By all accounts, Okora was a relatively average, if not gentler than normal, Saiyan warrior. He held an even temper and humility that you'd expect a proud race of brutish warriors to mock and ostracize him for, but the hardened elite class of Saiyans knew not to upset Okora. What he lacked in raw power and experience he made up for with a quick wit and general intelligence.
This above-average intellect is probably what tipped Okora off to something being amiss when nobody else felt the same. Okora had just finished a scouting mission for a potential planet to conquer and add to Freeza's empire when an alert from his supervisor elite came through his scouter.
"Okora, this is Commander Aikon, come in. Are you there?"
Putting his hand up to his scouter, Okora answered. "Okora responding, Commander Aikon. What seems to be the problem?"
"You have new orders to return to Vegeta immediately, regardless of your mission's status."
The face Okora made would probably have been hilarious had the situation not been so unnerving. "If I may ask, Commander, why am I being called back with such urgency?"
The Saiyan scout could faintly make out a nervous gulp on the other line. "Lord Freeza has ordered all Saiyans back to the planet for an important address in the coming days. That's all I know. That's all anyone knows."
That gave Okora pause. Lord Freeza, sadistic as he may be, is still a forward-thinking tyrant. He wouldn't normally allow something so seemingly important to not be planned out and announced in advance. As much as he hated to admit it, you don't earn the title the Emperor of the Universe for nothing.
Pushing his suspicions to the back of his mind, for now at least, he replied obediently to his supervisor and made his way to his pod, setting course for home at maximum speed.
Why is Freeza calling us all back? Was the only thought on Okora's mind on the trip back to Vegeta. We've been near-perfect servants for him for the past three decades.
/
"Hey, Okora! Good to see you again!" A terraformer from his division, his old friend Silba, greeted the mild-mannered Saiyan with a firm handshake.
"It's been too long, Silba." Looking up for a few moments at all the pods coming in across the landing ports, Okora finally voiced his thoughts. "Do you know why Lord Freeza called us all back here? I don't recall anyone doing anything to slight him in a long time."
"Beats me, honestly." Silba shrugged. "I think you're just being a paranoid nerd like usual!"
Okora gave a small jab to his chuckling friend. Checking his scouter, he scanned the signatures of the rest of the off-planet Saiyans.
"Should be a little under a day until we're all here. Guess we just have to wait and see."
Silba slung himself over Okora's shoulder. "Don't be so worried Okora, I'm sure it's nothing! You'll see!"
Sighing at his friend's antics, the scout nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry, bud."
"Hey, no skin off my bones, pal! We gotta stick together as non-fighters, am I right?"
The two Saiyans high-fived in solidarity before parting ways, Silba to the butchery to see his wife and Okora to his one-man home. It was times like these that made the man appreciate building his humble home near the Saiyan capital.
While they were the only intelligent life on their planet and have been for centuries at this stage, places away from the royal palace were still much less developed than the main city. Despite being a very prideful race, the Saiyans were rather simple and humble when it came to their homes. The only modern-looking structures included the royal palace and more tech-heavy departments. The rest of the capital city looked fairly primitive, but it made things much easier since there was less to rebuild when spats broke out and less to maintain when the warriors had to be off-planet for long times.
A prime example would be Okora himself. Despite being one of the few thousand middle-class Saiyans compared to the hundreds of thousands of lower-class and dozens of elite and royal Saiyans, Okora had one of the most comparably modest living situations. He was respected enough to have a much more luxurious home even closer to the palace, but he rather enjoyed the long walks to his abode.
Okora opened the door to his small stone home and walked to his study. His home was nothing more than the bare minimum intelligent life forms would need. The first room was the living area with a small table for dining, just enough to seat four people including himself. There was a sink, a small oven, a few cabinets, and a couple of windows to look out at the lands nearby. In the back of the house were the bedroom and bathroom. First came the bedroom, which had a modest bed fit for two if needed and a higher-quality blanket and pillows than most lower classes, as Okora had deemed it a luxury he could use given his less combative role in his warring race. The bathroom had a small tub for showering and soaking, another sink, and the obviously required toilet. Despite the low level of technology, never let it be said that the Saiyans didn't enjoy having proper plumbing.
Then came the place that really separated Okora's house from most other Saiyans, both of lower and higher classes: his study. As stated previously, Okora prided himself more on intelligence than his strength, and although many of his Saiyan brethren found that a bit odd they didn't dismiss his abilities. By his people's standards, Okora was a well-rounded scholar. His study had a surprisingly well-crafted and ornate wooden desk with a light fixture clipped to the side. A couple file cabinets adorned the room as well, good for organizing his personal files, looser journals, and the texts that he read. Speaking of which, set against the same wall as his desk sat an impressive bookshelf.
The bookshelf was Okora's greatest personal possession, as it had works from the more intellectual Saiyans across their history along with some of his own published texts. Psychology and philosophy were Okora's passions in the world of academia, and so the majority of his collection were works from his contemporaries in the field.
/
Thanks to Freeza calling everyone back, Okora could continue his preferred schedule of reading and writing well into the night and sleeping during the drab earlier part of the day. Despite his suspicions, their emperor's order couldn't have come at a better time, as Okora was in the middle of revising his latest work: Combating Solitude: The State of Detachment and Minimalism in Saiyan Social Lives . Okora had realized just how closed-off his people were and how they only formed deeper-than-work relationships on very rare occasions. He was an outlier in his companionship with Silba, and even relations that led to children were mostly lust-driven and more comparable to one-night stands than anything. He came up with the idea after noticing how a warrior Saiyan in his greater unit, Bardock, seemed to settle down with a meat prepper named Gine and how the other Saiyans nearby found it odd. To Okora, it didn't seem odd at all that he and Bardock cared for and held others close to themselves. In fact, he believed these relationships, be they platonic or romantic, could strengthen the Saiyans as a whole and give them more than just their pride to fight for.
Reminiscing on the origin of his latest project gave Okora the answer he was looking for in his suspicions yesterday. It was only evening by the time he had his epiphany, so he knew that the man he wanted to speak to would still be awake.
Walking out of his house and taking flight, it didn't take long for the Saiyan to find Bardock. After coming up with his idea for his newest book, he approached Bardock and asked to speak to him and Gine on their relationship. He asked to use their story as a citation in his work, and they agreed relatively quickly. Despite being a prideful warrior, Okora found that Bardock was a reasonable man and possessed a quicker wit than most would think. The two found common ground in their skepticism of the state of their race and in their loathing of serving under Freeza, so it only made sense that Okora would go to him with his concerns.
Bardock was just training in the lands surrounding his own house when he heard the telltale sounds of flight nearby. Looking up at the sky, he immediately recognized the approaching figure as his intellectual compatriot Okora. He quickly raised his arm in a wave as Okora slowed down and landed a few feet away from the warrior.
"Hey there, Okora. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Bardock said, greeting his friend with a hug.
Returning the gesture without a second thought, Okora lit up. "It certainly has, Bardock. Unfortunately, I'm not here for pleasantries. I'm sure you noticed too, am I correct?"
"I'll never get used to your formal talk, Okora." Bardock chuckled at the vocabulary his friend used, a rare level of sophisticated speech for the warrior race. Looking back up with a serious expression, Bardock continued. "Yeah, I have. Freeza's up to something. It can't be anything good."
Okora nodded. "My thoughts exactly. I know for a fact we haven't angered our emperor ," Okora spat the last word like an insult, "but the fact that he's calling everyone back is alarming. Any ideas?"
Bardock faltered at the question. His face turned solemn, eyebrows drooping as he frowned. "Only one. Freeza hates us, and we both know he's read your books. He knows of your ideas to strengthen the Saiyan race."
Bardock's face hardened again. "I heard from the other warriors in our division that Freeza and his men have been asking around about the Super Saiyan."
Bardock secretly wished he had something to capture Okora's shocked expression. Very few things surprised him anymore, so the dinner platters that replaced his eyes were priceless. He would be laughing if the situation weren't so serious.
Shaking off his surprise, Okora responded. "That old legend? Why would he be asking about that?"
Bardock looked up at the sky, in the direction of some Freeza Force ships hovering just out of orbit. "I'm surprised you haven't connected the dots, Okora. Freeza's afraid of our power, our potential. I think he plans to wipe us all out while he still has the chance."
All the color drained from Okora's face. Deep down he knew Bardock was right. A part of him suspected it too, but he wouldn't allow himself to predict such a dark answer this soon. Even if the legend was true, Freeza should be in a whole other league, and the Saiyans growing stronger would be an asset to his forces.
Taking a couple of seconds to analyze that line of reasoning only made his blood run colder. While those facts were true, he also knew that Freeza was arrogant and wouldn't allow any challenge to his power. Theoretically, if all the middle-class and elite Saiyans turned into Ōzarus, they could pose a difficult obstacle for Freeza. Adding a Super Saiyan, even in theory, and Freeza might actually stand a chance at being dethroned. Bardock had to be right, no matter how extreme the action would be.
Okora was jolted out of his downward spiral by Bardock shaking him by his shoulders.
"Okora, listen to me. I have an idea. It's probably stupid, but it's the only chance we have."
Okora nodded. "No idea is stupid at this point. If there's even a sliver of hope of surviving, we need to take it."
"Leave. Take your personal pod and flee the planet. Go to the outskirts of the galaxy, beyond even Freeza's reach. Don't take your scouter, stay off the grid, just get out of here."
Okora could only stare blankly at Bardock's suggestion. "That is incredibly stupid, Bardock. How would that save us?"
"It wouldn't, because we can't save us all." Bardock shook his head. "Freeza already called the order, and he'll know something's up if a lot of us start gathering or fleeing again."
"Then what's the point of me leaving without a trace, Bardock?!"
"As much as I hate to admit it, you have the best chance of escaping with your life and surviving wherever you end up, Okora," Bardock replied with a desperate tone.
"You're arguably the smartest Saiyan on the planet excluding the scientists," Bardock continued. "Add that to the fact that you're strong enough to be middle-class. You're not a fighter, but you have a better chance of surviving than I or Silba."
Okora balled up his hands and let out a frustrated grunt. "I hate that you're right, Bardock."
Taking a moment to mull it over, Okora nodded. "Fine, I'll do it. I'll leave tonight. What will you do, though?"
Bardock took his hands off of his friend and looked back up to the ships. "I'm going to stand against that bastard. It might be useless, but I refuse to go down without a fight. If I'm going to Hell, I'm taking as many as I can with me."
Finally accepting the gravity of the situation, Okora could only reply with a short sendoff.
"Good luck, old friend. I will miss you."
Bardock smirked and chuckled. "If we're wrong, I'll come to find you. Don't die out there, Okora."
Okora nodded with a grin of his own and took flight back to his home.
/
In the dead of the night, Okora finished revising his final work and began preparations. As he arrived back home he set the coordinates for a planet he scouted but kept off the records from an earlier mission. After seeing how prosperous and industrious the planet was, he refused to allow Freeza anywhere near it. He heard the life-forms there call the planet "Earth," so he would too.
His pod was rather spacious, all things considered. It wasn't like his mission pod or escape pods where it was only fit for a single Saiyan adult and nothing else. His personal pod, granted at the blessing of King Vegeta for his works in psychology and philosophy, had a bit more space. He grabbed some of his most valuable published books alongside his finished manuscript and left his scouter on his nightstand. Without a word or wasted movement, he got in his pod and set course for Earth.
Not even an hour later, Okora saw a bright flash off in the distance from where he came from. Bardock was right after all. Freeza just destroyed Planet Vegeta and all of the Saiyans, and now he was the only one left.
