The Return!

The three of them had different thoughts going in their heads, but all knew he was serious about things. "Yes Sir!" All three of them said.

Keya watched passively, they might of been the strongest by normal Sayain or Alusarian standards but she had faith in them they would rise to the challenge.

"Ah. Brings me to my academy days.." Reggie said with a nostalgic bit of longing in their voice.

Keya wasn't sure about that sort of thing, though she had to remember he had been a miltary person once upon a time so they had a different perespective on things then she did. "Very well. There are a number of other things to get to, after all."

Lee nods. He remembered going through Exactly what Cotto was about to put them all through as well. It was best if Keya Didn't see this, so he leads her back to the palace "I have also brought a list of areas effected by the droughts we've been enduring lately." he says as he pulls out a data crystal and hands it to Keya.

"Now to address the Targ in the room..." he says, not really caring who was around to listen in "I am here to keep an eye on your progress." he says "There is no time limit to what I ask, only progress matters to me." he points out.

"I've been aware of your people for a good deal of time now and so far, they haven't done Anything note worthy. No one knows who you people are." he states.

"What I mean is, when someone needs a bit of extra muscle, they call the Saiyans. When someone needs a cool head to prevail, they call the Alusarians. When someone needs some fancy technology, they call the Eldarians..." he explains "Do you see where I'm going with this? I want the Acorians to be among the list of people others think of when they need something specific done for them." he says.

"With the other three races allying with you, than you will be safe from possible invaders who with to exploit you for your resources, like we've seen happen before." he points out again "And if someone out there Does feel bold enough to attack, you will have your own forces to drive them off or at least hold them off until help arrives." he finishes, laying out his plan for Keya and her people.

She probably didn't, with her more kind hearted and softer nature. She of course wasn't naive enough to know violence and harsher things were sometimes a nesscarily evil but that didn't mean she had to like said things.

Keya patiently listened to the older man as he spoke, after taking the data crystals to know which areas were the problem ones. She already had in mind some of the people she was going to send, young Alissa had volunteered as she wanted to see her friends again and help back in some way. It worry Esta but Alissa was a grown woman.

Keya had a idea of what he was referring to with the exploit resources comment, that had been how Esta and her family ended up under here in the first place. That world hadn't been an Acorian one but fact remained there had been a sizebale minority of their people there.

"I see. So in part, its about finding a niche of some kind. I think we as a collective people can do that." Keya said. "And I'm sure given time we'll find something, but in the mean time improving some areas could be a stepping stone to it."

Lee nods "You Need better ships and a stronger planetary defense." he points out "That would be the best way to start and, as I said, time isn't important, only results. Because this won't happen over night." he says "But reaching out to the Saiyans is a step in the right direction." he says, nodding.

With the Acorians having made friends with the Saiyans, others out there will think twice before trying something against the peaceful race.

"It's something that's already I plan on doing. I did talk to some people on Eldar of a few people visiting so we can get things under way. I don't want to just copy their designs but have something of our own. There is the Day of Liberation coming up soon. It's a annual Holiday for when Eldarians saved us from invasion and helped us become space farring, that's where I plan to figure a few things out with some visiting here."

There was a lot to do and seemingly little time in the day to do them, on top of balancing the responsibilities of motherhood. Turning Esta into a personal maid and care giver had been one of her better ideas.  It wouldn't change the past, but she made sure to look after that family after what they had gone through.

In the mean time..

"I've been meaning to ask you something." Keya began. "Before the Trade was ultimately turned defunct Vegeta had its own experience with them. I was wondering how much if anything you know about their.." She paused, the distaste audible in her tone for the next part. "Disposlbale Clone program, as Andrien called it. It had fancier title to it, but that's what it was mostly consisting of Alusarians and Sayains. I'm asking, because Andrien has friends from there, I intended to find them and give those who want it, a home. The ones he vouches for that is."

"I'm not expecting any miracles, its been a year so I'm not too sure how many would still be around or how long they could go without their fix. However, if you have any idea where to look I'd greatly appreciate it. The other reason is less altruistic I suppose but mutually beneficial. Obviously Acor would benefit from said that actually live here."

Lee thinks for a bit "As an advisor to the royal family of Vegeta, may I suggest that you buy some ships from whomever is selling them, take one of them apart to see how to works, Then you can see about making your own ships." he suggests.

"Having your own unique ships doesn't make you any different from everyone else." he says "My people are Still using the ships we got from the planet brokers, when they occupied my world." he points out "It's not really ideal, but it's the only ships we know how to make and they're what we're known for." he points out.

"After all, even though the planet brokers first made those ships, most still call them 'Saiyan Spacepods' and you know, we're okay with that." he says.

* *

Cotto was looking over his trainees as he evaluated their skills by having them spar with one another. They had Passable skill, but their powerlevels, at least as far as he was concerned, were laughable. Only One of them had a decent powerlevel.

"Okay, that's enough." he says as he waves them over "You all have at least Some skill in fighting." he says "Let's see how you use it against an opponent that's stronger than you." he slides into a fighting stance "Now attack me with Everything you got! Come at me as if you intend to take my life! That's the Only way you all stand a chance!" he orders.

Keya internally frowned at Lee ignoring the question but dropped it, if she wanted something done you needed to do it yourself. Later this evening perhaps she'd try to get into contact with the king or queen of Vegeta later but it was on her to do list of things of Many things to complete.

"I suppose. Still, its something my people want to do but there hasn't been as much incentive until more recently. I'm going to see what can be brought from the market, but in the mean time there isn't a need to reinvent the wheel."

* *

Andrien knew this was going to be a mess for a couple of reasons:

Bella was a very nice young woman but she currently couldn't fight a standing broom due to no training and a lack of experience in fighting at all. From what he could see, her basic Ki control was there at least but that was the extent of it.

Gina was the Only one who was somewhat trained from what he could see, but it looked self taught. As for himself, he was more a street fighter, brawler he just went with what worked and got the more results.

The other issue was none of them fought along side each other which means they could easily get into each other way. Andrien had only fought along side his fellow artificial Alusarian and Sayains, but these two he barely knew. The synergy of people who all they had was each other versus people who just met made a huge difference without saying.

It be rough, but then again it wasn't new. Trying to make something work in not so great conditions was most of his life in his nutshell.

"All right then, here I come!" Before Andrien could stop her, Gina charged Cotto with a blazing purple aura. For an Eldarian she was on the hot blooded side.

Andrien resisted the urge to roll his eyes before shaking his head. "Stay close and get ready to move to back them up." He was going to take any chance at openings they could get. No Ki blast though, Gina might get hit and they weren't on the same page

"A-all right." Bella wasn't too sure about most of..anything but she was going to do her best !

Lee nods "Indeed. Idle hands don't change the universe." he says "You don't think the Jurians started out as strong as they are, or the Chozo? Of course not. It was something that they, as a species, worked towards. That's something the Articans are good at that the rest of us should look more closely at." he explains "Achievements for the sake of a single, unified, goal and not for selfish gain, like most races, yes, even the Saiyans." he says.

Lee frowns slightly and looks over towards the training area. something, he felt, was happening there "If you'll excuse me. This will only take a moment." he says.

* *

Wen it happened, it seemed, to any on lookers, to happen all at once. But to Cotto, it seemed to be happening in slow motion. Two of the kombatants weren't moving as fast as he felt they Should be moving.

However, there Was one. The Alusarian. Cotto didn't know much abut him, only that he looked like Gareth Reaver. Cotto Knew he Wasn't Gareth Reaver, but that didn't help him with Cotto wanting to punch him in the face.

Cotto supposed he should go after their weakest link first and that would be Bella, he figured. She lacks Any kind of self confidence and that made her an easy target.

Gina was scrappy. She had a heart of a Saiyan warrior and not an Eldarian weakling. Cotto Knew that no matter how many times he knocked her down, she would Always get up. But heart alone wasn't always going to be enough.

Finally there was Andrien, the Gareth clone. If he was Anything like Key, he would be flawed and if he were to push himself too hard, he probably wouldn't be able to recover as quickly as a Real Alusarian.

Cotto looks over to Bella. He Knew whom he should take down first... but...

Cotto's aura suddenly flairs up, almost explosively, and he shoots at Andrien with insane speeds, the intent of taking him down first! The Saiyan pulls back a fist, he still felt he had a score to settle with Gareth an since he was dead, this act alone denied Cotto the revenge he felt he was owed, and since Andrien was Here, and it helped that he looked so much like Gareth, he would settle his revenge on him.

Cotto lets his punch fly with all the intent of ending this battle for Andrien! Cotto's attack hits and hits Hard! But Not at his intended target. Lee was suddenly There and had cought Cotto's powerful attack like it was Nothing!

Keya wondered what was going and if she should investigate, but Lee said he would be right back so she'd wait a bit longer. Besides it wasn't like she was lacking in duties, but it was nice to take a break to recover mentally from time to time.

A knock was heard from to interrupt her thoughts. "Enter."

The large doors opened and a beautiful woman came stepping in with a little girl in tow, who also seemed to be based off a rabbit judging from their ears and general looks.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The woman said as she entered, smiling a bit. "The little one really wanted to see you."

"Not at all Esta. My guest went to take care of something." Keya was always happy to see them but a brown blur came and tackled her, or rather her leg making Keya grin as she crouched down and hugged the small child. "Pretty soon you're going to be out muscling me if you keep growing like this. Been behaving Imra?"

"Mhm. Look! I made this with miss Esta's help!" As Keya backed up to see the offered piece of paper, it looked to her a drawining. It was about what you would expect of a younger child, though there was more detail on it.

"I see. I'm impressed. You've definitely improved, did Pyria help with this one?"

"Yeah, but she was tired so we didn't finish it."

"We'll, for the next time let me know when you do." Keya smiled warmly as she got back up, Imra staying close to her mother. "Was there something you wanted to ask of me Esta? You seemed like something was on your mind."

"Oh..I.." Esta thought about lying to say it was nothing and she had enough on her plate but Keya would know and ask so she relented. "Later on this evening when things wind down I'll discuss it with you."
* *

Andrien planned on sticking close to Bella, since she lacked any combat skills maybe she could at least learn by following his example. She reminded him of one of his friends who passed beyond this world due to genetic issues. They had a similar personality at first glance, which was ironic because they were based off a Sayain at least as far as sterotypes go.

He did miss them along with others, but that was in the past. So he told himself.

Before they could go with a plan of attack on Cotto, they were interrupted as Lee appeared from seemingly Nowhere making him stop along with Bella.

Even Gina almost had audible breaks being heard as she stopped. Sure she was more on the hard headed side and the 'hit first, think along the way' when it came to fighting but she wasn't stupid so she halted.

Lee had a passive look on his face as he lets go of Cotto's fist "Let's talk." was all Lee says as he takes off into the sky, Cotto following shortly after.

It wasn't to long before the both of them come back "Now remember what we talked about and Don't do that again. I'll know it if you do." he says as he heads back in.

Cotto looks back to his student and frowns "Were you three just standing around this Whole time?" he asks, sounding a bit pissed.

* *

Lee comes back in "Apologies for being so long. I needed a word with my fellow subordinate." he says with a slight bow of apology.

"...All right, so remember you don't want your thumb in your closed fist." Gina was currently showing Bella some basic crash course in hand to hand with Andrien's help. Though her opinion they both needed, Andrien was all right for someone who was more learn by fire type but every bit help.

"Why not?" Bella asked them.

"You'll break your thumb that way. It's pretty nasty when that happens if you don't know what you're doing, espeically if you hit someone hard. It's not fun from personal experience." Andrien didn't want them to learn the hard way as it were.

"..Oh." Bella said, a bit embarrassed  she hadn't gotten so simple without it needing to be explained.

Gina patted her on the back. "Don't worry about it. All have to start somewhere. You got Alusarian blood in you, I'm sure you could be a real badass one day if you put your mind to it.."  She was going to continue before Cotto came back as if someone had kicked over his favorite stand or something. It must have been whatever the two talked about, but it wasn't her issue. "No. We were going over some hand to hand stuff."

*  *

Keya turned her attention back to Lee once they entered and apologized for being gone. "It's all right, things come up and we have to deal with them I know from experience. While they're here I wanted to introduce to these two. The little one is my daughter Imra, and this woman is one of close friends and maids Esta."

"Hi Mr. Lee." The little girl said, she was slightly curious as she hadn't really seen a Sayain before.

"Its an pleasure to meet you. While I may be busy during certain times due to other duties, while you're here you're an guest. So don't be shy to ask if you need anything." Esta did take her duties very seriously since Keya had helped her family so much, it was the least she could do. Lee was probably pretty self contained so she probably wouldn't need her assistance with much, if at all.

Lee nods "Greetings, ladies. You both are doing well? he asks. He wanted to continue his conversation with the Queen, but it seemed the fates had other plans for their time, as they kept getting interrupted by all manner of things.

* *

Cotto looks over to Andrien "You. Take off for now. Either the Elder Lee or myself will find you, later." he says. It was best this way, Lee had decided, that way Cotto doesn't let his feelings towards the clone cloud his judgment.

Keya decided while she did want to spend more time with her daughter and her friend it would have to wait until this part was concluded at least. "Me and Lee are going to have some more boring adult talk, why don't you go spend some more time with Esta and Pyria while I finish? I promise to make it up to you tonight."

Imra was visibly disapointed even if they had this conversation more then once. There was a mumbled 'okay' before she was led off by Esta who took the young girls hand.

Once they left, Keya sighed. "I do wish my schedule wasn't as it is, but its the price one has to pay.." She shook her head. "Anyway, was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

* *

Andrien wondered what that was about, he had ideas of maybe but nothing concrete. "I'll see you two later." After that, he left to where ever he had in mind which he had a few ideas for.

Lee thinks for a moment. He was deciding on if to throw out a wild card for the Acorian Queen, in the long run it would benefit her people, incase something happened. He decided to use it as a suggestion, more than anything else "Another planet you may wish to get in contact with, a small planet called Earth..." he says.

Lee pulls out a small holo emitter and an image of Earth appears on it "It's much like Acor in many aspects, however, it's native species , Humans, can be a bit unpredictable and often untrusting of other races, however, they can also produce some of the Strongest warriors outside of the Saiyans." he explains.

"They Are a bit more primitive than most worlds, having only Just gained the ability to travel beyond their own solar system, but I've heard Joseph and an acquaintance f his, who is also from Earth, talk abut them and the fighters that come from them." he says.

* *

Cotto looks over to the remaining recruits "Alright..." he says as he pulls something that looks like a mechanical brooch "Put these on and activate them." he says "They'll alter the gravity around you, making you more heavy. We'll start low and work our way up to Vegeta standard." he says.

Keya had heard of earth in passing but mostly second hand information as it was a bit further away from their home to say the least bit. "I've heard of earth but really only in passing. I'll put it on my list of things to consider far as getting contact is concerned, it'll probably be some time. Also, are humans the only native species to that planet?"

* *

Bella was a bit bothered by Andrien being sent off, though she didn't know why they had so she couldn't comment on it either way. For now she focused on gravity brooch, which upon activating made her stumble as she tried to adjust.

Gina did better, though she was stronger and more prideful so there was that too.

Lee shakes his head "No. It's a melting pot of different species, but the Humans, and their off branch race the Zoanthropes, are native to Earth." he says.

"A Zoanthrope, incase you were wondering, is a Human with the ability to change their shape into a Human/Animal hybrid who look, if I'm honest, very much like an Acorian." he explains.

* *

Cotto nods; It was too early to say for Bella, but he sees good things in the future fo Gina "Okay, so for the rest of the day, you're going to be doing physical exercise, getting use to the increase in gravity." he says "Once you can move like it's no there, we'll turn it up and start over from the beginning."

He decides now was a good time to seek Andrien out. He was pretty easy to find, as the number of Alusarians in the area was pretty slim.

"Truly? That's interesting, the only other race I know that was somewhat similar looking to us was the Cornerians. There are a lot of human looking races though come to think of it.." Keya had thought of that before of the odds of so many races looking like humans that lived galaxies apart. She wasn't a believer in any higher power but it was curious.

"In any case, besides the Eldarians who would you recommend buying ships from?"

* *

Andrien was at a lake of some kind thinking of a few things or another that had been on his mind for a while. He certainly couldn't complain at his current status of where he was at right now, things for the most part things were finally looking up.

When he helped stage the jail break so to speak, they had managed to steal some of that stabilizing stuff along the way. In order not all to be caught or killed everyone pretty much had to scatter on their own or very small groups as they made the best of things. One thing he actually was grateful for was apparently getting the clever part from Gareth even if he was his own person obviously, otherwise he wasn't sure if the plan would have worked as well.

Ultimately in a sense ignorance was bliss as he didn't know the fate of any of them, save for the itch so it was a double edged sword. At least Cooler seemed to be actually dead and his organization couldn't hurt anyone anymore, or make more people who had to go through the same things they did.

Lee thinks for a bit. There weren't many races who would sell their ships to a technologically limited race like the Acorians "Junkers. They'll give you the Best deal on ships, even if they need some work done." he says "And that's where the Eldarians come in." he points out.

* *

Cotto walks over to Andrien "You remind me strongly of the man, and I use the term loosely, who you are cloned from." he says "And that's Not a good thing."

He walks beside Andrien "I fully intended to put you on the ground in that mock battle, had Lee not stopped me." he says.

"Put this on and activate it..." he says, tossing a gravity device to the Alusarian "Once you turn it on, it'll increase your gravity." he says "You are to do physical training until the gravity becomes second nature, then we'll turn it up and start over." he explains.

Keya would have to look into it, certainly it wouldn't hurt their cause in seeing what they could see with one person's trash being another's treasure. If nothing else as noted it be a good starting point with the Eldarians help once they found something decent in the pile.

"I'll keep that in mind and have some of people look into it until we find a few ship models we can take back that suit our needs." They should be able to find something or another. "I admit, I have passing knowledge of ships but far from an expert, that's what advisors are for; catch leaders blind spots instead of having to be as versed in all areas."

*  *

Andrien could take being insulted all day long, nothing new especially given the background of having to deal with all the people in charge of keeping them in line back at his 'birth place' so to speak.

However, any comparison between him and Gareth was a sore spot as he absolutely loathed them due to personal history together, aside from the general of Gareth being a monster. He was responsible for a lot of personal grief back then. More then anything the bastard was complicit in letting the guards have their way with Chaya even if they weren't directly involved.

Andrien wrestled the negative feelings down, as having an overly emotional response wasn't exactly the best way to get things back on track. Besides,  Luffa would have been mad at him letting others words effect him that much if she was still around; how that woman shrugged off most things he didn't know.

After taking the gravity device, and a long silence he finally answered. "..No its not. I know that more then most people then I'd want to. Did you mean besides looking like them?" They didn't have to be pen buddies or anything, but if he was going to work under Cotto then at least a level of professional tact was needed to get things done.

Lee nods "Indeed. A wise ruler relies on their advisors when they don't know what they should be doing and a fool and failure of a ruler doesn't even Use them, which becomes clear when each of their plans fail." he says, Sore of agreeing with Keya.

* *

Cotto shakes his head "It doesn't matter. A warrior lives in, and for, the now. Thinking of the future, but it ever mindful of the present." he says. That was something Lee once told him.

He smacks Andrien on the back "Go join the others. There's plenty of work that needs doing..." he says as he looks back to where the others are "Also, I need to find another recruit. The team is off balance with only three." he mumbles.

Keya knew that lesson all too well from some of her predecessors, one of her ancestors had arrogantly thought they could do Everything on their own, which ended up being self destructive to him and his kingdom to self implode. She aimed not to repeat their mistake along with those of the past.

"I couldn't agree more." She said, starting to think on a few other things. "So among the first things on my to do list aside from better ships, is establishing a better defense planetary force. Perhaps it would be prudent to see what some other races are doing and not doing when it comes to their standing armies. I know Alus for instance despite having the ability to, their entire army isn't made of Ki users."

* *

Andrien decided to leave it alone and head back to the others, a struggle since the gravity thing but it would make him stronger. It would be tough for Cotto to find more recruits, we'll, more on the 'notable' side of things. All the stood out ones were called for unless off world. Probably, but who knows.

Gina was struggling but pushing through as expected, Bella too. She didn't have all the natural talent, but if she put her mind to something she did give it her all.

Lee nods slowly, thinking "Indeed. Vegeta's army consists of almost all fighters, like myself." he says "You could possibly do what Jurai does. They have a security grid of defense satellites stationed around their planet." he points out "Have them linked to a central hub that controls them, as well scans for incoming ships, that would be a solid planetary defense."

* *

Just because none stood out to him right Now, didn't mean there wasn't any to be had. Cotto would find them.

He looks towards those he Has. As he suspected, the Alusarian and the Eldarian were doing well. But the Acorian, wasn't living up to Cotto's expectations. Something a bit more hands on Might be needed.

That got the gears in Keya's head turning about a planetary defense system that could shoot ships far before they reach Acor's surface. It wouldn't be a full proof system since there could be ways around it, or in the case of some Ki users that could breath in space. In theory that would be for people that were being trained that made Acor their home.

"I'll talk to some of my people about it, I think we have the means to get something like that started-" She was cut off as her stomach slightly growled. "-In the meantime I should eat something before it decides my stomach decides it wants to eat my instead. Are you hungry?" Sayains ate a lot and often at least from what she heard about.

* *

Gina think she knew what the problem was, we'll, maybe. Bella was doing better as time went along and she was trying, though she was taking a bit longer then Andrien or or herself. It wasn't just genetics and one could argue the Acorian blood slowed things down a bit but it was still above average. However even with races that grew slow, they could grow faster with the right mind set. In that case, she'd do what she could to give Bella a nudge because that was what Gina felt all she needed.

Lee shakes his head "Not at this moment, highness. I have some things to look into at this time." he says "Perhaps tonight?" he asks.

* *

If asked, Cotto would say that the right mind set Wasn't enough. One needed to have certain aptitude for this life style, and make no mistake about it, it Was a life style.

Still, it was almost time to stop for the day. After all, these Milk drinkers were made of soft stuff. All except for Andrien and that was Only because he was an Alusarian, as far as Cotto was concerned.

Keya thought about it, she supposed it wouldn't have hurt. "Tonight will be fine. I have matters to attend to myself, I'll see you later."

*  *

The day continued to trudge on until it hit the evening time and everyone began to wind down to do their own thing. Andrien, Bell and Gina had also for the time taken residence in the palace for the time being since it would make training a bit easier. They didn't have to stay there every day but it did make things to an extent more on the managebale side of things.

Keya was tired mentally from all her other responsibilities but before bed there was a few things on her 'to do list' as she went into get into contact the king or queen of Vegeta for a bit of information; which took some time but she did get a hold of Joseph who was on the screen for the moment.

"Queen Keya, its nice to meet you after you talked to my wife a few days back. What can I do for you?" He figured there was a reason for it

"Indeed, its nice meet you as well. You're correct there was another reason i called as I have a request to ask of you." Keya wasn't sure if it would work out but there was no harm in asking. Besides if the stories were true of his character as well as Teala they'd probably want to help.

So she explained the situation the best she could "..And that's why I came to you. I wasn't sure but figured it couldn't hurt to ask."

"I see.." Joseph trailed off, thinking. "So for this clone thing, I actually want to help too for those worth helping anyway so I'm going to get into contact with a friend and hash things out. Once that's done he'll come over to when he has the time, he's busy so may take a while. If he says who is or isn't trustworthy and worth bringing around, trust him. He has an ability to know more then he should and that's all I'll say on it."

That sounded fair, Keya nodded. "That seems like a reasonable request, I'll keep that in mind when they come. Is there anything else? And if I may ask, what made you decide to help?"

There was another pause. "I'll say right now, that if anymore are around in hiding I would recommend them going to your planet or Alus. Vegeta isn't too fond of  even artificial Sayains and they may be miserable and outcast there. Can't stop them if they wanted but I'd advise against it."

"As for why, we'll its the right thing to do and its in my power to do so. And.." Joseph thought if he should share something that had been troubling him a bit for years. "You see, years ago there was a very powerful artificial Sayain by the name of Mindy, she challenged my mate for right to the throne. She was defeated so obviously didn't happen."

"There's a bit more to that from past personal history in my travels but that's about far as I'm willing to go with it. Anyway no promsies and it may be bad news for us both since I have a vested interest in it too. I have to get going, but it was nice talking to you. Have a good night."

Keya watched as the screen shut off as she put the com away for now. It was no promises as noted but at least things were moving in the right direction.

In the mean time she was going to get dinner before heading to bed, Lee could still join her if he wasn't busy but she was fine either way with how things went. Esta she knew was still out and about, maybe even cooking something at the current time, she knew her friend liked to keep busy when she could.