Definition of Pride
By Moonraker One
Chapter Seven - The Struggle Begins
Chakuri did not like what she had seen back outside the war room. How could her own sister Kelietya betray her by having an affair with Kakarot? Kelietya was always the moral one of the family. Chakuri was the one who was complained at most by their father for mischief, so this didn't make sense. The hallway full of people moved to the side as Chakuri dashed by at top speed. She felt Goku's ki signature as he pursued her eagerly, but didn't care; there was no way she was going to hear lies from him. Goku sped up and thus appeared directly in front of Chakuri.
"There's a point at which you have to listen to my side," said Goku. Chakuri angrily looked him straight in the eye.
"You little…!" she screeched, then slammed her fist hard into his gut. His eyes grew wide and he clutched his abdomen, but was still able to grab her as she tried to run away again.
"Read…my mind…" he said, trying to catch his breath. She raised an eyebrow; what was this?
"I…can't hide the truth from you if you read my mind," he replied. She didn't want to at first, but he grabbed her right hand and pulled it to his forehead. Despite her being reluctant to figure the truth out, she saw his thoughts anyway. The subconscious mind revealed the truth as the person had seen it, and the truth could not be altered by the conscious mind, so she saw it as he knew it to be. Among the thoughts, she saw that deep inside, he didn't want to cheat on her with Kelietya. It gave her some relief.
"I still don't understand the kiss," she questioned. "Why'd you kiss her?"
"I DIDN'T!" screamed Goku, causing everyone in the hallways—some of which didn't really care—to stop and stare. The uneasy silence was cut short by Kelietya's appearance.
"Of course you did!" refuted Chakuri. "I saw you!"
"I forced him into it," entered Kelietya. "I grabbed him and pulled him towards me."
Chakuri seemed dumbfounded by this. "Why would you do such a thing?" she asked.
"To piss you off," replied Kelietya. "You have too much fun."
Chakuri rolled her eyes. "You're such an ass sometimes, sis," she shot back. "Here we are in a war and you're messing with my relationships."
"Oh shut up," Kelietya said. "You always had the loyal boyfriends. I had only one date ever, and he was a piece of trash."
Chakuri turned to Goku. "Okay, Goku," she boomed, mildly angrily. "I'll let you off the hook, but you DAMN well better not kiss my sister again."
"Can't we all just get back to what we were doing before?!" Goku yelled. "We've got a more important thing to worry about!"
They realized that he was right; they had to worry about the war before they could worry about anything else. The war, as it was, was shaping up well. Goku knew that the real battles hadn't happened yet, so they had much to think about. He knew that he was an incredible tactician when it came to one on one battles, but here in war, his skills were tested to their breaking point. The enemy was numerous, skilled, and had years of preparation. His own people were only recently brought back together, low in quantity, and only as skilled as a partial-week of training could get them. Not that he didn't trust his friends to teach the Saiyan soldiers how to better fight; it was merely that he had never faced this before. Initially, he was questioning his own skills, and now he was questioning how such a feeling of brotherhood could exist among a people who were well-known to be loners. The reason he couldn't have imagined the Saiyan man's desire to aid his fellow man was because he'd seen too many examples of Saiyans that didn't care of others. He figured he was the exception to the rule.
"Well, Chakuri," Kelietya asked. "Where were you headed?"
She glared at her sister. "I was headed to the mess hall to eat," Chakuri replied. "I haven't eaten in too long and I was getting to be hungry. If it wasn't for a certain SOMEONE I'd still be in the mood to eat right now!"
"Oh, quit complaining," Kelietya said. "I wasn't trying to play the seductress. How about the three of us get back to what we were doing?"
"Screw that," Goku shouted excitedly. "I'd like to get some training! I've sat down enough. Time for us to see how powerful we really are."
Chakuri seemed to like that concept. "We can fight in the Artificial Setting Room," concurred both sisters. "It'll allow us to utilize our utmost power without damaging the equipment or the planet!" To this agreement, all three seemed to like. Goku stood in the middle of the two sisters and draped his arms around both, leading them on towards the chamber. It was quite an event, but Kelietya somehow managed to get her sister to believe it was just a prank.
Everyone, by this point, knew that what they had prepared for was to be used to everyone's advantage. All had trained for what was the single longest week of their lives, and all the preparation boiled down to this. It all came down to who was the best, who was the strongest, who was the smartest. The Cardarians had a vast number advantage, and they had years to prepare for any combat that would ensue. They had their only enemies in a very strategic position that could end their foes' existences forever. The Saiyans had only one thing to them that was unique to their empire: they had the absolute need to be free. It allowed them to be more of a united race.
Onboard the ship that was leading the charge towards Fenzi, General Metano's knew his troops' training would make them more than ready for the struggle that was about to begin. The first of five different energy mini-moon stations was to be their first target. Each one of his fleet divisions were coordinated to attack a different mini-moon once he gave the signal, but this one had to fall first. A new weapon had been developed; a personal cloaker. Now, not only could you cloak a troop deployer, you could also cloak yourself. This made sneak invasions far simpler. The best thing is, the Cardarians didn't even know such technology could exist. Metano knew this should very well be simple. After the energy stations were decimated, Kelt's troops—who, next to Kelietya's, were considered the finest of the species—would launch the main invasion of Fenzi. Metano ran the plan over with his troops.
"Alright," he said to everyone through his scouter. "The energy producing plant has five main
checkpoints. We must take these out first in order to get to the enemy
installation. Commander Felitra?"
"Yes sir?" inquired the
commander of Metano's third troop transporter.
"You," he explained, "are to lead the attack on the second mini-moon. Once I give my signal to you, you are to go about the destruction of the complex with the same pattern I used on the first one. Once accomplished, signal Commander Slaktro to do the exact same with the third."
"Do you understand, everyone?" asked Metano. "Once my personal crew has finished our job, Felitra will work on the second. Slaktro will destroy the third, Leekk will take down the fourth, and Niid, the final one. This MUST go down in this exact order. Understood?"
They did.
Back at home planet, in the war room, Goku and Chakuri and the soldiers of the chamber were giving a constant watch to the screen which had a visual explanation of the mission so far. In the far corner of the screen, near Fenzi's position, a small gray mass was approaching from off the screen. Goku squinted in confusion. It couldn't be what he was thinking, could it?
"Lieutenant!" he ordered. "Zoom in on that gray blob I see on the screen." A few buttons were typed, and then, the screen zoomed in on the mass. Goku was right, against his better wishes; there were Cardarian fighter ships approaching Metano's position. That was impossible; Goku knew Saiyan cloaking mechanisms were the most advanced in the universe. Then, a far more horrible sight appeared.
"Dear Kami," Goku whispered. "The bastards know where he's at even though they can't see or sense him!" Bulma suddenly burst through the door. Commander Teneko was behind her, and General Sekina was held in a tight grip by him.
"Kakarot!" shouted the big Namek, holding the high-ranking Saiyan in a full nelson. "Using a scouter-tap device, we traced a traitorous communiqué from within General Sekina's private chamber!"
Goku looked with disgusted anger at his subordinate officer. "So, you've betrayed us all," Goku said.
"I…I…please let me…" he tried to plea, but Goku wouldn't allow him. The Saiyan king angrily thrust his fist into the gut of Sekina. When the Saiyan fell to his knees, Goku lifted him two feet off the ground by his neck.
"Within our own government," Goku said, more disappointed than angry and staring the man in his eyes. "I can't believe you'd sell us out while we're fighting for our own independence. You bastard."
"Don't kill me," coughed the General.
Goku thrust him to the ground, then turned to Teneko. "Remove all of his medals," instructed Goku, "all of his awards, everything. Remove his clothing; he's not worthy of Saiyan attire."
"What punishment shall he receive?" inquired Chakuri.
Goku looked down at the traitor. "The sovereign government of the Saiyan Empire orders you to leave its territories forever. If you ever return, you face prompt execution by your peers. I hope the enemy will take you in amongst them. If not, it doesn't concern me." He nodded at Teneko, and the Namek grabbed the villain by the scruff of his neck and drug him out of the chamber. Goku didn't care what happened to him, and neither did Chakuri; she, however, knew what would happen. Sekina would make his plea to which ever King Cold ruled the Cardarian empire this time, but would face prompt execution. Goku had just mastered the most difficult technique of ruling a kingdom; the INdirect death sentence.
The lieutenant suddenly shouted, "King Kakarot sir! Enemy communication intercepted!"
Goku looked on his scouter; it was the new king Cold of the Cardarian empire. "It seems you've located my spy in your order," he rused. "But even so, your forces will soon face complete annihilation." The message was then cut off, but not before the lieutenant noticed something bizarre at the end of it, and forwarded the message to the analysis department for the detection of possible hidden messages within the mockery. Goku was trying to think of a way to deal with this threat.
"Kakarot sir!" Teneko said, rushing back in. "I know how to pull out Metano's troops and stop the enemy advancement!"
"You do?" Goku responded. "How?"
Teneko seemed to know something, and Goku just had to figure out what it was. The Namek had to have at least a few hundred years more experience in strategizing than the king himself, so it would make sense that he would see something that Goku didn't. It just seemed insurmountable.
"If you intercept the enemy attacking fleet before they reach one parsec of Metano's position," Teneko explained, "you can halt them long enough to pull out his troops, and then organize a fleet to attack Fenzi."
Goku raised an eyebrow. "How can we attack Fenzi if we can't destroy the energy plants?" he asked, trying to make sense of it all.
"That's where I come in," entered Bulma. She handed him a piece of paper, which he unfolded. Upon examination, he noticed that the blueprint handed to him was a description of some device that you attach to a ship. "This wondrous little piece of science is an electromagnetic sub-level scrambler."
"In idiot's language, please," requested the confused Saiyan.
Bulma rolled her eyes. "Goku," she began.
"Kakarot sir," corrected Teneko. Bulma rolled her eyes again.
"Kakarot SIR," she said, rephrasing herself. "This, when attached to the ship's energy field generator, allows the ship to pass through a force field as though it weren't even there! Furthermore, it allows you to remain cloaked in the process!"
Goku stamped his foot. "Bulma," he excitedly yelled, "you're a genius. Have you implemented this in any of the new ships yet?"
"So far, Kelietya's division has had theirs installed first."
Goku turned to the panel. "Lieutenant!" ordered Goku. "Where is the position of Kelietya's troops?"
"They are spread throughout our territory protecting our outlying colonies," explained the lieutenant, "but there is a company of twelve thousand within five seconds of Moon Base Fenzi. Shall I order the attack?" Goku shook his head.
"Wait for it," he announced. "Teneko! Your superior officer Kelietya is currently busy with leading a separate attack on Moon Base Kelsor in the main of Cardarian territory. You shall head down to the docking bay and take a troop transporter."
Teneko smiled. "I…get to lead my own troops into combat?!" He was quite excited by this concept.
Goku patted him on the shoulder. "Your troops are currently onboard S.I.T. seventeen," he explained. "Your troops will stop the Cardarian advancement and make sure Metano pulls out of there. Afterwards, you will take command of Kelietya's unattended division and lead them into the primary assault on Fenzi, taking the Moon and also taking prisoners."
The walking mass of green muscle stood at attention—a whole foot and two inches taller at attention—and saluted. "You can depend on me, sir!"
I'd hope so, Goku thought. Right now, a hundred thousand soldiers' lives depend on your quick thinking.
Sub-commander Jeel-Ort of the Cardarian attacking fleet smiled as his ships closed in on Metano's troops; damn these monkeys for fighting back. Why wouldn't they just roll over and accept their inevitable demise like before? It was strange to him why they should even fight back. So their new king was the Super Saiyan. So he defeated the former king and both his sons. Did that matter? No. One good surprise attack on Saiya and the Holy Cardarian Empire would be back on top again.
"Men," Jeel-Ort said into his scouter. "We're coming in so close to these monkeys we can smell 'em. Let's take them all down!" The cheering he heard was cut short by an angry looking face appearing in his scouter visor. Who the hell was this? It wasn't Saiyan; it was…Namekian.
"This is Co-Commander Teneko of the Royal Saiyan Allied Forces," Teneko introduced. "You have been ordered to leave this area at once. If not, we will open fire upon you, leaving no one intact."
"Why don't you go suck yourself, Namek scum?!" shouted Jeel-Ort.
"You've just incurred the wrath of the mightiest empire in this galactic system," Teneko said. "You will now meet your previous king in HELL!"
Jeel-Ort scoffed at this green man's claim, but was soon rocked by a jolt to his fighter. He stared down with shock at his panel; an invisible energy missile had struck the engine of his ship. And that was considered a miss! Oh by the order of Cold! The green bastard wasn't lying!
"That's it men!" called out Teneko. "Fire upon those horned pieces of caca!"
"Our troops are destroying the enemy fleet, sir," reported a non-commissioned officer. "However, Cardarian reinforcements are coming. Soon we will be outnumbered."
Teneko stood up. "Open the pod bay doors on my signal," he said. "I'll take care of it myself."
"Sir!" scoffed a corporal. "You don't mean you're gonna…"
"Yes," ordered Teneko. "I'm going to personally give those morons a wake up call."
With that, he left the main deck, and placed his highest-ranked subordinate in charge while he was down. He ran down the hallway and through the doors, and into the pod bay. Eagerly, he walked down the long hangar and stood at the very edge, directly behind a gigantic adamantium door. He pulled off the neckband, smiled as he felt his power rise, and created a field of ki around himself.
"Open the doors now," ordered Teneko. As the gigantic metal doors swing slowly open, the entire Cardarian attacking fleet was seen approaching his position. He shouted on his scouter for all Saiyan craft nearby to return to docking, and this cleared a path for him. He put forth an extended palm.
"No, he wouldn't DARE," said Jeel-Ort, seeing the lone figure standing at the edge of the ship's bay. "NO! HE CAN'T!"
Oh he could. And he did. One powerup and a squeeze of energy later, and a massive wall of ki enveloped the entire enemy fleet. The doors shut and he proceeded back up to the ship's main deck. "Inform Metano that he is to get his sorry ass out of there," repeated Teneko to his second-in-command. "Then, make sure that the rest of our fleet is ready for an attack on Base Fenzi."
The second-in-command saluted. "Yes sir!" he replied, bursting with pride. Teneko was amazed; there seemed to be no limit to the amount of pride displayed by these Saiyans. Metano's fleet was pulled out at the last minute before they would've otherwise gone straight into a trap. Metano was flabbergasted that Sekina was the one who was the traitor; he knew there was someone who he was trying to locate that was transmitting secret data to the enemy, but he never would have guessed that the one was the person that he'd been friends with most of his life. Metano, being a spirited fighter, was eager to rejoin the fight at any opportunity that surfaced. He took his fleet and moved closer to homeplanet until such time that he got orders to do otherwise.
"Alright men," Teneko explained over his scouter. "We have passed through the enemy base's energy field. Soon, we will land on the homeplanet, and cloaked, we will launch a full scale attack on all of their forces. With any luck, and the mercy of the gods, we should easily decimate their entire forces. A traitor has revealed to the enemy our plan, but he has not taken everything into account, so our enemy should not realize our position until such time that we attack."
The entry into Fenzi's airspace went without a hitch. Teneko's fleet consisted of seven different ships, each one carrying a large number of soldiers. Using Bulma's brilliant technology, they could now attack their enemy and they'd have the best possible advantage: the enemy could not see, hear, or even sense their presence. "Okay, sergeant," Teneko said to the Saiyan at the weapons post. "Locate the main troop transporters of the enemy and take them out first. This must be done first so that once we attack, they cannot launch a retaliatory attack."
The order was relayed to the other ships under Teneko's command. In a few minutes, the fleet had dispersed across the moon's surface, and was targeting each of the major troop transporters responsible for enemy attacks. It took only but a few minutes' time worth of coordination, but once it was done, the main crippling attack could thus begin.
"Now, my dedicated fleet," Teneko ordered, "fire at will!" The response was glorious for the Saiyan side. Back at homeplanet, Goku and the others who were watching through the live video feed were cheering as the enemy's military was decimated. There were lots of enemy troop transporters, and each one was taking either irreparable damage, or being vaporized completely. Upon the destruction of the troop transporters, the next target of the Saiyan sneak attack was the soldiers' barracks. For these, the individual Saiyan solders left Teneko's ships and entered secretly and began taking soldiers as prisoners. Electronic equipment was being decimated, emergency weapons systems were firing but not knowing where to fire at, and thousands upon thousands of Cardarian troops were either being taken against their will or surrendering voluntarily. Even though Goku and his fellow generals and commanders knew not to get too cocky, they couldn't help but celebrate at the thought of this major victory.
The pressure was mounting. In the palace of the Cardarian King, Cold the seventeenth was pacing back and forth as the horrible news of the loss of Moon Base Fenzi was hitting his ears. He thought at first that the Saiyans were going to invade, but they would be held back very easily. Instead, much to his horror, he found out that the entire moon was taken; for the Cardarian side, it was not only a complete loss, but it was a disaster. Nothing this bad had ever happened to the Holy Cardarian Empire.
"I can't believe this is happening," Cold said angrily at his general. "Colediac, how could half the military not have staved off the Saiyan advancement?!"
The general was shaking in his boots. "S…sir!" said Colediac, "They…they seemed to be not there, even though they were."
"That's nonsense!" Cold boomed. "Cloaking devices will not allow you to move or fight back while the mechanism is activated! Even if they have advanced technology, did you manage to get a downed ship?"
The general nervously shook his head. "S…sir, we had no chance," he said, making himself seem small.
"Because of your division's failure," shouted Cold, "the entire Cardarian attack force—one which would've allowed us to exterminate those stupid monkeys quickly—is FUBAR! Colonel, escort Colediac to the torture chamber. I want him to die slowly and painfully."
"S…Sir!" rasped Colediac as he was drug away. "I can't help it that they had superior technology."
"Maybe you can't," Cold replied, "but at least your death will make me feel a little better."
Back on homeplanet, Goku and the others in the room were preparing for the final attack that would take place as soon as possible. It would go down before the day was up, and if all went well, it would be the decider of the war. Goku desperately wanted a war that was short and ended quickly, before there was any chance to rack up a large casualty list. He had more faith in Saiyan pride now than he ever did before, and perhaps that was the whole point of fighting. He was amazed by how quickly they'd gone for the enemy's Achilles' heel, and soon, the final battle would go down.
Teneko and his troops had returned to Saiyan space within the main solar system so as to receive final orders on the war decider. Kelietya, who was away fighting a battle defending a Saiyan colony, was amazed when news of Fenzi's fall hit her ears; this meant that in only a week or so's time, they could already make a final attack on Planet Cardaria. She'd struggled for years—decades, in fact—to end the Cardarian grip on Saiyan life, to little avail. Here came Kakarot, who was inexperienced in leading troops, and they were already near victory with the help of only a few people. The technology that had been created By Bulma was ninety-nine percent of the cause for their new advantages in combat, because prior to her, they had to fight the wars the conventional way by using sheer man power.
"Here's the plan," Goku discussed with the generals through his scouter. "Kelt; your troops will enter in through the eastern side of the Cardarian solar system and knock out their energy fields, which are the primary defense means of their homeplanet. Kelietya; your troops will weaken and destroy the defense guns and cannons that are stationed on various battle stations around their homeworld."
"What of the Dark Moon?" inquired Metano. "Don't we have to destroy that first?"
"Yes," Goku said, his eyes growing dim. "You will have to have a section of your troops distract the main energy cannon of the station while a separate fleet goes in and disrupts the core. I pray to the gods that your troops don't get fired upon, but if they do, it will be a sacrifice that we had to make."
That didn't tide over well. "Kakarot sir!" he cried. "You couldn't possibly tell me to put my troops on the chopping block and pray that a different section of my troops gets to the core in time!"
Goku shook his head, and could've started crying, but he held back his emotions. "I hate to say it," replied the gentle king, "but this is our only way. It's either a small group of troops risk being destroyed or our entire planet will be decimated. We can't go this far just to have history repeat itself!"
"Yes…sir," Metano agreed, reluctantly.
"What of me?" a voice from behind Goku said. He looked over, and it was Teneko. The eager Namekian was ready for combat just as much as any other.
"You, my dear commander," he said, smiling, "will take the remainder of the troops and lead the primary invasion of Cardaria!"
Teneko's eyes grew wide again. "Kakarot sir!" he cried. "You mean it?! I get to lead the invasion!?"
Goku put his hand on the Namek's shoulders. "Teneko, you are one of the finest soldiers I've ever seen," he reassured him. "You've helped me come up with some of my best strategies in this war. I'm certain that you are ready for anything. You have my authorization to do anything that will win us the war."
Teneko walked out of the room with pride; this was his chance to do something he'd never been able to do before. This was his chance to prove himself to someone other than Kelietya.