The sun was beating down hard on the space pod platform as technicians fueled up the pods ahead of the latest departing mission. Inside, warriors geared up for another adventure, tightening their armor and jabbing each other with jokes and insults.

"Hey Bardock! Try not to wipe out everything before we get a shot this time, alright? You got to share the wealth you son of a bitch!" A ripped, tale male Saiyan laughed and lightly punched the Saiyan with black wild, spiky hair next to him.

"Well, if you weren't so slow Gula maybe then you'd get a shot." The Saiyan, Bardock, said next to his comrade with a sarcastic tone and the rest of the crew laughed. Bardock smirked and finished adjusting his dark green armor over his black under armor, flexing his muscles to adjust to the material. While they finished laughing, their commander, a semi grey haired Saiyan marched into the barracks and shouted over to the group.

"Bardock!"

Turning his attention, Bardock stood and headed over to his commander waiting to see what he wanted.

"You've got a new recruit to train."

"What! You can't be serious. They'll just slow me down. Can't you get one of the others to train them?"

The older Saiyan chuckled, "Nope. It's already done and finalized. Meet Gine." He stepped to the side and a young woman emerged from behind the commander.

Woah Bardock thought to himself as he took in Gine's appearance. Her eyes were a deep brown shade that sparkled against the beaming sun from outside while her shaggy hair somehow was the perfect amount of untamed and controlled. She was also dressed in the team's green and black armor and Bardock briefly noticed how good she looked in it.

"Hi. It's Bardock right?" Gine spoke in a quiet, nervous voice which shook Bardock out of his daze and back to business.

"Yah, did you forget that already?" He answered sharply, and Gine instantly clenched her fist but remained quiet.

"Alright, just show her the ropes and try not to get her killed." Bardock's commander sighed with indifference and waved off his two soldiers. Bardock turned to head back to his crew with Gine following behind, her eyes roaming around the barracks curiously.

"Yo, assholes!" Bardock shouted at the group of disinterested Saiyans. "This is Gine. She's joining our team."

"Are you sure she can handle this, Bardock? She looks a bit...scrawny." Gula snickered along with the rest of the team and Gine interjected, her voice timid but determined to stand up for herself.

"How about you shut up and let me worry about what I can and can't handle."

The team howled at Gula getting owned by the new recruit and he responded, "And she's feisty. Just my type." He made a kissy face and Bardock gave him an annoyed glare.

"Just shut up. Let's get moving to the pods."

Everyone headed to the landing deck and Bardock turned to Gine once they reached the pods.

"The ship will take care of everything but when you land keep your guard up and wait for my instructions. The planet we are going to has a moderate power level so we don't know what we'll get before we land. Got it?"

Gine nodded and replied, "Hey thanks for sticking up for me back there. I think-."

"Who said you can talk to me? Get in your fucking pod." He ordered and walked away to his own, leaving Gine confused and taken aback.

Soon, the team prepared and blasted off to their latest mission. Hours later, they crashed onto the inhabited planet's surface. The surrounding climate was sandy and barren, with humid temperatures and an unrelenting sun. Bardock was the first one out of his pod and briefly cracked his neck before focusing on the mission ahead. His adrenaline and battle senses were high and he looked around the land with his scouter, trying to pick up any life force. As the others slowly emerged from their pods, Bardock motioned for everyone to move forward. Gine nervously stepped out of her pod and followed her team. It's her first raid and she's not the best fighter. Although she trained just as hard as everyone else, fighting and the rush that followed never excited Gine. Sure, she'll fight someone to defend her loved ones and she enjoyed sparing but killing others wasn't something Gine wanted to do.

The vast sandy dunes stretch ahead of the crew as they paced forward, Bardock keeping his guard and watching his scanner. A loud shout cried out from the team's left flank and a herd of large, hairy creatures stormed the crew, causing everyone to tense and they geared up for a fight.

"Take no chances, go for the kill." Bardock instructed his team and they all nodded in agreement. Bardock slipped into his fighting stance and with a shout, charged towards the enemy. Chaos soon ensued and the Saiyans were slowly but surely gaining the advantage. Gine was trying her best to contribute to the fight, but she was doing the opposite of what Bardock told her earlier. She tried to do anything but go for the kill and she started to clearly struggle. As the battle raged on, the team spread out amongst the sandy terrain, with each Saiyan warrior fighting hard.

Gine was face to face with one of the planet inhabitants. The hairy beast bared his yellow fangs and ran towards her. Gine froze, which allowed the man to tackle her. Hitting the ground hard, Gine was dazed for a moment before the beast snapped his jaws in her face, and Gine struggled against his body, trying to get him off her. Grunting, she was finally able to raise her palm that was initially stuck under the heavy body and she pressed her hand against his hairy coarse chest. Hesitantly, she fired a large energy blast, sending the blast straight through the chest. Her opponent's eyes went wide and limp against Gine, his bloody open wound poured out on Gine's armor and his body weight rested heavily on her.

Elsewhere, the battle wound down with the Saiyans nearly slaughtering the group of inhabitants. Bardock was finishing up with the last challenger, taking his time with his kill. Baring a malicious smirk, Bardock moved and grabbed onto the enemy's shoulder, slamming its body forcefully down against the ground. Blood escaped the creature's mouth from the impact of the blow and before he could recover, Bardock dug his boot under them, kicking up the large body high into the air, with Bardock's opponent screaming in pain. With a grunt, Bardock gathered his energy and shot a large blast into the air, hitting and evaporating his victim in seconds.

Quiet surrounded the Saiyans as they surveyed the damage and took stock of their team. Bardock quickly glanced at his teammates, making sure there were no casualties and everything seemed normal until Bardock realized who was missing.

"Damn it, did she get herself killed on her first raid?" Bardock sighed and looked around, trying to see if he could at least spot the body. After a few minutes of scanning the battlefield, Bardock had all but given up before he spotted Gine under a beast, unmoving.

Bardock ventured over to Gine to see if he could collect the body but as he approached the scene, he noticed that she was still very much alive. Her big brown eyes locked on to his, peering out from the body on top of her.

"Oh good, you're alive." Bardock stated emotionlessly and bent down to grab onto the corpse, throwing the dead body off of Gine and to the side. Once the body was off of her, Gine remained still. Frowning, Bardock thought he should start yelling at her but then he noticed her body shaking hard, her teeth rattling against each other.

"Hey, are you hurt?" Bardock asked while he leaned down to help Gine sit up and she did not respond. Bardock briefly looked over her body but all the blood seemed to be from her victim. He racked his brain, trying to figure out why she was still shaking before he realized what was happening.

"Gine, Gine look at me." He grabbed her thin yet strong shoulders and shook them hard, making her look at him with her wide shaking eye but even that didn't help. "Shit."

Quickly, Bardock called to his crew across the way, "Someone throw some water over here." Gula ran to his pod and grabbed a metal canister and tossed it over to Bardock, who caught it with one hand. Opening the top, Bardock poured half the container over Gine, instantly snapping her out of it.

"Wha-what's going." Gine seized and looked around in terror before Bardock focused her attention back on him. She must have been in some sort of shock, which Bardock had seen before amongst many of his soldiers for various reasons, but luckily Gine's case wasn't so bad.

"Drink." Handing her the canister, Gine eyed him suspiciously but raised the can to her lips and gulped at the liquid, not realizing how much she needed it. Once finished, she sighed and handed back the bottle.

"Was that your first kill?" Bardock questioned, nodding his head over to the corpse next to them.

"Yes. Uh I'll do better next time." Gine answered, embarrassed.

He was impressed that she'd gone this long without killing anyone but then again, Gine seemed vastly inexperienced and insecure. Not a good combination on the battlefield. Bardock could ream her out if he wanted to, and she did deserve it, but that wouldn't help her in the long run. Nor would it help later if I wanted to hook up after the raid, he thought. Resigning himself to the fact that Gine was a bit different than his other trainees in the past, Bardock decided to go a different route for this learning lesson.

"Hey, you'll get the hang of it. Just stick with me." Bardock winked and stood on his feet, offering Gine a hand. Hesitantly, she took it and he lifted her off the ground with ease. Gine wiped some sand off her pants.

"Thanks."

Bardock's demeanor changed, turning back on his hard personality with her, and he glanced at Gine with a stern expression, "There's a long way to go before this mission is over. If you want to make it off this planet, stay with the team. And I suggest not showing any weakness or they will eat you alive."

He briefly eyed Gine before turning and heading towards the crew, signaling to start prepping for the night raid. Confused, Gine stood watching Bardock walk away from her, trying to decipher him. One minute he's yelling at her and the next he's comforting her. It seems like she's got her hands full. She'll figure him out just like she will with fighting, it might just take some time and a lot more mistakes