I slowly woke up. I didn’t really want to, but I could smell something. Something cooking. Something warm. I wanted to drift back to sleep, but my stomach roared like a hungry beast. Forcing me awake. Forcing me to stand like a member of the living dead. I groaned and moaned. Shambling my way towards the source of the smell.

I don’t really know what happened. Only that one second, I was shoveling something in my mouth, the next I was back asleep. I woke an indeterminate amount of time later to find myself face down in a bowl. My body still hurt, but… I forced myself up and noticed I wasn’t alone. My fellow Saiyan were all in the same position. Sleeping on the table I was sitting at. Empty plates or bowls before them.

I could smell the scent of cooking food. With a groan I forced myself up, making my way towards the smell once more. This time, I managed to see who was cooking, it was Cook. Food was shoveled down, and I just sat there, unwilling to move. I was exhausted. Yet, even then, with each passing second and warm food in my belly. I felt myself slowly coming back to life.

Feeling more myself, I actually started looking around. We appeared to be in a tent. A makeshift tent, with quickly assembled metal tables set about. The tent itself seemed fairly secure, with multiple guards standing outside on watch. With a groan I forced myself up and out. Taking in the sights.

I didn’t need to use my ki sense to realize just how bad it was. Debris was still being cleared away; people were being pulled from rubble. Both dead and alive. Corpses were being set out for people to identify, and a line of people walked amongst them.

Hauntingly, there were no tears. Even when they saw dead loved ones, they merely sighed or bowed their heads. Clearly exhausted beyond the breaking point. They shuffled and moved like zombies and if anything, Cook’s food was perhaps the only reason any of them had the smallest sparks of life in their dead eyes.

Tents were set all around, people shuffled or sat around blankly staring. People from both my fleet and the now most likely defunct Freedom Coalition were working together. And yet, seeing their enemies, not a soul cared. Everyone was simply too burned out from recent events to care.

Hell, even I was to a lesser degree. Though, all the chaos, the misery and hate. All those negative emotions were bleeding off them and soaking into me. Feeding me, empowering me. It was why, I suspected, why I was even awake when the others were still sleeping. Even Vega was nowhere near recovered, though, I didn’t see Aspa in the tent.

I focused my ki, pulsing it out. He wasn’t far. But, I didn’t stop there. I let my ki reach further out. Giving me an idea of how RON was doing and the picture that was painted, was not pretty. Nearly every planet was a ruined mess. People walked around, dead to the world. Like the living dead.

I could sense that the Majin had found plenty of targets. Plenty of people to mark. The Mark’s had spread like a plague. Infecting and spreading not just through RON, but from what I could feel, it even managed to breach into CHET, DEPP, and REECE. I couldn’t reach very far with my ki sense, or rather get a detailed look. But I saw enough.

Each state was in tatters. Ripped apart by the Majin’s machinations. It was telling and I wasn’t sure if today could even be considered a win. The Majin was likely stronger than ever before. I wouldn’t be surprised if they chose to break out right this moment. Whatever time we had, was like cut short and not just by a little, but a lot.

Sensing this, I didn’t really know what to do. I wanted, with all of my heart, to be able to simply relax. To lie back and watch my shows, play some piano, or something else. Do anything to take my mind off the coming madness.

Unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked, not now anyway. Not today. Sensing me awake and alert, a familiar face approached.

“Jake.” I said his name, but he did not slow. Practically running into me with a hug. It was a bit awkward, but I could feel his excitement and relief. “We won, didn’t we?” I asked, “I expected a bit more celebration.” At those words he finally let go.

“Right, we did beat a God after all.” He said with a smile. Though, it looked subdued. “Though, the cost was not light.” He glanced over to the mayhem.

“I suppose it never is. Going against a god, that is.” I muttered and watched him. He really had grown up quite a bit. “I’m surprised you got up so fast, I figured you’d be out of it like everyone else is.”

“Ah, about that. Remember the blood you sold to the blood bank? We used that to help us recover faster.”

“Makes sense. Though, did we lose anyone? I noticed the dealer, or the card vampire wasn’t around.”

He shook his head in response. “No, I had her stay back to assist with helping to prevent further casualties as we fought. Nobody of importance really died though, well, other than your friend.”

“Right…” I sighed. “I suspect, you didn’t join in immediately because you knew what would happen.”

This time he sighed. “No. I had hoped you’d get a good fight, to make up for what I did back then. I just… I didn’t expect that.”

“I don’t think any of us did.” I replied back, a part of me happy he didn’t jump in and save the day earlier, another part of me annoyed because if he had, maybe this would have ended very differently.

“Anyway, it was good seeing you again, Rettas. I have to keep coordinating the rescue efforts.” I nodded and let him be. Though, I couldn't help but watch him leave. Jake had really come into his own. I watched as he gave orders out and filled me with... melancholy. A bit of pride, and also, a kind of loneliness. He had well and truly grown up now. It was a sad thing, and also, a beautiful thing to see. To see him spreading his wings and truly flying. I kept looking out and something occurred to me. Something odd. There was not a single cloud in the sky. No rain, nothing. I looked up and all I could see were stars.

We really fucked with the planet, didn’t we? I managed to stifle a laugh at the thought. After all, it really wasn’t that funny. Not really. Not long after Jake left, another familiar face came. I could tell immediately something was up. Helmsman walked up to me. His face warring between worry and joy.

I didn’t bother greeting him like usual. I ignored his shocked face when I approached and merely threw him into a hug. “Good work.” I spoke. The man wasn’t quite sure how to respond, but soon enough I felt him calm down if only slightly.

“Thank you, for your kind words, Captain.” He said, and I felt the tension leave his shoulders. I let go and stepped back, eyeing him and looked over to Navigator just behind him. She was giving me a strange look, but I merely shrugged it off.

“It’s good to be home.” I stated, and the pair smiled.

“It's good to have you back.” Helmsman said, and Navigator agreed.

“What’s the damage? How’s Aspa?” I started with.

The frown came right back, but he seemed less likely to break. My hug and compliment having calmed him down, just enough.

“Bad… The Silver Sun, our capital ship took some serious damage, in fact, I don’t think its fighting fit. At least, not anytime soon. On top of that, the fleet took serious damage, at least a third of our ships were destroyed. Of the rest, perhaps half are damaged beyond repair, with everything else having anything from minor to major damage.

Surprisingly, the actual loss in manpower was rather low. With many crew members being able to escape before their ships exploded. Instead forcing them into boarding actions and such. We have more but…”

He trailed off.

“Aspa then.”

“Very well, Aspa was put in a medical tent, his body is in a bad state, but we don’t think he’ll be out for long. Some of our doctors, especially those that trained under Bailey mentioned that it looks like his body was fighting itself. We’re not sure what happened, but maybe it had to do something with his transformation?”

I nodded, agreeing silently. I’m surprised they saw it, but then again. It was very explosive. “Right, what else?”

“We looked over the casualties, and well, we’re still tallying the numbers. But, we can guarantee that at least half the planet’s population is dead. We’re still digging up rubble and finding survivors with the help of the survivors and…” He trailed off, I noticed a ki signature approaching.

I glanced over, their form, familiar. It was the Saiyan teen that mouthed off to me, back on the ship. The one I had given a good punch for being a little shit. She wasn’t alone. At her side were other Saiyan teens, each of them sporting new scars. Cautiously, she approached, looking at me, then Helmsman for approval. He nodded, and she walked forward.

“Rettas.” She started. I stared. “I…” She trailed off. Hesitated and then firmed herself. She stood straight and looked me in the eye. “We want to follow you.”

I cocked my head at her words, my tail snapped behind me. “Aren’t you already?” I asked back. She shook her head.

“No, not really. This, this is different. We want to follow you. No, we will follow you!” She ended in a shout.

“And, what if I don’t want to have you snotty teenagers following me around like baby ducks?”

“We’ll follow you still. No matter what!” She exclaimed, those behind her nodded enthusiastically. A burning fire, no, just mere embers in their eyes.

I sighed theatrically. “Really then? And you won’t regret it?”

“It is our choice, isn’t it? We decided, all of us, that we wanted to see where you would lead us. To see what a true Saiyan is. So, no matter what you say, we will continue to follow you!”

I laughed. They flinched but didn’t step back. “Very well, fine. But that doesn’t change anything. Understand?” She nodded hurriedly and prepared to leave, but… “And remember Brocca, next time, it won’t just be a bloody nose.” She looked back at me in shock. Like hell I was going to remember hundreds of teenager names, but her? I was going to remember her trying to stir shit.

I could see her trying to recollect herself. Trying to figure out what to say or do. Her knee’s bent, her conditioning coming back to the fore. Only, she stopped herself. Hands clenched so hard that I saw blood rip down. “I will remember that.” She said, her eyes glimmering. And so, they left.

I sighed. “Teenagers. Am I right?” I said in a joking tone, Helmsman and Navigator both smiled.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” He finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

“Well, I suppose that’s a good as a time as any. What’s the bad news? The fleet losses can’t be what was causing you trouble, right? Does it have to do with why Skullface isn’t here? And why the fleet seems smaller then I remember?”

He nods. “Yes, during the assault, I suspected that the Freedom Coalition would attempt to pincer us. I had Skullface take a portion of the fleet to protect our backs, however we did not anticipate the betrayal of the White Petal. Still, we received news not that long ago that Skullface was currently in a standoff with…” He trails off. “The Pirate Baron.”

I wasn’t sure what he expected. Me to get mad, to hear me shout and swear. Instead, I was resigned. “I guess I’ll have to head over, but first… Mary, Kaede, are they settling in fine? How about Fera?”

He nods. “All fine.”

“Good, oh, and… Norm, I guess.” I very nearly forgot him again. Weird that. At my question, Helmsman had a very strange look on his face.

“Well, I don’t know how to explain it…” He looked to Navigator, and she seemed just as lost for words. “I suppose we can show you?”

“Sure, fine, how bad could it be?”

They led me to a tent not too far away. The security here was insane. Moreso then even at the tent holding the currently sleeping Saiyan children. They stopped at the door, and I shot them a questioning look, but they just gestured for me to enter, so I did.

I had no idea what to expect. Even then, I wasn’t prepared. Inside, Norm was lying on a bed awkwardly squirming. The reason? There was a girl… No… not a girl, a weird robot girl on him. On my entering, the pair stared at me.

I could sense immediately that the robot girl felt familiar. No, I widened my eyes and prepared to move my ki when she moved. I could feel a towering power in her form. Only for us to be cut off by Norm scrambling out of his bed. “Wait! Stop!” Norm yelled, “Don’t fight!”

His words gave me pause, and the robot girl stopped as well. We both turned to look at Norm. “Mind explaining why you have… a robot girl in your bed?” He blushed hard. Before he could respond, the robot was.

“I was attempting to ‘bond’ with him.”

I opened my mouth to further question that statement, and yet… I realized my sanity was worth far more than that knowledge. “Right, forget I asked. Let’s try that again.” I took a moment to collect myself. “Right, so, why the hell does that robot girl feel like that God we fought earlier? I thought we killed them?”

At those final words he stammered and eventually, he bucked up. “Right, well, uh… See, I was hitting her, and I was saying a lot of things in the heat of the moment. And, well, I couldn’t quite deliver the last blow.” I quirked an eyebrow at that. Knowing I wasn’t going to get a proper response from him I glanced over to the robot.

“Norman, instead of finishing me off, declared, ‘I just want everyone to get along!’ Especially after giving that rousing speech about your so-called path. The collective was, skeptical, and for good reason. However, they believed their judgement was indeed flawed. A vote was taken, and unanimously, it was decided that a new personality, a new soul, me, would be designated to act as a witness to upcoming events.

We wish to see if the future you speak of is true or not, and if not, we will be forced to terminate you.”

I opened my mouth and shut it a few times. Wondering how the hell Norm, of all people, managed to get a robot girlfriend, because it was clear that was what happened. Had he somehow managed to successfully hit on a whole collective conscience? I wasn’t sure I wanted to even think that had happened.

In the end, I merely accepted it.

“Alright, fine. I get that. Totally fine.” It really wasn’t though. “Does that mean you can assist us against the Majin?” Infuriatingly, she shakes her head.

“Unfortunately, in this mode, I do not have access to the full collective’s power. I am no more than an apostle, a witness, a voice of the collective will.”

Right… I shot one last glance at Norm. “Right, well, whatever. Be sure to pay Aspa visit when he wakes up and let him know I’ll be heading out to deal with something real quick.” I was not going to deal with this. Not now. Instead, with that as an excuse, I merely stepped out.

I looked at Helmsman and Navigator both giving me looks. “I’m going to head out and deal with the Baron situation, you both, try and get as much of the fleet battle ready. Any word from DEPP?”

I asked, just to be sure. “Yes, the DEPP rebels have managed to push far into DEPP territory, even putting them near the edge of the capital system, however… We’ve received word, though, we’re not sure how true this is, that the CHET military may be reinforcing the DEPP military.”

That was odd… “Any idea why?” I asked, and Helmsman merely shrugged.

“We don’t know.”

I had my suspicions. We hadn’t been out that long, but… it is likely that the CHET military gave up on trying to patch together CHET after everything. First was the demon invasion, then the flood of Majin marks likely broke what little governance they had left. Though… I could be wrong.

“Right, I’ll deal with Baron and we can figure out what to do after, sound good?”

“Yes, Captain!” He gave me a salute, one that Navigator gave back with just as much enthusiasm. I sighed and started flying off. At least, I could get some time off in space…

Ugh…

FleecedSheep

Aftermath chapter, plus we touch bases with some characters we haven't seen in a while.