Age of the Empire

The First Tale of Shukumei: Ghosts From the Past
Chapter 8

The giant flashback in this chapter has been taken directly from the Japanese version of the second DBZ TV special Bardock: Father of Goku and was only altered slightly to fit this fanfic.


The first level of Saiya-jin drinking always involved bawdy and tasteless jokes. These sometimes humorous anecdotes often made the few innocent women they had blush. Level two incorporated ditties of the perverted kind. Bardock, for some odd reason, knew more songs than anyone so he was called the most often to sing.

The third level was the start of challenges issued to the strongest warrior. By this time, Vegeta had gotten his hands on something more potent than wine. So the king, who was three-sheets to the wind, decided that he was going to accept any challenge that came his way. He and Beibak stumbled over to the cleared space in the center of the room and basically slapped at each other until Beibak passed out. Vegeta let out a cheer and promptly landed face down over the other man. They were dragged from the floor and level four began.

Bardock pushed his half empty glass aside, feeling only slightly drunk seeing as he always stopped at level two. Someone had to stay sober enough to keep everyone in reasonably in line. There was a down side to drinking that much, though. It always made him melancholy.

How would he, Toma, Celipa, Totepo, and Panboukin have celebrated if his best friends had lived to see this day? Leaning back into his chair, he remembered the day of their deaths.


The ground was broken and the lifeless, beaten bodies of his friends were lying haphazardly along the cold earth. Eyes wide in shock, he scanned the area.

"Bardock..." a voice said weakly. Running over to his friend, he kneeled beside him and raised his head.

"Toma! What's going on? What happened?"

"You fool, you could have stayed away."

"Did the people of Planet Meet...?"

"We destroyed them in a second." He interrupted.

Bardock frowned in confusion. "Then who attacked you?"

"Furiza! He betrayed us!" It was hard to speak of and even harder to believe.

"No!" He shook his head in denial. "It can't be!"

"Furiza's been using us all along. I'm dying, but I have to tell you this. Furiza will kill all of us Saiya-jin. Listen, go back to Planet Vegeta and gather our comrades to kill Furiza. Show him the strength of the Saiya-jin people."

The light slowly faded from his eyes as they closed and Bardock marveled at how peaceful he looked in death. He untied the white cloth Toma wore around his left bicep and used it to wipe the blood from his friend's face. He slowly took in the senseless deaths of his closest friends, feeling the cooling blood drip from his hand and soak into the rust-stained rag. His scouter picked up a reading and he turned to find four men watching him with hostile eyes. What had they ever done to cause Furiza to take such drastic measures?

"It's your turn to die," said the horned alien at the forefront with a cold laugh.

In mute rage, he tied the blood-soaked rag around his head in bandanna fashion. It really didn't matter why the soldiers killed his friends. There would be vengeance.

Bardock had high hopes for the battle, but in the end, he just wasn't strong enough. Lying battered and bloody, he closed his eyes and waited for a death that did not come. Instead Dodoria, who had been the one to deal the nearly fatal blow, had gotten a call on his communicator and he flew off back to Furiza's ship.

Not wasting a moment, Bardock jumped back into his space pod and flew at top speed back to Planet Vegeta. "I still can't believe that Furiza wants to kill us." Near the completion of the trip, he found himself gazing out of the window and watching a small pod go by in the opposite direction. Somehow he knew what small bundle it contained and the vision instantly sprung to mind. "Kakarotto..." he whispered. Upon landing, he exited the pod and leaned against the side of it to regain a little of his strength.

"What's wrong, Bardock?" one soldier asked.

"You're a little late. We've just launched your kid to Chikyuu... some frontier planet."

He froze and looked back at the two of them. "Chikyuu?"

The second soldier smiled at him. "Yes, it's a blue planet in a solar system light-years from here. Even a low-level soldier could destroy it in a couple of months. Go visit him after you get better.

"But what's the matter with you? How did you get all those wounds? I heard that you went to Planet Meet."

Bardock stared through them, remembering. "That was... Chikyuu. Yes, there's no doubt about it now. All the dreams I've been having are of the real future. That means..." He gasped and resumed his trek at a faster pace. "It can't be!"

"Are you alright, Bardock?"

Ignoring both the question and the burning pain of his wounds, he ran into the building with faltering steps. Closer and closer the mess hall came, but the pain became too great and he blacked out briefly from it. The images that assaulted his mind both surprised and frightened him. There was Planet Vegeta's destruction, his small son growing from a squalling infant to a competent adult, and the battle between Kakarotto and Furiza. As Bardock reached out to his son, the vision faded and he found himself once again in the deserted hallway.

He did make it to the mess hall but if the prince hadn't come along, none of his comrades would have believed a word he said.

They escaped successfully by leaving the planet from a point not visible by Furiza. As the red sphere faded from sight, Bardock whispered a promise. "Everything's going to change. The Saiya-jin's destiny, my destiny, Kakarotto's destiny, and also your destiny, you bastard."


A familiar squeak brought him out of his thoughts. Turning to the form sprawled in the booth beside him, he sighed when the noticed the signs of Vegeta caught in the throes of a nightmare. He shook him hard, hoping that he could awaken before the others noticed his distress. The dreams were a weakness, one that could be exploited by any Saiya-jin with aspirations to become king.

Vegeta jerked away after a few more shakes, eyes wide and breath coming in gasps. After a frantically looking around for several moments, his vision cleared and he was able to catch sight of Bardock. Calming down immediately, he sank against the leather of the seats with an anguished sigh.

"Will they ever stop?" he asked in a voice that held little hope. The nightmares, further fueled by the fear that a certain enraged Changeling would track them down, only grew worse as time wore on. His slumber held little rest and he felt as if the fatigue was causing his skills to suffer. Something had to be done soon or he would be useless as the leader of his people.

Bardock stood and motioned for him to follow, deciding that it would be better if they could talk without eavesdroppers. "I used to have nightmares as a kid, Vegeta," he said as they walked down the street towards the sea. The lamps cast pale splashes of circular light onto the sidewalk, lighting their way easily. The shops were all closed up tight on the street and only the pedestrians were tourists. "My father was like most Saiya-jin, cold and cruel. There was no love lost between us when he died. Anyway, I used to wake up in the middle of the night relieved that father wasn't beating me. He did it for the smallest reasons until it got so bad that it happened even in my dreams."

Vegeta looked up at him in sympathy. "Does it still?"

"One day I woke up and realized that they were only memories and couldn't hurt me. Until you can understand that and move on, they will haunt you."

They reached the marina and sat down on the weathered wood of the dock. The lights from the few boats still out bounced on the water as small waves disturbed their reflections. It was quiet and peaceful, a perfect place to have a serious and uninterrupted conversation. After a extended moment of though, Vegeta ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"I can't just forget them! Papa, you don't know how much it hurt and how humiliated I felt." He looked down at the feet dangling above the dark water. "I will never forget it."

Bardock placed a gentle hand upon his shoulder. "You shouldn't forget. The mistakes of others often teach us valuable lessons. There will come a day when you discover that the past no longer has any power over you, when you are able to think back without fear."

"I hope so," he said softly. "Papa? Thanks."

They turned away from the water and headed back to the celebration.

***

Furiza walked through the halls as if he owned the place -- which, of course, he did. There was much to be said about his good mood, most of it had been attributed to the fact that Elinas and his crew were now floating in millions of microscopic pieces in space among the wreckage of their ship. It had felt good to dissect one of his sworn enemies and soon the floors would run red with the blood of dozens more. "Ah," he smiled happily to himself, "life is good."

The door was suddenly in front of him and his hands tingled in anticipation. No sound came from the medium-sized cell so the tyrant assumed that his captives were asleep. 'Imagine the looks on their faces when I go in!' He pressed the code into the electronic pad and grinned as the door slid open without a sound.

The gleeful expression vanished as quickly it had appeared. The cell was empty, completely empty. Furiza examined every nook and cranny in a daze, trying to fathom an escape from a locked room. There was no way in the universe they could have gotten away without help.

"WHO DID THIS?!" he roared, temper flaring. The small Changeling fairly stomped down the hallway to the largest of all the cells. Furiza knew what he would find, but deep down there was still a small kernel of hope. Maybe the Saiya-jin were still trapped inside, maybe the hours of joyous torture could still be savaged. When the door slid aside, a red haze of rage covered his sight. Whoever had the audacity to ruin his fun would be found.

And they would pay dearly.

***

Zaabon returned from training about half an hour after the time of Furiza's discovery. Whenever his lord decided to make a visit to his father and older brother, he always chose to stay on board. He disliked the other two Changelings even more than he did Furiza and that was saying a lot.

"Oh, Zaabon," Dodoria said in a sing-song tone that made the taller aide's skin crawl. He smirked as he exited the inner sanctum. "Lord Furiza would like to have a word with you."

His heart began to hammer wildly in his chest. 'Did he-?' "Lord Furiza," he said as he kneeled. He couldn't allow his imagination to run wild, it would give him a panic attack. "You wished to see me?"

"It has come to my attention that my beloved pets have all run away." This was said in a very calm voice that Zaabon knew would change. "Do you know why that happened?"

Eyes wide with terror, the aide stared at Furiza's lazily moving tail. He had seen men brutally impaled by the hard tip, watched the light die from their eyes as they lay slumped over the appendage. Taking a deep breath so that no stutter would pass through his lips, Zaabon answered. "I was not aware that the Saiya-jin had vanished, my lord. Please excuse my oversight, it will never happen again."

The hover chair turned in a tight circle and beads of sweat popped out onto Zaabon's body. He recognized the expression on Furiza's face, nothing good ever came from it. "You should know that lying to me isn't the wisest course of action, Zaabon." His fingertips with their sharp black nails came to a point over his lap. "The Saiya-jin have been missing for exactly twenty-one hours and thirty minutes. Two meals have been served since then, my dear aide, and you were in charge of feeding them." His small hands moved to the arms of his hover chair and he pushed himself forward as if to rise. Zaabon took two stumbling steps backward and wondered if he could make it to the door before the Changeling could fully stand.

He didn't think so but it was worth a shot. Stepping backward as fast as he could, he grabbed for the doorknob and was surprised to feel it in his hand. Zaabon turned it, eyes still staring at Furiza, and stumbled backward through it. He escaped! There was no time to question why, he had to put distance between himself and the menace.

'Oh God oh God oh God...' Words streamed rapidly through his mind as he darted the long way to his quarters. He knew that it was probably suicidal to enter a room with only one exit, but the few things he had managed to salvage from his home planet were there. Under no circumstances was he going to allow them to stay behind. They were all he had left to remember of a peaceful, happy life.

Stuffing his meager possessions into a cloth bag, his next stop was the hangar. There were still a few single person pods there and he knew how to ready one for flight in just a few minutes. As he initiated the start-up sequence, he wondered why Furiza hadn't found him yet. It wasn't as if he was stupid -- the tyrant knew that he was going to attempt an escape. So he was either part of a plan or Furiza had become incredibly dense in just a few minutes.

Guess which one he was betting on.

Even though Zaabon had a feeling that his lord was allowing him to escape, he couldn't stay on the planet. Furiza may not execute him as a traitor, but that did not mean King Kold or Koola would follow suit. He'd rather not risk death at all, thank-you-very-much.

He typed in the memorized coordinates for a certain blue planet in a distant solar system and settled into his seat. There were several life support functions in addition to the oxygen that would keep him alive. First, he would find a planet or a space station to purchase additional supplies from and then he would head out on a direct course to his new home.

"You're clear for take-off, Zaabon," a voice crackled from the loudspeaker. "Hatch opening in five, four, three, two-"

A conveyor moved the small pod between the two tight doors of the airlock. With a hiss, the air was depressurized and the second door opened to admit him into space.

'I can't believe that I'm finally getting away from there.' He pressed a trembling hand to the small viewport window. 'Thank God.'