Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or its related characters. All is the property of FUNamation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, and Toriyama Akira. I'm just borrowing them for some light-heated entertainment.

Space Opera

Chapter One: Purple Prince, Pink Princess

The Prince brushed a strand of lavender hair away from his face, only to have it fall right back into his eyes. No matter how long he grew his hair, there always seemed to be that little bit in the front that just refused to grow long enough to be held behind his ears, never mind being pulled back into the tight no-nonsense pony-tail with the rest of it. Ah… the downside of being half-human. He suppressed a sigh and shifted in his seat, uncoiling and recoiling his tail around his waist to a more comfortable position.

"Helm, status?" Captain Son asked at the Prince's side. Because Goten knew his royal Highness wanted to ask 'Are we there yet?' but wasn't about to do it himself.

"Sir! Three minuets to hyper-space drop." The senior navigation officer answered promptly. "Sublight-drive will have us there in another five minuets after that."

Sitting in what, on any other starship, would have been the Captain's Chair, the Prince cast a sideways smirk at Captain Son standing beside him, stiff with military discipline. Minutely, so subtly that no one else would have been able to catch it, the Captain turned his chin to the Prince and returned his smirk with one of his own. Their messages were clear.

'You know me so well.'

'You haven't changed since we were kids.'

"Eight minutes until we reach Earth." The Captain translated.

"Yes, Sir." The nav officer nodded sheepishly. "Eight minutes until we reach our destination."

This statement was met by a choir of low, excited murmurs from the rest of the bridge crew. "Eight minuets to shore-leave!" "Eight minutes to Earth-girls!" "Eight minutes until I can have a drink!"

Reclining in the Captain's Chair, his chin resting on his cheek, only loud enough for the Captain to hear, the Prince muttered, "Eight minutes until my holiday officially starts."

To which the Captain replied, "Eight minutes until I get to see my mom."

Then, because they weren't on vacation just yet and they were still officers on a warship of the Saiyan Empire, the Prince asked, "Helm, how close does our entry vector take us to the Lunarian kingdom?"

There was no official treaty between the Saiyan Empire and the Moon Kingdom. But they did have a sort of unspoken truce. The Empire's military outnumbered the Moon Kingdom's Sailor Senshi almost a thousand to one, but at the same time, the Saiyans found the Lunarian's crystal powers to be arcane and mystifying. They didn't understand the Sailor warriors or their all-powerful Queen Serenity. Vegeta XIV refused to order either their conquest or destruction until he understood their power and the threat that it might pose. Inversely, the Lunarians were a pacifistic people by nature. They only ever fought when provoked. They never started their wars. Conquest and glory meant little to them, caring instead for (and here most Saiyans tended to scoff) love and light.

Still, there was no need to worry the soft-hearted hippies. A Saiyan warship passing to close to their area of space did tend to send most species diving for shelter or beseeching their gods for aid. No need to cause panic and hysteria, and raise tensions between their two nations.

"Entry vector takes us within three-thousand kilometers of the Moon Kingdom, Highness." Answered the senior navigation officer. "The Tasien Space Port is already holding a bay for the Patriot."

"Change our vector and bring us in on Earth's other side." Ordered the Prince. After all, why settle for only three-thousand kilometers (a measly distance by space-travel standards), when you can put forty-thousand kilometers between you instead. Plus, the Prince had a more personal reason for wanting to avoid the Moon Kingdom. Some years ago, while he'd been visiting the Earth with his mother, there had been an incident between him and a Lunarian. Truth be told, the Prince barely remembered it. He just remembered Nappa being uncharacteristically worried and his father being practically livid. That was right before Goten was -for all intents and purposes- given to him as a companion. "We'll park the Patriot in the Bowman Port."

The bridge crew of the Patriot did not unanimously groan in impatience and irritation at that order. While the detour did add an extra seven minutes to their flight time, they were all officers of the Empire's Space Navy and knew how to conduct themselves with dignity and restraint… At least until their shore-leave officially began. Then all bets were off.

Three minutes and an unaccounted for eleven seconds later, the Patriot dropped out of hyper-space and quickly adjusted its sublight vector to swing around the Earth opposite its Moon and head for the Bowman Space Port.

"Place looks busy today." The Captain commented watching the running lights of several ships come and go from the port. Wizzing, zigging, and fluting about.

"That doesn't look like normal port traffic." The Prince sat up straiter in his seat, his lavender tail tightening around his waist ready for a possible fight.

Then the Patriot cleared the planet and the bridge had a clear view of the Bowman Space Port.

What Goten had mistaken for uncommonly heavy traffic was actually a defensive battle. The ships who's running-lights they saw before were small one-man fighters the humans used for space combat -since they didn't have the skill with ki to fight on their own. Each Earth-fighter had at least two, in some cases three armored alien warriors on its six. They were outnumbered and being slaughtered. In the midst of the whole thing, awkwardly parked at one of the port's bays that had not been designed for it's shape, was the enemy's ship.

Round and saucer-like. Painted in shades of white and yellow with one bulbous dome protruding like a bubble out the top to one side. Every Saiyan on the bridge recognized the design almost instantly.

"That's an Ice-jin ship!" The Captain exclaimed at the Prince's side.

There was a beat of silence as every officer on the bridge suddenly realized that their leave not only would have to be postponed, but might be canceled all together. Then the Prince cleared his throat.

"Red alert." He said a tad impatiently.

Goten snapped to attention immediately and started shouting orders. "Red Alert!" He repeated. "All crew to their stations. Scramble the troops and open the Pod-bay doors. Com, open a channel to the port. I want to know the situation. First squadron priority defense and damage control. Second and third squadrons take out the Ice-jin ship. Officers of rank are to be captured alive and able to speak, if possible. All others are expendable."

There was a confident chorus of "Sir!" before everyone moved quick to carry out their orders.

The Prince stood from the Captain's Chair, offering it back to the Captain. "The bridge is yours."

Goten smirked. "And where are you off to, Your Highness?" He already knew the answer.

"Oh… I thought I'd stretch my legs…" He replied cryptically, once again attempting to brush his lavender bangs behind his ear with just as little success as before.

Sure enough, not long after the Prince left the bridge, his lavender pony-tail and white armor was seen flying towards the battle. He must have made a quick stop at his quarters to ditch the blue cape and pick-up his sword, because the blade flashed every now and again when the lights of the battle hit it as it sliced through the enemy fighters like they were made of butter.

'Lucky bastard.' Goten thought to himself. The Prince got to go out there and actually fight, while he had to stay on the ship and play Captain. Nothing got his Saiyan blood boiling faster than the prospect of a good fight. No one on the bridge crew was any different. Goten saw the hungry look in their eyes as they watched their monitors or peered out the wide viewport at the carnage in real time. Saiyans were born to fight. Sometimes, they craved it more than food or sex. It was one of the reasons why their military was so fearsome, their Empire so strong. They practically thrived on battle.

…

The Ice-jin were actually a minority within their own nation.

The Ice-jin Ascendancy was ruled by only a handful of families and, to the best of the Empire's intel, they were the only Ice-jin in existence. As such, the Ascendancy's armies were comprised of a mixed assortment of soldiers from all the planets they ruled. Most were conscripts. Warriors forced to fight under pain of death to either themselves, their families or even their entire race or planet's. But there were those that had actually enlisted. The odd and occasional sadist who delighted in inflicting suffering, did it with a smile, while striking a dramatic or even flamboyant pose.

None of those types seemed to be present at this battle, however.

Were he not in a vacuums and holding his breath until he could get inside the port, the Prince would have sighed in disappointment. The Ice-jin Ascendancy had been the Empire's enemy for as long as he could remember, but he had fought against them deplorably little since his coming of age. His father -more accurately his mother acting through his father- preferred to keep the their son and Heir Apparent insulated from the more… imaginative soldiers of the Ice-jin's military.

The Prince cut his way through the throng of warriors, all from different races, wearing mismatched armor. They were cut down easily. A real disappointment to an Elite warrior like himself. After a while he was forced to begrudgingly admit that he wasn't going to get a good fight out of any of this. Best to just end it quickly and not waist his or his men's time. As much as the Saiyans loved to fight, they hated trivialities.

Focusing his ki and channeling his energy through the enchanted blade of his Brave Sword, the Prince sliced an opening for himself in the Ice-jin ship. A gust of atmo as well as several unlucky crew members were sucked out by the sudden pressure change. The Prince unsympathetically ignored them as he flew in through the opening he'd just made. If they were to weak to realize they could use their ki to insulate themselves from the cold and the vacuum of space, then they weren't worth his pity.

Once inside the ship, the prince sealed off his entrance with what scrap he could find that hadn't already been sucked out, welding it shut with his ki. Once the outer hull was again air-tight, he cut open the nearest blast-door and was rewarded with perfectly breathable -if slightly musty- air once again. He took a few deep breaths to work the oxygen back into his system before continuing on his way. From what he remembered of Ice-jin ship blueprints, the bridge should be… Ah! That way!

Sword in hand, the Prince turned down a narrow corridor, following the curve of the ship towards the main bridge and -presumably- the commanding officer in charge of this attack.

He did run into a fair share of ship personal and security officers on his trek. But in the narrow corridor, they were forced to bottle-neck and the Prince picked them off easily. Really, there was no challenge here. How disappointing. A real waste of his time and energy. It was a real wonder the Ascendancy was considered their greatest enemy. With worthless soldiers like these.

Finally, he reached the bridge.

… Only to find that another warrior had beaten him to it.

A young woman about the Prince's own age, perhaps a year or two younger, was battling an alien wearing the bars of a ship's captain. She wore the same sailor suit with pleated skirt as all the Sailor Senshi of the Moon Kingdom, but hers was in shades of pink. A shade of pink only slightly less bright than her obscenely long hair, pulled up into two oddly-shaped odango that somewhat resembled rabbit ears. The brooch on her breast was also a bit strange. A heart-shape. The Prince had only ever seen Senshi with circles or stars as their brooches. A heart was new to him. But then again, the Lunarian were all about love and light. Really, it wasn't all that strange after all.

The alien she battled had the blueish-purple skin and amphibian took of a Kaerujin, with two small face tentacles that gave the look of a thin mustache. He smirked, giving his amphibian face an almost comically sinister look. The Senshi was doing her best, but the Kaerujin clearly had the upper hand in this fight.

The Prince didn't particularly like Lunarians, but he didn't exactly dislike them either. In all honesty, he was ambivalent on the subject. But he knew that he did not like the Ice-jin or those that served them, and so, when it came to picking sides, if you don't want to pick someone to fight with, choose someone to fight against. The Kaerujin was going down!

Leaping forward, the Prince shot one short burst of ki between the two, as a warning shot, to get their attention. After all, he loved being the center of attention, ever since he was little. Both parties paused to face the newcomer.

"S-Saiyan!" Stuttered the Kaerujin.

The Senshi took his distraction as her opportunity. Raising her weapon, a short, brightly colored stick with the crescent moon on its end, she called out, "Moon… Healing… Escalation!"

And it was the strangest attack the Prince had ever seen. It wasn't an energy attack. She wasn't focusing her ki through the wand like he did with his sword. In fact, he could feel no battle aura from either it or her at all. Just the normal baseline ki of any living thing. But a spiral of sparkling… something came cascading out of the crescent moon tip and enveloped the Kaerujin in a glittering light.

At first the Prince thought the glitter and sparkles were somehow smothering or asphyxiating him. But then the Kaerujin cried out, "Refresh!" and the sparkling light dissipated to reveal him kneeling on the deck, still alive, with a bemused -almost childish- smile on his face. It was… unnerving. No wonder his father feared their power. The Prince just witnessed it first hand and he couldn't understand it either. To defeat an enemy without even harming them. Leaving them with an innocent child-like smile on their face… It was disturbing.

"That was a close one." The Senshi sighed with relief, wiping nonexistent sweat from her brow. She looked up at the Prince. "Thanks for the distraction. I don't think- Don't I know you?"

The Prince bristled at her casualness. He'd had people drawn up by their thumbs for less. Sheathing his sword, he raised his chin and looked down his nose at her. "I am Prince Vegeta XV, Heir Apparent to the Saiyan Empire. You will show me the proper difference, Lunarian!"

…

Technically, Small Lady wasn't supposed to go sneaking off to Earth. The planet around which her kingdom turned was actually the property of the Saiyan Empire.

But it was the closest planet to her own little moon. It filled the sky over Silver Millennium, their capital city, captivating the eyes with its marbled blue and white glow. She had been sneaking off to Earth ever since she was little and had gotten rather clever at it over the years. Today, she was passing herself off as a tourist. Dressed in civilian clothes common to the Empire, Small Lady first made her way to one of the two space ports that controlled and regulated travel to the planet's surface. Her intension was to slip-in with one of the many tour groups that went planet-side to see the sights. She chose the Bowman Space Port because its orbit kept her farther away from her own kingdom and by extension, father away from her mother's Senshi. Any one of them could identify her in a second.

But Small Lady did not intend for the port to be attacked by an alien menace while she was there. Oh, poo. Nasty bad guys spoiling her fun! What's a Soldier of Love and Justice to do?

Her duty of course.

Sure, this station was technically under foreign sovereignty and she had absolutely no jurisdiction here what-so-ever. But that didn't matter. Love and Justice were universal concepts that spanned the cosmos. Across every planet and every star. And as a Sailor Senshi, it was her duty to protect them! So, her little 'holiday' was put on hold in favor of the greater good. Pulling her transformation compact from her chest where she wore it as a brooch, Small Lady held the crystal inside it aloft and cried the words that had been drilled into her since before she could walk.

"Moon Prism Power… Make-Up!"

Her body was enveloped in rainbow light and for a moment, the by standards forgot their panic for a moment to gaze at the Sailor Warrior that had just appeared in their midst.

"In the name of Love and Justice!" Small Lady shouted over the crowd at the enemy ship. "I'm the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon! And in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

Used to fighting Saiyans and amongst the forces of the other ruling families of the Ascendancy, the invading soldiers scoffed at her naive monologue and fetish uniform. After all, how threatening was a pair of pink pigtails in a short skirt? But with a bit of Moon Tiara Action they learned their lesson quickly. Never underestimate a girl with pigtails in a short skirt.

Slowly, Small Lady, as Sailor Moon, made her way inside the enemy ship. The quickest way to end this would be to take out their leader. To use the Moon Stick to exorcize him of the evil in his heart and convince him to give the order for his troops to stand down.

The saucer shaped ship was a labyrinth of narrow corridors, all looping and spiraling through the bulky disk of the ship. Small Lady darted from passageway to passageway searching for the command bridge, occasionally having to use her tiara to subdue an enemy soldier here and there. Finally, the corridor opened up onto a chamber with a wide bubble dome. Small Lady paused, staring at the battle taking place outside. The station's regular defense force had joined the fray. She could see their fighter-ships darting and flitting about, shooting missiles and laser bolts at the alien combatants.

"And who are you supposed to be, little girl?" Asked a cold voice behind her.

Small Lady spun around, her pink pigtails swinging wildly. He was not tall, but he was taller than she was. With blueish-purple skin and a salamander face. If Sailor Mercury were her she could probably tell the younger Senshi his species, what planet he was from, what values his culture healed, and their main agricultural resource. But Ami wasn't here. So, all Small Lady knew was that he was a frog-faced bad guy attacking a neighboring nation and placing innocent people in danger. That was unforgivable.

"I'm Sailor Moon!" She announced. "I fight for Love and Justice and I'm gonna be the one who stops you! In the name of the Moon!"

"How cute…" Frog-face scoffed. Then, without another word, he extended his hand and shot a beam of energy from his palm at the young Senshi.

Small Lady dodged the beam, singeing the heel of her pink boot before crawling for cover behind a computer console. Silly mistake. She knew about Saiyans and their 'ki' abilities. When she was younger, on one of her secret and forbidden excursions to Earth, Small Lady had met a half-Saiyan boy who boasted and showed off to her how he could blow up things just by pointing at them. Anyone who planned on attacking any part of the Saiyan Empire must have similar abilities. It was foolish of her not to remember that sooner.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Small Lady reflected that maybe sticking her neck out in another nation's sovereign territory wasn't the best idea she'd ever had. Not because Sailor Senshi had no jurisdiction within the Empire, but because Senshi weren't trained to combat the sorts of enemies that Saiyans tended to attract. Crawling to a second, better hiding place, the young Sailor Moon took a second deep breath and tried to remember what that half-Saiyan boy told her about ki almost ten years ago. It was supposed to be something like the combination of life-force and battle aura… and willpower? How does that help?

She didn't get the chance to put that little bit of knowledge to use, however. (Not that it would have been particularly helpful in this particular situation.) Her cover was blown out from over her head by a second ki-blast from Frog-face.

"Kiyaaaaa!" She screeched and was thrown several feet in the air, her skirt whipping up around her thighs, threatening to expose her panties. The Moon Stick went skittering off to the side and Small Lady's eyes darted wildly, trying to locate the magical weapon while still keeping track of Frog-face and staying alive.

"What are you even doing here, Lunarian?" He asked. "Last I heard, you haven't got a treaty with the Empire. You're out of your element, little girl."

Good, he was talking. Lording his superiority over her. That meant he was distracted. Best of all, he was distracting himself without any prompting from her. Small Lady took the opportunity to crawl to where she last saw the Moon Stick fall.

"Or is this the Moon Kingdom's attempt at making a treaty with the Empire?" He continued. "Help defend one of their stations. Show them how useful you can be. …And in their gratitude, welcome your kingdom as a trusted ally. Pfff. The Saiyans wouldn't know gratitude if it bit them in the tail. They're more likely to demand your surrender and punishment for using your powers in their territory."

There was the Moon Stick!

Small Lady snatched up the weapon, fast as lightning, and climbed back to her feet. Once again turning to face her enemy. She raised the wand over her head. "I don't care about the Saiyans or what they think!" She said. "I fight for the protection of Love and Justice, and sovereign borders don't matter for that. Everyone is entitled to Justice and Love. Moon… Healing… Kiyaaaa!"

Her attack was cut off by another blast from Frog-face. It looked like she wasn't going to get a move in. Her skills and techniques were to slow to keep up with an alien master of ki-based techniques. She needed a diversion or distraction, or else to hide, or put enough distance between herself and her opponent to prepare her attack. Small Lady dodged a few more attacks, all the while looking for her opening. Then something very unexpected happened.

Another burst of ki energy shot between them, causing both Small Lady and Frog-face to pause. The who thing giving her an odd feeling of deja vu, remembering the stories her mother used to tell her about when she was Sailor Moon. Only instead of a ki blast, it was a rose...

Slowly, both Small Lady and her opponent turned to see a newcomer.

Wearing Saiyan armor, a sword in one hand, his other outstretched towards them. Blue eyed. Lavender hair pulled back in to a pony-tail. Lavender tail wrapped tight around his waist. On the shorter side of average height, but by no means 'short'. Lean but muscular and very, very handsome. Small Lady quickly decided she liked him very much. She also though that lavender hair looked vaguely familiar, but there wasn't time to think on that now! His sudden appearance and intrusion gave her the distraction she needed to launch her attack and cleanse Frog-face of his evil.

Once again raising the Moon Stick over her head, she cried, "Moon… Healing… Escalation!"

She loved that sound it made. The sparkle and shine of a successful attack. The way they always called out, "Refresh!" as they were cleansed. It made her proud to do what she did.

When it was done, and Frog-face knelt on the floor, a bemused smile on his face, Small Lady turned to the Saiyan newcomer. Excuse me, the half-Saiyan newcomer. No pure-blood Saiyan had hair like that. Long and flowy in a pale shade of lavender. Gosh! It really was very familiar! How common was that hair among half-breeds?

"That was a close one." She sighed with relief, wiping nonexistent sweat from her forehead. "Thanks for the distraction. I don't think- Don't I know you?"

He glared at her reproachfully for a moment. What? Had she done something to offend him? All she said was 'thank you'. Or was gratitude considered rude within the Saiyan culture? Did it offend their all important pride? He was handsome, but Small Lady's like for him was quickly dropping. Pretty wasn't everything and Saiyan warriors had a reputation.

Sheathing his sword, he said, "I am Prince Vegeta XV, Heir Apparent to the Saiyan Empire. You will show me the proper difference, Lunarian!"

Oh, the attitude! Yeah. Small Lady quickly decided that she didn't like him one bit. He might be royalty, but that didn't give him leave to make an ass of himself. Her mother taught her that at an early age. Besides, she might be in his territory and maybe didn't exactly have permission to be here in the first place, but she was the daughter of a royal house too! It should be him showing her the proper difference. Especially since she just, basically, saved his station almost single-handed.

"Oh yeah?" She snapped at him, taking a step forward, drawing herself up to her full height. He was only a couple inches taller than her (not counting her hair). "Well, I'm Princess Usagi II, Heir to the Moon Kingdom! And I just saved your little space dock! How about showing me some of that difference too, huh!"

Something dangerous flashed behind his summer-sky blue irises, but it was there and gone in a second. Small Lady barely registered it before she was suddenly remembering all the stories Venus used to tell her about the infamous and deadly tempers of the Saiyans. Maybe she shouldn't have snapped at him so harshly. Taking one cautious step back from him, she considered raising her Moon Stick to defend herself. Or… would he interpret that as an attack. Should she just remain still and try not to provoke him further?

"What are you even doing here… Princess?" He asked.

"I was in the neighborhood when they attacked and decided to help… Prince." She replied honestly.

He continued to glare at her. Academically, she knew that the worst thing he could do to her would be to ship her back to her mother in Silver Millennium and let her parents deal with her. At least, that's the worst that could be done to her if the Prince wanted to avoid a war between their two nations. In all honesty, Small Lady wasn't so sure if battling the Ice-jin and the Moon Kingdom on two separate fronts wouldn't suit the Saiyan military just fine. After all, wasn't it said that the Saiyan race thrived on battle? That handsome face was suddenly looking very, very dangerous now.

Then, the Prince sighed, seemingly in exasperation. He nodded towards Frog-face still smiling on the floor. "What did you do to the Kaerujin?"

"The frog-guy?" She blinked. He was concerned about an enemy? That didn't seem right. "He's been exorcized. Of his evil, I mean."

The Saiyan Prince's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Will he still remember who he is or what his mission was? Or have you rendered him catatonic?" The Prince's glare then returned his attention to her. "He's as useless to me dumb as he is dead. I would be very upset if you wiped important intel about this unprovoked attack from his mind. In fact, my father might interpret such an act as conspiracy with our enemies."

"I've done no such thing!" Small Lady once again found herself stepping forward, challenging his accusations. "If you're so worried, why don't you just ask him yourself!"

He continued to glare at her skeptically for a moment or two longer before turning towards the… what did he call it? Kaerujin. "Can he speak?"

"What did I just say?" She was quickly becoming more and more frustrated with this Saiyan Prince. He was nothing like the only other Saiyan she'd met in her life. That half-Saiyan boy with the same color hair, ten years ago. He had been friendly. She liked him. They played together until the moon came up. Then things turned ugly... But this Prince was nothing like that boy. Maybe it was an age thing. Or maybe it was the difference between growing up on Earth versus on Vegeta-sei.

The Prince stepped in front of the Kaerujin and, glaring down at him now, asked, "Do you know who you are?"

There was a prolonged pause in which Small Lady began to wonder if maybe she had inadvertently wiped the man's mind. The Moon Stick was supposed to exorcize evil. Depending on how much evil a person had in their heart… it was possible that the wand could wipe a person's mind. But she'd never heard of something like that happening before. After all, no one is that evil. Everyone has a bit of good in them.

Then, finally, Frog-face spoke. "I… am…?" A pause. "Cui. Captain Cui of the IAS Cutlass."

The Moon Princess forwent her sigh of relief at not having accidentally wiped the man's mind and instead flashed a superior smirk at the Saiyan Prince. Her way of silently saying, 'I told you so.'

The Prince ignored her. "What was your mission here?"

"Mission…" The was another pause as Cui looked off to the side, as if seeing something visible to his eyes only. "Destroy Earther space ports. Cut off ground communications. Isolate from the Empire… send a message to the monkeys…"

That something dangerous that Small Lady glimpsed earlier was back. Only this time, instead of fitting by for only a second, it lingered. Turning those beautiful sky-blue eyes a mercilessly cruel shade of ice. "And what was the Ice-jin message?"

Cui continued to look off to the side. Not meeting the Prince's deadly azure eyes.

"What do the Ice-jin want us to know?" He pressed, reached a hand down, the Prince haled the dazed and slightly confused Captain to his feet. "Which of the Ascendancy's ruling families do you work for?"

Slowly, Cui's frog-face turned back to meet the Prince's glare. He looked directly into those hard cobalt eyes and said one word. "Kold."

…