Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or its related characters. All is the property of FUNamation, Studio Toei, Fuji TV, and Toriyama Akira. I'm just borrowing them for some light-heated entertainment. Same disclaimer applies for Sailor Moon and related characters.

Space Opera

Chapter Fourteen: Spread Out

The Prince reclined in his pod, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible in the cramped space pod. He went over in his mind what his father would say -more likely do- to him upon discovering his disobedience. It would probably start with a smack to the back of the head and -depending on his mood- end with a regeneration tank. Hopefully he could think of something to sooth his father's rage before it got to that point. Trunks was no stranger to his father's rage (her certainly defined him enough to earn it) and while he wasn't as good at manipulating the old man as his baby sister was, he did have his own tricks to working around his punishments.

Just as he was going over his list of techniques, the Prince was pulled from his thoughts by the pod giving an odd and slightly uncomfortable sounding groan. The hyper dive was not supposed to sound like that. He knew machines. Knew them rather well. His mother taught him how to take apart an engine and put it back together again when he was seven. He knew every sound they made, good and bad, but that sound was new to him. But he didn't have time to ponder what it might indicate before the whole pod gave a sudden and violent lurch and before suddenly dropping out of hypersapce.

A battle greeted him.

Blasts of energy streaked past his pod's view port. Adrenaline suddenly pumping, no longer worried over what to do when he faced his father again, Trunks examined the scene before him. There was an Ice-jin ship and Ice-jin soldiers in mismatched armor. They were facing off against an Imperial ship which the Prince was mildly concerned to recognize as the Dominance -his father's flagship. His father never even made it to Earth either! Then, far off to the side, just fringing on the outskirts of the battle was a third ship. Something of an odd design he'd never seen before. An hourglass shape, with twin antenna on either side and a gyroscope in the center.

But he didn't have time to ponder the curious design now. Now he had to help his father.

This might take a little longer than his short jaunt between the Patriot and the Cutlass back over Earth. Trunks fixed an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth before grabbing his sword and popping the pod's hatch to dart out into the fray.

Aboard the Dominance, one of the Tactical officers alerted the King of the arrival of a new pod -not from their hangar bays- coming in from a similar vector to their original course.

The King's first thought was that Kold had set up a secondary unit to attack their aft and box them in. But that idea was quickly dismissed almost as soon as it occurred to him. No one could box-in a capital ship with a single one-man pod. They said it came in from the same angle they'd originally been traveling. That meant the pod was coming from Vegeta-sei. That meant it was a Saiyan. Academically, Vegeta knew it could be anyone. The Empire did not limit private citizens' travel or usage of privately owned pods and other crafts. But something told him that it was no private and anonymous citizens that had simply fallen prey to the Kold's anti-hyperspace trap. No. That damn 'parental instinct' told Vegeta exactly who it was that arrived. He knew it was the Prince.

A single soldier would have been to small for Vegeta to see from his vantage point board the Dominance. Between the other ship, the hourglass shaped anti-hyperspace emitter, and all the warriors and ki flying around, it was impossible to pick out a specific individual. But the King didn't have to see him to talk to him.

"Get me a link-up to the new arrival's scouter."

"Sir!" The communications officer acknowledged. He typed a few codes into his console before speaking into his own scouter, "Unidentified drop-pod, this is the SES Dominance. Please respond." Everyone was always so polite in the military now. That was something the woman did. In his father's day no one would have been caught dead saying 'please'. After a moment, the communications officer turned around to inform the King, "Sir, its the Prince. He's requested I place him on the main speaker."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. Trunks just loved being the center of attention.

"You guys were throwing a party and you didn't invite me. I'm hurt." The boy's voice said over the channel, eliciting smiles and silent laughs from the bridge crew. The Prince was always so lighthearted and upbeat compared to his serious and pessimistic father. The Prince's voice was muffled slightly, as if speaking through a breathing apparatus. Of course, he'd need one if he was fighting out of the pod. His ki would insulate him from the pressures and the cold of space, but it couldn't give him air. "And look at that other ship over there. All shiny, and new, and not a scrap of data on it my scouter can find. Looks like its meant to negate transit at the warp level. Some sort of generator that pulls ships out of hyper space. An 'anti-transwarp generator'."

"Never mind that!" The King snapped. "What in the nine hells do you think you're doing here, boy!? You're supposed to be back at the capital training your ass off!"

The Prince ignored that and continued as if his father hadn't spoken. "Its really a beautiful piece of ingenuity. Shame we're gonna have to destroy it. So long as that thing's operational, none of us can leave and any other ships passing within its range will be pulled out of hyperspace like I just was."

Upon hearing that, the King paused. Though his son might be a disobedient and impudent brat, he was still a smart little impudent and disobedient brat. All this time, Vegeta had been focusing on the Ice-jin warship without giving much thought to wondering how or why they were pulled out of hyperspace in the first place. The how was obvious -the strange hourglass ship had something to do with it. But Vegeta didn't begin to consider why until Trunks pointed out that they couldn't leave again -not unless that ship was destroyed. The Kold forces weren't trying to annihilate them, they were trying to keep them here. Keep them from getting to their destination.

It was like their last battle all over again.

Nothing but a distraction.

That meant that there was another force on its way to Earth -or already there. Trunks had said the Kolds' plan was the complete and total extinction of both the human and Saiyan races and they were starting with the weakest among them. The powerless and helpless citizens of the Earth. Countless soldiers in his military had taken partners from Earth. Had children growing up on Earth. To wipe the planet of all life would devastate Vegeta's entire fighting force. It would emotionally cripple his entire army. With no one to fight for, half of them would just give up and welcome their own destruction if for no other reason than to be with their families again.

Vegeta could not let that happen. They needed to get to the Earth. They needed to get to Earth now!

"Can you disable the anti-whatsit generator?" The King asked.

"Anti-transwarp generator." The Prince supplied. "Or ATG, if its easier for you. And yeah, I think I can. Looks like the weak point is that gyroscope looking thing in the middle. Just gotta get to it."

Though Vegeta knew Trunks couldn't see him, he nodded anyway. Addressing his tactical officer, he commanded, "Send two squads to clear a path for the Prince. Our new priority is to take out that ATG!"

…

The mission was to find out what weapon or technique the Empire employed to repel Dodoria's attack. It must have been small. The whole of the fleet was deployed to engage Cooler's forces even the Prince's and King's flagships were accounted for. So whatever it was that saved the planet, it was not a battleship filled with warriors.

But it couldn't have been a mechanical weapon either. While the King's earthling mate was a genius with machines and had developed quite a number of vehicles, armors, accessories, and tools that had given the Empire a bit of an edge, she had not yet been able to develop a weapon that was effective against a high level warrior. If there was a weapon, it might have worked against a number of their infantry soldiers, but never would have scratched the officers. Certainly it wouldn't have left a mark on Dodoria. So something else had to be at work here.

Perhaps they finally bred and trained the Legendary, as the late King had tried to do when he connected to having his son be joined with the weak Earther female that was now his Queen. If that was the case, the the Kolds were to late. Beaten before they had even begun. Their plans ruined.

But that couldn't be it either. First of all, the only hansaiya of the age estimated for a warrior to ascend to the level of Legendary would all be currently serving in the fleet, and there for would have been present at the space battle, not on Earth. There were a great number of younger hansaiya on the lane at the time, but the likelihood of it being a warrior under the age of majority was slim. Even assuming the child was a prodigy, it wouldn't be feasible for an under-developed child's body to support the kind of raw power that would give rise to a Legendary. That meant that it had to be a veteran from the fleet. A hansaiya whom had reached full physical maturity, but had retied their commission from the fleet and was present on Earth at the time of the attack.

To the best of the Ascendency's knowledge, there was only one such hansaiya, the first hansaiya, the one that inspired the eugenics project on Earth.

Gohan, son of Kakarot.

The Ascendency had enough information on the half-breed Saiyan-spawn to know his name, but aside from that, they had no intel on him. Not what he did after leaving the Fleet. Not where he lived. Not even for sure if he was even on Earth at the time of the attack or a the capital on Vegeta-sei.

They did know that in the ten or so years between resigning his commission and now, he had published at least two books within the monarchy. One, a translation of the Saiyan text 'The Nine-thousand and One Teachings of Yasai', which was part of a cultural project to help native Earthlings better understand their Saiyan neighbors. And a second, much more clinical work on the environmental and neurological psychology of hansaiyan. It was meant more to be a sort of 'how to' guide for parents of hansaiya children, but unfortunately, the first publications of the book contained a little to much had science for the average citizen to understand and sold much better with circles of old and childless hard-scientists rather than the garden-variety parent of a special-needs child which it was aimed at.

But the actual content of the books didn't matter. Because earthlings did something supremely stupid when they published a popular book without the author using a penname. They printed a short biography in the back which -more often than not- told the reader where they lived. The province, at least, if not the specific city. But no matter. It was a place to start.

Jace walked into the first bookstore he saw. A long coat he 'borrowed' off some poor pedestrian draped over his shoulders to conceal the obviously non-Saiyan battle armor he wore. And plucked a book off the shelf. The short paragraph informed him that Son Gohan had settled down with his family in a place called Mount Paozu. A quick glance at an atlas showed him where on Earth that was. Setting the books down again, he exited the store as quietly and casually as he entered it.

…

Guldo had a much different strategy for his reconnaissance.

He simply did a wide searched for the strongest ki signatures on the planet, listed them in order of strength, and decided to go down the list checking each one out before reporting back to the Captain.

The first strong ki he detected wasn't to far from where they landed, unconcerned and idling in a mountain region. But while it was the first one his scouter picked up and the closest, it was not the strongest, so Guldo would set it aside for the moment. Besides, according to his scouter, Jace was already heading in that direction.

But in a different mountain chain on the opposite side of the planet was another ki signature that was just a bit stronger than then close one Jace was chasing. Guldo figured he might as well follow-up on that one. It wasn't exactly close and he couldn't fly to fast or to high for fear of alerting the locals to his presence before the Captain was ready. But the ki was strong, that merited at least some looking into.

…

Burter was fast. Very fast. And the best thing about his speed was that he didn't need to burn absurd amounts of ki to reach the speeds he could achieve. That was a great talent. Unlike the Captain, Master Feeza, or these Saiyans, whom -while they could reach the same speeds- had to delve into their body's well on ki and exhaust themselves. Burter could achieve maximum results with minimal effort.

It also meant he could traverse the whole of the planet without making himself stand out like a signal flair on the Saiyans' scouters.

That was probably why the Captain out and out told him to cover as much ground as he possibly could and take inventory of the damage that had been done to the planet. A surprising number of things could be learned about a warrior or weapon simply from studying its aftermath.

But the strange thing was, there didn't seem to be much damage at all.

A couple of collapsed buildings. Some pot-marked streets. But that was about it. The damage was limited to the populated areas of the planet -which made sense considering that said population was the target of the first attack. But the tell-tale signs of a massive planet-shaking battle between two powerful warriors just weren't there. There were no fresh leveled out wastelands. Places that looked like they might have just recently been cities, or forests, or islands, but had been reduced to nothing more than dust and rubble. No. Burta found plenty of old one. Probably the vintage battle grounds between Kakarot and the original Saiyan party that came to claim the planet.

But nothing new.

There should be new battle ground scarring the face of the planet. Especially if there was a warrior strong enough to challenge Dodoria on the planet. Their battle would have been spectacular. So, where was the requisite destruction that went hand-in-hand with such a battle? No where. That's where. That meant that, whatever had happened here, there hadn't been much of a battle.

That could mean any number of things.

It could mean that perhaps the attack was not as much of a surprise as it was supposed to be. The Fleet had not been completely deployed to Cooler's distraction and had left behind a contingent to defend their breeding planet. But, no. All the named capital ships had been accounted for in the battle. None were missing. Of course, just because al the ships were there didn't mean all the soldiers were inside said ships. There was that possibility. But knowing Saiyans and Saiyan pride, that was unlikely. No warrior would want to stay behind while the rest of his comrades went to war.

Or, it could have been some new and secret super-weapon. Perhaps the monarchy's human Queen finally had designed something capable of taking out a warrior as powerful as Dodoria. However unlikely, it was a possibility that they couldn't rule out until all five of them reconvened and compared notes. Then, not only would they have their answers, but the real attack could begin.

…

Being a well-educated fellow prior to his joining go the Ascendancy's military, the Captain swopped out his armor for what passed as tourist-civilians' cloths here on Earth and walked right into the capital city -and on up to the Governor's Palace.

There had been a number of off-worlders (not just Saiyans, but tourists and traders as well) that had come to Earth prior to the two attacks and now found themselves stranded by the martial law, as well as the very legitimate excuse that one of the Earth two space docks was still out of commission. With so many frantic aliens crowding the Governor's Palace demanding permission to leave the country or at the very least, compensation for time lost, nobody batted an eyelash at one other such alien wondering around.

At first glance, the Governor's Palace looked exactly as to be expected after an enemy attack. The the entire ground floor, plus every lobby and waiting room in the whole building were overflowing with people. Locals making insurance claims and demanding the government compensate them, or perhaps they would forgo the compensation in favor of a simple explanation. 'Why were we attacked?' or 'Are we safe? What if they come back?' Or foreigners. Aliens of all varieties. Tourists from Yrdratt whom were visiting with their families, students from Namek, or merchants from Arlia and M2. Since the attack, all their visitor's visas were frozen. None could leave without first obtaining an exit pass.

Saiyans. They ran everything like a giant police state.

Not that the Ascendancy was any better. But as an elite soldier working directly under Lord Freeza, Ginyu didn't have to worry about any of the every day limitations placed on the average citizen.

Weaving his way through the crowd, while trying to simultaneously blend into it, Ginyu slowly made his way up the levels of the palace. That is, he made his way up the levels that civilians were allowed access to. When he reached an office he was not supposed to be in, he waited patiently for some poor low-level bastard to come and tell him to go away.

The moment he did, the Captain didn't waste any time. Using his own special ability, a technique that allowed him to switch bodies with another person, Ginyu jumped from his own body into that of the low-level Saiyan guard. Taking advantage of the man's disorientation as suddenly finding himself no longer himself, Ginyu used the man's own ki-binding cuffs to restrain his recently vacated body and the unwilling caretaker forced inside it. For once the fact that the monarchy's Queen was a mad genius when it came to inventions was convenient. The hand-cuffs which had become a standard issue for all security personnel had some sort of internal circuitry that dampened, or grounded, or suppressed a warrior's ki. Or something like that. Truth be told, Ginyu didn't really know all that much about it. He wasn't a tech guy, he was an action guy. The important thing was that his significantly stronger body wasn't going to be going anywhere while he was walking around in his borrowed one.

Now with -quite literally- the perfect disguise, the Captain was free to begin his real investigation.

…

Recoom, being neither the cleverest nor the most creative member of the Ginyu Force, he just waited for the fighting to start. That was really all he came for, after all.

…