Author's note: New chapter, and also a new story if you're interested.

Disclaimer: In Valen's name!

"There's no question about it," Sharpener Garibaldi said through a mouthful of food later that evening in a small Zocalo restaurant. "That Saiyan ambassador is pretty damn scary."

He turned to Erasa, "You should scan his mind. You'll see what I mean."

Erasa Winters glared at him.

"It's illegal to scan minds with out permission or court order. You're the chief of security – you know that."

She took a sip of her drink.

"Besides, I wouldn't want to anyway. I'm too scared to think about what I'd find in a Saiyan's mind."

"With him, probably just a lot of brains," Videl leaned back in her chair. "He seemed sane enough, even though he was a little intense."

"A little?" Sharpener raised an eyebrow. "That guy meant business, Videl. He's the real deal – a Saiyan elite."

"Are you serious?" Erasa gaped.

"Yeah," Sharpener answered. "That's apparently what that symbol on his armor means."

"Ambassador Delenn put him on the spot about it in front of the entire delegation," Videl explained. "He got out of it pretty well though. She wasn't wrong about the Saiyans being quick thinkers."

"And quick listeners or something too," Sharpened speculated. "He seemed to hear everything we said, no matter how quietly."

Videl nodded. Come to think of it, that was pretty strange.

Just then, the comlinks on both Videl's and Sharpener's hands beeped.

"It's the commander," Videl mentioned, glancing at the back of her hand.

Sharpener shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's get going then. See you around, Erasa."

When Videl entered Sinclair's office with Sharpener, the first thing she noticed was the additional wrinkles on his brow.

"A little stressed out, are we sir?" she asked tentatively, causing him to look up miserably.

"Thanks for coming; I really just needed to vent a bit. Do you remember the comment the Saiyan ambassador made about how he was not unprepared?"

They nodded.

"Yes, well I've never personally felt more unprepared in my life, except for when I fought the Battle of the Line against the Minbari."

"Why? What happened?" Sharpener raised an eyebrow.

"I just received a call from Ambassador Son concerning the inadequate supply of food in his room," he stated. Noticing the concerned looks on his companions' faces, he continued, "No, no, he wasn't angry – God knows I'd never want to see him angry – he said he was just bringing a point to my attention. Apparently Saiyans eat roughly twenty times the amount of food that a human can consume."

Both Sharpener's and Videl's jaws dropped.

"That's…a lot of food," Sharpener breathed.

"Yes, I know," Sinclair responded. "The ambassador apologized for inconveniencing us with the detail, and said he understood we did not have the time or means to have possibly realized this before he arrived. He also tried to explain to me the biology behind the Saiyan eating habits, but being no scientist, I urged him to let me set up an appointment with Dr. Franklin for him to explain that, and other details to him so that we are not so unprepared in the future."

"And?" Videl raised an eyebrow.

"And he surprisingly agreed," Sinclair concluded with a slightly shocked smile. "Satan, Since you've worked in a medlab before, I'd like you to accompany him to this appointment. Dr. Franklin is an expert physician, but he tends to be more sympathetic towards the needs and wants of his patients than towards the needs of the station. If asked, he may retain valuable information about the Saiyans from us – I'd like to make sure there's nothing we miss."

Videl nodded.

A few days later, Videl sat in the medlab waiting room anticipating the arrival of the ambassador. She was feeling rather nervous about how he would react to her accompanying him to the appointment, so she was trying to concentrate on what she was going to tell him.

The door hissed open, and the tall figure of the Saiyan gracefully stepped into the room. Videl felt the blood start to rush to her face, so she began to focus on deep breathing.

He apparently noticed her, and took a seat across from her.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Commander," he greeted. "You have an appointment as well?"

"Ambassador Son," she nodded back, looking up. "I'm actually here for your appointment."

He was silent for a moment, but his facial expression did not change. Not being able to gauge his reaction, however, made her slightly more nervous.

"Would you care to explain why?"

She could tell that 'no' would definitely be an unacceptable answer to his question.

"Commander Sinclair felt that we would be able to accommodate you more quickly if the results of your tests were brought straight to him directly following the examination."

His eyes narrowed almost unnoticeably – he didn't buy it. Videl felt her heartbeat accelerate.

"Very well. You may accompany me."

Videl felt her jaw drop, so she quickly closed it. She had not expected such an answer after the terrifying silence that followed her explanation. She nodded in relief.

To her puzzlement, he turned and looked expectantly at the medlab door. Had he heard something? She hadn't heard anything!

A couple seconds later, though, the door hissed open and Dr. Franklin stepped through.

"A-ambassador Son?"

The Saiyan stood and approached the doctor, Videl following.

"Dr. Franklin," he greeted with a nod.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" the doctor gave a slightly nervous smile before leading them into the medlab.

"I'll need you to change into this, Ambassador," Dr. Franklin stated, pulling out a patient's gown and pointing towards a changing room to his left.

The Saiyan eyed it for a moment, obviously not entirely pleased with the idea, but took the gown anyhow. While he was in the changing room, Dr. Franklin handed Videl a clipboard.

"You used to work in a medlab; I'm sure you know what to do with this."

Moments later, the Saiyan emerged from the changing room, posture as straight as ever, wearing nothing but the thin gown.

"Right this way then," the doctor motioned, leading them into a room with a small bed-like platform in the center. "If you could lie down over there please…"

He obeyed and reclined onto his back.

"This is an anatomy scanner," the doctor said as he pulled out a small tool. "I'll just need to run it over you to get a clear image of everything that's going on inside your body, including the make-ups of bodily fluids, as well as metabolic rates. It will just take a second."

He turned the device on, then holding it a few inches over the ambassador's body, scanned it in its entirety.

"Thank you very much, Ambassador," he said, putting the device away. "The results of the test will be put on two memory chips – one for myself, and the other for Lieutenant Commander Satan to take with her. Now, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to ask a few questions about Saiyan biology…"

"Absolutely," he replied, still on the platform, though now seated.

"So," the doctor began rather awkwardly. "I understand that your race consumes a bit more food than ours…"

Videl was slightly taken aback when he smirked slightly at the understatement.

"It's because our metabolic rate is much higher that that of a human – it requires more energy to function. I'm sure you'll notice that when you look at the results of the scan."

"Anything else I should look for?" Dr. Franklin noted down the detail.

"Yes, actually. You would probably be interested to notice the higher density of the cells that make up the skin, muscles, and bones, and that our internal organs are on average slightly larger. A couple details that may be difficult to notice through the scan would be that our healing rates are much quicker, and our senses – especially hearing – are generally more acute than yours as well."

Well that explains a lot, Videl thought to herself. I guess Sharpener and I may have well been talking directly to him.

"And your tails?" the doctor asked. "Do they serve a function?"

He paused a moment before answering.

"No. There is no purpose; they are just a product of evolution."

"Did you have any questions in need of answering, Videl?" the doctor mentioned, neglecting to use her title.

"Yes," she answered immediately. "Ambassador Son, I was on Earth when the Saiyans saved us from Frieza - "

Had she been paying less attention to how to phrase her question, she would have noticed his eyes widen a bit, and his body stiffen slightly.

" – and I witnessed them shooting fireballs from their hands, and flying. Could you possibly provide an explanation for this?"

"I'm sure that by fireballs," he chuckled slightly, to the surprise of both her and the doctor, "you mean ki blasts. But yes, I can explain it.

"In addition to the energy required to sustain life and keep one's organs functioning, all living beings have another kind of energy within them. In the Saiyan language, this energy is called 'ki.' Saiyans have a larger store of ki than most other races, and most other races don't know how to use this energy anyway – humans included."

"How do you know this about other beings when they don't even know it about themselves?" Dr. Franklin looked puzzled.

"Because knowing how to use our ki also gives us the ability of being able to sense it in other beings," he replied. "For example, if I was relaxing in my quarters and someone was walking through the hall, I would know because I would sense their energy moving past me at a certain distance. Chances are I'd hear them too, but that's beside the point. Certain beings also have larger ki stores than others. Another example – I can sense that Lieutenant Commander Satan has more ki than you, Dr. Franklin."

Both the doctor and Videl looked back and forth between themselves and the Saiyan, who smirked yet again, apparently amused by the reaction he had caused.

"Ki can also manifest itself differently in each being," he continued. "So depending on how large the ki is, or whether I can recognize it as one that I've previously encountered, I can track a person as far away as on the other side of a planet. Interplanetary tracking is a bit more difficult."

Videl and the doctor were gaping.

"So, it's this ki that we are shooting out of our hands for ki blasts. We can control it well enough to bring it outside of us."

He held out the palm of his hand and a soft light began to glow just above it, gradually becoming more intense. The doctor and lieutenant commander inched nervously forward to get a closer look. When he closed his palm, it disappeared.

"So if we direct the ki underneath us instead of to our hands, then it lifts us above the ground in flight. Anything else?"

"No, I believe that's it," Dr. Franklin stated, a bit dumbfounded. "You are free to change back into what you wore here. Lieutenant Commander, let me get you your copy of the scan."

Minutes later, Dr. Franklin escorted both of them back to the waiting room.

"Ambassador, thank you for coming," he bowed his head slightly.

"My pleasure," he nodded back. "Good day, Doctor."

He left the medlab and began his trek through the halls. Videl watched him stride for a moment, then set off after him.

"Ambassador," she called, catching his attention. He stopped walking and turned to peer down at her considerably shorter stature. Her stomach jumped slightly.

"Ambassador Son," she addressed him, ignoring her nervousness and catching up to where he was standing. "If you don't mind, I actually had another question about this 'ki' that you mentioned."

"Yes?"

He proceeded to walk again, now with Videl at his side.

"Well, I was wondering…is it possible for one to increase the amount of ki in them, or is it just a set amount that one is born with?"

"It can be increased."

She'd been hoping that would be the answer.

"And how does one go about increasing it?"

"There are a number of ways," he replied nonchalantly. "Meditation helps immensely – also martial arts training and sparring."

They turned into the ambassadorial sector.

"Ambassador," Videl inquired. "Do you mind of I ask you a personal question?"

"You may ask, but I won't guarantee you an answer."

She nodded, accepting the terms.

"How much ki do you have, in comparison with the average elite class Saiyan?"

He turned away from her to punch his security code into the door to his quarters.

"Right now, I'd say considerably less."

Had he been facing her, she'd have seen the smirk on his lips. I wasn't really a lie anyway – right now with his ki suppressed, it was much lower!

"Is it because there's no one for you to spar with here - "

"Lieutenant Commander" he interrupted, turning around in his doorway to prevent her from following him in. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Her face instantly turned red as she realized she'd followed him all the way back to his quarters.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," she stared at the floor, avoiding his gaze, then turning on her heel, she walked quickly off in the direction of the blue sector.

End Note: Hmm. Kinda longish chappie.