Human Hospitality

by pureleaf

Chapter 27

With Malice Aforethought

A portly, red-faced humanoid with a wide nose and thin lips picked up a distress signal from an incoming pod and raised the alarm for medical and mechanical personnel to prepare for an emergency landing.

Jabuka had hooked himself onto the pod's life support system many hours prior, unable to bear the pain of his broken bones nor the anxiety that internal bleeding would kill him before he made it to a clinic any longer. His body put into stasis and unable to hear, speak, nor see, but with his mind still painfully aware of his battered state, Jabuka hung in between life and death, respirator breathing for him and the strangely sweet and metallic oxygen it delivered completely paralyzed his body.

His dark pod sent out a constant distress signal to the base it approached, and Jabuka hoped the soldiers at the base would pull through and get him out of the pod and to a good doctor as quickly as possible.

I can't die yet. I can't die yet. Too young. Plans to fulfil... places to go... if there's a god, don't let me die yet!

Jabuka's didn't feel the landing, and he couldn't feel medical staff extracting his limp body from the pod, but for a few moments he swore that he could sense the energies of the medical staff, and he welcomed their presence. He could also sense a dark and foreboding energy rapidly approaching, and all Jabuka could do was hope that it was a hallucination.

Five hours and forty seven minutes after Jabuka had arrived at Station 62, Vegeta landed his ship ten kilometers south of the station and began a steady but slow approach towards the station. He could sense an overwhelmingly average group of energies; likely consisting of soldiers, service people, technicians, doctors, and mechanics. None of them would present him any trouble, and he'd be able to cut through the lot of them without much effort.

Station 62 was situated in an expansive, low valley located in between two massive mountain ranges. The sun hung almost in very centre of the sky when Vegeta landed, and the knee-high crimson grass of the valley was in sharp contrast to the cloudless cerulean sky.

The Saiyan reached the station and decided to go in through the most direct way he could imagine- the pod docking bay. They were always wide open, and in Vegeta's opinion, just begging to be exploited.

He flew in, practically dive-bombing the area and flinging blasts of explosive energy towards a group of panicked mechanics.

"We're under attack! Repeat, Station 62 is under attack! Soldiers, assemble!" A mechanic screamed down the communication line of his scouter before being shot down by a hot burst of energy, his body incinerated in a second.

When Vegeta was met with a group of fifty terrified soldiers, he continued his psychic assault on them, noting he moved with greater precision and an increased flexibility in his hips. In all, Vegeta blasted through the station in about half an hour, deliberately leaving the medical wing alone.

The Saiyan finally stormed into the medical wing and a chorus of screams and pleas for mercy erupted in seconds, making Vegeta smile and cackle with delight. "Leave now with your lives! Go! Leave the soldier in the healing tank be!"

Dozens of doctors, medical technicians, and patients scrambled through the medical wing, desperately quarreling amongst themselves to be the first to leave and aiming to avoid Vegeta's direct attention in the midst of all the chaos. In a large healing tank, a battered Jabuka recovered, his bruises fading and broken bones quickly mending. Vegeta took a seat at a technician's monitoring station, leaned into the high-backed chair and brought up Jabuka's progress in the healing tank. He had about six hours left, which meant Vegeta could eat something decent and take an extended nap.

He found fresh food, mostly fruits and a vat of a porridge made from the seeds found in the grasses surrounding the station in the base's kitchen, along with plenty of rations, dried meats, and a small selection of imported drinks. He heated up three packets of rations, took a container of berries, a packet of dried meat, two bottles of carbonated water, and headed back the medical ward to monitor Jabuka, who continued his gradual progress towards good health in a way that made Vegeta feel relaxed and prepared for what was to come.

Jabuka could no longer sense the helpful energies. He could, however, sense the dark energy, and he felt as though it were sitting right beside him. Unable to see and unable to speak, Jabuka continued to hang in the no-space and struggled to keep from panicking.

After eating, Vegeta took a brief shower and changed into clean clothing and new armour. Despite being out of fashion, the Saiyan found himself preferring the models of armour that did not feature the oversize shoulder pads or hip pads. I wish they would have kept the knee bracers, Vegeta thought as he wiggled into his new clothing, those were more useful than the stupid hip pads will ever be...

Hours passed. Vegeta dozed off and slept lightly, eyes opening slightly at the tiniest creak, and he woke up properly ten minutes before Jabuka was set to re-awaken and emerge from the healing tank. The Saiyan waited for him in the hallway outside the medical ward.

How he wanted to fight.

As Jabuka regained the feeling in his body and his senses returned, the presence of a dark energy faded. Maybe it was just a hallucination or side-effect of the anaesthetic, thought Jabuka, shivering as the warm fluid drained away from the healing tank. Jabuka emerged to a scene of utter carnage and devastation, the smell of smoke, burned wires, blood and death thick in the air.

Cautious, Jabuka pulled on a new uniform and tried to make sense of the deserted clinic. He slowly moved through the clinic and found nobody. Heart pounding with terror, he opened the doors to the main corridor outside the clinic and stumbled onto a gruesome scene of brazen destruction. The bodies of soldiers lay strewn through the hallway, many missing limbs, some missing their faces or entire heads, and a few more reduced to naked torsos and spilled intestines, their bodies completely torn apart by the ferocity of Vegeta's assault.

"Oh, my god..." he whispered, "the fuck happened here? What the... what the fuck? This isn't... oh god... no, no, no..."

Vegeta heard Jabuka muttering to himself leaned against a wall, arms folded across his chest. All Jabuka needed to do was walk another fifteen feet, and he'd practically run into the Saiyan prince.

When it did happen, Jabuka's face did not reveal the extent of his terror. Stone-faced, he looked the Saiyan up and down before finally gathering the courage to speak: "I should have known it was you behind all this, Vegeta. Only you could do something so senselessly evil."

Vegeta gave Jabuka a firm nod and his crooked grin grew large. "Hello again, Jabuka. Feeling better now? I specifically avoided the clinic so you wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. Besides, I'm sure there's a few out there even more evil than I..."

Scanning the damaged hallway for an immediate exit and finding none, Jabuka realized he'd simply have to face Vegeta head-on and hoped the odds were still in his favour, despite the rapidly growing realization that he very likely didn't have a chance of surviving a fight with Vegeta any more. An entire decade had passed since their last spar, and Jabuka knew Vegeta was no longer a little boy or even an adolescent- he was a full grown man, heavier with muscle and his figure cut from intense training.

"What's this about, Vegeta? Why this violence? Surely you could have let them live..."

Vegeta clicked his tongue against his teeth and leaned deeper into the wall. "Some of them are running for their lives right now, and some are dead now. That's how it goes! And what does it really matter? I'm interested in you, Jabuka."

The older warrior tried to control his breathing, heart pounding into his throat and knees suddenly weakened with fright. "W-why's that, Vegeta? Haven't you done enough to me? You drugged me and robbed me blind! I-I- I just escaped a botched mission! My pod was attacked as I left a... please, Vegeta... don't do this!"

"Mm," Vegeta finally stood straight, arms still folded across his chest, "I really don't care if you just had a fuck-up of a mission. That's your problem, not mine. Shit happens, and I've been attacked right after getting out of a healing tank in the past, so I have little sympathy for you right now. Always be ready to fight! Honestly, I'm just in need of a good fight. It's been too long since I killed and my need to do so right now is just overwhelming. You happened to be passing by and I picked up your distress signal, so I jumped at the opportunity to a re-match with you and followed you here. Are you scared, Jabuka?"

He really is a fucking psycho...

Jabuka couldn't bring himself to nod. The soldier refused to give the Saiyan that much satisfaction. He stared at Vegeta, wide-eyed and trembling, and followed the Saiyan when he motioned to an exit. He was silently led away from the base, part of its roof having collapsed during Vegeta's attack, and barely managed to steady himself before the Saiyan attacked, a ragged howl filling the air as he lunged at his target.

It would all be over before Jabuka could even summon the power to defend himself. A barrage of punches, kicks, and elbow jabs hit his body dozens of times in the space of a few seconds, and the just-healed internal injuries returned and were made worse by the Saiyan's assault. Blood poured out his nostrils and dribbled down the corners of his mouth.

A hard kick to Jabuka's mid-back was enough to bring him down. Something just broke, thought Jabuka, as he fell to the ground and found he couldn't get back up. Unable to feel his legs and coughing up a mouthful of blood, Jabuka struggled to prop himself up on his elbows and watched in horror as Vegeta languidly approached him with a twisted smile across his face.

This is it, thought Jabuka, I'm done for...

"Any last words?" Snarled Vegeta, bringing his boot over Jabuka's throat and just holding it there.

Jabuka smiled, sighed, and coughed on more blood rising up his throat as the internal bleeding progressed. "It's all over so soon... but at least I can rest now, and I'll see my brothers. I'm no good guy, but I die today with a clear conscience. Well played, Vegeta. You really are on your way to being the most powerful being in the galaxy. It will be such a lonely position to maintain."

With those words, Vegeta found himself unable to lower his foot onto Jabuka's throat. He stared at Jabuka's blood-streaked face and stepped away from his old comrade, gazed at the huge sun now sinking behind the mountains, and sat beside Jabuka. The sky started to turn red and hazy.

"You robbed me. You drugged me. Vegeta... I thought of tracking you down... but as time passed... my efforts appeared so futile that I chose to move on... revenge is so often just a pointless expenditure of energy... and ruminating over old wrongs will never right misdeeds of the past..."

"Says you, Jabuka. My revenge is just getting started."

Jabuka turned his head to the side and he coughed up at least a half pint of blood, his teeth and lips stained deep red. "You have," he wheezed, "much to learn yet. You are still very young..." Jabuka spat out saliva and blood, "and you are so alone through it all. Aside from that tenacity and your skills as a warrior, Vegeta, I don't envy you whatsoever..."

"I don't need anybody," Vegeta muttered, gaze still focused on the sunset, "I can do fine for myself."

The tall, handsome warrior wheezed and croaked as he tried to laugh, ultimately groaning in agony when his broken ribs shifted, "if you... insist. Never have I met such a wounded, isolated spirit... good luck, Vegeta. I... heh..." he gagged and blood oozed from his broken nose, "it is a beautiful evening, isn't it?" Jabuka watched the sunset in silence for a few minutes before his eyes went out of focus, he went limp and fell back, his breaths rattling, and finally his eyes went blank and all movement ceased.

A warm gust of wind whipped through the valley. The sun sank underneath the mountains and stars began to glitter in the darkening sky. Vegeta finally looked at Jabuka's body and gave him a slow, firm nod- a curt sign of acknowledgement and even a little respect.

Vegeta closed Jabuka's blank eyes, adjusted his arms so they draped across his stomach, stood up and backed away by several feet. With a final nod, Vegeta fired a direct blast of intense heat at Jabuka's body and turned it to ash in seconds.

For many hours, Vegeta watched the stars turn in the velvety black sky, haunted by Jabuka's final words. As the sun started to re-emerge and the skies were streaked with green, blue, and orange, Vegeta returned to his ship and set off, continuing towards his first "official" stop on his journey back to Earth.

To Be Continued