Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Barracks ❯ Part 28 ( Chapter 28 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: chayron 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai / Sci-fi / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 05.14.2011 | Updated On: 05.14.2011 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 306 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai / Sci-fi / Angst | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 05.14.2011 | Updated On: 05.14.2011 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 306 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z – it belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.
Warnings: Alternate Universe. Yaoi (male x male). Goten x Trunks and vice versa. Other pairings.
A/N: <b><u>Starcut’s crew members</u></b>:
1. Captain
2. Backup Captain
3. Master Sergeant
4. Navigator - (Adriel)
5. Communications Specialist - (Sildara)
6. Programmer - (Rokunda)
7. Gunnery Sergeant - (Monteira Fawa)
8. Arms Specialist
9. Arms Specialist
10. Flight Officer - (Reyn Dueri)
11. Flight Officer - (Jadenas Ealt)
12. Head Engineer - (Nohail Ofura)
13. Maintenance Technician
14. Maintenance Technician
15. Doctor - (Tamahi)
16. Medic
17. Head Cook
18. Cook
19. Soldier - (Edesha)
20. Goten
A/N 2: the map of <i>Starcut</i> can be found here: http://pics.livejournal.com/chayron/pic/00008g7t/g1
<b>Barracks</b>
by chayron (lttomb@yahoo.com), beta-read by quatreofdoom
Part 28
Goten sipped his tea and gave the canteen a stealthy look over the brim of his mug. The tea tasted…well, like grass. Or it would have, if Goten had known what grass tasted like. He made himself swallow and hoped that this was just their casual tea and not a test of a newbie’s survival instincts.
The small canteen was almost empty; only three people were in it, not counting the cook behind the counter, and including Goten and the doctor. There were six metallic tables with benches wired into the floor, thus one could only climb over them when they wanted to sit down or step away from the table. While the cook was pouring the tea for Goten, the third-class had noticed that all the dishes were also made of tin – it was better than having to replace them every time the spaceship experienced a serious jolt.
Goten raised his mug again and took a good look at it. The tin was dented in two places. Goten cast a look at the doctor’s mug, but the doctor’s appeared to have seen even worse times. Goten sighed, then looked at the third person in the canteen.
“Who’s that?” he asked the doctor who had nearly finished drinking his tea. He didn’t seem to be very keen on it either.
The doctor turned around to look at the man. “Oh, that’s our head engineer, Nohail Ofura.”
Goten hummed and turned away from the man. “Anything in particular I should know about him?”
The doctor shrugged. “I don’t think he’ll cause you any problems. He’s a reasonable man.”
“I see.” Goten concentrated back on his mug. He knew he wasn’t going to remember so many new names at once. He was bad at things like names and faces. New surroundings always tended to unsettle him, making him rather fretful instead of eager. At least the doctor was someone he knew. It was faulty thinking, Goten was aware of that – he and the doctor had met only a few hours before the flight, but still, that hour or so they had spent together, while he had been pouring his heart out to the man, made Goten feel close to him.
The doctor had shown him around <i>Starcun</i>…err…<i>Starcut</i>. Just as the doctor had said, the spaceship wasn’t that big. It had living quarters, the captain’s bridge, a cargo hold with a weapon store nearby, a storeroom, a runway, a canteen and a kitchen, both of which were merged into one room, a briefing hall, which Goten had already seen, a training hall, and a medical room with one regeneration tank. There was also a tiny shower room.
Goten’s mind was buzzing with the new experience and he felt slightly lightheaded. While he and the doctor had been walking around, he had received curious looks, most of which were unfriendly. Overall, Goten felt like an intruder. The crew consisted of seasoned soldiers and their relationships had long been established. They knew each other, knew what to expect, and then someone threw in a third wheel. Not only was he useless, but he was also completely new to space traveling. Goten knew that it was going to be rough for some time. Maybe not even for some time, but for a very long time.
Adriel had kept Goten and the doctor company up to the excursion to the training hall, but then was seen by the backup captain, who immediately sent him to clean the toilets. Goten still wasn’t certain what he should think of Adriel. And right now he couldn’t – there were simply too many things to think about.
“So how did you come to be on this spaceship?”
Goten resurfaced from his thoughts. He gave the doctor a shrug, then shook his head. “I don’t really know,” he said. “I think exactly the same way I appeared in Hataro Officer Training School. I did tell you about that, didn’t I?”
The doctor pushed his mug aside. “To tell you the truth, I thought you were experiencing hysteria, so I didn’t really listen much to what you were saying.” Goten had an insulted look on his face and the doctor laughed softly. “Well, you have to agree that some things you said sounded rather...”
“Well, they were true,” Goten said dismally; he had poured his heart out to the man. “I’m not that much of a liar.” In a few seconds, he felt his cheeks heat up as he remembered himself crying in front of the doctor. He fidgeted with the tin mug. “And I thought you said you were done with all the distant planets and victories and trophies?” he asked.
“Well, I am,” the doctor said, nodding. “I became a doctor about thirty years ago.”
Goten gave him a searching look. “I saw you a few hours just before the flight,” he drawled.
“It’s war, Goten. Wounded are pouring in. My brother works in that hospital and he asked me for assistance and I was glad to help. I figured I’d have my rest here anyway.”
Goten lowered his head to stare at the murky tea at the bottom of his mug. He wasn’t going to drink it, even if it was his last drink. <i>Especially</i> if it was his last drink.
The third-class had seen the medical room. The old tank with the precious liquid inside was the main accent. There were also five beds and one operating table. He had also seen a young medic there who hadn’t been all too happy to see him.
It seemed that the elder men took his arrival much better than the younger generation.
Goten looked at the ceiling forlornly where his gaze concentrated on a feebly burning lamp. That was to be expected – rivalry among contemporaries was always stronger. He lowered his head.
All of this was so unbelievably stupid.
He felt as if he was back at his paramilitary school. Unfriendly looks, attempts to bully him… These petty rivalries amidst war… If they had the time and energy to be upset over someone undistinguished like him being sent here… But people would probably die of boredom if they stopped squabbling with each other. Or maybe he was just a distraction from the reality behind the walls of this spaceship; nobody wanted to think about the outcome of this war.
“I think I will go and pick up that keycard,” Goten said, standing up. He took his mug and returned it to the cook who placed it into the dishwasher.
“Ah. Then I will go with you; you will need someone to open the door to the captain’s bridge for you.”
“Thanks.”
They left the canteen and turned towards the captain’s bridge. There was no hurry and Goten took his time looking around the spaceship. The passages were quite wide and spacious, but poorly lit and depressing. Gray, metallic colors figured everywhere. The air smelled of oil and metal, as well as the tinge of unwashed feet and old clothing.
Goten had forgotten to ask the captain how long their patrol was going to last. He asked the doctor, who replied that usually it was half a year. However, both of them knew that now, during this kind of unstable situation, there was no means to predict that.
The third-class waited for the doctor to open the door to the captain’s bridge, then followed him into the well-lit room. It was circular, with two large screens in front where cameras showed the front and the back-view of <i>Starcut</i>. Additionally, a few smaller screens were strewn across the room, a terminal under each of them.
The captain and the backup captain were discussing something while leaning over a map on the desk near the door. Reyn, the flight officer, was wearing a headset and playing some kind of gory game on one of the terminals. The communications specialist was staring at his screen with a dreamy look on his face. Goten couldn’t see what it was, but, once in a while, the man would click on something on the screen. Rokunda, the programmer, was seated at the terminal closest to the two largest screens. His fingers were madly working on the keyboard. Two arms specialists were playing cards. There was a pile of credits on the desk.
“Ah fuck!” Reyn cursed. “I died again!”
“Reyn,” the communications specialist said, “you know that Adriel is gonna go batshit on you for touching his precious terminal. You’ve been here for hours already.”
“This time I’m gonna beat this fucker,” the flight officer hissed at the loading screen.
“Rokunda, turn Adriel’s terminal off,” the captain ordered without raising his head from the map he was studying.
“Ysh, sh.”
“Damn it,” Reyn growled when his screen went black. He peeled the headset off and lowered it onto the desk. He frowned when he noticed Goten and the doctor at the door. “Ha! And here’s our space cadet.”
“Quit it, Reyn,” the communications specialist warned.
“Yes, Reyn, go and keep Adriel company,” the backup captain said.
The flight officer scowled. “Yes, sir,” he said, standing up.
“I came for my keycard, Captain,” Goten said.
The captain looked at the programmer. “Rokunda?”
“Itsh donsh.”
The captain waved his hand. “Yeah, you can take it.”
Goten walked over to the programmer. His screen was split in two. On one side, lines of numbers and some gibberish was running. The second side made it clear that Rokunda was also doing Adriel’s job in addition to his own, as it was full of coordinates and blinking dots.
The programmer held out the card for him and Goten took it. It had a thin metallic chain and Goten secured it to his belt, just as he had seen everyone else carry it around. The third-class was already turning to leave when he noticed something curious. He stopped and checked his senses again. No way.
“A female?” he asked, surprised.
“Oh shit,” the communications specialist muttered. “Run.”
Startled, Goten stepped back when the scrawny programmer suddenly rose and grabbed him by the front of his uniform, pushing him backwards. There was a surprising strength in those tiny arms.
“Yush gotsh a problemsh witsh thatsh?” she hissed at Goten’s face, tugging at his uniform, bending him down so that their noses were nearly touching. “Do yush?”
“Err…no?” Goten stammered, completely thrown off balance by the sudden turn of events.
“Ish thinksh yush do…” the programmer growled, staring at his face.
“Umm…no. I don’t. Really. I <i>love</i> women.”
“Uh-oh,” said someone.
Rokunda’s eyes blazed red. “Luvsh wimensh, yush sash? Ish gonnash kiksh yursh ballsh offsh, yush bashtardsh!”
“Mmm…” Goten tried to turn his head aside, but the strangling collar didn’t let him. “Uhh…help?” he tried, attempting to step backwards, but only succeeding in dragging the programmer with himself. It was obvious that the little female wouldn’t let go of him, not before she did something to him. Goten felt powerless. It was one thing when you were cornered by a bulky elite female, but it was completely different when you were about to be punched by a scrawny second-class female. He felt he couldn’t lift a finger.
“Umm… I have a few female friends,” he tried again. “We get along tremendously.”
“Trimendashly? Ish betsh yush do… Laiksh haush on fair.”
“Err…maybe not that well.”
A quiet but insistent beeping started in the room, making Rokunda turn away from Goten and look at her screen. She hesitated for a moment, then let go of Goten’s uniform and walked back to her terminal where she started tinkering with the keyboard. A few relieved exhalations could be heard. Goten straightened to his height. He was a whole head taller than her and nearly twice as heavy as her, but that was beside the point.
Somebody nudged the third-class in his ribs and, after looking at the doctor, Goten saw him motioning at the door hastily.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Goten asked when the door slid closed behind them with a hiss. “I didn’t even touch her!”
The doctor scratched his head nervously. “Well, try not to comment on her…err…femininity.”
“Hah, no problem there,” Goten said, still looking shocked. “There hardly is any.”
The doctor was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. “She was already like this when she came to work here. My guess would be that she has experienced a lot of rivalry and disregard from her former milieu.”
“Which is mostly male everywhere, isn’t it? Especially in programming,” Goten sighed, catching on. “But why is it me who has to suffer? It’s not fair…”
“Well, we tried to talk to her, but all we managed to do was to make her suspicious that we were looking down on her. It’s a closed circle, I’m afraid.”
“She seems to be good, though.”
“She is <i>very</i> good. Last year she won some kind of programming contest. I don’t understand all that stuff, but the captain showed us the article. We even held a small celebration party. She did warm up to us after that.”
Surprised, Goten looked at him. “That’s awfully thoughtful of you. Or cunning, I should say.”
“It was Adriel’s idea. He’s good at those things.”
“Is he after her?”
“Who? Adriel? Nah, he has his hands full with Sildara. The communications specialist,” the doctor explained when Goten gave him a questioning look. “The one we just saw; the one who told you to run.”
“Huh? Those two are like that?”
“Well…” the doctor drawled, “most of the time, I suppose. They do fight a lot. It’s best not to get in between them,” he warned.
Goten rolled his eyes. Here he was, getting into the life of <i>Starcut</i> through gossip. But he couldn’t see any other way of getting into it. Besides, the doctor was readily sharing the rumors. Certainly, the man thought it was only for Goten’s own good that he knew how life on the ship worked.
“And what about t-?”
“I thought you were told to scrub the toilets,” the doctor said at the sight of Reyn appearing from behind a corner.
“I went there, but Adriel told me to fuck off,” the flight officer said in an irritated voice, giving Goten an unfriendly look. “Which is what I’m doing – looking for a place to fuck myself off.”
The doctor rolled his eyes. Reyn had probably mentioned to Adriel that he had been playing games on his terminal and the two got into a spat. Most of the time, Reyn and Adriel got along pretty well, except when Reyn touched Adriel’s terminal. In fact, Adriel got along with anyone provided they didn’t touch his terminal.
Goten watched the flight officer’s back disappear in the corridor. “I think I’ll go to my cabin and rest for a while,” he said.
“Yeah, you do that. Dinner is going to be at nine today.”
“Ah, it’s because we left late today, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Goten thanked the doctor for showing him around and returned to his cabin. He had intended to clean it up, but he was exhausted. He didn’t realize that until he stepped into the cabin. He flopped onto the chair at his bed and closed his eyes. Soon, he felt he was already nodding off, thus he left his chair and went for the bed. The bedding still smelled musty, but now he didn’t mind that. The third-class had no strength to take his clothes off either and lay down on the covers in his uniform. He fell asleep instantly.
“Hey, you alive there?”
Goten’s eyes blinked open at a person in the doorway. Slowly, he remembered that the man was the flight officer who had shown him to the briefing room.
“Yes?” Goten croaked, wiping at his bleary eyes. He tried to sit down, but just folded back into the bedding sleepily. His limbs felt like jelly.
“You didn’t show up for dinner. Is everything okay?” the flight officer sniffed at the air. “Damn, it smells stale in here.”
“Yeah,” Goten yawned. “I’m alright. Been sleeping.” Two identical heads appeared behind the flight officer and Goten wondered if he was seeing double, then remembered that there were twins on the ship.
“We brought you a few ruvens,” the flight officer said, throwing the fruit for Goten to catch.
“Uhh… Thanks for bringing them,” Goten thanked, staring at the wall behind him where one of the fruit splattered when he had failed to catch it. Carefully, he put the other two onto the chair.
“No problem,” the man said. “We are neighbors; we live in the cabin next to yours.”
“Oh. Okay, thanks.”
When the door closed, Goten shortly wondered how many of them exactly were his neighbors, then his mind turned fuzzy again and he fell asleep.
The third-class was turning to his other side when the need for the bathroom opened his eyes. He tried to ignore the pressure in his bladder and continue sleeping, but his dreamlike state was constantly being interrupted by various images of him relieving himself or heading to a bathroom. The third-class’s hazy mind was functional enough to understand that he might simply end up wetting the bed.
Grunting and swaying, Goten stood up. He couldn’t exactly remember where the bathroom was. It took him a while to get his boots on. He was shocked to see that the electronic clock above the door was showing the next day’s midday already. He had slept for nearly seventeen hours. A little disturbed, Goten left his cabin.
After finding the bathroom, Goten decided to have lunch. People hushed when he entered the canteen. The room wasn’t big and the six tables were arranged compactly, the men’s backs nearly touching each other. He could see his neighbors a bit farther ahead. Goten wondered how much trouble he would cause if he took his food and sat down next to the doctor, whom he could see sitting on his right. Deciding that he didn’t want to find out, Goten went and took his ration and sat at an empty table.
Nobody paid him any attention, but because they were trying very hard not to pay any, the air was sizzling with pressure. Goten, feeling the fine hair on his nape rising, set his tray on the table. Silently, he transferred his pea-soup, cutlet, and a mug of tea onto the table and pushed the tray away. He lowered his spoon into the soup, tasted the yellow pellets, found the soup to his liking, and started eating. The lively buzz of conversation restarted.
When the third-class was halfway through his soup, he realized that everybody had hushed again. He turned to see one of the flight officers walking over to him. It was the one who had raised his hand during the introduction and asked what Goten was going to do on the spaceship. Later Goten had seen him play a game on Adriel’s terminal. Goten frowned, trying to remember. The name was…Rail? Rain? Roll? Rum? Roan? Run?
Still trying to remember the name, Goten stared up at the flight officer’s face questioningly. “Mmm?”
A little farther back, just a table away, the head engineer started rising to his feet. The gunnery sergeant’s heavy hand fell on his shoulder and forced him back down.
“The kid doesn’t seem to be very frightened,” he explained to the head engineer. “Let’s just watch.”
The flight officer was standing too close to him, invading his personal space, and Goten could easily tell that it was an intentional move to make him feel insecure. Goten lowered his spoon back into the bowl and stirred it idly.
“How’s the soup?” the flight officer asked.
“It’s good,” Goten answered.
The officer grinned at him. “It had better be, keeping in mind you will be loitering about, doing nothing and getting fed.”
Goten stared the man’s face. He couldn’t exactly tell if the man was irritated, teasing him, or just being spiteful. Maybe all that. What, in the world, was his problem?
Goten shrugged. “Well, I never asked to be sent here,” he said.
“And that makes it alright, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t, but I can’t do anything about it. However, maybe you writing that complaint letter could,” Goten said. He picked up his spoon again and shoveled some soup into his mouth. He avoided looking around, but he could feel that he and the flight officer were the main focus of the canteen. Everybody was just watching mutely.
“Actually, I know just the right occupation for you,” said the flight officer. “There’s one we are missing here.”
“And that would be?” Goten asked, stirring his now quickly cooling soup.
“A hostess,” the officer said, taking the spoon from Goten’s fingers. He winked at Goten and licked the spoon seductively. He leaned over to whisper into Goten’s ear. “So how about it, love?” he said, blowing lightly on Goten’s earlobe.
The third-class pressed his palm to his ear and leaned away from the flight officer in shock, then, growling, grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed him face-first into the pea-soup.
“Don’t you fucking…!”
The flight officer staggered backwards as Goten’s fingers unclenched from his nape, letting him go. He spat out the peas, gasped for air, and started wiping the mess off his eyes. The officer’s nose was bleeding, the blood running over his mouth, then splattering on the front of his uniform in large heavy drops. His nose was probably broken as well.
His fury starting to seep away, leaving place for unease, Goten watched him get the last of the pea-soup from his eyes. With a feeling of foreboding, the third-class moved away from the bench, in case he was attacked. He had simply wanted to eat! He had simply wanted to eat and go back to sleep again. Instead, he was fighting some idiot. A magnificent start to his career on <i>Starcut</i>.
Goten moved into his fighting stance when the officer darted forward.
“That’s enough!” rang the captain’s voice. “Reyn, go to the medical room and have your nose taken care of. After that, go to your cabin and stay there until further notice.”
The flight officer, who now was holding Goten by the front of his uniform, gradually unclenched his hand. He stared at Goten for a few seconds, eyes filled with malice. Assured that the man would not try anything stupid, Goten unclasped his fingers from Reyn’s fist that had previously targeted his face. He moved away from the officer.
“Yes, Captain,” Reyn growled out, his lips splashing Goten’s face with blood.
Wiping at his face with his hand, the third-class moved away. He watched the man turn around and march towards the door.
“Goten, clean the table and make sure you pay for the bowl.”
Goten turned to look at his bowl. Reyn’s face had deformed the tin, and the third-class could swear he could see his face-print in it. The soup had fountained out of the bowl all over the table. Goten looked at himself. And over his uniform.
“Yes, Captain,” Goten said. He was suddenly aware of bouts of laughter starting around him. At that point, he realized that he had been hearing this laughter for quite some time now, but it had been hushed previously.
“Well, you’re out of soup, but finish your cutlet,” the captain said. “We wouldn’t want you to starve, now, would we?”
Everyone was laughing, and Goten wasn’t certain what was so funny. Lost, he looked around. He stood for a few seconds, motionless, then went to the counter to ask the cooks for a cloth to wipe off the table. He carried a small bowl of water that he got from the cook over to his table, then dabbed at his uniform with the wet rag. Luckily, he was going to get a new one, blue, just like everyone else was wearing.
While Goten was wiping the table, his neighbor, carrying his tea, came to him and sat down. He was grinning.
“What in the world is so funny about this?” Goten asked him, wringing the cloth into the bowl.
“You,” the flight officer chuckled. “He just freakin’ blew on your ear and you broke his nose. You didn’t need to overreact like that.”
“That was sexual harassment and…”
All tables around him burst out laughing. The flight officer spat his tea back into the mug and joined the crowd. “No, really,” he roared with laughter, “these newbies from officer schools! There’s nothing funnier than you!”
“I seriously don’t understand what’s so funny about this!” Goten snapped at him. He glared at the men around him, but that only made them laugh even harder.
“Okay, okay,” the flight officer patted him on his arm. “Calm down. It’s not really funny. It’s just the fact that it was Reyn who did it. He was simply fucking around with you, testing you. It’s his fault, of course, but you reacted as if he already had you on the floor with your legs spread.”
Goten glared at him. “I hate those kinds of jokes,” he said.
A thoughtful look appeared on his neighbor’s face, then his brow rose in disbelief. Goten cursed himself. The men around the tables hadn’t caught on yet and Goten prayed that they wouldn’t. The last thing he needed was to be a source of constant amusement.
As if he wasn’t one already. Currently, he was a walking circus for all of the crew.
Goten groaned and slumped onto the bench. “Just keep quiet about it, okay?” he begged.
The flight officer shrugged. “Sure, no problem.” He sipped his tea. “But it’s not as if anyone cares.”
<i>You have no idea</i>, Goten thought.
The flight officer had finished his tea, but sat at the table with Goten to keep him company until the third-class finished wiping the table, ate his cutlet, and then drank his lukewarm tea.
“Goten?”
Goten turned to the man who had called him. “Yes?”
“Why haven’t you picked your uniform yet?”
Goten saluted. The stripes on the man’s shoulders identified him as a master sergeant. On this ship, only the captain’s rank was superior to his. And Goten was almost certain that even then the captain consulted him more times than not; one didn’t become a master sergeant without a good reason.
“I was about to go, sir,”
The master sergeant snorted. “Was that before you bashed Reyn’s face into your bowl or after?”
“Uh. After, sir.”
“Ah, a smartass.” The man motioned for the third-class to follow him. “Come.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How are you getting on with the crew?” the master sergeant asked while they were walking down the hallway towards the storeroom.
“Sir, I think you have just had a perfect illustration of how I get on with them.”
The man laughed softly. “That’s so, but you know that I wasn’t talking about that.”
Goten tugged at the front of his uniform, trying to keep it away from his chest. It was damp in the places he had cleaned the pea-soup off. “Yes, sir. I know what you mean. I think it’s alright. Not everyone seems to hate the thought of me being here.”
“In the future,” the master sergeant said, “try to think first and act later. Reyn was just fooling around with you. In fact, he’s pretty much asexual.”
“Uh.” Only now Goten understood why his neighbor had said that it was funny that it was Reyn who harassed him. “Err… I see, sir. I…”
“Well, yes, you couldn’t have known that, but really… Breaking his nose over such…”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“You should apologize to Reyn, not to me.”
Goten mulled over this for a few seconds. “Mmm… I don’t really want to, sir.”
The master sergeant stopped and gave Goten a look. The third-class braced himself for the worst. He flinched when the man patted him on his shoulder.
“And yet we can still make a man out of you,” he said, turning away and continuing to walk.
Goten stared at the master sergeant’s back in surprise, but felt he was better off staying silent. He followed the man to the storeroom, received his uniforms, and then returned to his cabin. The unpleasant smell was still there.
The third-class threw the new uniforms on the bed. He stared at them for a few seconds, then picked up the fruit his neighbor had brought him previously and ate them. Then, he undressed and tried on his new uniform. His shoulders were going to look lonely among all the officers. Putting on his belt with the attached keycard, he sighed.
His officer school uniform needed washing. Goten wondered if he would ever need it again, but figured it was best to be prepared and started checking his pockets in case there was something which badly reacted with water. His fingers felt a small piece of paper. Goten pulled it out, then stared at the digits on the slip of paper in disbelief. It was a phone number; it was the prince’s phone number.
Goten let the slip flutter onto the floor and started folding his uniform. When did the bastard… Surely, not while they were… Goten felt himself go red in the face as the whole scene resurfaced in his memory. It must have been around the time when the prince had grabbed him by his ass.
“Shit,” Goten muttered, tossing his uniform onto the chair. He picked up the number off the floor, then walked over to the desk and sat down in front of his malfunctioning terminal. He lay down the paper slip on the desk. He should probably throw it away. No, <i>definitely</i>.
It was a social taboo, what he and the prince had done, the kiss. Even talking about it was a taboo. Even thinking about it was a taboo. However, to his surprise, Goten realized that he couldn’t take it seriously. Nothing really happened: some saliva and groping had been exchanged and some promises had been made, which would not be kept. Sexual desires… Goten couldn’t imagine anyone risking their lives for those. And even if they were more than sexual desires…who the hell cared about that romantic crap?
Goten stood up, grabbed the phone number off the desk, stuffed it into his pocket, put his spare uniform into his suitcase, and went to lie down on his bed. He was feeling incredibly sleepy again.
When Goten woke up, he found himself lying on a roof. Mystified, he pushed himself up and saw Gohan standing a few feet away, watching him.
“You again,” Goten said, getting to his feet. Wondering if he looked good in it, the third-class started dusting his new uniform off. All the time, his brother just kept staring at him wordlessly and Goten decided to ignore him as well. He walked over to the edge of the roof and looked around. He was back at Hataro Officer Training School. In fact, he was standing on the roof of the officer’s club. He could see people walking around in the School’s territory. Goten turned around and concentrated back on Gohan.
“Who are you?”
Gohan smiled. “I’m your brother, aren’t I?”
Goten rolled his eyes. “Don’t you start. Really, who the fuck are you?”
“It is of no importance,” Gohan said.
“And what is im-?”
The sirens went off giving Goten a start. He looked at the sky. The third-class could see dots and then he realized what it was about. This was the beginning of the attack. He turned to his barracks and soon saw himself and Kyon running out of the building. His heart beating madly, he ran to the other side of the roof where he had found Toharu. There was no one around yet.
Goten’s eyes snapped to his brother. “What’s this?”
“Why are you asking <i>me</i> that?”
Goten felt the urge to run over to him and shake him for good measure. Punching that smug face would also work wonders. If only he didn’t look like his brother! “And who the fuck else could I ask?!” he snarled.
Gohan rolled his eyes. “<i>Yourself</i> would be a good start.”
“What in the world does that mean?” Goten growled out. He was trying to keep his attention both on the imposter and down on the ground. He was failing miserably.
“Are you clueless or just stupid? It is probably the same, though.”
Goten glared at the imposter. His brother had never said anything like that to him. “Are you picking a fight with me?” he snapped. Then he realized how stupid that sounded. He cursed softly and was for once grateful that Gohan didn’t burst out laughing, instead just gave him an amused look.
“Aren’t you just seeing what you w-?”
Goten didn’t hear the rest of the imposter’s sentence because, at that moment, he saw Toharu run out of the officers’ barracks. The second-class was buckling his belt. He turned towards the training field, but when he advanced toward it, a ray of blue light bore down on <i>Matilda</i>, at the opposite end from where Goten was standing. The building exploded with a horrendous noise, scattering its bowels outside.
The force of the explosion tossed Goten backwards. Just before painfully boring down onto the asphalt, he cursed himself for his idiocy – hadn’t he known that <i>Matilda</i> had been blown up? After rolling over on the asphalt a few times, he stood up and looked around frantically.
Just a few meters away from him, Toharu was also getting to his feet. The savar shook his head, then touched his right ear. Goten figured he had been stunned by all that noise.
“Toharu!”
Calling his name didn’t give any result. Toharu either couldn’t hear him or wasn’t supposed to hear him. Goten watched the man rise into the air. He was still shaking his head, as if trying to shake off the aftereffects of the explosion. A blue flash crossed the air, and Goten threw himself forward.
He could save him, could have saved him, he knew he could. He could change this, could have changed this.
Goten collided with Gohan in midair, just when the building with the laundromats exploded. Goten struggled madly in Gohan’s grasp.
“There’s absolutely nothing you can do. He’s dead already.”
Splinters filled the air, chunks of concrete and metal whooshing past them. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, but was excruciatingly slow when Goten saw an iron pipe imbed itself into Toharu’s head. Goten sank his teeth into Gohan’s shoulder in another attempt to get away. The imposter didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even bleed.
“I’m just as strong as you. It’s absolutely pointless to fight me.”
So this was how he had died. Goten closed his eyes so as not to see Toharu sprawled on the asphalt. So…average. He didn’t even get to participate in defending the base. Instead he was speared by a pipe while belting his trousers. Ah, the irony of life. One had to love it.
At some point, Goten realized that he had stopped struggling and now was in Gohan’s embrace. They had landed as well. His brother was stroking his back gently, muttering something in a soft voice. It felt good to be held like this again, to feel that warmth, to be comforted, to finally stop fretting over everything and feel secure, to belong somewhere just like he belonged in Gohan’s arms.
The soothing touch, though, soon grew into something more intimate, more sensual. A hand slid over his back teasingly and then it rose to his nape to lower his head. Weird, Goten thought, but opened his mouth when he felt a tongue touch his lips. <i>And…wasn’t Gohan taller than him?</i> Goten opened his eyes to see Toharu’s blurry face from up close. Sighing softly, Goten closed his eyes again. They continued kissing, Goten wrapping his arms around his friend’s shoulders.
They broke apart in what seemed like ages. Goten, though, had wanted for it to last even more, forever, if possible. Toharu was also watching him with hooded eyes.
He heard the sound of someone walking, and Goten turned his head to look at his brother, who had stopped a little farther away from them. He saluted, and Goten only now noticed that he was wearing a uniform from Hyon’s base.
“I’ll be off, then, sir,” Gohan said.
Goten gave him a lost look. He felt Toharu’s grip tighten on him. “Mmm…okay?” He couldn’t understand what was going on, but it was just as well. He didn’t really care and, in his arms, he had something he was looking forward to.
Gohan saluted again and faded away. Goten turned his head back to Toharu to meet a blue, steady gaze. He jumped backwards, or tried to. The prince caught him easily, wrapping his arms securely around the third-class’s waist and bringing him closer. Goten stilled, feeling all his blood rush down to his lower body. He was overwhelmed by the same feelings he had experienced down in the launch pad. Instantly, the familiar scents of soap, clothing, and tranquil boredom enveloped him. He could even hear the roar of engines.
The shaii’s hand slid down Goten’s waist and then south where it brushed over his hardening length. Then it cupped Goten, making him gasp and buck at the friction. Watching Goten’s face, he squeezed lightly. The third-class moaned softly, then opened his mouth when the prince leaned in to kiss him.
He could feel the prince’s hands roaming over his body, unbuttoning his uniform, sliding underneath it. They felt hot against his skin, burning his chest and stomach.
“N-no, don’t,” Goten gasped out, grabbing the prince’s hand before it could slide into his pocket. “I don’t need it.”
The prince’s face leaned away from him. With mild interest, Goten suddenly realized that he and the shaii were on a bed now. Goten’s eyes returned to the man above him. Hadn’t they been wearing clothes just a moment ago? Where was that paper slip? Where did the bed come from?
Goten closed his eyes as the prince lowered his head and kissed him just beneath his right ear. He moaned softly as the prince’s lips continued moving upwards until they reached his Adam’s apple where he felt teeth scraping against his skin. Goten felt his mind clouding, lust starting to ride his body. He grabbed the prince by his hair, lifting his head. There was a faint smile on his face, while blue eyes regarded him with a touch of amusement. Goten pressed on the prince’s head, bringing it down, kissing those smiling lips.
When the kiss broke, Goten was suddenly aware of someone watching him. Panting lightly, he turned his head to see Kyon sitting on the floor, right next to the bed. Goten instinctively recoiled but, with a heavy body on top of him, it only resulted in him shifting slightly and rubbing against the shaii. The third-class looked at the prince who, again, was watching him with that amused expression of his, as if daring him.
And Goten dared. He felt the prince moving down his body, his mouth leaving a flaming path in its wake. The mattress next to Goten’s head dipped lightly and he reached out for Ranvera, bringing the other man close enough so that their mouths met.
With a groan, Goten broke the kiss when something slid inside him. If only for a moment, he faltered when, after opening his eyes, he saw about a dozen of people staring at him, watching him with smoldering eyes from various angles. The prince nudged his legs wider apart.
Well, certainly, this couldn’t be reality, could it? Thus there was no harm in…this. Was there?
Goten heard himself let out a low guttural groan when it started moving inside him. He hadn’t known he was capable of making a sound like that. It didn’t hurt at all. It was thick and hot, but it didn’t hurt at all. He felt pleasure wash over him in waves.
Goten arched with a grunt, then shuddered. Hazily, he blinked his eyes at the bright light above him. He raised his hand to shade them.
“Unbelievable. You’ve just come, haven’t you?”
Goten turned his head to see the doctor sitting in his chair, which was swiveled toward him.
“W-what?” Goten asked, utterly confused. He started coughing. His throat felt as if he had swallowed a spoonful of sand. “W-where am I?” he rasped out, swallowing to wet his throat.
The doctor’s face frowned in concern. “What is your name?”
“What?”
“Just tell me your name,” the doctor insisted.
“It’s Goten. Goten Bardock. I’m a-”
“Alright. How many fingers am I holding up?”
Goten blinked, straining to see the doctor’s hand. “Uhh… three? No, two,” he corrected himself when the blurriness in his eyes faded away completely. He shook his head and tried to sit up. With a grunt, he fell back down onto the hard desk. His muscles were jelly. He raised his upper body with his hands and took a good look at where he was lying. It was an operation desk. He suddenly realized that this was the <i>Starcut’s</i> medical room. He wondered how he had not recognized it before. “What…” Goten swallowed. “What the hell is going on?”
“You’ve been out for nearly three days.”
“What?”
“Jadenas went to check on you when you missed dinner again. Your neighbor, the flight officer,” the doctor added when it was obvious that Goten had no idea who Jadenas was. “He said you wouldn’t wake up no matter how hard he tried to rouse you. So we had you brought here. Not that it helped any.”
“Oh.”
The doctor raised a sheet of paper with some sharp-looking curves. “What is this?” he asked.
Goten stared at the paper for some time. “Is this a test?” he asked. “Like one of those where, depending on my answer, you will decide if I am schizophrenic or not?”
“No, you idiot. This has nothing to do with that. This is your brain wave pattern from when you were asleep,” the doctor said.
“Oh.”
The doctor sighed when Goten was just looking at him questioningly. He lowered the pattern back onto his desk. Either Goten really had no idea what it was or he simply didn’t want to tell him. Even if Goten knew, he couldn’t beat the information out of the youth.
“What’s wrong with it?” Goten asked. “The head physician on the base was also very interested in this.”
“I bet he was. Did he tell you anything more about it?”
“Well, no. He just said that it was interesting. Sometimes, I have impossible migraines as well,” he added, just for a record.
“Well, yes, that could be related.” The doctor gave the third-class an inspecting look. “Did you know that your profile states that you’re a second-class?”
“What?!”
“I see that you didn’t. Oh well.” He shrugged. “When you’ve completely woken up, go and clean up; it must be uncomfortable, that wetness. Then return here and we’ll do a couple more tests, just in case.”
“What wetn-?”
The doctor chuckled when Goten’s face went from pale to bright red. He nodded. “Yes, that one.”
TBC
Warnings: Alternate Universe. Yaoi (male x male). Goten x Trunks and vice versa. Other pairings.
A/N: <b><u>Starcut’s crew members</u></b>:
1. Captain
2. Backup Captain
3. Master Sergeant
4. Navigator - (Adriel)
5. Communications Specialist - (Sildara)
6. Programmer - (Rokunda)
7. Gunnery Sergeant - (Monteira Fawa)
8. Arms Specialist
9. Arms Specialist
10. Flight Officer - (Reyn Dueri)
11. Flight Officer - (Jadenas Ealt)
12. Head Engineer - (Nohail Ofura)
13. Maintenance Technician
14. Maintenance Technician
15. Doctor - (Tamahi)
16. Medic
17. Head Cook
18. Cook
19. Soldier - (Edesha)
20. Goten
A/N 2: the map of <i>Starcut</i> can be found here: http://pics.livejournal.com/chayron/pic/00008g7t/g1
<b>Barracks</b>
by chayron (lttomb@yahoo.com), beta-read by quatreofdoom
Part 28
Goten sipped his tea and gave the canteen a stealthy look over the brim of his mug. The tea tasted…well, like grass. Or it would have, if Goten had known what grass tasted like. He made himself swallow and hoped that this was just their casual tea and not a test of a newbie’s survival instincts.
The small canteen was almost empty; only three people were in it, not counting the cook behind the counter, and including Goten and the doctor. There were six metallic tables with benches wired into the floor, thus one could only climb over them when they wanted to sit down or step away from the table. While the cook was pouring the tea for Goten, the third-class had noticed that all the dishes were also made of tin – it was better than having to replace them every time the spaceship experienced a serious jolt.
Goten raised his mug again and took a good look at it. The tin was dented in two places. Goten cast a look at the doctor’s mug, but the doctor’s appeared to have seen even worse times. Goten sighed, then looked at the third person in the canteen.
“Who’s that?” he asked the doctor who had nearly finished drinking his tea. He didn’t seem to be very keen on it either.
The doctor turned around to look at the man. “Oh, that’s our head engineer, Nohail Ofura.”
Goten hummed and turned away from the man. “Anything in particular I should know about him?”
The doctor shrugged. “I don’t think he’ll cause you any problems. He’s a reasonable man.”
“I see.” Goten concentrated back on his mug. He knew he wasn’t going to remember so many new names at once. He was bad at things like names and faces. New surroundings always tended to unsettle him, making him rather fretful instead of eager. At least the doctor was someone he knew. It was faulty thinking, Goten was aware of that – he and the doctor had met only a few hours before the flight, but still, that hour or so they had spent together, while he had been pouring his heart out to the man, made Goten feel close to him.
The doctor had shown him around <i>Starcun</i>…err…<i>Starcut</i>. Just as the doctor had said, the spaceship wasn’t that big. It had living quarters, the captain’s bridge, a cargo hold with a weapon store nearby, a storeroom, a runway, a canteen and a kitchen, both of which were merged into one room, a briefing hall, which Goten had already seen, a training hall, and a medical room with one regeneration tank. There was also a tiny shower room.
Goten’s mind was buzzing with the new experience and he felt slightly lightheaded. While he and the doctor had been walking around, he had received curious looks, most of which were unfriendly. Overall, Goten felt like an intruder. The crew consisted of seasoned soldiers and their relationships had long been established. They knew each other, knew what to expect, and then someone threw in a third wheel. Not only was he useless, but he was also completely new to space traveling. Goten knew that it was going to be rough for some time. Maybe not even for some time, but for a very long time.
Adriel had kept Goten and the doctor company up to the excursion to the training hall, but then was seen by the backup captain, who immediately sent him to clean the toilets. Goten still wasn’t certain what he should think of Adriel. And right now he couldn’t – there were simply too many things to think about.
“So how did you come to be on this spaceship?”
Goten resurfaced from his thoughts. He gave the doctor a shrug, then shook his head. “I don’t really know,” he said. “I think exactly the same way I appeared in Hataro Officer Training School. I did tell you about that, didn’t I?”
The doctor pushed his mug aside. “To tell you the truth, I thought you were experiencing hysteria, so I didn’t really listen much to what you were saying.” Goten had an insulted look on his face and the doctor laughed softly. “Well, you have to agree that some things you said sounded rather...”
“Well, they were true,” Goten said dismally; he had poured his heart out to the man. “I’m not that much of a liar.” In a few seconds, he felt his cheeks heat up as he remembered himself crying in front of the doctor. He fidgeted with the tin mug. “And I thought you said you were done with all the distant planets and victories and trophies?” he asked.
“Well, I am,” the doctor said, nodding. “I became a doctor about thirty years ago.”
Goten gave him a searching look. “I saw you a few hours just before the flight,” he drawled.
“It’s war, Goten. Wounded are pouring in. My brother works in that hospital and he asked me for assistance and I was glad to help. I figured I’d have my rest here anyway.”
Goten lowered his head to stare at the murky tea at the bottom of his mug. He wasn’t going to drink it, even if it was his last drink. <i>Especially</i> if it was his last drink.
The third-class had seen the medical room. The old tank with the precious liquid inside was the main accent. There were also five beds and one operating table. He had also seen a young medic there who hadn’t been all too happy to see him.
It seemed that the elder men took his arrival much better than the younger generation.
Goten looked at the ceiling forlornly where his gaze concentrated on a feebly burning lamp. That was to be expected – rivalry among contemporaries was always stronger. He lowered his head.
All of this was so unbelievably stupid.
He felt as if he was back at his paramilitary school. Unfriendly looks, attempts to bully him… These petty rivalries amidst war… If they had the time and energy to be upset over someone undistinguished like him being sent here… But people would probably die of boredom if they stopped squabbling with each other. Or maybe he was just a distraction from the reality behind the walls of this spaceship; nobody wanted to think about the outcome of this war.
“I think I will go and pick up that keycard,” Goten said, standing up. He took his mug and returned it to the cook who placed it into the dishwasher.
“Ah. Then I will go with you; you will need someone to open the door to the captain’s bridge for you.”
“Thanks.”
They left the canteen and turned towards the captain’s bridge. There was no hurry and Goten took his time looking around the spaceship. The passages were quite wide and spacious, but poorly lit and depressing. Gray, metallic colors figured everywhere. The air smelled of oil and metal, as well as the tinge of unwashed feet and old clothing.
Goten had forgotten to ask the captain how long their patrol was going to last. He asked the doctor, who replied that usually it was half a year. However, both of them knew that now, during this kind of unstable situation, there was no means to predict that.
The third-class waited for the doctor to open the door to the captain’s bridge, then followed him into the well-lit room. It was circular, with two large screens in front where cameras showed the front and the back-view of <i>Starcut</i>. Additionally, a few smaller screens were strewn across the room, a terminal under each of them.
The captain and the backup captain were discussing something while leaning over a map on the desk near the door. Reyn, the flight officer, was wearing a headset and playing some kind of gory game on one of the terminals. The communications specialist was staring at his screen with a dreamy look on his face. Goten couldn’t see what it was, but, once in a while, the man would click on something on the screen. Rokunda, the programmer, was seated at the terminal closest to the two largest screens. His fingers were madly working on the keyboard. Two arms specialists were playing cards. There was a pile of credits on the desk.
“Ah fuck!” Reyn cursed. “I died again!”
“Reyn,” the communications specialist said, “you know that Adriel is gonna go batshit on you for touching his precious terminal. You’ve been here for hours already.”
“This time I’m gonna beat this fucker,” the flight officer hissed at the loading screen.
“Rokunda, turn Adriel’s terminal off,” the captain ordered without raising his head from the map he was studying.
“Ysh, sh.”
“Damn it,” Reyn growled when his screen went black. He peeled the headset off and lowered it onto the desk. He frowned when he noticed Goten and the doctor at the door. “Ha! And here’s our space cadet.”
“Quit it, Reyn,” the communications specialist warned.
“Yes, Reyn, go and keep Adriel company,” the backup captain said.
The flight officer scowled. “Yes, sir,” he said, standing up.
“I came for my keycard, Captain,” Goten said.
The captain looked at the programmer. “Rokunda?”
“Itsh donsh.”
The captain waved his hand. “Yeah, you can take it.”
Goten walked over to the programmer. His screen was split in two. On one side, lines of numbers and some gibberish was running. The second side made it clear that Rokunda was also doing Adriel’s job in addition to his own, as it was full of coordinates and blinking dots.
The programmer held out the card for him and Goten took it. It had a thin metallic chain and Goten secured it to his belt, just as he had seen everyone else carry it around. The third-class was already turning to leave when he noticed something curious. He stopped and checked his senses again. No way.
“A female?” he asked, surprised.
“Oh shit,” the communications specialist muttered. “Run.”
Startled, Goten stepped back when the scrawny programmer suddenly rose and grabbed him by the front of his uniform, pushing him backwards. There was a surprising strength in those tiny arms.
“Yush gotsh a problemsh witsh thatsh?” she hissed at Goten’s face, tugging at his uniform, bending him down so that their noses were nearly touching. “Do yush?”
“Err…no?” Goten stammered, completely thrown off balance by the sudden turn of events.
“Ish thinksh yush do…” the programmer growled, staring at his face.
“Umm…no. I don’t. Really. I <i>love</i> women.”
“Uh-oh,” said someone.
Rokunda’s eyes blazed red. “Luvsh wimensh, yush sash? Ish gonnash kiksh yursh ballsh offsh, yush bashtardsh!”
“Mmm…” Goten tried to turn his head aside, but the strangling collar didn’t let him. “Uhh…help?” he tried, attempting to step backwards, but only succeeding in dragging the programmer with himself. It was obvious that the little female wouldn’t let go of him, not before she did something to him. Goten felt powerless. It was one thing when you were cornered by a bulky elite female, but it was completely different when you were about to be punched by a scrawny second-class female. He felt he couldn’t lift a finger.
“Umm… I have a few female friends,” he tried again. “We get along tremendously.”
“Trimendashly? Ish betsh yush do… Laiksh haush on fair.”
“Err…maybe not that well.”
A quiet but insistent beeping started in the room, making Rokunda turn away from Goten and look at her screen. She hesitated for a moment, then let go of Goten’s uniform and walked back to her terminal where she started tinkering with the keyboard. A few relieved exhalations could be heard. Goten straightened to his height. He was a whole head taller than her and nearly twice as heavy as her, but that was beside the point.
Somebody nudged the third-class in his ribs and, after looking at the doctor, Goten saw him motioning at the door hastily.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Goten asked when the door slid closed behind them with a hiss. “I didn’t even touch her!”
The doctor scratched his head nervously. “Well, try not to comment on her…err…femininity.”
“Hah, no problem there,” Goten said, still looking shocked. “There hardly is any.”
The doctor was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. “She was already like this when she came to work here. My guess would be that she has experienced a lot of rivalry and disregard from her former milieu.”
“Which is mostly male everywhere, isn’t it? Especially in programming,” Goten sighed, catching on. “But why is it me who has to suffer? It’s not fair…”
“Well, we tried to talk to her, but all we managed to do was to make her suspicious that we were looking down on her. It’s a closed circle, I’m afraid.”
“She seems to be good, though.”
“She is <i>very</i> good. Last year she won some kind of programming contest. I don’t understand all that stuff, but the captain showed us the article. We even held a small celebration party. She did warm up to us after that.”
Surprised, Goten looked at him. “That’s awfully thoughtful of you. Or cunning, I should say.”
“It was Adriel’s idea. He’s good at those things.”
“Is he after her?”
“Who? Adriel? Nah, he has his hands full with Sildara. The communications specialist,” the doctor explained when Goten gave him a questioning look. “The one we just saw; the one who told you to run.”
“Huh? Those two are like that?”
“Well…” the doctor drawled, “most of the time, I suppose. They do fight a lot. It’s best not to get in between them,” he warned.
Goten rolled his eyes. Here he was, getting into the life of <i>Starcut</i> through gossip. But he couldn’t see any other way of getting into it. Besides, the doctor was readily sharing the rumors. Certainly, the man thought it was only for Goten’s own good that he knew how life on the ship worked.
“And what about t-?”
“I thought you were told to scrub the toilets,” the doctor said at the sight of Reyn appearing from behind a corner.
“I went there, but Adriel told me to fuck off,” the flight officer said in an irritated voice, giving Goten an unfriendly look. “Which is what I’m doing – looking for a place to fuck myself off.”
The doctor rolled his eyes. Reyn had probably mentioned to Adriel that he had been playing games on his terminal and the two got into a spat. Most of the time, Reyn and Adriel got along pretty well, except when Reyn touched Adriel’s terminal. In fact, Adriel got along with anyone provided they didn’t touch his terminal.
Goten watched the flight officer’s back disappear in the corridor. “I think I’ll go to my cabin and rest for a while,” he said.
“Yeah, you do that. Dinner is going to be at nine today.”
“Ah, it’s because we left late today, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Goten thanked the doctor for showing him around and returned to his cabin. He had intended to clean it up, but he was exhausted. He didn’t realize that until he stepped into the cabin. He flopped onto the chair at his bed and closed his eyes. Soon, he felt he was already nodding off, thus he left his chair and went for the bed. The bedding still smelled musty, but now he didn’t mind that. The third-class had no strength to take his clothes off either and lay down on the covers in his uniform. He fell asleep instantly.
“Hey, you alive there?”
Goten’s eyes blinked open at a person in the doorway. Slowly, he remembered that the man was the flight officer who had shown him to the briefing room.
“Yes?” Goten croaked, wiping at his bleary eyes. He tried to sit down, but just folded back into the bedding sleepily. His limbs felt like jelly.
“You didn’t show up for dinner. Is everything okay?” the flight officer sniffed at the air. “Damn, it smells stale in here.”
“Yeah,” Goten yawned. “I’m alright. Been sleeping.” Two identical heads appeared behind the flight officer and Goten wondered if he was seeing double, then remembered that there were twins on the ship.
“We brought you a few ruvens,” the flight officer said, throwing the fruit for Goten to catch.
“Uhh… Thanks for bringing them,” Goten thanked, staring at the wall behind him where one of the fruit splattered when he had failed to catch it. Carefully, he put the other two onto the chair.
“No problem,” the man said. “We are neighbors; we live in the cabin next to yours.”
“Oh. Okay, thanks.”
When the door closed, Goten shortly wondered how many of them exactly were his neighbors, then his mind turned fuzzy again and he fell asleep.
The third-class was turning to his other side when the need for the bathroom opened his eyes. He tried to ignore the pressure in his bladder and continue sleeping, but his dreamlike state was constantly being interrupted by various images of him relieving himself or heading to a bathroom. The third-class’s hazy mind was functional enough to understand that he might simply end up wetting the bed.
Grunting and swaying, Goten stood up. He couldn’t exactly remember where the bathroom was. It took him a while to get his boots on. He was shocked to see that the electronic clock above the door was showing the next day’s midday already. He had slept for nearly seventeen hours. A little disturbed, Goten left his cabin.
After finding the bathroom, Goten decided to have lunch. People hushed when he entered the canteen. The room wasn’t big and the six tables were arranged compactly, the men’s backs nearly touching each other. He could see his neighbors a bit farther ahead. Goten wondered how much trouble he would cause if he took his food and sat down next to the doctor, whom he could see sitting on his right. Deciding that he didn’t want to find out, Goten went and took his ration and sat at an empty table.
Nobody paid him any attention, but because they were trying very hard not to pay any, the air was sizzling with pressure. Goten, feeling the fine hair on his nape rising, set his tray on the table. Silently, he transferred his pea-soup, cutlet, and a mug of tea onto the table and pushed the tray away. He lowered his spoon into the soup, tasted the yellow pellets, found the soup to his liking, and started eating. The lively buzz of conversation restarted.
When the third-class was halfway through his soup, he realized that everybody had hushed again. He turned to see one of the flight officers walking over to him. It was the one who had raised his hand during the introduction and asked what Goten was going to do on the spaceship. Later Goten had seen him play a game on Adriel’s terminal. Goten frowned, trying to remember. The name was…Rail? Rain? Roll? Rum? Roan? Run?
Still trying to remember the name, Goten stared up at the flight officer’s face questioningly. “Mmm?”
A little farther back, just a table away, the head engineer started rising to his feet. The gunnery sergeant’s heavy hand fell on his shoulder and forced him back down.
“The kid doesn’t seem to be very frightened,” he explained to the head engineer. “Let’s just watch.”
The flight officer was standing too close to him, invading his personal space, and Goten could easily tell that it was an intentional move to make him feel insecure. Goten lowered his spoon back into the bowl and stirred it idly.
“How’s the soup?” the flight officer asked.
“It’s good,” Goten answered.
The officer grinned at him. “It had better be, keeping in mind you will be loitering about, doing nothing and getting fed.”
Goten stared the man’s face. He couldn’t exactly tell if the man was irritated, teasing him, or just being spiteful. Maybe all that. What, in the world, was his problem?
Goten shrugged. “Well, I never asked to be sent here,” he said.
“And that makes it alright, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t, but I can’t do anything about it. However, maybe you writing that complaint letter could,” Goten said. He picked up his spoon again and shoveled some soup into his mouth. He avoided looking around, but he could feel that he and the flight officer were the main focus of the canteen. Everybody was just watching mutely.
“Actually, I know just the right occupation for you,” said the flight officer. “There’s one we are missing here.”
“And that would be?” Goten asked, stirring his now quickly cooling soup.
“A hostess,” the officer said, taking the spoon from Goten’s fingers. He winked at Goten and licked the spoon seductively. He leaned over to whisper into Goten’s ear. “So how about it, love?” he said, blowing lightly on Goten’s earlobe.
The third-class pressed his palm to his ear and leaned away from the flight officer in shock, then, growling, grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed him face-first into the pea-soup.
“Don’t you fucking…!”
The flight officer staggered backwards as Goten’s fingers unclenched from his nape, letting him go. He spat out the peas, gasped for air, and started wiping the mess off his eyes. The officer’s nose was bleeding, the blood running over his mouth, then splattering on the front of his uniform in large heavy drops. His nose was probably broken as well.
His fury starting to seep away, leaving place for unease, Goten watched him get the last of the pea-soup from his eyes. With a feeling of foreboding, the third-class moved away from the bench, in case he was attacked. He had simply wanted to eat! He had simply wanted to eat and go back to sleep again. Instead, he was fighting some idiot. A magnificent start to his career on <i>Starcut</i>.
Goten moved into his fighting stance when the officer darted forward.
“That’s enough!” rang the captain’s voice. “Reyn, go to the medical room and have your nose taken care of. After that, go to your cabin and stay there until further notice.”
The flight officer, who now was holding Goten by the front of his uniform, gradually unclenched his hand. He stared at Goten for a few seconds, eyes filled with malice. Assured that the man would not try anything stupid, Goten unclasped his fingers from Reyn’s fist that had previously targeted his face. He moved away from the officer.
“Yes, Captain,” Reyn growled out, his lips splashing Goten’s face with blood.
Wiping at his face with his hand, the third-class moved away. He watched the man turn around and march towards the door.
“Goten, clean the table and make sure you pay for the bowl.”
Goten turned to look at his bowl. Reyn’s face had deformed the tin, and the third-class could swear he could see his face-print in it. The soup had fountained out of the bowl all over the table. Goten looked at himself. And over his uniform.
“Yes, Captain,” Goten said. He was suddenly aware of bouts of laughter starting around him. At that point, he realized that he had been hearing this laughter for quite some time now, but it had been hushed previously.
“Well, you’re out of soup, but finish your cutlet,” the captain said. “We wouldn’t want you to starve, now, would we?”
Everyone was laughing, and Goten wasn’t certain what was so funny. Lost, he looked around. He stood for a few seconds, motionless, then went to the counter to ask the cooks for a cloth to wipe off the table. He carried a small bowl of water that he got from the cook over to his table, then dabbed at his uniform with the wet rag. Luckily, he was going to get a new one, blue, just like everyone else was wearing.
While Goten was wiping the table, his neighbor, carrying his tea, came to him and sat down. He was grinning.
“What in the world is so funny about this?” Goten asked him, wringing the cloth into the bowl.
“You,” the flight officer chuckled. “He just freakin’ blew on your ear and you broke his nose. You didn’t need to overreact like that.”
“That was sexual harassment and…”
All tables around him burst out laughing. The flight officer spat his tea back into the mug and joined the crowd. “No, really,” he roared with laughter, “these newbies from officer schools! There’s nothing funnier than you!”
“I seriously don’t understand what’s so funny about this!” Goten snapped at him. He glared at the men around him, but that only made them laugh even harder.
“Okay, okay,” the flight officer patted him on his arm. “Calm down. It’s not really funny. It’s just the fact that it was Reyn who did it. He was simply fucking around with you, testing you. It’s his fault, of course, but you reacted as if he already had you on the floor with your legs spread.”
Goten glared at him. “I hate those kinds of jokes,” he said.
A thoughtful look appeared on his neighbor’s face, then his brow rose in disbelief. Goten cursed himself. The men around the tables hadn’t caught on yet and Goten prayed that they wouldn’t. The last thing he needed was to be a source of constant amusement.
As if he wasn’t one already. Currently, he was a walking circus for all of the crew.
Goten groaned and slumped onto the bench. “Just keep quiet about it, okay?” he begged.
The flight officer shrugged. “Sure, no problem.” He sipped his tea. “But it’s not as if anyone cares.”
<i>You have no idea</i>, Goten thought.
The flight officer had finished his tea, but sat at the table with Goten to keep him company until the third-class finished wiping the table, ate his cutlet, and then drank his lukewarm tea.
“Goten?”
Goten turned to the man who had called him. “Yes?”
“Why haven’t you picked your uniform yet?”
Goten saluted. The stripes on the man’s shoulders identified him as a master sergeant. On this ship, only the captain’s rank was superior to his. And Goten was almost certain that even then the captain consulted him more times than not; one didn’t become a master sergeant without a good reason.
“I was about to go, sir,”
The master sergeant snorted. “Was that before you bashed Reyn’s face into your bowl or after?”
“Uh. After, sir.”
“Ah, a smartass.” The man motioned for the third-class to follow him. “Come.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How are you getting on with the crew?” the master sergeant asked while they were walking down the hallway towards the storeroom.
“Sir, I think you have just had a perfect illustration of how I get on with them.”
The man laughed softly. “That’s so, but you know that I wasn’t talking about that.”
Goten tugged at the front of his uniform, trying to keep it away from his chest. It was damp in the places he had cleaned the pea-soup off. “Yes, sir. I know what you mean. I think it’s alright. Not everyone seems to hate the thought of me being here.”
“In the future,” the master sergeant said, “try to think first and act later. Reyn was just fooling around with you. In fact, he’s pretty much asexual.”
“Uh.” Only now Goten understood why his neighbor had said that it was funny that it was Reyn who harassed him. “Err… I see, sir. I…”
“Well, yes, you couldn’t have known that, but really… Breaking his nose over such…”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“You should apologize to Reyn, not to me.”
Goten mulled over this for a few seconds. “Mmm… I don’t really want to, sir.”
The master sergeant stopped and gave Goten a look. The third-class braced himself for the worst. He flinched when the man patted him on his shoulder.
“And yet we can still make a man out of you,” he said, turning away and continuing to walk.
Goten stared at the master sergeant’s back in surprise, but felt he was better off staying silent. He followed the man to the storeroom, received his uniforms, and then returned to his cabin. The unpleasant smell was still there.
The third-class threw the new uniforms on the bed. He stared at them for a few seconds, then picked up the fruit his neighbor had brought him previously and ate them. Then, he undressed and tried on his new uniform. His shoulders were going to look lonely among all the officers. Putting on his belt with the attached keycard, he sighed.
His officer school uniform needed washing. Goten wondered if he would ever need it again, but figured it was best to be prepared and started checking his pockets in case there was something which badly reacted with water. His fingers felt a small piece of paper. Goten pulled it out, then stared at the digits on the slip of paper in disbelief. It was a phone number; it was the prince’s phone number.
Goten let the slip flutter onto the floor and started folding his uniform. When did the bastard… Surely, not while they were… Goten felt himself go red in the face as the whole scene resurfaced in his memory. It must have been around the time when the prince had grabbed him by his ass.
“Shit,” Goten muttered, tossing his uniform onto the chair. He picked up the number off the floor, then walked over to the desk and sat down in front of his malfunctioning terminal. He lay down the paper slip on the desk. He should probably throw it away. No, <i>definitely</i>.
It was a social taboo, what he and the prince had done, the kiss. Even talking about it was a taboo. Even thinking about it was a taboo. However, to his surprise, Goten realized that he couldn’t take it seriously. Nothing really happened: some saliva and groping had been exchanged and some promises had been made, which would not be kept. Sexual desires… Goten couldn’t imagine anyone risking their lives for those. And even if they were more than sexual desires…who the hell cared about that romantic crap?
Goten stood up, grabbed the phone number off the desk, stuffed it into his pocket, put his spare uniform into his suitcase, and went to lie down on his bed. He was feeling incredibly sleepy again.
When Goten woke up, he found himself lying on a roof. Mystified, he pushed himself up and saw Gohan standing a few feet away, watching him.
“You again,” Goten said, getting to his feet. Wondering if he looked good in it, the third-class started dusting his new uniform off. All the time, his brother just kept staring at him wordlessly and Goten decided to ignore him as well. He walked over to the edge of the roof and looked around. He was back at Hataro Officer Training School. In fact, he was standing on the roof of the officer’s club. He could see people walking around in the School’s territory. Goten turned around and concentrated back on Gohan.
“Who are you?”
Gohan smiled. “I’m your brother, aren’t I?”
Goten rolled his eyes. “Don’t you start. Really, who the fuck are you?”
“It is of no importance,” Gohan said.
“And what is im-?”
The sirens went off giving Goten a start. He looked at the sky. The third-class could see dots and then he realized what it was about. This was the beginning of the attack. He turned to his barracks and soon saw himself and Kyon running out of the building. His heart beating madly, he ran to the other side of the roof where he had found Toharu. There was no one around yet.
Goten’s eyes snapped to his brother. “What’s this?”
“Why are you asking <i>me</i> that?”
Goten felt the urge to run over to him and shake him for good measure. Punching that smug face would also work wonders. If only he didn’t look like his brother! “And who the fuck else could I ask?!” he snarled.
Gohan rolled his eyes. “<i>Yourself</i> would be a good start.”
“What in the world does that mean?” Goten growled out. He was trying to keep his attention both on the imposter and down on the ground. He was failing miserably.
“Are you clueless or just stupid? It is probably the same, though.”
Goten glared at the imposter. His brother had never said anything like that to him. “Are you picking a fight with me?” he snapped. Then he realized how stupid that sounded. He cursed softly and was for once grateful that Gohan didn’t burst out laughing, instead just gave him an amused look.
“Aren’t you just seeing what you w-?”
Goten didn’t hear the rest of the imposter’s sentence because, at that moment, he saw Toharu run out of the officers’ barracks. The second-class was buckling his belt. He turned towards the training field, but when he advanced toward it, a ray of blue light bore down on <i>Matilda</i>, at the opposite end from where Goten was standing. The building exploded with a horrendous noise, scattering its bowels outside.
The force of the explosion tossed Goten backwards. Just before painfully boring down onto the asphalt, he cursed himself for his idiocy – hadn’t he known that <i>Matilda</i> had been blown up? After rolling over on the asphalt a few times, he stood up and looked around frantically.
Just a few meters away from him, Toharu was also getting to his feet. The savar shook his head, then touched his right ear. Goten figured he had been stunned by all that noise.
“Toharu!”
Calling his name didn’t give any result. Toharu either couldn’t hear him or wasn’t supposed to hear him. Goten watched the man rise into the air. He was still shaking his head, as if trying to shake off the aftereffects of the explosion. A blue flash crossed the air, and Goten threw himself forward.
He could save him, could have saved him, he knew he could. He could change this, could have changed this.
Goten collided with Gohan in midair, just when the building with the laundromats exploded. Goten struggled madly in Gohan’s grasp.
“There’s absolutely nothing you can do. He’s dead already.”
Splinters filled the air, chunks of concrete and metal whooshing past them. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, but was excruciatingly slow when Goten saw an iron pipe imbed itself into Toharu’s head. Goten sank his teeth into Gohan’s shoulder in another attempt to get away. The imposter didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even bleed.
“I’m just as strong as you. It’s absolutely pointless to fight me.”
So this was how he had died. Goten closed his eyes so as not to see Toharu sprawled on the asphalt. So…average. He didn’t even get to participate in defending the base. Instead he was speared by a pipe while belting his trousers. Ah, the irony of life. One had to love it.
At some point, Goten realized that he had stopped struggling and now was in Gohan’s embrace. They had landed as well. His brother was stroking his back gently, muttering something in a soft voice. It felt good to be held like this again, to feel that warmth, to be comforted, to finally stop fretting over everything and feel secure, to belong somewhere just like he belonged in Gohan’s arms.
The soothing touch, though, soon grew into something more intimate, more sensual. A hand slid over his back teasingly and then it rose to his nape to lower his head. Weird, Goten thought, but opened his mouth when he felt a tongue touch his lips. <i>And…wasn’t Gohan taller than him?</i> Goten opened his eyes to see Toharu’s blurry face from up close. Sighing softly, Goten closed his eyes again. They continued kissing, Goten wrapping his arms around his friend’s shoulders.
They broke apart in what seemed like ages. Goten, though, had wanted for it to last even more, forever, if possible. Toharu was also watching him with hooded eyes.
He heard the sound of someone walking, and Goten turned his head to look at his brother, who had stopped a little farther away from them. He saluted, and Goten only now noticed that he was wearing a uniform from Hyon’s base.
“I’ll be off, then, sir,” Gohan said.
Goten gave him a lost look. He felt Toharu’s grip tighten on him. “Mmm…okay?” He couldn’t understand what was going on, but it was just as well. He didn’t really care and, in his arms, he had something he was looking forward to.
Gohan saluted again and faded away. Goten turned his head back to Toharu to meet a blue, steady gaze. He jumped backwards, or tried to. The prince caught him easily, wrapping his arms securely around the third-class’s waist and bringing him closer. Goten stilled, feeling all his blood rush down to his lower body. He was overwhelmed by the same feelings he had experienced down in the launch pad. Instantly, the familiar scents of soap, clothing, and tranquil boredom enveloped him. He could even hear the roar of engines.
The shaii’s hand slid down Goten’s waist and then south where it brushed over his hardening length. Then it cupped Goten, making him gasp and buck at the friction. Watching Goten’s face, he squeezed lightly. The third-class moaned softly, then opened his mouth when the prince leaned in to kiss him.
He could feel the prince’s hands roaming over his body, unbuttoning his uniform, sliding underneath it. They felt hot against his skin, burning his chest and stomach.
“N-no, don’t,” Goten gasped out, grabbing the prince’s hand before it could slide into his pocket. “I don’t need it.”
The prince’s face leaned away from him. With mild interest, Goten suddenly realized that he and the shaii were on a bed now. Goten’s eyes returned to the man above him. Hadn’t they been wearing clothes just a moment ago? Where was that paper slip? Where did the bed come from?
Goten closed his eyes as the prince lowered his head and kissed him just beneath his right ear. He moaned softly as the prince’s lips continued moving upwards until they reached his Adam’s apple where he felt teeth scraping against his skin. Goten felt his mind clouding, lust starting to ride his body. He grabbed the prince by his hair, lifting his head. There was a faint smile on his face, while blue eyes regarded him with a touch of amusement. Goten pressed on the prince’s head, bringing it down, kissing those smiling lips.
When the kiss broke, Goten was suddenly aware of someone watching him. Panting lightly, he turned his head to see Kyon sitting on the floor, right next to the bed. Goten instinctively recoiled but, with a heavy body on top of him, it only resulted in him shifting slightly and rubbing against the shaii. The third-class looked at the prince who, again, was watching him with that amused expression of his, as if daring him.
And Goten dared. He felt the prince moving down his body, his mouth leaving a flaming path in its wake. The mattress next to Goten’s head dipped lightly and he reached out for Ranvera, bringing the other man close enough so that their mouths met.
With a groan, Goten broke the kiss when something slid inside him. If only for a moment, he faltered when, after opening his eyes, he saw about a dozen of people staring at him, watching him with smoldering eyes from various angles. The prince nudged his legs wider apart.
Well, certainly, this couldn’t be reality, could it? Thus there was no harm in…this. Was there?
Goten heard himself let out a low guttural groan when it started moving inside him. He hadn’t known he was capable of making a sound like that. It didn’t hurt at all. It was thick and hot, but it didn’t hurt at all. He felt pleasure wash over him in waves.
Goten arched with a grunt, then shuddered. Hazily, he blinked his eyes at the bright light above him. He raised his hand to shade them.
“Unbelievable. You’ve just come, haven’t you?”
Goten turned his head to see the doctor sitting in his chair, which was swiveled toward him.
“W-what?” Goten asked, utterly confused. He started coughing. His throat felt as if he had swallowed a spoonful of sand. “W-where am I?” he rasped out, swallowing to wet his throat.
The doctor’s face frowned in concern. “What is your name?”
“What?”
“Just tell me your name,” the doctor insisted.
“It’s Goten. Goten Bardock. I’m a-”
“Alright. How many fingers am I holding up?”
Goten blinked, straining to see the doctor’s hand. “Uhh… three? No, two,” he corrected himself when the blurriness in his eyes faded away completely. He shook his head and tried to sit up. With a grunt, he fell back down onto the hard desk. His muscles were jelly. He raised his upper body with his hands and took a good look at where he was lying. It was an operation desk. He suddenly realized that this was the <i>Starcut’s</i> medical room. He wondered how he had not recognized it before. “What…” Goten swallowed. “What the hell is going on?”
“You’ve been out for nearly three days.”
“What?”
“Jadenas went to check on you when you missed dinner again. Your neighbor, the flight officer,” the doctor added when it was obvious that Goten had no idea who Jadenas was. “He said you wouldn’t wake up no matter how hard he tried to rouse you. So we had you brought here. Not that it helped any.”
“Oh.”
The doctor raised a sheet of paper with some sharp-looking curves. “What is this?” he asked.
Goten stared at the paper for some time. “Is this a test?” he asked. “Like one of those where, depending on my answer, you will decide if I am schizophrenic or not?”
“No, you idiot. This has nothing to do with that. This is your brain wave pattern from when you were asleep,” the doctor said.
“Oh.”
The doctor sighed when Goten was just looking at him questioningly. He lowered the pattern back onto his desk. Either Goten really had no idea what it was or he simply didn’t want to tell him. Even if Goten knew, he couldn’t beat the information out of the youth.
“What’s wrong with it?” Goten asked. “The head physician on the base was also very interested in this.”
“I bet he was. Did he tell you anything more about it?”
“Well, no. He just said that it was interesting. Sometimes, I have impossible migraines as well,” he added, just for a record.
“Well, yes, that could be related.” The doctor gave the third-class an inspecting look. “Did you know that your profile states that you’re a second-class?”
“What?!”
“I see that you didn’t. Oh well.” He shrugged. “When you’ve completely woken up, go and clean up; it must be uncomfortable, that wetness. Then return here and we’ll do a couple more tests, just in case.”
“What wetn-?”
The doctor chuckled when Goten’s face went from pale to bright red. He nodded. “Yes, that one.”
TBC