Given their high status and role, Yamcha and Lemo were permitted a great deal of liberty quickly. Yamcha, as Cacao, was treated with fear and respect, having been the warrior to 'defeat' three powerful Saiyans. As such, Yamcha spent a lot of time meditating by the storage cells with the two Saiyans, keeping guard at the same time. This allowed him to keep his power up, even though he wasn't really able to train and keep moving. Given the aloof nature of the Cacao character, Lemo was more or less Yamcha's only means of social interaction. When Yamcha wasn't guarding the Saiyans, he was with Lemo, often acting as a bodyguard. On more than one occasion, he had to toss around a soldier or two as a means of reinforcing Lemo's authority.
Captain Wata was, to Lemo's surprise, someone who was actually good at his job. Most officers, particularly powerful officers, were conceited ragers who were more concerned with their position than their job. Captain Wata, however, brokered no fools and knew how to run a tight operation. He knew how to recognize talent, and would regularly modify existing units to create better cohesion in different units. It was very clear over the next few months that Captain Wata's contributions to the Freeza Force went far beyond simply running the prison and being powerful.
Lemo was frustrated when he found himself actually liking Wata. He was polite but not artificially so. He actually listened to the thoughts and opinions of his underlings. He was even capable of telling a funny joke. For most of the prison guards, he earned their genuine respect, and taught officers how to actually lead instead of just be the most powerful warrior in their platoon. For those who refused to listen, he had the power to put them in their place so they would at least comply. The ones who chose to learn from Wata would do well. The ones who didn't were sent off to get themselves killed so they would stop being liabilities.
Lemo swore that, if he'd actually cared about the Freeza Force, Wata would be the one officer he'd want to spend his career with.
The two quickly grew close, and Wata trusted Lemo to handle sensitive problems. One of them was the very Saiyans that Lemo had brought in: They were too powerful for Wata to handle, and normal security measures wouldn't be enough. This was balanced against the need to be able to resuscitate the Saiyans quickly if King Cold decided he wanted to interrogate them on short notice.
Meys had given Yamcha his knife, and it was the blade's properties that ended up being the solution. The knife could conduct Ki, allowing the user to channel power through the weapon. With similar materials, they could constantly drain power out of the Saiyans, keeping them constantly weak. They had cells made out of the same rare material as the knife. Ironically, Yamcha's suit was also made of the same stuff. The artificial gravity was turned as high as the base could manage: Almost fifty Gs. Between the Ki-draining material, low oxygen, high gravity, little food, and cold temperatures, the Saiyans would stand little chance of escape.
Lemo managed to learn more about the inhabitants of the prison. There were many traitors kept here that were receiving lifelong tortures for their transgressions. Dozens of members of the Galactic Patrol were kept at the prison, and were often used as bargaining chips to keep them from interfering. Lemo wasn't surprised to realize just how much control the Freeza Force had over the Galactic Patrol's activities. It was little wonder they were considered an ineffectual organization; they could barely purchase a ship without getting the authorization of the Freeza Force, or risk having their members be executed.
There were also thousands of political prisoners, some of which were prisoners of planets that no longer existed, or the cultures that ruled them were now extinct. Yamcha's bluff to Piccolo about there being Namekian prisoners turned out to be true, as well; they had no less than a dozen Namekians in the lower, 'forgotten' parts of the prison.
Finding Tarble was one of the easier endeavors for Lemo. As part of the plan to contain the Saiyans, Lemo convinced Wata that they might be able to use Tarble as a hostage against Vegeta, and so Tarble's location was offered to him, and the security for the poor Saiyan was increased as a result. The only communication they were able to give Tarble was when Yamcha surreptitiously tapped a few notes on his cell wall that Tarble might vaguely recognize as a Saiyan victory song.
The hard part was getting a message out to the New Saiyan Empire when they were going to spring him. There was the option of bribing someone to deliver the message, but that was too easily intercepted. Sending a message was sure to get monitored. The solution, however, was a lot more simple than their other issues: Lemo delivered it.
When a prisoner pickup was arranged, Lemo volunteered to fly for it, wanting to stretch his legs in the field and claiming to feel cramped in the prison. Captain Wata, who trusted Lemo, allowed him to go, understanding that cabin fever on a posting like this was completely normal. This left Yamcha alone for nearly two weeks, of course, but they had little choice.
XXX
Planet Paie
April 2, A763
This espionage was nerve-racking. Lemo had learned that, despite the culture of paranoia and competition that was fostered within the Freeza Force, people didn't question your motives or intent. Largely, people didn't care. Most people were like Lemo, just trying to survive the next day and get paid.
Planet Paie had been unconquered, its people too primitive to be of any interest to anyone. When the war began, however, it became an important strategic location for both sides, so now the poor Paiens were caught in the middle of an interstellar war between two of the most powerful military forces in the galaxy. Lemo pitied the poor bastards.
Lemo didn't want to use the Freeza Force equipment to make contact, mostly because it couldn't be trusted to get through and not be tracked. Lemo had to be sure he wasn't spotted going through the captured Saiyan Empire equipment; thankfully there was a well-timed assault that took the attention from the base, allowing the non-combat Lemo to sort through the captured junk and find an interstellar communicator.
"Bingo," Lemo muttered when he found one. It wouldn't reach Liberty's Center, but it could reach Earth, and that was a better bet for him anyway. If the signal was tracked headed to Liberty's Center, it would be suspicious. If it was tracked to Earth, it would be confusing.
"Come on, Bulma, pick up," Lemo muttered to himself as he got the thing to work.
"Hello? Briefs residence?" Panchy answered. Lemo tried not to sigh.
"Hi, Panchy! It's Lemo, you remember me? I'm one of Bulma's friends from space," Lemo said.
"Oh, Hi Lemo! It's good to hear from you! How's space treating you, I know it's been a while!"
"Pretty stressful, actually. Could I speak with-"
"Oh then you should try having a bath with some essential oils. I've got this bath bomb that's got all the good stuff in it, I'll send you some!" Panchy said.
"That sounds great, Panchy, but I'm in space. No postage out here," Lemo said.
"Nonsense, I'll get my Briefy to send it to you. You should get out more, Lemo, and relax, you're already covered in wrinkles, and you're a different shade of orange!" Panchy said.
"I appreciate the offer-"
"Great, I'll tell him to-"
"I really need to speak with Bulma right now, Panchy, please," Lemo said.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, here I am gabbing up the phone! Bulma! Lemo's on your space phone thing! Bulma? Bulma! Yeah! Space phone for you! It's your orange friend! No, not Goku, the other orange one! What? No! Yeah! No, he's asking for you! Hold on a sec, Lemo. Bulma!"
Lemo rubbed his face as Panchy left the screen. A few moments later, she returned.
"Just a sec, hon."
"Thanks, Panchy."
The screen went black, and the connection ended. Lemo let out a groan, and sent the pulse again to re-establish the connection. A moment later, Bulma appeared.
"I'm sorry about that," she said.
"It's fine, I don't have a lot of time, Bulma. I need you to contact Shive, it's essential."
"All right, what's the message?"
"Tangerine Four-Four-Two-One. April Seventh. Status essential," Lemo said. Bulma wrote it down.
"Wait, what does this mean?" Bulma asked.
"Can't explain, I've already spent too much time. It's ESSENTIAL Shive gets that message immediately. He'll understand when he gets it, and I'll explain later."
"On it."
"Thanks, Bulma."
He ended the communication, and then opened the access panel. He pulled out his blaster, ready to shoot it, but reconsidered; using his own blaster might raise questions as to why he'd opened fire while in the main base. Instead, he reached in, pulled out some important-looking chips and wires, and broke them before throwing them back into the machine and reclosing it. Hopefully it would end up being thrown away as denial sabotage by the Saiyan army.
Lemo returned to his post, his absence not even noticed, much less questioned. He'd given himself and Yamcha a day of wiggle room in case the fighting prevented departure. He didn't end up needing it, as they left the next morning.
It was do or die; they were busting Turles out in less than a week.
