trans_9 | 'Meat' 'n Greet

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'Meat' 'n Greet

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a green-skinned alien and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

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< Lucky you aren't blowing these details > Tobias called to him. He'd gotten nervous that Marco might say the wrong thing, and he still was. < Sulp Nar pool will work > he called. It was the only one he knew, although he couldn't help with the rank thing.

"Sulp Nar pool," Marco repeated. And while he wasn't necessarily confident about this whole thing, he wasn't as nervous. Besides, if all else fails and Tom realised something was wrong? Marco was fully prepared to morph gorilla and threaten to bash Tom's face in if the Yeerk didn't crawl out.

Never mind Stacy.

Rank though...that was a tougher one. And Tom would be unlikely to believe him if Marco claimed to be of higher rank. "Sub Visser 26", he said, picking a number below 17 at random. Let the Yeerk think he was in control.

If anything, Marco fulled expected Tom to assume he had given himself a higher rank, with no other "Yeerks" no contradict him.

"Really?" His eyebrow quirked, but he shrugged, casual and confident. If the Yeerk was lying, it didn't really matter.

In fact he was almost certain that the Yeerk was lying about his rank, but he didn't really care. The other wasn't trying to act more powerful. "So, Eslin 2256, what do you know of what is happening here?"

"Supposedly, according to the story we've been given - a species called the Ohm has been destroying universes. We were apparently 'rescued' from our universe being destroyed by Stacy. Everyone here is from a destroyed universe. If you believe the story, that is."

Marco found it darkly ironic that he was actually giving the Yeerk accurate information here. But then, if Tom were to go and ask someone else about this, he needed Tom to hear exactly what he'd heard from Marco. If Marco lied, Tom would know something was up when he heard differently.

"You'll find that a lot of the people here are recognisable from human fiction. The man in charge at the moment is, of all people, Captain Kirk. Yes, it's ridiculous, but the theory is that the events of one universe can end up in the fiction of another. But that's not important. The important thing is that they don't like Yeerks here, and there are Andalites on board. One of them is in Command. You might recognise him - I'd heard you were there when Visser One killed Elfangor."

If Elfangor wasn't enough to get Tom's Yeerk terrified, nothing would be.

"A destroyed universe, so they weren't just destroying planets, then." That made no sense, planets were full of resources, living and otherwise. Such wanton, mindless destruction seemed...both unwise and unproductive.

<Is that all you can think of?> The grief had only be lessened slightly by the thought that his brother might still be alive and free. Marco had stated that Jake was-

<Wait. Back up. Marco said Jake was sleeping with the others.>

Shuttered wariness for the host. <You talked about it.>

<I did, but how would he know?>

The host seemed to consider it for a moment, organizing his thoughts.

<A lie, but which part?> There was quiet hesitance in the thought, not wanting to help him.

His brow furrowed in though, gazing at the human shrewdly. He almost got the question out.

And then the name was spoken. His lip curled, a bare hint of an eternal hatred between the two species. "Elfangor is dead." But there a tiny hint of doubt. Marco was older. What was to say that this hellspawned ship couldn't reach back further in time?

"The ship picked you up from the past," Marco pointed out. "I can only assume she got Elfangor from further back. Don't ask me when - I'm not stupid enough to go up and ask."

"True, but this presents a definite problem. Where do you feed if there are Andalites about?" This was an important question, the presence of other yeerks suggestion that there was a way to survive on this living ship, he simply had to find it.

"You said there were others asleep, how do you know?" It was a easy, almost casual question, lacking any clues for the trap that it half existed as.

<Wait, did he say that Captain Kirk was in charge?> There was the smallest hint of hero worship in the human's thoughts, something very innocent and childlike.

He hated the variety of emotions humans could express at times, as well as their ill-thought so called 'science' fiction. If he had been under cover, he likely would have gushed at length, but he wasn't, and among his brother Yeerks he wasn't going to bother.

"The ship doesn't want us dead. She gives off Kandrona rays in a few places." Okay, Marco didn't actually know how, or if, Stacy intended to feed the Yeerks. And it was probably too much to hope that she wasn't going to feed them at all.

Either way, Marco needed to at least give a reason for why he, supposedly a Yeerk, wasn't dead. So he'd made something up.

"Remember where you woke up? That's just the beginning. There's thousands of people stored there, maybe more. The ship claims that when the universes were being destroyed, she saved people with significant "stories". Important people. But she brought their families as well. And as I know of at least one person who has other family members here, this seems to be true. Since you're here, it's logical to assume that she brought your host's family as well."

"Convenient, no need to leave the hosts then. At least a considerate kidnapper." His tone was dry, but that was one burden off his shoulders.

<no.>

<Paying attention again? Looks like you won't even get those few minutes of freedom anymore.>

The host made a tiny sound, an incoherent moan of despair, but didn't seem to have the words to express himself. So far, he felt like he should be thanking this 'Stacy', she had provided him with unlimited amounts of toys to torment the host with.

"The fact that this ship considers us 'heroes' is amazing to me. Perhaps it is capable of making mistakes? But as for families...what use is the host's family? I would be happier to see my pool mates." He snorted faintly, losing interest in trying to figure out the issue. "What are you plans, so far?"

...Dammit. He should have let the Yeerk think he would stave. Inwardly, Marco cursed.

But no. It didn't matter what the Yeerk thought. No matter what, he was toast.

"That's just what they tell us. We don't know if that's what it's really after," Marco said. "And if your pool mates are here, I haven't seen them." But Marco scoffed inwardly at that idea. It was pretty clear why Tom was here: he was Jake's brother. End of story.

"Lay low, figure out what this ship has in mind for us, don't get killed by the Andalites," Marco said dryly. "I wouldn't mention anything beyond what a normal human would know here. The only reason I'm still here is because I've kept my mouth shut."

The yeerk snorted, looking at him. "I survived two years of the undercover invasion without blowing my cover, Sub Visser 26, do you think I will suddenly lose all pretense of subtlety and go up to the next human I see and introduce myself as a parasite? I am more than capable of keeping my mouth well and truly closed. And I have good control of my host, there will be no episodes of host rebellion that might blow my cover. It's the same game in a different playing field and the stakes are just as high."

He was really unconcerned, he had played this game surrounded by people who knew his host and hadn't failed, here on a ship full of strangers...well, that much easier to let the mask slip and little and define himself as someone aside from a likable but a bit dense high-school student.

"It would likely be better if we limited contact with each other as well, though it is convient to know we don't need to leave our hosts, lessens chances of being discovered if they know the feeding cycle."

Inwardly, Marco snorted at the fact that the Yeerk was trying to give him a lesson in staying undercover. Marco had figured out Tom was a controller just days after he'd even learned about the whole Yeerk war. They'd found a number of other controllers just by following Tom. Jake, one of the "Andalite Bandits", had lived and fought a way under Tom's nose the entire time. Not to mention the fact that Marco had just managed to convince Tom that he was an ally.

If anyone needed the lesson in staying undercover, it was Tom.

But, instead of laughing off in Tom's face, Marco made a show of being chastised. When they had Tom locked up somewhere, then Marco would laugh at him until he punctured his own lungs. "Of course - apologies, Sub Visser 17." Oh, he was so going to enjoy watching this slug starve. "And yes, you have a point. But we will need to stay in contact. Fact is, there's no one else on board that we can truly trust."

Marco would have preferred to stick close by Tom - but then, he could work around it if Tom didn't want to play along with that. He could always follow Tom in morph.

"So, how does one go about finding sleeping quarters, are they assigned or do you simply claim what you want?" He glanced to either side, frowning slightly. "What equipment do you have with you, is the com system secure? Or should we find some other means of communication?" This was what he knew, this was what he understood. Undercover operation and calm deduction of options.

This was easy.

"You claim your own. And while everyone gets a comm, I wouldn't trust it. Too many people on board have advanced technological skills - and not just the Andalites. I've seen communications hacked."

"Got it, thanks for the tip." As enticing as the presence of his brother yeerk might be, he would learn nothing here. "If you'll excuse me, then, I have a ship to explore and a few things to check out."

Marco nodded, and waiting to Tom go off. He make sure Tom was long gone before he started talking to Tobias.

"Get out of my hair."

Tobias hadn't budged yet anyway, because he also wanted to be sure that TomYeerk was long gone.

< I'm going, I'm going. And I know you're going to find some way to exact revenge on me for that one. It was just the easiest way I could think of to stay with you. > He said. Unlike a human, he didn't lose thought-speech as he demorphed.

< That morph is useful, but I still don't like it > he commented.

"You could have landed in Tom's hair," Marco insisted. "Or landed on a wall. Or anywhere else, really."

And oh yes, he was going to get you. You'd better watch out for your feathers, bird-boy.

"We need to find somewhere we can keep him for three days," he said.

< Yeah, I guess. It was just the first idea that popped to mind. Oh,by the way...just remember, if you get me, you better find yourself a hat > Tobias said.

< Yeah, I think we should. The one problem is, how will Stacy take it? I am not gonna be happy if she tries to stop us. >

"Come on Tobias. That just lacks imagination."

"I don't care how Stacy takes it. And hey, if she doesn't know? She can't do anything. We don't have to bash his head in, we just have to keep him somewhere for three days."

< Hey, I'm kinda limited here. Unless I morph to something else and get you, which I could. >

< I'm hoping she can't or at least that she won't. > he said. < I'd hope she at least has a little compassion for Tom. I'd say do the same with Aftran, but we both know that won't work with her. We might have to see if we can talk to her and get her to understand like Cassie did, or something. >

"What, you're limited except for all those options you have by morphing? Dude. That is the most pathetic excuse ever."

"We don't know when Karen's from," Marco pointed out. "We don't even know if Aftran is with her. And right now, she's not the one we have to deal with. We have to sort out Tom first. And I'm going to have to be careful while I'm pretending to be a controller here. You and Ax are going to have to look for somewhere to keep him."

< I just said that...the part about morphing, that is > he replied.

< That's true, you can't exactly take too many chances on him finding you out. I'll talk to Ax...and my parents should probably be aware of it as well. I'll have to find them and talk to them. >

"Yeah, and it's lame."

Marco looked skeptical about including Elfangor and Loren too, though. "I don't know, man. You sure about Elfangor and Loren? I mean, Elfangor's Elfangor, but he hasn't had to fight in secret like we have."

< OK, maybe it is. >

< I just...I figured all of us should be aware of it. I know what you mean though, about fighting in secret.> Tobias replied. < Would it be a bad idea, do you think? >

'Meat' 'n Greet

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