The next chapter is here. Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows so far. Glad to see people enjoyed the first chapter. Hope you all keep reading as we move forward.

Now, onward to the chapter.

Chapter 2: New Recruit

Bardock awoke with a jolt as he was brought of stasis. The computer told him that he's been asleep for almost a month, but it only felt like a few minutes had past for him. It was one of the things he hated about forced sleep. It never felt like rest.

"Hey, you're awake, Bardock," the voice of Tora spoke through his ship's communicator.

"Yeah," he answered in a gurgle voice as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "You think after all this space travel I would be used to coming out of stasis."

Tora chuckled. "It's something you never get used to, old friend."

"Why are you calling me, anyway?" Bardock asked, getting the last fog of sleep out of his head.

"Just thought you wanted to see the view before we land," Tora answered in his normal good nature. "It's been awhile since we've seen this sight."

Bardock looked out of his window to see world of his birth, Planet Vegeta. It shone like a giant ruby in the blackness of space, especially since it was by far the biggest planet in this solar system. It was deceiving beautiful.

After over four years, he was home again.

Because of the constant demands from Frieza, it wasn't unusual for them to go several years without returning home. There were even Saiyans out there who haven't been back since they were kids sent to one of the frontier planets.

The life of a warrior was extremely difficult, especially when working for a galactic tyrant who desired to rule the entire universe.

He couldn't complain.

Despite the constant traveling and iffy food, he loved what he did. Working for Frieza and his army allowed them to fight on countless worlds against many powerful and unique opponents. Battles that would have been unheard of only a few decades ago were almost a daily occurrence.

Until they met Frieza, or more specifically one of the races associated with him, they were earthbound to Planet Vegeta since their ship was badly damaged and no one knew how to repair it. No one even remembered how they even built the freaking thing. After eliminating their annoying Truffle neighbors, they had no enemy to battle and were reduced to fighting among themselves again.

It was a dark period for them. They almost fought themselves to extinction, just like they almost did on their original world. It was King Vegeta, the general and hero of the Truffle War, that kept them from killing themselves. Through him, they were able to make contact with the worlds beyond their planet and forged alliances that gave them space travel again, allowing them to fight to their hearts content against other races while turning a nice profit for their work. The Saiyans were made for this type of work.

Through their accompaniments across this galaxy, they gained the attention of Frieza who annexed them and officially made them a part of his empire. King Vegeta was still left in charge of the daily operations and the Saiyans were allowed to work independently of the Frieza Force unlike the other races Frieza has taken in, but everyone knew who held the real power. No one was exactly happy about it, but Frieza gave more work, which meant more fighting.

And it wasn't like they had a choice in the matter anyway. It was physically impossible to opposed Frieza. As mighty as they were, Frieza was even mightier. It was said that Frieza was the strongest being in the universe, capable of destroying planets with just his fingertips.

He was certain that was an exaggeration. There was no creature alive that could destroy a planet with just their finger. Even the great King Vegeta needed to charge a great deal of energy before he could destroy even a small world. The King could never destroy a planet the size of Vegeta with just one energy blast even if he aimed specifically for its core.

Still, there had to be some grain of truth in those anecdotes since King Vegeta never crossed Frieza. His word overruled all, even the king's. There were even stories that there was someone above even Frieza who was the true ruler of the Trade Empire.

Bardock shook his head.

He really didn't care about all this political crap. Rather he worked for King Vegeta or Frieza meant little to him. As long as he could fight, he didn't particularly care who gave the orders.

Within ten minutes of making visual contact with Planet Vegeta, they made landfall. From the position of the suns, it was the afternoon.

Bardock slowly climbed out of his pod as he attempted to adjust to the scorching heat.

Planet Vegeta was always hot. It was a planet with two suns, after all, with night only lasting a few hours. They also got very little rainfall, forcing them to ration out the water and making it impossible to grow crops.

It also took him a several minutes to readjust to the heavier gravity and denser air. Any off-worlder would have found themselves crushed instantly and their lungs exploding just from breathing if they were ill-prepared.

Planet Vegeta wasn't a pleasure world. Most would classify it as a trash planet or even a dead world unsuitable for life. Only the strong could survive here, which was why it was the ideal planet for them.

The harshness of this planet made them strong. It weeded out the weak among them and left only the strongest alive. That was why they were the greatest of all races. They truly embodied the philosophies of survival of the fittest and whatever that doesn't kills you, served to make you stronger.

Planet Vegeta was harsh, unforgiving, and cruel, just like them.

"Aw, it's good to be home," Shugesh said with a huge grin. He took a deep breath, taking in the air. "Been a long time."

Fasha stretched her stiffed muscles. "Four years. Hard to believe we've been gone that long. Feels like we were here just a few months ago."

Tora smiled. "Fighting is fun, but it's nice to take a break once and awhile." He turned towards Bardock. "So, how long does our shore leave last?"

"I think our next assignment isn't until next month," Bardock answered.

This surprised Shugesh. "Really? Why so long?"

"We got a new recruit coming into the crew," Bardock said. "That's why we were called back."

"A new recruit? We haven't had anyone added to the team in years," Tora observed.

Shugesh folded his arms and huffed. "And we really don't need one. The crew is perfect as it is. Why ruined a good thing with possible dead weight."

Bardock shrugged. "I agree, but it isn't my place to decide that, unfortunately."

Fasha shook her head. "You would think as the team leader you would have some power over who joins the crew."

"Well, no point complaining about it," Bardock replied. "Outside of our missions, I have no real authority."

Which he completely despised. Why with all their victories were they still being treated like third-rate warriors? Haven't they proven their worth yet? It was so frustrating. Although they were all born as lower class warriors, they were all vastly stronger than others in their class. Some within his crew were even approaching mid-tier fighters in power. And yet, they still got no respect.

But, it was what it was.

It was extremely hard to get out of the caste system, especially when you were born at the bottom. Those who were classified as lower class fighters were there not just because they were born weak, but they were also given a very low growth potential. All of them were given a maximum power level between five to six-hundred when they were tested as children. It was only through a lot of hard work and near-death experiences that they were able to break their limits and grow beyond what the test estimated.

"Well, I better go meet our newest soldier," Bardock said before smirking. "You bums can run off and have fun. Since we're not going anywhere for awhile, you can cut loose."

Shugesh chuckled. "Not too much fun to have around here, but I'm certain to find something to keep me entertain."

Fasha looked towards Borgos, who had remained quiet throughout the entire conversation. Which was completely normal for him. Outside of battlefield, the man barely speaks a word to the point that most thought he was mute. "So, what do you plan to do, Borgos? Are you going to meet up with that woman you left behind?"

Borgos snorted. "She has her own assignments."

Fasha paused in thought. "Didn't you have a child with that woman? Given their age, they should be out of the incubator and preparing to become a fighter if they haven't been sent to one of the frontier worlds."

Borgos crossed his arms. "Yeah, I do have a kid by her. He's the lowest of the low with almost no fighting potential. An utter piece of trash."

Tora frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that. But he could have some hidden potential, much like us. You shouldn't write him off just yet."

Borgos growled. "I don't care if he can climb his way up. I want a kid that's at least medium rank. One that don't need to struggle at the bottom like me."

Shugesh patted his comrade's back. "I can understand where you're coming from, but unless you get with some powerful woman, any kid we have is going to be low class at best. And no high class lady will get with a bunch of foot soldiers like us."

Fasha rolled his eyes. "That's right. Depress him further."

"Look at it this way. Once we climb up the ranks, we'll have those high end women begging to get with us," Tora said with a smirk.

Bardock rolled his eyes as he walked off.

He never cared for this kind of talk. If he never had a kid, that was fine with him. They were a waste of time, even if they were born a mid-class. He was happy that he wasn't born a woman so he wouldn't be forced to carry a baby and missed several months' worth of fighting.

Although, he was more than aware that he was reaching the age where he needed to take care of his inner desires. The average Saiyan usually started to have sex around their early twenties. Most tried to ignore it, but eventually the urge overwhelmed them.

Thankfully, he hasn't reached that point yet. And even if he did, Fasha and he already made arrangements. Since they were around the same age, the urge should hit them around the same time, allowing them to get both of their businesses out of the way. Given how long they were usually away and Fasha being the only female in sight, it would happened that way even if they didn't planned ahead of time.

Some would argued that he could just ravage a native female on one of the many worlds they conquered much like the Frieza Force, but he had no interest in that. He didn't want to touch some filthy native. No Saiyan wanted to.

Besides, he didn't mind getting with Fasha. She was a nice woman and a good fighter. Her potential was limited, like all of them, but she was a hard worker who fought on the front lines with him for years. He trusted her with his life, making her more than worthy to bear his child if that should happened.

The problem he had with Fasha was that she had this strange maternal instinct. Unlike most females, she not only wanted a child, but also wanted to raise it. Most females just had a baby and left it in the care of birthing center so they could get back to their assignments. He'd never met his mom and the same was true with the rest of his crew. Hell, he doesn't even know what his mom looked like.

If and when Fasha had a child, they would lose a valuable member of the crew. And if he had the unfortunate luck of being the father, Fasha would expect him to visit and be a 'present' in the child's life.

Then again, Fasha was a little on the weird side. She grew up with her father who personally taught her how to fight and survived. In comparison, he met his father only a few times in his life before the old man met a violent and gruesome end during the purging of Planet Zero. The only thing he vaguely recalled about the old man was that he had a similar hairstyle to him, which was unusual even for Saiyans' standards. He mentioned in passing that it was a family style that always went to the second child or something. Which meant he was second child of the family, something he didn't know.

It was somewhat amusing to think that he had an older brother or sister somewhere, but he never bothered to check. As far as he was concerned, his crew was his only family. Something as fickle as blood ties were for the inferior species.

With his head finally cleared of that mess, he made his way to the primary command center that was located in the only major city on Planet Vegeta. There used to be more, but they were destroyed during the Truffle War. It was a major reconstruction effort just to repair the old capital and even then almost all the more advance buildings were created by the Trade Empire.

It wasn't a big deal. The Saiyan population was small and most weren't even on the planet at one time, so everyone could live within this one city without any issue. Besides, most of the planet was uninhabitable, even for them.

The command center was emptied, which was also common. Most commands happened over the computer.

"Bardock, you're late," a large man wearing black and yellow armor scolded. His hair was messy in the typical Saiyan fashion and he had a thick beard.

"I got distracted," Bardock answered in his usual nonchalant manner.

The man gave a deep sigh. "Well, I suppose this infraction can be overlooked, this time. We got your later report. Congratulation on your conquest of Planet Bean. Got a thank you from one of the commanders on the Frieza Force."

Bardock snorted. "We deserves more than a thank you for bailing them out. Their scout teams completely missed the mark on that planet. Those morons would've gotten themselves wiped if it wasn't for us."

"So I've heard," the older Saiyan said as he led Bardock towards the back of the building. "You and your crew have been making quite a name for yourselves. You seem to have made it a hobby of rescuing other teams and saving botched missions."

"It's the only way to get the good missions," Bardock answered. There was an edge of annoyance in his voice. "If we didn't take distress calls, we would be forced to only conquer trash planets."

The older Saiyan hummed. "It can't be helped. You and your crew are a lowest class fighting unit. Unless you rank higher, you can never get the serious jobs."

"With all due respect, I think my crew more than earned the right to take tougher assignments," Bardock stated, trying to keep his anger under control. "We take the highly dangerous jobs that no one else wants, and we win every time with no casualties. We deserve far more respect for we've done."

"I understand your frustrations, believe me," the other Saiyan replied. "Being born on the bottom isn't easy. It took me my entire life just to be reclassified as a low class warrior. But King Vegeta is extremely strict about the class system. You need to have a power level of over three-thousand just to be considered a medium class. Which is outrageous given that the average Saiyan only reach levels of one-thousand. You can't even become an elite through normal systems. You have to be picked by the king."

"I don't mind the high standards. King Vegeta only wants the best in his presence and I can respect that," Bardock said. "My problem is that it is close to impossible to get retested, despite being forced give our power levels every time we return home."

The man glanced at Bardock. "You think you've become that much stronger?"

"My maximum potential was only supposed to be seven hundred. When I was last scanned four years ago, I was well over twenty-five hundred," Bardock stated.

The older Saiyan hummed again. "I see your point. Then again, nearly getting yourself killed on a daily basic and being brought back from the brink will make even a weak Saiyan powerful."

Bardock smirked. "But isn't that what makes us so great? What doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger."

The other Saiyan returned the smirk. "Point taking." They stopped walking when they reached the furthest room. "You will find your newest recruit here." He pressed a button to open the door.

"Are they powerful?" Bardock asked bluntly.

The older Saiyan frowned. "I'm afraid not. She's lower class warrior."

"She?" Bardock questioned as the door fully opened.

Inside stood a female doing a series of training exercises. She was small thing. She was a few inches shorter than Fasha from what Bardock could see. She wore a similar style of armor to his female comrade except her outfit had straps on both sides of her shoulders. Her hair was somewhat short, going down to about his shoulders, and spiky on the ends in the traditional Saiyan style.

"Gine. Come meet your new commander, Bardock," the older Saiyan ordered.

Gine stopped her exercises and turned towards them. She observed Bardock carefully before walking over to him.

Bardock blinked as he got a good look at her face.

She had a different aura from any Saiyan he ever met. He couldn't placed his finger on it, but there was something about her that made him feel...at ease.

Her eyes were also different. They had sense of innocent behind them. It wasn't the cold, jaded glazed of a Saiyan. What was she?

"Bardock, this is Gine. She's being transferred over to you from Pepper's crew," the old Saiyan explained.

"Pepper, huh?" Bardock questioned as he kept looking over Gine.

"There have been some moving around and reorganizing since we lost several fighters and crews during the Orbital Ring purge a few weeks ago," the older Saiyan explained.

"I see. I heard about that fiasco. Sorry that my crew couldn't be a part of it," Bardock said.

"Knowing how your crew works, you all would have been killed," the older Saiyan remarked off-handedly.

Bardock chose to ignore him as he turned his attention back towards Gine. "So, I'm told that you're a lower class fighter."

Gine nodded. "I'm afraid so. But I am also a hard worker and will do my best to support the crew."

Bardock stared at Gine for several seconds. "Can you excuse us for a moment." He grabbed the other Saiyan and quickly pulled him to the other side of the room. He made sure he was out of Gine's hearing range. "Okay, what's this about?"

"Pardon?" the older Saiyan asked.

"Don't play dumb with me. There's something...off about her," Bardock whispered harshly as he gave a quick glanced at Gine, who was staring at them. "There's a look in her eyes that isn't like us. She's different."

The older Saiyan sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Should have figured that it wouldn't get past you."

"So, what is she?" Bardock demanded.

"A reject," he answered.

Bardock's eyes widened as those words hit him.

A reject? He didn't know that they still existed.

It was said that in the ancient past that there were Saiyans who were born without the desire to fight. They abhorred violence and wanted to find peaceful solutions to everything.

They even tried to form an alliance with the Truffles not long after they came to this world, saying how it was the Saiyans' bloodthirst that led to the destruction of Planet Sadal and only by changing could the Saiyans hoped to survive. Some of those disgraceful Saiyan even sided with the Truffles during the war.

There was even some nonsense like those bleeding hearts could actually become stronger than a normal Saiyan.

It was all fairytales. Who could ever believed that anyone with such soft hearts could ever become strong, especially compared to a 'true' Saiyan. Their pitiful softness was what led them to their eventual extinction along with the Truffles. Or, so he heard.

"You should be surprise," the older Saiyan spoke, breaking Bardock out of his shock. "Gine is one of the very few rejects still in existence. Their kind was all but wiped out during the Truffle War."

"I thought they all died out completely," Bardock said after he found his voice.

"A few did survive. Despite their disabilities, they are still Saiyans. They won't die that easily. And, for some reason, some still chose to have children with them despite their inferior bloodline," the other Saiyan explained.

Bardock snorted. "If she's really a reject, what's she doing here? I thought Saiyans who are unable to fight were sent off-world somewhere."

"That's only for elites," the older Saiyan corrected. "Lower to low class Saiyans aren't that lucky. We're stuck with our garbage until they get themselves killed. You don't really hear about her kind since most rejects have the good sense to keep their heads down and try to stay out of trouble. As long as they don't try to push their softhearted drivel on the rest of us, we usually just turn our heads and pretend they don't exist."

Bardock growled as the implication of Gine joining his crew hit him. "That's why she's being transferred over to my crew, isn't it? It's all to slow us down. Is this the elites' way of showing contempt towards us?"

The older Saiyan rolled his eyes. "This is hardly a conspiracy against you, Bardock. You're a complete unknown outside the low class circles. Not even the medium class Saiyans know you from the usual bum on the road. Pepper just won major favor with the higher ups recently and was allowed to transfer Gine for a better soldier. Your crew was just the unlucky saps choosing." He glanced at Bardock. "Despite how highly you think of yourself, you're not important."

Bardock chose to ignore the insult as he sighed. "So….I'm stuck with her."

"Just keep her out of combat. Make her into a food carrier or something," the older Saiyan said. "If you're lucky, you can eventually get a transfer yourself and dump her. Or, even better, she gets herself killed. Knowing the missions you like to take, that's a good possibility."

Bardock glanced at the older man. "If she lasted this long, she won't go out and get herself killed." He sighed and rubbed a hand through his wild hair. "I guess I have no choice but to put up with it."

The older Saiyan patted Bardock's shoulder. "It isn't the worst thing in the world. From the reports I read, Gine tends to follow orders well despite her disability. She will do her best. Just don't expect much out of her."

"Thanks for the warning," Bardock muttered.

The older Saiyan turned away from him. "I will leave you two to get better acquainted. I suggest you introduce her soon to the rest of your crew. It's better that they know the truth about her now instead of finding it out on the battlefield."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Bardock sighed as the other Saiyan left.

And he was in such a good mood before coming here. He didn't expect to get a high-ranking soldier, but he never expected to be stuck with a reject of all things. That's just what he needed, dead weight.

He almost wanted to scream. It took him years to assemble a crew of advance fighters. Now, the entire team dynamic was in jeopardy.

Dammit.

He turned to look at Gine, who continued to stare curiously at him.

There was no point in complaining. He wasn't one to whine when bad luck struck. If he had to carry a boulder on his way to the top, so be it. It would only serve to make him that much stronger.

With his mind made up, he walked towards his new subordinate.

And Gine finally makes her appearance and we get some background on what she is. We also get some insight into Bardock and his way of thinking.

Until next chapter, take care.