Vegeta's Vow! Behold the Galactic Patrollers!
When Vegeta's eyes fluttered open, he became acutely aware that he was submerged in some kind of blue liquid. Secondly, he realized that the reason he wasn't drowning was because he had some sort of breathing mask affixed to his face. Thirdly, he was naked. These details together led Vegeta to realize that he was in a PTO-brand healing tank. He began to bang on the glass bubble-like window of the pod until the healing fluids drained out of the bottom of the tank and it began to open. He grabbed the mask off his mouth and ripped it angrily away, coughing and gagging as tubes came out of his throat. He threw the mask away and hacked out a gob of spit before shaking the fluids off of him like an animal.
"Where… where in the nine hells am I?" he gasped out. He walked out of the pod as it hissed open, his first few steps shaky as he grew accustomed to his healed muscles and bones.
"You're on Freeza Medplanet 33," explained a shrewish voice to his left. Vegeta whirled around to see a green reptilian man with a hooked, beak-like mouth in a lab coat that was adjusting his spectacles with clawed fingers. Strangely enough, he seemed to have a poof of bright orange hair. However, as his Saiyan eyes adjusted to the details, Vegeta soon realized that they were not hairs but very thin, very long feathers. "You were in quite a state when your ship crash landed, your lordship. We were surprised you were alive. What happened on that 'Earth'? Who defeated you?" Vegeta scoffed and wrang out his hair.
"I was not," Vegeta insisted harshly as he put a glowing fingertip against the stump where his tail once was, "Defeated." He let out a singular grunt to register the sting of burning his own flesh before continuing. "The Earthlings exposed a temporary weakness. And Freeza will find that I am harder to kill than most." He didn't even bother with the facade of servitude by addressing Freeza as "Lord".
"Oh, I'm sure his Lordship isn't that upset," the medic quipped as he turned his back to Vegeta and looked at the instruments that cataloged Vegeta's injuries while the naked Saiyan opened a locker to begin dressing himself, "Given that he's headed for Planet Namek right now. He's probably halfway there."
"This is terrible!" Vegeta cried out in horror. The medic whirled around to see Vegeta staring in disgust and dismay at the array of undersuits available. "How do you imbeciles not have blue? It's my best color!" He rummaged through the undersuits, tossing them with cavalier distaste over his shoulder, one after the other. "Red, Black, Yellow, Purple, Green?! What is this nonsense? Who are we working for, Freeza or Cooler?" He let out a groan and began putting on the black. It was the closest to blue so he supposed it would have to do. "Now, what were you saying?"
The medic sighed and shook his head. "I said," he reiterated as he turned back to his devices, "That Lord Freeza is currently headed for Planet Namek and its Dragon Balls." That made Vegeta freeze halfway through putting on his boots. "Word going around the Organization is that he plans to make himself immortal! Won't that be something?" Veget gave a grunt and finished putting on his boots, then his chest armor and his gloves.
"Tell me," Vegeta asked, "Which way to the shipyard?"
"About half a mile west," The medic said with a gesture, his back to Vegeta, "Why?" He turned around to see Vegeta pointing his glowing hand against his beak.
"I wanted to make sure that doing this would damage nothing of value." Then he blasted the medic's head off, as well as the next seven miles or so behind him. He dusted off his hands with a smirk before frowning down at his hands and tugging at the gloves. Of course they didn't fit right. He cast them aside as an alarm blared and made his way out the door. "One size fits all my royal ass," he muttered as he flew towards the shipyard. "Useless PTO garbage."
Vegeta blasted everything between himself and the shipyard to scraps and made sure to turn every machine in the shipyard but one into a flaming wreckage before hopping into the single remaining Space Pod and taking off. Funnily enough, he could somehow sense all the beings on the planet. So he'd picked up Kakarot and her friends' little trick. That could prove useful. Freeza somehow knew about the Dragon Balls and the Namekians and the fact that they could make him immortal, eh? There was a fair chance that Freeze knew this through listening to his conversations with Nappa and Raditz. Which meant that it was more than likely that Freeza knew he was no longer a servant but an enemy.
"Then the game is afoot," Vegeta muttered as the chemically-treated air filled the pod. "The race to immortality." It was a race Vegeta swore he would win.
OoOoOoO
It had been a couple days since Suno, Gohan, Bulma, and Krillin had left for Namek and Goku was boooooored. Bulma's dad had come by to tell her that he had a bunch of his science-people working around the clock into making Nappa's ship, who Goku remembered Raditz mentioning and who must have been the other Saiyan Vegeta came with, into a big ship that Goku would be able to fly in. Or something like that. He said it would take about a month. Master Roshi had come by a few times to play cards but even with her psychokinesis, it was tricky to play without hands. Chi-Chi had brought her lunch a few times and they had talked a little bit so that was nice. Now she was all by herself, just watching TV. She couldn't get to the remote.
"The Parliamentary election process rages on," the anchorman was saying from behind his desk, "In the wake of King Furry's death. While his council rules in the interim, Giran of Sector 38 continues to surge ahead as the clear front-runner for the Royal seat. His chief opposition appears to be coming from outside the body of Parliament, however, in the form of world–famous business mogul Bolivar Tang." As he kept talking, Goku wondered if she could change the channel with her psychokinesis. She figure it was worth a shot.
"In this troubled time," a bulbous orangutan-man behind a podium was saying to a crowd, "What we need is law and ord–" Goku extended her mind out to push one of the buttons and the channel changed. She did it!
"-ast Week Tonight," a parrot in a suit and glasses was saying over the applause of a cheering audience, "I'm John Pollyver. Just time for a quick recap of the week–"
"Noooo," Goku protested as she changed the channel. That looked too much like the news.
"What were you saying about my hair, huh?!" A young man in a school uniform with a blue pompadour angrily asked a slightly-older man in a white jacket and matching white hat.
"Heh heh. Launch would like this show." That just made Goku sad. She missed her friends.
"Hold it, Jos–" the older man was saying when Goku changed the channel.
"I am Vengeance! I am the Night! I! AM! "
"Ehhh…" Goku changed the channel again.
"The Laws of Time are mine! And they will obey me!"
"I think Suno said she liked this show…" That just made Goku miss her wife. She changed the channel again and this time there was a man with glasses, short blond hair, and a red apron. He was standing in a fudge shop. Goku was already interested.
"Because if you've got a pot, a thermometer, some basic ingredients and just a little science in your soul, you too can produce fudge that is really, really…"
"Heh heh," Goku chuckled to herself as she hunkered down as best she could in her casts, "Food shows."
OoOoOoO
Several weeks had passed since the enterprising group had begun their trek through the stars on their voyage to Namek, deep in space. Gohan, Suno, and Krillin had filled most of that time with training although Suno made sure to make time for Gohan's studies. Krillin usually filled that time with meditation or stargazing. Well, kinda stargazing. Going through hyperspace stretched out all of the stars into a series of white streaks but he still marvelled at the sight of them. He was sure that they were the only humans who had ever seen them.
Krillin found himself staring at the stretched-out stars again while Suno had Gohan going over participle phrases and other grammar… stuff. He sighed and ran a hand over his stubbly head, scratching at it. It was starting to itch, which only made Krillin once again regret that he had only packed a single pack of razorblades. Just a stupid oversight. So now, Krillin had to conserve what he had, since he doubted there were any convenience stores on Namek. He'd go days without shaving his head his head, which he couldn't remember doing at any point before in his life.
Krillin supposed it could be worse. The ship looked like it didn't have a bathroom or any way to get rid of garbage but Bulma had shown them that it just took a word in Namekian and the bathroom would just… appear. So would a hole in the bottom of the ship that took out the garbage. Krillin had asked Bulma if they were leaving a trail of waste across the cosmos but Bulma had assured him that wasn't the case. When the waste left the safety of the ship, it was caught in the tunnel of hyperspace and had its atoms violently scattered millions of lightyears across space and time. On that sobering thought, Krillin had vowed to never go to the bathroom drunk during this voyage. There wasn't a kitchen, though, so apparently Namekians didn't eat. Krillin guessed it was a good thing Suno had brought some hot plates. How those worked or what she plugged them into, he had no idea.
Krillin's gaze drifted over to Bulma in the pilot's chair in her tank top and sweatpants, her legs resting on the console as she scribbled furiously in a notepad. It was one of several that she had brought for the voyage, to keep track of all her "scientific breakthroughs." This one seemed to be filled with all the things she had learned from the weird mind-meld dealy the ship had done with her and how to reverse-engineer ancient Namekian technology. At least that was what Krillin had gleaned from peeking at it one time over her shoulder. Bulma hadn't liked that.
Sometimes Krillin worried about Bulma now that she had all this Namekian knowledge in her head. He had guessed that the stuff in the book had been about Namek because parts of it were written in a weird arrangement of characters that he guessed was the Namekian language. Sometimes Bulma would lapse into speaking Namekian and wouldn't even notice until someone pointed it out or she tried to say a word that the Namekians didn't have. Bulma assured them it was just a phase and that it would all be back to normal once she adjusted to the knowledge but Krillin wasn't so sure. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Bulma, she was the smartest person he knew and he was comfortable in being honest with himself that she was way smarter than him. Still, he couldn't help but worry. She was his friend, after all.
A flashing red light followed by an alarm blare pulled everyone from their activities. Gohan and Suno put away their books and Bulma brought her legs down from the console as they all crowded around her chair.
"What's going on?" Gohan asked in confusion. He looked out one of the windows and saw… another ship, flying beside them in hyperspace. It was about half as long as their ship and oblong in shape, with an upward curve and a bubble window of its own.
"I… I think we're being hailed," Bulma muttered in astonishment. "Oh, jeez! My first conversation with an alien lifeform! I mean, one that I know is an alien, Goku and Kami and Piccolo don't really count, right?" She was practically bursting with excitement. "What do I say, oh man, what can I say? How do I talk to them? Can I talk to–" Gohan pushed a blinking patch of light on the console.
"This is Galactic Patroller Quantos Vee of Sector 4218." Boomed a deep and authoritative voice in perfect English. The sound seemed to fill the entire ship. "Unknown alien craft, by the authority of the Galactic Federation, I order you to drop out of hyperspace and prepare for questioning." The others looked among themselves and shrugged. What choice did they have? Bulma said something in Namekian and the stars all came to a screeching halt. "Thank you for your cooperation," Quantos continued politely, "Prepare to be boarded."
"So what do we–" Suno began to ask when two tubes of golden light appeared in the room. They spun around to watch as the golden lights quickly took form into two humanoid shapes. One was even shorter than Krillin but still a little taller than Gohan, with a slender build. The other had long arms with enormous shoulders, forearms, and hands as well as two large spikes sticking out of its back and one out of the back of its head and seemed even taller than Piccolo. They both stood with military stillness, their arms behind their backs and their feet firmly planted forward. The light faded and two physical beings stood in front of them.
They were both wearing purple jumpsuits that covered most of their bodies except for their faces, although the larger alien's suit only came up to its neck and its spikes were left uncovered. The shorter alien's purple suit came up around its head, with white metal pieces covering where its ears would be. They also had white gloves, boots, and belts, as well as white vests with slight bumps on the shoulders and stylized "N"s on the front. Each one also had a sidearm on their belt, although the larger alien's was, naturally, larger as well.
The shorter alien had smooth light green skin and large yellow eyes that, upon closer inspection, were actually compound. Tens of thousands of eyes, taking in all the information around him. The larger one, by comparison, was made of stone. Or more accurately, made of crystal. Its lustrous, multifaceted crystalline skin was bright green and its eyes were yellow as well.
"Greetings," the crystalline giant said, "I am Galactic Patrol Captain Quantos Vee." It gestured to the shorter one, "And this is my partner, Officer–"
"Hey," Bulma said excitedly as she climbed out of the chair, "I recognize you! You're the guy from those books my sister Tights wrote! I'm Bulma! You're Jaco, aren't you?" The short alien looked… embarrassed.
"You're talking about my brother," the patrolman muttered, "I'm Geco."
"Geco," Quantos ordered, "Start scanning the crew." Geco gave a salute and began waving a glowing hand over Bulma's body.
"Wait," Bulma said, "I don't understand. What happened to Jaco?"
"He was moved to another sector about twenty years ago," Geco explained with clear admiration in his voice for his brother. "The last I heard, he was working undercover on the black market system of Isos."
"What's that like?" Krillin asked. "I'm Krillin, by the way."
"The system orbits a dead star," Quantos explained. Krillin stifled a chuckle at the concept of a literal black market, what with the total darkness and all. That was a pretty good pun.
"I don't understand," Bulma continued as Geco continued to scan her, "Why was he transferred?"
"He had… issues" Geco admitted reluctantly. "His methods for dealing with Saiyan occupations of planets were… extreme, and he unleashed horrible biological weapons on planets that gave him trouble. He was moved to where the Patrol thought his talents might be more useful."
"I'm frankly amazed he's still alive." Quantos muttered under its breath.
"Oh," Bulma muttered as Geco's glove beeped.
"This one's a Terran," Geco told his boss, "Although she has an extremely advanced brainspace for her species." Bulma smirked proudly as Geco moved on to scan Krillin.
"Hey, hi, Suno here," Suno interjected. "So what's going on here… sir?" Suno asked with a slight edge in her voice. She couldn't help it. These guys seemed like cops but given her past interactions with the Red Ribbon Army, it was hard to shake an inherent distrust for apparent military figures.
"Nothing to worry about," Quantos assured her with a wave of its hand. "We just have to do a routine scan on any ships travelling this way through hyperspace."
"Yeah," Geco added, "Word is that F–" despite having his back to the larger patroler, Geco caught the dirty look from his captain out of one of the corners of one of his compound eyes. "Er… that some strange characters have been headed to Namek."
"That's where we're headed," Krillin said as Geco moved on to Suno. Quantos nodded.
"I assumed as much. Would you mind telling us why, exactly?" Suno was thinking of how much to tell them when Gohan just came right out with the truth.
"Some Saiyans attacked our planet and killed a lot of people, including our friends. We need Namek's Dragon Balls to bring them back." The others couldn't help but smile. It seemed that lies or stories were as useless to Gohan as they were to Goku. Quantos nodded and stroked its large, jagged chin.
"You know," it said, "For a planet-locked species, you all speak Galactic Basic fluently."
"Oh," Suno replied as Geco moved over to Gohan, "That's kinda funny. We were wondering how you guys spoke English so well." Geco and Quantos blinked.
"What is English?" Quantos asked. Suno shrugged. Before anyone could say anything else, a small section of the back of Geco's glove flashed green once he was finished scanning Gohan and his glove pinged out a whistle.
"Captain," he reported, "This one's a hybrid."
"Oh really?" Quantos asked with a raised eyebrow. "What is he?"
"Half Terran," Geco read off of his instruments, "And half… Saiyan?!" Geco and Quantos exchanged a shocked look before turning to the others.
"How many Saiyans are on Terra?" Quantos asked.
"Oh, just one," Suno assured them. The pair seemed visibly relieved. "My wife, Son Goku."
"And is she the boy's mother?" Geco asked. Suno shook her head.
"Nah," she told them, "I am. I mean, Goku's also his mother? But I had Gohan." She put a hand on Gohan's head and ruffled his hair affectionately as Geco and Quantos exchanged another look.
"Didn't know Terrans had that kind of technology," Geco muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Bulma smirked again while Quantos ignored him to do a quick sweep of the vehicle.
"I wasn't aware Terra had these hyperspace capabilities."
"Well, we don't," Bulma admitted. "Not really. This is a Namekian ship. It just happened to be on Earth." Geco's expression showed that he didn't know what to make of Terra.
"This must be pretty old technology," Quantos added, "Since the Namekians are such a hermetic people." It gave another sweep of the ship and it looked at them again, seemingly looking right through them all. "It seems everything here is in order," Quantos concluded as it and Geco began to glow again. "You may return to lightspeed. Although I'd look into getting a permit for this craft. Oh," it added as their glowing bodies turned to tubes of light again, "And I'm a female." Then they popped right out of existence.
"Well," Krillin muttered, "That sure was something." The others nodded as Bulma returned to her seat. "Where the heck are you even gonna get a permit for this thing?"
"We'll worry about that if we run into any more patrolmen," Bulma said as she hunkered down in her seat and grabbed the console again, "Time to get on the road again!" She said the words in Namekian again and they jumped back into hyperspace with a "WHIP-CRACK!"
OoOoOoO
Geco watched the… Terramekian craft zip off to lightspeed from the comfort of his and the Captain's patrol ship and sipped at his carbon cup of caff-soup with troubled thoughts in his mind.
"Should we have told them, Captain?" Geco asked. "About Freeza? Maybe we should have gone with them." Quantos shook her head as she started the ship's thrusters up again and chartered a course for the nearest distress beacon.
"Geco," Quantos began, "Let me explain something to you. If the entire might of the Galactic Patrol, all five hundred thousand of us, threw ourselves at Freeza all by himself and caught him completely off guard, do you know what would happen? The entire Patrol would die." She sighed sullenly and gripped the steering column in both hands as she kept the ship on course. "We cannot oppose Freeza or the might of the Planet Trade Organization. If we do, he'd turn his focus on us and bring untold destruction on the Federation. All we can do is police the parts of the NGQ that falls under our jurisdiction and hope for the best."
"What do we do about them, though?" Geco asked. Quantos shrugged.
"Nothing," she admitted, "Unless we went to Earth to tell their next of kin about their suicide."