Vegeta alternated taking bites of his mediocre meal with reading paragraphs of text. Several sheets of paper were spread across a corner table in the mess hall. They were the notes from an earlier meeting and the requests from various Saiya-jin both on and off the ship. Very few things related to the old empire had been saved so it was necessary that they create a government from scratch.

In three days he had attended six meetings, most of them had something to do with governing the people. Personally, he felt that they actually needed laws before assigning people to enforce them, but the Elder Ones saw things just a little bit differently. He knew that it was important to listen to those who had lived long lives underneath the old rule, but that didn't stop him from wanting to knock a few hard heads together.

"I should have known that you would be doing this," Bardock said as he cleared a spot on the table large enough for his tray. He shook his head at the paperwork and tried to imagine himself spending hours on it. He couldn't. "You know that I'll help you in any way, but if you ask me to look over papers I will be forced to hurt you."

The king chuckled. "I'm not cruel enough to make anyone do this." At his papa's raised eyebrow look he amended his statement. "Usually."

"Excuse me, sir," said a small voice at his elbow. Vegeta started and looked behind himself only to find empty space. Confused, he looked down and found the small eyes of a little girl staring back at him.

"Did you need something?" he asked, more than a little wary. Children were out of his league and, despite having been one once upon a time, he had no idea what to do with them. Luckily there were very few of the little rugrats running around the ship.

She held up a rather decrepit teddy bear whose body parts looked ready to fall off. "Mommy said that you make things better."

"Oh really?" he looked at her stuffed animal. "Is something wrong with him?"

"His name's Boo-Boo and he needs a doctor. Can you help him please, sir?"

'What makes her think that I can fix a stuffed animal?' He was fully aware of a very entertained Bardock watching his every move. 'No matter what I do, I'm going to make a fool out of myself. Damn it.' "What's your name?"

"Kyuuri," she answered.

"Give me your bear, Kyuuri, and I'll take care of him."

She smiled and handed him over. "You *are* a good man just like my mommy said." Kyuuri suddenly hugged him, surprising both the king and Bardock, and skipped away.

"Are you going to take him into surgery, Dr. Vegeta?" he asked with a laugh. "You don't even know how to sew."

"Do you?" he asked. "For some odd reason I don't want to let that little girl down."

Bardock grinned even wider. "Why, Vegeta, I do think you're becoming nice!"

"Don't say that!" he exclaimed. "It'll make me look weak."

The expression on his face changed faster than Vegeta could even blink. Bardock leaned in closer and motioned for him to do the same. "Listen Vegeta, there is no shame in showing a little compassion and kindness. By doing so you cut down on assassination attempts, riots, and revolutions. It's smart leadership."

"Okay, Bardock, but someone's going to have to teach me how to sew. I've never wanted to learn women's work."

"You cook, don't you?"

"That's only because it keeps me alive. If I didn't need food, I wouldn't go near a kitchen."

Bardock grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and shook it. "You wear clothes, don't you? They're the most basic form of shelter, boy. Without them you would be exposed to the elements and would eventually die. Knowing how to sew can also keep you alive if you have to stitch up a wound to stop yourself from bleeding to death."

"I've never looked at it that way," he said, appropriately chastised.

"You got a meeting later?" he asked while briefly scanning a document. Vegeta gratefully allowed the subject to be changed. "Need any help with it?"

Vegeta finished off his meal and gathered his things. "We have to decide what to do once we land on Chikyuu. Do we go in as invaders and hope for the best or do we try to negotiate with the people for land? I don't have any alternate choices."

"We need to know more about that planet before we can make a decision. Does anyone have any data on it?" Bardock grabbed the nearest Saiya-jin. "Get all the available data on Chikyuu and bring it down to the conference room."

"Yes, sir," he saluted and marched off.

"If we do negotiate, what will we give them in return?" Bardock continued. "Protection from outside invaders can be offered, but what if someone attacks that's just as strong as we are and has three times as many people?"

"There have to be strong defenders on Chikyuu or it wouldn't have existed this long."

"We're assuming that they're strong people, Vegeta, and that they've had contact with extraterrestrials in the past. What if they're as weak as one of our newborns?"

Vegeta thought about that for a moment and sighed. "This is why I need your suggestions, Papa. So far there isn't a good solution to our problem."

"We could just ask them for help, you know. That's a third option."

"And be indebted to them forever?" Vegeta snorted. "You've got to be kidding."

Bardock said nothing. He had known the response to his suggestion before he'd even spoke the words. Vegeta's pride would not allow him to ask for help even though it could mean the death of them all.

Those who attended the meeting all had an important purpose for being there. The seven men sat around the table, with Vegeta at its head, and turned serious eyes toward their king. After shuffling his papers for a moment and mentally preparing himself, he began.

"By now I'm sure that you all know our dilemma. What should we do when we land on Chikyuu? It's not an easy question to answer. Invasion seems to be the method everyone finds the most acceptable. Taking their land and their resources by force will show that we are the superior race. That isn't a smart option, however." He locked eyes with each and every man. "Based on the data I've been able to obtain, they greatly outnumber us; approximately ten million to one." He smiled grimly at their gasps of surprise. "Even if we factor in that one Saiya-jin could probably kill ten humans easily, there are still too many remaining."

"So what do we do, sire?" Elder Panpukin asked.

"There are two other options. We can go and negotiate for land and resources," he received a few approving nods, "or we can ask for them." Silence. 'I knew that last one wouldn't go over well,' he sighed to himself. 'As much as I hate to admit it, that may be our only choice.'

Retasu, a lieutenant in the former Saiya-jin army, frowned. "Let me test my understanding," he said slowly. "Our only good options are to negotiate with things that we don't have or go in begging for help?"

"Begging is too strong of a word," Vegeta told him. "*Asking* is the correct term. We can do without a city if we must. Some of our people chose to live directly from the land long ago in nomadic tribes with no true home. If there is no other choice we still have something to fall back upon."

"Is that a fourth option?" the elder asked with mixed feelings. On one hand he felt that Saiya-jin should never rely on another race for survival, on the other he didn't think his weary bones could take so much walking around. And with the ever-present threat of human attack, they could never be truly secure in any place.

"Should it be?" Vegeta asked, truly wondering. For the first time since receiving the Right of Caste from his father, he felt that it took the opinion of many to form a good decision. After all, wasn't it affecting everyone? "Whatever we decide, we must put it to a vote among the other Saiya-jin. It's their future as well."

That drew a silence so pregnant with disbelief that, for a moment, Vegeta regretted his words. The feeling lasted only for a few seconds and it left him feeling defiant. "What are you saying?" Elder Oshinko asked, face red with anger. "Should we throw out several millennia of traditions just because a young, know-nothing king suggests that we should?!"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I've suggested nothing. I am king here!" He stood up and leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. Lowering his voice, he spoke with finality. "So shall it be written, so shall it be done."

Afterward, when all the men had departed in various states of unrest, Bardock approached the king. The two of them stood silently for a moment, each consumed with their own thoughts, until Bardock felt that he had the best words chosen. "Going this route with the government has a chance of working. Our people have been shown that the old ways no longer work, but still need convincing that the new ways are better. You're young and the elders may not listen, yet what you say makes a lot of sense."

"I am still king, Papa. My word is law."

"If you want to have people vote about things, your word is no longer final. Think about that for a little while." He briefly clasped his shoulder and left the room.

He took his advice and sat down to think. Could he give up the ultimate power of a king and be satisfied with the power of a lesser ruler? Could he handle a majority ruling on a decision if it was one he would not have made? Would the Saiya-jin themselves even go for this type of democratic government? Vegeta thought about it long and hard. The class system of old Planet Vegeta was still what most people based personal worth on. The third class would not be considered equal to the first class in any way, yet they were all of the same race. Would the three classes of Saiya-jin work together to make society a better place for them all?

'Saiya-jin just aren't capable of equality,' Vegeta said to himself. 'We prey upon those of a lower class because they are weaker than us in power. It wouldn't matter that they're strong in other ways. The old governmental beliefs are just too ingrained within us all.' It couldn't work, Vegeta realized, the others wouldn't allow it.

However, in his heart, Vegeta knew that he was doing the right thing. Convincing others of that could be a problem, unfortunately. Bardock was the one he usually went to for help, the only person he could trust. This time, though, he felt that he had to solve the problem entirely on his own.