Capsule Corp Compound
December 28, A762
Brussa hugged Meys.
"You just got back," she said. He rubbed her hair.
"I know, Brussa. It's not the first time I've done back-to-back missions. We'll be back soon, don't worry," he said.
"Be back before Kakarot gets here, okay?" she demanded.
"I promise," he said.
"Why is the cat coming with us?" Vegeta asked Yamcha.
"Puar's my buddy. She's gotten me out of more jams than I can count. Trust me, she's going to help," Yamcha said. Puar's face changed to Vegeta's, and she gave him a raspberry. Vegeta sneered, and turned to Dr. Briefs.
"Is the ship ready?" he asked.
"All fueled up and systems are all good to go. Despite having flown into a battlefield, my girl's still solid. We've got all the furnishings cleaned up, and the gravity chambers are good to go," Briefs patted the hull of the Capsule Ship 2, the vessel the on family had used.
"Hmm. No. There's one thing missing," Tights said, and she darted into the garage. Coming out with a can of spraypaint, she painted 'Sadala's Revenge' on both sides of the ship.
"There," Tights declared, putting the cap back on the spraypaint, "Now it's ready to go."
"How'd you hear about Sadala?" Meys asked. Tights grinned at him.
"Like I said, I've been traveling the stars for twenty-five years. There are some Galactic Patrolmen that haven't had adventures like I have. You learn a few things. What do you think, Vegeta?" Tights asked. Vegeta just stepped up onto the ship.
"He's going to be a delight to spend the next month with," Tights rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, not gonna lie, Vegeta's a hardass," Meys said, "But at least he's not insulting us right now, which is what he normally does, just as soon as look at us."
"Well," Tights rolled the can of spraypaint in her hand before stuffing it in her bag, "He'll loosen up. C'mon, let's go to space."
Meys, Tights, and Yamcha said their good-byes to the Briefs and the Saiyans, and took off into space.
"No, I'm told you and Nappa achieved your new power by practicing and training. I didn't realize you could make such massive gains without true battle," Vegeta said, almost immediately after takeoff.
"Yeah. Yamcha and I trained in ten-times gravity, which was nothing. Nappa, Raditz, and Kakarot got all the way to one hundred-times training, along with that Tao fellow," Meys said, "Brussa and Gohan hit eighty, and Gine got to seventy with Chi Chi. They're probably working towards the one hundred mark now."
"Then we match them, no less than that, by the time we reach our target. If one hundred-times gravity is where they went, that's where we're going," Vegeta said, throwing his bag into a corner, "We begin immediately, we train until we get there"
"You've never done this before, have you?" Yamcha said.
"Yeah, Vegeta, that's actually a really bad idea," Meys said, "We're used to getting stronger by fighting, but training isn't like that. We'll go through warmup, then train, warm down, and then rest. Like running up a hill, or flying up and then coming back down. If we go all out all the time, we'll hurt ourselves."
"What do you know?" Vegeta scoffed.
"No, he's completely right. That's how Master Roshi taught me, Krillin, and Goku: Train hard, study hard, rest hard. Going all the way all the time is a good way to break yourself," Yamcha explained, "I'll set us up a regimen, and we can get started. Since we're all used to ten-times gravity, we'll start off at twenty-times, and we train under that until it's effortless. Then we go up to thirty, and repeat."
Vegeta hesitated. He wanted to shout and demand, but reconsidered when Yamcha mentioned Roshi, "If that's how the old man taught you, then that's how we'll do it."
Yamcha nodded.
"Good, now that the gym schedule is set, we've got something else to sort out: We can't just go straight to Cold Planet 255. We don't know anything about this place other than its location on the galactic map," Tights said, "We're going to need more information."
"Shive and Turles already gave me all the information they know. Its head of security is a man named Captain Wata, but they rotate their guard to make sure that they always end up with recent field experience," Vegeta said.
"That's not nearly enough information, but it does give me an idea on how we can get in," Tights said, "I'm going to hit up a contact of mine, and see what we can squeeze out of him. I'll find out where he is, and the three of you can train until I sort this out."
"We don't have time to go off talking to people!" Vegeta insisted.
"We have time to do this right. I'm not getting killed because you didn't want to wait," Tights said.
"Think about it, Vegeta: We didn't get called in for our missions until a lot of intelligence was acquired by other teams. We don't have other teams to do that legwork for us. Let Tights handle that part of the mission, and when we're ready, we'll strike," Meys said.
"I'm not saying this to contradict you, Vegeta, I'm saying this because it's the smart thing. The more we know, the more we prepare, the better chance your brother has. I won't do anything to compromise the mission, I promise," Tights said.
"All right. We begin training immediately, though," Vegeta insisted.
XXX
Planet Makchay
January 1, A763
Four days of training, and the warriors had reached 50 times gravity. This frustrated Vegeta, who kept holding them to Goku and Raditz's record of reaching 100 times gravity in under 4 days. Yamcha had countered that Goku and Raditz had used Senzu beans to replace their periods of downtime, and that they only had so many Senzu Beans from Yajirobe and Korrin.
Tights had brought a large collection of films and TV shows for them to enjoy during their downtime. Vegeta, initially, insisted that Earth entertainment held no interest for him, until Tights got him hooked on aristocratic period dramas, which, while he insisted he only watched because it was what was on, was always his only request when the subject was broached.
Gine and Chi Chi had prepared piles of meals for them, along with ready-to-eat and fresh food. After Meys and Vegeta went through large portions of the homemade meals, however, Gine and Chi Chi's cooking was rationed by Yamcha. Vegeta insisted that Meys's cooking was disgusting and refused to eat anything he prepared, but Tights and Yamcha didn't find anything to object to.
Since Vegeta insisted on complaining about Meys's cooking, Yamcha and Tights forced Vegeta to begin watching cooking shows at least once a day, and following along. The resulting messes brought an end to their forcing the experiment, but Vegeta continued to watch his 'educational' programming, occasionally attempting the simpler recipes, which were met with lukewarm approval. Vegeta said he didn't care, but insisted on getting their opinions anyway.
Meys and Tights attempted to be subtle about their liaisons, mostly disguised as 'medical attention' after 'intensive training.' They wouldn't show affection during meals or downtime. While it was transparent that they were sleeping together, the facade was broken when, on the third night, Vegeta caught Meys tiptoeing from his quarters to Tights's.
Meys froze in place when he noticed Vegeta looking at him. He opened his mouth to say something, when Vegeta simply smiled, and entered the bathroom. Having received Vegeta's approval, Meys stopped with the sneaking, and entered her room.
On the morning of New Year, Tights awoke with the lamest New Year's hangover she'd ever had, and the smell of omelettes. She rolled over, and found that Meys had cooked her breakfast.
"Moustache, tough and strong, explored the Galaxy, a cheesy romantic, and you cook for breakfast in bed," Tights said, "Did I score big or what?"
"I'm also a communications officer. I can build a faster-than-light communicator out of a jar of acid, some copper wire, and a crystal," he added. Tights chuckled, sitting up and taking the offered breakfast.
"So where are we headed?" Meys asked.
"Makchay. It's this little fuel stop on the edge of Freeza's empire. I called my contact and told him to meet us there. It's basically neutral space, too poor for anyone to care and too far for anyone to bother. They have the shittiest hole in the wall bar, so naturally it's my favorite place," Tights said.
"Is it the one with the Boccshoi Guitar player that's torturing his instrument?" Meys asked. Tights had to fight snorting the omelette from going up her nose, and nodded.
"That's the one."
"That place is awful, I loved it so much. You could just feel the loathing. They really didn't care who you were, they hated you. I've never felt more at home," Meys said.
"When were you there?"
"Like, ten years ago. Brussa was being a brat, so I took a solo mission to get away from her and Vegeta for a while. When I was done, it was, believe it or not, on the way back."
"Wow, talk about the Sticks of the Galaxy if it was between your mission and home."
"It wasn't far enough, trust me," Meys said.
"So, I gotta ask, have I broken any Saiyan taboos?" Tights asked. Meys shrugged.
"I mean, you're not a Saiyan, so there's that. But other than that, picking and claiming a male you liked, that's...Kind of how it happens. I mean, you didn't punch me in the face like my last partner, before dragging me to her hut."
Tights snorted, "She punched you and dragged you to her hut?"
Meys shrugged, "Celry was direct like that. Most of the time they fight until there's a winner, and then they go to the home of whoever won. Celery, though, she liked to get to the point, and wasn't interested in having a 'conversation.'"
"Do you miss her?" Tights leaned against him. It wasn't a question of jealousy or prompting emotion, but a genuine curiosity.
"Yeah. We grew up together, so I think a big part of it was she was sick of waiting, and wanted to make it clear to everyone else she'd made up her mind. I guess we were meant to be, in a way. I mean, if our planet hadn't...Y'know."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up."
Meys shrugged, "I came to terms with our extinction a long time ago. I think the hard part is coming to terms with it not being inevitable now. I do miss my brother, Milho, most of all. He was more suited for the whole 'Warrior' thing. Being a communications officer, you end up building networks of people, and find neat ways to solve problems. After Planet Vegeta, though, I didn't get much chance to do that anymore."
Tights ran her arm down his, and held his hand, "I thought all Saiyans were supposed to be warriors?"
Meys chuckled, "No. I mean, yeah, I went through training and I was assigned as General Nappa's bodyguard. I was good at it, I wasn't a weakling. And, yeah, I enjoy fighting. I guess you could say I like fighting, but I always hated war. That's why I signed up for the spot. If something was tough enough to get to Nappa, it was a good fight for me. But I didn't have to worry about the slaughter as much. The alternative was to go be a gladiator, and they don't have long lives. So, comm officer and bodyguard for General Nappa."
"I think I understand," Tights said, "After this mission, what do you want?"
"I don't know. For me, peace was never an option. Getting stronger meant war, but we've found a different way. I like the idea of saving people, but...I also like the idea of not having another battle on the horizon. Just being able to take care of myself and the people I love."
Tights ran her finger along Meys's chest. He ran his thumb through her hair.
"Now you're thinking of something."
"I dunno, I guess I just never-"
There was a pounding on the door.
"Meys! Training begins now!" Vegeta barked.
"Wait, how did he know you were in here?" she asked.
"He may have spotted me sneaking in," Meys rubbed his neck.
"Ugh, I hate it when people find out I've got a boyfriend," Tights admitted, "Bulma loves the attention, but I hate it. You'd better get dressed, then."
"Yeah, wouldn't want to deny the Prince his playtime," Meys said, eliciting another chuckle from Tights. Meys slipped back into pants, changed into his training outfit in his room, and joined Vegeta and Yamcha in the gravity chamber. After a few hours of training, during wind-down, Tights announced they'd arrived at Makchay.
"Let the woman go alone, she's the one who insisted on dragging us out here. We can keep training," Vegeta insisted.
"We're not letting her go out there alone," Yamcha said, "We came all this way, we might as well find out what her contact knows."
"Besides, Vegeta, if she gets attacked, and there's a good fight, you'll have missed it. And if there isn't, you'll still get to show off," Meys pointed out. Vegeta grunted, conceding the point.
Yamcha wore his Turtle School gi, meaning he stuck out as being overly unique. This meant that, in this place, he fit in, as uniforms were unusual to see on Makchay. Meys wore a pair of overalls with hardened plates and lots of pockets, which made him look like a mechanic. Vegeta had an armor vest over his blue body glove, and a black leather jacket which Tights insisted he wore to not look like he was a member of the Freeza Force. They replaced his gloves and shoes with functional equivalents to make it look like he was merely wearing the armor under his jacket. Tights wore a green tanktop, a red skirt, and leather boots.
"Excuse me," a little green Makchayan called out to them, waddling over in the spaceport, "Starship parking and refuel is five hundred credits!"
"Oh, damn, all my credits are back in our old quarters," Meys admitted.
"I forgot to bring any…" Tights admitted.
"Don't worry, I've got this," Yamcha said, "What's your name, Mister?"
"Miss Kraff," the Makchayan said.
"Miss Kraff," Yamcha nodded, "I'm afraid I'm a bit new to these parts of the Galaxy, so you may not have heard of me. But back where I'm from, I'm a big sports star. You see, I'm Yamcha, of the West City Tai Tans."
"So you have credits, then?"
"I have something much better," Yamcha said, producing a baseball card of himself and a pen, "I've got my autograph."
Kraff did not look amused. Yamcha signed the card and handed it to her.
"And this is worth…?" she prompted.
"Your weight in gold. I've seen signed baseball cards be sold to collectors for over a billion Zeni."
"What's a Zeni?"
"It's, uh, the money where we're from. A billion Zeni is a lot, you can buy a house with that kind of cash," Yamcha said. Kraff considered.
"Yamcha's not just any baseball player! He's the greatest baseball player ever to life! Once he retires, that card will be worth a lot more than just a billion Zeni!" Puar said.
"All right. I'm a fair business woman," she said, writing something on a pad, "You ever need to land here, just use this code, and you won't be bothered. But if I find out this card's worth nothing, I'm putting a bounty on your heads, hear me?"
"I wouldn't dream of fooling the lovely Miss Kraff," Yamcha said.
"You better not," she said, and she turned away.
"Smooth moves, Yamcha," Tights said.
"What can I say, the ladies love me," Yamcha chuckled, stepping out of the spaceport and into the city. It wasn't a big city; it was a few blocks of single-story buildings, though a few reached up to three stories. There were a few hover vehicles, but most people were walking or flying. Tights led them into the city, and between a few alleyways, until they found the bar they were looking for. It didn't even seem to have a name. There was an orange-skinned, muscular bouncer at the front who glared at them like they'd just insulted his shoes.
"This is the place," Tights said, leading them in. Yamcha nodded to the bouncer. Meys ignored him. Vegeta gave him a glare of equal contempt. The bar was mostly wood, with cheap chairs and booths, and smelled like cheap booze and food.
"Jaco!" Tights called. A short alien with teal skin and yellow, bulging eyes wearing the uniform of a Galactic Patrolman looked up from a booth.
"Tights! Why did you ask me to meet you in such a contemptible place? I'm a Galactic Patrolman, it's unseemly for someone of my authority and importance to be seen in a place like this!" Jaco insisted.
"Uh huh. Why don't you order some food for us, huh?" she said, pushing him into the booth. Meys sat next to her. Jaco glared at Meys with suspicion.
"What's good here?" Yamcha asked.
"Nothing, this place is terrible," Meys said, "Get the Rolpols, with extra butter."
"I want centide poppers," Vegeta said.
"I'm surprised you know what those are," Tights said, "I'll have a cheesehopper sandwich and a couple pitchers of gasnaut for the table."
"Oh, can I get a plate of fried tonnal, and a bowl of dunne soup?" Meys said.
"I guess I'll get the...Rolpols with extra butter?" Yamcha guessed, "I'll share with Puar."
"It's a party on Jaco's dime then," Jaco grumbled, "Fine. Waiter?"
"What?" the waiter snarled, causing Jaco to flinch.
"Uh, I'd like to order?"
"Why didn't you say so?" the waiter growled, and Jaco repeated their orders, including his own. The waiter left, and Jaco looked around the table at his odd companions.
"So, Tights, who are your friends?" Jaco asked.
"Hi, I'm Yamcha, from Earth," Yamcha shook his hand.
"Oh, finally, an Earthling with manners," Jaco said, "And the other two?"
"They're Saiyans," Tights said, writing something down in her notebook.
"What? Saiyans, here? P-Please, don't destroy me, I won't tell anyone you were here!" Jaco pleaded.
"All right," Meys shrugged. The waiter returned with a couple pitchers of what seemed to be green slime and a stack of cups. They slammed the pitchers down, causing some of the slime to spill. Yamcha looked on in disgust as the others poured the slime into the cups, even Vegeta, and chugged the stuff like it was water.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Yamcha wondered as he poured a bit for himself, "Well, when in space…"
He drank it, and, despite its thick consistency and the fact it was warm, it was actually very sweet and easy drinking. It was alcoholic, but very subtle. Finding it to his liking, Yamcha filled the cup, and sipped, making sure not to indulge too much.
"Tights, when did you start hanging out with the Saiyans? I heard they all died recently in some big battle with Freeza?" Jaco said.
"Nope. They defeated-" Tights began to explain, but Vegeta cut her off.
"Defeated a big enemy, and we bought out our contract, so we're independent now," Vegeta said, "Got ourselves a new home in the middle of nowhere."
"So...You aren't destroying planets anymore?" Jaco asked.
"Not unless they annoy me," Vegeta said.
"Right, gotcha, crystal clear," Jaco nodded.
"Should have guessed your contact would be your Patrolman friend you mentioned," Meys said, "Had a lot of adventures?"
"More like she threatens me until I do what she tells me to," Jaco grumbled.
"Sounds about right. I've killed a few Patrolmen in my career, so, uh...Sorry, no hard feelings?"
Jaco just glared at him.
"...That's fair."
"Actually, this may end up benefiting the Patrol, too," Tights said, "Vegeta?"
"Cold Planet 255," Vegeta said. Jaco's eyes widened.
"Wait, really?"
Vegeta nodded, "They're holding a Saiyan there. We're going to break him out."
"If you help us, we can spring some of your guys, too," Yamcha said, "But we don't know anything about it. We were hoping you would."
"Cold Planet 255...That'll be a hard nut to crack…" Jaco said.
"What do you know?" Yamcha asked.
"Enough to tell you that it's a bad idea, and it's strictly forbidden by Galactic Patrol policy to approach that world and any world like it, or to encourage anyone else to," Jaco said, throwing his nose in the air and crossing his arms.
"And it's my policy to crush anyone that stands in my way, so you'd better weigh your rulebook against your scrawny little neck," Vegeta said, pounding his hand on the table. A crack wiggled through the table between Vegeta and Jaco.
"Right, so, ah, Cold Planet 255, um...Well, all right, so it used to be called Shillee. It's one of the few worlds where the inhabitants found a way to avoid Cold's wrath without paying him protection money. Shillee contributes fighters, and allows Cold to operate his prison there. See, Shillee has no oxygen atmosphere, and the Shilleen don't need it. So even if you escaped the prison, you'd be stuck on a planet with an atmosphere you couldn't breathe, running from a native population that's fiercely loyal to King Cold and Freeza," Jaco explained.
"So how do we get in?" Meys asked.
"You don't. It's one of the most militarized worlds in the galaxy, and the prison itself is built into its arctic continent. Just getting in, you're dealing with frozen winds, no oxygen, and anti-orbital cannons that can take on entire fleets. Believe me, we've tried," Jaco said.
"Wrong answer. Keep talking, breath mint, I'll tell you when you've said enough," Vegeta said.
"Uh, okay, well, uh...Each planet has a Freeza Force fleet and battle academy, pumping out entire platoons of Freeza Force soldiers every day. They have a network of subspace scanners which constantly authenticate the presence of every ship and even every object in the system. If they so much as think there's something out of place, they blow it up. Every day, prison guards are rotated out of sectors of the prison and put back on the front lines, and then soldiers from the front lines come there to replace them, meaning every single guard is a battle-hardened veteran. Their commander, Captain Wata, is a powerful warrior in his own right, said to have been Captain Ginyu's only true rival in the Freeza Force.
"On top of the prison guards, the entire facility, which, again, is a frozen continent, is augmented by both robotic guards and automated defenses like turrets, laser grids, and electrified walls. They pump so little oxygen into the facility that prisoners are kept in a state just shy of taking brain damage. Guards walk around wearing oxygen masks when they aren't in quarters. The walls of the cells are electrified, so if a prisoner gets too close, they're in for a world of hurt. Most cells are welded shut, so they don't even have doors; food pellets just drop in from above, with just enough nutrients and calories they need to survive one more day. Needless to say, nobody has ever escaped," Jaco said. Meys clapped his hands.
"Food's here!"
The waiter chucked the bowls and plates onto the table, letting the customers figured out who got what. Yamcha gawked at the bowl full of curled-up bugs the size of his thumb he received. With a disgusted look and hoping it was just his imagination when he saw it twitch, Yamcha ate one.
Butter. Tender, juicy meat. Grease galore. It was absolutely the worst food in the universe, and he could not stop eating them.
"Puar, you gotta try this," Yamcha stuffed one into Puar's mouth.
"Oh, wow, that's awful, give me another!"
"I know, right?"
Jaco watched the two Saiyans gobble down food with his jaw dropped, forgetting to even touch his own plate as he watched the slaughter of unhygienic bar food.
"You never really get used to it," Tights said to Jaco, munching on her sandwich and watching Meys eat, "But you do learn to deal with it."
"I'd heard their appetites were amazing, but wow…" Jaco muttered.
"So, I have a couple ideas," Yamcha said. He and Puar had eaten faster than the Saiyans. Yamcha drank a half a glass of the gasnaut.
"You have ideas on how to break into the most secure prison in the galaxy?" Jaco said flatly.
"Yup! Three, actually. One, we go in as guards. Two, we go in as prisoners. Three, we give them so many targets, they don't know what's real," Yamcha said.
"Let's go down the list, then," Tights said, "Go in as guards. Hit me."
"Well, Jaco, you said that they rotate a sector's guards once a week. Guards to the front lines, soldiers to the prison. We take the place of some of those guards, and bam, we're on the inside. We spend a little time learning the security and the patrols, and when we've figured out where Tarble is, we bust him out!" Yamcha said, punching his fist into his hand.
"I like that idea, but Vegeta and I are almost certainly known and wanted criminals within Freeza's Empire, and they're bound to check ID's," Meys said.
"It'll be tough but I think it could be done," Tights said, "What about the prisoners idea?"
"Well, like Meys said, you and Vegeta are almost certainly wanted. The three of us are turned in as prisoners with vital information, so they won't think of killing us. Then, we bust out of our cells from the inside using Kaio-Ken, wreak some havoc, and find Tarble while busting the place up," Yamcha said.
"I like that last part," Vegeta said.
"There are so many countermeasures that there's no guarantee you'd be able to use your Kaiowhatever. If it doesn't work, then you're literally making yourselves King Cold's prisoners for the rest of your lives," Jaco said.
"Still more straightforward than the Guard plan," Tights said, "Your third plan?"
"Confusion. You said they had super-sensitive sensors, right? Well, then we give them something to sense. We blast enough debris into the solar system all at the same time, they don't know what's going on, and they get all kinds of confused. While they're shooting at ghosts and rocks, our ship flies in and drops us off. We blast our way into the prison while wearing oxygen masks, and we find Tarble the old fashioned way," Yamcha said.
"That would take a lot of preparation and tech we might not have time to spare. It'd be a huge operation to set up ahead of time," Tights said.
"Well, that's all I thought of," Yamcha shrugged, "We've got time until we get there."
Meys slurped his dunne soup, and set down the bowl, letting out a stinky burp, "What if we did all three?"
Everyone looked at him, and Meys grinned.
"I'm serious. Yamcha, nobody knows who you are. Vegeta and I are wanted criminals. Tights is a genius. And, believe it or not, we do have friends. We could do all three plans," Meys said.
"Explain," Vegeta said, wrapping the stringy cheese of his popper around his finger, and then slurping it down.
"Lemo was promoted to Commander just before Freeza died, right? He comes in, with the previously unknown Bounty Hunter, Tai-Tan," Meys said, gesturing to Yamcha,
"Lemo, who knows security codes, tells command that he's recovered the Saiyan criminals, who know where Freeza's killer is, but won't talk. Tai-Tan says he wants a steady gig, and Lemo gives his endorsement, talks them into taking Tai-Tan as a guard. Vegeta and I spend some time in the cells, which will suck I'm sure, but once Lemo and Yamcha have the lay of the land, they find a way to bust us out. Once we're out of our cells, we find Tarble, crack skulls, blow the place up. That is when the New Saiyan Empire makes their move: They use every ship they can spare to fire debris into the solar system, giving us the chance to sneak out while their over-sensitive sensor grid is going nuts."
"This plan hinges on a lot of people I don't know and aren't here," Vegeta said.
"A good plan isn't about what you want to happen, but what you prepare to happen. We load up as many opportunities for ourselves as we can. Have as many assets as we can. If one thing goes wrong, something else moves in to fill the gap, get me? One way or another, we can't do this alone. But there's nobody else in the Galaxy who could pull this off. So, while we're getting our allies together, we get oxygen suits, upgrade our ship, bring in enemies of Freeza, anything we can use to our advantage," Meys said.
Vegeta crossed his arms, thinking. He grabbed the last of his poppers, and bit into it, a string of cheese reaching from his mouth to his hand.
"I'll talk to Shive. But we'll need credits to pull this off," Vegeta said, "And I know where to get some."
"Where's that?" Tights asked. Vegeta smirked.
"Being royalty has its perks."
