Thank you to those of you who have been reviewing this story…you have no idea how much it means to me. Especially to those of you who threaten to e-mail me until I update. *grin*
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from DBZ, nor do I own any of the DBZ settings. I do own the Seer, the inhabitants of the Taltos Station, and the chocolate that I'm dangling in front of a borrowed muse.
Chapter Eight
East Quadrant, Sector Six: Taltos Station
Commander Ralet drummed his fingers along the metal railing, anxiously watching the surveillance screen as Kadrin and Morodath emerged from the med-lab. They had both taken it upon themselves to pick a fight in one of the bars on the third level of the station. Or, to be exact, fights, since once they had started the first brawl, they moved on to the next bar. And so on and so forth. By the end of the hour the brothers were both so badly intoxicated that they needed treatment.
"At least they'll be able to track down that rogue space ship," he muttered, switching his gaze to his crew as they finished programming the coordinates of the planet Earth into the ship prepared for the hybrids' use. They would follow the rogue ship and destroy it and then check in on Kakarot. After three and a half weeks, their mission was about to begin. He had already begun briefing the hybrids about their new assignment three days ago, and they had been sparring non-stop since then, save to terrorize the lower levels of the station. The Commander sighed as he spotted one of the lower-ranking officers approaching him at a run.
"Sir," the man panted as he hastily saluted the other man. "The ship has been fully equipped and is ready to depart, sir. The information about Earth and the access codes for the coordinates are in the computer's database, and it is fully stocked and awaiting your orders. The probes have also returned from following that ship, and the data has been processed."
"Very good. You are dismissed." Commander Ralet waved his hand dismissively at the officer.
"But sir, that's not all! The information about the space ship from the planet Namek is very urgent."
"Then get on with it already!" he snapped.
The officer gulped. "Well, you know that our sensors indicated a disturbance of some sort coming from inside the ship three days ago, and it abruptly changed directions, sir. We checked its current coordinates against the ones taken at that time, and if it keeps to its course, it will arrive at the planet Earth in five days!" He gulped again as the commander's face flushed a vivid shade of red. "And the results also came in from the identification trace. Sir, you may not believe this, but the being inside the ship is Saiyan, and its ki signature is exactly the same as that of the archived readings from Kakarot!"
If Commander Ralet was merely upset before, he was absolutely livid now. "What?" he bellowed, causing every head in the room to turn sharply. "Are you saying that Kakarot, the weakling who couldn't even purge a planet, is the being responsible for the death of Lord Frieza?"
The poor officer before him passed out.
Kadrin and Morodath rushed into the room. "Commander," Kadrin began, "what was all the commotion about?" The brothers both flicked their tails about in agitation.
The man laughed, sounding for all the world like he had lost his mind. "Kakarot, that Saiyan you both think so highly of, is the person responsible for the death of Lord Frieza."
Kadrin narrowed his eyes. "Your sarcasm is not appreciated."
"Had I not listened to the two of you, that problem would have been eliminated years ago! But no, you insisted that Kakarot was not a threat," the commander raged, pointing at the papers still clutched in the unconscious officer's hands. "Well, look at that! He can't possibly become more of a threat than what he already is!"
Kadrin glanced over at Morodath. His half-brother seemed unusually calm given the circumstances. What are you thinking, brother? he asked, crossing his arms over his chest as the commander continued to rant. Is it Kakarot that is responsible for this mess?
The taller hybrid quirked an eyebrow at him. From what I can glean from his mind, brother, yes. Ralet has become unstable because of this. What do you propose we do about this…situation?
We pursue Kakarot and find out how he was able to defeat Lord Frieza so easily. Then we destroy him. He is worthless. He couldn't even purge a low-grade planet, Kadrin thought bitterly. He is defective.
Morodath watched impassively as his brother turned on his heel and walked out the door. He did not need to look into his mind to know that he was headed for the port, where their ship was awaiting them. He turned around as well, leaving the chaos of the bridge behind him.
"Are we ready to go, Kadrin?" Morodath asked as he took a seat near the computer console. "The ship appears to be fully stocked, and the location and current direction of Kakarot's ship are already on the screen."
"Then let's away, brother," the older hybrid said as he literally leapt into his chair, causing it to spin around once before he stopped it. "We are through with this pitiful station. Taltos is too peaceful for the likes of us, don't you agree?" Kadrin then began rapidly punching in the launch sequence.
"It is quiet, I agree, but necessary. We learned much from them," Morodath reasoned as the ship took off.
"We should give the station a fitting end, then, and not let it go to ruin under Ralet. You told me yourself that he'd gone mad, and there's only one thing I hate more than a madman." The younger brother glanced over at his brother as the ship exited the port and emerged into space. The sudden lack of lighting caused the ship to go dark momentarily, and in the dark Kadrin's eyes glowed an icy blue. "An incompetent man."
The ship was out of the station's firing range in mere seconds. "Would you like the honors?" Morodath asked as he left his seat. "I want to make sure they did not short us on our serums this time." He disappeared through the doorway to the sleeping quarters.
Kadrin winced as he placed his hand into the weapons transfer socket. He remembered all too well what had happened during their last mission. Commander Ralet had supposedly forgotten to have the crew load in serum G, the anti-regeneration drug. Their mission was to exterminate a particularly nasty species of gelatin-like beings. The species' method of reproduction was fission; if one of them had an arm chopped off, the arm would grow a new body and the original would grow a new arm. A ki blast could destroy them, but if any particle survived, it would grow a new being. The anti-regeneration serum was made to specifically counter the chemical impulses that caused regeneration in any species. If Morodath had not figured out that fire also prevented the species' healing, they would have been dead.
He focused his ki into the socket. From there it would be concentrated into a beam by the body of the ship itself, and it would be forced out as a type of laser into space. With any luck, he thought, he would be able to see the flurry of activity on the bridge when the beam hit.
The other hybrid emerged from the back rooms. "They switched serums on us again, Kadrin," he growled. "They neglected to give us F again."
"We shouldn't need it. We won't be put into the situation where we would actually need the regrowth serum."
"True, but I would feel better with it. At least they remembered to give us enough B to last us through two days of solid fighting and enough G to fell a planet of starfish. And they left some psi-down as well." Morodath scowled. "They must have some reason to believe in the existence of sensitives on that planet."
Kadrin let out a short, sharp laugh. "They won't be doing any more of that. Sit down and watch the fireworks." Then he let his accumulated ki burst free of the ship and into the Taltos Station.
The space station held up rather well for the first minute, considering the strength of the source and its own design. However, there was very little in the universe that was able to withstand a blast from a hybrid nearly as strong as Frieza, and the station exploded in a matter of seconds. A brilliant fireball rolled up from the point of attack, and the station was little more than space dust after Kadrin removed his hand from the socket.
Morodath frowned. "I must say, Kadrin, that was disappointing."
"You do it next time," the other man snapped. "I thoroughly enjoyed that."
The two brothers sat in silence as their ship sped away from the remains of the station. They had Kakarot's ship on the distant edge of their radar, and there was no chance of letting him escape. They had caught up with the renegade Saiyan, and when they found him there would be hell to pay.
North Quadrant, Planet Earth: Capsule Corp.
Five days later
"Um, Bulma, this little blippy thing just showed up next to this other blippy thing here on the screen. What's that supposed to mean?" Krillin asked as he pointed to the computer screen. "Is this good or bad?"
Bulma stormed up to Krillin and smacked him upside the head. "Stop playing around, shrimp," she snapped, the sponge rollers in her hair bouncing as she spoke. "You know that I need to get my hair done. Yamcha's coming over in a few minutes." Her face suddenly took on a dreamy expression. "My big, brave Yamcha is going to help save the world again," she sighed, clasping her hands under her chin. "How awfully sweet of him."
"Bulma, it just got closer," Krillin said, waving a hand in front of her face. The woman paid him no attention, of course, so he just sighed and walked away. He found himself at the door.
"Hey, Krillin," Yamcha called from the yard. "How's it going in there? Find anything out yet?" The taller man was dressed in an orange fighting gi and black-and-white slippers, identical to the midget's own uniform. He had his hair tied back into a loose ponytail as well, which would keep it out of his face while fighting.
"No," Krillin groaned. "She's still fixing her hair. She's also gone catatonic again. Something showed up on her computer screen, and I think that meant something's coming in from space, but I'm not sure."
Yamcha immediately tensed up. "From space? Are you sure?" he asked, glancing nervously at the sky.
"Well yeah, but nothing feels wrong, you know? What if it's Goku?" Krillin tilted his head to one side and squinted, as if he was trying to see a distant object in the sky. In reality he was extending his senses and attempting to discover what kind of ki the new object may or may not have. "It doesn't seem evil to me."
Yamcha did the same thing. "Same here," he said, sighing in relief. Then he chuckled. "I'll go pry Bulma away from the mirror now. I'll meet you at Mount Paozu, all right?"
"Okay. See ya in a few."
"So, are we sure that this is my Goku coming in? And not some freak from outer space?" Chi-Chi asked, closing the door behind her.
"Almost positive," Yamcha said, glancing back at Krillin and Tien. "Krillin and I couldn't sense a thing coming from it. We were able to sense Vegeta and Nappa when they first arrived, and we're a lot stronger now than we were back then."
Gohan and Piccolo landed next to Chiaotzu and Bulma, who was still taking notes on psychic abilities. "Just the person I wanted to see!" the scientist exclaimed, walking over to the Namek.
Chiaotzu stepped away from her slowly, relieved that she was finally leaving him alone.
Piccolo growled at her and furrowed his eye ridges, the typical don't-piss-me-off-unless-you-wish-to-die look evident on his face.
"Although I suppose this could wait until later," she added hastily as she scuttled away towards Yamcha. Piccolo still was the Demon King, after all, and his persuasive skills were unparalleled by most.
"Hey, Piccolo," Krillin asked, "when do you think he'll be landing?"
The green man scowled at him. "If you'd actually focus, Krillin, you would've been able to tell when and where he is coming down."
"Can you at least be a decent human being and tell those of us who can't sense ki, Piccolo?" Chi-Chi snapped. "He's my husband, and I deserve to know!"
In less time than it takes a normal person to snap his or her fingers, Piccolo was standing before her, fangs bared. "Do not presume anything about me, woman," he snarled. "I am not a human being. I never have been and I never will be! And because you claim something does not mean that you have rights to it. He is landing in my training grounds, if you so badly need to know, but never again assume that I must do something for you." He whipped around quickly enough that Chi-Chi had to leap backwards to avoid becoming entangled in his cape. Then he took off, headed for his training site.
Gohan looked from his mentor to his mother before following the Namek.
"Blast that demon!" Chi-Chi cursed under her breath.
Chiaotzu shook his head before he and Tien followed the other two warriors. Tien, he said, I think it would be a good idea if we got Kami to talk to Piccolo. He seems upset about something.
Chiaotzu, the triclops replied, he's always upset about something. That's the way he is.
But you're not seeing it, then, Tien. Think: what was it you saw in his mind when Uranai Baba's scrying ball went haywire? I think there's something wrong, Tien, and maybe he'd be willing to talk about it with Kami.
Tien looked over at the young emperor, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Yamcha and Bulma had followed suit. Chiaotzu, that would be like asking him to commit suicide. He wouldn't do that, and you know it. You know as well as I do that Kami tried to get Goku to kill him in the last Tenka'ichi Budokai.
But Tien, Kami has to make up for what he's done to him! Or rather, not done. Why can't you see that one of them just has to back down?
Which one? Piccolo would never do anything like that, and Kami is stubborn enough that he'd never admit to doing anything wrong. But we're here already…let's continue this later.
Chiaotzu noticed with some amusement that their conversation had lasted the entire way from the Son residence to the region where Piccolo resided. He was hard-pressed to stifle his laughter when Krillin landed and nearly dropped an irate Chi-Chi on the ground. He and Tien dropped to the ground as well, followed by Yamcha, who managed to release Bulma with more grace than Krillin had.
Piccolo and Gohan were already standing on the lip of a crater and peering down into it. "Guess Piccolo was a little off," Yamcha joked. "Looks like Goku's here already."
"I heard that," the Namek growled. Gohan smiled briefly, knowing that his mentor wasn't truly upset by the comment.
Then the door on the ship shifted slightly and opened, the high-pitched squeal of metal grating on metal causing everyone to cover their ears. It was all Piccolo could do to keep from falling over in agony. "I think someone needs to oil the hinges!" Krillin shouted over the cacophony.
Piccolo grimaced at the remark, but he kept his eyes on the door in case it wasn't Goku inside the ship. He watched as a hand reached out and gripped the door frame and relaxed when a wild mass of black hair followed. Then came a familiar figure wearing a tattered orange gi. Despite himself, Piccolo smirked and folded his arms across his chest.
Son Goku emerged from the ship with a dazed expression on his face. He blinked a few times before his eyes adjusted to the bright light, and the first two things he saw were Gohan and Piccolo. "Uh, hi, guys," he said, unable to come up with a better remark.
Goku blinked again as his son jumped on top on him and knocked him over, crushing him in an embrace. "Oh, daddy," the child gushed, "you're home!"
* * * * *
Personally, I think the ending of this chapter was sweet enough to give me cavities. But it's not going to be like that for long. *evil grin* The next chapter is going to be so much fun to write.
~Dreamwraith