Sepis gasped, stumbling against a wall as the deck under him shook violently. "That's not supposed to happen," he said, his eyes wide. As he got to his feet again, he heard heavy footsteps and froze. For a moment his breathing spiked until he saw the black uniform.

"The Architect!" the guard cried, hurrying up to him, "Sir, what are you doing out here?"

"I…" Sepis considered this question for a long moment, wincing as the entire ship shook again. He blinked at the wounds across the guard's torso and his feathered antennae straightened. "I'm here to help." He grasped the guard's shoulder. "Please, hurry to my quarters and fetch me my scouter. I'm going to be working and I can't be doing it blind." His eyes shifted warily. "I'll…find a room to hide in until you're back."

"But sir, haven't you heard?" said the guard brightly, "Something took all the bogies out. Saved my life."

Sepis's eyes widened. "Really?" His mind flashed with the image of Vegeta as he extended out that energy filled hand. He shook his head. "Well all the same, I don't want to take chances. Just hurry, please. I need to get the system back online."

"Will do, sir," the guard promised, hurrying off.

Sepis stood still for a moment, suddenly reconsidering the logic of what he had just said. He was in one of the residential decks, it wasn't like anyone had left their room unlocked or would open up for anyone but a guard with the right codes…or if that at all until the crisis was averted. Not knowing what else to do, at first he just planted his back against the wall. But despite what the guard had said, he found himself shaking, expecting one of those horrible monsters to come around the corner at any second. Agitated, he hurried about, trying to think of where he could hide that didn't involve opening up the floor again.

The ship shook again and this time he was knocked over, squeaking as chin collided with the deck. But there was something in that jolt that gave him a moment of inspiration. It would be as unnerving as all hell, but there was one room nearby that he was pretty certain wouldn't be locked yet: Goku's room. He loathed the idea of hiding in a room with a corpse, but surely Nettelish – or whoever she was – hadn't locked it behind her when she left. It was worth a look, anyhow. Glancing back to make sure the guard hadn't returned yet, he hurried off to where the Saiyan had once stayed.

It was a good thing he had such a good memory – especially when it came to numbers – or he wouldn't have a clue where to find the room. What was even luckier was the fact that it wasn't that far away, so meeting up with the guard again once he returned with his scouter wouldn't be a problem either. Yet despite these assurances, a chill shivered through him the moment he came to stand before the room's door. Goku's body would be in there…assuming it really was the place where he'd been murdered. Or that the body hadn't been disposed of. Rubbing the top of his head, Sepis finally touched the panel and went inside.

And froze. Yep, that was Goku's body alright, but it wasn't in the state he'd been expecting. It was posed in the middle of a pile of stuff, all randomly scattered about the corpse. Had he been trying to do something before he died? Sepis crept a little closer.

And shrieked. Goku's hand…it was moving! He was…he was…what was this?! Sepis held the side of his face, continuing to scream wildly at the sight of those creeping pale fingers. But then suddenly Goku's head lifted at the sound, his lips wiggling and wheezing softly, as if attempting to speak. Sepis's hands fell.

"G…Goku…you're…you're alive!" He gave another shriek of a different tone, rushing to him and grasping his hand. "Goku! Goku! Goku!" Goku's head fell against the floor and Sepis froze, feeling how cold his fingers were. "No…you're not alive, you're…you're dying." Goku's hand pulled limply from his fingers and began to feel across the floor again like some creeping pale spider. Sepis's eyes widened again. "You're looking for something!" Sepis wasted no time in leaping into the pile, his vision darting around.

"U…h…" Goku sounded, his hand falling against the floor and stretching towards something.

Sepis spun around, spotting the large fruit rolled under a chair. His big red eyes utterly swelled. "Misado's magic fruit!" He tackled the chair, scrambling as he grabbed the fruit and hurried to Goku's side. "Oh it's a miracle! Fortunate, blessed day!" Gasping rapidly, he rolled the Saiyan over and broke off a piece of the fruit. Goku's head over his arm, he gingerly placed the chunk on Goku's tongue.

The juices ran back slowly, dripping down into Goku's throat as the tiny Arlian watched apprehensively. Goku's eyes cracked open and his mouth closed, beginning to chew. Sepis gasped softly and his eyes grew wet, squinting. "Goku…I can hardly believe it."

Goku at last swallowed and immediately after drew a very sudden, deep breath. "…Thanks…Sepis…"

Sepis squeaked, his eyes snapping shut. "Goku-Goku-FRIEND GOKU!" He threw his arms around his neck, holding him upright as he wept.

Goku gave a soft, tired, but truly happy smile. "Hey, come on," he comforted, "I'm gonna be okay now. I can feel it. You don't have to cry."

"I'm…mm…mm…mm sorry!" he sobbed, squeezing Goku tighter, "But you were dead! No one could sense you! And…and Vegeta said you…you'd been murdered!"

"Vegeta," Goku said thoughtfully, his eyes shifting, "He thinks that, huh?"

"Everyone does," Sepis nodded, his oily tears running into his mouthparts, "And...and I don't know how you're not, but this is wonderful!"

"What about the others?" he pressed, "Is everyone okay?"

Sepis paused. "I…no. No, a lot of people died. I'm pretty sure almost everyone who was on Prison Ship 7 is gone."

"And what about everywhere else? I could hear a lot of fighting outside."

Just as he said this, the floor shook again. Sepis gasped a little, hugging Goku a tighter. "Well, there was…but from what I heard, something stopped the escaped prisoners. I think it was Vegeta."

"He's fighting right now, isn't he?"

"Mm," Sepis shortly replied, "We let him out of his cell."

"I'm glad. What the Justiciars? I can feel them now…they all seem to be in one place."

"Nevrrest and the others are trapped," Sepis explained, watching as the color slowly began to return to the warrior's face, "And Nettelish, she's…"

"Yeah, I know," Goku assured, "Something killed her and took her place. Nearly got me too, heh." His palms pressed to the floor, pushing himself up slightly.

Sepis watched him and glanced at the fruit in his hands. "Here, you should probably eat the rest of this," he said, holding it out to him, "You'll get your strength back faster that way."

Goku smiled warmly. "Sorry, but no thanks."

"Huh?" Sepis started.

"I appreciate the offer. And you're right, it would help me get my strength back sooner." He held up a hand. "But you said there was a lot of fighting, so I bet there's a lot of people out there who are hurt right now. So instead of giving the rest to me, I'd rather you pass bits of it out to those who still need it."

"But…" Sepis stuttered, gaping, "You were practically dead a moment ago…"

"I'll be fine. Really!" Goku promised, "I'm feeling better every second." He reached up and placed a hand atop Sepis's head. "So don't you worry about me. Just focus on helping the others, okay?"

Sepis's luminescent eyes squinted with joy. "Oh Goku, I'm so glad you're alive."

"Hehehehe, me too!" Goku laughed, "I was real close to being a goner there!"

"This is a terrible tragedy that's happened," Sepis continued, "But once everyone learns you're still alive, it will be that much brighter."

"I'll come out to help as soon as I can," Goku replied, pushing himself up further so that he was sitting now, "But it looks like this fruit is gonna take a while to fully work."

Sepis slowly nodded twice. "All right...I'll…I'll do what I can!" He paused, hearing the voice of the guard calling out and looking for him. "I suppose I…I better get to work." He gave Goku one last look to make sure he was truly alive and then hurried off towards the door.

"Hey Sepis," Goku called out, "There's one last thing I've been wanting to say."

Sepis looked back at him. "Well…what is it?"

Goku's expression was serious and kind. "I'm sorry about what I said to you before. About being a coward. You're a lot stronger than you realize and I should never have put you down."

Sepis's shell turned to ice. "I…" It flashed through his mind, all of it, what he and Nevrrest had done, what Goku had said, and the man who that very hour had saved his life. "…No…you…you were…" He heard the guard calling for him again. "I must go!" he cried, disappearing through the door.

On the other side, Sepis slumped against the wall, feeling utterly drained by all the emotional tension. You're a lot stronger than you realize. Sepis slapped a hand over his face and shook his head violently.

"Sir?" Sepis gasped softly, lowering his hand to see the injured guard. The guard held out his modified scouter to him. "As you requested, sir."

Sepis looked it and gingerly took the device, fitting it over one of his eyes. Straightening up, he pressed a digit to one of the buttons on the side, energy signatures and other read outs flashing over his vision. It fizzled as it passed over the blips that were Un and Vegeta. The ship trembled again.

Sepis grabbed the guard's arm for support. "Take me to the nearest security station. I'm going to need an entire wheel of jyron tubing – we're going to hot wire into the prisoner network and get this mess fixed." His eyes fell the fruit in his hands. "Oh and…" He broke off a piece and held it out to him. "Chew and swallow this."

The guard gave the food a curious look but did as ordered, popping it in his mouth. He gave a very sweet sigh once it was swallowed. "Whew…good stuff. Thank you, sir." He tightened a fist, charging it with white energy. "Now let's go!"

Sepis hurried off with him, giving one last glance back at Goku's door.

(**Scene Break**)

The shielding of the core monitoring station had become like a rippling sea, it shook and trembled with the shockwaves of every blow. It didn't even need to be directly impacted anymore. Vegeta could feel it burning in his blood now, that euphoric rage that came only in true, desperate combat. This was a foe unlike any he had faced, a multitude of powers crammed into one tiny, little body. And he was only beginning to see that.

From the start, he could see she was moving way too fast. No, not even just that. She was in one place in a moment and then on top of him in the next. It wasn't super speed movement. It was a flash, a jump. It was...

"Instant transmission," Vegeta snarled as he braced his arms against one of her blows.

"EHEhehehehehe!" Un giggled excitedly as she appeared all around him, "Oh, so you figured it out. But I wonder if you'll be able to take that knowledge to its fullest realization...without me making it blatantly obvious."

Vegeta flipped back on his hands as she swung at him, instantly ready for another blow as he landed. He ducked under a powerful kick and threw his own up at her. Her tiny arm blocked it as she hovered in the air, the shielding of the entire chamber rippling again. Kakarot's strength. Kakarot's speed. Kakarot's fury. He leapt into the air with her again and started exchanging wild punches and kicks. Kakarot's precision. Kakarot's power. Kakarot's perfection.

But no…yet again, he could sense he was missing something. Not some measure of hidden power, no, she was using that stolen energy to its fullest extent now. No…it was something else.

"Ehehehe! Well...I'll give you credit, Vegeta," Un purred as she bounded off his head, bringing up her tiny limbs to block more of his blows, "You've truly ascended to incredible heights. Power even my dear Lord Frieza never dreamed of." She dove under him this time, coming up fiercely again. "Perhaps that was my Lord's one fatal flaw: a lack of imagination."

Vegeta growled, charging his hands with energy as he went heavily on the offensive. "So you admit he was a fool!" he remarked as he attacked, "And yet you worship him like a lovesick dog."

Her ears rose tall as he said this, her tiny body easily dodging his strikes. "Now you know my one fatal flaw. And why I no longer have a weakness."

"Oh?" he mocked, "And why is that?"

Her foot struck his guard so hard that all sound seemed to vanish. "Because your Kakarot killed it."

There was an explosion and Vegeta's boots planted into a crater, the ship shaking around them. "It?" Vegeta shot back, "You mean Frieza?"

He dug his heels in, bracing an arm as she struck again. "I mean desire," she hummed, twisting as she delivered a second kick, "The kind that floods your entire being so that you can't control yourself. Because a person has invaded your mind so that you would do anything and everything for them." She grinned. "Like that Earthling woman did to you."

Vegeta laughed as their blows became a singing exchange. "You would compare it to that? It is hardly the same."

"Oh, but it is," she assured, "Don't forget, it was I who held your trial. And even now, I can see your precious memories in my mind. Desire is the enemy of power and yours consumes you just as surely as mine did me."

Despite his disdain, Vegeta's mind couldn't help but flash with the events of not so long ago – how he had given into the majiin curse in an effort destroy his ties to his family and finally bring Kakarot low. Had it been 'desire' that had stopped his pursuit for power? Desire for Bulma and Trunks and the life they had made together? But as he blocked another powerful blow from Un, it all clicked in his mind.

"Hahaha…well…it seems I actually agree with you for once, freak," he chuckled.

"Oh?" Un leapt up into the air, raising a finger up and charging an energy blast over her head.

"Yes," Vegeta answered, the plume of energy around him growing. She threw down the orb at him and he exploded it with a blast of his own. They darted at each other and started exchanging speeding blows again. "Desire is the enemy of power. And I once thought that my desire for 'that earthling woman' made me weak." Un winced back as she caught a fist aimed directly at her face, growling in strain as she pushed against it. "But you're wrong." His brow lowered. "Look into those memories you stole. Kakarot's and mine. You shouldn't have to look very hard." They broke off and Vegeta duck under an energy blast that was hurled his way. "I did have a weakness. It was my desire to deliver to Kakarot the same shame and defeat he had dealt to me. It consumed me so utterly that I failed to value my own strength…and everything else."

"Hehehe, I suppose you are a being whose whole life has been consumed by desire then," Un grinned, her fangs hanging menacingly, "Even before your Kakarot, it was a desire to become strong enough to destroy my Lord Frieza. But that is the problem with desire." Her eyes narrowed wickedly. "It is so often insatiable."

"Oh I have very little regrets about Frieza's end," he stated as he took a swipe at her that grazed her side. She grunted as she shot back from him. Vegeta raised up his hands, charging them with golden energy. "True, I regret never having the chance to take him apart myself." He lifted a corner of his mouth. "But being able to witness his demise as I did…well, it's close enough."

Un's tiny hands lowered slightly, her eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" she accused, "You weren't on Namek when he…" Un froze, her eyes falling wide. Vegeta stopped, watching her intently. "Uh…uuh…" she began to shake, her eyes growing wet. Stolen memories flashed through her mind. Earth. Frieza as a cyborg. The grown Trunks from the future. She shook, her hands clasping the sides of her head. "My Frieza…" Cut to pieces. Blown to oblivion. "My Frieza…" A blue haired, earthling woman clasped savagely in a saiyan prince's arms, their bodies entwined. A violet hair baby. "Frieza…?"

Tears ran from Un's eyes. And she screamed. "HIAAAAYYAAAAAAA-EEEAAAAHH-eeeehhheeeeh!" came the unholy, wailing howl. Vegeta gaped, almost a little frightened as the monster dug her little finger into her fur, her gaping eyes trembling up at the ceiling. She shook her head violently, snapping her eyes shut and then quivering off distantly. "My Frieza…my revenge…!" Her eyes fell slowly on Vegeta and she hissed like a snake. "You…! You created the mongrel that…that ended my Lord Frieza! Goku only paved the way!"

Vegeta gently lifted a corner of his mouth…and gave a cry as he thrust out a powerful, single handed blast.

Un screamed painfully as it struck her, knocking her tiny body out of the air and leaving small craters as she bounced across the deck, impacting the core's barrier, the transparent wall leaking glowing green fluid that dripped down over her.

"Yes, he did," Vegeta confirmed, the energy fading around him, but his hair remaining gold, "It took me years to come to appreciate it. But now?" He cracked a grin. "You can't imagine my pride to know that it was my bloodline that finally brought Frieza to an end."

The glowing green fluid continued to drip over the changeling as she lay embedded in the glass, the shielding hot white rippling and sparking around her. "RIIIIAAAAA!" The green sludge exploded off her as she flamed with energy, jerking free of the crater. Vegeta chuckled and gritted his teeth, preparing himself for another attack. Un hung in the air, her jaw biting as her panted, her eyes slits. Hissing, she raised her hand upright over her head. Beer-WHOOP!

"Ah—!" Vegeta jerked as a powerful energy disc appeared over her fuzzy fingers, "A destructo disc?" No, it didn't look quite right – it was red.

"HIYA!" she screamed, hurling it down at him. Vegeta jump back to dodge the saucer, but it turned just before coming to strike him, hurling back at the sender.

"What?!" he cried.

"HIRAAAR!" Un leapt and the disc passed under her, shoving her hands down between her legs as she guided it straight into the barrier wall. The disc ate through the shielding and straight through the glass. There was an explosion and the Core Chamber flooded with iridescent green fluid, pouring forth like a tidal wave.

"Hah!" Vegeta leapt over the spew as it crashed against the opposing wall.

Un sneered hatefully, giving a low, angry giggle as mauve bolts of energy shot past her from the now exposed and uncontained Quantum Fusion Core. Vegeta's eyes narrowed as she floated inside, approaching the giant, raw crystal at the center of the golden supports, wires, and containments. She grinned, snatching a pair of tubes off the sides of the core, ripping them out and welding them together.

"What the hell are you—get away from there!" Vegeta shouted, shoving both hands forward and unleashing an endless volley of golden energy shots.

Un kept working as she blocked each and every of them, moving at super speed. In a short moment, she had several tubes hotwired together, a stream of energy rippling at the nexus between them.

"DAMN YOU!" Vegeta cried, ending the barrage and shooting at her, "I should have known!" He could see now what last, little aspect of his foe he'd managed to overlook. In this form, she didn't need to transform to access someone's abilities. She could wield all of them at once. That was what she was doing. Kakarot's speed. Sepis's brain.

Un laughed, shooting a blast back at Vegeta to dissuade him and then reaching out the other hand at the convection she'd made. Her palm connected with the writhing bolts. "DAAAAAAAA!" she reeled as the power shot up into her tiny body, rippling and sparking uncontrollably over her black fur. Vegeta was forced to shield himself as the power exploded around the tiny creature, raging in an utter storm around her. She hissed and writhed, her muscles bulging and energy pulsating in sparks. In the end, all Vegeta could do was watch – knowing it was already too late.

The howling didn't end. It went on for a full minute, Un's body blazing with golden energy. Suddenly, there was a terrible explosion that tore at the walls of the entire chamber. Un's fur in the back grew long and wild, her brow thickening, every tiny muscle swollen with strength.

She turned to him…and grinned ever so darkly. "You…just made…a terrible…mistake."

Vegeta's wide eyes knew exactly what he beheld. "Super Saiyan Three."

(**Scene Break**)

Sepis's eyes gaped as he saw the power spike. "No-no-no-NO!" he cried, immediately summoning more information from the Core Chamber.

"Sir, what was that?" asked the guard with him, a man who he'd come to learn was called Juri-dur. Having been knocked down by the last tremor, Juri-dur was forced to grab the table edge to see what Sepis was looking at.

"Something terrible," Sepis answered. He grabbed a cord from his computer and plugged it into the side of his scouter, daring to look in Vegeta and Un's direction. The readouts swarmed past, the technology hiccupping a few times as its struggled the process the information. Sepis held his breath. "I knew it." He took off his scouter and threw it down on the table. "Damn it!"

"Sir," said Juri-dur with concern.

Sepis put his head into his hands. "We have to work faster."

Juri-dur's eyes grew slightly wider. "Why? What will happen if we don't?"

Sepis drew in a deep, hissing breath and started working at the data station again, even more intensely than before. "I know the readouts coming from the core and I know what they mean." His buggy eyes narrowed. "Because they match the calculations I had make when composing my theory."

"Theory?" Juri-dur repeated, taking a step forward, "I don't understand, sir. What does this have to with getting—" The ship shook even harder than it had before and he stumbled, his back colliding with the wall.

Sepis held onto the table, squeaking as the shockwave passed and resumed work. "The Quantum Fusion Core is unlike any piece of technology in the known universe. It was built around the largest chunk of ybora in existence. One of a kind." His hands started to shake as he moved over the computer interface. "Ybora naturally works at an amplifier to a person's ki. The Core takes the natural properties of the ybora inside and enhances it to do so much more."

Juri-dur looked down at the tiny piece of ybora set into his own wristband. "Right," he confirmed with apprehension, "So what's happened?"

Sepis's trembling digits gripped the edges of the keys. "…I had a theory." He forced himself to start working on the hack again. "To keep the connection between all the fleet's bands stable, the Core keeps some of that ki energy contained – bouncing about the stabilizers." His eyes narrowed. "Back when I was first making my designs, I discovered that if you rewired the reflux tubes, you could turn the stabilizers into reflectors and amplify that energy again and again and again until it would…well if applied to a person, it would create an enormous burst of infinite energy that could be used for just about anything."

Juri-dur's eyes twitched with fear. "So…something been done to the Core?"

"The Core isn't what I'm worried about."

His eyes grew a little wider. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I did the math and there's a reason why I never tested my theory." Sepis gripped his wrist with the opposing hand to stay his own shaking. "To do so would be to create a temporal quantum state. The energy, even after it's been unleashed on the person, will bounce on itself again and again around the person until…until it collapses on itself and detonates." Juri-dur froze. "Do you understand now? It doesn't matter what that monster's used the temporal flux to accomplish. Unless there's a total energy burn…" Sepis turned, his eyes swollen with fear. "She's just turned herself into a walking time bomb."