I do not own DBZ.
A/N: I realize this is a lot sooner than many people expected, but I had most of it written already.
This Chapter is, as uncreative pseudonym said, going to have brutal tactics.
A final note: I appreciate all suggestions, so leave them if you have them. If you want to talk on AIM, I will reply my screen name to you. Thanks, and again Read and Review.
A Father's Fate
The Story of Bardock
The darkness of space seemed more tangible in the area. The large round ship that floated in the seeming center, spun in a clockwise direction. The white of the ship seemed to embrace the darkness in a twisted manner.
"How many ships are at the Harbinger's current position?" a snake-like voice asked, its terrible reverberation causing the soldiers around to wince.
"Milord, your brother has fifteen ships on scene, with another five arriving, sir," a groveling man said, his pale complexion covered in beads of sweat.
"Good, very good. Set a course for the east system, its time we meet with Father,"
A triad of ships closed in on the Harbinger, making forward progress impossible. The bridge crew of the Harbinger looked on, fear nearly palpable. The crew monitored everything that went on, but made no move to attack or escape. The Saiyans stretched out slightly, putting on their armor in the process.
"Once the fight begins, you'll have about three minutes before they break free of the 'static zone' and are able to make contact with the other ships. With three ships, any two can stop the breakaway ship. We will have to fight them with the Harbinger," pilot Munez intoned grimly.
"Thee minutes is far more that we'll need. Make sure they don't have any contact with the outside, and make sure the enemy thinks that there's no trouble," Bardock replied, noting everyone's look on their faces.
"How well can the Harbinger do in a two on one dogfight?" Toma asked, looking doubtful.
"Well, I'd say in a one versus one, we would dominate, so a two versus one we should hold our own, as long as our target coordinator does his job," Chloe said, looking at Chichumi. In return, he nodded.
"Alright guys, let's meet them at the door!" Bardock said, turning and jogging towards the airlock. The bridge crew nodded and waited for the inevitable. The Saiyans turned and left, following Bardock. As they arrived, they scattered around, giving adequate cover.
A few seconds passed before metal scraping metal was heard. Everyone on both ships winced slightly, all waiting for the confrontation. A moment later, a loud thud sound was heard, and the outside airlock opened. Another tense second passed, then the next airlock opened.
Everything became ethereal for Bardock as he waited for the first person to pass his position. Immediately after the soldier lumbered by, Bardock stepped behind him, slamming the next soldier in line into the wall. He charged forward, flipping over a few soldiers, not looking at the ones he passed. Following Bardock into the crowd, Fasha slammed her palm into the first man's chin, knocking him into the ceiling.
Following Fasha, the rest of the Saiyans moved forward, catching up to Bardock, knocking out those who dared to interfere. Bardock rushed into the circle of enemies, punching through the closest man's chest, killing him and slamming a soldier behind him into the wall, leaving a blood trail behind him.
Fasha moved perpendicular to Bardock, kicking an enemies head, breaking his neck. She flipped the corpse sideways, knocking a group of three soldiers down. She followed up by hitting the next man in the stomach, lifting him into the air. Fasha caught him and threw him into the wall.
Toma ran directly through the enemy ring, into the enemy ship. As he approached, two men rushed him, energy weapons at the ready. Toma put both of his arms forward, firing twin beams into the grunts, instantly killing them. He rushed onward, blowing past a few more enemies until he was stopped by someone stronger than normal.
Borgos, Matra, and Toi didn't enter the fight until it moved onto the enemy ship. As they came through the airlock, the fired blasts at a wall, making a new entrance. Walking through the rubble, each branched off their own way, killing any who opposed them.
Bardock made it into the enemy ship, deflecting blasts as he walked forward. He neared a new ring of fighters, none of them wearing helmets, but their scouters were all beeping like mad. Bardock ran forward, skidding as he stopped. He spun backwards into a soldier and slammed his fists into the two men next to him. Bardock bent over, grabbing the man on his back and launched him into a wall. Bardock immediately spun around and ran to the next people.
Fasha kept pace with Bardock as best she could, punching the next class of grunt in the face, shattering bones. As she walked up to Bardock, her scouter turned on and blinked a power of fifteen thousand. She turned in time to catch a fist to the face that sent her reeling into the wall.
Toma looked up and saw Fasha fly into a wall. He ran forward, but the same force that stopped him before slammed into him, knocking him away. Redoubling his efforts, Toma burst in an aura and flew forward, fist extended. As he neared the same place, a form was knocked away, tumbling backwards.
Matra and Toi kept close and covered each other's backs. Matra was looking for the backup generator, and Toi was doing most of the fighting. As more and more enemies approached, Toi killed them instantly, moving so fast it appeared he wasn't moving. Every enemy that approached broke into a mess and fell to the ground.
Borgos slammed through the nearest wall to find his prize, the bridge. As he entered, everyone instantly turned, weapons heating up. Borgos laughed and put up a barrier. As the shots bounced off, he made a mental note to not destroy any more walls for fear of the vacuum. Everyone on the bridge ran forward, preparing for close combat.
Borgos grinned, letting his barrier dissipate. As it did, he slammed his foot into a pilots head, sending him into a nearby wall. He ducked a punch to his head and caught a ball of energy as he was dipping. Spinning slightly he let the ball go into his attacker's face, killing him. Borgos reached out and grabbed another pilot's wrist and broke it, then as the man looked too shocked to fight back, Borgos slammed him into another man, taking both of them out of the fight.
Borgos walked up to the terminal and turned on his scouter. He replayed a message from Chloe over a few times, as it instructed him on what to do. As he finished, Chloe's voice came over the ship's inner speakers.
"Saiyans, you're in the clear. Finish up and get back here ASAP!" her voice boomed. Frieza's soldiers looked confused for a second, all eyes on the speakers. As soon as she finished speaking, Chloe looked around the bridge. My turn.
Playing around on the controls in front of her for a second, she finally configured it the way she liked it. As she keyed a button, a hailing channel opened from a distant ship.
"What's the status? And why is there a static zone?" the voice trilled.
"Status: nominal. The static zone is from a destroyed transmitter, sir. We are bringing the suspects to the brig. I'll keep you informed of any more activities," Chloe ended, letting go of the button and sighing. "Maintain the static for a few more minutes, it should hide the powers from Frieza,"
Matra rushed up to the solid steel doorway, ripping apart the door in an instant. As she stepped through, she listened to Chloe's message one time, then went to work. As she finished, both the generator and backup generator were online. Toi dispatched another and nodded to Matra. Instantly the two were off, dead sprint back to the Harbinger.
Bardock spun to find his two closest friends fighting what looked like a slug with a body. He burst forward, punching the blue thing in the back, knocking it forward. He reached down and pulled Fasha up and nodded to Toma. The two began fighting other soldiers, cleaning up the rest. Borgos walked through the busted wall a second later and joined the fray.
Bardock smirked as he punched the slug in the face, forcing his head sideways. In retaliation, the thing swung blindly at Bardock, missing by scant inches. Bardock pushed its hand and punched him in the stomach.
"I am Kui! No third class Saiyan can beat me!" the thing identified itself, rushing forward. As it brought a chop downward, Bardock didn't even move to stop it. Unflinching, Bardock let the hand slam into the top of his head.
Waiting for Kui to realize his hand was broken, Bardock powered up an aura. Kui recoiled, grasping his useless hand when his scouter chirped. The numbers kept rising for a while then finally came to a stop, blinking the number thirty thousand.
"That cannot be!" Kui yelped, too shocked to even pay attention to the fight. Bardock instantly appeared in front of him, scowl written on his face.
"Die." Bardock said, punching through Kui, shattering him into a myriad of colors. Bardock turned to face his crew, the fight not evident on his features. "Time to leave, everyone let's get the heck out of here,"
The Saiyans all bustled out of the airlock, into their own ship. As they closed the airlock, the other ship departed, making the thump again, followed by the screech of metal on metal. Walking to the bridge, Bardock nodded to Chloe.
"Attention, we have all suspects in custody. Leaving a few behind to confiscate their ship," she said into the intercom. As she released the button, the reply came instantly.
"FSS009, attention, your backup generator is running as well as your main. Correct immediately," the tone was angry.
"Piss off," Chloe intoned, sending the ship in the largest grouping of enemy ships. As it came inside their firing range, the other ships opened fire with energy projectiles. At first there was an explosion, but after a second, out of the dust flew the other ship, slamming into the closest one to it.
Everyone on the Harbinger watched as the two ships melded together. After a few seconds, the tail end of their remote ship glowed a hot red. A second later, there as an extremely large explosion, making no sound at all. Everyone watched the eerie show but Chloe who was already moving the ship. Instantly Chichumi targeted enemy ships and began firing a rapid shot.
Both of Frieza's vessels sat motionless for a second, allowing several blasts to impact on their hulls. After a few seconds, their engines turned on, but hadn't been on long enough to keep pace with the Harbinger.
Chloe brought the ship around, behind both vessels, taking away their shot and giving Chichumi a shot at the engines, which he took without hesitation. Immediately the other ship targeted a gun that came into view and fired at it. The Harbinger absorbed the shots, not having penetration, yet.
After a full fifteen seconds of firing, the first ships engines were taken out. Chichumi then focused on the other ship, firing at the guns. Chuu ran up to an empty console and took control of the rest of the guns. A few more seconds and the capable ship was brought to a halt, drifting on its momentum.
Together, the brothers fired at the generator room of the first ship, slicing through the hull and hitting home. At first nothing happened, then the same red glow from before appeared. Everyone quickly identified what the glow corresponded with and gasped. Chloe noted it and set the throttle to full, leaving the system in a hurry.
As the ship pulled away from the impending explosion Chloe typed in a command then pressed a button, engaging a loud engine in the back of the ship.
As the windows glowed, the stars around the ship stretched away, leaving the now scarred yellow planet behind. The ship exited Trans Space almost immediately.
"Well, Frieza knew we weren't dead," Borgos commented.
"I think he has a way of detecting your powers," Michuu said. All of the Saiyans looked nonplused until he continued. "Perhaps the static field should be active next time you train,"
"And that can stop Frieza's sensors?" Fasha asked.
"No guarantees, but the other ships didn't realize what was going on, so I'd guess it works well enough," Michuu continued.
"Well, that won't be a problem until the next planet anyway. Chloe, we are on the outer rim now, right?" Bardock asked, waiting for a response. As Chloe nodded, he continued, "Take us through the sector, out to the opposite end of the rim."
"Impossible, we'd have to get jump targets from somewhere,"
"Well, let's just try it on our own, we have made the algorithms before, so all we have to do is make a bigger one," Bardock finished, deterring all arguments. "In the mean time, we will just have to find a Frieza hostile planet,"
"Well, we can try, but these algorithms take a while,"
"That's ok, we are in the clear for now. By the way, the spare parts, how many of them do we actually need?"
"None at the moment, but you never can be too safe,"
"Well, I think I am going to try to make our training area stronger, perhaps a new layer over the outside." Bardock finished.
"As long as you have the option to turn on the um static or whatever, then we should be fine," Toma added.
"You Saiyans never sit still, do you?" Chloe groaned, a smile evident on her face. She turned to each one of the Saiyans impassively, as a sign of respect. Turning, she began writing numbers and conversing them with the bridge crew.
The Saiyans walked off the bridge, going into their own rooms. Toi went to the back of the ship again and began meditating as if he wasn't even concerned. Bardock walked into his room and sat on the bunk. As he did, Fasha walked in and sat down next to him. Bardock turned, towards her, then turned back towards his lap.
"Bardock, are we doing the right thing? Do the ends justify the means?" Fasha asked quietly.
"If your worried about being like Frieza, don't. Those men were soldiers. They knew what they were getting into, and on the next level, they served Frieza. They did untold acts of horror to any number of people. We were just, in this particular," Bardock responded, looking Fasha in the eyes as he said it. This time it was Fasha's turn to look away.
"Isn't killing an enemy that fights back just as bad as killing someone who doesn't?"
"Not at all. If nobody fights, then nothing changes. More people are killed anyway. At least we are killing the killers. And now that you have remorse, you know you aren't the same cut as they are. You are better. Don't ever forget that. We aren't the stone cold killers anymore,"
"Just the Cold killers!" Fasha joked. Bardock smirked, still staring at her. He took off his scouter and set it on a small outcropping of the wall. Fasha did the same, still not looking at Bardock.
Reaching around Fasha, Bardock brought her close and kissed her. As they touched, Fasha opened her eyes, not able to comprehend what was happening. Mutually they backed away, looking at each other. Fasha's face was flushed, as was Bardock's though only slightly. Fasha glanced away and stood up.
Walking away quickly she rounded a corner and slipped into her room. Bardock looked after her for a moment, then put up his facade. Immediately he grabbed his scouter and dialed in his son's frequency. After a moment of static, a voice came through, not entirely clear.
"This is Raditz,"
"Raditz, it's me, your father. I have to make this short. Frieza blew up our planet and now he is searching for me and my crew,"
"I know all that, I heard it from Vegeta,"
"Okay then, if Frieza is letting him live, then stay with him. Don't wander off without the prince, as Frieza may find you of less use,"
"Yes, father,"
"Raditz, we are all that's left of a proud race. I don't want you dying so young, without a chance to show what you can do,"
"Father?"
"Don't die is all I meant,"
"The same to you, father. I have heard that you are now equal to the king, perhaps stronger,"
"That may be true about strength, but I am not sure about ruling a race,"
"Just remember your strength, remember the strongest survives,"
"You have a brother, Raditz, I'm going to find him eventually. Stay alive," was the end of the message as his scouter clicked off. A few minutes of staring into space, Bardock stood up.
Bardock left his room and walked down the hallway. He spotted Fasha sitting on her bunk, alone. He entered and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Fasha, you are very important to me. I want to be with you, but we have a job to do as well,"
"Bardock, I know. It's just like a dream, I never expected you to show any feeling," Fasha said, teary eyed.
"Fasha, I do what I have to. I am taking control of our race. A race of warriors, that I refuse to let down," Bardock said, keeping his steely gaze on Fasha's face. Bardock eventually sat down next to Fasha and pulled her close and hugged her.
"I can't do it alone, Fasha. I want you at my side," Fasha looked up at Bardock, smiling. Bardock returned it and held her for a few more seconds, neither moving. Bardock kissed her on the cheek and stood to leave. Fasha pulled his tail lightly, causing him to turn around.
"Bardock, I want to be with you. I'll be with you everywhere you go," Fasha said quietly, her mind willing her to say the rest of it. I love you. I love you! Bardock could sense the feelings, and bent down and kissed her one final time.
As Bardock was leaving the room, Borgos passed by in the hallway, carrying a box with him. Bardock looked by quizzically as Toma also passed with a box. Turning, he followed them into the "training room". He watched as they set the box full of something heavy down. In turn each of them pulled out a piece of metal.
Bardock walked up to a box and pulled out a piece as well. Each of them walked their piece up to the wall and forced it into place. Toma charged a small amount of energy and used it to heat the metal until it began pliable.
The others took their cues and began lining the walls with another layer of metal. Eventually they came across parts that weren't just sheet metal. Shrugging, Bardock pulled the spare core casing flat. The job of bolstering the room took a few hours, but in the end, they Saiyans were slightly wore out.
Toi stood up after everyone finished and looked around. "Good job, the room is much stronger, but still nobody may use their full power,"
"Yeah, well it is still better than just sitting still," Toma countered.
"Perhaps, but perhaps last spar you were at your maximum," Toi said, not showing any arrogance in his features.
"So what? Everyone was!"
"Not you," Toi said, pointing towards Bardock. Bardock put his hand on the back of his head and grinned. "I know of a place where you and I can reach our full power without damaging the surrounding area,"
"Well, now I am intrigued. Where is this place?" Bardock asked, seeming quite interested at the prospect of being able to reach his full potential.
"In our minds."