Chapter Text
Asa Three-Six-Seven once again ignored her host's stomach, screaming for sustenance. She stood between the Navigator and Pilot, her lips pursed together as they reentered Earth's atmosphere. She had hoped never to set foot on this rock again, but what other choice did they have? They had tried to scavenge food supplies their host bodies could handle, which was why they were now down two hosts.
Edriss Five-Six-Two, you are lucky that I already know you are dead, or I would torture you far worse than Dear Esplin Nine-Four-Six-Six could ever imagine. Humans may be omnivores, but not to the degree that you led The Counsel to believe!
Asa squeezed the back of the Navigator's chair as a warning sound began emitting from his console. "Arrexx One-Seven-Zero-One report!" she ordered, knowing Iddrezz would be of no assistance in actually handling an emergency. It was pure dumb luck that he was still alive to sit in his Captain's seat pretending to handle everything!
You couldn't even manage to bite his head off! You, weak and foolish child!
She allowed a smirk to cross her lips as her host simply whimpered at her mental attack.
"Our navigation has been jammed, Asa. I have no idea where we are!" The nervous teenager looked up at her, swallowing hard as Asa leaned her head down, her icy blue eyes narrowed.
"I suggest you figure it out… Now!" Asa growled at him before turning to the pilot and ignoring Arrexx's small whimper. "Ellin Three-Two-Seven, can you find a place for us to land?"
The twenty-something woman shook her head. "No, Asa. Everything is locked up for me as well. This is a type of jammer I have never experienced." She kept her voice calm even as she fought to regain control of the ship.
Asa felt like she might scream. "Am I surrounded by morons!? Computer activate the external viewer!"
A view screen opened before the bridge, displaying nothing but the canopy of a vast forest of evergreens. A canopy that was fast approaching.
"Ellin, get control of this ship! That's an order!" Asa yelled at the struggling pilot as the hull brushed against the canopy. The ship began to blare audio warnings as it flipped to its side, flinging Asa against the vessel's right side. She grunted due to the impact.
"We are going to crash!"
"Brace For Impact. Brace For Impact. Brace For Impact."
"Should we morph?"
"No Time!"
"Brace For Impact. Brace For Impact. Brace For Impact."
The Bladeship struck the ground and skidded for roughly a mile, leaving a trail of broken and shattered trees in its wake before coming to a stop and flipping back onto the hull. And again, the forest was silent.
Asa regained consciousness and found she was on the floor of the Bladeship. Her head was throbbing, and she was in agony. The blaring warnings and panicked Controllers were not helping! "Iddrezz!" She tried to scream out, only to begin coughing hard, blood staining her jumpsuit.
A likely fatal injury, not a problem. An easy fix.
She continued coughing as she heard it tiny in her mind. The voice she had almost managed to erase.
~Let me die… please… please.~
Asa snorted as if she'd let a near-fatal injury rob her of the most powerful host in the Universe. There was no chance of that happening. She began concentrating on the Grizzly Bear's DNA, which swam in her host's veins, the morph she now couldn't stand. It didn't take her long to complete the morph before then demorphing. She took a deep, painless breath and laughed.
Sorry, human, I'm never letting you go!
She tried to get to her feet, and her eyes grew wide. She could no longer feel her host's legs. "No! This isn't possible!" She looked down at her legs in horror.
"Asa?" Iddrezz kneeled beside her. "We have a big problem: the Kandrona broke on impact! I need your help to see if it's fixable. Get up already! I have yet to tell the others."
"I can't! Something was damaged when I hit the bulkhead during the crash! I can no longer feel my legs!" Asa hissed up at him, her icy blue eyes wide and shimmering with tears.
"Morph and fix yourself then. It isn't that hard, Asa…" Iddrezz now sounded annoyed.
"Do you think that I have not already tried that?" She shook her head and shoved a lock of her blonde hair out of her eyes. "It fixed the fatal injury that was causing me to cough up blood, but not whatever this is!"
"I… I thought that all injuries were repaired with morphing?" Iddrezz blinked stupidly as Asa rolled her eyes, gritting her teeth together.
"If you had read my report on the Auxiliary Animorphs, you would have known that of the seventeen. Only three were returned to, shall we say, factory standards by morphing. Tobias' mother was healed of her physical scars but not her amnesia. It seems morphing will be finicky when it wishes to be."
"Well then, what now?" Iddrezz grumbled at his First Officer.
"Figure out the Kandrona situation first. Then we'll worry about moving forward." She rolled her eyes again. "Why the fuck are you asking me to make the decisions, Mr. I'm the new Emperor Iddrezz?"
"... Because, like you or not, your host body knows things that mine doesn't!" He grumbled as he got up to do what she had said.
Asa closed her eyes and focused all her power on moving her host's legs, ignoring the fact that her almost-shattered Host was almost giddy.
That's right, you little idiot… You know what Yeerks and Andalites think of Vecols, don't you? Maybe I'll just morph into the Grizzly for just over two hours. How about that, you tiny pest? A Grizzly's ear canal is big enough for me to slide out of.
She felt the insect pull back again. She knew Asa would never do something so foolish as to nothlit her host like that, but the idiot got the message.
She lay there for what felt like at least an hour until Iddrezz returned to her side. "Well?"
"It's bad, it's really bad… I don't believe that we can fix it. We're all about twenty-four hours from Fugue. I think our only choice is to use the morphing cube." Iddrezz ran his fingers through his hair.
"And become human nothlits? That is your big plan?" Asa swallowed hard as he nodded. "Fuck… Yeah, okay, it's better than starvation. Each of us will pick two hosts from which to gather DNA. None of us wants to look identical to our hosts after all."
It took two hours to get everyone organized, but one by one, the Yeerk left their host, who was swiftly knocked out. The Yeerk became morph-capable, then acquired the DNA of at least two hosts before morphing into their new body. Finally, it was just Iddrezz and Asa left. Both glared at one another, not trusting the other.
"I'm the commander; you are nothing but my First Officer. It only makes sense for you to go first," Iddrezz growled.
"And give you the chance to crush me in your Host's hand? Ellin? I need you to catch me and protect me from the so-called Commander." She waited until her Poolmate's hand was under her Host's ear and slid out safely.
Rachel watched as the Yeerks gathered what they could and left the hosts on the floor, all unconscious except her and Tom. She watched as he slowly got to his knees and crawled over to her. His trembling hand touched her hair.
"Rachel… Oh God, Rachel…" His voice was scratchy, as if it had been years since he last spoke.
"Tom… Tom, you need to get out of here. They might come back… Maybe they'll find a Kandrona before… before." Rachel's whole body shook except her legs.
"No way, no way am I leaving you here. No way." Tom shook his head. As he carefully got to his feet. He was a bit shaky, but he stood tall. "No fucking way. I'm the reason you're here! If it hadn't been for my being here. Jake… he never, never would have sent you."
"Tom, I can't walk; I can't feel my legs," Rachel whispered. "I'll only slow you down. Just… Don't let them get me again. Please, I need you to kill me. Morph cobra bite my neck."
"No! Do you think I could go home without you? I'd never be able to face Jake if I didn't bring you home!" Tom bent down and lifted Rachel's thin body into his arms as one of the other former hosts awoke.
"Yes, you're free; we all are. Look, I don't know your name, but I'm Tom, and this is my cousin Rachel. She broke her back, or something, in the crash. Morphing didn't heal it. I need help. I need to rig up a way to carry her on my back." Tom looked at the nervous teenage boy.
"Jared, my name… my name is Jared. And you don't have to do that. We'll help you carry her." He indicated the other former Hosts who were waking up. "I'll morph my hawk and get a lay of the land. I'll be back, I promise, Tom and Rachel!" Jared began to morph and soon flew out of the open hatch.
Tom cradled Rachel to his chest, remembering the first time his little cousin had been settled in his arms, with Aunt Naomi and Mom on either side of him.
Tommy, this is your new cousin, her name is Rachel.
She's going to depend on you to protect her like you were her big brother. Can you do that, Tommy? Can you protect Rachel?
Protect Rachel…
Protect Rachel…
Tom swallowed hard, looking down into the icy blue eyes, which, instead of shining with determination, were now haunted, lost, and broken. I haven't been able to, Aunt Naomi… Mom, but I swear, I swear from this moment on. I will protect Rachel!