Slow…

That’s the only word that could pretty much sum it up. That’s how his journey was going: painfully, agonizingly, catastrophically slow. Bardock had warned Vegeta ahead of time that the only way the cloaking device he installed would stay in tact and project the false data, was if the space pod stayed moving at a speed under 1.250 standard light units. Seeing that under normal circumstances, a saiiyan space pod would be traveling at 12.020 standard light units, nearly ten times as fast. Vegeta felt as if he were a Vendarin snail trapped on top of a Turkien turtle. He already could not stand the cramped confinements of a standard saiiyan space pod. Whenever he normally traveled he would take a royal star cruiser or something from the military fleet, never a simple one man space pod. Although he dreaded the confinements and the extremely slow pace, he was pleased with the advanced adjustment Bardock had designed into it. He received a great opportunity to test most of the advanced functions out, via one of Frieza’s border scout ships, as he was almost run down by one once he left saiiyan space. The fact of the matter was if he had been traveling .0001 units slower and the scout ship had come three seconds earlier he would have space road kill. The scout ship had crossed directly into his flight path, moving at high speed. The fact that they could not see him did not stop them from almost killing him. Wouldn’t that be a sight to see, "The legendary Saiiyan no Ouji Vegeta the fourteenth gets killed by accident in space ship collision right out side of saiiyan space!" Sighing to him self he tried to close his eyes and meditate as the little pod continued to putt, putt it’s way through enemy space.

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Once again the Saiiyan no Ou sat alone within his throne room, but this time as he gazed upon the heavens that shone down brightly through a window bathing him in a starlight glow, his thoughts were not upon his dead mate but of the fate of their offspring instead. His mind raced with second thoughts on his choice to send his son away. Truth be told, he sent Vegeta away for more than just finding a new ally not that he would ever admit the real reason to anyone but him self. For weeks the Ou-sama feared Frieza would lunch another attack on Vegetasei soil. He had paid the ultimate price last time by loosing his mate he would not loose the hire to his empire what little empire that was left also to the maniacal tyrant! So he sent the boy away for his own good and hopeful their world would be in fear no longer when it was time for his return. Vegeta had been gone ten days now and no communications with him could be established. Bardock had advised the Ou-sama to be patient that the Ouji would not be able tocommunicate with Vegetasei until he was far outside of Cold space. Through out the many years of the war the third class warrior had become the Ou-sama most trusted adviser taking the place of the saiiyan royal court in most matters of the kingdom. And with that the Saiiyan no Ou not only entrusted him with matters of the empire but with his life and the life of his son too. He had entrusted Bardock to construct more like the space pod that Vegeta had taken. It was all done in secret with new technology and new metal alloys that the saiiyans seized from one of Frieza’s saiiyan-conquered flagship ship. The Ou-sama only hoped that the technology was enough to see his son’s safety. It was not as if he was worrying over the boy. He knew that his son was very well trained and one of, if not soon to be, the most powerful warriors in the known universe. Yet he knew the journey ahead of his soon could be described as a difficult one to say the least. After five more days had passed, word begun to leak out into Vegetasei that the Ouji was missing, that he had not been seen around the palace or the royal training grounds for days. The people began to gossip and speculate about the missing Ouji's whereabouts. Some went as foras even claiming that he was captured or even killed by Lord Frieza him self. Although the Ou-sama’s favorite story about his son’s whereabouts was the one where he had been sold to a Phalanxen covenant as a sex slave, the Saiiyan no Ou could only imagine the things his son would have to say if he were to have heard such nonsense. Yet in fear that this could damage his son’s mission if word got back to Frieza about Vegeta disappearance the, Ou-sama quickly addressed the people, explaining that his son went to do some intensive training alone in the Luna mountains in hope of taming his elusive destiny. For the most part, the people believed his explanation about the Ouji’s sudden drop from the people’s eyes, not that anyone would ever question the Ou-sama’s word out loud anyway.

As the days went on and no word was heard from the Ouji, pressure from Frieza and his forces intensified. Once again he and his army were close to attacking on Vegetasei soil. On one of the last saiiyan planetary strongholds, the planet Vegasei, a sister world to Vegetasei, a fierce battle wastaking place. Fifteen thousand saiiyans had already claimed Vegasei as their grave and the remaining five thousand could only pray to the gods that, that they would live long enough to make it to night fall when a full moon would shine over Vegasei’s heavens. The brave warriors on the front line had been sendingword to the palace repeatedly in hope of reinforcements but the Ou-sama found that there were simply none to spare. His first commander Nappa warned him that the people were already spread too thin and that the five thousand remaining on Vegasei were brave but expendable compared to the rest of the royal fleet.

"Tell them to die with honor." Nappa harshly spat out.

Outraged by the ideal that true full-blooded saiiyan warriors would be considered expendable like yesterday’s leftovers, the Ou-sama himself decided to leave for Vegasei and take his royal elite’s with him to insure the survival of the remaining warriors posted there.

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Vegeta was finally entering the northern galaxy when he felt it was safe and far enough from cold space to deactivate the cloaking device that was installed and go to full speed. He let out a tired sigh as the tiny space pod began to rumble, whirl, and shake with the sounds of powering up. Vegeta tried to relax a little and get conformable in his cramp quarters before the sleeping gas began to fill the pod. His last, truly rational thought was not of his mission ahead but of his father for some strange reason. Then out of nowhere, blackness simply overtook him.

Thump…

That was all it took, a simple thump…

One single ball of cosmic dust…

The first of what would soon be many. And yet that first little thump of a miniscule piece of an asteroid did the most damage, ripping through the pods outer lining, damaging the systems that controlled navigation, making controlling the pod’s speed and direction impossible. Maybe if the pod’s operator were awake at the time of the system’s malfunction, he could have had a chance of saving or finding a way of fixing the systems before they were too far gone to repair. But that was not the case and was not to be so. Soon more thumps and thuds were heard and a life was hung in a deadly balance.

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