Going Native (DBZ/DC Comics) (Complete)
- Thread starter Ideas-Guy
- Start date
I'm guessing some kind of loophole around it being his home planet.
Sounds of War
- Location
- USA
"You know your squads, you know your objectives, and you know what to do," Avery spoke calmly through the speakers of everyone in the 501st. Prince Tarble, as capable of a leader as he was, undervalued the effect of a speech. Just a few words to get the soldier's heads in the game. "Look out for the squads on your left and your right and we'll all return from this mission. Prince Tarble picked you all personally because he thought you were the kinds of badasses that can crack a Shield World. Let's see if he was right."
Cator, an old friend, thumped him on the back as Avery concluded his speech. There was some clapping behind him in the sizable shuttle with enough room for just over a thousand soldiers. There were a few shouts, giving him shit but Avery just stared ahead, looking at the bulkhead doors that would turn into a ramp. He tried to picture what the planet would look like on the other side, trying to imagine the battle that would be waged.
Avery had fought for the Cold-force, now Frieza-force, for near two hundred years. The short years he had fought under Queen Teach had been the bloodiest. To the point that Avery stopped bothering to remember names and each mission he expected that he would be dead by the end of it. With her, Avery learned to expect a meat grinder. With Prince Tarble, Avery found that he didn't know what to expect. Even when Prince Tarble had shaped the plan with their help over two years, Avery felt like he had no idea what he was walking into.
"Do you think they'll perform?" Cator questioned quietly, standing behind him as he clutched his laser rifle like it was his firstborn child. It was top of the line tech that the entire unit was outfitted with, at least those that used guns, but Cator improved his to the point that any planet with a legal system would have banned the weapon.
Avery saw one of the new recruits shift where they stood, pretending that she wasn't listening. Avery didn't know her species, but she had the ability to make two copies of herself -- complete with duplicating the tech and weapons she wore. He had her assigned to his personal squad.
"They had better. Otherwise, we're all dead," Avery responded, watching her stiffen at the news. Cator let out a small huff, at that, not believing him for a second.
"Eh, I doubt that. Prince Tarble is getting crazily strong. I bet he could bail us out himself like he did last time," Cator dismissed. Avery didn't feel the need to tell him that he had been quoting Prince Tarble.
"Like last time?" The new recruit asked, deciding to stop pretending that she hadn't been listening. Despite the growing tension in the ship as they all waited for the door to open, Cator, in a loud boisterous voice, explained why exactly they placed so much trust in Prince Tarble. Enough trust that they went along with this utterly insane plan.
"About two years ago, we took out a production planet called Rench. But we got stranded there when our fleet had to bail out. That's not important -- what is, though, is that Prince Tarble figured out that the Reach was gearing up to wipe us out. So, get this, Prince Tarble fought the entire planet solo," Cator said, earning a few cheers from the other members of the Old Guard 501st. "Hundreds of Scarabs, entire armies with a grand fleet firing down at him. And he wrecked their shit for hours."
Cator was exaggerating, but not by much.
"You're full of shit," Vas spoke up, a troublemaker even amongst the notable troublemakers. "I'll give it to you that the pipsqueak is a tough nut, but I've seen production worlds. No one is fighting that alone."
Cator just smiled, "Oh, not only did he fight them, but he did it while fighting a Champion Class Scarab. Ended up killing it too with this massive attack that punched a hole through the fleet's defensive line in orbit. While cut in half."
"Yeah, you're full of it," the first recruit, Canda if Avery recalled correctly, seconded, earning a chuckle from him. He preferred silence before a battle, but this wasn't so bad either, Avery thought to himself.
"Am not! Avery, you were there, back me up," Cator demanded.
"He wasn't cut in half," Avery, making both women shoot Cator smug looks. It was amazing that no matter what species the fairer gender all possessed that Look, almost as if it were a universal constant. "Just mostly cut in half. About… eighty percent, or so. Wait- his shoulder was cut up to, so make that ninety percent. I've seen the scars."
Vas made a face. It was no secret that she wanted to take a shot at Prince Tarble. It was just a matter of when. "Scars?" She questioned, looking to poke a hole in his story.
"Saiyans like their scars," Avery explained with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't really get it, but he never fought anything that could give him a scar in the first place. "They'll heal the muscle beneath, but they always leave the surface damage. It's a pride thing. Showing off that they lived in a fight against something strong enough to give them a scar. The deadlier the wound, the prouder they are."
The one that cut Prince Tarble's torso nearly in half was a nasty one. By the time he hit his adolescence, or whenever he became interested in women, Avery had credits that Prince Tarble was going to start going shirtless. Like a woman's Look, guys doing stupid shit to impress a girl was also a universal constant.
Before Vas or anyone else could make a comment, the red light that washed over the shuttle suddenly flashed green. Any trace of the good cheer and chatter vanished without a second. Avery's grip on his gun tightened, every muscle in his body tensing before he sprung forward, moving before the gate had even opened.
The fliers moved out first, but he was the first foot on the ground of the 501st, sprinting down the rampart as he took in the battle. The saiyans and a few others had flown outside of the shuttles to make sure that they had landed, so the Shield World was already a battleground. There wasn't a speck of green to be found anywhere, and the full gray planet was designed for battle. Systematic cover, chokepoints, sniper perches, and places that offered cover for heavy artillery.
A space elevator dominated the skyline. One of the few things that were taller than a few stories. The gravity was light, slightly less than the galactic standard, so the elevator was oddly slender compared to the ones back on Rench. The sky was golden, but not naturally. The energy shield that was meant to keep out invaders was up, giving the sky a segmented appearance. But all of it paled in comparison to the fight that raged in the distance -- Scarabs flooded towards their position, more than Avery ever wanted to see in a single location, but the reactionary wave was held back by Prince Tarble and his mother.
That fight was beyond him. Not that it mattered because he had a mission to accomplish.
"On me," Avery spoke to the three thousand soldiers under his direct command. "Our target is the space elevator. We punch through everything that tries to get in our way!" Avery shouted as he pushed up to cover, pointed his rifle, and spotted the first enemy combatant. The Saiyans were major attention grabbers, so the Reach troops scrambled to react, and they paid for it with their lives.
Avery's gun bucked against his shoulder, his railgun firing an electromagnetic slug that punched right through the energy shield to the Reach soldier, painting the two soldiers next to him with his blood. They recoiled, horrified, and not a second later Avery's shoulder slipped back into its socket and he fired again. This time, he reduced an enemy's head to a fine mist.
"Twenty-two, push up hard to the right! Vas, lay down covering fire," Avery ordered as he advanced the line. In response, the fliers circled overhead. Vas, for all of her attitude, proved that she could follow orders. Lightning gathered on her hands before she dropped the mother of all lightning bolts on an enemy squad position and reduced them to nothing. Letting the twenty-second unit advance with little trouble.
The three thousand troops were divided into a hundred man units with the last ten being specialized units. Fliers, magic users, and tech support. 20-25 were tech support, with 26-30 being magic support, and Prince Tarble had prepared well for the invasion. The twenty-second unit took up a flank, and liquid metal surged into the shape of a massive gun that laid waste to the enemy before the 501st. Avery continued to advance, spearheading the approach, his arm dislocating for a split second each time he pulled the trigger, and while he was no Saiyan, he had adapted to that pain decades ago.
"Twenty-six, hot-drop!" Avery ordered as his unit punched through the Reach line like they were barely there. The element of surprise, their tech, and their diverse soldiers paved the way towards the space elevator that was little more than a hundred clicks out. In response to his words, a bright green flame appeared before him and Avery jumped through it, landing behind an enemy squad. They didn't notice him, or his personal five, or seven, squad until they were all dead.
Avery could feel the flow of battle in a way that only a grunt could. He felt where their advancing flow was being held back by a stone of the Reach's defense, and as the commander, it was his job to remove those stones.
"Scout, Scout, Scout!" Cator shouted, "North-East, three-fifty!" Instantly, Avery's gaze darted to the Scout class Scarab. It wouldn't even be a warm-up for a Saiyan, but that Scout was an army killer for grunts like him.
"Vas! I got a gift for you!" Avery shouted, watching as a bolt of lightning slammed into the Scout, causing an explosion. The Scarab wasn't dead, missiles streaking out of its backpack as it formed a plasma gun with what was left of its chest and its remaining arm. Lightning detonated the missiles before they struck anyone, making those black holes form, but the Scarab got a shot off. A massive torrent of plasma the size of his body raced towards his squad's position and, for a second, it was all that Avery could see.
Then a green flame appeared between them, so close that they could touch, but when the plasma should have washed over him, it instead flowed through the hole in space.
"I owe you Narra," Avery said, barely pausing as his fraction of the 501st continued their mad blitz towards the space elevator. Blasts of lasers flashed through the air, his sky units doing good work from above. In the background, he noticed something beyond the field of battle. Streaks of light that marked the sky as small dots lined up with the segmented golden sky.
Predictably, Narra didn't respond. She didn't seem to do well with thank yous. But, all the same, Avery resolved to buy her a stiff drink provided that they both survive.
Avery's shoulder slammed into cover as he was forced to stop for the first time since the invasion kicked off. A flash of light seemed to glow brightly in the distance, prompting Avery to shout, "Get down! Shockwave!" His squad ducked beneath the same cover that he did. An explosion seemed to rock the planet all the way down to its core, the shockwave hitting them a few seconds later. It was like someone shot a gun by his ear while punching him directly in the stomach, but other than that Avery was fine. The others suffered worse but not as bad as they would have standing in the open.
"Advance!" Avery shouted, standing up and lining up his shots. The railgun bucked against his shoulder, each time he pulled the trigger an enemy alien died. Lightning and ice from an ice flying alien washed over the enemy's defensive positions. Using his scouter, Avery judged the distance between them and the space elevator. Less than ten miles out. They needed to get closer.
"Twelve, terrain denial," Avery shouted, seeing a fire alien press his hands to the ground and the synthetic hard plastic melted, reduced to goo as the heat spread forward. Avery heard aliens scream as they were caught in the melted sludge, burning to death. Having been set on fire more than once, Avery took aim with his rifle as he rushed forward to seize the opening and fired mercy at the burning enemy.
The orders flowed from his mouth like water, clearing the stones from their path. Yet, as the enemy reacted, more stones appeared until it felt as if their assault had slowed to a crawl. Lasers pinged off his energy shield, a HUD on his scouter telling him their status. Avery accepted the shots, releasing devastation in return and butchered the enemy before him. The Reach aircraft deployed, tying up his fliers and a portion of his support. The numbers of defenders grew more numerous as the Reach deployed in full.
Despite their initial success, they were fighting to take a Shield World. There were billions on this planet, all combatants, all willing to defend it until their final breath.
The space between them was filled with laser and plasma fire, so thick that without his energy shield, not even Avery would dare to stick his head up. His railgun bucked, punching through cover as he had pyro to continuously deny it to the enemy. Despite the Reach numbers, the 501st continued to advance. Only their progress was now measured in inches as they felt the full weight of the Reach start to press down on them from all sides.
In the distance, Avery saw Prince Tarble fight a horde of Scarabs. Vanguard and three Champion Scarabs leading the way. A dozen of them clumped together as Prince Tarble darted around, moving at speeds Avery didn't even try to follow, forming an utterly massive plasma cannon that was aimed at the Prince. It fired a torrent of plasma and despite being so far away, Avery would swear that he felt the heat of it warm his face.
Prince Tarble barely paid it any mind, a Riot Javelin forming in his hand before he launched it at the sky scrapper sized torrent of dark blue plasma. Despite only being a drop in what should be an ocean, the torrent of plasma exploded outward as the Riot Javelin surged forward. The plasma splashed outward, landing on cover and soldiers alike, some of it splashing so far that Avery watched it vaporize a squad he had been aiming at. Then the Riot Javelin slammed home into the barrel of the massive plasma gun and an equally massive explosion rang out.
Avery ducked underneath his cover, feeling the heat and the shockwave washing over their position. While he was down, he heard Cator chuckling before he elbowed Canda.
"About that story, I told ya? The thing I didn't mention was that Prince Tarble is more than twice as strong than when he held off every Scarab on Rench," Cator pointed out while Canda looked stunned three times over with her identical clones.
Saiyans were on another level, Avery silently agreed. Most of them boasted that their species were the ultimate warriors of the universe, something that every warrior race said about themselves… the only difference was that Avery actually believed the Saiyans.
As if to prove his point, Queen Teach flew overhead. As a very learned response, Avery took cover while shouting, "Support, cover!" Green fire washed over Avery's squad while technological shields protected the other three thousand members of the 501st were protected from a massive ki blast that washed over the Reach's position. With casual ease, Queen Teach punched a hole right through the Reach defensive line. And she did it without any friendly fire. This time.
"Thank you for the assist," Avery said, forcing himself to be polite. The Queen, Prince Tarble's mother… had probably killed more of his men, his friends, than the Reach had at this point. She had mellowed out since Elery entered the picture, but Avery didn't have it in him to forgive her. "But shouldn't you be helping Prince Tarble?"
Said Prince threw himself into battle against countless Scarabs, drawing their attention because he was easily the biggest threat. Or, so they thought.
"Eh, don't worry about it. Tarble has gotten pretty strong, so it's been a challenge to find anything that can push him to his limits. I figured I should let him enjoy himself," Queen Teach dismissed as she casually fired another ki blast that wiped out an entire division of Reach soldiers, letting the 501st punch through fast enough that if they stopped that they would be surrounded.
Avery knew, for a Saiyan, that was probably the ultimate expression of love. Letting them have the most dangerous fights. It screamed utterly backward to him, but aliens were weird.
"You-" Narra's voice spoke up before she cut herself off, apparently not realizing that she was directly connected to a private channel as a leader of a division.
"I what?" Queen Teach questioned, firing yet another ki blast with an almost lazy gesture as she flew above them. Saiyans really were on a completely different level. Above the screams, fire, and death of soldiers below. Explosions echoed in Avery's ears, screams of the dying, and weapon fire serving as a tempo. A familiar melody to him at this point.
"You enjoy this," Narra accused, hate coloring her tone. Despite himself, Avery glanced over to Narra's position -- overseeing a gentle slope that allowed her unit to get a good view of the battlefield. Avery grit his teeth and hoped that they weren't about to lose their magic support.
Queen Teach let out a laugh as she switched to an open channel. She might hate her husband for grandstanding, but it seemed that she had a taste for it as well. Ki flowed to her hands as she flew above the battlefield, an open challenge for any to take a shot at her.
"You aliens don't get it," Queen Teach exclaimed as she casually threw a ki blast that exploded some distance away, wiping out a Reach armored division. And before the shockwave and flash had faded, another ki blast floated above her palm. "Our race, the Saiyan race… we aren't like you. We have no afterlife, and our God is a level of strength that every Saiyan hopes to one day obtain."
Queen Teach let out another chuckling laugh, "This? This right here? If we had a place called Heaven, then this is what it would look like!" To punctuate her point, Queen Teach fired a beam of ki that laid waste to the enemy, the Reach vanishing like smoke in the wind underneath the stream of ki. "If I could change anything about it at all, I would be fighting against all of you to get a bit of diversity in my opponents!"
This was why Avery had little trouble believing that the Saiyans truly were the ultimate warriors of the universe. They might not be the strongest race, but never before, not once in all of his centuries of being a soldier, had he ever encountered a race that loved the idea of war so much. That craved conflict so desperately. For monsters like Frieza or the Reach, war and violence were a side product to get a reward. For Saiyans? War was the reward.
Even Prince Tarble, as level headed and collected as he was… Avery had no doubt in his mind that there was a savage smile on his face as he fought against dozens of Scarabs.
Avery put the thought out of his mind as his soldiers reached the space elevator. His shoulder slammed into cover, flanking the door while Cator took the other side of a massive bulkhead door. "We are in position! Technician, follow up. Designated squads, breach in 3… 2… 1… Breach!" Avery shouted as Vas let loose a blast of electricity that punched right through the bulkhead door.
"I'll make sure none of my boy's troops kick the bucket," Queen Teach informed them and Avery didn't know if he felt thankful or worried as he entered the space elevator. He took point, Vas floating above to deliver electric devastation onto the soldiers that got in their way, Canda and Cator covering the flanks while Technician bought up the rear. "He has high expectations for you all. So you'd better meet them."
"That woman is scary," Canda muttered more to herself than to the squad as they made a rapid advancement through the hallway. Defensive turrets poked their heads out to take potshots at them, the occasional shot pinging off their energy shields while they more than returned what they took in damage.
The stench of burnt corpses, metal and, plastic-filled Avery's nose. A familiar stench that he never quite managed to go nose blind to. His railgun continuously bucked against his shoulder as they sprinted through the hallway, moving like a rapidly advancing wall of gunfire.
"She's actually mellowed out considerably," Technician remarked, echoing an earlier thought. So he wasn't the only one that noticed. "Or, rather, she holds back because she knows Prince Tarble would disapprove. Left," Technician called out, his face practically buried in a hologram. Their squad turned left, plasma washing over Avery's shield.
His energy shield stopped the plasma's kinetic force, making it wash over him, but the ambient heat was enough to flash burn his skin. Another familiar wound to him. He was just glad that he was the one that took it instead of the others.
"Grenade!" Cator shouted, and a moment later the torrent of plasma ceased, letting his skin heal over from the burns. Avery saw the damage -- like someone had taken an eraser and wiped away a small circle. A blackhole grenade. Another gift from Rench, a mission that just kept on giving. "Avery, get your ass up!" Cator continued, grabbing him by his arm and hauling him to his feet.
"Are you okay?" Canda questioned, three of her faces looking worried.
"Regenerator," Avery dismissed the concern, tasting charcoal as they continued running down the hallway, his armor glowing a bit from the cooling heat. "Tech, how far are we?" Avery asked, taking aim with his railgun at a squad of Reach soldiers. They were dug in, just not prepared for a massive lightning bolt that slammed into their cover. Before they had even realized what happened, they were dead and his squad continued down the hall.
"Not far -- a node is near," Technician said as the came upon a fork in the road. "Right," he explained. This time, far more carefully, Avery rounded the corner and prefired. One shot tore through an alien, destroying his plasma gun and his arm. The ensuing explosion knocked the rest of the squad on their ass in the compact hallway, letting Canda fire at the exposed soldiers. With three guns firing in perfect unison, she made quick work of them.
"It's here!" Technician exclaimed suddenly, coming to a stop, looking at a random panel on the wall. He wasted no time waking forward and placing a small device on the wall. A moment later, the metal of the wall became translucent, revealing a hub of wires and circuitry.
"What's here? What are we doing, exactly? I thought we were here to kill as many Reach aliens as we could?" Vas asked, lightning cackling at her hands as she took up a position facing one end of the hallway.
Avery tapped a button on his belt and the belt itself surged forward. Metal flowed over the ground, expanding and shaping itself until it settled on a WW shape. The high points touched the ceiling, while the low were low enough that they could jump over them. More importantly, it gave him and Canda some cover from the shots that the Reach were sending them.
Reach soldiers took up position down the hall, using hardlight shielding to give them some cover. Just not hard enough to stand up to his railgun.
"I'm uploading a virus into the Reach's systems," Technician answered as his hands moved in blurs, typing out commands.
"Won't the Reach be all over shutting you out?" Vas questioned, almost sounding bored as she and Cator held up the other send, using the portable cover.
"Oh, they are. Except that they're defending all of the wrong targets," Technician explained, a savage smile in his voice. Avery didn't know the story, but Technician seemed to take personal pleasure in ruining the Reach's day. "They're keeping me out of arsenals, production centers, food and water sources. Everything that they would need for a drawn-out siege."
Vas fired off a massive bolt of electricity at the Reach troops, vaporizing them. "If you're not hitting those targets, then what are you hitting?"
"And ruin the surprise? You'll see soon enough," Technician responded, glee in his voice as he locked the Reach out of their own systems. Doing things this way had its own share of problems simply because the Reach having those things like endless supplies, or production centers deep within the planet to turn out more crap for them to destroy.
"It's done," Technician said, taking a step back and retrieving the device. "They're not getting past that firewall, and if they ever do, it'll be far too late."
"Too late for what?" Vas insisted over the sound of gunfire. If Technician answered then Avery didn't hear it in favor of tapping down on his scouter.
"The primary objective has been completed," He informed all the squads that were in range. A dozen or so that were in the space elevator with them. "How's the secondary coming?"
"Charges are in place," several squads reported instantly. Enough to complete the secondary objective. One squad didn't report in at all.
"Begin extraction," Avery ordered, pressing his belt buckle again as the cover began to shift. The cover behind them capped off the hallway, making it so that they only had to worry about one direction. Vas cleared the way with a lighting blast that clouded over the hallway with smoke, masking their rapid retreat.
Bodies on top of bodies piled up as his squad withdrew from the space elevator, but getting out was easier than getting in. Before long, his entire squad withdrew from the building, walking into a battlefield that was waged outside. His 501st drew up a defensive perimeter around the space elevator, preventing reinforcements.
In the minutes that he had been inside, booths sides dug in and it became a slugging match between the two sides. The Reach undeniably had the numerical advantage, likely a million to one. The 501st, however, had plenty of soldiers that were worth a million Reach soldiers.
"The bombs are in place -- Narra, begin extraction," Avery ordered. In response, green flames appeared before every soldier, spreading until they were all connected. On the other side of the flames was the army that belonged to Queen Teach. A portion of it, rather, that was teleported here not long after the 501st landed to secure a foothold. The 501st wasted no time rushing through the green fire towards relative safety. Avery, and his squad, were the last ones to rush through.
The Reach flooded over the abandoned defenses, like water over an overfilled cup. Avery watched them for a moment, waiting for them to damn themselves, then he pressed down on the detonator. The charges in the space elevator fired off, the blackhole explosives deleting the structures supports while the power systems overloaded. Before they could be killed in the following collapse, Avery stepped forward through the flames and arrived inside the foothold.
Turning around, he watched the space elevator collapse in itself, the rubble and dust cloud washing over the thousands at the base. Thousands fewer that they would have to deal with. Only a few billion left.
But, the job wasn't done. Not yet. The hundreds of thousands of Frieza-force soldiers dug themselves in, repelling the Reach reactionary force. The sounds of war echoed in Avery's ears as the 501st rejoined and reinforced the fight. Here, they would dig in and hold out until the Reach exhausted themselves. Then, they would move on the offensive.
"Vas, look up," Avery ordered, prepping his rail gun as he marched forward to rejoin the fight. Vas obeyed, and even Avery glanced up to see the light show. The segmented sky of Reach satellites slowly melted away to become a solid golden sky as millions of satellites activated. Frieza-force satellites.
The same golden color as the shields that were meant to protect the Shield World from damage. Avey didn't claim to know what they were, but anything short of Frieza wasn't going to get past them. And now, that same shield that was pointed outward was now pointing inward.
"What…?" Vas trailed off, not understanding what she was looking at.
"We usurped their control of the planetary shield network that was meant to prevent invasion. Because of that, the Reach thought it was of little importance, making it a rather undefended target. Now, not even the Reach ships can get in to reinforce the planetary armies with orbital bombardments," Technician explained and Avery smirked as realization dawned on Vas.
"With that secondary network pointed inward, the defense shield serves as a cage. To quote Prince Tarble, 'The Reach will be trapped inside the cage with us.' Avery quoted, a pleased grin on his face as his shoulder hit cover.
With neither side with anywhere to run, it was going to become a slugging match. Billions against a million.
But, despite every odd, Avery liked their chances.
...
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Cator, an old friend, thumped him on the back as Avery concluded his speech. There was some clapping behind him in the sizable shuttle with enough room for just over a thousand soldiers. There were a few shouts, giving him shit but Avery just stared ahead, looking at the bulkhead doors that would turn into a ramp. He tried to picture what the planet would look like on the other side, trying to imagine the battle that would be waged.
Avery had fought for the Cold-force, now Frieza-force, for near two hundred years. The short years he had fought under Queen Teach had been the bloodiest. To the point that Avery stopped bothering to remember names and each mission he expected that he would be dead by the end of it. With her, Avery learned to expect a meat grinder. With Prince Tarble, Avery found that he didn't know what to expect. Even when Prince Tarble had shaped the plan with their help over two years, Avery felt like he had no idea what he was walking into.
"Do you think they'll perform?" Cator questioned quietly, standing behind him as he clutched his laser rifle like it was his firstborn child. It was top of the line tech that the entire unit was outfitted with, at least those that used guns, but Cator improved his to the point that any planet with a legal system would have banned the weapon.
Avery saw one of the new recruits shift where they stood, pretending that she wasn't listening. Avery didn't know her species, but she had the ability to make two copies of herself -- complete with duplicating the tech and weapons she wore. He had her assigned to his personal squad.
"They had better. Otherwise, we're all dead," Avery responded, watching her stiffen at the news. Cator let out a small huff, at that, not believing him for a second.
"Eh, I doubt that. Prince Tarble is getting crazily strong. I bet he could bail us out himself like he did last time," Cator dismissed. Avery didn't feel the need to tell him that he had been quoting Prince Tarble.
"Like last time?" The new recruit asked, deciding to stop pretending that she hadn't been listening. Despite the growing tension in the ship as they all waited for the door to open, Cator, in a loud boisterous voice, explained why exactly they placed so much trust in Prince Tarble. Enough trust that they went along with this utterly insane plan.
"About two years ago, we took out a production planet called Rench. But we got stranded there when our fleet had to bail out. That's not important -- what is, though, is that Prince Tarble figured out that the Reach was gearing up to wipe us out. So, get this, Prince Tarble fought the entire planet solo," Cator said, earning a few cheers from the other members of the Old Guard 501st. "Hundreds of Scarabs, entire armies with a grand fleet firing down at him. And he wrecked their shit for hours."
Cator was exaggerating, but not by much.
"You're full of shit," Vas spoke up, a troublemaker even amongst the notable troublemakers. "I'll give it to you that the pipsqueak is a tough nut, but I've seen production worlds. No one is fighting that alone."
Cator just smiled, "Oh, not only did he fight them, but he did it while fighting a Champion Class Scarab. Ended up killing it too with this massive attack that punched a hole through the fleet's defensive line in orbit. While cut in half."
"Yeah, you're full of it," the first recruit, Canda if Avery recalled correctly, seconded, earning a chuckle from him. He preferred silence before a battle, but this wasn't so bad either, Avery thought to himself.
"Am not! Avery, you were there, back me up," Cator demanded.
"He wasn't cut in half," Avery, making both women shoot Cator smug looks. It was amazing that no matter what species the fairer gender all possessed that Look, almost as if it were a universal constant. "Just mostly cut in half. About… eighty percent, or so. Wait- his shoulder was cut up to, so make that ninety percent. I've seen the scars."
Vas made a face. It was no secret that she wanted to take a shot at Prince Tarble. It was just a matter of when. "Scars?" She questioned, looking to poke a hole in his story.
"Saiyans like their scars," Avery explained with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't really get it, but he never fought anything that could give him a scar in the first place. "They'll heal the muscle beneath, but they always leave the surface damage. It's a pride thing. Showing off that they lived in a fight against something strong enough to give them a scar. The deadlier the wound, the prouder they are."
The one that cut Prince Tarble's torso nearly in half was a nasty one. By the time he hit his adolescence, or whenever he became interested in women, Avery had credits that Prince Tarble was going to start going shirtless. Like a woman's Look, guys doing stupid shit to impress a girl was also a universal constant.
Before Vas or anyone else could make a comment, the red light that washed over the shuttle suddenly flashed green. Any trace of the good cheer and chatter vanished without a second. Avery's grip on his gun tightened, every muscle in his body tensing before he sprung forward, moving before the gate had even opened.
The fliers moved out first, but he was the first foot on the ground of the 501st, sprinting down the rampart as he took in the battle. The saiyans and a few others had flown outside of the shuttles to make sure that they had landed, so the Shield World was already a battleground. There wasn't a speck of green to be found anywhere, and the full gray planet was designed for battle. Systematic cover, chokepoints, sniper perches, and places that offered cover for heavy artillery.
A space elevator dominated the skyline. One of the few things that were taller than a few stories. The gravity was light, slightly less than the galactic standard, so the elevator was oddly slender compared to the ones back on Rench. The sky was golden, but not naturally. The energy shield that was meant to keep out invaders was up, giving the sky a segmented appearance. But all of it paled in comparison to the fight that raged in the distance -- Scarabs flooded towards their position, more than Avery ever wanted to see in a single location, but the reactionary wave was held back by Prince Tarble and his mother.
That fight was beyond him. Not that it mattered because he had a mission to accomplish.
"On me," Avery spoke to the three thousand soldiers under his direct command. "Our target is the space elevator. We punch through everything that tries to get in our way!" Avery shouted as he pushed up to cover, pointed his rifle, and spotted the first enemy combatant. The Saiyans were major attention grabbers, so the Reach troops scrambled to react, and they paid for it with their lives.
Avery's gun bucked against his shoulder, his railgun firing an electromagnetic slug that punched right through the energy shield to the Reach soldier, painting the two soldiers next to him with his blood. They recoiled, horrified, and not a second later Avery's shoulder slipped back into its socket and he fired again. This time, he reduced an enemy's head to a fine mist.
"Twenty-two, push up hard to the right! Vas, lay down covering fire," Avery ordered as he advanced the line. In response, the fliers circled overhead. Vas, for all of her attitude, proved that she could follow orders. Lightning gathered on her hands before she dropped the mother of all lightning bolts on an enemy squad position and reduced them to nothing. Letting the twenty-second unit advance with little trouble.
The three thousand troops were divided into a hundred man units with the last ten being specialized units. Fliers, magic users, and tech support. 20-25 were tech support, with 26-30 being magic support, and Prince Tarble had prepared well for the invasion. The twenty-second unit took up a flank, and liquid metal surged into the shape of a massive gun that laid waste to the enemy before the 501st. Avery continued to advance, spearheading the approach, his arm dislocating for a split second each time he pulled the trigger, and while he was no Saiyan, he had adapted to that pain decades ago.
"Twenty-six, hot-drop!" Avery ordered as his unit punched through the Reach line like they were barely there. The element of surprise, their tech, and their diverse soldiers paved the way towards the space elevator that was little more than a hundred clicks out. In response to his words, a bright green flame appeared before him and Avery jumped through it, landing behind an enemy squad. They didn't notice him, or his personal five, or seven, squad until they were all dead.
Avery could feel the flow of battle in a way that only a grunt could. He felt where their advancing flow was being held back by a stone of the Reach's defense, and as the commander, it was his job to remove those stones.
"Scout, Scout, Scout!" Cator shouted, "North-East, three-fifty!" Instantly, Avery's gaze darted to the Scout class Scarab. It wouldn't even be a warm-up for a Saiyan, but that Scout was an army killer for grunts like him.
"Vas! I got a gift for you!" Avery shouted, watching as a bolt of lightning slammed into the Scout, causing an explosion. The Scarab wasn't dead, missiles streaking out of its backpack as it formed a plasma gun with what was left of its chest and its remaining arm. Lightning detonated the missiles before they struck anyone, making those black holes form, but the Scarab got a shot off. A massive torrent of plasma the size of his body raced towards his squad's position and, for a second, it was all that Avery could see.
Then a green flame appeared between them, so close that they could touch, but when the plasma should have washed over him, it instead flowed through the hole in space.
"I owe you Narra," Avery said, barely pausing as his fraction of the 501st continued their mad blitz towards the space elevator. Blasts of lasers flashed through the air, his sky units doing good work from above. In the background, he noticed something beyond the field of battle. Streaks of light that marked the sky as small dots lined up with the segmented golden sky.
Predictably, Narra didn't respond. She didn't seem to do well with thank yous. But, all the same, Avery resolved to buy her a stiff drink provided that they both survive.
Avery's shoulder slammed into cover as he was forced to stop for the first time since the invasion kicked off. A flash of light seemed to glow brightly in the distance, prompting Avery to shout, "Get down! Shockwave!" His squad ducked beneath the same cover that he did. An explosion seemed to rock the planet all the way down to its core, the shockwave hitting them a few seconds later. It was like someone shot a gun by his ear while punching him directly in the stomach, but other than that Avery was fine. The others suffered worse but not as bad as they would have standing in the open.
"Advance!" Avery shouted, standing up and lining up his shots. The railgun bucked against his shoulder, each time he pulled the trigger an enemy alien died. Lightning and ice from an ice flying alien washed over the enemy's defensive positions. Using his scouter, Avery judged the distance between them and the space elevator. Less than ten miles out. They needed to get closer.
"Twelve, terrain denial," Avery shouted, seeing a fire alien press his hands to the ground and the synthetic hard plastic melted, reduced to goo as the heat spread forward. Avery heard aliens scream as they were caught in the melted sludge, burning to death. Having been set on fire more than once, Avery took aim with his rifle as he rushed forward to seize the opening and fired mercy at the burning enemy.
The orders flowed from his mouth like water, clearing the stones from their path. Yet, as the enemy reacted, more stones appeared until it felt as if their assault had slowed to a crawl. Lasers pinged off his energy shield, a HUD on his scouter telling him their status. Avery accepted the shots, releasing devastation in return and butchered the enemy before him. The Reach aircraft deployed, tying up his fliers and a portion of his support. The numbers of defenders grew more numerous as the Reach deployed in full.
Despite their initial success, they were fighting to take a Shield World. There were billions on this planet, all combatants, all willing to defend it until their final breath.
The space between them was filled with laser and plasma fire, so thick that without his energy shield, not even Avery would dare to stick his head up. His railgun bucked, punching through cover as he had pyro to continuously deny it to the enemy. Despite the Reach numbers, the 501st continued to advance. Only their progress was now measured in inches as they felt the full weight of the Reach start to press down on them from all sides.
In the distance, Avery saw Prince Tarble fight a horde of Scarabs. Vanguard and three Champion Scarabs leading the way. A dozen of them clumped together as Prince Tarble darted around, moving at speeds Avery didn't even try to follow, forming an utterly massive plasma cannon that was aimed at the Prince. It fired a torrent of plasma and despite being so far away, Avery would swear that he felt the heat of it warm his face.
Prince Tarble barely paid it any mind, a Riot Javelin forming in his hand before he launched it at the sky scrapper sized torrent of dark blue plasma. Despite only being a drop in what should be an ocean, the torrent of plasma exploded outward as the Riot Javelin surged forward. The plasma splashed outward, landing on cover and soldiers alike, some of it splashing so far that Avery watched it vaporize a squad he had been aiming at. Then the Riot Javelin slammed home into the barrel of the massive plasma gun and an equally massive explosion rang out.
Avery ducked underneath his cover, feeling the heat and the shockwave washing over their position. While he was down, he heard Cator chuckling before he elbowed Canda.
"About that story, I told ya? The thing I didn't mention was that Prince Tarble is more than twice as strong than when he held off every Scarab on Rench," Cator pointed out while Canda looked stunned three times over with her identical clones.
Saiyans were on another level, Avery silently agreed. Most of them boasted that their species were the ultimate warriors of the universe, something that every warrior race said about themselves… the only difference was that Avery actually believed the Saiyans.
As if to prove his point, Queen Teach flew overhead. As a very learned response, Avery took cover while shouting, "Support, cover!" Green fire washed over Avery's squad while technological shields protected the other three thousand members of the 501st were protected from a massive ki blast that washed over the Reach's position. With casual ease, Queen Teach punched a hole right through the Reach defensive line. And she did it without any friendly fire. This time.
"Thank you for the assist," Avery said, forcing himself to be polite. The Queen, Prince Tarble's mother… had probably killed more of his men, his friends, than the Reach had at this point. She had mellowed out since Elery entered the picture, but Avery didn't have it in him to forgive her. "But shouldn't you be helping Prince Tarble?"
Said Prince threw himself into battle against countless Scarabs, drawing their attention because he was easily the biggest threat. Or, so they thought.
"Eh, don't worry about it. Tarble has gotten pretty strong, so it's been a challenge to find anything that can push him to his limits. I figured I should let him enjoy himself," Queen Teach dismissed as she casually fired another ki blast that wiped out an entire division of Reach soldiers, letting the 501st punch through fast enough that if they stopped that they would be surrounded.
Avery knew, for a Saiyan, that was probably the ultimate expression of love. Letting them have the most dangerous fights. It screamed utterly backward to him, but aliens were weird.
"You-" Narra's voice spoke up before she cut herself off, apparently not realizing that she was directly connected to a private channel as a leader of a division.
"I what?" Queen Teach questioned, firing yet another ki blast with an almost lazy gesture as she flew above them. Saiyans really were on a completely different level. Above the screams, fire, and death of soldiers below. Explosions echoed in Avery's ears, screams of the dying, and weapon fire serving as a tempo. A familiar melody to him at this point.
"You enjoy this," Narra accused, hate coloring her tone. Despite himself, Avery glanced over to Narra's position -- overseeing a gentle slope that allowed her unit to get a good view of the battlefield. Avery grit his teeth and hoped that they weren't about to lose their magic support.
Queen Teach let out a laugh as she switched to an open channel. She might hate her husband for grandstanding, but it seemed that she had a taste for it as well. Ki flowed to her hands as she flew above the battlefield, an open challenge for any to take a shot at her.
"You aliens don't get it," Queen Teach exclaimed as she casually threw a ki blast that exploded some distance away, wiping out a Reach armored division. And before the shockwave and flash had faded, another ki blast floated above her palm. "Our race, the Saiyan race… we aren't like you. We have no afterlife, and our God is a level of strength that every Saiyan hopes to one day obtain."
Queen Teach let out another chuckling laugh, "This? This right here? If we had a place called Heaven, then this is what it would look like!" To punctuate her point, Queen Teach fired a beam of ki that laid waste to the enemy, the Reach vanishing like smoke in the wind underneath the stream of ki. "If I could change anything about it at all, I would be fighting against all of you to get a bit of diversity in my opponents!"
This was why Avery had little trouble believing that the Saiyans truly were the ultimate warriors of the universe. They might not be the strongest race, but never before, not once in all of his centuries of being a soldier, had he ever encountered a race that loved the idea of war so much. That craved conflict so desperately. For monsters like Frieza or the Reach, war and violence were a side product to get a reward. For Saiyans? War was the reward.
Even Prince Tarble, as level headed and collected as he was… Avery had no doubt in his mind that there was a savage smile on his face as he fought against dozens of Scarabs.
Avery put the thought out of his mind as his soldiers reached the space elevator. His shoulder slammed into cover, flanking the door while Cator took the other side of a massive bulkhead door. "We are in position! Technician, follow up. Designated squads, breach in 3… 2… 1… Breach!" Avery shouted as Vas let loose a blast of electricity that punched right through the bulkhead door.
"I'll make sure none of my boy's troops kick the bucket," Queen Teach informed them and Avery didn't know if he felt thankful or worried as he entered the space elevator. He took point, Vas floating above to deliver electric devastation onto the soldiers that got in their way, Canda and Cator covering the flanks while Technician bought up the rear. "He has high expectations for you all. So you'd better meet them."
"That woman is scary," Canda muttered more to herself than to the squad as they made a rapid advancement through the hallway. Defensive turrets poked their heads out to take potshots at them, the occasional shot pinging off their energy shields while they more than returned what they took in damage.
The stench of burnt corpses, metal and, plastic-filled Avery's nose. A familiar stench that he never quite managed to go nose blind to. His railgun continuously bucked against his shoulder as they sprinted through the hallway, moving like a rapidly advancing wall of gunfire.
"She's actually mellowed out considerably," Technician remarked, echoing an earlier thought. So he wasn't the only one that noticed. "Or, rather, she holds back because she knows Prince Tarble would disapprove. Left," Technician called out, his face practically buried in a hologram. Their squad turned left, plasma washing over Avery's shield.
His energy shield stopped the plasma's kinetic force, making it wash over him, but the ambient heat was enough to flash burn his skin. Another familiar wound to him. He was just glad that he was the one that took it instead of the others.
"Grenade!" Cator shouted, and a moment later the torrent of plasma ceased, letting his skin heal over from the burns. Avery saw the damage -- like someone had taken an eraser and wiped away a small circle. A blackhole grenade. Another gift from Rench, a mission that just kept on giving. "Avery, get your ass up!" Cator continued, grabbing him by his arm and hauling him to his feet.
"Are you okay?" Canda questioned, three of her faces looking worried.
"Regenerator," Avery dismissed the concern, tasting charcoal as they continued running down the hallway, his armor glowing a bit from the cooling heat. "Tech, how far are we?" Avery asked, taking aim with his railgun at a squad of Reach soldiers. They were dug in, just not prepared for a massive lightning bolt that slammed into their cover. Before they had even realized what happened, they were dead and his squad continued down the hall.
"Not far -- a node is near," Technician said as the came upon a fork in the road. "Right," he explained. This time, far more carefully, Avery rounded the corner and prefired. One shot tore through an alien, destroying his plasma gun and his arm. The ensuing explosion knocked the rest of the squad on their ass in the compact hallway, letting Canda fire at the exposed soldiers. With three guns firing in perfect unison, she made quick work of them.
"It's here!" Technician exclaimed suddenly, coming to a stop, looking at a random panel on the wall. He wasted no time waking forward and placing a small device on the wall. A moment later, the metal of the wall became translucent, revealing a hub of wires and circuitry.
"What's here? What are we doing, exactly? I thought we were here to kill as many Reach aliens as we could?" Vas asked, lightning cackling at her hands as she took up a position facing one end of the hallway.
Avery tapped a button on his belt and the belt itself surged forward. Metal flowed over the ground, expanding and shaping itself until it settled on a WW shape. The high points touched the ceiling, while the low were low enough that they could jump over them. More importantly, it gave him and Canda some cover from the shots that the Reach were sending them.
Reach soldiers took up position down the hall, using hardlight shielding to give them some cover. Just not hard enough to stand up to his railgun.
"I'm uploading a virus into the Reach's systems," Technician answered as his hands moved in blurs, typing out commands.
"Won't the Reach be all over shutting you out?" Vas questioned, almost sounding bored as she and Cator held up the other send, using the portable cover.
"Oh, they are. Except that they're defending all of the wrong targets," Technician explained, a savage smile in his voice. Avery didn't know the story, but Technician seemed to take personal pleasure in ruining the Reach's day. "They're keeping me out of arsenals, production centers, food and water sources. Everything that they would need for a drawn-out siege."
Vas fired off a massive bolt of electricity at the Reach troops, vaporizing them. "If you're not hitting those targets, then what are you hitting?"
"And ruin the surprise? You'll see soon enough," Technician responded, glee in his voice as he locked the Reach out of their own systems. Doing things this way had its own share of problems simply because the Reach having those things like endless supplies, or production centers deep within the planet to turn out more crap for them to destroy.
"It's done," Technician said, taking a step back and retrieving the device. "They're not getting past that firewall, and if they ever do, it'll be far too late."
"Too late for what?" Vas insisted over the sound of gunfire. If Technician answered then Avery didn't hear it in favor of tapping down on his scouter.
"The primary objective has been completed," He informed all the squads that were in range. A dozen or so that were in the space elevator with them. "How's the secondary coming?"
"Charges are in place," several squads reported instantly. Enough to complete the secondary objective. One squad didn't report in at all.
"Begin extraction," Avery ordered, pressing his belt buckle again as the cover began to shift. The cover behind them capped off the hallway, making it so that they only had to worry about one direction. Vas cleared the way with a lighting blast that clouded over the hallway with smoke, masking their rapid retreat.
Bodies on top of bodies piled up as his squad withdrew from the space elevator, but getting out was easier than getting in. Before long, his entire squad withdrew from the building, walking into a battlefield that was waged outside. His 501st drew up a defensive perimeter around the space elevator, preventing reinforcements.
In the minutes that he had been inside, booths sides dug in and it became a slugging match between the two sides. The Reach undeniably had the numerical advantage, likely a million to one. The 501st, however, had plenty of soldiers that were worth a million Reach soldiers.
"The bombs are in place -- Narra, begin extraction," Avery ordered. In response, green flames appeared before every soldier, spreading until they were all connected. On the other side of the flames was the army that belonged to Queen Teach. A portion of it, rather, that was teleported here not long after the 501st landed to secure a foothold. The 501st wasted no time rushing through the green fire towards relative safety. Avery, and his squad, were the last ones to rush through.
The Reach flooded over the abandoned defenses, like water over an overfilled cup. Avery watched them for a moment, waiting for them to damn themselves, then he pressed down on the detonator. The charges in the space elevator fired off, the blackhole explosives deleting the structures supports while the power systems overloaded. Before they could be killed in the following collapse, Avery stepped forward through the flames and arrived inside the foothold.
Turning around, he watched the space elevator collapse in itself, the rubble and dust cloud washing over the thousands at the base. Thousands fewer that they would have to deal with. Only a few billion left.
But, the job wasn't done. Not yet. The hundreds of thousands of Frieza-force soldiers dug themselves in, repelling the Reach reactionary force. The sounds of war echoed in Avery's ears as the 501st rejoined and reinforced the fight. Here, they would dig in and hold out until the Reach exhausted themselves. Then, they would move on the offensive.
"Vas, look up," Avery ordered, prepping his rail gun as he marched forward to rejoin the fight. Vas obeyed, and even Avery glanced up to see the light show. The segmented sky of Reach satellites slowly melted away to become a solid golden sky as millions of satellites activated. Frieza-force satellites.
The same golden color as the shields that were meant to protect the Shield World from damage. Avey didn't claim to know what they were, but anything short of Frieza wasn't going to get past them. And now, that same shield that was pointed outward was now pointing inward.
"What…?" Vas trailed off, not understanding what she was looking at.
"We usurped their control of the planetary shield network that was meant to prevent invasion. Because of that, the Reach thought it was of little importance, making it a rather undefended target. Now, not even the Reach ships can get in to reinforce the planetary armies with orbital bombardments," Technician explained and Avery smirked as realization dawned on Vas.
"With that secondary network pointed inward, the defense shield serves as a cage. To quote Prince Tarble, 'The Reach will be trapped inside the cage with us.' Avery quoted, a pleased grin on his face as his shoulder hit cover.
With neither side with anywhere to run, it was going to become a slugging match. Billions against a million.
But, despite every odd, Avery liked their chances.
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Location
- United States of America
Also, keep in mind, Earth is claimed, yes, but Tarble hasn't started enforcing it just yet. Remember, Earth is, technically, owned by Tarble. This means that any other entity attempting to set a claim would be making a direct affront to the Saiyan royal family, and their up-and-coming prince who has cracked a shield world, and is working on number two. In the grand scheme of things, Earth actually isn't very important on the galactic scale. Its only real assets of note are that it's a fairly nice garden world (not too uncommon), and a few planetary-scale fighters (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Dr Fate, Swamp Thing if you piss him off enough). If capsule tech is a thing, then that's arguably pretty valuable, but no-one knows about that yet, and even on Earth the tech isn't ubiquitous yet (following the Dragonball timeline). Also, the dragonballs themselves (if they're a thing) aren't widely known either, and if they were people would probably be going for Namek first.
So, yeah, Earth is just some unimportant backwater right now that no-one (except maybe the Thanagarians) has any interest in... except Tarble. And Tarble's got a very big stick. Not only is he personally approaching planetbuster levels, he's also got a certain level of approval from Freeza... to the point where it's not unthinkable that Freeza would let him 'borrow' a fleet or two to express his displeasure (if he wouldn't already given that it's a Trade Federation world and Lord Freeza does not appreciate such impudence on general principles).
Edit: fixed some words.
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You have Duo Damsel/Triplicate girl in your 501st
Pretty sure that was a Reach invention here, I think they grabbed it when he downloaded the mainframe in the core of the shield world. That's why they can carry so much more food with them now.
Zap Rowsdower
Ex-cultist vagrant
- Location
- Bright lights, big city
- Pronouns
- He/Him
As young justice the cartoon notes, the big advantage of Earth is its inhabitants genetic potential. Metagene be hax.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Humanity in DC has a lot of potential in a vast array of directions. Aliens looking at genetic code would see our dna, mystics would see our magical potential, etc.
So far our best trait seems to be how illogically charming we are, since almost every cosmic entity likes us, up to and including the presence.
So far our best trait seems to be how illogically charming we are, since almost every cosmic entity likes us, up to and including the presence.
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
Wait a minute... If Humans are very charming... Is there a chance that Tarbles go native after already going native? Like a double going native?
- Location
- Writeland
Literally every Saiyan who spent more than a week on earth ended up marrying a human woman and then fought vicious battles to avoid having to go back to space.
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
Hmm... is Wonder Woman considered non human?
- Location
- Writeland
Depending on the continuity she is either a demi-goddess, an animated clay statue, or both.
Sounds of the Soul
- Location
- USA
"What have I created?" Narra softly asked herself as bile rose in the back of her throat, the atrocious spell that she crafted solely took shape before her eyes. Just over a dozen of her sisters sat in a circle, their hands interlocked as their lips moved, uttering the words of a spell. Ancient words, the spoken word of their home planet, and she mangled them. Twisting those beautiful, breathtaking words, into something hideous. Something that went against their very nature… the words, the spell, the only word Narra could think to describe it was evil.
The cage glowed brightly overhead, a bright segmented gold. But to her eyes, the sky carried a green tinge. Her people's runes were inscribed into each satellite, forming a secondary cage, but its purpose was far more sinister. The satellites prevented any thought of retreat or reinforcements, but the cage she had crafted under the orders of Prince Tarble? It prevented souls of the departed from leaving this plane of existence. From finding peace in the afterlife. From moving on.
A cage to disrupt the natural cycle of life and death.
A child had thought of this hellish, vile spell. And she had no choice but to obey. Only now, looking at what her deeds had wrought, and knowing that the worst had yet to come, Narra felt despair grip her heart.
Souls of the dead drifted downward towards the green flame that hovered above her sisters. A green flame without warmth or heat. A flame as cold as death itself. The tormented souls of the departed screamed their anguish, their confusion, fear, and anger -- the sounds of their horror was almost enough to deafen her to the sounds of war. Simply because the souls of the departed, their spirits were drawn to the flame. And once they grew too close, the flame claimed them, using their immortal soul as kindling to power the spell.
They screamed in pain, the screeching sound piercing her eardrums, but all the same, Narra maintained her part of the spell unflinchingly. Even as thousands of souls were lost for eternity, forever denied their afterlife, and used much like a log for a fire. Enemy and ally alike were claimed by the ever-growing flame, and if there had to be a silver lining it was that most were in a state of madness from their recent deaths.
Narra swallowed thickly, pretending that she was braver than she was. And all the while she wondered what Mother, the previous Night Mother, would say if she could see her now. Nothing good, Narra imagined. "Prince Tarble, the spell is ready," Narra informed the Prince. A six-year-old child.
Months later and she still didn't understand how a spell meant to destroy evil failed to harm the Saiyans.
"Good. Withdrawing to base now. Have your people set up the shield," Prince Tarble ordered, his voice terrifyingly calm. The Wrath State, a state that drove most of the users mad with rage, and this recent depravity weren't enough to make the Prince waver. Not even close.
"At once," Narra heard herself say as the moment of truth came. She stared into the green flame, and she could swear she saw demented faces in the flames staring hatefully back at her. Worse, if they were, Narra couldn't blame them. Her sisters slowed their chanting, maintaining the spell and pretended that they couldn't see or hear what they had done. Narra opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the words wouldn't come.
Their Mother, the previous Night Mother, would have known what to say. But, as much as she might wish otherwise, Narra wasn't her.
Instead, in silence, Narra held out her hands, cupping them as if to dip them into a stream for water and reached out with her magic to the horrifying flame. Her lips moved, muttering the ancient spell, and the flame shrunk, condensing as it floated over to her hands. Yet, even still, the souls of the departed rushed to the flame, seeking the relief of the afterlife, only to find eternal destruction instead. Narra turned away from her sisters, feeling their gazes and their judgment on her back as Narra walked forward to the defensive lines.
Frieza-force troops dug themselves in well, using the cover and peeking up to deliver death to the enemy. Destruction lit up the sky as their fliers and anti-air machinery prevented Reach weapons of mass destruction from wiping out their small pocket. Narra lacked the gift of hearing souls speak like Nakka had, but she could feel the lives slipping away all around her. Hundreds, if not thousands every second. An exaggeration, Narra hoped, but she feared that it was the truth.
Gently, Narra floated upward, distantly aware of how her sisters took up positions and hummed a familiar chant. She couldn't hear it over the death, destruction, and screams, but Narra could hear it with her heart. A symbol, the written language of the planet, marked around them in green flames before those symbols stretched outward, connecting the other sisters. Within a short moment, a perfect circle marked the encampment.
Narra looked outward at the sky, finding a speck in the distance that was Prince Tarble. He raced towards the encampment, forced to fight at a distance to unleash his true might. A thought pulled at her, urging her to drop the flame. To make the Prince pay for what he was making her do. So that he would suffer the same fate he intended to inflict on… billions.
Yet, her hands refused to drop the small flame. Fear paralyzed her. Queen Teach was more monstrous than Prince Tarble by half and would take sadistic pleasure in killing Nakka and the rest of her sisters in recompense. But, beyond the fear was doubt.
Prince Tarble possessed a quiet and sad inner voice according to Nakka. She had expected an angry and cruel one. It made her doubt that despite how senselessly evil he acted that there was something underneath that was… not evil.
"Drop it," Prince Tarble ordered, his voice causing a cold shiver raced down her spine. Narra closed her eyes for a brief second, aware of how every member of the Frieza-force fell back behind the circle her sisters formed. Despite every teaching, every moral, and every thought screaming at her to do the opposite, Narra dropped the flame. It fell to the ground, but the small drop it should have been was instead a massive tidal wave of green fire.
The tidal wave surged forward, spilling in every direction except for where it met the protection runes her sisters made. Narra forced herself to open her eyes, to sear the image of the magical fire washing over the Reach defensive lines. The body was unharmed, simply falling over like a puppet with its strings cut. But Narra watched as hundreds, then thousands of souls were consumed by the hungry fire, making it swell and expand until even the Scarabs that flew in the air were consumed. Within moments, the tidal wave of soul-devouring fire was all Narra could see in every direction.
The planet surface would be scourged of all life, their soul consumed and destroyed. Until only three pockets that were their army remained.
"Looks like the spell was effective," Prince Tarble noted as he flew near. It was something about that sentence that made the unforgivable sin settle into place. Perhaps it was the praising tone or just the confirmation that it had worked.
Narra… had just killed… billions.
The plan had been to draw the Reach forces to the surface, so her spell could wipe out as many as possible at once. Prince Tarble had theorized that there were as many as twenty-five billion soldiers on the planet. If his most hopeful estimate was correct… then her spell destroyed the souls of five billion Reach soldiers. A number so inconceivably large that Narra struggled to comprehend it.
Bile rose in the back of her throat but she tried to swallow it down. She couldn't show weakness. Not in front of the Prince.
"You're crying," Prince Tarble observed, and it was only then was Narra aware of the tears that raced down her cheeks.
She had to remain strong. Unflinching. Worthy of Prince Tarble's respect because if she lost it then Nakka could suffer. Her sisters could suffer.
"I… have… defiled everything," Narra heard herself speak, her voice thick with emotion. "Every teaching passed down from countless generations, everything that was ever taught to me. I…" Narra trailed off, knowing that she should stop. "How can I ever face my ancestors after this? What will they think of me?"
Prince Tarble was silent, and as the tidal wave of fire washed over the helpless Reach, there was a moment of celebration as the troops below savored the triumph delivered to them. "I don't have a clue what your ancestors would say, but… they weren't here. They weren't in the situation you were in and they didn't have to make the choices you did. If they can't understand that, then what are their opinions worth?"
He was trying to reassure her. Poorly. Clumsily because he didn't know what he spoke of, but he was trying.
"I am the Night Mother of my people, a title passed down since our home planet named our race. My sisters… my daughters are meant to look to me for guidance," Narra told him. Wanting him to understand the unforgivable sin that he had made her commit. "And I am meant to commune with the spirits of our Grand Night Mothers. This spell, the greatest kindness that they could show me was eternal banishment from the family. I've destroyed the souls of sapient people… and had my s- daughters help."
"Back with Lord Freza years ago, when he had drawn a lottery, do you think that the previous Night Mother would have done anything differently if she was here instead of you?" Prince Tarble asked, cutting right her greatest worry. The question that she asked herself constantly.
"I don't know," Narra admitted quietly.
"I can't say that I knew her, but I'm guessing that she would have given the same answer if I asked her that question. Everyone always thinks that the person that they looked up to always has the answers," Prince Tarble said, floating beside her. And Narra couldn't help but wonder who Prince Tarble had once looked up to. "But they don't. They never do. Just like how they hide that from us, we hide that from others until it's time for someone else to fill the shoes."
"In the end, you can only do what you can manage. You make the best with what you got. And if that's not enough for your ancestors, then it's not enough. Can't do anything about that. What you can do is find a way to bare it. To find reasons to make it worth it," Prince Tarble finished. Narra managed to tear her gaze away to look at Prince Tarble.
His visor blocked her vision of his eyes, but looking at him…
He was six years old. A child. Even by his own people, he was a child. Yet he commanded armies and…
It sounded like he was telling her something that he had told himself at some point.
Quite and sad.
"Thank you, Prince Tarble," Narra thanked him honestly. It… wasn't enough to make her forgive him for so thoroughly drenching her hands with blood and sin, or for bringing Nakka to this battlefield, but… Narra was glad that he wasn't an unfeeling monster. Unlike his mother.
Prince Tarble glanced at her, his eyes hidden by the red visor. For a moment, Narra feared that he had somehow heard her innermost thoughts, but that thought was quickly dismissed when Prince Tarble let out a small sigh. "I'm the one that ordered this. That means the responsibility is mine. Your hands, and your daughters, are clean."
Before Narra could argue the point, Prince Tarble turned around and flew down to the ground. Ending the conversation precisely so she couldn't argue the point. Narra let out a quiet sigh as she turned to look out at the sea of fire that now surrounded them and soon it would cover the entire world.
Her hands felt anything but clean.
…
"Are we ready for the second stage?" Prince Tarble asked, prompting Technician to look up from the streams of data. The satellites served several purposes beyond being a cage. Each one was a labor of love and a combination of robotics and sorcery. Technician never understood the desire to procreate beyond the need to ensure the passing down of beneficial genes, but now he had over a thousand children in the atmosphere. It put things in perspective.
"The first stage outstripped our best estimates. It seems that you are more of a threat to the Reach than you believed, Prince Tarble," Technician informed, passing a data packet to his student for him to see for himself. It was hard to believe that a child could merit such a response from the Reach, but Technician was glad for it.
He had seen what the Reach did to worlds it took over firsthand. For every citizen of the Reach that was killed was another given mercy. Even if they didn't understand it.
"Eight billion," Prince Tarble muttered to himself, likely factoring in the reduced number of hostiles into his plans. It was a welcomed surprise. And a confirmed one given that each satellite gave them a live feed of the planet's surface. Billions of Reach soldiers just washed away in a sea of fire. Technician's heart belonged to science but there was a special spot within it for magic. "Keep the exact total away from Narra. She seems to be struggling with the number that was killed."
"As you wish," Technician agreed. Not all species were blessed with a mind that prioritized logic over emotion. Or instincts that craved war. "As for phase two, the wave is nearing complete coverage of the planet. The satellites have done their job well. It is incomplete, but we have a deep scan of the planet's structure."
To prove his words, Technician held up a hand and an incomplete hologram of the Shield World. It was beautiful, in a way. Everything natural about the planet had been stripped away and shaped into what the Reach envisioned. It was all metal, synthetic hard plastics, and technology. Despite what Technician thought of the Reach -- when they stepped away from the distasteful scarab design, they created tasteful and elegant works of art. It was only a shame that the deep ground scanners built into the satellites were unable to get a complete scan of the planet.
"They are unable to scan more than four thousand miles down. But, given the consistency of the scan, the reason seems to be Reach induced rather than a failing on the satellites," Technician explained, looking at the perfect orb that served as the planet's outer core. Surrounding it was a near-perfect segmented crust and mantle. Exactly what Prince Tarble predicted -- the Shield World was designed for war and the Reach cared about as much for their soldiers as Lord Frieza did, so they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice portions of their army to bleed the invading force.
An algorithm detected a pattern. There needed to be one to maintain the structure of the planet to prevent it from collapsing in on itself. Supports marked as segments of the planet, each leading down to the outer core that blocked them from scanning further.
"I'm highlighting the targeted coordinates," Technician said as red pinpricks began to mark the planet's surface. There were only a handful, but with a plant the size of Antiople, it was more than enough. "The lasers are being moved into position via satellites now," he continued. They would be using an inverse of the plan that they used on Rench -- instead of using lasers to drill a hole out of a planet core, they would use the same lasers to drill a hole into the planet's core.
"Good. They'll either respond in mass, which is unlikely given the magic spell, or they'll have to watch as their defenses are rendered useless," Prince Tarble noted, looking at the red dots. Each marked a main support, but there were several blue dots that marked where a drill could connect a significant portion of the segmented mantle, rendering the Reach's main plan to bleed the invaders further useless. "They'll be forced to think on their feet and react. What happens next depends on what kind of commander is in charge of the place."
"A commander that earned their position due to nepotism rather than merit, u suspect," Technician remarked. A most confusing trait that seemed all too common with other species -- placing their young in positions where ability mattered most regardless of if they were qualified or not.
"Hm," Prince Tarble acknowledged, sounding torn between hoping that was the case for the lives of his soldiers and desiring the opposite due to his desire for a challenge. As physical challenges began to dry up due to the Prince's increasing physical strength, he turned to mental challenges more often. A battle of tactics was what he desired, but not one he would likely find with the Reach. "Be ready for anything. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Technician nodded, seeing the wisdom in the words. "The drilling will begin now," he informed, pressing a button one the satellites above were in place. As they began their work, Technician looked out at the sea of green fire that surrounded them. "This tactic is unlikely to work again," he stated.
The Reach was unprepared for sorcery, much less it being used so… effectively. They would learn to take precautions to prevent this happening again.
"It will a few more times," Prince Tarble refuted. "The satellites prevent any contact off-world, and we'll be killing them to the last. The only way the Reach will learn what happened here is through spies in the Frieza-force. I'm sure that they have at least one and they'll leak what happened here to the Reach. But if we hit several targets immediately then they won't have time to prepare."
Technician paused, looking over at Prince Tarble as he considered what he just said. The idea that there was a spy in the Frieza-force was hardly unsurprising. Most species held no loyalty towards Frieza or the Trade Organization, and fewer held any desire to be at war. The Frieza-force was comprised of slaves. It would be shocking if there weren't any spies from those that thought that they would get a better deal if they went with the Reach.
They wouldn't. They would be trading one brand of slavery for another.
"We… will be hitting Shield Worlds… won't we?" Technician hazarded a guess. To make the most of the tactic that had proven its effectiveness, it would be best to hit hard targets before the Reach ruined the tactic.
Prince Tarble offered a sharp smile, telling Technician that he had guessed right. That explained why Prince Tarble had coordinated with other fleets -- three to be precise. Three separate fleets and four Shield Worlds and a small timeframe that they would be hit. And each fleet carried an army that would pad out their numbers when Queen Teach's army inevitably took losses.
That was… rather frightening plan. Daring, unorthodox, and dangerous. Fitting for Prince Tarble.
"It's too soon to say anything yet. We have to make sure we don't die here, after all," Prince Tarble pointed out as he looked out at the sea of flames that slowly began to recede from the shield the magic users had crafted. In the distance, Technician saw a bright red drilling laser that would relatively slowly chew through the planet's supports until they reached the core.
Then, as if to prove his words, a bright blue pillar of plasma pushed back the red laser until it slammed into the satellites above. They didn't suffer a scratch thanks to the runes, but whatever had pushed back the drilling laser was powerful. Something moved out of the hole that was being drilled, but Technician's eyes couldn't make out what it was.
"You're new!" Prince Tarble breathed, an undeniable edge of excitement in his tone before he blasted off through the barrier before Technician could say a word. He swallowed a small worried breath, realizing that eyes were on him.
"Continue as you were. Prince Tarble shall deal with the anomaly. This is not the time to be sitting around," Technician called out, stepping into his role. After all, without Prince Tarble, the 501st was hardly helpless. It was time that the Reach learned that.
…
I blasted through the barrier, my heart racing in my chest. Despite knowing I should hope for the opposite, I had harbored a hope that the Shield World would offer something new. Something different. Some kind of emergency button that they kept in reserve for this exact kind of situation. I knew I shouldn't be so excited but I've fought nothing but Scarabs for my entire life, so anything was a great improvement.
The Scarab floated in midair, its jetpack keeping it afloat. It almost looked like a normal scarab, but it looked just different enough to tell me that it was a normal Scarab. The build was slender, an oddly shaped helmet that covered its face that slopes back. At its wrists were blades that jutted outward. Most notably was the armor itself, the segmented look of it marked with faint blue vents rather than seamless liquid metal.
The Scarab, because it clearly was still a Scarab, looked over at me, twisting in midair to face me. "Prince Tarble of Planet Vegeta," It stated, shifting into a combat stance as I slowed to a stop. Beneath us was a sea of fire that would destroy our souls if we so much dipped a toe in it, adding a level of danger to the fight that I hadn't realized that I missed until it was gone.
"What are you?" I asked, figuring that I should at least get its name. If it was a new type of Scarab then I would end up seeing it again eventually. Though, the fact that it had a blue coloring didn't inspire me with a lot of hope for a good fight. My scouter was reading a ten thousand power level, which wasn't bad for a scout class Scarab, while my ki sense was picking up a fairly weak presence.
"Your end," The Scarab informed before its vents flared to life. I heard the crack of electricity and in a fraction of a second, it crossed the distance between us, moving at speeds that it seemed to be little more than a blur to my eyes. Instinct prevented its words from becoming true. Ki blades sprung from my hands, blocking the blades that rushed towards my neck.
Gathering up ki at the tip of my foot, I flipped backward, slamming a ki slash against the Scarabs armor while I thrust my hands to the side, driving the blades away while I drove the Scarab back. It reacted well, the metal shifting around its hands to become blasters that I deftly blocked.
"Good luck with that," I shot back at it, twisting in the air to dodge a slash that raced by me in a blur. It was fast. Incredibly fast. The sleek design, the thrusters -- it was built for speed. My blood hummed in my veins, the power of the Wrath State surging as I clashed blades with the new kind of scarab. The Reach was specializing the Scarabs now. Maybe Vegeta was right about the Reach specializing one to kill us?
It was selfish and idiotic giving the situation but a smile tugged at my lips as I sent a ki blast at the Scarab, only for it to turn on a dime, twisting out of the way as it rushed towards me. Already I was having more fun than I was fighting a hundred Scarabs. I rushed to meet the scarab halfway, dodging a slash meant to bisect me, then a plasma beam aimed at my heart.
Its speed was its advantage, but the tech -- the plasma lasers, the missiles and the like, they cost the Scarab valuable seconds to prime. A slight delay, but enough of one that I effortlessly dodged around a stream of plasma, the heat barely bothering me at all, as I closed in on the Scarab, pushing the offensive.
I slashed at it with my ki blades, following with my momentum to sail over its head as it blocked the slash. The protrusions that stuck out over its shoulders launched themselves at me, trying to impale me, but that was a tactic that I was used to. It responded to me trying to get behind it by pivoting, one of the vents on its jetpack and legs shifted, allowing for a rapid spin that allowed it to block my strike to its Scarab.
Beyond both of us, the laser resumed drilling into the planet's surface. I stretched my awareness as we fought, wary of another Scarab like the one I fought. Only for nothing to come as the drilling continued, chipping away at the Shield World's defenses. A theory entered my mind as I blocked a slash that I returned with a kick to the chest hard enough that I learned something about the Scarab -- in response to physical blows, the armor inflated slightly.
"You're a prototype," I accused the Scarab, pressing the attack. My hands moved in blurs, blocking, slashing, and reacting to the Scarab's movement. Despite its speed, it didn't take me long to get a feel for the flow of the fight. It attacked in simple but wild patterns.
"I am death," The Prototype responded and if it wouldn't have cost me my head, I would have rolled my eyes.
"You're an idiot," I answered, batting its blades to the side before one of my ki blades condensed into a ki attack. I launched it at Prototype, making it spin. It corrected the course a split second later, lashing out with a blade on its wrist to drive me away while a blaster that I hadn't seen before formed on its hand.
My lips thinned as I reacted, knocking the offending arm away just as it activated. The air shimmered, rings forming that grew narrower as they neared a small tip of the blaster. A wave-based blaster. Probably didn't want to get hit by that.
Prototype tried to react, but I was already in position and I was just too close for it to back off quickly. I swiped down with a hand, my ki blade cutting the Scarab's arm off at the elbow, making it scream in agony. The arm fell down, quickly lost in a sea of flames. The green fire below grew thicker as it poured into the hole that the drills were forming. I had underestimated how potent that they would be.
Just like how I overestimated Prototype.
"I'm guessing that you're the commander of this Shield World?" I asked, not giving Prototype a moment of reprieve. The ki blades around my hands faded, letting me curl my hands into fists that I drove into Prototypes gut, folding it like a piece of paper. As it folded, I flipped back and drove a knee into its face. "You slapped on a prototype scarab, came here to kill me in single combat, and be a great big hero while ignoring the AI?"
The fact that it was here betrayed that it was being piloted by an idiot. I was still in contact with the other two groups of the 501st, all of which were still alive. Meaning that it had targeted me. Which was dumb. I might be the most powerful person on the planet, but I couldn't take a Shield World on my own.
I was willing to be all my rations that the AI in the scarab told the pilot to target the soft targets, the 501st to undercut the invasion. I could fight it, but most of the 501st couldn't. And the fact that the AI hadn't simply taken control of the host suggested that the host was important enough that the scarab couldn't overrule the host.
Prototype was tellingly silent, glaring up at me as the nanites of the armor surged to recreate a false arm, deadening the nerves so it wasn't screaming anymore.
"Shame. The prototype had promise," I said, darting forward to finish the fight. In response, the pieces of the scarab that jutted out of its back broke off, becoming four turrets as Prototype suddenly broke off, rushing towards the hole that it had come out of. Only to find it filled with fire. I twisted out of the way of the turrets that coordinated through the air, somehow managing to keep up with my speeds.
They bombarded me with small blasts of plasma around the size of my fist, only the color was off. A blood-red rather than a cool blue like most plasmablasts. That told me that I didn't want to get hit by it, forcing me to dodge as I closed in on Prototype. Ki formed in my hands as I flew upward towards the segmented sky that was a golden red to my view. The turrets blasted at me from below, the red plasma racing by me.
Turning around, a Spiral Buster formed in my hands as I looked down at Prototype. The alien in the scarab seemed to understand the mistake that it had made. Looked like Technician was right on the money -- the commander of the Shield World was someone that had the position by virtue of their family. A rookie that thought he could take me out and save the day.
And, judging by the panicked movements it made as it attempted to flee from me, it realized it was about to die for that mistake. So would everyone else on the Shield World.
"Spiral Buster!" I shouted, firing off the attack. The turrets that followed me were enveloped in the blast, reduced to nothing as the ki attack raced towards Prototype. It dodged out of the way with deft ease, proving its mobility even if it was being piloted by an idiot with delusions of grandeur. My attack slammed into the ground behind it, causing the green flames to explode upward as the sea was disrupted.
It realized a moment too late that was the plan all along. The green fire surged upward, giving Prototype just enough time to look behind it to watch as the fire splashed over the scarab. As the fire enveloped the scarab, I watched as its soul was ripped free of its body -- the corpse slimed over in death while the soul seemed to dissolve in the flames.
Then the fire fell back to the ground, and both the soul and the corpse were lost. I stared at the sea for a brief moment, the cogs moving in my head before my gaze shifted to my hand.
"I need magic resistance," I decided. Narra had just proven how thoroughly dangerous magic could be. How it just ignored my strength and speed, and all it would take was dipping in a toe to destroy my soul. The Reach focused on tech but that wasn't true for everyone. I needed some kind of resistance, or countermeasure if I ever fought a magic-user who could do something like this.
But, that was a problem for another day. I looked out over the horizon, seeing a few mining lasers drilling in the distance. "The Scarab is down," I informed through my scouter, feeling more than a little disappointed at the quality of my enemy. Mostly because I had let my hopes soar. I had hoped for a fight that would push me to my limits, that would force me to dig deep and, as Elery was fond of saying, go even further beyond.
Simply because it felt like I hadn't been pushed to that limit in years.
"We may have a situation," Technician informed, making me look over at the small spot where the flames refused to touch. "I've discovered what the core of the planet is. I expected it to be some sort of production facility, but that isn't the case. It's… a bomb. A very large bomb."
I blinked. "How big of a yield?" I questioned, looking over at one of the mining lasers. It was tempting to just let the Reach blow themselves up, but Lord Frieza wanted worlds intact. Not only that, but the Shield World's that I planned to take would also make an excellent staging ground for further invasions.
"It will destroy the immediate solar system," Technician noted with more than a little worry in his tone. That was enough to make me start feeling nervous. "The bomb systems are isolated so I'm unable to remotely hack them, but due emergency procedures, I can tell that the bomb has been activated and there's a count down. We have less than five minutes."
I'm guessing by killing Prototype, I had kick-started the timer. That was mildly annoying.
"Can we disarm it?" I asked, noting how one drilling laser stopped, having hit the surface of the bomb.
"Uncertain. The only way to find out would be to directly interface with the bomb's systems," Technician informed, making me frown as I flew over a large hole in the ground that the sea of fire flowed into.
"I'll-" I started, preparing a bubble shield to protect me from the green flames, only to cut myself off when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Narra and Technician flew towards me, a slight smile on Technician's face told me that he knew exactly what I was about to try to do.
"You have made sufficient progress, but disarming a Reach bomb of this magnitude is beyond you. I will disarm the bomb," Technician informed, not leaving any room for argument. Not that there was any time for it. I glanced over at Narra, wondering what her presence was for since there were other flyers. She answered the unspoken question with action instead of words.
Green flames coated her hands before they shifted to a pale gold color. She reached out towards us, and the pale gold fire washed over the two of us. I had to fight back my instinct to dodge after what seeing that fire could do, but trust was a two-way street. If Narra and the 501st were going to trust me with their lives, then I should try to return that trust.
The golden flames felt warm on my skin, a tingling sensation washing over me as we were enveloped by the flames. "This will protect you from my… my spell," she informed. I nodded, knowing that time was of the essence, and I wasted no time launching myself down into the sea of flames and the hole they flowed into.
"501st, withdraw immediately. The planet could blow up any minute now," I informed, speaking on general comms. I had contingencies for something like this, though I expected the Shield World to put up a stiffer of a fight to force us to withdraw. Magic was proving to be increasingly useful.
"What about you?" Fasha questioned while the others followed the order.
"I'm going to deal with the bomb," I informed before I killed the communication.
It would be a lie to say that I didn't consider that Narra was lying to me, trying to trick me into my death, but I plunged into the flames all the same. I expected to feel heat as the flames washed over me, Narra and Technician following behind me, but instead, I felt cold. And… it could just be my imagination as we raced towards the center of the planet, blasting through the sound barrier, but it felt like something was tugging at me in the flames.
I wasn't ashamed to admit that the tugging as if something was trying to grab me, spurred me to go that much faster. It took minutes for us to reach the bottom of the planet, even with the aid of Narra helping us clear jumps with her teleportation magic.
"Two minutes left," Technician warned as we touched down on the surface of the bomb. A smooth gray surface that looked untouched by the fire and the mining drill that carved a tunnel through the planet. I prepped a ki attack to drill my way through the bomb but paused when Technician took out a small device and placed it onto the bomb before a hologram appeared between his hands. "I can access the bombs systems from here."
"That easy?" I asked, looking around us, only to see green fire. It couldn't do anything to the metal that made up the planet, but it flowed into the holes that contained countless enemy soldiers.
"Hacking is far less exciting than one would think," Technician explained as the timer ticked down, speaking just as fast as his hands moved. "Did you think we would have to break into the core and access a main terminal, or something?"
"Well…"
Technician chuckled while Narra prepared herself to open a portal for a quick escape if we couldn't stop the planet from blowing. "Nothing so dramatic. Being able to interface with the systems is enough, and my toolkit that I uploaded into the Reach's systems and being able to interact with the bombs systems is more than enough. The only real difficulty that I had was that the system was isolated."
I nodded, decided to trust his expertise on the subject. I didn't know a single thing about hacking, much less how I would start, so if he said that's all that he needed then I would believe him.
"How are we looking?" I asked, each second feeling painfully slow, and the minutes felt like hours.
"Oh?" Technician looked up, "I've already deactivated the bomb. Like I said, the only challenge was that the system was isolated."
I whipped around, looking at Technician, who looked puzzled that I was surprised. The bomb was already deactivated? Just like that? No dramatic countdown with it stopping at the last minute? No sudden release of tension as the planet and the solar system was saved from annihilation? That was…
"Then what are you doing?" I asked, feeling… I don't know what I was feeling.
"I'm identifying the compartments filled with Reach soldiers and attempting to destroy them. Like you expected, the compartments are ready to be sacrificed once they have been lost, and they can be remotely activated. The tech that, ah… Junk Rat provided has been most useful," Technician explained. Junk Rat was an alien of unknown origins that had an uncanny ability to make great things out of scrap. "I'm having a great deal of success. It's unlikely I should get them all, however. Some will be left for you Prince Tarble."
There was a teasing edge in his voice that I barely heard as I considered the news.
The plan was a fantastic success, better than I could possibly hope for. We took a Shield World with minimum casualties and every step of the way, we were ten steps ahead of the enemy. I should be happy. I should be proud of a plan that went off without a hitch. One of the greatest roadblocks for the Frieza-force was just removed without any trouble. A great challenge surmounted with utter ease.
And I was happy. I was proud. It was a great achievement against a target that Lord Frieza himself deemed a worthy target to destroy to announce his power to the universe. We conquered the planet with near ease.
But… deep down, I felt robbed of a challenge that I had anticipated for years.
I felt cheated.
...
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The cage glowed brightly overhead, a bright segmented gold. But to her eyes, the sky carried a green tinge. Her people's runes were inscribed into each satellite, forming a secondary cage, but its purpose was far more sinister. The satellites prevented any thought of retreat or reinforcements, but the cage she had crafted under the orders of Prince Tarble? It prevented souls of the departed from leaving this plane of existence. From finding peace in the afterlife. From moving on.
A cage to disrupt the natural cycle of life and death.
A child had thought of this hellish, vile spell. And she had no choice but to obey. Only now, looking at what her deeds had wrought, and knowing that the worst had yet to come, Narra felt despair grip her heart.
Souls of the dead drifted downward towards the green flame that hovered above her sisters. A green flame without warmth or heat. A flame as cold as death itself. The tormented souls of the departed screamed their anguish, their confusion, fear, and anger -- the sounds of their horror was almost enough to deafen her to the sounds of war. Simply because the souls of the departed, their spirits were drawn to the flame. And once they grew too close, the flame claimed them, using their immortal soul as kindling to power the spell.
They screamed in pain, the screeching sound piercing her eardrums, but all the same, Narra maintained her part of the spell unflinchingly. Even as thousands of souls were lost for eternity, forever denied their afterlife, and used much like a log for a fire. Enemy and ally alike were claimed by the ever-growing flame, and if there had to be a silver lining it was that most were in a state of madness from their recent deaths.
Narra swallowed thickly, pretending that she was braver than she was. And all the while she wondered what Mother, the previous Night Mother, would say if she could see her now. Nothing good, Narra imagined. "Prince Tarble, the spell is ready," Narra informed the Prince. A six-year-old child.
Months later and she still didn't understand how a spell meant to destroy evil failed to harm the Saiyans.
"Good. Withdrawing to base now. Have your people set up the shield," Prince Tarble ordered, his voice terrifyingly calm. The Wrath State, a state that drove most of the users mad with rage, and this recent depravity weren't enough to make the Prince waver. Not even close.
"At once," Narra heard herself say as the moment of truth came. She stared into the green flame, and she could swear she saw demented faces in the flames staring hatefully back at her. Worse, if they were, Narra couldn't blame them. Her sisters slowed their chanting, maintaining the spell and pretended that they couldn't see or hear what they had done. Narra opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the words wouldn't come.
Their Mother, the previous Night Mother, would have known what to say. But, as much as she might wish otherwise, Narra wasn't her.
Instead, in silence, Narra held out her hands, cupping them as if to dip them into a stream for water and reached out with her magic to the horrifying flame. Her lips moved, muttering the ancient spell, and the flame shrunk, condensing as it floated over to her hands. Yet, even still, the souls of the departed rushed to the flame, seeking the relief of the afterlife, only to find eternal destruction instead. Narra turned away from her sisters, feeling their gazes and their judgment on her back as Narra walked forward to the defensive lines.
Frieza-force troops dug themselves in well, using the cover and peeking up to deliver death to the enemy. Destruction lit up the sky as their fliers and anti-air machinery prevented Reach weapons of mass destruction from wiping out their small pocket. Narra lacked the gift of hearing souls speak like Nakka had, but she could feel the lives slipping away all around her. Hundreds, if not thousands every second. An exaggeration, Narra hoped, but she feared that it was the truth.
Gently, Narra floated upward, distantly aware of how her sisters took up positions and hummed a familiar chant. She couldn't hear it over the death, destruction, and screams, but Narra could hear it with her heart. A symbol, the written language of the planet, marked around them in green flames before those symbols stretched outward, connecting the other sisters. Within a short moment, a perfect circle marked the encampment.
Narra looked outward at the sky, finding a speck in the distance that was Prince Tarble. He raced towards the encampment, forced to fight at a distance to unleash his true might. A thought pulled at her, urging her to drop the flame. To make the Prince pay for what he was making her do. So that he would suffer the same fate he intended to inflict on… billions.
Yet, her hands refused to drop the small flame. Fear paralyzed her. Queen Teach was more monstrous than Prince Tarble by half and would take sadistic pleasure in killing Nakka and the rest of her sisters in recompense. But, beyond the fear was doubt.
Prince Tarble possessed a quiet and sad inner voice according to Nakka. She had expected an angry and cruel one. It made her doubt that despite how senselessly evil he acted that there was something underneath that was… not evil.
"Drop it," Prince Tarble ordered, his voice causing a cold shiver raced down her spine. Narra closed her eyes for a brief second, aware of how every member of the Frieza-force fell back behind the circle her sisters formed. Despite every teaching, every moral, and every thought screaming at her to do the opposite, Narra dropped the flame. It fell to the ground, but the small drop it should have been was instead a massive tidal wave of green fire.
The tidal wave surged forward, spilling in every direction except for where it met the protection runes her sisters made. Narra forced herself to open her eyes, to sear the image of the magical fire washing over the Reach defensive lines. The body was unharmed, simply falling over like a puppet with its strings cut. But Narra watched as hundreds, then thousands of souls were consumed by the hungry fire, making it swell and expand until even the Scarabs that flew in the air were consumed. Within moments, the tidal wave of soul-devouring fire was all Narra could see in every direction.
The planet surface would be scourged of all life, their soul consumed and destroyed. Until only three pockets that were their army remained.
"Looks like the spell was effective," Prince Tarble noted as he flew near. It was something about that sentence that made the unforgivable sin settle into place. Perhaps it was the praising tone or just the confirmation that it had worked.
Narra… had just killed… billions.
The plan had been to draw the Reach forces to the surface, so her spell could wipe out as many as possible at once. Prince Tarble had theorized that there were as many as twenty-five billion soldiers on the planet. If his most hopeful estimate was correct… then her spell destroyed the souls of five billion Reach soldiers. A number so inconceivably large that Narra struggled to comprehend it.
Bile rose in the back of her throat but she tried to swallow it down. She couldn't show weakness. Not in front of the Prince.
"You're crying," Prince Tarble observed, and it was only then was Narra aware of the tears that raced down her cheeks.
She had to remain strong. Unflinching. Worthy of Prince Tarble's respect because if she lost it then Nakka could suffer. Her sisters could suffer.
"I… have… defiled everything," Narra heard herself speak, her voice thick with emotion. "Every teaching passed down from countless generations, everything that was ever taught to me. I…" Narra trailed off, knowing that she should stop. "How can I ever face my ancestors after this? What will they think of me?"
Prince Tarble was silent, and as the tidal wave of fire washed over the helpless Reach, there was a moment of celebration as the troops below savored the triumph delivered to them. "I don't have a clue what your ancestors would say, but… they weren't here. They weren't in the situation you were in and they didn't have to make the choices you did. If they can't understand that, then what are their opinions worth?"
He was trying to reassure her. Poorly. Clumsily because he didn't know what he spoke of, but he was trying.
"I am the Night Mother of my people, a title passed down since our home planet named our race. My sisters… my daughters are meant to look to me for guidance," Narra told him. Wanting him to understand the unforgivable sin that he had made her commit. "And I am meant to commune with the spirits of our Grand Night Mothers. This spell, the greatest kindness that they could show me was eternal banishment from the family. I've destroyed the souls of sapient people… and had my s- daughters help."
"Back with Lord Freza years ago, when he had drawn a lottery, do you think that the previous Night Mother would have done anything differently if she was here instead of you?" Prince Tarble asked, cutting right her greatest worry. The question that she asked herself constantly.
"I don't know," Narra admitted quietly.
"I can't say that I knew her, but I'm guessing that she would have given the same answer if I asked her that question. Everyone always thinks that the person that they looked up to always has the answers," Prince Tarble said, floating beside her. And Narra couldn't help but wonder who Prince Tarble had once looked up to. "But they don't. They never do. Just like how they hide that from us, we hide that from others until it's time for someone else to fill the shoes."
"In the end, you can only do what you can manage. You make the best with what you got. And if that's not enough for your ancestors, then it's not enough. Can't do anything about that. What you can do is find a way to bare it. To find reasons to make it worth it," Prince Tarble finished. Narra managed to tear her gaze away to look at Prince Tarble.
His visor blocked her vision of his eyes, but looking at him…
He was six years old. A child. Even by his own people, he was a child. Yet he commanded armies and…
It sounded like he was telling her something that he had told himself at some point.
Quite and sad.
"Thank you, Prince Tarble," Narra thanked him honestly. It… wasn't enough to make her forgive him for so thoroughly drenching her hands with blood and sin, or for bringing Nakka to this battlefield, but… Narra was glad that he wasn't an unfeeling monster. Unlike his mother.
Prince Tarble glanced at her, his eyes hidden by the red visor. For a moment, Narra feared that he had somehow heard her innermost thoughts, but that thought was quickly dismissed when Prince Tarble let out a small sigh. "I'm the one that ordered this. That means the responsibility is mine. Your hands, and your daughters, are clean."
Before Narra could argue the point, Prince Tarble turned around and flew down to the ground. Ending the conversation precisely so she couldn't argue the point. Narra let out a quiet sigh as she turned to look out at the sea of fire that now surrounded them and soon it would cover the entire world.
Her hands felt anything but clean.
…
"Are we ready for the second stage?" Prince Tarble asked, prompting Technician to look up from the streams of data. The satellites served several purposes beyond being a cage. Each one was a labor of love and a combination of robotics and sorcery. Technician never understood the desire to procreate beyond the need to ensure the passing down of beneficial genes, but now he had over a thousand children in the atmosphere. It put things in perspective.
"The first stage outstripped our best estimates. It seems that you are more of a threat to the Reach than you believed, Prince Tarble," Technician informed, passing a data packet to his student for him to see for himself. It was hard to believe that a child could merit such a response from the Reach, but Technician was glad for it.
He had seen what the Reach did to worlds it took over firsthand. For every citizen of the Reach that was killed was another given mercy. Even if they didn't understand it.
"Eight billion," Prince Tarble muttered to himself, likely factoring in the reduced number of hostiles into his plans. It was a welcomed surprise. And a confirmed one given that each satellite gave them a live feed of the planet's surface. Billions of Reach soldiers just washed away in a sea of fire. Technician's heart belonged to science but there was a special spot within it for magic. "Keep the exact total away from Narra. She seems to be struggling with the number that was killed."
"As you wish," Technician agreed. Not all species were blessed with a mind that prioritized logic over emotion. Or instincts that craved war. "As for phase two, the wave is nearing complete coverage of the planet. The satellites have done their job well. It is incomplete, but we have a deep scan of the planet's structure."
To prove his words, Technician held up a hand and an incomplete hologram of the Shield World. It was beautiful, in a way. Everything natural about the planet had been stripped away and shaped into what the Reach envisioned. It was all metal, synthetic hard plastics, and technology. Despite what Technician thought of the Reach -- when they stepped away from the distasteful scarab design, they created tasteful and elegant works of art. It was only a shame that the deep ground scanners built into the satellites were unable to get a complete scan of the planet.
"They are unable to scan more than four thousand miles down. But, given the consistency of the scan, the reason seems to be Reach induced rather than a failing on the satellites," Technician explained, looking at the perfect orb that served as the planet's outer core. Surrounding it was a near-perfect segmented crust and mantle. Exactly what Prince Tarble predicted -- the Shield World was designed for war and the Reach cared about as much for their soldiers as Lord Frieza did, so they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice portions of their army to bleed the invading force.
An algorithm detected a pattern. There needed to be one to maintain the structure of the planet to prevent it from collapsing in on itself. Supports marked as segments of the planet, each leading down to the outer core that blocked them from scanning further.
"I'm highlighting the targeted coordinates," Technician said as red pinpricks began to mark the planet's surface. There were only a handful, but with a plant the size of Antiople, it was more than enough. "The lasers are being moved into position via satellites now," he continued. They would be using an inverse of the plan that they used on Rench -- instead of using lasers to drill a hole out of a planet core, they would use the same lasers to drill a hole into the planet's core.
"Good. They'll either respond in mass, which is unlikely given the magic spell, or they'll have to watch as their defenses are rendered useless," Prince Tarble noted, looking at the red dots. Each marked a main support, but there were several blue dots that marked where a drill could connect a significant portion of the segmented mantle, rendering the Reach's main plan to bleed the invaders further useless. "They'll be forced to think on their feet and react. What happens next depends on what kind of commander is in charge of the place."
"A commander that earned their position due to nepotism rather than merit, u suspect," Technician remarked. A most confusing trait that seemed all too common with other species -- placing their young in positions where ability mattered most regardless of if they were qualified or not.
"Hm," Prince Tarble acknowledged, sounding torn between hoping that was the case for the lives of his soldiers and desiring the opposite due to his desire for a challenge. As physical challenges began to dry up due to the Prince's increasing physical strength, he turned to mental challenges more often. A battle of tactics was what he desired, but not one he would likely find with the Reach. "Be ready for anything. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Technician nodded, seeing the wisdom in the words. "The drilling will begin now," he informed, pressing a button one the satellites above were in place. As they began their work, Technician looked out at the sea of green fire that surrounded them. "This tactic is unlikely to work again," he stated.
The Reach was unprepared for sorcery, much less it being used so… effectively. They would learn to take precautions to prevent this happening again.
"It will a few more times," Prince Tarble refuted. "The satellites prevent any contact off-world, and we'll be killing them to the last. The only way the Reach will learn what happened here is through spies in the Frieza-force. I'm sure that they have at least one and they'll leak what happened here to the Reach. But if we hit several targets immediately then they won't have time to prepare."
Technician paused, looking over at Prince Tarble as he considered what he just said. The idea that there was a spy in the Frieza-force was hardly unsurprising. Most species held no loyalty towards Frieza or the Trade Organization, and fewer held any desire to be at war. The Frieza-force was comprised of slaves. It would be shocking if there weren't any spies from those that thought that they would get a better deal if they went with the Reach.
They wouldn't. They would be trading one brand of slavery for another.
"We… will be hitting Shield Worlds… won't we?" Technician hazarded a guess. To make the most of the tactic that had proven its effectiveness, it would be best to hit hard targets before the Reach ruined the tactic.
Prince Tarble offered a sharp smile, telling Technician that he had guessed right. That explained why Prince Tarble had coordinated with other fleets -- three to be precise. Three separate fleets and four Shield Worlds and a small timeframe that they would be hit. And each fleet carried an army that would pad out their numbers when Queen Teach's army inevitably took losses.
That was… rather frightening plan. Daring, unorthodox, and dangerous. Fitting for Prince Tarble.
"It's too soon to say anything yet. We have to make sure we don't die here, after all," Prince Tarble pointed out as he looked out at the sea of flames that slowly began to recede from the shield the magic users had crafted. In the distance, Technician saw a bright red drilling laser that would relatively slowly chew through the planet's supports until they reached the core.
Then, as if to prove his words, a bright blue pillar of plasma pushed back the red laser until it slammed into the satellites above. They didn't suffer a scratch thanks to the runes, but whatever had pushed back the drilling laser was powerful. Something moved out of the hole that was being drilled, but Technician's eyes couldn't make out what it was.
"You're new!" Prince Tarble breathed, an undeniable edge of excitement in his tone before he blasted off through the barrier before Technician could say a word. He swallowed a small worried breath, realizing that eyes were on him.
"Continue as you were. Prince Tarble shall deal with the anomaly. This is not the time to be sitting around," Technician called out, stepping into his role. After all, without Prince Tarble, the 501st was hardly helpless. It was time that the Reach learned that.
…
I blasted through the barrier, my heart racing in my chest. Despite knowing I should hope for the opposite, I had harbored a hope that the Shield World would offer something new. Something different. Some kind of emergency button that they kept in reserve for this exact kind of situation. I knew I shouldn't be so excited but I've fought nothing but Scarabs for my entire life, so anything was a great improvement.
The Scarab floated in midair, its jetpack keeping it afloat. It almost looked like a normal scarab, but it looked just different enough to tell me that it was a normal Scarab. The build was slender, an oddly shaped helmet that covered its face that slopes back. At its wrists were blades that jutted outward. Most notably was the armor itself, the segmented look of it marked with faint blue vents rather than seamless liquid metal.
The Scarab, because it clearly was still a Scarab, looked over at me, twisting in midair to face me. "Prince Tarble of Planet Vegeta," It stated, shifting into a combat stance as I slowed to a stop. Beneath us was a sea of fire that would destroy our souls if we so much dipped a toe in it, adding a level of danger to the fight that I hadn't realized that I missed until it was gone.
"What are you?" I asked, figuring that I should at least get its name. If it was a new type of Scarab then I would end up seeing it again eventually. Though, the fact that it had a blue coloring didn't inspire me with a lot of hope for a good fight. My scouter was reading a ten thousand power level, which wasn't bad for a scout class Scarab, while my ki sense was picking up a fairly weak presence.
"Your end," The Scarab informed before its vents flared to life. I heard the crack of electricity and in a fraction of a second, it crossed the distance between us, moving at speeds that it seemed to be little more than a blur to my eyes. Instinct prevented its words from becoming true. Ki blades sprung from my hands, blocking the blades that rushed towards my neck.
Gathering up ki at the tip of my foot, I flipped backward, slamming a ki slash against the Scarabs armor while I thrust my hands to the side, driving the blades away while I drove the Scarab back. It reacted well, the metal shifting around its hands to become blasters that I deftly blocked.
"Good luck with that," I shot back at it, twisting in the air to dodge a slash that raced by me in a blur. It was fast. Incredibly fast. The sleek design, the thrusters -- it was built for speed. My blood hummed in my veins, the power of the Wrath State surging as I clashed blades with the new kind of scarab. The Reach was specializing the Scarabs now. Maybe Vegeta was right about the Reach specializing one to kill us?
It was selfish and idiotic giving the situation but a smile tugged at my lips as I sent a ki blast at the Scarab, only for it to turn on a dime, twisting out of the way as it rushed towards me. Already I was having more fun than I was fighting a hundred Scarabs. I rushed to meet the scarab halfway, dodging a slash meant to bisect me, then a plasma beam aimed at my heart.
Its speed was its advantage, but the tech -- the plasma lasers, the missiles and the like, they cost the Scarab valuable seconds to prime. A slight delay, but enough of one that I effortlessly dodged around a stream of plasma, the heat barely bothering me at all, as I closed in on the Scarab, pushing the offensive.
I slashed at it with my ki blades, following with my momentum to sail over its head as it blocked the slash. The protrusions that stuck out over its shoulders launched themselves at me, trying to impale me, but that was a tactic that I was used to. It responded to me trying to get behind it by pivoting, one of the vents on its jetpack and legs shifted, allowing for a rapid spin that allowed it to block my strike to its Scarab.
Beyond both of us, the laser resumed drilling into the planet's surface. I stretched my awareness as we fought, wary of another Scarab like the one I fought. Only for nothing to come as the drilling continued, chipping away at the Shield World's defenses. A theory entered my mind as I blocked a slash that I returned with a kick to the chest hard enough that I learned something about the Scarab -- in response to physical blows, the armor inflated slightly.
"You're a prototype," I accused the Scarab, pressing the attack. My hands moved in blurs, blocking, slashing, and reacting to the Scarab's movement. Despite its speed, it didn't take me long to get a feel for the flow of the fight. It attacked in simple but wild patterns.
"I am death," The Prototype responded and if it wouldn't have cost me my head, I would have rolled my eyes.
"You're an idiot," I answered, batting its blades to the side before one of my ki blades condensed into a ki attack. I launched it at Prototype, making it spin. It corrected the course a split second later, lashing out with a blade on its wrist to drive me away while a blaster that I hadn't seen before formed on its hand.
My lips thinned as I reacted, knocking the offending arm away just as it activated. The air shimmered, rings forming that grew narrower as they neared a small tip of the blaster. A wave-based blaster. Probably didn't want to get hit by that.
Prototype tried to react, but I was already in position and I was just too close for it to back off quickly. I swiped down with a hand, my ki blade cutting the Scarab's arm off at the elbow, making it scream in agony. The arm fell down, quickly lost in a sea of flames. The green fire below grew thicker as it poured into the hole that the drills were forming. I had underestimated how potent that they would be.
Just like how I overestimated Prototype.
"I'm guessing that you're the commander of this Shield World?" I asked, not giving Prototype a moment of reprieve. The ki blades around my hands faded, letting me curl my hands into fists that I drove into Prototypes gut, folding it like a piece of paper. As it folded, I flipped back and drove a knee into its face. "You slapped on a prototype scarab, came here to kill me in single combat, and be a great big hero while ignoring the AI?"
The fact that it was here betrayed that it was being piloted by an idiot. I was still in contact with the other two groups of the 501st, all of which were still alive. Meaning that it had targeted me. Which was dumb. I might be the most powerful person on the planet, but I couldn't take a Shield World on my own.
I was willing to be all my rations that the AI in the scarab told the pilot to target the soft targets, the 501st to undercut the invasion. I could fight it, but most of the 501st couldn't. And the fact that the AI hadn't simply taken control of the host suggested that the host was important enough that the scarab couldn't overrule the host.
Prototype was tellingly silent, glaring up at me as the nanites of the armor surged to recreate a false arm, deadening the nerves so it wasn't screaming anymore.
"Shame. The prototype had promise," I said, darting forward to finish the fight. In response, the pieces of the scarab that jutted out of its back broke off, becoming four turrets as Prototype suddenly broke off, rushing towards the hole that it had come out of. Only to find it filled with fire. I twisted out of the way of the turrets that coordinated through the air, somehow managing to keep up with my speeds.
They bombarded me with small blasts of plasma around the size of my fist, only the color was off. A blood-red rather than a cool blue like most plasmablasts. That told me that I didn't want to get hit by it, forcing me to dodge as I closed in on Prototype. Ki formed in my hands as I flew upward towards the segmented sky that was a golden red to my view. The turrets blasted at me from below, the red plasma racing by me.
Turning around, a Spiral Buster formed in my hands as I looked down at Prototype. The alien in the scarab seemed to understand the mistake that it had made. Looked like Technician was right on the money -- the commander of the Shield World was someone that had the position by virtue of their family. A rookie that thought he could take me out and save the day.
And, judging by the panicked movements it made as it attempted to flee from me, it realized it was about to die for that mistake. So would everyone else on the Shield World.
"Spiral Buster!" I shouted, firing off the attack. The turrets that followed me were enveloped in the blast, reduced to nothing as the ki attack raced towards Prototype. It dodged out of the way with deft ease, proving its mobility even if it was being piloted by an idiot with delusions of grandeur. My attack slammed into the ground behind it, causing the green flames to explode upward as the sea was disrupted.
It realized a moment too late that was the plan all along. The green fire surged upward, giving Prototype just enough time to look behind it to watch as the fire splashed over the scarab. As the fire enveloped the scarab, I watched as its soul was ripped free of its body -- the corpse slimed over in death while the soul seemed to dissolve in the flames.
Then the fire fell back to the ground, and both the soul and the corpse were lost. I stared at the sea for a brief moment, the cogs moving in my head before my gaze shifted to my hand.
"I need magic resistance," I decided. Narra had just proven how thoroughly dangerous magic could be. How it just ignored my strength and speed, and all it would take was dipping in a toe to destroy my soul. The Reach focused on tech but that wasn't true for everyone. I needed some kind of resistance, or countermeasure if I ever fought a magic-user who could do something like this.
But, that was a problem for another day. I looked out over the horizon, seeing a few mining lasers drilling in the distance. "The Scarab is down," I informed through my scouter, feeling more than a little disappointed at the quality of my enemy. Mostly because I had let my hopes soar. I had hoped for a fight that would push me to my limits, that would force me to dig deep and, as Elery was fond of saying, go even further beyond.
Simply because it felt like I hadn't been pushed to that limit in years.
"We may have a situation," Technician informed, making me look over at the small spot where the flames refused to touch. "I've discovered what the core of the planet is. I expected it to be some sort of production facility, but that isn't the case. It's… a bomb. A very large bomb."
I blinked. "How big of a yield?" I questioned, looking over at one of the mining lasers. It was tempting to just let the Reach blow themselves up, but Lord Frieza wanted worlds intact. Not only that, but the Shield World's that I planned to take would also make an excellent staging ground for further invasions.
"It will destroy the immediate solar system," Technician noted with more than a little worry in his tone. That was enough to make me start feeling nervous. "The bomb systems are isolated so I'm unable to remotely hack them, but due emergency procedures, I can tell that the bomb has been activated and there's a count down. We have less than five minutes."
I'm guessing by killing Prototype, I had kick-started the timer. That was mildly annoying.
"Can we disarm it?" I asked, noting how one drilling laser stopped, having hit the surface of the bomb.
"Uncertain. The only way to find out would be to directly interface with the bomb's systems," Technician informed, making me frown as I flew over a large hole in the ground that the sea of fire flowed into.
"I'll-" I started, preparing a bubble shield to protect me from the green flames, only to cut myself off when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Narra and Technician flew towards me, a slight smile on Technician's face told me that he knew exactly what I was about to try to do.
"You have made sufficient progress, but disarming a Reach bomb of this magnitude is beyond you. I will disarm the bomb," Technician informed, not leaving any room for argument. Not that there was any time for it. I glanced over at Narra, wondering what her presence was for since there were other flyers. She answered the unspoken question with action instead of words.
Green flames coated her hands before they shifted to a pale gold color. She reached out towards us, and the pale gold fire washed over the two of us. I had to fight back my instinct to dodge after what seeing that fire could do, but trust was a two-way street. If Narra and the 501st were going to trust me with their lives, then I should try to return that trust.
The golden flames felt warm on my skin, a tingling sensation washing over me as we were enveloped by the flames. "This will protect you from my… my spell," she informed. I nodded, knowing that time was of the essence, and I wasted no time launching myself down into the sea of flames and the hole they flowed into.
"501st, withdraw immediately. The planet could blow up any minute now," I informed, speaking on general comms. I had contingencies for something like this, though I expected the Shield World to put up a stiffer of a fight to force us to withdraw. Magic was proving to be increasingly useful.
"What about you?" Fasha questioned while the others followed the order.
"I'm going to deal with the bomb," I informed before I killed the communication.
It would be a lie to say that I didn't consider that Narra was lying to me, trying to trick me into my death, but I plunged into the flames all the same. I expected to feel heat as the flames washed over me, Narra and Technician following behind me, but instead, I felt cold. And… it could just be my imagination as we raced towards the center of the planet, blasting through the sound barrier, but it felt like something was tugging at me in the flames.
I wasn't ashamed to admit that the tugging as if something was trying to grab me, spurred me to go that much faster. It took minutes for us to reach the bottom of the planet, even with the aid of Narra helping us clear jumps with her teleportation magic.
"Two minutes left," Technician warned as we touched down on the surface of the bomb. A smooth gray surface that looked untouched by the fire and the mining drill that carved a tunnel through the planet. I prepped a ki attack to drill my way through the bomb but paused when Technician took out a small device and placed it onto the bomb before a hologram appeared between his hands. "I can access the bombs systems from here."
"That easy?" I asked, looking around us, only to see green fire. It couldn't do anything to the metal that made up the planet, but it flowed into the holes that contained countless enemy soldiers.
"Hacking is far less exciting than one would think," Technician explained as the timer ticked down, speaking just as fast as his hands moved. "Did you think we would have to break into the core and access a main terminal, or something?"
"Well…"
Technician chuckled while Narra prepared herself to open a portal for a quick escape if we couldn't stop the planet from blowing. "Nothing so dramatic. Being able to interface with the systems is enough, and my toolkit that I uploaded into the Reach's systems and being able to interact with the bombs systems is more than enough. The only real difficulty that I had was that the system was isolated."
I nodded, decided to trust his expertise on the subject. I didn't know a single thing about hacking, much less how I would start, so if he said that's all that he needed then I would believe him.
"How are we looking?" I asked, each second feeling painfully slow, and the minutes felt like hours.
"Oh?" Technician looked up, "I've already deactivated the bomb. Like I said, the only challenge was that the system was isolated."
I whipped around, looking at Technician, who looked puzzled that I was surprised. The bomb was already deactivated? Just like that? No dramatic countdown with it stopping at the last minute? No sudden release of tension as the planet and the solar system was saved from annihilation? That was…
"Then what are you doing?" I asked, feeling… I don't know what I was feeling.
"I'm identifying the compartments filled with Reach soldiers and attempting to destroy them. Like you expected, the compartments are ready to be sacrificed once they have been lost, and they can be remotely activated. The tech that, ah… Junk Rat provided has been most useful," Technician explained. Junk Rat was an alien of unknown origins that had an uncanny ability to make great things out of scrap. "I'm having a great deal of success. It's unlikely I should get them all, however. Some will be left for you Prince Tarble."
There was a teasing edge in his voice that I barely heard as I considered the news.
The plan was a fantastic success, better than I could possibly hope for. We took a Shield World with minimum casualties and every step of the way, we were ten steps ahead of the enemy. I should be happy. I should be proud of a plan that went off without a hitch. One of the greatest roadblocks for the Frieza-force was just removed without any trouble. A great challenge surmounted with utter ease.
And I was happy. I was proud. It was a great achievement against a target that Lord Frieza himself deemed a worthy target to destroy to announce his power to the universe. We conquered the planet with near ease.
But… deep down, I felt robbed of a challenge that I had anticipated for years.
I felt cheated.
...
The next chapter is currently available on my Patreon, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
Anyone here betting on who will tame Tarbles if a Human woman does tame him?
I have to admit the whole soul destroying of friend and foe is pretty damn horrifying to me, I don't like the idea of anything that can destroy a soul unless maybe that soul is undeniably evil maybe. I mean having the deaths fuel a death machine is one thing, but killing and soul destroying are two different things.
Stratagemini
Totally a Fire Ferret.
- Location
- Central Park
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
Huh. So in one fell swoop we learn of both why Saiyans are terrible generals, and that Tarble has matured to the point of placing long term gains ahead of personal satisfaction.
Nice chapter.
Nice chapter.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Not quite the most evil thing out there, one has to look at 40K for that. Also soul extinguishing is about as evil as killing in a materialistic universe anyways.
Spell probably defined evil as malice when the saiyans are just apathetic to your suffering
Tbh Ki could arguably let you resist this, kinda. Ki is composed of 3 energies, body-mind-soul.
So doing anything to Tarbles soul would require soul fuckery that can affect a billion standard souls.
It isn't really resistance, more so just having more soul material than the average mage could reasonably effect.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Now imagine souls don't exist and apply this logic to killing.
- Location
- Massachusetts
She'd be totally uninterested in him. Probably disgusted to the point of violence if she ever finds out about the flame thing to be honest. Can't actually imagine to many superheroes would be at all positively inclined towards him at all really, maybe someone like huntress but again, the soul destroying fire thing is deeply evil.
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
So only villainess or a few darker heroines would probably be the ones that dont mind that particular incident?
what about grail the daughter of darksied? she would be someone that wouldn't mind what tarbles did
- Location
- Massachusetts
Probably, but man what he did was so nasty even quite a few villainess's would hesitate to ally with him.
... you're not wrong I'll give you that. That you have to go there specifically though, well it tells you something.
- Location
- A Tropical Island in the Pacific
True enough I suppose. I mean, planet wide soul fire is a big holy shit he ordered a lot of people being killed.
Looking back at the omake... How about Harley? Will she think its casual Thursday or too far?
- Location
- Writeland
Eh, Vegeta killed billions of people and Bulma still likes him just fine.