Post by Snippar Sol on Sept 14, 2015 23:04:14 GMT
Heavy Weights On
A yell had began to scorch the foundations of sound, Snippar Sol was seen from the distance, charging his KI. Releasing massive waves of kamehameha's in all shapes and sizes, it was because of these blasts, that his energy had suddenly spiked, and caused his body to get wary so easily and suddenly. Reaching his peak of being tired Snippar had began to contemplate on the past. Snippar sat in the dank dungeons of Avalanche's fortress planet, his head hung low. His gambit to shake Alondra's authority with her minions had failed, so it was time to play his trump card. The coming months were going to be perilous, and he would be walking an incredibly fine line between success and utter damnation. Snippar only hoped that Indur and Shiorei would be able to handle their half of the plan without his guidance. It would be the first true test for the pair of young students he had.
Snippar was aware of a dull pain in his stomach. It had been days since he was fed. A staff scuttled by every few hours with a cup filled with warm, dirty water, enough to keep Snippar alive, but never sate his thirst. The Saiyan prisoner spent much of his time in deep in thought, attempting to mentally and spiritually prepare himself for the task ahead.
He sensed Alondra's approach before he even heard her boots falling upon the cobbled floors of the dungeon. The Saiyan woman spoke, apologizing for his imprisonment, and for not seeing him sooner.
Snippar remained silent. The Saiyan woman went on to berate the Male, calling him a fool for allowing himself to be captured. Again, Snippar only stared into the woman's eyes. It wasn't until she asked WHY he had allowed himself to be taken that he spoke.
"Because we need you back. I need you back," Snippar said. The statement was a half-truth. Snippae did long to have Alondra back in the side of the Saiyan Empire, but he could not reveal the true purpose of his surrender. Too much rode upon his carefully laid veil of deceit. Alondra believed him, and professed her love for him. Snippar returned the confession, which seemed to be enough for Alondra to decide he had spent enough time locked away. The woman freed her Saiyan prisoner, and informed him that he would be her new Student. She would offer him protection until such a time that she could smuggle him safely back to the Planet Vegeta.
Alondra was content to leave Snippar in the Avalanche Archives while she tended to matters of running her sect. From what Snippar could gather, Avalanche was on the brink of a full-scale rebellion against the Saiyan Empire. The Saiyan heard rumors of similar rebellion factions within the Saiyan Empire being swiftly eradicated, with Saiyans and the desert world of Vegeta becoming a safe haven for those with personal grudges against their Elite Empire.
Snippar took this information and cataloged it, though he dared not attempt to transmit that information to the Saiyan Empire. He would be quickly found out as a spy, and not even Alondra would be able to protect him. Shiorei had strict orders to wait one month before presenting herself to Alondra and coerce the woman into returning Snippar to the Planet Vegeta. Snippar had one month. One month to gain the trust of the fanatical Avalanche Sect and gain as much information on them as possible.
But that was merely the first stage in his plan.
Snippar spent the better part of a month secluded in the Archives or Alondra's quarters. Snippar studied everything he could get his hands on: News Reports from Planet Vegeta, journal entries from Political Democrats both living and long deceased, tomes as thick as his thigh on war military strategy and tactics. Snippar made sure to carefully document everything in an encrypted data package upon his scouter. The information would prove invaluable once Shiorei had convinced Alondra to return him to the planet Vegeta. He wasn't sure how his former student was going to convince the Saiyan woman to do so, but he had to have faith in her abilities.
The rendezvous date was only a week away when Snippar was in the archives, sipping tea and reading from the writing of Avalanche, a Saiyan who had been a disciple of Vegeta ages ago, when he suddenly began to feel faint. The man soon passed out and Elite Xalden, who had drugged the Saiyan's drink, emerged from the shadows to loom over his new captive. The omniscient space shuttle lurched from space several hundred-thousand kilometers from the so-called 'Jewel of the Saiyans.' Even from such a distance, the massive city-planet sparkled in the small frigate's view port. A twinkling ball of oranges, golds and violets before a backdrop of shimmering stars. It almost made Zeon tear up. Almost.
From Kanasa, Lieutenant Zeon had been careful to make the space lanes travel less traveled as he made a zig-zagging course for the Saiyan capital planet. While he was keen on returning his captive to the custody of the Saiyans, the last thing he wanted was to be picked up by some random patrol and be forced to turn the Saiyan over to the Squad. As if he wasn't going to be chewed out enough for taking close to four months to return his prisoner, the commanders of the Saiyans would have tanned his hide if he had lost his prisoner to those blasted ship-jockeys.
He had sent a message ahead of his ship, stating his name, rank, the number of his crew and the nature of his prisoner; so Zeon was not surprised to see two more Shuttle-class frigates sitting at the edge of the Vegetan Base Home of these Saiyans. The two hammer-head-shaped vessels fell in behind Zeon's commandeered ship to escort him in. The Shuttle-class frigates were small enough to boast environmental landing support struts, and as they passed through Vegeta's dense atmosphere, he could see the Vegeta Empire's training Base growing larger as they neared the planet's southern pole. Environmental regulators kept the planet's poles from being ice-locked year round, but as the ship continued to descend, he could feel the vibrations of strong winter winds buffering the ship as they made their final approach.
Ten minutes later saw the massive shuttle docked at the sprawling military compound. Zeon allowed his men to disembark first. They would face no backlash for their actions. Lieutenant Zeon had made the choice to steer the frigate away from the rest of the fifth Shuttles. The men who were simply following the orders of their superior commander were permitted to head home to their families or to board a barge headed back for the outer territories. The armored figures were not seen disembarking. Zeon, pushing a repulsiveness with the unconscious Snippar on it, was the final member of the rogue crew to leave the frigate.
Saiyans armed and armored elite troops were there to greet him, hands trained at his chest. Zeon released the sled, knowing it would remain in place after he had descended the boarding ramp, and raised his hands to allow one of the soldiers to shackle him. All of the soldiers were clad in heavy purple and white battle armor, making their identities impossible for the young man to guess. Variants in size and body-type allowed him to make vague assumptions on gender and capacity, but at this stage, that was moot.
One of the Soldiers, smaller than the rest, stepped forward. Her voice had a slight electronic buzz to it due to her helmet's vocalizer.
"It's about damned time you showed up, Lieutenant. I'd thought we'd lost him on Kanasa. Since you're so keen on being his babysitter, you can go with him to medical until we figure out what to do with you.."
Zeon nodded, his hazel eyes surveying the area. "Understood, Sir. But uh... What about the Saiyans? Won't they be wanting their prisoner back, like Alondra and the others."
The woman shook her head. "The Saiyan politicans doesn't even know he's gone." Snippar's body shook violently as violet tendrils of energy like lightning crackled over his body. Elite Xalden, Snippar's most recent captor, smiled in delight at the man's suffering. He had been at it for hours, torturing Snippar to a near-fatal state, then using his combat droid to mend Snippar's wounds to bring him back to a stable condition.
Smoke trailed lazily from the Male's hunched shoulders as his struggles to regain his breathing. Suddenly, more siring pain shot brought the man as Xalden grazed Snippar's shoulder with his crimson sword. The stench of burnt skin filled Snippar's nostrils.
Xalden seemed impressed by Snippar's resistance to his tactics, commenting that other men had cracked from a lighter punishment. However, Xalden had not utilized every trick at his disposal. He ordered his droid to inject the saiyan with a serum that would make his mind mail-able, and unable to fabricate deception. Snippar, in this drugged state was unable to discern the falsehoods of Xalden implanted in his brain. A fabricated vision of Alondra in the arms of another man.
Snippar saw something else, too. This vision was real, and current. Alondra was under attack by Shiorei, Snippar's former Saiyan Student.
Shiorei had waited a month, as part of the plan. During that month, she had rented a small apartment from a shifty-looking Saiyan, and spent much of that time meditating and training with Indur, the third conspirator in Snippar's scheme. They spent days exposing Shiorei to every toxin known in the Universe; From the highly toxic alien venom to the slightly irritating oil of poison vines of Earth.
Each time the woman was poisoned, she would enter a deep meditative state to ward off the toxins in her body. Indur was present to monitor her vitals and to provide assistance should she fail in combating a toxic injection.
Aside from that, Shiorei spent a long, painful, boring month in her dingy apartment waiting, training like the monks of old did on planet earth.
It was common knowledge that the Saiyan Master of Avalanche frequented the bars of Vegeta; drinking the nights away and flirting with a burly Saiyan-Hybrids after another. One of her lieutenants and a former Saiyan squad commander. The trick, and a larger portion of Shiorei's waiting stemmed from having to seize upon a moment when Alondra was truly alone, without the companionship of her dusky bodyguard. Shiorei was confident in her ability to defeat Alondra in single-combat, but the addition of the hybrid Saiyan warrior, even with Indur lurking in the shadows to provide support, would greatly shift the tone of the coming battle.
An opportunity finally presented itself on the third week. Shiorei could sense the woman approaching the building her apartment was situated in, and she was alone. Shiorei's apartment complex was located near the Imperial zone, but safely outside its boundaries.
The saiyan woman was quick to confront the magnitude of the elite. The woman, not clad in her normal armor and clearly intoxicated, proved easy prey for the Saiyan woman. She struck quickly, delivering a side kick that cracked two of Alondra's ribs and sent the woman sprawling to the ground. Shiorei did not let up. She had her orders from Snippar: coerce Alondra into returning Snippar to their hold. That night, Shiorei interpreted those orders as "Beat Alondra the hell up." Shiorei fought with reckless abandoned. Shiorei's azure and green blades struck like serpents, and it was all Alondra could do to defend herself against the onslaught.
Shiorei hurled a shipping box at the other woman with the strength utilized, and as it crashed into the drunk Saiyan, Shiorei watched the right leave the woman. Shiorei hesitated for a moment. She knew what Snippar's goal was, why he had allowed himself to be captured. Shiorei could accomplish that vision with a single stroke of her sword. Alondra was a monster. She was responsible for the deaths of Saiyans, soldiers... And her brother. Vani had been lost in darkness, but he had still been her brother. Whether by her own hand or by ordering it done, her brother's blood was on Alondra's hands.
Many hold the misconception that Soldiers are supposed to simply exist without the baser emotions: lust, hate, sorrow... But Soldiers are not droids. Where the Saiyans and common soldiers differ is in the fact that Saiyans rely on these emotions to fuel their connection to the primal insticts they bare. Those emotions are the crutch the Saiyans relied upon. The common soldier, on the other hand, did not simply "push down" those emotions as many believed, but sought to release those emotions in positive outlets: training, compassion, and forgiveness.
Shiorei could have easily given in to her desire to see her brother's murderer slain, but doing so would make her no better than the defenseless bitch before her, and without Alondra to relay the message, Snippar would be lost in the Saiyan's clutches.
Shiorei kicked Alondra's sword out of her reach, and merely said "Vegeta. One week. He comes alone, or I finish what I started."
With that, Shiorei vanished as quickly as she had appeared.
Snippar's eyes shot open. This was the dangerous part of his plan. It was the reason why the Saiyan Empire had denied authorization for this mission. Snippar wasn't sure if the vision of Alondra and the other man was true or not, but it hurt his heart and had him the required emotional catalyst. Massive amounts energy ebbed off his aura as the table he had been strapped to began to shake. One by one the leatheris steals that held him down began to snap. The man's form levitated from the table as he came to a standing position. After a moment of extreme exertion, the man collapsed to his knees, gasping. Xalden smiled. It seemed, to him, Snippar had been broken.
Snippar glared at Xalden. He was treading a fine line now. Tapping into the Darker self was a temptation all but few faced, but Snippar would have to resist its seductive nature while drawing upon it just enough to keep his Avalanche "allies" convinced that he had been turned and let his insanity full out.
"Release me," he said between ragged breaths. "Let me take my vengeance upon Shiorei."
Xalden smiled, and motioned for the man to rise. "In time. But now, you need to learn to control your new found power, rather that enormous ki."
Snippar's mind raced. He had hoped that outburst would have been enough to convince Xalden of his submission to the insane notion of thought and power. Now, he would need to continue to fool the man. Snippar had heard of many who had touched darker ki like demons, and they all told the same story. Like glitterati drugs, the more someone used it, the harder it was to not break, just like the demon king piccolo.
Snippar was now officially in over his head. Snippar stood over the body of his former apprentice, energy humming in his hand. Blood oozed for a split lip and a gash above his left eye where two of Shiorei's punches had managed to land. Even with the deadly dose of toxin running through her veins, the girl had still put up an impressive fight. As to be expected. Shiorei as not moving. She was not breathing. Snippar could only feel the slightest ripples of her presence in the cranium of his skull. Ripples that would slowly fade into the background noise of the shadows called the abyss. As far as the universe was concerned, Shiorei his student had died.
A hooded figure appeared next to Snippar, and the pair spoke for a few moments.
Indur pulled down the hood of his robe and affixed his green eyes on the older Saiyan. "She's weak, but she'll get better. We'll begin to make preparations for-"
Snippar raised a hand to silence him. The Saiyan was certain he had not been followed, but given Alondra's paranoia, it was possible she or one of her agents had followed the man to this planet. He had to keep up appearances. Snippar was sure to keep his remarks to Indur as vague as possible.
"Just dispose of the body. If the political individuals finds out about what happened here, everything will have been for naught."
Indur nodded and pulled his hood back over his face to obscure his features. In the form-fitting black and gray body armor he had on, coupled with a faded red white robe, it would be difficult for any passerby to quickly determine Indur's allegiance. "So what will you go by? Don't Avalanche members take new names?"
Snippar nodded. He thought for a moment, and said one word. "Invective."
Indur nodded, scooping up Shiorei's limp form and hoisting it over his shoulder. His mission was to take the woman somewhere safe, but remote enough as to not be discovered by the Saiyans, and nurse the Saiyan woman back to health. Their months of preparation prior to the battle in the Caves had prepared Shiorei for the toxin Snippar had introduced to her, but she would still need time to recover from such a heavy dose. Once Shiorei was well, she and Indur would remain hidden and prepare to extract Snippar once he had accumulated enough critical data on Avalanche to launch an attack against their major military establishments. Snippar had hoped the Saiyan Empire would back his plan, but now he had to rely on Major Zero and the Elite units she commanded. It was a risky game he was playing, but one that had to be done.
Snippar, now known as Elite Invective of the Saiyan Empire, watched as Indur carried the woman from the Caves, and turned towards the entrance he had used. He had his own part to play now. He would have to keep the insane presence close, lest those already suspicious of him - the Elite Xalden of the Organization Avalanche- saw through his ruse. The coming months would be challenging, but if Snippar could keep himself from falling completely into darkness then maybe, just maybe, he could save the woman he loved. Rouge Teacher Nir strode quickly down the pristine corridor of the medical facility, brushing past hospital staff and combat droids as he made his way towards the birthing units. The man, grey starting to invade his temples, had made the sojourn from his post on the Outer territories to the Vegetan Capital once he had heard word that Alondra had been captured and returned to Vegeta.
Following the death of Alondra's Master at the hands of Tundra, Mirmaker had acted as a surrogate Master to the girl while she finished her Combat training. He had witnessed a fire and drive within the woman that both intrigued and concerned the veteran fighter like Master. He had hoped to stamp out the girl's desire for revenge and justice for her former Master's death, and for a while, had fooled himself into believing he had done just that. When news of her resurfacing as the Saiyan loyalist of Avalanche reached his ears several years ago, the Master was saddened by his pupil's failings.
Now, with Alondra back in Vegetan Territory, he could work on freeing her from the grips of the corruption.
After the birth, of course.
Alondra had gone into labor earlier that evening, amid rumors that another wayward Saiyan had been brought back to Vegetan Space following the events on Kanasa. While the name of this new arrival had not been released, it was known that the captive was being held at an Elite Saiyan compound and under constant guard. No visitors, not even Saiyans, were permitted to see their newest prisoner.
For now, Nir could only concern himself with the woman giving birth at the end of the hall. The thought of Alondra giving birth to the spawn of some unworthy or distorted alien was somewhat unsettling, but Alondra, for all the mistakes she had made, was akin to a daughter he had never had, and he had a duty to support her in this time of crisis. As he neared Alondra's room, a pair of Saiyans, clad in plain earthen armor, halted his advance.
"Our apologies, Nir, but no one is to enter the room while Al-...While Avalanche's leader is giving birth."
Soldier Nir thought briefly about pulling rank, reminding the two younger Saiyans who he was, and entering the room anyway, but thought better of it and merely nodded.
"Very well. Then I shall wait here with you until the baby is born."
"Babies, Sir. She- ...She's having twins."
Alondra howled in pain.
Everything below the woman's navel was burning. Due to her condition at the time of her capture, the Saiyan Empire had been somewhat gentle in the handling of her. A pregnant woman, even one with a reputation like Avalanches leader, was the carrier of precious cargo. She had spent the the majority of her time in the Maternity Ward under constant guard. With a constant contingent of Saiyan supervisors and a shackles Inhibiting choker, Alondra was as dangerous as a de clawed kitten. When the woman had gone into labor several hours prior, she was rushed to one of the birthing rooms.
Now, a half-dozen droids skirted about her bed as the woman writhed, screamed, cried, cursed and pushed. It was the sixth or so hour of her labor, but to Alondra, it seemed like the sixth day.
There was a sudden pressure, immense and unbearable, just below her navel. One of the Maternity staff cooed gently as the woman pushed, and there was sudden, high-pitched wailing as the staff made an excited coo. Alondra felt a wave of relief and jubilation wash over her, but it was quickly crushed by a resurgence of pressure and immense pain shooting through her body. She was only halfway through her ordeal.
Minutes felt like days as the woman continued to push. The birth of the first child had lessened the pressure below her navel, and as the second child was pulled free by the droid, Alondra finally felt relief overcome the pain and anguish she was feeling. Her body was still on fire, but was her mind began to regain some of it's focus, she became aware of the staff floating on a cart lifts next to her bed. Two droids each held one small, tiny, wailing child wrapped in swaddling cloth.
The first droid lowered itself down to eye level with Alondra, displaying a handsome baby boy. The child, seeming to find a small amount of comfort in the proximity to his mother, began to giggle and coo. Alondra smiled in spite of her pain. She and the babies' father had conducted a conversation of hypothetical names for children they might have had together shortly after they had begun sharing a bed. She was thankful for that conversation now.
"Aiden," she whispered, reaching out and stroking a tiny tuft of auburn hair on the top of the child's head. The second droid lowered itself to Alondra's eye level. A girl with the same auburn hair and bright, piercing blue eyes. "Idryia," Alondra said with a smile.
The droids nodded and floated away, there was still work to be done. The children would need to be checked for illness or possible defects, imprints of their feet taken, and entered into the Vegeatan registry. They were the offspring of a Saiyan war criminal, and as such, were technically the wards of the Saiyan Empire. Alondra watched the droids exit the room, her eyes beginning to dart in panic, her chest heaving at the sudden removal of her children. She had been coached that this would happen. The children would need to leave her side for several hours while testing was done to ensure their health. She would be allowed several days with her newborns, but afterwards, they would be taken into the care of the Saiyan Empire and sent away. It was highly uncommon for the offspring of a Saiyans with the power level Alondra possessed to be born without Natural Affinity, and as Nir watched the children be shuttled out of the room by the floating droids, he could sense the immense power both children possessed.
Whoever the father of those children was, he must be someone of great power....
"Aiden.... Idryia."
The names of the newborn babes rippled through the compound. A dozen kilometers away, in the secured medical wing of the Saiyan Headquarters, those names became implanted in the mind of an unconscious Saiyan captive.
And Snippar's eyes opened. Orderlies and nurses streamed into the room as the entire floor of the Hospital quaked beneath Snippar's raw outburst. The droids were the first to go, their internal hardware gutted by invisible tendrils of pure ki energy and slammed into the metallic walls. Snippar was raging, having suddenly been brought back to consciousness after almost six months of being in a comatose state. The birth of the twins - his children - had sent ripples through the ki like pressure his scouter detected that snapped the man out of his vegetable-like state.
As more and more of the hospital staff flooded into the room, they were almost instantly caught the grip of Snippar's Growing Ki. Medical equipment and hospital staff swirled in the vortex of aura with the Saiyan elite at the center of it all. The heavy equipment slammed into walls and bodies with painful impacts. There was nothing the staff could do to end the man's rampage. As a precaution, Snippar had been placed in restraints while lying in his bed, but even now, those straps of leather were beginning to strain against Snippar's raw power.
"That is quite enough."
The sudden interjection caused Snippar to snap out of his tantrum. Equipment and staff remained suspended in air as the man turned his head to observe the two armored figures that had entered the room, and were seemingly unaffected by Snippar's vortex of KI. Shiorei and Indur pulled down the hoods of their respective robes and shared a smile as they gazed upon their ally.
"Snippar," Indur said softly, hands held palms up to show that he was unarmed, "It's time, the Empire wants to meet with you."
Snippar blinked. As he spoke, Shiorei and Indur glanced at one another as they heard the slight Saiyan accent that had made its way into his speech.
"The Saiyan Empire can go kiss a black hole. Take me to my children."
Shiorei frowned, and approached the restrained man.
"Snippar, you... you can't see them. Not right now, anyway. The Saiyan Empire wants to talk to you about what you-what we did. Avalanche has dissolved. We won, Snippar. We beat them."
Snippar turned his amber-colored eyes to observe the young woman. He smiled weakly. Grimly.
"At what cost? The people I had to hurt. You. Alondra. Her children are going to grow up without their mother."
Indur approached the man's bed, and began to undo the straps that held him down. "No, but come with us, and they might get their father back."
Snippar - Snippar Sol nodded as the last restraint was undone and rose into a seated position. His right arm was just a stump ending below his elbow, and as he tried to get out of the bed, he quickly slumped to the floor. Months in a coma had resulted in a great deal of muscle mass being lost from his legs. Indur and Shiorei got on either side of the man and helped him stand. It was time to go see the Council.
It was time to learn his fate.The miniature image of the woman flickered as Major Zero spoke.
"And you're sure these coordinates are correct? The Saiyan Empire is sending troops to Kanasa?"
Snippar, hunched over the small projecter tucked away from the bustling activity of the Avalanche camp, nodded. "They've already dealt the first blow on Vegeta. Avalanche is massing her forces here to make a stand. The Saiyan Empire won't pass up an opportunity like that. I estimate Avalanche's fighting strength to be about thirty elite combatants, ranging from Higher tier to low tier, fifty-thousand troops, maybe two-hundred artillery pieces and light weaponry. The Saiyan Empire will want to crush us-them. Them. So they'll send as many as three times Avalanche's numbers. Wait for the battle to get underway before you make your jump."
The woman nodded curtly, placing her helmet over her head. "Try to make yourself scarce before we arrive. The damnable thing about being undercover is that not everyone on our side knows who you are. I can't guarantee your safety."
Snippar nodded solemnly and closed the channel, crushing the tiny device with the augmented strength of his active arm. "I just want this to be over..."
With the assistance of Shiorei and Indur, Snippar was able to make his way towards the Empire chambers. They had brought fresh armor for the man to wear, but after six months under cover, and another six in a coma, the breezy armor made him feel naked. The man found himself wishing to be clad in the gleaming black plates he had taken a liking to during his time on Kanasa.
Shiorei, as part of her preparations for Snippar's return, had visited the boy Sera on the planet Earth and retrieved the man's sword. However, the Empire had forbade the girl from returning it to its owner before they had passed judgement. It now bumped awkwardly against her hip and she and her comrade aided the still-recovering made down the corridors of the Saiyan's Tower.
Snippar was aware of a dull pain in his stomach. It had been days since he was fed. A staff scuttled by every few hours with a cup filled with warm, dirty water, enough to keep Snippar alive, but never sate his thirst. The Saiyan prisoner spent much of his time in deep in thought, attempting to mentally and spiritually prepare himself for the task ahead.
He sensed Alondra's approach before he even heard her boots falling upon the cobbled floors of the dungeon. The Saiyan woman spoke, apologizing for his imprisonment, and for not seeing him sooner.
Snippar remained silent. The Saiyan woman went on to berate the Male, calling him a fool for allowing himself to be captured. Again, Snippar only stared into the woman's eyes. It wasn't until she asked WHY he had allowed himself to be taken that he spoke.
"Because we need you back. I need you back," Snippar said. The statement was a half-truth. Snippae did long to have Alondra back in the side of the Saiyan Empire, but he could not reveal the true purpose of his surrender. Too much rode upon his carefully laid veil of deceit. Alondra believed him, and professed her love for him. Snippar returned the confession, which seemed to be enough for Alondra to decide he had spent enough time locked away. The woman freed her Saiyan prisoner, and informed him that he would be her new Student. She would offer him protection until such a time that she could smuggle him safely back to the Planet Vegeta.
Alondra was content to leave Snippar in the Avalanche Archives while she tended to matters of running her sect. From what Snippar could gather, Avalanche was on the brink of a full-scale rebellion against the Saiyan Empire. The Saiyan heard rumors of similar rebellion factions within the Saiyan Empire being swiftly eradicated, with Saiyans and the desert world of Vegeta becoming a safe haven for those with personal grudges against their Elite Empire.
Snippar took this information and cataloged it, though he dared not attempt to transmit that information to the Saiyan Empire. He would be quickly found out as a spy, and not even Alondra would be able to protect him. Shiorei had strict orders to wait one month before presenting herself to Alondra and coerce the woman into returning Snippar to the Planet Vegeta. Snippar had one month. One month to gain the trust of the fanatical Avalanche Sect and gain as much information on them as possible.
But that was merely the first stage in his plan.
Snippar spent the better part of a month secluded in the Archives or Alondra's quarters. Snippar studied everything he could get his hands on: News Reports from Planet Vegeta, journal entries from Political Democrats both living and long deceased, tomes as thick as his thigh on war military strategy and tactics. Snippar made sure to carefully document everything in an encrypted data package upon his scouter. The information would prove invaluable once Shiorei had convinced Alondra to return him to the planet Vegeta. He wasn't sure how his former student was going to convince the Saiyan woman to do so, but he had to have faith in her abilities.
The rendezvous date was only a week away when Snippar was in the archives, sipping tea and reading from the writing of Avalanche, a Saiyan who had been a disciple of Vegeta ages ago, when he suddenly began to feel faint. The man soon passed out and Elite Xalden, who had drugged the Saiyan's drink, emerged from the shadows to loom over his new captive. The omniscient space shuttle lurched from space several hundred-thousand kilometers from the so-called 'Jewel of the Saiyans.' Even from such a distance, the massive city-planet sparkled in the small frigate's view port. A twinkling ball of oranges, golds and violets before a backdrop of shimmering stars. It almost made Zeon tear up. Almost.
From Kanasa, Lieutenant Zeon had been careful to make the space lanes travel less traveled as he made a zig-zagging course for the Saiyan capital planet. While he was keen on returning his captive to the custody of the Saiyans, the last thing he wanted was to be picked up by some random patrol and be forced to turn the Saiyan over to the Squad. As if he wasn't going to be chewed out enough for taking close to four months to return his prisoner, the commanders of the Saiyans would have tanned his hide if he had lost his prisoner to those blasted ship-jockeys.
He had sent a message ahead of his ship, stating his name, rank, the number of his crew and the nature of his prisoner; so Zeon was not surprised to see two more Shuttle-class frigates sitting at the edge of the Vegetan Base Home of these Saiyans. The two hammer-head-shaped vessels fell in behind Zeon's commandeered ship to escort him in. The Shuttle-class frigates were small enough to boast environmental landing support struts, and as they passed through Vegeta's dense atmosphere, he could see the Vegeta Empire's training Base growing larger as they neared the planet's southern pole. Environmental regulators kept the planet's poles from being ice-locked year round, but as the ship continued to descend, he could feel the vibrations of strong winter winds buffering the ship as they made their final approach.
Ten minutes later saw the massive shuttle docked at the sprawling military compound. Zeon allowed his men to disembark first. They would face no backlash for their actions. Lieutenant Zeon had made the choice to steer the frigate away from the rest of the fifth Shuttles. The men who were simply following the orders of their superior commander were permitted to head home to their families or to board a barge headed back for the outer territories. The armored figures were not seen disembarking. Zeon, pushing a repulsiveness with the unconscious Snippar on it, was the final member of the rogue crew to leave the frigate.
Saiyans armed and armored elite troops were there to greet him, hands trained at his chest. Zeon released the sled, knowing it would remain in place after he had descended the boarding ramp, and raised his hands to allow one of the soldiers to shackle him. All of the soldiers were clad in heavy purple and white battle armor, making their identities impossible for the young man to guess. Variants in size and body-type allowed him to make vague assumptions on gender and capacity, but at this stage, that was moot.
One of the Soldiers, smaller than the rest, stepped forward. Her voice had a slight electronic buzz to it due to her helmet's vocalizer.
"It's about damned time you showed up, Lieutenant. I'd thought we'd lost him on Kanasa. Since you're so keen on being his babysitter, you can go with him to medical until we figure out what to do with you.."
Zeon nodded, his hazel eyes surveying the area. "Understood, Sir. But uh... What about the Saiyans? Won't they be wanting their prisoner back, like Alondra and the others."
The woman shook her head. "The Saiyan politicans doesn't even know he's gone." Snippar's body shook violently as violet tendrils of energy like lightning crackled over his body. Elite Xalden, Snippar's most recent captor, smiled in delight at the man's suffering. He had been at it for hours, torturing Snippar to a near-fatal state, then using his combat droid to mend Snippar's wounds to bring him back to a stable condition.
Smoke trailed lazily from the Male's hunched shoulders as his struggles to regain his breathing. Suddenly, more siring pain shot brought the man as Xalden grazed Snippar's shoulder with his crimson sword. The stench of burnt skin filled Snippar's nostrils.
Xalden seemed impressed by Snippar's resistance to his tactics, commenting that other men had cracked from a lighter punishment. However, Xalden had not utilized every trick at his disposal. He ordered his droid to inject the saiyan with a serum that would make his mind mail-able, and unable to fabricate deception. Snippar, in this drugged state was unable to discern the falsehoods of Xalden implanted in his brain. A fabricated vision of Alondra in the arms of another man.
Snippar saw something else, too. This vision was real, and current. Alondra was under attack by Shiorei, Snippar's former Saiyan Student.
Shiorei had waited a month, as part of the plan. During that month, she had rented a small apartment from a shifty-looking Saiyan, and spent much of that time meditating and training with Indur, the third conspirator in Snippar's scheme. They spent days exposing Shiorei to every toxin known in the Universe; From the highly toxic alien venom to the slightly irritating oil of poison vines of Earth.
Each time the woman was poisoned, she would enter a deep meditative state to ward off the toxins in her body. Indur was present to monitor her vitals and to provide assistance should she fail in combating a toxic injection.
Aside from that, Shiorei spent a long, painful, boring month in her dingy apartment waiting, training like the monks of old did on planet earth.
It was common knowledge that the Saiyan Master of Avalanche frequented the bars of Vegeta; drinking the nights away and flirting with a burly Saiyan-Hybrids after another. One of her lieutenants and a former Saiyan squad commander. The trick, and a larger portion of Shiorei's waiting stemmed from having to seize upon a moment when Alondra was truly alone, without the companionship of her dusky bodyguard. Shiorei was confident in her ability to defeat Alondra in single-combat, but the addition of the hybrid Saiyan warrior, even with Indur lurking in the shadows to provide support, would greatly shift the tone of the coming battle.
An opportunity finally presented itself on the third week. Shiorei could sense the woman approaching the building her apartment was situated in, and she was alone. Shiorei's apartment complex was located near the Imperial zone, but safely outside its boundaries.
The saiyan woman was quick to confront the magnitude of the elite. The woman, not clad in her normal armor and clearly intoxicated, proved easy prey for the Saiyan woman. She struck quickly, delivering a side kick that cracked two of Alondra's ribs and sent the woman sprawling to the ground. Shiorei did not let up. She had her orders from Snippar: coerce Alondra into returning Snippar to their hold. That night, Shiorei interpreted those orders as "Beat Alondra the hell up." Shiorei fought with reckless abandoned. Shiorei's azure and green blades struck like serpents, and it was all Alondra could do to defend herself against the onslaught.
Shiorei hurled a shipping box at the other woman with the strength utilized, and as it crashed into the drunk Saiyan, Shiorei watched the right leave the woman. Shiorei hesitated for a moment. She knew what Snippar's goal was, why he had allowed himself to be captured. Shiorei could accomplish that vision with a single stroke of her sword. Alondra was a monster. She was responsible for the deaths of Saiyans, soldiers... And her brother. Vani had been lost in darkness, but he had still been her brother. Whether by her own hand or by ordering it done, her brother's blood was on Alondra's hands.
Many hold the misconception that Soldiers are supposed to simply exist without the baser emotions: lust, hate, sorrow... But Soldiers are not droids. Where the Saiyans and common soldiers differ is in the fact that Saiyans rely on these emotions to fuel their connection to the primal insticts they bare. Those emotions are the crutch the Saiyans relied upon. The common soldier, on the other hand, did not simply "push down" those emotions as many believed, but sought to release those emotions in positive outlets: training, compassion, and forgiveness.
Shiorei could have easily given in to her desire to see her brother's murderer slain, but doing so would make her no better than the defenseless bitch before her, and without Alondra to relay the message, Snippar would be lost in the Saiyan's clutches.
Shiorei kicked Alondra's sword out of her reach, and merely said "Vegeta. One week. He comes alone, or I finish what I started."
With that, Shiorei vanished as quickly as she had appeared.
Snippar's eyes shot open. This was the dangerous part of his plan. It was the reason why the Saiyan Empire had denied authorization for this mission. Snippar wasn't sure if the vision of Alondra and the other man was true or not, but it hurt his heart and had him the required emotional catalyst. Massive amounts energy ebbed off his aura as the table he had been strapped to began to shake. One by one the leatheris steals that held him down began to snap. The man's form levitated from the table as he came to a standing position. After a moment of extreme exertion, the man collapsed to his knees, gasping. Xalden smiled. It seemed, to him, Snippar had been broken.
Snippar glared at Xalden. He was treading a fine line now. Tapping into the Darker self was a temptation all but few faced, but Snippar would have to resist its seductive nature while drawing upon it just enough to keep his Avalanche "allies" convinced that he had been turned and let his insanity full out.
"Release me," he said between ragged breaths. "Let me take my vengeance upon Shiorei."
Xalden smiled, and motioned for the man to rise. "In time. But now, you need to learn to control your new found power, rather that enormous ki."
Snippar's mind raced. He had hoped that outburst would have been enough to convince Xalden of his submission to the insane notion of thought and power. Now, he would need to continue to fool the man. Snippar had heard of many who had touched darker ki like demons, and they all told the same story. Like glitterati drugs, the more someone used it, the harder it was to not break, just like the demon king piccolo.
Snippar was now officially in over his head. Snippar stood over the body of his former apprentice, energy humming in his hand. Blood oozed for a split lip and a gash above his left eye where two of Shiorei's punches had managed to land. Even with the deadly dose of toxin running through her veins, the girl had still put up an impressive fight. As to be expected. Shiorei as not moving. She was not breathing. Snippar could only feel the slightest ripples of her presence in the cranium of his skull. Ripples that would slowly fade into the background noise of the shadows called the abyss. As far as the universe was concerned, Shiorei his student had died.
A hooded figure appeared next to Snippar, and the pair spoke for a few moments.
Indur pulled down the hood of his robe and affixed his green eyes on the older Saiyan. "She's weak, but she'll get better. We'll begin to make preparations for-"
Snippar raised a hand to silence him. The Saiyan was certain he had not been followed, but given Alondra's paranoia, it was possible she or one of her agents had followed the man to this planet. He had to keep up appearances. Snippar was sure to keep his remarks to Indur as vague as possible.
"Just dispose of the body. If the political individuals finds out about what happened here, everything will have been for naught."
Indur nodded and pulled his hood back over his face to obscure his features. In the form-fitting black and gray body armor he had on, coupled with a faded red white robe, it would be difficult for any passerby to quickly determine Indur's allegiance. "So what will you go by? Don't Avalanche members take new names?"
Snippar nodded. He thought for a moment, and said one word. "Invective."
Indur nodded, scooping up Shiorei's limp form and hoisting it over his shoulder. His mission was to take the woman somewhere safe, but remote enough as to not be discovered by the Saiyans, and nurse the Saiyan woman back to health. Their months of preparation prior to the battle in the Caves had prepared Shiorei for the toxin Snippar had introduced to her, but she would still need time to recover from such a heavy dose. Once Shiorei was well, she and Indur would remain hidden and prepare to extract Snippar once he had accumulated enough critical data on Avalanche to launch an attack against their major military establishments. Snippar had hoped the Saiyan Empire would back his plan, but now he had to rely on Major Zero and the Elite units she commanded. It was a risky game he was playing, but one that had to be done.
Snippar, now known as Elite Invective of the Saiyan Empire, watched as Indur carried the woman from the Caves, and turned towards the entrance he had used. He had his own part to play now. He would have to keep the insane presence close, lest those already suspicious of him - the Elite Xalden of the Organization Avalanche- saw through his ruse. The coming months would be challenging, but if Snippar could keep himself from falling completely into darkness then maybe, just maybe, he could save the woman he loved. Rouge Teacher Nir strode quickly down the pristine corridor of the medical facility, brushing past hospital staff and combat droids as he made his way towards the birthing units. The man, grey starting to invade his temples, had made the sojourn from his post on the Outer territories to the Vegetan Capital once he had heard word that Alondra had been captured and returned to Vegeta.
Following the death of Alondra's Master at the hands of Tundra, Mirmaker had acted as a surrogate Master to the girl while she finished her Combat training. He had witnessed a fire and drive within the woman that both intrigued and concerned the veteran fighter like Master. He had hoped to stamp out the girl's desire for revenge and justice for her former Master's death, and for a while, had fooled himself into believing he had done just that. When news of her resurfacing as the Saiyan loyalist of Avalanche reached his ears several years ago, the Master was saddened by his pupil's failings.
Now, with Alondra back in Vegetan Territory, he could work on freeing her from the grips of the corruption.
After the birth, of course.
Alondra had gone into labor earlier that evening, amid rumors that another wayward Saiyan had been brought back to Vegetan Space following the events on Kanasa. While the name of this new arrival had not been released, it was known that the captive was being held at an Elite Saiyan compound and under constant guard. No visitors, not even Saiyans, were permitted to see their newest prisoner.
For now, Nir could only concern himself with the woman giving birth at the end of the hall. The thought of Alondra giving birth to the spawn of some unworthy or distorted alien was somewhat unsettling, but Alondra, for all the mistakes she had made, was akin to a daughter he had never had, and he had a duty to support her in this time of crisis. As he neared Alondra's room, a pair of Saiyans, clad in plain earthen armor, halted his advance.
"Our apologies, Nir, but no one is to enter the room while Al-...While Avalanche's leader is giving birth."
Soldier Nir thought briefly about pulling rank, reminding the two younger Saiyans who he was, and entering the room anyway, but thought better of it and merely nodded.
"Very well. Then I shall wait here with you until the baby is born."
"Babies, Sir. She- ...She's having twins."
Alondra howled in pain.
Everything below the woman's navel was burning. Due to her condition at the time of her capture, the Saiyan Empire had been somewhat gentle in the handling of her. A pregnant woman, even one with a reputation like Avalanches leader, was the carrier of precious cargo. She had spent the the majority of her time in the Maternity Ward under constant guard. With a constant contingent of Saiyan supervisors and a shackles Inhibiting choker, Alondra was as dangerous as a de clawed kitten. When the woman had gone into labor several hours prior, she was rushed to one of the birthing rooms.
Now, a half-dozen droids skirted about her bed as the woman writhed, screamed, cried, cursed and pushed. It was the sixth or so hour of her labor, but to Alondra, it seemed like the sixth day.
There was a sudden pressure, immense and unbearable, just below her navel. One of the Maternity staff cooed gently as the woman pushed, and there was sudden, high-pitched wailing as the staff made an excited coo. Alondra felt a wave of relief and jubilation wash over her, but it was quickly crushed by a resurgence of pressure and immense pain shooting through her body. She was only halfway through her ordeal.
Minutes felt like days as the woman continued to push. The birth of the first child had lessened the pressure below her navel, and as the second child was pulled free by the droid, Alondra finally felt relief overcome the pain and anguish she was feeling. Her body was still on fire, but was her mind began to regain some of it's focus, she became aware of the staff floating on a cart lifts next to her bed. Two droids each held one small, tiny, wailing child wrapped in swaddling cloth.
The first droid lowered itself down to eye level with Alondra, displaying a handsome baby boy. The child, seeming to find a small amount of comfort in the proximity to his mother, began to giggle and coo. Alondra smiled in spite of her pain. She and the babies' father had conducted a conversation of hypothetical names for children they might have had together shortly after they had begun sharing a bed. She was thankful for that conversation now.
"Aiden," she whispered, reaching out and stroking a tiny tuft of auburn hair on the top of the child's head. The second droid lowered itself to Alondra's eye level. A girl with the same auburn hair and bright, piercing blue eyes. "Idryia," Alondra said with a smile.
The droids nodded and floated away, there was still work to be done. The children would need to be checked for illness or possible defects, imprints of their feet taken, and entered into the Vegeatan registry. They were the offspring of a Saiyan war criminal, and as such, were technically the wards of the Saiyan Empire. Alondra watched the droids exit the room, her eyes beginning to dart in panic, her chest heaving at the sudden removal of her children. She had been coached that this would happen. The children would need to leave her side for several hours while testing was done to ensure their health. She would be allowed several days with her newborns, but afterwards, they would be taken into the care of the Saiyan Empire and sent away. It was highly uncommon for the offspring of a Saiyans with the power level Alondra possessed to be born without Natural Affinity, and as Nir watched the children be shuttled out of the room by the floating droids, he could sense the immense power both children possessed.
Whoever the father of those children was, he must be someone of great power....
"Aiden.... Idryia."
The names of the newborn babes rippled through the compound. A dozen kilometers away, in the secured medical wing of the Saiyan Headquarters, those names became implanted in the mind of an unconscious Saiyan captive.
And Snippar's eyes opened. Orderlies and nurses streamed into the room as the entire floor of the Hospital quaked beneath Snippar's raw outburst. The droids were the first to go, their internal hardware gutted by invisible tendrils of pure ki energy and slammed into the metallic walls. Snippar was raging, having suddenly been brought back to consciousness after almost six months of being in a comatose state. The birth of the twins - his children - had sent ripples through the ki like pressure his scouter detected that snapped the man out of his vegetable-like state.
As more and more of the hospital staff flooded into the room, they were almost instantly caught the grip of Snippar's Growing Ki. Medical equipment and hospital staff swirled in the vortex of aura with the Saiyan elite at the center of it all. The heavy equipment slammed into walls and bodies with painful impacts. There was nothing the staff could do to end the man's rampage. As a precaution, Snippar had been placed in restraints while lying in his bed, but even now, those straps of leather were beginning to strain against Snippar's raw power.
"That is quite enough."
The sudden interjection caused Snippar to snap out of his tantrum. Equipment and staff remained suspended in air as the man turned his head to observe the two armored figures that had entered the room, and were seemingly unaffected by Snippar's vortex of KI. Shiorei and Indur pulled down the hoods of their respective robes and shared a smile as they gazed upon their ally.
"Snippar," Indur said softly, hands held palms up to show that he was unarmed, "It's time, the Empire wants to meet with you."
Snippar blinked. As he spoke, Shiorei and Indur glanced at one another as they heard the slight Saiyan accent that had made its way into his speech.
"The Saiyan Empire can go kiss a black hole. Take me to my children."
Shiorei frowned, and approached the restrained man.
"Snippar, you... you can't see them. Not right now, anyway. The Saiyan Empire wants to talk to you about what you-what we did. Avalanche has dissolved. We won, Snippar. We beat them."
Snippar turned his amber-colored eyes to observe the young woman. He smiled weakly. Grimly.
"At what cost? The people I had to hurt. You. Alondra. Her children are going to grow up without their mother."
Indur approached the man's bed, and began to undo the straps that held him down. "No, but come with us, and they might get their father back."
Snippar - Snippar Sol nodded as the last restraint was undone and rose into a seated position. His right arm was just a stump ending below his elbow, and as he tried to get out of the bed, he quickly slumped to the floor. Months in a coma had resulted in a great deal of muscle mass being lost from his legs. Indur and Shiorei got on either side of the man and helped him stand. It was time to go see the Council.
It was time to learn his fate.The miniature image of the woman flickered as Major Zero spoke.
"And you're sure these coordinates are correct? The Saiyan Empire is sending troops to Kanasa?"
Snippar, hunched over the small projecter tucked away from the bustling activity of the Avalanche camp, nodded. "They've already dealt the first blow on Vegeta. Avalanche is massing her forces here to make a stand. The Saiyan Empire won't pass up an opportunity like that. I estimate Avalanche's fighting strength to be about thirty elite combatants, ranging from Higher tier to low tier, fifty-thousand troops, maybe two-hundred artillery pieces and light weaponry. The Saiyan Empire will want to crush us-them. Them. So they'll send as many as three times Avalanche's numbers. Wait for the battle to get underway before you make your jump."
The woman nodded curtly, placing her helmet over her head. "Try to make yourself scarce before we arrive. The damnable thing about being undercover is that not everyone on our side knows who you are. I can't guarantee your safety."
Snippar nodded solemnly and closed the channel, crushing the tiny device with the augmented strength of his active arm. "I just want this to be over..."
With the assistance of Shiorei and Indur, Snippar was able to make his way towards the Empire chambers. They had brought fresh armor for the man to wear, but after six months under cover, and another six in a coma, the breezy armor made him feel naked. The man found himself wishing to be clad in the gleaming black plates he had taken a liking to during his time on Kanasa.
Shiorei, as part of her preparations for Snippar's return, had visited the boy Sera on the planet Earth and retrieved the man's sword. However, the Empire had forbade the girl from returning it to its owner before they had passed judgement. It now bumped awkwardly against her hip and she and her comrade aided the still-recovering made down the corridors of the Saiyan's Tower.