Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters.

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Definition(s);

1. Sama: This word is used to call people who you respect highly, like emperors or gods.

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Bold—Thoughts

"Blah... Blah... Blah..."—Talking

Chapter 10: Mirror of Contrast

"What the hell is taking them so long?" Vegeta exclaimed heatedly.

Bardock watched Vegeta struggle with his inner rage as he struggled to maintain his own; the space ship had been sitting in the space dock for the past ten minutes without showing any signs of life.

I should just blast the door open and drag those stupid diplomats out by their hair, Vegeta inwardly grumbled.

"My time is precious. It shouldn't be wasted, Bardock," Vegeta said, finally acknowledging Bardock's presence.

"Perhaps they're experiencing a technical difficulty, sir," Bardock suggested calmly, successfully managing to hide his own irritation.

After all, one of us needs to keep a level head and that one of us isn't going to be Vegeta, since patience has never one of his strong points, he resisted the urge to laugh.

"We should have the communications crew attempt to contact them and ask them if they need some assistance," Bardock smirked.

The human diplomats were supposed to help the Saiyan's and Bardock knew that they would be more than embarrassed to accept help getting off of their ship; it was definitely not the way to maintain professional dignity.

Shaking his head, Vegeta changed the subject, "Did you get a chance to talk to your son or brother about that unclassified female?"

"No," Bardock scowled irately. "I returned to my quarters last night to speak with Radditz, but he wasn't there. Come to think of it, he wasn't there when I woke up this morning either."

He sniffed in distaste, "Knowing Radditz, he was probably at some pub. I haven't had any time to track Turles down yet, but I'm willing to bet that he didn't spend the night sleeping."

"Ah, yes," Vegeta snickered. "Your brother's reputation is well known in Vegeta-sei's brothels. I've been meaning to ask him how he accomplished the feat of not obtaining a brat yet."

Bardock opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he heard the hiss of pressure seals releasing. The doors belonging to the ship snapped open and then the ramp descended; both men schooled their faces to a professional mask of indifference.

"Goten, if you don't hurry up and get those capsules, you're going to embarrass us," Marron hissed within the confines of the ship; her words were so distant that both men struggled to hear what she was saying. "If you had paid attention, then you would've known that we landed nearly fifteen minutes ago!"

Despite the high-pitched scream, the woman who stepped off of the ramp was the picture of serene calm and composure. Bardock eyed Marron critically for a moment, disregarding her striking blue eyes, gold-spun hair and well-defined figure; he wanted to make sure that she didn't pose a threat to Vegeta.

After a few moments of scrutiny, he deduced that Marron was non-threatening. Being a human female, he was sure that there was no way she was strong enough to bruise a third class Saiyan, but he would still read her power level just to be sure; she wore practical clothes that were aesthetically pleasing without being provocatively so.

It's the type of clothing a diplomat on a mission should wear, Nodding absentmindedly, Bardock turned his attention back to the ramp.

"We're terribly sorry for making you wait, your Majesty," Marron said courteously, dipping her head in respect.

I thought that Chikyuu-jin's were supposed to be an extremely weak race. How can she have no problems standing in ten times Earth's gravity? Bardock studied Marron cryptically.

"My partner was supposed to keep an eye on the console and notify me when we were about to land, but it appears that he was distracted," A spark of anger flickered in her otherwise icy blue eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

At that exact moment, Goten decided to make his entrance, "Come on, Marron! I said I was sorry, all right? Besides, you can't lay all the blame on me since you weren't even in the room when we landed."

Bardock focused his attention on the figure that was making his way down the ramp; when Goten's body and face came into the range of his sharp vision, Bardock stiffened with shock.

"What the hell!" He exclaimed in astonishment; Goten's face was one that nearly matched his own and it was framed by a wild mass of hair that stuck out in every direction.

Opening his mouth, Goten could barely contain his shock, "Dad?!"

Startled, Marron's eyes focused on the man standing next to the King.

Mirroring Goten's surprise, she opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Vegeta's loud laugh, "So, Turles did have a brat."

Turning to Bardock, he grinned slyly, "After all, it couldn't be you, could it? You don't have the balls to go behind your mate's back!"

Despite all of his self-control, the memory of that specific incident brought a blush to Bardock's sun-kissed cheeks; after Turles' mistress had shown up at his door, Sereri refused to touch him for a whole week!

Gritting his teeth, he glared at Vegeta, "There was no need to bring that up, Vegeta."

Shifting his gaze from one Saiyan to the other, Goten quickly learned that the taller man was not his father, despite the frightening similarities.

However, that only left him bewildered, Why does this man—this Saiyan—look so much like dad? It can't just be a coincidence that their hair, facial structure—pretty much everything in general—is almost exactly the same, can it?

Exasperated, he ran a hand through his spiky mane, Good God, I'm just a human and my father's name is not Turtles, whoever he is!

"Excuse me," Goten interjected hesitantly; being a diplomat, he realized that manners were of the utmost importance. "I'm afraid that you've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Goten and my father's name is Goku."

Scratching his chin contemplatively, he added, "For that matter, I've never even heard of anyone named Turtles."

Except for the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi, but I doubt that they were referring to him! Yuck!

Goten gestured to the petite woman standing next to him, "And this is Marron. We're the diplomats from Chikyuu-sei."

Eyeing Goten suspiciously, Bardock corrected him, "It's Tur-les."

I don't know what to make of this boy. If he had a tail, I'd be willing to swear to anyone that he's a Saiyan and related to me somehow, Goten lacked what most Saiyan's prided themselves for having, but Bardock was still convinced that Goten had to have Saiyan blood within him—more importantly, his kin's Saiyan blood.

The similarities are too overwhelming to ignore or dismiss as a coincidence and humans don't have gravity-defying hair. At least, not without the excessive use of hair gel, Pausing briefly with his thoughts, Bardock's nose was unable to detect any hint of foreign substances in Goten's spiky mass of black hair. So, why is he a member of Earth's diplomatic team?

He could've lost his tail as punishment or by accident, but that would mean that he somehow managed to flee to Earth, his conscience offered.

Bardock immediately dismissed the thought, figuring that it would be impossible to sneak off of Vegeta-sei undetected, Maybe he's a half-breed, but cross-breeding between species is forbidden. Anyone caught could be punished severely, especially the offspring, who's usually killed or taken to the science department for further study.

He was more than well informed on the few cases of inter-species reproduction that cropped up from time-to-time. However, he'd never heard of a case where a half-breed had gone unnoticed for more than five years and Goten was obviously more than five-years old.

Judging by human aging standards, he's probably in his late thirties or early forties. The idea of this boy being a half-breed seems ludicrous! The logical part of his mind couldn't completely discount the theory. After this meeting is over, I'm going to have to visit Turles. He's the only logical person who could've fathered this boy.

Bardock knew that his twin brother was the last option—since every other relation he had was dead—and Sereri certainly hadn't had any children without him knowing about it, Kakarot was our last child, but he died as an infant. Of course, there's always the possibility that Goten is Turles' grandson, but that would mean that Turles already has a child nearly as old as I am; it seems unlikely.

While it was possible for Turles to have had a child without Bardock knowing about it, due to the strict genetic profiling all Saiyan babies underwent, it was highly unlikely that two blood relations would slip by him unnoticed. Raking his eyes over Goten's features again, Bardock sized him up as a potential threat and turned his scouter on to take a power reading.

After a few moments of beeping, the scouter finally settled on five thousand. Frowning, he turned the device on the human woman who accompanied Goten. While five thousand wasn't exactly all that powerful, it was a power level that a normal human wouldn't possess. Granted, there were few humans who trained themselves to Saiyan standards, but it seemed unlikely that one of them would happen to go into diplomacy.

Unless they chose Goten because he's a lot stronger than most humans are, Bardock waited for the scouter to finish reading Marron's power level. Chikyuu-jin's know that Saiyan's tend to respect strength and Vegeta-sei does have a higher gravity than Chikyuu-sei, so a physically capable diplomat would have its advantages. None-the-less, the fact that this Saiyan-looking boy happens to be stronger than a normal human does tend to support my theory that he isn't human at all.

Beep. Bardock's eyebrows rose in surprise when he read the scouter, Five thousand... That's the exact same strength as Goten's.

His eyes glinted suspiciously, That certainly explains why she has no problem with ten times Earth's normal gravity. Still, it surprises me that a human female diplomat could match even a relatively weak Saiyan like Goten.

"We obviously have a case of mistaken identity," Marron inserted smoothly; she used all of the charismatic power her voice had to soothe the suspicions about her companion. "I can assure you that I've known Goten my whole life and my father knew both of his parents since they were children. It's simply a strange coincidence that he happens to bear a remarkable resemblance to one or more of your people, Vegeta-sama."

"Hn," Vegeta grunted, glancing at Bardock to see if he had an opinion on the matter; Bardock expressed his thoughts with a simple snort.

"Marron is correct. There is nothing beyond circumstantial evidence to question the boy's identity. Was he was cleared before he came into the system, Bardock?" Vegeta asked mockingly.

"Of course," Bardock admitted grudgingly.

He'd checked the backgrounds and identities of both passengers personally—although he hadn't seen any pictures of either—and everything had cleared through the thorough security system.

Nodding sharply, Vegeta turned to the two diplomats, "You understand that we will want to check Goten's background again."

Both of the diplomats nodded compliantly, confident in the knowledge that Goten couldn't be a Saiyan and the King continued with his speech, "In that case, we welcome you to Vegeta-sei and thank Earth for its kind offer to help us sort out all of this bullshit with Romula-sei."

Bardock wisely chose to remain silent. According to Vegeta, there was no mess to be sorted through; he believed that they had every right to retaliate since they were almost murdered. Bardock didn't completely agree with him on the subject, personally thinking that the King might've gone a little overboard in slaughtering the entire planet.

After all, it might've just been a radical fraction that had tried to murder King Vegeta and his son, Prince Trunks. Of course, he had told Vegeta his theory, but the shorter warrior dismissed Bardock's concern, claiming that when one person made a mistake, everyone paid for it.

Goten ignored Vegeta's impolite remark and bowed in respect, "On behalf of Chikyuu-sei and its people, we are pleased to be of service."

Once he straightened, he grinned broadly and rubbed his stomach, "So, when do we eat?"

Bardock's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the comment, but he chose to say nothing. At the moment, all he could do was watch as Goten continued to confirm his suspicions about his heritage through his words and actions.

"Spoken like a true Saiyan," Vegeta echoed Bardock's thoughts. "Earth must be training better diplomats."

Neither of the men missed the way Marron's elegantly shaped eyebrows rose in surprise; she was quite used to the comment, but she hadn't expected the Saiyan's to accept it as something normal. Noting it and cataloging the information in his small, but growing list of evidence against Goten, Bardock followed the two diplomats as Vegeta led them out of the docking bay.

"My mate, Queen Bulma has had the servants prepare two adjoining suites in the royal quarters for your stay. If you'd like, I can arrange for you to be taken there to rest until it is time to eat."

I wonder how many times Bulma made him rehearse that line, Bardock was careful not to let his thoughts show on his face; the last thing he wanted was for Vegeta to become angry with him for making fun of him.

"Your hospitality is indeed generous, Vegeta-sama," Marron smiled warmly. "If it's not too much trouble, my companion and I would definitely appreciate being taken to our rooms."

Vegeta clapped his hands sharply and smirked in satisfaction when a pair of slaves promptly appeared.

"The diplomats from Chikyuu-sei would like to be taken to their rooms," Vegeta made it clear that his statement was not a request.

The pair of A'yokan beings bowed and then gestured for the two new arrivals to follow them.

"Dinner will be served in two hours," Vegeta added, before the slaves led the pair away.

When Goten and Marron vanished through a set of doors, Bardock turned to Vegeta, "I'd like to track down my brother and ask him some questions."

"Of course, Bardock," the shorter Saiyan replied. "You will inform me of any progress you make when we meet again to dine with the diplomatic liaison."

"Of course, Vegeta," Bardock smirked, bowing as he did so.

Turning on his heel, he swiftly walked towards another set of doors, knowing where he would find his brother, I definitely have some questions I want to take up with Turles. They start with a certain diplomat who has a striking resemblance to our family and end with an unclassified female last seen in his and Radditz's company. Before this day is over, I will know the truth.

And that was enough to bring a smile to Bardock's mouth.