Fandom Dragon Ball: Limitless!

[Denezen]

When the commander had called everyone together for a training session for himself and Era, Itta followed the orders and gathered with everyone. The Raid Group was basically tasked of keeping watch on the two as they battled on the opposite side of the planet. Slightly confused, Itta still stuck with the task handed to him and kept his eyes on the scouter as the two begun to fight. The commander was still speaking to them from the scouter as the battle progressed, so it was only his words and their power levels to imagine the fight as it progressed. Itta was quite interested in this weird training.


The fight seem to start in a matter Itta was familiar with during his fight, though at a greater power level of course. The Commander lowered himself to match his subordinates new power and the fight begun at Korvaiis word. The first difference in this spar from his own was apparent after the first blow. He was going to make it harder after each failed strike. Itta's face tightened as he wondered if this was just a punishment for Era's days of meditation. He was okay with the idea of punishment, but making the Raid Group watch was a little much in Itta's opinion.


As the fight continued, it was becoming apparent how one sided it was. The elite's power level increasing after every punch and the amount of insults growing just the same. Itta was just shocked. It was nothing at all like his own fight with Korvaiis. In the heat of it, the low class sayian missed the power spikes Era was going through right in front of his eyes. It wasn't until the commander whispered something inaudible as Era was at his weakness that he noticed.


It was impossible not to notice.


Itta swore he could almost taste the spike in energy Era was forced to go through. The power level reading on his scouter made just as much since as this entire ordeal, almost none at all. She was nearly 8000 at her strongest, how is she able to go toe to toe with the commander at his strongest. A full minute went bay, just enough for Itta to come to his senses, and the energy seemed to go as fast as it came. The commander called for help as the now breathless sayian needed from her powerful performance. As Era was looked after, the Commander told his group his findings.


Rage could increase their now limitless power. It felt unreal, but the evidence was indisputable. Itta always had to be careful about his rage. At his low strength, he either fought with a cool head, or he was laid out utterly defeated. On one hand, it was a useful trump card all those who have unlocked their potential now had, on the other it was costly. As he asked for an acknowledgement, and he gave his automatic "Yessir!" though truthfully he was still trying to wrap his head around everything. He hoped for Era's swift recovery. The commander had to have some confirmation on his theory and this information is more than important for the sacrifice made. Of course, he wasn't the one to make the sacrifice.

 

[Genon]

@Anime King Kaleb


@Kyero


The conversation continued on like this for a while. Eventually, the two of them went their separate ways. Karas continued talking to different contacts and getting supplies ordered, along with information on bounty opportunities. He filed some potential targets away, they would need the credits.


Eventually, he retired for the night, tuning his Scouter to the Commander's feed when he was ordered to the next day.


He watched the exchange between Korvaiis and Era, and was taken aback by the commander's behavior. It was so unlike him. Of course, he eventually caught on to what was going on. When the Commander asked him a question, he replied with a simple, "Understood, Commander."


Then a rumbling could be heard overhead, and a freighter which a galactic traveler would recognize as of Zy'lethi make descended on the planet. Powerful repulsors activated as it lowered to the ground, eventually landing on the plateau. Karas smiled and looked outside the window of his ship. Xol Gan had arrived, thanks to his species' superior FTL travel, about six times the speed of light as opposed to the Saiyans' two.


A transmission came through on everyone's Scouters, using ordinary Saiyan frequencies. The image of a gelatinous slug-like alien flickered into view. "Hail, Saiyans! The name's Xol Gan, I'm the trader who you helped earlier. I've got some supplies here, but the most important one Karas asked to be a suprise for the Commander and Sub-Commander so I'll just drop it off now."


The freighter's cargo bay doors opened up, along with a tremendous metal crate inside, easily a hundred feet tall. It released a cloud of grey dust that swarmed towards an optimal location, a plains area about three miles south bordering some forest and a river.


From there, the dust solidified into first a set of square walls about two hundred miles across, then built upward. Soon, the outlines of buildings could be seen. Massive high-rises, factories, solar farms, wind turbines, and other structures began to take shape. In the center was a large, imposing building guarded by turrets aplenty--the command center, where the city could be reshaped at will provided there were enough nanobots to perform the task. In about two hours, the Insta-Kit Bastion Model 500 was complete. A powerful ki shield surrounded the city, and several turrets stood ready to pound invaders into a fine paste. The machiery within was silent, waiting to let its charges in.


Karas quickly flew to the city and sent a video transmission to everyone's Scouters. "And that is our new sanctuary," Karas said. "In its default state, it has accommodations for about a half a million humanoids. It'd got defenses, factories, a shield generator, farmland, electrical generators, hangars, and it can be actively reshaped from the command center at the midpoint. So we should get our ships over there ASAP."


Xol's cargo bay closed and his ship flew into the dock, along with Karas'. Xol figured he could stay here for a day, see what people needed before he flew off again.

 

[Webs Elk]

As soon as Era got back to the base, Raze told Tragedy to place her on the medical cot. Raze kept a constant check on all of Era's vitals and started to record a message to send to Korvaiis," Well, Commander, Era has worn herself out. After a day, three days worst case scenario, she should be back to full energy and fully recovered, but if she would've continued to consume the energy that was above her max power level, she would of had permanent damage. If we ever have to go above our maximum, it is expected that you try to end the fight very quickly as staying in that state is very dangerous as we saw with Era. Standing by for comments." Raze heard the ruming and raced out of the bay. He was amazed. He decided to message Docchio.




Dicchio woke up when he heard the tramsmisdiom from his best friend. He went on the tour Bastion and found a house that was.good enough for two people. He then thought about how he technically lost his fight with Raze, he smiled,"When my arm heals, we'll just have another battle." He decided to go meet one of the.new recruits. He walked over to Itta's ship, and knocked on the door.


@Denezen

 

[Kyero]

The Commander raced back to the mobile base and arrived just in time to see something quite amazing coming down from the sky. A massive ship which hailed him and his companions as being the aliens Karas had been in contact with. The bay doors opened dropping a HUGE box which burst open releasing some kind of strange metallic cloud of particles which flew away and turned into a massive city-like base nearby.


The Commander was speechless.


He stood staring at their new accommodations for well over a minute taking it all in before turning only his head to look at Karas.


"You and our new allies have really outdone yourselves Karas." He said in a half dazed state.


He then looked to the mobile base.


"Do me a favor and have this mobile base broken down. Salvage what you need and put the rest in storage. We won't be needing the "mobile base" anymore."





He looked back up to the ship overhead.


"I'm going to see a man about a tour of our new facilities. When ready you may choose accommodations for yourselves and continue your duties."





That was going to be his final order for the day. With that he flew off to greet Xol in his ship and requested a tour of the facilities to familiarize himself with its workings, both internal and external.

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

Era was still struggling to breathe properly by the time the ship dropped the city-like base for them. It was an astounding sight to see, even from Era's bed looking out the window of the little mobile base.


But Era had no time to appreciate the sight. Her heart rate was spiking to almost dangerous levels and it was everything Raze could do to keep her heart from exploding (metaphorically). Sil had taken to Era's bedside as well to keep an eye on her old friend. She spoke quietly to Era trying to help her think about other things to help get her heart rate down and it seemed to help with at least keeping it steady. Before Sil began speaking her heart rate had been slowly but steadily rising. Now it was holding steady.


When Sil heard the Commander on her Scouter (having left her communications open) she knew they'd have to move Era to the Medical Bay of the new base. She worked together with Raze to carefully prepare Era's bed and the monitor keeping track of her vitals from the mobile base to the new base's Medical Bay. Once there they set her down gently on a new bed and continued their watch.


Hours ticked by with Sil never leaving Era's bedside and holding her old friend's hand. Era's grip was strong and painful, but Sil put it out of her mind. Her friend was struggling to breathe and in pain from the sudden explosion of power she'd experienced. She imagined this was how it must have felt to push their power to its maximum directly after attaining it without properly acclimating themselves to it.


As the sun began to set on the new day Era's heart rate finally began to come under control. The heart rate monitor was kept on but the rest of the 'emergency' equipment was unhooked and put away. By nightfall Era was sleeping peacefully as if nothing had happened though that was largely because of her unconscious state. Had she still been awake she'd likely still be showing outward signs of pain.


Sil checked her Scouter to make sure Era's power was where it should be and she came to a frightening realization.


Maximum Potential: 500... Current Power Level: 500.





Sil took her Scouter off and gave it a firm "WHACK" before putting it back on and analyzing Era's power again.


Maximum Potential: 500... Current Power Level: 500.


"What in the world?" She asked herself aloud.


Era's maximum potential was not 500. It was almost 8,000. What in the name of all things good in this universe was happening? Was Sil's Scouter on the fritz?


"Commander, this is Sil'Eph Niir. Please come to the Medical Bay. Something strange has happened to Era." She called.


A few moments later...


"I'm on my way."





True to his word the Commander raced over and took his place beside the two women.


"Sir, my Scouter says Era's maximum potential is only 500 as well as her current power level."


The Commander raised an eyebrow.


"Your Scouter must be malfunctioning. Allow me."





He activated his Scouter.


Maximum Potential: 500... Current Power Level: 500.


"What in the-?" He said aloud.


Sil nodded.


"That's not right. That can't be right. Era's maximum potential should read 7,713. Not 500..." He said.


"What does this mean sir?"


Korvaiis took off his Scouter and examined it. He popped it open and checked the circuitry. Everything was fine. No shortages. No broken pieces. Nothing. He put it back on and examined Era again and found the same reading.


He began to think about the problem and then realized it must have had something to do with Era's new ability.


"Is this what she's been practicing Sil? Hiding her true potential from a Scouter?"





She shook her head.


"So you know what she's been practicing?"





Sil flinched and mentally reprimanded herself.


"Sil'Eph Niir. What has Era been practicing in those mountains? I am ordering you to tell me, and don't try lying because I will know."





Sil sighed to herself.


"Well sir... She-"


"Have been practicing sensing the energy of other life forms, sir." Era said softly.


Sil's eyes darted to Era and filled with happiness to see her conscious.


"'Sensing the energy of other life forms?' You can do that Era?" He asked.


She nodded.


"How?" He asked.


She shook her head.


"I have a feeling you all have the potential to do so, sir. I began to notice that when Sil and I were helping each other acclimate to our new power levels that I was 'feeling' something new. It was a completely external sensation. Like the tiniest difference in temperature from the air behind me and the air directly between Sil and myself. I thought it was nothing at first, but as the days went by I noticed that I could feel it more and more until it was as clear as day that Sil was giving off energy and my body was picking it up. I began to meditate on it, trying to figure out how to focus in on this new sensation and eventually I stumbled upon the reality that I was able to literally 'feel' the energy coming from Sil's body. I could even judge her power level compared to mine because of it. The more I concentrated, the more I could sense yours, the Sub-Commander's, that of Nei and Kendra, Karas, Dicchio and Raze. But also... Everything else."


"'Everything else?'"


"Yes, sir. The animals and other life forms of this world. From the largest predators to the tiniest of insects, I can sense it all. Even the planet is giving off energy that I can sense."


"Can you focus on just our power levels?"





She shook her head.


"That's what I've been trying to practice in the mountains, sir. I've been trying to learn how to filter the energies I need to know about from those I don't need to know about. But thus far I've been unsuccessful."


He nodded.


"I see. You should have told me about this earlier Era."





She nodded to him.


"For now, I reserve judgement on just what to do about you withholding this information from me. Until I make up my mind you are to focus on your recovery. If it doesn't tax your mind or body too much, you may continue practicing the filtration process. But be prepared for punishment all the same. I cannot in good conscience overlook what you've done by going behind my back like this. We may not be long for the Saiyan Raiding Corps, once Inecros is finished with it. But our private chain of command will remain. As your Commanding Officer I am offended that you would hide this from me."





Era closed her eyes and nodded.


"Then get some rest. I will likely have come to a decision tomorrow. Be prepared for me to visit and dispense punishment at that time."





She nodded to him as he exited the Medical Bay. As he flew back to the Command Center building, he thought about just what he should do. Era's punishment would not be severe, but it would serve as a lesson to her never to withhold information from him again.


Meanwhile back in the Medical Bay Sil held Era's hand again and the two of them spoke quietly about recent events and future plans before Era fell back asleep. Sil gave Era's sleeping form a gentle hug before leaving the Medical Bay and finding herself a place to call "home" in this new and amazing structure. She picked out a quaint little house near the edge of the base to call her own and settled in for the night.


But back in the Medical Bay... Something was happening.


Era's dreams were filled with strange visions and images. Disturbing visions and images. Even in dreams her subconscious knew that Inecros was approaching their home worlds. Her dreams were being filled with images of Inecros as a dark mass of energy (as she'd never seen him before and no physical descriptions had ever been made clear to the Saiyan Race) as he went about casually flinging balls of energy at the Saiyan Home Worlds which were lined up in a neat little row. The planets exploded one by one with Inecros' dark form laughing maniacally.


Era then saw her worst nightmare. Her family and friends as well as the members of the Raid Group lined up bound in Ki Chains as Inecros casually proceeded to tear them apart, literally, one by one. Sil was last in his lineup, and as he began to tear away at Sil Era tried to look away but found it impossible. Her best friend was torn limb from limb without her being able to do anything about it. And then Inecros turned his glowing red eyes on Era. She tried to run, but no matter where she looked his dark form was approaching her slowly and confidently.


Eventually he reached her, grabbing her by the throat and preparing to punch her head clean off her shoulders. As the fist came forward Era woke up suddenly with a single shriek of "NO!" She was sweating profusely, her heart rate once again highly elevated and her breathing erratic. She checked her head and neck and then looked around before remembering where she was. She began to control her breathing, and thus her heart rate, before she stood up out of bed with some discomfort and walked over to the window. Trailing behind her was a small stream of sweat dripping off of her body as if she was fresh out of a shower.


She discarded her clothing and found a spare towel to dry herself off with. When finished she folded the towel and placed it in the laundry basket along with her old clothing. She donned one of the Medical Bay's robes and went back to look out the window and got a better look at the amazing new structure that was their base. Karas had really outdone himself with this. It was a much better and safer place for them now.


After a few minutes of allowing herself to calm down Era sat down in a chair near the window and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. More so than she'd been in a very long time. However, she'd also heard Sil and the Commander's exchange about her power reading being only 500. When Era closed her eyes and felt out her own energy, she found it was true. Without her conscious consent, her body had found a way of suppressing her energy both in external and internal form. Somehow she was doing this without even concentrating on it. When Era grabbed her Scouter which Sil had fetched for her and placed on a table nearby earlier in the day, she found her power readings to be 500 in each form.


Era powered up and watched her maximum potential skyrocket back to 7,713 while her current power level was held at around 1,000. When she relaxed herself and stopped powering up, she let her current power level fall back to 500. Her maximum potential remained at 7,713. She thought about it for a second and tried to remember what it felt like when she was unconsciously suppressing her power. After a moment's analysis she came to something of an epiphany regarding the suppression of energy. Era turned her thoughts inward and found her "Core" of energy. By concentrating on that "Core" energy, she was able to condense it which she could hear from the Scouter's sounds was changing her perceived maximum potential. When she opened her eyes her maximum potential was read as 1,000 to match her current power level.


"Well that was easier than I thought... The others should know about this tomorrow." She said to herself.


But with that, Era was done for the day. She pulled up a new bed with fresh sheets and lay down to sleep for the night. Tomorrow she would show everyone how they could suppress their energy and hide it from the Scouters and, presumably, enemies which were like Era who could sense their Ki. It would be a wonderful and incredibly useful tool for future battles. Lead the enemies into a false sense of security before powering up and wiping them out now that they're demoralized and confused.


That thought in mind, Era finally fell asleep and had no further nightmares of Inecros.​

 

[Genon]

@Kyero


Karas beamed at the Commander's reaction. When the Commander complimented him, he replied, "Thank you, sir." Then Korvaiis mentioned breaking down the Mobile Base. "Uh...about that...with all due respect sir, I don't think salvaging the Mobile Base is the best idea. I think it has strategic value as a lifeboat of sorts to get the wounded, young, recovering, VIPs, and potential civilians off-world if this planet is lost. Not all of us are fighters, or will even have ships, and if the Saiyan race is to continue there will inevitably be children and infants who might need transport and good facilities to support them."


"And besides, the salvage isn't even necessary. See those factories? They'll reconfigure themselves to support any blueprint I put in, and it comes with some resources to jumpstart production. Ten Mobile Bases will occupy about 3% of what's currently stockpiled. And the stockpile will skyrocket once I start mass-producing labor drones to gather more resources."


Then the commander gave him the rest of his orders. "Understood, sir. I hope the tour is satisfactory."


When Korvaiis got to Xol's ship, Xol explained that the Bastion was just a product like any other. He didn't really know it inside and out, though he had worked in them before, when trading with species in similar situations to the Saiyans or visiting terrestrial colonies. He gave Korvaiis and the others the tour anyway, to the best of his ability, but since the layout was subject to change based on what the Saiyans needed he wasn't quite sure if it would be very useful.


Karas, for his part, was in one of several of the city's factories. He sat in the factory's central office, at a desk. A complicated panel was before him, with a holographic monitor popping out of the desk and a slot for a Universal Storage Standard, or USS, stick on the monitor's base. He took the USS stick that his labor drones' blueprints were stored on, slid it into the slot and watched as the factory reconfigured itself to handle the new blueprint. It took about 15 minutes for the factory's computer, located in an armored panic room, to figure out how to optimally produce the new design. The computer, after running simulation after simulation of the assembly line, came to a solution and duplicated it in the real world using nanobots. With a thunderous whirr and clang of machinery, the factory came online, and was soon abuzz with activity. Without those labor bots, it was likely that the Saiyans would be unable to support themselves on a large scale until professionals came along. The Bastion could do its best to grow food, but without seeds or livestock it was useless. And they'd need fuel for ships and minerals for building things once the stockpile ran out. The labor drones were a good start, but they weren't a silver bullet.


Karas reasoned that it would also be a good idea to start working on generic soldier bots as cannon fodder. Right now, the Saiyans didn't have an army. They'd have a few thousand fighters at best, but even with limitless power it was nothing against Inecros, and whatever forces he had. For that matter, Inecros' army was a major unknown. But they needed to be prepared. So Karas rigged up much more powerful soldier design, meant to be mass-produced. It had a small ki container at its center, about equal to 5,000 power. The robot would be an insect by Inecros' standards, but it was still about as powerful as a low-end middle-class Saiyan, which was more than a lot of the population could say. The robot would be armed with a ki shield on the left forearm, a ki blade extending about 3 feet from the right wrist, ki projectors in the palms and fingers, and a shoulder ki launcher for heavy firepower. He would work on more specialized robots later, but for now they would be good blaster fodder. He had a second factory get to work on these. Soon the base would be littered with them, at his beck and call. Of course, he would have to give control to the commander, or at least the sub-commander. He'd ask who to give them to.


With that out of the way, he took up residence in a small but luxurious house near the Command Center. He would need to be nearby to work on the city's layout, and he wanted a taste of the good life for once. Saiyans tended to live spartan, simple lives, and he wanted something more. That night, he slept with rich, warm sheets made out of some type of synthetic fur, in a comfortable room. The new bed was something to get used to, but eventually he slept more soundly than he ever had in his life.

 

[Kyero]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

The next morning Korvaiis awoke at first light.


He went about his morning routine and then made his way to the Command Center. After observing the controls and taking into account how he'd like to do some rearranging of certain parts of the base he jotted them down for Urod to handle while he was elsewhere. He had some unfinished business to take care of first.


He made his way to the Medical Bay where Era was already awake and seated in a chair next to her bed. He was surprised she was up already given how much power she'd unleashed yesterday but he wasn't about to question it.


"Era."


"Yes, Commander?"


"I have come to a decision about your punishment for withholding information from me."





Era nodded.


"For your actions you will serve two full days and nights in exile on the opposing side of this planet. You will take nothing with you except for a change of clothing and your Scouter which you may not use for anything except to listen for my approval of your return on the third day."





Era arched an eyebrow as that didn't sound like a true punishment. If she didn't know better he was giving her an 'official' excuse to continue doing what she'd been doing this whole time. Was he punishing her or praising her for her experimentation with her new abilities?


"If you have no questions, your sentence will be carried out immediately. The mobile base still has your belongings stored where you left them, so take a change of clothing and your Scouter and make yourself scarce. That is all."





With that he left her to serve her punishment.


Era sighed and flew to the mobile base to grab her clothing and her Scouter and then flew away. It took a few hours to reach the other side of the planet, but once there she stored her clothing in a crevice she made by hand in the face of a small mountain and removed the clothing of the Medical Bay dropping it to the ground.


For the rest of her training it was just her and the planet. Nothing would come between them. Not even clothing. Era sat down on the edge of a cliff overlooking a forest and closed her eyes. She could sense the energies of the animals and the surrounding environment, and now she was free to continue her training to filter the energies she needed to know about from those she did not.


She still didn't know if this was a true punishment or the Commander's way of praising her findings despite her actions. Either way she had another opportunity to train uninterrupted which allowed her to calm her mind and body more thoroughly than she'd been able to before... And so at last she made progress.​

 

[Genon]

@Kyero


When Karas emerged from his house after doing his morning routine, he checked for the Commander's energy signature. He was in the medical bay, likely talking to Era. Then his Scouter locked on to Era flying back to her house. She recovered quickly, Karas thought. Karas took to the air and checked on his little army. In just a day, about 50 soldiers were produced, along with about 100 labor drones. However, he realized he had forgotten something: The coding. He raced back to the Command Center and began navigating the menus furiously. As he feared, the drones were inactive in their chambers in both factories, quickly piling up. He quickly fabricated a section of the building dedicated to maintenance and the computer created a series of machines to funnel the inactive robots to it in order apply the actual operating system Karas wanted installed, with all of his previous coding intact. For that matter, he would have to give these to Korvaiis and Urod eventually. In order to do that, he would have to make some kind of remote control. Once the OS had been uploaded to ten robots, he used his arm computer to fly them to his house. He would have to create an app for the Scouter, something that would allow the Commander or Sub-Commander to manipulate them en masse as well as divide them into squads and give them more specific roles. To do that, he would need an officer's input.


He considered calling Sub-Commander Urod, but a lower-ranking officer would likely get more grunt work, and seeing as his energy signature was currently in the Command Center, he probably had a lot on his plate right now. So he reluctantly navigated to Commander Korvaiis' address on his Scouter, even though the Commander likely had better things to do with his time.


Karas typed up a text message that read:


To: Commander Korvaiis


From: Karas Lugdroth


I'm sure you have important things to do, but I think I may need your input on my next creation. Basically, I've made a robot army. Comedy and Tragedy are far more powerful than these grunts individually, but that's exactly what they are: grunts, designed to put pressure on an opponent with sheer numbers. I may create more powerful or more specialized ones later, but for now I'm just making the basic trooper in massive quantities. Now here's the thing: You're obviously going to want control over these robots, since they will form the backbone of our army until we get reinforcements, and even then we will only have a few thousand Saiyans at best. The only problem is, I don't have a remote control UI installed. I plan for it to be an app for the Scouters of you and Urod. But I've never commanded an army before, so I want your input on features and usability. Please come to my house/shop when you can so we can discuss what you want me to include. Thank you.

 

[Denezen]

As Era recovered from her outburst and their new home became a metropolis, Itta wondered around aimlessly. He felt strange emptiness that we wasn't doing enough for the oncoming storm. His command led him to safety from the new oncoming genecide, Era and Sil granted them unlimited power, Karas got them their own capital, and even the two returning members could provide some kind of medical support. Itta felt he was the vanguard, the defender, the person to put his life on his line to protect, but the people he wanted to defend were drastically stronger than him. Tightening his fist, a goal started to form in his mind.


His first step, as with any plan he could come up with right now, was to get stronger. With his duel with with the Commander and his more than double power level still fresh in his mind, he was itching for another spar. Yet he didn't want another with Korvaiis. Itta was fully aware of the dangers of only challenging yourself against a single opponent. Both would get complacent with each others fighting styles, and would be harder to diverse against real opponents. Even though he only had one fight with Korvaiis and was really in no danger of this, he still took it as an excuse to not fight the person who he just witnessed fight Era.


That led Itta to his second choice, Nei. The recruiter who was the one who accept him into their small raid group and always had a similar fighting style to him. Though he had only heard about his fighting, never witnessed it for himself, Itta thought it was time for that to change. Itta left his residence near the middle of town to track down the recruiter. He happened to be with Kendra as they were soon to leave to gather food. Flying to approach them, the two quickly took notice.


Kendra responded first waving him down, "Well if it isn't Itta. Come over to help us gather more food? Might be a lot of sayian's coming that need to be fed you know, and a planet wipe for hunting."


Itta gave an small smile, feeling guilty about actually removing a member from the hunting party instead of adding one. "Actually ma'am, I was looking for Nei to ask if he would be okay for us to have a small spar. With everything going on, I've been feeling kind of restless and was looking to train some."


Nei's face briefly brightened at the idea of sparing rather than getting food, but returned neutral as he looked between the two. "While it would be fun, I do have a duty to..." he started only to be interrupted by his partner.


"Go and beat up the small fry, I can handle any beast on this planet and will finally not be slowed down by you. Besides, the kid's obviously to scared to take me on!" she said with a proud smirk on her face. Nei's response was a return of the quick smile and a deep nod in acceptance before taking off into the air. The group split in two as Kendra went into the wild and the two headed towards the sparring field where Itta fought before.

 

[Kyero]

The Commander was floating high above the base observing the layout and making mental notes of what he wanted to change in terms of basic layout and workflow throughout the base when he noticed that Karas had left him a message. He made his way down to read the message and then made his way to Karas' place. Knocking on the door he waited for Karas to answer before going inside.


"Thank you for the message Karas. So, you wish to create an app to command the grunts and you want my input on features to include in their programming? Is that right?"





He thought about this for a few moments.


"If Urod and I are going to be taking command of them then it's obvious that voice-recognition is the way to go, but I'm certain you knew that already. When it comes to the kinds of orders I think they should be programmed to follow, that one gets a bit tricky. It's much easier to give orders to a living thing due to their flexibility and the fact we can just say their name, but when it comes to a massive number of mechanical soldiers it becomes much more specific."





He sat down in a chair to think.


"For starters they need to recognize the chain of command. I want them to respond to orders from anyone in our Raid Group, but myself and Urod take top priority under what I will call 'Normal Circumstances.' Normal Circumstances mean that nobody in the group is in immediate danger and are holding their own in combat be it with or without present assistance. Abnormal Circumstance will mean that one or more of our own have become endangered by the enemy they are facing. If that happens, I want these robots to recognize it and shift tactics. They must be capable of organizing a support effort where they send as many of themselves as necessary to maximize survivability of whomever is in trouble. Our lives take precedence over their own existence." He said.


He took a moment to gloss over a few mental notes.


"The next detail involves their tactics in combat. All of these bots should be able to recognize and calculate how many of them are in a single isolated location and be able to either condense their efforts or spread out based on the threat level posed by their target. If their target is more powerful than they are, they must condense their efforts and gang up on them. If the target is equal or weaker, they should spread out leaving only as many as necessary to keep the target occupied or defeat them while the rest who venture further away prepare to break immediately to assist on other fronts when and if the need arises."





He leaned back in the chair.


"Those are my two most important requirements for these bots. What ideas did you have in mind for them?"

 

[Genon]

The Commander was floating high above the base observing the layout and making mental notes of what he wanted to change in terms of basic layout and workflow throughout the base when he noticed that Karas had left him a message. He made his way down to read the message and then made his way to Karas' place. Knocking on the door he waited for Karas to answer before going inside.
"Thank you for the message Karas. So, you wish to create an app to command the grunts and you want my input on features to include in their programming? Is that right?"





He thought about this for a few moments.


"If Urod and I are going to be taking command of them then it's obvious that voice-recognition is the way to go, but I'm certain you knew that already. When it comes to the kinds of orders I think they should be programmed to follow, that one gets a bit tricky. It's much easier to give orders to a living thing due to their flexibility and the fact we can just say their name, but when it comes to a massive number of mechanical soldiers it becomes much more specific."





He sat down in a chair to think.


"For starters they need to recognize the chain of command. I want them to respond to orders from anyone in our Raid Group, but myself and Urod take top priority under what I will call 'Normal Circumstances.' Normal Circumstances mean that nobody in the group is in immediate danger and are holding their own in combat be it with or without present assistance. Abnormal Circumstance will mean that one or more of our own have become endangered by the enemy they are facing. If that happens, I want these robots to recognize it and shift tactics. They must be capable of organizing a support effort where they send as many of themselves as necessary to maximize survivability of whomever is in trouble. Our lives take precedence over their own existence." He said.


He took a moment to gloss over a few mental notes.


"The next detail involves their tactics in combat. All of these bots should be able to recognize and calculate how many of them are in a single isolated location and be able to either condense their efforts or spread out based on the threat level posed by their target. If their target is more powerful than they are, they must condense their efforts and gang up on them. If the target is equal or weaker, they should spread out leaving only as many as necessary to keep the target occupied or defeat them while the rest who venture further away prepare to break immediately to assist on other fronts when and if the need arises."





He leaned back in the chair.


"Those are my two most important requirements for these bots. What ideas did you have in mind for them?"

Karas listened intently to what Korvaiis had in mind. "That all makes sense, and seems doable. Tragedy and Comedy are textbook examples of advanced military A.I, so it won't be hard to repurpose their code and add in a few new features. Now the real problem will be in organization. You're going to want to refer to an individual robot or group of robots. Doing that requires at the very least a division and rank system. It'll be an organizational nightmare to have to update the troop list every time a new squad rolls off the assembly line, so I'm going to have to make it do so automatically, which will require a subspace connection to the city. Also, it can't be all voice recognition. I plan on including a self-diagnostic and transponder module so you can see each robot's designation and location on the planet along with its damage level. There'll also have to be aggressive vs. defensive tactics, a passive mode, and of course whether to use ranged or melee."


"Actually, speaking of a subspace connection to the city, what do you want to name the Bastion?"


---


Xol Gan left his ship, his slug-like body leaving a faint amount of slime on the surfaces of the Bastion. Of course, he used all manner of cleaning materials to prevent his slime from getting everywhere, and had even gone so far as to have gene therapy to have his slime evaporate when exposed to air, the better to not anger his clients and non-Zy'leth friends.


He sighed in relaxation as the sun met his features. The swamps of his hometown back on Zy weren't the most forgiving of environs, and he savored every chance he could get to visit a forest planet like this. It was beautiful, and the key reason why he had stayed an extra day. Of course, he didn't want to leave the city limits. All manner of alien beasts could exist beyond those walls, and he didn't want to get himself eaten. The fact that his blood would kill whatever ate him wasn't much of a condolence. As he wandered around the base, he navigated in his retinal chip's UI to find a message from Karas from last night. It seemed that Karas wanted schematics files and special algorithms this time. Information like that was hard to get, but he could do it. He owed the Saiyans that much for rescuing his child.


But then his blood ran cold as a horrible thought occurred to him: He may have enlisted the Saiyans' help in rescuing his child. They may have destroyed a powerful crime syndicate. And Karas might be a genuinely good person. But really, the Saiyans weren't that different from Inecros with their genocidal ways. Had he sacrificed the entire universe's safety for the sake of his own child?


Part of him considered turning away, revealing everything to Inecros, telling him their location and watching the fireworks from a safe distance. But he knew he couldn't do it. He was too loyal to Karas. And with their new discovery of "limitless power" he was hearing so much about, the Saiyans were their only hope of defeating Inecros. Inecros might be the metaphorical "bigger monster" in this situation, but the bastard was still a threat to universal society as he knew it. And there was still a beacon of hope should Inecros be defeated: There would be fewer Saiyans, and Karas was, at heart, a peaceful man. If it weren't for the society he grew up in, he might have never hurt a fly.


Xol continued to ponder on this for a while before continuing about his day.

 

[Kyero]

Korvaiis considered Karas' words carefully.


"Hmm... I've never been much good with naming things. For the time being a temporary designation will do until someone comes up with a permanent name that we can all agree on. Until further notice, and until a more suitable name is presented, this bastion will be known simply as Outpost-IE. IE stands for "Inecros' Elimination."" He said.


"When it comes to the tactics the robots use in combat, I want at least five basic modes though if you think of more I'll trust you to add them: In Mode 1 they target the most dangerous adversaries. In Mode 2 they target the weakest and thin out the herd. In Mode 3 they focus on protecting weaker or damaged allies. Mode 4 they focus on rescue and retrieval, moving damaged allies to the Medical Bay to be tended to immediately. And Mode 5 they focus on defending the bastion from any forces that get by the main unit."





He took a moment to breathe.


"How exactly this is undertaken I leave to you. Admittedly my job as Commander has only seen me in charge of a Raid Group's basic task allocation so larger scale command is something new to me. It will take some getting used to. For now focus on your duties and take care of whatever you think needs the most immediate attention and work... I'm getting a message from Sub-Commander Urod. Please excuse me," he said as he stood up and politely left the building.


Once outside he opened up comms.


"What is it Urod?"


"Sir! We're picking up a large scale force incoming!"





"What?!" He said aloud.


"It looks to be around five days out in space, but it's heading in our direction sir! Judging by their bearing they are coming from Inecros' fleet. They may be scout teams, and while they are not on a direct course for our location if they come within any distance where they can detect communications or the presence of significant power levels they'll find us quite rapidly sir!"





Korvaiis let out a breath through his nose as he grit his teeth.


"That will be all Urod. Keep an eye on them."


"Yes, sir!"





Koraviis closed comms and walked back inside Karas' house.


"Does this base have stealth or cloaking technology Karas? Urod says there is a large force heading in our general direction and I want this bastion invisible from space if possible by the time they get here. If there is something that can be done then get it up and running as soon as possible and send me a message when you're finished."





He could not afford to wait for a response. He had somewhere to be and someone else to talk to.


Koraviis powered up to his maximum and took off at full speed tearing through the skies of the planet like a missile on steroids out towards Era's position on the far side of the planet. Even at top speed it took him nearly two hours to reach her, and by the time he had he was exhausted. Era, it seemed, was not surprised to see him by the look on her face as she opened her eyes.


"Era. I take it you and your ability know why I'm here?" He asked.


She nodded.


"I have been sensing them since this morning. Had I not been under orders to await my punishment I'd have told you about them immediately."


"This ability of yours. How quickly can you teach the group to sense energy and hide their power levels from the Scouter?"





Now that Era was surprised to hear.


"How did you-?"


"I cannot do so myself, Era. But I'm not a fool. I had your Scouter's communications tapped that night and was able to hear you talking to yourself about figuring out how to hide your power level from the Scouter. Now answer the question! How quickly can you teach the group how to do this?!" He ordered frantically.


"I... I don't know, sir. It will be different for everyone. I can tell everyone of the process I used to learn how to accomplish these feats, but I cannot make their bodies suddenly learn or harness them. Their own determination to accomplish the task as well as how well their bodies respond to the method I created will be the greatest factors in whether or not they manage to learn them."


"Your banishment is over. You're coming back with me right now! It's time for a lesson in sensing energy and hiding energy from Scouters and other power reading devices!" He ordered.


She nodded and stood up, following him back to the base. On the way she described to him the basic process, hoping at the very least he'd be able to understand the basic concept and be able to do so himself as he held the highest power level of the group at 32,000 as of this point in time.


Once they reached the base around two and a half hours later flying at Era's top speed, the two of them landed and Koraviis called everyone together on his position. Time was not on their side and he would not risk delaying. If the entire Raid Group could learn this technique, then they'd have a chance to remain undetected by the passing Scout Teams and evade Inecros' eye. They had to. It was their only hope now.


They all had five days to master abilities that took Era weeks to figure out on her own.

 

[Denezen]

Both warriors landed at opposite sides of the slightly battle-torn field. They stared at each other from across the land, Nei reducing his energy to just over 1000. He knew of Itta's familiarity of fighting a stronger opponent and could probably be fine at 2 or 3 times this power, but he recently went through a large increase in power and there was bound to be some growing pains. He would start off at just a tad stronger than him and adjust accordingly.


Itta, on the other hand, had no thought of holding back. He reached his old maximum instantly as he charged and powered into his new power with growing familiarity. 300, 400, 500, the number rose by the second, only slowing as he reached his limit. Focusing on his scouter, a small smile appeared at the 845 that identified himself. He also noticed the power his opponent decided to start out and could guess what he was doing. He knew it was a smart thing to do, but couldn't help but want to test himself out to the limit from the start.


A calm fell over the landscape as the two locked eyes, knowing one of them was about to make the first move. Deciding to take advantage of the moment, Itta fist tightened as he begun to focus on bringing out his star. It was only just forming when Nei took his opponents preparation as the signal to begin his assault and rushed forwards. Itta was only able to conjure a small 6'' ball infront of both of first before his opponent closed 3/4 of the distance. Having to deal with what he has, Itta begun to retreat through backwards hopes, deciding to keep his foe at a distance until his star finished. Deciding it would be better to have one star than none, he focused on only increasing the size of his right fist as his left was used to fire off shooting stars from the incomplete star to slow down Nei.


Having to dodge between the beams Itta was throwing at him slowed the advancing recruiter, but his forward dash was still much faster than his opponent's retreat. After just barely moving his head to dodge another attack, Nei called out "What's the matter Itta?! I thought you fought with your opponents, not run away to shoot these weak blast! Now FIGHT!" He ended his antagonistic outcry with a leap far into the air. He yelled out as he then fell upon his opponent from above, using his greater momentum, size, and strength to prepare a strong right punch.


Itta watched at the man a leid taller than him descended upon him. Realizing backing up would do no good, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and twisted his body down to the right side. The star he has been preparing since the start now glowed bright red around his fist and was ready to be used. As Nei neared the end of his fall, Itta decided to meet him right before the end. Laucnhing himself up from the ground and throwing his right as an uppercut, he plan to catch his foe off guard and force him to power up to take him seriously.


Nei smiled as the flowing red power start to ascend towards him instead of run father away from him. Finally the fight would begin in earnest. His opponent sprung from the ground like a rocket and rushed towards him, not giving him a chance to actually use his right at these speeds. No matter, Nei was experienced and could adapt just fine to this. He twisted his body at the last second, letting the glow of the red star just graze his cheek. As the rest of his body passed Itta's, he brought his knee straight into his undefended stomach.


Taking the hit to the gut caused Itta's vision to darken as the world seemed to shake around him. He bent overon the knee trying to impale him, the armor shattered from the blow. All the air escaped his lungs from the impact, but luckily no blood was vomited with the air. As the invading limb left his body, Itta begun to grit his teeth to overcome this injury. He still had his star, and he'd be damned if all it did was lightly touch his face. He grabbed Nei's arm as he was trying to pull away from the smaller sayain, and Itta brought down the shaking arm that was still raised from his attempted strike.


The tight grip on his arm surprised the recruiter after dealing such a heavy blow. He turned to see if it was just a pointless grab from a victim, but instead red filled his eyes. The small tap from before acted as a marker as Itta twisted his body again, pulling Nei closer with his left and and bringing the star down with his right to connect to the side of the face. The blow wasn't as devastating as the knee, but still sent Nei heading towards the ground, landing on his hands a knees.


Lowering himself to the ground while nursing his stomach, Itta finally found sure footing as Nei was getting up. Swallowing what tasted like a small amount of bile back down his throat, Itta was the first to speak. "We can do better than this. I took hits like this when I was still below 300. Granted I didn't get back up most of the time, but I'm beyond that now! You better step up, the real fighting starts now!" He finished by gathering the energy for his star again, straining himself to bring it out faster than before.


Nei himself found himself on his feet with sure footing as soon as Itta finished challenging him. He saw the star's quickly forming in his hands, the red light unmissable, and decided to not repeat the start of the match. "Fine! You seem to have a hold on your power, so lets take that step!" he said as he started to double his power, then triple his power. Stopping just shy of 3000, Itta's star finished as well. He wiped away the blood on his cheek from the earlier punch, and took a guarded position. "I started the first round, you can have the second".

 

[Genon]

Korvaiis considered Karas' words carefully.
"Hmm... I've never been much good with naming things. For the time being a temporary designation will do until someone comes up with a permanent name that we can all agree on. Until further notice, and until a more suitable name is presented, this bastion will be known simply as Outpost-IE. IE stands for "Inecros' Elimination."" He said.


"When it comes to the tactics the robots use in combat, I want at least five basic modes though if you think of more I'll trust you to add them: In Mode 1 they target the most dangerous adversaries. In Mode 2 they target the weakest and thin out the herd. In Mode 3 they focus on protecting weaker or damaged allies. Mode 4 they focus on rescue and retrieval, moving damaged allies to the Medical Bay to be tended to immediately. And Mode 5 they focus on defending the bastion from any forces that get by the main unit."





He took a moment to breathe.


"How exactly this is undertaken I leave to you. Admittedly my job as Commander has only seen me in charge of a Raid Group's basic task allocation so larger scale command is something new to me. It will take some getting used to. For now focus on your duties and take care of whatever you think needs the most immediate attention and work... I'm getting a message from Sub-Commander Urod. Please excuse me," he said as he stood up and politely left the building.


Once outside he opened up comms.


"What is it Urod?"


"Sir! We're picking up a large scale force incoming!"





"What?!" He said aloud.


"It looks to be around five days out in space, but it's heading in our direction sir! Judging by their bearing they are coming from Inecros' fleet. They may be scout teams, and while they are not on a direct course for our location if they come within any distance where they can detect communications or the presence of significant power levels they'll find us quite rapidly sir!"





Korvaiis let out a breath through his nose as he grit his teeth.


"That will be all Urod. Keep an eye on them."


"Yes, sir!"





Koraviis closed comms and walked back inside Karas' house.


"Does this base have stealth or cloaking technology Karas? Urod says there is a large force heading in our general direction and I want this bastion invisible from space if possible by the time they get here. If there is something that can be done then get it up and running as soon as possible and send me a message when you're finished."





He could not afford to wait for a response. He had somewhere to be and someone else to talk to.


She nodded and stood up, following him back to the base. On the way she described to him the basic process, hoping at the very least he'd be able to understand the basic concept and be able to do so himself as he held the highest power level of the group at 32,000 as of this point in time.


Once they reached the base around two and a half hours later flying at Era's top speed, the two of them landed and Koraviis called everyone together on his position. Time was not on their side and he would not risk delaying. If the entire Raid Group could learn this technique, then they'd have a chance to remain undetected by the passing Scout Teams and evade Inecros' eye. They had to. It was their only hope now.


They all had five days to master abilities that took Era weeks to figure out on her own.

Karas paid attention to the Commander, absorbing every word. Then the commander politely excused himself upon getting a message from Urod. Karas heard the commander shout, and he knew something terrible was happening. What could it be? Inecros? The Saiyan Empire noticing their absence? Karas' concerns were answered as the Commander walked in and told him that a large force was due to arrive in five days, then promptly ran off faster than he had ever seen the Commander go.


For the stealth mode, Karas knew two things: One, he would have to get a cloaking field blueprint. Outpost-IE wasn't equipped with one, and since those kinds of schematics were usually military-exclusive, in some parts of space owning one could get you in a lot of trouble. And the Saiyans were considered monsters overall, so giving a Saiyan advanced military technology like that was social suicide. That meant Xol would have to talk to some people, and fast. Second, that ki shield could be problematic. Synthetic ki barriers of that scale took time to stabilize, and usually they were at their most vulnerable right when they were activated. Even if he could get a mass cloaking device blueprint, which was rather unlikely, he would have to turn off the ki shield for the base to not shine like a light on Inecro's power scanners. In a worst-case scenario, which would be Inecros revealing himself, the shield would have turned off, exposing Outpost-IE and all inside it to unbridled destruction. Then again, it was unlikely that anything could survive Inecros' wrath. Still, it was their best bet.


"Hey, Xol?" Karas asked into the Scouter.


"Yes?"


"So we think Inecros' fleet is heading in our general direction, and we're going to need some kind of cloaking for the Bastion to survive."


A pit formed in Xol's stomach when he heard that.


"So, let me get this straight: You want me to leave the planet, pass by Inecros' fleet, and get you a military-restricted blueprint that you can only get on the black market?"


"Well...yes, that sums it up completely."


"That's completely pointless," Xol said, "and hazardous to my health, property, and freedom. The Bastion was meant for people fleeing genocide, you don't think it has stealth capabilities? They're not as restricted as you think. It just depends on the place where you get it from, and thankfully the Zy'leth Confederacy has very little economic regulation, so Insta-Kit can sell us a full set of features. There's probably other stuff in the Command Center that you didn't know about, because you're a Saiyan and your Borodian tranciever can’t access some parts of the Internet so you weren't able to get the full list. It might be a military device, but different nations restrict access to or show certain species different information.”


Silence reigned for a few moments, but Karas broke it with, "Well, I guess I have some PR work to do."


"Yes. Yes you do, Karas. In fact...I actually have a question for you. If you were omnipotent, what would you want for the Saiyans after Inecros' defeat?" Karas was struck dumb by this unexpected question. At his silence, Xol continued with, "You know I have a very mainstream view of the universe and its peoples, I won't report anything to Korvaiis if you say anything controversial."


Karas replied with, "Well...I do trust you. Here's what I want: I want to be in a position of power when Inecros is defeated. With that seat of power, I want to lead the new Saiyan race into a cosmopolitan era where intelligence and diplomacy rule. I ideally want us to heal old wounds, make reparations, and integrate with the universal community. I don't want us to be backwater savages anymore. But I know that's unlikely without a massive cultural shift."


Xol smiled. Karas was exactly what he needed, what the Saiyans needed, what the universe needed. Xol replied, "Now what do you think will happen after Inecros is defeated if you don't?"


Karas continued darkly, "Some uneducated Super Elite will take control of the Saiyans, because the Saiyans hold physical strength and combat prowess above all else. Then we're right back where we started."


"Then you have to become a Super Elite before he does. Whether that's with mechanical might or your own power, you have to be someone that even the most egotistical, callous, murderous, and deadly Saiyan will respect enough to follow to the edge of the universe and back."


Karas replied, "Then I will."


"I know you will," said Xol. "Even if you don't end up in the highest office, you can still be an ambassador or a diplomat. Do what you can to rebuild the Saiyans smarter than they ever were before. You've already proven you have the potential to do so by freely interacting with my people without a trace of negativity. You are what your species needs."


"Well, right now I have to make sure this outpost survives a potential assault."


"Very well then. I'll let you work."


With that, Xol hang up, leaving Karas alone in front of his nanomachine-built computer. Now to start coding. Hopefully this thing has an AI IDE, Karas thought. The thing about the Bastion was that it had nanomachine panels everywhere. The Command Center had absolute control when privacy safeguards were disabled, and could construct and demolish buildings instantly, but if everyone went to the same building every time they wanted a new oven, it would get crowded pretty quickly. So each and every building, and many rooms and appliances, had nanomachine control panels built-in that only governed a small area, such as the computer that Karas was in front of. But getting something that could interface with Saiyan technology into this computer would be a pain without a roundabout method. It took a few tries, but eventually Karas managed to get a Saiyan Empire DEF (Data Exchange Format) port on the outside of the computer tower by accessing the Metahnn patent office from his Scouter, and wirelessly connecting his arm to his Scouter to get the blueprint onto the arm. From there, it was just a matter of wanting to convert the patent schematic from a Saiyan document file to a standard document file and sending it to the Bastion's computer over the airwaves. So the Bastion could now make DEF ports, which meant the next part of his task could happen.


Karas rolled back the part of the bodysuit covering his left arm to the shoulder to reveal his prosthesis. He took off a plate on the prosthesis and pulled out a DEF wire, plugging it into the computer. The screen quickly became a flickering blur as Karas' thoughts began to control the primitive machine. Karas' mind was almost moving too fast for the machine to handle, and once the programming suite was up and running, code began to pour down the screen in incredible quantities, quickly reaching a hundred lines, then a thousand, then ten thousand, and still growing. In the span of 2 hours, Karas had done what would take a team of 30 ordinary programmers at least two weeks. The only problem would be making sure this code actually worked. He could complete it quite fast, but the brain-machine interface occasionally lost things in translation, which could be catastrophic. He would have to compile and test it later--BEEP!


That was his Scouter going off. The Commander was asking everyone to gather at his location. Karas saved his file, unplugged his arm, assembled it again, and pulled the bodysuit down over it before walking out the door and flying to Korvaiis' power signature. He touched down nearby and said, "I'm here, Commander. What do you need?"

 

[Kyero]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

Korvaiis waited with Era at the edge of the base as everyone came pouring in. Once everyone had assembled, he wasted no time.


"We have an emergency. A Scout Group of massive proportions is approaching this sector and will be here in five days. Based on the vector of their arrival they're from Inecros' fleet. If they find this base and us on it and deliver the news, then our new home will be vaporized before our Home Worlds are. Thankfully Era here has discovered a few tricks to help us prevent that from happening. Era, they're all yours."





Era nodded and stepped forward.


"I have discovered methods of both sensing living energy as well as masking one's own, even from devices such as the Scouter." She said.


Nei stifled a laugh and Kendra cleared her throat.


"You can't be serious." Kendra mocked.


"Indeed. 'Sensing living energy' and 'masking our own power from the Scouters'? What fools do you take us for Era?"





Era's brows furrowed.


"You doubt me Nei? Very well. Then put on your Scouter and try having it read my power level. Yours is the top of the line model, correct? Let's see if it can see the true power I possess." She said calmly.


"Gladly," he said.


He clicked the button on his Scouter and it began reading Era's energy levels. Era was as calm as could be with narry a single tense muscle in her body. Nei's Scouter continued to tick away, and slowly Nei's face revealed surprise.


"This thing must be broken." He muttered.


Era smiled.


"What's going on Nei?" Kendra asked.


"The Scouter says her maximum potential is only 500."


"500!?" She yelled.


"But her power level is 7,713! That's a top of the line Scouter!... Let me try mine." She said.


Kendra's Scouter ticked away, but met the same fate.


"It's not possible. Nothing can fool the Scouter! We know your Power Level Era. What trickery is this?! What have you done to our equipment?!" She demanded.


"Calm yourself Kendra. This is no trick, but a technique. One which Era has harnessed and will be teaching us all this day."





"I'm sorry, Commander. But I cannot abide this. You say she's done nothing to our equipment and yet these Scouters read her maximum potential at only 500! That has to be a trick sir!"





"Then read my power again Nei." Era called.


Nei growled, but obliged. The Scouter read her maximum potential at 7,713.


"See?!"





"Do you see Nei? Watch closely... Era."





Nei watched Era and observed as she took a breath in and let it out on a sigh. As she let out her breath her maximum potential on the Scouter decreased slowly until it hit 500. Then Era took in another breath and as she took it in her maximum potential on the Scouter slowly returned to 7,713.


"Outrageous." Nei grumbled.


"I agree. And you'll never convince me that you can "sense living energy" Era."


"Then power down to my level and come at me Kendra. You may attack from any direction and at any speed your heart desires." Era said as she closed her eyes and bowed her head waiting for Kendra to make a move.


"You must have a death wish challenging me like that so openly Era. Remember your place in this Raid Group!"


"Kendra, you will do as she says." The Commander said calmly.


"Y-... Yes, sir."


She thought it ridiculous, but she powered down until his strength was even with Era's own at around 5,000. Kendra let out a breath and disappeared from view moving faster than the naked eye could see.


Saiyans trained to follow their eyes in battle. When in combat with an enemy who could move at faster than naked eye speeds such as Kendra did now, Saiyans were trained to let their eyes go out of focus which allowed them to catch the subtle signs of passing and combat. They couldn't actually see what was going on so much as see the after effects. The slight jolt of energy and the flashes of light off of their bodies, uniforms, and from their attacks was all that could ever be seen. The only time a Saiyan could physically see the body of their faster than naked eye enemy was when their energy eclipsed that of their foe by at least 50%. The increased levels of energy allowed their eyes to utilize their Ki to move fast enough to visually trace them.


But Era's energy was not 50% greater than Kendra's. There should be no way for her to track the woman's movements.


Era waited silently as did the others for Kendra's attack. With Era's eyes closed Kendra was certain to land every attack, right?


No.


Era's left arm flung out to one side and stopped Kendra's first attack, a kick, dead in its tracks.


"I think you're faster than that Kendra. Do not hold back because my eyes are closed. Make me work to defend myself please," Era remarked.


"Don't you dare patronize me!" Kendra yelled.


Kendra disappeared and Era floated into the air, still with her eyes closed. Kendra attacked as fast and hard as she could at her current power level, but Era blocked every single one. Not a single attack broke through her defenses, and her eyes never once opened. It was a seemingly impossible task. Hearing in the Saiyan Race was strong, but not strong enough to discern location when at such high speeds. The speed of sound only traveled so fast. By the time they heard something, the source had moved elsewhere and the original sound was thus unreliable.


"That's enough Era. You've made your point. Kendra, to my side at once!"





Kendra reappeared out of breath and landed next to the Commander.


"Just what in the blazes is going on here Commander?" She asked.


"I told you. Era has found a way to sense living energy and thus no longer needs to rely on her eyes. She can now sense your every motion and hone in on your energy which is much more reliable than the eyes or ears could ever be. And she is here to teach us all how to do this. Calm yourself, get your breath back, and get back in line with the others... You too Nei."





"Yes, Commander." Nei responded, though still visibly ticked at Era.


"Good. Itta, Karas, Raze, Dicchio... Any questions gentlemen?" He asked.​

 

[Denezen]

As Itta was about to oblige Nei in his request to start, both their scouters pinged with an alert. It was an alert to return to their new city, the outskirts at least, and gather with their commander. As much as both fighters wanted to continue their spar, even at a hit a piece, they new their role in the group and took to the sky. They shared a knowing glace, that the match would continue as soon as the opportunity arose, but for now they would obey orders.


Taking off at top speeds, they still were not the first to arrive. Karas and Kendra both stood at attention with the Commander and the girls. The two senior sayains did not seem to be in the best moods, being interrupted from their hunting trip and duel, but Itta was able to keep a level head. And though he wouldn't voice it, Itta was slightly relieves he could recover from Nei's knee before continuing with their fight. Soon, the other's arrived and the commander began.


It seemed like the same speech they had when they arrived on the planet. Just like before, Era has discovered some power the entire sayian race hasn't even comprehended of obtaining. First, unlimited power. Now, sensing and hiding energy unaided. He thought of objecting like his seniors, but his experience of being reprehended for his last cry of doing the impossible stuck in his head he kept his mouth shut. And also like before, Inecros was coming, though instead of himself and a few months, it was a scouting party and a few days. Though thankfully this problem had a solution.


After Era proved once again she was able to discover the impossible, their commander asked this if they had any questions. Though several flowed through his head, if hiding was really the right thing to do, if they could simply lead them away, and many more, he thought of only voicing one that was on everyone's thoughts.


"Is this another power that is unlocked through holding hands, or is it taught?" he asked with a bit of humor in his voice referencing the last ability she unlocked in all of them, "And if the latter, can this really be taught in five days? This power is very impressive and useful, don't get me wrong. But such usually isn't picked up in less than a week. How long did it take for you to get to this level, Era?"

 

[Genon]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

Korvaiis waited with Era at the edge of the base as everyone came pouring in. Once everyone had assembled, he wasted no time.


"We have an emergency. A Scout Group of massive proportions is approaching this sector and will be here in five days. Based on the vector of their arrival they're from Inecros' fleet. If they find this base and us on it and deliver the news, then our new home will be vaporized before our Home Worlds are. Thankfully Era here has discovered a few tricks to help us prevent that from happening. Era, they're all yours."





Era nodded and stepped forward.


"I have discovered methods of both sensing living energy as well as masking one's own, even from devices such as the Scouter." She said.


Nei stifled a laugh and Kendra cleared her throat.


"You can't be serious." Kendra mocked.


"Indeed. 'Sensing living energy' and 'masking our own power from the Scouters'? What fools do you take us for Era?"





Era's brows furrowed.


"You doubt me Nei? Very well. Then put on your Scouter and try having it read my power level. Yours is the top of the line model, correct? Let's see if it can see the true power I possess." She said calmly.


"Gladly," he said.


He clicked the button on his Scouter and it began reading Era's energy levels. Era was as calm as could be with narry a single tense muscle in her body. Nei's Scouter continued to tick away, and slowly Nei's face revealed surprise.


"This thing must be broken." He muttered.


Era smiled.


"What's going on Nei?" Kendra asked.


"The Scouter says her maximum potential is only 500."


"500!?" She yelled.


"But her power level is 7,713! That's a top of the line Scouter!... Let me try mine." She said.


Kendra's Scouter ticked away, but met the same fate.


"It's not possible. Nothing can fool the Scouter! We know your Power Level Era. What trickery is this?! What have you done to our equipment?!" She demanded.


"Calm yourself Kendra. This is no trick, but a technique. One which Era has harnessed and will be teaching us all this day."





"I'm sorry, Commander. But I cannot abide this. You say she's done nothing to our equipment and yet these Scouters read her maximum potential at only 500! That has to be a trick sir!"





"Then read my power again Nei." Era called.


Nei growled, but obliged. The Scouter read her maximum potential at 7,713.


"See?!"





"Do you see Nei? Watch closely... Era."





Nei watched Era and observed as she took a breath in and let it out on a sigh. As she let out her breath her maximum potential on the Scouter decreased slowly until it hit 500. Then Era took in another breath and as she took it in her maximum potential on the Scouter slowly returned to 7,713.


"Outrageous." Nei grumbled.


"I agree. And you'll never convince me that you can "sense living energy" Era."


"Then power down to my level and come at me Kendra. You may attack from any direction and at any speed your heart desires." Era said as she closed her eyes and bowed her head waiting for Kendra to make a move.


"You must have a death wish challenging me like that so openly Era. Remember your place in this Raid Group!"


"Kendra, you will do as she says." The Commander said calmly.


"Y-... Yes, sir."


She thought it ridiculous, but she powered down until his strength was even with Era's own at around 5,000. Kendra let out a breath and disappeared from view moving faster than the naked eye could see.


Saiyans trained to follow their eyes in battle. When in combat with an enemy who could move at faster than naked eye speeds such as Kendra did now, Saiyans were trained to let their eyes go out of focus which allowed them to catch the subtle signs of passing and combat. They couldn't actually see what was going on so much as see the after effects. The slight jolt of energy and the flashes of light off of their bodies, uniforms, and from their attacks was all that could ever be seen. The only time a Saiyan could physically see the body of their faster than naked eye enemy was when their energy eclipsed that of their foe by at least 50%. The increased levels of energy allowed their eyes to utilize their Ki to move fast enough to visually trace them.


But Era's energy was not 50% greater than Kendra's. There should be no way for her to track the woman's movements.


Era waited silently as did the others for Kendra's attack. With Era's eyes closed Kendra was certain to land every attack, right?


No.


Era's left arm flung out to one side and stopped Kendra's first attack, a kick, dead in its tracks.


"I think you're faster than that Kendra. Do not hold back because my eyes are closed. Make me work to defend myself please," Era remarked.


"Don't you dare patronize me!" Kendra yelled.


Kendra disappeared and Era floated into the air, still with her eyes closed. Kendra attacked as fast and hard as she could at her current power level, but Era blocked every single one. Not a single attack broke through her defenses, and her eyes never once opened. It was a seemingly impossible task. Hearing in the Saiyan Race was strong, but not strong enough to discern location when at such high speeds. The speed of sound only traveled so fast. By the time they heard something, the source had moved elsewhere and the original sound was thus unreliable.


"That's enough Era. You've made your point. Kendra, to my side at once!"





Kendra reappeared out of breath and landed next to the Commander.


"Just what in the blazes is going on here Commander?" She asked.


"I told you. Era has found a way to sense living energy and thus no longer needs to rely on her eyes. She can now sense your every motion and hone in on your energy which is much more reliable than the eyes or ears could ever be. And she is here to teach us all how to do this. Calm yourself, get your breath back, and get back in line with the others... You too Nei."





"Yes, Commander." Nei responded, though still visibly ticked at Era.


"Good. Itta, Karas, Raze, Dicchio... Any questions gentlemen?" He asked.

​

Karas watched the proceedings with some amusement. It was always fun to see an Elite have their pride shattered by a low-class Saiyan. Of course, he didn't dislike Kendra, it was just funny to watch. He had seen Elites breathe arrogance and ooze pride, and they usually had the power to back it up. But this one time, things turned out differently.


However, Era discovering a second previously unknown ability in only weeks was so unlikely it was almost comical. But then Karas realized something: His robots couldn't suppress their ki. He would have to integrate a ki suppression system if they were to evade Inecros, and fast. When Korvaiis asked if he had a question, Karas responded, "Uh...even if we can learn ki suppression, my robots can't. So Inecros will likely still detect us by their signatures alone. Without knowing how the technique works myself, it's nigh impossible for me to duplicate it within my robots. Do you think you can give me a detailed explanation of how it works?"​

 

[Kyero]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

Koraviis nodded to both Itta and Karas' questions.


"Era..."


"Of course, Commander." She said.


She looked to Itta first as he'd asked the first question.


"It took me nearly two and a half to three weeks to learn how to do this on my own. However, I had no teacher. I had to feel it out for myself without any instruction. But the technique is relatively simple in its concept. The difficulty will lie in getting your body to do what I'm trying to tell it to do."


She looked to Karas.


"I will be happy to explain how this works."


She took a moment to collect her thoughts.


"Sensing living energy is all about teaching your body how to feel the energy that is given off by another individual. As I stand before you now, I can feel each and every single one of your power levels and even relate them to my own so I know how much stronger or weaker you are than I am without the need for a Scouter."


She took a breath.


"Actually teaching your body how to feel this energy out, however, does take a lot of patience and it takes a partner with a power level. I would not have learned how to do this without Sil sitting across from me while we were acclimating ourselves to our new power levels. I'm not sure if your partner's power level has to be equal to or less than your own, but it should be significant enough that you can feel the heat of their energy. Starting there is the easiest way to teach your body what to look for."


"So we should partner up now?" Korvaiis asked.


"Yes. Please find a partner who's power level is as close to your own as possible."


The Commander and Sub-Commander partnered up, as did Nei and Kendra. Sil, Itta, Karas, Dicchio and Raze were all left to find their own partners. One of them would have had to partner with a robot.


"Okay. Now relax your bodies, clear your minds, and close your eyes. You should feel the heat their bodies are giving off due to their high power levels. It's a subtle heat that they give off, so if you're having trouble try comparing the heat that's at your back with the heat that's in front of you. The air behind you should be slightly colder than the air in front of you. If you cannot sense the difference, your mind is clouded and you need to clear it."


"Suppose we can sense the difference. What does that do for us?" Nei asked.


"Please have patience Nei. Feel out the difference in air temperature first. It's going to be incredibly subtle and you likely won't be able to sense the difference at first. But the longer you concentrate on the air temperature behind you and the air temperature in front of you, your body will begin to force your brain to recognize the difference and isolate it allowing you to feel it out much more clearly. Take as long as you need. But this could take several hours or even until the end of the day so if you need a bathroom break or have more important things to do then now's the time to go to it. The difference in air temperature between you and a partner will be there when you find the time to attempt it again." She said.


This was mostly said for Karas who had other orders.


"For those who can remain I want you to think about this for future reference: when your bodies have learned to focus on and really differentiate the air temperature from the heat of your partner's power level, you're on the right track and should then begin concentrating on the source of that heat. The source will eventually come to be felt as a condensed point within the chest region of your partner. If you can feel out that condensed point of power, then you are ready to advance to the next stage of the technique which is learning to associate that particular energy from other sources. For now this is as far as I can take it. Please do your best everyone." She asked.


She wished them honest luck as this was going to be difficult. Indeed it had taken Era a long time to learn to do this, but since she was instructing them on exactly what to look for she was hoping they'd only take a couple of hours. It was a simple concept, but the differences in each of their bodies as well as the differences in how their individual brains interpreted information around them would determine how fast or slow they each managed to pull this off. But she would be here waiting for them to get past the first step of being able to solidly identify the difference in air temperature behind from in front.​

 

[Genon]

Koraviis nodded to both Itta and Karas' questions.


"Era..."


"Of course, Commander." She said.


She looked to Itta first as he'd asked the first question.


"It took me nearly two and a half to three weeks to learn how to do this on my own. However, I had no teacher. I had to feel it out for myself without any instruction. But the technique is relatively simple in its concept. The difficulty will lie in getting your body to do what I'm trying to tell it to do."


She looked to Karas.


"I will be happy to explain how this works."


She took a moment to collect her thoughts.


"Sensing living energy is all about teaching your body how to feel the energy that is given off by another individual. As I stand before you now, I can feel each and every single one of your power levels and even relate them to my own so I know how much stronger or weaker you are than I am without the need for a Scouter."


She took a breath.


"Actually teaching your body how to feel this energy out, however, does take a lot of patience and it takes a partner with a power level. I would not have learned how to do this without Sil sitting across from me while we were acclimating ourselves to our new power levels. I'm not sure if your partner's power level has to be equal to or less than your own, but it should be significant enough that you can feel the heat of their energy. Starting there is the easiest way to teach your body what to look for."


"So we should partner up now?" Korvaiis asked.


"Yes. Please find a partner who's power level is as close to your own as possible."


The Commander and Sub-Commander partnered up, as did Nei and Kendra. Sil, Itta, Karas, Dicchio and Raze were all left to find their own partners. One of them would have had to partner with a robot.


"Okay. Now relax your bodies, clear your minds, and close your eyes. You should feel the heat their bodies are giving off due to their high power levels. It's a subtle heat that they give off, so if you're having trouble try comparing the heat that's at your back with the heat that's in front of you. The air behind you should be slightly colder than the air in front of you. If you cannot sense the difference, your mind is clouded and you need to clear it."


"Suppose we can sense the difference. What does that do for us?" Nei asked.


"Please have patience Nei. Feel out the difference in air temperature first. It's going to be incredibly subtle and you likely won't be able to sense the difference at first. But the longer you concentrate on the air temperature behind you and the air temperature in front of you, your body will begin to force your brain to recognize the difference and isolate it allowing you to feel it out much more clearly. Take as long as you need. But this could take several hours or even until the end of the day so if you need a bathroom break or have more important things to do then now's the time to go to it. The difference in air temperature between you and a partner will be there when you find the time to attempt it again." She said.


This was mostly said for Karas who had other orders.


"For those who can remain I want you to think about this for future reference: when your bodies have learned to focus on and really differentiate the air temperature from the heat of your partner's power level, you're on the right track and should then begin concentrating on the source of that heat. The source will eventually come to be felt as a condensed point within the chest region of your partner. If you can feel out that condensed point of power, then you are ready to advance to the next stage of the technique which is learning to associate that particular energy from other sources. For now this is as far as I can take it. Please do your best everyone." She asked.


She wished them honest luck as this was going to be difficult. Indeed it had taken Era a long time to learn to do this, but since she was instructing them on exactly what to look for she was hoping they'd only take a couple of hours. It was a simple concept, but the differences in each of their bodies as well as the differences in how their individual brains interpreted information around them would determine how fast or slow they each managed to pull this off. But she would be here waiting for them to get past the first step of being able to solidly identify the difference in air temperature behind from in front.

Karas mentally sighed at what Era had to say, replying with, "Thanks, Era. I guess I'll get to work now." She could only explain it in the vaguest of terminology, which certainly wasn't going to help him replicate the technique mechanically. How would he even do this? Would he incorporate a ki-suppressing subsystem? Or would he simply replicate the technique in code? Wait, that was it! He didn't have to make the robot hide its ki, he just needed to power it down so that it looked like an ordinary animal! And he might have just had the plan to do it.


Step 1: Create a large amount of small ki containers, perhaps somewhere on the order of 500,000, each rated to hold about 5-10 power each.


Step 2: Use Outpost-IE's Command Center to create ki-transference platforms for each robot.


Step 3: Place robots on platforms.


Step 4: Fill ki containers with most of each robot's artificial ki.


Step 5: Dump ki containers in nearby wilderness. They will be resilient enough to protect against most animal attacks. The idea is that by spreading the robot army's ki across the planet, it will work as a decoy.


Step 6: If Inecros gets within four hours of here, have labor drones pick up these power cells and bring them back to base so that we can power up the army.


Step 7: Power up army.


Step 8: Watch fireworks.





It wasn't the best plan, but it was still better than trying to invent a new technology in only five days, all while trying to acquire two new powers that only one Saiyan has ever achieved so far and attempting to get the base ready for an attack by a genocidal ultrapowerful alien monster backed up by unknown numbers and unknown technology at the same time. But either way, this would be hell.


Karas decided on a...unique partner. His arm computer summoned a single guard robot to his location. The gunmetal grey robot quickly landed in front of Karas, awaiting further orders. From there, Karas began practicing, attempting to feel the difference in air temperature like Sil had asked. It wasn't going well at first, but he slowly began getting it over the course of a few hours (with some bathroom breaks in-between. It wasn't like this robot was going anywhere), beginning to feel an ever so slight difference in air temperature. It hadn't truly clicked yet, but he felt he was well on his way.

 

[Webs Elk]

Dicchio and Raze paired together. They sat across from each other. They both closed their eyes and focue=sed on the air pressure


At first, the only thing Raze could feel was the cold air surrounding him on all sides.. As the hours passed by, he could feel the air pressure around his body starting to heat up. After a couple of more hours, he could distinguish a slightly warmer area than everything else, right in front of him. He opened his eyes to see, Dicchio attempting to learn the technique as well. Raze smiled," One step closer ..." Raze closed his eyes back, and began to move around. At first, as he moved around, he lost Dicchio's heat, but as he practiced more and more, by the second day of the 5 day countdown, Raze could distinguish Dicchio's body heat from anything else. He then practiced by doing the same with others by just meditating and he realized that it is simple to do it once you've done it once. By the end of day 2, he could distinguish where everyone was by their body heat. Raze decided to start working on the technique of how to mask your power level next. He searched for Era, using the technique he just learned, to get some information/guidance on the second..


@Kyero




Dicchio was struggling with distinguishing body heat from the temperature. He was unable to figure it out for the whole first day. By the dawn of day 2 , Dicchio started clearing his mind more. He focused only on where Raze was supposedly sitting. As he did that for an hour, he suddenly felt it. He felt the difference in the temperature of the air of where Raze was and where no one was sitting. Dicchio started getting excited and almost lost the difference completely. He focused on this heat until he could distinguish it from anything else. For Dicchio, it didn't come naturally to him, unlike Raze. On Day 3, he was still learning to make it undistinguishable to his senses. Dicchiosat and meditated while he practiced.

 

[Kyero]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

This technique of Era's was proving more difficult than Sil had expected. Being able to feel the difference in air temperature, minute as it was, between herself and a partner was... well... maddening. Sil concentrated as hard as she could on the task at hand and cleared her mind of all outside thoughts but was still unable to isolate the feeling.


Meanwhile the Commander and Sub-Commanders were making steady progress. Korvaiis especially held a knack for picking up new concepts at a rapid pace which was one of the reasons he was where he was. It only took around three hours to feel out the difference in temperature from the space behind him against the space between himself and the Sub-Commander. Once he isolated the feeling he focused on it and allowed his body to accept it. Once his body accepted it, the feeling seemed to naturally click for him to feel out such differences in air temperature. The total time it took for his body to acclimate to this part of the technique was around five or six hours.


Sub-Commander Urod, Nei, and Kendra all did their best to learn to sense the difference in air temperature between themselves and their partners, but even with their great power levels it was proving very, very difficult. By the end of the day, only Urod had managed to make any serious progress in feeling the differences in temperature. However Nei and Kendra both were unable to make any headway this day. They only hoped their comrades were making more progress than they were.




The next day Era was met by Raze who had managed to gain a strong grasp of sensing the difference in air temperature between himself and his target and had come to her asking about the next step.


"The next phase of sensing living energy is to take the air temperature difference and go one step further. Sensing the temperature difference is all well and good, but it's just temperature and it tells you nothing that you actually need to know. Your next task, Raze, is to use your ability to sense the temperature difference to hone in on the source of that difference. If your body is successful in locating it, it should feel like it's coming directly from the center of the body of your partner, Dicchio. Once you locate that source, the final phase is to familiarize yourself with what it feels like. Everyone's energy feels different, so if you're able to sense Dicchio's energy source but it feels the same as mine or the Commanders or anyone else's, then your body has not learned to differentiate one source from another and you'll have to keep trying until you can feel the differences between one energy source and another. Once you've learned to differentiate one source from another, you have completed the training for this technique and may begin focusing on your inner Ki Suppression."​

 

[Genon]

Night was falling by the time it clicked for Karas. Karas could suddenly feel an...other right in front of him. It was hard to explain, but it was sort of like feeling like you were being watched. A feeling of another lifeform nearby. But it also felt alien. Strange. Karas couldn't put his finger on how it did, or why, but he just knew on some primal, purely physical level that this presence wasn't natural. Which made perfect sense, because he was staring right into the cameras of a random robot guard. In fact, he had been for almost the entire day.


He closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing, mentally reaching out to anything nearby. He soon became aware of thousands and thousands of more natural-feeling signatures, which he assumed were the very weak power levels of animals and plants. It was awe-inspiring, harmonious, and terrifying all at the same time. Just what had he done to himself? He possessed this ability for three minutes and already he was feeling utterly naked, like a million eyes were watching his every movement.


He excused himself from the group, explaining that he had figured it out, and flew back to his house to a quick meal and some sleep. Sleep did not come quickly. On the one hand, he was exhausted. On the other hand, the presences wouldn't go away, and it made it incredibly difficult to get comfortable. Eventually though, he passed out from sheer fatigue at 3AM in the planet's rotational cycle, waking up at noon the next day.


Almost as soon as he finished his morning routine, he got to work on coding. He plugged in his arm and quickly became laser-focused on keeping his thoughts purely on the coding. Over the course of the day, the three million-line program that would govern his robots came to fruition. He tested it on a group of two dozen robots in the sky, and it did indeed work in the end. Time would tell if it would hold up in a real battle.


Another important thing you need for an army: Unit organization. After tweaking the production settings, he managed to get the factory's computer to churn out paint-jobs and IFF beacons for his robots that would break down their individual place in the hierarchy.


The way it would work was as follows:


Army (1 for now, but the number would increase as production grew) --> Corps (10 in an army) --> Division (10 in a corps) --> Team --> (10 in a division) --> Squad (10 in a team) --> Soldier (10 in a squad).


Each robot's IFF transponder would easily list its full designation in the force, and the Saiyans would easily be able to select an individual level of organization and choose to give orders to only that specific group. This setup provided room for 100,000 soldiers in a single army, with room to grow. The sorting algorithm would automatically choose which squad a robot was placed in. Once a squad was filled, it would move on to the next one, and then the next one. Then, once the team was filled, it would move on to the next team, and so on for infinity. Karas also coordinated the production at multiple factories, choosing which ones would make soldiers and which ones would make laborers.


Since the factories churned out units at peak efficiency, without any risk of breaking down, the robots quickly grew in number. Right now, they numbered about 5,000 strong, half a division. But against a scouting party, they should be more than enough.


The labor drones, on the other hand, numbered 20,000, and Karas found that random supplies were piled up in the streets outside of storehouses filled to the brim with stuff the Saiyans needed to survive. Some quick Command Center reorganization later, and the problem was in the process of being solved as labor drones busily moved throughout the city, cleaning up their messes and moving materiel into the newly-created "Vault Block."


Once at home, Karas took the opportunity to attempt a power-up, see how far he could go before his body couldn't go further. He started experiencing mild headaches at 1,500, and quickly stopped to avert damage. It looked like his ki pathways had acclimated themselves over time to his new power level, but not fully.


Karas then ate a stereotypically large Saiyan dinner and went to bed.


On the third day, Karas got to work on ki sensing and ki suppression, quickly getting in the zone as he attempted to reverse-engineer how it would work. Hours passed, and as the sun set on the planet, Karas' Scouter beeped. Amazingly, he had done it! His maximum power level had dropped significantly, to a paltry 350. Experimenting, he powered himself up and down, and soon refined his control over it. Another Saiyan might have called it a night right there, but Karas wasn't done for the day. He had to teach his robots this technique.


He ate a classically humongous Saiyan dinner and then got to work on a ki-suppression system for his robots. The answer lied in the ki pathways. Instead of drawing power to the Saiyan's core like in a power-down, a ki suppression relied on taking power out of the core and hiding it in the ki pathways. So that was what he had to do with his robots. And it was relatively simple to accomplish, honestly. He just had to tweak the designs so that they could drain the ki container more severely.


Of course, the Insta-kit could handle the grunts, but Tragedy and Comedy, as unique robots, were a different story. Karas spent the wee hours of the morning installing his ki-suppression system inside the two robots.


He then crashed into bed and woke up in the afternoon. The final thing he had to do: put the base in stealth mode. Working with Xol, he managed to unlock the Outpost's hidden functions and everything in the base suddenly became see-through for a minute.


With everything under control, Karas messaged the two Commanders and the rest of the base members with a tutorial and an attached Scouter update file. (@Anime King Kaleb @Denezen @Kyero)


With his last task finally done, Karas could finally get back to his training. For the rest of the day, he exercised his body and mind, training against Tragedy and Comedy on Low Force with ki suppression active. Slowly but surely he got back into the groove of fighting. And he loved it just as much as when he was in the PDC. After 6 hours of sparring, he began acclimating himself to his power level again. His new power level was an excellent 3,969. But his current power level was stuck at 1,500 (now around 1,800 after acclimating).


And on the fifth day, the last day before Inecro's arrival, he focused on acclimating himself to his power in earnest. Over the course of the day, he got his power to 2,600, with a "headache threshold" of 2,800. Closer, but not ideal.


And on the sixth day, when Inecros was due to arrive, he sprung into action. He engaged the base's stealth mode, gathered all his robots inside the base, ordered them to suppress their power level as low as it would go, and hoped for the best.

 

[Webs Elk]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

This technique of Era's was proving more difficult than Sil had expected. Being able to feel the difference in air temperature, minute as it was, between herself and a partner was... well... maddening. Sil concentrated as hard as she could on the task at hand and cleared her mind of all outside thoughts but was still unable to isolate the feeling.


Meanwhile the Commander and Sub-Commanders were making steady progress. Korvaiis especially held a knack for picking up new concepts at a rapid pace which was one of the reasons he was where he was. It only took around three hours to feel out the difference in temperature from the space behind him against the space between himself and the Sub-Commander. Once he isolated the feeling he focused on it and allowed his body to accept it. Once his body accepted it, the feeling seemed to naturally click for him to feel out such differences in air temperature. The total time it took for his body to acclimate to this part of the technique was around five or six hours.


Sub-Commander Urod, Nei, and Kendra all did their best to learn to sense the difference in air temperature between themselves and their partners, but even with their great power levels it was proving very, very difficult. By the end of the day, only Urod had managed to make any serious progress in feeling the differences in temperature. However Nei and Kendra both were unable to make any headway this day. They only hoped their comrades were making more progress than they were.




The next day Era was met by Raze who had managed to gain a strong grasp of sensing the difference in air temperature between himself and his target and had come to her asking about the next step.


"The next phase of sensing living energy is to take the air temperature difference and go one step further. Sensing the temperature difference is all well and good, but it's just temperature and it tells you nothing that you actually need to know. Your next task, Raze, is to use your ability to sense the temperature difference to hone in on the source of that difference. If your body is successful in locating it, it should feel like it's coming directly from the center of the body of your partner, Dicchio. Once you locate that source, the final phase is to familiarize yourself with what it feels like. Everyone's energy feels different, so if you're able to sense Dicchio's energy source but it feels the same as mine or the Commanders or anyone else's, then your body has not learned to differentiate one source from another and you'll have to keep trying until you can feel the differences between one energy source and another. Once you've learned to differentiate one source from another, you have completed the training for this technique and may begin focusing on your inner Ki Suppression."

​

Raze nodded as Era spoke. When Era finished, he smiled and gave her a quick "goodbye" as he took off towards his meditation spot. He sat down and focused on what Era said. Raze sat for hours, going over everyone's body heat until it happened ... He could actually feel the power level and energy given off by every living thing. From the little insects to the birds mammals to people themselves. He could sense Dicchio still trying to figure it out, as well as the Commander and everyone else. He could sense how his power level contrasted to those around him. Raze felt the experience as ... overwhelming. Raze decided to try and filter everything. He was unsuccessful for the first 13 hours. At noon of the 3rd day of the 5 day warning, Raze suddenly stopped seeing everything except those within his eye sight," An improvement I guess ..." Raze decided to get some sleep as he was hit with a wave of fatigue, as he hadn't slept for 63 hours. Raze slept.


At daybreak of Day 4, Raze awoke and studied his surroundings. He could still feel the surrounding power levels. He decided to ask Era about it. He washed up, ate some food, then went to Era, again," Good morning Era! I was wondering if there was a way to ... I guess filter ... out the power levels you sense?"​

 

[Kyero]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

Era continued to monitor everyone's progress as the days passed. Dicchio and a few others seemed to really be struggling so she offered what advice and support she could to help them along.


On day 4 Raze came to her and asked about filtering the powers so he could only sense what was necessary.


"Admittedly Raze that is the most difficult thing to learn, but unfortunately it has to wait because the next lesson is learning to suppress your power." She replied.


"To suppress your power you have to learn to sense the core of your own power. It lies deep within you similar to how you learned to flush your aura with your life force. But it's buried even deeper. Focus on that first as it's more important than filtering powers. Once you find it, learn to release the energy stored within throughout your entire body and then all you have to do is power down. From there it's easy to keep your true potential under wraps, even from the most advanced Ki detection equipment." She said.​

 

[Kyero]

”There is a stigma that men are more powerful than women, but I beg to differ. I’ll show you the power of a Saiyan who is also a woman!”




​

​

"To grow up alone is a fate unbecoming of a Saiyan, but it has made me stronger than I dared hope. I can only continue to hope, and with luck I'll always have Era by my side to push me to even greater heights."




​

​

Era observed the beginnings of the familiarization to difference sin air temperature over time with great interest. She wondered if that's what she really looked like to anyone who may have been watching her when she was training.


Itta, having been disappointed that the Commander's orders once again overruled his desire to train, sat down across from Sil rather reluctantly. It wasn't that he disliked Sil or anything nor the idea of gaining the use of a new technique that could be the difference between life and death. It was that he wasn't being allowed to get stronger. He was still the weakest of the group (though only by a small margin compared to Dicchio and Raze) and yet the Commander prioritized this training over physical.


Sure, it was to save their lives. He understood that. But still it felt far less important to him that he learn this when training to get physically stronger would prove more useful in the event they couldn't hide from the incoming Scout vessel. Who knew how many would be launched against them? He'd need to be as strong as possible to survive the encounter, right? Whatever. He would do as asked. for now.


Sitting across from Sil he had a short exchange with her about exactly what to do, and she told him to relax and do as Era instructed. He closed his eyes and tried to relax his body and clear his mind, but it was rough going. Itta's mind was almost always working and slowing it down and ceasing all major activity in favor of focusing on basically a whole lot of nothing just to feel some air temperature difference was incredibly boring and difficult for him to accept as "training." But the Commander had not steered him wrong yet, so he took what patience he had and accepted that this was his training for now. When it was over here he'd train by himself in the forest or the mountains nearby for a few hours before going to sleep.


Hours ticked by and no progress was made on Itta's part. No matter how calm he made himself or how much he cleared his mind he could feel no difference in the air before him and the air behind him. Though Itta wasn't quite as aware of it, the fact that Sil had been suppressing her current power level to around 2,000 wasn't helping the matter. Sil seemed to realize this fact when she noticed Itta's frustration, so she raised her current power level to its maximum to try and help him.


It worked, somewhat.


It took a couple more hours for him to actually do it, but he finally managed to briefly differentiate in his mind the temperature between the air in front and the air behind him. The air in front had grown warmer as the outside air grew colder leading into the night. The sun's descent and the drop in temperature made it easier to sense the difference, and finally he had made some ground. He held onto that sensation for as long as he could but lost it after about thirty minutes when his mind was distracted by the sound of Sil speaking to him that it was enough for the day.


The two got up and parted ways with Sil going to rest and Itta going to go practice in the nearby mountains.


Over the next four days Itta and Sil both made progress, though Sil did so at a faster rate. Itta learned to sense the difference absolutely by the morning of the third day and Sil by the second. Era got them to work on suppressing their own powers first before anything else from that point on. Both learned to sense the inner core of their power, but learning to actually manipulate it proved much more difficult than Era said it would be for Sil and it took her all of the final day to learn how to manipulate it with a bit of clumsiness.


Nobody had mastered the changes by the time the final day had come and gone, and at last the day of fate had arrived.


Everyone had learned at least how to suppress their core power to a degree, but holding it was a struggle for all but Era who had since mastered it completely during the five days as she trained herself during the night while the others practiced during the day.


It was the day of the Scout Vessel's arrival, and as they came within a certain distance of the planet Korvaiis ordered the base's stealth systems activated and they all focused and suppressed their powers as best they could. Sil was having a hard time keeping her power contained. She'd learned how to suppress it, but it was like trying to squeeze a ball of Ki without letting any of it escape without using your hands. She had to keep her focus on it and it alone at all times to keep it down.


Era, meanwhile, was sensing the power of the incoming enemy forces.


"Era. About how strong is their best warrior?" The Commander asked.


"Their strongest is slightly ahead of you Commander. I'd estimate a power of around 38,000."


The Commander was slightly taken aback by that statement, but he trusted Era's senses.


"Very well. That one is mine then. And their next strongest?"


"Much weaker. I'd say around 22,000 at best."


"Good. What's the average?"


"Around 4,000-7,000. Those powers are jumbled together so it's hard to get an accurate reading of them from here while they're still in space. I'll give you a more accurate reading as they get closer."


"Okay. Just write it down for me on this piece of paper when they come into view. No electronic transmissions or spoken words when they come down. Is that understood everyone?" He asked.


Era and Sil both nodded, and the wait continued.


Slowly, through the haze of the sky in the distance the bottom of a HUGE vessel began to descend from the clouds over the mountains. Era immediately took up the paper and pencil and wrote down 4,500 as the average power she was sensing. Koraviis nodded and showed it to everyone else so that they all knew what the average power was that they'd be facing.


The vessel began to slowly work its way across the planet's skyline from East to West and didn't come anywhere near their base at first. However, after a few minutes it then made a rather dramatic turn of nearly 60 degrees mid flight and began to head directly towards them. Everyone watched in dire anticipation as the vessel slowly passed over the base and continued to move across the planet. Sil's knuckles were white from gripping the nearby railing she was standing on and she was only calmed when Era walked over and put her hand on Sil's. The two old friends always felt more at ease in close proximity, and Sil finally was able to calm down and focus on her power suppression again as it had been slipping somewhat.


As the vessel began moving away and almost was out of view on the horizon it stopped in the air and moved no further. From the bottom of the vessel emerged thousands upon thousands of Scouts ranging from unidentifiable alien species which they'd never seen before to even a few they did recognize such as a few dozen members of the Yuutros race which were pasty skinned humanoid lizard-like creatures from the far side of their galaxy. They were a race not unlike the Saiyans in that they were galactic Raiders and often in competition with the Saiyans and whenever their paths crossed blood was often spilled. There was never a true war between them, but there almost had been a few times.


The Scouts began spreading out across the planet to search by eye what the ship had not seen. Several of them flew directly over the base and came dangerously close to discovering the truth but miraculously did not. One individual, however, stopped right above the base. He looked all around across the horizon and then down into the forest and across the area where the base was.


He seemed to notice the oddly perfect shape of the lack of trees in this area and was obviously suspicious but seemed to ignore it and finally moved on. The Commander breathed a sigh of relief when he passed and after almost an hour of this combing the area the Scouts began returning to the vessel.


Everyone started to breathe sighs of relief at this fact until the unthinkable took place.


One of the Scouts in particular had been flying back at a very low altitude and began flying directly above the base again. Just when it seemed he was free and clear of the base he took an unexpected turn and flew directly into the invisible Control Tower. He stopped and felt the Tower with his hand and immediately pressed a button on a device on his wrist. The Commander's teeth clenched. Within seconds the Scouts had all stopped returning to the vessel and began converging on the base's location. The one who had found the Control Tower punched it, disturbing the stealth technology's cloak of the base and causing a ripple effect showing everyone a brief glimpse of it including the Saiyans down below.


They'd been found out.


"Everyone engage! Karas! Send out the army NOW!!" The commander ordered.


Koraviis powered up to his maximum of 32,000 and raced forward punching the one who discovered the base clean in half in a show of sheer violence and brutality which sent an instant wave of fear through the oncoming forces. Execute 1 in order to warn 1,000, or in this case closer to 50,000 who were all descending on the area.


It was time for the fight of their lives. This was not a Raid. This was a fight for survival plain and simple and it was not going to be pretty.


Era and Sil both powered up to their maximums and raced forward together to take down the enemies Era guided them towards. Sil knew that Era would keep her fighting with enemies they could take down together.


It was going to be a long day.​

 

[Genon]

@Kyero


Karas waited and waited as the enemy scouts darted overhead, scanning the area. Then, the unthinkable happened: They were actually noticed. Now Inecros knew they were here and was going to attempt to utterly annihilate them. And this was a scouting party. A massive vessel, filled with battle-hungry alien troopers. His Scouter was going nuts with the sheer number of high power levels approaching.


"Everyone engage! Karas! Send out the army NOW!!" Korvaiis shouted.


Oh right, he had a rossing robot army. Karas quickly regained his composure and put a hand to his Scouter. "Teams 0 through 2, engage the enemy! Teams 3 and 4, stay here to guard the base against attackers! Tragedy, Comedy, you're with me!"


A horde of robots, 2,500 strong, powered up to their maximums and rocketed upwards from the base in a cloud of metal death. They may not be very strong, but each robot would never tire, able to fight on and on without stopping. They clashed with the enemy force, ripping through the lower 40% of grunts with power levels under 4,500 with ease. However, they were slowly being overwhelmed as more and more were destroyed by the enemy, both by the sheer number of weak grunts as well as the stronger soldiers having little trouble.


However, the ki turrets in the base's outer perimeter were already in action, firing extremely powerful yellow ki blasts into the cloud of soldiers. Entire squads were disintegrated in seconds. The turrets were absolutely devastating to all who were unfortunate enough to be in their line of sight.


Meanwhile, the black and white robots headed to Karas' side as he powered up to 2,600, his blue ki flaring out. He was weak. he knew it. But he would never let that slow him down. He was Raid Group 02A's resident technician. If he died, the Saiyans were as good as dead. Ten soldiers, their power level about 3,500 each, dropped down from the main group and surrounded Karas and his two robots. Karas eyed them somewhat cautiously. He recognized a few species. A Borodian here, a Rom there. Most of them were from rather militaristic and savage species. It was no wonder why they had joined up with Inecros. Each of them waited for the three to make a move. Karas produced his mace and shield, the blue constructs appearing in his hands.


With that, the one behind Karas made his move. Comedy quickly turned around and grabbed him by the throat. The soldier tried to scream, but his air was cut off even as his insides cooked from Comedy's signature electrocuting touch. Soon, he began to emit smoke, still struggling with the massive machine. He tried to fire a ki blast at Comedy's face despite his arm frantically jittering (which took a suprising amount of willpower. Karas was rather impressed), but it faltered as the life left his body and he fell still. Comedy dropped him to the floor like a sack of dumbbells. With that, the rest of the group tried to attack Karas, figuring he was the one controlling the robots, but then Tragedy promptly raised its arms and filled about six of them full of holes from its railgun in a few seconds. Two of them were set on fire by Tragedy's laser cannon and promptly tried to drop, stop and roll. However, Comedy then stomped on each of their heads. However, one got through, and struggled with Karas for a brief moment.Karas smacked him across the face with his mace, the flanges shattering the soldier's cheekbones even as the soldier's ki-encased fist got through Karas' guard and hit him in the chest, sending him flying about 20 Leid before he stabilized himself in the air. However, by this point Tragedy had finished with the other nine soldiers and unceremoniously punched the soldier once in the upper torso. His carapace caved in, killing him instantly. Roms had their brains in their torsos.


Karas' chest felt like it was on fire. Likely some muscle damage, along with some bruising. The armor wasn't very damaged, however, just scorched from the ki fist.


He looked up at the the descending mass of soldiers and sighed. Ten down, several thousand to go. The combat engineer then looked closer at the ensuing battle, and noticed that a few enemy soldiers were...fighting each other?!


----------------


Xol had heard the commotion outside of his ship. As he feared, Inecros had attacked. But he shoved his fear and horror to the back of his mind. This is what he signed up for. The Saiyans had saved his kid, now it was time to return the favor. Hs combat training coming back to him, he settled back into his old routine he had developed back in the Zy'leth Confederacy's Space Forces. After sealing himself into his power armor, he grabbed his old blaster and ki blade from storage and placed them into his holsters. Then, he emerged from his ship, looking nothing like he normally did. Covered in dark blue armor plating, he flew upwards to the top of the hangar, closed his eyes, and powered up. His green ki flared out around his head as his mental power skyrocketed to 25,000.


Then, he focused intently. His mental tendrils gained access to the minds of about 20 soldiers in a few minutes. All he had to do was up their fighting instinct to massive levels. Predictably, they lost all control over themselves, attacking each other and their allies. They were quickly killed, but had managed to take out over 40 grunts due to the element of surprise.


---------------


Karas flew upwards and eyed the hangar. There was Xol, in power armor no less! Karas had no idea that Xol had been a soldier, but he knew that Zy'leth were capable fighters. Xol would be necessary for this battle, he knew it. He then gaped in horror as a powerful soldier, about 15,000 in power level, dropped down behind Xol.


---------------


Xol heard the oaf drop down behind him. He was tough, that was for sure. His suit's power scanner went nuts as it detected a power level of 15,000. The soldier attempted to get Xol in a chokehold, but Xol was ready. He quickly drew his blade and slashed diagonally upwards while turning around, scowling as his blade struck home. The soldier staggered back, a large cut on his chest even through his armor, blood visibly leaking from the wound. Xol then raised his blaster and fired. The soldier dodged the shot at point-blank range and got on top of Xol, attempting to kill him before he bled out. Xol then focused his full mental power on this one soldier. With a lower power level, the soldier's mind was no match, and he quickly started yelling incoherent nonsense, his offensive gone. Xol pushed him off, letting the soldier rave as the life continued to ebb out of him through his chest.


Xol got up, sheathed his blade, dusted himself off, and went back to causing mayhem among the enemy ranks.