I saw Frieza only once the first year, and that was the easiest part of the whole year. Some of the other saiyans who'd been working for him for a while told me that he rarely if ever deigned to speak to the "underlings" and that if I kept my head down there'd be nothing to worry about.

The rest was difficult. Sharing bunks, answering to my brother's name, and continuing to wear those damned things that kept my form manly. How I hated them. How I hated having to pretend to be such a weakling!

I began to see why he had been chosen for the job when I received my first mission. I was to go with some other saiyans and scout a particular planet. Rumors had proceeded from it, telling of fearsome warriors that lived there, who could almost combat the saiyans. Who were almost as strong as them. Our group took that seriously, as anyone would, and came in determined to do some damage.

It turned out that the rumors were true. These beings were more than strong enough to defeat us, and I strongly suspect that that was why we were sent. However, while six of my seven comrades fell to their opponents, I managed (tasting blood and having trouble seeing due to a blow on the side of my head) to kill all three of them.

Only one of my group survived, and he passed completely out. I managed to drag us back to my space pod, and set the course back for Frieza's ship.

That nameless saiyan, I later learned, died in my arms on the way back.

"Wake up!"

There was a voice from outside the healing tank, and Kale's focus went from groggy to sharp in a half-second. Healing tank! She was back on Frieza's ship! But then, that meant...

Ah, yes. As was the custom, one had to be naked to be in the tanks. Her disguise had not even lasted two years. How ridiculously unfair. As she found herself released from the tank, she stepped out, took the towel offered by the doctor, and dried off. "If you tell anyone..." she started to growl the words but the doctor raised a hand and quickly cut her off.

"I understand." He wasn't complaining, of course. The view while she was in the tank easily convinced him that secrecy was a cheap price to pay.

The doctors Frieza employed tended to be the only trustworthy people on board the ship. They could be counted on to do any number of little things for the saiyans - or anyone who used their services - and then they could be trusted not to talk about it.

To say that Kale wasn't shocked would be untrue. She was startled, stunned, to think that anyone would let that tidbit of information pass. So, wanting to satisfy her curiosity, she asked, "You're not going to tell anyone? That's it?"

"No, of course not," the doctor replied, "What do I care if you're not really a man? How does it affect my job in that I have to treat you? Aside from a few minor things I won't mention, none of your feminine qualities do anything to at all impact my job." He would not dare tell her the other part of his reason. He'd learned from another doctor that to openly acknowledge why he was perfectly fine with having female saiyans around could be hazardous to his health.

After Kale dressed in her bindings and armor, there was a bit of shouting near the door, so she made a quick escape through it and brushed past Frieza.

And in her next step, stopped cold. What was he doing there? She started to move in hopes of avoiding him, but sadly, it was not to be.

"Saiyan!"

She turned around, bowing immediately before answering, "Yes, Lord Frieza?"

"Are you the one who survived scouting planet Laius?"

"Yes, Lord Frieza. To my knowledge there was one other."

"He has died. And there is only you left alive."

"Yes, Lord Frieza."

He took a step closer, and seemed to be staring her down, as if trying to draw something from her that he did not already know. As with the doctor, she began to panic that he knew or suspected, but she soon shoved those thoughts aside when he spoke again.

"It seems that you are stronger than I was told you are. I will be reading the report you make." After a moment's pause he glared. "I'm done with you."

Again, Kale bowed; then she left, breathing a sigh of relief when she got to the end of the corridor without being blasted. While a little nerve-wracking, it was not quite so bad as she had imagined it to be. He had even seemed pleased at her constant use of his title. Perhaps it was behavior like this, rather than her outright ability, that would save her skin.

She had always been said to have a silver tongue. This would be the time to use it.

How strange to think that my words would have such an effect on others. It was so different from Planet Vegeta, it truly was, and I began to look forward to advancing and gaining rank. I would show them that a saiyan was not just a brutish fighter, that a saiyan could be just as much a sycophant as any of them.

A bad trait, many would say. But I was tired of having little and being called a monkey. If I was going to bear it I could at least have a few trappings to enjoy. I would not let it pass, but I would not be stupid enough to grow angry and attack anyone verbally, as others had. That was not the way to deal with things here, that much was obvious.

I would get what I wanted. But that would come later.