Someone had once told Goku that the more things change, the more they stay the same. He couldn't remember who it was, probably Korin – it sounded like the kind of thing he'd say. In the last year since he'd joined the GFA as Prince Vegeta's assistant, or whatever he was, a lot of things had stayed pretty much the same. He spent most of his time training with the Hotsus and holding meetings with the captains. A few small things had changed, too. He never got to throw another big party, but he often invited people from various crews to come hang out with him in his quarters when Vegeta wasn't around, which was often. He'd made friends with Zarbon, who seemed to get a kick out of how much Vegeta disliked him, and antagonized Dodoria, who'd made the mistake of grabbing his tail. Without thinking, Goku had turned, grabbed Dodoria's wrist, and slammed the palm of his hand into his nose. It would have gotten ugly – he was with Vegeta at the time, and Dodoria was ready to take them both on. But, much to Goku's surprise, Lord Frieza himself had shown up and ordered Dodoria to back off.

"Now, now, Dodoria," Lord Frieza had said, coming up to Goku and smiling almost benevolently at him, "you know my rules."

"But, my lord, he-," Dodoria protested.

"Quiet," Frieza said sharply, holding up on finger to silence the man but never taking his eyes off Goku and Vegeta. "I saw exactly what happened." He turned to face Dodoria. "I suggest you keep your hands to yourself in future. After all," he turned back to smile at Goku and Vegeta, "the Saiyans are our good friends and allies, valued members of the army. I insist that you treat them as such."

Frieza turned away. "Come, Dodoria."

The large man glowered at Goku before following his master.

Vegeta had turned to Goku and, leaning forward, said quietly, "Wrap your tail, Kakarot. I won't ask you again."

It was one of the few times he'd addressed Goku by his actual name. Goku had kept his tail wrapped from then on when he was out of quarters of the training room – another small change.

Then, of course, there were the big things.

"I'm surprised you heard about this," Goku said to Lodj, Amara, and Tonsa in the training room.

"Apparently it's quite the scandal," Lodj said, "although I can't see why. Frankly, I don't see what the difference is between you lot."

Goku smiled. This was why he liked spending time with the Hotsus – they were bluntly honest and they had no problems criticizing Saiyan culture, which meant that Goku could, too.

"A lot of people back home think that Saiyans are better than humans and shouldn't mix, I guess. But I think everyone should be able to do what makes them happy. And," he paused, "I think it's only really a big deal because the guy is the Earl of something. Or his dad is, anyway."

There had been rumors circling the ship for a few months now, since someone said they saw Kaidi and Kitty kissing in one of the recovery rooms in the medical wing after she'd returned from a mission badly injured. Goku had only heard about that later – just a few days ago, in fact – after Daris' crew had returned to the ship from Vegeta without Kaidi, Kitty, or Rose. By the next day, everyone knew: Kaidi and Kitty had run off together, and in his anger Daris had them both fired from GFA, along with Rose, who wasn't involved but whom Daris apparently decided was guilty by association.

"An Earl?" Lodj said. "That's one of your titles, isn't it? One of those inherited ones, that don't require any particular talent or experience."

Goku nodded. "They're second class, so they think they're better than regular Saiyans like me. So, I guess you can imagine how they feel about humans."

Tonsa nodded thoughtfully, and she and Lodj exchanged looks. Goku had been particularly helpful as a source of knowledge about Saiyan and human culture, and, more importantly, about their fighting techniques. Lodj and Tonsa had heard more about the Turtle Hermit than anyone could possibly need to know, and they'd passed it on to the group. There were no more secrets among the Hotsus, no more plotting and bickering.

Except, of course, for Lodj's secret with the Queen. But that was neither here nor there.

Goku had learned a lot, too. By now, he'd figured out that Tonsa was holding out on him. That didn't surprise him so much; it had become obvious pretty quickly that the Hotsus were a xenophobic bunch, and he wasn't stupid enough to mistake their amused indulgence of him for actual friendship. The weird thing, though, was that Amarah was holding out on them. He could sense that she was much stronger than she appeared, but she never fought at full power; in training, he'd watched her throw fights she could have won multiple times, rather than power up.

It was very frustrating. He really wanted to fight her at full power.

The romantic intrigue was spreading fast on Vegeta, too.

"Did you tell 'em?" Lapis bounced towards the table where Bardock, Toma, and Borgos were sitting with Raditz, Tien, Jasper, Parsin, Shorem – who was sporting a thick bun these days – and Nio. Krillin and Lazuli trailed in behind him. Lapis and his crew had left the ship for Vegeta a couple days after Daris had returned, just when the rumors were getting juicy, but Raditz and Parsin's crews had been home for a week, so they hadn't heard.

"I was just getting to it," Bardock snapped. The boy was getting on his nerves, and he was never one for gossip and scandal anyway. Frankly, he would much rather be somewhere else instead of hanging out at a bar with his son and his friends. But they needed to talk.

"Let me tell it!" Lapis was practically giddy, his eyes like bright blue stars. "You know that guy, Kaidi? The second-class guy whose dad is a count or something?"

"Earl," Bardock corrected.

"Whatever," Lapis said. "The point is," his chest swelled up triumphantly, "he ran off with a human girl!"

There was a collective intake of shocked breath from the group.

"What?!" Raditz was the first to speak.

"You didn't hear?!" Lapis said. He was still grinning broadly. "It was all over the ship!"

"What human girl?" Tien said.

"You know this isn't funny, Lapis," Bardock said.

"One of the girls in his crew," Lazuli said.

"It's not funny," Bardock said, louder this time. "Three people lost their jobs."

"What?" Nio said, confused.

"The old bastard," Lapis said, "got him and the girl fired from GFA, and the other human girl who was on their crew."

"What old bastard?" Nio said.

"His father," Bardock said. "Daris."

"What exactly happened?" Tien asked.

"What I heard," Toma said, "was that when they got back home, Kaidi told his father that he wanted to be with this girl-"

"Which girl?" Tien interrupted. "There were two on that crew."

"Well, they were both fired."

"Can someone please tell this story in chronological order?" Shorem snapped impatiently. "Start from the beginning."

"Which girl?" Tien said, more insistently this time.

"From the beginning!"

"What I heard," Toma began again, "is that Kaidi was seeing, I guess, one of the girls, the blonde one," he said quickly, catching Tien's eye, "and when he told his dad about it, the old man flipped. He got so angry he kicked him out and had him and both the humans fired from the GFA."

"He didn't just kick him out, he disinherited him," Bardock said. "That means he loses his title and everything that comes with it."

"Whoa," Nio whistled. "That's so-"

"Insane," Raditz said quietly.

"Stupid," Bardock spat.

"Romantic," Krillin sighed wistfully.

Everyone turned to stare at him.

He turned bright red. "I mean, well, it is, isn't it? Giving up everything for love?"

"He's an idiot," Bardock said. "Throwing his entire life away for a girl."

"For love!" Krillin said.

"A girl," Bardock insisted. "He's going to wake up one day and realize what an incredibly stupid mistake he made."

"Yeah, and then he'll be able to waltz back like nothing happened," Tien said. "Whereas Kitty will never be able to go back to her old life again. Not that it matters to you." Steam was coming off his head. "This is typical. All you think about is what the Saiyan lost. But what about the human?"

"What about her?" Parsin said. "She's got nothing to lose. Kaidi's the one who's-"

"Kaidi is rich and he has a title" Tien insisted. "Anything he does can be forgiven. But Kitty won't ever live this down. You know she won the World Martial Arts Tournament a few years ago? She has a reputation too, and now no one will take her seriously again."

"Fine," Bardock said. "She's making a stupid mistake too. Happy now?"

Tien scowled at his beer.

Borgos sighed heavily. He hadn't said a word since they sat down, so now everyone was curious to see what he had to say. "Daris oughtn't to have fired the other girl. Weren't no call for that."

"Yeah," Tien said, nodding angrily. "That was pure spite, but no one's talking about it. No one gives a crap."

"Yeah!" Lapis said. He tried to sound serious, but his evil grin made it clear he was just looking to through gas on the fire.

"What's taking Launch so long?" Krillin said suddenly, turning to look around the crowded room.

Raditz felt his heart drop.

"She's still at the bar," Lazuli said, gesturing to her chin to where Launch was leaning over the countertop, chatting with the bartender over a pint.

"Does she know the new girl?" Lapis asked.

"Maybe," Krillin said.

But Raditz knew she wasn't chatting with the bartender out of friendship. She was avoiding him. Which was perfectly fine with him. Over the last year, their relationship had gotten…weird.

After he'd returned from his first mission with Krillin and the new crew, Raditz had gone to see her, hoping to talk some sense into her after their earlier confrontation. When he'd arrived at her house (after first making sure Krillin wasn't around), he'd knocked on the door only to find her sitting with a group of older women. Apparently, she'd started a little tailoring business out of her home, and she'd refused to let him in unless he was going to make an order.

So he'd come back later and asked her to make him a tunic. They talked while she took his measurements, and by the end of it all he'd committed to purchasing 30 zeni worth of fabric for the outfit plus another 40 for her labor, which she'd made him pay upfront, and he still hadn't gotten anywhere with her.

So he'd gone back again, and that was when things started to go sideways. Instead of getting out from under her, he was only getting more enmeshed.

Why'd he sleep with her the second time? Or the time after that? Or after that? Raditz was lucky no one was around to ask that question, because he had no good answers. The best he could come up with was that she was attractive and available. He'd sit on her couch and watch her pull out the fabric and show him the detailing on his tunic – which, to his surprise, she was actually taking very seriously – and see how passionate she was about it and how energetic and determined she looked, and he'd suddenly get this irresistible urge to kiss her.

Usually, Saiyans were attracted to strong, brave people. Launch was making him rethink what those words really meant.

"We have bigger problems," Bardock was saying. He sat up a bit more, eyes carefully fixed on his glass, and lowered his voice a bit. "I've been hearing things. Rumors of…plotting."

Next to him, Toma and Borgos tensed. When he'd gone to them with what he'd heard, they'd debated at length over what to do. Borgos had wanted to keep it completely quiet. Toma wanted to spread word as widely as possible. Bardock decided to take a middle path.

"Plotting?" Krillin said.

"I heard," he said carefully, "that some people have been talking about…getting rid of people they don't like on the crews. Humans."

Krillin, Lapis, and Lazuli exchanged uncertain looks. Tien went pale. Jasper didn't even twitch. They may as well have been talking about the weather.

"Has anyone heard anything suspicious?" Toma said. "Maybe some of your friends, captains?" he looked at Raditz and Parsin.

"Well," it was Parsin, looking conflicted. Everyone was looking at him intently. "But-but it wasn't about a human. And I didn't take it seriously!"

"What happened?" Bardock asked. Everyone was leaning forward towards him.

"Someone was talking to me, but it was about Ona," he said. "He was asking about her, what kind of fighter she is, and then he started talking all sorts of crap. He said-," Parsin paused, and turned to look at Shorem apologetically, "he said people from Korin's land weren't really Saiyan, that their blood is too mixed with humans from the time of the Golden King. He said if I abandoned her on some planet somewhere I'd be doing every Saiyan a favor. But I didn't take him seriously! I thought he was just goading for a fight, so I challenged him, but he walked off."

"Who?" Bardock said.

"Huh?"

"Who was it who said that to you?"

Parsin looked at him uncertainly. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll do what I have to," Bardock said. "Actually, don't tell me now. Wait till he leaves." He gestured at Tien. "You're too hot in the blood. I don't want you to do anything stupid."

Tien scowled at him. "What would you do, if you found out there were people trying to kill off your kind?"

"When I was your age, I'd hunt them down like the traitorous dogs they are," Bardock said. "But now I'm my age, and I'm going to do this differently. Look, Borgos thinks this isn't just random, some people just hating on humans, he thinks there's something else behind it, some kind of plan. And now, hearing that someone's got it out for other Saiyans too," he paused, and turned to Borgos. "I wasn't sure at first, but you were right. So, if someone's got some kind of plan, then we need to have one too."

"And you have a plan?" Tien said, not bothering to hide the skepticism from his voice.

Bardock straightened himself in his chair. "Here's what we're going to do. You two," he gestured at Raditz and Parsin, then paused for a minute and stared intently at Parsin. "We can trust you, right?"

"Yeah!" Parsin said without hesitation. "Definitely. I'm no traitor, and I'm not about to let anyone hurt anyone under my command."

"Good," Bardock said. "You two will poke around the kids your age, see who's saying what. Find out who we can trust and who we can't. We'll," he motioned to himself, Toma, and Borgos, "do the same for our people, see if we can get more information. Then, once we know more, we'll be able to hit back. In the meantime, you," he motioned to the humans at the table, "keep your heads down."

"You can't be serious!" Tien said. "We have to warn the others!"

"Not until we have more information," Bardock insisted. "Right now, we don't know what to warn them of or who to warn them against. We need to know more before we can do anything, and if other people start to realize we know what's up, it could ruin the whole thing."

"But-," Tien began, but Jasper put a hand on his shoulder.

"He is right," Jasper said.

"That goes double for you three," Bardock said, turning to Lapis, Lazuli, and Krillin. "You're safe anyway. No one's going to touch you," he looked at Lapis, "if they're not ready to take me, and no one's ready for that, and as for you two, you have Raditz."

"What about us?" Shorem said. "I want to warn others from Korin's Land."

Bardock shook his head. "Same goes. We can't let on what we know until we're ready."

Nio leaned forward. "But we can still help. I know lots of people, and my family name still means something to people from the Caves. If there's anyone from my people in on it, whatever it is, I can talk 'em out of it."

Bardock looked at Borgos. He shrugged. "Worth tryin'," he said.

"We have to tell Goku. Kakarot," Krillin said.

"Yeah," Nio said. "If we want to get people on our side, Kakarot's our best bet. Everyone likes him."

"And they're scared of him, especially after what happened with Dodoria. That will be helpful," Shorem said.

Bardock sighed. He didn't want to get Kakarot involved in this. He had a bad feeling that if someone was plotting to get rid of the humans and even some Saiyans in the GFA, Kakarot would be on their list. He'd hoped that if the kid just kept his head down, people would forget about the tournament and everything else that had happened since. But instead, Kakarot had only drawn more attention to himself. He was popular among the younger soldiers and new recruits, sure. But a lot of the older captains, especially the second class, thought he was impudent at best.

Kakarot had never taken him seriously when he'd warned him that Prince Vegeta would try to get rid of him, and for a while, with Vegeta leaving him on the ship instead of taking him on missions, Bardock thought that maybe he'd been wrong, had overreacted, that his fear for his son had made him paranoid. But now, he knew he was more right than he'd ever imagined.

Little did Bardock know that he had allies close by.

Bulma had stayed in touch with Elder Lekeo through the years. She liked to have friends in high places, and Korin's Tower was pretty damn high.

"So," she said, placing the teacup and saucer on the table in front of them, "how have things been around here?"

It was a simple question, but loaded with meaning between the two.

"More deaths, more injuries," he said bluntly. "Of course. But fewer than before. Each time, those who come back come are stronger."

"Good," she said. "I've been hearing some things in the city. Some people are still bitter about Goku's win at the tournament. Apparently, they thought he'd be dead by now."

Lekeo smiled. "But from what I hear, the Prince doesn't give him the chance to take the risk."

"Vegeta's stubborn," Bulma said. "I've seen more of him lately, now that I'm taking on a bigger role at Capsule Corp. He's tough to work with, and I know he didn't want Goku to join him at all, so I'm guessing he's decided to just ignore him."

"But is that good or bad?" Lekeo said. "The work is despicable, but I cannot deny that those who have come home have progressed in their strength and skills much faster than they ever could here. Experience has its benefits."

Bulma shook her head. "Don't worry about that. I know Goku better than anyone, and trust me, he's working harder than anyone. He'd find a challenge on a barren rock."

Lekeo smiled. "You give me great comfort, Bulma."

"I wish I could do more," Bulma said. "I'm keeping my ear to the ground, but so far, there's nothing going on in the city that could help you."

Lekeo nodded. "I didn't expect things to change overnight. Truth by told, I doubt I will live to see the change I hope to occur in Vegeta."

"You may be right," Bulma said. "But," she leaned forward, "whatever I can do to speed things up, I will."

"I heard about what your father did to fight the Red Ribbon Army," Lekeo said. "How would he feel about your position here?"

"You're not Red Ribbon," she said firmly. "This isn't even close to the same thing. You wouldn't hurt anyone. I wouldn't let you."

Lekeo smiled. Other Saiyans would roll their eyes and dismiss her, but Lekeo knew better by now. You crossed Bulma at your own risk.

"Did you hear the big news?" Bulma said.

"Hmm?"

"The heir to the earlship of Gommel Valley forfeited his title to be with the woman he loves," she said, smiling. "A human woman he met on Frieza's ship."

For a second, Lekeo thought she was joking. But, slowly, he realized she wasn't, and he smiled.

Bulma leaned back, spreading her arms across the couch smugly. "If ever there was a slap to the face of King Vegeta and the alliance…"

Lekeo burst into laughter.

It was amazing to think that one relationship could cause so much uproar, and if Kaidi hadn't been such a prominent figure in the GFA and Vegetan society, it probably wouldn't have. But this was the man once considered the most eligible bachelor on the planet, and now he was shacked up with a human girl who, despite being a tournament champion, was essentially a nobody.

At first, it was just whisperings, glances. Then, suddenly, people were dating, across species, in public. And yes, people stared and talked. But for a few months, it seemed almost ordinary, to the point where Raditz had asked Launch if she'd like him to buy her a drink at the bar. She'd turned him down, and he was surprised to find that it bothered him.

But then things took a turn. Ta-Meini was always a more tolerant place because humans and Saiyans had lived relatively mixed throughout the province. Arkisbe was particularly mixed, and even though romantic relationships were frowned upon, there was a limit, a line of hate and aggression no one ever crossed. Other parts of the planet weren't like that, but even so, Raditz was shocked at what he was hearing from some people, people who were his friends, who he thought he knew. Suddenly, people were tossing around hateful words like qissan lover and manor girl, the latter being a particularly nasty term dating from before the Golden King, when a Saiyan feudal lord would pick out a human girl from the villages he ruled over to serve him in his manor, only to send her back after he'd lost interest in her, along with any children she'd had, half-breeds whose lineage hung over their heads like a cloud of shame. They were even inventing new slurs: lady's toy, for human men with Saiyan women, manor fuck as a gender neutral term. After the words began, violence soon followed, with Saiyans attacking and beating humans they saw with another Saiyan. It worked, too; soon fewer and fewer mixed couples were seen in public. But there were some safe spaces, places like the bar in Ta-Meini, where they would mostly be left alone. Even in those places, though, couples kept a low profile: no PDA, and often you'd be hard-pressed to tell if a human and Saiyan sitting together were a couple or just friends.

It was particularly bad where Tien lived, to the point where he'd moved away with his brother to stay with Yamcha and the Ox King. When Tien had told him, Raditz didn't know what to say.

The humans were retaliating too. One human didn't stand a chance against a Saiyan, but four or five against one was another story, and in any case, it quickly became clear that a lot of humans were willing to take that risk to avenge one of their own. The black market weapons trade was picking up, too – Raditz heard that from Launch.

"But it has to be hard to get your hands on stuff like that. I know you have one, but you're basically an ex-criminal," he'd said. "No offense."

They were in the bathtub together; it wasn't big enough for both of them, but he threw his legs over the sides, and Launch lay on top of him. It worked, but just barely.

"Lots of your coworkers in the GFA have underground connections," she'd said casually. "I know a bunch of Bunnies joined up."

"What?! But how-"

She leaned forward and turned to face him, her green eyes narrowing. "What kind of humans do you think join the GFA?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Tournament finalists."

"And how many of those do you think there are? The Tournament happens once every three years. Anyone who competed more than four or five tournaments ago will be too old to join now. The only other humans who have the kind of skills you're looking for are going to be gangsters and ex-Ribbon."

Raditz paled. "Red Ribbon-"

"Use that giant head of yours!" she knocked a fist over the top of his head. "Who else is going to have fighting experience that comes anywhere close to a Saiyan?"

She was right. He'd realized it as soon as she said it. His own crew had had an ex-Red Ribbon soldier. Tien and Yamcha weren't criminals in the way Launch was talking about, but they'd fought in underground tournaments – those were pretty open secrets, but they were still illegal, and you could go to jail if you were caught. Lapis, Lazuli, and Krillin weren't criminals, but their relatives were, and on Vegeta guilt by association was very much the order of the world.

"But that's – if humans are arming themselves and hunting down Saiyans they're mad at, it's going to a bloodbath," he said, sitting up a bit in the bath so that water spilled over the edge. "Everyone will be fighting everyone all the time. And people like you are going to end up in jail."

Launch smirked. "I wouldn't bet on it. That inspector got reassigned, and from what I hear the new guy doesn't give a crap about the Bunny murder. By now he's probably on the take. You'd be surprised how many Saiyans are."

He hadn't known what to say. He was speechless a lot these days.

"I'm getting pruney," she said, standing up and climbing out. He watched her towel off, but he was too upset to be turned on.

She left, but then suddenly popped her head back in. "Oh, by the way, you only took the new shirt I made you the other day. I still have your pants."

Raditz sunk into the shallow water. "In more ways than one," he mumbled under his breath.

AN: Some people might think it's not realistic for a group of humans to be able to gang up against a Saiyan successfully, considering that the whole Z gang barely managed to lay a hand on Nappa in the official story. But in this universe, humans have been living and evolving on the same planet as Saiyans, so they're exposed to the same gravity. They are also heavily influenced by the Saiyan focus on training and power, and they know the Saiyans' level and can use it as a mark off for what they can achieve, whereas the Z gang had no idea what they were up against. Humans are still not as powerful as Saiyans in this universe, but they can still hold their own on the same field. I hope that seems realistic!