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Universe 6 Event: Galactic World Tournament
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Melonia stood at the helm of her mothership, the newly minted Cathedral of Arrogance. The collosal warship drifted through the vast depths of space at incredible speeds. The Cathedral was a massive Broli-class mothership, the largest class of military vessel currently in production by the Saiyan Alliance. The monstrous craft had city like proportions, being many kilometers in diameter and weighing billions of tons. Vaguely spherical in design, a trait that many of the Saiyan Alliance vessels held, with armor plating dozens of meters thick that could withstand extremely powerful Ki blasts or direct impacts from meteors and similar sized objects as it hurled through space. Perhaps its most notable feature, the Cathedral is adorned with four large mechanical appendages, quite literally arms of a sort. Each one has a large central thruster that serves as one of the four primary drive engines of the ship, and a hug grasping claw for securing footholds in uneven terrain upon landing. Complete with dark purple hull coloration and deep green tinted viewing windows that kept out gamma rays, the vessel had quite the ominous appearance.
Designed with a number of strategic purposes in mind, the warship was a multi-role vessel. While its chief purpose was as a massive troop carrier, able to rapidly move thousands of Saiyan Warriors through the vast reaches of space at maximum speed and protection, the Cathedral's other functions were no less vital. The batteries of communications relays that graced the top of the warship made it a flying hub of command and control infrastructure, able to coordinate the actions of a larger military offensive like a mobile command outpost. While this did make the Cathedral a higher value target for an opportunistic strike force, its own compliment of soldiers stood ready to repel such invaders.
In addition to hauling so many combat ready and battle hardened soldiers the Cathedral of Arrogance held enough Saiyan space craft of various make and models to dispatch troops throughout an entire sector space, acting as a refueling depot and resupply center. Any soldier with up to date coordinates could rely with the ship and find fully equipped hangar facilities and rest and reprieve from the long haul of interstellar travel. In that sense the Cathedral was as much a carrier as it was a transport, a flying hive for a swarm of Saiyan hornets that could strike in a swarm at any target they need focus their wrath against. All very useful for an army whose chief strengths were its mobility and its sheer destructive might. Saiyans concerned themselves with first getting to the battle, and then winning it.
But even that most vital task paled in comparison to the Cathedral's current function. The craft had slowly from its cruising velocity to a more modest speed at Melonia's orders. The Saiyan captain stood looking out of the viewing windows at the bleakness of space before her. Tail swishing in eager anticipation. "Status report on potential targets in the immediate vicinity?" Melonia asked calmly, gaze casually shifting to look at a nearby officer's terminal as he plugged away at his computer. View screen displaying a battery of numbers and read outs. "We're still scanning for viable candidates Captain. Hold on... I think we might have something. Quadrant E7, Grid Coordinates 5-7 Mark 9." Melonia looked out as the massive vessel began to lurch slowly, rotating itself into position to close in on its objective.
Before the Cathedral loomed a singular large asteroid. Over a kilometer across and oblong in shape, it truthfully looked like a potato of cosmic proportions. Melonia grinned slightly, knowing this would be an ideal target for her mothership's insatiable appetite. She tossed back her ponytail, folding her arms across her generous chest and opening her mouth to speak her command. "Fire retro rockets, slow us down for approach velocity. Rotates all ventral arms into position, I want this done by the books." Orders were relayed through the hulking ship, and the sharp lurch of the engines could be felt as they ceased their output and the smaller retros on the opposite face ignited to slow down the craft. The four great arms of the Cathedral began to slowly rotate around swiveling into position as the mechanical claws unfolded from the sides of the arm in their four pointed talons.
The other great function the Cathedral of Arrogance fulfilled was as a deep space mining vessel. Asteroids yielded far dense concentrations of precious metals than any planet could hope to possess. But a single large asteroid could yield a treasure trove of resources that surpassed that of any large terrestrial mining operation. And the universe provided a virtually endless supply of asteroids and meteors fit for harvest, all one needed was the proper tools to do so. The mechanical claws of the Cathedral glinted with the light of a distant star as she swung around into view. Crude as the design was, this vessel certainly had all the tools necessary for the harvest. "Prepare for preliminary attachment." Melonia stated assuredly as the craft drew near to the asteroid.
A great impact rattled through the ship as the arms of the Cathedral slammed against the side of the asteroid, mechanical talons digging deeply into the side face of the celestial object before them. "We have successful attachment Captain." Stated one of the officers, and Melonia couldn't help but grin. "Good, begin reeling it it into the processing bay." The officers replied out in confirmation as the titantic limbs began to slowly rotate back into position, dragging the massive object closer. "Open processing bay doors, begin capture process." Along the bottom face of the ship two retractable doors began to withdraw into the depths of the ship, revealing an assortment of hundreds of drills and augers primed and ready for destruction.
"Good, now let's get to work." Melonia motioned back to Bora who remained towards the back of the room. "Bora, cease that punishment I gave you earlier. This is a momentous occasion, come witness the Cathedral do what she does best. Our maiden voyage, and our maiden target." Melonia laughed out loud as hundreds of drilling arms speared the side of the asteroid, activating as they began to pierce it deeply and pull the asteroid into the processing bay beneath the ship. "Come watch, and when it's done we'll go down to the assembly lines, I feel like you might as well witness the entire process from start to finish." Word Count: 1,092
The sound of foot steps darting about the room and the vigorous clicking of keys on a number of keyboards along with the voices of more than a dozen saiyans in the command deck slowly awoke the towering saiyan. Strangely enough he had fallen asleep while doing pushups and not in the way you think. The muscle memory from how long he had been going kept him doing push ups even with his eyes shut. A thin string of gob trailed from his bottom lip before breaking loose and dropping to the tile below. Out off all the sound which could have awoken him, it was the silent tap of the droplet impacting the clean white tile.
His head jerked back and his eyes shot open before he glanced about as if he didn't know where he was. "I'm awake... I'm awake" He said softly as he continued with one arm in order to clear the spit from his lip. His tongue wagged about to moisten his mouth which felt dry from hanging open. It was then that he realized what was going on around him. "Are we getting ready for an attack or something. What got everyone so uppity?" He listened closely to Mel's orders who had moved to the front of the room spouting various orders to what sounded like the set up for some sort of drilling function.
Bora had no idea why but it slowly made more sense. Apart from the fact that the ship was large enough to transport a large sum of saiyans from one planet to another, this particular ship was also designed to gather resources out in space by mining asteroids. The sudden impact with the celestial object caused Bora to have to pounce forward on his hands to keep himself from falling over. The vibrations that where sent through the ship from the base of the drill and claws which had latched on to the huge asteroid caused the floor to rumble. Hearing one of the command officers say their latch on was successful, made the snarky saiyan bust out a comment. "Successful yeah... maybe next time you should ease it in a lil better..." he said teasingly under his breath while looking towards the saiyans which where busy monitoring the status.
Another violent shake signaled that doors had opened and that the claws began retracting. Slowly it pulled the asteroid rock in through the bottom of the ship. Today was also the day that Bora would be allowed to rest easy from his punishment. Mel told him to cease his push ups for the time being so she could give him some insight on the inner workings of the ship and how the mining process actually worked. Of course this was quite a big occasion considering it was the first time use of the ships primary purpose.
The towering saiyan flicked up on to his feet with a surprising show of grace. As he walked over to Mel's side, her rolled his shoulders and stretched out his arms in attempts to ease them of the tension that had built up during his sleep. "So I guess this is set as another feat that the powerful Captain Melonia has on her resume, huh?" He looked down at her from his full height with a smile before staring out the observation window. Watching such a massive process take place was quite amazing. It made one realize how small they truly where in terms of the universe.
As the massive asteroid was pulled into the ship and the door closed at its base, Bora turned back to Mel. "So what sort of resources are taken from these large rocks? Is it going to be used for trade with the earthlings or something? Or is it helping with some other constructions in the Alliance?" He showed quite the interest. To be honest he found it quite interesting and felt that he was out of the loop in league with the terms of the alliance's situation with the earthlings. Where they allied with one another or where laws still under development in a treaty?
There was a definite positive to both sides should earth agree to help the alliance. It gains protection from the saiyans and in return earth shares their knowledge with the saiyans.
Melonia's ears twitched as she heard Bora stammer his way to alertness behind her near the Cathedral's command seat. The Saiyan Warrior was living up to his punishment masterfully, even going so far as to continue his exercise regime in a dead sleep. Operating off sheer muscle memory by that point, Melonia had assumed eventually he'd collapse from sheer exhaustion or vomit in his sleep. Thankfully, it seemed he'd done either, and had recently awoken. It brought a slight smile to her face, though not nearly as wide as the vibrations through the ship as the drilling assemblies began to carve away to the asteroid clutched her mothership's titanic carbide arms. "Bora, you're awake. Here I thought you wanted to rest?" The Saiyan beauty teased as the towering warrior trudged his way to her side in a groggy walk. He looked like he'd soon need a real bed, but he'd almost jeopardized their launch, so he would have to live with his predicament.
"Hardly a feat, this is not task worthy of any accolades." Melonia retorted in her self assured tone. "This is merely one vital task the Cathedral was charged with completing. The Saiyan Alliance must get its resources from somewhere, and there's no good sense in strip mining our planet if we can simply harvest what we need from the black depths of space." More rumbling filled the ships, power read outs on the monitors began to steadily rise. The massive warship was becoming an industrial processing center, eagerly committed to its task as power was diverted into the lowest decks to fuel the great assemblies that worked at their task. Melonia turned her gaze from Bora back to the ship's exterior, looking out over their quarry as it was pulled further into the hull. At least her companion was asking questions, she was worried he had no interest in learning.
"Since you bothered to ask, allow me to inform you Bora. The primary component is iron, it varies by asteroid but it can be anywhere from as little as forty percent to as high as eighty percent. As you know, iron is rather common, but we use it in so many facets of construction we could always use more. Next comes in no particular order: cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, aluminium, and titanium. Each is valuable in its own unique way, chiefly as construction materials, electrical insulators, usage in electronics and wiring, or as space craft assembly components." Melonia rung her hands together, tossing back her ponytail and pulling a lock of stray hair to rest behind her ear. "Now, those are just the most abundant resources, what we're really after comes in much more trace amounts. Of those we include of course gold, silver, and platinum, but also iridium, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium and tungsten."
Melonia's eyes glinted like a treasure hunter finding a pirate trove as she spoke. "Of those last batch several are not naturally occurring on Natto and can only be synthesized in a lab or traded for with other planets. Hence the need to mine them ourselves, to avoid becoming too dependent on other worlds. If you were wondering, beyond the obvious monetary value of them, they do serve a number of vital functions in manufacturing. Platinum is useful in catalytic converters, electrical contacts, and high quality laboratory equipment. Palladium is similar, it's also vital to producing catalytic converters, though it does have major application in producing fuel cells as well as in hydrogen purification." The Saiyan rubbed her chin, thinking about how vital rare metals were in enabling the Saiyans to build their technological marvels. "Osmium is the densest naturally occurring element, beyond being good for electrical contacts its useful for anything requiring extreme durability and astounding hardness. Most of our Saiyan Battle Armor is made with osmium composite materials, for example."
"Iridium is actually the second densest naturally occurring element on Natto, and is exceedingly one of the rarest. It is extremely brittle but is very useful when something requires corrosive resistance at extreme temperatures. Useful in designing fusion reactors and star ship engines. Also worth mining based on sheer rarity and price alone. Rhenium we combine with nickle to make superalloys that are used in combustion chambers and jet engines and exhaust nozzles. It is also exceedingly expensive, which is good news for this ship." Melonia could practically feel the Zeni flowing into the craft, the Cathedral of Arrogance was as much a financial investment as she was a military one. Every drilling was a profit bounty that would offset the tremendous costs of the warship. "Ruthenium is less useful, mostly for wear resistant electrical contacts and also as an ingredient in some platinum alloys. Still, production on Natto is low, so its well worth venturing to space to acquire more. Rhodium is another rare silvery metal, also very resistant to aggressive chemicals and inert to corrosion. Extremely useful for high temperature and corrosion resistant coatings. The Cathedral is actually lined with a rhodium-platinum-palladium alloy to protect it against the heat reentry."
"And that just leaves Tungsten, exceedingly hard and with a very high density to boot. We mostly use it to produce various superalloys as well as in radiation shielding." Melonia finished her lecture, turning to face Bora. Her tail swishing eagerly behind her, mind racing with the possibilities of their yields. There were good readings coming from the initial scan of this rock. The asteroid wasn't the least bit hollow, and very dense to boot. Hopefully the haul would be good, and the intensity of the drilling indicated the mining crews were very eager about whatever it was they were finding. "We trade the more common goods with planets that do not have the same industrial capacity as us. Anything even remotely rare we horde in the military stockpile. From that we draw up resources to be used in everything from construction, to producing manufactured goods, to vehicles and space craft, to energy production. We currently have no trade stipulations with earth, though I suppose that could be negotiated in the future if we truly desired to. It would have to come from the top though, only the Overseer can approve of such macroeconomic decisions." Melonia let out a short sigh and rolled her slim shoulders. "I do hope I'm not boring you with the details?" Word Count: 1,070 Total Word Count: 2,162
Bora shook his head at the way in which Mel shrugged of the opportunity for gaining another notable feat to her list. "It's the first time the ship has been used for the primary reason and you're the one conducting the efforts from the head of the helm. I think that's worth some recognition, don't you?" He questioned with a smile. It was then that she relayed information on the uses of whatever the resources they where gather where for. "So it's gonna be used for future use on Planet Natto." he silenced as inner rumblings from the ship pipped up beneath their feat. The process took over the entire ship rather quickly. From the time that the asteroid was pulled in through the ships doors. Saiyans got to work on the large rock straight away. Despite his goofie attitude and knucklehead ways, He wasn't going to protest against learning something new.
As they both gazed out the observation window, Mel got started on her lesson of the various metals and elements which would be harvested from the large space rock. The main resource they where trying to gather was iron which in Bora's mind seemed quite strange considering that it was widely known as fairly common throughout the universe. He wasn't an intellectual scientist when it came to all the metals which resided in the large span of space, but he did have some knowledge gained from his time in the cells of the Heran arena. Iron was probably the least rare of all metals but it made up for it's lack of value with its quantity and overall usage for building. The other metals Mel named sounded familiar but Bora knew very little of them, he did hold on to one specific piece of information. They where noticeably used for the construction of spaceships parts. "So the Cathedral of Arrogance is mainly made up from aluminum, and titanium?" He asked rhetorically. "It must have taken quite awhile to acquire the amount of materials to create this ship." he said softly as he pressed his hand to one of the beams which secured the window in place.
What she spoke of next intrigued him quite a bit as it was about the materials which they where really after, the ones that actually held value. One of those metals he knew quite well was gold. The weights he wore where actually crafted with the use of condensed gold which had been compressed over and over again to give it such a heavy feel. "The other materials you mentioned, I've never heard of them apart from the first three. As you can see, gold is one material I'm antiquated to. It signifies royalty or wealth. Now I may not be either but I prefer wearing these rather than the usual uniforms saiyans wear... I Found the body suits to be very... Constricting" He scratched his cheek and straightened out the red sash which hung around his waist with his free hand as he watched the Captain stare on at the process with bewilderment at the concept of money like some sort of crazed treasure hunter.
Her further explanation on the various metals gave Bora a better understanding of why she had the bright glistening in her eyes. "Hmmm, so those would be the ones which make the Alliance bank. I imagine you get a certain percentage of whatever is pulled from the rocks?" He wiggled a brow. "Must be nice at the top" He said with a snicker. One particular metal she mentioned, Osmium, peaked his interest and not for it's use. "I've heard of Osmium before but I remember another material which you haven't mentioned. Back when I was still under... rule by the Heran's. A group of aliens all spoke about various knowledge from vast universes that they where brought from. A metal know as Katchin. A dark solid metal which is more durable than any other metal is rumored to be unbreakable. If it where melted down and used as walls, a base could be virtually impenetrable. " A glimmer of smarts shined through. Bora wasn't the brightest of beings but he definitely had smarts in other areas. "Please continue.." He said kindly as he listened to her in depth analysis of the other metals.
The walking wall stared at her with a tilted head as he found it quite strange how much knowledge she had on this subject. It was almost as if she went through some sort of private school to learn specifically for this sort of stuff. She did show quite the interest but more so on the money making side. For a moment Bora could have sworn he saw the Zeni symbols in her eyes, taking the place of her pupils, as crazy as that sounded.
The final metal, Tungsten sounded like a true gold mine... No pun intended. "So if we where to find, say, slabs of Tungsten it would count as quite a bit of Zeni in our back pockets. This my sound stupid but I'm sure if scientists can create a small mobile device that reads powerlevels, they could possibly create a radar which sends out signals of the same frequency as the materails that we are searching for, which would then bounce back the info of which planets or asteroids holds the most of that specific metal. Also if we where to, say, open up trade to earth, wouldn't it be in the alliance best interest to form a mutual relationship by offering some of the quality metals we have stored up to the Earthlings? I'm sure if we make it an accessible import to them, they would pay as much as they could knowing the rare materials are available for purchase. In a sense it could be used as a method to pursued them to the Alliance side. One thing that speaks louder than any number of words is rare items and money... I'm pretty sure every race run on that concept, don't you think so?" He spoke with a surprising knowledge in terms of money making, his thoughts while soft on the surface where actually quite cut throat in corporal business standards.
It was like giving a addict a small taste then holding the rest over their head for a fee.
Word Count: 1,061 Total Word Count: 1,784
Last Edit: Jun 21, 2016 15:51:52 GMT -5 by Deleted
"Perhaps it is." Melonia retorted top Bora's comments on the nature of her feats. To him, this may be some grandiose endeavor, something worthy of celebration and commendation, but to Melonia it was merely her duty. She had been charged with a task, and she was fulfilling it to the best of her abilities. "I'm simply doing what I was commanded to do. I am a soldier first and foremost. Don't think for one single second it doesn't fill my heart with pride watching our race succeed. From the smallest birth of a child to the grandest interstellar mining operation. I'm simply a cog in the grand machine of our race." Melonia let out a long sigh, a smile crossing her fair featured face. "I'm still proud of my role though, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Unless that world was Vegeta..." Her brow furrowed slightly, and her smile faded at the admission. "So yes Bora, the majority of it will be processed and stored for use when we return to Natto. Some of it we'll manufacture into trade goods directly on the ship. And the excess we'll likely sell to earth, I'm sure they have several large manufacturing industries greedy for premium materials at rock bottom prices."
Bora's comment on the construction of the Cathedral elicited a chuckle to escape Melonia's lips. "Not exactly Bora, I see your knowledge of metallurgy is lacking. The Cathedral is too complex in design to be made of any wholesome variety of an element. Though you are right aluminum and titanium were key elements to incorporate into her design. The super structure is made of several superalloys, combining a number of rare and extremely durable metals with more heat resistant and corrosive resistant elements into complex compounds that took years to produce in the necessary quantities for construction." Melonia ran a hand through her spiked hair and let out a short sigh. "So yes, you were mostly correct on both your guesses. Mining the resources or trading for them has been far longer than simply producing them, when the plans for the Cathedral were first put into motion, they were kept hidden from what I've been told. People were led to believe it was a new city district, rather than a space craft of such proportions." Melonia placed her hand on the support beam very near to Bora's, feeling the strength of the material even through her gloved hand.
Melonia looked to Bora's golden gauntlets as he spoke. His attire was certainly unorthodox, and highly irregular. But, it did have a certain regality to it. Almost like it held noble distinctions, perhaps it was reminiscent of a Saiyan warlord of old. "I'm surprised uniform inspection allows you to continue wearing that ensemble. You look like a damned barbarian conqueror, I don't care how much gold is in those armbands." Melonia let out a huff as Bora commented on more standardized attire. "Some of us happen to like Saiyan battle armor. It's far more functional than walking around shirtless wearing just...that." Melonia commented as she looked at Bora adjusting his sashed waist. "My under layer is very breathable, water resilient, and looks damn stylish with my hair. And I happen to like a thick chest plate covering my lovely bits, I'd rather prefer not getting punched in my unarmored chest in the middle of a fight." Melonia mused as she looked down at her massive bust. While it was rather impressive, it was something of a vulnerability. So much soft tissue, sensitive to attack. Where Bora simply had a wall of pectoral muscles to absorb an incoming blow. It made sense he'd favor going so lightly dressed into battle, but for Melonia armor was an added comfort, one she readily enjoyed.
As the topic shifted back towards the metals the Cathedral was mining, Melonia shook her head slightly. "They do in fact make the Saiyan Alliance 'bank,' however it is more accurate to say they reduce costs. We would spend an exorbitant amount of time time and resources mining for trivial amounts of rare metals on Natto. It is much more economical for us to amass them in bulk from the depths of space. However..." Melonia states, looking around the vast size of the command bridge. "The initial investment was titanic, so it'll be many years before the Cathedral has actually paid for herself. But, in addition to her military duties, the ship will pay for itself in spades during its long career. Even when its obsolete as a warship, I imagine it'll be retrofitted and continue to serve as a fully purposed mining vessel until its a junk heap ready to fall apart. Then our descendants will end up salvaging and melting it down to reuse the materials." Melonia ran a hand along the viewing window, pressing it tight against the glass. "So unfortunately no, I do not make any additional income based on our yields. But I am paid substantially for being the captain of this vessel. Take that knowledge for what you will." Melonia's interest piqued as Bora mentioned katchin, it was a metal she had not heard of in a long long time. "I'm surprised you've heard of that at all. While it the strongest metal in all the known universe, it does not occur naturally in any form. It could be synthesized in a laboratory, but that would require enormous amounts of energy. I would think it'd be simpler to materialize it with Ki, though I can't think of many beings beyond Kais that could accomplish such a feat."
Melonia turned to depart, motioning for Bora to follow. "Come along Bora, we're going down below deck to watch the mining. I want to discuss a few things with the staff down there." With that the Saiyaness turned to depart, continuing their conversation. "If we could magically find entire slabs of tungsten then yes, it would be extremely valuable, but so would most of the other metals I've listed. The problem is that they only occur naturally in trace amounts, and primarily from the reactions of celestial bodies like neutron stars dying and expelling super dense material." She continued to walk, departing through the double doors of the bridge entrance. The two began making their way down the central corridor towards the elevator lifts. All the while listening to Bora continue to talk. "It's not stupid, but it is uneducated. Not that its your fault though, while you were stuck in that prison camp I was attending military school. Scouters work by reading for Ki signatures, it's a tangible energy source just like heat, light, electricity, or gravity. As a result we can measure and read it, and with training, sense it in the same way you can sense how hot a fire is just by being near."
The Saiyaness turned down a corner, passing several security officers going about patrol. They had to stand aside as Bora walked past, he was too broad for three men to move comfortably down the winding corridor. "We can actually create a radar that scans for various metals, in fact that's a major function of the sensor arrays on the top of the ship. However, metals are dense, and its difficult to get a solid reading on the internal composition of asteroids. They are fickle and do not abide by the same compositional rules as planet's crusts do. They can be porous, even hollow, and its very difficult for radar waves to penetrate deep into the rock. Especially since certain isotopes can block signals or scramble readings. Its a very imprecise science." Melonia turned to a lift, pressing a button on her Scouter. The elevator beeped in recognition of her clearance codes, and opened immediately. She stepped inside, waiting for Bora to enter, it was a bit snug with someone as large as him, but at least they were the only two occupants.
"We could open up trade with the earthlings, and I'm sure they would welcome it. But, we could also stockpile resources back on Natto and look to contract the highest bidder. Earth may not be a wealthy planet, and they certainly have no great empire. If another race has more to offer us in exchange, then we take the highest bidder." Melonia's eyes flashed and she gave a wicked grin. "Also, I've seen earthling technology first hand, our own is still leaps and bounds ahead of theirs. I see no reason to trade them precious metals to let them bridge the gap. All the money in the world doesn't help if you inadvertently make potential new rivals to challenge you in the future. Better to keep the earthlings in the dark and reliant on the Saiyan Alliance than to allow them to someday grow to rival us." Melonia gave a short shrug as the elevator beeped and reached its destination floor. "It's a bit pragmatic, but unless the Overseer says otherwise regarding trade, I like the idea of keeping earth in the dark. As far as they'll know this is just a big war ship. Now come on Bora, we've got a lot more ground to cover." Melonia stepped lively out of the elevator and waiting for her towering companion, stroking her chin at the potential for trade versus the merit of stockpiling resources. Word Count: 1,565 Total Word Count: 3,727
He snickered at her thoughts on his apparel. "Uniform inspection isn't enforced that well. Take into consideration that saiyans don't really have a uniform. The amount of variation of armor types, suit colors and accessories that we have. Anything could be considered as saiyan attire so long as they have a tail wrapped around their waist. Which means my barbarian conqueror clothes are just as much a statement as your bright violet armor panels" He retorted only to snicker once more at her reason for liking the thick chest piece protecting her large bust. "They are lovely..." he said softly "Although I get what you mean. But even if I had to wear the full body suit it's not like it has a roll cage down there... And now you can understand more clearly as to what I meant by constricting." He scratched his cheek as he looked down at his pants, his tail playfully dancing behind him.
With that said, the topic went back to that of the metals in which the saiyans where so invested in harvesting. Mel made it quite clear that they where actually in arrears from the funding due to the creation of the ship. "So we are actually in debt? Guess it's fair though considering the speed at which we would be able to amass the funds to repay how much was spent on the C.O.A. It's a massive investment but it is one that is sure to pay off." Bora stopped himself for a second. "We sound like some a bunch of paper pushers. When did we evolve from savage warriors to intelligent corporate suits?" He questioned in confusion, finding it strange how much he actually understood on the matters. Perhaps saiyans where savage even in the corporate world? They had brutish nature to fight physically and the cut throat natures to destroy even in a board room.
The conversation went on to Mel's income but she was quick to correct the towering saiyan on the whole idea of her receiving addition income from the materials found under her rule of the ship. "That's a shame. I imagine if you where to receive commission for such things, you could probably conquer and planet and make yourself queen in a lavish lifestyle on it with the Zeni you amass from a few trips in this bohemoth of a ship. Either way, if your making cash through being the captain I'm sure it's quite the paycheck."
Moving on from the discussion of money. Bora mentioned the material known as Katchin. Once again he proved that his knowledge of such things where limited but he wasn't entirely clueless. He listened intently to her in depth explanation of the rare metal and nodded with surprise. "If Kai's are the only beings with the possible strength to do it... I guess we have to prove them wrong and show that saiyan's can reach that strength." He grinned show the kind of optimism he had for the future of their race. With that said, Mel motioned him to follow after her so she could show him below deck to watch the mining take place first hand. "I'm right behind you, Captain." Bora seemed to be enjoying himself. Perhaps if his past had been slightly different he might have ended up as well off as she. It made him wonder if he had had the opportunity at a younger age, would he have gotten far in a military school?
As the saiyan beauty continued on with her response on his idea of Tungsten, she explained just how valuable it was. It looked like Bora was the one is Zeni symbols in his eyes this time round but they quickly filtered away at the mention of it only being found in trace amounts. "Guess retiring on a Platinum throne inbedded with tungsten is a pipe dream." he twisted his mouth with a blank expression on his face when he stepped out from the bridge and into the central corridor.
He quickly brought up the get rich quick scheme of building a radar that picked up metal frequencies but Mel was quick to find fault in the idea. Picking out the inconsistencies in it. "If a large radar wont work, what about manual probes? If it where to hit a planet with a mobile, non explosive missile which could send out a powerful pulse through the crust upon impact with the ground, it could allow for a more accurate reading of metals hidden beneath it. Couple that with 3D mapping of an area and..." he stopped himself and shook his head. "What was I saying?" He asked oblivious as to what he had just said and shrugged it off as he watched the two guards step aside for him and the captain. "Oh well, completely out of my head now." he said with a carefree tone as if it really didn't matter.
Upon stepping into the elevator, Bora brought round his senses of what they had been discussing and spoke up on the idea of trade with humans. Once again Mel proved a much more superior knowledge in the workings of businesses. "I see. So Earthlings are quite the inexperienced race. Sounds like our race back in the day. Reminds me of the history where our own people would wear nothing but fur pelts and attack everything in sight. Earthlings might have adapted to the state they are now and they might still be a rather fresh race but if they have already exhausted many of their resources and are poor in terms of technology, I have a faint clue as to what will happen to them in the future. Extinction." He snickered softly "A rather funny thought. A race being the cause of their own undoing because of their peaking at such a early time." He clicked his neck as he steps out the elevator behind her. He mentally nodded at her strategic proposition of rather searching for other planets that had wealth and rather keep the earthlings in the dark of their tech. Give a person something to good to believe and they will find a way to harm themselves or make themselves an enemy by coming up with a theory that they are strong enough to overthrow the ones who supplied them with the weapons, funding or technology they had first received it from.
"I think that's a very strong case. Last thing we want is a young race playing with something they aren't ready for in the first place. Now then where are these people you needed to talk to?" He questioned lightly as he looked down each all they walked past.
"It clearly isn't." Joked Melonia, shaking her head slightly. "But at least my 'bright violet armor' is well within regulation. Unlike someone's...sash." Melonia took a hand and rubbed it down the length of her face in abject disgust as Bora made his more crude statements regarding the reason for dressing as he does. The Saiyaness let out a very long sigh, muttering something unintelligible under her breath but looking at Bora with a look of sheer exasperation. He was a man child, that much was simple, unfortunately for everyone around that man child outweighed them by several hundred pounds and had arms thicker than Melonia's waist. "Bora." She finally stated curtly. "Please keep that information to yourself." The order was followed with a quick punch the the shoulder, hard enough to sting, but nothing worse.
As the two spoke they continued down through the lower corridors. Here the decks were wider to accommodate moving equipment and the corridors had a distinctively more sterile feel to them, utterly utilitarian in their design and purpose. The clicking of their boots against the metal floor was slightly dulled given the larger space and the distant rumblings of the drilling assemblies. "We aren't in debt, per say. While we did not have the liquid capital on hand to fully finance this vessel's construction, we also didn't take out any loans with outside investors to achieve its construction. It was financed chiefly by selling off existing debt back to creditors at a fraction of its true value. The rest of the funds came from the treasury and the sale of war bonds, but this is standard operating procedure for any mothership class space craft." Melonia laughed openly at Bora's remark about their warrior race winding up a bunch of bureaucrats discussing payment plans. "It happened after the Tuffle war, they were very good at that, what with their cities and their advanced technology. We needed to modernize after we annihilated them and claimed Vegeta as our own to rule."
"You could conquer a planet anyways, all you need is to be strong enough or your enemies to be weak enough. You're right though, it would be a rather lavish lifestyle but I'd have no desire to be Queen of some desolate wasteland of a world." The Saiyan paused, turning to depart down a right turn closer to the drilling as the sounds of augers grew louder in the distance. "My paycheck is considerable, let's just leave it at that." Melonia said with a laugh, winking and blowing Bora a kiss. It was a pretty penny they paid her for her services, though she wouldn't receive her first paycheck until some time after their return voyage from earth. Until then Melonia would be operating under her own funds for a while now. It hardly mattered, since there was little she actually needed to buy. The Cathedral was self sufficient in operating over long voyages, and Melonia herself had everything she needed with her, save for more clothes. But window shopping for earthling clothes could wait until she had some disposable income to burn through.
Melonia listened intently to Bora's rebuttal on Katchin, and his belief in Saiyans becoming as powerful as the Kai's themselves. It was ambitious, though possibly beyond their own hope to reach. "Well, it's certainly possible, Super Saiyans are a lot like gods, in their own unique way. But the Kais are actual deities, their Ki is godly and their power divine. I imagine there's few warriors in the whole universe who can match one of the Kais in single combat for more than a few brief moments." The Saiyaness was more realistic, though the idea of conjuring up the universe's strongest metal on a whim was an appealing one to be sure. "I believe the technique is called Magic Materialization, forming physical objects from Ki itself. Turning energy into matter like what occurred during the Big Bang. However, even if I was as strong as a Kai right this moment, I wouldn't have the slightest clue how to begin performing such a feat."
The Saiyan captain burst out laughing at Bora's talk of a throne. "Bora, please stop!" She said, clutching her stomach. "You're killing me. Tungsten is poisonous in high enough dosages. Breathing in the powdered form, direct skin or eye contact. There's a reason its usually mixed in with alloys. Also a platinum throne would not be comfortable to sit on. That much is for sure." His next idea was actually reasonable though, and Melonia snapped back to seriousness, pausing to think. "Hmm... that's, actually not a bad thought. A deep crust scan on a computer guided probe. The problem would be do we get that information back manually, or beam it through space. If it goes at conventional radar wave speeds it could take years, and faster than light communication takes more power than a missile could realistically carry. Maybe they're short range probes, but that means the accompanying ship has to orbit the planet to collect results." Melonia tapped her Scouter, making some mental notes. She'd sit down with the engineers and discuss some rough drafts at a later date, mining probes would speed up the process of finding suitable harvests. Though she would need to avoid populated worlds, most species tended to not enjoy their planet being mined by invaders.
Melonia took a look at Bora as he told his recollection of their histories. He was missing some of the finer details, but had the right gist of things. "Not inexperienced so much as, less advanced than us. I saw no scouters there, or battle armor, and they don't have nearly as much space travel as we do. It also seems the majority of their citizens still don't know how to wield Ki or even fly, but they might actually be more cultured than we are." Melonia reached out and jabbed a Bora in the stomach with a finger. "You're one to talk about our ancestors wearing nothing but fur pelts, just look at you. Do you even own shirts? Anyways, I haven't gotten an accurate assessment on earth's resources, the humans may be doing fine, they may recycle well, or they may trade with other worlds before us. If the market is there, I'm sure that we'll work to take it." The two continued their journey, passing a large set of industrial blast doors.
Inside the next chamber was the leviathan mining bay. Held open and exposed to space, only a force field kept the atmosphere remaining inside the ship. The asteroid was pulled close to the Cathedral and a good portion of it was pressed inside the bay. Massive sets of drills were busy grinding away at the exterior in a hundred different points, grinding away at the rock into fine rubble that was collected and carted off for sorting. Melonia gazed up in wonder for a moment, watching as thousands of Saiyans went to work on the structure. Some were using Ki blasts to soften up the exterior, blasting away rock and smashing larger blocks of rubble with their fists. Others were hauling large cart loads to dump into holding chambers to be taken to processing. It was a bustle of activity like the hive of a swarm of bees. "I need to talk to the chief operator of mining and the senior engineer on duty." Melonia stated calmly, beginning to walk along the side of the bay, away from most of the work in progress. "I just need to find them first." Word Count: 1,270 Total Word Count: 4,997
Bora chuckled at the reaction she had to his reasoning for wearing the attire he did. The look on her face was priceless, and it actually made him wish for a scouter if only just to have a chance to capture the moment. He took note of her words and would shy away from bringing up his crude statements again. He had to laughed though when he felt the playful punch to his shoulder. "Haha, alright, alright... No talk of under the belt" The bruise which he had only a day before had healed overnight, it was all thanks to a new technique he had worked on during the past shift change when Mel had gone to sleep and left him to his punishment. It was also why he feel asleep during his pushups the next morning.
As the pair slowly strolled through the lower decks corridors, Mel responded to the state of funds. Saying that despite the large sum of cash needed to fund the ships creation, it hadn't put the saiyans in debt. Rather, through strategic use of other methods they had managed to pull through without so much as pulling the planet into a recession. "That's a weight off our shoulders then, huh? We still need to make up the loses but it's good that we don't have to worry about having to pay up to another planet." he said with a nod, smiling once more as his words on the saiyan corporate world had caused her to laugh. He always felt happy when he heard her sweet laugh, it was cute. He knew full well that if he where to say that allow, he would simply receive another bruise so instead he kept it to himself.
"Then why not Queen of Planet Vegeta?" He questioned with a smirk. "You could definitely do a good job of running a planet. You have the confidence, commanding aura, amazing looks. You practically stand as a model candidate for a Queen." he paused for a second "Once we knock that blue haired idiot to hell, I think you could lead the saiyans the way they should be lead." He continued as they rounded a corner closing in on the sound of the drilling site. When she spoke of her paycheck being a rather large sum, he chuckled lightly as she teased him with a wink and a blown kiss. Bora rolled his eyes and shook his head yet played along with her antics, pretending to catch the blown kiss.
As they continued down the corridor Bora listened to Mel retell a piece of the legend of the super saiyan. It was apparent that any saiyan was able to unlock this strength which lay dormant in their DNA but in order to do so their where a few requirements that needed to be met. First and foremost, power. Now, Bora had never truly thought about the possibility of becoming a super saiyan but if he where able to achieve such a transformation, he would without a doubt be strong enough to take his vengeance. "I swear here and now that one day, I stand among the super saiyan gods.... As cliche' as that sounds, I'm owing it." He said with a toothy grin before going on to make himself look even more like a fool with his idea of a Platinum throne embedded with tungsten. It didn't really matter to him though since it was the first time he had seen Mel erupt in such a mass hysteria of laughter. It was yet another moment he wished he could capture.
The walking wall managed to save some face by mentioning the use of a manual probe, but he was quick to forget what he was saying. It was as if he was struck with a moment of genius only for it to be zapped away seconds later. Either way he seemed to get a point across and Mel took down notes, which was a victory in his eyes. "Wow... I contributed to the saiyan scientific research.. Feels nice to know I did something other than cause massive destruction." He said with a sarcastic tone "Think I might get paid for the idea? Or was I supposed to put some sort of copyright on that?"
The conversation further developed but circled back to the earthlings lesser knowledge of technology both defense wise and military wise. "Can't fly? Well that's just disappointing." He spoke with disgust. "Saiyan children are able to fly from the meager age of 4 and the majority of earthlings don't even have a concept on how ki is used? That's just sad." he said before chuckling at the sensation of Mel's finger jabbing into his abs. "What's a shirt?" he questioned with a tilted head. "I guess that answers your question, huh? Oh come on. You act like you don't approve of this look but I've seen you ogle from time to time." He snickered as they finally reached the mining bay.
Bora gazed about the massive room with an almost child like wonder. He found it amazing that saiyans had come so far in terms of knowledge and technological advancements. Sure, much of it was thanks to the extinction of tuffels but thereafter, Saiyans continued to thrive and push on to knew heights. Their savage ways where kept but at the same time they opened their mind to learning and now they could build ships as large as the Cathedral of Arrogance and could have a full swarm of workers assigned to various tasks. Case in point, the thousands of saiyans which where efficiently taking care of the massive rock in record time, removing all large chunks along side massive drills which other saiyans had forged and installed. Other saiyans transported massive carts of the asteroids back and forth to the processing area. The entire team worked like a factory line of machines.
"This is incredible. To think saiyans could come this far. Seeing something like this really opens up the eyes to the possibilities in the future." he said with sincerity before he quickly moved back to her side to help search for the chief operator who at the moment looked to be nonexistent at the current time. "Where the hell is he? Shouldn't he be keeping an eye on the current workings going on?"
Melonia gave Bora the stink eye, pausing to lean against the wall of the corridor as she stared at him, eyebrow raised. The woman shook her head slightly, folding her arms across her expansive chest. "Bora what am I going to do with you?" The question, obvious rhetorical, rung through the air for a moment as the room remained silent save for the increasing sounds of the nearby drilling. "How 'bout this, you can talk about anything 'under the belt', so long as it's explicitly your tail? Works for me." She said, pushing off the wall and moving to step assertively past Bora. "Which means you'll make it work for you." This was the kind of nonsense she was going to have to deal with, it was childish but oddly endearing. Maybe enough threats and Bora would finally wisen up and stop his ridiculous antics, although something told Melonia the likelihood of this was about the same as the likelihood that he finally puts a shirt on.
Bora gave his rebuttal over the state of affairs regarding the financing of the Cathedral, at least he had a sufficient grasp of finance to appreciate the magnitude of the scale of funding needed to fully construct the leviathan space craft in its entirety. "It is indeed weight off my shoulders, however that doesn't mean we can forget about it. I'm sure the Alliance has other outstanding debts it needs worry about, we're a relatively young regime. I can't imagine the Overseer was able to just pull to capital needed for everything we've built in such a short time out of his ass. Paying off the Cathedral in full is going to be a goal I hope to accomplish as quickly as possible. Expect space voyages to take longer than they would on other space craft, we'll be making pit stops at every viable asteroid field and dead moon until the cargo bays of this beast are full to the brim." The pair continued their travel, moving past a work crew hauling a massive drill bit. Made from an incredibly durable superalloy head with industrial diamond drill bit. Amazingly it had already worn out cutting through the sheer bulk of the obscenely resilient asteroid currently towed in the cargo bay. The workers nodded at Melonia, recognizing their Captain's telltale features, they likely assumed Bora was another strong laborer coming to join the shift crew. Given his sheer size the towering Saiyan would make a good fit.
The Saiyaness stopped dead in her tracks when Bora brought up Planet Vegeta. "Bora don't be asinine." She said angrily, turning to stand in front of him. Melonia was significantly shorter than the much bulkier Bora, but she gave off a more imposing air with her authoritative demeanor and lack of outlandish humor. "Don't be a damn idiot. Heap flattery on me all you want, it won't do a lick of good. Regardless of how great a candidate you presume me to be, you're speaking in utter idiocies." Her glare hardened and the warrior hovered to meet Bora eye to eye. "We could never reclaim the homeworld without a massive ground invasion. We'd also need the assistance of all of the Alliance's allies and I don't think there's anyone but the Overseer who could match King Caesar in a fight. So unless you have seven dragonballs shoved up your ass, don't bring up the matter again" Melonia lowered back to the ground, walking away curtly as she shook her head. The homeworld was lost to them, for now. It may be reclaimed someday, but not with sheer cockiness and wishful thinking. Saiyan warriors did nothing dying for a stupid cause.
"I'll hold you to your word." Melonia said in reply to Bora's continued chiding remarks. "You'll need it, as stupid as you tend to be. You know what they say about brains and brawn." She could only shake her head and try to forget Bora's continued antics. He put absolutely no forethought into anything he said, and it showed. Worse, he made brash and outlandish statements he had no way to live up to. He was very literally stupid enough to charge headlong into defeat if he so much as had an inkling he could win. Melonia had no desire to throw her life away so callously, and vowed that if the day every came she would not let Bora's recklessness drag her to Other World with him. She valued living too much, the dead could accomplish nothing if they died in vain. "And when you're this 'Super Saiyan God', I expect you to look over your shoulder and remind yourself who helped you get there..."
Bora's childishness continued on through his comments regarding a deep space resource probe. Melonia had long since grown tired of his immaturity, simply stating "It's just a concept, albeit an interesting one. You can't copyright a concept, it's like trying to copyright a vague idea. If you are willing to draft a proposal and pitch it to engineering then yes, you are eligible to legal compensation should it eventually be implemented, though you will have fill out the required paperwork with the department of military finance back on Natto. The forms should take about an hour." Melonia remained mostly silent, feeling a headache coming on at the nature of their conversation. She may need to rethink spending so much time in Bora's proximity, he could grate against your sanity very quickly when he wanted to. Melonia wondered if he was this talkative with others, or if he simply thought acting like a fool impressed her.
"I imagine some of the earthlings can fly, though its certainly the majority." Melonia shared Bora's disgust, for once their emotions were aligned. "Earthling children aren't raised in a nutrient vat until they can walk, or imprinted with genetic memories. It's very likely they simply do not possess the knowledge to have learned such techniques before that age, or their parents don't think it's worth it. I can't say, though of the few earthlings I've had serious discussions with the planet has little desire for war and conquest. It takes a backseat on earth in favor of the arts, so I guess we can expect earthlings to paint and sing songs, not fly or fight. I guess it's just their culture, even if it makes them weak. The few warriors I faced who did use Ki were mediocre at best, I suspect academy recruits could have taken them. I beat several half to death without so much as breaking a sweat, and sadly that's not boasting. They were just that weak."
Bora's clear amazement at the drilling bay was worn like a mask all across his face. He'd clearly never seen industrial achievement on the same scale such as this. Saiyans were builders, at least when warfare was involved. Their ancestors hadn't been, that much was certain. Little better than barbarians killing anything in their way. But they'd learned a fair few lessons slaughtering the Tuffles, the need for advanced technology was almost as great as the need for powerful warriors. So they'd shifted much effort in science and engineering in the last thousand years. Now ranking among the great races of the universe, the Saiyan Alliance could begin to construct such megalithic projects as the Cathedral of Arrogance. At least he could appreciate what he was witnessing, nothing annoyed Melonia more than those who failed to see the big picture. Simple minds lived simple lives, and Melonia had no desire for anything about her to be best described as "simple."
"I'm glad you're impressed, though I wish I could take credit. I'm merely guiding this beast through the cosmos. Everything you see before us is the result of thousands of man hours and the combined works of hundreds of our best and brightest minds." Melonia gaze a pause, looking around. "Hmm...where are they, actually?" There was no sign of the senior most engineer, though plenty of his subordinates roamed the busy deck. The chief mining operator was nowhere in sight either, though Melonia expected him to be back towards the augers. The drilling implements had been his original design, and one of the man's chief duties was to see to their continued operation. "Come along Bora, let's check the other side of the asteroid." Melonia said simply, flying into the air as her violet aura flared. She landing gracefully on to of the collosal rock, far away from the mining teams working at grinding its front face into rubble. She began calmly walking across the celestial object's surface, silently scanning for the men she was looking for. Word Count: 1,452 Total Word Count: 6,449
Mel held Bora to his words of one day become a Legendary Super Saiyan. Even though she seemed skeptical and sarcastic about his promise, she would realize that he never went back on his words. He would prove that over time. No matter how long it took, he would show her that he was willing to push himself. "When that day comes, I'll be sure to keep you in mind. I can say for sure that the pushups you're having me do is contributing to that end goal." He said with a chuckle. "And I may seem like a goof but I take training seriously, okay? I can't help how I act, I realize how dumb that sounds but when your forced into years of pain, I have to make up for the times that I never truly got to be more carefree." He stalled as he thought over his words. In a way they sounded like words no other saiyan would put into a sentence. Carefree? He even thought it sounded strange but shrugged it off.
When the mention of paperwork had to be done in order to take legal possession of the idea he had given Mel, Bora immediately waved it off. "On second thought, whoever gets payment for the idea can have it. I'm not much one for having to read and sign massive pointless documents. I can see how much of a hassle it causes both you and Jagai. Nope, no thank you." He scratches at his neck and pulled a disapproving face at the thought of being stuck at a desk, having to sign off on random crap. It was definitely not his type of scene. When he saw Mel express a look of annoyance , a bell rang in his ear upon the realization that he might be going a little to far in terms of his speech. Maybe he should tone down his ridiculous side. At least for her sake. He should have found it more easy than he did considering how he use to always be silent around other squad mates or in past teams but something about the captain made him feel more open around her.
Thankfully they found a point of agreement when they expressed the very same outlook on the rather disappointing race that was humans. Earthlings where a very undeveloped race. The fact that they had such a small grasp on ki and the knowledge of advanced technology was plain proof of that, but Mel had mentioned that their foods where nothing to belittle and they where also more cultured than the more savage saiyans. Then again saiyans had very little culture apart from, show arrogance, drink alcohol, get aggressive, fight to your last breath and respect the line of command. In a way the entire race was based on military roles. Even families where trained in a military like fashion. "It's a shame that we can't show these earthlings what true power as a race is... Would have been nice to see the looks on their faces should an uprising begin. But as you have said, we are on peaceful terms and if that's the way things are, that's the way it will stay. I wont personally go out my way to disobey an order from you. After all what we as individuals do effect how you look... Already screwed up , I wouldn't want to make it worse." He pushed aside the thoughts as he went on to admire the mining room.
It was without a doubt a spectacular view, that was the least he could say in terms of it's impressiveness. As he glanced from work station to work station, his eyes focused on each individual job that was taken on by the great number of saiyans. Without hesitation he turned to follow after Mel. "We've definitely stepped it up in terms of intellectually based plans. I mean from buildings to a thriving economy and spaceships the size of cities. It's all quite eye opening." He responded as he pursued the captain from the walkway, up on to opposite side of celestial object, with hopes of getting a better vantage point in hopes of finding the Awol chief mining operator.
"Seems I'm no the only causing some sort of trouble. Hell, maybe he went back to the food court to get something to drink." Bora wasn't sure why or where this saiyan went but being optimistic was sometimes good. The look of slight annoyance revealed itself on Mel's face. "I'm sure he has a proper explanation, Captain. Don't wined your self up to much over it." he attempted to calm her nerves. "Perhaps we should ask one of the workers?"
Word Count: 791 Total Word Count: 4,765
Last Edit: Jun 24, 2016 12:02:20 GMT -5 by Deleted
Melonia couldn't help but sigh and shake her head at Bora's reply to her jest. It was sincere, if not light hearted. The towering Saiyan was if nothing else, rather good at that. If he truly meant what he said, and Melonia had no reason to begin to suspect otherwise, then he would indeed achieve his goals someday. Given how physically imposing Bora already was, Melonia could only imagine him at the power of true Super Saiyan. He'd be a suitable rival to any adversary, and she sorely hoped that by the time Bora achieved his lofty heights, she herself would still remain the stronger of the two. With diligence and determination though... who could say, maybe Bora would indeed surpass her. "And when that day comes, I expect to be there. I'm sure your punishment is helping, though technically every act of training is working towards that end goal. I'm merely giving you can excuse to train. You could just as easily do equally as much, if not more training on your own accord." Melonia smirked, knowing full well she was right. She liked punishments that gave others a means to improve themselves, to be more than they were before. Like a second chance of sorts. "You are indeed a 'goof', but I can't disagree on your second point. You've shown nothing but drive and initiative so far, if even one and a hundred of my subordinates had your determination, I can barely imagine what we'd be able to accomplish."
A motherly look crossed the beautiful Saiyaness' face at Bora's next comment, and Melonia nodded slowly in agreement. "It doesn't sound dumb at all, in fact, it sounds brutally honest. We can't change who we are, we can only mask the truth deep inside. If being carefree and jovial keeps you from slinking into melancholy or depression, then by all means do so. I'll be the first to admit, it probably won't ever stop getting on my nerves when you push things too far or say something downright stupid. But, I'll try to be more understanding in the future, I realize how blessed my own upbringing has been in comparison to your youth. I only hope you can find peace and undo some of the damage to your mind, in time." Melonia grew silent as she finished her words. "Now, let's speak not another word of that. I have no mood for discussing sorrows on such a momentous of days."
When Bora scoffed at the notion of filling out any amount of paperwork, Melonia couldn't help but chuckle. He had exactly the same affinity for red tape that every other Saiyan seemed to, except he was in a position where he could willfully avoid it. Melonia herself dreaded sitting down at her desk, filling out forms and scratching her forehead trying to crunch numbers. "Fair enough Bora, but you could make a decent amount of pocket change. I'll be sure to invite you to prototype testing either way. Hell, maybe we can get you to be the one to fly down and retrieve it." Bora's face visibly changed not long after his declaration, growing more stoic and serious as he furrowed his great brow. Good, he needed to cut the childishness if he was to prove himself as one of the Saiyan's great warriors. Childishness had no place on the battlefield, in the training facility, or in the company of superior officers. The sooner Bora got serious about his life and taking charge of his destiny, the better off he'd be for it. As added bonus it meant Melonia would have to suffer through fewer stupid jokes, much to her unspoken delight.
Melonia couldn't help but give off a puzzled stare at Bora when he turned their conversation on earthlings back to the superiority of their race. While the two both held true to the notion of Saiyan superiority, Melonia and Bora had vastly different ways about going to encourage that ideal. "An uprising Bora?" Melonia said as she shook her head, long ponytail swaying from the gesture. "You do realize what word you're talking about, do you not? An uprising, is when a civilian populace rises in revolt against their government or military. It shows earthlings precious little of our race is they revolt against themselves, even if we orchestrated it." The Saiyaness let out a short sigh, more of a scoff in truth. "You're talking about invasion, and yes, it would certainly illustrate our power. But it would also accomplish use precisely nothing. We have no reason to conquer earth, we aren't overpopulating Natto or in dire need of resources or slaves. All it would accomplish is turning the humans against us, and causing far more powerful forces in the universe to take a closer interest in us. Now, quit your prattling and let's move on." Bora had a nasty habit of habitually apologizing, Melonia was keenly aware of his mistakes, the fact he tended to repeat that he'd done them was a mild inconvenience. The man clearly lived only in the past, between the trauma he'd experienced, the family he'd lost, and the fact he dwelled on any incident that had already occurred. Melonia didn't like the past, she couldn't change it for the better. Her eyes were always locked firmly on the future, and the promises it would bring by her hand.
As the two moved through the mining bay, Bora couldn't help by interject his thoughts on the facilities. Truly they were impressive, that much went without saying. However they were also incredibly loud, the sound of hundreds of industrial drilling augers and a cacophony of other mining equipment filling the room. Melonia had to raise her voice near to a yell just to address Bora in reply. "We certainly have, but any species can be cities and economies. The true strength lies in our ability to keep moving forward, for progress to never enough. Always stronger, both individually and as a society." Melonia spoke as she walked across the surface of the asteroid. Coming to a spot where a team was having trouble with their drill bit finding purchase against the dense rock, Melonia slammed down her foot hard enough for the entire asteroid to shake. The ground cracked and shattered beneath her foot, causing a large crater near ten feet across. The mining crew nodded and resumed their work, silently awestruck by the simple display. Much of the crew often simply forgot that their captain was also by far the strongest amongst their ranks.
"You're overthinking it Bora." Melonia said simply, hopping down from the asteroid to land with divine grace. "You tend to do that. Don't bother stressing yourself out." She raised a finger and pointed off to a nearby group of Saiyans caught in a conversation. In the center of the entourage was a tall Saiyan, half a head taller than Melonia at least. He was clearly far older than most of the ship, his large hands gaunt and calloused with age. His skin was loose and wrinkled, marked with hundreds of scars of battle. One eye was missing, and the other was clad in a scouter with an orange lens. He wore elite style saiyan battle armor, though grey against white rather than more intricate colorings. More importantly, the man's short cropped spiked hair was a luminous grey color. Clearly that of a warrior well past seventy in his years. Melonia stepped forward, one of the men in the group catching sight of the two as they strode close. He tapped on his comrades shoulders and they turned to face her.
"Captain Melonia!" The wizened old soldier said with a cheerful inflection. His great bushy grey beard moving as his mouth was mostly hidden beneath. "I didn't expect you down here so soon, pardon my lack of preparations for your arrival. I'm just an old miner, you know how it is." His words were jovial, and he spoke in easygoing tones before giving a quick bow. "Daiko you old codger, maybe you're just getting slow in your years?" Melonia teased back, stepping close to address the man. "Daiko, this is Bora. He's... personal security detail. I know how ridiculous that sounds coming from me." Daiko raised a hand to stroke at his beard, all the while giving Bora a thorough inspection. "My my, he is a big boy isn't he. Certainly looks intimidating, not that you aren't just as scary when you're mad little lady." Melonia brushed off his comment, folding her arms across her generous chest. Daiko stepped forward to extend his muscled arm in order to shake hands with Bora. "Well, not much sense introducing myself now, but I was never one for procedure anyways. If you couldn't figure it out yourself, I'm Daiko, Chief of Mining on this flying garbage can. Designed the drilling implements myself. That's what happens when warriors get old, we turn into scientists once we run out of things to do.." The man trailed off, firmly grasping Bora's large hand to shake. In spite of his age, Daiko still had a strong grip, and thick muscled arms. Despite this he was thoroughly Bora's inferior, coming to stand over half a foot shorter with significantly less bulk. Word Count: 1,553 Total Word Count: 8,002
"We clearly show signs of overall strength in or mission to move forward, both as a race and technologically." the saiyan spoke in response to the truth of how far their race truly had developed. His feet lightly kicked up dust off the celestial rock that he marched over. The sound of engines rumbling belonged to the massive drills which tore into the asteroids side. In a way it made it slightly more difficult to hear anyone or anything else, but if one where to take a few minutes to simply stand and listen properly, there was a lot more going on than what the ears could truly sense. You had to drown out the sounds and listen with the power of ki sensing to truly be able to listen.
For instance, the sound of chunks being blasted off the side by dozens of men and woman which where working as miners. Their ki orbs which ignited in their palms erupted in a small beams of light, blasting into the moon rocks side and caused thousands of small pieces of iron and other metals which where a part of the chunks which fall down to the bottom of the room to be scooped up by a strange sort of vacuum machine which deposited it all into small holding cart. The sound of grunts left the other labor workers which lifted those carts and transported them into the next room where they would be properly divided into each metal.
Bora slowly paced behind Melonia and tried to calm the saiyaness down before she grew angry over not being able to find the chief miner yet her response seemed to show a much more calmed state, which made him look as though he was the one who was over thinking things. Perhaps he read the scene as a lot worse than it really was which in hindsight left him feeling like a idiot. "Maybe I am..." he said shyly as he watched her hips sway from side to side when she walked of front of him again in her continued search for the chief.
Finally Mel managed to spot the man they where looking for and pointed him out among an entourage of other saiyans. Bora was surprised to see it was a rather old looking man, who looked to be in the final stages of life. With a long bushy white beard, a wrinkled complexion, hands crinkled and rough from work in his old age. Something else that proved the man had a full life of battle was the numerous scars which lay all over is body, face and hands. Those scars each had a story to them, Bora was sure of it. Any saiyan that managed to lived to a time that their hair turns grey must have hundreds of stories of battle, loss and happy memories. All signs of a fulfilled life.
As they neared the old man, Bora noticed something else. It looked as though one of the battles Daiko had faced caused a rather damaging effect, considering one of his eyes were missing. Strangely enough, even though the old man only had one good eye, it was hidden behind a scouters screen. {Hmmm if the scouters so good that an old man goes so far as to cover his only eye with it, perhaps those little things are worth it.} Bora thought to himself as an acquaintance of the old geezer pointed both Mel and Bora out.
When the man came to realize who was there to see him he showed an attitude that was actually quite warm. Bora smiled at the manner in which Mel and the man spoke to one another. If Bora didn't know any better he could have mistaken Daiko to be her grandfather or some sort of close family friend. The old coot bowed and a playful teasing match ensured between the two before Mel felt the need to introduce the walking wall of a saiyan. Bora gave Daiko a warm smile and took hold of his hand with a heavy grip, noticing the firm grip he got in response. Looked as though the old man still had some fight left in him and wasn't ready to kick the bucket just yet.
"A pleasure to meet you Daiko. Any friend of Mel's is a friend of mine." He said with a nod. "I have to say the entire set up is really impressive. Hey if you got through enough fights and lived to an age where a beard grows that long and your hair go's that gray. I say you've had one full life. That handshake you gave though, tells me you still have some fight left in you, old man. Don't sell out as a a scientist yet, I think you can still be warranted as a soldier" Bora said with a slight snicker as her squeezed Daiko's hand once more before letting go and returning to Mel's side. His body language showing a slight sign of readiness in order to protect Mel should something happen.
Melonia watched silently as Bora met Daiko's handshake in the warrior scientist's greeting. Bora was by no small margin the large warrior of the two, and vastly Daiko's superior in terms of speed as well as strength. Melonia doubted those old bones could last long or move terribly quick if Daiko ever got into another real battle. The man's place was on a ship, using his decades of knowledge for the benefit of the younger generations of Saiyans. As the older Saiyan pulled away he waved off his entourage, signalling them to return to their stations. "I'm glad you enjoy the mining bay Bora. It's the beating heart of this ship... Well, that's actually more likely to be the main reactor chamber. I suppose we're actually more like the mouth down here. Since we grind up the asteroids the Cathedral decides to eat. I guess that would also make the cargo holds the stomach, holding all our gathered resources. And of course that makes the garbage chutes...well you get my point." The old warrior laughed at his nonsensical metaphors, to which Melonia sighing could be heard coming from behind them.
As Daiko's laugh subsided he returned to stroking his beard, turning to walk slowly back towards his offices. "My beard, well I've had since I was close to your age. Truthfully it's a miracle it wasn't singed off during one of those bouts, I was in the reconnaissance corps in my youth. This was...back on Vegeta mind you, because they took over. We'd be sent out on patrols deep into enemy territory, rely on our wits and our stealth. But that didn't mean we didn't know how to fight." The old man placed a hand on his back and pressed until the bone gave a relieved sounding pop. "Full life is one way to put it my boy. Truthfully I always assumed I'd be dead by now. Hell, sometimes I wonder why I'm not. Don't ever get old, that goes for both of you. Your body goes first, bones start to hurt, muscles start to ache. I get sore just doing my warm ups on the rare days I exercise. Hair goes next, mine used to be blacker than space if you bother to believe an old man's tails. Had it in a big ol' ponytail so it didn't get in my face when I flew. The ladies loved it, the beard was just icing on the cake."
Melonia raised an eyebrow, following along behind the two and remaining rather silent. Daiko had more tales than he knew what to do with, and he tended to ramble into one of his long winded stories whenever the opportunity presented itself. But, he was an extremely intelligent Saiyan, with a wealth of world experience and knowledge few on the ship could match. If that meant listening to a few of his stories about back in his youth, than so be it. They were amusing at the least, and well worth any serious discussion that followed. "Where was I again?" The old man spoke to himself, stroking his beard as they walked past the great asteroid hulk. He stopped abruptly, turning to gaze at the cosmic rock. The team of Saiyans drilling were having a hard time finding purchase in the rock. "Slow the drill bit down twenty percent, press for a crevice and slowly ramp it back up to full speed. Quit dillydallying, we have ten million cubic meters of rock to get through this afternoon. Maybe more, if the Captain brings us another." The old Saiyan yelled out. "Maybe one more towards the evening." Melonia said simply. "Something to give the night crews a real job to do. But I want a high density rock, so we'll be doing a bit of scanning first." Daiko chuckled, resuming his walk back towards the fore of the mining bay. "You sly girl, be careful you don't work us straight to the bone. We might end up calling you slave driver and mutiny." He had a jovial tone to his words, thick with sarcasm and without a hint of seriousness in them.
"Anyways, my story. Where was I. Old, hair, bones. Right. Never grow old, the only thing I've still got is my mind, it's sharp as a tack. But some aren't so lucky, if your mind goes and your body has already gone, there isn't much of you left. And for the record Bora, I was trying my best with that handshake. I couldn't let you think I'm some weak old man, but truth be told your grip kind of hurt. I might need to consider increasing my training if I'm supposed to be dealing with hot shots like you all damn day. I could use a dozen workers like you on my crews, you could probably just punch the damn space rocks to bits. I know the Captain can...and she's half your size." Daiko's scouter beeped as it scanned their respective power levels. "And either far weaker than I thought, or far better at suppressing her power level than I had previously thought." Melonia scoffed at his words, Daiko clearly trying to egg her on. "You haven't gotten any better at goading in your old age, maybe senility really is setting in." The Saiyaness cracked a wry smile, rolling her eyes at the jest. "Let's just say as a low estimate, I'm just as strong as you find I am. A woman never tells her age or her power level, you know how we can be." Her words teasing and her tone surprisingly playful, Melonia stepped in front of the two, taking over leading their small procession.
Daiko laughed aloud, picking up his pace to keep up with the young Saiyaness. "Oh I see how it is Captain, I'll keep my old mouth shut. Can't have you punching out what's left of my teeth now can I?" More sarcasm from the old scientist, and Daiko flicked off his scouter. "Anyways, enough with the playing around, we've all had our fun. I presume you came down here to check on the mining didn't you Captain? Make sure old Daiko isn't making a fool of himself?" The elder man spoke as the trio reached his office doors towards the back of the bay, far away from most of the commotion of the work crews not far behind. He stepped up to the door, pressing a key code on the access panel before the metal door slid open to allow them inside. The office within was well furnished, with state of the art equipment and some very antique looking furniture. The desk was a hard word grown only on Vegeta, as were the chairs, all of which looked too small for Bora's incredibly broad frame. As they stepped inside Daiko moved to his desk to take a seat, and Melonia sat on the cushioned chair just opposite him.
"Right as always Daiko." Melonia quickly replied, leaning back and enjoying the cushioned feel of her seat. Draping her long ponytail over one shoulder so it hand down into her lap. She crossed one toned leg over the other, sitting with ladylike grace and civility. "Since this is our first full scale industrial mining operation, I'd like to see how it's proceeding. I want all the details, nothing is too trivial for your Captain's attention." Daiko slid open a drawer, pulling out a data tablet and a small silver flask. The data pad he slid across his desk to Melonia, the flask he took a swig from. "Awww...that's strong stuff. Well, if you'll open that up I've got my full report typed out, since I expected you'd be heading down any moment after we began about an hour ago." Melonia turned on the tablet, holding it up enough to read while keeping one eye on Daiko. She flicked through a myriad of graphics and tables of data, skimming over the lengthy report. "As you can see, we're far from peak efficiency. There's a higher failure rate in the drills than we initially anticipated, and we're supplementing them with more and more Ki blasts. That's all fine for now, but it's tiring out our work crews a lot faster than we anticipated. I'd like to request we repurpose some of the tungsten from our initial mining endeavors to manufacture ourselves a set of replacement drills. I've already written up an estimate list and a number of technical specifications. The high yield of these damn rocks is marginally better than our predictions. It's proving a double edged sword down here, on one hand our haul is going to prove more lucrative, though on the other it's wearing out our drills and our mining crews faster than I anticipated."
Melonia poured over the information before her, soaking in the man's words. She rubbed at her temples with one hand, holding the data pad aloft in the other. "Well, give me a moment to think Daiko. I hadn't expected any shortcomings from your division, though based on these numbers your progress is still admirable in spite of any set backs." Daiko grinned slightly, taking another swig of his flask. "That's because I'm the best in the business Captain. If you need rocks drilled, detonated, blasted, or smashed into bits, I'm damn near the best at it you'll find. Call it an old man's hobby, breaking rocks makes me feel young and spry again." Melonia shook her head and let out a quick sigh. "So do whiskey and jokes it would seem. Isn't there something in the officer's handbook about drinking during your shift?" The curvaceous captain joked, pointing to the elder warrior's flask. "There might be." Daiko joked right back, "But I'm an old man, I can't see too good these days. Means I have trouble reading that handbook of Command's. Besides, I know my tolerances, could you imagine if I didn't?" The scientist capped his flask after one final swig, putting in back in his desk drawer and moving to sit in a more professional manner. "So, Captain. On to business, do I get an answer? You have all the numbers right there, the sooner the decision the sooner we can start implementing changes." Word Count: 1,717 Total Word Count: 9,719
The size difference between the two men was enough to warrant a chuckle. Both saiyans, despite the age gap and size difference had a more jokey aura about them. Besides the fact that Bora found the mining bay to be amazing, he found Daiko's company to be rather nice too. It seemed as though Mel managed to pic friends or rather close colleges pretty well when it came to attitude and or character, on top of the fact that they where more than qualified for their positions. Jagai was a little wet behind the ears when it came to orders but he did his job well enough. Daiko on the other hand, had a number of accolades under his belt and showed an abundance of proof as to why he was selected for the job he was in. Bora on the other hand was the odd one out...
As the lead scientist began to babel on about the mining bay being some part of the massive body that was the Cathedral, Bora couldn't help but laugh along with the old coot. Sadly, Mel was not enjoying the senile rambling of the old coot, expressing her opinion with a sigh. The towering saiyan went on to mention Daiko's beard which in hindsight was a terrible idea as it seemed to spark off yet another story from the old veterans past. Mel clearly wasn't in the mood but Bora didn't seem to mind all and chuckled at the mention of the ladies loving the whole pony tail and beard look. "Definitely had a full life. Don't get how you managed to get ladies with that style but if you say you did, you must have, my father managed to get my mother with the pony tail idea so I guess that's close enough... Gotta hand it to ya old coot. You still managed to make something good of your life even with the gray hair." Bora said with a chuckle as he looked back at Mel with a smile. If anything it was a sign of content, he was in no way going to lose himself to anger when he was surrounded by people like Mel and Daiko, that was a fact.
The towering saiyan had already guessed the old man had many stories to tell and that was a given in the way Dakio went off in a tangent with his words. Rambling on about memories that had long past. Bora didn't much mind and actually found it quite interesting. The fact that he showed he was willing to listen to the stories only encourage Daiko further. He was a wise man and from what Bora had already seen, it was no joke that was very intelligent too. Anything that came from the mans mouth had to have some sort of hidden story and meaning behind it, one simply had to analyses the words and stories. When he stopped to gather his thoughts with a stroke of his beard, the towering saiyan couldn't help but snicker. As intelligent as Daiko was, he seemed to be just as goofy as Bora was.
The trio made their way to the main office but stopped for a few seconds as Daiko enforced a bit of law and made sure the saiyans working on the asteroid kicked their arses into gear. It was clear the old man had his crew under complete lock and key. They obeyed his words and not a word was said at the mention of their being more work. Instead, they all continued on with their orders as if it was natural. Bora smirked when he heard Mel mentioned increasing the work load for the night shift workers. It only seemed fair that they did the same amount of work as those working in the day shift. "True dedication to their jobs. It's nice to see that the entire crew works as a unit. Inspired by their captain and their chief. To gain such loyalty proves how much you two are truly worth. I may be known as a knucklehead now but I hope over time I could learn to be a respected soldier and... Maybe even a leader." He said with passion in his voice. His words held truth but the only way he could prove it would be through action. He smiled at the bearded saiyan and the young saiyaness as he went silent to hear Daiko continue with his lesson of life which entailed that of never going old.
"Well it was enough to bluff your way into making me think you had enough to knock me on my ass. One thing I've learned is to never underestimate a person. Even though I rarely take it into consideration when fighting an opponent and instead attack like my life depends on it... It's a better idea to actually map out a strategy. Something I'm sure you and the captain excel in." Bora paused and nodded with a smile at the compliment to his strength. "If Melonia permits me to come down and help some time, I'm sure I could tear through a few asteroids in a day, given the chance."
Bora simple chuckled at the interaction that followed between Mel and Daiko. The debate on how strong the Captain was, lead to quite a few tiffs of sarcasm to be thrown about. "The Captain is strong enough to put me down for a few hours and then some. She may be hiding her power level but if she didn't I'm sure this ship wouldn't hold out" he said as Mel stepped passed Daiko and himself to take the lead. Bora increased his pace slightly, his strides a tad bit larger as he kept close to Daiko's side and behind Mel. He snickered internally as the teasing and sarcasm match went back and forth between the two saiyans in his company before the conversation took a more serious turn towards business.
As they stepped into the office, Bora's eyes glared about the room. Just like the control center as well as everywhere else on the ship. The office was kitted with state of the art equipment but what set the room apart from any other place was the rather old styled furniture. Bora could tell right away that there was no way he would be able to sit down in the room so instead he went dead quiet and stood behind yet slightly off to the side of Mel almost as if he was the right hand to her "curvy highness". The two higher ranked saiyans went on to speak business to which Bora would only listen to with little knowledge of what it all meant.
Daiko scoffed as Bora commented on the elder warrior's hair, shaking his head and folding his arms. "That was harsh son, I obviously managed to attract the ladies with my dazzling good looks, immaculate hair styling, and sheer animal magnetism. If you must ask. And how do you know my hair is actually grey? I might simply be a Super Saiyan and you're just color blind. Ever considered that?" The senior scientist chuckled lightly to himself, flaring his aura of radiant orange Ki, as if to prove his point. After a few moments it diminished and he let out a somewhat winded sigh. "Damn I'm getting old. Anyways, your father sounds like a good man if he respected the ponytail. So he has my respect. Where is the man these days?" There was a slight pause before another grin passed the old man's face. "You might be surprised, but I'm not as young as I look. My old man passed a good seventeen years ago, on the off chance you were wondering. Death took him sleeping, he'd have tried to battle it if he was awake at the time." Melonia mentally groaned at the man's words, the worst part was he seemed to be hitting things off perfectly with Bora. Like two peas in an idiot pod, she might need to consider separating them if they got too chummy. Otherwise the collective childishness may begin to rub off on her.
Shortly after Daiko's disciplining of the work crew, Bora interjected his own thoughts on the matter. It was pleasant to Melonia's ears to here him speak earnestly about a serious cause. Leadership took many forms, from hard nosed command to more easy going authority. The main thing was that a leader be confident, able to inspire loyalty and dedication in his soldiers, and prevail against overwhelming odds. "True dedication to their paychecks." Daiko commented sarcastically. "I started out like many of them, was actually a welder in a ship yard, not unlike the one where this fine vessel was built. But yes, they are rather dedicated to their craft. Part of it is Saiyan pride, the other half is fear at what's in store for them in they begin to slack off. Loyalty is earned, always remember that my boy. You can't force people to follow you, well actually you gain. Hell you could even enslave them." Daiko silenced himself, rubbing his beard as his chin as he thought over his metaphor. Melonia sighed and stepped into the conversation. "What Daiko means is that anyone can command, but only a leader can actually lead. People, especially soldiers, have to be willing to follow orders. And for the record, you are a knucklehead." Her gaze turned to Daiko as well and she cocked an eyebrow. "In fact, you both are. But, as you can see, sometimes it can be overcome with age and wisdom. Or at least, I sorely hope that's wisdom. If you want to be a respectable soldier and a capable leader, you'll have to first prove it to yourself, then prove it to others." The elder warrior nodded slowly in agreement. "Well said Captain, if a bit harsh. And for the record, better to be a knucklehead than a knuckle dragger. There are degrees of idiocy, which I suppose would make me a high functioning idiot in your eyes." Daiko laughed heavily to himself at that, slapping his knee and shaking his head. "You have no idea." Came his response.
When the two turned to discussing strength and the possibility of Bora working off some energy in mining bay, naturally the conversation came back to Melonia as larger Saiyan asked for her permission. She mulled it over, letting out a long sigh as she thought on the matter. On one hand, she wasn't entire sure if she trusted Bora around the ship's most crucial area outside of the reactor core or the engine rooms. But on the other hand it was the most durable location the Cathedral had beyond the outer hull itself. Ultimately she decided if the ship's mining bay was built to withstand a direct impact from a poorly secured asteroid, Bora was probably not much worse, for now. "I will permit you to help out down here. But only because I trust Daiko's judgement on the matter, he's an old fool, but a very wise old fool. If he things it's a good idea then I defer to his judgement. Bora you may come down here when you see fit, and I have given you express permission to leave my presence. Though I expect you to defer wholly to Daiko's authority when down here, and I warn you that asteroids are a great deal more durable than any punching bag in the gym. Just don't make me regret that decision." Daiko seemed pleased, slowly nodding along in agreement. "Then that settles that, I'll let the boy vent some stress when I've got a smaller asteroid or two to deal with. But for the record Captain, permission to speak freely?" Melonia paused, mulling it over, "Permission granted." Daiko turned to look at her, opening his mouth to speak. "You sound like the boy's damn mother when you talk like that." Melonia fell sullen at his remark, considering how many bones she'd break if she hit him right now. "Acknowledged."
Melonia considered flaunting the suppressed power level Bora spoke of as a response to Daiko's last remark. But she held her tongue and let the two talk it out. "Oh of that I have no doubt. Truthfully it gets impossible to design a ship for a warrior after certain thresholds. It's like the entire world is tissue paper and we're just living in it. Basically the only thing actually keeping this tub of bolts in one piece is everyone on board would rather hold their temper in than get sucked out into space." Melonia nodded slowly in agreement, busy doing just that as she calmed herself down, not allowing her Ki aura to flare out in aggression. "But, that's a fair trade in my eyes for being as powerful as we Saiyans are. Few species are so blessed or so capable, and besides, I can survive in space even if the ship goes south." Daiko boasted, pointing to his chest. "Mastered the trick decades ago, I could probably make it to the nearest planet before I croaked. I'd still be fucked if I can't breath the air there, but at least I could say I made it." The man laughed at his own joke, which was becoming a regular event.
Once into the office Melonia was keen to feel Bora standing off in the corner while she poured over the information provided to her. Lost in thought she was in her own little world crunching the numbers. Daiko looked at Bora and grinned an old man's grin, rising slowly from his seat. "Afraid you'll break all my antique shit aren't you Bora?" He said plainly, face slightly flustered from whiskey, making him even more boisterous. "Hold on don't you worry, I've got something you'll definitely get some use out of." The man turned to rummage through a drawer, pulling out a small green ball. He squished it twice between his fingers, feeling along the side for a tiny button. Once pressed the ball began to expand, as if with air. Daiko tossed it across the room and it quickly expanding to a large squishy plastic ball roughly as big across as Melonia was tall. "Go on, sit on that thing. I got it on an Imeckian trader who knows how many years ago, crazy little thing isn't it? Damn near indestructible, even for a guy like you. Squishy as hell too, it's great on my old back after a long day, I've even napped on the contraption once or twice." Content with his work Daiko took his seat again, immediately shifting back to a serious demeanor.
"I've made a decision." Melonia stated not long after. "We can always mine more tungsten, running our drilling equipment into the ground will only hurt moral in the short term, and profits in the long term." Daiko's face seemed to light up in response, though the Captain kept talking. "However, I will be very thoroughly inspecting all aspects of the construction at regular intervals to ensure minimal waste and proper supervision at the highest echelon of command available to us. Expect your tail in a vice if I learn that precious resources are being squandered on my ship by an old drunk and his stupid green toys." Melonia slid the data pad back across the desk, to which Daiko stopped it with one hand, effortlessly slipping it back into a drawer on his desk. "Fair enough Captain, I honestly expected a no. We're in slightly uncharted waters here. Especially headed to earth, where supplies will be severely limited for raw materials." Melonia shrugged, leaning back in her seat. "There's a large asteroid belt on the way to Earth, between two of their planets. We can easily find the replacement resources we need there and top off before we land. It'll only add an extra day or so to the journey." Daiko stroked at his beard, nodding along in agreement. "I see, well, it's a lucky break you've already made the trip for us then. I had no idea about such an astrological formation, but it certainly makes for a boon in our favor...doesn't it?" Melonia grinned in response, turning back to look over her shoulder behind her. "Here that Bora, seems we'll be making regular trips to check up on the fool." Word Count: 1,621 Total Word Count: 11,340
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