Chapter 10. Life, Liberty, & Legacy
Prologue/Author's Note: I had originally started this story before the Brolly movie, and to align things with Akira's depiction of things, I wanted to offer these remarks to help guide you, my wonderful readers, who are too shy to leave reviews. Let's begin in order; Apparently there were 4 generations of King Vegeta, the one who was born a bit before Goku/Kakarot and whom married Bulma is King Vegeta the 4th.
In the year of Vegeta the first, who's reign lasted 300 years, the Saiyans lived a primitive life that centered around hunting and gathering and the cultivation of their planet, most of their homes were as they were seen in the movie, dome shaped and build of hardened clay bricks and stone. At this time, they had intergalactic relationships to the neighboring habitable planets, but all relations were strictly between the royal elites and their neighboring political or royal intergalactic counterparts. These first 300 years marked their race to become technologically equals to their neighboring planets and extracting their needs for resources from planted that needed protection from planet harvestors.
The planet Vegeta is not blown up by Frieza in this alternate universe, at least not yet. In the Akira universe, the planet faces the threat of destruction during Vegeta the third's reign, but in this story, the threat has not yet taken place as Frieza is not yet named the leader of the Cold family enterprise.
In regards to Brolly and his father, they were indeed exiled to a different planet just as they were in the Brolly movie, due to the concern of the child's extraordinary abilities that would have been a threat to the existence of the Saiyan race and the longevity of the planet. Now, moving along, in this same line of thinking, Bardock has not passed away and he and his wife and mate were able to raise Goku/Kakarot, however, as the Saiyans are apart of the planet harvesting network under the Cold Royal family's leadership, nearly every young Saiyan male is sent on a planetary expedition or mission to accomplish the goals of harvesting resources, removing or enslaving the population, and/or intelligence gathering. Kakarot had been sent to earth specifically for intelligence reconnaissance operation and to bring specific individuals from the planet earth to Vegeta-Sei that met the parameters set by the lead scientist on their planet.
Upon the arrival of his craft upon Earth, Kakarot built a relationship with Grandpa Goku and was nicknamed after him, just as he was in dragon ball, however, unlike Akira's story, he didn't loose his memory and was aware of his heritage and origins the entire time he was on earth. Goku grew kinder and developed his character to be much like the Akira version of Goku we are familiar with because his mission called for him to get to know the humans and find those that fit the needs of the qualities being harvested by the lead scientist, Nion, who is the lead female scientist in the Brolly movie, on his home planet. In the end, he isolated the following humans and brought them back to planet Vegeta, for they met the unique characteristics and qualities needed by Nion:
Mr. & Mrs Brief and their daughter Bulma, The ox king and Queen, with their daughter Chi Chi, and Mr. Hurcule.
Upon their arrival to the planet, all of their memories were erased and replaced by designed memories of their life on planet Vegeta. Scientific advances on genetic engineering had made for a faster development and evolution of the Saiyan race, however genetic diversity was required to complete the mission, which is why selected qualities, genetics, and characteristics were desired to diversify the Saiyan gene pool without any of the population knowing of this genetic tampering.
The efforts of this genetic diversification began during the reign of Vegeta the 2nd, where Nion's mother, who was also the lead scientist at the time, was recruited to enhance the Saiyan race. The project was confidential, only the King and lead scientist were ever aware of the genetic diversification process and the efforts needed to accomplish the goal. Nion herself was a first generation hybrid, and the strengths needed for their field of work was magnified by the genetic engineering performed while in the gestational pods. Women no longer needed to carry their children in their wombs, this change was also implemented during the reign of Vegeta the 2nd, so all Saiyan women could be used by the King to continue the mission of building a superior race in whatever capacity they showed purpose and talent in. Granted, third class citizens only had three categories to function in: city building, planet harvesting, or, in rare cases, to become scientists or warriors. All Saiyans were required to reproduce if they had desirable genetic features, but none of the women had to bear the burden of pregnancy while completing their missions or jobs.
All male Saiyans were required to have one interplanetary mission during the ages of 5-10, unless they were born weak, they would serve in city building and just that, or if their strengths were intellectual instead, they were educated and assimilated into the planet's sciences division. For Saiyan females, it was similar, however they were not required to go on interplanetary missions unless they chose to once they became of age, which was 18.
Vegeta the 3rd is still alive in my story, he and King Cold have build a rapport with one another as Vegeta has assumed the crown after his father ruled for 300 years, allowing for Vegeta the 3rd to focus on interplanetary political relations and keeping his planet on the thriving end of the deal with the Cold empire. When Vegeta the 2nd had passed away from old age, he had shared the secret of the genetic engineering project, and his need to continue the mission in secret to his heir. To ensure its continued confidentiality, only Nion, daughter of the scientist that began the project, would ever know if the efforts made, and would continue to carry them out. Likewise, only Nion's offspring would ever know of the secret to ensure that the mission continued throughout the generations.
To this day, only Vegeta the 3rd, Nion, and her children, know of the secret population of hybrid Saiyans in the planet, and only they had the records to identify those in their population who were the product of genetic engineering.
To ease the experience of abducted foreigners from other planets, they would be memory wiped, and given false memories of planet Vegeta, and undergo slight genetic modification to produce the Saiyan features of increased strength and having a tail. Once this was done, they could be planted into the general population and situationally matched to a full blooded Saiyan to naturally induce the diverse genetic pool needed to create a robust population of Saiyans that would be more inclined to control their primal urges and instincts to rationalize their choices and exhibit wisdom through learned experiences.
Thus, this generational scientific effort had been passed from Mother to child, and now Nion was passing it on to her children. King Vegeta the 4th was still completely unaware of the efforts being made in his own labs— and little did he know that Queen Bulma, the mother of his hybrid children, had at one point been an earthling and untainted human. Vegeta the 3rd had expressed the need to never inform his son, the 4th, of the efforts being made in secret under his nose for the fear of him stopping the project and causing a detrimental rift between his spouse, children, and remaining family. The thought was to continue the project eternally until the goal of creating a Super Saiyan that could retain mental clarity and capacity to rationalize their actions without the cloud of immeasurable power influencing their decisions was attained.
Telling the reigning King Vegeta the 4th of the truth would only inhibit and possibly compromise the efforts being made. Not to mention, the legend of the super Saiyan was something that they all needed to keep a secret, especially from the Cold empire. Retired royal Vegeta the 3rd had been in the company of the Cold family for a few years now since retiring from the crown, and he knew that they could not withstand even rumors of a possible threat to their reign and control. So with this in mind, he decided to enact a failsafe that if the information was ever leaked to anyone outside of himself and Nion, and her future generations of children, they would all be put to death— and the program would end with just the remaining hybrids being the last of the genetic diversification efforts naturally occurring without the intervention of a scientist playing God to speed up the evolutionary process. The secret would die with them if it was ever discovered.
Now that we have cleared up those gaps and back story, let's jump back into the current events of When Royalty Fails!
It had been a week since the royal siblings had arrived to their stationed castle in third class territory. The castle was minuscule in size in comparison with the palace they called home, and its design differed as well.
The castle was an old relic that was being currently renovated to accommodate modern advancements and technology reflected in the first and second cast systems of the planet. A portion of the castle didn't have electricity or running water yet, and was quite a reflection of the dismal conditions of the third class cities, its infrastructure, and lack of advancement. The castle was secured with a moat around its perimeter, and high walls that were effectively guarded day and night. The courtyard around the castle was small, only large enough to fit a sustainable garden and the daily resources and requirements of the castle, its staff, and the royals staying there. Staying here was like going back 1000 years into the past in comparison to the modern amenities, architecture, and grandeur of their palace at the capital of planet Vegeta. This castle was made of square cut gray stone, had about 20 bedrooms, four of which were grand bedrooms and the rest were servants quarters. Each one of these grand bedrooms were in either corner of the castle, so each corner was referred to as east, west, north, and south. For the time being, the prince was in the north wing of the castle with his guard and servants, totaling about 4 staff that tended to his needs. In a similar fashion, his princess sister took up the west wing, and also had four royal staff members with her as well, namely Goten, Pan, and two other women who assisted with her daily requirement.
Goten's role was to protect the princess, maintain her schedule, and serve as a liaison between her magesty the princess and the Queen mother, and his majesty, the King father, and lastly, his grace, the Prince brother. Since they each had their specific roles and tasks as royals, keeping communication between each royal family member was quite the challenge, but Goten fell into the role without issue, and did so while protecting the princess from rumors and plots against her. It was his job to smell a rat out and get rid of the issue before it ever coming to bother the princess.
Pan's role had become an interesting one, for as Goten was the right hand of the Princess, she was the left. She worked closely with Goten and the princess and made sure that her majesty's personal needs and royal responsibilities were being maintained and met according to her agenda and schedules. She managed and took care of Bra as a trusted servant, but more so as a true friend. She had much to attribute to the relationship she had developed with the princess, for had it not been for her intervention, she would have been raped by the taskmaster, undoubtedly.
It had been a little over a year since they had both arrived to serve in the palace and directly under Bra's command. During the duration of their time in the palace, they both had learned the dynamics of the royal family and their place in the universe, at least, to the extent that they were educated to be aware of in order to rightfully be of use to the Princess and her needs.
King Vegeta's purpose outside of ruling the planet was one of conquest and subjugation of other worlds and their resources. King Vegeta and their plant had joined the Planet Trade Organization that was just recently appointed to be lead by Prince Frieza, son of King Cold, who was the emperor of Universe 7, officially about three days ago. Their mission was to take a planet, enslave a portion of the population, eradicate the remaining weaklings, and then sell the planet to the highest bidder so they could mine and harvest each resource the planet had at its disposal. Once the planet was done producing, it would then be disposed of by the "clean up" crew, which consisted of strong warriors of the universe capable of producing an attack that was effective enough to erase the planet from existence. Planet Vegeta had a treaty with the Planet Trade Organization, where in King Vegeta would get a portion of each benefit the planets he conquered had to offer. The portion ratio depended on how much support or resources from The Frieza Force the Saiyan army needed to accomplish the mission. Without any support, they could keep 70% of the spoils and resources available to take and use at their discretion, while 30% was assigned to the Cold empire. This was how Planet Vegeta was able to begin the development of their planet to grow from an undeveloped 3rd world planet 300 years ago and into the industrial planet it was today, capitalizing on technology, resources, and slave trade by way of pillaging and conquest of planets that did not have warriors or armies to defend against the power and strength of the Saiyans.
The mission that Prince Trunks was assigned on his 16th birthday was to oversee the growth and development of the remaining parts of the planet, this task was assigned to him by his father, the reigning King. Such was the way of the crown prince's of planet Vegeta, as years ago, his own father, had been tasked with becoming the strongest warrior and to join in the conquest under the flag of the Cold family, meanwhile his Grandfather, King Vegeta, the third of his name, had joined followed in his father's footsteps and renewed the treaty with the Planet Trade Organization that had been in place 200 years before his time. King Vegeta, the third of his name, had done so with the intention of growing his empire and influence in the universe, and developing Planet Vegeta to be among the most powerful of all. Grandfather King Vegeta stayed on planet Vegeta to develop its advancement and modernization as the once Prince Vegeta was sent from a young age to be trained in combat by the strongest warriors in their universe, namely, the Cold family and their military warrior force. The way great Grandfather King Vegeta the 2nd had passed was a mystery, unsolved, but upon his death, King Vegeta the 3rd assumed his role as King, but relinquished the title and rule to his son after 100 years, deciding that his efforts were best served as a political diplomat on behalf of planet Vegeta, so he could focus on nurturing important interplanetary relationships, and staying close to the Cold family.
King Vegeta the 4th, once coronated uplink his father's early retirement, was required to marry and produce an heir. Since he had to tend to these royal duties of succession, he paused for a time from pillaging planets of behalf of the Cold family, and had serendipitously been given his wife Bulma as a gift from his father and lead scientist Nion, for apparently, the blue haired woman named Bulma had been remarkable from conception, and was said to be the strongest genetic match for the 4th king of planet Vegeta to produce the strongest heirs.
With time, they had developed a romantic relationship and started the continuation of the royal lineage, producing Prince Trunks, and a few years later, Princess Bra.
Upon the orders of his father King Vegeta, fourth of his name, when Trunks had become of significant age, he was tasked to resume the projects his grandfather had started, meanwhile, the king continued the missions of planet procurement and political espionage as he secretly communicated as needed with his retired father, Royal ambassador Vegeta the 3rd, who kept his ear close to the ground to make sure Planet Vegeta would continue to thrive in an ever changing universal political climate.
In all of of the planetary conquest, interstellar relations, and political influence that was to be gained by working directly with the Cold family, King Vegeta knew that the relationship between the Saiyans and the Cold family was on rocky ground. His father would to his best to keep things peaceful between them, however, their fear of loosing their grip on the universe as the most powerful force in it filed their lack of trust. If the rumors of the legendary super saiyan legend somehow ever made its way to the Cold family, it was likely that the notion of a possible threat would place the entire Cold clan on edge and kept the Saiyans at arms length.
King Vegeta and his father serving as a royal diplomat would both be damned if either of them allowed a Sayian legend, invented as a bed time story to give hope to all Saiyans, regardless of the class they were born into, to keep them mindful of their training and dangle a carrot in front of everyone of their species to become the greatest warriors possible, regardless of rank. They both worked simultaneously together to reduce and eliminate any possible threats to their species and planet, for they refused to allow rumors or any nonsense destroy the royal legacy they and every king before them had built. They wouldn't allow it.
Now with Frieza seizing control of the Cold family empire and intergalactic planet trade, they both were concerned with how to best navigate the youngest of the Cold family empire. He was not like his father, who had thankfully never been too concerned with their planet or people, and was happy to use them prolifically to enhance his own goals and control over the universe. He was easy going and easy to manipulate according to retired king Vegeta, now diplomatic relations for planet Vegeta. Frieza was a wild card, ambitious and absolutely tyrannical in regard to the notion of possibility being challenged by others. He was young and had much to prove to his family, and he did so by madly making genocide a solution to compensate for his lack of confidence as a leader, or at least, this was the observations made by retired king Vegeta in his most recent communications to his son, Reigning king Vegeta the 4th.
"When Frieza assumed power and command over the Cold empire, he gladly killed and eliminated 10 diplomats that were present for his coronation, and actively engaged in missions on behalf of their empire. Now he is going to each planet that each diplomat represented to completely destroy them, not for trade or sell, nor for pillaging their resources, but just to satisfy his need for being unchallenged in power and to bolster his confidence as a leader." Vegeta spoke directly to his son the 4th King Vegeta, as they walked through a garden that his royal highness Vegeta was visiting while on a mission to finalize the purchase of the planet he had just conquered on behalf of the Cold family empire.
"I am concerned that our planet may be next should we not try to make an effort to remain in the good graces of Frieza."
"What drives his behavior?" King Vegeta asked his father.
"Unrelenting coldness, a need to prove himself capable to the rest of his family, and perhaps he's making up for being the smallest of the clan," Vegeta the elder diplomat remarked with a chuckle at the end.
"We will need to make an effort to learn what could effectively deter him from ever considering our planet as expendable. Without a legendary super sayian yet to be discovered, our only hope is to buy enough time to make it happen, sooner rather than later," King Vegeta replied to his father, his wheels turning as he considered how exactly he could possibly keep the lizard from ever considering their people and planet as targets for his own personal violent enjoyment.
Back on Planet Vegeta, changes were being executed by Prince Trunks in the way that the mission of modernizing the third class cities were be successfully accomplished in a shorter amount of time, all thanks to the humble suggestions of his sister, princess Bra.
Now that she attended the leadership council of investments of the crown, she was able to make suggestions to the council. At first, her ideas were met with skepticism and course rebuttal. But as she often spoke with authority and conviction, she reminded the council that their efforts yielded more death and slower progress than seen in the last 100 years.
"The defining characteristic of insanity is to repeat the same actions and expect a different result," Princess Bra scolded the councilors, as her brother Prince Trunks sat at the table with a proud smirk as she stood her ground against the old group of master builders.
"Are you master builders or master butchers?" Bra continued, silencing any of them before they could comment.
Silent looks of disdain, shame, and anger marked the expressions of each of the 6 older saiyan men who served as master builders of their regions. None could answer the princess without sounding as if they were excusing their failures.
"We will implement better rations for every working family, and they will have two days of rest out of 7. We will also shorten the work day from 16 hours to 12 hours with one hour for breaks for refreshment and a meal. So let it be written, and let it be done," His Royal Highness the crown prince declared as the master builders shuffled themselves out of the castle once by one, defeated by the notion of implementing such a radical change that made them fearful of the slaves and 3rd class sayians growing strong and forming alliances against them during their free time.
Thankfully, for the time being, the last 4 months went along well as the changes were made and implemented. The cities were changing for the better, infrastructure was being built and improved, homes and city squares were becoming beautiful and the people began to enjoy their existence. Moreover, the people began to know and love their Prince and princess for their efforts to make their lives better as they accomplished their mission of building a better kingdom.