Human Hospitality
by scoutergreen
Chapter 63
Percussive Breakthrough
Fire crackling, Vegeta picked at his rations and tried to come back down from the strange state he'd been in ever since the beginning of his shift began twelve hours prior. He'd been assigned to stand guard and monitor an extensive swath of old-growth forest surrounding one of Frieza's luxurious palaces alongside Raditz, Nappa, and Jabuka.
Vegeta wasn't very happy that he was living with the knowledge that his assignment was set to drag on for another two weeks. They had been camping out for ten days, and Vegeta loathed every minute he was forced to sleep rough with his comrades, although he did know his comrades weren't very happy about their circumstances either. They all knew Frieza was less than five miles away, and it made everybody involved in the assignment at least try to stay on their best behaviour. After ten days, however, everybody's professional facade was beginning to crack under the weight of Vegeta's heavy-handed command.
Vegeta had just turned eighteen and was quite happy he was legally considered an adult in all PTO-sectors. He took his new title of "Captain" quite seriously. He could rent a hotel room on his own, enter any establishment he pleased, purchase anything offered at officially sanctioned markets (that wasn't to say he didn't visit black markets), and had absolutely no educational requirements to meet, not that his schooling had ever been extensive anyway. The Saiyan prince could read and write very well, had no issues with simple arithmetic, was comfortable repairing machinery, and was remarkably skilled in debate and rhetoric when his temper didn't get the better of him. His final aptitude tests had shown the Saiyan was considerably more intelligent than the overwhelming majority of PTO soldiers and officers.
Emerging from the woods was Raditz, his hair twisted into braids and piled on top of his head. The elder Sayian had transformed his long locks of thick, coarse hair into what looked like dozens of black ropes just before their assignment.
"Woo-wee! It's somethin' else in that forest! Fuck, I think I got bit about eighty million times..." Raditz passed the campfire and waded into the freshwater lake several metres away, rinsing himself off before taking a seat across from Vegeta and Jabuka.
"Ugh," Vegeta sneered at Raditz and returned his attention to his meal. He ate as slowly as possible to convince himself he could be satisfied with a single high-nutrient ration.
Jabuka rummaged through the large canvas backpack he'd brought with him and retrieved a bottle of salve. "Here," he tossed it to Raditz, "I get bit a lot in there too. Whatever insects are in there are attracted to warm-blooded creatures, so we're all in this together..."
Raditz smirked at Jabuka. "Thanks, man. I'm glad we got a fourth man on this assignment who isn't a self-centred dick for a change."
Vegeta rolled his eyes and snorted. "Maybe you wouldn't get bit so much if you wore more than a pair of shorts designed for somebody roughly half your size..."
"Oh, can it, Vegeta! If you're gonna keep riding my ass like this, I'm going to make a point of riding your ass too," Raditz rubbed the salve into his legs and inspected his bug bites, "and I'm sick of you thinking you're hot shit because you got promoted to Captain!"
Raditz tossed the bottle of salve back to Jabuka, who responded with a silent nod of thanks.
"You have no business calling me a dick!"
Raditz' tail uncurled from around his waist and the heavy brown fur covering it puffed out, making it look about three times thicker than it usually was."I wasn't calling you a dick, Vegeta! I was referring to the last asshole we worked with, who if you'll remember correctly just happened to be Cui! But if the boot fits, then you should wear it!"
Vegeta snarled at Raditz, his upper lip curled over his teeth. His tail thumped angrily against the ground and shook from side to side like an angry snake.
"To be fair to Raditz, you kind of jumped the gun and assumed he was insulting you when he wasn't..." Jabuka reluctantly offered, "I've worked with Cui too, and he really is a dick!"
Ration finished and his stomach still painfully empty, Vegeta threw the empty packet into the campfire. "Nobody asked for you to butt into this, Jabuka!"
Jabuka looked away. Vegeta may have been very cunning and powerful, but he was obviously unstable, and it made the soldier nervous.
"Hey! At least Jabuka's cool!" Raditz started to search through his own pack for some rations, displeased with his dwindling selection.
The three men sitting around the campfire were startled by the scouter's alarm tone blasting in their ear, and all of them responded to the incoming call signal within a half second. Each heard Nappa calling for backup, having spotted suspicious vehicles some four miles from the campsite.
"We'll be there in a bit, Nappa," Vegeta disconnected immediately while Jabuka and Raditz continued to converse with their comrade, trying to determine if Nappa was safe or if there was any immediate danger present.
"You," Vegeta pointed at Raditz, "keep the campfire going and monitor the area. Don't you dare fall asleep, either! And you," he pointed at Jabuka, "follow me!" Vegeta jumped high into the air and waited for Jabuka to follow suit. They would use their scouters to pinpoint Nappa's exact location, but sometimes Vegeta swore he could sense a person's presence all by himself. He turned off his scouter and rushed past Jabuka, snarling at him for taking too long, and headed east to where he felt Nappa was located.
The young Saiyan managed to pinpoint Nappa's location within two metres all by himself, and Vegeta decided he would continue to try to find others by instinct alone for the duration of the mission.
Malar gradually came to, very aware of a deep and persistent pain just above her left hip. The stereo played softly in the background. As her vision focused, she realized she was still in her shop and was laying on what felt like a firm pad. Despite her discomfort, Malar found she could move her arms normally and tried to inspect herself, curious to find out what sort of damage she had sustained.
Her shirt had been removed and she was covered by two blankets; the bottom layer being a heavy, thick blanket from the guest bedroom, and the top a brightly coloured red and blue blanket spun from a soft and glossy fibre.
Malar managed to push herself up onto her elbows and saw her skin had been scrubbed down with a disinfectant before being heavily bandaged. Her head throbbed and her mouth was dry.
She looked to the other side and discovered a steaming pot of water coming to a slow simmer on the hot plate, and a half-drunk cup of tea beside an unoccupied pile of blankets.
"Don't try to stand up," Vegeta descended the staircase leading from his ship, carrying a heavy white box with red script on it, "you'll regret it if you do."
"Hnn," Malar eased herself back to the mattress, "what happened to me?"
"You were shot with a laser gun," the Saiyan knelt beside the mechanic and opened his white box, revealing a huge selection of bandages and medications, "looks like it took a big bite outta you. The good thing is, despite your wound being nearly two inches deep, it hit a layer of fat that has to be at least an inch thick, so instead of delivering a lot damage to your organs, it mainly damaged the muscle and surrounding soft tissue instead."
Malar chuckled. "You mean to tell me that my extra weight was beneficial?"
"A high-power laser to subcutaneous fat can leave somebody with serious burns because it will cook away surrounding fat and skin, which is exactly what's happened to you. Had I been in your position, the laser may have penetrated to my intestines, and I would have been absolutely fucked. So you're right to say that your extra weight has saved your life. Are your fleshy hips a side effect of opening a restaurant?"
"Smartass," Malar smiled, "it is well-earned fat. My food is delicious and you know it."
"Ha! Well done, your own stomach has spared you certain death... at least for now, since the new challenge is managing your wound until your healing is well underway."
"Good to know," she sighed, "how long have I been unconscious?"
Vegeta moved to the hot plate and dipped a dry white facecloth into the simmering water. Moving fast, he wrung it out before wiping off his face, hands and forearms and then returned to his white box. First he rubbed his hands with a strong smelling clear gel before snapping on a pair of thin blue surgical gloves. He pulled the blankets covering Malar down past her hips, and he began removing the bandages he'd applied to her wounds.
"About six or seven hours. Maybe longer. You probably passed out due to shock, and I had to get to work on you. Turns out you weren't bleeding out as badly as I thought you were... well, you weren't gonna bleed to death, let's put it that way. So far I've managed to get the bleeding there was to stop and stay that way, so right now it's a matter of keeping your wounds clean and promoting healing."
The mechanic grimaced when Vegeta pulled out a length of blood-soaked gauze from the deepest parts of her wound. "Oh! That really hurts!"
Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Just breathe and don't pay mind to anything you may be feeling. In... two... three..." he pulled out another length of gauze, "out... two... three..." another strip of gauze pulled out and Malar squeezed her eyes shut, panting through grit teeth.
Cool gel came next, uncomfortable tingling cold spreading through a world underneath her skin as it absorbed. She felt Vegeta's firm fingertips pressing something into her wounds and she kept breathing, although at that very moment she felt as though she wanted to vomit.
Another layer of cool spray left her wounds feeling totally numb. By the time Vegeta was taping down a final layer of heavy bandages, the pain in her side had completely vanished. With her wounds treated, Vegeta pulled the blankets back up. The entire time she'd been exposed, Vegeta had avoided her eyes.
"Do tell me you have another top."
Malar chuckled again. "You'll find my room at the very end of the corridor where the guest room you used is located. There should be something on a hook on the door. It's white, and it'll do for now. Geez, you're really embarrassed about me being topless, aren't you?"
Vegeta growled. His face went red and he went to Malar's room.
The mechanic's room was modest and neat. She kept a small selection of what looked like cosmetic products on her desk, kept her clothing hung up and displayed on a rack, and her large bed was neatly made. The port windows she did have were covered by a translucent cloth print, and her walls were decorated with signs from different planets.
He found a top hanging on a hook, just like she'd described, and brought it to her. Wound totally numb, Malar felt fine putting her copped sleeveless top on by herself. Partially covered, Vegeta resumed looking at her and studied her eyes. She was very tired, but alert and coherent. The Saiyan searched for his vials of antibiotics and painkillers and found both after several minutes, adding one tiny grain of each into a cup of warm tea.
"You must be hungry," Malar found herself growing more relaxed with each sip of tea, "have you eaten at all?"
"Yeah," Vegeta organized his first aid kits and tried to settle on his own makeshift bed, "those pirates were amphibians and had some tasty legs..."
"Eugh! So you really do eat people! And here I thought that was just some crazy rumour!"
Vegeta shrugged at Malar. "I'm a Saiyan. We tend to eat other sentient beings and animals alike."
Malar stuck out her tongue with disgust. "That's pretty wild, Vegeta. I just hope you cleaned up after yourself," she drained her cup of tea and sighed, "thank you for taking care of me. Why are you doing this for me?"
"Because I'd rather not fix this damn ship on my own," Vegeta smirked at her, "I'll hold things down for now. Just sleep, Malar."
Malar sighed again, deeper this time, and settled into her makeshift bed. "Yeah..." her eyes were heavy, "I am feeling tired again..."
Once the mechanic had fallen asleep, Vegeta returned to the ship and tried to turn it on one more time. The screen flickered between solid red and blue for several seconds before going blank again. It was Vegeta's turn to sigh.
He wandered over to the pilot's chair and dropped into it, struggling to keep the creeping worry that he was truly stranded from taking over his conscience, and in a fit of frustration he slammed his fists on the huge control panel, forcing a scream to remain in his throat and grinding his vocal chords hard in the process.
A solid panel of metal around the base of the control panel gracefully pulled out to reveal a nearly-empty storage cabinet. At the bottom of the cabinet was a three ring binder, four inches thick and stuffed with paper and additional indexes. Vegeta flipped through the binders contents and when he realized it contained the ship's blueprint and what appeared to be an infographic manual outlining basic repairs, the Saiyan's heart pounded with excitement.
As Vegeta left the ship, he turned off the lights and returned to the spot where he'd set up a place to sleep near the wounded mechanic. He found Malar fast asleep, and he settled into his own spot, quietly skimming through the contents of the binder. Satisfied with his new find (and his new-found storage space, hopeful there would be more to discover) and exhausted after so many tense hours, Vegeta shut his eyes and slipped into a shallow sleep.