"Man, he's going to be so mad." Zeck laughed to himself as he pocketed his cell phone.
"You know you're going to have to deal with him face-to-face when he gets there, right?" Bulma's voice sounded from Zeck's neck, where a micro-sized transmitter had been implanted.
Instantly, Zeck's face turned ashen as the logical part of his brain realized the horrifying truth that he'd just intentionally angered a Saiyan.
He'd actually learned that lesson a long time ago, but between the way he'd recently gotten a massive boost to his power level and the fact that there were hundreds of kilometers between them had given his confidence a temporary boost.
"...Maybe I should just hope that he's right and they're stronger than I can deal with, then. Maybe if I get beaten badly enough, he'll feel sorry for me?" Zeck wondered aloud.
"Sorry, buddy." Bulma consoled from her computer at home.
Zeck decided not to think about it. "System check?"
"I used you as a relay when I changed the background of your call with Tarble, Zeck. Everything's optimal. I should be able to gather data on this guy from here, remotely. Just calm down. You're strong, you'll be fine." Bulma told him.
"...You're right. I'm strong. I'll be fine. I can win this." Zeck repeated.
It made him feel a bit better.
"Plus, if you lose, you won't have to wait for Tarble to kill you. I'll figure out a way to do it from here!" That cancelled the good feeling that the affirmation had given him. Cancelled it perfectly. "Because with how strong you are, losing a battle against someone as weak as this guy means that you lost heart. And that's not the Zeck I like."
Zeck smiled despite himself. "I like you too, Bulma."
"Then protect my planet." She demanded.
"I will."
…
Despite his confidence, Zeck watched from atop a hill as the first spaceship dropped to the ground. The second one wouldn't be in range to land for several minutes. Despite the fact that, from the ki energy inside alone, he could tell that whatever was in that ship was absolute, pure evil, Zeck wasn't about to attack right away, without a concrete reason.
Even if the chance was almost nothing, fighting without reason beyond 'they look evil' wasn't something that Zeck would do. He needed to see their actualactions before he'd feel right about using force.
Instead, he did a bit of mental math.
Tarble was likely already on his way, but he'd take nearly an hour to get to this location, even if he used his full, near 40 million power level.
Based on calculations, the secondary spaceship, which honestly, likely didn't matter, would arrive in approximately fifteen to twenty minutes.
First contact with the massive, dark aura inside that ship would come up in under five.
Full analysis of the first ship and its contents would require three or four minutes of close contact. Worst case scenario, that gave six minutes of full environmental control before external factors forced an alteration to the equation.
Not enough time for adequate self-performance data analysis. Enough to get a controlled analysis of the enemy's movements, however.
Zeck decided to wait for the environmental factors to settle before active, full-scale battle. If the enemy was hiding power, then they would likely unveil it for him to measure during that time. A half hour of controlled, real battling. By the time Tarble got there, the battle would be over, or close to it. Once Tarble got there, the battle's conditions and general outcome would be fully controllable variables, and the performance data gathered would be more than enough that Zeck would be able to seamlessly turn the invader over to Tarble, who would handle it from there however he saw fit.
With the invader's high power level, Tarble would likely have no choice but to execute them, but that would be a result of the invader's own choice to come to planet Earth with wicked intentions.
…
"Have we landed?" Slug didn't even look at his subordinate as he asked the question.
"Yes, sir. But we have a proble-"
"The one standing outside, correct?"
"Yes, my lord-"
"Deploy the solar shielding, then deal with it. I must meditate in order to discern the location of the Dragon Balls."
"Understood, Lord Slug. We will deal with all problems without disturbing you at-"
"GET OUT!" Slug's right hand man was literally flung from the Namekian's quarters by a flexure of the Namekian's energy.