AN: so this has been in my drafts for ages but after buying the vegebulzine my inspiration to actually continue my idea for this story. the beautiful art got me motivated to actually begin posting this so here we go.
The compound was nicer than she had expected, though to be fair most things were nicer than what she expected. After spending years in cramped communal living spaces on various stations across the galaxy her standards of nice had dropped significantly- but this station almost reminded her of home, from the outside at least. It looked almost fancy, beautiful. The largest building, the one she assumed she'd be working in, looked like a palace of sorts. It was well decorated, people were walking around like little ants, and most importantly it looked clean. She hadn't expected any of these things, even though she knew the man responsible for the whole 'Planet Trade Organization' lived there. Really it shouldn't have been such a surprise to her, but after a decade of shitty environments and filthy hallways she'd nearly forgotten what 'nice' looked like.
She'd heard stories about the compound. The best of the best lived there, and she couldn't help but feel a swell of pride that she was now included as one of the best. She'd been working herself nearly to death from the moment she was 'integrated' at the age of 15 in order to improve her lott. For the first few months she'd fought hard against her new life, though it wasn't that she was unused to hard work when it came to engineering. She wasn't used to being forced to work. She wasn't used to being treated like something other than a prodigal engineer, and when she'd been taken to the first station she was treated like every other weary eyed worker in the compound. They spoke down to her as if she didn't even know what a wrench was, and granted she didn't recognize some of the alien technology they used but they didn't need to speak to her like she were a small child. The thing that finally snapped her out of her loud and defiant refusal to work was seeing a young woman, one who looked almost human and about the same age as her, get her brains blown out for being late to assembly. After that, she swore she'd get the hell out of the shithole of a station, and the motivation gained from that served her well.
The overseers, finally, recognized her talents and promoted her to a slightly less shitty station. This cycle of promotions to slightly less and less hellish stations continued over the decade that lead her to finally being raised up to the top. She would arrive on the station, make friends with any women she could find in her department, they would show her the ropes, and then she would quickly prove herself too useful to be kept on the station. She tried not to get too attached to those she befriended on each ship, she had no plans on staying with them for long, but still it was nice to have people to talk to on each station. She was looking forward to her, hopefully permanent, position at this station. She'd finally get to make real friends and hopefully find some sense of normality on this station.
She couldn't help but feel amazed looking out her window as they pulled into orbit of the planet the station was on, it looked like there were real cities. There was life on this planet, not just cold featureless buildings she'd grown used to. She'd heard you were given free reign on this planet as long as you continued to perform well, and she couldn't help but get excited at the thought of going shopping and eating somewhere other than a noisy mess hall.
As expected, shortly before they docked, a voice came over the comm systems stating they were all to be at the departure bay with everything they needed with them in ten minutes. She grabbed her bag that held what little she could really claim was her own and headed out of the dorm. As the door slid open, a bulky figure she recognized fell into her room. She not so gracefully sidestepped out of the way, watching with a slightly surprised but entirely unamused expression.
"Oh geez, I coulda used a little bit of warning before you opened the door Bulma!" The familiar voice said in a teasing manner. Bulma put her hands on her hips, looking down at the boy.
"Were you really trying to sleep while on guard?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. His sheepish grin gave her all the information she needed to know. He pushed himself off of the ground and dusted off his uniform.
"Listen, the halls get real boring after a few hours, and it's not like people tend to come down this way anyway. 'Sides, I know you aren't as stuck up as some of the other big wigs I've been guarding over the years," she rolled her eyes, but didn't argue. She couldn't be too upset with him anyway, she expected this kind of behavior from him for almost as long as she'd known him.
"Listen, I know I said I'd be lax with my rules, but I need you to try and keep up appearances, okay? You're supposed to be the bodyguard of one of the brightest engineers in the PTO, not her best friend. When no one's around you can goof off but while we're on duty you've gotta try and act like you would with one of those 'big wigs'," she explained. She'd explained this to him several times since she'd requested him as a bodyguard to go along with her new status, but he didn't seem to entirely comprehend the gravity of the situation. She'd heard stories of the cruelty some of the elite men at this station were capable of, and she had no doubt they would try and rip the two apart if they realized she was allowing Goku to work at standards below what would normally be expected of a head overseer's bodyguard.
He laughed it off like it was no big deal, as usual, and moved to the cot she'd been sleeping in. He grabbed the bag he'd stashed there when he'd arrived that morning, then went back to the door, waiting for her exit. The two walked side by side down the corridor, and Bulma had to whisper to him to act more like a bodyguard and less like her friend. He stood up a little straighter and a more stern look came over his face, Bulma hid the smile she could feel creeping up. Goku wasn't always the best with words, but actions? He could do. Especially when it came to looking intimidating.
Some nights she still couldn't believe that he'd grown up into such an intimidating figure. She remembered the first time they met, deep in the belly of the ship that had taken them away from their home. He was just a little twelve year old restrained next to her. When she'd asked why he was restrained he claimed it was because he was so strong, flashing a proud smile at her she'd quickly grow familiar with. Something about his odd behavior allowed her to forget about the fact she'd probably never see her parents again for a moment. She sat there talking to him in hushed tones the whole ride, holding back tears and giving the occasional laugh when he'd said something particularly strange. Most of what he said sounded like the kinds of stories young kids told to anyone who would listen, and hell maybe he even believed them. She assumed they were just the ramblings of a boy trying to hide his fear behind false bravado.
Her initial misgivings about his strength were squashed as soon as they arrived at the first station they were to be based at. One of the men gathering them had grabbed her too roughly and Goku was quick to act. He jumped up and headbutted the man so hard his chest armor cracked. It was almost comical, looking back at it, but in the moment it was an absolute shock. She mistook the crack as the sound of the boys skull, but the yelp of the soldier quickly showed her the truth. In the moment she was both scared and amazed, and even though the two of them were treated even more roughly due to Goku's outburst, she decided they were going to stick together through this. He was strong, and she had a feeling it would be a good thing to have someone strong on her side. There was also the nagging feeling that the strange boy needed someone with a good head on their shoulders to help him along. They managed to stay mostly safe due to their individual prodigal talents, Goku stunned the men in his strength tests, and Bulma continuously proved her genius. It took some bribing and sweet talk to the right people, but they both managed to land spots at the same stations each time they were promoted.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts as she saw a crowd of people in front of her. All of them holding identical bags to her, waiting to depart from the ship to their individual stations. As she got closer, she could hear a mechanical voice coming over the intercoms announcing which groups they should be in. She half listened to it, waiting to hear anything about head overseers. Eventually the message stopped, then started repeating the information again. A moment passed, and then she heard it.
"Initiate Head Overseers, group H4." She scanned the several electronic signs floating above the groups until her eyes settled on H4, then joined in with the group, Goku following right behind her.
The group was much smaller than many of the others, there were only six others standing in the group, three Head Overseers and a bodyguard for each. It wasn't much of a surprise her group was so small, most the other groups were made up of soldiers, doctors, and engineers who hadn't made the cut for Overseer and would be instead working under those who did.
She was a bit disappointed to find that none of the others in her group were human. The smallest in the group, who looked to be a Meran, was the first to notice her. She flitted her eyes between Goku and her, then up to the large man standing tall behind her who Bulma could only assume was her bodyguard. The fin atop her head raised up, vaguely reminding Bulma of a cockatiel she'd kept as a young child. Her face seemed concerned, but Bulma was quick to try and calm her. She put on the kindest smile she could and walked slowly towards her.
"This is the group for Head Overseers, right?" she asked, not as an actual question, rather has an ice breaker. The Meran nodded quickly, her fin still standing up straight. Bulma didn't let it deter her. She let out a sigh of relief as though she was relieved to hear she was in the right spot.
"Wonderful, well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Bulma, the new Head Overseer for Engineering," she stretched out her hand, and the small fishlike woman looked at it in confusion for a moment, before reluctantly taking it. The fin on her head fell back against her scaled head, but it wasn't entirely flat.
"Oshe, I'm in charge of Medical," she responded quietly, taking her eyes off Bulma for a second at a time to look at Goku, "And, um, who is this?" she asked in an even quieter voice, tipping her head towards Goku.
"Goku! I'm Bulma's bodyguard," Goku responded before Bulma had the chance. His loud voice clearly startled Osha, as her fin flicked up for a moment and her hand pulled away from Bulma's. Bulma shot a warning look at Goku, though he just looked back at her and shrugged. Bulma tried to pull attention away from Goku, turning to the tall man behind Osha.
He wasn't of a race Bulma recognized. He was large and looked something like a werewolf mid transformation. His Large yellow eyes watched her intently, and she couldn't help but feel intimidated by him.
"Uni, he um, doesn't speak much," Osha said quietly. Goku outstretched a hand to Uni, with a big grin on his face.
"Nice to meet ya Uni!"
Uni looked at the hand for a moment, then took it and gave a firm shake before withdrawing his hand and returning to crossing his arms.
Another moment of silence passed, then another member of the group stepped towards her. He was birdlike, with a small beak and a heavily feathered face and body. Behind him was a tall woman who appeared to be of the same race. Bulma vaguely recalled meeting another of their race many years before, if she was remembering correctly they were called Averites.
"You said you're the new Head Overseer for Engineering, yeah?" the man said. Bulma nodded, looking him up and down.
"I'm Paro, new Head Overseer of Ship Maintenance. I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of each other given overlap in our duties, I look forward to seeing what kinds of improvements your men will make for our ships," he held out a deceivingly humanlike hand covered in skin similar to a bird's foot. She gladly took it, happy to know she'd be working with someone who appeared to be rather kind.
"This is Cani, she looks tough but she's a big softy in truth," Paro said in a mock whisper. Cani rolled her eyes and raised her hand to her face, picking a stray feather from the side of her head.
"I can introduce myself you know," she said in a slightly annoyed tone. She nonetheless held out her hand to Bulma and, in a more pleasant tone, introduced herself again "Cani, bodyguard for Head Overseer Paro. It's a pleasure." Despite her beak being unable to upturn in a smile, her eyes seemed to convey her pleasant attitude.
"Well don't leave me out of this meet and greet," a small humanoid with pastel green skin said. She looked almost entirely human were it not for her odd coloring. "Vitam, Head Overseer of Planetary Research," she held out her hand without being prompted, and Bulma took it. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
"I've actually heard a bit about you Ms. Bulma, rumor has it you're set to make history as the youngest Head Overseer of Engineering. That true?" she asked. Bulma couldn't help but beam with pride.
"I don't want to brag but, I've always been the top of my peers when it comes to matters of engineering," she said, contradicting her first statement immediatly.
"Sounds to me like you do want to brag," Vitam's bodyguard spat out in an unamused tone. She was another race she didn't recognize. She looked somewhat human, but reptilian scales and eyes betrayed her clearly alien heritage. Vitam looked over at her.
"Oh come on now, don't be rude," Vitam tossed the words over her shoulder, then turned back to Bulma, "Don't mind her, she's just upset she got reassigned to being a bodyguard rather than a foot soldier. No idea why she's so upset about it though," she rolled her eyes as she spoke. The words clearly agitated the bodyguard, but she said nothing. Bulma didn't bother asking for the bodyguards name, she clearly didn't want to be spoken to. Instead she focused on tall and muscular man who looked entirely human with the exception of a total lack of eyebrows approaching the group. He looked down at the board he was holding, then back up at the group.
"I need proof of identity from all of you please," he said curtly. Bulma pulled her TransPad from one of the pockets in her suit and opened it up. He took the small pad from her and looked at the information it provided before typing in a code and handing it back to her. He wrote something on his own pad, before moving to the next in their group.
Once he'd looked through all their TransPads, he made another quick note on his board then motioned for the group to follow him.
"I'm taking you to your dorms. You'll have twenty minutes to settle in before mess begins. I suggest you get there quick, once the food gone, it's gone, and you'll be paying out of pocket to eat. There will be a scouter in each of your dorms, you'd do well to keep them on you at all times. They'll be your way of communicating and keeping schedule. We will notify you with them when mess is done and then you will receive further instruction to your new stations. Any questions?" the man spoke brusquely, and it was obvious he'd given this speech many times before. No one asked any questions, and instead followed him quietly out of the ship and into the sprawling dock.
Bulma was absolutely amazed at the sheer size of the place. Even back home when she was a child she'd never seen a building so huge and advanced, it was honestly dizzying looking up at the ships hovering over the decks awaiting their turn to dock. Goku had to give her a gentle nudge to pull her back to reality and keep her moving with the group. The man led them to a terminal, and after waiting for a moment, they entered.
She'd been on some terminals similar to the one she was in, but this one was oddly beautiful. It was obviously well maintained rather than left to rot like the ones she'd seen before her promotion. What she saw out the windows of the terminal was even more stunning however. Once the terminal left the docks, she was greeted with the tallest buildings she'd seen in over a decade. There were shining lights, and people, restaurants, shopping ports, it was all almost too much.
It reminded her of home.
She was started by Goku's hand on her shoulder.
"Everything alright Bulma?" he asked, a look of concern on his face. She pulled her eyes away from the window and looked up at her bodyguard.
"Yeah it's just… I know you never got to see the parts of Earth I did, but those cities I told you about? This it what they looked like," she looked back out the window. In the reflection of the glass, she could see Goku squinting at the buildings.
"Yeah? Huh, no wonder Grandpa never took me there. Seems a little too uppity for me. Definitely seems like your kind of thing though," he said.
She often forgot the oddity that was his upbringing. He claimed he was found as a baby with a monkey tail by his Grandpa, and was raised in a little cottage in the mountains. He never left, even after he and his Grandpa were attacked and he lost both his tail and the man who raised him, opting to live off of the land. She didn't believe him for the first few months after she met him, he was just a little kid, he was probably just imaging most of it. But the more she got to know him, the more his story added up. He had a small scared over bump where he claimed his tail once was, and his total ignorance to modern society was something she doubted anyone could fake.
"I wonder if they have mountains here too, you think they'd let me visit them if they do?" he asked, looking away from the window. Bulma kept her eyes fixed on the outside.
"I didn't see any on our descent, and besides, I'm not sure we're allowed to leave the city," she answered in a distracted tone. The sight of the buildings was ripped away from her without warning as the terminal entered a new building. It pulled to a stop, and the man who'd lead them there motioned for them to follow him.
"Don't worry about getting lost. As long as you have your scouter you'll have a map to direct you around the building," the man said, anticipating someone asking how they were to navigate the huge building. As they walked through the halls, Bulma couldn't help but feel she was in a hospital of some sort. The building was spotless, and there were doors and corridors everywhere she looked. She wasn't even sure looking at a map would help her navigate the building, especially judging by how big it looked on the outside when she spotted it during their descent.
They passed by what felt like hundreds of creature on the way to the Head Overseer dorms. Most didn't give their group a second thought, but some watched them with obvious curiosity. Bulma couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the attention, she wouldn't until she was entirely aware of her surroundings. She didn't know which of the people in the building were threats and which were potential allies, and chances were she wouldn't know for a good while. The place was so huge she got the feeling it was going to take a long while for her to get a good grasp of the other workers.
Several corridors later, she arrived at a long block of dorms. The man leading them stopped, then looked to them.
"These are your permanent dorms, each houses two people. There are private sleeping quarters but the rest of the dorm is shared. The locks on your doors have been reset, decide on a passcode, then enter it when you are ready. Do not forget your code, or you will be locked out of your dorm. Make certain you like your code, you will not be able to change it without the help of a maintenance worker, and it will cost you credits. As I said, you're being allotted twenty minutes before mess. Use it as you please," he then listed off which dorm they had each been assigned, then he left without another word.
Goku let Bulma pick the passcode to their door, trusting she'd pick something more secure. Once in their dorm, they both took a moment to unpack their few belongings into their individual rooms, Bulma unpacked quickly, then laid on her new bed, grateful to have something nicer than the cot on the transport ship she'd arrived on.
The twenty minutes passed in what seemed like a blink of the eye. Bulma cautiously put the scouter over her ear, she'd been playing with the controls since she'd picked it up, and was amazed by just how much it could do. It would take more than the twenty minutes she was given to figure it out in its entirety, but she'd at least discovered the direction system and the time and date settings.
She was at first surprised to see Goku already at the door waiting to leave, he was normally the less punctual of the two, but then she realized the man hadn't eaten since the previous cycle. If anything motivated him, it was food. It was practically inhuman how much the man ate, and she was fairly certain his stomach was a black hole.
Goku walked in front of her, trying his hardest not to run down the hall to where the scouter led them. Bulma half wanted to tell him to just go ahead without her, but she also didn't want to be in the halls alone.
The mess hall was already busy when she arrived, with a line growing by the second. Goku was quick to run to the line, and Bulma did her best to follow him. The servers were efficient, not bothering to look at any of them, instead focusing on plopping the portions of food onto their plates then passing them off. Despite the huge line, it only took minutes for them to get their food.
Her tray in hand, Bulma looked for any of her fellow Head Overseers in the hall. It took a moment, but she eventually settled on Cani, sitting next to Paro at a table with what looked like other Head Overseers. Bulma was quick to join them and introduce herself. The others took turns giving names and status, but said little else, preferring to speak amongst themselves. Bulma picked at her food slowly, taking the occasional bite, but mostly just pushing it around her plate. The nerves of her arrival on a new station always took away her appetite. After a few more bites, she pushed it over to Goku, who'd already long since finished his plate. Paro looked amused, but said nothing.
After a bit of time, Oshe joined their group, Uni right behind her. Uni sat at the edge of the table, picking at her food in a similar manner Bulma did, glancing around the room. Eventually Oshe's eyes seemed to settle on a table across the room from them. She leaned in to their group and whispered, "They're watching us."
Bulma couldn't help but feel unsettled by the words, and she looked up to see what Oshe was talking about. Sure enough, there were two men, one hulking and one slimmer with ridiculously long hair. In between them was a smaller man, but he didn't seem to be interested in their table. The person sitting across from Bulma turned to look at what Osha was talking about as well, then let out a short laugh.
"Looks like you've drawn the attention of Frieza's pet sitters," she said, turning back to look at them. Bulma raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me? Who the hell are they?" Bulma leaned in. Even Goku looked up from the food he was nearly finished eating.
"Saiyans, last of 'em as far as we know. They were almost all wiped out by an asteroid or something like that. Not much of a loss if I'm being honest, they were good fighters sure but personality wise? Entirely insufferable."
"Just having the three of them around is more than enough to be honest," the lanky blue humanoid next to the woman speaking said, "Don't know what they'd want with you all. They usually keep to themselves," they rolled their eyes.
"Yeah okay sure, but that doesn't explain what 'pet sitters' mean. I didn't think Frieza was the animal loving type," Bulma said, causing the woman to bark out another laugh.
"Well, I guess you could say he is. Frieza took a liking to the little monkey in the middle, took him in when their whole planet turned to dust. He's just some odd little pet to entertain Frieza, but the boy still has the pride of a prince. His little guard dogs are the ones watching you, if I were you I'd avoid them. They're pests, but they're resilient as hell, even the weakest one puts up a good fight," she explained, before returning to eat her food.
"I'm gonna go talk to them," Goku said, finishing the last of his food. Bulma nearly choked on her water.
"Are you stupid? She just told us not to confront them," she hissed, leaning into Goku.
"Well I can't just sit here and let them make you all uncomfortable," he defended his idea, though he didn't make another move to get up.
"Yes, you can Goku. I'd rather be uncomfortable then dead," Bulma snapped, taking another drink of her water, although she still watched out the corner of her eye to make sure Goku didn't make another move to get up. Bulma tried to turn attention away from the men watching her by starting up a conversation with Paro, but a nagging voice in the back of her head told her this wouldn't be the last she'd see of the men.
Eventually the men left the hall, and Osha seemed to visibly relax. The rest of lunch went by uneventfully, and soon enough their scouters went off, giving them their first directions to go to their respective stations. Goku went to Bulma's station, but didn't go in with her. He wasn't needed in her office, and he also wasn't authorized to be there with her. He told her he was just going to go exploring, and she promised to send him a message when her duties at the station were done.
She hadn't expected her first day of work to be particularly exciting, but she also hadn't expected it to be as dreadfully boring as it was either. She sat through several introductions, followed by reading through basic reports that gave her nothing particularly interesting to think about. It was clear whoever was the previous Head Overseer had let the Engineering department fall into stagnation, and she was going to have to pull them out of it whether she liked it or not. She had a sneaking suspicion that the stagnation was a large part of why the previous Head Overseer was removed from the position, and she wasn't about the let herself meet the same fate.
After flipping through the last of the reports, she finished taking notes on the improvements they could make in each department. She was going to spend the next several days working in each department and motivating them to progress, she could already tell. She put on her scouter, which up 'til then had been sitting unused on her desk. Back before her promotion she'd always wondered how people were able to wear the damn things all day, and now that she had to wear one she found herself at an even greater loss for an answer.
She pressed her fingers to the pad set up against her ear and inserted the necessary commands to open up comms with Goku. She waited for a moment as it made a soft series of beeps, then gave a long deep tone signalling he hadn't accepted her message. She rolled her eyes, some part of her had expected this. Knowing Goku he'd left his scouter somewhere or hadn't figured out how to answer calls. She pressed in another series of commands to open up the messaging system, then spoke out in a clear voice.
"Goku I'm done for the day. Come and get me or call me back."
She watched as the words appeared on her scouter one by one, and once she'd ensured they were all correct she sent the message his way. She waited, watching the small clock on her scouter count up the minutes, huffing slightly. Part of her worried Goku had gotten himself in some kind of trouble, but the more sensible part of her knew he could handle himself. She often thought of him as an impulsive and dense person, but he had managed to survive just as long as she had, though granted he did it with less finesse. More time passed, and she finally stood up from her chair. It was clear Goku wasn't coming for whatever reason, and while she could feel anxiety at the thought of wandering the new base on her own creeping up on her the part of her that wanted desperately to go and lay in an actual bed was far stronger. She just hoped she'd find him on her way back to the dorm.
She pulled up the map on her scouter and set it to send her to her dorm.