Chapter 2: Change of Plans

Jeice got to the training hall doors with seconds to spare, but said doors were closed shut. It wasn't like the Capt'n to be late, but he knew better than to question his superior about his tardiness. There was probably a good reason for this. He gladly took the opportunity to catch his breath and tried to comb his hair, before he realised that he hadn't actually brought a comb. He hadn't equipped his scouter either, which made him let out a sigh.

"Just great, even when get here on time, I'm still gonna get scolded. Well, at least I'm the first one..."

He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Burter came speeding right past him, followed by a powerful gust of wind that knocked the second in command on his butt. The red skinned Brenchian huffed, annoyed, while his friend managed to come to a stop a few meters away and came back to help him.

"Sorry about that. I was in a real hurry" he apologized with a sheepish grin as he offered his hand to his superior. Jeice took the tall blue mutants hand and stood up, now somewhat embarrassed at the fact that his teammate had seen him in such a state. Had it been anyone else, he would have punched them and ordered him to run 300 laps around the entire base. Violence was what most soldiers understood, and if he didn't use it he would have been pushed over long ago. However, Burter had been his teammate for over 15 years, even before they were in the Ginyu Force. They had supported each other during the hard times, and Burter was there when "that thing" happened. After that, they started developing joint techniques , and both became even closer friends. But even so, an occasional warning wouldn't hurt.

"You don't tell anyone about this, or I'll make sure you don't get any pudding for a year" he told him with a mischievous smile.

Burter gasped, bringing his hands to his face "You wouldn't."

Jeice looked him in the eye "Try me" he deadpanned, trying to look as serious as possible.

Both looked at each other for a while, before bursting into a fit of laughter. They laughed for a while before they calmed down, at which point Burter realised that A)Jeice didn't have his scouter B)the training hall was closed and C) Captain Ginyu was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, wait a moment, where is Captain Ginyu? And why aren't you wearing your scouter?" he grinned, suspecting what had happened. "Did you wake up late today, and leave in a hurry?"

"What? No, I… I would never..." Jeice stammered, unable to hide the facts.

Burter chuckled "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me" he told his superior, winking.

"Oh yeah? And what about you, Mr Fastest in the Universe? Why were you late? Were you hyping yourself up with your stupid chants this morning?" Jeice spat back, hoping to get at least one back at his quick witted friend.

Burters face flushed, as he began to rant about how his 'I am speed' ritual wasn't stupid. Jeice chuckled, getting the satisfaction of hearing Burter's protests. He rested his head on the wall while his blue skinned teammate kept on going into detail about his speed. His mind put Burter on stereo as he began to wonder why the Capt'n was taking so long. He was almost never late, and the times he was it was only for about two minutes tops. But this long? This was not like him. Something must have happened. He was taken out of his daze when he felt Burter's hand on his shoulder

"Jeice"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Heads up, here he comes" the other replied

At first, Jeice thought he meant the Capt'n and stood straight up, eager to meet his leader. But then he heard it. The long, almost beastly roar that came through the hallway that only one person he knew could make. He braced himself for what was coming, as did Burter. No sooner had he prepared his mind, body and soul for what was coming that a ginger giant in white armor came charging through the hallway, stopping right in front of them with such force the floor underneath him cracked. He took a deep breath and bent down very close to the ground and held his arms to one side, maintaining the pose while looking straight at both his teammates

"Recooooooome is heeere!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, making Jeice wince and Burter chuckle.

"About time you showed up" the tall blue mutant said, greeting his newly arrived teammate "I was beginning to think you had gotten lost"

"Well, I actually did" Recoome replied, scratching the back of his head "At first, I thought I was going the wrong way, so I turned around, but then it turned out I was right all along. I figured that out once I ended up in the women's bathroom instead of the Training Halls. They...they weren't happy about that."

Jeice and Burter both facepalmed, equally disappointed as they were impressed. They knew Recoome wasn't stupid, but sometimes he did things so reverse backwards that they had to reevaluate this fact. They honestly thought he did these things on purpose. Nonetheless, that wasn't the situation either, so they just had to assume that was just how Recoome... worked. However, both also knew that he was a trusted ally and one of the only friends they could count on. And in this line of work, someone like that was really rare. So they let their hands fall from their faces and gave him a smile.

"Well, you are here now" Jeice told his ginger pal. "Now the only ones missing are the Capt'n and…"

"Ahem" a low pitched voice spoke up, causing the rest of the Ginyu Force to look in his direction.

"Ah, Guldo, there you are!" Recoome said happily as he walked towards him. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine, no thanks to you and your accountant friend. Don't think I will forget about yesterday anytime soon" he replied in a non amused tone which caused Recoome to stop in his tracks and his smile to disappear.

"Hey Guldo, come on, he was just trying to be nice. You should try it out sometime." Burter told him, trying his best not to sound as irritated by his presence as he was. The only response he got from the short green Bas was a low humph as he passed by him, which made his solid crimson eyes twitch with mild distaste.

Jeice frowned at the attitude of his fellow Ginyu Force member. Guldo wasn't a particularly strong fighter, but was constantly in a bad mood and didn't get along with his teammates. Since the beginning, Guldo had felt somewhat of an inferiority complex, being the last one to join the squad, but that didn't excuse his behavior towards the rest or the team or other soldiers in general. Always mocking, condescending and rude, he didn't like any of his teammates and they did their best to ignore him(except Recoome, who wanted him to feel accepted). The Capt'n always told them not to fight between each other, but Guldo really made some missions unbearable. In their first mission, he had gone out of his way to make the others look bad so that he would get all the credit. The only reason he hadn't gotten into to much trouble was because of his amazing psychic powers, which even allowed him to stop time. Other than that, he didn't have any redeeming qualities. He even had a terribly bad breath.

But the question popped up again in Jeice's head. They were now all here, but where was the Capt'n? Surely he would have arrived by now. This definitely wasn't normal. What was going on?

XXX

Ginyu felt bad for his squad. He had bailed out on them and hadn't been able to tell them about the change of plans. Jeice hadn't answered transmissions, Recoome's scouter was, as usual, not calibrated, and both Burter and Guldo had theirs turned off. He sighed. Duty called, and he had to answer the transmission with or without his squad. Specially one from Lord Freeza himself.

He opened comms with the man he fervently followed and knelled before him, his head hanging low.

"Greetings, Lord Freeza. To what do I owe this honor?" he asked.

He lifted his head to look at the Frost Demon and grew concerned when he saw the look on his face. It was a look of pure annoyance and controlled anger, a look which almost didn't fit his small and slender features. Freeza took a breath before talking.

"Captain Ginyu, I might need your squad after all. Dodoria has been killed and half my crew is dead" he stated, almost nonchalantly.

This stunned Ginyu, as he looked at the screen with utter disbelief. "Dodoria? Killed? By who?" he asked. He had known Dodoria, Freeza's brutal left fist, a man that could fight quite well and kill even better. The fact that such a soldier had been killed on a planet where the average power level was 1200 seemed ludicrous. The name that came out of Freeza's lips next stunned him even more.

"Vegeta" Freeza spat the name with venom in his tone "He recovered in one of our stations, and came to Namek as well. He is currently gathering the Dragon Balls like we are, probably just to spite me or make a wish of his own. Furthermore, there seems to be third party after them as well."

The transmission became unstable, and Ginyu noticed that is what Freeza's doing, his immense power affecting the call. "The monkey prince he can outsmart me, Lord Freeza. And I'm not about to let that go unchecked" Freeza turned his back on his underling, allowing him to process the information that had just been delivered. "I have sent Zarbon after him, but now I grow weary" He turned back to face Ginyu, looking at him with fire in his eyes.

"I want you and your men to come to this planet and help me gather the Dragon Balls. I also want you to "deal" with Vegeta, but bring him back to me alive. He needs to be disciplined before he is disposed of, and I will see to that myself."

The small overlord paused, as if remembering something. The events of the past two days still bothered him beyond measure. "I also need new scouters, all the ones we had were destroyed by the locals" he added, managing to keep his rage controlled.

Ginyu bowed once more "We are ready to depart and we will do so at once. With our special pods, it will take us five days to arrive" he told his master.

Freeza smirked "Good. I will be expecting you, Captain. I know you will not disappoint me" the small Frost Demon turned around, showing his back to Ginyu once more "That will be all"

Ginyu bowed yet again, and the transmission came to a close. He got up and fully processed the situation. Vegeta finally had gone rouge, and Lord Freeza counted on him and his team to stop him. This was yet another chance to show his loyalty to the man he adored above all else. He smiled, and reached for his scouter, trying to open a communication with his team.

"Dammit, why aren't they answering my calls? Sometimes I could even believe they are slacking..." Finally, he saw Burter's scouter online and called it. After a few seconds he got an answer.

"Captain Ginyu? What happened? We were..." Another voice came through the scouter, and he instantly recognized the voice of his second in command "Capt'n Ginyu? Are you ok? I'm sorry I was late today but I really..." Ginyu cut him off.

"Don't worry about that. It wasn't my intention to leave you out of the loop but something important came up. We'll talk in detail later, along with why you don't have you scouter" he heard Jeice's gulp and nearly chuckled before regaining his composure "Is the whole team with you?"

"Yeah, everyone else is here. What is it you need to tell us?" the Captain smiled, knowing beforehand how they would all react to the news.

"Lord Freeza called with a mission. Prepare yourselves, because we are going to Namek."

A few seconds of silence passed before he heard the collective cheers of his soldiers. He couldn't help but be happy too. After so long, they finally got to go on another mission. They would have to talk later about the seriousness of the situation, but for now, Ginyu let them cheer and laugh. It was good to prepare for what was about to come. And if he was right, everything was about to hit the fan.

Whats this? A chapter soon after I said they would be scarce? Well, it was already partially written and I only needed to proof write it. This chapter is another slower one, but it serves a similar purpose as the last one, this one exploring the relationship between the members of the Ginyu Force. But don't worry, from chapter 3 onward we get to the good stuff. See you next time, and feel free to review.