In Jeopardy

Elizabeth Knight

Chapter 11

"I think since we're so close, I'll go drop in on Goten. ChiChi ask me to bring her lunch basket back to her. Would you like to accompany us?"

Zantha really didn't want to, but this would be a great opportunity to view some of the prisons surroundings. She accepted and followed him to the tower closest to the prison and up the ladder. They walked around the outside and she collided with the back of Trunks as he stopped suddenly in the doorway.

"Catch you at a bad time?" he drawled.

Goten's shoulders stiffened and he slowly looked over his shoulder at Trunks and Deirdre in the doorway. Shrugging his shoulders he straightened away from his desk and the woman sitting on it. Zantha caught a glimpse of bright red hair exactly like her own and frowned. Something wasn't quite right here. She could tell by the way the two men were acting, and there was a certain scent perfuming the air in the room which left no room for imagination.

"I think perhaps I should be leaving now." the girl said, sliding off the edge of the desk.

Goten's head snapped up and he grabbed her arm as she walked by, whipping her around to face him. He had positioned her with her back to their guests so no one could see what expression she wore, but whatever it was it wasn't making Goten happy. He stared at her face intently for several moments then with a snort of disgust, he let her go. She immediately dropped her head where her hair shielded her face and walked out of the room. As she past Zantha she looked up for a brief second, a smile on her face. Zantha was speechless. The woman was her....sort of. They looked exactly alike, except her green eyes were different somehow. Zantha went from stunned to enraged in seconds. How dare they send a changeling who looked like her! Better yet, how dare they send someone who was supposed to be her and jeopardize her cover.

Zantha looked back over at Goten. Trunks seemed to be blissfully unaware of what had just passed him, but Goten knew. Weather he believed if Zantha was a native too or not, Zantha couldn't tell, but she had a sneaky suspicion he knew who the changeling was or he wouldn't have let her go. "Who is she, Goten?"

Goten scowled and walked back over to the desk. Trunks laughed, "I'd say Goten's found a woman that was a bit more than he could handle. I wish I had known her." Goten threw him a look of pure loathing. "A Joke! I was only joking! Besides, now that she wears your scent no will look at her twice."

"I seriously doubt that will matter much to her." Goten snarled. Trunks didn't comment, only took Brandy and Zantha by the arm to lead them away from Goten's post after retrieving the basket that sat next to the couch.

When they were back on the ground and headed for ChiChi's once more Zantha ask, "What did you mean when you said she wears his scent?"

Trunks glanced down at Brandy and told her, "Go run up ahead and play." Once Brandy got far enough away, he answered. "In some ways we are a lot like the natives. We mark our mates. Humans can't usually smell it, but other saiyans can."

"Is that why you have the marriage ceremony with rings?"

"Marriage is a humans concept of claiming one's mate. To be mated is enough for saiyans. We're not a normally promiscuous race. We don't cheat on our mates or beat our mates. Of corse there is always the exception to this rule. In such cases as my parents or Goten's parents we participate in the marriage ceremony for the humans benefit. Basically your claimed twice, because humans don't always claim the women they mate with."

"What about you? Your half human, half saiyan."

"Being half saiyan or whole saiyan doesn't matter. I'm saiyan. How is it you don't know about these things?"

"My mother and father were never married, and I never ask."

"But you're human."

"Like you said.......human's don't always claim the women they mate with."

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Zantha quietly slipped out the window and down the trellis. Everything was silent as it should be in the dead of the night. A cloudless sky and bright moonlight helped her pick her way through back yards and alleys until she reached the forest. Zantha shifted and took off. As a tiger she could hide in the brush if she came across anyone. When she made it to the springs White Fang greeted her.

"It's nice to see you could make it. Was she followed?" he ask.

Kyle stepped out of the trees and shook his head. "No one followed."

"Good. Now have a seat and tell me your news."

Zantha sat on the rock he indicated and handed him the map she'd drawn as she explained all the information she'd found out about the prison. "One other thing." she concluded. "There was a changeling at the prison this afternoon who took my form. I would appreciate it if you'd keep them out of this. You ask me to do the job and I'm doing it. This stunt could have put my cover in jeopardy."

"RepSarah!" White Fang called. Zantha watched her materialize out of a large boulder near by to come stand next to him. "Don't stand so close. You reek of that saiyan!"

"It was you? You jeopardized our covers this afternoon? Why?" Zantha gasp amazed.

"I didn't jeopardize anything this afternoon except perhaps my own cover. Goten won't blow the whistle on me. If he was going to do anything, he would have done it this afternoon."

"You sound rather sure of yourself."

"Now that your in a position to keep a close eye on both saiyans, I'm not needed."

"That's not true! You were a Key at the prison! I needed you inside!!" White Fang growled at her. RepSarah didn't reply. "I hope it was worth it!"

As RepSarah walked away from them, Zantha ask, "Why?"

"Probably for reasons that would get them both killed. Make sure you don't get into the same mess. It would be a pity for me to have to send RepSarah to kill your target to save your cover. You'd best be on your way back. Kyle, follow her in case there's trouble." White Fang got up to leave, and Zantha followed suit. She wasn't far away when she stopped and shifted.

Zantha thought for a moment that she'd seen a light on in her room, but when she got closer, it wasn't there. She looked around quietly when she got in the room but found no one.