Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Barracks ❯ Part 52 ( Chapter 52 )

[ 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: A huge thanks goes to my friend White_Youkai for inspiring me over and over and for the idea on the “Mauuuuu” part in this chapter. You’re awesome!

Barracks

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

Part 52

They slept through breakfast and only woke up around noon when Almanda came to check on them. She called for the lights, took one look at the two sleepy Saiyans blinking at her from Goten’s bed, and left the cabin.

“What did she want?” Goten asked, thinking that he must have missed something.

“I don’t know, probably just to check on us; it’s twelve already.”

Yawning, Goten looked at the clock above the door. True enough. He relaxed back into the bedding. It was cramped, but Reyn felt warm and nice at his side.

“Oh, gods, Goten!” Reyn grimaced at a long pronounced fart that suddenly erupted from under the covers.

“You sure have the nerve to be complaining after fucking me twice in a row,” Goten chuckled. He watched the other man leave his bed.

“How do you feel?” Reyn asked when he was a safe distance from the stench. Goten wanted to offer him a smart-ass comment, but then just shrugged. “I’m fine.”

Reyn, who was pulling his trousers on, gave him a probing look. There was a faint bruise on Goten’s right cheekbone and he felt somewhat guilty. “Do you remember what happened to you during the party?”

“What party?” Goten asked. Then he frowned as random memory flashes of himself in the meeting hall sprang up. “Oh. Oooooh… Ooooh… And what exactly happened during it?” he asked, his voice bordering between panicky and exasperated.

Reyn rolled his eyes. Just as he had suspected. “They drugged you. I don’t know what they gave you, but some of it was a muscle relaxant too. You weren’t able to walk and I literally carried you out of there.”

“I will kill them,” Goten said cheerfully. He was already groping around his bed, fishing for his clothes. “Did they do anything to me?”

“Well, if a hand in your underwear counts as ‘anything’…”

“They are soooo dead.”

Reyn watched the younger male dressing hurriedly. It didn’t particularly concern him anymore. He’d had it out with the guy who had tried to get into his man’s pants and that was more or less it. They would stay away now. However, he had nothing against Goten going over there and beating some sense into them all over again. Hell, he was going to encourage it.

“Do you remember their faces, though?”

Goten’s hands, that had been working on his buttons, froze. “I do,” he said. “But I don’t think I remember the ones who might have joined after.”

“There were five of them when I entered the room.”

“One missing. Then you’ll have to come with me and show me the other.”

“That’s all well and good, but you should take a shower first.”

Goten knew that. He felt sticky and itchy and he could tell he reeked of sex. The entire cabin reeked of it. “I don’t have anything to change into. I only have my old uniform from the officer school.”

“You can use my spares,” Reyn said. He had already been relocated out of the blue a few times and knew to prepare for all transmutations of fortune. He had packed most of what he had acquired during his five-year service on Starcut.

Goten watched Reyn ransack the wardrobe and pull out a spare set of clothes for him. He had to do quite a lot of washing – his bed sheets didn’t feel pleasant either.

“…uuuuuuu…. ooooooouuuu…”

Confused, Goten averted his eyes from the clothes Reyn had sorted out for him. “Did you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?”

“This strange s-”

“…uuuuu…”

The sound was louder now, somehow closer. Reyn raised his head and looked around in the cabin. “The hell’s that?”

Goten listened, waiting for the sound to repeat, but it didn’t. Deciding that maybe it was something in the pipes, they took their clothes and left for the showers. On their way, the sound repeated again. This time it seemed as if it was coming from all sides at once, loud and booming.

“Maybe the air supply system is malfunctioning,” Reyn said, rather concerned. Usually these types of failures didn’t end well. Suffocating to death wasn’t on his bucket list.

“…eooouuuuu…”

With a soft groan, Goten shook his head quickly. “The only thing that is malfunctioning is that stupid cat.”

“Huh? Ooh, shit.” Reyn’s eyes scanned the vent openings in the corridor. There were at least five of them and all of them were covered with grids. “How do we get it out of there?”

Goten turned his thermo scanner on. “I don’t even know where it is. The echo is…”

“...eoooouuuu…”

“ ;If it’s hungry, we can just pull off the grid in our cabin and lure it out with some meat or something,” Reyn suggested.

Then both of them looked at each other and rushed back to their cabin. They tossed their clothes on the floor and ran out again. People were already gathering in the corridors, drawn out by the weird noise. When the third-classes reached the canteen, five Saiyans were already there, trying to understand where the sounds were coming from. The noise was the loudest here.

“Get them out of here,” Goten said to Reyn. He could already tell that Mr. Elite’s aim was the large pot above the stove. A few meters away from it, above one of the sinks, he could already see two black paws sticking out, trying to get through the grid.

“And how do you imagine I do that?” Reyn hissed at him.

“Meooooowwwwww… Mauuuuuuu…”

“The hell if I know, tell them it’s an evil spirit or something!” Then Goten’s eyes caught one second-class who, as he remembered, had been chummy with him yesterday. His eyes crossed in anger. “You!” he pointed. “You were there too! And you! Oh my god, and you!” he pointed again. “I’m going to kill you all!” he growled, already sprinting towards the men.

They were grinning at him right until the point when one of them sailed across the canteen and hit the wall. Then the smiles slipped. Reyn wasn’t able to tell how much Goten had powered up, but it was a lot. The flight officer watched the second-classes scurrying towards the door with Goten in tow. There was one he didn’t remember seeing yesterday at all but, caught in the massive panic, he was running together with the others. The door whooshed open and they spilled through it, climbing over each other. They ran past a wide-eyed Almanda and down the corridor. He couldn’t even understand what Goten was yelling about anymore. Something about someone’s hand in someone’s underwear.

“Umm…” Almanda drawled, entering the canteen, “I probably don’t even want to know what that’s about.” She took a look at Reyn, who had pushed one of the tables to the wall and was standing on top of it. “Oh, you found it already. I thought I’d tell you your pet was running loose.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Reyn said, pulling the grid out with one tug. “I’m not sure I can get it leave the vents though. It moved away from me.”

“Mmm… Maybe if you leave it open and move away, it will jump down. You should probably put out a bowl of food, too.”

The captain was still typing something on his terminal and Reyn hoped it was not a report of today’s incident. Despite the incident in the past and flirting around, Indaira Kardan did strike him as at least a half-sensible man. Reyn took a look around the meeting hall. There was not a sign of yesterday’s lively party. Everything had been cleaned, the bottles removed. A very faint smell of alcohol still lingered in the hall, but one wasn’t able to tell where exactly it was coming from. It was possible that it was clinging to one of the present people’s clothes.

With a soft sigh, the captain finally leaned away from the terminal, drawing the other eight Saiyans’ attention to himself. He cast one last look at the screen of his terminal, logged out, and concentrated on the people standing in front of his desk. They made quite a long row. Two from his crew stood there with their noses plastered, two had sizable bruises all over their faces, one’s ear was still bleeding, and the last one’s uniform was torn into shreds.

Musing, the captain averted his eyes to the newcomers. Goten was obviously uneasy, giving him a sheepish look mixed with anger. Reyn… The flight officer looked positively bored, and this somewhat irritated Indaira. One way or another, there was always trouble where Reyn showed up. It was insane how much power the man had. He had tried to do a little investigation on Reyn two years ago, but came up with nothing.

“So, who will enlighten me?”

Reyn’s hand rose. The captain rolled his eyes. Figures.

“Alright, Dueri, go ahead. And make it short.”

“I punched that one, sir,” Reyn pointed, “because he was forcing himself on Goten.”

The captain waited for a few seconds, then realized that, since Reyn wasn’t talkative in general, telling him to keep it short had been a mistake.

“Punched?” Indaira grunted, staring at the aforementioned second-class’s face. “I’d rather say you ran him over with a tank.”

“He was being very annoying, sir.”

The captain glared at the flight officer. Reyn met his eyes calmly, and even offered a small grin. Any other time, Indaira would have been happy about Reyn flirting with him, however, in this particular situation, he felt like punching the flight officer.

“Is he telling the truth?”

His men shifted, hummed, then a few of them nodded their heads, even the victim himself. The captain was impressed. Usually you couldn’t get them to admit to anything.

“Alright,” Indaira said. “But from what I see,” he motioned at the row of crewmen in front of him, “it doesn’t seem that Goten would have needed your help. I find it hard to believe, but…”

“They drugged me, sir,” Goten said. “Yesterday, that is.”

The captain blinked in surprise. “Oh. I see.” It was all perfectly clear now. “Well, still, you can’t go around the ship beating up my men. I’m certain I don’t need to remind you that all of us have to act according to protocol. I’m afraid I’ll have to report you two.” He could see that his men were shifting uneasily, uncertain about the situation. Goten was suddenly pale. Reyn…. Reyn was grinning.

“Oh, c’mon,” Reyn chuckled at the obvious bluff. “The protocol does not allow going around drinking all the time either. I am even more certain it has also something to say about arranging fights between the crew members, not to mention drugging them. Reporting this would be more damning for you than for us.”

The captain gave the flight officer a long searching stare. “Was it you two who got into trouble with Draman and his men on the colony? Beat up three elites, that is?”

“Um, it was actually their own fault, sir,” Goten said, his big eyes wide with innocence. “I never did anything.”

Reyn shrugged at the captains questioning gaze. “Just as he says. Probably. I don’t really remember much; I was drunk. It was already over when I got there.”

The captain measured Goten from head to toe, then leaned back into his chair with a sigh. He didn’t understand what was going on. He knew Reyn was a capable fighter, much more than that. The youngster, though… What was the deal with the kid? There was just no way he would be able to defeat three elites no matter what the gossip going around Mantanko implied. Even if Goten and Reyn joined their forces, it was still impossible.

All men in the hall watched the captain scratching his chin absently. The officer seemed to be at a loss as to what to do with all of them. It was obvious he didn’t want to get tangled up with anything. Reporting the incident was out of the question indeed. Aside from the current incident, there was also the fighting in the training hall. And that had involved not only his men but Draman’s too, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with the shaii. He had been ordered to transport Draman and his party to Earth and that was what he wanted to do – the sooner he dropped them off, the better. Draman didn’t give off the impression of someone who would want to deal with some silly reports. Despite the fact that three of his men got beaten up, the shaii seemed to like Goten. This could turn out really nasty if a shaii backed them up.

The captain motioned at his injured men. “So what do you suggest?”

“A metallic cupboard broke off in the kitchen,” Reyn proposed.

“Sir?”

The captain looked at the young man who was standing at the very end of the row, the furthest from the terminal. “Yes?”

“I didn’t even take part in that party, sir.”

Goten’s eyes met Reyn’s and the flight officer nodded. “Yeah, he wasn’t there. I did tell you there were five of them, not six.”

“Ah, shit,” Goten muttered. He inspected the second-class’s face closer, and was relieved to see that he had gotten off rather lightly – there was a large bruise under his left eye, but it didn’t seem like there were any other injuries. “I’m really sorry. I don’t quite remember the faces from yesterday. I’ll compensate you somehow.”

The situation was resolving itself a little, and the captain quietly watched Goten promise fifty credits to his victim. It didn’t seem he cared about the others, though. If anything, he seemed to be itching to get his hands on them again.

“Listen,” Reyn said to the captain as he could see that the man didn’t seem to be appeased, “if you still want us punished, just give us kitchen duty. That way everyone will be happy.”

“Oh gods, Reyn,” Goten groaned, “are you freaking serious? I’m sick of kitchens already!”

The flight officer shrugged.

Goten was in the training hall, warming up, going through a simple kata. Reyn stood nearby, watching him with a somewhat displeased look on his face. He thought that the other third-class was overdoing it. True, practicing to summon certain amounts of ki at Goten’s age and level of ability was a very simple task. However, with the recent excitement of being drugged, having an exhausting sex session, chasing after the second-classes, and performing kitchen duty, Goten was obviously tired. Pointing that out, however, hadn’t made Goten reconsider. Well, perhaps he was right too – they were running out of time, and, once on Bruminan Station, they would need all the advantages they could get.

“That’s ten thousand, not five thousand,” Reyn said at Goten’s inquiring look.

The younger male cursed and cut his ki in what he thought was half. He saw Reyn nod.

“Get it to ten thousand again. Good, that’s about right. Now twenty thousand. Thirty.” Reyn’s scouter started beeping softly and he turned the sound off. “That’s fifty, not thirty. Give me thirty. Sixty now. Now five again. Goddamit, Goten, can’t you at least tell the difference between five and twenty? It should feel absolutely different!”

“Feels about the same,” Goten mumbled, annoyed. He powered down.

“Yeah, that’s six now. Get it a notch down.”

They went at it for a little more than an hour, then two second-classes entered the training hall, and they decided that was enough for today. Goten had much better control over his ki already. It was still far from perfect and Goten would have preferred to continue the session, but that would have meant him flaunting his ki around these second-classes.

Goten powered down completely and Reyn turned his scouter off. They headed for the exit but, after taking a few steps forward, Goten swayed slightly then suddenly squatted down. Obviously, he still found it hard to keep his balance and ended up sitting down.

“Hey, hey,” Reyn said, walking over to him. “What happened?” He was even more alarmed when Goten’s head rose and he saw his unfocused eyes and pallid face.

“Is he alright?” one of the second-classes asked, approaching as well.

“Don’t think so,” Reyn said. He squatted down and pressed his palm to the younger man’s forehead. His body temperature seemed to be alright.

“…‘s fine,” Goten muttered, “just light-headed.”

“I did tell you not to push yourself,” Reyn reproached.

“Yeah, yeah,” Goten mumbled. “Just let me rest a bit.”

Reyn wasn’t certain what this was about exactly, or what he could do, thus he ended up in a sitting position too. He tugged Goten closer so that the other man could lean back against him. The two second-classes went about their business and soon started sparring.

“Getting better?” Reyn asked in a few minutes.

Goten nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fine in a moment.”

Indeed, soon Goten’s face regained its color and he looked much better. There was a faint bruise under his right eye. Due to the fact that he healed much faster than usual, it was almost gone already, just a little yellowish, but Reyn still felt a pang of guilt.

“I’m sorry about this,” he said, touching the bruised cheekbone. “I kinda lost it back there.”

“Mmm? What are you talking about?”

“This,” the flight officer said, circling the yellowish area with his fingers.

“So it was you? I thought one of those second-classes hit me.”

“Nah, it was me.”

Goten turned his head to give him a curious look. After they had become intimate, Reyn hadn’t ever raised a hand against him. They got on each other’s nerves quite frequently, but it never went past shouting. And, frankly, he loved sex with Reyn. Despite always trying to dominate him, Reyn was surprisingly considerate. Certainly, he had no one he could compare him to, but it had only been with Reyn’s effort and encouragement that they had gotten where they were now.

“Why?”

“That’s a stupid question.”

Goten stared at him for a few seconds, then nodded. He turned away and leaned his head against the flight officer’s shoulder again. It really was a stupid question. Reyn had been jealous and angry. As for the reason why he admitted to having hit him… The feeling of guilt was only a part of it. Reyn wanted him to draw some kind of conclusion and be more responsible.

“I’m sorry.”

Reyn nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

“Well, aren’t we sweet?” Goten said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, makes me sick.”

Goten rubbed the back of his head against the older man’s shoulder. “You know, I’m really glad you went with me,” he admitted.

“I know.”

“You are a bastard, really.”

Reyn laughed. “Yeah.”

There were twenty emails in Reyn’s inbox. Three of them were from Starcut’s crew asking where he and Goten had disappeared to. One was from his father, and he opened it to read. The flight officer skipped past boring descriptions of his latest experiment, read the news on the war, replied with a short “thank you” message, set it to be sent in a week, and closed the message. Two other emails were from a nameless guy, but were under the subject of “The Project”. All the others were junk which offered to increase his muscle mass two or three times and enlarge his penis at least ten times. Wondering whether he would look attractive walking around with it wrapped around his neck, Reyn deleted the spam and opened the latest letter from the nameless guy.

“What are you reading?”

With a start, Reyn turned to see Goten behind his back, drying his hair with a towel, just fresh out of the shower. The younger man was wearing the uniform he had borrowed from him. Since they were about the same size, it fit him perfectly.

“I will return it when mine dries,” Goten said, misunderstanding the gaze. He motioned behind him at the cabin where he had randomly hung out his clothes and the bed sheet. They were still dripping wet since he hadn’t been able to figure out how to use the dryer.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Reyn said, turning away. “You can keep wearing it. That guy, Ranvera, you have two letters from him.”

“Why are you reading them, though?” Goten asked.

“They just happen to be in my inbox.”

Goten rolled his eyes. “So what does he say?”

Reyn left the chair with a soft sigh. “Sit. I think you need to read this yourself.” He took the damp towel from Goten when he seated himself in front of the terminal.

The first letter Ranvera sent contained only an attached file with Gohan’s profile. It consisted of about a hundred pages. The second letter, which had only been received today, was a short message confirming that, just as expected, Ranvera had read through Gohan’s profile. Not certain how he felt about it, Goten stared at the words on the screen. He turned his head when Reyn brushed over his hair with the towel.

“They sure have a lot of free time in NS…” Reyn drawled. “For all his genius, this guy is an idiot, isn’t he?”

Wordlessly, Goten turned away to read the short message one more time.

Goten,

After reading the file, I understood many things, like where your extraordinary strength came from and your peculiar behavior. It’s good you asked me to look for it or I’d have never known. I feel quite awkward now and want you to forgive me for being so insistent. I made a total fool of myself.

Ranvera

“He’s angry,” Goten summed up.

Reyn shook his head. “I think he’s more confused than angry. Give him some time. Some find it hard to believe they can fall for lower classes so easily.”

Goten gave Reyn a questioning look. “I don’t think that’s the case. He never really…”

“I’ve had this happen to me a few times. They usually run after learning the truth. I did stay friends with some, but most try to distance themselves.”

“Kinda sucks,” Goten said, closing the letter. He opened the other one with the attached file.

“Don’t let it get to you. Not everyone reacts like this.”

Goten nodded. “Yeah, I know, but I’ve been really lucky so far…”

Reyn wiped the droplets off the other third-class’s nape. Goten’s hair was getting long and he wondered if it had finally grown back to its original length. It did look interesting, like permanent bed hair, which was quite attractive.

“Well, works for me – one less hypothetical boyfriend of yours to worry about.”

Goten chuckled. “I’m afraid this one wasn’t included on the list.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Reyn snorted, dropping the towel on Goten’s head. He watched the younger male getting more comfortable in the chair, preparing to read the hundred pages of records on his brother. “Are you certain you need to read it?” the flight officer asked with a gentle squeeze on Goten’s shoulder. “I don’t think Draman lied. You know what happened, and this is just observational data. It will only make you feel bad.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Goten muttered. “I want to read it.”

“Alright.”

Reyn looked around the cabin, then saw a free spot and went to hang the towel on the open wardrobe door to dry. He dimmed the lights and started undressing. Meanwhile, Mr. Elite chose to leave the wardrobe. The flight officer watched the cat marching around the cabin, inspecting the changes and sniffing at the wet clothes.

When Reyn woke up six hours later, he found Goten asleep in front of the terminal with his face on the soft plastic keyboard. He could hear rhythmic breathing, an occasional shiver running through Goten’s body as he tried to squeeze himself deeper into the chair and, at the same time, the desk surface. He was obviously freezing.

The flight officer approached the hunched figure and peered over Goten’s shoulder at the screen. The document was open to page 87. He must have stayed awake until an hour or so ago. Reyn nudged Goten’s arm to wake him up. The younger male only reacted when he kept repeatedly doing that.

“Ugh… What?” Goten groaned, raising his head, leaving puddles of drool on the keyboard. There were rows of key imprints on his face.

“We gotta go to the kitchen.”

“Noo…” Goten moaned, wiping the drool off his cheek. “Five more minutes? Two? One, at least!”

“Were it in my power, the only place you’d go would be your bed. Now hurry up.”

“It’s your fault,” Goten complained, closing the document. “You were the one to suggest kitchen duty.”

“That was just to appease him and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Goten climbed off the chair. “He still has the hots for you,” he stated accusingly, rubbing at his puffy eyes.

“Yeah, it’s quite a mystery.”

“You don’t even try to deny it…” Goten drawled, walking to the door.

“Should I?”

“Not really. Gods, I’m so sleepy!”

“Did you find out something new?” Reyn asked, locking it behind them.

“Absolutely nothing. It’s only routine school power level check-ups, urine and blood samples, a few incidents with his schoolmates. Absolutely nothing,” Goten repeated. “Ah,” he said suddenly, remembering, “I wanted to ask you one thing. Do you get headaches? Like really, really bad migraines from time to time?”

“Huh? Migraines?” Reyn wondered. “Not really. Probably had a few headaches in my lifetime, but I think those… Why do you ask?”

“It’s common in my family. And Gohan too; there are many records of him getting admitted to the medical bay. And there are some strange brain wave patterns to go with that too. So I was wondering if it’s a common occurrence.”

“No, not really. I haven’t heard of it, at least. Do you have migraines as well?”

“Umm, yes. But recently they have somehow become much rarer. I used to just black out from simply overexerting myself. I still get dizzy quite frequently, though.”

“Oh. So that’s what it was.”

Goten nodded. “Yeah, on Starcut too. But I don’t have headaches anymore.”

“Mm… Maybe you just grew out of it. But don’t you think it’s connected to those dreams you have? Your father has them too, and then your brother must have had them too. So those headaches… Or maybe all of you just have a brain tumor and are hallucinating.”

“That’s not even funny.”

They visited the toilets first, then headed for the kitchen. When they got there, two cooks were already inside, the clang of pots marking the start of preparations. This time, they were making scrambled eggs with meat and salad. Goten was quickly put to chopping the meat. This type of breakfast was easy to prepare and he was already looking forward to returning to his bunk. He was trying hard not to fall asleep, the methodical crack of an eggshell against a pan making him start over and over. He had to laugh when Reyn dropped one of them to the floor, the gigantic egg splashing over his boots, the floor, and three cupboards.

“The hell are you laughing at?”

When Goten started dozing and nearly took one of his fingers off, Reyn sent him to the sink to wash vegetables. They were finally done, breakfast came and went, and then they were stuck washing the dishes.

“Mmmhmm…” Almanda hummed, entering the kitchen. “He’s about to drown.”

“Huh? Who?” Reyn asked, turning to her, a towel in his hands. He brushed over a plate he was holding and put it on the rack.

“Goten,” the elite said, pointing at the third-class’s back.

“Ugh, goddamn,” Reyn grunted, springing to the sink and pulling Goten’s head out of it. There was foam on his face and hair, the third-class blinking at him sleepily. “You aren’t taking this seriously at all,” Reyn accused him.

“I am,” Goten protested, wiping at his face with his palms. Then he noticed the towel in the other man’s hands and took it. “It’s just that…”

“So, you’re really in for kitchen duty,” Almanda said. “I thought he was joking.”

Goten lowered the towel from his face and gave her a morose look. “I must be cursed. It’s the same every freaking time!”

“You complain too much,” Almanda said. “You can get away with anything and you still complain.” She leaned against one of the tables. She met Goten’s eyes. “I’ve been thinking about this rescue mission of yours. I don’t think I want to get entangled into something so obscure; I have my orders. And you don’t even know for certain, right?”

Goten nodded. “I did tell you not to worry about it. Besides, I’ll need you to take care of Mr. Elite.”

“Hell, no. You’re not dumping that creature on me!”

“Please? Pretty please? It’s just that I don’t think I’ll ever have a chance to return him to Monteira. Could you do this little favor for me?”

The elite was glaring at him stubbornly then, gradually, her face acquired an expression of defeat. “Oh, very well, damn you!”

Goten grinned at her thankfully. “He eats everything minus salad. He even goes to the toilets on his own. Just make sure he doesn’t climb into any vents.”

The elite gave him an apathetic look. “I’ll fry him if he annoys me.”

Goten clapped Almanda on her shoulder. “Thanks, you’re awesome!” With an obvious intention to say something, the elite turned her head to look at the hand on her shoulder. It took Goten a few seconds to realize why she never voiced anything. She was looking at the red marks on his wrist. He lowered his hand back to his side, his face flushing red. Almanda’s eyes concentrated on his burning face.

“Is he mistreating you?”

Reyn’s eyebrows rose at that. Well, she was an elite and, just like all of them, was used to shooting her mouth off just like that, disregarding the fact that he was standing right there.

“And what if I am?”

Goten didn’t think he had ever been more embarrassed in his entire life. The challenging tone Reyn had used had obviously ticked Almanda off, and now she was staring at the flight officer as if she were contemplating ripping his head off with her bare hands. Were they about to get into a fight over him? Freaking hell…

“Reyn, stop it, you idiot,” Goten groaned. “Gods, Almanda, we just played around and…and…” he fell silent, his face now almost ready to combust from heat.

“You like it rough?”

“Arghhhhh!” Goten yelled, waving around with his hands, accidentally knocking a few mugs off the table next to him. All of them flinched when they clattered to the ground, making a horrendous metallic noise. “Can we not talk about it? Pleaaaaase?”

Reyn was still glaring at the female. “What freaking business is it of yours?”

Almanda shrugged. “Whatever. As long as he’s not wiping the floor with you.”

Even the last pages of his brother’s profile didn’t reveal anything Goten didn’t know. The cause of Gohan’s death, however, appeared to be a broken neck. That had been the main cause, alongside various lacerations and a few additional bone fractures. They had really done a number on him. It all happened just because he had been wearing a ki restraining wristband. No, not really. If they wanted to, they could have found more opportunities to kill him: while he was sleeping or just blasted him while he was walking unaware. They made certain he knew what he was killed for and by whom. Or maybe they just thought it was the easiest way. In any case, it didn’t matter now.

It was tearing him apart, though.

“Close the damn document finally and let’s go to the training hall,” Reyn said.

Goten closed the file, but didn’t show any intention of moving from the chair. He stared at the computer screen dejectedly. Reyn had been right – he shouldn’t have read it.

“Ahh…” Goten sighed. “I somehow hate Draman. Hate him to the point where I want to rip him apart limb from limb.”

“Really?”

“No. Well, maybe.” He sighed again. “It’s complicated.”

“Well, your father has obviously forgiven him.”

Goten rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling. “Yeah, seems so. I still can’t believe he knew. Somehow… I can’t really…grasp it all.”

“I don’t think you need to brood about it so much.”

“I know. I just…”

“Ah, let’s just go to the training hall,” Reyn repeated again. “It will keep your mind off it.”

There were two elites in the training hall when they entered, but they were about to finish their spar. Goten and Reyn waited for about ten minutes and then Goten continued his training session. This time he found it easier to control his ki and he was much more accurate with it as well.

“You know, last time we sparred,” Reyn said, “you pretty much floored me. What was going on with your flash-steps?”

“Um…” Goten mumbled, powering down to what he thought was ten thousand. “I don’t really know. I’m just better at them than you?”

“Well, maybe, but there still shouldn’t be such a big difference.”

Goten shrugged. In fact, he was glad that he had found something he was more skilled at than Reyn. This would give him an advantage if it ever came to a fight between them. He doubted it would help him much if the flight officer were at his full power, but it should still make it possible for him to at least escape.

About an hour later, Goten decided that he was done and that, instead, he would prefer a spar with Reyn. He powered down, but then the sudden wail of an alarm startled him so much that, in response to his affright, his ki automatically shot up to seventy thousand. Then the alarm abruptly broke off and a loud curse wafted from the speakers.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to sound the freaking alarm when there’s no danger to the ship? Come to the meeting hall, everyone. We have a situation.”

Goten recognized the captain’s voice. He powered down and went to the door, Reyn following him.

The meeting hall was bustling. Nearly everyone was present except for those who couldn’t leave their posts. Even the elites Goten had beaten up on Meia colony were present. He hadn’t seen them around much, they probably having been ordered to avoid him. After Goten had noticed them, he pointed them out to Reyn and, not wanting to get into any more conflicts, the two of them stood in the opposite corner of the room.

Indaira waited for a couple more minutes, then walked out in front of the crowd. “We have received orders to retrieve Elisabeth Sophia Montgomery from a drifting SUB 316,” he informed the crew. “Wait, Goten, I haven’t finished yet,” he said when the hand of their newest companion shot into the air. “The reason why SUB 316 is drifting is that it has been infected by alkani.” The immediate clamor that started in the hall made him raise his hands to quiet the men down. Unwillingly, protesting shouts and curses tuned out. “The reason why we have to rescue that Earthling is that she is the daughter of some bigwig who is the owner of Ubisoft Enterprise.”

The men in the hall were wearing scornful frowns while Goten’s hand was still waving in the air monotonously. The captain finally nodded. “Goten?”

“How long will the rescue mission take, sir? We have to reach Bruminan Station without delay.”

“I can’t tell you exactly,” Indaira said, “but obviously it will take from six to eight hours, maybe more. It all depends on how fast we find her.”

“What are the exact instructions, sir?” Goten asked. He couldn’t believe they were even discussing the possibility of setting foot on that forsaken ship. The usual orders would be to destroy the infected ship on sight. No hangar would accept a ship if there was even a little suspicion of infestation. Alkani were the bane of the universe. Cold and heat hardly affected them. They also thrived in environments with thin atmosphere. They looked like little black balls on tiny legs. They weren’t big in size, but they could move very quickly and had sharp teeth which could exude acidic liquid that ate away bone and certain metallic structures. They usually laid their eggs inside various mammals and, once hatched, the larvae had a large amount of protein at their disposal and grew very quickly, killing the host in the process. When they turned into adult alkani, they would leave the host or, if there was anything still left of it, laid eggs in it again. There were many animals of a similar nature, but the worst things about alkani were their incredible reproduction and growth rates. They were similar to rats, but much more aggressive and resistant.

“The instructions are just as I told you: go and get her,” the captain repeated. “Nothing else matters.”

Goten was looking at him with something between disbelief and curiosity. He had never heard of a rescue mission from infected ships carrying Humans. Humans simply didn’t survive. Even Saiyans didn’t when faced with the infestation in an enclosed area for a long time – one couldn’t keep up a ki shield while asleep. Sooner or later, alkani wore even the elites out. It was certain that, by this time, the woman had already been infected.

“Are there any Saiyans on board?” someone asked in a voice that sounded just as puzzled as Goten felt.

“No. There are no Saiyans on the passenger list. We don’t know if she’s still alive either. I’ll be sending a team of six men. Yes, Goten, what now?”

“I want to go too, sir. The faster we find her, the faster we can proceed to Bruminan,” he explained.

“I can pilot the shuttle,” Reyn said. “Therefore you won’t need to send any of your men.”

At first it was quiet in the hall, then somebody laughed. A fraction of a second later, a few more voices joined in.

“Um, Goten,” the captain said, “your youthful enthusiasm and fire is all well and good, but I need experienced men for this mission.”

“Yeah, we’d need to send in more people to rescue Goten as well!” someone shouted, laughing.

“Reyn, I’ll take you up on your offer, though,” Indaira said, motioning for the laughing man to be quiet.

“Send Goten too. It will be faster,” Draman said, drawing everyone’s attention to himself.

The captain looked at the shaii dubiously, then saw the shaii’s eyes indicate to something on his right. Indaira followed his gaze, concentrating on the three injured elites near Draman. So that had indeed been Goten’s handiwork.

“Have you ever been on a rescue mission?” the captain asked Goten.

Goten nodded. “Yes, I have, sir. We rescued about fifty Human civilians from a drifting ship.”

The captain stared at Goten for a few seconds, then looked at Draman again. The elite shrugged, leaving the decision up to him.

“Fine,” Indaira agreed. “You will go. Now I need four other men.”

“Why men?” Almanda asked.

“Fine, you can go too,” the captain said, suppressing a groan.

“Ooh, that was easy,” Almanda laughed.

“If your shaii allows it, that is,” he added.

“You’re staying on Mantanko,” Draman told her.

“But…”

Draman gave her a displeased look for talking back and she fell silent.

Four other men were elected in the next few minutes and soon the meeting hall emptied, leaving only the captain and the six members of the newly assembled team.

“Onar, you will be in charge of the mission,” the captain informed them. “Now,” he turned to Goten, “I know Reyn is a smart lad; he has seen and done his share of things. You, though, just so we are clear, what will you do if you find Elisabeth Montgomery alive?”

“Kill her, of course,” Goten said. “Sir, there’s no way I’m bringing that crap on board.”

The captain nodded. “That’s the correct answer. Dispose of her body. Make sure there are no cameras around, though. This is not a rescue, but a simple search and destroy mission. Now get ready. You’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

TBC