Disclaimer…hmm, I wonder… Do I own DBZ? NO I DON'T so don't even bother suing me!!
Notes: This chapter starts out rather cute. But it's ending…
Shadows of the Past
Chapter 17
Vegeta crouched perfectly still, watching and waiting for the right moment to strike. The target was only twenty paces away now, and still had not noticed his presence. He had been observing his quarry for almost an hour and now that it was almost time to pounce, he was starting to anticipate it. His tail flickered restlessly through the shadows of the tangled tree limbs and finally he wound it back around his waist again. He knew better than to move, even a little and he would give himself away. His quarry was quick and perceptive. That the target hadn't noticed him yet was odd, he knew it should be harder to capture her than this… but all the same, she had been very distracted all day.
Saturdays were definitely the best, and now that Frieza had gone out to oversee the status of his little invasion, Vegeta had a whole day to himself. The fragile peace in the Henara Star Quadrant had been broken during the night, a mercenary team sent to guard the area attacked a party of native guardsmen on patrol, and slaughtered them in an ambush. Zarbon had informed him at breakfast that Lord Frieza had left immediately for the area, and that his departure with Napa and Radditz was to take place tomorrow, rather than today as scheduled. Vegeta's smirk widened a little as the lithe figure of his prey ventured closer to the dark crimson rosebush below his tree limb.
The little figure of his quarry was almost in position… Shani's hand reached for one of the blossoms, but she walked past, moving a few feet farther out of his reach and Vegeta growled. The little brat had known he was there after all, and she was practically daring him to try and pounce on her anyway? Getting that close before calling off the game, by withdrawing again.
He swung down out of the tree, and landed gracefully beside her, she grinned rather than looked surprised. He snorted and rolled his eyes. " If you knew why'd you play along for so long? "
" Elves are hunters by nature too. " She giggled. " They don't call us tree huggers for nothing, Vegeta. Besides, I didn't think you'd really pounce on me anyway. "
" Oh really? " He purred, and Shani grinned as they bolted through the bushes, her slim build and light feet gave her startling speed, but he caught her easily, or at least he thought he had, when she threw herself on the ground and scrambled the other way. Watching her he could see she wasn't scared, her every move said this was fun and he had to agree.
He knew she was graceful, but her speed and reflexes were excellent, her sharp eyes judged distances with great accuracy and he knew he wouldn't be able to catch her unless she made a mistake, or started to get tired, but he wasn't about to give up. He knew she'd tire long before he would, because as sleek and fast as she was, Shani could not match his strength and stamina.
Shani leapt over a fallen log, heading deeper into the trees, like a wraith, she flickered in and out of the shadows, but her long golden hair shinning brightly in the sunlight made her easy to track. Vegeta shadowed her relentlessly, watching her every movement and waiting for the inevitable mistake that would come, as she got tired. He saw some rocks up ahead and wondered if she would change direction again or go past them. As she kept heading straight, he used a burst of greater speed and got in front of her, she was so fast it almost didn't work, but he had known that he wouldn't have time to think about it, so he just leapt right at her, and she yelped in surprise, his arms closed around her he rolled easily with the impact and the two of them landed in a giggling heap.
Her silver eyes shimmered brightly with the adrenaline of the chase and he pinned her down, and smirked at her. She squirmed, but already knew she was trapped. " Well, " She giggled, " You caught me. Now what are you going to do with me? "
" Tickle you. " He purred, as he started tickling her ribs. " This is payback for making me take the guts out of that slimy thing in science yesterday. "
Shani thrashed helplessly, laughing too hard to do more than squirm as he kept tickling. " NO!! " She shrieked. " No tickling! Stop! Please, you kill stuff all the time! "
" That thing was dead to start with! Do you think I pull the guts out of all the stuff I kill? " He growled, not angry, but definitely annoyed.
" Not really, but, how should I know? I've never been on… Stop!! I can't breathe! One of those missions! I'm not one of Frieza's elites. " Shani begged, still helpless under his playful onslaught.
" Yeah, well, I didn't ask to be here either. " He grunted, and moved away from her.
She took a minute to stop laughing, and try to catch her breath before she went over to where he was standing, with his back to her. " What's wrong, Vegeta? "
" Nothing, come on, let's go back, it should be lunch time soon. "
" No. Not until you tell me why you're mad at me. You weren't mad yesterday! You even draped the stupid thing's guts on my shoulder. Then Gunnar threw his at Lynx, and Wires and we all got to clean the science room. I didn't get mad at you! "
" After the stuff is dead, Saiyans don't mutilate it. Well, unless we're going to eat it."
" You mean you just leave it where it fell? "
" What else do you
do with a dead enemy? "
" My people burn the bodies of our fallen enemies, and we bury whatever remains beneath a marker. If the creature in question was hunted for food, we skin it, take the meat, gut it and even keep and clean the bones, they can be carved and made into musical instruments and jewelry and things. Besides that, food animals get a prayer of thanks or a song to honor the hunt and the animal's sacrifice. "
" To fall in battle and be returned to the soil by fire is an honor Saiyans reserve for those who die with honor and courage. Only a great rival or a truly powerful enemy would be honored this way for loosing a battle. As for prey animals… why bother? "
" All of us can fall prey to something stronger than we are. And for your information I didn't want that thing's guts on me, but all the other boys were more than willing to rip the guts out of those things. I guess next time we have to dissect something I'll just have to do it myself. I never thought you of all the boys in our class would dislike that!! "
Vegeta snorted. "Oh I can picture how that'll go right now. Nature-nut-tree-hugger pulls the slimy thing out of the jar and looks at it wondering which end to start on. And when she pokes it with the scalpel… there's that weird deflating balloon noise and all those slimy guts come sliding out, all over the tray. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was the point where you pushed it over to me yesterday. "
"I didn't throw up like the other girls did. "
" True, but you did scream when I gave them to you to hold. Geeze, Shani I was going to take them to the trashcan. "
" You put them on my shoulder! You jerk! I can't believe I'm still talking to you after that! Besides that you got us all in trouble! " Shani growled, making disgusted face and a gesture like she was wiping invisible guts off of her shoulder again.
" That was Gunnar, I just… got the ball rolling. Mrs. Noble even said she didn't know I'd done anything until you shrieked, and by then there were guts all over the room… "
" Yes, what a perfect little angel with those dark eyes and that pointy hair… " Shani growled, then she grinned wickedly. " But did you see the look on her face when she finally realized she had a piece in her hair… right when Zarbon walked by? "
Trunks broke out laughing. " I always knew you were a brat when you were a kid. You and that little elf must've been quite a pair. "
" Like you and Goten were… and still are, although the two of you got caught a lot more often than Shani and I ever did. " There was a hint of emptiness in those words, just enough to make those who knew him best shiver a little as he continued. As if he didn't want to talk about her anymore, Vegeta changed the subject, but seemed more introspective than upset. " Napa and Radditz and I found nothing of note at the outpost we were sent to attack the next day except a hundred warriors who died rather than surrendered. Every one of them too stubborn to tell us where the Star was or even that it wasn't among them. The entire Legion was that way. They asked no quarter and they never gave it either. Fortunately there are few armies, particularly of that size who are that loyal and that brave. It took us over two months to siege that fortress, and finally beat them. They knew they couldn't defeat us, but they didn't surrender and the rest of the Legion never sent them reinforcements either. "
" That doesn't make any sense. "
" I know, but they were willing to die for their cause and we got hurt quite badly several times fighting them. They weren't weaklings and their leaders were strong and gifted strategists. Thanks to the moon orb, we were just too big and too powerful, but they still almost killed Radditz a couple of times. I was starting to wonder if our battle with them would ever end, but the last twenty came out of the fortress and Napa thought they were giving up. We fought them without transforming, much to Radditz and Napa's disappointment, and it took another three days, but we won. "
" Why did they come out? " Piccolo asked.
" The outpost was a large one, the walls were thick enough to withstand our Oorazu punches and blasts, but twenty men couldn't defend it anymore. Besides, it was a test. "
" What do you mean, a test, Vegeta? " Gohan wondered out loud.
" The Legion wanted to see what sort of an enemy we were on equal ground. The last twenty came out, these were their best fighters now, only the veterans were left, all the cannon fodder and those who may have lacked the conviction to make this stand were dead. The morning of the second day of this test, their commander didn't come out of the fortress. I asked his second why, and he told me the man had died of his wounds during the night. I was the one who wounded him and I told the secondary I would accept his surrender, but the man and his 12 remaining fighters just laughed and raised their weapons. "
" Wow. " Piccolo whistled softly. " Talk about a last stand. No wonder they had kept the Eternal Star safe for so long. Who else could match that kind of resolve? Only a small but powerful force with common goals and a reason to stick together could have seen the end of a siege like that. "
Vegeta nodded. " Frieza had been too busy to come himself, and if he had just sent part of his army, they would've started fighting among themselves and the Legion would've beaten them and retreated to a larger fortress to warn them and help defend the next one. That was like what happened the next year when Frieza sent us after another outpost, then had to pull us back to help with a purge Zarbon and Dodoria were leading in the war zone. When we got back to our siege it was abandoned, the Legionaries had gone to reinforce a large Garrison that protected a free planet and may have contained the star itself, until they were forced to move it, when they knew they were going to fall. That battle took another two months. And I got to boss Dodoria around, since Frieza sent him and a thousand men and later, even the Ginyue Force to back us up. "
" No way! You were six years old then! No one would let a six year old lead a battle! I don't care how much confidence Frieza had in you. " Gohan interrupted, " It's not possible, even you would've cracked under stress like that. "
" Actually, I lead every charge and I told Dodoria where I wanted to attack first, but he was the one who maneuvered the troops and coordinated the attacks. By the time I was ten, I had assumed both duties of command, but yes, I was there during the planning and execution of our strategies. When I had learned enough, I started working with Zarbon, and he continued teaching me what Dodoria couldn't master in terms of strategy and counter strategies. "
" Goku may be more powerful, Vegeta… but I have always known you are our best tactician. " Piccolo said thoughtfully. " But I guess even I never realized you had started learning the art of war when you were so young. "
" It was only the next step in my training. Napa knew I was bored with the training I had been getting. I was not really strong enough yet to be given stronger opposition in the training room, but opponents who could think rather than simply react and situations that I had never encountered… That peaked my curiosity. From tactics, and playing Tarchen with Shani I found myself curious about military command and history. When the librarian told Zarbon I kept raiding the military strategy and counter-measures shelves… that was when Frieza decided to send me to Shadin 5, Gohan. With the right teacher, it doesn't seem like work or studying at all. Dodoria was a moron, but he was a strong leader, and he loved to fight, he had the trust of his fighters and could plan and execute head on attacks and even some simple screens, but an assault on two fronts or coordinating two or more groups of fighters with different goals, that would've been beyond him. Had Zarbon been on that planet, he would've attacked the fortress, but the brunt of the attack would've been directed at the civilians living more or less in the shadow of the garrison. "
" Vegeta! That's horrible. " Bulma cried.
" War is never pretty, woman. It isn't bombs bursting in air or a pretty flag waving in the wind after the smoke clears. War is bloody, it's dangerous, and it's death. More often than not survivors envy the dead, because those who aren't killed usually face their injuries, starvation and enslavement. The way that Dodoria and I captured Shadin 5 saved over million lives, or about half of the city. But if we had concentrated on the city, the soldiers would've surrendered eventually, rather than fight us until the last one died. The Legion warriors were not out to win at the cost of those they were sworn to defend. Instead the resolve of the soldiers gave strength to the starving civilians and made martyrs of those who died resisting. The next fortress and the next… Every time we moved to attack them, we made the Legion more determined to hold us off, and the civilians that depended on them admire their courage even more. Yes, Zarbon's method would've been more brutal at its outset, but in the 18-year campaign, it would've saved billions of lives, that were lost when we chose to take them with brute force rather than attack their morale and their will to resist. "
Poor Vegeta… It's hard trying to explain war to those who haven't really been through it.
This sort of echoes the sentiment about war that David Gemmelle presents us with in his Drenai series… particularly The King Beyond the Gate, and Against the Horde… Those are two books I suggest all fans of heroic fiction and war stories become familiar with. The characters in his books really live and breathe… his writing is far better than mine, and the mix of light and dark within each character introduces the link between good and evil and the shadowed line that some people have to cross to make a stand for the greater good.