DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball/Z/GT. I am not making money off of this fanfic.
Commander Nevalk Resh held his head high as the proccession marching around Lord Freezer paraded by. He looked and, for just a moment, connected eyes with Freezer. The alien's icy stare was enough to unnerve even the most veteran officer, so he turned away. Before he knew it, the proccession was gone.
They were on the newly defeated world of Rammoth. It had only taken one day for the Imperial Force to take the world. Freezer always attended victory celebrations when a planet fell as quickly as one day. Everyone had always said that it was because Freezer wanted to boost the morale of the troops, but Nevalk knew better. Freezer wanted to see the destruction that was wrought it that one day. He wanted to see which troops were there and to see which of them deserved a more privileged position among his own private army.
But Nevalk didn't care about such things. He was just a soldier, and if his Emperor was a tyrant, his Emperor was a tyrant. It wouldn't make him any less loyal to the Empire. It was just his job.
The humanoid Commander walked over to where his Captain-Captain Ruuve, was standing. All the senior officers had received shore leave because of their exceptional performance during the battle.
"What do you think?" Nevalk asked. If they were on duty Nevalk would have never been so casual, but while they were off-duty, him and the captain were very good friends.
"What do I think about what?" the Captain replied.
"We took this planet in one day," Nevalk said. "How was that possible?"
Captain Ruuve pointed to the next proccession coming dow the lane. "That's how."
Nevalk finally saw what the proccession was composed of-Saiya-jin. Twelve of them at least. Twelve dirty Saiya-jin were getting the glory for the victory. He watched the young one in the center carefully-the way he moved, the way he acted altogether was strange. He expressed the haughty heir of superiority, and that made Nevalk uncomfortable.
As if in answer to his thoughts, Ruuve spoke up. "The one in the center is the prince."
Ah, so that was it. Prince Vegeta had overseen the invasion of the planet personally. He was a tactical genius as well as one of the strongest Saiya-jin alive. Freezer had pretty big plans for the planet he he sent first class warriors like Vegeta.
"Those dirty Saiya-jin," Nevalk said. "It's as if Freezer values them more than his own troops."
"He does value them more, but that doesn't mean he likes them more. You have to concede to the fact that many of them are strongfer than us, Nevalk."
"Well, I still don't have to like them."
The captain glanced at his wrist chronometer quickly. "I have to go. I have a war council meeting with Warmaster Kiwi in half an hour. I'll see you back on the Victory." The Victory was the ship the two mean were stationed on.
"Yes, sir." With that the two warriors parted.
Nevalk stayed for several minutes more. He scanned the area with contempt. There was nothing worthwile to do. The only thing it seemed anybody there was doing was partying and getting drunk. Nevalk wouldn't get involved in that. He bagan searching for his pod to go back up to the Victory. Once he had found it he entered the snug compartment and set the course back to the ship.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nevalk carefully flew into the aft hold of the Victory. He made sure his pod was securely in place before he made his exit. He surveyed the damage done to the hangar. Walls were caved in and a few bodies had yet to be disposed of. That battle hadn't been won without a large cost.
The officer walked over to where it seemed he was most needed-repairing the artificial gravity on deck Seven. He kneeled down next to a young Ensign and asked "Can I be of any help?"
The young soldier was nervous as he conversed with Nevalk. Obviously he felt that by being first officer Nevalk was some kind of deity. Nevalk smiled to himself at that proposition. He was no God. If he was, he wouldn't be stuck fighting for worlds he had no interest in.
Finally the Ensign stopped babbling and Nevalk got to work. It was more difficult than he thought it would be. Twisting connectors and fusing wires became especially tedious after two hours of work.
"Why is this taking so long?" he asked the lizar-like alien next to him.
"Don't ask me," he replied. "I'm suppossed to be sleeping right now but there are hardly any hands left alive that know how to fix this."
"What is this ship's casualty report?"
"Over half the crew is dead."
Nevalk was aghast. How could over half of his crew have been killed? He hadn't remembered any devastaing blows during the battle. Maybe this soldier didn't know what he was talking about.
"How do you know this?" Nevalk asked.
"It's in the main computer, see for yourself."
He did. Unfortunately, the nearest functioning computer terminal was three decks up, so it took quite a bit of time before he reached it. But he kept going, fighting the ever growing fatigue that was engulfing his every move.
Once he reached it he switched it on. He got the information he was looking for easily enough. To his horror, he found that the crewman had been correct. 200 of the 300 crewmembers had been killed! It was mostly due to sudden decomprssions in ship ship after the battle. He grimaced as he thought of men and women being sucked into space, their very blood cells rupturing before they could let out a single cry for help.
It happened after I left, he thought to himself. I left to go party while my fellow shipmates were up here dying. He could hardly live with himself. Slowly he made his way to his quarters and went to sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nevalk almost forgot the events of the previous day when he arose that morning. Once he remembered his desertion the gut wrenching feeling returned to him. He slid off of his bed and slowly dressed in his duty unfiform. All the senior officers were back onboard so he could finally find out what had really happened during the battle.
He surveyed the finishing repairs as he made his way to the bridge. If his crewman were anything, they were efficient. Even with so much death around them, they still managed to keep a relatively orderly schedule which led to the ship's restoration. Nevalk would need to commend them sometime for that.
The bridge was no exception. It was as if it had never been in a battle. The computer moniters and stations were all working properly again, projecting their glimmering lights and faint beeps to the world again. Nevalk turned to Captain Ruuve and asked to speak to him in his ready room.
"Of course," the Captain replied. The two of them were silent until they reached th eprivate room. Once they were there, however, all bets were off.
"Sir," Nevalk said, trying desperately to keep his ferocity from overtaking him,"why wasn't I informed about the exceeding damage to the ship before I left to go to shore leave?"
The captain sighed and sat down. "It's impossible to keep anything from you, isn't it? I thought about informing you, but really, what else could you have done?"
"I could have helped coordinate damage control, I could have-"
"Look around you, Commander. Does this ready room look like it has just seen a fight?"
"No, sir."
"My point exactly. You should have seen it yesturday. It was a mess. Today it's almost brand new. They were fine without us. You need to stop worrying so much."
"Yes, sir," was Nevalk's response although he was still seething inside.
Suddenly Ruuve pulled out a datapad from his desk. "This is the profile for our next mission. It's the companion system to this system. You'll find all that you need to know here." Ruuve handed Navalk to pad.
Ruuve watched Nevalk for a moment, studying his expression. "I know it's difficult. Personally I don't care whether or not some of these invasions succeed. What am I getting out of it. But we must never lose faith. It was a tragedy to lose all of those fine officers yesturday, but nothing we do now will bring them back. You have to remember that. Dismissed."
With that lecture in mind, Nevalk exited the ready room. He pondered the words he had just heard as he travelled to the mess hall to get breakfast. So the captain also had doubts about Freezer and his goals. At least Nevalk knew now that he wasn't the only one.
He ate lunch alone as he studied the next battleplan. It was relatively simple. A large space fleet was to be sent stright at the planet's defense forces, while a smaller fleet of fighter aces hooked around behind and took out the capital. From ther chaos would emerge and the Imperial forces would take the planet. He looked down to the duty roster. The Victory was assigned to the attacking fleet. They were the pawns.
He finished his breakfast quietly and then contiued with his duties.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space is never as cold as before a battle, Nevalk thought to himself as they awaited the order to attack. It was three days since the fateful day the Victory had lost the majority of it's crew, yet here they were again, poised ready for battle and possibly death.
Nevalk observed the variety of ships in the forward viewcsreen. It was a massive invaion they were planning. Again, the Saiya-jin were fighting. Again, they would take all the credit.
The one thing Nevalk couldn't grasp was why Freezer valued this sector so much. Was it rich in some rare mineral, or did Freezer just like the view. It was something Nevalk would probably never know. He was only a soldier. Why tell him anything? All that was required of him was fierce determination to kill the enemy, and Nevalk was rich in that.
Then inevitability came to a head. The order was sent. For a brief second there seemed to be complete silence on the bridge as if everything came to the surreal conclusion that death was what awaited them. Then slowly, eerily, the ship began to move forward. Nevalk was glad he wasn't the helmsman. He doubted he could summon the courage to press the button that could quite possibly lead to the deaths of all of those on board.
Nevalk tried to block all thought of death from his mind and focus on the mission. But it was impossible. Death was like a ghost looming around them all, and it could not be gotten rid of by simple will power. It had to be ridden of by actions. They had to kill the enemy, and that was exactly what they were going to do.
The planet loomed ever larger in the forward viewscreen. Tiny red dots represented enemy ships on his radar screen. He watched as the two fronts converged, two fleets flying directly into each other, but only one flying out.
The battle was raging as soon as they broke the front line. A torpedoe exploded in extremely close proximity to the ship, almost knocking Nevalk off of his feet. He gave several orders on headings, and eventually, they were out of the thick fighting and moving closer to the planet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battle went like clockwork. Soon the landing parties were on the ground, exterminating the natives of the planet like it was nothing at all.
Nevalk was part of the landing party. He killed without mercy. Some he simply shot from long range, some he had to engage in hand to hand combat with. Either way, they were just as dead in the end.
Nevalk sat down, blood covering his hands. He beleived every time he commited acts such as that he lost a bit more of his good sould. How could one who commits such atrocities have a good soul? Of course he could have a good soul. He was a soldier fighting for a cause.
Nevalk looked to his side and found another Commander sitting next to him, equally bloody from combat. "What is it all for?" Nevalk asked.
"Nothing, especially these planets," was the reply.
"What do you mean? Why did we conquer these planets?"
"There is a wine that Freezer loves to drink that only comes from these worlds," the Commander replied. "Freezer demanded they give him all of their supply, but they refused. So he ordered this. All this for wine."
Nevalk was horrified. All this time he had been deluding himself into thinking that he was fighting for a just and noble cause. All of his life he had been thinking that. But at that moment, he knew the truth. He wasn't fighting for a noble Emperor who controlled with wisdom, he was fighting for a maniacal killer who noone was safe from. If Freezer would have all ths bloodshed caused because of wine, what else would he have caused? Nevalk realized that noone was safe. How long would it be before the Emperor went after Nevalk's own species, or even the mighty Saiya-jin?
Then Nevalk remembered staring into thos icy eyes of Freezer and realized that he would never be the same man again.
Commander Nevalk Resh held his head high as the proccession marching around Lord Freezer paraded by. He looked and, for just a moment, connected eyes with Freezer. The alien's icy stare was enough to unnerve even the most veteran officer, so he turned away. Before he knew it, the proccession was gone.
They were on the newly defeated world of Rammoth. It had only taken one day for the Imperial Force to take the world. Freezer always attended victory celebrations when a planet fell as quickly as one day. Everyone had always said that it was because Freezer wanted to boost the morale of the troops, but Nevalk knew better. Freezer wanted to see the destruction that was wrought it that one day. He wanted to see which troops were there and to see which of them deserved a more privileged position among his own private army.
But Nevalk didn't care about such things. He was just a soldier, and if his Emperor was a tyrant, his Emperor was a tyrant. It wouldn't make him any less loyal to the Empire. It was just his job.
The humanoid Commander walked over to where his Captain-Captain Ruuve, was standing. All the senior officers had received shore leave because of their exceptional performance during the battle.
"What do you think?" Nevalk asked. If they were on duty Nevalk would have never been so casual, but while they were off-duty, him and the captain were very good friends.
"What do I think about what?" the Captain replied.
"We took this planet in one day," Nevalk said. "How was that possible?"
Captain Ruuve pointed to the next proccession coming dow the lane. "That's how."
Nevalk finally saw what the proccession was composed of-Saiya-jin. Twelve of them at least. Twelve dirty Saiya-jin were getting the glory for the victory. He watched the young one in the center carefully-the way he moved, the way he acted altogether was strange. He expressed the haughty heir of superiority, and that made Nevalk uncomfortable.
As if in answer to his thoughts, Ruuve spoke up. "The one in the center is the prince."
Ah, so that was it. Prince Vegeta had overseen the invasion of the planet personally. He was a tactical genius as well as one of the strongest Saiya-jin alive. Freezer had pretty big plans for the planet he he sent first class warriors like Vegeta.
"Those dirty Saiya-jin," Nevalk said. "It's as if Freezer values them more than his own troops."
"He does value them more, but that doesn't mean he likes them more. You have to concede to the fact that many of them are strongfer than us, Nevalk."
"Well, I still don't have to like them."
The captain glanced at his wrist chronometer quickly. "I have to go. I have a war council meeting with Warmaster Kiwi in half an hour. I'll see you back on the Victory." The Victory was the ship the two mean were stationed on.
"Yes, sir." With that the two warriors parted.
Nevalk stayed for several minutes more. He scanned the area with contempt. There was nothing worthwile to do. The only thing it seemed anybody there was doing was partying and getting drunk. Nevalk wouldn't get involved in that. He bagan searching for his pod to go back up to the Victory. Once he had found it he entered the snug compartment and set the course back to the ship.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nevalk carefully flew into the aft hold of the Victory. He made sure his pod was securely in place before he made his exit. He surveyed the damage done to the hangar. Walls were caved in and a few bodies had yet to be disposed of. That battle hadn't been won without a large cost.
The officer walked over to where it seemed he was most needed-repairing the artificial gravity on deck Seven. He kneeled down next to a young Ensign and asked "Can I be of any help?"
The young soldier was nervous as he conversed with Nevalk. Obviously he felt that by being first officer Nevalk was some kind of deity. Nevalk smiled to himself at that proposition. He was no God. If he was, he wouldn't be stuck fighting for worlds he had no interest in.
Finally the Ensign stopped babbling and Nevalk got to work. It was more difficult than he thought it would be. Twisting connectors and fusing wires became especially tedious after two hours of work.
"Why is this taking so long?" he asked the lizar-like alien next to him.
"Don't ask me," he replied. "I'm suppossed to be sleeping right now but there are hardly any hands left alive that know how to fix this."
"What is this ship's casualty report?"
"Over half the crew is dead."
Nevalk was aghast. How could over half of his crew have been killed? He hadn't remembered any devastaing blows during the battle. Maybe this soldier didn't know what he was talking about.
"How do you know this?" Nevalk asked.
"It's in the main computer, see for yourself."
He did. Unfortunately, the nearest functioning computer terminal was three decks up, so it took quite a bit of time before he reached it. But he kept going, fighting the ever growing fatigue that was engulfing his every move.
Once he reached it he switched it on. He got the information he was looking for easily enough. To his horror, he found that the crewman had been correct. 200 of the 300 crewmembers had been killed! It was mostly due to sudden decomprssions in ship ship after the battle. He grimaced as he thought of men and women being sucked into space, their very blood cells rupturing before they could let out a single cry for help.
It happened after I left, he thought to himself. I left to go party while my fellow shipmates were up here dying. He could hardly live with himself. Slowly he made his way to his quarters and went to sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nevalk almost forgot the events of the previous day when he arose that morning. Once he remembered his desertion the gut wrenching feeling returned to him. He slid off of his bed and slowly dressed in his duty unfiform. All the senior officers were back onboard so he could finally find out what had really happened during the battle.
He surveyed the finishing repairs as he made his way to the bridge. If his crewman were anything, they were efficient. Even with so much death around them, they still managed to keep a relatively orderly schedule which led to the ship's restoration. Nevalk would need to commend them sometime for that.
The bridge was no exception. It was as if it had never been in a battle. The computer moniters and stations were all working properly again, projecting their glimmering lights and faint beeps to the world again. Nevalk turned to Captain Ruuve and asked to speak to him in his ready room.
"Of course," the Captain replied. The two of them were silent until they reached th eprivate room. Once they were there, however, all bets were off.
"Sir," Nevalk said, trying desperately to keep his ferocity from overtaking him,"why wasn't I informed about the exceeding damage to the ship before I left to go to shore leave?"
The captain sighed and sat down. "It's impossible to keep anything from you, isn't it? I thought about informing you, but really, what else could you have done?"
"I could have helped coordinate damage control, I could have-"
"Look around you, Commander. Does this ready room look like it has just seen a fight?"
"No, sir."
"My point exactly. You should have seen it yesturday. It was a mess. Today it's almost brand new. They were fine without us. You need to stop worrying so much."
"Yes, sir," was Nevalk's response although he was still seething inside.
Suddenly Ruuve pulled out a datapad from his desk. "This is the profile for our next mission. It's the companion system to this system. You'll find all that you need to know here." Ruuve handed Navalk to pad.
Ruuve watched Nevalk for a moment, studying his expression. "I know it's difficult. Personally I don't care whether or not some of these invasions succeed. What am I getting out of it. But we must never lose faith. It was a tragedy to lose all of those fine officers yesturday, but nothing we do now will bring them back. You have to remember that. Dismissed."
With that lecture in mind, Nevalk exited the ready room. He pondered the words he had just heard as he travelled to the mess hall to get breakfast. So the captain also had doubts about Freezer and his goals. At least Nevalk knew now that he wasn't the only one.
He ate lunch alone as he studied the next battleplan. It was relatively simple. A large space fleet was to be sent stright at the planet's defense forces, while a smaller fleet of fighter aces hooked around behind and took out the capital. From ther chaos would emerge and the Imperial forces would take the planet. He looked down to the duty roster. The Victory was assigned to the attacking fleet. They were the pawns.
He finished his breakfast quietly and then contiued with his duties.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space is never as cold as before a battle, Nevalk thought to himself as they awaited the order to attack. It was three days since the fateful day the Victory had lost the majority of it's crew, yet here they were again, poised ready for battle and possibly death.
Nevalk observed the variety of ships in the forward viewcsreen. It was a massive invaion they were planning. Again, the Saiya-jin were fighting. Again, they would take all the credit.
The one thing Nevalk couldn't grasp was why Freezer valued this sector so much. Was it rich in some rare mineral, or did Freezer just like the view. It was something Nevalk would probably never know. He was only a soldier. Why tell him anything? All that was required of him was fierce determination to kill the enemy, and Nevalk was rich in that.
Then inevitability came to a head. The order was sent. For a brief second there seemed to be complete silence on the bridge as if everything came to the surreal conclusion that death was what awaited them. Then slowly, eerily, the ship began to move forward. Nevalk was glad he wasn't the helmsman. He doubted he could summon the courage to press the button that could quite possibly lead to the deaths of all of those on board.
Nevalk tried to block all thought of death from his mind and focus on the mission. But it was impossible. Death was like a ghost looming around them all, and it could not be gotten rid of by simple will power. It had to be ridden of by actions. They had to kill the enemy, and that was exactly what they were going to do.
The planet loomed ever larger in the forward viewscreen. Tiny red dots represented enemy ships on his radar screen. He watched as the two fronts converged, two fleets flying directly into each other, but only one flying out.
The battle was raging as soon as they broke the front line. A torpedoe exploded in extremely close proximity to the ship, almost knocking Nevalk off of his feet. He gave several orders on headings, and eventually, they were out of the thick fighting and moving closer to the planet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battle went like clockwork. Soon the landing parties were on the ground, exterminating the natives of the planet like it was nothing at all.
Nevalk was part of the landing party. He killed without mercy. Some he simply shot from long range, some he had to engage in hand to hand combat with. Either way, they were just as dead in the end.
Nevalk sat down, blood covering his hands. He beleived every time he commited acts such as that he lost a bit more of his good sould. How could one who commits such atrocities have a good soul? Of course he could have a good soul. He was a soldier fighting for a cause.
Nevalk looked to his side and found another Commander sitting next to him, equally bloody from combat. "What is it all for?" Nevalk asked.
"Nothing, especially these planets," was the reply.
"What do you mean? Why did we conquer these planets?"
"There is a wine that Freezer loves to drink that only comes from these worlds," the Commander replied. "Freezer demanded they give him all of their supply, but they refused. So he ordered this. All this for wine."
Nevalk was horrified. All this time he had been deluding himself into thinking that he was fighting for a just and noble cause. All of his life he had been thinking that. But at that moment, he knew the truth. He wasn't fighting for a noble Emperor who controlled with wisdom, he was fighting for a maniacal killer who noone was safe from. If Freezer would have all ths bloodshed caused because of wine, what else would he have caused? Nevalk realized that noone was safe. How long would it be before the Emperor went after Nevalk's own species, or even the mighty Saiya-jin?
Then Nevalk remembered staring into thos icy eyes of Freezer and realized that he would never be the same man again.