I sighed. A shocking thing to do in space. The abyss of space… I remember how terrified I was of it, and not too long ago, how much I hated travelling in space even with Vega at my side. I had thought I would go mad if left alone. I had felt so small. So alone.

And yet, now? Now it was oddly comforting. It was so large that I never felt like I would ever run out of places to go. Able to freely fly or float wherever I wanted without care or worry. The endless nothing, a comfort to my exhausted soul. But, even then, I knew, I had a little more to go. Just a little more.

It didn’t take long to find Skullface, rather, I had him in my sights since I left Elysium. My ki senses had reached out and locked on the man. Helping to guide me in the endless nothing. Like a lighthouse guiding a ship at night.

It didn’t look like much fighting had occurred. I could even sense Baron, sitting on the larger ship. It was curious, but I had an idea of what was supposed to happen. If my fleet had shattered, leaving Skullface alone, Baron would have charged, wiping him out. After all, Baron’s fleet was massive. Larger than even the Freedom Coalition and my fleet combined.

Though, the ships making it up were more or less junkers. A wild mix of ships from civilian to military grade. A fleet of pirates. The how and why of Baron gathering them, I wasn’t sure. Which is why I didn’t even stop to greet Skullface, I merely flew by, bypassing the fleet and continued on. Aiming right for Baron’s ship.

It was large, extremely dated, but it was obvious that the ship had been heavily modified and changed. I sensed no powerful ki signatures. On approach, I felt guns focus on me. People watching me and yet, no hostility could be sensed. A hangar bay opened, inviting me in. Inside, Baron’s personal guard greeted me, and without a word led me to the bridge.

The bridge was rather simple. Simple, yet serviceable. A recessed area near the front was laid out to allow crew members to work and coordinate, a large area open at the center, with a chair, where the captain of the ship was supposed to sit. Only, Baron wasn’t sitting. He was standing at the forefront. Staring out the bridge windows. Looking towards Skullface’s fleet, but I could tell, he wasn’t looking at them, but the stars beyond.

The guards after having led me in, closed the door shut behind me, leaving me alone with the colossi. I made my way down and walked beside him. I looked comically small beside him and yet, it was what it was. We both stared out at the stars. Neither of us bothering to speak for a time.

Eventually however, progress needed to be made.

“So, what’s happening Baron? What is all this?” I asked, my tone decidedly neutral. Baron didn’t immediately reply. He offered no drink or food. Instead, he sighed and walked away. His eyes on the captain chair for a moment before turning to face me. I noted, that we now stood across from each other.

So close, and yet, I felt with that single movement, an impossible divide had opened between us.

“This…” He started. Gathering himself up. “Is me doing what I can.” I watched, I listened. “Do you remember what I told you my dream was? My goal? Why I never called myself a king?”

I thought, I remembered. “You wanted to create a haven for pirates, a place where people could escape society and be themselves, or such. Right?”

He nods. “Yes. However, I want more than just that. I want to create a world, no, a universe where there is no law. Where everyone holds their own destiny in their hands. With no governments, no militaries, nothing. I want a place where everyone could be free to be who they are.”

His words evoked something. An old memory. A fond memory. A hazy one as well. Baron’s words, his goals, they sounded awfully familiar. Like the old cowboys, of the American west coast. Of the days of outlaws and sheriffs. An honest time, a terrifying time.

To think, Baron was more like a western cowboy than anything else. No wonder I liked him.

“That is a good dream. A good ideal to serve.” I agreed wholeheartedly. Oftentimes, people thought of bygone era’s of a time long since passed. Times of knights and chivalry, of emperors and kings. With the march of time, what was, became buried. Ceasing to exist. Tales of men standing their ground against hundreds with naught but a spear. Of holding a gate shut with their body alone. Of single handedly deciding the course of war through one’s actions.

Funnier still, I never took Baron for a romantic.

“Isn’t it?” he said. “Society, laws, governments, politicians. They have grown too much and must be weeded. Like an overgrown forest, they must be burned to the ground so that new life may come into being. This, Rettas, is an end of an era.”

I knew as much. “I know that much, after all, I was the one to initiate this end. Was I not?”

He nods. “Yes, which is why, I ask, will you join me? We could erase all technology, resetting the universe to an older time.” He asked and yet, I knew he knew, that I would never agree.

“What of my fellow Saiyan? Do we not upend this world?”

Again, he shakes his head. “Your people maybe powerful, and even with your numbers expanded, I know the universe is a big place. Big enough for your people to find somewhere to settle and thrive.”

He was, again, not wrong. Perhaps, if this was the older me, I would have jumped at this chance. Reveling in the chaos, simply ending it all and allowing myself to enjoy burning it all. Then again, I have grown from who I was. To who I am now.

“Unfortunately, I cannot do that Baron.”

He was silent for a moment, “I figured as much.” He said, a sad smile on his face. “Then, what is it you plan to do? Uphold society? Simply let it rot, or try to fix it?”

“Close, but you lack imagination, unfortunately.” I started first, piquing his curiosity. “I plan to burn it all to the ground. Stamp it down, using the bones of this universe to build a path, a road. A foundation.”

His eyes widened with every word.

“You plan to build an empire, is it?” He said, almost lost. His hand went to his chin, rubbing at it. Lost in thought.

“Indeed, I would have been satisfied with some power, but… the number of people I have grown to care for have grown. Grown well beyond what I could ever hope to contain with my own power. Eventually, I would lose them. We would split to the four winds, never to be seen again. It is only a matter of time after all.

Even now, I can feel the fractures appearing. People planning to leave, to rebuild on their own.”

“So, you plan to rope them into this plan of yours?”

I smiled. “Of a sort.”

“Even then, how can you keep them going? How do you plan to keep it so that they never leave? Would they not tire, move on? Even then?”

I laughed. A low laugh, that turned into something wild. Only when I stopped did I speak, fangs bared. “Simple, by becoming something they could never hope to reach. A star in the sky, forever unreachable. So beyond them, that even when they spend their whole lives reaching, they would never hope to touch me. That, is what I hope to be.”

He blinked. “So, you wish to ascend your fleshly body, becoming something more? An ideal, a fantasy. How would you even accomplish that? Even if you kill the Majin, that would still not be enough.”

“Would it though?” I asked and Baron stared at me, long and hard. I could tell, hearing those gears grind and clank. I could tell the moment he understood what I meant.

“You…” He started and laughed. “Truly, you really are a monster, a true beast.” He said in praise shooting me a wild grin.

“I’m glad you approve. Now, how about it? Care to join? To see the big finale?” He shook his head. “I thought not.” I said, seeing the look on his face.”

“Once a captain decides their course, rarely do they change said course. I am committed, Rettas. And I will put my everything on the line to fight you.”

“Without a mark? Without any extra power?”

“I stand before you, with only the strength of my flesh and will. Does that prospect frighten you?” He said in jest.

“Truly? It does, knowing that with these actions of yours, you may yet become immortal. Forever etched into my mind and soul.” I said with a dramatic sigh. He laughed.

“To think, I would one day be regarded as the shortest-lived immortal.” We both shared a final laugh. “So, are you ready?” He asks, readying himself.

“Not quite, first, an angel, no, a Seraphim, did you meet her? Michael’s mother? The person behind the whole incident with Jolly Roger.”

“I have indeed met with her, even worked with her before.”

“Where is she?”

He shrugs and speaks. “I have no clue, after coming back from REECE, she took their experimental ship and left the universe for parts unknown.”

I sighed, knowing that tying up that loose end wouldn’t be possible. “Thank you for informing me of that.”

“There is no need for that. We are friends, are we not?”

“Indeed, we are.”

“Now, is there anything else, or are we fighting?” He again asked, and once more… I had a question.

“Unfortunately, I have one more question, or rather a request. I have need of your resources. Including both The Front and Industrio.” He smiles.

“Hardly a request, our little conversation has been broadcasted among the fleet and I even had my last will and testament spread. What’s mine is yours.”

I laughed, “How very pirate like.”

“Indeed.”

I rolled my shoulders and sighed. “Right, Baron, let us fight.” My ki surged out. I held nothing back. Even then, he stood his ground, hands raised up, ready to fight. “Do try to survive as long as possible. After all, I will hold nothing back.”

He didn’t speak. Rather he couldn’t, but even still. He laughed. Even when the pressure bearing down on him made his skin crackle. Blood spurting out. His knees threatened to give at any moment. He stared at me, his eyes gleaming. I walked. Taking my time. Each step hammering him down. Pressing him down, even then, he did not bow. He did not look away. Even when he towered over me, he seemed so small.

I inhaled and exhaled. My ki pulsing. I felt something slowly connecting. I stopped before him; his body frozen. Even then, he tried, with everything he had. Somehow, through no small miracle, he moved. His fist slow, like it was travelling through starch. Slow, and so easily dodged. Yet, I did not.

His fist hit, barely a feather tap. The fist easily as large as my toros, and yet. Nothing. Even then, I smiled. A wide true smile. “It was an honor to know you, Baron.” He did not look away, but I saw the ghost of a smile on his face. He did not relax or slow down. He tried to move, tried to punch out again, but…

I punched. Stopping short of his body. My fist was so small, so insignificant, and yet. With that single punch. A blink, a single blip in time. Baron was no more. No blood stain, nothing. Just, gone. No longer in this world.

I looked at where he stood. Etching his final moments in my mind. And I smiled. Truly, Baron was worth remembering. Even to the end. He never stopped. Not long after, soldiers came to the bridge along with bridge personnel. A scarred figure stepped forward and saluted.

“Do what you can, honor his death and meet up with my fleet over Elysium, we have a final battle to prepare for. Is that understood?”

“YES! Perfectly, Captain!”

I nod. “Good, I’ll go pass the news to Skullface.” And, so, a short flight later, and some maneuvering I find myself on Skullface’s ship. He greets me in the hangar, saluting and greeting me as a subordinate should. One look was all he needed to judge the situation.

“So, it is done.” He murmured and I nodded.

“Their fleet is joining ours, we’ll be meeting above Elysium and preparing for the final battle.”

He nods and once more, I fly out. Heading back.

Days pass. Ships were scuttled and more ships were repaired. Our fleet ballooned. Materials bled in. Slowly but surely. Plans were etched and made. Devi was still bed bound, whatever she had done had effectively crippled her, but our next destination was easy enough, but also, not.

“Where exactly do we go?” Helmsman asked, looking at the map. I pointed to a point, the upper part of the center of the universe.

“Here, I believe… this should be where the entrance to Otherworld is.” How I knew, well, a certain Monk had contacted me via ki sense, telling me where to go. He was waiting there with allies, for the final battle. Uriel even confirmed the location, and the REECE military was already moving there.

I wasn’t sure if they could enter Otherworld, but we would need all the aid we can get, and even if they couldn’t enter, at the very least, they could guard it and prevent the Majin from sneaking out.

“The issue is, DEPP.” The front had essentially stalled out. We would get no aid from them as it was, and not only that, we still had to visit the Demon Realm. Devi, when she gets better said she could open the portal anywhere, so it became a question of logistics. How exactly do we get there? How should we get there?

The answer was a little too obvious.

“We’ll take our strongest combatants on The Ark. Since it has a jump drive, we can make it to the DEPP capital system in good time and end their little rebellion. While also dealing with the remnant CHET forces that joined up with them.” I suggested, and everyone agreed.

Only after numerous more sessions and hashing things out were we prepped to go, but before that…

I gathered Helmsman, Navigator, Secretary, Aspa, and Bailey for a meeting. I told them of my plans, of the empire I have yet to build. They were silent. Especially as I told them everything.

“Are you certain?” Bailey asked. “What about Vega?”

“She will understand, after all, we have to be whole. The stronger I get, the more chance I lose control and become something other than me. This is, after all, the only way.”

Silence followed. Not a soul answered. So, I continued. “I ask, until then. Look over her, help her understand what it means to have family. Make her feel loved and wanted. That is, the least I could do for her.”

Grimly, they all nodded, and the final plans were set into motion. It was all coming to fruition. Just a few steps more. Though, I did wonder. Would she come to hate me for what I was going to do? I was curious to know.