Gone Native: Manifest Destiny (ch. 32) (Patreon)

"I'm impressed," Ada'la remarked as I stepped into what amounted to my throne room back on Earth. She wore a slight smile on her face as she regarded me, "I expected you to return from the Vega system engaged with either Queen Komand'r or Co-Queen Koriand'r. Perhaps both, even." she said as I strode towards my throne, swallowing a sigh as I sat heavily upon it.

In real-time, it had only been a few days since we all left for the Vega system. For me and the Titans, it had been about a two-week round trip. Koriand'r left with the Titans, leaving Komand'r behind to rule over her people. It would take time for things to settle in the system, and for the growing pains to fade, but I think that the Tamaranian people would come to accept Komand'r as their queen in earnest. Kori would go back when needed, but as far as her people knew, Kori was working beside me.

"Would you disapprove if I had?" I asked, sitting on my throne and found myself surrounded by holograms. Even with a small break and the use of time dilation, I was finding that work had a habit of building up. There were thousands of things that needed my direct attention, not to mention status updates on the plethora of projects that I had going.

"It would not be my place to disapprove," Ada'la answered smoothly.

"So, yes," I remarked, hearing what wasn't said as I started to filter through the work by order of priority. Ada'la stepped through a hologram, appearing faintly pleased that I had picked up on the subtext.

"They would not be poor queen consorts, but at this stage, they can offer you very little. The position of Queen is fundamentally a position to secure an alliance. What they can bring to the table should be military might, influence, or strategic resources," Ada'la began. "Under normal circumstances, it would be wise to marry someone within your empire -- an important vassal or another person of considerable influence."

I saw what she was getting at. "Except there is no one that fits that description in my empire." I owned every single planet in my empire. The races that dwelled within were disorganized and still consolidating after the war. I controlled the military with an iron fist, a near stainless reputation, and gratitude for ending the war. More than that, even if there was a notable military faction in my empire, I could single-handedly crush it with ease.

People of influence? There were none. Not outside of Ada'la, really. There were generals, too, but their influence was far more localized.

I held absolute power. To the point that my empire's name was simply Tarble's Empire because, in its entirety, the empire was mine. All other power and influence that existed within it at this stage were purposefully given out by me. As such, it could be taken away with as much ease.

Komand'r and the Vega system could fit the bill of what Ada'la was describing, but the Vega system was a single system within my empire. To give them the influence that Ada'la spoke of, I would have to purposely elevate the Vega system. But, if I did that, then I was creating a major vassal then marrying them for the influence that I just gave them.

"Exactly," Ada'la nodded. "That will likely not be true forever, but at this stage, there are no valid candidates. Nor will there be for the next several centuries. Longer if you maintain constant vigilance and ensure that no one gathers enough influence to have any seating power across your empire. To that end, it would be more prudent to look outside of your Empire. Or you should put more thought into your own marriage customs."

I glanced through a report, finding myself regretting bringing up the subject at all. However, I knew that Ada'la would have found a way to bring it up one way or the other. "Meaning?" I sighed, reading a report on the shadow war with the Trade Organization. A number of our people and slaves were liberated after a string of attacks.

Space stations were destroyed, trade lanes were disrupted, and key figures were assassinated. It was hardly a death blow to the Trade Organization. It was simply too massive for a handful of deaths to so much as disrupt it. Especially when it was designed by the Cold Family so that they were the only people in the organization that could not be replaced. It was a clear statement of intent. One that I knew would go ignored.

"By your people's standards, there are candidates for marriage. Earth has proven to be a boon in that regard. However, it would be diluting your Saiyan blood," she said, waiting for a reaction that never came. By my people's standards, personal strength and power were all that mattered. So long as they were strong, then they were attractive.

Most of my people looked down on other races and breeding with them was frowned upon. I didn't know how my race would react if I took an alien bride. The simplest solution would be to do as my father did and make the strongest female Saiyan his queen, but…

"Whenever I think of my people, I see them as they were on Planet Vegeta," I admitted. There wasn't a huge age gap between myself and the current generation of Saiyans. Five or six years with normal time. Most of them were starting to hit their third growth spurt as well. It shouldn't be an issue, not to mention how long lived our people were. "I helped raise most of them. They were under my care as soldiers."

I didn't think I would be marrying a member of my own race. At the very least, not for a very long time.

Ada'la nodded, seemingly expecting as much. "If race is not an issue, then we do have a number of options within and outside of your Empire. Not to mention, your people do not traditionally practice monogamous relationships." She pointed out, but my lips thinned.

"Any children that I have in the future will be powerful," I told her. "It's very likely that they will surpass me one day. Having numerous children with numerous wives when their Saiyan blood will ensure that they live for thousands of years… it's a recipe for disaster," I pointed out. I knew all too well that being brothers or sisters wouldn't stop my eventual children from slaughtering each other if it meant gaining power and influence. I would like to think that they wouldn't, that it didn't matter for how many thousands of years we lived, we would always be a happy family regardless of how large it became… but that was a pipe dream, and that was being generous.

Ada'la seemed to agree with me based on her thinned lips. I don't think she imagined that my children would ever be stronger than me. Or that I would let them.

However, that was our way. Saiyans were individualistic, even amongst our tribes, but there was one thing that Saiyans valued along with our pride -- our legacy. It was a twisted version of a Human's desire to see their children succeed. For humans, it was to see their children live better lives than them. For Saiyans, it was to be sure that they were remembered.

I would forever outshine King Vegeta the Third, my father, in our people's history. However, King Vegeta the Third would be immortalized as my father and he would be known for siring two Super Saiyans. Vegeta and I, no matter how much we might not have thought it at the time, were his legacy. We were the reasons why he would be remembered. Children fell in the same category as a technique, like the Galick Gun, or an outstanding feat like conquering all the Saiyan tribes and taking down the Truffles on planet Plant as King Vegeta the First had.

I never thought much of my legacy. What I would leave behind. It could be millions of years from now, but eventually, I would die. I could only imagine what my empire would look like at that time. What my people would look like. Just how much would change in a million years? Would I even recognize anything? Would so much time pass that no one would ever remember how things were before?

My empire was a means to an end, when it came down to it. It was repayment for those that died in the war -- to make a place where their decedents or loved ones could live in peace and without worry. My own feats meant little to me as they all were a result of the War of Light. My techniques would be part of my legacy, I suppose. My children, whoever they might be or whatever they accomplish, would be another part of that legacy.

The thought of my children surpassing me in every way was a welcome one.

"I see. With your permission, I can draft a list of potential candidates. Are there traits that you would prefer?" she asked, and I swallowed a sigh. This was something that I had to think about, even if I had no real interest in romance. To that end, I had no idea what my own preferences really were. I couldn't really picture myself with anyone. At least, not as I was.

I leaned on what I knew would constitute a good leader and what would be acceptable for my people to smooth things over for them. "Powerful, but it doesn't need to be physical might. Stubborn enough to challenge me on my decisions if she disagrees. And kind," I finished, offering a small shrug.

"Longevity is not a requirement?" Ada'la asked and I shook my head.

"There are medical and magical resources to extend someone's life. If she comes from a short lived race, we can look into one of them," I decided. Ada'la seemed to pick up on my mounting discomfort with the discussion and offered a small bow and a promise that she would begin immediately. As if she didn't already have a list prepared that she would simply be making adjustments too.

When she left, I resumed focusing on my work. So far, the plan to implement the economy had proven a success. There were some needs in course adjustment where availability in some locations formed black markets selling goods at extortionate prices. There were, of course, those that had already lost their money. There were also scams that were tricking those that were ignorant of their money's value out of it, leaving them destitute.

With money came crime, it seemed as I was getting a flood of reports from across my empire. While the prices for things were fair, there were many that had never used money before. Some had spent their entire lives in the Trade Organization, eating slop that had been prepared for them, so something like paying for a meal or rent was practically unthinkable.

There were stop gaps because this was a foreseen issue, but it was evident those stop gaps weren't enough. Every citizen was given an account, and if they selected that they hadn't used money before, limitations would be placed on spending with recommendations on what the money should be used for, like food or housing. The issue was that a large number of them didn't want the limitation, immediately got scammed out of their money, and now had nothing.

Technically speaking, what was done to them wasn't against the law. My Empire was lacking hard coded laws beyond a vague order to not disturb the peace.

I decided that it would be. It felt wrong that a person's entire life could be ruined because they fell for a scam. Thankfully, all transactions were recorded so those that lost everything could be refunded. It was a system that I suspected would be abused, but I would much rather the system be abused than people go hungry. The abuse could be curbed over time.

In all, the implementation of the economy brought forth a number of issues -- mainly, the aforementioned lack of a codex of laws, and a police force capable of enforcing those laws. Right now, what I had was the military and the Hero-Force. It was a start and enough to keep the peace, but it wouldn't last forever. People needed more.

Ideally, I could begin implementing my plan to have members of the Justice League start governing portions of my empire, but that would be premature at the moment. Right now, half of them were planning open rebellion. Something I would have to deal with, but for the moment, I needed something else. I already had a draft of the police system I wished to implement.

With a wave of my hand, I summoned up a map of my Empire. It contained nearly ten percent of the galaxy, housing hundreds of millions of planets, with a small fraction of them being hospitable. Roughly 0.1% at the moment, but with my terraforming initiatives, I was planning to up the total to 10% over the next century. Even without space stations or colonies, I would be creating hundreds of millions of habitable planets for a growing population.

The sector method that the Green Lantern's implemented was a decent enough foundation, but I found that it was too… simple. It completely failed to account for population density, how dangerous that area of space was, what it needed to import or export to thrive and so on. That thought in mind, I began to separate my empire into a grid and tasked my systems in the Space Elevator to take log of what Sectors A-1 through Z-25 all needed, crime rates, capital generated, industrialization potential, and so on.

I felt people approach as I made my map of my empire. The Space Elevator wasn't a Warworld, but it had enough raw processing power to give me a solid start. It marked planets within the sectors, flagging them for industrial purposes or terraforming candidates, making recommended adjustments in my grid so that the numbers would balance out. I had each grid labeled green, yellow, or red -- green was outstanding in terms of development, yellow meant it could use some work, and red showed that it was underdeveloped.

The door slid open to reveal that my visitors were Superman and Wonder Woman. I saw Wonder Woman's eyes widen a fraction when she saw the vastness of my empire and the holograms that flowed with information. I continued to work, turning over the issue to find a new method of attack.

"Is there a reason you're here?" I asked them as I had the space elevator render a model for me to work off of. It would generate numbers for me to work with -- how many police members would be needed to police districts effectively, how much it would cost to supply and pay them, and so on. I had virtually unlimited funding, it was just a matter of making sure that it got to the right places. Technically speaking, in passive revenue, I was already the richest person in my Empire. And that was without implementing taxes of any kind.

"We heard about what you did in the Vega system," Superman said, striding forward as he looked around at my empire.

"People's expectations of me must be rather low if that is all it takes to impress you," I remarked, getting back the numbers that I needed. To fully police every district and outfit them how I wanted, it would cost hundreds of trillions of credits. Which was expensive, even for me. I had outfitted entire armies for less. I had to rework my model.

"It's one thing to say that you desire change, but it's another to prove it with action. Which you did," Wonder Woman told me. I paused what I was doing to look at both of them, there was sincerity in their gazes, but…

"You're here because of the deal I made with Queen Komand'r," I ventured, a frown tugging at my lips because they shouldn't know about that yet. Had Komand'r told Kori? Or had Robin bugged me at some point? "My people will be going to Tamaran instead of Earth, and you're wondering where that leaves Earth."

Wonder Woman confirmed as much with a curt nod, "That is an appropriate summary," she admitted. "You came to Earth with the intention of making it the new Saiyan home planet. Now that you have decided otherwise, president Luthor wonders… what will be done with Earth now?"

A fair concern, I suppose. The deal I made with Komand'r more or less nullified my entire reason to come to Earth. I imagine Lex Luthor was getting excited at the thought of turning Earth into the center of my empire, only to have the opportunity given to another. I also suppose that people were upset because my coming to Earth was completely invalidated in their eyes.

In response to her question, I picked out Earth and focused on the districts around Earth. Wonder Woman frowned at the sight, “I’m hoping it's a cultural difference, and red means good?”

“No,” I answered, dashing her hopes. “The color code is based on the overall development of the districts. Earth, and the sectors around Earth, are all in the red.”

Superman frowned, “Why?” he questioned, his gaze flickering to the Vega system, which amounted to a yellow dot in a sea of red.

“A few thousand millennia ago, a pirate named Bojack went through the universe massacring whatever planets that contained sentient life if they refused to join his pirate crew. In general, wherever you see red in this galaxy is where he passed through. It’s the reason why your Green Lanterns only had Earth to police. Every other planet was depopulated and has yet to recover.” To that, both of them scowled, clearly unhappy with the news. “As a result, Earth is firmly in the rural territory of the galaxy that's widely underdeveloped. Meaning that humanity, for the most part, has no neighbors."

Outside of the Martians on Mars and the Vega System. Beyond that, there was a significant portion of my empire that was left in the red. I could also see Vegeta's empire within mine because his was all marked with yellow -- he had heavily industrialized, but failed to do anything else. What had been my empire before the merge was mostly green. Mostly due to Ada'la's development plans.

"Normally, I would leave Earth be for the most part and treat it as a normal planet. However, Earth isn't," I continued, looking at Superman and Wonder Woman.

Superman offered an understanding look, "Because of us." he guessed, and rightly so. Humans, for the most part, were pretty unremarkable and overall rather weak. Yet there were individuals that outshone the rest of their race.

"Because of you, and others like you," I confirmed. "The metagene is unique to the human race and it can make a normal human into an incredibly powerful being. As things stand, the development of the human race is something that I must monitor." Within my empire, Earth was the one place that had those that could challenge me. While that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it would be negligent of me to just leave humanity alone.

Then there were beings of magic to contend with as well. Earth was a place where the development made startling little sense. Earth was suffering climate change caused by pollution, but had access to planet obliterating weapons. That was because of a handful of humans that were far ahead of the curve were dragging humanity forward. Of which, Lex Luthor was among those few.

Earth would be my Balkans, to draw comparisons to human history. If I ever faced an internal threat down the line, then it would be here, on Earth. I was doing what I could to undercut that threat, but so far, I hadn't made much progress with it.

"My current thought that is that Earth shall be left in charge of developing this district," I told the heroes, highlighting the district in question that housed near two hundred thousand planets. A small fraction of my empire, but both Superman and Wonder Woman seemed stunned by the sheer size of that small district. "Humanity would be given a guideline on what to develop, but you can think of it as a test. The better humanity does, the more responsibility it will be entrusted with within my empire."

This was my current strategy to help integrate humanity. As I understood, having a stake in the future encouraged humans to excel due to belief that they will prosper as well. It might take a few centuries, but I had the time and the districts around Earth were all left destitute. I had my industrial sectors due to my brother's decisions, and I had my urban centers because of mine. Everything that was marked red was a case by case decision.

Ideally, every district in my empire would be marked as green.

"The proposal itself needs fine-tuning," I admitted. "I intend to have in depth surveys of all the systems in my empire for more accurate development plans. But, for now, this is the current plan to integrate humanity with my empire. Do you have any objections?" I asked them, crossing my arms over my chest.

"It's not our decision," Superman quickly pointed out. "It's all humanity's."

I cocked my head, "You mean Lex Luthor's."

To that, Wonder Woman shook her head. "No. Despite whatever Luthor likes to believe, he is not the ruler of humanity or Earth. He does not have the final say of what Earth's fate is." She was quick to put an end to the idea. I decided to not bring up the fact that Lex Luthor had and did have Earth's fate in his hands. He did when he gave me Earth's surrender. "However, I do believe that this proposal shall appeal to him."

I could accept that. "Then when it is finished, I shall submit it to him. But, there is other business that we need to discuss -- soon, I shall be having a summit across my empire to determine fair laws for all of the races that dwell within my borders. Earth will send a representative as well, but I would like to personally invite members of the Justice League."

Superman saw what I was getting at and smiled faintly, "To ensure that the laws are all fair?" he questioned, earning a nod from me.

"The Justice League upheld the Charter it was placed under, even if your ideas of justice were different than what the law decided. You also did what you did for no other reason than you believed it to be the right thing to do. We might have been enemies for a brief time, but I have always held your ideals in high respect. It's why I want you to have a guiding voice on what is fair punishment for breaking the law," I told them. There was no such thing as a perfect legal system.

However, if perfection was impossible, then I would settle for nearly perfect.

"It would be our honor, King Tarble," Wonder Woman spoke, offering an agreeing nod. "If you could forward any information about the races in your empire so we can offer more informed advice, then it would be appreciated." she requested, showing that she understood the gravity of the offer. "And there is one final thing that I would like to discuss -- my home of Themyscira would like to formally meet you and has invited you to a feast to celebrate the harvest."

Interesting. I could see what was being done -- Themyscira was looking to elevate itself. I think that the small island of Amazon's understood that things were changing rapidly on Earth and if something wasn't done, then they would be left behind.

"Very well, I shall attend." And see what they were planning.

I was back on Earth, but it seemed that the struggle over its destiny was just starting.