Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Only the Weak ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Only the Weak

By Karete-chan

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that comes from Dragonball Z. I just wish I did. I do own anyone I make up though. Not that anyone cares…

Chapter 1:

The guard in the corner watched silently as the new `acquisitions' were unceremoniously thrown down the landing ramp. Two of them sobbed uncontrollably while the others looked too shocked to do anything. He was nonplussed. It was a scene that he had looked upon more times than he could count.

The squad leader, a big broad shouldered man with pointed ears, yanked one up by her hair. She squealed in pain so he slapped her, snapping her head back violently. Tears snaked their way down her already dirt streaked face from her tightly clenched eyes. Another was refusing to get up. The second-in-command kicked her sharply in the stomach, sending her skidding across the metal decking. This caused one to stop crying and run to her friend who was writhing on the floor but the end of an electro whip caught her wrist and yanked her backwards. Hauled back into a group again they were forced to stand. The tears had ebbed by this time but every now and then a slightly louder hiccough would escape from one girl and she would be rewarded with a sharp backhand.

After a few moments an old man with short, stumpy horns protruding from his forehead came and collected the girls from the callus words and punishments of the squad that had collected them. He led them through many corridors and down several levels, the guard from the landing deck bringing up the rear. The old man recited rules to them the whole way to the slave's quarters, not caring wether or not they were actually listening. He knew that were he not to do the job that was expected of him he would be more bruised and bloodied than the silent girls behind him.

When they reached the final corridor the guard left them. As soon as he was out of sight the old man stopped and turned to face the girls. Pity could be seen in his small eyes as he spotted the bleeding wrist of one of them. They stared at the floor, their eyes dull. One of the girls hiccoughed again. Sighing he took the hand of the girl closest to him. She jerked away in fright but raised her eyes to his. Knowing he had captured her attention he quickly explained what happened to the young aboard Frieza's ships. Unbeknownst to the dazed girls he did this at great risk to his own life. His eyes darted up and down the corridor as he spoke. Were they caught out here the squad would be making another trip planet side for more slaves.

The slaves in the common room looked up as they entered but grew disinterested when they realised that the `new meat' wasn't going to make a scene. The girls were hustled across the room and down another corridor and then into another, much smaller room. This was theirs, they were told. They were to come here on rest and sleep periods. An impatient woman scurried up then and thrust what looked like tan sheets into their hands. She snapped at them to get changed and scurried out again, the old man following.

As the door slid shut there was a moment of silence before the youngest broke out in sobs again. She sank to the floor as the others tried to pull themselves out of their shock. The one who had listened to the old man's words knelt next to the sobbing girl and in a hoarse voice repeated what he had said. Though they did not know who or what Frieza was, by the time she had finished each girl had silently decided that they had found hell.

Moments after they had donned the tan garments the impatient woman came and herded them back towards the common room. It had a low ceiling and was only dimly lit. Many of the current slaves that were in the process of mending things had to lean almost nose-to-nose with their work in order to see what they were doing. Moans came from various parts of the room, slaves who had accidentally or deliberately gotten on the wrong side of their captors. They walked past one man whose leg was almost blood raw from ankle to thigh. It felt more like a war zone than a place where people worked.

The impatient woman walked over near a large view portal and sat down on the grimy floor, waiting for them to join her. But the girls' stares were focussed out of the window to where their planet loomed in all its glory. The beautiful view that was ignored by most was marred with one tiny flaw. The dead bodies of those they were replacing had been jettisoned out into space, to float for eternity in the vacuum. One of them had been a child, the small body silently following the others past the glowing halo of the girl's planet.

Silently they turned from the window and sat across from the woman. In a stern, clipped voice she began instructing them in their duties. Her all too frog-like eyes glared at them the whole time as from behind them the glow of the planet made her skin look more lime coloured than it already was.

The youngest began crying again and received a slap for it. The woman had no time for this. She had seen too many young ones come through this ship. Taken from their families, never to see them again. Most died in service, either as examples to others or by taking their own life. Some simply disappeared. Only the strong survived and she was one of them. After all, to a child wasn't some life better than none at all?

Her instructions filtered only in parts to the four girls sitting before her. Their minds were cast back only a few hours ago to when their lives were peaceful and none of this existed.

~*~*~*~

It had only been a late study group; so late in fact, that they had been kicked out of the library. An exam the next day had got them in a panic and a loud argument had ensued as they walked through the grounds of the university.

People flitted by them in ones or twos, waving if they knew them, smiling if their exams had already finished. From others they attracted strange looks, the result of talking too loud, something that always happened when they were together.

Taking a shortcut through a not so well lit alley, they emerged out onto the great lawn of the campus. Busy by day and empty by night; or at least it seemed. They walked swiftly along the main path under the light of the lamps, oblivious to the darkness beyond. When they reached the middle of the park one of them glanced up and stopped.

"What's wrong?" another asked turning around. "We didn't hit a nerve did we?" she asked grinning.

"No…I just thought I saw something but I must have…been...wrong…" she trailed off her eyes growing wide.

The others turned. Underneath the next lamp stood a squat man. His skin was scaly and coloured vomit green.

"What the hell is that?"

"Probably a prankster who gets his jollies off scaring people. Let's go another way."

Turning again they made for a side path only to have another man step out of the shadows. This one was tall and broad shouldered and had ears like an elf. He grinned menacingly and moved faster than they could see to stand neck to nose with the tallest of their group. The girls behind her screamed and ran. That close they could see that what they had thought to be a costume was real.

Too stunned to think the tall girl took a shaky step backward, not breaking eye contact with the impossibility before her. He kept grinning and it was the last thing she saw before darkness overcame her, her friends' screams echoing in her ears.

~*~*~*~

Apart from the few roaming guards, they saw only other slaves those first few days joining them in the hard labour that even children were forced to endure. Several of the slaves cast the girls hate filled looks as the day passed even going as far as ruining their work, resulting in a whipping from the guard on duty. No explanation was given for this behaviour and because the girls were still wrestling with the idea of aliens actually existing, none was asked for. But far from the spitefulness of a few frustrated slaves and having to endure tiring work that went on for hours, the worst thing had to be witnessing the atrocities that were the whores.

Most of them were mindless creatures that walked around in a daze or babbled incoherently. One had wandered into the mess hall that the girls were scrubbing and even though they had been warned about their erratic behaviour, they weren't prepared when she tried to wrestle the tall one to the floor, muttering things like, `Take me now lord', `I can show you a good time' and `I'm not used. I'm not'. It had been the impatient woman that had rescued her, sending the whore wandering away down the corridor with a few sharp words. The pathetic girl disappeared around a corner talking to someone no one else could see.

But these mindless creatures were not dangerous. It was those who had kept a degree of sanity and knew how to wield what little power they had that you had to be wary of. They were spiteful and vindictive always looking for a way to get themselves into favour with the higher-ranking officers. But mindless or not, it was always the pretty ones who held the greatest favour and even these changed from day to day.

Their first sight of a person who wasn't a slave or a guard came on their third night aboard the ship. The strain of the huge change in their lives had already taken its toll, their tired and dirt streaked faces making them look far beyond their years. They sat through yet another instruction session on the workings of the ships schedule staring blankly at their instructor. She was an extremely bored looking woman who resembled something close to a fish and spoke to them as if they were small children. Presently another, older woman shuffled over and led two of the girls away to their next duty session. The others were left to the struggle of remembering all the rules they had to follow, with the constant reminder that they would be followed by beatings or death if they didn't.

As the two dark haired girls walked out one door, another opened. The fish lady fell silent causing the two remaining girls to glance up, suddenly realising that the low chatter that usually filed the room had died. Their teacher was staring fixedly at the floor. Slowly the two turned to see the newcomer. He stood there, towering over all the slaves, at least eight foot tall, his broad shoulders almost blocking all the light from the corridor outside. Long, black horns grew from either side of his ugly head, which looked as if his brain was going to explode out the top at any moment.

The small beady eyes that had been scanning the room jumped to the two girls as they gasped. His purple face broke out in a menacing grin as he strode towards them, the other slaves scurrying to get out of his way. The two girls immediately turned their heads and stared fixedly at the floor as memories of what they had been told flashed vividly in their minds. They stiffened as they felt his presence behind them.

"Well. Whadda you know. New meat." The younger suddenly found herself dangling by the back of her clothes, inches from his face. "You have an interesting colour of hair girl," he commented as he fingered the ends of her dirt covered, golden hair. "I bet it would look better spread across my bed." Her shaking body went still in horror, her grey eyes betraying her fear. He held her for a moment longer before tossing her to the side, muttering something that sounded like `no fun'. A momentary glance was cast to the other girl before he moved on.

She was unceremoniously pushed to the side as he reached forward and roughly grabbed the fish woman by the shoulder, yanking her towards him. She immediately began screaming and struggled vainly to get away. He grinned again and said: "You'll do." Gripping her wrist he pulled her across the floor. Still screaming she grabbed the frame of the doorway as they passed through, making him stop. Ripping her hands from the wall he hit her hard, causing a small trickle of blood to run from the corner of her mouth. "Save it for the bedroom, bitch." Grinning, he lent forward, licked the red liquid away and pulled her out of sight.

As the door slid shut the room returned to what they were doing as if nothing had happened. The girl who had been pushed to the side stared wide eyed at the closed door for a moment before remembering her friend. Getting to her feet she made her way to where the blonde girl had fallen. She was unscathed from her brief flight having landed on a group of nearby slaves. They weren't so lucky as one limped away on a twisted ankle and another nursed a bruised shoulder. All of them glared at the two girls as the blonde shakily got to her feet. Retreating to a corner, they stayed hugging each other until the older woman came and summoned them to their duties. They never set eyes upon the fish woman again.

Though shaken by this incident, none of the four were about to let it happen again. To avoid being beaten was simple in theory; do the work, make no mistakes and try not to piss people off. Not so easy in practice but it was feasible. To avoid being chosen by the men of Frieza's army, who sometimes chose a new slave instead of a whore, was the simple matter of becoming invisible; an impossibility. But since invisibility was not an option then they would do the next best thing.

They lived in filth. Well, as much as they could tolerate without being caked in it or be in danger of dying from some unknown alien disease. The four of them looked as plain as could be with the dirt smearing the colour of their skin and clothes. They wore their hair permanently pulled up into loose buns and allowed strands to pull loose, adding to their dishevelled look and adopted hunched poses that made them look feeble.

When it dawned on the other slaves that the girls' appearance was less than satisfactory they began to hassle them. Most of the hassling consisted of name calling because the slaves were either too tired or couldn't be bothered forcing the girls to comply. They called them stupid because they risked death if Frieza or any of the high-ranked officers believed they had been seen by anyone of importance.

The four agreed that that scenario was laughable. They rarely saw any of the higher ranker officers and had yet to lay eyes on Frieza himself. Besides it was better to be dirty than to be raped and abused by Frieza's men. So they kept silent and to themselves and did nothing to quell the other slave's apprehensions or change their opinions of them.

As the days wore on the current slaves began to lose their hostility towards the `new meat' but even though they were now treated somewhat civilly the four girls still did not speak to the other slaves. They avoided them for the most part but found good company in a few, allowing some of the inane chatter to wash away the pains of the day. It was also a good way of learning the right way to go about things on the ship; learn from others mistakes.

The inane chatter was good for one thing though. They learnt that the aliens were in the process of occupying their planet. It had not been `purged' like most, which was apparently unusual because it had been found to hold substantial mineral deposits. This came as a relief to the girls as they new that when a planet was purged, all life was eradicated. On a planet million of miles away their families still lived and they were grateful but they understood that the open hostility they had encountered in the first few weeks had been from those who had no family left.