General Jason Roderick watched as the ships came out of Z-space.

He tapped his com. "They’re here."

Star bit her lips. There was no turning back now.

She raised the shields of the NGS Avion.

Jac watched the viewscreen with her as the Blade ship exited Z-space.

They listened as a voice was broadcast over the com-link system. "This is the President of New Gaia. You are in our territory. We know what you want, and you will not take our planet. Leave immediately or we will use force."

The answer came quickly. <We are Yeerks. We come in peace.>

"Liar!" Star hissed.

"We intercepted your ship two years ago. It attacked a Council ship. That is unacceptable. Paired with other knowledge we know about Yeerks, we have come to the conclusion that you are hostile."

<That ship belonged to criminals.>

"We read the records in its databases. We know you have invaded other planets, made them your slaves. We know why you are here. Leave, or we will fire."

The Yeerks finally got the message that they weren’t going to be invited in. <Bug fighters, attack>

A cascade of red beams pierced the black span of space. The weapons bounced off the shields.

"Fire."

Star fired up the engines and piloted the ship towards a Bug fighter.

Jac, holding the weapons controls in his hands, fired a round of shots.

"Direct hit. Their shields are down to 70%. Our, 90%."

Jac fired again.

"Shield at 40. I’m going to pass under. Fire at the belly." Star jerked the controls and the ship turned. She activated thrusters and they zoomed under the Bug fighter.

PCHUUUU!

The ship exploded.

Jac grinned. "That’s one less Yeerk."

Star glanced at the tactical reports that were coming in while Jac continued to fire.

Five of their fighters were gone. Seven Bugs down. The Destroyer’s shields were holding and they had suffered only minimal damage. The Blade ship was not as well off. It had a hull breach in the cargo bay.

Star hit the com. "Colonel Star Fangor to Commander Sarah Esgarrouth!"

"Sarah here."

"Fire at the hull breach in the cargo bay. The engine room is close so you should be able to destroy it."

"We’re too far."
"Then send someone in!"

"Can you do it?"

"We’re being swamped with Bugs."

"I’ll get someone."

Roderick flew ahead of the Bug that was chasing him. Then, he came to a complete stop and executed a small dive.

The Bug flew right over him.

He grinned as the lazguns powered. "Bye-bye slug." And with that, he fired.

The exploding fighter collided with another Bug and both went up in flames.

"Nice shot, General." Came the compliment over the com. "Now I have a mission for you."

"Oh? And what’s that?"

"Fly under the Blade ship and fire at the hull breach in the cargo bay. That should take out the engines."

"What if it doesn’t?"

"Then you’re a dead man."

"Point the way."

He could hear chuckling at the other end. "Be careful, Jason."

"Don’t worry, Sarah. I will."

Roderick activated his shields and his cloak. "Let’s fry some Yeerk butt."

The small ship zoomed forward, nearly colliding with a damaged Bug.

The Yeerks didn’t detect him until he was right in front of the cargo bay.

PCHUUU!

The lazgun fire slammed into the small hole on the side. The cargo bay exploded.

Roderick dodged the Dracon beams that were directed at him.

Slowly, a chain of explosions appeared on the side of the Blade ship, and then spread.

"Get out of there, Jason!" Sarah screamed.

Roderick’s ship was barely out of the way when the Blade ship exploded. The leftover Bugs ran.

Roderick released his tight grip on the controls. "Well, that’s that."

Sarah sat in her private quarters aboard the NGS Destroyer.

BEEP! "Colonel Fangor, Colonel Robinson, and General Roderick." The computer introduced in a mechanical voice.

"Come in."

The door swished open and the three stepped in.

Sarah smiled. "Good job out there."

Star smiled back at her friend. "So how are you holding up?"

"Pretty well considering I just became President a month ago." Sarah sighed. The President had been killed in a spaceship accident. The complaints she heard when she became Vice President were nothing compared to the ones the Council made when she accepted the Presidency. They were already talking about having new elections at the end of the year.

"You did great out there." Roderick told her. "You’re a great commander."

"Thanks. I just wish the Council thought that."

"They will. After today, I think everyone is impressed."

"What do we do now?" Jac asked.

"Brace for another attack. They’ll come back with reinforcements for sure."

"Why wait?" Star asked. "Let’s go get them."

"You mean attack the Yeerks?" Sarah asked incredulously.

"Ye. Why not?"

"Because it’s stupid, insane, crazy, suicidal. Just to name a few." Roderick gave her a ‘duh’ look.

"They wouldn’t expect that. Besides, the Yeerks will never stop. We can’t fight this war forever."

"So that’s what you’re thinking?" Sarah asked. "Do we have the force?"

"When I show you what I have, we will."

Star gestured to the small cube in front of her. "That’s it."

"What is it?" Roderick asked.

"Some Andalite technology we found the designs for." Jac explained.

"That project you asked me about?" Sarah asked.

"Ye. It gives a person the ability to mutate into another creature with DNA."

"Have you tested it? Does it work?" Sarah peered at it."

Star shrugged. "The only way to really test it is to give someone the ability and see if they can morph."

"I’m doing it." Jac explained.

Star nodded. "We couldn’t duplicate it’s portable power source, so we just used this." Star tapped the boxy machine beside the cube.

"And we’re here to witness the demonstration?" Roderick grinned.

"And to call in a medical unit if it explodes." Star joked.

Jac pressed his hand on the top of the cube. "Let’s do this."

Star pressed a few buttons and a surge of power flowed into the cube. It began to glow.

"How are you holding up?" Star called over the hum of the energy generator.

"I’m feeling tingly."

BOOM!

Without warning, the cube exploded and showered all of them with debris. A brilliant white light was cast on them.

Star coughed from the smoke and picked herself up from the ground where she had fallen when the explosion occurred. "Everyone okay?"

Jac stood up. "I’m fine, but my hand is slightly burned."

Roderick hauled Sarah to her feet. "Star, what was that you were saying about an explosion?"

"That could be considered trying to kill the president, you know." Sarah joked.

Star hit her com. "Fangor here. We’ve had an explosion. No serious injuries, but I’d like a med unite down here."

"Acknowledged. Med 3 is coming."

"So, what went wrong?" Sarah asked.

"I suppose I should have cut off the flow of power."

"Did it work?" Jac asked.

Star frowned. "I don’t know. It seemed to be working before the explosion."

At that moment, a Med 3 came into the room.

The lead officer surveyed the room. Typical scientists. Always screwing up projects and blowing things up.

"Jac’s got a burn on his hand. Otherwise, we’re fine."

A doctor went to treat Jac’s burns.

Star looked sadly at the ruins of her project. It had been her baby. But maybe, maybe it had worked.

She grinned and gestured to the other two to follow her. "Jac, we’ll meet you at Bio Labs 17."

"What’s this all about?" Sarah asked once they were all there.

Star pointed to the rodents that were in cages upon the lab tables. "We want to know if it worked. Well, there’s only one way to find out."

Jac was not happy about the prospect of turning into a rat.

"Just see it you can at least acquired it." Star pleaded. "It should go into a trance."

Jac sighed. "Fine."

He picked up the rat and concentrated on its DNA. It stopped moving.

"So far so good." Star whispered. "Now morph."

Jac closed his eyes and an image of the small rodent wriggling in his hands popped into his eyes. He started to feel itchy.

"Ahhhhh!" Sarah screamed.

Jac opened his eyes. "What, what?"

She silently pointed at his hands.

He looked down. They were furry. The fingers were shorter, and claws had replaced his fingernails.

"That is disgusting!" Roderick commented.

"It worked!" Star screamed with joy.

"Can I turn back to human now?" Jac complained.

"No! Finish the morph." Star ordered.

Jac sighed and kept morphing. In a second, he went from 1.8 meters to one meter, and then half, and then 10 centimeters. Fur had completely covered him by now. His hands and feet were completely mouse paws. He was buried in his own clothes.

SLOOP!

A tail shoot out of his butt.

<Now what?> Jac asked.

"Eh!" Sarah looked around. "Who said that?"

"I think Jac did!" Star lifted away the fold of his clothing. "Jac?"

<You heard me?>

"Ye."

<Interesting. I can project my thoughts to you.>

"You can morph out now." Star grinned.

<Finally.> Jac immediately began to demorph.

Half way through morph, Star noticed he wasn’t wearing anything.

"Ugh!" Sarah turned around and Star followed suit.

Jac, embarrassed, pulled his clothes on.

"That was terrible!" Roderick shook his head.

"Like you could do any better?" Jac shot back.

"Maybe. At least I wouldn’t forget my clothes." Roderick challenged.

"I’d like to see you try."

"Fine." Roderick picked up the rat and acquired its DNA.

Before either Star or Sarah could say anything, he began sprouting fur.

"Eh!" Star stared at him. "How can you do that? You don’t have the ability to morph!"

Roderick stared at his hands. "I was just joking around. I can’t believe I did that."

"We were there." Sarah whispered. "We were there when the cube exploded. What if it showered us with something that could make us morph?"

"Wait a minute. If Roderick was affected, so were we." Star gasped. Realization dawned in her eyes. "We can all morph."

Roderick stared at the scientist. "It worked?"

Star nodded. "It worked. We can all morph. But the cube was destroyed. We can’t give anyone else the ability."

"Can’t you built another one?" Sarah asked.

"It took me years to build that. Even if someone else could replicate it, it would take a long time."

"This is such a coincidence." Jac whispered. "I’m Jake’s descendent and he was an Animorph. And now, I can morph too." He bit his lip, "I guess that makes me an Animorph."

"Coincidence, or fate?" Star smiled. "Rachel and Tobias were my ancestors."

Sarah nodded. "My name definitely makes me part Andalite."

Roderick shook his head. "Should I feel left out?"

"No deal, Jason." Sarah smiled. "We’re a team. We’ll always be one."

"Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you about the family history project I had to do for Last Level." Roderick teased.

"Project?" Star’s eyes light up. "What project?"

"Ancestral past. Went back a long way, and found a guy named Marco."

Jac laughed. "Marco? Makes sense. You certainly have his sense of humor."

Roderick gave a fake bow. "Well then, Rachel Jr. do I have the pleasure of calling you Xena?"

"No, thank you." Star paused. "Monkey-boy."

Roderick failed to come up with a good comeback.

"We’re getting witty, aren’t we?" Star asked him sarcastically.

"Don’t talk, Bird-boy, I mean girl."

"Eh! I’m not the one who left a girl at table and forgot about her."

Roderick looked at Sarah for help.

"I’m not speaking up for you. I’m the one you left stranded!"

"You left the President stranded?" Jac asked, unbelieving.

"Well, she wasn’t the president then. We were in school together, and I invited her to have dinner with me. Then I get a beep that someone broke into my Lancaster!"

Sarah smirked. "Obviously, his spaceship was more important than me."

"I came back!" Roderick protested.

"Two hours later!"

Star and Jac were practically rolling on the ground with laughter.

Then Sarah got serious. "So here we are. Four people with the ability to morph."

Star nodded. "The next generation of Animorphs."

"NGA." Jac blurted out.

"What’s that stand for?" Roderick asked. "New Gaia Animorphs?"

"Or Next Generation Animorphs?" Star suggested.

Jac shrugged. "Well, we are from New Gaia, but we’re also the next generation of Animorphs. Sarah, you decide."

"Does it matter?" Sarah smiled. "We’re the NGA. We’re both."

Star nodded. "The NGA."

"The NGA."

"The NGA."

"We’re going to pick up where our ancestors left off." Sarah vowed. "We’re going to beat the Yeerks, and get Earth back."