Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or its related characters. All is the property of FUNamation, Studio Toei, Fuji TV, and Toriyama Akira. I'm just borrowing them for some light-heated entertainment. Same disclaimer applies for Sailor Moon and related characters.
Space Opera
Chapter Ten: Ancient Grudges & Current Threats
"How do you know about the parts you weren't there for?" Goten asked as he reached for a chip.
He had returned from his snack-run at about half-way through the Princess' story of how she and Trunks supposedly knew each other. Childhood friends. Met even before he and Trunks had been introduced. Then were separated for ten years only to be reunited by chance. It was the sort of story Goten expected to read in one of his sister-in-law's cheap romance novels. Stuff like that wasn't supposed to happen in real life.
"That's not important right now." Trunks waved off his question. Turning his attention back to the Lunarian Princess, he said, "That doesn't really explain what I wanted to know."
The Princess looked slightly confused. "Why your father would be wary of Senshi?" she asked. "I don't know. You saw how I fight on the Cutlass, are you afraid of me?"
The answer to that was 'Yes'. Trunks had confided as much in Goten. Not in so many words, but he found their lack of ki disconcerting. True, a warrior's skill and prowess was not always proportional to their battle aura. Sometimes fighters with weaker ki could defeat stronger opponents by acting smarter, using diversionary tactics to distract an enemy while you exploit their weakness. Inversely, a strong fighter might lose to a weaker one if he is clumsy, careless, or overconfident. Brains were just as important in battle as brawn was. But neither Trunks nor Goten could think of a case where a soldier with no discernible ki managed to take down a warrior of rank. The fact that Sailor Senshi could fight without ki meant they could move almost invisible. A Saiyan warrior would be unable to predict their moves and anticipate their strikes. It would be like fighting blind.
So, yes, Trunks was wary of the Lunarian Princess. Goten didn't really have any serious reservations about her. Sure, the nature of her power could represent a possible danger, but her herself? Nah. She wasn't a threat. For all her attitude and sass -qualities that reminded Goten greatly of Trunks himself- there was also an earnestness about her, a sort of innocent boldness that kinda reminded Goten of his dad -when he was actually alive and, ya know, around, that is. He might even go so far as to call her a Pure Heart -not that he was an expert or anything. But she definitely wasn't dangerous. In fact, she might actually be good for Trunks. She could empathize with him in ways that Goten could not -both being from royal houses and all- and was bold and stubborn enough to let him know when he was being an ass and set him strait. Goten instantly decided they belonged together!
"I'm an Elite Warrior, First Class, Third Degree." Trunks answered with all the pride and posturing of a true Saiyan Prince. "I fear nothing!"
She smiled. "Except little girls in mini-skirts."
Goten stepped in to distract them both before Trunks could say or do something that he would regret later. "Well, I gotta go." He said. "I've got an awkward family diner to attend, then a Dragon Ball hunt in the morning. Your Highness, I'm sorry to trouble you, but would you mind escorting the Princess back to the Governor's Palace for me? I'm sure the other Senshi are starting to wonder where she's gone."
Trunks just looked at him. "You cannot be serious."
But Goten was already walking out the door. They had been adequately distracted, the fearing little girls comment already forgotten, and now were in a position to spend some 'quality time' together. Goten had never tried being a matchmaker before, he wasn't sure if he had any skill for the trade or not, but he thought this was off to a fairly decent start so far. After all, the foundation was already there, now he just had to make sure they spent enough time together for nature to take its course…
"You can't leave me alone with her!" Trunks stood up and shouted through the conference room door, but Goten had already gone.
Now, alone together, the Prince looked back at the Moon Princess, glaring at her as if studying some strange and and unknown yet possibly volatile creature.
The Princess looked right back at him, matching his glare with one of her own -hers challenging. She liked him, or at least, she thought she liked him back in the engine room when she kissed him. Before she realized he was the Prince. He was her purple-furred weremonkey, even if he did grow up to be an insufferable prat. But then, they hadn't exactly rediscovered one another under the most amiable of circumstances. In the midst of an enemy attack. It was liable to put anyone on edge. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, remain civil and try again.
"So…" She began awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. Her eyes settled on the mechanics jumpsuit he still wore and the plethora of grease, oil, and other fluid stains on it. "You like machines, huh. That's cool. Me? I wouldn't know what to do with all that stuff. All those tubes and things. I'd probably end-up blowing up whatever it was I was trying to fix just because-"
"Princess." He cut her off rather abruptly. "Stop. I don't know you. You say we met before and I'm willing to believe that we might have, but I don't remember it. So, don't act so familiar with me. We are not friends. It was ten years ago, and you don't know me either."
She was suddenly reminded of her fathers words no more than a few short days ago, 'But that was a decade ago, Chibiusa-chan. You both were very different people back then.' And she suddenly realized the truth of those words. It was ten years ago, they were just children back then. They were adults now. Of course they would be completely different people now. It was silly and naive to think that he would still be her playmate with the friendly blue eyes.
"Well, then…" She began, "what if… What if we got to know each other all over again?"
There was a beat of silence.
Then the Prince turned with a scoff back to the door. "Useless waste of time. I'm going to shower, then I'll take you back to the Governor's Palace. You and your people may stay the night and tomorrow we'll examine your actions today and your purpose in being here."
He left.
…
Twenty minutes later, Small Lady found herself in the arms of the Prince -in full armor now, complete with a cape- being carried as if she were a bomb that might blow up in his face at any moment. Seriously, she had no idea it was possible to hold a person so far away from ones' self without dropping them. And she really did feel like she was about to fall any second now. Between his tentative hold under legs and behind her back and the air rushing hard at them, Small Lady decided it was a miracle she hadn't plummeted into the moonlit waters of the Pacific already.
Moonlit… The sun had gone down over this part of the world during her long recount of their first meeting, while they were all stilling inside. And wouldn't you know… tonight was another full moon! What were the chances?
The Prince wore a visor over his eyes. Something about the rose-colored lenses was supposed to filter out the blunts-waves that triggered the oozaru transformation. It was all very science'y and she didn't understand everything that came out of the Prince's mouth. Something about solar-radiation and light wave that were always present in moonlight but only reached a critical level when the moon was full. Light and radiation refracted through the pupils setting off a gland in the tail… Truth be told, she stopped listening. The long and short of it was that, so long as he had the visor over his eyes, he wouldn't transform into a giant weremonkey.
This came as a great relief to the Lunarian Princess, but also made her curious. She reached a hand out to touch the frameless visor, only to have the hand that was supporting her legs suddenly drop that half of her body and grab her wrist instead.
They stopped flying, coming to a dead-halt in mid-air, Small Lady supported by only one hand under his arms.
"Don't." Growled the Prince. With a firm grip on her wrist, he moved her hand back to rest at her side.
"Sorry." She said, then quickly decided that she had nothing to apologize for. "I wasn't gonna take them off! I was just curious is all."
He scoffed. Once again hooking his arm under her legs, he resumed flying, carrying her bridal style, but at arms' length.
"Do you need them?" She continued, shouting now to be heard over the sound of rushing air. "I mean, can't you control your other form now?"
"I have been trained by the best masters in the Empire." He informed her. "Of course I can control it!"
"So then, why do you need the visor?"
"Because, at some point tonight, I'd like to walk through the door of my mother's estate and flop down on a real bed." The Prince replied as if this should have been obvious. "I can't do that in the oozaru form."
"Oh." Small Lady paused a moment, then asked, "You can't change back at will?"
His gaze shifted from watching where they were flying just long enough to shoot her an annoyed glance before his attention returned ahead. "If we could change at will then we wouldn't need the moonglasses in the first place. The only ways to turn back from the oozaru form are to wait for the moon to go down or else cut off your tail. The transformation has nothing to do with will."
"Oh."
They flew in silence for some time after that. Small Lady didn't really know what to say to strike up a conversation with him and he seemed content to just fly in silence. Besides, it was hard to hear one another over the roar of the wind rushing past their ears. But still… the silence between them was awkward. At least, Small Lady thought it was.
It wasn't until she saw the dark mottled surface of land underneath them that the Prince broke their silence.
"By the way," he said, "why were you so intent to find me?"
"Huh?" She blinked at him, not having heard the question. Her attention was fixed ahead of them where she saw the lights of a big city coming into view.
"You spent ten years looking for me. Why?" He repeated impatiently.
"Oh, well…" She looked embarrassed. "I, uh, I wanted to apologize to you."
To the Lunarian Princess' great surprise, this answer was met with a single ironic laugh from the Prince. "You apologize to me? What in the world for? According to you, I was the one who transformed and ran amuck!"
That was true. Suddenly, Small Lady was feeling far less apologetic. But she explained anyway, "Yeah, but… I beat you up afterwards. I mean, my Papa and I beat you up, and it was my fault you transformed in the first place. I thought we'd hurt you, and I thought we gotten you in trouble. So, I wanted to tell you I'm sorry."
He was silent a long moment. The lights in the distance growing ever nearer. It wasn't until they were passing over the well lit but empty city streets (the planet being on Security Alert 3, a curfew was imposed for all non-military personal) that the Prince finally spoke again.
"Never apologize." He told her. "It shows weakness."
Small Lady couldn't decide if he were calling her weak, a grievous insult among Saiyans, or if he was trying to give her advice, impart some version of wisdom to her. Saiyan wisdom. Ultimately, she decided it didn't matter. She didn't agree with him. Apologizing showed strength of character, responsibility, and maturity. Definitely not traits that were associated with weakness.
Or, was he saying she didn't need to apologize because there was nothing to forgive. In which case, why couldn't he just say that? Saiyans and their pride. Stupid.
…
The Prince could not get rid of the Princess fast enough. Passing her off to the first available warrior with officer chevrons to escort her back to her comrades. He had more important things to do than babysit an -admittedly very attractive- obnoxiously naive woman. The moment he transferred custody of her to someone else, he made a B-line for the Governor's office.
Raditz was long gone. Having left -probably around the same time Goten abandoned him alone with the Princess- to attend a Son family diner. After all, how often was it that all of them were on the same planet at the same time? Never. Considering that one of them was dead at the moment, they still weren't all on the same planet -or plane of existence- at the same time. Wouldn't that make for some fun conversation. Not for the first time, the Prince was glad he wasn't a member of that family.
He left the door to the office open, he would only be in here for a few moments. Just needed to use the Governor's terminal to check the list of enemy officers that were captured alive, see if any had been interrogated yet, pull those files to read at his leasure, or schedule interrogations for the ones still in holding.
The leader of the attack, a warrior called Dodoria, was captured alive. That was good. But the Prince frowned when he saw that he hadn't yet been interrogated. Curious, and ever so slightly irritated, he pulled out Raditz's chair and sat down to pull up and read the complete report.
Apparently, he wasn't yet interrogated because the boys from the Department of Intelligence and Security (or DIS) didn't know how to handle him. He wasn't unusually hard to break, nor did he fight back. That was just it. He didn't resist at all. In fact, he was very polite and cooperative when the Interrogator arrived with two guards to escort him from his holding cell to the interrogation room. So much to the point where the Interrogator decided to leave him there for observation instead of starting right away. That was several hours ago and there was no secondary report or anything to indicate that he had been interrogated yet. For all the Prince knew, Dodoria was still sitting alone and unbothered in the interrogation room. What the hell kind of incompetence was this?
Wanting an explanation, he skimmed through the incident reports.
Of course.
Leaning back in the seat, the Prince brushed his bangs out of his face in irritation. The Lunarian Princess. Sailor Moon. According to the reports she was the one who defeated Dodoria, hitting him with an attack from her wand that was described to be like a cascade of glitter and light. She must have used the same attack on him that she used on Cui back on the Cutlass. What did she say it did? Cleanse a person of their evil? Well, that would explain why he was so cooperative and polite. Ascendancy soldiers were not normally polite. It also explained why the Interrogator was suddenly so wary of Dodoria and opted to keep him under observation. He didn't believe it and probably thought it was an act of some kind. A trap.
Other militaries had done similar things before. Booby-trap their soldiers in ways that only interrogation techniques would trigger and end up killing both the prisoner and the interrogator, and depending on the nature of the trap, possibly destroying a sizable portion of the surrounding area. It was a prudent more to have him sequestered. But it wasn't necessary. The Prince had experience questioning someone 'cleansed' by Sailor Moon, he would do the interview.
Interview, not interrogation. An interrogation wasn't necessary at this point.
Pulling a datapad out from the desk, the Prince transferred over any files he thought might be helpful during the interview before getting up to find the Intelligence Officer in charge of the prisoner.
The I.O. was still in his office when the Prince entered, unannounced, his datapad under his arm, an impatient frown on his face. The Intelligence Officer was on his feet before the Prince even had time to shut the door behind him.
"Ah, Your Highness. What can I do for you?"
The I.O. didn't offer pleasantries or menace words which suited the Prince just fine. "Take me to the leader of the Ice-jin troops, Dodoria."
Here, the Intelligence Officer paused. "Ah, Sir, I have him under quarantine at the moment. His behavior upon capture was uncommonly suspicious and thought it best to postpone interrogation until-"
"There's no need for that." The Prince cut him off impatiently. "I know what's wrong with him and I've dealt with it before. If you're to cowardly to do your job, then you can sit in the observation room while I conduct his interview."
At the 'cowardly' comment, the I.O. bristled with insult, but said nothing to challenge the insinuation. Ones does not challenge the Prince of the Saiyans (especially not over petty matters) and retain the ability to walk or speak. However, something he said, did merit a question. "Interview, Sir?"
To his question, the Prince only growled in impatience. Sometimes, it really was true what they said about 'military intelligence'. He didn't have time to explain things that would become obvious to people who were beneath him. He brushed past the I.O. to the man's desk and booted up the terminal. DIS terminals were automatically triple encrypted but each I.O. always added their own layers of security to their own computers -it helped deter peers from spying on one another, which was a common occurrence in the Department of Intelligence and Security. The Prince passed the first three security layers easily, then looked up at the I.O. to give the man a chance to volunteer his passcodes before the Prince just hacked them. Software wasn't any harder to take apart than machinery, it was just less strait forward and so was more time consuming.
At the Prince's glare, the I.O. rushed over, his hands flying over the keyboard to give the Prince the access he wanted.
Dodoria was being held in one of the iso tanks used to quarantine people -both enemies and allies- until they could be assessed for possible passive threats. Not just bodily boobytraps, but viruses, bacteria and microbes. Space was a bit place, full of the strange and wonderful, but not everything mixed well with Saiyan or human bio-chemistry. Someone might visit an unknown asteroid in the middle of nowhere and pick up a particle on their armor. In space it would be dormant, harmless. But on Earth, exposed to heat, light, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, water -whatever you can think of really- that single particle might turn into a deadly spore that wipes out an entire city before you can finally stop it.
Or like that heart virus Goten's dad caught that one time.
The Prince didn't expect any such bio-hazards from Dodoria. But he idly wondered if Sailor Moon's 'Moon Healing Escalation' might cleanse a person of microbes or viruses as well. After all, the attack did have the word 'healing' in it.
But that was an irrelevant tangent. It wouldn't do him any good to be thinking about the Princess right now. He could reflect on her mysterious and unquantifiable power later. Right now he had to focus on getting the information he needed out of Dodoria. Thoughts of pink hair or ruby eyes and soft lips pressed against his were an unwelcome distraction.
The I.O. opened the door for the Prince before withdrawing to watch and record from the observation room.
The room was not particularly large. About ten by sixteen, larger than the holding cells, but smaller than the interrogation rooms, and it was as plain as plain could be. Bare gray walls, completely devoid of features or character, one mirror on the side wall -a two way mirror that allowed whomever was in the observation room to see but not be seen by whomever occupied the room, and a table. Equally dull and featureless, really, not much more than a slab of aluminum held up by four legs. And two chairs.
One such chair was already occupied.
A large alien. Not large as in muscular or tall -although, if he stood, he might still be fallen than the Prince- but large in the sense that he was grotesquely fat. The Prince's knee-jerk reaction upon seeing the pink-skinned obese alien was to wonder at how such a creature could ever manage to be considered a warrior at all, never mind be a high-level officer in the Kold Family's army. But he quickly reminded himself that not all fighters had to keep a cut figure. If they had the power to blast an opponent to dust with a belch, then one didn't need to keep their body in such finely honed shape.
He looked up when the Prince entered, the same bemused and slightly innocent expression on his face that Cui had after Sailor Moon's attack.
The Prince sat down in the chair opposite him, setting his datapad to the side for the moment. "Do you know who you are?"
"Yes." Dodoria replied with a smile. It was the kind of smile a child might give to a teach when they're sure they know the correct answer to a question in class. "I'm Dodoria, Left Hand General to Lord Freeza."
The Prince nodded, so much was already confirmed in the files he read. Perhaps it was good that the I.O. had let him sit for a while. Back on the Cutlass, Cui seemed to need some time to recover and regain his mental faculties after being 'cleansed' by Sailor Moon.
The Prince continued, "You came here with three ships, together containing a total of two-thousand four-hundred and sixteen soldiers. Why?"
"To attack the Earth." Dodoria replied. He didn't say it maliciously or vindictively, but rather, a flat bland statement. Almost like he didn't fully understand that what he was saying was bad. He was telling the truth, and the truth was good.
"Why so many?" The Prince pressed. "The Ascendancy and the Empire have been poking each other for millennia. Why suddenly escalate things now?"
Dodoria blinked two sets of alien eyelids at him, not understanding his question.
With a sigh, the Prince went at the question from another direction. "What was your mission objective?"
"The total and complete extinction of the human race, plus any and all half-breeds we might find."
That gave the Prince a moment's pause. They weren't attacking the Empire, not directly. Their targets were not Imperial targets. No government buildings, no training bases, no troop barracks, ship yards, not even Capsule Corporation -the Queen's Estate. No. Their targets were the people of Earth. The weak and harmless humans that populated the planet. The humans… and the hansaiya. The hansaiya who's potential for power was much greater than that of a normal Saiyan warrior, and the humans, the race that made such a power-house possible.
Their target may not have been a military target, but it was still a tactical target. A long term tactical target. This was no ordinary poke by the Ascendancy. This was something else. Something more.
Clearing his throat, which had suddenly gone dry, the Prince asked, "Did your superiors tell you the reason why the humans were to be your targets?"
"Yes." Nodded Dodoria, very proud of himself that Lord Freeza believed him so trustworthy.
"Why were the humans and hansaiya targeted?"
"To eliminate a threat."
The Prince was becoming frustrating. Dodoria might be cooperating the best as his naive, recently washed brain could comprehend, but he still wasn't giving strait answers. "What possible threat could the humans pose to the Ascendancy? Or the Kold Family? Or even just Freeza by himself?"
Dodoria was a long time in answering. The Prince could see his slow, still recovering brain processing the question and working through the answer. Finally, after a prolonged pause, he explained, "The half-breed offspring of humans and Saiyans are stronger…" He paused, either gathering his words together or trying to remember the next part of the explanation. "They could… King Kold believes… produce a new Legendary."
At that one word, the Prince stood up. He turned around to tap the two-way mirror behind him and commanded, "Stop all recording right now and leave."
A protest of, "But, Your Highness…" was heard over the intercom, but the I.O. said no more. The Prince continued to glare at his reflection until a light was turned on in the observation room, turning the mirror into a window, allowing the Prince to see that the Intelligence Officer was, indeed, shutting down all surveillance and recording equipment in the room before he left. The Prince waited until the count of ten after he was gone before turning back around and once again sitting down with Dodoria.
Very soberly, he asked, "What do the Ice-jin know of our Legendary?"
This time, the pause before he answered was even longer. The Prince found himself suppressing the urge to reach across the table and shake Dodoria violently until he answered. But that probably wouldn't help maters much. Or, at least, he told himself it wouldn't. The Prince had never been a very patient man. But he tried.
Finally, Dodoria said, "Long ago, when the Ice-jin race was young and the Saiyans even younger, a Lord named Chill visited Vegeta-sei, which was then called Planet Plant…"
The Prince knew this story. He remembered Grandfather King Vegeta telling him a version of it as a boy. It was a tale about his ancestor, the Legendary, and how he fought off an alien invader all by himself with only his power and his will to carry him through. It was also the origin story for the near eternal rivalry between the Empire and the Ascendancy. The story ended with the Legendary vowing to destroy the Ice-jin and the threat they presented to his planet and people, and swore that his decedents would carry on the same mission until the universe had been cleansed of their evil.
"…Lord Chill was mercilessly brutalized by one of the savages, a warrior they called the Legendary. As he lay dying on his ship, Lord Chill vowed do destroy the Legendary and his entire filthy race."
That part was new. But it made sense. From a dramatic perspective. Looking at the way the Empire and Ascendancy behaved now, however, they weren't trying to erase one another from the universe, just poke each other every now and again, like neighbors whom hated one another but were stuck with each other none the less.
That is… until now. Wanting to destroy every human on Earth, that sounded more like the original Lord Chill's vow. But then…?
"What makes Kold so sure the next Legendary will come from the hansaiya?" After all, it was common knowledge that the mingling of human and Saiyan blood made for a stronger offspring. Gohan wrote as much in his books. It was free information out there for anyone to take. But the Legendary… that was a theory -a secret theory- that only his family was supposed to be privy to. It hadn't even been proven yet. Not a single hansaiya to date had displayed any signs of ascending to become the next Legendary. Not even the Prince! A direct male-line decedent of the Legendary. How did Kold figure out something only he, his father, and maybe Nappa were supposed to know?
Dodoria shook his head. "Don't know."
Wonderful. "What are King Kold's long-term goals?"
That answer took far less time. "The elimination of possible Legendary threat, then, the complete and total annihilation of the Saiyan race. Once and for all. As Lord Chill vowed." Then he leaned over the table, for the first time volunteering information without being asked, "You see, of all the families in the Ascendancy, the Kolds are the only direct decedents of Lord Chill. They intend to carry out their ancestor's final promise."
"I… see…" Well now. That changed a few things.
This wasn't the usual game of poke-the-bear that they were used to playing with the Ascendancy. This was real. They were serious. It wasn't small squabbles over property lines or stolen newspapers -to harken back to the hostile neighbors analogy. Now it was -quite literally- a matter of life or death. The Kolds wanted to kill every last Saiyan and person of Saiyan blood in the universe. It was a goal laid down my their ancestor, they would never stop. That meant that the Empire's only hope of securing their own safety was to kill every last member of the Kold Family. It was an 'Us or Them' situation.
That changed things, indeed.
Then, something else occurred to him. "Dodoria, you're ki is sufficient to destroy a planet. Why didn't you just blow the Earth up from space?"
And at that, the alien looked away. The first sign of actual remorse he'd shown since the Prince walked into the room. So, Sailor Moon's attack did, indeed, cleanse a person of evil. He knew what he came here to do was bad and he was recovered enough from the shock of whatever it was Sailor Moon did to feel remorse. Interesting. "It was Lord Freeza's suggestion." He explained. "And King Kold endorsed it. We weren't just to eradicate the human race. They wanted us to send a message. That no matter how far you stretch across the stars, or what advantages and strengths you find in other races… you will always be weak lonely monkeys. Unable to save those around you, and… unable to save yourselves."
The idea was to make them suffer before the Kold's destroyed them all.
How many Saiyan warriors had taken human partners for mates over the past two decades? How many soldiers serving their four year term in the Fleet had parents on Earth? The Prince remembered the tightness and anxiety in Goten's face back aboard the Dominance when Nappa made his comment about coming home 'just in time to bury their dead'. If Dodoria and his troops had succeeded in their mission, the blow to Imperial moral would have been devastating.
He learned all he needed to from that fat pink alien. The Prince stood.
Dodoria gazed up at him, innocent and trusting. "I'm sorry for trying to kill your people."
Those were his last words. The Prince didn't say anything. He just drew his sword, fast as lightning and cut the alien warrior in two. The pieces slid off of the chair and onto the with a kind of sickly surreal sluggishness, oozing fluids all other the floor. Normal interrogation rooms were equipped with drains in their floors, but this was an iso cell, it had no drain. The Prince hovered a few inches off the ground to keep the gore off his boots. Extending his hand, there was just one short blast of ki then there was no more gore to stain his boots and no more pieces of Dodoria either. Only dust.
That was what happened to enemies of the Empire.
Enemies of the Empire…
The Empire's enemies were moving. Threatening more than the Prince had ever experienced in his lifetime. The complete destruction of both the human and the Saiyan races. Both his parent peoples.
He wrenched the door open, almost pulling it off its hinges and stormed through the corridors of the Governor's Palace. So much to do.
His first stop was back at the I.O.'s office. Knowing they types of people that were generally transferred to the Department of Intelligence and Security the Prince was fairly certain the I.O. had made a copy of the recording before shutting off all the equipment. The Prince needed to make sure that there were no more leaks about the Legendary.
The I.O.'s protests were ignored as the Prince tore down the firewalls and purged the terminal of all its information. When that was done, he destroyed the machine for good measure.
"My daughter's daijutsu pictures were in there." He muttered dejectedly as the machine gave a final pathetic sputter and the scent of ozone filled the air.
At that comment, the Prince paused. "Your daughter, is she hansaiya?"
"Yes." He nodded, smiling with the kind of paternal pride the Prince rarely -if ever- saw on his own father's face. "Only five years old and already Second Class, First Degree."
"I did her a service." He left.
The second stop was back to Raditz's office.
The Prince sat down at the desk and began typing a hurried document. Nothing fancy or flowery, just a strait forward contract for the Lunarians currently on Earth. That the Empire would accept their aid, and in exchange would allow them to remain on Earth and offer them free room and board with access to whatever tools or supplies they needed to maintain their weapons and equipment, and three meals a day. It was the most the Prince could offer without consulting his father first and, quite frankly, he was pretty sure his father would disapprove of even that, preferring instead to kick the Moon people off his planet and fight the Kolds without their strange magical aid. But the Prince saw what they could do in battle and he wanted that kind of mysterious and unquantifiable power on their side.
'Well, then… what if… What if we got to know each other all over again?'
And it had nothing to do with the Lunarian Princess or her soft, soft lips and earnest desire to get reacquainted with him. The Prince was interested in their power and how he could use them to serve the Empire. That was all.
He made Goten the official liaison between the Lunarians and the Empire. He was the only officer within the military and currently on Earth that the Prince trusted with the job. Plus he already had some experience with their magic. He may not have seen what the Princess did on the Cutlass, but he had been present to witness their Sailor Teleport. That, at least, should give him some idea of what he was dealing with. It was better than sending in another officer who'd never seen a Sailor Senshi before and had no idea what to expect.
After the document was finished and quickly skimmed over for typos or errors, the Prince saved the contract to Raditz's hard drive, then transferred a copy of it to the datapad he originally took from the desk. Pressing his thumb down on the bottom of the touch-screen at the end of the document, he waited for the machine to beep, indicating that it had scanned his thumbprint and verified that he was who he said he was. The print and his name, Prince Vegeta XV, then appeared at the bottom of the document. It was signed. It was official. Now, the only authority that could overrule it was his father.
He put the datapad away where a careless secretary couldn't pick it up and lose it. Then typed out a quick note on Raditz's terminal telling him where it was and giving him instructions for dealing with the Lunarians.
Then he was once again out the door. Flying back to the Patriot.
The large warship was not yet ready for a planetary take-off, not that it could be flown by one man anyway. So, the Prince climbed into a pod instead. Punched in the coordinates for Vegeta-sei -since the main Fleet, plus the Dominance should be back there by now- and then was on his way zooming through space.
This was news he had to bring to his father in person.
...