Expansion [All Faction Leaders & Teachers]

[Admin]

Seiya sat on the bridge of the Blade Ship and looked out of the front windows. He could imagine how breath taking the view would be in space, the stars spread out around you in an almost complete sphere since the bridge of the Bladeship was just a platform extended into the bubble of the windows. But the only few that greeted him as he looked out was the white wash of the Antarctic desert. There was a pretty bad storm going on outside and the wind looked like it would rip your skin from your body if you were foolish enough to challenge it. He was glad they had gotten everyone here last night.

He turned to look at Zachery and Adamo. The two brothers were the silent unsung heroes of this entire endeavor. Expanding the factions across the globe sounded like a nice idea but it would be awfully difficult if they had no way to get from one faction to another. Without the brother's none of this would have been possible and he made sure to let them know how much he valued them on a daily basis or at least as often as he was allowed.

But looking at them now all he saw was a disaster waiting to happen. If the Camerons were lost the entire operation would fall apart. They were the supply train and there was only two of them and one ship. Something would need to be done.

"What are you thinking Seiya?" He turned to see Cassie watching him. Her face was more guarded these days then when they had first met and he couldn't read her expression as easily but he saw very clearly that she wasn't having the same problem. Her eyes were as clear as always and the look in them now was slightly contemplative and maybe a bit calculating. She had learned to judge the capabilities of her subordinates. He would have to learn the same.

"I am thinking we should train more pilots," he answered honestly with a glance towards the Camerons.

She nodded absently, hearing what he'd said but thinking about other things. He kept his silence and waited for the rest of the animorphs to arrive.

[stevert]

<<Jeez! It's freezing in this place! You'd think Antarctica would have freakin' parkas or something!>> Steve whined to his brother as he entered the room that someone had pointed out to him. This whole Antarctica secret base thing was messed up. Yeah, no respectable or direspectable yeerk would ever think of coming here, but no human in their right mind would either. But then again, I'm the kid who turns into a squirrel in my free time and had his brother living in his head.

<<You're just not used to the cold. Remember where we've been living for the past six or more months?>> Robert said, thinking of an image of the desert for Steve. When his brother entered the bridge, Robert took control over visual and audio functions.

This had to be the faction leader meeting. For one, Zach and Adamo were there, as well as a woman who had to have been Cassie. <<Robert reporting,>> Robert said as he took control of Steve speech abilities for good measure. From there, Steve plopped himself down at a random station and tried to look interested in everything that was going on.

[Aubrey]

Aubrey trailed not far behind Stevert, hands entwined nervously at her back. Over the skin-tight morphing suit, Aubrey had thrown on a shirt and jeans in an attempt to keep herself warm here. However, Vegas wasn't the most ideal place to find heavy articles of clothing, and even in the warmth of the Bladeship Aubrey still felt chilled to the bone and uncomfortable. The rest of the company on the bridge didn't make her feel any more comfortable--a serious looking man and a woman that couldn't be mistaken for anyone other than the fabled Cassie. At least, as far as Aubrey had been told. Stories had been spun about Cassie, and about the old Animorphs. Aubrey found herself slightly flustered in her presence.

Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she shuffled forward and regarded the others. "I'm Aubrey. One of the few surviving Animorphs of the Dallas faction," She said, introducing herself with a warm smile, despite the dark cloud that always seemed to cluster around the word Dallas nowadays.

Back in Las Vegas, after everyone had become more settled from everything, Stevert had asked someone from Dallas to accompany him to the Faction Leader meeting in Antarctica. Cassie had yet to speak with everyone face-to-face, and it had seemed like a good opportunity to bring someone along with to finally talk to her. At first Aubrey hadn't exactly wanted to volunteer. But she knew Stevert from way back, and it seemed like the others still needed some time to recover from all the events in Dallas. Not that she didn't herself, but it seemed harmless to take a couple days to travel somewhere else and get her mind far away from everything.

Not to mention that there had been some whispers and rumors that Matt was teaching here. Aubrey hadn't been able to confirm it for herself yet, since they had basically been shown their rooms the moment of arrival, but it was a slight incentive. She hadn't seen him since leaving Los Angeles, and was, of course, anxious to speak with him again. Or in the least, see him.

Taking a seat near Stevert, she buried her hands in her lap and waited for the others in the meeting to arrive.

[Dean]

Dean kept looking at the little pink sticky note that had bee left on his door. It said that he was needed to attend a meeting of sorts. Dean's first reaction was that he had somehow managed to piss someone off and he was going to get court marshaled or something. But with a quick mulling over of the past few weeks Dean deducted that it couldn't be that. He had (very nearly) obeyed all the rules in the time he had spent in the academy so far. So, still wondering what this was all about, Dean tightened his gun-belt, checked his pistol, and snagged his coat to head for the bridge.

It took him a couple of tries to find the right hallway to get there, muttering as he went: "You'd think it would be easy to find the bridge on a freakin alien spaceship." In not too much time though he managed to make it to the meeting place.

He assumed that he wasn't late even though there were already four people there. Two women and two men. Dean only recognized Seyia, but guessed the woman standing as if she was carrying the whole polar ice cap in her vertebrate was Cassie. He still wasn't sure what to think about the leader of the Animorph army, he wasn't too proud to say that he still held some hard feelings for her taking him out of Africa.

I guess we'll figure all that out here in a bit, thought Dean as he entered the control room for the ship. He walked in without saying a word, instead he found some wall space near the door and just leaned against it. He closed his eyes enough to make it seem as if he was sleeping, but enough as to where he could still see everyone in the room and the door.

Then he waited.

[beachbeagle]

Wearing surf shorts and an open top, Matt strode into the room with a confidence only someone who had done this before could have. Of the leaders who had been at Matt's first meeting, he would be the only one besides Cassie there. Raven was dead. Matthias was running rogue. Matt wasn't here as a leader now, but as one of the teachers he still had to come. Tess hadn't been ready, but she'd sent him ahead feeling he should be there if any of his former faction members had been chosen.

As it turned out, someone had been chosen. Two people really, though Matt was unsure that he really could take any credit for Dean being chosen. Aubrey on the other hand..... he'd done a little more to train her.

He glanced around, seeing Stevert, Cassie, and Seiya there as well as the Cameron brothers. Sara and Ethan, he assumed, were once again scouting for a new member. He never minded it much because Sara always came back to the Academy in the end.

"Aubrey," he said as he approached where the others were standing. "It's been a long time." The smile in his face didn't quite meet his eyes, but was still honest. His eyes.... well, they revealed his true inner pain. It was something he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to hide and something that would probably only get worse the longer this war went on. "I saw what happened in Dallas and..... I was really worried you didn't make it."

[Jullian]

Jullian walked into the faction leader meeting with a soft smile for Cassie when she looked at him. He knew that she'd been worried about him when he'd last been in New York though she hadn't had much time to look after just him when there had been so many other things to look after. Still, she had sent him here and surrounded him with the family and the friends he'd needed to recover. He was a little surprised and his respect for Cassie had grown because of it. Even when there was so much else to think about and to handle she hadn't forgotten his problems or Matt's or anyone else's it seems and had worked to help them all. Joel was proof of that if nothing else.

He looked towards the arrivals and the grin that grew from the small smile was a genuine one. He ran over to Aubrey and threw his arms around her. "Morph twin!" he said with joy and excitement evident in his voice, referring to the fact that their starter morphs had been very similiar. As he hugged her he couldn't help noticing that he'd grown since he'd last seen her and was almost her height now. He hadn't realized that he'd been growing though it only made sense.

He turned then to Stevert and hugged him too. Stevert had also grown since he'd last seen him the night they'd been in Vegas on their way to Boston. He was hardier some how. It was like he'd put on muscle instead of just growing taller. It wasn't a huge change but it was a bit of one. He was filling out, just like Jullian himself. "How have you been," he said, stepping back so that he could look at his old faction mate. "How have you both been?"

[Aubrey]

Aubrey glanced over at Dean's entrance, not recognizing him at all. Since she wasn't familiar with the rest of the leaders around the country, she pegged him as another faction leader. Returning her gaze to the floor, Aubrey picked idly at a small tear in her jeans and waited. Then the sound of another set of footsteps entering caught her attention, and when she looked up her whole countenance brightened up considerably.

"Matt!" She exclaimed, a warm smile on her lips. Without being conscious of it, Aubrey was already standing from her seat and bouncing over to give him a short hug as he walked in. Taking a couple steps back, she scanned his face with light blue eyes. "Yes it has been awhile." There were many times where Aubrey found herself pining after Los Angeles, missing the ocean, missing the Haunt, surfing. Everything. Ever since she'd chosen to leave for Dallas, all she'd been surrounded with was desert. Growing up near the ocean all her life had given her a low tolerance to other places.

Despite the smile on Matt's face, Aubrey sensed something wasn't exactly right with him. He looked more worn than usual. The mention of Dallas ate away at Aubrey's expression immediately, and the only cheer lingered in the curl at the edge of her lip. It was nice to know he had worried about her. "I'm fine, I made it. Everyone who survived is more or less alive." The tone of her voice suggested she didn't want to talk much about it, which was unusual for her. "How have things been since I left? You? The faction?" She was trying not to give into the temptation to ask about him and Tess, recognizing that as more gossip-y talk that might end up making her upset. Still, it was on the tip of her tongue when Jullian entered.

Turning, a smile light up on her face again. "Jullian!" It hadn't been nearly as long since she'd seen Jullian--he'd been traveling with Ember and a couple other people to drop Sophie off in Dallas--but it was still nice to see him once again. Squishing him in a giant hug, she realized how much he'd grown since she'd last seen him. "God, now I'm going to be the shortest person around again. Stop growing," She remarked, smiling slightly as he pulled back. She hadn't exactly expected to come across Jullian all the way out here, but it was pleasant to have part of her old faction all back together, all in one room. As he spoke to Stevert, Aubrey glanced over to Seiya and Cassie, wondering whether they were waiting for more people or for this reunion to end.

[stevert]

Steve jumped off his seat as soon as Matt waled in but Aubrey was even quicker on the draw. He would've joined in the hug with Aubrey and Matt but they broke apart before he got there. That, and Matt began talking to her in a more serious manner. It would've been an awkward moment so he was glad Rob warned him about it.

Then Jullian entered and Aubrey beat him there as well. Steve snapped his fingers good-naturedlly as he stood by waiting for his break. Which soon came. "Don't worry Aubrey, I'm sure you'll eventually be taller than someone. Even if you have to free a toddler." Steve stepped away while snickering, in case there was a physical retaliation.

He hugged Jullian back, but without as much effort. "Oh my gosh Jules! You're here! I'm great! What about you?" He slapped the younger boy on the back and moved away, eyes bright with excitement.

[Admin]

"I hate to interrupt," Cassie called over to the group of teenagers. Her heart ached to see how young they looked and to know who each one was and what they had been through. But it was no more than she had been through at their age. They'd survive. She had at least. Then again...well, they'd endure. Maybe that was all they could hope for. To get from birth's doorstep to death's with some measure of grace.

"But there will be time for reunions later. If I'm not mistaken many of you will be spending another night on this ship at least. For now, we have some business to discuss." She nodded to Seiya who turned to one of the many control boards located on the bridge of the Bladeship. There was a look of concentration on his face. It was hard to differentiate from his normal stoic expression but she had known him many years. He was one of the first people she had ever recruited into her service, back when it had been their service, her and Ax.

After a moment a hologram began to take shape over the control board. She knew that Seiya had never operated any of the alien machinery that required a mind link before getting assigned to this ship. She appreciated the effort he put into it.

The hologram slowly coalesced into a globe. For a moment it hung in the air, the waters of earth sparkling like the blue jewel it had often been described as, the lights of the major cities shining like stars. Then a dark red stain started to spread over the globe as if a god had been sacrificed at the North Pole and his blood was pouring over the Earth. When it was done there were a few remaining patches of blue, isolated and cut off, tenuous yellow lines stretching between of few of them.

Cassie had watched the whole thing. She had known what the hologram would be, she'd helped design it, but it was still disturbing to see all of that red. She remembered sitting in a classroom back when she'd had the luxury to be a student and a soldier and a teacher had pulled down an AIDS map. Scattered red pins had covered the entire globe, sending a shrill of fear through the observer to realize that the disease was everywhere. But that was not what caught one's attention about the map. Not in the least.

Right in the middle, like a steak cut from a fresh slaughtered cow, had been the continent of Africa, its entire landmass covered in red. Seeing the true scope of the disease clustered on one continent had made her feel sick. As time went on she had never forgotten what it had looked like and had made sure to check back at new maps, at least as long as such things were available. Things got better. Africa was still the worst off but it started to recede.

Not that it mattered now. Not in the same way it had then anyway. She hadn't had much contact with the people in Africa but she had heard that the continent had been taken over relatively easily and it was no doubt about why. All the yeerks had had to do was to offer the cures to the diseases that had plagued them for time eternal. Malaria, AIDS, the yeerks had even found a cure for cancer, a couple of them anyway.

The people of Africa had flocked to their infestation centers, or so she had heard, and gladly taken a yeerk into their heads for the cure that was offered them. Cassie wasn't sure if they had truly understood the bargain they made, who really did, but she didn't have to wonder where the clever scientists of the Empire had gotten the idea to use a controlled virus in America. And now Dallas was dead for it. The small dot that marked Dallas on the map was black. Not blue. Not red. Black. It was small, one could almost think it was an error in the hologram. But Cassie knew what it was.

She turned to the gathered animorphs. "This is the globe. The red...are the yeerks. The blue...that is any form of human resistance that we've been able to find including us. I call you all here because I realized how arrogant I've been. I have been fighting this war since I was 13 and, for the most part, I've been fighting it alone. The animorphs against the empire. That is how it has always been. But that needs to change."

She looked back up at the globe that hung in the air glowing a deep red. It may have been her imagination or maybe just the patterns of the hologram projector but the image seemed to pulse, like an overgrown heart or a cartoonish wounded finger. And wasn't that what it was? Wounded.

"We aren't alone," she said looking back at them. It was a common line from a sci-fi movie or book. 'We aren't alone. Aliens are out there. Aliens are among us.' Well that much was obvious. She had certainly marked the alien presence on Earth. It was the human presence she had forgotten.

"When our civilization was wiped out it was straining under the weight of almost 7 billion people. 7 billion free and thinking human individuals out there. Is it any wonder the yeerks wanted us? When they first got here we were 5 billion and they were drooling. What must they be thinking now, with most of Earth under their bootheels? But what was a feast for them will be our strength. They seek to swallow our culture, our lives, our world whole. We will make them choke on it," she said quietly, steel in her voice.

Rachel would have smiled to hear it, her mouth curving into a confident smirk. But her eyes...they would have held worry and a flash of fear to see what her best friend had become. A fear her cousin would have shared. Ax would have nodded his silent approval, his alien features difficult to read even after so many years. And Tobias? As always his expression would have been unreadable, his intense hawk eyes seeking to stare right through her. For a moment there would have been a solemn silence as they all contemplated yet another front of this war. And then Marco would have broken it with a joke.

So clear to her still, those 5 people who had made up the bulk of her life's best and worst memories, each personality so bright and clear in her memory that they brought tears to her eyes when she thought of them too long. She could see the meeting, could almost see Jake nod, his concern evident and his resolve to win just as clear. But they were gone, each one of them gone and lost to the war she still fought.

"We can't afford to fight alone anymore," she continued quietly, afraid to break the silence the dead, her own and everyone else's, seemed to have claimed for themselves. "We have to find the pockets of human resistance out there and foster them, create them where we have too. I want to riddle this map with blue and make the yeerks think twice about the enormity of the people they are trying to swallow."

[Kovu]

Kovu was late. It was an anomoly, he was never late, he had always been punctual, and since it was his first leader meeting, he had definately wanted to be there early. He must've ate something bad yesterday, because he was stuck in the bathroom, trying to hurry. Finnaly releived, he ran down the hall and into the room, just as Cassie began to speak to the group.

He looked around at the group, a few familiar faces, and many strange ones. The two he did recognize were Aubrey, whom he hadn't seen since LA, and Steve who had received his sister. He sat down without addressing them, mostly because Cassie had already started to speak. He looked at Cassie and tried to take the part of a war general, that was what he was after all.

Kovu listened to the speech and tried to analyze it. He listened to the plan and looked for the benefits and disadvantages it would cause. No doubt having a larger force would be beneficial, not only to action, but to de-moralizing the Yeerks. However, a larger army would risk order, and much larger casualties. Kovu waited to see if Cassie was going to continue or if the other leaders were going to comment.

[Aubrey]

Aubrey took a playful swipe at Stevert, missed, and tried not to smile. Her nose was wrinkled in mock disdain. "I'm still growing, mate. One day, one day." Then Aubrey's attention snapped immediately to Cassie when the woman spoke, the cheerfulness wiped from her face. Unsure if she should sit, Aubrey lingered near the others as a hologram materialized in front of their eyes. Earth, magnificent-looking and beautiful.

Aubrey watched quietly as red slowly began spreading down the globe, almost everywhere. Then, her eyes widened when Cassie explained what it was. The Yeerks. Even knowing that the Yeerks had made Earth their home, it was still shocking to see a visual representation of it. It made you feel insignificant, fighting against a strong, unrelenting current. Aubrey had been given a taste of it in the few months that she had been fighting as an Animorph, but the whole scope of it had never really reared itself to her. It was easy to feel like you were accomplishing something when your fight was centered in one city. To her, winning was only a hard day's work around the corner. It was disheartening to see otherwise and Aubrey felt the back of her throat grow dry.

Her light blue eyes drew away from the reddened planet, back to Cassie. The old Animorph leader's suggestion was valid. As far as she knew, most of the Animorph resistance was located in the United States. That wasn't to say there weren't free humans scattered around the globe, fighting for their lives. Biting back a question that rose to mind--she was, as far as she knew, only a guest here--Aubrey glanced at the faction leaders and teachers gathered in the room and waited for their input.

[Admin]

Seiya looked up at the presentation. He'd seen it before but he hadn't known what Cassie had had planned or the speech she'd planned on making. They had talked late into the wee hours of the morning earlier today about some changes that needed to be made to the animorph structure but he hadn't known she'd meant to make her point in such a dramatic fashion. He worried that she'd overstated the danger and the task at hand. Looking up at that globe made the fight seem impossible. It even disheartened him and he'd known about it before and knew about Cassie's plan to do something about it.

He looked around the room into the uncertain eyes of those that had been asked to attend. Adamo was staring up at the globe a sad expression on his face. Zach's normal good cheer was gone and his face had shut down and become a hard, unreadable mask. Only his eyes showed emotion and they burned with anger. Matt's expression was calm and deep as usual. There were thoughts that would take a long time to surface in the dark pools of his eyes but even he looked a little disheartened. He spotted a few people looking around, everyone else waiting for someone else to speak.

Seiya looked over to Cassie and saw a slight hint of worry in her eyes as she glanced at him. Someone who didn't know her well wouldn't see it. She'd grown much better at hiding her expression in the years that he'd known her. But he had been with her for years and that allowed him that small glimpse into her thoughts, if not into her affections for they had never been very close friends.

He cleared his throat, looked up at the globe and gave voice to the question that he felt was on everyone's mind and was the key to the rest of Cassie's plan. "How can we beat them?"

Cassie gave him the smallest of smiles, thanking him for giving her what she'd needed to go on with her presentation for, as he'd realized a moment ago, it was only halfway through.

Cassie looked up at the globe. "For every yeerk there is in the galaxy there are a hundred humans," Cassie said quietly. "That's why they want us so badly. But we can use that to our advantage. We can fight back. For every slug...a hundred humans. A hundred able bodied, thinking, creative individuals. A hundred, a thousand...billions. We can beat them. One country, one province, one city at a time. They can take ground but they can't hold it. We're always there and we'll always fight."

As she had spoken pinpoints of light had started to sprinkle the globe. They were small and the light almost seemed to flicker and die. But it didn't. They sparkled like stars. And they spread, making the red sheet that covered Earth look like it had tiny holes poked in it that was allowing the light underneath to come through.

"And we'll win," Cassie concluded with conviction as the spread of the lights accelerated, beginning to overcome the red tide and turn the beating, bleeding heart into a shining sphere of light.

"Are you with me?"

[Dean]

If this were a movie everyone would have jumped up and applauded, smiling faces filled with hope as the rallied around the plan. If this were a movie Dean would have dramatically started clapping his hands noticeably before he said what he was about to say. So to make sure everyone heard him.

If this was a movie.

The way things were at the moment though, was all but celebratory. Quite the contrary as a matter-of-fact. Even after Cassie had finished with her inspirational speech the people- many younger than Dean himself- still looked worn and speculative. So instead of clapping like an ass, Dean finally opened hie eyes and removed himself from the back wall where he had stayed during the duration of the speech. No cocky smile. No confidant stance. Just a tired soldier.

He looked at Seiya and then glanced over at Matt-two of only three people Dean trusted. He respected them enough to feel bad about what he was about to put their leader through, but not enough to not go through with it. He turned his attention towards Cassie, saying (with a little effort) plainly:

"Why now? Why try to help ever other person out there now? What's changed to where you want to help the rest of the world now?" Dean kept his emotion out of the questions, but only just. He wanted to know why their leader saw it fit to only fight the losing battle in America. Why she had left the other countries to fend for themselves. He had seen what it was like in the rest of the world compared to the U.S. It was so much worse. Rape and torture reined. Humans that weren't enslaved were treated like livestock, herded and beaten for the Yeerks own amusement. That and so many other horrible things that had been going on in the whole world.

Dean needed to know why she had ignored them for so long.

[Admin]

Matt looked over to Cassie. He had followed Dean's progress across the room, unsure what this former faction mate intended to say. He wasn't sure how he felt about Dean. Before he'd come here Dean had just been one of the two animorphs who had ever abandoned the faction. Matt hadn't admitted it at the time but he'd felt a little bitter about that. It had made him question his ability to lead and had made him worry about the fallout of an animorph on the loose.

But since Dean had been here he'd come to admire the man's loyalty. Maybe not loyalty to him or even loyalty to Cassie. But he had a sense of loyalty and duty to the people he had taken as his own to protect. Matt knew he hadn't liked being pulled out of Africa to get stuck here on Cassie's orders. Matt probably would have felt the same way if he'd been ordered to leave the Los Angeles faction behind so he couldn't blame him.

Now he looked to see what Dean would do. And when Dean asked his question Matt heard a hint of the bitterness he must have been feeling this whole time. So now he looked to Cassie to answer what he'd determined was a justified question. Why now? Just because Cassie had decided this was the best way to win?

A while ago he may not have attributed such calculating motives to those entrusted with human lives, maybe not to anyone. But he'd seen other animorphs who had stopped weighing the human cost of their actions. He remembered the things Rian had said the last time he'd seen him. Even though Rian had admitted he was wrong he had taught Matt that people could believe they were right when making decisions that put others in harms way for no other purpose than to win.

He'd never believed that of Cassie. He had been found and fostered by Raven and he couldn't believe that someone like Raven would follow Cassie if she had become like that. But Raven was dead now. And somehow it shook his belief in her judgement. He knew it was supposed to go the other way. When someone had died their beliefs, their actions, their memories, they all became semi-sacred and just as beyond reproach as the individual themselves. But a part of him was still angry at Raven because she'd once sworn she'd always be here. And now she wasn't. She was dead. And Rian with her. And Ember. So many gone. And even though it hurt him to doubt her he had begun to wonder who counted their cost? Did Cassie?

Cassie nodded to Dean and didn't look away from his eyes. She didn't shrink away from the undertone of anger and resentment, she didn't deny her responsibility in bringing him here, bringing them all here.

"Why now," she repeated, looking into his eyes. "Because now we can." She looked up, meeting everyone's eyes in the room. When they came to rest on Matt he gave the slightest nod back. He wasn't sure he agreed with her but he was willing to listen and that was all the nod conveyed.



She looked over at Adamo and Zach and then motioned for them to stand up. Zach stood up quickly, eager to comply though he looked around as if he wasn't sure why he'd been called on. Adamo stood slower, sliding out of his chair and looking around at the others, also unsure of why they had been asked to make their presence known.

Cassie took a deep breath and it was the only indication that the weight of this meeting, of convincing her people, sat heavy on her shoulders. If she couldn't convince them to fight how could she convince the world. Her words were grand and they would ring hollow if she didn't back them up.

"We were isolated before. Even if we wanted to help others how could we get to them? When the yeerks first attacked the world was united in defying them. But we united too late. Too many people didn't believe and even when the Andalites came they were only working to bolster a failing defense. They were sticking fingers into holes one by one, and all the while the entire dam was coming down. And they knew it so they cut their losses." Cassie said it without any anger or judgment in her voice.

It cost her a lot to say it that way. Even her, who tried not to hold anger in her heart towards anyone, blamed the Andalites for that small betrayal. She could have stood to lose. She couldn't stand that they'd lost because they hadn't tried.

Even the yeerks could be forgiven for what they did. It was in their DNA. They were as hardwired to pursue infestation as a human was to pursue food. But the Andalites could have helped...and they hadn't. The few morphing cubes she'd wrangled from their hands were the only help they would give. They hadn't been willing to risk their ships or their lives on a cause they didn't consider their own.

Only Ax had stayed. Stood by her and watched as the last of his people flew away. Watched with all four eyes as his last chance to see his home before he died disappeared into the twilight gloom. Long after there was nothing to see he had stood there, all four hoofs planted firmly in the soft sod of the hill they stood on, his slight chest, grown muscled in his years of war though still slight by human standards, rising and falling in even breaths. And Cassie had stood with him, understanding the sacrifice he'd made to honor a long ago promise to a long dead prince.

The light of the day had gone and the world was dark, deep inside its own shadow, when he had turned away and walked silently down the hill. She remembered watching his proud shoulders stay straight as he'd walked away. The image would always be with her. It was one of the last memories she had of Ax. He'd died two weeks later, killed rescuing one of their last remaining government officials. The president had lived, Ax had died, and the world had not been saved. Not yet.

"But we have ships now. At least one and we'll get more and pilots to fly them," she said looking at Zach and Adamo. Her words had given them the clue they'd needed to understand why they'd been called out and they both tried to look like the Hope of Humanity she'd labeled them. The truth was they looked like anyone else in the room. Two young men a little scared and a little unsure but willing to try. But Cassie knew better than anyone what determined children could do and her heart rose to see it.

"What wasn't possible before is possible now." She looked at him to see if he had more questions, she looked at all of them to see if they had questions. She didn't know if she had the answers, she probably didn't. She only had her belief that they could win, that they could turn the tide and for that she was willing to try.

[Dean]

Time.

Her answer was time.

Dean felt a sudden urge to throw Dallas in her face. Was it not the right time to help them? His people, his responibility....But it wouldn't of been right. Cassie had no way of knowing what was going down anymore than the Yeerks. He just didn't understand they took him away.

Dean left LA after he found out about Dallas because the whole reason he had come back to the states was to go help his town. Maybe make up for not being there to stop the Controllers in the first place.

Maybe make up for letting Him sacrifice himself so he could get away...

But then Dallas went all cablooie and Dean realized that there was no helping Texas. It was gone. Probably forever.

So Dean went to the only place that he felt like he could make a difference. It turned out to be the only place that he could find a home, somewhere to belong. He also found the closest thing he had ever had to a family.

Dean knew this wasn't the time or the place to get in a verbal fistfight with the war-chieftain of a bunch of super-powered teenagers. He knew it was inappropriate, immature, and would probably make him seem like a child. An asshole child. But he had been restrained for long enough, and he really didn't care. He was going to get his answers. He finally gave in to one of his more prominent faults: His jaded rage.

"If you're all about helping the world instead of your own agenda, then why did you tap me? You've got your army, your "resources" that were lacking in the past. Why not leave me and mine alone. There are people that I'm charged to protect, that I'm responsible for. People that rely on me so that the don't get killed- or worse. Why am I here! Because you can?!" Dean hadn't realized that he was yelling until he had finished.

He didn't regret anything he had said, but he still knew he had gone too far. Silence reigned in the bridge, but all Dean did was cross has arms and wait for his heart to slow down.