--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---

Chapter 21.5 - Sic Vis Pacum Para Bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was with a solemn air that the newly extended crew of the Icebreaker entered the prototype ship silently. The camp had been packed up, and everything, including their pods, already loaded aboard, and yet still no one spoke more than was needed; there were no words that could accurately describe the loss the Saiyans all felt at the destruction of their home world, and no non-Saiyan was game enough to break the moment, for fear of reprisal.

The twins, it seemed, had no such problem talking. They still didn't understand everything that had happened; what did the message pod really mean when it said Vegeta-Sei was destroyed? It wasn't true right? It seemed the grownups didn't want to talk about that though, so they asked the next thing on their minds, Kat. Oran started, "Miss Kat lady, why were you asking us all those questions?"

She smiled, kneeling down to their level, "I just wanted to get to know you."

"Why?" Lime.

"I guess you could say I'm your sister."

Kaen shot his parents a look that said 'I'll explain later', but it seemed the twins wanted an explanation now, as Oran turned to his big brother and asked, "I thought Pi was our sister?"

Kaen just shrugged, "She is."

"Then what does Kat mean she's our sister?" Lime again.

"The difference is that Kat is also my sister, while Pi is my... partner." He figured that partner was the safer word; obviously, his mother hadn't mated the twins up yet like she had him, so they could enjoy their ignorance a while longer.

"Partner?" It seemed that Oran still wanted an explanation.

With a shrug, Kaen replied, "Like mum is dad's partner."

Realisation dawned on their tiny faces, as Lime broke out into a grin, "That means we have two sisters now, right?"

Kaen chuckled a bit at the sullen look on his younger brothers face, at the thought of having three sisters, but only one brother, "Yes, yes it does." With that, silence fell on the group again as they finished their return to the ship, Lime smiling and Oran scowling; they'd got the answers they wanted for now. It was now up to someone else to disturb the uneasy quiet

o-o-o

Once they were all aboard, however, it was Avarrdo, the eldest among them, that cut the tension, "We need to begin constructing plans to amass the scattered Saiyans."

Truniz and Kellre nodded solemnly, and Frost, in a moment of daring, offered, "The bridge is probably the best place. It should have everything you need, and then some." Thankfully, the men just nodded again.

Smiling weakly, April said, "I guess that leaves us women to get everyone settled in then?"

Frost turned to his 'subordinates', if you could call them that, "Kat, Avery, could you show these ladies where they can set everyone up. After that, I'll need you on the bridge Avery; Kat, you're free to do whatever you want."

It seemed everything was decided, the men were going to plan and the women unpack, and the group began to split into two, when Kaen, still with golden hair, turned to his old man and interjected, "I've got something I need to do."

Slightly surprised, Avarrdo responded, "We'll need you to help plan."

Shaking his head with a small grin, Kaen replied, "No you won't. You and I both know that planning was never my strong point; I tend to just hit things until they stop moving and leave it at that." This comment got a light chuckle from the other men, and the women too. "I've been working on this for a while now, and I'll need your help Pi." he continued, turning to his mate, who looked back with slight shock; Kaen was asking for her help? What could this possibly be? Grabbing the twins by the back of their armour, he added, "And while I'm at it, I'll keep these two terrors out of your hair."

It seemed this new decision was agreed upon quickly; it was true, they all knew, that Kaen was never very good at strategy, relying mostly on brute force to get things done, and with his personal enmity of Frieza, dwarfing even their own hatred of the Aisu, he may even hinder their efforts. And thus, the group split three ways, Frost leading the men to the control room, although as it's maker Avarrdo already knew the way, Kat and Avery leading the women to the living quarters, and Kaen and Pi dragging the twins off elsewhere.

o-o-o

The newcomers were settled in easily enough. Of the five officers' quarters on the ship, only two were originally occupied: Kaen and Pi shared one, and Kat had one to herself. Frost had the captain's quarters, which he wouldn't relinquish under pain of death, and Avery preferred the basic crew quarters, as did Flute and Viola; after all, the latter two didn't sleep, so they simply needed a place they weren't disturbed of a night time, nothing more.

This left enough larger rooms for Raene to claim one for her and her mate, and April claiming another for her and hers, with the final room claimed for the twins; April wanted them close at hand. This left Truniz to the standard crew quarters, but Raene assured them that there would be no problem with this; the feral grin she gave just showed that if he did have a problem with it, she'd correct it herself.

That done, the women had declared they were going to explore the ship, only requiring directions to the kitchens, before dismissing the pair. Avery instantly set off for the bridge, not because Frost ordered him to, but because he was curious as to why he was needed; Frost rarely gave him orders, instead politely asking him, because he knew trying to make Avery do anything was borderline suicidal some times. Kat just set off in search of Viola. She had her own goal for the rest of today; she just hoped the Namekin could, or would, help her reach it.

o-o-o

The door of the training room opened with a slight hiss, and Kaen and Pi strode in, the former still dragging the twins behind him, and still with golden hair; he was trying to see how long he could maintain it outside of training. As the door slid closed, Kaen released them, waiting for them to pick themselves up without saying a word. Once they were back on their feet, Oran cried indignantly, "What's the big idea, dragging us off like that? That was so undignified" He knew questioning his big brother could, and had in the past, result in oncoming pain, but he asked anyway.

Kaen flared his aura a bit, "The 'big idea' is that the pair of you are pathetically weak. I didn't expect you to be stronger than I was when I was your age, or even as strong, but I expected better than this." He knew he was being harsh; after all, for their age the twins were quite strong, but they were at war now, and 'quite strong' just wouldn't cut it. They needed to get stronger fast if they were going to survive, and to do that, they needed motivation; they were too young to understand the concept of war, but the big brother they adored being disappointed in them they understood all too clearly.

With a slight quiver of her lower lip, Lime shot back, "But we are strong!"

"If you trained us we'd get a lot stronger!" Oran added.

Kaen snorted, "Your both far too weak for me to train you myself!"

The beginnings of tears in their eyes, they cried together, "That's not true! We're not weak!"

Grinning coldly, his eyes hard, he replied, "That a fact?" Turning to face the protocol droid, he shouted, "Gravity training begin. Program 'N'. Twenty times." With a whir, the gravity increased, and as he turned back to the twins, he saw them struggling to stand, "Not weak huh? This is a mere 20g's; just twice the gravity back home. And look at you. You can't even stand up. Pi and I train in over twenty times this, so how can you ever hope to train with me?"

With this news, the twins willed themselves to stand up straight, wiping the water from their eyes; they'd spent half their lives training to make their big brother proud, but he wasn't proud of them. He was disappointed in them, maybe even a bit angry, so they knew they had to do better; they had to make him proud.

Seeing the new determination in their eyes, Kaen smirked, "There. That wasn't so hard now was it? Now, Pi and I have work to do..." Silently, Pi wondered just what this work would entail, but she said nothing. "So you two are going to stay here and train until we get back. The room's programmed to step the gravity up a notch when you become used to it. Now, if you even think of leaving early, you better hide, and hide well, because when I find you I will beat you until you can't stand, let you heal in the regeneration tanks, and repeat until I'm satisfied. Do I make myself clear?"

The twins nodded vehemently, showing they understood extremely well. It wasn't the beatings they were scared of; as young as they were, they knew, like every Saiyan, they would make them stronger. What scared them was the look in their big brother's eyes when he made that threat; he showed nothing but anger and disappointment, even on the subtle levels they'd come to recognise, and nothing scared them more than him not liking them.

Kneeling down to their level, Pi offered, "Tell you what guys. When you can withstand 50g's without problem, I'll teach you a technique I've learnt since leaving home." This was an old tactic of theirs: the carrot and stick approach. Pi would be the kind one, showing them the reward for when they followed the path, and Kaen was the cruel one, beating them should they stray from the path; if it were an interrogation you'd call it 'Good Cop, Bad Cop'.

Their eyes lit up, chirping, "Really? Cool!" As Pi stood up again, they wasted no time, getting straight to work on their training in the increased gravity. As the mated couple left, Kaen spared his siblings one last look, this one full of pride for the warriors they had become, but it was gone just as quickly as it came; they saw it though, that quick flash of pride, and it was enough to make them double their efforts, as the door closed once more, leaving the young fighters alone.

o-o-o

When Avery arrived in the control room, the planning was already well under way.

"...at's all well and good, but where could they go? There's no way we can look after everyone, so we need to find ways to keep Frieza from finding them."

He paused, looking over their work. It seemed that, currently, they were trying to find out where to send the surviving Saiyans. By the look of things, they had already reached the conclusion that grouping everyone together was a bad idea. After all, a large collection of Saiyans would draw attention, and the forces of the Cold Empire needn't set foot on a planet to wipe them all out; Vegeta-Sei was destroyed from space. In a bold move, Avery suggested, "Why not send them to the worlds Kaen liberated?"

Every eye turned to him; it seemed no one noticed his entrance. With a quirked eyebrow, Kellre asked, "What do you mean 'liberated'?"

Frost fielded that question, "In the past four years, Kaen freed twelve - well, fourteen..." he amended, recalling the planet he himself had helped free, and the training facility they'd recently cleared out, "...worlds from Cold Empire control. They're marked as black spots now - Frieza's not game enough to send troupes there anymore, just in case he's still there. After all, he wiped out a large number of quite a few invasion forces all on his own, and reduced eighteen of their controlled worlds to slag. If he loses too many more, there's a good chance many more worlds would revolt all on their own."

And there it was, another piece of the 'Kaen' puzzle. As the pieces fell into place, it became painfully clear to the elder Saiyans as to why Kaen felt the need to glass so many planets. His reason behind his hatred of the Cold Empire, however, was a matter for another day; after all, now they had their own reasons. Casting his gaze at Avery, Avarrdo asked, "So, which planets are you talking about?"

Punching a few things into the available console, the Torian brought up the starmap, highlighting both the free worlds and the destroyed ones. On the map it showed the worlds were quite a distance apart from each other, almost as if they were chosen at random. "These ones. It seems your son picked and chose as he saw fit. He seemed to save the worlds that would help a resistance the most, and destroy the worlds that would help the least, and all of them worlds that Frieza couldn't really afford to lose; any minor planet was left more or less untouched."

Nodding, Kellre added, "Even so, fourteen worlds won't be enough to sustain every remaining Saiyan, even if we packed them in."

Nodding himself, Avery punched a few more things into the console, highlighting several more planets, "No, they won't, and I would advise you against trying. I recommend sending at least half to the outlying planets; spread the survivors as thin as you can manage without putting them at risk by the clumps being too small. And above all, they must keep a low profile; if Frieza plans to wipe them all out, make the bastard look for them, don't give him targets."

Truniz grinned, "I like the way you think."

Frost looked at Avery, a mild look of shock and awe on his face, "Where did this come from?"

Avery just shrugged, "I was one of the head strategists on Tori-Sei before Cold came hunting our technology."

"You never told me that!"

"You never asked."

"How would we get these worlds to co-operate?" Kellre interjected.

Frost just grinned, "Tell the Saiyans to say 'The Phoenix' sent them."

o-o-o

Viola was right where Kat had assumed she would be, back in the room she shared with Flute; she would really have to thank her sister for teaching her to sense people's energy, it was a very useful ability. Knocking on the door, she waited patiently. And waited. After a few minutes the door opened, Flute standing on the other side.

"What do you want?" Despite how gruff his voice sounded, there was an undertone of curiosity; after all, this was the first time Kat had ever come to their room.

"I wanted to speak to Viola. Alone." Kat replied, trying to sound as confident as she could under that piercing stare of his.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "I assume your being here means the others are on board?" She nodded. "Which means we'll be leaving soon?" Another nod. "Then I'd better get to the bridge. The sooner we get there the better." With that he strode past her, leaving the door open for her entry.

Kat walked in a tad timidly, seeing Viola seated cross-legged on, what she assumed to be, her bed. When the green-skinned woman opened her eyes and smiled reassuringly, Kat closed the door behind her, taking a seat on the opposite bed, which she assumed was Flute's.

Viola began, "So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kat took a deep breath, "Well, last time I saw you fight, I remember seeing you turning into lightning." Viola nodded, confirming this fact, so Kat continued, "It looked like it was a very useful ability, and, well, I was wondering..."

Smiling cryptically, Viola supplied, "You were wondering if I'd teach you how to do it?"

Kat nodded quickly, explaining before she lost her nerve, "It's just that, I know I'm weaker than everyone else. From what I've seen in my travels Neko-Jin are far from a strong race, physically; I've tried to compensate for that through my techniques. And this war is just as much mine as anybodies, so..."

"What war?" Viola interrupted.

Kat looked confused, "You don't know?" Her face lit up in realisation, "Oh that's right, you and Flute left before the other's played back the message pod." At Viola's mildly confused look, she explained, "Frieza destroyed the Saiyan's home planet; the Cold Empire is now at war with the Resistance, and the survivors of the Saiyan race."

A grim expression on her face, Viola closed her eyes, replaying the information to Flute telepathically; he, it seemed, was no more pleased than her about this new turn of events. Opening her eyes again, and seeing Kat looking at her expectantly, she said, "Before I agree to anything, you should understand that this technique may not work for you at all, and if it does, it will most likely work differently for you than it does for me."

Kat nodded firmly, "I'm willing to try and learn if you're willing to try and teach."

"If I'm going to teach you, you must do exactly what I say, exactly how I say it. Understand?" Kat nodded firmly again, and Viola smiled cryptically once more. "Alright then, I accept, and we begin now. Get yourself comfortable; chances are, we'll be here a long time."

Kat crossed her legs, assuming much the same position Viola herself was in, "I'm ready."

Viola nodded, raising her hands in front of herself, palms facing each other, "First, I want you to bring your energy out, like so." Saying this, she formed a ball of ki between her hands, completely harmless ki, but ki nonetheless. Kat looked like she wanted to ask a question, but, having agreed to do whatever Viola said, didn't voice it. Nevertheless, Viola answered the silent question, "I know this is the most basic of novice exercises, but it's important if you wish to learn what I have to teach."

Kat nodded, wasting no time in doing what her 'instructor' told her to do, and holding the black ball of ki until she was told to release it. With another cryptic smile, Viola continued her instructions, "Now, I want you to repeat that, but this time, instead of guiding the ki through your hands to focus into a ball between them, you must focus it through your entire body. With this technique, you don't just wield ki; you become it. This technique is a mastery of ki control. In truth, you're lucky you're comparatively weaker than others." At Kat's confused look, she added, "Bringing your energy to the surface, becoming your energy, for the first time, won't take you as long as it would someone like Kaen, because you plain and simply don't have as much to bring out."

Kat nodded as if she understood; in truth, she only barely got what the older woman was talking about, but Viola didn't need to teach her, so she was willing to go on a little faith. Closing her eyes, she set about doing as instructed, not noticing the final cryptic smile on the female Namek's face. Viola closed her eyes again, returning to her own meditation, but keeping her mind's eye focused on her 'pupil'. 'It's begun,' she thought to herself, 'now, the question is: will she see it through to completion, and if so, just what will the final result be?'

o-o-o

Elsewhere, in the section of the hangar bay Kaen had more-or-less turned into his work station, Pi was nearly dying of curiosity; what could he possibly be working on that he needed her help for? Eventually, the need for answers became too great to take silently, "Alright Kaen, what was it you needed my help with?"

He smiled at her a bit, still in his golden form, saying nothing right away, just activating his portable computer; obviously it was built of sturdy stuff to withstand his increased strength. Before she could ask again though, he cleared his throat, replying, "Ok, hear me out fully before you comment, alright?" Feeling the seriousness through the bond, she nodded; for him to put this much effort into his answers, it must be something big. Returning his attention to his computer for a minute, and muttering, "Now, where to begin..." to himself, he tried to figure out exactly how to explain his intentions.

After a minute he nodded, having worked out what he wanted to say, and looked back at his mate, "Alright. In my travels, I've heard all sorts of legends, seen things other people wouldn't believe, and, for reasons I can't explain, even to myself, one of these appealed to me greatly. It was stories I heard about weapons empowered with the spirit of warriors, either living or fallen, granting the user new strength. I've been trying to replicate these ideas, trying to find out a way to change them from theory to reality." He paused, smiling at her, "And just recently, I believe I've succeeded."

At her confused look, he summed up, "For lack of a better description, with your help, I plan on making an enchanted weapon."

"Let me get this straight," she said, starting to get a little annoyed as she pieced things together, "You want my help to create something that will make you stronger?"

He snorted, "Of course not. I want your help to make a pair of weapons, one for each of us, that will make us stronger." Smiling, he added, "You should know I'd never expect you to do anything without getting something in return, and you should also know that I'd never expect you to let me get stronger than you; not anymore."

She was caught between smiling and frowning; frowning at the memory of his semi-recent breakdown, and smiling at the knowledge he was now accepting her fighting by his side. She was extremely happy her original conclusion was only half of the full picture, and was a bit upset with herself for doubting him; sure, he'd had his problems in the past with accepting her resolve, but she should have believed he was beyond them now. Eventually settling on a smile, she asked, "Alright then, what did you have in mind?"

"This." He spun the computer to face her. On the screen was an extremely detailed breakdown of what looked to be an impressively ornate sword, everything from exact dimensions, to details about materials, and specifications of what abilities he planned the finished sword to be able to perform. Soulsteel for the blade, and the base of the handle, to properly channel the ki. Orichalcum for the scabbard and hilt, to insulate the handle, and keep any residual ki from harming the user. Ruby and emerald for what he had dubbed the 'ki base'. She may not have had much of a mercantile knowledge, but she knew those materials were rare and expensive.

"Where did you get the materials for all this?" She was hard pressed to keep the wonder out of her voice.

"I got most of it when you were taking the girls on that shopping trip of yours," he replied with a grin. "The ore merchant owed me a favour, so he halved his prices; still cost me a fortune, but I've got enough to last me ten lifetimes. The ruby and emerald I've gotten through work; lots of places pay high debts using various gemstones instead of gold. I just collected them from that."

She looked up at him, an awed expression on her face, "When did you have time to plan all this out?"

He just shrugged, averting his eyes, "I... don't sleep as much as you do." It was obvious there was more to it than he was letting on, but she wasn't about to shame him by digging for problems; she knew he was far from being better, but they were both working on fixing that in their own silent way.

Instead she returned her attention to the design on the screen, muttering awedly, "Wow... It looks amazing..."

He smirked proudly, "Can you imagine it? A sword that's not just a weapon, but an extension of yourself. A sword that doubles the potency of your energy, just by being in contact with you." Smiling at her, his eyes showing the depths of his love for her for possibly only the second time in his life, he continued, "A sword that grants us each other's abilities; that represents what we can do when we work together. A sword that guarantees that, no matter what the future may bring, and no matter the distance between us, you and I will always be side by side, fighting together against all adversity, drawing strength from each other."

She smiled back in kind, showing his both how much she loved him, and how much she loved his idea; when he wanted to, he could say the most beautiful things. He probably didn't even realise it, but this idea was a direct representation of everything she wanted: to have him with her always, and to always fight by his side. She knew that, with the lives Saiyans lead, there was a very good change one of them would die before the other at some point in the future. After all, she had already died once, but he brought her back; she meant to ask him how he did that... Regardless, she knew that, with this one idea, even should the worst happen, they would never again be alone in spirit.

Still smiling, she flared into her golden ascended state, the form born of her love for him, and her anger at the thought of losing him, and asked, "When do we start?"

He smiled back, his own golden hair being blown around slightly by his swirling aura, "Right now."

o-o-o

The ship lurched a little as it left the planet's atmosphere, but Flute barely noticed as he strode purposefully towards the control room; he had to make sure the final dragon ball was recovered as soon as possible. His senses told him the other Saiyans were all in the control room, with two of them starting to leave, yet Kaen wasn't, and with the dark news of the destruction of Vegeta-Sei, he was worried about the state of his own mission; would they decide to go over his head, that finishing his mission was less important than the war against Frieza?

He was a little relieved to see Frost still at the controls, but was still a little worried that another Saiyan, Avarrdo if he remembered correctly, was close at hand, making low comments to the Aisu. He cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him.

Looking his way, Frost called out, "Ah, Flute, I was wondering when you'd get here. Don't worry, I've already entered in the location we were heading to before this little detour, and we're heading there as fast as this ship can manage." Noticing the look the Namek was sending Avarrdo's way he added, "Avarrdo here was giving me pointers on how to work this thing better; after all, he did build it."

Bowing his head to the Saiyan slightly, Flute said, "I'm sorry to hear about your loss."

Smiling sadly, Avarrdo just replied, "As are we all." Barking a short laugh, he added, "Don't worry, I remember how important your mission was; you did remind my son just earlier today. My world is gone, and I'm not going to cost you yours." He grinned a bit, "Unlike my son, I know when to wait, when to plan, and when to strike to hurt my enemies the most."

"And what is your plan?" Flute had to admit, he was curious as to what they intended to do, and this Saiyan, who seemed so unlike his son, seemed like the sort of person he could relate to, and talk to as an equal.

"You want to know?" Avarrdo smirked, "Well, listen good..."

o-o-o

Over two hours passed, the only sound in the room from the slow breathing of two people deep in meditation. Viola had to admit, she didn't think the young Neko would have lasted this long; cats were, after all, known for being easily distracted, and yet this one hadn't moved a muscle. She was getting very close, having already managed to successfully draw out over 70 of her energy. And, while the catgirl herself didn't know it, she was already starting to become the dark shadow that was her ki; the only parts of her body that weren't currently black were her limbs and head. The last part was, however, the hard part, but after seeing the young girl's determination carry her this far, Viola had no doubt in her mind that, within the hour, she would succeed.

o-o-o

Another hour passed in peace and quiet, but April had to admit, she was getting a little worried. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of any of her children for almost three and a half hours now. She and Raene had begun cooking roughly half an hour ago now, after forcibly ejecting the chef robots from the room, knowing that, with the small meal they'd had on world, the others would be hungry again soon; even at the best of times, some Saiyans had no less than five meals a day, with snacks added on top of that, especially young Saiyans, who burned off energy incredibly fast.

Deciding that Raene could handle the rest, she set off in search of her wayward offspring. Taking a guess at what Kaen could have been doing to keep them occupied, she set off towards the training room; she remembered her mate telling her where it was in relation to the cafeteria/kitchen area. She wasn't surprised to find she was right, and that the twins were in fact inside, but she was surprised not to find Kaen and Pi with them.

Walking into the room, she immediately noticed the increased gravity pulling at her body; fortunately, she was strong enough to withstand it with little to no problem. She was a little surprised to find the twins in much the same boat, because she knew she was stronger than her youngest children; well, as of this morning she was anyway. Clapping her hands to get their attention, she announced, "Dinner will be ready soon. Come on."

Neither of the kids stopped their training, and she was, obviously, a little put out by this. Planting her hands on her hips, she said, "I said dinner will be ready, so shut this thing down and get moving."

This time they did respond, but it wasn't the answer she was expecting. First, Lime turned to her and said, "We're not done yet."

Before their shell-shocked mother could comment, Oran added, "We're not leaving 'til big brother comes and gets us."

April was too shocked to mutter more than a surprised, "Huh?" Sure, this wasn't the first time her children had ever disobeyed her - no child in history, anywhere, ever, had never disobeyed his or her parents - but this was the first time they had ever refused to come to a meal; they were, after all, Saiyans, and to a Saiyan there wasn't much that was more important than a meal. However, apparently to them, their brother was.

Without so much as slowing down, Oran continued the thought, "Kaen told us not to leave until he got back, and we're not gonna disappoint him again."

The fact he had used his big brother's actual name threw her for a loop; the twins always just referred to Kaen as 'big brother'. Then the rest of the statement hit home, and April couldn't help but ask, "Again? What do you mean again?"

Stopping in his confusion, her youngest son turned to her, "What do you mean 'what do I mean'? He's disappointed in us mum." This said, he resumed training.

This surprised her, again. They honestly seemed to believe that Kaen was disappointed in them. She knelt down, saying soothingly, "Hey, of course he's proud of you. Why wouldn't he be?"

"You didn't see him mum..." Lime added, her bottom lip quivering, "You didn't see the look in his eyes. He said we were too weak to train with him, and he meant it. He said him and Pi train in over 400g's, and he meant it. He said if we left before he came back he would punish us, and he meant it."

Realising she was getting nowhere fast, she decided to try asking her mate for advice; he could always put a different spin on things, and shed light where she could find only darkness. "Honey, can you help me get the twins out of the training room?"

"Why do you need them out?" Of course, he could never just answer her questions; he always had to know why she was asking them.

"Well, dinner's almost ready, but they say they refuse to leave until Kaen comes and gets them."

"When were you planning on telling me dinner was ready?" She sighed; that was so typical, always thinking of himself first, when there were other things to be dealt with.

"When I got the twins to the table." Her irritation was obvious, but at least they were back on topic.

Avarrdo, however, didn't seem to care as much as she did, "Hey, if they want to go hungry, let them go hungry. If they want to wait for Kaen, let them wait for him. And if they don't show up, that's just more food for me." She gave up; the man was impossible sometimes, but she wouldn't trade him for the world.

"But you're food will get cold..." It was a last ditch effort, she knew, but she was at a loss of how to deal with them, short of dragging them out by the hair; all of her children were painfully stubborn.

"Then let it get cold!" Oran snapped, again shocking her; neither of them had ever snapped at her before. "We'll go hungry for a week if that's what it takes! But we're not leaving until big brother gets here!"

"I guess this would be a good time to show up then." A new voice interjected, surprising everyone. Turning around, April saw her eldest son standing there in the doorway, arms crossed, and a smirk on his face. Without another word he walked over to the protocol droid, reading the data about the current session, his face an emotionless mask; not cold, just empty. Turning back to the twins, his face still emotionless, he regarded them with a piercing stare, as if looking into the very core of their souls, before he broke out into a grin. "Forty g's huh? That's a lot of improvement for under four hours work; still not good enough, but, better."

Matching grins broke out on the twins faces at this remark, but before they could say anything, Pi, who had just walked in, stopped by Kaen's side and added, "And, unless the computer's lying, you didn't stop for so much as one minute in all that time. Quite impressive you two, especially considering your age."

Without saying a word, they leapt at their big brother and sister, who caught them and chucked them up onto opposite shoulders: Oran on Kaen's right, Lime on Pi's left. Turning to their mother, Kaen said, "I believe I heard you mention something about food?"

She just shook her head and sighed, and, after shutting the room down, the five of them set off in search of sustenance.

o-o-o

The other Saiyans were already there when they arrived, and the food already being brought out, but, wisely, no one was eating; it was required by unspoken law that everyone had to be there before anyone was allowed to eat, and that law was very heavily enforced and punished. Setting the kids on the ground, Kaen and Pi regarded the adults with a nod, which they returned; everyone was curious as to everyone else's actions, but right now, there were more important matters. Namely, food, and the consumption of it.

The meal was carried out in silence; well, assuming you overlooked the sounds of cutlery clanging, people chewing and swallowing, and the other general sounds that accompany the eating of food. As soon as the meal was done, and permission to leave the table acquired, the twins sped off as fast as their legs would carry them; they may have deeply respected their big brother, and needed his praise, but they also wanted to live out the day, so being anywhere he wasn't sounded like a good idea around this point.

o-o-o

Racing through the halls, the twins were having trouble deciding what to do. If they went anywhere near the kitchen or training room Kaen was likely to find them, and that wouldn't be pretty. They forgot to ask their mum where their room was, so they couldn't go there either. And worse still, they didn't know where anything was on this ship!

They skidded to a stop as someone turned the corner in front of them, almost hitting the poor person. Looking up, they saw it was a green-skinned woman; their tiny minds working overtime, they remembered she was at the camp, but couldn't think of her name. "Hiya pretty lady. What's your name?" Lime chirped.

With a small smile for the two kids, she replied, "Viola. What are you two doing here?"

"Avoiding our big brother. He can be very scary sometimes." Oran offered.

With a slightly larger smile and a quick laugh, she said, "I see. Well then, you better run, because I think he's coming this way." This was, of course, a lie; Kaen hadn't moved from the cafeteria. However, seeing these two scared amused her for some reason, and she felt like adding fuel to the fire.

As one, they cried, "Oh no! Run!" and ran for their lives, turning several corners before diving into the first room they saw. Panting slightly to catch their breath, Lime noticed the sound of water running, and quickly indicated to her brother to be quiet as she tiptoed over to the source. There, under the water of her personal shower, was Kat; through fate alone, the twins had stumbled into her room, and were she not so tired from training with Viola, she would have noticed the two little hellions.

Quietly moving as far away from the showering Neko as possible, Lime whispered, "Our new sister Kat's in there."

A smirk quickly found it's way onto Oran's face as an idea came to him, a smirk his twin sister knew all to well; he had an idea for a prank. They had pulled lot's of pranks back home, but they knew from experience that, when it came to their family, pulling more than one on the same person was a bad idea. However, they hadn't pulled any pranks on their new sister yet, and thus they were perfectly in their rights to do so; well, that's what they said. Reaching under his armour, and pulling out his bag of tricks, he whispered his plan into her ear, and soon she bore a matching smirk.

o-o-o

"So, what have you been doing for the past few hours?"

Turning to his father, Kaen replied, "Isn't it obvious?"

Avarrdo just gave him a flat stare, "If it was obvious I wouldn't have asked would I?"

He looked over his right shoulder for a moment, although they couldn't see what he was looking at, and he looked back, a confused look on his face as he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, "You don't see that?" A glance at Pi showed she looked just as confused.

"See what?" April asked.

He turned to look at Pi, confusion and amusement evident on both their faces, before he turned back, saying, "I'll make it easy for you." and reaching over his shoulder, grabbing hold of whatever he had looked at and indicated earlier, and drawing it, surprising everyone by unsheathing a large sword.

"Where did that come from boy?" Truniz asked, a mild look on shock on his face.

"I've had it on since I picked the twins up at the training room." He replied with a shrug, "Are you telling me that none of you saw this? What about the one's Pi's got?" All eyes shot to Pi, and she had to suppress a shiver as the five of them seemed to rake over her with fine-tooth combs. Despite everything, no one could see a sword over her shoulders, although Kellre did notice something.

"She's got it over her left shoulder doesn't she?" He asked.

"Yeah I do. If you can't see it, how do you know?" She replied.

"I've noticed that my eyes seem to look around something there."

An impressed look on his face, Kaen commented, "Well, this is an unexpected development."

"What do you mean?" Avarrdo asked, "What are those swords? Why would you want a sword anyway? I never thought..."

He was interrupted as the blade of Kaen's sword burst into white flame all of it's own accord. A smirk on his face, Kaen said, "This is far from an ordinary sword."

The look on their faces showed they fairly impressed, but before they could comment an ear-piercing shriek echoed down the halls of the Icebreaker. "Oh no... I know that voice..." Kaen groaned to himself, and as he realised that the twins weren't present, he knew exactly what happened, and set off in search of the twin terrors.

o-o-o

Said terrors were currently speeding down the halls, running for their lives. The thought 'perhaps this wasn't such a good idea...' raced through their heads; Kat could easily be as scary as their big brother when she wanted to be. Nevertheless, the look on her face was priceless!

Skidding to a halt, they saw their big brother coming down the corridor towards them, and he didn't look happy. Thinking quickly, they sped down another corridor and started weaving in and out of the hallways in the hopes of losing everyone until they calmed down.

This hope was dashed when a dark shape started rising out of the floor a ways in front of them, looking remarkably like Kat. They spun around, sliding on the floor a moment before taking off again, this time taking the left instead of the right, but another black shape cut them off. Turning around, and seeing the original shape still there, they decided that perhaps letting Kaen catch them was going to be less painful, so they sped back the way they came, but a third black shape cut them off at the pass.

This one, however, spoke, raising it's hands and crying, "Feel my Spite brats!" A dark blast fired out from the shadow's hands, exploding soundlessly directly in front of the speeding children, and sapping them of their strength. Through sheer momentum alone they kept coming, ending up flying straight through the dark shape just as the other Saiyans rounded the corner.

"Kat, is that you?" Pi asked.

The dark shape turned around to face them, legs still in the floor, and chirped out, "Oh hey guys. Viola taught me how to do this; isn't it cool?" Saying this, she rose the rest of the way out of the ground, and the darkness began to fade back to her normal colour; well, all areas bar one. Once she was back to 'normal' it became quite clear what the twins had done; her hair was bright, fluoro pink.

The assembled Saiyans looked at each other, blinked, and burst out laughing. Kat, however, seemed less than impressed. Whistling sharply, two shadows came flying towards her along the walls, pulling themselves out soon after to reveal two Shadow Warriors, both of which moved to pick up the twins, one each. Quashing his mirth, Avarrdo called, "Hey, those are mine."

"I'll bring them back when I'm done." Kat replied, signalling the Warriors to follow her as she headed off to the training room. Kaen just burst out laughing again; he knew she wouldn't hurt them too bad, but by the time she was done, they'd never prank her again.

Turning to his old man, he asked, "So, what did you guys decide to do? What plans did you make?"

Avarrdo just smirked back, "If you weren't off making toys with your mate you'd have heard them the first time, but for you, I'll repeat them."

Thus were plans made, preparations carried out, and goals set. The Saiyan people would recover from their loss; they'd done it before, when the legendary Super Saiyan shattered the planet of Saiya, and they would do it again now that Vegeta-Sei had met the same fate. It would take more than an albino tyrant with egomania to destroy the mighty Saiyan race; they were born fighters, and they died fighters. They had seen more battles come and go than other races saw sunrises, and they would continue fighting until the universe collapsed in upon itself. This was just the latest chapter in the Saiyan book, but it was this chapter that could either lead to a dramatic climax, or a tragic ending. All that remained to be seen was which path the story would take.

End Chapter 21.5

To be continued...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:

This chapter, like the last 'half' chapter, took place in 'downtime.'