A/N: Hey again! It's been awhile since I updated, but I hope to be updating this story much more regularly now. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: Dragonball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama
The main meal was…interesting. She had been the first to arrive, summoned by her rumbling stomach to the smells of cooked meat. As was customary in polite company, she waited for her host to arrive before gorging herself. Unfortunately, she realized too late that she was not the only guest invited for the meal.
A very large, both in height and muscle, man walked through the doorway into the dining room and gave her a menacingly slow once-over. She gaped at the sheer size of him: he was almost two feet taller than she. If she had to guess, he could fit three or four of her quite easily.
"A Diminutive Saiyan. I've never seen one of you before." With that, he hoisted her up by her waist and stared over her as if she were a new toy. "It's hard to believe a Saiyan could be this small. Oomphf!" Touch her without her permission, would he? Barely two seconds after he picked her up, she palm-heeled his chest, knocking her free and sending him reeling back several feet. She would have hit him harder, but breaking her host's home seemed a bad idea.
A stream of loud chuckling interrupted anything the giant might have retorted. Chief Vegeta was standing at the opposite side of the dining room, arms crossed and leaning against the far wall. "Nappa, you should be more careful with my guest. I believe she may be a feisty one." To her surprise, the giant chuckled back.
"You aren't kidding. I imagine I am dying a terrible death in her head right now."
She was fuming at the blatant disregard for the inappropriateness of his action. "Several," she bit. That only encouraged the raucous laughter.
"Commander Nappa means no harm, I assure you. He was like a child when we first allied ourselves with the Dormants, practically paraded Envoy Tervas about the camp on his shoulders. I would suggest," he said, then turning to the hunk of meat, "that you do not attempt the same with Envoy Aina. Now, take a seat and we will dine once Envoy Tervas arrives." She did as she was bidden, angry as she was at the whole situation. Neither man had ingratiated himself in her favor, so she sincerely hoped Envoy Tervas provided some semblance of rationality.
She smoothed over her furs and looked over them, distracting herself from the food before her. Such old clothing, but furred beasts were difficult to come by these past several years. If anyone ventured too far away from the encampments, a Tuffle raid might claim new victims. Even in the mountain enclave of the Dominants furred beasts were nowhere to be found. Though the meat smelled good on the table, she knew it came from the giant lizards that inhabited the rocky terrain.
"Ah, good, I had thought you might have started without me." Turning towards the new voice she eyed the slender Saiyan, glad he was closer in size to her. Still, he certainly out-muscled her and was taller. Hopefully he would not be as blunt about his curiosity with Diminutive Saiyans. He took a seat beside her and gave a sharp nod to Chief Vegeta, at which time the men began to eat their fill.
Before she had time to think on the Dormant envoy ignoring her, she grabbed a generous serving of what was available and horded it onto her plate. With such voracious appetites, it was good to know how to pick and choose food quickly lest the males eat everything before she got a chance. None of the men, however, were eating boorishly. Quickly, yes, but they took time to swallow and wipe their faces before stuffing more food in their mouths. Formality. In any other situation, these beasts would be tearing each other apart for each scrap, but in this context they were playing the roles of host and guests and what accounted for polite society deemed the formality necessary. She was glad for it.
Being the daughter of a chief had not exempted her from fighting for food. She and her brother always warred after the best pieces, the outcome differing each time. What she lacked in strength compared to her brother she made up for with speed. Eventually, when they grew older, they learned the value of sharing food and making sure each member of the clan was strong. Little ones needed to learn the basic instinct of competition for survival, but once the lesson was learned it was better to share than to scrabble. Still, the members of her clan ate quickly, and no amount of sharing could make up for inattention or slow fingers. The slow ones would still get food, but the choice bits would already be gone. And she liked having choice.
As with most Saiyan meals, this one did not last long. They sat quiet and still for several moments, allowing their food to digest. Soon, though, Chief Vegeta motioned for everyone to follow him into an adjacent room, supposedly for the meeting he had spoken about. Inside was a long table with a dozen or so chairs surrounding it. Vegeta took the chair at the head of the table and Nappa took the chair to his right. Envoy Tervas sat to the chief's left and she took the chair next to him. It was very subtle, but she could sense the small tensing that was occurring in the other envoy's shoulders. Something about her did not sit well with him, she guessed. The fur about his tail was slightly puffed up, so it was not just her imagination.
A short time later a slew of bulky, battle-worn men came into the room and took up the remainder of the chairs, some even claiming a bit of wall as their space. They all eyed her warily, but deferred to Chief Vegeta before passing verbal judgment. She felt very out of place.
"Edza, what is the latest news from the main camp?" the chief began. A wizened, scarred man turned in his chair and replied.
"Still no luck with the satellite base, Chief. Their fortifications are very heavy."
"What do you recommend?"
"…More men." Her ears perked up when she heard the distinctive sighs of both the chief and Envoy Tervas. Apparently this was not the first time this request had been made. The chief rubbed his temple and scanned the other men.
"Commanders, can any of you spare men for Commander Edza's camp?" Most of the men had to consider their words before replying in the negative. She wondered if there really were no more men to spare, or if they did not want to spare them. "Envoy Tervas, do you believe Chief Dokra would be willing to reinforce the main camp?"
"No." The answer was quick. "Too many Dormant men have been sent away from our settlement never to return, a good many having been sent to the main camp. Chief Dokra will not commit any more warriors than he has already." Tervas spoke softly, but firmly. Vegeta sighed once more and nodded.
"That's what I thought. Envoy Aina, what about Chief Kotak? Do you think he would be able to spare men for the main camp?" All eyes were now on her, and it made her heart jump far faster than she would have liked.
It took her a moment to choose her words carefully. "Kotak has the ability, and the clan has the numbers, but he would not be willing to commit anyone without knowing the battle strategy first. Nor would I make a promise without knowing it either." She took in a deep breath and hoped it would not become difficult to hold her tongue. By no means was she weak, but with more than a dozen battle-ready men boxing her in she would be a fool to provoke them.
Commander Edza cleared his throat and gave her a condescending look. "With their armaments and soldiers, we need vastly superior numbers to overtake them and gain control of the base."
"And what is the strategy?" A fist slammed on the table. It originated from one of the other commanders.
"Are you deaf, girl? The commander just told you!" She remained calm and looked toward the chief. He, however, said nothing. If he had nothing to say, it was either extremely common for yelling matches to occur, or he was seeing how well she could maintain the traditional role of the female. Or, he could just agree with the commander who had called her out. In which case, she was going to have to get used to the idea of being beaten.
She turned back to Commander Edza, ignoring the comment. "How many men do you have under your command right now?"
"About one-thousand, give or take." One thousand? That was a good portion of the entire Saiyan race. Last time she remembered, the Saiyans only numbered in the tens of thousands, the urbanization and oppression of the Tuffles making further growth impossible.
"Forgive me, but that is a very large number. And you say this is a satellite base? The few satellite bases my clan has come across were not very large, and only a handful of men were required to wipe them out. What kind of armaments does this base have?" She could see the commander was growing tired of her questions, but with no word from the chief he had little choice but to respond.
"The usual standard weaponry for the couple hundred troops stationed there, plus a few missile towers and a shield generator. We have run into the issue of the armor plating on the buildings themselves, though. It takes awhile to get through it and by the time we get started the troops start picking us off either from the towers or with the missiles. In order to get through, we need many more men."
"So how are you tackling the missile towers?"
"The missile towers? They're protected by that energy shield."
"Alright, then how are you tackling the energy shield?"
He was beginning to grow red in the face. "Didn't you hear me the first time? We need to focus on getting through the armored walls, not on the energy shield. Why should we waste effort on that? It does not protect the walls, therefore is not important."
"If that is your opinion, then I am afraid the Diminutive clan cannot commit any troops to your command."
"What?! Why the hell not?!" Her heart skipped when the commander's fists slammed against the table, but she had to remain calm. Oh how she wanted to get into a shouting match with this dunder-head. But oh how she also wanted to keep her bones unbroken.
"Tuffle circuitry is all interconnected. Overload any one system, and the whole base goes without power. Without power—"
"What are you babbling on about, damned woman?!" the commander interrupted.
She gave him a sharp look and continued. "Without power, the base's only source of protection is the armored walls and the armed troops. Have one group pick off the troops, while the other takes care of the walls. Without missiles raining down on your heads, and easily taken-care-of Tuffles, taking over the base is only a matter of time. The fact that you do not know this, or that you do not acknowledge this, is a gross weakness in the military leadership of the Saiyan race, and is therefore my opinion that one of such a weak mind is not fit to lead my kinsmen into battle. I will not ask my brother for warriors for your command, and that is final."
Before the uproar matured, Envoy Tervas stood. "She has a point." He then looked towards the chief.
"I am in agreement with the envoys." A wave of argument erupted, fists slamming on the table, voices struggling to be heard over other voices. "Enough!" Vegeta's voice boomed over the din and silence fell immediately. "Do not forget the reason I brought the envoys here. Our clan has been fighting this war for nearly nine years, and we have gotten nowhere. The Dormant alliance helped us maintain our battle-lines, which we were unable to do ourselves; remember the Tuffles almost wiped out our camp here during the first year. The Diminutive clan, though not allied with neither us nor the Dormants, was able to stay alive and well these nine years all by themselves. If we do not listen to the advice these two envoys can give, then we might as well resign ourselves to losing the war. As Envoy Tervas said, Envoy Aina has a point. We will reconvene tomorrow to discuss the new battle strategy, and I expect respect to be given to our guests."
Grumbles followed the commanders from the room, except from commander Nappa, who appeared amused. He chuckled and left the conference room, leaving her, Tervas, and Chief Vegeta behind.
She turned to Tervas and gave him a polite nod. "Thank you." He stiffened.
"Mmm," he managed, nodding to the chief and then taking his leave.
"Chief Vegeta, if I might ask, why is Envoy Tervas acting like he put something up his posterior orifice?" To her relief, Vegeta laughed shortly.
"The Dormant clan is even stricter about women than we are. Women do not speak unless spoken to, and do not hold such positions of authority. Whereas a Dominant woman may gain respect and status by being strong and forceful, Dormant women would get beaten should they attempt to do so. It is a bit archaic, but it is not my place to dictate their traditions. Envoy Tervas is a good man, very knowledgeable about his clan and very respectful to our women, despite his cultural difference. Taking a side with you and not chastising you for speaking so boldly was not something he would ever do, and I believe that is why he is so stiff around you. I suggest you attempt to adhere to his traditions when around him, unless the situation demands otherwise."
"I will try, but I guarantee nothing. So, do you have a place around here I can use for training?"
"There is a large training space behind the main lodgings. Why, do you feel the need to crush something?" She nodded.
"Holding my tongue when someone is so stupidly wrong is very difficult." It was slight, but she saw a change in his eyes.
"Perhaps I will join you. We need to work on your guard." So soft. Damn it, what had she said now? This training session was not going to be fun.
So close to getting her in his good graces, and then she had to ruin it. To her, the strategy, or lack thereof, of his commanders was idiotic and stupid. Her clan was used to strategizing. His was not. His commander had not been "stupidly wrong" but rather a victim of tradition. She would not change his clan overnight, and trying to insinuate their traditions were stupid was only going to make her life difficult. He hoped he could teach her understanding: the advice she gave was so vital, but that advice was only useful if she could curry favor with not only him but the rest of the commanders. Men did not follow what they were against, no matter how many times they were told to do so.
Beating some sense into her was not necessarily the ideal way to get his message across, but it was a start.
A/N: Thank you for reading. Feedback is always appreciated.