Author's Note 12/11/2020: Sorry this chapter is a week late. It was fighting me on the revisions. But that's writing sometimes. I hope you enjoy it and stay awesome!
Bardock grins as a ki sphere forms in his hand.
"Please sir," says a reptilian man. "Don't destroy our home. We'll give you everything we have."
Bardock pays no attention to the scaly skinned man who holds his distressed wife close to his body. She in turn presses their two children against her legs, turning their heads away from the demolition of their farm.
Bardock lobs the energy ball at the two story house. It smashes a hole through the wall to embed itself deep inside the framework. A booming detonation shatters the windows and blows the roof and sides out. Shrapnel of belongings and furniture spray across the yard. What is left of the home catches fire.
Bardock flies off leaving the cries of the victims in his wake. He lands next to a female Saiyan who fires yellow bolts at a set of parked vehicles for tending fields. They explode in sequence in a plume of smoke. Her hysterical laughter grows after every display of destruction.
Bardock grabs her waist and spins her around. The wet tendrils of her short, black hair peel off her sweaty face during the motion.
"Oh Bardock," she says.
They look into each other's dark eyes. Unobscured by the scouters they usually wear, they lose count of all the shades of brown swirling together in their irises.
He scans her body head to toe. The leather and fur armor she wears instead of the standard battle jacket feels right somehow. She runs her hands over the same outfit that he wears.
"Seripa, have I ever told you how horny it makes me watching you blow shit up?" he says.
"All the time," she says, smiling.
Their lips lock in an aggressive shoving match.
"Woah there Bardock," says another Saiyan dropping in. "Save some for Gine when we get home."
Bardock pulls his mouth away with some resistance. The woman in his arms continues to kiss his neck as he smirks at his friend.
"Ah come on Toma," says Bardock. "You know she's too nice to give me the rough loving I need sometimes."
Toma puts his arms up and shakes his head. The short ponytail pulling his hair back dances one step behind the movement.
"You're hopeless. You know that?" he says.
The three laugh as they are joined by the last two members of their crew. One is a tall, muscular man with three scars on his forehead. The other is a shorter, rounder man with a bowl cut.
"Totepo, Panbukin," says Bardock. "How did things go?"
"Easiest job we've ever had," says Totepo.
"Yeah," says Panbukin. "I was worried at first when General Dodoria assigned us a mission to a planet without a moon. But he must have known we could handle it in our normal forms. Their defenses are worthless."
"I was right there with you," says Toma. "I was thinking, 'they sure picked a shitty time to service our scouters and armor.' I mean seriously. Couldn't they have sent a different squad while we waited to be issued new equipment? Sheesh."
"I don't know," says Bardock. "I kind of like these old armors. I feel like I'm more in touch with our primal ancestors. You know?"
As the group converses, a rainbow colored lizard with a huge dorsal fin running down its back and tail snakes by them. The fin glows with a luminous iridescence.
"Why do you suppose they corral those lizards on ranches like this one?" says Toma.
"Heh, who cares," says Seripa. "Let's hurry up and finish preparing this planet for conquest and collect our paychecks."
"Seriously Toma," says Panbukin. "Why do you always ask questions about the worlds we conquer? It's not like you're ever coming back to them."
"Just curious I guess," says Toma, shrugging his shoulders.
"You're a strange Saiyan, Toma," says Totepo. He laughs and takes to the sky. "Now let's go waste some cities."
"Yeah!" cheers the rest of the squad except for Toma.
They fly after their comrade with Toma following behind everyone else. He looks over the destruction they leave behind before turning his attention to the city they have been working their way towards.
"Finally, a real city to wreck," says Seripa.
"Good, I'm sick of the boring countryside. Too empty," says Totepo.
The group pulls apart as they each fly down a different cobble street. The Saiyans start shooting energy blasts at the single story buildings just below them. The dome shaped structures explode as screams rise up with the smoke. The ensuing fires are hard to distinguish against the dark orange of the material used for masonry.
The further they get into the city, the taller the cylinder buildings grow. Nothing is safe from their bombardment as they approach the tallest structure near the center of the city.
Four humanoid shapes fly out of its windows and approach them. The Saiyan squad stops immediately at the first signs of potential resistance. They relax when they see these people are wearing the Galactic Army's uniforms and scouters. The two groups converge over an open market square before the building.
"Woah, you guys scared us for a moment," says Totepo.
He floats closer to the soldiers. His fists find their way to his hips as he lets out a chuckle. One of them with orange skin and horns sticking out from a sharp widow's peak smiles.
"General Dodoria didn't tell us we had backup," continues Totepo.
"You don't," says the horned man.
He raises his hand and fires a ki bolt through the big Saiyan's chest. The shot easily punctures Totepo's armor. Blood explodes from his mouth as he drops from the sky.
Bardock roars and charges the orange soldier.
"You bastard!"
He raises a fist.
"Get'em boys," says the man.
He blocks Bardock's punch as his three cronies spread out after the remaining Saiyans. Bardock drives him backward with the force of his strike before unleashing a barrage of them.
"I just love hunting monkeys," says the soldier going after Toma.
Toma lets loose a volley of energy spheres. The green skinned goblin with a red cap of flesh worms his way through them and lands a punch.
A purple alien with a long cylindrical head faces off with Seripa.
"Looks like I get the cute one," he says.
"And I get the ugly one," she says, spitting.
"You take that back," says the purple man.
He rushes forward, but Seripa delivers a quick jab to his face. She then drives her knee into his chin.
"Let's go frog face," says Panbukin.
"Who you calling 'frog face' you tailed freak?" says his opponent.
They lock arms and wrestle for an advantage.
Bardock fades back to dodge an enemy punch. His torso drops as it reverses places with his legs. He grapples the opponent's upper arm with his thighs and latches his ankles. He pumps his elbow three times in quick succession against the horned man's gut. The foe finally rips his arm free only for Bardock to backbend and grab his shins.
Bardock yanks his elbows to his side pulling the orange fighter around in front of himself. He thrusts his hands to fire a beam of energy directly into the armored chest. Despite a few chunks of the protective clothing flying off, he knows he has only bought himself a few moments head start as the man zooms away. He rushes to his closest ally.
Bardock drives a devastating fist into the spine of the frog faced man overpowering Panbukin. The adversary cries out with his head and arms bending backward as his abdomen pushes ahead. Panbukin raises his arms, clasping his hands. He drops them hard enough to snap the man's neck as his squad leader continues to push the body forward. They leave the corpse to fall to the street below and scramble to help Seripa next.
The squid headed warrior belts her away and prepares a finishing energy orb. His scouter alerts him to the incoming presence of Bardock and Panbukin. He turns to fire the shot at them. They waver around it. He retreats knowing he cannot win three against one. The Saiyans check Seripa's condition before searching for their last member.
Bardock spots Toma being blasted by a beam of energy from the red capped goblin. He watches helplessly as the energy plows Toma straight into the tall building.
"Toma!" says Bardock, charging ahead.
His teammates each grab one of his arms, stopping him.
"Let me go!" he says.
"He's gone Bardock," says Panbukin.
"And they're regrouping," says Seripa. "We need to retreat out of their scouter range."
Bardock stops struggling as he sees the horned man and his two remaining comrades fly together. He spits before jetting for the city limits, leaving a white trail of ki.
"What do we do now boss?" asks the cylinder headed man.
"Let's report back to General Dodoria," says the horned man. "They were tougher than we expected."
###
Toma cradles his busted ribs as he leans against a wall for support. He works his way down the hall leaving a trail of blood staining the paint. He halts when a familiar voice conversing with another reaches him from the corner ahead. He peeks around the wall to find two people looking out of a window at where the fighting just was.
"I never realized such terrible beings lived beyond our world," says a reptilian man in white robes. "Thank you for coming back on such short notice. I feared I'd made a terrible mistake turning down your offer of protection."
"It's no problem at all," says his companion.
A chill rolls down Toma's back when his eyes confirm what his ears were telling him. The fearsome form of General Dodoria nearly swallows the native official. His bulbous proportions belie a speed to match the incredible power he is renowned for.
The familiar beep of a scouter rings. Dodoria presses its button. Toma sinks to one knee closer to the wall.
"In fact," says Dodoria, "Lord Freeza's only real concern was that we found you before someone more barbarous like those monsters destroying your beautiful farms did."
Lying sack of shit, thinks Toma.
"You have such a precious resource with these solar energy collecting lizards," says Dodoria. "We'd hate for their delicate habitat or your technology for harvesting such energy from them to be destroyed."
"Indeed," says the official. "We will gladly enter into an agreement to pay for protective services after all the terrible violence we've suffered."
"Lord Freeza will be pleased to hear this," says Dodoria. "Our scientists are excited to see what kinds of uses they can put your technology to."
I have to warn Bardock that we've been set up, thinks Toma. But I don't really have the strength to fly out of here which is probably why his scouter hasn't picked me up. Still, I have to try!
Toma works his way back to the hole he plowed into the building through. He floats up along the angled tunnel using one arm to guide himself. It acts as a bumper keeping him from running into the walls as he moves like a detached balloon. He shifts back and forth without any control of direction besides up.
He stops at the jagged entryway to check for his enemies. There are none in sight. He quickly descends to the streets below. Using the cover of alleys, he snakes his way through the city to its outskirts.
He stops to take a breather. Hunching over and hacking, his breaths retch in and out.
"I've got … to keep going."
His body lurches into the air. He bobs up and down with his toes leaving short dashed lines in the dry soil. He rolls over hill after hill before finally collapsing to the ground.
"Toma!"
He hears Bardock's voice and opens one eye. His comrade lands by his side and places a hand on his back.
"Hang in there, buddy," says Bardock. "I'm sorry we didn't come back for you. We thought you were dead."
Toma coughs up a cloud of dust.
"It's okay. I'm a goner anyway," he says. "Honestly I was hoping you'd all left the planet already."
"What do you mean?" says Seripa. "It's lucky we were being so cautious getting back to our ships or we wouldn't have found you."
"No! This mission was just a ploy to frame us. General Dodoria is here right now trying to win their favor by using us as patsies. You all need to get out of here before he comes to finish the job."
"Alright but we're taking you with us. No Saiyan left behind."
"Ah that's sweet."
A deep voice presses down on them from above. They jerk their heads to the sky. Their hearts fight between pumping anxiety and adrenaline. Dodoria descends upon them, a smile on his face.
"Doh, doh, Dodoria," says Panbukin. "How did you find us?"
"It was easy," says Dodoria. "I noticed that little monkey eavesdropping on my conversation and thought, 'hey, I bet he could lead me to their landing site if I let him go.' And here we are."
"You bastard," says Toma.
"Now I can't let any of you escape as it might ruin our plans. But don't worry. I'm very professional and take great pride in my work."
"Why us?" says Seripa.
"It's a need to know basis. And the dead don't need to know."
Bardock launches forward with a raised fist. Seripa jumps in behind his lead.
Dodoria bends his short legs so his butt sticks out behind him. He shifts his huge gut forward. His body follows, leaving the ground. His stomach slams into the Saiyans who rebound off the rubbery armor as he drives through them.
Dodoria lands in front of Panbukin.
"Boo," he says.
He rises to his full height, towering over the opponent.
Panbukin shrinks back as terror crawls onto his face. He steps backward and then pushes off that foot to attempt a punch.
"Too slow," says Dodoria.
He opens a palm at his waist so a ki blast can erupt forth. Panbukin is completely obliterated in the plume of energy. The echo of his scream lingers as a fleeting remnant.
Bardock swoops in with one leg bent at the knee. He kicks his shin against the back of Dodoria's neck. The blubbering mass drops his head as Bardock lands at his side. Dodoria's hand rubs the base of his skull.
"Thanks," he says. "I've been having the worst knot, and I think you loosened it up."
Bardock grits his teeth and swings a fist. The back of Dodoria's spiked forearm bashes his gut before he can land the blow. He barely avoids the impaling spikes as Dodoria follows through his swing. Bardock launches free from the arm as it finishes its motion. Seripa catches him in her arms and uses her torso to slow him down.
"We'll get him together," she says.
"No, we can't take him," says Bardock. "I'll distract him. You grab Toma and get to the ships."
"But—"
"Do it!"
He shoves her away and dashes in again. He feints a punch before planting his feet and strafing to the side. Dodoria turns in place to follow his movements. With his enemy now turned away from his teammates, Bardock watches Seripa follow his orders.
A cool bead of sweat runs down the left side of his face and traces the outline of the cross shaped scar on his cheek.
"Heh, I must be crazy taking on one of Freeza's top men," he says. "But I can't think of a better way to go!"
Bardock rushes straight at Dodoria. The pink blob smiles. A bluish white aura flares around the Saiyan setting off the opponent's scouter in a chirping of beeps.
"My, my. Almost 4,000," says Dodoria. "What a big power level you have for a Saiyan."
Bardock blasts up a cloud of dust that engulfs them both. He circles Dodoria for a sneak attack. Meaty fingers clamp around Bardock's throat before he can even register what is happening. The screen of debris clears.
Despite fighting for air, he tries kicking at the scouter in hopes of smashing it. Dodoria turns the other cheek which his heels bounce harmlessly off. The blubber seems to diffuse all his power.
"Did you really think a puny Saiyan could stand up to the might of a high ranking officer of the Galactic Empire."
"In a fight, rank and power don't matter," says Bardock.
His words come out in choked sputters.
"All that matters, is who wins!"
Dodoria slams Bardock's abdomen against his spike covered forearm. The blow knocks the breath out of Bardock. The sharp spines sink deep into his flesh. Dodoria watches the power level of his victim tick downward.
"Sorry, what was that?" says Dodoria. "I didn't quite catch it?"
The hold on Bardock releases. He flops on the ground. Blood gurgles out of the many holes in his stomach. Dodoria raises his clenched hands over his head.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Well I can't let Lord Freeza have all the fun killing you Saiyans."
"What?"
Dodoria lowers his arms.
"Oops. Now why did I have to open my big mouth?"
"What do you mean, kill the Saiyans?"
"I tried to convince him not to. Really I did. I tried to tell him how much fun you monkeys are to play with, but he just wouldn't listen. He sent out an executive order for all Saiyans to be recalled to planet Vegeta. He's actually on his way to blow it up right now."
"Blow what up?"
"The planet of course."
Dodoria grins as Bardock goes slack-jawed.
"I did manage to convince him to let me use a few of you for this little scheme of mine. Lord Freeza was absolutely thrilled by the idea. So before I kill you…"
He raises his clenched fists again.
"I must thank you for making me look so good."
Before he can finish the job, two spherical vessels rising into the sky catch his attention.
"Whoops," he says. "Can't let there be any survivors."
He forms a ki blast and takes aim.
"No! Don't!"
Bardock raises a useless arm.
Dodoria fires a pink orb. It races through the air covering the massive distance between them instantly. One of the ships explodes into smoke and debris. He takes aim again.
"I said don't!"
Bardock kicks Dodoria in the calf. The vibration jostles his arm as the next bolt takes flight. Bardock watches it travel.
The sphere disappears into the distance while the pod hits full speed and breaks from the atmosphere.
"Well shit," says Dodoria. "You made me miss."
His scouter goes off as Bardock's life signature increases once more.
A blue aura envelops Bardock's body. It rushes upwards, blowing through his hair. As the frightening current passes the palm held out before him, it feeds a growing energy.
His tail whips wildly behind him. Each hair bristles into a stiff spine.
"You're going to pay for the blood of my squadmates."
Dodoria chuckles. He glances at the number on his screen and stops.
"Where did all this power come from?"
Bardock rips back his arm and drives the mounting orb right into Dodoria's face.
"Fainaru Supirittsu Kyanon!"
The attack explodes across Dodoria's plump, pink head. Flame, smoke, and energy obscure everything above the shoulders and blast several yards beyond the target.
Bardock squeezes out as much stamina as he can before relenting. He takes two tired steps backward from the body that ends at the neck in a cloud of smoke.
The rotund mass lurches forward. Dodoria's face emerges from the haze. The left side of his face is a haggard reflection of the right. The scouter is gone along with half his ear. Several of the spikes adorning his head are now nubs. Blisters force the eye shut.
"You know," he says, "maybe Lord Freeza was right about you Saiyans. You're a dangerous lot to keep around."
Bardock flinches to prepare a stance, but Dodoria inhales with his nose and blows him away with a mouth blast before he can even finish.
The beam carves a shallow ravine into the landscape. When it finishes, he searches for any signs of life. It turns up nothing, and with no other way of checking, he takes flight for the city. He pokes at the tender side of his face and grimaces each time.
Dusk falls over the land. An arm pushes out of the freshly tilled soil of the ravine's wall. One limb at a time, Bardock emerges from the almost grave and rolls to the bottom of the short slope. He coughs and sputters. He checks his wounds which are caked with dirt.
"Toma, Seripa," he says through choked gasps. "Gine, Kakarot."
He slides on his belly as his arms and legs pull and push him inch by inch towards his ship. The earth packed into his injuries is the only thing keeping him from bleeding out.
No thoughts cross his mind as he works through a mental daze. Getting to the ship is the only thing that matters. After a time he cannot determine, he does.
He activates the life support systems, pours a healing blue liquid from his medical pouch all over himself, and takes off for planet Vegeta.
A computer voice wakes him when he is nearly to his destination.
A light begins to rise over the window of his pod like a morning sun. It irritates his eyes so he cannot fall back to sleep. He gazes out and sees planet Vegeta. But an unsettling sight waits there as well, one that turns his heart cold with fear.
A cruiser of the Galactic Army sits just beyond the atmosphere of the planet. Atop the flat, round craft, a growing orange star expands faster and larger than any energy orb Bardock has ever seen. It eclipses the planet from view. After reaching an unimaginable size, the sphere dives down upon the sky below it.
The atmosphere erupts into flames. Magma filled fissures split across the surface as the bomb makes landfall. The giant energy ball burrows to the planer's center, disappearing into its core.
Bardock stares at the destabilizing planet. It actually shakes in its orbit as death throes ravage from within. A searing white light flashes outward, consuming the darkness and blinding his eyes.
Bardock covers his face, afraid he will never see again. A concussive wave carried on super heated gases rattles his ship. Chunks of rock dent the metal and try to pry it open.
When the storm finally settles, Bardock's vision begins to return. The shape of the window to his craft comes into focus first. The hazy red glass swims across the featureless void beyond. He blinks for several minutes to speed up the recovery, but the empty view does not change.
He tries to focus on something close inside the pod hoping that will help. Everything appears perfectly clear to him. He presses his face to the glass alongside both hands. It is not his sight that is the problem. Planet Vegeta is gone.
Bardock finds himself drifting through the space it used to occupy. He sits completely alone, accompanied only by leftover bits of rock. Not even the ship from before remains.
His hands collapse in his lap. His chin sinks to his chest. The realization his entire people are no more suffocates him. There one moment, then gone the next. And done with such ease.
He feels small against the blackness of space. He feels insignificant before the power of Freeza.
His pod passes further into the infinite abyss. With nowhere to go, he waits for death to finally claim him.
A vessel like his own, easily mistaken for a far off star, travels away from him until it fades from sight.