trans_9 | Post Mission Party At The Bar

Jake wasn't sure how he felt about meeting Kang. From what Marco had told him, he was responsible for a lot of the grief the Animorphs had dealt with on the ship. At the same time, he was in a position of authority, so they probably needed to talk at some point. Now was as good a time as any. It was also a good time to set limits and make the Council understand that Jake wasn't going to let any of his people die. Not if he could help it.

He slipped into the tavern, feeling oddly self-conscious. It was like something of a fantasy novel or a video game, but here it was. He took a look around - where was this Kang guy?

If the tavern didn't give off enough of a vibe of a fantasy novel already, Kang certainly helped it along. He was taller than Kali by more than two feet, definitely taller than any human currently in the building. He was expecting Jake, but didn't know what he looked like, so only gave a curious glance in his direction when he entered. One of his helpers was likely to get to him soon if he was just looking for a drink.

Well, that narrowed down the list of likely suspects. After a moment more of curiosity, he walked over to Kang with a nod. After facing down aliens, a dragon-man isn't really all that scary.

"You'd be Kang, right?"

"That's me. I'm assuming you are Jake?" Kang's expression was calm, neutral. He wasn't about to start off this conversation with assumptions.

Jake nodded, eyeing Kang evenly, "That's me. I just had a few questions about the council and... I wanted to talk about how it's going to relate to me and my friends."

Kang nodded, dropping his voice, "The building next door, I think, would be better for this conversation. It's a quiet zone on Stacy, just like the house you're living in; if you want to message your friends to let them know that's where we're talking, feel free. Three of them already know of it." He knew how paranoid this group was, and didn't want to make Jake feel like he was being put in any danger.

For a moment, Jake simply watched Kang. If he wanted to get Jake alone somewhere so there wouldn't be witnesses, that was a damn good excuse. Of course, Jake had also told everyone on the team what he intended to do and Marco hadn't made Kang out to be someone willing to go that far to deal with this particular bran of problem. Years of paranoia were hard to put behind you. He finally nodded.

"Alright. Lead on."

Wings rustling slightly, Kang smiled and turned, leading Jake to the storeroom in the neighboring building. He paused after closing the door behind him, "There is a chance that one of the girls might come in, but I think things are stocked well enough for the night. We should be fine." Extra reassurance that he meant no ill will towards the human.

He moved to sit on one of the empty casks. "Whatever questions you have, I'll do my best to answer them."

Jake didn't sit. He put his shoulder against one of the stacks of casks and waited for Kang to settle in, face impassive. He still had a damn good poker face after all these years.

"First of all, I want to clarify a few things- you know about my friends and I, right? And our skillsets?"

Basically, their ability to turn into animals and fight a guerrilla war against aliens.

"I do. Five of you, I believe; Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Aximili and yourself," Kang said. He had no idea about Tobias anymore, thanks to Stacy's shenanigans.

"That's about it, yeah," Jake replied. Technically, leaving out Tobias wasn't lying. Just leaving out some of the truth. "I also heard about you from Marco, but I'm going to try not to let that color too much of my dealings with you. Although it's kinda hard, considering what I've heard."

He paused to let that sink in and folded his arms over his chest. "I also want to make this pretty damn clear: no one gives my people orders without running them through me first. We're a team and we've been together for years and I am not letting any of them get killed because of something somebody else decided we should be doing. Second: I don't want you telling anyone else about us. You already gave up Rachel and Marco, which means that the rest of us are probably outed as well, but for whatever it's worth, I'm putting my trust in you not to give the rest of us away."

At least if they got killed on his orders, he'd feel like he was in control. Like he'd had a chance to stop it. And he was making sure Kang knew where he stood.

"Now I'm curious what Marco has said about me. My daughter told me about the way he treated her, when he only thought her to be my niece. The fact that she was related to me was enough for him to be rude and scare her enough to leave. That issue isn't important at the moment, though, or what you came to discuss with me," Kang quirked an eyebrow ridge. He was clearly not happy about that particular incident.

"I'm going to be very honest with you, as a former military officer. I don't believe in lying to the people that I am supposed to protect. There is a chain of command on this ship, that all of us have to obey. You may have heard already, but for many of our missions, we have no choice of who goes; Stacy decides for us. If we refuse, she can give us violations, and believe me, you don't want to get too many of them. There is a video of what Punishment entails available on the ship's records." Kang paused for a moment. "It's also important for you to realize that your group is only five people, in a crew of nearly three hundred, and millions more in the pods. This is bigger than the yeerks, and your version of Earth. This is the entire omniverse.

"By no means am I saying that I expect you to completely trust everyone on this ship; I'd recommend against it, to be frank. However, we're all stuck in the same situation, and the only way we're going to stand a chance of winning this and getting our worlds restored is if we work together.

"I'm not a part of Command. I'm a Councilor, and our job is to take care of civilian matters; that particular issue should be brought up with them. I can tell you that I do occasionally get assigned as a team leader because of my military history, though. And, no one in Command is in the habit of needlessly risking the lives of the crew. I'm certainly not. I like having my people alive."

Of course, that would be brought up. He snorted softly. "I didn't plan on it. No one should be forced to reveal a secret if it causes others no harm. The only reason I gave up those two was because they had become a danger. I didn't want to; however, I have a duty to protect this crew. The entire crew. As far as I know, no one else has any reason to dig for information on the rest of you, and frankly, if anyone ever does, you've made it far too easy for them to suspect by living in the same house and sticking to your group so closely. It didn't take me long to piece things together after I found out about Marco." That was a friendly warning. "If I ever hear of anyone digging, I will let you know."

He never raised his voice, and kept his tone neutral, diplomatic and polite. He was just telling things as they were, and trusting that Jake was as intelligent a leader as he'd been led to believe.

Jake listened and then took a deep breath as he considered his response. "I realize that you have a military chain of command on this ship, but the Animorphs aren't military. We didn't answer to the President back home or the Andalite High Command. I know you're doing your best for everyone, but that's exactly what the Andalites told us when they planned on trapping the Yeerks on Earth and destroying everything from orbit. We might only be five people, but we're used to working with each other. And I don't like the idea of putting my people under someone else's control."

The war had taught him that much. The Chee had failed them. The Andalites had failed them. The Ellimist had just wanted to use them. These people might be different, but he didn't intend to wait for one of his friends to come back dead to find that out. "I know it's bigger than Earth or even my home-town - that doesn't change my decision. I'm willing to work with you guys and give your council and command structure a shot, but on our own terms."

And he was quite firm on that. Not rude, but firm.

"First of all, don't tell me how we should be associating or how easy we might or might not be making it. That's not your concern. Secondly, we have our secrets. We like those secrets kept. Maybe you can't appreciate the reasons why, but... I'm a lot more inclined to listen to Marco on this then you. I've known him for a lot longer and I trust him a lot more, if I'm going to be honest. You might say it was for the safety for all involved, but what you did? That's a massive betrayal of trust for Marco. Back home, outing us like that would've gotten us killed or worse. Almost did. I know that the Yeerks here have been dealt with and they're not a threat, but still..."

Jake shrugged. "I can respect that you felt that you had to make the hard choice, but I also know why Marco is pissed off at you. He put his trust in you and you betrayed it. That said, I'm willing to help out with this war. It's bigger than the last time, but I think we can still fight."

Even if they were all just tired of it.

"Neither are at least half of the rest of this crew. We all got conscripted, whether we like it or not. You can ask Captain Kennedy and Command for permission to lead your group depending on the mission and how much control we have over it, but in the end, it is up to them, and you'll still have to run things by their approval." Kang pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. "They'll tell you the exact same thing."

He snorted, "Oh, I appreciate the reasons why. I was in a war, too. My entire race was created for one. I know all about secrets, and how valuable information can be. What was I supposed to do when they believed that certain people on the ship were still infested, and were willing to attack their own relatives, one of whom happens to be a close friend of mine? To lock them up for three days and not listening to reason, when they're told that we have a device to scan for yeerks, and no, Stacy isn't working with them? They fully intended on hunting down and killing the other two yeerks here, and made it clear to me that they didn't care who got in their way. I knew what I was doing when I made that decision. I don't regret making it; I would do it again. And, Marco has every right to be angry with me for it."

That still didn't give the human the right to take his anger out on his family, though. She hadn't been involved at all.

Somewhat amused, he shot a look at Jake, "You think you can still fight? I certainly hope you have more faith in yourselves than that."

"And they'll have to run things involving my people past me for my approval. I'm not asking anyone permission to lead them - I'm their leader, I'm responsible for them. That's how it is. If your Captain doesn't like it, he can take it up with me in the future."

Because he is not letting someone else make life-or-death decisions about the Animorphs. About his friends.

"The only people I'd be worried about would be innocents and the people who they thought were still infested. The Yeerks? Frankly, I don't give a damn what happens to them. I'm not going to go out of my way to hurt them, but I also don't care what happens to them. And quite frankly? I think you could've done something that didn't involve spilling a very closely-guarded secret of my friend's to the entire ship. Maybe you could've confined them for three days. Marco and Rachel don't want normal people getting hurt any more than I do, even when they're not sure of what time they're from. We've done the time travel thing before."

Jake kept his expression impassive. "But that decision's done, so there's not really a point arguing about what you might've been able to do. Just know that it does make it harder for Marco to trust anything coming from you. Like I said, I'm willing to work with you and with the council and command. We're on the same side in this thing - I just don't want other people calling the shots for us."

Of course, the Andalites had been on their side too.

"I know we can still fight. It's the matter of fighting universe-destroying aliens on an equal footing that might be a problem."

Kang shook his head, "Like I said, they'll tell you the same thing I did, so don't be surprised when Captain Kennedy does take it up with you in the future." Jake would learn. And if he didn't, he'd be dealt with.

He didn't bother continuing the yeerk discussion. "There are people willing to train others, and we do have some nice toys stashed away. The odds are slim to impossible, I know, but quite a few of us on this ship have faced slim to impossible odds before, and survived. I'll soon be starting up my class again, if you care to learn how to fight unmorphed."

"I'll be waiting for him to call me, then," Jake shrugged, "Like I said, my people, my rules."

He settled back, shoulders untensing just a bit. "I sort of know how. You pick that stuff up, no matter what... Might be useful to look at that."

Hopefully Jake would learn before he got people killed. Kang shrugged, "I do need to warn you, I don't go easy on my students. You can ask others."

"Neither do I. Not when we're in the middle of a war," Jake replied. "I'll think about it. Think you could get me a meeting with this Captain?"

"You can contact him yourself. If he doesn't respond, First Officer Petrelli or any of the others in Command will, and make sure he knows you want to speak with him."

That was what the omnicomms were for, after all.

Post Mission Party At The Bar

The Next Day - Locked to Kang

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