Analyse This!

Kale's Power Level: 324,000

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“In the face…?” Keyla glowered  

“Yes, the face.” Kale slapped both of his cheeks briskly, then quickly placed both hands readily at his sides.

“Doctor, be reasonable. You spend a significant amount of your time treating concussion, you don’t want to be at the receiving end of that treatment.” The nurse folded her arms, and her brow furrowed.

“Think of it this way…” Kale began to trail off, before being interrupted.

“I’m NOT punching you in the face, doctor, just… No.” Keyla folded her arms stalwartly, and her frown persisted.

“...As I was saying…” The doctor scrambled to find his previous chain of thought, “If you miss me, then you get to see first-hand that all of my training with the Commander paid off.” Kale flexed a bicep playfully, “And if you hit me, well then, you get payback for all those times I undermined you because you’re not a doctor.”

“You undermine me because I’m not a doctor!?” Keyla’s voice raised sharply and she scowled.

Kale winked and smiled playfully.

“That’s it, I’m going to punch you.” She said, with flat fury in her tone.

“That a girl!” Kale giggled as he energetically rubbed his palms together and danced on the spot. “Now I’ll take it eas- WOAH!”

Keyla’s fist was at her side, and before long it was hurtling past the right side of Kale’s face. The doctor had only barely managed to evade the sharp end of her knuckles, and even then a strand of his loose hair severed from his head with the force of her blow. The doctor’s eyes traced the nurse’s face, and then they followed her second fist as she sent another devastating cuff towards his chin. Without much time to contemplate a reaction, Kale instinctively skipped backwards and jumped clear of the attack. His senses extended as he readied his defences, and quite rightly so, as nurse Keyla charged at Kale like a battering-ram.

“Dodge… THIS!” The nurse homed in on Kale’s face with a flying roundhouse kick, and this time the doctor opted for a counterstrike. He quickly raised an arm and caught the hard side of her shin before she could react. Then grabbing her raised leg with both hands, Kale spun Keyla on a 360 degree trajectory, and forced her to the opposing end of the mountain top.

“You could have told me you could actually FIGHT!” He exhaled heavily, and clenched both of his fists.

“What? Just because I’m a nurse you’re going to undermine my physical abilities now too?” Keyla’s frown intensified and she bared her teeth primordially.

“…Maybe I should just… stop speaking altogether?” The doctor’s brows raised non-threateningly, and he laughed with a hint of nervousness.

“That’s best.” Keyla disappeared and suddenly reappeared in front of the doctor. She dropped to the ground and performed a sweeping kick, forcing Kale to dive into the air. The nurse traced Kale’s movement quickly and also made herself airborne, before extending a fist and knocking the wind out of the doctor. Kale soared backwards until he managed to fight the momentum and summersault to the ground. He landed cleanly, just in time for another flurry of punches aimed at his face. One of his arms effectively blocked Keyla’s onslaught, whilst the other held his weeping stomach. The nurse had proved far more capable that Kale had anticipated, he was impressed, and also somewhat intimidated.

After a moment more of dodging Keyla’s attacks, the doctor finally tapped into his well of energy and blasted the nurse several feet away with his ki. Then, he charged towards her and readied a fist. He watched meticulously as Keyla focused her attention on his fist, but as Commander Celeria had taught him, that was the nurse’s first mistake. Of course, she should have been watching his eyes, because the doctor had already identified Keyla’s unguarded right side, and his glance was scrutinising it extensively. Using super speed, Kale disappeared and then materialised right next to the nurse, he then quickly extended a leg and volleyed her in the back, sending her instantly flying into a mass of rocks.

There was an explosion of dust and debris as the nurse’s body disrupted ancient stone. Kale looked into the dust cautiously, and never let his guard down. As his fists clenched and his power level slowly crawled, his scouter bleeped informing him of an incoming transmission. Keyla of course quickly exploded out of the rubble and began to pursue the doctor again, but he extended his flat palm to stop her.

“It’s a transmission from the Commander.” He activated his scouter and nodded along to the instructions. “It’s about the foreign genetic sample I analysed. I’ve gotta go and meet her in the med bay now.”

“You’re kidding me…?” Keyla’s scowl burned holes through Kale’s face. The doctor could tell that she so wanted to catch him in between the eyes, he smiled and shrugged. Maybe this had become a therapy session more so than training?

Diving into the air, Kale recollected his sense of direction before heading off in the direction of the colony, as he disappeared into the distance he shouted back towards Keyla. “By the way, I was just kidding about that undermining thing… Mostly.” He chuckled and quickly receded into the distance.

Celeria opened her eyes to the whiteness of the ceiling in her new, even more meager chamber, after the General had evicted her from her previous quarters. Recently, she took to sleeping in short periods of time rather than going days on end without as much as a wink, which usually ended up in several hours straight. She felt the need to be aware, she urged for constant vigilance, not only of herself, but of all the remaining soldiers on this station. As she rose from her bed, the coldness of the steel floor electrified her into awakening fully. With slow steps, she approached the armor compartment from which she took out her standard set, taking an unusual amount of time to put it on. She sashayed to the mirror and mended her hair and make up. Even though everything was in apparent shambles around her, she had to make sure she was the bastion of order amongst all this chaos.

Celeria stepped out of her quarters and made her way towards the med bay. She nodded silently to the soldiers she passed, who traded her a look between fear and reverence. Seeing that look in saiyan eyes made her chest swell with rage. But that didn't matter now. The General would be dealt with, in time. He would be brought to trial and adequately sentenced for his transgressions. But now was not the time. Frieza was about to make his grand entrance and Celeria wanted to make sure the colony was safe from any other potential distractions. It was time to get some answers about the creature they encountered in Umirion.

As she was making her way to the medbay, her scouter picked up a few random bursts of ki outside the colony perimeter. Before heading out to the medbay, she went to the observation deck only to see two figures in the background, apparently training. And they were none other than Kale and his right hand, nurse Keyla. Celeria's lips drew into a proud smile as she observed them. So there was hope after all, she thought. Celeria decided to let the two have their fun by making her way to the medbay more slowly than intended. However, as encouraging it was to see her people training, there was work to be done. As soon as she entered the medbay, Celeria tapped her scouter a couple of times, opening a direct connection to the doctor.

"Doctor, this is the Commander. Your presence is required in the medbay. I will be waiting. Over and out."

Kale reached the colony in no time. Upon touching down on the landing strip, he looked into the distance, towards the small mountain where he and Keyla had been training. Kale grinned, for a moment he forgot that the entire world was on the cusp, and he focused on only one thing. The medical officers of a Saiyan colony world were more powerful than super elite warriors from the old days! His grin widened, and he crossed both of his arms contemplatively. Maybe he had coaxed Keyla’s fighting ability out of her, but she had impressed him, and more so than that, she’d given him a run for his money. How had they done this? How had they become so formidable in such a short period of time. He filled with something not altogether separate from hope.

Turning on the heels of his boots, the doctor sauntered into the med bay. He hummed a familiar melody to himself, but did so barely coherently, limiting anybody else from hearing. Of course, he was confident that the Commander had heard his whistling a mile off, he knew all too well of her advanced warriors perception.

Warriors! I’ll never get them. He lulled to himself. And they’ve even managed to make me one of them… Now I’ll never even get myself! The doctor continued on introspectively, until he caught sight of the Commander. She was stood in the corner of his office compartment with her arms folded and a face carved of stone. But she wasn’t angry, that was her ‘hello’ face. Kale raised two fingers and gave Celeria a friendly salute. He grin immediately transformed into a more enamoured smile.

“This makes a change. I come into the med bay to see you at my workstation. Does this make you the doctor and me Commander? Because I’m just gonna come out with it, I wouldn’t pull off the green hair.” Kale’s smile extended from cheek to cheek and he neatly placed his hands behind his back. He finished his address with the usual decorum, “…Commander.” He slightly bowed his head, reverently.

"I'm not in the mood, doctor." was Celeria's curt response as she turned on her heel and went towards a small workstation in the corner of the medbay where she had recognized the familiar sample they had collected.

"I need answers, doctor. I would prefer the first one to explain why this thing is still alive, if you can call it that."

The black matter in the container seemed to pulse and even wave in a slowed motion. It was held in place by steel pincers on both sides. As Kale caught up with her, she felt it necessary to point out another thing.

"On a side note, I commend you, doctor, for keeping the morale high in such grave times.

Celeria spoke in a low and unchanging tone. Ever since the colony was ransacked and their chances dwindled down to a miracle, the Commander seemed to have lost some of her vigor. She ate less and slept less. She also spent less time in the common room, which, given her previously scarce record, was now none at all. The Commander had spent most of her time in her quarters, going over mission probabilities and field tactics and, when she was not at a console, she was in the training room.

Celeria sincerely hoped no one would notice her change in behavior. In truth, she had even shocked herself by acting that way. She had been through tough times in the past, sure, but for some reason the recent events seemed to have punched holes in her resolve. There were moments where her subconscious even dared to question the legitimacy of the King's decision to place her in charge of the operation. She felt as if she held all the stings securely. And then she saw her people held by the throat at the hands of their enemies. Enemies which she failed to stop. And she might yet fail more gravely.

Her mind drifted again. In all her years of military service, she couldn't remember if her mind had ever drifted when on an assignment. She had to focus, she had to see this whole matter through to its end.

"So, doctor... I'm listening."

Kale peered into Celeria’s eyes. She looked back, solemnly, she was determined, frustrated even. He untied his hands from behind his back and skipped towards his desk. There, in the centre of his table was a large vial, with a black gloopy substance stewing away inside. The doctor extended two fingers and sharply swatted the vial, the black substance instantly jumped to life and clung to the glass adjacent to his fingertips. Kale smirked.

“It’s remarkable, utterly remarkable.” He sat against his desk and crossed his arms. “The sample is comprised of elements that don’t exist on the periodic table. I can’t even identify a compound, honestly. For all intents and purposes, whatever it is shouldn’t exist.” His smile fell from one side of his face. “But that’s ludicrous. It does exist, it’s just not from around here. It does however enjoy the local cuisine.”

Kale jumped off his desk and leaned in towards the vial. The black gloop simmered away, never holding a single solid form for too long. The closer his face came to the substance, the more dramatically it danced about. He sharply inhaled and blew warm air at the glass, and suddenly the gloop became agitated in its movement. The vial began to rattle and a squealing sound erupted from the lid.

“It feeds on living matter. Any and all living matter. I even fed the thing pathogens, bacteria, viruses… it consumed them all. What do you call something that can eat a virus?” His eyes briefly scanned the Commander. The best part was still to come...

The Commander eyed the substance before deciding to lean in for a closer look. The moment she loomed over the vial and the mist of her breath stained the glass, the substance began contorting wildly, slightly shaking the very container that held it. Celeria felt a sting in the back of her head and rubbed the nape of her neck instinctively. She drew back from the vial, the matter seeming to compose itself as soon as the Commander withdrew.

Something completely foreign, alien even to them. Well this was a new one. Celeria felt both wary and intrigued. And there was even more to it. She was eager to hear anything and everything about this particular anomaly.

"Well?" She urged the doctor.

Kale watched with utter wonder as the gloop violently reacted to the presence of the Commander. He mouthed the words ‘unbelievable’, before withdrawing his head from the vial. Of course, the very existence of this anomaly was a danger to the colony, and perhaps if he could speak somewhat melodramatically, the entire universe. But he couldn’t help but be intrigued by a substance that simply defied the known laws of physics. Eventually, the doctor answered Celeria’s query.

“You call it trouble.” He said. Each syllable lingered a little longer as he watched the black substance dance in the vial. “I’m sorry Commander, I really am, but I’ve got to tell you something that you’re really not going to like.” The doctor stood straight and placed both of his fluttering hands at his sides. “The irregular neural readings, the abnormality that tried to suffocate your brain when you returned from Umirion.” He extended a finger and pointed at the gloop. “What’s in that jar, is also in your head.” Kale rested back on the desk again and began to gently stroke circles into his chin.

Celeria's eyes widened and her pulse raced. She could feel her heart pounding in her throat as her temples began to shimmer with perspiration. She extended a trembling hand and grasped the vial. Quickly, she crushed it in her palm. As the matter began to ooze out from the space between her fingers, Celeria concentrated ki around her hand, energy that slowly dug into the matter and dissolved it atom by atom. What was a passing irritation turned into a sharp, cutting pain as she extinguished all life from the sample. Before the matter contorted one last time, she shared a moment of consciousness with the beast. She heard his low shriek in the recesses of her mind. She enjoyed his pain to such an extent that she forgot all about her own.

Celeria's cold, stern gaze turned into a frenzied, murderous glare as she stared down upon her left clenched fist. As the blood of this creature flowed, so would the General's. So would Frieza's. She would be the end of them all. She would repay her pain back tenfold. The Commander's chest heaved, her breathing was slow and heavy as she gritted her exposed, white teeth. Soon, the creature's cells dissipated and their flow was replaced by the crimson of Celeria's own blood. The tremor had spread from her hand to engulf her whole body as luminous, transparent white flames began forming around her. She growled as the droplets of her blood drew into a stream that ran down her forearm and stained the floor below. For a moment, she lost track of where she was and what she was doing. All she could feel was a hunger that seemed to devour her from within. A hunger for vengeance.

Suddenly, Celeria released her clenched fist and exhaled with a slight cough. She quickly reached for a bandage, promptly wrapping it around her injured hand. She didn't look in the doctor's direction as she felt ashamed of her lack of decorum. And it was not this minor overstepping of her imposed veneer of authority that made her feel that way. Indeed, for the very first time in the entirety of her military career, Commander Celeria felt as if she was failing.

The doctor watched with great alarm as the Commander’s cool went the way of the Tuffle’s. The vial shattered into dust in Celeria’s palm, and the black substance squealed and contorted until it exploded into a liquid and dust concoction. Kale impulsively approached the Commander but didn’t touch her, he simply focused all of his attention on her face, and then her bloodied hand, and finally her face again. Her pupils were one third dilated, her teeth chattered viciously and her nostrils flared. Blood seeped freely from her wounded hand, stemming not from the shards of glass, but from the intensity of her own grip. As she reached for a bandage, Kale grabbed a medical tool from the other side of his desk. He hovered it over her palm and quickly removed the stained binding.

“Here, this is more effective.” The doctor said, his tone reassuring.

The instrument blasted a small but concentrated healing laser over the Commander’s gash, and within moments the blood flow constricted and the wound closed. That little device had been Tuffle technology, and how useful it had proved. Kale smiled warmly, attempting to disarm the Commander’s impending sense of failure, but he was already fully aware that he was fighting the tide.

After a moment, Kale remembered something of vital importance. He peeked down at the pool of Celeria’s gathered blood, and instantly it had begun to congeal. His eyes widened in distress as he saw the black gloop re-spawning and feasting in the Commander’s blood.

“That brings me to the final point.” He announced, nervously giggling. “Whatever it is, it can’t be destroyed.” The doctor quickly grabbed a second vial from his desk and scooped the gloop up. Without delay he sealed it tightly in the vial and placed it back in its previous place. “…Trust me, I’ve tried.” He heavily exhaled and used the back of his palm to wipe a bead of perspiration from his brow. That had been a close call indeed…

“I’m sorry, Commander.” He sighed, sympathising with Celeria’s inner conflict. “But that brings me to the silver-lining.” No doubt the Commander was utterly confused at this point, but Kale was happy to clear everything up.

For a moment, Celeria's focus drew to the sensation of her injured palm in the doctor's hand, as he went over her injury with a medical laser. After Kale had withdrawn his hand from hers as well as the instrument, Celeria stared at her healed hand for a few more seconds. She then cleared her throat and assumed her usual collected demeanor.

"And that would be?" She asked, with visible interest.

If there was any gain to be drawn from this whole matter, it would make the situation at least slightly more tolerable. The Commander observed the doctor's features, awaiting a response with keen eyes.

Kale took hold of the vial and placed it in a small containment freezer that was situated under his desk. This was where he kept all of his genetic samples, and hopefully the gloop would behave itself in the cold. As the doctor closed the freezer door, he punched in a security key that placed the contained on full lockdown. Nothing could get in or out now. He smiled briefly, before standing up and continuing the conversation with a rather distraught Commander.

“Think about it, Commander.” He crossed his arms. “That thing can’t be destroyed, no matter how hard we try. And if it’s in your head, then maybe it’s influencing your composition too.” Kale shrugged, it was all a theory, but he was pretty sure he already had the evidence necessary to prove his point. “When we first met after Prince Vegeta had left you for dead, you clung to life relentlessly. When Brokka…” He winced as he said the General’s name. His crimes were still fresh in Kale’s memory, and even he couldn’t forget the travesties. “…When he fired at you, you should have died. But you didn’t, again you clung to life. This is a pattern, and as distressing as it can be, having the matter from an alien species in your cranium, maybe… Just maybe, you might be indestructible.”

This idea came with all sorts of ramifications, but most of all, Kale thought about what this meant for the coming of Freeza. If Celeria couldn’t die, and she was indeed being sustained by the thing, then maybe she could survive Freeza. That, or she’d die a thousand times over at the hands of the galactic overlord. There was no telling.

"Not indestructible enough, as it would seem. I was still knocked out cold. I can't protect my troops when I'm unconscious, now can I, doctor?" Celeria grunted.

But she wouldn't allow her anger to get the better of her once more. Her tone remained even and commanding.

"Still, this is an important find. We have to see if we can push this DNA further in order to strengthen the regenerating effect. It might aid us in our upcoming encounter."

If this power could indeed be harvested, then perhaps, just perhaps, the scales could be tipped in their favor slightly enough for some of them to make it out alive. Celeria never counted herself among those numbers.

The doctor nodded along. Of course he wanted to shake and shake the Commander until she acknowledged that this might work to her advantage. Truth was, if anybody could survive it was Celeria, and it didn’t take a doctor’s diagnosis to see that it was because of her superior combat and leadership skills that this might be the case.

Kale moved across the med bay and approached a healing tank as Celeria finished speaking. Finding ways to increase the regenerative abilities of the substance was not an option, he didn’t want to tamper with something he didn’t understand, especially when that something simmered away in a patient’s brain. He could however give Celeria a demonstration.

“I see where you’re coming from, but the power level rebound a Saiyan gets when they come back from near death is enough to tip the scales.” He opened a display that showed the history of Celeria’s medical treatment in that particular healing tank. The screen showed a full body X-Ray of the Commander’s vitals, with previous medical aetiology and all.

“Check this out. You’re just a teeny weeny bit unbelievable. A couple of months ago your vitals were here.” He pointed at the screen, “And now they’re here.” He dragged his finger across to a superior display. Celeria’s power level had quite literally exploded since their arrival on this world, from 10,000 to 300,000 plus. Kale wasn’t entirely optimistic, but he had, he believed, the right attitude.

Of course, then it dawned on him. The doctor’s hands froze, and his irises expanded at the very realisation of something possibly more terrible than Freeza. “Commander, if that substance can’t be destroyed, then… What about the alien you faced on Umirion?” The doctor turned and looked towards Celeria. If nothing he could do was capable of destroying the sample in the vial, then the destruction of a planet wouldn’t ruin the creature either. And if it was as invincible as it appeared, and Celeria had managed to piss it off, then they were really in trouble.

"Now you understand." Celeria muttered.

"Another foe on the hard-to-kill list, exactly what we don't need. But it's a question if we'll live to see any of them again. If we do, we must prepare." She concluded.

Celeria thought to herself for a few moments, deciding on whether or not to share the full truth with the doctor. In the end, she figured that now she had concrete evidence
that would back up her testimony which would prove ludicrous if it were spoken at any other time.

"There is more than that, doctor. The reason why we went to Umirion in the first place was because I saw it... I saw myself, as a child, slaughtering the inhabitants of the planet. I saw it in what can only be explained as a nightmare. I've suffered similar occurrences about a couple of times. To be more precise, each time I was at death's door... a mental link seemed to appear, tying my mind to that of... whatever that was. I'm aware it's not dead, doctor. And something tells me I will have a crucial part to play in dispatching that monstrosity from this universe." The Commander's gaze fell to the floor. She raised her head once more soon enough.

"At the moment, we shall disregard this matter. There are more important things to consider. We are at our most vulnerable, given the amount of casualties from our latest encounter and taking into account the soldiers who were taken..." She paused for a moment before clearing her throat and continuing, as if she were compiling a to-do list.

"We have to get those soldiers back, one way or another. It is our duty. But we cannot even begin considering such an expedition. To hell with it." She grunted, violently turning her head to the side and crossing her arms. The very thought of being unable to do anything at all infuriated her profoundly.

It was still out there. Kale hadn't even set eyes on the creature, but he had felt its menacing touch just moments before it had easily dispatched him, and even that had sent shivers down his spine. The Doctor's mind mulled over the existence of the beast, and his thoughts constantly returned to the indestructible substance in the vial. If a single part of that entity -as small and insignificant as it was- could survive the fury of a Saiyan warrior, then what did that mean for the rest of it? Kale fell back against his desk and crossed his arms, perhaps he was the only one qualified to ask these questions, and even he was utterly stumped. This wasn't a good sign.

Perhaps Celeria had a point of course, she could attempt to use that substance lodged in her cranium to her advantage, but at what cost? The doctor continued to scrutinise the Commander's face, searching for any sign that even a facet of that beast was taking control. But he could see nothing, no signs whatsoever. He frowned, but it didn't linger. Soon after be found the strength to broach another topic.

"That reminds me." Kale activated his personal computer and opened a flashing application. "When I was aboard the PTO vessel on Umirion, I did manage to do something right. "Here." His finger snapped at the keys and all of the scouters in the vicinity bleeped repeatedly. "I extrapolated a great deal of the PTO mainframe, it took weeks to decrypt, but you'll be surprised by what I discovered. We were in fact in status for over 20 years." the doctor grabbed his scouter and began to fiddle with the mechanisms. "Of course, we'd already figured that one out, but there's more. Freeza recently destroyed a planet called Namek. Do you know anything about it?" As the doctor spoke, Celeria's scouter continued to receive the recently extracted Intel.

"Namek?" Celeria raised an eyebrow as rows of data began filling up her scouter's screen.

In all her years of service for the PTO, she had never heard the mention of a planet by that name. But the coordinates were clear, it was in Frieza's quadrant of the universe. PTO experts had looked it over, undoubtedly because it had no market value. So what could have pushed Frieza to go there himself?

Then it dawned on her.

Could it be? The continuation of the scavenger hunt that had begun on Daris, all those years ago? Was there something more to be acquired on that planet, other than the deaths of two elite Saiyan squadrons? Suddenly, everything fell into place. That's where Brokka got his power. That's how he managed to ransack the colony without as much as breaking a sweat!

Celeria's expression suddenly contorted back into anger.

Could it be that the source of that power was on planet Namek? It had to be! Why else would Frieza go to such lengths? But if Brokka's power level increased so dramatically, how powerful had Frieza become? Things were indeed looking more grim by the second.

When Celeria noticed the confusion on the Doctor's face, she deemed it fit to enlighten him.

"There are no mission records of a planet by that name. But its location is within the quadrant under Frieza's jurisdiction. Which means that it was considered worthless on the intergalactic market. So what could've possibly drawn Frieza himself to such a planet?" She paused for a few moments.

"Many years ago, on my first mission as a Commander, I've been sent to a planet called Daris, where a routine extermination went drastically sour. We sustained heavy losses and came upon what was no doubt a research facility. For what purpose, I do not know. But it was clear Frieza wanted it destroyed. Along with the two squadrons comprised of some of the best warriors in King Vegeta's militia."

Celeria's eyes focused on a dot on a pattern etched into the metal walls. She saw the faces of her dying soldiers as if she was on that battlefield once more, in this very moment. She felt the same helplessness that made her hands tremble. The Commander clenched her fists, cleared her throat and proceeded.

"The General was the only one who undoubtedly had an audience with our target, who managed to discover just what was being devised on that planet. And now he shows up wielding such immense power. A power that came out of nowhere. There is no doubt that he found what Frieza was after and used it for himself..."

Celeria paused once more, swallowing the rage that had tightened her throat.

"And suddenly, Frieza makes an appearance on a planet he couldn't care less about. The only conclusion can be that Frieza also found this source of power... meaning that there is no telling just how strong he will be when he comes to our doorstep."

The Commander's expression was cold and grim as she considered the odds were spiraling further out of their favor, right before her eyes.

Kale's glance rested on his scouter, and then back to Celeria. His glimpse siphoned to a stare and his mind ran through numerous scenarios. the PTO Intel had been succinct, but highly telling. Freeza's last whereabouts had been the mysterious planet Namek, an agricultural world on the fringes of known space. The tyrant had summoned his most deadly forces, amongst them Dodoria, Zarbon, and even the Ginyu Force. The doctor had heard stories in his days as a student, bold and unbelievable stories of the Ginyu Force. They'd conquered entire systems in a single day, and reduced civilisations to rubble in an afternoon. But that wasn't what had forced his voice on the matter. In fact, what he had to tell the Commander was far more disturbing. But first, it was her time to surprise him...

"Wait... You were on assignment with General Brokka?" Kale's irises extended to the size of marbles in curiosity. Placing his scouter on his desk, the doctor began to twiddle his fingers somewhat fretfully. So what Celeria had said back in the cryo-chamber was true, the General and her... They'd had a past together. Kale briefly shook his head from side to side and brushed his hand through his mop of hair. "I'm sorry, I-I just figured you had only been acquaintances, that's all." Perhaps most surprisingly, the doctor wasn't focusing on Brokka's possible visit to Namek, and Freeza's subsequent arrival. Kale was more compromised by the idea of Celeria and Brokka cohabiting the same place, after all, he'd assumed they'd been enemies from day one.

"A-Anyway. It gets worse... All of Freeza's generals, Dodoria, Zarbon... Even the Ginyu Force. They were all killed at Namek! They had been hunting artefacts, but the report isn't specific, probably because the mission required top clearance, and the vessel I intercepted was just a drone..." Kale's fingers rested at the peak of his chin. "The report is highly censored, but a race known as the humans appear to be responsible. Home planet..." Kale quickly put his scouter on and found the Intel report. "Ah yes... Planet Earth."

The doctor wasn't certain, in fact, he was entirely theorising. But what if they could find the humans? Maybe they would even discover a way to stop Freeza! That was of course, if Freeza hadn't already recovered the artefacts before Namek had gone boom. After a small distraction, Kale's mind returned to the florescent elephant in the room...

"I'm sorry, but... can you go over this 'you and Brokka' thing again, because I think I'm missing context here...?" The mention of Brokka's name, even from his own lips, caused the doctor to cease at all of his hinges.

Earth? Just where did she hear that name before? It felt familiar, that much she knew. Quickly, she sat herself down at a console and typed away, bringing up the coordinates. The planet was in their database, which means a saiyan was dispatched there on a cleaning mission. Wait... wasn't that the planet where Kakarot was sent as an infant? But given the fact that the indigenous species was still on the planet, Celeria concluded that Kakarot must have perished. She stared at the screen blankly for a few moments, without saying a word of reply to the Doctor's barrage of information.

Who were these "humans"? How did they manage to defeat Frieza's elites so effortlessly? Could they really be approached for help? Could what's left of the Saiyan army challenge these humans and thus secure their aid? This would require additional research; they couldn't just leap from one certain-death scenario into another. No, they would have to approach things one at a time. If they took off into space at this point, Frieza's entourage would simply blow them up mid-flight. But this idea was definitely worth looking into, so Celeria remained at her console, gathering whatever information she could about this planet Earth.

And then, she remembered the doctor was expecting her to comment on the matter:

"If these humans were capable of defeating Frieza's elite so easily, they should be approached with caution. I agree that an expedition to Earth is necessary, but we can only execute it after we've dealt with our upcoming predicament." She elaborated.

But then, out of the blue, the doctor inquired about her past with the General. Celeria wondered what did that have to do with the mission they were planning. Perhaps the doctor was looking for details that could potentially be used against the General in an upcoming encounter. Although even thinking back to the Daris incident was genuinely unsettling, the Commander felt that sharing this information might just be of strategical use at some point. Thus, she proceeded to bluntly retelling what were essentially details from her life as if she were relaying mission particulars. She spoke calmly and collectedly, never taking her eyes off the console she was using and the data she was focusing on.

"Then Colonel and now General Brokka was my military superior during the mission to planet Daris. He was also my first mating partner. But he didn't hold either position very long. General Brokka is an outstanding warrior and a remarkable tactical expert, but his talents are effectively rendered useless by his tyrannical convictions. Following the Daris mission, he was promoted to General by Frieza himself. I haven't had contact with him since. I bore him a son sometime after the mission, but made sure the General never found out about him. You see, our son proved to be a powerful soldier, who soon became a member of Prince Vegeta's squadron. Had the General known about his existence, he would have died long ago. You see, doctor, General Brokka's offspring don't have the habit of living very long.

That is more or less all the information I have on the matter. But I am sure more could be uncovered if we had access to our old databases. However, since that is not an option... Regardless, I have a feeling we won't be seeing more of the General for a while. Though we are still required to devise a retrieval mission. I intend to get my soldiers back the first chance I get."

The doctor could hardly believe his ears. His head swelled with a sudden rush of blood, and his heart entered an uninvited phase of angina. Kale backed away slowly into the desk and lowered his eyes to the floor. His vision was distorting and his ears were ringing, but he kept sight of his boots. He became more and more faint by the moment, his stomach wanted to wretch, but his eyes scrutinised his boots and tried to keep every fibre of him distracted. After a moment he was able to talk, albeit through a dried throat.

"Mating partner? Y-You had a, a child to Brokka... And you thought that... THIS was the best time to... to tell me that?" Maybe he was going to hurl, after all he could hardly control his sympathetic nervous system now, his whole body was driving him crazy. This had to be some sort of illusion, was he dreaming? The Commander and Brokka? She had called him a 'friend' when he'd first awoken, but Kale had taken that on face value alone. His bile flooded the pits of his stomach, and his anger gripped him. He could hardly believe what he was hearing, but it washed away anything else that had been said. He found it hard to care about Earth and the humans, he couldn't even focus on the impending arrival of Freeza. The only image that came to mind when Kale tried to think about anything, was Celeria rocking a bundle of joy that belonged to Brokka.

Celeria interpreted the doctor's inquiry as a reproach that she failed to share valuable intel prior to the attack. Thus, keeping her eyes on the screen in front of her, she clarified:

"There wasn't an earlier occasion for me to relay this information. Had an opportunity presented itself, I would have discussed the full scope of my dealings with the General. I understand that they could have been of tactical significance, but there was simply no time for discussion."

Her peripheral vision then caught sight of the doctor. His posture was unnatural, so the Commander turned in his direction. When her gaze fell upon him, her eyes widened in surprise. The doctor was as pale as death, his skin had a sickly tint to it as he stood hunched over his workstation. Celeria immediately sprang to her feet and walked to the doctor, cupping his chin with her fingers and raising his head to eye-level. She imagined he might have somehow contaminated himself in handling the specimen.

"Doctor, are you ill?" She spoke solemnly.

But she soon found the answer to her question. The doctor's expression was not one of physical illness, but sheer indignation. No doubt the doctor was still agitated over what happened at the colony.

"I understand how you must feel at the very mention of his name, doctor. After what he did to our men. But I assure you, he won't get away with it."

A baby, an actual baby. Celeria was a mother! And not just a mother, she mothered a child of the single biggest bastard the Saiyan race had ever produced. Kale didn't know what to do about this, he didn't even know where to look. But as Celeria touched him by the face to inspect his health, he found himself withdrawing behind a wall of defence.

"Doctor, are you ill?" She said, quite sincerely.

The doctor shook off her grip and moved across the med-bay towards the healing tanks. He kept watch on all the chemical readings as he fought tirelessly to keep his mind away from the ailing image of the 'happy family'.

Unbelievable, how didn't I know? They knew each other, they seemed well acquainted. Damn, he was probably thinking about taking her out for dinner before he decided to detonate the entire colony! So what was all this? Was it a lovers tiff gone to the extreme? Saiyan relationships huh? I feel so ridiculous.

The doctor's fist clenched as he placed it down on the healing console. He felt tremors run through his knuckles as they threatened to bury holes in the medical equipment. After a second he inhaled a deep and relaxing breath. He was letting his thoughts run away with him, he was becoming far too emotionally compromised. It was times like this that he wished he had the warrior training that everyone else seemed to so effortlessly sport. Finally he smiled, a blatantly fake smile of course, but a smile nonetheless.

"I understand how you must feel at the very mention of his name, doctor. After what he did to our men. But I assure you, he won't get away with it."

"Yeah, something like that." He finally said, before trying to keep his mind on the more pressing issues. "I, I er... Updated the tech on the scouters. Now they won't explode when they read anything above 21,000. We'll be able to obtain accurate readings of our enemies and even ourselves!"  He picked a spare scouter up from beside him and finally latched it to his ear. The doctor happened upon the perfect situation to crack a joke, maybe it'd break the tension (not that Celeria was picking up on any), but instead he resigned himself to the frustration niggling away at the forefront of his mind. He lightly closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "You just don't see it, do you? What this means... You and..." His said the next name through gritted teach, "Brokka."

Celeria darted an eyebrow upwards at the doctor's bizarre behavior. She was the Commander, she had to face the brunt of the blame regarding the incident with the General. It was her soldiers he killed, her men he kidnapped. Why was a physician in such a fuss? The only reason any saiyan would act like that would be if their personal interests were directly involved or even compromised. But what personal interest could the doctor possibly have in the whole matter with the General? None of his staff suffered serious injuries. The nerve of this man... throwing fits in the face of his Commander. Perhaps she ought to beat some sense into him, she thought as she grunted under her breath. As she clenched her hands into fists, but relaxed her muscles a moment after. She would stay her hand, for now.

"Doctor, I demand that you explain this erratic behavior. I can't have my men suffering sudden fits of insanity, especially now when we're faced with a crisis of colossal proportions." She felt, however, that it was her duty to offer a few supporting words, even though she was uncertain about what ailed the doctor.

"All that rage of yours - save it for Brokka. If my hunch is correct, we've not seen the last of the General, not by far. You're going to get your chance one day, doctor. For now, I need that mind of yours functioning to the best of its ability."

"Doctor, I demand that you explain this erratic behavior. I can't have my men suffering sudden fits of insanity, especially now when we're faced with a crisis of colossal proportions."

Kale tried to keep his temper in check, but Celeria's disregard for his mental wellbeing created even more conflict. She wanted an explanation? He wasn't even entirely sure he could provide her with one, he just felt deeply uncomfortable by the thought of the two of them consummating. He'd figured that over time, Celeria had become accustomed to him, perhaps he wasn't considered a friend, but at the very least he had been considered trustworthy. When the doctor really thought about it, it all brewed down to a sense of betrayal, and as per common kale-esque response, he was fighting fire with an inferno.

The doctor sighed, maybe he was overreacting? But he couldn't very well spill the beans now and tell her that he was becoming sentimental about her. That was out of the question! Kale giggled to himself at the very thought, his laugher was at first private, but soon it became more pronounced. What was he doing? Now he simply appeared bipolar and completely erratic! Kale lightly shook his head and slowly moved back towards the Commander. She deserved some sort of explanation, regardless of how infuriated he became by the thought of her and her offspring.

At the end of all of this, the doctor understood perfectly that his past was coming back to haunt him. One name rested on the cusp of his tongue, and it clouded his clear and normally pragmatic judgement. Sometimes he hated that he'd ever known Zeltra, other times he knew that her return would put everything to rest.

"All that rage of yours - save it for Brokka. If my hunch is correct, we've not seen the last of the General, not by far. You're going to get your chance one day, doctor. For now, I need that mind of yours functioning to the best of its ability."

It was probably best that she didn't understand why he was becoming so illogical. But if Celeria had finally dropped this bombshell, then Kale thought it only right to divulge something from his own past.

"Look, Commander, you should probably know something about me." He exhaled and took a seat at his desk, soon he found himself sinking low into the chair. "I was discharged from my post with the PTO for insubordination. I questioned the orders of my commanding officer and I directly opposed them. I was set for trial by execution when I was summoned by King Vegeta to come here." He loosened his wrists as he spoke, and watched as they became more fluid. "That's probably why I was chosen for... this, whatever this is. I don't easily submit to authority, I never have, and I'm completely not by-the-book, in fact, I don't even know where the book is." He smiled to himself, it was a smile of consolidation. "That's what you've got here. That's why I-I'm a pretty lousy excuse for a pragmatic physician. I get affected by things, a lot of things. I'm temperamental - it comes from my history, but I believe I do a good job, when I'm given enough space."  

He wasn't making excuses for his often frequent rebellion of Celeria's orders, in fact, that was exactly what he was doing, he couldn't even hide it from himself. But these excuses were valid, he had been discharged for similar behaviour in the past, and Celeria needed to know why. If she was going to work with him, she had to understand that for a doctor, he was more Saiyan than he'd like to admit. But from now on, he wouldn't press the issue of him and the Commander, he wouldn't even think too hard on it, not until they were clear of all of this... providing of course that they lived to see what clear looked like.

Instead of a logical commentary to explain his behavior, the doctor began blabbering a torrent of irrelevant nonsense. The Saiyan race was never one to accept authority without question. But, to Celeria, issues with authority and disobeying orders were two drastically different things. She would allow any Saiyan under her command an autonomous opinion and relative freedom on the battlefield. However, the Commander knew that any insubordination in these circumstances could result in more casualties. So she decided to make her attitude on disobedience abundantly clear.

Celeria took two sharp steps forward and in one sharp, lightning-fast move swooped the doctor off his feet, raising him to eye-level by the throat. Her muscles tensed with rage. This meager physician allowed himself far too much personal freedom and it was time to point that out. And Celeria was intent on making the message stick.

"Listen closely, doctor. I couldn't care less about you, or your past. You were sent here because of your prowess in medical expertise. No other reasoning is of any interest to me. And since you are under my command, it's high time you realized pathetic excuses and feeble attempts at sympathy will get you nowhere."

She leaned in closer to him until their faces were a mere inch apart.

"The moment you disobey my orders is the moment I will end you. Let that sink in for a while." She murmured as she released him from her grip.

With heavy steps, she proceeded out of the medical bay. She would continue her research in her quarters. As she proceeded down the corridor, her mind burned with rage. First her colony gets ransacked by lowlife scum that still dares to claim a semblance of authority, then her staff becomes unstable, losing both their focus and their grip on decorum - just what were they all thinking? Did they believe this whole matter was a training ground? That they would all soon be whisked away to Planet Vegeta with accolades for surviving this long?

"Bah..." Celeria grunted.

The Commander was surprised to find herself feeling somewhat bad for how she treated the doctor. She couldn't tell if it was because of her resolve to eradicate military disobedience from her ranks or that she had actually confided in someone after all these years. She wondered if recalling her past was what exacerbated her already unstable temper.

Celeria walked for a while until she was met with an iron wall. For a moment, she was surprised. Then she remembered that her quarters no longer existed. She moved a few steps back to the outside wall and leaned on it, letting herself descend into a crouch. Slowly, she took a seat on the cold floor, resting her elbows on her knees and lowering her head along with her gaze. Thus she sat in silence.

"Listen closely, doctor. I couldn't care less about you, or your past. You were sent here because of your prowess in medical expertise. No other reasoning is of any interest to me. And since you are under my command, it's high time you realized pathetic excuses and feeble attempts at sympathy will get you nowhere."

As the Commander lifted Kale from the chair and into the air by the throat, the doctor raised an eyebrow. He'd missed this, after all getting lifted up by the throat to eye height with the Commander was not only a favourite past-time of his, but it so blatantly reminded him of just how much taller she was. He frowned, but the situation was becoming less emotionally intense, and more physically agitating, this he was grateful for at the very least.

"The moment you disobey my orders is the moment I will end you. Let that sink in for a while."

Jeez, you try to explain yourself to this woman and she grabs you by the throat. I wonder if I have any tranquiliser left in my belt? As Kale felt around his utility belt the Commander dropped him back down to the ground. Intriguingly enough, he'd managed to identify three openings in Celeria's defence during her threatening behaviour towards him, perhaps her training really had changed him beyond all recognition.

The Commander stormed out of the med-bay in fury, the doctor could always anticipate the level of her mood by the decibels of sound that resonating from her stomping. He turned away from the marching Commander and crossed his arms. She was losing her grip too, he wasn't alone. In contrast however, the Commander felt at a loss because the colony was falling to pieces, whereas Kale simply felt as if he was being crushed by the imposing presence of General Brokka. Perhaps her reasons for losing her edge were more valid than his, but it was Kale's turn not to care.

The Commander preached at him over and over again. Duty and service, yadda yadda, orders and execution yadda yadda... He didn't really care about any of it, he never had. It meant absolutely nothing to him that one person resided over the other in status! That simply didn't change who any of them were. Kale was a doctor, Celeria was a Commander. Like it or not, she'd soon have to accept that they played different roles in all of this, with none of them taking precedence over the other.

Leave her to it, she'll be back here tomorrow for a health status report... He closed his eyes and inhaled the warm into his nostrils. The med-bay always smelled of disinfectant and a myriad of medical chemicals. This distraction game was becoming easier and easier, like this Kale didn't have to worry about Brokka and Celeria's past life together, nor did he even have to go chasing after the Commander. He wouldn't do it, he refused to even try to console her when she simply didn't give a damn about him... There was no way in hell that Kale was going in search of CELERIA!

- - - - - - - - - -

"Listen Commander..." Kale said, standing behind a crouched Celeria. His facial expression was weighed down by a particular level of guilt. "I apologise. I know I'm particularly good at getting your goad, it's a skill." He laughed nervously, "And, your grip has reaaaally improved by the way, you're power level must be enormous!" His laugh continued as he stroked the back of his head. "Bear with me here, I'm not very good at making amends..." He eventually stopped nervously giggling. "I might be a bit of an emotional wreck myself but..." He leaned against the barely-standing wall and looked at the Commander as sincerely as possible, "You can talk to me you know? I don't always have to be your doctor, it might seem... insane, but I could be your friend too..." Kale shrugged his shoulders. He was probably opening himself up for another round of rudimentary attacks, but maybe the way he did things could get through to Celeria just the one time... Just maybe.