Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

A few weeks later…

This is just great! My very own crew gets another planet-purge assignment for Frieza and what do I get? Rooked, that's what! Me! A warrior, a commander in the Saiya-jin army! I get snookered into keeping an eye on these baka entertainers! Toma nearly pissed himself laughing when he heard the news! It's all his fault, that friggin' baka! Why didn't he get this so-called"plum"duty? It was his bloody idea, after all! But no Saiya-jin who values his hide says no to a royal edict, unless he craves an early and extremely painful death. King Vegeta's word is law and we are bound as loyal Saiya-jins to carry out his wishes. But,why me?

Bardock's mood continued to sour as he watched the multi-passenger space vehicle touch down on the central landing pad site specially set aside for non-pod transports. The pilot expertly settled the vessel down onto the circular, hard-packed surface. The engines powered down as the side passenger portal blew its seal and swung open on its inward hinges. A series of small steps levered down onto the landing pad.

Resembling a flock of brightly chattering birds, the entertainers disembarked the transport vehicle one by one, laughing in delight and pointing at their surroundings as they descended. Each performer was attired in his or her own signature style, their outfits swirling with a multitude of colors and materials. The landing pad attendants were unsure of how to proceed with these arrivals, as they were more accustomed to the truculent natures and not quite as garish battle suits of the Saiya-jins.

"These baka alien entertainers are behaving like bloody tourists!" Bardock grumbled to himself.

Most of them had disembarked from the vessel, when the dark-skinned male Bardock had seen before on Theta Seven turned back to call out to the last straggler fiddling about inside the ship.

"Yu-vee! C'mon, woman! You're holding up the parade!"

"Addy! Keep your shorts on, boy-chik! I'm just trying to make sure we haven't forgotten any…AHA!"

Bardock recognized that voice as soon as he heard it. It'sher! The lilac-hued female! His surprised heart leapt into a new rhythm in anticipation of seeing her again.

"Whose tie-dyed duffle is this?" To punctuate the question, a colorful duffle bag sailed out through the portal to land on top of the luggage heap already assembled on the landing pad's surface. Soledad, the auburn-haired dancer Bardock and Toma had met before, giggled and shouted back to the ship.

"Oops! Sorry, boss! That's mine, alright!"

"That's the whole kit and kaboodle, then!"

Lluvia stepped down from the transport clad in a form-fitting leather ensemble. The short jacket, laced-up bustier, and thigh-high boots were made of the same soft, light creamy hide. The hip-riding stretch pants completed the outfit in the same matching creamy color. The shiny chain around her exposed lower waist caught the brilliance of Vegeta-sei's midday sunshine as she skipped over to join her group.

Bardock could feel his heartbeat shifting into overdrive at the sight of her. Kami! What the devil is wrong with me? I'd better schedule a complete physical for myself! And soon!

"Hellooo, Vegeta-sei! Time to get your groove on, 'cause The Shadow Entertainers have arrived!"

Her elated shout was greeted with additional whooping and hollering from her group, who laughed and pumped their fists in the air in response.
If the landing pad attendants didn't know what to make of the main group, the appearance of the charismatic female leader really threw them for a loop. A few Saiya-jins who were in the process of either entering or exiting the landing field area stopped briefly to stare in bewilderment or annoyance at the rowdy newcomers.

"Hey, Bardock!" Lluvia waved elatedly at him when she recognized the sullen-looking Saiya-jin standing off to the side of the landing pad. "Good to see you again! How've you been?"

Her buoyant greeting to one of their own caused the other Saiya-jins on deck to glare pointedly back at Bardock. More than a few couldn't resist making vulgar, smacking noises accompanied by a couple of embarrassing cat-calls, which made him glower all the more.

"Good grief! Who peed in his cornflakes?" muttered Soledad to anyone within hearing. Her remark elicited a few giggles from her companions. "The last time I saw anyone with a puss as sour as that, he just sucked on some pickled persimmons!"

Gasping, Lluvia spun around to immediately admonish the dancer. "Soley! Behave yourself! I know it's a stretch, but I'll not have you or anyone else insulting our hosts! Do all of you copy that?" she hissed, her dark blue glare clearly stating that she would bode no additional insubordination from her companions.

Abashed, Soledad flinched and blushed under her artistic director's stern look. "You're right, of course! Yu-vee, I promise to be on my best behavior!" The additional vigorous nods from the remainder of the troupe served to placate Lluvia for the time being.

I might as well get this over with, thought Bardock resignedly, walking over to introduce himself to the awaiting group.

"I am Bardock. I have been assigned by his majesty, King Vegeta of Vegeta-sei, to be your official liaison for the duration of your stay. If you will all follow me, I will now show you to your quarters and the main mess hall. Later, I will be accompanying you to the assigned performance venue, an open-air arena, which is situated just on the outskirts of the city." As Bardock addressed them, he carefully avoided making direct eye contact with Lluvia. "Your belongings will be brought down to your assigned quarters by slaves and…"

"Excuse me, Bardock?"

Annoyed by the interruption to his carefully prepared speech, he turned to fix an irritated stare at Lluvia. "What is it?"

"We really don't require anyone to lug our gear for us."
"It is the slaves' responsibility to carry your belongings and that is what they will do! Do you have a problem with that?" She startled a little at his intimidating tone of voice.

"No, not really. I suppose not..."

"It's settled, then." End of discussion, female!

"Fine!" Lluvia glared right back at him, wondering why he was being so intractable about the issue.

"Fine!" When he spun around, she stuck her tongue out at his broad back. Soledad had to bite her lip so that she wouldn't break out into a fit of giggling at the sight. Adarath and the others whistled tunelessly and made coughing sounds to suppress their rising laughter.

The Saiya-jin fumed inwardly, imagining what the baka female had done behind his stiffened back.

The entertainers were split into four very spacious rooms, each with their own bathing/dressing areas. Tristan and his very pregnant mate, Jenika, had their own quarters as did Adarath and his companion, Raoul, the troupe's bass player. Connore, the long-haired, tattooed percussionist, happily agreed to bunk with the effervescent Soledad, on who most suspected he had a very serious crush. The last of the regular rooms went to Morgana and Sylvane, a dancer/singer and her keyboardist mate. These two newer entertainers had proven their adaptability by melding their considerable talents with the troupe's established routines in only a few months' time.

Lluvia, in deference to her status as their leader, was afforded her own separate set of rooms, which was situated at the end of a lengthy corridor not far from the others. Bardock palmed open the door's pressure-sensitive access pad and motioned for her to enter. She quickly set down the light satchel she'd stubbornly refused to relinquish to the slave baggage handlers on the floor just inside the doorway and looked around. Her assigned quarters were appointed with very rich fabrics and accessories, almost palatial in décor. She gasped in delight at the intricate brocades and damasks in colors of gold and eggshell gracing the draperies and large bed.

"Wowie-zowie!" Darting from one side of the room to the other, she ran to touch and marvel at the gorgeous appointments, brushing her fingers over each fabric and surface.

Leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, Bardock watched her busily running back and forth with amusement.

"It's so…beautiful! I never realized that you'd have such…amazing things!"

Harrumph! "Did you assume that we Saiya-jins were too barbaric to appreciate the finer things this universe has to offer?"

"Not at all, Bardock!" She strolled back to regard the smirking Saiya-jin. "After all, you managed to book thefinest entertainers in the galaxy before Emperor Frieza and Zarbon did!" Grinning playfully, she cocked her head and slowly winked her eye at the now-stunned Bardock.

"What makes you say that, female?"

"Aw, c'mon, just whom do you think you're fooling? A blind man could've picked up on that barbed vibe radiating off the three of you way back on Theta Seven. Your animosity towards each other was as about as subtle as a sledgehammer!"

Once their belongings were unpacked, the nine entertainers reassembled in a pre-arranged area and followed Bardock down to what passed for a central promenade area in the large city towards a cavernous mess hall. To the Saiya-jins they passed along the way, it was as diverse an alien crew of freepersons as ever graced the Saiya-jins' home world.

As the first of the group trailing directly behind their Saiya-jin guide, Morgana and Sylvane walked and held each other's hands. The two hailed originally from a planet which had taken the worship of eugenics to an extreme degree. They looked like near-identical albino twins, though in truth, their native bloodlines were far removed from each other. Connore and Soledad fell in behind them, along with Adarath and Raoul, his swarthy, handsome life-partner. Making her way as best as her enlarged belly would allow, came the golden-haired Jenika, her progress solicitously aided by her mate, Tristan.

Despite repeated pleas from her fellow entertainers, Jenika had been quite adamant about coming along and no amount of pleading or arguing from any of them had served to convince her otherwise. Lluvia halfheartedly conceded to Jen's participation only if she agreed to sing from the sidelines using her MAARCU and promised to keep off her feet whenever possible. Tris was alternately guiding her along and periodically re-adjusting the strap attached to his synthesized guitar over his left shoulder. Bringing up the rear was Lluvia, who was alternately keeping an eye on her group and mentally filing away the directions and layout of their current environs.

The musicians always kept their portable instruments with them in case they wanted to jam on the fly. They knew that such gestures made for great PR and goodwill among the locals wherever they performed. Lluvia's only directive was that they were not to play any songs that had already been earmarked as part of the performances during their stint. Since they had a vast and varied repertoire at the ready, inadvertent overlaps of songs never occurred.

The entertainers were also donning what looked remarkably similar to the Saiya-jins' scouter units over their left ears and eyes. When Bardock inquired about them, Adarath replied that they were called MAARCU's or Musical Archive And Retrieval Control Units. Contained in these custom-made devices were over three million songs and lyrics archived in various arrangements gathered from numerous cultures throughout the galaxy. When properly accessed, the lyrics and sheet music would scroll down in synchronized fashion on all of their tinted display screens, so that they'd be literally on the same page at the same time.

In Lluvia's personal MAARCU resided the master control for all of their units, along with some sophisticated clips containing override controls for lighting and acoustical management. Since no venue in which they performed had uniform access/control configurations, the clips allowed quick remote control without time-consuming and cumbersome switchbox rewiring.

The techno genius who created the MAARCU's had come upon several discarded and presumably dysfunctional scouter units in his travels scouring through various planetary junkyards and accumulated as many as he could in order to cannibalize them for parts. By the time Lluvia had commissioned the production of the nine MAARCU's to her specs, he was able to customize the devices to a very sophisticated degree.

Upon the entertainers' entrance en masse into the mess hall, most of the Saiya-jins present cast a baleful eye at them and mumbled derogatory remarks. Lluvia had previously warned her group about Saiya-jins' attitudes in general towards outworlders.

The warriors of Vegeta-sei valued their own cultural mindset and value system above all others and subscribed as a whole to their inborn sense of superiority over "weakling" alien beings.

As their tenuous alliance with the Ice-jins neared the second-century mark, the inhabitants of Vegeta-sei had since learned to grudgingly share the title of most powerful beings in the known universe with the lizard-like creatures. Historically speaking, this continued to be a very sore point with every Saiya-jin warrior, either directly or indirectly in Lord Frieza's employ.

To compensate, the Saiya-jins did what they had always done best, which was let their frustrations loose upon less physically powerful civilizations. They also got their additional jollies by subjugating and ridiculing "ningen" or non-Saiya-jin beings whenever possible.

The entertainers were well-practiced in hiding their own emotions behind actors' masks in any given situation. This time, Lluvia had but to flash them a discrete signal before they went inside the mess hall's double doors for all of them to don their very best vapid expressions.

Any glowers and disparaging remarks from the Saiya-jin diners already inside were met with cheery smiles. The novelty of the initially anxious situation soon wore off since none of the Saiya-jins' insults could get a proper confrontational rise out of any of the entertainers. Only after a few more minutes passed without incident did the twin knots in Lluvia's shoulders release for good.

The mess hall was set up cafeteria-style and was open all day and all night, given the Saiya-jin penchant for consuming massive amounts of food at all hours. Obtaining viands was self-service, while kitchen slaves did the food preparation and bussed the tables. The head cook was also a slave, but even the Saiya-jins had learned to cut that one a respectful radius. A muscled battleship of a female, she had been initially taken as a slave from her native world. Upon learning of her vast culinary talents, the Saiya-jin powers that be assigned her to the mess hall and, once ensconced therein, she had quickly become the queen bee of the kitchen. It was a peaceable enough little kingdom until, in her estimation, one of the kitchen help failed to properly discharge their chores. Then that unfortunate quickly learned to what other uses a frying pan, cleaver, or rolling pin could be put.