Sona awoke to the chilly morning air gently nipping at her skin. She wearily cast her eyes around. Luckily, she was the first of the crew to awake. She sat up, trying not to wake Bardock, and slipped back into her armor. Unsure of when the others were going to wake, she decided to go and search for her breakfast.

As she walked silently through the wooded landscape, she let her mind wander. Mostly, her thoughts were filled with her father. She wasn't sure why he was at the front of her mind. He died shortly after the Tuffle war ended. The thing that she had never really understood about her father was his respect and adoration for her mother. Obviously that relationship didn't last long. She left after Sona was born. Sona never got to meet her mother, never knew what she was like. Her father rarely spoke of her, but when he did it was always with the utmost tenderness. She was almost bitter at her father for harboring those feelings towards her mother. After all, she had left him to take care of their child on his own. As she let her mind continue to ponder, she realized she was beginning to gain a faint understanding of how her father felt. It was something she thought she'd never comprehend.

She found some bushes by a small stream. They were laden with brightly colored berries. Sona didn't feel like putting out all the extra effort to kill an animal, so she reached forward and plucked a handful of the ripe berries. She cautiously sniffed. She determined that they smelled safe enough, so she popped them into her mouth. The rich flavor exploded in her mouth. She replenished her handful and continued to eat until she was satisfied. She took a drink from the stream and looked up at the sky. It was getting brighter now, and she was sure the others would be waking up soon if they hadn't already.

She began to trudge back through the stillness of the morning. As she had predicted the others had begun to wake up. There was another fire going to beat the chill of the morning. All of her friends awaked or otherwise, were gathered around it. Bardock, Borgos, and Shugesh appeared to still be asleep, but Tora was wide awake. Fasha was sitting up, but her posture indicated she wasn't fully awake. Sona joined them at the fire, glad to be able to feel tingling warmth in her fingers again.

"You must've been up early," Tora said as she sat down.

"I was pretty hungry," she said, running her fingers absentmindedly across her satisfied stomach.

"A woman who can think with her stomach," Tora laughed. "Very nice. Just out of curiosity, what did you find? Borgos ate all the leftovers," Tora's tone changed to one of annoyance as he spoke the last sentence. Sona understood that eating all the food must be a habit of Borgos, and a skill.

"There were some berry bushes, I'm sure you could find plenty of game though," she said. Tora stood and dusted himself off.

"Okay, well I guess I'll be back with everyone else's breakfast," he said, sighing. "Fasha," he said, sharply. Fasha's head snapped up and she looked at Tora wearily.

"What?" she grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"It looks like we're on breakfast duty. Let's go," Tora began to walk off, not waiting for Fasha. She stood, stretched, groaned, and followed Tora off into the woods.

Sona grabbed a stick that was lying close to the fire and absentmindedly began prodding the logs. Sparks flew in different directions each time the stick touched the logs. After several minutes, the others began to stir. Shugesh sat up, and scooted closer to the fire, but made no conversation.

After several more minutes Bardock joined them. He sat next to Sona, wordlessly as well. Borgos was the only one to remain in an unconscious state, snoring loudly. When Tora and Fasha returned and began to roast the meal they had scavenged, Borgos finally began to stir.

"Good morning, sunshine," Tora said as Borgos sniffed the air. Borgos merely grunted in reply. He was a man of few words, and definitely not a morning person. He sat still, with a sulky expression, watching the meat turn on the handmade spit.

When their meal was ready, Borgos was the first to serve himself. The others didn't attempt to fight him on this. They were used to Borgos' aggressive eating habits. Borgos was a decent fighter, but you didn't want to cross him if you were fighting over food. You'd surely lose. Food was perhaps the only thing in the whole expanse of the universe that Borgos actually cared for. He took an apathetic stance towards everything else.

Borgos began to tear the meat off the bone he had grabbed for himself. He grunted in satisfaction. Fasha, Tora, and Bardock reached hungrily for the remaining bones.

"I hope we end this mission quickly," Fasha said, as they began to eat their meal. "There's just something about this place that doesn't feel right."

"It's probably just nerves, Fasha," Tora shrugged. Fasha threw him a dirty look and snorted.

"Yeah, right, because I always get nervous before I'm about to wipe out an entire race," she said sarcastically, shaking her head. She paused before continuing seriously again, "I just get the feeling that something is going to happen, and we're not going to like the outcome."

"Let's hope it's just you being paranoid," Bardock said. He wasn't trying to poke fun at Fasha, but she took it that way. Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm being serious, you idiots," she said, sternly. "I'm not exactly the worry wart type, you know. I just think we should be on our guard, that's all. Being cautious never hurt anyone."

"Okay, we'll be careful," Bardock said cautiously. He didn't want to unintentionally offend Fasha again. He seemed to be able to offend her more easily now, not that he was trying.

They continued their meal in silence. They spent the rest of the day sparring with each other, waiting restlessly for the night. Bardock was sparring with Fasha, something he hadn't done in a long time. He had forgotten how powerful she was.

"It's been a while," she said, as she tried to sweep his legs out from under him. She had a slightly menacing smile on her face. "By the way, how did you sleep last night?" Bardock's heart stopped. Fasha's tone was so patronizing he was sure she knew. She must be furious.

"H-how did I sleep?" he repeated, dumbstruck. He blocked a jab aimed for his abdomen. Fasha just laughed.

"You're just not on your game today. I figured you must not have slept well," she smirked. Bardock almost heaved a sigh of relief. So Fasha didn't know. Not yet, anyway. But Fasha was right. His head wasn't in his fight at all. His mind wandered easily, to things that were quite unimportant. He needed to concentrate if he intended to complete his mission on schedule. He squared his shoulders and began to attack Fasha with a new concentration and energy. It seemed to be working.

When night fell, the natives finally showed their faces. The Saiyans had been waiting impatiently for them to show up, causing a ruckus. The natives to this new planet were short. Their skin was a light greenish color, but had an odd metallic appearance. They didn't appear to be very powerful, but were quite capable of speaking angrily. The Saiyans couldn't understand what message the angry clicks were supposed to deliver. They did understand, however, that it wasn't friendly.

"Did we really need the full moon for this?" Bardock asked aloud, to no one in particular. No one responded. Both races just stood still staring at the other. Bardock couldn't wait to attack any longer. He made the first move, lunging towards the front row of natives. They were easily sent flying, even by his weakest ki blasts.

Bardock realized quickly that this was going to be a boring fight. Not even a challenge. He was sick of these kinds of missions. He desperately needed a challenge. He couldn't keep accepting all these low level assignments. He was better than that. His crew was better than that. If they had to travel so far from home, they might as well have a challenge.

His thoughts of boredom were sharply interrupted when he felt a searing pain in his left arm. One of the natives had buried his sharp, needlelike incisors into his arm. With the help of his scouter, Bardock could see that the creature's energy was increasing rapidly. He could feel his own energy draining, as well as the warmth of his blood leaving his body. Bardock had ceased his attacks to observe the creature latched to his arm for only a moment. All the other natives began to throw themselves at Bardock. He tried desperately to fight them off, but there were simply too many. He felt more shocks of pain as his energy was drained from him. He remembered collapsing to his knees, his head and lungs burning as though he was holding his breath, and the corners of his vision fading to black. After that, he had no recollection of the events of the past seven days.

When Bardock awoke, his vision was blurred. He was aware of the liquid blocking his vision and the oxygen mask attached to his face. He was in a healing tank. He could faintly see figures moving, one walking towards his tank and pressing a button. Bardock felt his weight return to him and removed the oxygen mask. As the tank's covering slowly slid back, Bardock stepped out, rubbing the water out of his eyes. When he opened them again, he recognized his doctor. Malaka. The rest of his crew was there, smiling at him.

"It's about time you recovered," Tora joked. "You've been in there long enough. Seven days, I think that's a record for you."

"How did the rest of the battle go? What happened?" Bardock asked, running his fingers though his currently limp hair.

"Well, when we became Oozaru, things started to work a little more smoothly. We could just squish the little buggers with our feet," Tora said.

"How did you get those… things off me?" Bardock asked, knowing the healing tank couldn't bring him back if an Oozaru stepped on him.

"They just sucked all your energy until they popped," Tora shrugged. He was so calm about everything. It was one of his best qualities.

"You know how much it pains me to say this," Fasha said, smirking, "but I told you, you needed to be careful."

"I hate to interrupt, but I was wondering if I might have a word with Bardock alone," Malaka interrupted. The Saiyans grudgingly complied, saying rushed goodbyes to their friend and heading out the doorway.

"They were certainly off in a hurry, weren't they?" Bardock observed aloud.

"They have to leave for their next mission," Malaka said, beginning to test Bardock's reflexes.

"Whoa, they have another mission?" he asked. He began to walk after them. Malaka stopped him, sitting him down on a nearby metal chair.

"I told them to leave without you. Granted the situation that you are in, I don't think it's wise for you to be fighting battles. Give it a couple more days, and you'll be as good as new. "

"I can't just let my crew go off and fight!" Bardock said, slightly angered. "I should be there with them."

"You need to let them go, Bardock. You lost a lot of energy," Malaka said calmly. Bardock found it pointless to argue. He sighed and sat back in his chair. His mind wandered. He would be stuck on Vegeta, "incapacitated" for several months. He needed something to do, something to work on with his own hands. It had been a long time since he'd gotten to tinker. He missed those days.

"Am I at least free to return to my home?" he asked Malaka. He'd seen enough healing facilities in his life. He didn't want to prolong his stay.

"I suppose, but don't expect that I won't check up on you, boy," Malaka said. "Your health is important." Bardock stood quickly, thanked Malaka, and exited the healing facility. He knew exactly what was going to occupy his time until his crew returned home. It was something for all of them, something he knew they would all enjoy in their own way. But mostly, it was for Sona