Wind whipping through her hair, Sandra silently took count of the number of fighters Maya and her friends had managed to lure in. Her scouter taking stock of their profiles, appearances and power levels, the young woman then blinked when she recognized one of the faces hanging at the front of the crowd. This person took the form of the short, raven haired fighter with the flame-shaped haircut and wearing the blue training suit.
"Hey… isn't that Prince Vegeta?" Sandra whispered in surprise, before a smirk gradually formed across her face. "Well I'll be damned. I guess that answers the question as to which Saiyan had wound up killing Frieza. And here I was expecting to find some random renegade or ruffian from a backwater planet with no history. Instead we're getting a royal delicacy." Shutting off the hologram screen of her scanner, the woman then spared a quick glance towards her teammates and addressed them seriously. "Did these guys give you any trouble?"
Maya, still sporting various marks and scratches on her suit, frowned irritably, "Things were going great at first. But once they started attacking us, things started getting a little… messy."
Concurring with her friend's brief report, the unmasked Kure also looked across at her leader with a noticeable scowl of her own, "The people I dealt with were really set on getting into a fight. I assume it's because their planet has been attacked so many times by other aliens that they weren't really in the mood for listening." Which was understandable, given the circumstances.
"Not to mention there are a couple of other races from different planets living amongst them," Cal added from the sidelines, while at the same time gesturing to the ones he and his friend had been stuck fighting. "There presences here are probably causing some strong, defensive psychological responses in the people who are closest to them."
After Sandra nodded in acknowledgement of this information, her long haired teammate then shot her a foul look that was effectively masked by the tinted visor of her helmet. "For the record, Sandra, you owe both Cal and I big time for making us come all the way down here on a diplomatic scouting mission… only to have every single one of those guys kick the crap out of us for the better part of the day."
Rotating his head towards them, Mobi added his own comment into the mix. "Beep." (Agreed)
Feeling her friend's hateful glare boring into the side of her head put a slightly nervous look on Sandra's face, which she then shook off and quickly glanced down at the Z-fighters below. "Duly noted… and good job. Now let's get this thing done." Adjusting her cape, the raven haired Saiyan then levitated over the ledge and began floating down to ground level, flanked on either side by her compatriots.
While the invaders descended to their level, an outwardly calm but concerned Zangya, looking around at the rest of their team, then noticed someone was missing. Leaning forward, she whispered to her spiky haired crush, "Hey… where's the green man?"
Obviously referring to Piccolo, Gohan could only shake his head, as he too was at a loss, "I don't know." Honestly, his best friend of many years was never one to not show himself at a time like this. Sure he usually arrived late on occasion, but despite his poor timing, the Namekian was probably the most reliable in terms of physical presence and determination, and could always be counted on to drop in at the last second to save the day when he was most needed.
But right now, Piccolo was nowhere to be seen. This led Gohan and the others to wonder what could've happened to him.
Touching down on the stone surface of the quad, the collection of intergalactic fighters then faced off against the Z-fighters. By the time the large spider-tank planted itself behind their group with a loud 'thud', which caused the soldiers in the area to back off warily, the contingent of visitors were soon graced with the presence of King Koku.
Exiting his palace with several high-ranking members of his military and political staff, along with over a dozen heavily armed guards, the blue, anthropomorphic dog with the mustache and suit, marched around so that he stood beside both the aliens and Earth's defenders. Once he was certain he had a good view of their leader, the man cleared his throat and spoke.
"Excuse me, young Ms?" the political representative of the planet began, drawing the gazes of both super-powered crowds staring each other down. Feeling their eyes on him, the man swallowed nervously before continuing, "I am King Koku: ruler of Chow Castle, Central City and all existing states of the great continent of the Dragon Kingdom. What is your purpose in this solar system and why have you come down here to our planet?"
Seeing the spider-tank glance in their general direction, the bodyguard standing closest to Koku stepped in front of him and held his arm across the ruler, "Your majesty, please stand back." There was a high chance that these people meant to harm the king and it was the duty of the Royal Guard to prevent that event from taking place.
After the multiple fiascos involving demons and monsters in the last couple of decades, there was no way in hell they were going to let another scenario like the one involving King Piccolo happen a second time.
Hearing the man's questions after his introduction, Sandra kept a cool gaze fixated upon him for a few moments. After which she then responded in a clear and cautious tone of voice. "My friends and I have come to this planet on a personal matter, your highness. As such, we do not wish to involve you or any other innocent people in our affairs. Please have your men evacuate the area so as to avoid getting caught in the crossfire." Her statement drew looks of surprise and amazement from most of the civilians gathered in that courtyard, including the Z-fighters. After seeing the noble leader acknowledge her words and begin directing his people to a safe distance, the raven haired commander turned her attention back to the group standing in front of her. "So then… where were we?"
Vegeta, baffled by this turn of events, shoved his way to the front and glared across at the woman. "Alright… I've had it up to here with this goody-goody nonsense! Why in the hell are you telling those people to leave instead of wasting them like you're supposed to? Aren't you and your people here to attack us?"
"Yeah. What gives?" Tien asked with a nervous frown of his own.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Sandra glared back at the group with an annoyed glimmer in her eye. "If you think we're here to invade or conquer this planet in any way, you people are barking up the wrong tree."
"Didn't any of you receive our message?" Maya asked, looking around at the group for confirmation.
Sharing confused glances with each other, Gohan, Videl, Zangya, Goten, Trunks and Yamcha all raised their hands at once and spoke, "We didn't."
"I don't have a television," Paprika mumbled awkwardly at the end, whereas Vegeta remained completely silent.
"We did though," Krillin added. It was a statement that was promptly followed by a concurring nod from his wife.
"So did I," Bulma also answered. Seeing the invaders turn to her, the scientist then placed her hands on her hips and frowned. "But the message was a bit scrambled. We couldn't get much from it except that 'we're going to drop by'. It was probably due to the atmospheric turbulence caused by the arrival of your planet, since it was messing up a lot of our instruments."
Blinking, Kure then groaned and slapped her forehead in exasperation. "Stupid. I should've known this would happen." She then looked back at the team with an apologetic expression in play. "The full message was supposed to say: 'Citizens of Earth: do not be alarmed. We're not here to invade your planet, we're just going to drop by and say hello'. It's my race's motto and the most used way of informing a civilized world that we don't mean them any ill will."
"OOooh," Chiaotzu murmured, before then looking up at Tien inquisitively. "That… kind of explains a lot."
Raising an eyebrow, Zangya then rested a knuckle on her hip. "So, you guys… really aren't here to kill anyone?"
Sandra shook her head, "No."
Feeling as though he should add something, a cheerful Goten skipped forward and waved. "It's true." When he saw his big brother and Videl look down at him, the little hybrid gleefully pointed in the direction of the two people that'd dropped by his house and began to speak. "Those guys over there are super nice and didn't want to do anything bad to us. Mum was even about to invite them in for a cup of tea."
At first a little bit surprised by this revelation, Videl then cracked a smile and looked across at her boyfriend in amusement. "That's Chi-Chi for you; always offering people coffee and biscuits when not chasing off pesky salesmen or animals."
Grinning, Gohan slowly reached down and ruffled his little brother's hair, earning a giggle from the child in return, "Guess I shouldn't have been so hasty, huh?"
Hearing him from where she was standing, Maya's eye twitched in disbelief. "Nah. Ya think?"
Lowering her hand, the woman with the cat-like ears and tail then stared across at the group of fighters and spoke in a serious tone of voice, "We're not here to conquer, destroy or do anything even remotely related to that stuff. We simply wanted to ask your group a couple of questions and have a civilized conversation before moving into anything formal."
At first remaining silent, the confused collection of heroes looked between one another before Trunks stepped forward and raised his hand inquisitively. "Then… why didn't you say so in the first place?"
Hair bristling and a tick mark forming on her forehead, Kure took a big step forward and shouted at them, "I WAS TRYING TO! BUT YOU PEOPLE WERE SO BUSY KICKING ME THROUGH WALLS AND BUILDINGS THAT YOU COULDN'T HEAR ME YELLING 'I COME IN PEACE'!" Her scream practically echoed across the entire palace, scaring the daylights out of the children and startling the Z-fighters.
Hell, even the members of Kure's group standing next to the woman leaned away when they saw the fuming feline panting to catch her breath.
When the glasses-wearing diplomat looked back at them, Sandra blinked at her through wide eyes. "Whoa."
"Calm down, girl," Maya whispered, while at the same time making an easing motion with her hands.
Taking a deep breath of composure, the brown haired female then propped her hands on her hips and nodded as she inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Okay." Sniffing, she then looked back up and whispered repeatedly, "I'm okay. I'm okay now."
Cringing a little, Sandra then turned back to the startled Z-fighters and, noticing their collective expressions of concern, spoke in an apologetic voice, "Sorry about that. The six of us have had a really… really long trip here and, so far, it's been a pretty rough morning for all of us. You can probably tell we're a little bit stressed out."
Smiling back at her, the ever thoughtful Gohan waved off the incident in his usual, good-natured manner and accepted the woman's reasons gratefully. "That's okay."
"We've all been there at one point," Videl finished with a sympathetic gaze. "Don't go beating yourself up over it."
A sigh quickly left the leader's lips, "Thanks." Straightening up once again and adjusting her cape, Sandra then cleared her throat and set her glare squarely upon the group, continuing from where she left off. "Anyway, now that that little discrepancy is out of the way, we can move on to more important business. I understand that there are a couple of Saiyans amongst your group."
The announcement coming as a bit of a surprise to most of the heroes, after quickly realizing the purpose of the aliens' presence here, Paprika stepped forward with an inquisitive frown. "You guys… are looking for Saiyans?"
Sandra nodded affirmatively, "That's right."
It was then Kure moved forward and took charge of the next portion of the conversation. "Over a month ago, while we were on a routine orbit of our quadrant's nebula, our planet's long-range scanners picked up an enormous power level registering from somewhere in this system. At first we thought it was a computer malfunction and attempted to isolate it, but when members of our group actually managed to sense the energy fluctuation, we immediately realized that it wasn't a glitch, and that the energy signature was actually coming from an incredibly powerful individual."
"This came as a big surprise to all of us, because normally we wouldn't be able to feel power levels in our quadrant, no matter how strong they were, due to the fact that all inward and outward bound energy signatures are dampened by the high number of galaxy clusters in our area," Maya added, folding her arms across her chest as the members of her group shared their knowledge on the matter. "However, this energy level was so strong, it not only managed to slip into our system, but the feedback was so clear that we were able to distinguish it as belonging to a member of the Saiyan race."
This information prompted Zangya to critically analyze their story, "From the sounds of it, you guys must've picked it up from, like, over two dozen galaxies away."
Hearing the Hera's deduction brought a smirk to the feline humanoid standing on Sandra's left. "We were actually on the other side of the universe," Kure replied, her ears twitching as she noticed the looks of astonishment appear on all the humans presents. She then drew a circle in the air in front of her. "Look at it this way. Your solar system resides in the North Quadrant of the Planet Trade Organization's space, which is the top most quarter of a large circle encompassing all of the galaxies in that area. Our group comes from an entirely different circle right next to yours, in a region known as the Vulpan Quadrant." She then lowered her hand and smiled. "It's a bit of a complex system to explain. But let's just say there are multiple areas of space in the cosmos and each and every one of them is governed by a different empire."
After all, space was fucking huge and scary.
Seeing most of the group understood what was being said, Sandra then crossed her arms and smiled. "Only a Saiyan could possibly produce an energy signature that could be felt from the other side of the universe… and I'm not talking about some ordinary, middle-class soldier or officer of the former King's forces. What we felt was a warrior with a power level in a completely different league of his own… a Super Saiyan of the highest grade and class." She then focused her attention on Vegeta, whom she saw lower his head suspiciously. "We believe it was your energy signature we felt reverberating across the cosmos… Prince Vegeta."
The Z-fighters' gazes quickly snapped towards the middle where their infamous heir to the Saiyan race stood. At first the man's expression reflected a sense of astonishment, but after a few short seconds, his expression quickly fell into one of suspicion and seriousness.
"You… know who I am?" the man asked with his trademark scowl, "Impossible. How can a group of random commoners from some distant part of the universe nowhere even close to the Saiyan home world, possibly know who I am… the last remaining royal of my bloodline and the only surviving elite of the greatest warrior race in history, which is now close to extinct?"
It was this question shared by many other people in the group that had the raven haired empress chuckle. "First correction: my friends and I are hardly what you would call commoners. In fact, we are actually regarded as the most powerful group of fighters in our quadrant, making us the rulers of that part of space." Reaching up to remove the device from her right ear and handing it over to her trusty, mobile assault unit, San, the group's leader then reached down and gripped the golden band holding the cape on her shoulders. "And second correction: if you think you're the last surviving Saiyan elite in the universe… you are sorely mistaken, your highness." With one, swift movement, the woman removed her cloak and threw it into the air.
When the white sheet of fabric dropped to the ground and slammed into the quad with a 'crack', indicating that it had a significant amount of weight to it, the Z-fighters' eyes widened at what they saw. Upon completely unsheathing her form from beneath her royal garment, they saw waving in the air behind her a brown, monkey-like tail attached to her lower back. The furry appendage wiggled about in an almost teasing fashion, before the intimidating female brought it around to wave playfully at her audience.
A smirk remained plastered on her lips as she proudly flaunted her race's most identifiable trait to the planet's defenders, "After all; only a true Saiyan elite can tell when they are facing off against a member of their own kind."
The surprise emanating from every hero in the vicinity was almost palpable.
"Whoa! Are you serious?" Krillin practically shouted as he openly gaped at the woman in front of them. "Th-This isn't some bad dream is it? That girl is actually a Saiyan?"
Android 18, looking completely unfazed as usual, regarded the woman with a sense of indifference and curiosity, "It certainly seems that way."
While Bulma had to shake her head a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, the half a dozen other affiliates of the human contingent continued to gawk openly at the woman in front of them. "Well, it looks like Vegeta is no longer the special little snowflake he thought he was," Yamcha chuckled, at the same time glancing at the prince's shoulders.
As everybody else gaped at the Saiyan female and her entourage, at the head of the pack, Gohan and Zangya remained generally composed. Steadfast in their positions, the latter spared a momentary glance across at her teammate to see if he was in any way moved by this development. Upon exchanging stares, the duo then once again focused their attention on the group of newcomers and waited patiently to see what would happen next.
Quickly calming his nerves, the once panicking Krillin then pulled back a little and placed a hand on his chin. "You know… it's funny. Though we've seen dozens of aliens in the past, this is actually the first time I've ever seen a female Saiyan up-close and personal. If you take away the muscles, the suit and the tail, I bet she could easily pass off as a normal, human girl."
The man actually wasn't that far off the mark.
Taking in the teen's appearance from a distance, Gohan noticed that the alien leader was wearing a revealing, white battle armor resembling a one-piece thong swim-suit. Aside from having her belly and a great deal of skin exposed, the suit also had two yellow pauldrons, similar to what Vegeta's old armor had, only they were carved to match the curvature of her shoulders, with the entire outfit being held up by a white collar with a red gem inserted on the front of the neck. Along with the golden crown, the woman also had a pair of white gloves and yellow tipped boots, all of which came together to complete the ensemble.
This then led Gohan to take note of her figure. Due to the risqué design of her uniform, Sandra was showing an awful lot of cleavage. This particular aspect of her suit drew attention to the fact that the woman was not only well-endowed, but also had a delectably slender, toned body with smooth skin, and the telltale signs of powerful muscles rounding out the rest of her frame. These muscles were so prominent that she even had the faint outline of a six-pack showing in the cutout on the front of her suit. All in all, her body reflected characteristics of an empowering female Saiyan and, due to the way she was presenting herself so confidently to the group, Gohan could only speculate at how powerful this female actually was. This was made obvious by the way he was now staring at the girl with that innocent look of wonder on his face.
Vegeta, recovering from the shock of finding out the leader was actually a member of his race, glared across at the leader with unease. "Who are you?"
Flicking back one of the bangs hanging on the side of her face, the raven haired fighter smiled. "My name is Sandra. I am the Empress of the New Saiyan Empire, ruler of the Planet Corvus, guardian of the Vulpan Quadrant, and one of the surviving members of the last generation to be born on Planet Vegeta."