"Yamucha, get to the bridge on the double," Tienshinhan ordered and the USS Dragonball's board computer relayed the message to sickbay. "Bring something with you that will keep Piccolo down for a while."

"Understood."

"Piccolo-san!" Gohan was with his sensei in the blink of an eye. He and Son Goku carefully pried the Namekian out of the shattered wall and placed him on the floor.

"Stay away from the shackles," Goku warned, when the half Saiyan tried to remove the bonds that had dug themselves deep into Piccolo's wrist and were now caked in purple blood. "Those are ki dampeners and damaged."

"Let me have a look at them." Bulma had stopped mourning over the ship's fate. "And be more carefull where you throw someone next time. The Dragonball's hull already looks like a swiss chese because of you Saiyans..."

She fetched a small device from one of the non-regular pockets in her Starfleet uniform and ran it over the humming shackles. "This will take a while."

Yamuacha and Puar had meanwhile entered the bridge, and the former desert bandit quickly ran over to Son Gohan when he saw the injury to the boy's throat.

"I'm okay, it's just a scratch," Gohan croaked.

"I'm the doctor here, kiddo. So hold still while I examine you." With the medical scanner, Yamucha confirmed what the halfling had told him. The wounjds were ugly, but not dangerous. However, Gohan's mental state worried Yamucha. The boy was staring at his mentor as if his worst nightmares had become true, which probably wasn't too far from the truth, the doctor pondered before he turned his attention over to patient number two. "Puar, help Gohan. I'll see what I can do for Piccolo."

The female shapeshifter nodded and began to tend to the bleeding gashes.

"Wow," Yamucha commented when he saw the damage to the bridge. "Piccolo did that?"

"Sort of," Son Goku hadn't relaxed yet and watched over both, his son and the Namekian, with the eyes of someone who'd been surprised by his opponents once too often. On Yamucha's query look, the Saiyan added. "Gohan threw him."

"Oh," the doctor studied the readout of the scanner. "His ki is extremly low and he has aftereffects of a heavy concussion, but otherwise Piccolo's okay. He'll wake up soon. But it would be best if you bring him to sickback for a thorough check. "

"Can you give him something to keep him down for a while?" Captain Muten Roshi wanted to know.

"Uh, sure. But in his condition, it might be risky."

"Just do it as soon as Bulma's done."

"Aye, Sir." Yamucha checked the hypospray-injector and adjusted the dosage of the tranquilizer that would send the Namekian into dream land. Ordinary drugs didn't faze Namekians and Saiyans the least, their metabolisms broke down the active substance quickly and they were up and walking when other species were out of it for days. However, with a bit of experimenting, Yamucha had found a combination of drugs that worked long enough to make a difference.

"Vejita, we still have ki-dampening shackles with us, don't we?" Roshi wanted to know.

"Yes," the chief of security wasn't too fond of the handcuffs. He had tasted their effect too often not to feel pity with whoever was wearing them, even if it was a crazed out slug like Piccolo. "I'll set up an arrest cell for your precious tactical piece of shit.”

“Arrest?” Son Gohan piqued. “You can't just lock up Piccolo-san, he didn't know what he was doing, Sir.”

“Gohan, Piccolo doesn't even remember you at the moment,” Tenshinhan intervened. “He tried to kill you. I'm sorry, but right now, he's too much of a risk to the ship and everyone on board.”

Gohan's eyes filled with sadness. “Do you think he'll get better again?”

“I don't know. You have to ask Yamucha.”

Bulma had meanwhile removed the malfunctioning shackles and Yamucha slid them of the injured wrists, careful not to cause additional damage. When he had stopped the bleeding, he administered the tranquilizer the Namekian became slack as a wet towel. “Wow, that was close. He almost came around.”

He continued treating his patient until Vejita returned with the handcuffs. Meanwhile, Bulma and Tenshinhan had been accessing the damage to the systems and reported to Captain Roshi.

“... repairs should be done in three hours.” Commander Briefs finished her explanations.

“Okay. See to the repairs and then make sure that you set up a force field that will keep back Piccolo. I don't want a fiasco like last time we tried to arrest him.”

“Captain, I have an incoming transmission from Starfleet Command,” Lieutenant Chao-zu, Dragonball's communication officer, interrupted. “Admiral Riker.”

"Already?" Roshi had hoped that they would have a little bit longer before the officials would find out who was behind the liberation of Piccolo. Nonsense. Of course, Starfleet knew who was responsible for creating a diplomatic incident the size of an interstellar mist. There were not many creatures in the known universe capable of leaving behind a trail of destruction using just their bare hands. "I'm in my ready room. Commander Tenshinhan, you have the bridge... and set a course for the Chikyuu-system."

"Aye, Sir." Tenshinhan stretched to his full height and began issuing orders. "Bulma, you know your job. Ooolong, calculate and set a course to Chikyuu 3, Warp factor 5."

"Aye."

Vejita scowled. "Clean up the mess without me. I'll go and train."

Tenshinhan's eyes narrowed. "I didn't give you permission to leave the bridge."

"So? I'm a Prince, you worm." Vejita crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I don't need your permission for anything."

"We have already been through this discussion before," Tenshinhan said icily, not willing to let himself being intimidated by the arrogant Saiyan.

"Yes, and if I remember correctly, Yamucha had to revive you and you spent three days in sickbay afterwards," Vejita countered with glee in his voice.

“Don't push it, Vejita,” the First Officer glared, while the rest of the bridge crew pretended to be busy and not witness the power struggle. “You're here as a guest of the Federation. Maybe the Ice-jins would like to have another stand-in for their trial... I could arrange a one-way trip for you easily.”

“You wouldn't dare. You need me.”

“I wouldn't be too sure of that, Vejita no Ouji,” Tenshinhan stressed the title.

Vejita stared at the Chikyuu-born fighter and tried to guess how serious the man was about his threat. Finally, he sneered, turned on his heels and left for the lift without saying another word. When the lift doors had closed, everyone on the bridge relaxed visibly.

“I think you got him this time,” Son Goku informed his superior officer with a smile.

Tenshinhan sighed, suddenly realizing that he was drenched in sweat. “I hope you're right about that.”

End of Part 1
To be continued in Part 2.
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