Chapter Twenty: News And Trouble For Four Saiyans
Five hours later, somewhere in space, outside of planet Lybell…
"Raditz, are you awake?"
Raditz yawned, after he hit the button on his scouter. He and Journa had bought the new scouters at the Luxury Heavens Hotel gift shop on Ritan. Scouters were more expensive on Ritan than they were in the shops on Frieza's mother ship, but the Saiyan couple had grudgingly paid the exorbitant prices for them. Raditz and Journa hadn't bothered to contact Vegeta and Nappa when they had first bought the scouters, fearing Vegeta's disapproval over them taking a vacation. They had tried to contact Vegeta and Nappa just before they had taken that final trip to the hotel's hot tub, but they had not received any response. At first, they had figured that Vegeta and Nappa were too busy battling or conquering planet Grain to answer them, and it was only until Frieza had let it slip that Intergalacticpol had imprisoned Vegeta and Nappa that they became worried.
"Yeah, Journ, I am now. What is it?"
"Raditz, you better really wake up. We've got problems."
"What sort of problems?"
"Look out the window."
Raditz looked out the small porthole in his pod, and his eyes widened in horror when he saw that his and Journa's pods were caught in a glowing, green beam of light.
"What the hell?" he exclaimed to his mate.
"We're being captured," Journa's voice replied shakily.
Raditz growled, with his huge body tensing into a combat position. He clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth.
"Journa, have you tried to escape?" he asked.
"Hell yes, I tried to escape, and I tried to wake you up, but you could sleep through a planet explosion! I even put on my pod's hyper engines, but it didn't do any good!"
Raditz turned on his pod's hyper engines, but his pod didn't even budge an inch. It was like his pod was trapped in ice. He cursed in Saiyan and bashed the side of his pod with his large fists.
"Those bastards are going to die!" he hissed.
Raditz looked out the porthole again, as the beam pulled his pod and Journa's pod closer and closer to a gigantic, blood-red battleship that was square-shaped with four legs with square-shaped pods at the ends. His Saiyan eyes widened, as a rectangular door opened where the source of the light beams came from.
And thirty minutes later, like a squat, red lizard with flies on its tongue, the crimson battleship drew the two silver pods into its opening and swallowed them both easily.
Moon of Thresh, Intergalacticpol Station #5777
As Ruli readied herself for her visit with Vegeta and Nappa, her thoughts were elsewhere-on a certain Astorian Prince named Kekron Chloe. Kekron was everything that Ruli had ever dreamed of, and she had this fantasy that she and Kekron would wind up faithfully working for Frieza together. Of course once Kekron found out that she was a spy for Frieza, he would despise her for a time, but Ruli felt confident that she could convince him to forgive her. She cared for him so much, and she had to convince him soon to return her feelings. If Kekron fell in love with her, then he would be more likely to forgive her later once Zarbon and his comrades took him prisoner. At least that was she constantly told herself whenever what little conscience that she possessed would disturb her.
Ruli was a brilliant young woman, but sadly, her brash confidence and superb knowledge of computers and technology concealed a mentally unstable nature. She thought that she loved Kekron, and perhaps she did in her own way, but she was really more obsessed with him than anything else. She was so certain that she and Kekron were meant to be together, and that Kekron would still love her somehow, if he were forced to work for Frieza. In Ruli's elaborate fantasies, she and Kekron would happily do what they were doing now, only for Frieza. Perhaps Frieza would even permit them to marry and start a family together. Ruli constantly dreamed about Kekron loving her and making out with her passionately amidst their inventions and blueprints. Yes, she could make Kekron happy; she knew that she could.
But there was one thing that was standing in the way-that bratty, whiny Caline! And Caline's best friend, Tayla, was a nuisance now too, but Ruli would deal with Tayla later. Right now, in her personal life, Caline was the problem, the pest that had to be squashed at all costs, or at the very least kept out of Kekron's life entirely!
But Ruli reluctantly put thoughts of Kekron and Caline out of her mind for right now, as she walked along, the sterile, gray corridors of the Intergalacticpol space station to Chief Gohan Chloe's office to report to him before visiting with Vegeta and Nappa. Finally, she arrived at the austere, Spartan office of the Intergalacticpol chief, and she could see Chief Gohan sitting at his desk, idling with some papers while a tall, dark-skinned woman was massaging his shoulders. Chief Gohan seemed much more focused on the attention of the woman than he was on the paperwork.
Ruli looked at the slender, brown-skinned beauty tending to Chief Gohan's shoulders. She remembered that the woman's name was Hazel, a Human from planet Earth. Hazel, who had become Princess Hazel Carr-Chloe, and was now a Technician as a well a singer. Hazel, who had given Chief Gohan three half-Human, half-Astorian children, all of them already stronger than their Human mother. Ruli admired Princess Hazel Carr-Chloe's fashion style, if not her low strength.
Ruli envied Hazel's hair the most; it was not soft like Astorian hair, but the thickness and the coarseness of it helped with the strange and interesting styles that the Human hair was often molded or sculpted in. Today, Hazel was wearing her hair in a series of cornrow braids, all held together with a polished wooden hairclip. Hazel was also wearing a scarlet, sleeveless caftan that went down to her ankles, and a silken yellow sash embraced her waist.
Ruli felt like an intruder as she knocked on Chief Gohan's door. Chief Gohan called for her to come in, and Ruli did.
"Hey, Ruli!" Hazel greeted her brightly in her usual informal way.
"Well, greetiens, Ruli," Chief Gohan told the girl warmly. "You are here to examine and double-check Prince Vegeta and Nappa's maximum security cell, I see."
"Yes, I am," Ruli told him.
"Good," Chief Gohan told her and arose. "Come with me."
"You're a cute little thing," Nappa purred seductively.
"Why, thank you, handsome. You're quite a hunk, you know."
Nappa chuckled. "Yeah, don't I know it!"
Nappa smirked through the window in the cell door at the adorable Honeybee Cornsilk, a half-Papillionian, half-Astorian prison guard from the Clan of Cornsilk. Nappa had wasted no time in befriending the petite, very curvy, brown-haired, blue-eyed nineteen-year-old girl, whose Papillionian mother had insisted on giving a Papillionian name. Honeybee smiled as she ran her slender dark hand threw her sugar-brown curls, another gift from her Papillionian mother. She fluttered her diaphanous sky-blue butterfly wings flirtatiously at the Saiyan prisoner.
"So, gorgeous, how come you don't have a boyfriend or a mate just yet?" Nappa wanted to know.
"I've been waiting for someone like you," Honeybee giggled.
Vegeta, on the other side of the cell, was scowling heavily at Nappa in disapproval. He didn't approve of Nappa flirting with an Intergalacticpol prison guard, let alone one who was descended from the Astorian race. But considering that he had been fantasizing about Tayla Chloe lately, he couldn't reproach Nappa for flirting with someone of Astorian blood.
"It should make you happy to know, Nappa, that I'll be on this section of the prison ward all week," Honeybee told Nappa happily. "I'll see that you and your partner get some extra food, just like Saiyans like it."
"I'd appreciate that, beautiful, thanks," Nappa said warmly. "We don't get fed enough in here, you know."
"Poor fellows," Honeybee cooed. She fluttered up until her eyes were directly in contact with Nappa's. Nappa flashed her a sexy grin, and Honeybee nearly melted.
"So tell me this," Honeybee said in a breathy voice, "are you two really as dangerous as everyone is making you two out to be?"
Nappa laughed, crossing his huge, muscular arms. "Nope, babe. We're much more dangerous than that."
The corridors of the prison ward shook as the heavy, orange body of Boja came swaggering down towards Vegeta and Nappa's cell, carrying two trays of food. "Honeybee!" he roared at the cute prison guard. "What the hell are you doing consorting with the monkeys? Guards are not supposed to fraternize with prisoners."
Nappa secretly mocked Boja, imitating his arrogant manner and demanding traits perfectly. Honeybee giggled then, for she didn't like Boja any more than Nappa and Vegeta did.
"Just what is so funny, miss?" Boja asked angrily.
Honeybee tried to become sober, but she couldn't succeed. "Lay off and relax, Boja! Stop being so hard on these two handsome boys, especially Nappa here."
"Stop flirting with them, Honeybee; they're dangerous criminals," Boja growled at her.
"But they're sexy dangerous criminals," Honeybee declared with a merry laugh.
"You wouldn't think they were so sexy, if you saw them on a full moon," Boja told her nastily. "Then the monkeys go ape, turning into huge, smelly out-of-control gorillas who mindlessly tear up a planet with seconds. I've seen apes like them destroy my home planet, and I've hated all Saiyans since! Yeah, Honeybee, you just go ahead and keep playing with them and see where it gets you. If those two primates were loose, they'd either destroy you or rape you a hundred times over, just like they did to your fellow Astorians in the years before Shalila Chloe saved Astoria from them."
Vegeta and Nappa had their fists clenched, and sweat was beading on their angry brows. Vegeta desperately wished that he could rip out of all of Boja's orange fur and shove those little red horns of his down his throat. Nappa furiously pounded the cell door with his ham-sized fist repeatedly, frightening Honeybee away from the cell. Both Saiyans were now cursing Boja in Saiyan.
Boja laughed, not fearing the Saiyans' anger in the least. "See, Honeybee, the monkeys are already going ape! I better feed those gorillas before they tear up the cell!" He said in a sickening, patronizing voice to the Saiyans, "Now, calm down and be good little monkeys, and you'll get fed today! Bad little monkeys don't get food, you know."
"You don't need to talk to them that way, Boja," Honeybee protested.
"Aw now, Honeybee, they're no better than beasts," Boja said in that awful cloying voice of his. "And beasts have to be disciplined, like bad pets!" He cooed to Vegeta and Nappa, "Down, monkeys, down good little apes, or you two won't get food today! We don't feed bad monkeys here!"
"Shut up, you bastard, or I'll rip your heart out!" Nappa hissed through the cell.
"That's enough, Boja, or I'm reporting you."
Boja turned around to see a frowning Wrinks glaring at him in disapproval. "I didn't touch the smelly monkeys."
"Stop talking to them like that," Wrinks ordered him. "They're still living beings, criminals or not. Anyway, we need to take them out. They have a visitor that Chief Gohan permitted them to see. A tech type who wanted to examine the collars and meet the Saiyans personally."
"We have a visitor other than our lawyers?" Vegeta inquired with interest. He was now at the door of their cell, and he had given Nappa a look that told the bald Saiyan to calm down.
"Yes, Prince Vegeta," Wrinks told him. "A young girl, cute for a humanoid, although I'm more partial to my own kind."
"A lady visitor," Nappa said with a grin. "This should be interesting."
"Control yourself, Nappa," Vegeta warned. "We don't need any additional trouble."
"Yes, control yourself, monkeys," Boja jeered. "Yes, I know it's impossible for wild apes like you two to control yourself around humanoid women, but you two primates don't have a choice." He then opened the small window of their cell and passed two trays of food to them, one at a time. If Nappa hadn't been starving, he would have shoved the food back in Boja's face, but since he and Vegeta both were hungry, he grudgingly accepted the meager (for a Saiyan) rations.
"That's it," Boja patronized sweetly. "You two eat like good little monkeys; make sure you use what few table manners that you chimps have when eating. He looked through the window and chuckled, as Nappa and Vegeta began on their meals. "That's good! You're doing good, not making much of a mess like you two apes normally do!"
Vegeta was having a harder time each second in keeping his temper in check. He silently swore to himself that if he and Nappa were ever free again, that fat, orange, red-horned bastard would be the first to be sent to the next dimension.
Journa growled in frustration, as she looked out the porthole of her pod. Five of her and Raditz's captors were looking at them through large, shining humanoid silver eyes. The humanoid captors had rabbit-like ears sprouting from the sides of their heads, and all of them were short and emaciated, with their well-defined ribs pushing to escape from their torsos. They wore no clothing above their waists, not even the women. Journa cringed at seeing the flabby, deflated humanoid female breasts.
One of the topless women, a tiny being with long, stringy, moss green hair, scuttled over to Journa's pod and rapped hesitantly on the porthole. She then wiggled her fingers towards herself, gesturing for Journa to come out. Journa cautiously turned on her scouter to examine the woman's ki level. A ki level of only fifteen.
The Saiyan warrior princess tested the levels of the woman's companions. Not one ki level higher than twenty. No real threats to her and Raditz at all.
Journa breathed a sigh of relief. Nevertheless, she put up her guard, as she pressed the button to open her door. She looked menacingly at the scrawny woman; perhaps she could force this weakling to tell her how to get out of this weird place. Her tail swished back and forth like a snake ready to strike, as she crawled cautiously out of her pod.
"Fouka!" the scrawny female exclaimed happily, jumping up and down. Journa's eyes never left this bizarre creature for a moment.
The woman's companions began to exclaim, "Fouka! Fouka! Wy aliv!"
Journa walked boldly over to the thin lass. "First question," she told the stranger coolly. "Why in the hell did you bring us here?"
The woman merely grinned while displaying sharp, yet rotted teeth. Journa nearly retched at the sight, but she kept her steely Saiyan resolve. "I asked you a question, woman: why did you bring us here?"
"Fouka!" the thin woman cried happily.
"Are you stupid, or do you just not understand Standard?" Journa hissed.
"Fouka, fouka, fouka!"
"SLAM!"
Journa turned her attention away from the odd woman to see Raditz shoving a rabbit-eared boy up against the side of Raditz's pod. The boy sobbed in fear as Raditz's huge fist closed around his pencil-thin neck.
"Raditz!" she cried aloud.
"Don't worry, Journa," Raditz told his mate. "We're getting some answers here, if we have to pick off what little flesh these weaklings have left." He hissed in an icy tone to the young lad, "Listen, brat, why did you and the others bring us here? How do we get out of here? Tell us now!"
"Fouka!" the boy growled, baring a mouthful of cavity-ridden, pointy teeth.
"Do you speak Standard?" Raditz demanded to know.
"Fouka!"
"Raditz, I don't think that they understand us," Journa told him. "They either don't speak Standard at all, or they're ignoring us deliberately, or they're just plain stupid."
Journa was about to leave to go to her mate, but the rabbit-eared woman began to sniff around Journa's muscular legs. She brushed a bony finger against Journa's thigh and pinched it lightly. The Saiyan princess was about to grab the woman's neck, but the woman made the mistake of seizing Journa's tail and sinking what good teeth she had into the soft, plump appendage.
"OUCHHHH!" Journa screamed out in pain, as the tiny female bit off a bite-size chunk of Journa's tail. The woman fell away from her victim and happily gobbled down her prize. Journa clenched her fists, ready to mash up her gaunt attacker.
"You're dead, fool!" she hissed, but the woman started laughing happily and pointing to Journa, but looking at her friends. "Gui Fouka! Wy aliv! Gui, gui fouka! Wy feati!"
Journa abruptly seized the woman by her neck and punched her in her mouth. But the woman then chomped down onto the knuckles of Journa's medium-sized fist, drawing blood and stealing a good piece of flesh from above her middle finger knuckle. The woman continued to gnaw at Journa's fist with her razor-sharp teeth until Journa ripped her away from her hand and flung her across the floor.
Journa quickly raised her hand to decimate the vicious creature with a ki blast, but before she could do so, three of the rabbit-eared men hurled themselves upon her and began to bite and chomp at her arms and legs with their jagged teeth. They were deliberately eating away at her flesh, trying to eat right down to her bones.
She tried to shake off her attackers, but they were too fast for her. They were weak physically, but their teeth and jaws were strong, and they were quicker than lightening, as they feasted upon Journa's limbs, like starving beasts.
"RADITZ, HELP ME!" she screamed.
But Raditz couldn't, for he was fighting off six rabbit-eared men, who too were devouring his body, as they ripped out huge pieces of flesh. Raditz thrashed and shook like an enraged bull, but the grip of the sharp teeth and powerful jaws was too strong, even for the powerful Saiyan to handle quickly. The hungry creatures managed to shove the huge Saiyan to the ground, as they continued to eat away at him. Raditz screamed and shouted, as one of them started biting at his face.
Journa was alternating between crying and growling, as two more rabbit-eared beings joined their friends in dining upon her body. The sharp-toothed attackers showed no mercy for either of their victims, as they bit and gnawed at them here and there.
As they struggled against their assailants, the Saiyans knew that they would have to work fast. They wriggled and writhed, trying to concentrate enough to raise their ki levels to throw the ferocious little beasts off of them before it was too late.
Ruli sat down at the gray table in the visitors' room nervously awaiting the arrival of the infamous Prince Vegeta and Nappa. Chief Gohan hadn't liked the idea of leaving her alone with the two Saiyans, but Ruli insisted that if Matis Squatt and Ayala Tirstyn were allowed to see Vegeta and Nappa alone, then she should be allowed to do the same. Chief Gohan had reluctantly allowed her to be alone with them, but only on the condition that a guard would be outside of the visitors' room, should she need protection.
Ruli fiddled nervously with her hidden scouter, as the huge, orange prison guard known to her as only Boja escorted Prince Vegeta and Nappa into the visitors' room. The Saiyans were wearing plain, beige shirts and trousers with numbered badges on the fronts, typical Intergalacticpol prison garb. Following behind them was the guard who resembled a pile of dung known as Wrinks.
"You sure that you want to be left alone with these primates, cutie?" Boja asked the girl in a cooing voice. "These two beasties here might ravish your lovely body the moment that we leave you alone with them."
"I can handle myself," Ruli told him confidently.
Boja chuckled, finding the redheaded Ruli attractive. "If you think that you can handle a couple of apes, sweet'ums, then maybe I should take you out for a date sometime? I've always had a thing for humanoid redheads; you do have a sweet body, if not very well-endowed."
Ruli told him icily, "I'd sooner go out with Vegeta or Nappa than with a haystack with an overly inflated opinion of himself."
Boja glared at her, as Vegeta and Nappa chuckled. Vegeta smirked, liking the girl's spirit. Happy to see Boja put in his place, both Saiyans confidently walked over to the seats across from Ruli. Boja and Wrinks continued to hang around.
"Could we get some privacy, please?" Ruli asked them edgily.
"C'mon, Boja, let's go," Wrinks told his colleague.
"Fine with me. If the sharp-tongued girlie here wants to be alone with two apes who would just try to get it on with her, she's welcome to them," Boja sneered nastily, as he walked out of the room with Wrinks. Ruli, Vegeta, and Nappa were relieved to see the men go.
"I have some good news for you guys," Ruli told the Saiyans after Wrinks and Boja were safely out of earshot.
"And what good news would that be?" Vegeta inquired. "And just who are you anyway?"
Ruli smiled. "A friend."
"We don't have friends," Nappa told her curtly. "Not many anyway."
"Oh, you'll think of me as a friend after I tell you my news," Ruli told the two dangerous men sweetly. She bent her head down to the table and beckoned the Saiyans to follow her. Her confession, "I am a spy from Frieza," was revealed in a whisper.
The two Saiyans laughed loudly. "You, a spy?" Vegeta jeered. "Aren't you a bit young?"
"A tad," Ruli replied. "But I was trained under Narvo Norbrook, the Calmagian spy who was once general of the CRP, the one who mysteriously vanished. Frieza assigned me to take his place after my mentor vanished. You see, gentlemen, General Norbrook took very good care of me until he disappeared; my father, who was alive at the time, thought that Norbrook was training me for a job working as a technician for the CRP. Then when Father died, my uncle tried to marry me off to some bastard three times my age, but I fled from him, and Frieza assigned me to go to Astoria with the Astorians. But I'm sure that you guys really don't want to know my life history."
"Not particularly," Vegeta told her bluntly. "Though I personally like how you told off that imbecile, Boja. Now why are you really here?"
Ruli smiled again, ignoring Vegeta's previous rudeness. "Commander Zarbon has sent me with a message for you two."
"Let me guess: Frieza's leaving us here to rot," Nappa replied coldly. "I wouldn't be too surprised."
"Nope," Ruli told him brightly. "Not this time. Frieza has ordered Commander Zarbon, Commander Jaden, and Commander Diamonique to come rescue you three. They're on their way to Grain now, as we speak. An Intergalacticpol swanship is carrying them here, with the officers thinking that they are escaped sex slaves-"
Nappa interrupted her, laughing loudly at that last sentence. "Who in the universe would want Zarbon or Jaden for sex slaves, or even think that anyone would want them for sex slaves, I can't imagine!"
Vegeta chuckled. "Some people might mistake Zarbon for a sex slave. He looks effeminate enough."
Ruli couldn't help but smile. She had met both Commander Jaden and Commander Zarbon personally, and she couldn't help but agree with the Saiyans on their comments. But then Commander Jaden did know how to shape-shift, and Commander Zarbon was clever, if a bit too feminine for her liking. "Anyway, gentlemen, they are here to rescue you, and if I can get the codes to your collars, we might be able to free you two much sooner, before the trial."
"And if you can't?" Vegeta asked quietly.
"Then Commander Zarbon plans to fix the trial. He knows someone on the RIC."
"What about the Grainier mission?" Vegeta inquired. "Will that still be carried out?"
"Oh, once you guys are free, you will have to go right back to work, from what Commander Zarbon told me," Ruli replied. "And yes, you two still have to capture Prince Barley. I've met him once, and I personally think that Frieza's wasting his time. The boy is strong for a Grainier, but hardly worth the time being wasted on coming after him."
Vegeta privately thought so too, even though he himself had not met the Grainier prince. "He can't be that great, if they have to hire a bodyguard for him. Tayla Chloe's fame must spread wider than I suspected, for royals of a strange planet to make her their son's bodyguard. Not that it would do her any good, if I could get to Barley. I could easily take the girl now; she couldn't have become that much stronger, and I've been training harder ever since the last time we battled."
Nappa joked, "Not that my prince wishes to kill her now. Last time they fought, he wanted to take her to the next dimension; now, he just wants to take her to the next bedroom, eh, Vegeta?" He chuckled at his own words.
Vegeta shot him a deadly look, and Ruli kept her face carefully expressionless. Nappa quickly realized that no one was finding his tasteless joke funny. But Nappa's crack about Tayla kindled Ruli's new curiosity about Vegeta's interest in the famed Astorian princess.
"So you want Tayla Chloe for yourself?" Ruli dared to ask the Saiyan prince.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes and frowned at her, not answering her question. He still dreamt as much as ever about making his Astorian archenemy his new bed partner, but he wasn't about to elaborate on his fervent attraction to Tayla to this strange, impudent girl. His new interest in conquering Tayla sexually was none of Ruli's business.
Ruli took the hint and questioned no further about Vegeta's desire for Tayla. But she did permit herself a secret, smug smile. She suspected that Vegeta was more interested in Tayla than he let on; if he had no interest in her, he would have said so immediately.
*So Prince Vegeta wants Princess Tayla…hmm…this information just might come in handy. Too bad I can't let Dedron know what I really do for a living; he'd love to know this tidbit. He's hated Tayla's guts for years, he said. I just figured out the perfect revenge on Tayla for bullying me the way that she did…find her a pureblooded Saiyan master to play with her! Hehheh, well I'll just have to wait until Prince Vegeta and Nappa are freed, and then I'll be happy to lead Prince Vegeta straight to dear Tayla. *
"So is there any other pertinent information for us to know?" Vegeta asked.
Ruli told him no, leaving out the information about the orders to capture Kekron Chloe for now. She feared for Kekron's safety at the hands of the two Saiyans in front of her; she already knew well the past animosity between the Astorians and the Saiyans. She arose and said as steadily as possible, "Why don't I go ahead and examine your collars."
"Can you undo them at all?" Nappa asked, as Ruli began to inspect the workings of his collar.
"She already said no," Vegeta told him irritably. But he was only mildly annoyed, for now that the news had sunk in that he and Nappa would be rescued, he was relieved. He then grinned to himself; he would have a chance to avenge himself and Nappa against Bendros Sahara and Mikos Pearl for arresting them. They would finally be able to teach the Clan of Chloe a lesson that they would never forget, and complete the Grainier mission, so that Frieza would stay off of their backs. And, probably the best part of all, he would get to face Tayla Chloe once more. For the first time since he had laid eyes on the newly matured Astorian princess, Vegeta allowed his fantasy of obtaining her to become a realizable goal.
He chuckled softly to himself. *It won't be long, sweet little Tayla. Soon, princess, you and I will meet again…and this time I will be the one who conquers. I always keep my promises, Tayla Chloe, as you'll find out soon enough. Yes, princess, once I finish what I was supposed to do, you will be mine. *
But there were some things that he had to handle first. Acquiring his freedom for starters. He was not going to let the RIC convict him and Nappa. They were not going to Zelthar to become no better than slaves for the so-called side of good. He hated waiting, but right now, it was all that he could do. Matis Squatt and Ayala Tirstyn were sharp, intelligent attorneys, and they were pulling out all the stops to see that he and Nappa would not wind up imprisoned for life or executed. He would have to see that those two would be rewarded richly in some way.
But there was not much time left; the trial was only five days away, the trial that was supposed to determine his and Nappa's fates. Matis Squatt and Ayala Tirstyn had been working night and day to create the perfect defense for the Saiyans, but Vegeta knew that quite a bit of the fight for his and Nappa's lives would fall on him and Nappa themselves-and unfortunately, also on Zarbon, Jaden, and Diamonique. He hated to be indebted to the Top Elite officers for freeing him and Nappa, but right now there were no other options, and he knew it. Nevertheless, he could smell the faint scent of freedom coming closer and closer.
He became so deeply immersed in his thoughts that he paid no mind to Ruli carefully studying the workings of his collar.
It was Raditz who first gathered together all his power. He was through with the demons using him as a meal. He powered up, and a bright, blinding light burst forth from his muscular body. The force of the ki startled the ravenous creatures so much that they tore their teeth free of the Saiyan. When Raditz powered up further, the impact of his increasing energy blew the vicious beings off of his body. The little monsters scampered away from Raditz as quickly as possible.
The rabbit-eared attackers were terrified now, as Raditz raised his palm towards them. Orange light broke free of his palm and shot out in an electrifying ball towards the starving creatures. The long-eared assailants shrieks nearly busted the eardrums in Raditz's ears, as the crackling, burning ball of ki fried away their bodies. The light was blinding, and even Raditz had to cover his eyes, until the light dimmed.
Raditz's eyes were closed, so he didn't notice yet that Journa had thrown off her foes as well by powering up. Journa had shot two globes of ki from her hands, and they had exploded onto the enemies at the same time as Raditz's had. Raditz fired two more blasts to be on the safe side, and Journa fired three more, and both of them had to squeeze their eyes shut as blinding light engulfed the cavernous port.
When the light had faded, and the smoke had cleared, the large port was filled with the stink of rotting, burning flesh and ashes. Black and gray curls and puffs of smoke decorated the air. But the trouble wasn't over yet, for at that moment, hordes of hungry, long-eared creatures came rushing down two flights of stairs that were on opposite sides of the room.
"FOUKA! FOUKA! Wy aliv! GUI FOUKA!"
"My guess is that 'fouka' means food in their language!" Raditz called to his mate.
Journa had guessed so too, but she wasn't interested anymore in trying to decipher what their captors were saying. Instead, she was firing a series of small, but quick ki blasts at the rushing army of hungry people. Each blast burned away an attacker quickly, as a laser would fry a piece of fruit.
Journa then crossed her wrists in an X position, and she balled her hands into fists, with two fingers (her index and middle fingers) of each fist standing up, until her fists resembled the heads of rabbits.
As more of the horrendous beings ran towards her, she screamed, "FOUR FINGER FLASH!" and four red ki lasers shot out from her four pointing fingers and crashed into the entire section of long-eared creatures, disintegrating all of them at once.
Meanwhile, Raditz had used two huge, electrifying ki balls to reduce his enemies to piles and piles of goop and ashes. Within the next twenty minutes, more of the foes came dashing down those two flights of stairs, but all of them quickly met the same fate. And after ten more minutes, there wasn't a living creature left in the huge room, except for Raditz and Journa.
After five more minutes there was silence, as Raditz and Journa checked their scouters to detect any more signs of life. None were detected. The Saiyan newlyweds knew then that they were alone on the battleship. And it was only then that they took time to examine their numerous, bleeding wounds. Their tails, arms, and legs were covered in bloody, jagged bite marks, and part of Raditz's face contained gory bite marks as well. Blood flowed freely from some of the injuries while it only seeped from a few. The weary Saiyans hobbled over to each other and embraced, holding each other tight, despite their severe bite wounds. Journa licked Raditz's face in sympathy, as he moaned. They wrapped their arms around each other's necks, as they stumbled slowly over to Raditz's pod, where the majority of their medical supplies were stored.
Within ten minutes, Raditz was sitting down with his back resting against the side of his pod, as he lovingly cleaned and tended to his mate's sores and injuries. Journa was sitting with her back facing towards her mate, as he slowly and carefully treated her. When he was done, she would do the same for him, and she had wanted him to be ministered to first, but Raditz had refused.
Raditz buried his nose in Journa's auburn hair, as he bandaged a wound on her shoulder. He turned his face and leaned his stubbly cheek against the back of her head. Journa turned towards him and nestled carefully into his chest. Raditz put a beefy arm around her and held her close.
"I need to take care of you now," she whispered.
"Not yet, Journ, not yet," Raditz told her hoarsely. "I'll be fine, 'less you object to me bleeding on you."
"Nah, but you're hurt worse than I am."
That was true, but Raditz still refused to move. "I've taken worse injuries," he persisted. He felt okay for now, just holding his mate close to him. Both of them closed their eyes wearily, allowing themselves a few minutes of rest.
"You okay, Journ?" Raditz moaned.
"Am now. Are you?"
"Am now that I'm holding you. I'm not hurt that badly."
"You're one of the worst liars that I know of, Raditz."
Raditz managed a feeble chuckle.
"I…tell you though, Journa, that…I'm not lying…when I say that I don't know what I would do, if I…lost you for good. You're everything to me, you…know that, right?" Like most Saiyan males, Raditz was more a man of action than a man of words, and he didn't express his affection to his mate verbally very often.
But Journa always knew that he cared for her, loved her, more than anything, even fighting. She murmured against her mate's chest. "'Course I do, Raditz. Never told you this, but…I never had any regrets 'bout defying my father and my brother to become your bonded mate. Not once did I ever think of leaving you for another. You're, you're my life…everything in the universe to me. I…could never care for anyone, as much as I care for you. You and Vegeta, and maybe Nappa, are the only people that I give a tail about…but you are definitely first…always." Her low voice was becoming sleepy.
Raditz smiled with what strength that he had, as he used his less injured hand to touch his mate's stomach. His scouter then beeped suspiciously, detecting a strange source of ki. His eyes widened, as he gently pressed his huge palm against Journa's flat stomach that was covered only with her armor.
Journa's stomach had always been flat, but something was not quite normal...
Raditz groaned heavily. He couldn't believe that he hadn't discovered this before. How could he have missed this? And his scouter only now just detected it?
He was too tired, however, to go into complete shock, so he said drowsily, "Journ, guess what?"
"What's that?"
"Um, check your scouter."
"O…kay," Journa said, puzzled, as she did-and learned what Raditz had.
"Oh…no," she said slowly, too slowly.
"Oh…yes," Raditz told her in a low tone. The knowledge was sinking in, as he rubbed Journa's metal-covered stomach once more.
Journa's stomach had always been nice, smooth, and flat.
But it wouldn't be flat for long.
Journa's eyes widened in worry and dismay.
"Oh, this can't be…it can't be…can it?"
Raditz nodded worriedly; it hit him full throttle what he and Journa had just noticed, after all this time. He and his wife, his mate, tried to remain calm, but panic was starting to seep in, like water oozing through a crack in a pipe.
He and Journa would not be returning to Frieza alone.
Journa was pregnant.
Five hours later, somewhere in space, outside of planet Lybell…
"Raditz, are you awake?"
Raditz yawned, after he hit the button on his scouter. He and Journa had bought the new scouters at the Luxury Heavens Hotel gift shop on Ritan. Scouters were more expensive on Ritan than they were in the shops on Frieza's mother ship, but the Saiyan couple had grudgingly paid the exorbitant prices for them. Raditz and Journa hadn't bothered to contact Vegeta and Nappa when they had first bought the scouters, fearing Vegeta's disapproval over them taking a vacation. They had tried to contact Vegeta and Nappa just before they had taken that final trip to the hotel's hot tub, but they had not received any response. At first, they had figured that Vegeta and Nappa were too busy battling or conquering planet Grain to answer them, and it was only until Frieza had let it slip that Intergalacticpol had imprisoned Vegeta and Nappa that they became worried.
"Yeah, Journ, I am now. What is it?"
"Raditz, you better really wake up. We've got problems."
"What sort of problems?"
"Look out the window."
Raditz looked out the small porthole in his pod, and his eyes widened in horror when he saw that his and Journa's pods were caught in a glowing, green beam of light.
"What the hell?" he exclaimed to his mate.
"We're being captured," Journa's voice replied shakily.
Raditz growled, with his huge body tensing into a combat position. He clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth.
"Journa, have you tried to escape?" he asked.
"Hell yes, I tried to escape, and I tried to wake you up, but you could sleep through a planet explosion! I even put on my pod's hyper engines, but it didn't do any good!"
Raditz turned on his pod's hyper engines, but his pod didn't even budge an inch. It was like his pod was trapped in ice. He cursed in Saiyan and bashed the side of his pod with his large fists.
"Those bastards are going to die!" he hissed.
Raditz looked out the porthole again, as the beam pulled his pod and Journa's pod closer and closer to a gigantic, blood-red battleship that was square-shaped with four legs with square-shaped pods at the ends. His Saiyan eyes widened, as a rectangular door opened where the source of the light beams came from.
And thirty minutes later, like a squat, red lizard with flies on its tongue, the crimson battleship drew the two silver pods into its opening and swallowed them both easily.
Moon of Thresh, Intergalacticpol Station #5777
As Ruli readied herself for her visit with Vegeta and Nappa, her thoughts were elsewhere-on a certain Astorian Prince named Kekron Chloe. Kekron was everything that Ruli had ever dreamed of, and she had this fantasy that she and Kekron would wind up faithfully working for Frieza together. Of course once Kekron found out that she was a spy for Frieza, he would despise her for a time, but Ruli felt confident that she could convince him to forgive her. She cared for him so much, and she had to convince him soon to return her feelings. If Kekron fell in love with her, then he would be more likely to forgive her later once Zarbon and his comrades took him prisoner. At least that was she constantly told herself whenever what little conscience that she possessed would disturb her.
Ruli was a brilliant young woman, but sadly, her brash confidence and superb knowledge of computers and technology concealed a mentally unstable nature. She thought that she loved Kekron, and perhaps she did in her own way, but she was really more obsessed with him than anything else. She was so certain that she and Kekron were meant to be together, and that Kekron would still love her somehow, if he were forced to work for Frieza. In Ruli's elaborate fantasies, she and Kekron would happily do what they were doing now, only for Frieza. Perhaps Frieza would even permit them to marry and start a family together. Ruli constantly dreamed about Kekron loving her and making out with her passionately amidst their inventions and blueprints. Yes, she could make Kekron happy; she knew that she could.
But there was one thing that was standing in the way-that bratty, whiny Caline! And Caline's best friend, Tayla, was a nuisance now too, but Ruli would deal with Tayla later. Right now, in her personal life, Caline was the problem, the pest that had to be squashed at all costs, or at the very least kept out of Kekron's life entirely!
But Ruli reluctantly put thoughts of Kekron and Caline out of her mind for right now, as she walked along, the sterile, gray corridors of the Intergalacticpol space station to Chief Gohan Chloe's office to report to him before visiting with Vegeta and Nappa. Finally, she arrived at the austere, Spartan office of the Intergalacticpol chief, and she could see Chief Gohan sitting at his desk, idling with some papers while a tall, dark-skinned woman was massaging his shoulders. Chief Gohan seemed much more focused on the attention of the woman than he was on the paperwork.
Ruli looked at the slender, brown-skinned beauty tending to Chief Gohan's shoulders. She remembered that the woman's name was Hazel, a Human from planet Earth. Hazel, who had become Princess Hazel Carr-Chloe, and was now a Technician as a well a singer. Hazel, who had given Chief Gohan three half-Human, half-Astorian children, all of them already stronger than their Human mother. Ruli admired Princess Hazel Carr-Chloe's fashion style, if not her low strength.
Ruli envied Hazel's hair the most; it was not soft like Astorian hair, but the thickness and the coarseness of it helped with the strange and interesting styles that the Human hair was often molded or sculpted in. Today, Hazel was wearing her hair in a series of cornrow braids, all held together with a polished wooden hairclip. Hazel was also wearing a scarlet, sleeveless caftan that went down to her ankles, and a silken yellow sash embraced her waist.
Ruli felt like an intruder as she knocked on Chief Gohan's door. Chief Gohan called for her to come in, and Ruli did.
"Hey, Ruli!" Hazel greeted her brightly in her usual informal way.
"Well, greetiens, Ruli," Chief Gohan told the girl warmly. "You are here to examine and double-check Prince Vegeta and Nappa's maximum security cell, I see."
"Yes, I am," Ruli told him.
"Good," Chief Gohan told her and arose. "Come with me."
"You're a cute little thing," Nappa purred seductively.
"Why, thank you, handsome. You're quite a hunk, you know."
Nappa chuckled. "Yeah, don't I know it!"
Nappa smirked through the window in the cell door at the adorable Honeybee Cornsilk, a half-Papillionian, half-Astorian prison guard from the Clan of Cornsilk. Nappa had wasted no time in befriending the petite, very curvy, brown-haired, blue-eyed nineteen-year-old girl, whose Papillionian mother had insisted on giving a Papillionian name. Honeybee smiled as she ran her slender dark hand threw her sugar-brown curls, another gift from her Papillionian mother. She fluttered her diaphanous sky-blue butterfly wings flirtatiously at the Saiyan prisoner.
"So, gorgeous, how come you don't have a boyfriend or a mate just yet?" Nappa wanted to know.
"I've been waiting for someone like you," Honeybee giggled.
Vegeta, on the other side of the cell, was scowling heavily at Nappa in disapproval. He didn't approve of Nappa flirting with an Intergalacticpol prison guard, let alone one who was descended from the Astorian race. But considering that he had been fantasizing about Tayla Chloe lately, he couldn't reproach Nappa for flirting with someone of Astorian blood.
"It should make you happy to know, Nappa, that I'll be on this section of the prison ward all week," Honeybee told Nappa happily. "I'll see that you and your partner get some extra food, just like Saiyans like it."
"I'd appreciate that, beautiful, thanks," Nappa said warmly. "We don't get fed enough in here, you know."
"Poor fellows," Honeybee cooed. She fluttered up until her eyes were directly in contact with Nappa's. Nappa flashed her a sexy grin, and Honeybee nearly melted.
"So tell me this," Honeybee said in a breathy voice, "are you two really as dangerous as everyone is making you two out to be?"
Nappa laughed, crossing his huge, muscular arms. "Nope, babe. We're much more dangerous than that."
The corridors of the prison ward shook as the heavy, orange body of Boja came swaggering down towards Vegeta and Nappa's cell, carrying two trays of food. "Honeybee!" he roared at the cute prison guard. "What the hell are you doing consorting with the monkeys? Guards are not supposed to fraternize with prisoners."
Nappa secretly mocked Boja, imitating his arrogant manner and demanding traits perfectly. Honeybee giggled then, for she didn't like Boja any more than Nappa and Vegeta did.
"Just what is so funny, miss?" Boja asked angrily.
Honeybee tried to become sober, but she couldn't succeed. "Lay off and relax, Boja! Stop being so hard on these two handsome boys, especially Nappa here."
"Stop flirting with them, Honeybee; they're dangerous criminals," Boja growled at her.
"But they're sexy dangerous criminals," Honeybee declared with a merry laugh.
"You wouldn't think they were so sexy, if you saw them on a full moon," Boja told her nastily. "Then the monkeys go ape, turning into huge, smelly out-of-control gorillas who mindlessly tear up a planet with seconds. I've seen apes like them destroy my home planet, and I've hated all Saiyans since! Yeah, Honeybee, you just go ahead and keep playing with them and see where it gets you. If those two primates were loose, they'd either destroy you or rape you a hundred times over, just like they did to your fellow Astorians in the years before Shalila Chloe saved Astoria from them."
Vegeta and Nappa had their fists clenched, and sweat was beading on their angry brows. Vegeta desperately wished that he could rip out of all of Boja's orange fur and shove those little red horns of his down his throat. Nappa furiously pounded the cell door with his ham-sized fist repeatedly, frightening Honeybee away from the cell. Both Saiyans were now cursing Boja in Saiyan.
Boja laughed, not fearing the Saiyans' anger in the least. "See, Honeybee, the monkeys are already going ape! I better feed those gorillas before they tear up the cell!" He said in a sickening, patronizing voice to the Saiyans, "Now, calm down and be good little monkeys, and you'll get fed today! Bad little monkeys don't get food, you know."
"You don't need to talk to them that way, Boja," Honeybee protested.
"Aw now, Honeybee, they're no better than beasts," Boja said in that awful cloying voice of his. "And beasts have to be disciplined, like bad pets!" He cooed to Vegeta and Nappa, "Down, monkeys, down good little apes, or you two won't get food today! We don't feed bad monkeys here!"
"Shut up, you bastard, or I'll rip your heart out!" Nappa hissed through the cell.
"That's enough, Boja, or I'm reporting you."
Boja turned around to see a frowning Wrinks glaring at him in disapproval. "I didn't touch the smelly monkeys."
"Stop talking to them like that," Wrinks ordered him. "They're still living beings, criminals or not. Anyway, we need to take them out. They have a visitor that Chief Gohan permitted them to see. A tech type who wanted to examine the collars and meet the Saiyans personally."
"We have a visitor other than our lawyers?" Vegeta inquired with interest. He was now at the door of their cell, and he had given Nappa a look that told the bald Saiyan to calm down.
"Yes, Prince Vegeta," Wrinks told him. "A young girl, cute for a humanoid, although I'm more partial to my own kind."
"A lady visitor," Nappa said with a grin. "This should be interesting."
"Control yourself, Nappa," Vegeta warned. "We don't need any additional trouble."
"Yes, control yourself, monkeys," Boja jeered. "Yes, I know it's impossible for wild apes like you two to control yourself around humanoid women, but you two primates don't have a choice." He then opened the small window of their cell and passed two trays of food to them, one at a time. If Nappa hadn't been starving, he would have shoved the food back in Boja's face, but since he and Vegeta both were hungry, he grudgingly accepted the meager (for a Saiyan) rations.
"That's it," Boja patronized sweetly. "You two eat like good little monkeys; make sure you use what few table manners that you chimps have when eating. He looked through the window and chuckled, as Nappa and Vegeta began on their meals. "That's good! You're doing good, not making much of a mess like you two apes normally do!"
Vegeta was having a harder time each second in keeping his temper in check. He silently swore to himself that if he and Nappa were ever free again, that fat, orange, red-horned bastard would be the first to be sent to the next dimension.
Journa growled in frustration, as she looked out the porthole of her pod. Five of her and Raditz's captors were looking at them through large, shining humanoid silver eyes. The humanoid captors had rabbit-like ears sprouting from the sides of their heads, and all of them were short and emaciated, with their well-defined ribs pushing to escape from their torsos. They wore no clothing above their waists, not even the women. Journa cringed at seeing the flabby, deflated humanoid female breasts.
One of the topless women, a tiny being with long, stringy, moss green hair, scuttled over to Journa's pod and rapped hesitantly on the porthole. She then wiggled her fingers towards herself, gesturing for Journa to come out. Journa cautiously turned on her scouter to examine the woman's ki level. A ki level of only fifteen.
The Saiyan warrior princess tested the levels of the woman's companions. Not one ki level higher than twenty. No real threats to her and Raditz at all.
Journa breathed a sigh of relief. Nevertheless, she put up her guard, as she pressed the button to open her door. She looked menacingly at the scrawny woman; perhaps she could force this weakling to tell her how to get out of this weird place. Her tail swished back and forth like a snake ready to strike, as she crawled cautiously out of her pod.
"Fouka!" the scrawny female exclaimed happily, jumping up and down. Journa's eyes never left this bizarre creature for a moment.
The woman's companions began to exclaim, "Fouka! Fouka! Wy aliv!"
Journa walked boldly over to the thin lass. "First question," she told the stranger coolly. "Why in the hell did you bring us here?"
The woman merely grinned while displaying sharp, yet rotted teeth. Journa nearly retched at the sight, but she kept her steely Saiyan resolve. "I asked you a question, woman: why did you bring us here?"
"Fouka!" the thin woman cried happily.
"Are you stupid, or do you just not understand Standard?" Journa hissed.
"Fouka, fouka, fouka!"
"SLAM!"
Journa turned her attention away from the odd woman to see Raditz shoving a rabbit-eared boy up against the side of Raditz's pod. The boy sobbed in fear as Raditz's huge fist closed around his pencil-thin neck.
"Raditz!" she cried aloud.
"Don't worry, Journa," Raditz told his mate. "We're getting some answers here, if we have to pick off what little flesh these weaklings have left." He hissed in an icy tone to the young lad, "Listen, brat, why did you and the others bring us here? How do we get out of here? Tell us now!"
"Fouka!" the boy growled, baring a mouthful of cavity-ridden, pointy teeth.
"Do you speak Standard?" Raditz demanded to know.
"Fouka!"
"Raditz, I don't think that they understand us," Journa told him. "They either don't speak Standard at all, or they're ignoring us deliberately, or they're just plain stupid."
Journa was about to leave to go to her mate, but the rabbit-eared woman began to sniff around Journa's muscular legs. She brushed a bony finger against Journa's thigh and pinched it lightly. The Saiyan princess was about to grab the woman's neck, but the woman made the mistake of seizing Journa's tail and sinking what good teeth she had into the soft, plump appendage.
"OUCHHHH!" Journa screamed out in pain, as the tiny female bit off a bite-size chunk of Journa's tail. The woman fell away from her victim and happily gobbled down her prize. Journa clenched her fists, ready to mash up her gaunt attacker.
"You're dead, fool!" she hissed, but the woman started laughing happily and pointing to Journa, but looking at her friends. "Gui Fouka! Wy aliv! Gui, gui fouka! Wy feati!"
Journa abruptly seized the woman by her neck and punched her in her mouth. But the woman then chomped down onto the knuckles of Journa's medium-sized fist, drawing blood and stealing a good piece of flesh from above her middle finger knuckle. The woman continued to gnaw at Journa's fist with her razor-sharp teeth until Journa ripped her away from her hand and flung her across the floor.
Journa quickly raised her hand to decimate the vicious creature with a ki blast, but before she could do so, three of the rabbit-eared men hurled themselves upon her and began to bite and chomp at her arms and legs with their jagged teeth. They were deliberately eating away at her flesh, trying to eat right down to her bones.
She tried to shake off her attackers, but they were too fast for her. They were weak physically, but their teeth and jaws were strong, and they were quicker than lightening, as they feasted upon Journa's limbs, like starving beasts.
"RADITZ, HELP ME!" she screamed.
But Raditz couldn't, for he was fighting off six rabbit-eared men, who too were devouring his body, as they ripped out huge pieces of flesh. Raditz thrashed and shook like an enraged bull, but the grip of the sharp teeth and powerful jaws was too strong, even for the powerful Saiyan to handle quickly. The hungry creatures managed to shove the huge Saiyan to the ground, as they continued to eat away at him. Raditz screamed and shouted, as one of them started biting at his face.
Journa was alternating between crying and growling, as two more rabbit-eared beings joined their friends in dining upon her body. The sharp-toothed attackers showed no mercy for either of their victims, as they bit and gnawed at them here and there.
As they struggled against their assailants, the Saiyans knew that they would have to work fast. They wriggled and writhed, trying to concentrate enough to raise their ki levels to throw the ferocious little beasts off of them before it was too late.
Ruli sat down at the gray table in the visitors' room nervously awaiting the arrival of the infamous Prince Vegeta and Nappa. Chief Gohan hadn't liked the idea of leaving her alone with the two Saiyans, but Ruli insisted that if Matis Squatt and Ayala Tirstyn were allowed to see Vegeta and Nappa alone, then she should be allowed to do the same. Chief Gohan had reluctantly allowed her to be alone with them, but only on the condition that a guard would be outside of the visitors' room, should she need protection.
Ruli fiddled nervously with her hidden scouter, as the huge, orange prison guard known to her as only Boja escorted Prince Vegeta and Nappa into the visitors' room. The Saiyans were wearing plain, beige shirts and trousers with numbered badges on the fronts, typical Intergalacticpol prison garb. Following behind them was the guard who resembled a pile of dung known as Wrinks.
"You sure that you want to be left alone with these primates, cutie?" Boja asked the girl in a cooing voice. "These two beasties here might ravish your lovely body the moment that we leave you alone with them."
"I can handle myself," Ruli told him confidently.
Boja chuckled, finding the redheaded Ruli attractive. "If you think that you can handle a couple of apes, sweet'ums, then maybe I should take you out for a date sometime? I've always had a thing for humanoid redheads; you do have a sweet body, if not very well-endowed."
Ruli told him icily, "I'd sooner go out with Vegeta or Nappa than with a haystack with an overly inflated opinion of himself."
Boja glared at her, as Vegeta and Nappa chuckled. Vegeta smirked, liking the girl's spirit. Happy to see Boja put in his place, both Saiyans confidently walked over to the seats across from Ruli. Boja and Wrinks continued to hang around.
"Could we get some privacy, please?" Ruli asked them edgily.
"C'mon, Boja, let's go," Wrinks told his colleague.
"Fine with me. If the sharp-tongued girlie here wants to be alone with two apes who would just try to get it on with her, she's welcome to them," Boja sneered nastily, as he walked out of the room with Wrinks. Ruli, Vegeta, and Nappa were relieved to see the men go.
"I have some good news for you guys," Ruli told the Saiyans after Wrinks and Boja were safely out of earshot.
"And what good news would that be?" Vegeta inquired. "And just who are you anyway?"
Ruli smiled. "A friend."
"We don't have friends," Nappa told her curtly. "Not many anyway."
"Oh, you'll think of me as a friend after I tell you my news," Ruli told the two dangerous men sweetly. She bent her head down to the table and beckoned the Saiyans to follow her. Her confession, "I am a spy from Frieza," was revealed in a whisper.
The two Saiyans laughed loudly. "You, a spy?" Vegeta jeered. "Aren't you a bit young?"
"A tad," Ruli replied. "But I was trained under Narvo Norbrook, the Calmagian spy who was once general of the CRP, the one who mysteriously vanished. Frieza assigned me to take his place after my mentor vanished. You see, gentlemen, General Norbrook took very good care of me until he disappeared; my father, who was alive at the time, thought that Norbrook was training me for a job working as a technician for the CRP. Then when Father died, my uncle tried to marry me off to some bastard three times my age, but I fled from him, and Frieza assigned me to go to Astoria with the Astorians. But I'm sure that you guys really don't want to know my life history."
"Not particularly," Vegeta told her bluntly. "Though I personally like how you told off that imbecile, Boja. Now why are you really here?"
Ruli smiled again, ignoring Vegeta's previous rudeness. "Commander Zarbon has sent me with a message for you two."
"Let me guess: Frieza's leaving us here to rot," Nappa replied coldly. "I wouldn't be too surprised."
"Nope," Ruli told him brightly. "Not this time. Frieza has ordered Commander Zarbon, Commander Jaden, and Commander Diamonique to come rescue you three. They're on their way to Grain now, as we speak. An Intergalacticpol swanship is carrying them here, with the officers thinking that they are escaped sex slaves-"
Nappa interrupted her, laughing loudly at that last sentence. "Who in the universe would want Zarbon or Jaden for sex slaves, or even think that anyone would want them for sex slaves, I can't imagine!"
Vegeta chuckled. "Some people might mistake Zarbon for a sex slave. He looks effeminate enough."
Ruli couldn't help but smile. She had met both Commander Jaden and Commander Zarbon personally, and she couldn't help but agree with the Saiyans on their comments. But then Commander Jaden did know how to shape-shift, and Commander Zarbon was clever, if a bit too feminine for her liking. "Anyway, gentlemen, they are here to rescue you, and if I can get the codes to your collars, we might be able to free you two much sooner, before the trial."
"And if you can't?" Vegeta asked quietly.
"Then Commander Zarbon plans to fix the trial. He knows someone on the RIC."
"What about the Grainier mission?" Vegeta inquired. "Will that still be carried out?"
"Oh, once you guys are free, you will have to go right back to work, from what Commander Zarbon told me," Ruli replied. "And yes, you two still have to capture Prince Barley. I've met him once, and I personally think that Frieza's wasting his time. The boy is strong for a Grainier, but hardly worth the time being wasted on coming after him."
Vegeta privately thought so too, even though he himself had not met the Grainier prince. "He can't be that great, if they have to hire a bodyguard for him. Tayla Chloe's fame must spread wider than I suspected, for royals of a strange planet to make her their son's bodyguard. Not that it would do her any good, if I could get to Barley. I could easily take the girl now; she couldn't have become that much stronger, and I've been training harder ever since the last time we battled."
Nappa joked, "Not that my prince wishes to kill her now. Last time they fought, he wanted to take her to the next dimension; now, he just wants to take her to the next bedroom, eh, Vegeta?" He chuckled at his own words.
Vegeta shot him a deadly look, and Ruli kept her face carefully expressionless. Nappa quickly realized that no one was finding his tasteless joke funny. But Nappa's crack about Tayla kindled Ruli's new curiosity about Vegeta's interest in the famed Astorian princess.
"So you want Tayla Chloe for yourself?" Ruli dared to ask the Saiyan prince.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes and frowned at her, not answering her question. He still dreamt as much as ever about making his Astorian archenemy his new bed partner, but he wasn't about to elaborate on his fervent attraction to Tayla to this strange, impudent girl. His new interest in conquering Tayla sexually was none of Ruli's business.
Ruli took the hint and questioned no further about Vegeta's desire for Tayla. But she did permit herself a secret, smug smile. She suspected that Vegeta was more interested in Tayla than he let on; if he had no interest in her, he would have said so immediately.
*So Prince Vegeta wants Princess Tayla…hmm…this information just might come in handy. Too bad I can't let Dedron know what I really do for a living; he'd love to know this tidbit. He's hated Tayla's guts for years, he said. I just figured out the perfect revenge on Tayla for bullying me the way that she did…find her a pureblooded Saiyan master to play with her! Hehheh, well I'll just have to wait until Prince Vegeta and Nappa are freed, and then I'll be happy to lead Prince Vegeta straight to dear Tayla. *
"So is there any other pertinent information for us to know?" Vegeta asked.
Ruli told him no, leaving out the information about the orders to capture Kekron Chloe for now. She feared for Kekron's safety at the hands of the two Saiyans in front of her; she already knew well the past animosity between the Astorians and the Saiyans. She arose and said as steadily as possible, "Why don't I go ahead and examine your collars."
"Can you undo them at all?" Nappa asked, as Ruli began to inspect the workings of his collar.
"She already said no," Vegeta told him irritably. But he was only mildly annoyed, for now that the news had sunk in that he and Nappa would be rescued, he was relieved. He then grinned to himself; he would have a chance to avenge himself and Nappa against Bendros Sahara and Mikos Pearl for arresting them. They would finally be able to teach the Clan of Chloe a lesson that they would never forget, and complete the Grainier mission, so that Frieza would stay off of their backs. And, probably the best part of all, he would get to face Tayla Chloe once more. For the first time since he had laid eyes on the newly matured Astorian princess, Vegeta allowed his fantasy of obtaining her to become a realizable goal.
He chuckled softly to himself. *It won't be long, sweet little Tayla. Soon, princess, you and I will meet again…and this time I will be the one who conquers. I always keep my promises, Tayla Chloe, as you'll find out soon enough. Yes, princess, once I finish what I was supposed to do, you will be mine. *
But there were some things that he had to handle first. Acquiring his freedom for starters. He was not going to let the RIC convict him and Nappa. They were not going to Zelthar to become no better than slaves for the so-called side of good. He hated waiting, but right now, it was all that he could do. Matis Squatt and Ayala Tirstyn were sharp, intelligent attorneys, and they were pulling out all the stops to see that he and Nappa would not wind up imprisoned for life or executed. He would have to see that those two would be rewarded richly in some way.
But there was not much time left; the trial was only five days away, the trial that was supposed to determine his and Nappa's fates. Matis Squatt and Ayala Tirstyn had been working night and day to create the perfect defense for the Saiyans, but Vegeta knew that quite a bit of the fight for his and Nappa's lives would fall on him and Nappa themselves-and unfortunately, also on Zarbon, Jaden, and Diamonique. He hated to be indebted to the Top Elite officers for freeing him and Nappa, but right now there were no other options, and he knew it. Nevertheless, he could smell the faint scent of freedom coming closer and closer.
He became so deeply immersed in his thoughts that he paid no mind to Ruli carefully studying the workings of his collar.
It was Raditz who first gathered together all his power. He was through with the demons using him as a meal. He powered up, and a bright, blinding light burst forth from his muscular body. The force of the ki startled the ravenous creatures so much that they tore their teeth free of the Saiyan. When Raditz powered up further, the impact of his increasing energy blew the vicious beings off of his body. The little monsters scampered away from Raditz as quickly as possible.
The rabbit-eared attackers were terrified now, as Raditz raised his palm towards them. Orange light broke free of his palm and shot out in an electrifying ball towards the starving creatures. The long-eared assailants shrieks nearly busted the eardrums in Raditz's ears, as the crackling, burning ball of ki fried away their bodies. The light was blinding, and even Raditz had to cover his eyes, until the light dimmed.
Raditz's eyes were closed, so he didn't notice yet that Journa had thrown off her foes as well by powering up. Journa had shot two globes of ki from her hands, and they had exploded onto the enemies at the same time as Raditz's had. Raditz fired two more blasts to be on the safe side, and Journa fired three more, and both of them had to squeeze their eyes shut as blinding light engulfed the cavernous port.
When the light had faded, and the smoke had cleared, the large port was filled with the stink of rotting, burning flesh and ashes. Black and gray curls and puffs of smoke decorated the air. But the trouble wasn't over yet, for at that moment, hordes of hungry, long-eared creatures came rushing down two flights of stairs that were on opposite sides of the room.
"FOUKA! FOUKA! Wy aliv! GUI FOUKA!"
"My guess is that 'fouka' means food in their language!" Raditz called to his mate.
Journa had guessed so too, but she wasn't interested anymore in trying to decipher what their captors were saying. Instead, she was firing a series of small, but quick ki blasts at the rushing army of hungry people. Each blast burned away an attacker quickly, as a laser would fry a piece of fruit.
Journa then crossed her wrists in an X position, and she balled her hands into fists, with two fingers (her index and middle fingers) of each fist standing up, until her fists resembled the heads of rabbits.
As more of the horrendous beings ran towards her, she screamed, "FOUR FINGER FLASH!" and four red ki lasers shot out from her four pointing fingers and crashed into the entire section of long-eared creatures, disintegrating all of them at once.
Meanwhile, Raditz had used two huge, electrifying ki balls to reduce his enemies to piles and piles of goop and ashes. Within the next twenty minutes, more of the foes came dashing down those two flights of stairs, but all of them quickly met the same fate. And after ten more minutes, there wasn't a living creature left in the huge room, except for Raditz and Journa.
After five more minutes there was silence, as Raditz and Journa checked their scouters to detect any more signs of life. None were detected. The Saiyan newlyweds knew then that they were alone on the battleship. And it was only then that they took time to examine their numerous, bleeding wounds. Their tails, arms, and legs were covered in bloody, jagged bite marks, and part of Raditz's face contained gory bite marks as well. Blood flowed freely from some of the injuries while it only seeped from a few. The weary Saiyans hobbled over to each other and embraced, holding each other tight, despite their severe bite wounds. Journa licked Raditz's face in sympathy, as he moaned. They wrapped their arms around each other's necks, as they stumbled slowly over to Raditz's pod, where the majority of their medical supplies were stored.
Within ten minutes, Raditz was sitting down with his back resting against the side of his pod, as he lovingly cleaned and tended to his mate's sores and injuries. Journa was sitting with her back facing towards her mate, as he slowly and carefully treated her. When he was done, she would do the same for him, and she had wanted him to be ministered to first, but Raditz had refused.
Raditz buried his nose in Journa's auburn hair, as he bandaged a wound on her shoulder. He turned his face and leaned his stubbly cheek against the back of her head. Journa turned towards him and nestled carefully into his chest. Raditz put a beefy arm around her and held her close.
"I need to take care of you now," she whispered.
"Not yet, Journ, not yet," Raditz told her hoarsely. "I'll be fine, 'less you object to me bleeding on you."
"Nah, but you're hurt worse than I am."
That was true, but Raditz still refused to move. "I've taken worse injuries," he persisted. He felt okay for now, just holding his mate close to him. Both of them closed their eyes wearily, allowing themselves a few minutes of rest.
"You okay, Journ?" Raditz moaned.
"Am now. Are you?"
"Am now that I'm holding you. I'm not hurt that badly."
"You're one of the worst liars that I know of, Raditz."
Raditz managed a feeble chuckle.
"I…tell you though, Journa, that…I'm not lying…when I say that I don't know what I would do, if I…lost you for good. You're everything to me, you…know that, right?" Like most Saiyan males, Raditz was more a man of action than a man of words, and he didn't express his affection to his mate verbally very often.
But Journa always knew that he cared for her, loved her, more than anything, even fighting. She murmured against her mate's chest. "'Course I do, Raditz. Never told you this, but…I never had any regrets 'bout defying my father and my brother to become your bonded mate. Not once did I ever think of leaving you for another. You're, you're my life…everything in the universe to me. I…could never care for anyone, as much as I care for you. You and Vegeta, and maybe Nappa, are the only people that I give a tail about…but you are definitely first…always." Her low voice was becoming sleepy.
Raditz smiled with what strength that he had, as he used his less injured hand to touch his mate's stomach. His scouter then beeped suspiciously, detecting a strange source of ki. His eyes widened, as he gently pressed his huge palm against Journa's flat stomach that was covered only with her armor.
Journa's stomach had always been flat, but something was not quite normal...
Raditz groaned heavily. He couldn't believe that he hadn't discovered this before. How could he have missed this? And his scouter only now just detected it?
He was too tired, however, to go into complete shock, so he said drowsily, "Journ, guess what?"
"What's that?"
"Um, check your scouter."
"O…kay," Journa said, puzzled, as she did-and learned what Raditz had.
"Oh…no," she said slowly, too slowly.
"Oh…yes," Raditz told her in a low tone. The knowledge was sinking in, as he rubbed Journa's metal-covered stomach once more.
Journa's stomach had always been nice, smooth, and flat.
But it wouldn't be flat for long.
Journa's eyes widened in worry and dismay.
"Oh, this can't be…it can't be…can it?"
Raditz nodded worriedly; it hit him full throttle what he and Journa had just noticed, after all this time. He and his wife, his mate, tried to remain calm, but panic was starting to seep in, like water oozing through a crack in a pipe.
He and Journa would not be returning to Frieza alone.
Journa was pregnant.