Definition of Pride
By Moonraker One
Chapter Six – Fight for Saiyan Independence
Goku, sitting at his post in the royal chamber, saw that on the radar that had been installed, a ship entering Saiyan airspace. The scouter he was wearing started to beep, so he pressed the button. Immediately, a Saiyan soldier appeared in his eyepiece.
"Sir!" he cried, his voice dire-sounding. "General Kelietya's ship is reentering Saiyan airspace, and she has an urgent message for the king's eyes only! Should I patch her through?"
"Yes," Goku replied, pressing the button. "Let me talk to her."
The soldier disappeared from his eyepiece, which was followed by a click and a beep, and then Kelietya was in front of his view. "King Kakarot, sir!" she yelled. "The Cardarian Empire has decided to betray us! We must prepare for a full-scale attack!"
Goku's facial expression suddenly became more serious. "What?!" he asked. "We've been betrayed!?"
Kelietya nodded. "Affirmative," she replied. "Our troops must be sent into combat!"
Goku thought a minute; this was not what he was ready to do. He was not worried about his people's ability to defend their homes, he was worried about whether or not they were ready to. He knew it would be suicidal to send unprepared troops into battle.
"Kelietya," he asked. "Are there any troops already prepared for combat?"
"Yes," she explained. "My troops are always ready. I've got twelve thousand strong."
Goku smiled; this was good news. However, he knew that if his plan—which he already had doubts over—was to work, he'd have to make sure his empire was fully protected at all times. He couldn't be training troops if he didn't have constant assurance that his people were protected from attack. He had one more question to ask her.
"Okay," he continued. "I want you to have your troops—most of which I believe are already prepared for combat—to be distributed among the twelve different colonies. Since there is only one entry point at which they could attack each colony, that makes for a thousand troops at each entry point."
"I'll send a message to my forces immediately!" he told him. "In the meantime, me and my father are headed back to base to receive more instructions from you, sire." Her image beeped, then vanished. He pressed the button on his scouter to get a message through to all available generals.
"Attention, all Generals and Supreme Commanders!" he announced. "Please meet in the war room immediately for emergency war instructions!" His beckoning caused a mild uproar in the soldiers' barracks, but the upheaval was quickly resolved. At the moment, there were seven generals not including Kelietya and her father, and they all were quite skilled in the arts of war. Goku, the king who was just getting used to his position, was not aware his strategic talents were to come into use so quickly. In any case, Frieza's race was not a race of weaklings. If he was to indeed come out with minimal losses, it would take all of his efforts, and the efforts of all the others as well.
He dashed to the war room. Inside, there was all available generals, including Kelietya and her father. They were all ready with whatever data they had to give Goku a full debriefing on the situation.
"Whichever of you knows the most about what is happening should give me what you know," explained Goku.
Kelt nodded and pushed over a file folder. "Kakarot, sire," he began. "The Cardarian empire has a battle-ready fleet of two hundred thousand, available to deploy to any of the colonies at a moment's notice. They have also expressed malicious intent, and my tech crew received a full declaration of war effective immediately."
Goku thought a minute. "Where are most of their forces stationed?" he inquired.
"I'll answer that, Kakarot sir," General Metano said. "They have about seventy percent of their forces positioned on the third moon adjacent to where old Planet Vegeta was. That's the one you call 'Moon Fenzi'."
General Kelietya interrupted him. "But Metano," she shot in his direction. "That moon is guarded by a massive force field! We'd never get to it!"
Kelt had an idea. "Unless," he began, "we were to destroy the five different energy generating plants stationed on the moons circling Fenzi. It would require, I estimate, five thousand troops apiece with power levels suppressed until they could enter the plant. After that, it would just be a matter of annihilating the plant before an emergency signal could be given."
His daughter added to his idea. "Yeah!" she shouted. "It could very well work! Each of these generals has close to a hundred thousand troops which are under their control. I have my fleet as reserve waiting for orders and training!"
Ten generals, Goku thought. That means that in all, there's close to a million troops among them. If each one of their forces are made ready in a short time, there'll be a viable strategy!
He quickly interrupted his nervous pacing to face the crowd. "Tell me, my fellow generals," called Goku. "Who among you have achieved Super Saiyan status?" To this question, all present raised their hands. Rapidly taking note of this, he followed up with, "Of you, who has most of their soldiers at the same level?" To this, almost all of the generals raised their hands. Good, good, thought Goku. That's more than enough; I'm certain.
Goku turned to the solder waiting at the door for any instruction, and said, "Commander, could you gather my friends Piccolo, Vegeta, my son Gohan, my wife Chakuri, and my friend Bulma." The soldier saluted with fist over heart and swiftly left the chamber. Goku paced back and forth for a few minutes, thinking of his plan. Kelietya looked over at her father.
What do you think Kakarot has as a plan? she asked her father telepathically.
Hmm…I suppose, Kelt replied. I'm sure he's done this type of strategizing on Earth, only differently.
What do you mean?
Think of it; he has never taken soldiers into account when planning for evil forces before.
In a few minutes—among the longest few minutes of his life—all of his friends he requested were in the room. Some of them were confused as to why they were there—like Chakuri—and some were angry as to why they weren't called immediately, like Vegeta. In any case, they were rapidly debriefed on the situation. Piccolo was able to read Goku's mind, so he was aware of why he was needed.
"All of you will be given the duty of preparing your troops for battle," Goku explained to a nervous crowd of officials. "Piccolo and Vegeta will give your troops the training they need. My son Gohan will give YOU private training, so you can be on the battlefield as well. My wife Chakuri will be my military liaison between you and me, which will keep us constantly in touch."
"And what of your other friend?" inquired Kelt.
"Bulma," Goku finished, "will be head scientist of our military weapons science division."
"Ahem," Kelietya interjected. "We don't have a military weapons science division."
This was an impasse. For a solution to this problem, Goku thought a few minutes. When the idea hit him, he smiled. "Well," responded the new king, "gather the smartest scientists you know of, and there'll be our military weapons science division!"
Each of the generals left the room, all knowing what their task was. Vegeta confronted Goku first after leaving the room. He seemed slightly worried. At the same time, however, he seemed excited. He looked up at his constantly-superior friend, then looked down, analyzing the formal attire Goku was wearing. He smiled a mischievous-looking smile.
"Why, doesn't that caped armor suit you well, Kakarot!" he exclaimed, his complement taking Goku by surprise. "I was always used to seeing you in that prideless orange GI. This is FAR more suiting the mighty king."
"I get the feeling that's not what you wanted to say, though," replied Goku.
Vegeta put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah," he replied, "you're right, as always. I wanted to say that I believe that of the two of us, the best man won. I see I was never as suited as you to command Saiyans into combat. Go ahead and win this war for our freedom!"
Goku forced a half-smile. "Isn't this a switch!" he said. "You're wearing a leather jacket and pants—human clothes—and I'm wearing king's armor!" His statement forced even the stone-faced Vegeta to chuckle.
"Yeah," Vegeta added, "and you're even telling ME what to do! Such irony!" Vegeta then waved, walking away to do what he'd been ordered to do. He couldn't help but smile; it had been years, and in those years, he and the Saiyan prince had never been friends. Now, only now that the tables had made a sharp turn, were they bonding like only buddies (STRAIGHT buddies, of course) could bond. As he wondered exactly how Vegeta could handle being ordered by his ever-better friend, up from behind came Chakuri and she smacked Goku on the butt.
"I was worried about you," Chakuri said.
Goku's eyes
widened. "YOU were worried about ME!?" he shrieked. "I was worried about YOU!"
"Yeah, I was
told—repeatedly—by my sis." Before Goku could respond to this, Chakuri pulled
herself closer to him, and kissed him passionately. She then stood back. "As
military liaison, what am I to do?"
Goku thought a minute, then said, "I actually don't know what the hell it means!" They both laughed at this. The laughter was interrupted by Kelietya.
"A liaison is a person who is the middleperson who keeps news moving between two sides," she explained.
Chakuri and Kelietya then moved off, both knowing where to go, and left Goku standing there in the hallway to figure out where he was headed. For some reason, Teneko ran up to Goku, and he seemed to be concerned with something.
"What's wrong, Commander?" inquired Goku.
Teneko caught his breath for a minute. "Kakarot, sire," he replied in between breaths. "I would wish to return to Planet Earth at once."
Goku lowered his eyebrows in a confused manner. "Why do you need to go back to Earth?" he asked.
"Think of it, sire," Teneko explained. "Earth is extremely strategic territory."
Goku was confused, but all of a sudden, his eyes grew wide. "THE DRAGONBALLS!" he yelled. "OH GEEZ! I FORGOT!"
"I figured of that long before you did," a voice behind him said. He turned around, and it was Kelietya. "So I sent an entire fleet of reserves to protect Earth. Six thousand war ships with constant vigil over Earthen airspace."
Goku let out a big sigh of relief. "Thanks, General," he replied. "What would I do without you?" She shook her head and walked away. Obviously, she was more in tune with reality than he was at the moment, but that was probably because of the hectic few days he'd just had. He now had something else to worry about: the war that had just begun. Officially, the fighting hadn't started yet, and that was the reason he wanted to get his forces prepared. He didn't like the idea, but looking at the tenacity of the Cardarian Empire, he'd have to lead the side that struck first. He didn't usually attack until they'd started it, but now, he'd have to make the big decisions. Teneko patted him on the shoulder, reassuring him.
"Don't worry," replied Teneko, "I'm sure you'll be one of the best kings that ever ruled. Your decisions are firm, yet caring and emotion-filled. I served with Kelietya under three different King Vegeta's and none of them had much in the feelings department." As the seven-foot Namekian walked away, Goku watched the lesser Saiyan soldiers salute to him, even though he wasn't one of them. It was incredible; he figured it was because they believed in him, but Saiyans aren't usually the kind that associate with other species. He smiled to himself; maybe Teneko was right.
The training regimen began bright and early the next morning. Kelietya's troops, who were the ones keeping the Saiyan Empire safe from invasion, were on rotation every ten hours; she knew the importance of having forces constantly awake. A tired vigil can't guard well; this was one lesson she'd learned from the Namekian civil war. Piccolo and Vegeta were in the massive courtyard, giving training to each general's military forces, one group of a hundred thousand at a time. Both had trained people before—they each, on Earth, had their own dojos—but they'd never trained a hundred thousand at once. Fortunately, it was made easier by the fact that Saiyans caught on to training faster than any other species. Chakuri, the military liaison, was keeping news going between the generals and Goku, even though news was at a small note at this point. Bulma, who had started working with the crew of scientists, had already drawn up plans for a new crew transporter: it was a revolutionary new design that increased the efficiency of the warp drive mechanism, and it allowed for the transport of more troops with the same type of cloaking.
And the king himself, what of him? Goku was in the mess hall, eating away cheerfully at his meal. The cooking here was remarkably good; now he knew that his kind could not only eat well, they could cook well as well. In any case, he was well aware of what was going on and his presence at the training sessions was remarkably unneeded, so he would just keep up to date with his generals. Even though the war was so far going slowly, and there was virtually no action, he knew that once it started there would be much ado in the area of fighting. The Cardarians were a people that weren't weak, nor were they one to give up quickly. They would fight until their last man, and that's what worried Goku. It worried him because he didn't know whether or not that would impede his chances of winning the battle. Then again, the same description of how they fight to the death also described his own people, so maybe it wasn't a bad omen after all.
About three days into the training, a major attack was launched by the Cardarians on Felnir, one of the most important Saiyan weapons colonies. Kelietya, being the military genius, figured they were trying to destroy the enemy's armaments before they could launch a gathered attack. Clever little bastards, she thought.
"Kakarot!" yelled Chakuri, dashing up to him as he watched the training session. He turned to see his wife, and he saw that she was frightened, so it must have been important. "The enemy has launched an offensive!"
He lowered his eyebrows. "Where?" he hastily asked.
"Felnir!" she beckoned. "They're trying to disarm us before we can fight back!"
The expression on his face was one halfway between shocked and angered. He was expecting the Cardarians to attack; he wasn't expecting them to attack Felnir. It seemed that he underestimated his opponents. It was also the first crisis he had to deal with.
"General Kelietya?" asked Goku. "How are our defenses holding up at Felnir?"
She looked over at him from the lieutenant giving her the field report. "Our defenses are holding up fine," she explained. "The Cardarians weren't able to get the element of surprise. In fact, they accidentally revealed their position far before they wanted to. We're suffering virtually no casualties."
He smiled; this was good news. However, he knew not to get too happy this early into the fight. "Let me see an image of the battle scene," he said to Kelietya. She faced her subordinate officer.
"Onscreen!" she bellowed. Instantly, the giant front screen showed a massive movement of Cardarian troops being driven backwards by Kelietya's forces. He saw that it was going well, but, something seemed unusual about the attack; the Cardarians were not trying as hard as they should. As if hit by a train of thought, his eyes widened. Kelietya came to the same realization as he did, only a second later.
My god! they thought in unison. This is only a test to see how powerful we really are!
"General Kelietya!" said Goku. "They're launching a weak attack to see how powerful we are. We have to give them the impression that we're far superior to them, or else they'll proceed with a major offensive before we're ready!" She nodded; he was right. This was a positive note for her, for she noticed that he came up with this idea before she did. Perhaps he was a better strategist than her.
"Captain!" she yelled at the soldier sitting at the comms post she was standing over. Without having to hear the rest of her order, he hastily dialed up a secure energy signal over which she could transmit with no worry of it being intercepted.
"Ma'am," he replied, "use channel 123, sub-channels a-f. These have all been cleared of contacts and secured with tri-level encoding." She pressed the button on her scouter, then spoke with the lieutenant on the main battleship.
On the ship, the lieutenant saw a beeping on his main control panel. Not taking his eyes off it, he spoke to his superior officer.
"Sir!" he called. "Emergency message coming across channel 123, sub-channel e. Line is secured."
"Hello, this is Sub-Commander Genta. Who am I speaking with?" he inquired. When he saw the image of the person he was talking to, he was quickly brought to attention.
"This is General Kelietya," she replied. "I would like to tell you that the enemy fleet attacking your own is not trying to destroy you. They are trying to see what weaknesses are in Saiyan forces."
He raised an eyebrow; what was this? "Their goal is…not to take this colony?" he said, but didn't believe this was true.
"Oh no, they WANT the colony," she shot back. "However, that is a subordinate goal; they will be satisfied even if their entire attacking force you are facing is decimated. What we need to do, is make them think we're far superior to them. I order you to make sure the entire enemy fleet is demolished; there are to be no prisoners." After she said that, he saluted her and the communiqué was ended. He turned his chair around to face the soldier at the weapons post.
"Corporal," he reiterated. "We are to leave no prisoners. Fire at will." The corporal smiled and began typing up the weapons system. Genta then pressed the button on his scouter until he saw in his visor a secure channel.
"Attention fleet," he said to all ship captains. "We have been re-ordered by General Kelietya to leave no enemy ship intact. Your new orders are to fire at will!"
Back at home planet, Goku and the soldiers in the room watched the screen as Genta's sub-fleet tore through the Cardarian enemy forces like a hot knife through butter. They were getting beaten before, but after Kelietya's orders, the Cardarian attack fleet was getting ripped apart. Despite fighting in self-defense, he felt bad for the enemy, as he usually would. Goku silently made a small prayer for the individual enemy soldiers who'd be denied a future because they were brought—some against their better will and judgment—into a battle they might not have wanted. Even so, he knew that what must be done must be done. As the battle was drawing to a close, there was a knocking on the door.
"Hello?" a voice from behind the door yelled. "Can I please come in? I have news for you!" Goku opened the door, and in walked Bulma. She had a look on her face as if she had a secret. Could she have some new creation that would do something?
"What news do you have?" Kelietya said. Bulma pulled out a piece of rolled-up paper. She had a big grin on her face as she unraveled the plans.
"The weapon-science division has finished four working models of the pulsar satellite weapon," she explained. "This, if implemented properly, could buy us as much as three weeks of preparation time."
Goku's eyes perked up. "How so?" he asked.
She smiled menacingly at him. "This satellite will orbit a planet cloaked, then locate a weak point in the planet's electromagnetic field. Once it detects this point, it detonates itself directly above that point. This releases a massive discharge of E.M.P directly through to the core of the planet, effectively barbecuing anything with an electronic circuit anywhere on the planet's surface or beneath it even."
Kelietya caught on. "If we were to use this on Planet Muitola, it would destroy their troop deployers. They'd be unable to launch forces until they finished a month-long repair of seven thousand troop deployers."
Goku flinched. "They have…that many?" he said, shocked.
She turned to him, eyebrows lowered. "What? Do any problems arise from that?" she inquired.
"Yes!" he shouted. "If they have that many, we can't simply go after Fenzi! We must track down their home planet!"
All the soldiers—Kelietya included—gasped. The room suddenly attained one of those unbearable silences where everyone was staring at him as though he was nuts. He scanned the room; not a single facial expression in his favor.
"You cracked?!" Kelietya rasped, surprised he would make such a statement. "We could never take Planet Cardaria! They have thousands of defense mechanisms in their solar system; one of them is a moon-size space station with the capacity to destroy a small planet!"
"You mean the Dark Moon?" asked Bulma. "We intercepted an enemy communiqué from Planet Cardaria which explained—in detail—all of the station's strengths and weaknesses. If one is to fire a powerful energy beam through the main hole from which the death cannon fires, it pierces the core, causing the station to spontaneously explode. Also, if you disrupt the energy flow to the same core, the ship cannot maintain its own gravitational control, and plows into the nearest planet, destroying both."
Goku smiled; this would allow his plan to continue.
"Like Kakarot said," Kelt interjected, "the Cardarian fleet is tremendous. If we are to create a lasting peace and independence for our new Saiyan empire, we're going to have to track down their home planet of Cardaria."
"Then it's agreed," Goku concurred. "We attack planet Muitola tomorrow."
"The attack must go down in the morning," Kelietya said, "We must do this in order to catch them off-guard."
Goku sat on his chair in the room where the action was monitored. He saw on the screen the layout of the plan he had helped formulate. From the front, there was four ships—all cloaked—guiding the satellite to its destination. From the dark side of the planet, another fleet, which also was cloaked, was stationed in case that the first fleet was targeted. In the war room, all fingers were clenched, each person eagerly hoping the battle would come across smoothly.
"We're stationed at Planet Muitola," said a Saiyan commander. "Upon your orders, Kakarot sir, we will deploy the satellite."
Goku carefully monitored the screen. "Wait a minute…" he said into his scouter, "wait for it…NOW!"
The ship's laser guide system released the satellite from its laser connection with the main ship, and the satellite quickly activated itself. After a quick cloaking, took its place in the orbit around planet Muitola. Goku, who was intensely watching the situation, waited as the satellite scanned the planet's energy field for the weakest point. The four minutes that it took the satellite to scan the energy sphere of the planet, was probably one of the longest four minutes of the lives of the crew. Once it transmitted a signal back to the war room on home planet, Goku quickly pressed the button on his scouter.
"Saiyan fleet commander," Goku ordered, "arm the weapon."
A few intense seconds went by. All I's had been dotted, all t's crossed; all that was left now was the event. From the live video feed of the planet, a brilliant white flash suddenly lit up the sky, and then went dark for a few seconds. Once the feed came on, the zoomed-in video feed of the planet revealed something startling: the device worked, not leaving a single electric light on anywhere on the planet. Kelietya stomped her foot victoriously.
"Bang!" she cried. "We gain the upper hand!"
Kelt smiled. "I can't believe the damn thing worked," he said with folded arms. "But thanks to it, the enemy can't attack for another month or so!"
"Leaving us open for an attack on Cardaria," Goku finished. "How are the troops? Can you ask Piccolo and the others how the training is going?"
Just then, commander Teneko entered the room. The look on his face indicated that he had positive news on his mind.
"Don't worry, Kakarot," he replied. "The training is going along just fine. We can begin any possible counter-strikes tomorrow at the earliest."
Goku smiled. "Excellent!" he cried. "This, my friends, is why we are such a superior race!" Goku's call made the soldiers in the room leap to their feet in excitement and throw their fists up in the air. Kelietya smiled; of all the people she'd served, Goku was most certainly the best she'd seen. It was incredible to her that someone with as little leadership experience as him was able to so readily slide into his role as the king of the mighty Saiyan Empire. Then again, he was probably the finest Saiyan that ever lived, period.
"So, Kakarot sir," Kelietya inquired. "What shall we do tomorrow?"
Goku smiled; his course of action was the obvious one. "General Kelietya," he said, "we shall go for moon Fenzi tomorrow."
"An obvious course of action," entered Kelt. "This is the day the mighty Saiyan Empire finally renames itself as the best empire in the universe!"
As Goku left the chamber to talk with his friends, Kelietya ran up to him. For some strange reason, she had a tear in her eye. She wiped the tear from her eye and cleared her throat. "Kakarot sir," she exclaimed, her tone indicating these were tears of joy. "You are, without a doubt, the finest king that a general could ever serve under. I am glad I came to Earth despite the judgment of my commander, Teneko. Otherwise, I may never have met you!" Captured in the moment by joy, she threw her arms around Goku and held him as tightly as she could, which threatened to choke him. Instead of pushing her away, he found himself giving in, and letting the moment continue. Before he could say anything, however, she grabbed his head and pulled him forward, kissing him passionately on the lips for a brief moment. Halfway through, he pushed her away.
"Sorry, Kelietya," he replied, "I just can't. I can't kiss you because I'm married."
This statement seemed to upset Kelietya, who began to argue his beliefs. "But Kakarot!" she cried. "Saiyan ways are different! People can kiss people other than their wives because we don't have divorces!"
"MY morals aren't that way," Goku refuted. "Besides, I pledged to be faithful to Chakuri. I will NOT break my…" She did not let him finish. She yanked him closer, and kissed him passionately again. Unlike last time, however, he did not have time to push her away before Chakuri came up to the area. It seemed the tables had turned; this time, it was neither her cheating, nor was it a nightmare. Goku forced Kelietya away, and a look of utter shock moved onto both Goku's and Chakuri's faces. "No!" Goku cried. "It's not like this at all!"
Chakuri's tears began to flow like mini rivers. "YOU SON OF A B…!" she shouted, but her tears choked the words from her tongue like a vice. All at once, she turned and dashed away in the opposite direction. Goku, who was desperately trying to explain himself, tried to run, but fell flat on his face. When he got up, an angry glare from him was directed at Kelietya. Righting himself, he took off running after Chakuri.
An playfully mischievous grin spread itself across Kelietya's face.