Author's Notes: Thanks to my reviewers! I was visiting family to this update is a little delayed, but it's here now so enjoy!

Chapter Two: The Depths of Space

After hours of watching hundreds of stars flicker by through his red window, Trunks began to fall into a slumber only a short time after Goten had done the same from exhaustion. Trunks' eyes closed and his head slumped forward so that his chin touched his chest and the posture caused his lavender hair to fall in strands around his face. As the young half-saiyan lost awareness of the situation around him and fell to his subconscious, little Trunks tried to focus only the thoughts of his parents and home.

Trunks drifted into a dream where his mother was working in her lab while his father stood by the doorway and watched. His grandparents would come and go while Trunks played with his toys on the floor in the middle of the room. It was a simple but happy imagery for Trunks and it lulled his subconscious to the point where his mind was forced to forget the terrible reality, where he had been snatched from his life on Earth...far away from the comfort and protection of his family.

The spacepods continued on their silent journey for many more hours as the passengers inhaled the unnoticeable gas that enabled them to sleep through it all in a highly advanced way that only saiyans could while they rested in their spacepods. It was similar to a human falling into a coma for the most part; they could dream and be awoken by outside forces but they did not require food, nor water or any other aspect in order to remain functioning. This was the only way their kind could travel for years in space without constant delay.

-W-

After three days of comatose slumbering, Trunks and Goten awoke during what they assumed to be nighttime. Except that nothing looked different outside their windows and therefore it was impossible to truly determine just how much time had passed. All the toddlers knew was that they were both still trapped inside a ship taking them to an unfamiliar destination in which they didn't want to reach. It was too far from home and those they loved.

'I'm scared, Trunks.' Goten rubbed his eyes and moved forward to press his hands against the window once again. He stared out at the never-changing view of stars and sighed miserably. He did not cry any more tears because he had none left to shed.

'Me too. But there's nothing we can do. I can't get out and none of these controls are working!' Trunks slammed his fist against the panel as he had done numerous times previously. And just as before, nothing occurred other than the appearance of a tiny crack across the surface. Not wanting to break it, Trunks backed away and sulked in his seat; the last thing they needed was to cause a crash or to be separated from one another.

Goten nodded his head in reply even though his friend couldn't see him. He gripped his tail with one hand as it was the only comfort he could grasp. He tried to tell the difference between one star and another but they flew by too quickly. All attempts to count them met the same result. As Goten slumped in his chair with defeat, all he could do was sit there and stare into space as he wished he was back in his mother's arms or on his brother's shoulders. Tears welled in his eyes until Goten rubbed them away with his sleeve and ducked his head with misery.

'Will your daddy come save us?'

Trunks as startled by the soundly return of his friend and stopped pressing the buttons to ponder on that question. He had no doubt that his father would try, although the logical side of his mind told him that his father didn't know where they were.

'Of course.' Trunks nodded. 'My daddy is a prince! He won't let anything happen to us, not really. One day he'll find us and we can go home.' The little boy refused to believe otherwise.

'And Gohan will too! Mummy said he's really strong.' Goten smiled with a small speck of hope and released his tail. 'I just hope it's soon.'

'Me too.' Trunks finally gave up on the controls and crawled around on his chair as he checked for anything that as hidden. He found a curious-looking box that had been shoved behind the chair. He pulled it out and saw various sized clothes inside, a blue scouter, a pair of white gloves and boots with golden tips.

'Check behind the chair. There's a box of stuff for us!'

Goten glanced around his chair with surprise and yanked out his own box. The only difference in what his contained was that his scouter was green instead of blue. With a frown, Goten threw it back out of sight in annoyance and ignored the clattering sound it made as the contents scattered about.

'I don't want that stuff!'

Trunks wasn't listening to his friend as he placed the scouter over his ear with curiosity. He pressed the button and his eyes widened when he heard a voice that was familiar; he had heard it a few random times before inside his pod.

'I dunno how strong they are since they're little and all.' Blane was telling Raknor; they had woken not long ago as well. 'Although I'm sure we can begin training them a little before we get there since it will take three years and we have a few scheduled stops along the way.'

'Maybe.' Raknor grunted. 'The son of the prince is a year older. This is an advantage...perhaps we can start with him first?'

'Where are we taking them right now?' Blane wondered.

'Home!' Trunks snapped angrily.

'Oh hey, the brat found his scouter, Raknor.' Blane chuckled and Trunks felt as though he was being mocked by the amusement.

'Guess he's eager to join us, eh?' Raknor added.

'No!' Trunks told them and violently removed his scouter from his ear. He threw it back into his box without wanting to ever touch it again if it had anything to do with those that had taken him from his home. He didn't want to be anything like them or help in any way! He just wanted to be safe and back home on Earth where he felt he belonged.

There was a container of fruit available to them in which the boys munched on as they endured their long journey; it wasn't as though they actually had any choice other than to sit there and tolerate it while they wished of other things.

-W-

Towards the end of the next hour, each boy was tired of the pod and even though they would still be far from home, they each wanted to stretch their legs and see sunlight again. Their desire was half granted when the pods suddenly did a neat swerve and a green-purple plant loomed into view.

'This is planet Burmtar.' Blane told the boys as their pods spend towards the sphere that was twice the size of Venus. Goten screamed in fear of crashing while Trunks became mute and clutched to his chair with his small fingers, and wide eyes.

'We're going to purge the it and you little brats can help us.' Blane smirked.

The spacepods landed without much reaction from the older saiyans that were used to it, but for the little boys it was sudden and uncomfortable. Goten was thrown backwards into his seat and hit his head against the side wall, although it hadn't been hard enough to cause him any actual pain. Trunks remained perfectly still only because he'd had a death grip on his chair from the moment the ground had come into sight.

The doors of the pods opened and the strange air of the unfamiliar planet filled their nostrils while a dim light from a faraway sun shone upon their faces. And yet, neither boy made a single move to even leave their seats, let alone the pods.

'Come on, runts! We don't have all day.' Raknor growled and grabbed a screaming Goten by the front of the boy's shirt to shove him onto the warm ground outside the pod. Next he retrieved Trunks while Blane tapped away on his remote and worked with his scouter.

'One thousand life forms.' Blane reported without a single glance towards the boys. 'It's barely anything and they're not real strong either.'

'Strong enough.' Raknor commented as he looked down at the crying Goten and sniffling Trunks.

'Shut up!' He roared. Both boys were startled into a frightened silence and didn't dare to make another sound as they stared up at their scary kidnapper.
'I do not want to put up with your tears so you had better dry them or else I'll really make you cry so hard you'll pass out.' Raknor threatened.

'Bully!' Trunks poked his tongue at him all while huddling closer to Goten.

'The smallest one still has a tail. Do you think we could wait until tonight to purge this dump?' Blane looked around at the wilderness that surrounded them.

'Nah, not yet.' Raknor replied. 'I'm going to get us some food. Get these two brats settled.'

Blane nodded and watched his partner leave before he retrieved the boxes from behind the seats in the boy's pods.

'Alright, put these on or else I'll force them on!'

Trunks stared at the clothes tossed in front of him and did as he was told even though it didn't want to. He knew the bigger guy was more dangerous and was too terrified to disobey in case he came back.

Goten eyed the orange pants and long-sleeved green shirt he was given but did not move. He stuck his thumb into his mouth and wondered how he was supposed to put them on.

Blane cast the area another glance before he turned towards the boys again. Trunks was struggling with his saiyan boots that would complete his dark blue, long-sleeved shirt and black pants outfit.

'Well?' Blane scowled at Goten.

'He dunno how.' Trunks looked over at his friend.

'Mummy did it.' Goten added through his thumb-sucking.

'Enough of that.' Blane smacked the hand away from the boy's mouth and snatched the clothes from the ground so that he could begin to dress the toddler.

'Honestly, you both may be smart enough to have a bit of sense, but couldn't you be a older?' He scowled at the idea of babysitting little, crying brats for three years. Once Goten's boots and scouter were in place (the gloves were left forgotten for now), he moved over to Trunks with the blue scouter enclosed in his hand.

'No! No!.' Trunks squirmed away as he didn't want to wear the object that made him like them. He kicked, punched, and cried but it was no use against the bigger, older and stronger saiyan.

Blane - annoyed with their complaining - slapped Trunks upside the head and effectively made the boy sit still as he adjusted the scouter on Trunk' ear.

'You're gonna have to learn real fast that you'd best do as your told.' Blane warned them while Trunks fought back tears and rubbed the back of his head.

'Do you think your fathers would cry over this? It's time you both stopped being weakling humans and live up to what you really are...saiyans.'

Goten returned to sucking his thumb as he didn't know his father and nothing came to mind. It was very different for Trunks; it was exactly the motivation he needed to remain silent because he didn't think his father would cry over anything.

'I said: enough!' Blane slapped Goten's hand away from his mouth again and the toddler started to cry.

'Shut the brat up!' Raknor scowled as he returned with armful of fruit in which he placed on a stump not far from the craters their pods had caused upon impact.

When Blane didn't know how to silence Goten, he snatched one of the pieces of fruit from Raknor's pile and stuffed it into the boy's mouth. Goten stopped crying instantly and spat the object from his mouth to see what it was. He knew it was food and took a large bite out of the soft fruit but cringed at the taste.

'Eat it or starve.' Raknor warned with a serious glare as he crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

Goten's form shook with fear and sadness as he slowly reached for the fruit once more and forced himself to eat it. Trunks did the same.

'So what's the plan?' Blane asked with a sigh; he was glad that the toddlers were silent again and had no intention to spend three years with their noisiness.

'Lock the brats in their pods, I don't have time for their sniveling.' Raknor said. 'We have nine more stops along the way and it was supposed to be quick. It's going to add an extra year to our traveling time, but I don't care. I refuse to tolerate their incompetence. What was Barshen thinking? These are nothing but halfbreed brats!' He growled and clenched his fists with anger.

'I would like to see someone even try to train these idiots.'

'Tell that to Barshen.' Blane glanced at the boys and agreed with his partner. 'Although maybe they'll be better as they get older?'

'Four years should be enough.' Raknor calmed himself and extracted a remote from his sleeve. 'With the gassing, their development will continue while they're knocked out, right?'

'Ah, yeah. For a saiyan, we continue to develop life skills as we're asleep under the gas for long travel...but Raknor, they're only half saiyan.' Blane pointed out. 'It may effect them differently and they know two different writing languages.'

'Get Ditzmarn on that thing.' Raknor pointed to Blane's scouter. 'I'm going to scan the area again.' And with that he flew into the air and left his partner with the duller tasks.

Goten and Trunks had finished their sour fruit and continued to remain silent as they clung to each other and fearfully watched their company. Goten began to squirm and it caught Blane's instant attention.

'What's wrong with you?' He frowned at the brat. Goten whimpered and wriggled again without daring to answer, although he couldn't really put it into words. Blane glanced upwards as he thought about it for a moment and than the answer came to him.

'Right, you got to pee, huh?' Blane huffed and knew it was obvious that the boys would need to function properly once they weren't under the gassing. With older brats one only had to indicate some bushes that could be used, but his kid was no doubt wearing a pants-padding of some sort.

'This is humiliating.' Blane complained as he tossed Goten's diaper away and looked around for something to exchange it for. He found a dark red strip of material behind his seat and wrapped that around the boy's rear. He tied it at the sides and pulled the brat's pants back up while grimacing the entire time.

'What about you?' He glared at Trunks, who quickly shook his head and backed away.

Sighing, Blane tapped at his scouter to establish communication with their technician.

'Ditzmarn, am I clear?' Blane asked.

'I can hear you fine, Blane.' The saiyan replied in a young but distracted voice. 'Any trouble?'

'These brat are toddlers, what do you think?' Blane muttered and ignored the small chuckle of amusement with mixed sympathy from Ditzmarn.

'What can I do for you? He asked. 'I'm busy so make it quick!'

'These two are impossible to train at their age. We have nine stops and they're terribly useless. In order to meet our schedule, we plan on gassing them for the four-year journey.' Blane explained and could hear Ditzmarn tapping at his control board on the other end of their communication line.

'You want to know if it'll effect their development?' Ditzmarn guessed.

'They are half-breeds.' Blane reasoned.

'True.' Ditzmarn went quiet for a moment and consulted with a female in the background. Blane waited patiently and kept a close eye on the boys even though he doubted they'd have the courage to attempt an escape just yet, if they had even learned to run at all.

'You're going to have to use specific programming to adjust the gassing.' Ditzmarn explained as he read off a report chart. 'Tell me a bit about them.'

'The smallest boy is one Earth year old, he's a crybaby and even more useless than the other. However he has a tail and appears to be the brother of a teenage super saiyan.'

'What?' Ditzmarn gasped and spoke hurriedly to someone else before he wanted to know who the other boy was.

'He's an Earth year older than the crybaby, no tail.' Blane smirked. 'But he's the son of Prince Vegeta, who has also achieved the legendary status of super saiyan.'

Ditzmarn was heard conversing with another saiyan before the scouter was passed over because he had hurriedly left the room.

'Get the remote.' The deeper-sounding saiyan filled in for Ditzmarn. 'We'll make the adjustments to their pods now. First, set the language meter to "undefined" so that it won't feed them ours. They're not ready for that yet.' He explained and Blane copied the instructions with his remote.

'Adjust the training re-booster from five to three and modify the development in accordance to their age skill which would be...' The saiyan checked his notes for a moment. 'Twelve points...so, six for the crybaby and nine for the Prince's brat.'

'Done.' Blane nodded and was very thankful for those long hours he'd spent asking a thousand questions about the pods functioning when he'd been younger; he doubted Raknor would have the kind of skills required to properly operate the specifics of the spacepods.

'Tap the year range and set it to "four", but with a twenty-two-hours break every six months.' The saiyan concluded. 'Make sure at that six-month period you let them out to get a little exercise. One hour should top it.'

'Okay, thanks.' Blane sighed. 'Where did Ditzmarn go?'

'To inform Barshen of these pending arrivals.' The saiyan replied and rudely cut the communication.

Blane snorted at the scouter before he snatched each brat by the back of their shirts and shoved them into their pods.

'No!' Trunks panicked. 'Lemme out!'

'Shut it, kid!' Blane scowled as Raknor returned with an eagerness to begin their purging.

'Well?' Raknor raised a questioning eyebrow at his partner.

'Six months break for them, that's it.' Blane tapped his remote and set the gassing into activity, although their ships only performed the gas when they were not inside an atmosphere and therefore it would have no effect until they actually left the planet to continue their journey in space.

Trunks and Goten watched as the saiyans flew over the forest and out of sight, thinking they were relatively safe for the time being. And than the blasts started and the noises of hurried people, panic and chaos ensued. Goten got scared as the wave of air and energy washed over their pods even if it had no effect on the actual confinement. He curled into a ball on his chair and sobbed for his brother and mother while using his tail as a teddy bear. He tried to shield himself from the destruction that was taking place all around him while Trunks could do nothing but state in horror. Trunks pressed his hands against the window and tears slid down his face as Goten shook with fear and shock. He knew what was happening, and it was something terrible.

There was no escape from this kind of life once they had been dragged into it and even at their young ages, Trunks and Goten were aware that they would not be locked in their pods forever.

One day...they would be out there amidst all of the chaos.

Now that the beginning of the story's plot has been established (how they got kidnapped, etc), we can move on to the actual basis of the story, which will take place next chapter with their arrival at the plant that is the destination of their overall space journey. The baby-talk they have been sharing (maked by italics), will no longer be in effect also since they will be able to talk more properly by then.

Depending on the reviews I receive, I shall be updating again over the next couple of days. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions so far so if you've taken the time to read this, please set me a review!