Sellerie and her brother, Okcho, were taking part in an archaeological dig on an unnamed planet, where Jagam allegedly slaughtered an entire Saiyan colony five years ago. Thus far, they had found the wreckage of dozens upon dozens of individual pods, each with decomposed remains inside. There were also remains scattered across the ground. It seemed that they were headed toward the evacuation pods, certainly to escape Jagam. "Once we get back home, we can start DNA analysis to put names and faces to these remains," Okcho said.
It wasn't just about giving closure to families, but finding out just how notorious this Jagam was. According to Queen Sarada, he was vastly overrated and went down without any effort whatsoever. The young queen was prone to exaggerating, so surely there wasn't much truth to that. If they could determine the battle powers of his victims, that would confirm that they had every right to be fearful of space travel in those days.
Sellerie was floating above the evacuation center, carefully taking pictures of what was left of the smoldered pods when her communicator started ringing. "This is Sellerie speaking."
"Sellerie, this is Pois. I need you to meet Her Highness on Earth ASAP. Tundra's made his move. He's attacked Ruco, destroyed Vocado, and is heading to the homeworld as I speak." Pois spoke quickly, barely giving Sellerie any time to even comprehend what she was saying, much less respond.
It was too much to comprehend all at once. The spectre of the Arcosian despot had been hanging over their entire race ever since Queen Sarada was attacked and nearly killed by the robotic assassin three years ago. Ever since then, Sellerie had been silently terrified that he would launch his offensive. It had been a little poke here, a little prod there. He had been taunting them from a distance while make small moves that evolved on a grand scale. The Tuffles, the assassin that nearly killed Her Highness, the two Frost Demons that brought any army to Vocado's doorstep - all of it was leading up to this. That day had finally come.
"I...I see," she said in response after several seconds of empty silence. "I will rendezvous with her as soon as I can." She hung up and let out a shuddering sigh. Her knees felt like they had been replaced with globs of jelly. Had she been standing, she surely would have collapsed. "This can't be happening."
"What's wrong?" her brother inquired as he floated up to her.
"They...it's that Tundra. He attacked Ruco and destroyed Vocado."
His eyes widened. "What?!"
"And now he's on his way to the homeworld to I guess kill them off, too." She sighed again and roughly raked her fingers through her hair. "Why is this happening now?"
"Did," Okcho started before stopping short. The other ten researchers with them stopped what they were doing. They were talking loudly enough for everyone in the area to hear them. "How did the Queen make it away from Vocado in time? How many were still there?"
"I didn't think to ask." She had been looking at him, but had to avert her gaze to the ground. "I don't want to know."
He sighed and started to descend. "You should go. We can finish up here."
"Okay." She slowly descended until her feet touched the ground. As she suspected, her knees were too weak and wobbly to support her weight right away. Fortunately, an arm wrapped around hers before she suffered an embarrassing face-plant. "Oh, Corra," she said when she glanced over to see who her dignity's savior was. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Her usually playful smile was much more subdued than normal. "We're two days away from home. I'll have to give you a ride."
"Wait, how?"
She tapped her wrist. A yellow circle appeared under them as a low hum emanated around the air. "Good luck, guys. We'll see you soon." No sooner than the words came out, they were gone, vanished in a bright flash of yellow light.
An instant later, they were standing in the middle of a street on Langal, right next to where the Grand Townhall used to be. The two Saiyanesses gasped and gawped silently as they took in the unmitigated destruction. They were facing the Townhall; when they turned around to take in more, the realized just how much damage had been done, and understood a little better how dire the situation was.
"What happened?" Corra whispered. Her arm was still wrapped around Sellerie's, so she could feel the tremble shaking through the woman's body.
"Tundra's men," came Pinach's voice from a short distance away. "One of them fired a blast through my portal just as I got the last person through. I think they all made it, but the people already in the building weren't so lucky." He frowned and took a step toward them. "Are you guys here to help my sister?"
His yellow hair and, more poignantly, his power impressed upon them exactly what Pois realized some time earlier. He's a Super Saiyan, Sellerie realized a moment later. A moment filled with awkward silence and even more awkward staring. Oh, I'm staring. "Okay. We, um, we...yes. We're here to pick up our stuff...and then head to this planet Earth we've heard so much about."
He nodded. "Okay. I'll be staying here just in case. Good luck."
He headed off, prompting them both to release a hefty sigh. "That's the closest I've ever been to a Super Saiyan," Sellerie said, her calm voice belying her frazzled mental state at that moment.
"Yeah. It's pretty hot."
"...what?"
"Hm?"
They lifted off and headed to their respective occupations to gather their equipment. Corra, being a doctor, stopped by the hospital to gather three first aid kits and a batch of experimental healing tablets. They recently discovered - completely by accident - that the gel inside their patented healing tanks could be ingested. After some testing, they learned that ingestion didn't degrade the gel's healing capabilities and opted to create the pills for use on the battle field. The pills hadn't been tested in a combat sense, but she didn't see that they had much of a choice.
Sellerie stopped by her research lab and gathered the same things she had the last time she was there, as well as a new drone equipped with a program she and Corra developed that could translate the native Saiyans' ancient language into their modern language. I might as well get a head start on the translations. I might not get another chance. It was a sad, utterly depressing thought for so many reasons.
As exciting as it was to return to that mystery world and begin her work on unlocking the history of the Saiyan race, she was nervous and anxious. Her stomach was churning and fluttering. She groaned and leaned her head against a wall. She remembered the mockery those native Saiyans laid on her, Corra, and Okcho. Avoca was at least respected because she carried herself like a warrior. Sellerie, she detested combat.
Why fight when talking was good enough? Conflict was a integral part of life, but seeking it out was what tyrants did. Those that trampled the weak under their boot heels and took what they wanted without fear of reprisal or consequence. She thought the Saiyan race had started to move past that and would evolve to be more intellectual. They had, for the most part, on Langal, and had completely on Turrip. Still, the vast majority of the race lived for violence and fighting and looked down on intelligence and the finer arts of life.
On the other hand, focusing on her intellect as much as she had eroded her natural Saiyan tendencies. Those primitives didn't think I was even a Saiyan... Even if she had rejected the most famous traits of her race, to be rejected as a Saiyan stung far more than she thought it would. There was an urge to prove herself to them, to show them that even though she didn't fight and didn't have an insatiable love for it, she was still just as much as a Saiyan as Queen Sarada or Avoca.
"Hey, what are you waiting on?"
Corra's voice pulled Sellerie's thoughts from her own insecurities. "Sorry. I'm just...I'm coming."
Corra raised an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"
She wanted to say that everything was. She wanted to forget about her insecurity and put on a strong face. She didn't want to admit she was afraid of a people who were only a step or two above animals. She wanted to do a lot of things, but what she did was say, "No. I'm the only person in the Empire who can understand what those people can say, yet they look at me like I'm a disgrace."
Corra frowned and walked toward her. She placed her hands firmly on her shoulders. "You're not a disgrace. You're literally one of the smartest people I know."
"I know that! They don't care about brains, only strength. Just like every other Saiyan."