Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Another Life ❯ Bardock's Story ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of the characters seen in the show, manga, movies, etc. I'm just a poor, misguided fool who wants to marry Vegeta. But they will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine…

Author's Note: Okay, for those of you who have read the original chapter one, I have made that into the prologue. It just looks better that way. This chapter contains a good portion of Bardock and Kakarrot's story (hence the title, Bardock's story) but don't worry, Vegeta and Bulma will be coming in real soon (the next chapter) so don't think that I have totally forgotten about them. I mean this is going to be a B/V fic after all. Also, this chapter is pretty long. I probably won't be writing chapters this long in the future, but if it's necessary at times, I won't hold back. So, with no further ado…. enjoy!



Another Life





Chapter 1 --- Bardock's Story





Bardock didn't recognize his youngest son at first glance. He had nearly walked past him when an arm shot out to stop him. Father and son stared at each other for a moment as Bardock took in Kakarrot's battered form leaning against a wall. Kakarrot finally broke his gaze to look about him and suddenly stiffened, releasing his father's arm.

"We can't stay here, dad. I can't risk anyone seeing you with me." Kakarrot's voice was no louder than a whisper. The powerful warrior was sapped of all his strength and it took a real effort to keep himself from collapsing where he stood. "Is everything ready?"

"It is." Bardock pushed his shoulder underneath his son's arm to help him balance his weight. For some reason, Kakarrot seemed to favor his left side. He soon found out why. The younger Saiyan hissed aloud when Bardock tried to help move away from the wall.

"Not that side, dad," Kakarrot said through clenched teeth. Bardock carefully released his son's arm and moved over to the other side. He waited for Kakarrot to grab his shoulder and then began to move slow enough for his son to keep up.

The two said nothing more to each other as they made their way through the dimly lit street. Night had fallen over the capital, but because of the unsavory part of town they were in, there were eyes and ears everywhere keeping a close eye on the two unfamiliar Saiyans. Only when they were inside the large, run-down, warehouse-like building that Bardock had led them to, did Kakarrot speak.

"What is this place?" Kakarrot's voice echoed within the metallic walls and high ceiling. The building seemed to be one, large expansive room inside. Debris and ancient machinery covered a large portion of the open floor. Moonlight filtered through the high, cracked windows, illuminating the room with an eerie glow. It looked as though it had been a storage facility at one time and Kakarrot assumed it had been closed down because the Empire had just implemented a new method of storage. He remembered how excited his father had been when he explained the newfound capsule technology that they had discovered on a recently purged planet. Kakarrot couldn't quite remember the name that Bardock had called the planet. He just remembered his father had said it was really blue.

"This is a docking area." Bardock moved his son over to a stack of abandoned crates. He slowly eased Kakarrot down onto one of the upturned boxes.

"But there's no one here." Kakarrot turned to look around to make sure he hadn't been mistaken, but immediately winced when he felt pain radiate up his arm. Bardock leaned down to examine his son's arm. Without the proper apparatus, he couldn't tell to what extent his injuries were. He decided that he wouldn't have enough time to check properly. He ripped a long strip of material from his cloak and started to bind Kakarrot's wound while he spoke.

"It's unauthorized by the Empire. People use this place when they don't want the Empire to know where they're going." Kakarrot punctuated his father's sentence with a groan as Bardock pulled the ends of the cloth tight and tied them together.

"So where's the ship?"

"It's underground."

"Shouldn't we get going then?"

"We're waiting for someone." Kakarrot touched the binding on his arm lightly and weakly tested his arm while he waited for Bardock to explain himself. "A friend of mine named Garris. He and I were squad mates for a while and we kept each other from dying a few times on purging missions. Was a real quiet sort of fellow though in the beginning. Didn't talk about himself much. I found out a little later that he had a reason for that. Seems he had kind of a dark past." Bardock sat down next to his son with a sigh, his weariness finally showing for the first time. "I came to his rooms one day and I saw him being cornered by a couple of men. His face had been slashed on one side and he was bleeding pretty badly. I didn't hesitate to jump on them, and my surprise attack gave him the opening he needed to help finish them off. Afterwards, he wasn't exactly candid about the situation or who the men were, but he told me that if I ever needed something of a peculiar nature, or something that I didn't think I could get anywhere else, I shouldn't think twice about asking him. If he could get it, it was as good as mine. I think he was a little surprised that I waited this long to call in the favor, but he told me to meet him here and he would have everything taken care of. He didn't ask any questions."

"Do you trust him?"

"With my life." Bardock stood up again and began to slowly pace the floor. He seemed to be organizing his thoughts. Kakarrot watched him, and somehow anticipated what he was about to say. He didn't wait for his father to start.

"Dad," Kakarrot spoke softly but his voice carried well in the quiet stillness of the empty room. "Thank you. For helping me do this. And not…interfering in what I have to do."

"You don't have to do anything, son. You could have just let me handle this, let me take the blame for my own actions. You're young, you can still have a life." Bardock looked his son in the eye as he spoke, then sat back down next to him awaiting his response. Kakarrot wasn't alarmed by the older Saiyan's reprimanding tone. He was understandably concerned for his son's well fare.

"It's too late for all that now. What's done is done, dad. Now I'm going to take the blame for my actions. If I don't do this, eventually the Empire will find out what we've done and execute us all. I might not have had it all thought out when I took responsibility for this, but now that I've had time to think, I've realized that this is what's best. Your contributions to the Saiyan race are unparalleled, and you have more of a reason to be here than I do."

"Son, how can you say that? You are-" A loud, creaking noise interrupted his reproof. Both Saiyans turned towards the door as a cloaked figure walked through the shadowed doorway and moved towards them until it reached a moonlit section of floor. His hood hid most of his features from view, the partial smile spreading on the man's face the only thing visible from underneath the black material.

"Bardock." The familiarity of the deep rumble made Bardock stand up. The man pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing a smooth, tan, youthful- looking face severely marred by a long, angry scar. The scar started just above his brow and extended down his cheekbone across his eye. His gray, damaged eye contrasted heavily with his normal black one and gave him an almost demonic appearance.

"Garris." The two greeted each other in the traditional Saiyan manner, grabbing each other's forearm with one hand.

"It's been too long, old friend. I was beginning to think you had gone and gotten yourself killed."

"You still seem to think that I can't stay alive without your help. Your opinion of yourself hasn't changed a bit." Bardock said as he allowed a smirk to cross his features. They let go of each other and Bardock stepped back to introduce his son. "This is my son, Kakarrot. He's the one we need the ship for." Kakarrot forced himself to stand and greet the man. Garris gave a quick nod and released Kakarrot's arm.

"I know who he is. His picture's on every damn vid-comm in the capitol. I heard they sent out a bunch of elites after you, boy. A guy told me the royal guards had to carry them back to the capitol, they were so badly beaten. If I didn't see for myself how badly cut up you are now, I would have thought you were damn near invincible. Those were the king's strongest elites. How did a third-class warrior like yourself manage to do so much damage?"

Bardock spoke before Kakarrot could answer. "He's an anomaly; his strength is probably ten times what it should be and his power levels are beyond what I thought possible in a third-class warrior." Kakarrot nodded, and Garris seemed to ponder what he had just been told.

"Hmm…. And he's managed to hide his power this long?"

"Yes. We had no wish to cause anyone to be suspicious. If people found out how abnormal my son was, they wouldn't let him live for long. It would disrupt the hierarchy of our society. Besides, if it was found out that a third-class was stronger than our king, well, chaos would arise."

"Very true. But it seems that this has already happened. And from what I've heard from my sources, you Kakarrot, are stronger than our prince as well." Bardock turned to his son in surprise.

"You fought the prince? Why didn't you tell me?"

"There wasn't time."

"Yes, well I'm sure that little bit of information won't reach the people's ears, though. If they knew you were stronger than our future king, the one might I add, that is prophesied to become the Legendary, the chaos that Bardock mentioned is sure to happen." Garris nodded at his own comment, and turned to Bardock. "I'm going to need your help with setting up the ship. It's been here in storage for quite a while, and I want to run a few diagnostics before I'm comfortable with letting your son use it."

"Alright, but we have to get him out of here before sunrise. There are probably people everywhere looking for Kakarrot right now. They already came to my house looking for him and I managed to convince them that I didn't have a good relationship with my son. I told them I wouldn't expect him to contact me."

"Well, that excuse won't hold up for much longer if he's still on-planet. Come on, let's check on the ship."

Bardock helped Kakarrot up and followed Garris to a wall behind a stack of crates. Garris pushed on a section of the wall and a door popped open revealing a narrow passageway with a descending staircase. The three traveled down the stairs, Garris stopping for a second to feel for a light switch, and reached the bottom rather quickly. The room they had entered was less of a room and more of a cave with a door directly in front of them. Garris moved to the panel of the door and punched in a few keys. The door opened and they filed in through the narrow doorway.

The docking area was enormous. There were ten full-sized ships all together, lined up on either side of the room and making sort of an open corridor down the middle. A few smaller pods were set up in the back. Garris led them in between the massive ships to the pods.

"It would be a mistake to use anything bigger than these. And besides, these are the only ones that are fitted with an anti-tracking device. So, no one will even know you've left." Garris entered a code into the outer- consol and the hatch opened with a hiss. He then moved back and gestured with a mock bow to Bardock. "After you."

Bardock turn to his son. "I would try and rest until were finished. It won't be long, but you look as though you could use all the rest you can get." Kakarrot nodded and waited for his father and Garris to enter the ship before he nearly collapsed in a heap against the wall. His arm had been killing him and the blood loss he had suffered earlier had taken its toll on him. He more or less drifted into unconsciousness rather than sleep. It was the first time he had been able to rest since this whole thing began.

Garris had been showing Bardock the inner-workings of the ship and he waited until the diagnostic test was running before he asked Bardock what had been on his mind since they first spoke in the upper room.

"So what's the deal, Bardock? Why is your son protecting a fugitive scientist from a planet he's never been to?" Bardock nearly dropped the power gage he held in his hand when he heard Garris' surprisingly accurate account of his son's situation.

"How did you-"

"You should know me better than that, old friend. I have many sources in high and low places. But none of them have given me a real reason behind all of this. I know that your son was spotted helping the fugitive and that he resisted arrest when the guards came after him. But what I don't know is why your son even bothered protecting the guy. And also, why is the king so enraged about a fugitive whose only known offense is refusing to work for the Empire. It seems like something's missing here."

Bardock folded his arms across his chest, leaned back against the consol and looked at his friend in admiration. He was sharper than Bardock remembered.

"The fugitive scientist, Mickal Majobe, saved my life on his home planet of Meru."

"Meru has been purged, right?" Garris interrupted.

"Yes. As you know, I was transferred to the science division of the purging squad. My team was assigned to look for any technology we could bring back to assimilate into the Empire. We decided to split up and I found an abandoned research center that looked as though it might have something interesting. After poking around a bit, I decided that there was really nothing of value left and was about to leave when I tripped over some rubble and fell against a cabinet of sorts. The cabinet fell over and directly behind it was a large opening in the wall. I checked it out, realized it was a tunnel, and went in. When I got to the end, the passage opened up into a large room and I saw Mickal standing over some contraption. I immediately ordered him to surrender in the name of the Empire. When he turned around, I recognized him as the fugitive our squad had been warned to keep an eye out for. He hadn't been accounted for yet. Before I could say anything else, he shot me with this strange looking gun and I blacked out. When I woke up, I found I was cuffed to a pole. I tried to pull them off, but I felt so incredibly weak that I stopped trying. I looked over to where Mickal was standing and realized he had been watching me the whole time. He told me that there was no use trying to break the cuffs because they were fitted with a power-draining device."

"Didn't your squad wonder where you were?"

"Maybe, but Mickal had turned off my transmitter so they would have no idea where I was. I told him he was making a real mistake holding me hostage, but he just shrugged and asked me if I thought it would be better to surrender and die or keep fighting to live. He said he thought we Saiyans would understand his will to survive. I didn't answer him because I saw his point.

"Strangely enough, we actually started talking to each other and he told me about the engine he was working on for his escape ship. At first I was just trying to keep him talking so that he wouldn't think about killing me, but after a while I became fascinated by his knowledge of quantum mechanics and space technology. I asked him why the Empire was after him and he said that they suspected that he was building weapons for Frieza. It was no secret that the Saiya-jin Empire's temporary alliance with Frieza was wearing thin, and Frieza had propositioned him, but he hadn't complied. So Frieza, enraged that Mickal had refused him, started a few rumors to get him condemned. King Vegeta was worried that Mickal would give Frieza the advantage he needed to conquer a good portion of the universe, so he made it a top priority to find Mickal. Mickal was the reason Meru was purged."

"Whoa. That's gotta be pretty heavy on the guy. So, how did you get out and how does Kakarrot fit into all this?" The consol beeped, signaling the end of the diagnostic test. Bardock ignored it and continued.

"Well, after Mickal told me all this, he left to get some more supplies for his escape ship. He was planning on leaving that evening. While he was gone, another Meru-jin came into the room. He looked a great deal younger than Mickal. He saw that I was Saiyan and began accusing me of destroying his homeland. I really couldn't say anything, because everything he said was true. Then he went over to a cabinet and brought out a gun similar to the one Mickal shot me with. He was pointing it at me when Mickal came in. Mickal began yelling at him in his native language, and the two argued for a full minute in front of me. The guy pointing the gun at me said something that sounded defiant and looked like he was about to shoot me. Mickal pulled out his gun and shot him first. He told me that the man on the ground was his hot-headed assistant, Tobei."

"So, first he holds you hostage, then he saves you from death." Garris said in an amused tone.

"Yeah, I found it pretty unbelievable myself. He told me he had no intention of killing me. He just didn't want to be found out. He planned to take me with him and drop me off on a deserted planet with my transmitter. That way, by the time help came, he'd be long gone."

"Sounds like a pretty good guy."

"I thought so too. We ended up making it on the ship, but when we left the atmosphere, a few cruisers spotted us. I could have just let Mickal fend for himself and waited until the cruisers picked us up. But I didn't. I told Mickal how fast each type of cruiser was, how efficient it's power source was, and its potential capacity for hyper drive. He managed to use that knowledge to out-maneuver them and we escaped." Bardock typed a few stokes on the ship's keypad and pulled out his power gage. "Full power. The ship is ready." He began packing up all the tools they had used to check the ship's mechanics.

"Wait a second," Garris said as he placed a hand on Bardock's shoulder to keep him from leaving. "So, then what?"

"I told Mickal I'd help him get settled somewhere. He said he already had a place picked out and that all he needed now was to get some supplies and maybe a new ship. I told him I'd help him out and he told me that he'd greatly appreciated it. He still wanted to drop me off on a deserted planet, but I knew that wouldn't be a good idea because then the officers on the cruisers would begin to wonder if I had anything to do with Mickal's knowledge of extraordinary evasive tactics." Bardock began moving towards the door again, much to Garris' dismay.

Bardock motioned to him. "Come on. I'll tell you the rest once we get my boy settled in here." Garris followed him out of the ship's entrance and moved to his side when Bardock stopped directly in front of him. Bardock was gazing at his son's unconscious form propped up against the wall. He knelt down and tried to carefully pull Kakarrot up so that his good arm was around his neck and his weight was supported by Bardock's shoulder. Garris ran to Kakarrot's other side to help him. "Watch his arm, Garris." Garris supported Kakarrot's waist as he and Bardock carried him into the ship. They laid the unconscious Saiyan in one of the cryo- stasis containers.

"Is the ship still headed to Corgus as planned?"

"Yes. Corgus has a busy enough spaceport that they won't think too much of a lone Saiyan coming to dock. They also don't pay enough attention to intergalactic bulletins, so my son has a better chance there than anywhere else."

"Do you think we should just send him on his way with out waking him?"

"No. I want to say good-bye to my boy first." Bardock lightly shook his son. Kakarrot softly moan aloud as he came to. "Son, listen to me. The ship is ready to take off."

"Alright, dad." Kakarrot tried to sit up, but Bardock held him down. "I'm going to Corgus, right?"

"Yes. And as soon as you get there, get yourself fixed up. The cryo-sleep during your flight will allow you to heal a little naturally, but your going to need a regen tank. After that, stay out of sight until I contact you. It might be awhile though. I have to wait until everything dies down. The Empire might believe my innocence in the matter for a while, but I don't want to jeopardize that by giving them something to trace."

Kakarrot nodded at his father's comment. "Alright, I can lay low for a while. But what do I do about money?"

"It's all in the pack I brought. It's in the storage compartment." Kakarrot nodded again and Bardock lowered his head and moved closer to his son in order for him to hear better. "Son, what you're doing…it's probably one of the most noble things I've ever seen a man do. You have made me prouder than I ever thought possible. No matter what you say, I'll still feel responsible for letting you get into this position. But I'll respect your wishes and let you handle this."

Kakarrot raised his arm up and rested it on his father's shoulder. "Thank you, Dad. I won't let myself fail."

"Alright, Garris. Let's get my son out of here." Garris nodded and tapped a few buttons on the keyboard.

"You've flown a spacecraft before, right?" Garris said as he continued to lean over the consol.

"Yes."

"Well, that's good. It's going to be on auto-pilot for most of the time, but just in case you get into trouble, it's good to know you'll be able to fly your way out of it." The panel beeped and all three Saiyans turned their heads look at it. "Well, that means you're ready to go. Good luck, kid." Garris moved over to the side of the cryo-stasis container, and looked at Bardock to make sure he had nothing else to say before he hit the button to close the lid.

"Good-bye, son. I'll see you as soon as I can."

"Good-bye, Dad."

Garris pushed the button and the lid slid close. The container filled with cloudy gases meant to kept its occupant unconscious and soon Kakarrot's form could not be seen. Garris motioned Bardock to the door. "Come on. It's on a timer." The two Saiyans left the ship, the door automatically closing behind them. Bardock sat down on a box that had been pushed up against the wall. Garris chose to stand.

"So, care to finish your story?"

"Where was I?"

"Mickal didn't know where to drop you off."

"Right. I told him to take me to a populated planet where I could get a ship and fly back to Meru. That way, I could get back to the sector my squad was assigned to. When I got back, I purposely cut myself on the head and waited until I saw one of my squad-mates. I staggered out, told him that I had been hit by some falling debris and had been unconscious for most of the time. They didn't think anything of it and our squad left the planet."

"So everything sounds like it turned out ok. I mean no one suspected anything, and Mickal got off-planet. So why is your son about to launch off of Vegeta-sei in order to run from the Empire for something that you seemed to pulled off without a hitch?

"You never could just sit back and listen to a story. You always were impatient to hear the end."

"And you always liked to draw a story out." Garris grinned at Bardock and motioned for him to continue.

"Well, I couldn't go and help Mickal like I wanted to because I had another purging mission to go on, so I sent my son Kakarrot to take a ship and supplies to Sombay, the planet he was hiding out on. My mission happened to be cut short, so I decided to go and meet my son and Mickal before they left. When I got there, I found Kakarrot, and everything went fine until we got word that Saiyan spacecrafts with the Empire's royal emblem were spotted in the spaceport. There was no reason the royal guard would be there unless they were looking for something specific. We rushed back to the place Mickal was staying at and we got there in time to see two royal guard escorting Mickal out to a carrier. I told Kakarrot that I would have to help him, even if it meant risking my life because he had saved mine. I was out-matched, but I had to try. I was just about to go help him when Kakarrot pushed me out of the way and told me to stay back and get a ship ready.

"I wanted to call him back but I knew he would be able to handle himself. So I went to get the ship. Kakarrot came back a little while later looking a little roughed up, but none the worse for wear. He had Mickal with him too."

"So, Kakarrot saved Mickal, and I assume he let the royal guards live if the Empire were able to identify him as Mickal's collaborator."

Bardock nodded. "Yes. We got back to the ship and managed to drop Mickal and his supplies off on an out of the way planet. Then we came back here in order to figure out what to do. I had Kakarrot lay low for a time and told him to meet me in a prearranged place if there was ever any trouble. Eventually a few agents of the Empire came to question me. I told them I didn't know anything and after questioning me for a couple hours they left. For about a week, I didn't see my son."

"I had planned on contacting him but I figured I'd wait until suspicion died down. Last night I got a message telling me to meet my son with plans to leave the planet. I don't think he could have gotten off-planet without my help while he was a fugitive. And the king wasn't going to make it any easier for him by stopping the search. I contacted you, and spoke briefly to him by telecomm. I told him to meet me where we had agreed and that I thought it best that he relocate to Corgus. But not before I tried to talk him out of doing this, to let me take the blame for what I had done. Mickal would be in no danger as long as the Empire had no clue where he was, and I could have easily turned the blame on myself. I could have made it sound as if my son had no choice. But he refused to listen. He told me that the safety of his older brother and me came first and that it really wouldn't matter if I turned myself in anyway. He would be condemned along with me for what he'd already done. This way we at least had a chance to live. I don't like to admit it, but I knew he was right."

The spacecraft in front of them began to rumble and hiss, and the engines roared to life. Garris moved over to a panel in the wall and pressed the button that opened the large hatch in the ceiling. After powering up for a brief moment, the pod lifted up and rocketed off into the sky, leaving a trail of white exhaust in its wake. Bardock waited until it was out of sight before he spoke again.

"Earlier today I heard that he had been found by the group of elites sent to capture him, and that he had demolished them. After I met up with him, I brought him here."

Garris leaned back against the wall and made an almost incredulous sound. "Wow, Bardock, that's quite a story. I must say, it answers a lot of my questions."

"You mean you still have questions left?"

"Just one. What happens now?"

"Well, I really don't know yet. I don't have this all figured out. I think we can only move one step at a time."

"You mean as long as it's one step ahead of the Empire."

"Yeah. But right now all I can do is hope that he gets to Corgus okay. If his ship were to malfunction-"

"Bardock, we checked that ship from top to bottom. I know you're concerned about his well fare, but have a little more faith in technology, ok? I mean everything will probably turn out fine."

Bardock shook his head regretfully. "Famous last words, Garris."









Next time: Bulma's story, and eventually Vegeta's. And remember: All work and no reviews makes Kitty a dull girl! ;)