Imperial Catch Up
The aftermath of Kakarot's escape left the base in dire straits. Basic structures were heavily damaged with more important buildings like the Power Station being basically replaced by craters with machinery filling it. The worst loss of all was the Communication Tower which was literally split in half, the Communication Center itself was destroyed before it collapsed. Without the Power Station or the Communication Tower contacting Freeza for support would be difficult. It took three days for the survivors to build a Power Center, which is a Power Station but on a much smaller scale. It couldn't power the whole base however it did provide enough power to help power a Long Range Transmitter which the surviving Freeza Soldiers built.
With this they were able to send a clear message out to Freeza alerting him of their current situation. Freeza was furious when he heard the message. Freeza couldn't believe someone had done this level of damage to a planet so deep in his territory. It wasn't that Freeza cared for that particular planet or his men. This was embarrassing, having a world so deep in his territory so completely defeated made him look incompetent regardless of the fact this world wasn't all that important.
He couldn't ignore this incident, If he did he could see other words getting bolder and his brother potentially getting involved. Freeza feared his brother would use this as a means to coerce their father into letting him take some of Freeza's territory. Freeza wondered if this could have been an attack from Cooler but the message he received didn't mention anything about who did it, just that they received severe damages and needed more manpower in order to speed up repairs. Whatever the case may be, Freeza intended to get to the bottom of it. If it was Cooler's doing, Freeza needed to be ready for his next move. A day passed and three large ships of similar design to Freeza's personal vessel arrived.
However, to the survivors' horror, Freeza's ship was among them. They knew such a failure to defend the base would not go unpunished. They knew Freeza would hold them somewhat responsible for the current incident. A great number of personnel exited the ships with advanced equipment and a lot of materials. They immediately got to repairing what they could see, starting by replacing the Power Station. Freeza summoned two of the survivors in order to get a grasp on the situation and to discover what happened. They briefed him on the current state of the base, what was damaged and that they were attacked by an unseen enemy.
Freeza spoke in a voice of restrained anger at the new captain of security, the newly dubbed Security Chief, "I do not tolerate failure from my soldiers, much less from their superiors. If you wish to outlast your previous superior then I implore you to not make the same mistakes he did. If he hadn't grown so complacent then all of this would have been avoided." Freeza's tail violently dug itself into the floorboard leaving a small gash in the metal floor. The two men in front of Freeza shook out of pure terror. Right next to them was the dead body of the former Security Chief whom Freeza relieved of his duties after having explained what had happened in his absence.
The Security Chief immediately promises to not repeat the mistakes of the former head of security while attempting to steady himself. Freeza then spoke to the Lead Engineer, "Tell me, what is the extent of the damages?" The Lead Engineer immediately looked down at a piece of paper and began listing off the damaged facilities through a nervous voice, "Well, L-lord Freeza, the main building l-lost the upper three floors. Several smaller b-buildings were completely destroyed along w-with the Power Station which is currently being worked on. Lastly the C-Communication Tower collapsed on several other structures including the local restaurant, and the Communication Center was destroyed in the process."
The Engineer placed the paper in front of him as he nervously eyed Freeza. Freeza grumbled, "This may take the rest of the month to completely fix. Even with the personnel I brought with me." Freeza looked back at the Security Chief and said, "Do you have any clues as to who could have done this?" The Chief cleared his throat and said, "According to reports after the attack several Imperial Space Pods went missing. The guards watching the Pods were all dead, however they had broken necks and other injuries that were not caused by the attack responsible for the damages to the base."
Freeza thought for a moment, "That would indicate that someone killed them before the attack. Who would want to steal that many of my ships?" Freeza wasn't sure why an outside faction would need transportation off world. Presumably such a faction would have gotten here on their own ships. Freeza speculates that perhaps something happened to their vessels on the way here but there wasn't enough information to support this conclusion. The Security Chief then said, "Once we get the Communication Tower up and running then we will be able to track the location of the pods." Freeza was unsatisfied, he didn't give the Chief an answer instead leaving him in a tense silence.
With so little information he would indeed have to wait until the repairs to the Tower are finished. This is when Vegeta suddenly enters the room, immediately falling to one knee. Freeza glared at Vegeta and with barely restrained agitation in his voice said, "I don't recall calling for you dear prince, might I ask why you have barged into an important meeting of mine?" Vegeta looked at Freeza while remaining on one knee and said, "My apologies, Lord Freeza, but I know who is responsible for this attack." Freeza looks at Vegeta with a grim expression, he asks, "Do tell, who might be responsible for causing me this much trouble." Vegeta took a moment to inhale and exhale before saying, "It was Kakarot, he went missing after the attack. When I checked his room for him, from what was left of it, it didn't contain any of his belongings."
Freeza's eyes widened at the revelation that a Saiyan was involved. Freeza had planned on checking in with the Saiyans just to see if any of them happened to die but he never expected that one of them could be responsible. He had thought that Raditz's mission would have kept them in line, especially Kakarot. Freeza looked Vegeta in the eye and spoke with suspicion in his voice, "Why have you come before me and revealed your comrades guilt?"
Vegeta immediately answered, "Because I'm not responsible for his actions, if I had delayed, you would have found out eventually and assumed me or my squad was supporting him. We are not." Freeza forms a more serious expression and says, "Despite how faithfully forward you have been with me, this still does not clear you of suspicion." Freeza then says with more energy in his voice, "In order to clear your name and mend the damages your former subordinate has caused, you will take your Saiyan companion and hunt this "Kakarot" down." Freeza's body language relaxed as he said, "Once the Communication Center is repaired, you will use it to locate his pod and find him then bring him to me, alive."
Freeza let a sinister grin show on his face which caused Vegeta to clear his throat. Freeza then said, "You are dismissed." Vegeta immediately lifted himself up and left the room. Right after Vegeta left, Freeza looked at the Lead Engineer and said, "Focus on the repairs for the tower and the Power Plant, I want them fully operational before anything else!" The Engineer left just as Freeza looked at the Security Chief and said, "Re-organize our armed forces and keep a watchful eye on passing spacecraft, tell me if any of my ships appear unannounced."
Freeza then thought to himself, "I want to see Father or Cooler coming if they decide to pay me a visit." The New Chief then left, hurrying himself out of the room. Freeza then took a deep breath turning around and looking out his ship's window. Dodoria stood by his left flank, choosing not to say a word. Even one of his personal retainers feared saying the wrong thing and angering Freeza further. Freeza mused over Kakarot's betrayal, "That Kakarot… I fear I underestimated him. I did not think he was capable of such cunning, capable of such clever thinking. The Saiyan must have stolen and launched the pods in order to delay our ability to track him. He didn't know how to disable the tracking device so he opted to just make tracking him more tedious. He could find refuge in Cooler's territory and align with him. Cooler might even employ him, he hates the Saiyans as much as I, but he wouldn't turn down a powerful subordinate, especially one that made a fool of me."
Freeza's mind then went to Kakarot's origins, "Maybe I should have expected this. His father was the second Saiyan that tried to confront me before their end. I should have known the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Freeza then thought to himself, "If only he was loyal, he could have turned that cunning over to my benefit.
If only he wasn't so attached to his brother or his wretched species, he would have made an amazing subordinate." After this a full two weeks passed and the Communications Tower, as well as the Communication Center were fixed. Freeza is now looking over the recorded Space Pod Routes with both Zarbon and Dodoria at his side. There are a total of fifteen Space Pods which were launched two weeks ago. A few of them went to the same world, confusing the search. Freeza wasn't sure what the point of it was until he saw something that made him grin. Freeza immediately handed the recorded routes to Vegeta via a small data pad.
Freeza then said, "Return with him otherwise I will treat the rest of you as his conspirators." Vegeta didn't show any sign of fear from that statement. Instead he took the pad from Freeza and left the room with Nappa in tow. On the way to their pods Nappa reads over the routes they will need to take and groans after which he says in an irritable voice, "There's too damn many places to look. Kakarot could be anywhere, where the hell should we start, how long is this even going to take?!" Vegeta says in a nonchalant tone, "It will only take us three months." Nappa, surprised by the immediate answer, asks, "What makes you say that?" Vegeta without looking asks, "Where does the fourth pair of coordinates lead to?"
Nappa read the set and answered with, "Earth, two pods went there. What does that tell us, this Mars place has two as well?" Vegeta immediately answers again, stopping at their pods, "You moron, the Earth is the destination Raditz was sent to on his mission. It's no coincidence that two pods landed on the same world his brother was sent to." Nappa let out an exaggerated and surprised, "Oh?" but then he asks, "Why would Kakarot go there? Doesn't he know that if he interferes then Raditz is dead?" Vegeta can think of multiple possible reasons but he comes up with two. He turns to Nappa and says, "He's either going there to escape Freeza's territory with his brother or he has reason to believe his brother is in trouble."
Nappa raises an eyebrow in confusion, Vegeta immediately delves into the first possibility, "Under the first assumption, Kakarot grabbed two pods in order for the both of them to escape when he gets there. They could flee outside of Freeza's territory before he has the chance to send someone after them." Vegeta immediately admits the first possibility has some serious flaws, "The problem with this plan is the pods have tracking devices embedded in them. There's no guarantee Raditz knows enough about them to be able to remove them without permanently damaging the pod."
Vegeta then said, "What's more it's not in their nature, Kakarot is a warrior and Raditz is a coward, neither's nature would allow them to leave Freeza without a fight or outright go against him." Nappa asked what the second possibility could be and Vegeta answered with, "Kakarot is trying to save Raditz." Vegeta immediately clarifies after seeing Nappa's confused face again, "Another problem with the previous assumption is that Raditz already has a pod and since Kakarot couldn't disable the tracking devices, he doesn't have much reason to bring a second pod. The only reason he could have had to bring a second one is if he had reason to believe something happened to his brother's pod."
Nappa asks, "If it's a pod issue why didn't he tell us about it or Freeza?" Vegeta says, "He most likely doubted Freeza would investigate, this mission is supposed to be a punishment. Freeza already decided he would limit the amount of help he would give him, so Kakarot decided not to ask him or us." Nappa shot another question Vegeta's way, "Why would he not ask us?" Vegeta immediately replied, "I would have started watching him. Kakarot is the type to cause trouble if I don't keep an eye on him, he avoided telling us so his plan could succeed."
Vegeta then said, "We can ask him when we get to earth, let's go." Vegeta and Nappa immediately leave the planet heading towards earth.
Editor's Notes: Only replacing bad grammar and those kinds of errors.
Power Level Guide:
Vegeta: 18,000
Nappa: 4,350
Freeza: 530,000
Zarbon: 23,000
Dodoria: 22,000
Major Update: I have finished the roadmap of the rest of the arc. All I'll have to do now is review it a couple times but after that I'll be able to start writing the chapters themselves and releasing them.
