Second Life

Chapter 25

Planet Welver

The ship had an autopilot, which was lucky considering that Turles had confessed to not knowing how to pilot manually. That had been Lakasei and Rasin’s job, the duo built the ship, and piloted it. In the process of that discussion, Turles revealed that not all of his crew had died, both Amond and Lakasei had in fact survived the disastrous attempt on Earth.  However Turles became tightlipped after that confession, only telling them that his crew certainly wasn’t going to try for Earth again.

They all trained constantly during the three day journey, while Bardock flipped through spaceship catalogs and magazines, catching himself up on the latest features and average speeds. He decided he would need only a small ship, designed for short trips since he did consider Earth his home now and he didn’t want to stray too far.

Parzni, who was usually bought in the house long before the moon had a chance to rise back home, loved the view out of the ship windows. The stars had her captivated; the inky black emptiness of space had enchanted her.

Soon enough they were landing. Planet Welver was still buzzing with the news of the Saiyan Pirates escape and his twin savior. Bardock and the others didn’t stop to listen to the gossip but it was everywhere and a saiyan’s hearing was sensitive. The most popular story was cloning, someone was cloning the Saiyan Pirate in an effort to take over the known universe, most thought it was Turles own doing.

Bardock could see that his nephew was amused by the rumors surrounding him and the sharp increase of his infamy, but Bardock was only glad he’d seen fit to wear a cloak and to force Turles back into the one he’d been wearing on Kopoli. Raditz and Parzni’s tails remained hidden beneath their clothes, no need to stir up anything.

Gohan was darting from stall to stall, staring at this and that and listening to the conversations around him. Welver really was the melting pot Bardock had promised Chi-Chi, aliens from the farthest reaches came to buy and sell, and of course to catch up on gossip.

The soon found themselves a spaceship lot. While there were plenty of engineers on Welver selling working ships was a dangerous business. A ship was necessary for most to get anywhere and on a crowded place like Welver, there were many attempts to hijack a ship. So it made sense that the merchant was surrounded by body guards, and that his ship lot was away from most everything else.

They were met at the door by a hulking purple alien who eyed them with suspicion.

“Remove the cloaks,” he growled out at them.

They did so, and the guard recognized Turles immediately but didn’t move to throw them out. “The Saiyan Pirate, huh. No funny business, we don’t care about your history, just about your money,” he told them.

They were ushered into the building where a short little alien sat behind a desk. In front of him was a hologram of a ship. He did not smile but gave them a once over.

“Welcome to Rahi’s Ships. What kind of vessel do you seek?” the creature said though his voice was as low as a whisper.

“Something simple, for short trips but it has to hold enough food for a few saiyans,” said Bardock. The alien nodded. “Max capacity?” he asked. Bardock thought for a moment. He would like space for at least himself and his sons, although Kakarot was dead. Still even if it was Raditz and Turles, or Gohan, he supposed he could use Turles’ ship if they need to take a large group.

“Three or four,” he said indecisively. The alien nodded again and reached out for the controls of the hologram projector. In a few short keystrokes he pulled up six ships. Gohan made a sound of amazement; the alien shot him a look.

“The saiyan appetite is a trying thing. I am assuming that all passengers are saiyan, so an onboard dehydrator is a must,” mumbled the alien. Bardock nodded. Parzni began fussing slightly and the alien seemed annoyed, so Raditz rose and took her out the room.

“Our simplest model, you’d have to install a dehydrator, max capacity is 3, no much living space,” said the alien gesturing to the first ship. Bardock made a face.

“I’d like some space for training,” he said.

The alien nodded, tapped some keys and four of the ships disappeared.

“This one has a capacity for six though the sleeping rooms are cramped, there is an open viewing room that can be used for training and it has one of the best stabilizers on the market,” said the alien.

“The other has a capacity for four, the sleeping room isn’t as small, a training room, and is much faster than the other,” he said pointing to the other ship that was left.

“Hmm, I think the second one would be best,” said Bardock. The alien nodded and dismissed the other ship with a few taps. He and Bardock haggled over price; it was just within Bardock’s budget.

The alien then called the guards who took them to a showroom where the ship was being wheeled in. They were allowed to walk around the ship, it was small but it was perfect. Bardock finalized the deal with a handshake and one of the guards handed Bardock, the keys, along with a thick manual.

They managed to move the ship from the lot back towards the marketplace, parking it inside of Turles ship. Bardock still had some money to spend. They spent five days on Welver, shopping, training, and listening to the intergalactic gossip. Gohan bought an alien dress for his mom, Bardock bought toys for Goten and Parzni. Turles bought himself a lot of alcohol, while Raditz bought a book written in a language no one else could decipher.

All this of course meant that Gohan and Raditz were going to be late getting back to Earth but they figured it was worth it and honestly Chi-Chi didn’t really think they’d be on time did she?