Dragon Ball Z: The Beast Within - CH130 (Patreon)

"Well, Doctor," I said, stepping in and gesturing toward the closest crate inside the King's vault. "This is it, nothing big yet, mind you. Just a few standard components that will help us establish the baseline for our treaty with Earth.

I popped the container open, reached inside, and pulled out a single scouter, tossing it lightly in my hand before offering it to Dr. Brief.

"This is a standard field scouter," I explained. "It serves as a localized computer, a comms array, and a biological energy tracker. We mostly use it to quantify an opponent's combat strength across vast distances, and to keep track of our soldiers, it’s very effective in what it does, but… well, it does have its flaws… if a localized power level spike a certain amount of units, the circuitry overloads and the device tends to violently explode."

"Incredible…" Dr. Brief breathed, looking at the scouter like a kid would look at candy or toys. "The circuitry has to be… practically microscopic for this to work... no, no, it has to be integrated directly into the casing! And this lens, it can’t be glass... It has to be some kind of hyper-dense crystalline polymer! The data compression required to feed a tracking array of this magnitude into a wearable device is centuries ahead of our current models, and that’s without accounting for its other features!"

"Let me see! Daddy, let me see!"

The tiny girl shoved her way past me, zipping across the room, to the crate, where she stood on her tiptoes, her blue hair bouncing as she gripped the edge of the crate with all her might before grabbing one of the scouters inside, and giving it a look.

"It doesn’t have any screws?!" she said, looking at the scouter. "How do you open it? How does it chargeeee? Daddy! I want to see the interface!"

So she was like this… since she was a kid, huh?

"Patience, sweetie," Dr. Brief laughed, not really paying attention to her as he was already pulling a micro-screwdriver from his tuxedo pocket, his eyes gleaming with the borderline manic, undeniable urge to dismantle the tech in front of him. "Fascinating. Truly fascinating! It seems the device is powered by an unknown source of energy, how marvelous!"

"I’m glad you liked that," I said, smiling. "The main event is over here, though."

I walked to the center of the vault and grabbed the edge of the massive curtain, and with a confident grin, I yanked it away, letting the heavy fabric cascade to the floor to reveal the main event. 

A Saiyan space pod.

The reaction as expected was instantaneous. Dr. Brief let out a sharp gasp. His cigarette dropping to the ground, scattering sparks across the floor, as he stepped forward, walking a slow, almost reverent circle around the ship, his hands hovering just millimeters away from the hull as if actually touching it might break it.

"A single-occupant celestial vessel," the doctor murmured, his eyes wide. "The hull is…. No rivets, no thermal plating lines as far I can see. How in the world does it displace the structural stress of atmospheric re-entry? What's the propulsion medium? Are you using spatial distortion or a localized gravity drive?"

I… what?

I had no idea how to answer him… I knew I should probably have a better understanding of my own technology, at least on a basic level, but I was completely out of my depth here… I should’ve brought Garlik.

"Like I said before… I am no scientist, but this is a pretty standard ship for our people," I said, looking at the pod. "Most of them are programmed for long-range travel. It sustains the passenger in stasis for months at a time while automatically charting and navigating the space around them."

"A spaceship!" Bulma shrieked, as she bolted forward, her frilly dress puffing out as she threw her tiny arms around the ship's massive spherical hull, hugging it with pure, unadulterated ecstasy. "It’s real! It's round like a bouncy ball! I’m going to ride it! Open it, let me inside!"

Hell no… if she managed to activate the interface she would be sent to God knows where, and by the time we reached said place, she would be long dead.

"My word, the density of this thing," Dr. Brief muttered, completely deaf to his daughter's demands. He pressed his ear directly against the armor, tapping it sharply with his knuckles. "I might be wrong… but it looks like it absorbs the kinetic impact entirely. There’s no resonance, or echo... Escarot, my boy... you have my blessing in this alliance and in marrying any of my daughters!"

I choked on my own spit, coughing.

I… no thanks?

I looked back and forth between Dr. Brief, who was still inspecting the ship,, the three-year-old toddler currently licking the crimson glass of the ship’s viewport for… whatever reason, and her teenage sister, who seemed to be more socially aware than his father, mother and sister were, who had caught on my distress and was enjoying it. This family was absolutely unhinged. 

"Dear, don't just give away our daughters to an alien warlord," Dr. Brief’s wife chimed in cheerfully, while fanning herself with a pamphlet. "Though, if they do get married, we simply must have a themed reception… Oh, imagine the invitations! 'You are cordially invited to the union of Earth and the Stars.' It would be the event of the century!"

"No! I'm the one who decides!" Bulma yelled, pulling her face away from the glass, leaving a little smudge of toddler spit behind, before pointing a defiant finger at her parents. "I want it to be pink!"

"Right, right, of course," Tights snickered, leaning against the wall and casually flipping to a fresh page in her notebook as she glanced up at me, her smirk widening as she took in my thoroughly panicked expression. "So, Your Majesty, for my school paper, question number one: How does it feel to know that your grand galactic empire is about to be entirely annexed by a toddler in a sparkly pink dress? And if given an option, would you prefer I was the one doing the annexing?"

I rubbed my temples… "Can we please get back to the ship?" I pleaded, my voice cracking slightly as I pointed a desperate hand toward the pod. "Doctor, please. You said something about the alloy, right?"

"Ah, yes yes! But of course!" Dr. Brief blinked, instantly snapping out of his trance, as he eagerly pulled a magnifying glass from his tuxedo and pressed it right against the hull of the ship. "If my hypotheses are correct, reversing the structure of this plating could completely revolutionize terrestrial construction! Why, we could build structures that withstand meteor strikes!"

"So, Dr. Brief," King Furry said, stepping forward. He had been quietly observing the madness of the Brief’s family with his arms crossed behind his back, laughing every now and then, but now it seemed the pragmatic ruler in him was ready to ask a few questions regarding what was in front of him. "Let’s talk about practical applications, if you don’t mind. For the Crown, and for the public. If we finalize this treaty, how quickly can the government with the help of Capsule Corporation integrate this technology into Earth's infrastructure? And what are we looking at for everyday use exactly?"

Dr. Brief grinned, his mustache twitching with excitement. "Everyday use?! Your Majesty, you're thinking far too small! Look at this scouter! If I can adapt this localized computing matrix, we could completely phase out bulky hand-held electronics! Personal communication, health monitoring, environmental scanning for possible threats! all integrated into a single wearable device!"

King Furry hummed. “Really?”

“But of course!” Dr. Brief said, as he finally pulled away from the pod, pointing his screwdriver enthusiastically at King Furry. "And the capsule's improvement potential! Don’t get me started! If I can figure out the atomic compression these Saiyans use to store energy matrices in their ship cores so that they can travel for so long without a charge, I could downscale our existing capsule tech by half while doubling the storage capacity! We could capsule entire cargo trains, Your Majesty! Shipping and logistics globally would become practically instantaneous!"

King Furry’s ears perked up, a genuine look of awe washing over his face. "Incredible... A total logistical revolution.... And what about national defense? The armor plating on that vessel?"

"Oh, well about that," Dr. Brief beamed, tapping the smooth white hull of the pod again. "If we reverse-engineer this... we aren't just talking about building standard bunkers! No no no! We could construct disaster-proof cities! Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, meteor strikes! Terrestrial architecture would become practically invincible! Not to mention the advancements in deep-sea exploration and high-altitude aviation!"

"Fascinating," King Furry murmured, nodding slowly as a profound sense of relief settled into his ki.

It seems things were going in the right direction.

A sudden, heavy thud resonated through the vault, followed instantly by a sharp, metallic click as the bright fluorescent lights flickered a couple of times, before they died completely, and the entire secret vault was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness.

I hadn't expected anyone to strike the imperial palace… but alas, I could feel at least twelve new energy signatures flooding into the vault corridor. The heavy reinforced doors, now lacking power, were forced open with mechanical jacks as a well-trained, heavily armed unit swept inside.

A split second later, a solid metal barrel was pressed firmly against the back of my neck.

"Don't move, pal," a gruff voice hissed from the darkness behind me. The heavy scent of cheap grease and military-grade camouflage paint rolled off him. "We don't know what kind of freak show the King is running down here, but you and your fancy toys are coming with us. One wrong move, and I put a hole right through your spine."

I stood perfectly still, actively trying to suppress the massive, urge to burst out laughing, I mean… A gun? These nameless intruders were threatening a Saiyan with a firearm? This was adorable.

In the darkness, I could feel the absolute panic radiating from King Furry, Tights, and Dr. Brief, as Bulma let out a small, frightened gasp, clutching onto her mother's dress.

But more importantly, I could sense three other energy signatures in the room growing dangerously hot… well, two of them at least. Across the vault, near the buffet table, Bardock, Raditz, and Gine stopped chewing, and even from here, I could feel as the ambient pressure in the room began to drop, as Bardock's ki started to flare with violent intent. If I didn't intervene right now, this mystery strike team wouldn't just be defeated; they would be reduced to minced meat, along with half of the Central Capital.

Now that I think about it, this was actually the perfect moment to show King Furry exactly what he was buying into with this treaty.

"Wait," I called out, for Bardock to hear.

"I said shut up!" the soldier barked, shoving the barrel harder against my neck.

I ignored him entirely. "Raditz, Bardock… don’t move… Gine. Take care of them."

"Come on!" Raditz groaned.

"Me?" Gine asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but try to keep them alive," I instructed, a small, mischievous smirk playing on my lips in the dark. "Show our hosts what even the gentlest among us can do."

"Understood," Gine replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" the strike leader yelled, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Shoot the—!"

He never finished the sentence… poor guy. To ones inside the vault, nothing happened… There was simply a soft whoosh of displaced air, a faint rustle of a cape, and the sudden, overwhelming sensation of a gale-force wind sweeping through the enclosed vault.

The soldier behind me vanished, as his gun clattered to the floor, followed immediately by the heavy, limp sound of his body collapsing onto the reinforced steel. And just like him, all around the room, the hidden operatives, trained killers, elite mercenaries, whoever the hell they were, dropped like flies.

Gine moved through them like a walk in the park. Because even though she was considered weak by Saiyan standards, she still possessed a power level that far eclipsed anyone on Earth. To these humans, she might as well be a god, an unstoppable force of nature that just happened to be kind.

The emergency backup generators finally kicked in with a loud noise as the harsh fluorescent lights hummed back to life, flooding the vault with illumination.

King Furry, Dr. Brief, and his daughters blinked rapidly, adjusting to the light coming back, and when they finally looked around the room, their jaws dropped in shock, looking as Gine was standing calmly by the elevator doors, dusting off her hands with a polite, sweet smile on her face, completely unbothered.

It seemed Gine had… killed four… no five of the intruders by mistake. 

“You hit a few of these guys a bit too hard,” I said, looking at Gine.

"I know… but I didn't know how hard to hit," Gine replied, offering an apologetic smile. "And... well, the first few I might have hit a bit too hard… It’s been a while since I’ve been on a combat assignment, your majesty, my apologies."

I looked at the guy who had “held” me at gunpoint, she had hit him in the neck so hard it had twisted around like four times, I was glad his body was being covered by a pillar, otherwise I might be responsible for scarring Bulma and Tights for life.

"Don't worry about it, Gine," I said softly, before turning toward King Furry. "And... apologies for the mess, Your Majesty. A few of them were... handled a bit more permanently than intended, but I assure you the remaining ones are merely incapacitated."

King Furry let out a heavy breath, straightening his posture as he looked at the unconscious and fallen infiltrators. "N-nonsense, King Escarot. You have nothing to apologize for," he replied, his voice serious. "If anything, I should be apologizing to you. The security of this entire installation and event was my responsibility, yet an armed strike team managed to breach our subterranean vault."