Chapter Twenty-four - Causality
Tao sat in silence and darkness. He could feel the humming of his ship's engine through the floor beneath him but the sound dampening effects of the room's material prevented any outside noise from disrupting him. His legs were crossed, his hands cupped in front of him on his lap, palms facing up, his eyes closed. Every so often a wisp of blue or white would trace over his body, the only light in the dark room.
Meditation training wasn't his preferred way to train but any real training while on the ship was pretty much impossible. Sure, there was a training area specifically made and intended for that. But the gravity generator had died years ago and the walls were starting to show the wear and tear of too many intense training sessions. "Perhaps I should inquire about a new ship while on Xentron. Something with a bit more room now that I have a traveling companion."
He released a sigh and opened his eyes. As he stood and stretched, working the kinks and cramps out of his stiff muscles, the lights in the room came on. Two hours of that at one time was enough for him. The gains in power were far too small to waste long on the training. Especially when there were other, more pressing matters, that needed attention. He moved over to the door and pulled his shirt down off the hook before putting it on and then left the small room that was barely more than a closet.
Closing the door behind him he made his way to the room where his supplies were stored. It was crammed full of assorted capsules in various display like cases. He looked over the supplies he had left and is his gaze passed over the food stores he frowned a bit. There was only one more capsule of food. Enough for a week, if rationed properly, but no more than that. It was still more than two weeks until he reached Xentron.
That detour to avoid pursuit by Frieza's patrols had extended his travel time and stretched his supplies to their limits. They could be stretched no further. It was clear some sort of intervention would be needed. Turning he made his way to the command area and took a seat in the command chair. Nail opened one eye for a moment to look at him and then closed it again, returning to his own meditation.
Tao looked over the radar and the Galactic Location Indictor to try and find a viable stop off to get some quick, temporary, supplies. There weren't any near-by worlds out here. This was the fringe of the galaxy. Star systems, and especially ones with worlds, were few and far between. Habitable worlds were even less common. But then he saw it, a ship. A cargo freighter, to be precise.
He scanned it for its ID Beacon and pulled up the data on it. It was the Talon, an Imperial Class Cargo Transport owned and operated by the Sai-jins. Currently on route to Baldia Station for a fuel re-supply before making a return to Saiya. The cargo manifest was mostly machine parts, though there were a few boxes of Xerudia on board. While there wasn't any food amongst the cargo Tao knew that no Empire ship traveled without several boxes of emergency combat rations.
While not the best tasting food in the universe it was food. A box of those would last him long enough to reach Xentron to stock up on more palatable food. "Nail, how do you feel about raiding an Imperial cargo ship?" he asked, glancing back at the Namek. "I don't have enough food left to reach Xentron."
"Are you sure we can take it?" asked the Namek, not opening his eyes.
Tao glanced at the ship data and the records for the crew. "Yes. That shouldn't be a problem, the captain's power is only just over 35,000." he said.
"Well, I'm always up for a chance to stretch my legs."
Tao nodded and laid in the new course. The ship shuddered slightly as some of the engines shut down and others boosted power so they could turn. As the Human leaned back in his seat the words "Estimated Time to Intercept: 2 Days" appeared on the screen.
XXX
Bulma's declaration a few days ago that the entire universe could be destroyed if things became too unbalanced, and that they might already be too unbalanced, had taken Marron a while to fully come to terms with. The destruction of the entire universe wasn't a particularly easy concept to wrap your mind around. Nor a pleasant one to consider. But the possibility, and hope that Bulma could find evidence to the contrary, had lead the blonde to helping the older woman with her equations as much as possible.
She still didn't fully grasp all of the advanced math used in the other woman's Universe Stability Equation, especially the sections of six dimensional math, but she had a much better understanding of it now. Enough that she could glance at certain parts of the equation and know what it was about, even if she couldn't always grasp the implications. Still, that moderate understanding had allowed her to help Bulma quite a bit over the last few days. Now, though, she was here for a different matter.
She reached up and knocked lightly on the door and got a "Come in!" from the woman inside so she opened the door and stepped in. Bulma had cleared all the chalk boards the other day, moving that work into her personal computer, and started on the next stage of her equations trying to predict what was coming. "Oh, Marron!" Bulma called happily when she saw her. She hurried over from the chalk board and gave her a quick hug. "You're leaving soon, aren't you?" she asked, pulling away.
"Yeah. In a few more hours." Marron replied. "I'm... kind of nervous, really."
"Understandable." Bulma said. "I don't know what they'll put you doing over there, the Gorneo facility is doing some pretty important research, but I'm sure you'll do fine. They wont put you into something they don't think you can handle."
"Yeah, I guess not." Marron agreed.
"So, how are you and Bra doing? Tell anyone else yet?" asked Bulma, grinning a little.
Marron blushed. "We're good." she said. "I'm going to go and... visit her, before I leave. We haven't said anything to anyone but you yet, though. 18 knows Bra was interested, since she talked to her before talking to me, but we've not talked to her since she left for Leberion. Bra will tell her when she gets back. We decided we'd wait a little while, see how things go first, before telling anyone else. Though knowing her she'll likely spill to Pan the next time they talk."
Bulma laughed and nodded. "She probably will. Bra's already got me helping her free up time to visit you out there, you know."
"Yeah, next month." Marron said. "That's when she's going to tell Master Vegeta about it, too." The blonde went silent for a moment as she thought. "There's... something I've been wondering for a while now."
"Oh?" asked Bulma.
Marron nodded. "Yeah. I... I was wondering how you and Master Vegeta got together, as well as Chi-Chi and Master Kakkarotto...."
"Ah." Bulma smiled a little and then motioned over to some chairs by the wall. The two of them walked over and sat down facing each other. The older woman remained quiet for a while, staring up at the ceiling in thought. "It's been a while since I thought about it." she said at last. "And Chi-Chi's story is a lot more... romantic than my own. Mine...." she shrugged.
"What happened?"
"Well, mine's a lot less complicated than Chi-Chi and Kakkarotto, so I may as well start with it. Let's see, Vegeta and I first met... actually, it wasn't long after the Empire first came to Earth. As you know I was born and raised on Earth, before the Empire found its way there. I'm even older than Kakkarotto. But, eventually, he ended up on Earth and started trying to take over the planet. My father and I moved most of our research into the deepest part of the West City labs so that it wouldn't get lost in all the fighting. We managed to keep Capsule Corp. alive and well during all of that, up to the point that the Empire found Earth and Kakkarotto again.
"Shortly after they located Kakkarotto Vegeta came, along with his men, to secure Earth as part of the Empire, and look into how strong Kakkarotto was, exactly. He'd gotten reports of his power and his ability to become a Super Sai-jin and wanted to see if he'd be a threat to them. Anyway, while he was on Earth he got wind of Capsule Corp. and its technology, which in some areas exceeded anything else in the galaxy. So, of course, he came to us in West City to talk with us about obtaining the technology. Dad was semi-retired at that point and I was the one pretty much running things." She paused and sighed. "To put it simply... Vegeta decided he didn't just want to take the capsule technology home with him."
Marron stared at Bulma in disbelief. "What, you mean he just kidnapped you or something?"
"No 'or something' about it." said Bulma. "He said, in no uncertain terms, that I was going with him. Or he'd blow up the office with everyone still inside."
"What!?"
"Yeah, he was a real charmer." Bulma said with a laugh. "Honestly, now that I look back on it, I think he just didn't know how to properly handle women. Especially independent ones like me. He was used to barking orders and having them obeyed before he was even finished speaking and used to women simply drooling at the mere sight of him. And, while I did think he was handsome, I also thought he was an obnoxious ass and made no attempt to hide my opinion of him while he was at Capsule Corp. His ultimatum obviously didn't improve my opinion of him any, nor did our trip back to Saiya on his ship."
"I had no idea...." Marron said softly. "That... must have been what Bra meant, then."
"Hm?"
"Oh, when she... when she was asking me to... be her Mate. She said not to say yes just because she was a Master and that Masters Kakkarotto and Gohan and her father may not care, but she wanted me to say yes because I wanted to say yes."
"Ah. Yeah, she knows how her father and I got together, and how Gohan and Videl got together, so she would say something like that."
Marron was interested in that last comment but there was still more she wanted to know on the current topic first. "So... how did you go from hating him and being kidnapped to married to him and, at least from what I can tell, in love with him?"
"Ah, that took a while." Bulma said. "I absolutely hated him for the first six months I was here. Luckily for both of us he was too busy during that time to really pay me much attention. If he'd had more free time and actually been able to try anything I'd have probably tried to castrate him and gotten myself killed. But then my father got ill and somehow Vegeta found out. I still don't know what made him do it but... he had my father brought to Saiya and placed under the care of the palace doctors, the best medical staff in the galaxy. That one simple act squashed most of my hate for him. I mean, he hadn't really done anything to me since taking me from the Earth, I'd been largely ignored by him but well taken care of by the staff, and then the help for my dad.
"There wasn't anything the doctors could do, though. On Earth he would have died within a few weeks. Here on Saiya he managed another two and a half good years. With my opinion of Vegeta as a bastard placed in serious jeopardy by him actually being nice I started giving more attention to his looks and, from there, I don't know." she shrugged. "I'm not sure when, exactly, I fell in love with him, I just know that I did. I do still resent him on some level, the Earth was back at peace before he showed up, and this isn't exactly the life I'd planned out. But... I've got Trunks and Bra now, and Chi-Chi, 18, and Videl are better friends than I could have hoped for."
"Wow... I'd had no idea...." Marron said. "And Master Gohan and Mistress Videl were the same as you and Master Vegeta?" she asked.
"In a way." Bulma replied, nodding. "Gohan was still young at the time. Maybe nine or ten, I think? Anyway, Kakkarotto wanted him to visit Earth and the grave of his namesake there. On the trip they came across a small village that had managed to avoid any signs of the still on going fighting against the Empire. And in that village Gohan spied a girl about his own age, training, just beyond the houses, and was instantly captivated by her.
"Well, he kept sneaking off to the village to watch her train and asked around about the place. Turns out it was one of a handful of settlements that had formed that refused to allow any resistance to the Empire. They wanted to be left out of the violence so that their families could live in peace. During one of Gohan's secret visits to the village a band of raiders attacked and he watched as Videl ran off to help protect the village.
"He wanted to help but...." Bulma chuckled softly. "He was such a different person as a kid, he was too shy to go in, too worried she would see him. So he stayed back and watched them fight the raiders off until he saw her get hit in the head with a rock. That got him charging in there and he wiped out all of the raiders in only a few seconds. After some introductions were done he went to see how Videl was doing and learned that she was in bad shape, they didn't have the means to heal her.
"He asked about Regen Tanks but, well, you know there have never been any on Earth for public use. They're restricted to worlds classified as Stable and Earth was never Stable. So he picked her up and flew her, and her father, straight back to his and his father's ship and put her in a Regen Tank there. She was fine in just an hour or so and up walking again. And if he had been captivated by her she was... completely enamored with him.
"She'd never seen anyone who could use ki before so his feats were amazing to her. She talked her father into letting her leave with him and Kakkarotto. About six or seven years later he said he wanted her as his mate. She'd gotten over her awe and amazement and held him more as a close friend then a potential lover but... well, when a Master says you're their mate you're their mate. She didn't have much problem with it since she already cared so much about him anyway, but she was upset for a while just the same, as I'm sure you can imagine."
Marron nodded. She had a pretty good idea of how Videl would have likely felt from one of her momentary twinges of panic when Bra had first suggested they become mates. The short span of time when she wasn't entirely sure it was a request, not a demand. She shook her head to clear it again, there were still a few things she wanted to know before she left. "What about Mistress Chi-Chi and Master Kakkarotto, though? You said that Chi-Chi's story was more romantic?"
"Much more than mine, at least." said Bulma, laughing a little. "She told me once, many years ago, about how it happened. Everyone just assumes it was something like what happened with Vegeta and I, or Gohan and Videl. She and I don't keep secrets from each other, though, so I know." Bulma pursed her lips for a moment. "You can't tell anyone, though, got it?"
"Huh?"
"About how she and Kakkarotto got together. The only ones in the entire Empire who know anymore are him, her, and me."
"How come?"
"The only others who used to know where her father and a family friend, a martial arts master named Gohan." Marron's eyebrows went up at the name as Bulma continued. "Kakkarotto's never told anyone and Chi-Chi's only told me. It's not exactly something he goes around sharing and I'm the only one to ever ask her. And I don't really think he wants it getting around, either, since it involves a few... secrets."
"Secrets?" Marron asked. Now she was more than just a little curious. "Alright, I wont tell anyone."
Bulma nodded. "Ok. Well, remember how I said the Earth was back at peace before Vegeta showed up?"
Now Marron nodded.
"Well, it was because Kakkarotto disappeared. It's not something mentioned in the history books, but for a span of about six or seven years, after a failed attempt by the Earth forces to kill him, he just up and vanished."
"What?" Marron asked, blinking. "I've never heard this."
"Like I said, secrets." Bulma replied. "One of the more well known ones involved here, but a secret none the less. Only people born and raised on Earth know about it. From what you've said 18 managed to get you off of the Earth somehow when she gave you up so I'm not surprised you don't know. No one really knew what happened to him, and not even he knows the full details. But there was a battle with the Earth forces, he wiped them out, then he fought and killed Piccolo's father, and then a few days later he fought a Resistance member and then vanished, it was the last the general public heard from him for years.
"Something happened then, obviously, but he doesn't know what it was, all he knows is that one second he's transforming and intending to kill a member of the Resistance who just demolished his castle and actually managed to hurt him, and the next he was laying on a soft bed in the small bedroom of a small house. No idea what happened in between at all. And when he woke up in that bed he had no idea of anything. No idea who he was or what he was or where he was. None of it."
"Amnesia?" Marron asked, surprised.
Bulma nodded. "Yep. Complete and total. One day Chi-Chi was out by a river near her home washing clothes and she heard a noise behind some bushes that sounded like a groan of pain so she checked it out and found a naked and badly injured man laying half in the water. She pulled him out, carried him home, and with help from her father and Gohan, who had recently moved to live with them because of his own poor health, nursed him back to health. They all recognized him but it was against the nature of any of them to let someone die or hurt the injured and weak. And then when he came around a couple weeks later he couldn't remember who he was and he acted nothing like that Kakkarotto that had been terrorizing the world.
"They didn't tell him what they knew, for obvious reasons, but offered to let him live with them and gave him the name Goku. Apparently Gohan trained him to control and use his power again, as he'd lost the ability to do so along with his memories, and the two of them grew close, Kakkarotto actually taking to calling him grandfather. And he and Chi-Chi fell in love, both of them. Chi-Chi found out he really did love her when, a few years after she'd found him half drowned, Gohan died from illness and the death triggered the return of his memories. But instead of leaving and resuming his conquest of the Earth he elected to stay with her instead. They were married a few months later and then a year or so after that Gohan was born. I think he would have stayed hidden in those woods his entire life with just her and Gohan if the Empire hadn't found him."
"Wow, I had no idea...." Marron said. Then she smiled. "That is more romantic." she agreed. "So, was this martial artist guy the one Gohan was named after, then? The guy who's grave his father took him to see?"
Bulma nodded. "Yeah. Kakkarotto insisted on it, one of the few things he's never let Chi-Chi budge him on. Anyway, when the Empire came about four years later he simply made as though he'd grown bored fighting the Humans, since they weren't really any match for him, and figured everyone else had forgotten about him, though he almost came to blows with Vegeta over Chi-Chi and Gohan."
"How come?"
"You've seen that Vegeta's not got much of an opinion of Humans. His opinion of Hybrids isn't much better, either. You've noticed, haven't you, that none of the Hybrids have Sai-jin names?"
"Yeah, but I never gave it much thought."
"Well, it's a law Vegeta made." Bulma said. "Only full blood Sai-jins are allowed to carry a Sai-jin name. So Vegeta left the naming of Trunks and Bra up to me. Kakkarotto let Chi-Chi name Goten and Gohan and Videl came up with a name together for Pan. Even with the power that Hybrids can have Vegeta still sees them as less than Sai-jin." she shrugged. "He didn't much like the idea of a Sai-jin with a non Sai-jin mate, or of a Hybrid Sai-jin child."
"But... didn't you say you first met him shortly after he came to Earth?"
Bulma smiled. "Caught that, did you? Well, his opinion had changed during his short exposure to Gohan. Gohan was already a Super Sai-jin, like his father, and he was stronger than him as well." Bulma shrugged. "Both were still a lot weaker than Vegeta at the time so he didn't give them much thought, but Gohan's strength showed that half Human children could still be powerful. Which is what stopped Kakkarotto and him from getting into a fight since Vegeta lost some of his 'the Sai-jin race must stay pure' attitude."
Marron nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a Sai-jin." she said. "I've not met many... er, before recently, but I've dealt with a few over the years. They're... unique, I've found. It felt like they were all trying to be everything I'd heard they were."
Bulma chuckled. "Yes, one of the few races who embrace their stereotyping and wear it like a badge of honor."
"There's something I don't get, though." Marron said. "If Master Kakkarotto has such a strong link to Earth, even taking his son to see the grave of a Human...."
"Why'd he let Vegeta let Frieza blow it up?" Bulma finished the question. Marron nodded. The older woman sighed. "That's both an easy and a hard question to answer." she said. "He's always made sure not to show any real link with the Earth because such emotions are usually seen as weakness. When he first joined the Masters there were a lot of Sai-jins who didn't like the way he was with Chi-Chi as it was, so he just sort of became stand offish on matters of the Earth.
"And then there's the fact that, while he's the strongest, Vegeta's still the one in charge. As the top two strongest Masters he and Gohan should have a higher standing in matters of state than others do, it's something that's been dictated since the formation of the Masters before Kakkarotto even joined them, so they should actually have the biggest say. But neither of them wants to rule and so they deferred to Vegeta which gives him the title and the top authority. So even if Kakkarotto had said anything it's unlikely Vegeta would have changed his mind."
"Oh. It's a lot more complicated around here than I thought."
"Oh, you don't know the half of it, dear." Bulma said, laughing. "But you'll learn quickly. We're all connected around here in ways you couldn't believe so it leads to an interesting dynamic. Kakkarotto being the most complicated one of them all because he's got the most confusing links to people."
The blonde raised an eyebrow in interest. "How so?"
Bulma smiled. "Well, let's see. He's stronger than Vegeta, the heir to the Sai-jin Royal Family which has, for generations, been deemed the greatest of all Sai-jins. This innately puts him on Vegeta's bad side. I think all that stopped him from fighting Kakkarotto for the right to rule the Sai-jins, when he realized the other was nearing his strength and likely to surpass him, was the possible backlash it could have caused thanks to Bardock's standing with the Sai-jin people. That, and possibly the fact that Gohan was already stronger than him, even if not by much, and going after Kakkarotto would have had Gohan step in. Vegeta couldn't have taken both of them at once and he knew it.
"Then there's Dr. Gero who is none too pleased with him for making his life miserable for years on Earth by destroying his creations and blowing up his labs and screwing up his research. Piccolo still holds animosity towards him thanks to the fact that he retains all the memories of his father and thusly remembers being killed by Kakkarotto back on Earth. He's got strong bonds with his family, stronger than any other Sai-jin I've ever heard of, and he and Videl have gotten along well since he first met her, she looks at him as almost a second father as he was the one who raised her in space and showed her how to fight with ki and so on. And then there's me. He listens to me and confides in me more than Vegeta does." she finished.
Marron's eyes widened throughout all of Bulma's speech but got their widest at the end. "Why?"
"Because we go back. Way back to before the rest of the Earth had ever even heard of him. I was the first Human he ever talked to, ever interacted with."
"Wait, what?" Marron asked. "How did you meet Master Kakkarotto?"
"Ah, now that's a tale." Bulma answered with a smile. "I was... wow, I think was about ten or so. Yeah, I was ten so he would have been six at the time. Anyway, the Red Ribbon Army had recently found a way to track down the Dragonballs and...."
"Dragonballs?"
"Oh, sorry, I guess you wouldn't know about them. Only the leaders of the Earth Resistance and the Masters do. They're... complicated. The short answer is that they are seven balls with stars in them and, when gathered, you can call forth a Dragon capable of granting a single wish. Anyway, the Red Ribbon Army had found a way to detect and track them and were out to collect them all. They hit West City and the Capsule Corp. main building because we had one, even though we didn't know it.
"Well, in all the chaos I found out what they were up to. They wanted the wish for world domination. Being an idealistic ten year old I wanted to stop them and thought my brains would be more than enough to do so. So I went down into my father's lab and twenty hours later I had my first Dragon Radar and I could locate and track the Dragonballs with it. There were three in one place and the rest were scattered so I figured those three were the ones they had.
"I decided the best way to stop them was to get the ones they didn't have yet and hide them somehow, so I set out for one far away from the three they already had. As I followed it I realized it was moving and when I found it I realized why. Kakkarotto had it. It was the Four Star Ball and he'd found it with his scouter by accident and decided that the odd energy coming from it had to mean something, so he kept it.
"I explained about the Red Ribbon Army wanting them and he decided it would be good training. That was why he was on Earth, he said, he'd been sent to a distant far away world to make him tougher. He was the weakest Sai-jin in a generation, much weaker than anyone else born the same time as him, and it was like a crash course in survival training. I wasn't sure what to make of it all, but at ten years old and tracking down magical balls I figured anything was possible." She smiled a little and laughed.
"Anyway, we set out for the Dragonballs and got to know each other pretty well while finding them and taking out Red Ribbon Army units along the way." She sighed. "Unfortunately he wasn't exactly... subdued in his fighting. He tended to wipe out large sections of land when he fought, which wasn't much issue in unpopulated areas but he didn't hold back any in the cities either. The destruction of North City wasn't him beginning his attacks on the world like the history records say, it was him wiping out a contingent of Red Ribbon soldiers to claim a Dragonball, and taking half of the city out with them.
"I realized, by the time we'd gotten three of them, that he was probably even more dangerous than they were. They were Human and, while they were powerful, they weren't invincible. And as far as I could tell, he was. But at the same time he was fragile. We would talk about this and that as we traveled and he was curious about the Earth and about finding strong people to fight because the soldiers weren't much to him. Somewhere along the way I got to talking about my father and how he'd once been a pretty strong guy.
"Kakkarotto asked what happened to him and I said that he 'just got old' and said that old people aren't as strong as young people. He took that to heart. To him, being strong was everything, nothing else mattered. The idea that he could lose all of the power he had and was yet to get just because he got older scared him. One day, the day before we hit the Red Ribbon main base, he asked me 'What is old? How old could you get before you were old?' and I realized later what he was asking, but at the time I answered like a normal ten year old. I told him that anything over twenty was old.
"The next day we hit the base. I stayed back as usual but I wanted to be there when he got all of the Dragonballs. I wanted to make sure he didn't wish for anything like what they wanted. When he finally got them all and he summoned the Dragon I was ready to step-in, to wish for something random. But he beat me to the wish, it came out of him so fast I barely understood the words, but I still remember them. 'I don't want to get old and lose my power. I wish to stop aging when I turn 20.' By the time it registered what he'd wished for the Dragon had already left."
"Wow. So that's how he became immortal?"
Bulma shook her head. "Not immortal. He can die, all of the Masters can die, as you saw with Goten. But once he turned twenty he stopped getting older. Vegeta... he learned about it shortly after coming to Earth and, as he already had access to Capsule Corp., it was easy for him to get a Dragon Radar and track them down. Only, he wanted more than what Kakkarotto had, he wanted true immortality.
"The other Masters of the time, the Cold Family, they got wind of it and Cold went to Earth to make sure Vegeta didn't double cross them. He wasn't trusted nearly as much as his father had been before him. But it didn't work out like either side wanted. Cold made sure that Vegeta didn't make a wish for just himself, cut him off before he could and wished for immortality for all of the Masters. Shenron wasn't able to grant it, though. Not enough power. So they settled on eternal youth as well."
"I had... no idea...."
Bulma shrugged. "No one outside of the Masters does." she said. "Word got out when soldiers talked but it was distorted by spreading through the ranks first. Hence why some of the public thinks the Masters are somehow immortal. There are those who don't believe it at all, even with how young Vegeta and Kakkarotto still look, but some do."
"So, why did Kakkarotto start trying to take over the Earth?"
"His battles against the Red Ribbon Army earned him the dislike of the world at large so they started to attack him and he retaliated back. Eventually he decided the only way he'd be able to train in peace, since no one was anywhere near strong enough interest him as an opponent, would be to put an end to all resistance by taking over the planet. But his heart was never fully in it, he didn't really want to rule, so he didn't try as hard as he could have."
"And when he finally found the chance to train in peace, following his amnesia, he stayed with it...."
"Yep." Bulma said with a nod. "Now, I think you should be going. You've been here for two hours now and you still need to see Bra before you leave."
Marron looked up at a nearby clock and her eyes widened. "I hadn't realized I'd been here for so long!" she cried, jumping to her feet. "You're right, I've got to go, we leave in another two hours and I still have things to ready. See you later, Bulma."
The older woman smiled and laughed. "See you later, Marron. And tell my daughter I need to talk to her!" she called as the blonde hurried from the room. As the door closed behind her Bulma turned her attention back toward her chalk boards and her new predictive model which, still, didn't want to work properly. She had yet to figure out what it was the was screwing up the flow. The math was sound, everywhere she looked, but at various and, apparently, random points the universe's history took a sudden, sharp, and wholly unexpected (and unexplainable) turn. But now a new idea hit her, one born from the conversation she'd just had with Marron. One that nearly made her smack herself for missing it in the first place.
Shenron.
The Dragonballs had vanished years ago, without a trace, but a wish was the only way she could think of for the Humans to have escaped from the Earth as they had. The Eternal Dragon was an outside force, not a part of the universe itself, and thus something that she could not map, could not plot, and could not compensate for in her predictive model. He was also a source of interference for the universe itself. As an outside force not bound by the universe he had no restrictions, no limitations, to what he could do. At least, none imposed by the universe. His actions could defy the Natural Order, defy the universe and its precarious balancing act.
And, apparently, that's what it had been doing for centuries. Parunga as well, most likely. They could both influence the universe in ways that no other being could. Now that she felt she understood why her model was off she could adjust. It would be impossible for her to just simply map the effects of the two Dragons, though. She understood, now, that Shenron had sent the Humans away from Earth but she didn't know where too, an important factor in figuring out what they might be doing next. With the Dragons working on a universal scale now, not just a planetary one, where every wish is felt, to some degree, by the entire universe, their effects on the tipping balance would be even greater.
She knew she had to find some way of compensating for them, of figuring out how things were going to play out. Otherwise her model would be worthless and she was becoming more and more convinced, every day, that the universe was beginning to pull itself apart from the imbalance. Her SyncScope spoke volumes to that effect. The red 63 of just a few days ago was now a red 68. Things were continuing to worsen, and worsen badly, even without any obvious causes.
XXX
Marron had rushed from talking to Bulma to Bra's room. She hadn't meant to sit and talk with the older woman for so long, she'd wanted to spend more time with Bra before she left. Still, she got to the room in just under ten minutes and Bra had been waiting for her. Now she lay in Bra's bed, beside the other girl, and staring up at the ceiling as her breath slowly returned to normal. It had not been the intention of either of them, upon arranging this last meeting, to end up as they had. But one thing had lead to another and now both were catching their breath while covered only in sweat.
"That was...." Marron said slowly, as her breath finally came back enough for words.
"Mmmmmm." was all Bra could manage.
Marron smiled as she turned her head to gaze at her. "Yes, 'Mmmmmm' works nicely."
Bra smiled back and then suddenly moved in and kissed her, not for the first time in the last hour. "I wasn't referring to what we did." she said, breaking the kiss. "I was referring to you."
Marron felt her face go hot as she blushed and she quickly turned her face away. "I... I don't... I mean... I'm...." She felt stupid, being embarrassed by that after everything they'd just done, but she couldn't deny that she was.
Bra couldn't help it and she started to laugh as she reached a hand out and brushed a stray strand of Marron's blonde hair off her face and back behind her ear. "Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you like that." she said. "I just... It's my mood."
Marron turned her head back to look at Bra again and smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She closed her eyes and sighed as she stretched, arching and cracking her back in the process. "Kais, I wish I could stay here." she mumbled. "But I've still got to pack yet and I need to meet up with your brother in...." she glanced over at the clock on the stand by Bra's bed. "Forty-nine minutes."
"It wont kill him to wait a few minutes." Bra said, resting her head on Marron's shoulder. "You can stay here a little longer."
"Tempting. Very tempting. But I don't want to be rushing around while I get ready, don't want to accidentally forget something...." She sat up as she spoke and Bra let out a sigh of disappointment as she sat up as well. The blonde took a look around the room and her shoulder's sagged. "Think you could help me locate my clothes?" she asked. "I haven't got a clue where any of them ended up...."
Bra laughed again. "Neither do I. Come on, let's see if we can find them."
Bra's room wasn't exactly what one would expect from royalty, though it was definitely royal. A royal mess. Clothes were scattered all over the floor and furniture as were books and papers and a few food wrappers. It took the two of them nearly five minutes to locate Marron's shirt but there was still no trace of any of her other clothes, even after another ten minutes of hunting.
"Oh, I am going to be so late!" Marron groaned as she checked under the teen's bed for the sixth time.
"Relax, there's time still. I'll help you pack, it'll go faster." Bra said. "But I think we should give up on the rest of your clothes. It's a lost cause at this point, they've been swallowed by my room."
"Well, I can't exactly go back to my room without at least some pants." the blonde pointed out.
"You could use one of my body suits." suggested Bra, as Marron's head came back out from under the bed. "One size fits all, you know. I'd offer you some pants but I don't think they'd fit you, your hips are bigger than mine."
"You mean my butt is bigger than yours." Marron said, frowning a little. "But thanks for saying it nicely."
Bra laughed and shook her head. "I think it's a nice bu...."
"Well, I guess the body suit will have to do." Marron interupted, worried that if she let the other keep talking her face would become permanently red. "I hate those things, though. Whoever invented them had to have been male."
Bra laughed again as she got up and went to her closet to fish out a body suit, the only type of clothing she had that was still in the closet. "Can't argue with that." she said. "Top half is way too tight and bottom half is way too loose." She pulled out one of her blue body suits and tossed it over to the other girl who quickly pulled it on and then took a couple more minutes to adjust it enough to be comfortable. Meanwhile Bra pulled on some of her clothes as well.
"Ready?" Marron asked, once she decided the suit was as comfortable as it was going to get.
"Ready." Bra agreed. She lead the blonde girl out of her room and started through the halls for the room Marron still shared with 18. They saw very few people along the way and those they did see didn't pay any attention to them anyway. "So, be sure to give my brother a hard time in my stead while he's there, kay?" she said as they reached their destination.
"I don't think I'm quite up to that just yet." Marron laughed.
"Coward." Bra teased as they begin to quickly pack Marron's things. It only took the two of them about twenty minutes to get all of her stuff packed away into two Capsules which the blonde then pocketed. The two then made their way from the room and to the hangar where the saucer ship to Gorneo waited. They stopped just beyond the hangar, where they'd be less likely to be spotted by the crowds. "Take care of yourself, you hear?"
"Yes ma'am." Marron replied, saluting and laughing.
Bra pretended to scowl at her for a moment and then gave the blonde a good-bye kiss that was probably longer than was wise, in public, but she didn't really care at the moment. "Well, I guess this is it...." she said, breaking the kiss.
Marron sighed and nodded. "Yeah. But only for a month."
"Right, just a month.... One kiss isn't enough for a month." Bra said before leaning in and kissing her again. As she broke the kiss she smirked and moved her head over so her mouth was near Marron's ear. "Oh, and I lied. I found your underwear, I'm wearing them now." she said, barely above a whisper, and then she walked passed her and into the hangar where she could see her brother standing at the opposite end.
Marron just stood there, eyes wide and unblinking, for what felt like only a moment, her face slowly getting redder and redder. So it came as a shock to her when she felt someone poking her head and turned to find Trunks only a few inches from her face, his finger pointing at her and still poking her. "Hey!" she cried.
XXX
Trunks stood back from the activity and fray of the busy hangar with his father. Castle staff were making last minute pre-boarding preparations on the saucer ship while the fifty man crew of the ship began preflight procedures. Once all that was finished the thousand or so people milling about off in the passenger loading zone would be allowed to board, all of them heading out for the Gorneo project as new or replacement staff.
The Hybrid wasn't entirely sure why his father had called him down to the hangar, though. Vegeta had said nothing in the last fifteen minutes since their arrival at the hangar, just stood there, watching the crews. Trunks had gotten his orders to go out to Gorneo to oversee things there for a month, in the hope his presence might get things back on track, just the other day. As he already had all of his orders he couldn't think of what his father might have to say to him about the assignment. Then again, Marron was going out there, too....
Finally, the Prince could stand the silent waiting no more. "What is it you wanted, father?" he asked, glancing over to him.
"I have special orders for you." Vegeta said after a long moment. "Pertaining to the matter you brought to me a few days ago."
Trunks closed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry Bra, looks like dad's acting faster than I expected, and faster than you." he thought. He'd noticed Marron and his sister spending a little more time together lately than they had been, but the blonde had spent most of her free time with Bulma, and Bra had yet to mention any forming relationship between her and the Human. Trunks took it all to mean that his sister had not yet acted, or if she had that Marron had rejected her. Though the latter seemed unlikely as Bra had been in a cheery mood as of late.
"Understood." he said, opening his eyes again. "What are my orders?"
"You will travel to Gorneo on the ship," Vegeta began. "For a Special Imperial Inspection of the project as already established. However, once on Gorneo you are to stage an attack by Slug and Turles on the facility there."
"And the workers and ship crew?" he asked, as many of said workers began to board the ship, the preflight procedures complete.
"Collateral damage." replied his father. "For this cover to be believed no one on the planet can survive. Only you, I, Gohan, and Kakkarotto know of this assignment."
"Not informing Gero?" Trunks asked, a bit surprised. Typically operations like this had the doctor's involvement somewhere. Usually in blocking transmissions from the target location from reaching anyone. And they usually stored the data of the mission, the orders and the results, inside a secure database not connected to the network and only accessible from Gero's lab.
"No." said Vegeta. "18 has full access to Gero's labs and knows the code for the secure server access. There is the possibility that she would check the records there after getting the news."
Trunks pursed his lips, his father had a point. 18 had little trust for most of the Masters. She really only trusted him, her brother, Bra, Pan, and... Goten. Considering the fairly recent orders to destroy the Earth and her original concern over Marron's safety there was a strong chance the Cyborg would check the covert ops records. "Orders received and understood." he said.
"I'll leave you to it, then." said Vegeta as he turned and made his way from the hangar bay.
Trunks watched him leave before turning back to the room again. As he did he saw Marron coming down the hall toward the hangar bay, surprisingly in a body suit instead of her normal clothes, and Bra right beside her. As he watched them near he thought of another good reason not to log this particular mission, even in Gero's archives. The resulting backlash from Bra would be... unpleasant if she knew of what was soon to happen. It would be one thing for a covert strike force to carry out these orders and something else entirely for her brother to do it. And then Bra and Marron did something that made him freeze.
They'd almost reached the hangar, stopped, said a few words, and then kissed. Not just a quick kiss but a long and lasting one. He glanced back the way his father had gone but he was already out of sight. Trunks looked back and saw them talking again but couldn't hear what they were saying over the din of the hangar. Then, suddenly, Bra moved in for another kiss. When the two split apart Marron seemed to be... somewhat frozen. She didn't seem to be moving much more than was required to breathe. Trunks closed his eyes and sighed. This was an unexpected and rather unwelcome turn, though he knew his father wouldn't change the orders this late so there was no reason to bring it up with him. Opening his eyes again he saw a grinning Bra walking toward him.
"I guess you kind of saw that, huh?" she asked. "You weren't supposed to find out until next month."
"Rather hard to miss." he said, smirking. "So, you did get up the courage then. I'm impressed."
Bra shrugged. "It was the entire reason I spared with you, after all."
"So... since then?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in shock. He expected this to have been a much newer development.
"Yep." she replied. "I brought it up as soon as we got back to her room and she said yes."
"And you didn't say anything?"
Bra shrugged again. "We told mom." she said. "But we've both decided to keep things quite for now, just in case. She's not entirely sure of herself yet, but we'll let dad know next month." She paused then and turned to look at Trunks. "And I expect you to keep your hands to yourself during the trip, got it?"
Trunks put his hands up and waved him before him as though in surrender. "Absolutely." he said. "I don't need both 18 and you giving me a hard time. I will be on my best behavior."
"You better because if I hear one bad thing when she calls me you'll be in even worse shape than when Videl was through with you, got it?"
He grinned at her and laughed. Despite the deathly serious tone to her voice and the scowl she wore she was also grinning from ear to ear. "I've not seen you this happy in a while."
"I don't think I've ever felt this happy." she said. "Not even... not even with Goten. I guess... maybe mom was right about him and I, maybe it was just a crush, maybe this is what it's like to actually be in love."
Trunks closed his eyes and sighed. "Well, I'm sure I could skew my inspection report just enough to get you posted to Gorneo as... incentive to the workers if you want."
Bra smiled. "Maybe." she said. "But then, I am a Princess after all. Who says I need a posting? I've already asked mom to help me clear out my schedule for a little vacation time. It wont be for two or three weeks, since I'm trying to squeeze out about a three month vacation here, but that's ok. It'll give Marron time to get settled in on Gorneo before I pop up." She stopped then and tilted her head a little. Marron was still standing where she'd left her, still staring dazedly at the wall. "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I think I might have broke her...."
"What'd you say?" her brother asked, laughing.
"Nothing you want to hear about."
Trunks laughed again. If it was something he didn't want to know about then it had to be bad. No wonder the poor girl was frozen stiff.
"Thanks again, Trunks." Bra said after a moment. "For not saying anything to dad. And now that she's heading off world, somewhere were there aren't many high powers to contend with, there's very little chance of a repeat of what happened. By the time he finds out... who knows?" she shrugged, smiling, and then left the same way their father had gone.
Trunks watched her until she disappeared around a corner and then sighed again and looked back over toward Marron. "The Kais must hate me. If either Bra or 18 find out about this...." he thought glumly. "Castration, with a dull and rusty knife, that'll probably the result... if I'm lucky." With a sigh he turned back toward Marron and saw her still standing where Bra had left her, frozen. With a shake of his head he started across the hangar for her.
He reached her a few moments later and waved his hand in front of her face. "Saiya to Marron, come in Marron." he said, cocking an eyebrow. She'd been like this for nearly eight minutes now, it had to be some kind of record. But she showed no reaction to his hand so he started poking her in the head. It always worked with 18. Sure enough, she turned after a moment.
"Hey!" she suddenly cried, the glazed look to her eyes vanishing.
"Hey yourself." he said, still poking her. "You back down to Saiya, yet?"
"Wha-what?"
He finally stopped his poking as her hands came up and started to swat at his finger. "You've not moved at all for that last few minutes, and you didn't even react to the poking for about a minute, either." he said. "Head off in the clouds?"
"Oh... I... just... just thinking...." she stammered as she tried not to blush and give away the secret yet.
"Nervous about Gorneo?" Trunks asked. Marron missed the grin as she'd turned her face away and by the time she looked back his face was clear again.
Marron mentally sighed in relief and nodded her head. "Yeah."
Trunks shrugged. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. You managed to come up with that antidote pretty quick, I'm sure there wont be anything out on Gorneo you can't handle."
"I hope so...." she said, turning to look toward the saucer ship they'd be taking. As she did she noticed how busy the area was. "How big is the ship crew?" she asked.
"Only about fifty." Trunks replied. Then, seeing the confusion on her face, he continued. "Oh, most of these aren't crew members. They're transfers. Either coming from other projects and going out to Gorneo or going back out from leave."
"Oh. Now I feel stupid, I'd thought I was the only one going out there."
"No, we've always got a steady flow of traffic out to Installation Worlds like Gorneo." Trunks explained. "At least one saucer a week leaves for each world, and they all come through here."
"All of them? But... that's a lot of worlds and a lot of ships."
"Yeah, around two hundred ships a day, give or take fifty. But father's made Saiya the central hub for all Installation World traffic. It's so we can keep an eye on personnel shifts and leaves and cargo transports and stuff. Didn't used to be like this but one of the project heads thought it'd be a good idea to use inter-project transports to smuggle stuff without paying the required taxes or getting clearance for some of the restricted goods he was shipping about. If it had been just the taxes father probably wouldn't have cared much. Taxes are more Gero and Cold's area of the government than his. But the guy was transporting some banned technologies too, not to mention Sai-jin women."
"Sai-jin... women?" Marron asked, confused.
Trunks shrugged. "Slave market." he said. "Slave trading isn't illegal but it's not exactly considered proper business. Mostly occurs out in the fringes where no one else gives a damn. Father didn't much like them using our ships to conduct their business in the heart of the galaxy without his knowledge, especially when the majority of the slaves on the transports were Sai-jin women. It was pretty stupid, really. If the guy had just filed for the right permits and paid the needed fees there wouldn't have been any problems. He'd have made a little less cash but he'd still have his head."
Marron stared after Trunks as the Hybrid walked off toward the saucer ship. "Definitely not ready to give him a hard time in your place, Bra. Don't know if I ever will be." she thought, before following after him. They'd be launching within the next thirty minutes.
XXX
"Master Vegeta!" a deep voice called from behind. The Sai-jin came to a stop and turned to see who it was that had called him. It was an alien of some race he wasn't able to place, not that he could place most of the various races that lived and worked in the palace, and he was wearing one of the rather ugly orange and puke green armors of CommsOfficers.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"We just received a message from the South Galaxy, from Inferna's people. Apparently she and Master Cold, and both of their ships, have vanished."
"Vanished?"
"Yes sir." the man said. "According to them they entered a Worm Hole near the north edge of the Eye of the Universe but never came back out." he explained. "They've been scanning for any trace of them for the last several days with no luck and have just contacted us to see if we had any information on their location."
Vegeta sighed and rubbed his forehead. It never seemed to end, one string of problems after another, half the time before the last problem was even fully dealt with. Though he couldn't see how he was supposed to know where they were at, the two had been heading to the South Galaxy, after all. They should be closer to that region of space than to the North Galaxy. A missing Master was definitely a problem, though. Especially when that Master was Cold. Cold was something of an anchor for his sons, without him Frieza and Cooler would be far more difficult to deal with. He was the only leveled headed and, in Vegeta's opinion, intelligent member of his family.
"Alright, lets head to the CommCenter and see if we can figure out what's going on." he muttered.