Prelude:

Zarbon sidestepped the growing puddle of green goo spraying out of what was once an Arlian slave. Those bugs are just as ugly on the inside, Zarbon thought with a grimace. He continued to walk to towards Frieza's throne and kneeled.

"Ah, Zarbon," Frieza said in his usual deceptively jovial voice, "And you brought the monkeys with you."

Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz walked defiantly towards to the throne behind Zarbon. Vegeta's scowl deepened, but allowed the familiar insulting pet name to pass over him. Instead, he kneeled before the throne before quickly standing upright again with shoulders back and arms tensed at his sides. Nappa and Raditz stayed kneeled behind him, both hoping this stop was short so that they could get to the med ward soon, all of them were a little worse for wear after this mission.

"So, Vegeta. I hear you had some sort of problem conquering Shikk. It took you and your men three days to conquer that little rock.

"We accomplished exactly what you desired and the remaing inhabitants pledged loyalty to you and the Cold Empire," Vegeta said calmly.

Frieza smiled to himself, "Did they really? I'm just surprised it took so long." Zarbon laughed at the disgruntled look on Vegeta's face. "Very well, you are dismissed," Frieza said as he waved them away.

Raditz stood and muttered a little too loudly, "We just crushed an entire race of people and that is all he has to say?" The Shikk had not made the Saiyan's work easy; they had advanced technology and the team had to disable several explosive devices that would have destroyed and irradiated the environment and atmosphere, and thus destroying the planet's value. Raditz had been captured and tortured for a full day until Nappa and Vegeta finished the extermination and searched for him. His failure by being captured and endangering the mission stung at his pride and he knew that he was lucky Vegeta didn't kill him on the spot. Nappa visibly flitched at the younger Saiyan's foolishness and shot him a silencing glance, but Vegeta remained unmoved and empty.

Frieza calmly looked at the boisterous, long-haired Saiyan like a beast allowing the child to poke him one last time. He said, "Tell me, Zarbon, how long do you think it would take you to conquer a planet like Shikk?"

Zarbon puffed up a bit before answering, "Well, I imagine one day would be enough"

"Really? A whole day? It IS a tiny planet," he said with a laugh that forced the rest of the room to join in. Vegeta grit his teeth as the sound filled the room; he made a mental note to beat Raditz thoroughly in the next training session. After the rooms laughter quieted Frieza continued, "Is there anything else you would like to report to me? You do understand I have more significant matters to attend to…"

"Grr… cocky little…"Raditz grumbled under his breath, but before he could inhale Frieza had him by the throat.

"My Lord Frieza," Vegeta said with a detached and level voice, "I believe I am allowed to punish my men as I see fit. As we agreed"

"True, but you seem to be shirking in your duties in disciplining as you are at doing your job in a timely manner," He squeezed Raditz's throat a little harder until the man could only sputter and scratch out a sliver of air. A glint came across Frieza eyes then, "Perhaps you need me to demonstrate to you how punition is truly done," he said waiting for an answer before he would consider dropping the choking man.

Vegeta mentally prepared himself for whatever beating Frieza had cooked up for him. He knew well the things his twisted mind would think up. "Yes, My Lord," Vegeta said as he would say to any of Frieza's missions.

"You will work off this insubordination on the Slave Planet Z. Most don't survive a fortnight, but I am sure you will find it very….. enlightening. Dodoria, escort Vegeta to the slave ship."

Nappa stood in quiet panic as he heard what was happening. Even the onlookers gasped and whispered at the idea. Everyone had heard the stories of Slave Planet Z, the mining camps there was beyond hard labor. He glared down at Raditz for his part in this mess. Vegeta remained unchanged; cold and hard as ever.

Zarbon leaned over with glee at this development, "What about the restraints, my Lord?"

"Oh yes, the anti-ki cuffs should be enough," he called out to Dodoria. "But not those damned headbands; they are drilled in so tight they can't be removed without killing him. I wouldn't want to damage my favorite pet. But Vegeta, give me any further problems, and we may never see that hairline of yours again"

Dodoria gave Vegeta a push in the direction of the exit. Vegeta growled at him warningly at being touched. Apul met them at the docking bay with the ki-suppressing cuffs. After affixing them around Vegeta's wrists and using a device to activate them, Vegeta could instantly feel his energy being drained away. he had to fight to continue to stand upright as the effect sapped every drop of ki away from him. Dodoria pushed him into the pod of the slave ship sending Vegeta into the wall with a heavy bang.

"Bye Bye, Monkey," Dodoria said as he closed the claustrophobic door and it locked into place as Vegeta slid to the grated floor unconscious.

Back in the throne room, Frieza was congratulating himself on the turn of events. He was alway delighted in finding new ways to torture his little prince.

"Vegeta really asked for it this time, My Lord. And since that slave ship is empty and just leaving port, Vegeta will have to stay in that pod for weeks until the ship is full of new bodies." Zarbon said as he poured more of the dark substance into his lord's goblet.

"An added bonus indeed," Frieza replied with glee. He swirled his goblet as he looked around the room. Some of the bug-like Arlian slaves were on the floor in front of the throne cleaning up their fallen comrade. "Make a note Zarbon, find a new breed of slaves for the castle. I am sick of these Arlian ones," His smile peeled wider as he thought, "something that looks like a Saiyan, but perhaps without the bad temper."

Zarbon sneered back, "An excellent idea my Lord."

A/N: Sorry it was so long to post. I have been working on the later chapters so I would avoid the super long pauses between posts. We will see how I do. Hope you like the new story! Please review