Bulma's hand shook as she tried frequency after frequency. Time was running short. To mount a full-scale evacuation would take a full day, and they would want time to prepare… if she didn't reach Gine, if Bardock didn't at least hear her out, she wasn't sure how she'd live with herself if the Legacy didn't make it. Deep inside, she knew that she wasn't at fault, but she couldn't help but take this situation personally.
"Gine, Bardock, please," she murmured. Raditz had given her a set of frequencies to try contacting the captain directly in his quarters, but so far none of them had worked. Rows of lights flashed on her console, but she was so sleep-deprived that her eyes blurred and she couldn't tell what they meant. She rubbed her stomach absent-mindedly, determining that if, no, when she made it through this crisis, she was going to march herself to sick bay and follow all of the doctor's care routines. And then she'd catch a ride home to Vegeta-sei on the Junpak't, where she knew there were doctors who were experienced with Saiyan-Human pregnancies.
"Ambassador, you are persistent if nothing else," the annoyed voice of the Saiyan captain crackled over her comm. "I assume your ship has detected the Ice-jin."
"They've been on long-range scanners since yesterday," Bulma replied, breathless from shock that he actually responded. There was no video feed.
"We picked them up on ours an hour ago," Bardock replied.
"Captain, please. We can help. You must consider evacuation," Bulma pleaded. "We have more than enough room-"
"And run away like cowards? You insult me, ambassador. For someone who was raised with Saiyans, you sure don't seem to know a lot about us."
Bulma groaned and combed her hand through her hair. "You don't understand. We have your son on board."
"We're aware that you took him in, yes. He's a useless traitor. Do with him as you please."
"No, your other son," Bulma said. There was a long silence, and she checked to see if they were still transmitting.
Then the video feed kicked in, and Bardock stared at Bulma, chin resting on his steepled fingers. "I only have one son," he replied after a long minute.
"Raditz told me everything. About how he was responsible for what happened to Kakarot. Well, it turns out that Kakarot is now the first officer aboard Nimbus. He looks just like you, Bardock; there's no mistaking it. He is your son. So please, evacuate. Let us take you home so you can be reunited with your family."
Something in Bardock's countenance gave Bulma the hope he'd change his mind, but then the view screen went blank. Their audio feed was still connected, and Bardock muttered, "I will do what I must to protect this vessel. I will think about your suggestion." Then he ended the transmission altogether.
Bulma paged for the captain and his officers to meet her in the conference room. They had a lot of planning to do.
"Commander Son to the bridge, please acknowledge," the captain repeated for the second time. His eyebrows furrowed with worry, and he glanced back at Vegeta.
"Computer, locate Commander Son," Vegeta asked.
"Commander Son is not aboard this vessel."
The bridge went silent. All eyes turned to the captain.
"Computer, where is Commander Son if he is not aboard this vessel?" Vegeta slowly looked up at the viewscreen and watched as the Legacypowered up her engines.
"Transporter logs indicate Commander Son was beamed aboard the Legacy at 1706 hours."
"Who authorized this?" the captain asked. "Computer, whose code was used for this transport?"
"Records indicate that Commander Son's authorization codes were used to transport him off the Nimbus. They were also used to authorize the disembarkation of the Saiyan pod 'Legacy Seven'."
"There are reports coming in from engineering that several components have been stolen," Vegeta said.
"Captain, we're being hailed."
"On-screen."
The bridge crew of the Nimbus gasped collectively when they saw Bardock's face for the first time. Even those who knew the truth about Goku's parentage, aside from Bulma, couldn't help but gawk. Bardock looked exactly like his son, save for the enormous scar on his cheek and the cutthroat gleam in his eyes.
Raditz stood beside him looking incredibly guilty. "Bulma," he said, staring directly at her. "I'm sorry."
"Raditz, I don't understand, why aren't you here?" she asked, her heart sinking as she parsed what was going on.
"Silence," Bardock snapped at Raditz, who had been about to speak. He turned back toward the viewscreen, lips pulling up into a smirk. "Thank you for delivering Kakarot to me. And for all of these handy spare parts. Now we stand a fighting chance against those bastards."
"I trusted you, Raditz," Bulma said, voice low. "I thought we agreed evacuation was the only way."
Bardock turned to Raditz. "I'm proud of you. You've finally proven yourself. Take your brother and get him ready to fight."
"If you insist on being so stubborn," Captain Roshi said, "Then we're going to stay and fight with you, or you won't stand a chance-and I'd really like my first officer to make it through this battle alive."
Bardock shrugged. "So be it."
The transmission ended, and Roshi turned to Vegeta and Piccolo. "You two, get the pods battle ready."
"Already done, sir," Vegeta said.
The captain nodded and turned back toward the bridge, barking out orders with the same practiced efficiency displayed by Goku. He ordered sick bay readied, drills run, and for the Junpak't to take Launch and Rabi out of the sector for their safety. Both objected, but Bulma overrode Launch's authority, and Vegeta overrode Rabi's, so the ship was prepared for departure.
As the crew made its final preparations, Vegeta pulled Bulma aside into a small cove off the main hallway on deck seven, where she'd been helping a team of engineers make final preparations. He wore his Saiyan armour.-this was the first time she'd seen it since they both lived on Vegeta-sei. The shoulder pads jutted out, visually broadening his already muscular chest. His eyes burned with indomitable longing for battle and fire coursed through his veins.
They stared at each other for a long time. A myriad things were left unsaid, but Bulma could read it all in Vegeta's eyes. The heartbreak that she hadn't chosen to be with him. The terror that he would lose her. The fear that he wouldn't be the one to make it out alive.
"Bulma," he supplicated her, voice hoarse with raw emotion. "Please go with the Junpak't. Keep our baby safe. There's nothing more for you here. You've done enough."
She wanted to protest. Surely her skills could still benefit the crew; she wasn't just another pretty face, after all, and her engineering ability would be really helpful-but then their lips met, and suddenly nothing else mattered in the world; his hands found hers, held them tight as if he was going to lose her that very minute. A vision entered Bulma's mind of their future together as a family. No, not a vision. Vegeta's thoughts mingled with hers through their bond as he pulled her close.
Tears sprang to Bulma's eyes as they parted, and she understood the unspoken promise of Vegeta's commitment to her. So she agreed. She packed a few essentials, knowing she could pick up everything else she needed later on, and boarded the Junpak't. Just as they were about to clear for takeoff from the docking hold, Chichi burst through the doors with a bag over her shoulder. "Wait!" she cried. "I'm coming with you!"
Bulma watched out the aft viewport as Nimbus grew smaller and smaller until it was just a tiny speck among the cosmos. "Are we going to keep in touch with them?" she asked.
Launch, who was busy in the copilot's seat flicking switches and setting their course for the nearest Federation supply station, nodded. "That's the plan," she said. "I'll need to report to Starfleet what's going on. I've sent out an urgent request for more ships, but I'm afraid it'll take too long for them to get here."
Bulma nodded in acknowledgement. Her heart ached; she felt helpless, alone, and terrified of what was to come.
"They'll be okay," Chichi murmured, looking like she was trying to reassure herself as well.
"Do you really think so?" Bulma fought the urge to curl up in an anxious ball, trying to ward off the sinking feeling that she would never see Nimbusor her crew again.
Chichi nodded resolutely. "I really do. They'll have to be." She took her friend's hands and stared deeply into her eyes. "Saiyans are smart. That's why Captain Bardock took Goku-sure, because he's his son, but Goku is smart. And so is Vegeta-they're both survivors. If I don't have faith in them, I have nothing." She chuckled darkly. "Sometimes I wish I weren't an empath. Goku and I are so attuned to each other that I can oftentimes feel what he's feeling, even across great distances."
The Ice-jin's ship came into viewing range early the next morning. As they drew nearer to weapons range, Captain Roshi attempted to hail them. He reasoned if they knew the Legacy had the protection of the Federation, perhaps they would think twice before making their attack.
Vegeta didn't have the same faith. He predicted that the Colds' need for revenge likely outweighed any logical reaction to the threat Nimbus posed. And he was right.
The captain of the Ice-jin ship introduced himself with the same high-pitched voice they'd heard on the transmissions. His name was Frieza, son of the Ice-jin emperor, destroyer of planets. Despite his stature, the lizard-like man's presence carried with it such a sense of foreboding that Vegeta's primal fight-or-flight activated. If his training hadn't overwhelmed any base urges, the lieutenant thought he might have fled the bridge.
Frieza addressed Roshi with as much condescension as he could muster: "Out of my way, Federation. I am here to wipe out the filthy Saiyans, but I will destroy you too if you get in the way."
Roshi crossed his arms and drew himself up to his full height. "They are under our protection. Leave this sector or we will take defensive action."
Vegeta watched in disgust as the little lizard-man's face twisted into a sneer and he stepped out of his floating captain's chair, tail whipping back and forth. "You leave, or we'll blow you into oblivion."
Vegeta ran a scan of their weapon systems, only to find the Nimbus's sensors repelled by a strange field around Frieza's ship.
"Trust me, captain, you do not want war with the Federation. Strike this ship and you will have dozens of allied systems on your tail before you can say 'revenge'."
"Oh, Federation, you think I'm so easily swayed by your threats? Watch me."
The viewscreen cut out.
"They've deployed two smaller vessels, captain," Vegeta said as he tracked their progress on the monitor. "They appear to be highspeed war cruisers."
The captain nodded in acknowledgement. "Lieutenants Piccolo and Vegeta, report to the pod hanger. We're expecting company."
"Aye, captain," the two officers said in tandem and rushed side-by-side to the turbo lift.
"Do you read me, Lieutenants?"
"Loud and clear, Commander." Vegeta allowed himself a tiny smile of gratification. At least Bardock was smart enough to put his captive to good use. Goku was one of the best pilots on Nimbus.
"I'm in position, Commander," Piccolo's voice crackled through the comm.
"Great," said Goku. "Kame formation. Don't let them get a clear shot at Legacy."
"Aye, Commander," Vegeta acknowledged as he ran a final check of his weapons. He trained them on the incoming cruisers as they approached at warp, but his console warbled with an incoming hail from one of the vessels. "I'm being hailed."
"Find out what they want."
Vegeta answered the hail, and his viewscreen was filled with the handsome face of a tall, green, long-haired man. "This is your final warning," he said. "Out of our way, or we will destroy you."
"You're not Ice-jin," Vegeta said. He watched out his port window as Goku and Piccolo put their pods between him and the other cruiser.
"So you Saiyans aren't as dumb as your reputation suggests," the pilot crooned. "What a surprise."
"Commander," Piccolo's voice said over the comm. "I'm detecting strange energy readings to the left of both ships."
"I'm getting it too," Commander Son replied. "Nimbus, what do you make of it?"
"Could be cloaking," an officer replied just as five ships revealed themselves behind Vegeta-between him and the Nimbus.
The five ships zipped about in formation so quickly that Vegeta could barely keep track of them. Dread bubbled up from the pit of his stomach, and the realization was out of his mouth the moment he thought it: "We're outnumbered!" he shouted as they opened fire.
"They're going for Nimbus, I'm going to cut them off," Piccolo said, veering out of the formation and toward the ships.
"What's going on out there?" the captain demanded.
"They're ignoring us, Captain. Switching tactics…"
Vegeta waited on the commander's orders and watched in horror as the five ships and two cruisers, true to Piccolo's keen observation, opened fire on Nimbus, ignoring the pods altogether.
"Take them out!" Goku commanded. "They underestimate us. They'll regret that."
The Nimbus was defenseless. With her shields and weapons disabled, she was a sitting duck among the cosmos. The Saiyan pods had barely put a dent in the battle cruisers and supporting ships, and just as Roshi had prepared to fire, a sixth vessel made its appearance and went for the disabling blow.
Vegeta watched in horror as the ships turned their attention to the Legacy. She wouldn't stand a chance against their advanced weaponry and would be blown to smithereens before Frieza's ship even made its appearance. "Commander, I'm going for their leader," Vegeta informed his superior as he diverted all non-essential power to shields. "I'm going to use Galaxy Breaker."
"That's a hand-to-hand technique," Goku replied. "How are you planning to use it against a ship?"
Vegeta didn't often get the chance to outshine his fellow Saiyan, having been assigned to an exploratory vessel, but he saw his opportunity now. If he could modify the technique to surround his pod with ki instead of just his body, his plan should work. "You'll see," Vegeta said, cranking the thruster and shooting toward the cluster of ships.
The battle cruisers didn't hesitate to fire as Vegeta maneuvered the pod in front of their ships. The turbulence of constant fire tossed the pod about, rattling Vegeta around the tiny cockpit, but the shields held. He closed his eyes and focused his pent-up ki outward, filling the pod with blinding blue-white light.
Time slowed down. Hyper-aware of every passing second, Vegeta's ki flared as he breathed in, ebbed as he exhaled, and expanded against the crushing void of outer space.
"Shields at 30%", his onboard computer said.
Only a little more time-
The ki passed through the pod's outer hull with no resistance.
"Shields at 15%".
Vegeta could feel the photon blasts in his core as the barrage continued relentlessly.
Suddenly overwhelmed by a mixture of pain, grief, and sheer ferocity, Vegeta let go of his control and shouted into nihility, reversing the attack and overloading the battle cruisers' engines in a shower of sparks and an explosion that rocked the Legacy, the Nimbus, and every shuttle in the vicinity with a mighty blast.
Vegeta regained consciousness to the pod's onboard computer informing him of a hull breach. "I'm dead in the water," he muttered into the comm link. "Major damage to the pod. Nimbus, do you have tractor beams?"
"Negative, Lieutenant," the captain replied. "But we've got even bigger problems. Look behind you."
Vegeta maneuvered the pod in a 180 and felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. Frieza's ship loomed over all of them, ready to destroy the now-defenseless vessels.
Bardock donned his battle armor. He had never had the need to use it in real combat, but the symbolic nature of it filled him with determination to see this battle through to its bitter end. No matter what decision he had wanted to make before this moment, he no longer had a choice. The Colds' ship was here, and it was going to destroy the Legacy. "Shield status?" he barked at the helmsman, doing his best to maintain some semblance of order in the crew's final moments.
"Seventy five per cent," the helmsman responded. "Prince Vegeta took the brunt of it, so I guess we can finally thank him for something."
Bardock's lip curled into a smirk. "So he does know the honor of a Saiyan," he whispered to himself. He turned to where Raditz dutifully sat at his right hand, watching the captain's every move.
"Are you going to let me take a pod out there and help them?" he asked.
Bardock snorted. "The only reason I let Kakarot go is because he has proven his mettle as a Starfleet officer and has a head for strategy. All you've proven to me is that you are prone to making rash decisions and that you don't think things through. You'll get yourself killed out there."
Raditz opened his mouth to retort, but Bardock held up his hand to silence his eldest's sharp tongue. "I don't want to hear it. You'll be of more used to me here. We are going to out-maneuver these bastards. They have a century's worth of red-hot anger and revenge as their motivation. We've had the last 90 years to formulate a plan."
"Is that why you didn't evacuate?" Raditz asked incredulously. "Because of some plan based off antiquated tactics?"
Bardock's lips pressed into a thin line. He didn't appreciate the insubordination, but his eldest had never learned the true respect due his father and captain, and he considered it one of his greatest shortcomings as a parent. Perhaps Raditz simply wasn't fit to be his successor, and now that Kakarot had returned to them with the experience of a Starfleet officer under his belt, he could take up the reins of the Legacy instead. He turned toward Raditz and fixed the younger Saiyan in a hard stare. "Toma, put me through to Kakarot," he commanded the helmsman without taking his eyes off his son.
"Patching him through now," Toma responded dutifully.
The visage of his younger self flickered onscreen with a scowl that made Bardock think he was looking in a mirror. "Kakarot," Bardock addressed the boy. "I need you to return to the Legacy immediately."
"I'm afraid I can't. Lieutenant Vegeta's pod was badly damaged in the attack, and I am towing him to safety so we can regroup."
Bardock should have expected outright defiance, but the tone of his youngest son's voice made Raditz's insubordination seem like ass-kissing and adulation. "That's an order, Commander," he barked.
"With all due respect, sir, you might be my father, but you are not my captain." The transmission cut out at the same moment the ship-wide alarms began to blare.
"Incoming attack," Toma said, his eyes wide with fear. "And they're giving us everything."
"Begin evasive maneuvers," Bardock commanded, sitting back in his chair and clasping his hands. Now was the moment of truth.
Gine was right. Gine was always right. Bardock wiped the blood oozing from his lip and contemplated it on the back of his hand for a long moment. There was no way out of this. The Nimbus had the resources, technology, and know-how to get itself back on its feet in a fraction of the time it would take for Legacy to be spaceworthy again. He opened a hailing frequency and waited for the other ship to respond-which it did, almost instantaneously.
"Nimbus, are you able to take on our rescue pods?"
"Affirmative, Legacy, but you need to know our shields are still down," their human captain replied.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Bardock said, grunting as another torpedo pummelled the generation ship. "Their chances are better there than they are here."
"I'm glad you've come around, Captain. We'll use the transporter in conjunction with your liferaft pods to speed things up. Our medical bay is ready to receive your injured."
Toma and the other bridge officers got straight to work, setting their stations to automatic and rushing to carry out Bardock's orders to make sure their families made it away safely. Raditz took charge of beam-outs before taking several pilots to launch the remainder of their battle pods to help escort the other evacuees.
Bardock turned silently toward his wife, whose eyes were filled with the same compassion they always had been. "You must go with them," he said.
"I want to stay," Gine replied, arms crossed. Bardock got the sense that she knew what he was planning, even if it was a last-ditch effort-but then, she'd always been the intuitive one.
Even with the time it took to organize, the evacuation ran as smoothly as it possibly could during a battle. Bardock manned the helm, its familiar controls feeling like home beneath his calloused, old palms. It was all he could do to shield the pods from view as they made the short but arduous journey to Nimbus, who had yet to re-attract the Ice-jin's ire.
Once the last of the pods was a safe enough distance away, Bardock confirmed with the ship computer that they were the last Saiyans aboard and initiated the protocol to beam himself and Gine off the ship. But as the countdown began, he heard a series of explosions off the port bow, and when he turned on the viewscreen, he was horrified to see the fragmented remains of what had to be at least 40 pods scattering in all directions before turning its attention toward the Nimbus.
No.
No.
Their sons were out there. He caught Gine's eyes and knew she was thinking the same.
"Nimbus, are you reading me?" Launch asked for the third time before turning to her Saiyan counterpart. "Nothing. Either their communication array has been damaged, or-"
"Don't say it," Bulma cut her off. "Please. I can't bear to think the worst."
Launch smiled at her sympathetically. "I'm sure they'll be fine, ambassador. We'll be at the space station soon."
Rabi turned from where he had been writing on his padd and faced the women silently.
"You look like you've got a plan," Launch said, encouraging him to speak up.
"It is a research space station, is it not?" he asked, gears turning in his head as his tail thrashed about, untethered from his waist in uncharacteristic fashion.
"Yes. I'm afraid they don't house starships on a regular basis, so there's no one in this sector to help right now. The nearest assistance is at least two days away."
Rubbing his chin, Rabi looked back down to his padd. "But like every space station, they do house an abundance of Saiyan-made evacuation pods."
"Where are you going with this?" Launch asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
Bulma's eyes shot up to meet the councilman's. "Saiyan pods move faster than any other ship in Starfleet, especially when they're on autopilot," she said, and Rabi nodded. "But they're not armed with enough firepower to take down a vessel over a thousand times their size."
"If I'm not mistaken, the type of research undertaken at this facility deals with experimental energy sources," Rabi replied, growing impatient that they weren't following his train of thought. "Unstable energy sources."
"Are you suggesting we create makeshift bombs out of those Saiyan pods?" Chichi asked, speaking up for the first time in hours.
Rabi nodded.
"Do it," Bulma said quietly.
After the space station agreed to do what it could, all the inhabitants of the Junpak't could do was wait. It took barely any time at all before the proximity sensor started beeping like crazy.
"Those must be the pods," Launch said. "That was quick. Holy-they're going warp nine."
"I told you they're fast," Bulma said.
"That was an understatement," Launch chuckled. "They'll be there before we know it."
"Just a couple more minutes, in fact," Rabi said.
"We need to go back," Bulma said. "We have to make sure it worked."
No matter how long that took, Bulma knew it would feel like an eternity.
As the Ice-jin vessel pummeled Nimbus with wave after wave of torpedoes and other assorted projectiles and energy weapons, reports came in from all decks of damage and casualties. It was a small miracle that the bridge itself hadn't yet been damaged, but it was only a matter of time before the swath of destruction made its way there.
They watched helplessly as another batch of pods was destroyed. It was like the Ice-jin were toying with them, showing them the extent they were willing to go with only a fraction of their full power.
With three of his officers out on the front line and not responding to any of Nimbus's hails, it was anybody's guess if they were even alive or not. Roshi pushed those thoughts from his mind and was thankful in no small way that at least the ambassador had made it off-ship safely, and that perhaps the Junpak't would be able to alert a passing vessel to send assistance.
From the viewscreen, Roshi's heart fell as he saw a volley of torpedoes headed right for the bridge.
The captain was prepared to die, as much as any man really could be prepared for his life to be cut short prematurely. "It's been an honor," he announced to the crew on the bridge as they braced for impact.
Long moments passed.
The tension on the bridge raised exponentially with each second that ticked by. "They say you never feel the one that gets you," someone mused aloud, breaking the collective silence of silently uttered prayers.
Roshi cracked an eye open. The torpedos should have hit them by now, but in their place were the shattered remains of another Saiyan pod. His chest tightened; somebody had just sacrificed themselves to save the bridge, however short-lived a victory it would turn out to be. Whoever they were, Roshi wouldn't forget them. But his gratitude turned to confusion as even more pods dropped out of warp, seemingly from out of nowhere. Where had they come from, he wondered, and who was flying them?
He watched in fascination as they flew abreast of each other, their trajectory leading past Nimbus and straight for the Ice-jin vessel.
Had they been sent in response to the distress signal?
Was help finally on its way?
The captain was not one to lose hope in a desperate situation, but with Starfleet spread so thin and the fate of an entire city's worth of souls resting on his shoulders, he wasn't feeling optimistic. With weary eyes, he watched as the remaining pods careened toward their target.
The Ice-jin weapons turned to focus on the more immediate threat, and Roshi cringed as one pod after another blew up before reaching its target. Something about the blasts piqued his interest, though, and he zoomed the viewscreen in just in time to see another one explode, scattering shrapnel for hundreds of kilometers.
Those pods were filled with explosives.
They had to have been sent by the Junpak't.
As the remaining pods careened toward their target, Roshi shielded his eyes from the blinding blue-white flash of the resulting explosion when they reached their destination. The bridge was cast in a brilliant glow, and moments later, the shockwave sent the Nimbus spinning uncontrollably away and knocked out shipwide power and communications. Once the light receded and the back-up power kicked in, the officers gasped in collective shock. The Ice-jin vessel had been almost entirely destroyed, and the bridge erupted in cheers.
But their celebration was short-lived.
"Sir," Yamcha gasped. "There are still life-signs on the Ice-jin vessel." His hands sped across the dials, then he turned toward the captain with an alarmed expression.
"Well, what is it?"
"They're powering up their weapons, sir."
The Nimbus could not take another beating like it did before. Their shields were barely repaired, and what little protection they could afford would be dashed to pieces in moments with the photon cannons the Ice-jin were about to fire.
Their only hope now was that somebody else had heard and responded to their distress beacon.
The Ice-jin vessel fought like a dying animal, thrashing out at everything that moved too close. Whoever had sent those explosive-filled Saiyan pods had angered the Ice-jin beyond belief, and they redoubled their efforts to destroy the Saiyan population with a fiery vengeance.
Another squadron of evacuation pods blew to smithereens, and a great piercing sorrow overwhelmed Bardock for a long moment as he fought back the tears that eagerly sprang to his eyes. His mate, his life partner, his woman... was willing to die by his side to ensure the safety of everything they'd worked for. But how could he let her do that when it was his decisions, his stubbornness that had led to this?
He clenched his fist, beating it against the arm of his chair. "No," he said, voice barely louder than a whisper before turning to face his wife. "Gine, you must go. If I don't make it out of this, you need to be there for our sons-both of them, because they are our legacy." He gripped her tiny hands in his and stared deep into her eyes. The same stubborn frown she'd hand since they were young and in love all those years ago rested prettily on her lips, and he knew she would protest his decision. He would expect nothing less-he loved her determination above everything else.
But Bardock wanted her smile to be the last thing he saw before he faced death. He needed it-so he cupped her chin with his hand and pressed his lips to hers, lingering for as long as he could allow himself as another barrage rocked the ship.
She did smile at him when they pulled apart, but it was small and sad and shattered his heart into a million little pieces. "They may be our legacy, Bardock, but you are the love of my life. I made a vow to stay by your side through thick and thin, war and peace, and I intend to keep it whether you want me to or not. I love you, gods damn it!"
"And I love you, Gine," Bardock said, studying her face like he never wanted to forget what she looked like. He stroked his thumb down her cheek again before taking a deep breath. Nimbus, if you can hear me, prepare to receive one passenger."
Then Bardock flicked a switch on the console before she could react and closed his eyes so he didn't have to see her anger as she dissolved into thin air.
As soon as she was gone, he let his anger surge as he maneuvered Legacy into position, preparing the battered engines for full impulse to ram into the enemy vessel. Those were families, friends, brothers in arms-all eliminated in a fucking massacre by the ruthless Ice-jin, and all for the sake of petty revenge. With his heart pounding, he recorded a final message to Nimbus for Gine and his remaining crew to hear after he was gone, and then he engaged the thrusters.