"Where's Raditz?"

"Offworld. He's in the military now, teamed up with Prince Vegeta on some planet. I seriously doubt they'll make it back for this."

"Wow Prince Vegeta, huh? I wouldn't want to be stuck on a ship with that one."

Stuck on a ship with Vegeta.

Gine clenched her teeth, gripping her glove as tight as she could; it was the only thing she had with her in the pod she could hold. Why couldn't she have gone with Kakarot? Why couldn't so go to Urth with him?

She had watched the destruction of Planet Vegeta from the pod. She had watched as her boy, her secondborn, the little child of a power level of just five, fly off in the opposite direction. Kakarot would be on his own, with nobody to remind him of his family, nobody to anchor him to his people, with no knowledge of his legacy as a Saiyan...Would he be strong enough to survive on his own?

He has to be. He has to be smart, strong, and clever. Like his father, Gine told herself. A lump formed in her throat at the thought of Bardock, who had sent Kakarot off to Urth without her. Who had run off to fight Frieza on his own. Was he strong? He was a low-class warrior, respected by none. Was he smart? He had run of and gotten himself killed; he'd done nothing to save their people.

What did that leave her as? A washout warrior, good for nothing more than cooking, cleaning, and chasing after children. She was pathetic, and her only hope was that Prince Vegeta would be hungrier than he was arrogant. Given what she had heard, however, an appetite greater than the Prince's pride would be truly insatiable.

And what about Raditz? What would the Prince, or his brutish bodyguard, Nappa, say about his mother coming to them? They would see him as even weaker, when Raditz already struggles to garner true strength like a real warrior. Raditz's mother, come to protect him from across the galaxy.

The Frieza Force itself, as well, would want to know why Gine had left Vegeta just before it was destroyed. Would they assassinate her? She knew that Frieza had destroyed the planet, not a meteor like the intelligence feed was stating. They'd surely come for her, one way or another. Even if Vegeta chose to protect her, he couldn't be there all the time.

There was a sick twisting feeling in her stomach, and she ripped the glove in two.

She would have to stand on her own.

She would have to be a fighter again.

And Raditz could not afford to be weak.

Gine curled up, took a breath, and began to think about her time as a warrior. Her sparring. The things Bardock tried to drill into her. What was it that he had said? What were those lessons? She would have to learn them all over again…

She hated Bardock for sending her away from Kakarot, and her heart ached as she thought of him, wishing nothing more than to be cradled in his arms, one last time...Should she have stayed?

The sound of Kakarot's cries rang in her ears. No. She would be strong. Kakarot needed her. Raditz needed her. Hell, even Vegeta needed her.

She would not be weak. She would not be a liability.

And she will have her revenge on Frieza.

Her pod touched down at the landing zone, and hissed open; she stepped outside, still groggy from the hibernation. Immediately, Gine let out a stretch and yawn, and looked about; the vegetation was a blue-green, with the trees having short, stubby branches. Gine yawned a second time as she looked about the camp; there were a handful of other Saiyans gawking at her with their mouths open.

"Uh...Hello...Um…" Gine's bravado from the beginning of her trip slipped away as she raced to think of what to say, "I'm, uh...Here to be Prince Vegeta's cook!"

"Y-You're a Saiyan!" one of them stammered.

Gine put her fists on her hips and scowled, "No, I'm from Yardrat. Of course I'm a Saiyan. Where is the Prince and the General?"

"Wh-what happened, how are you here?" the Saiyan demanded, taking a step toward her, and she hopped off the door of her pod. A lie formed in Gine's mind, one that might help her, and her son, keep their heads.

"I took my pod, obviously. General Cubeb decided I'd be a nice gift for the Prince, since it was on the way for us on the way back to Planet Vegeta. He thought the Prince would appreciate someone who can cook anything!" Gine held up her bicep, flexing it and smiling at the Saiyan, "Besides, I wanted to see my son before we went back, surprise his father with a little reunion."

"You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" Gine cocked her head to the side and giving him a confused look.

"Planet Vegeta was struck by a meteor! Everyone on the planet was killed, even the King and General Cubeb! The Saiyans...They're all gone!" the warrior told her.

It wasn't hard for Gine to feign shock as she held her ungloved hand to her mouth; it was still too much for her to really accept, "But...My husband, we were...My son...My other son was on Vegeta! There HAS to be survivors, someone who got away!"

"We've been trying to get ahold of someone, but…" the Saiyan shook his head, "As far as we can tell, we're all that's left…"

Gine slumped down to the ground. Bardock's last words to her rang in her ears.

"Never forget me, Gine."

"Bastard…" she mumbled.

"Who is this?" a child called out.

"MOTHER!" Raditz shrieked, flying straight over to her. She caught her oldest son in her arms, and she squeezed him tight, the familiar smell of his long hair reminding her not all was lost.

"Oh, Raditz, you're okay!" she sobbed, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Ugh," Prince Vegeta coughed, "Who is this, Raditz?"

Raditz let Gine go, and turned to his companion, "This is my mother, Gine. Mother, what are you doing here? I thought you were on Vegeta?"

"No, I took a last minute job with General Cubeb, and he sent me here to be the Prince's cook while he's on assignment, before headed back...Back to…" Gine clenched her fist, swallowed the feeling in her throat, and kept a gaze, "Back to Planet Vegeta. But they just told me what happened. I had no idea, Raditz...Your brother, and your father…"

"Mother, it's all right. Father sent me a message, Kakarot was chosen for a mission, just before everything happened! He was sent to some place, some backwater world, what was it, um..E-arth?" Raditz said.

"A cook, eh?" Vegeta said

Gine stood, and bowed to the Prince, "Yes, my Prince. General Cubeb sent me as a sort of gift to you. I'm to prepare all your meals, to the greatest extent of my abilities, as long as you wish for me to serve. I also have served as a warrior in the Army. Given the circumstances, I'm more than happy to offer my loyalty, and that of my son, Raditz, to your service, for the glory and pride of the Saiyan Race."

"Hmph. Well, get to cooking, woman, I'm hungry," Vegeta said, waving his hand.

"Of course, Prince Vegeta, I will begin at once. You! Where's the food?" Gine pointed to one of the Saiyan warriors.

"Hey, you can't order me around!"

"I can and will if you want to eat! Now where's the food?"

"Oh, you-"

"Answer the woman!" Prince Vegeta ordered, and the warrior let out a yelp.

"Um, it's over here!" he ran over to the pile of fruit and alien bodies that had been accumulated. Just a pile of corpses and some fruit dumped on the ground, for shame. The aliens surely had kitchens they could have used some of their materials. It would be a chore to rig something up.

"Wow, this is gonna be great! Vegeta, you won't regret taking on my mom, she's the best cook on the-Erm...Was the best cook among all the Saiyans. Is? This is gonna be weird," Raditz insisted to the Prince.

"She'd better. I'm hungry," Vegeta huffed, and he went to brood over on a stump.

"Raditz, come here," Gine called over, and he floated over. At first he was grinning at the sight of her, but when he saw her expression, it quickly faded.

"Hey, Mom, it's going to be okay. We're together now, we'll-"

"We won't have time for that, Raditz. We're going to have to be strong. Strong together," she muttered to him, "Vegeta's not going to tolerate any weakness."

"M-mom? What-"

"We're going to finish this mission, and then we're going to train. You, me, Nappa, Vegeta, and these other Saiyans. We're all we have left. We have to stick together, do you understand me, Raditz?"

"Yeah, of course, but I thought-"

"Don't let anything on. I'm just your cook mother, as far as anyone else is concerned. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Good. Now get a fire started, with a spit, and carve me some bowls, I have to marinate this meat and get the Prince something to eat as soon as I can."

"You got it!" he darted off to get some wood. Gine allowed herself to smile; Raditz loved helping her cook, and helping Bardock with his technical experiments. The boy was a born technician and a talented cook in his own right, but Saiyans don't put any value on anything other than fighting. And Raditz hated to lose, or be seen as lesser, so he didn't let on that he actually loved this sort of thing. Raditz was so excited to help, though, so excited to see her, that he'd forgotten to act disdainfully at the idea of helping her.

After about twenty minutes of cooking, the Prince called out, "What's taking so long, cook? I thought you were the best! Why shouldn't I just eat my fill now with what's in the food pile? Well? I'm hungry!"

"Of course, my prince, just a moment longer," Gine studied the alien stomach she'd been cooking, held up above the fire and lightly cooked. A metal funnel made from the alien warriors' weapons caught the juice and grease dripping off the stomach, which she took out of the fire, along with the stomach, and drizzled the grease back into the stomach, which was filled with fruits, nuts, and plants that had been taken from the aliens or gathered by the Saiyans.

"I have an appetizer for you, my Prince. Something to hold you over until the full roast is done," she presented it to him, "It's a stuffed stomach, lightly roasted, with fruits and vegetables. Highly nutritious and delicious, fit for a warrior and Prince like yourself."

Vegeta snatched the stomach from her hands, and held it up to eat it.

"Ah-ah, my Prince; you'll want to eat it one bite at a time. It's richer than it looks, and you'll want to savor it," she insisted.

Vegeta scowled at her, and instead of eating the whole thing all at once, followed her advice, and ate it from the top down. After the first bite he paused, looked her up and down, and chewed slowly. Gine grinned at him.

"How is it, my Prince?"

"This will do. Go back to cooking, I'm still going to be hungry."

"Of course, my Prince."

Gine returned to the cooking pits; the smell of food had incentivized the rest of the Saiyans to pitch in at least a little bit of help, and now she and Raditz were able to cook several of the aliens all at once. All the Saiyans were watching and smelling in awe as the mother and son went about preparing their feast.

"If we had time I'd have brewed some wine, but juice will have to do," Gine said, taking some of the alien peaches that she was using as the flavor for basically everything she had, "Find a water container, and mix water and the juice. Three parts juice, one part water, don't be afraid of pulp, okay?"

"Got it!"

Within the next hour, Gine presented Prince Vegeta and General Nappa with another round of stuffed stomachs, and the other Saiyans got flavored and cubed meat, while she prepped some impromptu grounded meat, with some eggs, and made a sort of pork-and-egg dinner, spiced with some local mushroom, followed by the full roast, which had a peach sauce cooked into it. It wasn't Gine's best work, but she was proud of it given what she had to work with, and there would be plenty more for the days to come with what she'd cooked.

She and the Saiyans feasted that night. For the first time since they'd heard the news of their people's doom, they felt normal, even a little bit happy, even if it was just from a bit of food. Gine ate as she watched and listened to the Saiyan warrior exchange stories of their victories. A part of her realized that she'd missed this.

"Hey, Gine, was it?"

"Huh?" she looked over, and then up, at the massive General Nappa, "Yes, that's my name. What can I do for you, General?"

"You already have. Thank you for this. We all needed this after what happened."

She smiled, "Just doing my job, General. The last thing these Saiyans, or the Prince, needs is an empty stomach."

"Of course. Feels good to have something real to eat."

"General?"

"Hmm?"

"Could I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Train me and Raditz. He needs...A drive, and we need him to be strong. I need to be strong. More than just a cook. We can't afford to be weak. Not anymore."

General Nappa held up the leg of the alien warrior he was eating, "Keep cooking like this, and you've got a deal."

"Deal."