A/N: Hey do you guys like my story?

Chapter 3: A new life.

Bardock stomped into the Mission Headquarters, his face written with annoyance. He really, really did not want to be here. Commander Dive wasn't known to be the easiest man to talk to. He was probably one of the most hot-headed Saiyans around, making Bardock try his best to minimize any sort of contact between them. If he knew being team leader meant he had to talk to this guy after every mission, he would have gladly given up his chance for leadership.

Bardock hurried down the dull, stone-gray lobby, approaching a receptionist who was leaning back in his seat, with a smug look on his face. Behind the receptionist was the door to the Commander's office.

"Well well, if it ain't the super third class himself, better hurry Bardock, you don't want to keep the Commander waiting, especially after your guys last mission," taunted the receptionist.

"Stuff it Niono, I don't have time for your crap, tell the Commander I'm here to see him,"

"One question first, what's going on with you and Gine, you in some kind of relationship? Tough guys like you don't bother themselves with those things, you should leave her to me, I'll-."

Niono didn't get to finish his sentence as he was interrupted by Bardock's fist hitting his face.

Bardock walked past the crumpled form of Niono clutching his now broken nose and marched into the Commanders office.

Bardock placed his hand to his chest and bowed forward, "Commander Dive, sir."

"Ah, Bardock, you're here early," said the Commander

No shit, if I was even a second late you'd rip you're desk in half.

The commander cleared his throat and leaned his elbows forward on his desk.

"About your most recent mission, the report says it took you and your team five days to clear planet Dirb,"

Oh here we go

"Post mission inspection showed there was a considerable amount of damage to the worlds surface, tell me Captain, was there a full moon while you were there?"

"Yes sir, it happened on our fifth night,"

The Commander let out a heavy sigh, "You do realize, Captain Bardock, that this planet was a very valuable one due to the natural beauty of the world's surface?" The Commander's voice was starting to raise.

"Yes sir, I had read that in the mission briefing,"

"So then why did you and your team of imbeciles rip the planet's surface to pieces!?" The Commander was yelling now, and he was up and out of his seat, his face red with anger.

"There are craters all over the place, the lush forests and green grasslands have been burned to a crisp, do you not Understand how much value we lost on this world!? This was going to be one of our most profitable planets to date and you ruffians absolutely destroyed it. Lord Frieza is not going to be happy about this, no, not at all!"

Bardock looked on ahead, honestly, he was expecting this. No matter how well Bardock and his team did on a mission, Commander Dive always had something to nitpick about. Bardock was surprised that he was even able to keep himself composed all this time. It took a considerable amount of willpower for Bardock not to just walk up to the commander and punch his damn face in! The palm haired warrior also realized doing just that would get him killed. Commander Dive wasn't a commander for no reason, he was part of the upper mid-class, which meant he was very powerful.

Dive sat back down into his chair and put a hand to his forehead and sighed.

"Damages aside, if you will, give me a quick rundown of what happened during the mission,"

"It was an easy one. Weak creatures, the strongest barely above one-hundred in battle power. They had decent technology that stung when we got hit, probably coulda' killed us too if we weren't careful. There was a lotta' those birds, that's why it took so long. We woulda' taken longer but I decided to take advantage of the full moon. After that we cleared them all, then this guy showed up, tough, but we got him, then I_"

"Stop," Dive interrupted, "This warrior, tell me more."

"He was strong, and incredibly fast, I don't know why but we couldn't get a proper read on his power level, it kept jumping all over the place. We all woulda' died if it weren't for one well-placed shot, but I-,"

"What did he look like?"

"Tall, blue scaled skin, looked like some kinda' fish. He wore a brown cloak, carried a black metal staff,"

The commander sighed, "So, it was true then."

"What was?"

"There was a rumor that the Planet Dirb was guarded by an intensely strong fighter that did not originate from that world, it was said it was responsible for the failed invasions."

This sparked some interest from Bardock, if command knew about him then why wasn't he informed? They all could have died during that mission, and one of them almost did. Bardock clenched his teeth, it was just like them to be hiding information from them. The higher levels didn't care about the wellbeing of the third-class, Bardock had always known this. Of course, they would try to sabotage a team that was finally starting to show their worth.

"In any case, I'd like to congratulate you on the success of this mission."

Wait, what?

Bardock was dumbfounded, was he receiving praise from the commander?

"This mission was not supposed to be a successful one, in fact, you were sent in for more of an investigative role, the Frieza Force couldn't beat that mysterious warrior, so they shipped the job to us," he explained.

"This mission was apparently not a desirable, we tried to get a few elite teams to take this one, but they refused, saying it wasn't in their best interests. Since the elites refused the mission they passed it on to me to assign to a third-class team, and I knew that if there was any third-class team that would get the job done, it was yours. And I have to say, I am certainly impressed that you all came back in once piece, you surely put the rest of the elites to shame from your display, well done."

"Thank you, sir, I always make sure that my squad puts out the best performance on every mission,"

Jackass.

"I hope so, I'll send you the debrief of your next assignment, you have ten hours for R&R, make sure your team is ready for this one, it's another mission the elites refused. I hope you're up for the challenge,"

"Always, Commander,"

"Good, you're dismissed."

Bardock saluted the commander then was about to leave before the Commander stopped him.

"Bardock, one more thing,"

"I am to understand that Gine was gravely injured on the battlefield, is that correct?"

"It was a surprise attack, I couldn't stop it,"

"No matter, ensure this does not happen again, or there will be consequences," the commander said in a threatening tone.

Bardock nodded before turning around and marching out of the room, a sour look on his face. As he walked, he couldn't help but feel his mood elevating. Finally, they were being recognized for all the hard work they put in. If the commander recommended them for a mission that even the elites wouldn't take, then surely their goal of reaching that level was close to their grasps. The fact that they hid some valuable information from them though….

Bardock immediately dismissed the conspiracy theories, he can think about that later.

Bardock knew one thing for certain though, these missions were going to get a lot harder, which meant that his team and himself needed to be at their top performance at all times if the wanted to survive. There was another problem as well.

Gine.

He didn't want to admit it, due to his growing affection for the timid Saiyan, but Gine was a liability to his team's success. He knew that she was awful at fighting, and she didn't have the drive that motivated a Saiyan for battle. He started to get a little worried about her. The missions are getting harder, and Gine just wasn't getting strong enough to continue.

Bardock quickly cleared his mind of these thoughts. Why did he even care? It's not his problem that Gine wasn't the warrior she is meant to be.

Look what she's got me doing, worrying and stuff.

Bardock marched on, he had to inform his teammates of the news, he knew they would be happy to hear this.

Gine stared off at nothing in particular as she sat on a cliff overlooking the capital city. She didn't know how long she'd been there, probably a long time since she'd arrived when the planets suns were highest in the sky, and now the last of their light rays were peeking out from the horizon, painting the clouds a rich orange colour. A gentle breeze rolled through the tall vegetation around her, giving a nice cool feeling to contrast the heat of the two suns.

This was Gine's favourite place to relax and think, get away from all her troubles. She'd usually come here after every mission and stare off into the sky, or marvel at the majesty of the Royal palace.

It was peaceful, and quiet. And right now, she had a lot of thinking to do. In fact, that's all she had been doing this entire time. Thinking of her race, of her team, her relationship with Bardock. Right now, the main thing she thought about was what her team captain had said to her.

Worthless.

He was right. That's all she was, worthless. She couldn't fight. Sure, she was good at other non-fighting things, but a Saiyan who can't fight is just,

Worthless.

She can't continue like this, going from mission to mission until she gets killed in battle. Which, judging by the last mission, is an all too likely possibility that is bound to happen soon. She wished she didn't have to live life this way. She wished she could follow her true passions in life.

Gine was always interested in technology. How it worked, how it all fit together. It was all incredibly fascinating to her. Instead of training she would often spend her downtime between missions tinkering with gadgets she collected from other worlds, or read various books on scientific topics. But saiyans weren't supposed to care about that stuff. It was all battle and strength, nothing else. Gine hated this, she wanted nothing more than to escape the societal pressures that plagued her constantly. That was only a distant fantasy, just as likely as her becoming an elite-class warrior.

Wait, yeah. That's it! I'll ask for early retirement!

There was a system in place that allowed for saiyans who have been serving for a long time to request for retirement from the military. Which was heavily underused since a true Saiyan would never want to give up fighting. Usually it would be if they were getting too old, which was extremely rare as saiyans always died in battle, or if they suffered an injury that permanently disabled them. Which was also a rare occurrence due to the advanced medical technology of the Cold Empire that the saiyans had access to. But she knew she could at least try to suggest it, with her record, she knew that she would be allowed to retire, and start the life she'd always wanted, away from battle.

The only problem was convincing her mission coordinator, Commander Dive, to let her leave. Which was pretty much impossible. But she had to at least try. Gine rose to her feet and took off into the air towards the mission headquarters.

"Hey Gine, looking good today, why don't you come out for drinks with me tonight, huh? Maybe I'll take ya back to my place and we can see what happens," Niono said suggestively

"Stuff it Niono, and what happened to your face? Fall down the stairs again?" She said, pointing at his bandaged nose.

"Your stupid brute did this to me when I asked about you! He put me through a lot of pain, in fact, you should really be tending to my injury since you're partly responsible, come by my apartment after my shift whaddya say?"

Gine laughed, "Well maybe I should just bring Bardock along with me since you clearly didn't get his message the first time,"

Niono tensed,

"W-whatever then! Just go see the commander already,"

Gine shot him a smug look before walking into Commander Dive's office,

She placed a hand to her chest and bowed forward.

"Commander Dive, thank you for meeting with me today," she stated respectfully.

The Commander sighed, "You better not be wasting my time, Gine."

"Sir, I'd like to request an early retirement from-"

SLAM!

Gine flinched at the sound of the Commander smacking his hand on the metal desk.

"You're. Not. Quitting!" he seethed.

"But sir I-"

SLAM!

The commander struck his metal desk again with his fist, visibly denting the hard metal surface.

Gine's eyes were glued to the floor and she was trying her very hardest not to cry. Gine always had this problem, she could yell and scream at anyone but as soon as anyone did the same to her, she would break down. And she hated that about herself. She wished she could be strong, had the resolve like everyone else, like a normal Saiyan.

But she wasn't a normal Saiyan, she was a failure, a liability, useless.

Crying in front of the Commander would only make her situation far worse.

"My brother trusted me to make you into a suitable warrior and I will honour his dying wish!"

"But sir, you don't understand, I'm not a capable warrior, I'm only a hazard to my team!" Gine countered.

"Who's telling you this? Is it that Bardock? I swear I'll rip out his lungs if that's the case!"

"N-no no, he didn't tell me anything, in fact he wants me to stay. I'm making this decision on my own."

"And what will you do, hm? Work in a factory, or be a palace servant? Clean Garbage off the street!? I will not have my own blood lower themselves to such filth!"

"Well I mean, palace servants get paid quite a lot so.." she said in a small voice, avoiding eye contact with the hot headed Commander.

Dive was now up and out of his seat; his face was red with anger.

"What kind of Saiyan are you? You don't want to fight? You only like reading those stupid textbooks, and wasting away your time tinkering with gadgets. If I was your father I would have abandoned you on the streets when you were first born! To hell with his stupid sentimental tendencies! "

The Commander sat back down in his chair, slouching forward with one hand placed to his fore head.

He sighed, "Gine, Listen," he started in a softer tone,

"You're my only niece, and I've sacrificed so much for you, I'm the reason you weren't sent off as an infiltrator baby when you were young, I'm the reason you got to live in that large apartment of yours and not on the streets after your father died. Stay in the military, if not for me, then do it for your father. That's all I ask,"

"Alright, I'll stay,"

"Good. We won't have this conversation again, am I clear?" He stated sternly.

"Yes sir," she replied.

Gine placed a closed fist to her chest and bowed forward before exiting.

She rushed out of the building. Tears were streaming down her face. She was extremely frustrated. That was her only chance at starting a new life, now it was all ruined. She could never escape battle. It was a Saiyan's life. Her uncle was a jerk. And bringing up the memory of her late father hurt, the way he spoke about him showed just how little he knew about his brother. Memories of her father came flooding back into her mind, it made her heart ache. He was the best person she'd ever known. He was gentle, compassionate, most of all a proud Saiyan warrior. Like herself, Gine's father was different from the rest. He cared about her a great deal.

She remembered how he'd come home from each mission and they would stay up late together while he told her stories of his experiences in space. He'd then present her with various gifts he'd gotten from his travels. She remembered how he used to tuck her into bed every night and he wouldn't leave until she had fallen asleep. She remembered how understanding he was when she told him that she didn't want to be a warrior, he never got mad, he wasn't disappointed, he respected her decision, even though she was just a small girl who didn't know what affect her decisions had on her life.

She remembered when he left one day and never came back.

It was a failed mission; her uncle was the only one that survived it and made it back to planet Vegeta. She'd cry every night and look outside her front window waiting, hoping that it wasn't true and that any day her father would touch down in front of her house and call out her name like he'd done for seven years of her life. But he never did.

She didn't know her mother, her uncle was completely unsympathetic, and as far as she knew she didn't have any siblings or cousins. So, she was left alone in her grief.

Her uncle was kind enough to take responsibility for her instead of being placed in an orphanage. He'd always been mean. Dive would yell at her to stop crying about her dead father, telling her that he was too weak and that's why he died. As soon as he'd taken over caring for her he immediately placed her with a random team, and whenever they'd reject her, which was only after a mission or two, her uncle would get mad at her, blaming it on her being weak, and stating that if she'd continue to be the way she was she'd end up dead on some backwater world like her father.

She hated the way he treated her, but he was the only family she had left.

Gine stopped to wipe the tears away from her face and let out a heavy sigh. Deciding on preparing for her next mission since she knew she wasn't getting out of it this time.

It was time to stop making excuses, she'd decided. This was the life she was going to live. One day she was going to die on some backwater world, she'd accepted her fate already. It was the life she was doomed to lead.

"So, the Commander actually praised us for once?" Tora said, surprised about the recent revelation.

"I was just as surprised as you are," Bardock said before downing the drink in his hands. Him and his team were relaxing in one of the many pubs located in the capital city in Vegeta. They'd go to one before every mission to de-stress.

"Well, it's about damn time we are getting recognized for our hard work," said Shugesh, "and to think, those stuck up elites wouldn't even take this one,"

"I'd say we are right on track to becoming elites," Tora spoke.

"Kinda strange they decided to keep the info on that Trout guy a secret though," said Selipa.

"Yeah, that's what bugs me," Bardock agreed.

"Isn't it obvious?" each of the team members turned towards the usually quiet Borgos.

"We are a third-class team that is clearing worlds at a faster rate than anybody else, we are a threat to their status. If some group of low levels can outperform the elites of our race, then they shouldn't be considered elites at all. The higher levels want to make sure that the third class stay the third class."

Shugesh slammed his mug on the table, "Of course that's it! These damn elites, always tryna keep us down,"

"You know you've been really insightful lately big guy. Kinda scaring me," Selipa said towards Borgos, who only grunted in response.

The group of low-class warriors started to talk amongst themselves, swapping theories and expressing their general displeasure with the saiyan societal hierarchy and discontent with the Frieza empire. Bardock stayed on the outside of the conversation, not wanting to participate. A certain absent group member was currently on his mind. He tried contacting her, but she wouldn't respond. Bardock wondered if she was even going to show up to the docking station. He didn't really think she would.

Bardock's eyes drifted away from his squad, he could see others in the bar were looking their way, clearly taking some interest in their conversation. Bardock instantly realized this could mean trouble, if the wrong person heard what they were saying…

He slammed his hand on the table to alert his team.

"Listen, no matter what the case is it doesn't matter to us. The only thing we need to worry about is our assignments. Speaking of which, it's about time we get going, it's a long trip to this next world, and I want to get there as soon as possible."

They all agreed and immediately rose from their seats and left the entablement.

They walked to the docking station with little urgency. The members of Bardock's elite, save the Captain and Borgos, chatted away with each other on random topics, sill clearly in their relaxation mode. As they walked though, they started to take notice on their absent member as well.

"Hey, Captain. What happened with you and Gine?" Selipa asked.

"None of your business,"

"Oh c'mon Doc, let me guess, you and her got in a huge fought again? And that's why she told us she was quitting the team?" Tora teased.

"What, she said that? Never mind, just drop it, okay? She's coming with us,"

"I'm not so sure about that Captain. Face it, she's not able to keep up with us, you should just kick her off, it's better for all of us," Selipa added.

"She's part of this team and if I say she's staying then she's staying!" Bardock roared. He was fed up with his squad's useless banter.

The team continued towards their pods. As they approached they all became increasingly stern as they all focused on the battle to come. When they got to where their pods were docked they were all surprised to see Gine waiting there for them.

"Gine? You're here?" Bardock said

"Yeah, we have to leave for an assignment, don't we? And I know you like to leave early so I made sure to be ready as soon as possible," she replied.

"Well, look who it is! Changed your mind about quitting I see" Stated Tora.

"Yes. I am a proud Saiyan warrior, qutting is not in my nature, I will fight until my bitter end, and I will rise to the elites with you, or die trying." Her speech was very monotone, Bardock noticed, almost as if she was just repeating words she was told, like a robot. He could clearly tell that there wasn't much conviction in what she was saying. That's something he'd have to ask her later.

"Alright then," The palm haired warrior said, "Everyone to your pods!"

A/N:

Okay, so another chapter down, a bunch more to go! I've already started the next chapter, but since it's exam season it won't be out for probably for 4 weeks minimum. Writing is hard man.

See you not soon.