A/N: To Tabby, thank-u SO much for your dedication (or future dedication ^^)! And a big THANK-U to reviewers and readers! Eeep, my ego's gonna go through the roofI swear one day I'm gonna wake up with a huge forehead and a spikey Veggie hairstyle *shudders* I'd rather wake up looking like Piccolo-san then Vegeta
Jeice: Yeh'd rather wake up next to Piccolo *smirks*
Starkiller: Ack! Don't listen to him! He's short & orange!! ahem, anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know a little about the future pairings in this fic.
Vegeta/Bulma/Zarbon (obviously)
Jeice/?
Goku/ChiChi
Burter/?? & possibly a small Cpt. Ginyu pairing what? The Ginyus kick ass! ^___^ (but don't tell Jeice that. His ego even surpasses my own ~_~)


~ Journey Through the Stars ~
Chapter One: Teradda - 'the Neon Star'

The alien planet of Teradda hummed with the hustle and bustle of literally millions of excited wanderers. Flying vehicles of all shapes and sizes swooped through the intricate network of skyscrapers like great swarms of bees. The enormous multilevel Capital City twinkled in the night like an array of multicoloured Christmas lights. As ships blasted their way through the planet's atmosphere, tourists and smugglers alike never failed to gawk in awe at the immense blanket of sparkling lights spread across the land. With its bright neon signs, red light areas and countless numbers of gambling arcades, the planet Teradda was comically referred to as The Neon Star'.

Krillin swallowed dryly as he gazed up at the two burly alien guards guarding the front entrance to a flashy cantina. Boisterous music, thick smoke and cruel laughter wafted through the double doors and out onto the cold streets of Teradda where the little bald-headed monk from Earth was standing alone.

After the accidental attack by the space colonists earlier*, their Namekian ship's fuel tank and navigator had been badly damaged. Luckily for Krillin and Gohan, Bulma the great genius of Capsule Corp., had discovered a small but vastly civilised planet on the ship's star chart: the planet Teradda.

Of course Krillin had been foolish enough to volunteer for searching out someone who could be of help to them and their little crisis.
A busted ship on a strange planet isn't going to get us to Namek anytime soon, Krillin mused with a helpless sigh, I guess it's now or never. Rubbing his hands together, Krillin took a deep breath and marched past the beefy, warthog-like guards and into the blaring cantina.


A thick layer of grey smoke floated above the chatting customers. The air was damp and smelt of cheap alcohol and cigar smoke. The creamy plastered walls were crumbling away after years of drunken bar fights and the ancient wooden ceiling was rotting away, but despite this, the place was full to the brim with bizarre creatures all shapes and sizes. As Krillin's eyes scanned the people inhabiting the large room he quickly realised that this tavern must have been a haven for smugglers, thieves and in general the scum of the universe!


Near the centre of the crowded room, two women sat and chatted away to each other. Being a fairly large fan of beautiful women -or just women in general- Krillen could not stop himself from staring. The first looked basically Humanoid apart from the twin horns crowning her head which was covered with a cropped mop of frosty white hair. The second was more exotic in appearance with her peculiar olive-green skin and long, shimmering emerald hair to match.

Whoa, bet she and Piccolo would hit it off in a shot! Krillen mused, absentmindedly. Then all of a sudden he remembered where his Namekian friend was and his heart sank to his feet, all humour from his bright black eyes dead and long forgotten.

Krillen shifted his gaze back to the two girls just in time to see the pale skinned, twin-horned girl winking and mouthing something along the lines of, Hiya cutie!' Krillen felt his face burning and he instantly shied away from her. Well, that's the first time I've been hit on by an alienwait, that's the first time anyone's hit on me

Finally his eyes fell upon the bar across the bustling tavern floorboards. A plump Humanoid barman was busy cleaning glasses with a filthy cloth, which looked like it had just been dragged out of his boot, and re-filling drinks with strange, powerful scented liquids. Krillin decided he looked friendly enough to approach and carefully made his way through the crowded room.

Maybe he had volunteered for the easy job after all.


~*~ @ ~*~

Zarbon marched through the cantina doors, long majestic cape flowing out behind him. His sharp golden eyes flitted around the smoky room. Once he found his fellow comrades, he moved swiftly and gracefully towards them, his emerald green hair and striking golden eyes quickly catching the attention of two young women.

"Well, well, well," the first woman purred in delight, "now there's something you don't see every day." She said, licking her lips and smiling slyly.

Her companion shifted her gaze towards the aqua skinned Subditus-jin**--known in the common tongue as the Changeling'-- in his regal Ice-jin battle armour. She shook her head sadly. "Very handsome indeed," she paused to take a sip of her drink before continuing, "but you have no chance, Sakumei." The olive-skinned alien smiled softly at her friend who in turn cocked an eyebrow.

"You wanna bet?" Sakumei asked, grinning childishly as the opportunity to gain a few credits suddenly arose.

Calluery sighed. "Please, friend, I'm serious. You do not want to get mixed up with that kind of scum."

"That kind of scum?!" Sakumei lifted her glass and winked at her. "My friend, we are that kind of scum." She chuckled heartily before downing what was left of her drink and getting to her feet.

"Wait! You aren't going over there are you?" Calluery asked in a panicked whisper.

"Well why not?" Sakumei frowned. "If you wanted him for yourself, you could've said." She retorted in a very childlike manner.

Calluery shook her head. "No, no! You don't understand. That man over there, he's Zarbon."

A cold silence froze their conversation. Long seconds dragged by, lost forever in the sands of time. By the blank expression on her counterpart's face, Calluery nearly believed she had won the battle.

But then, with a sluggish shrug of the Pixi-jin's shoulders and a lazy, "Who?", Calluery realised this ominous title which held so much power over the people in their Galaxy, was completely lost on her ignorant companion.

Calluery sighed, exasperated. "Don't you know anything? Zarbon is Lord Freeza's left hand man." She said in a hushed whisper.

For once, Sakumei appeared to be genuinely startled by this information and she furrowed her brow in deep thought. Nevertheless, the second her initial shock wore off, Sakumei's pink lips curved into her patented smirk and she growled huskily, "Ohreally?" She grinned and winked at Calluery. "Just makes the game more interesting." She flounced off, "not to mention the sex!"

"No, wait!" Calluery called desperately, but she knew her pleads fell upon a deaf ear. Sakumei had hired her as an advisor to her secret smuggling operations, but where was the point in advising if she was never listened to?

Calluery forced herself to watch as Sakumei gracefully slipped past Lord Freeza's left hand mercenary and gave him a flirtatious smile.

Calluery sighed in relief. Well at least she didn't waltz right up to him and fall into his laplike last time. As she watched, she noticed her counterpart was headed directly towards the bar with a determined expression. Calluery furrowed her soft brow in wonder. Sakumei seemed to have a plan in mind, and for some reason it included the little bald-headed Humanoid at the bar


~*~ @ ~*~

Zarbon watched the young woman as she headed towards the bar and began chatting with the bartender. She was marginally attractive; short frosted white hair, glassy blue eyes. The twin horns on her head told him she was of the Pixi-jin race***. There were many of her kind wandering around the Galaxy, most of them used for spies or smuggling. They weren't known as the kindest race in space, but not anywhere near as corrupt as the Saiya-jin or Ice-jin race for example. The Pixi-jin was simply another crafty class of species; definitely not to be trusted to any high extent.

Zarbon turned back towards his two companions. Burter and Dodoria gave him an odd look but the Subditus-jin still made no move.

"Well?" Burter hissed in his serpent-like voice.

Zarbon frowned at him. "Well what?"

"If you're not going to make a move on her, then I guess I will." Dodoria chuckled, licking his podgy purple lips.

Zarbon shivered inwardly. He hated when Dodoria opened his foul mouth. The stench and innards of that slimy cavern were not to be smelt or looked upon by any poor creature. The Subditus-jin barely understood why he ever accompanied the monstrously fat Dodoria anywhere. He enjoyed Burter's company, however. The blue-skinned, lizard-like man was intelligent and fairly friendly for a member of the illustrious Ginyu Force.

"Well in that case," Zarbon smirked at his podgy, pink skinned companion, "maybe I will keep the lady company tonight." Zarbon slipped from his seat and winked at the furious Dodoria.


"Feh, that ain't playin' fair!" Dodoria growled, slamming his clenched fists down on the table and imitating a fairly good impression of a disgruntled baby. Zarbon groaned and wondered if he should just let his so-called comrade take the girl. Dodoria had been known in his time to throw a hissy-fit or two and the aqua-skinned Subditus-jin did not wish to be embarrassed and shunned out of Teradda because his overweight comrade took a fit and blasted half of the famous Neon Star' to pieces. He would surely have a bounty on his head if an event as unfortunate as that were to occur. Teradda was very popular amongst mercenaries and bounty hunters who were exceptionally skilled in their particular line of business.


"Too late, boys." Burter's serpent like voice cut through his train of thought. "Cueball head over there's got her." Burter motioned with his head towards the short little humanoid conversing with the Pixi-jin. Zarbon had to smile at the expression on Dodoria's face. Priceless. He had to admit, of course, that Dodoria, temperamental and greedy as he was, always served him as an amusing source of entertainment.


~*~ @ ~*~


Krillin sighed helplessly as he counted out what little credits they had taken on their journey. "6001000. Aw man. There's no way we can afford to fix the ship! How are we gonna get anywhere now?" he muttered to himself, completely unaware that someone was peering over his right shoulder.

"Hey there, stranger!" a young woman's voice practically hollered into his ear.

"YAA!" Krillin squawked and nearly toppled off his already unstable bar stool. Cautiously, the little Z warrior looked up at the female stranger.

"Gomen nasai. Didn't mean to startle you." She chuckled, waving her hands infront of her in an apologetic gesture.

Krillin smiled. She seemed harmless enough. "Oh, uh, no problem miss." He blushed faintly.

"Lemme get you a drink to say sorry, ay?" Before Krillin could protest the alien woman had called for the bartender and ordered two smoking glasses containing a peculiar, lucid green liquid. He watched with wary, black eyes as the twin-horned Pixi-jin downed the contents of her glass in one shot. Krillin swallowed thickly as he gazed into the depths of the smoking, green liquid. Well, guess it would be rude not to drink it Krillin snatched the little glass and swallowed the lucid contents in a flash, trying not to gag as the fiery liquid burned its way down his throat.

"Feel good?" The woman asked, her blue eyes narrowing with a crafty smile.

Krillin could only manage a wheezy reply as the alcoholic drink (presuming it was alcohol) continued to burn its way through his system. "Swell."

"Great! Hey bartender! Another two here!" She had already hollered over the bar before Krillin could stop her. As the grubby bartender set another two smoking glasses before them, the young Pixi-jin shifted towards Krillin with an all too recognisable car salesman' spark in her eye. "Say, I couldn't help but overhear you earlier." She began slowly.

"Yeah?" Krillin asked, warily.

"Hey, now don't go lookin' at me like that. See, I heard you can't afford the bills for your busted ship like-"

Krillin groaned, knowing he should have seen this coming. "Sorry, but I really don't want any dodgy alien deals, ma'am. No offence but I'd better get going." Krillin set his still full glass down on the bar-top and hopped down from his wobbly stool.

"Trust me friend, I assure you this isn't a dodgy deal. See, I run a small business- kinda like an intergalactic cab company. No strings attached, honest." She insisted, holding up her hands with an innocent look pasted on her pretty face. "For a small fee, we take you anywhere you wanna go."

Krillin sighed and shook his head. "I dunno. I mean, I don't even know your name. How can I trust you? You might dump us in a Black Hole!" The young woman instantly stuck her hand out and took hold of his own.

"My name's Sakumei Katashé." She acquainted herself while shaking his hand vigorously. "Got a nice ring to it, ay?"

Krillin couldn't help but smile. "My name's Kr-"

"KRILLEN!!"

Krillen cringed as Bulma's high-pitched, familiar shriek rang in his ear. "Where on Earth have you been!?! You numskull! You were meant to keep your comlink on!" Bulma pointed to the little rectangular object clipped to Krillen's belt, her cerulean eyes ablaze with red-hot fury. "What if something had happened to you and Gohan and we had to fend for ourselves!?!"

At that moment a short little boy with shining ebony hair and bright black eyes emerged from behind Bulma's legs and waved shyly at Krillen who in turn winked at the young demi-Saiyan.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!!" Bulma growled fiercely, hoisting Krillen up by his shirt collar. At that moment, the suave young Pixi-jin decided to intervene. With an extravagant bow and a charming smile she introduced herself as Sakumei Katashé once again.

"I see" Bulma muttered once the entertaining Pixi-jin had finished her little introduction. "So you've been out flirting with every pretty-girl on the planet while Gohan and I have been searching far and wide for help, is that it!?!" Bulma barked angrily. Krillen knew better than to answer Bulma when she was in one of her innocent little mood-swings.

Luckily for him, Sakumei once again came to his rescue. "I'm afraid I kept your friend a little late here. It was entirely my fault, I assure you." The Pixi-jin smiled innocently, but there was no mistaking the devious spark in her eye. Sakumei could practically smell the stench of lost tourists as they walked in the door. She looked over the pathetic trio with a dark smile.

Looks like I'm on Easy Street tonight

~*~ @ ~*~


The golden eyed Subditus-jin sighed as he gazed into his half-empty glass. The conversation between the three team-mates was anything but lucid. He couldn't even recall what in the four galaxies they had been talking about for the past half-hour. Life was grey to Zarbon now. The colour which had once swamped his life had long since drained away.

The Changeling sighed and resisted the urge to slump back into his chair. Just once in his life he wanted to feel true freedom and happiness, something which was simply non-existent in the cramped, murky corridors of Freeza's ship.

Burter and Dodoria's empty laughter echoed somewhere outside of his mind. A part of him wanted to join their conversation and simply accept his fate as they had seemed to have done. As Zarbon thought about that, he realised Dodoria seemed to look upon his fate as a golden blessing. But the Changeling simply could not. As a boy, Zarbon had grown up as heir to the thrown on a harmonic world filled with rolling green hills, vast blue oceans and an environment friendly culture. His planet had been a sort of Utopia. But now it was gone, its ashes scattered across some Kami-forsaken sector of the Universe, leaving Zarbon as the only evidence that such a spectacular race of people had once existed.

But of course, no one could ever have seen that 'meteor' coming. He thought, dryly. What a fool Freeza took him for.

Zarbon would have given anything to see a world or a creature or possibly even an object that matched the beauty of his ancient homeworld, just so he could be reminded of what he used to hold so near and dear to him.

No sooner had he thought these very thoughts did his golden eyes sweep lazily across the two new customers at the quaint Cantina bar. All grace lost, Zarbon's jaw instantly fell open.

A new, blue-haired beauty had just joined the couple at the bar. Her twin blue eyes shone like sapphires under the rusty orange light of the seedy tavern. "Diamond in the rough" Zarbon muttered under his breath.

Curious, Burter turned his crimson eyes towards his bewitched companion. "What's up with you? You look like you've just caught Dodoria in the showers." Burter chuckled, elbowing the smitten Changeling lightly. Dodoria grumbled something inaudible beside him, but like many warriors in Freeza's army, he was a coward at heart and dared not anger one of the Ginyu Force.

All of a sudden, Zarbon realised his mouth had fallen open in shock and, flushing hotly, he instantly sealed it shut. The Subditus-jin settled comfortably back in his chair, arms folded lightly across his chest, and motioned towards the young Humanoid woman with a nod of his head. "That girl, where do you think she comes from?" he asked, trying not to sound too interested.

"Feh, who knows? Lousy Humans; scattered all over the bloody universe they are! Vermin. Nasty, filthy, disgusting creatures!" Dodoria grunted as he bit into his mile long baguette, the contents of which were still alive and wriggling franticly.

"I can think of a few other creatures who fit that bill." Burter muttered with a grim expression.

Zarbon attempted to ignore Dodoria and quickly shifted his gaze back towards the stunning, cerulean-haired beauty as she followed the Pixi-jin through the cantina door, alongside two companions. Something about her just drew him to her.

A soft smile played across his lips. He had a feeling that wouldn't be his last encounter with the fair cerulean beauty


~*~ @ ~*~



* (episode 29, Friends or Foes) Remember? That ship with the mirror coating? hehe, gomen, I've watched the Namek Saga waaay too many times ^_^;
** Subditus-jin is Latin for Changeling and seeing as most ppl refer to Zarbon's race as Changeling' I thought it would be a suitable name.
*** The Pixi-jin is an actual race in the DBZ universe. There's quite a few of them in Freeza's army. Krillin & Gohan were attacked by one when they first arrived on Namek.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. I'll try and get the next chapter out soon, until then Adios Amigos! *a big bang erupts and Starkiller is engulfed in a colourful puff of smoke* . *the puff of smoke clears & Starkiller is still standing there*
-_- ...Dagnabbit!