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Chapter 10

Trading

"Prince Vegeta, how unusual for you to come here!" A tall, long blond haired man called, as soon as Vegeta and Bulma left the spaceship and stepped on the ground.

He was humanoid, almost human looking with the only difference that he had yellow eyes. He wore a dark green uniform, what really reminded Bulma of the clothing of the soldiers in the army. He was around 25 years old, with a slim, but strong body structure.

"Baton, I should have known the King will send you!" Vegeta answered.

"Don't tell me, this is your scientist?" Baton called and looked at Bulma. "She has a fine body. Are you sure she is not rather one of your concubines?"

"I'm here you know!" Bulma snapped. "And I bet I'm a much better scientist then you have ever met as I managed to upgrade your armours quite a bit."

"Wow, you don't have to lose it Honey, I was actually a compliment!"

"If you call that a compliment, just stick them where the sun never shines!"

"That's quite enough, both of you!" Vegeta called and stepped between them.

Baton shrugged and pulled out two small bracelets. Vegeta obediently stretched out his hand and let him out it on him, Bulma unwillingly following his example. The landing zone was a bit similar to a human military airport, although it was smaller and they placed it at the top of the palace, on the roof. As Bulma looked around, she saw that the planet was a wasteland, with rocks and barren ground and she seriously questioned herself, how this race managed to stay alive here.

"Come after me!" Baton called and led them inside the palace.

Unlike the place where the saiyans lived, this was gorgeous, full with paintings, sculptures and all kind of decorations. Even the tiling had patterns, just like the ceiling.

"What are these?" Bulma asked, pointing at the 5cm wide silver coloured bracelet.

"These are equipped with small chips, so they can always monitor where we are and they are also limiting one's power level to a minimum."

"Really? I don't feel anything different."

"Because your power level is not significant, even at your natural state."

"So you are weaker? Does it mean I could take you?"

"Not even in your dreams, woman. I'm still much stronger as you will ever be!"

Vegeta hated the device, but this was the only way the people on Inthros allowed him or any other saiyan to be on their planet. He could still kill some of them in case he decided too, but with the bracelet on, they could kill him with their advanced weapons.

Baton led them into a room, which looked like a huge library and commented:

"You need to stay here, until the King is ready to speak with you."

"Tell him to hurry up, I don't have time to waste."

He nodded and closed the door after them. The room was impressive, even at human standards. It had shelves which reached until the ceiling which covered all for walls except of the windows and the door, while additional huge shelves were added and ordered in rows. Close to the door they had a reading area, with huge desks and comfortable chairs and what Bulma liked the most were the small area at her right, which was furnished with couches and armchairs.

"Damn it, I hate them" Vegeta cursed. "They are always making us wait; trying to show their importance."

"I really wish you would have a library on Vegeta-sei like this one!" Bulma called and she was already off, checking out some the nearest shelves.

"We have one, in the royal wing."

"Seriously? Can I go there any check it out?"

"Not until hell freezes over. The royal wing is off-limit for slaves."

Bulma sighed, but decided to let it slide as she was too excited to see what was here. She really hoped that it will be a long time until the King will see them. It was confusing, as their books was on the same language as people used on Earth and she asked herself, whether they were somehow related to humans in the past. They looked almost humans as far as she could see those, who walked around the floors, apart from the strange yellow eye-colour. She was so lost in the documents, that she hardly realised when Baton returned with the King on his side. The King was an old man with grey hairs and a huge grey beard and as he was rather fat and wore red garment, he reminded Bulma of Santa. Until Vegeta and the King discussed the details about the trade, she kept checking out the documents, hoping to find something useful. She was fully ignored by the other and her guess was it was because she was a mere slave, not important enough to be bothered with. That was a grave mistake as she found a more then interesting book about the armband, she and the Prince were forced to wear. She desperately tried to memorise so much about it as possible, before she had to go over to listen to the rest of the deal.

"When can we see the blueprints?" Vegeta asked and signed Bulma to come to him.

"Our leading scientist is out, he will only return late at night. How about we treat you as guests and we can finalise the deal tomorrow morning?"

Vegeta had a fair idea, that it was all just a made-up story and the King only wanted to show him, he was in power, even though in reality they both needed each other. However he heard a great deal about them from his own father, hence he was prepared to stay for the night even before the King came up with the story.

"Fine" He nodded.

"In this case, let me show you your room!" Baton got up and led them out of the room.

They got two rooms next to each other, both of them spacious and furnished with design.

"I will send a servant with your dinners, within a couple of minutes" Baton said and left.

Bulma wanted to go over to her won room, more so as she couldn't quite trust herself, after what happened on the way here. Just as she walked towards the door, Vegeta asked pointing at his bracelet:

"Do you think, you can disable this?"

"As a matter of fact, I just might be able to do it" She answered, then looked around and set her eyes on a coach, which was at the opposite side of the door.

Vegeta followed her eyes and they both sit down on it. He wasn't sure it was the best idea, prolonging her stay here, but he really hated that his powers were repressed and figured she might just be the right person to solve the problem.

"I found some interesting documents about this thing in the library. I haven't had the time to read everything, but I think I figured something out" She said and pulled out a screwdriver set under her armour.

This time, as she was working, she wasn't bothered by his closeness at all. Once her mind was set on something, she was able to shut out everything, focusing on the task before her. Vegeta noticed it and felt a bit disappointed. On the other hand it was a good sign that she was able to focus so much on disabling the device. After 10 minutes, they heard a knock on the door and jumped up as the servant entered the room with a huge plate. He put it down on the table and left, without saying a word.

"I'm starving, let's eat and I will continue it afterwards." She called and walked over to the table.

This time, he decided not to argue as he was also quite hungry. They sit down at the opposite side of the table and filled their plates. The food was rather delicious, grilled meat with salad and chocolate cake as dessert.

"How much time will you require?" He asked, while they were eating.

"I think I almost have it, but it's hard to tell. This technology is nothing like what I have ever seen. Hadn't I found the book about it, I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"You look like you are enjoying it…"

"I'm, most certainly. Maybe science is the same for me, as fighting is for you; I was fascinated by it, ever since I can remember. I have never wanted to do anything else and although I feel terrible about what happened with my home planet; I'm quite aware that staying there, I would never had an opportunity like this. I learned so many things, seen so many alien technologies, way more advanced than those on Earth, that in a way, I might even consider myself lucky."

She sighed, not quite sure why she was telling this to him; it's not like he cared. Still, as they were eating together and talked, it felt relatively normal. After dinner, they went back to the coach and soon enough, she managed to disable the device, at least partly.

"You can repress your Ki, right?" She asked, looking at him.

"Of course I can!"

"Then do so; in case they have some device, so they wouldn't detect it! Also, while I could disarm the tracking chip, I wouldn't really do so."

"I don't care about that, I just want to have my powers back" The Prince called and as soon as he felt his power return, he became at ease.

"Do you want me to activate it again, in the morning? Otherwise once they remove it, they will know I tempered with it and I think they wouldn't be happy."

"Fine" He agreed. "Now remove yourself from the premises and go to your own room!"

Bulma got up and walked to the door, without any objection. Before she left she turned back though, saying:

"As usual, it was a pleasure helping you out, there is really no need to thank me!"

When she entered her room, she threw herself on the bed, which was very comfortable. It was ages ago that she slept in one and while the tatami wasn't bad, this also felt nostalgic; it reminded her of her early childhood, when she was still living on Earth. She has never slept so well since years as she did that night and she was rather disappointed, when she had to get up in the morning. She went over to Vegeta's room and knocked; she had to activate the device before the King sent for them. As she heard Vegeta's voice allowing her to enter, she walked in.

"Hurry up!" He called and sit down on the coach.

"Good morning to you as well" She sighed, but obeyed.

This time as she knew what she was doing, she managed to activate the device within 5 minutes and soon after Baton came for them. Once again, they were led into the library, where the King and the lead scientist (and old man, almost like the King, just with a slimmer body) were waiting for them.

"So, how much time will it take for you and your team to get the planet?" The King asked, after they greeted each other.

Since yesterday Bulma became aware of the fact, that since the first time she met him, Vegeta was acting like a royalty. He wasn't friendly, but he was polite and after all, he had manners! He wasn't swearing, accusing or even threatening and he had quite an advanced way to deal with them. While Bulma knew, saiyans were also treading with other races, not just destroying them, so far it never occurred to her, that for those interactions, they might have needed manners. Once more, in a very short time she has seen one of Vegeta's sides, which she never ever assumed to exist. The Prince made similar discovering when he looked at her later, when she was studying the blueprint with the scientist of Inthros. Her enquiries were polite and professional, she spoke with them as somebody elite, despite her being a mere slave. It could only mean, that humans might have had an advanced culture and were familiar with courtesy. Hence her behaviour on Vegetasei might be partly because her objection regarding her being a captive. She was seemingly able to put that aside now and discuss the technology professionally. Who would have thought? Vegeta shook his head, trying to get rid of this train of thoughts. He shouldn't care how she behaved, it had no meaning at all. He was glad when the meeting was finally over and they were heading back to the spaceship.

"How long will it take, until you can equip the first ship with this technique?" He enquired, when they took off and were already in space.

Bulma already changed back to her overall (thank Kami for small favours) and she was sitting on the ground, with the blueprint scattered all around her, while she way typing something on her laptop.

"It's a rather complicated design and knowing how impatient you are, I'm not willing to guess just yet. Also I need to consult with the others as well as there are some grey areas."

"How long?" Vegeta asked again, irritated.

"Gee, chill out!" She said, getting up and walking over to him.

She stood behind him and while he tried to turn around in his chair to see her, she put her hands on his shoulders so unexpectedly that he twitched. When she began to massage his shoulders, first he had no idea, what she was doing and wanted to object. Still, despite her strength and rather small hands, the pressure caused by her was calming and pleasant and he started to relax. Bulma smiled as she continued to massage him. It was nice, being able to touch him so casually, even though he still had his shirt on. She felt how his muscules relaxed slowly under her touch and she wished this moment would last at least for a while, but she knew he could stop her any time, despite the fact that he seemed to like it. Her expectations proved to be right, when he suddenly got up after 10 minutes and turned to her:

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

"It's called massage. Don't tell me, you never heard of it? On Earth, people who worked out required such services quite often."

No, he has never heard of it and never even assumed that simple touch can have such an enjoyable effect. At least, when it had nothing sexual in it. This, as she run her hands through her shoulders was entirely different, from her touch when they were kissing. Damn it, he was really losing his mind. It would be a good thing to finally leave Vegetasei for a few months, as he already knew that he will be away for a while to get the planet for the Inthros. He hoped, once he will be far away from her, he will have a clear head.

"You still haven't answered my question" He pressed.

"If you insist" She sighed and walked back to the pc and sit down on the floor again "my guess is, 4 months. Maybe more, maybe less. I can tell you more, after a week or so, when we started to build it."

The trip to home was rather quick, especially for Bulma, who got lost in her work so much, that once again she has totally forgotten about Vegeta. When they landed, she went straight to the lab to speak with the others and start the project as soon as possible.

"We got attacked again, this time they landed on Mahu-sei" Kakarott explained.

He was sitting in the dining area, just finishing his late dinner. He looked exhausted which was understandable as he was out fighting more, then he was resting on Vegetasei. Chichi gathered the plates and brought them back to the washing stations, while Bulma remained there, sitting in front Kakarott. When Chichi also returned and she sit down next to him, Bulma asked:

"How bad was it?"

"They killed a whole village before I arrived with my team" He answered and he looked really angry.

This was something new, something Bulma and Chichi never seen and right now he appeared to be a ruthless saiyan, though when they looked into his eyes, there was something there, which seemed alien to saiyans. He looked like he was troubled and hurt, not by the fact that somebody again invaded their territory, but rather because he was unable to save everybody.

"You seem angry" Bulma commented.

"Of course I'm! They killed so many people and I arrived late."

"But you saved the rest, right?" Chichi asked.

"Yes, they were not so powerful, but… it is still terrible. I'm not sure what I will do, once this war is over, but I'm sure I can never go back, killing people… not after everything. I killed most of the people on Earth, in my Oozaru form so I don't remember on much and for that I'm happy. I feel terrible for what I have done and I have no idea, how I never felt any regret before."

"You were only a baby when you were sent to Earth and we already forgave you for your actions" Bulma said and Chichi nodded. "We know, that you are not evil and it wasn't really your choice."

"I also killed others, when I arrived back. The only reason I stopped was because of the King's orders and now due to the war. I… I just cannot go back to that saiyan, who I was before!"

Kakarott had such a troubled face like an old man who had his whole life behind him, while he was only in his teens. Still, the things he had seen and done made him so much more mature as a child in his age should be. Both girls felt sorry for him and didn't know how to help to ease his consciousness.

"You can always escape from here" Bulma sighed. "I was thinking about it all time, even though right now I'm not sure if that's the best idea. I mean with the war going on, Vegetasei is still the safest place."

Kakarott looked at her, like she had grown a second head, but as he thought about it later on, it wasn't so crazy after all. Right now, he wouldn't think about abandoning all of the colonies, but later, when the war is over and he is still alive, escaping might be the only option. He recalled her first conversation with Bulma and now, he finally understood it "power is not all about destroying" and "stronger people are there, to protect the weak ones, not to kill them".

"I really don't know. Maybe I should just disgrace myself so they assign me to work as Karris…" Kakarott sighed.

"When the time comes, we will figure out something; I'm a genius after all!" Bulma called, trying to sound more confident as she felt.

Truthfully she was totally lost about the course of actions to take. One thing was sure; they had to wait for the war to end. Going out in the universe with an unknown enemy lurking around would be suicide.

"I have to go back to the lab" Bulma added and after she patted Kakarott's shoulder to reassure him, she left.

"Say, do you have some dessert, by any chance?" Kakarott asked, looking at Chichi.

Suddenly he was back to his old carefree self, what made Chichi happy.

"Of course I have, I baked something for you this afternoon" She smiled and within seconds she appeared with a huge bowl of cookies.

"Wow Chi, you are the best!" Kakarott called with his mouth full, making her blush.

With the attacks becoming more and more frequent, the saiyans had to give up on their 3 years training plans and ended up going back to business a year sooner. Even so, every one of them acquired huge powers, each in proportion with his/her own class. This combined with their advanced battle strategies resulted to the fact that they repent all the attacks with minimal loss. Even so, most of them were again on the way, travelling from one planet to the other as it became more and more challenging, to defend all 20 of their colonies. They didn't have the men power to guard all of the planets, hence they were forced to learn logistic the hard way. They set up additional headquarters on two of the colonies, with healing tanks and spaceship stations, resulting that from the eight scientist, only 2 remained on Vegetasei; Bulma and Karris. The rest were divided among the 2 new stations, responsible for maintenance and repairs. While Bulma and Karris worked on the cloaking device, all other improvements were out of question as the constant repairs took up everybody's time from the science department.

Really soon I also plan to shed some light on the new enemy, who appeared and are attacking the saiyans. Who can they be?