The New Age Empire v2: Book 1

~Chapter 4: Experimentation~

All conversation halted between the doctor and the other reptile as the two young men continued to moan as if they were dying. Mia smacked them both, hard, and they ceased the irritating noise.

"Great job, bakas," Trunks told them. "Now they know we're awake."

"Kami Mia," Goten complained as he rubbed his cheek. "Did ya have to hit me so hard? I'm tellin' Kaasan when we get home."

"Grow up, Goten. They're are more important things in life than getting me in trouble with Kaasan. Besides, if you would train more it wouldn't have hurt."

"Well, well, well," a green-skinned face with tiny spectacles peered over a low crate at them, "Are thessse the sssubjectsss?"

"Subjects for what?" Goten asked in a small voice.

"They're going to lay us down on a cold, metalic table," Mia said very calmly, "and cut open our skulls so they can study our brains. But you won't have to worry about that. Your brain wouldn't interest them."

"N-nani?" His eyes widened in shock. "You can't do that!"

"I sssubdued you with poissson before." The other reptile hissed with a smirk. "I can do it again."

There was silence for a moment until Vegeta asked a question.

"What are your names?" That was the last thing anyone would have expected to come out of his mouth.

The doctor frowned at him. "He is Captain Sssarden and I am Doctor Judek. Why did you want to know?"

Then Vegeta smiled dangerously and grabbed him by the colar of his lab coat. "Because I always know the names of those I kill."

Doctor Judek gulped audibly. "C-captain, help!"

Sarden looked around helplessly for a moment before he came up with something. Stepping around a pile of boxes he stopped next to Mia on her left. "I don't think you want your Namek-jin friendsss hurt." He held up a communicator. "I can make it happen, you know."

Vegeta glared at him, an almost identical expression to his father, and pushed the doctor away. "Take us to them."

The captain smirked. "Follow me."

***

"Our facility is almossst perfect in every conceivable way." The doctor was in his element, science and technology. They walked down a brightly, almost blindingly, lit white-walled hallway through each area of the ship. Judek thought that they needed a tour of his pride and joy. There were hundreds of crew members, all nearly identical to the ones accompanying them except for slight changes in the horns and skin pigmentation, going about their daily duties. Most of them shot dirty looks at the demi-saiyans while others either pitied them or didn't care. Judek began with the crew quarters and ended with the labs. Of course that was where it was going to end for them so it was convient.

"Our holding cells are over here," the doctor said as he led them to a back area of the spotless laboratory. "All of our new slaves get full physicals before they are put to work."

"They're going to become slaves?!" Mia's eyes narrowed as she pushed past the two reptiles and turned the corner. They heard a gasp from her as she ran to the bars of the cell. There were two giant rooms next to each other filled with Namek-jin from each of the two villages they had destroyed.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked as her right hand reached out to touch one of the bars.

"No don't!" Muri cried as her hand made contact. There wasn't a sound from the bars but a short shriek of pain went up from her. Mia jumped back, clutching at her hand.

"What the hell is running through those things?!" She looked at her burned hand. "Electricity?"

"They told us that any warm blood that touches them will get burned." A little Namek-jin boy said. "Cold bloods can change their body temperature to adapt. Warm bloods can't."

"Yesss, the barsss' temperature is a nice one-hundred fifty degreesss Fahrenheit:" The doctor came to stand next to her. "You'd better put ice on that." If Mia's scalding look of hatred could kill, he would have died a long time ago in that storeroom. At this point her hands were just as ready to do the job.

"Those bars did that to her hand?" Goten asked, ready to do the older brother thing and protect his little sister.

"I'm okay, Goten-chan." Mia smiled at him. Then she turned towards Judek once again. "But he's not gonna be in a minute."

"Look at that, two people want to kill you already." Trunks commented.

"I am the head doctor of thisss lab," Judek held his head up high. "And you four are my sssubjectssss of ssstudy. You ssshould be honored!"

Vegeta began to move towards him. "Oh? And why is that?"

The doctor backed away slowly, trying to keep a good amount of distance between himself and Vegeta. He did not want a repeat of the storage room incident. "My work isss sssplendid. I have made breakthroughsss for almossst everything. Thisss very ssship isss the only one is ssspace that can mine metalsss from asssteroidsss and other celessstial bodiesss."

"What are you going to do with the stuff you mine?"

The doctor snapped his fingers and an aide brought a rolled up blueprint. "We plan to build the mossst beautiful empire in the universsse."

Vegeta started to laugh deeply and loudly. He laughed for a long time, posing only to catch his breath and to wipe the tears from his eyes. Through the whole thing, everyone in the holding cell area was watching him just in case he was suffering some mental illness and would snap at any moment.

Finally someone spoke. Trunks smiled bemusedly. "Totochan, what are you laughing about?"

V.J. finally caught his breath and pointed at Judek. "He said that they were going to have the most beautiful empire out there."

No one understood. "Um hai," Trunks said. "he did."

"But Papa is tryin' to rebuild his and unite the human race." Still, no one laughed. V.J. thought about this for a moment longer and then he shrugged. "You're right. It's not funny at all. In fact, it'a a challenge." He once again advanced on the doctor. "Are you challenging the saiyan king?"

"Why isss it that everything I do or sssay ssseemsss to irritate thisss one?"

Mia put an arm around his shoulders. It *wasn't* a friendly gesture. "Well you see, Vegeta Jr. is the one who inherited Vegeta-ojisan's personality the most. His father is *much* worse than this. You can stay quiet and not look at him and he'll get angry." This was an exaggeration now. But her tousan had told him about the Vegeta from before Trunks was born. She was sure it was still in him, just buried deep down.

With one quick movement, she grabbed the back of his lab coat and shoved him roughly toward the cells. "Release my friends *now*."

Shaking like a leaf in the wind, he walked over to a panel on the wall and pushed a series of numbers on the key pad. After a moment, the computer dinged and the bars slid up into the ceiling. The little Namek-jin boy that had told Mia about the bars, darted between the legs of the adults and hugged her hard.

"Domo arigatou, Mia-san!" She smiled and patted him on the head.

This done, Trunks walked through the entranceway and back into the main part of the lab where scientists of all shapes and sizes were performing tests on a large chunk of rock. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light from it and it fell into two halves onto the table.

"We've finally broken it, doctor," One reptile, female by the sound of her voice, told him, "and are now ready to study it's contents." Her S's did not hiss like the other ones they had listened to. She sounded almost normal.

"Good, Amarkan," the doctor responded with a smile on his face, "let usss now retrieve the ring."

Slowly everyone began to crowd around the table in curiosity as another one of the lady scientist's colleagues began to chip delicately at the rock surrounding something embedded in the stone. Just as they were finishing up, the glass doors to the lab burst open and Captain Sarden.

"We have all ssseven dragonballsss, sssir," he saluted smartly, "but what do we do with them exactly?"

"Idiot! Have you not read about the infamousss dragonballsss of Namek-sssei?" Then he shook his head. "Nevermind. Place them over there."

"What do you want with them?" Muri asked. "Why do you want to make a wish?"

"That isss none of your busssinesss really," the doctor said even as Sarden told him.

"We want the wissshesss for our empire. We want one wisssh for it to be forever protected from outssside invasion; we want the second wisssh for our king and queen so that they may live a long, happy life; and the third wisssh...." He smiled in delight. "The third wisssh is the besst one of all."

"We have not had any new hatchlingsss on our planet for oh ssso long," his face grew sad as did every other reptile in the room. "There is sssomething going on that it preventing our wivesss and daughtersss and ssistersss from having children. Asss a result, our people are ssslowly dying off." He looked up at Muri. "I don't want that to happen."

"I see," Muri said quietly. "I understand. It is awful not to have children around. We will let you use the dragonballs for at least that wish."

"It's sad but we really need one of those wishes. Probably two." Mia said. "It's my tousan. Me an' Goten's tousan actually," she began to explain to them. "He's dead and so is half our population. We need at least two wishes to bring back them all."

"You can't jussst ussse one?" Judek questioned.

She shook her head. "Tousan, Krillin, Yamcha, and Roshi have all died before. It will be hard to bring them back and one mass wish isn't going to do it."

"No! We must reserve that wish for our people's safety!" Amarkan suddenly cried out. "The Lyz'da need it more than you do!" She rushed over to the small table that held the softly glowing orbs. Mia met her across the table.

"We can give you safety! You can have one wish and I promise that our people will protect your planet." Once it was out of her mouth she regretted it. Vegeta probably wouldn't fufill her promise and these people would die because of it. But there was nothing she could do. Amarkan's eyes shone brightly as she slowly digested her words.

"You will?" She said in a tentative hopeful voice as if she were afraid that it was just a dream.

"Hai," Mia said with a smile. "We will." That was when Trunks grabbed her by the arm and forcefully yanked her to one side.

"Are you insane?!" He asked in a low voice. "Papa won't protect these people! You know how he is!"

"I have a plan. Don't worry." She said that now, but really she didn't have any idea how to take care of this.

***

On ancient Vegeta-sei in the calmer days of the early empire, a king could do any number of things to call his people to court. There was the posters on the walls of the marketplace idea that didn't really do much since more than half the population couldn't even read and there was the shouted announcements in the square that also didn't have much effect since saiyans are generally loud and obnoxious.

Then there was Dreamspeak.

Dreamspeaking was a unique thing. A king, queen, or any other high royal authority could actually speak to the entire race in their dreams to tell them of an important meeting or function. It was like a mental public service announcement. It had proved quite effective in the old days and saiyans did not forget what had existed in their dreams.

So in the spirit of old Vegeta-sei -- and the fact that his patience would run thin long before he got people to listen to him -- Vegeta performed a Dreamspeak that night to announcent his intent on ruling the world. Not that exact wording of course.

He lay in his bed, next to Bulma, and quietly put himself into a trancelike state. It was similar to the one he adopted when in deep meditation but much more involved.

"People of Chikyuu, I come to you this early morning to formally announce my kingship. I, Vegeta-oui the Tenth, shall reunite these lands and bring peace to all of their citizens. What does that mean for you? I offer you protection from outside forces and a more stable existence for everyone."

Yes, Vegeta Jr. was actually Vegeta the Eleventh but his father felt that the old way of governing was wrong therefore it was right to consider himself Vegeta the First. The first of a new era.

"My two eldest children are currently on a mission to wish back the people lost in the recent battle with the Kamoku-jin. If you have lost loved ones or friends recently then you will be pleasantly surprised to get them back very soon. I end on this note: all is not lost and the world will be reborn into something glorious."

Vegeta smiled a little to himself as he ended the Speak. He had to admit that his speech was near perfect.

Then he noticed Bulma. The worried lines that had creased her brow had eased somewhat in her sleep. Vegeta gently took a hand and brushed back her bangs.

"I am certainly looking forward to the dawn," he commented softly to himself, "It should prove to be interesting."