Crossover Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Angel ❯ Chapter 27 ( Chapter 27 )

Dark Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the Dragon Ball Z characters. I do not own Star Wars or any of the Star Wars characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the fic all of this is in. That is all.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

It had been a long time indeed, to reach Tatooine. In everyone's mind, they should have been there sooner, but certain things took everything longer to do and time stretched out further. All would be glad to get this over and done with as soon as possible, but not as glad as Obi-Wan, who was leaning forwards, his hands upon the controls of the ship and eyes ablaze. He stared at the desert planet like he had never seen it before, his lips in a thin line and his face serious. If he did not look so serious and the way things were currently, then Ki-Adi would assume that his fellow Jedi looked happy to see a planet so different then the skies of Coruscant.

"We're here," Obi-Wan breathed, leaning backwards from the view-screen and sat back down upon the co-pilots chair. The ship was hovering not too far from Tatooine's out-most atmosphere, having been taken out of hyperspace not more then ten minutes earlier. Both Jedi put the ship in a slower speed so the outer hull wouldn't suddenly burst when they went through the different layers of atmosphere. It would also give time to the group in the kitchen-area to get ready and leave once they landed upon the dunes of sand.

"You sound like you've just come back from a mission and are seeing Coruscant again after a long journey," Ki-Adi said, suppressing a chuckle. Now wasn't the time to laugh or smile; when everything was said and done with, then they could breath a sigh of relief and move on. That was the ways of the Jedi, many had said and thought through the years.

"The sooner we get onto Tatooine, the sooner we'll be able to get this over with," He answered, putting his hands upon his lap. The other nodded, lapsing into silence. Obi-Wan preferred it that way for now, thinking back to what Goku had said about going into the portal to make sure that it closed right. He couldn't get that image out of his head, the one with Goku looking so damned serious about sacrificing his life so that nothing like this happened again. He didn't know the Saiyan that well, and hoped he didn't have to, but he didn't want to risk the life of someone that had so much else to live for.

Then again, there was the threat of something else coming through that portal on either side. What if something went wrong if the idea didn't work? What would it plunge the two universe's into? Goku and Vegeta both had a point; droids were reliable in a sense, but how far would their programming go in a situation like this? The only response to that question, he knew of, would be to send someone who was living and breathing into the portal and make sure everything went right.

"Obi-Wan, I think it is time to get our friends. I'm sure that they are just as ready to get this over with as we are," Ki-Adi said, breaking Obi-Wan out of his thoughts. The ship started to vibrate, indicating that it was entering the first layer of Tatooine's atmosphere. The Jedi shook his head, bringing himself to the present. He slowly stood up, trying to hide his uncertainness as he moved around the chair and started for the cock-pit door. It was now or never and it was better now then never. Whatever lie ahead is out there and there was nothing that anyone could do about it, even the legendary Jedi Knights.

****

There was someone else that was waiting for this ship to arrive, no matter how early or late it was. Inside the cockpit of another ship, someone cloaked in black had his hidden eyes closed and hands placed lightly upon his lap. Siddious allowed himself this short nap, after making sure that he put up sensors around the doorway to alert him if anyone should enter. None had in the last few hours, giving the Sith the opportunity to rest his eyes after a long period of time. It was better to be alone for a while then to give himself a bigger headache then he had before.

The time he spent relaxing was good; he hadn't had much sleep in the last few days, mostly trying to stay awake so that he could keep a watchful eye over the creatures. He didn't trust them and they didn't trust him, so nothing was lost or gained to either side. Siddious had learned a long time ago, when he had been in his own apprentice years, to not trust anything that could walk and talk, which included most human and non-human beings and droids. That didn't bother him that he wasn't trusted; the less people who trusted him the better.

Suddenly, a loud, piercing sound rang out in the cockpit, causing Siddious to snap his eyes open and quickly move his head over towards the doorway. Nothing had come into the cockpit through the metal doors that he could see. As he turned his head back towards the controls, and straightened his back, he moved his hands along the instruments and slowly turned the sounds off. His ears were still ringing with the sound, cursing himself for turning the sound up to a near-deafening level.

His hidden eyes soon turned upon the small radar screen upon the controls, having set the short-range scanners to warn him if anything should come within the last two layers of Tatooine's atmosphere. To make sure that the sensors didn't immediately trigger the alarms on any false terms, he set them so that only certain ships of certain sizes and speeds would be picked up and those that came close to the same township he was in. Only two other times did he have to reset the sensors and alarms, having them the only disturbance he had since Frieza left the cockpit hours prior.

This time around, however, wasn't a false alarm. The ship that he wanted to be warned of, and wanted to get rid of at the same time, was now moving through the last mile of lower atmosphere. If anyone could see his face, they would see the Sith smiling at this time, pushing a button to turn off the radar and several others to take the sensors offline for the time being. Then he rose from his chair, moving around it as his robes and cloak glided over the metal floor. As much as he hated to do it, Siddious had to get his friends from wherever they were inside the ship.

Then it would be the beginning of the end at long last.

****

Vegeta was the first to get out of the kitchen area, moving quickly without hesitation so he could get out of there without even a look back. Yamcha and Tien came next, moving not as fast as the Saiyan was, but at a quicker pace then they normally would be going at. Krillin and Goku weren't too far behind them, moving almost at the same speed as their friends were. They were all ready to leave the confines of the ship and be able to move about the sands like they should be.

The ship shuddered as it landed upon the forsaken ground, none really noticing the feeling of the ship. That meant Ki-Adi would be out of the cockpit as soon as he could be, Obi-Wan probably already waiting at the ramp for the rest of them. He hadn't been into the kitchen area more then twenty minutes ago, telling the group that they were inside the reaches of the desert planet's middle atmosphere. Not that any of them didn't feel the movements of the ship; they knew something was going on outside the ship and they hoped it was something good. He had left not long after, supposedly getting ready for anything that would come up.

And it was: they were finally going to face off with Frieza and the rest of them. Vegeta and Goku could handle Cold and Frieza with the rest handled Ginyu and Garlic, Jr. It wouldn't be hard, having to go up against some of the hardest opponents they thought were long since dead, turned into something else, or sent into a rip between planes. All had trained harder then before and were stronger then they had been in five or so years and were more then ready to face these challenges again.

There was silence between them, as if all had already been said. In fact, there were no spoken words to be told between them; nothing could describe the emotions that were going through each at this very moment. Fear, anger, pain; all were too easy to describe something so complicated yet not so easy to ignore. It was best not to talk at all and let it be as it should. When all came together at the end, then they could speak of those moments of pure silence.

It didn't take them long to reach where Obi-Wan was standing inside the ship, hands clasped in front of him and an expressionless face as he waited for the others to arrive. Anakin stood almost next to him, hand already on the buttons that would most likely open the doorway to the desert sands and into the battle that laid ahead. There were no signs of Ki-Adi; at least, the ones that they could see as the strangers came to a halt in front of the Jedi, ready as ever to get the fight, and this journey, over with.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Open the damned ramp so we can get out of here," Vegeta snapped out, glaring over towards Anakin. The boy didn't do anything except deter his attention away from the Saiyan.

"We aren't going anywhere until Ki-Adi finishes with landing this ship, which will be any moment now," Obi-Wan said smoothly, a forced half-smile coming onto his lips before that faded as quickly as it had come. Vegeta snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I've had enough of waiting," He said icily. The ship shuddered at the sounds of sand hitting metal, the heat rising even at this hour.

"We all have, my friend," A voice said lightly, as footsteps echoed down the corridor. Only Vegeta looked around Obi-Wan to see Ki-Adi walking towards them, arms and hands at his side. He stopped behind Obi-Wan, turning his head slightly towards Anakin before giving him a nod. The boy didn't say anything as he pushed the buttons along the wall, the sounds of gears turning and metal moving away from metal silently moving inside the ship. The ramp started to move slowly down to the sand below not even a moment later, the heat from the planet already seeping into the ship itself.

As the ramp descended to the ground, Obi-Wan took these last few placid seconds to look around him. Vegeta looked impatient and irate from waiting, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien looked either scared or were secretly wishing they weren't there; Goku, on the other hand, looked totally calm. It was as if he wasn't frightened at the mere thought that he, like his friends and the Jedi, could die in the battle that laid ahead. Obi-Wan had been in situations where his own life, and the lives of others, were at stake, but nothing like this had happened. Perhaps the Saiyan just knew that he was going into this without coming back.

"About damn time," Vegeta grumbled, his arms now at his sides as he was the first to descend down upon the sand. The rest hesitated, waiting a moment before they too walked down to their fate. Before he jumped down upon the ground, Anakin pressed several other buttons, allowing the ramp to meet the ship once again. He got out of the ship before it closed, looking back at it longingly as if he didn't want to go.

"Come on, young one," Ki-Adi called out to him, as the boy took one last look at the ship and ran to catch up with the others. It hadn't been that long since he had been last upon this planet, but a good three years since his heart beat this fast. Perhaps it was the rush that he felt when the wind went against him, the sand underneath his boots, or the warmth he felt from the twin suns. Or maybe it was because there was something inside the cities that he didn't want to get hurt.

"I would say that this is just like every mission we've been on, but I can't," Obi-Wan said. Anakin looked up to see the Jedi walking beside him, where as the others were more ahead of them then they would have liked to be.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because we knew something was trying to go against whatever other forces lay out in the galaxy and beyond that. Here, we don't." Obi-Wan looked up at the looming city in front of them, his eyes moving over the figures of those that were more then ready to leave. He started to walk faster then he did before, Anakin rushing to catch up with the Jedi.

He didn't know what Obi-Wan meant, but he didn't know that this was going to be one hell of a day.

****

Amidala didn't know what was going on outside, but she heard the frantic footsteps echoing off of the metal door that bound her inside. Those footsteps soon disappeared into the rest of the ship, her hopes of getting out of there already long since gone. If something was wrong out there, she wouldn't know. She would be forgotten about eventually, if she had any hope of that; the Sith wouldn't allow someone like her to be ignored, even if she served no purpose to him any longer. Death, to her, would be the only other option out of this that she had.

She sighed, leaning her head against the cool metal wall behind her. It had been countless hours, perhaps even a full day, since the transmission to the Council and here she was, still sitting there in chains. It didn't bother her so much that she was just there, all alone; it was bothersome to know that she had to be rescued. It boiled inside of her, entering her veins, coursing through her blood---here she was, Queen of Naboo and the one who helped bring down the Trade Federation's blockade, and she was sitting in a room, waiting for someone to come and rescue her. She hated that, knowing that she couldn't do anything to stop these creatures and having to wait for the Jedi to come and get her.

The doors to the room opened, Amidala not even bothering to look up to see who was retrieving her. She closed her eyes, listening to the footsteps coming towards her while the sounds of the doors closing behind the stranger pulsed through her ears. Whoever was there, Frieza most likely, was ready to come and get her, for whatever purpose the Sith wanted her for. The chains around her ankles and wrists were slowly taken off, one by one, before all four clanked upon the ground. She was roughly pulled up into a standing position, her eyes snapping open with a glare towards whoever had pulled her up.

"It's time to go," Ginyu muttered, grabbing hold of her left wrist and pushing her forward. The doors opened when she was pushed towards them, stumbling out into the corridor. She looked both ways, her mind thinking of a quick escape route when a pair of hands came upon her upper arms. "Don't even think it."

"I wasn't," The Queen lied through her teeth as she was pushed forwards. He turned her to the left, pushing her forwards yet keeping her within his grasp. It was a horrible sense, knowing that this was probably the last time she would be breathing. "Where are you taking me?"

"Out," Was all that he said as he kept his grasp on her arms firm. She glared behind her, her eyes turning cold towards Ginyu, as she was taken around a narrow corner. Was she being lead to her death or was there something the Sith had in mind for her? She didn't know; perhaps the Jedi had really come to get her and she was being lead towards the fight between both sides. Maybe as a witness to a slaughter of innocent people that did not need to be involved in something that didn't even concern them.

As Amidala was lead to the right, down yet another small corridor, voices streamed from up ahead. One was a growling, snotty voice, one she could only match as Cold's; the other, Frieza, with his spoiled tone and squealing hiss. She could only imagine what petty thing they were snapping about now as all talk ceased and warm air touched what little exposed skin there was on her body. From that air she knew that they were still upon the desert planet, ready and waiting for their prey.

Ginyu lead the Queen around one last corner, where the open ramp laid and the others stood. The Sith stood silently in the middle of the ramp, hands clasped in front of him and hood pulled over his face. Frieza and Cold stood not far from the ramp, Cold standing sideways and arms crossed over his chest; he didn't bother to look at her for reasons she already knew. Frieza gave her a look of pure venom, his tail hitting the ground twice before he stormed down the ramp and past Siddious. whatever words had been exchanged between them, it didn't seem to have been good as Cold followed his son in almost the same manner.

"What's going on?" Amidala asked, staring daggers at the cloaked figure. If he had heard her at all, he didn't seem to take notice of those words as he turned and walked down the ramp without uttering a sound. Ginyu pushed her forwards, letting go of one of her arms but still maintaining a firm grip on the other. He kept her at no longer then an arms length away from him, making sure that she did not get away. The Tatooine heat rose up from the dusting sands, the warmth not fading from the twin suns that bore down from sunrise to sunset.

As soon as her feet touched the sand, she was stopped without warning. She wanted to glare back at Ginyu again, but her neck wouldn't allow her as her eyes drifted down to another that she seemed not to have seen before. He was short, barely even coming up to Frieza's waist, hood hovering over his face but his features still visible, unlike the Sith's. He was staring past her, perhaps at the ship, with cool eyes and a emotionless face; like the others, she could only wonder what he was thinking.

"No more questions, Your Majesty. We don't need to be listening or answering them," The Sith said, turning his back upon her. Frieza smirked at her, his head turned over his shoulder and ruby eyes glittering in the fading light. She could almost see him lashing out at her with his tail if he wanted to, taking her by the throat and pulling her closer to him. Yet, he remained still, intent on savoring the moment for just a bit longer. That, or he had be instructed not to kill or harm her in any way.

Her eyes casually drifted towards the open ramp, perhaps only because no one had bothered to close it just yet. An easy escape route for them, she imagined as she was pushed forwards through them, if things got a little hectic for them. Ginyu kept her close to a point and at the front of the group as they started to lead her out of the closed-in space port. If it was courtesy for the lives around them, or if it was just to give them more room to fight, they left the shop opened and unarmed. Or, as open and unarmed that Amidala could see. Whether there was something inside or outside that guarded the ship, she didn't know or care. She was there because she was the bait in the trap, on that she didn't know if she or the Jedi would be able to survive.

If any of Amidala's fears were correct, the Sith behind her wasn't going to let her live, even if he won or lost whatever battles that were ahead. She had seen the creatures from some place outside the known galaxy, whatever they were; she barely recalled what either Frieza or Cold told her they were, but her mind drew a blank after that. Besides, it wasn't normal for them to fly without a ship around them, so she figured they either weren't from anywhere in the known galaxy or she was just imagining them. If there was any plans that these creatures had, she assumed that none of them would take the chance of having her live if she had overheard them speaking about them. It wasn't a chance for the Jedi, or whoever was with them, to foil these plans, so killing off all respected allies of these Jedi would be the best for them.

She had been lucky last time in dealing with something evil and dark; she not only had the Jedi to fall onto when she needed them, but the Gungans and the many pilots that had helped to bring down the blockade. Here, she didn't know if the Sith and his allies were already marching her out to her death, not waiting for anyone to come into their nice little trap so that they could rescue her. If they were, they might be too late to get her out of there. Even if she was lucky enough to escape on her own, would she be able to for long? She knew that she could, yet still had the trouble of being caught by those that could easily take to the air and find her overhead.

The open streets of the desert township looked deserted enough, except for the few wandering souls that were either too drunk to get home properly or looking for another tavern to drink in. All knew that there were probably more taverns then there were junkyards and other small shops put together. If, and it was a big if, any looming battles could be diverted from the streets to just outside the township's walls, then no more lives would be at stake they already were. Even then, it could wander back into where they had begun, causing more damage then need be. Even if they are hiding here from whatever is chasing them from their past, the people living her don't need to be caught up in a battle that is not theirs to begin with, She thought quietly to herself.

Not a moment after that thought crossed her mind, Amidala was pushed roughly into the sand below as a gust of abnormal wind shot past her. She barely had time to put her hands up to keep her face from receiving the full extent of the fall as flesh met hot sand. Upon impact, the queen quickly rolled over upon her back, only to find herself staring up at nothing but sky above her. Not one of these strange creatures were hovering over her, perhaps to snicker at how clumsy she was. She stayed upon her back for a moment before standing to her feet, which was a mistake to begin with. She found herself coming face-to-face with her kidnappers, all except for one: Frieza. Every one of them, save for the Sith, was looking at a point above them, as if they were transfixed on something in the air.

She turned her upper body around to see where he had gone, which was her second mistake, only to find no one there. If she had looked up higher, to where the others were looking and her vision could see objects and people moving in a unheard of fast pace, she would have see two creatures fighting it out above the sand and township. As it were, she did not realize that the fight had already begun and had made the mistakes of getting up and turning her attention away from the ones that deserved her sight until she was grabbed roughly by the waist and turned around fully to face the way that Frieza had gone in.

"Don't even think about escaping, Your Highness. You still have some use for us yet," Siddious growled in her ear, one arm around her waist while the other was possibly reaching for that lightsabre she figured he had. He then nodded to the others, who barely were even paying attention to what the Sith was doing. "Go do what you want with them, but leave the Jedi alone as much as you can. I want them alive as much as possible."

There were no other words between them as Ginyu, Cold, and the unknown creature pushed off from the ground and flew the short distance to the battle above. It now had begun, perhaps for the better or perhaps for the worst for the planet and the rest of the galaxy. Whatever the outcome of the battle would be, at least it would be over in a sense of life or death.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: Don't hate me because I don't have the actual fighting in this chapter. Yes, the battle started now. Yes, the next chapter is the fighting chapter. Yes, I'm that evil.