Chapter 6

Colonies

"That is my final decision" King Vegeta said, looking at some papers, scattered all over the place.

They were in the throne room with Vegeta, sitting by a big desk, which was mainly used to plan strategic attacks on other planets. Kind Vegeta was sitting at the opposite site of his son and seemed concerned.

"How can we just train for 3 years?" Vegeta asked, not quite believing what he just heard.

"I told you, we are still losing too many fighters; we really need to take a break and became stronger. We won't go to destroy or clean out planets, unless they really pay much. Even then, we will go with three times as many warriors as we would normally do, to make sure we are overpowering the inhabitants."

"It's insane!"

"No, what's insane is, that we keep losing fighters. This cannot go on! I also tested the gravity room and it is really impressive. Training there for 3 years will hugely increase our power levels; it is just the boost what we need."

Vegeta couldn't argue with that. The room was already finished a couple of months ago, and as he spent as much time there as possible, he could already feel that his power increased. Even after seeing all the design, he never dreamed that it will be so effective. It was funny, how none of the saiyans really trusted the room first and apart from the Prince and Kakarott, none of the others dared to try it for a while. Eventually they got around their issues, especially as they saw how much they improved in a short time. Still, staying on Vegetasei for 3 years, only training… it seemed a long time. He was 17 years old, but since a very early age, he was always on missions and he never spent more than 2-3 months on the planet, without going anywhere. Well, they will still do some high level jobs, but that's not nearly the same. His father was right though, they needed time to become stronger and now they had the most effective tool for it.

"Fine, 3 years" He finally agreed and left the room.

Bulma was desperate. She needed to go back to Aoi-sei, otherwise the other there, will have trouble with mining again. She was sure some of the tools already broke and the rest of them will break as well, unless she can repair and maintain them. It was scary how time was flying. She was already 16 years old, living on Vegetasei for 3 years and was abducted from home more than 6 years ago. She still missed her old life and as she looked back on the problems she had on Earth, she had to laugh. How could she really complain about school that much? She was way ahead of everybody in the class and she was always bored, while she listened to the teachers. Now, she would give anything, just to get back to school! Not because she needed the education, rather because that would mean she has a normal life again. She terribly missed her parents as well and whenever she spoke about her old life with Chichi, she still felt a deep pain and sadness inside her chest. It's not like she suffered from any need, her life was relatively good here. She had her own room, she had Chichi and Kakarott and she became a scientist, which was her dream as a little girl. Sure, she never assumed she will work for aliens… but that was just a minor issue. Even though she wasn't allowed to leave the planet, she had a huge freedom; apart from the royal wing of the palace, she could go anywhere, anytime. As much as she hated Vegetasei at first, she almost liked it know. The temperature was hotter as on Earth and it didn't have such a huge variety in flora and fauna, but it was still beautiful. Just north from the castle, she had a view on a huge mountain, while at west she could see the sea. At the near vicinity of the castle there was a huge forest and occasionally she went there with Kakarott to catch some fishes. Or rather, to watch him catching some. Occasionally they also managed to smuggle Chichi out, as she had not such a great freedom as Bulma, given the fact that she was working in the kitchen.

"Are you listening at all?" She heard Karris and as she looked up from her pc, she saw that he was looking at her, sitting on her desk.

She had no idea, when he came to the lab and she never noticed him occupying her desk.

"Sorry, I never even saw when you came in" She said and smiled at her own absent-mindedness.

"I just told you, that I'm finished with my work, so I can help you with the new gravity room."

"Right!" She called and jumped up from her chair, then froze as something came to her mind.

"What is it now?" Karris asked, also standing up.

"You are allowed to travel to the colonies, aren't you?"

"Well… yes, but why would I do that?"

Bulma quite enjoyed working with Karris and despite being a saiyan, he had talent and learned quite quickly. He was never rude to anybody and unlike the others, he wasn't acting all mighty. Just like Bulma, he also treated the slaves as his equals and never threatened them, even though he was strong. At least compared to a normal person.

"You see, there are some machines on Aoi-sei, which are in a pretty bad shape and I need somebody to repair them. I cannot go obviously, however you can. I'm quite sure you will manage it, those are not really high tech things." She explained.

"So that is how they are able to deliver the required amount of gold since years! You built them machines, didn't you? Man, I really could have come to this conclusion on my own!"

"Can you please help me?"

Karris sighed, knowing that he will end up saying yes anyway. Bulma helped him out in the past and thanks to her he improved a lot and by now he wasn't just doing minor repairs, but actually contributed in more advanced tasks as well. He owned her that and he also understood her attitude towards the others; she was concerned. For some reason, he had the feeling that she even cared about the Prince on some level, which was odd. Humans were strange; she also forgave Kakarott for what he did and that was massive. Though at least he could partly understand that; Kakarott was different, not like most of the saiyans. Not that he was the one to talk, he was also a bit of an outsider.

"Fine, I will go" He nodded.

"Great, thank you!" She smiled and gave him a quick hug.

Just at that moment Vegeta stepped into a room and Bulma could have sworn he seemed outraged as he looked at them. Why? It had no sense… She must have imagining thing. He was always in a bad mood anyway, maybe this time it was just worse than usual.

"I will go ahead" Karris said and left the room.

He was never comfortable around the royal family and the Prince unnerved him even more as the King.

"How can I help you today, Sire?" She asked with a cynical smile.

Vegeta was indeed angry when he saw them being so familiar with each other. To make it worse; he had no idea, why this suddenly hit him. He just realised he wanted to punch Karris in the face, making him fly across the room. This inducement was so strong and unexpected, that he had to ball his fist in order to not to hit him. As Karris left and bowed, Vegeta was sure he didn't sense anything, but that stupid girl looked at him in a peculiar way. Also the way she phrased the questions, he knew she was just mocking him. Damn it, she was lucky that she had brains, otherwise he would have blasted her away a long time ago.

"I came to see your progress on the next gravity chamber" He answered, trying hard not to get irritated.

"As usual, I would be able to progress more quickly if you wouldn't waste my time. I already built two, what's the rush?"

"It was recently decided, that we will minimize our fights for the time being, so almost every saiyan will stay on the planet and train for 3 years."

"How come?"

"It's none of your damn business, just hurry up, do it and stop with your incessant jabbering!"

"It was a pleasure talking with you, as usual" She answered and wanted to leave.

To her surprise, he grabbed her arm, pulled her back and asked:

"Just where do you think you are going?"

"To build the damn gravity room!" Bulma answered and winced as his grip was too strong and it was hurting her arm.

Even so, she wasn't backing down and asking him to release her. She knew it would be in vain or even worse; it might just add oil to the fire. At first, Vegeta wasn't aware that he was hurting her but as soon she winced, he became conscious of it. He smirked, thinking that it will teach her a lesson to show some respect. He might not be able to kill her (for which he was sorry), but he could always torture her a bit. He was fully expecting her to beg him to stop, but she met his gaze and her eyes were filled with determination. He grabbed her harder, but the only change he managed to get out of her was, that she set her teeth to prevent herself from crying out. It was no fun, so he let her go with disappointment. She threw a hurtful look at him before she proceeded and left the laboratory. As soon as she was out of sight, she rubbed her arm, thinking that it will leave a bruise for sure.

The next day Karris left Vegetasei and travelled to Aoi-sei as he agreed with Bulma. To his surprise Kakarott decided to tag along, so they took the cargo ship with the disguise that they will get the gold this month.

"Why are you insisting on coming?" Karris asked as they left the orbit of Vegetasei.

"Don't know" Kakarott answered and scratched the back of his head. "I guess I wanted to see the planet as I have heard so many things about it from Chichi and Bulma."

Even though he was 12 years old, he was rather short for his age. Despite that, he was a good fighter and was promoted to 2nd class a few months ago. A promotion like that was always impressive, as most of the fighters remained in the class they were born, until they died. It was rare that one of them became stronger over the years and he wasn't just stronger, he also had some interesting techniques. Only he and Vegeta possessed the ability to sense Ki, all the others were still using the scouters to see their enemies' power. Of course nobody dared to ask Vegeta how he does it, but Kakarott, he might be willing to share it.

"Say, how do you sense somebody's power level?" Karris asked, changing the subject.

"Well, it's quite simple, once you get the hang of it" He smiled and began to explain it.

It sounded really simple and when they landed on Aoi-sei half an hour later, Karris didn't need his scouter to know how many Aois were waiting for them. While he was never sent on missions as a punishment, he still trained to stay in shape and he also liked fighting. His only problem was with killing; just like Kakarott, he never enjoyed destroying weak creatures. As soon as they landed and got out of the spaceship, both saiyan felt the hatred, what was coming from the inhabitants of the planet.

"Can you supervise the loading?" Karris turned to Kakarott. "I will go ahead and do the repairs."

"Sure, I can do that" Kakarott nodded and opened the door of the storage room.

"I was sent here by Bulma" Karris turned to the Aoi, who was standing the nearest to the ship "and she asked me to repair the machines she built for you."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Gale asked, not quite sure, that he heard right.

The man standing before him was a saiyan (although he was dressed in a strange overall), there was no doubt about it, yet he stated he is here for the machines. Could it be that they somehow got wind of Bulma's activities here and he came here to destroy them? Half of them were already broken, but the remaining ones were still a great help.

"I can understand that you don't trust me. I'm a saiyan after all" Karris smiled. "I'm telling you the truth though and it's not like you have much to lose. Without my actions, the tools will be broken anyway within a few months, so please, lead me to them!"

Gale weighted his options, but Karris was right, he had no other choice. He nodded and asked him to follow, surveying him carefully as he grabbed the toolbox and walked next to him. Karris felt Gale's eyes on him the whole time, though he was surprised when he managed to fix the first machine. Most of the slaves working there kept a safe distance from him, not even risking a glance. It was also among the things Karris hated as a saiyan. Wherever he went, he felt hate and fear, which was no wonder, considering what saiyans did.

Kakarott had similar issues, with the difference, that he was just watching them working, without any interaction. The workers loaded the boxes in silence, trying to hurry up with it, to get rid of the saiyans as soon as possible. Suddenly one of them dropped a box and the gold spilled on the ground.

"Let me help!" Kakarott offered and jumped there so soon, that the worked cried out in fear, thinking that he will be killed for his actions.

Kakarott looked at him with an eye-brown raised, then decided to let it go; gathered the gold to the box and carried it to the cargo ship. All the workers stopped observed him with a shocked face.

"I guess it will be quicker if I do it" He said lifting up 3 boxes at the same time with ease.

As he began to load the ship alone, all 10 workers, who initially had this task, stood there, looking at him like he had grown a second head.

"Is there something on my face?" Kakarott asked as he became conscious of the onlookers.

"What kind of saiyan are you?" Gray asked back.

"Bulma said it's ok to help others, without any personal gain. Or do you want to continue loading the ship?"

"No, no! You can carry on!"

Kakarott nodded and within the next 10 minutes he completed the work, which would have taken about 2 hours for the workers. As soon as he finished, he decided to look for Karris and also check out the place. It was the first time, that he was sent to a planet, without the order of destroying it. He never visited any of their colonies so far and it was strange to see a peaceful planet. He almost reached the mines, when he heard a strange noise and a cry from his right side. As he looked there, he saw a huge rock falling. He jumped there instinctively and shielded the child, who was playing just next to the cliff.

"Are you ok?" He asked, standing up.

The little girl, who was around 6, looked at him shocked, then she began to cry. Just like the other slaves, her clothes were smudged and ragged, her face smeared with dirt. She had long purple hair, which was braided into two ponytails.

"Ginna!" Her mother cried and rushed to them, almost knocking Kakarott down. "Are you ok?"

As she inspected her and saw that she wasn't hurt, just scared, she hugged her tightly, while she looked up at the young saiyan and said:

"Thank you for saving her! Thank you!"

Kakarott wasn't sure what to say, it wasn't like he was planning to save her, his body just moved on his own. As he looked at the mother's face, he was glad he jumped there. It's not like he got hurt, he barely felt the rock, while he saved a life with it. Somehow it felt good and he couldn't find out why. It wasn't anything special, nothing which intensively required his abilities, still as he saw how happy the mother was, he just had to smile. Again, everybody who saw the happenings looked at him strangely, not really understanding what they just witnessed.

"Hey Kakarott!" Karris called out and waved him to come there. "I need a hand with this!"

"Coming!" Kakarott answered and run towards him.

Karris was in the progress to repair a locomotive and he got lost between the wires and needed an extra hand.

"Why are they looking at us so strangely?" Kakarott asked, when they finished with everything and Karris was packing up the tools in the box.

"Guess they have never seen a saiyan, who wasn't plotting to kill them or at least terrorise them." He answered with a smirk.

"Well, this is the first time I'm not send to a planet to destroy it" Kakarott said with a goofy smile.

"I visited some colonies earlier, but never to help. I guess we should hurry up and go, I don't think they are really happy that we are here and I don't blame them."

With that said, they went back to the spaceship and started the engine to get home. As Karris needed a few spare parts to some of the tools, he decided to come back next month as well and repair the rest. It wasn't like the other saiyans found these kinds of assignments popular, they were gladly letting him and Kakarott do the job. This way Karris was able to help on the other colonies as well, with providing tools and whenever they were on a planet, Kakarott helped them load the spaceship and later on, even gave a hand with other works. With his powers, he was able to complete as much as a normal slave would within a week. First they got a similar atmosphere from the slaves as on Aoi-sei but as time passed and the inhabitants realised that the two saiyans had really no ill-will towards them and they were really just helping, they got used to them. At some planets, they were even looking forward to see them, because it meant receiving extra machines and additional help with the work.

"I think this should solve their issues" Bulma said, showing an irrigation system to Karris.

He just came back from one of the colonies, where due to the weather, the population suffered from drought and it looked they won't be able to deliver the minimal amount of grain, demanded by the saiyans.

"It looks complicated, I'm not sure I can build it alone" He answered, looking at the draft.

"I can build the most complicated parts, you just need to assemble it. It's a shame Kakarott has no idea about technical stuff, he could help you."

"Say, why are you always tagging along?" Karris asked, looking at the younger saiyan, who was also studying the blueprint.

"First it seemed like a good adventure" Kakarott answered, looking at them. "Then just recently on Mahu-sei one of the slaves told me how to become invisible.

"I remember that they had this ability when we conquered them, but it was no use as we could detect them with the scooters" Karris nodded.

"It could be useful for me though as I'm able to repress my Ki, so nobody would detect me" Kakarott smiled. "He promised to teach it to me, so I need to go back!"

"Do you think that the other slaves might also have some useful techniques?" Bulma asked.

"Maybe, but I also enjoy just visiting them. All the planets are so different from Vegetasei!"

"Are you sure, you are ok, doing this?" Bulma looked at Karris.

"I'm, since the first time since a long while, they are finally not looking at me with those hateful eyes, but are actually welcoming me. I never expected that it will be so good, I always assumed slaves have to fear you; I never imagined that helping them would actually help the saiyans as well. Most of the colonies are finally able to deliver the resources and we can build more spaceships, tools and have a wider variety of food."

"Good, then let's get to work" Bulma smiled.

I'm thinking about posting an extra chapter again this week, but no promises :) I hope you enjoyed this one!