He was outnumbered, but then again when he took to the battlefield he usually was. Cam still fought in a hands on approach, preferring to lead from the front when he could, though he had to be able to delegate and know when to let his troops fight. He still trained with his old squad from his days as a Sergeant in the Frieza force, as well as his bodyguard. A pink skinned Brench-saijin woman, clad in simple shorts and a tank-top closed in--the strongest of Cam's soldiers, truly. Talfa. Also likely the only woman he had ever loved, not that he told her that, or even acted upon it. They were close friends, but the Frieza force had thwarted any chances the Emperor would have at a healthy relationship for a long time. When you saw a man beside you kill mercilessly, wipe out men, women, children, destroy entire cities and eventually, take entire worlds, intimacy with such a person became hard. So they trained, they talked late into the night, and they supported one another the most in each others lives.

Hureo was the next trusted man, a Litt, the small bird man stood just shy of four feet tall and had a significantly weaker power level, though power levels weren't everything. His ability to manipulate energy as well as focus his ki blasts were legendary among his people; his keen eyesight combined with this aptitude for energy control made him the most lethal sniper in Cam's arsenal, he had taught a level of control that the Kabochan once thought impossible. He had since surpassed even his old mentor.

"Quit day dreaming!" A large Beppan yelled, swinging his massive fist into Cam's gut. He almost sent the Kabochan sprawling--almost. Clamping down on his arm, Cam gripped tightly and twisted, before he launched a knee upwards into the Beppan's face. He took the hit, rocking backwards though there wasn't nearly as much damage as their should have been. Deon was a champion of his race, a Juggernaut that could rip ships in half, he had also been a reliable ordnance expert and masterful hand-to-hand combatant. Had the Frieza force not taken his planet, Deon would have been a king there, perhaps one day that dream could still be realized.

Duria and Talfa landed the next blow. A Saiyan with jet black hair, still in his standard armor and wearing the sleevelettes and feet coverings that many of his race word, each a rich, deep purple. A necklace of beads hung around his neck and he still had his scouter on. The Saiyan had sledgehammered down on the top of Cam's head, and Talfa had taken advantage of such a strike, a foot driving into Cam's back, sending him sprawling prone in the sand.

Leaning against a nearby supply crate and watching, Coca called out, "Hey! It's just training, don't be killing each other over there!" Lieutenant Coca. Once the head of the Kabochan fleet, when Cam had risen to Emperor she submitted to his will. She too, held feelings for the man, though she had a much deeper understanding of how the Emperor's mind worked, capable of giving his orders before he even gave them, she was also intellectually leagues further than anyone here, her stratagems in fleet to fleet combat had her winning battles with odds that seemed entirely insurmountable. She had once wiped out a pirate fleet with only a pair of outrunner ships, leading them in a chase into a black hole, while cutting the trajectory just close enough to sling-shot both of her ships to safety. These were the people the Emperor relied on in the day to day--though their were other. Meiku spearheaded their science division and Absolut was his prodigy, he was beginning to take on missions for the Emperor, Cam had come to adore the child's timid nature, though he would help him find strength. After that, who knew?

Picking himself out of the dirt, Cam unleashed a wave of psychic energy, sending all of them sprawling, "No! Don't go easy on me! We both know I'm far from the strongest! My tactics, my abilities need to be impeccable if I am to match that raw power!" He had in truth, defeated many enemies that as far as numbers were concerned, he never should have beaten. Cam had fought the odds over and over and if not won, he at least persisted. Hureo closed in, unleashing a salvo of finger beams that Cam deflected before retorting--his retort cut short as Deon tried to drive an elbow into his back. Cam reached a hand up, catching the elbow strike before ducking low. He was in it now, all of them were closing in.

"We got incoming!" Coca shouted, on her data pad and scouter, "Fleet spotted a ship moving out way, it's identifying itself as the Rogue Phantom," She glanced towards her Emperor, stepping forward to show him the datapad, Cam took it and read the message, handing it back to Coca he ordered, "Send them our coordinates."

How interesting indeed, the Frost demon pirate had more gall than he thought, at least he could respect that.

---

WC: 865 Doctor Kaijin Vex

This was not what the Emperor had expected when the Rogue Phantom had come to planet Cane again, though in truth he hadn't known what to expect. Kamui seemed like a pragmatic man, though under any other circumstance and with any other person, this would have been a death warrant. Cam placed his hands on his hips as his elite soldiers eyes Kamui warily, "You can relax," he said, it directed at both his own soldiers as well as Kamui and his men and women, "Thank you for your honesty Kamui, and for returning Absolut to me. He's more precious than you know," looking at the sedated child Sawbones held in her hands. Stepping forward, Cam would move to take Absolut from the doctor, "Thank you for keeping him intact and in one piece," he said with a nod of his head to the doctor. His head tilted to meet Kamui's gaze.

There would be some silence between the men as Cam sized up the frost demon, that is unless Kamui himself broke it. Whatever calculation Cam was running in his head, it didn't take long for him to reach what conclusion he needed to reach, "You know I could kill you and your entire crew easily and yet you came anyway. That's bold, even for one of your race's natural strength and power." He shifted, turning to walk Absolut back towards Coca, who was already running forward to collect the youth in her arms, "Get a med-evac for him!" she shouted, quickly grabbing her datapad as Duria reached a hand up. Coca and Duria shooting Kamui a dirty look, "Don't," Cam ordered them both, "It's not his fault, he didn't know. I trust him when he says he didn't know," the pair exchanging a look but otherwise remaining silent in that regard, the Saiyan pressing a button on his scouter and getting in contact with planetary forces, "We need a medical team in sector six-H, soon as possible. Frost demon youth, he's alive and appears to be stable but rest is unknown." He paused, a chatter occurring on his scouter before he held a thumbs up to Coca, "Five minutes." She heaved a sigh, laying Absolut down as he would care for the child the best she could.

"You could have taken him back to his father, no doubt you would have gotten a massive reward for it," Cam explained, "So why didn't you? Surely you must know who this child is." For once, Cam felt somewhat exposed. It seemed that this Frost demon could read Cam's true demeanor and intentions, he understood that Cam wasn't a ruthless killer or a simple power hungry megalomaniac, he had a goal, an ambition, but appeared to have retained some portion of his soul and humility in trying to attain these goals. The Emperor knew he was far from a perfect, pure being, but he was trying to atone for his misdeeds, to unite and protect the galaxy, to make them ready for what would be coming.

A smile crept over Cam's features as he found himself breaking into a fit of laughter, "You can read me like a book, can't you Captain?" he asked towards the frost demon, "My my, a rare trait indeed. Most could never tell you heads or tails of my intentions or who I am, the whole galaxy and its galactic media can't make heads or tails, but you," he pointed a finger at Kamui, "You knew I wouldn't kill you, didn't you? Far from it, I'm grateful you returned him. I'm not grateful for the circumstances, but as I understand it you've been fed your fair share of false information." His head tilted then as the Kabochan eyed all of Kamui's company before looking back at the frost demon, "I see you followed my advice and upgraded. Got yourself a whole cadre of battle-tested warriors, not some simple thugs killing for money. Much more effective, I think you'll find." Quality over quantity when you could afford it.

"I'm no fool though either. You came here because you know how this works. Tell me what you want," he owed him. That much was certain, Kamui could have indeed thrown a wrench into Cam's designs by handing Absolut over. Who knows? Maybe one day Cam himself would hand Absolut over to his father, though circumstances for that would be entirely different. All the while Talfa, Hureo, and Deon stepped up alongside the Emperor, even some of their power levels were capable of matching Kamui's own breadth of power.

---

WC: 761 TWC: 1,626 Doctor Kaijin Vex Emperor Absolut

The Emperor was glad to hear that Absolut had fought valiantly, he laughed at the remark that it had been simpler, "Not every craft we employ is meant for war. Trade is as much part of what we do as fighting, space needs merchant vessels as much as vessels of war," Carambolis was a shrewd man. If the Frieza force had never touched his planet, he might have grown up to be a successful merchant, but having his hands stained with blood and learning to kill gave him the thirst for power and justice in nearly equal parts. In many ways Cam thought of himself as similar to Polaris, though he wagered the Frost demon never suffered like he did. He wagered he was never crushed under the thumb of someone else, not in the way he was or even in the way that his son was, "Absolut I don't think has ever understood why I plucked him from some backwater world while he tried to run. I did so because he was, and still is, alone," he beckoned for Kamui to step closer as he moved over to Absolut, "Before I delve into this, understand that I will not decide the fate of yourself, your father or your family. I have potentially the strongest armada in the galaxy, I don't drop that on your father's head because I think he wouldn't care. He's become the kind of man that would burn an entire world if it meant he got to rule over the ashes. Radia and her forces were getting close to that mark but I think the black eye I gave the Dominion helped knocked some sense into them."

The Kabochan ruler sat down on a nearby supply crate, his hands dipping down to scoop up a handful of sand as he let it pass through his fingers, letting it sift out, "What he, and what most rulers of this galaxy either don't care to understand or don't want to understand is that there's forces out there stronger than all of us. I've seen demons actively threaten to break the seal between our realms, I've seen mutated Saiyan warriors with more power than a thousand stars, I've seen men and women with intentions so malicious their actions will bring war not to just a planet, not to just a quadrant, but our entire reality. Whether I like your father or not, whether he's good or evil, he's lacking that view. His ambitions and fears ans xenophobia for his enemy has come to blind him," he looked towards the adolescent frost demon, smiling sadly, "Initially I had hoped that I could use you to... Bargain with him. Or maybe even strike him down, how poetic would it be if you could topple your father?" Cam shook his head, "That's not how this will go. I've united half the galaxy with the Crusher Corp and with the Saiyan Dominion. Earth will fall in line next I wager, then from there it's a matter of sorting our the Frieza force brigands running amok. Even if I dropped dead right here, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

His gave flicking back to Absolut he let them know exactly what the plan was, "We're going to get your family--your mother and sister, off of Abbayor or Mitra. We will defeat your father and he will flee, die, or stand trial for his crimes. It likely won't be me to exact that kind of justice, not really my thing, but those wheels are already turning. The Saiyan Dominion and our forged Alliance can't be stopped, and it shouldn't be. If your father finds a way to do so I imagine any of those means would be catastrophic to everything. He is not the real threat though. He may be a threat in the short term, but he's not the real threat." He stood then, wiping his hands off, "So we will save your family Absolut. We'll save the one good thing I think he's done so far, you and your sister. After their saved if you care to run and take them with you, so be it. In all honestly I don't think I could stop your father if it came down to a one on one fight, but I'd be sure to make him work for it. I have a plan to deal with him. I know when I was your age, enslaved to the Frieza force I tried to save the remnants of my family," he explained to Absolut something crucial to the Emperor himself, "I watched my father get disintegrated by a beam of energy, right in front of me. My mother, my sisters and brothers, taken as slaves to either be soldiers or to serve. I don't even remember their names anymore. The only thing I fight for now is my people and for the survival of our reality. Understand that if you run, that fight will come to you eventually though. I want you to fight when it does Absolut. I want you to fight more fierce and more violently than your father when that time comes, I think the only way I could fight harder is if I had a family to defend. So I will give you yours, Absolut, and after that you're free to do as you please. I will not be your father and tell you what life you have to fulfill, but I will give you something worth fighting for."

He looked towards Kamui, "You say you're familiar with their ships. You will get us on world. We'll formulate a plan to get into the palace, but first and foremost, we need to know where they are and how to get to them. Abbayor and Mitra have been under siege, I wager your father either keeps them close or very, very far away, only you would know that Absolut. I'm asking you for a moment in time, to think like your father," his voice carried far more steel in it. The admission that his family--everyone he had ever loved, was gone, that parts of himself had been stripped away by corruption and violence made the Emperor's head feel light. He wanted more than anything, to atone for the past. He wanted to see Absolut go a different path, both from his own and from his father's. He wanted him to understand that he didn't have to run, that he couldn't run, that their were things in this world worth fighting war. Cam, for all he was, for all he held, was a man with nearly nothing he cared about other than his ideals, and he was one of the most fierce, indomitable fighters in the galaxy.

---

WC: 1128 Doctor Kaijin Vex  Emperor Absolut

"We'll have to figure something out, someone who can get us on the planet. We dispatch one of us to shut power down momentarily, once it's off we move in and get Eis and Artica out of there," Cam said succinctly, "We just need some information from someone inside, that or we infiltrate and get it ourselves," the Emperor spoke in such matter of fact terms, though he didn't know if Kamui had ever operated in a stealth mission, he certainly knew Absolut hadn't though, if the boy was good at something, Cam would have said it was keeping his head down and acting like he belonged where he was going. He would excel at this more than likely, though perhaps he would have would have some hands on training in teaching the young frost demon on how exactly to maintain a stealthy guise. How to mask himself with energy, just where to strike to knock someone out and how to apply a proper choke or sleeper hold, perhaps even where to put a blade in a foe to kill them quietly, though as far as he could tell Absolut hadn't killed anybody and likely never would if he could help it.

Ay Kamui's declaration of fealty, the Emperor only grew a more knowing smile, "Excellent. When you leave, head into high orbit on the night side of the planet, you'll see a fleet stationed there, you may dock with the Roncinante--It's an S class war cruiser, old, heavy thing that's good for moving lots of munitions, they'll see that your ship is outfitted with all the markings and necessary armor and weapons. You're joining at a fortuitous time. A scientist of ours just developed new stealth technology that makes running blockades and avoiding the gave of even larger ships that much easier. In the meantime your orders stand: You and your crew will aid the effort to secure planet Cane. You've already proven more than capable of that." Cam reached a hand up, a simple gesture given and his crew and sparring partners began packing it in. They all piled onto the medical evacuation ship with Coca, Duria, and Absolut. Kamui would be able to follow the craft up, it leading the way around the dark side of the planet. Even without the stealth technology active, seeing the fleet with the naked eye was hard when it was sitting in the shadow of planet Cane itself--thirty three ships, the smallest a mid-level outrunner, many destroyers and corvettes made up the bulk of it, but a series of five large war cruisers made it clear that this planet was blockaded from other forces. If anyone wished to enter undetected they would enter the night side. Day side wasn't an option, much of the planet's north pole was absorbed in the ki storm that raged on and the rest of it was landing in an arid desert climate ground forces had eyes on.

At this rate and with these tactics, Planet Cane would be part of the Kabochan forces in a week, maybe two. Kamui would only accelerate the process the Emperor figured but time would tell.

---

WC: 527 TWC: 4,719 Doctor Kaijin Vex Emperor Absolut