A/N: Well, here's chapter 29. Thanks to iluvthemusizinmyhead, Laania, Emerald Gaze, Ryo-chan wolfgirl, DBZTomboy, and Super Sayain nyan cat for the review on chapter 28. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of the characters, Akira Toriyama does.
...
Nappa sat in the lower level mess hall stuffing his face. The food hadn't improved in the least but since he would no longer have to endure meals with that blasted Parithian female, it seemed especially delicious. He didn't have to put up with her presence ever again, the bitch was gone! Gone for good this time.
Raditz was past due to have returned but if he valued his hide at all he'd give up searching for the woman and get back to the baseship.
...
Lornai exited the launching bay to a chorus of hoots and catcalls. In her haste to get back to the baseship, she hadn't changed her clothing from the bit of nothing she'd worn at the slave auction. Raditz was none too pleased with the crew's reaction, only Lornai's insistence had kept him from blasting everyone who made a suggestive remark or so much as gaped at her. And as luck would have it, Zarbon and Captain Ginyu were right in her path. The jaws of both men dropped at the sight of her attire.
"Lovely outfit, Lornai. I believe I've had my entertainment for the day" Zarbon commented sarcastically.
"What's the matter? Does Frieza pay you so little, you had to pick up some work on your time off?" Ginyu snickered.
"No, YOUR MOTHER has the claim on all that sort of work in this part of the galaxy, Gin-phew" Lornai responded.
"WHAT! You little..." Ginyu started.
" That's enough out of both of you!" Zarbon cut in. "Do put on some appropriate clothing, Commander Lornai.
He was using her title again, probably not exactly thrilled with her appearance Lornai thought as she headed for her quarters...
...
Raditz appeared in the lower level mess hall. Nappa smirked as he quickly picked up that the young Saiyan was upset about something. The burly bald Saiyan was leisurely eating his food as there was no one to order him about for the moment. Of course he would feign shock when the female elite was reported missing. Raditz sat down. Nappa waited for the third-class to inform him of the Parithian woman's disappearance.
Nappa took a long sip of his drink as he prepared to relish the moment to come. Suddenly he began to choke and gag as someone he thought he would NEVER see on baseship 37 again sauntered into the mess hall... The Parithian female!
'WHAT THE HELL? THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! How is that bitch BACK AGAIN?' Nappa thought as he struggled to breathe again.
"What's wrong with you, Nappa? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Raditz exclaimed.
The color had drained from Nappa's face, he mumbled something incoherent as he backed away from the table. How could she possibly have escaped from the Kamorian slavers? She HAD to be a witch! There was no other explanation. What was he going to do now?
"Nappa, go see Appule immediately! That's a direct order!" Lornai commanded. The Saiyan elite was trembling and pale, there was no telling what he'd gotten into during her absence.
Nappa staggered to the medical bay. Maybe this was all just a horrible dream and he'd wake up and that plague of a female would be gone.
"Speaking of Appule, did you see him about those drugs the Kamorians pumped you full of?" Raditz questioned as the female elite seated herself.
"Yes, right before I came in here. The Kamorians had merely used some extremely potent sedatives that weakened me temporarily. I slept most of it off on the way back here from Shilegas", Lornai replied.
"Still think Frieza shouldn't be told what happened on Shilegas?" the long-haired Saiyan asked.
"Trust me, it would be considered just our carelessness", the female elite cautioned.
"So be it then. I'm glad you're not wearing those two strips of cloth anymore. I thought I was going to have to take out half the launching bay crew with the way they were carrying on!" the son of Bardock huffed.
"You could have walked in front of me, you know", Lornai suggested.
" Yeah but..." Raditz started.
"But what?"
"I was kind of enjoying the view", the young Saiyan chuckled as he ducked the fist that was aimed at him.
...
"Well it appears that your earlier treatment managed to flush the remainder of the drugs out of your system", Appule announced as he completed the last of several tests on Lornai.
"Good. Now what's going on with Nappa?" the Parithian female demanded.
"He seems to have witnessed some horrible event. Maybe one of the purges finally got to him" the blue reptilian medic suggested. "I gave him something to calm his nerves. He should be back to his regular self shortly." Lornai grimaced at the thought.
"I know", Appule sighed.
Zarbon's voice came over Lornai's scouter. "Lornai, report to the briefing room and bring the monkeys with you".
A low growl came from the Parithian at Zarbon's final words.
"Do be careful where you do that", Appule warned.
...
When Lornai and the two Saiyans arrived at the briefing room, the Ginyu Force was already gathered there. And of course, Zarbon and Dodoria. Captain Ginyu was showing off a new pose he had choreographed when his boot slid against the floor making a rather embarrassing noise.
"Really, Gin-poot! What ARE they serving in the elite mess hall these days?" Lornai taunted.
Raditz and Nappa snickered, Zarbon covered his mouth barely concealing his amusement and Burter and Guldo earned an evil glare from their captain as they fought to keep serious expressions on their faces. Even Dodoria chuckled.
"Lornai, you and your team are to go to planet Chalor within two hour's time. It will be a four day trip each way. Your mission is to locate a lost shipment of tritaninium. Once it is located we will send retreival bots to bring it back to the ship". Zarbon commanded.
"Why not send them in the first place instead of ignorant monkeys?" growled Jeice.
Zarbon sighed, "Our retrieval bots are not capable of sustaining their working capability more than an hour or two due to the extreme temperatures found on Chalor".
"Too hot for 'em, huh?" Nappa huffed.
"Chalor is an ice planet", Lornai informed him.
"Better you than me", Ginyu smirked.
"I know I'm better than YOU. But thanks for admitting it, Gin-poo!" the female elite mocked.
"No wonder that woman can't step into a bar without getting into a fight!" Dodoria muttered.
"That's NOT true, Dodoria! I step into the bar just fine. It's after I get past the door that the trouble starts!" Lornai teased.
"Laugh it up while you can, Woman. We 've got an assignment that'll wipe that stupid smile right off your face", the purple-skinned leader of the Ginyu Force warned.
Lornai raised an eyebrow as Ginyu gave Jeice a conspiratorial wink. What were those two up to?
"Ay! Don't worry Lornai! If it gets too cold for ya on Chalor, just knit ya a blanket from that mop of his!" Jeice chortled as he pointed to Raditz.
...
Chalor was a planet of huge snow capped mountains and great expanses of barren land covered with a thick sheet of snow and ice. A single tiny sun shed its' pitiful rays on the frozen planet. Lornai and the Saiyans had spent two days in the bitter cold searching for the elusive object of their mission.
"Why are we on this Kami forsaken ice-cube again?" Nappa snarled. The cold air stung his eyes and tiny icicles hung from his goatee.
"We're here to find that lost shipment of tritaninium. Frieza is determined that it comes back to the baseship". Lornai replied.
The Saiyan elite snorted at her answer, he HATED cold weather. This planet of snow and ice was for blasted Ice-jins not Saiyans! The night was even worse than the morning hours, a thick blanket of darkness wrapped around the planet pierced only by one small moon. And the already frigid temperature dropped to a dangerous level keeping the team huddled in the specially designed tents brought along for just that purpose. It infuriated Nappa that the long-haired Saiyan was sharing the Parithian's tent and didn't care in the least that he knew about it.
The former Saiyan general glared at Raditz who stood patiently in the freezing wind awaiting orders from the Parithian female. It was no wonder the third-class wasn't chilled to the bone, he had a built-in blanket with his absurd amount of hair.
And then there was that damned bitch who was prancing about the frozen ground as if she were an Ice-jin princess. While he and Raditz wore their regular armor with thickly padded insulated body suits beneath the armor. The female elite wore silver and white armor with a form fitting body suit made of plush white thermal material. A hood trimmed with luxurious silvery-gray glatara fox fur protected her face. White fur-lined boots and gloves completed her ensemble. None other than King Cold had gifted her with the special clothing and armor.
"What's so important about this tritaninium crap anyway?" Nappa snarled.
"It is a VERY valuable mineral that Frieza wants recovered", the golden-skinned female informed the disgruntled Saiyan.
"Let's split up and check the eastern sector!" Lornai ordered.
"Is it safe to split up?" Raditz questioned, concern evident in his voice.
"There's no reported life-forms on this planet. It was once used for mineral mining but a severe climate change turned it into what it is today. A crew transporting the tritaninium crash landed here three days before we were sent out. It's highly unlikely that we'll find any survivors but the mineral has to be sent back to baseship 37. Now let's split up so we can cover more ground", the female elte advised.
'Great, We'll freeze in the air instead of on the ground' Nappa thought in disgust as the trio flew off in separate directions.
Some thing glinted in the snow as Lornai surveyed the bleak landscape below her. Scraps of melted metal were scattered about the frozen ground.
"Nappa, Raditz, Report to coordinates cr377423. I've found remnants of a ship", Lornai informed the two Saiyans.
Moments later, Nappa and Raditz landed at the ordered coordinates. The Parithian female was a short distance away. When the two males reached her, they found her kneeling next to the frozen remains of the crew of the ill-fated craft that had crash-landed on Chalor.
"They weren't equipped to handle this climate", Lornai sighed as she rose to her feet and disposed of the remains with a quick ki-blast.
"Let's search in the immediate area to see if the tritaninium is undamaged", the female officer commander.
"If the ship was destroyed, how would that damn mineral still be here?" Nappa barked. He wanted to get off of this over-sized snowball of a planet.
"The shipment was encased in trasolyn, it's virtually indestructible. But not entirely impossible to destroy. I imagine the force of the explosion sent it flying off somewhere when the craft crashed. Hopefully, the shipment is still intact" Lornai mused. "So let's search..on foot".
Raditz smirked as Nappa erupted into a string of curses as he stomped across the icy surface of Chalor.
Lornai broke into a smile as she found a huge gray oblong container lying in the snow at the edge of an enormous crevasse. She'd have to check for damage and she'd best be careful about it. A huge cliff was on the opposite side of the yawning chasm that was piled with a massive amount of snow that could come crashing down upon her.
Nappa reached the area Lornai was investigating first. A smile of pure malevolence crossed his face as he saw an opportunity to rid himself of the Parithian female. He raised his hand and aimed a ki blast at the top of the snow piled cliff above her...
Raditz landed on the frozen surface just in time to feel the ground tremble as a nightmarish mass of snow swiftly poured down to where the Parithian female was examining some sort of container. The long-haired Saiyan screamed out a warning but the extreme speed of the avalanche sent the female over the side of the crevasse.
An unearthly howl came from the young third-class as the Parithian female disappeared. Nappa smiled inwardly, finally he was rid of the blasted Parithian bitch! And the best part of it was that it would seem like an unfortunate accident.
...
"I can't wait to see that damned Lornai's face when we get back to the baseship!" Ginyu chortled.
"Oy! She's in for one hellva surprise!" Jeice agreed...
...
Raditz was frantically digging through the snow as Nappa repeatedly berated him that the female elite couldn't possibly have survived the crushing amount of snow that had buried her.
A faint purple glow began to appear as Raditz scraped back the snow, Nappa snapped his head around as he heard a cry from the long-haired Saiyan.
Lornai was lying on a small shelf of rock a few feet down from the edge of the crevasse surrounded by a purple ki envelope. It had protected her from the falling snow which had roared past her into the crevasse.
Raditz carefully pulled her to safety. Nappa's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. How many damned lives did the blasted female have?
"A-are you hurt?" the Saiyan stammered as he began to examine her for possible injuries.
"I'm fine, I couldn't generate that much ki for long. Thank Kami, you found me!" Lornai gasped as she threw her arms around the Saiyan male's neck.
Raditz wrapped his arms around her, his grip tightening as he realized how close he'd come to losing her. He lifted her face up to his.
"I..I wanted to do this somewhere special but I've almost lost you several times now. I don't know how much time we'll have together but...but for the time we do have..." the third-class choked out.
"Raditz, What are you saying?" Lornai asked.
" L-Lornai, Would you...would you be my mate?" Raditz asked.
The Parithian female bowed her head. Raditz swallowed hard, trying to rid himself of the lump that had seemingly formed in his throat. She wasn't going to accept him. She was going to refuse him! His chest hurt, moisture threatened to spill from his eyes...
Lornai looked up at him, tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Are you sure, Raditz?"
"Y-You're the one I want, Lornai. W-Will you accept me? Will you be my mate?"Raditz repeated shakily.
A brilliant smile lit the female elite's face. " Yes, Raditz. I accept you. I'll be your mate".
Raditz's eyes went wide. He leapt to his feet and swung the Parithian female around in a dizzying circle. The Saiyan victory cry tore from his lips. Losing his balance, Raditz fell into the snow carrying the female with him. Lornai burst into laughter at the Saiyan male's antics.
Nappa shook his head at the two bakas that were rolling around, laughing in the snow. What the hell had gotten into those two?
...
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So, how was it? Let me know, guys.
