A/N: Okay guys, chapter two. We're still dealing with a lot of backstory but it's from a different viewpoint this time.
Glass cracked as it was stepped on by the uncaring soldiers. They had no worries about minor cuts as the most important thing now was sifting through the remains of the lab to find anything that their leader could use. Failure was not an option unless one was ready to face death head on.
Frieza looked over his men from his hover throne as they continued to futilely try to find anything left behind after the fire. "It's a pity that Dr. Briefs could not see things our way, isn't it Zarbon?" he asked without looking away from the scene in front of him.
"It truly is, Lord Frieza. It's unfortunate that he was more concerned with the lives of insignificant worms than all the benefits working for you would have brought him."
"Yes, and though it is bad enough that he went and died preventing us from gaining any future work from him, but to also destroy all of the wonderful inventions that he had already presented me with, ooh it makes me so angry," he growled out. His voice, though calm, sent tremors of dread through his men's bodies.
Shortly after arriving on this previously unexplored planet, the natives had given him the 'grand tour', as they called it, of all the natural wonders that their planet had to offer. Ores and gems, fabrics, foods, animals, the list went on and on and the humans were only more willing to show off just as much the next day as the day before. It amused him really; it was like prey boasting about all the nutritional value that one would gain by eating it and truly not expecting a predator to devour it when they turned their backs.
They also showed off their 'achievements' as far as man-made technology went and though they mostly bored him by being so un-advanced he was truly surprised when an elderly man named Dr. Briefs came and presented him with his work. He showed off a cloaking device and his plans to enhance it to cover something as large as Frieza's ship. Next he talked about a theoretical machine that was able to suppress a ki even as large as Frieza's making it nearly unreadable by the scouters. While it was easy for one to boast about something they hadn't made, Dr. Briefs explained that the people of Earth didn't have a concept of ki or anyway to sense it so the idea was new to him and that he could have a prototype capable of hiding a smaller ki such as his own done the next day. Frieza was greatly impressed that not only did he bring the said prototype but also his own version of a scouter that he had used to test it. The potential that this scientist presented seemed endless and that fact was more than enough to decide that he was worth keeping alive when this façade of peace was dropped.
While the main part of his troops started the attack on the planet he sent two men to help Dr. Briefs move his things onto the ship so that he would be unhurt. However, he quickly received a report that the lab had been destroyed. Enraged, he flew in the direction of the Doctor's home shocked when it suddenly exploded into flames. His men quickly extinguished the flames but the damage had been done well before the explosion, most likely by the hand of the doctor himself. Every invention torn apart, every document shredded, and most surprisingly every photo in the house had had a portion of it burned away. It seemed that his work wasn't the only thing in this empty house that Dr. Briefs didn't want to fall into Frieza's hands. The only question was what, or who, that thing was?
"Lord Frieza," the voice of some unnamable soldier broke through his thoughts, "I've found something. It must have fallen behind the furniture." Handing over a slightly singed but intact photo to Zarbon, he waited until he was dismissed and then got back to work.
"It's just another picture of the young Doctor and his wife," Zarbon frowned while holding the image up so that his lord could see it. While it did show of that the doctor had been married years ago when he was younger, they had already seen enough pictures of the blonde woman to know that she wasn't the one the doctor had burned away.
"You are much too pessimistic, Zarbon, and far too quick to judge," Frieza said with a cruel smile, "I do believe that his lovely wife is holding something, don't you?"
Zarbon quickly scanned the picture again, his eyes widening as they landed on the bundle in the woman's arms. "A child?"
"Very good, Zarbon. Now tell me, did we find any other pictures with any children in them?"
"No sire."
"Now why would a doctor capable of making brilliant inventions hide the fact that he has a child? Could you possibly think of any possible reason for that, Zarbon?"
"Could… it be because the child is also a scientist?"
Frieza took the photo and sat back, looking at it closely, "Perhaps. After all if the child was dead or incapable of making things similar to what was destroyed, why bother hiding its identity? Unfortunately, this picture doesn't tell us much. The child is too young to have any distinguishing features. We can tell that Brief's hair was a light purple color at one point and that the woman's was blonde but with her eyes closed we only know the doctor's eye color was black."
"Not to mention that that picture was obviously taken years ago, Lord Frieza," Zarbon added, "after all the doctor is well on in years. According to the people we… interrogated the 'humans' tend to marry and have children when they are in their 20's to 30's and he was well into his 70's. That would mean that by normal standards his child would be in their 40's or possibly even their 50's."
"By normal standards doesn't confirm anything, Zarbon. No matter the species there are those that have difficulty breeding and those, like myself, that choose not to have children until much later in life. I do agree that the child would be older though since the doctor is fairly young when it was an infant but when exactly did he start to show signs of aging? Is it the same for every human?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know anything about that yet but I'll personally research the species until I can find you some answers. In the mean time, it's not like anyone could get away. No one on this inferior planet was even aware that there was life beyond their own and the only research they did was with unmanned droids."
"Once again, you don't really think things through, do you Zarbon?" Noticing his right hand man stiffen at that remark, he sighed. "Tell me, do you recall that this planet also didn't have the concept of ki before we arrived? And yet in less than a week's time on this planet, Briefs was able to not only make a ki sensing scouter but also a device that could make ki unreadable by our own. So in the month's time that we were here, is it not possible that a ship could have been made?"
"But the doctor was busy working on things for you, when would he have time to make something as complex as a ship?"
"Ah, but what if it wasn't he who made it? What if completely unseen to our eyes another person built a space capable ship and escaped unseen."
"How is that even possible? Surely someone would have seen a ship taking off since this area was in constant surveillance. How…," Zarbon's random questions were cut off by Frieza's glare.
"I don't know how it was done Zarbon but I do know who did it and what that person may be capable of. Another thing I know of is that if you don't find me any useful information about that person by the time the sun sets then I will be finding someone more capable to do your job for you after you are demoted, permanently," at Zarbon's flinch, he smiled. "Good luck."
After quickly saluting and flying off, Zarbon set about 'interrogating' more people for information. By the time the sun set he returned to give his report.
"An elderly lady told me that the Briefs had one child, a daughter, but she was home schooled, working in the lab or away most of the time so no one saw her. She was the lead scientist and apparently responsible for at least half of the work that came out of this company over the past 20 years. Bunny Briefs, which is the name of the blonde woman I believe, had died only recently from an illness. Since we've seen how old Dr. Briefs has become since that picture was taken I believe that it's also safe to assume that this Bunny also became much older looking over time. Ah, but I don't recall seeing any pictures of her looking older though."
"Neither do I but it may just be that the woman didn't want others to know about her age and manipulated her appearance to look younger."
"True, but even without knowing the exact age of the woman we can determine that the daughter must be at least in her 40's. My research says that most humans finish with a higher degree of education finish school in their early 20's before they seek permanent work so to say that she is younger than her 40's would be saying that the company was basically run by a child. Even if we were to say that studying at home meant that she finished her education earlier the youngest she could possibly be would be her late 30's."
"I suppose that's an accurate conclusion, for now." Frieza turned to look at the man kneeling before him. "Since you're already the most involved with this, I'll put you in charge of finding this woman. In the meantime, we've gathered an excellent amount of goods from this planet. Go and make sure that the cargo is being properly loaded."
"Did you decide about which ones to take as slaves, sir?"
"Yes I did. None of them are to my taste, but I'm sure they'll be worth quite a bit at Yapisha where they can be placed in brothels or purchased by nobles seeking private pleasures. We'll be stopping by on the way to Planet Frost to do business with the Sayians about the training equipment we offered them. Though that plan isn't going to work anymore."
"Ugh, the Sayians. I hate dealing with them, especially that bratty Prince. Always talking big like he can beat anyone or do things better than we can. I don't understand why you put up with his childish attitude."
Frieza chuckled at that. "You're so cruel Zarbon. You know that Prince Vegeta is turning 28 this year. And I put up with them because they are of use to me, just as you are. And we both know that I don't like destroying things that I still have use for. Now get out of here. I'd like everything to be taken care of so that we can leave soon."
"As you wish, Lord Frieza," Zarbon stood from his kneeling position and went to do his task, leaving Frieza alone smiling at the picture of the doctor and his family.
"Poor Doctor Briefs. A brave but futile effort to protect your precious daughter but you'll see that when I want something, there is no escape.
A/N: There's chapter two. No Bulma or Vegeta this time but I think it's important to see all sides to know what's going on. Please review, I love to hear what you think.