Zeck was near the center of the ship when it happened. There was only a moment between when he sensed the shift and when the wall of alien metal parted like butter, a long green arm lashing out toward him.
His brain had time to process the event, but unfortunately, Slug didn't bother with doors.
He simply charged through the metal, grabbed Zeck by the neck, and pulled him back through the wall. "WHO LET AN INTRUDER ONTO MY SHIP?!!!!"
And suddenly, Zeck wasn't on the ship. Slug flung him straight through a reinforced glass window with an unnaturally long, bendy arm. Zeck's body arced through the air and landed on a bush, which the force from the Celatian's ragdolling ripped straight from the ground, and it snagged against Zeck's shirt and stayed with him until he stood and ripped it off.
"You're a-" Zeck started, as Slug grabbed ahold of the broken edge of the window and pulled himself through it, his young body dropping fifteen feet down to the ground like it was nothing, which it really was, for him.
"Boy… Invading my ship."
"I think you invaded my planet first." Zeck quipped, "I've never met an evil Namekian before. I thought you guys were pretty peaceful by nature?" He wondered as an afterthought.
"You know of my people." Slug noted, "Good. That means that my senses led me right. This planet has Dragon Balls."
Zeck's eyes went wide, "So that's why you're here! Who's the other ship belong to?"
"Rats do not ask questions, boy. They answer them. And you, who damaged my ship, have but one chance to answer my questions." Slug said, walking toward Zeck at an unhurried, completely in-control pace, as his aura flared.
Zeck didn't bother explaining that he had actually been careful not to damage the incredibly valuable technology on that ship, as the Namekian strode toward him with fury in his eyes.
Zeck backed up, stumbling as his brain immediately began working in overdrive processing all of the available information that he had on the Namekian in front of him in order to decide the optimal course of action.
The warrior-scientist didn't dare show the cards up his sleeve until he had as much information on the Namekian in front of him as possible.
Based on the flaring of his aura, Zeck could tell that this guy's aura was in the millions, which meant that it would take several minutes for the sensor implant to successfully and accurately measure the power level, and then a few minutes afterward to project an estimate of theoretical limits based on the fluctuations.
Which, while it would normally be the biggest problem, wasn't the biggest problem in this case.
This guy was clearly a Namekian.
Tarble had a file on Namekians on his terminal in his lab. Zeck's dad had once pulled it, back during one of his projects, passed it through Zeck's old computer back when they'd been sharing a lab. Zeck still had the file. He'd pulled it once or twice just to look it over while working on his project over the last few months.
If he didn't remember that file, Zeck would not have been nearly as wary as he currently was… But he had.
According to Tarble's file, there were technically four separate 'types' of Namekians, who had different abilities depending on their designation.
Dragon Clan Namekians had potent magical powers, and tended to be incredibly skilled in support and observation. They also had the ability to create Dragon Balls, despite a tendency toward low power levels and gentle demeanors.
Slug did not belong to this designation. Zeck was not worried about the old Namekian spontaneously healing an ally or sending him into a magically-induced trance.
Then, there were Warrior Namekians. Powerful self-regeneration, high power levels, aggressive, guarded by nature.
And finally, common and Super Namekians. It was theorized that Super Namekians were simply any Namekians who'd broken through natural power limits. They had all of the skills of both special lines, giving them near-instant regeneration and a whole mess of other abilities from the Dragon Clan line, theoretically including the ability to create Dragon Balls. Common Namekians had a couple inherent abilities, like extendable limbs, but weren't particularly dangerous by nature.
This guy was either a Warrior type or a Super Namekian. In either case, physical damage wasn't going to take him down, but in the latter case, it was entirely possible that he was hiding other unknown Dragon Clan abilities beneath the surface.
Zeck was hoping to find out by analyzing the cellular activity of the epidermis of the Namekian's skin, but the results would take several seconds to come in, before Bulma could report back to him.
"I cannot sense several of the Dragon Balls. You will tell me why." The Namekian threatened.
Immediately, Zeck fell back onto the best reply he could think of…
Playing the game: What Would Pepper Say?
"Dragon Balls? Big, round orange marbles with stars inside of them? Numbering one through eight? The legendary things that, when gathered, summon a gigantic dragon that'll grant nearly any wish one asks of it? Those?"
The number 'eight' confused Slug momentarily, just as Zeck had expected, but he shrugged it off. Minor rules did vary between individual sets. "Where are they?"
"Oh, that's why the skies got so dark last week! Yeah, I've got no idea what you're talking about. Sorry." The classic 'bait, lie, and deliberately disappoint'. A Pepper classic.
The result was instantaneous. An angry Namekian, once again grabbing the Celatian scientist by the neck and lifting him off of the ground.