We are being attacked.>

Marty's head snapped up as well. He put down the contraption he was still fidgeting with but did not rise. He looked at the others, waiting. "Sounds like dogs... but... bigger."

[Estelore]

Reli leapt between the entry flap and the people inside the little hut, tail high and all eyes watching the door. Distant millennia of racial memory of being a grazing prey species rose beneath her concentration, sending adrenaline coursing through her system.

[gorillaman16]

Shaun jumped to his feet at the sound of being attacked and immediately started his morph to gorilla. "Let's do this guys."

[Estelore]

Reli grabbed her Shredder from its sling, turned it to the second-highest setting, and pointed it steadily toward the doorway. With one eye she observed Shaun hurriedly morphing gorilla.
The last thing we need right now is for these children to make themselves a liability again. I need to keep him out of the way.
<Shaun,> Reli said privately to him, <I have a job for you, if you'll help me with this: keep Reyna covered. She's still carrying the Yeerk, and the Leerans may need to morph, so we'll probably lose the benefit of their mind-reading. If Reyna morphs wolf, let her... and if she appears to be about to attack an ally, stop her. Your hands are strong enough to choke a wolf unconscious, so right now you're the only person here other than me who can both watch her back and nonlethally incapacitate her. Will you agree to it?>
It would be ideal if I can keep those two in one place... I think I'll play this from both directions.

<Reyna,> Reli said, again privately, <Shaun is getting gung-ho, and he's probably going to put himself right under my hooves if we leave him to his own devices. Do you think you can help me keep track of him, out of range of my tail? I know he will listen to you and do anything you ask him, at this point. If you ask him to stay close to you, it will keep him from getting between me and whatever is out there. Please.>
Hopefully playing them off each other will be enough to keep them both from getting the rest of us hurt... and they really are well-equipped to keep each other covered, as least as combat morphs go....

[gorillaman16]

<I'll do it.> Shaun said privately to Reli.

[Cobra (Gymn)]

"What are those noises? What should I do? morph?" Chris looked at Reli. She seemed to know what she was doing.

[Estelore]

<Yes, morph. I do not know what is out there, but whatever it is, you do not want to meet it as an unarmed human. Pemalites, what are we hearing?>

Reli narrowed her thought-speak to Chris and Marty.
<I've already asked Shaun and Reyna to cover each other. Now I'm going to ask you both to do a "job" for me: I'm the first thing between us and whatever is outside. I don't know how many there are. So if->

-she drew a sharp breath-

<-when something manages to get past me, I'm going to rely on you two to be the second line of defense. Chris, use your speed and attack from below, tangle their feet and gut them. Marty, use your size; attack from above and aim for the head. Work together. Crowd them so they can't move.> 

She paused briefly, one eye watching the group race to prepare itself.

<Marty, Chris, you two and I may be a delay tactic at best. We keep the enemy busy so Fisher's team has time to pick them off one by one. We give the others time to escape back to the ship.>

Finally she opened her thought-speech to the whole group again.
<We are probably outnumbered. The instant you have a chance to retreat to the ship, take it. No showboating. We aren't here to win; we're here to escape and survive. Get ready.>

[Terenia]

Reyna's lackluster eyes suddenly gained focus at Reli's thoughts penetrating her mind. A piece of foreign meat was halfway to her mouth and it haung there limply, her hand paused as she listened. Slowly lowering the food back to the table she nodded her agreement, though she was not entirely sure Reli was paying attention. Her eyes scanned the room until they found Shaun, midway to gorilla morph. Detaching herself from the table, she stood and strode over to him.

"Wait for me," she murmured as she began her own wolf morph.