Chapter Seven

I focused my mind on the image of the nameless Volcarv, as the ship began shaking around me. My body began to grow taller, my biceps thickening. There was a grinding sensation in my arms as my forearms sprouted the retractable bone-blades.

My thumbs split down the center and thickened, becoming the six-fingered Volcarv hands. They were powerful, with hook-like claws at the end, designed for grasping and gripping prey. I felt my skull begin expanding in size, and there was an odd sensation as my eyeballs split down the center and separated into two eyeballs in each socket. I never lost my sense of sight during this transition, making it an even odder sensation.

My spiked tail shot out of my spine, and I felt an odd sensation of chemical sacs filling up in said tail. I glanced at the tail more closely, and realized that the barbed tail was in fact venomous. Each of the barbs was an individual venom sac.

Multicolored green, blue, and dark green fur sprouted all over my body, and the morph completed. My senses adjusted to the new sensations. My sense of smell was sharper, as was hearing.

But the Volcarv primarily hunted by sight. I now understood why the species had four eyeballs. Each eyeball saw a slightly different segment of the Electromagnetic Spectrum, similar to Andalite Stalk Eyes and Main Eyes. But this went way beyond that. Each eye took in a slightly different spot on the EM spectrum, so that when all four eyes were working in tandem, I could see a rather large chunk of it. I could see heat signatures, ultraviolet rays; I could even see X-Rays, allowing me to peer through several solid objects. Although not the walls of the ship itself. I suppose that the Volcarv wished to maintain their privacy.

The Volcarv instincts began to bubble up under my mind. It was a cool, confident predator. Also it was very lazy. It preferred to sleep rather than take action. It was built to be a very fast ambush predator, relying on its arm spurs and the paralyzing toxins in its tail (I realized now that the toxins were designed to stun, rather than kill, like with most venomous creatures) in order to subdue its prey. It preferred to put as little effort as it possibly could into taking down its prey, but it was also built to do just that.

I flexed my arms and legs, and glanced over at my DNA donor, who was unconscious and trapped underneath the metal gate that had kept us imprisoned moments before. I quickly relieved him of his pants, donning them myself.

I then began making my way towards the forward section of the ship.

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Bynar's quarters were in a room adjacent to the bridge. Because I was Volcarv, wasn't stopped at any point and simply rode the MagLev Platforms all the way to the bridge. I walked across the bridge to Bynar's quarters, unmolested at any point by my fellow Volcarv. Most of them were furiously and frantically running about the bridge, as the warning klaxons were still sounding.

Bynar's quarters were easily the most comfortable room in his entire cold dark ship. There was a stone firepit at the far end with some sort of meat roasting upon it. Various animal heads and teeth were mounted on the walls. I recognized some. A Bajirarn Jubba-Jubba three fingered claw. A Dule Fansa Cone-Arm. A Lebtin Javelin Fish spear. A Tyrannosaur and a Triceratops head. Both clearly harvested from Terra Nova herself. And, to my utter surprise, a Mardrut water expulsion sac. I also noted the head of an earth rhinoceros. Bynar had definitely been busy.

"What is going on?" Bynar demanded. He was standing by the firepit. "Why are you not at your post?"

"The humans have escaped," I said in Garlard.

"And you dare to come before me with your failure?" Bynar demanded. Before he could react, I made a fist with my ham-sized hands and punched Bynar in the face.

He staggered back in surprise. I had hit him hard, and he had not been expecting it. I lashed my tail forward and stabbed his arm with one of the paralytic venom sacs.

"You dare?" he demanded. I responded by punching him in the face again. He dropped like a sack of ooka melons.

I began demorphing as Bynar stared in shock.

"You will suffer for this, humanity," he said as I finished assuming my human form.

{You keep saying that,} I commented dryly. {And yet you consistently underestimate us. Already I have simply walked here from my prison cell. And in a moment I am going to take command of your ship.}

"HA!" he chuffed. "My men will never take orders from anyone other than myself!"

{Is that so?} I asked, smirking, and placed my hand on his arm. Within seconds the acquisition trance combined with the Volcarv paralytic rendered him unconscious.

Within minutes I had morphed into Bynar. There was no functional difference between the two bodies. The instincts and mindset were identical.

I stepped out onto the bridge, scanning the crew with my four eyes.

"Chief!" one of them called. "I can't raise engineering! They've gone silent."

{Emily?} I asked, fairly certain that within a ship of this size, engineering was within Thought-Speak Range.

{Yeah, Mendy?}

{Can I assume that you're responsible for the radio silence in Engineering?}

{Yep. Turns out Troodon venom is REALLY potent on Volcarv. Every Volcarv I've encountered between the brig and Engineering has gone down almost instantly. I'm about to hit the bridge, actually. Just crawled out of a vent. I can see Bynar the…}

{WAIT!} I yelped, stepping back from the nearest ventalation grate. {That is me! I morphed Bynar!}

"Keep trying to raise engineering," I instructed, in my best Bynar impersonation. "Send someone down there if you have to!"

"BELAY THAT ORDER!" Bynar's voice crowed from behind me. The real Bynar staggered out of his quarters, glaring at me. "That is not me, but the Humanity in Morph! The female has obviously set a trap in Engineering!"

"Don't be absurd!" I snarled, bluffing. "Obviously THAT is the human in Morph! Don't be fooled by his obvious lies!"

The crew was looking back and forth between us wildly.

"Shoot them both," One of them declared. "We can sort the real Bynar out later."

"Do and I'll have your head mounted in my quarters!" the real Bynar declared.

"There's a simple solution," the Volcarv positioned where a T.O. would be on an Andalite ship.

"What is my name?" he said.

Bynar and I were both dead silent. I could see Emily's Troodon form slithering closer to Bynar. The others hadn't noticed it yet, their focus was locked on the two of us.

I laughed in thought-speak.

{You don't know his name either!} I chuckled in open-thought-speak.

"Aaarrrg!" I yelled out loud. "Of course I do!"

My bluff worked. Instantly the Volcarv all fired stun weapons at Bynar,as I casually walked over to a nearby console and began inputting instructions to the ship's computer.

Suddenly, one of the Volcarv let out a yelp. He collapsed to the ground. There was white blur and then another one did. Emily's Troodon morph was quite fast.

The T.O. Equivalent hadn't yet realized what was happening. I turned and looked at him, and casually began demorphing.

{I'm afraid that you chose poorly,} I said, smirking. He glanced over at me, and then at the unconscious Bynar, and then at my morphing warping self. He paled.

"Oh no," he whimpered.

{Oh yes,} I said. Emily began demorphing behind the T.O.

"Bynar has 37 crew members," she said as she resumed human form. "And I just took down 36."

{Why don't you land the ship,} I said. {Don't make us morph and add you to the body count.}

"Bynar's going to kill me either way," he muttered and took his place at the console.

Emily smirked as the walked over and plopped herself down in the captain's chair. I picked up a stun weapon from a fallen Volcarv and took the con.

Bynar suddenly groaned, waking up. I will give him this. He was quite hardy. I calmly walked over, placing my foot on his chest, and pressing the stun-spear up against his throat.

{Your tactical error,} I said calmly. {Was your hubris. Jason granted you passage to leave. You escalated the confrontation. Do not mistake mercy for weakness, Bynar. Humanity conquered the Yeerk Empire—AND their own planet. The latter feat being the more impressive of the two.}

I fired the stun-spear point blank into Bynar's neck. It was extremely satisfying.

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Jason embraced Emily and refused to let go. Bynar scowled at the sight, clamped down in chains and specially designed locks to bind his arm blades and tail spikes.

"Okay Jase," Emily said. "You can let go now."

"No, never," Jason whispered. "Nononononono."

"He was like a man possessed, Em," Melissa said. "You should have seen it."

"As sickening as your mating rituals are," Bynar scowled. "What are you planning to do with me? I assume you're claiming my ship as your trophy, as the female promised."

"Actually, I'm not," Jason said, finally releasing his girlfriend. "Though I would like to, the Volcarv Rangers wish to impound it for evidence. And I'm not going to withhold anything from them that will allow them to NAIL you."

"The Volcarv Rangers? You presume much, the Conservatory has no extradition treaty with the Kelbrid!"

"Which remains true," Muk-luk commented. "However, exceptions can be made for sovereign territories within Kebrid space."

There was a shimmering light projection from Erica's holoprojectors. A Volcarv female's holoprojection appeared in front of us. She had dusky reds and browns, indicating a native of the desert environment on the Volcarv Homeworld. The females were skinnier, much more lithe and agile than the male counterparts, and their lion like manes were closer to human female's hair, but besides that there was little physical difference.

"This is Warden Kaftid," Jason commented. "She's been so helpful in setting up official relations between Volcarv Prime and Terra Nova. I just had to thank her! She'll be arriving in a few hours to collect you, your men, and your ship."

Bynar looked horrified.

"You messed with the wrong species," Jason said.

"Clearly," Kaftid said, making that odd chuffing sound that Volcarv make when laughing. "Speaking of which, Warden Jason."

"Warden?" Emily asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I'm rolling with it," Jason chuckled.

"I am very much interested in the unique Fauna of Terra Nova," Kaftid said. "I have six cubs approaching the age of ascension. I would very much like to purchase proper hunting permits for your Preserve."

Jason blinked. "We've barely begun our wildlife surveys," Jason admitted. "True we've already identified seven endangered species, but I don't feel comfortable with issuing general permits until a proper survey can be conducted."

"Then my payment for the permits is perfect," She said, smiling and bareing her razor sharp teeth. "My mate is the chief designer of the Hide-Blind Survey Ships, that my race uses for that very purpose. It will be of no consequence to have one constructed, delivered as payment, and in the following hunting season, allowing my cubs to claim names of your World's fauna."

"That is…A very tempting offer actually?" Jason commented. He glanced at the group.

"As long as no endangered species are allowed to be hunted," Melissa said, I'm cool with it."

"I would NEVER," Kaftid said. "I raised my cubs far better than that!"

"Girls only?" Emily asked.

"I consider myself to be a modern Volcarv Hunter," she replied. "My male cubs AND females will be with me for the rite, and will all earn names."

"Then I'm cool with it too," Emily said. Jason glanced over at me.

"I do not possess any objections," I said. "I only wonder how long it will take to acquire the ship used as payment."

"Probably five or six mini-cycles, no more," she replied.

"About six earth months," Muk-luk translated.

"All right," Jason said. "Permits granted. We have a deal."

"And that Bynar," Kaftid said, her holographic imager turning and sneering at the male Volcarv. "Is how you ask for a PROPER hunting permit, you worthless TRANSLATION NOT AVAILABLE."

Bynar just snarled in response.

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Three Days later.

We stood among the twisted metal remains of the Pemalite ship. The Volcarv had come and collected Bynar and his men and ship. And they had taken the morph-clones of Bynar and the nameless guard whom I had acquired.

We now stood among the scrap, prepared to use the morphs that we had originally sought to acquire in the first place.

I focused my mind on the image of the titanosaur. How we had tracked down the herd. Each of us had landed on the backs of one of the mighty behemoths. My body began to grow. Expanding exponentially. Bigger than any creature I had ever morphed before. I fell onto all fours, my arms and legs thickening into massive tree trunks. A powerful long whip-like tail shot out of my spine, at the same time my neck extended as well. My face bulged out, and my human teeth became flat and sharp, designed for grinding up plants.

The mind underneath the titanosaur morph was calm, collected, simple. Unlike many herbivores, it had no fears. I calmly and casually uprooted a sapling and sucked it down my long neck.

The large bits of immovable scrap that once was the Pemalite ship was now no more than a toy to me. It took no effort to push closer to the forward section.

"Good work guys!" Erica yelled up at us. "The nanites are kicking in. The ship will be repaired in like no time now."

{Jason, Mendernash, Melissa,} Emily exclaimed. {Look!}

Emily used her whip-like tail to point to the far end of the clearing. There, grazing calmly at the edge of it, was my own morph-clone.

My heart seized up. There he was. So very close, and yet so very far.

{Time for some outside of the box hunting,} Melissa declared, and before I could realize what was happening, she was whipping her tail in rapid succession, herding the Andalite towards us, while using her massive bulk to block his escape.

Suddenly realizing that he was surrounded by giants, the clone attempted to make a break for it, but found himself triangled in by Jason, Emily, and Melissa's massive forms.

In this form, he was tiny. I began demorphing, thousands upon thousands of tons of mass returned to Z-Space where I'd originally drawn it from.

{It is all right,} I calmly said in thought-speak. {You are in no danger.}

A gutteral primal cry in thought speak was the only reply. After all, this young Andalite had no history or culture drilled into his head from upbringing. He was operating on pure instinct. Andalite optimism and intelligence.

I gently walked up and took his multi-fingered hand, he became calm as his DNA—MY DNA became a part of me, and I became whole once again.