Thank you all so much for your reviews, follows and favorites. You sure know how to make this fanfic writer feel all fuzzy inside! Keep 'em coming! It helps motivate me to write knowing that people are enjoying it. :) This will be a bit of a slow burn fic, I'll try not to go too long between all the exciting stuff that's coming, but I want to build back story...and create some anticipation. ;)

Enjoy my lovelies.

~Pamgie

Chapter 3

Hunt and Seek

Bulma slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times to get her bearings. She had just felt a huge jolt that awakened her from her slumber. As she looked around she realized she was still in the escape pod, she must have just landed. Hitting the button to open the pod, she undid the safety restraints and stepped out onto a large landing pad with a hazy green sky at sunset as the backdrop. The solid surface was pock marked with small craters and spider webbed cracks, patches of moss also littered the area. To any onlooker, though there were none on this deserted planetoid, it would appear to be an abandoned space port, but looks could be deceiving.

She rubbed her neck, getting out the kinks from the uncomfortable position she had to sit in for hours. With all the money Frieza has, you'd think he would invest in better transportation for his soldiers...who was she kidding? The only thing Frieza cares about is Frieza. Even thinking about that tyrant for just a moment made her blood boil with utter hatred and the need for vengeance.

She made her way to the edge of the platform to a metal pole with a flat panel that stood about waist high. She placed her palm on it, and part of the platform slid back, revealing an underground stairway which she made her way down. Once at the bottom, there was a long hallway lit with dimmed and occasionally flickering florescent bulbs, Bulma cringed at the harshness of the artificial light and quickened her pace. At the end of the hallway there was another set of stairs between where the hallway forked left and right. She made her way down to a large open area. On one side was a sunken lounge with two well worn couches and a recliner. Next to the lounge was a small kitchenette with a fridge, stove and sink. Across from the living area was a bank of monitors three rows high, showing footage from security cameras placed around the deserted space port. Below that was a work station with several computers and miscellaneous tech components scattered about. There were several people milling about the space and she maneuvered around them to her destination.

Bulma walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a pitcher of water out of the fridge, and poured herself a glass, leaning against the cabinets, closing her eyes as the cold water made it's way down her throat.

"I see you made it safe and sound."

Bulma jumped, causing her to spill the remainder of her glass down the front of her red dress she still had on.

"Kami, don't sneak up on me like that Tien!"

Tien chuckled and handed her a dish towel. "Maybe you shouldn't let your guard down and I wouldn't startle you so bad."

Bulma rolled her eyes at him as she accepted the towel, blotting her dress trying to soak up the excess water. "Maybe I'm tired of having my guard up 24/7. If I can't relax here, then where can I?"

Tien crossed his arms, leaning on the set of cabinets opposite her. "I was just joking Bulma, chill out."

"Sorry, it's just that this mission has me on edge I guess. It's been a while since I had to be in the same room with that bastard. I'm hoping the poison took him out, but knowing that slimy lizard, he probably found a way to slither his way out of there."

"We'll find out soon enough." Tien replied.

Bulma nodded in agreement, then looked around the large room. "Where's the gang today?"

"You mean, is Yamcha here right?"

She sighed and placed the towel and her glass on the counter. "I'm that transparent huh?" she chuckled. "It's true, I'm hoping Yamcha is off doing something so I can avoid his annoying ass, but I actually would like to know where everyone else is too. I'm not that selfish." She smirked.

"Well, Goku's on the surface training with Piccolo, they've been at it all day, Yamcha and Krillin took the runner to the depot for some supplies. And Chi Chi's in her quarters."

Bulma's eyes widened at hearing that. "So the old hunk of space junk flies huh? What'd I tell you! I knew I'd get it up and running." She said smugly. "And I'm glad I'll have a few hours to myself."

"We'll see, the real test is if they come back in one piece. And you're welcome. I suggested he go with Krillin on the supply run." Tien smirked at the pout that quickly turned into a scowl, though her eyes were smiling with playfulness.

"Yea yea. And thanks. Well, I'm going to go get out of this Kami forsaken dress and incinerate it!" She waved to Tien as she walked to the stairs and out of sight.

As she passed by the other people in the base, she reflected on the fact that about half of the F resistance cell was all that remained of the human race. Her jovial attitude disappeared at remembering why they were all here in the first place. She had a mission to complete, and definitely didn't have time for the soap opera that was Yamcha. Their relationship had begun when Earth was a happy and somewhat peaceful place, ignorant of their stellar neighbors. And now it was strained, by the lack of time they had together, and how Yamcha didn't want her going on these dangerous missions, even though she was the only one with the know how to handle them. Then they would fight about said missions, usually causing a scene in the common area and resulting in shouting and one or both storming off.

After they both had some time to cool off, Yamcha would show up at her door with some food he snuck out of the kitchen. It was all rationed and everyone had their daily allotment, but somehow Yamcha would find her something sweet when no one was looking. This turned into their new normal, and before Bulma left on her latest assignment they had gotten into it again. She was not looking forward to the awkward and half hearted apology that was coming.

A week had already passed and they were no closer to locating the blue haired female then when they first started. Vegeta scoured all the galactic databases he could think of for anyone by the name of Katrina Chase, and found nothing. However what he did find was a list of 50 species in the entire galaxy who are known to have blue hair. Going through that list would take some time, too much time for his liking. Just thinking about their lack of progress made the prince want to kill someone. Anyone really. This research and spy shit was not his forte. He needed a release, and nothing calmed his nerves better than relieving some of his pent up blood lust. Well, that and sex. But he wasn't about to initiate anything intimate with any of the females on this disgusting ship. The ratio of males to females in Frieza's ranks basically ensured they'd all been had several times over, and Vegeta wasn't one to share anything with anyone. Especially something of a sexual nature.

All of his inner musings were only heightening his frustration. He didn't even notice that he destroyed his eating utensil until he heard a coughing sound and came out of his daze to see Raditz with a quizzical look on his face.

"You all right Vegeta? What's eatin' you?" He asked while simultaneously shoving some roasted mystery meat in his mouth.

"You're disgusting!" Vegeta seethed. "Can't you wait until you're finished chewing before you open that hole you call a mouth?"

Raditz chuckled and took a swig of his ale. "We can't all be as civilized as you prince Vegeta."

A loud thud reverberated through the mess hall, coming from the Saiyan's table. Vegeta jumped over their meals and grabbed Raditz' throat, causing them both, and the chair Raditz was sitting on to crash to the floor. Vegeta never loosening his grip. Everyone around them looked up at the sound, and when they saw what caused it, they simply went back to their meals. This kind of thing was a daily occurrence in the soldiers mess hall.

"You would do well to remember your place third class. Unless you want me to kill you right here, right now." Vegeta growled, mere inches from the younger Saiyan's face.

A booming laugh could be heard from above the two. "Raditz. Now might not be the best time to be gettin' on Vegeta's bad side." Nappa chided.

"Thanks...For..The...Warning...Asshole." Raditz rasped out of his quickly closing windpipe. Vegeta glared daggers at the man under him, feeling the need to squeeze the life out of the disrespectful worm. But something was holding him back from his instinctual urge. He and his comrades were the only Saiyans left in the known universe, and he didn't feel like bringing their species that much closer to extinction at the moment.

"Mock me again and you will lay dead at my feet." Vegeta spat, quickly getting up and turning towards Nappa. "I want you to start researching every species on that list until you find one that matches that female's description. I don't care if takes you days. No eating, sleeping or shitting until it's done." With that he turned on his heel and stormed out of the mess hall.

"You got it boss." Raditz rasped towards Vegeta's retreating figure while rubbing his throat, righting his upturned chair and going back to his meal.

"It's been a while since he's been this worked up over somethin'" Raditz commented.

"True, I don't remember the last time he was this on edge. That woman really did a number on him." Nappa replied.

"You think it's because of her? Since When has Vegeta ever let a woman get under his skin? More to the point, when has Vegeta ever had a woman?" Radtiz snickered.

"You'd be surprised. But you're right about one thing. He's never let a mere female get in the way of his objectives. Who knows? Maybe he's still pissed about his latest torture session with Frieza. Vegeta's never one to share his feelin's and shit."

Raditz nodded in agreement and took another bite of his dinner.

Nappa stood and grabbed his tray. "I better get to work, the sooner we find this bitch, the better."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it."

Vegeta stood in the middle of the poor excuse for a training room, sweat pouring down his face. He'd been trying to blow off some steam by doing his katas and some calisthenics and it had worked, a little. He was currently in the middle of his 1,000 reps of one fingered push ups when he thought he felt...energy of some sort. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but his gut instinct told him something was coming his way. Ever since his latest brush with death at the hands of Frieza, he'd been able to...sense things. People's energy. He didn't know exactly how this came to be, perhaps it had something to do with his zenkai boost, but he was glad it did. Now he could rid himself of that damned scouter. He felt annoyed that perhaps some idiot peon was wanting to use the same facilities, so he halted his training and waited for whoever it was to appear.

He was not expecting it to be Nappa. The hulking Saiyan walked in holding a data pad in his hand.

"Any progress?"

"Actually, yeah." Nappa replied handing over the pad.

Vegeta took it and scanned over the data for a few moments before his gaze landed back on the much larger Saiyan, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lip. "Well, I didn't think you would be done so soon, what with your lower than average intelligence."

"Well geez, thanks for the vote of confidence Vegeta." Nappa sarcastically replied.

"You're welcome." He shot back smugly. "Now tell me what you've found."

Nappa rolled his eyes at his Prince's comment but dove right in to what he'd discovered. "Well, I was able to rule out 10 of the 50 species by number of limbs alone, since the lady you saw was Saiyanoid, I guessed the ones with four arms weren't a good match."

"Obviously. What else Nappa."

"Next, I ruled out the ones that haven't had any contact with the cold empire, which only turned out to be 5, but that brings the total down to 35 species!"

"Yes, I know how to count. Get on with it." Vegeta groaned out.

"That left me with other weird characteristics like scales, tails, spikes, sexuality...Did you know how many asexual species there are?! Man, they're missing out!" Nappa said with a lecherous grin.

"And...? what does that leave us with?" Vegeta decidedly ignored his comrade's last statement.

"10 species. But out of those 10, only 4 had their planets destroyed, or taken and sold by Frieza. The rest are trading partners with the Cold Empire." Nappa Grinned.

"Good, we have a lead. Let's get to hunting." Vegeta lips turned up into a feral smile.

Three weeks had passed since Bulma's mission to take out Frieza, and the communications they were able to intercept weren't promising. She'd learned she had failed to kill the lizard, although she did take out several intergalactic despots, thieves, and crooks. So it wasn't a total loss, but she did fail her main objective. The downside was there was now a bounty on her head. Though thankfully her identity wasn't compromised...Yet. Bulma's brilliance with technology hadn't failed her so far though, and she made sure to cover her tracks to the best of her ability. She just hoped Frieza didn't have anyone on the payroll as technologically proficient as she was.

Speaking of that night on Frieza's ship, she couldn't get that dark haired man out of her head! He looked so similar to Goku it couldn't be a coincidence. The fact that he was strikingly attractive didn't go unnoticed by her either. She didn't see a tail, but everything else screamed Saiyan to her. She wondered why he didn't try and stop her?

The fascinating part was she thought Goku was the only one left. Their group of friends figured out soon after meeting him, that Goku was different. From his spiky hair, to his tail and unnatural strength, it all had the gears in Bulma's head starting to turn. It wasn't until Frieza came to their planet, claiming it for the Cold empire, that the light bulb went off in her head. Goku did say that his grandpa found him in some kind of pod and raised him as his own. And here was a white and purple alien bent on conquering the Earth! It proved that aliens were real and Bulma knew, that Goku wasn't from their world. It also helped that the pint sized tyrant loved to babble incessantly during battle and shared that he had destroyed Goku's home world. That he was a Saiyan. They had all pinned their hopes on Goku, that he could defeat the monster known as Frieza, but he was overpowered by the small, insanely strong and effeminate lizard, their planet was destroyed after that battle, so badly in fact Frieza didn't even want to try and resell it. Only a handful of humans made it out alive, including one Saiyan and a Namekian. To find someone who looked so much like Goku meant that there were more Saiyans out there then she thought. If they were anything like Goku maybe they could help them take Frieza down for good?

What was he doing on Frieza's ship though? Why would he be around the person that destroyed his planet? He couldn't be there willingly could he? surely not, Bulma thought as she continued typing away on the computer in front of her. She was obsessed with learning more about these Saiyans, and so had been spending every free moment of her time researching the galactic net.

Learning about the bounty placed on her, she had to be on high alert and keep an eye on all galactic net traffic. And sure enough she spotted something. Someone was digging through the interstellar directory and had requested all documents and information on Earth be delivered to Frieza's headquarters just a few days after the attack. Bulma gulped in fear. How could they have narrowed it down so quickly?! Granted there were 7 billion people living on Earth before it was destroyed so they couldn't have traced it back to her, but still, they were getting too close for comfort.

Bulma dug deeper in and found the ID of the person who put in the request.

"Frieza Force Soldier SJ21010"

Hm, what have we here?" Bulma hacked into the Frieza Force database and opened up the file on SJ21010. A picture of an older bald man with a thin mustache and goatee popped up on her screen.

Name: Nappa

Species: Saiyan

Frieza Force Division: Planet Acquisition

Rank: Level 5

Another Saiyan!?" She said out loud, gaining the attention of the only Saiyan in the room.

Goku rushed over and leaned in to get a better look at the computer screen.

"Is this the guy you were talking about the other day?" He inquired excitedly.

"No, the guy I saw was much younger and had a lot of hair. I'm not sure who this is." Bulma pondered aloud.

"So there's three of us now!?" Goku jumped up and down in excitement. "This is great! We have to meet them!"

Bulma paused her research and looked at Goku skeptically. "And how do you propose we do that? These two appear to be soldiers for the very tyrant we're trying to destroy."

Goku stopped his celebrating and looked down at Bulma with confusion written all over his face. "I dunno. Isn't that something you can figure out?"

"Oh Goku, you simple man. It's a lot more complicated than that." Bulma sighed. "This guy on the screen, he's trying to find me, and in the slim chance he does, they'll probably kill me."

Goku's face became serious then. "You know we wouldn't let that happen. Maybe they don't really want to, maybe he's just following orders."

"That's a pretty big assumption. One we can't afford to make."

"But we have to meet them. I have to meet them. They're all that's left of my people, and if we can get them on our side, we'd have a better chance of taking Frieza down."

"You know, you actually have a point there, but is it worth it? Is meeting them worth exposing our resistance cell? Risking our lives?"

Goku's onyx gaze hardened in resolution and he nodded his head.

"Okay, I trust you. We'll have to run this by the others. I don't want to do this unless we have their full support."

Goku smiled. "Thanks Bulma, I have a feeling everything will all work out in the end."

"I hope you're right." Bulma said as she looked at the face of her bounty hunter staring blankly back at her from the computer screen.