Dragon Ball Governed:
Chapter 27
"Double Set Back"
Freeza was as idle as a statue. While naturally capable at masking his rage and disappointment, his subordinates still had a deep hunch whenever their lord wasn't feeling all too joyous.
Beriblu, Dodoria, Kikono, Raditz, and Zarbon. Six different people were in one room and not a single sound came from anyone. They remained as still as their lord, with their narrow, blank gaze fixated on Freeza's back. Silence was at such an all time high that everyone of them could faintly hear the engine of Freeza's ship traversing through space.
Subsequent to getting news of one of his biggest base of operations being unexpectedly attacked, Freeza gave the order of having reinforcements being sent out without a second thought. However, as soon as the men got to their destination, the planet was nowhere to be seen.
Not once during Freeza's tenure as the Universal emperor, did something like did transpire. He also knew that nothing even remotely synonymous to this unwanted incident would ever take place under his father's supervision while he was in power. So for something like this to take place under his rule was a downright peg to his legendary status - or so he felt.
Freeza's subjects didn't do as much as breathe too hard while in his presence.
Feeling that he would be able to keep his composure and not lash out while speaking, Freeza's hoverchair did a 180. With his front facing his subjects, all made sure to adjust their posture. "I want a report of every single last ship that has been recorded even remotely near the coordinates of Freeza Planet 33."
Kikono didn't say a single word and left a second later after the order was given. BeriBlu made sure to follow his lead.
With the exit of Kikono and BeriBlu, there only remained Dodoria, Raditz, and Zarbon. "And I want the three of you to head over to the base of operations closest to what used to be Freeza Planet 33. If they intend on being unremitting, then we can expect them to be within the same star field."
"With all due respect, my lord," Zarbon started, "but Dodoria and I can easily take care of the problem ourselves. We don't downplay Raditz with his strength, but having him by our side isn't necessary."
Raditz stared bullets at Zarbon and Dodoria. Neither of the two looked back, but he knew that they knew that he was looking dead at them. Freeza observed the heated look on the Saiyan's face. It was very easy to note that Raditz felt insulted by Zarbon's words.
"I'm not having any of that," Freeza told Zarbon. "I gave you an order, so you do as I demand of you. Or do I need to help you with your memory with forgetting such elementary procedure?"
Zarbon got the message and frantically shook his head. "Of course not, sire." He bowed before him. "We will do as you wish."
As Zarbon and Dodoria turn around to make their leave, Raditz is right behind them. It was just as he figured, the both of them didn't truly believe in Raditz's place here under Freeza's wing. All of these years of conducting themselves cordially while in Freeza's presence was nothing more than a brown nosing facade. They showed him this once already back on Planet Dip and they just did it once again here. Dodoria and Zarbon were no different then the others with their gracious attitude that concealed their genuine envy. Maybe they felt like he didn't belong, and maybe they felt like he was inferior in a way.
The son of Bardock just kept his mouth shut. If they wanted to try and keep him down, they could try all they want because as far as Raditz was concerned, it'd no longer be for long. "Hehe…"
As they're walking, Raditz notes how they are fixing to pass up the messing hall. He stops by the entrance and heads inside the messing hall. Given that they were paying so little attention to him to begin with, Raditz figured that his momentary absence would go unnoticed long enough for him to carry out his idea.
As Dodoria and Zarbon make it out to the departure site, they look over the readied ships available to them. Both had the choice of entering a single attack pod or entering a small ship capable of fitting a few handful of people at a time.
"Which do we take?" Dodoria asked.
"I don't feel like being cooped up in a little ball during the trip," Zarbon answered.
Dodoria crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. "But what about Raditz? Having him around would be a nuisance - I mean - it's enough dealing with you, hehe."
"Haha," Zarbon rolled his eyes, "very funny."
"So?" Dodoria prodded, wanting an answer.
"We'll both take the bigger ship and just let Raditz ride along in an attack ball. If he doesn't like it, then that's just too bad."
"Ha, good." Dodoria was quick to hop on top of the ship. Just before entering down the little hole below, he got a glimpse of Raditz finally managing to catch up. "Well, look who made it just in time."
The first thing Zarbon scrutinized upon turning around was the single bag that Raditz had in his hand. Zarbon got to rubbing his temple and sighing. "If you were going to get rations, why didn't you think of Dodoria and I?"
"Must have slipped my mind," Raditz shrugged nonchalantly.
Dodoria hopped back down to see what was going on. "What's the hold up?"
"This clown went to the messing hall to get rations and forgot to get some for all of us."
A few times it's happened to him as well, so he saw nothing bad in it. "It must have slipped his mind," Dodoria said.
"See?" Raditz muttered.
Zarbon ignored Raditz and smacked his lips. "Very well, we'll just go get our own food." Zarbon pointed to the attack ball. "Before something slips my mind, that attack ball is your form of transportation. Dodoria and I will be in the bigger ship, alright?"
"Fine by me."
Raditz walked ahead between Dodoria and Zarbon and turned around prior to placing his back against the leg of the ship that those two were set to take-off in. As soon as they made a curving turn in the corridors, Raditz got right to business.
He hopped on top of their ship, went inside, and dashed straight into the cockpit of the spacecraft. "Idiots. Since they're going to be riding in manually, it means that they'll be heading through the quicker pathway." Raditz looked over all the buttons and labels on the deck of the ship. "They'll more than likely encounter meteor showers and in order to make way through there safely, they'll need functioning blasters."
So the first thing Raditz does is remove the covering of the blasters button and clips the wires. He sets the plating back on top and quickly thinks out loud as to what else he can do.
"Also...the back up generators…"
With his ingenious mischievous thoughts, Raditz couldn't help but cackle menacingly.
Subsequent to the take-off, Raditz's ship fires away into a slightly different direction than that of Dodoria and Zarbon's. As big as Dodoria's belly was, one would think that him getting stuffed was virtually impossible, but the way he ate proved otherwise. With chocolate leftover on his lips and crumbs all in his lap, the man let out a huge belch.
Zarbon, aggravated, got up from his seat while waving his hand back and forth to prevent the odor from rearing its smelly self up his nostrils.
"My bad," Dodoria said through fits of laughter.
"And this is another reason why I didn't want that Saiyan travelling along with us." With his eyes steady on the window, he could barely make out some floating rocks from afar. He was quick to snap his fingers in order to get Dodoria's attention. "Hurry up and shift the spacecraft to autopilot."
As bloated as his stomach was, Dodoria surprisingly got up on his feet and shifted the stick of the spacecraft prior to pressing a button. The engine of the ship calmed down, with a heap of gas coming out.
Zarbon locked onto the rocks in the area. Once they were within range, he pressed the button. After the click, he expected to see one of the rocks exploding to absolute bits. Yet nothing happened. With a look of confusion, Zarbom turned back over to Dodoria. The pink guy had a feeling that something was wrong, but he just hoped it wasn't what he thought it could have been. "What's going on?"
Zarbon tried pressing the button again, though to no avail. After clicking it ten times in the matter of three seconds, his eyes grew wide. "The blasters are malfunctioning. We need to turn around no-"
But the first rock grazing against the ship had the two stumbling back like mad men putting on a circus act.
"We're too late!" Dodoria yelled. He had his fat fingers clutched tightly on one of the seats.
"Try anyway, god damn it!"
Both their worlds went into a swirl as the next shocking hit against their ship sent Dodoria and Zarbon spinning onto the floor. Attempts to getting back on their feet were futile. Not one single second went by without their ship having an undesired collision with hundreds of meteros.
The ship's plating was being chipped off in great chunks with every graze. Complete contact put irremediable dents in the ship, one of which knocked Dodoria back against the wall with so much force that he tore through the other wall.
Zarbon eyes went wide. Dodoria tried to scream but he was immediately shut up once out in the vacuum of space.
Dodoria made the silly mistake of trying to hold his breath, which only ended his life quicker.
Zarbon, in a last ditch effort, clicked the scouter over his left eye while he still had some oxygen left. "Lord Freeza, Lord Freeza!"
Every time he was in a rock and a hard place, Zarbon could always go to Freeza. He'd cooly take action to resolve any potential problem or be the one to give intelligible advice for solutions. This was one of those moments.
The scouter pipped right back. Freeza, unaware of the situation, answers his two subordinates in a casual manner, all calm like. "Hello, Zarbon. Trip going well, I assume?"
"As a matter of fact, no!" Another bang against the ship sent him sliding to the wall, eliciting a pained groan. "S-Sire, we're in dire need of help! Dodoria and I are trapped, can yo-"
Expecting an answer, Freeza spoke hello into the scouter, though he quickly came to the realization that the reception had been cut off. This was really intriguing to him, but most definitely not in a good way. Could it have been that his two men may have been attacked by the same persons to destroy one of his bases of operations?
Whatever did happen, Freeza was not pleased. "Not once did Zarbon mention Raditz, so perhaps he travelled in a different ship?" Deciding to find out, Freeza clicked his scouter. "Raditz? Are you there."
Raditz was quick to answer back. "Here, Lord Freeza."
Freeza would never admit it out loud, though he was relieved to find out that the young Saiyan was in good condition. "Did you travel with Dodoria and Zarbon?"
This question was all Raditz needed to know in order to come to the realization that his plan came to actual fruition. So bad, the man wanted to laugh but with Freeza on the other end, Raditz kept his cool and put on an act. "Actually, no. Zarbon was putting up a big deal about travelling separate so they opted for me to go ahead in an attack ball while they went along in a multiple holding ship."
Freeza was silent for the moment. While he wanted to say that Raditz was up to something, such was very characteristic of Zarbon. Despite the act he put up of appearing to be fond of Raditz, he could read his own right hand men like they were books he's read once a week for the past 30 years; he knew them better then they knew themselves so he didn't see much reason for Raditz to be lying. But then again...he remembered something, something that made his suspicions spike dramatically. "They more than likely got caught up in a meteor shower, then," Freeza concluded.
"Wait, what happened?"
Freeza sighed. "Just another farcical incident that you need not fret over at this very moment. Whenever you have finished your assignment, we will discuss matters when you come back."
"Yes, sire."
After Freeza ended the call, Raditz's knees came right up as his head went back. Booming laughter escaped his wide mouth. He contributed to the death of Zarbon and Dodoria and actually got away with it!
"Ahahahahaha, this is glorious! What a better way of getting myself to the top of Freeza's ranks as the most capable solider! Abo, Kado, and the Ginyus…" Raditz's body shook as he laughed. "None of them will see me coming, bwahaahahahahahaa!"
It's just one thing after another at this point. For one, the entire plan he had with the inhabitants of Planet Zoon goes to crap. Now, an entire planet that keeps track of a shitload of records gets destroyed and no single trace from there is left - not one. And after this, two top men of his get killed in a meteor shower? Just what in the hell could happen next?
Once the doors from behind opened, Freeza's chair turned around. Seeing Kikono and Beriblu brought a bit of light to his face. "I trust that the both of you have some good news for me?"
"We've come to learn that the ship that attacked the base of operations on Freeza Planet 33 came from Planet Vegeta, though it's been years since either of those two pods have ever routed back home."
"This has led us to assume that whoever has attacked the planet has gone rogue," Beriblu finished.
"So it can't be the entire Saiyan race making some elaborate plan in trying to overthrow me, no?"
"They're not that stupid, Lord Freeza," Kikono reassured his lord.
Taking in a deep breath, Freeza closed his eyes and dismissed both advisors. "Very well, then. Off to Planet Vegeta, we go."
"Not bad, kid. You actually made it back home safe and sound."
Those 12 words made Taro's heart swell up in pride. Throughout their campaign, Pumbukin was the most encouraging. When Taro was performing poorly, the big man was there to lift his spirits and tell him to keep fighting on. Whenever he was doing well, Pumbukin would comment on how he loves what he's seeing.
Toteppo wasn't one for words but he gave the kid a nod of approval after their most recent mission.
Bardock wasn't one for words either as he preferred action. Despite Pumbukin being uplifting as he was, he appreciated Bardock the most because whenever the kid got in a bad predicament, the scarred warrior would be right there to save him and bail him out. Even after it was all said and done, Bardock would tell him what he did wrong and what he could have done right for future reference.
Though he didn't realize this yet, getting advice from someone of Bardock's caliber meant a lot. It would probably help his tenure as a combatant much later on as he grew.
"Keep it up and you just might get promoted one day," Bardock told him. "So whatever it is you're doing, don't change a damn thing."
Once on the edge of the departure site, Taro raised his fist up. "Thanks so much, guys! I'll be forever grateful."
Toteppo gave him a thumbs up before the three took off toward the Saiyan palace.
"We should be getting a good sum for the work we just put in," Pumbukin told his comrades as they flew toward the Saiyan palace.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Bardock told him.
By the time that they got back to the Saiyan palace, their only sights were on King Vegeta. The man's eyes widened with a bit of anticipation once he caught a glimpse of them. It was as if he had been expecting the trio for some time now.
Once the three got close enough to where they could be heard, they all bowed on one knee with their fists toward their chest. "Seeing you all back here in one piece makes my job just a bit easier. Everything went well?"
"Oh, yes, it did," Pumbukin told him. "It went more than well, to be exact, your majesty - almost perfect."
"That's great to hear," King Vegeta spoke. "Seeing that you two already have such a high momentum going, I see there would be no harm in bringing you all out back for another assignment, would it?"
Bardock had to hide a growl. He hated it when King Vegeta did this. After a handful of missions, Bardock just hoped that he could get some rest and stay home for a while. If Gine was still alive, he'd have made his frustrations known by now for he would have someone home expecting to see him.
Bardock looked up to the King. Out of the very corner of his eye, he noted a big smirk plastered on Selypa's face. She more than likely figured out that her child had did well judging by how Pumbukin spoke well of their missions. He was actually glad to have done a favor in helping a young promising soldier in reaching his potential.
"And what might that be, your majesty?" the scarred warrior asked.
"I know not if you are aware, but there's been a recent attack on one of Freeza's base of operations. After everyone was slaughtered, the entire planet had been destroyed. He just recently came here in hopes that I would be the one to aid in resolving of our current nuisance."
A mission for Freeza? One of his bases? Bardock didn't like it. "With all due respect, sire, but what happens to Freeza has nothing to do with us. He could easily have one of his men handle the problem."
Getting up from his throne, King Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Me doing this is me proving to Freeza that I am not meddling with the two rogue Saiyans that have been messing up his business. We see the base they're en route to next is very close to us and there's no better opportunity than for us to show to him that we're still loyal than now. The three of you will be expected to arrive there ten minutes after they land."
As if on cue, two different soldiers stepped out of line. "Two of my current top soldiers, Evid, and Amaran will be accompanying you on your mission. With them by your side, we expect things to run along smoothly."
It had been a while since Evid got to see some action and Bardock could tell because the Saiyan was trying his hardest to remove himself of the shit-eating grin he had plastered over his burned face. As for the other Saiyan, Amaran, he just so happened to be one of the first mid-class Saiyans to be promoted while under King Vegeta The Third's rule. He and Zorn were very close and he was no slouch when it came to the battle-field, either.
For some reason, Bardock had a very uneasy feeling about this mission.
And it wasn't because of Amaran and his bond with Zorn, either.