Acia lay on her back, her vision blurring as she tried to focus on the ceiling fan in her room. She'd been lying in this position since she returned from the Lookout, thinking about what Piccolo had said and trying to figure out what she was supposed to understand from it.

Of course she didn't want to forget Finn. She wanted to honor his memory by becoming stronger, as strong as he always said she could be. But…

She didn't like to think about him. Hurt, anger, fear, hate, even excitement and joy, were feelings that could motivate you, push you, make you stronger. But this was a different kind of hurt that did the exact opposite. Even her happy memories with him left her feeling empty and alone.

Acia felt her heart tighten and her breathing become shallower, and hated herself for the reaction she was having. In his life Finn had never made her feel bad. He had lifted her up, made her feel better, stronger, happier, perfect.

"The universe is a shitty place, Ci," he would say, a sad smile on his face. "You're too good for it."

Acia smiled at the memory. She'd never doubted that her parents cared for her, but Finn had cared for her in a way that was…un-Saiyan, and it had felt good.

And now just the thought of him was like a dagger in her chest. Her smile disappeared. How would he feel to know that the child he had raised hated the thought of him, hated a man just because he reminded her of him?

She sat up, unsure of what to do with herself but knowing that she had to do something. Perhaps a snack was in order?

Yeah, a snack. Anything to get her out of this room and away from these thoughts.

Acia entered the kitchen to find Bulma and Trunks sitting at the table, apparently working on something or other. There was a small stack of papers and large book next to them, and Bulma was inspecting one of the papers.

"Hi there!" Bulma smiled at her as she came in. Trunks just scrunched his nose at her.

Acia sighed. Her promise to be nicer to him was over a week old now and the two had hardly exchanged words in that time. Really, what was she supposed to do?

"Are you hungry? There's some leftover chicken in the fridge," Bulma said.

Acia nodded and gave her a small smile before heading over to retrieve the food. Bulma turned back to the paper in her hand. "See Trunks," she said as her son leaned over her, "this is what you're doing wrong. You're not applying the formula correctly." She frowned at him. "You're in too much of a hurry and you're not paying attention to what you're doing. Really now!"

Acia peered over Trunks' shoulder as she clutched her plate of chicken, curious in spite of herself. Bulma turned around to her. "It's his math homework."

Homework. Time with Bulla had taught her what that was. "Why does Trunks not attend school like his sister?" Acia asked.

"My little Trunksie is too smart for regular school," she said as she ruffled his hair. "He's a genius, just like his Mommy."

Trunks growled at her, snatching the paper from her hands. She laughed at his discomfort.

"A genius?" Acia raised a skeptical eyebrow. Trunks glared at her.

"Of course!" Bulma threw her hair back. "You know what Capsule Corp. is don't you? It's the greatest, most advanced science and technology company on the planet!"

"I am aware of that," Acia said, "but the technology on your planet is quite backward compared to most other civilizations." She wanted to say that Bulma may be a genius by this planet's standards but not by anyone else's, but thought better of it.

"Well, that may be true," the scientist replied, "but ever since I've met Vegeta I've been doing a pretty good job of closing that gap." She cocked her head at the girl. "I don't supposed you're any good with technology?"

Trunks snorted. "I doubt it."

Acia scowled at him. "For your information I am extremely intelligent. I was responsible for most of the spaceship maintenance and I helped my father with many of his project. He is a true genius. And I've learned about the culture and politics of every major alien race in the galaxy."

A sly smile formed on Bulma's face. "In that case you won't mind helping me out with my projects!"

"What?"

"Yeah! I could always use an extra set of hands around the lab, and you can tell me all about the exciting technology you worked on."

"I have training…"

"God, you sound like Vegeta!" Bulma said as she rolled her eyes. "Life can't all be training you know! Trust me," she smiled, "you'll like this! It'll be more of a challenge than you think."

Acia opened her mouth to object but before she could say anything Bulma had gotten up from her chair. "So that settles it! When you get back from Dende's tomorrow I'll show you the lab and we'll get started," she said as she walked out of the kitchen. "This'll be perfect."

Acia stared at her as she left, mouth still open. What the hell had just happened?

Trunks laughed at the bewildered look on her face. "You shouldn't have told her you know a lot about space tech," he said, waving his pencil at her, "let alone that your dad's a genius. Now she'll never let you get away." He began to gather up his papers. "This is exactly how my parents ended up together."

"Welcome to my little slice of heaven!" Bulma spread her arms expansively as she led her newest charge through her state-of-the-art laboratory.

Acia peered curiously at the machines whirring in every corner of the space. It was impressive, she had to admit, although she was certain that the machines were all simple enough to manage. She followed Bulma into another, smaller room, which the blue-haired scientist said was her office.

Inside were two large desks that had been pushed together in an L-shape. Each one was piled high with papers and folders and all kinds of gadgets, and on one sat what Acia recognized as a computer, what she would normally refer to as a data processing center, except real DPCs where much larger and more powerful.

But what the teenager had gravitated towards was the far wall, which supported a bookshelf stacked high with all kinds of books.

"Do you like to read?" Bulma asked, coming up to her. "You can borrow anything you like."

Acia picked up one called 'How to Deal With People You Can't Stand,' and gave her aunt a questioning look.

"Oh yeah, that!" Bulma laughed. "It's a self-help book; they're supposed to give you insight into your problems and help you fix them. I bought that when Vegeta first moved in here."

There was a beat as Acia considered this. Then, "I would like to borrow this."

"Sure thing! But first things first," Bulma said as the girl turned back to the bookshelf. "I need to see what you're capable of." The scientist strode over to one of her desks and pulled out what looked like a very damaged robot from under it.

This, in fact, was what it was. "This is a droid your uncle Vegeta uses to train. Of course, he beat the crap out of it as usual and expects me to drop everything to fix it up for him," Bulma scowled. Then she pulled out a large box, dropping both on the floor. "That's a toolbox. Let's see how long it takes you to fix it."

Acia sat on the floor next to the objects, examining each carefully. Then, cracking her knuckles and smiling to herself, she went to work.

Finally, she thought, something interesting.

"So they just wiped out all the planets?!" Bulma's eyes were wide with horror.

Acia shrugged, splayed out on the floor. She had long since fixed the droids Bulma had given her and had spent the next hour asking questions of the scientist – how long had she been working in the tech field? What kind of intergalactic technology was she familiar with? What new projects was she working on? She was surprisingly aggressive in her quest for information. Finally Bulma had declared that it was her turn to ask the questions, and as she poked and pried into Acia's life conversation inevitably drifted to Quelda.

Quelda was one of the first places Acia remembered visiting and over the years, particularly after Quaorin had joined the troupe, became the closest thing to a home base the Crusher Corps had. Acia could speak the language fairly fluently and knew quite a bit of the planet's history, and she had just finished telling Bulma how the Queldans had conquered their entire star system, depopulating the other planets and turning them into trading and military outposts. She had been expecting Bulma to be impressed with the Queldans' brute strength, but instead the woman seemed terrified and slightly disgusted.

"Why did they want to take over the whole star system anyway?"

Acia shrugged again. "Why does anyone seek power over another?" she said stoically. "It's basic instinct for the strong the seek to either rule over the weak or destroy them."

"Why?!"

Acia stared at her. What did she mean, why? What kind of question was that? It was just the way of the world, all the worlds. That was how life worked.

"Well," she said, "who rules over this planet? Is it not the strongest of your kind?"

Bulma snorted derisively. "Good God, no. King Furry is far from the strongest Earthling. I suppose," she said, leaning back in her chair, "the strongest Earthling would technically be Krillin, but he would be a terrible ruler."

Acia blinked at her. She wondered if her Babel chip was malfunctioning. She could understand the words Bulma was saying, but they just didn't make any sense. "If Krillin is the strongest Earthling," she said slowly, as though Bulma were not quite right in the head, "then he should rule. That is the natural order of things. The strong rule over the weak."

"But he would be terrible! The whole planet would go down the drain!"

Acia rubbed her temples. "I don't understand what you mean."

"He's bad at making decisions," Bulma said, counting on her fingers, "he's not very confident – probably from all the time he spends around Saiyans – he's a huge pushover; I mean, come on! Have you seen him with Eighteen? Or Marron? He literally cannot say no to either of them, and he's not that great with the other kids either. I mean," she said, blushing a little – Krillin was one of her oldest friends, after all, and she was bashing him pretty hard – "don't get me wrong, he's a great guy. Loyal, brave, smart; you really couldn't ask for a better friend. Just, you know, lacking in your basic leadership qualities."

"But," Acia said, shifting uncomfortably, "if he's the strongest…" She was much less sure of herself now. She knew, of course, that it took more than just strength to be an effective leader. You needed intelligence, bravery, determination, assertiveness, and those qualities didn't always correlate with brute strength. But strength was the most important thing. Right? Her father was the leader of their troupe because he was the strongest. The Queldans ruled over their star system because they were the strongest. King Cold had ruled over the galaxy because he was the strongest.

Granted, the Queldan king himself wasn't the strongest of his kind; he was an old man, after all. But he had been the strongest of his generation, and his son would rule after him because he was the strongest of his generation.

…Right?

Acia chewed her lip thoughtfully. She could see the flaws in her logic now, but her brain didn't seem to be able to process them.

"I suppose these Queldans of yours are a lot like the Saiyans," Bulma said, interrupting her thoughts. "You know, warriors, all they care about is fighting and conquering…"

"Not all the Queldans are warriors," Acia said, finally on more firm footing. "Most are not. They actually have more of a merchant-type society. But they have great respect for warriors and they love to travel. Their warriors go all over the galaxy to test their mettle."

"And that's how you met Quaorin?"

Acia nodded. "His ship broke down on a fueling station we were at, and we gave him a ride home. Then afterwards he asked to join us."

"How old were you?"

"Seven."

"Hmm," Bulma cocked her head at the young girl. "Did you like it? That life? Traveling all over the universe, fighting other people's battles?"

Acia looked down at her feet. Her bangs tilted forward, hiding her dark eyes. She was quiet for a long time.

Finally she spoke, still not looking up into Bulma's piercing blue gaze. "I've wondered, sometimes, what it would be like to do…something else. Maybe stay in one place for a long time. Quelda's nice," she tilted her head a little, "the food is good. But it would become dull after a while. And a life with no fighting," she looked up at her questioner, "that's no life for a Saiyan."

"Do you think Vegeta misses it?" Bulma asked quietly. "He never talks about his life with Frieza…"

"No one talks about Frieza."

Bulma raised an eyebrow. "Your dad never spoke about him?"

Acia shook her head. "Neither did the others."

"Others?"

"DeeDee and…Finn. They left with my father. My mother was the one who told me about the history of the Planet Trade Organization and the Cold Empire, what they did to the galaxy, the planets they destroyed."

Bulma considered this for a moment. "Didn't it bother her what you guys were doing? I mean, you're not much different from Frieza."

Acia's fists clenched, temper flaring. How dare she?! "Of course we're not like Frieza! We're nothing like him! We never blew up a planet…"

Bulma was a little surprised at how quickly the girl had done from mellow to enraged, her brows furrowing and her face red, but held her ground nevertheless. "You killed people…"

"We fought battles!"

"Vegeta told me you depopulated planets for your clients…."

"We conquered planets for them. What they did with the planets once we were gone was none of our concern."

Bulma gave her a look that was somehow disappointed and self-satisfied at the same time. "Like I said, not that much different from Frieza."

"It's very different!" Acia got up, glaring. "Frieza and his father wanted to rule the universe, they wanted to destroy all the dignity of the peoples they conquered. They wanted people to bow at their feet, and when they wouldn't they killed them. We killed people, yes, I killed people." She drew herself up, haughty and proud, and Bulma could see clearly, in that moment, that she was indeed Vegeta's niece. "But I killed them in battle, an honorable fight. That is the way a warrior lives, and the way they die." She blushed a little. "Maybe the reasons for the battles were not always just or honorable, as you would say, but it is not our place to question them. We fight. It's our job. Now," she bent over to pick up the stack of books she had collected from Bulma's extensive library," unless you have more work for me, I would like to go to my room."

"Let me ask you one more question," Bulma said, ignoring the girl's request. "What about the Queldans? Isn't what they did to their star system the same thing Frieza did to the galaxy?"

Acia felt her heart stop. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she tried to form a response. Of course it wasn't the same thing! The Queldans were nothing like Frieza, they were honorable and intelligent…

…Right?

"No…," she said, flustered. "No, it…it was different. There was a war." She fidgeted under the books she was carrying. "It…the other planets refused to acknowledge the Queldans as the stronger party and the natural ruler…"

"Do you really believe all this natural ruler stuff?" Bulma asked, a pained look on her face.

"It's just…it's how the universe works." Acia frowned. "The universe is a cruel, hard place. There is no mercy or respite in it for the weak. And the only reason you don't know that is because this ridiculous planet is so out of the way of civilization you haven't actually had to deal with the universe." With that, she marched out of the lab.