ROGUE PLANET

by the Not-So-Super Saiyan

and

Hanko the Doebringer

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE REBEL CREW

The men we held as brothers true

Have turned into a rebel crew

Now tyrants seek to run them thro'

Bulma wiped the tears away with the sleeve of Stoks's shirt, which was bunched mercilessly into her balled fists. Choking on a sob, she looked down at the sleeping boy. It was all she could do to keep from crying again.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed since his tale had begun but he had since slipped into fitful rest once more. Some part of her foolishly hoped that telling his story to her would relieve some of the burdens he carried on his scarred shoulders. But from the looks of it, it had done nothing to ease his ache. His brows still furrowed, a sheen of sweat glistened on his pale skin as he moaned quietly.

She watched him for a time. She didn't want to leave him, no one should be alone in a state like his. Bulma couldn't decide if she wanted to stay to make him feel better or because it would make her feel better, as if something, no matter how insignificant it was, would make a difference for him. No. She finally understood the crew's actions. They would've stayed, all of them, by his side every waking moment but he needed to be alone and they respected and loved him enough to give that to him.

It took everything she had, but finally she stood, tucking the stool under the metal table. She looked out the door tentatively but no one was there, all was quiet. That was indication enough to her that it was probably the middle of the night. She leaned over and moved his bangs out of the way of his forehead and cautiously, tenderly kissed his forehead. Then she left, heading for the wall of the mess hall, leaving the plate of cold roots behind her.

Bulma had conceded that she and the others had done everything they could. It was too late to begin work on the engine, besides she would need help moving the parts into place and it was nearly impossible to wake a sleeping saiyan. No, she would need to wait at least until after the first meal to get help from anyone. There was nothing left to do and her mind spun like a top. Bulma stood solemnly in front of the wall in the mess hall, her mother's cross clenched tightly in her fist. Something drew her in to the wall of artifacts. She supposed it was the same thing that possessed her to run her fingers along the handle of the stock pot that stirred up the memories of Stoks. He had now been gone far longer than she had known him but it didn't feel that way. Standing there alone in the stale night air she could almost smell the scent of salty sweat and smoke, almost see his gentle eyes. But it was more than that. Everytime she thought of him she saw him swallowed by the dark of night, the fear in his eyes as he pushed the scouter into her hand and screamed for her to run. She clasped at the medallion he had given her tightly in her hand, took a step back, and sighed. Forty-two lives reduced to forty-two trinkets and bobbles. Bulma couldn't help but cringe and bite back tears. It sat like a lump in the back of her throat. It never left her and even when she slept she found the questions slithering into her mind.

Was it all her fault?

Carrying that weight was heavy. She could not imagine how it felt to carry the weight of the wall.

The mixed light fixtures of the ship created a low hum that warmed her spine. It was sort of peaceful now that the crew was asleep. She felt hope begin to ignite in herself and quickly squashed it. She had no time for hopes and wishes. Stepping backwards without taking her eyes off the wall she plopped down on the bench and leaned sideways against the table. Her eyes wandered to the far left corner and began to count them all over again.

Bulma found herself unable to sleep despite the numbing ache of exhaustion that weakened her muscles and burned her eyes. Every time she closed her heavy eyes she saw faces, empty and lifeless, that stared back into the face of the girl who had slaughtered them.

She could never be the girl she had been, carefree and selfishly noble, her altruism had been crushed to tiny pieces and thrown into the wind when she had looked her own death in the face. She had gone round and round in circles justifying her actions, and they were justifiable. If she had not killed the purgers they would've killed her, possibly worse. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't shake the voice in her head that repeated the truth over and over again.

She was just like them.

She was a killer now.

" Soesa ."

Bulma stirred to the frantic whispers of the familiar voice.

"R-Rad? What time is it?"

"I don't know. Don't matter none. I got somethin' to show ya."

She lifted her head from where it rested on the knotted wood table and rubbed her sore neck. Pulling on her uniform coat she wrapped her arms around herself and groggily followed after the anxious saiyan.

Many times she had paced through the hallways and crawled through the tunnels on sleepless nights. But now she found herself being led somewhere she had never been, to a level of the ship near the bow that she had never seen before. Raditz wound through the hallways at a near impossible pace and more than once she had to ask him to slow down so she didn't lose him in the winding tunnels and dark hallways.

Finally he stopped at a rusted door that looked like it hadn't been opened in years. A thick layer of dust covered the floor and cobwebs draped from the doors and ceiling.

"Raditz, not that this isn't super cool and kinda creepy but what the hell are we doing here?"

He pushed the door open, eliciting a pained groan from the old metal. He held his hand out, waiting for her to walk inside.

Bulma stepped tentatively inside the small room. It was bathed in yellow light, pitted walls blinked with lights and the familiar hum of electronics filled the back of her ears. The angled ceiling was low, almost too low for Raditz to stand up straight.

"Soesa...meet Failele*."

She couldn't help herself, letting out a quiet woah as she turned around in the small room, staring at the mainframe computer that ran the ship. Just like the engine, it had been cobbled together from various parts of alien technology. It was quite the marvel.

"So this is the master computer?"

"Yep, as you can see no one's been up here in a long time." Raditz walked forward and set a hand on her shoulder. " Soesa, I need your help."

He held out a small thumb drive to her. "I stole this from the ship boneyard but I don't know how to get the data off it. I need your help."

Bulma smiled, genuinely excited for the first time in a long time.

She sat down in the chair at the console in the center of the room and slid the drive into the reader. Raditz chewed nervously on his thumbnail as Bulma worked rapidly and silently. After about ten minutes she shouted.

"Yes!"

Raditz nearly jumped out his own skin.

"What? What'd ya find?"

"Well, nothing yet, but I did crack the encryption code and I'm in to the drive now. Let's see what we've got here." her excited tone waned as she read the text rapidly. "Looks like troop movements...deployment orders...shipment requests...SOPs. Sorry Rad, it was a good idea bu-" she cut herself off as she read, leaning in closer to the small screen, her mouth falling open. "Oh ho ho….oh ho ho ho my god, Rad this...this changes everything…" she whispered in awe.

The smoke wafting through the dusty air was surprisingly refreshing after so many days of being either inside a ship or a modified escape pod. It felt good to Bulma to be outside again, and the darkness didn't bother her as much as it had when she first arrived. She didn't seem to mind it none at all. The large fire sent flickering shadows and lights that played across the faces of the saiyans who all sat in their familiar places, causing their various expressions to seemingly stick into her mind. They seemed to all be feeling better as well. In fact, Bulma couldn't remember them all being this happy since before Stoks had died. Even Vegeta seemed in unusually high spirits, though he clearly hadn't yet fully recovered. Nappa occasionally glanced back at him, nervously, never saying anything but watching his captain carefully anytime he spoke or moved.

Bulma wanted to remember this moment. She was bursting with excitement just thinking about the information gleaned from the disks but that could wait until the fono that had been called for the next night. For now she was just happy bein' happy. Simple things were everything and the simple smell of smoke, the simple sound of Bardock singing and Nappa's horrendous harmonies, the simple smile on Vegeta's face as he looked out on his crew, still pale from the poison, but content. There was no telling what could happen moments or days from now so instead she clung to this very moment. Letting it be enough for her.

Bardock and Nappa finished their haunting tune and Nappa howled, drumming loudly on the stump he sat upon. They all laughed and Bardock pulled a cigarette from his tin with his teeth, stopped for a moment and dropped it back in, shaking the tin until the cigarette fell into place.

"Now Bardock, I never seen you turn down a cigarette. Not with the exception of once and we all know how that turned out. Just ask Tschev over here." Bulma teased as the laughter and guffaws erupted around the campfire. She raised an eyebrow playfully. He laughed hoarsely and scratched the scarred side of his face.

"Last one Soesa . Gonna save it, once we finally get off this shitheap, you and I can share it."

"In that case everyone best steer clear of Bardock til we take off." Raditz snorted bitterly under his breath.

"What was that, Rad?" Bardock's voice dark and threatening. It reminded Bulma of when they had first arrived home three days ago. Reminded her of the only time that Bardock had ever truly frightened her.

"Oh nothing, father. "

"Good. For a moment there I thought you was thinkin' you had room to talk about nothin'."

If Raditz had any sense at all he'd keep his mouth shut.

"Oh, you didn't hear me then? Hearin' musta gone with that half yer brain Frieza blew off the top yer head." The campfire went silent. Raditz cleared his throat sarcastically and spoke loud and clear. "I said ain't no one wanna be around you when you haven't had a bone."

Bardock stared silently on at his son across the campfire and stood without a sound.

"Careful, you two, I may not be in top-form, but I could still lick you both with both arms behind my back." Vegeta warned playfully.

"Truth be told, cap'n," Tschev offered, "Much as I was pleased as anyone to see ole Rad get what was due for his penance, y'oughta know he didsave yer life."

Vegeta's eyebrows raised in both curiosity as well as to dare her to continue. "Is that so, sawbone. S'not usual of you to share accolades. Do tell?"

"That poison what Cui shot you full of - 'twasn't nothing to sneeze at. Raditz actually burned the majority of it outta yer wounds with ki 'fore you even arrived. You'd'a been pushin up daisies if it weren't fer that."

"Mmm." Was all Vegeta could say.

Bardock was having none of it. "You don't thank a man for fixing what he done broke in the first place." he nearly yelled. "Fact o' matter is, Vegeta nearly died and it's Rad's fault in the first place. Soesa nearly died and it's his fault. We don't got a shot in hell without them two, he shoulda known better."

"Bard-" Raditz started.

"No! Just shut yer hole already." Bardock shot up to his feet and stomped over to where Raditz sat, screaming in his face. "You've had more chances than anyone deserves and you can't obey the simplest orders. I swear, you're barely useful fer eatin' fightin' lead. You nearly killed as many of us as you have purgers. You endanger any of us one more time and I'll end you myself!"

Bulma's eyes were wide with shock at the sudden shift in the mood of the campfire. All the other saiyans were silent as Bardock laid into Raditz. She watched Lato lean in towards Vegeta. "Sir, don't you think you should put a stop to this? Bardock is going too far. You know as well as everyone here you let yourself get shot..."

"Tsk. Hush. Remember your place." he spoke louder, addressing everyone at the campfire. "It doesn't matter - Raditz ought to be able to stand up for himself - whether right or wrong, he should have the pride to defend his decisions. A saiyan is his pride. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"You should know better. Raditz ain't got no pride. Even Stoks's more of a saiyan than he'll ever be." Bardock hissed venomously.

Raditz shot up to his feet, standing inches from his father. Barock wasn't a small man, but Raditz was at least a head taller than him. Out of the crew, only Nappa was larger than he was. His face was contorted into an expression of pure rage as only a saiyan could.

"Go ahead, son. Do it." Bardock said, defiantly looking up at Raditz.

Raditz's whole body was taught, his muscles twitching against each other as the others looked on, waiting for the inevitable moment when the tension would break.

After the mere moments that felt like eternity, Raditz finally threw his hands in the air, roaring with frustration before stomping off into the ship.

"Puh. Coward." Bardock said, turning and sitting down.

"You're wrong." Lato said.

Once more, Bardock froze. "Excuse me." he said, before slowly looking up.

"Raditz isn't afraid of you. It doesn't even matter if he thinks he could beat you or not. He respects you too much to fight you. He grew up hearing legends about how you stood up to Frieza. He'd cross fists with any other saiyan, Vegeta included, before he fought back against you. His pride in his people outstrips his pride in himself. That's not a weakness - he works harder than any of us. Any commander would be so lucky as to have someone like Raditz, and here you all don't know how strong he could be if you'd stop convincing him he's worthless. Shame on you all." She stood to leave.

Bardock sneered at her. Standing once more, he moved to block her.

"I promise you won't find me as fun to play with as Tschev." She threatened.

He turned to let her go to the ship.

"Not worth it anyway." He said, sitting back down and flipping his tin of cigarettes open before angrily flipping it closed again.

Bulma stood in front of the door, bolstering her courage. How hard was it to just lift up her hand and knock. It shouldn't be but since she had told Bardock of her plan, he had warned her to be cautious. Vegeta did not like to be disturbed by anyone for anything. None of the crew knew what his room was like or what he did in there when he wasn't away training. No one had ever seen inside.

She reminded herself that he wouldn't kill her, he needed her to fix the ship. So she was safe, what was the worst that could happen. Before she chickened out again she knocked rapidly on the door and then clasped her hands behind her back, waiting for a response.

"Leai.*" she heard him grumble loudly from the other side of the door.

"But...you don't even know what I'm going to ask. You didn't even know it was me ." She shouted impetuously.

Vegeta was making no move to open the door and Bulma was making no move to leave.

"I want you to teach me how to fight." the words stumbled from her mouth before she lost her confidence...or her temper.

He opened the door, just enough for her to see the curious look on his face. He blinked at her slowly and without a word closed the door in her face. Before her brain could compute what happened her temper had caught up with her and as she lifted her hand to turn the nob of the door Nappa's voice boomed from down the hall.

"So's ya wanna learn how to fight, eh?" he stuck his hands on his hips and laughed, slapping her on the back and knocking the wind from her lungs.

"Imma learn you how to fight real good like Soesa ." Nappa chuckled, beaming with excitement.

There was a gentle, rhythmic knock at the door.

Raditz pulled his head from where it was buried deep between his knees as he nursed his swollen eye with a wet cloth. He had been running his fingers over his swollen ribs.

"Kaoga ese*!"

But no answer came. Instead, the door clicked and screeched as it scraped open and the items that had been tossed about the room in a fit of anger were pushed out of the way.

"Ga ou faiaku kaoga ese*!" Raditz yelled as he threw the cloth at the intruder. Never bothering to look up. It didn't much matter anyway. He didn't want to see anyone right now.

Lato caught the cloth with ease and unwadded it, folding it carefully in fourths as she stepped around the junk strewn about the floor, making her way closer to Raditz.

She sat cautiously on the edge of the cot next to him and handed the cloth back.

"Rad…"

"What?" He quipped before she could continue "come here to lam me too, eh? The great general's daughter Lato of...of house Totopa here to show the mere smutchy, the ship's fool, the error of his ways."

She blushed, her brows furrowing, contorting her stoic, porcelain features. He could see it on her face, his words had hurt her.

"No...I-"

He wanted to stop but he couldn't seem to. The words spilling from his mouth.

"God, you think you're so special. So much better than the rest of us, than me . Well surprise here, o' mighty one, everyone is! Soesa could hand me my ass back 'n forth six ways ta Sunday, I'm sure . So it don't make you special none."

She paused, struggling to keep her lungs from hyperventilating and her heart from racing out of control. She could keep calm in hundred-to-one odds, and now, alone with Raditz she was falling apart. She managed to sit next to him. At least she wasn't crying...at least not yet.

"I understand." she said meekly.

"Oh, do you?!" he spat. "You understand what it's like to live in the shadow of Bardock?!"

"No. I understand what it's like to be different."

"Psh. Different . What do you know about me, mmm? You have no idea. You barely talk to any of the crew. You hardly even look at us. You always act like you're better than us. Especially me."

She struggled to take a deep breath. It stuck in her throat. "Honestly, Rad, I've never wanted anything in my life more than to just be able to laugh and joke with the crew like you do. Like you all do. It comes so easily to you all. I've tried my whole life and never could. Everyone always thinks I feel superior to others. I've never felt better than anyone. Quite the opposite. I feel less than all of you. I've always known that...I don't know. I just think differently than pretty much every saiyan I've ever met. You mentioned my father… he… well. Let's just say your argument earlier with Bardock was quite familiar to me."

Raditz listened in silence.

"Raditz I know you feel different and less than the rest of us. I see it in your eyes and on your face all the time. You've never felt worthy to be in this crew, or to have survived this long when others have died."

"Hmph. Wouldn't matter much if I had died. All I do is waste air."

Lato leaned onto Raditz, her head laying daintily on his biceps as her hands wrapped around his forearm. He froze, his eyes wide.

"Raditz you have something that no one in this crew has. Humility. Most saiyans find it incompatible with pride, but they just mistake pride for hubris. Humility can be a source of far more meaningful pride. Your problem is that your humility is getting confused with self deprecation. Some day, you'll realize that. Some day, it's going to just - click- for you and you'll realize what you're worth. Once the doubt is gone….well. I want to be there to see what power you unlock when that happens."

"Yeah right."

"I mean it. The fact you can use ki at all while your energy is so blocked is amazing. You just have to let go, get out of your own way."

"Whatever."

"Raditz." Lato pulled slightly on his arm, looking up at him. "I know this is inappropriate. But I'd like to make an offer."

He turned his head to one side, one eyebrow raised. "...what?"

"Let me train you. I know the saiyan way would take that as an affront to pride, but, hear me out. What could it hurt? If I'm right, we could unlock a great deal of your potential. If I'm wrong, well, you get some good sparring practice. What do you say?"

Raditz thought for a moment, before smiling. "Couldn't hurt, I guess. When do we start?"

"Tomorrow. Oh, and, by the way. I think this is yours." She pulled aside her duster to expose her leg, revealing Raditz's armband around her thigh.

"What th-. Where did you get that?"

"I swiped it from the Soesa ." Lato laughed. "Can I keep it?" she asked playfully.

"Hm. I'd like it back, actually."

"Then come and take it…" she said, biting her lip slyly.

The fono room was empty save for Bulma who sat cross-legged at the far end of the rug. She was sure they had said the fono would be held at this time. Just as she was weighing her options Bardock leaned on the door, opening it and staring down at her, chewing on the end of a strand of wheat.

"Come Soesa. They're waitin' at the fire."

"Oh." without another word Bulma padded carefully across the ancient rug to the doorway where she slid on her boots.

She followed Bardock outside to the campfire where the rest of the saiyans sat.

"I thought we were gonna have a fono…." Bulma was saying as Bardock led her outside. The others were all out by the fire, waiting for her.

"Sorry, Soesa ." Nappa said. "Only Saiyans can call fonos." He was sitting cross-legged to Vegeta's right. Bardock sat down on Vegeta's left. Lato sat in front of Vegeta with a large wooden bowl in front of her, Tschev and Raditz on opposite sides.

"Come on, kid." Bardock said, gesturing Lato and the bowl.

Bulma slowly walked forward and sat down at the bowl across from Lato.

What happened next was a blur. Vegeta spoke. Nappa spoke. Bardock spoke. They were all using the strange oratorical dialect of saiyan that Lato and Vegeta used at Stoks's funeral. Strangely, Lato didn't speak at this one, but she did seem to be mixing a strange liquid in the bowl as they went.

Eventually, Vegeta rose, and walked over to Bulma. He walked around behind her and placed his hands on her head. He spoke again in the strange metaphorical way of speaking. She picked up enough to know that he was addressing her, but not calling her by her name, or by ' Soesa' . He went and sat back down.

"I present to you now, Fetufuatarakoolefa'amoemoeileuliulipato'i*, the saiyan."

Then came the speeches.

After seemingly everyone got a chance to say something, with varying degrees of proficiency with the oratorical dialect, Nappa started calling out something about 'cups', and Raditz shot up and dipped a small dish into the bowl and offered it to Bulma. Everyone stared at her expectantly.

"Uhhh...kay" she said, barely managing a whisper she was so in shock at everything. She took a gulp of the liquid, which looked like murky brown water. She almost spat it out, but, figuring that'd probably be considered rude, managed to swallow it. It was among the most bitter things she'd ever tasted. She opened her eyes and saw Raditz still standing there, his hand outstretched. "Oh, here." She said, handing the cup back to him. As she did so she realized a slight numbness starting to spread through her stomach and into her extremities. She wondered if she'd just been poisoned….

Nappa continued to call out something about cups, Bulma catching the Saiyans various names and Raditz offered a cup of the liquid to each saiyan in turn, from Vegeta, to Nappa, and on down until Raditz himself got a drink.

"Alright, Fetu, you have called this fono ." Vegeta stated matter-of-factly.

"I…" she was so incredibly confused she couldn't find the words. "I...yes. I am just a little confused though."

"Don't worry none Caps. I got this." Nappa slapped Vegeta on the back. "Well ya sees we got together and said 'Soesa here is real good like, even like a real saiyan almost, done saved the cap, done killed Cui, done killed some purgers…. ' well ya see saiyans we do lotsa killing."

"Yes, I noticed." Bulma nodded.

"Yeah, well in short, ya one of us now."

Bulma was so incredibly surprised and moved she wasn't sure what to say. "I...uh...thank you."

"Nah. Don't thank me none it was the cap's idea in the first place, Fetufuatarakoolefa'amoemoeileuliulipato'i

"So...that's my new name, huh?"

"Yeah. Cap gave it to ya, he's like your saiyan ma. Almost." Vegeta slowly hid his face in his hands, in annoyance or embarrassment Bulma couldn't quite tell. Nappa looked like he was actually going to cry as he began to sniffle and stared at Bulma with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I...I like it. It's a little long but it's beautiful. Thank you."

"Oh that ain't nothin'." Tschev snorted. "Nappa here? His name is Napacapisileulupo'oomaletelepeiova'atausilipe'aatoalonatino*."

Vegeta cleared his throat, almost awkwardly redirecting the subject to the fono at hand. She could tell he was very uncomfortable.

"Alright Fetu*, you have called this fono."

"Yes. I have very good news."

"Ya fix the ship?" Nappa boomed, laughing uproariously at his own joke while everyone else rolled their eyes.

"Not yet. It's nearly there though." Bulma smiled gently. "No. Raditz retrieved some data discs from the boneyard and we found some pretty amazing information."

She waited for them to respond and they waited for her to speak. She continued.

"Have you ever heard of the saiyan god?"

Vegeta's tense posture relaxed as he scoffed dismissively. "Nothing more than a fairytale, Soesa. "

"Wait. Just...hear me out. Frieza has tons of information regarding this, I just haven't decoded all of it yet. From what I've gleaned so far there is some sort of ritual involved that leads to a transformation of extraordinary power."

"It's worthless. Nothing more than a children's story." he retorted bitterly. He was trying his best to hide it but she could tell he was disappointed.

"Children's story or not it may be worth looking into. What's the worst that could happen? Once I'm done decoding the data we can discuss it more but I thought it was worth at least looking into."

He calmed himself with a deep sigh and a nod. "What else did you find, Soesa ?"

"I've never told you why I set off in space, have I?"

"No I don't believe you have."

"Have you ever heard of the dragon balls?"

Vegeta shook his head subtly.

"It is said that long ago an ancient power embedded magical artifacts in the core of seven planets. Now as far as the legend goes, it says if you are able to collect all seven you can summon a powerful, ancient dragon who will grant you one wish and-"

Vegeta laughed bitterly at this, cutting her off. "We have no need for fairytales here, Soesa. Frieza can keep his dragon's balls."

"Well tell me this," she snapped. "Frieza's records show that he has six of the seven dragon balls and is searching for the seventh currently. If there are no dragon balls then what does he have?"

"I'm sure I don't know Soesa . But Frieza has always been one superstitious bastard. Some say he even consults a bone reader to make his decisions. Frieza can keep his saiyan god and his dragon's balls as far as I'm concerned. Fairytales will not help us none."

Everyone went about their business dismissively only half listening to the conversation. Tschev was breaking a stick into tiny pieces and tossing them into the fire as Bardock chewed on the end of his wheat and Nappa sipped on his water loudly. Only Raditz and Vegeta listened with full attention to Bulma. She looked around at the distracted saiyans.

"Frieza has a saiyan in captivity. According to the chip records that Frieza has kept he is known by the name of Kakarot or Prisoner 019C."

Bardock choked on the stem he was chewing on passively and Nappa spat water all over Raditz. Bulma couldn't help but laugh, but she seemed to be the only one. Normally they would all have laughed at this but they were eerily silent. Bardock was standing now, lifting her from where she stood and clasping her hard on the shoulder. His eye looked desperately into hers.

"Kid, say that name again."

Bulma was suddenly incredibly nervous and unsure of everything. "Ka-kakarot?"

"Is he alive? Did they say if he was alive?"

"Yes. Reports read that he is alive as of one week ago...wha-"

She could see tears well up in his eye as he scanned her face disbelievingly. " Fetu...that's...that's my son."

TRANSLATIONS:

Failele - literally a nursing mother or mother to a very young baby. The name of the mainframe computer, a reference to the Alien movies.

Leai - No

Kaoga ese - a very rude and disrespectful way of telling someone to leave, essentially GTFO

Ga ou faiaku kaoga ese - I said get lost!

Fetu fua tarako o le fa'amoemoe i le uliulipato'i - (separated the name for ease of reading) Star dragon fruit, The hope in the pitch black night

Fetu - star

Napa capisi le ulupo'o ma le tele pei o va'atausili pe'a atoa lona tino - Nappa cabbage the bald and the great, like Va'atausili when his body was complete**

**a reference to Samoan mythos

AN: We're sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. We've had some family emergencies all week, and to top it off we're dealing with a broken computer (toddlers… they wreak destruction, folks). We hope you enjoy this chapter, we're seeing the continuation of some long-since setup character development with various crew members, and *every* character will have more development to come. There is also plenty of action yet to come as well as our cast embarks on a mission to rescue the captive Kakarot.

A note on names: Yes, Bulma's saiyan name is *not* a vegetable reference. We settled for a fruit reference (dragon fruit), even though the abbreviated form of the full name (Fetu) simply means 'star'. Forgive us, the plot requirements/symbolism overrode the necessity for naming conventions.

A note on our fun with Nappa's name. 'Vaatausili' references a Samoan myth wherein a small/weak child sleeps in a magical cave, and in the morning had grown into a giant. To this day, the proverbial expression "The body of Vaatausili is complete" is a metaphorical way of expressing that preparations are made/ready to embark on an upcoming journey/voyage/trip/life change/whatever. In this case, just a reference to how huge Nappa is.