Chapter 25. Company
"Will you look at that thing!" Ringo hollered in awe. "What a stonker!"
The sky was ominously black and above them towered the enormous dragon Shenron.
"Imagine the lizard wine you could make out of that one." Turles joked with a look to Akane.
"That would get you bladdered alright." Akane laughed her rough laugh.
Vegeta found it nice to hear that rude sound again. She really was all better.
"Thank you for summoning me. In return I shall grant you two wishes." the immense creature boomed, its magnificent breath managing to bend trees all around them.
Vegeta was positively surprised. Of course, how could he forget? When Dende became the new guardian of Earth he had altered the dragonballs, making them able to grant two wishes instead of one.
"I wish back the Saiyajin race and their home planet." he shouted up at the dragon.
There was a long and uneasy silence. Had he phrased his wishes wrong?
"Your wish cannot be granted. I am not allowed to restore evil." the dragon finally spoke.
"What does that mean?" Akane demanded moodily.
"Evil?" Ringo echoed outraged.
Vegeta clenched his fists in frustration. Though infuriating, it made sense that the Earth dragon considered their people evil. It was a load of crap, but good and bad were in the eye of the beholder and since the beholder was a pathetic green fuck from planet Namek who's only experience with Saiyajins had been a bad one, it figured that their kind was regarded evil. Courtesy of Vegeta himself.
There had to be some way around it. The dragon brought him back to life two times and he was the Prince of the race it considered evil. Maybe if he rephrased the wish somehow, leave out mention of Saiyajins or something like that.
"State your wishes now." the dragon demanded impatiently.
"Try to wish back your company to this planet." Vegeta urged Akane unable to come up with anything better at the moment. "Without the mention of Saiyajins." he added hurriedly.
Akane frowned at him briefly, then nodded and turned to the dragon. "I wish back the Marauder S-4 and its company to this planet."
The dragon's red eyes flashed. "Your wishes have been granted."
There was an explosion of light when the dragon disappeared and the dragonballs turned to stone before scattering across the planet.
"Oi, where did it go? I thought we had another wish!" Turles hollered perplexed.
"I gather that counted as two wishes, bringing them back to life and then to this planet." Vegeta thought out loud.
"So that means…" Ringo's disappointed voice trailed off.
"No bleeding Vegetasei." Akane finished for him.
"It doesn't matter. We wait a year and try again." Vegeta forced himself to say calmly, more to put himself at ease than the others.
He reached out with his senses and quickly found a large gathering of fairly high battle powers somewhere far South of their location. The wish had worked alright.
"Your company is back, Captain."
.
.
.
The massive black spaceship was smack in the middle of a large ring of sand dunes. Earth was pretty warm on this location of the planet. From above Akane witnessed the confused rummaging of the Saiyajin soldiers as they began to emerge from the smooth spiderlike object that was the Marauder. The men obviously had no idea what was going on. She descended and touched ground with Vegeta at her side, Turles and Ringo right behind them grinning broadly.
More Saiyajins emerged and several of them repeated the concerned question: "Where is the Captain?"
"At ease men." Akane called out.
They all stopped dead in their tracks upon finding the four of them standing there and many breathed their relief, hollering her title with a firm salute. Then gasps of shock rippled through the crowd as eyes started to fall on Vegeta beside her.
"Is that our Prince?" a female wondered in a hushed voice and others echoed this while nudging the warrior closest by.
"No, it's our King!" a huge wildhaired man in the back hollered. "Hail King Vegeta!"
"Hail!" some repeated, though most were still examining Vegeta thoroughly from where they stood, noting that though he looked like the King, there were differences. His hair, for one, was black in stead of brown and he also lacked the goatee. Even so, this Prince was a man grown, not the young lad they had expected to find and it threw them off.
Akane took in the familiar faces all around and felt her heart swell with gladness. She couldn't even care about the failed wishes anymore. Her men were back and even if Vegetasei could never be restored, their number was now great enough for them to start anew and rebuild their nation on another planet. Whatever happened, their race would not die out.
"Captain!" a weezy voice called out from the throng of Saiyajins and a once stalwart, buffed man bent with old age made his way through the excitedly muttering warriors around him. The crowd parted for him quickly. "Explain what the hell is going on here!"
Akane watched how the Air Marshal of the Marauder made his way over to her, the look on his wrinkled face rapidly shifting from perplexed to composed and back so often it seemed he was on the verge of losing his mind, his grey whiskers bobbing up and down. His poor old heart might just fail him at this one. Still he didn't look half as feeble as Akane remembered him. The shock had jolted the old man back to life.
"Sir." she gave him a quick salute and held out her hand to indicate Vegeta at her side. "Our Prince has returned."
The Air Marshal brought his fist to his chest with a startled gasp. "Well met, my Prince."
Behind him all the warriors, now strengthened in their presumption, followed his example and put their fist to their chest and bowed their heads in respect, the whole crowd moving as one man. Akane smirked at the glint of pride in Vegeta's dark eyes as he witnessed this.
The Air Marshal stared at the four of them and tugged at his grey mustachio as he tried to make sense of the situation. "I don't understand… We were in the midst of battle. Cold had the ship taken over. Half our men were dead and here they all are, unharmed. How can this be?"
"I will explain." Akane said. Then she raised her voice for all Saiyajins to hear. "During our battle with Cold most of you died. Some of us he took captive. We served under him for years before our Prince found us on this planet. His son defeated Cold and freed us from him. All of you have been wished back to life by the power of something called dragonballs."
A tall, dark and very beautiful woman separated herself from the crowd and halted at the Air Marshal's side. The Marauder's Ardian threw Akane a sharp glare up and down.
"How is this possible?" she demanded.
Akane felt the familiar good-natured rivalry flame up between her and the dark Ardian and she simply loved it. Judging from the woman's challenging smile, she did too.
"It is not important how, Ruirdo." Akane snapped. "Be thankful that I decided to wish you back along with my men. I could have just as easily left you to rot in hell. I should have since your piss poor judgement led to our defeat."
Ruirdo's lips pursed in irritation and her brown eyes turned to slits. "It were your men that proved unable to hold their ground against Cold."
"My men fought bravely. The Marauder wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for your cock up with the coordinates." Akane pointed out with a snarl.
Ruirdo snorted and changed the subject. "What in the name of the blessed Mother are you wearing? You have the moon in you? You look ridiculous."
Akane snickered. She hadn't heard that expression for a very long time. Ruirdo had probably been the last one to say it to her before her death as well. She didn't have the moon in her, she hadn't lost her mind. She looked down her green shirt with a haughty smirk.
"It was a gift from our young Princeling." Akane focused on the Air Marshal then. "Sir, if I may. I have more announcements to make."
"Go ahead, Captain." the Air Marshal replied still seeming too confused to process all that was happening.
"It pains me to say that our planet is gone." Akane continued. "Frieza slayed our King and destroyed Vegetasei."
Another gasp of shock went through the gathering of warriors. Some lamented, others shouted execrations to the address of Frieza.
Akane silenced them with a hand raised above her head. "Frieza has paid. The young Princeling avenged our people by killing both him and Cold on this planet. We are currently on Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. In a year our Prince will try once more to restore Vegetasei with the use of the dragonballs. Until that time we remain here. You are to leave the ruling race of this planet unharmed. They are very undeveloped, but the Earthlings are not for consumption. If it talks, it walks. Everything else is fair game." A grin now touched her face. "Welcome back, men."
A chorus of loud salutes was the company's answer. Then many clenched a fist in the air with combative battle-cries or brotherly slapped each other on the shoulder.
The Air Marshal finally looked to have regained his composure and he turned to Vegeta with a respectful inclination of his head. "Forgive me my bluntness, Prince, but since your father is gone will you not take your place as our King?"
"When Vegetasei is restored my father will return with it. I shall remain your Prince until he makes me King." Vegeta said.
"Yes, of course." the old man agreed with another reverence. The perplexity seemed to want to return to his wrinkled face.
Akane threw a quick glance back at Ringo and Turles who were still beaming at the gathering of Saiyajins. She cleared her throat and focused on the company once more. "In light of past events I will place my Leading Airman Ringo and Airman First Class Turles directly beneath me in the position of Platoon Ardian."
Both Ringo and Turles let out gasps of shock and excitement. The proud grin on their faces was priceless. Akane gave them a brief smirk and wanted to continue when she felt Vegeta's hand on her arm. He took her aside under the close attention of the crowd.
When they were out of earshot, he leaned in to speak softly: "You need someone to guard you and my daughter. I want it to be them."
Akane drew her brows together. "I don't need protection from my own men."
His weighty expression left no room for debate. She sighed and nodded compliantly before returning to her men.
"In addition Ringo and Turles will receive the title of Royal Guard. Their main task will be to protect me and the Prince's daughter." Akane vaguely indicated her abdomen. She hadn't been ready to make known that she was with child. It was Vegeta's wish though, and no matter what else he was to her, he was still the Prince and his will was law.
Excitement rippled through the crowd.
The beautiful Ruirdo moved in front of her once more, her mouth opened in surprise. "You." she pointed to Akane's abdomen. "You're the Prince's…"
"I am his concubine." Akane cut her off to eliminate any misconception.
A cunning smile crept to Ruirdo's face and she put a loose hand on her hip. "My, such an honourable position you have taken up. I commend you, Akane. Naturally the Air Marshal and I shall make great haste appointing a new Wing Ardian so you can attend to other..." She clacked her tongue in feigned thoughtfulness. "…duties."
"The Captain maintains her current position." Vegeta spoke coolly before Akane had a chance to respond.
"Certainly, my Prince." Ruirdo said swiftly, inclining her head.
Akane saw the disappointment in Ruirdo's face and let out a bark of amused laughter. "Blood Ruirdo, is causing my downfall all you care about? Kick back for a change. Enjoy life. You have been given a second chance. Don't waste it on getting the better of me."
Ruirdo's expression softened and her brown eyes twinkled. "Ah come on, Akane. This is what we do best. You're not going to give up on our game now that a whelp came into play, are you?"
"Not a chance, Major." Akane took the forearm afforded and answered Ruirdo's wicked smirk with one of her own.
"Very well. Congratulations, Captain. I am very happy for you." Ruirdo's eyes fell on Vegeta for a short moment. "And our Prince of course."
Akane's grip on the Ardian's forearm tightened ever so slightly at the inviting smile she threw Vegeta. It took Akane much effort to keep a straight face.
"I will take your advise. I am going to enjoy life without wasting it on your downfall." Ruirdo's smile was challenging now. "After all, the first doesn't necessarily have to rule out the second. Wouldn't you agree, Akane?"
Akane drew her forearm from the Ardian's grip and put her hands on her hips in an attempt to appear calm while she felt her insides tighten at the realisation that the return of the Marauder brought with it not only joy, but also a threat she didn't have to face before. Actual competition. Taking it up against the main woman hadn't been a real challenge, Vegeta had said it himself. He had proven it too, leaving her behind like he had done.
Having to compete with women like Ruirdo was something entirely different however. It wouldn't be long before the Marauder's female soldiers threw themselves at Vegeta's feet and he surely wouldn't object to it when they did. Any chance she ever had of keeping him to herself was ruined by the arrival of her company.
Akane became suddenly painfully aware of Vegeta standing at her side. He was so close that she could feel the warmth of his body but in a way she felt him getting away from her, moving out of her reach. Her insides contracted again. She longed to look up at him, see the confirmation in his dark eyes that he belonged to her in the way she belonged to him. She knew she would never find that there, he would never make her that promise, not with all these willing women around. The Prince was probably going to share that big chopper around like it was candy.
Akane forced herself to emit a carefree laugh which, to her relief, she managed to pull off quite well. She wished desperately that her voice wouldn't fail her when she snarled: "We will just see about that."
Ruirdo laughed just as loud. "We will indeed."