Chapter Thirty-Five: Place Your Bets

10AM (Frieza Stellar Time), 12PM (Astorian Galactic Time)
Elite Lounge and Bar

"Chestra, dear, that's your tenth cup of coffee."

"Just one more, Zarbon, darling, please."

Zarbon sighed, as he passed her the umpteenth cup of coffee.
Chestra's eyes were bloodshot with big, purple crescents resting under them.
Jaden was gulping down her fifth orange juice, as Diamonique daintily nibbled on
a cream tart. Balair was starting off his breakfast with a vodka and orange
juice combination, and Dodoria had already eaten three plates of eggs and bacon.

"What the hell happened to you?" Jaden asked, who did not often
restrain her rough, foul language. "That little Astorian tot couldn't have kept
you up all night that much, could she?"

Chestra sighed wearily, gulping down the black coffee. Finally, she
said, "She had a pretty horrible nightmare about her mother being hurt by a
giant red monster who kept making her cry. She was too scared to go back to
sleep, poor thing. It took me hours to calm her down enough to get her back to
sleep." Her voice began to slur at the end, and her eyelids grew heavy. Balair
said nothing, his expression stony and blank.

Zarbon patted Chestra's back. "Chestra, why don't you get something
to eat?"

"Not hungry," Chestra mumbled.

"It's not good to be drinking that much coffee without eating. At
least eat some bacon or ham or eggs."

Chestra nodded slowly, as she began to rise from the table, but
before she could get up, her head fell down into Zarbon's shoulder. Jaden
became alarmed, but Zarbon assured the Rybanese warrior that Chestra had only
fallen asleep.

"I-I better take her back to bed," Zarbon told the others, as he
picked up his mate and lifted her up from the table.

"She's supposed to report to Lord Frieza in an hour," Dodoria
pointed out, his mouth full. "What excuse are you going to give him
about Chestra's absence?"

"The truth, Dodoria," Zarbon answered quietly. "I will simply
remind our lord that children are often frightened the first night they stay
with new parents, but that this will past. Chestra has never given Lord Frieza
any displeasure with her work, so one absence will hardly make a difference."
And with that, he carried Chestra, cradled in his arms like a baby, out of the
Elite Lounge and Bar.

After they left, Balair allowed a big, satisfied grin to spread
across his ugly, red face. "Shall I tell you all about the incredible night
that I had last night with my new concubine?"

Dodoria grinned and said, "Sure." Diamonique merely shrugged, and
Jaden shot Balair a fatal look of disgust. Jaden cared nothing for Farla,
except for pitying her. Astorian or not, that woman did not deserve a horrible
fate as Balair's new whore. It would have been far better-and merciful-for
Balair to have killed the woman right away. But Balair would not know mercy, if
it slapped him in his face. Jaden forced the bile in her throat to go down
before she spoke to the Sistrai warrior.

"I'm not interested in another one of your tales of your so-called
prowess in bed. But tell me this, Balair; have you ever convinced a woman to
lay with you of her free will, without being forced or bribed? What do you plan
to do with this Astorian woman? Keep her alive for days, weeks, even months,
before you finally tire of her and kill her? That you didn't kill her right
away only testifies of your vast cruelty. I don't even want to imagine the
things you have done to that wretched woman."

Balair only grinned. He had no regrets about violating Farla; in
his eyes, Farla was no more than a new plaything for his personal pleasure.
With a smirk, he answered Jaden triumphantly, "You sound jealous, Jaden! I bet
you're secretly wishing that you were in that woman's shoes; she's got more
loving in one night than you have in your entire lifetime! But I wouldn't touch
you with a hundred-foot pole; I prefer more attractive partners."

Jaden snorted, ignoring Balair's hurtful remarks, "It's too bad that
you have to force those attractive partners; you couldn't get a woman to sleep
with you willingly without some sort of bribe or threat. I bet you couldn't get
a woman to go to bed with you of her own free will, without coercion or reward."

Balair smirked. "Sounds like you want to make a friendly wager, eh?"

Jaden shook her head. "I'm gone. I'll eat something later." She
shoved herself out of the booth, not wanting to be around Balair for another
minute. Balair looked at Dodoria and Diamonique. "Anyone wants in on this
wager?"

Dodoria spoke, "Sure, why not?"

Diamonique, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow, asked disdainfully,
"Who would this woman be that you could get to get into bed with you willingly?"
She herself had never known Balair to have a completely willingly woman in his
bed. She knew that Balair was attracted to her, but Balair had never made a
pass at her because Diamonique's uncle, who had been Diamonique's guardian, was
an important friend of Frieza's. Frieza had warned Balair not to touch
Diamonique, since her home planet was one of Frieza's main allies. Both planets
Sistra and Gemstar were among Frieza's partners in his Planet Trade, and Frieza
did not need nor want any of his allies to be feuding amongst themselves. Both
planets were protected under Frieza.

Balair grinned widely, "How about your and Eclipse's cousin,
Mahogany?" Mahogany, with rich brown hair and eyes that suited her name, was
half-Gemstarian, half-Astorian, and also a Ginyu Girl. She was
second-in-command to Eclipse.

Diamonique gave an unladylike snort, similar to Jaden's. "She
wouldn't touch you with a one-thousand-foot pole. Both of my cousins, Eclipse
and Mahogany have better taste than that. Any woman with Gemstarian blood in
them, no matter what else it's mixed with, has discriminating taste in men. And
neither Eclipse nor Mahogany would stoop to wipe their boots on you."

Balair gave a low growl, for he knew that Diamonique's words were
true. Most of the Ginyu Girls avoided him, as much as they could, once word had
started spreading about the way he treated women. Eclipse and Mahogany
especially held him in contempt.

He narrowed his eyes at the smug, coldly beautiful Gemstarian
warrior; he decided to prove her wrong. "I'll wager that within one week,
Mahogany will be gracing my bed with her presence."

Diamonique rolled her black diamond eyes. "And I'll wager that by
the end of that week, she'll go directly to Captain Ginyu to have the entire
Ginyu Force roast you for bothering her." Captain Ginyu was protective of his
Ginyu Girls and allowed no one to molest them.

Diamonique looked past Balair's massive, red shoulder to where an
attractive couple was strolling in. Mahogany was one-half of the couple,
accompanied by Bhodie Lett, a Human who had once been an involuntary recruit.
He was the same Bhodie Lett that had been with Hazel and her crew when their
ship had been invaded. Bhodie was now a Mid-Elite officer, thanks to Balair's
rough, brutal training. Balair had enjoyed training with him because Bhodie had
never complained about his methods, and he was as cold and merciless as his
trainer.

Bhodie, a tall man in his early thirties, was handsome and muscular
with light brown hair, beard and mustache. Most of the single women around his
age, of varied species, had tried to win him over, ever since he had been forced
to join Frieza's forces. He had not wanted to work for Frieza at first, but
deep down, he was ruthless, cunning and ambitious, and after awhile, he became
one of Frieza's most willing recruits. He enjoyed fighting and killing, and had
a sexual prowess and drinking habit similar to Balair's. He was one of the few
people that Balair genuinely liked, but unlike Balair, he was able to get women
to come to his bed willingly. Balair grinned widely at his former pupil; he
felt no jealousy that it was Bhodie who was with Mahogany at the moment, for
Balair knew that it was highly unlikely that Bhodie was seriously interested in
her. Bhodie never stayed with any woman for too long.

Bhodie escorted a reluctant Mahogany over to Balair's table.
Mahogany did not like being around Balair. And she knew that although
Diamonique was friendly to her, Diamonique looked down on her because Mahogany
was not a pureblooded Gemstarian. Half of her heritage came from the Astorian
race, which was one of Frieza's enemies, and therefore Gemstar's, as well.
Mahogany was extremely intelligent and self-confident most of the time, her
intelligence coming from her Astorian blood. (Most of the Astorian race had
extremely high intelligence levels.) She and Diamonique were cordial, and they
moved in the same circles, but they were not close.

Mahogany was as tall as Bhodie, with small, pointed, perfect breasts and a
slender, thoroughbred figure with lovely, well-shaped legs and the flawless
peaches-and-ices-skin of all Gemstarians. Her ever growing, waist-length
mahogany hair was of the silky-soft tresses of Astorian women, and she could
also electrocute people, although she had never done so. She also had the
crystal blue teeth and diamond nails of the Gemstarians, but her diamond eyes
were not black, but coffee-colored. Her nose was small and pointed, like her
breasts. This morning, she was dressed in a stunning red, low-cut dress that
was soft and flowing and yet managing to hug her curves.

"Good-morning," she told Balair, Dodoria and Diamonique politely.

Dodoria managed to keep himself from drooling when he saw her, but
Balair had no such restraint. He openly leered at her, but dared not do
anything else for Captain Ginyu and his men were four booths away from him.
Mahogany deliberately ignored Balair's lustful look.

"Morning, Mahogany," Diamonique said smoothly and pleasantly.

"Morning, Mahog, Bhodie," Balair chortled, unable to keep his eyes
off of Mahogany. Mahogany gave a low moan of disapproval, for she hated to be
called, "Mahog", and Balair almost always addressed her by that horrid nickname.

"Join us for breakfast?" Balair asked them, being unusually pleasant
this time of morning.

Bhodie accepted immediately, but Mahogany came up with a quick
excuse about having to go talk to Captain Ginyu, so she left. Balair ordered
Dodoria to scoot over and let Bhodie in, and Dodoria scooted around the circular
booth, nearly crushing an annoyed Diamonique.

"So, Bhodie," Balair began smoothly, "I've been hearing that Frieza
might let you go to Calmag with us." Frieza had decided to allow a few more Mid
and Lower Elite officers accompany the Top Elite officers to Calmag.

"He already told me I could," Bhodie said happily. "Mind if I join
your combat team, Balair?"

Balair laughed. "I was just about to ask Frieza about letting you,
but I have to warn you, Bhodie, that the Astorians and Calmagians are tough
people. Think you could handle them?"

Bhodie grinned knowingly. "I know that I could handle them. Don't
worry about me; you trained me well."

Balair laughed louder. "Glad that I didn't kill you, aren't you?"

Bhodie nodded affirmatively.

The Top Elite officers had chosen their teams for Calmag: the Ginyu
Force would be Combat Team A, and Balair, Dodoria, Diamonique and Bhodie would
be on Combat Team B. The Saiyans would be Combat Team C, and Zarbon, Jaden,
Chestra, along with two Lower-Elite officers, Crystalis and the Meatian boy
named Pork, would be Combat Team D.

They would reach Calmag within a matter of two months. All of the
officers involved were looking forward to the mission, and the low-level
fighters were already placing bets on who would clear Calmag and capture
Princess Tayla first. Amazingly, the greatest odds were put on the Ginyu Force
and the Saiyan fighters. Frieza normally frowned on gambling, but he knew that
the low-levels would need something to occupy themselves, and it was interesting
to him that the Elite force's trip to Calmag stirred the low-levels so.

Frieza strolled through the low-level section of his mother ship and
grinned wider when all of the low-levels hastily bowed before him. Some of the
gamblers gazed at him in fear because they knew that Lord Frieza did not approve
of gambling, but Frieza only smiled at them benevolently.

"So," Frieza told a frog-like creature smoothly. "Who do you think
will capture Princess Tayla first?"

The frog-creature stammered, "Why I-I believe that Prince Vegeta
will capture her first, sire. The Saiyans are your best fighters."

A female pink snake woman with four arms added, "Prince Vegeta and
his men clearly want revenge on her. You know Saiyans, sire, they don't know
the meaning of defeat."

Frieza chuckled lightly, and his chuckling was joined with the
laughter of Vegeta, who just showed up. Vegeta, like most Elite officers,
normally did not bother with the low-levels, but he had heard of the excessive
betting on the Elite's chances of clearing Calmag and capturing Princess Tayla,
and he wanted to know what the low-levels were thinking of his odds.

"Two wise low-levels," Vegeta said, with a smirk. "Tell me,
frogman, are the other low-levels as wise as you and your companion?"

"Actually, Prince," the frog-creature spoke shakily, "the bets are
evenly spilt between you and the Ginyu Force, followed by Balair's team and
Zarbon's team. But Dita here-"--he pointed to the pink snake woman-"and I know
that you can do it."

Vegeta grinned. "You seem like a smart man, and what is your name:
Agor?"

"Egor, Prince," the frogman corrected him, "but you may call me
whatever you like."

Dita spoke up, thankful that Prince Vegeta was in good mood today.
"What will you do when you capture Princess Tayla, Prince?"

Vegeta only smiled evilly. "That is for me to know and for you to find out."





The Top Elite officers had their own bets going. They each had put
half of their bonus pay up as a wager into a treasure chest. Whichever team
successfully both conquered Calmag and captured Princess Tayla would receive the
entire bounty. If a team only accomplished one of these tasks, that team would
receive half of the pot for the task achieved.

Each of the teams stood boldly against each other, knowing that the
others would cheat and fight and kill, if they had to, in order to clear Calmag
and capture the princess. Everyone was cautious, as well as excited, about
Calmag.

And they had good reason to be.