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Chestra thought for a moment about the way that Jaden had behaved towards Balair. The young recruit already sensed that Jaden and Balair did not like each other, and being new, she decided to ask Jaden about it.
“I heard you put down Balair. Not that I hold it against you, but you and Balair must really hate each other’s guts,” Chestra observed. “I have my reasons,” Jaden told her simply. “Balair and I have never been the best of friends.” “What is this? Twenty Questions?” Jaden asked a bit sharper than she had intended to. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry into such a sensitive subject,” Chestra told her contritely. “It’s alright, kid, it’s not your fault. I guess maybe I should tell you, if you promise not to spread the story around.” Jaden didn’t normally tell much about herself, but it was not every day that she found someone that she felt that she could confide in. “I have no problems in keeping a secret, never have. I suspected that you two didn’t like each other, well because you are Rybanese, and he is Sistrai. One of my masters was Rybanese, and he told me about the deadly feud between Ryban and Sistra, a feud that had been going on for centuries.” “You had a Rybanese master? Oh, yeah, that’s right, you told me; he was the one that you had agreed to marry before he was killed. How did you wind up falling for him?” Jaden wanted to know. “I liked him tremendously, but I don’t know it was what many would call love. He was kind to me after a while, and he kissed me a few times. Nykan was gruff and strict, but he could be nice and caring with the right person.” “Wait a minute,” Jaden interrupted. “Was this Tempancoli Nykan of Hershal, known to be one of the greatest trainers of slave fighters in the arenas?” “Yes,” Chestra told her hesitantly. “Why?” “I am a Tempancoli, and Nykan was my uncle. My people were destroyed four years ago, and I only got to visit my home planet five times in the past eighteen years that I had been forced to work for Lord Frieza. Uncle Nykan told me about his most prized fighters, a strange girl with red and green hair that he called ‘Kestura Stari’, a slave girl fighter that he had planned to marry. Did you happen to be this Kestura?” “Yes, I was. I remember that Rybanese always gave their slaves Rybanese names, and ‘Kestura Stari’ meant ‘Bright and Bold Star’ in your language. He told me that my face reminded him of a star cast in a supernova. I never thought that Rybanese men could be that poetic.” “He was a rare one. I visited him on the last time before those cursed Hycanese destroyed my people. Uncle Nykan had tried to buy my freedom from Frieza several times, but Lord Frieza would refuse each time no matter how much he would offer. He apologized to me that last time that I saw him, and he told me that there was nothing more that he could do, for Lord Frieza told him that if he, or any other Rybanese came to him about me again, he would destroy everyone in the Tempancoli Tribe. I think the Sistrai and Hycanese had much to do with Lord Frieza’s attitude towards my people.” Chestra contemplated Jaden’s words for a moment. “You are a slave as well?” “May as well be, but I am one of the luckier ones,” Jaden admitted quietly. “Considering that I was once an IVR-that’s involuntary recruit, my ascension to Top Elite is quite an accomplishment. Yes, Chestra, like you, I was sold to Frieza. My cowardly father sold me to him in order to spare his own neck and the necks of my three older brothers, but it did him and them no good.” “Anyway, my full name is Tempancoli Jadenia Hirmeshadaka, (surnames always first) but I only go by ‘Jaden’, which is the masculine version of ‘Jadenia’. My mother named me ‘Jadenia’ after a Rybanese flower because she thought that I was beautiful like that pink and white flower, even though you can see that I am ugly as hell. She was one of three people who ever thought that I lived up to my name, which means ‘beautiful, gracious one’. My father knew that I was uglier than dirt, and he shortened my name to ‘Jaden’ after my mother died when I was about two because he thought that I looked and acted more like a boy. He was a cold bastard, stern, stiff, and disapproving of me because I was a girl. But he taught me how to fight and take care of myself and not give a crap about what others thought of me. Those were the only things that he really did for me because he showed how much he cared for me by selling me to Lord Frieza to spare his life and the lives of my brothers, none of whom cared for me either.” “How awful for a father to sell his child?” “I wish that he would have at least sold me to Uncle Nykan, if he had been desperate to get rid of me, but I guess that he didn’t have much of a choice. I still hate him for it though, and it did him no good anyway.” “How did that happen?” Jaden sighed and massaged her temples, as she leaned her large blue body back against the back of the dark green recliner that she was lounging in. It had been eighteen years since her father had sold her to Frieza to save his own neck and the necks of her brothers. She had never entirely forgiven him, and his coldness towards her before that had hurt Jaden's once-young heart... Eighteen years ago Her father had been a bill collector for a major Rybanese interplanetary foreign food company, foreign as in foods from other planets. A trained warrior as well, he had taken his four children, three older sons as well as Jaden to other planets to collect the debts owed to Rishal Interplanetary Feasts. If the debtors didn't pay right away, he had the authority to beat them up, or kill their family members to make a point. He usually would get his company's bills paid quickly that way. He had taught Jaden and her brothers to fight as well, and they would help their father to collect the debts and see that the debtors paid up promptly. Jaden could still remember being forced to kill one of a debtor's relatives when she had only been eight years old. Unfortunately, one of the debtors had happened to be Frieza himself, and Jaden's father's boss had been an ignoramus who foolishly thought that Rishal Interplanetary Feasts would actually be able to bully Frieza into paying his bills to them. So Jaden's father had taken his four children to confront Frieza on his mother ship when they had tricked Frieza into capturing their ship and crew. Of course, Frieza had not taken well to paying his debts, and he had all of them captured in no time. Jaden had unbelievably been the strongest out of her family, much to her father's surprise. She alone had managed to kill a few of his strongest Elite officers, which had attracted Frieza's attention. It had been a good thing because it had caused Frieza to decide to spare her life, and a bad thing because Jaden would eventually be forced to become one of Frieza's minions. After a hard battle, Frieza had Jaden's family captured, and he had Zarbon and Sagash, who had been a Top Elite officer at the time, beat up the family afterwards. Finally, Frieza had agreed to pay his debts to Rishal in exchange for Jaden. He had also agreed to spare the lives of Jaden's father and brothers, as well. Jaden's father, Dak, had not considered Jaden to be worth much to him, for he had stupidly still thought her the weakest because she was the youngest and a girl, so he had readily sold her to Frieza when she had only been twelve years old. Jaden had still cared for her selfish father and brothers, so she had done everything that Frieza had wanted her to do and more. He had given her to Sagash to train. Jaden thought that Sagash had been a bigger bastard than her father. Sagash was half-Egimarian and half-Sistrai, resembling a red Egimarian, but he had all of the Sistrai traits. Sagash, who had been one of the most popular out of Frieza's Elite fighters, as well as one of Frieza's most favored, had been training Balair and Dodoria at the same time. Jaden was his third student that he had to train. Sagash had called Jaden cruel names and belittled her because she happened to be Rybanese, the main enemy of the SIstrai, a race that Sagash identified more with than the Egimarians. To the present day, however, Jaden would have preferred his hatred and prejudice to his eventual desire for her. A few months after Jaden had become his recruit, Sagash had called Jaden to his Elite bedroom. Jaden never forgot that night, for it would be the real beginning of her end to what innocence that she had left. Sagash had been stark naked when Jaden had entered his bedroom, and Jaden tried to flee, but Sagash had vaporized himself, and he was able to solidify himself directly in front of her. Jaden had been twice as small as she was now, and Sagash had easily overpowered her before she could escape. Sagash had forced Jaden to lie on his bed with him, and he hit her several times to make her submit to him. He had pinned his student beneath him, and he had caressed and kissed her for hours, telling her that she was beautiful and strong, even though she was Rybanese. Jaden never forgot his cruel laughter, a horrible, raspy, scratchy laugh that would haunt her dreams for years to come... "Who'd ever thought that I would want to jump the bones of a Rybanese girl? I can't believe that a Rybanese brat would be beautiful like you and smell so sweet. I'm glad that you bathed before you came here; I like having my fun with a clean-smelling female. Relax, Jadenia, I'm not going to screw you just yet; I'm not some young punk like Balair and Dodoria, who aren't patient enough to wait. I want you, girl, and you're going to be mine. You have no idea how much you turn me on, do you? You're going to be my woman, as well as my student. I like young girls, even if they are Rybanese ones. Your name 'Jadenia' certainly suits you alright, and I'll think that I'll call you by that for now on when we we're alone. You feel so good beneath me, you know that, Jadenia? We fit greatly together, don't we?" Jaden had threatened him. "Get off of me, or I'm going to Lord Frieza! I know that he said that no sex was allowed between trainers and recruits!" Sagash had laughed. "Like he's going to believe a troublesome little IVR like you! No one is going to believe you, Jadenia, over me, a Top Elite officer, and one of Frieza's favorites. And on the slim chance that anyone would believe you, I'd get Balair and Dodoria to back me up and shut you up. They're loyal to me, sweetheart, like you better learn to be. I intend to make you mine once you pass your Final Evaluation-“ “I won’t pass it then!” Jaden hissed. “I won’t even take it!” Sagash had slapped her face hard then. “You will take it, and you will pass it, Jadenia! If you fail it, you know that you and your family will die, right? Think about that carefully, girl, before you do anything rash.” He had taken her throat in his thick, crumbling stone-like hand then and squeezed it just hard enough for young adolescent Jaden to get the message. “And you will be visiting me like this more often, baby, because I have big plans for you. I’m not going to screw you for a while, yet, so just relax; all you have to do is let me do what I want to do with you, and do what I want you to do with me. I like you, babycakes, despite your rebelliousness; I like a girl with some spirit, but not too much.” He had kissed her hard then, forcing his long Sistrai-like tongue down into her mouth, gagging her, barely allowing her to breathe. Then he had made his victim/ student touch and kiss him all over, especially that special area between his legs. After that, even though, he had not yet raped her, Jaden had never been the same. She was harder afterwards, and much more bitter and angry. She did everything that Sagash wanted, and she trained hard under him, fixated on one of her new primary goals: to become stronger than Sagash and then destroy him. During the next three years of her training under her molester, Jaden’s family had gone back to work, thinking little of the terrified, angry little sister who was now Frieza’s slave and Sagash’s new toy and student. Sagash had only allowed Jaden to visit them twice on Ryban, and the second time, Jaden had confessed to her father what Sagash had been doing to her, for he had continued to molest her. Jaden’s father had been indifferent, and he had asked her what she expected him to do about it. “Kill Sagash! Buy me back from Frieza, please, father! I know that you have enough money now to do so, now that your boss gave you a big raise! Please don’t let Sagash take me back to Frieza, please! Save me, Father, please! Sagash is going to rape me, eventually; I know it, and I am so scared!” “I am sorry, Jaden, but you are no longer my concern or worry. You should be telling Frieza this, not me. You are his problem now, since he bought you from me. And you must be brave, Jaden, and not let your emotions show. You know that if you don’t pass your Final Evaluation, Frieza will have us killed, and even your brothers’ families will surely perish. What is your one life compared to the lives of those who are free and prosperous? Do you really want to see your brothers killed just because you can’t handle someone lusting after you? You know that you are no beauty, Jaden, and that it would have been hard for me to find you a husband. You are lucky that someone desires you at all, and think about it this way, Jaden: if you pass your Final Evaluation, you may become the mate of an important Top Elite Officer of Frieza’s. Top Elite Officers have everything, and you would be comfortably well off. Think of this Sagash as a way to improve your status; if you obey him and be good to him, he will surely treat you right as his mate-“ “Father, he is half-Sistrai and half-Egimarian, and both Sistra and Egimari are our enemies. Please, you surely don’t want me with someone like him, please save me, Father!” But Dak had turned a deaf ear and cold shoulder to his daughter’s pleas, and Jaden had been forced to go back with Sagash to Frieza. That had been the last time that Jaden would ever see her father alive, for six months afterward, Rishal Interplanetary Feasts, which Dak had bought out for himself, had delivered slightly spoiled food to Frieza that had contained deadly bacteria, which had killed some of Frieza’s minions and made Frieza very ill. Frieza had ordered Dak and his entire family murdered, along with all of the employees of Rishal. Frieza had told the government of Ryban that if they retaliated against him for the deaths of the employees of Rishal Interplanetary Feasts, he would destroy Ryban and all of her occupants. The Rybanese government had known that they were not strong enough to defy Frieza and attack him, so they could do nothing, but heavily compensate the families of the murdered Rishal employees. Tempancoli Nykan, the brother of Tempancoli Dak had not forgotten his relatives’ murders, and he vowed vengeance against Frieza, even if the Rybanese government had ordered their people not to retaliate or plan revenge. He had also worked for Rishal, but he abandoned the food industry for the slave industry. He trained hard, and he had trained his slaves, all fighters, to become as strong as him, in hopes that one day he could lead them against Frieza and destroy the tyrant once and for all. He also vowed to free his niece, Tempancoli Jadenia, from Frieza’s grasp, and he had told Jaden so on her third visit home. Nykan had tried to buy his niece back from Frieza several times, but Frieza had rebuffed him each time. He had even ordered Sagash to keep his filthy half-Sistrai, half-Egimari hands off of his niece, or he would kill him. (Nykan had a strong hatred and prejudice for all Sistrai and Egimarians.) He and Sagash had jumped into a physical brawl with each other, and Sagash had quickly put Nykan in his place. Jaden had begged her uncle then not to get into any more physical brawls with her trainer because she feared for his life. Nykan had no choice, but to agree. Afterwards, shortly before her Final Evaluation, Sagash had called all of his students to his Elite bedroom for a “private party”. Balair and Dodoria had already passed their Final Evaluations that had taken them straight into Top Elite, and they both loved to bully Jaden and make life miserable for her whenever they could. They never molested Jaden the way that Sagash did, but they would do childish, petty, and horrific things to her such as put sand in her bed, burn her with some of Sagash’s cigars, and force her to walk around the corridors with her top off. They loved to steal her possessions and spoil her food and drinks by peeing into them and forcing her to consume them. Several times, on introductory missions to clear planets, Balair and Dodoria would often leave her to fend for herself, like letting her nearly drown to death in a tar pit, or let her fight their enemies alone, while they themselves fled for safety. Sagash let them do what they liked, except for two things: killing her, or molesting her. That night, however, all of those things would seem minor to Jaden, compared to what they did then. When Jaden had naively arrived for Sagash’s private party, she had foolishly figured that Sagash wouldn’t touch her in Balair and Dodoria’s presence, since Sagash usually liked to do those things to her in private. She couldn’t have refused to come anyway, for disobeying a Top Elite Officer trainer’s orders was an automatic write-up. When she entered Sagash’s bedroom, Balair and Dodoria had jumped her, quickly capturing her before she had a chance to flee. They threw her onto Sagash’s bed, where they both pinned her down and chained her. They still continued to hold onto her, even though she had been chained, with Balair holding her wrists and Dodoria holding her ankles. Sagash had entered the bedroom then, naked, and he proceeded to molest her, kissing her and fondling her much more roughly than before. That night, he had finally raped her for the first time, while Balair and Dodoria had laughed cruelly at Jaden’s screams and torment. Balair couldn’t take any more of her screaming, so he stuffed a gag in her mouth to shut her up. When Sagash had finally satiated himself after raping his student several times, he asked Balair and Dodoria, if they would like a turn with her. Balair and Dodoria had laughed scornfully. “You have got to be kidding, Sags, if you think that I want to jump the bones of something as ugly and as damaged as her. I prefer my women pretty. I don’t want to touch anything that is Rybanese,” Balair said with a mock shudder. “Yeah, Sags, while it was great hearing her scream and cry, I have no desire for her. Ugh! You’re a great teacher, Sagash, but you have poor taste in women!” Dodoria had jeered. “You don’t know what you’re missing, Bali and Dodi, she is a great screw. Of course I can’t allow either one of you to have her for a mate because I’ve claimed her, but I’ll let you guys have one turn with her apiece. After tonight, however, she’s mine permanently.” Jaden had just lain there, still pinned and chained down, terrified and shaken. Tears ran down her face, until they washed over her alligator face like a tidal wave. She was too afraid to speak, too afraid that Balair and Dodoria would take Sagash up on his cruel offer. She continued to cry and sob. That night would be the last time that Jaden would ever cry. Those would be the last tears that she would shed for a very long time. She silently vowed that night, as Sagash was boasting to Balair and Dodoria that she would not cry again until Sagash was dead. And he would be dead in her lifetime, if she could help it. She would destroy all four of them, for although Frieza himself had not raped her, she still held him responsible because he had forced her to work for him. All of them would pay-with their lives. She had renewed this vow after she had gone to Frieza the next day about what Sagash and the others had done to her. Sagash, of course, denied everything, and Balair and Dodoria had backed him up, saying that Jaden was lying. “She’s had a crush on him for a while now, Lord Frieza,” Balair had said, “and she’s been hitting on him the entire time, even though Sagash had told her a romance between them wasn’t possible.” Dodoria and Sagash confirmed this false story. “She’s good at telling stories, Lord Frieza,” Dodoria had said. “She tells lies all of the time on Sagash to everyone, and Balair and I have to constantly dispel the false rumors she spreads.” And Frieza had believed his three Top Elite Officers over one knowingly difficult, rebellious IVR. Frieza had even given Jaden a nasty lecture, “Jaden, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, maligning a fine officer like Sagash. I want these lies to stop, and for you to stop causing us problems. You’re lucky that I even allowed you to live. I don’t want to hear anymore of this nonsense, do you understand me, Jaden?” After that horrible day, on the day afterwards, Jaden had stumbled back to the recruit barracks, packed what few things that she had, and went straight to the soldiers guarding the way to the space pods. She killed all of the guards there, and she fled on one of the pods away from Frieza’s mother ship. Jaden was determined to escape; there was no more reason for her to stay. Her family was dead. She had first fled to her home planet on her fourth visit to Ryban, where she had met up with her uncle Nykan. Nykan could not hide her for long, but he did make plans for her to flee farther away. He also taught Jaden a new attack that he had developed, using a bit of sorcery. “This is called the Glass Freeze, Jadenia. If you can weaken your opponents below a ki level of twenty thousand, you can turn them into glass and shatter their bodies, killing them for good. I would hide you here myself, but I can’t, so I made plans for you to flee on a ship to planet Astoria. The Astorians are a strong, good people, Jadenia, and they will surely grant you asylum. They say that not even Frieza can take Astoria, and that Shalila Chloe, the queen there, killed Queen Frost single-handedly. Be careful, my niece, and while I probably will never see you again, remember that someone does care about you and want you to be happy. Promise me, Jadenia, that when you are safe and secure and away from Frieza, that you will be happy. Promise me now!” “I…I promise,” Jaden gasped. “Good, and keep it for me.” “I will.” Jaden had fled away from Ryban to head towards Astoria, but Sagash and Balair had captured her within a few months of her escape when she had the misfortune to crash-land on planet Hambo, a planet that they had been raiding. Sagash and Balair had beaten her to a bloody pulp, nearly killing her, and Jaden wound up in the prisons for three months. Frieza had allowed her to live on one condition: that she take her Final Evaluation within the next month and pledge allegiance to him. He also threatened to kill her entire Tempancoli tribe, and a broken, defeated Jaden reluctantly agreed. She was tired of fighting the inevitable, and she knew that she would not be able to get away again for a long time. It had been Zarbon and Dodoria who had given her Final Evaluation, and Jaden, to everyone’s surprise, had lasted and made her way into Mid-Elite. But Jaden’s troubles did not stop there, for Sagash had raped her a second time on a mission that she had been forced to go with him. He had taken her into an empty, desolate field after they had cleared the planet that they had been on, and it had been cold and rainy. Sagash had assaulted and molested her several times that night. Years later, after losing a major war on one of planet Astoria’s moons that became known as the Battle of Chloe, Sagash, angry over their losing to the Astorian race, had approached Jaden for the last time to assault her, looking for physical pleasure to relieve himself. He had been drunk that night and particularly nasty towards Jaden, and Jaden, who herself was recovering from that battle, was driven to her breaking point. She had already been victimized enough during the Battle of Chloe, in which Shalila Chloe had nearly killed her with her Electric Quake attack, and the nightmares of that battle continued to haunt Jaden. Sagash’s touching her had been the proverbial straw that broke the Earth camel’s back. In her anger and agony, she had fought back against Sagash, punching and kicking him and using all of his own techniques that he had taught her to cripple him. Sagash, who had been too drunk to put up a worthy fight, could barely hold his angry, resentful, hurting former student off. Jaden had shape shifted into an axe and any other sharp object, and with her shape shifting abilities, she chopped one of Sagash’s arms and his private parts. Then she turned herself into a giant sword and stabbed him repeatedly, ignoring his cries for mercy. “P-please, Jadenia, don’t do this, don’t-“ “How many times did I say those words to you, you sick, perverted bastard? How many times did I beg you not to touch me, not to rape me, to leave me alone? How many times did I beg for you to make Balair and Dodoria leave me alone? How many times did I hide from you, hoping that you would not come looking for me? How many times did I beg you for mercy, Sagash? You made me cry, you made me bleed, you took my virginity, what innocence I had, and my youth! I will never forgive you, Sagash, ever! I’m going to make you die, I’m going to make you bleed and suffer, I’m going to cut you up so you can’t be put back together, and then when I kill you, I’m going to dance on your grave and spit on it!” Then she had pulled her hands back and cried out, “GLASS FREEZE!” And Sagash became a glass statue, a lovely sculpture of a dying warrior in agony. Jaden then pushed the glass statue of Sagash over onto the floor with her pinky finger. Sagash’s body shattered into thousands of tiny glass fragments. That was when Frieza had come to see Jaden, and he noticed the glass pieces that had once been Sagash all over the corridor floor, and he asked her. “Where’s Sagash?” “I killed him and turned him into glass,” Jaden had told him honestly. “You may kill me if you wish, Lord Frieza, for I no longer have any desire to live.” Frieza’s expression had been unreadable at the time, and Jaden didn’t know whether to be relieved that her life would soon be over, or dread how Frieza was going to send her to the next dimension. She stood there and waited calmly, not really happy about dying, but glad that her torment would finally come to an end. She had seen Frieza’s eyes sweep over the broken glass pieces of Sagash’s body. Frieza never ceased to amaze her, for his next words would change her life forever: “I am impressed with you, Jaden. Sagash’s failure during the Battle of Chloe had convinced me to demote him or possibly even execute him. He made too many tactical mistakes, and he no longer was the warrior that he had once been. I never knew you had it in you until the Battle of Chloe, and even though you lost, your persistence and bravery amazed me. You have come a long way, Jaden, and you have saved me the trouble of dealing with Sagash myself. To reward you for this and your past efforts, I am giving you Sagash’s Top Elite Position, for you have far surpassed your teacher. I cannot put you as Second Lieutenant as I had done him, but Fourth Lieutenant is not that far behind. Well done, Jaden, and I expect you to report to me this Friday, as my new Top Elite fighter.” “Th-thank you, Lord Frieza,” Jaden had replied shakily. “You will not fail me, I trust,” Frieza had told her. “I know that you have learned from your mistakes in the Battle of Chloe. You and I may never be the best of friends, but we don’t have to be adversaries. Farewell, Fourth Lieutenant Commander Jaden.” And with that, Frieza had walked away, without a trace of pity for Sagash, or anger at Jaden for killing his once-favorite officer. Balair and Dodoria had been infuriated when Jaden had come to Frieza’s that Friday, proudly wearing the armor of a Top Elite officer, with cape and all. “What the hell are you doing wearing a Top Elite Officer’s uniform?” Balair had demanded to know. Frieza had smiled benevolently as possible for an evil tyrant like himself. “Sagash has failed me, and Jaden was nice enough to finish him off for me, without my knowing about until later. So I have rewarded her with a Top Elite position, although she will not have the same rank as he did. Jaden is our new Fourth Lieutenant Commander in Top Elite.” “Over my dead Sistrai body!” Balair had roared. “She killed Sagash! Sagash was our friend and comrade, Lord Frieza! How could you forget him so easily? How can you reward Jaden for killing such a fine officer and friend? Did Sagash mean that little to you, Lord Frieza?” “I agree,” Dodoria had added vociferously. “Sagash has served you faithfully and devotedly for all the years of his service, Lord Frieza! How can you just dishonor him like this?” “Sagash has failed me, and I had no more use for him anyway,” Frieza told them heartlessly. “You and Balair may mourn in private, Dodoria, but my decision stands. Jaden is now part of Top Elite, and that is final. I expect you two to show her the ropes.” “Oh, I’ll show that Rybanese whore the ropes alright-around her neck!” And with that, Balair had lunged at Jaden. He and Jaden fought, kicking and punching each other until she managed to throw Balair against the wall, breaking his tail and knocking him out of commission. She would have finished him off the same way as she had done to Sagash, but Frieza ordered her to stop. “That will be enough, Jaden. I believe that you sent Balair a message loud and clear, a message stating that you intend to stay.” Frieza then left his office to use his private restroom. Balair had roared at Jaden in his agony, “You don’t deserve to be in Top Elite, Jaden, and I will destroy you the first chance that I get!” Dodoria had gone to him to peel him off of the wall. Jaden smiled cruelly at Balair and Dodoria and said silkily, “Let that serve as a lesson to you, Bali. If you and Dodo here don’t leave me alone permanently, you both will suffer the same fate as Sagash. Is that clear? You both better leave me alone, if you value your lives. I am here to stay, whether I or anyone else likes it or not.” And Jaden had walked out of Frieza’s office that day, feeling as if she had won part of her soul back. She had stood up to Sagash and Balair and Dodoria, and she was still alive to tell about it, plus she had a cushy position with the powerful Lord Frieza. She had laughed triumphantly afterwards for hours… Present Time “My heavens,” Chestra murmured. “And that was how I got into Top Elite,” Jaden told her calmly. “And that is the main reason that Bali and Dodo hate my guts, but that’s alright, the feeling’s mutual. I could care less what that pair of leather-lipped gorillas think of me.” “I knew that Dodoria was no saint, but I didn’t think he would participate in something so heinous. I am truly sorry, Commander Jaden, for what you have endured with those two. Sagash received what he richly deserved. I had to kill off a few of my would-be rapists myself.” Jaden nodded. “Thanks, kid, it’s not everyday that I find someone to agree with what I did. The bad thing was, I cried afterwards, not because Sagash was dead, but because I was so shocked at what I had done to protect myself. I was in shock and tears for days, but afterwards I felt better about it. I stood up to that bastard finally and fought back and won. I’m sorry, but I don’t regret killing him. I’m only sorry that I’m not sorry.” “I wouldn’t be sorry either, if I were you. Sagash isn’t worth anything but contempt and hatred. I am glad that I never met the man.” “Believe me, Chestra, he was one man that you were better off not knowing. I wasn’t his only victim, even though he claimed that he wanted me for his mate. Sistrai and Egimarians are each a nasty bunch.” “That I agree with,” Chestra agreed vociferously. “I haven’t met a Sistrai or Egimarian yet who had proven that statement wrong. Commander Jaden, I hate to cut things short, but I must go to bed now and get some rest.” “You can go, if you want. And you don’t have to address me as Commander when it’s just the two of us. You can simply call me, Jaden then, kid. Good night.” They both left that lounge, each feeling as if they had met a kindred spirit. |