Quote:“Listen, my brothers,” the Arlian councilman spouted over the crowd of elected officials, “This restoration is not happening in the manner it was meant to. We need to take a serious look at our system, and then—”

With that comment, the room was in an uproar. How dare he question their methods? He was not their leader. There were no leaders—this council was here to restore Arlia, not to reevaluate the government. It was preposterous to suggest such a thing. After this, no one could have blamed them if they did not quiet at his call, but the Arlians were a wise race, so when he called for silence, they conceded.

“We have watched—sat idly by as our lands were brutally tortured over the past year,” he began, “Whether it was the Construct infecting our people, and turning them against our own soil or simple space pirates detracting from the essence of nature that defines this planet, it has been a long, long, while since we’ve seen peace here on our planet.”

The group nodded in agreement, several muttering statements of approval.

“And now, I sit here every day and watch each and every one of you quarrel and bicker about the best way to integrate ourselves into galactic society. Well, my friends, here’s what I say,” he continued, and at this, paused, and stepped in front of the podium, “I ask you when have we worried about others before? Arlia has always been independent. It has always been something that worked well on its own. I ask you why we need Earth. Why do we need Namek? Or Vegeta—or Mercy—or Frost—or Kajin Rala, even?”

The room’s hushed silence continued eerily, and the councilman with all of the ears listening to him smiled. This was going perfectly—he could not have imagined it better. “So why do we associate with them? Because we are weak. We are truly weak. Every day, we sit here, thinking about joining the quadrant in a flourish of economic triumph—but why must we reach out to them to achieve this? Can we not achieve it on our own?”

The argument was sinking in, and many other council members shuffled in their seats as they pondered the idea of becoming completely detached, completely independent from the rest of the galaxy. “My friends,” he sighed, nearly to the end of his rant, “When we restore our planet, I want us to restore our planet. Not Earth. Not Namek. Not Vegeta. I want Arlia to restore Arlia.”

“But what of us?” another member piped up. “Like you said, we are weak. We need assistance, councilman.”

“My brother, of course there will be exceptions,” he concluded, “But let us be assured that we will not rely on these people. I am planning to enlist a small group of warriors that have proved esteemed and more powerful than any normal Arlian to come and assist with the restoration effort. In fact, some of them have already arrived on the planet.”

“Who are they?”

“That will be revealed in time, brother. For now, I simply ask for your trust. Will you give it to me?” Slowly, the congregation stood in succession, and began to applaud loudly for the speaker. He smiled a devilish smile, and then bowed, and took his seat. Everything was going to be fine now.

He just knew it.