Animorphs: Ressurection

[Estelore]

<No back-up plan needed. Computer: Commence Z-Space Jump.> The ship behind them, the fighter ship, the vast black field of stars outside... they all vanished in an implosive wink, like water sucked away by a drain.

FWOOOOOMmmmmm- it was as though all the sound had been sucked out of the world. That didn't really make sense- space is silent- and yet somehow Z-Space took that to another level. Outside the ****pit was an endless expanse of marshmallow-white, without variation, contour, or anything that could pass as a reference point. They could be flying toward a wall, or toward nothing; the void was all the same distance away at once.

<Demorph and take some time to rest, if you can. We will be in Z-Space for another three hours. I will be making several more jumps, to keep them off our trail. I will need you all focused and ready when we prepare to emerge into Known Space.>

Reli's posture sagged a bit with her own exhaustion.

<There may not be a friendly reception, you see... this ship looks Yeerk, unmistakably so, from the outside, even if the controls are adapted to thought-speech users. Obviously we must not attack our own people, but until we see what kind of communications array this vessel has, we will not know if we can get a safe pick-up. We definitely cannot fly into any atmosphere; this ship is not made for true flight, only spaceflight. We are not, as humans say, "out of the woods yet." We merely get three hours to rest, for now.>

[Underseen]

I listened to Reli and demorphed. I sat back, closed my eyes, and went to sleep. I had a long day so far.

[Cobra (Gymn)]

"Systems are fine." I let out a sigh of relief and settled back into a more relaxing position. I demorphed, skin replacing scales. "What now?"

[gorillaman16]

I relax in my seat waiting to arrive at a destination.

[Terenia]

Just outside the border of Kelbrid space, in the furthest reaches of Andalite territory, Terliss Five-Seven-Eight sits on the bridge of his ship. It is not a large ship, nor a well-kept one, at least not in appearances. Yeerkish in design, it looks similar to a lobster, with serrated living metal and bulging, crimson "eyes" where the viewscreens are. Beyond the main cabin there is a pool room and a storage room, part of which has been transformed into makeshift quarters. The very last room, at the tail end of the ship, allows entry to the engines.

It is small, especially as a permanent residence, but Terliss enjoys the solitude that he is guaranteed here. As long as his Kandrona holds out, and as long as jobs find their way to him on occasion, he is content.

His host, however, is a different story.

<<I'm bored,>> Aya Ya says. <<Can't we go back into Kelbrid space and find some planet to explore or something?>>

<<No,>> Terliss responds stiffly, watching his holoscreens, paying the human woman little attention.

<<At least give me control for a little while. I need to stretch or something,>> Aya presses. With a small sigh of exaggerated frustration Terliss obliges, letting the human move freely. Aya immediately stands and begins walking the length of the cabin, stretching her arms above her head and trying to get the blood flowing freely again after sitting for so long. Every few seconds she glances back at the holoscreens to ensure that they are still alone in their little corner of space.

[Estelore]

<Prepare to emerge into Known Space.>

Reli allowed the small crew a moment to wake up from naps and gather their attention to their monitors. Then, noiselessly, but with a sensation of emerging out of some thick gelled mass into a wide open space, their ship pulled back into the black, star-dotted familiarity of standard space.

<Only a few of these constellations are familiar; we must be galactic south of the sector I was aiming to reach. Still, this is much better than where we had been. Time to see if there is anybody out here who can help us.>

Reli fired up the communications array and composed a short message that would send out in repeated bursts until somebody responded:
<Escape vessel with five-person crew requesting pick-up or refuel. Carrying sensitive military information. Not equipped to fly in atmosphere. We are not hostile. If you can hear this, please reply with instructions or patch us over to the Andalite Electorate.>

[Terenia]

Aya's pacing comes to a slow cease when she sees the communications array light up. Curiously, she moves back over to the pilot's chair, accepting the unencrypted message. When she hears what is clearly an Andalite's voice she frowns a little, tilting her head as she commits the transmission to memory.

<<Should we respond?>> she asks Terliss.

<<It might lead to a job,>> the Yeerk murmurs thoughtfully. <<We are running low on supplies. As much as I loathe to deal with an Andalite, it may be to our best benefit.>>

<<Uh-huh. Just let me do the talking, Mr. Cheerful,>> Aya says with a smirk. She sends a return hail, requesting audio and visual interface.

[Estelore]

<It seems somebody has noticed us; now let us hope they will hear us out before assuming our Yeerk-looking vessel is an enemy. Let us make our best efforts to appear harmless.>

Reli turned on the comm screen and directed it so that she and the other three in the crew were all visible to whomever was contacting them.

<Greetings; thank you for returning contact. I had feared there would be nobody to help us, this far from the inhabited systems.>

[Terenia]

"We keep to ourselves," Aya says with a friendly smile. Her eyes tighten only slightly at the Andalite visage that appears on screen. "You're lucky you caught us." Her dark eyebrows raise a little bit as she glances at a second holoscreen, which is scanning the strangers' ship. "You know, wandering around Andalite space in a Yeerk vessel is a bit dangerous. I should know." Her smile widens a little and she orders her ship to uncloak in with a quick command, spoken in Yeerkish. "I'm sending you my coordinates, you should be able to get a pretty good lock and start heading my direction. Hurry up, though. I don't like to stay uncloaked for long."

Her dark eyes briefly leave the Andalite and take in the other passengers of the ship, but she does not address them directly, turning her gaze back to the Andalite. "I'm Aya, by the way."

[Estelore]

Reli's eyes narrowed slightly, recognizing how much more complex their situation had just become. Privately she addressed the rest of the crew, <Do not react as if I am saying anything. The person who is picking us up may or may not be a Yeerk; the ship is definitely Yeerkish, and right now this is our only apparent chance of getting safely back into familiar territory. We are out of fuel and out of options.>

Reli responded to Aya, <I am Arhareli-Winwall-Ajaht, and these are Shaun, Chris, Dru, and Corporal Fischer. Your position is acknowledged; we are approaching and should be there within seven Earth minutes. Once we dock and board, you are welcome to salvage what little fuel and other resources remain on our vessel.>

Reli piloted the pod to the coordinates Aya had given her, and there was no denying that Aya's ship was visibly Yeerkish in style and origin. The fur on Reli's spine prickled up with tension, but she focused on keeping her posture relaxed and her tail low. As long as there was only the one person on board, Aya's human body would not be a significant threat to an Andalite. Firearms and beam weapons could create problems, but Reli trusted that at the very least her own tail would be faster than a human body's draw on a Dracon weapon. Reli silently thanked Sky that some of the boys with her had picked up Dracon weapons instead of Shredders, when the opportunity arose before. If nothing else, it would put into question whether or not Shaun, Chris, Dru, and perhaps even Reli herself were free bodies, Controllers, or morphed Yeerks passing as humans and an Andalite.

[Underseen]

Dru waved at the screen slightly when Reli called his name. Getting aboard Aya's ship seemed like a good idea to him. Aya did not look like a bad person, and she was welcoming.

[Terenia]

Aya waits patiently for the smaller vessel to arrive, continuing to scan as she does so.

<<This is foolish,>> Terliss murmurs quietly. <<We should not allow one of them within ten light years of our ship, yet you wish to lay out a doormat.>>

<<We'll be fine,>> Aya responds, rolling her eyes and prepping the ship for a standard docking procedure. When the pod is near enough, she initiates the tractor beams that will gently pull it close without damaging either ship.

"Alright," Aya says to the still open communication. "It might be a bit bumpy, but give it a minute or so and you'll be set to come aboard. My ship isn't too much bigger than yours, so I hope you don't mind getting cozy. At least we have more than one room."

As she speaks the pod is pulled close to her own ship, a narrow force field preventing the metals from actually meeting, and also allowed for pressurization in the slight gap between the two vessels.

"Opening my hatch," Aya says. "Give it about thirty seconds before you do the same on your end."

She swipes the screen away and steps back, well away from where the strangers will enter her ship. Unlimbering her Dracon beam she waits patiently, the dial set to stun, just in case the strangers are less friendly than they seem.

[Cobra (Gymn)]

Chris yawned and stretched as Reli contacted the other ship. He readied his Dracon just in case. He wasn't a good shoot but it never hurt to be prepared. He wasn't anywhere near ready to give a possible teeth the benefit of the doubt. Not after what he'd just been through.

[Gumby]

Fisher hasn't spoken much since the ambush, and since his team had vanished. Dead? Alive? Who knew, the corporal sure didn't. His neural interface wasn't picking up their transponders, so either their heads were obliterated or they were inside a well-contained unit of some kind, or outside of the transponders considerable range. In any case, the event had screwed the poor marine badly. His men, his responsibility on paper. But there wasn't anything he could have done; he didn't even know what the hell had happened.

Oh, and now they were preparing you enter a Yeerk ship, which meant it was quite possibly headed by a Yeerk. They were essentially hitchhiking with the bloody thing and hoping it didn't just carbonize them the moment they stepped through the airlock. Yeah, wonderful. He sighed, fiddled with his dracon beam, checking what he'd been told were the power readings. Three-quarters charged, and set on a low setting -he didn't want to punch a hole through the ship, or potentially incinerate the pilot if need be. He stepped around Chris in the cramped space and tapped Reli on the shoulder.

"You are aware that, if the pilot is a Yeerk, I am obligated to arrest it under the Invaders Act. And in any case, if it is a Yeerk, I sure as hell ain't gonna let it prance about on that ship."

[Estelore]

<<Fisher, first, we do not know if she is alone on that ship or if there are others. Second, the ship might have control settings which make it unflyable to anybody but her. Third, between the lot of us we have enough muscle to overpower her and at least one other being, no matter how fast she is with a beam weapon. If you must arrest her, can it not wait until we are safely on-planet, or at least until we know with certainty that the ship will be flyable?>>

Reli gave him a pointed look, her main eyes all but begging him to not screw up their likeliest chance of getting back home alive and in one piece.
The look said, we've already lost enough people.

<Opening our hatch now and preparing to transfer to your vessel.> Reli palmed the keypad next to the hatch and commanded it to open. She braced herself for the tell-tale whoosh of escaping air, but instead felt air rushing across her ankles into the pod from the ship's more effective pressure containment. Aya hadn't tried to airlock the lot of them. That was promising.

The hatch door slid upward until they could see across the docking components into Aya's ship.