The Kelbrid Wars

By Shane-O, aka Sancho

Disclaimer: I don't own nothin' except for this computer, which I'm lucky to have, some T-shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, a half a pack of Camel Lights, and three crème sodas. Definitely not the Animorphs or their little universe. Don't sue me, because I ain't giving up my smokes or my crème sodas.

Author's Note: This is the sequel to The New Dawn. I'm going to try and make this readable for people who haven't read New Dawn, but if you have trouble understanding any of it, reading the New Dawn should clear it up. Actually, if you haven't read my first fic, what the hell are you doing reading this one? Go read the other one and review every chapter! Enjoy!

Prologue

Ax

(Fire on the battlecruiser as soon as it's within range! Deploy the fighters in screen formation, and instruct Benevolent and Nova Child to intercept the enemy fighters!) I commanded my bridge crew aboard the brand-new Dome ship Fire Flower. We were trying to push the Kelbrids back towards their own space, but it wasn't going too well.

The Kelbrids, for all their warriors and technology, were quite dumb. They had no grasp on tactics or strategy. That was good news for us – it meant we could win battles even if we were outnumbered. Unfortunately, the amount of ships, fighters, and troops the Kelbrids had arrayed against us was staggering, so sometimes they won through sheer numbers.

It had been a year since I said farewell to my fellow Animorphs on Earth. A very, very long year. My tactics were being printed up in Andalite Training Manuals as fast as I could make them up. I frequently received messages from other Captains and Princes in the Andalite fleet asking for my advice. War heroes who wouldn't have looked at me eight years ago were now asking for my thoughts and suggestions.

The Kelbrids were not the Yeerks. There was nothing subtle about the way they conquered planets. Unlike the Yeerks, they had no interest in enslaving other races. They did it sometimes, but that was only if there weren't enough Kelbrids present to do their hard-labor work. They were very untrusting of other species, and didn't even like employing them in dangerous metal quarries or gas-mining operations.

Our spies had yet to breach all of Kelbrid space, but the initial reports were not encouraging. The Kelbrids had pretty much kept to themselves in their own sector of space, which was blocked from sensor probes by a huge nebula of Ratitile meteorite particles, and I'm sure you know the havoc Ratitile plays with sensors. Apparently, they weren't interested in war. They were interested in seeing how much they could build and how fast they could do it. The only reason they armed their ships and fought is because they knew, rationally, that other sentients in the galaxy would try and stop them from strip mining every planet they came across. The more planets they took, the more they built, and the more planets they could take. It was a bad cycle that we should have stopped hundreds of years ago.

Their stunning number of spacecraft wouldn't have been a problem if they'd been any number of normal alien races. Andalites, for instance, were able to bear only a few young in a lifetime. It took a lot of time for them to reach maturity. The humans are the same way. There would have been no way for us to fill up the number of ships the Kelbrids did in the short amount of time that they did it.

Our spies had found out quite a bit about the insectoid race themselves. The basic instincts of young Kelbrids were not limited to 'Kill, eat, sleep, and follow mother' as they were in so many other species. They were born with the knowledge of how to pilot, how to fight, how to build. Add this to the fact that every Kelbrid female could produce a hundred young every standard year and the young matured in about two years, and you see the problem we faced.

This particular battle, however, was important and totally winable. The Kelbrids only had one battlecruiser present, and even though they had enough firepower to fight a Dome ship to a standstill, they were less maneuverable. Their picket ships, about an eighth of the size of the battlecruisers, were nimble, but only good for attacking starfighters. Their light laser cannons could burn down a small fighter, but wouldn't penetrate Dome ship armor even with sustained fire. They only had two pickets at this particular location in space, halfway in between a planet they'd already settled into and one they desperately wanted.

In addition to their two picket ships and their battlecruiser, they had about fifty or sixty fighters. While they weren't any bigger, more powerful, or better protected than Andalite fighters, their numbers often overwhelmed our pilots. That's why I'd ordered my two other dome ships, Benevolent and Nova Child, to fire into the approaching fighter formation. Kelbrids often sent their fighters ahead of the rest of the fleet, and then attacked with their bigger ships while the battle was confused, swarming with friendlies and hostiles. By keeping all of the fighters under my command in screen formation around their respective Dome ships, I allowed the Dome ships' main shredders to even the odds between the fighters. Then, when the number of enemy fighters had dwindled to the point where my own pilots could handle them, I'd take the Dome ships in with my own to beat up on the battlecruiser and picket ships. Standard tactics – well, standard Andalite tactics, anyway. Kelbrids would never even understand what I'd done…any survivors would just be wondering how we managed to defeat them so easily.

(Communication from the Kelbrid battlecruiser!) Halamor, my very junior communications officer, shouted eagerly. I made a mental note to remind him not to just shout things out on the bridge, especially in the middle of an upcoming battle.

(Ignore it,) I said. (I'll bet you my home scoop that they hate that. Well, wait. On second thought, bring it up. Maybe I can talk him into surrendering to us.) The more senior officers on the bridge crew laughed at my joke, because they knew as well as I did that the Kelbrids did not surrender. The junior officer put the communication through, though, and I shook my head. Yes, I'd definitely have a talk with young Halamor later. For now, though –

"Greeting, Andalite," The bizarre, insectoid creature said, clicking his mandibles. I could see the flashing blue battle lights of the battlecruisers bridge in the background and hear the low whoo, whoo, whoo sounds of their strange battle alarms. "Whom am I addressing?"

(Captain Aximili of the Fire Flower. Speak quickly so I can enjoy the destruction of your fleet without distraction,) I told him.

"Oh noo, Captain Aximili. I do not want that. Please, power down your weapons so we can talk of more peaceful times." I rolled my eyes – the Kelbrid really were stupid, and apparently thought we were as well.

(Certainly, I will. As soon as you power yours down and order your fighters to self-destruct. Now, if you don't have anything else to say, I'll -) I cut myself off as I watched through the viewscreen in disbelief as, in sequence, the rapidly approaching fighters simply exploded. I checked the sensors and saw the the Kelbrid ships had taken their weapons totally off-line. Not just on stand-by – it would take them almost a half an hour to recharge their weapons.

"I have done as you wish, Captain," the nervous-looking Kelbrid said. "Now, if you will ask your ships not to destroy us, I believe we have much to talk about."

Rellatan, my second-in-command, said, (Sir? Your orders?)

(Recall the fighters. Keep the shredders on stand-by. Get six armed commandos to my private shuttle on the double. I should very much like to find out why this particular Kelbrid is so eager to talk.) I walked out of the bridge, the only sound among my stunned crew the click-clack of my hoofs as I left the polished, gleaming bridge behind.