Chapter One: Waiting For The Saiyans
Two weeks later, on planet Grain, on Cornsilk Isle, sixty miles away from Harvest Isle…
Planet Grain was smaller than Astoria, but larger than planets of tiny size such as Earth of the Milky Way Galaxy and Dijon of the Rosetta Galaxy. Earth still was intact, but Dijon had been cleared three years ago, and it had been renamed Terpsichore after the newly inducted queen of the Musan race, which had purchased the planet right after its purging.
Grain resembled a golden marble streaked with white and even darker shades of gold. A band of burgundy and brown rings were wrapped around the planet. Grain was seventy-percent flatland, with more than half of its usable surface reserved for growing food. Grain had two oceans, the Malt Ocean and the Hop Ocean, and the ruling family of Grain ruled on Harvest Isle, a large island in the center of the Hop Ocean.
The Grainier (rhymes with Perrier) race were a peaceful race of agriculturists whose entire lives were focused around farming and occasional fishing, but rarely did they ever eat meat. The Grainier people were humanoid with light goldenrod colored skin and bright, oval grass-green eyes. A purebred Grainier had hair only in either the shades of red, burgundy, gold, or brown. All of them had long noses, none of which were shorter than three inches long.
Most of the Grainier women were curvaceous with huge bosoms and round bottoms. The rounder and curvier a Grainier woman was, the more desirable she was considered to be. The Grainier men preferred plump women, but they liked almost any fair-skinned female, as long as she was curvy and bosomy. It was okay for a woman in the eyes of a Grainier to be slender (sometimes), it was okay for her to have dark hair, although light hair was preferred, but Kami forbid if the woman didn't have curves! The minority of women who didn't have large busts or butts or both were ignored, courted often only by the most desperate of males. A rail-thin woman or a woman who was only slightly curvy on Grainier had a better chance of being hit by lightening than she did of finding a man among the Grainier people to be happy with.
Long noses were desirable too, but a rare short nose could be forgiven, if the female owner had a nice, voluptuous figure.
The fat Grainier Queen Maize was considered to be the most beautiful of all the women on Grainier. She had large, heavy breasts, and a round, padded bottom, along with the usual Grainier features and light brown hair. Her nose was a ramrod-straight ten-inches, the longest feminine nose on Grain.
She and her husband, King Rye, a giant, broad, muscular man about seven-inches-tall, had recently received a message from the evil Lord Frieza, demanding that they give up the heir to Grain's throne, fourteen-year-old Prince Barley. Frieza had sent a message through Grain's satellite system; Grain had mediocre technology compared to planets such as Astoria and Calmag, but it was more than adequate for intergalactic communication purposes. Frieza had sent the warning message to the king and queen of Grain that if they didn't surrender Prince Barley to the two soldiers that Frieza was sending for him, Grain would be destroyed.
"I am sure that even you hicks heard about what I did to planet Vegeta with one finger," he had told them sweetly. "I want Prince Barley as soon as possible, or else."
Prince Barley was short, but he was broad and muscular and yet very fat. Barley was very strong for a Grainier though, and he been training and preparing to join Intergalacticpol when he got older, much to his parents' dismay. King Rye had reluctantly agreed to allow Barley to join Intergalacticpol, on the condition that Barley return home to Grain to rule when King Rye died. Barley wanted to be a warrior, and he was a member of the small order of fighters that defended the citizens on the rare occasions that it needed.
Barley had sulkily agreed to his father's condition. He was a restless boy who was very bratty and very bored. He was bored to death with the peaceful life on planet Grain, and he wanted some excitement, the main reason that he was joining Intergalacticpol's training program. He was also very spoiled, with his parents giving into his every whim, and he threw a temper tantrum when he didn't get his way. He loved to fight, and he was good at it, but he was also good at bullying those beneath him and pitching childish fits with those few above him when he didn't get what he wanted.
Queen Maize and King Rye had contacted Intergalacticpol when Frieza had demanded that Prince Barley be turned over to him to be inducted into his army. The monarchs of Grain didn't want to give up their son, and they had hoped and prayed that Intergalacticpol, the intergalactic police force could save their son and planet Grain. Frieza had said that he was sending two Saiyan warriors to Grain to take the boy back with them, Nappa and Vegeta.
Prince Gohan Chloe, a Prince of Chloe, Astoria, and the youngest son of Shalila Chloe, Superior Gran (ruler) of Astoria, had taken one of Intergalacticpol's mother ships to planet Grain, and he had assembled an elite team of fighters to be led by Bendros Sahara of the moon of Sahara of planet Astoria and Mikos Pearl of the moon of Pearl of planet Astoria.
Twenty-five-year-old Bendros Sahara was a "Sastorian" warrior, which meant that he was part Saiyan, one-sixteenths to be exact. He was also the heir to the title and position of the Granden of Sahara (a Granden is a male Clan leader). He had short black hair that had been cut into a crew cut, and he was very tall, over six-feet, and lean and muscular. He had the angular Saiyan features with triangular eyes, and a slightly pointed nose and pointed jaw. He resembled a full-blooded Saiyan, but he had more Astorian blood in him than Saiyan blood. He had recently rejoined Intergalacticpol after battling for his people and the Calmagian people on planet Calmag, and he had been made a lieutenant a year ago. He was currently striving for the position of captain, second-in-command to Intergalacticpol Chief, Prince Gohan Chloe.
Bendros was unmarried, and he was planning seriously on courting an Astorian Princess of Chloe who was ten years younger than he was. He had known her since she had been eight years old, and he had started to fall in love with her when she had been twelve. But he decided to wait a few years for her to grow up before he would even consider courting her. And now she was fifteen, one year past the official age for courting. His feisty object of his affections was currently at a resort on Harvest Isle with one of her best friends. She had recently joined Intergalacticpol's training program. She and her friend were entertaining Prince Barley.
Her name was Princess Tayla Chloe.
Mikos Pearl was striving for the same position of captain himself. He was thirty-five years old, and he too was a lieutenant. He was shorter than Bendros at five-feet, eight inches tall, and he was broad and fat for a warrior. He was smarmy with greasy dark brown hair, bushy, furrowing eyebrows, and a hawk-like nose and big, pouty, feminine lips. He had a huge potbelly that always managed to hang over his belt, no matter how he wore his trousers, and his legs were like two long beer kegs. He had a long, thin mustache that he always seemed to be twirling. He was the future Granden of the Clan of Pearl, and he was arrogant and chauvinistic and gluttony.
He liked young girls, and his previous wife had been fifteen years younger than he had been. She had been his second wife, and she had been dead now for two years, and Mikos was looking for another wife, a young wife. Mikos had one son, a five-year-old named Pekos by her, and he was staying on the moon of Pearl while his father was out on this mission. Mikos also had three children by his first wife, Princess Shirra of Chloe, Gohan Chloe's deceased daughter by his first wife, Kayra: a seventeen-year-old son named Shelan who was the next Granden of Pearl after Mikos, along with another fourteen-year-old son named Rudijal, and a sixteen-year-old daughter named Esmera.
Esmera, Mikos's darling next to Pekos, was also with Tayla, Tayla's friend, and Prince Barley. Esmera had her eye on Bendros, but Mikos did not approve of that because Bendros was part Saiyan. Like almost everyone in Clan of Pearl, Mikos was prejudiced against Saiyans, and he agreed with his relatives that anyone with Saiyan blood should have been exiled from Astorian soil a long time ago.
Mikos himself had his eye on two potential mates: Tayla Chloe, and one of Tayla's best friends: Princess Caline Chloe, formerly known as Princess Caline de Tamilieu of the planet Calmag. Blond haired, blue-eyed Caline was fourteen now, and Mikos would have liked Caline to become his next wife because Caline was shy, gentle, and retiring. But Mikos also liked Tayla because she was bold and feisty and was certain to be able to produce strong warrior children. Mikos often lamented that Astorian men were only allowed one wife at a time; he would have taken both girls, if he could have.
Now Mikos and Bendros were leading a small Elite team of fighters, as they waited for the arrival of Prince Vegeta and Vegeta's cohort, Nappa. They were creeping about in a huge field of corn, corn similar to the corn on planet Earth. Cornsilk Isle was more farmland than rainforest, with most of the island covered in cornfields and round, blue barns, at least on the inner land. The outer circle of the kidney-shaped island was made up of subtropical trees, resembling palm trees, and white-gold sandy beaches. If anyone looked at Cornsilk Isle from an aerial view, it would resemble a huge golden kidney bordered by dark green and then a thin white band bordering the green.
Cornsilk Isle's weather varied from hot and humid one day to heavy rain the next. Mikos, Bendros, and their team were scattered throughout Cornsilk Isle's largest cornfield because the king and queen of Grain had told them that Frieza had told his emissaries, Prince Vegeta and Nappa would land their ships on Cornsilk Isle's one landing strip for spaceships because the smaller Harvest Isle did not have its own airstrip. From what the Intergalacticpol officers knew, Prince Vegeta and Nappa were supposed to fly on from Cornsilk Isle over to nearby Harvest Isle to retrieve Prince Barley and bring him back to their space pods when they came back to Cornsilk Isle.
Bendros and Mikos were now separated from their subordinates, and the two lieutenants were crouched down in a field, with bales of corn leaves tied onto their bodies to disguise themselves from aerial view. They were both concealing their ki levels to avoid setting off the scouters of Prince Vegeta and Nappa. Bendros had a sword in a sheath on his side and a collaring gun in his hand. Mikos carried a sword in a sheath on his side and a collaring gun in his hand as well. The collaring guns were ki-restraining guns, newly reinvented to reduce high ki-levels down to nearly nothing.
Kneeling down in the soft mud, looking up into the clear violet skies of Grain, Bendros thought about Tayla, who had wanted to come with them; Gohan, Tayla's uncle, had assigned her instead to be Prince Barley's bodyguard. Bendros knew that Tayla would have rather come along to help fight Vegeta and Nappa, since she had defeated Vegeta twice in the past; he would have liked her to come along, but Tayla was not an official Intergalacticpol officer yet, just a trainee. Bendros had tried to convince his police chief to allow Tayla to accompany them, but Gohan, fearing the reactions of Shalila Chloe, his mother and Tayla's grandmother and guardian, if anything happened to her beloved favorite, Tayla, had abruptly decided that it would be safer for Tayla to guard Prince Barley instead. Gohan also had not wanted to treat his niece any differently from the other Intergalacticpol trainees, and he knew that he would be accused of nepotism, if he allowed Tayla to go on a mission that the other trainees would have been banned from.
Bendros had reluctantly conceded, but only after extracting a secret promise from Gohan, that Gohan would allow Tayla to be a backup, if absolutely necessary. Tayla still had a fairly important task in protecting Prince Barley, but she had really wanted to come along and help fight Vegeta and Nappa. The Sastorian warrior sighed and shook his head; Tayla would have been a help, but he and Mikos would probably be okay, now that they had the new ki-restraining guns.
Bendros quietly looked up to see what he and Mikos had been searching for in the past week: two silver space pods from Frieza's forces. Bendros and Mikos were both certain that the two Saiyans had come to do more than just take Prince Barley captive; they correctly surmised that the Saiyans were coming to clear the planet of life as well. Frieza rarely sent his soldiers just to take captives of a certain planet; he would always send someone who was capable of destroying that particular planet's population as well.
The cornfield where Bendros and Mikos were concealing themselves in was adjacent to Cornsilk Isle's airstrip. Bendros and Mikos crouched down and ran through the cornfields, making sure that the bales of corn leaves attached to their backs hid them from sight.
Bendros and Mikos were both wearing typical Intergalacticpol standard uniforms: muted silver, button-down shirts, similar to Oxford shirts, with shiny, black satin collars and cuffs. They also wore black satin bolo ties at their necks, with small medallions attached that carried the Intergalacticpol symbol of two shaking humanoid hands shaking over a ringed planet. They also wore silver pants with the pants cuffs and the pocket edges trimmed in the same black satin material. All Intergalacticpol officers wore black boots with the toes and heels trimmed in silver, and the toes inside the boots were steel. Sometimes they wore helmets, if they went into space, or into a dangerous area that required head-protection. They also wore flexible titanium steel vests and underpants that could resist bullets, pellets, and many forms of ki blasts beneath their clothes. Their boots were also imbedded with the same metal material.
Some of the Intergalacticpol officers carried swords, others carried laser or ki guns, and some carried a combination of as many weapons as they could manage, depending on their skills in the weapons involved. Bendros and Mikos had found their swords to come in handy on many occasions, but there were situations where a ki blast or a laser or ki gun would have been more effective. And both men felt certain that their ki blasting abilities would prove more useful against the aggressive, vicious Saiyans than their swords, but they kept them nearby just in case.
Chief Gohan Chloe had given Bendros, Mikos, and their subordinates a rare order: to capture one of the Saiyans alive, if possible. If not, they were to follow standard protocol for handling any of Frieza's soldiers who refused to surrender to Intergalacticpol officers, which was to shoot to kill.
Gohan was under orders from the Rosetta Interplanetary Council (RIC), the intergalactic government that oversaw galactic affairs (but rarely intervened in private planetary affairs that did not affect the galaxy) and who also oversaw the Intergalacticpol forces, to try to capture as many of Frieza's soldiers alive as possible. Both RIC and Intergalacticpol were hoping that Frieza's soldiers would lead them to Frieza, Coola, or King Cold, or at least betray crucial knowledge about Frieza and the Cold Empire in exchange for reduced sentences or the sparing of their lives. It was very hard to capture any of Frieza's soldiers alive, as many of Frieza's minions would fight to the death before surrendering. Those few soldiers that had been captured usually decided that they would rather die a quick death or serve a life sentence than betray Frieza, Coola, or King Cold because anyone who turned traitor against any of those three often faced a fate crueler than death.
But Bendros and Mikos were determined to capture at least one of the Saiyans alive, and they had prayed to Kami Orchida and any nearby Kais that their collaring guns would prove to be enough to restrain a live, powerful Saiyan. Bendros was especially determined, even though Vegeta and Nappa were of his own race, and that Bendros was related to one of their comrades: Raditz.
Bendros could remember three years ago when he had accidentally turned Oozaru on planet Calmag, thanks to Vegeta's Power Ball. He had been in Oozaru form when Vegeta had captured Tayla Chloe, pinning her against a cliff with cuffs made out of Vegeta's own ki. Bendros, who had just learned to control himself in Oozaru form, had gone to rescue Tayla from Vegeta's clutches…
*Bendros-Oozaru roared in heated fury when he saw Vegeta pin Tayla to the cliff with his attack involving restraining cuffs. He growled loudly when he saw Tayla struggle against the restraints helplessly, while Vegeta looked on and taunted her. He saw Tayla spit in Vegeta's face, and then Vegeta slapped her hard for her efforts. However, Tayla did manage to bite one of Vegeta's fingers before he could pull his hand back away from her heart-shaped face. Vegeta hissed in fury.
Bendros-Oozaru was infuriated when he had seen Vegeta hit Tayla's face, and he was so angered by it that he abandoned his battle with Raditz and Journa temporarily to go over to Vegeta to stop him from terrorizing Tayla any further. But before Bendros-Oozaru could do so, he felt himself begin to shrink rapidly, and the fur covering his limbs melted into ordinary flesh.
What was happening? Why was he shrinking? He had finally learned to control himself in Oozaru form, and he had been able to distinguish friend from foe. He had been in complete mastery of his Oozaru abilities; his people and mother would be proud, even though it was against Astorian law for him to put them to further use. Bendros had always followed and respected the law that forbade Sastorians from turning Oozaru; he understood it was for safety reasons, although he had always wondered if there was a safe method of being in Oozaru form. At least, he had been able to gain control of himself before he had devoured Tayla; he would have never forgiven himself, if he had eaten the funny, irrepressible little girl that he knew bore a huge crush on him yet.
But now he was shrinking back into his normal form, and he would be of less help to Tayla and her family than before. Curses, by all the Kais and Kamis, who had done this to him?
He soon found out when he had retransformed back into his natural form, and he felt the ki of the Saiyan girl that he now knew was named Journa. He hastily turned around and saw Journa holding Rojal's bloody sword. Raditz was standing next to him, grinning wildly.
"Any last words, half-breed?" Journa wanted to know. She decided that she was going to finish off the troublesome mixed-breed boy with a Four Finger Flash.
"Hey wait, Journ," Raditz told his mate. "He seems like a strong warrior, and he does have Saiyan blood in him. Hey, demi-Saiyan, what's your name?"
"Why?" Bendros asked edgily. He was now nude, but he paid no mind to it; there were more important things than clothes to worry about.
"Oh, just curious," Raditz replied smoothly. "You are essentially one of us, even with your Astorian blood. Why not fight with your own kind instead of the Astorie weaklings?"
"They're not weaklings!" Bendros hissed. "They're my friends and family! I am to rule the Astorian Clan of Sahara someday when my mother passes on! I am with my own kind!"
"Wait!" Raditz cried, forgetting Bendros' tirade for now. "You said that you are to rule the Clan of Sahara someday? Are you descended from the Sastorian girl known as Aliquina?"
"I don't have time to give my family history," Bendros snapped. "Tayla needs me, so farewell." He flew into the air, but Raditz blocked his path, and Journa swiftly Bendros by his hair. She kicked him hard in his kidney region, and Bendros was in too much pain then to fight for a few moments. Journa seized him by his neck with her arm, and she began to strangle him, just enough to subdue him.
"Answer my mate's question," Journa ordered sternly.
Bendros growled, "If you must know, yes, my great-grandmother's name was Aliquina."
"Did this Aliquina have a previous mate before your grandfather, a Saiyan named Arcan?" Raditz demanded to know.
"Yes, yes," Bendros grumbled (did Journa really have to hold his neck so hard?). "What in Kami Orchida's name is this? Trivia hour?"
Raditz grinned slowly then. "And is your mother named Mauria or Alora Sahara?"
Bendros wasn't going to answer any more questions, but another kick from Journa changed his mind. "Answer his questions, or we'll see that my brother hurts Tayla much more than already has. That slap in her face is nothing compared to what he could do to damage her."
Bendros snarled, "My mother is Mauria, Gran Mauria alright! Now let me go! I have no wish to play with either one of you!"
Journa's smile matched Raditz's just then. She patted Bendros's back companionably, almost lovingly, as she purred, "Well, Raditz, we found a member of your family. Meet your cousin." She released her stranglehold on Bendros.
Raditz laughed. "Well, hello cousin. We are both descended from Arcan; when Arcan returned home to planet Vegeta, he married a little thing named Bitra, who is my grandmother. My father's name was Bardock, and I have a little brother named Kakarot who's currently living on some tiny blue planet that he should have cleared by now. Hell, we're second cousins, isn't that something? You may have Astorie blood in you, but you're strong. What about joining our side and leaving these weaklings behind?"
"Never!" Bendros roared. "I will never work for Frieza!"
"Who said anything about Frieza?" Journa asked richly. "You're just be working for my brother, who happens to be Prince, technically the King of all the Saiyans. You are actually subject to him now, whether you acknowledge it or not."
"I am subject to no one except for my mother and Superior Gran Shalila and Superior Granden Dirkan!"
"Not if Vegeta has his way, you won't be," Journa declared.
"Are you with us or against us?" Raditz demanded to know.
"I think that you know the answer to that," Bendros told him calmly. "I am sorry to see a relative of mine work for a monster like Frieza and a bastard like Vegeta." *
...Bendros later had to fight against Raditz's mate, Journa, but he defeated her. And now he knew what had happened after his great-grandmother, Aliquina's Saiyan mate, Arcan, had returned to planet Vegeta, after the Astorian people had driven the Saiyans, who had enslaved them for close to twenty years, off of their planet.
And now Vegeta and Nappa, Raditz's more powerful comrades were smashing their space pods onto the landing strip.
"BOOM! CRASH!"
Two huge, gray puffs of smoke engulfed the entire landing strip and accompanying spaceport. While the smoke was slowly dissipating, the landing strip no longer existed except for two huge craters and a group of panicked Grainier citizens (none of the Grainiers could fly) were scurrying out of the smoke-damaged spaceport, screaming and panicking.
"SOMEBODY HELP US! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"
The terrified citizens screamed. Throngs of plump Grainier spaceport employees spread throughout the giant cornfield, mice in colors of red, gold, brown, and yellow scurrying through the thick, green fields of ripe corn. They coughed and cried and screamed, as they waded frantically through the billowing clouds of thick, gray smoke.
Bendros and Mikos scurried further through the cornfields, running closer and closer to the landing strip, where the space pods had crashed landed upon. They covered their mouths, as they raced towards the space pods.
The smoke finally cleared away completely, and the area was now deserted except for Bendros, Mikos, and the other Intergalacticpol officers running towards the space pods. Bendros and Mikos were the closest to the pods, and so the two men from Astoria stealthily crept closer.
The kidney-shaped doors to the space pods slowly opened, and the two visitors that Bendros and Mikos had been waiting for had finally arrived. Slowly, confidently, Prince Vegeta and his partner, Nappa climbed out of the pods, tails firmly wrapped around waists, and hands placed arrogantly upon those same waists.
Vegeta and Nappa stepped out onto the wrecked concrete of the once-intact landing strip with confident smirks. Vegeta strutted about, as if he owned the planet, and then his smirk faded into his trademark scowl.
"It's time to get to business, Nappa," he told his partner firmly. "We have a prince to find."
Bendros and Mikos were hiding in the corn, just ten feet away from the Saiyan men. Bendros's eyes narrowed, and Mikos frowned heavily, determinedly. The men crawled closer to the Saiyans, still concealed by the corn.
It was time for Vegeta and Nappa to get started.
And it was also time for Bendros and Mikos, as well. The two Intergalacticpol lieutenants were ready to go at any time, as they waited for the right moment to attack with bated breath.
Two weeks later, on planet Grain, on Cornsilk Isle, sixty miles away from Harvest Isle…
Planet Grain was smaller than Astoria, but larger than planets of tiny size such as Earth of the Milky Way Galaxy and Dijon of the Rosetta Galaxy. Earth still was intact, but Dijon had been cleared three years ago, and it had been renamed Terpsichore after the newly inducted queen of the Musan race, which had purchased the planet right after its purging.
Grain resembled a golden marble streaked with white and even darker shades of gold. A band of burgundy and brown rings were wrapped around the planet. Grain was seventy-percent flatland, with more than half of its usable surface reserved for growing food. Grain had two oceans, the Malt Ocean and the Hop Ocean, and the ruling family of Grain ruled on Harvest Isle, a large island in the center of the Hop Ocean.
The Grainier (rhymes with Perrier) race were a peaceful race of agriculturists whose entire lives were focused around farming and occasional fishing, but rarely did they ever eat meat. The Grainier people were humanoid with light goldenrod colored skin and bright, oval grass-green eyes. A purebred Grainier had hair only in either the shades of red, burgundy, gold, or brown. All of them had long noses, none of which were shorter than three inches long.
Most of the Grainier women were curvaceous with huge bosoms and round bottoms. The rounder and curvier a Grainier woman was, the more desirable she was considered to be. The Grainier men preferred plump women, but they liked almost any fair-skinned female, as long as she was curvy and bosomy. It was okay for a woman in the eyes of a Grainier to be slender (sometimes), it was okay for her to have dark hair, although light hair was preferred, but Kami forbid if the woman didn't have curves! The minority of women who didn't have large busts or butts or both were ignored, courted often only by the most desperate of males. A rail-thin woman or a woman who was only slightly curvy on Grainier had a better chance of being hit by lightening than she did of finding a man among the Grainier people to be happy with.
Long noses were desirable too, but a rare short nose could be forgiven, if the female owner had a nice, voluptuous figure.
The fat Grainier Queen Maize was considered to be the most beautiful of all the women on Grainier. She had large, heavy breasts, and a round, padded bottom, along with the usual Grainier features and light brown hair. Her nose was a ramrod-straight ten-inches, the longest feminine nose on Grain.
She and her husband, King Rye, a giant, broad, muscular man about seven-inches-tall, had recently received a message from the evil Lord Frieza, demanding that they give up the heir to Grain's throne, fourteen-year-old Prince Barley. Frieza had sent a message through Grain's satellite system; Grain had mediocre technology compared to planets such as Astoria and Calmag, but it was more than adequate for intergalactic communication purposes. Frieza had sent the warning message to the king and queen of Grain that if they didn't surrender Prince Barley to the two soldiers that Frieza was sending for him, Grain would be destroyed.
"I am sure that even you hicks heard about what I did to planet Vegeta with one finger," he had told them sweetly. "I want Prince Barley as soon as possible, or else."
Prince Barley was short, but he was broad and muscular and yet very fat. Barley was very strong for a Grainier though, and he been training and preparing to join Intergalacticpol when he got older, much to his parents' dismay. King Rye had reluctantly agreed to allow Barley to join Intergalacticpol, on the condition that Barley return home to Grain to rule when King Rye died. Barley wanted to be a warrior, and he was a member of the small order of fighters that defended the citizens on the rare occasions that it needed.
Barley had sulkily agreed to his father's condition. He was a restless boy who was very bratty and very bored. He was bored to death with the peaceful life on planet Grain, and he wanted some excitement, the main reason that he was joining Intergalacticpol's training program. He was also very spoiled, with his parents giving into his every whim, and he threw a temper tantrum when he didn't get his way. He loved to fight, and he was good at it, but he was also good at bullying those beneath him and pitching childish fits with those few above him when he didn't get what he wanted.
Queen Maize and King Rye had contacted Intergalacticpol when Frieza had demanded that Prince Barley be turned over to him to be inducted into his army. The monarchs of Grain didn't want to give up their son, and they had hoped and prayed that Intergalacticpol, the intergalactic police force could save their son and planet Grain. Frieza had said that he was sending two Saiyan warriors to Grain to take the boy back with them, Nappa and Vegeta.
Prince Gohan Chloe, a Prince of Chloe, Astoria, and the youngest son of Shalila Chloe, Superior Gran (ruler) of Astoria, had taken one of Intergalacticpol's mother ships to planet Grain, and he had assembled an elite team of fighters to be led by Bendros Sahara of the moon of Sahara of planet Astoria and Mikos Pearl of the moon of Pearl of planet Astoria.
Twenty-five-year-old Bendros Sahara was a "Sastorian" warrior, which meant that he was part Saiyan, one-sixteenths to be exact. He was also the heir to the title and position of the Granden of Sahara (a Granden is a male Clan leader). He had short black hair that had been cut into a crew cut, and he was very tall, over six-feet, and lean and muscular. He had the angular Saiyan features with triangular eyes, and a slightly pointed nose and pointed jaw. He resembled a full-blooded Saiyan, but he had more Astorian blood in him than Saiyan blood. He had recently rejoined Intergalacticpol after battling for his people and the Calmagian people on planet Calmag, and he had been made a lieutenant a year ago. He was currently striving for the position of captain, second-in-command to Intergalacticpol Chief, Prince Gohan Chloe.
Bendros was unmarried, and he was planning seriously on courting an Astorian Princess of Chloe who was ten years younger than he was. He had known her since she had been eight years old, and he had started to fall in love with her when she had been twelve. But he decided to wait a few years for her to grow up before he would even consider courting her. And now she was fifteen, one year past the official age for courting. His feisty object of his affections was currently at a resort on Harvest Isle with one of her best friends. She had recently joined Intergalacticpol's training program. She and her friend were entertaining Prince Barley.
Her name was Princess Tayla Chloe.
Mikos Pearl was striving for the same position of captain himself. He was thirty-five years old, and he too was a lieutenant. He was shorter than Bendros at five-feet, eight inches tall, and he was broad and fat for a warrior. He was smarmy with greasy dark brown hair, bushy, furrowing eyebrows, and a hawk-like nose and big, pouty, feminine lips. He had a huge potbelly that always managed to hang over his belt, no matter how he wore his trousers, and his legs were like two long beer kegs. He had a long, thin mustache that he always seemed to be twirling. He was the future Granden of the Clan of Pearl, and he was arrogant and chauvinistic and gluttony.
He liked young girls, and his previous wife had been fifteen years younger than he had been. She had been his second wife, and she had been dead now for two years, and Mikos was looking for another wife, a young wife. Mikos had one son, a five-year-old named Pekos by her, and he was staying on the moon of Pearl while his father was out on this mission. Mikos also had three children by his first wife, Princess Shirra of Chloe, Gohan Chloe's deceased daughter by his first wife, Kayra: a seventeen-year-old son named Shelan who was the next Granden of Pearl after Mikos, along with another fourteen-year-old son named Rudijal, and a sixteen-year-old daughter named Esmera.
Esmera, Mikos's darling next to Pekos, was also with Tayla, Tayla's friend, and Prince Barley. Esmera had her eye on Bendros, but Mikos did not approve of that because Bendros was part Saiyan. Like almost everyone in Clan of Pearl, Mikos was prejudiced against Saiyans, and he agreed with his relatives that anyone with Saiyan blood should have been exiled from Astorian soil a long time ago.
Mikos himself had his eye on two potential mates: Tayla Chloe, and one of Tayla's best friends: Princess Caline Chloe, formerly known as Princess Caline de Tamilieu of the planet Calmag. Blond haired, blue-eyed Caline was fourteen now, and Mikos would have liked Caline to become his next wife because Caline was shy, gentle, and retiring. But Mikos also liked Tayla because she was bold and feisty and was certain to be able to produce strong warrior children. Mikos often lamented that Astorian men were only allowed one wife at a time; he would have taken both girls, if he could have.
Now Mikos and Bendros were leading a small Elite team of fighters, as they waited for the arrival of Prince Vegeta and Vegeta's cohort, Nappa. They were creeping about in a huge field of corn, corn similar to the corn on planet Earth. Cornsilk Isle was more farmland than rainforest, with most of the island covered in cornfields and round, blue barns, at least on the inner land. The outer circle of the kidney-shaped island was made up of subtropical trees, resembling palm trees, and white-gold sandy beaches. If anyone looked at Cornsilk Isle from an aerial view, it would resemble a huge golden kidney bordered by dark green and then a thin white band bordering the green.
Cornsilk Isle's weather varied from hot and humid one day to heavy rain the next. Mikos, Bendros, and their team were scattered throughout Cornsilk Isle's largest cornfield because the king and queen of Grain had told them that Frieza had told his emissaries, Prince Vegeta and Nappa would land their ships on Cornsilk Isle's one landing strip for spaceships because the smaller Harvest Isle did not have its own airstrip. From what the Intergalacticpol officers knew, Prince Vegeta and Nappa were supposed to fly on from Cornsilk Isle over to nearby Harvest Isle to retrieve Prince Barley and bring him back to their space pods when they came back to Cornsilk Isle.
Bendros and Mikos were now separated from their subordinates, and the two lieutenants were crouched down in a field, with bales of corn leaves tied onto their bodies to disguise themselves from aerial view. They were both concealing their ki levels to avoid setting off the scouters of Prince Vegeta and Nappa. Bendros had a sword in a sheath on his side and a collaring gun in his hand. Mikos carried a sword in a sheath on his side and a collaring gun in his hand as well. The collaring guns were ki-restraining guns, newly reinvented to reduce high ki-levels down to nearly nothing.
Kneeling down in the soft mud, looking up into the clear violet skies of Grain, Bendros thought about Tayla, who had wanted to come with them; Gohan, Tayla's uncle, had assigned her instead to be Prince Barley's bodyguard. Bendros knew that Tayla would have rather come along to help fight Vegeta and Nappa, since she had defeated Vegeta twice in the past; he would have liked her to come along, but Tayla was not an official Intergalacticpol officer yet, just a trainee. Bendros had tried to convince his police chief to allow Tayla to accompany them, but Gohan, fearing the reactions of Shalila Chloe, his mother and Tayla's grandmother and guardian, if anything happened to her beloved favorite, Tayla, had abruptly decided that it would be safer for Tayla to guard Prince Barley instead. Gohan also had not wanted to treat his niece any differently from the other Intergalacticpol trainees, and he knew that he would be accused of nepotism, if he allowed Tayla to go on a mission that the other trainees would have been banned from.
Bendros had reluctantly conceded, but only after extracting a secret promise from Gohan, that Gohan would allow Tayla to be a backup, if absolutely necessary. Tayla still had a fairly important task in protecting Prince Barley, but she had really wanted to come along and help fight Vegeta and Nappa. The Sastorian warrior sighed and shook his head; Tayla would have been a help, but he and Mikos would probably be okay, now that they had the new ki-restraining guns.
Bendros quietly looked up to see what he and Mikos had been searching for in the past week: two silver space pods from Frieza's forces. Bendros and Mikos were both certain that the two Saiyans had come to do more than just take Prince Barley captive; they correctly surmised that the Saiyans were coming to clear the planet of life as well. Frieza rarely sent his soldiers just to take captives of a certain planet; he would always send someone who was capable of destroying that particular planet's population as well.
The cornfield where Bendros and Mikos were concealing themselves in was adjacent to Cornsilk Isle's airstrip. Bendros and Mikos crouched down and ran through the cornfields, making sure that the bales of corn leaves attached to their backs hid them from sight.
Bendros and Mikos were both wearing typical Intergalacticpol standard uniforms: muted silver, button-down shirts, similar to Oxford shirts, with shiny, black satin collars and cuffs. They also wore black satin bolo ties at their necks, with small medallions attached that carried the Intergalacticpol symbol of two shaking humanoid hands shaking over a ringed planet. They also wore silver pants with the pants cuffs and the pocket edges trimmed in the same black satin material. All Intergalacticpol officers wore black boots with the toes and heels trimmed in silver, and the toes inside the boots were steel. Sometimes they wore helmets, if they went into space, or into a dangerous area that required head-protection. They also wore flexible titanium steel vests and underpants that could resist bullets, pellets, and many forms of ki blasts beneath their clothes. Their boots were also imbedded with the same metal material.
Some of the Intergalacticpol officers carried swords, others carried laser or ki guns, and some carried a combination of as many weapons as they could manage, depending on their skills in the weapons involved. Bendros and Mikos had found their swords to come in handy on many occasions, but there were situations where a ki blast or a laser or ki gun would have been more effective. And both men felt certain that their ki blasting abilities would prove more useful against the aggressive, vicious Saiyans than their swords, but they kept them nearby just in case.
Chief Gohan Chloe had given Bendros, Mikos, and their subordinates a rare order: to capture one of the Saiyans alive, if possible. If not, they were to follow standard protocol for handling any of Frieza's soldiers who refused to surrender to Intergalacticpol officers, which was to shoot to kill.
Gohan was under orders from the Rosetta Interplanetary Council (RIC), the intergalactic government that oversaw galactic affairs (but rarely intervened in private planetary affairs that did not affect the galaxy) and who also oversaw the Intergalacticpol forces, to try to capture as many of Frieza's soldiers alive as possible. Both RIC and Intergalacticpol were hoping that Frieza's soldiers would lead them to Frieza, Coola, or King Cold, or at least betray crucial knowledge about Frieza and the Cold Empire in exchange for reduced sentences or the sparing of their lives. It was very hard to capture any of Frieza's soldiers alive, as many of Frieza's minions would fight to the death before surrendering. Those few soldiers that had been captured usually decided that they would rather die a quick death or serve a life sentence than betray Frieza, Coola, or King Cold because anyone who turned traitor against any of those three often faced a fate crueler than death.
But Bendros and Mikos were determined to capture at least one of the Saiyans alive, and they had prayed to Kami Orchida and any nearby Kais that their collaring guns would prove to be enough to restrain a live, powerful Saiyan. Bendros was especially determined, even though Vegeta and Nappa were of his own race, and that Bendros was related to one of their comrades: Raditz.
Bendros could remember three years ago when he had accidentally turned Oozaru on planet Calmag, thanks to Vegeta's Power Ball. He had been in Oozaru form when Vegeta had captured Tayla Chloe, pinning her against a cliff with cuffs made out of Vegeta's own ki. Bendros, who had just learned to control himself in Oozaru form, had gone to rescue Tayla from Vegeta's clutches…
*Bendros-Oozaru roared in heated fury when he saw Vegeta pin Tayla to the cliff with his attack involving restraining cuffs. He growled loudly when he saw Tayla struggle against the restraints helplessly, while Vegeta looked on and taunted her. He saw Tayla spit in Vegeta's face, and then Vegeta slapped her hard for her efforts. However, Tayla did manage to bite one of Vegeta's fingers before he could pull his hand back away from her heart-shaped face. Vegeta hissed in fury.
Bendros-Oozaru was infuriated when he had seen Vegeta hit Tayla's face, and he was so angered by it that he abandoned his battle with Raditz and Journa temporarily to go over to Vegeta to stop him from terrorizing Tayla any further. But before Bendros-Oozaru could do so, he felt himself begin to shrink rapidly, and the fur covering his limbs melted into ordinary flesh.
What was happening? Why was he shrinking? He had finally learned to control himself in Oozaru form, and he had been able to distinguish friend from foe. He had been in complete mastery of his Oozaru abilities; his people and mother would be proud, even though it was against Astorian law for him to put them to further use. Bendros had always followed and respected the law that forbade Sastorians from turning Oozaru; he understood it was for safety reasons, although he had always wondered if there was a safe method of being in Oozaru form. At least, he had been able to gain control of himself before he had devoured Tayla; he would have never forgiven himself, if he had eaten the funny, irrepressible little girl that he knew bore a huge crush on him yet.
But now he was shrinking back into his normal form, and he would be of less help to Tayla and her family than before. Curses, by all the Kais and Kamis, who had done this to him?
He soon found out when he had retransformed back into his natural form, and he felt the ki of the Saiyan girl that he now knew was named Journa. He hastily turned around and saw Journa holding Rojal's bloody sword. Raditz was standing next to him, grinning wildly.
"Any last words, half-breed?" Journa wanted to know. She decided that she was going to finish off the troublesome mixed-breed boy with a Four Finger Flash.
"Hey wait, Journ," Raditz told his mate. "He seems like a strong warrior, and he does have Saiyan blood in him. Hey, demi-Saiyan, what's your name?"
"Why?" Bendros asked edgily. He was now nude, but he paid no mind to it; there were more important things than clothes to worry about.
"Oh, just curious," Raditz replied smoothly. "You are essentially one of us, even with your Astorian blood. Why not fight with your own kind instead of the Astorie weaklings?"
"They're not weaklings!" Bendros hissed. "They're my friends and family! I am to rule the Astorian Clan of Sahara someday when my mother passes on! I am with my own kind!"
"Wait!" Raditz cried, forgetting Bendros' tirade for now. "You said that you are to rule the Clan of Sahara someday? Are you descended from the Sastorian girl known as Aliquina?"
"I don't have time to give my family history," Bendros snapped. "Tayla needs me, so farewell." He flew into the air, but Raditz blocked his path, and Journa swiftly Bendros by his hair. She kicked him hard in his kidney region, and Bendros was in too much pain then to fight for a few moments. Journa seized him by his neck with her arm, and she began to strangle him, just enough to subdue him.
"Answer my mate's question," Journa ordered sternly.
Bendros growled, "If you must know, yes, my great-grandmother's name was Aliquina."
"Did this Aliquina have a previous mate before your grandfather, a Saiyan named Arcan?" Raditz demanded to know.
"Yes, yes," Bendros grumbled (did Journa really have to hold his neck so hard?). "What in Kami Orchida's name is this? Trivia hour?"
Raditz grinned slowly then. "And is your mother named Mauria or Alora Sahara?"
Bendros wasn't going to answer any more questions, but another kick from Journa changed his mind. "Answer his questions, or we'll see that my brother hurts Tayla much more than already has. That slap in her face is nothing compared to what he could do to damage her."
Bendros snarled, "My mother is Mauria, Gran Mauria alright! Now let me go! I have no wish to play with either one of you!"
Journa's smile matched Raditz's just then. She patted Bendros's back companionably, almost lovingly, as she purred, "Well, Raditz, we found a member of your family. Meet your cousin." She released her stranglehold on Bendros.
Raditz laughed. "Well, hello cousin. We are both descended from Arcan; when Arcan returned home to planet Vegeta, he married a little thing named Bitra, who is my grandmother. My father's name was Bardock, and I have a little brother named Kakarot who's currently living on some tiny blue planet that he should have cleared by now. Hell, we're second cousins, isn't that something? You may have Astorie blood in you, but you're strong. What about joining our side and leaving these weaklings behind?"
"Never!" Bendros roared. "I will never work for Frieza!"
"Who said anything about Frieza?" Journa asked richly. "You're just be working for my brother, who happens to be Prince, technically the King of all the Saiyans. You are actually subject to him now, whether you acknowledge it or not."
"I am subject to no one except for my mother and Superior Gran Shalila and Superior Granden Dirkan!"
"Not if Vegeta has his way, you won't be," Journa declared.
"Are you with us or against us?" Raditz demanded to know.
"I think that you know the answer to that," Bendros told him calmly. "I am sorry to see a relative of mine work for a monster like Frieza and a bastard like Vegeta." *
...Bendros later had to fight against Raditz's mate, Journa, but he defeated her. And now he knew what had happened after his great-grandmother, Aliquina's Saiyan mate, Arcan, had returned to planet Vegeta, after the Astorian people had driven the Saiyans, who had enslaved them for close to twenty years, off of their planet.
And now Vegeta and Nappa, Raditz's more powerful comrades were smashing their space pods onto the landing strip.
"BOOM! CRASH!"
Two huge, gray puffs of smoke engulfed the entire landing strip and accompanying spaceport. While the smoke was slowly dissipating, the landing strip no longer existed except for two huge craters and a group of panicked Grainier citizens (none of the Grainiers could fly) were scurrying out of the smoke-damaged spaceport, screaming and panicking.
"SOMEBODY HELP US! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"
The terrified citizens screamed. Throngs of plump Grainier spaceport employees spread throughout the giant cornfield, mice in colors of red, gold, brown, and yellow scurrying through the thick, green fields of ripe corn. They coughed and cried and screamed, as they waded frantically through the billowing clouds of thick, gray smoke.
Bendros and Mikos scurried further through the cornfields, running closer and closer to the landing strip, where the space pods had crashed landed upon. They covered their mouths, as they raced towards the space pods.
The smoke finally cleared away completely, and the area was now deserted except for Bendros, Mikos, and the other Intergalacticpol officers running towards the space pods. Bendros and Mikos were the closest to the pods, and so the two men from Astoria stealthily crept closer.
The kidney-shaped doors to the space pods slowly opened, and the two visitors that Bendros and Mikos had been waiting for had finally arrived. Slowly, confidently, Prince Vegeta and his partner, Nappa climbed out of the pods, tails firmly wrapped around waists, and hands placed arrogantly upon those same waists.
Vegeta and Nappa stepped out onto the wrecked concrete of the once-intact landing strip with confident smirks. Vegeta strutted about, as if he owned the planet, and then his smirk faded into his trademark scowl.
"It's time to get to business, Nappa," he told his partner firmly. "We have a prince to find."
Bendros and Mikos were hiding in the corn, just ten feet away from the Saiyan men. Bendros's eyes narrowed, and Mikos frowned heavily, determinedly. The men crawled closer to the Saiyans, still concealed by the corn.
It was time for Vegeta and Nappa to get started.
And it was also time for Bendros and Mikos, as well. The two Intergalacticpol lieutenants were ready to go at any time, as they waited for the right moment to attack with bated breath.