Chapter 14: Judge, Jury, and Executioner
The saiyans sat in the cargo hold of Frieza's personal ship. They had been bound in chains and energy dampeners to prevent their escape, the journey had been long and tedious but it had to be nearing it's end. Gohan pulled on the chains around his wrists, trying to gain some measure of relief for his raw and chafing arms. But it was no use, no one was in any mood to speak. Things were looking bad for them, a full on war had broken out across the Cold Empire and their lie from all those years ago had been discovered, they were meant to put an end to Tarkus and the army he was building and they had failed. Now they were most likely heading to their execution for their mistakes. He hated the waiting most of all, the darkness of the cargo hold made it impossible to know how much time had passed, and if Vegeta had formulated any new plan to get them out of this, then he was keeping it to himself.
He felt someone brush against him, the chains didn't give them much personal space but usually they had a foot or two of general space from each other. Zara had shifted over until she was sat next to him, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, it was hard to make out her features or what she was thinking in the darkness but he could make out just enough in the low emergency lighting of the room. He looked at her face and saw fear and uncertainty in her eyes. He didn't have any words of comfort or reassurance for her, he didn't even really know how to do that anymore. Instead he wrapped an arm around her shoulder instead, she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder, he hoped this would help her in some way. He didn't know how long they sat like this, but he eventually drifted off to sleep at some point.
He was violently awoken by Dodoria and dragged to his feet, followed by a hard shove to follow after his team. The saiyans were marched out of the ship into the frigid air of Arcosia with Dodoria at the front and two low level soldiers behind him, the snow was pouring down on them and was nearly up to their waists. The ancient homeworld of Frieza and his family, no one left alive today knew exactly what happened to render it into a frozen wasteland. Only the Cold family really knew what happened three centuries ago that rendered their entire species extinct. It seemed that a snow storm had just begun, it was so violent that Gohan could barely see his hand in front of his face. His only guidance was the pull on his chains that kept him heading in the right direction.
He didn't even see it before it was right in front of him, a giant castle extended up into the storm. Tall walls and towers of black stone rose so high up into the air that he couldn't even see the top. His amazement was cut short by a blow to the back of the head that nearly knocked him down, "keep moving traitor! The king doesn't like to be kept waiting." The saiyan boy bit his tongue to refrain from lashing out at his captors but still chose to follow orders and continued on. The group passed through two large wooden doors and into a freezing entry hall. It seemed the castle did very little to keep out the cold.
But at least he could see again, everyone was covered head to toe in ice and snow. He saw Zara glance back at him and he nodded to let her know that he was alright. Dodoria rubbed his hands together to try and generate some warmth, "all right monkeys! Lord Frieza has given the go ahead to remove your chains for the trial. Don't try anything or else we will kill you on the spot." The saiyans didn't complain as the soldiers slowly approached them with keys in hand. Gohan sighed in relief when the heavy shackles fell to the floor with a loud clang. He rubbed his raw and bloody wrists before turning his attention back to his captor, "You walk ahead of us, slowly mind you, we are going to head to the thrown room for your trial."
The walk through the large castle was slow and tedious, true to his word, Dodoria had them move at a snail's pace in order to keep them from trying to escape. But they eventually did reach the large doors that led to the throne room. However Gohan froze in place, it felt like his heart had stopped just before he was overwhelmed by two huge energy signatures and one far smaller one. He wanted to collapse into a ball and die, his senses were drowned out completely from the power. Who was in there? Gohan breathed in deeply when he felt someone grab him by the hand, he felt his senses return to normal and he realized it was Zara, by the look of utter terror and how pale she was, he knew that she had also sensed how powerful the people inside this room were, in comparison to them. The girl tugged him along and he let her pull him, until he could move under his own power again, walking off the feeling of terror he had just experienced. He wanted to thank her, but the large double doors began to open up before he could.
The throne room was beautiful, a marble floor matched nicely with the black stone walls. Large statues of blue crystal were carved into the likeness of the previous Arcosian kings were towering over them. Tapestries, paintings, ornate and deadly looking weaponry decorated the walls, all taken from the farthest corners on North Galaxy as tribute to King Cold. At the end of the room crafted from the same icy blue crystal, he shivered as he approached along with the others. All of the saiyans were lined up in a single horizontal row before being forced to their knees by Dodoria and his men. Gohan fell to the ground and stared at the floor, not daring to look upon the face of his king before being given permission.
"All hail King Cold! Rightful ruler of the galaxy, son of King Frigid, conquerer of the universe. Father of Prince Cooler and Lord Frieza. Destroyer of the unjust! The prisoners may gaze at the beauty of our lord! May it be the last thing they ever see!" All five saiyans looked up, and Gohan gasped, he recognized Frieza who sat on the left who looked down at them with a look of cold fury. But the other two he had never seen before and looked quite bored, the man on the right was a tall lanky Arcosian with a large blue gem on his head with purple and white skin. His head was propped up by a fist and his tail was hanging off the side of his throne. Unlike his father and brother, he wore no armor to cover his sexless body.
But the most terrifying figure sat in the middle, he had to be well over seven feet tall and looked exactly like a larger version of Frieza with light purple skin and large horns that curved like a bull's and a large teal gem in the center of his skull. He wore black and red armor but unlike Frieza, he had a long dark cape flowing over his shoulders. Cooler was in an entirely different ball park than Frieza in terms of power, and King Cold easily outclassed his eldest son, how the hell were they ever supposed to surpass beings as strong as them!? But what freaked him out the most was that King Cold was staring directly at him with a look of curiosity and mild disgust, as if he was some cockroach that had crawled into his home.
"Dear brother, remind us again why you bothered us with such a triviality like this?" Cooler's voice mirrored the man's clear boredom with the situation. "I must agree with your brother, son. This hardly seems like a matter that concerns us." Gohan felt a lump forming in his throat as he glanced all around the room, trying to not look the king in the eye. Frieza's voice was filled with vitriol and hate, "I would have happily dealt with these traitors myself father. But I felt they might still have some sort of use to inform us on what that bastard Slug is planning before we execute them."
"Interesting, do you have anything to say to that, monkeys? There was a few moments of silence before Vegeta spoke up, "my lords, this is all a massive misunderstanding. We have no connection to Lord Slug or his plans." Cooler cocked his head, "if that was the case, then why were we not informed that the Iron Golems that we specifically sent you to destroy are now in the hands of our enemies?" Vegeta replied, "we had no way to know that Slug had gotten his hands on them! They were already gone by the time-"
Frieza suddenly stood up from his seat, "enough with the lies! I sent you to kill Tarkus and his pathetic rebellion and you failed! Yet you had the gall to lie to my face for years and now we have a full on war on our hands! You should be killed right now!" King Cold held up his hand, "calm yourself son, I do agree that what these saiyans have done is a tremendous slight against us. But perhaps they deserve to be let off with a punishment this time instead of an execution? They have served you quite well in the years since then, have they not?"
Slowly, a sadistic grin spread over Frieza's face, "yes. Perhaps you are right father." The short reptilian aline slowly walked over to where Zara was kneeling. Faster then the eye could see, Frieza reached out and grabbed the girl by the hair and pulled her to her feet. She cried out in pain and grabbed Frieza's arms, trying to wrench him off. "I gave you to Vegeta as a gift, a reward for a job well done. And a gift can easily be taken away." Slowly, Frieza ran a nail down the girl's cheek, his sharp black nail cut deep into her flesh and drew blood. Gohan had had enough.
Furiously, he lunged at Frieza, but before he could blink, two of the guards had pinned him to the floor, "I'll fucking kill you if you hurt her!" Gohan squirmed on the floor, trying desperately to get free and save his friend, Zara called out, "Gohan stop! It's not worth it." Frieza wrapped a hand around the girl's throat, ready to snap her neck. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "it's my fault! Not hers! I should be the one punished." That caught Frieza's attention, "what are you talking about brat?"
Gohan licked his lips, his heart was hammering in his chest as he was crushed against the cold marble floor, "I was the one who was meant to destroy Tarkus' shipment of Golems. But I chose to ignore the mission in order to help the others fight Tarkus. If anyone is to blame, it's me. Not Zara." Frieza glanced back to the girl he was choking, he could easily snap her neck like a twig if he wanted to. "Let the boy up." The two soldiers glanced at each other before slowly letting Gohan get to his feet, Gohan fully expected to be dead in the next few seconds but King Cold suddenly cut in. "Frieza my son, perhaps this is not the best time for this." The alien warlord glanced at his father, "what are you talking about. The monkeys need to learn their lesson!" Cooler suddenly cut into the conversation, "Slug's forces are rampaging across our territory. There is only so much our forces can do against the golems, the Ginyu force and my Armored Squadron are the only ones besides the monkeys who can stand against them. We will put Slug and his childish war effort down eventually, but the longer we take, there is more of a chance our enemies in South and East Galaxy will muster their forces and attack us as well. Against their combined might, even we won't be able to stop all of them on our own."
Frieza growled in annoyance, "what are you suggesting?" King Cold replied, "let the apes prove themselves one last time. If they hunt down and kill Slug for us, then we will spare their lives, if not, we could always take matters into our own hands. Although that would end with a few worlds incinerated in the crossfire." Frieza sent one last hateful glare at Gohan before returning to his throne, "if that is your wish father, then very well, I will give my pets one last chance to redeem themselves."
Gohan knelt down next to Zara, her face was bleeding quite badly, but she still had a grateful look in her eyes, "thank you." She whispered, and he nodded.
Cold spoke again, interrupting the two teenagers, "Your first task is to hunt down Zarbon, he went missing in the initial fight a few days ago. He is either a traitor or was captured during the chaos. Either way, he needs to die to prevent him from leaking any of our secrets to Slug, but if he already did spill his guts. Find out what he told them before putting an end to him." Vegeta asked, "where are we heading?" "My scouts have reported that they saw a prisoner matching Zarbon's description on the planet Multus. It's about a four week journey from here but you should arrive before they choose to move him again. Do not fail us."
The saiyans were escorted out of the throne room by a pair of guards. Zara was still nursing the cut on her cheek but she seemed to be relieved to even be alive at this point. The doors slammed shut behind them and they were escorted to a waiting room while they went off to prepare five pods for the journey. The group was all silent, a sense of dread had overtaken them all, they had to stop a war or die in the process.
Power Levels:
King Cold (2nd form): 160,000,000
Cooler (4th form): 90,000,000
Frieza (1st form): 530,000
Vegeta: 70,000
Gohan: 60,000
Raditz: 40,000
Zara: 35,000
Dodoria: 28,000