Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or anything related to it. All the content in this story is written purely for fun. Please enjoy.

Chapter Two: They're good at lying

Bulma leaned back in her chair, her eyes taking in Trunks' frown. "You don't approve."

Trunks sat at the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee steaming near his hands. His frowned deepened at her words and he let out a sigh. "It's not that I don't approve kaa-san. I just… I wished you'd called me first. What if they'd been dangerous?"

"No," Buluma held up a finger at him. "We're not going to play the game where you're worried about my well-being when you were running around and fighting androids behind my back. You weren't even ready."

Trunks' winched at that. "I only have one kaa-san."

Bulma sighed and reached over to place her hand on top of his. "And I only have one son." She squeezed a hand she knew could easily topple buildings. "I'm sorry I didn't call you."

He nodded, making his long hair sway and placed a hand on her's. "So, what did you learn? Do you know why they're here?"

She nodded and picked up her own coffee and sipped it. "They said they're stranded. Something about the engine now working."

Trunks snorted through his nose. "I'm surprised you didn't charge in there and fix it."

"Please," Bulma rolled her eyes. "I would have, but I didn't have any tools." She hesitated before adding, "I was thinking about going out there today and offering some food and help with their mechanical issue if I could."

Her son offered a small smile. "Would it be too protective to ask if I could come along?"

Bulma smiled and shook her head. "No. I'd rather you come with me. You'll sense things I can't."

Trunks nodded. "I'll get the car ready."

Bulman landed the hover car and stepped out at the same time as Trunks. They both took in the ship, her own eyes flickering over the people crawling over it with blow-torch looking items.

Trunks asked, "What are they doing?"

The blue haired scientist watched for several seconds before saying, "Repairing. Looks like their ship's seen better days."

"They'll probably need raw materials." Trunks gestured to the front of the ship where gaps were visible. "I'm not a rocket scientist, but the front of the ship looks like it's missing parts there."

Bulma nodded with a frown. "I'm in agreement." Her blue eyes rested on a figure rushing towards them. "That's Buju. He's the translator."

Her son looked at the human-looking figure and then her with a cocked eyebrow. "Do we need one?"

"I'll let him explain," she said. Once Buju was close enough, she smiled warmly. "Hey Buju."

"Bulma Briefs," he said, jutting his hand at her. "It is good to see you." The skinny male looked as threatening as a puppy. His brown hair needed a haircut, but it only added to his charm as he smiled at the pair.

Still smiling, she took the hand and shook it before nodding to Trunks. "This is my son. We've come to offer whatever assistance we can."

Buju took a step towards Trunks, offering his hand to him as he'd done with Bulma. "We are sorry to impose on you, but are grateful for your assistance."

Trunks smiled, taking the hand and offering a shake. "No problem. I was asking my kaa-san if we really needed a translator." He frowned before asking, "Are you human?"

"Oh," Buju withdrew his hand. "No, I am not from your planet. I'm a Tuffle."

Trunks' eyebrows shot up. "A Tuffle? Did you share a planet with Saiyan's?"

Buju's expression did several things. His own brows went up and then down as he worried his bottom lip. "We didn't… share it. More like fought on it until we decided to move elsewhere. Good thing since it's not there anymore." His brown eyes shifted between the pair. "I didn't think a planet this far out would know about anything like that."

"You're not our first visitor," Bulma said. "Granted, you're the first we've had in twenty-five years."

"Interesting!" Buju planted his hands on his hips as he looked at Trunks. "As for your questions, you'll need a translator for some of the crew. Not everyone knows Galactic or has the translator chip installed. Our chief engineer refuses to speak Galactic Common."

"Speaking of your engineer, we brought you some supplies to help you." Bulma pulled out a capsule corps case and offered it to Buju. "It's not much, but we hope it will help."

Trunks smiled at Buju's confused expression as he took the offered item. He looked it over, finding the zipper and opened it to expose the capsules inside. "Very kind of you."

"Here," Trunks said, reaching to take one of the capsules. "Let's me show you how it works." He clicked the top of it and tossed it to the side. An explosion and smoke screen later, the three of them stared at one of the portable buildings.

Buju only stared, his eyes shifting from the capsules to the two-story building in front of him. "H-how?"

"It's the technology we developed here," Bulma said, her chin up and chest puffed out. "It's not much, but it's useful."

"It's amazing," Buju said, making Bulma flush in pleasure. "Thank you, both, very much."

"So," Bulma said, "about your engine…."

Buju grinned and waved the pair to follow him. "Come on in. I am sure I can patch things over with Veta."

"Veta? Is that your chief engineer?"

Buju nodded and stepped into the ship. He took care to make sure they could follow from the inner maze of the ship. "Yes. She's Sayjin, if you are aware of them. They're very territorial about things, but she'll be happy to let you help once she sees you can."

Bulma and Trunks exchanged a look. It was easy to see they both had the same question. Some Sayjin's were still alive?

The pair earned curious glances as they followed Buju through the corridors. Bulma noted the sagging shoulders, shadows under the eyes, and the sluggish movements of some.

They're exhausted, she thought as they passed that looked close to falling asleep. The captain didn't seem the sort to drive others to this point. What's driving them like this?

She stored it away as information to find out later. The scientist suspected that it wasn't any of her business, but another part of her saw the state of the crew as a prequel of… something. Her thoughts were interrupted as they stepped into the engine room.

A large single glowing core dominated the room, held in place by a large tube from the ceiling to the floor. The tube itself had metal patches all over it. One patch was cracked with two people held by suspension cords over it with blow torches. Two pipes met in the center of the core and extended to the sides of the room. All about the walls were stairs meant to led others up and down to all the intercartel parts.

"This is bad," Bulma murmured to herself. "Let's get to work, Ms. Smarty-pants."

Trunks watched his mother moved towards the engine, her eyes taking in everything that he saw, but he knew she'd process it much faster than him. He tucked his hands into the pocket of his pants and kept close to Buju.

The mall Truffle called out, "Where's Veta?"

"Esi," a female voice grunted from above.

The word, more than the location of the voice, made his head jerk up. He knew that word as Saiyan for 'here.' He found a woman, dressed in work coveralls, hanging upside down by her tail nearby one of the pipes. Her naturally tanned face holding the expression of a scowl at the pair of them. In one hand she held a large wrench, which she'd been using to work a bolt back into place.

Her tall loosened and she dropped to the ground. Trunks watched her twist herself and land with a loud thud. She straightened and revealed herself to be petite in size, standing even shorter than his father been when alive.

She rested the wrench, as big as she was, over a shoulder. The female, Veta, gestured a hand to Trunks and Bulma as she glared at Buju. "R'et eh esi?" Why are they here?

Buju responded in Saiyan, but Trunks found himself able to keep up with the language his alternative timeline father had taught him. "They offered to help. We can't turn it down."

Veta's hand tightened around the handle of her wrench. "Unless they have replacement coils, they can't do much." Her black eyes shifted to Trunks, her eyes flickering over him.

Probably best to play dumb, Trunks thought to himself. He stepped forward and held his hand out to her and offered his friendliest smile. "My name is Trunks."

Her eyes shifted from his face to the hand and back to his face.

"You're suppose to shake it," Buju stage-whispered.

Trunks fought down a laugh as she sighed and grabbed his fingers and shook his hand about. "My mother and I are willing to help however we can," he said, nodding his head to his mother who'd already rolled up her sleeves and was helping another one of the exhausted looking engineers.

Veta grunted at his words, her face tilting to Buju. "Are they all this pretty or he an exception?"

Trunks felt a blush creep up his neck and turn to look at the rest of the room, his hair blocking out his reddening cheeks.

Buju scoffed. "I don't know, I don't… inspect males like you do."

He heard the woman chuckle. "Maybe being stuck here won't be so bad." She grunted and Trunks looked up to see her climbing up the sides of the wall with ease, her tail wrapped around her wrench club.

"She says you're welcomed to stay and help out," Buju told him with a warm smile.

"That's great," Trunks said, offering his own smile. They're good at lying. Something to keep in mind. "Just point me in the direction you need help with.

Several hours passed before Trunks, covered in dirt and grim, pulled at his mother's shoulder. "Kaa-san, it's late."

She looked at him with wide eyes. "No, it's not. It's only," she looked at her watch and sighed. "midnight."

He smiled at her and helped her get to her feet. She grunted, placing a hand on her back as she felt her hips and knees pop. "I'm sorry to pull you away. You looked like you were having fun."

"It's a complicated machine," Bulma said. "But there's more patchwork than an engine. This thing shouldn't even fly."

"It's not suppose to," a female voice growled at. Both Bulma and Trunks turned to see Veta, covered in even more grime standing at their side. "You both worked hard today," Veta said, her strong accent and broken speech making it hard to follow her words. "Thank you. You not have to, but did."

Bulma found herself smiling. "We didn't have to, but we want to. We'll be back tomorrow."

The petite sayian nodded her understanding. "Is so? Is good. Will show you out. Buju gone sleep." Setting a scanner looking tool to the side, Veta took the lead as she led the pair back to the main exit hatch of the ship.

Bulma watched as the woman paused to study the nighttime sky. With a frown, she turned to look at them. "Your world have no moon?"

"It used to," Bulma said. "But it was destroyed."

The sayian wrinkled her nose. "Pity." She turned and bowed to them.

"What materials do you need?" Trunks asked. "To repair the core?"

Veta hesitated before letting out a sigh. "Need matter-creator coils. It use to make energy and send to rest of ship to move. Most planets have metal for it. Tritiuianmin?"

Bulma shook her head. "We don't have an element named that, but that doesn't mean we don't have it. Maybe tomorrow you can show me the part and I can see what it's made of?"

Veta shifted, her bloodshot eyes moving between the two of them. "Yes. Will do."

"All right," Bulma said with a wave. "Tomorrow then."

Mother and son waited until they were in the car and flying off before speaking.

"They're hiding something," Trunks said.

"No," Bulma mused out loud. "They're running from something."

"Running?" Trunks turned his head towards his mother. "What makes you think that?"

"The state of the workers. I am sure you saw how tired they are all. They aren't looking to stay here long if they can help it."

Trunks frowned as he mulled that over. "You're sure it's not that they are being pushed to?"

"I didn't get that kind of feeling from the captain when I spoke to him. But I've been wrong before." Bulma sighed, adjusting herself in the seat as she drove the hover-car back towards their home. "I hope I am. I don't want what's chasing them to come here. We aren't ready for that."

"I can protect us," Trunks said, his tone stern.

"I know you can, honey. But what will we do when we don't have you? There's aren't any world defenders to help us after you pass away. It's not fair to ask whatever children you have to pick up that responsibility."

Trunks frowned. "What are you thinking then?"

"They want to use us to help them get off the planet and keep running. We can use them in turn."

A smile crept across his mouth. "That sounds like something father would say."

Bulma scoffed. "No. Your father would just strut in there, say everything in the ship was his now, and kill anyway that argued against him. We aren't going to kill anyone."

"And we are going to do this... how?"

"You saw Buju's face. A ship that size doesn't much in the way of storage. I am sure we can work something out. Our tech for their tech."

Trunks wrinkled his nose. "I dunno. This is too sneaky for me. Why not be honest with them?"

Bulma gave him a sidelong look. "You think they will be honest with us?"

He thought over the conversation between Buju and Veta and how easily the Truffle had lied. But, at the same time, Veta's words when she thanked them for their help had seemed honest. "Maybe," he finally said. "Let's play it by ear and see what happens."

Author Note: Hey! Welcome back! If you made it this far, thank you! It meant it kept your interest enough to get to this point. If you like it, let me know, please. Feedback, both good and bad, is always useful and deeply appreciated. Thank you so much for reading.