There had been good news and bad news.

By infiltrating the PTO headquarters on this planet, the others had gone through their databases and, though they'd found nothing on the location of Planet Namek, had discovered reports of Namekians in the south-eastern quadrant of the galaxy. We hadn't anticipated actually finding any outside their home world – but whether by luck or fate, at least one had chosen to venture out.

Contrastingly, Daikon, Ravi and I had in our roundabout way discovered the possibility of the Saiyans hiding out on a planet that had used to be a military base for our race, a long time ago: Terracotta. At least, that was how Daikon had reported the old man describing it before his death. We had no way of knowing how certain he was, but apparently the old man had kept this information from the PTO even under torture. So it had to be important, one way or another.

But the two locations were far from each other, and we couldn't all be in two places at once.

There was the possibility of simply choosing one as a priority and heading there first. However, that could cost us months of time, and it wasn't like the PTO was going to patiently wait for us and not act during that period. Our remaining option was to split up – how to coordinate that was the subject of debate at the moment.

"We shouldn't have to split up again," I said.

"Why not? Its relatively feasible, considering we have at least two pilots and two ships," Bardock countered.

"We don't have two ships."

"Yes we do. The one you built that we've been travelling in, plus the one the deserters and I flew to Pimien with."

"... Sorry, are you sure you're thinking of the right vehicle? Looks kind of like a space-garbage compactor, probably flies about as fast as I can walk, was barely functioning the last time I saw it? That one?" I said.

"You did capsule it for Korravi, so I was assuming it was fixable."

"Of course it's fixable, if you assume that means it can be made to do the bare minimum. I would never go anywhere in that thing without an experienced mechanic on board at all times."

Everyone stared at me in silence expectantly.

"You can't be serious," I sighed.

"Actually," Gohan interjected, "it would make sense. We wouldn't have to bank on acquiring a spacecraft some other way. The Capsule ship is pretty fast and relatively easy to pilot manually when needed, so you wouldn't have to be present. Dad, myself, or even Goten could drive – we can read the dashboard and we're more familiar with the operating system right off the bat. And if the safe haven is real, it would make more sense for you to go there, and for one of us to take the faster ship to the farther location."

"But which one of us would do that? Or more than one of us?" Goten asked.

"Well, I suppose I could. I have Instant Transmission," Goku said. "If I take the Capsule ship and find some Namekians, it'll be a lot easier for me to get back to you guys quickly. No matter how far, all I'd have to go is fly back until I was just close enough and I could teleport."

"You would go alone?" I said.

"Gohan or Goten could come if they wanted. Or I could go just by myself. I'd probably be fastest alone, but... I don't know. Maybe Gohan should come with me in case he needs to go home 'cause something happens with Videl. Or if the ship does something funny and I'm not able to drive it, I'm going to need a smart person around."

"Dad's right. He should go with some backup, just in case," Gohan agreed. "I'll go. Unless you want to, Goten, or for us both to..."

"I'll, uh, stay with Trunks I guess," the younger sibling replied. "Like you said, there needs to be a smart person in each group, eh?"

"I suppose this is where we part ways, then," Bardock interjected. "The five of us to the Saiyans, and the two of you to the pair of Namekians."

"You know there's two of them?" I said.

"From what I've seen, I believe so. They may have come from Namek looking for you. That's all I can say for now."

Goten then began saying his goodbyes to his father and brother, and they said their goodbyes to me. Goku managed to give something between an uncomfortable hug and pat on the back to Bardock, though the latter clearly hadn't anticipated it.

"Hey, you can spend more time with your grandson now!" Goku chuckled. "You two are nothing alike, but I'm sure you'll get along great. I trust you can watch over both the boys for me – Chi-Chi and Bulma would literally kill me if anything happened to them, so please make sure they get along, okay?" Goku then turned to Daikon and Ravi, giving them a thumbs-up. "And you guys behave yourselves too, okay?"

Ravi returned the gesture somewhat awkwardly and Daikon just scowled some more.

I was loosely familiar with Ravi's ship from the brief look at it I'd had before, but I became uncomfortably acquainted with how much of an ancient wreck it was in the span of just a few days.

We'd managed to get it running; or rather, I'd gotten it running while occasionally other people fetched me tools or attempted to 'help.' At the very least, the ship didn't have any punctures that might jeopardize the air seal between us and the depths of space. It was also much roomier than the Capsule ship, but that was where my grace for it ended. The damn thing had to be a couple hundred years old, and it wasn't like its current owner gave it any special care. Thus, I spent good chunks of my days doing repairs – not that there was much else to do aside from interact with the others aboard.

It was... a bit of an adjustment at times. For everyone.

Daikon usually kept to himself, but that didn't mean he wouldn't shoot silent looks at anyone who happened to be in the room with him. Now and then he'd make one of his needling comments, but I supposed everyone was fair game now to be the target of his sourness. He and I tended to stay at opposite ends of the ship from one another and thus far we'd cooperated that way.

I still hadn't told he or the other two about the Dragon Balls. I figured they were safe enough to know, but hadn't gotten around to it. What I had been getting around to was fixing mechanical mess-ups on our current means of transportation, but we'd only been in space a couple days before I started getting told I was repairing things wrong.

"It's backwards," Ravi stated again, crossing her arms.

"It's not. I'm telling you, you've been using it backwards and I reversed the installation to how it should be," I said and crossed my arms back.

We were in the control room, near the dashboard that attended the captain's chair. There were several panels in the area that could enable a team of pilots, but the spacecraft was currently set to route everything available from the captain's space, which sat furthest back from the massive window that seemed to swallow half the room. The mechanism we were arguing over was the lever that controlled the manual landing decelerator. The ship didn't any kind of programmed auto-landing sequence, so along with taking off, it had to be hand operated by the driver. (There was, thankfully, an autopilot that could be used once in space.) But the landing tech had been reverse wired for some gods-forsaken reason and thus, the bar had to be used backwards. And then I'd fixed it, allowing it to be locked in the correct position – which had apparently been a mistake.

"I've used it other way around since I got it."

"Good for you," I replied dryly. "But it was backwards, and if you tried to fly any other ship with a manual decelerator you'd be crashing into the dirt at lightspeed. It's better if you relearn it this way."

"Relearn? Why bother when most ships don't have it anyway?"

I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes for a moment, running a hand through my hair in exasperation. I had just started to find exploring the ins-and-outs of the ship interesting – I'd probably never get a chance to see something from another era like this again – but I had half a mind to suspect she was just keen on being really stubborn.

"I can try and put it back, but I don't know how much more handling the old wires can take. The last thing I want to do is break it, or gods forbid break something else. Look, I can show you," I elaborated, pulling up the necessary panels again to reveal the mess – packed with circuit-board, several dozen wires, and sockets.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," I said, lifting my hand in front of hers when she reached out to do that very thing. In response, she gave me a look and then continued to prod the wiring anyway.

Predictably, it was in exactly the right spot to get shocked and yanked her hand away.

"I told you," I said.

I got a couple of seconds to bask in my superior technical knowledge before she gave a sniff of derision and poked my arm, transmitting the shock.

"Hey!" I snapped while reflexively jolting back.

"It's what you deserve for tampering without asking," she replied sternly, but her expression wasn't hard.

When I didn't say anything, she made a grunt of discontent and stood up fully, as if she was going to leave. So I decided to return her earlier favour by sticking my hand into the wiring and zapping her again while her back was turned.

The electricity wasn't strong enough to actually hurt a Saiyan, but that one had had a little more force to it because I could see her tail had fluffed up a little bit. I swallowed the laugh that threatened to tumble out before she slowly turned back around.

"Such petty behaviour is shocking, coming from the Prince of Saiyans," she said into the silence.

"... Forget being petty. I'm starting to think your sense of humour will tempt me to electrocute myself on purpose."

"I'd rather you wait until we get where we're going, at least."

"Good to know that you don't resent me more than you want your ship fixed."

"I don't hate you."

"Don't you?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"You never answered my question. About why you deserted. You said you'd tell me how it was my fault, remember?" I explained. "Does it have to do with your grandfather or something?"

I could see the exact moment my words absorbed because, while her expression did become more sombre, it was feeling that little amicability in our conversation vanish that alerted me most.

"If you don't tell me, I won't ask again. But like I said, I want things to be honest. If I did something to piss you off in the past I'd like to know," I said.

"Orash," she replied. "That was my grandfather's name. He was a palace guard – he raised me after my mother left."

The name didn't sound familiar at all. But there were guards I hadn't known well enough to call by name either. In fact, I... there were many I hadn't bothered to learn.

She continued. "When you arrived on Planet Vegeta, he was assigned to attend you. But one day a bounty hunter came to the planet, seeking revenge against your father. She planned to use you against the king. So Orash chose to stand his ground and try to protect you. He did not succeed."

"... And then?" I said.

"Your father killed the hunter and saved you. At some point after, he... figured out my grandfather had had a child in his care. I was living with my grandmother then, but your father brought me to his court to speak with him. Said the position Orash had held would be open to me when I came of age, if I wanted it. It wasn't long after that I decided there was no reason for me to remain on that planet. So I left."

The story sounded vaguely familiar, like someone had told a version of it to me before. Goku, maybe, had mentioned... Yes. I remembered he and Gohan talking about a bounty hunter that had come for revenge. That meant Ravi was probably between mine and Gohan's age, not a fully matured Saiyan like I'd thought. Perhaps she didn't age normally.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Why?"

"Because you lost the person who loved and raised you. Even if it wasn't because of me, it was for me. And I may not remember it, but I... an apology is the least I can do."

"I didn't expect you to remember." She reached back and pulled her braid over her shoulder, letting the length slide between her fingers, analyzing it. "I don't know what I expected from you, really. I guess I always wondered what made you worth dying for. Because it was my grandfather's fault, you know. He could have fled and let the hunter take you because she did anyway. After all the years he spent on me, teaching me to talk, to communicate, to fight... he decided to die for a stranger's child instead of stay alive for me. He would have wanted me to stay on that planet and serve you just as faithfully as he did and hope no one found out what I was. Unfortunately, I make a very bad soldier – I like serving myself and I'd gladly take being a traitor over being a servant."

"Then why are you willing to risk your freedom to help me?" I said quietly. "There's a chance you could lose your life if I'm not strong enough to take on the Colds. And if by chance you really are the last female Saiyan... I mean, even if you were willing to, it wouldn't make a difference as far as, you know... but it would be... a loss."

She turned her face aside and lifted a hand to pull her hair back, exposing the skin behind her ear. There were three circular, pale designs there, each smaller than a fingernail and arranged like some kind of fine-needled scarring. They were too small to determine the exact design, but I reined in the curiosity of my inner scientist and didn't ask to see any closer.

"Like I said before: I want to find my mother. The scientist who created me. I assume these symbols are her trademark – she's the only one who knows what I'm made of. That means if I'm your only female left, then you already have none, because I'm not natural. Probably couldn't have children even if I wanted to. At the very least, I'm Saiyan enough for these Colds to want me dead. But really, I don't know what else could be better – if I lost my life because the strongest beings in the universe had to kill me themselves," she said.

"Well, I'm sure there could be something better, maybe like... not dying, for example. I'm already short on friends as it is. And honestly, I don't think you could be a bigger genetic shit-show than I already am."

"Hn. You are pretty strange," she agreed with a smirk.

"Hey, I'm allowed to make fun of me, but that doesn't mean you are."

"I believe you were the one who called me a spotty maned thing."

"That's not what I said -"

I didn't get a chance to finish before I heard someone else enter the room, almost instinctively recognizing it as Goten even before I turned to look.

"Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting," he said, glancing around and making an expression like he really didn't regret it. "Are you two done arguing over fixing that thing? I wanted to talk to you real quick if you're taking a break."

"Oh. I mean..." I looked at Ravi, but after a moment she just kind of shrugged.

"Yeah. I can talk. What's up?" I said.

"Um. I thought it over and I just wanted to, kinda, apologize for what I said the other day," Goten blurted, once we had moved down the hall and out of proverbial earshot.

"... Okay," I said, trying to jog my memory.

"Uh. Do you remember what I'm talking about? You were getting ready to fight that guy, I was disagreeing with you, and... then I said some shitty stuff and you gave me a roundabout 'fuck off.'"

"Oh. Yes, I remember that."

"Okay, good. Or not good. But my point is – it was kinda douchey for me to imply that you couldn't be like your father. It wasn't what I meant but it came out wrong and I don't want you to think I believe that about you."

"It's no big deal, 'Ten. I know you don't think that."

"Well, what I meant was that Vegeta... If your places were reversed, he'd rip apart the galaxy to get you back and not care who got in his way. But you're more human than that, y'know? That's what I meant. You don't hurt strangers just to get what you want."

For some reason, Goten's gentle tone was lost within the meaning of his words. Your father would rip apart the galaxy to get me back, but you'd never do the same for him. You'd refuse to cut down people you don't know to keep your conscience clear at the expense of your loved ones. It almost sounded like what Daikon had said to me.

"I take it that didn't help," Goten said.

"Huh? No, it's – it's fine," I replied lamely. "I forgive you. Again, don't worry about it."

"Oh... Okay."

He scratched the back of his head. He looked tired. Again. Or rather, he'd was still looking like that.

"What about you?" I said.

"What about me?"

"How have you been holding up?"

"Oh. I'm good. Why do you ask?"

"Uh, because I care about you?" I said in a way that would hopefully lighten things. "I feel like things have been bent out of shape for awhile. When's the last time we sparred together or something?

"Aw, I'm flattered you've been thinking of me. In fact, you should start going on about how amazing I am until you convince me to talk. My feeling were really hurt when you said those mean things and then ditched me. I was stuck alone with that woman for like, fifteen minutes because of you."

"You really don't like these guys, huh?"

"Do I have to?" he chuckled.

"Not really. As long as you still like me."

"Trunks," he said. "You're doing okay, y'know."

"Am I?"

"Yeah."

I released a sigh, then reached forward and hugged him.

"Thank you for coming all this way with me," I said as he embraced me firmly in return. I gently rested my chin on the plane of his shoulder. "I don't know where I'd be without you. And I know I say that a lot, but I mean it. I'm sorry for not listening to you – I don't want us to start shutting each other out. You know nothing's changed from before, right? If there's... anything bothering you, I'm still here. Is... is there anything?"

His heart rate sped up and I heard something in his throat move. "No," he said.

I held him for a moment longer, then pulled away.

"But, uh, anyway, you know they've got a training room on this ship, right?" he said abruptly. "If our wonderful hosts don't have anything for you to fix right now, we could always go practice a bit. If you want."

"Sure. The ship's running, so unless something important explodes I've got time before finding another project," I said with a smile.

"Sweet. You know where the room is? I'm gonna go change into my gi. I'll meet you there!"

Later, after everyone had retired to sleep and the ship was quiet, I lay awake in bed and stared up at the ceiling.

There were enough living quarters aboard for each person to have their own. I no longer had to share with Goten, so I was alone in the darkness with my thoughts.

My scar was aching. It had hurt in the hours following all the activity on SE-3 a day or two ago, presumably due to stress the Ascended State had put on it, and it had mostly gone away until sparring with Goten had renewed the fresh strain. It was never painful enough to restrict movement of my arm, but it was certainly bothersome enough to keep me awake. During my training in the Time Chamber, I'd been one large cluster of sore muscles and hadn't paid so much attention to it, but the mark was physically a couple years old now and I suspected something must not have healed properly, despite having used a senzu bean. Pinched nerves, maybe.

When I had taken a look at it while changing into my sleeping clothes, I noticed that the place Daikon had cut me was still somewhat visible – the slice that went from my neck and down diagonally over my chest. I assumed it was going to scar there too, albeit the mark was already so thin that I didn't think it would show as much as my other one. I could have avoided it altogether if I hadn't just stood there. Come to think of it, that had been kind of rash for me to do. If Daikon had been just a bit stronger, he could have cut into my neck enough for some serious blood loss, or severed my collarbone, or hacked into my ribs.

If either of my parents had been around, they would probably have given me shit for a stunt like that. Then again, Goten and Gohan would have too, but the only person who'd seen me do it was the man that had dealt the blow and he was a far cry from giving a damn about my well-being.

I still didn't know why I hadn't been able to kill him. I wouldn't have been here now had I done it, but there remained this ugly, nauseous pit inside me at the though that I'd almost executed him. It didn't make sense because I'd killed someone before and there had been no hesitation, no regret. Just the task at hand. Maybe it was because I pitied Daikon a bit. Even if he was unstable and bitter, ultimately he'd done all those things for what he believed would protect the first person who'd shown him kindness in his life. I'd never been a slave, of course, but Goten was one of the first and only friends I'd had growing up – Gohan was seldom around and everyone else had been so much older. The few times my parents had tried to bring around other children never fared out that well.

I supposed I might have known Ravi if life had gone differently.

I almost wished she hadn't told me about her grandfather. It was out of my control but I still felt that owing of something, that guilt. On top of all the other things I had to feel guilty for, like lying to Mom, not saving Planet Vegeta, leaving my young sister, keeping Gohan from his pregnant wife, that old man whose name I didn't even know and might have died because of me, and now Goten, something was bothering him and I could see it but he didn't want to tell me –

I put my arm over my eyes and forced myself to think about something else that didn't make me feel bad.

A/N: Hello again, readers. Sorry that this is kind of a transition chapter, my goal is to get ch. 20 out before next year and considering I'm almost done finals, I will probably have plenty of extra time after to get it out right after New Year's at the latest, and maybe around Christmas at the earliest?

For anyone curious, I do have a plan for revealing what Gohan and Goku get up to searching for Namekians, but it may be several more chapters before reaching that point (can you guess which two Namekians?). Frieza and/or Vegeta may or may not be making a cameo around that time as well.

Also, for those of you who may have read the few chapters that exist of Distance From Fate, the name Orash may sound familiar to you – that situation will eventually be explored more in DFF (although you clearly already have some spoilers regarding how well things turn out for that guy).