The Definition of Pride
By Moonraker One
Chapter two - Civilian Drop-Off & Pick-up
Vegeta smiled to himself as the ship flew onwards towards Saiya. He could not believe that someone outside his own bloodline found the legendary planet on which the Saiyans were first created trillions of years ago. His own father, who ruled most of the galaxy, had searched endlessly for it, never to any avail. He himself had heard the legend of the birthplace of the Saiyans and how if you live there, you're supposed to become empowered. It was something to do with the gods or something of that nature. The fool Kakarot sitting next to him had no clue of the glory he and the other Saiyans were in for now that they were headed back to the planet on which they were destined to rule the entire galaxy from. He also couldn't believe that Kakarot had been chosen over him to rule the mighty Saiyan empire, and it made him feel worthless that he should be second to a third-class warrior who was not born of such a high standing as Vegeta himself was. Damn; Kelietya was holding all the cards, whether he liked it or not. If anyone here was making decisions, it would be her. He couldn't imagine how powerful she was if she really was a Holy Saiyan. He'd only heard of the Kilmar executions and how the holies were eliminated from Planet Vegeta.
Goku had on his mind a sense of being needed now that he was on his way to the legendary planet of his race. He had never had a chance to actually lead a people, so what kind of rigors were in store for him? He couldn't ask Vegeta; Vegeta would take such an action quite badly. He didn't want to risk asking Kelietya either; she was easily powerful enough to make any decisions for the Saiyans, and as powerful as she was, it was not a good idea to go against her will. He knew how powerful she really was; he didn't think Vegeta or anyone else knew, but he certainly did. She was easily as powerful as him at Super Saiyan four, perhaps even farther than that. Despite the fact that he was good, he never quite liked someone being more powerful than him, ever. No matter what, he always had a sense of need to surpass people, even though it wasn't as dire as Vegeta's.
The ship lurched forward a bit, slowing down quite suddenly. Everyone was taken by surprise, because no one was braced for impact. When the commotion was finished, Krillin reached up and pressed the button on the communicator. "What the heck happened?!" He shrieked nervously.
"We're arriving, Mister Krillin," the voice replied. "The final landing procedure is commencing. I assure you, you will enjoy your stay on Planet Saiya."
Krillin turned to his friend and battle partner. "So Goku," he said, trying to stir up a conversation. "What do you think of this whole situation?"
Goku gathered his thoughts for a minute. "I really wasn't brought along by my own will," he replied. "But I really don't think that Kelietya or her servants are intending to do something evil."
Krillin cracked a smile. "How'd you figure that?" he said in response.
Goku shrugged. "I didn't feel any malice from either of them."
Krillin rolled his eyes; he should have expected such a response from Goku. In a few seconds after the initial forward lurch, the ship made a sliding rumble, indicating that they had landed on planet Saiya. The huge metal door at the entrance to the room they were in slid open slowly, revealing a lesser Pekorian who was a servant to Kelietya. The servant bowed with his right arm pointing left. "This way, lord Kakarot," he replied. "If you'd be so kind as to follow me, you'll exit the ship and be on the new home planet of the mighty Saiyan empire."
As the group exited the ship, Vegeta turned to the servant and joked, "She doesn't pay you enough, does she?"
The little Pekorian smiled, embarrassed, and replied, "Not nearly enough, Lord Vegeta."
Piccolo was stopped as he tried to leave. "E…excuse me, Lord Piccolo," said the servant, wincing, as though he were about to be destroyed. "I hate to stop you, but, Commander Teneko would like to speak with you."
Piccolo proceeded down the hall, following a separate Pekorian servant to Commander Teneko's chamber. The hallways were decorated with the paintings of previous members of Kelietya's family. It seemed weird, but all the other members of her bloodline were male, and they all looked vastly different from her. He couldn't understand how people of the same blood could look so far apart, or how she could be only one female of a few dozen males in the same line. He shook it off; everything was abnormal with this place, he felt.
The chamber to the large Namekian commander's room was imposing-looking. And for good reason; the Namekian himself was imposing-looking. A Namek that was close to seven feet and at least three times as muscular as Piccolo himself was quite a sight to behold. Piccolo may have never been to Namek but a few times, but he was sure that a Namek this powerful never did exist; it would have been too conspicuous. He realized it really didn't matter as the huge door slid open and he stepped in the room.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" asked Piccolo.
The big Namek paced back and forth. "I have a question for you," Teneko asked. "You've been around Kakarot longer than anyone else here. In your opinion, is he capable of being a good king to this new empire?"
"In a word, yes," replied Piccolo. "If anyone was fit to rule anyone, Goku is capable. Whether he's READY or not is up to him."
Teneko still had a question on his mind. Piccolo could almost sense a worry nagging at the big Namekian. "Here's the problem," Teneko added. "Kakarot may be an excellent leader, but I doubt Kelietya would bow before anyone."
Piccolo thought a minute of what was said; he was right. He himself had thought that even if Goku were the best king there ever was, he could not picture someone as headstrong as Kelietya bowing before anyone. Then again, she DID serve king Vegeta for years without complaint, so perhaps it was possible. "Is that really what you wanted to talk to me about?" inquired a confused Piccolo. Why would Teneko need his advice anyhow?
"You see," Teneko began, and Piccolo cringed, sensing a long story. "I was the Great Elder's main guardian back on Namek a few hundred years ago. I did not complain the entire time for it was my duty to protect him, but I always had this nagging feeling that I needed to accomplish something more. I felt that my simple life was meaningless."
Piccolo crossed his arms in typical fashion. "So, what did you do about it?" His question was quite predictable.
"I waited for years for an opportunity to leave Namek, but it never came," he added. "I was about to die of old age then Kelietya's ship arrived. In exchange for eternal service, she'd grant me eternal youth, so that I could both live forever and have enough power to protect her. It was when she told me I would aide in the reconstruction of the mighty Saiyan Empire that I found the fulfillment I needed."
"Interesting story," Piccolo fired back, and then headed out the door. "I'd love to listen longer but I have to catch up with my friends."
As they headed for the exit of the ship, Kelietya and Goku were engaged in interesting conversation. Kelietya was fascinated by how such a powerful Saiyan with the destiny he was handed could live such a simple life. She knew that if she had a simple life, she'd quickly tire of it. He was captivated by how she could deal with the circumstances she was forced to handle. He'd dealt with situations, but not as much as hers.
"My father was taken from me at quite an early age," Kelietya began to explain. "Frieza's men took him when I was only a young girl." Goku shook his head; boy, did he ever know about loved ones getting taken away.
"So," he replied. "Did you ever see him again?"
"No," she said, lowering her head. "King Vegeta later had me tortured-apparently he thought I was dead-and then put me unconscious into a space pod and fired me off into space."
Goku seemed confused. "Wait," he interrupted. "If you were only a child, how did you have rank in the Royal Saiyan Military?"
"I was so powerful from birth that by age eight I was more powerful than most of Vegeta's elites. I was at the rank of Colonel when I was deemed threat to his rule," was her explanation.
"Then…how did you become a general?"
She shook her head, smiling; should she explain?
"Namek wasn't always a peaceful place," she replied. "There used to be two different tribes of Namekians. When I landed on Namek, I was treated by the green tribe and raised to fight along side them against the purple Namekians. I was such a force that I was promoted to General, inevitably becoming the main commander of their forces. Hell of a slaughtering."
At this point in the conversation, Vegeta, who'd been listening, put in his two cents. "Tell me, Kelietya," he said. She glared at him and he quickly changed his greeting from her name to general. "I wasn't aware my father did this."
Kelietya rolled her eyes as if he was such a moron for saying such a thing. "He DIDN'T," she responded, frustrated. "This was king Vegeta the FIRST." Vegeta's eyes widened; his father was king Vegeta the seventh. That would mean that Kelietya was well over six hundred years old!
"H…How can you still be alive?" asked a dumbfounded Vegeta. "That was six hundred years ago!"
Kelietya rolled her eyes again. "After about a hundred thirty years," she continued, "I was about to die. I'd grown old and gray and weak. In remembrance of my duty to the surviving Namek tribe, they summoned their dragon and gave me both eternal youth and the ability to grant it to others. To this day I thank them."
Vegeta shut up; obviously he'd learned everything he would need to know. It was weird that Kelietya would be sent to Namek, as Namek was a planet that was never considered for conquering. More than likely it was because even though most of the species was weak, there would always be ones like Teneko that swore to protect their kind. Speaking of the large Namekian, Vegeta was amazed by the sheer level of power that he had. He expected the Namek to be strong, but not as so as he was. In any case, all that mattered was that the mighty Saiyan empire be rebuilt. To him, all other objectives would be secondary.
Goku, stepping off the ship, saw in front of him the new home planet of the reborn Saiyan empire. He was impressed by the fact that even though the sky was red-like Vegeta-it didn't retract from the fact that the scenery was much like Earth's natural sections. In the air lurked a feeling that he belonged here; that this was the place he'd always been meant to live. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving Earth, but within a few seconds, he could picture the rest of his existence here on Saiya. He also sensed a calm, inviting energy from within the planet itself. A Saiyan like him could easily get used to this type of surrounding. Once every one of the Z fighters and their families had exited the gigantic ship, Kelietya called out to everyone in the immediate area.
"S.I.T. One has landed to drop off civilians," she loudly announced. As soon as she said this, and the z-fighters moved out of the way, a flood of Saiyans and other species exited the ship in the manner of a mass exodus. Goku was amazed that millions of people could inhabit this ship, but then again; it was about the size of a small metropolis. After everyone had left the ship, Kelietya prepared to announce yet again. "Is there anyone who would like to accompany us on our next interstellar mission to gather more of our people?" she added.
Goku was the first to throw up his arm. Kelietya smiled at his eagerness. Looking over at Kakarot, Vegeta could sense that the Saiyan was merely trying to explore the universe; the gathering of more Saiyans meant little to him. Vegeta rolled his eyes at this realization and threw up his arm. Kelietya scoffed. "Sorry, Vegeta," she replied. "You aren't allowed to go."
Upon hearing such a thing, he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs in protest, but held his tongue; she was easily twice his power at S.S.3, even. Instead, he grumbled under his breath. Instead of getting angry, he draped his arm around his wife and proceeded towards the King's palace that had been hastily constructed. "Bitch," he whispered of Kelietya. The Saiyan female lifted a finger and, with a mild surge of ki, thrust him to the ground. Irritated, he lifted himself off the ground, brushed himself off and kept walking.
"Yeah, I heard what you called me," she egged on. "You're just lucky I don't tear you a new caller!" She then turned to the other z-fighters. "Anyone else coming?" she inquired. They all either shook their heads or didn't respond, indicating it was her, Goku, Teneko, and their army of soldiers. Piccolo sent Goku a telepathic good luck message; Goku replied that he hoped he didn't need luck. As the two mighty Saiyans proceeded into the massive craft, the huge metal entrance ramp slid up into the doorway, and a massive door slid shut. Inside, Kelietya proceeded to the main bridge where she gave her orders. She smiled and turned to Goku.
"So, Kakarot," she said, eagerly. "Where do you think we should try first?"
Goku shook his head; he really didn't know that much of the universe. He did, however, know one planet he never got a chance to thank. It gave him a technique that helped him on many an occasion. "It may not have any Saiyans," he replied, "but I want to go to Yardrat first."
Just as Kelietya was about to order the firing of the thrusters, a signal went off; it indicated someone was trying to get on.
"General Kelietya, ma'am!" yelled a servant at the computer. "A human female is trying to board!"
Kelietya lowered her eyebrows concernedly. "Onscreen!" she exclaimed.
On the large screen appeared Chi-Chi, who was banging on the emergency exit door, yelling to be let aboard. Obviously, she'd been away when the call was made for boarding. Kelietya seemed uninterested with the woman, but turned to Goku. "Should we let her aboard?" asked an indifferent Kelietya.
Goku nodded. In a few minutes, in strolled the wife of the mighty Saiyan warrior, who was soon to be their leader. As Chi-Chi threw her arms around Goku, the Saiyan general shot the woman a harsh look when she wasn't looking, and turned back when she was. "Sorry for slowing us down, Goku," replied Chi-Chi in a strangely nice manner. "I just didn't want you to leave me down there!"
"Lady Chi-Chi," Kelietya began. "Why don't you sit at the post immediately next to Kakarot?"
Appreciating the offer, she sat down next to him. A stiff arm movement later, and the ship was on its way into space. Chi-Chi, not being able to hold a firm position like Goku was, was almost thrown in the direction of the back wall when the ship hit g-forces escaping the planet's orbit. The man at the ship's main guidance post turned to face Kelietya, eager to receive their order to go to a planet.
"General!" asked a servant. "What should I input as our destination?"
Kelietya looked down at Goku. He gave her a nod, and she relayed the command back to the soldier at the post. "Lieutenant, set course for solar system X-1 Alpha, Planet Yardrat!" she announced, and the lieutenant happily typed away at his control post what the destination was for the spaceship, and the speed he set to light factor two. Time itself froze for a moment as they made the jump to super-light speed. When they broke the time pause, and found out they were already there, only a mere instant had passed. Of this, Kelietya said to Goku, "See, Kakarot? We may be monkeys, but we're far from stupid."
She faced her lieutenant, who was resetting the switches for the reentry into normal time from hyperspace. He spun around in her direction. "General Kelietya," he asked. "Should I initiate the cloaking mechanism?" She nodded, and he typed away at his keypad again. The red light directly above the main screen lit up, indicating they were now invisible and undetectable. She again turned to Goku.
"How powerful are the people of Yardrat?" inquired Kelietya. "If they judged us as hostile, would they pose a threat?"
Goku shook his head. "No," reassured Goku. "They don't have much power, they simply use unusual techniques."
She raised an eyebrow. "How…unusual?"
"Teleportation," he replied. "That's the only technique of theirs I'm aware of."
The ship slowly descended upon planet Yardrat, the lieutenant making extra care not to disturb the planet's gravitational field too much upon entry. Even with cloaking, one could easily reveal theirselves to the enemy by causing a field disturbance. Many ships, carefully designed not to fire or move when cloaked, but Saiyan ships were the exception. Saiyans had developed a way to both travel and move while cloaked. It was a marvel of intergalactic travel, and it was one that allowed the various Saiyan colonies to win back their freedom from Frieza's Cardarian race. The problem was, even with their freedom, they felt that the Cardarians were preparing for something evil. Kelietya just didn't know when or how, but she knew it would happen.
"Have we landed yet?" asked Teneko, trying to get people's attention off of the strange appearance of the planet.
"Commander!" replied the Captain, standing at attention. "We have made the final landing procedure, and are ready to uncloak upon General Kelietya's order."
Goku looked up and gave her the nod, indicating he was sure they were ready. She faced the Captain. "Captain," she responded, "disengage the cloaking mechanism." He relayed the order to the lieutenant at the control panel, who typed away eagerly. In a few seconds, the red light faded, letting them all know that good or bad, they were now completely visible and vulnerable to whatever the natives had in store.
Kelietya was prepared to exit the ship, but Goku stopped her for a minute. "Wait, Kelietya," he replied. She looked at him eagerly, wondering why he didn't refer to her by her proper rank. Normally, her response to anyone in her ship talking to her by her first name without the presence of her rank in the sentence was a jab to the stomach. In any case, he wasn't finished. "They are my friends. Perhaps if they see me first they won't be worried or angry."
"Perhaps you're right," she replied. "All right. I'll wait until you tell me I can come down." She stood there a minute and pondered what she had just said; she was still in charge and she was already talking like he was her superior. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was just that as long as she could remember, she always had a problem with answering up to people who were higher ranking than her. She shook off the wonderment and got back to waiting for him to be friendly with the natives. It appeared that this was something he was good at.
She looked on the screen at Goku, who was caught up in a friendly conversation with several of the native Yardratians. It seemed that he had forgotten all about giving her the signal when they were ready to have her come out. She looked over at Chi-Chi, who was up close to the screen, looking as if she was worried about the people of Yardrat doing some kind of harm to him. It amazed her that Chi-Chi, who should know exactly how powerful her husband was, should worry about Goku. She wondered how nice it must be for Goku, knowing he has a person who is worried about him even if he pisses her off. All her life, Kelietya had been bounced around from one place to another, never having known family. It was at a very young age that her father was taken from her, and she did not remember much of him.
Kelietya got down off of her post, and strolled over to Chi-Chi's position; there was something she just had to ask. "Lady Chi-Chi?" she asked, catching the human female's attention. Chi-Chi turned, and through her feminine senses, saw that Kelietya had many questions in her mind about something love related. It had to be-she sensed-about Goku.
"Hmm?" Chi-Chi replied, still leaving one eye focused on the screen.
"When you and Kakarot got married," she added, "did you love each other?"
Chi-Chi shook her head. "We didn't love each other before we got married," she replied. "I kind of forced him into marrying me, and we fell in love as we went along."
Kelietya raised an eyebrow; this was not the response she expected. She was anticipating a response that was more of love at first sight. This seemed even more confusing to her. She did not understand how two complete strangers could get married based solely on the hope they'd fall in love later on. It was to her, a complete hit or miss proposition.
"Didn't…you ever have doubts?" she asked, at a loss for words.
"Oh hell yes," Chi-Chi not so eloquently replied. "But we realized that nothing was going to ruin what we had started."
Just then, Goku came on the speakers and gave the word to Kelietya that it was safe to exit. As she walked away, she had a look of eagerness on her mind of maybe one day she'd have what Chi-Chi and Goku had for years. In any case, she had to get back on the mission, so she smacked herself on the side of her head, trying to get back on track. All this wondering about love got her off the logic trail. Outside the ship, she noticed that the people looked remarkably like the people she'd seen before somewhere, but couldn't place.
"Hello, people of Yardrat," she announced, commanding people's attention. "My name is Kelietya and I am a general in the Saiyan military. We have come to this planet to ask if anyone would like to return with us to Planet Saiya and be a part of the new Saiyan empire."
A man at the front, who despite his short stature, looked like their mighty ruler, gave an order to a lieutenant of his. Within a matter of seven minutes, there was a group of exactly eleven ready to leave with Kelietya. Naturally, Kelietya wondered how they knew when the cloaking was activated.
"H…How did you know we were coming?" inquired a perplexed Kelietya. "Our ship was cloaked."
The leader nodded his head. "We know," he responded, his voice light and squeaky. "We have a reputation for using strange energy techniques. Clairvoyance is one of them."
As the small group of Yardrat people eagerly entered the ship, leaving behind their home planet, Kelietya gave them a "debriefing" of a sort of what they should do next. She told them there was enough space in the ship for a million beings to each have an individual living chamber, complete with a sink and toilet. They were efficiently assigned a specific living area and scurried off to get unpacked. Goku walked up to Kelietya.
"How many planets are we to visit?" he asked, noting the slow pace of this type of mission.
"I understand what you are wondering, Kakarot," she answered. "We go from one planet to another until the ship has reached more than fifty percent capacity. Then we go home."
"Are we the only ship doing this?" he fired back.
"No," she quickly countered. "There are thirty other ships in our fleet that are capable of the same thing."
He nodded; this answer was good enough for him. He then strolled away with his arm draped around Chi-Chi's shoulder, both happily talking as they went towards their quarters. Witnessing the happiness they had, Kelietya folded her arms, frustrated. I have to do something about those two, she thought. They're such a nice, happy couple. Can't I have that?! I think I'm better looking than her!
Her commander, Teneko, read the thoughts on her mind as he passed by. He felt, in a way, sorry for her. At the same time, however, he had no compassion for people who screwed up nice, neat orders. "Lekediraly," he muttered to himself.
Kelietya rolled her eyes. "I speak Namekian, Teneko," she reminded him, sternly. He quickly held his tongue and left for his position.