Chapter 53-System Command

"Hui's ship's left planet Loth." Gohan said, his eyes quickly roving over the print on the screen. He ran a hand through his messy hair before dropping it back to his side.

Piccolo's eyes opened at the comment, but he otherwise didn't move from his meditative position in the corner. "Where is he headed?"

"It doesn't say what his destination is," Gohan responded, "but he's coming toward us."

"Will we cross him?" His eyes narrowed at the thought.

"Not if we don't shift our trajectory a bit." He answered, and already his fingers were flying over the controls.

"Do it." Piccolo closed his eyes again. "Kurenai said not to engage yet."

Gohan grinned. "For someone who was so against taking orders from her, you're doing it well."

Piccolo snorted. "I'm not doing it because she ordered it. I'm doing it because it makes sense. If Bulma really made a device that can block the Meiyochi, then we're definitely going to need it. It wouldn't hut to wait until Vegeta gets here before we fight Hui in any case, no matter what Goku thinks about it."

Gohan chuckled. "Yeah, dad was pretty down when he heard Vegeta was coming too. Something about a bet."

"Knowing those two, there's no telling." Although Piccolo's eyes were still closed, Gohan could practically see them roll behind their green lids. "Did you know they played rock paper scissors to see who was going to fight the final battle against Majin Buu?"

Gohan laughed out loud. "That doesn't surprise me."

The scouter in Gohan's pocket suddenly started beeping. "Hm?" After a momentary pause of confusion, Gohan quickly fished it out and looked at the number. He furrowed his eyebrows when he didn't recognize it, but he flipped it open anyway. "Hello?"

"You're making good time in your trajectory to Hui's starship, I trust?" A smooth female voice came over the line.

"Uh, yes." Across the room, Piccolo's eyes popped open. "Is this…uh…?"

"Kurenai." The voice supplied.

Gohan blanched and glanced nervously to his mentor. The older man merely took stood and took a few steps closer—clearly with the intention of eavesdropping. Gohan frowned at his lack of help. Somehow the idea of having a phone conversation with the Empress made him nervous. "Oh. Uh…hi."

"Yes." She said with some humor in her voice before adding in a drawl. "Hi." Gohan hardly had time to process the oddly toned greeting before Kurenai had begun. "I've called with news, and I figured it was right to tell you directly."

"Oh. Umm…okay." Gohan shrugged at Piccolo whose gaze was fixed on the contraption as if that might help him to hear more clearly.

"Hui's starship is heading to Earth."

"WHAT?!" Gohan yelled, nearly crushing the scouter in his surprise. Piccolo winced at the pitch.

Kurenai coughed. "Yes, you heard right. Hui has apparently decided that his Saiyan, Nox, needs to breed in order to build his army, and he is taking Nox to Earth to select a mate."

"Wha…how…that's sick!" Gohan exclaimed. "How do you even know this?"

"I have my sources." Her voice was calm and collected. "There's no need for alarm, though."

"No need for—"

"At the speed at which Hui's giant starship travels, it won't reach Earth for four to five weeks." Kurenai said. "Surely you will intercept them before then."

Gohan glanced at the ship's control panel. "Yeah. Yeah probably. When will—"

"They switched pods on Nara just several hours ago. I've ordered them to land on planet Viora to meet you. I'm sending you the coordinates." A beep on Gohan's scouter alerted him to the arrival of her message. A second beep alerted him to the fact that she'd hung up. Gohan blinked and stared at the scouter for a moment. "Hm." He then turned to Piccolo. "I guess we're changing course. Again."


Vegeta stared stonily out of his large window. The city stretched out below, before, and above him with glimmering lights and exciting sounds. He hardly saw it.

His frame was still, tense, deceptively calm. Inside, he was a hurricane. Thoughts raced through his head with no sense of order or direction. Even he could hardly make sense of what he was thinking.

It had to be his. There was no question of that. Tarble wouldn't dare…But what could Bulma have been thinking? At a time like this? Right when…Where did Hui get off threatening him like that? Demanding his obedience?...Obedience…Trunks had better still be on Iro. It would be just like him to steal a ship and fly off in search of action…And damn Kakarott. He wasn't sure why. But there was a reason. He knew it.

A low growl built in his throat, and he spun away from the window trying to put his racing thoughts in order. In three quick strides, he'd reached the fireplace. The large, stone fireplace was glowing with an oddly blue-tinted fire fueled by some mineral that Vegeta couldn't place. The odd rocks may have been similar to what the Loups used as fuel, but he wasn't sure. Nor did he care.

It was cold. Space was always so cold.

Or maybe it was Hui. He still hadn't lowered his power-level, assuming—rightly as it was—that his own personal Saiyan could somehow sense it and would be frightened into submission. It was sickening. So dark and sadistic. So overwhelmingly powerful.

Despite the lights and sounds below, Vegeta could tell that the starship was more subdued than usual this night. Clearly Vegeta wasn't the only person aboard who could sense the spoiled Emperor's power level. He was sure that many of the citizens were laying low, hiding in their homes with curtains drawn. No doubt they were terrified at what could have caused the Emperor to display his power so. Knowing the young Emperor's volatile personality as well as they most obviously did, they were likely also fearful of what the repercussions would be for them. Somehow, Vegeta wouldn't put it past Hui to kill a city full of his own people out of sheer anger.

Vegeta continued to wonder. Hui was nothing if not volatile. The fact that a simple piece of news could set him off so quickly reminded Vegeta a lot of another spoiled warlord who he'd rather not name. It was frustrating though. Hating Hui so much and wanting nothing more than to kill him, but being constantly reminded of the man's incredible power. If Vegeta had had illusions about defeating Hui on his own, he'd quickly abandoned them after Hui's stunt in the dining room.

The raging fire in the fireplace didn't seem warm enough, so he threw a few more of the rocks onto the fire. They cracked under the heat, and steam escaped them with sharp hisses.

He stared at them for a moment before dropping into the large chair before the fireplace. He laced his fingers across his stomach and simply stared.

He would never know it, but his father had once sat just like that—in a large plush chair facing a glowing fire. A scowl had been on the elder Vegeta's face back them, just like the one now on his son's. He'd been contemplating how to bring about the death of a warlord so as to keep his people—and his son—free from slavery.

He didn't live to see his dreams come to fruition.


The ship was quiet. It was hard to tell time in the middle of space. Flying in a continuous night was bizarre, disquieting, eerie even. The lights in the halls were dim, but the control room was lit up bright as day. Several days had passed since Kurenai's call, and they were due to land on planet Viora in only several hours. According to Gohan, Vegeta and Midori should have already landed there and were probably waiting for them.

Yamcha didn't know how Piccolo managed to stay in this room for as long as he did. It seemed as though lately, the Namek was found meditating in the corner of the control room almost every second of the day. Yamcha supposed that not needing to eat had its perks, but it must get boring never moving, rarely speaking, and constantly meditating.

Yamcha himself could hardly stave off his boredom. They had all decided to take turns manning the control room and the communicator just in case Kurenai or someone called with more news on Hui's whereabouts. Or in case Hui's ship turned. They certainly didn't want to run into him. They also didn't want to lose him.

Yamcha had wondered at the accounts of the notorious emperor being fickle, whimsical, and childish at first. After seeing his reactions at the tournament, though, Yamcha was fairly convinced that those accounts were spot on. It wasn't out of the question, therefore, that Hui would suddenly change his mind and alter his course.

Yamcha marked another X on his paper, and in so doing won his 437th game in a row of tic-tac-toe…against himself. With a sigh of boredom and a wistful glance at his silent friend across the room, he began drawing another grid.

Suddenly, the control panel started beeping.

Yamcha glanced at Piccolo again. The Namek's eyes were open now, staring with no small amount of nervousness at the control panel. This had never happened before.

The words "incoming call" began flashing in green on the screen before Yamcha. Piccolo stood, and inched his way cautiously across the room as if the screen itself might be a danger.

Neither of them reached for the button that would answer the call.

After a few moments the screen clicked on anyway startling both of them. "Soldiers, have you forgotten how to answer calls?" An irritated voice bellowed through the link.

Piccolo and Yamcha stared into the angered face of what must have been a Tik commanding officer.

Light green eyes, set into a red, scaly face, narrowed as the man studied Piccolo and Yamcha. The man bore marks on his gray and black uniform. During the course of the tournament, Yamcha and Piccolo had come to learn that those marks were ranks. If they remembered correctly, this man should be a low-level elite. "Why are you not in uniform?" The man asked. "And where is Captain Jural, your commander."

Yamcha was quite certain that Piccolo could hear his heart pounding. He wondered if the two Tik soldiers on the other end of the link could hear it as well. "Uhh…" He sent a nervous glance to Piccolo.

Piccolo thinking fast, stepped forward. "Unfortunately, he did not make it off the planet we were sent to bring under control."

The man frowned, and another soldier leaned into the screen and, sending only a precursory glance to the two Earth fighters, told the commander. "This was the ship sent to follow up on those Krimzon space pods who had breached Tauran territory." The second soldier's furry pug face scrunched up in disapproval as he turned and studied the two men on the other side of the screen.

The green eyes man's eyes narrowed further at the news. "If your commander was killed, why did you not report it?" He asked, but rather than waiting for a response from the two Earth fighters, he lifted a small handheld computer, and staring at something on the screen, continued. "And what are your identification numbers? You don't look like any of the soldiers in the squadron that was sent there."

Beside the green-eyed soldier, the other stared suspiciously at them before mumbling something containing the word "familiar" and beginning to type on a panel below the screen.

Piccolo and Yamcha, however, were searching for an explanation. "We uhh…"

Suddenly, the door slid open behind them, and Goku walked in, clad in only his boxers and with an armload of snacks. If at all possible, his hair was even messier than usual. He'd clearly just rolled out of bed. "'Morning, guys, do you think there might be a gravity simulator—oh hey…" Goku stopped in his tracks to stare at the two Tik soldiers on the screen. "Who's this?"

Piccolo and Yamcha shot him alarmed looks before looking back to the screen.

Somewhat disturbingly, the green-eyed man had begun smirking. "Well, well." He said, rubbing the bottom of his chin. "I can hardly believe my luck. Imagine, Krey," He said to the man beside him. "Calling on a routine check-in, and finding Kurenai's new 'dream team.'" He chuckled slightly before cocking a scaled eyebrow at them. "I suppose when you hijacked that ship, you didn't expect that we would find out."

The three fighters from earth merely stared at each other nervously, not knowing what to say.

On the screen, the second soldier had begun typing rapidly.

"You probably also didn't expect," The green-eyed commander continued, and as if on cue, the lights in the Earth fighter's ship went out. Emergency lighting activated, leaving the room dim and shadowy. "That we could override your system." A satisfied smirk crept onto his face. "Sit tight right where you are." The man said as the three sent nervous looks around the now darkened room. "Someone will be along to escort you to his excellency shortly. Oh," He smirked. "and don't bother trying to escape. Teleportation blockers are activated, and the ship is rigged to self destruct if any of the windows or ports are opened. I imagine, not even a Super Saiyan can survive in space for long with no oxygen."

And then the screen went black.

"Umm…" Goku looked at the other two. The snacks in his arm were momentarily forgotten, as the reality of the situation set in. "Soo…"

Piccolo groaned and slapped a hand over his eyes. "We were so close." He dropped his hand in frustration and glared at the now-dead screen.

"What?" Yamcha gasped, sending panicked looks between his friends. "You're not giving up are you? We can still get out. We have space suits. Even if the ship explodes, we can still escape."

"And do what? Fly through space in our space suits until our oxygen runs out or we run into another Tik ship?" Piccolo asked. "We're too far into Tik territory now to find a friendly planet to escape to."

Yamcha turned to the control panel. The normally colorful buttons were now all dark. He tried pressing a few. "Damn. It really is shut down."

"Do you think you could rewire it?" Piccolo asked.

"Who me?" Yamcha asked. "Do I look like an alien rocket scientist to you?" Nonetheless, he knelt down below the control panel anyway and took a look at the wires underneath. After a few moments, he got back to his feet. "I have no idea what any of this does."

Goku frowned. "Maybe Gohan will know?" He suggested.
"Doubtful." Yamcha said before sighing. "But it doesn't hurt to try."


From a haze of sleep, Trunks recognized the sound of beeping. His first thought was that it was his alarm, but upon cracking open an eye and noting the lack of light coming through his window, he quickly ruled that option out. He simply groaned and dug his face further into his pillow.

The beeping didn't stop, and the pillow was doing little to muffle the noise. "Ugh!" Trunks threw his covers back and sat up, looking around the room in annoyance. "Where is it?" His eyes trailed of their own accord to his doorway, and with a sigh, he pulled himself out of his bed. He stumbled up the stairs and into the living room—instantly spotting his mother's communicator on the table. "How can she not hear this?" He grumbled, glaring at his parents' bedroom door—only several feet away.

Nonetheless, he picked up the communicator. "This had better not be Goten." He groused before flipping it open. "Hello?"

"Trunks!" Gohan's voice came excitedly from the other end of the line. "Thank Dende! Is Bulma there?"

"Yeah," Trunks said none-too-pleasantly. "But it's the middle of the night. She's asleep." He made sure to stress the last word obviously.

Trunks might have expected an apology. What he got in reply however was. "Wake her up. It's an emergency."

"Seriously?" Trunks groused. "You want me to wake her up? Do you know how crabby she is?"

"Just do it, Trunks." Gohan ordered.

Trunks sighed in frustration, but turned and trudged over to his mother's door. "Moooom." He called while knocking loudly. He sighed again in annoyance, and opened the door himself. "Mom. Mom, wake up." He called, crossing the room to the bed and tapping his slumbering mother's shoulder.

She finally rolled over and cracked her eyes open slightly. "What?" She asked groggily. What is it Trunks? It's the middle of the night. Are you sick or something?"

"No." Trunks said. "Gohan's on the phone. He says it's an emergency."

"Gohan?" Bulma slowly sat up and ran a hand through her hair. Clearly trying to make herself alert, she took the phone from Trunks. "Gohan? What's up?"

"Hey Bulma, sorry for waking you up. We've got a situation here."

Bulma could instantly tell by the tone of his voice that the situation was rather serious. It made her instantly awake. "What's going on?"

"Well, you knew we hijacked a Tik ship right?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah, I'd heard about that."

"Well here's the thing. The Tik found out about it, and they've overridden our controls. We're completely shut down, and the ship's wired to blow if we try to escape. Apparently, some other Tik ships are coming to 'escort' us to Hui."

"Oh Kami." Bulma whispered, earning a nervous look from Trunks. "Okay, what can I do?"

"Do you think you can help us get back online?"

"I can try." She said, finally pulling herself out of bed and heading into the living room. Trunks, now fully awake as well, was right on her heels. "Can you put on the video?"

"Sure thing." Gohan said. "Thanks for this, Bulma."


Vegeta was practicing his katas in the elaborate, sparsely-used training rooms in the lower levels of Hui's floating castle. He'd found this room several days ago, and had taken to coming here to work off some steam. It certainly had nothing to the gravity chamber or an all-out spar with Kakarott, but it was the best he could do.

He spun gracefully with a perfectly-executed kick. He was perfectly concentrated. The outside world was nothing at the moment. There was no war, there was no terrifying prospect of another baby, there was no worry. It was just him and the dance. It was peaceful.

The sound of the training room door sliding open sent the world crashing back to him, and he knew without turning who he would find. No one had such perfectly bad timing quite like Fenn.

Vegeta continued his movements, ignoring the man who was most likely leaning on the doorway with a smirk on his face.

"You know…" Fenn's voice drifted across the room, and Vegeta couldn't help noting the ironic note in it. "I heard the strangest thing today. Incidentally it was a report that came to Hui about an hour ago."

Vegeta continued with his kata, completely ignoring the man behind him.

"It seems," Fenn's voice came again. "That Kurenai's Saiyan team hijacked a Tauran ship several days ago."

Vegeta faltered, and knowing that his charade was up, finally turned to look at Fenn. He was just as he'd imagined him—leaning cockily on the wall. The smirk, however was missing, replaced by a carefully calculating look.

Vegeta said nothing, simply staring at Fenn and waiting for him to continue his story.

"Our command central discovered this on a routine check in a few hours ago. They have locked the hijacked ship's control panel, and our ships are closing in as we speak to capture them." Fenn paused for a moment. Vegeta's face was carefully blank, but inside, he was cursing at them all for their stupidity. "They have been trying to override the block on the controls." He continued after a moment. "But their efforts will inevitably fail. In several hours, they will be in our custody."

Vegeta stared at him blankly for a few moments longer, before he finally spoke. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well," Fenn began, pushing off the wall and taking a few steps further into the room. "Hui is rather excited to…meet them, and so he is taking a cruiser and flying out to meet with the ships that will be carrying the Saiyans. I wondered if you would like to come along."

Vegeta blinked, and a sneaking uneasiness began to creep over him. He squashed it away, however. It wasn't really a choice. He needed to be on that ship. "I would." He answered simply.

Fenn grinned. "I thought so." He said. "Go get ready. We're leaving as soon as Hui finishes his bath." With that, Fenn spun on his heel and exited the training room.


"Anything yet?" Bulma asked.

"No." Gohan and Yamcha answered simultaneously. "Nothing."

Bulma sighed and looked around herself. She was sitting in Kurenai's throne room now in a hastily thrown-together outfit. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and her eyes were red from lack of sleep. A cup of coffee sat before her and each of the engineers and technicians who had been hurriedly called in to solve the problem.

Kurenai stood behind the table of scientists, arms crossed, and a worried look on her face. She hadn't said a word, however, knowing that this was a problem that she could not solve. It was no secret to anyone that the fate of these five fighters was very important for the fate of the universe. Fittingly, a thick air of tension had settled over the room, refusing to lift. Bulma hadn't seen a single scientist touch their coffee. They were all too nervous at the situation. Bulma's stomach was twisting into knots—and not really for the fate of the universe. Those were her friends. They were men she'd grown up with, and who she'd watched grow up. They had always been there for her. They had saved her so many times. And now they had called on her to save them. But she hadn't been able to do it. That had been evident almost from the beginning.

Trunks had been the one to call Kurenai, asking in a panicked voice for her advice on the issue. Kurenai had immediately ordered for Bulma to come to the palace—alone. Trunks had been upset at being left out, but Bulma had understood that it simply wasn't the place for him. In very quick words, she had reminded him that Iro wasn't Earth, and that neither she nor Vegeta wanted Trunks in any way involved with the war. With a quick hug and a kiss—which had left him blushing and embarrassed—she ran out the door.

Kurenai's car had been waiting for Bulma when she'd gotten down to the street, and Bulma had spent the car ride trying to find a way to override the block on the system. When she'd arrived at Kurenai's throne room, it was already swarmed with Iro's top scientists already briefed on the issue. A semicircular wooden table had somehow appeared in the room, and pens and paper were waiting before each chair. Moments later, a young man and woman came in offering coffee to all of the scientists.

Bulma hadn't had time to be impressed by how fast Kurenai had pulled things together. She had simply handed over the scouter to Kurenai on Kurenai's request, and in a moment the image that she had seen on the small device's screen had been projected before the wooden table for all the scientists to see.

Bulma wrapped her hands around her coffee mug. The coffee had long gone cold, but perhaps out of habit, she searched for that lingering warmth.

Another scientist gave Gohan and Yamcha another suggestion, simplifying the technical words, in such a way that would have ordinarily made Bulma laugh. She wasn't laughing now. "Pulling the blue wire" hadn't worked. "Switching the red and blue triangle things" hadn't either. Nor had reading any of the ship's system's coding and changing a few of the combinations helped anything.

Around the table, heads were bowed together, as the scientists frantically discussed possible ways to solve the problem. She knew that in the Krimzon control tower—that tall, looming building that she could just make out on the darkened horizon—another team was trying to hack into the ship's system. As Tik and Krimzon ships operated on entirely different systems, they were having no luck either.

Bulma was all out of ideas. She had tried everything. She simply wasn't familiar enough with Tik technology to possibly override such a complicated system. She looked up to the screen where her friends were all waiting—hopeful that their lives would be saved. They had put their faith in her, but she was doomed to fail.

Her eyes briefly met Gohan's—those wide, dark eyes. Those eyes spoke volumes about him—filled with his mother's love and spirit, his father's kindness and innocence, and his own brand of intelligence and wisdom. Whatever Gohan saw in Bulma's eyes, though, it was not what he wanted to see. Bulma knew what she'd showed him—that hopelessness and sorrow—an unspoken apology that she could do nothing more. She felt her eyes start to water, and Gohan quickly looked away.

Bulma looked down the table again. She had rarely felt like this before. Never had there been a problem that she absolutely couldn't solve. Had she been in the ship with them, perhaps she could have thought of a solution. Perhaps she could have fixed it. But here, so many light years away, seeing only what Gohan's small communicator allowed her to see, she could do nothing.

She heard a cry from the other end of the line, and instantly, all of the scientists in the room fell silent.

From the other end of the line, she could hear a voice—Krillin's voice—panicked and distraught. "They're here! There are three of them! Haven't you guys figured it out yet?"

It was Gohan who answered, in a voice that was resigned and far too emotionless for his age. "There's nothing we can do, Krillin." Krillin clearly wasn't the only one who was dismayed at the statement. Yamcha and Goku both briefly began arguing that there was certainly something to be done, but Gohan cut them off. "They've all done the best they can, but there's really nothing. Just think about it. If the Krimzon could override Tik ships' controls in only a few hours, don't you think they would have won the war already?"

That caused them all to fall silent.

"So what do we do?" Krillin asked.

Finally Piccolo's deep voice came into the conversation. "What we always do. We fight."

Gohan's deep, dark eyes came onto the screen again. "Thank you Bulma." He said sincerely. "And thanks to everyone else. We'll take it from here." From somewhere off screen, Bulma heard Yamcha announce that the Tik had turned on a Meiyochi. Then the link was cut.

Kurenai's throne room was in silence, and the feeling of failure was so heavy that no one seemed capable of movement. Slowly, Bulma leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. She had failed them. They had come to her and she had failed. "I'm sorry." She whispered, hoping that, somehow, her friends might feel it. Hot tears poured out of her eyes, and her shoulders started shaking with silent sobs. She whispered again. "Oh, Dende! I'm so sorry!"

Around her, the scientists sat silently out of respect for the men on the ship. They didn't know them. They'd never spoken to them before today, but most of the scientists were certain that they would be yet more casualties in this wretched war.


It had only taken a few minutes for the five men to put on their Krimzon uniforms and armor. With their Ki blocked already, they strapped their weapons to themselves and filed into the hall.

Still fiddling with buckles and buttons, the five Earth warriors stared around at each other. "Will they just shoot us down?" Krillin asked. His eyebrows furrowed in worry and he glanced around at the walls as if they might explode at any moment.

"If they haven't done it yet, they probably won't" Piccolo answered.

"Should we go out to meet them?" Yamcha asked, looking out of the hall's window toward where one of the ships was floating. "They've come out of their ships."

"They what?" Piccolo asked, following his gaze out of the window. Sure enough, dozens of Tik soldiers in their black spacesuits were filing out of the ship. Rather than lining up in anticipation of a fight, however, they were all moving toward the ship.

"Where are they going?" Yamcha asked.

Suddenly, the power on the ship flickered back on. They all jumped at the sudden flood of light, and looked around warily. "Bulma?" Yamcha suggested hopefully.

"No." Piccolo assured him.

"They must be trying to open the doors." Gohan said.

"If they're trying to get in, they want to take us alive." Piccolo concluded. "Gohan, come with me to the front door. Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha, you go to the airlock."

"Right." They all nodded, and a moment later, the hallway was empty save for the sound of retreating footsteps.

By the time, Goku, Krillin and Yamcha reached the airlock, it had already been opened. Already eight Tik soldiers were in the room waiting for them, and more were coming in.

The door of the room was standing open, and just as the three rounded the corner to come in, a shot fired out. "Ahh!" The three dodged aside, unintentionally separating themselves. The Tik soldiers wasted no time, charging out of the airlock room and into the hall between Goku and his two friends. More shots rang out, hitting the walls and the ceiling, and causing Goku to stumble farther back down the hallway, firing off shots with his blaster.

When Goku finally paused to take a look around, he realized that Yamcha and Krillin were not with him. The sounds of struggle further down the hallway alerted him to the fact that Krillin and Yamcha had somehow ended up on the other side of the Tik soldiers.

The Tik soldiers hadn't even bothered to take off their helmets, making them eerily faceless. They were not particularly strong fighters. Goku could tell that just by reading their Ki. But it would be difficult to take out so many of them—especially now that he was alone.

Goku raised his weapon and fired. The blast hit one of the soldiers head on and clipped a second. There were simply too many Tik soldiers crowded into the narrow hallway for any of them to dodge properly. He ran down the hall, firing off a few more blasts, until he came to a doorway. He punched the panel for the door, but it wouldn't open.

"What?!" He hit the panel again. Nothing happened. "Open!" He yelled at it, jumping back and firing his blaster at it. A hole was burned into the door. Goku could probably crawl through it. He would never know if he would have fit, however, for at that moment, the Tik soldiers who had, until then, been leisurely making their way down the hallway fired at him.

He somehow managed to dodge the brunt of the blasts, only suffering some burns on his bicep and thigh. He fired again at random, hitting another of the soldiers. He continued firing. Blast after blast, without stop. The Tik soldiers grabbed the bodies of their dead comrades and held them up as shields. Goku scowled, but continued firing, aiming for openings anywhere he could.

Another group of soldiers flooded into the hallway from the airlock room, raising the number of Tik soldiers to somewhere around 15.

He moved again toward the hole in the door, wondering how he could climb through it without getting shot in the process. The edges of the door were still red and melting. He hadn't thought of that. He might do more damage to himself trying to crawl through than the Tik would do.

Suddenly, somewhere down the hall, Krilin's shriek carried over the noise. "Yamcha!"

Goku glanced over the heads of the soldiers, but he could not see either of his friends.

The moment of distraction cost him, however.

In the chaos, he hadn't noticed that one of the soldiers had drawn a different gun. Another barrage of shots fired out. Goku tried to dodge, them but they were simply everywhere. Goku raised his arm to shield his face. Burning blasts hit his shoulders, chest and forearms, and oddly Goku felt something akin to a bee sting on his arm.

The shots stopped, and the Tik soldiers lowered their weapons. The soldiers had oddly lost interest in him, and were turning away to where he could still hear Krillin struggling with the soldiers.

Goku suddenly felt strange. He turned his arm slowly to look at the area where he felt the persistent stinging. Horror overcame Goku when he saw his arm. "A needle!" He screamed, yanking it out and throwing it down the hall. While his alarm at the needle was a bit exaggerated, there was indeed a good reason for alarm. Goku realized this a moment later, when the hallway seemed to tilt.

He reached out to the wall for support, but his movements were too sluggish. A moment later, his knees buckled and he felt himself falling. He crashed to the floor, jarring his shoulder. Around them, the hallway was still spinning and warping. His head was growing foggy.

"What…" He managed to whisper. "What was that?" And then everything went dark.


The news came during dinner. Hui had taken to having Vegeta at all of his meals. His power, still raised to terrifying levels, seemed to wilt the vegetables and make the food in general taste blander. Vegeta knew for certain that the lights flickered when Hui entered a room. Fenn had pointed it out to him, and he had looked for the flicker ever since.

Hui seemed certain that the massive display of power would keep his Saiyan in line. For the moment, it seemed to be doing the trick. Although he scowled and did not speak, Nox was doing as he was told.

Vegeta ate heartily of the spread of food before him, ignoring the spoiled Emperor that sat at the end of the table. The table on which they were eating was much smaller than the one in Hui's palace, but one simply couldn't be too lavish on a spaceship.

"Are you excited, Nox?" Hui's voice carried across the ship's small dining room.

Vegeta ignored him, and shoveled another piece of meat into his mouth.

He could practically feel Hui's scowl at the lack of a reply, but nonetheless, the young man continued. "This will be the first time you see another Saiyan, isn't it? It's your lucky day, because I'm going to take them all into my army as well." He wiggled excitedly in his seat. "Can you imagine, Fenn?" The Emperor asked, turning his attention away from his Saiyan. "Can you imagine the look on Kurenai's face when she realizes that I've taken all of her Saiyans? What good is Vegeta now that I've got five Saiyans of my own?" Vegeta had to resist the urge to glare at him.

Fenn, however, spoke up then. "Don't forget that quality matters more than quantity." He said, daintily tasting a bit of something resembling pudding. "It may well be that five Saiyans won't be a match for Vegeta."

"Oh of course they will." Hui argued.

Fenn ignored him. "And don't forget that Kurenai also has the younger two and Vegeta's brother.

"You always spoil my good moods, Fenn." Hui groused. "I don't know why I keep you around."

The door to the dining room slid open then, and a nervous looking officer crept in. Vegeta could practically hear the poor man shaking. "And just why are you interrupting my dinner?" Hui demanded upon seeing him.

"Sir, you…you ordered us to inform you immediately when we catch the Saiyans." He said.

"I know what I ordered." Hui snapped. "I was there."

"Well…that is. We've got them, sir. They used the tranquilizer like you said. It put them out cold. They've separated them between the three ships, and they're being transported here now."

A broad grin lit Hui's face. "You hear that?" He said, turning to Fenn and Vegeta, while the officer scurried in relief out of the room. Hui jumped out of his chair and did an excited twirl. His long black tunic swirled around him as he turned. "I've now got five Saiyans, and there's nothing Kurenai can do about it."

Vegeta simply continued eating his dinner in silence.


A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm back once again with another update. This took a little longer than I hoped it would, but school's been—and will likely continue to be—quite hectic. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you to everyone who left me a review last time. I really appreciate the time and effort that all of you put into giving me comments, and I absolutely love how many of you enjoy this story.

Anyway let me know what you thought of this chapter!