A/N: Woot, I do still have readers for this one. Good. As much as I (and everyone else, apparently) like the AH series, this one's my favorite. Though maybe I like it more than the general readers seem to because I know where it's going.

XXX

Chapter Forty-five - Discussions, Decisions, and Destinations

Bra walked up beside 18 as they followed Tao, and the two women who were apparently with him, back to where he was staying. "Umm, 18?" she asked, looking over at the Cyborg, who still had her eyes closed. "Why'd he call you Eclair?"

18 sighed again, opened her eyes, tilted her head back, and gazed up at the cloudless sky. "It was my name back on Earth." she said. "Not my original one, I don't know it, but the one the Empire gave me to use with the Resistance. It's what... everyone on Earth knew me as. I quit using it because..." She sighed once more, lowering her gaze again as she did. "Hearing it brought up too many memories I wanted to forget."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"It's ok." 18 said, smiling softly. "You didn't know, and anyway, I came to terms with what happened back then a long time ago. I'm not proud of it, but I've dealt with it." She reached her left hand up then and grabbed her right shoulder, grimacing slightly.

Bra frowned when she saw that, realizing that 18 had injured herself by using her transformation again. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly, not wanting 17 to overhear.

18 smiled at her. "I'm fine." she said. "It's not nearly as bad as it was after fighting Vegeta. I managed to end this one sooner and didn't have to exert myself quite as much, either. I'll be good as new again in a few hours. No worries."

Bra frowned more but didn't say anything. She was going to worry anyway, no matter what 18 said. She had a strong feeling the blonde hadn't been swayed by her arguments back on the ship, that she was still willing to die in order to take out Vegeta. She was determined, though, not to let that happen. Even if it meant her death to prevent it. Which was something she wasn't willing to tell Pan or 17 as she knew they'd both try and stop her, much as she was trying to stop 18. "I need more power is what I need." she thought as one of the two women who'd been with Tao lead them into a building. "I need to train more but... with 14 and 15 still on the loose I can't power-up... damn you, father."

Tao had gone on ahead of them and reached Ferri's shop a few minutes before the others. He felt it wise to make sure the shop was clear and to give the other woman a head's up. "Ferri." he called, closing the door behind him and flipping over the closed sign.

"I was getting worried." Ferri said, flying out into the main part of the shop. "I sensed the Cabal out there."

Tao nodded. "Yes, checking up on matters. I've been asked to leave once my ship is complete. The others have been given a week to finish gathering their supplies and go as well."

"Who were they?" she asked. "Those levels were huge! I never sensed anything like the biggest one, even when I was in the Empire!"

"Yes, about them..." Tao began. He could sense Storm and Zukina not far away now. They'd reach the store in a few more seconds. "I've asked them to come by so we can discuss some matters. You see, there's apparently been a falling out within the Masters."

Ferri blinked a few times and then looked past Tao as the door to her shop opened and Storm and Zukina walked in, followed right after by Bra, Videl, 17, and 18, and her eyes went wide at the sight of them. "Oh... my..." she said softly, the door closing behind them.

"Pan will be joining us shortly." said Tao. "Along with someone else, apparently."

"More!?" Ferri asked, surprised, eyes still wide as she gazed at the four Masters already in her shop. She'd never dealt with or met any of them, though, and for that she was glad. Three of the four Masters in the room hadn't even been a part of the Empire yet when she'd left, two of them hadn't even been born, and Videl had only just recently left the Earth and was more a traveling companion for Gohan than an Imperial in those days. She liked as few people on Xentron knowing about her past as possible. The Cabal knew, she'd approached them before ever landing on the planet in order to get their permission, and Tao knew because they'd interacted a few times prior to her coming to Xentron, and that was enough as far as she was concerned.

Tao nodded. "I wouldn't have brought them here but it makes things far easier for all of us." he said. "Is Eve still downstairs?"

Ferri blinked a few more times, then nodded. "Yeah. She came up earlier, when all of the explosions started, but then went back down again." she said, starting slowly but her normal voice returning by the end. "Which reminds me. Zukina, she wanted me to let you know when you got back, she's apparently found something on the Talon."

"We'll all head down, then." Tao said. "If you could tell Pan where to find us when she arrives." Ferri nodded before turning a somewhat nervous glance toward the door. Tao sighed a little and then lead his group downstairs, Zukina right on his heels. When he reached the door to Eve's room he went to knock but the Sai-jin reached past him and pushed the door open. Xeno, Rain, and Everfrost were already there with Eve and they all turned to look as the door opened, their eyes all widening as the former Masters followed their three allies into the room.

"Wh-what...?" Rain started nervously, glancing at each of the four in turn.

"There's no need to worry." Tao said. "They're on our side, at least for the moment. Everything will be explained in time." He sighed and rubbed his head. "Which will take quite a long time to do, I'm sure." he said. "Everfrost, do you still have that refrigerator Capsule you picked up yesterday?"

"I... yeah, hang on." he said, digging into his pants pocket. A moment later he pulled out a capsule, depressed the button on it, tossed it, and as the smoke cleared a four foot tall fridge came into view.

Tao nodded, opened it, and pulled out several bottles of water and vacuum wrapped sandwiches, handing one to each person in the room. Just as he was handing over the last bottle and sandwich, to Bra, the door opened again and Pan entered, along with Faith. The blue skinned woman glanced around the room for a moment, stopped, and did a double take. She let out a gasp then, her eyes and mouth going wide in a mix of shock and fear.

"Faith?" 18 asked, hearing the gasp and noticing the look. "Faith, what is it?"

The woman just stood there, staring into their group for a few more moments, before the fear began to subside some, though the shock remained. "I... sorry." she said. "They... those two just look... look so much like them..."

"Them?" Pan asked, confused, not even sure which two the woman was referring to.

"She's from Leberion." said Rain, seeing that everyone but her sister was as confused as Pan. Her statement wiped the confused looks off of her group's faces, though those with Faith were still confused.

18, however, had a good idea of the explanation. The Cyborg pursed her lips, eyes locked on Rain. "I take it you've been there?" she asked.

Rain sighed and nodded. "Yeah." she said, setting her water and sandwich down on the desk. "Storm and I were part of Gero's task force." At this, Faith's eyes widened more but the Wathor pressed on. "She and I didn't really do much while we were there. Storm and I were charged with guarding the command post and main science team, we only ever left the command post twice, to deal with attack groups that were threatening the scientists."

Storm shrugged. "It wasn't much of a mission." she said. "It was annoying as all hell, I didn't join the Imperial Army to baby-sit a bunch of geeks, and the orders sucked."

"What do you mean?" asked Bra.

"The standing orders," explained Rain. "Were to eliminate any resistance to the command post or science team, period. Storm and I prefer only to fight worthy opponents, and kill in battle only if needed. But the orders were straight from Dr. Gero so..." she shrugged.

"Their lives or yours." 18 said dryly. "Seems to be the motto of the Empire." She then turned over to Faith. "Are you going to be ok?"

"I... yes." she said, nodding. "I'll be good, I think. Just..." she cast a glance toward the two orange skinned women.

"It's fine." Rain said, walking to the opposite end of the room, Storm beside her. "We'll keep our distance." Faith smiled, a little nervously, but nodded her thanks.

"You know, I'm not much of a believer in coincidences." Eve said from her computer, eyes locked on Faith.

Xeno snorted. "And I'm not much of a believer in fate." he said. "So let's just chalk this one up to chance."

"Umm... ok, I'm lost." Pan said, glancing between the two of them.

"I think, perhaps, it would be best for us to start at the beginning." said Tao. "Though, before that, what have you found about the Talon?"

"Oh, right." Eve said, turning to her computer again. She'd temporarily forgotten about the ship, and her discoveries, upon seeing the Masters enter the room. "Well... first of all, the rescue ship showed up earlier." she began. "The Delta Seven. It's..." she sighed. "It's currently on its way back to Saiya with only three powers on board. Two I could pick up on the internal scanners and one I couldn't."

"And... the Talon itself?" Zukina asked.

"One power left." said Eve. "3,118." She glanced back at Zukina then. "Do you know it?"

The Sai-jin nodded. "I... I think so." she said. "If I'm right, then that's Luttece. She... she's the only one left?"

Eve sighed. "Only one still on the ship." she said. "I don't know if anyone escaped though, there could still be other survivors." She turned back to Tao then. "Anyway, the bit of importance is a transmission that the Delta Seven's Captain made. Apparently via his scouter. I'll play it back." She typed in a few commands, the speakers on her computer crackled, and then the transmission played back.

"What do you want?" a voice asked.

"Are you the Captain here?" came a new voice.

"I am."

"Take me to Saiya." There was a short pause, and then... "Take me to Kakkarotto!"

"Ka-Kakkarotto? You want... you want to speak to Master Kakkarotto?"

"No. I want to kill him! Take me!" Another pause. "Take me!"

"Sorry, I can't do that." the Captain said as a mechanical voice then announced three minutes until self-destruct.

"Then I find someone who will and I don't need you." There was a sudden loud roar, and then static.

"That's the end of it." Eve said. "A few minutes later the self-destruct was shut off. My guess is the last two members of the bridge crew decided to do as he wanted, instead of go down with the ship."

"Someone... wants to kill my grandfather?" Pan asked, confused.

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that he's no longer following Bardock's orders, whatever those were." said Storm. "Which is likely bad news for the rest of us. It sounds like he really has gone insane."

"Alright, I think we're missing a few pieces of this puzzle." said Pan, holding a hand up and glancing at Tao and each of those with him. "Who's not following Bardock's orders, what does my great grandfather have to do with him, and why is he after my grandfather?"

"I think you should sit down." said Zukina, glancing over to both Pan and Bra. The two Hybrids hesitated a moment and then did as suggested. Zukina nodded and turned back to the Nezorf again. "Eve, pull up the pod recording first, then the Tinto recording."

The Nezorf nodded, then did as asked. A moment later Bardock's voice was coming over the speakers. "Kakkarotto, this is Brolly, he's a friend, I asked him to help you. By the ... .ou .et this I'll probably be dead. Things are going badly .. ... ..pire. Prin.. ..geta doesn't see it but Para... ... I can. I wanted to warn you, before they found you. The Chan...ings, or maybe just Cooler, are aft.. ...methi.. and aren't ... .. .ur side. I know he'll kill us all eventually, once .. ... ..atever it is he's a...r. Kakkarotto, be careful, and don't let your guard down."

"...What?" Pan asked, staring at the screen.

Eve smiled. "That was exactly how we felt." she said. "When we pulled Brolly out of the ice on Geozan 7."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Bra said, turning to face the Nezorf. "Brolly? The Brolly? What was he doing on Geozan 7? He died on Tinto!"

"No, he didn't." said Everfrost. "He left Tinto before its destruction, in Bardock's space pod, destined for Earth. Only, the force of the blast from the planet's destruction accelerated the pod to near double speed and he crashed on Geozan 7, right around the same time the Empire found Master Kakkarotto on Earth. After he landed, or maybe while still coming down, a Wons Flash from the system star froze him. He's been in cryostasis for the last 35 years."

"We found him while digging for Xerudia on the planet." continued Xeno. "And were transporting him back to Saiya on the Talon, on orders from Master Vegeta and Dr. Gero. Tao, however, decided to stop in for some supplies and, in the scuffle that followed, the Talon lost power. Power was apparently never restored to Brolly's cryostasis chamber because, two weeks ago, he thawed out and took over the ship."

"And now he's on a working ship and heading straight for Saiya." finished Rain. "And apparently completely off his rocker. He was supposed to be helping Master Kakkarotto, not trying to kill him."

Pan blinked a few times, staring at them all in shock. "But... helping him with... with what?" she asked.

"That's where the Tinto recording comes in." Zukina said, glancing to Eve. The Nezorf nodded and cued it up as Zukina spoke again. "Wait until it's over before asking anything." she said. "So you don't miss any of it."

"You can't win, just give up and make this easy on yourself." said Cooler.

"Sorry, I don't know how to give up." replied Bardock.

Cooler snorted. "This little insurrection of yours is dead. Even Brolly couldn't stand up to your Prince. Face it, you've failed!"

"Maybe." said Bardock, a smug tone to his voice. "But you're wrong about something. This isn't an insurrection. I know. I know what you're planning Cooler! That's why I'm here. I'm here to stop you."

"You? Stop me? That's a laugh Sai-jin. Your kind wouldn't even exist anymore if my father had any sense to him. But I'll correct that eventually. Once I have the needed items and can find the Ancient's Homeworld I will become the ruler of this universe!"

"Over my dead body!"

Then a new voice spoke. "That can be arranged, brother."

"Turles!?" Bardock cried in shock. "You..."

"Yes. I joined with Cooler. I'm sick of living under the shadow of the royals. Being looked down on all the time. At least the Changelings show respect for my power!"

"You're delusional Turles!" Bardock growled. "You're just being used! How could you turn on your own people like this?"

"They never gave me any reason not to." he replied. "So, what's it going to be, brother? Give up now and join us, or die here? You barely have the strength left to stand, you couldn't even scratch me now, let alone Cooler. Face it, you're finished."

Bardock growled. "You're forgetting something, I am a Sai-jin! I do not give up, I do not surrender, and I do not lose. You're right, I'm finished, I'm not leaving this world alive. I know that, even if you left me here I'd be dead in a couple of hours. But when I go I plan on taking you with me!" And then his screams sounded over through the speakers.

"Gah, damn it!" Turles cried. "He's insane!"

"What's he doing?" demanded Cooler.

"He's going to blow himself up! He'll destroy the entire planet!"

Cooler growled. "Not on my watch. Good-bye Sai-jin! Death Beam!" Suddenly the screams ended. They heard a few foot steps approaching and then the file went dead.

The room remained silent for several minutes after the end of the file. Zukina had her eyes on both Bra and Pan while Videl and 17 were also watching Pan closely. When the silence was finally broken it was 18 who spoke. "Cooler... killed Bardock?" she asked. "But... why? What's all of this about?"

"A very deep and long running conspiracy." said Tao. "One which, unfortunately, we don't yet have all the details on. All we know for certain is that, on Tinto at least, Cooler, Turles, Slug, and Vegeta were working together."

"F-father!?" Bra cried, eyes widening in shock.

Tao nodded. "Apparently so." he said. "Information we've found indicate that he was on the planet, confirming Cooler's statement that Brolly lost to him. It should be noted, also, that Brolly was, and still is, a Super Sai-jin. From birth, like both Vegeta and Kakkarotto." The former Masters all stared at Tao in shock and the Human continued. "What's more, there's an interesting annotation to both Brolly and Kakkarotto's birth records. They possess something no other Sai-jin does. An anomalous mutation of a sort. A Constant Zenkai."

"Constant... Zenkai?" Bra asked.

"I was confused, too." said Zukina. "They had to ask me for a translation since it was written in archaic Sai-jin. But apparently both of them have this trait. According to Dr. Gero's study on the matter Master Kakkarotto's got a constant level of the chemical responsible for Zenkais of 2% per billion while Brolly's is 10% per billion. Which means that even though he's been frozen for the last 35 years... it's possible he was still getting stronger while down there."

"And it gets worse." added Storm. "Dr. Gero also said that the effects of such a thing were dangerous due to the 'increased risk of mental problems developing, including complete insanity' and voided the idea of inducing it in anyone on purpose. Couple this with the fact that tissue damage from cryofreezing can start after 25 years and Brolly was frozen for 35 and..."

"You get a super powerful lunatic." finished Rain. "Which is apparently what we have."

Pan closed her eyes and swallowed a lump in her throat as Bra turned back to 18. "We... may not have to go after father again after all." she said, then looked over to Pan. "But... despite them allowing father to do it, I hope nothing happens to your father or grandfather."

Pan smiled a little. "Thanks." she managed. "Though I'm not... not entirely sure I feel the same at the moment. Not after what I learned on Saiya, or from those Androids..."

"There's more, yet." said Tao and the former Masters all turned their attention back to him. "I've since learned that Slug was the one to destroy Tinto for the purpose of covering up the reason they were all there in the first place. It would seem that Bardock, Paragus, and Brolly were there to stop Cooler and his plot, his desire to locate the seven artifacts left behind by the Ancients, and then locate Homeworld to obtain some great power that is sealed there."

"Ummm... Ancients? Homeworld?" asked Bra, confused.

The Human nodded. "The Ancients are so named because they were a very old race, one that died out long ago. Long before any of the other races in the universe had ever even taken to space. All indications point to them having been the first race of the universe, in fact. I have been searching, for quite some time, for their artifacts in order to find Homeworld and aid my allies back on Earth. Slug has been searching as well, however, and while I have four of them... he has the rest."

"So, this power is what you've been looking for for all these years?" 18 asked. She'd known he was searching the universe for something, she'd picked that much up when she'd first met him on Earth, she just hadn't realized what.

"No." Tao said. "The power that Cooler is after is only one thing the Ancients left behind. They left behind something else that I, and those from Earth, want. Items that can only be created with the artifacts they left behind which, apparently, are also the keys to unsealing this power that Cooler wants. That basically sums up what we know of the conspiracy."

"And... you're still looking?" asked Videl. "Even though the Earth, and everyone there, is gone?"

Tao pursed his lips for a moment, unsure if he should say anything. So far only Nail knew about the survival of the Humans. He'd held back that little bit of information from the rest of his companions largely because of Zukina. Her transmission to the Empire about his presence on Xentron had shown he'd made a wise choice in that. But matters had since changed, he doubted she'd be much of a problem anymore. Finally he sighed, and decided on his answer. "Yes." he said. "I'm still looking. Because while the Earth is gone its people are not."

"Wh-what!?" 18 cried, eyes going wide. Even his traveling companions looked over at him in shock.

"A last minute escape plan." he said. "They all should have made it off world just fine. I have not, as of yet, been able to contact them to be certain, but I see no reason why they are not safe on our new, and concealed, world."

18 stared at him for a moment longer and then closed her eyes and bowed her head. Tao could see her lips moving, though he couldn't hear her saying anything. He didn't have to, he could lip read the repeated thank-yous to Kami and the Kais just fine. After a moment he turned his gaze toward Faith. "We can also shed some light on Leberion."

"What?" 18 asked again, head coming up again, and eyes opening.

"Eve, if you would." said Tao.

The Nezorf nodded again and typed a few more things into her computer. The screen blanked for a moment and then the video of the male Wathor came up. "Lord Slug, Cyclone reporting on the Leberion situation. The reports from the system team have been confirmed, Valor is no longer in power on the planet. The entire city of Defiance is no longer present. All indications are that the Battle Droids are no more. We can resume operations as soon as you give the order. Cyclone out." and the screen went blank again.

18's eyes narrowed as the message played. "Slug's men were the ones attacking Leberion?" she asked. "But then, if he's working with them, why would Vegeta send..." she trailed off then and closed her eyes. "Damn him!" she cried, slamming a fist into the wall and cracking it.

"What?" asked Faith, looking over to 18. "What is it?"

17 glanced at his sister, saw fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, then looked back to Faith to answer for her. "If Vegeta is still working with Slug, and Slug's men were the ones attacking Leberion, then Vegeta sent 18 there to remove the Battle Droids so that Slug's attacks could resume again."

"Which means there wont be a defense team sent to the system to take care of the raiders when they come back." 18 said, her jaw clenched, and Faith's eyes widened. "Damn him!" she cried again, smacking her fist against the wall again, and this time punching clean through it.

XXX

The door was already open by the time they reached the ship and the two of them flew inside quickly. They rushed past several shocked soldiers until they reached the equipment Gero had placed on board for them to use if the need arose. None of them had expected such a need would come along though, but now that it had they were all glad they had the machines. 14 lay 13's body down on one of the tables while 15 placed the head right over the neck stump and then turned the system on. Within seconds a metal lid had closed over the table and they could hear the whirring, clicking, clacking, whizzing, whining, buzzing, and popping of the machine as it worked on repairing the damage.

13, they knew, was just fine aside from the physical damage. He'd been talking to them the entire way back to the ship, going over his new and revised plan in the face of their rather unexpected, and quite annoying, defeat. All that he needed was for his head to be reattached to his body. A process that would take, according to the computer readout on the machine, approximately 57 hours. With that attended to 14 lay down on one of the other tables and 15 activated that system as well. A second later its lid was closed and the same noises could be heard from within. Nothing had been severed on the large Android, and no important internal systems had been damaged, so his repairs were estimated to take only about 12 hours.

As 15 walked from the room to find some means of entertaining himself until his allies were repaired again he mused on the irony that he was the only one not needing fixed. Both 13 and 14 were stronger than him and they'd both come out of the fight with damage while he was still fine. Well, no, his right arm seemed a little stiff, but that could be fixed with one of the simpler maintenance booths if something really was wrong. "Talk about ass-backwards." he thought. "The weakest took the least damage and the strongest took the most."

Though, as he thought about it, it made some level of sense. 13 had been fighting an opponent stronger than himself, by himself. Meanwhile he'd had 14's help and Pan had, no doubt, considered the larger and stronger Android the greater threat. Hence the sudden redirect of her attack at 14 instead of at him. He considered bringing that up with 13 after his repairs were done but decided there was no point. He figured the other man had already realized and considered that himself and decided it offered little to no real advantage. Besides, he was looking forward to 13's new battle plan. He had a feeling it would be quite fun.

XXX

"Well, at least we have a destination now." said Bra, looking over to 18. "If father wont send anyone to get rid of Slug's men then I say we go ourselves. It sounds like Saiya's going to be too dangerous for us soon anyway." 18 smiled and nodded. Bra bit her lip then as she closed her eyes. "I just hope mom doesn't get caught in the cross fire."

"Slug has not yet received this message." said Tao. "So Leberion is still currently not in danger. I have an interest in speaking with those troops myself, in the hopes of locating Slug's hiding place. So, if possible, I'd like you to wait until our ship is done in a few months time before doing anything."

"I doubt they'll wait that long before they act." said 18. "And we have to be off Xentron by the end of the week. I trust your judgment on the abilities of this 'Cabal' since you know more about them than I do so, despite how absurd it sounds, if you think they're capable of removing us from the planet then I'll not doubt it. And avoiding 14 and 15 for even the next week will be diff..."

She trailed off then as Ferri came flying up the hallway. "What was that crash?" she called, and then froze as she saw the hole in the wall.

"Sorry." 18 said, noticing the hole for the first time herself and opening the door so she could talk to the other woman. "I'll pay for the damage." Ferri blinked at her a few times and then nodded her thanks.

"What I'm still wondering is how those three found us so fast." said Pan, frowning.

Tao glanced to Pan for a moment, then over to 17 and 18. "I thought you two had tracers?" he said.

"We do. They're off." said 18. "Have been for a while now. Our link to Gero's computers is also closed."

"Ummm..." Ferri said, landing and walking into the room.

17 felt an elbow in his side and then Pan was whispering in his ear. "You better keep your eyes above her neck." she said, and he laughed softly.

"What is it, Ferri?" Tao asked.

"Well, you two have Imperial nano-bots inside, right?" she asked, looking at the twins.

"Sure." said 18. "But those aren't stan..." she stopped then, blinked a few times, and then turned to look at Videl. "I'm an idiot." she mumbled.

"Uh, what?" asked Videl, not sure why 18 was looking at her.

"Your nano-bots." 18 explained. "All Imperial nano-bots come with location tracers of their own in case of theft or so on. Our nano-bots were custom made, no internal tracers to them, but yours are standard ones, 'off the shelf' so to say. The tracking units built into 17 and I are off, our exact location can't be pinpointed, but the tracers in your nano-bots are still working. The location on them isn't as exact as our tracking units but it's enough to track us to a city, at the least."

"They... found us because of... me?" Videl asked. "I didn't know they could track me."

"It's fine." 18 said, sighing. "It's partly our fault, too. I'd completely forgotten about those tracers. The question is, what do we do about them?"

"I can mask the signal." said Ferri. "It's not too hard. I just need to check their operational frequency and then make a scrambler and canceller system." She looked over and up at Videl. "You'll likely have to wear it constantly, though, to keep the signal blocked."

Videl smiled. "That's fine." she said. "As long as I can stay with my daughter I don't care."

Ferri smiled back. "Alright. I'll get to work."

"How much?" Videl asked.

The question stopped Ferri a little short of the door and she tilted her head some. "Tell you what." she said. "You stay here to help me with building Tao's ship until you have to go and we'll considered it paid." she said, grinning. "It'll be cheaper for me to have you lift the heavier pieces than to run the crane."

Videl laughed and nodded. "Deal." Ferri nodded back and flew out the door to get to work on the scrambler and canceller.

"So, now that that's been taken care of." said Tao. "Back to the matter of Leberion and Slug's troops. You may not be able to wait here the entire time but you could wait in the system for us, unless his men act first. We're both rather limited in who we can send down onto the planet anyway. If they do come before we arrive..."

"We'll make sure to capture some of them for you." 18 said, nodding. "I'm interested in knowing if Vegeta is still working with Slug, myself. I'm not going to hold my breath that Brolly will have the kind of power to do anything against Kakkarotto, but this could be the opportunity Pan suggested before." The Hybrid looked over at her and blinked, not sure what 18 meant, so she explained. "A way to hit Vegeta without fighting him outright." she said. "If we can stop Slug, and get whatever Tao's after, then..."

Bra grinned. "We could screw up father's plans, whatever they are, and then have more help the next time we go up against him."

"And possibly draw Vegeta out to us." said 18. "Make him fight us on our terms. If he knows about this power that Cooler is after, and thinks we're on the verge of getting it, we might be able to force his hand, make him slip up."

"Alright, I think now we're the ones who need filled in." said Storm. "Why are you guys after Master Vegeta?"

Tao saw both Bra and 18 glance at the ground so he decided to answer the question, best as he felt he could from what he knew, and let them fill in any of the blanks. "It would seem." he began. "That 18 had a daughter whom Bra became involved with. Sometime recently, however, Vegeta ordered her death for some reason. 18 caught Trunks in the act of carrying out Vegeta's orders, and killed him." Zukina's eyes widened as Tao spoke.

Bra picked up from there. "18 recorded the whole thing and sent it to 17, Pan saw it then and sent it to me. 18 and I left the Empire because of what father did, 17 left because 18 did, and Pan left because 17 did."

"And I left because Pan did." said Videl. Pan glanced back at her and smiled.

"And then Vegeta apparently had those three goons built and sent after us." said 18. "No matter. We'll lose them once Videl's nano-bot tracer signal is blocked." She looked over Tao and his group and considered the course of events that had led them all together as they were now. She had a feeling that Vegeta may have signed the Empire's death warrant, starting with the Tinto events and ending with Marron's murder. After all, it was his actions that had set all of this in motion. Her gaze was then directed toward Eve's computer as it suddenly beeped.

"Now what?" Rain asked.

"Checking." said Eve. "We've got another embedded video with Slug's name as the detect trigger." she said after a moment.

A few seconds later another video file came up on screen, this time it was a light blue skinned man with small horns and yellow-orange hair. A man that Tao recognized. "Angira." he said, frowning. "The commander of Slug and Turles's forces."

"Lord Slug, sir." Angira said, bowing his head slightly. "We have information on Tao's current location. It is nearly a month old but someone on Xentron has reported his presence on the planet. We are currently en-route to the planet to determine if he is still there, and acquire the artifacts he has taken if he is. We will arrive on the planet in about four more weeks. Angira out."

Tao sighed as the screen went blank again. "And more trouble rears its ugly head." he said. "Hopefully we can avoid them, and Avo and Kado, until the ship is complete and we can leave. All of them are stronger than I, and I don't think the Cabal would take kindly to another battle in the city."

Zukina plopped down onto the bed and laid down. "Sorry." she said, sighing as well.

Tao waved off the apology. "It doesn't matter." he said, though he hoped Nail returned soon with some good news.

XXX

The blue crystal was now glowing so bright it looked like a blue sun. Suddenly the crystal began to shake as a beam of white light surged out from it, then another and another. A moment later there was a thunderous bang as the crystal exploded into thousands of little pieces. The light remained, however, floating a few inches above the ground. Slowly it began to gather together and then, in a bright flash, the light was gone and a figure stood in the alcove the crystal had once occupied.

It was another armored individual, similar to the first, but not quite the same. This one was about six foot two in height and broad shouldered. The armor was far simpler in design, as well. Just a breast plate, shin guards, forearm guards, and helmet that looked as they were made of solid blue stone. Where there was no blue armor there was black leather and chain mail. The helmet on this one had an open face showing the man in the armor had light blue skin, red hair on his eyebrows, and orange eyes. Long bushy red hair hung down his back, coming out from under his helmet, and a red wooden staff was held in a sling on his back.

He frowned as he looked first at the yellow light floating in the central crystal of the room, then up at the ceiling. He bent his knees then and leaped up out of the room, through the hole over his head.