Burori lay in a pile of rags, wide-awake. Krinis and Yanorik had fallen asleep hours before, but something haunted the Saiya-jin warrior, preventing him from finding rest. There was an unexplainable feeling of hollowness in his chest, like his heart was not beating between his ribs. He did not feel like himself; he was someone else, someone who was not a fighter, or a monster, or a Super Saiya-jin. He did not know who he was now. He felt like he was nothing.

He looked over at Krinis, and how she slept peacefully a few feet from him, her slender body rising and falling with each gentle breath. Her tail twitched nervously in her sleep. Burori smiled, and he glad to have a companion in the darkness. He had never really trusted anyone before, but now he felt himself trusting her, trusting her with more than he had ever dared to dream before. A few days ago he had held her life in his hands, but now this gentle young woman held his heart in hers. She was not even a true Saiya-jin.

The thought burned in Burori's mind, threatening to resurrect old demons lurking in the corners of his mind. She was not a Saiya-jin, and he was a true-bred warrior. It would be blasphemy to take her as a mate, a crime so terrible that in the ancient days to choose an outsider as a mate meant rejecting your Saiya-jin heritage.

He frowned in the darkness. He was one of the last of an old, proud people. He was a true Saiya-jin, a warrior who fought for the sake of the fight and nothing more. But now he could not remember why he had fought so many long nights ago. There was no burning desire to kill anymore, no drive to destroy in order to block out the pain. There was no pain. There was just an eerie, empty peace in his mind, nothing more.

Did it matter if he violated the old laws? He shook his head, trying to forcefully organize his thoughts. After all, she never even said anything about wanting to be his mate, so wasn't he getting ahead of himself. But when she looked at him, he could feel an intangible pull between them, drawing them together. He realized that he didn't even know any of the courtship rituals that his father had mentioned long ago. Maybe he could ask her father, but he had the sinking feeling that the old man hated him. That was probably with good reason. Burori remembered all too well when he had mocked the old Saiya-jin, and when he had thrown him back with a weak ki attack.

Burori sighed. Dealing with other people was more complicated than he had ever imagined. Battle was simple, primal. There was something primal about the way he felt now, but it was far from simple. He knew what he had to do, but the prospect terrified him. He was more afraid of being hurt by this small, fragile woman than of battling Voma or a thousand warriors like him. But he had to tell her how he felt. That act of opening to her might be enough to let her see how sincere he was, and how much he wanted to hold her in his arms.

Something was wrong though. He didn't just feel emptiness; he didn't just feel this innocent longing for his companion. There was some old hatred roiling in his veins, still unresolved after all these years. He could not remember a face or a name, but he knew that somewhere in the caverns of his memory lurked an enemy so old that he could not remember a day passing where he had not hated him. He thought of that elusive hate, of that feeling that somehow kept slipping through his fingers, and his pulse quickened. There was still a beast inside of him, driving him to hate, and with each passing moment it grew a little bit stronger. He did not know how long it would be until the thing awoke and came to take its vengeance upon his soul, but he feared it. He feared being overwhelmed by hate again, of being so mad with rage that he destroyed without care.

He did care now. He cared about Krinis, and he cared about her father, because she cared about the old man. It was so alien to him, this caring about others, but despite the strangeness of it there were rewards. Every time she looked at him, it was worthwhile. She was worth fighting back the hate, trying to keep the past from swallowing him up and making him a monster. It was for the best that he had forgotten the past. He looked forward to the future now, certain that a better day was on the horizon.

He had to find a way to escape. He knew that Azlan had a plan, but he was not sure he entirely trusted the mysterious creature that had done something to reshape his mind. Azlan might be an ally, but the slave's loyalty had yet to be proven, so for the moment Burori was loathe to entrust his happiness. Krinis and Yanorik had been in the cell for years, so they were unlikely to know of any method of exit, or else they would have left long ago. That meant that it was up to him to find a way out. He would have to be the hero. Burori smiled, wondering what Krinis would think of him as a hero.

Azlan heard the sound of footsteps before Burori did, but soon every slave in the cellblock was awake and quaking in fear at the approaching sound. Burori sat upright, trying to peer out of the grate to see what the commotion was. Yanorik and Krinis slowly awoke; sleep still clouding their thoughts. Azlan braced himself, waiting for the worst.

The grate to Burori's cell slid down into the floor, and he grunted in pain as his heart seized up. He felt dozens of hands on his body, dragging him out of the cell. The guards roughly shoved his companions out of their beds, driving them onward. Azlan's cell opened, and one of the alien guards stepped forward to grab him, only to be stopped in its tracks.

" I don't think we should take this one," the alien grumbled to its partner. The other alien began to open its mouth in protest, but at that instant Azlan stabbed into the creature's mind, silencing its doubt. The guards silently stepped out of the Namek's cell and sealed the exit, leaving Azlan to contemplate the events to come.

Burori knew where they were taking him. He could feel the unnatural ki pulsating from within the engine room, the stolen energy furiously thrashing around the monstrous reactor. The abomination was waiting for him, laying low like a predator crouched to strike. He tried to force his heart to beat, but it was in vain. The slavers still had control over him, and he was still their puppet. He desperately tried to fight off the feeling of helplessness, and with enormous effort he began to gather his incredible ki out from the depths of his being. He would not let them put Krinis in the machine. But even the power of his ki could not overcome his failing heart, and wheezing he collapsed, darkness threatening to overtake him.

His eyes shot open as he felt blood pumping through his body again, and he clutched his chest, thankful to be alive once again. He was surrounded by scores of alien guards, and as he franticly looked at them he could not tell which one held the accursed heart-controlling device. Anger rose upon from within him, and his ki stoked the fires of fury's furnace, filling him with power far beyond anything the guards could ever hope to match. Then he saw his companions, the beautiful half-Saiya-jin and her father, being held down by a pair of aliens, sharpened blades at their throats. Even if he fought, he would never be able to get to them in time. Despair wrapped its skeletal fingers around his heart, and his ki fled, leaving him helpless.

The reactor glowed with hideous energy, black streaks of corruption lacing the ki that flowed within. Mechanical tendrils shot out of the machine, wrapping Burori in their terrible embrace. He felt himself being dragged inside the reactor, but he did not fight it. He finally understood the futility of fighting. There was no way he could beat these slavers here without destroying the one person he now cared about.

The core of the reactor rumbled as it began to drain the huge Saiya-jin's ki. Burori flexed his body in anguish, trying to block out the searing pain that coursed through his blood. It felt like someone was driving iron nails through his body, stripping away all of his living flesh and leaving only bleached bone. He felt violated, more violated than he had even felt when his father had abused him years ago.

The thought of his father caused his eyes to flutter open, and his heart nearly exploded at the remembrance of past sins. He knew that something was beneath that hate, that there was some greater fury still undiscovered in his heart, but even his current rage was enough to swell him with power. The reactor shuddered as it milked him of his power, draining the fruits of his hatred.

Burori screamed in pain and hate, thrashing against the strength of the metal coils. The bindings held, but his fighting fury gave the core more power, and the mechanics in the engine room looked at the power readouts in awe as the ship gained more fuel from this one slave than it had in thousands of others.

Goybi shivered, trying to find a way to forgive himself for what he was about to do. He trusted Azlan, trusted him even more than he trusted himself, but he was about to commit a terrible evil. Sullen, the small lizard flicked on a black computer terminal and awaited his orders.

� � From his command post, Zaros looked out at the green planet, completely lost in his own maze of thoughts. If this demonstration proved successful then it would make valid all of his tyrannical dreams. He anxiously cleaned his talons, admiring their sharpness and precision. He liked to think of himself in those terms: as a sharp, precise tool whose ambition cut through the petty masses and found true greatness.

Now everything was finally coming together. Soon Voma would be out of the medical bay, and he would have a powerful, obedient servant once again. Namek was only a few light-years away, and he had all ready proven that he could destroy the dragonballs by killing the guardians. The Saiya-jin had been subdued, and Zaros had more than one way to keep him from interrupting his plans. Now all that was left was to test the might of his greatest weapon.

Sometimes he marveled at his own genius. When he had first dreamed of the plan, when he had been a lowly warlord on a far off planet, he had never thought that he would have been able to achieve his greatest ambition. But ambition was a powerful thing, and he had trained himself hard to become powerful. Then he had met Freezer, and that had changed everything. Seeing how that petty, abominable little thing had come so far, to the point where minions on distant worlds had considered Freezer a god, Zaros knew that his ambition was powerful. He had worked in secret for many years, courting the cruel alien's favor while gathering together a nucleus of allies that would be able to topple the evil being. He had gotten the Zarastros for his loyalty, and had the privilege of conquering hundreds of worlds. He had found a planet populated by brilliant, weakling scientists, and through them he forged his own awesome weaponry.

The discovery of his treachery had almost been his undoing. One of his trusted allies had betrayed him to Freezer in hopes of gaining favor. Zaros cursed Ginyu, and sincerely hoped that wherever that old fool was that he was suffering greatly. He had piloted the Zarastros deep into space, and only after years of wandering did he find that Freezer was dead. Even the mightiest of beings could fall, and so Zaros learned well from the mistakes of his own master. He had a plan, a well-formulated, flexible, potent plan to seize ultimate power. Soon there would be nothing left to stand in his way, and he would rule over all of creation.

" Goybi, is the reactor ready?" Zaros demanded as he roared into the microphone, anxiety showing through his raspy voice. This would be the determining factor of the plan. If the engineers were right, and the weapon was functional, then everything was ready for conquest.

" Yes, master," the loudspeaker squawked in reply.

" Fire," Zaros hissed.

The little tyrant looked out of the window of his private chambers, anxiously awaiting the results of his test. He saw the little green planet, with its strong, healthy ki wrapped around it like a warm blanket. He sneered as he thought of the millions of ignorant beings scuttling around the dirt, completely unaware of the greater powers hovering around it like vultures. Fate would not be kind to those who were not strong.

The Zarastros rumbled with energy as an impossibly huge amount of ki tumbled out of the reactor, the force of the ki threatening to tear apart the entire ship. Zaros braced himself against the windowsill, baring his fangs in frustration. He cursed the engineers for not telling him about the power output of the reactor. The entire deck shook, throwing slavers and slaves alike like grains of sand in the wind. The reactor howled like a dying animal, its black-veined ki pouring out of the core into the weapons systems of the ship.

Zaros steadied himself and looked out the window once again. Now the entire ship was glowing with radiant energy, its weapons saturated in raw power. It was an amazing sight to behold, and Zaros's corrupt heart soared to witness the strength of his will against the universe. The green planet, unaware of its eminent doom, continued to circle its unnamed star, blissfully ignorant.

The ship bucked forward, and the metal structures shrieked in protest as the Zarastros was almost split in half from the force of the energy that it discharged from its central cannon. The beam shot forward like a ray of absolute blackness, like a strip of void streaking forward. Zaros's eyes went wide, and his face twisted into a maniacal smile as he watched the enormous beam of ki tumble forward, unstoppable in its force.

The beam crashed into the star, and a wave of force shot out from the burning ball in all directions as it shook in agony. The hot white ball that was the star erupted as black energy engulfed it, strangling the energy out of it. The star burst like a ripe melon, sending chunks of searing hot plasma hurtling through space. The tiny green planet disintegrated as the incredible force from the explosion rushed past it, blasting the once teeming home of life into dust. In the passing of a few seconds the concussion of the blast died down, leaving no evidence that a star or a planet or millions of lives had ever existed in that spot.

Zaros stared blankly, almost disbelieving, out of his window. Then excitement roiled up from his black oily veins, and he began to laugh uproariously. At last, it worked. All the pieces were there for his plan to become complete. His laughter filled the room, rebounding off the walls to create a demonic echo of hideous pleasure in the command tower. He had never felt so good, not even when he had been the tyrant lord of hundreds of worlds, not even when his harem of alien woman had filled a small moon. Nothing felt as good to him as ambition fulfilled, as mad dreams finally coming to fruition.

Suddenly he sobered himself, well aware that problems had arisen before when he had been close. He flipped on the microphone, new fears now eating through his thoughts.

" Goybi, give me a status report!" Zaros screamed, barely able to restrain his nervous anger.

" Master," Goybi replied nervously, not daring to tempt his lord's wrath, "The ship is doing well, and in a few days we will have the reactor powered up again to previous levels. All the weapons are still intact, and no major systems have malfunctioned."

" Good, good," Zaros muttered, more to himself than to his engineer. Then anxiety seized him again. " What about the Saiya-jin?"

" Um, master," Goybi muttered, trying to gather his thoughts.

Zaros's fears and rage fed each other, growing more and more intolerable with each moment. He was so close, so deliciously close, and he was not willing to let a little fool slave destroy his plan now.

" Goybi, tell me about the Saiya-jin!" Zaros shrieked, unable to hold back his emotions. His entire body began to heat up, and he felt his calm demeanor falling apart like a plate of shattered glass.

" Master, the Saiya-jin is alive," came the reply, and Zaros's heart immediately began to calm. At least the Saiya-jin was alive. That meant that he could be healed and used again. The plan was still intact.

" Excellent," Zaros cooed. " So what else? Why are you hesitating?"

" Well, um, master," Goybi stammered, trying to avoid the tyrant's wrath. "Master, the Saiya-jin came out of the reactor fighting, and it took the guards quite a fight to bring him down, even with the heart controller. He was shouting, and he said that before he breathed his last he was going to see you suffer."

Zaros chuckled. The stupid Saiya-jin was far from the first that had sworn revenge upon him, and was most likely not going to be the last. Still, Zaros knew that defiance was unacceptable. As long as the Saiya-jin thought that it could defy him, it would fight, and as long as it fought, it had the potential to ruin his carefully laid plans.

Zaros was resolved. The monkey had to be taught a lesson. It would learn that its power was finite, and that it was nothing more than a slave in the clutches of the most powerful being to ever exist. Zaros snarled, his fangs clicking upon one another. His talons tapped against his armor as he thought of how to deal with the deviant.

" Goybi, have the guards bring the Saiya-jin and the heart controller to the command tower," he hissed, his voice barely concealing his contempt for the slave.

� � Azlan snapped out of his trance, his heart cold in his chest. Finally, the time was at hand. After years of waiting and watching, the evil fool had finally been able to gain enough power to achieve his mad goals. Azlan had felt the screaming ki of the dying planet, and the massive dark energy that had engulfed the star.

Now it was even more desperate of a situation, and it would take furious energy to avert the destruction of his beloved home. Azlan knew that he would die, and that the Saiya-jins would die, but that could no longer be helped. He now had to stop Zaros at any cost, even at the cost of a hundred worlds. Namek would be saved, but the salvation of Namek would not be enough to save his soul.

Azlan bowed his head, gathering his energies through deep meditation. He was strong, perhaps the strongest of his race that had ever taken up the mantle of the fighter, but Zaros was invincible. It would take many sacrifices to stop the onslaught of destruction.

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