Down to the Taxxon world!

The Jahar was cloaked, hidden from sight and from most sensors. But a close sensor sweep by a Yeerk ship would reveal us. And we would never be able to land on the planet in the Jahar.

We needed a victim.

We found it, out beyond the Taxxon world’s third moon. It was a slow-moving transport ship. It was just arriving in the system, which meant they would be expecting it down on the surface. Perfect for our needs.

The trick was to disable the ship — to make it stop, but not destroy it.

<This will take precise aim,> Alloran said. <Which of you two is a better shot?>

I wanted to say that I was. But I knew Arbron was better. And we could not afford to fail. <Arbron is the one who hit the Skrit Na ship.>

Alloran nodded. <Let’s see what you can do, Aristh Arbron. We need to hit one engine, but leave the other functioning. And we don’t want any unfortunate explosions.>

Arbron took the shredder controls in his hands. The Yeerk transport ship was two thousand miles away. The target engine was about forty feet long.

Arbron keyed into the computer targeting system and made careful adjustments while all of us — Alloran, the two humans, and I — watched.

There was a hum as the shredder fired. We saw the pale green beam lance forward into darkness. And on the screen, with magnification at factor five hundred, we saw the near-side engine pod of the Yeerk ship glow red and green.

<Good shooting!> Alloran said. <They’ll waste half an hour trying to figure out what happened and reconfiguring to fly with just one engine. Aristh Elfangor, take us in fast!>

I punched up a burn and we rocketed forward, descending on the crippled transport. We were alongside the transport before they knew we were there.

<Jam their communications,> Alloran ordered, and I feverishly punched the flat surface of the tactical board with my fingers.

It was my second boarding of an alien vessel. I guess I should have felt like I was an old hand. But this wasn’t some lame bunch of Skrit Na. This was a Yeerk ship. We had no way of knowing what we would encounter. Would it be Hork-Bajir-Controllers? Taxxon-Controllers? Or some other fierce, unknown species the Yeerks controlled?

<A word of advice,> Alloran said. <Taxxons may be repulsive, but never forget that down in their brains they have a Yeerk. You’re dealing with a Yeerk, not just a Taxxon.>

Alloran, Arbron, and I pressed close to the hatch, waiting for it to blow open. We carried handheld shredders on setting three. There are six power levels on a shredder. Level one delivers a mild charge that will stun a small creature for a moment or two. Level six will blast a hole through ten feet of solid alloy. Level three wouldn’t kill most creatures, but it would certainly knock them down so hard they wouldn’t get up for hours.

At that moment, waiting to rush a deadly enemy, I struggled to recall everything old Sofor had ever tried to teach me about combat. But I swear I couldn’t remember a word. Maybe Prince Alloran was calm, but I sure wasn’t.

<Remember, don’t kill them all,> Alloran said. <We may need to acquire them.>

“Good luck,” Loren said.

And then the hatch blew.

BOOM!

In a rush of wind from the explosion, we launched ourselves into the Yeerk transport. Taxxons!

If you’ve never faced a Taxxon, let me tell you: They are shocking things to see up close. They are tubular, like a monstrously thick, ten-foot-long hose. They have rows of needle-sharp, cone-shaped legs. The upper third of their body is held upright, and there the rows of legs become smaller and form tiny two- and three-fingered hands.

There is a row of dark red eyes, each like congealed liquid. At the very top is the mouth, a round, red-rimmed hole circled with vicious rows of teeth.

There were half a dozen of these creatures practically encircling us. For a frozen moment no one moved. I don’t think the Yeerks could quite believe that they were being boarded by Andalites, right there in orbit around the Taxxon home world.

Then everyone unfroze at once!

On my left, one Taxxon raised a Dracon beam and aimed it at me.

<Ahhh!> I yelled and pulled the trigger of my shredder.

TTTTSSSAAAPPP!

The Taxxon crumpled.

TTTTSSSSAAAAPPP! TTTTSSSSAAAPPPP!

Shredders fired.

TSEEEEWWW! TSEEEEWWW! TSEEEWWW!

Dracon beams fired!

The air was instantly as hot as an oven. Shock waves from all the weapons rocked the enclosed area. Screens blew out. Sheet-plastic panels crumpled. Sparks exploded in brilliant waterfalls from popped conduits overhead.

<Stop firing!> Alloran ordered. <We’ll destroy the ship!>

Behind me, a Taxxon! Dracon beam coming up!

I didn’t pause to think. I just jerked my tail. My tail blade sliced through the air and separated the Taxxon’s arm from his body. The arm fell to the deck, still weakly clutching the Dracon beam.

“SSSRRREEEE-WWWAAARR!” the Taxxon screamed.

Now there were only two Taxxons still standing, and they knew they were beaten. They backed away as fast as they could motor their cone legs. But even then, and even with the Yeerks in their heads, the Taxxons’ evil instincts would not be denied. As they backed away they bent low to tear chunks of flesh from their dead companions.

The Taxxons are cannibalistic. Not a nice species. And according to everything we knew about them, not even the Yeerks inside them could control that foul hunger of theirs.

<All right!> Arbron cried. <We got ’em!>

<Shut up, you young fool,> Alloran snapped.

Alloran had already guessed why the Taxxon-Controllers were pulling back. They didn’t want to be in the way when serious trouble showed up.

And that serious trouble was just becoming visible through the haze of smoke from burning, sparking panels.

Seven feet tall. Razor-sharp blades at the wrists. Razor-sharp blades at their elbows. And knees. And tails. And two or three huge, forward-swept horn-blades on the tops of their snakelike heads.

Hork-Bajir!

<Well, well,> Alloran said, <it’s been a while since I fought a Hork-Bajir. I’ll take the two big ones in the middle.>

That left a Hork-Bajir warrior each for me and Arbron.

Two full-grown, adult Hork-Bajir, each with a wily Yeerk in its head.

<I’m thinking maybe we should both have paid more attention to old Sofor,> Arbron said, making a grim joke.

I saw the Hork-Bajir advance on me. I heard Sofor’s voice in my head. Don’t think, Elfangor. It’s all instinct and training now.

I let go of my conscious mind. I simply let it slip away. And in its place, a tingling energy seemed to fill me up. It was as if I were charged with electricity. As if sparks might fly from my hooves and tail.

The Hork-Bajir came on toward me. And I struck.

I struck!

And when Alloran was outflanked by one of his opponents, I struck again.

And when Arbron was knocked down by his Hork-Bajir opponent, I struck again.

I struck and struck and struck till Hork-Bajir blood ran on the decks.

And when my own conscious mind returned, it seemed as if hours had gone by. Arbron was staring at me like he’d seen a ghost. Alloran was nodding grimly, as if he recognized something about me.

Wounded Hork-Bajir, and worse than wounded, were lying in Taxxon gore on the deck.

<No,> I whispered.

I turned and ran back through the hatch to the Jahar.

I ran and slipped and fell to my knees, with nowhere else to run.

It was the human, Loren, who ran to me and put her strange human arms around my chest and with one hand pressed my face into her long golden hair.