Disclaimer: Nope.

Thievery

"Come on!"

Red lights flashed in synch with the alarm and sirens that were alerting everyone on the base. The pair ran swiftly, ducking into corners and knocking guards out with skill.

However, it was too late for stealth and aptitude. They had taken things too far. They had been cocky and careless. He really hadn't thought about what he'd done until after the sickening thud.

Vegeta. Alongside him, his younger brother Tarble. Inseparable. Intergalactic thieves. The price on their heads amounted to well over 12 million quartzel. In case you're unfamiliar with interstellar currency, that's what qualifies as a shit load of money.

They were saiyans. Some of the last of their kind. Years ago, King Vegeta, their father, had thrown them into a single pod and sent them off before they knew what was happening. He'd left a message for them, explaining. The chip it was held on was carefully guarded by Tarble.

Frieza.

That name alone made him shake with rage. The lizard didn't even know who they were but they both loathed each other with a passion. It was simple. Frieza massacred their entire race. Vegeta and Tarble stole precious materials, information, weapons, whatever they could get their hands on, and sold them to powerful enemies of the tyrant.

It had been a routine raid. Break in, smash as many machines as possible, grab whatever new device was in development, leave in style (preferably with a dramatic explosion in the background). But there'd been a hitch in the plan. They had been expected.

Now, there was another crime stapled to their wanted posters. One that might turn those who left them alone (due to hatred of Frieza) against them.

Murder.

The lizard didn't know them for exactly who they were for a number of reasons. First, they had been kept a secret during their brief childhood on Vegeta-sei. Second, they hid their tails well. And while there were rather accurate rumors of their lineage, Frieza appeared to not take them very seriously. Thirdly, if Frieza did know them to be the princes of the almighty saiyan race, their bounty would have been at least triple of what it was at the moment. And lastly, he believed he'd already killed the saiyan prince. To him, it was just a freak accident that someone who looked exactly like him was causing so much trouble.

Moron.

Anyway, yes… Murder was now presently accounted for on their list of naughtiness they'd done. Of course, it'd only been some worthless scum – Cui, he'd said his name was. But Frieza would blow it out of proportion as propaganda to hunt them down to avenge the "poor defenseless soldier." Secretly though, many rooted for the brothers. They were black market celebrities. The underground public derived great pleasure at the expense of the tyrant's annoyed squirming, even when the rich who profited from the Planet Trade Organization wanted their heads mounted on a wall.

While Tarble and Vegeta were at the top of the wanted list, they had associates that none too far behind. Their little rag tag group consisted of Raditz, Bardock, Kakarot and Brolly. Bardock was the technical expert, piloting their ship and such. Raditz was more or less their negotiator. He'd find buyers for their stolen goods and find valuable allies. Brolly and Kakarot were extra muscle. They normally accompanied the raids, as did Raditz on some occasions, but this had seemed such a mediocre task that they deemed the two royals more than capable on their own. Which, they were. Just experiencing some minor setbacks.

Vegeta glanced over his shoulder to see the twenty or so soldiers giving chase gaining on them. He considered blasting them, but he had the hull of the ship and precious air to think about. "Faster, Tarble!"

The younger of the two nodded and hastened his pace. He kept looking back and forth, trying to find the right corridor. Tarble had a very useful ability. One glance at any map and he would know the entire layout by heart. He could crack any security code, solve any riddle that one of their informants liked to speak in, put any puzzle together, you name it. He was born to find solutions.

"Up ahead, Vegeta, left, the hangar!" They could already hear the telltale sounds of battle coming from within the large space. No doubt Kakarot and Brolly defending the ship while Bardock and Raditz prepared for takeoff. Skidding as they rounded the corner, Vegeta forced the door open and plowed through at least a dozen technicians.

Kakarot spotted them immediately. "There you are!" He threw another soldier aside and motioned for Brolly to break free as well. They met at the entrance to their round ship and sprinted up the ramp.

Inside, Bardock and Raditz were waiting for them. "About damn time!" He closed the hatch and fired up the engine. Brolly grinned as he leaned out the porthole and blasted a hole in the ceiling for them to escape through. He also melted the airlock, leaving the base to suffocate.

As they sped away, Bardock breathed a sigh of relief, setting the ship on autopilot after programming the right coordinates. Vegeta and Tarble dusted their clothes off, the adrenaline wearing off. Vegeta wore sturdy black combat boots, durable black cargo pants, and a black shirt with the crimson royal crest sewn into his left pectoral. Tarble wore the same shirt but in blue, with loose boots taken from one of Frieza's bases, and gray pants of the same style as Vegeta.

Bardock took a calming breath. He turned around in his chair and glared at the two very spiky-haired brothers in the center. "What. Happened?" Bardock was the father figure in their group, being the actual parent of Raditz and Kakarot. He showed them the ropes of life, and looked after them. They were a pack.

Vegeta snorted and blew his bangs from his face, only to have them fall into the same position. Bardock may be the one everybody looked up to and such, but he remained the undisputed leader, even at just barely eighteen. "They knew we were coming. They were prepared. I accidentally killed some worthless soldier and was caught. Frieza's going to blow it up for motivation or something."

He spoke very casually of this. While thievery was what they were most well known for, it was known that some of Frieza's most bloodthirsty, powerful, and cruel men would simply blink out of existence on occasion. Of course, he'd held no proof that it was them until now. Now it was a weapon.

Tarble walked over to the wall and slid down. He began tinkering with a small box lined with dull flashing lights and holes. What they'd come there for. There was a keypad on top, one that the youngest of the royal brothers was hacking away at. Within roughly twenty second or so, Bardock's lecture about caution was interrupted by a loud click and triumphant "Ah ha!"

Soon, all of the saiyans were gathered around the boy as he pressed a few more buttons and a hologram appeared. "What is it?" asked Raditz.

Bardock and Tarble looked at it for a while, reading the alien print the box projected. "A list," they announced in unison.

Vegeta crossed his arms. "Of what?"

"I don't know."

"Raditz," Vegeta barked. "Did our informant give any other details about this thing? I don't want to find out that we went to all of that trouble to get a list of the best ranking whores in that lizard's harem."

Rolling his eyes, the long-haired saiyan went to the computer console in the center of the room and scrolled though a bunch of files. "It seems to be a list of planets. They're all in free territory that hasn't been claimed by Frieza or Cooler. My guess is that the former was planning on taking them before his brother."

Kakarot shrugged. "Makes enough sense." He furrowed his brow as his lower lip protruded in a slight pout. "Well, what do we do with it?"

Vegeta frowned. "It can't just be a list. No one keeps just a stupid list under security like what we broke through. There has to be some sort of pattern to the order."

Tarble bit his lip. "I didn't see anything. The coordinates are random. They have almost nothing in common aside from being free. I don't think there is a pattern," the thirteen year old relented.

Vegeta mumbled, "There has to be…"

Raditz groaned. "Well, that was worthless. All of that trouble for something anyone with a computer can find out. We lost fuel, air, time, and we'll get no profit to replenish those losses whatsoever. Damn."

Always the financial expert.

Bardock began walking down the steps into the lower level. "It doesn't make sense, but we can figure it out later. Right now, it's time to eat."

Vegeta remained behind before closing the box and stuffing it in his pocket. "There has to be…"

…

He glanced at his brother for a moment before going back to deciphering the bizarre list. He was right. He knew he was. Reading it horizontally, yes, they were just planets listed with coordinates, but vertically…

It read differently. The words didn't make much sense, but they were something. He turned on his scouter and searched for information regarding the out of place terms. They were books. Short encyclopedias actually. He checked the list. One volume was missing from the list out of twenty. That was something.

He scanned the general status of that particular volume. It was printed in the year 624. It was the 12th volume. There were 215 pages total. It was about various plants on some backwater planet…

He had to figure out what this was about. Not only could it be very useful in the future, but his pride staked on it. They almost botched the mission entirely because he'd gotten arrogant. He had to prove that he'd accomplished something.

After hours of staring at brightly lit screens in the dark, softly cursing himself when he made an error and had to retrace his steps, he finally cracked the code. All that was left was to translate it.

In the small bed on the other side of the room, Tarble stirred as the ship's lighting cycle imitated dawn. He cracked a bleary eye open to see his brother barely awake, scribbling notes down on scratch paper as he sifted through the data displayed on his scouter and on the holograph. He wore nothing but sweat pants, exposing his bare scarred chest.

Those scars… Tarble shook his head. Bad memories were best left behind. Learned from, but best left behind.

"Vegeta? What are you doing? I told you, there's nothing there. Stop being paranoid," he groaned, burying his face into a pillow.

"You were wrong. There is something, we just couldn't see it at first." He scribbled more notes down.

Growling lightly, Tarble ripped the sheets off. Clad in merely sweat pants as well, he crossed the three foot distance between their beds and peered over his brother's shoulder. He squinted to read Vegeta's small, neat print, but when he began reading, his eyes widened. Ignoring Vegeta's exhausted snarl of protest, he snatched the papers out of his hands. "How did I miss this? Just reading vertically! I do that all of the time! Why didn't I see it?"

Vegeta grabbed the notes. "Well maybe if you would shut the hell up, I could see what "it" is." He wrote down a few more things before reading it himself. He flicked the light of their small room on and opened the cabinet right above his bed as he pulled a shirt out and yanked it over his head.

Tarble stared at him quizzically before he found himself being tugged by his wrist into the small hallway. Vegeta stopped and began pounding on the door to Bardock, Raditz, and Kakarot's shared quarters. "Wake up, morons!" He snarled when he heard lazy yawns and muffled moans of protest. He addressed Tarble. "Go wake up Brolly." He nodded and scurried off all but three yards to knock on the other saiyan's door.

When everyone was gathered in the kitchen, rubbing tired eyes and stifling yawns, Vegeta opened up the list once more and pulled the folded piece of paper he'd written the message on. "There was something to what we recovered. When deciphered, this list reads: Chikyuu." There was silence. "So I was right. Bardock, that's where you found Kakarot and this ship, isn't it? That means that there's someone down there with useful intelligence. Frieza means to strike there and if they have any capabilities at all, it's at least worth investigating. I would hate to think of what would happen if that freak got ships faster than ours along with weaponry. But, he knew we would get this, it's a message. That also means it could be a trap. Still, that planet hasn't been touched by the cold empire as far as I know. I think we should go."

The older man nodded. "I'll go set course for Earth."

"What?"

"Chikyuu's local name."

Vegeta sighed. He was exhausted. This had been the eleventh night in a row he'd had without sleep, though, the first with purpose. He was beginning to get dark circles under his eyes.

"Rest." Everyone looked up, slightly surprised that Brolly spoke. He had extreme selective mutism. It hadn't helped that his vocal cords had nearly been ripped out before Bardock found him. The scar was covered with a red scarf when he had to go outside of the ship. Almost anything he said was restrained by one-worded sentences. He only took time to speak if he thought what he had to say was important, so people usually listened to him.

Even Vegeta.

Nodding, he clamped a hand on his brother's bare shoulder before walking back to his shared room.

…

The ship had a total of three levels. The bottom contained their very small rooms, one bathroom, and kitchen. The top floor of the spherical craft held the main computer system and cockpit. The floor in between the two was the largest, and where six saiyans exercised during lengthy trips of more than three hours or so. There was a giant console in the middle that was the ship's propulsion system and center of balance. It also maintained standard gravity.

They avoided damaging that.

All of their rooms had just enough space for the number of beds needed and a shelving unit that acted as their closet directly above. There was one bathroom with multiple shower heads for at least three people since they didn't like to waste time taking turns. It was perfectly appropriate since there were glass dividers between each shower head. The latrine itself was walled off in the corner. The kitchen was very tiny with a stove, microwave, giant refrigerator, pantry cupboards, and a sink. They often ate in odd places throughout the ship.

As Vegeta had trudged through the short halls back to bed, Kakarot and Brolly had silently agreed to a spar. Raditz and Tarble were on breakfast duty.

There was always a desperate feeling to Kakarot's spars against Brolly. They were both close comrades – practically brothers having been born on the same day. But to him, it constantly felt like there was something off between them. Like Brolly was slipping and it was taking every ounce of willpower he had to stay grounded.

Not that he could blame him after what Paragus and Turles tried to do to him. Kakarot knew he looked almost exactly like his distant cousin, and it no doubt triggered painful memories for the other saiyan. Still, they'd been friends for a long time and they knew how to manage themselves if things got out of hand.

They came from a warrior race. Tempers ran short. Blood was expected to be spilt. It was how they communicated.

…

As the days went on, being trapped in the claustrophobic ship was starting to wear on everyone's nerves. Bardock came down to train one afternoon and found Raditz and Kakarot arguing over some petty thing, Brolly staring off into space, Tarble watching the fight between brothers with mild interest, and Vegeta was practically grinding his teeth with frustration. Yes, this sort of thing happened almost every time they had to get from point A to B and it took longer than three days or so.

The oldest saiyan sighed, pulled Raditz and Kakarot apart, told them they were being childish, shot Tarble a glare for not performing his usual duty as the peace keeper, told Vegeta he was going to crack a tooth if he kept it up, and snapped Brolly back into reality.

"We are all going to spar because verbal communication is apparently, an impossible and dangerous thing right now. One against all. Last one standing distributes chores for the remainder of the trip until we reach Earth."

The boys perked up at that. Within seconds they were sinking into their stances and eyeing one another. Bardock tightened the red bandana around his forehead, Kakarot and Raditz took their weighted clothes off, Tarble grinned, Vegeta cracked his knuckles, and Brolly removed his wrist bands. A few seconds passed then they all flew at each other simultaneously.

The rules were simple. Everyone contributed a little ki to a shield that surrounded the propulsion system and rounded wall of the ship. This allowed them to be able to synchronize their ki with one another, and it trained them to multitask in battle. The first four to get knocked out usually got the worst chores. The winner either helped whoever got second to last or did nothing at all on the terms that he had to fight the next group spar with no ki for the first two minutes.

Vegeta had a lot of practice with no ki.

It was usually the eldest prince, Brolly, and Kakarot that squared off last. Brolly was the strongest, but he didn't strategize his fights and thus lost often. Vegeta was the second strongest, but he was the more focused, tactical fighter, and so was the best warrior out of their pack. Kakarot, however, wasn't far behind the prince. Outside of battle, he was a clueless, but in, he was pretty much a machine and on par with Vegeta, but lost to him because he didn't think ahead or focus as much.

Still, between the three of them, it was a really close gap.

When all was said and done, Brolly and Kakarot ended up pitted against each other by Vegeta. They dealt critical damage and the prince handed them the final blow.

No chores for four days.

…

"What now, Lord Frieza?"

"It seems the monkeys cracked my code. How impressive."

"Sir?"

"Now, we wait, Zarbon. Let them relax."

"Relax?"

"Yes, relax. Especially one favorite prince of mine. I think he's been very tense."

"Of course, Sire," he agreed, still not understanding, but not wanting to be killed for questioning either.

The lizard swirled the wine in his hand. "Summon Dodoria. I want to know about these "hoi poi capsules" and Dr. Briefs. They could be very useful."

Zarbon grinned. "Right away."

A/N: I had this idea for a while and thought it would be fun. There aren't enough stories with Raditz, Brolly, and Tarble (not being total psycho jerks or frolicking in flowers) so I thought I'd kill a few birds with one stone. Not that I don't like birds, it's just that they're annoying in the morning. Waking me up with their stupid happy chirps. The nerve!

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