Going Native: Smell of War (Patreon)

“We need to find a way down,” I decided, glad to be moving on to our next goal, even if it was a timed objective. The only question was how to find an easy way down because I highly doubt that we could ask anyone for directions. I flew up, punching through a dense cloud of smoke and dust while the others followed me up slowly. Or, rather, I was moving too fast. I flew over the city, looking over at the endless skyline that made up the horizon. 

We didn’t have the time to search the entire planet for a secret entrance, and time was of the essence. Where could the entrance be though, I wondered, my gaze searching for an obvious sign. I don’t even know what I was looking for -- maybe an actual neon sign announcing the presence of a tunnel that would take us down to the center of the planet. It was ridiculous, but I was at a loss on what to do. 

“Maybe we should make our own way down?” Tora spoke up, likely realizing the same issue that I was struggling with. I fought back a surge of irritation, something that didn’t go unnoticed by him or the others. The tired to be subtle about it, but I didn’t miss their shared glance. Even Borgos was looking at me warily. 

I uncurled my fist, forcing myself to calm down even as rage bubbled in my chest, fueled by pain and frustration. “We can’t,” I shot the idea down, trying and failing to stop myself from snapping at him. “It would take too long, and we could destroy the planet’s core on accident. Lord Frieza forbade any action that would permanently decrease the value of a planet.” 

Tora frowned at me, his gaze drifting over Parslee and Matillo, both who met his gaze evenly. “Then what do we do?” He asked, knowing that I didn’t have an answer. That pot of bubbling rage in my chest surged -- it took absolutely everything that I had not to lash out at the question. Was he asking that to undermine me since he knew I didn’t know the answer? Was he trying to make me look weak, indecisive? Was he trying to become the leader of this team even though Lord Frieza put me in charge?

Or was the question an honest one without ulterior motives?

“I…” I trailed off, feeling their expectations on me like a physical weight. It settled on my shoulders heavily, alongside the responsibility for a million soldiers. I curled my hands back into fists, though this time not out of anger with Tora, but to myself. I wanted to be the leader, I wanted to step up, and now it was time for me to be a leader, to prove that I could be one just as good as Bardock, I was stumbling. 

My gaze swept past my team, unable to meet their eyes as my mind raced. It landed on the fallen remains of the space elevator that Matillo had taken down earlier. A heavy dust cloud hung in the air, and I knew it would be some time before it settled. A thought struck me as I looked at it -- this planet was a well-oiled machine, and machines were all about efficiency. 

Space elevators were used to transport goods through gravity without the use of transports. As the name implies, they were literally an elevator that took someone into space. They were used to go up...but elevators could also be used to go down. It made sense -- if the lower levels of the planet served as factories, then they would naturally need a way to get them back to the surface, and it was a lot more efficient to build one single elevator that could take them directly to a transport waiting for a shipment in space. 

“The space elevator,” I decided to take the gamble, looking at my team. Tora had followed my gaze before he nodded, agreeing with me. “Follow me as closely as you can. I’ll clear the way,” I told them, getting a ‘yes, my prince’ from Matillo and Parslee. My gaze landed on Tora, lingering on him for just a moment. His gaze met mine, and for the briefest of seconds, an expression passed over his face that could only be described as nervous. 

Without another word, I blasted off towards the ruined space elevator. I spotted defensive positions, lesser ones since Matillo and the others had done a pretty good job of wrecking their main stronghold, but I destroyed them all the same. Anything that could get in our way, scarabs, tanks or buildings, I laid waste to them all. Ki blasts fired from my hands in a continuous streak, blowing up buildings and streets. 

Scarabs were the tip of the Reach’s sword, but they were hardly the only equipment that they had. Tanks divisions rolled down the street, mechanical soldiers attempted to secure positions as they began sudden preparations for repelling an assault. I destroyed it all -- buildings, equipment, and soldiers alike. And there was nothing they could do to stop me. 

Leaving devastation in my wake, I neared the space elevator, the structure far more gigantic than I could have ever imagined. Evidence of its fall could be seen far from the point of impact where winds were powerful enough to knock over buildings. The gravity on Skrew was ten times the galactic standard, the same as Planet Vegeta, so to support such a tall tower, the elevator was...utterly gigantic. And when it fell, it fell from the atmosphere, going from weightless to hundreds of thousands of tons. 

I went to the base of it, seeing that was still standing while I checked out to see if there was anything left of the defenses. If there were, then they were gone now. 

Right. Now, for the moment of truth. 

“Ka...me...hame...ha!” I launched the Kamehameha at what was left of the giant structure, even what was left of the base was worthy to be called a skyscraper. It crumbled underneath my attack, enveloped in a light for a moment and by the time I stopped, what was left of the space elevator was gone. Flying over to it…

I nearly fell out of the sky I was so relieved to see a pitch-black tunnel that likely leads to the center of the planet. There were lights that lined the metallic walls, but the tunnel went so far down that I couldn’t see them. And considering how good my eyesight was, that was saying something. 

“How are we looking,” Shugesh asked, sweating ever so slightly as the others approached. My gaze dipped down to the hole in his stomach filled with that foam -- I was going to have to keep a close eye on him and make sure that he didn’t push himself too hard. I gestured to the hole, making everyone’s gaze widen. I fought off a smirk as I turned my gaze towards it as well. 

“Nice guess, Tarble,” Fasha commented, and this time I couldn't stop it as she reached over and patted me on the back. 

"Let's go," I started, descending into the tunnel first. As much as I wanted to bask in the fact that I was right, that I made the right call, we were still on a time limit. It didn't take long for us to plunge into darkness, leaving the light a distant thing above as we traveled miles down the elevator shaft. Every hundred or so feet were four doors, one for each direction. The elevator shaft itself was around two hundred yards in every direction in a perfect circle. 

It didn't take us long to realize there was an issue the further we went down. The darkness grew heavier and denser until we could barely see one another in the low light. The air itself got thinner, or, rather, there was more carbon dioxide since it settled down here, forcing us to put on our masks and tap into our oxygen reserves. 

"It's getting way too dark down here. Did anyone bring a flashlight?" I asked, the anticipation torturous. Every second, I expected something. For every inch we descended, I expected the alarms to go off, for swarms of scarabs to come flying out so that we were completely surrounded. Only for nothing to happen. 

"What's a flashlight?" Fasha asked, sharking a look with Shugesh, who shrugged. 

"Something that will help us see?" I tried again, getting nos around. I frowned as we continued to descend, glancing over my shoulder to see the entrance was becoming a spec in the distance. We...had to be hundreds of miles beneath the surface at this point. Far too late make a trip up to grab a floodlight or something. 

But...if we didn't have a flashlight...then I guess I would just have to make one. I thought about it for a moment, picturing how it would look like in my head before I summoned upon my ki. 

It was just like doing a Solar Flare, but only sustained and weaker. Light began to emit from my body, piercing the harsh darkness around us, pushing it back so that we could see each other. I saw Tora wince at the sudden light, so I dialed it back a bit until it was a perfect blend of letting us see each other and our immediate surroundings. 

“Well done, my prince,” Matillo praised, nodding in my direction as we continued to fly down. “You seem to be a well of techniques,” he commented, making pride swell in my chest. 

“He kinda always has been,” Fasha commented, “the Solar Flare, Hellzone Grenade, Kamehameha, Spiral Buster…”

“The Destructo Disk,” Tora continued, sounding amused despite himself. “Saw that one in action for the first time earlier.”

“Didn’t you mention something about a Special Beam Cannon?” Shugesh, joining in -- they were teasing me, much like they had done before, but now it left me feeling uncertain. Before I was the kid of the team, the new guy, and now I was the leader. Should I shut it down? They teased Bardock too, but he was the undisputed leader of the team, not running his first mission as a four-year-old. 

“Oh, and what about...the...ah, Tri-beam?” Fasha continued, sounding amused. “I heard you mention it once, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen you use it.” She pointed out, her tone the same as it ever was, but things were different now. I opened my mouth...to shut it down, only to pause when I caught a look from Matillo. I couldn’t see his face because of the mask, but if I had to describe the look he was giving me, it was an understanding. He gave me a soft nod. 

… “Because I haven’t used them yet,” I said instead, accepting the teasing. I let the anger go, and I felt my grip tighten on the rage of the oozaru. “I’m saving them for special occasions when one of my other techniques fail.”

“Heh,” Shugesh chuckled, “good luck with that. With the Wrath State...well, give it a couple of years then I’m not sure you’re going to get a chance.” He said and it took me a moment to understand that he was complimenting. 

“Wait, does the Wrath State count as a technique? Because I was talking about energy blasts. If we’re opening up the door to those kinds of abilities, then the list is going to get a lot longer. He was trying to describe this mental trick to me a while ago-” Tora continued, only to be cut off as a sound echoed in the tunnel. I looked down just in time to see a bright red ray race up towards us. 

I dodged out of the way, watching it rush by exactly where my head had been a split second earlier before I looked down. In the heavy darkness, even the smallest bits of light shone like stars in the night sky. Only these lights were a cherry red and they lined the walls, hundreds of them and every single one was the barrel of a gun. 

“Take cover in the walls,” I ordered, forming ki balls in my hand before I launched dozens of ki blasts right back at the defensive turrets. As my team rushed to obey my order, blasting out a door to avoid the beams and hopefully out of harm’s way. Explosions wracked the walls, turrets exploding as I weaved my way between the hundreds of red rays that rushed upwards. 

“I’m guessing we’re close,” I shouted, throwing a blast that took out a dozen turrets at once in exchange for a ray slamming into my stomach. If it hurt, I couldn’t tell from the constant pain my body was in that I was able to ignore.

“Be careful not to destabilize the tunnel, my prince,” Matillo called out, my team poking their heads out to fire down at the tunnels. I grit my teeth in annoyance because he was right. Too big of a blast down here could collapse the tunnel and given that it went all the way down to the center of the planet, then I really don’t know what the after-effects of that would be. 

Dozens of red rays raced towards me with dozens more following every second, leaving me little room to maneuver even as I fired back to thin the defenses. My rage fought against my grip on it, frustrated with the sudden halt of progress. It was going to take too long to destroy them all. 

“We have to push through,” I shouted, unable to think of anything else. There were hundreds firing at us, and I’m guessing that would continue all the way down. We couldn’t afford to stop here. 

“We’ll be shot to pieces,” Tora shouted, firing down from his own...huh. An idea struck me as I looked at the warped metal that was a door to the floor. It was a thick, solid metal that seemed to be made of the same stuff the space elevator. Even better, since there were four doors, we would have just about every direction covered. 

“Tear off the doors,” I ordered, “Matillo, you’re bottom. Tora, left, Fasha, right, Borgos you get top. We’ll use them as shields.” I stated, and my team jumped to obey. They ripped the metal doors from the hinges, making quick work of it before they fell into place. The metal door took the hits, small thumps under foot when I settled on it as Matillo kept it in place, his fingers digging into the metal. 

Our front and back were left exposed, but that was manageable. 

One my entire team was in position, with me taking our front while Parslee and Shugesh covering our back, I gave the order. “Let us fall, Matillo.”

We began to plummet down, the doors serving as a shield as I fired at the walls as we went, destroying them before they could get a shot off. The sounds of the rays of light hammering at the shield filled the tunnel, echoing down it as we slowly gained speed as Matillo helped us fall a little faster. But, even with the extra speed, we fell for minutes. 

And we kept falling. 

And kept falling. 

And kept falling. 

And we fell some more. 

Then we fell even more. 

And kept falling. 

It was impossible to tell just how long we fell for, but it was too long. If it wasn’t for the fact that I kept having to destroy turrets, I would have thought we weren’t falling at all. The longer we fell, the hotter the metal plates became superheated from the red rays until in some places they began to glow a bright red. No one complained, so I could only hope that they were handling the pain. 

Then, without any warning, we slammed into something. It would have been a bad crash if we couldn’t fly, but other than a jarring impact, we were all fine. Taking that as our exit, I darted out and started destroying turrets, trying to give us some breathing room, Parslee doing the same as we laid waste to the defensive turrets. I took the time to see what we hit. 

It was a giant door, and it seemed fairly thick considering that there wasn’t even a dent from our impact. The others kept the shield up while I saw a faint glow of a ki attack being formed, so one of the others was about to blast their way in. Explosions lit up the dark tunnel, enough so I was able to stop shining like a light for a time. It bought us some breathing room before I heard Tora shout out to us. 

“We’re through,” he yelled out, making me dart back down to the shield to see that they made a hole in the door. It was a lot thicker than I expected, over three feet of solid metal, but it seems that wouldn’t stop us. Matillo, Shugesh, and Fasha were already down there. I gestured for Tora, Borgos, and Parslee to go next, leaving me to bring up the rear. 

The other shields fell, revealing a badly damaged surface, but they were thick enough that it hadn’t mattered. Using the one that served as our top, I grabbed a hold of it and used it to cover the hole. Touching down, I realized that we were in a room -- an airlock that the elevator was meant to go through, while the steady thump against the makeshift patch broke the silence. 

Finally, I let my glow stop since the room itself was dimly lit by an alarm system. My gaze landed on a door in front of us, similar to the one we just busted through but it was undoubtedly the entrance to the base. I could practically feel it, like an itch on my skin, that there were powerful opponents on the other side of the door. We were in the right place. 

Taking in a deep breath to resecure my grip on my rage, I let it out slowly. What would Bardock do in this situation? They would be ready for us on the other side of the door and, if this place deserved the kind of defenses that it had, then they were going to break out the big guns. Those missiles that deleted everything they touched, or...a special-class scarab. 

The answer was obvious.

“We’re making our own entrance,” I informed them, glaring at the door, wondering what kind of enemy stood on the other side. We would find out soon enough. My team nodded, understanding what I was getting at -- it was a common tactic used by Bardock. Never be where the enemy expects you to be and never hit them where they expect to get hit. Matillo and Parslee followed suit, ki blasts forming in their hands. 

Then, on my mark, we made a new entrance. We attacked the walls, bypassing the door entirely. The dense metal that protected the base in the planet’s core was no match for us, and within a moment we were inside. I spearheaded the charge, so it was me who first saw what we were up against. We were right to go around them because they were entrenched. 

The area was a large lobby that wouldn’t look out of place at a bank -- furniture to sit on, white tiled floors, potted plants, funny looking artwork on the walls with a front service desk at the front. I would say that it looked out of place that supposedly harbored a jammer that could cut off our communications planetwide if it wasn’t for the makeshift defenses. There was the standard stuff -- forcefields to act as cover, dozens of soldiers spread out in defensive positions, but that’s not what my gaze found itself drawn to. 

A black and purple scarab that stood at the center of it all -- its arms were plasma blasters, but along its shoulders were miniature cannons filled with what I’m guessing was enough artillery that could kill us. Its armor was bulkier than a vanguard, especially around the chest portion, while it yellow eyes stared blankly ahead. I made a snap decision as soon as I saw it -- there was no way that the others stood a chance against that thing. 

120,000.

I probably didn’t stand a chance against that thing, I amended as I shouted my next order. “I’ll cover the rear -- the rest of you find the jammer!” I ordered, rushing forward as the defenses. “And stick together!” I added, firing off a ki blast as one of the missiles in the special-class scarab shoulder raced towards me. It detonated, filling my vision with a deep black void that erased everything that it touched. So, I was right. How unfortunate. 

“Leave it to us,” Fasha confirmed as my team rushed down a hallway, blasting through whatever soldiers were there while I rushed towards the scarab as it reacted to our presence. It aimed a plasma blaster in their direction, a deep blue torrent of it escaping the barrel before I kicked it to the side, drawing a line across the lobby. The defenses were reduced to ash -- the front desk was gone, the force fields wilted under a glancing blow and everyone behind them died a quick death. The metal glowed a bright red where it was melted into slag, dripping onto the floor, and for a split second, I wondered if it had just cut the base in half but I pushed the worry to the side as I spun, aiming to kick the scarabs head off. 

It dodged out of the way with ease, backing up to put some distance between us, and it was obvious what it was planning. It wanted to hit me with one of those eraser bombs, and I doubt anyone was tough enough to tank one of those to the face. I pressed forward, lashing out with a fist to keep in engaged in close quarters combat, so unless it wanted to kill itself it couldn’t use the missiles. 

The shoulder-mounted cannons melted into its armor as its hands transformed into weapons. However, instead of forming a sword like so many scarabs seemed to favor, the plasma blasters narrowed in shape. Then with a sound that seemed to echo in the lobby, the only sounds coming from my team fighting their way through the base in the distance, a bright blue beam emerged from the emitter. 

I knew exactly what it was despite having never seen it before in my life. 

A lightsaber. 

It slashed at me with them both as I flipped out of the way, narrowly missing being bisected in half only to have to dodge a thrust that nearly skewered me. As I jerked my stomach out of the way, narrowly missing the thrust, I formed a ki blast in my hand and launched it from my palm at the emitter of the lightsaber. It moved the weapon out of the way as it struck out, slashing to the side as my weak attack impacted against its chest, any damage it did being smoothed over the same moment that I dodged out of the way. 

I couldn’t use my full-powered techniques, I realized with more than a little annoyance as I was forced to dodge the beam of plasma. Worse, I couldn’t afford any distance being put between us or I could find myself erased from existence. With a snarl twisting my face, I formed to ki blades around my hands, shaping them until they matched the length of short swords. Mostly because my arms were too short for anything else.  

Pushing the scarab, I slashed with a hand, ki and plasma meeting in a shower of sparks and a flash of light. My ki began to give way, so I reinforced it with more, making it denser and heavier, but that was fine. A growl escaped me as I pushed its weapon to the side as I lashed out at its head, attempting to take it off with a single swipe, only to be forced to block when its other hand became another lightsaber. 

It was faster than me, I realized as I was forced onto the defense again, blocking blows that came within a hairsbreadth away from bisecting me. And better as swordplay as it nearly took my nose off as I made a lunge to take off its arm. The only thing keeping me alive was my reflexes. 

Snarling behind my mask, glaring at the scarab’s dull yellow eyes that betrayed no emotion, I realized that I couldn’t win like this. All it would take was one mistake, and I would lose a limb in the best-case scenario. I...I had to get off the defensive, but how? Gritting my teeth, I slashed at the scarabs head, blocking a swipe with one hand only to have my own attack blocked. I lashed out with a foot, kicking at the scarab, and nearly lost the limb when the scarab twisted a blade downward to make a quick strike at me. 

I would have lost it if I hadn’t followed the momentum of the kick to do a quick front flip, breaking the deadlock. I raised both my hands over my head and brought them down on the scarab, its two lightsabers going into an X formation to catch them. Our eyes met again and I felt my blood boil in my veins at the dull gaze that stared back at me. 

This wasn’t working. What else could I do? What would Bardock do in this situation? How would he win? I was putting up a fight, but I was losing. Slowly but surely, my misses were getting narrower and my attacks got further and further away from landing. I needed...to attack where it didn’t expect. How?

An image appeared in my mind and my snarl became a feral grin. 

Keeping one ki blade in the X, I thrust downwards with the other, forcing it to dodge out of the way while it's blades closed in on my arm. I pulled it back, buying me a moment to summon upon the well of ki inside of me -- I pictured it pooling in my stomach as I went back in to fight. I touched down onto the floor, swiping at its legs, only to be blocked yet again. The pressure from the ki began to build in my stomach as I locked down one blade and blocked another. 

Then I let it out by opening my mouth. Ki traveled up my throat and out of my mouth, exactly how it would if I were an oozaru. It wasn't the focused beam that Matillo could do, but it did the job. Dark purple ki erupted from my mouth, tearing through my mask and slamming into the midsection of the scarab. At this close, the torrent of ki ripped through the scarab rather than knocking it back, punching through its torso and scarab backpack. 

The scarab went still as soon as I cut the attack off, realizing that it punched through the door behind it and into the wall as well. It was an instant kill shot. The special-class scarab fell to its knees, still looking down at me before it fell on its face, dead. A lone green puddle formed where it laid, it's armor dripping off of it to join the puddle of blood. 

I did it. I killed a special-class scarab. On my own. I was probably the first Saiyan to manage such a feat. And yet, before I turned away, I couldn't help but feel...disappointed. Not by the strength of the scarab, who was stronger than me by a third, but...with the victory itself. 

It was trying to avoid collateral damage, so it could only fight with a fraction of its strength, just as I was. I won because it couldn't go all out. 

But now wasn't the time for regrets or wishes for a better fight. I had a mission to complete. 

I turned away from the corpse, checking over my shoulder for no last-second surprises before I took off to chase after my team. It was easy to follow their tracks, all I had to do was look around for broken walls, busted doors, and massacred soldiers. As I raced through the halls, something became very clear. 

This wasn’t a military base, I realized as I flew by a window that was filled with dead aliens dressed in uniforms that didn’t look like the traditional Reach armor. They died huddled up in a corner, practically on top of each other, before they were executed. The rooms themselves reminded me of the Nursery -- medical equipment, testing areas, consoles to read information and so on. 

“It’s a research facility,” I breathed, blasting through hallways, spotting more testing areas as I entered another wing of the base. I saw experiments laid on tables, prototypes of machines and more. I didn’t even understand what I was looking at half the time as I raced by, following the carnage my team left in its wake. 

I nearly put the revelation out of my mind, only to pause when I went to do a general scan to make sure I was going the right way towards my team. Instead of doing the scan, my finger touched the port that the technician had told me about. He made it so I could download Reach info...but, I had a mission to take care of. If there was time, then maybe, but not until I took out the jammer. 

“P-please don’t kill!” I heard a voice I didn’t recognize wail as I neared, so it must be an alien. I slowed down, touching down onto the floor, idly glancing at the butchered soldiers. If the others were bothering to ask questions, then I’m guessing that they were guards. I walked down the hallway, turning the corner and-

I jerked my head out of the way of a ki blast, Fasha the culprit if the wide-eyed expression she gave me was any indication. Forcing myself to think that it was a mistake, I nodded at her before my gaze landed on the others. They all looked fine, so it seemed that their first line of defense was their last line of defense. They were standing guard while Tora stood over a lime green alien that had some kind of exoskeleton instead of skin, though it darkened on its chest, much like the scarabs did. 

“Is the special-class scarab dead already?” Shugesh asked, his eyebrows climbing up to his hairline as I calmly walked forward, my gaze lingering on the alien. It took a moment to place it simply because they were so rare, but I knew what it was. It was a Reach alien, as in the original species that started the Reach empire. 

We really did catch them off guard with this. 

“Yeah, it’s dead,” I informed before jerking my head at the alien. “Who’s that?” I asked Tora, making him step back as I approached, the Reach alien looking up at me with naked terror. Body language was difficult to read on other aliens, but it looked enough like a saiyan for me to tell that it was scared. 

“Leader of this place,” Tora informed. “We caught it trying to escape and I was trying to get some information about where the jammer is.” I nodded, coming to a stop in front of the alien, and, to my annoyance, even slouched against the wall, cowering in fear, it was still taller than me. 

“The jammer?” It echoed, looking between me and Tora as if it couldn’t tell which of us was the leader. Eventually, its eyes settled on me, “I can tell you where that is. Just...just don’t kill me,” it begged, flinching when I frowned at it. It was...selling out the planet to save its own skin. One of their most fortified worlds left in the sector, one of the biggest industrial site they had, and it was giving it to us on a silver platter. 

But...I suppose cowardice has its uses too. 

“Fine,” I agreed with a nod of my head. 

“Tarble-” Tora started to argue while the others shifted at how easily agreed to the terms, only I silenced him with a look. He flinched back, looking down at me with a wary expression and it was only then that I realized I was glaring at him. I took in a deep breath and let it out before I turned my attention back to the alien. 

“You want to live?” I asked, getting a wary nod, the alien was apparently smart enough to know that a but was coming. “But, you’re going to have to do some things for us. You’re going to lead us to the jammer...then, you’re going to lead us to a database that has everything that you’ve been working on here.” I’m not sure if I used the word database correctly, but a place where all the data would be gathered. 

At that, the alien stilled and my smile grew. It seems that it either wasn’t as afraid as it pretended to be...or there was something that the Reach really didn’t want us to get our hands on. Which means I wanted it.

“What’s so important about the databanks?” Tora questioned, sounding unhappy with the change in plan. 

“That they don’t want us to have them,” I answered, taking a threatening step forward, making the alien flinch. I needed to be intimidating like Bardock would be in this situation. He would make the alien so scared that it couldn’t even think about trying anything. “So, here’s how it’s going to be. You’re going to take us to the servers of this place and the jammer, and you get to live.” 

I formed a ki ball in my hands, looking at the alien dead in the eyes and I could see the fear in them. “And if you try anything, we’re going to eat you. Alive,” I threatened, and I’m pretty sure my threatening tone was undercut by Fasha stifling a giggle, but it didn’t matter. The alien looked about ready to soil itself out of fear, and I knew it would do whatever we wanted it to. 

“R-r-r-r-right,” it stuttered out, “the...the jammer is-”

“No,” I cut it off, “you’re going to show us where they are. If you’re lying or leading us into a trap…” I trailed off, a warning in my tone. 

“I always wondered what your species tasted like. You’re so rare, I’d bet you’d be a delicacy,” Borgos spoke up, a rarity for him. And, despite knowing him for years, I still thought that his voice didn’t match his face or body type at all. Even still, the alien shivered as I hauled it up before throwing it at Tora. 

“Are you unharmed, my prince?” Matillo asked quietly as he fell in line next to me, the question catching me off guard. I...don’t think anyone had ever asked me that before. At the very least, not in this life. 

I nodded as we flew through the tunnels, “I’m fine. It was a disappointing fight, to be honest.” I said, making Shugesh snort behind us. 

“Disappointing he says. Against a special-class scarab,” he commented to Fasha, who still looked far too amused for her own good. “Hey, I didn’t get a chance to scan it. What was it’s power level?” He asked as we took a turn, leading us down a wide-open hallway. I’m guessing it was one of the main ones in this place. 

“...A hundred and twenty thousand,” I answered after a moment, making Shugesh sputter while Fasha’s amused look morphed into naked shock. I glanced at Matillo, enjoying my teammate’s reactions, and noticed that his expression was...proud? He smiled at me and I found myself looking away, distracting myself with the task at hand.

It didn’t take us long to reach a set of serious-looking bulkhead doors. We approached cautiously, wary of a trap but as Matillo stepped forward and started to pry the doors open, it proved to be unnecessary. There were no defenses here because we already blew past them.

“Securities pretty lax,” Fasha noted as we stepped inside eyeing a giant machine that took up most of the room. It was a giant ball spinning really fast, the low red light giving the room an ominous feel to it but it was...kinda a letdown, to be honest. I don’t know what I expected a jammer capable of taking out our coms planet wide but a spinning ball wasn’t it.  

“We...were in the process of transferring to a different facility. We thought we would have more time to do so-” the alien answered the question, only to cut itself off when I raised a hand and blew up the jammer. A small ki blast at the base of the needle-like platform, making it blow up before the ball fell over. 

Well. That takes care of that. 

“Y-you!” It started, gaping at me as everyone else filed out of the room, dragging the gaping creature. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” It shouted at me, looking distressed. “That was maerdium ore, one of the rarest metals in the universe-”

“No,” I growled at it before I pressed down on my scouter, “testing. This is Tarble of the Planetary elite squad, does anyone read me?” I asked, waiting for a few seconds before repeating myself. The answer was the same both times. Dead silence. Slowly, I turned to the Reach alien, making it flinch back in fear so badly it nearly fell. It would have if Tora wasn’t keeping it up by grabbing it by the back of its neck. 

“It’s because we’re in the center of a planet!” It cried, sounding frustrated and afraid as it struggled in Tora’s grip. “Of course they can’t hear you, you-” It cut itself off when Tora squeezed a little, making the alien cry out in pain as it clawed at Tora’s hands. 

Right. That actually made sense. “I’ll go to the servers, the rest of you go topside. Get in contact with the fleet and get out orders. I’ll meet you there in a few,” I ordered, getting a nod from Matillo and Parslee. However, my team lingered, and I met Tora’s gaze. I watched him swallow a sigh before he gave a small nod, and it didn’t escape me, even as angry as I was, that the rest of my team didn’t start to leave until he did. 

Swallowing my anger, I grabbed the alien, “now, where are those servers?” I demanded, lifting the alien up. It was quick to point me in the right direction, all the while my mind raced, moving on to the next step. Now, we had to either take the planet or damage enough to severely hamper production. Preferably, we would take it then repurpose it for the Frieza-force, but, given the sheer amount of resistance we’ve encountered, I doubt that we had the forces to take it. 

Given that I was currently the only one that could fight against the special-class scarabs...no matter how I looked at it, the only chance we had was if I taught the Wrath State to the others. I couldn’t take the entire planet by myself, but with a team of people that could fight the same level as I can? That could be a different story. 

“We’re here,” the alien informed, trying to muster up as much dignity as it could. I eyed the room -- the walls were made of some kind of crystal that glowed a cool blue. They were shaped in tall towers, and there were about a dozen of them. I’m guessing that these were the servers. I stepped to one, noting that towards the base, it was an odd blend of machine and crystal as if the crystals themselves were growing out of the machines. 

I pulled a wire from my scouter and found a port, exactly like the technician said. An option to download appeared on my screen and I clicked yes. The crystals hue changed from a cool blue to a deep green as the information stored on the servers made its way onto the scouter. I heard a sharp intake of breath from the Reach alien, to see he was staring at me not with fear, but pure panic. 

“You’re not here to destroy the information?” It asked itself more than it asked me, its tone filled with dawning horror. “But you’re...a saiyan!” It accused, spitting the word out like a curse. Ah. So that’s how it was. I guess I was acting rather outside of the norm for my species. 

“No,” I answered simply, making a note of what they were working on here. The projects seemed to be diverse -- from new kinds of space ships, improving jump drives, testing new weapons, inventing new manufacturing techniques, and efficient storage. Apparently, they had something called a capsule that was about the size of my finger that could store a two-story house. I didn’t know a lot about tech, or at all really, but it sounded cutting edge. 

Even still, I paid attention to the alien, who it seemed to dawn on it just how badly it miscalculated. I wasn’t destroying what seemed to be years of progress, I was taking it. I wonder how long it would be until the Frieza-force adapted this stuff to our own forces?

“I…” The alien started, only to trail off, realizing it was far too late to take a stand now. More info downloaded into my scouter and it was only when I noticed that I was only ten percent done with the download that I understood just how deep of a well of knowledge I had stumbled upon. There were designs for foundries that would travel the starts, breaking apart planets and asteroids for raw materials to 3D-print them into fleets. There were designs of the jammer that I blew up, its strengths and weaknesses…

And there was more. So much more. I wouldn’t be able to use much of it, but someone in the Frieza-force could. 

We fell into an uneasy silence, the alien’s head in its hands as it came to terms with its mistake. It took nearly ten minutes for me to download everything, and with that, I unhooked my scouter and turned towards the alien. It swallowed thickly as it met my gaze, “you said you would let me live,” it reminded and I had to fight off a sneer at how cowardly it was. Even now, it was still looking out for itself. 

It didn’t just damn this planet, but it would have damned dozens. Hundreds, even. And it was still more concerned with its life. 

My mouth opened to tell it that it could start running since I no longer needed the alien, but I stopped myself. The reach species were rare and when they did pop up, it was exclusively in positions of high power. The alien was a coward, but it could be a useful one. As a prisoner. 

“I did,” I informed, darting forward and chopping the alien on the neck, making the alien collapse into a heap before I caught it. I pushed my dislike for the lie to the side -- I was team captain now, and that meant doing things I didn’t like for the benefit of the team. I mean, I did tell the truth, just keeping to the words of the promise instead of the spirit. 

As I flew away from the servers, I made sure to blow them up just in case they were the only copies, though I doubted that was the case. I flew through the tunnel, easily finding my way back to the main entrance. After that, with the alien hanging off my shoulder, I took in a deep breath, braced myself before I launched myself upwards. I raced up the tunnel, shattering the speeds we had descended so that the turrets barely had time to react before I was rushing past them. 

The bright light at the end of the tunnel grew nearer with every second, and, slowly, I heard my scouter flare to life. 

“*kssht-tact! *ksssht*-rea-*kssht*!” I heard someone shout through the heavy static. As I raced upwards, the static began to lessen. 

“*ksssht*- son is- *kssht*- there!” I’m pretty sure Queen Teach shouted, her tone furious. “Mobilize -kssht- fleet! Battle stations!” My eyes narrowed as I forced myself to go even faster, shattering the sound barrier as I raced towards the exit. It was patchy, but it was clear something had happened while we were down there. 

It only took a few moments to reach the exit, and it was then that I had my answer. 

Our fleet hovered in low orbit, in position to bombard the planet. The ships seemed to dominate the horizon, barely visible because of the heavy clouds of smog. Even though those clouds of smog, dust, and smoke, I caught flashes of light. Our fleet was being engaged. Numbly, I became aware of my team appearing behind me, watching in silence as a battle for the skies began anew.

As it raged, I noticed that drop pods were still falling from the sky -- a part of our army was sent down, barely a fraction of our true numbers but a small force of several thousand. A pit formed in my gut as I saw a ship explode with enough force that it cleared the skies enough that I could clearly see the battle above. 

Reach ships were battling our fleet. Dozens of them, maybe a hundred. A force we couldn’t defeat. 

The admiral seemed to realize that as well because, before my very eyes, I watched our fleet tear holes in time and space. They were bombarded on all sides, some of the ships exploding before they could enter, but the bulk of our fleet managed to slip through. They managed to retreat. 

Leaving us stranded on the planet.