Trying to post a chapter every few days, since it gets much better later on!

Happy Birthday Vegeta

Chapter Two: The Pitch

Bulma Briefs was a gifted woman. Blessed at birth with an infinitely quick mind as well as stunning beauty would have hampered a lesser person. Her beauty and intellect were only slightly surpassed by her ambition, and when you were the pivotal focus of what Bulma wanted, well, it was rather like having hentai tattooed on your brain with a laser.

The Z fighters had gathered at her request, in a conference room at Capsule Corp Headquarters. It had been the only place she had felt Vegeta would not accidentally stumble on what she was doing or overhear with those damn Saiyan ears of his.

There was another reason she had chosen this setting. She knew it was going to take some persuasion on her part, and she needed every edge. So it was Corporate Bulma, with her hair secured in a French twist, wearing a turquoise power suit who greeted the responders to her call…Krillin, Gohan and Piccolo. Sadness shadowed her face as she realized that Goku would not be joining them.

"So, what's this about Bulma?" Krillin broke the ice for them.

"I need your help." If she couldn't enlist their aid, she was going to be gone a lot, and Vegeta would be instantly suspicious.

"You know whatever we can do…What's the problem?" Gohan put in earnestly.

Swallowing her nervousness, she glanced at the paperwork on her clipboard before answering. "I need help gathering the dragonballs."

Piccolo said nothing, his face blank of the surprise echoed by the others in the room.

"Why do you need the dragonballs Bulma?" Krillin looked vaguely concerned. If she told them what she was actually contemplating, they'd leave, but not before trying to check her into a nice, quiet hospital, so she wore a guarded smirk stolen straight from Vegeta's face when she replied, "I want to make a…personal…wish for Vegeta's birthday. It's obviously huge, or I wouldn't need the dragonballs to pull it off, right? And if I'm going to get it done before B-Day, I need your man power, and um, Namek power to help me collect them." Perfectly feasible, she smiled confidently.

Adjusting his glasses, Gohan said, "This could take years, even with the radar."

In her element and armed with her research, she shook her head negatively. "Nope, I've done my homework to make this as easy as it can be. First, I had the radar replicated so we're not limited to going one place at a time. Secondly, I've plotted very probable locations for the balls, within 99 accuracy. It's really just a matter of delegating the locations, retrieval and travel time. I think we can do it in a day or two."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Krillin spoke. "I don't want to get you started on how you were able to pre-locate the balls, but how many of them are in hostile territory?"

"Well, maybe one. Sentient hostility anyway."

Gohan grinned. "I just finished a semester at school this week, I happen to have some down time coming."

Piccolo actually looked alarmed. "ChiChi will kill you."

They laughed nervously at the brutal statement, but Gohan sighed and shook his head in agreement. "With Dad gone again, she is running things pretty tight. I'll just have to convince her I won't be gone for more than a day or two."

There was a moment of quiet between them as they missed Goku collectively.

"How about it Piccolo?" Bulma's demure voice belied the possibility that everything she was trying to accomplish hinged on the Namek's answer. "Will you help?"

He looked hard at Bulma, but he might as well have been trying to peer into the mind of the Saiyan Prince himself. He wondered if she knew the strength of her mental shield was less her ability than her spouse's. Thank Kami the dragonballs were limited in their power. Not that she couldn't create nine hells of trouble, but she couldn't unravel the fabric of the universe with them. His sigh, was reluctant. "If Gohan is helping, then I will assist as well."

"All right! This will be cool! Kinda like old times." Krillin's enthusiasm was catching.

"Wonderful! I don't think there's any way I can repay you, but you have only to ask if you need anything." Relief flowed through Bulma's veins followed by a chaser of adrenaline. "All right then," flipping through her charts, "This is where we'll start."