Tail lashing, he paced manically around his private chamber. Over and over the same memory whirled around his fevered brain.
~Flashback~
Books and scrolls surrounded the disheveled desk as he stood beside the ancient scholar. If he cared he would have noticed the thick dust trying to choke the life out of him.
"Are you certain?" he asked.
A furious bout of coughs issued from the aged woman who sat at the desk. Blood was clearly visible in her handkerchief. She would not be long for this world.
Wearily, she weezed "Yes. It has been very clear since the begining of time. " She unrolled a particullarly old piece of parchment that was well worn. She pointed to a passage. Slowly he read as much as he could have the difficult ancient text.
'What are the odds that it is true?' he wondered to himself. 'Is it speaking of Vegeta? Could he achieve that much power?' Another round of coughing interrupted his thoughts reminding him that he was not alone. He turned and appraised the old man.
"You have done well" he said and patted the scholar's shoulder. The woman offered an appreciative nod for a moment but then her face began to crumple in pain. The pressure being exuded on her shoulder was excuciating. The old woman looked up with a pleading look in his eyes. She was met with cold resilience and knew her time had come. "Because you have done me such a service, your death will be quick. A shame really, you were always a good and loyal source of information. But no one can ever know why I came here." His hand shot up and snapped the old woman's neck with very little effort.
~End Flashback~
Taking stock he realized that time was short and nothing had been done. He would have to take matters into his own hands. Vegeta must die.
He gave the order to set a course for Galaxias Kyklos. It was time to take control.
~Saiyans~
They had to do surprisingly little in order to affect their escape once the plan had gone into motion. Raditz utilized an encrypted signal to alert the illusive team that was always hidden within his armor. Once activated, Plan Alpha started to unfold.
Now, their ship approached the rendezvous point. Vegeta sought solace in the deep black of space however he was confused by what he was being presented. Although they were at the coordinates where they should be, there was nothing but the darkness of space.
Nappa came over the communicator "Prince Vegeta are we sure-"
"Yes!" he snapped. "Patience. We will be signaled." He hoped they would anyway, he kep to himself.
Suddenly the ship lurched as it began to move. Each Saiyan reached for their scanners to detect what, or who, had hold of them. All attempts at the controls were useless.
Was it Frieza? Had he found out? Panic gripped their insides as they were drawn into what seemed to be a void. Abruptly the ship stopped. Nappa and Raditz stumbled forward a bit while Vegeta remained firm. He shot them a look of disapproval as they regained their fighting stances.
"Whoever this is we will turn them into ash, do you understand?" Vegeta barked at his team. They nodded in solidarity. As they readied for combat, the main door slid open... but it wasn't Frieza who strolled in.
"Well, well. It seems the cavalry has arrived, gentlemen." said the smug voice. A dark haired man with a scar on his cheek stepped just inside the door way. He casually leaned back on the wall and crossed his arms in an overly confidant gesture. looked over the Saiyans casually. Vegeta could already feel his distrust welling up inside him. He would have to watch that one.
The scarred man was accompanied by short bald man who quickly stepped in, with his hands held high in some sort of open gesture. "Oh Krillin don't be such a baby. They couldn't hurt us if they tried." said the Scarface, while brushing imaginary lint from his shirt.
Krillin disagreed, seeing the murderous looks on the Saiyan's faces. He looked into the eyes of the Saiyan he surmised to be the leader and stated "Hey man, we come in peace." The shorter Saiyan ignored the bald man, and cut an annoyed look at the scar-faced one before continuing. "Do you have the identifier?" Raditz looked at Vegeta warily. If they gave up this piece of technology to anyone under Frieza, their plan could be ruined. As if reading their minds, the man very carefully reached inside his red Gi, pulled out his identifier and presented it to them. There was only one way to get the identifier and Frieza would never have had one.
Vegeta nodded to Raditz and he presented his version of the identifier. Krillin studied it visually for a few moments, so much so, Vegeta was starting to get annoyed. Just when he had had enough, the cueball-headed man touched the device. It miraculously came to life with a melodic female voice.
"Please state access code." said the voice
A drop of sweat began to form on Krillin's brow. He looked to Scarface who just smirked and said "Oh no. Don't tell me you forgot...again. Well I'm not bailing you out this time boy-o." he said with a smirk.
Taking in a breath he calmed his mind.
"Please state the access code." said the voice, a little harsher this time. The identifier began to pulse with a menacing red light. Nappa said it with a look to Vegeta. If he didn't get this right, they could all die right there.
"Please state the access code." demanded the voice. Kriilin was shocked into action "uhhh Beta Upsilon Lambda Mu Alpha."
"Access granted" intoned the voice-more friendly this time, as the red light faded.
Silence reigned in the room as each man engaged in a cleansing breath.
Vegeta opened his mouth to give Kriilin the tongue-lashing of a life time but Scarface stepped in. "Chill out, man. You're alive aren't you? Anyway we aren't done so just relax"
One could hear Vegeta's teeth grinding furiously but he understood he was at a disadvantage. "Just hurry the fuck up!" he bit out angrily.
"Oh do shut up. We are saving you after all" said Scarface with confidence. Nappa and Raditz immediately began to advance but were stilled by Vegeta's hand. He shook his head and they fell back. That didn't stop them from giving Scarface mutinous looks.
"Yamcha, you aren't helping. If you can't say something nice please don't talk" said Kriilin Vegeta raised an eyebrow as he mentally reassessed the shorter man. Speaking to the piece of tech he said "Ava, please briefly identify"
"You are Kriilin, human, member of the Z Force" it stated
"And who are the others?"
"Yamcha, human, member of the Z Force" Yamcha gave the room a two fingered salute that impressed no one, but himself.
"Nappa, Saiyan, Elite Warrior, member of the Saiyan Stronghold." Nappa stood wide eyed. He may have been a little afraid of the tiny instrument.
"Raditz, Saiyan, Third Class Warrior, member of House of Bardock." Raditz curled his lip at his class being bandied about like everyone's business.
"Prince Vegeta, Saiyan, Super Elite Warrior, member of the Royal House of Vegeta. Vegeta nodded. He noticed the respect in is description and liked it.
Krillin smiled warmly. "Excellent, welcome to Earth." he said as he extended his hand in greeting. The newcomers looked at this gesture skeptically for a long moment. Krillin began to feel awkward and shyly put his hand down.
Yamcha grimaced and pushed off the wall. Pinning the group with a look of disapproval he said "Don't worry Krillin not everyone is civilized enough to know how to answer a greeting. Perhaps they will learn in time but don't get your hopes up. I'm outta here." With that he turned his back on the Saiyans, and left the ship.
Kriilin's face was scarlet with shame. "If you guys will follow me..."
"What do you mean follow you? Where? To your ship? When will we get to Earth?" Nappa fired out in rapid succession.
After a deep breath Kriilin said calmly "We are on Earth, it just looks like the depths of space to those who are outside our shield." Nappa took in this information but looked as if his brain would break if he had to contemplate if for too long.
"Fine" spat Vegeta. "Lets go." He passed Krillin and the other 2 fell in line behind him. Krillin hurried to follow behind them. He knew they were in for a bumpy few days.