The New Age Empire v2: Book 1

~Chapter Three: Enslavement~

The grassy plains of Namek flew underneath them at an incredible speed. But neither had the time too gaze at it. Mia, because she was on a mission, and V.J. because he was preoccuping himself with trying to catch up to her.

Vegeta wondered about how she became so fast. Was it because she was Son Goku's daughter? While believable as an answer, it just didn't make sense. Genes help determine what you're good at, but someone could suck at science even if their parents were geneticists. Was it because he didn't train as much as he used to? Maybe. But he had been preoccupied with being cool and trying to hang out with Trunks. As a matter of fact, that's all he, Trunks, and Goten ever did. That would sure explain why Pan could beat up her ojiichan easily.

"Could you slow down a bit?" He shouted to her. "We have all day!"

Vegeta knew that he shouldn't have said that as soon as it exited his mouth. Mia didn't even have to turn around, he could sense that she was angry. "Maybe the lives of millions of people don't matter to you. Maybe you think that even though they died before their time, it would be okay to spend a year ressurrecting them. But it does matter to me. It's *not* okay to procrastinate." Her voice lowered to where he almost couldn't hear here. "I though you were better than that, Vegeta."

He wisely decided to stay silent, instead choosing to put on a burst of speed to reach the younger demi-saiyan. The ground below transformed quickly from grass to a clear blue ocean and he could sense that they were almost there.

Fields came into view first and that confused Vegeta. "Why do they have gardens? Nameks don't eat anything..."

Mia snorted. "Don't you know anything? That isn't food, those are the Plants of Agica. In baka terms, more trees."

"I'm not a baka," he said, mildly offended. "It's not my fault no one told me about this. Stop acting so stuck up."

They landed on the ground and she spun around to face him. "I'm stuck up? What about you Mister Prince Vegeta!" Then quite suddenly she made a gasping sound and her hand flew to her mouth.

"What's wrong?" he asked, instantly concerned. But she didn't answer him. Slowly he turned around to see what she saw. His eyes widened as he looked around.

Someone had definitely been to this village before they had and their intent was anything but friendly. Some houses were burned to ashes while others still bore the remains of their tragic fate by the fires that still burned brightly upon them. They could see no bodies but that could mean both good and bad. Based on the destruction that lay before them, they were assuming that the Namek-jins had burned to death in their homes.

"Who would do something like this?" Mia asked no one in particular. "Didn't they go through enough when Frieza's men killed them?"

"There are reasons for everything and I'm guessing that they wanted the Dragonballs." When Mia looked at him curiously, he explained. "Why else would someone come to this planet? There's nothing to see."

"You're right. We need to find Trunks and Goten as soon as possible." As soon as she said it, they heard the sound of booted feet upon the dusty ground. Ducking behind a ruined wall, they watched a grim procession march by.

The Namek-jin hadn't been killed but by the looks of bad guys, they might have wished that they had. They walked in single file, all of them chained together by metal collars around their necks and chains trailing from one steel ring to the other. Some limped heavily, obviously the results of fighting back, while others could barely stand upright because of unnecessary beatings. But whenever one stumbled, he was yanked to his feet savagely by one horned, dark green skinned, black spotted, reptilian looking alien that held the chain firmly in his meaty fist. They worked so fast that the severely wounded fell often. That just gave the reptiles an excuse to abuse them. Not that they wouldn't have done it anyway.

Slowly they moved toward this hover vehicle about one-hundred feet away with their prisoners. Mia and Vegeta watched them a kind of quiet rage as they forced them into the vehicle and they moved off. But something had told them both not to get the aliens' attention or they would end up in the same position as the Namek-jin. That was absurd seeing as they were half saiyan, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

"What are they doing here?" Mia asked him.

"I don't know. But we better find the other two quick."

Blasting into the air, they both headed for Trunks and Goten's ki signatures barely leaving a vapor trail in their wake.

***

Elder Muri was an older namek that took the role of caretaker when the former one had died. He was sitting in a chair outside of his home, watching the children play. It was incredibly peaceful in their village considering what was happened only a hundred miles away. Trunks and Goten landed beside him softly and waited for his attention.

"Hello," Muri said. "What brings you to our planet?"

"My name is Trunks and this is Goten. We really, really, *really* need to use your Dragonballs."

He turned around then. "You're from Chikyuu and there was a terrible war going on their recently."

Goten was shocked. "How did you know that?"

"I sensed it." Standing up he went inside of his house with them following.

"I can't tell you how much this means to us," Trunks said smiling. "See, we already used our wishes for incredibly stupid reasons and almost half of the world's population is dead..."

"Say no more," He reached into a large chest and lifted the five star ball from its interior. "The dragonball is yours."

"Thank you!" Goten exclaimed.

"It's not a problem. Your father has done a lot for our people." He smiled at Trunks. "*Your* father killed some of our number but there are no hard feelings."

He blushed bright red and mumbled something akin to an apology.

"How do you know who our fathers are? We didn't tell anyone."

Muri returned to his seat outside before he answered. "I suspect that you have been told all of your life that you are almost identical in appearance to Son Goku, am I right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It's annoying sometimes."

"And Trunks," he said to him, "do they say the same about you and Vegeta?"

"I'm my Papa with purple hair and blue eyes."

"There you have it."

"Well-" Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the loud rumbling of an engine. The very same hover craft from Mia and V.J.'s encounter floated high above the Elder's village, casting a shadow over the people outside. Everyone looked up in curiosity, wondering about who they were.

"Something's not right," Goten frowned. "*That's* not right. Who are they?"

"Trunks! Goten!" Mia shouted as she landed beside them. "We have to fight them off. The village we had gone to was completely destroyed and they captured the Namek-jin there."

Slowly a crowd began to form around the four demi-saiyans. The emotions of the Namek-jin ranged from outraged to frightened. The children crowded around Elder Muri all hoping that he would send the bad men away.

"Everyone just stay calm," Vegeta said as the hover vehicle landed. "We won't let them hurt you like they did the other village."

"I don't think there is anything you can do," Muri said sadly. "Their hearts are as dark as starless space and just as empty. I fear that they will overcome you, too, if you fight them."

Both Vegeta and Mia started. It was the same feeling that they had experienced before. But then Goku's only daughter shook her head. "We have no choice. If they take us, we can at least go down fighting."

"Damn," Trunks cursed softly, "I should have brought my katana with me from the ship. But I never knew something like this could happen."

The Elder nodded. "It always does when you are unprepared."

The ugly green reptiles approached them with cruel smirks on their faces. In their hands were torches and collars, on their belts were various weapons that would leave a grown man screaming. They stared at Trunks, Mia, Vegeta, and Goten with dead, emotionless eyes. Those same eyes turned to the Namek-jin and lit in pure joy at the mere thought of torturing them. What did they ever do to this race? That was about as answerable as what did anyone do to deserve *anything*.

As they drew closer the children began to whimper. It was a high-pitched, sorrowful sound that tore at everyone's hearts. But like Elder Muri said, there was nothing that they could do.

"What a happy day," one of the reptiles hissed, "you get to become our slaves."

This was about the point where Mia just couldn't take anymore. She pulled her fingerless gloves tighter onto her hands and glared at them all.

"Why are you here? You just can't come to someone else's planet and taken over!"

"Yesss we can," he said, "we know we can. Who are you to ssstop us sssaiyanling?" At her surprised face he nodded. "We have dealt with your kind before. We know your tricksss."

"You transssform at the light of the full moon," the one on his right said, "you are born and bred to fight and kill."

"*We* weren't," Goten said to them. "But obviously you were bred to enslave."

The leader laughed harshly. "Our kind were tired of being ssslaves ourssselvesss. We overcame. Now we conquer." He turned to the other two behind him. "Take them."

Mia ran out to the front of the crowd with the other three close behind. "We won't let you do this."

"You can't ssstop us," he said. "You know you can't."

"I can sure try!" She leapt at him, fully intending on doing so.

"Wait Mia!" Goten shouted. "Damn, she's too reckless."

"What's wrong?" Trunks asked as he observed the battle. "It looks like she's doing pretty good."

"Haven't you noticed yet Trunks?" he asked. "Have you sensed their ki?"

"No, but-"

"Exactly." Goten turned worried eyes to his sister. "They're living, breathing beings. All live things have ki. I think they're hiding it." That was confirmed when the leader grew tired of the battle and knocked Mia away as easily as batting a fly.

"What are they?!" Mia asked, panting.

Before anyone could answer her, the leader reptile raised his hand and shot pale green fingernails in the direction of Mia's neck. Before she could even breath, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the ground. The other two quickly following suit, doing the same to the other three demi-saiyans. New poisonous nails grew back quickly, now again ready to injure someone else.

"We are your end." Cackling, the reptiles then went back to their original task, capturing the Namek-jin.

"We are everyone's end."

***

The first thing that Mia thought about was that her entire neck burned with fire and she touched the side of her neck to discover wounds hardened with dried blood. She quickly checked the rest of her body for bumps, bruises, and broken bones and discovered none besides her back where something was pressing into it. Slowly she sat up and looked around.

She thought that she was in a cargo hold of some sort. It was confirmed when her eyes made out shadowed, squarish shapes in the gloom. Shifting to her knees, she began to crawl around a large crate taking care to keep herself low. Suddenly she spotted her companions lying nearby, still unconscious, on the metalic floor.

"Where the hell am I?" she whispered to herself as she sat down near them. For the moment she didn't want to be alone. "What happened to the Namek-jin?"

Trunks groaned sort of loudly and she looked at him in sympathy. Mia remembered how much her neck hurt we she had awoken. It didn't hurt so much now.

Pressing her hand on his forehead, she tried to keep him still as she checked him over quickly for injuries.

"Relax, Trunks-chan, it's only me." At the sound of her voice, he calmed down. "How's your neck?"

He grimaced and opened his eyes. "Hurts like hell."

She smiled. "That's about right. Whatever they hit us with was sure strong."

"Are V.J. and Goten okay?"

She sat back on her heels as he sat up. "I wouldn't know, they're still out. I didn't look them over yet."

A door somewhere nearby creaked open and footsteps sounded throughout the room. Mia and Trunks both fell silent at the same time and strained to hear the voice's words.

"What are you going to do with them, doctor?"

"Sssaiyansss make great experimentsss asss do sssome Namek-jin. It isss ssso interesssting to open a sssaiyan'sss ssskull to sssee what isss inssside."

The other voice laughed. "Are you sssure it isssn't empty?"

"Oh no. Disssection of the brain isss my favorite part."

"They're going to kill us and cut us open?!" Mia asked in a high squeak.

Trunks shook his head. "No they're not. We won't let them."

"Have you finissshed the device?"

"The one that rendersss a sssaiyan completely helplesss? Oh yesss. Of courssse. I am a geniusss, you know. Sssaiyansss get extrodinary powersss from moonlight. What if sssaid moonlight wasss turned againssst them? It would damage them greatly."

"How would you do that?" The footsteps moved a bit closer and then stopped again.

"I-" The 'good' doctor was cut off in mid-sentence by incredibly loud and painfilled groaning.

Vegeta and Goten were waking up.