Chapter 1

"Sire," Said Zarbon, speaking in his usual husky voice, "I have some rather unsettling news."

Frieza set down his wineglass on the sidearm of his hover chair and continued to stare through the wall-sized window at the vast expanse of space. A small smile spread over his pink cheeks. Any of Zarbon's bad news would pale in comparison to the various achievements of Frieza's army over the past year. According to the best scientists in the Frieza Force, his empire currently ruled 82% of the known universe. If some of his low level troops failed to conquer some backwater planet, then he would send a mid-level soldier in to clean up the mess.

"Zarbon,"said Frieza, sounding most disinterested, "I do not care for this pessimistic attitude of yours. Speak."

Zarbon gulped. "An uprising has begun in one of your Galaxies, codename Frieza 1892."

Frieza slowly rotated his hover chair around so that he was facing Zarbon, who knelt on one knee and bowed his head before his master. This news did in fact concern Frieza. 1892 was a challenging galaxy to conquer- so challenging that he had to send in the Ginyu Force, who subdued all of the three life bearing planets in two days. Each planet was home to a different civilisation, although Frieza could not quite remember their names. All he knew is that many of their warriors were powerful enough to be drafted into his Army.

"How far has the uprising spread?"

Zarbon cleared his throat before answering immediately. "The Rox, the Welish, and the Glocons have formed an alliance with one another. I received word twenty minutes ago that their respective armies completely wiped out the presence of the Frieza Force in the galaxy, Sire. Not only did a few elite soldiers fall, but the 680th Spacecraft fleet that was stationed just outside the galaxy was annihilated as well. Before they even had a chance to retaliate to the uprising."

"I see," Frieza replied calmly, "This is a bit of a pickle, isn't it?"

"Yes sire. It would be problematic for us to call back the Ginyu Force, but I would recommend it as the best option considering the circumstances."

Zarbon knew there were other solutions to this problem. For starters, he knew that he or even Dodoria could effortlessly quell the said rebellion. But Zarbon didn't like getting his hands dirty. Planet purging and destroying were tasks relegated to common soldiers, not beautiful Elite Generals like him. He also knew that Dodoria felt the same way- and Dodoria sorted out the last rebellion. With Frieza being Frieza, he'd likely give Zarbon the mission out of fairness to Dodoria.

"Absolutely not Zarbon," said Frieza, and Zarbon's heart sank, "We will not call back the Ginyu Force. Their current assignment is of a huge level of importance to me. Beyond what a fool like you could understand."

"Yes sire," said Zarbon, nodding his head frantically. In the past few weeks, Frieza had become obsessive about some faraway wild goose chase he'd sent the Ginyus on. Not even Zarbon himself knew about the mission's nature.

"I have another solution. Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes, sire."

"We send my favourite little Prince Vegeta to Galaxy 1892."

Zarbon's eyes widened in shock. Sending the Prince there could be a costly mistake.

"Sire, please may I remind you about the treaty we signed with King Vegeta?"

"What part of the treaty, Zarbon?"

"In our treaty with the King, he made it very clear that Prince Vegeta would be allowed to serve in the Frieza Force only if he was accompanied by the Saiyan General Nappa on missions. Nappa has just left on a mission, my lord."

Frieza chuckled. At ten years of age, Vegeta's power level had reached a good 8,000, almost twice that other saiyan monkey's. And Frieza knew that Vegeta hated Nappa babysitting him on missions. Maybe the boy even resented his Father for adding such an annoying condition into the treaty. Perhaps if he let Vegeta go off on this mission alone, he'd seem like the "good guy" compared to King Vegeta. That could work in his favour if he ever decided to eradicate the Saiyan race.

"Zarbon, send for the Prince immediately."

Zarbon clenched his jaw in frustration. As his empire's size increased exponentially over the last year, Zarbon had witnessed his master's ego grow even larger, if that were somehow possible. He feared that Frieza's ever-increasing confidence was leading him to make rash decisions.

"Sire, forgive my impudence, but what will we do if the Prince is unsuccessful in his mission and dies?You know that King Vegeta is terribly fond of his only son and heir."

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it, Zarbon."

Zarbon clenched his jaw even tighter. If the Saiyans rebelled, the results for the Empire would be catastrophic to say the least. Zarbon feared King Vegeta immensely- the leader of all the Saiyans was said to be as intelligent as a Tuffle, and if he were strategic about a rebellion, he could wipe out most of the Frieza Force. All he would have to do was teach the Royal Bloodline Technique of creating an artificial moon to more Saiyans. Zarbon gulped at the thought. Finding Soldiers with the minimum power level of 400 to join the Army was hard enough already, and Zarbon hated the prospect of having to literally scour the stars to recruit billions of men at this level when the scientific statistics said that only 1% of living organisms could be that strong. Quelling a Saiyan rebellion could only be done through the combined efforts of Frieza, Zarbon, Dodoria and the Ginyu Force. By the time they could respond to the Saiyans, most of the Frieza Force would be gone.

"Sire, I could go instead-"

"My mind is made up Zarbon," Frieza said firmly, and Zarbon immediately stopped speaking, "Summon the Prince here. Now."

At that moment, a hissing sound came from the back of the room and a silver door slid open. Dodoria ran through it and collapsed in front of Frieza.

"Lord, Lord Frieza," he said through pants, "terrible news. There has been an uprising in Frieza 1892-"

"I've already told him," said Zarbon out of the corner of his mouth, barely able to mask his frustration at the fat oaf's lateness.

"Oh, I see," said Dodoria, "And if I may ask, what do you suggest we do about it Lord Frieza?"

"Simple," said Frieza, his slimy purple slips curving into a smile, "I suggest we send Prince Vegeta to deal with it. After all, his combat record is stupendously good, and-"

"Forgive me, Sire, but isn't that a little rash?" Dodoria said quickly, remembering King Vegeta's stipulation regarding the Prince and Nappa being on a distant planet somewhere in deep space.

Frieza jumped out of seat and slapped Dodoria across the face with his worm-like tail, sending him crashing into the chamber's back wall.

"Obviously I didn't beat you enough when you were a fat little boy Dodoria," said Frieza, floating back down into his hover chair, "otherwise you would know by now that it is rude to interrupt someone else when they are speaking. Especially if it is the most supreme being in all of existence."

"Yes Sire," said Dodoria, rubbing his sore cheek, "I am very sorry indeed."

"If the Prince does not want to take the mission, he will not have to," said Frieza, "I will send either you or Zarbon in that case."

Frieza saw the look of disbelief sweeping across the faces of Zarbon and Dodoria, and he smiled inwardly to himself. Someone rejecting an order from Frieza and living to tell the tale was unheard of. But Frieza wanted Vegeta to view him as a Father, as someone he could trust and respect. That way, Frieza could exploit the Saiyan Prince for as long as he lived without having to fear a rebellion from him in the future. However, it would most likely never come to that. From his weekly or so encounters with the Prince, Frieza could tell that the boy was aware of his place. He never disobeyed orders or spoke back.

"But for now Dodoria, you can redeem your previous rudeness by summoning the Prince for me. Especially seeing as Zarbon isn't even capable of following a simple order."

"Yes, my Lord. I shall summon the Prince right away."

Will Vegeta accept Frieza's mission?

What are the Ginyu Force doing?

Find out

Next time

in this fanfiction

okay, so a few points I want to discuss. I feel like I've maybe made the Frieza Force too large- but then again, I think it fits into the worldview of Frieza and his army being an omnipresent, omnipotent force feared throughout the universe.

The thing about the minimum power level required being 400 comes from a headcanon of mine. I like to view most planets in the DBZ universe as being earth-like, meaning that the average power level in the universe would be like 2. Remember Roshi was the strongest human at one point when he was around 120. Thats why I like to think of the Frieza Force- the very weakest soldiers would be about four times more powerful than the strongest fighter on a "weak" planet.

I also don't like to think that the Saiyans were a weak race- I like to think that they were powerful when compared against the universe's standard, but weak when compared to the highest level mutants in Frieza's Army. It was stated that Zarbon, Dodoria, the Ginyu Force and Cui were all mutants, and I would consider Vegeta to be in this category.

I've read many fanfictions were Vegeta is a low-level soldier or slave to frieza in comparison to other soldiers, but think about this; Vegeta knows the artifical moon technique. Therefore, kid Vegeta could theoretically transform into an Oozaru at any time. That would make him capable of the same missions as the Ginyu Force, considering my kid Vegeta is currently an 8,000. He can access his Oozaru transformation as freely as Zarbon can access his second form, or Frieza with any of his forms. Therefore I think its perfectly feasible that Frieza respects him (relatively, when compared to the others) and treats him as a super elite.