Gonna be honest, do not have much confidence in this chapter.
[spoiler]The view from the skyline was a limited one, as soon as something appeared within Trunks’s line of sight, it would disappear within the next millisecond. Mountains, fields, cities, oceans, all were but blurred lines as he shot past them. “I’m going as a fast as I can, Mom” He spoke through a small metal ear piece, seemingly unaffected by the speed and pressure of his flight. “Just use the time we have to explain what this’s all about” All he had been told before taking off was that Bulma had made possible progress on the Android led and that he was needed for an errand.
“Well, first off I want to remind you that this could be completely unrelated to what you think you saw” Her tone was careful, hesitant, she didn’t want to make a wrong move and send her son into a panic. “Maybe-“
“Just explain, Mom. Clearly.” The voice felt like he punched her in the gut, both desperate and firm, like a superior yelling an order at an employee.
“We picked up readings of two other locations using technology that matches that of the ship Frieza had arrived on when he came to Earth all those years back” He could hear her stopping to make quick orders to whoever was with her.
“Someone’s been salvaging from the site of Frieza’s demise” The thought of that location spurred on Trunks’s thought, he’d never fully wondered on how Goku had handled the situation that day. When Trunks had gone back in time, he had been forced to intervene and kill Frieza because Goku arrived late. But in this timeline, how had Goku dealt with the returning foe? Had he turned Frieza to dust like Trunks? Or did he leave the tyrant limping home with a hole in his pride that could never be repaired?
“Not just anyone” Bulma’s voice fell to a glum overtone. Trunks could already feel his heart rate picking up, waiting for the bad news. “I sent 16 out to the original site of Frieza’s landing and he found people. Scavengers, looting the wreckage” That didn’t seem too bad, maybe I could cal- There was a gulp heard.
“What else, mother?”
“…They were Red Ribbon, Trunks”
Suddenly everything felt a tad too hot, burning rays seeping into his skin, pulling at his flesh until his skin swept sweaty tears. Was it him or was the sky going red? In seconds 18 and 17 were there, floating beside him, easily keeping up with his pace. You’re not looking too good, Trunks Their taunts echoed off of non-existent wall, crawling in his skin, forcing apart his ear lobes. Do the small soldiers scare you?
“Do we scare you?”
His blue aura flickered in response to his breathing, like a grim rhythm laughing at his fears. “That could mean…”
17 moved up behind his sister, their grins burning into the back of Trunks’s head. “What do you have to be afraid of? You beat us.” 17’s hand crashed through his sibling’s chest, blood that they shouldn’t have had staining his hand and dripping on Trunks’s cheek. “You slaughtered us” Gravity returned in all of it stubbornness, grabbing at Trunks, dragging him down bit by bit, draining all layers of resistance from his body. “Because you wanted revenge. Because you had power. Because no one could stop you”
“It doesn’t prove that what you saw was real, Trunks!” Bulma screamed through the earpiece, if she was here she would have been wrapping her arms around him in a motherly embrace. “Gero was a genius, not many people could rebuild his Android designs. And in the Red Ribbon Army, he was one of a kind”
“The rules didn’t apply to you, because nobody could stop you” 18 and 17 began to circle Trunks, 18’s wound still dripping with blood.
The gravity increased, the chains tightened, Turnks didn’t even notice that the ground was getting closer.
“Just like us” Each head leaned close towards his ear, dragging out every word of his crimes.
His body felt numb, tired, longing for rest. It welcomed the fall, it asked for punishment.
“Is that why you keep causing problems? As a distraction?”
“Sickening.” Gohan chimed in just moments before Trunks realised he had stopped flying, instead plummeting into the ground. In a moment of quick thinking, Trunks threw all his weight to one side, turning his body to face skyward as he crashed into the ground, dirt pouring down on his head like rain.
“Trunks! I heard something crash, are you okay!?” His hand came up to clasp his still beating heart, his entire body reeling like he had just ran the length of a planet, wheezing for air. But before he could breathe his eyes burned at the sight of an object high up in the air that gleamed in the sun, something metal, with a hilt... It took three seconds for Trunks to notice his sword descending from the sky like a flaming meteor. As if it was possessed by a bloodthirsty spirit his trusty weapons seemed to guide itself towards his fallen form, where only a second later it landed… Only an inch away from his throat.
“I’m fine mom... I just…” He fought to steady his breath, taking in the view of his reflection in the blade of the object that came so close to just ending it all; he had done nothing to stop it. “Lost my balance”
“Don’t scare me like that” Her voice almost sounded broken. “I don’t think I can survive a heart attack”
Talking was good, thinking was good. It took him away, it blocked out the noise. It blocked out them. He needed to distract himself before he did something regretful, before he put his mother through more stress. “Mom?”
“Yes, Dear?”
Gero was dead. Trunks knew that, it was he Devil’s Pair’s greatest achievement. If he was going to do this right, he had to think. Ask the right questions. How could the Thirteen have been there taunting him? Possibilities: He missed a safe house. Or, somebody took Geros designs and rebuilt or repaired Thirteen. They were already looking for leads on missed safe houses, but was it possible that there was someone who could replicate Geors work? “You said that Gero was one-of-a-kind in Red Ribbon, right? But… Didn’t the files say he had an assistant? Wouldn’t they be able to recreate his work?”
“Hmmm. I do remember Goku mentioning once that when he originally fought the Red Ribbon Army, he met a man… Dr. Frap, I think. The man had claimed to be the one who created Eighter actually”
Trunks picked himself up, the possible answer pushing back against gravity and keeping him up straight. He looked around, no androids to be seen. With that he gripped the handle of his sword and pulled it up to examine the blade. “Then maybe I should pay the good doctor a visit”
Bulma wanted to tell him that she still had a job he could do by going to the other site of Frieza’s space ship match, but she couldn’t tell him. It seemed having a solid lead kept him going, at least for now, and she didn’t want to add to that stress. She just wanted her baby boy to be happy. “He should still be at Jingle Village if you’re so sure of this”
“It’s the best bet we’ve got” His let some joy leak into his voice, hoping to encourage Bulma to smile. “Just be careful. You’re at the lab, aren’t you?”
Unknown to him Bulma currently sat between the cover of two boulder, peaking through the gap between them and down towards an opening in the mountain-side, where a space ship with a very familiar design sat under the cover of the mountains. Behind her she had only her three assistants fighting over the supplies they had brought, Pilaf somehow ending up on Mai’s head, pulling her hair.
Bulma raised her binoculars up a top her nose, where the extended sight of the tool allowed her to make out Salza and Neiz playing a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
“Oh, you know. I’m just out… Getting some raw data samples”
Crime reports, military documentaries, news coverage, Red Ribbon Army remnants invading a village. Recordings of bloody combat and high-speed games of cat and mouse painted Cooler’s view, his eyes eating up every display of these Earthling’s resolve and endurance. But in Salza’s eyes he could see nothing of value in these clips (Data gathered over time by the Armoured Squadron), there was no tactical advantage in studying the common brawl between such people, after a few clips it only went on to prove how under powered and under developed any type of resistance would be to the likes of Lord Cooler.
And with that contemplative glare. Salza didn’t know what to make of it, it unnerved him slightly. Like Cooler was trying to intimidate the non-sentient objects. Was he hoping to find footage of the one that destroyed the Androids? Maybe Cooler was simply looking at footage that allowed him to laugh at how primitive life was. No… Salza shook his head, he knew that look. With the likes of other threatening nobles Salza had come across, he had long ago learned that a stone-cold expression on an Arcosian meant they were in deep thought. Plotting.
Which didn’t make anything much better. The lack of involvement Salza seemed to have here only made the young Captain doubt himself. He was the Captain of the Armoured Squadron, a rank gained over years of frivolous loyalty to the Master’s whims, who personally picked out and recruited his fellow members for the perfect team. He should be privy to his Master’s schemes and vision, he proved his right for such a privilege, did he not? Listen to yourself! He thought If our EMPEROR thinks zhat ve do not need to know such information, zhen ve should trust his judgement.
Salza shook his head for a brief moment, before realising he moved and instantly whipped his head back into his statue-esc stance. His mind told him that any fast movement threatened to hurt Cooler’s concentration. He could wait, Salza knew he could be patient. He was able to wait for his allies in the vicinity of an erupting volcano. He was able to wait in a failed peace treaty for his Master to give the go ahead. He was able to wait in baited breath for Tinsel to accept his proposal.
A ‘You got mail!’ icon flashed on his scouter, not followed by any sort of sound as the symbol dissolved into the ID of the sender. Speak of zhe devil Salza felt a smile grow on his face. Though he could not real the e-mail at the moment, he could see the subject was titled ‘Missing you, Bonbon!’. Oh, and it even had a sweet little love heart at the end-
“Salza.” Cooler barely had to raise his voice to make the soldier jump in surprise, Salza quickly fingering his scouter to remove the e-mail from view. The Arcosian looked unimpressed as he rose to his feet, quickly shutting off the monitors with a click of his fingers. “We’re leaving, bring along a spare energy cannon”
“Of course, Sir!” Salza had to admit, it felt damn good to move his knees again as they pumped in a rush for him to get the cannon and return to his Master’s side. “Vith all due respect, Sir. Vhat are ve doing? And vhat does his have to do vith those tapes?
“Let’s just say I’ve come to a realisation, Salza” Cooler, while still stone faced, did have a tinge of excitement in his voice, grabbing a spare scouter as well. The two marching through the ship and down the boarding ramp, passing by a rather intense game of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ with not an eye batted in Neiz and Dore’s general direction. They knew their orders. “A habit, if you will, of my family history in how we like to be viewed. Fear and status was always the key”
“Vhere are ve going, Sir?” The question went on ignored as Salza watched his Master come to a stop, scanning the area around them with the scouter, before muttering something along the lines of ‘I was right, how about that?’. And then like that he was off, stalking towards the cliff that was visible in the distance.
“Age old tactic, really. King Kold was respected because of his blood, Frieza’s spot on the throne over all other rivals and his lucrative control over the galaxy was due to his ability to blow up planets with a flick of his dainty fingers” At this point Salza was starting to think that Cooler had forgotten that he was there, rambling thoughts laid bare as the two walked. “Yes, I always try to play my cards more pragmatically and certainly don/t butcher my own forces as much, but I did always generally try to follow these examples. Even if through different methods, I still produced my power as something to be feared and my birth right respected”
“Fear is a brilliant motivator, but to rule by fear alone would prove foolish. Look at the state of our Empire, as soon as Frieza was out of the picture, that power stripped away from our image, the galaxy turned against us. My brother’s fall was a sign to the universe that no one was untouchable. A disgusting insult to my family to be sure, to drag our names down to the level of the common people” His right hand came up and started doing ecstatic gestures, clicking his fingertips together to keep his mind focused, his speech going off track. “But backwater planets like this dust ball don’t know that. They’ve never heard of our Empire, in either it’s failings or it’s victories. Never opened their eyes to the greater universe… And yet they’ve shown themselves as the most resilient and stubborn creatures in this sector, who even now have produced fighters who’ve been able to break the same machines that killed the Super Saiyan”
Salza took a moment to try and replay the words in his head, the fast-pace vomit of words were hard to decipher. At least Cooler was good at making everything he said sound important no matter the meaning. “You think zhat zhis planet could be of use to our Empire?”
They now stood at the edge of the cliff, looking over an old looking road that twisted around the bend of the cliff, only having one actual car passing by. “This planet is still just coming out of it’s age of destruction. It has been decimated by infernal machines, stripped of resources and hope. Now, amongst the rot and ruin the people try their best to get by. It’s perfect”
Salza didn’t get it. “I don’t think zhey find zhe turn of events zhat perfect, Sir”
“Precisely. I think it’s time I make my first official appearance on this planet” Down on the road, the truck had stopped, three people seemed to be in the midst of a heated argument around the front of the truck while a large grey grizzly bear (According to Salza, that’s what the Earthlings called them) was resting at the back. “I have a cunning plan” Was the only thing he said before jumping down onto the road.
“Can’t believe you drove us away. What do you take us for, a bunch of putz!?” A particularly angry shout was the first thing Cooler heard as soon as he got close enough. “I oughtta just fill you with holes now, Pipsqueak!” The loud mouth was tall and blonde, opening her leather jacket to reveal a large array of capsules marked ‘Firepower’ hanging on the inside. If Cooler’s research was correct, this woman was Launch, known as the ‘Two-Faced Bandit’ in the reports he had his men steal. Gang Leader.
“We were outnumbered and outgunned, man!” The much smaller man’s voice came out as a squeak. “Those Red Ribbon thugs woulda turned us into swiss cheese” While he talked, the small man instinctively inched closer to his bigger and buffer companion, waiting for the chance to use the man as a human shield.
“UmHm” The buff man grumbled out, nodding his head.
“That’s an awesome point, Loco!”
‘Loco’ looked to Launch, crossing his arms. “UhHm”
Launch sighed in defeat, growling out “Just shut up, Loco. The Pipsqueak lives, this time”
Okay, so these people have some one word language I’m unaware of… How does that even work!? Cooler shook his head, no time for questions as he pushed on forward. It was time to introduce himself. “Sir, vhat are you aiming to achieve here?”
Cooler gave a dark chuckle, taking one step closer “I’m just one generous man who wants to help some… Down on their luck fo-” Only to stop as an unsuspecting bullet whipped past his nose.
“Better stop where you are before you lose something, Bucko!” The voice was gruff, deep, barely literate and was certainly not coming from the three by the car. Come to think of it, it came from Cooler’s right, but the only thing over there was the bear… That was currently standing on to legs. The Bear that had just reached into its fur to pull out a machine gun. The Bear Cooler only now noticed seemed to have a hat.
“What is wrong with this planet!?” The Bear seemed to take offence to this, within seconds of pulling the trigger a hail of bullet fired at Cooler, much to his dissatisfaction. Yes, he can easily catch the bullets, but the feeling was akin to an insect biting you; doesn’t really hurt, but just plain irritating. Soon, the Bear an out of ammo, but that wasn’t really a problem as Launch had already jumped on top of the truck to back the animal up and she seemed to have plenty of ammo to spare.
“Eat lead, you lizard freak!” She showed absolutely no hesitation in unloading on this random person for the simple crime of walking close to them, though what Cooler found more amusing was that Salza had ducked for some sort of cover on the ground.
“Salza, seriously?”
“Sorry, Sir. Old habit on the battlefield…” With a nervous laugh the soldier got to his feet and mimicked Cooler’s hand movements, deflecting and catching bullets in ‘silence’.
After a few minutes of this Cooler has to admit that this was a little excessive.
Another minute passed. How much ammo did she have!?
Three minutes “Uh, Boss Lady? I don’t think it’s working” Pipsqueak piped up.
Four minutes “Look, Boys, he’s getting tired!” Launch tried to reaffirm
After the five minute mark Cooler’s patience had reached its end, and with an annoyed growl and a mutter of ‘Diplomacy is hard’ he directed a glare squarely on Launch. For a moment nothing happened, but within a split second a shine similar to the glare of the sun could be seen twinkling in his eye, following that was a pair of thin twin beams of light that seemed to shoot out from his eye balls and narrowly graze Launch’s shoulder. “Can we now be civil, you impudent peas-… Friends.” As he said this the shock of the sudden attack caused Launch to fall backwards off the roof of the truck, a loud thud being heard from the other side, accompanied by a pained groan.
Pipsqueak was already in a panic. “Why do we ever listen to the Boss Lady!? You’re Red Ribbon, aren’t you? Some sort of twisted monster here to violate our souls and suck out our flappy jubblies!”
Cooler’s eyes only narrowed at the implication that his appearance was in any way ‘monstrous’. “You know, where I come from I’d be considered quite the stud” His hand instantly shot out to the side to silence Salza before the soldier could even start trying to add to Cooler’s statement. The last time Salza had tried to ‘Defend his great Lord’s honour!’, it had led to many awkward implications. Now, stop whimpering. I do not come seeking harm, despite the very RUDE welcome, I simply wished to help. You all seemed to be… Troubled”
“We don’t need no help, we’re not spineless wimps” Launch came back around the truck, still as aggressive as ever, though at least she wasn’t shooting. “Well, except for Pipsqueak over here, but he’s the one that drives the truck”
“Strange, from what I overheard, you were having trouble with- What was it? The ‘Red Ribbon Army’?” Cooler had to pretend to be in the dark, too much knowledge was a suspicious thing to have.
“Those losers are nothin’, ya hear me? Nothin’ but a bunch of bums with guns!” Launch seemed fired up at the mere mention of them, wagging her finger violently in Cooler’s face (An action that made his royal blood growl). “Yeah, they got the drop on us. Just cus’ we were distracted by trying to find good junk we could sell off. Those weird space ship ruins would sell good on the market. But if it were any other time, we’d have slaughtered them! And then we’d fill their corpses with so many holes they’d come back to life to beg for mercy” She was practically spitting in the Emperor’s face.
“You seem to… Dislike these people” Cooler put it lightly.
“Boss Lady hates everything. But the Red Ribbon army above all e- ARG!” Pipsqueak couldn’t finish before Launch had punched him straight in the stomach, causing him to keel over in pain.
“Yeah, and so what if I do? Those Red Ribbon jerks took everything! If bullets can’t rip an Android into shred, then they can at least turn the soldiers into gooey mess” She walked back over to the hood of the car, slamming her fist into the hood, obviously finding that punching other people wasn’t helping. “And I’ll do the same to every last one of ‘em, down to the last Ribbon”
“I was under the assumption that this army had long since been disbanded”
She sat down, head finding comfort in the metal head of the truck. “They ain’t what they used to be, but some are still kicking around. Been after them for a while… Funny, the Kid took ‘em down on his own in a few weeks, yet I can’t even make a dent in years” Cooler told himself that he must have misheard that part, how could a mere child have taken out an entire army? “If only that Kid was still around…” Launch muttered
“Sounds like you need an edge over them. No use fighting ants without bugspray, hm?” Cooler held his hand out to the side, where Salza took the cue to place the spare Energy Cannon in his Master’s palm. “This is a standard issue BDC Mark 3 Energy Cannon, a wrist mounted device that converts electrical waves into pure energy and unleashes them as devastating blasts. Far more explosive than the meagre weapons you seem to carry” He tossed the small weapon over to Launch, who easily caught it with interest fighting against her aggressive tendencies.
“How does this thing work?” Part of her was immediately suspicious of the random stranger giving her a weird device, but another part of her excitedly screamed ‘Free Gun Thing!’
“You put your hand through the underside of the Cannon, wrapping your fingers loosely around the handle at the other end” Launch did as the man instructed, flipping the device on its back so the bulbous shape didn’t get in the way. “Then it’s simply a matter of increasing your grip on the handle to fire”
She raised the cannon up, surprised at how light it felt as she looked around for a target. Below them a river ran down stream, a rather large rock protruding from the currents. “So, like this?” Her arm was out stretched (Pipsqueak and Loco scrambling out of the way), prompting a small aiming attachment to pop out of the top. With only curling of her fist the device shook, within moments golden light exploded from the front, bursting out with such strength that it threatened to knock Launch on her ass. She couldn’t even see what happened when the blast hit the target due to the light being so bright, but oh man, she could feel that rock disintegrate as the light enveloped it.
“I probably should have mentioned that it works best with long range targets…” Cooler muttered as the light died down.
“Damn, so that’s how it feels!” Launch exclaimed, patting the cannon like it was a pet, a smile stretching from ear-to-ear. Which really looked as unnatural on her as it would have on Cooler. “I always wondered. It’s like when Tien that donut ray”
“I’ll just assume you’re impressed”
“This. I like this. This could do some serious damage” Okay, now Cooler was starting to find it a tad creepy how instantly attached she had become to the weapon.
“What’s the catch?”
“I’m just a man that wants to help out” Cooler put on his best impression of what he assumed was a noble and kind idiot. “I think we can both agree that these Red Ribbon fools should not be allowed to continue their exploits” Salza was still unsure of Cooler’s plan in all of this. He obviously saw something of value with these people, he had purposely sought them out. Though Salza could at least see the logic in wiping out the rest of Red Ribbon, if they could build something to rival a Super Saiyan, then left unchecked there could be a day they create something that rivals Lord Cooler.
“Excuse me, miss-“ Salza butted into their conversation, receiving a glare from Cooler
“It’s Launch. Get it right or I’m using you for target practice”
“Launch. You mentioned zhat zhese people took you by surprise because you were... Scavenging some sort of space craft?” At first, Cooler didn’t understand the point of the question, before reminding himself that the Earthlings were not a species that had achieve Space Travel yet. Meaning that the space ship could be…
“Just some old ruins, people say a UFO was there once. Big circular space ship, but it exploded or soothing” She leaned in, examining the emblem on Salza’s uniform.
“Hey! I’ve seen that symbol, it was on some of the parts in the ruins”
“You did!?” Salza exclaimed. She must have stumbled upon the remains of Frieza’s space ship.
“Wait a minute… That means you’re from space!” Launch exclaimed. “YOU’RE ALIENS!” She pointed an accusatory finger at Salza’s scouter “I knew I recognised those dumb glasses from somewhere. The Aliens that blew up East City all these years ago wore ‘em”
“Don’t do anything drastic” Salza pulled his hands up with an awkward laugh, hoping the woman didn’t get too mad.
“I’m watching you, Greenbug” Her eyes narrowed on Salza, her hand patting the energy cannon.
“Where did you get attacked?” Cooler moved in front of Saza, glaring Launch down, he wasn’t going take any stupid answers.
After a moment of staring, Launch shrugged and went back to appreciating her new toy. “Up north, I’ve got the co-ordinates down on the radar” She held up a small square device, seemed to be some sort of advanced map.
Cooler turned to Salza, his voice frim and strict. “Salza, tell Neiz and Dore to go to these co-ordinates to investigate” Before looking back to Launch with a fake smile.
“And to kill any Red Ribbon soldiers they find”
Launch seemed to take this as a challenge of sorts, smirking as she turned to bark at Pipsqueak “Get off the floor and into the truck, we gotta get there before anyone else! I wanna test the new gun”
Cooler handed her the spare scouter “If I ever need to contact you” He stated, to which Launch only responded to with a nod before jumping in the truck, and within a matter of minutes the truck had turned around and took off for the north. “Hook, line and sinker as they say” Cooler crossed his arms and took the moment to pat himself on the back, Salza returning to his side to inform him of the other two soldiers receiving their orders.
“I still do not fully understand, Sir”
“It’s simple, Salza. Ever since we landed on this planet I’ve had you and the rest of the Squadron looking into various aspects of this planet. Information on its defensive capability, some of it’s culture, though the bear was still a surprise, everything. I’ve been pooling over all this information for a while now, and the picture painted was of an opportunity. See, that Launch girl took lead of a gang after the Androids came around, one that is well known. At first they were your usual thugs, bank robberies and all that” As he monologued he began to pace about in front of Salza, swept up in his own voice. “But it seems more recently the various inhabitants of this mudball have found themselves adoring these thugs for how they deal with what remains of the Red Ribbon Army. In a way, amidst the after math of the Androids, this gang is one of the few pillars that people look up to. The only other I have found so far has been the scientist that is heading their rebuilding efforts; Bulma Briefs”
“Ah, I think I get it now. Sir. You want to build their trust and loyalty to achieve their influence?”
“Something like that. See, the Red Ribbon Army have left this planet in the perfect state of disarray. People are lost, they want things, symbols, people, objects, anything; to put their trust in. The more I think about it, the more value I could see in owning this planet. On other planets, we went for sheer conquest, beating down the popular until they could no longer resist. But such acts only breeds a need for vengeance in the survivors, which stays until they find the right moment to wiggle out from under our thumbs. So, what if instead of conquering this world, we build ourselves up. We earn their trust, we earn their dependency. To the point where they’ll look to me as a messiah of sorts”
“You mean, you vish to take advantage of zheir darkest hour?” Cooler couldn’t see at the moment, but Salza’s face fell into an almost repulsed expression. “But that’s…”
“Brilliant, I know” Cooler couldn’t compliment himself enough. “As you told me after your first scouting mission, there still remains androids. It’s perfect. Wait for the Androids to cause some damage, get the fear out there front and centre, and then out of the goodness of my heart, I dedicate my resources into protecting the civilians. And if we play our cards right we'll have those that these Earthlings look up to singing our praises” He clapped his hands together, looking over the road with glee. “They’ll be so desperate for my protection, they won’t bat an eye at bringing more troops here to occupy and take resources”
“A brilliant plan, Sir” Salza did not sound enthusiastic.
“Maybe taking the planet the Super Saiyan called home could even erase some of the stained that still dirty of family’s legacy” He turned back to Salza, floating back up the cliff, it was about time they got back to the ship. “My Empire will be able to heal. Earth will be the starting point to rebirth of this great Empire” His lips frowned as he added on in a mutter “I haven’t failed. Not yet. You’ll see, Father from whatever hell hole you ended up in”
Though, as Cooler was about to find out when he returned to his ship, someone was about to put a huge crimp on a other wise good day.[/spoiler]