Inside the Turles's main control room.
Turles stood before the viewport, his arms crossed over his chest.
"How far are we from the target?"
Reiz immediately swiped a finger across the console, bringing up the navigation chart.
"At our current speed, we'll reach the rendezvous coordinates provided by the Heeters Group in three days."
"Three days."
Amond repeated the number behind him. He could barely contain himself, his face flushed.
"Finally, we can pull a proper job."
He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.
Ever since joining the Frieza Force, he had spent every day getting familiar with his surroundings, studying the systems, and killing time shooting simulated targets on the training grounds.
For someone like him who couldn't sit still, it was torture.
Daiz opened his eyes.
"Don't get happy too soon. We've been in the North Galaxy for so long now; don't keep acting like a country bumpkin. The boss was right. We really did know too little about this universe before..."
"Hahaha."
As soon as Daiz finished speaking, Turles's laughter rang out.
"Looks like you've made progress lately, Daiz!"
"Amond, don't you call yourself our second-in-command? I suggest you deal with Daiz first."
Amond waved dismissively, but obediently sat back down.
The atmosphere in the main control room relaxed a little.
Then Turles turned to Lakasei.
"According to the public navigation data, what's the situation around those rendezvous coordinates?"
Lakasei tapped rapidly on the console. A star sector map unfolded, with the rendezvous coordinates marked in red.
"The outer reaches of the N-4 Star Sector. Commercial traffic is sparse, and the Force doesn't have many troops stationed in the area."
He paused.
"But it's still quite a distance from Planet Karen itself. The rendezvous point is in an uninhabited region of space between here and there."
Turles nodded.
The Heeters Group was reasonably careful in how it operated.
Setting the rendezvous point in an uninhabited region far from the target at least showed that they didn't want to alert anyone before the operation.
"What about intelligence on the Heeters Group? Anything useful in the public records?"
Reiz answered.
"I checked. There aren't many entries on the Heeters Group in the Force's public database. Its registered category is 'business partner,' and the length of cooperation is listed as 'long-term.' But there's no information on its specific business activities or organizational structure."
"Even an outside partner's records are locked?"
Turles fell briefly into thought.
Meanwhile, on a nameless barren planet in the same star system as Karen Planet.
The ground was cracked and dry, and weathered rock formations of unknown age lay everywhere.
Canyons crisscrossed the landscape. Wind surged up from their depths, carrying fine grit that hissed against the exposed rock walls.
At the edge of a cliff.
Four people stood there.
The one in the lead was slender, his short silver-gray hair swept back by the wind.
He stood straight, his hands behind his back.
His gaze passed over the canyon hundreds of meters deep at his feet and the barren planet's drab surface, reaching toward the dark universe overhead.
The fat, dark-skinned man standing behind him stepped forward.
"Boss."
"The last batch of data came back five days ago. We've got everything: the deployment map for the planetary defense system, the military's rotation schedule, and the civilian population density in every major city."
The wind howled upward again.
Fine sand struck their clothes.
Nearby, a woman with twin ponytails leaned against a rock, chewing on a piece of candy she'd gotten from somewhere.
Her legs were crossed, and she idly played with her left ponytail.
"Boss."
She pushed the candy from her left cheek to her right and spoke indistinctly.
"Are we doing the same thing as usual this time? Letting Frieza's people invade directly?"
Elec shook his head without even thinking.
"Of course not."
His hands remained behind his back, and his gaze never left the direction of Planet Karen.
"It won't be that simple this time."
Maki tilted her head, stopping mid-chew.
"This is a fully developed interstellar civilization." Elec turned slightly toward the others.
"They have their own interstellar fleet and a planetary defense network."
"More importantly, they already have the communications capability to send a distress signal to the Galactic Patrol Organization."
Maki frowned.
"So?"
"So we can't be too sloppy."
Elec lowered his hands.
"Unless you want us to spend the rest of our lives being hunted by the Galactic Patrol."
She spread her hands.
"Then what are you planning to do, boss?"
"Let's wait until our reinforcements arrive. I need to see what kind of people are coming first."
"All right, all right. So when will our reinforcements get here?"
Maki kicked at the loose stones beneath her feet.
"In three days," Oil said.
"The rendezvous coordinates have already been sent. They're in orbit around this planet."
Maki kicked at the loose stones beneath her feet.
"Three days? We have to stay in this lousy place for another three days?"
Wrinkling her nose, she looked around at the drab wasteland.
"There isn't even a blade of grass, and the wind's so strong it's made my hair frizzy."
Three days.
For interstellar travel, it was about as long as a nap.
Early on the third morning, the Turles's engines switched to deceleration mode right on schedule.
Outside the viewport, a drab, barren planet emerged from the black curtain of space.
Reiz's fingers flew across the console.
"Scan complete."
"One large spaceship detected, parked at the bottom of a canyon."
Amond leaned in from behind, staring at the point of light hidden in the canyon on the screen.
"These people are pretty good at hiding."
Turles glanced over.
The canyon's course, the surrounding terrain, the differences in height between the weathered rock formations.
"Land on the high ground east of their spaceship."
"Understood!"
Reiz and Lakasei nodded at the same time, already adjusting their course.
The Turles followed a gentle arc into the barren planet's low-altitude orbit, then descended toward the high ground to the east.
When the hull touched down, a dry shudder traveled up through the soles of their feet.
Turles rose from the command seat.
"Amond, Daiz, Cacao, come down with me."
He glanced at Reiz and Lakasei.
"You two stay on the ship and monitor the communications bands and all detectable activity in the area. If anything unusual happens, notify me immediately."
Reiz nodded. "Understood."
Lakasei was already bringing up the full-band monitoring interface.
The hatch opened.
The barren planet's surface was even more desolate than it had looked from orbit.
Cracked rock formations spread out in every direction, and wind rushed up from the canyon, carrying sand.
The four set out from the high ground, making their way toward the canyon along the weathered rock.
Amond walked half a step behind Turles on his right, his braid streaming behind him in the wind.
Daiz was on the left, his stride steady, always maintaining a fixed distance from the group.
Cacao brought up the rear, the optical units on his metal torso scanning from side to side.
The edge of the canyon was already in sight. Wind surged up from below, and sand crackled against their battle suits.
Just then.
"Well, the people Lord Frieza sent this time certainly know how to make an entrance."
A voice came from behind a rock to the side.
Amond reacted fastest.
He spun toward the voice in an instant, his right fist clenched and his center of gravity lowered.
Daiz turned at the same time.
Cacao's optical units locked directly onto the target's position.
A woman stepped out from behind the weathered rock. Her twin ponytails were blown askew by the wind.
She was still chewing something, playing with her left ponytail as she walked.
A half-mocking smile played on her lips. Her gaze swept over Amond and Daiz first, then lingered on Cacao for an extra second.
When her gaze fell on Turles.
The piece of candy she was still chewing dropped onto the loose stones at her feet with a patter.
"You are-!"