Chapter Twenty-seven - A Matter of Faith
Gero sat at his computer going over all the data he had gathered recently on Kakkarotto and his bloodline. It had been as difficult as he'd expected to get a blood sample from Kakkarotto. In the end he'd needed Videl to deliver the Sai-jin a drugged box of doughnuts to knock him out so she could extract the blood. The doctor found it all rather tedious and still couldn't understand how the most powerful person in the universe could be so damned terrified of a simple needle. Still, he'd gotten all the samples he'd needed, Pan had drawn her own and transmitted the data to his computer less than an hour after he'd contacted her, almost a week ago now, but the computer had only just finished its full analysis and comparison of all the data.
What Gero saw on his screen was both fascinating and confusing. According to the scans of their DNA Pan, Goten, and Kakkarotto were all related but Gohan was not. Not related to any of them at all. That was how much his DNA had changed. The computer not recognizing him as him had been one thing but for the DNA to have changed so much that the computer no longer considered him a relative of Kakkarotto's was something else entirely. What's more, the genetic sequence he'd been searching for in the others was not present. It wasn't in anyone but Gohan but the fact that it had been in Gohan from the age of five ruled out the possibility that it had been added after his birth.
"I just don't understand." Gero mused, looking over the four information displays. "The sequence had to be inserted somewhere, at some time. But how? And why wasn't it passed on to Pan?" He typed in a few things and a fifth genetic analysis came up on the screen, one for Chi-Chi. She, too, was marked as a relative for Goten and Pan but not for Gohan. He'd gone over her DNA several times in the past, at the request of Vegeta, in an attempt to see if Gohan's condition had been related to his Human parentage. But he'd never found anything there to suggest she was the source of the problem.
A few more button taps and he had the computer running a full comparison between Gohan's DNA and that of Chi-Chi's and Kakkarotto's. He watched as various bits of data on the three displays lit up highlighting what genetic information Gohan had had come from which parent. In a normal comparison the child would share about 99.7% of their DNA with their parents. 0.3% of their genetic make-up would be purely original, the results of natural mutation during embryonic development. He had done this comparison with Goten earlier and gotten a result of 99.68% which was well within the normal range. However, when the current comparison finished it showed that Gohan only shared 68.35% of his DNA with his parents.
"Over a quarter of his genetic structure is original?" Gero wondered in surprise. "Astounding. I can't achieve numbers like that without years of work in a controlled lab environment. I wonder...." He quickly entered another series of commands into the computer and a sixth DNA analysis appeared, the first one he had for Gohan, from when he was five. Again he ran the comparison. Gohan had since achieved Super Sai-jin 2 which, Gero knew, would cause a slight alteration in his genetic make-up from when he was a child, but it would only account for about a 0.07% change. He was interested to see how much different his DNA actually was now from when he was child. He already knew it had to be significant but....
"Only a 75.04% match?" he said, shocked. "A quarter of his genetic structure has changed since he was five?" He furrowed his brow in thought and then quickly ran another scan, this time comparing the five year old Gohan's DNA with that of his parents. Parentage had never been a consideration or concern with the children of the Masters so he'd never bothered to run such a check before. A moment later the results came back. "Hmm, 99.57% is a bit low but not completely beyond normal. Though this is most interesting. Even though the genetic sequence is present at this point it would seem that little or no change to his DNA had yet occurred.
"Hmm, the first attack I remember him reporting was about two years ago... let's see...." He quickly ran a few more comparisons and was shocked, once more, by what he found. "Gohan's DNA remained, effectively, unchanged up until two years ago. All of the new genetic information, almost 25% of his entire genetic make-up, has been added in just the last two years. Truly remarkable. But why can't I find the source of the genetic sequence in his parents? It makes no sense, it shouldn't be possible for such a thing to be present in just Gohan. A sequence like this wouldn't appear as just a part of natural mutation, it must have an origin."
He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and frowned at the screen as he considered the problem. "The genetic sequence in Master Gohan is unique to him but its origins must trace back to one of his parents, there's no way it could have been added after his birth. But how do you single out one person for a genetic modification and not all of a person's children, and without altering the genetic structure of a parent?" he mused. And then his eyes widened. "Could it have been...?" he wondered. "Yes, yes, that is possible. That must be it, it's the only thing that makes sense.
"The initial genetic sequence must have been encoded on some sort of virus, bacteria, or parasite. A singular organism introduced into Kakkarotto's body, or perhaps even into Chi-Chi's as this method would leave no obvious physical signs of its presence, designed to hunt out... what? A reproductive cell? A developing zygote? Either way makes no difference in the end, I suppose, the result would be the same. This extra genetic sequence would add itself to the combining DNA, mix itself in as part of the newly growing life, and thus be there from the start with no trace of its origins. But... how? How would this have been added to either Master Kakkarotto or to Mistress Chi-Chi? And when, why? What's the reason?"
He leaned forward again and quickly set up a simulation to run, in order to work out a few concepts, and then switched off the monitor and stood. He had found all he could from the genetic information he'd gathered. Now it was time to speak with Kakkarotto and Chi-Chi and see if he could find a time, a location, or an event that could have been when this information, this virus or bacteria or parasite or whatever it was, had been introduced, and to which of them it had been introduced to. Perhaps, with that knowledge, he could determine the reason, the purpose, for what was happening with Gohan, and maybe then he could stop, possibly even reverse, what was happening.
XXX
The first thing she felt was the pain. Lancing pain like the back of her skull was being split open. Shooting pain like someone had jammed a live electrical wire into the top of her spine. As consciousness and, in turn, thought returned to her confusion swept through her mind. She couldn't remember where she was or what could possibly be causing her such pain. She felt the light before she saw it, pressing in against her eyelids and turning the blackness of unconsciousness into the reddish-pink of the back side of her eyelids. As she came to more and more the pain grew worse and worse until she began to feel sick from it, though she knew there was nothing in her stomach to bring up.
With a groan she tried to force the pain away and opened her eyes. The stabbing brightness of the white lights reflected off the metal walls hurt her eyes and made the pain in her head worse. Her first thought, as she got a glimpse of her surroundings through the glare of the white lights, was that she was in one of the cells on Saiya, in the palace, which just confused her even more. But as her eyes adjusted to the glare and the room came more into focus she realized it was too large, too clean, to be one of the palace's cells.
That's when she realized that she wasn't laying down, wasn't even standing, but was hanging by her arms. She tried to tilt her head up, to see what was holding her, but that small movement shot a searing wave of agony down through her spine that made her cry out. As the pain faded some, and left room for thought again, she could feel cold metal wrapped around her wrists, her arms were numb and sore. No doubt she'd been hanging this way for a while, and she truly was hanging as she could feel nothing below her feet and could, in fact, see that her toes were a good foot above the floor. And she see something glinting down around her feet, but she couldn't tell what.
Confusion mounted more for a moment until memory began to push its way past the pain. The orders she'd gotten from Bra, the pod launch, the landing on Leberion, the information she'd gotten from the workers at the factory, and then being surrounded by the Battle Droids. The last thing she could remember was deciding to pull back, to get away from their vastly superior numbers and come up with some new plan on dealing with what had been far more powerful machines than she had anticipated encountering. Someone, or something, had snuck up behind her and hit her, knocked her out. It was the only thing that made sense.
"But how long have I been out?" she wondered. She chanced trying to raise her head again but stopped as she screamed out in pain, another intensive wave of agony flooding down through her spine. She fought the building urge to try and vomit, knowing that doing so would only cause more pain, and moved her eyes around to try and see as much of the room as possible. From what she could see it was little more than a metal box, no tables or chairs or windows within her field of view. And no trace of whatever it was that was causing her such pain when she tried to move her head. However, she did spy a body suit lying in a corner, which made her look down at herself again and notice, for the first time, that her armor, gloves, boots, and body suit were missing. Undoubtedly the one in the corner was hers.
She tried moving her legs and found that they were bound. The glint she'd seen from her near her feet had been metal cuffs around her ankles and metal chains reaching down to the floor. She couldn't move her legs more than a few inches in any direction before reaching the end of the chains. And, for some reason, she couldn't seem to summon the strength needed to break free of them. She tried to use her energy to fly, to float up into the air and release the strain on her sore arms, but found she couldn't do that, either. "Fucking terrific." she thought, scowling. "Captured, stripped, and thoroughly trapped less than an hour after I landed. This mission is turning out spectacularly already." She felt she could live with the captured and trapped part, but the stripped part had her rather ticked off.
She turned her eyes as far as they'd go as she heard a whooshing sound from behind her. "Ah, so it is awake again." said a male voice. She heard a few thunks of heavy booted feet on the floor and then a figure walked into her field vision. She saw his black, steel toed, boots first. Then noticed the blue body suit and black gloves, and then spotted the armor. Battle armor, but not hers, not even Imperial now. Blue and black. She recognized the style, large shoulder fins that jutted up and out instead of just out, leg guards, and a crotch guard. It was at least thirty years old, the Empire didn't even make that design anymore. She couldn't look up high enough to see his face.
"Or perhaps I should say on-line again?" he mused. "I'm not really sure which would apply to you. I'd heard all of the Doctor's toys were machines but you're more flesh and blood than steel and circuitry. The idea of mechanical augmentation has always intrigued me though none of my efforts at it have ever been successful. I imagine studying your body once we're through with you will give me some insights as to where I went wrong. I must confess, though, I had not expected any of the Masters to come here so soon, I figured we'd see stronger soldiers first. I am glad it was you, though. You'll be most useful."
"What...?" 18 asked in a hoarse voice, her throat burned as she tried to speak.
"Able to talk, even? Impressive indeed. I was worried the restraints wouldn't work on you at all but they seem to do just fine." The boots started to move away with a steady thunk, thunk, thunk. "I have a few more things to ready before your services are required. Don't worry, your death will help bring us that much closer to victory." And with that the door behind her whooshed shut again.
"I think I just met the new Resistance leader. Valor, I believe it was. But what the hell was he talking about? And what sort of restraints are they using on me?" she wondered. While some of what he'd said had made little sense she had fully understood the hint that he intended to dissect her after her death. And she knew that in her current condition killing her would probably be easy. She doubted they'd even need one of the Battle Droids, just a soldier and a simple ki blast to the head or chest. Hell, in her current state they could probably just pull out a knife and slit her throat if they wanted. "Fucking terrific." she thought again.
She wasn't entirely sure how long she hung there. She tried moving her head, slowly, a few more times, but always the shooting pain down her spine would stop that before she'd gotten anywhere. The pain in her head and her back persisted no matter what she did, though, too strong for her to close her mind to it and too great to override with the nano-bots that coursed through her, though she tried. She wasn't sure if she could feel her fingers or hands anymore after a while, though her arms were so stiff and sore she thought maybe the sensation was just being overridden by everything else she was feeling. At last she heard the door whoosh open again but this time there wasn't the thunking of boots.
The foot steps that approached her now were softer than those of before and then a pair of brown moccasins came into view. Brown moccasins, gray pants, a green shirt, and an open white lab coat (both of the latter jutted out some, which meant this time she was dealing with a female). Making lab coats white seemed to be some sort of law of nature, one of those weird constants from race to race and culture to culture. Normally such things would strike a sense of curiosity in her at the, apparently, deep seated sameness of the universe's races. This time, though, she just found the bright white cloth, strongly reflecting the bright lights above, to be annoying.
It took a few seconds to see past the glare of the coat and realize she could also see a face. Or, at least, the bottom half of one. Deep blue skin, midnight blue lips, and long thin nose. She looked up at the woman as best she could and waited for her to say something.
"Is it true?" the woman asked at last, her voice trembling slightly. "You came here to kill everyone? Everyone on the planet?"
"Is that what they think or is that just what Valor's telling them?" she wondered. "No." she said, the only word she was able to force through her throat. The woman seemed a bit shocked at the reply and it took 18 a moment to realize it was likely more from the fact that she'd spoken than from the answer she'd given, considering what Valor had said. "Throat... sore." she managed.
The woman seemed to hesitate for a moment and then moved away. There were a few moments of silence and then she was back with a small glass of water. 18 had a hard time drinking it without lifting her head but managed a few swallows and felt the burning subside greatly, which surprised her. She didn't need to eat and didn't need to drink, there was no reason for a dried out throat or for water to make it better. Not under normal circumstances, at least, and she had to remind herself that her current situation wasn't normal.
"Better?" the woman asked.
"Yes." 18 said, only feeling a dry scratch now, and having to forcibly remind herself not to nod her reply. "Thanks. Who are you?"
"I'm Faith, I'm one of the main technicians here at Plant One." the woman replied, the tremble still there in her voice, but a little less so. "You say you're not here to kill everyone? But why else would a Master come to our world? You didn't seem to have a problem killing Valiant or Serenity."
18 closed her eyes. "Not everyone." she said after a moment. "Only... those I must."
"Must? So you had to kill them?" There was something of an accusatory tone to the voice now.
18 sighed. This was like talking to that voice in her head that she tried to keep locked up all the time. Well, at least she had plenty of practice. "Needed answers fast." she replied. "And the woman...." she shook her head a little and then winced and cried out at the pain. It took a moment for it to clear and for her to be able to talk again. "She fought."
"She couldn't have hurt you."
"Not the point." 18 replied. "The mentality was the problem."
Faith seemed to contemplate that answer for a moment. "You didn't kill her because she attacked you but because she was willing to attack you...."
It was more a statement than a question but 18 replied anyway. "Yes." She swallowed, trying to force her throat to work better, it was getting sore again.
"But you still came here to kill us."
18 couldn't help but notice that the tremble had gone from the voice now, and the accusatory tone had become as clear as the previous tremble. "We're not that... different." she said, opening her eyes again and looking up, best as she could, to see the other's face. "We fight... for the same reasons."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm here to... protect my family. My daughter."
"Protect them? What do you have to...."
"My daughter is... just a Human. A nobody to the Empire and... not strong enough to protect herself." 18 answered. "Anything that... threatens the Empire... threatens her. I will do anything... to keep her... safe." From what little of the woman's face that 18 could see she could tell she was a bit surprised at the reply and was considering it. The Cyborg closed her eyes to block out some of the light. The room really was too bright, it strained her eyes and made her head hurt even worse. She hung there in silence for a while, letting the woman mull over what she'd said, before speaking again. "Who do you fight for?" she asked, opening her eyes again.
The question apparently caught the woman off guard, she seemed startled, and it took her a moment to answer. "Everyone." she said. "Everyone here on Leberion who can't fight for themselves."
"Even though all your fighting does... is put them at risk?" asked 18.
"They are always at risk. We all are. It's only because we're so strong of mind that we've lasted this long, despite the Empire's constant attacks." Faith replied. "If I didn't fight then the innocent and those I care about wouldn't have any protection, they'd all be long dead."
"The Empire's constant attacks?" 18 wondered, confused. "The Empire hasn't been here in ten years. Vegeta only ever sent one attack force here, and even then only because Gero wanted samples of the native life and technology. Since then it's been largely ignored since the atmosphere is toxic to most races of the Empire. A piece of real estate is worthless if you can't even use it, after all. That's why 17 was to come here and why I got the orders in his stead."
18 had a strong desire to try and shake her head, to clear away the confusion, but she fought it down. Whatever the hell it was that was causing her pain when she moved her head was really starting to annoy her. "What constant attacks by the Empire?" she asked after a moment.
"The ships, the troops, that come every few months." said Faith, as though it were obvious. "There hasn't been any for almost eighteen months now, but they came regularly for a while. Every three or four months there would be dozens of ships swooping down on us without warning, hundreds of soldiers spilling out and killing anyone in their way, capturing others."
Now 18 was really confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked, raising her eyes as far as they'd go to try and see the other woman's face again. "The Empire hasn't sent anyone here in ten years, not since Dr. Gero requested the first mission."
"Are you calling me a liar?" asked Faith, clearly angry. "I've seen them, I've seen the Empire's ships and the Empire's soldiers! I hid under the floor boards in my house, watched them raid my village, rape and kill my mother! The Empire's soldiers, every last one of them! And wearing the armor and the eye things to prove it."
"This doesn't make any sense." 18 thought, screwing her eyes closed and thinking. Despite all of the trouble Leberion had caused in the last ten years with the Battle Droids being sent out to attack different Imperial bases Vegeta never really paid the world much attention. From the files she'd gone over on her way to the planet she had the distinct impression that he had pretty much forgotten about the world before the ink was even dry on the orders that sent the troops here ten years before. And there were no orders, none, in any of the records, to send any more troops to the world since then.
If any of the Masters had ordered such troop movements there would be records. If not records of the orders themselves then, at least, records of the troops dispatched, the fuel and the supplies used, that sort of thing. Vegeta and Gero kept very stringent records on all expenses, down to the last cent, even on the most covert and secret of operations. The Sai-jin royal liked to know where his money went and why it went there and wanted to make sure if anyone tried to steal the Empire's funds, as had happened on a few occasions, they'd be easily detected and caught, as they always were.
So how could what Faith was saying be possible? Dozens of ships would mean hundreds of men. At least two hundred, though likely closer to four hundred. Compared to the over all size of the Empire's forces it wasn't much but it was a lot of man power to mobilize against just one planet. The Empire hardly ever sent more than ten people to a world for any mission. Even the team ten years ago had only been eight men. Well, eight fighters and a few dozen science types. Four hundred men would leave a huge paper trail, a huge expense trail. You couldn't just send a force like that and it not be noticed. But she said they had... wait a second....
"Someone came before." 18 said slowly. "I think it was Valor, but I'm not sure. He wore battle armor, though."
"So he has been to see you then?" Faith asked. "I'd heard he was coming but wasn't sure if he'd been here yet. Yes, that was Valor. The armor he wears is proof of the Empire's attacks. It was taken from the body of one of the attackers, from their last assault on us. The first one we successfully drove off."
"That armor is ancient." 18 said. "It's not Imperial, not anymore."
"What do you mean? It's just like all the others."
"No, it's not. It's a design that isn't used now. Hasn't been for thirty years. No soldier of the Empire wears armor like that now."
"The soldiers who came here wore it so you can't tell me the Empire doesn't use it!"
18 sighed. "That's what I'm saying." she said. "Whoever has been attacking, if they're wearing that armor, then they aren't from the Empire. That amor style isn't even in production these days."
"Ok, then who would they be?" Faith demanded.
"No idea." replied 18. "We had no idea anyone was even attacking this world, we just knew you kept sending your Battle Droids out to attack us."
"Why should I believe you?"
"The Empire doesn't send dozens of ships or hundreds of troops to attack a planet." 18 said. "Master Vegeta considers it a waste of resources to expend more than is needed for any mission. If it were the Empire coming here there wouldn't be more than ten people attacking you."
"There were more than ten of them ten years ago."
"I said attacking." repeated 18. "Ten years ago that was an eight man team. Only eight fighters. The rest were scientists, Gero's people, here to get data for him."
Faith didn't respond right away. Everyone knew that only eight of those who had come the first time had fought, that the rest had stayed back in areas of safety. No one had doubted that they had all been fighters, though. Everyone just knew... assumed... that they had stayed back simply because they hadn't been needed in the battle. The eight that had fought had demolished all attempts to resist their presence. Could the others have really been a science team? "But why?" she asked after a moment. "Why send a science team?"
"Gero wanted data. DNA samples to understand how life survives here when the air is toxic to most everyone else in the known universe, and samples of your technology, to see if he could make any use of it." replied 18. "Gero was the only one int...."
"Toxic?" asked Faith, interupting. "What are you talking about? You're not having any problems breathing here and neither were any of those who have been attacking us."
"I don't need to breathe." replied 18. Her throat was really burning again but now that she was getting some sort of answers, even if they were causing more questions, she was forcing herself to ignore it and keep talking. "My body is kept alive by my implants and nano-bots. I don't need air, I don't need water, I don't need food. I breathe only because I'm used to it, because my brain is programmed that way from when I was just a Human and just does it on reflex, and because I still need air to talk with. But nothing in the air is absorbed into my body so I can come here without problem.
"There are only about four or five known races that could live on this world, breathe this air, and not be harmed. Because of the toxic atmosphere the Empire has no interest in this world aside from Gero's scientific curiosity and that was, apparently, satisfied ten years ago. I went over all the data on this planet on my way here, including all related mission orders. No Imperial soldiers have set foot on this world in ten years."
18 could, just barely, see Faith biting her lip as she mulled this over. Obviously the woman's years of dealing with what she'd always believed to be Imperial soldiers was telling her not to believe the blonde hanging in front of her but she still couldn't help but wonder. 18 didn't want to press her luck, though. Push too hard, try too hard to make the woman believe her, and she could cause the opposite. Make her think it was all lie, a fabrication told to try and save her own skin. That would be bad considering it was looking like Faith believing her might be her only chance for freedom without it costing a lot of lives.
And, what's more, if she could convince Valor and the rest of them of the truth she could end this mission without any more blood on her hands. After all, once they knew they weren't being attacked by the Empire, and that the Empire in fact had no interest in them, there would be no more need for a Resistance. Granted, the Battle Droids would still have to go, and it was likely the Empire would take some level of interest after this to make sure they stayed gone. But the Empire could also drive away whoever it was who was attacking them. Vegeta would not take kindly to the idea of imposter Imperial soldiers raiding planets once he found out.
But Faith had posed a good question. Just who was raiding Leberion? Pirates, maybe? And where would they have gotten the armors and the scouters? All of that old stuff was supposed to be destroyed once no longer in use. Had some ship's captain decided to skim some money from the Empire by dumping the stuff on some world near the start of their trip, and then billed for the cost of fuel and expenses of the full trip? It was definitely a plausible idea. Especially if the captain were from one of the less... scrupulous races.
18 got her first look at the woman's entire face then, as she knelt down to try and look the Cyborg in the eyes. Her eyes looked a little small for her face, her ears looked almost the right size for her head (which meant they were considerably smaller than normal), and the horn on the top of her head was chipped, the top three centimeters or so had apparently been broken off at some point. "I want the fighting to end." Faith said after a moment, her voice a lot softer than it had been at any other point in their talk. "I don't... don't want to see anyone else killed for nothing, for no reason at all. I'm sick of it."
"I know the feeling." 18 said, keeping her eyes locked on Faith's, though wishing the woman had some sort of pupils to stare at instead of all those black facets reflecting her own face back at her. "But it may be too late. If I die here there will be no compromise. Master Vegeta may not even send anyone else to stop the Resistance here, just someone to destroy the planet completely." 18's voice caught for a moment then as 'Like Earth' sounded in her mind. She pushed it away and focused on what Faith was saying.
"I can't just set you free. Your word isn't enough to convince me of what you say, or that you wont just start killing people again once released, starting with me."
18 managed to smile faintly. "No, I wouldn't expect it to." she said. "But I can prove it. To you and to Valor."
"How?"
"My pod has a direct link to the Imperial Network." 18 explained. "And all of the data on this world is currently still loaded into its memory, including all Imperial orders issued in relation to the world. You can look, see for yourself, there hasn't been anyone ordered here in ten years, except me. Or rather, my brother, but I came in his place since he was being held up elsewhere."
Faith chewed on her lip for a bit. "Alright, I'll look." she said. "But... what happens if it is true and you can't convince Valor?"
18 sighed. "Peacefully or not I have to stop the Resistance here, stop the Battle Droids." she replied. "But like I said, I only kill those I must."
Faith stood up and moved back a little, still chewing on her lip. "Alright. I'm... I'm going to go look."
"The access code is K736M771." 18 told her. Faith nodded and then 18 heard the padding of her moccasined feet as she left the room, the whoosh of the door as it opened and closed, and then silence. She had no idea how long it would be before Faith would come back, or if maybe Valor would return first. If he did, 18 wasn't sure what she'd do then, she really didn't want to have to fall back to her last resort. She'd already checked, her transmission lines were still open. If it came down to it she could send a priority distress call....
She wasn't sure how much time passed, at least two hours she figured, maybe longer, before she heard the whoosh of the doors opening again. She focused her ears and listened and, a moment later, heard the soft tapping of moccasined feet. A second later Faith came into view again, kneeling down so that they could see each others eyes. "You looked?" 18 asked.
Faith nodded. "I did." she said. "I went through all of it and saw what you said is true." She started chewing her lip again and 18 realized then that something was wrong. Before she could ask Faith continued. "I talked to Valor. Told him what you told me, showed him the information, but...."
"Not in the believing mood, I take it?"
Faith shook her head. "He said the data was fake, said we've seen the soldiers and their armors, and that your claim that their armor isn't used anymore is nonsense, since we've seen it used. He... he destroyed the pod. Fired an energy blast at it and blew it up. In order to 'prevent the spread of lies'." Faith closed her eyes and shook her head again. "I even told him what you said, you know, about what the Masters might do if you're killed here, but he ignored that, too. He said you were just trying to scare me and that no one has the power to blow up a planet."
18 laughed despite the pain she was in, despite the situation she was in, and despite that she wasn't the least bit amused. "A month ago my world, Earth, was blown to pieces." she said. "It and everyone on it destroyed, completely, because the people there wouldn't stop fighting the Empire. Every single Master, and quite a number of the Empire's standard soldiers, have more than enough power to destroy a planet. Even your Battle Droids have enough power."
Faith's eyes widened some. "What? The Battle Droids? Capable of destroying a planet?"
"Yes. Anyone or anything capable of producing an attack greater than 250,000 has enough power to destabilize a planet core and cause the planet's destruction with a focused attack." 18 said. "Your Battle Droids are well over that, some of the ones I fought were at least half of my power. The one that knocked me out had to be even closer."
"It was a Sentinel. A new model that Valor's been working on for a while, since before he took over." said Faith. "Twice the power of the Paladin design, the current strongest."
"Well isn't that perfect. They've got Battle Droids as powerful as me. Damn it. I don't want to have to transmit a priority distress call. Chances are it would be either 16, Gero, or Frieza who would come and... I don't want to do that to these people, not over a misunderstanding." she thought. "And if Valor really believes what he said, that a single person can't destroy a planet, then he and his machines are more dangerous than anyone realized. Dangerous to himself and the people of this planet."
"My equal, then." 18 said after a moment. "And thusly strong enough to destroy this planet with just the explosive force of a concentrated energy blast. If Valor really doesn't understand the level of power he's dealing with he's putting every life on this planet in serious danger."
Faith closed her eyes again and seemed to struggle with something in her mind. "I'm... I'm going to free you." she said after a moment. "I'll take you to Valor. You can try and convince him, you might have better luck than I."
18 watched as the woman moved around behind her and out of sight. Then she felt a pressure on the back her neck, then a sudden rush of coldness, and then the pain in her head, neck, and back vanished. She raised her head slightly, braced for the rush of pain she'd gotten every time she tried that before, but felt none. She raised her head all the way up and looked above her. Now she could see the chains that hung from the ceiling, the metal cuffs that encircled her wrists. With a just a simple tug she ripped the chains from their foundations and started to fall.
Her fall turned into a gentle descent an instant later and she touched down on the floor softly, she could feel her power back again, control her energy once more. Then, raising her arms in front of her, she smashed her wrists together cracking the metal and breaking the cuffs. Then, leaning down, she tore the restraints from her ankles. "Much better." she said. Even her throat felt better. Turning she saw Faith watching her, wide eyed, and a small metal device in her hand. "What the hell is that thing, anyway?" she asked, nodding toward it.
"It's... it's an Energy Inhibitor." Faith said. "Valor developed them about four months ago. He wanted to be able to capture our attackers so that he could get information on the Empire but he didn't want to risk them escaping."
18 held her hand out for it and Faith handed it over. Looking down she saw that it had five needles, each at least half an inch long, on the bottom side. The rest of the device was a small half sphere, smaller than a golf ball. "This tiny thing was able to hold me?" she wondered. She'd never seen technology like it before. "Do you know how it works?"
"It produces its own energy, feeds it into the body of the person it's attached to, disrupts their own energy flow." said Faith. "Normally the person is unconcious so long as it's running at full power, and only barely concious otherwise."
Faith's use of normally implied to 18 that it had been running at full while attached to her. "How long was I out, anyway?"
"You arrived about four days ago."
18 pursed her lips as she stared at the device, she was still stiff and sore but not nearly as bad as she'd been while wearing the thing. Finally she walked over to the corner where her black body suit with its purple padding around the side and back of the neck lay and pulled it on. Then she slipped the device into a pocket and as she did she felt the capsule case she'd brought with her. Apparently they'd not bothered taking it. All the better, with her pod now in pieces she'd need one of the spares in the case to get back to Saiya. And once back she'd hand this, thing, over to Gero for examination. The fact that it had been able to restrain her so effectively had her worried.
"Alright, lead the way." 18 said. Faith nodded and walked over to the door which slid into the wall with a whoosh as she neared. The Cyborg followed and found herself in a spotless, empty, steel hall.
"Tell me about Valor." she said as they walked. "Why did he take over from Gallant?"
Faith sighed. "Gallant lead us from the beginning." she said. "He'd just been a normal civilian when the first group came, ten years ago. He lead a lot of people in the city to safety, down in the catacombs, and organized a lot of soldiers who'd gotten cut off from their commanders to protect them. After the Empire left he went into robotics, wanted to make our defenses stronger just incase the Empire came back. When it did... or I guess, when it seemed to, everyone looked to him and his new machines for protection. As the years went by he just sort of became the leader.
"He wasn't interested in a war, though. He never talked about defeating the Masters. All he wanted and all he talked about was defending Leberion. When his Model 12 units drove off the last group of attackers there were a lot of people who thought we should send out an army of them, take the fight to the Empire. Gallant wanted nothing to do with that, he just wanted them to leave us alone. Valor was the loudest voice of dissent, the strongest voice calling for an attack against the Empire.
"Gallant was worried that the population would divide, that we'd split apart and become easier targets for the next group of soldiers to come. So he ordered Valor out of the city, ordered him not to return. Valor left, with about a hundred supporters, and that was that... until ten months ago. Valor's Guardian and Paladin Battle Droids suddenly appeared, flying right for the city, and began attacking the Battle Droids that Gallant had stationed in the city for protection. It didn't take long before his machines were the only ones standing and he declared himself the new leader of the Resistance."
"And Gallant?"
"He's here, locked-up in one of the cells." Faith said. "I spoke to him, before coming to you. It was his suggestion that I talk with you."
18 stopped. "Is he near-by?" she asked.
Faith stopped as well and looked back. "Yes, why?"
"Can you take me to see him, first?"
"Uh, sure...." Faith said, not sure why 18 wanted to speak to Gallant. She started walking again and 18 followed. They'd made a few turns left and right and the Cyborg was certain she'd never find her way back to where they'd started at this point, not that she had any desire to do so, and hoped Faith knew where she was going as much as she seemed to.
"So, after Valor took over, what then?" she asked.
"He set everyone to work repairing and remodeling the factories to begin production of his Battle Droids." answered Faith. "A... a lot of people died during the first couple of weeks. Hard work and not much rest or food. Things have improved some but now the sky is always black with smoke and it is far too cold outside. It's not so bad in the plants, as you can tell, but outside is...." Her voice trailed off and she stopped again. 18 followed suit and watched as she approached another door that whooshed open.
18 looked in and saw a red skinned native sitting in one of the back corners, feet shackled and chained to the walls. His eyes widened at the sight of her. "Faith told me you were here, said you had come, but I was having trouble believing it until now." he said.
"You must be Gallant."
"I am. And I take it you wished to speak with me?"
"Faith, did you tell him what you told Valor?" 18 asked, looking back. The woman shook her head no and 18 nodded. "Alright then." she said, turning back to Gallant. "Here's the situation, the people who you've been fighting aren't with the Empire. They're not coming here on our orders."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm the first member of the Empire to be sent to this world in ten years." she said. "I don't know who they are or where they got their armors from, though considering they're antiques I've a few ideas, but they are certainly not from the Empire. I was sent here to put a stop to the Resistance here and that's what I tend to do, hopefully with as little bloodshed as possible. But from what Faith has told me that may not be possible, Valor refused to listen to or believe the evidence Faith showed him."
"Evidence?"
"Data, from her pod." said Faith. "I saw it all, everything that the Empire has on our world. Including the full orders given to come here. Only two were issued, the ones ten years ago and the ones now that have brought 18 here now."
Gallant sighed. "Valor is determined to have his war." he said. "I am not certain why, exactly. Many on Leberion want revenge for those lost, either in the first attack or those that followed, but most would not rush head long into a battle that will only cost more lives."
"Faith told me you were more level headed and reasonable than Valor." 18 said, smiling. "Not in so many words, but just the same. Anyway, I'm here because I could use your help."
"My help?" he asked.
"Yes. There's a very good chance Valor wont listen to a damn thing I say. One way or another the Resistance here needs to be stopped, for everyone's sake. And his Battle Droids must be destroyed, they're a danger beyond anything he or you can imagine. Which means I'll likely have to use force to get the job done."
"And you want me to resume leadership of the Resistance, what remains of it?"
18 nodded. "Calm them down, bring them into some sort of order again, and start trying to rebuild your world." she said. "And I'll leave you with a means of contacting the Empire, should these imposters ever turn up again. Master Vegeta will not be happy to learn about them, believe me, and he'll be more than happy to wipe them out."
Gallant nodded. "I don't know why, but I do." he said.
18 nodded back as she walked over to him and broke the chains holding him. "Alright, find people you know are loyal and get to work. Start with evacuating the city. Do you think you can get everyone beyond the city limits in an hour?"
"Yes, I should be able to, why?" he asked, standing.
18 turned and started back toward Faith. "Because I rest better when I don't have the faces of the innocent dead haunting me." she replied. "If things go bad, anyone left in the city is forfeit."