(Meanwhile)
Up on the alien world orbiting hundreds of miles away from earth, across the sweeping fields and lush forests making up its main continent, the residents of the black fortress that stood as the center of the planet were all gathered in the throne room. Enveloped in the shadows being cast by the chamber's fixtures and pillars, the people assembled inside the enormous, armored castle were all standing around the central throne, which was currently turned in the direction of the hologram screen being projected in front of it from the platinum stone floor. It was on this very screen that a detailed, three-dimensional image of the earth was being shown, along with a series of numbers and additional specifications.
Under the glow of the hologram, six figures of different shapes and sizes could be seen flanking the center seat, with a seventh figure situated comfortably upon the throne. While the latter was adorned in a white, revealing one-piece suit, boots and cloak, the four people standing closest to her were all decked out in heavy, metallic black combat suits. Each one of these uniforms was equipped with a black cape, heavy looking gauntlets, and a helmet with a tinted face visor, designed for concealment and optimal visibility.
Though the blueprints for these outfits were all relatively the same, it should be noted that it was easy to distinguish each of the four figures from one another based solely on their body-shapes and sizes.
The two standing to the right of the chair were both female. The first was a petite young woman with long, brown, hedgehog-style hair that grew down to her waist and had her arms folded across her chest. The second female stood a foot taller than the first, with cat ears protruding from the top of her helmet, and a white and brown, furry tail sticking out from the back of her suit and waving in the air. Stationed behind them was third figure, a large, male, burly figure, with stubby legs, massive arms, and stubby fingers. The fourth figure, standing on the left side of the throne and also decked out in metal plating, was the tallest of the group, possessing a muscular, fighter's build, and a heavy frame and, judging from his shape and stature, was also a man.
The fifth figure in the room was a Namekian, who was not only standing to the left of the armored man, but was also the third tallest and wasn't decked out in any armor at all. On the contrary, instead of a bulky suit, the green fighter had opted to wear a pair of loose-fitted, white pants, brown boots, a yellow top, a shawl with a thick, weighted neck band, and a yellow sash, which he wore over his shoulder. He also had his big arms folded over his chest, showing that he was in a position of attention and readiness.
As for the final figure, this one wasn't human-shaped or organic in any way. About the size of a small tank, the entity was a four-legged, spider-like robot with a large, barrel-like abdomen, two forearms with three, claw-like fingers, and a white, spherical optical sensor at the front. Its design resembled that of a Logicoma and, judging from its specifications, was all tricked out and prepped for combat.
After seeing the extra window that had appeared alongside the image of the earth disappear, the group's standing members then turned their attention to the throne. Once their eyes landed on her, the raven haired leader, with her chin resting on her knuckles, spoke in a calm and clear voice.
"Do you think that message got through to them?"
The woman with the cat-like tail nodded, before speaking in a voice made robotic by her suit's built-in respirator, "Our video was broadcast over every single one of the planet's communication networks. This includes all satellite and media transmissions. If my calculations are correct, about sixty percent of the world's population has now been informed of our presence in this system and will likely be making preparations for our arrival."
"Good," the commander replied, content with hearing this news. "As long as they know that we're in the vicinity, we'll be able to move into the next phase of our operation without interference from the local population." She then glanced across at the two women standing alongside her. "How are we doing on our scan? Have we located the Super Saiyan yet?"
Raising her arm, the woman with feline features then pressed a button on her suit's gauntlet and took control of the projector. When she did, the hologram of the planet broke up into several individual windows, zooming in on different parts of the Earth. Once they'd gotten close enough, the windows then highlighted a dozen spots with red, blinking dots, which were then accompanied by a compilation of various numbers and readings.
"Our computers have detected several enormous power levels scattered across the planet's surface, with each variant registering above the standard norm."
The Namekian positioned nearby lifted his head astutely, "It's true. I can feel them… over half a dozen strong presences on the surface."
It was an assessment that drew a nod of agreement from the raven haired woman seated in the throne. "So can I. But it's clear that most of these figures are keeping their energy suppressed. I can barely tell where they are from all the way up here."
The large spider-tank posted nearby murmured thoughtfully to itself. Upon taking stock of the results, it then swiveled its optical sensor towards its friends and spoke in a child's voice, "Perhaps it is part of their training regiment or something." The tank added to this suggestion with a shrug of its forward arms.
Noticing her leader's eyes glance towards her prompted the humanoid feline to continue her assessment of the situation. "Since they haven't assembled into a single location yet, we can assume that they must've strategically positioned themselves across the planet's surface to cover more ground and split our attention."
"Or…" the armored woman with the long, spiky hair interjected with an obviously impatient tone, "they have no idea that we've even arrived in their space and are just carrying on with their day like normal."
"Obviously we can't tell which one of these power levels belong to our mysterious Saiyan. However, judging from the numbers and statistics, I've managed to narrow down four possible locations our target could be," the woman informed. Pointing up towards the hologram, she then outlined the windows in question, "There is one located in this mountainous region to the East, another atop a large, floating platform to the South West, a couple resting on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean, and two more in this community pocket here, in a large, dome-shaped facility on the West Coast of the mainland."
After contemplating the information for a few moments and seeing how far these power levels were apart from each other, the raven haired female then lowered her hand and tapped it against her arm rest. "There's only one way for us to be sure; we have to go down to the planet personally and make contact with the high power levels at each of these locations. If neither of them turns out to be the Super Saiyan we're looking for, then we may have to resort to more extreme measures." She then turned her attention to the spiky haired woman on her right. "Maya, take Cal and head down to the home in the mountains and draw out the variants residing there. Be sure not to start any trouble until we have confirmation of our target." When she sensed both figures nod, she then looked across at the burly figure in the black suit. "Mobi, you head to the island in the middle of the ocean and pull a headcount of the occupants. If any of the tenants exhibit traits belonging to a Saiyan, contact me at once. You copy?"
The large figure nodded before responding with a simple, easy to distinguish sound.
"Beep."
"Excellent." The raven haired commander then turned to her feline associate, who she saw was waiting patiently for her instructions. "Kure. Since your diplomatic skills and patience are better than the rest of ours, I'll allow you to make contact with the targets hiding out in the city. No doubt they're going to be surrounded by figures of authority and high standing, so I'll be relying on your subtlety and charm to accomplish this task."
An affirmative gesture from the tall female immediately followed, "Roger."
"And what about me?" the giant tank asked with an excited inflection in its vocals, while simultaneously looking across at its raven haired leader with a gleam in its sensors.
Glancing at the quad-legged tank, the female leader responded to it with a fond smile, "You San… I'm going to need you to remain up here with me until we make our way down to ground. I'll need you to keep tabs on the others' life support systems and run the broadcast when the time comes. Got it?"
Flashing the signal lights on her front excitedly, the giant tank acknowledged the order with a salute of her turret arm. "Understood."
While the two individuals made sure the specifications were properly relayed to one another, a loud 'ding' from the hologram's speakers drew the attention of the intimidating Cal and had the large, armored man crane his head upwards inquisitively. "Hey. One of the power signatures is on the move."
Quickly turning their gazes towards the screen, the group of fighters and armored warriors saw one of the windows zoom in on the floating castle. It was here they saw one of the blinking red lights take off and begin heading into the planet's atmosphere. Traveling faster than any manmade object, the unidentified power signature broke into the vacuum and, in a matter of seconds, plotted a straight course towards their planet.
It was the sight of this high power signature that had the warriors in the room stare in confusion and prompted the unmasked members to focus their senses on their rogue target.
When the Namekian in the room locked onto the incoming individual and analyzed the feedback, his eyes widened a little in surprise. He then gazed up at the screen in astonishment. "This energy… it can't be…"
The woman on the throne shot a look across at the green warrior. "Gast? What is it?"
Shaking his head to rid himself of his daze, the old fighter quickly glanced at his leader with intensity reflected in his stare. "The power level heading towards us… belongs to a member of my race."
This announcement had the enchanting woman in the one-piece suit regard her companion with a mild sense of bewilderment, "Are you certain?"
"Positive," Gast replied without a hint of hesitation. "There's no way I can mistake that energy to belong to anyone else."
Analyzing the feedback of the approaching figure and narrowing her eyes upon the hologram, the spiky haired Maya spoke. "Do you want me to intercept him? The numbers we're getting from this guy are pretty high and he's heading towards us really fast-"
"No. Let me," the Namekian interjected with a sudden flare of assertiveness. After shooting a hard look across at his spiky haired compatriot and the rest of his comrades, the elderly, green fighter reached up, tugged at his collar, and marched across the room, making a b-line for the nearest exit. "It's been eons since I've had a run-in with a member of my race, so I'll go out and personally greet this one myself. If you guys don't hear from me in the next few hours… well…" Stopping for a moment, he then glanced back at his friends and smiled. "I think you can guess what must've happened."
Blinking a few times in confusion, the raven haired warrior on the throne then returned the man's gaze and nodded in understanding. "Alright, Gast. Best of luck." The rest of the people standing around her also passed their respects and best wishes on to their old friend through a series of nods and waves.
With a flash of his cape and one last salute, the green man then flew out through the nearest balcony, setting his sights on a different part of the planet altogether. In a matter of moments, he was gone.
After seeing Gast off, Kure looked back at the holograms above them, gave the windows another once over, before furrowing her brow seriously. "I think he's just coming to check the planet out. I doubt he knows that we're here."
"Then let's try to keep it that way until Gast brings him in. Since our armors are designed to help keep our energy levels suppressed, we shouldn't have any problems of any ki sensitive denizens catching wind of our actions," Maya said, before turning her gaze back to her captain and friend, along with the other fighters next to her. "So… what now, Sandra?"
Thinking it over for a moment, the raven haired empress narrowed her eyes and spoke in an assertive tone, "We'll continue the arrival as planned. We know who our targets are… now it's time to go out and meet them. So let's move."
XXX
(Several minutes later)
Deciding to act as point-man on behalf of the rest of the team, as soon as the alien planet had situated itself comfortably in the space above them, just outside of their moon's orbit, Piccolo wasted no time in taking flight towards the foreign world now floating a stone's throw away from their own. Not even taking the time to contact the others, as he was pretty sure the rest of the Z-fighters had at least gotten word that a large, terrestrial body had appeared right on their doorstep, the Namekian dropped all pretenses of waiting around to see what would happen next and began making tracks towards the unknown object. If there was a chance that the people, if any, on the newly materialized planetoid were hostile, the man wasn't going to give them the chance to make the first move.
If all else failed, then at least the former guardian of Earth could say he was the first to arrive on the scene and was able to stall the enemy long enough for the rest of his compatriots to organize.
Cutting a swath through the vacuum of space, Piccolo continued his approach of the beautiful green planet. Once he was certain he'd gotten close enough, the warrior hit the brakes and drifted to a stop in the middle of the vacuum, just a dozen kilometers away from one of the moons orbiting the primordial, paradise of a world. From his position, the caped crusader was able to see the entire alien body for all its magnificence and splendor. Then, after silently drinking in its scenery for about a minute, the man then focused all of his attention and senses upon the interstellar object, and began getting an accurate bead on its surface.
Piccolo's first objective at this point was to scout the world from a distance for any high power levels. If there happened to be any strong, antagonistic aliens on that planet and they were aware of his presence, the Namekian was in the perfect position to both avoid and return any fire sent his way. This would then lead into his second objective, which was to investigate the world on foot.
The warrior was confident he would be able to find at least something substantial to justify as being problematic. However, after about two minutes of searching, the eagle-eyed Piccolo narrowed his gaze in suspicion.
For some strange reason, not only was the planet showing up as an invisible speck on his radar, but there didn't appear to be anyone living on it. At least… that's what it looked like on first glance.
"Doesn't seem like anyone's home." Ears twitching ever so slightly as his brow furrowed, the green guardian then decided to throw his super-hearing into the mix. "However…"
Then… it happened.
The Namekian warrior recoiled in surprise when a flash of light, one that shone as brightly as a star, suddenly appeared on the surface of the planet. Once it faded, a white beam of energy was then sent hurtling towards him from the same area of the planet at a ridiculous speed. It homed in on Piccolo's position and threatened to wipe him out in a single stroke. Crossing his arms over his face, the former guardian braced himself for the impact and burning sensations to come. But then, instead of striking the man with the force he was anticipating, the bright ray of ethereal energy engulfed the fighter and, like a scene taken straight from an alien-abduction, began to drag the green fighter towards the planet.
Unable to resist the gravitational force enacting upon his body, a bewildered Piccolo gave a loud yell of shock as he was tractor-beamed at neck-breaking speed towards the foreign world. He traveled through the pillar of light, spinning and spiraling out of control down a straight and narrow path. Then, after passing the moons orbiting the alien world and plummeting through the gaseous cloud surrounding the world, the Namekian was gone…
…sucked down towards parts unknown.