Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Variations of Fate ❯ Vigil ( Chapter 9 )

"Salrud, have you found the human needed for the job?" King Vegeta scowled menacingly down from his thrown, "I want tight, locked security for my son's return, and none of your underlings are intelligent enough!"

"Y-y-yes, sire, I believe I have found the perfect human for the job you wish done," Salrud handed him the pad of information, "Here, sire."

"Hmm... Bulma Briefs? A human female...? Is she the daughter of ..."

"Yes, your excellency. She is his daughter that--"

"So, would you say she's an attractive female?" the King asked of Salrud, pointing to the woman's picture. He was apparently no longer interested in the girl's parentage. "Quite exotic by Saiyan or even galactic standards wouldn't you say?"

"Um...sure."

"Well, never mind asking you. You don't really swing that way, do you?" said King Vegeta with a rather unkind smirk.

"Actually, I do...it's just..."

"No woman would look at you, especially not one like that, right?"

"Uh...um...er..."

King Vegeta waved a silencing hand as he read down the information presented on the datapad. "Interesting. It says here she has been fixing the pods and ships?"

Salrud scratched at the back of his head. "Yes, Highness. She isn't ... She isn't the most obedient human we have had...in our service."

"How can she help us then?" King Vegeta asked, reading the information given to him. "Inventive? Ingenious? Understands the basics of engineering?"

"Yes, sire. Top marks in her classes. She was trained ahead of others her age --"

"That will be all, Salrud. When she comes in today, bring her to me, immediately." King Vegeta smirked, "I may have other plans for her yet when my son returns."

Bulma and Ava trudged up the steps of Vegeta Castle, and it was obvious Bulma was in a foul mood. A Saiyan wolf-whistled as she walked by, and she was very close to snarling at him, her face twitching. The only thing holding her back was Ava.

"Bulma, you have to learn not to be so angry all the time! Just remember what mom says, and don't let it get to you!" she muttered under her breath, "Just work, be calm and do what you want when you have the time! It's worth it just to ignore them!"

"Easy for you to say, you don't have those damned beasts trying to put their dirty paws all over you!"

Ava sighed and halfway face-palmed, shaking her head. "Bulma, I'd rather get the whistles than have to work for Sukena! But you know what? I don't worry about it! I do what I'm asked and don't think about it. I just don't think when things get like this." She held up her hand as Bulma tried to interrupt her. "No, understand this. They do bother me. BUT ... I've learned it's better to do than to die. Bulma, you've got more things to live for than I do, and understand this as well ... you, out of anyone else, will figure out how to free us!" Ava gave her sister a hug, and walked in the direction of Sukena's 'wing'. She turned for just a brief moment, and shot Bulma a brilliant smile. "Just remember what I've told you and, just forget about everything else!"

Bulma waved and gave Ava a fake smile and turned, almost running into one of the King's little lackeys.

"Bulma Briefs? Come right this way, King Vegeta insists on your presence," the man, tiny for an adult Saiyan, pushed up his spectacles and squinted and blinked at her.

Bulma suppressed a groan. What had she done now?

"Kneel before your King, insolent female!" the Saiyan hissed, pushing Bulma down.

"Awh, look, the little toady has some initiative of his own!" Bulma muttered under her breath, and received a swift kick in the hind parts. She groaned and was about to flip him the bird when the King stood over her.

"Silence! Salrud you are dismissed! Return to the archives!" King Vegeta boomed, growling and glaring at the Archivist who immediately scampered away; Bulma smirked beneath the curtain of her long blue hair. "Rise, Bulma Briefs. I have a task for you."

As she stood, she tucked the hair behind her ears, and stood jauntily, perhaps insolently, with one hand on her hips. Her long fingers pressed tightly against her hip, "Yes, your excellency, King Vegeta?"

The Saiyan King surveyed the woman a moment, causing her to shift uncomfortably, before he spoke. "Your picture hardly does you justice, Ms. Briefs. However, this task does not involve that; this task is a matter of Saiyan pride. The task I have for you of the utmost importance" -- there was a slight smirk beneath the dark brown mustache as the King noted the woman's disbelief -- "As many of you humans have heard, my son, the Prince of Vegetasei, Prince Vegeta, is returning home very soon. I need you to upgrade the security systems."

"Me, sir?" Bulma gawked, her eyes boggling out of head in surprise.

"Yes, you. And, after you finish the upgrades, I wish for you to return to me for another task. How long will it take you?"

A thoughtful look crossed Bulma's face and stuck, eyes rolled upwards as she ticked off the possibilities on her fingers. She looked back at King Vegeta, who was tapping his foot impatiently, "Well .... that would depend on how large scale this project is. I think I could rig something up. I'll need the blueprints and I nice, quiet working place in case something else needs to be created." She chewed on her lip, "Everything is connect to a central computer somewhere, isn't it?"

That confused the King for just a moment, and he sat there scowling, "Yes, I believe so."

"Well, I think I might be able to have everything finished within a week, if I have what I need..." she looked up at King Vegeta expectantly.

He scowled, but nodded, "A week is all you have. You may request what you need."

Bulma nodded in return, biting her lip. "Sir, where may I find the blueprints and where should I work?"

"You know where the archive room is, I'm sure," King Vegeta said nonchalantly, not waiting for her to nod as he stroked his beard contemplatively. "Go there, get the blueprints and ask Salrud to take you to one of the unused laboratory rooms. You are dismissed."

She nodded, bowed and walked through the doors, clicking them shut behind her. She leaned heavily against them for support, a relieved sigh escaping her lips.

Ava grimaced as she picked up who-knows-what off the floor. She was, at that moment, in the process of cleaning the messy lair of Lady Sukena. Clothes, papers, toys, parts, files, and, oh, all things imaginable, were on the floor, on the tables, all around! It was disgusting, it was a disgrace.

"Well, even if she is the future Queen, she still needs to learn something of organization!" Ava muttered softly as she tossed several trash items into the Saiyan equivalent of a trash bag. There was cackling in the background, and Ava scowled at the massive congeries of garbage in front of her.

Sukena was a few rooms down in her suite, trying on dresses and outfits (by herself for a change), twirling in front of the mirror, and still examining her figure. "HUMAN! AVA! GET IN HERE!"

Ava sighed and folded what she was looking at. She looked around for a moment, and stuck it in her pocket.

"AVA!"

"Coming, highness!" Ava called, kicking junk out of her way.

Working in the Saiyan lab was hard on Bulma; the equipment, although she hadn't had much to work with ever in her life, was both sophisticated and irritating. She had managed to learn the Saiyan computer programming language in a few hours, although the Archivist, Salrud, was of little help in his vague, condescending explanations.

So, she was sitting there, typing away and designing what she thought might be a good way to upgrade the security system. A smile, for a change, graced her face at the Saiyans who were disposed to do as she told them to; although, Bulma chose to do most of the mechanical upgrades by herself. Saiyans were not the most delicate creatures and they were very patient either.

She pushed the chair away from the screen and back to the table she was devising the newer security components on, parts strewn everywhere, and she laughed as she figured out exactly what the problem was. There was, however, one Saiyan who Bulma trusted to help.

Bulma tapped the comsys on and dialed the number, "Savoya!"

"Awh, Bulma!" Savoya whined, looking up at Bulma, who was climbing up a ladder, "This is like, what, the ... fiftieth camera? .. we've installed today! Besides, somebody's gonna blast it away one of these days! That's just how Saiyans are! How's a camera gonna help?"

"Ssh, it just will, okay? It'll be connected to the main system, and, it'll observe better. Don't worry about it; I got Ava to help with the others. She's got that much understanding of mechanics and electronics!" Bulma looked at her watch, "Oooh. Speaking of Ava ... why don't you dial her up for me?"

"Alright, alright..." Savoya tapped in the number, "Yeah, hey Ava, how many do you and your crew have up outside? Really? You're almost done... Yeah, well Bulma's a real bitch about getting these things up!"

"Hey, I heard that!"

Savoya giggled, "Ava says you are..."

Bulma glared down and flailed as she lost her balance. She steadied herself and slumped over, hanging tightly to the rungs. Savoya was still chatting with Ava. "Alright you! Hurry up! We've got ten more to install, and then I've got to make sure everything's wired up in the control room!"

Bulma bowed before the King, as usual, in his throne room, "I'm almost finished sir, and I thought you might like to see everything we've got set up!"

King Vegeta stroked his mustache, and nodded, pushing himself up. Bulma handed him a handheld monitor.

"First off, I'd like to show you how we set this stuff up. We haven't set anything in your throne room yet, cause we thought you'd like to see how it's done," Bulma said and pointed, "Now, see how Ava's up there? Well this'll be real interesting. As soon as she connects the correct wires and flips the switch, things should pop up on the monitor." Except, that didn't work and Bulma frowned, deep in thought. "Oops, Ava, you're crossing the wrong wires. Remember, A to B, B to C, connect to the system wires ... There you go."

Immediately an image popped up on the screen and Bulma flashed King Vegeta a smile, "Now, you see the number pad below? Just put in any number one through ... I believe 212. You'll see all different places around the palace, inside, outside, in various little places, like the gardens, over the steps. Nothing in private quarters, you understand. No breaching of privacy. Anyway, the camera can be controlled to be stationary, or to rotate."

King Vegeta nodded his approval as he typed in numbers on the pad, "Your help is appreciated, Ms. Briefs, and the quick installation of these devices deserves a reward. The return of their Prince is important to my people, and security is important. You are dismissed."

Bulma smiled, and she and Ava departed home, after several very, very long days of work.

Ava sat on her bed, reading over the papers she'd lifted from Sukena's room five days before. In helping with Bulma's project, she hadn't been able to do anything but build upgrades to the original palace cameras, day and night. That had been a pain, but now she was reading the papers, printouts of some kind.

Interesting... Ava marvelled. An itinerary for the return of Prince Vegeta? This could turn out very interesting. Ugh. I get more and more sick of Sukena every day!

She crumpled up the paper as someone rang the doorbell, rushing to put it in the disposal. She opened the door, and before the young man could speak, she shouted, "BULMA! RORY'S HERE!" Somewhere, in one of the rooms, someone scrambled around.

"Why is it, Rory, that everyone's always talking about the return of this Prince?" Bulma sighed, her head on Rory's chest as they lay in the garden clearing, looking up into the starry twilight sky. "I mean, they talk about him like he's the savior of the Saiyan race, or something."

"Supposedly he is," Rory murmured, a hand resting on Bulma's head, stroking her hair softly. "You know how I've been working with the Archivist lately, that really irritating Salrud toady?" She nodded, curling up closer to him. "I've been snooping. Digging up dirt n' everything. Seems 'Prince Vegeta' is supposed to be the strongest Saiyan, even though his power rating is rather low compared to many of the fighting beings in the Galaxy. There was something about some 'legendary Super Saiyan' in the archives, but I didn't get to read that far. Salrud found out and nearly kicked me out. Oh, and you know that monkey they turn into when they look at a moon, or that false moonlight they make?"

Bulma propped herself up and looked into Rory's eyes: if only looks could kill. "Yeah, I know about that." She muttered, sighing and plopping back down into the grass. Rory pulled her to his side and kissed the top of her head.

"Well, supposedly, Prince Vegeta trained in that form often at the palace, learning to control it. Their power level is several hundred times normal in that form."

"That's frightening..." Bulma murmured, snuggling closer against him.

"I know..." he kissed her squarely on the lips, softly and then with a little more passion. "We'd best be going, Bulma. Things are gonna get real hectic in prep for the Prince's return."

She nodded, supressing the little sigh rose in her throat.