A/N: Well, this came out earlier than I expected. I have three more exams to do before school becomes a bludge and I graduate from junior high.

The scientists eyed her warily as Caulifla sunk into a defensive stance, her pupils dilated. As much as she told herself that she could take them on if she really tried, she knew that this was not to be. The collar strapped around her neck had somehow locked all of her power away.

But corner an animal, and it will attack.

Caulifla hissed as the scientists all stepped closer to her at once, forming an arc around her.

"Caulifla," Niifa said coaxingly, holding her arms out. "There are two ways to go about this. Don't make things more difficult for yourself."

"Get away from me," Caulifla growled, her voice hoarse from disuse. She nearly stumbled over the fallen tube she had been in just moments ago when she backed away. "Don't come any closer."

They all exchanged a look.

Sighing, Niifa made a strange gesture with her hand. At once, Benzert the arlokian and Muto the octopodian moved forward faster than Caulifla's eyes could follow. In an instant, Benzert had locked his meaty arms around Caulifla's biceps and lifted her above the ground. Looking like he was doing the worst thing in the world, Muto reluctantly wrapped his tentacles around her kicking legs. Caulifla shivered when one of Muto's many arms curled around her waist to keep her still.

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort to this," Niifa said, her voice cold and clinical. Her gaze followed Muto, Benzert and Caulifla as they put her down and strapped her to a slanted operating table. Caulifla screeched in fury as she tried to tug her wrists from the metal clasps. Benzert and Muto moved quietly and efficiently as they hooked metal chains to shallow recesses on her collar before hooking her up to more medicines. Medicines that would hopefully keep her alive during the procedures. "Do not mistake me as one who gets pleasure from the pain of others. I hope that you will hold nothing against me, comrade."

"I am not your comrade!" Caulifla shrieked, her eyes blazing with a reawakened fire. "We are not allies! I am your enemy! You will always be my enemy!"

The zoorian hardly looked fazed by her outburst. "So be it." She walked to where Caulifla was trapped and looked her in the eye. "We may not look like it, but all of us in this room are warriors."

"What are you trying to say?" Caulifla snarled. "Spit it out already!"

Niifa shook her head. "Don't worry about it, saiyan."

Caulifla raised her eyebrows.

"You told me yourself that we are not comrades. You are now saiyan to me. Or would you prefer Vessel?"

A mask was put over her beautiful face by Moblit, preventing her from answering.

"I'll reiterate, saiyan. I do not get pleasure from pain. It is with great regret that I must inform you that this will hurt.

"A lot."

"Hah!" The soldiers launched a punch into the air. "Hah!"

At the front, a well toned soldier stood, one of high ranking based on the crest he bore on the breast of his uniform. The rest were copying their movements from this fellow relentlessly.

"Hah!" The air whistled as fists and feet launched everywhere in a single direction. "Hah!"

Roaring, the soldier at the front completed one final combat move, the rest following as per usual. Smirking, the soldier turned to face the others. A humble servant bowed to him before handing him a towel, which he used to dab away the sweat he had accumulated on his forehead.

As the soldiers dispersed into their own groups during the break, the head soldier watched with his cat-like eyes, his gaze lingering on every single man and woman in the room.

"Colonel Bijou?" the servant said carefully, keeping his head low. "Your towel?"

Bijou hardly looked at the servant as he tossed the towel to him. "I expect a fresh one later."

Gulping, the servant nodded and scurried off, nearly dropping the towel once or twice.

"Colonel," one of the few female soldiers addressed him as she sidled up to him. "Is it true that the Wraith has returned to serve Lady Kafara?"

Ah, yes. He had not forgotten about the rumors that had circulated around the ship in the past twenty four hours. In fact, he had paid very, very close attention to the words that were thrown around by all kinds of officers.

"I cannot validate that, er..."

"Petra, sir. Zoorian from South Galaxy. A member of Captain Chaya's Elite Squad."

"Yes, you," Bijou said, waving his hand dismissively. "Rumors are just that, Petra: rumors." His eyes gleamed. "But, personally, I do believe that the Wraith has returned. Perhaps my lady would be so kind as to let me... reunite with her." He turned his body to face the window, where he could the night stars. "The Wraith is an old friend of mine. In fact, I was the only one she allowed herself to share that particular secret with."

"Oh?" Petra's gaze brightened with interest as she became increasingly invested in the conversation. "Do tell, sir."

Bijou chuckled. "Why are you so curious, Petra? Curious about our... sexcapades, perhaps?"

At that, Petra flushed an even deeper red than her feather hue and ducked her head. "Ah. I was not aware about the nature of your relationship. My deepest apologies, sir. Punish me as you will."

"I think you knowing that little fact is punishing enough," Bijou remarked. The bird was lucky that he decided not to solicit her for sex. He wasn't sure if they even shared the same kind of...

"Is everything alright, Colonel? You look a little pale."

Bijou stiffened. "Everything is fine, Petra. Now leave me be. We'll be starting again in three minutes."

"Of course, sir."

Everyone was getting back into their positions again when someone appeared at the door. Eyes narrowing, Bijou fell out of his kata midway, prompting the other soldiers to do the same.

"Huh?" The man scratched his head, an innocent expression on his face. "Is this the training room?"

Some of the less mature soldiers tittered at his question but Bijou answered evenly, "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"

The stranger grinned. "Great! The name's Goku, and I've been looking for a spar to pass the time. Wanna fight with me?"

"Is he challenging the Colonel?!" someone hissed to their friend. "This guy has a death wish for sure."

"You must be joking," Bijou scoffed, having gotten a reading on his power level the moment he stepped within the facility. "You want to fight me? Sorry, pal, but I'm way out of your league. Can't you sense the difference between our strength? Or are you unable to do that?"

"Don't worry about me," Goku said flippantly. "Thanks for the concern, but I'll be fine."

"If you get hurt, it'll be your fault," Bijou stated, folding his arms across his muscular chest. "I have better things to do with my time than to fight you..." He sneered. "But I cannot decline such a direct challenge. Prepare yourself, fool."

"Heh."

All the soldiers dispersed once more, sitting or standing in a ring around Goku and Bijou. The fighters stood in the center of the room. Smirking, Goku shifted into a stance. On the other hand, Bijou didn't move an inch, keeping a relaxed, casual posture.

Naturally, people began to talk.

"Man, this Goku guy doesn't stand a chance against the Colonel."

"Pity. He's quite good looking," said a female soldier. "Too bad I'm not into weaklings."

"Did you sense his power level? It's only in the nineties! What kind of species is he?"

"He looks saiyan to me," said Petra, the only one who had ever heard of Goku before. What are you hiding, Son Goku? No saiyan can be that weak. No saiyan.

Her comrades seemed to share the same thoughts.

"He can't be! He's too weak. Even the weakest saiyan is at least in the thousands."

"Maybe he's a special case."

"Aren't you going to take a stance?" Goku inquired, never keeping his eyes off Bijou's figure. "It's awfully disrespectful not to, you know."

The soldiers roared with laughter.

"You hear this guy?! The man's insane! Talking respect to the Colonel like that when its obvious he has none of his own."

Bijou rolled his eyes and took a lazy stance. "If it pleases you." To his ire, Goku didn't seem at all intimidated. The man was either stupid, fearless, or both.

The two stood each other down for a few more seconds before Goku moved first. In the blink of an eye, he was gone, before reappearing right in front of Bijou and throwing his fist out.

Shocked, Bijou just managed to bring up his arms for a solid block. The fuck?! The impact literally shook his bones. How?! As Goku jumped back to where he was standing before, Bijou regarded him with much more caution than he did before. Ignoring the soreness of his arms, he played off his unease. "So you can hide your power level, huh?" A sharp grin graced his features. "You're a pretty damn sneaky bastard, you know that?"

"And you're not as strong as I expected," Goku retorted.

Immediately, Bijou twitched. "Don't get too overconfident. That will be your downfall." Spreading out his arms, he began to power up.

"Damn! The Colonel's getting serious."

"H-hey, this new guy is stronger than I expected. Did you feel the spike in his power? Now it's back to its low level again."

"The guy is pretty sneaky, that's for sure."

Petra nodded as she observed Goku and Bijou, the latter having just finished powering up. So there is more to this Son Goku. I'm impressed. His power was almost as great as my base power. Bijou has a challenge on his hands, but I'm sure he can handle it.

"Heh, you're more of a fool than I took you for," Bijou taunted, flaring an indigo aura. "I'm now operating at fifty percent. What say you about my power?"

"You remind me of someone I fought once before," replied Goku, unfazed by the sudden widening of the gap between their powers. "He liked to put things in percentages too."

"Oh? And what happened to him?"

Goku cracked his knuckles. "He lost."

Once again, Goku launched himself at Bijou, attacking furiously. The audience were on the edge of their seats as Bijou blocked each of his blows with equal ferocity. Their bout of fists and ended for a brief moment, Bijou being the only one even sweating.

"I have to say, you're better than I expected, being able to keep up with my fifty percent form."

Goku shrugged. "What can I say? I do train a lot."

Maybe it was the flippant tone his voice took that pissed Bijou off, but the Colonel absolutely blew his top, charging in at one hundred percent in a fury while still retaining the years of martial arts training he had. But, one way or another, Goku managed to find a way to parry his blows and attack back with twice as much power.

Petra noticed that a lot of jaws had dropped by this time. She couldn't blame her comrades for displaying their surprise. She too was shocked by this sudden turn around. It was becoming increasingly clear just how large the gap between Goku and Bijou was.

The Colonel was no fool. That fact only seemed to further fuel his rage and make him attack faster and harder than before. Finally, he landed an uppercut on Goku, dealing the first real damage to him.

But there was no time to celebrate. Goku half-grinned, clutching his aching jaw. "You're good."

"Shut up," Bijou grunted. "You have me totally outclassed here and you know it. Smug bastard." His power flared one last time before dropping down to what it normally was. He fell backward onto the ground. "You win. Happy?"

"Sure am." To everyone's surprise, Goku walked over to where Bijou was lying and held his hand out. "That was a fun spar."

Bijou stared at the hand for a few seconds before slapping it away. Wordlessly, he stood shakily and stalked out of the room, not even pausing to bother with the blundering servant who had just returned with a fresh towel from the laundry.

Goku stared after the disgraced Colonel for a few heartbeats before turning to regard the audience, who were now standing and beginning to disperse. "Anyone up for a spar?"

Almost everyone backed away, having learned their lesson when they witnessed the powerful Colonel Bijou suffer defeat at the hands of this man. No, saiyan. He had to be saiyan. It simply wasn't possible for him to hold that kind of strength and look like what he did without being a saiyan.

Despite the reluctance of the soldiers, Petra stepped forward. "If you'd give me the honor, I would like to duel with you."

Almost at once, Goku got into a fighting stance. "Challenge accepted. Let's do this!"

Petra grimaced before grinning, displaying the razor sharp teeth she had in her beak. An odd combination. "I'll be making you sing a different tune soon, Goku."

The avian known as Petra had been quite the challenge in his base form, Goku had to admit as he walked the journey back to his room. If it weren't for the glowing numbers on the guest suites, he'd never know which one was his.

There had been instances where she had gotten a few good blows in with her sharp talons and Goku was really feeling the consequences. Beneath his torn gi, his chest and abdomen was likely littered with a smattering of bruises and cuts.

"Man," Goku sighed as the towel around his neck soaked up his sweat. "I feel like I've already passed these rooms before... it's like I'm going around in a circle." He scratched his head. "Where the heck is 1408?"

The only answer he got was a loud, rumbling complaint from his stomach. Ah, yes. He had neglected his belt for a while. When was the last time he had eaten? His mouth started to water as he imagined stuffing himself with all kinds of foods.

Switching his priorities, Goku wandered around in search for the kitchens rather than his room. During his wandering, he had not encountered many people on the ship. Soldiers were usually away on all sorts of missions or doing some other thing.

I wonder how Caulifla is holding up. A pang of guilt entered his heart. Sure he had offered himself in Caulifla's place, but what was the deal with this three day waiting period thing? And Kafara had gone out of her way to make his stay more comfortable. If he were to be honest with himself, the demon woman didn't really seem like the type to be hospitable to others, especially when you were technically a prisoner.

There was a part of him that longed to scour the ship for his lover and never stop until he either destroyed everything or found her. But Kafara was in the position of power here. She held the knife against Caulifla's throat. And if Goku wasn't careful, she would slice her neck open and let her bleed out.

A ripple of unease travelled down his spine. This really was quite a difficult position. He had the option of doing as Kafara wished and wait for his own likely demise and Caulifla's probable (only probable) freedom. And then, of course, he could defy her instructions and launch an elaborate rescue. But if he were to go with the second option... there were far too many things that could go wrong.

There were many, many factors to consider if he were to go with option B. And, frankly, Goku wasn't entirely sure if he could successfully pull it off.

Goku halted, a pleasant smell having wafted past his sniffer. Following his nose and locking in on a group of chis that seemed to be bustling around, Goku found himself standing in front of the double doors of what was obviously a kitchen.

Without hesitation, he grinned and pushed the door open. Five - no, six - surprised faces greeted him.

Goku raised a hand in greeting. "Yo!"

"And who," one of the males said, raising an eyebrow, "pray tell, are you?"

A/N: Tad shorter than my normal minimum of 3000 U.U