#rehval

[25 May 234 Before Age.  Interstellar Space.]

"Here's the short version," Pozet explained.   "King Rehval created me and sent me to kill Saiyans for him so he would have an excuse to ask your wife Luffa for help.   Then he had me kill the detective he hired to catch me, so that you would take over the investigation while he started putting the moves on Luffa.  You actually managed to track me all the way back to the Pflaume system, where I was created, and that was a bit of a problem, since that's where he planned to lure Luffa so he could spring his trap."

While Pozet was explaining this, Zatte was trying to grab hold of the intruder, but Pozet kept dodging and batting aside her hands just before Zatte could reach her.   The two of them leaped all around the bridge of Luffa's star-yacht, the Emerald Eye.  

"How could he possibly trap Luffa?" Zatte asked.  "She's the--"

"The Legendary Super Saiyan, I know," Pozet said.  "I was created using tissue samples from your body, babe.  I'm not really alive, and I don't know everything that you know, but I do share your attraction to her.   Master's told me all about her.  I must have seen that movie they made about her a dozen times, but the actress they cast to play her doesn't do her justice!"

"What did you think of her love interest, though?" Zatte asked.  

"Rax Cosmo?  I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers, but the on-screen chemistry was decent en--HEY!"

Behind Pozet, one of the control consoles exploded, showering her back with sparks and shards of hot polymer.  It wasn't enough to hurt her, but the distraction slowed her down just long enough for Zatte to throw a punch to her face--

Only for Pozet to dodge at the last possible moment.  

"You used your energy manipulation powers to blow that thing up," Pozet said.  "But how'd you do it so quickly?"

"I know the ship pretty well," Zatte said.   "Takes the guesswork out of how much energy it takes to destroy parts of it.   But it looks like I'll have to try harder to catch you off guard.   At least now I know you really don't have my memories, and you can't read my mind or anything like that.   Otherwise you would have seen that coming a mile away."

Pozet grinned.   "Oh, you're good," she said.  "I can see why Luffa married you.  Rax Cosmo couldn't hold a candle, even if he was real."

"I identify with him a lot, actually," Zatte said.  "He's an underrated character.  A lot of fans think Luffa should have ended up with the Fire Prince, but I don't buy it."

"You identify with him?" Pozet asked.  They continued circling each other around the confines of the bridge.   "He's a man!"

"Well, you have to use your imagination a little, all right?" Zatte said.  "Or do you not have one, because you're 'non-living?'"

"Don't underestimate me, honey," Pozet said.  "I'm everything you are, but better!  I'm as strong as you are, and I'm at least as good a fighter--"

"Computer!" Zatte called out.  "Run Program Zatte-630!"

Suddenly, the artificial gravity on the bridge switched off, then on again, and Pozet found herself stumbling backwards as a result.  As she regained her footing, she found Zatte leaping directly at her.   She tackled her into the navigator's chair and they began to struggle as they rolled to the floor.  

Pozet's sudden appearance had been unsettling for Zatte.  She had expected the killer to be a Dorlun, but not a strange duplicate of herself.  Pozet's face, body, and voice were all identical to her own, but her skin was red instead of Dorlun blue, and her hair was blue instead of Dorlun red.  Pozet wore an eyepatch like Zatte's, but on the left eye instead of the right.  This was presumably an aesthetic choice, since it hardly made sense to create an artificial assassin and purposely injure her.   She needed to understand her enemy, and Pozet seemed to defy comprehension.    

As she contemplated this problem, Pozet suddenly stopped resisting her.  "You know, I'm not very familiar with this ship at all," she said.   "But then, I don't really need to be."

Zatte realized what she was alluding to, but barely managed to escape it.  Zatte had shorted out a very specific power conduit earlier, based on a plan to corral the intruder towards in when it finally exploded.   Pozet now did the same thing, only she overloaded the plasma conduits in the lights and environmental controls mounted in the ceiling.   Being unacquainted with the ship's design, she simply overloaded them all at once.  The result was much more destructive than Zatte's diversion with the console.  Hot sparks fell all over the deck, and the ship's fire suppression systems activated, dousing the room with foam.   In the midst of all this chaos, Zatte lost sight of Pozet, and was unable to find any trace of energy coming from her body.  

"Having trouble?" Pozet teased.   "You've got the same energy manipulation powers I do.   We can both become invisible, and we can both detect ki energy and heat signatures, only my body doesn't put off any heat, and I've got no ki because I'm not alive."

That didn't make sense to Zatte.   Through training, living beings could increase their ki power to greatly increase their speed and strength.   Pozet seemed to have a power to rival Zatte's own, so if it wasn't ki-based, then what was it?

With the main lights destroyed, the only illumination on the bridge was the monitors and consoles of the bridge stations.   This wasn't a problem for Zatte, as her powers allowed her to see a wider range of colors in the electromagnetic spectrum.   But this meant it wasn't a problem for Pozet either, which left them in a standoff.  

"Computer," Zatte called out.   "Execute Program--"

"--619!"

The artificial gravity shut off again, then reactivated at half the strength normally used.  Zatte had intended something else, but since she knew this program, she was prepared to cope with it.  

"I didn't know what that one would do," Pozet called out.   "But I figured a random number would be better than whatever you had in mind.   Looks like the computer recognizes my voice as yours, too.   Makes things interesting, doesn't it?"

Zatte muttered a Dorlun profanity as she considered this development.  She had expected to fight a Dorlun, but never expected one who could so easily mimic her own voice.  Pozet didn't even have to try; she just naturally sounded the same, and not even the ship's computer could tell the difference.   It wouldn't be enough for Pozet to take complete control of the ship, but it would allow her to confuse the computer whenever Zatte tried to use it herself.  As she moved around the deck, hoping to find some sign of Pozet's presence against the fog of fire suppressant chemicals, she noticed that it wasn't just fog.   Some of it was smoke.

"Having trouble breathing?" Pozet called out as soon as Zatte began to cough.   "I heated up the fibers of the carpet.  Not enough to start a fire, but enough to get them smoldering.   Smells good, doesn't it?"

Zatte winced as the acrid smell grew stronger as she moved towards the charred carpet.  She covered her mouth and nose, but could still find no sign of Pozet.   And then she heard a chirp from one of the bridge stations, and she realized that Pozet must have been crouching on top of one and accidentally touched a button.  

"Oh, crap," Pozet said.   Before she could move away, Zatte raised her hands and fired a ki blast from the palms of her hands.   Luffa had taught her to do this, although Zatte preferred to rely on conventional weapons.    Her ki powers were relatively weak and imprecise for combat, but there wasn't time to find her pistol or anything else.   She simply targeted the entire bridge station and fired a blast large enough and powerful enough to destroy the whole thing before Pozet could get away.  

In doing this, Zatte paid a heavy price.   She inhaled more of the stale, smokey air, and went into a coughing fit.  She needed to get off the bridge, but she couldn't leave until she was certain Pozet was neutralized.  She tried to hold her breath and search around the deck, but after several minutes, she found nothing.   And then something kicked her from behind, and she fell to the floor.

"That was a lucky shot," Pozet said.   The smoke was thicker on the floor, but Zatte was still able to see Pozet, who apparently now felt confident to become visible.  The homunculus' left arm was badly burned, but she seemed unconcerned by this injury.   If the bad air was causing her any problems, she didn't show it.  Pozet only breathed when she needed to speak aloud.

"I'm not here to kill you, Zatte," she said.  "My master just wants me to keep you occupied for a while.  I had meant to just play with you until he contacted me with further instructions, but you're dangerous.  If I'm not careful, you might just find a way around me, and I can't let that happen.   Luckily, I took out the life support system, so there's nothing to stop the bridge from filling up with smoke and suffocating you.  So I figure I'll relax and wait for you to stop breathing.  How's that sound--?  Wait, what have you got there?"

Zatte had been carrying a portable air supply canister on her belt the entire time.  She had been keeping it invisible with her powers, and had refrained from using it in case she would need it later.   Now, with the smoke becoming unbearable, she had strapped the face-piece to her mouth and made it just visible enough for Pozet to notice, and she used this distraction to grab her by the ankles and fling her across the bridge.  

The situation was untenable.   Zatte had hoped to keep their battle confined to a small area of the ship, but between the smoke and damaged controls, the terrain was beginning to shift into Pozet's favor.   The air canister she was breathing from would only last for so long, and now that Pozet knew about it, she would focus her efforts on destroying it or taking it away.  

So Zatte headed for the lift, forced the doors, and leaped down the shaft to relative safety.   It worried her to leave Pozet unchecked on the bridge, but until she knew how to fight Pozet effectively, she had to keep moving through the relative safety of the rest of the ship.

As Zatte made her way to an access tunnel that intersected the lift shaft, she wondered just how long that relative safety would last.

*******

[25 May 234 Before Age.   Planet Pflaume.]

Moments ago, Luffa believed there were only two life forms on the ice giant world of Pflaume: herself, and Rehval III, the King of the Saiyans, whom she had followed here through a mystical portal.   Luffa was wrong.   A third Saiyan, her own son, now stood before her, though she could not understand how this was possible.

The only habitable settlement in the entire solar system was Pflaume City, an artificial biosphere which floated through Planet Pflaume's upper atmosphere like a great fortress adrift in a storm.  King Rehval had it evacuated prior to this encounter.  He had gone to great lengths to lure Luffa here, in order to propose an alliance that would betray everything Luffa held dear.  Rehval III was unlike any Saiyan Luffa had ever met.  He was a brilliant visionary and a powerful fighter, but he was utterly devoid of honor.   Rehval seemed willing to stoop to anything to achieve his goals, which all involved shaping the future of the Saiyan species for centuries to come.   Lies, treachery, sorcery-- Rehval was willing to use any trick and suffer any humiliation to get what he wanted.

And now, Luffa's son had come to King Rehval's rescue.

"Are you all right, Your Majesty?" the boy called to his sovereign.

"I am now," Rehval replied.  Luffa had been torturing Rehval with a compression lock on his leg.  He rose to his feet slowly, painfully, but he still managed to stand, which might have surprised Luffa if he hadn't been fixated on the boy.  

"My lord, your arm!" the boy cried.  

Rehval nodded and gripped the burned flesh of his left arm with his right hand.   "It'll be fine, Xibuyas," he said, though he couldn't completely hide the anguish in his voice."

"I know of your powers, Sire," Xibuyas said uneasily.  "That you can restore yourself from injuries far worse than these, but I still wish that you had summoned me sooner!"

"The enemy is swifter than I anticipated," Rehval admitted.  He looked at Luffa and smiled.   "And more clever."

"And more foolish!" Xibuyas shouted.  "When you told me of your plan to offer her an alliance, I expected to find her kneeling at your feet, not torturing you!  Move aside, King Rehval.  Let me teach her the price of her defiance!"

Rehval raised his good hand to signal the boy to stand by.  

"What have you done?" Luffa asked in a low voice.  She was addressing Rehval, though she never took her eyes off the boy.  

"Surely you can guess that for yourself, Luffa," Rehval said.   "I told you of my knowledge of alchemy.   You've seen the Pozet, the homunculus I created for you.  I've told you of how I increased my own power beyond what little nature saw fit to give me.  And you've seen my laboratory on Planet Saiya.  You've seen the gestation chambers, which nurture embryonic Saiyans so they can be born with their maximum potential."

She didn't want to believe it, but it made too much sense for her to deny it.  Years ago, the Tikosi captured her, and tormented her for months for the sake of their twisted "experiments".   Luffa's own father had arranged for this, betraying her so that he could benefit from the fruits of their research.  What no one had known was that Luffa had been pregnant at the time.  The father of her child, Luffa's husband, convinced the Tikosi to surgically remove the boy from Luffa's body.   They turned the remains over to him, and when Luffa finally escaped the Tikosi, she hunted him down across the galaxy, hoping to mete out justice for her son's death.

But she had only assumed the child was stillborn.  When she finally caught up with her husband, Kandai told her that he had been hired by King Rehval to secure the fetus.  Kandai himself didn't know what he intended to do with it.  Like Luffa, he had probably never imagined that the child could have survived.   But the Tikosi had keep Luffa alive throughout her captivity.  Their experiments had been designed to bring her to the brink of death and back, again and again and again.  Was it so impossible to imagine that they could have kept a prenatal Saiyan alive outside its mother's womb?  Such technology was commonplace in the wider galaxy.   Even the Saiyans used it, though Luffa found the practice revolting.  To Luffa, motherhood was a sacred rite among Saiyans, or at least it was supposed to be.  The idea of Saiyan mothers giving up their children to be midwifed by machines was so horrifying to her that she never considered that it could have happened to her own offspring.

Luffa wanted to believe that this was a trick, that the boy standing before her was another homunculus, or some other alchemical illusion cast by Rehval, but the boy's ki was unmistakable.   The only thing that didn't make sense was his age.   Her son should only be three years old by now.  This boy looked closer to fifteen.

"You probably have some way to age people," Luffa muttered.  "But that doesn't fit.   "He couldn't have gotten so strong in only three years."

"Very astute, Luffa," Rehval said.  His breathing was still labored from his injuries, but he seemed determined to remain calm and in control of the situation.   "Xibuyas was not aged through some artificial means.  He was trained in a special place, one revealed to me by the Guardian of Planet Saiya."

"Guardian?" Luffa repeated in surprise.   She had encountered such beings before in her travels.  They were supposed to be mortals who were granted the station of lesser gods.  Their duty was to watch over their assigned worlds, though their power paled in comparison to mortal warriors like the Saiyans.  It wasn't difficult to imagine Rehval's grandfather conquering an inhabited world, renaming it "Saiya", and destroying its indigenous population, all while their Guardian looked on helplessly.  

"She was magnificent," Rehval said wistfully.  "My grandfather had kept her alive, mostly to avoid any reprisal from on high, and because she was no threat to us.   But where he and my father saw a figurehead, I saw untapped potential.   When I was ready, I pitted my charms and talismans against her divine wisdom, and I bent her to my will.  That summer I spent on her lookout was one of the happiest of my life.   She showed everything to me, including a room where time passed more slowly on the inside.  It was designed to seal itself after only two days of use by a single occupant, but I managed to work around that rule, and had the entrance relocated to my home on Pflaume City.   In total, he has spent twelve days in that room, training with my servants.   But inside the room, a year passed for each of those days."

"Then they're the ones who raised him," Luffa said bitterly.  "Taught him how to be the obedient little bootlick to the Saiyan King, is that it?"

"I wanted you to rule by my side, Luffa," Rehval said.  "I lied to you, but my purpose was sincere.  I had hoped that even if you despised me, we could put aside our differences for the sake of our people.  Perhaps you think me foolish for hoping you might accept my proposal, but I was not so naive that I didn't prepare for your refusal."

He gestured to Xibuyas.  "If you insist on being my enemy, then Xibuyas will accomplish what you would not.   You call him a 'bootlick', but he's far more than that.  I've already arranged for him to be mated to one of my daughters."

"Like hell!" Luffa seethed.  

"Whatever power he possesses, whatever secrets lie in his bloodline, they will be passed onto my grandchildren, and on down to the rest of the Rehval Dynasty."

"You know it doesn't work that way, idiot!" Luffa shouted.  "If you could breed a stronger Saiyan, don't you think someone would have done it a long time ago?!   Every one of us is probably descended from Chanisp, but I'm the only one as strong as--!"

"That only proves that our ancestors lacked vision," Rehval insisted.  "They clung to outmoded beliefs, and useless sentiments, when they should have learned to understand the mysteries that rule our fate!  Think of it, Luffa!  A Saiyan nation ruled by its strongest family!   Where the greatest warriors are allowed to marry into that family.  Instead of waiting for gifted fighters to prove their worth, we can measure their potential before birth!  A woman like you would be elevated to her rightful place, instead of languishing in the care of mercenaries living hand-to-mouth!"

"And what about the ones that don't have any potential?" Luffa asked.  

Rehval shrugged his good arm.   "They have their uses, I'm sure," he said.  "The ones who can contribute to the gene pool will be allowed to do so.  The rest will have to earn their acceptance, one way or another."

"And that's the great future you want for the Saiyan race?" Luffa asked.   "That's the future you had in mind for my son?!"   She began to laugh.   "And they call me a monster."

"You are a monster, Luffa," Rehval replied calmly.   "Not because of your yellow hair or green eyes, but because you represent the chaos that has benighted our people throughout our entire history.  I wanted to make a place in my kingdom for you, but I see now that I was wrong.   All I can do for you now is order your execution."

"You and what army?" Luffa scoffed as she pointed to the boy.  "Bringing him out here might have saved you for a few more minutes, but he's not strong enough to save you--"

She approached Rehval and raised her left fist.  

"Get away from him!" Xibuyas shouted.  

"Stay out of this, Katem!" Luffa shouted back.   "I'll deal with you in a minute.  First, I'm going to make this slime pay for what he's done!"

Despite his injuries, King Rehval was still immensely powerful by the standards of normal Saiyans.   As Luffa attacked, he leaped backward to roll away from her punch.   Dodging would be impossible, but by moving away from her fist as she connected, he could at least reduce the impact of her blow.  

However, Luffa was the Legendary Super Saiyan, and from the perspective of her transformed state, Rehval might as well have been moving in slow motion.  Though using only a fraction of her full power, she had more than enough to leap forward after him, ensuring that her blow would still hit hard enough to crush his skull.  

Then Xibuyas moved.   Luffa spotted this out of the corner of her eye, but thought nothing of it.  As powerful as he was, he was still too slow and too far away to do anything to save King Rehval.  

Except, when her fist connected, it did not land on Rehval's forehead.   Instead, she was caught in Xibuyas's hand.   Somehow, he had managed a burst of speed that had allowed him to get between Luffa and Rehval.  

Luffa was too astonished to react.   Though she had the strength to pull free of the boy's grip, she stood transfixed and watched his eyes glaze over with rage.   He started to hyperventilate, and then he cried out in a voice that Luffa couldn't help but find familiar.

And then she saw what looked like steam rising from Xibuyas' body, and he was suddenly engulfed with a golden aura.  She noticed that his grip on her hand was getting stronger...

"What...?!  No way!" was all Luffa could manage to say.  

The part of the city they were standing in was some kind of promenade, with shops and restaurants lining the walls of the corridors.  These were abandoned, but their signs and lighting were still active.   As Xibuyas' power increased, the electronics closest to the Saiyans began to short circuit and explode.

"Twelve years, Luffa," Rehval said as he backed away from them.  "I did everything I could to make him strong enough to defeat even you.   I wasn't sure it would be enough, but now that I see Xibuyas in action, I have to say that I'm pleased with the results.   Destroy her, Xibuyas!  Now!"

*******

Xibuyas wasted no time, leaping after Luffa and striking her unguarded face.   She went flying back, and the boy chased after her.   With a burst of speed, he stopped directly ahead of her, and landed a powerful kick that send her flying off in another direction.  For a minute or so, he bounced her around the promenade like a rubber ball, until at last he allowed her to crash into the deckplate below.   Luffa's impact was so great that she gouged a trench into the thick metal.  

"You're nothing but a fraud!"  Xibuyas shouted.   "King Rehval was wise to prepare me for this battle, woman!   But you're no match for the power of a true Saiyan warrior!"

He wouldn't fail.  King Rehval had been preparing him for this battle for his entire life.   Failure was simply not an option.   Xibuyas would crush this impostor once and for all, and prove himself worthy.   The "Super Saiyan" had a fearsome reputation, and his power lacked experience, but he was sure that he could overwhelm her.   He just had to stay focused and stand firm.  

He readied an energy blast in his left hand, but before he could send it down at his target, he noticed she was getting up.   Too angry to analyze this development, he launched his attack, expecting it to have the same effect whether she was standing or lying down.  

The energy sphere was more of an amorphous glob.   It was mostly yellow, with swirls of red, like it wasn't entirely finished.   Seconds before it engulfed Luffa, Xibuyas saw her face.   He expected terror, or perhaps surprise.   Instead, her expression was one of... curiosity?   He wondered if she might dodge it, and then the attack made contact, and he couldn't see her at all.    

Only, instead of the usual explosion of red-and-yellow light that followed his technique, it all simply faded away.   He saw Luffa looking up at him, smiling.    In her clenched fists were what looked like pieces of his energy glob, as if she had somehow ripped it apart.    

"What have you--?!" he began to shout.    "How did you do that?!"

"It...it's really you," she said.   Her smile faltered as she spoke, and her eyes widened.    "I don't understand it, but it's really you.  Maybe... maybe I should check again."

"Fool!" Xibuyas screamed.   "If you want to spend your last moments of life babbling like an old woman, then so be it!"   He launched himself directly at her, leading with his fists.    "Now you will DIE!"

He crashed into her, his hands charged with ki energy which he fired into her abdomen at the moment he made contact.   The raw power of the blow tore the deck apart, and he fell through to the level below.  Xibuyas realized he was inside a large auditorium.   Wreckage from the ceiling was still spilling into the seats.  

"And that will be the end of that!" he declared.   "All that's left for me to do now is search for your miserable corpse!   Xibuyas is no fool, woman.    I know all about your tricks, and I won't allow you to slip away like a dog so you can plan your escape."

He floated above the rows of seats, then hovered over the stage, thinking it would afford him a better view.   "Of course," he said to himself with a laugh, "there is the possibility that my last attack shattered your puny body into a thousand pieces!   King Rehval should hire a cleaning crew to gather them all up.   Pity.   I would have enjoyed taking your head as a trophy, woman!  You were supposed to be my first great triumph, and you barely put up a struggle.    Eh--?"

At last, he noticed the hole in the stage, where he found Luffa kneeling.   Around her was a pile of theatrical supplies and sound equipment.   She had her back turned to Xibuyas, and she was no longer glowing yellow like before.    She appeared to be muttering to her hands.  

"Alive?!" Xibuyas howled.   "Impossible!    I don't know what you're playing at, woman, but I'll give you some free advice: Never turn your back on the great Xibuyas!"

He aimed his hand at her back and bombarded her with dozens of energy globules, each of them exploding all around her.    In seconds, the entire stage was engulfed in orange ki energy, and then he sensed her moving within it.  

She walked out of the firestorm, across the stage, and hopped down.    Xibuyas could almost see a slight refraction of light surrounding her body.   Had she shielded herself from his attack?   How could she maintain such a defense without showing the slightest sign of strain?   Then he realized that she was still mumbling to herself.    He watched her walk up to one of the seats in the front row, where she sat down and looked back up at him.  

"I see it now," Xibuyas said.   "It's a trick!  You're using some kind of magic spell, or maybe a technological gadget to protect yourself from my power!   Well be warned, female!    A Saiyan warrior won't be so easily deceived!   I-- are you even listening to me?!"

"It's really you," Luffa said.  "It's the same power.   Rehval couldn't fake that.    He wouldn't know how.   Right?   I-I don't think it's possible, but..."

"Enough!" Xibuyas screamed.   He dropped to the floor and rushed directly in front of Luffa.   "I don't know what that incantation of yours is supposed to do, but it won't save you from my wrath!    Now, die!"

He threw a right hand, aiming for the top of Luffa's skull.    She had lowered her head as he approached, as if she couldn't bear to look at him up close.   He could only assume that the witch was overcome with fear, which could only mean her defenses were at their limit.    A single blow, and it would all be over--

She caught his fist in her hand.    He didn't even see her move.   In one moment, she had been powered down, and despondent.   In the next, she had transformed, and his hand felt like it was caught in a vise.  

"L... Let go of me!" he cried.

Though he tried to deny it, he could feel the fear growing within him.   He had been as fierce and relentless as he had planned, and Luffa had shrugged off his attacks like they were nothing.  Worse, she didn't even seem to be paying close attention to their battle.  He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he managed to hurt her badly enough to get her undivided attention.  

She looked up at him, her face showing a mixture of emotions, but none of them particularly aggressive.   "It's really you, isn't it?   I never thought I'd sense this ki again.   It's really you, Katem."

"K-katem?" Xibuyas finally managed to pull free, and he took a step back to assess the situation.    It was as if she were defending herself by reflex, and she wasn't fighting back at all.   Was she truly so confident in her power that she refused to fight him seriously?   But if she had such an overwhelming advantage, why was she so troubled?

"Who in the hell is Katem?!" he asked as he shook his right hand to recover from her grip.    He didn't realize how tightly she had held him until he was free.  

"You are," she said ominously.   "That's what I named you.   Katem if you were a boy.   And if you had been a girl..."

Tears were streaming from her face, and she rose from her chair to slowly walk towards him.    More confused than afraid, Xibuyas took a step backward as she approached.   She started to chuckle, and soon this grew into a sort of halting, broken laughter.

"My name," he insisted, "is Xibuyas!    It was given to me by the King of the Saiyans himself!"

Luffa glared at him, then turned her head and spit on the floor.    "That's what I think of the king," she said.  

"You dare--!"

"He's a liar and a coward and a filthy kidnapper," Luffa said in a raw, ugly tone.   "I failed you, Katem.    I failed you so completely that I'll never be able to apologize to you properly.    But I refuse to dishonor my own son by calling you anything else."

"Then that's your game," Xibuyas scoffed.  "You actually think you can gain the upper hand by pretending to by my mother?"

"I'm not pretending anything," Luffa said.   "And I don't expect you to believe me.   I can hardly believe it myself.   I'm just... I'm trying to make sense of it all."

"Oh, by all means, 'mother', take your time!" Xibuyas said.    He raised his hands and fired a blast of energy from his palms, which engulfed her and every seat behind her all the way to the back of the theater.   "You can figure it out in hell!"

When the glow of his attack subsided, Luffa was still there.  Behind her was only a field of ash and molten scrap where the seats had been, but Luffa herself was completely unharmed.  

"Well, you seem healthy, at least," Luffa said.    "I guess I should be grateful for that."

"Wh- what are you?!" Xibuyas stammered.    "That attack should have...!  But you--!"

"Do you live in this place?" Luffa asked.   "I never sensed your presence on Planet Saiya.    Not that I would have thought to check for it, but...  Well, what do they feed you here?"

Xibuyas threw a left kick, but she blocked it with her forearm.   "Is that a stupid thing to ask?    I... I just never expected this.  I don't know what to say right now.   I think... I think I'm losing my mind."

Xibuyas tried a punch to her face.   Luffa didn't bother blocking.   His fist simply connected with her chin, and nothing happened.   She didn't even flinch.  

"I'm sorry," she finally said, as if rousing herself from a dream.    "You're trying to fight me, and I'm just sleepwalking through it.   I'm embarrassing you."

She stooped low and swung her left leg around to sweep his ankles.    Xibuyas thought he read the attack quickly enough to brace himself, but she knocked him off balance with seemingly no effort at all.   Before he could even finish falling, she was suddenly on top of him, grabbing him by his shirt and striking his cheek, shoulder, and chest with the edge of her free hand.   Then she tossed him to the ground.  

Her blows were so quick that he barely saw her move, but the pain exploded from every part of his body where she had touched him.   He clenched his teeth and tried not to cry out.  At last, he realized that this creature was even more fearsome than King Rehval had led him to believe.    She wasn't just strong.    She was... emotional.    Everything she said and did was disturbing to him.   It was one thing that she kept claiming to be his mother.   What made it worse was that she clearly had no need to play mindgames with him.   Was she just doing it to be sadistic, or...?

"Hey, that was good," Luffa said.    "I didn't think you'd be able to see me coming, but you did.    Rehval kept telling me he's the strongest Saiyan after me, but I guess he was lying about that too."

"You're... not a Saiyan!" Xibuyas growled as he rose to his feet.   He was clutching the spot on his chest where Luffa had hit him.    "And you're not my mother."

Luffa extended her arm and curled in her fingers to invite him to try again.    "Convince me," she said.

He saw the tears in her eyes, and the weary smile on her lips, and Xibuyas felt his mouth go dry from terror.

[25 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Pflaume.]

Luffa was trapped in Pflaume City.  The entire population had been evacuated before her arrival, taking every space-worthy vehicle with them.   Beyond the city's outer hull was the deadly atmosphere of the planet Pflaume, an ice giant incapable of supporting carbon-based life forms.   For the time being, it seemed the only safe way out of the city was a transpatial portal controlled by the Saiyan King Rehval, and he would not share that passage until Luffa heard him out.

To that end, King Rehval had created a mystic projection of himself, so that he could speak with Luffa directly while simultaneously hiding somewhere in the city.  With no other alternative, Luffa began walking through the parkland of Pflaume City's uppermost level.   The arcane image of Rehval floated alongside her as she moved, though Rehval himself remained seated upon a stone bench, accompanied by his attendant, Pozet.  

"You've gone to a lot of trouble to arrange all of this," Luffa said.   "First you created that twisted imitation of my wife, and sent her to murder our own people.  Then you convinced me to help you track down the killer, only you left the planet right before we were supposed to make our move.   I figured out you were trying to trick me, and followed you here, only to find it was a trap.  Only instead of killing me, you want me to listen to your speeches."

"Not a speech, Luffa," Rehval said.   "A parlay.   You consider me an enemy, and you have good reason not to trust me, but the Saiyan race depends upon a lasting peace between us."

"Then destroy this city," Luffa said.  "Even I can't survive out there, and you have the means to return to Planet Saiya.   There's your peace."

"I don't want to kill you, Luffa," Rehval said solemnly.  

"But you tried!" Luffa shot back.   "A couple of years ago, you sent a band of your soldiers to hunt me down.   When we first met, you tried to blame that on your father, but today you say that you were the one ruling from the shadows."

"I sent those warriors to take your measure," Rehval explained.  "When you first emerged as a Super Saiyan, I only had rumors and speculation to work with.   For a time, I was willing to wait and see, but then you founded the Federation, and by then the accounts of your powers were beginning to approach a consensus.  I ordered my soldiers to kill you, but in fact it was just a test to see if they could.  When none of them survived, I had my answer, and so I put my plan into motion."

"Think about it, Luffa," Pozet said with a cheerful smile.   "Those goons never stood a chance against you, so you can't really be that upset over it, can you?"

"That's not it at all," Rehval said to Pozet.   "What upsets Luffa is that I would send ten of my loyal warriors to die for nothing.  She's upset that I would create you as a living weapon to assassinate my own subjects."    

"Oh, right," Pozet said.   "The whole compassion thing.   She's so unlike the rest of you Saiyans, master.   I have to admit, it's very captivating."

"You talk a lot about the good of the Saiyan race, Rehval," Luffa said, ignoring Pozet completely.   "But all I ever see is Saiyans getting slaughtered like livestock to further your schemes.   I ran into your little 'Honor Guard' on Planet Saiya.   They're all dead now.  I don't know what you did to those poor bastards, but at least they're finally free of you."

"Means to an end, Luffa," Rehval said.   "Maybe you can afford to worry about individual Saiyans, but I have to consider the future of our entire species.  I used the Honor Guard to help me keep our people united."

"United as what?" Luffa demanded.   "Your mindless slaves?"

"If that's what it takes, then yes!" Rehval said.  My grandfather ruled with an iron fist, because he knew he had to do whatever it took to keep that first generation under control.   Their descendants would grow up in the kingdom he created, and each new generation would be more accepting of the monarchy."

"And you want me to help you control them," Luffa concluded.

"I want you to become my queen," Rehval replied.  

Luffa stopped dead in her tracks.  

"You've got to be kidding me," she said.  

"This is about more than a political alliance, Luffa," Rehval said.   "The alchemical arts have shown me ways to study the history of our race in ways you could hardly imagine.   To an extent, I can even chart our future.  I don't have all the answers, but I do know that our survival depends upon overcoming the Saiyan wanderlust.   Our population has to work together as a united people, or we can never move forward.   The Rehval dynasty works, Luffa.   It would have worked for other kings in the past, except for one thing.   One unavoidable refrain in Saiyan history: you."

"Me," Luffa said.  

"Once, I thought the stories of the old heroes were exaggerations at best.   But as I looked into my scrying pool, I learned that the strongest of them each made a profound impact on the course of history, and not always for the better.  Many of them overthrew whatever government the Saiyans happened to be ruled under at the time.   Some of the old heroes were liberators, some were tyrants, others were revolutionaries.   You've heard of Yamoshi, haven't you?"

"The God-Saiyan?" Luffa said.  "What about him?"

"He was the first," Rehval said.   "Or at least, the oldest of the line that I could find with my alchemy.   "From him, the lineage of the old heroes began.   Yamoshi tried to destroy the Saiyan order of his day.   He failed, but the boldness of his attempt reverberated throughout history.   Through Asparaj, through Darbock, then Chanisp, and now you."

"If you're so worried about me screwing up your precious plans, then why am I still alive?" Luffa asked.

"You're not listening to me," Rehval said.  "Yamoshi's enemies killed him.   A thousand years later, another invincible Saiyan arose.   Perhaps he agreed with Yamoshi's philosophies, perhaps not.  But he was influenced by Yamoshi's life, one way or another.  Yamoshi wasn't simply a powerful being.  He was a legend.   Killing him didn't prevent him from changing the course of history.  Yamoshi's enemies may have solved their immediate problems by killing him, but my agenda deals in centuries, not years.   With you, I have to be very careful."

"Then it's the next Super Saiyan you're really worried about," Luffa said.  "No matter what you do to deal with me, the next Super Saiyan might still upset all your dumb plans."

"Once, I had hoped that if the old heroes weren't a myth, that I might have been one of them," Rehval admitted.  "When I discovered the pattern, I dared to hope that the only living Saiyan powerful enough to alter destiny was me.  The timing was about right-- it's been about one thousand years since Chanisp's era-- and no one else seemed to fit.   But when you emerged, I realized how badly I had miscalculated.  I never dreamed that there was a sudden transformation, but in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense."

He stood up, and approached Luffa, until he would have been close enough to touch her, if he had truly been there.  Luffa could hear his breath, but couldn't feel it, even though his lips were only inches away from her own.  

"This has been the fundamental conflict that defines Saiyan history, Luffa," he said as he pointed to her and back to himself.   "There are Saiyans like you, who have greatness thrust upon them, and then there are Saiyans like me, who strive to achieve greatness.   The Rehvals of history, we gather power and influence any way we can.   Our goals and agendas may vary, but we've all tried to build something out of the Saiyan people.  And then, out of nowhere, you Luffas spring up to threaten it all."

He suddenly clapped his hands together and gripped them tightly with his fingers.   "The conflict is inevitable.  We're Saiyans, after all.  And we can't help but be natural rivals.  You resent my 'honorless' rise to power, and I see you as an outsider beyond my control.  So we do battle, like all the other Rehvals and Luffas before us, and Saiyan civilization is decimated in the struggle.  The survivors spend the next millennia rebuilding from the chaos, and then another Rehval and Luffa emerge, and it all crashes down again."

"You make it sound so inevitable," Luffa said.  "Like we don't have a choice."

"But we do!" Rehval exclaimed.  He turned away from Luffa and began waving his hands excitedly as he paced around.   "We've always had a choice, but we never knew the consequences of our decision.   Throughout history, you and I have always chosen to be enemies out of instinct and pride!  Never considering what our battle would do to the future.  Your mother told you the story of Yamoshi, Luffa, but it doesn't mention what happened after the final battle, does it?   If it had, then maybe the next Super Saiyan would have tread more carefully."

"So I become your queen," Luffa said.   "What does that solve?"

"Everything," Rehval said.  "By working together, we can accomplish things our ancestors never would have imagined.  You'd be more than just an enforcer, Luffa.  In time, the people would see you as a symbol of the state."

"The 'people' hate me," Luffa said.   She pointed at her bright yellow hair with one hand and her glowing green eyes with the other.  She hadn't powered down from her Super Saiyan form since she arrived in the city.   This was enemy territory, after all.   "I've been reading their minds, Rehval.  Not that I needed to, but they're terrified of what I am."

"I can change that!" Rehval insisted.  "They only fear what they don't understand.  The Super Saiyans of Legend were forgotten because history is written by the victors, and in the end, it's the Rehvals of history who overcome.   We don't have to defeat you Super Saiyans; we just have to outlast you.  With you by my side, I can incorporate the Super Saiyan into the state culture.   Luffa can be Saiya's hero, just like you're the hero to your alien Federation."

He approached her again, and reached for her hair, though the image of his hand could only pass through the thick shocks of gold.  

"Give yourself to me," he said, "and I can make the people worship you as you deserve to be worshiped."

Luffa gasped and then bit her lower lip.  Rehval smiled at this.  

"That's what you want, isn't it?" he said.  "To be acknowledged and appreciated.  That's why you returned my kiss, with interest, back on Planet Saiya.   You talk about pride, Luffa.   Let me indulge that pride.  When I'm finished, the first story every Saiyan child will learn from their mothers will be yours."

"You... you can do that?" Luffa asked.  

"It would take some time, but with your cooperation, it would be a simple matter to tie your public relations to my own," Rehval assured her.   "Your power will legitimize my rule, and my rule will legitimize your power.  One day, Saiyan women will dye their hair gold and wear green contact lenses as a fashion statement."

"And all I have to do is marry you."

"We would have to keep up the appearances of a loving couple, but from what I've seen, that wouldn't be a problem for you," Rehval said.

"That was before I found out you'd been lying to me," Luffa said.  "I know about your past marriages, the consorts, and a few other women you keep secret.  Not to mention the aliens.   I'm not sure your public would approve of them."

"Ah," Rehval said.

"Ah," Luffa replied.  

"You've probably already guessed that I altered my own memories to fool your telepathic powers," Rehval said.  "You read my mind, and saw only what I wanted you to see.   That I was trustworthy, completely innocent of any action taken against you, and that I had fallen hopelessly in love with you at first sight."

"And a bachelor," Luffa added.  

"I literally removed all of my memories to the contrary before you arrived on Saiya," Rehval explained.   "It's an alchemical technique.   So I believed everything you saw in my mind just as much as you did.   In a sense, that edited version of me really is a bachelor, one deeply infatuated with you.   And I could become that man again, if you liked."

"You've got to be kidding me," Luffa said.  

"Not at all," Rehval said.   He pointed to his head and smiled.   "When I came to Pflaume City, I restored my memories to normal, but I enjoy customizing them from time to time.  You and I don't have to be lovers, but from time to time, I could make myself into someone who doesn't remember deceiving you, someone better suited to your romantic tastes.  You look skeptical, but it's really a simple procedure now that I've--"

"No, I believe you could do it," Luffa said.   "I just can't believe that you would."

"It's a very liberating experience," Rehval said.   "If you're interested, I could do the same for you.  I'd need some time to prepare, though.   It took fifteen months for me to prepare the potions for myself, and every brain is different.  But I could use an excuse to spend more time in my laboratory, and--"

"Is nothing sacred to you?" Luffa asked.  "You'd really mold yourself into anything I want?"

Rehval chuckled.  "Is that such a surprise, woman?  I've already told you what lengths I'd go to for the Saiyan race.   Is it so hard to believe I might stoop to the same levels for you?"

"But your attraction to me was fake," Luffa said.  

"Not quite," Rehval said.  He gestured to Pozet, who now sat beside him and took his hands in her own.  "When I constructed my homunculus, Pozet, I used tissue samples from your wife to give her a resemblance to her.  I modified this, of course.  Pozet is like a Dorlun, only she has no life of her own, which gives her an unusual perspective on the Dorlun survival ethic.  But her love for you is based upon the emotions Zatte possessed when the samples were collected.   I used this as a template for the emotions I planted in my own mind."

Involuntarily, Luffa took a step backward.   The image of Rehval and Pozet moved toward her to maintain their distance.

"I created Pozet to understand you better, Luffa," Rehval said.  "And since she was madly in love with you, I decided to experience that love for myself.  When I restored my memories to normal, I found that some of that attraction remained.   Again, we don't need to be lovers to reign as king and queen, Luffa.   But we can be, and I think we would both enjoy that."  

Luffa pointed at Pozet, who was now nibbling Rehval's earlobe.   "And what about that?" Luffa asked.  "You seem to have your hands full in the romance department."

"Pozet?  Well, you could consider her something of a gift," Rehval said.  "I wasn't sure your wife would accept your decision, and I wasn't sure you'd have any romantic interest in me, so I thought Pozet would make an acceptable consort for you.   A copy of Zatte devoted to you, but safely loyal to me."

"You don't need her anyway," Pozet said as she batted her eyes at Luffa.   "My master and I can satisfy you in ways she could never imagine."

"Is that right?" Luffa asked in a low voice.  

"Think about it!" Pozet said.   She pointed at her chest proudly as she spoke.   "I'm not alive, so I can't be killed!  Dorluns are such fragile creatures, and so preoccupied with their own safety.  It must be so... frustrating for you in the bedroom."

"That's enough, Pozet," Rehval said gently.  

"No," Luffa said.   "I want to hear this.   You said she was a gift to me, right?"

Rehval nodded and made a gesture for Pozet to continue.  

"I knew it," Pozet said as she stood up from the bench.  "You're just like the master.   Underneath all that savage nobility is a total freak, huh?   You must have all kinds of wild fantasies, all bottled up inside, because you don't want to play too rough.  Well, take a look at this..."

She opened her silken robes and let them drop to her ankles, revealing a sheer negligee that left very little to the imagination.   Satisfied that the two Saiyans were paying attention, Pozet turned around in a full circle to give both of them a complete view of her outfit.  

"Just like you wife's body, down to the smallest detail," Pozet said.  "Except for the skin and hair color, of course."

"I can't argue with that," Luffa said.  

"Now, imagine you've got all this, and no limits," Pozet said.  "I'll do whatever you tell me, and if you manage to break this body, my master can just make another one for you.  Or two, or three..."

"And if I get bored with you?" Luffa asked.

"Then you can stuff me in a crate until you're ready to play with me again," Pozet said with a laugh.   "But I'll be thinking about you the entire time..."

"What a vulgar little monster," Luffa muttered.   "No wonder you evacuated the city, Rehval.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere near this thing in a public setting."

"She's a work in progress," Rehval said.   "I've been... training her... in various techniques.   All for your benefit, of course, but I won't pretend that it hasn't been stimulating."

"It sounds like you've worked out all the details, Rehval," Luffa said.   "Except that I'm already married."

"I leave that matter up to you," Rehval said.  "If you can convince her to join our little family, I'll let you keep Zatte as a courtesan.  You'll have to divorce her first, naturally, but if you prefer her company to mine, you're welcome to her, so long as you keep it private."

"Oh, I doubt she'd buy into what you're selling," Luffa said.   "She's very jealous of our marriage.   I don't think she'd approve of sharing me.  Besides, the whole evil clone thing would bother her."

"I suspected as much," Rehval said.   "Which is why I sent one of my Pozets to stow away on your ship when she left Planet Saiya."

"You mentioned that earlier," Luffa said.  "Why did you do that?"

"Because Zatte could make trouble for us," Pozet said.   "She was on her way here, to find me, and we didn't want her getting in the way while Master made his proposal to you."

"I don't want to press the issue, Luffa," Rehval said, "but you are trapped in this city, and you will be unless you accept my offer and join me.   The three of us can consummate our new alliance in a scenic part of the city, or you can refuse, and I'll leave you imprisoned here until you change your mind.   But Zatte will not be coming to pick you up, I've already seen to that."

"I see," Luffa said.  

"I realize this must be humiliating for you," Rehval said.   "But I urge you to understand that I'm only doing this for the sake of our species.   The best thing you can do for everyone involved is to yield to the circumstances."  

"All right, just give me a minute to think about this," Luffa said.   She turned away from them, but the image  simply shifted around as she moved.  Luffa rubbed her chin thoughtfully and closed her eyes.  

"What's to think about?" Pozet asked impatiently.  

"You couldn't understand, my dear," Rehval said.   "Luffa's a proud Saiyan woman, and I've cornered her.   No matter how much she might want to accept my terms, a surrender is still a surrender."

"I should have worn the latex outfit," Pozet grumbled.  "She wouldn't hesitate if she saw me in that."

"You can really make your subjects love me," Luffa finally asked.  She pointed to her hair again and added: "Even when I'm like this?"

"Our subjects, Luffa," Rehval assured her.   "And yes."

"Can you alter my memories so I won't have to remember what the Tikosi did to me?" she asked.  

"That would take time," Rehval said.   "But I can do that for you, certainly."

"And you're sure your homunculus can stop Zatte from causing any problems."

"Don't worry about that, sexy," Pozet said with a smile.  "There's a good chance she's dead already."

Luffa smiled back.   "You're sure about that, are you?" Luffa asked.  

"Positive," Pozet replied.  

Luffa began to laugh.    

As she did, Rehval and Pozet looked at each other and smiled.  

Luffa continued laughing.  

"Is something wr--?" Rehval started to ask, but Luffa started laughing louder to cut him off.  

Rehval and Pozet looked at each other again.   This time they were not pleased.

"You're a fool," Luffa finally said.  "You actually think you have the advantage here."

"I take it you disagree," Rehval said.  

She pointed at Pozet, and her face twisted with revulsion.  "How many of those things did you sneak aboard my ship, Rehval?" she asked.  

"Just one," he said.   "But--"

Luffa laughed again, but not as long this time.  "And it's no different from this one that I'm looking at right now.   You actually think this cheap copy stands a chance!"

"Posturing won't change the situation, Luffa," Rehval said.  "We can speculate all day about whether your wife can defeat a Pozet, but the fact remains--"

"Vengeance Cannon," Luffa suddenly said.   Before the others could react, she touched her fingers to her forehead and swung her arm to a spot on the deck just beneath her feet.  There was a flash of crimson from her fingertips, and a beam of light ripped through the ground, and down into the lower levels of the city.  

"What are you doing?" Rehval asked.   "If you fire blindly through the deck like that you could rupture the hull, and--!"

"I'm not firing blindly, Rehval," Luffa said.   "I was aiming at a spot six levels down.  I just wanted to show you that I could hit it without damaging anything else.  Now that I've located you, I don't want you thinking you can slip away before I get to you."

"You're bluffing, Luffa," Rehval said with a sigh.   "My ki is completely hidden from you.   It would be pointless to--"

"Oh, shut up, Rehval," Luffa said.   "Did you actually think I followed you all the way here just to stand around and listen to your stupid plans and philosophies?"

"Honestly, I was somewhat surprised," Rehval said.  "But if you had something else in mind, I haven't noticed."

"Then you really weren't paying attention, Rehval," Luffa said.  "Back on Planet Saiya, I was trying to show you how to how to help me use my technique, remember?"  

She held up her hand and yellow sparkles suddenly appeared over her palm.    They floated across the fabric of her gloves and spilled between her fingers, vanishing before they could reach her boots.

"Golden Duster," she said.  "You remember how it works, right?  I suffuse an area with tiny particles of my own ki, then use it to sense gaps large enough to be people hiding their own ki energy."

"Enough," Rehval said.  "You yourself admitted that your technique was useless on a planetary scale, not without someone as strong as me to help you--"

"Yeah, that's true," Luffa said.  "If you'd stayed on Planet Saiya, I probably never would have been able to find you on my own.   But this is floating city we're on isn't anywhere near as big as a planet, is it?  I just needed time to spread the energy.  Had to do it slowly so you wouldn't notice me doing it.   Fortunately, you're so in love with the sound of your own voice that you gave me all the time I needed, and you never even noticed what I was doing."

"You're lying, Luffa," Rehval said.  "You taught me all about the Golden Duster.  You couldn't have found me so quickly.  Not even you have that kind of skill."

Luffa laughed again.  "You want to bet?" she asked.  

She held up her index and middle finger of her left hand and smiled as a crimson light appeared on her fingertips.  "I'll call my shots.  Try not to move around too much.  You're so close to the outer hull that I might breach it if I miss."

"Wait, what are you--?!"

She pointed her hand at the floor.  "Vengeance Cannon," she said.  As she spoke, a beam of red light lanced out from her fingers and tore through the deck, and the deck below that, and the deck below that...

"Down, master!" Pozet cried.  She shoved him away, just as the beam of crimson light entered whatever room they were in.  The holo-image before Luffa showed her attack striking the floor at Pozet's feet, only to fizzle out before it could penetrate the deck.

"That was a rotten trick, Luffa!" Pozet said.  "I'll make sure Zatte suffers for this."

"You think that sort of talk is going to piss me off?" Luffa asked.  "Make me reckless enough to throw me off my game?  Let's find out.  Vengeance Cannon."

She fired again, and this time Pozet looked up at the ceiling, apparently sensing the trajectory of the next attack.

"Pozet, don't bother," Rehval said.  "She's found us.  All we can do now is--"

Before he could finish, the ceiling above them exploded, causing tons of debris to rain down on their heads.  Pozet leaped atop her master's body to protect him, but he shrugged her away and used his own powers to repel anything that might have harmed him.

"She missed?" Pozet asked.  "How could she miss?  Her first shot was almost perfect!"

Rehval might have explained Luffa's strategy to her, but there was no time.  The clouds of dust kicked up by the explosion had obscured their holographic view of Luffa's position.  They never noticed that she had moved away from that location, or that she had begun smashing her way down the path her first attack had made through the deckplates.  To Rehval's credit, he managed to see Luffa coming, but only as a blurry shadow in the dust.  Before he could even say her name, she had landed on the deck less than twenty yards away from them.

"Stay away from him!" Pozet cried.  She positioned herself between Luffa and Rehval.  "I won't let you--"

Luffa stalked towards them, her eyes wide with fury.  "Was this abomination supposed to win me over, Rehval?  Did you really think I'd accept it as some sort of consort?  It only shows how little you really know about me."

"Bravado's cute and all," Pozet said, "but don't forget who you're dealing with.  I have all of Zattie's abilities, Luffa!  And I have the poison I used to kill dozens of Saiyans!"

Luffa continued to walk towards them.

"My body's riddled with the stuff.  If you so much as touch me, you'll keel over.  It doesn't matter how strong you are!"

Luffa didn't stop.

"Master, what do I do?" Pozet asked.   "You said she would love me.   I wasn't prepared for this!   I never expected--!"

Luffa threw a roundhouse kick at Pozet's neck.   In a fraction of a second, the homunculus's head was torn away from its body, which collapsed to the floor.   The head was engulfed in a yellow flame, and Luffa ignited the decapitated body with a similar flame by stomping on it.  

"And that's why I'm not bluffing about my wife," Luffa said.  "A true Dorlun would never die so easily, but your puppet doesn't care one way or the other, so it's unprepared to deal with setbacks."

"I see your point," Rehval admitted.  "But Pozet doesn't need to kill Zatte to stop her.   She can disable your ship's engines.  Zatte isn't my enemy in all of this.   If she's the survivalist you say she is, she'll assess the situation and save herself."

"That...that's up to her," Luffa said.  "I don't need her help to defeat you."

"But you want it, don't you?" Rehval asked.   "You want her to be here, if only to share in your victory, but she's not coming this time, Luffa.  And you know exactly why that is."

"I betrayed her," Luffa said.  "All those nights I was with you, when I should have been with her.  If she doesn't know already, your little doll will tell her, isn't that right?"

"It's not too late to accept my offer," Rehval said.  "Pozet offends you.   I can see that now.   But we can convince Zatte to see things our way.  We can--"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Luffa shouted.  "All you care about is bending and flexing the situation around until it fits your agenda.  You don't accept the consequences of your actions, you just look for a loophole.  Well it ends here, Your Majesty.  Today you and I are going to stand up straight and take everything that's coming to us.   If it costs me my marriage, then that's what I deserve.   But I promise you, the price you're going to pay will be much higher."

As she stepped towards him, he raised his arms to defend himself, and this was as far as King Rehval could go.   From his perspective, he could only see Luffa vanish before his eyes, and in the next moment she was behind him, shoving him to the ground and wrapping her left leg around his.  Before he knew what was happening, she had him caught in a leg slicer hold, and she was pulling his heel towards his thigh, with her shin caught in the backside of his knee.  

"Here's my counteroffer, Rehval," Luffa said as he cried out in pain.   "First, I'm going to pull your knee apart.   Then I do the other knee.  Quit squirming."

He tried to raise his hand to attack her, and when she noticed this, she fired a burst of energy from her mouth which left the flesh on his arm pink and blistered.   Rehval's squeal of agony was unlike anything she would have expected to hear from him.   It was music to her ears.

"See that was a bad move," Luffa said.   "I was going to get to that arm eventually, but now you've just accelerated my timetable.   So I guess I skip ahead to your other arm, unless you need it to open the portal out of this city."

Rehval could only scream.  

"I'd urge you to think about this carefully, Rehval.   It's for the good of the Saiyan race.   Well, maybe not, but to hell with them.   If I were you, I'd start worrying about my own skin.  But take your time in deciding.   I'll be working over your legs for a few minutes at least.

"You really had me fooled for a while there, didn't you?" she went on.  "Yeah, it was a really clever plan.  You're a smart guy, Rehval.   Bet you feel really smart.   And handsome?  Oh yeah, you're gonna be the best looking man I ever killed.  I--!"

Suddenly, she sensed something.   It was a ki signature, and a very strong one, stronger than Rehval had ever been able to produce.  But it wasn't the intensity of the power that shocked her.   Nor was it the mere presence of another person in Pflaume City.   That was a mystery in itself, since Luffa had surveyed the entire structure only minutes earlier and found no one else on board.  What shook her to her very core was how familiar the ki was, and how impossible it was that she could ever sense it again.

Still, Luffa's warrior instincts prevailed, even in a moment of uncertainty like this.  She released her hold on Rehval, and shifted to a chin lock as she pulled him to a standing position and turned her back to the nearest wall that would allow her to face the newcomer.  

"Another trick?" Luffa asked Rehval, who was gasping and coughing in her arms.  "This one is low, even for you."

"Y-you... sense him... then!"  Rehval said.  "No... not a trick.  A precaution.   When you destroyed Pozet, that was his signal to come out and save me."

"Save you?!" Luffa asked.  "Why should he...?"

Even as she asked the question, she began to consider the possible answers, and while she couldn't guess the whole story, she knew enough to realize just how terrible the truth would be.  She could sense him getting closer, smashing through bulkheads as he approached the section of the city they were in, and then he came into view.

"Stand away from him, woman!" he shouted.   He was a Saiyan adolescent.   A boy of fifteen years at most, but as he converged on Luffa's position, he carried himself with all the confidence and swagger of a grown man.

She released her grip on Rehval and allowed him to collapse to the floor, but it had nothing to do with the boy's command.   So great was her shock that she barely heard the words as he spoke.  Indeed he continued speaking, raving about the glory of the Saiyan crown and how this base assault on his sovereign would not go unavenged.  

Luffa heard none of this.  She was too astonished by what she saw: Her unborn son, alive and nearly grown.  

And he was loyal to her worst enemy.  

[23 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Saiya.]

"That's it," Zatte said.   "I'm almost positive that's where the killer originated from."

On the bridge of their star-yacht, Luffa looked at the star chart displayed on the main viewer and shrugged.  On one end was the Saiya system, represented by a small white dot.   Dozens of other star systems were marked with various symbols and notations, and many of them were connected by lines of various different colors.   Most of these lines wandered out across the map, only to curl back toward Saiya, stopping short at a solar system relatively close to it.  

"How did you work all this out?" Luffa asked.  

"There's a ship on Saiya registered to one of the killer's victims, a Saiyan named Yarrow," Zatte said.   "By the time I found out about it, the ship had already been abandoned, but the navigational logs were still in tact.   From the planet where Yarrow's body was discovered, the ship went to four other systems, and each one reported at least one dead Saiyan."

Luffa waved her finger at the map, as though tracing the route.  "That only gets you part of the way," she said.  

"Right, but I played a hunch.   I traced the same ship's itinerary before Yarrow died, and found other victims along the way.  The pattern breaks down here, where a Saiyan named Okartish was discovered dead.   Turns out he and Yarrow were partners."

"Are you saying this guy stowed away on Yarrow's ship for months without anyone noticing?"

"It seems that way," Zatte said.  "Look, we're having a hard time finding him now that he's here on Saiya, so it's no surprise that he can cover his tracks.   He must have some way to hide his presence, even while he's aboard a spaceship as small as Yarrow's."

"You think he can turn invisible like you?" Luffa asked.  

"I doubt it," Zatte said.  "I could mask my life energy and hide on this ship for a long time if I needed to.   But I'd need food and other necessities.  Plus, a ship's life support systems would detect the extra oxygen consumption from a stowaway.  I might be able to hack the ship's computer to falsify the readings, but that would mean sneaking out of my hiding place to do it.   Sooner or later I'd give myself away.  And on a smaller ship like Yarrow's, it'd be that much harder for me to move around without being noticed."

"So how's he doing it?" Luffa asked.   "We know he's a Dorlun because of the poison he's using, and each Dorlun has special abilities.  What can this guy do?"

"It could be a lot of things," Zatte said.   "Keda could shape-shift, which works a lot better for stowing away.   She hid among the Tikosi for months, right?  I don't think I could have managed that long.   She probably spent a lot of that time making her body as small as possible."

"Then maybe this guy's a shape-shifter like Keda," Luffa said.  

"Not necessarily," Zatte said.   "He might have some sort of telepathic power.  Your eyes might be able to see him, but he can prevent your mind from perceiving his presence.  Or maybe he had some way to go into a dormant state.   That way he could hide in the cargo hold without food or water."

"This is too complicated," Luffa groaned.  

"For all we know, the killer might not have hidden aboard Yarrow's ship at all," Zatte added.  "He may have paid Yarrow for passage, and made sure his name stayed off the ship's passenger records."

"But if he's been using his own victims for transportation," Luffa said, "then he's been leaving a trail all along."

"Well, nothing obvious," Zatte said.  "It's taken me days to piece together all the victims with spaceships they might have used or owned.   I know you're not a big fan of King Rehval's brand of diplomacy, but a lot of these murders took place in a lot of different jurisdictions.    If Rehval hadn't established relations with so many of them, I might not have been able to get all the data I needed."

"It doesn't matter," Luffa harrumphed.  "Once my technique is put into action, we'll find the killer no matter where he's hiding."

"Maybe," Zatte said, "but you needed Rehval to make that work too, right?"

Luffa rolled her eyes.  "He has his uses," she admitted.  Before Zatte could tease her about this, she turned her attention back to the map.  "So you backtracked the killer to this system, but what good does that do us?"

"Maybe nothing," Zatte said, "but if the trail goes back any further, I might be able to find out something about him that we can use.  I won't know until I go there and see for myself."

"You want to take the ship and leave Saiya?" Luffa asked.  

"Sure," Zatte said.  "It'll only take a day to get there."  

"But Planet Saiya would be at the killer's mercy while we're gone!" Luffa objected.  

"That's why we’re not going,” Zatte said.   “You’re staying behind.”

"You want to go alone?!" Luffa asked.  

"Luffa, it'll only be for a few days.   A week at most.   You've gone on training retreats longer than that."

"But the whole point of you investigating was so the killer would try to come after you," she said.  "If the bait leaves the planet, then there's no trap."

"Let's face it," Zatte said.  "If he was going to try to attack me he would have done it by now.  Either he doesn't see me as a threat, or he knows it's a trap.  At least if I leave the planet for a while, it might make him wonder what I'm up to.   He might get nervous enough to make a mistake."

"What the hell am I supposed to do while you're gone?" Luffa asked.  

"The same thing you've been doing, dummy," Zatte said.  "Try to catch the killer with that technique of yours.   And try to find out something about this 'Honor Guard'."

"I already did," Luffa said.  "They're just an elite squad in the Saiyan military.  They handle special missions, things like that."

"Then why would they recruit a civil servant like Finule?"  Zatte asked.  There must be hundreds of Saiyans who were stronger or more qualified, and she was willing to die before letting hem take her."

"You can always get stronger," Luffa said.  "They probably have a harsh training regimen, and she got cold feet.   She was just being cowardly, that's all.  It happens, even to Saiyans."

Zatte wasn't satisfied with this at all.  "Look, if you think that's all it is, then so be it.  Finding the killer is what matters now, but don't whine about being bored if you manage to tackle him early.   Take in a show.  Spend some time with your grandmother."

"Oh that sounds like fun," Luffa groaned.  

"You'll live," Zatte said.  "If it gets too dull, you can always conquer the planet.  Hey, what's the matter?"  

"It's just... I don’t know.  Be careful out there, Zattie.  Okay?"

"I'm always careful," Zatte said.  "But for you, I'll be even more careful.   How's that?"

*******

[24 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Saiya.]

Less than an hour after Zatte's departure from the planet, Luffa went to the capital citadel to find King Rehval.   By now, the palace staff had grown accustomed to her frequent visits.  They still stank of fear and loathing whenever she passed them in the corridors, but they no longer asked her to identify herself or make appointments.  She waited in his bedroom for five minutes, and when he appeared at the doorway he walked up and seized her in a powerful embrace--one arm around her back, the other gripping her upper thigh.  

"There you are," he said triumphantly.  He hoisted her up until they were at eye-level to one another. 

She planted her hands on either side of his head and pulled until they were close enough to give him a passionate kiss.  As their lips finally parted, she bit his lower lip, drawing a tiny trickle of blood.  He feigned outrage, and tossed her onto the bed.  

Over time, Rehval had learned to indulge Luffa like this.   At first, he had been very respectful about kissing her, almost to the point of being submissive.  This was customary among Saiyans, as she was the stronger of the two, but she had always enjoyed the way her late husband Kandai would handle her, back when she was far weaker.   It pleased her to see that Rehval could pull it off.   It wasn't about physical power, she supposed.   Rehval was far stronger than Kandai had ever been, and he was a monarch as well.   He was used to projecting authority, in a way that Kandai could have only approximated with strength.  So it was just a matter of getting him to stop being so damned polite to her.   He was putting his tongue down her throat, not negotiating a trade agreement.  

Even so, he still knew when to back off.  Their make-out sessions would end the same way every time.  Eventually, her guilt over betraying Zatte would surpass the thrill she got from him, and she would gently push him away.  He never questioned her about this, and if he understood, he never mentioned it.  He simply respected her boundaries like a true diplomat.   It made her wonder what would happen if he didn't respect this.   What if he wanted to press the issue?  Would she kill him for his insolence?   Would he try to persuade her to take things further than they already had   Would she give in to temptation and betray her wife more than she already had?

"Shall we go?" Rehval asked pleasantly.  Normally they would head to the mountains to train at this point.  

"Yeah," Luffa said.  "I think we're almost ready to try this thing out."

"You still haven't named your technique?" Rehval asked.  He rose from the bed and fetched a new shirt from his wardrobe.   Luffa had a nasty habit of shredding them during their more intimate moments.  

"What's the point?" Luffa asked.  

"The point is that you have something to call it," Rehval said.  "When you and I find this killer, I want to tell my subjects how we did it.   That'd be easier if I didn't have to keep calling it 'Luffa's New Technique, the One Where She Spreads Out Her Ki Energy Across the Whole Planet While We Sense For Any Unusual Activity."

"Fine, you name it then," Luffa said.  

"You developed it," Rehval said.  "The honor is yours."

Luffa rolled her eyes and shook her head.   After a moment of consideration, she finally said: "Golden Duster."

Rehval paused putting on his shirt as he appeared to digest the name carefully.   "We should workshop that," he said.

Luffa threw up her hands in annoyance.  

*******

Hours later, at their training ground, Luffa and Rehval watched the stars come out in the night sky.  The air was cold, but she barely noticed thanks to how closely he was holding her.  

"That's the Pflaume system," he whispered into her ear as he pointed to a faint point of light that had just become visible as dusk gave way to night.   "That's where my villa is.  I'd like to show it to you sometime."

"You already showed it to me," Luffa replied.  

"That was a hologram," Rehval said.   "I want you to experience the real thing.   The sounds, the smells..."

He might have added "touch", but instead he gently caressed the side of her neck with his lower lip, and she found this far more persuasive.  

"But we can discuss that later.  I've kept you here for too long," Rehval said.  "You probably want to get back to your ship."

"No, it's all right," Luffa said.  "Zatte took the ship into space.  I'm staying with my grandmother until she gets back."

Earlier, she had resolved not to tell him any of this.   He didn't need to know, after all.  Yet somehow, something about the way he held her and the sound of his voice caused her to forget her mistrust.  

"She left the planet?" Rehval asked.  "Why?"

"Chasing down a lead on the killer," Luffa said.  "Not that it'll matter.  You and I should have him cornered by the time she gets back.  

"Then why don't you stay at the palace until she returns?" Rehval asked.  

She took a deep breath and released it as a long sigh.  

"I take it that's a 'no'," Rehval said.

"Maybe," Luffa said.  "Let's focus on the Saiyan-killer, and then we'll worry about sleeping arrangements."

"Fair enough."  Rehval released her and rose to a standing position.    

"Where are you going?" Luffa asked.  "I told you, I can stick around a while longer."

"Yes, but unfortunately, I have some business to handle back at the citadel.   I can either put in a long night or get up early to take care of it before we meet up.    Either way, I need to get moving."

"Business?" Luffa asked.  

"It's a state secret," Rehval said.  "I'd need to arrange a security clearance for you.   Maybe if you and your wife choose to stay on Saiya for a while, we could make that happen.  You've proven to be a great help to the kingdom.  Both of you."

"One thing at a time," Luffa said.   "I'll see you at 0900 tomorrow."

"Of course,” Rehval said.   As he floated into the air, he waved good bye and made that damned wink that she found so endearing and smarmy at the same time. 

“Don’t be late!” Luffa called out to him. 

“I wouldn’t dare,” Rehval replied with a smile.   “I know how much you hate to be kept waiting.”

*******

"Where is he?!"

By 1000 hours, Citadel Time, Luffa was in General Ratijio's office, threatening to wreck his furniture.  The general was the strongest Saiyan in the royal military, and unaccustomed to dealing with such a tantrum.   Typically, he would have killed any Saiyan who dared to barge into his office and make such a racket, but Luffa was far from typical, and he knew it.  

"I don't know!" he pleaded.    

Without really meaning to, he glanced at the most valuable object in the room, the palladium medal awarded to him by King Rehval II for his fortieth year of service.  The display case hung on a wall just beyond his reach.  It was a simple tactical assessment.   His territory (office) had been occupied by a superior force (a Super Saiyan), and since he couldn't give the invader what she wanted (the king's location), she would sack his domain to vent her frustrations.  All he could do now was try to minimize the damage.  He couldn't hide his medals now, but if he could keep her attention on his desk or one of the file cabinets...

Then Luffa went straight for the display case.  He raised his hand, although he had no idea what good it would do, but before he could even move, she had torn it down from the wall and moved back to her position in front of the door.  He didn't think any Saiyan could move so quickly.  He thought that she had to use her golden-haired form to tap into that kind of ability.

"Do I have your attention now?" Luffa demanded.  She broke the case apart in her hands and let the pieces fall to the floor.  Then, she knelt down and picked up the palladium medal he had been so worried about.  

For a moment, he wondered how she knew that one was so important to him.  Then he realized that she wasn't just faster than any other Saiyan; she had actually caught the movements of his eyes, and noticed what he had been looking at.  She was a monster, and the king had welcomed her into the heart of his kingdom.   Worse, he had actually begun having some sort of an affair with her.   And now, the king, in his infinite temerity, had stood her up.  

"Luffa," Ratijio said, trying to maintain what little composure he had left.    "He's the king.  He doesn't tell me where he goes, but I can try to find out if, you'll just--!"

"I've been trying to find him for the last hour!" Luffa snarled.  I can't sense his ki, he's not in the palace, and none of his staff have seen him since yesterday."

"What about that technique you've been developing with him?" he asked.   "I thought you could find anyone."

"Oh, I'm coming to that, don't worry," Luffa said.  "The point is, he agreed to meet me at the palace this morning, and he isn't there.  Finding him isn't as important as knowing why he isn't where he said he'd be.   We're supposed to be tracking down that Saiyan-killer today!"

Ratijio swallowed hard.  "Are you saying that the king is--?"

"I showed you how Golden Duster works, General," Luffa said.  "I saturate an area with my own power, and sense for any movements within that field.  It's for finding people who might be concealing their own ki, but it won't work on a corpse!"

"He... he can't be dead!" Ratijio said.  "The Honor Guard would never--!"

Faster than he could register the movement, Luffa grabbed him by the chest of his uniform, lifted him out of his chair, over the desk, and slammed him against a wall, upside down.  The sheer speed of this action was made even more astonishing by the fact that she did it all with one hand.  

"The Honor Guard.   Let's talk about them, shall we?" Luffa said with a sneer.   "They're under your command, right?"

She was still clutching the medal in her free hand.   Ratijio found that he kept glancing at it, even as he knew that he had to focus his attention on Luffa.   He couldn't afford to make her any angrier than she already was.  

"No," he said.   "They report directly to the King!   They're his secret police--"

"Secret police?!" Luffa roared.   "What does a Saiyan king need that for?!"

In spite of his predicament, Ratijio made a knowing smirk.  "You really are a back country yokel, aren't you?"  he said.   "I thought it was just an act to fool people, but you really-- ARRGH!"

Luffa's fingers suddenly charged with ki, and he felt a surge of pain in his chest.  

"Dumb it down for me, then," she said darkly.  

"Fine, fine!" he gasped.  "You might think a Saiyan king should rule by strength alone, but Rehval isn't interested in merely ruling the Saiyans!  He wants to redefine our very culture!  The Honor Guard doesn't just suppress dissent, they enforce Rehval's vision of how the people should behave!"

"Then why would they recruit a file clerk like Finule?" Luffa asked.  "The way I hear it, she was no fan of the regime."

"Finule?" Ratijio asked.  "So they finally took her, did they?  I didn't know, but I'm not surprised.  She talked too much.   Sooner or later someone was going to shut her up."

"Then why not just kill her and be done with it?" Luffa asked.  

"To use her for--!"  But he couldn't finish the sentence.   He knew the information was classified, and that he wasn't supposed to share it with an outside like Luffa, but now he found that he literally couldn't tell.  It was as if the words had been trapped in his throat.

"Use her for what?!" Luffa demanded.  She charged her fingers with ki once more, and he convulsed with pain.  

"They probably took her to--!" he tried to say, but rephrasing his answer made no difference.  

Ratijio had never tried to betray state secrets before.  This wasn't a matter of honor or loyalty, but fear of Rehval's immense physical strength.   But Rehval was missing, and Luffa was here, and far stronger than Rehval could ever hope to be, and this alone made a very compelling case for treason.  Only he couldn't go through with it, and Luffa was rapidly losing what little patience she had left...

"You know, I could just rip the answers out of your mind," Luffa said.  

"I'm trying to tell you, but something is--!" Ratijio began to say.   This time he stopped himself from finishing his sentence.  He knew Luffa wouldn't believe him, since he hardly believed it himself.  

She flung him to the other side of the room, where he crashed to the floor.  Ratijio had the physical might to at least soften his landing, but he didn't want to risk antagonizing Luffa any more than he already had.   As soon as he was able, he glanced to her hand to find his medal was still in tact.  Even as he did so, he wondered why that should still matter to him.

"Don't bother," Luffa said.  She approached him, reaching for his face with her empty hand.  "I've wasted enough time on you already.   I should probably use both hands, so before we get started..."

She held up the medal and closed her fist, crushing it into a chunk of twisted metal.  Then she flung out her arm, launching it like a mortar bomb through the window of his office.   Ratijio was horrified to see this, although he still couldn't understand why.  

And then suddenly, he felt something snap inside him.  There was an intense pain in his head, like something was trying to smash its way out of his skull, and he clutched at his face as he curled up into a fetal position.   He heard an undignified scream, and eventually realized that it was coming from his own mouth.   It was so excruciating that he completely forgot the angry Super Saiyan standing over him.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" she asked, though her voice sounded distant to him, as though she were calling to him from across a great chasm.  

And then the pain simply stopped.  Ratijio opened his eyes and looked at the palms of his hands, unsure if it was safe to move or speak.  He gasped with relief, and slowly rose to one knee, until Luffa grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet.  

"It was the medal," he said quietly.  "Damn his eyes, he did it to me just like all the rest!"

"What are you babbling about now?" Luffa asked.  

He noticed she had raised one of her fists and he quickly held up his hands in supplication.  "Wait, don't!" he pleaded.  "I'll tell you everything!"

*******

For lack of anywhere better to go, Luffa took General Ratijio to her grandmother's house.   King Rehval III had now been missing for over four hours.   While Luffa concentrated her senses on finding any trace of his ki, Arracash served him all the steamed vegetables he could eat.

"You don't see brassicas like that anywhere else on Saiya, now do you?" Arracash bragged.  "You'd probably think they were imported, but I grew them right here in my garden."

"They are impressive," Ratijio said between bites.  

"The secret is the molybdenum powder I sprinkle into the soil," Arracash went on.   "Any idiot knows to use fertilizer in this sort of climate, but they don't know to do their homework.  Sure, they can grow some crops, but if they don't pay attention to the micronutrients, you won't have much to show for it on the dinner table."

"I see," Ratijio said absently.  

"Now, the iron levels in the soil here aren't a problem, but you still have to keep an eye on the others.  Boron, zinc.  Manganese.  A lot of people don't even know what that is."

"If you two are through talking about gardening," Luffa growled, "I'd like to go over what you told me, General."

He swallowed hard at the sound of that.  "I've told you everything I know," he insisted.  

"Yeah, and most of it was stuff I already learned from reading Rehval's mind," Luffa said.  "His father, Rehval the Second, was an alchemist.   He used witchcraft-- or whatever you want to call it-- to hold onto his throne and defeat his enemies.   He even used it on loyal officers like you, like that medal he enchanted to keep you in line in case you ever tried to turn against him."

"He kept his powers a secret," Ratijio grumbled, "but rumors began to circulate.   Some of us in the military began to suspect he had some sort of influence over people.  I didn't know for certain until you crushed that medal.  For the last five years, I've treated it like a prized possession and never knew why."

"Well, the only trouble I have with that story is that Rehval II is dead," Luffa said.  "Rehval III found out about his secret alchemy lab and killed his father in disgust.  Only it looks like he didn't bother to track down all the talismans and potions his dad left behind."

"Why should he bother?" Ratijio muttered.  "The current king may not have approved of his father's methods, but he still benefits from the results.  The spell I was under made me loyal to their whole dynasty.   It's the same with the Honor Guard.   I'm sure they're under some sort of enchantment to ensure their absolute obedience.  That's why I say the king must still be alive.   If he died, the Honor Guard would immediately install his successor."

"Who would that be?" Luffa asked.  

"Don't be an idiot, girl," Arracash said.  "Obviously one of the king's children would assume the throne."

"Obviously," Luffa replied, "except Rehval has no children."

"Of course he does," Ratijio said.  "The king is many things, but he's no fool.   To rule over Saiya without an heir would jeopardize everything his house has ever worked for."

"That's impossible!" Luffa insisted.  

"Why?" Ratijio scoffed.  "Did you really think you were the first woman he ever fancied?"

Normally, such a cutting and personal remark would have embarrassed her.   Her involvement with Rehval had been confusing enough before the General accidentally walked in on them in the middle of an embrace.  He had kept quiet about it, but now that he was finally speaking up, Luffa was too shocked to be self-conscious.  

"You and the king?!" Arracash blurted out.  

"I guess you really didn't know," Ratijio said with a snort.   "His Majesty's quite the charmer, isn't he?   Probably convinced you that you were the only one he had ever loved.   Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's just a line.  Once he's satisfied, he'll move on to someone else and tell her the same story."

Luffa shook her head.  "I read his mind," she said.  "I didn't find anything about children or other women or..."

"You must have skipped a few pages then," Ratijio replied.  

Luffa's eyes went wide, and she started taking quick, shallow breaths as she struggled to make sense of this.  Somehow, Rehval had thwarted her telepathic probe, and she had never even dreamed that this was possible.  In the past, others had resisted her mental powers, or fought back with psychic abilities of their own, but this was something altogether different.  

"Luffa, he's telling the truth," Arracash said.  Her grandmother had approached her and reached out with a sympathetic hand.   "The king keeps his children out of the public, but he's held ceremonies to announce their births.  I attended one once--long story--but the food was lousy..."

But Luffa wasn't listening to her.   Arracash and Ratijio probably thought she was upset over being deceived by a romantic partner, but that wasn't it at all.  Like a witless amateur, Luffa had overestimated her own power.  She had assumed that a thorough telepathic interrogation would prove once and for all whether the king was friend or foe.   Everything she and Zatte had done since then was based on this faulty premise.   There could only be one explanation: Rehval had been manipulating them from the start.  

Her thoughts turned to Zatte, who was currently headed for a whole other star system.  Was that part of Rehval's plan?  Was he luring Zatte into a trap, or was it just a way to remove Zatte from Planet Saiya while he put his true plan into effect?  

"Luffa, what are you doing?" Arracash asked.  

The old Saiyan had sensed Luffa's ki rising as she ruminated over her failure.  Without really thinking about it, Luffa raised her hand and slammed her fist into her own sternum.   Her jaw was clenched so tightly that her teeth hurt.  As usual whenever Luffa made a mistake, she could almost hear her dead mother's voice scolding her in her mind.  Complacent!  The enemy was right in front of her.  Her wife, her closest ally, had been right beside her.  And what had she done?!  She took both for granted, and now they were both gone.   She could have strangled Rehval last night and been done with this, but instead she held him in her arms, tenderly, and let him whisper sweet nothings into her ear while they looked at the stars. 

"Luffa!  Not in the house!  You hear me?!  Not in the house!"

In her rage, Luffa's ki had manifested like a miniature whirlwind.   Arracash was pleading for her to stop.  Just beneath Luffa's skin, as always, was that thing.   Aside from a private demonstration for Rehval, she had kept it contained during her visit to Planet Saiya.   Luffa wasn't entirely sure why.  Maybe it was because she wanted to at least pretend to fit in with her own species.   While she had grown accustomed to her other form and accepted it as a part of herself, she still didn't relish the idea of showing it off to her own kind, to revealing herself as this yellow-haired, green-eyed monstrosity.  

But now... Now that Rehval's lies were exposed, now that General Ratijio was rushing out of the house in fear for his life, now that Luffa felt like she couldn't make things any worse than they already were... Now, she could see no reason to hold back.  

With a sharp cry, she released her power... released herself, and came to a decision.

If Rehval wouldn't deal with her directly, then she would just take the matter up with his precious planet.

[7 May 234 Before Age.   Planet Saiya.]

Zatte sat on a chair that was basically a boulder that had been hewn into the vague shape of a chair.  She suspected that this was a typical example of Saiyan craftsmanship.  Even the weakest Saiyans had incredible strength, enough to chisel stone with their bare hands, albeit without much regard to aesthetics.  The rest of the furniture in Arracash's home looked the same, aside from some appliances and tools she had clearly obtained from alien manufacturers.

Arracash herself was pacing around in a tight circle in the middle of her living room.  Luffa stood by the wall and watched her.  It was eerie how similar the two of them looked.  Arracash was the same height and build, with the same short shocks of black hair on her scalp.  The only real differences between them were a few slivers of grey in Arracash's hair, and their skin color.  Luffa was a dark beige, while Arracash had a pale pink complexion.

Of course, their clothes were also different.  Luffa wore her customary black sleeveless shirt and baggy yellow pants.  Arracash was dressed much more provocatively, wearing what could almost be described as an armored bathing suit with high-heeled, over-the-knee boots.  The fabric of all of these items was lavender, and the armor plating on her chest and torso was dull grey.

"Let me get this straight," Arracash said.  "I'm your grandmother."

"Apparently," Luffa said.

"Orij had a brat of his own, huh?" Arracash said, mostly to herself.

"That's me," Luffa said.

"What's my son been up to these days?"

"He's dead," Luffa said.

"Good.  How did he die?"

"I killed him," Luffa said.

"Betting he deserved it," Arracash said.

"Absolutely," Luffa said.

"And you're this ‘Super Saiyan’ everyone's been pissing and moaning about."

"That's right," Luffa said.

"Then you're not an alien with glowing yellow hair," Arracash said.  "You're at least half-Saiyan if you're really Orij's brat."

"Full-blooded, for your information," Luffa said testily.

"Okay, okay," Arracash said.  "Didn't mean to imply anything.  I'm sure your mother's a fine warrior."

"She's dead too," Luffa said.  "Orij killed her."

"Right," Arracash said.  "Any brothers or sisters I should know about?"

"No."

Arracash pointed to Zatte.  "Who's she?"

"My wife."

"You're gay?"

"I'm bisexual."

Arracash suddenly looked at Zatte, which startled her.

"Blue skin, red hair, green eyes... Where's she from?" Arracash asked.

"I can't tell you," Luffa said.

"Is she checking me out?" Arracash.

Luffa shrugged.  "Why shouldn't she?  You're an attractive lady for your age."

Zatte spoke up, mostly to change the subject.  "Look, I'll just come out and say it. You two look exactly alike."

"Yeah, so?" Arracash said.

"A lot of Saiyans resemble one another," Luffa said.  "Even Saiyans that aren't related."

"There's another one in the next town," Arracash said, waving her arm towards the northeast.  "Looks just like us.  Runs a general store.  She's kind of a jerk."

"There you go," Luffa said.

"But... but the records we found said Arracash is seventy-five years old!" Zatte protested.

"Yeah," Luffa said.  "Saiyans stay in their prime for a long time, Zatte.  She probably won't really start to age until she hits eighty or so."

"Lucky you," Arracash said to Zatte.  She gestured to herself and added: "Like looking into the future, huh?"

Zatte swallowed hard.

"You couldn't find a Saiyan to marry?" Arracash asked Luffa.

"I did, but he's dead, too."  Luffa pointed at Zatte.  "She killed him."

Arracash looked genuinely impressed.  "Then what brings you two here?"

Luffa rolled her eyes.  "It's my first time on Planet Saiya, and she thought I should look up any relatives I had here.  You were the only one we could find."

"Hmmph!  Well isn't that cute?  Am I supposed to tear up and hug you two now?"

"Hah!" Luffa scoffed.  "Don't worry about me, old timer.  I just thought I'd take a look at you before you keeled over."

"Well, I suppose I might as well let you two spend the night here," Arracash grumbled.  "At least with you being married, I only need to set up one bed."

She looked back at Zatte.  "You do use beds, don't you?  You don't hang from the ceiling by your toenails or anything weird like that?"

"N-no," Zatte said.  "Really, it isn't necessary, ma'am.  We're staying on our ship, so--"

Arracash turned her head and spat on the floor.  "Hell no.  You'll stay here.  Least I can do to thank you for killing my son for me."  She looked at Luffa.  "Unless this place isn't fancy enough for a Super Saiyan and her delicate alien friend."

"It'll do," Luffa said.  "Unless you expect us to cook dinner.  If that's the case, we might as well sleep on the street!"

"What do you take me for?" Arracash muttered.  "Of course I'll cook.  But you're damned fools if you think I'm peeling vegetables for three people all by myself!"

"Quit whining!" Luffa said. "We'll help you, if it's so blasted important."

Arracash made a loud harrumph and  headed for the other room to prepare a bed, and Zatte leaped out of the chair to rush to Luffa's side.  Only she still wasn't used to the higher gravity of Planet Saiya, and so she nearly ran into her.  Luffa had to catch her before she fell down.

"Let's get out of here," Zatte whispered.

"This was your idea, remember?" Luffa said.  "What's wrong?"

"Isn't it obvious?  I think she hates me," Zatte said.

"She doesn't hate you," Luffa said.  "Probably.  I think you just give her the creeps."

"I creep her out?" Zatte hissed.  "She looks like a copy of you, and she hasn't aged in over fifty years!"

"Well how do Dorluns age?" Luffa asked.

"Our hair turns pink and... Oh, what difference does it make?"

Neither of them noticed Arracash returning to the living room.

"Are you two doing it?!" she shouted.

"No!" Luffa shouted back.

Arracash averted her eyes.  "At least wait until I've put linens on the bed!  You can play you alien love games there!"

"She tripped and I caught her!" Luffa insisted.  "We're not even undressed!"

"Tell her not to get her spores on my good rug!" Arracash cried.  "The linens are fine!  I can burn those.  But the rug's a keepsake!"

"Spores?" Zatte asked.

"Spores, pollen, whatever it is you use," Arracash said.

Luffa was about to speak up, when a shrill chime sounded from her pants.  She reached into her pocket and took out her portable communicator, which was tied into the subspace radio on her ship.

"It's from Rehval," she said as she read a transcript of his message.  "Wants me back at the palace."

"Fine," Zatte said.  "Let's go."

"King Rehval?" Arracash gasped.  "What have you done?"

"I broke his dinner table and read his mind," Luffa said absently.

"I knew it!" Arracash said.  "You're as rotten as Orij!  Vandalizing His Majesty's palace, cavorting around with alien women, shaking down your own grandmother for free food!"

"Let's gooooo," Zatte pleaded under her breath.

Luffa adjusted her grip on Zatte to carry her for the flight back to the palace. Then she paused, and her lips curled into a mischievous smile.

"Nah, I think you should stay here," Luffa said.

"What?" Zatte asked.

"Rehval only called for me," Luffa said.  "You should stay put and keep Arracash company."

"But--!"

"You can help her fix dinner," Luffa said, "and it'll be good training for you to spend some time working under the higher gravity."

"But I--!  You--!"

Luffa released her gently and turned to leave.  "This shouldn't take long.  Try not to fall for her while I'm gone.  I know she's your type, but try to be strong for our marriage."

Zatte wanted to grab Luffa's tail and pull her back, but she was out the door and airborne before she could move.  Then she looked at Arracash, who was tapping her toe on the floor impatiently.

"Your kind does know how to work a peeler, right?" Arracash demanded.  "I mean, you aren't a savage, I hope."

Zatte sighed and resigned herself to her fate.

*******

There was an expansive balcony on one of the upper levels of the citadel.  Luffa found Rehval there, along with a small gathering of visiting dignitaries and aides.  Rehval's Saiyan entourage tensed up when they saw her, but she ignored them completely, and walked towards Rehval, fully prepared to shove aside anyone who got in her way.

"Let her pass," Rehval said, instantly defusing the situation.  "I summoned her."

The guards stepped aside, and gave Rehval some room to speak with his guest.  As Luffa approached him, he started walking as well, and fell alongside her.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Luffa," he said.

"I'm not your lapdog, Rehval," Luffa said.  "Let's get that clear right up front.  The next time you 'summon' me, I might not show up at all."

"I understand perfectly," Rehval said.  "You're a guest on Planet Saiya, free to do as you please.    I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"Nothing worth discussing," Luffa said.  "Your message said it was about that Saiyan-killer you told me about before."

"I'm afraid so," he said in a low voice.  He had already led her away from the others and they had nearly left the balcony altogether, but he still seemed concerned about being overheard.  "He's claimed a new victim."

"What planet was it this time?" Luffa asked.

Rehval sighed and shook his head.  "It would be better if I showed you.  Besides, I'd rather discuss this somewhere more private."

"What's the matter, Rehval?" Luffa asked.  "Worried about what your subjects might think of you putting up with my sass?"

He smiled in spite of his grave mood.  "I wish that were all," he said.  "I like your sass, Luffa.  It's comforting in a way."

"Oh yeah?" Luffa asked.

"It gets lonely at the top," he admitted.  They reached an elevator and he pressed the button to summon the car.  "Even other kings and heads of state make poor company, since I'm so much stronger than them physically.  It's refreshing to meet someone who feels completely free to speak her mind around me."

"We could just fly down," Luffa said.  Just as she was growing impatient, the door opened and he gestured to the empty car.

"We could," he said.  "And we could smash through the walls between ourselves and where we're going.    But I enjoy elevators, and you don't know where we're going, so for once I have the advantage of you."

"I could always read your mind again," Luffa said as she stepped inside the car.

"Ah.  I already forgot you can do that," Rehval said.  He clicked his tongue as he entered the car and pressed the button for their floor.  "Well, thank you for letting me at least pretend to have a momentary advantage."

Luffa snorted in amusement.

"Is it ever like that for you?" he asked.

"Like what?" Luffa asked.

"Lonely," he said.  "As powerful as you are, I'd think it'd be worse for you than it is for me."

"I manage," Luffa said.  "My wife thinks I'm some kind of holy crusader, but she still makes me pick up after myself.  My friends are all so much weaker than I am that they probably don't see me any differently from a normal Saiyan.  If I was going to hurt them, I would have already done it."

"Hmmm, but you can't really fight with any of them, can you?"

"Zatte and I spar," Luffa said.  "But yeah, it's not exactly satisfying."

"There was the Shockmaster, but he's gone now," Rehval said.  "A shame Chanisp is long dead.  Maybe he could have given you a good fight."

"I like to think so," Luffa said.  "He was a Super Saiyan, too."

"Really?" Rehval said.

"I'm pretty sure Old Darbock was, too."

"It sounds tragic," Rehval said.  "A thousand years from now, there may be another Super Saiyan, longing for someone like you to challenge them."

"That guy'll just have to make due," Luffa said.  "Same as me."

"Well, I'm no Chanisp," Rehval said, but I was hoping you and I might go a round."

"You?" Luffa asked.

"I probably wouldn't be any more of a challenge than your wife, but I was the strongest Saiyan on this planet," he said, "until you showed up."

Luffa considered it briefly.  "You're on," she said.  "Just make sure you don't hold back.  It'll be more fun if you're fighting like you want to kill me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said.

"So why do you like elevators so much?" Luffa asked.

He opened his mouth to answer, but then the car abruptly slowed its descent and came to a stop.  There was a pleasant ding as the doors slid open, and Rehval held out his hand to invite her to go first.

"I'll tell you later," he said.

The floor they had arrived on was set aside for office space.  Luffa had begun to question the stories her mother had told her of life on Planet Saiya, but at least some of it was true after all.  The Saiyan Kingdom relied on a bureaucracy as much any other, and without any suitable clerical staff among their own people, the regime had brought in aliens to handle all the paperwork.  None of them were actually present in the hallways or cubicles at the moment, but Luffa could see photographs of various staffers on organization charts, and these depicted at least half a dozen alien species.

"Where is everybody?" Luffa asked.

"I ordered this floor to be sealed off," Rehval said.  "At least until the investigation could be completed."

"What investigation?" Luffa asked.  "What does any of this have to do with that Saiyan-hunter anyw--?"

While she was speaking, Rehval had led her into an office containing a dead body.  She recognized the corpse as Gnurlian, although his skin was unusually green for their complexion.  He was slumped over his desk, as if he had simply died while he was working.

"The latest victim was here," Rehval said.  "On Planet Saiya."

Luffa approached the body carefully and took a closer look.  "How do you know this isn't a completely unrelated murder?" she asked.  "For that matter, how can you be sure he was murdered?  I don't see any sign of injuries."

"A sensor scan detected an unknown toxin in his bloodstream," Rehval said.  "It matches similar scans of the other victims.  As for how it was administered, I can't say."

"Blast it, Rehval!" Luffa growled.  "What do you expect me to do about this?"

"I need your help to find the killer," Rehval said.  "He's here, on Saiya.  If the people find out, it could cause a panic."

"Do I look like a detective?"  Luffa shouted.  "You seem to be a lot further along on this than I am.  Bring in a professional investigator and have him figure this out."

"I already hired a detective," Rehval said.

"Well, where the hell is he?"  Luffa demanded.

"You're looking at him," Rehval said, pointing at the body.  "Twenty years of experience with homicides, specializing in mass murders and serial killers.  Highly recommended.  Apparently our enemy felt he was too much of a threat, so he eliminated him."

"He's... toying with us," Luffa said.  She balled up her fist and raised it in front of her chest.  "He thinks we're helpless without this guy."

"I don't dare send for any other detectives," Rehval said.  "They'll just be picked off as soon as they arrive."

"Fine, I get it," Luffa said.  "But I still don't see how I can help catch this guy.  If he made it into this room without anyone noticing--!"

"I know you can do it, Luffa," Rehval said.

"Hah!  And why's that?  Oh, I can beat this creep to a pulp whenever we do find him, but none of my powers will help with that.  What makes you think I'm cut out for a job like this?"

“Because I grew up with the stories of Chanisp just as you did,” he said  He was strong, yes, but he also never gave up, and that was what made him great.  That's what I need now."

She was taken aback by his words, and then he impulsively took her hands in his own.

"If you're truly the heir to Chanisp's power, then this killer doesn't stand a chance against you, Luffa.  I'm sure of it."

"You... you think so?" Luffa said.  She looked back at the dead Gnurlian and pressed her lips together with newfound resolve.  "All right," she said.  "Where do we start?"

*******

“What’s the matter with you?!” Arracash yelled.  

“What is it now?” Zatte asked.  

“You’re peeling them all wrong!”

Zatte sighed.  The last half hour had been reasonably peaceful, once Arracash stopped barking orders and allowed Zatte to settle down and concentrate on peeling vegetables by herself.  She hadn’t counted on Arracash checking her work.  

Arracash reached for a pile of peelings Zatte had left on the kitchen counter.  She held one up and pointed at the thin layer of flesh on the interior surface.   “Look at all this!” she screeched.  “This is perfectly good food, and you’re wasting it.   Who taught you how to peel, anyway?”

“Why  are we peeling these anyway?” Zatte demanded.  “The best nutrients are in the skins.   If you’re so worried about waste, you shouldn’t be throwing any of that away in the first place!”

“Um, it’s a little thing called compost,” Arracash growled.  “I suppose you wouldn’t know about that from your years gallivanting around in a space yacht!”

Arracash launched into an extensive lecture on the importance of fertilizer, but Zatte found she couldn’t pay attention, even if she had wanted to.  There were just too many things going wrong here all at once.  

First and foremost, she still wasn’t used to the idea of Luffa’s grandmother being so damned sexy.  If she looked a little more like an elderly person, she would have found the heeled boots and armored leotard endearing, maybe even reassuring in a way.   If she wasn’t Luffa’s grandmother, it wouldn’t be an issue.    As it was, Zatte felt guilty and awkward just looking at her.  But if she looked away, Arracash thought she was ignoring her, so that wasn’t a solution.  

Beyond this, the whole visit served to remind Zatte just how alien the Saiyans truly were.   Luffa was an outsider to her own people, but nothing about this planet seemed to surprise her.   Luffa resented Saiya, but more in the way a person might resent their hometown.   For Zatte, it was a bizarre madhouse.  It never seemed to occur to Arracash that Zatte wasn’t used to the gravity, and this was probably interfering with her ability to handle the peeler.  

She had never really thought about growing old with Luffa, perhaps because on some level she expected them to die in some horrible battle.  The Tikosi had nearly killed them years ago, so in a sense it was like everything they had done since then was on borrowed time.  Luffa probably hadn’t considered growing old with Zatte, because apparently Saiyans didn’t grow old, at least not for a very long time.  The whole idea suddenly loomed large in Zatte’s mind.   Even now, they spent half their marriage arguing over pointless little things.   What if Zatte’s aging tipped the scales?   Luffa never seemed to care about such things, but maybe that was because it just hadn’t come up.    Hair growth was deeply unsettling to Luffa, so surely ageing would be as well...

And she wasn’t sure what Luffa would do now that she had made peace with King Rehval.   They had come to this planet for answers, and gotten them.   The search for Luffa’s grandparents had been a quick diversion, but Luffa didn’t seem too interested in it, and now that they had found Arracash, what would they do next?  

But underneath all of these issues, Zatte had to admit that she was frustrated that Planet Saiya hadn’t lived up to her hopes.   Her own people, the Dorluns, were lost to her.   One day she might find one of their communities and reconnect with them, but until that time she would be alone.  She had hoped that Luffa’s home planet might help to ease that sense of isolation, not just for Luffa, but for herself.   Instead, Planet Saiya only seemed to reinforce their isolation.  

She didn’t know what to do.   She was alive and safe, and by Dorlun standards that was enough, but it wasn’t enough for her.  It was frustrating, and listening to this crazy, old, stupid, sexy woman babbling about compost wasn’t  helping.   It wasn’t helping at all!

“Why do her hands tremble, anyway?” Arracash asked.  

“What?” Zatte said, as though snapping out of a trance.  

“Luffa’s hands,” Arracash said.   She held up her own hands and wiggled them slightly to illustrate.   Then she crossed her arms, tucking her hands under her shoulders.   “She kept trying to hide it, but I could tell.   When you’ve been around as long as I have, you learn to pick up on any weaknesses you can find.”

Zatte sighed.    “She... well, it’s a long story, and she doesn’t like to talk about it.   Maybe I shouldn’t say.”

“She’s not sick or anything, is she?” Arracash asked.  

“No,” Zatte said.   “It’s just... she lost a terrible battle and was captured.   She was pregnant and they...”

Arracash held up her hand to stop her.   “I think I get the picture.  She made those bastards pay for it, I hope.”

“Yes,” Zatte said.  “Look, please don’t tell her I told you.    She’s been recovering from it for years, and she’s still very sensitive about it.”

“Yeah, I know how it goes,” Arracash said.  “I was just worried.”

“Why?” Zatte asked.   “You hardly know her.”

“She’s still my granddaughter,” Arracash said.  “My son was a rat bastard, but she seems okay.   I guess you’d know more about that than I would.”

“She’s wonderful,” Zatte said firmly.   “She’s saved billions of people all over the galaxy, fighting battles I can’t even describe.”

“How about that?” Arracash said.   “It’s funny.  I didn’t think I had any family left.   Figured Orij would cross the wrong person one of these days, and I guess I was right.   You get to be my age, you start to worry about the life you lived, and whether any of it mattered.   Kind of nice to hear I’ve got a legacy.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

Zatte held out her hands.  “Why are you telling me this?   Before, you acted like you didn’t even care about Luffa.”

“Hmmph.   I didn’t want to get all mushy in front of her, that’s all,” Arracash said.   “Just because she’s a Super Saiyan doesn’t mean I’m going to start blubbering like a baby.”

She patted Zatte on the cheek.   “But you, you’re an alien.  Mushy or not, it’s all the same to you.   And you seem pretty loyal to her.   Just don’t put a bunch of parasites in her brain, okay?”

“Parasites?” Zatte asked.

“Well, whatever alien stuff you do,” Arracash said.  “Just keep taking good care of her for me, will you?   In case I don’t get to see her again.”

“I... yeah, sure,” Zatte groaned.  

“And, uh, thanks for looking me up and bringing her down here,” Arracash added.  “It really means a lot to--”

At that moment, they both sensed Luffa’s ki approaching the house, and they realized she had returned.  

“I’m back,” she called out as she entered the house.    “Took longer than I thought it would.   Something’s come up, but we can talk about it after we eat--”

She entered the kitchen and gasped with horror.   “Where’s dinner?” she asked.  

Arracash grabbed a ladle and brandished it at her.   “We were waiting for you to get back here and help us make it!” she growled.    “Or did you think the two of us would do it all for you while you ran around all afternoon?”

Luffa made an indignant snort.  “I was just giving you a head start!” she said.   “If I’d known it’d take this long, I would have just done it myself!”

“Then why don’t you?!” Arracash roared.   “Acting like you’re better than everyone else...”

“I might as well!” Luffa shouted.   “I cooked for that no-count son of yours enough times!   Now I see where he got his work ethic!”

“I peeled some vegetables,” Zatte said, holding one of them up to show her.  

“Thanks,” Luffa said.   “At least I can count on someone around here.   Save the peelings.  We’ll use ‘em for hash.”

“Hash?!” Arracash cried.  

“Damn straight,” Luffa said.   “What, have you got a better idea?”

Arracash did, and as she began to deliver the same lecture to Luffa that she had given to Zatte, the Dorlun picked up another vegetable and started peeling it with a smile.  

******

It wasn’t too difficult to get around on Planet Saiya.  She killed the Gnurlian and made it back to her hideout without any trouble at all.   The Saiyans relied too much on their ki senses.   They viewed the universe in terms of power levels and brute force, and the potency of one’s life energy.    She had sidestepped all of those principles, and so they had no idea how to begin searching for her. 

It was a paradise, this planet of Saiyans.  She felt like a scavenger surrounded by fresh carrion, or a wolf in a livestock pen.   Killing them filled her with such joy, and here she was on a world filled with thousands of potential targets, and none of them could stop her.  

She missed the entertainment system on Yarrow’s ship, so she had gone to the trouble of sneaking aboard another ship docked at one of the spaceports.    It had a similar recreational program, and the ship’s owners wouldn’t be back for a while, so she amused herself watching video clips on the subspace radio.

Her favorite was a compilation of various footage recorded of Luffa.   Most of it was amateurish footage obtained by eyewitnesses to her various battles.   Each clip was only a few seconds apiece, but with some creative editing, it was all spliced together in such a way that it resembled a decent little three minute video.  She would watch it over and over again.  

She admired Luffa.    For a Saiyan-hunter, Luffa was the ultimate challenge, obviously, but it was more than that.   On some  level, she hoped that Luffa might appreciate what she was doing.  Saiyans excelled at killing one another, after all, so it seemed to her that Luffa might admire someone like her, albeit begrudgingly.  

And she was fun to watch.  Ki was highly overrated, in her opinion, but at least Luffa made good use of it.   She was always glowing or shooting fireballs or lasers from her hands.  It was loud and garish, but it looked cool.  Not that it would save her.  

As she watched the video a twelfth time, she felt the urge to kill again, and decided that she would find someone at the spaceport to save time.   Then she would head back to the citadel, or perhaps a different spaceport, and do it all over again.   The key was to keep moving.   As long as she didn’t spend too much time in one place, they would never be able to find her.    Not even Luffa would find her, which made her feel very powerful.   She couldn't destroy planets or level mountains, but she could end the lives of those who could do those kinds of things, and that was arguably more impressive.  

One day she would meet Luffa face to face, and she would either bask in Luffa’s admiration or kill her.    Or both!  Perhaps it would be both.   But that would have to wait.    For now, she just needed to kill a Saiyan.    Any Saiyan would do.    

But before that, she decided she would re-watch her video just one more time...

[6 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Saiya.]

"You really expect me to believe that?!"  Luffa shouted.

They were standing in an abandoned laboratory hidden in the lower levels of Planet Saiya's capital city.  Luffa and Zatte had come to this planet at the invitation of King Rehval, believing that he was an old enemy of Luffa's mother, and an accessory in the forced termination of Luffa's unborn child.

Instead, Rehval now claimed that these were the actions of his father, the previous king, also named Rehval.  It was such a brazen denial that it could only be a pathetic, desperate lie... or a simple, extraordinary truth.

"Are you telling us this has all been a case of mistaken identity?" Zatte asked.  "You don't look old enough to have ruled Planet Saiya thirty years ago, but..."

"The Saiyan people age very differently from what most species would consider normal, Ms. Zatte," Rehval explained.  "We remain in our prime for most of our lives, so a septuagenarian looks almost exactly like a young adult."

Zatte looked at Luffa, as though considering the implications of this.

"The Rehval Dynasty began with my grandfather," he went on.  "It was Rehval The First who settled this planet and named it Saiya, after the mythical world where the Saiyans first evolved.    When he died, my father, Rehval the Second assumed the throne.  He reigned for over half a century, before I was forced to put a stop to him."

"You killed him?"  Luffa asked.

"Are you so surprised, Luffa?" Rehval asked.   "Your mother taught you that he was a tyrant.  Your father was plotting against him as well.  My father made many enemies in his lifetime.  I was simply the last, and the one in the best position to act against him."

He pulled a wooden stool out from under a recess in one of the lab benches, and sat down.

"As the crown prince, I looked up to my father.  He was devoted to forging the Saiyan people into a great and powerful nation, as opposed to a disparate tribe of marauders.  But in the final years of his reign, I began to learn just how far he was willing to go to achieve his goals."

He waved his hand at the arcane symbols scrawled on the wall.  "This laboratory was just the tip of the iceberg.  He conducted all sorts of secret alchemical research, but he also dabbled in genetic engineering, witchcraft, necromancy, and a number of other un-Saiyan practices.  His dream was to discover a way to unlock the ultimate potential of the Saiyan race.  About a year ago, I learned he was using live Saiyans in his experiments.  I had no choice but to kill him, though I told the public that he had died of an illness.  I couldn't risk jeopardizing my grandfather's accomplishments by exposing my father's crimes."

He pointed to an urn on a shelf of chemicals.  "That, ladies, is all that remains of Rehval II's body.  "Unfortunately, his legacy, casts a much longer shadow.  Once I consolidated power, I studied my father's records, and learned of his experiments with Saiyan fetal tissue.  And that was when I learned of his role in your ordeal, Luffa."

"How did he find out about it?" Luffa asked.

"Through your husband Kandai," Rehval said. "I never knew the full story, but from what I gather, your father was trying to find a way to increase his own strength.  Somewhere along the way, he succeeded.  Instead of hiring himself out for obscure mercenary work, he was carrying out bold raids on the frontiers of the Camelian Empire.  As I told you before, whenever a Saiyan causes trouble, word reaches Planet Saiya very quickly.  The Camelians complained to our ambassador there, and an investigation revealed it was Orij, an old malcontent who had married your mother, an anti-royalist.

"My father promised the Camelians that he would deal with Orij, but privately, he wished to learn the secret to his sudden power increase.  He eventually made contact with Kandai, and plied him for information.  Kandai was eager to make a fresh start, and it wasn't difficult to loosen his tongue.  He told my father about the Tikosi, and their technique for isolating the biological factors that made one Saiyan stronger than another.  He told him that the Tikosi were making you stronger, and then duplicating that power increase in Orij.  I assumed the Tikosi's eventual goal was to apply the same treatment for themselves.

"This piqued my father's interest.  He planned to eliminate Orij to placate the Camelians, then conquer the Tikosi and claim their research for himself.  But first he wanted to see what he could accomplish with his own alchemical techniques, so he struck a bargain with Kandai.  In exchange for certain rewards, your husband returned to the Tikosi Planet and obtained... well, he took your unborn child.  Then he brought the fetus back to Saiya for my father to test.

"And what did that accomplish?"  Luffa asked bitterly.  "Other than ending a Saiyan boy's battle before he had a chance to fight?"

"In the end, very little," Rehval said quietly.  "My father's notes were very unclear on the matter, but from what I could make out, he didn't make much progress after receiving the tissue.  He wrote that he intended to crush Orij and invade the Tikosi planet, but he never got the chance.  A scouting party found the planet abandoned, and Orij's remains lying near a large crater.  Soon after, reports of a Super Saiyan on Bigreen began to circulate, and it didn't take long to piece together what had happened."

"Is that why your father sent that team of assassins after us?" Zatte asked.  "Did he think Luffa would come looking for revenge?"

"It was a test," Rehval said.  "You have to understand, Luffa, that there are a lot of conflicting reports about just who and what you are.  Most Saiyans believe you're a fraud.  A number of early Super Saiyan sightings turned out to be Orij's activities on the Camelian frontier.  People believe you're man, a woman, a ghost, a goddess, a Saiyan, a mutant, and any number of other things.  My father wanted to make certain that you really were Orij's daughter--that you had survived the Tikosi and that you really were as strong as the rumors said.  The team of soldiers was sent to either kill you or take your measure."

"Well I hope he was pleased with the result," Luffa said.  "He should have just approached me himself, or did that little demonstration make him lose his nerve?"

"He was obsessed with you after that," Rehval said.  "He sent ten of his strongest warriors, and none of them survived.  He knew you were strong, but after that incident he realized that you were unstoppable.  And then the Shockmaster invaded the Federation, and he proved to be at least as powerful.  My father was withdrew to his research, determined to find some way to match your level of power.  When you defeated the Shockmaster, he became even more worried, since there was no longer a power in the galaxy that could counterbalance your own.

"While he was plotting against you in secret, the work of running the kingdom was delegated to the crown prince: me.  One day I needed to consult with him on a matter of state business, and I found him down here, lost in some demonic ritual.  He was a shadow of his former self-- half-starved, sleep deprived,driven mad by his obsession.  When I realized what he had done and what he planned to do, I knew I had no choice but to kill him and take his place."

"Then you invited Luffa to come here in order to make peace," Zatte concluded.

"In my arrogance, I believed you were aware of my accession to the throne," Rehval said.  "You never threatened Saiya or its interests, but neither did you make any overtures toward us.  After a year, I decided it was time to clear the air, and this string of Saiyan murders seemed like a sensible topic for us to discuss.

"Luffa, I sincerely apologize, both for my father's actions, and for my flippant tone at dinner.  If I had known that you thought I was Rehval II, I would have approached our meeting very differently."

"Would you, now?" Luffa grumbled.  "I guess you would have told me the same story you're telling me now, only from a safe distance, right?"

She walked to the shelf containing the urn of Rehval II's remains, and ran her finger along the shelf, the  looked at the dust that had accumulated on her fingertip.

"It's all very convenient, Rehval.  I suppose you can prove all of this.  You don't seem like the type to leave any loose ends."

"My father's death was certified by his physician," Rehval said. "He's a Grujon running a practice on Eldon IV, with no ties to the regime.  As for the rest, my father kept extensive records on his dealings, many of them in his own handwriting.  You're welcome to examine them to your satisfaction."

"Very thoughtful of you," Luffa said.

"I don't blame you for being suspicious, Luffa," Rehval said.  "I understand if we cannot be friends, but I have no desire to be your enemy.  I'm willing to do whatever it takes to assure you of that."

Luffa turned and glared at him.  "I'm glad you said that, Rehval, because there is a way you can convince me," she said.

"Name it," Rehval said.  "The royal archives are at your disposal."

"Records can be falsified," Luffa said as she walked towards him.  "And even if they're legitimate, that would only prove that your father's crimes.    They wouldn't tell me whether or not you were involved."

"I see..." Rehval said.  "Then what do you have in mind?"

"The question is: What do you have in your mind, Rehval?" Luffa said darkly.  She raised her hand and extended it towards him.  "I want to know what you knew and when you knew it.  Your story might be mostly true, but I wonder if you might be leaving out a few things that might make me... angry with you."

He remained seated, but pulled back slightly as she reached for his face.  "I can read your mind, Rehval.  It won't take long, but if you've been lying to me, I will find out."

"Proceed then.  I have nothing to hide," he said confidently.

Luffa had already planted both hands on his face.  "This will only hurt if you resist me," she warned.

"I underst--" he began to say, but Luffa had already begun, and he gasped with amazement at the experience.

One minute and thirteen seconds later, Luffa released him.  She stepped back, and breathed deeply, as if relieved to be finished.

"Are you okay?" Zatte asked.  "I've never seen you spend that much time on anyone before.  Well, except for me, when you and I--"

"I'm fine," Luffa said, mostly to cut off the rest of her statement.

"A remarkable experience," Rehval said.  He looked around the room, as though pleased to be back in the real world.  "I had no idea Saiyan telepathy could advance to such levels."

"Well, what did you find out?" Zatte asked impatiently.

Luffa looked at her and then back at Rehval.  "I took my time because I needed to be sure, she said.  "But I couldn't find any hint of deception.  At least, not about Kandai or his father.  He's... he’s telling the truth."

Rehval nodded in agreement.

******

Rehval had offered them a room in his palace, but Luffa had declined, preferring to head back to her ship for the night.

"So now what?" Zatte said as she curled up next to Luffa on her bed.

"I don't know," Luffa said.  She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling of the cabin, a sheet half-heartedly draped over herself.

"You said it yourself," Zatte said.  "If he's telling the truth, he's not our enemy."

"I still don't like the guy, Zattie," Luffa said.  "Even if he's on the level, I don't like the idea of a Saiyan King.  I never have."

"He seems to respect that," Zatte said.  "He invited us to stay a while."

"There's nothing here for me," Luffa said.  "And I'm not about to start dressing in blue and kneeling to that pompous...!"

"We don't have to live here forever, Luffa," Zatte said.  "We can leave right now if that's what you want.  But where do we go?  The Federation practically runs itself, and no one like the Shockmaster is likely to threaten it anytime soon."

"I know..." Luffa said.  "That's why I'm so disappointed.  I was hoping Rehval would give me some sport.  Beg for mercy... try some last-ditch plan to kill me.  I don't know, something."

"You wanted another Kandai," Zatte said.  "Someone you could hunt down and pour all your frustrations into."

"Not that he really satisfied me either," Luffa said.  "It's just as well.  If Rehval's daddy were still alive, I would have just killed him by now, and then  I'd be right back where I started."

"It's like you said before," Zatte said.  "Settling things with Rehval was the last connection you had with your son.  Everyone who took him from you is gone now.  There's no one left to chase, or even think about chasing."

"So..." Luffa said.  "Now what?"

"I asked you first, buster," Zatte said.

Luffa sighed.  "Maybe we could go to Yetitan, pay a visit to Wampaaan'riix and Dewbie.  Might even invite Dr. Topsas along if he's free."

"What brought this on?"  Zatte asked.

"I was just thinking about my mother," Luffa said.  "Aside from you, those guys are the closest thing to family I have left."

Zatte put her arm over Luffa and squeezed her gently.  "Don't be so sure about that..." she said.

*******

[7 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Saiya]

Far removed from the citadel which served as the planet's capital was a small village of crudely shaped houses.  There were a number of modern conveniences--paved roads, food storage devices, and a water tower--but otherwise the settlement appeared to be a throwback to some primitive age.    In one of these houses, a Saiyan  woman named Arracash heard a knock at her door.

She immediately readied herself for a fight.  The King had alerted everyone about a mysterious Saiyan-hunting killer, so naturally she had this possibility in mind, but she had lived on this planet of bloodthirsty warriors for most of her life, and she hadn't lasted this long without being prepared.  She moved along the wall, careful not to avoid being spotted from the view offered by the windows, and paused in front of the door.  She silently counted to five, then swung the door open, making sure to keep her body out of the doorway.

Nothing happened.  Arracash took a quick look, and found two women, a Saiyan and an alien with blue skin and red hair.

"We're looking for... for Arracash?" the alien said.  She seemed distracted for some reason.

"You found her," she said.  "What's this about?  And don't tell me it's King's official business.  Not while you're wearing that getup."

She was pointing at Luffa's bright yellow pants as if they were on fire.  "You want food, go catch some game in the mountains.   Lousy vagrants.  Everyone acts like I'm the village cook."

"Records at the palace said you had a son named Orij," the Saiyan said.  "That right?"

"So what?" Arracash said.  "He's old enough to fight his own battles isn't he?  I'm not responsible for his blunders."

"Luffa, this can't be Arracash," Zatte said.  "She's supposed to be in her mid seventies--"

"Luffa?" Arracash asked.  "Then this is some kind of shakedown!  You think you can pretend to be some impostor freak and I'll cower under the bed while you help yourselves to my loot?!  Who the hell do you think you are?"

She tried to shut the door, only for Luffa to catch it with her hand and hold it open.

"I think I'm your granddaughter," Luffa said.

[8 April 234 Before Age.  Planet Pflaume.]

Most inhabited worlds in the galaxy were composed of iron and nickel, surrounded by a rocky crust and an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere.   Sometimes certain moons fitting this description could be found orbiting much larger planets known as “gas giants” for their composition of mostly hydrogen and helium.      

Pflaume was an example of what some astronomers called an “ice giant”.   The term “ice” was somewhat misleading, as astronomers used it as a catch-all term for a multitude of volatile chemical compounds such as ammonia and methane, as well as water.   While the ice giants contained a substantial amount of hydrogen and helium, the bulk of their mass was made of these “ice” compounds, with a core of solid “ices” and rock deep within.   Ice giants were generally smaller than gas giants, but both types were uninhabitable to most known forms of life, due to the lack of a breathable atmosphere and a solid surface upon which to stand.  

Nevertheless, there were still humanoids who took up residence on some ice giant planets, using the same technologies found on starships.   The habitat on Pflaume was typical of this design.   It was essentially a spacecraft that maintained a continuous flight within Pflaume’s turbulent atmosphere.  Those who lived inside the vessel were protected from the freezing temperatures and intense winds outside, and an artificial gravity system simulated the conditions of a terrestrial planet.  

Drang Dedruhn cared very little about these details as her transport completed the final leg of its flight to the Pflaume system.   She admired the vivid purple color of the planet as the ship approached, but she had no interest in the chemistry of its atmosphere or the semantics of its astronomical classification, or the engineering feats that held its single city aloft.  Her sole concern was the invitation she had received to visit this place, the motives behind it, and the opportunities it might present.  

For nearly three years, Drang’s homeworld of Shafulb had been part of an interstellar alliance created and enforced by a Saiyan named Luffa.   Drang was the supreme leader of one of the Federation’s founding member-worlds, Shafulb, and while the Federation had been a profitable venture for her planet, she privately chafed at the loss of independence.   She knew she wasn’t alone in this sentiment.   Other planetary leaders had jockeyed for position within the Federation, only to find that they could only get so far before they had to back down to Luffa’s authority.   Luffa was an invincible warrior, and so any path to power that involved opposing her was doomed to failure.   And so Drang had watched and waited for an opportunity to present itself.  

When her retinue deboarded the transport, her host was there at the spaceport to meet her.   He was six feet in height, with a lean, athletic frame.   His thick black hair was meticulously styled in a fashion resembling businessmen and politicians around the galaxy, which matched the blue suit and tie he wore.   When she stepped off the ramp, he knelt before her in a greeting that was clearly intended to resemble the customs of her homeworld.  

“Your Holiness,” he said reverently.    

Impressed and flattered by his gesture, she returned the greeting by extending her hand and allowing him to kiss it.    As he did, he glanced up at her with dark, penetrating eyes that seemed to exude deep respect and reassurance all at once.  

“You honor us,” she said as he rose to his feet.  

“Welcome to Pflaume, Drang Dedruhn,” he said.  “On behalf of my people, I greet you, High Priestess of the Shalfulb.”

“And I you,” Drang replied.   “Rehval, King of the Saiyans.”

********

“May I ask you a personal question?”  Drang asked as the Saiyan waiter filled her goblet.  

“Please do,” the king replied.  

“Do you spell it ‘R-E-H-V-A-L’, or ‘R-E-V-A-H-L’?”

Rehval began to laugh even as she finished the question.    “Both forms are quite acceptable,” he said, shaking his head with amusement.  “As well as a few others, but those two are the more popular variants.   I understand that some journalists get into heaated arguments over the matter.”

“I only ask because I understood that Saiyans take their names very seriously,” Drang explained.   “I didn’t want to risk offending you.”

“That’s very kind of you, Your Holiness,” he said.   “And your understanding is correct.  Many Saiyans take great offense if one misconstrues their given name.   But I’d like to do away with that custom.   To my way of thinking, the true honor is that the wider universe knows my name, and what it represents, regardless of how it’s spelled or pronounced.   My hope is that my subjects will embrace the same attitude, and so I lead by example.”

“That’s a very interesting point of view, Your Majesty.”

“Please, call me Rehval, Your Holiness.  I cherish my title, but I also enjoy setting it aside now and then, especially for social visits like this one.”

Drang blinked with surprise as the waiter filled Rehval’s goblet.    Everything in the dining room was picture perfect.   The table was set with silverware for each course, and arranged in the proper order for formal meals like this one.   Rehval took his napkin and carefully laid it on his lap before sampling his goblet.  Even the waiter was supremely professional.   Despite his unkempt Saiyan hair, his cummerbund and black waistcoat were so crisp and clean that they seemed brand new.   When he returned to serve the first course, he carried the silver tray in one hand with a professional flourish Drang had never imagined possible.  

"Is something wrong, Your Holiness?  You seem... unsettled."

"Er, no, of course not," she said with a nervous laugh.  "To be honest, you're not at all what I expected, Rehval."

"Oh?"

"Well, the Saiyans I've encountered have all been so wild and uncouth," Drang said.  "They do what they please, when they please, because they always know they're the strongest beings in the room."

He said nothing, but smiled pleasantly as he speared a portion of salad with his fork.

"I mean no offense, of course," she quickly added.  "The same can be said for mercenaries and soldiers of any number of other species, but I've never known Saiyans to be anything else."

"Naturally," Rehval said.  "We are a martial culture, after all.  Each Saiyan is a warrior by default, though many of us do pursue other professions.  My grandmother is a mathematician, for example."

Drang couldn't conceal her surprise at this.  "I never would have imagined--"

"Most people are surprised to hear that," he said.  "Honestly, I couldn't even begin to describe the work she does.  Something involving prime numbers and 'dimensional fields', whatever those are.  Between you and me, I think she enjoys doing work that bewilders most people.  It's not so different from the mercenaries you've met, I'd imagine.  She attacks equations and proofs with the same relish as a warrior on the battlefield.    And she's quite a talented fighter as well."

"Forgive me, Rehval," she said.  "I had no idea your species was so sophisticated."

"Not at all," Rehval said.  "There are, of course, many on Planet Saiya who resemble the popular image of my people.  But we also have poets, scholars, and artisans as well.  Not as many as Shafulb, I admit, but we're very proud of what we have."

"It's too bad the rest of the galaxy doesn't know," Drang said.

"I quite agree," Rehval replied.  "Which is why I've devoted my reign to diplomacy.  Statecraft is something of a dirty word among Saiyan kings, but we've been an isolated world for too long.  The galactic community only knows our species from contact with expatriates--usually mercenaries, as you say.  I'm determined to change that, which is why I've reached out to leaders like yourself."

"Is that why you invited me here?" Drang asked.  "To improve the public perception of your world?"

"If that was all I wished to accomplish," Rehval said, "then I would have invited some other Federation head of state.  Ryba Booth, or Tik-Tak, or the Archduke of Penticede V.  Any of them would have been sufficient for a mere diplomatic summit.  I reached out to you, Your Holiness, because I've been an admirer of yours for some time."

She snorted with amusement, and felt slightly guilty for having made such an unseemly noise.  Drang was used to a certain informality.  As the supreme religious authority on Shafulb, etiquette was literally whatever she defined it to be at a given moment.  Beyond Shafulb, most beings deferred to her because of the political power at her command.  Drang had a long reputation for picking the winning side, and for that reason, people wanted her to be on their side, and were happy to put up with her messy eating habits and raucous laughter.  Indeed, much of Drang's coarse, worldly behavior in public was a deliberate statement that she was too important to ignore or dismiss.  She flaunted her influence the way Saiyans flaunted their strength, and so she had found the Saiyans relateable in this respect.

But Rehval was different.  She had come here half-expecting him to challenge her to a burping contest after sharing an undercooked dinosaur carcass.  Instead, he was the perfect diplomat: polished and practiced and so gregarious that she could barely believe he was a Saiyan at all.  Drang was completely thrown off her game, but she was almost too impressed with Rehval to care.

"It's true," Rehval said.  "I've studied your career for some time, Your Holiness.    The wars with Despye, Woshad, and Kopey prior to the Federation brought you all together.  Your rise to the office of High Priestess.  I've even read some of your writings, though I will admit that I have trouble understanding most of them."

"Flattery is fine," Rehval," she said, "but if you really have studied my career, you'd know that I never had much patience with yes-men."

"Another trait of yours that I respect," Rehval said.  "But I apologize if my praise seemed manipulative or insincere.  I’ve been told that I come across like a bit of a gladhander."

"Very well.  You'll find me easier to get along with if you skip the blandishments and say what you mean."

"I see," Rehval said.  "Then how should one go about complimenting you, Your Holiness?"

She was blindsided by this.  "Don't be... You asked me here to discuss Luffa, Your Majesty."

"That is a topic I wish to discuss," Rehval admitted.  "But the principal reason I invited you here was because I admire you and I believed I would enjoy your company.   Perhaps I should have made that more clear.   I’m sorry if I misled you."

The waiter brought a second tray, containing strips of meat glazed in a sweet-smelling sauce.

"Ah, I think you'll enjoy this," he said.  "It's a classic dish here in Pflaume City."

He picked up a piece from the tray and stuffed it into his mouth.  After swallowing, he kissed each of his fingertips to recover as much of the sauce as he could.  Then he noticed Drang's confused expression and smiled meekly.

"I'll admit," he said.  "I don't know which fork is considered appropriate for this particular course.  But it's fun to use your fingers now and again, isn't it?"

Drang returned his smile and reached for the tray to scoop up a few meat strips for herself.

*******

"You're not returning with the retinue?"

Drang had retired for the evening in an apartment in Pflaume City.  Originally, she hadn't planned to stay beyond dinner, which was now a source of great consternation to one of her archbishops.

"Oh, lighten up, Nozed," she said to the video display in her bedroom.  "The Saiyan King and I have a great deal to discuss, and it'll take more than one evening.  He's generously arranged for me to stay on Pflaume for a few more days, and he would have done the same for my entourage, but there’s no point in keeping them around.  You'll need them back on Shafulb more than I will here."

The image of Archbishop Nozed Kaberz was very sharp, considering the distance from Shafulb to Pflaume.  Drang could actually see his nostrils flare with exasperation.

“I don’t like this, Drang,” he said frankly.   Nozed had been one of her closest advisers for decades, and was one of the few people in the universe on a first-name basis with her.  In public, they were careful to use each other’s titles and honorifics with great respect, but in private they were old friends who kept no secrets from each other.  

“Well, why not?”  she asked.   “It’s not as if he asked me to stay on Planet Saiya.  Pflaume is neutral ground.   Well, there isn’t any ground here, actually.   The point is, if he wanted to betray me, this would be a lousy place to do it, dearie.”

“Still, the location was his choice, Drang,” Nozed said.  “And he is a Saiyan.    You know how those savages are.   Treachery is in their nature.”

“Don’t say that in front of our dear Federatrix,” Drang teased.   “As for Rehval, he’s different somehow.  I can’t explain it, but I’m certain he can be of great use to us, Nozed.”

“We’re in bed with one Saiyan already,” he said.   “We don’t need a second meddling in our affairs.  Unless he intends to remove the first...?”

“He’s barely mentioned Luffa since I arrived,”  Drang said.  “I don’t know what he wants with her, if anything.   He seems more interested in cultivating good relations with Shafulb.”  

“That doesn’t make sense,” Nozed said.  “Shafulb is part of the Federation, thanks entirely to one of his people.   It’s obvious that he wants to approach her through you.   The only question is whether he considers Luffa an ally or a threat.”

Drang nodded.   She had been conflicted over how she would handle this matter from the moment Rehval had invited her to Pflaume.  Luffa was no ordinary Saiyan, but a Super Saiyan, far more powerful than Rehval or any of his subjects.  Most likely, he viewed Luffa’s influence over the Federation as a direct challenge to his rule, but he was no more able to depose her than Drang was, or any other Federation leader.  If Rehval wanted to eliminate Luffa as a political rival, it made sense for him to reach out to potential allies like Drang.  

On the other hand, it was also possible that Rehval saw Luffa as an asset, one he coveted for his own nation.   Luffa was a humiliation for the rulers of the Federation member worlds, but she was also the Federation’s greatest weapon.    If Rehval could somehow convince Luffa to abandon them for Planet Saiya, it would tilt the balance of power in the galaxy, and not in a way that pleased Drang at all.  

So the dilemma came down to whether Drang was better off with Luffa or without her.   Ultimately, this depended upon what Rehval planned to do with her.  And yet, he seemed to be completely uninterested in discussing the matter.   It had to be a negotiating tactic.  Why else would he have invited her out here?   Unless...

No.  The possibility was too ridiculous to speak aloud, even to Nozed.  

“I need time to find out what this Saiyan is really up to,” Drang finally said.  “I’m sure you can manage without me for a few more days.”

“As you wish.”   Nozed still didn’t like it, but he saw no use in pressing the issue. 

“I take it Luffa still hasn’t returned to Federation space?” Drang asked.  

“At last report she was somewhere in the Ijern sector, at least a week away,” Nozed replied.  “She’s staying just close enough to the borders to come back if there’s trouble, but far enough away not to get involved with day-to-day affairs.”

“As usual,” Drang said.  “The poor girl was just never the same after the Shockmaster War.  Fine.  I’ll contact you when I’m ready to return.  Drang out.”

She shut off the terminal and the image of Nozed vanished.   Drang sighed and prepared for bed.  Rehval had offered to take her on a tour of Pflaume City, which would hopefully giver her a chance to discover his true intentions.

His true intentions toward Luffa, of course.  No, the alternative was too ridiculous to speak aloud...

*******

[9 April 234 Before Age.   Planet Pflaume.]

Under most circumstances, a tour of a place like Pflaume City would have bored Drang to tears.  The city was an engineering marvel, but one that only an engineer could truly appreciate.  As long as the place stayed afloat in Pflaume’s ammonia-methane atmosphere, Drang didn’t care about the details, and most of the city’s residents appeared to hold the same opinion.   The amenities in the city were pleasant--even luxurious--for such a remote location, but Drang had seen better elsewhere.   Pflaume City had a large marina, for example, but there was nothing noteworthy about it besides the fact that it was here, floating on an island in the clouds.  

And yet, Rehval managed to make the whole experience seem worthwhile.  Pflaume was something of a second home to him, he had told her.   He tried to visit whenever he could, and there was something infectious about his enthusiasm for the place.   His favorite monument in the city would have meant nothing to her if she had encountered it alone, but listening to him profess his love for the sculptor’s technique was a refreshing experience.

“I hope I’m not trying your patience, Your Holiness,” Rehval said.  “I’ve been told that I tend to ramble where Pflaume City is concerned, and I know you’re a busy woman.”

“Not at all, Rehval,” she said cheerfully.  “Some of my best friends are ramblers, and it’s been too long since I had a chance to while away an afternoon.

She patted his arm, which was currently around her own.   Drang couldn’t recall when that had happened, but she didn’t feel any pressing need to separate herself from him.  

“I was wondering,” Rehval said.  “The clothes you have on.  Are they also holy raiments, like the vestments you wore yesterday?”

She looked down at the light blue dress she wore.   “It’s purely secular,” she said.  “Though technically, my office as high priestess automatically consecrates whatever clothing I wear.”

“That must be very convenient,” Rehval said.  

“I suppose it would be, if I took advantage of it more often,” Drang said.    “I usually wear the official vestments at all times.  I’ve grown accustomed to them, and the long flowing robes compliment my figure.”

“Then you wore this just for today,” Rehval said.  “I’m honored.”

“I only...” Drang found herself at a loss for words, which seemed to happen a lot with him.  “It just seemed that since I was taking time away from my duties...”

“I prefer the way you look now, if I may say so,” Rehval said.   “Though you look lovely in anything.”

She didn’t know how to respond to this.   Drang and Rehval were both mammalian humanoids, but his species was of a simian descent, while hers was delpinoid.   She hadn’t seen his furry tail since they had met---she assumed it was tucked away somewhere beneath his suit--but the hair on his olive-skinned scalp and the pointed nose on his mostly flat face were enough to distinguish him as an alien.    The Shafulb had slick, lustrous skin, which was mostly jet black except for a white region extending from their chin down to their torso.   They had no visible hair.  Their ears were essentially holes on the sides of their heads, and they had blunt snouts instead of noses.    Healthy Shafulbs were thicker than typical humanoids, due to the presence of a layer of blubber beneath their skin.    Drang was fatter than most, which didn’t bother her at all, though she knew many alien males compared her unfavorably with women of their own species.  

And yet, here was Rehval, the King of the Saiyans, practically telling her she was pretty, as if they were adolescents on a date!   She had heard of Shafulb who dabbled with non-delphinoid species, but she never understood the attraction, and she never dreamed that any alien would ever express attraction towards her, sincerely or otherwise.  

“I hope you’ve worked up an appetite,” Rehval said before she could question his motives.   “I’ve saved the best for last.”   He led her into a elevator and set it to take them to the city’s highest level.  

“I thought you said all the best restaurants are on Level 12,” Drang said.

“They are,” Rehval replied.   He clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels slightly whiled the elevator car ascended.   “That’s why I... Well, I shouldn’t give it away.”

The suspense began to whet Drang’s interest, and when they reached the top level, she began to understand what he meant by “saving the best for last”.   The first level was an observation deck that spanned the entire width of the city.   Above them, the violet skies of Pflaume could be seen in all directions.   There was no sound, but as the thick clouds streaked around them, it looked very much like they had stepped outside the protective hull of the city to stand fully exposed to the poisonous atmosphere outside.  

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Rehval asked.   “It’s not much to look at during the night.  The clouds are too thick for the stars to be visible, but I see enough of the stars whenever I’m on Planet Saiya.  No, this is a a wonder you can only find here.   Ah, and when the sun sets... well, we really should come by later for that.   The days on Pflaume are thirteen hours long.”

Drang couldn’t stop looking at the sky.  “How--?” was as far as she could express her confusion.  

“We’re still inside the hull of the city,” he assured her.   “The top level is covered by a dome made of the same materials, but there’s an elaborate sensor array covering the dome’s exterior.   A fiber optic network inside the hull of the dome transmits that information to projection screens mounted on the interior surface, giving us a real-time view of the outside.”

“Incredible,” Drang said.   Despite her holy office, Drang was rarely moved in a spiritual way, though the sight of Pflaume’s atmosphere roaring around her in all directions made her recall an ancient prayer.   “Thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small...” she murmured to herself.  

“I’m glad you like it,” Rehval said, taking her by the hand.   “I know it’s difficult to look away, but there’s a lot to see on the deck as well.   It’s mostly parkland here, but there’s some mansions on the other side of those hills in the east.    Ah, and there’s Cairt with our lunch.   Perfect timing.”

Cairt was a Saiyan who had prepared a picnic blanket and arranged various dishes upon it.   Rehval led Drang by the hand to  the site, and dismissed Cairt with a firm handshake.  He then sat down and began describing the various delicacies to her.  

She sat beside him, much closer than she had planned, and hung on his every word.

********

“This is all too much,” Drang said two hours later, after they had finished their meal.   “I can’t remember having such a wonderful time.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Your Holiness,” Rehval said.   “Your company has been an oasis in a desert of official duties and responsibilities.”  

“Please,” she said.  “Call me Drang.”

He nodded in appreciation of this gesture, and kissed her hand gently.    “All right,” he said.   “I can’t thank you enough for sharing your time with me, Drang.”

He leaned in and kissed her on the tip of her snout.  She would have thought this experience would be stranger than it turned out to be.    Impulsively, she returned the kiss.

It occurred to her that when she closed her eyes, his alien physiology didn’t matter all that much.   He was here, he was warm and affectionate, and none of the Shafulb lovers from her heady youth had ever made her feel quite this way.  They had been attractive, certainly, but they only loved her for her authority.    To those men, she had been like a stone idol, to be revered and maintained.   Rehval made her feel like a woman, perhaps for the first time in her long life.  

And when she opened her eyes, it occurred to her that his alien physiology was much more attractive to her than it had been before...

********

The majestic Pflaumian sunset had come and gone some time ago.   Rehval had taken Drang to a villa on the observation deck that belonged to a wealthy friend of his, who had a standing invitation for Rehval to make himself at home during his visits to Pflaume City.    In the guest bedroom, Drang wrapped herself in a blanket from the bed and curled up on a canapé in front of the fireplace.  

“Where did they get the wood?” Drang asked as she watched the flames dance upon the burning logs.   “Don’t tell me there’s a forest on Pflaume City too.”

Rehval made a genial laugh as he opened a bottle of Camelian brandy and poured glasses for both of them.  “There is an arboretum, as a matter of fact, but my friend had these shipped in from his home planet.  He told me that they produced the best firewood in the universe, and he wanted nothing but the finest for his home away from home.”

Drang cackled softly.   “The things people do with their money,” she said as she took one of the glasses from him.   “Well, as long as I don’t have to foot the bill, I can’t complain.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Rehval said.  

She wasn’t sure what to say.   There weren’t enough words to properly express how she felt about him, and how he had made her feel.   To think that she had found everything she had ever wanted in a Saiyan.  A few days ago, she would have made an off-color joke about how making love to a Saiyan was a form of assisted suicide, but now...  

Well, she knew better now, didn’t she?  There was something intoxicating about trusting oneself to someone powerful enough to destroy an entire world.   The only thing she feared from him now was that he would leave her.    

“You’ve been very quiet, Drang,” Rehval said as he walked around her view of the fire to reach a chest on the other side of the room.  “I suppose I miss that boisterous voice of yours.”

“I just... well, I don’t want to screw this up,” she said plainly.   “All of this... and you... It’s more than I deserve.   It’s so wonderful, and--”

“I feel the same way,” he said.  “This has certainly gone well beyond a diplomatic visit, hasn’t it?”

Drang smiled.   “Eventually, we’ll have to go back to our respective worlds, won’t we?   We can see each other again, but it doesn’t feel like it’ll be enough.”

He opened one of the drawers in the chest and retrieved a small box.  “Perhaps I can ease your fears,” he said.   “I’d like you to have this.”

Drang looked at the box in his hands with wonder.  “What is it?” she asked.  

“A token of my esteem.    The man who made it claimed that it was an amulet that protects the bond between lovers.”

He opened the lid, and Drang saw a golden band with a thin leather cord to fasten it.   In the center of the band was a red jewel, which seemed to glow more intensely than it should have in the low lighting of the room.  

“It’s beautiful,” Drang said, somewhat surprised by her own reaction.  If any of this were happening to a character in a movie, Drang would have walked out of the theater and demanded a refund.    There was a storage bin on Shafulb that contained a large collection of gaudy trinkets she had received from various envoys over the decades.   She regarded such “tokens of esteem” as perfunctory gifts, worthy only of silent contempt.  

But this one was different.      It was a gift from Rehval, a symbol of his love.   And more than that, it seemed like it was made for her, like it was calling out to her...  Even so, she felt unworthy of what it stood for.  

“I couldn’t,” she said awkwardly.   “It’s too much...”

“At least let me see how it looks on you,” Rehval offered.   He moved around behind her canapé and gently slipped the amulet under her chin.   She yielded to his request, mostly because it allowed her to feel his touch once again.  

“Bear with me,” he said with a frustrated chuckle.  “I’ve never actually put this on anyone before.  The fastener’s a little tricky...  There we are.”

In that moment, when he linked the amulet around her neck, she felt something flow through her that was beyond her comprehension.   She shuddered, nearly spilling her drink, and her breathing became shallow and rapid.   She tingled all over, and when he walked around the canapé to face her, she looked up at him with a passion exponentially greater than what she had felt for him before.  

“Breathtaking,” he said.   “It really suits you, Drang.  It’s entirely your choice, but it would mean a lot to me if you would keep it.”

Every word he said hit her like a drug.   He was beautiful.  His voice was beautiful.   He was offering her a choice, but how could she refuse something that meant so much to him.   A moment ago she had actually tried to decline his gift!  Now, she couldn’t imagine living without it.  

“I’ll never take it off,” Drang gasped.   Even this seemed insufficient somehow.    She wished there was some way to wear it even more than she already was, even if that made no sense.  

“Very good,” he said.   “I’m pleased to see you like it.”

Drang smiled blankly and tracked him with her eyes as he moved toward the chest to fetch his glass.    “Rehval!  Let me get that for you!” she offered.  

“There’s no need,” he said as he raised the glass in his hand.  “See?   I’ve already got it.”

“Oh,” she said, cursing herself for being such a fool.    

Dimly, she realized that something had happened to her, that she was no longer quite herself anymore, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.   If the amulet was responsible, then there was nothing to be done, since he wanted her to keep it.    If he liked her better this way, then so be it.  Whatever made him happy.  That was all that mattered.  

He pulled up a chair from the corner of the room and sat down in front of the fireplace to look her in the eye.  

“A toast,” he said, holding up his glass.  “To our new relationship.”

She nodded with an adoring grin and they downed the brandy together.   It tasted sweeter than anything she had ever known, because it was from him.   He had given it to her.   She would do anything for him, and it would never be enough to repay his love.

“Now,” he said with a frown.   “I think this would be a good time for us to discuss Luffa.”

Drang couldn’t agree more.

[6 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Saiya.]

Most of Planet Saiya was a desolate place.  Only twenty percent of its surface was covered by ocean, and most of the land was serpentine barrens with strips of vegetation clinging desperately to any and all rivers and lakes.

None of this was any surprise to Luffa, since the Saiyans were a hardy species, capable of thriving in harsh environments where most species would struggle to survive.  And Saiyans tended to see their homes as temporary bases anyway, little more than a place to sleep between battles.  The nice thing about a wasteland was that you didn't have to maintain it, or protect it from opportunistic raiders.  The Saiyans could fight and train in the wilderness without a care, or even abandon the planet for large scale operations that required the whole population.  The place was a dump, and they could be assured it would still be a dump when they returned.

And yet, the sensor sweep Luffa ran on the planet showed remarkable levels of development.  There were irrigation canals big enough to be visible from orbit, and grids of farmland dotting the land just beyond the coastal regions.  There were small towns, the largest of which were ringed with fairly modern spaceports.  Most impressive of all was a citadel in the middle of a desert.  There were no roads leading to it; since every Saiyan learned to fly in early childhood, there was no need for vehicles.

Accordingly, Luff brought the star yacht down several hundred miles from the citadel.

"Are you expecting an attack?" Zatte asked as they waited for the hatch to open.

"The ship's landing gear can handle most terrain," Luffa said.  "And I'm not in the mood to horse around with customs officials in any of the spaceports."

They stepped outside into the hot dry air and Luffa took in their surroundings.  A lizard scurried by, and she took aim with her finger and killed it with a burst of ki energy.

"Besides," she said as she walked over to pick up the carcass.  "It's a nice day.  Might as well fly under my own power."

Zatte took a step off the ramp and stumbled.  Unable to maintain her balance, she let herself drop, and hit the ground with a thud.

"Careful," Luffa said.  "The gravity here is stronger than what you're used to.  Nine or ten times the standard setting on the ship.

Zatte slowly got to her knees, and carefully planted on of her feet on the ground.  "I don't think..." she said between grunts of effort, "that I can stand this... for too long."

Luffa put the dead lizard in her mouth and hauled Zatte up to a standing position.  Once she was satisfied that Zatte was balanced properly, she steadied her with one hand and held the lizard with the other.

"You'll be okay," Luffa said as she bit off the animal's head.  "You're in no shape to fight like this, but your body's handling the extra weight just fine.  A year ago, you barely would have been able to move.  You've come a long way, Zattie."

"Maybe so, but I don't think I'll be able to go much further like this," she said.

"I'll carry you to the citadel," Luffa said.  "It's probably got artificial gravity fields to accommodate weaker aliens."

"'Probably?'"

There was a wet crunching sound as Luffa chewed the lizard's remains.  "He's put a lot of work into this place, like he's trying to turn it into a modern planetary settlement.  Stands to reason he expects aliens to drop in now and then, so he'd have the same tech to make then comfortable as any other high-G world."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Zatte said.

"I just don't see the point of setting up a Saiyan planet like this if you're just going to turn around and invite a bunch of aliens over," Luffa said.  "Either keep to yourselves or just do your business on a lighter planet."

"You think all this is a front?" Zatte asked.  "They didn't even grant us permission to land.  Seems a little too trusting and friendly to me."

"Or just confident," Luffa said.  "They're basically daring their enemies to land here and start trouble.  If a whole planet full of Saiyans couldn't defend themselves, they'd be too ashamed to ask for passports or ship registrations."

She stuffed the rest of the lizard's tail into her mouth and put her arm around Zatte's waist.  "Enough sightseeing," she said.  "Let's move out."

Zatte nodded, and Luffa took off, flying into the western horizon.

********

As Luffa predicted, the citadel was equipped with devices to offset the planet's natural gravity.    However, the citadel was not completely without hazards.

"Afternoon, ladies," said a large Saiyan man they encountered while walking through the street.  His shadow was broad enough to cover them both.

"Uh, hi," Zatte said.

"You aren't from around here," he said after looking them over.

"I'm here to see Rehval," Luffa said bruquely.

"Courtesans, huh?" he said with an ugly, thoughtless smile.  "Well, it just so happens I'm on the welcoming committee.  Let me give you some advice."

Zatte stepped closer to Luffa and began glancing from side to side.  Luffa locked eyes with the man and smirked at him.  "Anything you can tell me about Rehval," she said slowly, "would be very helpful."

Something about her tone startled him for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.  "Got a lot of spunk in you, huh?   Well that's great.  Okay, chippie, I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"What about your friends?" Luffa said.  "I'd like to hear what they have to say."

He frowned at this, apparently upset that she had noticed his companions.  He raised his hand, and six more Saiyans appeared on the street.  Two leaped down from tall buildings on either side of the street, one rounded the corner, and three more exited various shops.

"How'd she spot us?" one of them asked.

"A thirsty sand-bison can smell water a hundred miles away," said another.  "Is that it, girlie?  Are you thirsty?"

Luffa looked back at him for a moment, then back to their leader.  "You were going to tell me about Rehval," she said.

The big man harrumphed and crossed his arms.  "It's King Rehval, first of all.  You might drive a lot of men wild copping an attitude, but His Majesty won't tolerate disrespect."

"Is that right?" Luffa said. She stared into his beady eyes and flashed a predatory smile.  "He likes them meek and submissive, does he?"

"Y-yeah!" the big man said, struggling to maintain his confidence.  "And the clothes are all wrong!  Where'd you even find those baggy yellow pants, anyway?"

The others laughed and jeered.  Luffa shrugged.

"It's kind of my signature look," she said.  "You think he won't like it?"

"Of course not!" cried one of the other Saiyans.  "His Majesty's banner is blue!  At least your alien friend's got the right idea."

"Except her skin's blue, and her clothes are grey," another one piped in.

"No problem!" laughed another.  "If she wants to show respect to His Majesty, all she's gotta do is strip down!"

That got a laugh from all of them.  Luffa wasn't smiling anymore.

"I really don't think you should--" Zatte tried to say.

"What's your story, blue girl?" the big man asked.  "Did your last boyfriend play too rough?  Is that what happened to your eye?  I don't know if His Majesty will accept damaged goods, but we will."

"Yeah!" one of the others called.  "If you're looking for someone gentle, you came to the wrong planet, sweetheart!  King Rehval's the strongest Saiyan in the world!"

"Not anymore," Luffa said darkly.  "I’m here now.."

They all laughed.  "You!" the big man scoffed.  "That's some sense of humor you've got there, sister!  I don't know if King Rehval likes funny women, but I do.  At least, if they've got the right figure."

"You want to try me?" Luffa said.  "Let's go.  Right here and now.  I'm always in the mood."

"Yeah!" cheered one of the others.  "Get her!"

"Show her who's boss!"

"Warm her up for King Rehval!"

The big man smiled at first, but hesitated.  "Uh... I don't know," he said.  "Maybe one of you should work her over a little, give me a chance to see if she's my type."

No one accepted his offer.  Luffa smiled and turned her back to him.

"You heard the man," she said to his cronies.   "He can't handle me alone.  One of you boys will have to step up.  Maybe all of you?  Well, I'm game."

She held out her hand and wagged her fingers to beckon them forward.  No one moved.

"Aw, don't be shy," Luffa said. She turned back to face the big man.  "I guess you're on your own."

"Now h-hold on," he stammered.

"Who's going to teach me how to be meek and submissive?" Luffa asked in a saccharine tone.  "Or maybe you'd like to bed Rehval.  You seem to be his type."

"I don't want..."  the big man tried to say.  "I mean, we were just... just kidding around, heh-heh."

One of the men behind Luffa took a step backward.  Without looking back, Luffa swung her arm out and pointed at him.  The whole group cried out in thiny veiled terror.  "Running won't save you," she said.  "But feel free to give it a try.  I'll just hunt you down one at a time."

"P-please," the big man said.  "Don't--!"

"You don't want any trouble?  Too bad.  You're already in a fight, you clod.  I'm just giving you and your goons a free shot."

She looked around at them all.  "So who's first?" she asked.  "If you don't want to fight back, I understand.    But if you don't resist, I'll just destroy this entire planet."

Now Zatte was pleading for restraint.  "Luffa, we just got here," she said.

Luffa snorted.  "Too bad.  I guess Rehval should have chosen a better welcoming committee."

"Enough."

A man floated down from the sky and alighted at the end of the street.  Luffa turned to glance at him, while the other Saiyans gasped with shock.  As he approached, the big man and his friends all lowered themselves to one knee and placed their fists over their hearts in obeisance.

"You are Luffa, I presume?" he said cordially.   "I tracked your flight into the citadel."

Luffa eyed him skeptically.  "Who wants to know?" she asked.

"Now you've had it," one of the Saiyans muttered under his breath.  "You might be hot stuff, but the King will teach you some respect, you stuck up tw--"

His head exploded before he could finish speaking.  Rehval had been extending his hand to Luffa, but then aimed it at the Saiyan and shot him with a concentrated burst of ki.    The other six men trembled with dread.

"This woman is my guest," he announced.

"Forgive us, Sire!" the big man whimpered.  "We didn't know--"

Rehval executed him in the same fashion.  "Am I required to inform the public before conducting state business?" he asked patiently.  "Well, answer me."

"N-no, Sire!" one of the remaining five cried.

"It would be safer," he said, "to assume that passers-by are under my protection."

"Yes, King Rehval!"

He looked at Luffa and softened his expression.  "I apologize for this unpleasant incident," he said.

"I don't need protection from you," Luffa said.  "I was about to have some fun with these boys before you came along."

"Of course," he said.  "I meant no disrespect, Madam Federatrix.  Normally, I'd spare a few to share the lesson they've just learned, but if it satisfies your honor, their lives are yours."

Luffa looked down at the five of them, then at the two headless corpses.  "They're not worth my time," she said.

"You heard her," Rehval said.  "Go.  And take those bodies with you."

They hurried to do as he asked, nearly tripping over themselves as they scrambled to collect their dead friends and leave.      Once they were gone, Rehval extended his hand to Luffa again.

"I regret this whole unfortunate episode," he said.  "I had assumed you would contact the Foreign Minister before entering the city, or the Federation Embassy, or the Expatriate Office--"

"I go where I please, Rehval," Luffa said, pointing a thumb at her chest.  "I accepted your invitation, but that doesn't mean I'm going to jump through your hoops."

"The error was mine," he said graciously.  He looked at Zatte and smiled.  "Perhaps we might start fresh.  I am Rehval.  King of the Planet Saiya."

"Zatte," she said carefully.  "I'm Luffa's wife."

"Ah, I see," Rehval said.  "Drang spoke of an aide, but she knew little in the way of details."

"I try to stay out of the spotlight, Your Majesty," Zatte replied.  "My species prizes survival over publicity."

"Interesting," Rehval said.  "I've met a wide variety of alien beings who have married Saiyans.  I'd really like to learn more about yours."

"We'll see," Zatte said.

He looked back at Luffa and finally withdrew his hand.  "I had planned a formal procession for your arrival, Luffa.  If you wish to dispense with the pleasantries, then we might as well adjourn to my palace for dinner.  Is this acceptable?"

Luffa turned her head and spat on the ground.  "Let's get something straight, Rehval," she said.  "We're not friends, and I think your title is a bad joke.  If you think I'm going to start kneeling to you because you lay on a little charm, then you're dead wrong."

"Naturally," he said.  "You are your mother's daughter, aren't you?  So defiant, so proud.  Yet, here you stand.  And despite all your bluster, you haven't destroyed the entire planet, or strangled me with my own viscera, or crowned yourself as queen.  Unless you were saving that for later?"

Luffa continued to glare at him.

"No?  Then, I leave it up to you, Luffa.  We needn't be friends, but you did accept my invitation, which means you did wish to speak with me.  I may as well be a good host, and you may as well accept my hospitality, right?"

Luffa responded with the slightest of nods.

"Very good," Rehval said.  "Then if you'll follow me, ladies..."

He floated into the air and waved for them to join him.  A low growl rumbled from Luffa's throat as she flew after him, carrying Zatte in her arms.

*******

Rehval's palace consisted of the upper floors of the tower at the center of the citadel.  The architecture in the dining hall was typical for the entire facility: sleek and modern, with lots of polished marble and dark stone arranged at right angles.

Zatte finished her meal first, partly because she had the smallest appetite, but mostly because Luffa and Rehval were talking more than eating.  She watched them bicker with fascination.

In spite of what Luffa had said, she wasn't entirely unfriendly to Rehval.  Zatte had noticed this trait among Saiyans, where they would converse with their foes quite pleasantly, even as they plotted their destruction.  The Saiyans were so accustomed to dealing death that they seemed to take it in stride.  Maybe Luffa and Rehval weren't friends, but it would have been difficult for an outsider to say for certain.

"An assassin," Luffa said with her mouth full.  She cracked open a large bone and started digging out the marrow with a fork.  "That's what this is all about?  Someone's picking off Saiyans one by one, and you call it a crisis?"

"What would you call it?" Rehval asked.  He scooped a piece of fish into his mouth and busily worked on cutting himself another bite.  Zatte was rather impressed to see a Saiyan with such a command of table manners.

"I call it natural selection," Luffa grumbled.  "Whoever this killer is, his victims were obviously too weak to defend themselves.  Sooner or later, they would have met the same fate."

"You think they deserved to die?" Rehval asked pointedly.  "Simply because they lacked the power to save themselves?"

"It's our way, isn't it?" Luffa replied.  "Eventually, this assassin will bite off more than they can chew, and that'll be the end of it.  In the meantime, anyone they manage to kill is no great loss."

"Would that include you?" Rehval asked.

"I don't plan on getting killed," Luffa said.  "But yeah.  If I'm dumb enough to let an enemy get the better of me, I deserve whatever happens.  That goes for me, you, any Saiyan."

Zatte knew Luffa meant it.  There had been a time when she and her family had abandoned their defense of the Dorlu Prime colony, but once Luffa returned and committed herself to protecting it, she fought to the bitter end... and beyond.

This, more than anything, was what fascinated Zatte about Saiyans in general, and Luffa in particular.  Unlike the Dorluns, Luffa completely embraced death as a likely outcome of a great battle, and yet she managed to survive anyway.  Just by watching her, Zatte could tell that Luffa was already thinking about what she would do if this assassin tried to target her.

"I can't fault your attitude, Luffa," Rehval said.  "Many other Saiyans have told me they feel the same way.  But you and I have to look at the bigger picture, don't we?"

"What bigger picture?" Luffa asked, making no effort to hide her annoyance.

"I mean the galaxy," he said.  "As the ruler of the Saiyan homeworld, I have an interest in the welfare of all Saiyans, even the ones beyond my domain, who don't recognize my authority."

"Your concern is touching," Luffa said.  She pointed a butterknife at her chest and added: "It gets me right here."

He chuckled.  "I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I said I was worried about you.  Then I'll put it in terms of self-interest.  Think about how many Saiyans there are in the universe. Less than half are loyal to me, and fewer still actually live on this planet.  The rest of them do as they please, and they don't answer to anyone.  But I usually end up having to answer for them.  A planet gets raided by a man with a furry tail, and they contact me, thinking he was acting on my orders.  It gets irritating after a while."

"Sounds like a good reason to abdicate," Luffa said.

"That would only shift the blame to someone else," Rehval said.  "My successor, or a usurper."  He leaned in and raised an eyebrow as he stared at Luffa.  "Maybe even you, eh, Madam Federatrix?"

Luffa wasn't impressed.  "What do I care if I get blamed for a bunch of Saiyans causing trouble?" she asked.  "Half the galaxy thinks I'm a fairy tale, and the other half thinks I'm a man."

"You care about your Federation Alliance, don't you?" Rehval asked.  "Not even three years old, and already a rising galactic power.  The average GDP for each member world has mo more doubled."    He raised his glass in tribute.  "You should be proud."

"Hah!  You think any of that matters to me?" Luffa said.

"Right, you only forced the Federation members to work together so they would attract stronger enemies for you to fight," Rehval said.  "To you, it's nothing more than a cosmic fishing net, but you still have to maintain it.  If popular opinion turned against you, the Federation might splinter or collapse, wouldn't it?"

"Who knows?" Luffa asked as she leaned back in her chair.  "And so what if you're right?  I'd just move on."

"A mighty hunter roaming the stars," Rehval said with a smile.  He looked to Zatte and said "I can see why you married her.  She's quite the romantic."

Zatte chuckled nervously.  She wasn't worried for her safety, but it was still difficult to read the situation.  She had convinced Luffa to come here in order to determine Rehval's intentions, but the man was just as baffling in person as he was at a distance.

He noticed Luffa growing annoyed, so he turned his attention to her.  "You can change locations," he said, " but I suspect your methods would be the same.  If this Federation fails, you'll simply create a new one, or find some other way to attract worthy prey.  But you'll still depend on others to help you for that," Rehval said.  "You've grown so mighty and so great that you can't live like some ordinary Saiyan wanderer, plundering planets and finding new challenges in every direction."

Luffa looked up at the high ceiling of the hall.  Painted on the surface was a mural of a Saiyan army engaged in a great battle with some monstrous creature.  Zatte glanced up at it, but could only guess why it held Luffa's attention.

"Everyone keeps reminding me that I'm not normal," Luffa said.  "But I wonder if it's the other way around."  She looked back at Rehval and smiled in a very unfriendly way.  "Maybe I'm the only true Saiyan, and you're the freaks."

"Then what?" Rehval asked, ignoring her slights as always.  "Would you ignore us?  Conquer us?  Destroy us?  Mentor us in your ways?"

Luffa's smile drooped slightly.  "I haven't made up my mind," she said.

"Fair enough, but the problem is the same no matter what you decide. Your fate will still be bound with ours.  Which is just a roundabout way of saying that our problems invariably become your problems.  This assassin concerns us all."

"You want us to catch this guy, Your Majesty?" Zatte asked.  She noticed Luffa's eyes would narrow whenever she addressed him this way, but Zatte didn't think it was wise to antagonize their host.  Whatever his intentions, he had acted in good faith so far.

"I would ask for your help, yes," Rehval said.  "At least fifty Saiyans have been found dead, all of them poisoned by some unknown toxin.  I think it's reasonable to assume the killer is using stealth and misdirection to catch their victims off guard.  At the very least, I want to warn as many Saiyans as I can about the problem.  And Luffa can spread that warning to Saiyans who would trust her more than me."

"What about the victims?" Zatte asked.  "Is there any pattern that might suggest a motive?"

"None," Rehval said as he sipped his drink.  "I put my best investigators to work on it, and they've turned up nothing so far.  The victims are from all walks of life.  Men, women, nonbinary, from a wide range of ages and backgrounds.  Some of them were royalists, others were dissidents like Luffa."

Zatte considered the problem for a moment.  "What about the locations?" she asked.  "If the killer's working their way along a particular route--"

"How do we know you aren't behind this, Rehval?" Luffa asked.

"I beg your pardon?" he said.

"Those soldiers you sent after us two years ago," she said.  "Or had you forgotten?"

"Soldiers?" Rehval asked.

Luffa rose from her seat and planted her hands on the table, rising so quickly that she knocked over her chair.  "Don't play dumb with us, Rehval.  You didn't even try to cover your tracks that day.  Ten Saiyan soldiers in royal blue uniforms, tracking us in a light cruiser like the ones used by the Saiyan Royal Navy?"

A worried look came over his face.  "Oh no," he said in a low voice.

"Do you remember now?"  Luffa seethed.  "I killed them all, Rehval.  They never stood a chance.  I might have spared them just so they could tell you how badly it went, but I wasn't quite myself that day."

"And you think I authorized that mission," Rehval said.  "And this whole time I've been... Oh, I apologize.  I should have explained from the beginning--"

"Of course you authorized the mission!" Luffa shouted.  She grabbed the edge of the table and tossed it across the hall like an empty package.  "Don't try to pretend that this was some bureaucratic mix-up.  My mother told me all about how you used to run this dump when she lived here!  The way you suppressed dissent, forced everyone to live and train the way you wanted."

"Luffa, please let me--" Rehval tried to say, but she was too upset to listen.

"Nobody can scratch their tail on this planet without you knowing about it.  I'm betting you sent that 'welcoming committee' to meet us, too, just to try and throw us off.    So don't tell me you didn't authorize that mission, Rehval.  Seems to me you like assassins just fine when they're doing your dirty work."

He took a deep breath and sighed.  "You believe I was behind that, and the arrangement with Kandai as well..."

"That's a real cute word for it, Rehval," Luffa snarled.  "'Arrangement.'  Hah!  I guess you don't remember that one either!"

"I am well aware," Rehval said sadly.

"Then let me show you the 'arrangement'," she said.  She tugged down the waistline of her yellow pants and raised the hem of her black sleeveless shirt, just enough to reveal a long thin scar on the right side of her lower abdomen.  Rehval winced at the sight of it, but did not look away.

"You arranged for Kandai to arrange for the Tikosi to cut me open like a carcass!" Luffa said.    Her hands began to tremble, and she tightened her grip on her clothing to steady them.  "Then they arranged my son right out of my damned body."

Zatte stood up, and began to approach her, reaching out with her hands, but Luffa shook her head, and so she kept her distance.  Rehval remained in his chair.  Servants entered the room, attracted by the noise of Luffa's tantrum, but he dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

"And you have the gall," Luffa said, "to 'invite' me to your planet, to ask for my help, as if none of this ever happened.  You're so concerned about the welfare of all the Saiyans!  Well where were you then?!  Where was the mighty King of Saiya when I needed him?"

For a moment, the hall was silent, save for Luffa's heavy breathing.  Zatte recalled that, before they came here, Luffa had confessed to feeling guilty for putting the loss of her son behind her.  Now, as she accused the king for his role in the crime, the old emotional wounds seemed to have been reopened, and Zatte wondered if they had ever truly healed at all.

At last Rehval rose from his chair, his face ashen with dread.  "To answer that, I have to show you something first," he said.  "Will you let me do this?"

*******

In the lower levels of the citadel was a strange laboratory.  It had been abandoned for some time.    The black benchtops and glassware were covered with a thin layer of dust.  Notebooks and equipment still lay where they had last been used, as if their owner had planned to resume his work after a brief absence.  On the wall was a diagram of various arcane symbols, with additional marking scrawled around it by hand.

This was my father's inner sanctum," Rehval explained as he led the women into the room.    "I've never shown this to anyone before.  My subjects believe he was a righteous king.  They don't realize what he did to maintain his power..."

"Alchemy," Luffa said as she looked at the symbols on the wall.  "This is an alchemical laboratory, like the academy on Gwarthos.  What does this have to do with anything?"

"Luffa, what I'm about to tell you may be difficult to hear, and perhaps harder to believe," Rehval said.  "But I urge you to hear me out."

Luffa was losing patience, but Zatte took her hand in her own and whispered in her ear.  "We came here for answers, Luffa.  Let's see what he has to say."

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.  Rehval cleared his throat and began.  "First, I must ask for clarification," he said.  "You had mentioned to me earlier that your mother told you about what it was like to lived under my reign.  She witnessed my suppression of dissidents.  Is that correct?"

"She used to live on this planet," Luffa muttered.  "She left before I was born."

"Yes, I know," Rehval said.  "I checked the census records before you arrived.  I wanted to know more about you, you understand.  Your mother left Planet Saiya thirty years ago."

"That sounds about right," Luffa said.  "So what?"

He pointed at himself.  "Just this: I was not the king of Saiya thirty years ago.  She was speaking of my father, who was also named Rehval."

Luffa blinked.  "Are you trying to tell me--?"

"I only ascended to the throne last year," he said.  "Your grievance is with King Rehval the Second.  I am King Rehval the Third."