Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Barracks ❯ Part 39 ( Chapter 39 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

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: Starcut’s crew members:

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 – (Hazel)
9.Arms Specialist – (Mandro)
10.Flight Officer - (Reyn Dueri)
11.Flight Officer - (Jadenas Ealt)
12.Head Engineer - (Nohail Ofura)
13.Maintenance Technician – (Mirun)
14.Maintenance Technician – (Landan)
15.Doctor - (Tamahi)
16.Medic - (Yereli)
17.Head Cook
18.Cook
19.Soldier - (Edesha)
20.Goten

A/N 2: Thank you to my lovely beta quatreofdoom for this remark: “Goten collects potential boyfriends like some people collect stamps. I guess he likes to keep his options open.”

Barracks

by chayron (lttomb@yahoo.com), beta-read by quatreofdoom

Part 39

When Goten arrived at the canteen, he had to wait for someone else to finish eating and empty their plates as there wasn’t enough kitchenware on board; Starcut hadn’t been designed to accommodate so many people. The lower deck was packed. Goten had taken a look while he had unsuccessfully been trying to locate the boy and had seen the situation there: scattered amongst the wiring and pipes, the Humans were “camping” on the floor in twos or threes since there weren’t enough bedrolls and pillows. To make their stay more comfortable, they had been given covers and even a few spare duvets, but it was only a drop in the sea. It wasn’t cold on the lower section, though, as the heat from the engine room spread throughout it. The duvets and covers were mostly used as mattresses.

A number of Humans had taken some of their belongings from Orion. This was usually their luggage, which contained clothing and toiletries. Now they used their folded clothing as pillows, or gave it away to other people to be used as towels or washing cloths, or just so they had clean clothing to wear while they washed their laundry.

It had reached Goten’s ears as well that the captain had offered to let them stay in the cabins together with the crew, but nobody took him up on the offer. The treaty between the Saiyan and the Human races had been signed almost twenty years ago. Overall, they had been aware of each other’s existence for about thirty years, however, except for their outward similarities in appearance, they had no close relation. The Saiyans didn’t particularly like Humans who had to resort to various technologies to be at par with the strongest races in the universe, and, in turn, the Humans were wary of the Saiyans who could crush an unarmed man’s skull with their bare hands.

And yet the races had started to intermingle. It was not only the exchange of peculiarities of their cultures, but there were also places, like space stations or common colonies, where Saiyans and Humans intermingled freely and babies were born. One of the first ones, or maybe the very first, had been the prince, with his abnormal hair and unusual eye-color. Many others followed. Now the Saiyan society was thinking about passing a law to stop any further crossbreeding; reproduction taking place between half-Saiyans and Humans appeared to be genetically weak and all the infants were either born deformed or took after their Human parent. Weakening Saiyan blood was not a risk the Saiyan race wanted to take. It was also becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all the half-breeds and to tell them apart from the third or second-classes. This was a matter of grave concern to those who unconditionally wanted to preserve the tiered Saiyan society.

Humans, meanwhile, had made a common declaration that it was their human right to breed with whoever they wanted and that it was not to be controlled by their government. The Saiyan population had been puzzled and even outraged by the declaration since they had observed strict rules concerning breeding since time immemorial. There was nothing to be done, though.

Goten had finally received his share of food and looked around for a place to sit down, but there were no empty seats. In the end, he followed the example of a few others and leaned against the wall to eat his food like that. With so many additional mouths, their food-supplies were probably about to start running low.

“What’s been happening while I was out?” Goten asked Hazel, who was slurping his soup next to him.

The arms specialist swallowed loudly. “I think we might be losing this war.”

Goten stared at him open-mouthed while Hazel continued to slurp calmly after dropping the bomb. “Huh? Has there been an official announcement?”

“Are you an idiot? They won’t tell us anything even if Vegeta-sei is destroyed. We’ll just receive orders to go on our last suicidal mission.”

“And it will be a glorious death,” Goten said sarcastically. “Even though, personally, I’d rather surrender and then try to escape.”

“That’s why the lizards don’t take us as prisoners. They got fed up with us trying to escape.”

Goten thought back to his father’s break out. “True,” he said. “But why do you think that?”

“Humans are saying so. They have much more intelligence than we do since they are free to exchange it. We recently passed Enran Station and some of them checked the news portals. It doesn’t look nice and their officials are trying to smother the news, but it’s been leaking. We lost a part of Komera Section, Londan, Afera, three of our generals are down.”

Goten stared at him. “Oh shit.”

Hazel slurped at his soup noisily. “That’s mildly put.”

“Their casualties?”

“A fleet and a general.”

The third-class nearly dropped his plate. “Only?!”

Goten shrunk back at the stares he had brought to himself by shouting. He smiled apologetically, then turned back to face Hazel. This was only the beginning, of course, but such a bad start… And there was something about that explosion and his father…

“Where’s Reyn?”

“Your boyfriend, you mean? He’s out on a mission, checking a carrier.”

“Uh. He isn’t my boyfriend.”

Hazel shrugged. “A fuck-buddy, then.”

“Not that either.”

The arms specialist gave him a curious look. “The word is out that you two are fucking each other.”

Goten rolled his eyes in utter annoyance. “It’s probably not that far away from the truth either,” he muttered irritably, “but so far the only thing we’ve done is fuck around with each other.”

Hazel scratched his head absently. “Well, whatever floats your boat.”

“What boat?”

“It’s a Terran saying. Like ‘whatever pleases you’.”

“Screw Humans. I’ve never even seen a lake in my life, not to mention a boat!”

“You’re seriously racist.”

“I am not. I just hate them.”

“Whatever. In any case, if Reyn doesn’t give it to you like you want it, you can always join us. Brother would be overjoyed.”

Irritated, Goten pointed his spoon at him. “Screw you.”

“You’re welcome to,” Hazel said, offering him a suggestive grin.

Goten rolled his eyes. “What a cliché.”

“So what? It still works.”

Goten watched him push himself off the wall and go to leave his empty plate on the counter. “Ha!” he muttered to himself. “We’ll just see about that!” Then he wondered how badly Jadenas would be pissed off if he actually accepted the invitation from the twins. No, no, it was best not to find out. The captain would kill him if he started disrupting Starcut’s community. He had enough problems as it was.

Since there was nothing urgent he wanted to do, Goten went to the medical room to watch over the patients. Tamahi was thrilled to see him and left in a hurry to have his dinner. The third-class took his usual place at the doctor’s desk, and his eyes settled on the patients in front of him. The “Human end” of the room looked rather cheerful and was in high spirits, the cause of which was a complete mystery to Goten. Meanwhile the “Nondren corner” was morose, which Goten could perfectly understand: one of them was still in a coma and the other was glaring at him with his murky greenish eyes.

Goten tapped the side of his scouter to increase the range of the receiver so that he could hear what the Humans were babbling about. It wasn’t his business, he wasn’t interested, neither did he have any right to listen in, but anything was better than just sitting there for five or so hours with absolutely nothing to do.

It appeared that the Humans were excited about the landing on Meia Colony which was going to take place in a week. From there, they would be picked up by their kin. The landing hadn’t been scheduled, but the colony was not far away from Starcut’s intended course. They would probably drop off the Humans, the two Nondrens, replenish their food and supplies, and then go on as usual.

The third-class turned off his scouter when the Humans started talking about the relatives they couldn’t wait to see. He wondered if there was anyone who would pick up the kid. Well, that wasn’t really his problem and he could do nothing about it.

There was also that feeling of guilt Goten could feel wafting from the Humans while they continued talking; so many died and there they were going on about their families. The third-class grunted softly. He could relate to that. He still didn’t know how he felt about his brother’s or Toharu’s death either. There was guilt, but what was the point? He couldn’t change anything. He’d had his chance with Toharu, but he had missed it. Post factum.

And yet they lingered, the guilt and pain.

Reyn entered the medical room just in time to see Goten give the finger to one of the Human patients. His surprise wore off quickly when he saw cards in the third-class’s hands. Goten had wheeled the doctor’s chair close to the Humans, and the four of them were playing cards. Even the one who looked like death itself and couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Come here, you will hold them for him.”

Reyn stared at the young Human male in a half-sitting, half-lying position on the bed closest to Goten. “Hold what?” Reyn wondered, thinking that maybe his scouter had malfunctioned.

“Cards! Cards!” the male said impatiently.

The flight officer glanced at the Human who was connected to practically all the wires in the medical room. Yet he had that ecstatic look in his eyes of a madman about to win the jackpot.

“Are you trying to kill him or something?” Reyn switched off the translator and looked at the third-class. “What the hell are you doing, Goten?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what we are doing.”

Reyn snorted. “So this is how you keep watch. Nice. I should just report you.”

Goten rolled his eyes. He waved his left hand in the air expressively. “Report this, report that… Don’t you ever get tired of writing?” Wordlessly, he motioned at the Nondren.

Reyn turned to him, then lowered his head to see what Goten was pointing at. Reyn’s eyebrows rose for the second time. The captive’s face was radiating malice, was practically glowing with it. Two towels were tied around his wrists, securing him to the bed. It was ridiculous, of course, these restraints – they weren’t even very tight – but they would give plenty of time for Goten to react if he noticed the Nondren trying something.

The flight officer chuckled at the venomous look in the prisoner’s eyes. It was a pity Hazel hadn’t finished him off. Edesha’s guy was still in a coma and probably wasn’t going to wake up. Edesha had always been more thorough in everything he did.

“He’s a patient,” Reyn noted.

“You’ve got your priorities mixed up,” Goten pointed out.

“How so?”

“First, he’s a murderer. Being a patient comes second.”

“I like your logic,” Reyn said, stepping over the wires hooked to the wheezing guy. He had been wondering when this side of Goten would surface again. The smart ass could act all proper and be dutiful most of the time, but he had an inclination towards mischief and disobedience. It was comparatively small-scale, but it was unmistakably there, lurking all the time, bursting through unexpectedly.

Reyn grabbed the cards from the wheezing guy’s feeble fingers and sat down on his bed, making the mattress shift under his weight, which in turn made the half-dead man jerk and wince. He switched the translator on. “So what are you playing?”

“The Fool.”

Reyn nodded. “I know this one.” He looked at the pile of cards on the young man’s bed and saw that the trump suit was spades. He already had over ten cards in his hand. Who was this pathetic loser he was going to play for? With a displeased grunt, Reyn started rearranging the cards. “Do we go clockwise? Whose turn is it?”

“Mine,” Goten said. “Reyn, this is Daniel,” he introduced the young man who had asked Reyn to help hold the cards. “This one’s Andrew,” he said, pointing at the middle-aged, already balding man with a broken arm. “The half-dead dude is Tom. Everyone, this is Reyn.”

“H-hi,” Tom wheezed out.

Reyn gave him a look. Was the guy about to pass out? “Hi.” The flight officer raised his head to look at the other three. “What’s the wager?”

“The loser buys three bottles of beer.”

“Not to mention that Tom would die if he drank a bottle,” Reyn said, “where the hell do you intend to get them?”

“Adriel?” Goten suggested.

Reyn snorted. “You wish. Well, whatever.” He watched Goten lower a six of clubs in front of Daniel. Daniel managed to hold his position with an eight of clubs, but it appeared that Goten had an eight of diamonds and hearts, and Daniel’s defense crumbled. Another, more careful look at the back of the players’ cards made it clear who had the least cards in the game and thus was the leader. Already from the previous games, Reyn had noticed that Goten was a pretty good player; he was a good strategist.

“The s-seven of h-hearts…” Tom rasped out a command when Reyn’s turn came.

“Shut it, you zombie,” Reyn said, now forced to pick the seven of hearts instead of the nine of clubs he had intended; everyone now knew that he had the card anyway. “Who is holding the cards, eh? Are you trying to make me lose the damn game? I’ll freakin’ kill you.”

Tom gargled something out, but it didn’t seem he had any strength to protest against the usurpation of his cards and the game in general.

It was Andrew who lost. Mixing the cards, he wondered whether Reyn would beat him up if he didn’t manage to get beer somewhere; the Saiyan gave off a rather intense aura. He had been really into the game and had ignored Tom completely, to the point where Tom had fallen asleep.

“What will the wager be this time?” Daniel asked.

“What about a penalty?” Reyn suggested. “The first to get rid of the cards will think of a punishment for the loser.”

“Hooo…” Goten drawled, amused. He grinned at Reyn. “You must have something in mind already...”

The flight officer gave him a look, then reached for the side of his scouter to switch the translator off. “Yeah, like finally making you talk, or, let’s say…undress. Either of those would be satisfactory.”

Goten chuckled. “My, my, so predictable.”

Reyn winked at him. “I’m a simpleminded guy, Goten.”

“The hell you are.”

The flight officer laughed softly and switched the translator back on. Andrew started dealing the cards.

“…ve b-back… c-c…”

Their attention went to Tom, who had broken out of his slumber and, in a desperate attempt, was reaching out for the cards in Reyn’s hands. The flight officer gave him the hearty smile of a shark and moved his hand out of Tom’s reach.

“Be quiet, you zombie, and leave this to a professional.”

Edesha turned around and, confused, stared at Reyn, who had just entered the cabin he and Goten shared. The flight officer was carrying a bucket filled with frothy water and was wearing gloves.

“Hi,” he said, lowering the bucket down with a clang. He looked around. “Damn, he wasn’t kidding.”

“Hello…” Edesha drawled. “What’s this about?” he asked when Reyn kicked at a tuft of hair and dust on the floor.

“A penalty game.”

“Huh?”

“I lost in cards. That bastard told me to clean his cabin.”

Edesha burst out laughing. Grinning, he watched the flight officer whip a plastic bag out of his pocket and start gathering the garbage.

“Is there any hope you’ll join in and help? You live here too, you know.”

“Oh, no. You gotta do it alone, otherwise what kind of penalty would this be?”

Reyn grunted. “True.” He picked up a bundle of dirty socks. “Whose are these?”

“Mine. Hey!” Edesha gasped in disbelief when the flight officer threw them into the bag with the rest of the garbage. “Give them back!”

“Everything that’s on the floor is garbage,” Reyn declared.

“Damn you,” Edesha grunted, rolling out of the bed. He started gathering his socks and other goods he didn’t want to be thrown away.

“Oh, right,” Reyn remembered, “the washing machine is out of order. Nohail has taken a look at it, but says that some part has fused and we don’t have a replacement.”

“He’ll probably get it once we land on Meia Colony.”

Reyn dropped the wet rag onto the floor with a loud splash. “That’s a week until then,” he pointed out.

Edesha sighed. It was clear that Reyn expected him to wash his clothes now, this minute. This was a pain in the ass. Mentally, he cursed both Goten and Reyn.

“So didja do him?”

Reyn raised his head from the dried stain of something which looked like spilled coffee to look at Edesha. He wondered if he should just tell the older man to mind his own business. But, in a way, it was Edesha’s business too.

“So ya didn’t,” Edesha summed up the flight officer’s hesitation. “Heh. It’s kinda funny how everyone wants a piece of him.”

Reyn concentrated back on the dried stain. “It’s because he’s a flirt,” he said. “He also responds to flirting, to a certain degree; try kissing him and he won’t mind, but anything more is another matter. You know, he seems to be collecting potential boyfriends like some people collect stamps.”

Edesha stared at him thoughtfully. “Hmm… Stamps… Why stamps?”

“It’s a peculiar taste. It seems Goten has also got one.”

“You mean he likes to keep his options open?”

Reyn wondered about that. “I’m not certain that's exactly what he does. It seems to me he has never had a boyfriend.” To him, it was mostly clear why Goten behaved as he did, since he had been in the exact same situation since he had been turned into a second-class. Goten, just like himself, was simply avoiding getting involved with different classes. It was perfectly understandable. From what he had heard, though, Goten wasn’t thorough in rejecting people. There was something unclear about it. He probably did like to keep his options open after all.

Edesha watched the flight officer scrub the metallic floor methodically, giving a harder rub here and there. “It will be difficult to tie him down,” he said. “If that’s what you want, of course.”

“Hmm…” Reyn hummed. “Actually, I think he can be pretty dedicated. He is, in fact. Only that it sounded like he wasn’t all that certain himself why he was so committed to him…or them… It sounded rather stupid, what he said. Stupid and complicated.”

Edesha chuckled. “Sounds like Goten. So he has someone already?”

“No, I don’t think he does. He didn’t explain it to me. I think it might just be wishful thinking on his part. Or something he has promised but now is regretting.”

“I get none of that crap. Just screw him. He seems to be pretty keen on you.”

“Heh. If that were so easy, I’d have done it already. So would you.”

Edesha grinned. “True.”

Reyn looked at the dark, dirty water in the bucket. “And how the hell did you manage to turn the cabin into a pigsty in only a few days? It’s no wonder nobody ever wanted to share a cabin with you.”

The soldier winked at him. “Yeah. It’s a good thing, though, having a cabin all to myself.”

“Can it be that you’re doing this intentionally?”

“Nah.”

“You’ ;d better clean up a bit after yourself or Goten will be driven to the point of suicide. Or murder. Yours.”

“Yeah, he’s a neat freak.”

“Not really. It’s rather you who’s a scruff.”

“You’re taking sides already.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

It was nearly eleven in the evening when Goten finished his watch. Then it took him one more hour to clean the toilets. At first he wondered why Reyn wasn’t there, then realized that the sentence for the flight officer’s punishment had ended. A month, huh? Actually, a month and nearly a week had passed since he came to Starcut. His previous life on the base seemed so far away now.

When he returned to his cabin, he found Reyn snoozing on his bed. The man turned his head and looked at him sleepily, yawned, then turned to his side to face Goten. Reyn had to cover his eyes to shield them from the bright glare of the lamps. He seemed to be too comfortable to get up. Goten looked over at Edesha’s bed, but the soldier was dead to the world. The cabin was spotless, Goten noticed. It was sparkling, in fact.

“You did a good job,” he complimented.

“Mmrmm,” Reyn agreed. He was trying very hard not to fall asleep, but the day had been long – going on a mission, then vigorously playing cards, and finally cleaning Goten’s cabin. He blinked at the sight of Goten unbuttoning his jacket. “Wtruduing?” he mumbled.

“Going to sleep.”

“…need…talk…”

“Don’t be stupid and go to sleep. Let’s postpone it till tomorrow – I have the morning off.”

Groggily, Reyn watched him taking off his jacket. “Aren’t…afraid…attack you?”

“The only thing you will be attacking is your bed.”

It came to Reyn that Goten didn’t even think about joining him in the bed. The flight officer sighed and rolled over on his back. Let him try and get him out of the bed then, because he neither had strength nor the will to move anywhere. He realized he had fallen asleep again when Goten shook him by his shoulder.

“Mm?”

“What’s the code? What’s the key code to your cabin, Reyn?” Goten repeated when it was obvious that the flight officer didn’t understand what he was asking about.

It took a few seconds for the code to resurface from Reyn’s blurry memories. “Six, three, zero, five,” he mumbled finally. Was Goten going to carry him there? Hah. Stuuuupid.

When Goten entered the cabin that Reyn and Monteira shared, the lights were off, light snores indicating that the gunnery sergeant was deeply asleep. To avoid waking him up, the third-class didn’t call for the lights. Instead, he powered up a little to light his way. He walked towards the free bed which was obviously the flight officer’s. There was a mattress next to it and, puzzled, Goten stopped. Starcut was filled with Humans, still, he could distinguish that unique scent the boy gave off. The kid was sleeping, hugging his pillow, the duvet covering all of him except his head and a tiny patch of his left shoulder. It was no wonder he hadn’t found him on the lower deck.

Wondering what the Human child was doing here, Goten pulled his boots and socks off, climbed carefully over the mattress and into the bed. Reyn’s scent filled his senses at once. The third-class took off his jacket and dropped it onto the nearby chair. He pulled his belt out of the loops and hung it over the same chair, the trousers followed. He wondered where he could find a safe place to put his scouter; now, with so many Humans around, Starcut’s crew parted with them only when they went to sleep. He resorted to putting it in the corner between his pillow and the wall. He hoped he wouldn’t be rolling around in his sleep too much or he would crush it.

Goten extinguished his ki and settled under the covers. He found Reyn’s scent comforting, its intimacy felt soothing. He fell asleep quickly.

At night, he woke up to someone’s shrieks. Disoriented, he flashed his ki, prepared to fight off whatever it was. The smell of fear, terror struck him hard, urging him to power up even more. His breathing erratic, he scanned the cabin with wide eyes. The sheets under him started smoking.

“Oh, gooods,” Monteira groaned from the other end of the room. “Agaaain. Shit. Reyn, shut him up!”

The glow of the third-class’s powerful ki diminished when he realized that it was only the Human child having a nightmare. He was whimpering and squirming on the mattress. Goten could see wetness reflect the light off his cheeks. Not certain, he bent over his bed and shook his shoulder. The kid gasped, his eyes flying open. He whimpered again, then hid his head under the duvet. The sounds of crying followed.

Goten returned under his own covers. He listened until the cries and sniffling were replaced by hiccups and then, finally, silence settled. He began drifting back into sleep, then started as something shifted behind him. He whirled around, but it was only the kid climbing into his bed. Puzzled, Goten stayed still while the Human child snuck under the cover and burrowed his head into his chest. He was out almost instantly, his breathing evening out. The kid’s face was sticky with tears and snot. Frowning a little, but not having enough heart to push him away, Goten settled back into sleep as well.

The third-class woke up six hours later. Slowly, he roused from the dreamland, pushing the covers aside, trying to dissipate the heat. Why was it so hot? Rubbing his eyes, he sat up. The light was on, the gunnery sergeant moving about. Goten’s breath caught in his throat at the unfamiliar sight, then he relaxed as he remembered that he was in Reyn and Monteira’s cabin. He yawned. Something stank.

The kid was still glued to him, which explained why he felt so hot. There was a wet spot on the pillow where the child’s mouth was pressed. Goten took a closer look at him. He had an oval face with quite prominent cheekbones and thin lips. The kid’s fair hair was weird in itself, but Goten had gotten used to the variety of hair-colors Humans seemed to have. The child was thin, much too thin in Goten’s opinion, but maybe he was supposed to be like that. His skin was also much fairer than he was used to seeing. There was hardly any muscle on him either.

“Did you trade cabins?”

Goten looked at Monteira. “No. It’s just for tonight. He was too tired to move.”

Monteira grunted something unintelligible. He finished buttoning his jacket and left the room. Goten lay back down and yawned loudly, thinking whether he should get up or stay in bed. He noticed that, by moving about, he had woken up the kid who was now staring at him, wide-eyed. Goten jerked away from him when the kid shrieked and pushed at him violently. This made the child fall off the bed. He landed on the floor with a loud thud and a painful yelp.

Goten stared at him in surprise. “What the…?” Then he snorted. He had known that Humans’ senses were inferior to those of Saiyans’ but this was ridiculous. Or maybe the bed was so soaked in Reyn’s scent that the kid hadn’t been able to distinguish between them. Whatever was the cause, the kid had believed he was Reyn.

The third-class groped around the pillow for his scouter. Relieved, he saw that it was intact and fixed it over his left eye. The kid looked helpless, lost. It was somehow pitiful, the difference – Goten hadn’t ever seen a Saiyan child look like that. There was always strength and resolve left as long as one was alive. On the other hand, Goten could understand the helplessness the kid felt – he was weak and alone.

“What’s your name?” Goten asked.

Crouching, the child gave him a scared look. “Derek. Derek Mercury.”

“I’m Goten, Derek. Are there any relatives who can look after you?” Already while asking, he knew the answer. There weren’t any – the kid wouldn’t be here otherwise. He wondered why Reyn hadn’t told him anything about this.

“My mom’s on Earth.”

“Oh, that’s good. What about your father?”

The kid’s lips started trembling, and Goten figured he must have been killed on Orion. It was no wonder the kid had been hysterical when Reyn found him.

“I see. Has anyone contacted your mom? Does she know what happened and where you are?”

“Reyn promised to…to make sure she knows where to find me.”

Goten nodded. If Reyn had promised, he would do that. “That’s good.” Derek was clumsily moving back onto his mattress and Goten had an opportunity to inspect him closer. Thin. He was too thin indeed. “Dress. We’ll go have breakfast,” Goten said, not aware that he had made it sound like an order. Reyn was probably still sleeping. They would also have to wait a little for breakfast, but it was better than staying in the cabin with the scared kid. Besides, something really stank here. Horrible.

“What the hell is that stench?” Goten wondered, frowning. “Can you smell it?” He climbed out of the bed and reached out for his uniform on the metallic chair.

Derek nodded. He looked around. “Stinks like… Oh.”

Interested, Goten followed the kid’s gaze. He stared at his boots in disbelief. The ends were covered in brown runny stuff, the puddle spreading on the floor. “That fucking cat!” Goten exploded in a second. “Shit!” he cursed, inspecting his boots. Grimacing in disgust, he leaned away. He didn’t even want to touch them, not to mention that he knew he was going to have to wash them and clean the floor. “That freakin’ ball of hair!” Goten growled, flinging his jacket on. “I’ll put him into the washing machine for a spin!”

Goten reached out for his trousers. His hand faltered when Derek winced and shied away from him. He realized that, even if his anger hadn’t been directed at him, he had scared the kid with his outburst; his nerves were frayed.

“It’s okay. It’s the stupid cat I’m angry with.”

Derek gave him a mistrustful look and started dressing hurriedly. It took Goten some time to find a plastic bag for his dripping boots. Barefoot, cursing Mr. Elite, he went to the showers to wash them. The kid obediently stayed at his side the whole time.

The boots were damp and the faint smell still lingered when Goten put them on. It was a good thing Mr. Elite was nowhere to be seen since Goten would have cleaned the floor with him and then dunked him into a bucket of ice-cold water, sharp claws or not.

The third-class stared at the food on his plate. He had lost most of his appetite due to the shitty ordeal. Instead of eating, he was taking another opportunity to have a look at Derek, who didn’t seem to be bothered about the smell and was good-naturedly eating his breakfast.

Goten had never seen a Human child before. He had noticed that everyone else on Starcut didn’t pay him or any other child any additional attention, and the third-class figured that all of them had at some point seen Human children. Goten wasn’t very curious by nature and probably wouldn’t have shown much interest in the child, but there was also a fact that he felt responsible for the kid.

Nobody else seemed to care, but Goten noticed that the child never stopped to talk to anyone either. Obviously, after having witnessed the ruthless attack on his kin, the death of his father, and destruction of his spaceship, he was wary of other people.

Then the third-class became aware of Derek’s sudden interest in his surroundings. Goten raised his head to look around and soon spotted Reyn walking towards them with a tray in his hands. It seemed that Reyn was the exception. Goten wondered about that.

“Morning,” Goten greeted.

“Hi. Derek,” the flight officer said, nodding. He lowered his tray onto the table and started arranging his cutlet and salad in front of him. The mug of steaming coffee followed.

The kid gave the flight officer a genuine smile. The next thing Goten knew, he was being engulfed into unending prattle while Derek shared his nightmare with Reyn and showered the flight officer with questions about where Reyn had been and what he had been doing. Goten was listening in stunned stupor.

Once the flow of words ceased, Goten turned the translator off. “What’s with the kid? Imagine my surprise when he climbed into the bed with me. Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

Chewing, Reyn gave him an exasperated look and turned his translator off as well. “Well, you went into your regular winter sleep, so I couldn’t tell you. It was the captain’s idea. The kid’s been following me around, bugging the hell out of me, so he thought it was a good idea to just put him up in my cabin.”

The flight officer didn’t look happy in the least, and Goten realized that it was a bit different from what he had imagined. Reyn was annoyed by the child’s constant presence, but tolerated him as he was aware that the noisy enthusiasm was masking terror and loneliness. He was among the few that the child could trust and whose companionship was vital in order to restore his metal defenses.

Saiyans weren’t a very compassionate species, and thus Goten was rather impressed by how Reyn was handling the kid. That didn’t mean that Reyn didn’t complain, though.

“Can you imagine?” he groaned around the cutlet. “He’s been following me around all this time! I can’t even go to the toilets without him tagging along!”

Goten scratched his head.

“He’s been wetting his bed too! And crying all the time, not letting me sleep! I’m sometimes at the point where I want to strangle him!”

“And what is the captain saying?” Goten wanted to know.

Reyn growled and stabbed his cutlet angrily. “He said it’s only a week anyway until we drop all of them off.”

Goten shrugged. “Well, he’s right.”

“Well, sure he is. But do you know how he tires me out with his constant blabbering and questioning?”

Goten wondered how long Reyn was planning to go on about this. This was becoming ridiculous. “It’s how all children learn,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but Saiyan ones at least don’t get in a grown-ups way!”

“I think you’ve simply forgotten. I was pretty unbearable as a kid.”

Reyn grinned at him. “You’re pretty unbearable even now.”

Goten rolled his eyes. He sighed. “Anyway, don’t let the kid hear these things. He’d be heartbroken.”

“The hell if I care! He’s got his heroes confused anyway.”

Goten stared at Reyn. “Ah,” he said after a few seconds. “Can it be that you’re uncomfortable by his misplaced hero worship?”

Reyn rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Well, it’s you he should be worshipping and running after. Listen, why don’t you take him in for the time being?”

Goten blinked at him. “He would never agree. Besides, the fact that I’m the youngest member on Starcut doesn’t mean I get along with children. Stop complaining finally. You sound like a wimp.”

Reyn pouted at him. “I don’t like kids.”

“Well, neither do I.”

“Oh. At least something we have in common.”

Goten snickered. “As if it’s something to be happy about.”

“Well, it’s still better than nothing.” The flight officer sipped his coffee. “So do you have some free time now? I’ll try to shake him off,” he said when Goten nodded. “Let’s meet in your cabin in an hour.”

“Fine.”

They finished breakfast and drifted apart, the kid bouncing after Reyn. Goten felt that Derek was glad to be rid of him, and he thought that it was going to be quite difficult for the flight officer to make the kid stay somewhere.

Edesha gave Goten a look when he asked whether the soldier could leave the cabin for an hour or so, but he didn’t protest. It was obvious what he was thinking, but the third-class decided not to elaborate – any excuses would make him appear either stupid or suspicious or both.

In an hour and a bit, the door opened on its own, and Goten was again reminded of his intention to have a word with Adriel concerning that. Reyn, of course, wasn’t bothered at all. Expecting this to last for a while, Goten sat down on the edge of his bed.

“You know, I am grateful that you decided to let me sleep here yesterday, but I couldn’t help noticing the charred sheets on my bed,” Reyn complained as soon as he stepped in. “What the hell have you been doing? Building a fire to warm up?”

Goten gave him a sheepish smile. “Oh, that. Well, Derek woke up screaming in the middle of the night… I powered up.”

The flight officer looked around for a place to sit down, then chose the chair next to Goten’s bed. “I should probably be glad that you didn’t fry him on the spot,” he said.

Goten didn’t answer anything. In silence, they stared at each other, then Reyn threw his hands apart. “Well, what are you waiting for? Start talking.”

“Err… What about?” Goten asked, as he hadn’t expected that his confession would take on the form of a monologue. Reyn was too forward. And why was it him who had to start? Why wasn’t it the other way around?

The flight officer gave him a look which made Goten think that Reyn was toying with the idea of launching something at him. Like a ki-ball or the chair he was sitting on. “Okay,” he said. “I will ask questions. You just shake your head for “yes” or “no”. Think you can handle that for now?”

Goten frowned at him but, after a little bit of thought, nodded. This was also a good way to check how much the flight officer knew.

Presuming what he was thinking, Reyn offered him a sharp grin. “Did you know that Orion was going to explode?”

And he had believed that this way was going to be easier. The hell it was! Goten cursed mentally. Reyn was going to eat him alive. He should have never ever agreed to, never mind suggested, something like this. “Yes,” he muttered, shifting uncomfortably on his bed, suddenly wishing he were comatose and lying peacefully in the medical room.

“Do you have any relation to the pirates?”

“No.”

“Did someone on Orion warn you about it?”

“No.”

“How?” Reyn asked, deciding that was enough for a warm-up. “How did you know?”

“Umm…” Goten drawled, furiously scratching at the back of his head. There was no way Reyn was going to believe him. “Well, I saw it explode. Mmm… In a dream, I mean. Well, it’s not really a dream. I think they are some sort of premonitions. Well…yeah. That’s how it is.” Reyn was giving him a stunned look. Goten offered him a sheepish smile. “Well, yeah, that’s why I said you wouldn’t believe me. I was on that ship before. In the dream, I mean. And I saw you and the kid die. In the dream, that is. There was a fire in the hangar. I am not certain why it started there, but it seems that pumping the air out of the sections had taken care of that. I wasn’t certain it would help. I mean, I had no idea what had caused the fire. I just saw you open the door to the hangar and there was fire everywhere and then you and the kid died. It just whooshed in. The fire, I mean. In the dream and…”

“Goten, you’re babbling.”

Uncomfortable, Goten scratched his cheek. “Err…yeah. So that’s how it was.”

Reyn was watching him with an indescribable expression on his face. “Do you have these…premonitions frequently?”

“Umm… They aren’t exactly premonitions. Not all of the time. There were a few instances when it was something from the past. Err…”

Reyn’s face was turning more and more incredulous. “Just how often do you have them?”

“Mmm… Well, you know how I sometimes fall asleep for a longer period of time? So…yeah… Mostly it’s then. Well, not really. It’s… It’s not as if there’s a regular pattern.”

Goten was desperately stuttering over his words and Reyn suddenly had a feeling that everything he was saying was true. He had never seen the younger male look so awkward and self-conscious. “Oh, gods,” Reyn muttered in disbelief. “That’s why you were so bent on going on that mission…” He slapped himself on his forehead. “Shit. Are you an idiot? You could’ve died there!”

Goten laughed sheepishly. “I don’t think I realized that. Everything happened so fast that it came to me only after I had boarded the shuttle. I mean, I had known the name of the ship beforehand, had known what was going to happen, but when Orion finally appeared, everything was so sudden that…” he trailed off, red-faced.

“You really are an idiot.”

Embarrassed, Goten played with the buttons on his uniform. But the words had been said softly, gently even. He raised his head to look at Reyn. The flight officer chuckled.

“Well, thanks to your idiocy, we are still alive.”

Goten smiled at the teasing, but his face clouded. “You see, I owed it to you, or the kid, or to whoever allows me to see these dreams. I saw my friend die like this. And I didn’t do a thing to prevent it from happening.” The younger male’s awkwardness had turned into something darker, less tangible. His eyes were sad now, bottomless. “Never again. Never again do I want to feel that way. I’m better off dead than that.”

Reyn watched him silently. He badly wanted to ask what had happened and why Goten hadn’t done anything if he had known, but it was obvious that the wound was still raw, still bleeding, and he didn’t dare ask. It seemed to him that what Goten had was a curse rather than a blessing.

“Have you always had these…dreams?”

“No, it all started on the base. I didn’t really think anything of them at first. Then it suddenly happened and it was exactly how I had seen it. It was…  Well…it just was. Umm…”

Goten was giving Reyn a look filled with uncertainty and mistrust. Reyn shook his head. “No, I believe you. Really. You don’t need to be so wary. What I experienced back on that shuttle...”

They stayed silent for a while, Goten fidgeting with his fingers, Reyn mulling over what he had heard.

“This is the first time you’ve told someone about this, isn’t it?” the flight officer said finally. He seemed to be pleased about the fact, and Goten blushed lightly; it was so obvious that the flight officer liked him. Seeing his reaction, Reyn chuckled. “Well, I suppose we can move on to the next question on the agenda. So how many boyfriends do you have, Goten?”

TBC
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