Chapter 11: The 3000 sectors' Corsair
-d-b-z-
Gohan released a ki-blast the size of his head, pinning the frail-looking robot without fail. Instead of dissolving to space dust, the automaton caught and absorbed the energy, using it to release two smaller bolts that joined the other twenty that were being reflected inside the gravity room. Despite the pinball storm, the demi-Saiyan was not even singed, dodging everything while keeping his power level at a low, for him, level.
Concluding his exercise, he blurred around the training area, catching every energy sphere, condensing them in one solid pebble and gradually reabsorbing it back to his body. Ever since he had invented the Drain gloves, he had developed an understanding that allowed him to somewhat replicate the effect on his own, though nowhere near his invention's level. Still, he figured, even a minute of extra endurance during mortal combat could make all the difference.
His grim thoughts evaporated as he reached the ship's bridge, its only other occupant beaming at him. "Good mortning, Gohan!" exclaimed Glacia with barely constrained enthusiasm, so unlike her previous hesitant countenance. It was only a day since Ratcor station, but Gohan was already considering her a friend.
"Hey, Glacia!" he replied, then raised a brow at her valiant and failed attempt to not stare at him in awe. He found an explanation behind her. "You figured how to work the cameras, no?"
The Icean appeared embarrassed, looking downwards at the green highlights on her arms. "I didn't mean to spy on you", she apologized. "But when I saw you training, I couldn't look away…"
Gohan idly decided that Iceans blushed very noticeably, due to their white complexion. "I don't mind", he assured her. "The cameras are there for that exact reason." He regarded her thoughtfully for a while. "In fact, you are free to use the training room any time I'm not", he offered.
Glacia's eyes went wide at that. "You… you'd let me..?"
The other shrugged. "Sure, why not? You are pretty strong a fighter yourself, aren't you?"
The alien looked away bashfully. "I dabble.." she admitted, nervously fiddling with one of her horns.
Gohan raised a brow. "Comparing you to the average power level I saw yesterday, you do much more than 'dabble'. I'd place your power somewhat above the captain of the Ginyu force."
Glacia's eyes went wide. "You think so?" she exclaimed, gaping at him, her tail twitching behind her. "I haven't trained so much recently."
The hybrid scratched his head. "Being on the run is training by itself, I think", he replied. "I'm going for a shower. Just wait for me to explain how to use the training room's controls, then you can go any time."
Even as he left the bridge, Glacia's eyes remained glued to the spot his back had just been, her mind miles away.
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Gohan and Glacia watched with abetment as the purple, corrosive vapors around the ship started fading, to reveal the star-sowed blackness of outer space. Both let a sigh of relief, feeling a subtle mental weight leaving their minds.
"I hate passing through these things", muttered the icean as the nebula's last remnants were left behind.
Gohan nodded. "It's subtly stressing, as if our bodies understand the danger better than our minds."
Glacia took another deep breath, then smiled. "Now that the danger of acidic disintegration is behind us, where are we heading?"
The Saiyan blinked, then smiled unsurely. "No idea?" he stated more than asked, somewhat sheepishly.
She stared at him for about five seconds. "You are not kidding!" she decided, feeling and looking very amazed.
Gohan crossed his arms defensively, coloring a bit. "I wanted to ask at Ratcore, but got a bit sidetracked. It's not like this Pilgrimage thing has a set destination, anyway." He thought about it for a while, then his eyes brightened. "You pick a place!" he decided. "You know more about space-travelling, right?"
Glacia was taken aback at the sudden proposition. "Me?" she squeaked, her voice a full octave uphill. "But…"
The hybrid interrupted her. "How about an Icean planet?" he suggested. "That Ekel guy back at the station was a jerk, but I also need to see your people with no Frieza around."
The Icean girl hesitated a bit, then nodded. "I wanted to avoid such a place, but I also want to see people of my race again…" she admitted, a bit longingly.
Noticing her troubled face, Gohan patted her on the shoulder, unconsciously imitating his father. "You can hide your power pretty well now. Without that to single you out, I bet you won't find a better place to hide than a crowd of Iceans. You can even lose the cloak", he went on, indicating the brown garment she was still wearing.
The concept seemed to be troubling her for a while and Gohan wondered just how much she had been hunted around the cosmos. "I guess you're right…"
Gohan smiled an award-winning smile, then went on. "And if bad comes to worse, the two of us are strong enough to beat them all up and leave", he reminded her cockily.
She frowned at that, crossing her arms. "No matter the race, you boys are all the same, thinking with your fists", she groused.
The saiyan smiled a toothy grin that would have made Vegeta proud. "I resent that", he replied in a clinical tone. "I do all the thinking with my head and all the beating up with my fists", he riposted. "Unless I'm using headbutts", he amended after a while.
Glacia fought back a smile of her own, pressing a button and bringing up a star map. "The closest sizable Icean colony is here", she noted, indicating a star. "Planet Avalanche. With this ship's current speed, we'll reach it in… 4 hours? Gee, that's a fast ship, Gohan. Where did you find her?"
"Well, actually…" Gohan was saved from having to explain when the communication system came to life, also indicating an emergency 'SOS' signal.
As soon as he pressed a button, two voices started booming from the speakers.
"This is private transport freighter U.S.C. Niono", started the first voice, an adult male that seemed to be talking with some difficulty. "We are transporting raw medical material to planet Avalanche and we have been waylaid by pirates."
"Come on, uncle Rasok, tell them I kicked their butts once!" Demanded a much younger voice from the background, a girl near Glacia's and Gohan's age.
The man sighed, but went on. "We have managed to repel them once, but our ship has been damaged and they have been tailing us, gradually approaching."
"I'll get them again, you'll see. Just let them come. You won't need to fight with that injury", declared the girl. From the quality of her voice, Gohan guessed she was jumping up and down excitedly.
Another exasperated sigh vanguarded his response. "Settle down Celutte. You might be able to take the heat, but the ship certainly isn't. One could fry the shields by looking hard at them and the reactor is being held together with duct tape and improbability."
"I get it. Your ship is a leaky flying bathtub", groused the girl dejectedly.
"Now shut up and let me speak." After that, the man was heard clearer, presumably returning closer to his microphone. "The pirates' average power level is around 20,000 with extremes up to 45,000. Anyone able and willing to help please do so. Transmitting flight vector information."
"What do you think?" asked Gohan a bit guardedly.
Glacia looked down, biting her lip thoughtfully. "Helping out would be rush and careless. Even if we are much stronger, a space battle is always risky. At such power levels, ship shields might as well be made of paper and only I can survive in hard vacuum for any considerable length of time." After a pause, she looked him in the eyes smiling. "But these things won't faze you, will they? You are going to help them anyway", she half-accused, half-praised, her tail lazily lashing behind her.
Gohan rubbed the back of his head. "They are pretty close", he defended, although he hadn't even bothered to check the coordinates.
The Icean giggled. "Just teasing. I'm with you all the way. Let's knock some pirate heads. For justice!" she declared, her index heroically pointing to infinity.
The hybrid also laughed. "That was horribly corny, Glacia", he chided, slightly changing the spacecraft's direction towards the action. After a while he sobered a bit, his face turning troubled. "I'll try to scare them off, but chances are they will be stubborn. We might have to…"
"…to kill them", finished Glacia quietly, although there was no shaking in her voice. "I'm not a stranger to mortal combat, Gohan, and neither are you. I can tell and I would never accuse you." Her eyes narrowed. "They are attacking a medical transport. If they also ignore superior force, they deserve what's coming at them."
Gohan just nodded, his eyes grim but determined.
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Her boots clanked against the ship's metallic hull, the powerful magnets embedded it the soles firmly holding her from drifting into space. A slight distortion appeared on the surface under her, signifying the ship's ailing but still active shields. She took a deep breath, idly reminding herself not to get too far from the ship. Her uncle had extended an air bubble all around Niono, to allow her to fight outside, but it only reached a mere twenty meters in each direction. Not nearly enough to fight freely.
Celutte's tail twitched behind her, then curled around her waist, its brown fur bristling. Her green eyes narrowed at the approaching pirate task fleet. The first swarm was consisted of light fighters, usually piloted by those not fortunate enough to boast a high power level. Still, they were dangerous. The ship's scouter had rated the crafts' weaponry at about 500 equivalent power level, more than capable of punching a hole through the ship's outer shell.
"Damn flies", she muttered, sending small bolts of energy to intercept the multitude of shots fired at her general direction. Her uncle had enough presence of mind to alter his course a bit, but she still had to stop about a dozen that wouldn't have missed. Before they could fire a second volley, she aimed carefully, firing a much stronger beam of ki, her shoulder-length red hair whipping madly behind her. Three of the fighters exploded and the others scattered like chicken. One of the ship's turrets nailed another one, but the rest fled. "Your aim sucks, uncle", she commented aloud.
"Try harder and speak less, brat", came a response from her headset. "I agreed not to help you out there, but one of the shots passed. The shields are at 5 percent." His words were followed by a wet cough and Celutte couldn't help but wince. Rasok's injury was not life-threatening yet, due to his racial constitution, but a punctured lung was still very deliberating.
Her bravado rose to cover her worry as she gazed at another, larger, incoming ship. "At last, some true action", she cheered as about twenty figures, donned in armored spacesuits, left the new craft, their attached thrusters quickly bringing them close. Those were the pirates' shock troops, their power levels ranging from 5,000 to 40,000.
As soon as their battle cries reached her ears, signifying they had entered the air bubble, she reached at her back, retrieving a massive broadsword, about half as large as her barely-teen body, that had been fastened there diagonally. Her first swing deflected a ki bolt that would have pierced right through the ship's hull, while a second, backhand slash, bisected the bolt's originator, a plump purple-skinned pirate, killing him instantly. Cellutte jumped in the air, deflecting another ki shot back to its owner, temporarily incapacitating him, then her arm lashed forward, catapulting her sword to impale another would-be ship wrecker, of Saiyan breed, before he could attack.
"Get her!" ordered one of the pirates and six of the strongest fighters surrounded her. She dodged the first three melee attacks, but a kick from the flank hit her, launching her off her feet and almost off the ship's side. At the last moment, her hand grabbed one of Niono's wings, fingers digging in the metal for purchase. Breathing a labored grunt, she reversed her momentum, drop-kicking one of the female pirates, braking her helmet and sending her to suffocate in open space, her mind too terrified to use her suit's rockets.
One of the ship's turrets nailed another pirate, an Icean, right through the neck, but it didn't prevent Celutte from getting swarmed. While she was stronger than any three of them combined, she couldn't be everywhere at once, thus receiving many hits she could not block. In desperation she flared her aura, knocking them all off. Unfortunately, this also fried the craft's shield and left a crater on the hull, full with cracks that would have been leaking air if not for the air-bubble.
"Damn it, Celutte! I'm coming out there, injury or not." Came Rasok's voice, and seconds later one of the space freighter's hatches opened, revealing an armored heavyset man, clutching a mess of bloodied bandages at his side while fiercely glaring at the pirates.
With two warriors defending the ship, the raiders lost most of their advantage, yet fought on, driving uncle and niece to fight back to back, him with his fists, her with her retrieved blade. For a while, it seemed like they would prevail, but then disaster stroke. An enormous beam of power scythed through the battlefield, killing two of the pirates before lancing through the ship's hull, emerging from the other side. The space transporter shook like a rowboat in a tropical storm, its engines grinding to a halt seconds later.
The two defenders stood very still for a moment, then let a collective sigh of relief, as the ship's reactor failed to go critical and blow them up. Their relief turned to rage, though, when the beam's owner appeared before the still moving freighter and kicked, negating the ship's relative speed and allowing the rest of the pirates to catch up faster. "Front and center, men!" ordered the apparent leader of the pirates dramatically, though he did not attack himself yet. "I ain't caring how tough them two planet-lubbers are. Get'em and the tub they rode in on!"
About forty pirate warriors surrounded them at once, some of them firing blasts that savaged the now inert ship below them. "Stop blowing holes in my ship!" demanded Rasok, rushing forward and kicking one of the assailants, a bug-like alien, hard enough to kill him on the spot. He would have planted a ki-enhanced jab through another enemy, if not for his instincts screaming at him to dodge. At the last moment, Celutte phased to his side, kicking him out of the way of another, even stronger blast and consequently taking the brunt of its power. Clutching her now wounded ribs, she glared at the pirate captain, whose blue arms were still smoking from the attack's intensity.
"Nice one, lass", he teased, bowing mockingly and saluting with his ridiculous wide-rimmed red fedora headwear. "Strong ye may be, but t'would seem me and me mates have whittled ye down a wee bit."
Celutte spat at his general direction, which worked surprisingly well because of the lack of gravity. "Capital aim, too", groused the pirate from fifty meters away, irritably wiping his face. His good mood returned, however, as he charged another beam. "600 credits say ye ain't be having enough left in ye to dodge this here baby", he announced.
The girl stared bravely at the face of incoming doom, knowing he was right. Her uncle was shouting something, but he was too far away to do anything. The next moments would forever be etched in her memory. Just before the blast was released, another, smaller craft crashed into the pirate flagship, instantly neutralizing its shields, digging a crater and sending the larger spaceship careening towards the wounded freighter. Or rather, towards the pirate captain's head.
Dodging decapitation at the last moment, he misfired, his blast burning his hands before scoring a glancing blow on Celutte. The injured girl was still sent flying, arms, legs and tail flailing, rocketing through the air-bubble and into hard vacuum. Her first instinct was to breathe, but she squashed that one with every ounce of willpower. Trying to fly towards safety proved futile, because her eyes and ears were burning madly and her tears were turning to icicles very fast. Not able to hold anymore, her mouth started to open to inhale air that wasn't there. Something powerful caught her then and forcefully plugged her mouth and nose. Completely panicked, she tried to fight it to no effect, finally earning a hit across her temple and blacking out.
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As soon as Gohan took in the scene through Icarus II's long range cameras, he knew they were almost too late. He ignored the fact the two people in need were also Saiyans and disregarded Glacia's cry for him to turn, guiding his ship to ram the enemy vessel and praying his quick calculations were accurate.
"You could have told me our shields were that strong", muttered the Icean sulkily as they super-sped towards the gravity room. The dome had already retreated and its forcefield was reversed, allowing them to take potshots at the pirates while still able to breathe.
Gohan was the first to notice the Saiyan girl writhing madly and ineffectually, but before he could wrap to her, Glacia stopped him. A second of silent communication passed between them and he nodded at her, turning back to the pirates and trying to only incapacitate them, a really challenging task.
Glacia passed through the shield and into open space with little regard, though she couldn't help but wince when she breathed and the air in her lungs vanished. Still, she was an Icean and capable of surviving in vacuum-for some time.
Reaching the suffocating Saiyan girl, she virtually hugged her from behind, using one hand to keep her steady and another to cork all of her breathing orifices. She wasn't sure if empty lungs could actually kill someone of the girl's power, but she wasn't about to risk it.
Celutte, maddened by the lack of air, tried to blindly fight her off and despite being weakened, she almost slipped from Glacia's grasp. 'Sorry', mouthed the Icean silently and airlessly, before smashing her tail on the Saiyan's head, knocking her out. She needed to get her back to air fast and it was easier that way.
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"And who might ye be, lad?" asked the pirate leader evenly, retrieving his floating hat that had been knocked off his head and subsequently dented by his own spaceship.
"My name is Gohan, good sir. And you?", replied the hybrid, trying not to sound mocking. The pirate before him looked hilarious, his good quality armor gaudily finished with gold and clashing with both his old-style hat and shoes and his skin. Gohan had seen his race before.
"I be Captain Jadebeard, terror of 3000 sectors, scourge of Argonia and the strongest Narcissian warrior alive", he boasted. "Also the most handsome", he added as an afterthought, twisting his tiny green beard with two fingers.
The demi-Saiyan snapped his own fingers in realization. "So Zarbon was a Narcissian", he concluded.
Jadebeard frowned. "That Frieza's late henchman? Aye, he be me sixth cousin, always so full o' himself. Me power's far grander", he added with a bit of spite.
Gohan had to stop himself from laughing as the pirate nodded self-righteously. "So, how about you leaving and forgetting about this whole encounter?"
The space raider raised a greenish brow. "Me dear lad, why would me and me boys stop now? I be having many more mates to throw at ye and that Icean lass over there. Even if ye power level be five times our own, numbers can still win the day." Tapping his hat to the side, he pressed some unseen button and a scouter appeared. "Ye power at 100,000 is impressive, but…"
The Saiyan glared at him and slightly spiked his Ki with a mere twitch of his eye. The was no visible charge-up or lightshow, but Jadebeard's scouter indicated a value above 2 million, then blew up, scorching part of the hat's rim.
"On the other hand, I be feeling a bit under the nebula this here day", he went on as if nothing had happened. Gohan decided it was a prime opportunity of observing how to keep a poker face. "Let it never be said that captain Jadebeard not be merciful on the odd occasion. Men, we're pulling out. NOW!" he ordered, still calmly, yet sternly. Few if any noticed the trickle of cold sweat that rolled off his brow, but Gohan couldn't help but admire the sheer speed the pirate fleet achieved.
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End of chapter 11.
Scouter corner:
Gohan: 12,000,000
Gohan (supressed) 104,000- 2,010,500
Glacia: 130,000
Average pirate 20,000
Captain Greenbeard 80,000
Rasok 40,000
Rasok (injured): 32,000
Celutte 90,000
Celutte (injured): 60,000
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About time I got back to this one, no? It seems to have become very popular in my absence. I want to thank all reviewers and especially the C2 owners for including this story. No promises for the next chapter, but it will come eventually. My policy is that I never abandon stories, especially if they still have readers.
I didn't intent for the pirates to be anything more than a vague enemy force, but Captain Jadebeard took a life of his own and demanded in a very pretty-boy, talk-like-a-fake-pirate style that I give him some depth. Writing accents is a huge pain, but if you like him he might become a recurring character.
I realize Gohan has yet to encounter any true enemies in his Pilgrimage, but that's to be expected. While there are people stronger than Frieza and Cell out there, they are not exactly advertising. Also there are different kinds of strength, as Babidi proved in the anime, and different kinds of challenges other than combat.
I will try to use material from all movies, tailoring it to my story, of course and yes, that includes GT. Even though very painful to watch at times, there are some gems hidden in there and I'm not about to discard the whole thing.
Rasok and Celutte are just introduced here, but expect some more of them in future chapters. I have vague personalities, interactions and plots decided, but any input or suggestion will be considered. Remember, all Saiyan names are vegetable puns. Try to spot them!
Lastly, a little thing about teamwork. The dragonball characters are primarily duelists. They are horrible at fighting in teams, at best managing a tag battle. It also weakens them, because they need to hold back lest they injure their allies. In this chapter, though, the pirates did a good job swarming the superior in power Celutte, almost beating her and certainly distracting her. That's because they have been trained to fight together and lack the confidence and pride(arrogance) of most of the normal cast.
Remember to review.
