Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Full Spectrum ❯ Life Lessons ( Chapter 13 )

Special thanks to Prince's Jewel for beta reading this for me.*blah* = italics

Full Spectrum

By Ginia

Part 13
Life Lessons

Vegeta let his eyes drop shut as Tien again shouldered his burden, allowing himself to be carried and focusing his limited concentration on forcing the drugs from his system.

The silence suited Tien just fine. He had a lot to think about. In the hours since they had first located Bulma many of his beliefs regarding Vegeta had been challenged. First, Vegeta had not actually been captured, but had instead given himself up to protect his family; second, outside the ship, Vegeta had seemed to be cooperating with the alien but had actually created a diversion to assist in the rescue of Trunks and Bulma; and now… now when Tien had failed to maintain control of himself when faced with the leader of the aliens, *Vegeta* had even come to *his* aid … None of those things should have happened – by his most deeply held beliefs, none of them *could* have happened, yet they did.

Tien walked slowly the remaining distance back to the computer room with a troubled frown. *~*~*~*~*~*

The blood pooled thickly around the commander’s shattered form, but something darker than blood was collecting as well. Something thick, that seemed to move with a purpose against the simple pull of gravity.

The greasy black flow moved smoothly and swiftly toward the unconscious body of Vaner, sliding up the fallen man’s shoulder and neck to finally disappear between his slightly parted lips.

At first the strange invasion had seemed to have no effect, and stillness reined over the hallway. Suddenly breaking the silence, the comatose body of Vaner shuddered and took a deep gasping breath before falling silent again.

The eyes that blinked open were no longer those of the young crewman, but the smoky grey eyes of a monster.

Brietoth stood, briefly stretched the arms of his new form before he again headed towards his lab. Vegeta had managed to inconvenience him yet again, but that was all. With the samples and data he had already collected his research could continue elsewhere. As he walked down the empty corridor he considered his new form… weak… completely inferior to the last one… and with none of the implant enhancements that should have been in place before he had made such a change. Vegeta, indeed, had a lot to answer for.

“Hey, Vaner! Man, you need to get outta here!” a voice called out from ahead of him.

Brietoth paused, carefully considering the human male that jogged up to him.

“There are only a couple pods left down in the bay, so if you don’t plan on staying planet-side you need to get a move on.”

A scowl briefly touched Brietoth’s lips. So this human knew Vaner… It would appear that there had been a traitor among his crew. No matter, thought Brietoth with a smile, the issue had already been settled.

“Don’t worry about me, friend, I have a shuttle waiting and will be on my way shortly,” he replied, his smile widening. “I only need to pick up a few things first. Do you think you could give me a hand?” *~*~*~*~*~*

When Tien entered the control room he was greeted by Goku. Vegeta was gently placed into one of the large armed chair near the main console as Tien briefly described their encounter with Brietoth. Vegeta looked around with blurry eyes as the other Saiyan knelt down beside him.

“Vegeta? I’m going to take you back to CC now, OK?” Goku asked quietly.

“No…” Vegeta answered, his gaze focused sharply. “I’m not leaving until I know that there’s nothing left here that can threaten those that belong to me.” Goku looked at him for a moment, then simply nodded and moved back to where Krillin was trying to look behind a wall of machinery.

“This section is attached by tons of cables and brackets but it’s not ‘built into’ the wall like that front section is. Bulma should be able to disconnect it fairly easily – ”

“NO!” interrupted Vegeta, forcing himself upright. “The woman will not set foot back into this hell hole! *You* get whatever you think she needs out of here *right now* and then destroy the damn place! Do you really thing that bitch hasn’t left a few surprises behind just waiting for some idiot to trigger them? You think just because the monster is dead that there is no danger?”

“Vegeta, please….” Goku returned to Vegeta’s side. “Bulma wants all this stuff taken to her labs so she can undo what was done to you. She’s not gonna work on the stuff here and she’d never be left alone - I swear it.”

“She will not set foot back here… I will destroy this place and all its equipment myself before I let that happen. Are you clear on that, Kakarott?” Vegeta voice had gone icy calm as he stared at his fellow Saiyan. “Tear that equipment out yourself if you want her to have it so badly – I don’t care about any of it.” Returning to his seat, Vegeta supervised the dismantling of the computer room. *~*~*~*~*~*

“What could you possibly want to take with you from a place like that!?” Having been informed that *Vaner’s* destination was none other than Brietoth’s lab, Yamcha finally questioned the wisdom of assisting this man that he had only met once in the hall of an enemy ship.

Brietoth may have lost his implant-enhanced abilities but he had not lost his manipulative intellect and had been fully prepared for his naive escort’s objection.

“I told you - the cryogenic containers. Over a dozen extinct or nearly extinct species are preserved in those tanks. Tissue samples and genetic material that can never be replaced. Think about it, friend… If those samples are lost then all those animals are lost forever. Haven’t creatures gone extinct on your planet? What if it might someday be possible to bring them back? Would you throw that chance away – just because of where the tissue had been stored?”

“Alright,” Yamcha sighed, “but we have to hurry. Once Vegeta was found Goku wanted to clear this ship ASAP so that Bulma could come back and start her work.” The scarred warrior looked around nervously. “I can’t believe she wants to come back here… something about this place gives me the creeps.”

Resuming their walk, Brietoth couldn’t help but smile as he thought of the animals whose samples had been preserved in those tanks. Of all the extinct species in his collection, only the Saiyans had been extinguished by someone else. The rest he had personally eliminated once he had completed his research and achieved his goals – and of course collected all his samples. Yes it would have been a pity to loose that precious material when he triggered the ship’s self-destruct later on. *~*~*~*~*~*

Passing through the broken doors of the lab brought the pair to the surprising scene of a bound crewman struggling to be free.

“Vaner! Release me at once!” Demanded the frustrated man when he first laid eyes on his subordinate shipmate.

“Since you are the one apparently in need of aid, I would recommend you speak more kindly to me.” *Vaner* remarked as he regarded the captive with a raised eyebrow and a chilling smile. After a moment of shocked recognition, restrained man assumed a watchful silence as his commander’s smoky grey eyes pointedly took in both the condition of the bound man and the empty examination table.

“Is he a prisoner?” Brietoth asked, tipping his head toward the silent scientist. He was undecided whether or not Amberge was worth the effort of freeing. Although the man’s abilities would be useful, his failures had been great.

After a moment’s thought Yamcha answered. “Goku said that anyone who wanted to use the escape pods was free to go… is he a friend of yours?”

“We’ve worked together.” He shrugged and turned to Amberge with his next question.

“What do you think? Should I leave you tied up here and at the mercy of the Saiyans – or would you rather leave on my shuttle and take your chances with the wrath of your superiors?”

Amberge closed his eyes in sorrow. He had failed his Commander and now he would pay the price. “I’ll go with you, please release me so that we can get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Yamcha had watched the exchange silently, the older man seemed almost afraid of his savior – or perhaps it was his presence that made the crewman nervous? Hoping to ease the tension he approached and introduced himself to the anxious man as Vaner released him – after a quick glance from Brietoth, Amberge introduced himself as Jacairy, the lab assistant responsible for monitoring the Saiyan as he slept. Together the three of them rapidly collected as much as the lab’s specimen cart could carry.

Once the heavily loaded cart was moving down the corridor, Yamcha left the pair on their own, eager to rejoin his friends in the computer room. Brietoth watched him leave with a smile and a quiet comment to Amberge, “What an idiot.” *~*~*~*~*~*

Brietoth and Amberge quickly approached the awaiting shuttle. Although Brietoth preferred the luxury of having a pilot, he was more than capable of handling a galactic flight in a craft of this size. You don’t survive centuries of Brietoth’s brand of interplanetary commerce by depending on others.

Once their precious cargo was loaded and securely stowed, Brietoth assumed the command seat. Within moments the shuttle had been sealed, the security shield engaged, and it’s exodus from the Chikyuu atmosphere begun.

Confident that, short of a visual sighting, not even the Saiyan Prince would be able to locate the escaping ship, Brietoth smiled and reached for the communications link to the main ship.

“Just one final item to attend to…” *~*~*~*~*~*

Yamcha’s return to the computer room went relatively unnoticed as he simply stepped in to assist Krillin in separating an equipment filled cabinet from its electronic connection to the wall. Several of the computer stations were already standing free, ready for transport to the labs at CC but what appeared to be the ship’s main control panel was still untouched, flashing information on damage levels onto one of the wall screens.

The hard working men looked up in surprise when a face examining something off-screen replaced the scrolling data. When the man addressed Yamcha, thanking him for his earlier assistance, Vegeta turned away from the screen determined to ignore anything that had to do with his least favorite weakling warrior.

“Hey Vaner, no problem! I see you got everything squared away on the shuttle…”

Icy cold laughter silenced Yamcha and drew Vegeta’s eyes back to the view screen.

“Oh yes,” Brietoth smirked, “Without your help I might not have been able to retrieve my samples, and as Vegeta can attest to, I *do* value my specimens.

“NO!!” Vegeta howled, “Brietoth! You bitch, I killed you!!”

“B-but that’s not Brietoth – that’s Vaner! The guy who helped us when we came for Bulma and Trunks!” Yamcha protested as Vegeta growled at the image on the screen.

“Yes, well… Vaner helped you and now he’s helping me.” Brietoth gave a sad little smile and drew a languid hand down his own chest. “None of the *niceties* I prefer when I select my forms, but you didn’t leave me much choice now did you, Vegeta? I’ll only keep it long enough to prepare a new one of course… Oh, and by the way, you have about 45 seconds until the ship self-destructs – so please do hurry and save yourselves. I would truly hate to loose the last full-blooded Saiyans in such a *wasteful* manner. Brietoth out.”

“Just fan-*fucking*-tastic,” Yamcha murmured into the calm before the storm. * * * * * * * * * End Part 13