CHAPTER TWO
The knock on Freeza's door didn't get through to him at first. He was standing in front of the window of his quarters, his eyes closed, his mind back in the past.
Another knock got through to him and rudely brought him back into the present.
"Enter!" he ordered.
The door slid open and his first in command Zarbon walked in. A few steps from his master away he kneeled down and waited for permission to speak.
His men always knelt down before him, because he wasn't that tall, and nobody dared to stand taller then him. Nobody was allowed to either.
"What is it, Zarbon?" he asked him.
"We are approaching the planet, sir", he told him. "Would you like us to make an impressive landing to show them our power, or would you like to land unnoticed?"
Most of the time Freeza liked to show off to impress inhabitants of a planet. Or scare the living daylights out of them.
"Let's not attract any attention just yet," was his answer this time.
"Yes, sir", Zarbon got up, his head lowered and left his master's chambers.
The ship turned and the planet appeared in front of his window. His men looked for a suitable site to land in a wide orbit around the planet. It was a medium sized planet with a lot of forest and mountain ridges. Also large sees that covered almost half of the planet.
It had a north and a south pole. Freeza could make out a few dryer landscapes, but not many. He thought he could make out cities as well, but that was difficult from this height.
He wondered where those Ice'jin's would live. He'd live on one of the poles, where there was snow and ice and nice cool temperatures.
He pressed a button on his scouter and contacted Zarbon.
"Zarbon, scan this planet for high power-levels," he commanded.
"Yes, sir", was the immediate reply.
Freeza got into his hover-pod and made his way to the bridge of the ship. When he got there his men looked kinda worried.
"Find anything?" he asked the cadet at the computer consol.
"Only a few power-levels that stand out of the crowd, sir. And those are not very impressive".
Freeza glanced at commander Ginyu for a second. "Is that so?"
"I swear they are there, sir!" Ginyu defended himself and his team. "We didn't find any impressive levels at first too. But suddenly they appeared out of nowhere!"
"Let's find a landing place not too far from those power-levels that are a bit higher than the rest", Freeza commanded the helmsman.
7
"Would you like to send us down to draw them out?" commander Ginyu suggested.
The men of his team looked at him with stunned looks on their faces. Oo
"Why would I wanna do that, commander?" Freeza asked him as he looked at him with his piercing eyes. "I have no intentions to attack other Ice'jins. There are only a handful of Ice'jins left in the universe. And if some of them are here, I'd like to meet them, rather than destroy them."
"Of course, sir." Ginyu realized he had said something stupid and decided it would be better to keep his mouth shut now.
The helmsman landed the ship behind a mountain-ridge that had a large city on the other side. That's were most of the higher power-levels were detected.
Freeza ordered Zarbon to organize a dozen search groups of a few men. They had to dress in ordinary clothes, not their armor, to keep a low profile.
The city had many bar's and dance-clubs, restaurants and casino's. A lot of other entertainment could be found there. Lot's of people of everywhere on the planet and off-worlders came there to find some amusement or to make money.
Freeza stayed behind to wait for their reports. He guessed that, if there were Ice'jin's on this planet, it would probably have an Ice'jin ruler.
That night Zarbon and Dodoria walked along one of the many streets filled with people who were looking for some amusement and entertainment.
"Wanna have a drink in a bar?" Dodoria suggested to his comrade.
"We are not here to have a good time, Dodoria," he rebuked him.
"Ah, come on, Lord Freeza will never know if we have one beer!"
"You can't have only one beer and you know it."
He let out a sigh. "Like the other's won't have a drink! We're probably the only one's not having a drink right now!"
Zarbon looked passed Dodoria. He had seen something.
"Hey, are you listening?"
"Look at that poster," he nodded into the direction he was staring at.
On the wall of a big dance-club/bar hung a huge poster with several Ice'jins on it. It seemed they formed some band.
"Ice'jins in a band! I bet that's not what Lord Freeza would expect them to do, right?" Dodoria grinned.
Zarbon shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the dance-club. "Let's find out what we can about them."
"Yeah, maybe this are the weaker ones, the ones who can't conquer a planet."
They walked into the dance-club, paid the entrance-fee and merged with the crowd. The band on the poster was playing on a large, high stage.
They got closer to take a better look. There was this gorgeous female singing. She looked like an Ice'jin, so they guessed she was. They hadn't expected to ever see one with hair. She had long curly hair. That sure looked different.
A guy was sitting behind a piano, they thought he looked like their master. Maybe all Ice'jins looked alike. A huge Ice'jin was playing the drums. You could compare him with King Kold, but he looked different.
He did have long horns jutting out of his head, but they bent backwards in a waving curve, in stead of to the sides and then straight up. Another Ice'jin played some kind of guitar. He had hair too, but not like the female. He had a stroke of hair on the middle of is head. And it stood up like a roosters-comb.
The other man who played another guitar-like instrument surprised Zarbon. He looked just like him! Well, as in, it seemed he was of his race. He didn't expect to see one of his own people this far from home.
"Let's inform Lord Freeza we've found some of the Ice'jins," Dodoria said.
"And tell him what? That they form a band?"
"Yeah, why not? Could be just a hobby?"
Just at that moment Zarbon heard his master's voice in his scouter. Because he could hardly hear him because of the loud music he quickly made his way to a quieter place.
"What's all that noise, Zarbon? I told you to look for Ice'jins, not hang out in some bar!" Freeza snapped at him.
"But sir, that's where we founds some," he told his master. "They were responsible for the loud music. They are playing in a band."
Silence on the other side.
"Could be just a hobby, sir."
"I will come and see for myself. Stay where your are."
"Yes sir!"
"And? What did he say?" Dodoria curiously asked him.
"He's coming here to see this for himself."
"Is that a good thing?"
Zarbon shrugged. "We'll see."
Not long after that Freeza walked into the bar. Zarbon was waiting for him to make sure he could pay Freeza's fee, just in case he would start a scene about it.
Dodoria had ordered his master a glass of the fines wine and offered it to him when he came into the hall where the band played.
"A glass of the finest wine they've got here, sir," he said when Freeza accepted the glass.
He took a sip and let it play around in his mouth. "Hmm…. Not bad," he said to Dodoria's relief. "Not bad at all." And he took another zip.
They did not need to show his master where the band played, he could see them from the back of the hall. He found himself a path through the dancing crowd, followed by his minions. He wanted to take a closer look at those Ice'jin's.
When he came close enough to actually see their faces he suddenly stopped. Zarbon almost bumped into him, but he could halt in time.
Freeza just stared at the singer of the band as slowly the glass of wine slipped out of his fingers and fell into shatters onto the floor.
