Shael was too nervous to wonder at the shattered splendor of the palace as he was led inside. Once a towering reminder of the Roc's invincibility, it retained a glimmer of its old majesty even now. Mordrig's path of destruction had never led him to the royal chambers, thankfully; King Deoge had survived the attack unscathed. It had been extremely fortunate. Deoge had no heir, and the fights which would have broken out over the succession(were he to die)would have torn Geo apart. Deep in thought, Shael nearly bumped into his escort, a slowly shuffling guard. He looked tired. Because of their reduced numbers, most of the royal guard had been doing double and triple duty to protect the king and keep the peace. Shael didn't envy them; though now that he'd returned, he'd probably be joining their ranks.

The guard stepped aside, gesturing for Shael to enter the throne room. Shael was immediately struck by the immaculate opulence of the chamber; it was a stark contrast to the rest of the city. Shael knelt before the throne. To his surprise, Deoge rose and came to him, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. Shael stood and waited. After giving the warrior a searching look, Deoge gestured for Shael to follow him, leading him to a small room off to the side. He shut the heavy door behind him and sat.

"Sit down, Captain. We must talk." Shael seated himself, now even more uneasy than before. The king apparently took no notice.

"Azher tells me your pursuit of Mordrig was successful."

"He's dead, your majesty."

"But not because of Koretz," Deoge mused.

"Koretz had a part in it, I'm sure. He died in battle."

"As he should have." Shael looked stunned, and Deoge added, "It's the only honorable way for a warrior to die."

"Yes, of course."

"What do we know of the one who killed Mordrig?"

"Virtually nothing, and I'm not so sure it was only the effort of one which defeated Mordrig."

"Of course not, but one powerful enough to deliver the fatal blow is still a force to be reckoned with. You say it wasn't a Saiyan?"

"I don't think so, your majesty. She had no tail."

"She?"

"Yes, your majesty."

"You spoke with her?"

"Only briefly. With Mordrig dead, our orders were to return to Geo as soon as possible."

"Quite a laudable objective, but what of her, now?"

"I'm not sure I understand, your majesty."

"If she was able to destroy Mordrig, she surely can take on any of the shape-shifters, and could be extremely useful to us."

"But, sire, we're not at war with the shape-shifters; only Mordrig."

"Of course we're not at war with them, far from it, in fact." He looked significantly at Shael. "She would be a tool, not a weapon."

"What are you suggesting, your majesty?"

"I have been working towards a tentative agreement with Lord Denatu--"

"Denatu?!" Shael burst out. "He can't be trusted! He's only been ruler for a year; what about his brother?!"

"Shael," Deoge snapped, "you would be well-advised to hold your tongue in my presence!" Shael felt queasy.

"My deepest apologies, your majesty, for my rude outburst. Please continue."

"Denatu has offered us immunity from his armies in return for the capture of a being stronger than a shape-shifter. If we can get this girl for him, he will order his troops to leave Geo in peace. Otherwise, we will be included in the takeover."

"Troops? Takeover?" Deoge nodded gravely.

"Soon, very soon, Denatu will be deploying soldiers to conquer every planet they can reach. With the fall of the Changelings, he feels he has a good opportunity." He stopped a moment and sighed. "We cannot stand against him; we simply don't have the strength or numbers. This immunity is our only chance of avoiding his conquest."

"But if we had the Earthling on our side--"

"Shael, she may be able to kill a shape-shifter, but a whole army of them? No. This is our only option. We need this Earthling. That is where you come in. I'm sending you and your crew back to Earth to retrieve her. I don't care what you have to do to retrieve her, just bring her back alive. Do you need any more soldiers for your crew?"

"No, sire, we only lost four, including Koretz."

"I know Fespa was one of the other three. Who were the remaining two?"

"Just grunts; I think one was one of Fespa's underlings. They weren't important."

"All right then. You'll leave as soon as your craft is checked and re-supplied. Prepare your crew. They've been sent to the quarters in the basement of the palace. You may join them for now, and leave tomorrow."

"Will that be all, your majesty?"

"Yes. You may go now."

"Thank you, your majesty." With a courtly bow, Shael took his leave; his head was spinning. Whatever he'd thought of Koretz before his death, Shael began to envy him now. 'What I have gotten myself into?'

*****

Degradu paced around the small room, grumbling to himself. SP3 should have arrived by now, but he'd heard nothing from his contacts. 'Maybe they're not back yet. Perhaps Mordrig put up more of a fight than they'd thought he would. Maybe the damned ship exploded along with everyone on board and all my plans are through.' Degradu sighed, still pacing. He needed a backup plan, but this had seemed so foolproof! He hadn't counted on his brother trying to establish an alliance with the Roc. He'd only heard rumors, of course, but the whole premise seemed ridiculous enough to be the brain-child of his idiot sibling. It had all seemed so simple, and now Denatu was threatening his plans--again. He stomped into the tiny control room of the hideaway.

"Anything yet?"

"No, sir." The operator looked anxious. He was quite young, certainly young for the kind of espionage he was now undertaking, but he'd volunteered for the job, and Degradu had had no choice but to take him on.

"Where the hell are they?" he growled. "Damn stupid idiots probably got themselves blown up or something."

"I doubt it, sir. They've just gone out of range, or they're not responding. The pod was released without a problem; Mehat should be there by now. There's probably just been a delay in getting rid of Mordrig."

"Can't you check with Geo to see if SP3 has arrived?" Degradu snapped.

"Not without getting caught, sir. They're very careful with transmissions these days." Degradu sighed tensely.

"What about the others? Have any of them called in?"

"No sir."

"Well, try again, damn it!" Patiently, the young shape-shifter checked each of the stations, repeating his message.

"Come in, repeat, come in, this is checkpoint, over." No response, except a strange sort of background noise from the SP3 pod.

"Mehat, come in, this is checkpoint, come in, over." There was a moment of silence, then an uncertain voice on the other end.

"Ah, I read you, checkpoint. Mehat is--incapacitated right now."

"Then who is this?"

"My name is Takira. Mehat took me from my planet and for that reason he is now dead. Are you Degradu?" Degradu shoved the operator aside, taking over.

"This is Lord Degradu. Are you the one we seek?"

"Mehat made it sound that way. I killed Mordrig; apparently that was a big deal, and now you have a mission for me, correct?"

"That's correct. Did he give you the details of the mission?"

"No, he said you would."

"I will--once you get here. How long until you arrive?"

"How the hell should I know? I don't even know where I'm going; the autopilot's in control."

"Then it'll get you here all right. We await your arrival."

"Until then; signing off." The station clicked silent, and Degradu allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before standing and shoving the youth back to the console.

"Keep checking the other stations. We must leave nothing to chance."

*****

Gohan had finished constructing the program that would take them back to Earth. For the moment, they were still following Takira's trajectory, but had shut off the engines to slough off speed before reversing directions; they coasted, falling farther and farther behind. Goten had been staring despondently at the scanner screen as Takira's blip became more distant. Several times he had nearly given in to the urge to call her up again, but Gohan had refused. Trunks had not yet returned. Gohan paused to stretch, cramped from crouching over the console.

"Is it done?" asked Goten. Gohan nodded.

"All I have to do is hit 'run program' and we'll be headed back," he said, though he made no move to do so. Goten rose and stood next to him.

"Are you going to or not?"

"Of course I am, I'm just letting the ship slow down a little more before we reverse, to save the thrusters a little."

"Hmph," Goten grunted, obviously unconvinced. Gohan flashed him an irritable look.

"I don't like this any more than you do, okay? I don't like it, but Takira's right, it's too much of a risk."

"She risked her life for us."

"She had other reasons for wanting Mordrig dead. Besides, she told us to turn back, and we'll just have to respect her wishes."

"I don't think it was really her wish. Why don't we contact her again?"

"It'll only aggravate matters more. Why would you want to talk to her again? We already said goodbye."

"Trunks didn't," Goten amended quietly.

"In his own way, he did," Gohan sighed.

" 'Damn you' is a hell of a way to say goodbye to someone you'll never see again."

"Do you think you can get him to come talk to her? Goten, he won't even talk to us. It's a shitty way to end things, but it's our only option. I'm sorry."

"So am I," Goten whispered. "Well, have we slowed down enough yet?" Gohan nodded and Goten turned away. "Go ahead and do it." Clenching his jaw, Gohan lowered his fingers to the console.

"Stop." Gohan and Goten turned to see Trunks entering the room, his face set. "I don't care what she said. She wants us out of this, either because she doesn't know what lies ahead, or she does know because she's part of it. I want to find out which it is. Lock back on again; we'll follow at a discreet distance."

"Trunks, are you sure about this?" Gohan asked warily. "She seemed pretty clear on the matter."

"I'm also being clear. I don't think she meant what she said anyhow. She's afraid of getting us into a dangerous situation because of what happened to Vegira and almost happened to me; but I think she may need help wherever she's going. The Roc wouldn't have felt the need to shock her into submission if this were a peaceful mission." Gohan made one last conscientious objection.

"Are you sure it's worth it to--"

"Yes," Trunks interrupted sharply. Gohan looked at him a while longer, then turned back to the console, pressing buttons. The computer beeped and he gave Trunks a grim smile.

"Okay. We're locked on again." Trunks shut his eyes and sighed.

"Thank you, Gohan." Goten walked over to Trunks and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. Trunks gave him a bemused look.

"What?"

"Nothing," Goten said with a smile. "It's just good to have you back. Come on, let's pick up where we left off; we were heading for the gravity room." Leaving the computer to manage the craft, the three headed for their training.

*****

Takira slashed the air viciously, trying to maintain her center of gravity. She'd been training transformed, trying to adjust to the new power. It was useless unless she was able to control it tightly, but staying transformed was difficult. For all the power it gave her, it required more energy to maintain, and the strain was beginning to tell on her. Every muscle in her body cried out for rest, and at last she gave in, reverting to her human form and sinking to the floor, gasping.

After a while she pulled herself into a sitting position, hands clasped around her knees. She normally didn't train this hard, but in this case her reasons were twofold: one, to prepare for whatever this Degradu had planned, and two, to take her mind off more painful subjects. She cringed, remembering the last she'd heard from Trunks. 'He hates me now,' she thought bitterly, 'but it was necessary. I owe them too much already. That stage of my life is over; I've got to keep looking ahead. I've been too caught up in my past. It's time to start a new life. No connections, no regrets, nothing to hold me down. This is the way a Saiyan was meant to live.' Then why didn't it feel right? Hastily, she pushed such thoughts aside, lurching to her feet to continue her training. She didn't know where she was going or why; she had to be prepared for all contingencies.